PMID- 25813071
TI  - Consumption of black and green teas as a dietary source of polyphenols in Polish
      inhabitants of the Mazovian region.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tea is a very popular drink throughout many parts of the world, that
      includes Poland. The tea infusion (cup of tea) itself contains phenolic compounds
      with anti-oxidant properties that constitute 30% of the dry mass of tea leaves
      responsible for a health promoting effect on the human body. OBJECTIVES: To
      estimate the determinants and amounts of black and green tea consumed by a
      selected population group, along with their polyphenols intake from tea. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: A survey was conducted of 281 subjects in 2012 from the Mazovian
      region of Poland, recruited from social-networking sites which had been sent a
      web application questionnaire (Mini-ankiety.pl). RESULTS: Subjects were aged 18
      56 years, of whom the majority (73%) were aged 21-30 years. City dwellers
      constituted 86%, whilst those remaining were from small towns (14%). Black tea
      was drunk by 80% of whom 39% did so daily, whilst green tea was drunk by 72% of
      whom 17% did so daily. Determinants affecting the amounts of tea drinking were
      principally gender, education, place of residence and number of household
      members. Women significantly drank more than one cup of green tea daily compared
      to men. Those with a higher education significantly drank more than one cup of
      black tea daily compared to those with lower education levels. Homeowning
      subjects with 2 household members significantly drank more than one cup of green
      tea daily than the others. The average daily intakes of polyphenols from black
      tea in those who drank so regularly was 503 mg and that for green tea was 361 mg.
      CONCLUSIONS: The main source of tea polyphenols was found to be black tea as this
      was drunk more often than green tea. There is a need for promoting more green tea
      to be drunk as a source of polyphenols.

PMID- 25813072
TI  - Studies to determine whether underground waters in Wielkopolska Region (Poland)
      containing humus substances are suitable for practical purposes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Water derived from Miocene aquifer in Wielkopolska region (Poland)
      has a 'brown-black' colouration resulting from humus substances. Because this
      colour is difficult to remove, such water is considered unfit for human
      consumption. The presence of naturally occurring humus acids with known
      biochemical properties may however lend such water for use in medicine, cosmetics
      or agriculture. OBJECTIVES: To determine and evaluate the properties of 'brown
      black' Miocene waters from analysing their physico-chemistry properties, mineral
      content and the presence and structures of humus acids. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The
      test material was 4 samples of intensely coloured 'brown-black' underground
      waters from Miocene aquifer taken from the Greater Poland region at different
      locations; Obrzycko and Braczewo (both by Szamotuly), Sepno (by Koscian) and in
      Poznan (Szkolna Street). RESULTS: The water type was HCO3-Cl-Na with dissolved
      minerals ranging at concentrations of 828.5 mg/dm3 (Poznan) to 1600.5 mg/dm3
      (Obrzycko). Fluorides were present at 0.71 mg/dm3 (Poznan) to 1.41 mg/dm3
      (Braczewo) whilst iron (II) (ferrous ion) ranged from >10 mg/dm3 (Obrzycko) to
      22.7 mg/dm3 (Sepno). Levels of humus acids varied between 188.6 mg/dm3 (Sepno) to
      1501.8 mg/dm3 (Obrzycko) with predomination humic acids over hymatomelanic acids
      by factors from 1.3 to 10.6. CONCLUSIONS: Due to the test water's mineral
      content, which includes significant levels of iron II, fluoride and humus acids
      (>50 mg/dm3), it is suggested that it has therapeutic value and is suitable for
      medicinal bath treatments and in manufacturing medical products or cosmetics.

PMID- 25813073
TI  - Profiles of selected nutrients affecting skin condition in children with atopic
      dermatitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammation of the skin
      recognised to be one of the first clinical signs of allergy. In the first years
      of life, epidemiological evidence has demonstrated that common causative foods of
      a child's diet are: cow's milk, hen's eggs, wheat and soya. Children with AD
      being treated with elimination diets are at risk of nutritional deficiencies that
      include those nutrients required for ensuring proper skin structure and function.
      OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to assess dietary intake of nutrients which
      affect skin condition in children with AD being treated with a milk-free diet.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: Subjects were 25 children aged 4-6 years with AD undergoing
      the milk exclusion diet and 25 age-matched healthy controls. The energy and
      nutritional value of diets were evaluated that included those components
      affecting skin condition; ie. vitamins A, D, E, B2 and C; minerals iron (Fe) and
      zinc (Zn); polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The Dieta 5.0 programme was used
      for dietary assessment and outcomes were then related to dietary recommendations.
      RESULTS: There were no significant differences between groups in mean energy
      values and mean intakes of protein, fats and carbohydrates (p>0.05). The
      percentage of subjects with low energy value were 44% and 36% in respectively
      Groups I and II. Deficiencies of fat intake were observed in 60% in Group I and
      44% in Group II. There were however no risks in the dietary intakes of protein,
      carbohydrate, vitamins A, B2 and C nor of Fe and Zn. Deficiencies of dietary
      intakes were observed in respectively Groups I and II in the following; vitamin E
      (24% vs 64%), vitamin D (36% vs 92%), linoleic acid (36% vs 72%), alpha-linolenic
      acid (36% vs 40%) and long chain PUFAs (96% in both groups). CONCLUSIONS:
      Ensuring recommended dietary supply of those nutrients affecting skin condition
      is required for both groups of children. Children with AD had better balanced
      diets in respect of the studied nutrients that may reflect the influence of
      continuous healthcare received from physicians and dieticians.

PMID- 25813074
TI  - Dietary sources of lutein in adults suffering eye disease (AMD/cataracts).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies indicate that by consuming 6-14 mg lutein
      daily, the risk of acquiring eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration
      (AMD) or cataracts becomes reduced. Their symptoms can also by such means be
      alleviated and treatment improved. OBJECTIVES: To estimate dietary intakes of
      lutein obtained from foodstuffs and supplements along with determining its main
      sources in selected groups of adults suffering from eye disease and healthy
      controls. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was performed in Warsaw and its
      neighbourhoods during 2008-12. Subjects were 375 adults aged 50-97 years, of whom
      half had been diagnosed with AMD and/or cataracts; constituting the test group.
      Dietary intakes of lutein were assessed by Food Frequency Questionnaire Method
      whilst interview questionnaires assessed the intake of supplements. RESULTS:
      Overall, the average dietary intake of lutein from foodstuffs was 2.5 mg daily,
      with the test group being significantly higher than healthy controls (2.9 vs 2.1
      mg daily). Women's intakes were also higher than in men (2.9 vs 2.1 mg daily), as
      were those possessing higher or secondary education compared to the others with
      primary or vocational education (2.7 vs 2.3 mg daily). Fresh vegetables were
      found to be the main dietary sources of lutein that included green leafy
      vegetables and frozen vegetables, constituting respectively 63% and 13% of the
      dietary intake. Dietary supplements containing lutein were taken by 109 subjects
      of whom most had eye disease (over 80%); where the average daily consumption of
      lutein from this source was 6.5 mg. CONCLUSIONS: For older people, the dietary
      intake of lutein from foodstuffs may be insufficient to prevent eye disease.
      Taking daily dietary supplements would thus be indicated to make up such
      deficiencies of lutein.

PMID- 25813075
TI  - Evaluation of mineral status in hypertensive patients undergoing pharmacotherapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The widespread and increasing occurrence of obesity, hypertension and
      associated disease has necessitated serial testing in order that risks of
      contracting such conditions become minimised through appropriate therapy and
      prevention. Many studies report that nutritional factors significantly affect the
      aetiology of hypertension and obesity that include mineral uptake. There are only
      a few studies however which are focused on the body's changing mineral content
      during pharmaco-therapeutic treatment. OBJECTIVES: To determine concentrations of
      minerals in the hair and urine of hypertensive patients in conjunction with
      assessing their nutrition. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Subjects were 17 patients
      presenting with essential hypertension and 18 healthy controls. Atomic absorption
      spectrometry (AAS) was used to measure Mg, Ca, Fe, Zn and Cu in the hair and
      urine on a Zeiss AAS-3 instrument. Dietary mineral intakes were assessed by
      interview over 24 hours prior to the analysis. RESULTS: The hypertensive group
      had significantly lower urine concentrations of Ca and Mg as well as Mg and Zn in
      hair. Urinary zinc excretion was significantly increased in this group compared
      to controls, but dietary intakes of Cu were reduced. The dietary mineral intakes
      were found to be unrelated to the concentrations of such minerals in the hair and
      urine. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to controls, excretion of Ca and Mg were reduced in
      hypertensive subjects, whereas Zn excretion was higher, and Mg and Zn were
      relatively low in the hair. Daily dietary intakes of Cu were also reduced in the
      hypertensive.

PMID- 25813076
TI  - The effect of girls attitudes towards the health benefits of food on selected
      dietary characteristics. The GEBahealth Project.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dietary habits are formed at an early age and to a large extent they
      affect such nutritional behaviour in adulthood. Mothers in particular, influence
      family nutrition. In this respect, their knowledge, attitudes and behaviour about
      nutrition are responsible for the schooling of future generations. Many aspects
      of the link between food and health with nutritional behaviour in girls remain,
      however, unknown. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effect of girls attitudes towards
      the health benefits of food on selected dietary characteristics. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: Study included 186 girls aged 13-21 years. Using a food frequency method
      the three dietary characteristics were obtained; food intake variety, fibre
      intake and fat intake, all of them expressed by a graded scale. Three validated
      questionnaires were used; FIVeQ, BSQFVF and BSQF. The girls attitudes towards the
      health benefits of food were rated from one of the survey's six parts, comprising
      of 8 statements from the Health and Taste Attitude Scale (HTAS) accordingly
      graded. Statistical analyses used logistic regression. RESULTS: The mean index of
      food intake variety was 28.7 foods/week (ranging 0-60), whilst the mean dietary
      intakes of fibre and fat were 16.7 points (0-36 range) and 18.2 points (0-52
      range), respectively. Girls from the upper tertile with favourable attitudes on
      food health benefits had an odds ratio (OR) for adequate fat intake (<22 points)
      of 3.1 (95% CI: 1.28, 7.52; p<0.05), as compared to those from the middle-neutral
      attitudes tertile, with an OR = 1.00. The ORs for the relatively high food intake
      variety and acceptable fibre intake were 1.05 in girls from the positive-upper
      tertiles, which were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: The positive attitudes of
      girls towards the health benefits of food are conducive for making more
      favourable food choices and lowered dietary fat intake, however this did not
      significantly affect fibre intake nor food intake variety.

PMID- 25813077
TI  - Anthropometric assessment of the nutritional status of children and adolescents
      residing in selected Polish orphanages based on their energy intake and physical
      activity level.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Actions to the prevention of overweight and obesity should be first
      addressed to the youngest population and their parents, guardians as well as
      teachers. The major objectives of prevention and treatment of overweight and
      obesity programme should be focused on modification of nutritional habits and
      promotion of physical activity. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate
      the nutritional status, intake of energy and macronutrients as well as the
      physical activity of students from orphanages in Krakow. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      Study was performed in 5 orphanages located in Krakow (Poland), which were under
      control of Social Welfare Centre in Krakow. The study involved 153 students, 67
      girls and 86 boys, aged from 7 to 20 years. Nutritional status was assessed by
      anthropometric measurements. The protein and total fat content in diets was
      measured by chemical analyses and carbohydrates were calculated by difference.
      Physical activity level of children and adolescents was assessed by
      questionnaire. RESULTS: Over 80% of boys and about 90% of girls had a normal body
      mass. Students have spent their free time on additional physical activity from 1h
      34 min/day to 5 h 12 min/day. They also have spent their free time on sedentary
      activities on average 4 h/day. Daily diets of students did not met
      recommendations for energy, carbohydrates and fats. Intake of protein was too
      high and exceeded the estimated average requirement even over three times.
      CONCLUSIONS: Despite the insufficient intake of fat and carbohydrates, students
      generally showed a proper BMI value. This suggests that excess intake of protein
      was used for maturation process and was additional source of energy. Reported
      additional physical activity was satisfactory.

PMID- 25813078
TI  - Influence of non-dietary factors on the prevalence of abdominal obesity as a
      major component of the metabolic syndrome among 17-18-year-old youth.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Youth nutrition and their nutritional status are conditioned by many
      factors, some of the main ones being: economic, social, climatic, cultural, and
      psychological factors as well as nutritional knowledge. With the growing problem
      of overweight and obesity among children and young people, the incidence of the
      metabolic syndrome is also increasing. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to
      assess the impact of demographic, sociological and psychological factors on the
      incidence of obesity among 17-18-year-old adolescents from Wroclaw and vicinity
      as a major risk factor for the development of the metabolic syndrome. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: The study was conducted in three upper-secondary schools in Wroclaw,
      Poland. In the surveyed group (17-18 years old, n = 269) girls accounted for
      59.5% and boys constituted 40.5%. Majority of young people were Wroclaw citizens
      (72.9%). Centile charts elaborated by the Children's Memorial Health Institute
      were adopted for the evaluation of anthropometric parameters. Evaluation of the
      impact of non-dietary factors on the manner of nutrition was carried out using
      own questionnaire. RESULTS: Based on the tests, abdominal obesity was determined
      among 34.5% of adolescents aged 17 years and among 65.5% of these aged 18 years.
      Obesity was more common in girls carrying genetic burden of the disease. Youth
      with the largest waist circumference most often declared to use slimming diets -
      6.7%, and the lowest hunger sensation in stress - 3.4%. In addition, 30.5% of the
      adolescents with the smallest waist circumference and 11.5% with the largest
      waist circumference declared to be non-smoking. Occasional alcohol consumption
      was declared by 30.1% of young people with the smallest waist circumference, and
      13.4% with the largest waist circumference. CONCLUSIONS: Youth with abdominal
      obesity significantly more likely than those with normal waist circumference
      applied slimming diets. Significant impact on the formation of abdominal obesity
      among girls had inherited disease burden.

PMID- 25813079
TI  - NPM1 mutations may reveal acute myeloid leukemia in cases otherwise
      morphologically diagnosed as myelodysplastic syndromes or
      myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasms.

PMID- 25813081
TI  - Kinematic, kinetic and EMG analysis of four front crawl flip turn techniques.
AB  - This study aimed to analyse the kinematic, kinetic and electromyographic
      characteristics of four front crawl flip turn technique variants. The variants
      distinguished from each other by differences in body position (i.e., dorsal,
      lateral, ventral) during rolling, wall support, pushing and gliding phases.
      Seventeen highly trained swimmers (17.9 +/- 3.2 years old) participated in
      interventional sessions and performed three trials of each variant, being
      monitored with a 3-D video system, a force platform and an electromyography (EMG)
      system. Studied variables: rolling time and distance, wall support time, push-off
      time, peak force and horizontal impulse at wall support and push-off, centre of
      mass horizontal velocity at the end of the push-off, gliding time, centre of mass
      depth, distance, average and final velocity during gliding, total turn time and
      electrical activity of Gastrocnemius Medialis, Tibialis Anterior, Biceps Femoris
      and Vastus Lateralis muscles. Depending on the variant, total turn time ranged
      from 2.37 +/- 0.32 to 2.43 +/- 0.33 s, push-off force from 1.86 +/- 0.33 to 1.92
      +/- 0.26 BW and centre of mass velocity during gliding from 1.78 +/- 0.21 to 1.94
      +/- 0.22 m . s(-1). The variants were not distinguishable in terms of
      kinematical, kinetic and EMG parameters during the rolling, wall support, pushing
      and gliding phases.

PMID- 25813080
TI  - Etiology, clinical course and outcome of healthcare-associated bloodstream
      infections in patients with hematological malignancies: a retrospective study of
      350 patients in a Finnish tertiary care hospital.
AB  - This retrospectively collected laboratory-based surveillance data includes 575
      healthcare-associated bloodstream infections (BSIs) in 350 patients with
      hematological malignancy in Tampere University Hospital, Finland, during 1999
      2001 and 2005-2010. The most common underlying diseases were acute myelogenous
      leukemia (n=283, 49%), followed by myeloma (n=87, 15%) and acute lymphocytic
      leukemia (n=76, 13%). The overall rate was 9.1 BSIs per 1000 patient-days. Gram
      positive BSIs predominated and the most common pathogens were coagulase-negative
      staphylococci (23%), viridans streptococci (11%), enterococci (9%) and
      Escherichia coli (9%). Fungi caused 2% of BSIs. The 7-day and 28-day case
      fatalities were 5% and 10% and were highest in BSIs caused by P. aeruginosa (19%
      and 34%, respectively). The median age of patients with BSI has increased; it was
      55.0 years during 1999-2001, compared to 59.0 years in 2005-2007 and 59.0 years
      in 2008-2010 (p<0.0001). Gram-positive bacteria predominated in this material.
      Case fatalities were low as compared to previous reports although the median age
      of patients increased.

PMID- 25813082
TI  - Phytochemical screening and antimicrobial activities of the constituents isolated
      from Koelreuteria paniculata leaves.
AB  - Methanolic extract of Golden rain leaves was fractionated by column
      chromatography on silica gel and 18 fractions were obtained. Antimicrobial
      activities of fractions were investigated against Bacillus subtilis,
      Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as quality
      control bacteria and fungus Pyricularia grisea which causes Blast disease in
      rice. Fractions showed more antibacterial activity at 0.04 g/mL concentration
      only on B. subtilis and S. aureus as gram positive bacteria. Also, three
      fractions indicated excellent antifungal effect on fungus P. grisea. Moreover, in
      the present study, fractions that showed very good effect on microorganisms were
      used for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis to identify different
      phytochemicals.

PMID- 25813083
TI  - Hyperbaric oxygen for idiopathic sudden hearing loss: is the routine application
      helpful?
AB  - CONCLUSION: We recommend the routine application of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) in
      conjunction with intravenous steroid (IVS) for all patients with idiopathic
      sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL). For best results, this therapy must
      be started within 14 days. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the necessity of routine
      application of HBO therapy for ISSNHL. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort
      study. A total of 300 patients (300 diseased ears) were divided into 3 groups
      according to the therapy received: IVS (group A), HBO (group B), or IVS + HBO
      (group C). Patients in each treatment group were subdivided into subgroups
      according to the time of therapy initiation. The outcomes of their hearing
      recovery were classified into three recovery grades: good, fair, and poor.
      RESULTS: The proportion of patients responding to therapy and those with complete
      recovery was the highest in the combined treatment group, 84% and 58%,
      respectively, regardless of the initial hearing levels. In all the groups, mean
      gains of cases in whom therapy was started in the first 2 weeks were
      significantly higher (p < 0.05) and hypercholesterolemia (>240 mg/dl) caused
      significantly worse responses (p < 0.05).

PMID- 25813084
TI  - Magnetoelectric quasi-(0-3) nanocomposite heterostructures.
AB  - Magnetoelectric composite thin films hold substantial promise for applications in
      novel multifunctional devices. However, there are presently shortcomings for both
      the extensively studied bilayer epitaxial (2-2) and vertically architectured
      nanocomposite (1-3) film systems, restricting their applications. Here we design
      a novel growth strategy to fabricate an architectured nanocomposite
      heterostructure with magnetic quasiparticles (0) embedded in a ferroelectric film
      matrix (3) by alternately growing (2-2) and (1-3) layers within the film. The new
      heteroepitaxial films not only overcome the clamping effect from substrate, but
      also significantly suppress the leakage current paths through the ferromagnetic
      phase. We demonstrate, by focusing on switching characteristics of the
      piezoresponse, that the heterostructure shows magnetic field dependence of
      piezoelectricity due to the improved coupling enabled by good connectivity
      amongst the piezoelectric and magnetostrictive phases. This new architectured
      magnetoelectric heterostructures may open a new avenue for applications of
      magnetoelectric films in micro-devices. 

PMID- 25813086
TI  - Mandibular trauma: a two-centre study.
AB  - The aims of this study were to assess and compare epidemiological data on
      mandibular fractures from two European centres and to perform a review of the
      literature. Between 2001 and 2010, a total of 752 patients with a total of 1167
      mandibular fractures were admitted to a hospital in Turin, and 245 patients with
      a total of 434 mandibular fractures were admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam. The
      mean age in Turin was 34.8 years and in Amsterdam was 32 years. The age group 20
      29 years showed the highest incidence of mandibular fractures in both centres.
      The fractures were mainly the result of assaults, in agreement with several
      articles in the recent literature, followed by falls. The continuous long-term
      and multicentre collection of data on the epidemiology of maxillofacial trauma is
      important because it provides the information necessary for the development of
      preventative measures aimed at reducing the incidence of facial injuries. 

PMID- 25813087
TI  - Raloxifene enhances peri-implant bone healing in osteoporotic rats.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate bone healing at the bone-implant interface
      in rats with induced osteoporosis. The rats underwent a bilateral ovariectomy
      (OVX) and were fed a low calcium and phosphate diet. The OVX rats were divided
      into three groups: one was treated with raloxifene (OVX-RAL), one with
      alendronate (OVX-ALE), and one received no medication (OVX-NT). The control group
      rats (SHAM-DN) underwent sham surgery and were fed a normal diet. Each animal
      received one implant in each tibia: a machined surface implant in the right tibia
      and an implant with surface etching in the left tibia. All animals were
      euthanized after 42 days. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey post hoc tests
      were applied to the biomechanics (reverse torque) and bone-implant contact (BIC)
      data (P<0.05). The RAL and ALE groups showed improved peri-implant bone healing.
      However, the ALE group showed no significant difference from the OVX-NT group.
      Surface treatment promoted higher corticalization at the bone-implant interface,
      but showed the same characteristics of mature bone and bone neoformation in
      concentric laminations as the machined implant. There were no statistically
      significant differences in reverse torque (P=0.861) or BIC (P=0.745) between the
      OVX-RAL and SHAM-DN groups. Therefore, the use of raloxifene resulted in good
      biomechanical, BIC, and histological findings in the treatment of induced
      osteoporosis in rats.

PMID- 25813085
TI  - Myeloid cell-derived inducible nitric oxide synthase suppresses M1 macrophage
      polarization.
AB  - Here we show that iNOS-deficient mice display enhanced classically activated M1
      macrophage polarization without major effects on alternatively activated M2
      macrophages. eNOS and nNOS mutant mice show comparable M1 macrophage polarization
      compared with wild-type control mice. Addition of N6-(1-iminoethyl)-L-lysine
      dihydrochloride, an iNOS inhibitor, significantly enhances M1 macrophage
      polarization while S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine, a NO donor, suppresses M1
      macrophage polarization. NO derived from iNOS mediates nitration of tyrosine
      residues in IRF5 protein, leading to the suppression of IRF5-targeted M1
      macrophage signature gene activation. Computational analyses corroborate a
      circuit that fine-tunes the expression of IL-12 by iNOS in macrophages,
      potentially enabling versatile responses based on changing microenvironments.
      Finally, studies of an experimental model of endotoxin shock show that iNOS
      deficiency results in more severe inflammation with an enhanced M1 macrophage
      activation phenotype. These results suggest that NO derived from iNOS in
      activated macrophages suppresses M1 macrophage polarization. 

PMID- 25813088
TI  - Microsurgical free flap reconstructions of the head and neck region: Shanghai
      experience of 34 years and 4640 flaps.
AB  - This study represents the surgical experience of 4481 microvascular free flap
      cases performed at the authors' institution in China, between 1979 and 2013. Four
      thousand four hundred and eighty-one patients underwent reconstruction with 4640
      flaps: 56% radial forearm flaps, 8% iliac crest flaps, 13% fibula flaps, 10%
      anterolateral thigh flaps, and other flaps. In the overwhelming majority of
      cases, the flap transfer was required following tumour resection (97.5%). Three
      hundred and twenty minor complications (6.9%) occurred. One hundred and eighteen
      major complications (2.5%) were encountered: 114 cases of failure (2.4%) and four
      deaths. Among the 118 cases with major complications, 26 - 22.0% - had received
      radiotherapy; this proportion was higher than the 6.9% in the minor complications
      group and 8.1% in the non-intervention group. Venous thrombosis was the most
      common complication at the recipient site and was the main cause of flap failure.
      When a compromised flap is identified, surgical re-exploration should not be
      delayed. This study confirms that free flaps are reliable in achieving successful
      reconstruction in the head and neck region; however this technique requires
      extensive clinical experience. Owing to the large number of flap options,
      microsurgeons should always pay attention to the details of the different
      surgical defects and choose the most appropriate flap.

PMID- 25813089
TI  - Regenerating the cell resistance of micromolded PEG hydrogels.
AB  - Polydimethylsiloxane stamp materials used during soft lithography undermine the
      non-fouling behaviour of bio-inert PEG-based hydrogels, resulting in increased
      protein adsorption and cell adhesion and migration on the gel. This previously
      unreported phenomenon undermines the function of lab-on-a-chip devices that
      require the device to be bio-inert, and slows the implementation of promising
      micromolding and imprinting methods for 3D culture and commercial cell culture
      systems. We illustrate that the degree of cell adhesion and protein adsorption to
      the gels correlates with the amount of residual stamp material remaining at the
      hydrogel interface after fabrication. After identifying this previously
      unreported phenomenon, we screened multiple polymer cleaning/fabrication
      techniques in order to maintain/restore the non-fouling properties of the gels
      including PDMS curing and extraction, use of other common soft lithography stamp
      materials, post-fabrication cleaning of the hydrogels, and changing the
      composition of the hydrogel. The optimal solution was determined to be
      incorporation of reactive sites into the hydrogel during micromolding followed by
      grafting of PEG macromers to these sites post-fabrication. This treatment
      resulted in micromolded hydrogels with robust cell resistant properties. Broadly,
      this work identifies and solves a previously unreported problem in hydrogel
      micromolding, and specifically reports the development of a cell culture platform
      that when combined with video microscopy enables high-resolution in situ study of
      single cell behaviour during in vitro culture. 

PMID- 25813090
TI  - Impact of TiO2 nanoparticles on freshwater bacteria from three Swedish lakes.
AB  - Due to the rapidly rising production and usage of nano-enabled products, aquatic
      environments are increasingly exposed to engineered nanoparticles (ENPs), causing
      concerns about their potential negative effects. In this study we assessed the
      effects of uncoated titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) on the growth and
      activity of bacterial communities of three Swedish lakes featuring different
      chemical characteristics such as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration, pH
      and elemental composition. TiO2NP exposure concentrations were 15, 100, and 1000
      MUg L(-1), and experiments were performed in situ under three light regimes:
      darkness, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and ambient sunlight
      including UV radiation (UVR). The nanoparticles were most stable in lake water
      with high DOC and low chemical element concentrations. At the highest exposure
      concentration (1000 MUg L(-1) TiO2NP) the bacterial abundance was significantly
      reduced in all lake waters. In the medium and high DOC lake waters, exposure
      concentrations of 100 MUg L(-1) TiO2NP caused significant reductions in bacterial
      abundance. The cell-specific bacterial activity was significantly enhanced at
      high TiO2NP exposure concentrations, indicating the loss of nanoparticle
      sensitive bacteria and a subsequent increased activity by tolerant ones. No UV
      induced phototoxic effect of TiO2NP was found in this study. We conclude that in
      freshwater lakes with high DOC and low chemical element concentrations, uncoated
      TiO2NPs show an enhanced stability and can significantly reduce bacterial
      abundance at relatively low exposure concentrations.

PMID- 25813091
TI  - The emerging role of miRNAs in combined cancer therapy.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) control physiological and fundamental processes in cellular
      development and differentiation by modulating the expression of their target
      genes. They have been found to participate in cell transformation and
      multiplication by functioning as oncomiRs and tumor suppressors in diverse
      cancers. Introduction of antisense miRNAs (antagomiRs) into primary cells such as
      immune cells by lipofection, viral vectors or electroporation can achieve the
      specific silencing of individual miRNAs. Therefore, harnessing miRNAs may lead to
      promising cancer therapeutics. There is emerging evidence demonstrating the
      involvement of miRNAs in combined cancer therapies, including chemotherapy,
      radiotherapy and immunotherapy combining with miRNA therapy. 

PMID- 25813092
TI  - Dawn simulation light: a potential cardiac events protector.
AB  - OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: Major cardiovascular events frequently increase in the
      morning due to abrupt changes in the sympatho-vagal cardiac control during the
      transition from sleep to wakefulness. These neural changes are translated into
      stepwise increases in cardiac functions, resulting in a potential cardiovascular
      stress. Here, we explored whether light can "optimize" heart rate and its neural
      control, by actively promoting a less steep transition from sleep to wakefulness,
      thus minimizing morning cardiovascular vulnerability. METHODS: Seventeen healthy
      young men were awakened 2-hours before their habitual wake-time. In a
      counterbalanced within-subject design, we applied a control condition (darkness
      during sleep and dim light during wakefulness) or dawn-simulation-light (DSL)
      starting 30-minutes before and ending 30-minutes after scheduled wake-up time.
      RESULTS: Our data reveal a significantly gradient reduction in heart rate during
      the transition from sleep to wakefulness, when applying DSL as compared to a
      control condition. Likewise, cardiac sympatho-vagal control smoothly increased
      throughout the 30-min sleep episode preceding scheduled wake-up under DSL and
      remained stable for the first 30-min of wakefulness. Interestingly, these effects
      were mostly driven by changes in the parasympathetic cardiac control.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate for the first time that a non-invasive
      strategy, as light exposure surrounding the wake-up process, can significantly
      reduce the deleterious sleep-to-wake evoked cardiac modulation in healthy young
      men awakened under conditions of increased sleep pressure. A translational
      approach of this light exposure, which closely resembles natural lighting
      conditions in the morning, may therefore act as a potential protector for cardiac
      vulnerability in the critical morning hours.

PMID- 25813093
TI  - Recent Developments in the Preparation and Chemistry of Metallacycles and
      Metallacages via Coordination.

PMID- 25813094
TI  - Demethoxycurcumin induces the apoptosis of human lung cancer NCI-H460 cells
      through the mitochondrial-dependent pathway.
AB  - Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related mortality in the US as
      well as other regions of the world. Curcumin, demethoxycurcumin (DMC) and
      bisdemethoxycurcumin (BDMC) are the major components of Curcuma longa L. It has
      been reported that curcumin inhibits the growth of various types of cancer cells
      in vitro and in vivo. However, the mechanisms involved in the inhibition of cell
      growth and induced apoptosis by DMC in human lung cancer cells remain unclear. In
      the present study, we investigated the effect of DMC on cell death via the
      induction of apoptosis in NCI-H460 human lung cancer cells. Flow cytometric assay
      was used to examine the total percentage of viable cells, the population of cells
      in the sub-G1 phase of the cell cycle, the level of reactive oxygen species
      (ROS), Ca2+ production, mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsim) and caspase
      activity. Western blotting was used to examine the changes in the expression of
      cell cycle- and apoptosis-associated proteins. Confocal microscopy was used to
      examine the translocation of apoptosis-associated proteins. The results indicated
      that DMC significantly induced cell morphological changes and decreased the
      percentage of viable NCI-H460 cells and DMC induced apoptosis based on the cell
      distribution in the sub-G1 phase. Moreover, DMC promoted ROS and Ca2+ production
      and decreased the level of DeltaPsim and promoted the activities of caspase-3, -8
      and -9. The Western blotting results showed that DMC promoted the expression of
      AIF, Endo G and PARP. The levels of Fas ligand (Fas L) and Fas were also
      upregulated. Furthermore, DMC promoted expression of ER stress-associated
      proteins such as GRP78, GADD153, IRE1beta, ATF-6alpha, ATF-6beta and caspase-4.
      Based on the findings, we suggest that DMC may be used as a novel anticancer
      agent for the treatment of lung cancer in the future.

PMID- 25813095
TI  - [Psychiatric comorbidities and quality of life in adult individuals with high
      potential: Relationships with self-esteem].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were: 1) to describe the psychiatric
      comorbidities in adult individuals with high potential; 2) to assess self-esteem
      and quality of life in comparison with general population; 3) to study the
      relationships between intelligent quotient (IQ), self-esteem, psychiatric
      comorbidities and quality of life. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was
      conducted in the psychiatric department of a public university hospital
      (Marseille, France). An outpatient hospital service has been specifically opened
      to test intelligence since 2012. During a period of six months, it was proposed
      to all the major individuals with high intellectual potential to receive a
      psychiatric evaluation using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview
      (MINI) and to complete self-report questionnaires assessing depression (Beck
      scale), anxiety (STAI), self-esteem (Rosenberg scale) and quality of life (SF
      36). Relationships between IQ, self-esteem, psychiatric comorbidities and quality
      of life were analyzed using a Bayesian path analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-eight
      subjects were included, 8 had an IQ between 115 and 130, and 20 had an IQ>130.
      Fifty-seven percent of individuals had generalized anxiety, 21.4% a current major
      depressive episode, and 75% a past major depressive episode. Subjects had a low
      self-esteem and quality of life levels significantly lower than those in the
      French general population. Subjects with higher self-esteem levels had more
      depressive (beta=0.726, P<0.001) and anxiety (beta=0.335, P<0.001) disorders,
      associated with lower quality of life levels (beta=-0.447, P<0.001 and beta=
      0.276, P=0.012), suggesting that self-esteem was defensive and inadequate.
      CONCLUSION: Our study found a high frequency of psychiatric disorders associated
      with low levels of self-esteem and quality of life. A psychological treatment
      focusing on self-esteem may have a beneficial effect on anxiety, depression and
      quality of life.

PMID- 25813096
TI  - [Management of symptoms and pain at the end of life].

PMID- 25813097
TI  - [Is there a place of multiantigenes immunodot determination in systemic sclerosis
      patients without anti-centromeres or anti-Scl70 antibodies?].

PMID- 25813098
TI  - [The Smallpox case].

PMID- 25813099
TI  - Update on clinically isolated syndrome.
AB  - Optic neuritis, myelitis and brainstem syndrome accompanied by a symptomatic MRI
      T2 or FLAIR hyperintensity and T1 hypointensity are highly suggestive of multiple
      sclerosis (MS) in young adults. They are called "clinically isolated syndrome"
      (CIS) and correspond to the typical first multiple sclerosis (MS) episode,
      especially when associated with other asymptomatic demyelinating lesions, without
      clinical, radiological and immunological sign of differential diagnosis. After a
      CIS, the delay of apparition of a relapse, which corresponds to the conversion to
      clinically definite MS (CDMS), varies from several months to more than 10 years
      (10-15% of cases, generally called benign RRMS). This delay is generally
      associated with the number and location of demyelinating lesions of the brain and
      spinal cord and the results of CSF analysis. Several studies comparing different
      MRI criteria for dissemination in space and dissemination in time of
      demyelinating lesions, two hallmarks of MS, provided enough substantial data to
      update diagnostic criteria for MS after a CIS. In the last revision of the
      McDonald's criteria in 2010, diagnostic criteria were simplified and now the
      diagnosis can be made by a single initial scan that proves the presence of active
      asymptomatic lesions (with gadolinium enhancement) and of unenhanced lesions.
      However, time to conversion remains highly unpredictable for a given patient and
      CIS can remain isolated, especially for idiopathic unilateral optic neuritis or
      myelitis. Univariate analyses of clinical, radiological, biological or
      electrophysiological characteristics of CIS patients in small series identified
      numerous risk factors of rapid conversion to MS. However, large series of CIS
      patients analyzing several characteristics of CIS patients and the influence of
      disease modifying therapies brought important information about the risk of CDMS
      or RRMS over up to 20 years of follow-up. They confirmed the importance of the
      initial MRI pattern of demyelinating lesions and of CSF oligoclonal bands.
      Available treatments of MS (immunomodulators or immunosuppressants) have also
      shown unequivocal efficacy to slow the conversion to RRMS after a CIS, but they
      could be unnecessary for patients with benign RRMS. Beyond diagnostic criteria,
      knowledge of established and potential risk factors of conversion to MS and of
      disability progression is essential for CIS patients' follow-up and initiation of
      disease modifying therapies.

PMID- 25813100
TI  - [Evolution of patients' rights at the end of life].
AB  - Since the early 1999, palliative cares were legally allowed in France. The rights
      of end of life'patients have been reinforced by the Kouchner law in 2002 and by
      the Leonetti law in 2005. During the last decade, several critical conditions of
      end of life showed the weaknesses of the Leonetti law however different
      assessments of this law recently carried out by officials, revealed that
      healthcare providers and general population were unfamiliar with this law. Before
      adopting new legislation, there is a huge need to promote palliative care and to
      train healthcare providers and general population to manage the last moments of
      end of life.

PMID- 25813101
TI  - The autoimmune concept of multiple sclerosis.
AB  - Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory and demyelinating disease of
      the central nervous system (CNS). With growing evidence for environmental and
      genetic factors, MS is now accepted as an autoimmune disease. This complex
      disease seems to implicate various cell types in both innate and adaptive
      compartments. Here, we discuss recent advances in the immunological field of MS
      research. 

PMID- 25813102
TI  - Update on treatments in multiple sclerosis.
AB  - While there is no cure for multiple sclerosis (MS), numerous disease-modifying
      drugs are now available to treat MS patients. In fact, the therapeutic strategies
      are now more and more complex, directly impacting the management of patients.
      Despite the good safety profile of the first-line immunomodulatory drugs, the
      clinical response is often suboptimal. Important questions remain about the right
      timing to switch for a second-line agent and whether escalation therapy is an
      appropriate therapeutic strategy. In this review, we conducted a systematic
      search by PubMed using the terms: treatment, multiple sclerosis, therapeutic, DMT
      and treatment response. Randomized trials and reviews addressing MS, DMTs and
      management strategies were selected and included in this review. Herein, we
      present the currently approved and emerging drugs used for the treatment of MS
      with their relative benefit/risk profiles, and their respective positions in the
      therapeutic arsenal. We then focused on the different therapeutic strategies and
      criteria available to evaluate the response to disease-modifying therapies
      (DMTs). 

PMID- 25813103
TI  - Soluble uric acid increases NALP3 inflammasome and interleukin-1beta expression
      in human primary renal proximal tubule epithelial cells through the Toll-like
      receptor 4-mediated pathway.
AB  - Urate crystals activate innate immunity through Toll like receptor 4 (TLR4)
      activation, leading to the formation of the NACHT, LRR and PYD domains-containing
      protein 3 [NALP3; also known as NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing
      3 (NALP3) and cryopyrin] inflammasome, caspase-1 activation and interleukin (IL)
      1beta expression in gout. However, whether elevated serum uric acid (UA) levels
      are associated with the development and progression of renal diseases without
      renal urate crystal deposition remains unknown. In the present study, human
      primary renal proximal tubule epithelial cells were incubated with soluble UA
      (100 ug/ml) with or without the TLR4 inhibitor, TAK242 (1 uM). The gene
      expression and protein synthesis of TLR4, NALP3, caspase-1, IL-1beta and
      intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) were detected by real-time PCR, ELISA,
      western blot analysis and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS),
      respectively. Soluble UA significantly enhanced TLR4, NALP3, caspase-1, IL-1beta
      and ICAM-1 expression in the human primary renal proximal tubule epithelial
      cells. The TLR4 inhibitor, TAK242 effectively blocked the soluble UA-induced
      upregulation of TLR4, NALP3, caspase-1, IL-1beta and ICAM-1 expression in the
      human primary renal proximal tubule epithelial cells. Our findings indicate that
      soluble UA enhances NALP3 expression, caspase-1 activation, IL-1beta and ICAM-1
      production in renal proximal tubule epithelial cells in a TLR4-dependent manner,
      suggesting the activation of innate immunity in human primary renal proximal
      tubule epithelial cells by soluble UA.

PMID- 25813104
TI  - Improved Outcomes for Women on the Heart Transplant Wait List in the Modern Era.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Whether the routine use of continuous-flow left ventricular assist
      devices (LVAD) has affected gender differences in outcomes for patients listed
      for heart transplantation (HT) is unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS: We identified
      20,468 adults (25% women) listed as status 1A or 1B for HT from 2000 to 2014. Sex
      differences in removal from the wait list during the first 365 days due to death
      or deterioration was assessed with the use of Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.
      Patients were stratified according to listing before (era 1) or after (era 2)
      Food and Drug Administration approval of the Heartmate II LVAD on April 22, 2008.
      Freedom from death or deterioration on the wait list was higher for men than for
      women (70% vs 64%; P < .001). After adjusting for risk factors, women had a
      higher risk of removal from the wait list at 365 days during both era 1 (hazard
      ratio [HR] 1.23, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10-1.36; P < .001) and era 2 (HR
      1.15, 95% CI 1.01-1.31; P = .029). Further adjustment for LVAD use eliminated the
      higher risk for women in era 2 (HR 1.14, 95% CI 0.99-1.29; P = .053) and not in
      era 1 (HR 1.22, 95% CI 1.10-1.36; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The higher risk for
      death or deterioration in women waiting for HT has improved in the modern era.

PMID- 25813105
TI  - [Evaluation of the feasibility of ultrasound in a community care outpatient
      pregnancy assessment clinic for high-risk pregnancies].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the clinical, legal, and technical roles of ultrasound in
      an outpatient pregnancy assessment clinic, while evaluating the feasibility for
      these consultations to be performed at home. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      prospectively assessed all consultations from April 3 to May 31, 2013, at the
      outpatient pregnancy assessment clinic of La Pitie-Salpetriere, Paris, France. We
      recorded all procedures and the number and type of ultrasound examination
      performed, according to their indication. For each consultation, we evaluated
      whether the routine protocols were sufficient or if the attending obstetrician
      was asked for advice. Finally, we asked the patients if they would prefer having
      this consultation in a home-care setting. RESULTS: We recorded 429 consultations
      (n) for 234 patients (Np). Indications were diabetes (n=106/Np=59), assessment of
      fetal growth (n=90/Np=43), another single indication (n=106/Np=59), multiple
      indications (n=46/Np=12), term pregnancies (n=39/Np=30), and a history of
      abnormal pregnancy (n=27/Np=10). CTG was performed for 91 % of consultations,
      blood samples for 10 %, and ultrasound for 88 %, which included amniotic fluid
      evaluation (79 %), umbilical Doppler (69 %), fetal biometries (36 %), uterine
      artery Doppler (0.7 %), cervical length (2 %), suspicion of breech presentation
      (4 %) and placenta position (0.7 %). Most of these ultrasound examinations could
      not be financially value if performed by a midwife. Routine protocols were
      sufficient for the management of 68 % of these consultations, 26 % required the
      attending obstetrician, and 6 % were finally low-risk. Performing these
      consultations in a home-care setting was medically possible and requested by the
      patient for 16 % of consultations (6 % of patients). CONCLUSION: These are
      encouraging results to experiment the outpatient pregnancy assessment clinic in a
      home-care setting, although the financial valorization system in France is poorly
      adapted.

PMID- 25813106
TI  - Vision of the korean association of medical colleges.
AB  - The Korean Association of Medical Colleges (KAMC) has launched as a corporate
      aggregate in August 2008, since the inauguration meeting as "Korean Association
      of Medical School Deans" 24 years before. The mission of KAMC is to be the
      representing agency of medical education in Korea, producing policies and
      strategies, suggesting and influencing government agencies related to medical
      education. The KAMC will consolidate its basic role and continue to expand its
      role as well; evaluation of basic medical education, representative of graduate
      medical education, policy making of medical manpower education system. 

PMID- 25813107
TI  - Application of computerized adaptive testing in medical education.
AB  - Application of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) in medical education is still
      spare in the high stakes examination or in the school-based examination. In the
      medical school in Belgium, CAT was used for an assessment tool in general
      practice as pilot test was reported. In Hallym University, CAT has been
      introduced in the evaluation of the students' performance as in-course general
      evaluation test and parasitology test. Another examples of application of CAT for
      high stakes examination are Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination -
      Part 1 in Canada and National Council Licensure EXamination - Registered Nurse in
      USA. CAT has some merits such as accurate estimation of the ability parameters of
      the examinees and the shorter period of examination. To apply the CAT in medical
      education more actively, medical teachers should have an interest in the modern
      measurement theories such as item response theory and technologies. It is still
      uncertain if CAT may be prosperous in the medical education as a tool for the
      measurement of the examinees' ability. However, we should prepare the era of
      application of CAT in high stakes examination such as medical licensing
      examination. 

PMID- 25813108
TI  - Multiple mini-interview in selecting medical students.
AB  - PURPOSE: Selecting medical students through interviews seems difficult and the
      reliability of the results is one of the major concerns. The purpose of this
      study was to investigate the reliability and acceptability of the Multiple Mini
      Interview (MMI) in selecting medical students of Kangwon National University.
      METHODS: Eighty-four applicants participated in the MMI which consists of 3 8
      minute stations that have 9 checklist items and 3 global items. The 3 domains
      that we chose were motivation to become a doctor, communication and interpersonal
      skills, and ethical decision-making. We placed 2 interviewers in each room. The
      interviewers were chosen from our faculty. We analyzed the reliability of the MMI
      with urGENOVA for PC. We conducted a survey of these applicants and interviewers.
      RESULTS: The reliability was 0.791. Students answered that the interview was
      impressive and enjoyable. Students were also satisfied with the level and quality
      of the MMI cases. They described that they were evaluated objectively.
      Interviewers also responded positively. They stated that more stations and more
      efforts to develop the cases were needed to improve the reliability and validity.
      CONCLUSION: The MMI was acceptable to our applicants and faculty. It is reliable
      for assessing medical school applicants in Korea. We should develop more stations
      and better cases to increase the reliability and validity of the MMI.

PMID- 25813109
TI  - The Relationship between Empathy and Medical Education System, Grades, and
      Personality in Medical College Students and Medical School Students.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study investigated the relationship between empathy and medical
      education system, grades, and personality in medical college (MC) students and
      medical school (MS) students. METHODS: One hundred fifty-five MC students and 137
      MS students participated in this study, completing questionnaires on
      sociodemographic data, Jefferson Scale of Empathy, S-version, Korean edition (JSE
      S-K), and Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). RESULTS: Reward Dependence
      (RD), Cooperativeness (C), and Self-directedness+ Cooperativeness (SC), which are
      subscales of the TCI, correlated significantly with JSE-S-K score. Third-year
      students had significantly higher scores on the JSE-S-K than first-year students.
      MS students had significantly higher scores on the JSE-S-K and the SC subscale of
      the TCI than MC students. However, there were no significant differences in
      empathy with regard to age, sex, motivation toward medical science, club
      activity, and applied specialty. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that empathy
      is associated with personality traits, such as RD, C, and SC, and medical
      education curriculum contributes incrementally to empathy for students. The
      difference in test scores for empathy between MC students and MS students might
      be due to differences in personality traits, such as SC.

PMID- 25813110
TI  - Comparison of Learning Styles between Medical College Students and Professional
      Graduate Medical School Students.
AB  - PURPOSE: The Professional Graduate Medical School (PGMS) was established in 2003
      in South Korea to train doctors that had better humanities and various
      educational backgrounds. By comparing the learning styles between students of the
      Medical College (MC) and PGMS, we investigated the characteristics of these
      students. METHODS: The Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) is used to determine
      learning preferences. It is composed of 12 statements on concrete experience,
      reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation.
      Six hundred nine students from all years of the 2 medical schools completed the
      Kolb LSI between June 1st and June 30th, 2008 (response rate: 91.4%). RESULTS: MC
      students preferred Kolb's 'assimilator (56.3%)' and 'diverger (25.6%)', and PGMS
      students preferred Kolb's 'assimilator (61.2%)' and 'converger (19.3%)'. PGMS
      students showed a higher preference for abstract conceptualization compared with
      MC students (adjusted Odds Ratio=2.191; 95% Confidence Interval=1.115~4.306).
      CONCLUSION: This study showed that the learning styles of PGMS and MC students
      differed. We can use this result not only in developing curricula and teaching
      strategies, but also in providing support to students.

PMID- 25813111
TI  - Comparison of Patient-centeredness Changes between Medical School Graduates and
      Medical Students after Psychiatric Clerkship.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare patient-centeredness changes
      between medical school graduates and medical students after a psychiatric
      clinical clerkship. METHODS: We focused on 40 medical school graduates. We
      received permission to use data from a 2006 study on patient-centeredness of 94
      medical students. The following was repeated before and after clerkship:
      Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), Meyers-Briggs type indicator
      (MBTI), Patient-practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS) and Authoritarian
      Personality (AP) scale. RESULTS: In the 2006 study on patient-centeredness of
      medical students, the AP scores were significantly lower than before clerkship
      and the PPOS scores were significantly higher than before clerkship. AP score
      changes were related to MBTI, correlated with MMPI subscales, but inversely
      correlated with PPOS changes. In this study, the change in PPOS scores was not
      significant after clerkship in case of medical school graduates. AP score changes
      inversely correlated with PPOS changes, but neither correlated with MMPI
      subscales or MBTI. CONCLUSION: Considering previous findings, medical school
      graduates tend to be more patient-centered than medical students, but medical
      students can adopt a more patient-centered attitude than graduates through a
      psychiatric clinical clerkship.

PMID- 25813112
TI  - Predictors of failure in medical students.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the predictors of failure in medical
      students. METHODS: We conducted a 10-year follow-up survey of 231 medical
      students. The students' general characteristics, study-related factors, health
      related behavior, and self-perceived health were examined using questionnaires
      that were given late in the first year of a premedical course. We evaluated the
      failure incidence of students using school records from the second year of a
      premedical course to the fourth year of medical school. The statistical analyses
      that were used were chi2-test, student t-test, and multiple logistic regression
      analysis. RESULTS: Sixty-five students experienced failure. Thirty-seven (56.9%)
      had 1 failure, 11 (16.9%) had 2 failures, 8 (12.3%) had 3 failures, 4 (6.2%) had
      4 failures, and 5 (7.7%) had 5 failures. From the results of multiple logistic
      regression, the rates of failure were significantly higher for those whose grade
      point average (GPA) in the first year of a premedical course was below 2.5
      (Relative Risk [RR]=6.52, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.42~29.8), who smoked
      more than 1 pack of cigarettes per day (RR=7.37, 95% CI: 1.23~44.07), who drank
      more (RR=1.16, 95% CI: 1.02~1.33), and exercised less (RR=0.997, 95% CI:
      0.995~0.999). CONCLUSION: It was demonstrated that the incidence of failure in
      medical students was reflected in their academic records in the first year of a
      premedical course and by unhealthy lifestyles. This study suggests that students
      who have poor academic marks and unhealthy lifestyles in the first year of a
      premedical course should be properly guided to reduce the incidence of failure.

PMID- 25813113
TI  - Changes of Epistemological Beliefs and Self-regulated Learning in Problem-based
      Learning.
AB  - PURPOSE: Epistemological beliefs (EBs) are fundamental assumptions about the
      nature of knowledge and learning. Self-regulation (SR) is the ability and
      willingness to effectively use and monitor cognitive strategies. Problem-based
      learning (PBL) emphasizes meaningful learning through solving ill-structured
      problems. PBL, as a constructivist learning environment, affects students'
      epistemological beliefs (EBs) and self-regulation learning (SRL). The purpose of
      this study was to investigate the change in EBs and SRL between pre- and post
      PBL. METHODS: The subjects were 123 third-year medical students who attended
      Chonnam National University Medical School (CNUMS), Korea. Participants had to
      fill out a questionnaire concerning epistemological beliefs and self-regulated
      learning before and after PBL. RESULTS: Students' EBs about rigid learning was
      positively changed; however, certainty of knowledge and speed of knowledge
      acquisition were negatively changed after PBL. Students' SRL related to self
      efficacy and self-regulation was significantly improved in PBL. There was no
      significant change with regard to internal value, cognitive strategy, and
      anxiety. CONCLUSION: EBs on certainty of knowledge and speed of knowledge
      acquisition were negatively changed after PBL. This result may be due to other
      leaning environments besides PBL i.e., the lecture-based objective learning
      environment of medical school. It is suggested that partial PBL cannot fully
      change students' EBs to higher levels. Students' SR about self-efficacy and self
      regulation was significantly improved in PBL. The characteristics of PBL: small
      group discussion and co-operative team activity, as well as students-centered
      learning environments, facilitate self-efficacy, and self-regulation.

PMID- 25813114
TI  - What Do the Patients Want to be Called during Medical Encounters?
AB  - PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to explore the terms that patients preferred
      to be called during medical encounters and to provide a guideline about the
      proper use of appellations about patients in teaching medical students. METHODS:
      Patients were asked to select items from given examples to indicate how they
      wanted to be addressed by their doctors and how their doctors tended to address
      them. These terms were categorized into 3 groups; 1) terms that includes name, 2)
      "patient+honorific suffix, boon (hwanja- boon)", and 3) other general terms. The
      survey also included questions on patient's perception of the importance of terms
      of address in building a good doctor-patient relationship. The questionnaire was
      distributed to 440 out-patients of the three university affiliated hospitals in
      Seoul and Gyeonggi province from August to September 2007. RESULTS: Three hundred
      ninety-two respondents were analyzed after excluding 58 respondents who did not
      meet the study criteria. The ages of the respondents ranged from 18 to 80 years,
      and 56% of them were male. Most patients preferred to be called by the terms that
      includes their name (284, 72.4%) and the most preferred term was "family name
      (FN)+given name (GN)+honorific suffix, nim" (156, 39.8%), while doctors used the
      terms "patient+honorific suffix, boon" (188, 48.0%) most frequently. About 59% of
      respondents were addressed as they preferred. Patients in their 30s and 40s
      showed significantly higher perceptions of the importance of terms of address
      than other age groups (p= 0.0007). CONCLUSION: Patients preferred to be called by
      their full name with an honorific suffix; however, patients' preferences and
      doctors' usage were not in agreement in many cases. The results of this study
      suggest that doctors should pay more attention to the proper use of appellation
      during medical encounters. Furthermore, these results can be used to teach
      undergraduate medical students and guide physicians on how to address patients in
      practice.

PMID- 25813115
TI  - Results of a survey of residents who experience pregnancy and delivery.
AB  - PURPOSE: A growing number of residents bear children during residency training.
      This study was conducted to examine the pregnancy and maternity leave experiences
      of women who delivered infants during their residency training. METHODS: From
      March 2007 through June 2007, we surveyed 94 women who had given birth during
      their residency training during the past 5 years from the survey date.
      Participants were recruited using snowball sampling. RESULTS: Most of the
      respondents (70.2%) delivered in the 3rd and 4th year of residency. The average
      length of leave was 68.9 days, and more than half (54.3%) of the women expressed
      that a maternity leave policy was not formally established in the department. In
      general, participants believed that having a child during residency was difficult
      (mean=4.18 in 5-point Likert scale), and this perception was inversely related
      with systematic departmental support. CONCLUSION: Pregnancy is a special
      challenge for residents, with regard to not only physical overexertion but also
      psychosocial impacts on pregnant residents and their colleagues. However, most
      current residency programs do not have written policies on pregnancy. A formal
      policy and more flexible curriculum can help both the training program and the
      pregnant resident.

PMID- 25813116
TI  - Medical professionalism development of oliver R. Avison.
AB  - PURPOSE: How does professionalism develop while becoming a great doctor? This
      study based on the life of Avison, a great doctor, aims to identify the
      developmental features of an excellence and professionally ethical doctor.
      METHODS: We chose Oliver R. Avison, who founded the first modern hospital and
      medical school in Korea, now known as Severance Hospital and Yonsei University
      College of Medicine. Sixteen pivotal events in Avison's life were extracted,
      based on 2 standards: self-memory and strong feeling. Further we analyzed Avison'
      life using a professional development analysis model. RESULTS: Oliver Avison's
      medical professionalism development was divided into 4 periods: 'Motivating in
      Medicine period', 'Medical Training period', 'Medical Doctor period', and
      'Medical Educating period'. A hallmark of Oliver Avison's medical professionalism
      development was the growth of motivation and social responsibility, medical
      knowledge, medical creativity, intra-personal intelligence, and relationship
      forming abilities. CONCLUSION: To excel in medicine, a medical student should be
      encouraged to understand his unique intellectual potentials and interest as a
      medical worker, and try to understand problems in the established domain and
      field of medicine, to develop new medical symbol systems, and climates.

PMID- 25813117
TI  - Twelve tips for successful use of "clickers" in the classroom.

PMID- 25813118
TI  - Apprenticeship in thinking: cognitive development in social context (barbara
      rogoff).

PMID- 25813120
TI  - Specimens as primary data: museums and 'open science'.

PMID- 25813121
TI  - Autonomic and prefrontal events during moral elevation.
AB  - Moral elevation, or elevation, is a specific emotional state triggered by
      witnessing displays of profound virtue and moral beauty. This study set out to
      characterize the physiology underlying elevation with measurements of heart rate
      (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)
      activity. During elevation, HR and RSA increased. These findings illustrate that
      elevation involves an uncommon combination of both sympathetic and
      parasympathetic activation, which is present in circumstances where arousal and
      social engagement are both required. In addition, we show evidence of content
      dependent alterations of mPFC activity during elevation peaks. Altogether, this
      study shows that the induction of moral elevation recruits an uncommon autonomic
      and neural pattern that is consistent with previous understanding of
      socioemotional-induced allostasis. 

PMID- 25813123
TI  - Testosterone and cortisol jointly modulate risk-taking.
AB  - Recent theories propose that testosterone should be positively related to risk
      taking, but empirical support is mixed. Building on the dual-hormone hypothesis,
      the present research tested whether testosterone's role in risk-taking depends on
      cortisol. Study 1 (N=115) tested this hypothesis in a mixed-sex sample with self
      and informant reports of risk-taking. Study 2 (N=165) tested this hypothesis in a
      male-only sample with the Balloon Analog Risk Task, a behavioral measure of risk
      taking. Across both studies, there was a positive association between basal
      testosterone and risk-taking among individuals low in basal cortisol but not
      individuals high in basal cortisol. This pattern emerged in both males and
      females and across multiple measures of risk-taking (self reports, informant
      reports, behavior). These studies provide novel empirical support for the claim
      that testosterone and cortisol jointly regulate risk-taking. Discussion focuses
      on putative mechanisms as well as implications for real-world risk-taking
      behaviors. 

PMID- 25813122
TI  - Electrophysiological evidence for an attentional bias in processing body stimuli
      in bulimia nervosa.
AB  - Empirical evidence suggests abnormalities in the processing of body stimuli in
      bulimia nervosa (BN). This study investigated central markers of processing body
      stimuli by means of event-related potentials in BN. EEG was recorded from 20
      women with BN and 20 matched healthy controls while watching and evaluating
      underweight, normal and overweight female body pictures. Bulimics evaluated
      underweight bodies as less unpleasant and overweight bodies as bigger and more
      arousing. A higher P2 to overweight stimuli occurred in BN only. In contrast to
      controls, no N2 increase to underweight bodies was observed in BN. P3 was
      modulated by stimulus category only in healthy controls; late slow waves to
      underweight bodies were more pronounced in both groups. P2 amplitudes to
      overweight stimuli were correlated with drive for thinness and body
      dissatisfaction. We present novel support for altered perceptual and cognitive
      affective processing of body images in BN on the subjective and
      electrophysiological level. 

PMID- 25813124
TI  - Twin pregnancy in an accessory cavitated non-communicating uterus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A uterine malformation is a type of female genital malformation
      resulting from abnormal development of the Mullerian duct(s) during
      embryogenesis. The type and degree of uterine malformation depends on the level
      at which the fusion process of the two Mullerian ducts stops; thus, there is a
      wide variety of malformations. A newly described deformity called accessory
      cavitated uterine mass (ACUM) has been increasingly reported. THE CASE: We report
      this deformity (in a 20-year-old married woman) which appears to be an additional
      incompletely developed, cavitated and presumably non-communicating uterus in
      addition to a normally shaped and developed uterus. The former uterus became
      impregnated with twins that died in a missed abortion at 13 weeks of gestation.
      Before discovering the presence of the deformity, three attempts were made to
      evacuate the dead fetuses by cervical dilatation and curettage of the normal
      empty uterus. These attempts resulted in perforation of its fundus, a laparotomy
      was performed to repair the uterus. During the laparotomy, the pregnant accessory
      uterus was discovered and was excised with the dead twins. DISCUSSION: The lack
      of good medical history was a cause of the mismanagement of this patient. Most
      probably, the origin of ACUM is a growth from the right Mullerian duct. The ovum
      has entered the ACUM through the rudimentary tube and has been fertilized by a
      sperm travelled either through the normal vaginal and uterine cavities or through
      the lymphatics. CONCLUSIONS: (1) A detailed case history is important. (2) An
      ACUM can be impregnated.

PMID- 25813125
TI  - Ureteroscopy-assisted retrograde nephrostomy (UARN) without ureteral access
      sheath (UAS).
AB  - INTRODUCTION: We previously described ureteroscopy assisted retrograde
      nephrostomy (UARN). In UARN, it is possible to continuously visualize the
      dilation of the ureter from puncture to insertion of the nephroaccess sheath with
      minimal complication. But in the course of making nephrostomy, UARN requires
      ureteral access sheath (UAS). UAS has a potential risk of ureteral stricture.
      Herein, we report the first case of UARN without the use of UAS. PRESENTATION OF
      CASE: A 53-year-old female was referred to our hospital for treatment of her
      right renal stone. Because her stone burden was 27mm, we planned to perform
      percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) using UARN without UAS. DISCUSSION: UAS
      facilitates a decrease in the intrarenal pressure due to irrigation, and it makes
      controlling the URS easier. However, in terms of the risk of ureteral stricture,
      unnecessary insertion of a UAS should be avoided. CONCLUSION: We describe the
      first case of a renal stone successfully treated by PCNL using the UARN method
      without the use of a UAS.

PMID- 25813127
TI  - Survival games at medical schools.

PMID- 25813126
TI  - Effect of REG Ialpha protein on angiogenesis in gastric cancer tissues.
AB  - Regenerating gene (REG) Ialpha is not only overexpressed in a subset of gastric
      cancers, but also involved in tumor progression. However, the mechanism by which
      (REG) Ialpha promotes tumor growth is not fully understood. In the present study,
      we investigated whether REG Ialpha plays a role in angiogenesis during the
      progression of gastric cancers. Expression of REG Ialpha and its receptor (EXTL3;
      exostoses like-3) was examined using immunohistochemistry in specimens of human
      gastric cancer. Microvessel density (MVD) in gastric cancer tissues was evaluated
      using an image analysis system after CD34 immunostaining. Relationships among
      clinicopathological features, REG Ialpha expression and MVD in gastric cancer
      tissues were analyzed. Effects of REG Ialpha protein on HUVEC cells in terms of
      proliferation and anti-apoptosis were assessed by WST-1 assay and FACS,
      respectively. Furthermore, the intracellular signaling by which REG Ialpha exerts
      its biological roles was examined in vitro. REG Ialpha expression was
      significantly related to lymph node metastasis and its receptor EXTL3 was
      ubiquitously expressed in not only the tumor cells, but also the tumor vessel
      cells in the gastric cancer tissues. MVD was significantly higher in gastric
      cancers that were REG Ialpha-positive than in those that were negative. Treatment
      with REG Ialpha protein promoted growth and anti-apoptosis through activation of
      the ERK and Akt signaling pathways in HUVEC cells, whereas these effects were
      attenuated by treatment with anti-REG Ialpha -antibody. REG Ialpha protein may
      play a role in angiogenesis during progression of gastric cancer. 

PMID- 25813128
TI  - Application of 'writing for healing' in premedical humanities education.
AB  - There has been a recent tendency to attach special importance to writing
      education. Books on 'writing to heal' are being written in or translated into
      Korean. According to these texts, writing is a valuable tool for internal
      healing, depending on the mode of application. Writing can have positive effects
      and give hope to an individual or group, but it can also be a source of
      frustration and despair. Based on the distinct effects of writing, we cannot
      overemphasize the significance of writing education. Writing is generally taught
      during a premedical course that targets students who will eventually practice
      medicine. Many reports have examined immorality in medical students and health
      care providers, which is a reason that writing education is important for medical
      systems. 'Writing for Healing' is open to freshmen at Yonsei University Wonju
      College of Medicine. The aim of this subject is to help students identify and
      acknowledge internal diseases to lead a healthier life and eventually become
      positive and responsible health care providers. However, in addition to the vague
      definition of what 'healing' is, the concept of 'writing for healing' has not
      been defined. This paper attempts to define the concept of 'writing for healing'
      and considers what influences it can have on a humanities curriculum in medical
      colleges. 

PMID- 25813129
TI  - Medical students' perception and satisfaction with medical communication teaching
      using electronic modules.
AB  - PURPOSE: To teach communication skills to medical students, a variety of
      instructional text and video materials are used. The purpose of this study was to
      investigate medical students' perception and satisfaction with medical
      communication teaching using electronic modules. METHODS: Medical communication
      subjects were developed for freshmen of the medical department. Each lesson was
      configured for the use of educational electronic modules. The modules were
      composed of a database of instructional materials and a program file that could
      link the materials. After the 2nd and 12th week of classes, the 8th and 14th
      practice interviews with simulated patients, and the end of the course, medical
      students' perception and satisfaction were assessed. RESULTS: Forty-five students
      participated in the survey. Students' satisfaction after the 2nd and 12th week of
      class was 16.2 (standard deviation [SD], 2.0) and 16.2 (SD, 2.1), respectively.
      The correlation between class satisfaction and awareness of the usefulness of the
      electronic modules was significant (p<0.05). After the end of the course, the
      students' average satisfaction score was 6.7 of 10 points (SD, 1.4). Satisfaction
      with the practice interview and evaluation using simulated patients was 7.5 (SD,
      2.3). For the practice interview, empathy, building a relationship, effective
      questioning, and active listening could be applied. CONCLUSION: Medical student
      satisfaction with medical communication teaching using electronic modules was
      high. Students who were aware of the usefulness of the electronic modules had
      higher satisfaction with their classes. Many interview skills of the initial and
      middle phase of interviewing could be applied for the practice interview.

PMID- 25813130
TI  - Experiences with establishing and implementing learning management system and
      computer-based test system in medical college.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to establish an e-learning system to
      support learning in medical education and identify solutions for improving the
      system. METHODS: A learning management system (LMS) and computer-based test (CBT)
      system were established to support e-learning for medical students. A survey of
      219 first- and second-grade medical students was administered. The questionnaire
      included 9 forced choice questions about the usability of system and 2 open-ended
      questions about necessary improvements to the system. RESULTS: The LMS consisted
      of a class management, class evaluation, and class attendance system. CBT
      consisted of a test management, item bank, and authoring tool system. The results
      of the survey showed a high level of satisfaction in all system usability items
      except for stability. Further, the advantages of the e-learning system were
      ensuring information accessibility, providing constant feedback, and designing an
      intuitive interface. Necessary improvements to the system were stability, user
      control, readability, and diverse device usage. CONCLUSION: Based on the
      findings, suggestions for developing an e-learning system to improve usability by
      medical students and support learning effectively are recommended.

PMID- 25813131
TI  - Impact of critical thinking disposition, general self-efficacy, and leadership on
      clinical competence in nursing students.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationships among
      critical thinking disposition, general self-efficacy, leadership and clinical
      competence, and identify the factors influencing clinical competence in nursing
      students. METHODS: In this descriptive study, 153 nursing students (from 2nd to
      4th school year) of a university in South Korea were enrolled in December 2010.
      The instruments for this study were the Korean versions of the Critical Thinking
      Disposition Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Leadership Inventory, and
      Clinical Competence Scale. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test,
      MANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression with PASW 18.0
      software. RESULTS: The mean scores (ranging from 1 to 5) in nursing students for
      critical thinking disposition, general self-efficacy, leadership, and clinical
      competence were 3.44, 3.51, 3.55, and 3.42, respectively. Positive correlations
      were found for clinical competence with critical thinking disposition, general
      self-efficacy, and leadership. The strongest predictor of clinical competence was
      leadership. In addition, leadership, nursing school year, and subjective academic
      achievement accounted for 34.5% of variance in clinical competence. CONCLUSION:
      This study revealed that developing leadership, critical thinking disposition,
      and self-efficacy in undergraduate nursing education is important to improve
      clinical competence of nursing students.

PMID- 25813132
TI  - Medical students' failure experiences and their related factors.
AB  - PURPOSE: A considerable number of medical students drop out due to low academic
      achievement, and these students have a high probability of repeated failure
      experiences. This study investigated the personal and academic problems of these
      students to help develop student support systems. METHODS: First-year (n=146) and
      second-year (n=119) medical students were asked to complete questionnaires. The
      questionnaires consisted of personality traits and the students' management
      of/satisfaction with school life. RESULTS: Students who had already dropped out
      accounted for 17.4% of the study subjects. The most common reason for dropping
      out was low academic achievement, and the most difficult part of taking a leave
      of absence from school was psychological anxiety. The group who dropped out had
      significantly lower levels of emotional stability, sociability, responsibility,
      dominance, masculinity, and superiority and more vulnerable mental states
      compared with those who did not drop out. They also expressed less motivation
      with regard to medical science and less satisfaction with school life than did
      the group that did not drop out. Those who dropped out tended not to prepare for
      exams, and they managed their time ineffectively. They also tried to resolve
      their difficulties alone and rarely sought help from teachers. CONCLUSION: More
      intimate student-teacher relationships should be established, and teachers should
      be encouraged to meet and interact with their students on a regular basis.
      Additionally, personality inventories should be used to assist in efforts to
      understand students, especially to identify hidden social and emotional problems.

PMID- 25813133
TI  - Transfer students' personality types and their academic performance in a graduate
      entry dental school.
AB  - PURPOSE: The study was designed to identify how different types of transfer
      student personality would be constituted in Seoul National University School of
      Dentistry (SNU SD) and delve into what personal types were often observed more
      competent in academic performance. METHODS: Among 40 students who transferred to
      SNU SD in 2004, 15 students voluntarily participated in completing the Myers
      Briggs type indicator (MBTI; GS form); then, it was tested whether or not their
      MBTI types would be dependent upon their final grades. In addition, another 32
      out of the 50 students who were enrolled through a traditional pre-den system
      served as a control group. RESULTS: It was mainly found that ISTJ type was the
      most typical one for those transfer dental students as well as for other native
      dental students who excelled in their academic performance. The noticeable
      majority of transfer students were Introverted (67%), Sensing (80%), Thinking
      (86%), and Judging (80%), with S-J pattern being statistically significant.
      CONCLUSION: SNU SD has been in a rebuilding process in terms of student/outcome
      centered dental education to have it up to the global standards. For this reason,
      it is ultimately a crucial part of that process to understand what personality
      types of the dental students with different backgrounds in major are observed and
      thus recognize how to support their learning according to different patterns of
      individual personality.

PMID- 25813134
TI  - Comparing Attitudes toward Disclosing Medical Errors between Medical Students and
      Interns.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare attitudes toward disclosing
      medical errors between medical students and interns. METHODS: The questionnaires
      were administrated to 164 medical students and interns. The questionnaires
      consist of 3 major concepts: knowledge, attitudes toward disclosure of medical
      error, barriers to the disclosure of medical error. RESULTS: Interns (56.1%) took
      medical errors less seriously than medical students (74.8%). Medical students
      (75.6%) believed that patients would want to be informed of any kind of medical
      errors while Interns (46.3%) thought so. Medical students (83.1%) considered that
      serious medical errors should be disclosed to patients. On the contrary, only
      46.3% of interns believed so. Medical students (16.3%) and interns (19.5%)
      believed disclosing medical error would increase patients trust in doctors. Both
      medical students and interns pointed out worries about malpractice suits as the
      biggest barrier to disclosing medical error. CONCLUSION: The attitudes toward
      disclosing medical error between medical students and interns were significantly
      different in many aspects. Interns show more negative attitudes about disclosing
      medical errors than medical students. And they also take medical errors less
      seriously than medical students. In particular, the attitudes of the subjects in
      this study were greatly different from the results of a previous patients'
      attitudes study. These perspectives differences could work against achieving
      patient-centered care which is the upmost priority in the current trends in
      health care. The efforts to bridge these perspective gaps between patients and
      doctors should start from medical school by teaching medical students the
      importance of the disclosing medical errors.

PMID- 25813135
TI  - Seven strategies for effective questioning.

PMID- 25813136
TI  - Medical education of north Korea.

PMID- 25813137
TI  - Facile synthesis of metal/metal oxide nanoparticles inside a nanoporous carbon
      matrix (M/MO@C) through the morphology-preserved transformation of metal-organic
      framework.
AB  - A facile method to transform metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) into metal/metal
      oxide@carbon (M/MO@C) composites with well-defined shapes is reported. The
      porosity of carbon and the particle sizes of M/MO are readily controlled by a
      simple two-step process that includes impregnation of the polymer precursors and
      a thermolysis reaction. 

PMID- 25813138
TI  - Long-term assessment of contaminated articles from the Chernobyl reactor.
AB  - The Chernobyl accident caused a release of radioactive materials from the reactor
      into the environment. This event contaminated people, their surroundings and
      their personal property, especially in the zone around the reactor. Among the
      affected individuals were British students who were studying in Minsk and Kiev at
      the time of the Chernobyl accident. These students were exposed to external and
      internal radiation, and the individuals' articles of clothing were contaminated.
      The primary objective of this study was to analyze a sample of this contaminated
      clothing 20 years after the accident using three different detectors, namely, a
      BP4/4C scintillation detector, a Min-Con Geiger-Muller tube detector and a high
      purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The clothing articles were initially assessed
      and found not to be significantly contaminated. However, there were several hot
      spots of contamination in various regions of the articles. The net count rates
      for these hot spots were in the range of 10.00 +/- 3.16 c/s to 41.00 +/- 6.40 c/s
      when the BP4/4C scintillation detector was used. The HPGe detector was used to
      identify the radionuclides present in the clothing, and the results indicated
      that the only active radionuclide was (137)Cs because of this isotope's long half
      life. 

PMID- 25813139
TI  - Interplay of vitamin D and metabolic syndrome: A review.
AB  - Vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide public health problem. Vitamin D deficiency
      plays key role in the pathophysiology of risk factors of metabolic syndrome which
      affect cardiovascular system, increase insulin resistance and obesity, stimulate
      rennin-angiotensin-aldosterone system that cause hypertension. The discovery of
      vitamin D receptor expressed ubiquitously in almost all body cells such as
      immune, vascular and myocardial cells, pancreatic beta cells, neurons and
      osteoblasts suggests an involvement of vitamin D mediated effects on metabolic
      syndrome. Moreover vitamin D deficiency as well as cardiovascular diseases and
      related risk factors frequently co-occur. This underlines the importance of
      understanding the role of vitamin D in the context of metabolic syndrome. The
      paper provides an insight into the physiology of vitamin D and relationship of
      vitamin D deficiency with risk factors of metabolic syndrome through
      observational and supplementation studies. 

PMID- 25813140
TI  - Balance and ankle muscle strength predict spatiotemporal gait parameters in
      individuals with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
AB  - AIMS: The aims of this study were to evaluate aspects of balance, ankle muscle
      strength and spatiotemporal gait parameters in individuals with diabetic
      peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and verify whether deficits in spatiotemporal gait
      parameters were associated with ankle muscle strength and balance performance.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty individuals with DPN and 30 control individuals
      have participated. Spatiotemporal gait parameters were evaluated by measuring the
      time to walk a set distance during self-selected and maximal walking speeds.
      Functional mobility and balance performance were assessed using the Functional
      Reach and the Time Up and Go tests. Ankle isometric muscle strength was assessed
      with a handheld digital dynamometer. Analyses of variance were employed to verify
      possible differences between groups and conditions. Multiple linear regression
      analysis was employed to uncover possible predictors of gait deficits. RESULTS:
      Gait spatiotemporal, functional mobility, balance performance and ankle muscle
      strength were affected in individuals with DPN. The Time Up and Go test
      performance and ankle muscle isometric strength were associated to spatiotemporal
      gait changes, especially during maximal walking speed condition. CONCLUSION:
      Functional mobility and balance performance are damaged in DPN and balance
      performance and ankle muscle strength can be used to predict spatiotemporal gait
      parameters in individuals with DPN.

PMID- 25813141
TI  - An inconvenient truth: urgent care is not primary care.

PMID- 25813142
TI  - Preoperative ejection fraction determines early recovery of left ventricular end
      diastolic dimension after aortic valve replacement for chronic severe aortic
      regurgitation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In patients with chronic severe aortic regurgitation (AR), aortic
      valve replacement (AVR) has been proved to promote left ventricular (LV)
      remodeling, especially LV end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD) reduction. However,
      there is little research whether postoperative LVEDD could return to normal
      parameter after AVR. The objective of this study was to determine predictors for
      the recovery of dilated LVEDD early after AVR. METHODS: The echocardiographic
      data of 105 patients, who underwent AVR for chronic pure AR between January 2005
      and December 2011, were analyzed at the preoperative (3-7 d), early (6-8 mo), and
      late (2-y) postoperative stages, retrospectively. According to the baseline
      level, LVEDD >70 mm or LV end-systolic dimension (LVESD) >50 mm or LVESD index
      >25 mm/m(2) were defined as severe LV dilation. Patients were then categorized
      into two groups (group 1: severe LV dilation; group 2: nonsevere LV dilation).
      RESULTS: In all patients, four-fifth of the reduction in LV dimension occurred at
      early (6-8 mo) postoperative stage. The patients in both groups had significant
      decreases in the LVEDD and LVESD early after AVR, with an additional but
      insignificant reduction at late postoperative stage. The ejection fraction (EF)
      in both groups significantly increased at either early or late stage. However,
      the LVEDD and LVESD in group 1 were larger than those in group 2, and the EF in
      group 1 was lower than that in group 2 at early postoperative stage. By
      multivariate analysis, we found that the preoperative EF was a good predictor for
      the recovery of dilated LVEDD early after AVR (P = 0.009). Receiver-operating
      characteristics analysis showed that EF >52% was the best cut-off value for the
      recovery of LVEDD. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with chronic pure AR, preoperative EF
      may be a good predictor for successful recovery of dilated LVEDD early after AVR.

PMID- 25813143
TI  - Measures of survival benefit in cancer drug development and their limitations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A variety of measures of survival benefit are available to an
      investigator comparing outcomes across the various arms of a drug development
      trial. In this article, we systematically review the most common measures of
      comparative survival used in published studies. MATERIALS: We distinguish between
      relative and absolute survival differences, and measures of instantaneous and
      cumulative risk. We consider settings in which the end point is overall survival
      as well as those in which disease-specific end points are of primary interest.
      RESULTS: We note that different measures capture different aspects of benefit,
      and some may be more reliable than others or more representative of clinically
      relevant benefit. CONCLUSIONS: Rather than simply using procedures that have
      become standard, analyses should identify the most clinically relevant measures
      of effect and apply procedures that reliably estimate these.

PMID- 25813144
TI  - BCG-refractory vs. BCG-relapsing non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer: a
      prospective cohort outcomes study.
AB  - PURPOSE: Patients with recurrent or persistent high-grade non-muscle-invasive
      bladder cancer after bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) therapy are termed "BCG
      failures." We hypothesize that BCG-refractory patients who fail to respond to BCG
      have worse outcomes after bladder-sparing treatments compared with BCG-relapsing
      patients whose tumors recur after at least a 6-month disease-free interval.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: We screened 32 patients who had failed BCG therapy for
      eligibility in a multicenter investigational trial. BCG-refractory patients
      received instillations of a mycobacterial cell wall-DNA complex extract. BCG
      relapsing patients were treated with additional BCG or other intravesical agents.
      Both groups of patients were followed prospectively with transurethral biopsy
      after 6 months, and cystoscopy every 3 to 6 months for more than 2 years. Median
      follow-up time for all patients was 53 months (range: 24-72 mo). RESULTS:
      Seventeen patients were classified as BCG refractory and 15 patients defined BCG
      relapsing. Recurrence-free median survival time was 10 months for BCG-refractory
      patients receiving mycobacterial cell wall-DNA complex vs. 23 months for BCG
      relapsing patients who received another induction course of BCG therapy (P =
      0.002). Progression-free survival time was 18 months for BCG-refractory vs. 52
      months for BCG-relapsing patients (P = 0.001). Of the 17 BCG-refractory patients,
      8 (47%) have died vs. 3 (20%) of the 15 BCG-relapsing patients. CONCLUSIONS: BCG
      refractory and BCG-relapsing categories differentiate BCG-failed patients into
      high-and lower-risk prognostic groups that may be useful in guiding treatment
      strategies.

PMID- 25813145
TI  - The transcription factor nuclear factor interleukin 6 mediates pro- and anti
      inflammatory responses during LPS-induced systemic inflammation in mice.
AB  - The transcription factor nuclear factor interleukin 6 (NF-IL6) plays a pivotal
      role in neuroinflammation and, as we previously suggested, hypothalamus-pituitary
      adrenal-axis-activation. Here, we investigated its contribution to immune-to
      brain communication and brain controlled sickness symptoms during
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced (50 or 2500 MUg/kg i.p.) systemic inflammation
      in NF-IL6-deficient (KO) or wildtype mice (WT). In WT LPS induced a dose
      dependent febrile response and reduction of locomotor activity. While KO
      developed a normal fever after low-dose LPS-injection the febrile response was
      almost abolished 3-7 h after a high LPS-dose. High-dose LPS-stimulation was
      accompanied by decreased (8 h) followed by enhanced (24 h) inflammation in KO
      compared to WT e.g. hypothalamic mRNA-expression including microsomal
      prostaglandin E synthase, inducible nitric oxide synthase and further
      inflammatory mediators, neutrophil recruitment to the brain as well as plasma
      levels of inflammatory markers such as IL-6 and IL-10. Interestingly, KO showed
      reduced locomotor activity even under basal conditions, but enhanced locomotor
      activity to novel environment stress. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis
      activity of KO was intact, but tryptophan-metabolizing enzymes were shifted to
      enhanced serotonin production and reuptake. Overall, we showed for the first time
      that NF-IL6 plays a dual role for sickness response and immune-to-brain
      communication: acting pro-inflammatory at 8h but anti-inflammatory at 24 h after
      onset of the inflammatory response reflecting active natural programming of
      inflammation. Moreover, reduced locomotor activity observed in KO might be due to
      altered tryptophan metabolism and serotonin reuptake suggesting some role for NF
      IL6 as therapeutic target for depressive disorders.

PMID- 25813146
TI  - [Condylar remodelling after temporomandibular joint reconstruction with fibula
      free flap].
AB  - AIM: Mandibular reconstructions with fibula free flap are commonly used in
      maxillo-facial surgery; termino-lateral mandibulectomy with reconstruction of the
      ramus and condylar unit is seldom used. Consequences on the temporomandibular
      joint remain unclear, and the type of reconstruction is still subject to
      controversy. METHODS: Six patients were followed after terminal mandibulectomy,
      reconstructed with fibular free flap. Evaluations of the results were made on
      functional and radiological criteria. RESULTS: No patient presented functional
      disturbances due to reconstruction. Remodeling of the neocondyle extremity was
      weak in adults but important in children, with modification of morphology and
      architecture of the condyle in children. DISCUSSION: Preservation of the disc is
      recommended. Many techniques are described to improve congruence, preservation
      and remodeling of the free extremity of the fibula flap. All give similar
      results. It seems that the real determinant factors on the quality of the result
      are age, presence of the disc or not, previous surgery performed, with or without
      radiotherapy.

PMID- 25813147
TI  - Evaluation of the co-existence of the red fluorescent plaque bacteria P.
      gingivalis with S. gordonii and S. mutans in white spot lesion formation during
      orthodontic treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Early detection of white spot lesions (WSLs) around brackets during
      orthodontic treatment is important for treatment and prevention. But it is
      unclear whether red fluorescent plaque (RFP) bacteria Porphyromonas gingivalis
      and its co-existence with Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus gordonii has any
      significant influence on this. Therefore the role of this bacterial co existence
      and WSLs formation during one year of fixed orthodontic therapy was evaluated.
      METHODS: Fourteen 12 to 22 year old (mean 15 +/- 3 years) consecutive patients
      attending the University of Liverpool dental hospital were recruited for this
      study. Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence (QLF) was used to identify RFP and
      enamel demineralisation, respectively, on anterior labial surfaces before and
      after placement of fixed orthodontic appliances. Bacterial composition was
      determined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) following nested PCR
      amplification of the 16S rRNA V2-V3 hypervariable region. RESULTS: WSLs were
      recorded on 4.2% of tooth surfaces and WSL development was not associated with
      RFP bacteria P. gingivalis presence. Differences in RFP bacteria P. gingivalis
      presence with S. mutans and S. gordonii, were observed before and after appliance
      placement. Intra subject changes in plaque flora between visits were not
      significantly associated with WSL development (p > 0.05). However, DGGE profiles
      indicated that apart from S. mutans, S. gordonii might also have a role in human
      enamel demineralisation. CONCLUSIONS: Fixed orthodontic brackets in adolescents
      may play a role in altering bacterial composition around brackets during
      orthodontic treatment and it is plausible that S. gordonii also have a role in
      human enamel demineralisation. Combinatorial approach of QLF technology and DGGE
      may be useful in determining bacterial composition during orthodontic therapy
      which could inform clinical interventions.

PMID- 25813148
TI  - Polymorphisms in Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha Are Associated With Higher Anxiety
      Levels in Women After Breast Cancer Surgery.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Before and after breast cancer surgery, women have reported varying
      anxiety levels. Recent evidence has suggested that anxiety has a genetic basis
      and is associated with inflammation. The purposes of the present study were to
      identify the subgroups of women with distinct anxiety trajectories; to evaluate
      for differences in the phenotypic characteristics between these subgroups; and to
      evaluate for associations between polymorphisms in cytokine genes and subgroup
      membership. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with breast cancer (n = 398) were
      recruited before surgery and followed up for 6 months. The patients completed the
      Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory and provided a blood sample for genomic
      analyses. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify the subgroups of patients
      with distinct anxiety trajectories. RESULTS: Two distinct anxiety subgroups were
      identified. The women in the higher anxiety subgroup were younger and had a lower
      functional status score. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms in tumor necrosis
      factor-alpha (rs1799964, rs3093662) were associated with the higher anxiety
      subgroup. CONCLUSION: The results of the present exploratory study suggest that
      polymorphisms in cytokine genes could partially explain the interindividual
      variability in anxiety. The determination of phenotypic and molecular markers
      associated with greater levels of anxiety can assist clinicians to identify high
      risk patients and initiate appropriate interventions.

PMID- 25813149
TI  - Zebrafish Nk-lysins: First insights about their cellular and functional
      diversification.
AB  - Nk-lysins are antimicrobial proteins produced by cytotoxic T lymphocytes and
      natural killer cells with a broad antimicrobial spectrum (including bacteria,
      fungi and parasites). Nevertheless, the implication of these proteins in the
      protection against viral infections is still poorly understood. In this work,
      four different Nk-lysin genes (nkla, nklb, nklc and nkld) were identified in the
      zebrafish genome. That means that zebrafish is the species with the higher
      repertoire of Nk-lysin genes described so far. The differential expression
      pattern of the Nk-lysins in several tissues, during ontogeny, among the different
      kidney cell populations, as well as between Rag1(-/-) and Rag1(+/+) individuals,
      could suggest a certain specialization of different cell types in the production
      of different Nk-lysin. Moreover, only two of these genes (nkla and nkld) were
      significantly up-regulated after viral infection, and this observation could be
      also a consequence of a functional diversification of the zebrafish Nk-lysins. 

PMID- 25813150
TI  - Development of a gLCR-based KRAS mutation detection approach and its comparison
      with other screening methods.
AB  - A gapped ligase chain reaction (gLCR)-based technique was developed and tested on
      clinical formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues from colorectal cancer
      patients. The technique was designed to detect low-level KRAS codon 12 or 13
      mutations or confirming doubtful results gained by less sensitive KRAS screening
      techniques. The gLCR approach was compared with mutation screening techniques
      commonly used in routine diagnostics regarding sensitivity and specificity. The
      herein described monoplex gLCR technique is a useful and powerful tool for
      detecting low-level KRAS codon 12 and 13 mutations in a vast majority of wild
      type DNA. The gLCR has the capacity to detect one mutated allele in an excess of
      at least one million wild type alleles (0.0001 %) and is therefore an ideal
      technique for confirming doubtful KRAS mutation screening results obtained by
      other techniques. The variance of the gLCRs signal amplitude was very low and is
      showing a high reproducibility with constant sensitivity even at higher
      dilutions. The financial effort and the handling time for this technique are low
      and comparable to a standard cycle sequencing reaction. Additionally, the gLCR
      technique is easy extendable for the detection of many other clinical relevant
      mutation hotspots.

PMID- 25813151
TI  - The clinicopathological significance of ALK rearrangements and KRAS and EGFR
      mutations in primary pulmonary mucinous adenocarcinoma.
AB  - Primary pulmonary mucinous adenocarcinoma (PPMA) is one of the important subtypes
      of lung adenocarcinoma. Detection of anaplastic lymphoma receptor tyrosine kinase
      (ALK) rearrangements and of KRAS and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)
      mutations will help in diagnosing and predicting treatment outcome. The aim of
      this study was to investigate the clinicopathological significance of ALK
      rearrangements, KRAS and EGFR mutations in PPMA. ALK expression was detected
      immunohistochemically. KRAS and EGFR mutations were determined by the
      amplification refractory mutation system. Seventy-three patients of PPMA were
      enrolled. ALK rearrangements were detected in 34.2 % of patients and were more
      frequent in upper/middle lobe, stage III-IV, lymphatic permeation-positive
      patients and non-smokers. ALK rearrangements were significantly increased in the
      solid tumor predominant with mucin production subtype, and in special tissue
      structures, including signet ring cells, cribriform, and micropapillary patterns.
      KRAS mutations were observed in 23.3 % of patients and were more prevalent in
      invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma and lower lobe tumors. Only one case of ALK
      rearrangements harbored KRAS mutation, and no cases manifested with the
      coexistence of ALK rearrangements and EGFR mutations. KRAS and EGFR co-mutation
      was detected in one case. PPMA patients with ALK rearrangements or KRAS mutation
      represent a unique subtype in NSCLC. The results provide basis data for target
      therapy screening of PPMA patients.

PMID- 25813152
TI  - Impact of TGF-beta1 -509C/T and 869T/C polymorphisms on glioma risk and patient
      prognosis.
AB  - Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) plays an important role in
      carcinogenesis. Two polymorphisms in the TGF-beta1 gene (-509C/T and 869T/C) were
      described to influence susceptibility to gastric and breast cancers. The 869T/C
      polymorphism was also associated with overall survival in breast cancer patients.
      In the present study, we investigated the relevance of these TGF-beta1
      polymorphism in glioma risk and prognosis. A case-control study that included 114
      glioma patients and 138 cancer-free controls was performed. Single nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs) were evaluated by polymerase chain reaction followed by
      restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Univariate and multivariate
      logistic regression analyses were used to calculate odds ratio (OR) and 95 %
      confidence intervals (95 % CI). The influence of TGF-beta1 -509C/T and 869T/C
      polymorphisms on glioma patient survival was evaluated by a Cox regression model
      adjusted for patients' age and sex and represented in Kaplan-Meier curves. Our
      results demonstrated that TGF-beta1 gene polymorphisms -509C/T and 869T/C are not
      significantly associated with glioma risk. Survival analyses showed that the
      homozygous -509TT genotype associates with longer overall survival of
      glioblastoma (GBM) patients when compared with patients carrying CC + CT
      genotypes (OR, 2.41; 95 % CI, 1.06-5.50; p = 0.036). In addition, the homozygous
      869CC genotype is associated with increased overall survival of GBM patients when
      compared with 869TT + TC genotypes (OR, 2.62; 95 % CI, 1.11-6.17; p = 0.027). In
      conclusion, this study suggests that TGF-beta1 -509C/T and 869T/C polymorphisms
      are not significantly associated with risk for developing gliomas but may be
      relevant prognostic biomarkers in GBM patients.

PMID- 25813154
TI  - Rare case of subcarinal thymic carcinoma in the middle mediastinum.
AB  - We report an extremely rare case of a thymic carcinoma occurring in the
      subcarinal location of the middle mediastinum, masquerading as subcarinal
      adenopathy. A 6.2 * 5 cm mass was detected on computed tomography scan and found
      to be hypermetabolic on positron emission tomography scan. Transbronchial biopsy
      was performed and the mass was found to be suspicious for malignancy. A
      thoracoscopic resection of the mass was performed and found to be thymic
      carcinoma. The patient underwent a course of adjuvant radiation. To the best of
      our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a thymic carcinoma resected
      from the middle mediastinum. 

PMID- 25813153
TI  - Tumor suppressive microRNA-200a inhibits renal cell carcinoma development by
      directly targeting TGFB2.
AB  - A large body of evidence indicates that microRNAs play a critical role in tumor
      initiation and progression by negatively regulating oncogenes or tumor suppressor
      genes. Here, we report that the expression of miR-200a was notably downregulated
      in 45 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) samples. Restoration of miR-200a suppressed cell
      proliferation, migration, and invasion in two RCC cell lines. Furthermore, we
      used an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition PCR array to explore the putative
      target genes of miR-200a. By performing quantitative real-time PCR, ELISA, and
      luciferase reporter assays, transforming growth factor beta2 (TGFB2) was
      validated as a direct target gene of miR-200a. Moreover, siRNA-mediated knockdown
      of TGFB2 partially phenocopied the effect of miR-200a overexpression. These
      results suggest that miR-200a suppresses RCC development via directly targeting
      TGFB2, indicating that miR-200a may present a novel target for diagnostic and
      therapeutic strategies in RCC.

PMID- 25813155
TI  - Cystic multiglandular maternal hyperparathyroidism diagnosed by neonatal
      hypocalcemic seizures.
AB  - A 7-day-old male infant born to a healthy 33-year-old female at 37 weeks of
      gestation was brought to the local emergency department (ED) with sudden-onset
      tonic-clonic seizures. Laboratory testing revealed extreme hypocalcemia (ionized
      calcium of 3.2 mg/dl) and undetectable parathyroid hormone (PTH <10 pg/ml).
      Concomitant evaluation of the mother revealed both elevated ionized calcium (5.9
      mg/dl) and PTH (116 pg/ml). The mother underwent preoperative ultrasound
      localization and sestamibi scan, followed promptly by parathyroidectomy. Given
      the cystic appearance and presence of multiglandular disease, evaluation for
      familial cystic parathyroid adenomatosis (hyperparathyroidism-jaw bone-tumor
      syndrome) and MEN 1 were undertaken. The infant was stabilized and discharged
      home. He returned to the ED with seizures at 1 month of age. After increasing
      calcium supplementation appropriately, he was monitored with weekly office
      visits. This represents a unique case of undiagnosed maternal primary
      hyperparathyroidism manifesting with intrauterine parathyroid suppression and
      hypocalcemic seizures in the newborn. 

PMID- 25813157
TI  - Laser treatment of onychomycosis: beware of ring block anesthesia!

PMID- 25813156
TI  - Treatment of periodontal disease with an Er,Cr:YSGG laser in rats exposed to
      cigarette smoke inhalation.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the erbium, chromium:yttrium
      scandiumgallium-garnet (Er,Cr:YSGG) laser irradiation in the treatment of
      periodontitis in rats exposed to cigarette smoke inhalation (CSI). Ligatures were
      placed in the maxillary second molars. After a 15-day period, the ligatures were
      removed and 180 animals were randomly divided into six groups: (1) CSRP group-
      CSI and manual scaling and root planing (SRP) treatment; (2) CL group--CSI and
      Er,Cr:YSGG laser irradiation; (3) CSRP + L group-CSI, SRP, and Er,Cr:YSGG
      irradiation; (4) SRP group-manual SRP; (5) L group--Er,Cr:YSGG irradiation; (6)
      SRP + L group--SRP and Er,Cr:YSGG irradiation. At 7, 15, and 30 days after
      treatments, animals were euthanized and histologic, histometric,
      immunohistochemistry, and real-time PCR analyses were performed. Histometrically,
      no differences were observed in the SRP, L, and SRP + L groups exposed to CSI.
      The CSRP group showed more bone formation at 30 days than at 15 days (p < 0.01)
      but less bone at 30 days than the CL group at 30 days (p < 0.05).
      Immunohistochemical staining was positive for osteoblasts, fibroblasts, and
      osteoclasts. Real-time PCR showed more (vascular endothelial growth factor) VEGF
      expression in the L (p < 0.05) and SRP + L (p < 0.01) groups at 30 days than at
      15 days and less VEGF expression in the CSRP group at 30 days than at 15 days (p
      < 0.05). There was no difference in fibroblast growth factor (FGF) expression.
      The Er,Cr:YSGG laser irradiation promotes favorable conditions for tissue repair
      even in animals exposed to CSI, with similar results as those achieved from
      manual scaling and root planing.

PMID- 25813158
TI  - Small cyclic agonists of iron regulatory hormone hepcidin.
AB  - Minihepcidins are in vitro and in vivo active mimetics of iron-regulatory hormone
      hepcidin. They contain various unusual amino acids including: N-substituted, beta
      homo-, and d-amino acids with their combination depending on particular
      minihepcidin. In the current study, we sought to limit the use of unusual/more
      expensive amino acids derivatives by peptide cyclization. Novel cyclic mimetics
      of hepcidin were synthesized and tested in vitro and showed activity at low
      nanomolar concentration. Nonetheless, the most active cyclic compound (mHS17) is
      approximately ten times less active than the parental minihepcidin PR73.
      Collectively, our findings suggest that cyclization is viable approach in the
      synthesis of hepcidin mimetics. 

PMID- 25813159
TI  - New septanoside and 20-hydroxyecdysone septanoside derivative from Atriplex
      portulacoides roots with preliminary biological activities.
AB  - The phytochemical investigation of a Tunisian plant Atriplex portulacoides
      (Chenopodiaceae) led to the isolation of two new compounds designated as
      portulasoid (2) and septanoecdysone (3) along with the known 20-hydroxyecdysone
      (20HE) (1). Their chemical structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive
      spectroscopic methods including ES-HRMS, 1D and 2D-NMR. The isolated compounds
      were finally tested for their antioxidant activity by using DPPH, ABTS(+), Fe(3+)
      and catalase assays and also for their antibacterial and anticholinesterase
      activities. 

PMID- 25813160
TI  - Substituted piperazines as nootropic agents: 2- or 3-phenyl derivatives
      structurally related to the cognition-enhancer DM235.
AB  - A series of 2-phenyl- or 3-phenyl piperazines, structurally related to DM235 and
      DM232, two potent nootropic agents, have been prepared and tested in the mouse
      passive-avoidance test, to assess their ability to revert scopolamine-induced
      amnesia. Although the newly synthesized molecules were less potent than the
      parent compounds, some useful information has been obtained from structure
      activity relationships. A small but significant enantioselectivity has been found
      for the most potent compound 5a. 

PMID- 25813161
TI  - Evaluation of the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors and periaortic
      fat thickness in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

PMID- 25813162
TI  - Synthesis, structural and computational characterization of 2-amino-3,5
      diiodobenzoic acid and 2-amino-3,5-dibromobenzoic acid.
AB  - The benzoic acid compounds 2-amino-3,5-dibromobenzoic acid (2A35Br) and 2-amino
      3,5-diiodobenzoic (2A35I) acid have been synthesized and characterized by single
      crystal X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy and
      computational methods. Molecular geometry, intra- and inter-molecular
      interactions have been investigated by using X-ray diffraction technique.
      Fundamental vibrational bands of the title compounds were founded by FT-IR and UV
      Vis method was used to obtain electronic bands. Geometry optimizations and the
      calculation of IR frequencies were performed both Gaussian type orbitals at
      Gaussian 09W and Slater type orbitals at ADF2009.01 software. The calculations
      are compatible with the experiment results. In addition, geometrical parameters,
      energies, HOMO-LUMO gaps and electrophilicity indexes have been calculated for
      thirty possible positional isomers of 2A35Br and 2A35I. Calculations show that
      2A35Br and 2A35I isomers have the lowest energy, the narrowest HOMO-LUMO gap and
      the highest electrophilicity index values. Molecular electrostatic potential
      maps, Fukui indices, natural bond orbital analysis, thermodynamic parameters and
      non-linear optical properties of the 2A35Br and 2A35I were also investigated by
      theoretical calculations. 

PMID- 25813163
TI  - Effect of pH in the photoluminescence of a ruthenium complex featuring a
      derivative of the ligand pyrazine[2,3-f][1,10]-phenanthroline.
AB  - A new ruthenium complex, [Ru(bpy)2(dbe-ppl)](PF6)2 (bpy=2,2'-bipyridine and dbe
      ppl=dimethyl 4,4'-(pyrazino[2,3-f][1,10]phenanthroline-2,3-diyl)dibenzoate, has
      been synthesized and characterized by (1)H NMR spectroscopy, UV-Vis, IR, and
      cyclic voltammetry. Irradiation on the MLCT band results in photoluminescence in
      both protic and aprotic solvents. The photoluminescence in water is pH dependent,
      it shows a behavior which can be described by the Henderson-Hasselbalch assuming
      the protonation/deprotonation of the excited state with a pKa of 2.40+/-0.01. 

PMID- 25813164
TI  - Assessment of long-range corrected and conventional DFT functional for the
      prediction of second--order NLO properties and other molecular properties of N-(2
      cyanoethyl)-N-butylaniline--a vibrational spectroscopy study.
AB  - Vibrational spectral analysis and quantum chemical computations based on density
      functional theory have been performed on the N-(2-cyanoethyl)-N-butylaniline. The
      geometry, structural properties, intermolecular hydrogen bond, and harmonic
      vibrational frequencies of the title molecule have been investigated with the
      help of DFT (B3LYP) and LC-DFT (CAM-B3LYP) method. Molecular electrostatic
      potential (MEP) have been performed. The various intramolecular interactions have
      been exposed by natural bond orbital analysis. The distribution of atomic charges
      and bending of natural hybrid orbitals also reflect the presence of
      intramolecular hydrogen bonding. Global reactivity and local reactivity
      descriptors of the title molecule have been calculated. The analysis of the
      electron density of HOMO and LUMO gives an idea of the delocalization and low
      value of energy gap indicated the electron transport in the molecule and thereby
      NLO activity. The effect of solvent on second-order NLO properties has been
      studied using polarized continuum model (PCM) in the tetrahydrofuran (THF)
      solution. The solvent leads to a slight enhancement of the NLO responses for the
      studied complexes relevant to their NLO responses in gas phase. The electronic
      absorption spectra were investigated by the TDDFT methods. The frequency
      dependent first hyperpolarizabilities of the N-(2-cyanoethyl)-N-butylaniline were
      also evaluated. The (1)H and (13)C NMR chemical shifts have been calculated by
      gauge-indepedent atomic orbital (GIAO) method with B3LYP/6-311++G(d, p) approach.

PMID- 25813165
TI  - Synthesis and spectroscopic study of highly fluorescent beta-enaminone based
      boron complexes.
AB  - The newly synthesized 1, 1, 2-trimethyl-1H benzo[e]indoline based beta-enaminone
      boron complexes exhibited the intense fluorescence (Fmax=522-547 nm) in solution
      as well as in solid state (F max=570-586 nm). These complexes exhibited large
      stoke shift, excellent thermal and photo stability when compared to the boron
      dipyrromethene (BODIPY) colorants. Optimized geometry and orbital distribution in
      ground states were computed by employing density functional theory (DFT). The
      cyclic voltammetry study revealed the better electron transport ability of these
      molecules than current electroluminescent materials like tris(8-hydroxyquinoli
      nato)-aluminium (Alq3) and BODIPY, which can find application in
      electroluminescent devices.

PMID- 25813166
TI  - An investigations on the molecular structure, FT-IR, FT-Raman and NMR spectra of
      1-(p-tolylsulfonyl) pyrrole by theoretical and experimental approach.
AB  - Fourier-Transform-Infrared, Fourier-Transform-Raman and Nuclear Magnetic Rezonans
      spectra of 1-(p-tolylsulfonyl) pyrrole molecule have been recorded. In the powder
      form, vibrational spectra of 1-(p-tolylsulfonyl) pyrrol molecule were
      investigated in the region 4000-400 cm(-1) and 3500-50 cm(-1), respectively. The
      conformational analysis, geometrical structure, molecular electrostatic potential
      map, HOMO-LUMO and vibrational spectroscopic properties of the isolated 1-(p
      tolylsulfonyl) pyrrole molecule have also been carried out at the Molecular
      Mechanic and Density Functional Theory approaches. Density Functional Theory
      results have been associated with Scaled Quantum Mechanics Force Field for
      fitting between the theoretical and the experimental frequencies.

PMID- 25813167
TI  - Vibrational spectroscopic study of dehydroacetic acid and its cinnamoyl pyrone
      derivatives.
AB  - The infrared and Raman spectra of dehydroacetic acid and some of its derivatives
      were measured. The assignments of the vibrational bands were based on quantum
      chemical calculations and normal coordinate analysis. The optimized structures,
      atomic net charges and dipole moments of the investigated molecules were also
      results of our quantum chemical calculations. The analysis of the last properties
      made possible a deeper insight into the structure and substituent effect on the
      investigated molecules. One of them is presented in the graphical abstract. 

PMID- 25813168
TI  - High calcination of ferroelectric BaTiO3 doped Fe nanoceramics prepared by a
      solid-state sintering method.
AB  - This study examined the effects of the combination of starting materials on the
      properties of solid-state reacted BaTiO3 using two different types of BaCO3 and
      TiO2. In addition, the effect of mechanochemical activation by high energy
      milling and the Ba/Ti molar ratio on the reaction temperature, particle size and
      tetragonality were investigated. The TiO2 phase and size plays a major role in
      increasing the reaction temperature and particle size. With the optimum selection
      of starting materials and processing conditions, BaTiO3 with a particle size <200
      nm (Scherrer's formula) and a tetragonality c/a of approximately 1.007 was
      obtained. Broadband dielectric spectroscopy is applied to investigate the
      electrical properties of disordered perovskite-like ceramics in a wide
      temperature range. From the X-ray diffraction analysis it was found that the
      newly obtained BaTi0.5Fe0.5O3 ceramics consist of two chemically different
      phases. The electric modulus M* formalism used in the analysis enabled us to
      distinguish and separate the relaxation processes, dominated by marked
      conductivity in the epsilon*(omega) representation. Interfacial effects on the
      dielectric properties of the samples have been understood by Cole-Cole plots in
      complex impedance and modulus formalism. Modulus formalism has identified the
      effects of both grain and grain boundary microstructure on the dielectric
      properties, particularly in solid state routed samples.

PMID- 25813169
TI  - Studies on the weak interactions and CT complex formations between chloranilic
      acid, 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinone, tetracyanoethylene and papaverine
      in acetonitrile and their thermodynamic properties, theoretically,
      spectrophotometrically aided by FTIR.
AB  - Spectrophotometric, FTIR and theoretical studies of the charge-transfer complexes
      between mild narcotic drug papaverine and the acceptors chloranilic acid (Cl-A),
      2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinone (DDQ) and tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) in
      acetonitrile, their association constants, thermodynamic (DeltaG(0), DeltaH(0)
      and DeltaS(0)) and other related properties had been described. Papaverine was
      found to form colored charge-transfer complexes with Cl-A, DDQ and TCNE in
      acetonitrile. The absorption maxima of the complexes were 518.5, 584.0 and 464.0
      nm for Cl-A complex, DDQ complex, and TCNE complex respectively. The compositions
      of the papaverine complexes were determined to be 1:1 from Job's method of
      continuous variation. Solid complexes formed between papaverine and the acceptors
      were isolated. Comparison of the FTIR spectra of the solid complexes between
      papaverine and the acceptors and their constituents showed considerable shift in
      absorption peaks, changes in intensities of the peaks and formation of the new
      bands on complexation. However, no attempt has been made to purify the complexes
      and study the detailed spectra both theoretically and experimentally. The
      energies hnu(CT) of the charge-transfer complexes were compared with the
      theoretical values of hnu(CT) of the complexes obtained from HOMO and LUMO of the
      donor and the acceptors. The reasons for the differences in hnuCT values were
      explained. Density function theory was used for calculation. hnu(CT)
      (experimental) values of the transition energies of the complexes in acetonitrile
      differed from hnu(CT) (theoretical) values. ID(V) value of papaverine was
      calculated. Charge-transfer complexes were assumed to be partial electrovalent
      compounds with organic dative ions D(+) and A(-) (in the excited state) and
      attempts had been made to correlate the energy changes for the formation of the
      complexes with the energy changes for the formation of electrovalent compounds
      between M(+) and X(-) ions.

PMID- 25813170
TI  - Study on molecular structure, spectroscopic behavior, NBO, and NLO analysis of 3
      methylbezothiazole-2-thione.
AB  - Experimentally observed spectral data (FT-TR and FT-Raman) of 3
      methylbezothiazole-2-thione (3MBT2T) were compared with the spectral data
      obtained by DFT/B3LYP method using 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. UV-Vis spectrum of
      the title compound was recorded and the electronic properties, such as frontier
      molecular orbitals and band gap energies were calculated by TD-DFT approach. The
      molecular properties like dipole moment, polarizability, first static
      hyperpolarizability, molecular electrostatic potential surface (MEPs), and
      contour map were calculated to get a better comprehension of the properties of
      the title molecule. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis was applied to
      investigate the stability of the molecule arising from charge delocalization.
      Global and local reactivity descriptors were also computed to predict reactivity
      and reactive sites on the molecule. 

PMID- 25813171
TI  - Three novel input logic gates supported by fluorescence studies: organic
      nanoparticles (ONPs) as chemo-sensor for detection of Zn2+ and Al3+ in aqueous
      medium.
AB  - Organic nanoparticles (ONPs) of N,N'-ethylenebis(salicylimine) (salen) were
      synthesized and applied for specific recognition of Zn(2+) and Al(3+) ions in an
      aqueous medium. The results show that fluorescence intensity rises with the
      increasing concentration of Zn(2+) in salen solution, proving that salen-ONPs
      detect Zn(2+) efficiently in the aqueous medium as chemo-sensor. Furthermore, the
      salen-ONPs/Zn(2+) system performs as an ON-OFF switch between pH 6.0 and 4.0.
      Amusingly, although salen-ONPs/Al(3+) does not show any significant effect in the
      fluorescence spectra, highest fluorescence intensity was observed when Al(3+) ion
      was added to salen-ONPs/Zn(2+) in a sequential order (addition of Zn(2+) to salen
      ONPs, followed by Al(3+)). This system can be applied as a novel three inputs
      logic gate supported by the fluorescence for the detection of Zn(2+) and Al(3+)
      in biological and environmental samples. It appears that photo induced electron
      transfer (PET) occurs in the salen-ONPs when the fluorophore is excited. For
      salen/Zn(2+) system, the PET is being inhibited considerably by lowering the
      receptor HOMO energy due to the formation of a bond between the metal ion and
      ligand, enhancing the fluorescence emission. This is consistent with the
      theoretical study that the energy of HOMO of the ligand is lower than that of
      Zn(salen)(2+) complex. 

PMID- 25813172
TI  - Synthesis and investigation of the properties of novel azocalix[4]arenes.
AB  - The azocalix[4]arenes molecules such as methylphenylazocalix[4]aren (MPcalix[4])
      and methoxyphenylazocalix[4]aren (MOPcalix[4]) have been synthesized and
      characterized by experimental FT-IR and (1)H NMR spectral analyses. The
      fundamental vibrational transitions have been addressed by experimental FT-IR
      (4000-400 cm(-1)) technique and density functional theory (DFT) employing B3LYP
      level with the 6-31G(d) and 6-311G(d,p) basis sets. The (1)H NMR spectra of the
      studied compounds have been recorded in chloroform, and compared with computed
      data obtained by using gauge including atomic orbital (GIAO) method. Furthermore,
      thermodynamic properties (heat capacity, entropy, and enthalpy changes) and
      frontier molecular orbitals of the molecules in the ground state have been
      calculated by using the same method and basis sets. The non-linear optical
      properties such as the first order hyperpolarizability (beta0), related
      properties (alpha0 and Deltaalpha) are also computed. Information about the
      charge density distribution of the molecules and its chemical reactivity has been
      studied by mapping molecular electrostatic potential surface (MEPs). The scaled
      vibrational frequency values have been compared with experimental FT-IR
      spectroscopic data. The correlations between the observed and calculated
      frequencies are in good agreement with each other as well as the correlation of
      NMR data. The linear polarizability and first hyperpolarizability of the studied
      molecules indicate that the compounds are a good candidate of nonlinear optical
      materials.

PMID- 25813173
TI  - Synthesis, spectral characterization, computational calculations and biological
      activity of complexes designed from NNO donor Schiff-base ligand.
AB  - A new series of Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) complexes of (Z)-2-oxo-2-(phenylamino)
      N'-(1-(pyridin-2-yl)ethylidene)acetohydrazide (H2OPPAH) have been prepared and
      characterized by conventional techniques. The spectral data indicated that the
      ligand acts as neutral or mononegative NNO tridentate. On the basis of magnetic
      and electronic spectral data an octahedral geometry for Ni(II) and Cu(II)
      complexes and a tetrahedral geometry for Co(II) complex have been proposed. The
      molecular modeling using DFT method are drawn showing the bond length, bond
      angle, chemical reactivity, energy components (kcal/mol) and binding energy
      (kcal/mol) for all title compounds. The Kinetic parameters were determined for
      each thermal degradation stages of the ligand and its complexes using Coats
      Redfern and Horowitz-Metzger methods. Also, the compounds were screened for
      antioxidant activity using ABTS free radical, anti-hemolytic, and in vitro
      cytotoxic assay. H2OPPAH showed the potent antioxidant activity followed by
      Co(II) and Cu(II) complexes. On the other hand Ni(II) complex exhibited weak
      antioxidant activity using ABTS free radical and Erlich and strong erythrocyte
      hemolysis activity. 

PMID- 25813174
TI  - Spectroscopic investigation (FTIR spectrum), NBO, HOMO-LUMO energies, NLO and
      thermodynamic properties of 8-Methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamideby DFT methods.
AB  - Capsicum a hill grown vegetable is also known as red pepper or chili pepper.
      Capsaicin(8-Methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) is the active component in chili
      peppers, which is currently used in the treatment of osteoarthritis, psoriasis
      and cancer. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrum of Capsaicin in the solid
      phase were recorded in the region 4000-400 cm(-1) and analyzed. The vibrational
      frequencies of the title compound were obtained theoretically by DFT/B3LYP
      calculations employing the standard 6-311++G(d,p) basis set and were compared
      with Fourier transform infrared spectrum. Complete vibrational assignment
      analysis and correlation of the fundamental modes for the title compound were
      carried out. The vibrational harmonic frequencies were scaled using scale factor,
      yielding a good agreement between the experimentally recorded and the
      theoretically calculated values. Stability of the molecule arising from hyper
      conjugative interactions, charge delocalization and intra molecular hydrogen bond
      like weak interaction has been analyzed using Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis
      by using B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) method. The results show that electron density (ED)
      in the sigma* and pi* antibonding orbitals and second-order delocalization
      energies E (2) confirm the occurrence of intra molecular charge transfer (ICT)
      within the molecule. The dipole moment (MU), polarizability (alpha) and the
      hyperpolarizability (beta) values of the molecule has been computed.
      Thermodynamic properties (heat capacity, entropy and enthalpy) of the title
      compound at different temperatures were calculated.

PMID- 25813175
TI  - Second-order susceptibility spectra for delta-BiB3O6 polymer nanocomposites
      deposited on the chalcogenide crystals.
AB  - The optimized conditions for the enhancement of the second harmonic generation in
      the composites of the orthorhombic delta-BiB3O6:Pr(3+) nanoparticles embedded in
      polyvinyl alcohol films and deposited on the AgGaGe2Se6, AgGaGe2.7Si0.3Se8 (90
      mol.% AgGaGe3Se8 - 10 mol.% AgGaSi3Se8), and AgGaGe3Se8:Cu substrates were
      established. The highest second-order susceptibility was achieved during the Ag
      Ga-Ge-Se crystalline substrates photo-illumination by nanosecond laser pulses of
      about 2900 nm wavelength. The effect was found to be completely reversible after
      the interruption of the photo-inducing stimulation. Complementary studies of
      Atomic Force Microscopy, AFM, X-ray Diffraction, XRD, and Fourier-Transform
      Infrared Spectroscopy, and DFT simulations of spectral dependences of the
      corresponding second-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities, were performed.

PMID- 25813176
TI  - Surface enhanced Raman scattering, natural bond orbitals and Mulliken atomic
      charge distribution in the normal modes of diethyldithiocarbamate cadmium (II)
      complex, [Cd(DDTC)2].
AB  - Theoretical and experimental bands have been assigned to the Fourier Transform
      Infrared (FT-IR) and FT-Raman spectra of the bis(diethyldithiocarbamate)Cd(II)
      complex, abbreviated as ([Cd(DDTC)2]). The calculations and spectral
      interpretation have been based on the DFT/B3LYP method, infrared and Raman second
      derivative spectra, and band deconvolution analysis to assist in the assignment
      of observed fundamentals. This study validated the unusual pseudo tetrahedral
      molecular structure formed around the Cd(II) cation. Surface-enhanced Raman
      scattering (SERS) was used to determine the interactions of the normal-modes of
      the diethyldithiocarbamate cadmium (II) complex on nano-structured silver
      surfaces. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis was also carried out to study the
      Cd(II) hybridization causing the pseudo tetrahedral geometry of the framework of
      the [Cd(DDTC)2] complex, and to confirm the charge transfer mechanisms through
      second order perturbation theory analysis of the Fox Matrix. In order to find out
      the electronic dispersion of the Mulliken atomic charges (MAC) in the normal
      modes, we calculated the MAC for each normal mode and correlated these values
      with the SERS effect. Experimental UV-Vis spectra were obtained and charge
      transfer bands were assigned. Good agreement between the calculated and
      experimental values for the vibrational and UV-Vis spectra was obtained. 

PMID- 25813177
TI  - XRD, vibrational spectra and quantum chemical studies of an anticancer drug: 6
      Mercaptopurine.
AB  - The single crystal of the hydrated anticancer drug, 6-Mercaptopurine (6-MP), has
      been grown by slow evaporation technique under room temperature. The structure
      was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The vibrational spectral
      analysis was carried out using Laser Raman and FT-IR spectroscopy in the range of
      3300-100 and 4000-400 cm(-1). The single crystal X-ray studies shows that the
      crystal packing is dominated by N-H?O and O-H?N classical hydrogen bonds leading
      to a hydrogen bonded ensemble. This classical hydrogen bonds were further
      connected through O-H?S hydrogen bond to form two primary ring R4(4)(16) and
      R4(4)(12) motifs. These two primary ring motifs are interlinked with each other
      to build a ladder like structure. These ladders are connected through N-H?N
      hydrogen bond along c-axis of the unit cell through chain C(5) motifs. Further,
      the strength of the hydrogen bonds is studied through vibrational spectral
      measurements. The shifting of bands due to the intermolecular interactions was
      also analyzed in the solid crystalline state. Geometrical optimizations of the
      drug molecule were done by Density Functional Theory (DFT) using the B3LYP
      function and Hartree-Fock (HF) level with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. The optimized
      molecular geometry and computed vibrational spectra are compared with
      experimental results which show significant agreement. The natural bond orbital
      (NBO) analysis was carried out to interpret hyperconjugative interaction and
      intramolecular charge transfer (ICT). The chemical hardness, electro-negativity
      and chemical potential of the molecule are carried out by HOMO-LUMO plot. In
      which, the frontier orbitals has lower band gap value indicating the possible
      pharmaceutical activity of the molecule.

PMID- 25813178
TI  - beta-Alaninium tetrafluoroborate: a new salt with di-beta-alaninium dimeric
      cation.
AB  - beta-Alaninium tetrafluoroborate crystallizes in the monoclinic system (space
      group P21/n, Z=4). The asymmetric unit contains one beta-alaninium cation and one
      tetrafluoroborate anion, in which the fluorine atoms are disordered. All beta
      alaninium cations are connected with the symmetry related cations via an
      inversion center, thus forming dimeric centrosymmetric beta-Ala(+)...beta-Ala(+)
      cations. The O...O distance (2.698(2)A) in the dimeric cation is relatively long
      compared to known distances of previously reported salts with A(+)...A(+) type
      dimeric cations. The infrared and Raman spectra are studied. 

PMID- 25813179
TI  - New tetradentate Schiff bases of 2-amino-3,5-dibromobenzaldehyde with aliphatic
      diamines and their metal complexes: synthesis, characterization and thermal
      stability.
AB  - The tetradentate Schiff base ligands (L(1)-L(4)), were synthesized by reaction
      between 2-amino-3,5-dibromobenzaldehyde and aliphatic diamines. Then, nickel and
      oxovanadium(IV) complexes of these ligands were synthesized and characterized by
      (1)H NMR, Mass, IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy and thermogravimetry. The kinetic
      parameters of oxovanadium(IV) complexes were calculated from thermal studies.
      According to the results of thermogravimetric data, the thermal stability of
      oxovanadium(IV) complexes is as follow: [Formula: see text]. 

PMID- 25813180
TI  - Structural, spectral, thermal and biological studies on (Z)-N-benzoyl-N'-(2-oxo-2
      (phenylamino)acetyl)carbamohydrazonothioic acid (H2PABT) and its Cd(II), Hg(II),
      Zn(II) and U(VI)O22+ complexes.
AB  - A new metal complexes formed by the reaction of (Z)-N-benzoyl-N'-(2-oxo-2
      (phenylamino)acetyl)carbamohydrazonothioic acid (H2PABT) and Cd(II), Hg(II),
      Zn(II) and U(VI)O2(2+) ions. The isolated complexes were prepared and
      characterized by conventional techniques. The IR data revealed that the ligand
      behaves as mononegative tridentate in Zn(II) and U(VI)O2(2+) complexes also,
      binegative tetradentate on Cd(II) and Hg(II) complexes. On the basis of magnetic
      and electronic spectral data an octahedral geometry for the U(VI)O2(2+) complex,
      a tetrahedral structure for the Cd(II), Zn(II) and Hg(II) complexes have been
      proposed. The IR spectrum of ligand which determined experimentally is compared
      with those obtained theoretically from DFT calculations. Also, the bond lengths,
      bond angles, HOMO, LUMO and dipole moments have been calculated. The calculated
      HOMO-LUMO energy gap reveals that charge transfer occurs within the ligand
      molecules. The calculated values of binding energies indicates the stability of
      complexes is higher that of ligand. Also, the kinetic and thermodynamic
      parameters for the different thermal degradation steps of the complexes were
      determined by Coats-Redfern and Horowitz-Metzger methods. Moreover, the ligand
      and its complexes were screened against Bacillus subtilis as Gram positive
      bacteria and Escherichia coli Gram negative bacteria using the inhibitory zone
      diameter. Also the antitumor activities of the ligand and its complexes have been
      evaluated against liver (HePG2) and breast (MCF-7) cancer cells. Out of all the
      synthesized compounds, [Hg2(PABT)Cl2(H2O)2] and [(UO2)(HPABT)(OAc)(H2O)]
      complexes showed high antibacterial activity with 55.5% while H2PABT showed the
      best cytotoxic effect on liver and breast cancer cells with IC50 2.10 and 5.91 of
      cytotoxicity respectively. 

PMID- 25813181
TI  - Synthesis, and spectroscopic studies of charge transfer complex of 1,2
      dimethylimidazole as an electron donor with pi-acceptor 2,4-dinitro-1-naphthol in
      different polar solvents.
AB  - The charge transfer (CT) complex of 1,2-dimethylimidazole (DMI) as an electron
      donor with pi acceptor 2,4-dinitro-1-naphthol (DNN) has been studied
      spectrophotometrically in different solvents like chloroform, acetonitrile,
      methanol, methylene chloride, etc. at room temperature. The CT complex which is
      formed through the transfer of lone pair electrons from DMI to DNN exhibits well
      resolved CT bands and the regions of these bands were remarkably different from
      those of the donor and acceptor. The stoichiometry of the CT complex was found to
      be 1:1 by a straight-line method between donor and acceptor with maximum
      absorption bands. The novel CT complex has been characterized by FTIR, TGA-DTA,
      powder XRD, (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR spectroscopic techniques. The Benesi
      Hildebrand equation has been used to determine the formation constant (K(CT)),
      molar extinction coefficient (epsilon(CT)), standard gibbs free energy (DeltaG
      degrees ) and other physical parameters of the CT complex. The formation constant
      recorded higher values and molar extinction coefficient recorded lower values in
      chloroform compared with methylene chloride, methanol and acetonitrile,
      confirming the strong interaction between the molecular orbital's of donor and
      acceptor in the ground state in less polar solvent. This CT complex has been
      studied by absorption spectra of donor 1,2-dimethylimidazole (DMI) and acceptor
      2,4-dinitro-1-naphthol (DNN) by using the spectrophotometric technique in various
      solvents at room temperature.

PMID- 25813182
TI  - [Alopecia areata occurring during anti-TNF-alpha therapy: A French prospective
      multicentre study].

PMID- 25813183
TI  - [Palmoplantar keratoderma syndromes: new findings].

PMID- 25813184
TI  - [Burow's advancement flap after excision of lentigo maligna from the cheek].

PMID- 25813185
TI  - [Virilizing ovarian tumor: a rare cause of androgenetic alopecia].

PMID- 25813186
TI  - [Diagnostic pitfalls of solar urticaria].

PMID- 25813187
TI  - [Male genital lichen planus].

PMID- 25813188
TI  - [Facial inflammatory cutaneous leishmaniasis or "erysipeloid"].

PMID- 25813189
TI  - [Infantile xanthelasmoid mastocytosis].

PMID- 25813190
TI  - The roles of thermal transient receptor potential channels in thermotactic
      behavior and in thermal acclimation in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum.
AB  - To survive in variable or fluctuating temperature, organisms should show
      appropriate behavioral and physiological responses which must be mediated through
      properly attuned thermal sensory mechanisms. Transient receptor potential
      channels (TRPs) are a family of cation channels a number of which, called thermo
      TRPs, are known to function as thermosensors. We investigated the potential role
      of thermo-TPRs that have been previously identified in the fruit fly, Drosophila
      melanogaster, in thermotaxis and thermal acclimation in the red flour beetle,
      Tribolium castaneum. Phylogenetic analysis of the trp genes showed generally one
      to-one orthology between those in D. melanogaster and in T. castaneum, although
      there are putative gene-losses in two TRP subfamilies of D. melanogaster. With
      RNA interference (RNAi) of T. castaneum thermo-TRP candidates painless, pyrexia
      and trpA1, we measured thermal avoidance behavior. RNAi of trpA1 resulted in
      reduced avoidance of high temperatures, 39 and 42  degrees C. We also measured
      the effects of RNAi on heat-induced knockout and death under a short exposure to
      high temperature (1min at 52  degrees C) either with or without a 10-min
      acclimation period at 42  degrees C. Relatively short exposure to high
      temperature was enough to induce high temperature thermal acclimation. RNAi of
      trpA1 led to faster knockout at 52  degrees C. RNAi of painless showed lower
      recovery rates from heat-induced knockout after thermal acclimation, and RNAi of
      pyrexia showed lower long-term survivorship without thermal acclimation.
      Therefore, we concluded that trpA1 is important in high temperature sensing and
      also in enhanced tolerance to high-temperature induced knockout; painless plays a
      role in rapid acclimation to high temperature; and pyrexia functions in
      protecting beetles from acute heat stress without acclimation.

PMID- 25813191
TI  - Poststroke angiogenesis: blood, bloom, or brood?

PMID- 25813192
TI  - Classification of subtypes of ischemic stroke: history of the trial of org 10172
      in acute stroke treatment classification.

PMID- 25813193
TI  - Four-year follow-up of transient ischemic attacks, strokes, and mimics: a
      retrospective transient ischemic attack clinic cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There is limited information on outcomes from rapid
      access transient ischemic attack (TIA) clinics. We present 4-year outcomes of
      TIAs, strokes, and mimics from a UK TIA clinic database. METHODS: All patients
      referred between April 2010 and May 2012 were retrospectively identified and
      outcomes determined. End points were stroke, myocardial infarction, any vascular
      event (TIA, stroke, or myocardial infarction), and all-cause death. Data were
      analyzed by survival analysis. RESULTS: Of 1067 patients, 31.6% were TIAs, 18%
      strokes, and 50.4% mimics. Median assessment time was 4.5 days from onset and
      follow-up was for 34.9 months. Subsequent strokes occurred in 7.1% of patients
      with TIA, 10.9% of patients with stroke, and 2.0% of mimics at the end of follow
      up. Stroke risk at 90 days was 1.3% for patients diagnosed as TIA or stroke.
      Compared with mimics, hazard ratios for subsequent stroke were 3.88 (1.90-7.91)
      for TIA and 5.84 (2.81-12.11) for stroke. Hazard ratio for any subsequent
      vascular event was 2.91 (1.97-4.30) for TIA and 2.83 (1.81-4.41) for stroke.
      Hazard ratio for death was 1.68 (1.10-2.56) for TIA and 2.19 (1.38-3.46) for
      stroke. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show a lower 90-day stroke incidence after TIA
      or minor stroke than in earlier studies, suggesting that rapid access daily TIA
      clinics may be having a significant effect on reducing strokes.

PMID- 25813194
TI  - Lower serum calcium level is associated with hemorrhagic transformation after
      thrombolysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We aim to investigate whether lower admission serum
      calcium levels are associated with hemorrhagic transformation (HT) after
      intravenous thrombolysis (IVT). METHODS: A total of 362 patients treated with IVT
      was divided into 4 quartiles based on admission serum calcium levels (Q1[<2.16],
      Q2[2.16, 2.23], Q3[2.24, 2.31], and Q4[>2.31] mmol/L). HT was classified as
      hemorrhagic infarction and parenchymal hemorrhage. Logistic regression was
      applied to assess the association between serum calcium levels and the incidence
      of HT. RESULTS: Compared with Q4, HT was more common in Q1 (odds ratio, 2.580;
      95% CI, [1.258-5.292]; P=0.010), Q2 (odds ratio, 2.382; 95% CI, [1.163-4.877];
      P=0.018), and Q3 (odds ratio, 2.293; 95% CI, [1.133-4.637]; P=0.021). Hemorrhagic
      infarction was more common in Q1 (P=0.037), and Q2 (P=0.018), compared with Q4,
      and parenchymal hemorrhage was more common in Q1 (P=0.029) than Q4. CONCLUSIONS:
      Lower admission serum calcium level is independently associated with HT after
      IVT, and this hypothesis needs larger confirmatory trials.

PMID- 25813195
TI  - Poststroke angiogenesis, con: dark side of angiogenesis.

PMID- 25813196
TI  - Poststroke angiogenesis, pro: making the desert bloom.

PMID- 25813197
TI  - Changes in wall shear stress of cerebral arteriovenous malformation feeder
      arteries after embolization and surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Wall shear stress (WSS) has been implicated as an
      important stimulus for vascular remodeling. The purpose of this study is to
      measure WSS in AVM arterial feeders using quantitative magnetic resonance
      angiography pre- and post-embolization/surgery. METHODS: Records of patients who
      underwent AVM embolization and surgical resection at our institution between 2007
      and 2013 and had WSS, flow rate, and vessel diameter obtained pre- and post
      treatment using quantitative magnetic resonance angiography were retrospectively
      reviewed. WSS was compared between the feeder and contralateral artery pre- and
      post-embolization/surgery. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients were included (mean age
      34 years, 19% hemorrhagic presentation), with Spetzler-Martin grades 1 to 4. WSS,
      blood flow, and vessel diameter were assessed in a total of 51 feeder arteries.
      At baseline, mean WSS was significantly higher compared with the contralateral
      vessel (29.7+/-12.0 dynes/cm(2) versus 23.3+/-11.0 dynes/cm(2); P=0.007). After
      embolization (23.0 dynes/cm(2) versus 22.5 dynes/cm(2); P=0.78) and surgery (17.9
      dynes/cm(2) versus 23.2 dynes/cm(2); P=0.09), WSS was not significantly different
      than in the contralateral vessel. Reduced WSS post-embolization corresponded to
      significantly decreased flow (338.1 mL/min versus 170.3 mL/min; P<0.001) and
      smaller vessel diameter (3.7 mm versus 3.5 mm; P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Enlargement
      of cerebral AVM arterial feeders is insufficient to compensate for increased
      blood flow, creating high WSS. After treatment, flow diminishes and so WSS and
      vessel diameter concomitantly decrease. Thus, WSS plays a pivotal role in
      vascular remodeling that may be exploited to monitor AVM response to treatment or
      understand other high-flow vascular pathologies.

PMID- 25813198
TI  - The role of sensory-motor modality compatibility in language processing.
AB  - Language processing requires the combination of compatible (auditory-vocal and
      visual-manual) or incompatible (auditory-manual and visual-vocal) sensory-motor
      modalities, and switching between these sensory-motor modality combinations is
      very common in every-day life. Sensory-motor modality compatibility is defined as
      the similarity of stimulus modality and the modality of response-related sensory
      consequences. We investigated the influence of sensory-motor modality
      compatibility during performing language-related cognitive operations on
      different linguistic levels. More specifically, we used a variant of the task
      switching paradigm, in which participants had to switch between compatible or
      between incompatible sensory-motor modality combinations during a verbal semantic
      categorization (Experiment 1) or during a word-form decision (Experiment 2). The
      data show higher switch costs (i.e., higher reaction times and error rates in
      switch trials compared to repetition trials) in incompatible sensory-motor
      modality combinations than in compatible sensory-motor modality combinations.
      This was true for every language-related cognitive operation, regardless of the
      individual linguistic level. Taken together, the present study demonstrates that
      sensory-motor modality compatibility plays an important role in modality
      switching during language processing. 

PMID- 25813199
TI  - Precursor directed biosynthesis of odd-numbered fatty acids by different yeasts.
AB  - Precursor-directed biosynthesis was used for directed preparation of positional
      isomers of heptadecanoic acid (17:1), which have convenient pharmacological
      properties. Cultivation of Candida sp., Kluyveromyces polysporus, Rhodotorula
      glutinis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Torulaspora delbrueckii, Trichosporon
      cutaneum, and Yarrowia lipolytica on 20 g/L glucose, 4 g/L acetic, or 4 g/L
      propionic acids yielded different proportions of 17:1. Cultivation on carbon
      sources with even numbers of carbon atoms (glucose and acetic acid) produced
      preferentially 8Z- and 10Z-heptadecenoic acids in about equal amounts, in
      agreement with the proposed biosynthesis of fatty acids, whereas cultivation on
      propionic acid as the only carbon source produced over 90 % of total fatty acids
      of 9-17:1 out of all possible positional isomers. The structures of positional
      isomers of 17:1 acid were determined using dimethyl disulfides of fatty acid
      methyl esters. In cultivation of Candida sp. on propionic acid, the yield of
      heptadecenoic acid reached 111 mg/L cultivation medium. Principal component
      analysis was used for identifying the effect of cultivation conditions on the
      production of the 17:1 acid by individual yeast strains.

PMID- 25813200
TI  - Alternative nutrient sources for biotechnological use of Sporosarcina pasteurii.
AB  - The potential use of Sporosarcina pasteurii in possible biotechnological
      applications on a large scale (ground improvement, consolidation of building
      structures and ornamental stone, or in developing bio-materials for the building
      industry), is based on its ability to produce high amounts of carbonate in a
      short period of time via urea hydrolysis. Industrial biomass production would
      have a low environmental impact and would be most economical if the standard
      growth media could be replaced with alternative nutrient sources, such as
      byproducts or wastes from other industries, or other low cost ingredients. The
      use of cost effective ingredients must guarantee ureolytic activities and growth
      conditions that are comparable to those resulting from the standard nutrient
      medium. In this work, three types of alternative media were tested for growing
      the ureolytic active bacteria S. pasteurii: (1) alternative nutrient sources such
      as industrial wastes resulting from the dairy and brewery industries, (2)
      fertilizer urea as an alternative urea substitute, and (3) different types of
      poultry manure based fertilizers as nutrient and urea substitutes. The comparison
      between the standard media, the nutrient alternatives and urea substitutes was
      possible by taking the protein concentration and nitrogen content into account.
      Bacterial activity was evaluated in terms of biomass changes over time (CFU,
      optical density, ATP measurements) and indirect estimation of the enzyme
      production (Nessler assay, conductivity measurement). The results revealed that
      some of the dairy wastes tested, such as whey and buttermilk, are potential
      alternative nutrients for bacterial development, while the urea fertilizer is
      perfectly suitable as an economical substitute for pure laboratory grade urea. 

PMID- 25813201
TI  - Weighting of Acoustic Cues to a Manner Distinction by Children With and Without
      Hearing Loss.
AB  - PURPOSE: Children must develop optimal perceptual weighting strategies for
      processing speech in their first language. Hearing loss can interfere with that
      development, especially if cochlear implants are required. The three goals of
      this study were to measure, for children with and without hearing loss: (a) cue
      weighting for a manner distinction, (b) sensitivity to those cues, and (c) real
      world communication functions. METHOD: One hundred and seven children (43 with
      normal hearing [NH], 17 with hearing aids [HAs], and 47 with cochlear implants
      [CIs]) performed several tasks: labeling of stimuli from /balpha/-to-/walpha/
      continua varying in formant and amplitude rise time (FRT and ART), discrimination
      of ART, word recognition, and phonemic awareness. RESULTS: Children with hearing
      loss were less attentive overall to acoustic structure than children with NH.
      Children with CIs, but not those with HAs, weighted FRT less and ART more than
      children with NH. Sensitivity could not explain cue weighting. FRT cue weighting
      explained significant amounts of variability in word recognition and phonemic
      awareness; ART cue weighting did not. CONCLUSION: Signal degradation inhibits
      access to spectral structure for children with CIs, but cannot explain their
      delayed development of optimal weighting strategies. Auditory training could
      strengthen the weighting of spectral cues for children with CIs, thus aiding
      spoken language acquisition.

PMID- 25813203
TI  - The expression levels of JunB, JunD and p-c-Jun are positively correlated with
      tumor cell proliferation in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas.
AB  - We analyzed the expression of Jun family in relation to CD30 expression, cell
      proliferation and B-cell differentiation immunophenotypes [Germinal Center and
      non-Germinal Center] in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL). Expression and
      high expression of phosphorylated-c-Jun (p-c-Jun), JunB, JunD and CD30 (cut-off
      scores 20% and 50%, respectively) was found in 18/103, 49/103, 72/101 and 26/102
      cases, respectively, and in 6/103, 27/103, 60/101 and 21/102 cases, respectively.
      The following significant positive correlations were observed: (a) JunB with
      cyclin A (p = 0.046), cyclin B1 (p = 0.033), cyclin E (p = 0.003), MUM-1 (p =
      0.002) and CD30 (p < 0.001), (b) JunD with Ki67 (p = 0.002) and cyclin E (p =
      0.014), (c) p-c-Jun with CD30 (p = 0.015), and (d) high p-c-Jun with cyclin A (p
      = 0.034). The positive correlation between expression of JunB, JunD and p-c-Jun
      and tumor cell proliferation in DLBCL, suggests that increased JunB, JunD and p-c
      Jun expression may be involved in the pathogenesis of DLBCL by increasing tumor
      cell proliferation. 

PMID- 25813204
TI  - Histopathological analysis of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas without light chain
      restriction by using flow cytometry.
AB  - Detection of immunoglobulin light chain restriction (LCR) by flow cytometry (FCM)
      is a useful tool for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) diagnosis. Here, we
      identified B-NHLs without LCR by FCM and investigated the pathological causes for
      lack of LCR. A total of 89/471 cases (19%) of B-NHL were LCR-negative. The
      incidence of lack of LCR was 30% both in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)
      and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), and was 6% in follicular lymphoma (FL). In
      DLBCL cases, low expression of surface membrane light chain (33%), low proportion
      of lymphoma cells (11%), CD45 negativity (9%), and destruction or sampling error
      were suggested as reasons for lack of LCR. In MZL cases, the low proportion of
      lymphoma cells owing to admixture of many reactive germinal centres, and non
      detection of plasmacytoid lymphoma cells by CD45 gating might be the reasons.
      Based on pathological subtypes, the frequency and reasons for lack of LCR by FCM
      varied. 

PMID- 25813206
TI  - Clinical features of life-threatening complications following autologous stem
      cell transplantation in patients with lymphoma.
AB  - Toxic effects of high dose therapy (HDT) combined with autologous stem cell
      transplantation (ASCT) can lead to life-threatening conditions that may require
      intensive care unit (ICU) admission. We conducted a retrospective observational
      study over a 10-year period of all patients admitted to the ICU within 3 months
      after HDT/ASCT for lymphoma. Among the 532 patients treated by HDT/ASCT at our
      hospital, 27 (5%) were admitted to the ICU. Infections accounted for 88% (n = 24)
      of diagnoses, in whom 50% were microbiologically documented. Primary sources of
      infections were neutropenic enterocolitis (n = 9, 33%) and pneumonia (n = 9,
      33%). Bacteria were identified in 83% of documented infections. ICU mortality was
      18.5% (n = 5), representing 0.9% of the 532 patients. Among the 22 ICU survivors,
      72.7% (n = 16) were alive and in complete remission 6 months after ICU discharge.
      In our experience, maximal intensive care support is justified for HDT/ASCT
      recipients with severe complications. 

PMID- 25813205
TI  - Phase 1/2 study of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)4/6 inhibitor palbociclib (PD
      0332991) with bortezomib and dexamethasone in relapsed/refractory multiple
      myeloma.
AB  - This phase 1/2 study was the first to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the
      cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6-specific inhibitor palbociclib (PD-0332991) in
      sequential combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone in relapsed/refractory
      multiple myeloma. The recommended phase 2 dose was palbociclib 100 mg orally once
      daily on days 1-12 of a 21-day cycle with bortezomib 1.0 mg/m2 (intravenous) and
      dexamethasone 20 mg (orally 30 min pre-bortezomib dosing) on days 8 and 11 (early
      G1 arrest) and days 15 and 18 (cell cycle resumed). Dose-limiting toxicities were
      primarily cytopenias; most other treatment-related adverse events were grade<=3.
      At a bortezomib dose lower than that in other combination therapy studies,
      antitumor activity was observed (phase 1). In phase 2, objective responses were
      achieved in 5 (20%) patients; 11 (44%) achieved stable disease. Biomarker and
      pharmacodynamic assessments demonstrated that palbociclib inhibited CDK4/6 and
      the cell cycle initially in most patients.

PMID- 25813207
TI  - The addition of a spin column step in the telomeric repeat application protocol
      removes telomerase inhibitors.
AB  - Telomerase activity in cancer cells is commonly analyzed by a polymerase chain
      reaction (PCR)-based assay termed the telomeric repeat amplification protocol
      (TRAP). However, nonspecific inhibition of Taq polymerase during the PCR step is
      frequently observed in inhibitor analysis or drug screening. Thus, the removal of
      excess inhibitors prior to PCR is an essential step for the proper evaluation of
      telomerase inhibitory effects. Here, a size exclusion spin column was applied to
      remove small molecular weight inhibitors from the telomerase extension products.
      The spin column-added protocol, termed sTRAP, provides a more reliable estimation
      of the inhibitory effects of telomerase activity. 

PMID- 25813208
TI  - Automated capillary Western dot blot method for the identity of a 15-valent
      pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.
AB  - Simple Western is a new technology that allows for the separation, blotting, and
      detection of proteins similar to a traditional Western except in a capillary
      format. Traditionally, identity assays for biological products are performed
      using either an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or a manual dot blot
      Western. Both techniques are usually very tedious, labor-intensive, and
      complicated for multivalent vaccines, and they can be difficult to transfer to
      other laboratories. An advantage this capillary Western technique has over the
      traditional manual dot blot Western method is the speed and the automation of
      electrophoresis separation, blotting, and detection steps performed in 96
      capillaries. This article describes details of the development of an automated
      identity assay for a 15-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, PCV15-CRM197,
      using capillary Western technology.

PMID- 25813209
TI  - Attenuation of cellular toxicity by calpain inhibitor induced by bacterial
      endotoxin: a mechanistic study using muscle precursor cells as a model system.
AB  - This investigation was under taken to explore probable mechanisms and signal
      pathways involved in cytotoxicity induced by bacterial endotoxin
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Herein, we selected muscle precursor C2C12 myoblasts as
      representative cells to test effect of calpain inhibitor 3-(4-iodophenyl)-2
      mercapto-(Z)-2-propenoic acid (PD150606) on LPS induced inflammation and
      apoptosis. In order to rule out the toxicity of endotoxin, mouse myoblasts were
      exposed to various concentrations of LPS and viability of cells and morphology
      were assessed using CCK-8 assay and simple microscopy respectively. Apoptotic
      cell death was examined by fluorescence microscope at regular time intervals.
      Additionally, LPS induced apoptosis in C2C12 cells were determined by mRNA
      expression of u-calpain, caspase-3 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha)
      and were quantified by qRT-PCR. Our results point out that LPS stimulation
      produced dose dependent toxicity in muscle precursor cells. Pre-treatment with a
      calpain inhibitor can significantly attenuate LPS-induced inflammation/apoptosis.
      Results of present research determined that mRNA expression of aforesaid genes
      was amplified (p<0.05) in LPS stimulated C2C12 cells, whereas a noticeable drop
      off in mRNA expression of these genes was observed when pre-exposed with calpain
      inhibitor PD150606. Our study has outlined the current understanding regarding
      the connection between u-calpain and caspase-3 in skeletal muscle wasting and as
      a result provides suitable choice for designing promising chemotherapeutic system
      for muscle illness and atrophy.

PMID- 25813211
TI  - Effect of orthorhombic-tetragonal phase transition on structure and piezoelectric
      properties of KNN-based lead-free ceramics.
AB  - (1 - x)(K0.5Na0.5)0.95Li0.05Nb0.93Sb0.07O3-xSrZrO3 ((1 - x)KNLNS-xSZ) lead free
      piezoelectric ceramics have been prepared by the conventional solid state
      reaction method, via adjusting the orthorhombic-tetragonal phase transition
      temperature to near room temperature with doping SrZrO3, and the effects of
      SrZrO3 content on polymorphic phase transition have been investigated. These
      results show that the phase structure of the ceramics was changed from
      orthorhombic to tetragonal at x >= 0.02 mol, and the orthorhombic-tetragonal
      phase transition temperature was modified to around room temperature with
      increasing SrZrO3. Remarkable piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties has been
      obtained in (1 - x)KNLNS-xSZ system with x = 0.02, which showed a piezoelectric
      parameter of d33 = 256 pC N(-1), Curie temperature Tc = 270  degrees C, strain
      levels of 0.16% at 50 kV cm(-1), remnant polarization Pr = 24.9 MUC cm(-2) and
      coercive field Ec = 10.6 kV cm(-1). 

PMID- 25813210
TI  - GPX2 underexpression indicates poor prognosis in patients with urothelial
      carcinomas of the upper urinary tract and urinary bladder.
AB  - PURPOSE: Oxidative stress is believed to be one of the important etiologies in
      carcinogenesis that has not been systemically investigated in urothelial
      carcinoma (UC). Through data mining from a published transcriptomic database of
      UC of urinary bladders (UBUCs) (GSE31684), glutathione peroxidase 2 (GPX2) was
      identified as the most significant downregulated gene among those response to
      oxidative stress (GO:0006979). We therefore analyze GPX2 transcript and protein
      expressions and its clinicopathological significance. METHODS: Real-time RT-PCR
      assay was used to detect GPX2 mRNA level in 20 fresh UBUC specimens.
      Immunohistochemistry was used to determine GPX2 protein expression in 340
      urothelial carcinomas of upper tracts (UTUCs) and 295 UBUCs with mean/median
      follow-up of 44.7/38.9 and 30.8/23.1 months, respectively. Its expression status
      was further correlated with clinicopathological features and evaluated for its
      impact on disease-specific survival and metastasis-free survival (MeFS). RESULTS:
      Decrease in GPX2 transcript level was associated with both higher pT and positive
      nodal status in 20 UBUCs (all p < 0.05). GPX2 protein underexpression was also
      significantly associated with advanced pT status, nodal metastasis, high
      histological grade, vascular invasion, and frequent mitoses in both groups of UCs
      (all p < 0.05). GPX2 underexpression not only predicted dismal DDS and MeFS at
      univariate analysis, but also implicated worse DDS (UTUC, p = 0.002; UBUC, p =
      0.029) and MeFS (UTUC, p = 0.001; UBUC, p = 0.032) in multivariate analysis.
      CONCLUSIONS: GPX2 underexpression is associated with advanced tumor status and
      implicated unfavorable clinical outcome of UCs, suggesting its role in tumor
      progression and may serve as a theranostic biomarker of UCs.

PMID- 25813212
TI  - Eliminating the use of allogeneic blood products in adolescent idiopathic
      scoliosis surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare transfusion requirements in
      patients before and after the introduction of tranexamic acid as standard in
      patients undergoing spinal surgery for idiopathic scoliosis in a national
      orthopaedic hospital. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of 56 idiopathic
      scoliosis patients who underwent posterior spinal instrumentation and fusion
      between 2009 and 2013 at our institution. Preoperative, intraoperative, and
      postoperative data were measured. RESULTS: Patients who received tranexamic acid
      as standard (n = 31) showed a trend towards a decrease in transfusion
      requirements compared with those who received no tranexamic acid (n = 25). These
      patients had a statistically significant decrease in operative time (223 vs 188
      min, p = 0.005), and estimated intraoperative blood loss was reduced by nearly
      50% in the tranexamic acid group. They also had an associated reduced decrease in
      haemoglobin between preoperative and postoperative levels (4 vs 5 g/dL, p =
      0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Since February 2012, no patient has required intraoperative
      or postoperative allogeneic blood product transfusion in this hospital. The
      routine use of antifibrinolytic medications in patients undergoing surgery for
      adolescent idiopathic scoliosis has effectively eliminated the need for
      allogeneic blood products.

PMID- 25813214
TI  - Effects of canagliflozin on body weight and relationship to HbA1c and blood
      pressure changes in patients with type 2 diabetes.
AB  - AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Canagliflozin, a sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor,
      reduces HbA1c, body weight and systolic BP (SBP) in patients with type 2
      diabetes. As weight loss is known to reduce both HbA1c and SBP, these analyses
      were performed to evaluate the contribution of weight loss resulting from
      treatment with canagliflozin to HbA1c and SBP reductions in patients with type 2
      diabetes. METHODS: Pooled data from four placebo-controlled Phase 3 studies (N =
      2,250) in patients with type 2 diabetes were used in the analyses. In each study,
      patients were treated with placebo, canagliflozin 100 mg or canagliflozin 300 mg,
      once daily for 26 weeks. Changes from baseline in body weight, HbA1c and SBP were
      measured at week 26, and the contribution of weight loss to the lowering of HbA1c
      and SBP was obtained using ANCOVA. RESULTS: Canagliflozin 100 and 300 mg reduced
      mean body weight, HbA1c and SBP compared with placebo (p < 0.001 for each), and
      more patients had body-weight reductions >0%, >=5% and >=10% with canagliflozin
      treatment than with placebo. Weight-loss-independent and weight-loss-associated
      mechanisms contributed to HbA1c and SBP lowering with canagliflozin: ~85% of
      HbA1c lowering and ~60% of SBP lowering was independent of weight loss.
      CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: In patients with type 2 diabetes, canagliflozin
      provided clinically meaningful body-weight reductions, and the weight loss
      contributed to reductions in HbA1c and SBP.

PMID- 25813215
TI  - Orexin A regulates plasma insulin and leptin levels in a time-dependent manner
      following a glucose load in mice.
AB  - AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Orexin A (OXA) is a neuropeptide implicated in the regulation of
      arousal status and energy metabolism. Orexin receptors are expressed not only in
      the central nervous system but also in the pancreas and adipose tissue. However,
      little is known about the physiological function of orexins. This study
      investigated the role of exogenous OXA in blood glucose control after glucose
      load in mice. In addition, the effect of OXA on insulin secretion was also
      identified in mouse pancreatic beta cells. METHODS: Insulin secretion and
      intracellular Ca(2+) levels were measured in perifused mouse islets. To
      investigate the effects of exogenous OXA on blood glucose levels in vivo,
      intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests were performed after a subcutaneous
      injection of OXA in normal and high-fat diet-induced diabetic mice. RESULTS: OXA
      significantly potentiated glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in vitro, which
      increased intracellular Ca(2+) levels, mainly through adenylate cyclase and
      ryanodine receptor activation. This Ca(2+)-dependent insulinotropic effect of OXA
      was blocked in Epac2 (Rapgef4)-deficient beta cells. After a glucose load in
      mice, exogenous OXA decreased blood glucose levels, compared with the control, by
      enhancing plasma insulin and decreasing plasma glucagon levels. Additionally, OXA
      caused a delayed increase in plasma leptin levels, resulting in lower plasma
      insulin levels when blood glucose levels fell to baseline.
      CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: These results suggest that OXA might be a critical
      regulator of insulin, glucagon and leptin secretion in response to glucose. Thus,
      exogenous OXA might have therapeutic potential in improving blood glucose control
      in patients with type 2 diabetes.

PMID- 25813216
TI  - Dose proportionality of a hydrocodone extended-release tablet formulated with
      abuse-deterrence technology.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: This open-label, crossover study evaluated the dose
      proportionality of a hydrocodone extended-release (ER) tablet employing the
      CIMA((r)) Abuse-Deterrence Technology platform. METHODS: Healthy volunteers were
      randomized to receive single doses of hydrocodone ER 15, 30, 45, 60, and 90 mg
      separated by a minimum 14-day washout. Subjects received naltrexone to minimize
      opioid-related adverse events (AEs). Blood samples were collected for 72 h after
      each hydrocodone administration. Pharmacokinetic measures included maximum
      observed plasma hydrocodone concentration (C max) and area under the plasma
      concentration-time curve from time zero to infinity (AUCinfinity). Dose
      proportionality was concluded if the confidence interval (CI) of the slope of the
      regression line for C max and AUCinfinity versus dose fell within 0.875-1.125.
      RESULTS: In total, 60 subjects were evaluable for pharmacokinetics. The mean C
      max was 12.6, 20.7, 30.3, 41.2, and 62.5 ng/mL and the mean AUCinfinity was 199,
      382, 592, 766, and 1189 ng.h/mL for hydrocodone ER 15, 30, 45, 60, and 90 mg,
      respectively. C max and AUCinfinity increased linearly with increasing dose. The
      90 % CIs of the slope of the regression line for C max (0.880-0.922) and
      AUCinfinity (0.984-1.026) indicated systemic exposure to hydrocodone increased in
      a dose-proportional manner. In these naltrexone-blocked subjects, no increased
      incidence of AEs was apparent with increasing dose. CONCLUSION: Hydrocodone
      exposure increased in a dose-proportional manner after administration of
      hydrocodone ER 15-90 mg tablets in healthy, naltrexone-blocked subjects.

PMID- 25813213
TI  - Fibroblast growth factor signaling in the vasculature.
AB  - Despite their discovery as angiogenic factors and mitogens for endothelial cells
      more than 30 years ago, much remains to be determined about the role of
      fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and their receptors in vascular development,
      homeostasis, and disease. In vitro studies show that members of the FGF family
      stimulate growth, migration, and sprouting of endothelial cells, and growth,
      migration, and phenotypic plasticity of vascular smooth muscle cells. Recent
      studies have revealed important roles for FGFs and their receptors in the
      regulation of endothelial cell sprouting and vascular homeostasis in vivo.
      Furthermore, recent work has revealed roles for FGFs in atherosclerosis, vascular
      calcification, and vascular dysfunction. The large number of FGFs and their
      receptors expressed in endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells complicates
      these studies. In this review, we summarize recent studies in which new and
      unanticipated roles for FGFs and their receptors in the vasculature have been
      revealed. 

PMID- 25813217
TI  - Safety and pharmacokinetics of single and multiple ascending doses of avibactam
      alone and in combination with ceftazidime in healthy male volunteers: results of
      two randomized, placebo-controlled studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Avibactam is a novel non-beta-lactam beta-lactamase
      inhibitor effective against Ambler class A, C and some class D beta-lactamases
      that is currently in clinical development in combination with ceftazidime for the
      treatment of serious Gram-negative infections. It restores the in vitro activity
      of a range of beta-lactams, including ceftazidime, against extended-spectrum beta
      lactamase-producing pathogens. Two phase I studies assessed the safety and
      pharmacokinetics of avibactam in healthy subjects when administered alone or with
      ceftazidime. METHODS: The first study (NXL104-1001) was a placebo-controlled,
      single-ascending dose study assessing avibactam 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000, 1500 or
      2000 mg given as a 30-min intravenous infusion. After a 7-day washout, subjects
      in the 250 and 500 mg dosing groups received a second avibactam dose with
      concomitant ceftazidime 1000 or 2000 mg, respectively. The second study (NXL104
      1002) was performed in two parts. Part 1 assessed multiple-ascending doses of
      avibactam. Subjects were randomized to receive avibactam 500, 750 or 1000 mg
      every 8 h (q8 h) over 5 days, or ceftazidime-avibactam 2000-500 mg q8 h over 10
      days. Part 2 assessed bioavailability of avibactam after a single oral dose (500
      mg) relative to a single 30-min intravenous infusion (500 mg). RESULTS: No
      serious or severe adverse events were reported in either study. Avibactam
      exposure generally increased proportionally to dose and there was no trend for
      accumulation after multiple doses. Almost all avibactam was excreted largely
      unchanged in the urine within the first 6 h. Concomitant ceftazidime did not
      affect avibactam's safety and pharmacokinetic profile. Avibactam exposure after
      oral dosing was very low at 6.2 % of that observed after intravenous infusion.
      CONCLUSION: Avibactam was generally well tolerated across all dosing regimens,
      when given alone or with ceftazidime. Avibactam exposure was dose related in both
      studies, and avibactam pharmacokinetics were linear and not affected by
      ceftazidime.

PMID- 25813218
TI  - Epigenetic Mechanisms Involved in Huntington's Disease Pathogenesis.
AB  - Transcriptional dysregulation is an early event and may be an important
      pathological mechanism in Huntington's disease (HD). However, the exact process
      that leads to alterations in gene expression in HD is not clear. One potential
      mechanism underlying transcriptional abnormalities in HD may be epigenetic
      alterations which regulate gene expression without changing the DNA sequence.
      Previous work has demonstrated that epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation and
      post-translational modifications of histone proteins, are significantly altered
      in HD cellular and animal models as well as HD patients. Furthermore, studies
      have shown a therapeutic role for histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in
      numerous HD ...models. Here, we review a range of studies describing epigenetic
      changes in HD as well as several potential therapeutics that target aberrant
      epigenetic alterations in HD.

PMID- 25813219
TI  - Estimation of dynamic time activity curves from dynamic cardiac SPECT imaging.
AB  - Whole-heart coronary flow reserve (CFR) may be useful as an early predictor of
      cardiovascular disease or heart failure. Here we propose a simple method to
      extract the time-activity curve, an essential component needed for estimating the
      CFR, for a small number of compartments in the body, such as normal myocardium,
      blood pool, and ischemic myocardial regions, from SPECT data acquired with
      conventional cameras using slow rotation. We evaluated the method using a
      realistic simulation of (99m)Tc-teboroxime imaging. Uptake of (99m)Tc-teboroxime
      based on data from the literature were modeled. Data were simulated using the
      anatomically-realistic 3D NCAT phantom and an analytic projection code that
      realistically models attenuation, scatter, and the collimator-detector response.
      The proposed method was then applied to estimate time activity curves (TACs) for
      a set of 3D volumes of interest (VOIs) directly from the projections. We
      evaluated the accuracy and precision of estimated TACs and studied the effects of
      the presence of perfusion defects that were and were not modeled in the
      estimation procedure.The method produced good estimates of the myocardial and
      blood-pool TACS organ VOIs, with average weighted absolute biases of less than 5%
      for the myocardium and 10% for the blood pool when the true organ boundaries were
      known and the activity distributions in the organs were uniform. In the presence
      of unknown perfusion defects, the myocardial TAC was still estimated well
      (average weighted absolute bias <10%) when the total reduction in myocardial
      uptake (product of defect extent and severity) was <= 5%. This indicates that the
      method was robust to modest model mismatch such as the presence of moderate
      perfusion defects and uptake nonuniformities. With larger defects where the
      defect VOI was included in the estimation procedure, the estimated normal
      myocardial and defect TACs were accurate (average weighted absolute bias ~ 5% for
      a defect with 25% extent and 100% severity).

PMID- 25813220
TI  - The "Siamese twins" polyps.

PMID- 25813221
TI  - Loss of glucocerebrosidase 1 activity causes lysosomal dysfunction and alpha
      synuclein aggregation.
AB  - Lysosomal dysfunction is a common pathological feature of neurodegenerative
      diseases. GTP-binding protein type A1 (GBA1) encodes beta-glucocerebrosidase 1
      (GCase 1), a lysosomal hydrolase. Homozygous mutations in GBA1 cause Gaucher
      disease, the most common lysosomal storage disease, while heterozygous mutations
      are strong risk factors for Parkinson's disease. However, whether loss of GCase 1
      activity is sufficient for lysosomal dysfunction has not been clearly determined.
      Here, we generated human neuroblastoma cell lines with nonsense mutations in the
      GBA1 gene using zinc-finger nucleases. Depending on the site of mutation, GCase 1
      activity was lost or maintained. The cell line with GCase 1 deficiency showed
      indications of lysosomal dysfunction, such as accumulation of lysosomal
      substrates, reduced dextran degradation and accumulation of enlarged vacuolar
      structures. In contrast, the cell line with C-terminal truncation of GCase 1 but
      with intact GCase 1 activity showed normal lysosomal function. When alpha
      synuclein was overexpressed, accumulation and secretion of insoluble aggregates
      increased in cells with GCase 1 deficiency but did not change in mutant cells
      with normal GCase 1 activity. These results demonstrate that loss of GCase 1
      activity is sufficient to cause lysosomal dysfunction and accumulation of alpha
      synuclein aggregates. 

PMID- 25813223
TI  - Anesthetic Management of Thoracoscopic Lobectomy in a Patient with Severe
      Biventricular Dysfunction: Thoracic Anesthesia Perspectives.

PMID- 25813222
TI  - Analyses of the TCR repertoire of MHC class II-restricted innate CD4+ T cells.
AB  - Analysis of the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of innate CD4(+) T cells
      selected by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II-dependent thymocyte
      thymocyte (T-T) interaction (T-T CD4(+) T cells) is essential for predicting the
      characteristics of the antigens that bind to these T cells and for distinguishing
      T-T CD4(+) T cells from other types of innate T cells. Using the TCR(mini) Tg
      mouse model, we show that the repertoire of TCRalpha chains in T-T CD4(+) T cells
      was extremely diverse, in contrast to the repertoires previously described for
      other types of innate T cells. The TCRalpha chain sequences significantly
      overlapped between T-T CD4(+) T cells and conventional CD4(+) T cells in the
      thymus and spleen. However, the diversity of the TCRalpha repertoire of T-T
      CD4(+) T cells seemed to be restricted compared with that of conventional CD4(+)
      T cells. Interestingly, the frequency of the parental OT-II TCRalpha chains was
      significantly reduced in the process of T-T interaction. This diverse and shifted
      repertoire in T-T CD4(+) T cells has biological relevance in terms of defense
      against diverse pathogens and a possible regulatory role during peripheral T-T
      interaction. 

PMID- 25813224
TI  - Prolonged Hypotension Following Innominate and Left Common Carotid Artery Bypass.

PMID- 25813225
TI  - Intraoperative Right Ventricular Fractional Area Change Is a Good Indicator of
      Right Ventricular Contractility: A Retrospective Comparison Using Two- and Three
      Dimensional Echocardiography.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Intraoperative two-dimensional echocardiography is technically
      challenging, given the unique geometry of the right ventricle (RV). It was
      hypothesized that the RV fractional area change (RVFAC) could be used as a simple
      method to evaluate RV function during surgery. Therefore, the correlation between
      the intraoperative RVFAC and the true right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF),
      as measured using newly developed three-dimensional (3D) analysis software, was
      evaluated. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: University hospital.
      PARTICIPANTS: Patients who underwent cardiac surgery with transesophageal
      echocardiography monitoring between March 2014 and June 2014. INTERVENTIONS:
      None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Sixty-two patients were included in this
      study. After the exclusion of poor imaging data and patients with arrhythmias, 54
      data sets were analyzed. RVFAC was measured by one anesthesiologist during
      surgery, and full-volume 3D echocardiographic data were recorded simultaneously.
      The 3D data were analyzed postoperatively using off-line 3D analysis software by
      a second anesthesiologist, who was blinded to the RVFAC results. The mean RVFAC
      was 38.8% +/- 8.7%, the mean RVEF was 41.4% +/- 8.3%, and there was a good
      correlation between the RVFAC and the RVEF (r(2) = 0.638; p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS:
      The RVFAC was well-correlated with the RVEF calculated using 3D echocardiography;
      therefore, RVFAC provides a simple and useful method for anesthesiologists to
      evaluate intraoperative RV function.

PMID- 25813226
TI  - Reversal of heparin after cardiac surgery: protamine titration using a
      statistical model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To establish a statistical model for determination of protamine dose
      in conjunction with cardiopulmonary bypass. DESIGN: Prospective. SETTING:
      University hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Ninety consecutive cardiac surgical patients.
      INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A series of clinically
      oriented variables were introduced into a statistical model for projection of the
      protamine dose after cardiopulmonary bypass. The following significant predictors
      were identified using multivariable regression analysis: The patient's body
      surface area, the administered dose of heparin, heparin clearance, and the
      preoperative platelet count. The statistical model projected the protamine dose
      within 3+/-23 mg of the point-of-care test used as reference. CONCLUSION:
      Protamine dosing based on statistical modeling represents an alternative to point
      of-care tests.

PMID- 25813227
TI  - Acute Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy During Elective Hernia Repair in a Patient With
      Previously Resected Pheochromocytoma.

PMID- 25813228
TI  - Germline mutations predisposing to non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - Lung cancer in multiple first degree relatives had previously been attributed to
      smoking and to inherited enzymes associated with increased activation of
      carcinogens in smoke. There was not clear agreement on the significance of the
      testing methods for lung cancer susceptibility. More recent studies have
      identified germline mutations associated with lung cancer even in the absence of
      smoking and other mutations with plausible explanations for their association
      with lung cancer caused by smoking. At this time, the clinical significance of
      the various germline mutations for screening and the implications for therapy are
      not certain. This review summarizes the currently identified germline mutations
      associated with lung cancer, but this growing area of research will very likely
      identify further significant mutations as well. 

PMID- 25813229
TI  - Fabrication of graphene/Fe3O4@polythiophene nanocomposite and its application in
      the magnetic solid-phase extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from
      environmental water samples.
AB  - Polythiophene (PT) was used as a surface modifier of graphene/Fe3O4 (G/Fe3O4)
      composite to increase merit of it, and also overcome some limitations and
      disadvantages of using G/Fe3O4 alone as solid phase extraction (SPE) sorbent. An
      in-situ chemical polymerization method was employed to prepare G/Fe3O4@PT
      nanocomposites. Application of this newly designed material in the magnetic SPE
      (MSPE) of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), as model analytes, in the
      environmental water samples was investigated. The characterization of the hybrid
      material was performed using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron
      microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR)
      spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry. Seven important parameters,
      affecting the extraction efficiency of PAHs, including: amount of adsorbent,
      adsorption and desorption times, type and volume of the eluent solvent, initial
      sample volume and salt content of the sample were evaluated. The optimum
      extraction conditions were obtained as: 4 min for extraction time, 20 mg for
      sorbent amount, 100mL for initial sample volume, toluene as desorption solvent,
      0.6 mL for desorption solvent volume, 6 min for desorption time and 30% (w/v) for
      NaCl concentration. Good performance data were obtained at the optimized
      conditions. Detection limits were in the range of 0.009-0.020 MUg L(-1) in the
      real matrix. The calibration curves were linear over the concentration ranges
      from 0.03 to 80 MUg L(-1) with correlation coefficients (R(2)) between 0.995 and
      0.998 for all the analytes. Relative standard deviations were ranged from 4.3 to
      6.3%. Appropriate recovery values, in the range of 83-107%, were also obtained
      for the real sample analysis.

PMID- 25813230
TI  - Practical guidelines for reporting results in single- and multi-component
      analytical calibration: a tutorial.
AB  - Practical guidelines for reporting analytical calibration results are provided.
      General topics, such as the number of reported significant figures and the
      optimization of analytical procedures, affect all calibration scenarios. In the
      specific case of single-component or univariate calibration, relevant issues
      discussed in the present Tutorial include: (1) how linearity can be assessed, (2)
      how to correctly estimate the limits of detection and quantitation, (2) when and
      how standard addition should be employed, (3) how to apply recovery studies for
      evaluating accuracy and precision, and (4) how average prediction errors can be
      compared for different analytical methodologies. For multi-component calibration
      procedures based on multivariate data, pertinent subjects here included are the
      choice of algorithms, the estimation of analytical figures of merit (detection
      capabilities, sensitivity, selectivity), the use of non-linear models, the
      consideration of the model regression coefficients for variable selection, and
      the application of certain mathematical pre-processing procedures such as
      smoothing. 

PMID- 25813231
TI  - Development of models for prediction of the antioxidant activity of derivatives
      of natural compounds.
AB  - Antioxidants are important for maintaining the appropriate balance between
      oxidizing and reducing species in the body and thus preventing oxidative stress.
      Many natural compounds are being screened for their possible antioxidant
      activity. It was found that a mushroom pigment Norbadione A, which is a pulvinic
      acid derivative, shows an antioxidant activity; the same was found for other
      pulvinic acid derivatives and structurally related coumarines. Based on the
      results of in vitro studies performed on these compounds as a part of this study
      quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) predictive models were
      constructed using multiple linear regression, counter-propagation artificial
      neural networks and support vector regression (SVR). The models have been
      developed in accordance with current QSAR guidelines, including the assessment of
      the models applicability domains. A new approach for the graphical evaluation of
      the applicability domain for SVR models is suggested. The developed models show
      sufficient predictive abilities for the screening of virtual libraries for new
      potential antioxidants. 

PMID- 25813232
TI  - Synthesis of magnetic framework composites for the discrimination of Escherichia
      coli at the strain level.
AB  - Rapid and efficient characterization and identification of pathogens at the
      strain level is of key importance for epidemiologic investigations, which still
      remains a challenge. In this work, solvothermically Fe3O4-COOH@MIL-101 composites
      were fabricated by in situ crystallization approach. The composites combine the
      excellent properties of both chromium (III) terephthalate (MIL-101) and
      carboxylic-functionalized magnetite (Fe3O4-COOH) particles and possess the
      efficient peptides/proteins enrichment properties and magnetic responsiveness.
      Fe3O4-COOH@MIL-101 composites as magnetic solid phase extraction materials were
      used to increase the discriminatory power of MALDI-TOF MS profiles. BSA tryptic
      peptides at a low concentration of 0.25 fmol MUL(-1) could be detected by MALDI
      TOF MS. In addition, Fe3O4-COOH@MIL-101 composites were successfully applied in
      the selective enrichment of the protein biomarkers from bacterial cell lysates
      and discrimination of Escherichia coli at the strain level. This work provides
      the possibility for wide applications of magnetic MOFs to discriminate pathogens
      below the species level.

PMID- 25813233
TI  - Ultrasensitive and rapid screening of mercury(II) ions by dual labeling
      colorimetric method in aqueous samples and applications in mercury-poisoned
      animal tissues.
AB  - Rapid and ultrasensitive detection of trace heavy metal mercury(II) ions (Hg(2+))
      are of significant importance due to the induced serious risks for environment
      and human health. This presented article reports the gold nanoparticle-based dual
      labeling colorimetric method (Dual-COLO) for ultrasensitive and rapid detection
      of Hg(2+) using the specific thymine-Hg(2+)-thymine (T-Hg(2+)-T) as recognition
      system and the dual labeling strategy for signal amplification. Both qualitative
      and quantitative detections of Hg(2+) are achieved successfully in aqueous
      samples. More importantly, the achieved detection limit of 0.005 ng mL(-1) (0.025
      nM) without any instruments is very competitive to other rapid detection methods
      even ICP-MS based methods. This Dual-COLO method is also applied directly for
      real water sample monitoring and, more importantly, applied in analysis of
      mercury poisoned animal tissues and body fluidic samples, indicating a
      potentially powerful and promising tool for environmental monitoring and food
      safety control.

PMID- 25813234
TI  - Solvent-dependent turn-on probe for dual monitoring of Ag(+) and Zn(2+) in living
      biological samples.
AB  - A novel, solvent-dependent "off-on" probe with benzoylthiourea moiety as the
      functional receptor and fluorescein as the fluorophore was designed for
      monitoring of Ag(+) in EtOH-H2O (2:8, v/v) solution and Zn(2+) in CH3CN-H2O (2:8,
      v/v) solution at physiological range with sufficient selectivity and sensitivity.
      The Ag(+) promoted desulfurization of thiosemicarbazide functionality in
      formation of the 1,3,4-oxadiazole and the coordination of Zn(2+) to the O atom
      and N atom of the spoirolactam moiety and the S atom of the benzoylthiourea
      moiety were investigated to be the power that promoted the fluorescent
      enhancement. This probe was tested highly suitable for mapping Ag(+) and Zn(2+)
      in living human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells and microbial cell-EPS-mineral
      aggregates, thus, providing a wonderful candidate for tracking Ag(+) and Zn(2+)
      in biological organisms and processes. 

PMID- 25813235
TI  - Detection of iprobenfos and edifenphos using a new multi-aptasensor.
AB  - The sensitive detection of iprobenfos (IBF) and edifenphos (EDI) was successfully
      conducted by using a new aptamer-based colorimetric multi-aptasensor. The
      dissociation constants of this multi-target aptamer to both iprobenfos and
      edifenphos were found to be 1.67 MUM and 38 nM, respectively, according to the
      isothermal calorimetry assay. The aptamer EIA2 was selective to only IBF and EDI,
      confirmed by AuNP assays. By using this multi-aptasensor, both pesticides IBF and
      EDI can be eventually detected in a range from 10 nM to 5 nM, respectively. This
      multi-aptasensor was successfully implemented in spiked rice samples and the
      accuracies of this AuNP-based multi-aptasensor were around 80 and 90% in spiked
      paddy and polished rice samples, respectively. This aptamer EIA2 could be applied
      not only for the detection of pesticides from real samples in agriculture field
      as POC, but also can be used as a bioreceptor for other types of aptasensors.

PMID- 25813237
TI  - Methoxypropylamino beta-cyclodextrin clicked AC regioisomer for
      enantioseparations in capillary electrophoresis.
AB  - In this work, a novel methoxypropylamino beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) clicked AC
      regioisomer, 6(A)-4-hydroxyethyl-1,2,3-triazolyl-6(C)-3-methoxypropylamino beta
      cyclodextrin (HETz-MPrAMCD), was synthesized via nucleophilic addition and click
      chemistry. The chiral separation ability of this AC regioisomer cationic CD was
      evaluated toward 7 ampholytic and 13 acidic racemates by capillary
      electrophoresis. Dependence of enantioselectivity and resolution on buffer pH
      (5.5-8.0) and chiral selector concentration (0.5-7.5 mM) was investigated.
      Enantioselectivities (alpha>=1.05) could be achieved for most analytes under
      optimal conditions except dansyl-DL-noreleucine and dansyl-DL-serine. The highest
      resolutions for 2-chloromandelic acid p-hydroxymandelic acid were 15.6 and 9.7
      respectively. The inclusion complexation between HETz-MPrAMCD and each 3
      phenyllactic acid enantiomer was also revealed with nuclear magnetic resonance
      study.

PMID- 25813236
TI  - Determination of methicillin-resistant and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus
      aureus bacteria in blood by capillary zone electrophoresis.
AB  - Serious bloodstream infections are a significant complication in critically ill
      patients. The treatment of these infections has become more difficult because of
      the increasing prevalence of multiresistant strains, especially methicillin
      resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Rapid differentiation of low number of
      MRSA from methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) cells (10(1)-10(2) cells mL(
      1)) in blood is necessary for fast effective antibiotic therapy. Currently, three
      groups of techniques, phenotyping, genotyping, and mass spectrometry, are used
      for MRSA and MSSA strains differentiation. Most of these techniques are time
      consuming. PCR and other molecular techniques allow the detection and
      differentiation between MSSA and MRSA directly from blood cultures. These methods
      alone are rapid and they have good reproducibility and repeatability. Potential
      disadvantages of the genotyping methods include their discrimination ability,
      technical complexity, financial costs, and difficult interpretation of the
      results. Recently, capillary electrophoresis (CZE) was successfully used to
      differentiate between the agar-cultivated MRSA and MSSA strains in fused silica
      capillaries etched with supercritical water and modified with (3
      glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane. The possible use of CZE as a fast and low
      cost method for distinguishing between the blood-incubated MRSA or MSSA cells has
      been tested in this manuscript. Our goal was to test low amounts of bacteria
      (~10(2) cell mL(-1)) similar to those in clinical samples. The migration times of
      the purified blood-incubated cells and the agar-cultivated cells were different
      from each other. However, their isoelectric point was the same for all strains.

PMID- 25813238
TI  - The SickKids Genome Clinic: developing and evaluating a pediatric model for
      individualized genomic medicine.
AB  - Our increasing knowledge of how genomic variants affect human health and the
      falling costs of whole-genome sequencing are driving the development of
      individualized genomic medicine. This new clinical paradigm uses knowledge of an
      individual's genomic variants to anticipate, diagnose and manage disease. While
      individualized genetic medicine offers the promise of transformative change in
      health care, it forces us to reconsider existing ethical, scientific and clinical
      paradigms. The potential benefits of pre-symptomatic identification of at-risk
      individuals, improved diagnostics, individualized therapy, accurate prognosis and
      avoidance of adverse drug reactions coexist with the potential risks of
      uninterpretable results, psychological harm, outmoded counseling models and
      increased health care costs. Here we review the challenges, opportunities and
      limits of integrating genomic analysis into pediatric clinical practice and
      describe a model for implementing individualized genomic medicine. Our
      multidisciplinary team of bioinformaticians, health economists, health services
      and policy researchers, ethicists, geneticists, genetic counselors and clinicians
      has designed a 'Genome Clinic' research project that addresses multiple
      challenges in pediatric genomic medicine--ranging from development of
      bioinformatics tools for the clinical assessment of genomic variants and the
      discovery of disease genes to health policy inquiries, assessment of clinical
      care models, patient preference and the ethics of consent.

PMID- 25813239
TI  - Physico-chemical properties of Tecoma stans Linn. seed oil: a new crop for
      vegetable oil.
AB  - Tecoma stans Linn. is known to have various medicinal and therapeutic properties.
      However, to our knowledge, no information is available regarding their seed oils.
      In this study, the fatty acid (FA) compositions, physico-chemical properties and
      antioxidant capacities of T. stans seed oils (TSOs) were investigated. The oil
      content of the seeds was 15%. The FAs of the TSOs were analysed by GC-MS. alpha
      Linolenic (45.47%), oleic (23.56%), linoleic (11.48%), palmitic (6.09%) and
      stearic (4.12%) acids were the major detected FAs. gamma-Linolenic acid and
      stearidonic acid, unusually FAs, were also present (1.04% and 6.65%,
      respectively). The total tocol content in the TSOs was found to be 266.06 mg/100
      g. The main component was gamma-tocopherol (78.93%). The total phenolic content
      (168.69 mg GAE/100 g oil) and total flavonoid content (5.54 mg CE/g oil) were
      also determined in the TSOs.

PMID- 25813240
TI  - Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG in adenoid tissue: Double-blind, placebo-controlled,
      randomized clinical trial.
AB  - CONCLUSION: Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (L.GG) was present in all adenoids of
      children receiving the L. GG product. However, since L.GG was also found from the
      placebo group, one cannot confirm its effect on the occurrence of rhinovirus (RV)
      or enterovirus (EV). OBJECTIVES: The present study was conducted to determine
      whether a 3-week oral consumption of L.GG would lead to presence of the probiotic
      in adenoid tissue. Furthermore, nasopharyngeal RV and EV findings and symptom
      data were investigated. METHOD: The tissue samples were collected from 40
      children aged 1-5 years about to undergo adenotomy due to recurrent
      acute/secretory otitis media, chronic rhinitis, or recurrent sinusitis after a 3
      week daily consumption of L.GG (n = 20) or placebo (n = 20). Strain-specific real
      time PCR was used to detect RV, EV, and L.GG in adenoid tissue. RESULTS: L.GG was
      recovered in the adenoid sample in 100% of children in the L.GG group and in 76%
      in the placebo group (p = 0.07). Both RV and EV were found in 31% of children in
      the L.GG group and in 18% of children in the placebo group (p = 0.67). The
      majority of the positive samples were positive for both RV and EV. Study diaries
      showed no differences in symptoms between the groups.

PMID- 25813243
TI  - Neurorehabilitation: motor recovery after stroke as an example.
AB  - The field of neurorehabilitation aims to translate neuroscience research toward
      the goal of maximizing functional recovery after neurological injury. A growing
      body of research indicates that the fundamental principles of neurological
      rehabilitation are applicable to a broad range of congenital, degenerative, and
      acquired neurological disorders. In this perspective, we will focus on motor
      recovery after acquired brain injuries such as stroke. Over the past few decades,
      a large body of basic and clinical research has created an experimental and
      theoretical foundation for approaches to neurorehabilitation. Recent randomized
      clinical trials all emphasize the requirement for intense progressive
      rehabilitation programs to optimally enhance recovery. Moreover, advances in
      multimodal assessment of patients with neuroimaging and neurophysiological tools
      suggest the possibility of individualized treatment plans based on recovery
      potential. There are also promising indications for medical as well as
      noninvasive brain stimulation paradigms to facilitate recovery. Ongoing or
      planned clinical studies should provide more definitive evidence. We also
      highlight unmet needs and potential areas of research. Continued research built
      upon a robust experimental and theoretical foundation should help to develop
      novel treatments to improve recovery after neurological injury.

PMID- 25813241
TI  - Physiology of the Renal Interstitium.
AB  - Long overlooked as the virtual compartment and then strictly characterized
      through descriptive morphologic analysis, the renal interstitium has finally been
      associated with function. With identification of interstitial renin- and
      erythropoietin-producing cells, the most prominent endocrine functions of the
      kidney have now been attributed to the renal interstitium. This article reviews
      the functional role of renal interstitium. 

PMID- 25813244
TI  - First unusual case of keratitis in Europe due to the rare fungus Metarhizium
      anisopliae.
AB  - Metarhizium anisopliae is a fungus utilized worldwide for insect-pest biocontrol.
      Few M. anisopliae infections have been reported previously. Here, M. anisopliae
      was isolated from a corneal ulcer in a healthy man. It is the first ocular case
      in France and Europe of this extremely rare fungus in humans. 

PMID- 25813242
TI  - Non-canonical active site architecture of the radical SAM thiamin pyrimidine
      synthase.
AB  - Radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) enzymes use a [4Fe-4S] cluster to generate a
      5'-deoxyadenosyl radical. Canonical radical SAM enzymes are characterized by a
      beta-barrel-like fold and SAM anchors to the differentiated iron of the cluster,
      which is located near the amino terminus and within the beta-barrel, through its
      amino and carboxylate groups. Here we show that ThiC, the thiamin pyrimidine
      synthase in plants and bacteria, contains a tethered cluster-binding domain at
      its carboxy terminus that moves in and out of the active site during catalysis.
      In contrast to canonical radical SAM enzymes, we predict that SAM anchors to an
      additional active site metal through its amino and carboxylate groups.
      Superimposition of the catalytic domains of ThiC and glutamate mutase shows that
      these two enzymes share similar active site architectures, thus providing strong
      evidence for an evolutionary link between the radical SAM and adenosylcobalamin
      dependent enzyme superfamilies. 

PMID- 25813245
TI  - Traits allowing some ant species to nest syntopically with the fire ant
      Solenopsis saevissima in its native range.
AB  - Supercolonies of the red fire ant Solenopsis saevissima (Smith) develop in
      disturbed environments and likely alter the ant community in the native range of
      the species. For example, in French Guiana only 8 ant species were repeatedly
      noted as nesting in close vicinity to its mounds. Here, we verified if a shared
      set of biological, ecological, and behavioral traits might explain how these 8
      species are able to nest in the presence of S. saevissima. We did not find this
      to be the case. We did find, however, that all of them are able to live in
      disturbed habitats. It is likely that over the course of evolution each of these
      species acquired the capacity to live syntopically with S. saevissima through its
      own set of traits, where colony size (4 species develop large colonies),
      cuticular compounds which do not trigger aggressiveness (6 species) and
      submissive behaviors (4 species) complement each other. 

PMID- 25813246
TI  - HDAC inhibitors induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colon carcinoma
      cells.
AB  - The effects of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors on epithelial-mesenchymal
      transition (EMT) differ in various types of cancers. We investigated the EMT
      phenotype in four colon cancer cell lines when challenged with HDAC inhibitors
      trichostatin A (TSA) and valproic acid (VPA) with or without transforming growth
      factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) treatment. Four colon cancer cell lines with different
      phenotypes in regards to tumorigenicity, microsatellite stability and DNA
      mutation were used. EMT phenotypes were assessed by the expression of E-cadherin
      and vimentin using western blot analysis, immunofluorescence, quantitative real
      time RT-PCR following treatment with TSA (100 or 200 nM) or VPA (0.5 mM) with or
      without TGF-beta1 (5 ng/ml) for 24 h. Biological EMT phenotypes were also
      evaluated by cell morphology, migration and invasion assays. TSA or VPA induced
      mesenchymal features in the colon carcinoma cells by a decrease in E-cadherin and
      an increase in vimentin expression at the mRNA and protein levels. Confocal
      microscopy revealed membranous attenuation or nuclear translocation of E-cadherin
      and enhanced expression of vimentin. These responses occurred after 6 h and
      increased until 24 h. Colon cancer cells changed from a round or rectangular
      shape to a spindle shape with increased migration and invasion ability following
      TSA or VPA treatment. The susceptibility to EMT changes induced by TSA or VPA was
      comparable in microsatellite stable (SW480 and HT29) and microsatellite unstable
      cells (DLD1 and HCT116). TSA or VPA induced a mesenchymal phenotype in the colon
      carcinoma cells and these effects were augmented in the presence of TGF-beta1.
      HDAC inhibitors require careful caution before their application as new
      anticancer drugs for colon cancers.

PMID- 25813247
TI  - Rational design of capillary-driven flows for paper-based microfluidics.
AB  - The design of paper-based assays that integrate passive pumping requires a
      precise programming of the fluid transport, which has to be encoded in the
      geometrical shape of the substrate. This requirement becomes critical in multiple
      step processes, where fluid handling must be accurate and reproducible for each
      operation. The present work theoretically investigates the capillary imbibition
      in paper-like substrates to better understand fluid transport in terms of the
      macroscopic geometry of the flow domain. A fluid dynamic model was derived for
      homogeneous porous substrates with arbitrary cross-sectional shapes, which allows
      one to determine the cross-sectional profile required for a prescribed fluid
      velocity or mass transport rate. An extension of the model to slit microchannels
      is also demonstrated. Calculations were validated by experiments with prototypes
      fabricated in our lab. The proposed method constitutes a valuable tool for the
      rational design of paper-based assays. 

PMID- 25813248
TI  - Clinical perspectives and murine models of lichenoid tissue reaction/interface
      dermatitis.
AB  - A set of histopathological elements, that is death of epidermal basal cell layer
      keratinocytes and inflammatory cell infiltration, distinguishes lichenoid tissue
      reaction (LTR)/interface dermatitis (IFD) from other inflammatory mucocutaneous
      diseases with histological findings of superficial perivascular dermatitis. The
      LTR/IFD is observed in inflammatory mucocutaneous diseases such as lichen planus,
      Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis, acute graft-versus-host
      disease, lupus erythematosus and dermatomyositis. Clinical and basic researches
      have suggested that keratinocytes are antigen-presenting cells and mediate
      LTR/IFD reaction via production of cytokines/chemokines and inhibitory molecules
      such as programmed cell death (PD)-L1, and that cytotoxic CD8(+) T cells
      producing cytotoxic granules, perforin, granzyme B and granulysin are final
      effector cells to cause keratinocyte death. Because interferon-gamma and FasL,
      which are produced by not only CD8(+) but also CD4(+) T cells, are candidates of
      the pathogenic molecules in LTR/IFD, CD4(+) T cells may also play a role to
      develop LTR/IFD. On the other hand, CD4(+) Treg cells accelerate the remission of
      LTR/IFD. Some murine models of LTR/IFD have been established. For example,
      LTR/IFD reactions were induced in keratinocyte-specific membrane-binding
      ovalbumin-transgenic (mOVA Tg) mice by adoptive transfer of CD8(+) T cells with
      OVA-specific T-cell-receptor. It has also been shown that human CD8(+) T cells
      are pathogenic immune cells in human skin-xenografted mice. Various
      immunosuppressants are used to treat patients with mucocutaneous diseases with
      LTR/IFD. By analysis of the mOVA Tg mice, a JAK inhibitor was suggested to be a
      new candidate drug to inhibit not only pathogenic T cells but also keratinocyte
      death in LTR/IFD. More specific treatments for patients with LTR/IFD will be
      developed in future.

PMID- 25813249
TI  - Genome-wide analysis of 5-hmC in the peripheral blood of systemic lupus
      erythematosus patients using an hMeDIP-chip.
AB  - Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, potentially fatal systemic
      autoimmune disease characterized by the production of autoantibodies against a
      wide range of self-antigens. To investigate the role of the 5-hmC DNA
      modification with regard to the onset of SLE, we compared the levels 5-hmC
      between SLE patients and normal controls. Whole blood was obtained from patients,
      and genomic DNA was extracted. Using the hMeDIP-chip analysis and validation by
      quantitative RT-PCR (RT-qPCR), we identified the differentially hydroxymethylated
      regions that are associated with SLE. There were 1,701 genes with significantly
      different 5-hmC levels at the promoter region in the SLE patients compared with
      the normal controls. The CpG islands of 3,826 genes showed significantly
      different 5-hmC levels in the SLE patients compared with the normal controls. Out
      of the differentially hydroxymethylated genes, three were selected for
      validation, including TREX1, CDKN1A and CDKN1B. The hydroxymethylation levels of
      the three genes were confirmed by RT-qPCR. The results suggested that there were
      significant alterations of 5-hmC in SLE patients. Thus, these differentially
      hydroxymethylated genes may contribute to the pathogenesis of SLE. These findings
      show the significance of 5-hmC as a potential biomarker or promising target for
      epigenetic-based SLE therapies.

PMID- 25813250
TI  - miR-141 confers docetaxel chemoresistance of breast cancer cells via regulation
      of EIF4E expression.
AB  - Resistance to docetaxel, a chemotherapy drug for breast cancer (BC) treatment,
      occurs in ~50% of patients, and the underlying molecular mechanisms of drug
      resistance are not fully understood. Gene regulation through miR-141 has been
      proven to play an important role in cancer drug resistance. The present study
      investigated the role of miR-141 expression in BC cells of acquired docetaxel
      resistance. Inhibition of miR-141 enhanced the response to docetaxel in docetaxel
      resistant cells (MCF-7/DTX and MDA-MB-231/DTX, respectively), whereas
      overexpression of miR-141 confered resistance in docetaxel-sensitive cells (MCF-7
      and MDA-MB-231, respectively). By directly targeting the eukaryotic translation
      initiation factor 4E (EIF4E) mRNA, miR-141 acts on genes that are necessary for
      drug induced apoptosis rendering the cells drug resistant. Modulation of miR-141
      expression was correlated with EIF4E expression changes and a direct interaction
      of miR-141 with EIF4E was shown by a luciferase assay. Thus, the present study is
      the first to show an increased expression of miR-141 in an acquired model of
      docetaxel resistance in BC. This serves as a mechanism of acquired docetaxel
      resistance in BC cells, possibly through direct interactions with EIF4E,
      therefore presenting a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of
      docetaxel resistant BC.

PMID- 25813251
TI  - [Has the pregnancy outcome of women with pregestational diabetes mellitus
      improved in ten years?].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In spite of progress in medicine, studies from a number of
      countries indicate steadily increased risk of perinatal morbidity and mortality
      in the offspring of diabetic mothers. No data regarding the pregnancy outcome in
      women with diabetes mellitus type 1 and 2 (pregestational DM) have been published
      in the Czech Republic. The aim of the study was to evaluate the pregnancy course
      of women with pregestational DM and outcome of their offspring and to assess
      whether it has improved in ten years. METHODS: A retrospective evaluation of
      pregnancy outcome of pregestational DM women followed up in the University
      Hospital Pilsen in years 2000-2009 (Group A, n = 107) and comparison with the
      period 1990-1997 (Group B, n = 39) were performed. Wilcoxon non-paired test,
      contingency tables, step-wise logistic regression and step-wise linear multiple
      regression methods were used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Data is presented
      as median (interquartile range). Women from the Group A were older 28 (25, 31) vs
      25 (22, 27) years, p = 0.01. Otherwise, the groups did not statistically
      significantly differ in diabetes duration, BMI, and representation of women with
      type 2 diabetes. A better glycemic control (HbA1c, mmol/mol) was achieved in the
      Group A in all trimesters - 1st trimester: 59 (47, 67) vs 66 (56, 76), 2nd
      trimester: 46 (40, 52) vs 54 (48, 59) and 3rd trimester: 46 (40, 51) vs 53 (47,
      60), p = 0.01. The caesarean section rate decreased (65.2 % vs 87.5 %, p < 0.05).
      The incidence of the respiratory distress syndrome after adjustment for age and
      diabetes duration also decreased (8.9 % vs 18.2 %, p < 0.05). A decreasing trend
      in the rate of premature delivery before 34th week of gestation (1.1 % vs 6.3 %)
      and neonatal mortality (1.1 % vs 2.9 %) was observed, however, the differences
      were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The achieved improved glycemic
      control led to only a partial improvement in the course of pregnancy and outcome
      of the offspring of diabetic mothers.

PMID- 25813252
TI  - [The importance of transcutaneous oxygen tension monitoring in diabetic patient
      with complications].
AB  - Monitoring of transcutaneous perfusion pressure of tissue oxygen (tcpO2) is a
      simple, non-invasive method performed in diagnostic process of chronic diabetic
      complications. Primary, tcpO2is used as an indicator of microcirculatory
      function. Properly placed and fixed Clark electrode is able to detect with high
      accuracy partial oxygen pressure on the skin surface by polarographic system of
      dissolved oxygen from capillary bed through tissues to upper layers of the skin.
      The microcirculation function is influenced by macrocirculation, thus, tcpO2is a
      suitable parameter in diagnosis of peripheral arterial obliterative disease or
      other vascular pathologies. Combination of tcpO2monitoring and skin perfusion
      pressure by laser Doppler technique gives us information not only about nutritive
      capillary flow, but also about vessels which precede capillary bed. The article
      discusses current guidelines for measurement of tcpO2and evaluation of the
      results. Also reviews the results of recent studies which are interested in the
      use of tcpO2in diabetic patients.

PMID- 25813253
TI  - [Autoimmune pancreatitis - diagnostic consensus].
AB  - The autoimmune type of pancreatitis represents the specific disease of pancreas,
      with significant contribution of autoimmune processes in its etiopathogenesis.
      Currently, there are two proved subtypes of this particular pancreatopathy, which
      are defined clinically, histomorphologically and serologically. They have many
      histomorphological signs in common, but differ in the presence of so-called
      granulocytic epithelial lesions (GEL), which are absent in subtype 1. The subtype
      1 is characterized by the presence of gammaglobulines, esp. immunoglobuline G4
      and IgG4 positive extrapancreatic lesions. The subtype 2 is typically associated
      with the inflammatory bowel diseases, esp. ulcerative colitis. But the common
      characteristic of both subtypes is the fact response to applied steroid
      treatment. Due to diverse diagnostic criteria in the past, in 2011 the consensus
      for the diagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis was announced. It is based on
      clinical symptoms, biochemical results, the results got by using of imaging
      methods, histomorphology and positive response to steroid treatment. The matter
      to be solved is the question of early differential diagnosis between focal
      autoimmune pancreatitis and adenocarcinoma of pancreatic head. From imaging
      methods are MRI/CT, MRCP (in Asia ERCP), EUS with targeted biopsy of the gland
      (under EUS control), are recommended as the methods of choice.

PMID- 25813254
TI  - [Interstitial lung diseases and granulomatoses associated common variable
      immunodeficiency].
AB  - Common variable immunodeficiency disorder belongs to the most common primary
      human immunodeficiencies and it is characterized by primary defective
      immunoglobulin production. Hypogammaglobulinemia manifests in every age, usually
      in adult people. There is no gender predisposition. The prevalence is 1 : 25 000
      1 : 50 000. The ethiopathogenesis of the majority of CVIDs is unknown. The main
      clinical respiratory symptoms include recurrent respiratory infects, especially
      bacterial etiology, sinusitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, leading to bronchiectasis
      and lung fibrosis. Interstitial lung fibrosis and granulomatosis often manifest
      at diagnosis of CVID and they are negative prognostic factors of the disease.

PMID- 25813255
TI  - [The examination of the small intestine by magnetic resonance imaging].
AB  - Diagnostic imaging of the abdominal cavity and the gastrointestinal tract is
      increasingly performed by new-emerged fast MR imaging sequences and it is moving
      to the centers of magnetic resonance. Our work is devoted to the examination of
      the small intestine by magnetic resonance, so-called MR enterography. Review
      discusses general description - from preparation of patient to basic pathological
      findings, with special focus on currently most investigated small intestine
      disease - Crohns disease.

PMID- 25813256
TI  - [The new drug is much more effective than ACE inhibitors in chronic heart
      failure].
AB  - PARADIGM-HF study observed clinical outcomes after treatment by new drug LCZ696
      or enalapril in patients with systolic chronic heart failure. It was randomized
      double-blind trial with LCZ696 (200 mg twice a day) and enalapril (10 mg twice a
      day). 8442 patients were enrolled with NYHA class II or III and left ventricular
      ejection fiction of 40% or less. Study drugs were added to other recommended
      medication. The trial was prematurely terminated after median follow-up of 27
      months. The primary endpoint of the study was a combination of cardiovascular
      mortality and the first hospitalization for heart failure. LCZ696 drug, an
      inhibitor of angiotensin receptor and neprilysin (Arnie), has led to a reduction
      in the primary composite target by 20% (p <0.001). The treatment has decreased
      cardiovascular mortality by 20%, p <0.001 and hospitalization for worsening heart
      failure by 21%, p <0.001. LCZ696 has also decreased total mortality by 16%, p
      <0.001. The use of LCZ696 has been accompanied by frequent symptomatic
      hypotension and hypotension with a decrease in systolic blood pressure below 90
      mm Hg, however, LCZ696 was less often associated with an increase in serum
      creatinine and serum potassium than enalapril. In addition, cough has occurred
      less frequently after LCZ696 than after enalapril. Discontinuation of therapy
      occurred in 746 patients (17.8%) treated with LCZ696 and in 833 patients (19.8%)
      treated with enalapril (19.8%) (p = 0.02). PARADIGM-HF study has also shown
      superiority of LCZ696 compared to ACE inhibitors in stable outpatients with
      chronic systolic heart failure NYHA stages II and III. Therefore, LCZ696 is more
      effective than ACE inhibitors (and angiotensin receptor blockers). Moreover, it
      is well tolerated. LCZ696 seems to replace the ACE inhibitors in mentioned
      patients. The authors also discuss the results of the first randomized study
      PARAMOUNT investigating LCZ696 efficacy in patients with chronic heart failure
      and good left ventricular ejection fraction.

PMID- 25813257
TI  - [Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis].
AB  - Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) represents a frequent and serious
      complication in patients with ascites in liver cirrhosis. Hospital mortality in
      patients with SBP reaches 10-20 %, so it is necessary to consider this diagnosis
      in every clinical decompensation of a cirrhotic patient, diagnose it early and
      treat it effectively. The clinical manifestation is nonspecific and variable, up
      to one third of patients might be asymptomatic. The diagnosis of SBP is based on
      the ascitic neutrophils count greater than 250 per mm3. Bacteriological
      examination of ascites fluid detects causative agents at less than half of the
      cases and the result is available after a few days. However, treatment should be
      initiated without delay. SBP is generally treated with antibiotics, the first
      choice therapy are the third generation cephalosporins, mostly cefotaxime,
      alternatively fluoroquinolones. Long-term prognosis of patients with the history
      of SBP is poor owing to its high recurrence rate, one-year survival after an
      episode of SBP is 30-40 %, 20 % at two years. Therefore, these patients should
      receive long-term antibiotic prophylaxis and should be evaluated for liver
      transplantation.

PMID- 25813258
TI  - [What are biosimilars and what do they bring to us?].
AB  - Biosimilar medicines are a new category of medicinal products that substantially
      differ from generic preparations through the necessary submission of conclusive
      evidence of their therapeutic efficacy and therefore it is not sufficient to
      merely state their biological equivalence. Apart from the proven efficacy, also
      their safety is evaluated of course, with an emphasis on immunogenicity regarding
      biological nature of these substances. As a result, requirements for registration
      are much stricter. With regard to the current boom of the preparations labelled
      in a simplified way as biological or specifically targeted drugs, we can
      certainly expect a growing number of newly registered medicinal products in this
      category in the near future. Last year, a biosimilar insulin analogue of glargine
      was approved for administration at the level of the European Medicines Agency
      (EMA) in accordance with the aforementioned procedures; its efficacy and safety
      profile have been found within the registration studies practically identical, or
      non-inferior, to the original insulin analogue.

PMID- 25813259
TI  - [Insulin analogues of patients with diabetes and renal impairment].
AB  - The main cause of renal failure is diabetic nephropathy which affects 20-40 % of
      diabetic patients. Diabetics with altered renal function have restricted
      therapeutic options due to the risk of accumulation of oral antidiabetic drugs
      and of their metabolites at a reduced glomerular filtration rate. Good metabolic
      control is very important during the early phases of nephropathy for reducing the
      risk of progression and in the stage of renal failure reduces the risk of
      progression of atherosclerosis and improves life prognosis. Metabolism of insulin
      is changed during renal failure, clearance of insulin is prolonged, the risk of
      hypoglycemia increases. Short-acting insulin analogues have faster absorption and
      long-acting analogues have a lower risk of hypoglycemia. Thus they can positively
      affect glycemic control of patients with diabetes and impaired renal function.

PMID- 25813260
TI  - [Present and future in the management of venous vascular diseases].
AB  - The prevalence and the incidence of chronic and acute venous vascular disease has
      been shown to be globally very high, in both industrialized and developing
      countries. Chronic venous diseases of lower extremities are being an integral
      part of the third millennium's deadly angiopandemy, at the present time. The rate
      of the most severe cases with advanced stage of venous failure is approximately
      twice as high in the population (2.1 %) as has been assumed so far. Among
      venoactive drugs (VAD), micronized purified flavonoid fraction (MPFF) of diosmin
      hesperidin remains the agent with the highest degree of recommendation and it
      also indicated to pharmacotherapeutical support of leg ulcer healing, along with
      sulodexide and pentoxifylline. Compressive sclerotherapy, liquid or foam, is a
      safe and effective invasive method to treat telangiectasias, reticular varicose
      veins and subcutaneous varicose veins. Direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC)
      represent one of the therapeutic and preventive options of deep venous thrombosis
      (DVT) and of venous thromboembolism (VTE) with a limitation in patients with
      malignant conditions and in pregnancy. The most effective is triple simultaneous
      pharmaco-kinezio-mechano-phlebothromboemboloprophylaxis. Superficial vein
      thromboses longer than 5 cm are indicated to anticoagulant therapy too.

PMID- 25813261
TI  - [Akromegaly and pharmacotherapy].
AB  - Acromegaly is a rare and serious disease. A successful and rational therapy of
      acromegaly ought to combine surgery, radiotherapy and pharmacotherapy. The
      submitted article presents a case of acromegaly that was only diagnosed at the
      stage when total pituitary adenoma removal was impossible. Even so, the long-term
      stabilisation of the disease was reached by way of repeated surgery through
      transfenoidal and transcranial approach, by linear accelerator radiation therapy
      and Leksell Gamma Knife radiotherapy and by pharmacotherapy with somatostatin
      analogon octreotide and growth hormone receptor antagonist pegvisomant. The
      octreotide and pegvisomant dosage has been repeatedly changed according to IGF1
      levels. The contemporary somatostatin analogon Sandostatin LAR 30 mg is given
      once every 3 weeks and the growth hormone receptor antagonist Somavert 20 mg is
      applied daily. Despite this serious disease, the patient has already been living
      contentedly for 10 years. From the ethical point of view, the financials
      costingness of the therapy should be considered as reasonable.

PMID- 25813262
TI  - [A rare case of multiple myeloma: multiple solitary plasmacytomas of distal
      extremities].
AB  - This article describes a case of 68-years-old male with very atypic variation of
      multiple myeloma occuring as multifocal osteolysis limited to tibiae, cuboid
      bone, radius and ulna, in the absence of diffuse bone marrow infiltration. The
      main goal of this article is to point out the importance of permanent awareness
      during diagnostics and treatment of this insidious disease.

PMID- 25813263
TI  - [Calcific uremic arteriolopathy - treatment with sodium thiosulfate].
AB  - Calcific uremic arteriolopathy or calciphylaxis is a rare disorder characterized
      by systemic medial calcification of arterioles that leads to ischemia and
      subcutaneous necrosis. It most commonly occurs in patients with end-stage renal
      disease who are on haemodialysis or who have received a renal transplant.
      Calciphylaxis is dangerous by its fast progression into tissue necrosis,
      difficult healing process and a great risk of secondary infection which is the
      most common cause of death in this condition. The reported mortality rates are as
      high as 60-80 % in a couple of months once it is diagnosed. The key to successful
      treatment of calciphylaxis is fast diagnosing of the disease and appropriate
      treatment management. On the examples of three patients from our haemodialysis
      centre we demonstrate typical clinical manifestation of calciphylaxis and its
      treatment, which requires close patient-medical staff cooperation. The basic
      principle of treatment of all our patients was normalization of calcium-phosphate
      metabolism and secondary hyperparathyroidism. Sodium thiosulfate had been
      administered to all patients at the end of haemodialysis session. The wound care
      played another major role with gentle debridement and intensive local care. After
      five to six months the skin defects resolved in the first patient, partially
      resolved in the second patient and deteriorated in the third patient. We have
      observed no side effects of sodium thiosulfate application.

PMID- 25813264
TI  - [Empagliflozin - the new representative of SGLT2 transporter inhibitors for the
      treatment of patients with diabetes 2 type].
AB  - Empagliflozin is a new medicine used to reduce hyperglycemia in patients with
      type 2 diabetes. It belongs to the most advanced class of antidiabetic drugs,
      known as gliflozins, which prevent reabsorption of glucose through inhibiting
      SGLT2 sodium-glucose cotransporter. Thereby they cause therapeutic glycosuria,
      thanks to which a loss of approximately 70 g of glucose per day occurs. This not
      only effects the decrease in glycemia, but also the loss of body mass, since this
      excreted glucose cannot be used as an energetic substrate. The studies within
      phase 3 have proven the therapeutic efficacy of empagliflozin in monotherapy, in
      combination with the other oral antidiabec drugs and insulin. Another favourable
      effect of empagliflozin is a slight decrease in blood pressure. In May 2014,
      empagliflozin was approved for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes
      within the European Union 2014, since October 2014 it has been available in the
      Czech Republic and since 1 February 2015 empagliflozin (under the trade name
      Jardiance(r)) has been partially covered by the health insurance for the
      treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes either in combination with metformin
      or in combination with insulin (with or without metformin).

PMID- 25813265
TI  - Giant oscillating thermopower at oxide interfaces.
AB  - Understanding the nature of charge carriers at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface is one
      of the major open issues in the full comprehension of the charge confinement
      phenomenon in oxide heterostructures. Here, we investigate thermopower to study
      the electronic structure in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 at low temperature as a function of
      gate field. In particular, under large negative gate voltage, corresponding to
      the strongly depleted charge density regime, thermopower displays high negative
      values of the order of 10(4)-10(5) MUVK(-1), oscillating at regular intervals as
      a function of the gate voltage. The huge thermopower magnitude can be attributed
      to the phonon-drag contribution, while the oscillations map the progressive
      depletion and the Fermi level descent across a dense array of localized states
      lying at the bottom of the Ti 3d conduction band. This study provides direct
      evidence of a localized Anderson tail in the two-dimensional electron liquid at
      the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface.

PMID- 25813266
TI  - The subcellular compartmentalization of TGFbeta-RII and the dynamics of endosomal
      formation during the signaling events: An in vivo study on rat mesothelial cells.
AB  - We previously showed that intraperitoneal administration of Freund's adjuvant
      treatment resulted in acute peritonitis and TGF-beta was found to be one of the
      main organizers of the subsequent EMT in mesothelial cells. In the present study,
      we investigated whether TGF-beta signaling molecules are present in mesothelial
      cells and how their compartmentalization pattern changes with the dynamics of
      inflammatory events in vivo. In addition, we tried to evaluate the turnover of
      endosomal compartments concomitant with the internalization of signaling
      molecules and examine whether caveola-mediated internalization might play a role
      in the termination of TGF-beta signaling. Using immunocytochemical approach, we
      could detect TbetaRII in EEA1 positive compartments and as the inflammation
      progressed, at D3, the receptor appeared in caveolin-1 positive intracellular
      structures as well. The latter event was accompanied by the appearance of
      negative regulatory protein, Smad7 in caveolae. We also found EEA1 and caveolin-1
      double positive vesicular structures that were corresponded to forming MVBs
      affirmed by our immuno-electron microscopical results. Fine structural,
      morphometric and immunoblot analysis proved that Cd63 positive multivesicular
      body (MVB) formation was significantly increased by D3 and the IP results
      confirmed that TbetaRII as well as caveolin-1 were strongly associated with these
      endosomal compartments at this time. In contrast, by the termination of
      inflammation, by D5, caveolin-1 was found to be associated with late endosomal
      marker, Rab7 and entirely degraded from the system. Despite the limitations of an
      in vivo system, our results provide both morphological and biochemical data about
      the endosomal compartments involved in the internalization of TbetaRII upon
      inflammatory stimuli. Furthermore, our study implies the possible role of caveola
      mediated endocytosis in the attenuation of TGF-beta signaling and highlight the
      significance of endosomal compartments via which caveolae might meet the
      classical endocytic pathway under in vivo inflammatory conditions. 

PMID- 25813267
TI  - Risk factors for alcoholism in the Oklahoma Family Health Patterns project:
      impact of early life adversity and family history on affect regulation and
      personality.
AB  - AIM: This study examined the impact of early lifetime adversity (ELA) on affect
      regulation and personality in persons with family history (FH+) and without (FH-)
      a family history of alcoholism. We examined the impact of early life adversity in
      healthy young adults, 18-30 years of age enrolled in a long-term study on risk
      for alcohol and other substance abuse. METHODS: ELA was assessed by a composite
      score of low socioeconomic status and personal experience of physical or sexual
      abuse and/or separation from parents before age 16, resulting in a score of 0, 1
      2, or >3 adverse events. Unstable affect regulation and personality variables
      were obtained via self-report measures. RESULTS: Higher ELA scores were seen in
      FH+ (chi(2)=109.2, p<0.0001) and in women (chi(2)=17.82, p=0.0019). Although
      higher ELA predicted less emotional stability and more behavioral undercontrol,
      further analysis including both FH and ELA showed that FH+ persons are prone to
      poor affect regulation, negative moods, and have risky drinking and drug abuse
      tendencies independent of ELA level. ELA predicts reduced stress reactivity and
      poorer cognitive control over impulsive behaviors as shown elsewhere.
      CONCLUSIONS: The present work shows that FH+ have poor mood regulation and
      antisocial characteristics. The greater prevalence of ELA in FH+ persons
      indicates that life experience and FH+ work in tandem to result in risky patterns
      of alcohol and drug experimentation to elevate risk for alcoholism. Further
      studies of genetic and environmental contributions to alcoholism are called for.

PMID- 25813268
TI  - Mechanisms of change associated with technology-based interventions for substance
      use.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Technology-based interventions (TBIs) for substance use disorders
      have been increasing steadily. The mechanisms by which TBIs produce change in
      substance use outcomes have not been reviewed. This article is the first review
      of the conceptual and empirical underpinnings of the mechanisms associated with
      TBIs for substance use disorders. METHODS: We review the literature on potential
      mechanisms associated with TBIs targeting tobacco, alcohol, and poly-substance
      use. We did not identify TBIs targeting other drug classes and that assessed
      mechanisms. RESULTS: Research suggests that TBIs impact outcomes via similar
      potential mechanisms as in non-TBIs (e.g., in-person treatment), with the
      exception of substance use outcomes being associated with changes in the quality
      of coping skills. The most frequent potential mechanisms detected were self
      efficacy for tobacco abstinence and perceived peer drinking for alcohol
      abstinence. CONCLUSIONS: Research on mechanisms associated with TBIs is still in
      a nascent stage. We provide several recommendations for future work, including
      broadening the range of mechanisms assessed and increasing the frequency of
      assessment to detect temporal relations between mechanisms and outcomes. We also
      discuss unique challenges and opportunities afforded by technology that can
      advance theory, method, and clinical practice.

PMID- 25813270
TI  - sRNA profiling in Aspergillus flavus reveals differentially expressed miRNA-like
      RNAs response to water activity and temperature.
AB  - Small non-coding RNA (sRNA) in various organisms remains a mysterious subject.
      Although microRNAs (miRNAs) have been intensively investigated in plants and
      animals, the study of miRNAs in fungi has been limited. Only microRNA-like RNAs
      (milRNAs) have been reported in several filamentous fungi. In this study,
      Illumina deep sequencing was performed to characterize the sRNA in Aspergillus
      flavus and to evaluate their responses to water activity and temperature. Global
      expression analysis showed an extensively differential expression of sRNA loci in
      A. flavus under different temperature or water activities. In addition, a total
      of 135 milRNAs were identified in A. flavus. The milRNA profiles obtained in deep
      sequencing were further validated by RT-qPCR assay. The presence and differential
      expression of milRNAs under different temperature or water activities in A.
      flavus imply that milRNAs might play important roles in the mycotoxin
      biosynthesis and mycelium growth in fungi A. flavus. 

PMID- 25813269
TI  - Pilot Study of a Computer-Based Parental Questionnaire and Visual Profile of
      Obesity Risk in Healthy Preschoolers.
AB  - PURPOSE: This group field-tested a computer-based, parental questionnaire
      entitled the Childhood Obesity Risk Questionnaire 2-5 (CORQ 2-5) designed to
      assess obesity risk in healthy preschoolers. COR 2-5 generates a profile of seven
      obesity risk factors. RESULTS: Field studies provided good internal reliability
      data and evidence of discriminant validity for the CORQ 2-5. Pediatric nurse
      clinicians found the CORQ 2-5 profile to be clinically relevant. CONCLUSION: The
      CORQ 2-5 is a promising measure of obesity risk in preschoolers who attend
      community-based health centers for their wellchild visits and who are not yet
      obese. CORQ 2-5 is intended to guide provider-parental obesity risk discussions.

PMID- 25813271
TI  - Task and barrier self-efficacy among treatment-seeking smokers with current, past
      or no psychiatric diagnosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Individuals with a lifetime diagnosis of mental illness smoke at rates
      greater than the general population, and have more difficulty quitting. Cessation
      self-efficacy has been linked with positive cessation outcomes and can be
      assessed as either task (confidence to quit) or barrier self-efficacy (confidence
      to quit in the face of obstacles). We investigated differences in self-efficacy
      among smokers with a current, past or no lifetime diagnosis of psychiatric
      illness. METHODS: 737 treatment-seeking smokers provided demographic info and
      smoking history, and were assessed for nicotine dependence, motivation to quit,
      and task and barrier self-efficacy (Smoking Self-Efficacy Questionnaire; SEQ-12)
      for smoking cessation. Current and past psychiatric diagnoses were assessed with
      the Mini International Psychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I. 6.0). ANOVA, chi-square
      and correlations were calculated for the smoking-related variables across the
      psychiatric categories. RESULTS: Those with a current diagnosis smoked more
      cigarettes and were highly nicotine dependent. These individuals had lower
      barrier self-efficacy compared to those with past or no diagnosis; no differences
      between groups were observed on task self-efficacy. Motivation to quit was
      significantly correlated with task self-efficacy in all 3 groups, but with
      barrier-self efficacy only among those with no lifetime diagnosis of psychiatric
      illness. CONCLUSION: Our results highlight the differences in task and barrier
      cessation self-efficacy in treatment-seeking smokers. Those with a current
      psychiatric diagnosis have less confidence in their ability to quit when
      confronting barriers, especially those reflecting internal states. These results
      highlight the need for targeted interventions to improve cessation self-efficacy,
      an important determinant of health behavior change.

PMID- 25813272
TI  - TiO2 embedded in carbon submicron-tablets: synthesis from a metal-organic
      framework precursor and application as a superior anode in lithium-ion batteries.
AB  - Rutile TiO2 embedded in carbon submicron-tablets (TiO2/C) with a "blueberry
      muffin" morphology was fabricated via a two-step pyrolysis from a metal-organic
      framework precursor. Such a unique structure of the TiO2/C submicron-tablets
      provides the ideal anode characteristics (high reversible capacity, superior rate
      capability and excellent long-term cycling stability) for fast rechargeable
      lithium ion batteries. 

PMID- 25813273
TI  - Congenital mirror movements: phenotypes associated with DCC and RAD51 mutations.
AB  - Congenital mirror movements (CMM) is a disorder characterized by unintentional
      mirroring in homologous motor systems of voluntary movements on the opposite
      side, usually affecting the distal upper extremities. Genetic analyses have
      revealed involvement of three genes (DCC, RAD51, and DNAL4). We sought to
      distinguish whether different phenotypes of CMM exist, and if so, whether they
      might map to different causative genes. We studied 14 individuals across five
      families with dominantly-inherited CMM. We used accelerometer gloves to analyse
      the fine detail of index finger tapping movements, and applied standard genetic
      methodology to analyse DNA samples. Two forms of mirroring were distinguished:
      'actual' in which the mirroring followed precisely the movements of the voluntary
      hand, and 'fractionated' in which the mirroring was saccadic. We found that
      actual mirroring was characteristic of individuals in a family with a RAD51
      mutation, and fractionated more characteristic of a family with a DCC mutation.
      These findings are suggestive of specific genotype-phenotype correlations in CMM.
      Three heterozygous individuals (one RAD51; two DCC) showed no apparent mirroring
      on visual inspection, although mirroring was detectable with the accelerometer
      gloves. Thus, subclinical mirroring may be present even when undetectable on
      clinical observation. 

PMID- 25813274
TI  - Analyzing hospitalization data: potential limitations of Poisson regression.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Poisson regression is commonly used to analyze hospitalization data
      when outcomes are expressed as counts (e.g. number of days in hospital). However,
      data often violate the assumptions on which Poisson regression is based. More
      appropriate extensions of this model, while available, are rarely used. METHODS:
      We compared hospitalization data between 206 patients treated with hemodialysis
      (HD) and 107 treated with peritoneal dialysis (PD) using Poisson regression and
      compared results from standard Poisson regression with those obtained using three
      other approaches for modeling count data: negative binomial (NB) regression, zero
      inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression and zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB)
      regression. We examined the appropriateness of each model and compared the
      results obtained with each approach. RESULTS: During a mean 1.9 years of follow
      up, 183 of 313 patients (58%) were never hospitalized (indicating an excess of
      'zeros'). The data also displayed overdispersion (variance greater than mean),
      violating another assumption of the Poisson model. Using four criteria, we
      determined that the NB and ZINB models performed best. According to these two
      models, patients treated with HD experienced similar hospitalization rates as
      those receiving PD {NB rate ratio (RR): 1.04 [bootstrapped 95% confidence
      interval (CI): 0.49-2.20]; ZINB summary RR: 1.21 (bootstrapped 95% CI 0.60
      2.46)}. Poisson and ZIP models fit the data poorly and had much larger point
      estimates than the NB and ZINB models [Poisson RR: 1.93 (bootstrapped 95% CI 0.88
      4.23); ZIP summary RR: 1.84 (bootstrapped 95% CI 0.88-3.84)]. CONCLUSIONS: We
      found substantially different results when modeling hospitalization data,
      depending on the approach used. Our results argue strongly for a sound model
      selection process and improved reporting around statistical methods used for
      modeling count data.

PMID- 25813275
TI  - Interstitial eosinophilic aggregates in diabetic nephropathy: allergy or not?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Interstitial eosinophilic aggregates (IEA) in renal biopsies often
      suggest allergic tubulointerstitial nephritis, yet clear associations with drug
      reactions are often difficult to establish. IEA are also encountered in diabetic
      nephropathy (DN) and thought to be attributed to medication exposure. METHODS:
      Native medical kidney biopsies performed at the University of Washington Medical
      Center were reviewed, including DN (n = 64), IgA nephropathy (IgAN, n = 28),
      membranous nephropathy (MN, n = 14), focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis
      (FSGS, n = 27) and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN, n = 28). IEA
      were defined as >=5 eosinophils per high power field. The severity of
      interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IFTA) was scored semi-quantitatively
      as minimal, mild, moderate or severe. RESULTS: IEA were remarkably more prevalent
      in DN (41%), when compared with IgAN (7%, P = 0.001), MN (8%, P = 0.017) or MPGN
      (14%, P = 0.013), but not FSGS (26%, P = 0.18). In DN cases, univariate analysis
      revealed that IEA were associated with greater IFTA severity, but not with the
      percentage of glomerulosclerosis, mesangial expansion, history of drug allergy,
      number of prescribed medications or particular class of medications (antibiotics,
      NSAIDs, aspirin, thiazide, loop diuretics, angiotensin-converting enzyme
      inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers, beta
      blockers, insulin, sulfonylurea, metformin or allopurinol). Multivariate analysis
      showed that the severity of IFTA was the only significant predictor for IEA (P <
      0.01) after stepwise adjustment for age, number of medications, drug allergy,
      diabetes type, % global glomerulosclerosis and mesangial expansion. CONCLUSIONS:
      Our study shows that IEA are more common in DN, when compared with other types of
      glomerulopathy. In DN, IEA are associated with the severity of IFTA but not with
      prescribed medications or clinical history of allergy. This suggests that in DN
      IEA are often associated with chronic tubulointerstitial injury and are not
      diagnostic of an allergic interstitial nephritis.

PMID- 25813277
TI  - Adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes associated with underlying diagnosis with
      and without assisted reproductive technology treatment.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the risks for adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes by
      diagnoses with and without assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment to
      non-ART pregnancies in fertile women. DESIGN: Historical cohort of Massachusetts
      vital records linked to ART clinic data from Society for Assisted Reproductive
      Technology Clinic Outcome Reporting System. SETTING: Not applicable. PATIENT(S):
      Diagnoses included male factor (ART only), endometriosis, ovulation disorders,
      tubal (ART only), and reproductive inflammatory disorders (non-ART only).
      Pregnancies resulting in singleton and twin live births from 2004 to 2008 were
      linked to hospital discharges in women who had ART treatment (n = 3,689), women
      with no ART treatment in the current pregnancy (n = 4,098), and non-ART
      pregnancies in fertile women (n = 297,987). INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURE(S): Risks of gestational diabetes, prenatal hospitalizations,
      prematurity, low birth weight, and small for gestational age were modeled using
      multivariate logistic regression with fertile deliveries as the reference group
      adjusted for maternal age, race/ethnicity, education, chronic hypertension,
      diabetes mellitus, and plurality (adjusted odds ratios [AORs] and 95% confidence
      intervals [CIs]). RESULT(S): Risk of prenatal hospital admissions was increased
      for endometriosis (ART: 1.97, 1.38-2.80; non-ART: 3.34, 2.59-4.31), ovulation
      disorders (ART: 2.31, 1.81-2.96; non-ART: 2.56, 2.05-3.21), tubal factor (ART:
      1.51, 1.14-2.01), and reproductive inflammation (non-ART: 2.79, 2.47-3.15).
      Gestational diabetes was increased for women with ovulation disorders (ART: 2.17,
      1.72-2.73; non-ART: 1.94, 1.52-2.48). Preterm delivery (AORs, 1.24-1.93) and low
      birth weight (AORs, 1.27-1.60) were increased in all groups except in
      endometriosis with ART. CONCLUSION(S): The findings indicate substantial excess
      perinatal morbidities associated with underlying infertility-related diagnoses in
      both ART-treated and non-ART-treated women.

PMID- 25813278
TI  - Effect of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy on maternal and neonatal
      outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy on
      obstetric outcomes and birth variables. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta
      analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). SETTING: Not applicable.
      PATIENT(S): Pregnant women and neonates. INTERVENTION(S): PubMed and 5 other
      research databases were searched through March 2014 for RCTs evaluating vitamin D
      supplementation +/- calcium/vitamins/ferrous sulfate vs. a control (placebo or
      active) during pregnancy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Measures were: circulating 25
      hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus
      (GDM), small for gestational age (SGA), low birth weight, preterm birth, birth
      weight, birth length, cesarean section. Mantel-Haenszel fixed-effects models were
      used, owing to expected scarcity of outcomes. Effects were reported as relative
      risks and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULT(S): Thirteen RCTs (n =
      2,299) were selected. Circulating 25(OH)D levels were significantly higher at
      term, compared with the control group (mean difference: 66.5 nmol/L, 95% CI 66.2
      66.7). Birth weight and birth length were significantly greater for neonates in
      the vitamin D group; mean difference: 107.6 g (95% CI 59.9-155.3 g) and 0.3 cm
      (95% CI 0.10-0.41 cm), respectively. Incidence of preeclampsia, GDM, SGA, low
      birth weight, preterm birth, and cesarean section were not influenced by vitamin
      D supplementation. Across RCTs, the doses and types of vitamin D supplements,
      gestational age at first administration, and outcomes were heterogeneous.
      CONCLUSION(S): Vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy was associated with
      increased circulating 25(OH)D levels, birth weight, and birth length, and was not
      associated with other maternal and neonatal outcomes. Larger, better-designed
      RCTs evaluating clinically relevant outcomes are necessary to reach a definitive
      conclusion.

PMID- 25813279
TI  - Genetic mutations and somatic anomalies in association with 46,XY gonadal
      dysgenesis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess genetic mutations and associated somatic anomalies in a
      series of patients with 46,XY gonadal dysgenesis (GD). DESIGN: Single center
      retrospective study. SETTING: University pediatric hospital. PATIENT(S): Fourteen
      patients with 46,XY GD. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Genotype
      phenotype relationship. RESULT(S): The presenting symptom was disorders of sex
      development (6 patients), primary amenorrhea (2 patients), discordance between
      46,XY karyotype and female external genitalia (3 patients), discovery of
      Mullerian structures at surgery (2 patients), or diagnosed in the evaluation of a
      gonadal tumor (1 patient). Mullerian structures were shown by ultrasound
      evaluation in 7 of 13 patients, genitography in 3 of 6 patients and/or surgery in
      8 of 10 patients (3 not seen at imaging), or only by histologic examination (1
      patient). Three patients had gonadoblastoma and/or seminoma. A mutation was found
      in 7 patients of whom 2 had family history of reproductive problems and 5 had
      associated somatic anomalies. The mutations were FOG2/ZFPM2 (1 patient), SRY (2
      patients), WT1 (1 patient), or deletions of distal chromosome 9p (3 patients).
      Among the three other patients with associated anomalies and no mutation, two had
      ectodermal dysplasia and one had leukemia. CONCLUSION(S): Mutations were observed
      in half of the patients with 46,XY GD with Mullerian structures. We also describe
      for the first time the association between GD and ectodermal dysplasia. Mullerian
      structures can be found in some cases only by histologic examination, which
      should be coupled to preventive gonadectomy because of the risk of tumor
      formation.

PMID- 25813276
TI  - Circulating angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 activity in patients with chronic
      kidney disease without previous history of cardiovascular disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with cardiovascular (CV) disease have an increased
      circulating angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) activity, but there is little
      information about changes in ACE2 in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients
      without history of CV disease. We examined circulating ACE2 activity in CKD
      patients at stages 3-5 (CKD3-5) and in dialysis (CKD5D) without any history of CV
      disease. METHODS: Circulating ACE2 activity was measured in human ethylenediamine
      tetraacetic acid (EDTA)-plasma samples from the NEFRONA study (n = 2572): control
      group (CONT) (n = 568), CKD3-5 (n = 1458) and CKD5D (n = 546). Different clinical
      and analytical variables such as gender; age; history of diabetes mellitus (DM),
      dyslipidemia and hypertension; glycaemic, renal, lipid and anaemia profiles;
      vitamin D analogues treatment and antihypertensive treatments (angiotensin
      converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blockade) were analysed.
      Circulating ACE2 and ACE activities were measured using modified fluorimetric
      assay for EDTA-plasma samples, where zinc chloride was added to recover enzymatic
      activity. RESULTS: In CKD3-5 and CKD5D, significant decrease in circulating ACE2
      activity was observed when compared with CONT, but no differences were found
      between CKD3-5 and CKD5 when performing paired case-control studies. By
      multivariate linear regression analysis, male gender and advanced age were
      identified as independent predictors of ACE2 activity in all groups. Diabetes was
      identified as independent predictor of ACE2 activity in CKD3-5. Significant
      increase in the activity of circulating ACE was found in CKD3-5 and CKD5D when
      compared with CONT and in CKD5D when compared with CKD3-5. By multiple regression
      analysis, female gender and younger age were identified as independent predictors
      of ACE activity in CONT and CKD3-5. Diabetes was also identified as an
      independent predictor of ACE activity in CKD3-5 patients. CONCLUSIONS:
      Circulating ACE2 and ACE activities can be measured in human EDTA-plasma samples
      with zinc added to recover enzymatic activity. In a CKD population without
      previous history of CV disease, ACE2 activity from human EDTA-plasma samples
      directly correlated with the classical CV risk factors namely older age, diabetes
      and male gender. Our data suggest that circulating ACE2 is altered in CKD
      patients at risk for CV event.

PMID- 25813280
TI  - Comparison of live-birth defects after luteal-phase ovarian stimulation vs.
      conventional ovarian stimulation for in vitro fertilization and vitrified embryo
      transfer cycles.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess live-birth defects after a luteal-phase ovarian-stimulation
      regimen (LPS) for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and vitrified embryo transfer (ET)
      cycles. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Tertiary-care academic
      medical center. PATIENT(S): Infants who were born between January 1, 2013 and May
      1, 2014 from IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatments (n =
      2,060) after either LPS (n = 587), the standard gonadotropin-releasing hormone
      agonist (GnRH-a) short protocol (n = 1,257), or mild ovarian stimulation (n =
      216). INTERVENTION(S): The three ovarian-stimulation protocols described and
      assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment (IVF or ICSI, and vitrified ET)
      in ordinary practice. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The main measures were:
      gestational age, birth weight and length, multiple delivery, early neonatal
      mortality, and birth defects. Associations were assessed using logistic
      regression by adjusting for confounding factors. RESULT(S): The final sample
      included 2,060 live-born infants, corresponding to 1,622 frozen-thawed (FET)
      cycles, which led to: 587 live-born infants from LPS (458 FET cycles); 1,257 live
      born infants from the short protocol (984 FET cycles); and 216 live-born infants
      from mild ovarian stimulation (180 FET cycles). Birth characteristics regarding
      gestational age, birth weight and length, multiple delivery, and early neonatal
      death were comparable in all groups. The incidence of live-birth defects among
      the LPS group (1.02%) and the short GnRH-a protocol group (0.64%) was slightly
      higher than in the mild ovarian-stimulation group (0.46%). However, none of these
      differences reached statistical significance. For congenital malformations, the
      risk significantly increased for the infertility-duration factor and multiple
      births; the adjusted odds ratios were 1.161 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.009
      1.335) and 3.899 (95% CI: 1.179-12.896), respectively. No associations were found
      between congenital birth defects and various ovarian-stimulation regimens,
      maternal age, body mass index, parity, insemination method, or infant gender.
      CONCLUSION(S): To date, the data do not indicate an elevated rate of abnormality
      at birth after LPS, but further study with larger populations is needed to
      confirm these results. However, infertility itself poses a risk factor for
      congenital malformation. A higher likelihood of birth defects in multiple births
      may lead couples to favor elective, single ET; couples undertaking ART should be
      made aware of the known increased birth defects associated with a twin birth.

PMID- 25813281
TI  - Baby budgeting: oocyte cryopreservation in women delaying reproduction can reduce
      cost per live birth.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether oocyte cryopreservation for deferred reproduction
      is cost effective per live birth using a model constructed from observed clinical
      practice. DESIGN: Decision-tree mathematical model with sensitivity analyses.
      SETTING: Not applicable. PATIENT(S): A simulated cohort of women wishing to delay
      childbearing until age 40 years. INTERVENTION(S): Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURE(S): Cost per live birth. RESULT(S): Our primary model predicted that
      oocyte cryopreservation at age 35 years by women planning to defer pregnancy
      attempts until age 40 years would decrease cost per live birth from $55,060 to
      $39,946 (and increase the odds of live birth from 42% to 62% by the end of the
      model), indicating that oocyte cryopreservation is a cost-effective strategy
      relative to forgoing it. If fresh autologous assisted reproductive technology
      (ART) was added at age 40 years, before thawing oocytes, 74% obtained a live
      birth, and cost per live birth increased to $61,887. Separate sensitivity
      analyses demonstrated that oocyte cryopreservation remained cost effective as
      long as performed before age 38 years, and more than 49% of those women not
      obtaining a spontaneously conceived live birth returned to thaw oocytes.
      CONCLUSION(S): In women who plan to delay childbearing until age 40 years, oocyte
      cryopreservation before 38 years of age reduces the cost to obtain a live birth.

PMID- 25813282
TI  - Variations in RBM8A and TBX6 are associated with disorders of the mullerian
      ducts.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify genetic causes of malformations of the mullerian ducts.
      DESIGN: Retrospective laboratory study. SETTING: University hospital. PATIENT(S):
      A total of 167 patients with disorders of the mullerian ducts: 116 patients with
      Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome and 51 patients with fusion disorders of
      the mullerian ducts. The control group was composed of 94 fertile women with at
      least one child. INTERVENTION(S): Sequential analysis of RBM8A and TBX6 in a
      group of 167 clinically well-defined patients with disorders of the mullerian
      ducts. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Identification of rare variants in RBM8A and
      TBX6. RESULT(S): In total, we detected four RBM8A variants in 13 patients with
      disorders of the mullerian ducts and two heterozygous TBX6 variants in 5 of 167
      patients. CONCLUSION(S): Mutations of RBM8A and TBX6 are associated with
      disorders of the mullerian ducts.

PMID- 25813283
TI  - Single vitrified blastocyst transfer maximizes liveborn children per embryo while
      minimizing preterm birth.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare live-birth rates, blastocyst to live-birth efficiency,
      gestational age, and birth weights in a large cohort of patients undergoing
      single versus double thawed blastocyst transfer. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort
      study. SETTING: Assisted reproduction technology (ART) practice. PATIENT(S): All
      autologous frozen blastocyst transfers (FBT) of one or two vitrified-warmed
      blastocysts from January 2009 through April 2012. INTERVENTION(S): Single or
      double FBT. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Live birth, blastocyst to live-birth
      efficiency, preterm birth, low birth weight. RESULT(S): Only supernumerary
      blastocysts with good morphology (grade BB or better) were vitrified, and 1,696
      FBTs were analyzed. No differences were observed in patient age, rate of embryo
      progression, or postthaw blastomere survival. Double FBT yielded a higher live
      birth per transfer, but 33% of births from double FBT were twins versus only 0.6%
      of single FBT. Double FBT was associated with statistically significant increases
      in preterm birth and low birth weight, the latter of which was statistically
      significant even when the analysis was limited to singletons. Of the blastocysts
      transferred via single FBT, 38% resulted in a liveborn child versus only 34% with
      double FBT. This suggests that two single FBTs would result in more liveborn
      children with significantly fewer preterm births when compared with double FBT.
      CONCLUSION(S): Single FBT greatly decreased multiple and preterm birth risk while
      providing excellent live-birth rates. Patients should be counseled that a greater
      overall number of live born children per couple can be expected when thawed
      blastocysts are transferred one at a time.

PMID- 25813284
TI  - Contribution of different bone marrow-derived cell types in endometrial
      regeneration using an irradiated murine model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the involvement of seven types of bone marrow-derived cells
      (BMDCs) in the endometrial regeneration in mice after total body irradiation.
      DESIGN: Prospective experimental animal study. SETTING: University research
      laboratories. ANIMAL(S): beta-Actin-green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic
      C57BL/6-Tg (CAG-EGFP) and C57BL/6J female mice. INTERVENTION(S): The BMDCs were
      isolated from CAG-EGFP mice: unfractionated bone marrow cells, hematopoietic
      progenitor cells, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), and mesenchymal stem cells
      (MSCs). In addition three murine GFP(+) cell lines were used: mouse Oct4 negative
      BMDC multipotent adult progenitor cells (mOct4(-)BM-MAPCs), BMDC hypoblast-like
      stem cells (mOct4(+) BM-HypoSCs), and MSCs. All cell types were injected through
      the tail vein of 9 Gy-irradiated C57BL/6J female mice. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S):
      Flow cytometry, cell culture, bone marrow transplantation assays, histologic
      evaluation, immunohistochemistry, proliferation, apoptosis, and statistical
      analysis. RESULT(S): After 12 weeks, histologic analysis revealed that uteri of
      mice with mOct4(-)BM-MAPCs and MSC line were significantly smaller than uteri of
      mice with uncultured BMDCs or mOct4(+) BM-HypoSCs. The percentage of engrafted
      GFP(+) cells ranged from 0.13%-4.78%. Expression of Ki-67 was lower in all uteri
      from BMDCs treated mice than in the control, whereas TUNEL(+) cells were
      increased in the EPCs and mOct4(+)BM-HypoSCs groups. CONCLUSION(S): Low number of
      some BMDCs can be found in regenerating endometrium, including stromal,
      endotelial, and epithelial compartments. Freshly isolated MSCs and EPCs together
      with mOct4(+) BM-HypoSCs induced the greatest degree of regeneration, whereas
      culture isolated MSCs and mOct4(-)BM-MAPCs transplantation may have an inhibitory
      effect on endometrial regeneration.

PMID- 25813285
TI  - Heparin modulates chemokines in human endometrial stromal cells by interaction
      with tumor necrosis factor alpha and thrombin.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of heparins on chemokines in decidualized human
      endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) in vitro. DESIGN: In vitro experiment. SETTING:
      Research laboratory. PATIENT(S): Premenopausal women undergoing hysterectomy for
      benign reasons. INTERVENTION(S): ESCs were isolated from hysterectomy specimens,
      decidualized in vitro and incubated with unfractionated heparin and low-molecular
      weight heparins (LMWHs) as well as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha or thrombin
      with or without heparins. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Chemokines CXCL1, CXCL5,
      CXCL8, CCL2, and CCL5 were measured with the use of ELISA, and CXCL5, CXCL8,
      CCL2, and CCL5 were detected with the use of real-time reverse-transcription
      polymerase chain reaction. Cell viability was determined with the use of a
      fluorometric assay. RESULT(S): TNF-alpha and thrombin stimulated distinct
      patterns of chemokines in ESCs. Unfractionated heparin and LMWHs attenuated the
      TNF-alpha-mediated induction of CXCL8 and enhanced CXCL5, CCL2, and CCL5. The
      stimulating effect of thrombin on CXCL8 could be inhibited by heparin, whereas
      heparin had no impact on thrombin-induced CXCL1 and CCL2. Nuclear factor of
      transcription kappaB signaling mediated the effects of TNF-alpha. The effects of
      thrombin were mediated via extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases 1/2.
      CONCLUSION(S): Heparins have modulating effects on TNF-alpha- and thrombin
      induced endometrial chemokines, which might have implications in the regulation
      of endometrial receptivity and early implantation.

PMID- 25813286
TI  - Neonatal outcomes after early rescue intracytoplasmic sperm injection: an
      analysis of a 5-year period.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of early rescue intracytoplasmic
      sperm injection (ICSI). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Teaching
      hospital. PATIENT(S): There were 13,232 ovarian stimulation cycles (IVF, n =
      9,631; ICSI, n = 2,871; early rescue ICSI, n = 730) that resulted in the delivery
      of 5,001 babies (IVF, n = 3,670; ICSI, n = 1,095; early rescue ICSI, n = 246)
      from August 2008 to August 2013. INTERVENTION(S): Early rescue ICSI. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURE(S): Clinical pregnancy rates, neonatal outcomes, and congenital birth
      defects were analyzed. RESULT(S): The early rescue ICSI cycles did not seem to
      have a negative effect on the clinical pregnancy rate (43.42%) when IVF cycles
      (45.33%) were compared with ICSI cycles (44.39%). In the early rescue ICSI group,
      a total of 254 clinical pregnancies were achieved: 197 (33.67%) live births, 38
      (6.49%) miscarriages, 2 (0.79%) induced abortions, 3 (1.18%) fetal deaths, and 4
      pregnancies (1.57%) without completion at follow-up. Overall, the multiple
      gestations, the delivery method, mean gestational age, preterm deliveries, mean
      birth weight, and rate of congenital birth defects of the early rescue ICSI group
      were similar to those in the conventional IVF and ICSI groups. CONCLUSION(S):
      Early rescue ICSI had similar clinical pregnancy rates when compared with
      conventional IVF and ICSI, in addition to the delivery of healthy children. The
      clinical evidence from the early rescue ICSI group did not show an elevated rate
      of malformations. Early rescue ICSI seems to be a safe alternative method for
      individuals with total fertilization failure or near total fertilization failure
      when compared with conventional IVF treatment.

PMID- 25813287
TI  - Use of assisted reproductive technology treatment as reported by mothers in
      comparison with registry data: the Upstate KIDS Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity of maternally reported assisted reproductive
      technologies (ART) use and to identify predictors of reporting errors. DESIGN:
      Linkage study. SETTING: Not applicable. PATIENT(S): A total of 5,034 (27%)
      mothers enrolled, from whom 4,886 (97%) self-reported information about use of
      infertility treatment, including ART, for the index birth. INTERVENTION(S): None.
      MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Four measures of validity (sensitivity, specificity,
      positive and negative predictive values) and use of net reclassification
      improvement (NRI) methods to identify predictors associated with
      concordant/discordant maternal reporting. RESULT(S): The Upstate New York Infant
      Development Screening Program (Update KIDS Study) was linked with the Society for
      Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinic Outcome Reporting System (SART CORS)
      using a defined algorithm for 2008-2010. The sensitivity, specificity, positive
      and negative predictive values were high (0.93, 0.99, 0.80, and 1.00,
      respectively). The validity of maternal report was high, reflecting few
      differences by participant characteristics except for maternal age dichotomized
      at 29 years as identified with NRI methods. CONCLUSION(S): Maternally reported
      ART is valid, with little variation across various characteristics. No strong
      predictors of discordant reporting were found, supporting the utility of
      population-based research with SART CORS linkage.

PMID- 25813288
TI  - Antioxidant properties of high-density lipoproteins are impaired in women with
      polycystic ovary syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationships among the inflammatory index, intrinsic
      oxidation levels, lipid and apolipoprotein (apo)A-I concentrations of high
      density lipoprotein (HDL), and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). DESIGN: Cross
      sectional study. SETTING: University hospital. PATIENT(S): A total of 425
      patients with PCOS and 441 control women were included. INTERVENTION(S): None.
      MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The HDL inflammatory index (HII) was determined using a
      cell-free fluorometric assay. Intrinsic HDL oxidation levels, HDL-free
      cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol ester, HDL-triglyceride, serum apoA-I, and
      malondialdehyde levels were also measured. RESULT(S): The mean HII value and the
      frequency of HII >=1 were significantly higher in the PCOS group (0.77 +/- 0.54,
      27.1%) than in the control group (0.53 +/- 0.37, 8.4%). These values were also
      higher in each of the 4 PCOS phenotypes based on the Rotterdam criteria than in
      the controls, and higher in patients with hyperandrogenism (HA) + oligo- and/or
      anovulation (OA) phenotype than in those with OA + polycystic ovary (PCO)
      phenotype. Furthermore, patients with PCOS with OA + PCO had lower
      malondialdehyde and intrinsic HDL oxidation levels compared with those with HA.
      Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that PCOS, HDL-cholesterol ester,
      and E2 levels were the main predictors of HII value. CONCLUSION(S): The
      impairment of HDL antioxidant/anti-inflammatory function in PCOS is related to HA
      status, increased oxidative stress, and abnormalities in HDL components and thus
      may contribute to PCOS pathogenesis and increase the risks of future
      cardiovascular diseases.

PMID- 25813289
TI  - Sildenafil stimulates human trophoblast invasion through nitric oxide and
      guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate signaling.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of sildenafil, a phosphodiesterase type 5
      inhibitor, on trophoblast invasiveness. DESIGN: Laboratory investigation.
      SETTING: Academic medical center. PATIENT(S): Placental tissues discarded after
      first-trimester terminations were obtained from patients with informed consent.
      INTERVENTION(S): A cell line, HTR-8/SVneo, established from first-trimester
      cytotrophoblast, and villous explants, was treated with or without sildenafil,
      guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) analog, cGMP inhibitor, or L-NAME
      (N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride) and cultured on fibronectin or
      Matrigel. Integrins alpha6beta4 and alpha1beta1 were detected by
      immunocytochemistry. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Trophoblast outgrowth from villous
      tips, cytotrophoblast cell invasion, and integrin immunostaining were assessed in
      cytotrophoblast and explant cultures. RESULT(S): Integrin expression in
      trophoblast cells ex vivo switched from alpha6 to alpha1, and invasiveness
      increased, when exposed to sildenafil or cGMP agonist. Either cGMP antagonist or
      L-NAME blocked integrin switching and invasion induced by sildenafil. Elevation
      of nitric oxide pharmacologically induced invasion, but not when cGMP antagonist
      was present. CONCLUSION(S): Sildenafil altered trophoblast phenotype through a
      process dependent on nitric oxide availability and cGMP accumulation. In addition
      to its vasoactivity, sildenafil directly stimulates trophoblast extravillous
      differentiation, which would be favorable for implantation and reduce risk for
      adverse pregnancy outcomes.

PMID- 25813290
TI  - Are we facing a potential effective treatment for endometriosis?

PMID- 25813291
TI  - Rejuvenating effect of pregnancy on the mother.
AB  - Aging is associated with reduced tissue regenerative capacity. In recent years,
      studies in mice have shown that transfusion of blood from young animals to old
      ones can reverse some aging effects and increase regenerative potential similar
      to that seen in young animals. Because pregnancy is a unique biological model of
      a partially shared blood system, we have speculated that pregnancy would have a
      rejuvenating effect on the mother. Recent studies support this idea. In this
      review, we will summarize the current knowledge of the rejuvenating effect of
      pregnancy on the mother. 

PMID- 25813292
TI  - Evaluating the potential effect on fetal tissue after exposure to granisetron
      during pregnancy.
AB  - The objective of this study was to elucidate the possible toxic effects on the
      fetal tissues after exposure to two clinically relevant concentrations of
      granisetron. Primary cells were isolated from human fetal organs of 16-19 weeks
      gestational age and treated with 3 ng/mL or 30 ng/mL of granisetron. Cell cycle
      progression was evaluated by flow cytometry. ELISA was used to detect alterations
      in major apoptotic proteins. Up to 10% apoptosis in cardiac tissue was observed
      following treatment with 30 ng/mL granisetron. Neither concentration of
      granisetron caused alteration in cell cycle progression or alterations in
      apoptotic proteins in any of the other tissues. At 30 ng/mL granisetron
      concentration had the potential to induce up to 10% apoptosis in cardiac tissue;
      clinical significance needs further evaluation. At granisetron 3 ng/mL there was
      no detectable toxicity or on any fetal tissue in this study. Further research is
      needed to confirm these preliminary findings and determine if clinically
      significant.

PMID- 25813293
TI  - Predatory publishers: what the nursing community needs to know.

PMID- 25813294
TI  - Predatory publishers.

PMID- 25813295
TI  - Transferring patient care: patterns of synchronous bidisciplinary communication
      between physicians and nurses during handoffs in a critical care unit.
AB  - PURPOSE: The transfer of patient care from one health care worker to another
      involves communication in high-pressure contexts that are often vulnerable to
      error. This research project captured current practices for handoffs during the
      critical care stage of surgical recovery in a hospital setting. The objective was
      to characterize information flow during transfer and identify patterns of
      communication between nurses and physicians. DESIGN AND METHODS: Observations
      were used to document communication exchanges. The data were analyzed
      qualitatively according to the types of information exchanged and verbal behavior
      types. FINDINGS: Reporting and questions were the most common verbal behaviors,
      and retrospective medical information was the focus of information exchange. The
      communication was highly interactive when discussing patient status and future
      care plans. Nurses proactively asked questions to capture a large proportion of
      the information they needed. CONCLUSIONS: Findings reflect positive and
      constructive patterns of communication during handoffs in the observed hospital
      unit.

PMID- 25813296
TI  - An observational study of postoperative handover in anesthetic clinics; the
      content of verbal information and factors influencing receiver memory.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim was to examine the handover process in the postanesthesia care
      unit, how much the receiver remembered, and what factors influenced memory.
      DESIGN: An observational study with a descriptive and correlational design.
      METHODS: A total of 73 handovers were investigated, and data were collected using
      observation, audiotape recordings of the handovers, and the patient's anesthetic
      record. FINDING: Interruptions occurred at 56 (77%) handovers and the sender
      expressed unclear information at 51 (70%) handovers. The mean of the verbally
      given information remembered by the receivers was 47%; the items mostly likely
      not to be remembered were the drugs used during anesthesia. A linear generalized
      estimating equation was used and identified variables that were significantly
      associated with receivers' retention of information were structure and handover
      duration. CONCLUSION: Lack of structure and long duration of the verbal handover
      decrease how much the receiver will remember.

PMID- 25813297
TI  - Decreasing the length of stay in phase I postanesthesia care unit: an evidence
      based approach.
AB  - Patient length of stay (LOS) in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) Phase I and
      Phase II influences patient throughput, staff nurse satisfaction, and financial
      expenditure. The purpose of this project was to determine if re-education of
      nursing staff would decrease the LOS in Phase I PACU. The goals of the leadership
      team were to implement a plan that would result in a decreased LOS, decreased
      financial expenditure, increased patient throughput, and a change in culture of
      the work environment. Methods included re-education of nursing staff on American
      Society of Perianesthesia Nursing (ASPAN) Standards for patient care in Phase I
      and Phase II PACU. In addition, a pre-survey of the nurses was completed to
      determine their knowledge of the ASPAN Standards and how they perceived their
      work environment. Data were collected on the LOS in Phase I for two groups of
      patients who underwent cystoscopy with stent implantation and hernia repair. The
      LOS data were collected before and after the staff education. Results of this re
      education initiative revealed improved patient throughput, decreased operating
      room hold time, reduced perioperative expenditure, and an increase in staff nurse
      satisfaction. An unanticipated result was increased scores on patient
      satisfaction surveys after the educational initiative. 

PMID- 25813298
TI  - Fast-tracking ambulatory surgery patients following anesthesia.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this process improvement project was to introduce and
      evaluate the efficacy of fast-tracking ambulatory surgical patients in a
      community hospital. DESIGN: An observational pre-post design was used, in which
      patient data from a reference period (pre-fast-tracking) was compared with
      patient data collected during an implementation period (post-fast-tracking).
      METHODS: Anesthesia providers were trained to use a tool to assess patients for
      eligibility to bypass the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). Fifty-nine patients
      met the fast-track criteria during the implementation period and were transferred
      directly to the ambulatory care unit from the operating room. FINDING: During the
      fast-track implementation period, a PACU-bypass rate of 79% was achieved, and a
      significant decrease in the total number of patients held in the operating room
      and in total length of stay was noted. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that fast
      tracking is a suitable intervention to increase work flow efficiency and decrease
      both patient and hospital costs while promoting a more rapid discharge from the
      facility.

PMID- 25813299
TI  - Contract anesthesia: the good news and the challenge.
AB  - The dramatic pace of change in health care is intimidating, and results can be
      unpredictable and often negative. The practice of contract anesthesia delivery is
      an excellent example of how a clinical microsystem interacts with the constant
      change common in today's health care environment. This article identifies many of
      the issues of concern in contract anesthesia. Awareness of issues will afford
      nurses, nurse anesthetists, and managers a structure for a smooth, safe, and
      effective transition of contracting providers. 

PMID- 25813300
TI  - Effects of P6 stimulation on postoperative nausea and vomiting in laparoscopic
      cholecystectomy patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) remains one of the most common
      postsurgical complications after anesthesia and surgery. Pericardium 6 (P6)
      stimulation is believed to prevent PONV and is a potential adjunctive treatment
      with pharmacologic agents. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects
      of P6 stimulation on PONV occurrence to a control group not receiving the P6
      stimulation in sequential female patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystecomy
      at a community hospital in central Florida between November 2010 and March 2013.
      DESIGN: This study is a double-blinded randomized controlled trial. METHODS: PONV
      was measured on admission to the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), at 30 and 60
      minutes, at discharge from the PACU to home and at two points at home up to 6
      hours and between 6 and 24 hours. FINDINGS: Of the 56 total patients, those in
      the P6 group (n = 26) had statistically significant lower incidence of PONV, 0%,
      vs 14.3% in the control group (n = 27; P < .05) on admission to the PACU, but at
      all other time points, there was no significant difference in PONV. Thirty-one
      percent of the patients in the P6 group had PONV in PACU or at home compared with
      51.9% in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study demonstrate
      that the use of P6 stimulation in the perioperative arena is clinically
      meaningful; however, more research is needed with a larger sample size.

PMID- 25813301
TI  - Rethinking mobility and intensive care patients.

PMID- 25813302
TI  - The leadership relationship. Part I: understanding trust.

PMID- 25813303
TI  - Assessing the whole person to improve outcomes.

PMID- 25813304
TI  - Finding joy, gratitude, and meaning in routine PACU tasks.

PMID- 25813305
TI  - Preoperative screening for MRSA/MSSA.

PMID- 25813306
TI  - Retirement--letting go is hard to do!

PMID- 25813307
TI  - Single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis: A
      retrospective cohort study of 52 consecutive patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) has become
      increasingly popular but its role in acute cholecystitis remains controversial.
      METHODS: We compared the clinical features and outcomes of SILC procedures
      between 52 patients with acute cholecystitis (the AC group) and 308 patients
      without acute cholecystitis (the NAC group). We also analyzed clinical variables
      to identify factors affecting difficulties associated with SILC for acute
      cholecystitis. RESULTS: The patients in the AC group were significantly older
      than those in the NAC group (72 vs. 61 years, median, P = 0.0005). The
      preoperative levels of white blood cell counts were significantly higher in the
      AC group than in the NAC group (6600 vs. 5500/MUL, P = 0.0004). The operative
      time was significantly longer in the AC group than in the NAC group (188 vs. 135
      min, P < 0.0001). The volume of intraoperative blood loss was significantly
      larger in the AC group than in the NAC group (20 vs. 5 mL, P < 0.001).
      Furthermore, additional trocar insertion was required in 12% in the NAC group,
      whereas it was required in 60% in the AC group (P < 0.0001). Regarding the
      difficulties of SILC for acute cholecystitis, delayed operation (after 72 h from
      the onset) was significantly associated with a prolonged operative time, while a
      higher grade of acute cholecystitis (grade II or III) was significantly
      associated with an increased blood loss during surgery. CONCLUSIONS: These
      findings suggest that when compared to SILC for gallbladder diseases without
      acute inflammation, SILC for acute cholecystitis was associated with a longer
      operative time, increased blood loss, higher rate of additional trocar
      requirement, higher rate of postoperative complications, and longer hospital
      stay. The difficulties associated with SILC for acute cholecystitis were affected
      by the timing of surgery and the grade of inflammation.

PMID- 25813308
TI  - Targeting dynamic interplay among disordered domains or endophenotypes to
      understand complex neuropsychiatric disorders: Translational lessons from
      preclinical models.
AB  - Contemporary biological psychiatry uses clinical and experimental (animal) models
      to increase our understanding of brain pathogenesis. Modeling psychiatric
      disorders is currently performed by targeting various key neurobehavioral
      clusters of phenotypic traits (domains), including affective, cognitive, social,
      motor and reward. Analyses of such domains and their 'smaller units' - individual
      endophenotypes - are critical for the study of complex brain disorders and their
      neural underpinnings. The spectrum nature of brain disorders and the importance
      of pathogenetic linkage among various disordered domains or endophenotypes have
      also been recognized as an important strategic direction of translational
      research. Here, we discuss cross-domain analyses of animal models, and focus on
      their value for mimicking the clinical overlap between disordered neurobehavioral
      domains in humans. Based on recent experimental evidence, we argue that
      understanding of brain pathogenesis requires modeling the clinically relevant
      inter-relationships between various individual endophenotypes (or their domains).

PMID- 25813309
TI  - How to succeed in carrying out the first trial of the clinical skills examination
      in the korean medical licensing examination.

PMID- 25813310
TI  - Adoption of clinical skills examination: the challenge of national health
      personnel licensing examination board.

PMID- 25813311
TI  - Patient safety curriculum in medical education.
AB  - Since release of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, To Err Is Human:
      Building a Safer System, patient safety has emerged as a global concern in the
      provision of quality health care. In response to growing recognition of the
      importance of patient safety, some medical schools in other countries have
      created and/or implemented patient safety curricula. In Korea, however, patient
      safety medical curriculum has not been actively discussed by medical educators.
      The purpose of this article is to introduce patient safety concepts and the
      global efforts on patient safety medical education. Specifically, this article
      describes; 1) current concepts in patient safety, 2) global trends of patient
      safety movement and education, 3) contents, instructional and assessment methods
      of patient safety education for both undergraduate medical education and graduate
      medical education, suggested in the previous studies, 4) WHO Patient Safety Guide
      for Medical Curriculum developed by the Medical Education Team within the World
      Alliance for Patient Safety and 5) known barriers against patient safety
      education. Patient safety is a major priority for all healthcare providers. In
      reality, however, teaching and learning about patient safety in medical
      curriculum offers a challenge to all medical schools, especially, the health care
      environment is not favorable to physicians such as Korea. More attention and
      recognition about patient safety by all health personnel and medical educators is
      needed. In addition, the national conversation about medical errors and patient
      safety and how best to incorporate it to the existing curriculum should be
      discussed. 

PMID- 25813312
TI  - Comparative Analysis of the Role of Beliefs in the Causes of Illness and
      Attitudes toward Medical Services in University Students from Disparate
      Specialties.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aims to compare and investigate the differences in beliefs
      with regard to the cause of illnesses, medial skepticism, and attitudes toward
      medical care between medical, Oriental medical, and nonmedical students. METHODS:
      To this end, we used a structured questionnaire and collected self-reported data
      from a sample of 667 respondents. RESULTS: First, their beliefs on the causes of
      illness were markedly different, depending on their specialty. Compared with
      students from other specialties, Oriental medical students ranked host factors,
      environmental factors, and natural factors as the highest causes of illness. -the
      former group regarded supernatural factors as a more influential cause of
      illnesses compared with the latter. Among Oriental medical students and
      nonmedical students-who were also subdivided into the aforementioned groups-the
      upper-grade group regarded host factors as a higher cause of illness than the
      lower-grade group. Second, Medical skepticism also differed depending on
      specialty. Compared with the medical students, Oriental medical students were
      more likely to have high confidence in "overcoming illnesses", "home remedies",
      "self-decision in treatments", and "understanding their own health". In
      subdividing medical and Oriental medical students according to grade we observed
      that the senior group had more confidence in home remedies than the junior group.
      Third, In an analysis of the students attitudes toward medical care, we found
      that nonmedical students had the highest score in the "care-oriented" and "cure
      oriented" attitude categories. In the overall results, the care-oriented category
      ranked highest for the nonmedical students, followed by Oriental medical students
      and medical students; the cure-oriented category ranked highest for nonmedical
      students, followed by medical students and then Oriental medical students.
      CONCLUSION: Based on our results, we conclude that these differences between
      specialties should be reflected in medical curricula to bridge the gap between
      patients and doctors in medical education with regard to the causes of illness
      and attitudes toward medical care.

PMID- 25813313
TI  - Student satisfaction and self-assessment after small group discussion in a
      medical ethics education program.
AB  - PURPOSE: Small group discussions are useful tools in medical ethics education. We
      aimed to assess student satisfaction with specific components of a small group
      discussion and to evaluate student self-assessment of the objectives of
      education. METHODS: A structured questionnaire was developed after a literature
      review and a focus group interview. Components of the small group discussion were
      categorized by discussion case (self, other), individual activities (self-study,
      making materials, presentation experience), and group activities (preclass/in
      class/postclass/plenary discussion, instructor's comments). The items for student
      self-assessment were: "To specify ethical issue in actual practice", "To get new
      knowledge", "To consider doctor's entity", "Empathy to others", "To get
      multidimensional viewpoint", "Viewpoint change", "To deliver my thought clearly",
      and "Ability to confront the medical ethics dilemma in the future". After the
      survey, an in-depth interview was performed to determine the reason behind the
      students' answers. RESULTS: A total of 121 students responded, for whom overall
      satisfaction and self-assessment were high. Students reported greater
      satisfaction with self-case, presentation experience, in-class discussion, and
      instructor's comments but less satisfaction with self-study before class and
      postclass discussion. Student self-assessment was highest in the ability to
      specify an ethical issue and lowest for viewpoint change and self-confidence.
      After multivariate analysis, higher student self-assessment was associated with
      greater satisfaction with the small group discussion. CONCLUSION: To improve the
      quality of medical ethics education, close investigation and monitoring of each
      component of the small group discussion and student achievement are essential, as
      is continuous feedback.

PMID- 25813314
TI  - Development and validation of a questionnaire to evaluate medical students'
      evidence-based medicine competencies.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to develop and validate a questionnaire to
      evaluate medical students' knowledge of, attitude towards and practice of
      evidence-based medicine (EBM). METHODS: The participants of the study were 418
      medical students enrolled in the Kyung Hee University School of Medicine in
      Seoul, Korea. To examine construct validity of the questionnaire, an exploratory
      factor analysis (EFA) was performed with 118 participants; a confirmatory factor
      analysis (CFA) was conducted with the remaining 281 participants. We developed 41
      items with a 4-point Likert scale. An EFA was performed to verify the emergence
      of four dimensions of EBM competencies. The principal axis factoring method and
      the direct oblimin rotation method were used. To confirm construct validity, a
      CFA was conducted with the remaining 281 participants. To evaluate model fitness,
      root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and comparative fit index (CFI)
      were used as fit indices. We conducted ANOVA with Scheffe as discriminant
      validation, and calculated Cronbach's alpha of 4 subscales as reliability
      checkup. RESULTS: After refinement procedure, factor analysis of the 32 items in
      therevised questionnaire yielded 4 factors. The Scree plot supported a 4 factor
      solution explaining 53.5% of the variance. The 4 components derived were: factor
      1_knowledge on EBM (11 items; Cronbach's alpha=0.92); factor 2_ pursuit towards
      EBM (10; 0.88); factor 3_reluctance on EBM (7; 0.78); factor 4_practice of EBM
      (4; 0.75). The questionnaire could discriminate competence differences among 1-3
      yr students. Satisfactory Cronbach's alpha scores were noted for each factor as
      well. CONCLUSION: The EBM competency questionnaire was validated.

PMID- 25813315
TI  - Relationship between the Clinical Performance Examination and Associated
      Variables.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the causal relationship
      between the following variables: basic science score, written examination score
      (Internal medicine and Pediatrics), clinical clerkship score (Internal medicine
      and Pediatrics), and affective factors (self-efficacy, anxiety, and perception of
      preparedness). METHODS: Forty-two medical students took the clinical performance
      examination (CPX) at the end of the first semester. One day before the CPX, the
      students completed a brief survey, which included 11 items that sampled their
      self-efficacy, preparedness and anxiety with regard to the CPX. The responses
      from the 38 identifiable surveys (90%), out of 42, were analyzed for this study.
      Structural equation modeling techniques were used to test the relationships
      between the variables. The students' basic science scores, clinical clerkship
      scores, and written examination scores were considered for this study. RESULTS:
      We found that self-efficacy influenced students' CPX scores indirectly through
      their preparedness and anxiety. Preparedness influenced students' CPX scores
      indirectly through their anxiety. Anxiety was predicated on self-efficacy
      directly or indirectly and it predicted CPX scores. The clinical clerkship scores
      affected the students' CPX scores indirectly. The written examination scores and
      basic science scores, however, did not impact the students' CPX scores directly
      or indirectly. The basic science scores, clinical clerkship scores, and written
      examination scores were not associated with self-efficacy. CONCLUSION: Our
      findings highlight the importance of clinical clerkship education and reasonable
      medical teaching methods in improving the student self-efficacy for the CPX.

PMID- 25813316
TI  - Differences between Scores Assessed by Examiners and Examinees on Objective
      Structured Clinical Examination.
AB  - PURPOSE: Self-assessment is important for learning. But, the reliability of self
      assessment has long been questioned. We investigated this problem in an objective
      structured clinical examination (OSCE) setting. METHODS: Forty third-year nursing
      students who participated in the OSCE were given the same checklist that was used
      for assessment by the examiners after they finished the OSCE. Then, the scores
      that were calculated by the examiners and examinees were compared, measuring the
      average, correlation, difference in score between examinee and examiner,
      difference in score according to the examinee's level, and Z-score. RESULTS:
      Scores that were made by the examinees were significantly higher than those of
      the examiners (average 72.34 vs. 64.03), between which there was a loose positive
      correlation (r=0.34). The correlation coefficient increased (r=0.62) when a
      difference in score (examinee-examiner) was compared with the examiner score.
      When examinees were divided into 3 groups according to their scores, the
      difference tended to become less as the scores of examinee rose. When the Z-score
      was compared with the level of the examinee, examinees who had higher scores
      evaluated themselves lower than the examiners, and examinees with lower scores
      assessed themselves higher than the examiners. CONCLUSION: According to
      comparison of averages or correlation analysis, self-assessment by the examinee
      appeared to be less reliable. But when data were analyzed using difference in
      score, examinee levels, and Z-score, a certain tendency developed. This pattern
      may be due to the heterogeneity of the examinee group. Selection of appropriate
      analysis methods might be important to estabilish the reliability of self
      assessment skills.

PMID- 25813317
TI  - Faculty observer and standardized patient accuracy in recording examinees'
      behaviors using checklists in the clinical performance examination.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to examine the recording accuracy of
      faculty observers and standardized patients (SPs) on a clinical performance
      examination (CPX). METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of a fourth-year
      medical students' CPX that was held at a medical school in Seoul, Korea. The CPX
      consisted of 4 cases and was administered to 118 examinees, with the
      participation of 52 SP and 45 faculty observers. For the study we chose 15
      examinees per case, and analyzed 60 student-SP encounters in total. To determine
      the recording accuracy level, 2 SP trainers developed an answer key for each
      encounter. First, we computed agreement rates (P) and kappa coefficient (K)
      values between the answer key-SPs and the answer key-faculty observers. Secondly,
      we analyzed variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures to determine whether the mean
      percentage of the correct checklist score differed as a function of the rater,
      the case, or the interaction between both factors. RESULTS: Mean P rates ranged
      from 0.72 to 0.86, while mean K values varied from 0.39 to 0.59. The SP checklist
      accuracy was higher than that of faculty observersat the level of item
      comparison. Results from ANOVA showed that there was no significant difference
      between the percentage of correct scores by the answer key, faculty observers and
      SPs. There was no significant interaction between rater and case factors.
      CONCLUSION: Acceptable levels of recording accuracy were obtained in both rater
      groups. SP raters can replace faculty raters in a large-scale CPX with thorough
      preparation.

PMID- 25813318
TI  - Estimation of optimal educational cost per medical student.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aims to estimate the optimal educational cost per medical
      student. METHODS: A private medical college in Seoul was targeted by the study,
      and its 2006 learning environment and data from the 2003~2006 budget and
      settlement were carefully analyzed. Through interviews with 3 medical professors
      and 2 experts in the economics of education, the study attempted to establish the
      educational cost estimation model, which yields an empirically computed estimate
      of the optimal cost per student in medical college. RESULTS: The estimation model
      was based primarily upon the educational cost which consisted of direct
      educational costs (47.25%), support costs (36.44%), fixed asset purchases
      (11.18%) and costs for student affairs (5.14%). These results indicate that the
      optimal cost per student is approximately 20,367,000 won each semester; thus,
      training a doctor costs 162,936,000 won over 4 years. Consequently, we inferred
      that the tuition levels of a local medical college or professional medical
      graduate school cover one quarter or one-half of the per- student cost.
      CONCLUSION: The findings of this study do not necessarily imply an increase in
      medical college tuition; the estimation of the per-student cost for training to
      be a doctor is one matter, and the issue of who should bear this burden is
      another. For further study, we should consider the college type and its location
      for general application of the estimation method, in addition to living expenses
      and opportunity costs.

PMID- 25813319
TI  - A trend study of student' consistent responses to course evaluation.
AB  - PURPOSE: Most students choose the same option to questions in course evaluation
      surveys. Identical answers to each question render the results unreliable. The
      purpose of this study was to analyze the trend of medical student' consistent
      responses to course evaluations. METHODS: The data of this study were the results
      of a course evaluation over 3 years (from 2006 to 2008) at the School of Medicine
      at A University. RESULTS: The proportion of students who replied with the same
      answers to each question was below 20%. This result was consistent in freshmen,
      sophomores, and junior students. Using a 5-point Likert scale, more than 40% of
      the students gave 5 points consistently. CONCLUSION: We conclude that student'
      responses to evaluations do not have a significant impact on the reliability of
      course evaluations at Medical School at A University. These results differ
      significantly from those of previous research. Hence, future studies are required
      to analyze course evaluations in medical schools using diverse aspects.

PMID- 25813320
TI  - Twelve tips for computer-based assessment in medical education.

PMID- 25813322
TI  - Mistyped references in the issues of volume 20, 2008.

PMID- 25813321
TI  - Professionalism in medicine.

PMID- 25813323
TI  - Student centered medical education.

PMID- 25813324
TI  - Outcome-based medical education: implications, opportunities, and challenges.
AB  - Outcome-based education (OBE) is a major reframing of how medical educators think
      about teaching, learning, and assessment. There are many alternative versions of
      OBE and the implications of this framework are not always well-understood. A
      review of the literature on OBE and an analysis of the educational implications
      suggest seven areas of contrast with traditional educational frameworks. Key
      contrasts center around how educational outcomes are defined, the emphasis of
      learning over teaching, the centrality of rigorous assessment, the need for
      flexibility and individualization in the curriculum, and shifting roles and
      responsibilities of teachers and learners. OBE has the potential for dramatic and
      even revolutionary changes in medical education. However, it carries with it
      significant challenges that include the expenses of additional assessment,
      uncertainty among students and faculty about their responsibilities, and
      complexities in planning and organizing the educational process. Instead, of
      whole-hearted adoption of the OBE model, most medical schools and residency
      programsare exploring OBE in small-scale "experiments" that will inform the field
      about the best ways to incorporate the critical features of OBE into medical
      education. Such experiments are invaluable for helping us better understand the
      promise and possibilities of OBE. 

PMID- 25813325
TI  - Trends analysis on research articles in the korean journal of medical education.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to examine the chronological changes and progress
      in medical education research in Korea and to identify the less investigated
      topics that need further study and improvement with regard to methodological
      quality. Of the 590 articles that were published from 1989 to 2010 in the Korean
      Journal of Medical Education, 386 original research papers were extracted for the
      analysis. The extracted papers were systematically reviewed using 2 analysis
      schemes that we developed: one scheme was designed to classify research topics,
      and the other determined the methodology that was used. The main results were as
      follows: The most popular research areas were curriculum, educational method, and
      evaluation in basic medical education; in contrast, studies that addressed
      postgraduate education, continuous professional development, and educational
      administration were less frequent; The most frequently studied topics were
      clinical performance/skills evaluation, clerkship, curriculum development, and
      problem-based learning, Quantitative studies predominated over qualitative
      studies and mixed methods (265 vs. 95 vs. 26). Two hundred forty papers were
      descriptive, cross-sectional studies, and 17 were experimental studies. Most
      qualitative studies were non-participation observational studies. In conclusion,
      there has been dramatic growth in the extent of medical education research in
      Korea in the past two decades. However, more studies that investigate the
      graduate medical education and the continuous professional development should be
      performed. Moreover, robust experimental designs and methods should be applied to
      provide stronger evidence that can practice best-evidence medical education. 

PMID- 25813326
TI  - Development of learning consultation program for medical students.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this report was to develop a learning consultation
      program to help medical students adjust to studying. Also, it investigated
      students with learning difficulties and determined their learning needs. METHODS:
      Four hundred forty-two medical students from 2 medical schools in Korea were
      surveyed with regard to learning difficulties and learning consultation needs. Of
      the respondents, 202 students were male and 206 were female; the remained was
      unidentified. We used frequency and crosstab analysis to analyze the data from
      the survey. RESULTS: The needs analysis showed that first-year students had the
      most serious academic difficulties of those who were surveyed, possessing a lack
      of learning skills and medical adaptation to clinical situations. In response,
      these students wished to receive learning consultation from the medical faculty
      and senior students. Thus, we developed a learning consultation program for
      medical students, based on learning consultation cases in domestic and foreign
      universities. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that medical students have
      learning difficulties and need learning consultations, especially first-year
      students. Therefore, we developed a learning consultation program that consists
      of problem screening, problem specifications, and choosing strategies. After
      implementing the program, it can help medical students adjust to the medical
      environment. Furthermore, these findings have implications for studies on
      learning consultation programs for medical students.

PMID- 25813327
TI  - Vocational interest types of medical students and its usage in student career
      counseling program.
AB  - PURPOSE: It is very important to consider student's personality, aptitudes, and
      interest to choose an appropriate major or career. This study explored three
      overarching topics: Are there difference in vocational interest types by gender?
      Do students' vocational interest type concur with type related to medicine? Are
      the results of Strong Interest Inventory useful in student career counseling?
      METHODS: The subjects were 124 freshmen in Konyang University College of
      Medicine. The Strong Interest Inventory (Korean version) was used. This were
      divided into three scales: general occupational themes (GOT), basic interest
      scales (BIS), and personal style scales (PSS). The data were analyzed by the
      frequency analysis, chi-square test and t-test. RESULTS: From GOT six interest
      types, male and female showed significant differences in realistic (t=2.71,
      p=0.008), artist (t=-3.33, p=0.001), and social (t=-2.08, p=0.039) types. From
      PSS, the score of work style was below 50 points, it is mean they prefer to work
      alone, with the ideas, materials rather than work with people. Investigative type
      was the most frequent type (63.7%) and social type was the least (8.1%). The
      interest test results were very useful in student career counseling with
      professors (n=53). The satisfaction survey results showed 58.5% of professors
      were very satisfied as the data was "helpful in understanding the students,"
      "useful in leading natural conversation (41.5%)," and "helpful in creating
      rapport (39.6%)." CONCLUSION: Strong vocational interest types explains an
      individual's career interests, and reflect the characteristics of medical
      students are. The finding of the study can be used to provide student counseling
      and developing a tailored student career guidance program.

PMID- 25813328
TI  - International collaborative faculty development program on simulation-based
      healthcare education: a report on its successes and challenges.
AB  - PURPOSE: Countries that are less experienced with simulation-based healthcare
      education (SBHE) often import Western programs to initiate their efforts to
      deliver effective simulation training. Acknowledging cultural differences, we
      sought to determine whether faculty development program on SBHE in the United
      States could be transported successfully to train faculty members in Korea.
      METHODS: An international, collaborative, multi-professional program from a pre
      existing Western model was adapted. The process focused on prioritization of
      curricular elements based on local needs, translation of course materials, and
      delivery of the program in small group facilitation exercises. Three types of
      evaluation data were collected: participants' simulation experience;
      participants' ratings of the course; and participant's self-assessment of the
      impact of the course on their knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA) toward
      simulation teaching. RESULTS: Thirty faculty teachers participated in the course.
      Eighty percent of the participants answered that they spent less than 25% of
      their time as simulation instructors. Time spent on planning, scenario
      development, delivering training, research, and administrative work ranged from
      10% to 30%. Twenty-eight of 30 participants agreed or strongly agreed that the
      course was excellent and relevant to their needs. The participants' assessment of
      the impact of the course on their KSA toward simulation teaching improved
      significantly. CONCLUSION: Although there were many challenges to overcome, a
      systematic approach in the adaptation of a Western simulation faculty development
      course model was successfully implemented in Korea, and the program improves self
      confidence and learning in participants.

PMID- 25813329
TI  - Improvement in Clinical Performance of Interns and Residents through Clinical
      Skills Assessment of the Korean Medical Licensing Examination.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical performance through the Korean Medical
      Licensing Examination clinical skills assessment (KMLE CSA) this survey was done.
      METHODS: A survey of 130 interns and residents (46 applicants and 84 non
      applicants for the KMLE CSA) at a university hospital in Seoul was conducted in
      January and February 2012. The data were gathered using a structured and self
      administered questionnaire. For the items that assessed the clinical performance
      of these subjects, we selected 15 items that are mostly frequently used by
      Delphi's technique, and difficult procedural skills based on the results of
      medical students' performance. We also used subcomponents of the clinical
      problems test of the KMLE CSA. RESULTS: The total score on the KMLE CSA improved
      by 1.33 points (a perfect score is 10), 1.49 points for procedural skills, and
      0.84 points for clinical problems by multiple regression analysis. The variables
      that influenced clinical skills were sex (females had 0.86 more points than
      males), experience in military or public services (1.04 points higher than
      persons without experience), and type of school (graduates of medical school had
      1.41 more points than graduates of professional graduate school). CONCLUSION:
      Implementation of the KMLE CSA improved the clinical performance of medical
      graduates.

PMID- 25813330
TI  - Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of medical professionalism core
      attributes scale.
AB  - PURPOSE: Evaluating the professional attributes of medical students is critical,
      because medical professionalism is an essential quality of a good doctor. But,
      few studies have examined the tools for assessing such attributes. This study
      analyzed factors of medical professionalism in medical students to develop
      standards that can assess medical professional attributes. METHODS: A total of
      1,508 medical students in Korean medical schools or colleges answered a self
      assessment survey of medical professionalism elements from 2005 to 2012 that we
      developed. The survey consisted of core 31 attributes on a 5-point Likert scale.
      Factor analysis was performed using SPSS version 20.0 and AMOS version 20.0.
      RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis revealed six factors with total variance of
      59.56%. The factors were termed 'empathy and accountability,' 'self-development
      skills,' 'academic competence,' 'interpersonal skills,' 'high intelligence,' and
      'attitude towards oneself and life.' These factors showed statistically
      significant correlation (0.310~0.663). From the confirmatory factor analysis a
      six-factor model were appropriate (CFI=0.873, TLI=0.853, RMSEA=0.065). Cronbach
      alpha of six factors ranged from 0.718 to 0.864. CONCLUSION: Good doctors need to
      have not only appropriate standards of medical knowledge but also skills to
      understand and communicate well with patients, as well as self-management skills,
      which should not be overlooked in the medical education curriculum. By optimizing
      the results of this study, a more refined assessment tool of professionalism can
      be exploited.

PMID- 25813331
TI  - Effects of problem-based learning by learning style in medical education.
AB  - PURPOSE: Although problem-based learning (PBL) has been popularized in many
      colleges, few studies have analyzed the relationship between individual
      differences and PBL. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship
      between learning style and the perception on the effects of PBL. METHODS: Grasha
      Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales was used to assess the learning styles of
      38 students at Ajou University School of Medicine who were enrolled in a
      respiratory system course in 2011. The data were analyzed by regression analysis
      and Spearman correlation analysis. RESULTS: By regression analysis, dependent
      beta=0.478) and avoidant styles (beta=-0.815) influenced the learner's
      satisfaction with PBL. By Spearman correlation analysis, there was significant
      link between independent, dependent, and avoidant styles and the perception of
      the effect of PBL. CONCLUSION: There are few significant relationships between
      learning style and the perception of the effects of PBL. We must determine how to
      teach students with different learning styles and the factors that influence PBL.

PMID- 25813332
TI  - Quality of Life of Medical Students during Clinical Clerkship.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study examined the stress, resilience, social support, and quality
      of life (QOL) of medical students during a clinical clerkship and identified the
      factors that affected their QOL. METHODS: The subjects were 53 medical college
      students and 43 postgraduate medical school students of D medical school in
      Korea. They completed a demographic questionnaire and self-rated questionnaires
      on stress, resilience, social support, and QOL. Frequency and descriptive
      analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were performed. RESULTS:
      The level of students' QOL was moderate. QOL correlated negatively with stress
      and positively with resilience and social support. Stress correlated negatively
      with resilience and social support. By regression analysis, stress and resilience
      affected the QOL of medical students. CONCLUSION: The results of this study
      indicate that stress negatively affects the QOL of medical students during
      clinical clerkship, which can be mitigated by resilience. Therefore, it is
      advisable to develop measures to ease stress and enhance resilience.

PMID- 25813333
TI  - How to administer the peer evaluation in team-based learning.

PMID- 25813336
TI  - Global, regional, and national consumption levels of dietary fats and oils in
      1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis including 266 country-specific nutrition
      surveys.

PMID- 25813334
TI  - The good doctor: what patients want.

PMID- 25813337
TI  - The use of a lighted stent as a method for identifying the urethra in male
      patients undergoing transanal total mesorectal excision: a video demonstration.

PMID- 25813338
TI  - Skin features in myotonic dystrophy type 1: an observational study.
AB  - Poor data regarding skin involvement in Myotonic Dystrophy, also named Dystrophia
      Myotonica type 1, have been reported. This study aimed to investigate the
      prevalence and types of skin disorders in adult patients with Myotonic Dystrophy
      type 1. Fifty-five patients and one hundred age- and sex-matched healthy subjects
      were referred to a trained dermatologist for a complete skin examination to check
      for potential cutaneous hallmarks of disease. No difference in prevalence of
      preneoplastic, neoplastic, and cutaneous lesions was detected between the two
      groups. Among morphofunctional, proliferative and inflammatory lesions, focal
      hyperhidrosis (p < 0.0001), follicular hyperkeratosis (p = 0.0003), early
      androgenic alopecia (p = 0.01), nail pitting (p = 0.003), pedunculus fibromas (p
      = 0. 01), twisted hair (p = 0.01), seborrheic dermatitis (p = 0.02), macules of
      hyperpigmentation (p = 0.03) were significantly more frequent in patients
      compared with controls. In patients with Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 significant
      differences according to sex were found for: early androgenic alopecia, twisted
      hair and seborrheic dermatitis, whose prevalence was higher in males (p <
      0.0001). Our preliminary results seem to rule out an increased prevalence of pre
      neoplastic, and neoplastic skin lesions in Myotonic Dystrophy type 1. On the
      other hand, an increased prevalence of morphofunctional, inflammatory, and
      proliferative diseases involving adnexal structures seems to characterize adult
      patients with Myotonic Dystrophy type 1. 

PMID- 25813339
TI  - Muscular dystrophy in a family of Labrador Retrievers with no muscle dystrophin
      and a mild phenotype.
AB  - Animal models of dystrophin deficient muscular dystrophy, most notably canine X
      linked muscular dystrophy, play an important role in developing new therapies for
      human Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Although the canine disease is a model of the
      human disease, the variable severity of clinical presentations in the canine may
      be problematic for pre-clinical trials, but also informative. Here we describe a
      family of Labrador Retrievers with three generations of male dogs having markedly
      increased serum creatine kinase activity, absence of membrane dystrophin, but
      with undetectable clinical signs of muscle weakness. Clinically normal young male
      Labrador Retriever puppies were evaluated prior to surgical neuter by screening
      laboratory blood work, including serum creatine kinase activity. Serum creatine
      kinase activities were markedly increased in the absence of clinical signs of
      muscle weakness. Evaluation of muscle biopsies confirmed a dystrophic phenotype
      with both degeneration and regeneration. Further evaluations by
      immunofluorescence and western blot analysis confirmed the absence of muscle
      dystrophin. Although dystrophin was not identified in the muscles, we did not
      find any detectable deletions or duplications in the dystrophin gene. Sequencing
      is now ongoing to search for point mutations. Our findings in this family of
      Labrador Retriever dogs lend support to the hypothesis that, in exceptional
      situations, muscle with no dystrophin may be functional. Unlocking the secrets
      that protect these dogs from a severe clinical myopathy is a great challenge
      which may have important implications for future treatment of human muscular
      dystrophies. 

PMID- 25813341
TI  - The natural theology of Victorian industry.
AB  - As clergymen in Britain celebrated the Great Exhibition in the summer of 1851 and
      drew appropriate moral lessons, there was widespread agreement that the triumphs
      of industry on display represented the fulfilment of God's will. The basic
      assumption was that overcoming God's curse on Adam had been possible only through
      sustained hard work - industry in the early Victorian sense - and that this
      imperative work ethic had always been God's intention for mankind. In elaborating
      the details, preachers combined the British tradition of natural theology with
      the Scottish Enlightenment's progressive science of man to paint a picture of the
      slow recovery of man from the Fall through his own industry. This was the very
      story of civilization itself, with God the driving force. The celebrants were
      quite clear that it was divine providence that had ordained the greatness of
      Great Britain. 

PMID- 25813342
TI  - Treatment Efficacy of Integrative Family and Systems Treatment (I-FAST) With and
      Without Consultation: The Role of Model Training in the Sustainability of
      Evidence-Based Family Treatments.
AB  - This study examined the efficacy of the Integrative Family and Systems Treatment
      (I-FAST) training model that seeks to support development of model expertise
      within the agency in the context of facilitating the sustainability of evidence
      based family treatment within community mental health settings. A quasi
      experimental design was used to examine treatment outcomes of I-FAST among
      agencies that received ongoing Consultation and agencies that received No
      Consultation upon completion of I-FAST training. chi (2) analyses and independent
      samples t test analyses showed that there were no significant differences between
      the two groups on clients who had achieved reliable change on Problem Severity
      and Functioning based on parents' assessments. Significance of this study is
      discussed in the context of the role of evidence-based family therapy (EBFT)
      training in facilitating its sustainability in community mental health settings.

PMID- 25813343
TI  - Autochthonous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and Bacillus thuringiensis from a
      degraded Mediterranean area can be used to improve physiological traits and
      performance of a plant of agronomic interest under drought conditions.
AB  - Studies have shown that some microorganisms autochthonous from stressful
      environments are beneficial when used with autochthonous plants, but these
      microorganisms rarely have been tested with allochthonous plants of agronomic
      interest. This study investigates the effectiveness of drought-adapted
      autochthonous microorganisms [Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and a consortium of
      arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi] from a degraded Mediterranean area to improve
      plant growth and physiology in Zea mays under drought stress. Maize plants were
      inoculated or not with B. thuringiensis, a consortium of AM fungi or a
      combination of both microorganisms. Plants were cultivated under well-watered
      conditions or subjected to drought stress. Several physiological parameters were
      measured, including among others, plant growth, photosynthetic efficiency,
      nutrients content, oxidative damage to lipids, accumulation of proline and
      antioxidant compounds, root hydraulic conductivity and the expression of plant
      aquaporin genes. Under drought conditions, the inoculation of Bt increased
      significantly the accumulation of nutrients. The combined inoculation of both
      microorganisms decreased the oxidative damage to lipids and accumulation of
      proline induced by drought. Several maize aquaporins able to transport water, CO2
      and other compounds were regulated by the microbial inoculants. The impact of
      these microorganisms on plant drought tolerance was complementary, since Bt
      increased mainly plant nutrition and AM fungi were more active improving stress
      tolerance/homeostatic mechanisms, including regulation of plant aquaporins with
      several putative physiological functions. Thus, the use of autochthonous
      beneficial microorganisms from a degraded Mediterranean area is useful to protect
      not only native plants against drought, but also an agronomically important plant
      such as maize.

PMID- 25813345
TI  - Tracking word frequency effects through 130 years of sound change.
AB  - Contemporary New Zealand English has distinctive pronunciations of three
      characteristic vowels. Did the evolution of these distinctive pronunciations
      occur in all words at the same time or were different words affected differently?
      We analyze the changing pronunciation of New Zealand English in a large set of
      recordings of speakers born over a 130 year period. We show that low frequency
      words were at the forefront of these changes and higher frequency words lagged
      behind. A long-standing debate exists between authors claiming that high
      frequency words lead regular sound change and others claiming that there are no
      frequency effects. The leading role of low frequency words is surprising in this
      context. It can be elucidated in models of lexical processing that include
      detailed word-specific memories.

PMID- 25813344
TI  - The pentameric nucleoplasmin fold is present in Drosophila FKBP39 and a large
      number of chromatin-related proteins.
AB  - Nucleoplasmin is a histone chaperone that consists of a pentameric N-terminal
      domain and an unstructured C-terminal tail. The pentameric core domain, a
      doughnut-like structure with a central pore, is only found in the nucleoplasmin
      family. Here, we report the first structure of a nucleoplasmin-like domain (NPL)
      from the unrelated Drosophila protein, FKBP39, and we present evidence that this
      protein associates with chromatin. Furthermore, we show that two other chromatin
      proteins, Arabidopsis thaliana histone deacetylase type 2 (HD2) and Saccharomyces
      cerevisiae Fpr4, share the NPL fold and form pentamers, or a dimer of pentamers
      in the case of HD2. Thus, we propose a new family of proteins that share the
      pentameric nucleoplasmin-like NPL domain and are found in protists, fungi, plants
      and animals. 

PMID- 25813346
TI  - A Bayesian framework for knowledge attribution: evidence from semantic
      integration.
AB  - We propose a Bayesian framework for the attribution of knowledge, and apply this
      framework to generate novel predictions about knowledge attribution for different
      types of "Gettier cases", in which an agent is led to a justified true belief yet
      has made erroneous assumptions. We tested these predictions using a paradigm
      based on semantic integration. We coded the frequencies with which participants
      falsely recalled the word "thought" as "knew" (or a near synonym), yielding an
      implicit measure of conceptual activation. Our experiments confirmed the
      predictions of our Bayesian account of knowledge attribution across three
      experiments. We found that Gettier cases due to counterfeit objects were not
      treated as knowledge (Experiment 1), but those due to intentionally-replaced
      evidence were (Experiment 2). Our findings are not well explained by an
      alternative account focused only on luck, because accidentally-replaced evidence
      activated the knowledge concept more strongly than did similar false belief cases
      (Experiment 3). We observed a consistent pattern of results across a number of
      different vignettes that varied the quality and type of evidence available to
      agents, the relative stakes involved, and surface details of content.
      Accordingly, the present findings establish basic phenomena surrounding people's
      knowledge attributions in Gettier cases, and provide explanations of these
      phenomena within a Bayesian framework. 

PMID- 25813347
TI  - Smoothened mutations underlie Basal cell carcinoma resistance.

PMID- 25813349
TI  - In silico analysis of tumors identifies cancer treatment strategies.

PMID- 25813350
TI  - Super-enhancers facilitate gene regulation by signaling pathways.

PMID- 25813351
TI  - MEK Inhibition Enhances Preclinical Activity of BRAF Inhibition and
      Immunotherapy.

PMID- 25813353
TI  - Experts endorse 21 as legal smoking age.

PMID- 25813352
TI  - The p53 Target Gene SIVA Enables Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Development.
AB  - Although p53 transcriptional activation potential is critical for its ability to
      suppress cancer, the specific target genes involved in tumor suppression remain
      unclear. SIVA is a p53 target gene essential for p53-dependent apoptosis,
      although it can also promote proliferation through inhibition of p53 in some
      settings. Thus, the role of SIVA in tumorigenesis remains unclear. Here, we seek
      to define the contribution of SIVA to tumorigenesis by generating Siva
      conditional knockout mice. Surprisingly, we find that SIVA loss inhibits non
      small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) development, suggesting that SIVA facilitates
      tumorigenesis. Similarly, SIVA knockdown in mouse and human NSCLC cell lines
      decreases proliferation and transformation. Consistent with this protumorigenic
      role for SIVA, high-level SIVA expression correlates with reduced NSCLC patient
      survival. SIVA acts independently of p53 and, instead, stimulates mTOR signaling
      and metabolism in NSCLC cells. Thus, SIVA enables tumorigenesis in a p53
      independent manner, revealing a potential new cancer therapy target.
      SIGNIFICANCE: These findings collectively reveal a novel role for the p53 target
      gene SIVA both in regulating metabolism and in enabling tumorigenesis,
      independently of p53. Importantly, these studies further identify SIVA as a new
      prognostic marker and as a potential target for NSCLC cancer therapy.

PMID- 25813355
TI  - A Meta-Analysis of Cross Sectional Studies Investigating Language in Maltreated
      Children.
AB  - Purpose: In this review article, meta-analysis was used to summarize research
      investigating language skills in maltreated children. Method: A systematic search
      of published studies was undertaken. Studies were included in the meta-analysis
      if they investigated language skills in groups comprising maltreated and
      nonmaltreated children. Studies were selected if these 2 groups of children were
      of comparable age and from a similar socioeconomic background. Results: A total
      of 26 studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Results from the
      meta-analysis showed that maltreated children demonstrated consistently poorer
      language skills with respect to receptive vocabulary (k = 19; standardized mean
      difference [SMD] = .463; 95% confidence interval [CI; .293, .634]; p < .001),
      expressive language (k = 4; SMD =.860; 95% CI [.557, 1.163]; p < .001), and
      receptive language (k = 9; SMD =.528; 95% CI [.220, .837]; p < .001). Conclusion:
      Together, these results indicate a reliable association between child
      maltreatment and poor language skills.

PMID- 25813354
TI  - Identification of imaging biomarkers for the assessment of tumour response to
      different treatments in a preclinical glioma model.
AB  - PURPOSE: Hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1alpha) activity is one of the
      major players in hypoxia-mediated glioma progression and resistance to therapies,
      and therefore the focus of this study was the evaluation of HIF-1alpha modulation
      in relation to tumour response with the purpose of identifying imaging biomarkers
      able to document tumour response to treatment in a murine glioma model. METHODS:
      U251-HRE-mCherry cells expressing Luciferase under the control of a hypoxia
      responsive element (HRE) and mCherry under the control of a constitutive promoter
      were used to assess HIF-1alpha activity and cell survival after treatment, both
      in vitro and in vivo, by optical, MRI and positron emission tomography imaging.
      RESULTS: This cell model can be used to monitor HIF-1alpha activity after
      treatment with different drugs modulating transduction pathways involved in its
      regulation. After temozolomide (TMZ) treatment, HIF-1alpha activity is early
      reduced, preceding cell cytotoxicity. Optical imaging allowed monitoring of this
      process in vivo, and carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) expression was identified as a
      translatable non-invasive biomarker with potential clinical significance. A
      preliminary in vitro evaluation showed that reduction of HIF-1alpha activity
      after TMZ treatment was comparable to the effect of an Hsp90 inhibitor, opening
      the way for further elucidation of its mechanism of action. CONCLUSION: The
      results of this study suggest that the U251-HRE-mCherry cell model can be used
      for the monitoring of HIF-1alpha activity through luciferase and CAIX expression.
      These cells can become a useful tool for the assessment and improvement of new
      targeted tracers for potential theranostic procedures.

PMID- 25813357
TI  - Promoting health and well-being at the end of life through client-centered care.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Client-centered care is the cornerstone of the hospice and includes
      family members and significant others as the client unit. There needs to be a
      conceptual shift away from "medicalizing" patients at the end of life to
      promoting their health and considering their well-being a shared responsibility.
      Using the hospice philosophy of client-centered care can inform and expand health
      promotion occupational therapy practice, particularly for people at the end of
      life. OBJECTIVES: This paper examines client-centered care at the end of life as
      that which enables engagement in meaningful occupation and promotes health and
      well-being until one dies. METHODS: Constant comparison and thematic analysis is
      used for 12 interviews of hospice professionals. One of the themes, client
      centered care, is discussed relative to the promotion of health and well-being at
      the end of life. RESULTS: Client-centered care is deemed to be an important
      approach at the end of life. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: It is determined that
      client-centered care at the end of life is vital to promote quality of life,
      health, and well-being. Further research is indicated.

PMID- 25813356
TI  - Home-use servo-ventilation therapy in chronic pain patients with central sleep
      apnea: initial and 3-month follow-up.
AB  - PURPOSE: Opioid treatment of non-malignant chronic pain can result in hypoxemia,
      hypercarbia, and central sleep apnea. The aim of this study was to determine the
      initial efficacy of auto servo-ventilation (ASV) and after 3 months of home use.
      METHODS: This prospective multicenter interventional study recruited chronic pain
      patients prescribed >=100 morphine equivalents for at least 4 months.
      PARTICIPANTS: Following full-night polysomnography (PSG) to confirm the presence
      of sleep-disordered breathing, patients were randomized to three additional full
      night-attended PSGs with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), ASV, and
      servo-ventilation with an initial mandatory pressure support of 6 cm H2O (ASV
      manual PSmin 6). Following the PSGs, patients were sent home with EncoreAnywhere
      and ASV with or without mandatory pressure support. RESULTS: Based on the initial
      PSG studies, CPAP improved but did not normalize the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI),
      central apnea index (CAI), or hypopnea index (HI), as all remained elevated.
      Clinically significant reductions were noted after just one night of ASV and ASV
      manual (PSmin 6). After 3 months of ASV home use, the AHI, CAI, and obstructive
      apnea index (OAI) were significantly reduced when compared to baseline diagnostic
      levels and even when compared to respiratory disturbance indices with CPAP
      treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Initial and home use of ASV for 3 months resulted in
      significantly lower AHI, CAI, and OAI. This reduction attests to the efficacy of
      ASV treatment in chronic pain patients on high doses of opioids.

PMID- 25813358
TI  - On the Robustness to Gene Tree Estimation Error (or lack thereof) of Coalescent
      Based Species Tree Methods.
AB  - The estimation of species trees using multiple loci has become increasingly
      common. Because different loci can have different phylogenetic histories
      (reflected in different gene tree topologies) for multiple biological causes, new
      approaches to species tree estimation have been developed that take gene tree
      heterogeneity into account. Among these multiple causes, incomplete lineage
      sorting (ILS), modeled by the multi-species coalescent, is potentially the most
      common cause of gene tree heterogeneity, and much of the focus of the recent
      literature has been on how to estimate species trees in the presence of ILS.
      Despite progress in developing statistically consistent techniques for estimating
      species trees when gene trees can differ due to ILS, there is substantial
      controversy in the systematics community as to whether to use the new coalescent
      based methods or the traditional concatenation methods. One of the key issues
      that has been raised is understanding the impact of gene tree estimation error on
      coalescent-based methods that operate by combining gene trees. Here we explore
      the mathematical guarantees of coalescent-based methods when analyzing estimated
      rather than true gene trees. Our results provide some insight into the
      differences between promise of coalescent-based methods in theory and their
      performance in practice. 

PMID- 25813359
TI  - Adsorption of proteins at the aqueous solution/alkane interface: Co-adsorption of
      protein and alkane.
AB  - The equations of state, adsorption isotherms and functions of the distribution of
      protein molecules in liquid interfacial layers with respect to molar area and the
      equations for their viscoelastic behavior are presented. This theory was used to
      determine the adsorption characteristics of beta-casein and beta-lactoglobulin at
      water/oil interfaces. The experimental results are shown to be describable quite
      adequately by the proposed theory with consistent model parameters. The data
      analysis demonstrated that the beta-casein molecule adsorbed at equilibrium
      conditions is more unfolded as compared with dynamic conditions, and this fact
      causes the significant increase of the adsorption equilibrium constant. The
      theory assumes the adsorption of protein molecules from the aqueous solution and
      a competitive adsorption of alkane molecules from the alkane phase. The
      comparison of the experimental equilibrium interfacial tension isotherms for beta
      lactoglobulin at the solution/hexane interface with data calculated using the
      proposed theoretical model demonstrates that the assumption of a competitive
      adsorption is essential, and the influence of the hexane molecules on the shape
      of the adsorption isotherm does in fact exist. 

PMID- 25813360
TI  - Calcium desensitizer catechin reverses diastolic dysfunction in mice with
      restrictive cardiomyopathy.
AB  - Diastolic dysfunction refers to an impaired relaxation and an abnormality in
      ventricular blood filling during diastole while systolic function is preserved.
      Cardiac myofibril hypersensitivity to Ca(2+) is a major factor that causes
      impaired relaxation of myocardial cells. The present study investigates the
      effect of the green tea extract catechins on myofibril calcium desensitization
      and restoration of diastolic function in a restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) mouse
      model with cardiac troponin mutations. Wild type (WT) and RCM mice were treated
      daily with catechin (epigallocatechin-3-gallate, EGCg, 50 mg/kg body weight) for
      3 months. Echocardiography and cell based assays were performed to measure
      cardiac structure and flow-related variables including chamber dimensions,
      fraction shortening, trans-mitral flow patterns in the experimental mice. In
      addition, myocyte contractility and calcium dynamics were measured in WT and RCM
      cardiomyocytes treated in vitro with 5 MUM EGCg. Our data indicated that RCM mice
      treated with EGCg showed an improved diastolic function while systolic function
      remained unchanged. At the cellular level, sarcomere relaxation and calcium decay
      were accelerated in RCM myocardial cells treated with EGCg. These results suggest
      that catechin is effective in reversing the impaired relaxation in RCM myocardial
      cells and rescuing the RCM mice with diastolic dysfunction.

PMID- 25813362
TI  - The effect of plasma-derived activated protein C on leukocyte cell-death and
      vascular endothelial damage.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The role of leukocyte and its death in the progression in
      inflammation attracts attention nowadays. The purpose of this study is to examine
      the effects of activated protein C (APC) on leucocyte cell death and vascular
      endothelial damage in sepsis. METHODS: Wistar rats were infused with
      lipopolysaccharide (8.0mg/kg) concomitantly with either a low dose (0.5mg/kg), a
      high dose (5.0mg/kg) of plasma-derived APC or albumin. One and 3hours after the
      injections, the mesenteric microcirculation was observed by intravital
      microscopy. The serum levels of nucleosome and High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1)
      were measured in each group. In another series, cultured leukocyte cell-death in
      the medium supplemented with serum obtained from each group was examined in
      vitro. RESULTS: Microcirculatory disturbance was significantly suppressed in both
      the high-dose and low-dose groups compared to the control group (P<0.01, 0.05,
      respectively). The bleeding area was significantly increased in the control and
      high-dose groups (P<0.05, 0.01, respectively). Serum levels of cell death markers
      such as nucleosome and HMGB1 were significantly decreased in the treatment groups
      (P<0.01), and the protective effect was more pronounced in high-dose group. Cell
      death suppression was most prominent in high-dose group and the formation of
      neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) was significantly suppressed in the
      treatment groups. CONCLUSION: Low-dose plasma-derived APC exerted protective
      effects on the microcirculation without increasing the risk of bleeding. The
      protective effect against leukocyte cell death and the suppressive effect on NETs
      formation of APC might be related to its beneficial effects.

PMID- 25813363
TI  - Bacillus rigiliprofundi sp. nov., an endospore-forming, Mn-oxidizing, moderately
      halophilic bacterium isolated from deep subseafloor basaltic crust.
AB  - A facultatively anaerobic bacterium, designated strain 1MBB1T, was isolated from
      basaltic breccia collected from 341 m below the seafloor by seafloor drilling of
      Rigil Guyot during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 330. The cells
      were straight rods, 0.5 MUm wide and 1-3 MUm long, that occurred singly and in
      chains. Strain 1MBB1T stained Gram-positive. Catalase and oxidase were produced.
      The isolate grew optimally at 30  degrees C and pH 7.5, and could grow with up to
      12 % (w/v) NaCl. The DNA G+C content was 40.5 mol%. The major cellular fatty
      acids were C16:1omega11c (26.5 %), anteiso-C15:0 (19.5 %), C16:0 (18.7 %) and iso
      C15:0 (10.4 %), and the cell-wall diamino acid was meso-diaminopimelic acid.
      Endospores of strain 1MBB1T oxidized Mn(II) to Mn(IV), and siderophore production
      by vegetative cells was positive. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene
      indicated that strain 1MBB1T was a member of the family Bacillaceae, with
      Bacillus foraminis CV53T and Bacillus novalis LMG 21837T being the closest
      phylogenetic neighbours (96.5 and 96.2 % similarity, respectively). This is the
      first novel species described from deep subseafloor basaltic crust. On the basis
      of our polyphasic analysis, we conclude that strain 1MBB1T represents a novel
      species of the genus Bacillus, for which we propose the name Bacillus
      rigiliprofundi sp. nov. The type strain is 1MBB1T ( = NCMA B78T = LMG 28275T).

PMID- 25813364
TI  - Aneurinibacillus tyrosinisolvens sp. nov., a tyrosine-dissolving bacterium
      isolated from organics- and methane-rich seafloor sediment.
AB  - A novel Gram-positive-staining, strictly aerobic and heterotrophic bacterium,
      designated strain LL-002T, was isolated from organics- and methane-rich seafloor
      sediment at a depth of 100 m in Kagoshima Bay, Kagoshima, Japan. Colonies were
      lustreless and translucent white in colour. The temperature, pH and salt
      concentration ranges for growth were 10-30  degrees C, pH 6.0-6.5 and 0-1 % (w/v)
      NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences confirmed that
      strain LL-002T belongs to the genus Aneurinibacillus of the family
      Paenibacillaceae. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities between strain LL-002T and
      the type strains of species of the genus Aneurinibacillus were 92.8-95.7 %; the
      highest sequence identity was with the type strain of Aneurinibacillus migulanus.
      The DNA G+C content of strain LL-002T was 46.2 mol%. MK-7 was the predominant
      menaquinone. The predominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 and anteiso
      C15 : 0, and the cell-wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid and
      glutamic acid, glycine and alanine in addition to muramic acid and glucosamine.
      The peptidoglycan type was A1gamma. In DNA-DNA hybridization assays between
      strain LL-002T and the type strains of the other species of the genus
      Aneurinibacillus, the level of hybridization was 6.3-30.1 %. On the basis of its
      biological features and the 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison presented here,
      strain LL-002T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus
      Aneurinibacillus, for which the name Aneurinibacillus tyrosinisolvens sp. nov. is
      proposed; the type strain is LL-002T ( = NBRC 110097T = CECT 8536T).

PMID- 25813365
TI  - Autoantigenicity of human C1q is associated with increased hydrophobicity due to
      conformational transitions in the globular heads.
AB  - We analyzed the structural features of C1q that underlie its autoantigenicity by
      means of a model system using the amphiphilic polyzwitterion (PZ), poly(ethylene
      oxide-b-N,N-dimethyl(methacryloyloxyethyl) ammonium propanesulfonate) in the
      process of C1q immobilization. The source of anti-C1q autoantibodies was human
      sera from patients with Lupus Nephritis (LN). Both analyzed concentrations of PZ,
      25 mM and 50 mM, were found to be applicable for inducing conformational
      transitions which resulted in increased recognition of C1q and the globular
      domain of its B polypeptide chain, designated ghB, by the LN autoantibodies. The
      registered conformational transitions displayed a hydrophobic enhancement of the
      protein microenvironment due to the presence of hydrophobic binding sites in ghB
      which consequently affected the autoantigenicity of the whole C1q molecule. 

PMID- 25813361
TI  - Polymeric nanoparticle drug delivery technologies for oral delivery applications.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Many therapeutics are limited to parenteral administration. Oral
      administration is a desirable alternative because of the convenience and
      increased compliance by patients, especially for chronic diseases that require
      frequent administration. Polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) are one technology being
      developed to enable clinically feasible oral delivery. AREAS COVERED: This review
      discusses the challenges associated with oral delivery. Strategies used to
      overcome gastrointestinal (GI) barriers using polymeric NPs will be considered,
      including mucoadhesive biomaterials and targeting of NPs to transcytosis pathways
      associated with M cells and enterocytes. Applications of oral delivery
      technologies will also be discussed, such as oral chemotherapies, oral insulin,
      treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, and mucosal vaccinations. EXPERT
      OPINION: There have been many approaches used to overcome the transport barriers
      presented by the GI tract, but most have been limited by low bioavailability.
      Recent strategies targeting NPs to transcytosis pathways present in the
      intestines have demonstrated that it is feasible to efficiently transport both
      therapeutics and NPs across the intestines and into systemic circulation after
      oral administration. Further understanding of the physiology and pathophysiology
      of the intestines could lead to additional improvements in oral polymeric NP
      technologies and enable the translation of these technologies to clinical
      practice.

PMID- 25813366
TI  - A1c value for diabetes diagnosis in subjects with established cardiovascular
      disease.

PMID- 25813367
TI  - Clinical factors that predict remission of diabetes after different bariatric
      surgical procedures: interdisciplinary group of bariatric surgery of Verona
      (G.I.C.O.V.).
AB  - AIMS: The aims of the study were to investigate weight loss and glycemic control
      parameters after different bariatric surgical procedures in type 2 diabetes (T2D)
      obese patients and identify patients' factors that predict diabetes remission.
      METHODS: The study included 105 obese T2D patients (66 women and 39 men) who
      underwent laparoscopic gastric banding (LAGB, 11 subjects, age 47 +/- 10 years,
      BMI 42.3 +/- 8.3 kg/m(2)), or laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYBP, 77
      subjects, age 50 +/- 8 years, BMI 45.7 +/- 6.8 kg/m(2)), or sleeve gastrectomy
      (SG, 17 subjects, age 49 +/- 11 years, BMI 50.2 +/- 8.8 kg/m(2)) during 2005-2012
      period. RESULTS: The average percentage of weight loss at 12 months after surgery
      was 26.4 +/- 9.8 %, and it was maintained at 24 and 36 months of follow-up.
      Diabetes remission occurred in 68.6 % of study participants (4/11 of LAGB, 54/77
      of RYBP and 14/17 of SG). In multivariate Cox analysis, age, duration of
      diabetes, surgical procedure and glycated hemoglobin <53 mmol/mol (7 %) resulted
      significant predictors of diabetes remission (age RR = 0.97, 95 %CI 0.94-1.0, p =
      0.05; diabetes duration RR = 0.93, 95 % CI 0.86-0.99, p = 0.036; rif LAGB, RYBP
      RR = 3.9, 95 % CI 1.31-11.57, p = 0.014; SG RR = 5.6, 95 % CI 1.67-18.64, p =
      0.005; glycated hemoglobin RR = 0.54, 95 % CI 0.32-0.92, p = 0.024). CONCLUSIONS:
      Bariatric surgical procedures that modify the upper gastrointestinal tract
      anatomy (RYBP and SG) are more successful in producing weight loss and remission
      of T2D than those that simply restrict stomach capacity (LAGB). Younger age,
      short duration of diabetes and better glucose control confer higher probability
      of achieving remission of diabetes.

PMID- 25813368
TI  - Sympathovagal balance and 1-h postload plasma glucose in normoglucose tolerant
      hypertensive patients.
AB  - AIMS: Normoglucose tolerant (NGT) subjects with a 1-h postload plasma glucose
      (PLPG) value >=155 mg/dL have an increased risk of type-2 diabetes and
      subclinical organ damage. Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects cardiac autonomic
      balance, frequently impaired in course of diabetes. At this time, no data support
      the association between 1-h PLPG and HRV; thus, we investigated the possible
      association between 1-h PLPG and HRV. METHODS: We enrolled 92 never-treated
      hypertensive subjects (56 women, 36 men), aged 55 +/- 9.8 years. During OGTT, the
      patients underwent electrocardiographic recordings to evaluate HRV in the time
      domain (SDNN). Insulin sensitivity was assessed by Matsuda index. RESULTS: Among
      participants, 56 were NGT, 20 had impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and 16 had
      type-2 diabetes. According to the 1-h PLPG cutoff point of 155 mg/dL, we divided
      NGT subjects into: NGT < 155 (n = 38) and NGT >= 155 (n = 18). Glucose tolerance
      status was associated with a significant (P < 0.0001) increase in PLPG and
      insulin and the reduction in Matsuda index. In all groups, the SDNN values
      significantly (P < 0.0001) decreased during the first hour of OGTT. A complete
      recovery in NGT groups was observed at the end of the second hour; in IGT and
      type-2 diabetes, SDNN remained significantly lower with respect to baseline
      values. At multiple regression analysis, Matsuda index resulted in the only
      determinant of SDNN modification, explaining the 12.3 % of its variability.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate that during OGTT, sympathovagal balance is
      acutely affected by both glucose and insulin modifications. Particularly, NGT >=
      155 subjects behave in the same way of IGT and type-2 diabetes patients.

PMID- 25813369
TI  - Nitrogen loading and nitrous oxide emissions from a river with multiple
      hydroelectric reservoirs.
AB  - River networks receive a large fraction of the anthropogenic nitrogen applied to
      river catchments. The different impacts of the stream nitrogen (N) loading on
      nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from various of aquatic ecosystems are still
      unknown. In this study, direct measurements of water-air interface N2O exchange
      in different water bodies were conducted. Results showed that the water-air
      interface N2O exchange from tributaries, hydropower station reservoirs, a main
      stream, and its estuary were 10.14 +/- 13.51, 15.64 +/- 10.72, 27.59 +/- 20.99,
      and 15.98 +/- 12.26 ug N2O-N m(-2) h(-1), respectively, indicating the strong
      impacts of human activities on N2O emission rates. The water NO2 (-)-N values
      predicted the dissolved N2O concentrations better than did the NO3 (-)-N and NH4
      (+)-N values, indicating strong denitrification and nitrification processes. The
      dissolved inorganic N explained 36 % of the variations in the N2O emissions for
      the whole river network.

PMID- 25813370
TI  - Experimental validation of beam quality correction factors for proton beams.
AB  - This paper presents a method to experimentally validate the beam quality
      correction factors (kQ) tabulated in IAEA TRS-398 for proton beams and to
      determine the kQ of non-tabulated ionization chambers (based on the already
      tabulated values). The method is based exclusively on ionometry and it consists
      in comparing the reading of two ionization chambers under the same reference
      conditions in a proton beam quality Q and a reference beam quality (60)Co. This
      allows one to experimentally determine the ratio between the kQ of the two
      ionization chambers. In this work, 7 different ionization chamber models were
      irradiated under the IAEA TRS-398 reference conditions for (60)Co beams and
      proton beams. For the latter, the reference conditions for both modulated beams
      (spread-out Bragg peak field) and monoenergetic beams (pseudo-monoenergetic
      field) were studied. For monoenergetic beams, it was found that the experimental
      kQ values obtained for plane-parallel chambers are consistent with the values
      tabulated in IAEA TRS-398; whereas the kQ values obtained for cylindrical
      chambers are not consistent--being higher than the tabulated values. These
      results support the suggestion (of previous publications) that the IAEA TRS-398
      reference conditions for monoenergetic proton beams should be revised so that the
      effective point of measurement of cylindrical ionization chambers is taken into
      account when positioning the reference point of the chamber at the reference
      depth. For modulated proton beams, the tabulated kQ values of all the ionization
      chambers studied in this work were found to be consistent with each other--except
      for the IBA FC65-G, whose experimental kQ value was found to be 0.6% lower than
      the tabulated one. The kQ of the PTW Advanced Markus chamber, which is not
      tabulated in IAEA TRS-398, was found to be 0.997 +/- 0.042 (k = 2), based on the
      tabulated value of the PTW Markus chamber.

PMID- 25813371
TI  - Preclinical model of transcorneal alternating current stimulation in freely
      moving rats.
AB  - PURPOSE: Transcorneal alternating current stimulation (tACS) has become a
      promising tool to modulate brain functions and treat visual diseases. To
      understand the mechanisms of action a suitable animal model is required. However,
      because existing animal models employ narcosis, which interferes with brain
      oscillations and stimulation effects, we developed an experimental setup where
      current stimulation via the eye and flicker light stimulation can be applied
      while simultaneously recording local field potentials in awake rats. METHOD: tACS
      was applied in freely-moving rats (N = 24) which had wires implanted under their
      upper eye lids. Field potential recordings were made in visual cortex and
      superior colliculus. To measure visual evoked responses, rats were exposed to
      flicker-light using LEDs positioned in headset spectacles. RESULTS: Corneal
      electrodes and recording assemblies were reliably operating and well tolerated
      for at least 4 weeks. Transcorneal stimulation without narcosis did not induce
      any adverse reactions. Stable head stages allowed repetitive and long-lasting
      recordings of visual and electrically evoked potentials in freely moving animals.
      Shape and latencies of electrically evoked responses measured in the superior
      colliculus and visual cortex indicate that specific physiological responses could
      be recorded after tACS. CONCLUSIONS: Our setup allows the stimulation of the
      visual system in unanaesthetised rodents with flicker light and transcorneally
      applied current travelling along the physiological signalling pathway. This
      methodology provides the experimental basis for further studies of recovery and
      restoration of vision.

PMID- 25813372
TI  - An examination of survival by sex and race in the HeartWare Ventricular Assist
      Device for the Treatment of Advanced Heart Failure (ADVANCE) Bridge to Transplant
      (BTT) and continued access protocol trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Ventricular Assist Device for the Treatment of Advanced Heart
      Failure (ADVANCE) Bridge to Transplant (BTT) trial was a multicenter, prospective
      trial of the HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD). The performance of the
      HVAD in various demographic sub-groups was evaluated. METHODS: Baseline
      characteristics, adverse events, and survival were compared for men vs. women and
      whites vs. non-whites in the combined ADVANCE BTT and continued access protocol
      trial. Of 332 patients enrolled in these trials, 236 were men and 96 women, with
      228 whites and 104 non-whites. RESULTS: At baseline, women had a smaller body
      surface area (1.8 +/- 0.2 vs. 2.1 +/- 0.3 m2, p < 0.0001), less hypertension
      (50.0% vs. 61.9%, p = 0.05), and less ischemic cardiomyopathy (15.6% vs. 45.3%, p
      < 0.0001). Differences in Kaplan-Meier survival were not significant at 180 days
      (men, 91.8%; women, 91.7%) and 1 year (men, 85.3%; women, 85.1%) despite
      adjustment for baseline differences. Men had a lower incidence of early right
      heart failure and renal and respiratory dysfunction, and a shorter length of
      stay. In the analysis by race, non-whites were younger than whites and had less
      ischemic heart failure, more hypertension, and lower creatinine levels at
      baseline. Non-whites had lower rates of arrhythmia, bleeding requiring
      rehospitalization, and device malfunctions than whites. Survival was high in non
      whites and whites, at 94.1% vs. 90.4% at 180 days and 89.2% vs. 82.8% at 1 year,
      respectively, despite adjustment for baseline differences. CONCLUSIONS: Although
      heart failure etiology differed between men and women and between whites and non
      whites, sex and race were not factors that affected survival in patients
      receiving the HVAD as BTT, which was high in all sub-groups.

PMID- 25813373
TI  - It takes two: noninvasive brain stimulation combined with neurorehabilitation.
AB  - The goal of postacute neurorehabilitation is to maximize patient function,
      ideally by using surviving brain and central nervous system tissue when possible.
      However, the structures incorporated into neurorehabilitative approaches often
      differ from this target, which may explain why the efficacy of conventional
      clinical treatments targeting neurologic impairment varies widely. Noninvasive
      brain stimulation (eg, transcranial magnetic stimulation [TMS], transcranial
      direct current stimulation [tDCS]) offers the possibility of directly targeting
      brain structures to facilitate or inhibit their activity to steer neural
      plasticity in recovery and measure neuronal output and interactions for
      evaluating progress. The latest advances as stereotactic navigation and electric
      field modeling are enabling more precise targeting of patient's residual
      structures in diagnosis and therapy. Given its promise, this supplement
      illustrates the wide-ranging significance of TMS and tDCS in neurorehabilitation,
      including in stroke, pediatrics, traumatic brain injury, focal hand dystonia,
      neuropathic pain, and spinal cord injury. TMS and tDCS are still not widely used
      and remain poorly understood in neurorehabilitation. Therefore, the present
      supplement includes articles that highlight ready clinical application of these
      technologies, including their comparative diagnostic capabilities relative to
      neuroimaging, their therapeutic benefit, their optimal delivery, the
      stratification of likely responders, and the variable benefits associated with
      their clinical use because of interactions between pathophysiology and the innate
      reorganization of the patient's brain. Overall, the supplement concludes that
      whether provided in isolation or in combination, noninvasive brain stimulation
      and neurorehabilitation are synergistic in the potential to transform clinical
      practice. 

PMID- 25813374
TI  - Modified technique of levator plication for the correction of Marcus Gunn jaw
      winking ptosis: a case series.
AB  - To conduct a study on ptotic eyelids with Marcus Gunn jaw-winking ptosis operated
      via a technique of modified levator plication, prospective interventional case
      series. Ten ptotic eyelids with Marcus Gunn jaw-winking phenomenon (MGJWP)
      underwent modified levator plication surgery. Postoperatively, all cases were
      followed up for at least 6 months. Outcome parameters included amount of ptosis
      correction, amount of MGJWP correction, palpebral aperture height, lid lag, and
      lagophthalmos. The mean amount of ptosis was 4.25 +/- 0.79 mm (range of 3-6 mm),
      mean amount of MGJWP was 5.10 +/- 2.27 mm (range 2-9 mm), and the mean levator
      function was 8.3 +/- 2.27 mm (range of 4-12 mm). At 6 months follow-up, good
      correction of ptosis was seen in nine out of ten patients. Resolution of MGJWP
      (<=1 mm of excursion of upper eyelid with synkinetic mouth movement) was seen in
      three patients. Improvement in MGJWP (>1 mm of excursion of upper eyelid with
      synkinetic mouth movement) was seen in seven patients. The mean post-operative
      lagophthalmos was 0.80 +/- 0.88 mm. The modified levator plication technique was
      effective in the treatment of MGJWP. This modified technique of levator plication
      is anatomically less destructive and hence more acceptable, with the added
      advantages of less post-operative lagophthalmos and no lid contour defects.

PMID- 25813375
TI  - Spectral domain optical coherence tomography imaging of tubercular
      chorioretinitis and intraretinal granuloma. Intraretinal tuberculosis: a case
      report.
AB  - The aim of this study is to report the clinical and spectral domain optical
      coherence tomography (SD-OCT) findings in a patient suffering from ulcerative
      colitis with bilateral tubercular chorioretinitis and intraretinal granuloma
      regressed with systemic antitubercular therapy (ATT). This study is a case report
      of a 33-year-old Bangladeshi male with ulcerative colitis treated with oral
      corticosteroids and azathioprine who was referred to our department with a
      diagnosis of central serous chorioretinopathy. Serological tests, the Mantoux
      skin test, complete ophthalmologic examination, ocular fundus photography, fundus
      fluorescein angiography, and SD-OCT scans were performed. The ophthalmological
      inflammatory pattern and serological investigations provided an early diagnosis
      of ocular tuberculosis. Systemic ATT led to significant improvement and
      resolution of the ocular inflammation. SD-OCT was a useful non-contact imaging
      technique in the follow-up of tubercular choroiditis. The excellent response to
      systemic ATT confirmed the clinical diagnosis. This is an unusual case of
      tubercular chorioretinitis with intraretinal granuloma and is the first such SD
      OCT description reported in the ophthalmological literature. 

PMID- 25813376
TI  - Comparison of the current and a new RTVue OCT software version for detection of
      ganglion cell complex changes due to cataract surgery.
AB  - The purpose was to compare the current (6.3) and a novel software version (6.12)
      of the RTVue-100 optical coherence tomograph (RTVue OCT) for ganglion cell
      complex (GCC) and retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFLT) changes after
      phacoemulsification in healthy cataract eyes, and to investigate whether version
      6.12, in which image segmentation is improved, provides benefits over version 6.3
      for RNFLT and GCC imaging via mild cataract. One eye of 22 consecutive healthy
      cataract patients were imaged before and 1 month after uncomplicated cataract
      surgery using RTVue-100 OCT software version 6.3. The images were analysed with
      both software versions. Signal strength index increased significantly after
      surgery for both RNFLT and the GCC measurements (p <= 0.0015). No difference was
      seen for any RNFLT parameter between the software versions and time points (p >=
      0.0140). The GCC values did not differ between the versions either before or
      after surgery (p >= 0.4471), but all increased significantly after surgery with
      software version 6.12 (p < 0.0001). Neither focal loss volume (FLV) nor global
      loss volume (GLV) differed between the software versions before and after
      surgery, respectively, but GLV decreased (improved) significantly after surgery
      (p = 0.010 and <0.001 for versions 6.3 and 6.12, respectively). Cataract surgery
      induced similar changes with both software versions, but version 6.12 identified
      the increase of GCC thickness and the decrease of GLV better than the current
      version. Although no significant difference between software versions was seen
      before surgery, our results suggest that version 6.12 may be more precise in
      measuring GCC parameters than the currently available version.

PMID- 25813377
TI  - Long-term heavy silicone oil intraocular tamponade.
AB  - Heavy silicone oil tamponade is intended to be temporary, but may occasionally be
      indefinite in patients who refuse, or are deemed unsuitable for, further surgery.
      The aim of this study is to compare the outcomes of patients with temporary
      versus indefinite heavy silicone oil intraocular tamponade. This retrospective,
      comparative case series identified 75 patients who underwent heavy silicone oil
      instillation (Oxane HD) over a 6 year period (2006-2012) in one institution.
      Thirty-nine patients had temporary heavy oil tamponade and 36 patients had
      indefinite tamponade. The majority (68 %) of patients had a history of previous
      vitreoretinal surgery prior to oil instillation and 66.7 % had pre-existing
      proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). The mean final logMAR best corrected
      visual acuity (BCVA) was significantly better in the temporary tamponade group
      (1.34 +/- 0.66) than the indefinite tamponade group 1.82 +/- 0.64 (p = 0.003).
      Ambulatory BCVA (>= 4/200) was retained in 76.3 % of temporary tamponade patients
      versus 54.3 % of indefinite tamponade patients (p = 0.093). Successful retinal
      reattachment was significantly more likely in temporary tamponade patients (92.3
      %) than indefinite tamponade patients (75 %; p = 0.04). Complications in the
      patients with indefinite heavy silicone oil tamponade included redetachment (38.9
      %), corneal pathology (13.8 %), secondary glaucoma (11.1 %) and anterior segment
      emulsification (8.3 %).While temporary tamponade patients had better outcomes
      than those with indefinite tamponade, the majority of indefinite tamponade
      patients still retained ambulatory vision in the affected eye. Indefinite heavy
      silicone oil tamponade remains a viable option for those who cannot undergo
      removal of oil surgery.

PMID- 25813378
TI  - Label-free Quantitative Proteomics Reveals a Role for the Mycobacterium
      tuberculosis SecA2 Pathway in Exporting Solute Binding Proteins and Mce
      Transporters to the Cell Wall.
AB  - Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an example of a bacterial pathogen with a
      specialized SecA2-dependent protein export system that contributes to its
      virulence. Our understanding of the mechanistic basis of SecA2-dependent export
      and the role(s) of the SecA2 pathway in M. tuberculosis pathogenesis has been
      hindered by our limited knowledge of the proteins exported by the pathway. Here,
      we set out to identify M. tuberculosis proteins that use the SecA2 pathway for
      their export from the bacterial cytoplasm to the cell wall. Using label-free
      quantitative proteomics involving spectral counting, we compared the cell wall
      and cytoplasmic proteomes of wild type M. tuberculosis to that of a DeltasecA2
      mutant. This work revealed a role for the M. tuberculosis SecA2 pathway in the
      cell wall localization of solute binding proteins that work with ABC transporters
      to import solutes. Another discovery was a profound effect of SecA2 on the cell
      wall localization of the Mce1 and Mce4 lipid transporters, which contribute to M.
      tuberculosis virulence. In addition to the effects on solute binding proteins and
      Mce transporter export, our label-free quantitative analysis revealed an
      unexpected relationship between SecA2 and the hypoxia-induced DosR regulon, which
      is associated with M. tuberculosis latency. Nearly half of the transcriptionally
      controlled DosR regulon of cytoplasmic proteins were detected at higher levels in
      the DeltasecA2 mutant versus wild type M. tuberculosis. By increasing the list of
      M. tuberculosis proteins known to be affected by the SecA2 pathway, this study
      expands our appreciation of the types of proteins exported by this pathway and
      guides our understanding of the mechanism of SecA2-dependent protein export in
      mycobacteria. At the same time, the newly identified SecA2-dependent proteins are
      helpful for understanding the significance of this pathway to M. tuberculosis
      virulence and physiology. 

PMID- 25813379
TI  - Immunocapture-Selected Reaction Monitoring Screening Facilitates the Development
      of ELISA for the Measurement of Native TEX101 in Biological Fluids.
AB  - Monoclonal antibodies that bind the native conformation of proteins are
      indispensable reagents for the development of immunoassays, production of
      therapeutic antibodies and delineating protein interaction networks by affinity
      purification-mass spectrometry. Antibodies generated against short peptides,
      protein fragments, or even full length recombinant proteins may not bind the
      native protein form in biological fluids, thus limiting their utility. Here, we
      report the application of immunocapture coupled with selected reaction monitoring
      measurements (immunocapture-SRM), in the rapid screening of hybridoma culture
      supernatants for monoclonal antibodies that bind the native protein conformation.
      We produced mouse monoclonal antibodies, which detect in human serum or seminal
      plasma the native form of the human testis-expressed sequence 101 (TEX101)
      protein-a recently proposed biomarker of male infertility. Pairing of two
      monoclonal antibodies against unique TEX101 epitopes led to the development of an
      ELISA for the measurement of TEX101 in seminal plasma (limit of detection: 20
      pg/ml) and serum (limit of detection: 40 pg/ml). Measurements of matched seminal
      plasma samples, obtained from men pre- and post-vasectomy, confirmed the absolute
      diagnostic specificity and sensitivity of TEX101 for noninvasive identification
      of physical obstructions in the male reproductive tract. Measurement of male and
      female serum samples revealed undetectable levels of TEX101 in the systemic
      circulation of healthy individuals. Immunocapture-SRM screening may facilitate
      development of monoclonal antibodies and immunoassays against native forms of
      challenging protein targets. 

PMID- 25813381
TI  - Solvent-based extraction optimisation for efficient ultrasonication-assisted
      ginsenoside recovery from Panax quinquefolius and P. sikkimensis cell suspension
      lines.
AB  - The present study aims at developing an extraction protocol for efficient
      ginsenoside recovery from cell suspensions of Panax quinquefolius and P.
      sikkimensis. Methanol (100%, 70% and 30%), water (40 degrees C, 90 degrees C),
      water-saturated butanol and butanol-saturated water were compared for their
      ultrasonication-assisted ginsenoside retrieval efficacy. HPLC and HP-TLC analysis
      revealed 100% methanol as the best solvent for maximum retrieval of Rb (diol) and
      Rg (triol) ginsenosides (P. quinquefolius: Rb: 0.189, Rg: 3.163 mg/g DW; P.
      sikkimensis: Rb: 0.245, Rg: 4.073 mg/g DW), followed by water (90 degrees C).
      Methanolic solutions, especially 70%, proved to be significant retrievers of Rg1
      (1.812 and 1.327 mg/g DW in P. quinquefolius and P. sikkimensis), with poor Re
      recovery (0.328 and 0.342 mg/g DW). Water-saturated butanol also led to
      significant ginsenoside extraction (72.4% of content extracted by methanol),
      selectively in P. quinquefolius, with a less than 50% of total content extracted
      by methanol, in P. sikkimensis.

PMID- 25813382
TI  - The Male Genital Examination: Overcoming Barriers to Prevent Missed Diagnoses.

PMID- 25813380
TI  - Probing the O-glycoproteome of gastric cancer cell lines for biomarker discovery.
AB  - Circulating O-glycoproteins shed from cancer cells represent important serum
      biomarkers for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. We have recently shown that
      selective detection of cancer-associated aberrant glycoforms of circulating O
      glycoprotein biomarkers can increase specificity of cancer biomarker assays.
      However, the current knowledge of secreted and circulating O-glycoproteins is
      limited. Here, we used the COSMC KO "SimpleCell" (SC) strategy to characterize
      the O-glycoproteome of two gastric cancer SimpleCell lines (AGS, MKN45) as well
      as a gastric cell line (KATO III) which naturally expresses at least partially
      truncated O-glycans. Overall, we identified 499 O-glycoproteins and 1236 O
      glycosites in gastric cancer SimpleCells, and a total 47 O-glycoproteins and 73 O
      glycosites in the KATO III cell line. We next modified the glycoproteomic
      strategy to apply it to pools of sera from gastric cancer and healthy individuals
      to identify circulating O-glycoproteins with the STn glycoform. We identified 37
      O-glycoproteins in the pool of cancer sera, and only nine of these were also
      found in sera from healthy individuals. Two identified candidate O-glycoprotein
      biomarkers (CD44 and GalNAc-T5) circulating with the STn glycoform were further
      validated as being expressed in gastric cancer tissue. A proximity ligation assay
      was used to show that CD44 was expressed with the STn glycoform in gastric cancer
      tissues. The study provides a discovery strategy for aberrantly glycosylated O
      glycoproteins and a set of O-glycoprotein candidates with biomarker potential in
      gastric cancer. 

PMID- 25813383
TI  - Physicians' Lack of Adherence to National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
      Guidelines for Pediatric Lipid Screening.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine adherence to the 2011 National Heart, Lung, and Blood
      Institute lipid screening guidelines and identify patient factors promoting
      screening. METHODS: Records of children who received well-child care at age 11
      years and turned 12 in 2013 were reviewed. Subjects were stratified by guideline
      defined dyslipidemia risk based on documented medical or family history risk
      factors. We defined adherence as the order of a lipid profile when age 11 years
      or completed lipid screening at 9 to 10 years. RESULTS: Of 298 subjects, 42% were
      assigned to the dyslipidemia high-risk subgroup. Records of 27.2% demonstrated
      adherence. Fifty-six percent of high-risk subjects versus 6% of their non-high
      risk counterparts received lipid screening by age 12 (P < .001). Among screened
      subjects, history of obesity and parental history of dyslipidemia were
      significantly associated with lipid testing. CONCLUSIONS: Lipid screening rates
      were low. Strategies to increase lipid screening in the primary care setting are
      needed.

PMID- 25813384
TI  - Russian Adoption: A Case Study With Mixed Clinical Presentation.

PMID- 25813385
TI  - Asymptomatic Mycoplasma Infection Causing Acute Demyelinating Encephalomyelitis:
      Case Report and Review of Literature.

PMID- 25813387
TI  - Acoustic analysis of overnight consecutive snoring sounds by sound pressure
      levels.
AB  - CONCLUSION: The sound pressure level (SPL) parameters, especially the A-weighted
      equivalent sound level (LAeq) and accumulative percentile sound level 10 (L10),
      were significantly different between simple snoring (SS) and obstructive sleep
      apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was the most
      significant factor to affect the SPLs of snoring sounds. LAeq and L10 were
      valuable acoustic characters of snoring which could reflect the severity of sleep
      disordered breathing in clinic. OBJECTIVES: Due to the limitation of acoustic
      analysis of single snoring sound for snorers, this study analyzed characteristics
      of consecutive snoring sounds overnight by the SPLs in patients of SS and OSAHS.
      METHOD: Ninety-four patients who underwent simultaneous SPL recording and
      polysomnography (PSG) were included in this study. Parameters of SPL such as
      LAeq, peak sound level (Lpeak), L10, L50, and L90 were analyzed. The correlation
      between these parameters and PSG results was also analyzed. RESULTS: The LAeq and
      L10 in OSAHS patients were significantly different from patients with SS. The
      body mass index (BMI) was positively correlated to LAeq and L10. Among various
      factors of PSG data and demographic factors, the SPLs were mostly affected by the
      AHI and the lowest oxygen saturation (LSaO2).

PMID- 25813386
TI  - In Vitro Repair of Meniscal Radial Tear Using Aligned Electrospun Nanofibrous
      Scaffold.
AB  - Radial tears of the meniscus represent one of the most common injuries of the
      knee, and result in loss of biomechanical meniscal function. However, there have
      been no established, effective treatments for radial meniscal tears. Nanofibrous
      materials produced by electrospinning have shown high promise in the engineering
      of soft musculoskeletal tissues. The goal of our study is to apply these
      technologies to develop a functional cell-seeded scaffold as a potential, new
      surgical method to enhance meniscal radial repair. Cylinder-shaped explants were
      excised from the inner avascular region of bovine meniscus and a radial tear was
      created in the center of the explant. The torn site was wrapped with either
      nanofibrous scaffold alone or scaffold seeded with meniscal fibrochondrocytes
      (MFC). A control group was prepared as explants without scaffolds or cells. The
      composite constructs in each group were cultured in vitro for 4 and 8 weeks, and
      these were then assessed histologically and mechanically. Histological analysis
      showed partial repair of the radial tear was observed with adherence between
      scaffold and native meniscal tissue in either the scaffold alone or cell-seeded
      scaffold group. Only the cell-seeded scaffold exhibited significant positive
      Picrosirius red staining and Safranin O staining. Mechanical testing of the
      repaired meniscus showed that the load-to-failure and stiffness values were
      significantly improved in the cell-seeded group. These results demonstrated the
      applicability of the MFC-seeded nanofibrous scaffold for meniscal radial tear
      repair based on both histological and mechanical analyses. In particular, the
      highly adhesive property of the cell-seeded scaffold to the meniscal tissue
      should be beneficial in helping to preserve the meniscal function by stabilizing
      meniscal fibers.

PMID- 25813388
TI  - Alternative splicing modulates Kv channel clustering through a molecular ball and
      chain mechanism.
AB  - Ion channel clustering at the post-synaptic density serves a fundamental role in
      action potential generation and transmission. Here, we show that interaction
      between the Shaker Kv channel and the PSD-95 scaffold protein underlying channel
      clustering is modulated by the length of the intrinsically disordered C terminal
      channel tail. We further show that this tail functions as an entropic clock that
      times PSD-95 binding. We thus propose a 'ball and chain' mechanism to explain Kv
      channel binding to scaffold proteins, analogous to the mechanism describing
      channel fast inactivation. The physiological relevance of this mechanism is
      demonstrated in that alternative splicing of the Shaker channel gene to produce
      variants of distinct tail lengths resulted in differential channel cell surface
      expression levels and clustering metrics that correlate with differences in
      affinity of the variants for PSD-95. We suggest that modulating channel
      clustering by specific spatial-temporal spliced variant targeting serves a
      fundamental role in nervous system development and tuning. 

PMID- 25813389
TI  - Therapeutic prospects for migraine: can paradise be regained?
AB  - Migraine is a common, complex brain disorder whose biology is becoming better
      understood. Despite being the most disabling of the neurological disorders on a
      worldwide basis, headache disorders broadly, and migraine in particular, have
      poor research funding and a limited academic base. Given a modicum of investment,
      new targets, such as calcitonin gene-related peptide-based mechanisms, and
      entirely novel neuromodulation approaches illustrate that much can be done to
      improve patient care. Genetics and neuroimaging combined with excellent clinical
      phenotyping and translational neuroscience approaches are set to transform life
      for a cohort of patients with these common brain disorders.

PMID- 25813390
TI  - Peripheral Cardiopulmonary Bypass under Local Anaesthesia for Tracheal Tumour
      Resection.
AB  - A 63 year-old female was diagnosed with an adenoid cystic carcinoma causing near
      total tracheal lumen obstruction. The tumour was successfully resected using
      cardiopulmonary bypass via femoral vessels under local anaesthetic before
      induction to secure the airway and facilitate the operation. 

PMID- 25813391
TI  - Abamectin resistance in strains of vegetable leafminer, Liriomyza sativae
      (Diptera: Agromyzidae) is linked to elevated glutathione S-transferase activity.
AB  - Abamectin resistance was selected in the vegetable leafminer, Liriomyza sativae
      (Blanchard) (Diptera: Agromyzidae) under laboratory conditions, and cross
      resistance patterns and possible resistance mechanisms in the abamectin-resistant
      strains (AL-R, AF-R) were investigated. Compared with the susceptible strain
      (SS), strain AL-R displayed 39-fold resistance to abamectin after 20 selection
      cycles during 25 generations, and strain AF-R exhibited 59-fold resistance to
      abamectin after 16 selection cycles during 22 generations. No cross-resistance to
      cyromazine was found in both abamectin-resistant strains. However, we failed to
      select for cyromazine resistance in L. sativae under laboratory conditions by
      conducting 17 selection cycles during 22 generations. However, moderate levels of
      cross-resistance to abamectin (6-9 fold) were observed in strains which received
      cyromazine treatments. Biochemical analysis showed that glutathione S-transferase
      (GST) activity in both abamectin-resistant strains (AL-R, AF-R) was significantly
      higher than in the susceptible strain (SS), suggesting metabolically driven
      resistance to abamectinin L. sativae. Recommendations of mixtures or rotation of
      cyromazine and abamectin should be considered carefully, as consecutive
      cyromazine treatments may select for low-level cross-resistance to abamectin. 

PMID- 25813392
TI  - Different profiles of notch signaling in cigarette smoke-induced pulmonary
      emphysema and bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Different profiles of Notch signaling mediate naive T cell
      differentiation which might be involved in pulmonary emphysema and fibrosis.
      METHODS: C57BL/6 mice were randomized into cigarette smoke (CS) exposure,
      bleomycin (BLM) exposure, and two separate groups of control for sham exposure to
      CS or BLM. The paratracheal lymph nodes of the animals were analyzed by real-time
      PCR and immunohistochemistry. Morphometry of the lung parenchyma, measurement of
      the cytokines, and cytometry of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were also
      done accordingly. RESULTS: In comparison with controls, all Notch receptors and
      ligands were upregulated by chronic CS exposure, especially Notch3 and DLL1 (P <
      0.01), and this was in line with emphysema-like morphology and Th1-biased
      inflammation. While Notch3 and DLL1 were downregulated by BLM exposure (P <
      0.01), those was in line with fibrotic lung remodeling and Th2 polarization.
      CONCLUSIONS: This founding implies that the CS exposure but not the BLM exposure
      is capable of initiating Notch signaling in lymphoid tissue of the lung, which is
      likely relevant to the pathogenesis of pulmonary emphysema. Unable to initiate
      the Th1 response or inhibit it may lead to Th2 polarization and aberrant repair.

PMID- 25813393
TI  - The aerobic activity of metronidazole against anaerobic bacteria.
AB  - Recently, the aerobic growth of strictly anaerobic bacteria was demonstrated
      using antioxidants. Metronidazole is frequently used to treat infections caused
      by anaerobic bacteria; however, to date its antibacterial activity was only
      tested in anaerobic conditions. Here we aerobically tested using antioxidants the
      in vitro activities of metronidazole, gentamicin, doxycycline and imipenem
      against 10 common anaerobic and aerobic bacteria. In vitro susceptibility testing
      was performed by the disk diffusion method, and minimum inhibitory concentrations
      (MICs) were determined by Etest. Aerobic culture of the bacteria was performed at
      37 degrees C using Schaedler agar medium supplemented with 1mg/mL ascorbic acid
      and 0.1mg/mL glutathione; the pH was adjusted to 7.2 by 10M KOH. Growth of
      anaerobic bacteria cultured aerobically using antioxidants was inhibited by
      metronidazole after 72h of incubation at 37 degrees C, with a mean inhibition
      diameter of 37.76mm and an MIC of 1MUg/mL; however, strains remained non
      sensitive to gentamicin. No growth inhibition of aerobic bacteria was observed
      after 24h of incubation at 37 degrees C with metronidazole; however, inhibition
      was observed with doxycycline and imipenem used as controls. These results
      indicate that bacterial sensitivity to metronidazole is not related to the oxygen
      tension but is a result of the sensitivity of the micro-organism. In future, both
      culture and antibiotic susceptibility testing of strictly anaerobic bacteria will
      be performed in an aerobic atmosphere using antioxidants in clinical microbiology
      laboratories. 

PMID- 25813394
TI  - Use of Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate the development of vancomycin
      resistance in meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
AB  - Monte Carlo simulations were performed for various vancomycin dosage regimens to
      evaluate the potential for development of vancomycin resistance in meticillin
      resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). When the target of free AUC(24)/MIC>=200
      was considered (where AUC(24) is the area under the drug concentration-time curve
      in a 24-h interval and MIC is the minimum inhibitory concentration), a standard
      dose regimen (1000 mg every 12 h) yielded unacceptable simulated outcomes in
      patients with normal renal function; in particular, the probability of target
      attainment (PTA) was only 30.5% at an MIC of 1mg/L. For the same dosage regimens
      and the mutant prevention concentration (MPC)-based pharmacokinetic target (total
      AUC(24)/MPC>15), the cumulative fraction of response exceeded 80% for all renal
      function strata; low values of PTA (<80%) were obtained only for isolates with
      MPCs of >=22.4 mg/L, which consisted of all 21 strains of heterogeneous
      vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (hVISA) and a handful of non-hVISA strains with
      MICs of 2mg/L (32%; 16/50). Based on the current status of vancomycin resistance,
      we conclude that total AUC(24)/MPC>15, derived from in vivo experiments, is more
      suitable to predict the development of vancomycin resistance. In clinical
      practice, individualised vancomycin therapy should be considered to minimise
      selection of resistance mutations.

PMID- 25813395
TI  - Effect of dexamethasone on the efficacy of daptomycin in the therapy of
      experimental pneumococcal meningitis.
AB  - This study aimed to determine the effect of dexamethasone in combination with low
      dose or high-dose daptomycin for the treatment of penicillin- and cephalosporin
      resistant pneumococcal meningitis. Efficacy (DeltaCFU/mL) and cerebrospinal fluid
      (CSF) levels of daptomycin at 15mg/kg and 25mg/kg were studied in a rabbit model
      of pneumococcal meningitis, comparing them with the same doses in combination
      with dexamethasone at 0.125mg/kg every 12h over a 26-h period against two
      different Streptococcus pneumoniae strains, HUB 2349 and ATCC 51916 with
      daptomycin minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 0.09mg/L and 0.19mg/L,
      respectively. Daptomycin levels in CSF were lower when dexamethasone was given
      concurrently. Against strain HUB 2349, therapeutic failure occurred with
      daptomycin 15mg/kg+dexamethasone; daptomycin 25mg/kg+dexamethasone was better at
      reducing bacterial counts than the lower dose throughout treatment. Against the
      highly cephalosporin-resistant ATCC 51916 strain, daptomycin
      15mg/kg+dexamethasone achieved a lower bacterial decrease than daptomycin 15mg/kg
      alone, and therapeutic failure at 24h occurred in the daptomycin
      15mg/kg+dexamethasone group. Addition of dexamethasone to a 25mg/kg daptomycin
      dose did not affect the efficacy of daptomycin: it remained bactericidal
      throughout treatment. In conclusion, against the studied strains, low-dose
      (15mg/kg/day) daptomycin is affected by concomitant use of dexamethasone: CSF
      levels are reduced and its bacterial efficacy is affected. At a higher daptomycin
      dose (25mg/kg/day), however, the use of dexamethasone does not alter efficacy;
      the combination appears to be a good choice for the treatment of pneumococcal
      meningitis. 

PMID- 25813396
TI  - Predictive of the quantum capacitance effect on the excitation of plasma waves in
      graphene transistors with scaling limit.
AB  - Plasma waves in graphene field-effect transistors (FETs) and nano-patterned
      graphene sheets have emerged as very promising candidates for potential terahertz
      and infrared applications in myriad areas including remote sensing, biomedical
      science, military, and many other fields with their electrical tunability and
      strong interaction with light. In this work, we study the excitations and
      propagation properties of plasma waves in nanometric graphene FETs down to the
      scaling limit. Due to the quantum-capacitance effect, the plasma wave exhibits
      strong correlation with the distribution of density of states (DOS). It is
      indicated that the electrically tunable plasma resonance has a power-dependent
      V0.8 TG relation on the gate voltage, which originates from the linear dependence
      of density of states (DOS) on the energy in pristine graphene, in striking
      difference to those dominated by classical capacitance with only V0.5 TG
      dependence. The results of different transistor sizes indicate the potential
      application of nanometric graphene FETs in highly-efficient electro-optic
      modulation or detection of terahertz or infrared radiation. In addition, we
      highlight the perspectives of plasma resonance excitation in probing the many
      body interaction and quantum matter state in strong correlation electron systems.
      This study reveals the key feature of plasma waves in decorated/nanometric
      graphene FETs, and paves the way to tailor plasma band-engineering and expand its
      application in both terahertz and mid-infrared regions.

PMID- 25813397
TI  - Vitamin D/VDR signaling pathway ameliorates 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid
      induced colitis by inhibiting intestinal epithelial apoptosis.
AB  - Increasing epidemiological data have suggested a link between vitamin D
      deficiency and the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In the present
      study, we confirmed that vitamin D deficiency, as well as the decreased local
      expression of vitamin D receptor (VDR), was prevalent in an IBD cohort. The
      excessive apoptosis of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) partly accounts for the
      development of colonic inflammation and eventually results in IBD. Based on the
      established inhibitory effects of the vitamin D/VDR pathway on IEC apoptosis, we
      treated mice with 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis with
      paricalcitol, a vitamin D analog, in order to investigate the mechanisms
      responsible for the inhibitory effects of the vitamin D/VDR pathway. We observed
      that following treatment with vitamin D, the mice presented with only minor
      bodyweight loss, and the mice also showed improved histological scores and
      decreased intestinal epithelial permeability compared with the vehicle-treated
      group. The colonic mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines was
      markedly suppressed, indicating less severe colitis in the vitamin D-treated
      mice. Subsequently, we investigated p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA)
      and p53, two major independent pathways of apoptosis, as well as caspase-3. We
      found that the vitamin D-treated mice had lower expression levels of caspase-3
      than the vehicle-treated mice. PUMA expression showed the same tendency; however,
      the p53 protein level was not altered. The present study indicates that vitamin D
      attenuates the development of TNBS-induced colitis by inhibiting the apoptosis of
      IECs. The mechanisms involved include the downregulation of PUMA expression. Our
      data provide experimental support for the clinical trials of vitamin D
      intervention in patients with IBD.

PMID- 25813398
TI  - Oncogene ATAD2 promotes cell proliferation, invasion and migration in cervical
      cancer.
AB  - The ATPase family AAA domain-containing protein 2 (ATAD2) is associated with many
      cellular processes, such as cell proliferation, invasion and migration. However,
      the molecular biological function of the ATAD2 gene in cervical cancer is
      unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore ATAD2 expression in cervical
      cancer, evaluate the relationship between the development of cervical cancer,
      metastasis and clinicopathological characteristics, and discuss the implications
      for its use in clinical treatment. Protein and mRNA expression of ATAD2 was
      examined in tissues and cell lines. Tumor tissues from 135 cases of cervical
      cancer were collected for evaluation of ATAD2 expression by immunohistochemistry
      and western blotting. Prognostic significance was evaluated by the Cox hazards
      model and Kaplan-Meier survival method. HeLa and SiHa cells were transfected with
      two siRNAs targeting ATAD2. ATAD2 knockdown was used to analyze cell
      proliferation, invasion and migration. Cell viability was evaluated with the Cell
      Counting Kappait-8 (CCK-8) assay, cell invasion by a Transwell assay and cell
      migration by a wound healing/scratch migration assay. ATAD2 was shown to be
      highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues, both at the transcriptional and
      protein levels, and was correlated with poor patient survival (P<0.05). Knockdown
      of ATAD2 in the HeLa and SiHa cells was found to reduce the capacity for invasion
      and migration (P<0.05), and inhibited the growth and clonogenic potential of the
      HeLa and SiHa cell lines. Our results suggest that cervical cancer tissues may
      have highly expressed ATAD2, which is associated with tumor stage and lymph node
      status (P<0.05). Oncogene ATAD2 may play an important role in cervical cancer
      proliferation, invasion and migration. It could serve as a prognostic marker and
      a therapeutic target for cervical cancer.

PMID- 25813400
TI  - Feline idiopathic cystitis.
AB  - While FIC remains a diagnosis of exclusion, studies over the last two decades
      suggest that it results from complex interactions between the urinary bladder,
      neuroendocrine system and environmental factors, and stress appears to play a
      role in the pathogenesis. The self-limiting nature of FIC and importance of
      environmental factors on recurrence of clinical signs emphasize the need for
      controlled, prospective, double-blinded clinical studies to determine the best
      management options. Current best evidence for initial management of acute, non
      obstructive FIC supports a specific nutritional recommendation for a therapeutic
      urinary food proven to reduce recurrent episodes, environmental enrichment and
      feeding moist food. 

PMID- 25813401
TI  - Diagnostic imaging of lower urinary tract disease.
AB  - Diagnostic imaging is routinely performed in small animals with lower urinary
      tract disease. Survey radiographs allow identification of radiopaque calculi, gas
      within the urinary tract, and lymph node or bone metastases. Cystography and
      urethrography remain useful in the evaluation of bladder or urethral rupture,
      abnormal communication with other organs, and lesions of the pelvic or penile
      urethra. Ultrasonography is the modality of choice for the diagnosis of most
      disorders. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging are useful in
      evaluating the ureterovesical junction and intrapelvic lesions, monitoring the
      size of lesions, and evaluating lymph nodes and osseous structures for
      metastases. 

PMID- 25813402
TI  - Avoiding readmissions-support systems required after discharge to continue rapid
      recovery?
AB  - Increasing participation in alternative payment models such as episode-of-care
      has become a driving force to improve outcomes while decreasing cost. Reducing
      the hospital length of stay and discharging patients to home have been shown to
      decrease readmissions, thereby achieving these goals. The purpose of this study
      was to determine if utilization of a patient management support system,
      TAVHealthTM in our clinical pathway would reduce our readmission rates during the
      episode-of-care. We retrospectively reviewed 1874 total joint arthroplasties,
      1281 TJAs in the pre-TAVHealthTM group (2009-2012) and 593 TJRs in the post
      TAVHealthTM group (2013-2014). Despite a low length of stay (1.2days) there was a
      significant reduction in readmissions from 205 (16.0%) to 54 (9.2%) with
      incorporation of this patient management support system into our clinical
      pathway. 

PMID- 25813403
TI  - Wnt/beta-Catenin activates MiR-183/96/182 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma
      that promotes cell invasion.
AB  - Nearly 50% of known miRNAs are found in clusters and transcribed as polycistronic
      transcripts. In this study, we showed that over-expression of miR-183/96/182
      cluster is frequent in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a highly aggressive
      malignancy that is commonly fatal. In a cohort of HCC patients (n = 81), miR
      183/96/182 up-regulation correlated with metastatic features including presence
      of microvascular invasion, advanced tumor differentiation, and shorter recurrence
      free survival. Univariate and multivariate analyses further showed miR-183/96/182
      over-expression represented an independent prognostic factor (Relative Risk:
      2.0471; P = 0.0289). Functional investigation using siRNA against miR-183/96/182
      in two invasive HCC cells indicated significant inhibition on cell migration and
      invasion without affecting cell viability. Forkhead boxO1 (FOXO1) was further
      validated as a downstream target of these three miRNAs. In investigating the
      regulatory mechanism underlining miR-183/96/182 over-expression, a direct
      interaction of CTNNB1 on the promoter region was confirmed by ChIP-PCR and
      luciferase reporter validations. Knockdown of CTNNB1 also showed concordant down
      regulations of miR-183, -96 and -182, and the re-expression of FOXO1. Our
      findings demonstrated that over-expression of miR-183/96/182 confers an oncogenic
      function in HCC cell dissemination, and could serve as an independent prognostic
      predictor for HCC patients.

PMID- 25813404
TI  - Novel ALK fusion partners in lung cancer.
AB  - Detection of ALK rearrangements in patients with non-small cell lung cancer
      (NSCLC) presents a significant technical challenge due to the existence of
      multiple translocation partners and break-points. To improve the performance of
      PCR-based tests, we utilized the combination of 2 assays, i.e. the variant
      specific PCR for the 5 most common ALK rearrangements and the test for unbalanced
      5'/3'-end ALK expression. Overall, convincing evidence for the presence of ALK
      translocation was obtained for 34/400 (8.5%) cases, including 14
      EML4ex13/ALKex20, 12 EML4ex6/ALKex20, 3 EML4ex18/ALKex20, 2 EML4ex20/ALKex20
      variants and 3 tumors with novel translocation partners. 386 (96.5%) out of 400
      EGFR mutation-negative NSCLCs were concordant for both tests, being either
      positive (n = 26) or negative (n = 360) for ALK translocation; 49 of these
      samples (6 ALK+, 43 ALK-) were further evaluated by FISH, and there were no
      instances of disagreement. Among the 14 (3.5%) "discordant" tumors, 5
      demonstrated ALK translocation by the first but not by the second PCR assay, and
      9 had unbalanced ALK expression in the absence of known ALK fusion variants. 5
      samples from the latter group were subjected to FISH, and the presence of
      translocation was confirmed in 2 cases. Next generation sequencing analysis of
      these 2 samples identified novel translocation partners, DCTN1 and SQSTM1;
      furthermore, the DCTN1/ALK fusion was also found in another NSCLC sample with
      unbalanced 5'/3'-end ALK expression, indicating a recurrent nature of this
      translocation. We conclude that the combination of 2 different PCR tests is a
      viable approach for the diagnostics of ALK rearrangements. Systematic typing of
      ALK fusions is likely to reveal new NSCLC-specific ALK partners.

PMID- 25813405
TI  - CRNDE, a long-noncoding RNA, promotes glioma cell growth and invasion through
      mTOR signaling.
AB  - The transcripts of the gene Colorectal Neoplasia Differentially Expressed (CRNDE)
      are recognized as long-noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are expressed in specific
      regions within the human brain, and are the most upregulated lncRNA in gliomas.
      However, the underlying regulation and function of CRNDE in gliomas are largely
      unknown. In this study, the upregulation of CRNDE was confirmed in both primary
      specimens from glioma patients and in vitro with cell lines. Overexpression of
      specific CRNDE transcript promotes cell growth and migration in vitro while
      knockdown of CRNDE expression manifests a repressive function during these
      cellular processes. The growth promoting effect of CRNDE was also demonstrated in
      a xenograft mouse model. Mechanistic studies further revealed that histone
      acetylation in the promoter region might account for the upregulation of CRNDE,
      and the level of CRNDE expression could be modulated by mammalian Target of
      Rapamycin (mTOR) signaling in glioma. Thus, our results shed a light on utilizing
      CRNDE as a potential novel therapeutic target for the treatment of glioma. 

PMID- 25813399
TI  - Global migration of influenza A viruses in swine.
AB  - The complex and unresolved evolutionary origins of the 2009 H1N1 influenza
      pandemic exposed major gaps in our knowledge of the global spatial ecology and
      evolution of influenza A viruses in swine (swIAVs). Here we undertake an
      expansive phylogenetic analysis of swIAV sequence data and demonstrate that the
      global live swine trade strongly predicts the spatial dissemination of swIAVs,
      with Europe and North America acting as sources of viruses in Asian countries. In
      contrast, China has the world's largest swine population but is not a major
      exporter of live swine, and is not an important source of swIAVs in neighbouring
      Asian countries or globally. A meta-population simulation model incorporating
      trade data predicts that the global ecology of swIAVs is more complex than
      previously thought, and the United States and China's large swine populations are
      unlikely to be representative of swIAV diversity in their respective geographic
      regions, requiring independent surveillance efforts throughout Latin America and
      Asia. 

PMID- 25813406
TI  - 17-DMCHAG, a new geldanamycin derivative, inhibits prostate cancer cells through
      Hsp90 inhibition and survivin downregulation.
AB  - Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is a molecular chaperone involved in the stability
      of many client proteins, including androgen receptor (AR) and survivin, making
      Hsp90 an attractive molecular therapeutic target for prostate cancer. Several
      Hsp90 inhibitors have shown antitumor activity in various preclinical models and
      in clinical trials. Geldanamycin is a well-known inhibitor of Hsp90, but its
      associated liver toxicity limited its clinical development. Here, we report a
      highly effective and low-hepatotoxic geldanamycin derivative that exhibits
      antitumor activity against human prostate cancer cells. Treatment of cells with
      17-DMCHAG (17-(6-(3,4-dimethoxycinnamamido)hexylamino)-17-demethoxy-geldanamycin)
      dose-dependently suppressed the proliferation, reduced colony formation and
      induced apoptosis of human prostate cancer cell lines. 17-DMCHAG exhibits anti
      invasive and anti-migratory activities in prostate cancer cells through down
      regulating of transcription factors Zeb1, Snail1, Slug, and mesenchymal marker
      Vimentin, while up-regulating the epithelial marker of E-cadherin. Furthermore,
      17-DMCHAG treatment damaged the Hsp90/AR and Hsp90/survivin complexes and induced
      the proteasome-dependent degradation of AR and survivin, then inhibited the
      activity of these two proteins. In vivo, we observed that 17-DMCHAG showed strong
      antitumor effects in LNCaP and DU-145 cell-xenografted nude mice. Thus, 17-DMCHAG
      is a potential treatment for prostate cancer.

PMID- 25813408
TI  - Preparation of anion-exchangeable polymer vesicles through the self-assembly of
      hyperbranched polymeric ionic liquids.
AB  - This work reports the self-assembly of anion-exchangeable vesicles from an
      amphiphilic hyperbranched polymeric ionic liquid (HBPIL). By a simple one-step
      anion exchange with methyl orange, the obtained HBPILs could self-assemble into
      pH-indicative and colorful vesicles in water with color changes directly visible
      to the naked eye in response to solution pH. In addition, by another step of
      anion exchange with bovine serum albumin (BSA), the BSA-coated vesicles could
      also be readily prepared. 

PMID- 25813407
TI  - Vascular actions of 20-HETE.
AB  - 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE) is a metabolite of arachidonic acid
      that exhibits a myriad of biological effects in the vascular system. This review
      discusses the current knowledge related to the effects of 20-HETE on vascular
      reactivity, activation, and remodeling, as well as its role in vascular
      inflammation and angiogenesis. The information explaining how 20-HETE and the
      renin-angiotensin system interact to promote hypertension, vasoconstriction, and
      vascular dysfunction is summarized in this article. 20-HETE enhances vascular
      inflammation and injury in models of diabetes, ischemia/reperfusion, and
      cerebrovascular oxidative stress. Recent studies also established a role for 20
      HETE in normal and pathological angiogenesis conditions. This review will also
      discuss the molecular mechanisms through which 20-HETE induces these vascular
      actions. Potential additional studies are suggested to address shortcomings in
      the current knowledge of 20-HETE in the vascular system. 

PMID- 25813409
TI  - How Well Is CHIP Addressing Oral Health Care Needs and Access for Children?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We examine how access to and use of oral and dental care under the
      Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) compared to private coverage and being
      uninsured in 10 states. METHODS: We report on findings drawn from a 2012 survey
      of CHIP enrollees in 10 states. We examined a range of parent-reported dental
      care access and use measures among CHIP enrollees. Comparisons of the experiences
      of established CHIP enrollees to the experiences of newly enrolling children who
      had been uninsured or privately insured were used to estimate the impacts of CHIP
      on children's oral health and dental care. RESULTS: Most children enrolled in
      CHIP had a usual source of dental care and had received a dental checkup or
      cleaning in the past year, and most over age 6 had had sealants placed on their
      molars. In addition, parents of most CHIP enrollees were aware that CHIP covered
      dental benefits, and most reported not having trouble finding a dentist to see
      their child. Even so, 12% of CHIP enrollees had unmet dental care needs. Compared
      to being uninsured, CHIP enrollees did better across nearly all oral health
      measures. Compared to being privately insured, CHIP enrollees were more likely to
      have dental benefits, to have a usual source of dental care, and to have had a
      dental checkup/cleaning, but they were more likely to have trouble finding a
      dentist and less likely to say that their child's teeth were in excellent/very
      good condition. CONCLUSIONS: Enrolling eligible uninsured children in CHIP led to
      improvements in their access to preventive dental care, as well as reductions in
      their unmet dental care needs, yet the CHIP program has more work to do to
      address the oral health problems of children.

PMID- 25813410
TI  - Characterization of microRNA transcriptome in tumor, adjacent, and normal tissues
      of lung squamous cell carcinoma.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: MicroRNAs are a class of regulatory molecules involved in a wide
      variety of biological processes, including growth, development, and apoptosis.
      Given the widespread roles of microRNAs in biological processes, understanding
      their different expression profiles in normal, adjacent, and tumor tissues will
      provide insights into the consequences of aberrant expression. METHODS: With the
      use of next-generation deep sequencing technology, microRNA profiles in 3 pooled
      samples from normal, adjacent, and tumor tissues of 19 patients with lung
      squamous cell carcinoma were characterized comprehensively. Quantitative
      polymerase chain reaction was used to verify the primary findings in another 38
      lung squamous cell carcinoma tumor samples. In situ hybridization also was
      performed for validation. RESULTS: A total of 368, 306, and 231 known microRNAs
      were identified from tumor, adjacent, and normal pooled samples, respectively, of
      which 40, 44, and 26 microRNAs displayed dysregulation with 2-fold or greater
      change in 3 compared groups of tumor versus normal, tumor versus adjacent, and
      adjacent versus normal, respectively. Sequencing data also showed that some
      coexpressed microRNAs displayed a pattern of progressive dysregulation. Some of
      the microRNAs exhibited consistent changes; among them, miR-425-5p and miR-218-5p
      were confirmed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and in situ
      hybridization, and proved that the microRNA expression levels were closely
      related to tumor stages and sizes. It is suggested that some microRNAs, such as
      miR-425 and miR-183, might be a driver for tumor formation, growth, and
      progression to higher staging, whereas others, such as miR-218, might behave as a
      tumor suppressor in lung cancer. Functional annotation analysis indicated that
      the proteoglycan pathway in cancer and mitogen-activated protein kinase, Wnt,
      PI3K-Akt, and transforming growth factor-beta signaling pathways might be
      involved in the pathogenesis of lung squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: This
      study describes the use of deep sequencing for comprehensive profiling of
      microRNAs in lung squamous cell carcinoma. The identified microRNA signatures may
      provide biomarkers for early detection, subclassification, and potential
      therapeutic targets of lung squamous cell carcinoma. This study also provides
      some insights into the molecular mechanism underlying the development and
      progression of lung squamous cell carcinoma, which may prove helpful for early
      diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

PMID- 25813411
TI  - TWO TREATMENT APPROACHES FOR HUMAN REGULAR U-500 INSULIN IN PATIENTS WITH TYPE 2
      DIABETES NOT ACHIEVING ADEQUATE GLYCEMIC CONTROL ON HIGH-DOSE U-100 INSULIN
      THERAPY WITH OR WITHOUT ORAL AGENTS: A RANDOMIZED, TITRATION-TO-TARGET CLINICAL
      TRIAL.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy and safety of 2 dosing regimens for human
      regular U-500 insulin (U-500R, 500 units/mL) replacing high-dose U-100 insulins
      with or without oral antihyperglycemic drugs in patients with inadequately
      controlled type 2 diabetes (T2D). METHODS: We conducted a 24-week, open-label,
      parallel trial in 325 patients (demographics [means]: age, 55.4 years; diabetes
      duration, 15.2 years; body mass index, 41.9 kg/m(2); glycated hemoglobin [HbA1c],
      8.7%; U-100 insulin dose, 287.5 units administered in 5 injections/day [median;
      range, 2 to 10]). Patients were randomized to thrice-daily (TID, n = 162) or
      twice-daily (BID, n = 163) U-500R after a 4-week lead-in period. The primary
      outcome was HbA1c change from baseline. RESULTS: After 24 weeks, both treatments
      demonstrated significant HbA1c reductions (TID, -1.12%; BID, -1.22%; both,
      P<.001) and clinical equivalence (difference, -0.10%; 95% confidence interval, 
      0.33 to 0.12%; noninferiority margin, 0.4%). Comparable increases in total daily
      U-500R dose (TID, 242.7 to 343.1 units; BID, 249.0 to 335.0 units) were observed.
      Incidence and rate of documented symptomatic hypoglycemia (<=70 mg/dL) were lower
      for TID versus BID (P = .003 and P = .02, respectively); severe hypoglycemia was
      similar between treatments. Weight gain was similar in both groups (TID, 5.4 kg;
      BID, 4.9 kg). CONCLUSION: Initiation and titration of U-500R using either
      algorithm (TID or BID) improves glycemic control effectively and safely with
      fewer injections in patients with T2D treated with high-dose/high-volume U-100
      insulin. These results provide clinicians with a practical framework for using U
      500R in severely insulin-resistant patients with suboptimally controlled T2D.

PMID- 25813412
TI  - Palliative care: from medicine to surgery, from adults to children, and from
      calls to action to community approaches to advanced care planning.

PMID- 25813413
TI  - Integrating palliative care and oncology: towards a common understanding.

PMID- 25813414
TI  - Surgery, palliative care, and the American College of Surgeons.
AB  - Since the late 1990s, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has increasingly
      recognized and advocated palliative care for patients and their families with
      serious, critical, and terminal illness under surgical care. The college has been
      the primary catalyst for the recognition of palliative care in the field of
      surgery in the U.S. and abroad, primarily through educational efforts directed at
      practicing surgeons and surgeons in training. Roughly 15 years ago a group of
      surgeons from the fellowship of the college coalesced and then spearheaded these
      initiatives with invaluable support and advice from leading non-surgeon pioneers
      of palliative care. This group is now titled, the Committee on Surgical
      Palliative Care (CSPC). The CSPC's mission is to incorporate the precepts and
      techniques of palliative care into surgical clinical practice, education,
      research, and advocacy. This report chronicles the contributions the ACS has made
      to the evolution of surgical palliative care and details the formation of its
      CSPC and its role in shaping surgical palliative care today.

PMID- 25813415
TI  - Lessons learned from New York's community approach to advance care planning and
      MOLAT.
AB  - This article reviews the lessons learned from the development and implementation
      of New York's community approach to advance care planning (ACP) as a wellness
      initiative and the key components of the complementary programs: Community
      Conversations on Compassionate Care (CCCC) and Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining
      Treatment (MOLST). Shared, informed medical decision-making is a patient-centered
      process that is critical to ensuring patient preferences for care are honored at
      the end of life. Providers must be trained, qualified, and comfortable with the
      discussions needed for effective shared, informed medical decision-making.
      Development, implementation, outcomes, lessons learned and sustainability of the
      CCCC and MOLST programs highlight the success of a healthcare and community
      collaborative initiative focused on improving care at the end of life. Community
      data support the value of implementing the CCCC and New York's MOLST throughout
      the country.

PMID- 25813416
TI  - Quality of care and relationships as reported by children with cancer and their
      parents.
AB  - Between 2010 and 2011, a non-probability convenience sample of 85 children and
      adolescents between the ages of 7 to 18 years, who were receiving treatments at
      the inpatient or outpatient facilities of a tertiary pediatric cancer center in
      Lebanon, were enrolled in the study. A total of 85 parents or significant others
      directly involved in the care of these children were also included. The Needs at
      End of Life Screening Tool (NEST) questionnaire was used to evaluate the quality
      of palliative care (PC) provided to the children. Parents, adolescents, and
      children reported high quality medical care. Children reported least satisfaction
      with participation in decision making, while parents were least satisfied in
      securing a hospital bed. Spirituality was high among all participants. Parents
      reported not preparing those around them for the possibility of the child's
      death. The study has shown that parents have moderate financial problems and
      encounter difficulties in getting insurance to cover expenses of child's illness.

PMID- 25813417
TI  - Efficacy of granisetron and aprepitant in a patient who failed ondansetron in the
      prophylaxis of radiation induced nausea and vomiting: a case report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Radiotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (RINV) is a toxicity that
      can occur in 40-80% of individuals who receive radiation treatment. Current
      guidelines recommend 5-hydroxytryptamine3 receptor antagonists (5-HT3 RAs) for
      prophylaxis of RINV for moderate and highly emetogenic radiotherapy; however,
      certain patients may suffer from RINV despite prophylaxis. CASE PRESENTATION:
      This report details the case of a 47-year-old female with extensive bony
      involvement to the spine from breast cancer presenting with lower back pain. CASE
      MANAGEMENT: To palliate her symptoms, the patient underwent a course of
      irradiation to the lumbar spine and was prescribed ondansetron as an antiemetic.
      However, the patient experienced severe nausea and emesis and was subsequently
      switched to granisetron and aprepitant. CASE OUTCOME: The patient completed the
      remainder of the radiation treatment with no further emesis and minimal nausea,
      representing the first documented success of granisetron and aprepitant for RINV
      after failure on ondansetron. CONCLUSIONS: In chemotherapy, switching 5-HT3 RAs
      after failure on the first is successful in preventing chemotherapy-induced
      nausea and vomiting (CINV), yet this has not been previously reported in
      radiation. In this patient, granisetron and aprepitant were successful in
      substantially reducing nausea and preventing further emesis, and may represent an
      alternative antiemetic regimen for RINV prophylaxis and salvage.

PMID- 25813418
TI  - A radiotherapy technique for palliative total scalp irradiation.
AB  - A scalp irradiation technique for palliative treatment of a squamous cell
      carcinoma was discussed. A patient with multiple cutaneous scalp lesions
      resulting in bleeding and pain was treated with a 3D conformal radiotherapy
      technique was performed with five 6 MV electron beams without shifting the field
      borders during the course of the treatment, due to the finality of the treatment
      (palliative intent). A reduction of planning and delivery complexity has been
      obtained not considering the junctioning problems. Nevertheless, the 90% of gross
      tumor volume (GTV) was covered by the 85% of prescription dose with a significant
      reduction of patient's symptoms (pain and bleeding). Our patient achieved a
      significant pain response and resolution of bleeding with this technique. Our
      study revealed that the scalp irradiation by means of electron beam without
      considering the junction problem is easy and effective for the palliative intent
      in elderly patients with squamous cell carcinoma.

PMID- 25813420
TI  - Heart rate variability measurement: is there a role in predicting the admission
      outcome of palliative cancer patients?

PMID- 25813419
TI  - Commentary on Masel et al. Predicting discharge of palliative care inpatients by
      measuring their heart rate variability.
AB  - The accurate determination of prognosis is a challenging and important aspect of
      end of life care. A more accurate prognosis provides patients and their families'
      time to plan and prepare for the end of life, and prioritize care based on
      individual goals and values. While a number of prognostic tools and indices
      provide insight into a patient's general prognosis, the use of heart rate
      variability (HRV) as a predictor of live discharge from a palliative care unit
      (PCU) is a unique approach to exploring non-invasive ways for more accurate
      prognostication. 

PMID- 25813421
TI  - Stephen T. Lutz: palliative radiotherapy, a growing subspecialty. Interview by
      Nancy Q. Zhong.

PMID- 25813423
TI  - Homo erectus in Salkhit, Mongolia?
AB  - In 2006, a skullcap was discovered in Salkhit, Mongolia. The Salkhit skullcap has
      a mostly complete frontal, two partially complete parietals, and nasals. No
      chronometric dating has been published yet, and suggested dates range from early
      Middle Pleistocene to terminal Late Pleistocene. While no chronometric date has
      been published, the presence of archaic features has led to a potential
      affiliation with archaic hominin species. If it is indeed Homo erectus or archaic
      Homo sapiens, Salkhit implies a much earlier spread of hominins farther north and
      inland Asia than previously thought. In this paper, the nature of the archaic
      features in Salkhit is investigated. The Salkhit skullcap morphology and metrics
      were compared with Middle and Late Pleistocene hominin fossils from northeast
      Asia: Zhoukoudian Locality 1, Dali, and Zhoukoudian Upper Cave. Results show an
      interesting pattern: on one hand, the archaic features that Salkhit shares with
      the Zhoukoudian Locality 1 sample also are shared with other later hominins; on
      the other hand, Salkhit is different from the Middle Pleistocene materials in the
      same way later hominins differ from the Middle Pleistocene sample, in having a
      broader frontal and thinner supraorbital region. This may reflect encephalization
      and gracilization, a modernization trend found in many places. It is concluded
      that the archaic features observed in Salkhit are regionally predominant features
      rather than diagnostic features of an archaic species.

PMID- 25813422
TI  - Abiotic stressors and stress responses: What commonalities appear between species
      across biological organization levels?
AB  - Organisms are regularly subjected to abiotic stressors related to increasing
      anthropogenic activities, including chemicals and climatic changes that induce
      major stresses. Based on various key taxa involved in ecosystem functioning
      (photosynthetic microorganisms, plants, invertebrates), we review how organisms
      respond and adapt to chemical- and temperature-induced stresses from molecular to
      population level. Using field-realistic studies, our integrative analysis aims to
      compare i) how molecular and physiological mechanisms related to protection,
      repair and energy allocation can impact life history traits of stressed
      organisms, and ii) to what extent trait responses influence individual and
      population responses. Common response mechanisms are evident at molecular and
      cellular scales but become rather difficult to define at higher levels due to
      evolutionary distance and environmental complexity. We provide new insights into
      the understanding of the impact of molecular and cellular responses on individual
      and population dynamics and assess the potential related effects on communities
      and ecosystem functioning. 

PMID- 25813424
TI  - Foot polydactyly and bipartite medial cuneiform: A case of co-occurrence in a
      Celtic skeleton from Verona (Italy).
AB  - We report a case of bilateral foot polydactyly and bipartite medial cuneiform in
      a male individual buried in a Celtic/Roman necropolis (3rd to 1st century BCE) in
      the city of Verona (Italy). During the construction of an underground garage in
      the main courtyard of the Bishop's Seminary at Verona between 2005 and 2010,
      archaeologists uncovered the remains of 174 individuals (108 non-adults and 66
      adults). It is thought that these graves could belong to some of the first
      inhabitants of the urban area of Verona. The individual presented here (US 2807)
      is a middle-aged male (40-50 years) in a good state of preservation. His
      estimated stature is 1756 mm (+/- 32.1 mm). This male presents congenital
      anomalies in the feet and dental agenesis. We believe this to be the only known
      archaeological case of bilateral postaxial polydactyly with forked (Y) shape, in
      which both fifth metatarsals are associated with complete bipartition of the left
      medial cuneiform and partial bipartition of the right one. Polydactyly is fairly
      common in modern clinical cases but bipartite medial cuneiform is relatively
      rare; neither of these congenital conditions is well documented archaeologically.

PMID- 25813425
TI  - Evidence for prostaglandin E2 receptor expression in the intramural ganglia of
      the guinea pig urinary bladder.
AB  - Intramural ganglia are present in the bladder wall of several species including
      human, pig, and guinea-pig. It has been suggested that there is a network of
      intramural ganglia in the bladder of these species that may be part of a motor
      sensory system and receive afferent input. Prostaglandins (PG) have been
      suggested to play a role in this afferent signalling mechanism. To investigate
      the distribution of the prostaglandin E2 receptors EP1 and EP2 in and around
      intramural ganglia of the guinea pig, bladders of 6 guinea pigs were dissected,
      and processed for immunohistochemistry. Sections were examined for prostaglandin
      E2 receptor EP1- and EP2-immuno-reactivity and co-stained for vimentin, a marker
      for interstitial cells (IC) and cyclo-oxygenase 1 (COX I), the enzyme responsible
      for PG synthesis. Immunoreactivities for EP1 and EP2 were found in intramural
      ganglion cells. These cells were observed in between muscle bundles and on, or
      close to the serosal surface of the bladder. Furthermore, COX I was present in
      interstitial cells close to ganglion cells, indicating the possibility of a local
      synthesis of prostaglandins near the ganglia. The co-staining of EP1 or EP2 with
      vimentin showed that processes of interstitial cells run through the ganglia,
      often encircling or ensheathing cells. Therefore, it can be concluded that there
      is a close relationship between the intramural ganglia and the network of
      interstitial cells in the muscular layers of the bladder. EP1 and EP2 receptors
      are expressed on the ganglia and this arrangement suggests that intramural
      ganglia are involved in (pre)processing afferent information. 

PMID- 25813426
TI  - Building bio-assays with magnetic particles on a digital microfluidic platform.
AB  - Digital microfluidics (DMF) has emerged as a promising liquid handling technology
      for a variety of applications, demonstrating great potential both in terms of
      miniaturization and automation. DMF is based on the manipulation of discrete,
      independently controllable liquid droplets, which makes it highly reconfigurable
      and reprogrammable. One of its most exclusive advantages, compared to
      microchannel-based microfluidics, is its ability to precisely handle solid nano-
      and microsized objects, such as magnetic particles. Magnetic particles have
      become very popular in the last decade, since their high surface-to-volume ratio
      and the possibility to magnetically separate them from the matrix make them
      perfect suitable as a solid support for bio-assay development. The potential of
      magnetic particles in DMF-based bio-assays has been demonstrated for various
      applications. In this review we discuss the latest developments of magnetic
      particle-based DMF bio-assays with the aim to present, identify and analyze the
      trends in the field. We also discuss the state-of-the art of device integration,
      current status of commercialization and issues that still need to be addressed.
      With this paper we intend to stimulate researchers to exploit and unveil the
      potential of these exciting tools, which will shape the future of modern
      biochemistry, microbiology and biomedical diagnostics. 

PMID- 25813427
TI  - Assessing fibrinogen extravasation into Alzheimer's disease brain using high
      content screening of brain tissue microarrays.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tissue microarrays are commonly used to evaluate disease pathology
      however methods to automate and quantify pathological changes are limited. NEW
      METHOD: This article demonstrates the utility of the VSlide scanner (MetaSystems)
      for automated image acquisition from immunolabelled tissue microarray slides, and
      subsequent automated image analysis with MetaXpress (Molecular Devices) software
      to obtain objective, efficient and reproducible data from immunolabelled tissue
      microarray sections. RESULTS: Significant increases in fibrinogen immunolabelling
      were observed in 29 Alzheimer's disease cases compared to 28 control cases
      analysed from a single tissue microarray slide. Western blot analysis also
      demonstrated significant increases in fibrinogen immunolabelling in 6 Alzheimer's
      cases compared to 6 control cases. The observed changes were also validated with
      gold standard blinded manual H-scoring. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHOD: VSlide
      Metafer software offers a 'tissue microarray acquisition' plugin for easy mapping
      of tissue cores with their original position on the tissue microarray map. High
      resolution VSlide images are compatible with MetaXpress image analysis software.
      This article details the coupling of these two technologies to accurately and
      reproducibly analyse immunolabelled tissue microarrays within minutes, compared
      to the gold standard method of manual counting using H-scores which is
      significantly slower and prone to inter-observer variation. CONCLUSIONS: Here, we
      couple brain tissue microarray technology with high-content screening and
      automated image analysis as a powerful way to address bottle necks in data
      generation and improve throughput, as well as sensitivity to study
      biological/pathological changes in brain disease.

PMID- 25813428
TI  - Usefulness of vessel-sealing devices for peripartum hysterectomy: a retrospective
      cohort study.
AB  - To evaluate the feasibility to perform peripartum hysterectomy (PH) with the
      introduction of LigaSureTM vessels-sealing device (LVSD) and how it influenced
      the surgical outcomes. We retrospectively evaluated procedures and outcome of
      women undergoing PH during the period between January 2001 and October 2013.
      Perioperative surgical results of patients undergoing PH using LVSD were compared
      to patients undergoing PH without LVSD. Forty-nine subjects had PH during the
      study period. Twenty (41%) hysterectomies were performed for placenta accreta, 8
      (16%) for placenta previa, 21 (43%) for atony. Twenty-three subjects had PH using
      LVSD and 26 subjects had hysterectomy without the use of this device. We observe
      significant differences in estimated blood loss (p = 0.001), massive blood
      transfusions (>10 units RBC) (p = 0.025), operative time (p = 0.06). No
      difference in term of hospital stay and complications were observed (p = 0.78 and
      p = 0.35). One patient for each group had intraoperative complication (p = 0.9).
      The use of LVSD during PH does not increase operative complications, blood loss,
      and operative time in comparison to standard procedure.

PMID- 25813430
TI  - Tuning of SFOAEs Evoked by Low-Frequency Tones Is Not Compatible with Localized
      Emission Generation.
AB  - Stimulus-frequency otoacoustic emissions (SFOAEs) appear to be well suited for
      assessing frequency selectivity because, at least on theoretical grounds, they
      originate over a restricted region of the cochlea near the characteristic place
      of the evoking tone. In support of this view, we previously found good agreement
      between SFOAE suppression tuning curves (SF-STCs) and a control measure of
      frequency selectivity (compound action potential suppression tuning curves (CAP
      STC)) for frequencies above 3 kHz in chinchillas. For lower frequencies, however,
      SF-STCs and were over five times broader than the CAP-STCs and demonstrated more
      high-pass rather than narrow band-pass filter characteristics. Here, we test the
      hypothesis that the broad tuning of low-frequency SF-STCs is because emissions
      originate over a broad region of the cochlea extending basal to the
      characteristic place of the evoking tone. We removed contributions of the
      hypothesized basally located SFOAE sources by either pre-suppressing them with a
      high-frequency interference tone (IT; 4.2, 6.2, or 9.2 kHz at 75 dB sound
      pressure level (SPL)) or by inducing acoustic trauma at high frequencies
      (exposures to 8, 5, and lastly 3-kHz tones at 110-115 dB SPL). The 1-kHz SF-STCs
      and CAP-STCs were measured for baseline, IT present and following the acoustic
      trauma conditions in anesthetized chinchillas. The IT and acoustic trauma
      affected SF-STCs in an almost indistinguishable way. The SF-STCs changed
      progressively from a broad high-pass to narrow band-pass shape as the frequency
      of the IT was lowered and for subsequent exposures to lower-frequency tones. Both
      results were in agreement with the "basal sources" hypothesis. In contrast, CAP
      STCs were not changed by either manipulation, indicating that neither the IT nor
      acoustic trauma affected the 1-kHz characteristic place. Thus, unlike CAPs,
      SFOAEs cannot be considered as a place-specific measure of cochlear function at
      low frequencies, at least in chinchillas.

PMID- 25813431
TI  - [Lipofilling in breast reconstruction: is there any population with higher risk
      of local recurrence? Literature systematic review].
AB  - Safety of the autologous fat grafting (AFG) in the breast parenchyma remains a
      debated topic, particularly in reconstruction following breast cancer. This
      procedure still raises many questions, especially considering recent in vitro
      studies warning about the fact that lipofilling could promote tumor recurrence
      through increased neoangiogenesis, or facilitate metastasis. Through a systematic
      literature review on oncological risk and radiological follow-up, conducted from
      January 2010 to August 2014, we tried to identify populations at risk of
      recurrence after AFG. The study selection process was adapted from the Prisma
      statement. Out of the seven analysed patients cohorts, i.e. approximately 1500
      AFG procedures, results on the risk of local recurrence appear reassuring after
      an average follow-up of 42 months. These results should be cautiously interpreted
      because of the heterogeneity of the studies. However, recurrences have been
      analysed based on the characteristics of the original tumor and many of them warn
      about population that seem more at risk of recurrence. Studies on radiological
      modifications after AFG emphasize the need for the radiologists to know the
      importance of radiological images induced by this procedure, however, AFG does
      not seem to interfere with radiological screening of local recurrence. In order
      to deliver clear information to patients receiving breast reconstruction by
      lipofilling, prospective studies focused on populations that seem to be most at
      risk of recurrence are required. 

PMID- 25813432
TI  - [Performance of prenatal diagnosis and postnatal development of congenital lung
      malformations].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: For many diseases, the comparison of prenatal diagnosis with a
      histopathological reality is not always possible. Fetal lung pathology, with its
      high rate of surgery in postnatal, allows this assessment. This study proposes an
      approach to the reliability of prenatal diagnosis and analysis of the postnatal
      development of all children in care for congenital pulmonary malformation (CPM).
      METHODS: This is a retrospective study of all cases of CPM diagnosed in Poitiers
      University Hospital from 1995 to 2011. Cases diagnosed prenatally were identified
      and the diagnostic accuracy was studied by histology when cases had surgery. The
      postnatal development of prenatally diagnosed cases is described and compared to
      children who did not receive prenatal diagnosis. RESULTS: Among the 45 cases of
      CPM supported at the Poitiers University Hospital, 30 had received prenatal
      diagnosis of isolated CPM. The diagnostic concordance between antenatal
      ultrasound and the final diagnosis is kappa=0.67 (CI95% [0.38 to 0.94]). The
      sensitivity of ultrasound was 90% (CI95% [55-99.7]) in our series for the
      diagnosis of CAMP (cystic adenomatoid malformation pulmonary). We found a
      sonographic disappearance of lesions in 4 children, 1 child in regression, stable
      lesions in 21 cases. Four children showed an increase in volume of the
      malformation, with signs of poor tolerance in 3 cases. After birth, children who
      received a prenatal diagnosis were no more symptomatic than those whose diagnosis
      was made postnatal: 21 (70%) versus 11 (73%; P=1) respectively. Similarly, they
      often received prophylactic surgery: 18 (60%) versus 2 (13%) respectively
      (P<0.01) and less often suffered post-surgery complication: 3 (10%) versus 10
      (67%) respectively (P<0.01). The number of children monitored was not
      significantly different in the two groups. CONCLUSION: Prenatal diagnosis allows
      for the precise nature of the lesion in 90% of cases in 2013 and had no impact on
      symptomatology at birth. When prenatal diagnosis is possible, preventive surgery
      probably reduces the occurrence of emergency surgery.

PMID- 25813433
TI  - [New approach of learning curve for robotic-assisted gynecologic oncology
      surgery].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Define the phases composing the learning curve of total hysterectomy
      (TH) and radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy (RHPL) robot-assisted
      performed by a single surgeon with no prior experience in laparoscopic surgery.
      METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 72 procedures (TH, n=34 and RHPL, n=38)
      conducted between 2002 and 2011. The surgeon console time (CT) was used to
      determine the learning curve of TH and RHPL using CUSUM analysis. Epidemiological
      data, perioperative and postoperative complications were compared from the
      different phases of the learning curve. RESULTS: CUSUM analysis of surgeon
      console time (CUSUMCT) identified two learning phases for the TH group (phase 1:
      initial learning, phase 2: surgical skill increase). For the RHPL group, three
      learning phases were identified (phase 1: initial learning, phase 2: extending
      surgical indications, phase 3: control of surgical skills). Perioperative and
      postoperative complication rates did not differ significantly between the
      learning phases. Surgeon CT decreased from the 9th case (P=0.01) for the TH group
      and from the 13th case (P=0.04) for the RHPL group. DISCUSSION: CUSUM analysis of
      the learning curve in robotic-assisted gynecologic oncology surgery identified
      two phases of learning curve for simple procedures such as total hysterectomy and
      three phases for more complex procedures as radical hysterectomy with pelvic
      lymphadenectomy.

PMID- 25813434
TI  - [Robotic assisted laparoscopy: comparison of segmentary colorectal resection and
      shaving for colorectal endometriosis].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To compare perioperative complications of two surgical methods for
      digestive endometriosis management: "shaving" and colorectal resection in robotic
      assisted laparoscopy. METHODS: Twenty-eight women underwent robotic-assisted
      laparoscopy for digestive endometriosis, confirmed histologically. Six women had
      a digestive resection and twenty-one women had a shaving procedure. Short-term
      and long-term results and complications were compared between the two groups.
      RESULTS: Operative time was significantly shorter (P=0.0002) and estimated blood
      loss was significantly lower (200 ml vs 560 ml, P=0.04) in the shaving procedure
      group in comparison with the resection group. We observed one conversion to
      laparotomy in the resection group and one case of bladder injury in the shaving
      group. Length of hospital stay was longer (P=0.0001) in the resection group than
      in the shaving group. At the two-month re-evaluation, there was no significant
      difference between the two groups for the number of women in full remission for
      pelvic pain, urinary or gastrointestinal symptoms or dyspareunia. Two women of
      the resection group reported functional gastrointestinal signs that persisted 24
      months after the intervention. CONCLUSION: Both immediate and delayed operative
      morbidity are more frequent in case of resection. Surgery for deep infiltrating
      endometriosis, even if operated with robotic assisted laparoscopy, is associated
      with significant morbidity.

PMID- 25813429
TI  - Mechanisms of epithelial wound detection.
AB  - Efficient wound healing requires the coordinated responses of various cell types
      within an injured tissue. To react to the presence of a wound, cells have to
      first detect it. Judging from their initial biochemical and morphological
      responses, many cells including leukocytes, epithelial cells, and endothelial
      cells detect wounds from over hundreds of micrometers within seconds-to-minutes.
      Wound detection involves the conversion of an injury-induced homeostatic
      perturbation, such as cell lysis, an unconstrained epithelial edge, or
      permeability barrier breakdown, into a chemical or physical signal. The signal is
      spatially propagated through the tissue to synchronize protective responses of
      cells near the wound site and at a distance. This review summarizes the triggers
      and mechanisms of wound detection in animals. 

PMID- 25813436
TI  - Citation style guides for korean journal of medical education.

PMID- 25813435
TI  - [Birth of a child with Down syndrome: parental choice or failure of screening
      policy?].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Birth of a child with Down syndrome (DS) can follow parental choice
      or failure of screening. The objective of this work is to describe the
      circumstances of births of children with DS in a French perinatal health network.
      METHODS: Retrospective multicentric study, with prospective trial registration of
      all children born alive with DS, between 2010 and 2013. RESULTS: Sixty-three
      children were born with DS. Complete screening was performed by 61 % of patients,
      incomplete screening by 29 % of patients and no screening test by 10 %. Among
      these births, 50 % occurred following parental choice, 40 % following failure of
      screening and for 10 %, parental choice concerning screening was unknown. False
      negative had often calculating risk close to 1/1000. CONCLUSION: In this study,
      the birth of a child with DS occurred following parental choice in half of cases.
      It's necessary, to optimize the follow-up, to document in medical records the
      medical information and parental choice concerning DS screening and data of
      screening when this was done.

PMID- 25813437
TI  - Vision of the korean institute of medical education and evaluation.

PMID- 25813438
TI  - Viewing a person through the body: the relevance of philosophical anthropology to
      medical education.
AB  - Although the revival of medical humanities in the past three decades has emerged
      primarily in the US and the UK, continental Europe has a strong tradition in
      espousing the medical humanities, such as by advancing the anthropological
      movement in medicine and philosophy. In this paper, we argue that philosophical
      anthropology deserves a separate focus in medical education from medical ethics
      and philosophy of science. The focus of the paper is on the philosophical aspects
      of the human body to view a person 'through the body.' First, a short description
      of the anthropological movement in medicine is discussed, including its central
      motive 'to introduce the subject into medicine.' Next, the ontological and moral
      relationship between the person and his or her body is addressed. Drawing
      examples from anatomy, a so-called hemicorporectomy, organ donation, and
      aesthetic surgery, the concept of bodily integrity is expounded. These ideas can
      encourage medical students to discuss their own moral experiences during medical
      training and should be taught to enhance their philosophical understanding of
      medicine and health care. 

PMID- 25813439
TI  - The Correlation between the Scores of Written Examination, the Clinical Clerkship
      Examination, the Clinical Skill Assessment, and the Graduation Examination of the
      Medical Students.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate correlations between medical
      student scores on 4 examinations: the written examination, clinical clerkship
      examination, clinical skill assessment, and graduation examination. METHODS:
      Scores for 51 students who entered Daegu Catholic Medical School in 2005 on the
      written examination, clinical clerkship examination, clinical skill assessment,
      and graduation examination were included. Correlations between the scores were
      analyzed statistically. RESULTS: The scores on the written examination showed a
      strong correlation with those of the clinical clerkship assessment (0.833) and
      graduation examination (0.821). The clinical clerkship assessment scores
      correlated significantly with graduation examination scores (0.907). In addition,
      clinical skill assessment scores correlated with the written examination (0.579),
      clinical clerkship examination (0.570), and graduation examination (0.465)
      scores. CONCLUSION: Overall, the correlation between the scores on the clinical
      clerkship examination and the written examination was more significant than the
      correlation between scores on the clinical clerkship examination and clinical
      skill assessment. Therefore, we need to improve the evaluation method for the
      clinical clerkship examination and clinical skill assessment.

PMID- 25813440
TI  - Comparison of medical student responses and course achievement according to
      different types of patient simulations in an introductory advanced life support
      course.
AB  - PURPOSE: The optimal type of patient simulation for different levels of learners
      has not been extensively studied. The purpose of the study was to compare
      preclerkship medical student responses and course achievement according to
      different types of patient simulations in an introductory advanced life support
      (IALS) course. METHODS: A full-day, simulation-based IALS course was developed
      for preclerkship medical students who attended a four-week introduction to a
      clinical medicine program. One hundred eighteen students were trained in three
      days. Onsite interactive simulation with verbal debriefing (interactive type) was
      applied on the first day, and full-mission, realistic simulation with video
      assisted debriefing (realistic type) was applied on the second and third days. At
      the end of course, students evaluated the course and their simulation experiences
      and completed a written post-test. RESULTS: Student responses to the course and
      patient simulations were very positive. Students who experienced the realistic
      type of patient simulations more highly rated in realistic experiences, such as
      patient care, than the interactive type group (3.83+/-0.88 vs. 3.41+/-0.84,
      p=0.018). Values for team communication training were more highly rated by
      students in the interactive type group than the realistic type (4.69+/-0.52 vs.
      4.39+/-0.86, p=0.022). There was no significant difference in post-test scores
      between the two groups (realistic, 67.63+/-10.80; interactive, 66.73+/-9.93,
      p=0.654). CONCLUSION: Both types of patient simulation provide valuable learning
      experiences to preclerkship medical students, with their own advantages in an
      IALS course. Onsite interactive simulation with verbal debriefing may be more
      cost-effective tool for preclerkship medical students.

PMID- 25813441
TI  - Evaluation of a complementary cyber education program for a pathophysiology
      class.
AB  - PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to develop and evaluate a complementary cyber
      education program for a required pathophysiology class for nursing students.
      METHODS: The cyber education program comprised electronic bulletin boards,
      correspondence material storage, an announcement section, a report submission
      section, reference sites, and statistics on learning rates. Twelve online
      lectures complemented five lectures in the classroom. To evaluate the course's
      educational effectiveness, we performed an online objective questionnaire and an
      open questionnaire survey anonymously, and compared the complementary cyber
      education program with traditional classroom education. RESULTS: The
      complementary cyber education program effected significant improvements in scores
      for importance with regard to major, clarity of goals and education plans for
      courses, professor readiness, preciseness and description of lectures, amount and
      efficiency of assignments, and fairness in appraisal standards compared with the
      traditional classroom education group. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that a
      complementary cyber education program provides nursing students with the
      flexibility of time and space, the newest information through updated lectures,
      efficient motivational aids through intimacy between the lecturer and students,
      and concrete and meaningful tasks. The complementary cyber education course also
      increased student effort toward studying and student satisfaction with the class.

PMID- 25813442
TI  - The present conditions of clinical clerkship management in Korea.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study investigated the present conditions of clinical clerkship
      management in Korea to make recommendations for it. METHODS: The data were
      collected between April 15 and May 30 in 2009 using questionnaires that were sent
      to the clerkship directors of 41 colleges of medicine and medical graduate
      schools. RESULTS: The elective course system was established in 78% of the
      institutions; the 6 core specialties were found in all medical schools. The
      duration of clerkship was longest in internal medicine, followed by surgery,
      pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and emergency medicine. There
      were differences between the planning and monitoring agencies. Preclinical
      courses existed in 92.7% of the institutions. However, much more remains to be
      done ie, with regard to the issues of student assessment in clinical clerkship,
      faculty development programs for the faculty and residents, incentive systems for
      educational involvement, provisions for yearly systematic clerkships, integration
      of basic-clinical science-medical humanities, and community-based education.
      CONCLUSION: Because clinical clerkship education is very important as a core
      curriculum, curriculum planning and its management must be given adequate
      attention. The following measures are suggested: elective systems that allow
      students to choose by career planning; concerns over faculty development programs
      for residents as a teacher; consensus on the concept, objectives, duration,
      content, evaluation tools of pre-clinical clerkship and clinical clerkship, and
      student well-being; and emphasis on community-based education.

PMID- 25813443
TI  - Integrating problem-based learning into clinical clerkship: a pilot study.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a new teaching segment,
      named "problem-based clinical teaching," for the clinical clerkship in the
      undergraduate medical curriculum. METHODS: Students were given a problem weekly
      on a case that they had seen during their rotation. The problem was provided by
      the instructor from a case that had already been diagnosed but came up with an
      additional problem that called for further investigation by the attending
      physician. The task for the students was to conduct the investigation and discuss
      the problem with the attending physician. A survey was conducted of a class of
      3rd year medical students (n=43) who completed clerkships in internal medicine to
      measure the level of student engagement in the problem-based clinical teaching
      segment and the students' overall perceptions of this new teaching method.
      RESULTS: Students generally agreed with the statements that they were actively
      engaged in the learning during the problem-based clinical teaching session. The
      students also perceived that this teaching session helped them acquire a deeper
      understanding of the knowledge and that it enhanced their problem solving skills
      and motivation. CONCLUSION: Problem-based clinical teaching is a useful
      educational method to apply problem-based learning in clinical clerkship
      settings.

PMID- 25813444
TI  - Differences in Factors Affecting Medical Specialty Choices between Medical
      College Students and Graduate Medical School Students.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study was conducted to compare the specialty preference and factors
      that affect choices of medical specialties between medical college students and
      graduate medical school students. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire was
      conducted in 563 medical students, and 482 (graduates: 199, undergraduates: 283)
      responded (response rate, 85.61%). The students completed a brief survey, which
      included 39 items that sampled their demographic data, career choice, and factors
      that influenced their choice. RESULTS: Most students in medical college and
      graduate medical school preferred clinical medicine. Graduate medical school
      students preferred internal medicine, pediatrics, and family medicine. In
      contrast, medical college students preferred neurology, family medicine, and
      psychiatry. Important factors that affected the selection of specialties were
      seniors' advice, advice of other students, clerkship experiences, and specialty
      experiences. CONCLUSION: This result shows that there are differences in the
      factors that affect the selection of medical specialties between medical college
      students and graduate medical school students. But, the opportunity to explore
      future careers and to consult their choice of specialty, in accordance with the
      needs and characteristics of individual students, must be provided for all
      medical students.

PMID- 25813445
TI  - Twelve tips for excellent physical examination teaching.

PMID- 25813447
TI  - A Phase II Study of Pazopanib in Patients with Localized Renal Cell Carcinoma to
      Optimize Preservation of Renal Parenchyma.
AB  - PURPOSE: Preservation of renal function is prioritized during surgical management
      of localized renal cell carcinoma. VEGF targeted agents can downsize tumors in
      metastatic renal cell carcinoma and may do the same in localized renal cell
      carcinoma, allowing for optimal preservation of renal parenchyma associated with
      partial nephrectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Localized clear cell renal cell
      carcinoma patients meeting 1 or both of the following criteria were enrolled in a
      prospective phase II trial, including radical or partial nephrectomy likely to
      yield a glomerular filtration rate of less than 30 ml/minute/1.73 m(2), or
      partial nephrectomy high risk due to high complexity (R.E.N.A.L. 10 to 12) or
      tumor adjacent to hilar vessels. Pazopanib (800 mg once daily) was administered
      for 8 to 16 weeks with repeat imaging at completion of therapy, followed by
      surgery. RESULTS: A total of 25 patients enrolled with a median tumor size of 7.3
      cm and a median R.E.N.A.L. score of 11. Of index lesions 80% were high complexity
      and 56% of patients had a solitary kidney. Patients received a median of 8 weeks
      of pazopanib. The median interval from treatment start to surgery was 10.6 weeks.
      R.E.N.A.L. score decreased in 71% of tumors and 92% of patients experienced a
      reduction in tumor volume. Six of 13 patients for whom partial nephrectomy was
      not possible at baseline were able to undergo partial nephrectomy after
      treatment. The mean parenchymal volume that could be saved with surgery increased
      from an estimated 107 to 173 cc (p = 0.0015). In 5 patients a urine leak
      developed, which was managed conservatively, and 7 received a transfusion, of
      whom 1 required embolization. CONCLUSIONS: Neoadjuvant pazopanib resulted in
      downsizing localized renal cell carcinoma, allowing for improved preservation of
      renal parenchyma and enabling partial nephrectomy in a select subset of patients
      who would otherwise require radical nephrectomy.

PMID- 25813448
TI  - Vesicoureteral Reflux Index: 2-Institution Analysis and Validation.
AB  - PURPOSE: The vesicoureteral reflux index is a novel tool designed to predict
      spontaneous reflux resolution in infants younger than 2 years. We performed a
      multi-institutional validation study to confirm the discriminatory power of the
      vesicoureteral reflux index to predict the vesicoureteral reflux resolution rate
      in young children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We identified patients diagnosed with
      primary vesicoureteral reflux before age 24 months who had 2 or more voiding
      cystourethrograms available. Demographics, vesicoureteral reflux grade and
      timing, ureteral anomalies and radiographic outcomes were evaluated. The C-index
      was estimated for time to event model assessment. RESULTS: A total of 219 girls
      and 150 boys met study inclusion criteria. Mean +/- SD age at diagnosis was 4.7
      +/- 4.9 months. Of the patients 101 (27.4%) had early to mid filling, 214 (58%)
      had late filling and 54 (14.6%) had voiding only vesicoureteral reflux. High
      grade reflux was present in 87 patients (23.6%) and ureteral anomalies were
      observed in 50 (13.6%). A vesicoureteral reflux index of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 or
      greater showed an improvement/resolution rate of 88.2%, 77.3%, 62.3%, 32.1% and
      14.3%, respectively. On time to event analysis children with filling phase
      vesicoureteral reflux (p <0.001), grade 4-5 reflux (p <0.001) and ureteral
      anomalies (p = 0.003) had significantly longer median time to resolution. Median
      time to spontaneous resolution was 12.6, 12.7, 15.1, 25.6 and 31 months or
      greater for a vesicoureteral reflux index of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 or greater,
      respectively (C-index 0.305, 95% CI 0.252-0.357). During the study period 65
      patients (17.6%) underwent surgical intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The vesicoureteral
      reflux index is a simple tool that reliably predicts significant improvement and
      spontaneous resolution of primary reflux in patients diagnosed at younger than 2
      years. The index provides valuable prognostic information, facilitating
      individualized patient care.

PMID- 25813449
TI  - Active Surveillance is Superior to Radical Nephrectomy and Equivalent to Partial
      Nephrectomy for Preserving Renal Function in Patients with Small Renal Masses:
      Results from the DISSRM Registry.
AB  - PURPOSE: We compared renal function outcomes among patients in the surveillance
      and intervention arms of the DISSRM registry. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients
      were grouped into chronic kidney disease stages by estimated glomerular
      filtration rate range. Cases were considered up staged if a more advanced chronic
      kidney disease stage was entered during followup. Chronic kidney disease up
      staging-free survival was compared among groups using Kaplan-Meier analysis and
      paired comparisons log rank tests. Multivariate Cox regression identified
      independent predictors of chronic kidney disease up staging-free survival.
      RESULTS: A total of 162 patients met the study inclusion criteria, with 68 in the
      surveillance arm, 65 undergoing partial nephrectomy, 15 undergoing radical
      nephrectomy and 14 undergoing cryoablation. Median tumor size was 2.2 cm. Mean
      estimated glomerular filtration rate change was significantly larger for radical
      nephrectomy vs surveillance (-9.2 vs -0.5 ml/minute/1.73 m(2)) and for radical vs
      partial nephrectomy (-9.2 vs -1.9 ml/minute/1.73 m(2)) (p=0.001). No other groups
      differed significantly. On Kaplan-Meier analysis patients undergoing radical
      nephrectomy had significantly worse chronic kidney disease up staging-free
      survival vs those treated with partial nephrectomy (p=0.029), surveillance
      (p=0.007) and cryoablation (p=0.019). No other groups differed significantly. On
      multivariate analysis radical nephrectomy independently predicted poor chronic
      kidney disease up staging-free survival (odds ratio vs surveillance 30.6,
      p=0.001). Neither partial nephrectomy (p=0.985) nor cryoablation (p=0.976)
      predicted poor chronic kidney disease up staging-free survival relative to
      surveillance. CONCLUSIONS: Patients in the surveillance arm had superior
      estimated glomerular filtration rate preservation compared to those in the
      radical nephrectomy but not the partial nephrectomy arm. In certain patients with
      small renal masses surveillance and partial nephrectomy may offer comparable
      renal functional outcomes. This could be partly attributable to a modest
      estimated glomerular filtration rate decrease associated with surveillance
      itself. A thorough understanding of the renal functional impacts of treatment
      modalities is critical in the management of small renal masses.

PMID- 25813450
TI  - The Comparison of R.E.N.A.L., PADUA and Centrality Index Score in Predicting
      Perioperative Outcomes and Complications after Laparoscopic Radio Frequency
      Ablation of Renal Tumors.
AB  - PURPOSE: We assessed the association between the R.E.N.A.L., PADUA and centrality
      index scores and perioperative outcomes, and determined the efficacy of each
      scoring system over the simple parameter of tumor size. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      conducted a retrospective review of the records of patients who underwent
      laparoscopic radio frequency ablation of renal tumors from February 2006 to April
      2014 at our institution. Tumors were categorized using the R.E.N.A.L., PADUA and
      centrality index score, which were determined by analyzing preoperative imaging.
      The relationships between each variable and change in glomerular filtration rate,
      estimated blood loss, operative time and postoperative complications were
      examined. RESULTS: Laparoscopic radio frequency ablation was performed in 215
      selected patients with preoperative imaging available. The interclass
      correlations coefficient of the 3 observers was 0.87, 0.84 and 0.82 for the C
      Index, the R.E.N.A.L. and the PADUA scoring system, respectively. R.E.N.A.L.
      score, PADUA score and PADUA complexity were significantly associated with
      postoperative complications (p=0.040, 0.015 and 0.006, respectively). However,
      major complications were only associated with high PADUA complexity (chi-square
      23.851, p <0.05). Each scoring system had a significant association with
      operative time and estimated blood loss (p <0.05), except that the C-index score
      had no relationship with estimated blood loss (p=0.083). The accuracy of each
      scoring system in predicting perioperative outcomes and postoperative
      complications was superior to that of tumor size. CONCLUSIONS: Each scoring
      system has an advantage over tumor size in describing tumor complexity and may
      help with surgical decision making. Further studies are required to validate
      their efficacy in evaluating the intraoperative and postoperative results after
      renal laparoscopic radio frequency ablation.

PMID- 25813451
TI  - Propyl gallate inhibits adipogenesis by stimulating extracellular signal-related
      kinases in human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells.
AB  - Propyl gallate (PG) used as an additive in various foods has antioxidant and anti
      inflammatory effects. Although the functional roles of PG in various cell types
      are well characterized, it is unknown whether PG has effect on stem cell
      differentiation. In this study, we demonstrated that PG could inhibit adipogenic
      differentiation in human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs)
      by decreasing the accumulation of intracellular lipid droplets. In addition, PG
      significantly reduced the expression of adipocyte-specific markers including
      peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma), CCAAT enhancer
      binding protein-alpha (C/EBP-alpha), lipoprotein lipase (LPL), and adipocyte
      fatty acid-binding protein 2 (aP2). PG inhibited adipogenesis in hAMSCs through
      extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) pathway. Decreased adipogenesis following PG
      treatment was recovered in response to ERK blocking. Taken together, these
      results suggest a novel effect of PG on adipocyte differentiation in hAMSCs,
      supporting a negative role of ERK1/2 pathway in adipogenic differentiation. 

PMID- 25813452
TI  - American Joint Committee on Cancer Classification of Uveal Melanoma (Anatomic
      Stage) Predicts Prognosis in 7,731 Patients: The 2013 Zimmerman Lecture.
AB  - PURPOSE: To analyze the clinical features and prognosis of posterior uveal
      melanoma based on the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) (7th edition)
      tumor staging. DESIGN: Retrospective interventional case series. PARTICIPANTS: A
      total of 7731 patients. METHODS: Uveal melanoma management. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Melanoma-related metastasis and death. RESULTS: Of 7731 patients with
      posterior uveal (ciliary body and choroidal) melanoma, the AJCC tumor staging was
      stage I in 2767 (36%), stage II in 3735 (48%), stage III in 1220 (16%), and stage
      IV in 9 (<1%). Based on tumor staging (I, II, III, and IV), features that showed
      significant increase with tumor staging included age at presentation (57, 58, 60,
      60 years) (P < 0.001), tumor base (8, 12, 17, 17 mm) (P < 0.001), tumor thickness
      (2.9, 6.0, 10.1, 10.2 mm) (P < 0.001), distance to optic disc (3, 5, 5, 5 mm) (P
      < 0.001), distance to foveola (3, 5, 5, 5 mm) (P < 0.001), mushroom configuration
      (6%, 24%, 34%, 33%) (P < 0.001), plateau configuration (3%, 4%, 7%, 11%) (P <
      0.001), tumor pigmentation (48%, 53%, 69%, 78%) (P < 0.001), and extraocular
      extension (0%, 1%, 11%, 22%) (P < 0.001). After therapy, Kaplan-Meier estimates
      of metastasis at 1, 5, 10, and 20 years were <1%, 5%, 12%, and 20% for stage I,
      2%; 17%, 29%, and 44% for stage II; 6%, 44%, 61%, and 73% for stage III, and 100%
      by 1 year for stage IV. Kaplan-Meier estimates of death at 1, 5, 10, and 20 years
      were <1%, 3%, 6%, and 8% for stage I; <1%, 9%, 15%, and 24% for stage II; 3%,
      27%, 39%, and 53% for stage III, and 100% by 1 year for stage IV. Compared with
      stage I, the hazard ratio for metastasis/death was 3.1/3.1 for stage II and
      9.3/10.1 for stage III. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with uveal melanoma classified as
      AJCC stage I, the rate of metastasis/death was 3 times greater for stage II, 9 to
      10 times greater for stage III, and further greater for stage IV. Early detection
      of posterior uveal melanoma, at a point when the tumor is small, can be
      lifesaving.

PMID- 25813454
TI  - Wombats acquired scabies from humans and/or dogs from outside Australia.
AB  - According to previous studies, Sarcoptes mites of wombats were relatively
      recently introduced into Australia by colonizers and/or their dogs. However, that
      affirmation has been called into question due to apparent flaws in the design of
      the phylogenetic studies. With the aim of providing a definitive answer to this
      question, a part of the mitochondrial gene coding for 12S rRNA of S. scabiei
      mites from 23 humans and one dog collected in France was sequenced and a
      phylogenetic analysis including the sequences previously deposited in Genbank was
      performed. Phylogenetic analysis did not show host segregation or geographical
      isolation of the mites. Conversely, the present work suggested that mange in
      wombats is indeed due to the introduction of S. scabiei into Australia by
      immigrating individuals and/or their companion animals. 

PMID- 25813455
TI  - Potaspora aequidens n. sp. (Microsporidia, Tetramicridae), a parasite infecting
      the freshwater fish Aequidens plagiozonatus (Teleostei, Cichlidae) from Brazil.
AB  - Morphological and molecular procedures were used to describe a new species of
      microsporidian that infects the muscles of the sub-opercular region and the
      caudal fins of the freshwater Aequidens plagiozonatus in Brazil. This
      microsporidian forms whitish xenomas containing variable number of spores,
      reaching up to ~0.4 mm in diameter. The mature spores, pyriformin shape, with
      slightly round ends, measured 3.4 +/- 0.5 MUm long and 1.9 +/- 0.3 MUm wide (n =
      50) and showed characteristics typical of Microsporidia. The average thickness of
      the spore wall was 100 (96-108) nm (n = 50), and the spore wall was composed of
      two layers, a thin, electron-dense exospore and a thick electron-transparent
      endospore. The exospore was surrounded by a thin, irregular layer of granular
      material. The anchoring disc was mushroom-like, located in the apical region of
      the spore in an eccentric position relative to the spore axis, rendering
      bilateral asymmetry to the spore. The anterior part of the polar filament (PF)
      (manubrium) measured approximately 125 (122-128) nm thick (n = 30), and the angle
      of tilt between the anterior PF and the spore axis was ~45 degrees ; the
      posterior part was packed in 8-9 coils. Phylogenetic analysis showed a strongly
      supported clade containing family Spragueidae Weissenberg, 1976, family
      Tetramicridae Matthews and Matthews, 1980, Microsporidium sp. RBS1, and Kabatana
      spp. In conclusion, the available morphological, ultrastructural, and molecular
      data shows that this microsporidian is a new species belonging to group 4,
      classified as Potaspora aequidens n. sp. This is the second species described in
      the genus Potaspora. 

PMID- 25813453
TI  - Comparing the Impact of Refractive and Nonrefractive Vision Loss on Functioning
      and Disability: The Salisbury Eye Evaluation.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the effects of uncorrected refractive error (URE) and
      nonrefractive visual impairment (VI) on performance and disability measures.
      DESIGN: Cross-sectional, population-based study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2469
      individuals with binocular presenting visual acuity (PVA) of >= 20/80 who
      participated in the first round of the Salisbury Eye Evaluation study. METHODS:
      The URE was defined as binocular PVA of <= 20/30, improving to >20/30 with
      subjective refraction. The VI was defined as post-refraction binocular best
      corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of <= 20/30. The visual acuity decrement due to VI
      was calculated as the difference between BCVA and 20/30, whereas visual acuity
      due to URE was taken as the difference between PVA and BCVA. Multivariable
      regression analyses were used to assess the disability impact of (1) vision
      status (VI, URE, or normal vision) using the group with normal vision as
      reference and (2) a 1-line decrement in acuity due to VI or URE. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Objective measures of visual function were obtained from timed
      performance of mobility and near vision tasks, self-reported driving cessation,
      and self-reported visual difficulty measured by the Activities of Daily Vision
      (ADV) scale. The ADV responses were analyzed using Rasch analysis to determine
      visual ability. RESULTS: Compared with individuals with normal vision, subjects
      with VI (n = 191) had significantly poorer objective and subjective visual
      functioning in all metrics examined (P < 0.05), whereas subjects with URE (n =
      132) demonstrated slower walking speeds, slower near task performance, more
      frequent driving cessation, and lower ADV scores (P < 0.05), but did not
      demonstrate slower stair climbing or descent speed. For all functional metrics
      evaluated, the impact of VI was greater than the impact of URE. The impact of a 1
      line VA decrement due to VI was associated with greater deficits in mobility
      measures and driving cessation when compared with a 1-line VA decrement due to
      URE. CONCLUSIONS: Visual impairment is associated with greater disability than
      URE across a wide variety of functional measures, even in analyses adjusting for
      the severity of vision loss. Refractive and nonrefractive vision loss should be
      distinguished in studies evaluating visual disability and be understood to have
      differing consequences.

PMID- 25813456
TI  - Urban-rural differences in psychological distress in nine countries of the former
      Soviet Union.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that the prevalence of mental illness can vary
      between urban and rural locations. This study extended research to the countries
      of the former Soviet Union (fSU) by assessing the association between settlement
      type and psychological distress and whether factors associated with psychological
      distress vary by settlement type. METHODS: Data on 18,000 adults aged >=18 years
      from the Health in Times of Transition (HITT) survey undertaken in Armenia,
      Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, and
      Ukraine in 2010/11 were analyzed. Settlement types were country capitals,
      regional capitals, cities/other urban settlements, and villages. Psychological
      distress was defined as the country-specific highest quintile of a composite
      score based on 11 questions. Logistic regression analysis with random effects was
      used to examine associations. RESULTS: In a pooled country analysis, living in a
      smaller urban settlement or village was associated with significantly higher odds
      for psychological distress compared to living in the country capital. Lower
      social support was a strong correlate of psychological distress in all locations
      except capital cities. LIMITATIONS: The psychological distress measure has not
      been formally validated in the study countries. CONCLUSIONS: Lower levels of
      urbanicity are associated with greater psychological distress in the fSU
      countries. As many Western studies have linked greater urbanization to poorer
      mental health, this highlights the need for caution in extrapolating findings
      from one part of the world to others and the importance of undertaking research
      on the geographical correlates of mental health in different world regions.

PMID- 25813457
TI  - Comparative efficacy and acceptability of atomoxetine, lisdexamfetamine,
      bupropion and methylphenidate in treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity
      disorder in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis with focus on bupropion.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: There is a lack of comparative effectiveness research among attention
      deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs in terms of efficacy and
      acceptability, where bupropion is compared with atomoxetine, lisdexamfetamine and
      methylphenidate. The main aim of this work was to compare the efficacy and
      acceptability of these drugs in children and adolescents using a metaanalysis.
      METHODS: A literature search was conducted to identify double-blind, placebo
      controlled, noncrossover studies of ADHD. PubMed/Medline and Clinicaltrials.gov
      were searched. Comparative drug efficacy to placebo was calculated based on the
      standardized mean difference (SMD), while the comparative drug acceptability (all
      cause discontinuation) to placebo was estimated on the odds ratio (OR). RESULTS:
      In total 28 trials were included in the meta-analysis. Efficacy in reducing ADHD
      symptoms compared to placebo was small for bupropion (SMD=-0.32, 95% CI; -0.69,
      0.05), while modest efficacy was shown for atomoxetine (SMD=-0.68, 95% CI; -0.76,
      -0.59) and methylphenidate (SMD=-0.75, 95% CI; -0.98, -0.52) and high efficacy
      was observed for lisdexamfetamine (SMD=-1.28, 95% CI; -1.84, -0.71). Compared to
      placebo treatment discontinuation was statistically significantly lower for
      methylphenidate (OR=0.35, 95% CI; 0.24, 0.52), while it was not significantly
      different for atomoxetine (OR=0.91, 95% CI; 0.66, 1.24), lisdexamfetamine
      (OR=0.60, 95% CI, 0.22, 1.65), and bupropion (OR=1.64, 95% CI; 0.5, 5.43).
      LIMITATIONS: The heterogeneity was high, except in atomoxetine trials. The
      crossover studies were excluded. The effect sizes at specific time points were
      not computed. Studies with comorbid conditions, except those reporting on
      oppositional defiant disorder, were also excluded. All studies involving MPH were
      combined. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that lisdexamfetamine has the best
      benefit risk balance and has promising potential for treating children and
      adolescents with ADHD. More research is needed for a better clinical evaluation
      of bupropion.

PMID- 25813458
TI  - Incidence and predisposing factors of periprosthetic proximal femoral fractures:
      a literature review.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this review article was to investigate the incidence and
      predisposing factors for periprosthetic proximal femoral fractures (PFF)
      following total hip arthroplasty. METHODS: We performed a comprehensive search of
      the medical literature in MEDLINE and EMBASE databases to review articles related
      to PFF, their incidence and risk factors. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The incidence
      of PPF after primary THA was, in general, lower than after revision THA both for
      intra- and postoperative PFF. The rate of intraoperative PFF ranged from 0.1% to
      27.8% and of postoperative PFF from 0.07% to 18%. Predisposing factors for
      intraoperative PFF are osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, femoral preparation
      and surgical technique used to insert the rasp or femoral component, the use of
      press-fit cementless stems, and revision THA. In case of postoperative PFF, the
      following seem to be significant risk factors: advanced age, female gender, post
      traumatic osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis, proximal femoral
      deformities, previous surgery of the affected hip, implant type (especially
      cementless stems and press-fit implantation), technical errors such as cortical
      perforation, cortical stress risers, low-energy trauma, osteolysis, loosening and
      revision THA.

PMID- 25813459
TI  - Calcitonin gene-related peptide can be selected as a predictive biomarker on
      progression and prognosis of knee osteoarthritis.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine calcitonin gene-related peptide
      (CGRP) concentrations in serum and synovial fluid of patients with primary knee
      osteoarthritis (OA) and healthy controls and to explore their relationship with
      clinical and radiographic severity of OA. METHODS: Sixty-five patients with
      primary knee OA and 21 healthy controls were recruited. CGRP concentrations in
      the serum and synovial fluid were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent
      assays. The radiographic severity of OA was evaluated using the Kellgren and
      Lawrence (KL) classification. The Western Ontario and McMaster University
      Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) was used to assess pain, stiffness and physical
      function. RESULTS: Serum and synovial fluid CGRP concentrations tended to be
      higher with the increase in KL grades (r = 0.565 and r = 0.441, P < 0.001,
      respectively), and were significantly positively correlated with KL grades, total
      WOMAC score and each subscale (pain, stiffness and physical function).
      CONCLUSIONS: The result demonstrated that CGRP in serum and synovial fluid was
      related to progressive joint damage in knee OA. CGRP can be selected as a
      biomarker for monitoring disease severity and could be a predictive role on
      prognosis and progression of knee OA.

PMID- 25813460
TI  - Plate osteosynthesis of humeral diaphyseal fractures associated with radial
      palsy: twenty cases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgical management of humeral fractures associated with radial nerve
      palsy remains controversial. Some advocate surgical treatment in emergency while
      others recommend nonoperative treatment. PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to
      assess nerve recovery in a series of patients treated with open reduction and
      internal fixation (ORIF) with plate for humeral fracture associated with radial
      nerve palsy. We hypothesised that surgical treatment with ORIF in emergency
      allows good nerve recovery. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study on 20
      patients out of 225 humeral shaft fractures operated between 1995 and 2012. There
      were 11 women and nine men, with a mean age of 51 +/- 22 years (23-93). The
      fractures were located in mid third of the shaft in 15 cases (75 %), distal third
      in four (20 %) and superior third in one (5 %). Mean delay for surgical treatment
      was three days (zero to 15). The plate was positioned at the medial face in 16
      cases (80 %) and posterior face in four (20 %). In six cases, the radial nerve
      was not seen (30 %). In the 14 cases where it was seen (70 %), it was continuous.
      Neurolysis was performed in seven cases (35 %). RESULTS: Fifteen patients (75 %)
      had a good nerve palsy recovery, with a mean delay of ten months (six to 12).
      Statistically significant correlation was observed between delay of surgical
      treatment and delay of radial recovery (p = 0.0166 ; Rho = - 0.53). Early
      osteosynthesis was correlated with better nerve recovery. One patient required
      complementary nerve surgery and another tendon transfer. Bone healing was
      obtained in all cases. Concerning functional outcomes, mean QuickDASH, a
      shortened version of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) score,
      was 9 +/- 17 (0-59), and 85 % of patients were able to recover their previous
      physical activities. CONCLUSION: ORIF by plate of humeral shaft fracture with
      radial nerve palsy in emergency allows good palsy recovery (75 %) with a short
      delay (about three days). LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, retrospective study.

PMID- 25813461
TI  - Item Response Theory Modeling of the Philadelphia Naming Test.
AB  - Purpose: In this study, we investigated the fit of the Philadelphia Naming Test
      (PNT; Roach, Schwartz, Martin, Grewal, & Brecher, 1996) to an item-response
      theory measurement model, estimated the precision of the resulting scores and
      item parameters, and provided a theoretical rationale for the interpretation of
      PNT overall scores by relating explanatory variables to item difficulty. This
      article describes the statistical model underlying the computer adaptive PNT
      presented in a companion article (Hula, Kellough, & Fergadiotis, 2015). Method:
      Using archival data, we evaluated the fit of the PNT to 1- and 2-parameter
      logistic models and examined the precision of the resulting parameter estimates.
      We regressed the item difficulty estimates on three predictor variables: word
      length, age of acquisition, and contextual diversity. Results: The 2-parameter
      logistic model demonstrated marginally better fit, but the fit of the 1-parameter
      logistic model was adequate. Precision was excellent for both person ability and
      item difficulty estimates. Word length, age of acquisition, and contextual
      diversity all independently contributed to variance in item difficulty.
      Conclusions: Item-response-theory methods can be productively used to analyze and
      quantify anomia severity in aphasia. Regression of item difficulty on lexical
      variables supported the validity of the PNT and interpretation of anomia severity
      scores in the context of current word-finding models.

PMID- 25813462
TI  - "Mission Indradhanush" targets India's unvaccinated children.

PMID- 25813463
TI  - Quantifying Adventitious Error in a Covariance Structure as a Random Effect.
AB  - We present an approach to quantifying errors in covariance structures in which
      adventitious error, identified as the process underlying the discrepancy between
      the population and the structured model, is explicitly modeled as a random effect
      with a distribution, and the dispersion parameter of this distribution to be
      estimated gives a measure of misspecification. Analytical properties of the
      resultant procedure are investigated and the measure of misspecification is found
      to be related to the root mean square error of approximation. An algorithm is
      developed for numerical implementation of the procedure. The consistency and
      asymptotic sampling distributions of the estimators are established under a new
      asymptotic paradigm and an assumption weaker than the standard Pitman drift
      assumption. Simulations validate the asymptotic sampling distributions and
      demonstrate the importance of accounting for the variations in the parameter
      estimates due to adventitious error. Two examples are also given as
      illustrations. 

PMID- 25813464
TI  - Advances in Modeling Model Discrepancy: Comment on Wu and Browne (2015).
AB  - Wu and Browne (Psychometrika, 79, 2015) have proposed an innovative approach to
      modeling discrepancy between a covariance structure model and the population that
      the model is intended to represent. Their contribution is related to ongoing
      developments in the field of Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) on modeling and
      quantifying effects of model discrepancy. We provide an overview of basic
      principles of UQ and some relevant developments and we examine the Wu-Browne work
      in that context. We view the Wu-Browne contribution as a seminal development
      providing a foundation for further work on the critical problem of model
      discrepancy in statistical modeling in psychological research. 

PMID- 25813465
TI  - Some Comments on Wu and Browne.

PMID- 25813466
TI  - Comments on "Quantifying Adventitious Error in a Covariance Structure as a Random
      Effect" by Hao Wu and Michael Browne.

PMID- 25813467
TI  - A Comment on a Paper by H. Wu and M. W. Browne (2014).

PMID- 25813468
TI  - Random Model Discrepancy: Interpretations and Technicalities (A Rejoinder).
AB  - In this rejoinder we discuss the following aspects of our approach to model
      discrepancy: the interpretations of the two populations and adventitious error,
      the choice of inverse Wishart distribution, the perceived danger of justifying a
      model with bad fit, the relationship among our new approach, Chen's (J R Stat Soc
      Ser B, 41:235-248, 1979) approach and the existing RMSEA-based approach, and the
      Pitman drift assumption. 

PMID- 25813470
TI  - Phosphohistone H3: implications for clinical practice and risk assessment in
      meningioma.

PMID- 25813469
TI  - Seizure outcome after radiotherapy and chemotherapy in low-grade glioma patients:
      a systematic review.
AB  - There is growing evidence that antitumor treatment contributes to better seizure
      control in low-grade glioma patients. We performed a systematic review of the
      current literature on seizure outcome after radiotherapy and chemotherapy and
      evaluated the association between seizure outcome and radiological response.
      Twenty-four studies were available, of which 10 described seizure outcome after
      radiotherapy and 14 after chemotherapy. All studies demonstrated improvements in
      seizure outcome after antitumor treatment. Eight studies reporting on imaging
      response in relation to seizure outcome showed a seizure reduction in a
      substantial part of patients with stable disease on MRI. Seizure reduction may
      therefore be the only noticeable effect of antitumor treatment. Our findings
      demonstrate the clinical relevance of monitoring seizure outcome after
      radiotherapy and chemotherapy, as well as the potential role of seizure reduction
      as a complementary marker of tumor response in low-grade glioma patients. 

PMID- 25813471
TI  - Long-term results of a prospective phase II trial of medically inoperable stage I
      NSCLC treated with SBRT - the Nordic experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Presentation of long term results of a phase II multicenter Nordic
      trial of medically inoperable stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated
      with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). MATERIAL AND METHODS: We report the
      extended outcome, focusing on long-term effects, of a prospective cohort of 57
      evaluable patients with peripherally located T1N0M0 (72%) and T2N0M0 (28%) NSCLC,
      treated with SBRT 15 Gy * 3, prescribed to the 67% isodose line encompassing the
      PTV. The patients were inoperable due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
      (65%), cardiovascular disease (25%) or other illnesses (3%) or refused surgery
      (7%). Median Karnofsky score pre-treatment was 80% (70-100%). Late effects were
      defined as occurring > 36 months. RESULTS: Thirty-eight patients (67%) were
      relapse free during their entire follow-up. Local control rate at four and five
      years were 79% (CI 95% 64-95%) and local relapses occurred at 10-76 months post
      treatment. Seven local failures were noted, four occurring <= 36 months (all T2a
      tumors; two isolated and two in combination with out-of-field relapses) and three
      occurring > 36 months (T1b-tumors n = 3). Thirteen patients had out-of-field
      failure only as first presentation of recurrence. Overall survival rate and lung
      cancer-specific survival rate at five years were 30% and 74%, respectively.
      Toxicity throughout the entire observation period was acceptable without any
      grade 5 toxicities. Seventeen grade 3-4 toxicities were noted, three presenting >
      36 months (rib fracture, dyspnea and ventricle tachycardia). Median follow-up was
      41.5 months (3.4-113.0) for the entire cohort and 59.3 months (36.4-113.0) for
      the 34 patients (60%) with a follow-up of > 36 months. CONCLUSION: Throughout the
      observation period local control was excellent and toxicity limited with no
      increase in late presenting local relapses or late treatment-related morbidity.
      This further supports SBRT as an efficient local treatment modality even in a
      medically impaired patient cohort.

PMID- 25813472
TI  - The amount of injected 177Lu-octreotate strongly influences biodistribution and
      dosimetry in C57BL/6N mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: (177)Lu-octreotate therapy has proven to give favorable results after
      treatment of patients with neuroendocrine tumors. Much focus has been on the
      binding and uptake of (177)Lu-octreotate in tumor tissue, but biodistribution
      properties in normal tissues is still not fully understood, and the effect of
      receptor saturation may be important. The aim of this study was to investigate
      the influence of the amount of (177)Lu-octreotate on the biodistribution of
      (177)Lu-octreotate in normal tissues in mice. MATERIAL AND METHODS: C57BL/6N
      female mice were intravenously injected with 0.1-150 MBq (177)Lu-octreotate
      (0.039 MUg peptide/MBq). The mice were killed 0.25 h to 14 days after injection
      by cardiac puncture under anesthesia. Activity concentration was determined in
      blood, bone marrow, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, and spleen, and mean
      absorbed doses were calculated. RESULTS: The activity concentration varied with
      time and amount of injected activity. At 4-8 h after injection, a local maximum
      in activity concentration was found for liver, lungs, pancreas, and spleen. With
      the exception for the lower injected activities (0.1-1 MBq), the overall highest
      uptake was found in the kidneys (%IA/g). Large variations were found and the
      activity concentration in kidneys was 11-23%IA/g at 4 h, and 0.22-1.9%IA/g at 7
      days after injection. Furthermore, a clear reduction in activity concentration
      with increased injected activity was observed for lungs, pancreas and spleen.
      CONCLUSION: The activity concentration in all tissues investigated was strongly
      influenced by the amount of (177)Lu-octreotate injected. Large differences in
      mean absorbed dose per unit injected activity were found between low (0.1-1 MBq,
      0.0039-0.039 MUg) and moderate amounts (5-45 MBq, 0.2-1.8 MUg). Furthermore, the
      results clearly showed the need for better ways to estimate absorbed dose to bone
      marrow other than methods based on a single blood sample analysis. Since the
      absorbed dose to critical organs will limit the amount of (177)Lu-octreotate
      administered, these findings must be taken into consideration when optimizing
      this type of therapy.

PMID- 25813473
TI  - Childhood cancer survivor cohorts in Europe.
AB  - With the advent of multimodality therapy, the overall five-year survival rate
      from childhood cancer has improved considerably now exceeding 80% in developed
      European countries. This growing cohort of survivors, with many years of life
      ahead of them, has raised the necessity for knowledge concerning the risks of
      adverse long-term sequelae of the life-saving treatments in order to provide
      optimal screening and care and to identify and provide adequate interventions.
      Childhood cancer survivor cohorts in Europe. Considerable advantages exist to
      study late effects in individuals treated for childhood cancer in a European
      context, including the complementary advantages of large population-based cancer
      registries and the unrivalled opportunities to study lifetime risks, together
      with rich and detailed hospital-based cohorts which fill many of the gaps left by
      the large-scale population-based studies, such as sparse treatment information.
      Several large national cohorts have been established within Europe to study late
      effects in individuals treated for childhood cancer including the Nordic Adult
      Life after Childhood Cancer in Scandinavia study (ALiCCS), the British Childhood
      Cancer Survivor Study (BCCSS), the Dutch Childhood Oncology Group (DCOG) LATER
      study, and the Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (SCCSS). Furthermore, there
      are other large cohorts, which may eventually become national in scope including
      the French Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (FCCSS), the French Childhood Cancer
      Survivor Study for Leukaemia (LEA), and the Italian Study on off-therapy
      Childhood Cancer Survivors (OTR). In recent years significant steps have been
      taken to extend these national studies into a larger pan-European context through
      the establishment of two large consortia - PanCareSurFup and PanCareLIFE. The
      purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the current large, national
      and pan-European studies of late effects after childhood cancer. This overview
      will highlight the strong cooperation across Europe, in particular the EU-funded
      collaborative research projects PanCareSurFup and PanCareLIFE. Overall goal. The
      overall goal of these large cohort studies is to provide every European childhood
      cancer survivor with better care and better long-term health so that they reach
      their full potential, and to the degree possible, enjoy the same quality of life
      and opportunities as their peers.

PMID- 25813474
TI  - Effective, clinically feasible and sustainable: Key design features of psycho
      educational and supportive care interventions to promote individualised self
      management in cancer care.
AB  - As the global burden of cancer increases healthcare services will face increasing
      challenges in meet the complex needs of these patients, their families and the
      communities in which they live. This raises the question of how to meet patient
      need where direct clinical contact may be constrained or not readily available.
      Patients and families require resources and skills to manage their illness
      outside of the hospital setting within their own communities. AIM: To propose a
      framework for the development and delivery of psycho-educational and supportive
      care interventions drawing on theoretical principles of behaviour change and
      evidence-based interventions, and based on extensive experience in developing and
      testing complex interventions in oncology. APPROACH: At the core of this
      intervention framework are considerations of efficiency: interventions are
      designed to cater for individuals' unique needs; to place minimal demands on the
      health system infrastructure and to be rapidly disseminated into usual care if
      successful. There are seven key features: 1) Targeting cancer type and stage; 2)
      Tailoring to unique individual needs; 3) Promotion of patient self-management of
      their disease and treatment side effects; 4) Efficient delivery of the
      intervention; 5) Training and adherence to protocol; 6) Ensuring the intervention
      is evidence-based; 7) Confirming stakeholder acceptability of the intervention.
      APPLICATION: A case study of a randomised controlled trial which tested psycho
      educational oncology interventions using this framework is presented. These
      interventions were designed to cater for individuals' unique needs and promote
      self-management while placing minimal demands on the acute health care setting.
      DISCUSSION: Innovative ways to realise the potentially major impact that psycho
      educational and supportive care interventions can have on psychological
      morbidity, coping, symptoms and quality of life in serious and chronic illness
      are needed. This framework, which is driven by theory, evidence, and experience,
      is designed to ensure that interventions are effective, clinically feasible and
      sustainable.

PMID- 25813475
TI  - LRIG1 is a prognostic biomarker in non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains (LRIG)
      family of transmembrane proteins are involved in the regulation of cellular
      signal transduction. LRIG1 is an endogenous inhibitor of receptor tyrosine
      kinases (RTKs) and an emerging tumor suppressor. In the lung epithelium, the
      expression of LRIG1 is downregulated by tobacco smoking, and further
      downregulated in lung squamous cell carcinoma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The
      expression of LRIG proteins were analyzed in 347 cases of non-small cell lung
      cancer (NSCLC) by immunohistochemistry, and LRIG1 mRNA expression was evaluated
      in 807 lung cancer samples in silico in the Oncomine database. Potential
      associations between the expression data and the clinical parameters, including
      patient survival, were investigated. RESULTS: Expression of the LRIG1 protein was
      found to be an independent prognostic factor in NSCLC, whereas expression of
      LRIG2 or LRIG3 did not correlate with patient survival. The levels of LRIG1 mRNA
      also correlated with the survival of NSCLC patients. CONCLUSION: These findings
      demonstrate that LRIG1 is an independent prognostic factor in patients with NSCLC
      that could be important in future decision-making algorithms for adjuvant lung
      cancer treatment.

PMID- 25813476
TI  - Are male immigrants in Denmark at lower or higher risk of tobacco-related
      cancers? A Danish nationwide cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tobacco-related cancers (TRC) represent approximately a third of the
      cancer incidence in Denmark. However, tobacco consumption levels in immigrants
      may differ to the native population. We compared incidence rates of nine TRCs
      among male immigrants of first and second generation in Denmark with those among
      males of the native population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We used an established
      cohort of all Danish men (1978-2010) and calculated standardized incidence ratios
      (SIR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) to compare incidence by immigration
      status and region of birth for nine TRCs. RESULTS: We identified 131,317 incident
      cases of TRCs among 3,508,204 men (280,526 first generation and 129,056 second
      generation immigrants). Overall, immigrants of both generations experienced
      approximately 15% lower incidence of TRC than natives, however, with large
      variations by country of birth and type of TRC. Compared to natives, lung cancer
      incidence in first and second generation immigrants was 10% and 27% lower,
      respectively. However, lung cancer incidence increased in first generation
      immigrants reaching the level of native Danes in the late 2000s. First generation
      immigrants experienced approximately 50% lower incidence of lower urinary tract
      cancer than natives. However, only liver and stomach cancer had higher SIRs in
      immigrants. CONCLUSION: Overall TRC incidence was lower among immigrants than in
      native Danes. Lower urinary tract cancer among first generation immigrants
      warrants further investigation.

PMID- 25813477
TI  - Radiation shielding for diagnostic radiology.
AB  - Scattered radiation makes up the majority of the stray radiation field around an
      X-ray unit. The scatter is linked to the amount of radiation incident on the
      patient. It can be estimated from quantities used to assess patient dose such as
      the kerma-area product, and factors have been established linking this to levels
      of scattered radiation for radiography and fluoroscopy. In radiography shielding
      against primary radiation is also needed, but in other modalities this is
      negligible, as the beam is intercepted by the image receptor. In the same way
      scatter from CT can be quantified in terms of dose-length product, but because of
      higher radiation levels, exposure to tertiary scatter from ceilings needs to be
      considered. Transmission requirements are determined from comparisons between
      calculated radiation levels and agreed dose criteria, taking into account the
      occupancy of adjacent areas. Thicknesses of shielding material required can then
      be calculated from simple equations. 

PMID- 25813478
TI  - IAEA experience in communicating radiation risks through the RPOP website.
AB  - The authors report here their successful experience of communicating information
      to health professionals, patients and the public on benefits and risks of
      ionising radiation in medical applications. The approaches used have been based
      on giving importance to clinical benefits against risks, as well as safety in use
      against risk of use. Communicating brief messages against catchy questions with
      positive and pragmatic approach resulted in making website on radiation
      protection of patients (RPOP) as the top website of the world in this area.
      Credibility of information has been maintained. The results show immense outreach
      in 213 countries/territories. 

PMID- 25813479
TI  - Analysis of factors correlating with medical radiological examination
      frequencies.
AB  - The European Commission (EC) funded project Dose Datamed 2 (DDM2) had two
      objectives: to collect available data on patient doses from the radiodiagnostic
      procedures (X-ray and nuclear medicine) in Europe, and to facilitate the
      implementation of the Radiation Protection 154 Guidelines (RP154). Besides the
      collection of frequency and dose data, two questionnaires were issued to gather
      information about medical radiological imaging. This article analyses a possible
      correlation between the collected frequency data, selected variables from the
      results of the detailed questionnaire and national economic data. Based on a 35
      countries dataset, there is no correlation between the gross domestic product
      (GDP) and the total number of X-ray examinations in a country. However, there is
      a significant correlation (p < 0.01) between the GDP and the overall CT
      examination frequency. High income countries perform more CT examinations per
      inhabitant. That suggests that planar X-ray examinations are replaced by CT
      examinations. 

PMID- 25813480
TI  - Dose tracking and radiology department management.
AB  - The purpose of this work was to review the reasonable measures that should be
      implemented as part of a routine practice in the process of managing CT radiation
      risks in a typical average radiology department. Based on 6 y of experience in
      the management of a general radiology department and the newly implemented
      supportive software for dose tracking, analysing and reporting, the approach
      towards radiation risk reduction is presented. Thanks to this approach, some
      problems have been resolved, and reasonable measures have been introduced into
      daily practice. 

PMID- 25813481
TI  - Eye dose assessment and management: overview.
AB  - Some publications have shown that Hp(0.07) or even Hp(10) can be used as good
      operational quantities for X-rays in view of difficulties with Hp(3). With
      increasing awareness, there is tendency to use whatever dosimeter is available
      with correction factor to estimate eye lens dose. The best position for an eye
      lens dosimeter has been reported to be at the side of the head nearest to the
      radiation source, close to the eye. Recent studies have reported eye doses with
      cone beam CT (CBCT) both for patients and staff, and there are many papers
      reporting eye lens doses to staff in nuclear medicine. To minimise the dose to
      eyes, the user can take advantage of a feature of CBCT of projections acquired
      over an angular span of 180 degrees  plus cone angle of the X-ray tube and with
      tube under scan arcs. 

PMID- 25813482
TI  - Preliminary testing of GaN-based dosimeters for electron beam radiotherapy.
AB  - The response of an implantable in vivo dosimetric system based on gallium nitride
      radioluminescence was investigated for electron beam radiotherapy using ELEKTA
      SLi and VARIAN Clinac 2100 CD Linear Accelerators. A bi-channel method has been
      implemented for fibre background rejection. The percentage depth dose (PDD)
      profiles were measured in polymethyl methacrylate for 6, 12 and 18 MeV electron
      beams. The PDD results were in excellent agreement with those measured with
      reference to ionisation chambers. 

PMID- 25813483
TI  - Assessment of patient dose reduction by bismuth shielding in CT using
      measurements, GEANT4 and MCNPX simulations.
AB  - This work reports on the use of two different Monte Carlo codes (GEANT4 and
      MCNPX) for assessing the dose reduction using bismuth shields in computer
      tomography (CT) procedures in order to protect radiosensitive organs such as eye
      lens, thyroid and breast. Measurements were performed using head and body PMMA
      phantoms and an ionisation chamber placed in five different positions of the
      phantom. Simulations were performed to estimate Computed Tomography Dose Index
      values using GEANT4 and MCNPX. The relative differences between measurements and
      simulations were <10 %. The dose reduction arising from the use of bismuth
      shielding ranges from 2 to 45 %, depending on the position of the bismuth shield.
      The percentage of dose reduction was more significant for the area covered by the
      bismuth shielding (36 % for eye lens, 39 % for thyroid and 45 % for breast
      shields). 

PMID- 25813484
TI  - Inspection of cardiology departments in Norway: are they making it great in
      radiation protection?
AB  - Staff involved in interventional cardiology receive the highest occupational
      doses in Norway, and skin burns of patients have been reported. To identify the
      level of radiation protection (RP) for patients and staff, and compliance with
      the RP regulation, the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority carried out
      inspections. The inspections were conducted (2013-14) as quality system reviews,
      based on document reviews, interviews, on-site inspections and observations of
      interventional procedures. The inspections revealed that most of the hospitals
      had non-compliances according to the RP regulation. Most deviations were
      associated with education in RP and follow-up of patients who had received high
      radiation doses. Lack of systematic optimisation of procedures and estimation of
      eye lens doses to evaluate the risk for cataracts were also common. Inspections
      turned out to increase the awareness of RP in cardiology and are identified as an
      effective tool for improving RP. 

PMID- 25813485
TI  - Stress of endoplasmic reticulum modulates differentiation and lipogenesis of
      human adipocytes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adipocytes are cells specialized for storage of neutral lipids. This
      storage capacity is dependent on lipogenesis and is diminished in obesity. The
      reason for the decline in lipogenic activity of adipocytes in obesity remains
      unknown. Recent data show that lipogenesis in liver is regulated by pathways
      initiated by endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS). Thus, we aimed at investigating
      the effect of ERS on lipogenesis in adipose cells. METHODS: Preadipocytes were
      isolated from subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue from obese volunteers and in
      vitro differentiated into adipocytes. ERS was induced pharmacologically by
      thapsigargin (TG) or tunicamycin (TM). Activation of Unfolded Protein Response
      pathway (UPR) was monitored on the level of eIF2alpha phosphorylation and mRNA
      expression of downstream targets of UPR sensors. Adipogenic and lipogenic
      capacity was evaluated by Oil Red O staining, measurement of incorporation of
      radio-labelled glucose or acetic acid into lipids and mRNA analysis of
      adipogenic/lipogenic markers. RESULTS: Exposition of adipocytes to high doses of
      TG (100 nM) and TM (1 MUg/ml) for 1-24 h enhanced expression of several UPR
      markers (HSPA5, EDEM1, ATF4, XBP1s) and phosphorylation of eIF2alpha. This acute
      ERS substantially inhibited expression of lipogenic genes (DGAT2, FASN, SCD1) and
      glucose incorporation into lipids. Moreover, chronic exposure of preadipocytes to
      low dose of TG (2.5 nM) during the early phases of adipogenic conversion of
      preadipocytes impaired both, lipogenesis and adipogenesis. On the other hand,
      chronic low ERS had no apparent effect on lipogenesis in mature adipocytes.
      CONCLUSIONS: Acute ERS weakened a capacity of mature adipocytes to store lipids
      and chronic ERS diminished adipogenic potential of preadipocytes.

PMID- 25813486
TI  - Thrombin generation in abdominal sepsis is Rho-kinase-dependent.
AB  - Sepsis causes severe derangements of the coagulation system. However, the
      signaling mechanisms regulating sepsis-induced thrombin generation remain
      elusive. Herein, we hypothesized that Rho-kinase might be an important regulator
      of thrombin generation in abdominal sepsis. Abdominal sepsis was induced by cecal
      ligation and puncture (CLP) in C57Bl/6 mice. Thrombin generation, coagulation
      factors, lung histology and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity were determined 6 h
      and 24 h after induction of CLP. Induction of CLP triggered a systemic
      inflammatory response characterized by neutrophil accumulation and tissue injury
      in the lung as well as thrombocytopenia and leukocytopenia. Administration of Y
      27632, a Rho-kinase inhibitor, attenuated these markers of systemic inflammation
      in CLP animals. Moreover, peak thrombin formation was decreased by 77% and 81% in
      plasma from mice 6 h and 24 h after induction of CLP. Total thrombin generation
      was reduced by 64% and 67% 6 h and 24 h after CLP induction, respectively.
      Notably, administration of Y-27632 increased peak formation by 99% and total
      thrombin generation by 66% in plasma from septic animals. In addition, CLP
      markedly decreased plasma levels of prothrombin, factor V and factor X at 6 h and
      24 h. Interestingly, Rho-kinase inhibition significantly enhanced levels of
      prothrombin, factor V and factor X in plasma from septic mice. In addition,
      inhibition of Rho-kinase decreased CLP-induced elevations of CXCL2 by 36% and
      interleukin-6 by 38%. These novel findings suggest that sepsis-induced thrombin
      generation is regulated by Rho-kinase. Moreover, inhibition of Rho-kinase
      reverses sepsis-evoked consumption of coagulation factors. Thus, our results show
      that targeting Rho-kinase signaling might protect against coagulation dysfunction
      in abdominal sepsis.

PMID- 25813487
TI  - Safely treating hepatitis C in patients with HIV or hepatitis B virus
      coinfection.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There are several clinical trials and prospective studies which
      support the use of direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) in hepatitis C virus
      (HCV)-coinfected patients. In this review, the safety of DAAs in HCV patients
      coinfected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or HIV has been evaluated. AREAS COVERED:
      All available prospective studies, clinical trials and congress abstracts in the
      English language that assessed the safety and efficacy of DAAs in HCV
      coinfections have been considered. EXPERT OPINION: The newer DAAs in the
      treatment of HCV/HIV-coinfected patients resolved major limitations of the first
      generation protease inhibitors including complex dosing, poor tolerability and
      interactions with antiretroviral drugs. There are not yet enough data regarding
      the safety and efficacy of DAAs in some coinfected patients with comorbidities,
      nor for pregnant, lactating or pediatric patients. Evaluating the safety and
      efficacy of these agents in these subgroups with HCV coinfection is recommended
      for future studies. The role of new direct-acting antiviral-based therapy for the
      treatment of patients with HCV/HBV coinfection remains to be evaluated.

PMID- 25813488
TI  - Chlorination of the beta-triketone herbicides tembotrione and sulcotrione:
      Kinetic and mechanistic study, transformation products identification and
      toxicity.
AB  - The fate of tembotrione (TBT) and sulcotrione (SCT) during chlorination was
      investigated in this work. Chlorination kinetics of TBT and SCT were studied by
      using a continuous-flow reactor in the pH range 2-12 with an excess of total
      chlorine. Second-order reaction was observed and rate constants of 9.69 (+/-0.15)
      * 10(3) M(-1)s(-1) for TBT and 9.48 (+/-0.62) * 10(3) M(-1)s(-1) for SCT were
      obtained at pH 7. Intrinsic rate constants for the elementary reactions of
      chlorine species with neutral and deprotonated forms of TBT and SCT were also
      calculated, leading to the conclusion that the reaction between hypochlorous acid
      and the deprotonated form of the pesticide is predominant at neutral pH. Several
      degradation products during chlorination of TBT and SCT were identified by LC
      MS/MS and a reaction pathway was proposed. Chlorine initially reacted on the
      alpha-carbon of the three carbonyl functional groups. This reaction initiated the
      well-known haloform reaction and produced chloroform as end-product. Molar yields
      of 0.99 mol CHCl3/mol and 0.91 mol CHCl3/mol were obtained for TBT and SCT,
      respectively at pH 7. Moreover, a toxicity evaluation using Vibrio fischeri was
      carried out to study the toxicity pattern during TBT and SCT chlorination. An
      increase in toxicity was observed but it could not be clearly assigned to the
      identified byproducts. 

PMID- 25813489
TI  - Predictive statistical models linking antecedent meteorological conditions and
      waterway bacterial contamination in urban waterways.
AB  - Although the relationships between meteorological conditions and waterway
      bacterial contamination are being better understood, statistical models capable
      of fully leveraging these links have not been developed for highly urbanized
      settings. We present a hierarchical Bayesian regression model for predicting
      transient fecal indicator bacteria contamination episodes in urban waterways.
      Canals, creeks, and rivers of the New York City harbor system are used to examine
      the model. The model configuration facilitates the hierarchical structure of the
      underlying system with weekly observations nested within sampling sites, which in
      turn were nested inside of the harbor network. Models are compared using cross
      validation and a variety of Bayesian and classical model fit statistics. The
      uncertainty of predicted enterococci concentration values is reflected by
      sampling from the posterior predictive distribution. Issuing predictions with the
      uncertainty reasonably reflected allows a water manager or a monitoring agency to
      issue warnings that better reflect the underlying risk of exposure. A model using
      only antecedent meteorological conditions is shown to correctly classify safe and
      unsafe levels of enterococci with good accuracy. The hierarchical Bayesian
      regression approach is most valuable where transient fecal indicator bacteria
      contamination is problematic and drainage network data are scarce. 

PMID- 25813490
TI  - Simultaneous phenol removal, nitrification and denitrification using microbial
      fuel cell technology.
AB  - Here we show that concomitant removal of phenol and nitrogen can be accomplished
      in a single dual-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) reactor, in which the two
      chambers are separated with an anion-exchange membrane. A series of experiments
      were performed with ammonium (230 NH4(+)-N mg L(-1)) and phenol (with
      concentrations varying from 0 to 1400 mg L(-1)) fed to the aerobic cathode
      chamber of the MFC. Experimental results demonstrated that no apparent inhibitory
      effect of phenol on the nitrifying reaction was noted even at the phenol
      concentration up to 600 mg L(-1). For all the experiments, simultaneous
      nitrification and denitrification was achieved in the MFC. In comparison to the
      traditional aerobic bioreactor (ABR) and the same MFC run under the open-circuit
      condition, the MFC reactor allowed less inhibition of nitrification to phenol
      exposure and higher rate of nitrogen removal. The data of bacterial analysis
      revealed that electrochemically active bacteria and denitrifiers in the anaerobic
      chamber play a significant role in electricity generation and anaerobic
      denitrification, respectively, while phenol-degrading bacteria, nitrifiers, and
      denitrifiers in the aerobic cathode chamber are responsible for phenol oxidation,
      aerobic nitrification and aerobic denitrification, respectively. These results
      imply that the MFC holds potential for simultaneous removal of phenolic compounds
      and nitrogen contained in some particular industrial wastewaters. 

PMID- 25813491
TI  - Distribution of perfluorooctane sulfonate isomers and predicted risk of thyroid
      hormonal perturbation in drinking water.
AB  - We documented the distribution of seven perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) isomers
      in drinking water in Jiangsu Province, China. Compared to the 30% proportion of
      branched PFOS in technical PFOS, the levels of branched PFOS in drinking water
      increased to 31.8%-44.6% of total PFOS. Because of previous risk assessment
      without considering the PFOS isomer profile and the toxicity of individual PFOS
      isomers, here we performed a new health risk assessment of PFOS for thyroid
      hormonal perturbation in drinking water with the contribution from individual
      PFOS isomers. The risk quotients (RQs) of individual PFOS isomers indicated that
      linear PFOS contributed most to the risk among all the target PFOS isomers (83.0%
      90.2% of the total PFOS RQ), and that risk from 6m-PFOS (5.2%-11.9% of the total
      PFOS RQ) was higher than that from other branched PFOS isomers. We found that the
      risks associated with PFOS in drinking water would be overestimated by 10.0%
      91.7% if contributions from individual PFOS isomers were not considered. The
      results revealed that the PFOS isomer profile and the toxicity of individual PFOS
      isomers were important factors in health risk assessment of PFOS and should be
      considered in the future risk assessments. 

PMID- 25813492
TI  - NAD+ treatment can prevent rotenone-induced increases in DNA damage, Bax levels
      and nuclear translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor in differentiated PC12
      cells.
AB  - Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) plays critical roles in energy
      metabolism, mitochondrial functions, calcium homeostasis and immunological
      functions. Our previous studies have found that NAD(+) administration can
      profoundly decrease ischemic brain injury and traumatic brain injury. Our recent
      study has also provided first direct evidence indicating that NAD(+) treatment
      can decrease cellular apoptosis, while the mechanisms underlying this protective
      effect remain unclear. In our current study, we determined the effects of NAD(+)
      treatment on several major factors in apoptosis and necrosis, including levels of
      Bax and nuclear translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF), as well as
      levels of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and intracellular ATP in rotenone
      treated differentiated PC12 cells. We found that NAD(+) treatment can markedly
      attenuate the rotenone-induced increases in the levels of Bax and nuclear
      translocation of AIF in the cells. We further found that NAD(+) treatment can
      significantly attenuate the rotenone-induced increase in the levels of DSBs and
      decrease in the intracellular ATP levels. Collectively, our study has suggested
      mechanisms underlying the preventive effects of NAD(+) on apoptosis, which has
      highlighted the therapeutic potential of NAD(+) for decreasing apoptotic changes
      in multiple major diseases. 

PMID- 25813493
TI  - Egocentric and geocentric navigation during extremely long foraging paths of
      desert ants.
AB  - Desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, navigate individually in the salt pans of
      Tunisia by means of path integration. However, as path integration is error
      prone, the ants in addition use visual and olfactory cues to pinpoint their nest
      entrance. It has been shown that the accuracy of the path integrator as well as
      the ants' confidence in that egocentric navigational tool decreases with
      increasing foraging distance. Here, we show that despite the accumulating errors,
      even after far-reaching foraging runs path integration provides the ants with
      surprisingly accurate information regarding the nest position. However, in
      addition, the ants take into account distant visual cues that are most probably
      provided by the patterns along the horizon line behind the nest entrance. 

PMID- 25813494
TI  - Selective interfacial synthesis of metal-organic frameworks on a
      polybenzimidazole hollow fiber membrane for gas separation.
AB  - Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have gained immense attention as new age
      materials due to their tuneable properties and diverse applicability. However,
      efforts on developing promising materials for membrane based gas separation, and
      control over the crystal growth positions on polymeric hollow fiber membranes
      still remain key challenges. In this investigation, a new, convenient and
      scalable room temperature interfacial method for growing MOFs (ZIF-8 and CuBTC)
      on either the outer or inner side of a polybenzimidazole based hollow fiber (PBI
      BuI-HF) membrane surface has been achieved in a controlled manner. This was made
      possible by the appropriate selection of an immiscible solvent pair and the
      synthetic conditions. The growth of MOFs on the PBI-BuI-HF membrane by the
      interfacial method was continuous and showed an appreciable gas separation
      performance, conveying promise for their applicability. 

PMID- 25813495
TI  - Guiding fluid resuscitation in critically ill patients: how to evaluate the
      available tools?

PMID- 25813496
TI  - Cranioplasty after decompressive craniectomy: about bone flap preservation.

PMID- 25813497
TI  - Development of a radiation track structure clustering algorithm for the
      prediction of DNA DSB yields and radiation induced cell death in Eukaryotic
      cells.
AB  - The preliminary framework of a combined radiobiological model is developed and
      calibrated in the current work. The model simulates the production of individual
      cells forming a tumour, the spatial distribution of individual ionization events
      (using Geant4-DNA) and the stochastic biochemical repair of DNA double strand
      breaks (DSBs) leading to the prediction of survival or death of individual cells.
      In the current work, we expand upon a previously developed tumour generation and
      irradiation model to include a stochastic ionization damage clustering and DNA
      lesion repair model. The Geant4 code enabled the positions of each ionization
      event in the cells to be simulated and recorded for analysis. An algorithm was
      developed to cluster the ionization events in each cell into simple and complex
      double strand breaks. The two lesion kinetic (TLK) model was then adapted to
      predict DSB repair kinetics and the resultant cell survival curve. The parameters
      in the cell survival model were then calibrated using experimental cell survival
      data of V79 cells after low energy proton irradiation. A monolayer of V79 cells
      was simulated using the tumour generation code developed previously. The cells
      were then irradiated by protons with mean energies of 0.76 MeV and 1.9 MeV using
      a customized version of Geant4. By replicating the experimental parameters of a
      low energy proton irradiation experiment and calibrating the model with two sets
      of data, the model is now capable of predicting V79 cell survival after low
      energy (<2 MeV) proton irradiation for a custom set of input parameters. The
      novelty of this model is the realistic cellular geometry which can be irradiated
      using Geant4-DNA and the method in which the double strand breaks are predicted
      from clustering the spatial distribution of ionisation events. Unlike the
      original TLK model which calculates a tumour average cell survival probability,
      the cell survival probability is calculated for each cell in the geometric tumour
      model developed in the current work. This model uses fundamental measurable
      microscopic quantities such as genome length rather than macroscopic
      radiobiological quantities such as alpha/beta ratios. This means that the model
      can be theoretically used under a wide range of conditions with a single set of
      input parameters once calibrated for a given cell line.

PMID- 25813499
TI  - Expansion and retrenchment of the Swedish welfare state: a long-term approach.
AB  - In this article, we will undertake a long-term analysis of the evolution of the
      Swedish welfare state, seeking to explain that evolution through the use of a
      systemic approach. That is, our approach will consider the interrelations between
      economic growth (EG), the sociopolitical institutional framework (IF), and the
      welfare state (WS)-understood as a set of institutions embracing the labor market
      and its regulation, the tax system, and the so-called social wage-in order to
      find the main variables that elucidate its evolution. We will show that the
      expansive phase of the Swedish welfare state can be explained by the symbiotic
      relationships developed in the WS-EG-IF interaction, whereas the period of
      welfare state retrenchment is one result of changes operating within the
      sociopolitical IF and EG bases. 

PMID- 25813498
TI  - Antibody-mediated rejection in pediatric kidney transplantation: pathophysiology,
      diagnosis, and management.
AB  - Kidney transplant is the preferred treatment of pediatric end-stage renal
      disease. One of the most challenging aspects of pediatric kidney transplant is
      the prevention and treatment of antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR), which is one
      of the main causes of graft dysfunction and early graft loss. Most challenges are
      similar to those faced in adult kidney transplants; however, factors unique to
      the pediatric realm include naivety of the immune system and the small number of
      studies and randomized controlled trials available when considering
      pharmacological treatment options. Here, we present a case of ABMR in a pediatric
      patient and a review of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of ABMR.
      ABMR in pediatric kidney transplant continues to be a frustrating condition to
      treat because (1) there still remain many unidentified potential antigens leading
      to ABMR, (2) children and adults are at different stages of their immune system
      development, and, thus, (3) the full pathophysiology of alloimmunity is still not
      completely understood, and (4) the efficacy and safety of treatment in adults may
      not be directly translated to children. As we continue to gain a better
      understanding towards the precise alloimmune mechanism that drives a particular
      ABMR, we can also improve pharmacotherapeutic choices. With continued research,
      they will become more precise in treating a particular mechanism versus using a
      broad scope of immunosuppression such as steroids. However, there is much more to
      be uncovered, such as identifying more non-human leukocyte antigens and their
      role in alloimmunity, determining the exact mechanism of adults achieving
      complete operational tolerance, and understanding the difference between
      pediatric and adult transplant recipients. Making strides towards a better
      understanding of these mechanisms will lead to continued efficacy and safety in
      treatment of pediatric ABMR. 

PMID- 25813500
TI  - Three decades of neoliberalism in Mexico: the destruction of society.
AB  - Neoliberalism has been implemented in Latin America for about three decades. This
      article reviews Mexico's neoliberal trajectory to illustrate the political,
      economic, and social alterations that have resulted from this process. It finds
      that representative democracy has been perverted through fear, putting central
      political decisions in the hands of power groups with special interests. The
      border between the state of law and the state of exception is blurred. Economic
      structural adjustment with liberalization and privatization has provoked
      recurrent crisis, but has been maintained, leading to the destruction of the
      national productive structure in favor of supranational corporations,
      particularly financial capital. The association between criminal economy and
      economic criminality is also discussed. The privatization of social benefits and
      services requires state subsidies and allows the privatization of profits and the
      socialization of losses. The social impact of this process has been devastating,
      with a polarized income distribution, falling wages, increased precarious jobs,
      rising inequality, and extreme violence. Health conditions have also deteriorated
      and disorders associated with violence, chronic stress, and a changing
      nutritional culture have become dominating. However, in Latin America, massive,
      organized political and social mobilization has broken the vicious neoliberal
      circle and elected progressive governments that are struggling to reverse social
      and economic devastation. 

PMID- 25813501
TI  - Social class and mental health: testing exploitation as a relational determinant
      of depression.
AB  - This study tests whether social class exploitation operates as a relational
      mechanism that generates mental health inequalities in the nursing home industry.
      We ask, does social class exploitation (i.e., the acquisition of economic
      benefits from the labor of those who are dominated) have a systematic and
      predictable impact on depression among nursing assistants? Using cross-sectional
      data from 868 nursing assistants employed in 50 nursing homes in three U.S.
      states, we measure social class exploitation as "ownership type" (private for
      profit, private not-for-profit, and public) and "managerial domination" (labor
      relations violations, perceptions of labor-management conflict). Depression is
      assessed using the original and revised versions of the Center for Epidemiologic
      Studies Depression Scale (CES-D and CESD-R). Using two-level logistic
      regressions, we find that private for-profit ownership and higher managerial
      domination are predictive of depression among nursing assistants even after
      adjustment for potential confounders and mediators. Our findings confirm the
      theoretical and empirical value of applying a social class approach to
      understanding how mental health inequalities are generated through exploitative
      mechanisms. Ownership type and managerial domination appear to affect depression
      through social relations that generate mental health inequalities through the
      process of acquiring profits, controlling production, supervising and monitoring
      labor, and enforcing disciplinary sanctions. 

PMID- 25813502
TI  - The role of ethnic and rural discrimination in the relationship between income
      inequality and health in Guatemala.
AB  - This article seeks to understand in the ways in which income inequality can
      affect children's health (z-score of stunting) in Guatemala. We postulate that
      there are several transmission channels through which income inequality can
      affect health and that the children's ethnic and rural origins influence the size
      and direction of this effect. The methodology employed is systems of simultaneous
      equations (three-stage least squares and generalized method of moments). Our
      results highlight the importance of rural and indigenous characteristics in the
      relationship between income inequality and child health and indicate that the
      most important transmission channels are household income levels and maternal
      education. 

PMID- 25813503
TI  - International recruitment of health workers: British lessons for Europe? Emerging
      concerns and future research recommendations.
AB  - Immigration as a solution to staff and skill shortages in the health system is
      increasingly on the agenda in the European Union. This article highlights the
      related social and policy dilemmas by comparing a new destination country with an
      old destination country: Spain and the United Kingdom. After describing the
      challenges met by the United Kingdom, we ask how well-prepared Spain is to face
      the same issues. In particular, attention is paid to the occupational mobility of
      health workers after entry and to how immigration as a staffing solution poses
      new political and social challenges. Through a review of background information
      regarding the immigration of health workers in the two countries and the
      preliminary analysis of 15 exploratory interviews, we aim to identify the primary
      trends and key concerns for future analysis. Although our interviews only allow
      us to draw tentative conclusions, they do highlight emerging issues to be
      explored in the near future. Our conclusions show that many of the problems
      traditionally encountered in the United Kingdom are now emerging in Spain,
      suggesting scope for further collaboration among government, employers, and other
      stakeholders across the European Union. 

PMID- 25813504
TI  - "The Major Forces that Need to Back Medical Tourism Were ... in Alignment":
      Championing Development of Barbados's Medical Tourism Sector.
AB  - Governments around the world have expressed interest in developing local medical
      tourism sectors, framing the industry as an opportunity for economic growth and
      health system improvement. This article addresses questions about how the desire
      to develop a medical tourism sector in a country emerges and which stakeholders
      are involved in both creating momentum and informing its progress. Presenting a
      thematic analysis of 19 key informant interviews conducted with domestic and
      international stakeholders in Barbados's medical tourism sector in 2011, we
      examine the roles that "actors" and "champions" at home and abroad have played in
      the sector's development. Physicians and the Barbadian government, along with
      international investors, the Medical Tourism Association, and development
      agencies, have promoted the industry, while actors such as medical tourists and
      international hospital accreditation companies are passively framing the terms of
      how medical tourism is unfolding in Barbados. Within this context, we seek to
      better understand the roles and relationships of various actors and champions
      implicated in the development of medical tourism in order to provide a more
      nuanced understanding of how the sector is emerging in Barbados and elsewhere and
      how its development might impact equitable health system development. 

PMID- 25813505
TI  - Sociopolitical determinants of international health policy.
AB  - For decades, two opposing logics have dominated the health policy debate: a
      comprehensive health care approach, with the 1978 Alma Ata Declaration as its
      cornerstone, and a private competition logic, emphasizing the role of the private
      sector. We present this debate and its influence on international health policies
      in the context of changing global economic and sociopolitical power relations in
      the second half of the last century. The neoliberal approach is illustrated with
      Chile's health sector reform in the 1980s and the Colombian reform since 1993.
      The comprehensive "public logic" is shown through the social insurance models in
      Costa Rica and in Brazil and through the national public health systems in Cuba
      since 1959 and in Nicaragua during the 1980s. These experiences emphasize that
      health care systems do not naturally gravitate toward greater fairness and
      efficiency, but require deliberate policy decisions. 

PMID- 25813506
TI  - An empirical evaluation of devolving administrative control to Costa Rican
      hospital and clinic directors.
AB  - In the early 2000s, Costa Rica implemented comprehensive reforms of its health
      care system, including devolving administrative power from the central government
      to some providers that remain part of the national system. In this article, we
      evaluate how this aspect of the reform affected clinic efficiency and population
      health by analyzing administrative data on regional providers and mortality rates
      in local areas. We compare changes in outcomes across time between areas that
      signed performance contracts with the central government and received limited
      budgetary control to those that continued to be managed directly by the central
      government. We believe the reform created opportunities for providers to become
      more efficient and effective. Our results suggest that the reform significantly
      decreased costs without adversely affecting quality of care or population health.

PMID- 25813507
TI  - Liquid culture production of microsclerotia and submerged conidia by Trichoderma
      harzianum active against damping-off disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani.
AB  - Media and culturing protocols were identified that supported the formation of
      submerged conidia and microsclerotia (MS) by Trichoderma harzianum Rifai strain T
      22 using liquid culture fermentation. Liquid media with a higher carbon
      concentration (36 g L(-1)) promoted MS formation at all C:N ratios tested. Hyphae
      aggregated to form MS after 2 d growth and after 7 d MS were fully melanized.
      This is the first report of MS formation by T. harzianum or any species of
      Trichoderma. Furthermore, submerged conidia formation was induced by liquid
      culture media, but yields, desiccation tolerance, and storage stability varied
      with C:N ratio and carbon rate. Air-dried MS granules (<4% moisture) retained
      excellent shelf life under cool and unrefrigerated storage conditions with no
      loss in conidial production. A low-cost complex nitrogen source based on
      cottonseed flour effectively supported high MS yields. Amending potting mix with
      dried MS formulations reduced or eliminated damping-off of melon seedlings caused
      by Rhizoctonia solani. Together, the results provide insights into the liquid
      culture production, stabilization process, and bioefficacy of the hitherto
      unreported MS of T. harzianum as a potential biofungicide for use in integrated
      management programs against soilborne diseases.

PMID- 25813508
TI  - Aflatoxin-producing fungi in maize field soils from sea level to over 2000 masl:
      a three year study in Sonora, Mexico.
AB  - Aflatoxins, highly toxic carcinogens produced by several members of Aspergillus
      section Flavi, contaminate crops in temperate zones. In the state of Sonora,
      Mexico, maize is cultivated from 0 to 2100 masl with diverse cultivation
      practices. This is typical of the nation. In order to design better sampling
      strategies across Mexico, aflatoxin-producing fungal communities associated with
      maize production during 2006, 2007, and 2008 in Sonora were investigated in four
      agro-ecological zones (AEZ) at varying elevation. Fungal communities were
      dominated by the Aspergillus flavus L strain morphotype (46%), but variation
      occurred between years and among AEZ. Several atoxigenic isolates with potential
      to be used as biocontrol agents for aflatoxin mitigation were detected in all
      AEZ. The characteristics of each AEZ had minimal influences on fungal community
      structure and should not be a major consideration for future sampling designs for
      Mexico. Insights into the dynamics and stability of aflatoxin-producing fungal
      communities across AEZ are discussed.

PMID- 25813510
TI  - New insights into the characterization of Colletotrichum species associated with
      apple diseases in southern Brazil and Uruguay.
AB  - Colletotrichum species are associated with Apple bitter rot (ABR) and Glomerella
      leaf spot (GLS). Whereas both apple diseases occur frequently in Brazil, only the
      former has been reported in Uruguay. This work was aimed at identifying and
      comparing morpho-cultural characteristics and pathogenic variability of thirty
      nine Colletotrichum isolates from both countries. Sequencing of the internal
      transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH),
      and beta-tubulin (TUB2) allowed the identification of three species causing ABR
      and GLS in Brazil, i.e., Colletotrichum fructicola, Colletotrichum karstii, and
      Colletotrichum nymphaeae; and three species causing ABR in Uruguay, i.e., C.
      fructicola, Colletotrichum theobromicola, and Colletotrichum melonis. Six groups
      of colony colours were recorded with group 1 (mycelium white to pink and in
      reverse pinkish) and group 2 (mycelium white to grey and in reverse pinkish) the
      most frequent. Isolates of C. fructicola and C. theobromicola were sensitive to
      benomyl, while C. karstii, C. nymphaeae, and C. melonis were resistant. Conidia
      were predominantly cylindrical for C. fructicola and C. karstii, fusiform for C.
      nymphaeae and C. melonis, and obclavate for C. theobromicola. Brazilian isolates
      caused ABR in wounded fruits, but only five in non-wounded ones. Uruguayan
      isolates produced symptoms in fruits with or without previous wounding. All
      Brazilian isolates from GLS and twelve from ABR were able to cause GLS symptoms,
      while a sole Uruguayan ABR-isolate caused leaf spot symptoms. This study gives a
      better insight on the new species causing apple disease in both countries and
      discusses their pathogenic potential. 

PMID- 25813509
TI  - Cryptic diversity in the sequestrate genus Stephanospora (Stephanosporaceae:
      Agaricales) in Australasia.
AB  - Historically a single name, Stephanospora flava, was applied to all collections
      of Stephanospora in Australasia. We used morphological characters with molecular
      support to differentiate and describe nine novel cryptic species, and refine the
      circumscription of S. flava. Stephanospora flava is herein restricted to bispored
      collections from Tasmania, and the quadrisporic Stephanospora tetraspora is
      raised to species level. Six species (four new) are endemic to Australia, S.
      flava s.s, S. tetraspora comb. nov., Stephanospora sheoak, Stephanospora cribbae,
      Stephanospora hystrispora, and Stephanospora occidentiaustralis. Three species
      Stephanospora poropingao, Stephanospora pounamu, and Stephanospora kanuka are
      endemic to New Zealand; and one species, Stephanospora aorangi occurs in both
      Australia and New Zealand. Two other new species, Stephanospora novae-caledoniae
      and Stephanospora papua, are endemic to New Caledonia or Papua New Guinea,
      respectively. Analyses of three nuclear gene regions (ITS, ef-1, and LSU) are
      consistent with current classifications of the family Stephanosporaceae.
      Athelidium aurantiacum is an outlier, with a strongly supported core of Cristinia
      (Clade I), Lindtneria (Clade II), Stephanospora, Mayamontana, and Lindtneria
      trachyspora (Clade III), and a novel lineage of environmental and sporocarp
      sequences (Clade IV). Taxonomic and nomenclatural issues raised by the presence
      of both type species of Stephanospora (Stephanospora caroticolor) and Lindtneria
      (L. trachyspora) in the same clade are discussed.

PMID- 25813511
TI  - Long-distance dispersal and recolonization of a fire-destroyed niche by a mite
      associated fungus.
AB  - The Fynbos Biome in the Core Cape Subregion of South Africa is prone to recurrent
      fires that can clear vast areas of vegetation. Between periods of fire,
      ophiostomatoid fungi colonize the fruiting structures of serotinous Protea
      species through arthropod-mediated dispersal. Using microsatellite markers, this
      study considered the process whereby a Protea-associated ophiostomatoid fungus,
      Knoxdaviesia proteae, recolonizes a burnt area. The genetic diversity,
      composition and structure of fungal populations from young P. repens plants in a
      recently burnt area were compared to populations from the adjacent, unburnt
      Protea population. The only difference between K. proteae populations from the
      two areas was found in the number of private alleles, which was significantly
      higher in the unburnt population. The population structure, although weak,
      indicated that most K. proteae individuals from recently burnt areas originated
      from the unburnt population. However, individuals from unsampled source
      populations were also detected. This, together with the lack of isolation-by
      distance across the landscape, suggested that long-distance dispersal is
      important for K. proteae to recolonize burnt areas. Similarly, the high level of
      gene flow and low differentiation observed between two distantly separated K.
      proteae populations also supported the existence of long-distance dispersal. The
      genetic cohesiveness of populations over long distances and the genetic diversity
      within populations could be attributed to frequent multiple fungal migration
      events mediated primarily by arthropods but, potentially, also by birds. 

PMID- 25813512
TI  - Variations in oxygen concentration cause differential antioxidant response and
      expression of related genes in Beauveria bassiana.
AB  - The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana is widely used in pest biocontrol
      strategies. We evaluated both the antioxidant response mediated by compatible
      solutes, trehalose or mannitol, and the expression of related genes using oxygen
      pulses at three oxygen concentrations in solid state culture (SSC): normal
      atmosphere (21% O2), low oxygen (16% O2) and enriched oxygen (26% O2). Trehalose
      concentration decreased 75% after atmospheric modifications in the cultures,
      whereas mannitol synthesis was three-fold higher under the 16% O2 pulses relative
      to normal atmosphere (100 and 30 MUg mannitol mg(-1) biomass, respectively).
      Confirming this result, expression of the mpd gene, coding for mannitol-1-P
      dehydrogenase (MPD), increased up to 1.4 times after O2 pulses. The expression of
      the bbrgs1 gene, encoding a regulatory G protein related to conidiation, was
      analysed to explain previously reported differences in conidial production.
      Surprisingly, expression of bbrgs1 decreased after atmospheric modification.
      Finally, principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that 83.39% of the
      variability in the data could be explained by two components. This analysis
      corroborated the positive correlation between mannitol concentration and mpd gene
      expression, as well as the negative correlation between conidial production and
      bbrgs1 gene expression. This study contributes to understanding of antioxidant
      and molecular response of B. bassiana induced under oxidant conditions.

PMID- 25813513
TI  - Changes in Trichoderma asperellum enzyme expression during parasitism of the
      cotton root rot pathogen Phymatotrichopsis omnivora.
AB  - The present study determined the activity of hydrolytic enzymes and the gene
      expression during direct interaction of the novelTrichoderma asperellumstrains
      TC74 (high antagonistic capacity) and Th1 (low antagonistic capacity) with the
      plant pathogenic fungusPhymatotrichopsis omnivora. TheT. asperellumstrains
      produced the lytic enzymes endochitinase, N-acetylglucosaminidase and beta-1,3
      glucanase when grown on two different carbon sources. The response of strain TC74
      was more rapid than that of strain Th1. When directly exposed toP. omnivora,
      theT. asperellumstrains expressed one endochitinase and one N
      acetylglucosaminidase, as shown by RT-PCR experiments. The strains also expressed
      two beta-1,3-exoglucanases (designated as exg290 and exg343). TC74 and Th1 were
      able to express their chitinases and beta-1,3-exoglucanase activities when grown
      on the different carbon sources tested. When theT. asperellumstrains were grown
      in the presence ofP. omnivora, qRT-PCR experiments revealed that mycoparasitism
      related genes were first expressed prior to contact between the antagonist and
      the pathogen's mycelium. As a general response, the transcription level of these
      genes was increased at the post-contact stage. Although TC74 and Th1 both express
      the assayed genes when grown in direct contact withP. omnivora, significant
      differences in the time, intensity and kinetics of the response were observed.

PMID- 25813514
TI  - Production of hydrocarbons by Aspergillus carbonarius ITEM 5010.
AB  - The filamentous fungus, Asperigillus carbonarius, is able to produce a series of
      hydrocarbons in liquid culture using lignocellulosic biomasses, such as corn
      stover and switch grass as carbon source. The hydrocarbons produced by the fungus
      show similarity to jet fuel composition and might have industrial application.
      The production of hydrocarbons was found to be dependent on type of media used.
      Therefore, ten different carbon sources (oat meal, wheat bran, glucose,
      carboxymethyl cellulose, avicel, xylan, corn stover, switch grass, pretreated
      corn stover, and pretreated switch grass) were tested to identify the maximum
      number and quantity of hydrocarbons produced. Several hydrocarbons were produced
      include undecane, dodecane, tetradecane, hexadecane 2,4-dimethylhexane, 4
      methylheptane, 3-methyl-1-butanol, ethyl benzene, o-xylene. Oatmeal was found to
      be the carbon source resulting in the largest amounts of hydrocarbon products.
      The production of fungal hydrocarbons, especially from lignocellulosic biomasses,
      holds a great potential for future biofuel production whenever our knowledge on
      regulators and pathways increases.

PMID- 25813515
TI  - Dissecting the formation, structure and barrier function of the stratum corneum.
AB  - The skin is the largest organ of the mammalian body. The outermost layer of
      mammalian skin, the stratum corneum (SC) of the epidermis, consists of piles of
      dead corneocytes that are the end-products of terminal differentiation of
      epidermal keratinocytes. The SC performs a crucial barrier function of epidermis.
      Langerhans cells, when activated, extend their dendrites through tight junctions
      just beneath the SC to capture external antigens. Recently, knowledge of the
      biology of corneocytes ('corneobiology') has progressed rapidly and many key
      factors that modulate its barrier function have been identified and
      characterized. In this review article on the SC, we summarize its evolution,
      formation, structure and function. Cornification is an important step of SC
      formation at the conversion of living epithelial cells to dead corneocytes, and
      consists of three major steps: formation of the intracellular keratin network,
      cornified envelopes and intercellular lipids. After cornification, the SC
      undergoes chemical reactions to form the mature SC with different functional
      layers. Finally, the SC is shed off at the surface ('desquamation'), mediated by
      a cascade of several proteases. This review will be helpful to understand our
      expanding knowledge of the biology of the SC, where immunity meets external
      antigens. 

PMID- 25813516
TI  - Innovation of a syringe needle auto-detaching device for clinicians.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Needle-stick injuries accounts for a great proportion of all medical
      accidents in developing and undeveloped countries. The main cause of needle-stick
      accident injuries is the medical personnel's ''recovering'' the needle action
      after injection. OBJECTIVE: This study applies an electronic technique to the
      needling instrument for the purpose of automatically detaching the needle. The
      proposed method can effectively avoid needle-stick accident injury when
      ''recovering'' the needle. METHODS: The syringe needle auto-detaching device
      includes an abutment on which there is a turntable mechanism composed of a
      pedestal, a turn-table and a driving unit. A photo interrupter on the pedestal
      detects the rotational angle of the turntable and controls the stepping motor
      through a control circuit. An optical sensor is located on the upper end of the
      sensing mechanism. When the syringe is inserted into the syringe plughole the
      exposed portion of the needle will be detected by the optical sensor. After the
      syringe is placed into the plughole, its needle will be detected by the sensor.
      At this time the needle will be detached from the syringe and automatically fall
      down into the needle collection box. RESULTS: The syringe needle auto-detaching
      device was fatigue tested for an extensive period of time (A group: 1000
      times/day for 3 ml, B group: 1000 times/day for 5 ml, C group: 1000 times/day for
      3 ml and 5 ml staggered, D group: 1000 times/day for 3 ml and 5 ml randomized).
      The needle and syringe detachment rates were 100% in all test groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: The syringe needle auto-detaching device developed in this study, in
      that the clinician performs only one step to dispose a needle. Six syringe needle
      sets can be managed sequence second by second. The proposed device without all of
      the risk factors of the traditional syringe needle detachment device.

PMID- 25813517
TI  - Psychometric Properties of the Brief Autism Mealtime Behaviors Inventory.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of the Brief
      Autism Mealtime Behaviors Inventory (BAMBI). In a sample of 273 well
      characterized children with ASD, we explored the factor structure of the BAMBI,
      determined the internal consistency of a newly derived factor structure and
      provide an empirically derived cut-off for the BAMBI total score. The new
      psychometrically identified structure consists of 4 factors: (1) Food
      Selectivity, (2) Disruptive Mealtime Behaviors, (3) Food Refusal and (4) Mealtime
      Rigidity. Internal consistency was acceptable. A cut off score of 34 is suggested
      based on our results. The new 15-item BAMB with an alternative 4-factor structure
      with clinical utility is promising in assessing feeding and mealtime problems in
      children with ASD. 

PMID- 25813518
TI  - [Editorial].

PMID- 25813519
TI  - Phytochemical profile and therapeutic potential of Viscum album L.
AB  - Viscum album L., the European mistletoe, is a common species from the Viscaceae
      family. This evergreen hemiparasitic shrub grows on various trees and contains
      diverse, biologically active substances. Its chemical composition may vary
      depending on the time of harvest, species of the host tree and the manufacturing
      process. Among well-described and most active phytochemicals identified in V.
      album are lectins and viscotoxins, which play substantial role in cancer
      treatment because of their apoptotic and cytotoxic effects. Another group of
      compounds found in mistletoe are phenolic acids, phenylpropanoids and flavonoids
      with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, which decrease blood pressure.
      Other mistletoe components include, among others, triterpenes with cytotoxic and
      apoptotic properties, and phytosterols, oligo- and polysaccharides. Extracts from
      the plant, especially aqueous, are applied in traditional and official medicine,
      among others in treating hypertension or arthritis. Potentially, it can also be
      used as a hepatoprotective or a sedative drug. 

PMID- 25813521
TI  - Do patients with chronic rhinosinusitis benefit from consultation with an ENT
      doctor?
AB  - CONCLUSION: By consulting an ENT-doctor, patients with chronic rhinosinusitis
      (CRS), in the general population, receive disease information and adjustment of
      treatment which can improve disease-specific Quality-of-Life and may improve
      objective measurements. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to follow persons with
      clinical diagnosed CRS from the general population, to evaluate their benefit
      from consultation with an ENT-doctor in terms of severity of symptoms and Quality
      of-Life. METHODS: As part of a trans-European study, selected respondents to a
      survey questionnaire were invited for a clinical visit. Based on the European
      Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps, persons were diagnosed with
      CRS and followed for 2 years. Quality-of-Life was measured using the Sino Nasal
      Outcome Test 22 and European Quality-of-Life - 5 Dimensions. Clinical examination
      included rhinoscopy, acoustic rhinometry, peak nasal inspiratory flow, smell
      test, and skin prick test. RESULTS: Out of 91 persons with CRS, only 42% had
      previously consulted an ENT-doctor, and 51% were in current treatment for CRS.
      Most patients were advised medical treatment and 20% underwent surgery. Disease
      specific Quality-of-Life, peak nasal inspiratory flow, olfactory function, and
      the nasal volume significantly increased over the 2-year period.

PMID- 25813520
TI  - Salicylic Acid-Based Polymers for Guided Bone Regeneration Using Bone
      Morphogenetic Protein-2.
AB  - Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) is used clinically to promote spinal fusion,
      treat complex tibia fractures, and to promote bone formation in
      craniomaxillofacial surgery. Excessive bone formation at sites where BMP-2 has
      been applied is an established complication and one that could be corrected by
      guided tissue regeneration methods. In this study, anti-inflammatory polymers
      containing salicylic acid [salicylic acid-based poly(anhydride-ester), SAPAE]
      were electrospun with polycaprolactone (PCL) to create thin flexible matrices for
      use as guided bone regeneration membranes. SAPAE polymers hydrolyze to release
      salicylic acid, which is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. PCL was used to
      enhance the mechanical integrity of the matrices. Two different SAPAE-containing
      membranes were produced and compared: fast-degrading (FD-SAPAE) and slow
      degrading (SD-SAPAE) membranes that release salicylic acid at a faster and slower
      rate, respectively. Rat femur defects were treated with BMP-2 and wrapped with FD
      SAPAE, SD-SAPAE, or PCL membrane or were left unwrapped. The effects of different
      membranes on bone formation within and outside of the femur defects were measured
      by histomorphometry and microcomputed tomography. Bone formation within the
      defect was not affected by membrane wrapping at BMP-2 doses of 12 MUg or more. In
      contrast, the FD-SAPAE membrane significantly reduced bone formation outside the
      defect compared with all other treatments. The rapid release of salicylic acid
      from the FD-SAPAE membrane suggests that localized salicylic acid treatment
      during the first few days of BMP-2 treatment can limit ectopic bone formation.
      The data support development of SAPAE polymer membranes for guided bone
      regeneration applications as well as barriers to excessive bone formation.

PMID- 25813523
TI  - Importance and hurdles to drug discovery for neurological disease.
AB  - This is a critical time in neurotherapeutics. The prevalence of neurological
      disease, such as dementia, stroke, and peripheral neuropathy, is large and
      growing consequent to the aging population. The personal and societal impact of
      these disorders is enormous, and the number of novel therapies in the pipeline
      for these disorders has been contracting. Support for the development of
      neurotherapies must continue from the bench to their ultimate place at the
      bedside. Academic medicine must continue to play a critical role, in league with
      industry and government, in the development of novel neurotherapies desperately
      needed by an ever-expanding population. Critical steps include the identification
      and adoption of reliable, valid, and reproducible biomarkers to serve as primary
      endpoints in clinical trials of neurological disease.

PMID- 25813522
TI  - Genome-wide profiling of p53-regulated enhancer RNAs uncovers a subset of
      enhancers controlled by a lncRNA.
AB  - p53 binds enhancers to regulate key target genes. Here, we globally mapped p53
      regulated enhancers by looking at enhancer RNA (eRNA) production. Intriguingly,
      while many p53-induced enhancers contained p53-binding sites, most did not. As
      long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are prominent regulators of chromatin dynamics, we
      hypothesized that p53-induced lncRNAs contribute to the activation of enhancers
      by p53. Among p53-induced lncRNAs, we identified LED and demonstrate that its
      suppression attenuates p53 function. Chromatin-binding and eRNA expression
      analyses show that LED associates with and activates strong enhancers. One
      prominent target of LED was located at an enhancer region within CDKN1A gene, a
      potent p53-responsive cell cycle inhibitor. LED knockdown reduces CDKN1A enhancer
      induction and activity, and cell cycle arrest following p53 activation. Finally,
      promoter-associated hypermethylation analysis shows silencing of LED in human
      tumours. Thus, our study identifies a new layer of complexity in the p53 pathway
      and suggests its dysregulation in cancer. 

PMID- 25813524
TI  - Cucurbitacin B Alters the Expression of Tumor-Related Genes by Epigenetic
      Modifications in NSCLC and Inhibits NNK-Induced Lung Tumorigenesis.
AB  - Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents almost 85% of total diagnosed lung
      cancer. Studies have shown that combination of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) and
      histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors is effective against various cancers,
      including lung cancer. However, optimizing the synergistic dose regime is very
      difficult and involves adverse side effects. Therefore, in this study, we have
      shown that cucurbitacin B (CuB), a single bioactive triterpenoid compound,
      inhibits both DNMTs and HDACs starting at a very low dose of 60 nmol/L in NSCLC
      H1299 cells. The CuB-mediated inhibition of DNMTs and HDACs in H1299 cells leads
      to the reactivation of key tumor suppressor genes (TSG) such as CDKN1A and
      CDKN2A, as well as downregulation of oncogenes c-MYC and K-RAS and key tumor
      promoter gene (TPG), human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT). The
      upregulation of TSGs and downregulation of TPG were consistently correlated with
      the alterations in their promoter methylation and histone modifications. This
      altered expression of TPG and TSGs is, at least in part, responsible for the
      inhibition of cellular proliferation and induction of cellular apoptosis in
      NSCLC. Furthermore, CuB treatment significantly inhibited the tumor incidence and
      multiplicity in 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK)-induced lung
      tumorigenesis in A/J mice, which was associated with the induction of apoptosis
      and inhibition of hyperproliferation in the lung tissues. Together, our study
      provides new insight into the CuB-mediated epigenetic alterations and its
      chemotherapeutic effects on lung cancer.

PMID- 25813525
TI  - Circulating Vitamin D Levels and Risk of Colorectal Cancer in Women.
AB  - Observational data on the association between circulating 25(OH)D and colorectal
      cancer risk are limited in women. To determine whether prediagnostic levels of
      25(OH)D were associated with risk of incident colorectal cancer in the Women's
      Health Study (WHS), we conducted a nested case-control study using 274 colorectal
      cases and 274 controls. Each case was matched to a control by age, ethnicity,
      fasting status at the time of blood collection, time of day when blood was drawn,
      and month of blood draw. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the
      OR and 95% confidence interval (CI) for colorectal cancer by 25(OH)D quartiles.
      Mean plasma 25(OH)D was lower in cases versus controls (21.9 vs. 23.9 ng/mL, P =
      0.01). In multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models, plasma 25(OH)D was
      significantly and inversely associated with odds of colorectal cancer (quartile 4
      [Q4] vs. quartile 1 [Q1]: OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.25-0.81; Ptrend 0.02). In addition,
      we observed a somewhat lower risk of colorectal cancer-related mortality after
      adjustment for matching variables, randomization treatment and other risk factors
      (Q4:Q1 OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.17-0.97; Ptrend 0.05). In this cohort of healthy
      women, we found a significant inverse association between prediagnostic 25(OH)D
      levels and risk of incident colorectal cancer, and a borderline significant
      inverse association between prediagnostic 25(OH)D levels and colorectal cancer
      related mortality. These results support a possible association between plasma
      25(OH)D and risk of colorectal cancer in women.

PMID- 25813526
TI  - Ink4a/Arf-Dependent Loss of Parietal Cells Induced by Oxidative Stress Promotes
      CD44-Dependent Gastric Tumorigenesis.
AB  - Loss of parietal cells initiates the development of spasmolytic polypeptide
      expressing metaplasia (SPEM), a precancerous lesion in stomach. CD44 variant
      (CD44v) that enhances the ability to defend against reactive oxygen species (ROS)
      in epithelial cells is expressed de novo in SPEM of K19-Wnt1/C2mE mice, a
      transgenic model of gastric tumorigenesis, and is required for the efficient
      development of SPEM and gastric tumor in these animals. The role of ROS and its
      downstream signaling in CD44-dependent gastric tumorigenesis has remained
      unknown, however. With the use of the K19-Wnt1/C2mE mouse, we now show that
      parietal cells in the inflamed stomach are highly sensitive to oxidative stress
      and manifest activation of p38(MAPK) signaling by ROS. Oral treatment with the
      antioxidant ascorbic acid or genetic ablation of the Ink4a/Arf locus, a major
      downstream target of ROS-p38(MAPK) signaling, inhibited parietal cell loss and
      the subsequent gastric tumorigenesis. Our results indicate that signaling
      activated by oxidative stress in parietal cells plays a key role in CD44
      dependent gastric tumorigenesis. .

PMID- 25813527
TI  - Auditory Pathway Features Determined by DTI in Subjects with Unilateral Acoustic
      Neuroma.
AB  - PURPOSE: In the studies concerning the pathology of the auditory pathway in the
      vestibulocochlear system, few use advanced neuroimaging applications of magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI) such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Those who did use
      reported DTI changes only at the lateral lemniscus and inferior colliculus level.
      The aim of our study was to determine diffusion changes in the bilateral auditory
      pathways of subjects with unilateral acoustic neuroma (AN) and compare them with
      healthy controls. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 15 subjects with unilateral AN
      along with 11 controls underwent routine MRI and DTI. Apparent diffusion
      coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) values obtained from the lateral
      lemniscus, inferior colliculus, corpus geniculatum mediale, and Heschl's gyrus of
      the auditory pathway were then compared. RESULTS: The subjects' ADC values
      measured from the contralateral side were significantly higher at the lateral
      lemniscus, inferior colliculus, and corpus geniculatum mediale compared with
      those of the controls. Also, decreased FA values were noted at the inferior
      colliculus for both the contralateral and ipsilateral sides. The highest ADC
      values were detected in the inferior colliculus of the auditory pathway.
      CONCLUSIONS: In the auditory pathway of subjects with AN, the contralateral side
      is more affected than the ipsilateral side, the most affected region being the
      inferior colliculus. DTI is an advanced neuroimaging technique that can be used
      to determine the presence of microstructural damage to the auditory pathway in
      subjects with AN, whereas conventional MRI is not sensitive enough to detect
      damage.

PMID- 25813528
TI  - Tebufenozide resistance is associated with sex-linked inheritance in Plutella
      xylostella.
AB  - The diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella (L.), is a major pest of
      cruciferous crops. Tebufenozide, a novel nonsteroidal ecdysone agonist, exhibits
      good efficacy and has played an increasingly important role in the control of
      Lepidopteran pests in China. For its resistance management, the genetic basis of
      tebufenozide resistance was studied using a laboratory selected resistant strain
      of DBM (resistant ratio, RR = 268). A series of crosses with laboratory
      susceptible and resistant strains revealed that tebufenozide resistance in this
      pest was partially biased toward female heredity, with a large difference in RR
      for F1 (RR = 29) and rF1 progeny (RR = 147). The dominance calculated for these 2
      cross progeny was -0.788 and 0.09, respectively. Further analysis showed that the
      susceptible male and female larvae were similar in their sensitivity to
      tebufenozide, but the resistant female larvae showed significantly higher
      resistance than the resistant male larvae. The heredity of tebufenozide
      resistance in DBM might be linked with the W sex chromosome, which suggested that
      DBM has the ability to develop high levels of resistance to tebufenozide. This is
      the first report of sex-linked inheritance of tebufenozide resistance in P.
      xylostella (L.). 

PMID- 25813529
TI  - Feasibility of an interactive ICT-platform for early assessment and management of
      patient-reported symptoms during radiotherapy for prostate cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to test the feasibility and acceptability of
      an Information and Communication Technology platform for assessing and managing
      patient reported symptoms during radiotherapy for prostate cancer. METHODS: In
      cooperation with a health management company, using a patient experience co
      design, we developed the platform operated by an interactive application for
      reporting and managing symptoms in real time. Nine patients diagnosed with
      prostate cancer and receiving radiotherapy were recruited from two university
      hospitals in Sweden. Evidence-based symptoms and related self-care advice
      specific to prostate cancer were implemented in the application based on a
      literature review and interviews with patients and health care professionals. In
      the test of the platform the patients reported symptoms, via a mobile phone,
      daily for two weeks and were afterwards interviewed about their experiences.
      RESULTS: Overall, the patients found the symptom questionnaire and the self-care
      advice relevant and the application user friendly. The alert system was activated
      on several occasions when the symptoms were severe leading to a nurse contact and
      support so the patients felt safe and well cared for. CONCLUSIONS: The platform
      enabled increased patient involvement and facilitated symptom assessment and
      communication between the patient and the health care provider. The study's
      results support further development of the platform, as well as tests in full
      scale studies and in other populations.

PMID- 25813530
TI  - Validation of the Chinese version of the low anterior resection syndrome score
      for measuring bowel dysfunction after sphincter-preserving surgery among rectal
      cancer patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: The low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) score is a simple and valid
      instrument for measuring bowel dysfunction after sphincter-preserving surgery
      (SPS) among rectal cancer patients. We aimed to translate the LARS score into
      Chinese, and to test its reliability and validity among Chinese rectal cancer
      patients. METHODS: The LARS score was translated into Chinese by using
      internationally recognized forward- and back-translation procedures. In total,
      102 patients completed the questionnaire; a subgroup of 20 patients answered the
      survey twice. The reliability was estimated through the test-retest reliability
      method. The convergent and discriminant validities were confirmed by measuring
      the relation of the LARS score with the European Organization for Research and
      Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CR29 domains, respectively, and
      testing its ability to differentiate among patients with different clinical
      characteristics. RESULTS: The Spearman correlation coefficient of the LARS-scores
      at the two surveys was 0.86 (p < .001), and the linear-weighted kappa values of
      the five items of the LARS score were 0.38, 0.76, 0.79, 0.77, and 0.78,
      respectively. The LARS score showed significant correlations with all the
      assumptive domains of QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CR29, especially flatulence, fecal
      incontinence, and stool frequency (all p < .05). It could also detect differences
      between female and male patient groups (p = .033), patients who had/had not
      undergone radiation therapy (p = .007), those who had undergone surgery in the
      last <12.0 or >=12.0 months (p = .002), and those with low or high tumor edge
      level (p = .017). CONCLUSIONS: The Chinese version of the LARS score had good
      psychometric properties and can be used in clinical and research settings in the
      Chinese population.

PMID- 25813531
TI  - Being a haematopoietic stem cell donor for a sick sibling: Adult donors'
      experiences prior to donation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is a lack of knowledge about sibling stem cell donors'
      experiences pre-donation and the waiting period before the donation might have
      been long. The donors and their corresponding sibling recipients were
      simultaneously included in two different interview studies. The results from the
      recipient study have been presented in a separate paper. PURPOSE: The aim was to
      explore the experiences of being a stem cell donor for a sibling, prior to
      donation. METHOD: Ten adult sibling donors were interviewed prior to stem cell
      donation. The interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and
      subjected to qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The main theme Being a cog in
      a big wheel describes the complex process of being a sibling donor prior to
      donation, covering a mixture of emotions and thoughts. The four subthemes Being
      available, Being anxious, Being concerned and Being obliged cover the various
      experiences. The sibling donors' experiences are influenced by the quality of the
      relationship with the sick sibling. CONCLUSIONS: Sibling stem cell donors go
      through a complex process once they have accidentally got involved in. They have
      been asked to become a donor; it was not a voluntary choice. In caring for
      sibling stem cell donors the nurses should be aware of the complexity of the
      process they experience and take into consideration their personal situation and
      needs. Providing optimal care for both sibling donors and their corresponding
      recipients is a challenge, and further improvement and exploration are needed.

PMID- 25813532
TI  - Mechanical high-intensity focused ultrasound destruction of soft tissue: working
      mechanisms and physiologic effects.
AB  - The best known method of high-intensity focused ultrasound is thermal ablation,
      but interest in non-thermal, mechanical destruction is increasing. The advantages
      of mechanical ablation are that thermal protein denaturation remains limited and
      less damage is created to the surrounding tissue by thermal diffusion. The two
      main techniques for mechanical fragmentation of tissue are histotripsy and
      boiling histotripsy. These techniques can be used for complete liquefaction of
      tumor tissue into submicron fragments, after which the fragmented tissue can be
      easily removed by natural (immunologic) responses. Interestingly it seems that
      there is a correlation between the degree of destruction and tissue specific
      characteristics based on the treatment settings used. In this review article, the
      technical aspects of these two techniques are described, and an overview of the
      in vivo pathologic and immunologic responses is provided.

PMID- 25813533
TI  - Role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound arterial mapping in surgical planning for
      patients with critical limb ischemia.
AB  - The goal of the study described here was to evaluate the role of contrast
      enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) arterial mapping in surgical planning in cases of
      critical limb ischemia. From March 2007 to December 2012, 565 consecutive
      patients with critical limb ischemia of the lower limbs were treated and
      initially examined with only ultrasound (US) arterial mapping. For 479 of the 565
      patients, basic US examination results were deemed sufficient for surgical
      planning (group A). That is, US examination provided sufficient information to
      decide a surgical plan to treat those patients. In the remaining 86 patients,
      basic US examination was insufficient for revascularization planning, and CEUS
      examination was performed (group B). In 5 cases, CEUS results were also
      insufficient for surgical planning, as a suitable outflow vessel was not
      visualized. In these cases, a pre-operative arteriogram was performed. To assess
      the usefulness of CEUS, we compared results of examinations with and without
      contrast administration, surgical findings and angiographic findings when
      available. Data were collected prospectively. Examinations were compared by
      establishing the degree of agreement between results of paired examinations and
      degree of agreement between CEUS results and surgical findings. Clinical,
      hemodynamic (ankle-brachial index) and duplex follow-up was performed at 1 and 3
      mo to evaluate cumulative patency of the procedures in each group. Within group
      B, degree of agreement between basic US and CEUS was 46.5%. CEUS resulted in a
      change in the surgical plan in 46 of 86 patients. Among all 565 patients, degree
      of agreement between surgical decision based on basic ultrasound arterial mapping
      and final decision based on surgical findings was 87.1%, and improved to 95.2%
      with CEUS (p = 0.00001, kappa index = 0.823). Degree of agreement between the
      ultrasound-based decision and surgical findings was 97.5% in group A (kappa index
      = 0.818) and 94.2% in group B (kappa = 0.848). There was no significant
      difference between groups (p = 0.784). Within group B, of the five arteriograms
      performed, results of only one matched well the US mapping findings. Vessel
      patency at 1 and 3 mo did not significantly differ between patients whose
      surgical planning was based on basic US and patients whose planning was based on
      CEUS (p = 0.418 and p = 0.489, respectively). US arterial mapping is an excellent
      tool for surgical planning in critical limb ischemia. CEUS arterial mapping
      improves the accuracy of ultrasound examination in patients with critical limb
      ischemia, especially in patients with inconclusive non-enhanced exams. 

PMID- 25813534
TI  - Association of genetic variants with hypertension in a longitudinal population
      based genetic epidemiological study.
AB  - We previously identified 9 genes and chromosomal region 3q28 as susceptibility
      loci for Japanese patients with myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, or
      chronic kidney disease by genome-wide or candidate gene association studies. In
      the present study, we investigated the possible association of 13 single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at these 10 loci with the prevalence of
      hypertension or their association with blood pressure (BP) in community-dwelling
      individuals in Japan. The study subjects comprised 6,027 individuals (2,250
      subjects with essential hypertension, 3,777 controls) who were recruited into the
      Inabe Health and Longevity Study, a longitudinal genetic epidemiological study on
      atherosclerotic, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The subjects were
      recruited from individuals who visited the Health Care Center of Inabe General
      Hospital for an annual health checkup, and they are followed up each year (mean
      follow-up period, 5 years). Longitudinal analysis with a generalized estimating
      equation and with adjustment for age, gender, body mass index and smoking status
      revealed that rs2116519 of family with sequence similarity 78, member B (FAM78B;
      P=0.0266), rs6929846 of butyrophilin, subfamily 2, member A1 (BTN2A1; P=0.0013),
      rs146021107 of pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 (PDX1; P=0.0031) and rs1671021
      of lethal giant larvae homolog 2 (Drosophila) (LLGL2; P=0.0372) were
      significantly (P<0.05) associated with the prevalence of hypertension.
      Longitudinal analysis with a generalized linear mixed-effect model and with
      adjustment for age, gender, body mass index and smoking status among individuals
      not taking anti-hypertensive medication revealed that rs6929846 of BTN2A1 was
      significantly associated with systolic (P=0.0017), diastolic (P=0.0008) and mean
      (P=0.0005) BP, and that rs2116519 of FAM78B, rs146021107 of PDX1 and rs1671021 of
      LLGL2 were significantly associated with diastolic (P=0.0495), systolic
      (P=0.0132), and both diastolic (P=0.0468) and mean (0.0471) BP, respectively.
      BTN2A1 may thus be a susceptibility gene for hypertension.

PMID- 25813535
TI  - A New Measure of Tibial Sesamoid Position in Hallux Valgus in Relation to the
      Coronal Rotation of the First Metatarsal in CT Scans.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We aimed to find a new radiographic measurement for evaluating first
      metatarsal pronation and sesamoid position in hallux valgus (HV) deformity.
      METHODS: Data from a clinical study of 19 control patients (19 feet) with no HV
      deformity were compared with preoperative data of 138 patients (166 feet) with HV
      deformities. Using a weightbearing plain radiograph in anteroposterior (AP) view,
      the intermetatarsal angles (IMAs) and the hallux valgus angles (HVAs) of the
      control and study groups were measured. Using a semi-weightbearing coronal
      computed tomography (CT) axial view, the alpha angle was measured in the control
      and study groups. In addition, the tibial sesamoid grades in plain radiograph
      tangential view and the CT axial view were measured. The tibial sesamoid position
      in an AP view was checked preoperatively. Based on these measurements, 4 types of
      HV deformities were defined. RESULTS: The mean values of the alpha angle in the
      control and HV deformity groups (control group u = 13.8 degrees, study group u =
      21.9 degrees) was significantly different. Among 166 HV feet, 145 feet (87.3%)
      had an alpha angle of more than 15.8 degrees, which is the upper value of the 95%
      confidence interval of the control group, indicating the existence of abnormal
      first metatarsal pronation in HV deformity. Four types of HV deformities were
      defined based on their alpha angles and tibial sesamoid grades in CT axial view
      (CT 4 position). Among 25.9% (43/166) of the study group, abnormal first
      metatarsal pronation with an absence of sesamoid deviation from its articular
      facet was observed. The prominent characteristic of this group was that they had
      high grades in the AP 7 position (>=5); however, in the CT 4 position, their
      grade was 0. This group was defined as the "pseudo-sesamoid subluxation" group.
      CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HV deformities had a more pronated first metatarsal
      than the control group, with a greater alpha angle. Pseudo-subluxation of the
      sesamoids existed in 25.9% of our study group. From our results, we suggest that
      the use of the CT axial view in assessments of HV deformity may benefit surgeons
      when they make operative choices to correct these deformities. With regard to the
      pseudo-sesamoid subluxation group, the use of the distal soft tissue procedure is
      not surgically recommended. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, retrospective
      comparative study.

PMID- 25813536
TI  - Preclinical assessment of early tumor response after irradiation by positron
      emission tomography with 2-amino-[3-11C]isobutyric acid.
AB  - The positron emission tomography (PET) probe, 2-amino-[3-11C]isobutyric acid ([3
      11C]AIB), is reported to accumulate less in inflammatory lesions than 2-deoxy-2
      [18F]fluoro-D-glucose ([18F]FDG) and has the potential for evaluation of the
      efficacy of radiotherapy. To determine whether [3-11C]AIB is useful to monitor
      early metabolic change in tumors after radiotherapy, we evaluated the temporal
      change in [3-11C]AIB tumor uptake, tumor volume, histological features and
      expression of amino acid transporters early after radiotherapy in a mouse tumor
      model. PET with [3-11C]AIB was conducted in mice bearing a subcutaneous tumor
      (SY, derived from small cell lung cancer) in two schedules: schedule 1, before
      (day -1) and after (days 1 and 3) 15 Gy of radiation and schedule 2, days -1, 1
      and 5. [3-11C]AIB tumor uptake tended to increase on day 1 after irradiation and
      decreased thereafter. Tumor uptake was not correlated with tumor volume in
      schedule 1. Although tumor uptake was correlated with tumor volume in schedule 2,
      this correlation was lost when the day 5 data of greatly reduced tumor volumes
      were excluded. In a separate group of tumor-bearing mice, excised tumor sections
      were stained with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine
      triphosphate nick-end labeling (TUNEL) or anti-Ki-67 antibody. There was no
      correlation between tumor uptake and percentages of TUNEL- or Ki-67-positive
      cells. Expression of amino acid transporters, SLC38A1, SLC38A2 and SLC38A4, was
      determined by real-time RT-PCR. SLC38A1 and SLC38A2 were expressed in SY tumors,
      and a significant correlation was observed between [3-11C]AIB tumor uptake and
      SLC38A1 expression. In conclusion, early change in [3-11C]AIB tumor uptake after
      irradiation reflected the temporal change in amino acid transporter expression,
      while it was independent of change in tumor volume, apoptosis and cell
      proliferation. PET with [3-11C]AIB has the potential for use in non-invasive
      evaluation of early metabolic change after irradiation before morphological
      change of tumors.

PMID- 25813537
TI  - Molecular protein adaptor with genetically encoded interaction sites guiding the
      hierarchical assembly of plasmonically active nanoparticle architectures.
AB  - The control over the defined assembly of nano-objects with nm-precision is
      important to create systems and materials with enhanced properties, for example,
      metamaterials. In nature, the precise assembly of inorganic nano-objects with
      unique features, for example, magnetosomes, is accomplished by efficient and
      reliable recognition schemes involving protein effectors. Here we present a
      molecular approach using protein-based 'adaptors/connectors' with genetically
      encoded interaction sites to guide the assembly and functionality of different
      plasmonically active gold nanoparticle architectures (AuNP). The interaction of
      the defined geometricaly shaped protein adaptors with the AuNP induces the self
      assembly of nanoarchitectures ranging from AuNP encapsulation to one-dimensional
      chain-like structures, complex networks and stars. Synthetic biology and
      bionanotechnology are applied to co-translationally encode unnatural amino acids
      as additional site-specific modification sites to generate functionalized
      biohybrid nanoarchitectures. This protein adaptor-based nano-object assembly
      approach might be expanded to other inorganic nano-objects creating biohybrid
      materials with unique electronic, photonic, plasmonic and magnetic properties. 

PMID- 25813539
TI  - Brg1 modulates enhancer activation in mesoderm lineage commitment.
AB  - The interplay between different levels of gene regulation in modulating
      developmental transcriptional programs, such as histone modifications and
      chromatin remodeling, is not well understood. Here, we show that the chromatin
      remodeling factor Brg1 is required for enhancer activation in mesoderm induction.
      In an embryonic stem cell-based directed differentiation assay, the absence of
      Brg1 results in a failure of cardiomyocyte differentiation and broad deregulation
      of lineage-specific gene expression during mesoderm induction. We find that Brg1
      co-localizes with H3K27ac at distal enhancers and is required for robust H3K27
      acetylation at distal enhancers that are activated during mesoderm induction.
      Brg1 is also required to maintain Polycomb-mediated repression of non-mesodermal
      developmental regulators, suggesting cooperativity between Brg1 and Polycomb
      complexes. Thus, Brg1 is essential for modulating active and repressive chromatin
      states during mesoderm lineage commitment, in particular the activation of
      developmentally important enhancers. These findings demonstrate interplay between
      chromatin remodeling complexes and histone modifications that, together, ensure
      robust and broad gene regulation during crucial lineage commitment decisions. 

PMID- 25813540
TI  - Slit cleavage is essential for producing an active, stable, non-diffusible short
      range signal that guides muscle migration.
AB  - During organogenesis, secreted signaling proteins direct cell migration towards
      their target tissue. In Drosophila embryos, developing muscles are guided by
      signals produced by tendons to promote the proper attachment of muscles to
      tendons, essential for proper locomotion. Previously, the repulsive protein Slit,
      secreted by tendon cells, has been proposed to be an attractant for muscle
      migration. However, our findings demonstrate that through tight control of its
      distribution, Slit repulsion is used for both directing and arresting muscle
      migration. We show that Slit cleavage restricts its distribution to tendon cells,
      allowing it to function as a short-range repellent that directs muscle migration
      and patterning, and promotes their halt upon reaching the target site.
      Mechanistically, we show that Slit processing produces a rapidly degraded C
      terminal fragment and an active, stable N-terminal polypeptide that is tethered
      to the tendon cell membrane, which further protects it from degradation.
      Consistently, the requirement for Slit processing can be bypassed by providing an
      uncleavable, membrane-bound form of Slit that is stable and is retained on
      expressing tendon cells. Moreover, muscle elongation appears to be extremely
      sensitive to Slit levels, as replacing the entire full-length Slit with the
      stable Slit-N-polypeptide results in excessive repulsion, which leads to a
      defective muscle pattern. These findings reveal a novel cleavage-dependent
      regulatory mechanism controlling Slit spatial distribution, which may operate in
      other Slit-dependent processes. 

PMID- 25813538
TI  - Wnt5a and Wnt11 regulate mammalian anterior-posterior axis elongation.
AB  - Mesoderm formation and subsequent anterior-posterior (A-P) axis elongation are
      fundamental aspects of gastrulation, which is initiated by formation of the
      primitive streak (PS). Convergent extension (CE) movements and epithelial
      mesenchymal transition (EMT) are important for A-P axis elongation in vertebrate
      embryos. The evolutionarily conserved planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway
      regulates CE, and Wnts regulate many aspects of gastrulation including CE and
      EMT. However, the Wnt ligands that regulate A-P axis elongation in mammalian
      development remain unknown. Wnt11 and Wnt5a regulate axis elongation in lower
      vertebrates, but only Wnt5a, not Wnt11, regulates mammalian PCP signaling and A-P
      axis elongation in development. Here, by generating Wnt5a; Wnt11 compound
      mutants, we show that Wnt11 and Wnt5a play redundant roles during mouse A-P axis
      elongation. Both genes regulate trunk notochord extension through PCP-controlled
      CE of notochord cells, establishing a role for Wnt11 in mammalian PCP. We show
      that Wnt5a and Wnt11 are required for proper patterning of the neural tube and
      somites by regulating notochord formation, and provide evidence that both genes
      are required for the generation and migration of axial and paraxial mesodermal
      precursor cells by regulating EMT. Axial and paraxial mesodermal precursors
      ectopically accumulate in the PS at late gastrula stages in Wnt5a(-/-); Wnt11(-/
      ) embryos and these cells ectopically express epithelial cell adhesion molecules.
      Our data suggest that Wnt5a and Wnt11 regulate EMT by inducing p38 (Mapk14)
      phosphorylation. Our findings provide new insights into the role of Wnt5a and
      Wnt11 in mouse early development and also in cancer metastasis, during which EMT
      plays a crucial role. 

PMID- 25813541
TI  - Robust derivation of epicardium and its differentiated smooth muscle cell progeny
      from human pluripotent stem cells.
AB  - The epicardium has emerged as a multipotent cardiovascular progenitor source with
      therapeutic potential for coronary smooth muscle cell, cardiac fibroblast (CF)
      and cardiomyocyte regeneration, owing to its fundamental role in heart
      development and its potential ability to initiate myocardial repair in injured
      adult tissues. Here, we describe a chemically defined method for generating
      epicardium and epicardium-derived smooth muscle cells (EPI-SMCs) and CFs from
      human pluripotent stem cells (HPSCs) through an intermediate lateral plate
      mesoderm (LM) stage. HPSCs were initially differentiated to LM in the presence of
      FGF2 and high levels of BMP4. The LM was robustly differentiated to an epicardial
      lineage by activation of WNT, BMP and retinoic acid signalling pathways. HPSC
      derived epicardium displayed enhanced expression of epithelial- and epicardium
      specific markers, exhibited morphological features comparable with human foetal
      epicardial explants and engrafted in the subepicardial space in vivo. The in
      vitro-derived epicardial cells underwent an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition
      when treated with PDGF-BB and TGFbeta1, resulting in vascular SMCs that displayed
      contractile ability in response to vasoconstrictors. Furthermore, the EPI-SMCs
      displayed low density lipoprotein uptake and effective lowering of lipoprotein
      levels upon treatment with statins, similar to primary human coronary artery
      SMCs. Cumulatively, these findings suggest that HPSC-derived epicardium and EPI
      SMCs could serve as important tools for studying human cardiogenesis, and as a
      platform for vascular disease modelling and drug screening. 

PMID- 25813542
TI  - SNPfisher: tools for probing genetic variation in laboratory-reared zebrafish.
AB  - Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the benchmark molecular markers for
      modern genomics. Until recently, relatively few SNPs were known in the zebrafish
      genome. The use of next-generation sequencing for the positional cloning of
      zebrafish mutations has increased the number of known SNP positions dramatically.
      Still, the identified SNP variants remain under-utilized, owing to scant
      annotation of strain specificity and allele frequency. To address these
      limitations, we surveyed SNP variation in three common laboratory zebrafish
      strains using whole-genome sequencing. This survey identified an average of 5.04
      million SNPs per strain compared with the Zv9 reference genome sequence. By
      comparing the three strains, 2.7 million variants were found to be strain
      specific, whereas the remaining variants were shared among all (2.3 million) or
      some of the strains. We also demonstrate the broad usefulness of our identified
      variants by validating most in independent populations of the same laboratory
      strains. We have made all of the identified SNPs accessible through 'SNPfisher',
      a searchable online database (snpfisher.nichd.nih.gov). The SNPfisher website
      includes the SNPfisher Variant Reporter tool, which provides the genomic
      position, alternate allele read frequency, strain specificity, restriction enzyme
      recognition site changes and flanking primers for all SNPs and Indels in a user
      defined gene or region of the zebrafish genome. The SNPfisher site also contains
      links to display our SNP data in the UCSC genome browser. The SNPfisher tools
      will facilitate the use of SNP variation in zebrafish research as well as
      vertebrate genome evolution. 

PMID- 25813543
TI  - The vav oncogene antagonises EGFR signalling and regulates adherens junction
      dynamics during Drosophila eye development.
AB  - Organ shaping and patterning depends on the coordinated regulation of multiple
      processes. The Drosophila compound eye provides an excellent model to study the
      coordination of cell fate and cell positioning during morphogenesis. Here, we
      find that loss of vav oncogene function during eye development is associated with
      a disorganised retina characterised by the presence of additional cells of all
      types. We demonstrate that these defects result from two distinct roles of Vav.
      First, and in contrast to its well-established role as a positive effector of the
      EGF receptor (EGFR), we show that readouts of the EGFR pathway are upregulated in
      vav mutant larval eye disc and pupal retina, indicating that Vav antagonises EGFR
      signalling during eye development. Accordingly, decreasing EGFR signalling in vav
      mutant eyes restores retinal organisation and rescues most vav mutant phenotypes.
      Second, using live imaging in the pupal retina, we observe that vav mutant cells
      do not form stable adherens junctions, causing various defects, such as
      recruitment of extra primary pigment cells. In agreement with this role in
      junction dynamics, we observe that these phenotypes can be exacerbated by
      lowering DE-Cadherin or Cindr levels. Taken together, our findings establish that
      Vav acts at multiple times during eye development to prevent excessive cell
      recruitment by limiting EGFR signalling and by regulating junction dynamics to
      ensure the correct patterning and morphogenesis of the Drosophila eye. 

PMID- 25813544
TI  - Primary root protophloem differentiation requires balanced phosphatidylinositol
      4,5-biphosphate levels and systemically affects root branching.
AB  - Protophloem is a specialized vascular tissue in growing plant organs, such as
      root meristems. In Arabidopsis mutants with impaired primary root protophloem
      differentiation, brevis radix (brx) and octopus (ops), meristematic activity and
      consequently overall root growth are strongly reduced. Second site mutation in
      the protophloem-specific presumed phosphoinositide 5-phosphatase cotyledon
      vascular pattern 2 (CVP2), but not in its homolog CVP2-like 1 (CVL1), partially
      rescues brx defects. Consistent with this finding, CVP2 hyperactivity in a wild
      type background recreates a brx phenotype. Paradoxically, however, while cvp2 or
      cvl1 single mutants display no apparent root defects, the root phenotype of cvp2
      cvl1 double mutants is similar to brx or ops, although, as expected, cvp2 cvl1
      seedlings contain more phosphatidylinositol-4,5-biphosphate. Thus, tightly
      balanced phosphatidylinositol-4,5-biphosphate levels appear essential for proper
      protophloem differentiation. Genetically, OPS acts downstream of
      phosphatidylinositol-4,5-biphosphate levels, as cvp2 mutation cannot rescue ops
      defects, whereas increased OPS dose rescues cvp2 cvl1 defects. Finally, all three
      mutants display higher density and accelerated emergence of lateral roots, which
      correlates with increased auxin response in the root differentiation zone. This
      phenotype is also created by application of peptides that suppress protophloem
      differentiation, clavata3/embryo surrounding region 26 (CLE26) and CLE45. Thus,
      local changes in the primary root protophloem systemically shape overall root
      system architecture.

PMID- 25813545
TI  - Overexpression of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter enhances dendritic
      complexity of adult-born hippocampal neurons and improves acquisition of spatial
      memory during aging.
AB  - Aging is marked by progressive impairments in the process of adult neurogenesis
      and spatial memory performance. The underlying mechanisms for these impairments
      have not been fully established; however, they may coincide with decline of
      cholinergic signaling in the hippocampus. This study investigates whether
      augmenting cholinergic neurotransmission, by enhancing the expression of the
      vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT), influences the age-related decline
      in the development of newborn hippocampal cells and spatial memory. We found that
      enhanced VAChT expression in the hippocampus of mice contributes to lifelong
      increases in the dendritic complexity of newborn neurons. Furthermore, enhanced
      VAChT expression improved memory acquisition through an increased use of
      spatially precise search strategies in the Morris water maze through the course
      of the aging process. These data suggest that VAChT overexpression contributes to
      increases in dendritic complexity and improved spatial memory during aging. 

PMID- 25813546
TI  - A naturally occurring prfA truncation in a Listeria monocytogenes field strain
      contributes to reduced replication and cell-to-cell spread.
AB  - Listeria (L.) monocytogenes is an environmental bacterium that may become an
      intracellular pathogen upon ingestion to cause gastroenteritis, septicaemia,
      abortions, and/or fatal infections of the central nervous system. We here
      describe a L. monocytogenes field strain (JF5171) isolated from a bovine placenta
      in the context of abortion, which exhibited attenuation in bovine brain-slice
      cultures. The whole genome of strain JF5171 was sequenced, and the invasion,
      replication, and intercellular spread of JF5171 were further analyzed by
      quantification of colony forming units and immunofluorescence studies.
      Phospholipase and hemolysis activity of JF5171 were also quantified along with
      transcription levels of actA, hly and prfA. The data obtained were compared to
      those of the widely used L. monocytogenes reference strain, EGD-e. JF5171
      exhibited reduced replication and lower levels of phospholipase and hemolysis
      activity. Invasion and cell-to-cell spread was strongly decreased compared to EGD
      e, and actin polymerization was absent. A frame shift deletion was identified in
      the JF5171 coding region of the major regulator for virulence, prfA. This
      resulted in a truncated C-terminus sequence (WEN* vs. WGKLN*). In addition, a
      point mutation resulted in a lysine to arginine substitution at amino acid
      position 197. Complementation with prfA from EGD-e and with (EGD-e) prfA-K197N
      increased the replication and spread efficiency of JF5171. In contrast,
      complementation with the truncated version of prfA had no effect. Taken together,
      these results suggest that the truncated C-terminus of prfA considerably
      contributes to the strongly attenuated phenotype observed in vitro. 

PMID- 25813547
TI  - Renin-angiotensin system blockers in cardiac surgery.
AB  - Major complications associated with cardiac surgery are still common and carry
      great prognostic significance. beta-Blockers, statins, antiplatelets, and renin
      angiotensin system (RAS) blockers are current medical interventions to prevent
      cardiovascular complications in cardiac surgery. Renin-angiotensin system
      blockers include angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II
      receptor blockers, and antialdosterones. Several lines of evidence support the
      cardioprotective effects of RAS blockers: they reduce ischemic events and improve
      outcome in heart failure independently of their effect on heart function and
      blood pressure. Moreover, early RAS blocker administration has remarkable
      survival and heart function benefits in patients with acute myocardial
      infarction. Nevertheless, perioperative studies on the effects of RAS blockers
      remain few and inconclusive. Results from clinical trials and observational
      studies are conflicting, and they raise more questions than answers. Further
      studies are needed to examine whether RAS blockers reduce mortality and major
      complications in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. In this review, we discuss
      the use of RAS blockers in the setting of cardiac surgery, underlying the
      potential benefits in reducing postoperative complications. 

PMID- 25813548
TI  - Prehospital tidal volume influences hospital tidal volume: A cohort study.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purposes of the study are to describe current practice of
      ventilation in a modern air medical system and to measure the association of
      ventilation strategy with subsequent ventilator care and acute respiratory
      distress syndrome (ARDS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective observational
      cohort study of intubated adult patients (n = 235) transported by a university
      affiliated air medical transport service to a 711-bed tertiary academic center
      between July 2011 and May 2013. Low tidal volume ventilation was defined as tidal
      volumes less than or equal to 8 mL/kg predicted body weight. Multivariable
      regression was used to measure the association between prehospital tidal volume,
      hospital ventilation strategy, and ARDS. RESULTS: Most patients (57%) were
      ventilated solely with bag valve ventilation during transport. Mean tidal volume
      of mechanically ventilated patients was 8.6 mL/kg predicted body weight (SD, 0.2
      mL/kg). Low tidal volume ventilation was used in 13% of patients. Patients
      receiving low tidal volume ventilation during air medical transport were more
      likely to receive low tidal volume ventilation in the emergency department (P <
      .001) and intensive care unit (P = .015). Acute respiratory distress syndrome was
      not associated with prehospital tidal volume (P = .840). CONCLUSIONS: Low tidal
      volume ventilation was rare during air medical transport. Air transport
      ventilation strategy influenced subsequent ventilation but was not associated
      with ARDS.

PMID- 25813549
TI  - Prospective observation of physical activity in critically ill patients who were
      intubated for more than 48 hours.
AB  - PURPOSE: Critical illness can result in impaired physical function. Increased
      physical activity, additional to rehabilitation, has demonstrated improved
      functional independence at hospital discharge. The purpose of this study was to
      measure patterns of physical activity in a group of critically ill patients.
      METHODS: This was a single-center, open, observational behavioral mapping study
      performed in a quaternary intensive care unit (ICU) in Melbourne, Australia.
      Observations were collected every 10 minutes for 8 hours between 8:00 am and 5:00
      pm with the highest level of physical activity, patient location, and persons
      present at the bedside recorded. RESULTS: Two thousand fifty observations were
      collected across 8 days. Patients spent more than 7 hours in bed (median
      [interquartile range] of 100% [69%-100%]) participating in little or no activity
      for approximately 7 hours of the day (median [interquartile range] 96% [76%
      96%]). Outside rehabilitation, no activities associated with ambulation were
      undertaken. Patients who were ventilated at the time of observation compared with
      those who were not were less likely to be out of bed (98% reduction in odds).
      Patients spent up to 30% of their time alone. CONCLUSION: Outside rehabilitation,
      patients in ICU are inactive and spend approximately one-third of the 8-hour day
      alone. Strategies to increase physical activity levels in ICU are required.

PMID- 25813550
TI  - Development and validation of a clinical prediction rule for candidemia in
      hospitalized patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To develop and internally validate a prediction rule for the presence
      of candidemia in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock (candidemia rule)
      that will fill the gap left by previous rules. To compare the accuracy of the
      available Candida prediction models. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING:
      Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri. PATIENTS/SUBJECTS: Two thousand five
      hundred ninety-seven consecutive patients with a positive blood culture and
      severe sepsis or septic shock. INTERVENTIONS: Logistic regression and a bootstrap
      resampling procedure were employed for model development and internal validation.
      MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Two hundred sixty-six (10.2%) had blood cultures
      positive for Candida spp. Mortality was significantly higher in patients with
      candidemia than in patients with bacteremia (47.0% versus 28.4%; P<.001).
      Administration of total parenteral nutrition, prior antibiotic exposure, transfer
      from an outside hospital or admission from a nursing home, mechanical ventilation
      and presence of a central vein catheter were independent predictors of candidemia
      while the lung as a source for infection was protective. The prediction rule had
      an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.798 (95% CI 0.77
      0.82). Internal validation using bootstrapping technique with 1000 repetitions
      produced a similar area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of
      0.797 (bias, -0.037; root mean square error 0.039). Our prediction rule
      outperformed previous rules with a better calibration slope of 0.96 and Brier
      score of 0.08. CONCLUSIONS: We developed and internally validated a prediction
      rule for candidemia in hospitalized patients with severe sepsis and septic shock
      that outperformed previous prediction rules. Our study suggests that locally
      derived prediction models may be superior by accounting for local case mix and
      risk factor distribution.

PMID- 25813551
TI  - The imbalance of redox homeostasis in arthropod-induced plant galls: Mechanisms
      of stress generation and dissipation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Galls have specialized tissues for the protection and nutrition of
      the inducers, and these tissues have been studied from the developmental and
      histochemical perspectives. Recently, the role of oxidative stress in galls has
      been tested histochemically through detection of H2O2 in gall tissues. SCOPE OF
      REVIEW: Developmental processes and cytological events are revisited from the
      perspective of the redox-potential balance in both the apoplast and symplast,
      especially concerning the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). MAJOR
      CONCLUSIONS: The redox potential is imbalanced differently in the apoplast and
      symplast at gall sites, with the apoplast having lower antioxidant-buffering
      capacity than the symplast. The strategies to recover redox-potential homeostasis
      involve the dissipation of ROS by scavenging molecules, such as phenolics,
      flavonoid derivatives, tocopherol, and enzyme systems. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE:
      Insect galls are good models to test developmental hypotheses. Although the exact
      mechanisms of gall induction and development have not been elucidated at the
      biochemical and biophysical levels, modulation of the redox potential is involved
      in the crucial steps of gall initiation and establishment. This article is part
      of a Special Issue entitled Redox regulation of differentiation and de
      differentiation.

PMID- 25813552
TI  - ADAMTS13 deficiency in mice does not affect adipose tissue development.
AB  - BACKGROUND: BMI and ADAMTS13 levels are positively correlated in man. Development
      of obesity is associated with angiogenesis and inflammation, and increased
      ADAMTS13 synthesis in the liver. METHODS: Male wild-type (WT) and ADAMTS13
      deficient (Adamts13-/-) mice were kept on normal chow (SFD) or high fat diet
      (HFD) for 15 weeks. RESULTS: HFD feeding of WT mice resulted in significantly
      enhanced levels of ADAMTS13 antigen and activity as compared to SFD feeding.
      ADAMTS13 deficiency had no significant effect on body weight gain, subcutaneous
      (SC) or gonadal (GN) adipose tissue mass, or on adipocyte size. In GN fat of
      obese (HFD) Adamts13-/- mice, adipocyte density was higher and blood vessel
      density lower as compared to obese WT mice. No marked effects of genotype were
      observed on mRNA expression of adipogenic, endothelial, inflammatory or oxidative
      stress markers in adipose tissue. Analysis of metabolic parameters and of glucose
      and insulin tolerance did not reveal significant differences between both obese
      genotypes, except for higher adiponectin and cholesterol levels in obese Adamts13
      /- as compared to WT mice. CONCLUSION: Our data do not support a functional role
      of ADAMTS13 in adiposity nor in associated angiogenesis or inflammation in mice.
      GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: ADAMTS13 deficiency may cause thrombotic thrombocytopenic
      purpura (TTP). Obesity, which is associated with enhanced ADAMTS13 levels is
      nevertheless considered to be an independent risk factor for TTP. To resolve this
      apparent contradiction, we show that ADAMTS13 does not directly promote
      development of adipose tissue in a mouse model.

PMID- 25813553
TI  - The epidemiology and aetiology of diarrhoeal disease in infancy in southern
      Vietnam: a birth cohort study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Previous studies indicate a high burden of diarrhoeal disease in
      Vietnamese children, however longitudinal community-based data on burden and
      aetiology are limited. The findings from a large, prospective cohort study of
      diarrhoeal disease in infants in southern Vietnam are presented herein. METHODS:
      Infants were enrolled at birth in urban Ho Chi Minh City and a semi-rural
      district in southern Vietnam, and followed for 12 months (n=6706). Diarrhoeal
      illness episodes were identified through clinic-based passive surveillance,
      hospital admissions, and self-reports. RESULTS: The minimum incidence of
      diarrhoeal illness in the first year of life was 271/1000 infant-years of
      observation for the whole cohort. Rotavirus was the most commonly detected
      pathogen (50% of positive samples), followed by norovirus (24%), Campylobacter
      (20%), Salmonella (18%), and Shigella (16%). Repeat infections were identified in
      9% of infants infected with rotavirus, norovirus, Shigella, or Campylobacter, and
      13% of those with Salmonella infections. CONCLUSIONS: The minimum incidence of
      diarrhoeal disease in infants in both urban and semi-rural settings in southern
      Vietnam was quantified prospectively. A large proportion of laboratory-diagnosed
      disease was caused by rotavirus and norovirus. These data highlight the unmet
      need for a rotavirus vaccine in Vietnam and provide evidence of the previously
      unrecognized burden of norovirus in infants.

PMID- 25813554
TI  - Improvement in clinical and economic outcomes with empiric antibiotic therapy
      covering atypical pathogens for community-acquired pneumonia patients: a
      multicenter cohort study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of empiric antibiotic regimens covering
      atypical pathogens with respect to detailed clinical and economic outcomes in
      community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). METHODS: A population-based, multicenter,
      retrospective cohort study was conducted from June 2010 to May 2011. Patients
      with a diagnosis of CAP were enrolled and categorized into two groups according
      to the initial antibiotic strategy used - covering or not covering atypical
      pathogens. Regression analysis was performed to assess their clinical outcomes
      (all-cause mortality, clinical improvement rate after 72 h of antimicrobial
      therapy, and clinical cure rate) and economic outcomes (length of stay,
      hospitalization costs, and antibiotic expenditure). RESULTS: A total of 827
      patients met the criteria for CAP; 561 (67.8%) received antibiotics with atypical
      pathogen coverage (APC group), while 266 (32.2%) did not (non-APC group).
      Regression analysis revealed that the all-cause mortality was much lower in the
      APC group than in the non-APC group (0.9% vs. 4.9%, respectively), with an odds
      ratio (OR) of 0.18 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.06-0.49). Clinical improvement
      at 72 h (87.7% vs. 85.0%, p=0.274) and the clinical cure rate (91.1% vs. 88.3%,
      p=0.213) were more favorable in the APC group, but with no significant difference
      compared to the non-APC group. Moreover, the APC group had a shorter mean length
      of stay (APC 10.2 days vs. non-APC 11.6 days, p<0.001). In addition, the mean
      total hospitalization costs for the APC group were markedly lower compared with
      the non-APC group (US$ 1172.7 vs. US$ 1510.7; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Antimicrobial
      treatment covering atypical pathogens for hospitalized CAP patients is associated
      with reduced mortality and economic burden.

PMID- 25813555
TI  - Thiophene synthesis via 1,1-carboboration.
AB  - Reaction of bis(tert-butylethynyl)sulfide with the boron Lewis acid reagents X
      B(C6F5)2 (X = CH3, Cl, C6F5) in pentane at r.t. gave the respective borylated
      thiophenes in a sequence of 1,1-carboboration reactions. In contrast,
      bis(phenylethynyl)sulfide reacted with B(C6F5)3 only in a 2 : 1 molar ratio to
      give a benzothiophene derivative. 

PMID- 25813556
TI  - Prematurity, smallness-for-gestational age and later hospital admissions: a
      nation-wide registry study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Being born premature or small for gestational age (SGA) is known to
      be associated with diseases later in life, such as gestational diabetes,
      hypertension and pre-eclampsia. In this study we examined the association between
      being born premature or SGA and all diseases diagnosed during hospital admissions
      later in life. METHODS: Using Danish nation-wide registries we created a cohort
      of 1,348,106 persons born 1974-1996 and assessed all unique diagnoses registered
      in the Danish Patient Registry (DPR) for hospital admissions in the period 1994
      2007 (n=27,910,558). We determined the odds ratios for persons born premature or
      SGA using multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 15,059 unique ICD
      10 diagnosis codes were represented in the period. Only diagnoses used at least
      100 times were included in the analysis (n=4175). Of these 838 showed an odds
      ratio that was statistically significantly different from unity for people born
      premature or SGA. After correcting for multiple testing, 250 remained
      significant. The diagnoses covered diseases in most organ systems, including
      cardiovascular, endocrinological, infectious, neurological/neurosurgical,
      obstetric, orthopedic, psychiatric, lung & urological diseases, and occurred
      throughout childhood and early adulthood. Novel findings included increased risks
      for delayed puberty, neurofibromatosis type 1 and ileus and decreased risks of
      mononucleosis, peritonsillar abscesses, chronic hypothyroidism and several types
      of fractures and contusions later in life. CONCLUSION: Being born premature or
      SGA was associated with significantly altered risks of being admitted to a
      hospital with a wide range of diseases later in life, affecting almost all organ
      systems throughout childhood and early adulthood. Our findings may motivate
      testing in other cohorts and search for novel mechanisms of pathogenesis.

PMID- 25813557
TI  - Diagnostic value of the GNRB (r) in relation to pressure load for complete ACL
      tears: A prospective case-control study of 118 subjects.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The GNRB((r)) is a reliable, validated arthrometer. A pressure pad
      exerts 0 to 250 Newtons of pressure on the upper calf. The goal of this study was
      to compare the diagnostic value of the different pressure loads that are usually
      applied for the diagnosis of complete anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears. Our
      hypothesis was that a load of 200N would be sufficient to diagnose these tears.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective comparative case-control study was performed
      in 2012. One group included all the male athletes aged 15 to 21 who presented
      with a complete ACL tear confirmed by arthroscopy (the study group). The control
      group included male soccer players in a training center aged 15 to 19 with no
      history of knee injuries (the control group). Anterior laxity was measured in
      both knees by the same experienced operator using the GNRB((r)) system. The main
      judgment criteria were the diagnostic values of each pressure load evaluated by
      the area under the curve (AUC), from "Null" (AUC < 0.5) to "Perfect" (AUC = 1).
      RESULTS: This study included 118 men: 64 in the study group, mean age 18.1 +/-
      2.3-years-old, who were mainly soccer players (39/64) or rugby men (16/64) and 54
      control subjects, mean age 17.3 +/- 1.5-years-old. Three hyperalgesic patients
      could not receive a pressure load of 250N. The mean differential laxity was
      significantly higher in the control group, whatever the pressure load (P < 10(
      5)). The test was "highly informative" for all loads (0.9 <= AUC < 1). Analysis
      of the AUC revealed a diagnostic value in descending order of: 200N(0.97[0.94-1])
      > 134N(0.97[0.93-0.99]) > 250N(0.96[0.93-0.99]) > 89N(0.95[0.90-0.99]).
      CONCLUSION: The GNRB((r)) at 200N was shown to be sufficient to diagnose complete
      ACL tears. Applying a pressure load of 250N does not appear to be useful.

PMID- 25813558
TI  - Enhanced osteoblastic differentiation and bone formation in co-culture of human
      bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells with
      exogenous VEGF.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite recent advances in bone tissue engineering, efficient bone
      formation and vascularization remains a challenge for clinical applications.
      HYPOTHESIS: The aim of this study was to investigate if the osteoblastic
      differentiation of human mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) can be enhanced by co
      culturing them with peripheral blood (PB) mononuclear cells (MNCs), with and
      without vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a coupling factor of bone
      formation and angiogenesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human bone marrow (BM) derived
      MSCs were co-cultured with PB-MNCs in osteogenic medium with or without VEGF.
      Osteoblastic differentiation and mineral deposition were studied by staining for
      alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and von Kossa, respectively, and measurements for ALP
      activity and calcium concentration (Ca). Cell proliferation was assayed with
      Alamar blue. The mechanism(s) were further studied by Transwell((r)) cell culture
      experiments. RESULTS: Both ALP and mineralization (von Kossa and Ca) were
      significantly higher in the MSC-MNC co-cultures compared to plain MSC cultures.
      VEGF alone had no effect on osteoblastic differentiation of MSCs, but further
      enhanced differentiation in co-culture settings. The mechanism was shown to
      require cell-cell contact between MSCs and MNCs and the factors contributing to
      further differentiation appear to be soluble. No differences were observed in
      cell proliferation. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that the in vitro ALP
      activity and mineralization of human BM-MSCs is more efficient in the presence of
      PB-MNCs, and exogenously added VEGF further enhances the stimulatory effect. This
      indicates that PB-MNCs could be a potential cell source in development of co
      culture systems for novel tissue engineering applications for enhanced bone
      healing.

PMID- 25813559
TI  - Bone density and functional results after femoral revision with a cementless
      press-fit stem.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The influence of radiographic bone density changes in the area
      surrounding a total hip arthroplasty (THA) revision with a cementless press-fit
      stem is unknown, notably in terms of functional results. We have therefore
      conducted a study aiming to (1) propose a radiographic method to assess bone
      density, (2) measure the functional effects of reduced bone density, and (3)
      determine the factors contributing to these modifications. HYPOTHESIS: A
      reduction in radiographic bone density has a negative influence on the functional
      result after revision using a cementless press-fit stem. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We
      retrospectively assessed 150 THA revisions at a mean follow-up of 6.3 +/- 3.2
      years (range, 2-15 years). The clinical assessment was based on the Harris Hip
      Score. Bone density modifications were measured radiographically and the method
      was evaluated. The change in bone density was classified into two groups: (1)
      bone density not reduced or < 2 Gruen zones (118 cases [79%]); (2) bone density
      reduced >= 2 zones (32 cases [21%]). The variables showing a potential influence
      were the Cortical Index (CI), the type of primary stability with the press-fit
      system, and the femoral implant length. RESULTS: Inter- and intraobserver
      reliability of radiographic bone density measurement was evaluated as moderate or
      good (Kappa, 0.58; 0.60 and 0.67, respectively). For the Harris Hip Score at
      follow-up, there was a borderline statistical relation between stages 1 and 2:
      for the 118 stage 1 patients, this score was 83.62 +/- 11.54 (range, 27-99)
      versus 78.34 +/- 15.98 (range, 62-91) for stage 2 patients (P = 0.09). A CI <=
      0.44 showed mediocre bone quality contributing to decreased bone density (P <
      0.02). On the other hand, there was no statistically significant relation with
      the type of primary fixation (P = 0.34) or the length of the implant (P = 0.23).
      CONCLUSIONS: A cementless revision femoral stem can induce a reduction in bone
      density with possible functional effects. The negative role played by bone
      scarcity on the functional score is confirmed, and even though the difference is
      not statistically significant, we suggest using a short stem when this is
      possible.

PMID- 25813560
TI  - Risk factors for febrile urinary tract infection in children with prenatal
      hydronephrosis: a prospective study.
AB  - PURPOSE: We prospectively investigated the impact of risk factors for febrile
      urinary tract infection in infants with postnatally confirmed prenatal
      hydronephrosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients seen for prenatal hydronephrosis
      from 2010 to 2013 were prospectively followed. Those with ectopic ureters and
      ureteroceles, posterior urethral valves and neuropathic bladders were excluded.
      The primary outcome was febrile catheter specimen urinary tract infection. We
      performed univariate analysis of 7 a priori risk factors, including age,
      hydronephrosis grade (low-I or II vs high-III or IV), type (isolated
      hydronephrosis vs hydroureteronephrosis), continuous antibiotic prophylaxis,
      vesicoureteral reflux grade, gender and circumcision status. Time to febrile
      urinary tract infection curves analyzed by Cox proportional regression were
      generated to adjust for confounders. RESULTS: We collected data on 334 patients,
      of whom 78% were male. A febrile urinary tract infection developed in 65 patients
      (19%) at a median of 4 months (range 1 to 31). High grade hydronephrosis was
      present in 192 infants (57%). Continuous antibiotic prophylaxis was prescribed in
      96 cases (29%). Of patients on continuous antibiotic prophylaxis 69% had high
      grade hydronephrosis. Vesicoureteral reflux was identified in 57 of 238 patients
      in whom voiding cystourethrogram was done. Reflux was grade I to III in 14 cases
      and grade IV or V in 43. Two-thirds of the patients with reflux were on
      continuous antibiotic prophylaxis. Circumcision was performed in 95 males (36%).
      Cox proportional regression identified female gender (HR 3.3, p = 0.02),
      uncircumcised males (HR 3.2, p = 0.02), hydroureteronephrosis (HR 10.9, p <0.01),
      vesicoureteral reflux (HR 20.8, p <0.01) and lack of continuous antibiotic
      prophylaxis (HR 5.2, p <0.01) as risk factors for febrile urinary tract
      infection. Subgroup analysis excluding vesicoureteral reflux showed that high
      grade prenatal hydronephrosis was also a significant risk factor (HR 3.0, p =
      0.04). CONCLUSIONS: After patients with vesicoureteral reflux were excluded from
      the study, females and uncircumcised males with high grade hydroureteronephrosis
      had significantly higher febrile urinary tract infection rates. Therefore, those
      patients may benefit from continuous antibiotic prophylaxis.

PMID- 25813561
TI  - Does intracytoplasmic sperm injection pose an increased risk of genitourinary
      congenital malformations in offspring compared to in vitro fertilization? A
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: We systematically reviewed and performed a meta-analysis of the
      genitourinary congenital malformation rate after conception by intracytoplasmic
      sperm injection compared to in vitro fertilization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      systematically reviewed studies to compare perinatal outcomes between children
      conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection vs in vitro fertilization. Studies
      showing genitourinary congenital malformation rates were included. We assessed
      the risk of bias, focusing on the quality of genitourinary congenital
      malformation reporting and analysis targeted at singletons. Meta-analysis was
      done using a random effects model for 3 outcomes, including overall genitourinary
      congenital malformation, hypospadias and cryptorchidism. Sensitivity analysis was
      also performed in only studies at low risk for bias. RESULTS: The initial search
      yielded 1,482 articles. We performed a full text review of 111 of these studies,
      of which 22 met inclusion criteria for systematic review. Meta-analysis of
      intracytoplasmic sperm injection and in vitro fertilization in 12,270 and 24,240
      cases, respectively, revealed that intracytoplasmic sperm injection was
      associated with a significantly higher rate of overall genitourinary congenital
      malformation compared to in vitro fertilization (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.02-1.59, p =
      0.04). However, when including only 4 studies at low risk for bias with a total
      of 7,727 and 14,308 intracytoplasmic sperm injection and in vitro fertilization
      cases, respectively, the difference was not significant (OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.00
      1.64, p = 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of
      hypospadias (OR 1.21, 95% CI 0.87-1.69) or cryptorchidism (OR 1.39, 95% CI 0.97
      2.00) between males conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection vs in vitro
      fertilization. On all analyses there was no significant statistical heterogeneity
      between studies (I(2) = 0). CONCLUSIONS: Intracytoplasmic sperm injection is
      associated with a slightly higher risk of genitourinary malformation in offspring
      than in vitro fertilization. However, when only higher quality studies were
      analyzed, the difference was not significant. The hypospadias and cryptorchidism
      rates in offspring are similar for the 2 conception methods.

PMID- 25813562
TI  - An initial report of a novel multi-institutional bladder exstrophy consortium: a
      collaboration focused on primary surgery and subsequent care.
AB  - PURPOSE: For bladder exstrophy repair it is universally accepted that successful
      initial surgery is paramount to achieve the optimal outcome. Gaining the
      necessary surgical experience is challenging due to the rarity of bladder
      exstrophy. We report preliminary findings of a multi-institutional collaboration
      created to increase experience and proficiency with the care of bladder
      exstrophy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our 3 institutions alternatively served as the
      host site for scheduled surgeries with observation, commentary and critique by
      visitors from the other sites. The technique was complete primary repair with
      bilateral iliac osteotomy. The timing of complete primary repair at age 1 to 3
      months facilitated collaboration. We recorded patient demographics and outcomes,
      and the impact of this collaboration on our technique and experience. Video
      recording was used for real-time observation and teaching, and future analysis,
      editing and review. RESULTS: A total of 16 site visits occurred from February
      2013 through May 2014. Complete primary repair was performed in 9 males and 7
      females with bladder exstrophy. Median age at complete primary repair was 2
      months (range 0.1 to 28.8). Median followup was 8.9 months (range 2.8 to 18.2).
      All closures were successful with no dehiscence. Complications included
      urethrocutaneous fistula in 2 patients, 1 episode of pyelonephritis in 3 each and
      urethral obstruction in 2 females, of whom 1 required clean intermittent
      catheterization. CONCLUSIONS: We report a multi-institutional collaboration to
      standardize the surgical management of bladder exstrophy. This effort increased
      the annual experience of each institution involved from threefold to ninefold and
      it has accelerated the physician knowledge base to ultimately benefit patient
      care.

PMID- 25813563
TI  - Transcutaneous parasacral electrical stimulation vs oxybutynin for the treatment
      of overactive bladder in children: a randomized clinical trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: We determined the effectiveness of 2 methods to treat overactive bladder
      in children using intragroup and intergroup comparisons in a randomized clinical
      trial. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nine boys and 19 girls with a mean +/- SD age of
      6.4 +/- 2.18 years were randomly divided into group 1-parasacral transcutaneous
      electrical stimulation with placebo drug and group 2-oxybutynin with sham
      scapular electrical therapy. Success was assessed by 1) the rate of complete
      symptom resolution, 2) a visual analog scale of 0 to 10, 3) the dysfunctional
      voiding score system, 4) voiding diary records, 5) Rome III criteria and 6) side
      effect frequency in each group. RESULTS: A total of 13 and 15 patients were
      randomized to groups 1 and 2, respectively. Symptoms completely resolved in 6
      patients in group 1 (46%) and 3 in group 2 (20%) (p = 0.204). A statistically
      significant improvement was found in the 2 groups in the dysfunctional voiding
      score system and voiding diary records. However, no statistically significant
      difference was found between the groups in the visual analog scale score, voiding
      frequency, and maximum and mean voided volume (p = 0.295, 0.098, 0.538 and 0.650,
      respectively). Constipation improved in 100% of group 1 patients but in only 55%
      in group 2 (p = 0.031 vs 0.073). Group 1 showed no side effects while dry mouth,
      hyperthermia and hyperemia developed in 58%, 25% and 50% of group 2 patients (p =
      0.002, 0.096 and 0.005, respectively). Treatment was discontinued by 13.3% of
      patients in group 2. CONCLUSIONS: Parasacral transcutaneous electrical
      stimulation was as effective as oxybutynin to treat overactive bladder in
      children. However, transcutaneous parasacral electrical stimulation was more
      effective against constipation and showed no detectable side effects. Oxybutynin
      was more effective for decreasing voiding frequency.

PMID- 25813564
TI  - Semen parameters in adolescents with varicocele: association with testis volume
      differential and total testis volume.
AB  - PURPOSE: We evaluated the relationship between testicular volume differential,
      total testis volume and total motile sperm count in adolescents with varicocele.
      Prior reports have been inconclusive regarding the association of testis volume
      with semen analysis parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively
      reviewed a single institution database of Tanner 5 adolescents with nonoperated
      left varicocele with at least 1 semen analysis available. Patients were included
      in analysis if they had clinical left varicocele, ultrasound measurement of
      testis volume and no prior inguinal or scrotal surgery. RESULTS: We analyzed the
      records of 100 patients. Mean +/- SD age at presentation was 15.2 +/- 3.5 years.
      The mean testicular volume differential was 8% +/- 23% and 31 patients (31%) had
      a greater than 20% testicular volume differential. Mean total testis volume was
      30.4 +/- 13.3 cc. Varicocele was grade 3 in 39 patients, grade 2 in 50, grade 1
      in 8 and ungraded in 3. Median total motile sperm count in the cohort was 42.0
      (IQR 9.2, 105.8). ROC analysis with the Youden index indicated an optimal total
      testis volume cutoff of 30 cc to predict the total motile sperm count. In a
      multivariable logistic model accounting for age and varicocele grade a testicular
      volume differential of greater than 20% was associated with twice the odds of a
      total motile sperm count of less than 20 million per cc (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.02
      4.12, p = 0.04). Total testis volume less than 30 cc more than quadrupled the
      odds of a total motile sperm count of less than 20 million per cc (OR 4.2, 95% CI
      1.8-9.7, p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Total testis volume and the testicular volume
      differential are associated with semen analysis outcomes in adolescents with
      varicocele. A testicular volume differential of greater than 20% doubles the odds
      of a low total motile sperm count. A total testis volume of less than 30 cc
      quadruples the odds of a low total motile sperm count.

PMID- 25813565
TI  - Cell type specific changes in BMP-7 expression contribute to the progression of
      kidney disease in patients with obstructive uropathy.
AB  - PURPOSE: Congenital urinary tract obstruction is a leading cause of renal
      maldevelopment and pediatric kidney disease. Nonetheless, few groups have
      examined its molecular pathogenesis in humans. We evaluated the role of BMP-7, a
      protein required for renal injury repair and nephrogenesis, in disease
      progression in patients with obstructive uropathy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Whole
      kidney and cell specific BMP-7 expression was examined in a murine model of
      unilateral ureteral obstruction and in patients with congenital ureteropelvic
      junction obstruction. Findings were correlated with molecular markers of renal
      injury and clinical parameters. RESULTS: Unilateral ureteral obstruction led to a
      dramatic decrease in BMP-7 expression in the proximal and distal tubules before
      the onset of significant loss of renal architecture and fibrosis, suggesting that
      this is a critical molecular event that drives early stage disease progression.
      Loss of BMP-7 expression then extended to the collecting ducts and glomeruli in
      end stage kidney disease. When translating these findings to patients with
      ureteropelvic junction obstruction, global loss of BMP-7 expression correlated
      with a decreased number of nephrons, loss of renal architecture, severe renal
      fibrosis and loss of kidney function. CONCLUSIONS: Given that BMP-7 has a
      critical role in renal injury repair and nephrogenesis, these findings show that
      cell specific changes in BMP-7 expression contribute to the onset of irreversible
      renal injury and impaired kidney development secondary to congenital urinary
      tract obstruction. Accordingly therapies that target these cell populations to
      restore BMP-7 activity may limit disease progression in patients with obstructive
      uropathy.

PMID- 25813566
TI  - Formulation, characterization, and evaluation of ligand-conjugated biodegradable
      quercetin nanoparticles for active targeting.
AB  - The aim of this study was to design a targeted drug delivery system carrying a
      natural anticancer drug Quercetin (Qu), specifically for skin cancer. A central
      composite design was applied separately for each ligand, and the quadratic model
      was used for the process. The surface morphology was confirmed by transmission
      electron microscopy (TEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and
      in vitro release studies were also performed. The MTT assay was performed against
      two different cell lines, to measure their anticancer potentials and their
      targeting ability. The study thus reveals that MA-Qu-PLGA and FA-Qu-PLGA
      nanoparticles (NPs) can be used as effective drug delivery systems for skin
      cancer treatment encompassing natural drugs. 

PMID- 25813567
TI  - Preparation and evaluation of a non-viral gene vector for SiRNA: Multifunctional
      envelope-type nano device (.).
AB  - We prepared and evaluated a multifunctional envelope-type nano device (MEND) as a
      liver-targeting and long-circulation carrier for SiRNA. The polymer GA-PEG-Pp
      DOPE was synthesized by modifying polyethylene glycol (PEG) with glycyrrhetinic
      acid (GA), peptide (Pp), and dioleoyl phosphoethanolamine (DOPE). The Pp is a
      substrate of matrix metalloproteinase 2. MEND was prepared with GA-PEG-Pp-DOPE
      and cationic phospholipids by the filming-rehydration method, and the orthogonal
      test was applied to optimize the prescription. The results of the biological
      evaluation results suggest that MEND is a promising delivery system for SiRNA. 

PMID- 25813568
TI  - Development and in vitro characterization of a multiparticulate delivery system
      for acyclovir-resinate complex.
AB  - CONTEXT: Herpes viruses cause threatening infections in humans and stand second
      as causative agents for most human viral diseases, after influenza and cold
      viruses. OBJECTIVE: A novel multiparticulate delivery system for acyclovir (ACV),
      based on ion-exchange resin, was developed to achieve a gastro-mucoadhesive
      effect in order to effectively combat the herpes simplex virus. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A combination of ACV and cholestyramine resin was optimized and further
      entrapped within sodium alginate and Carbopol microbeads. The developed systems
      were evaluated for drug entrapment efficiency (DEE), percentage of mucoadhesion,
      and in vitro release characteristics in simulated gastric fluid (SGF, pH 1.2).
      RESULTS: With the aid of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential
      scanning calorimetry (DSC), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR),
      the interaction of the resinate and polycations with alginate has been revealed,
      which consequently supports the formation of the membrane by the polyelectrolyte
      complex. The in vitro drug release studies demonstrate that formulations without
      the drug-resin complex (DRC) released the drug more rapidly than formulations
      containing DRC, which released the drug in a controlled manner, due the formation
      of a complex between drug and resin. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Preliminary
      results from this study suggest that these DRC-entrapped microbeads may be used
      to incorporate other antiviral drugs and could be effective against infections
      caused by herpes viruses. Such formulations developed could be subjected to in
      vivo studies in future, in order to prove complete clearance of herpes
      infections.

PMID- 25813569
TI  - [Shadowy existence of nursing research in hospice nursing and palliative care].

PMID- 25813570
TI  - [Transition from childhood to adolescence-a qualitative study on experiences of
      adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus and their mothers].
AB  - BACKGROUND: In Germany every year approximately 2.200 children under the age of
      14 come down with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). While parents manage diabetes
      for infants, children take over some tasks over time. During the transition from
      childhood to adolescence, between 8 - 13 years of age, children become more
      independent. Children with T1DM experience an additional transition in diabetes
      management. So far, however, research focused on the transition from adolescence
      to adulthood. AIM: With the study, experiences of adolescents with T1DM and their
      mothers with the transition from childhood to adolescence and the meaning of
      independence were explored. METHOD: This interpretive phenomenological study was
      conducted in two diabetes walk-in clinics in the south of Germany. Six
      adolescents and their mothers participated in interviews with open-ended
      questions. Data were evaluated using case and thematic analysis. RESULTS: Taking
      over diabetes tasks for longer periods and the increased independence was
      perceived as liberating by young people. Mothers learned to have confidence in
      their children. Their biggest concern was a possible hypoglycemia. Family members
      as well as teachers were involved in the diabetes management differently. The
      continuous care by the same physicians was experienced as supportive. CONCLUSION:
      A continuous care by the same professional persons can positively influence the
      transition from childhood to adolescence for children with T1DM.

PMID- 25813571
TI  - [Being cared for and caring: living with multiple chronic diseases (Leila)-a
      qualitative study about APN contributions to integrated care].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Living with multiple chronic diseases is complex and leads to
      enhanced care needs. To foster integrated care a project called "Living with
      chronic disease" (Leila) was initiated. AIM: The aim was to develop an Advanced
      Practice Nursing (APN) service in collaboration with medical centers for persons
      who are living with multiple chronic diseases. The following research questions
      were addressed: 1. What are patients' experiences, referring physicians and APNs
      with the Leila-Service? 2. How are referral processes performed? 3. How do the
      involved groups experience collaboration and APN role development? METHODS: A
      qualitative approach according grounded theory of Corbin and Strauss was used to
      explore the experiences with the Leila project and the interaction of the persons
      involved. 38 interviews were conducted with patients who are living with multiple
      chronic diseases, their APN's and the referring physicians. RESULTS: The findings
      revealed "Being cared for and caring" as main category. The data demonstrated how
      patients responded to their involvement into care and that they were taken as
      serious partners in the care process. The category "organizing everyday life"
      describes how patients learned to cope with the consequences of living with
      multiple chronic diseases. "Using all resources" as another category demonstrates
      how capabilities and strengths were adopted. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the
      cooperation- and allocation processes showed that the APN recognition and APN
      role performance have to be negotiated. Prospective APN-services for this patient
      population should be integrated along with physician networks and other service
      providers including community health nursing.

PMID- 25813573
TI  - [Patient education in the acute hospital].

PMID- 25813572
TI  - [Monitoring of nursing service context factors: first descriptive results of a
      cross-sectional Swiss study prior the introduction of SwissDRG].
AB  - BACKGROUND: The adoption of DRG-based payment systems has narrowed hospitals'
      financial margins, necessitating streamlining and process optimization. The
      experience of other countries shows that this restructuring can influence context
      factors essential to the delivery of nursing care. As a result, nursing care
      quality and patient safety may be impacted. AIM: The Sinergia Project aims to
      develop a monitoring model and related instruments to continuously monitor the
      impact of DRG-based reimbursement on central nursing service context factors.
      METHOD: The descriptive, quantitative results were collected within the framework
      of a study with a mixed methods design by means of an online survey in which
      nurses from five hospitals participated. RESULTS: The results show that the
      nursing service context factors examined (nursing care complexity, quality of the
      work environment, management, moral distress and job satisfaction), have
      relevance in all practice areas as regards practice setting and nursing care
      delivery. Patterns can be recognized that are consistent with those found in the
      literature and which could be an indication of the relationships between the
      context factors above, as was hypothesized in the model. CONCLUSIONS: The study
      has provided the participating hospitals with useful data upon which to base
      discussions on ensuring quality of nursing care and practice development, in
      addition to information important to the further development of the model and the
      instruments employed.

PMID- 25813575
TI  - [Hurtful words: verbal violence].

PMID- 25813574
TI  - [Daily routine of informal caregivers-needs and concerns with regard to the
      discharge of their elderly family members from the hospital setting-a qualitative
      study].
AB  - BACKGROUND: The care of an elderly frail and ill family member places a great
      responsibility on informal caregivers. Following discharge of the older person
      from the hospital setting it can be observed that caregivers are often
      inadequately informed about aspects such as health status, prognosis,
      complications, and care interventions. Concerns and needs of caregivers regarding
      their daily living and routine following hospital discharge has not been
      investigated and is considered important for an optimized discharge management.
      AIM: To explore personal needs and concerns of informal caregivers with regard to
      daily living prior to discharge of their family member. METHOD: Eight narrative
      interviews were conducted with caregivers and were analysed using Mayring's
      content analysing method. RESULTS: All caregivers had concerns regarding the
      maintenance of a functional daily routine. As well as caring and household
      duties, this functional daily routine included negotiating one's own personal
      time off duties, the reality of the deteriorating health status of the family
      member and the associated sense of hope. The intensity of family ties affected
      the functional daily routine. Caregivers had different expectations with regard
      to their integration during the hospital period. CONCLUSIONS: To support
      caregivers in their situation it is advisable to assess the functional daily
      routine of caregivers. Their need for time off their household and caring duties
      and their informational and educational needs to pertaining to disease
      progression, possible sources of support and symptom management should be
      recognised. Further inquiries into caregiver's involvement and responsibilities
      in the discharge process are needed.

PMID- 25813576
TI  - [Psychological hardiness - focus on resilience in nursing science].

PMID- 25813580
TI  - New results on delay-range-dependent stability analysis for interval time-varying
      delay systems with non-linear perturbations.
AB  - This paper studies the problem of the stability analysis of interval time-varying
      delay systems with nonlinear perturbations. Based on the Lyapunov-Krasovskii
      functional (LKF), a sufficient delay-range-dependent criterion for asymptotic
      stability is derived in terms of linear matrix inequality (LMI) and integral
      inequality approach (IIA) and delayed decomposition approach (DDA). Further, the
      delay range is divided into two equal segments for stability analysis. Both
      theoretical and numerical comparisons have been provided to show the
      effectiveness and efficiency of the present method. Two well-known examples are
      given to show less conservatism of our obtained results and the effectiveness of
      the proposed method.

PMID- 25813581
TI  - Photoactivation of Dok1/ERK/PPARgamma signaling axis inhibits excessive lipolysis
      in insulin-resistant adipocytes.
AB  - Insulin resistance is a hallmark of the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.
      Increased plasma FFA level is an important cause of obesity-associated insulin
      resistance. Over-activated ERK is closely related with FFA release from adipose
      tissues in patients with type 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, there are no effective
      strategies to lower plasma FFA level. Low-power laser irradiation (LPLI) has been
      reported to regulate multiple biological processes. However, whether LPLI could
      ameliorate metabolic disorders and the molecular mechanisms involved remain
      unknown. In this study, we first demonstrated that LPLI suppresses excessive
      lipolysis of insulin-resistant adipocytes by activating tyrosine kinases
      1(Dok1)/ERK/PPARgamma pathway. Our data showed that LPLI inhibits ERK
      phosphorylation through the activation of Dok1, resulting in decreased phospho
      PPARgamma level. Non-phosphorylated PPARgamma maintains in nucleus to promote the
      expression of adipogenic genes, reversing excessive lipolysis in insulin
      resistant adipocytes. In summary, the present research highlights the important
      roles of Dok1/ERK/PPARgamma pathway in lowering FFA release from adipocytes, and
      our research extends the knowledge of the biological effects induced by LPLI. 

PMID- 25813582
TI  - Response to Courtney et al.

PMID- 25813583
TI  - Alteration of the bone tissue material properties in type 1 diabetes mellitus: A
      Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy study.
AB  - Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a severe disorder characterized by
      hyperglycemia and hypoinsulinemia. A higher occurrence of bone fractures has been
      reported in T1DM, and although bone mineral density is reduced in this disorder,
      it is also thought that bone quality may be altered in this chronic pathology.
      Vibrational microscopies such as Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy
      (FTIRM) represent an interesting approach to study bone quality as they allow
      investigation of the collagen and mineral compartment of the extracellular matrix
      in a specific bone location. However, as spectral feature arising from the
      mineral may overlap with those of the organic component, the demineralization of
      bone sections should be performed for a full investigation of the organic matrix.
      The aims of the present study were to (i) develop a new approach, based on the
      demineralization of thin bone tissue section to allow a better characterization
      of the bone organic component by FTIRM, (ii) to validate collagen glycation and
      collagen integrity in bone tissue and (iii) to better understand what alterations
      of tissue material properties in newly forming bone occur in T1DM. The
      streptozotocin-injected mouse (150 mg/kg body weight, injected at 8 weeks old)
      was used as T1DM model. Animals were randomly allocated to control (n = 8) or
      diabetic (n = 10) groups and were sacrificed 4 weeks post-STZ injection. Bones
      were collected at necropsy, embedded in polymethylmethacrylate and sectioned
      prior to examination by FTIRM. FTIRM collagen parameters were collagen maturity
      (area ratio between 1660 and 1690 cm(-1) subbands), collagen glycation (area
      ratio between the 1032 cm(-1) subband and amide I) and collagen integrity (area
      ratio between the 1338 cm(-1) subband and amide II). No significant differences
      in the mineral compartment of the bone matrix could be observed between controls
      and STZ-injected animals. On the other hand, as compared with controls, STZ
      injected animals presented with significant higher value for collagen maturity
      (17%, p = 0.0048) and collagen glycation (99%, p = 0.0121), while collagen
      integrity was significantly lower by 170% (p = 0.0121). This study demonstrated
      the profound effect of early T1DM on the organic compartment of the bone matrix
      in newly forming bone. Further studies in humans are required to ascertain
      whether T1DM also lead to similar effect on the quality of the bone matrix.

PMID- 25813584
TI  - Disagreements between medical specialty boards and their diplomates.

PMID- 25813585
TI  - Opioids for nonmalignant chronic pain.

PMID- 25813586
TI  - Withholding information from an anxiety-prone patient?

PMID- 25813587
TI  - Abusive and disruptive behavior in the surgical team.

PMID- 25813588
TI  - Education to identify and combat racial bias in pain treatment.

PMID- 25813589
TI  - Perioperative do-not-resuscitate orders.

PMID- 25813590
TI  - Is informed consent for extracorporeal life support even possible?

PMID- 25813591
TI  - Ethical tenets of perioperative care: "finding my surgical way home".

PMID- 25813592
TI  - Quality improvement and patient safety organizations in anesthesiology.

PMID- 25813593
TI  - The influence of social values on obstetric anesthesia.

PMID- 25813594
TI  - The history of professionalism in anesthesiology.

PMID- 25813595
TI  - The importance of good communication in treating patients' pain.

PMID- 25813596
TI  - High throughput screening of scFv antibodies against viral hemorrhagic
      septicaemia virus by flow cytometry.
AB  - Viral hemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS) is an economically important disease that
      affects salmon and trout worldwide. In this study, a recombinant single chain
      variable fragment (scFv) antibody library derived from rainbow trout immunized
      with purified viral hemorrhagic septicaemia virus (VHSV) was constructed. The
      library was subjected to three rounds of screening by flow cytometry (FCM)
      against VHSV through a bacteria display technology, resulting in the enrichment
      of scFv. Four scFv clones with different fluorescence intensity were obtained by
      colony pick up at random following three rounds of screening. The isolated scFv
      antibodies were expressed and purified. Relative affinity assay showed the four
      clones had different sensitivity to VHSV, in accordance with FCM. The potential
      use of the selected VHSV-specific scFv antibodies was demonstrated by the
      successful application in Western blotting assay, ELISA and immunofluorescence
      antibody test (IFAT), and one of the isolated scFv molecular showed excellent in
      vitro and in vivo blocking activities against VHSV. scFv isolated in this study
      can be promising diagnostic and/or therapeutic reagents for VHS. This study
      provides powerful strategies for screening antibodies against new diseases.

PMID- 25813597
TI  - A novel assay for detecting canine parvovirus using a quartz crystal microbalance
      biosensor.
AB  - Rapid and accurate diagnosis is crucial to reduce both the shedding and clinical
      signs of canine parvovirus (CPV). The quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is a new
      tool for measuring frequency changes associated with antigen-antibody
      interactions. In this study, the QCM biosensor and ProLinkerTM B were used to
      rapidly diagnosis CPV infection. ProLinkerTM B enables antibodies to be attached
      to a gold-coated quartz surface in a regular pattern and in the correct
      orientation for antigen binding. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves
      were used to set a cut-off value using reference CPVs (two groups: one CPV
      positive and one CPV-negative). The ROC curves overlapped and the point of
      intersection was used as the cut-off value. A QCM biosensor with a cut-off value
      of -205 Hz showed 95.4% (104/109) sensitivity and 98.0% (149/152) specificity
      when used to test 261 field fecal samples compared to PCR. In conclusion, the QCM
      biosensor described herein is eminently suitable for the rapid diagnosis of CPV
      infection with high sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, it is a promising
      analytical tool that will be useful for clinical diagnosis, which requires rapid
      and reliable analyses.

PMID- 25813598
TI  - Concurrent infections of pseudorabies virus and porcine bocavirus in China
      detected by duplex nanoPCR.
AB  - Nanoparticle-assisted polymerase chain reaction (nanoPCR) is a novel method for
      the simple, rapid, and specific amplification of DNA and has been used to detect
      viruses. A duplex nanoPCR molecular detection system was developed to detect
      pseudorabies virus (PRV) and porcine bocavirus (PBoV). Primers were selected to
      target conserved regions within the PRV gE gene and the PBoV NS1 gene. Under
      optimized nanoPCR reaction conditions, two specific fragments of 316 bp (PRV) and
      996 bp (PBoV) were amplified by the duplex nanoPCR with a detection limit of 6
      copies for PRV and 95 copies for PBoV; no fragments were amplified when other
      porcine viruses were used as template. When used to test 550 clinical samples,
      the duplex nanoPRC assay and a conventional duplex PCR assay provided very
      similar results (98.1% consistency); single PRV infections, single PBoV
      infections, and concurrent PRV and PBoV infections were detected in 37%, 15%, and
      9% of the samples, respectively. The results indicate that the novel duplex
      nanoPCR assay is useful for the rapid detection of PRV and PBoV in pigs.

PMID- 25813599
TI  - A TaqMan-based real-time PCR for detection and quantification of porcine
      parvovirus 4.
AB  - Porcine parvovirus 4 (PPV4) is a DNA virus, and a member of the Parvoviridae
      family within the Bocavirus genera. It was detected recently in swine, but its
      epidemiology and pathology remain unclear. A TaqMan-based real-time PCR (qPCR)
      targeting a conserved region of the ORF3 gene of PPV4 was developed. The qPCR
      detection limit was 9.5 * 10(1) DNA copies/MUL. There was no cross-reaction with
      porcine parvovirus, torque teno virus 1, torque teno virus 2, porcine circovirus
      type 1, porcine circovirus type 2, or with pseudorabies virus. Two hundred and
      seventy-two samples, including serum, semen, lungs, feces, ovarian follicular
      fluids, ovaries and uterus, were evaluated by qPCR and PPV4 was detected in 36
      samples (13.2%). When compared with a conventional PCR (cPCR), the qPCR assay was
      10 times more sensitive and the detection of PPV4 DNA in field samples was
      increased 2.5 times. Partial sequencing of PPV4 ORF3 gene, obtained from two
      pooled samples of uterus and ovaries, revealed a high nucleotide identity (98
      99%) with a reference PPV4 sequence. The qPCR can be used as a fast and accurate
      assay for the detection and quantification of PPV4 in field samples and for
      epidemiological studies in swine herds.

PMID- 25813600
TI  - Development of sheep kidney cells with increased resistance to different
      subgenotypes of BVDV-1 by RNA interference.
AB  - Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) should be a ubiquitous viral pathogen to the
      cattle and sheep industry. This pathogen is responsible for severe economic
      losses. We previously showed that plasmid-mediated dual short hairpin RNA (shRNA)
      efficiently inhibit BVDV replication in bovine kidney epithelial (MDBK) cells. In
      this study, we delivered the dual shRNA system to sheep fibroblasts and generated
      transgenic cell colonies. These transgenic fibroblasts were further used for
      somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Three lambs were born at full term, but
      perished soon after birth. Integration of shRNA into the genome of cloned sheep
      was confirmed by PCR and expression of shRNA in transgenic sheep was confirmed by
      real-time PCR. Kidney epithelial cells were isolated from transgenic sheep and
      challenged with multiple BVDV subgenotypes (BVDV-1a, BVDV-1b and BVDV-1c). The
      dual shRNA expressed in transgenic kidney epithelial cells significantly
      inhibited BVDV replication in a cross-resistance manner. Our results showed that
      transgenic RNAi might be a useful tool for preparation of transgenic animals with
      increased resistance to BVDV. 

PMID- 25813601
TI  - Transplantation of a 2-year-old deceased-donor liver to a 61-year-old male
      recipient.
AB  - The suitable size of a graft is a key element in the success of liver
      transplantation. A small-for-size liver graft is very likely to sustain a
      significant degree of injury as a result of ischemia, preservation, reperfusion,
      and rejection. Usually, small-for-size grafts are a concern in living-donor liver
      transplantation rather than in deceased-donor liver transplantation. Here, we
      describe the successful transplantation of a liver from a 2-year-old deceased
      donor to a 61-year-old male recipient who suffered from liver failure related to
      hepatitis B. No report of successful deceased-donor liver transplantation with
      discrepancies between donor and recipient age and size to such an extent has been
      found in the literature. Despite unusually large discrepancies, with effort in
      minimizing the ischemic time, revised surgical techniques, and strong
      regenerative power of the "young" graft, the old patient's liver function
      gradually returned to normal. This again proves that the definition of a
      "suitable graft" evolves with time and experience. 

PMID- 25813602
TI  - Gastric outlet obstruction secondary to paraesophageal herniation of gastric
      antrum after laparoscopic fundoplication.
AB  - The most common causes of acute gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) are duodenal and
      type 3 gastric ulcers. However, mechanical or functional causes may also lead to
      this pathology. Acute GOO is characterized by delayed gastric emptying, anorexia,
      or nausea accompanied by vomiting. Herein we report a 56-year-old man diagnosed
      with GOO secondary to paraesophageal hiatal herniation of gastric antrum after
      laparoscopic fundoplication. Because of the rarity of this disease, common
      gastrointestinal complaints may mislead the emergency physician to diagnose a
      nonsurgical gastrointestinal disease if a detailed history and physical
      examinations are not obtained. 

PMID- 25813603
TI  - Inhibition-Based Biomarkers for Autism Spectrum Disorder.
AB  - Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a behaviorally defined and heterogeneous
      disorder. Biomarkers for ASD offer the opportunity to improve prediction,
      diagnosis, stratification by severity and subtype, monitoring over time and in
      response to interventions, and overall understanding of the underlying biology of
      this disorder. A variety of potential biomarkers, from the level of genes and
      proteins to network-level interactions, is currently being examined. Many of
      these biomarkers relate to inhibition, which is of particular interest because in
      many cases ASD is thought to be a disorder of imbalance between excitation and
      inhibition. Abnormalities in inhibition at the cellular level lead to emergent
      properties in networks of neurons. These properties take into account a more
      complete genetic and cellular background than findings at the level of individual
      genes or cells, and are able to be measured in live humans, offering additional
      potential as diagnostic biomarkers and predictors of behaviors. In this review we
      provide examples of how altered inhibition may inform the search for ASD
      biomarkers at multiple levels, from genes to cells to networks. 

PMID- 25813604
TI  - Standing postural instability in patients with schizophrenia: Relationships with
      psychiatric symptoms, anxiety, and the use of neuroleptic medications.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to assess postural instability in patients with
      schizophrenia using a pressure-sensitive platform and to examine the effects of
      anxiety, psychiatric symptoms, and the use of neuroleptic medications on postural
      sway. Participants were 23 patients with schizophrenia and 23 healthy controls.
      We found that the patients showed greater overall postural instability than the
      controls. Furthermore, they demonstrated greater instability when the test was
      performed with the eyes closed than with the eyes open. However, removal of
      visual input had less impact on the indices of postural instability in the
      patients than in the controls, suggesting that schizophrenia is associated with
      difficulties in integrating visual information and proprioceptive signals.
      Furthermore, in contrast to the controls, anxiety exacerbated postural
      instability in the patients. There were significant associations between postural
      stability and psychiatric symptoms in the patients without extrapyramidal
      symptoms, whereas medication dose did not significantly correlate with postural
      stability. 

PMID- 25813605
TI  - Feedback control of flow vorticity at low Reynolds numbers.
AB  - Our aim is to explore strategies of feedback control to design and stabilize
      novel dynamic flow patterns in model systems of complex fluids. To introduce the
      control strategies, we investigate the simple Newtonian fluid at low Reynolds
      number in a circular geometry. Then, the fluid vorticity satisfies a diffusion
      equation. We determine the mean vorticity in the sensing area and use two control
      strategies to feed it back into the system by controlling the angular velocity of
      the circular boundary. Hysteretic feedback control generates self-regulated
      stable oscillations in time, the frequency of which can be adjusted over several
      orders of magnitude by tuning the relevant feedback parameters. Time-delayed
      feedback control initiates unstable vorticity modes for sufficiently large
      feedback strength. For increasing delay time, we first observe oscillations with
      beats and then regular trains of narrow pulses. Close to the transition line
      between the resting fluid and the unstable modes, these patterns are relatively
      stable over long times. 

PMID- 25813606
TI  - Bond lifetime and diffusion coefficient in colloids with short-range
      interactions.
AB  - We use molecular dynamics simulations to study the influence of short-range
      structures in the interaction potential between hard-sphere-like colloidal
      particles. Starting from model potentials and effective potentials in binary
      mixtures computed from the Ornstein-Zernike equations, we investigate the
      influence of the range and strength of a possible tail beyond the usual core
      repulsion or the presence of repulsive barriers. The diffusion coefficient and
      mean "bond" lifetimes are used as indicators of the effect of this structure on
      the dynamics. The existence of correlations between the variations of these
      quantities with the physical parameters is discussed to assess the interpretation
      of dynamics slowing down in terms of long-lived bonds. We also discuss the
      question of a universal behaviour determined by the second virial coefficient B
      ((2)) and the interplay of attraction and repulsion. While the diffusion
      coefficient follows the B ((2)) law for purely attractive tails, this is no
      longer true in the presence of repulsive barriers. Furthermore, the bond lifetime
      shows a dependence on the physical parameters that differs from that of the
      diffusion coefficient. This raises the question of the precise role of bonds on
      the dynamics slowing down in colloidal gels. 

PMID- 25813607
TI  - Topological binding and elastic interactions of microspheres and fibres in a
      nematic liquid crystal.
AB  - We present a detailed analysis of topological binding and elastic interactions
      between a long, and micrometer-diameter fiber, and a microsphere in a
      homogeneously aligned nematic liquid crystal. Both objects are surface treated to
      produce strong perpendicular anchoring of the nematic liquid crystal. We use the
      opto-thermal micro-quench of the laser tweezers to produce topological defects
      with prescribed topological charge, such as pairs of a Saturn ring and an anti
      ring, hyperbolic and radial hedgehogs on a fiber, as well as zero-charge loops.
      We study the entanglement and topological charge interaction between the
      topological defects of the fiber and sphere and we observe a huge variety of
      different entanglement topologies and defect-mediated elastic bindings. We
      explain all observed phenomena with simple topological rule: like topological
      charges repel each other and opposite topological charges attract. These binding
      mechanisms not only demonstrate the fascinating topology of nematic colloids, but
      also open a novel route to the assembly of very complex topological networks of
      fibers, spheres and other objects for applications in liquid crystal photonics. 

PMID- 25813608
TI  - Optimizing antibiotic therapy of bacteremia and endocarditis due to staphylococci
      and enterococci: new insights and evidence from the literature.
AB  - Gram-positive cocci are a well-recognised major cause of nosocomial infection
      worldwide. Bloodstream infections due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
      aureus, methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci, and multi-drug
      resistant enterococci are a cause of concern for physicians due to their related
      morbidity and mortality rates. Aim of this article is to review the current state
      of knowledge regarding the management of BSI caused by staphylococci and
      enterococci, including infective endocarditis, and to identify those factors that
      may help physicians to manage these infections appropriately. Moreover, we
      discuss the importance of an appropriate use of antimicrobial drugs, taking in
      consideration the in vitro activity, clinical efficacy data,
      pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic parameters, and potential side effects.

PMID- 25813609
TI  - Gender Development in Indonesian Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Disorders
      of Sex Development.
AB  - In most Western countries, clinical management of disorders of sex development
      (DSD), including ambiguous genitalia, begins at diagnosis soon after birth. For
      many Indonesian patients born with ambiguous genitalia, limited medical treatment
      is available. Consequently, affected individuals are raised with ambiguous
      genitalia and atypical secondary sex characteristics. We investigated gender
      identity and gender role behavior in 118 Indonesian subjects (77 males, 41
      females) with different types of DSD in comparison with 118 healthy controls
      matched for gender, age, and residential setting (rural, suburban, or urban). In
      Study 1, we report on methodological aspects of the investigation, including
      scale adaptation, pilot testing, and determining reliability and validity of
      measures. In Study 2, we report on gender development in 60 children (42 boys, 18
      girls), 24 adolescents (15 boys, 9 girls), and 34 adults (19 men, 15 women) with
      DSD. The majority of participants with DSD never received any medical or surgical
      treatment prior to this study. We observed a gender change in all age groups,
      with the greatest incidence in adults. Among patients who changed, most changed
      from female to male, possessed a 46,XY karyotype, and had experienced significant
      masculinization during life. Gender identity confusion and cross-gender behavior
      was more frequently observed in children with DSD raised as girls compared to
      boys. Puberty and associated masculinization were related to gender problems in
      individuals with 46,XY DSD raised female. An integrated clinical and
      psychological follow-up on gender outcome is necessary prior to puberty and
      adulthood. 

PMID- 25813610
TI  - Heterosexual Men's Ratings of Sexual Attractiveness of Adolescent Girls: A Cross
      Cultural Analysis.
AB  - Following an identical procedure to the one we previously reported (O'Donnell,
      Lowe, Brotherton, & Bennett, 2014), we examined ratings of sexual attraction to
      photographs of (the same) adolescent girls (Tanner stages 3-4) labelled as either
      14-15 years or 16-17 years old, women, and men. Ratings were made by Bulgarian
      heterosexual men by pressing buttons on a response box which recorded the ratings
      made and the time in milliseconds taken to respond. Despite the age of sexual
      consent in Bulgaria being 14 years, the pattern of findings did not differ from
      those found in the UK, where the age of consent is 16 years. That is, mean
      ratings of the sexual attractiveness of the girls labelled as younger were lower
      than those of the (same) girls labelled as older, and those of the women. In
      addition, correlations revealed significantly longer responding times when
      younger girls (and men) were rated as more highly sexually attractive. These
      associations were reversed in response to the photographs of women. We take these
      findings to indicate an inhibitory effect arising from generalized sexual norms
      relating to the inappropriateness of sexual attraction to young girls; the
      greater the attraction, the higher the inhibition. This second replication of our
      initial findings suggests a robust effect that may be of benefit in exploration
      of pedophile or sex offender groups.

PMID- 25813611
TI  - Assessment of Introital Lubrication.
AB  - Vaginal vasocongestion and lubrication serve to prepare the vaginal lumen for
      sexual activity. Lubrication is important for sexual functioning and difficulties
      with lubrication are one of the most commonly reported symptoms of sexual
      dysfunction. Few studies have empirically examined how vasocongestion and
      lubrication relate to one another and there are currently no well-established
      measures of lubrication. In this study, we designed and tested a simple method to
      assess lubrication at the vaginal introitus in 19 healthy women, using litmus
      test strips. We examined the relationship between lubrication and vaginal
      vasocongestion (measured with a photoplethysmograph) when elicited by audiovisual
      sexual stimuli (male-female sexual interactions). Lubrication was elicited by the
      sexual stimuli and was strongly correlated with reports of sexual arousal.
      Unexpectedly, lubrication was not correlated with vasocongestion, even though the
      latter was also elicited by the sexual stimuli. We discuss the implications of
      these findings for informing our understanding of the female sexual response and
      the potential clinical and scientific utility of this new measure. 

PMID- 25813612
TI  - Acid-Sensing Ion Channels in the nervous system. Foreword.

PMID- 25813613
TI  - The introduction and development of graduate entry programmes in the United
      kingdom.
AB  - In the United Kingdom, 4-year graduate-only medical education programmes
      (Graduate Entry Programme, GEP) started in 2000, and are running in 16 medical
      schools with over 800 students annually. This study presents the grounds for
      introduction of the GEP, and explores its benefits in increasing the medical
      workforce and widening participation in medical education. An increase in medical
      student numbers was proposed to cope with the pressing shortage of British
      doctors and the growing demand for doctors, and the GEP was introduced as a
      flexible and cost-effective way to meet this demand. It has contributed to
      increasing the diversity of students in medical schools and widening access to
      students from more varied social and educational backgrounds. In the United
      Kingdom, the GEP was established as a supplementary means of providing medical
      education, and it is unlikely to totally replace traditional 5- or 6-year
      programmes. 

PMID- 25813614
TI  - Relationships between Cognitive and Learning Styles of Premedical Students.
AB  - PURPOSE: We investigated the relationship between cognitive and learning style by
      comparing the Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA) with the Index of Learning Styles
      (ILS). We assessed whether cognitive styles correlated with learning styles with
      regard to their corresponding dimensions. METHODS: One hundred two second-year
      premedical students participated, and data from ninety-four students were
      analyzed. One student's data file was lost during data collection, and six
      students were excluded because their correct response rates on the CSA were lower
      than 50%. Both scales were presented on a computer item by item, and the
      assessment was conducted in the computer lab as a group. For analysis, responses
      and reaction times were recorded. RESULTS: Distributions of the styles were
      generated. We correlated the verbal-imagery dimension of the CSA with the visual
      verbal dimension of the ILS and found no correlation. There was no correlation
      between the wholist-analytic dimension of the CSA with the sequential-global
      dimension of the ILS. Excluding intermediate students in the verbal-imagery
      dimension of the CSA, however, there appeared to be a marginally significant
      correlation between the verbal-imagery dimension of the CSA and the visual-verbal
      dimension of the ILS. CONCLUSION: In the visual (imagery)-verbal dimension, there
      was some correlation between cognitive and learning styles.

PMID- 25813615
TI  - Perception of medical students on real-time class evaluation using mobile phone
      survey system.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate the advantage of real-time class
      evaluation over course evaluation in integrated courses and to explore the
      usefulness and availability of a mobile phone survey system as a real-time class
      evaluation tool. METHODS: In six integrated courses at the preclinical second
      year both course and class evaluations were performed. Class evaluations were
      carried out 206 times right after every class by a mobile phone survey system
      that depended on mobile phones to send information. A survey was performed to
      identify students' perception on real-time class evaluation and the mobile phone
      survey system. RESULTS: The course evaluation score was found to have greater
      than 95% confidence interval of class evaluations at 5 of 6 courses. Class
      evaluations yielded more information on educational content and teaching strategy
      than course evaluations. A higher score was given in class evaluation regarding
      effectiveness on improving quality of education (3.77 vs. 2.15) and sincerity
      during evaluation (3.87 vs. 2.49). Of the three major evaluation tools, such as
      paper, web and mobile phone, majority of students preferred mobile phones
      especially in terms of accessibility (89%), familiarity (75.3%), and time (74%).
      CONCLUSION: In integrated courses, real-time class evaluations could yield more
      information and better sincerity than course evaluations. Real-time class
      evaluations could be successfully performed through a mobile phone survey system
      compared with that of paper- or web-based methods.

PMID- 25813616
TI  - Effects of differences in problem-based learning course length on academic
      motivation and self-directed learning readiness in medical school students.
AB  - PURPOSE: Problem-based learning (PBL) is an educational approach in which complex
      authentic problems serve as the context and stimulus for learning. PBL is
      designed to encourage active participation during learning. The goal of this
      study was to study the effects of PBL on academic motivation and self-directed
      learning readiness in medical school students. METHODS: The subjects of this
      study were 190 students in the 1st and 2nd grade of medical school. The period of
      the PBL course was two weeks for Year 1 and five weeks for Year 2 students.
      Students completed one module over one week. Academic motivation tests and self
      directed learning readiness tests were performed before and after the PBL course.
      The differences between the two groups were analyzed using paired t-test and
      repeated measures MANCOVA. RESULTS: PBL had positive effects on academic self
      efficacy (self-control efficacy, task-level preference) and academic failure
      tolerance (behavior, task-difficulty preference) as academic motivation. PBL had
      a mildly positive effect on self-directed learning readiness. In addition, the
      five-week PBL course had greater positive effects on academic motivation than the
      two-week course but not with regard to self-directed learning readiness.
      CONCLUSION: Medical students engage in academic motivation and self-directed
      learning readiness during PBL, suggesting that the five-week PBL course has
      greater positive effects than the two-week course. Future studies are needed to
      confirm the most effective periods of PBL.

PMID- 25813617
TI  - Analysis of the perceived effectiveness and learning experience of medical
      communication skills training in interns.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aims to explore the perceived effectiveness, benefits, and
      learning experiences of interns with regard to their participation in a
      communication skills workshop program, which can have implications for the
      development and implementation of future communication skills training. METHODS:
      One hundred twenty one interns and 12 senior residents and fellows participated
      in the workshop program as learners and tutors. The participating interns
      encountered three difficult communication situations, represented by trained
      standardized patients. During each encounter, each participant had an individual
      encounter, group discussion, and feedback on his performance. A self-assessment
      survey, composed of five itemized questions and seven open-ended questions, was
      administered after the workshop. A mixed methods approach was used to analyze the
      quantitative and qualitative data. RESULTS: The participants had positive
      perceptions of the implementation and effects of the workshop, and they responded
      higher than 4.0 to all itemized questions on their perception of the
      effectiveness and benefits of the workshop. The analysis of open-ended questions
      demonstrated specific learning experiences of the participants, such as the
      hardship of solving ill-structured communication problems and reflection on their
      current knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practice as physicians. The
      participants reported that the workshop provided opportunities of improving
      diverse communication skills and problem-solving skills and identifying further
      learning needs. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that communication skills
      training for interns facilitates their reflection and development of
      communication skills, as well as their competency of situated problem solving.
      Consequently, communication skills development should be regarded as an important
      subject of continuing medical education. Several implications of this study can
      contribute to the design and development of communication skills-related
      programs.

PMID- 25813618
TI  - Methods of effective team-based learning administration and expected effects on
      medical education.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to analyze the results of quantitative and
      qualitative student evaluations of team-based learning (TBL) and student
      achievement evaluations during TBL. METHODS: Questionnaires that evaluated
      medical student perception and self-assessment of the TBL experience included 38
      questions on the TBL process. Also, we used scores from the TBL session to
      investigate student academic achievement. RESULTS: Our results showed that the
      more proper the educational environments were, the more focused students were on
      team learning. According to the distribution period for preliminary assignments,
      there was a difference in self-directed learning. In addition, team members had
      the opportunity to learn new knowledge by interacting with each other, and when
      they had the experience of feedback, they understood the instruction topics
      through team learning better. With regard to peer evaluation, the students who
      recognized the importance of assessment studied more sincerely and honestly. By
      experiencing the TBL process, every team showed a high significance in the group
      readiness assurance test score compared with the individual readiness assurance
      test score, and student satisfaction with the TBL and expectation levels about
      capacity strengthening increased as well. CONCLUSION: TBL is an effective
      teaching and learning method and has positive impacts on student academic
      achievement. A study on student academic achievement and perception of TBL is
      expected to provide medical educators with suggestions on planning teaching
      strategies for effective TBL administration.

PMID- 25813619
TI  - Analytical case study of evaluation of curriculum at a medical school.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aims at to make intermediate-term evaluations of a curriculum
      by investigating its development, operation and outcomes 2 years after its
      revision. METHODS: A survey using 5-point-Lickert scale questionnaires was given
      to the group of directors who developed the curriculum, instructors who only used
      it in their classes, and a student group from the first and second grades. Focus
      group interviews were performed in the professor groups. RESULTS: Curricular
      reform was evaluated as being systematic, democratic, and positive in general.
      Both groups answered questions positively about the relevance of the integrated
      curriculum and introduction of clinical medicine (ICM), graded as 3.4 (professor)
      and 3.5 (student). As for problem-based learning (PBL) and the patient-doctor
      society (PDS), the professor group responded more positively than students. The
      'web-based learning center' was recognized positively by many more students
      (4.01) than professors (2.75). With regard to the education outcome, professors
      gave 3.3 points and students 3.5 to an item that asked 'whether students attained
      the learning goal or not?' Professors, through interviews, showed their
      satisfaction with the attempt to reform the curriculum, but they pointed out that
      long-term evaluations should be performed. CONCLUSION: The interim evaluation of
      the revised curriculum, from its planning to its effects, affirmed by several
      suggestions to be successful in the long run through 1) enhancement of systematic
      participation and communication, 2) further integration, 3) steady evaluation, 4)
      greater effort on professional development, and 5) active interaction between
      professors and students.

PMID- 25813621
TI  - Simple check list for making test item.

PMID- 25813620
TI  - Are medical students satisfied with their medical professionalism education?
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aims to examine the satisfaction of undergraduate medical
      students with their medical professionalism education. METHODS: Two hundred and
      one premedical students and 1,287 medical students (from year 1 to 4)
      participated in a five-point Likert scale survey. There were 27 items in the
      premedical students' survey and 31 items in the medical students' questionnaire.
      Statistical analysis including one-way ANOVA was performed. RESULTS: Among the 27
      items concerning premedical professionalism education, only six topics scored
      "average" level. In the survey of medical students only nine items out of 31 were
      rated "average" which did not reach the satisfactory level. Nine items from the
      medical students' survey showed significant positive improvements in satisfaction
      as the academic year increased; however, the changes were not large enough for
      any of the topics to receive a satisfactory score. CONCLUSION: Overall students
      were dissatisfied with their professionalism education. The reasons for these
      results and possible approaches for improving students' satisfaction should be
      considered in future research.

PMID- 25813622
TI  - If you can love, you will see. When you can see, it will not be the same as
      before.

PMID- 25813623
TI  - A genome-wide expression quantitative trait loci analysis of proprotein
      convertase subtilisin/kexin enzymes identifies a novel regulatory gene variant
      for FURIN expression and blood pressure.
AB  - Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin (PCSK) enzymes cleave and convert their
      immature substrates into biologically active forms. Polymorphisms in the PCSK
      genes have been reported to associate with human diseases and phenotypes,
      including hypercholesterolemia and blood pressure (BP), and targeting PCSKs is
      considered a promising future form of drug therapy. PCSK processing is readily
      induced upon upregulation of the enzyme, but the genetic factors contributing to
      PCSK expression have not been thoroughly characterized. To gain a comprehensive
      understanding of the genetic regulation of PCSK expression, we performed, for the
      first time, a genome-wide expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis
      using mRNA expression in >1400 human peripheral blood samples from the
      Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study and ca. ten million single-nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs). The expression data showed clear expression for FURIN,
      PCSK5, PCSK7 and MBTPS1 (membrane-bound transcription factor peptidase, site 1)
      mRNAs in virtually all tested samples. A discovery analysis demonstrated a genome
      wide significant (p < 5 * 10(-8)) association with the selected PCSK probes for
      1024 variants, which were located at ten independent loci. Of these loci, 5/10
      could be confirmed to regulate PCSK expression in two additional and independent
      sample sets. Finally, a phenotypic analysis demonstrated that a novel cis-eQTL
      SNP rs4702 for FURIN is strongly associated with both diastolic (p = 0.012) and
      systolic (p = 0.035) BP levels, as well as peripheral vascular resistance (p =
      0.003). These findings indicate that the expression of the PCSK enzymes is
      regulated by genetic factors, which have biological roles in health and disease.

PMID- 25813624
TI  - Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation of p53 contributes to TPEN-induced neuronal apoptosis.
AB  - Depletion of intracellular zinc by N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)
      ethylenediamine (TPEN) induces p53-mediated protein synthesis-dependent apoptosis
      of mouse cortical neurons. Here, we examined the requirement for poly(ADP-ribose)
      polymerase (PARP)-1 as an upstream regulator of p53 in zinc depletion-induced
      neuronal apoptosis. First, we found that chemical inhibition or genetic deletion
      of PARP-1 markedly attenuated TPEN-induced apoptosis of cultured mouse cortical
      neurons. Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation of p53 occurred starting 1 h after TPEN
      treatment. Suggesting the critical role of PARP-1, the TPEN-induced increase of
      stability and activity of p53 as well as poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation of p53 was almost
      completely blocked by PARP inhibition. Consistent with this, the induction of
      downstream proapoptotic proteins PUMA and NOXA was noticeably reduced by chemical
      inhibitors or genetic deletion of PARP-1. TPEN-induced cytochrome C release into
      the cytosol and caspase-3 activation were also blocked by inhibition of PARP-1.
      Taken together, these findings indicate that PARP-1 is essential for TPEN-induced
      neuronal apoptosis. 

PMID- 25813625
TI  - Heme oxygenase-1 determines the differential response of breast cancer and normal
      cells to piperlongumine.
AB  - Piperlongumine, a natural alkaloid isolated from the long pepper, selectively
      increases reactive oxygen species production and apoptotic cell death in cancer
      cells but not in normal cells. However, the molecular mechanism underlying
      piperlongumine-induced selective killing of cancer cells remains unclear. In the
      present study, we observed that human breast cancer MCF-7 cells are sensitive to
      piperlongumine-induced apoptosis relative to human MCF-10A breast epithelial
      cells. Interestingly, this opposing effect of piperlongumine appears to be
      mediated by heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). Piperlongumine upregulated HO-1 expression
      through the activation of nuclear factor-erythroid-2-related factor-2 (Nrf2)
      signaling in both MCF-7 and MCF-10A cells. However, knockdown of HO-1 expression
      and pharmacological inhibition of its activity abolished the ability of
      piperlongumine to induce apoptosis in MCF-7 cells, whereas those promoted
      apoptosis in MCF-10A cells, indicating that HO-1 has anti-tumor functions in
      cancer cells but cytoprotective functions in normal cells. Moreover, it was found
      that piperlongumine-induced Nrf2 activation, HO-1 expression and cancer cell
      apoptosis are not dependent on the generation of reactive oxygen species.
      Instead, piperlongumine, which bears electrophilic alpha,beta-unsaturated
      carbonyl groups, appears to inactivate Kelch-like ECH-associated protein-1
      (Keap1) through thiol modification, thereby activating the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway and
      subsequently upregulating HO-1 expression, which accounts for piperlongumine
      induced apoptosis in cancer cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that
      direct interaction of piperlongumine with Keap1 leads to the upregulation of Nrf2
      mediated HO-1 expression, and HO-1 determines the differential response of breast
      normal cells and cancer cells to piperlongumine. 

PMID- 25813626
TI  - A novel pyruvate kinase M2 activator compound that suppresses lung cancer cell
      viability under hypoxia.
AB  - Pyruvate kinase M2 isoform (PKM2), a rate-limiting enzyme in the final step of
      glycolysis, is known to be associated with the metabolic rewiring of cancer
      cells, and considered an important cancer therapeutic target. Herein, we report a
      novel PKM2 activator, PA-12, which was identified via the molecular docking-based
      virtual screening. We demonstrate that PA-12 stimulates the pyruvate kinase
      activity of recombinant PKM2 in vitro, with a half-maximal activity concentration
      of 4.92 MUM, and effectively suppresses both anchorage-dependent and -independent
      growth of lung cancer cells in non-essential amino acid-depleted medium. In
      addition, PA-12 blocked the nuclear translocalization of PKM2 in lung cancer
      cells, resulting in the inhibition of hypoxia response element (HRE)-mediated
      reporter activity as well as hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) target gene
      expression, eventually leading to the suppression of cell viability under
      hypoxia. We also verified that the effects of PA-12 were dependent on PKM2
      expression in cancer cells, demonstrating the specificity of PA-12 for PKM2
      protein. Taken together, our data suggest that PA-12 is a novel and potent PKM2
      activator that has therapeutic implications for lung cancer. 

PMID- 25813627
TI  - Importance of farmland in urbanized areas as a landscape component for barn
      swallows (Hirundo rustica) nesting on concrete buildings.
AB  - Urbanization is one of the key factors in the population declines of many
      species. Conversely, some species may favor urbanized areas. The barn swallow
      Hirundo rustica is well known to breed in urban areas of Japan, and uses both
      urban and farmland areas as habitat during the breeding season. Specifically,
      this species often nests on concrete buildings and feeds in surrounding farmland.
      Therefore, it was hypothesized that H. rustica is not strongly influenced by
      heavy urbanization and benefits from farmland areas, even if they are not near
      its nests. In this study, I evaluated the landscape components around H. rustica
      nests situated on concrete buildings, focusing on both urbanized and farmland
      areas. In particular, I explored the occurrence of H. rustica nests at train
      stations in the Kinki region of Japan. Assisted by 124 citizen scientists, I
      analyzed the landscape components around the train stations at multiple spatial
      scales. Results showed that the occurrence of H. rustica nests was negatively
      influenced by both urbanized land area and road density, whereas nest occurrence
      was positively influenced by farmland area and river density. These results
      suggest that H. rustica does not prefer urbanized areas overall, but can rather
      utilize urbanized areas primarily as nesting spots. Therefore, H. rustica cannot
      breed in heavily urbanized areas without feeding sites such as farmland or
      riparian areas. 

PMID- 25813628
TI  - Recreational trails reduce the density of ground-dwelling birds in protected
      areas.
AB  - Recreational disturbance associated with trails has been identified as one of the
      major factors causing a decline of native biodiversity within protected areas.
      However, despite the negative impacts that recreation can have on biodiversity,
      providing public access to nature is critical for the future of the conservation
      of biodiversity. As such, many protected area managers are looking for tools to
      help maintain a balance between public access and biodiversity conservation. The
      objectives of this study were to examine the impacts of recreational trails on
      forest-dwelling bird communities in eastern North America, identify functional
      guilds which are particularly sensitive to recreational trails, and derive
      guidelines for trail design to assist in managing the impacts of recreational
      trails on forest-dwelling birds. Trails within 24 publicly owned natural areas
      were mapped, and breeding bird communities were described with the use of point
      count surveys. The density of forest birds, particularly of those species which
      nest or forage on the ground, were significantly positively influenced by the
      amount of trail-free refuge habitat. Although management options to control trail
      use in non-staffed protected areas are limited, this study suggests that
      protected area managers could design and maintain a trail network that would
      minimize impacts on resident wildlife, while providing recreational opportunities
      for visitors, by designing their trail network to maximize the area of trail-free
      habitat. 

PMID- 25813629
TI  - Soil organic carbon beneath croplands and re-established grasslands in the North
      Dakota Prairie Pothole Region.
AB  - Grassland ecosystems established under the conservation reserve program (CRP) in
      the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) currently provide soil conservation and wildlife
      habitat services. We aimed to determine if these lands also sequester soil
      organic carbon (SOC), as compared with neighboring croplands across multiple
      farms in the North Dakota PPR. We sampled soil from small plots at 17 private
      farms in the central North Dakota PPR, where long-term (>=15 years) grasslands
      managed under the CRP were paired with neighboring annual croplands. Cores were
      collected to 100 cm and split into 0-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-70, and 70-100
      cm soil depth layers. We hypothesized the effect of land use on soil organic
      carbon (SOC), root carbon (C), and bulk density would be greatest near the
      surface. For 0-10 and 10-20 cm layers, grasslands managed under the CRP were
      lower in bulk density and higher in SOC. From 0 to 70 cm, grasslands managed
      under the CRP were higher in root C. Average (+/-standard error) SOC for re
      established grasslands and croplands was 25.39 (0.91) and 21.90 (1.02),
      respectively, for the 0-10 cm soil layer and 19.88 (0.86) and 18.31 (0.82),
      respectively, for the 10-20 soil layer. Compared to croplands, re-established
      grasslands sampled in the North Dakota PPR were 3-13 % lower in bulk density and
      9-16 % higher in SOC from 0 to 20 cm, while root C was 2-6 times greater from 0
      to 70 cm. 

PMID- 25813630
TI  - Bioenergy Development Policy and Practice Must Recognize Potential Hydrologic
      Impacts: Lessons from the Americas.
AB  - Large-scale bioenergy production will affect the hydrologic cycle in multiple
      ways, including changes in canopy interception, evapotranspiration, infiltration,
      and the quantity and quality of surface runoff and groundwater recharge. As such,
      the water footprints of bioenergy sources vary significantly by type of
      feedstock, soil characteristics, cultivation practices, and hydro-climatic
      regime. Furthermore, water management implications of bioenergy production depend
      on existing land use, relative water availability, and competing water uses at a
      watershed scale. This paper reviews previous research on the water resource
      impacts of bioenergy production-from plot-scale hydrologic and nutrient cycling
      impacts to watershed and regional scale hydro-economic systems relationships.
      Primary gaps in knowledge that hinder policy development for integrated
      management of water-bioenergy systems are highlighted. Four case studies in the
      Americas are analyzed to illustrate relevant spatial and temporal scales for
      impact assessment, along with unique aspects of biofuel production compared to
      other agroforestry systems, such as energy-related conflicts and tradeoffs. Based
      on the case studies, the potential benefits of integrated resource management are
      assessed, as is the need for further case-specific research. 

PMID- 25813631
TI  - EV71 infection correlates with viral IgG preexisting at pharyngo-laryngeal mucosa
      in children.
AB  - Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection causes severe central nervous system damage,
      particularly for children under the age of 5 years old, which remains a major
      public health burden worldwide. Clinical data released that children may be
      repeatedly infected by different members in enterovirus and get even worsen.
      Mucosa, especially epithelium of alimentary canal, was considered the primary
      site of EV71 infection. It has been elusive whether the preexsiting viral
      antibody in mucosa plays a role in EV71 infection. To answer this question, we
      respectively measured viral antibody response and EV71 RNA copy number of one
      hundred throat swab specimens from clinically confirmed EV71-infected children.
      The results released that low-level of mucosal IgG antibody against EV71 broadly
      existed in young population. More importantly, it further elucidated that the
      children with mucosal preexsiting EV71 IgG were prone to be infected, which
      suggested a former viral IgG mediated enhancement of viral infection in vivo. 

PMID- 25813632
TI  - Development and Simulation Testing of a Computerized Adaptive Version of the
      Philadelphia Naming Test.
AB  - Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a computerized adaptive test
      (CAT) version of the Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT; Roach, Schwartz, Martin,
      Grewal, & Brecher, 1996), to reduce test length while maximizing measurement
      precision. This article is a direct extension of a companion article
      (Fergadiotis, Kellough, & Hula, 2015), in which we fitted the PNT to a 1
      parameter logistic item-response-theory model and examined the validity and
      precision of the resulting item parameter and ability score estimates. Method:
      Using archival data collected from participants with aphasia, we simulated two
      PNT-CAT versions and two previously published static PNT short forms, and
      compared the resulting ability score estimates to estimates obtained from the
      full 175-item PNT. We used a jackknife procedure to maintain independence of the
      samples used for item estimation and CAT simulation. Results: The PNT-CAT
      recovered full PNT scores with equal or better accuracy than the static short
      forms. Measurement precision was also greater for the PNT-CAT than the static
      short forms, though comparison of adaptive and static nonoverlapping alternate
      forms showed minimal differences between the two approaches. Conclusion: These
      results suggest that CAT assessment of naming in aphasia has the potential to
      reduce test burden while maximizing the accuracy and precision of score
      estimates.

PMID- 25813634
TI  - Modeling of the Elk river spill 2014.
AB  - A dispersion-advection model was used to simulate the Elk river chemical spill
      2014. The numerical and analytical solutions were used to predict the
      concentrations of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM) at the water treatment
      plants located along the Elk and Kanawha rivers. The results are of similar
      magnitude as measured concentrations although a time-lag was found between
      modeled and measured plume arrival likely due to accumulation of systematic
      errors. Considering MCHM guidelines for drinking water, the spill represented a
      serious health threat through the water up taken by the treatment plant located
      on the Elk river and it also constituted a risk of contamination for the drinking
      water produced by treatment plants located on the Kanawha river. 

PMID- 25813633
TI  - Responses and acclimation of Chinese cork oak (Quercus variabilis Bl.) to metal
      stress: the inducible antimony tolerance in oak trees.
AB  - Antimony (Sb) pollution has become a pressing environmental problem in recent
      years. Trees have been proven to have great potential for the feasible
      phytomanagement; however, little is known about Sb retention and tolerance in
      trees. The Chinese cork oak (Quercus variabilis Bl.) is known to be capable of
      growth in soils containing high concentrations of Sb. This study explored in
      detail the retention and acclimation of Q. variabilis under moderate and high
      external Sb levels. Results revealed that Q. variabilis could tolerate and
      accumulate high Sb (1623.39 mg kg(-1) DW) in roots. Dynamics of Sb retention in
      leaves, stems, and roots of Q. variabilis were different. Leaf Sb remained at a
      certain level for several weeks, while in roots and stems, Sb concentrations
      continued to increase. Sb damaged tree's PSII reaction cores but elicited defense
      mechanism at the donor side of PSII. It affected the electron transport flow
      after QA (-) more strongly than the oxygen-evolving complex and light-harvesting
      pigment-protein complex II. Sb also decreased leaf chlorophyll concentrations and
      therefore inhibited plant growth. During acclimation to Sb toxicity, Sb
      concentrations in leaves, stems, and roots decreased, with photosynthetic
      activity and pigments recovering to normal levels by the end of the experiment.
      These findings suggest that Sb tolerance in Q. variabilis is inducible.
      Acclimation seems to be related to homeostasis of Sb in plants. Results of this
      study can provide useful information for trees breeding and selection of Sb
      phytomanagement strategies, exploiting the established ability of Q. variabilis
      to transport, delocalize in the leaves, and tolerate Sb pollutions.

PMID- 25813635
TI  - Purifying fluoride-contaminated water by a novel forward osmosis design with
      enhanced flux under reduced concentration polarization.
AB  - For purifying fluoride-contaminated water, a new forward osmosis scheme in
      horizontal flat-sheet cross flow module was designed and investigated. Effects of
      pressure, cross flow rate, draw solution and alignment of membrane module on
      separation and flux were studied. Concentration polarization and reverse salt
      diffusion got significantly reduced in the new hydrodynamic regime. This resulted
      in less membrane fouling, better solute separation and higher pure water flux
      than in a conventional module. The entire scheme was completed in two stages-an
      upstream forward osmosis for separating pure water from contaminated water and a
      downstream nanofiltration operation for continuous recovery and recycle of draw
      solute. Synchronization of these two stages of operation resulted in a
      continuous, steady-state process. From a set of commercial membranes, two
      polyamide composite membranes were screened out for the upstream and downstream
      filtrations. A 0.3-M NaCl solution was found to be the best one for forward
      osmosis draw solution. Potable water with less than 1% residual fluoride could be
      produced at a high flux of 60-62 L m(-2) h(-1) whereas more than 99% draw solute
      could be recovered and recycled in the downstream nanofiltration stage from where
      flux was 62-65 L m(-2) h(-1).

PMID- 25813636
TI  - Isolation and characterization of different bacterial strains for bioremediation
      of n-alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
AB  - Crude oil is a common environmental pollutant composed of a large number of both
      aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons. Biodegradation is carried out by microbial
      communities that are important in determining the fate of pollutants in the
      environment. The intrinsic biodegradability of the hydrocarbons and the
      distribution in the environment of competent degrading microorganisms are crucial
      information for the implementation of bioremediation processes. In the present
      study, the biodegradation capacities of various bacteria toward aliphatic and
      aromatic hydrocarbons were determined. The purpose of the study was to isolate
      and characterize hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria from contaminated soil of a
      refinery in Arzew, Algeria. A collection of 150 bacterial strains was obtained;
      the bacterial isolates were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and their
      ability to degrade hydrocarbon compounds characterized. The isolated strains were
      mainly affiliated to the Gamma-Proteobacteria class. Among them, Pseudomonas spp.
      had the ability to metabolize high molecular weight hydrocarbon compounds such as
      pristane (C19) at 35.11 % by strain LGM22 and benzo[a] pyrene (C20) at 33.93 % by
      strain LGM11. Some strains were able to grow on all the hydrocarbons tested
      including octadecane, squalene, phenanthrene, and pyrene. Some strains were
      specialized degrading only few substrates. In contrast, the strain LGM2
      designated as Pseudomonas sp. was found able to degrade both linear and branched
      alkanes as well as low and high poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The alkB gene
      involved in alkane degradation was detected in LGM2 and other Pseudomonas-related
      isolates. The capabilities of the isolated bacterial strains to degrade alkanes
      and PAHs should be of great practical significance in bioremediation of oil
      contaminated environments.

PMID- 25813637
TI  - Biodegradation of C.I. Acid Red 1 by indigenous bacteria Stenotrophomonas sp.
      BHUSSp X2 isolated from dye contaminated soil.
AB  - A significant proportion of xenobiotic recalcitrant azo dyes are being released
      in environment during carpet dyeing. The bacterial strain Stenotrophomonas sp.
      BHUSSp X2 was isolated from dye contaminated soil of carpet industry, Bhadohi,
      India. The isolated bacterial strain was identified morphologically,
      biochemically, and on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence. The isolate
      decolorized 97 % of C.I. Acid Red 1 (Acid RED G) at the concentration of 200 mg/l
      within 6 h under optimum static conditions (temperature -35  degrees C, pH 8, and
      initial cell concentration 7 * 10(7) cell/ml). Drastic reduction in dye
      degradation rate was observed beyond initial dye concentration from 500 mg/l (90
      %), and it reaches to 25 % at 1000 mg/l under same set of conditions. The
      analysis related to decolorization and degradation was done using UV-Vis
      spectrophotometer, HPLC, and FTIR, whereas the GC-MS technique was utilized for
      the identification of degradation products. Phytotoxicity analysis revealed that
      degradation products are less toxic as compared to the original dye.

PMID- 25813638
TI  - Influence of substrate water saturation on pesticide dissipation in constructed
      wetlands.
AB  - Constructed wetlands are an effective and practical option for removing pesticide
      pollution from runoff or subsurface drainage water. The objective of this study
      was to assess the efficiencies of a ditch with a bundle of straw placed in its
      centre and a vegetated pond installed in grass cover bands at downstream of a
      drained plot. The dissipation rates of three herbicides and three fungicides were
      monitored on four substrates commonly found in constructed wetlands (two soils,
      sediment and straw). The influence of water content was determined in a sequence
      of three steps (flooded-unsaturated-flooded) over 120 days. The pesticide
      dissipation rates observed during the 120 days of incubation ranged from 1.4 to
      100%. Isoproturon and 2,4-MCPA (MCPA) showed the highest dissipation rates, which
      ranged from 61.0 to 100% of the applied quantities during the 120 days of
      incubation. In contrast, boscalid and tebuconazole showed the lowest dissipation
      rates, which ranged from 1.4 to 43.9% of the applied quantities during the 120
      days of incubation. The estimated DT50 values ranged from 20.5 days to more than
      1 year and were influenced by the substrate water content. The soil and straw
      substrates had the lowest DT50 values during the unsaturated conditions, whereas
      the sediments had the lowest DT50 values during the flooded conditions. These
      results could be explained by an adaptation of microbial communities to their
      environmental conditions. Thus, the most favourable conditions of dissipation for
      soils and straw are observable when the drainage ceases (spring and summer).
      However, favourable conditions occur all year for the sediments, except when the
      constructed wetlands are dry. The results suggest that the dissipation of
      pesticides in constructed wetlands contributes to the long-term effectiveness of
      these buffer zones for reducing water pollution.

PMID- 25813639
TI  - Removal of Cu(2+) by biochars derived from green macroalgae.
AB  - The by-product char of the fast pyrolysis of a green macroalga Enteromorpha
      compressa was used to remove copper from an aqueous solution. The surface area
      and the amount of cation exchange capacity (CEC) were increased by steam
      activation, resulting in enhanced adsorption capacity. Although chemical
      activation using a KOH solution increased the pore volume and surface area
      dramatically, it decreased the adsorption capacity because of activating in the
      KOH solution and washing decreased CEC. Ion exchange between the Cu ions and
      cations (Na(+), K(+), Ca(2+), and Mg(2+)) as well as adsorption onto the
      functional groups on the char surface appeared to be important mechanisms for the
      removal of Cu. A pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model
      could interpret the kinetics and equilibrium of the Cu adsorption on the E.
      compressa char. The maximum amount of Cu adsorption on the char was 137 mg g(-1).

PMID- 25813640
TI  - Prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes in antibiotic-resistant Escherichia
      coli isolates in surface water of Taihu Lake Basin, China.
AB  - The rapid development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) has been of concern
      worldwide. In this study, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were investigated in
      antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli isolated from surface water samples
      (rivers, n = 17; Taihu Lake, n = 16) and from human, chicken, swine, and Egretta
      garzetta sources in the Taihu Basin. E. coli showing resistance to at least five
      drugs occurred in 31, 67, 58, 27, and 18% of the isolates from surface water (n =
      665), chicken (n = 27), swine (n = 29), human (n = 45), and E. garzetta (n = 15)
      sources, respectively. The mean multi-antibiotic resistance (MAR) index of
      surface water samples (0.44) was lower than that of chicken (0.64) and swine
      (0.57) sources but higher than that of human (0.30) and E. garzetta sources
      (0.15). Ten tetracycline, four sulfonamide, four quinolone, five beta-lactamase,
      and two streptomycin resistance genes were detected in the corresponding
      antibiotic-resistant isolates. Most antibiotic-resistant E. coli harbored at
      least two similar functional ARGs. Int-I was detected in at least 57% of MAR E.
      coli isolates. The results of multiple correspondence analysis and Spearman
      correlation analysis suggest that antibiotic-resistant E. coli in water samples
      were mainly originated from swine, chicken, and/or human sources. Most of the
      ARGs detected in E. garzetta sources were prevalent in other sources. These data
      indicated that human activities may have contributed to the spread of ARB in the
      aquatic environment.

PMID- 25813641
TI  - Assessment of total bacterial cells in extended aeration activated sludge plants
      using flow cytometry as a microbial monitoring tool.
AB  - The extended aeration activated sludge (EAAS) process is one of the most applied
      biological processes in small towns. Here, we study the abundance and viability
      of total bacterial cells in two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) operating
      with an EAAS process. We use flow cytometry (FCM) combined with SYTO13 and
      propidium iodide (PI) dyes as a rapid, easy, reliable and accurate microbial
      monitoring tool. A disaggregation procedure with an ultrasonic bath was designed
      to detach total bacterial cells from activated sludge flocs for subsequent FCM
      analysis. This procedure permitted the recovery of total bacterial cells from
      sludge flocs without affecting bacterial viability, as indicated by bacterial
      strain controls. Since FCM is a multi-parameter technique, it was possible to
      determine total bacterial abundance and their viability in the activated sludge.
      As a comparative method, epifluorescence microscopy was also used to quantify
      total bacterial cells; both methods produced similar results. The FCM analysis
      revealed relative microbial stability in both the WWTPs. The total bacterial
      abundance quantified by FCM in the two plants studied was 1.02-6.23 * 10(11)
      cells L(-1) with 70-72% viability, one logarithm less than that reported in the
      literature for WWTPs using the conventional activated sludge process. This can be
      explained by the difference in the operational parameters between the
      conventional plant and EAAS, mainly the organic loading rate.

PMID- 25813642
TI  - Influence of exogenous lead pollution on enzyme activities and organic matter
      degradation in the surface of river sediment.
AB  - As lead is one of the most hazardous heavy metals in river ecosystem, the
      influence of exogenous lead pollution on enzyme activities and organic matter
      degradation in the surface of river sediment with high moisture content were
      studied at laboratory scale. The dynamic changes of urease, catalase, protease
      activities, organic matter content, and exchangeable or
      ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)-extractable Pb concentration in sediment
      were monitored during different levels of exogenous lead infiltrating into
      sediment. At the early stage of incubation, the activities of catalase and
      protease were inhibited, whereas the urease activities were enhanced with
      different levels of exogenous lead. Organic matter content in polluted sediment
      with exogenous lead was lower than control and correlated with enzyme activities.
      In addition, the effects of lead on the three enzyme activities were strongly
      time-dependent and catalase activities showed lower significant difference (P <
      0.05) than urease and protease. Correlations between catalase activities and EDTA
      extractable Pb in the experiment were significantly negative. The present
      findings will improve the understandings about the ecotoxicological mechanisms in
      sediment.

PMID- 25813643
TI  - Membrane bioreactors fed with different COD/N ratio wastewater: impacts on
      microbial community, microbial products, and membrane fouling.
AB  - It is known that an increase of COD/N ratio can result in an enhanced removal of
      nutrients in membrane bioreactors (MBRs); however, impacts of doing so on
      membrane filtration performance remain unclear. In this work, comparison of
      membrane filtration performance, microbial community, and microbial products
      under low temperature was carried out in anoxic/oxic (A/O) MBRs with COD/N ratios
      of 9.9 and 5.5 g COD/g N in influent. There was no doubt that an improvement of
      nitrogen removal under high COD/N ratio was observed; however, severer membrane
      fouling was found compared to the MBR fed with low COD/N ratio wastewater. The
      increase of COD/N ratio resulted in an elevated production of humic acids in
      soluble microbial product (SMP) and carbohydrates, proteins, and humic acids in
      loosely bound extracellular polymeric substance (LB-EPS). Quartz crystal
      microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) analysis showed that the
      adsorption capability of SMP and LB-EPS was higher in the MBR with higher COD/N
      ratio. Four hundred fifty four high-throughput pyrosequencing revealed that the
      higher COD/N ratio led to the enrichment of Bacteroidetes at phylum level and
      Azospira, Thauera, Zoogloea, etc. at genus level. Bacteroidetes are considered to
      potentially release EPS, and Azospira, Thauera, and Zoogloea, etc. have
      denitrification activity. The change in microbial communities is consistent with
      MBR performance.

PMID- 25813644
TI  - Spatial modeling of PM2.5 concentrations with a multifactoral radial basis
      function neural network.
AB  - Accurate measurements of PM2.5 concentration over time and space are especially
      critical for reducing adverse health outcomes. However, sparsely stationary
      monitoring sites considerably hinder the ability to effectively characterize
      observed concentrations. Utilizing data on meteorological and land-related
      factors, this study introduces a radial basis function (RBF) neural network
      method for estimating PM2.5 concentrations based on sparse observed inputs. The
      state of Texas in the USA was selected as the study area. Performance of the RBF
      models was evaluated by statistic indices including mean square error, mean
      absolute error, mean relative deviation, and the correlation coefficient. Results
      show that the annual PM2.5 concentrations estimated by the RBF models with
      meteorological factors and/or land-related factors were markedly closer to the
      observed concentrations. RBF models with combined meteorological and land-related
      factors achieved best performance relative to ones with either type of these
      factors only. It can be concluded that meteorological factors and land-related
      factors are useful for articulating the variation of PM2.5 concentration in a
      given study area. With these covariate factors, the RBF neural network can
      effectively estimate PM2.5 concentrations with acceptable accuracy under the
      condition of sparse monitoring stations. The improved accuracy of air
      concentration estimation would greatly benefit epidemiological and environmental
      studies in characterizing local air pollution and in helping reduce population
      exposures for areas with limited availability of air quality data. 

PMID- 25813645
TI  - The incidence of late prosthetic joint infections: a registry-based study of
      112,708 primary hip and knee replacements.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Late prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) are a growing
      medical challenge as more and more joint replacements are being performed and the
      expected lifespan of patients is increasing. We analyzed the incidence rate of
      late PJI and its temporal trends in a nationwide population. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: 112,708 primary hip and knee replacements performed due to primary
      osteoarthritis (OA) between 1998 and 2009 were followed for a median time of 5 (1
      13) years, using data from nationwide Finnish health registries. Late PJI was
      detected > 2 years postoperatively, and very late PJI was detected > 5 years
      postoperatively. RESULTS: During the follow-up, involving 619,299 prosthesis
      years, 1,345 PJIs were registered: cumulative incidence 1.20% (95% CI: 1.13-1.26)
      (for knees, 1.41%; for hips, 0.92%). The incidence rate of late PJI was 0.069%
      per prosthesis-year (CI: 0.061-0.078), and it was greater after knee replacement
      than after hip replacement (0.080% vs. 0.057%, p = 0.006). The incidence rate of
      very late PJI was 0.051% per prosthesis-year (CI: 0.042-0.063), 0.058% for knees
      and 0.044% for hips (p = 0.2). The incidence rate of late PJI varied between
      0.041% and 0.107% during the years of observation without any temporal trend
      (incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.93-1.03). Very late PJI increased
      from 0.026% in 2004 to 0.056% in 2010 (IRR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.02-1.20).
      INTERPRETATION: In our nationwide study, the incidence rate of late PJI after hip
      or knee arthroplasty was approximately 0.07% per prosthesis-year. The incidence
      of very late PJI appeared to increase.

PMID- 25813646
TI  - Regression analysis of longitudinal data with irregular and informative
      observation times.
AB  - In longitudinal data analyses, the observation times are often assumed to be
      independent of the outcomes. In applications in which this assumption is
      violated, the standard inferential approach of using the generalized estimating
      equations may lead to biased inference. Current methods require the correct
      specification of either the observation time process or the repeated measure
      process with a correct covariance structure. In this article, we construct a
      novel pairwise likelihood method for longitudinal data that allows for dependence
      between observation times and outcomes. This method investigates the marginal
      covariate effects on the repeated measure process, while leaving the probability
      structure of the observation time process unspecified. The novelty of this method
      is that it yields consistent estimator of the marginal covariate effects without
      specification of the observation time process or the covariance structure of the
      repeated measures process. Large sample properties of the regression coefficient
      estimates and a pairwise likelihood ratio test procedure are established.
      Simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed method performs well in finite
      samples. An analysis of weight loss data from a web-based program is presented to
      illustrate the proposed method. 

PMID- 25813647
TI  - Rank-based testing of equal survivorship based on cross-sectional survival data
      with or without prospective follow-up.
AB  - Existing linear rank statistics cannot be applied to cross-sectional survival
      data without follow-up since all subjects are essentially censored. However,
      partial survival information are available from backward recurrence times and are
      frequently collected from health surveys without prospective follow-up. Under
      length-biased sampling, a class of linear rank statistics is proposed based only
      on backward recurrence times without any prospective follow-up. When follow-up
      data are available, the proposed rank statistic and a conventional rank statistic
      that utilizes follow-up information from the same sample are shown to be
      asymptotically independent. We discuss four ways to combine these two statistics
      when follow-up is present. Simulations show that all combined statistics have
      substantially improved power compared with conventional rank statistics, and a
      Mantel-Haenszel test performed the best among the proposal statistics. The method
      is applied to a cross-sectional health survey without follow-up and a study of
      Alzheimer's disease with prospective follow-up. 

PMID- 25813648
TI  - Allow GPs and consultants to speak to each other again.

PMID- 25813649
TI  - [Surgery of grown up congenital heart disease. About 540 cases].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: With advances in recent decades in the field of congenital heart
      disease both for imaging in medical therapy, a large number of heart disease is
      diagnosed before birth. Many of them benefit from surgery and reach adulthood,
      they do not require further action. Some of them develop later in their lives
      other problems requiring reoperation in adulthood. This sparked the birth of a
      subspecialty within the department of congenital heart disease: GUCH Unit "grown
      up congenital heart disease". In developing countries, little heart are detected
      in childhood, a minority of them are operated and very few reach adulthood or
      with minor heart disease or become advanced enough then inoperable. Only part may
      still take advantage of surgery at this age. The aim of our study is to describe
      the spectrum and characteristics of congenital heart disease in adulthood in
      Algiers a center of cardiovascular surgery. POPULATION AND METHODS: A
      retrospective descriptive study of patients aged 15 and above operated for
      congenital heart defects between 1995 and 2011. RESULTS: Five hundred and forty
      patients aged 15 to 76years (29+/-10 years), including 314 women and 226 men are
      operated congenital heart defects between 1995 and 2011. The left-right shunts
      represent two thirds of heart disease, represented mainly (50%) by the atrial
      septal defect. Barriers to the ejection of the left heart represent one forth of
      cases with a predominance of subvalvular aortic stenosis. We find the native
      heart whose survival is considered exceptional in adulthood in the absence of
      surgery, such as tetralogy of Fallot, aortopulmonary windows wide, double outlet
      right ventricle and atrioventricular canal that take advantage of always surgery.
      The results are encouraging with low perioperative mortality (2%). CONCLUSION:
      The approach of congenital heart disease in developing countries is different
      from that of developed countries. Efforts need to be made in early detection and
      monitoring of congenital heart disease and improve access to surgery centers in
      close collaboration with pediatricians, cardiologists and obstetricians.

PMID- 25813650
TI  - [Relation between the number of Mc Donald((r))'s restaurants and the prevalence
      of obesity in France].

PMID- 25813651
TI  - [Presumption of sleep apnea in a black African hypertensive population:
      Importance of the Epworth sleepiness scale in the diagnostic approach].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) is very little described in the
      hypertensive black African. PURPOSE: To screen sleep apnea syndrome using the
      rating scale of Epworth daytime sleepiness, and to investigate the determinant
      factors and to infer therapeutic consequences. METHOD: This is a retrospective
      and prospective study with descriptive and analytical purpose that focused on 200
      hypertensive outpatients of the Cardiology Institute of Abidjan. The primary
      endpoint studied was the SAS. The diagnostic approach of SAS was performed using
      the rating scale of Epworth daytime sleepiness. RESULTS: The prevalence of sleep
      apnea was 45%. The average age of sleep apnea carriers was 56.1 years, with a
      male predominance (60%). The determinant factors of sleep apnea syndrome were
      male gender (60% versus 40%, P=0.021), obesity (77.8% versus 62.7%, P<0.0001),
      diabetes (26.7% versus 15.5%, P=0.5) and dyslipidemia (54.4% versus 27.3%,
      P=0.0009). Life in urban areas, occupation and smoking were not correlated with
      SAS in our series. The control of hypertension was better in non-apneic patients
      compared to apneic patients (63.6% versus 38.9%, P=0.04). The visceral impact of
      hypertension in apneic patients was highly significant (77.8% versus 41.7%,
      P=0.014). Therapeutically, it was noted the preferential prescription of
      combination therapy in apneic patients compared to non-apneic patients (82.3%
      versus 74.4%).

PMID- 25813652
TI  - [Is PON1 a factor of cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetes?].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We evaluate the association between the decrease of serum paraxonase 1
      activity and the risk of cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes. METHODS: One
      hundred and fourteen patients with type 2 diabetes were included in the present
      study. Seventy-one of them have significant coronary disease. The control group
      consisted of 53 healthy adults. RESULTS: PON1 activity was significantly reduced
      in diabetic patients compared to controls (P=0.021), especially in those with
      significant coronary disease (P=0.013). No significant variation in PON1 activity
      according to age was observed both in controls and in patients. When
      HDLc>=1.03mmol/L, the PON1 activity was significantly higher in patients without
      significant coronary disease compared to those with significant coronary disease
      (0.030). In case of significant coronary disease, a decrease of 12.23% in PON1
      activity was observed in smokers compared with non-smokers, but without
      statistical significance. The PON1 activity did not very significantly according
      to the presence or absence of hypertension in patients with significant coronary
      disease. CONCLUSION: The implication of diabetes in the decrease of PON1 activity
      seems highly probable but PON1 activity seems not to be in itself a marker of
      cardiovascular disease.

PMID- 25813653
TI  - [Aortic infective endocarditis: Value of surgery. About 48 cases].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a serious disease whose prognosis
      depends on early management. Aortic location is characterized by its evolution
      toward myocardial failure and the high number of complications reasons for early
      surgery. AIM: To compare the short- and mid-terms results of surgery for aortic
      infective endocarditis (IE) in the active phase and the healed phase. PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: We analyzed retrospectively the data of 48 consecutive patients
      operated for aortic infective endocarditis between January 2000 and January 2012.
      The data on operative mortality, morbidity and major cardiovascular events
      (mortality, recurrent endocarditis, reintervention, and stroke) were analyzed.
      RESULTS: Twenty-three patients (48%) underwent surgery during the active phase
      (group I), 19 on native and 4 on prosthetic valves, and 25 patients (52%) were
      operated during healed endocarditis (group II) only on native valve. Mean age was
      39 years (12-81) with a male predominance (83%). Rheumatic valvular disease was
      the main etiology of underlying valvular disease in both groups (85%). The
      clinical feature was dominated by signs of cardiogenic shock in group I and
      dyspnea exertion stage III-IV NYHA in group II. Streptococcus and Staphylococcus
      germs were most frequently encountered. Indication for surgery was heart failure
      in group I, it was related to the symptoms, the severity of valvular disease and
      its impact on the left ventricle in group II. An aortic valve replacement with a
      mechanical prosthesis was performed in the majority of cases (83%). Postoperative
      mortality concerned only one patient in group I. Twenty-one patients (44%) were
      followed for a mean of 30 months (1-72). One patient in group II died following
      cerebral hemorrhagic stroke related to accident with vitamin K antagonist. In
      both groups, there was an improvement in the functional class. No recurrence of
      endocarditis was noted in both groups during follow-up. CONCLUSION: The prognosis
      of infective endocarditis of the aortic valve is severe due to the fast
      progression to heart failure. Early medical and surgical approach provides good
      results on morbidity and mortality in the short- and mid-terms.

PMID- 25813654
TI  - Emerging mechanisms and treatments for depression beyond SSRIs and SNRIs.
AB  - The monoamine hypothesis has been the prevailing hypothesis of depression over
      the last several decades. It states that depression is associated with reduced
      monoamine function. Hence efforts to increase monoamine transmission by
      inhibiting serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE) transporters has been a
      central theme in depression research since the 1960s. The selective 5-HT reuptake
      inhibitors (SSRIs) and 5-HT and NE reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) that have emerged
      from this line of research are currently first line treatment options for major
      depressive disorder (MDD). One of the recent trends in antidepressant research
      has been to refine monoaminergic mechanisms by targeting monoaminergic receptors
      and additional transporters (e.g. with multimodal drugs and triple re-uptake
      inhibitors) or by adding atypical antipsychotics to SSRI or SNRI treatment. In
      addition, several other hypotheses of depression have been brought forward in pre
      clinical and clinical research based on biological hallmarks of the disease and
      efficacy of pharmacological interventions. A central strategy has been to target
      glutamate receptors (for example, with intravenous infusions of the N-methyl-d
      aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine). Other strategies have been based
      on modulation of cholinergic and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic
      transmission, neuronal plasticity, stress/hypothalamic pituitary adrenal(HPA)
      axis, the reward system and neuroinflammation. Here we review the pharmacological
      profiles of compounds that derived from these strategies and have been recently
      tested in clinical trials with published results. In addition, we discuss
      putative treatments for depression that are being investigated at the preclinical
      level and outline future directions for antidepressant research. 

PMID- 25813655
TI  - Perinephric stranding and bulky psoas mimicking pyelonephritis in a case of non
      Hodgkin lymphoma of kidney.
AB  - A 68-year-old male patient presented with fever and right groin pain. He had
      leukocytosis with azotemia. Computed tomography revealed enlarged right kidney
      with thickening and enhancement of walls of pelvicalyceal system and perinephric
      fat stranding, suggestive of pyelonephritis. Multiple enlarged lymph nodes
      encased right renal vessels and were present in the retrocaval region. The right
      psoas muscle was bulky. Fine-needle aspiration cytology and biopsy from the
      lesions showed features of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Immunohistochemistry confirmed
      the diagnosis of diffuse, large, B-cell lymphoma. We emphasize lymphoma in
      differential diagnosis of atypical renal imaging suggestive of pyelonephritis and
      perinephritis. 

PMID- 25813656
TI  - Effect of Tadalafil Once Daily on Penile Length Loss and Morning Erections in
      Patients After Bilateral Nerve-sparing Radical Prostatectomy: Results From a
      Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To report penile integrity measures, including stretched penile length
      (SPL), from a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled trial
      evaluating treatment with tadalafil initiated after nerve-sparing radical
      prostatectomy (nsRP). METHODS: Patients aged <= 68 years were randomized after
      nsRP 1:1:1 to 9-month double-blind treatment (DBT) with tadalafil 5 mg once daily
      (OaD), 20-mg tadalafil on-demand ("pro-re-nata"; PRN), or placebo, followed by 6
      week drug-free washout and 3-month open-label OaD treatment. Secondary outcome
      measures included the change in SPL from pre-nsRP to the end of DBT (analysis of
      covariance adjusting for treatment, country, baseline, age, and nerve-sparing
      score), responses to Sexual Encounter Profile (SEP) questions 1-3 (mixed models
      for repeated measures adjusting for treatment, country, visit, visit-treatment
      interaction, age), and Standardized Morning Erection Question (Cochran-Mantel
      Haenszel test adjusted for age and country). RESULTS: Four hundred twenty-three
      patients were randomized to tadalafil OaD (N = 139), tadalafil PRN (N = 143), and
      placebo (N = 141). Greater retainment of SPL was observed with tadalafil OaD vs
      placebo at the end of DBT (least-square mean [95% confidence interval] difference
      OaD vs placebo, 4.1 mm [0.4 to 7.8 mm]; P = .032). No significant effects on SPL
      were found for tadalafil PRN vs placebo, or for the nerve-sparing score. Penile
      tumescence (SEP1) and ability for vaginal insertion (SEP2) significantly improved
      vs placebo at the end of double-blind and open-label treatment for patients
      randomized to tadalafil OaD only. The ability for successful sexual intercourse
      (SEP3) significantly improved with tadalafil OaD vs placebo only during DBT. The
      distribution of Standardized Morning Erection Question responses was different at
      the end of DBT (P = .045); 34.2% of patients on tadalafil OaD, 50.0% on tadalafil
      PRN, and 56.5% on placebo reported absence of morning erections. CONCLUSION:
      These data suggest the early initiation of tadalafil OaD protects from penile
      length loss and may contribute to protection from structural cavernosal changes
      after nsRP.

PMID- 25813657
TI  - The French Contribution to the Evolution of the Procedure and the Instrumentation
      for Lithotripsy.

PMID- 25813658
TI  - Systemic oxidative stress could predict assisted reproductive technique outcome.
AB  - PURPOSE: Previous studies have indicated that OxS (oxidative stress) may appear
      as a possible reason for poor ART outcome. Our aim was to study OxS levels in
      both partners of couples seeking Assisted reproduction Technology (ART). METHODS:
      Altogether 79 couples were recruited. Oxidative DNA damage (8-OHdG) and lipid
      peroxidation (8-EPI) were measured, and clinical background and ART outcomes were
      recorded. RESULTS: Both OxS markers accurately reflected clinical conditions with
      prominent negative effects attributable to genital tract infections,
      endometriosis, uterine myoma and smoking. Furthermore, the level of OxS was also
      affected by partner's state of health. The highest 8-EPI levels were detected in
      both partners when biochemically detectable pregnancies did not develop into
      clinically detectable pregnancies (in women, 97,8 +/- 16,7 vs 72.9 +/- 22,9, p =
      0.007; in men, 89.6 +/- 20,4 vs 72,1 +/- 22,6, p = 0.049). CONCLUSIONS: To
      conclude, high grade systemix OxS in both partners may negatively affect the
      maintenance and outcome of pregnancy. Applying the detection of OxS in ART
      patients may select patients with higher success rate and/or those who require
      antioxidant therapy. This would lead to improvement of ART outcome as well as
      natural fertility.

PMID- 25813659
TI  - Mathematical modeling analysis of intratumoral disposition of anticancer agents
      and drug delivery systems.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Solid tumors are characterized by complex morphology. Numerous
      factors relating to the composition of the cells and tumor stroma,
      vascularization and drainage of fluids affect the local microenvironment within a
      specific location inside the tumor. As a result, the intratumoral drug/drug
      delivery system (DDS) disposition following systemic or local administration is
      non-homogeneous and its complexity reflects the differences in the local
      microenvironment. Mathematical models can be used to analyze the intratumoral
      drug/DDS disposition and pharmacological effects and to assist in choice of
      optimal anticancer treatment strategies. AREAS COVERED: The mathematical models
      that have been applied by different research groups to describe the intratumoral
      disposition of anticancer drugs/DDSs are summarized in this article. The
      properties of these models and of their suitability for prediction of the
      drug/DDS intratumoral disposition and pharmacological effects are reviewed.
      EXPERT OPINION: Currently available mathematical models appear to neglect some of
      the major factors that govern the drug/DDS intratumoral disposition, and
      apparently possess limited prediction capabilities. More sophisticated and
      detailed mathematical models and their extensive validation are needed for
      reliable prediction of different treatment scenarios and for optimization of drug
      treatment in the individual cancer patients.

PMID- 25813660
TI  - Roles of volunteers and professionals in medical development -- insights from the
      development of Allo-HSCT.

PMID- 25813661
TI  - A hypothesis about the origin of biology.
AB  - It is proposed that processes characteristic of biology today, autocatalysis,
      selection of molecules for linkage by their electrical shape, and evolution by
      survival selection were also the processes that initiated biology. A
      reconnaissance is made of both paradoxes and potential questions. It is argued
      that the minimal requirement for initiating Darwinian evolution is not a molecule
      copying process, but a linkage copying process. Survival selection evolution does
      not require a heterocatalytic polymer and a separate replicase process until
      there is uncertainty where molecular additions will occur. It is argued that a
      linkage directing process will be found for a lipid membrane (though this needs
      to be verified) and may in the right environment result in initial evolution,
      including initiation of alpha-helices, the development of a single chirality and
      NTPs. The system has at this point become sufficiently complex that higher
      precision copying is needed. However it seems likely that this state is able to
      generate the first miniature ribozymes and their replicases, and so satisfies the
      prior requirement. With the proposed requirements, it is likely that the
      development of polymers was within membranes. 

PMID- 25813662
TI  - Emergence of coding and its specificity as a physico-informatic problem.
AB  - We explore the origin-of-life consequences of the view that biological systems
      are demarcated from inanimate matter by their possession of referential
      information, which is processed computationally to control choices of specific
      physico-chemical events. Cells are cybernetic: they use genetic information in
      processes of communication and control, subjecting physical events to a system of
      integrated governance. The genetic code is the most obvious example of how cells
      use information computationally, but the historical origin of the usefulness of
      molecular information is not well understood. Genetic coding made information
      useful because it imposed a modular metric on the evolutionary search and thereby
      offered a general solution to the problem of finding catalysts of any
      specificity. We use the term "quasispecies symmetry breaking" to describe the
      iterated process of self-organisation whereby the alphabets of distinguishable
      codons and amino acids increased, step by step. 

PMID- 25813663
TI  - In vitro antiviral activity of germacrone against porcine parvovirus.
AB  - Porcine parvovirus (PPV) infections can lead to significant losses to the swine
      industry by causing reproductive failure in pigs. Germacrone has been reported to
      efficiently suppress the replication of influenza virus. In this report, the
      antiviral activity of germacrone on PPV in swine testis (ST) cells was
      investigated. Here, we show for the first time that germacrone protects cells
      from PPV infection and suppresses the synthesis of viral mRNA and protein.
      Furthermore, we show that germacrone inhibits PPV replication at an early stage
      in a dose-dependent manner. These findings suggest that germacrone is a potential
      candidate for anti-PPV therapy. 

PMID- 25813664
TI  - Ergonomics and workplace adaptation to people with disabilities.

PMID- 25813665
TI  - Mapping the developing human brain in utero using quantitative MR imaging
      techniques.
AB  - Magnetic resonance imaging of the human fetal brain has been a clinical tool for
      many years and provides valuable additional information to compliment more common
      ultrasound studies. Advances in both MRI acquisition and post processing over the
      last 10 years have enabled full 3D imaging and the accurate combination of data
      acquired in different head positions to create improved geometric integrity,
      tissue contrast, and resolution. This research is now motivating the development
      of new quantitative MRI-based techniques for clinical imaging that can more
      accurately characterize brain development and detect abnormalities. In this
      article, we will review some of the key areas that are driving changes in our
      understanding of fetal brain growth using quantitative measures derived from in
      utero MRI and the possible directions for its increased use in improving the
      evaluation of pregnancies and the accurate characterization of abnormal brain
      growth.

PMID- 25813666
TI  - Injury and repair in perinatal brain injury: Insights from non-invasive MR
      perfusion imaging.
AB  - Injury to the developing brain remains an important complication in critically
      ill newborns, placing them at risk for future neurodevelopment impairments.
      Abnormal brain perfusion is often a key mechanism underlying neonatal brain
      injury. A better understanding of how alternations in brain perfusion can affect
      normal brain development will permit the development of therapeutic strategies
      that prevent and/or minimize brain injury and improve the neurodevelopmental
      outcome of these high-risk newborns. Recently, non-invasive MR perfusion imaging
      of the brain has been successfully applied to the neonatal brain, which is known
      to be smaller and have lower brain perfusion compared to older children and
      adults. This article will present an overview of the potential role of non
      invasive perfusion imaging by MRI to study maturation, injury, and repair in
      perinatal brain injury and demonstrate why this perfusion sequence is an
      important addition to current neonatal imaging protocols, which already include
      different sequences to assess the anatomy and metabolism of the neonatal brain.

PMID- 25813668
TI  - Plasticity following early-life brain injury: Insights from quantitative MRI.
AB  - Over the last decade, the application of novel advanced neuroimaging techniques
      to study congenital brain damage has provided invaluable insights into the
      mechanisms underlying early neuroplasticity. The concept that is clearly
      emerging, both from human and nun-human studies, is that functional
      reorganization in the immature brain is substantially different from that of the
      more mature, developed brain. This applies to the reorganization of language, the
      sensorimotor system, and the visual system. The rapid implementation and
      development of higher order imaging methods will offer increased, currently
      unavailable knowledge about the specific mechanisms of cerebral plasticity in
      infancy, which is essential to support the development of early therapeutic
      interventions aimed at supporting and enhancing functional reorganization during
      a time of greatest potential brain plasticity. 

PMID- 25813667
TI  - Use of resting-state functional MRI to study brain development and injury in
      neonates.
AB  - Advances in methodology have led to expanded application of resting-state
      functional MRI (rs-fMRI) to the study of term and prematurely born infants during
      the first years of life, providing fresh insight into the earliest forms of
      functional cerebral development. In this review, we detail our evolving
      understanding of the use of rs-fMRI for studying neonates. We initially focus on
      the biological processes of cortical development related to resting-state network
      development. We then review technical issues principally affecting neonatal
      investigations, including the effects of subject motion during acquisition and
      image distortions related to magnetic susceptibility effects. We next summarize
      the literature in which rs-fMRI is used to study normal brain development during
      the early postnatal period, the effects of prematurity, and the effects of
      cerebral injury. Finally, we review potential future directions for the field,
      such as the use of complementary imaging modalities and advanced analysis
      techniques.

PMID- 25813669
TI  - Prokaryotic Expression, Refolding and Purification of High-Purity Mouse Midkine
      in Escherichia coli.
AB  - To evaluate the clinic safety of human Midkine as an articular protective agent,
      recombinant mouse Midkine (rmMK) was prepared in prokaryotic system for the pre
      clinic long-term studies in mice. The open reading frame of mouse Midkine (mMK)
      was sub-cloned onto expression vector pET30a (+) and transformed into Escherichia
      coli BL21 (DE3) strain line. The rmMK protein, with a Met fused at N terminus of
      native mMK for expression initiating, proved to be expressed in inclusion bodies
      and turned out to be soluble post-denaturation and renaturation. The soluble rmMK
      was purified successfully with ion exchange and affinity chromatography and
      characterised good enough to meet the requirements for animal use. Eventually,
      13.2-mg rmMK with high quality and bioactivity was obtained from 1 L LB culture,
      and the total recovery was 11.4%. The present work laid a good foundation for
      pilot- or large-scale production of rmMK in prokaryotic system.

PMID- 25813670
TI  - Noninvasive reconstruction of cardiac transmembrane potentials using a kernelized
      extreme learning method.
AB  - Non-invasively reconstructing the cardiac transmembrane potentials (TMPs) from
      body surface potentials can act as a regression problem. The support vector
      regression (SVR) method is often used to solve the regression problem, however
      the computational complexity of the SVR training algorithm is usually intensive.
      In this paper, another learning algorithm, termed as extreme learning machine
      (ELM), is proposed to reconstruct the cardiac transmembrane potentials. Moreover,
      ELM can be extended to single-hidden layer feed forward neural networks with
      kernel matrix (kernelized ELM), which can achieve a good generalization
      performance at a fast learning speed. Based on the realistic heart-torso models,
      a normal and two abnormal ventricular activation cases are applied for training
      and testing the regression model. The experimental results show that the ELM
      method can perform a better regression ability than the single SVR method in
      terms of the TMPs reconstruction accuracy and reconstruction speed. Moreover,
      compared with the ELM method, the kernelized ELM method features a good
      approximation and generalization ability when reconstructing the TMPs. 

PMID- 25813671
TI  - Lysosome-controlled efficient ROS overproduction against cancer cells with a high
      pH-responsive catalytic nanosystem.
AB  - Excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been proved to damage cancer cells
      efficiently. ROS overproduction is thus greatly desirable for cancer therapy. To
      date, ROS production is generally uncontrollable and outside cells, which always
      bring severe side-effects in the vasculature. Since most ROS share a very short
      half-life and primarily react close to their site of formation, it would be more
      efficient if excess ROS are controllably produced inside cancer cells. Herein, we
      report an efficient lysosome-controlled ROS overproduction via a pH-responsive
      catalytic nanosystem (FeOx-MSNs), which catalyze the decomposition of H2O2 to
      produce considerable ROS selectively inside the acidic lysosomes (pH 5.0) of
      cancer cells. After a further incorporation of ROS-sensitive TMB into the
      nanosystem (FeOx-MSNs-TMB), both a distinct cell labeling and an efficient death
      of breast carcinoma cells are obtained. This lysosome-controlled efficient ROS
      overproduction suggests promising applications in cancer treatments. 

PMID- 25813672
TI  - Ainsliadimer A selectively inhibits IKKalpha/beta by covalently binding a
      conserved cysteine.
AB  - Aberrant activation of NF-kappaB is associated with the development of cancer and
      autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. IKKs are well recognized as key regulators
      in the NF-kappaB pathway and therefore represent attractive targets for
      intervention with small molecule inhibitors. Herein, we report that a complex
      natural product ainsliadimer A is a potent inhibitor of the NF-kappaB pathway.
      Ainsliadimer A selectively binds to the conserved cysteine 46 residue of
      IKKalpha/beta and suppresses their activities through an allosteric effect,
      leading to the inhibition of both canonical and non-canonical NF-kappaB pathways.
      Remarkably, ainsliadimer A induces cell death of various cancer cells and
      represses in vivo tumour growth and endotoxin-mediated inflammatory responses.
      Ainsliadimer A is thus a natural product targeting the cysteine 46 of
      IKKalpha/beta to block NF-kappaB signalling. Therefore, it has great potential
      for use in the development of anticancer and anti-inflammatory therapies. 

PMID- 25813673
TI  - Biodegradability of fluorinated fire-fighting foams in water.
AB  - Fluorinated fire-fighting foams may be released into the environment during fire
      fighting activities, raising concerns due to the potential environmental and
      health impacts for some fluorinated organics. The current study investigated (1)
      the biodegradability of three fluorinated fire-fighting foams, and (2) the
      applicability of current standard measures used to assess biodegradability of
      fluorinated fire-fighting foams. The biodegradability of three fluorinated fire
      fighting foams was evaluated using a 28-day dissolved organic carbon (DOC) Die
      Away Test. It was found that all three materials, diluted in water, achieved 77
      96% biodegradability, meeting the criteria for "ready biodegradability".
      Defluorination of the fluorinated organics in the foam during biodegradation was
      measured using ion chromatography. It was found that the fluorine liberated was 1
      2 orders of magnitude less than the estimated initial amount, indicating
      incomplete degradation of fluorinated organics, and incomplete CF bond breakage.
      Published biodegradability data may utilize biochemical oxygen demand (BOD),
      chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total organic carbon (TOC) metrics to quantify
      organics. COD and TOC of four fluorinated compounds were measured and compared to
      the calculated carbon content or theoretical oxygen demand. It was found that the
      standard dichromate-based COD test did not provide an accurate measure of
      fluorinated organic content. Thus published biodegradability data using COD for
      fluorinated organics quantification must be critically evaluated for validity.
      The TOC measurements correlated to an average of 91% of carbon content for the
      four fluorinated test substances, and TOC is recommended for use as an analytical
      parameter in fluorinated organics biodegradability tests. 

PMID- 25813674
TI  - The relationship between NR2E1 and subclinical inflammation in newly diagnosed
      type 2 diabetic patients.
AB  - AIMS: To evaluate the expression level of NR2E1 (nuclear receptor subfamily
      2,group E,member 1) and its correlation with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). METHODS:
      Plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from 54 T2DM
      and 88 healthy individuals. The levels of free fatty acids (FFAs), total
      cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL-c), low
      density lipoprotein (LDL-c), fasting insulin (FIN), and fasting blood glucose
      (FBG) were measured. The insulin resistance index was calculated using the
      homeostasis model assessment (HOMA). NR2E1 in PBMCs were analyzed using real-time
      RT-PCR and Western blots. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin
      6 (IL-6) in the plasma were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
      (ELISA). PBMCs isolated from healthy volunteers were treated with glucose or
      palmitate for 24h, followed by analysis for the expression level of NR2E1.The
      amount of TNF-alpha and IL-6 secreted into the supernatant were measured by
      ELISA. RESULTS: FIN, FBG, HOMA and TNF-alpha, IL-6 were significantly higher in
      diabetic patients, compared to the control group. Levels of NR2E1 were
      significantly higher in the PBMCs isolated from the diabetic group, compared to
      the control group. NR2E1 expression was positively correlated with FBG, FIN,
      HOMA, FFAs, TNF-alpha and IL-6. Glucose and palmitate treatment significantly
      increased NR2E1 gene expression and inflammatory cytokines production in PBMCs in
      vitro. CONCLUSIONS: Increased NR2E1 level may be closely associated with
      inflammation and disorder of lipid and glucose metabolism in diabetic patients.

PMID- 25813675
TI  - Insulin enhances dendritic cell maturation and scavenger receptor-mediated uptake
      of oxidised low-density lipoprotein.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is increased
      in patients with type 2 diabetes. The role of hyperinsulinaemia as an independent
      participant in the atherogenic process is controversial. Therefore, we examined
      whether insulin regulates the expression of scavenger receptors responsible for
      oxidised low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) uptake in dendritic cells (DCs). In
      addition, we investigated the impact of insulin on DC maturation with regard to
      changes in phenotype and cytokine secretion. METHODS: Immature DCs were cultured
      with different concentrations of insulin (1nmol/L, 10nmol/L, 50nmol/L, and
      100nmol/L) in the absence or presence of LY294002 or PD98059 for 24h. The
      expression of the scavenger receptors SR-A and CD36 was determined by real-time
      PCR and Western blot analysis. Furthermore, DCs were incubated with 1,1'
      dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI)-labelled
      oxLDL. The DiI-oxLDL-incorporated fraction was investigated by flow cytometry.
      Finally, flow cytometry was used to investigate immunophenotypic protein
      expression (CD83, CD86, and CD11a). Supernatant cytokine measurements were used
      as indicators of immune function. RESULTS: The incubation of DCs with insulin
      enhanced SR-A and CD36 gene and protein expression in a dose-dependent manner.
      This effect was partially abolished by PD98059, which is an extracellular signal
      regulated kinase (ERK) inhibitor. However, LY294002 did not inhibit the effect of
      insulin on scavenger receptor expression. A high concentration of insulin
      increased the oxLDL-uptake capacity of DCs. Inhibition of the scavenger receptors
      SR-A and CD36 significantly reduced oxLDL uptake. Furthermore, a high
      concentration of insulin induced DC maturation. The pro-atherosclerotic
      chemokines IL-6 and IL-12 were induced by a high concentration of insulin,
      whereas the release of anti-atherosclerotic IL-10 was reduced. CONCLUSION: This
      study suggests that hyperinsulinaemia can promote DC activation and up-regulate
      the expression of the scavenger receptors SR-A and CD36, which can increase the
      oxLDL-uptake capacity of DCs. The results of the present study indicate that one
      of the mechanisms by which insulin promotes atherogenesis is mediated by its
      effects on DCs.

PMID- 25813676
TI  - Electromyographic activities of the subscapularis, supraspinatus and
      infraspinatus muscles during passive shoulder and active elbow exercises.
AB  - PURPOSE: Postoperative exercises may increase load on repaired tendons.
      Differences in the activity of the rotator cuff muscles were assessed during
      several different types of passive shoulder and active elbow exercises. METHODS:
      In 15 healthy subjects, passive forward flexion of the shoulder was performed
      using a table, pulley and rope, and a cane, and external rotation was performed
      using a cane and a wall. The active elbow flexion-extension exercise was also
      performed while holding the upper arm with the contralateral hand. Activation
      amplitudes of the supraspinatus, infraspinatus and subscapularis muscles were
      evaluated using electromyography with fine wires. RESULTS: During passive forward
      flexion, the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles exhibited lower activity
      when using a table compared with a cane (both P < 0.01) and a pulley and rope
      (both P < 0.05). Flexion of <90 degrees  decreased supraspinatus activation
      compared with 170 degrees  (P = 0.047). During external rotation of the shoulder
      while using the cane and wall, there was no difference in the activity of any
      muscles. Electromyographic activity during the active elbow exercise was lower in
      the supraspinatus while holding the upper arm (P = 0.018). CONCLUSION: The table
      sliding exercise may reduce stress on the rotator cuff during passive forward
      flexion more than the other exercises do. Decreasing the range of motion to less
      than 90 degrees  in forward flexion activated the supraspinatus less. Moreover,
      movement of the elbow can be performed holding the upper arm to activate the
      rotator cuff to a lesser extent. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic study, Level II.

PMID- 25813677
TI  - Inhaled nitric oxide in preterm infants with prolonged preterm rupture of the
      membranes: a case series.
AB  - The available evidence does not support the routine use of inhaled nitric oxide
      (iNO) in the care of premature infants. We present a case series of 22 preterm
      infants born after prolonged preterm premature rupture of membranes and
      oligohydramnios with respiratory failure. Oxygenation index decreased
      significantly after commencement of iNO. 

PMID- 25813678
TI  - Marshall-Smith syndrome.

PMID- 25813679
TI  - Trial of labor after cesarean: attempted operative vaginal delivery versus
      emergency repeat cesarean, a prospective national cohort study.

PMID- 25813680
TI  - Multiples and parents of multiples prefer same arm randomization of siblings in
      neonatal trials.

PMID- 25813681
TI  - Impact of donor hematopoietic cells mobilized with G-CSF and plerixafor on murine
      acute graft-versus-host-disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND AIMS: This study aimed to characterize the immune effectors contained
      in the grafts from donor mice mobilized by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor
      (G-CSF) and plerixafor and to evaluate their impact on the development of acute
      graft-versus-host-disease (aGVHD). METHODS: Mobilization was done with G-CSF
      alone or G-CSF plus plerixafor (G+P). RESULTS: In grafts collected after G+P
      mobilization, we observed a significantly higher proportion of c-kit(+)Sca-1(+)
      hematopoietic stem cells compared with G-CSF. A significant increase in the
      percentage of plasmacytoid dendritic cells was detected in the G+P graft compared
      with G-CSF graft. We also studied the ability of stem cell grafts mobilized with
      G+P to induce GVHD in a mouse model. We observed higher mortality (P < 0.001)
      associated with increased aGVHD clinical score (P < 0.0001) as well as higher
      pathology score in the intestine of mice receiving G+P as compared with G-CSF
      grafts (P < 0.001). Moreover, the exacerbated aGVHD severity was associated with
      upregulation of CCR6 expression on both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells from the G+P
      grafts, as well as on T cells from mice transplanted with G+P grafts.
      CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, we showed that grafts mobilized with G+P exhibited
      functional features different from those mobilized with G-CSF alone, which
      increase the severity of aGVHD in the recipients.

PMID- 25813683
TI  - [Rare tumors: the need for special centers].

PMID- 25813682
TI  - Pediatric Assessment of Vancomycin Empiric Dosing (PAVED): a Retrospective
      Review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pediatric studies and anecdotal experience suggest that current
      empiric vancomycin dosing does not reach serum trough concentration targets of at
      least 10 mg/L for uncomplicated infections or 15-20 mg/L for serious or
      complicated infections. OBJECTIVES: This study reviewed vancomycin dosing and
      serum concentrations to (i) determine the proportion of patients who reached
      initial target concentrations; (ii) describe pharmacokinetic parameters; and
      (iii) compare patient-specific area-under-the-curve (AUC) values to population
      estimates using the Rodvold equation. METHODS: Following ethics approval, data
      were extracted from medical records of 200 patients aged 1 month-18 years, who
      received intravenous (IV) vancomycin and had at least two pharmacokinetically
      evaluable serum concentrations. RESULTS: Trough vancomycin concentrations of 10
      15 and 15-20 mg/L were achieved in 25 (29%) and 2 (2%) patients receiving
      vancomycin 15 mg/kg IV every 6 h (q6 h) and 22 (20%) and 9 (8%) patients
      receiving vancomycin 20 mg/kg IV every 8 h (q8 h), respectively. Patients were
      stratified into four age groups (1 month-1 year, 1-6 years, 6-13 years and 13-18
      years). Median (IQR) pharmacokinetic parameters were elimination rate constant
      0.25 (0.09), 0.29 (0.07), 0.24 (0.10) and 0.22 (0.07) h(-1); volume of
      distribution 0.56 (0.20), 0.61 (0.21), 0.47 (0.26) and 0.49 (0.22) L/kg; and half
      life 2.8 (1.1), 2.4 (0.5), 2.9 (1.1) and 3.2 (1.0) h, respectively. Median (IQR)
      AUCs were 458 (170), 338 (132), 478 (215) and 513 (179) mg h/L and population
      estimated AUCs were 67 (44), 108 (70), 299 (102) and 454 (103) mg h/L (p < 0.05
      for all groups). CONCLUSIONS: Based on these findings, we recommend vancomycin 70
      and 90 mg/kg/day divided q6 h for troughs of 10-15 and 15-20 mg/L, respectively
      (patients 1 month-6 years) and 60 mg/kg/day divided q8 h and 70 mg/kg/day divided
      q6 h, respectively (patients >6 years) to undergo further testing as initial
      dosing regimens. Furthermore, population estimates grossly underestimate
      vancomycin AUC in patients 1-18 years old and thus patient-specific parameters
      are required.

PMID- 25813684
TI  - Repression of wall shear stress inside cerebral aneurysm at bifurcation of
      anterior cerebral artery by stents.
AB  - The effect of a simple bare metal stent on repression of wall shear stress inside
      a model cerebral aneurysm was experimentally investigated by two-dimensional
      particle image velocimetry in vitro. The flow model simulated a cerebral aneurysm
      induced at the apex of bifurcation between the anterior cerebral artery and the
      anterior communicating artery. Wall shear stress was investigated using both
      stented and non-stented models to assess the simple stent characteristics. The
      flow behavior inside the stented aneurysm sac was unusual and wall shear stress
      was much smaller inside the aneurysm sac. Stent placement effectively repressed
      the temporal and spatial variations and the magnitude of wall shear stress.
      Hence, there is an effective possibility that would retard the progress of
      cerebral aneurysms by even simple stent. 

PMID- 25813686
TI  - Plasma complement C3 levels are associated with insulin secretion independently
      of adiposity measures in non-diabetic individuals.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: To evaluate if complement C3 is associated with insulin
      secretion, as suggested by recent in vitro studies, independently of confounders
      including adiposity measures. METHODS AND RESULTS: 1010 nondiabetic subjects were
      stratified into quartiles according to complement C3 values. Insulin secretion
      was assessed using indexes derived from oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in the
      whole study group and from intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) in a
      subgroup (n = 110). Significant differences between quartiles of C3 were observed
      in body mass index (BMI), waist, fat mass, blood pressure, total cholesterol,
      high density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides, fasting and 2-h post-load glucose,
      fasting insulin, C reactive protein (hsCRP), fibrinogen, aspartate
      aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), complement C4, and
      insulin sensitivity with C3 quartiles exhibiting graded increases in cardio
      metabolic risk factors. Differences in insulin secretion indexes between C3
      quartiles remained significant after adjustment for age, gender, BMI, insulin
      sensitivity, blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL, triglycerides, hsCRP,
      fibrinogen, and complement C4 levels (P < 0.0001). A multivariable regression
      analysis revealed that complement C3 is a contributor of insulin secretion,
      explaining 2.4% and 1.9% of variation of the Stumvoll index for first-phase and
      second-phase insulin secretion, respectively, and 2.1% of variation of the
      InsAUC30/GluAUC30 index, independently of gender, age, BMI, waist, fat mass,
      blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL, triglycerides, hsCRP, fibrinogen, AST,
      ALT. CONCLUSIONS: Complement C3 concentrations are associated with insulin
      secretion independently of important determinants of glucose homeostasis such as
      gender, age, adiposity, subclinical inflammation, and insulin sensitivity.

PMID- 25813687
TI  - Comparison of non-HDL-cholesterol versus triglycerides-to-HDL-cholesterol ratio
      in relation to cardiometabolic risk factors and preclinical organ damage in
      overweight/obese children: the CARITALY study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Lipid ratios to estimate atherosclerotic disease risk in
      overweight/obese children are receiving great attention. We aimed to compare the
      performance of non-high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) versus
      triglycerides-to-HDL-C ratio (Tg/HDL-C) in identifying cardiometabolic risk
      factors (CMRFs) or preclinical signs of organ damage in outpatient Italian
      overweight/obese children. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this retrospective, cross
      sectional study, 5505 children (age 5-18 years) were recruited from 10 Italian
      centers for the care of obesity, of which 4417 (78%) showed obesity or morbid
      obesity. Anthropometric, biochemical, and blood pressure variables were analyzed
      in all children. Liver ultrasound scan, carotid artery ultrasound, and
      echocardiography were performed in 1257, 601, and 252 children, respectively. The
      entire cohort was divided based on the 75th percentile of non-HDL-C (>=130 mg/dl)
      or Tg/HDL-C ratio (>=2.2). The odds ratio for insulin resistance, high blood
      pressure, metabolic syndrome, presence of liver steatosis, increased levels of
      carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and concentric left ventricular hypertrophy
      (cLVH) was higher in children with high levels of Tg/HDL-C with respect to
      children with high levels of non-HDL-C. CONCLUSIONS: In an outpatient setting of
      overweight/obese children, Tg/HDL-C ratio discriminated better than non-HDL-C
      children with CMRFs or preclinical signs of liver steatosis, and increased cIMT
      and cLVH.

PMID- 25813688
TI  - Undertreatment of Men in Their Seventies with High-risk Nonmetastatic Prostate
      Cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Many elderly men with high-risk nonmetastatic prostate cancer
      (HRnMPCa) do not receive radical treatment, despite the high mortality associated
      with conservative management. OBJECTIVE: To investigate how age and comorbidity
      affect treatment of men with HRnMPCa. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This was
      an observational nationwide register study during 2001-2012. We identified 19 190
      men of <80 yr of age diagnosed with HRnMPCa in the National Prostate Cancer
      Register of Sweden and 95 948 age-matched men without prostate cancer in the
      register of the total population. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS:
      The outcome was the proportion of men with HRnMPCa receiving radical treatment
      (radical prostatectomy or radiotherapy). Vital status and the Charlson
      comorbidity index (CCI) were obtained from nationwide registers. The 10-yr
      survival of men without prostate cancer, stratified by age and CCI, was used as a
      measure of the life expectancy of the men with prostate cancer. RESULTS AND
      LIMITATIONS: The proportions receiving radical treatment varied with life
      expectancy among men younger than 70 yr, whereas use of these treatments did not
      match the long life expectancy of men in their seventies with CCI 0-1. Only 10%
      of men aged 75-80 yr with CCI 0 received radical treatment despite 52%
      probability of 10-yr life expectancy, compared with approximately half of the men
      younger than 70 yr with a similar life expectancy. The use of radical treatment
      for HRnMPCa increased with time in all Swedish counties, but a threefold
      difference between counties remained in 2009-2012 for patients aged 70-80 yr with
      CCI 0-1. Uncertain external validity is a study limitation, and the impact of
      physician versus patient preferences on treatment selection could not be
      assessed. CONCLUSIONS: Otherwise healthy men in their seventies with HRnMPCa were
      less likely to receive radical treatment than younger men with a similar life
      expectancy, although increasing use of radical treatment was observed during the
      study period. Our findings highlight the need for improved methods for clinical
      decision-making, including improved assessment of life expectancy. PATIENT
      SUMMARY: We performed a nationwide register study that showed that many healthy
      men in their seventies live for at least another 10 yr. Despite this long life
      expectancy, men in their seventies with high-risk nonmetastatic prostate cancer
      were often not treated with radical prostatectomy or radiotherapy, possibly
      because their life expectancy was underestimated. Our study highlights the need
      for improved clinical decision-making, which should incorporate an assessment of
      the patient's life expectancy.

PMID- 25813689
TI  - Life Expectancy and Treatment Choice for Men with High-risk Prostate Cancer.

PMID- 25813690
TI  - Toward Optimal Prediction of Prognosis in T1 Urothelial Carcinoma of the Bladder.

PMID- 25813691
TI  - Maintenance Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Therapy: The Search for the Optimum
      Treatment Schedule Continues.

PMID- 25813692
TI  - Does preoperative magnetic resonance imaging reduce the rate of positive surgical
      margins at radical prostatectomy in a randomised clinical trial?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to help the
      surgeon tailor radical prostatectomy (RP) more accurately according to the
      location and extent of the tumour and thereby reduce the rate of positive
      surgical margins (PSMs). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the benefit of performing MRI
      prior to RP. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This single-institution
      randomised trial included 438 patients between December 2009 and June 2012 who
      were scheduled for robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy. The study was
      registered (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01347320). INTERVENTION: Patients
      were preoperatively randomly assigned to non-MRI or MRI groups. OUTCOME
      MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The primary end point was the difference
      in the PSM rates between the two groups. Secondary end points were the rates of
      PSMs in clinical subgroups. Summary statistics were extracted from descriptive
      analyses, chi-square, or Fisher exact test, and logistic regression was used to
      analyse the data according to the intention-to-treat principle. RESULTS AND
      LIMITATIONS: A total of 216 patients were randomised to non-MRI; 222 were
      randomised to MRI. There were 49 cases (23%) of PSMs in the non-MRI group and 43
      cases (19%) in the MRI group (p=0.4). The relative and absolute risk reduction
      was 15% and 4%, respectively. Patients with cT1 constituted 55% of the cohort, in
      which the rate of PSMs was 27% in the non-MRI group and 16% in the MRI group
      (p=0.035). The relative and absolute risk reduction was 41% and 11%,
      respectively. A limitation was suboptimal communication between the radiologist
      and urologist. CONCLUSIONS: MRI prior to RP did not reduce the overall risk for
      PSMs in this patient cohort. However, at subgroup analysis we observed a possible
      benefit of MRI in patients with cT1. PATIENT SUMMARY: This study could not
      demonstrate a definite benefit of performing magnetic resonance imaging before
      surgery for all patients. However, there was a possible improved result in
      patients in which physical examination could not detect the cancer.

PMID- 25813693
TI  - Robotic Surgery Revives Radical Perineal Prostatectomy.

PMID- 25813695
TI  - Association of genetic variants with dyslipidemia and chronic kidney disease in a
      longitudinal population-based genetic epidemiological study.
AB  - We previously identified 9 genes and chromosomal region 3q28 as susceptibility
      loci for myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, or chronic kidney disease (CKD)
      in Japanese individuals by genome-wide or candidate gene association studies. In
      the present study, we examined the association of 13 polymorphisms at these 10
      loci with the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia, hyper-low-density lipoprotein
      (LDL) cholesterolemia, hypo-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterolemia, or
      CKD in community-dwelling Japanese individuals. The study subjects comprised
      6,027 individuals who were recruited to the Inabe Health and Longevity Study, a
      longitudinal genetic epidemiological study of atherosclerotic, cardiovascular and
      metabolic diseases. The subjects were recruited from individuals who visited the
      Health Care Center at Inabe General Hospital for an annual health checkup, and
      they were followed up each year (mean follow-up period, 5 years). Longitudinal
      analysis with a generalized estimating equation and with adjustment for
      covariates revealed that rs6929846 of butyrophilin, subfamily 2, member A1 gene
      (BTN2A1) was significantly associated with the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia
      (P=0.0001), hyper-LDL cholesterolemia (P=0.0004), and CKD (P=0.0007); rs2569512
      of interleukin enhancer binding factor 3 (ILF3) was associated with hyper-LDL
      cholesterolemia (P=0.0029); and rs2074379 (P=0.0019) and rs2074388 (P=0.0029) of
      alpha-kinase 1 (ALPK1) were associated with CKD. Longitudinal analysis with a
      generalized linear mixed-effect model and with adjustment for covariates among
      all individuals revealed that rs6929846 of BTN2A1 was significantly associated
      with the serum concentrations of triglycerides (P=0.0011), LDL cholesterol (P=3.3
      x 10(-5)), and creatinine (P=0.0006), as well as with the estimated glomerular
      filtration rate (eGFR) (P=0.0004); rs2569512 of ILF3 was shown to be associated
      with the serum concentration of LDL cholesterol (P=0.0221); and rs2074379
      (P=0.0302) and rs2074388 (P=0.0336) of ALPK1 were shown to be associated with the
      serum concentration of creatinine. Similar analysis among individuals not taking
      any anti-dyslipidemic medication revealed that rs6929846 of BTN2A1 was
      significantly associated with the serum concentrations of triglycerides (P=8.3 x
      10-5) and LDL cholesterol (P=0.0004), and that rs2569512 of ILF3 was associated
      with the serum concentration of LDL cholesterol (P=0.0010). BTN2A1 may thus be a
      susceptibility gene for hypertriglyceridemia, hyper-LDL cholesterolemia and CKD
      in Japanese individuals.

PMID- 25813696
TI  - Sole effect of genioglossus advancement on apnea hypopnea index of patients with
      obstructive sleep apnea.
AB  - CONCLUSION: Selected patients might have benefited from genioglossus advancement
      (GA), even it was applied solely. GA provided significant reduction on the apnea
      hypopnea index (AHI), with a 53% surgical success. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this
      study was to evaluate the impact of GA on AHI of patients with obstructive sleep
      apnea (OSA). METHOD: From January 2008 to April 2014 patients who underwent a
      genioglossus advancement procedure alone were included into the study and records
      of these cases were analyzed retrospectively. Pre-operative and post-operative
      values of body mass index (BMI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), nocturnal
      polysomnographic data including AHI, mean, and minimum oxygen saturation were
      compared. RESULTS: There were 16 males and one female patient with the mean age
      of 46 years. The AHI showed a significant reduction from 27.5 +/- 8 pre
      operatively to 17.3 +/- 12.6 post-operatively. The pre-operative and post
      operative mean O2 saturation value improved from 92.1 +/- 2.4% to 93.4 +/- 1.7%.
      Pre-operative ESS scores decreased significantly from 7.7 +/- 1.6 to 4.8 +/- 1.9.
      There were no significant difference between pre- and post-operative values of
      BMI and minimum O2 saturation. The success rate was found to be 53%, which was
      based on success criteria as an AHI of <20 with at least 50% reduction.

PMID- 25813694
TI  - Regenerative Medicine Strategies for Esophageal Repair.
AB  - Pathologies that involve the structure and/or function of the esophagus can be
      life-threatening. The esophagus is a complex organ comprising nonredundant tissue
      that does not have the ability to regenerate. Currently available interventions
      for esophageal pathology have limited success and are typically associated with
      significant morbidity. Hence, there is currently an unmet clinical need for
      effective methods of esophageal repair. The present article presents a review of
      esophageal disease along with the anatomic and functional consequences of each
      pathologic process, the shortcomings associated with currently available
      therapies, and the latest advancements in the field of regenerative medicine with
      respect to strategies for esophageal repair from benchtop to bedside. 

PMID- 25813697
TI  - Inhibition of the autophagy flux by gingerol enhances TRAIL-induced tumor cell
      death.
AB  - Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a primary
      anticancer agent and a member of the tumor necrosis factor family that
      selectively induces apoptosis in various tumor cells, but not in normal cells.
      Gingerol is a major ginger component with anti-inflammatory and anti-tumorigenic
      activities. Autophagy flux is the complete process of autophagy, in which the
      autophagosomes are lysed by lysosomes. The role of autophagy in cell death or
      cell survival is controversial. A549 adenocarcinoma cells are TRAIL-resistant. In
      the present study, we showed that treatment with TRAIL slightly induced cell
      death, but gingerol treatment enhanced the TRAIL-induced cell death in human lung
      cancer cells. The combination of gingerol and TRAIL increased accumulation of
      microtubule-associated protein light chain 3-II and p62, confirming the inhibited
      autophagy flux. Collectively, our results suggest that gingerol sensitizes human
      lung cancer cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis by inhibiting the autophagy flux. 

PMID- 25813699
TI  - Cracks in Martian boulders exhibit preferred orientations that point to solar
      induced thermal stress.
AB  - The origins of fractures in Martian boulders are unknown. Here, using Mars
      Exploration Rover 3D data products, we obtain orientation measurements for 1,857
      cracks visible in 1,573 rocks along the Spirit traverse and find that Mars rock
      cracks are oriented in statistically preferred directions similar to those
      compiled herein for Earth rock cracks found in mid-latitude deserts. We suggest
      that Martian directional cracking occurs due to the preferential propagation of
      microfractures favourably oriented with respect to repeating geometries of
      diurnal peaks in sun-induced thermal stresses. A numerical model modified here
      with Mars parameters supports this hypothesis both with respect to the overall
      magnitude of stresses as well as to the times of day at which the stresses peak.
      These data provide the first direct field and numerical evidence that insolation
      related thermal stress potentially plays a principle role in cracking rocks on
      portions of the Martian surface. 

PMID- 25813698
TI  - Maltose neopentyl glycol-3 (MNG-3) analogues for membrane protein study.
AB  - Detergents are typically used to both extract membrane proteins (MPs) from the
      lipid bilayers and maintain them in solution. However, MPs encapsulated in
      detergent micelles are often prone to denaturation and aggregation. Thus, the
      development of novel agents with enhanced stabilization characteristics is
      necessary to advance MP research. Maltose neopentyl glycol-3 (MNG-3) has
      contributed to >10 crystal structures including G-protein coupled receptors.
      Here, we prepared MNG-3 analogues and characterised their properties using
      selected MPs. Most MNGs were superior to a conventional detergent, n-dodecyl-beta
      D-maltopyranoside (DDM), in terms of membrane protein stabilization efficacy.
      Interestingly, optimal stabilization was achieved with different MNG-3 analogues
      depending on the target MP. The origin for such detergent specificity could be
      explained by a novel concept: compatibility between detergent hydrophobicity and
      MP tendency to denature and aggregate. This set of MNGs represents viable
      alternatives to currently available detergents for handling MPs, and can be also
      used as tools to estimate MP sensitivity to denaturation and aggregation.

PMID- 25813700
TI  - Impaired insulin signaling pathway in ovarian follicles of cows with cystic
      ovarian disease.
AB  - Cystic ovarian disease (COD) is an important cause of infertility in dairy
      cattle. Follicular cell steroidogenesis and proliferation in ovulatory follicles
      is stimulated by hormones such as insulin and its necessary post-receptor
      response. The aim of this study was to determine the expression of insulin
      receptor (IR), IR substrate-1 (IRS1) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K),
      key intermediates in the insulin pathway, in control cows and cows with
      spontaneous COD and ACTH-induced COD. IR and IRS1 mRNA levels were greater in
      granulosa cells and lower in follicular cysts than in control tertiary follicles.
      PI3K mRNA levels were similar in all follicles evaluated, whereas the expression
      of IR, IRS1 and PI3K was similar in theca cells. Protein expression of IR was
      higher in control tertiary follicles than in the same structures in animals with
      COD and with cysts. IRS1 and PI3K protein expression showed the same pattern in
      tertiary and cystic follicles. However, the protein expression of subunit alpha
      p85 of PI3K was greater in theca cells from tertiary follicles than in cystic
      follicles. These results provide new insights into the insulin response in cows
      with COD. The lower gene and protein expressions of some insulin downstream
      effectors at an early stage of the signaling pathway could negatively influence
      the functionality of ovaries and contribute to follicle persistence. 

PMID- 25813701
TI  - Growth synchrony between leaves and stems during twig development differs among
      plant functional types of subtropical rainforest woody species.
AB  - During the development of woody twigs, the growth in leaf may or may not be
      proportional to the growth in stem. The presence or absence of a synchronicity
      between these two phenologies may reflect differences in life history adaptive
      strategies concerning carbon gain. We hypothesized that sun-adapted species are
      more likely to be less synchronous between growths in total leaf area (TLA) and
      stem length compared with shade-adapted species, with a bias in growth in stem
      length, and that shade-adapted species are more likely to be more synchronous
      between increases in individual leaf area (ILA) (leaf size) and leaf number (LN)
      during twig development compared with sun-adapted species, giving priority to
      growth of leaf size. We tested these two hypotheses by recording the phenologies
      of leaf emergence, leaf expansion and stem elongation during twig development for
      19 evergreen woody species (including five shade-adapted understory species, six
      sun-adapted understory species and eight sun-adapted canopy species) in a
      subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in eastern China. We constructed
      indices to characterize the synchronicity between TLA and stem length (alphaLS)
      and between leaf size and leaf number (alphaSN) and we derived the alpha values
      from logistic functions taking the general form of A = A(max)/[1 + exp(beta -
      alphaB)] (where A is the TLA or average ILA, B is the corresponding stem length
      or LN at a specific time, and A(max) is the maximum TLA or the maximum ILA of a
      twig; the higher the numerical value of alpha, the less synchronous the
      corresponding phenologies). Consistent with our hypotheses, sun-adapted species
      were higher both in alpha(LS) and alpha(SN), showing less synchronous patterns in
      the growths of TLA vs stem length and leaf size vs LN during twig development.
      Moreover, alpha(LS) and alpha(SN) were significantly positively correlated with
      relative growth rates of LN and leaf size across species, as indicated by both
      analyses of ordinary regression and phylogenetic generalized least squares. The
      across-species synchronies during twig development show that the temporal
      dynamics of the leaf size-twig size spectrum is of adaptive significance in
      plants. We suggest that temporal dynamics of plant functional traits should be
      extensively studied to characterize plant life history.

PMID- 25813702
TI  - Information resources used by patients with inflammatory bowel disease:
      Satisfaction, expectations and information gaps.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Information received by IBD patients about their disease
      is of particular importance. The objective of the study was to determine the
      information resources these patients used, together with their perceived
      information gaps and expected preferences. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective,
      observational, cross-sectional study conducted on IBD patients attending 13
      Spanish hospitals during 2008. Patients completed a semi-structured 52-question
      survey. RESULTS: Survey was adequately completed by 379 of 385 patients (98%), of
      whom 57% had Crohn's disease and 43% ulcerative colitis. Mean patient age was
      37.9 years (range, 16-76 years). Gastroenterologists were the most commonly used
      resource (98%), followed by the Internet (60%), and general practitioners (50%).
      More than 90% reported good to excellent satisfaction with gastroenterologists,
      nurses, and patients' associations. Only 56% considered their information needs
      to be covered. The Internet was mostly used by young patients and those with a
      high education level. In the future, 85% of the patients would like to receive
      information from the gastroenterologists, and 92% by face-to-face interviews.
      Patients mainly want additional information on treatment (medical and surgical),
      clinical manifestations, cancer, and mortality risks. They also think that they
      are poorly informed about their social and work rights, risks of cancer and
      death, and research trials. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with IBD use and prefer
      gastroenterologists as the main source of information, but only half of them
      consider their information needs to be covered.

PMID- 25813703
TI  - Sphingomyelin derivatives increase the frequency of microvesicle and granule
      fusion in chromaffin cells.
AB  - Sphingomyelin derivatives like sphingosine have been shown to enhance secretion
      in a variety of systems, including neuroendocrine and neuronal cells. By studying
      the mechanisms underlying this effect, we demonstrate here that sphingomyelin
      rafts co-localize strongly with synaptosomal-associated protein of 25Kda (SNAP
      25) clusters in cultured bovine chromaffin cells and that they appear to be
      linked in a dynamic manner. In functional terms, when cultured rat chromaffin
      cells are treated with sphingomyelinase (SMase), producing sphingomyelin
      derivatives, the secretion elicited by repetitive depolarizations is enhanced.
      This increase was independent of cell size and it was significant 15min after
      initiating stimulation. Interestingly, by evaluating the membrane capacitance we
      found that the events in control untreated cells corresponded to two populations
      of microvesicles and granules, and the fusion of both these populations is
      clearly enhanced after treatment with SMase. Furthermore, SMase does not increase
      the size of chromaffin granules. Together, these results strongly suggest that
      SNARE-mediated exocytosis is enhanced by the generation of SMase derivatives,
      reflecting an increase in the frequency of fusion of both microvesicles and
      chromaffin granules rather than an increase in the size of these vesicles.

PMID- 25813704
TI  - Evidence for a role for alpha6(*) nAChRs in l-dopa-induced dyskinesias using
      Parkinsonian alpha6(*) nAChR gain-of-function mice.
AB  - l-Dopa-induced dyskinesias (LIDs) are a serious side effect of dopamine
      replacement therapy for Parkinson's disease. The mechanisms that underlie LIDs
      are currently unclear. However, preclinical studies indicate that nicotinic
      acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) play a role, suggesting that drugs targeting
      these receptors may be of therapeutic benefit. To further understand the
      involvement of alpha6beta2(*) nAChRs in LIDs, we used gain-of-function alpha6(*)
      nAChR (alpha6L9S) mice that exhibit a 20-fold enhanced sensitivity to nAChR
      agonists. Wildtype (WT) and alpha6L9S mice were lesioned by unilateral injection
      of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA, 3MUg/ml) into the medial forebrain bundle. Three to
      4wk later, they were administered l-dopa (3mg/kg) plus benserazide (15mg/kg)
      until stably dyskinetic. l-dopa-induced abnormal involuntary movements (AIMs)
      were similar in alpha6L9S and WT mice. WT mice were then given nicotine in the
      drinking water in gradually increasing doses to a final 300MUg/ml, which resulted
      in a 40% decline AIMs. By contrast, there was no decrease in AIMs in alpha6L9S
      mice at a maximally tolerated nicotine dose of 20MUg/ml. However, the nAChR
      antagonist mecamylamine (1mg/kg ip 30min before l-dopa) reduced l-dopa-induced
      AIMs in both alpha6L9S and WT mice. Thus, both a nAChR agonist and antagonist
      decreased AIMs in WT mice, but only the antagonist was effective in alpha6L9S
      mice. Since nicotine appears to reduce LIDs via desensitization, hypersensitive
      alpha6beta2(*) nAChRs may desensitize less readily. The present data show that
      alpha6beta2(*) nAChRs are key regulators of LIDs, and may be useful therapeutic
      targets for their management in Parkinson's disease. 

PMID- 25813705
TI  - Nicotine modulates neurogenesis in the central canal during experimental
      autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
AB  - Nicotine has been shown to attenuate experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
      (EAE) through inhibiting inflammation in microglial populations during the
      disease course. In this study, we investigated whether nicotine modified the
      regenerative process in EAE by examining nestin-expressing neural stem cells
      (NSCs) in the spinal cord, which is the primary area of demyelination and
      inflammation in EAE. Our results show that the endogenous neurogenic responses in
      the spinal cord after EAE are limited and delayed: while nestin expression is
      increased, the proliferation of ependymal cells is inhibited compared to healthy
      animals. Nicotine application significantly reduced nestin expression and
      partially allowed for the proliferation of ependymal cells. We found that
      reduction of ependymal cell proliferation correlated with inflammation in the
      same area, which was relieved by the administration of nicotine. Further,
      increased numbers of oligodendrocytes (OLs) were observed after nicotine
      treatment. These findings give a new insight into the mechanism of how nicotine
      functions to attenuate EAE. 

PMID- 25813706
TI  - Olfactory speed - Temporal odor processing of paired stimuli.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Compared to other senses, temporal perception of odors seems fairly
      slow. In addition it has been shown in previous studies that even not consciously
      perceived odors could influence our behavior. Aim of the current study therefore
      was to study the interstimulus interval (ISI) length, which is necessary between
      two repetitive stimuli to be able to perceive them separately. The additional aim
      focused on observing central odor processing of not perceived odorous stimuli.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was divided into three parts. In each part
      healthy, normosmic volunteers were included. In part I and II stimulus pairs
      (CO2, H2S, orange and phenyl ethyl alcohol (PEA)) were presented to the subjects
      via a computer-controlled olfactometer with short ISI of 0.6-9s. The decision
      whether one or two stimuli were perceived was recorded. In addition the influence
      of odor valence, trigeminallity and concentrations was observed. In part III
      olfactory event-related potentials (OERPs) to perceived and not-perceived odors
      were recorded. RESULTS: The two stimuli of a stimulus pair were perceived
      separately more often with increasing ISI length. This increase was significant
      until an ISI between the stimuli of 4s. Odor intensity, pleasantness,
      trigeminallity and sex had no major influence on this. In addition we were able
      to observe that OERPs are less often detected in response to not perceived
      olfactory stimuli. However, the presence of OERP in response to not perceived
      stimuli in more than half of the cases indicated that even not perceived stimuli
      are centrally processed.

PMID- 25813707
TI  - The differential contributions of the parvocellular and the magnocellular
      subdivisions of the red nucleus to skilled reaching in the rat.
AB  - During the execution of the skilled reaching task, naive rats bring their elbow
      to the midline of their body to aim at the food target, perform the arpeggio
      movement to grasp it and supinate the paw to bring the food to their mouth. Red
      nucleus lesions in the rat interfere with each of these three movement elements
      of reaching. On the other hand, lesions to the rubrospinal tract, which originate
      from the magnocellular subdivision of the red nucleus, only interfere with the
      arpeggio movement. This latter evidence strongly suggests that impairment in
      aiming and supinating could be under the control of the parvocellular subdivision
      of the red nucleus. In order to test this hypothesis, rats were trained on the
      skilled reaching task and then received either complete lesions of the red
      nucleus or lesions restricted to its parvo- or magnocellular subdivision. In line
      with previous data, complete excitotoxic lesions of the red nucleus compromised
      limb aiming, arpeggio and supination. Lesions restricted to the parvocellular
      division of the red nucleus abolish supination and interfere with aiming,
      although the latter result did not reach significance. The results are discussed
      in terms of the distinct connectivity and functional significance of these two
      architectonic subdivisions of the red nucleus. 

PMID- 25813708
TI  - D1 receptors in the nucleus accumbens-shell, but not the core, are involved in
      mediating ethanol-seeking behavior of alcohol-preferring (P) rats.
AB  - Clinical and preclinical research suggest that activation of the mesolimbic
      dopamine (DA) system is involved in mediating the rewarding actions of drugs of
      abuse, as well as promoting drug-seeking behavior. Inhibition of DA D1 receptors
      in the nucleus accumbens (Acb) can reduce ethanol (EtOH)-seeking behavior of non
      selective rats triggered by environmental context. However, to date, there has
      been no research on the effects of D1 receptor agents on EtOH- seeking behavior
      of high alcohol-preferring (P) rats following prolonged abstinence. The objective
      of the present study was to examine the effects of microinjecting the D1
      antagonist SCH 23390 or the D1 agonist A-77636 into the Acb shell or Acb core on
      spontaneous recovery of EtOH-seeking behavior. After 10 weeks of concurrent
      access to EtOH and water, P rats underwent seven extinction sessions (EtOH and
      water withheld), followed by 2 weeks in their home cages without access to EtOH
      or operant sessions. In the 2nd week of the home cage phase, rats were
      bilaterally implanted with guide cannula aimed at the Acb shell or Acb core; rats
      were allowed 7d ays to recover before EtOH-seeking was assessed by the Pavlovian
      Spontaneous Recovery (PSR) model. Administration of SCH23390 (1MUg/side) into the
      Acb shell inhibited responding on the EtOH lever, whereas administration of A
      77636 (0.125MUg/side) increased responding on the EtOH lever. Microinfusion of D1
      receptor agents into the Acb core did not alter responding on the EtOH lever.
      Responses on the water lever were not altered by any of the treatments. The
      results suggest that activation of D1 receptors within the Acb shell, but not Acb
      core, are involved in mediating PSR of EtOH-seeking behavior of P rats.

PMID- 25813709
TI  - Comparison of noradrenaline, dopamine and serotonin in mediating the tachycardic
      and thermogenic effects of methamphetamine in the ventral medial prefrontal
      cortex.
AB  - Methamphetamine (METH) is a psychostimulant that disrupts monoaminergic
      neurotransmission to evoke profound behavioral and physiological effects. Rapidly
      distributing to forebrain regions to increase synaptic concentrations of three
      monoamines (dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT) and noradrenaline (NA)), the medial
      prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is important in METH-altered behavioral and
      psychological profiles. Activation of the ventral mPFC can modify physiological
      variables, however, METH-evoked autonomic changes from this region are unknown.
      Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize the respiratory, metabolic
      and cardiovascular effects of microinjection of METH, DA, 5-HT and NA into the
      ventral mPFC in urethane-anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats. METH and NA
      microinjection evoked dose-related increases in heart rate, interscapular brown
      adipose tissue temperature and expired CO2, a pattern of response characteristic
      of non-shivering thermogenesis. NA and 5-HT microinjection elicited pressor and
      depressor responses, respectively, with matching baroreflex adjustments in
      sympathetic nerve activity while METH and DA evoked no change in vasomotor
      outflow. Low doses of METH and DA may evoke respiratory depression. These data
      suggest that METH's actions in the ventral mPFC, likely via adrenergic receptors,
      evoke non-shivering thermogenesis which may contribute to the increased body
      temperature and tachycardia seen in those that abuse METH. 

PMID- 25813710
TI  - HMGB1 may act via RAGE to promote angiogenesis in the later phase after
      intracerebral hemorrhage.
AB  - Following intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), high-mobility group box 1 protein
      (HMGB1) may promote vascular remodeling. Whether HMGB1 supports angiogenesis
      after ICH is unclear, as are the receptors and downstream signaling pathway(s)
      involved. We used the rat model of collagenase-induced ICH to determine whether
      HMGB1 acts via the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) to
      upregulate vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a potent mitogen of
      endothelial cells and key regulator of normal and abnormal angiogenesis in the
      late phase of injury. At 3d after ICH induction, rats were treated with saline,
      ethyl pyruvate (EP) or N-benzyl-4-chloro-N-cyclohexylbenzamide (FPS-ZM1). ICH
      induced the movement of HMGB1 from the nucleus into the cytoplasm. Levels of
      HMGB1 and RAGE in the ipsilateral striatum increased within a few days of
      induction and continued to rise for 7-14d afterward. By 14d after induction,
      levels of VEGF and vessel density were higher than in the Sham group.
      Administering EP 3 days after ICH induction prevented much of the stroke-induced
      increases in vessel density and in expression of HMGB1, RAGE, and VEGF.
      Administering FPS-ZM1 after ICH blocked much of the stroke-induced increases in
      vessel density and VEGF expression. Our results suggest that after ICH, HMGB1 may
      upregulate VEGF in the ipsilateral striatum predominantly via RAGE. Hence,
      targeting the HMGB1/RAGE signaling pathway may help reduce inappropriate
      angiogenesis after ICH.

PMID- 25813711
TI  - Brain-derived neurotrophic factor inhibits osmotic swelling of rat retinal glial
      (Muller) and bipolar cells by activation of basic fibroblast growth factor
      signaling.
AB  - Water accumulation in retinal glial (Muller) and neuronal cells resulting in
      cellular swelling contributes to the development of retinal edema and
      neurodegeneration. Intravitreal administration of neurotrophins such as brain
      derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is known to promote survival of retinal
      neurons. Here, we show that exogenous BDNF inhibits the osmotic swelling of
      Muller cell somata induced by superfusion of rat retinal slices or freshly
      isolated cells with a hypoosmotic solution containing barium ions. BDNF also
      inhibited the osmotic swelling of bipolar cell somata in retinal slices, but
      failed to inhibit the osmotic soma swelling of freshly isolated bipolar cells.
      The inhibitory effect of BDNF on Muller cell swelling was mediated by activation
      of tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB) and transactivation of fibroblast growth
      factor receptors. Exogenous basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) fully inhibited
      the osmotic swelling of Muller cell somata while it partially inhibited the
      osmotic swelling of bipolar cell somata. Isolated Muller cells displayed
      immunoreactivity of truncated TrkB, but not full-length TrkB. Isolated rod
      bipolar cells displayed immunoreactivities of both TrkB isoforms. Data suggest
      that the neuroprotective effect of exogenous BDNF in the retina is in part
      mediated by prevention of the cytotoxic swelling of retinal glial and bipolar
      cells. While BDNF directly acts on Muller cells by activation of TrkB, BDNF
      indirectly acts on bipolar cells by inducing glial release of factors like bFGF
      that inhibit bipolar cell swelling. 

PMID- 25813712
TI  - Increased expression of HCN2 channel protein in L4 dorsal root ganglion neurons
      following axotomy of L5- and inflammation of L4-spinal nerves in rats.
AB  - A hallmark of peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP) is chronic spontaneous pain
      and/or hypersensitivity to normally painful stimuli (hyperalgesia) or normally
      nonpainful stimuli (allodynia).This pain results partly from abnormal
      hyperexcitability of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. We have previously
      shown, using a modified version of the lumbar 5 (L5)-spinal nerve ligation model
      of PNP (mSNA model involving L5-spinal nerve axotomy plus loose ligation of the
      lumbar 4 (L4)-spinal nerve with neuroinflammation-inducing chromic-gut), that L4
      DRG neurons exhibit increased spontaneous activity, the key characteristic of
      neuronal hyperexcitability. The underlying ionic and molecular mechanisms of the
      hyperexcitability of L4 DRG neurons are incompletely understood, but could result
      from changes in expression and/or function of ion channels including
      hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels, which are
      active near the neuron's resting membrane potential, and which produce an
      excitatory inward current that depolarizes the membrane potential toward the
      threshold of action potential generation. Therefore, in the present study we used
      the mSNA model to investigate whether: (a) expression of HCN1-HCN3 channels is
      altered in L4 DRG neurons which, in the mSNA model, are essential for
      transmission of the evoked pain, and which contribute to chronic spontaneous
      pain, and (b) local (intraplantar) blockade of these HCN channels, with a
      specific blocker, ZD7288, attenuates chronic spontaneous pain and/or evoked pain
      in mSNA rats. We found 7days after mSNA: (1) a significant increase in HCN2
      immunoreactivity in small (<30MUm) DRG neurons (predominantly IB4-negative
      neurons), and in the proportion of small neurons expressing HCN2 (putative
      nociceptors); (2) no significant change in HCN1- or HCN3-immunoreactivity in all
      cell types; and (3) attenuation, with ZD7288 (100MUM intraplantar), of chronic
      spontaneous pain behavior (spontaneous foot lifting) and mechanical, but not,
      heat hypersensitivity. The results suggest that peripheral HCN channels
      contribute to mechanisms of spinal nerve injury-induced PNP, and that HCN
      channels, possibly HCN2, represent a novel target for PNP treatment. 

PMID- 25813713
TI  - Effects of ampicillin, cefazolin and cefoperazone treatments on GLT-1 expressions
      in the mesocorticolimbic system and ethanol intake in alcohol-preferring rats.
AB  - Chronic ethanol consumption is known to downregulate expression of the major
      glutamate transporter 1 (GLT-1), which increases extracellular glutamate
      concentrations in subregions of the mesocorticolimbic reward pathway. While beta
      lactam antibiotics were initially identified as potent upregulators of GLT-1
      expression, only ceftriaxone has been extensively studied in various drug
      addiction models. Therefore, in this study, adult male alcohol-preferring (P)
      rats exposed chronically to ethanol were treated with other beta-lactam
      antibiotics, ampicillin, cefazolin or cefoperazone (100mg/kg) once daily for five
      consecutive days to assess their effects on ethanol consumption. The results
      demonstrated that each compound significantly reduced ethanol intake compared to
      the saline-treated control group. Importantly, each compound significantly
      upregulated both GLT-1 and pAKT expressions in the nucleus accumbens and
      prefrontal cortex compared to saline-treated control group. In addition, only
      cefoperazone significantly inhibited hepatic aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 enzyme
      activity. Moreover, these beta-lactams exerted only a transient effect on sucrose
      drinking, suggesting specificity for chronically inhibiting ethanol reward in
      adult male P rats. Cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of ampicillin, cefazolin or
      cefoperazone have been confirmed using high-performance liquid chromatography.
      These findings demonstrate that multiple beta-lactam antibiotics demonstrate
      efficacy in reducing alcohol consumption and appear to be potential therapeutic
      compounds for treating alcohol abuse and/or dependence. In addition, these
      results suggest that pAKT may be an important player in this effect, possibly
      through increased transcription of GLT-1. 

PMID- 25813715
TI  - X-ray crystallography-promoted drug design of carbonic anhydrase inhibitors.
AB  - 1-N-Alkylated-6-sulfamoyl saccharin derivatives were prepared and assayed as
      carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs). During X-ray crystallographic experiments
      an unexpected hydrolysis of the isothiazole ring was evidenced which allowed us
      to prepare highly potent enzyme inhibitors with selectivity for some isoforms
      with medical applications. 

PMID- 25813714
TI  - Prelude to oral microbes and chronic diseases: past, present and future.
AB  - Associations between oral and systemic health are ancient. Oral opportunistic
      bacteria, particularly, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum,
      have recently been deviated from their traditional roles as periodontal pathogens
      and arguably ascended to central players based on their participations in complex
      co-dependent mechanisms of diverse systemic chronic diseases risk and
      pathogenesis, including cancers, rheumatoid-arthritis, and diabetes. 

PMID- 25813716
TI  - Oil spill experiment using airborne DLR ESAR off the coast of Diu, India.
AB  - Oil spill experiment results in the coastal waters of Diu, India, with an
      airborne DLR ESAR sensor are discussed with reference to the SAR frequency,
      polarization and viewing angle. The SAR data acquired in the quad polarization of
      the L band and dual polarization of the C band over two spills are studied. A
      higher oil and water contrast is observed in the L-VV polarization than in the C
      HH mode. Oil spill discrimination is possible over a wider view angle of the
      airborne SAR sensor data in L band than in C band. This study has also analyzed
      the spread and drift of oil in coastal waters. 

PMID- 25813717
TI  - Assessment of oil slick hazard and risk at vulnerable coastal sites.
AB  - This work gives an assessment of the hazard faced by Sicily coasts regarding
      potential offshore surface oil spill events and provides a risk assessment for
      Sites of Community Importance (SCI) and Special Protection Areas (SPA). A
      lagrangian module, coupled with a high resolution finite element three
      dimensional hydrodynamic model, was used to track the ensemble of a large number
      of surface trajectories followed by particles released over 6 selected areas
      located inside the Sicily Channel. The analysis was carried out under multiple
      scenarios of meteorological conditions. Oil evaporation, oil weathering, and
      shore stranding are also considered. Seasonal hazard maps for different stranding
      times and seasonal risk maps were then produced for the whole Sicilian coastline.
      The results highlight that depending on the meteo-marine conditions, particles
      can reach different areas of the Sicily coast, including its northern side, and
      illustrate how impacts can be greatly reduced through prompt implementation of
      mitigation strategies. 

PMID- 25813718
TI  - Spatial and temporal analysis of the risks posed by polycyclic aromatic
      hydrocarbon, polychlorinated biphenyl and metal contaminants in sediments in UK
      estuaries and coastal waters.
AB  - The environmental risks of 22 contaminants, comprising 6 metals, 10 PAHs and 6
      PCB congeners occurring in UK estuaries and coastal waters were assessed as
      single substances. Sediment samples were taken within 12 nautical miles of the
      English and Welsh coastlines between 1999 and 2011. The measured environmental
      concentrations were compared to quality standards including ERL, ERM and EAC, all
      of which have been established internationally. Out of a total of 38,031
      individual samples analysed, 42.6% and 7.7% exceeded the ERL/EAC and ERM values,
      respectively. The highest Risk Characterisation Ratios (RCRs) for metals, PAHs
      and PCBs were observed for copper, fluorene and CB118 (2,3',4,4',5
      pentachlorobiphenyl). In general, the highest concentrations of PAHs and PCBs
      were observed in 2011 in the Lower Medway indicating a potential risk to the
      aquatic environment. This study suggests that re-suspension of contaminants
      banned over 20years ago is still an ongoing issue. 

PMID- 25813719
TI  - The use of the Renfrew Bus Story with 5-8-year-old Australian children.
AB  - PURPOSE: Research into the language sampling practices of Australian speech
      pathologists suggests the Bus Story Test is a frequently used standardized tool
      for eliciting story retelling samples for screening, diagnosis, goal-setting, and
      progress monitoring purposes. Because this task has not been normed on an
      Australian population, this study investigated the usefulness of the Bus Story
      for young school-age Australian children. METHOD: In total, 125 Australian
      primary-school children (aged 5;3-8;9) participated in the Bus Story task.
      Children attending Year 2 also retold the story Frog Where Are You. Children's
      performance was analysed for measures of information and sentence length (Bus
      Story only), story length, MLU, number of different words and clausal density.
      RESULT: Performance on the Bus Story improved with year-of-schooling for all
      measures. Between 21-64% of the children performed below expectations on
      information or length scores when using the published norms. The retell task Frog
      Where Are You elicited longer samples, containing a higher number of different
      words. CONCLUSION: Using the published Bus Story norms will potentially result in
      over- identification of language impairment. The retell task Frog Where Are You
      may provide a useful alternative for assessing young school-aged children's story
      retelling ability.

PMID- 25813720
TI  - Continuous cytogenetic follow-up, over 5 years, of three individuals accidentally
      irradiated by a cobalt-60 source.
AB  - A cobalt-60 irradiation accident occurred in Shanxi, China, on April 11, 2008.
      Five people were exposed to total-body irradiation ranging from 1.7 to 14.5 Gy.
      Two victims died post-irradiation, due to acute intestinal radiation sickness (at
      62 days) and tuberculosis (at 1.5 year). The other three victims received medical
      follow-ups and were monitored for 5 years with multiple cytogenetic analyses.
      Unstable chromosome aberrations, including dicentric and centric rings (dic+r)
      and the micronucleus frequency in binucleated lymphocytes, were monitored. In
      addition, G-banding karyotype and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)
      methods were used to analyze translocations, for exploring chromosome stability
      and for retrospective dosimetry. The results show that unstable chromosome
      aberrations (dic+r) declined each year, dropping to about 20-40% of initial
      levels by the 5th year. A similar trend was observed for the micronucleus
      frequency. Our results show that the translocation frequencies of the three
      victims, detected by G-banding karyotype, remained stable for the 5 years. Five
      years after irradiation, the translocation rates of the three victims (G-banding
      and FISH analyses) were similar. The retrospective estimated doses, reconstructed
      based on the translocation frequencies, were consistent with the biological doses
      estimated at the first day post-irradiation using dic+r. The results of this
      study indicate that chromosome translocation frequencies can be used as a
      biological dosimeter and are an excellent index for dose reconstruction.

PMID- 25813721
TI  - DSB repair model for mammalian cells in early S and G1 phases of the cell cycle:
      application to damage induced by ionizing radiation of different quality.
AB  - The purpose of this work is to test the hypothesis that kinetics of double strand
      breaks (DSB) repair is governed by complexity of DSB. To test the hypothesis we
      used our recent published mechanistic mathematical model of DSB repair for DSB
      induced by selected protons, deuterons, and helium ions of different energies
      representing radiations of different qualities. In light of recent advances in
      experimental and computational techniques, the most appropriate method to study
      cellular responses in radiation therapy, and exposures to low doses of ionizing
      radiations is using mechanistic approaches. To this end, we proposed a 'bottom
      up' approach to study cellular response that starts with the DNA damage. Monte
      Carlo track structure method was employed to simulate initial damage induced in
      the genomic DNA by direct and indirect effects. Among the different types of DNA
      damage, DSB are known to be induced in simple and complex forms. The DSB repair
      model in G1 and early S phases of the cell cycle was employed to calculate the
      repair kinetics. The model considers the repair of simple and complex DSB, and
      the DSB produced in the heterochromatin. The inverse sampling method was used to
      calculate the repair kinetics for each individual DSB. The overall repair
      kinetics for 500 DSB induced by single tracks of the radiation under test were
      compared with experimental results. The results show that the model is capable of
      predicting the repair kinetics for the DSB induced by radiations of different
      qualities within an accepted range of uncertainty. 

PMID- 25813722
TI  - Genotoxicity of tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) nanoparticles in vitro:
      mechanisms-of-action studies.
AB  - We showed previously that tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) nanoparticles (NP) can
      be used as a nanoparticulate positive control in some in vitro mammalian
      genotoxicity assays. Here, we investigate the mechanisms of action involved in WC
      Co NP genotoxicity in L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells and primary human lymphocytes,
      in vitro. Data from the micronucleus assay coupled with centromere staining and
      from the chromosome-aberration assay show the involvement of both clastogenic and
      aneugenic events. Experiments with the formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase (FPG)
      modified comet assay showed a slight (non-significant) increase in FPG-sensitive
      sites in the L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells but not in the human lymphocytes.
      Electron paramagnetic resonance spin-trapping results showed the presence of
      hydroxyl radicals (*OH) in WC-Co NP suspensions, with or without cells, but with
      time-dependent production in the presence of cells. However, a significant
      difference in *OH production was observed between human lymphocytes from two
      different donors. Using H2O2, we showed that WC-Co NP can participate in Fenton
      like reactions. Thus, *OH might be produced either via intrinsic generation by WC
      Co NP or through a Fenton-like reaction in the presence of cells.

PMID- 25813723
TI  - Capsaicin-induced genotoxic stress does not promote apoptosis in A549 human lung
      and DU145 prostate cancer cells.
AB  - Capsaicin is the major pungent component of the hot chili peppers of the genus
      Capsicum, which are consumed worldwide as a food additive. More recently, the
      selective action of capsaicin against cancer cells has been reported. Capsaicin
      was found to induce apoptosis and inhibit proliferation of a wide range of cancer
      cells in vitro, whereas being inactive against normal cells. As data on capsaicin
      induced genotoxicity are limited and the effects of capsaicin against human lung
      A549 and DU145 prostate cancer cells were not explored in detail, we were
      interested in determining whether capsaicin-associated genotoxicity may also
      provoke A549 and DU145 cell death. Capsaicin-induced decrease in metabolic
      activity and cell proliferation, and changes in the cell cycle were limited to
      high concentrations used (>= 100 MUM), whereas, at lower concentrations,
      capsaicin stimulated both DNA double strand breaks and micronuclei production.
      Capsaicin was unable to provoke apoptotic cell death when used up to 250 MUM
      concentrations. Capsaicin induced oxidative stress, but was ineffective in
      provoking the dissipation of the mitochondrial inner transmembrane potential. A
      different magnitude of p53 binding protein 1 (53BP1) recruitment contributed to
      diverse capsaicin-induced genotoxic effects in DU145 and A549 cells. Capsaicin
      was also found to be a DNA hypermethylating agent in A549 cells. In summary, we
      have shown that genotoxic effects of capsaicin may contribute to limited
      susceptibility of DU145 and A549 cancer cells to apoptosis in vitro, which may
      question the usefulness of capsaicin-based anticancer therapy, at least in a case
      of lung and prostate cancer.

PMID- 25813724
TI  - The Syrian hamster embryo cells transformation assay identifies efficiently
      nongenotoxic carcinogens, and can contribute to alternative, integrated testing
      strategies.
AB  - The long-term carcinogenesis bioassays have played a central role in protecting
      human health, but for ethical and practical reasons their use is dramatically
      diminishing and the genotoxicity short-term tests have taken the pivotal role in
      the pre-screening of chemical carcinogenicity. However, this strategy cannot
      detect nongenotoxic carcinogens. Since up to 25% of IARC human carcinogens are
      recognized to have nongenotoxic mechanisms of action, the risk they pose to human
      health cannot be disregarded, and it is urgent to fill the gap in the tools for
      alternative testing. In this paper, we analyze from different perspectives the
      ability of Cell Transformation Assays to identify nongenotoxic carcinogens, and
      we conclude that the Syrian hamster embryo cells test is able to identify
      nongenotoxic carcinogens with 80-90% efficiency, and thus, can play an important
      role in integrated, alternative testing strategies. 

PMID- 25813725
TI  - Gene expression and epigenetic profiles of mammary gland tissue: insight into the
      differential predisposition of four rat strains to mammary gland cancer.
AB  - Rats are excellent experimental models for studying breast cancer, but rat
      strains differ in susceptibility. Among the four strains used in this study,
      Fischer rats are less susceptible to spontaneous breast cancer, yet they are
      highly prone to extremely severe metastatic and drug-resistant tumors, in those
      case where they actually develop the disease. In contrast, Sprague Dawley rats
      are the most susceptible to spontaneous breast cancer among the strains. ACI rats
      are highly prone to estrogen-induced cancer. Long-Evans rats are commonly used in
      mammary gland carcinogenesis studies. The molecular mechanisms of differential
      breast cancer susceptibility among rat strains are not well understood. Here,
      gene expression analysis was conducted in the mammary gland tissue of four rat
      strains--August * Copenhagen Irish (ACI), Long Evans, Fischer-344 and Sprague
      Dawley--to evaluate possible explanations for the differing breast cancer
      predispositions. According to the DAVID functional annotation analysis, there
      were at least eleven, five, and one significantly different pathways,
      respectively, in Fischer-344, Long-Evans and Sprague Dawley rats, in comparison
      to ACI rats. Two strains, Fischer-344 and Long-Evans, displayed differential
      expression in the complement and coagulation cascades, chemokine signaling, PPAR
      signaling, renin-angiotensin system, ECM-receptor interaction, focal adhesion and
      glutathione metabolism pathways. The only pathway that was significantly
      different between the Sprague Dawley and the ACI rats was the ribosome pathway.
      Our data indicate that general cancer susceptibility and predisposition to the
      development of aggressive and metastatic cancer are independent genetic
      conditions. Moreover, we have identified several important differences in the
      basal epigenetic profile of four rat strains with varying degrees of
      susceptibility to spontaneous and induced mammary carcinogenesis.

PMID- 25813726
TI  - Gene promoter methylation and DNA repair capacity in monozygotic twins with
      discordant smoking habits.
AB  - The influence of DNA repair capacity, plasma nutrients and tobacco smoke exposure
      on DNA methylation was investigated in blood cells of twenty-one couples of
      monozygotic twins with discordant smoking habits. All study subjects had
      previously been characterized for mutagen sensitivity with challenge assays with
      ionizing radiation in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Plasma levels of folic acid,
      vitamin B12 and homocysteine were also available from a previous investigation.
      In this work DNA methylation in the promoter region of a panel of ten genes
      involved in cell cycle control, differentiation, apoptosis and DNA repair (p16,
      FHIT, RAR, CDH1, DAPK1, hTERT, RASSF1A, MGMT, BRCA1 and PALB2) was assessed in
      the same batches of cells isolated for previous studies, using the methylation
      sensitive high-resolution melting technique. Fairly similar profiles of gene
      promoter methylation were observed within co-twins compared to unrelated subjects
      (p= 1.23 * 10(-7)), with no significant difference related to smoking habits (p =
      0.23). In a regression analysis the methylation index of study subjects, used as
      synthetic descriptor of overall promoter methylation, displayed a significant
      inverse correlation with radiation-induced micronuclei (p = 0.021) and plasma
      folic acid level (p = 0.007) both in smokers and in non-smokers. The observed
      association between repair of radiation-induced DNA damage and promoter
      methylation suggests the involvement of the DNA repair machinery in DNA
      modification. Data also highlight the possible modulating effect of folate
      deficiency on DNA methylation and the strong influence of familiarity on the
      individual epigenetic profile.

PMID- 25813727
TI  - 'It's time she stopped torturing herself': structural constraints to decision
      making about life-sustaining treatment by medical trainees.
AB  - This article explores how structural factors associated with the profession and
      organization of medicine can constrain internal medicine residents, leading them
      to sometimes limit or terminate treatment in end-of-life care in ways that do not
      always embrace patient autonomy. Specifically, it examines the opportunities and
      motivations that explain why residents sometimes arrogate decision-making for
      themselves about life-sustaining treatment. Using ethnographic data drawn from
      over two years at an American community hospital, I contend that unlike previous
      studies which aggregate junior and senior physicians' perspectives, medical
      trainees face unique constraints that can lead them to intentionally or
      unintentionally overlook patient preferences. This is especially salient in cases
      where they misunderstand their patients' wishes, disagree about what is in their
      best interest, and/or lack the standing to pursue alternative ethical approaches
      to resolving these tensions. The study concludes with recommendations that take
      into account the structural underpinnings of arrogance in decision-making about
      life-sustaining treatment. 

PMID- 25813728
TI  - Genetically at-risk status and individual agency. A qualitative study on
      asymptomatic women living with genetic risk of breast/ovarian cancer.
AB  - For the last 20 years, genetic tests have allowed unaffected women to determine
      whether they are predisposed to developing breast/ovarian cancer due to BRCA1/2
      gene mutations. In the event of adverse results, women receive a specific label
      associated with a set of medical recommendations: the genetically at-risk status.
      This qualitative study adopted a life-course perspective to understand the impact
      of this status on women's agency. Following a grounded theory design,
      retrospective biographical interviews were conducted in Switzerland between 2011
      and 2013 with 32 unaffected women at risk of developing genetic breast/ovarian
      cancer and aware of their predisposition for at least three years. The results
      show that the genetically at-risk status conveys an invitation to transform
      health into a project, i.e., into a set of planned activities realized in
      collaboration with the medical system in order to reduce the risk of developing
      cancer. This health project shapes women's agency in three ways: it enhances,
      constrains and questions it, thus creating a sense of disorientation about what
      is considered rational and appropriate in terms of genetic risk management. Based
      on these findings, the paper concludes by stressing the paradoxes of the
      genetically at-risk status and the limits of the medical system in managing women
      designated with it. The paper also suggests that because of the disorientation
      intrinsic to their situation, genetically at-risk women have to reflexively
      construct their own health project from a range of available options in ways that
      are coherent and viable for themselves and their significant others. This process
      of reflexive construction may be called legitimation. 

PMID- 25813729
TI  - A blessing I can't afford: factors underlying the paradox of happiness about
      unintended pregnancy.
AB  - An unresolved paradox in the measurement and interpretation of unintended
      pregnancy is that women frequently report feeling happy about pregnancies they
      also classify as unintended (i.e. they have incongruent intentions and feelings).
      This study explores the underlying reasons why women profess such happiness and
      how these relate to their motivations to avoid pregnancy. Between September 2013
      and February 2014, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 27
      women (8 white, 19 Latina) selected from a longitudinal study measuring
      prospective pregnancy intentions and feelings among 403 women in Austin, Texas.
      Women were selected for interview on the basis of wanting no more children and
      consistently professing either happiness (n = 17) or unhappiness (n = 10) at the
      prospect of pregnancy. Interviews were coded and analyzed following the
      principles of grounded theory. We found that it is possible for women to express
      happiness at the idea of pregnancy while simultaneously earnestly trying to
      prevent conception. Happiness at the idea of an unintended pregnancy was
      explained as the result of deep and heartfelt feelings about children taking
      precedence over practical considerations, the perception that the psychosocial
      stress resulting from another child would be low, and the ability to rationalize
      an unintended pregnancy as the result of fate or God's plan. The major exception
      to the sincerity of professed happiness was that conveyed as a result of social
      pressure despite truly negative feelings, predominantly expressed by foreign-born
      Latina women. Overall, equating incongruence with ambivalence about avoiding
      conception may undermine the sincerity of women's intentions and their desires
      for highly-effective contraception. At the same time, unintended pregnancies that
      are greeted with happiness may have different implications for maternal and child
      health outcomes compared to pregnancies that are greeted with unhappiness.
      Identifying which unintended pregnancies are most likely to result in adverse
      outcomes is a target for future research. 

PMID- 25813730
TI  - Cream skimming and hospital transfers in a mixed public-private system.
AB  - The increasing prominence of the private sector in health care provision has
      generated considerable interest in understanding its implications on quality and
      cost. This paper investigates the phenomenon of cream skimming in a mixed public
      private hospital setting using the novel approach of analysing hospital
      transfers. We analyse hospital administrative data of patients with ischemic
      heart disease from the state of Victoria, Australia. The data set contains
      approximately 1.77 million admission episodes in 309 hospitals, of which 132 are
      public hospitals, and 177 private hospitals. We ask if patients transferred
      between public and private hospitals differ systematically in the severity and
      complexity of their medical conditions; and if so, whether utilisation also
      differs. We find that patients with higher disease severity are more likely to be
      transferred from private to public hospitals whereas the opposite is true for
      patients transferred to private hospitals. We also find that patients transferred
      from private to public hospitals stayed longer and cost more than private-to
      private transfer patients, after controlling for patients' observed health
      conditions and personal characteristics. Overall, the evidence is suggestive of
      the presence of cream skimming in the Victorian hospital system, although we
      cannot conclusively rule out other mechanisms that might influence hospital
      transfers. 

PMID- 25813731
TI  - Colonic injury after gunshot wound to the scrotum with accompanying inguinal
      hernia.

PMID- 25813732
TI  - Surgical treatment for mono-segmental lumbar tuberculosis by single-stage
      posterior debridement, compact bone grafting and posterior single-segment
      fixation.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of single-stage posterior
      debridement, compact bone grafting and posterior single-segment fixation for the
      treatment of mono-segmental lumbar tuberculosis. METHODS: We enrolled 32 patients
      with mono-segmental lumbar tuberculosis from January 2005 to April 2011. The
      severity of damage to the vertebral bodies is not more than 2/3 height. All the
      patients were treated by single-stage posterior debridement, compact bone
      grafting and posterior single-segment fixation. RESULTS: Patients were followed
      21-63 months (43.5+/-9.5 months). The average Cobb angle decreased to 5.3+/-3.0
      degrees  postoperatively from 22.1+/-6.1 degrees  preoperatively. Meanwhile,
      average 1.8+/-1.0 degrees  loss was observed at last visit. Fusion occurred at 3
      9 months (mean 5.1 months). All patients with preoperative neurologic deficit
      recovered in different degree. 1 with grade B recovered to grade D; 2 with grade
      C recovered to grade E; 18 with grade D recovered to grade E. No mortality
      occurred. One patient experienced anti-tuberculosis drug-induced liver
      dysfunction which was managed successfully with modified anti-TB treatment and
      hepato-protective treatment. The Oswestry Disability Index decreased from 40.1+/
      4.0 preoperatively to 13.7+/-3.1 postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Single-stage
      posterior debridement, compact bone grafting and posterior single-segment
      fixation is an effective method for the treatment of mono-segmental lumbar
      tuberculosis.

PMID- 25813733
TI  - VATS versus intrapleural streptokinase: A prospective, randomized, controlled
      clinical trial for optimum treatment of post-traumatic Residual Hemothorax.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Post-traumatic residual haemothorax (RH) is common and carries
      significant morbidity. However, its optimal treatment is not clear. AIM: The aim
      of this study was to find the extent of this problem and the choice of treatment
      between VATS and intra-pleural streptokinase instillation (IPSI). MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: This RCT, conducted over 18 months period, included all patients of
      chest trauma between 18 and 70 years of age, admitted with haemothorax or
      haemopneumothorax requiring inter-costal drain (ICD) insertion. 154 events of
      haemothorax/haemopneumothorax requiring ICD insertion were enrolled. RH was seen
      in 48 (31%) patients: 13 patients were excluded from RCT after refusal for
      treatment. Seventeen (49%) patients of remaining 35 RH cases were randomized to
      IPSI group and 18 (51%) patients were randomized to VATS group. The outcome
      parameters were resolution of RH and treatment related complications. RESULTS: RH
      resolved equally well in VATS and IPSI group [13 patients (72%) versus 12
      patients (71%), respectively; continuity-adjusted p=1]. Morbidity wise no
      difference (p-value 0.529) was seen in the two groups. CONCLUSION: Post-traumatic
      RH is seen in 1/3rd patients and is equally well treated by VATS and IPSI.

PMID- 25813734
TI  - Risk factor profiles for early and delayed mortality after hip fracture: Analyses
      of linked Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs databases.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: One-year mortality after hip fracture may exceed 30% with a very
      large number of reported risk factors. Determinants of mortality beyond 1 year
      are rarely described. This study employs multiple data linkages to examine
      mortality rates, risk factor profiles and age-specific excess mortality at
      intervals from 30 days to 4 years. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study of linked
      administrative datasets describing hospital episodes, residential aged care (RAC)
      admissions and date of death for 2552 Australian veterans and war widows
      hospitalised for hip fracture in 2008-09. Associations between time to death and
      patient age, sex, pre-fracture accommodation, fracture type, treatment options,
      selected comorbidities and complications were tested in Cox proportional hazards
      models. RESULTS: In a population with mean age of 86.6 years (range 54-100
      years), overall death rate was 11% at 30 days, 34% at 1 year, 47% at 2 years and
      67% after 4 years. For males hospitalised from RAC 1-year mortality was 72%,
      contrasting with 19% for females from the community. Risk of death within 1 year
      was increased by male sex, increasing age, pre-fracture RAC residency, transfer
      to intensive care and coexistent cancer, cardiac and renal failure,
      cerebrovascular disease and pressure ulcers. Patients selected for rehabilitation
      had lower mortality rates. Patterns of determinants for mortality changed over
      time. Above-expected age-specific mortality was sustained for 4 years except for
      males 90 years and older. CONCLUSION: Pre-fracture RAC residence was the
      strongest determinant factor for mortality. Patients selected for rehabilitation
      had lower mortality rates. The profiles of explanatory variables for death
      altered with increasing time from the index fracture event.

PMID- 25813735
TI  - Comparison of isorhamnetin absorption properties in total flavones of Hippophae
      rhamnoides L. with its pure form in a Caco-2 cell model mediated by multidrug
      resistance-associated protein.
AB  - Total flavones of Hippophae rhamnoides L. (TFH) are extracted from the widely
      distributed thorny bush Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.). Isorhamnetin
      (IS) is one of the representative ingredients in TFH. In this study, the
      absorption properties of IS in TFH and its pure form were compared through
      transepithelial transport and cellular uptake experiments in a Caco-2 cell model.
      Our results show that the absorption properties of IS in TFH and its pure form
      were remarkably different: (1) Both PappAB and PappBA of IS in TFH were
      dramatically increased compared with those of IS pure form; consequently, its
      Pratio was 2.3-fold higher than that of IS; (2) Both the accumulation and efflux
      of IS in TFH were significantly enhanced compared with the single compound. One
      likely reason for these differences is that the multiple components in TFH
      significantly down regulated the mRNA expression level of MRP2, which lead to a
      decrease in the protein level of MRP2, based on western blotting and RT-PCR
      assays. This study highlights the significant differences in the absorption
      properties of flavonoid components in different forms and the potential multi
      component interactions in TFH. 

PMID- 25813736
TI  - Octuplicate this interval! Axiomatic examination of the ratio properties of
      duration perception.
AB  - The relationship between the physical intensity of a stimulus and its perceived
      magnitude can be described by Stevens' power law (Stevens, American Journal of
      Psychology, 69(1), 1-15, 1956), i.e., a power function with an exponent depending
      on the sensory modality studied. Direct scaling methods used to determine the
      power function exponent are based on the assumption that subjects are capable of
      processing ratios of magnitudes. The present experiments investigate whether this
      assumption holds for duration perception by empirically testing (Narens, Journal
      of Mathematical Psychology, 40(2), 109-129, 1996) fundamental axioms of
      monotonicity, commutativity, and multiplicativity. To determine whether the
      exponent can be interpreted in a meaningful way, i.e., whether it is invariant
      under changes of the reference stimulus, two further axioms, invertibility and
      weak multiplicativity (Augustin, Acta Psychologica, 128(1), 176-185, 2008) are
      evaluated. N=25 participants were required to adjust the duration of a comparison
      tone to specific ratios of different standard durations in two experiments. In
      accordance with previous findings for other sensory continua, monotonicity held
      for the duration adjustments of most participants. Significant violations of the
      commutativity axiom were found in 12.5% of all pertinent tests, whereas
      multiplicativity was violated in 32% of such tests. The axioms of weak
      multiplicativity and invertibility, however, were violated in over 50% of the
      tests. These results indicate that even though a ratio scale for perceived
      duration exists, the numbers as used by the participants cannot always be taken
      at face value and that even though power functions fit the data quite well, the
      exponent depends on the size of the standard and therefore cannot always be
      interpreted in a meaningful way.

PMID- 25813737
TI  - Irrelevant reward and selection histories have different influences on task
      relevant attentional selection.
AB  - Task-relevant and physically salient features influence visual selective
      attention. In the present study, we investigated the influence of task-irrelevant
      and physically nonsalient reward-associated features on visual selective
      attention. Two hypotheses were tested: One predicts that the effects of target
      defining task-relevant and task-irrelevant features interact to modulate visual
      selection; the other predicts that visual selection is determined by the
      independent combination of relevant and irrelevant feature effects. These
      alternatives were tested using a visual search task that contained multiple
      targets, placing a high demand on the need for selectivity, and that was data
      limited and required unspeeded responses, emphasizing early perceptual selection
      processes. One week prior to the visual search task, participants completed a
      training task in which they learned to associate particular colors with a
      specific reward value. In the search task, the reward-associated colors were
      presented surrounding targets and distractors, but were neither physically
      salient nor task-relevant. In two experiments, the irrelevant reward-associated
      features influenced performance, but only when they were presented in a task
      relevant location. The costs induced by the irrelevant reward-associated features
      were greater when they oriented attention to a target than to a distractor. In a
      third experiment, we examined the effects of selection history in the absence of
      reward history and found that the interaction between task relevance and
      selection history differed, relative to when the features had previously been
      associated with reward. The results indicate that under conditions that demand
      highly efficient perceptual selection, physically nonsalient task-irrelevant and
      task-relevant factors interact to influence visual selective attention. 

PMID- 25813738
TI  - Low cognitive load strengthens distractor interference while high load attenuates
      when cognitive load and distractor possess similar visual characteristics.
AB  - Studies on visual cognitive load have reported inconsistent effects of distractor
      interference when distractors have visual characteristic that are similar to the
      cognitive load. Some studies have shown that the cognitive load enhances
      distractor interference, while others reported an attenuating effect. We
      attribute these inconsistencies to the amount of cognitive load that a person is
      required to maintain. Lower amounts of cognitive load increase distractor
      interference by orienting attention toward visually similar distractors. Higher
      amounts of cognitive load attenuate distractor interference by depleting
      attentional resources needed to process distractors. In the present study,
      cognitive load consisted of faces (Experiments 1-3) or scenes (Experiment 2).
      Participants performed a selective attention task in which they ignored face
      distractors while judging a color of a target dot presented nearby, under
      differing amounts of load. Across these experiments distractor interference was
      greater in the low-load condition and smaller in the high-load condition when the
      content of the cognitive load had similar visual characteristic to the
      distractors. We also found that when a series of judgments needed to be made, the
      effect was apparent for the first trial but not for the second. We further tested
      an involvement of working memory capacity (WMC) in the load effect (Experiment
      3). Interestingly, both high and low WMC groups received an equivalent effect of
      the cognitive load in the first distractor, suggesting these effects are fairly
      automatic. 

PMID- 25813739
TI  - Converging evidence that common timing processes underlie temporal-order and
      simultaneity judgments: a model-based analysis.
AB  - Perception of simultaneity and temporal order is studied with simultaneity
      judgment (SJ) and temporal-order judgment (TOJ) tasks. In the former, observers
      report whether presentation of two stimuli was subjectively simultaneous; in the
      latter, they report which stimulus was subjectively presented first. SJ and TOJ
      tasks typically give discrepant results, which has prompted the view that
      performance is mediated by different processes in each task. We looked at these
      discrepancies from a model that yields psychometric functions whose parameters
      characterize the timing, decisional, and response processes involved in SJ and
      TOJ tasks. We analyzed 12 data sets from published studies in which both tasks
      had been used in within-subjects designs, all of which had reported differences
      in performance across tasks. Fitting the model jointly to data from both tasks,
      we tested the hypothesis that common timing processes sustain simultaneity and
      temporal-order judgments, with differences in performance arising from task
      dependent decisional and response processes. The results supported this
      hypothesis, also showing that model psychometric functions account for aspects of
      SJ and TOJ data that classical analyses overlook. Implications for research on
      perception of simultaneity and temporal order are discussed. 

PMID- 25813740
TI  - Individual differences in highly skilled visual perceptual-motor striking skill.
AB  - Expertise studies into visual perceptual-motor skills have mainly focused their
      investigation upon group comparisons rather than individual comparisons. This
      study investigated the pick-up of visual information to time weight transfer and
      bat kinematics within an exemplar group of striking sport experts using an in
      situ temporal occlusion paradigm. Highly skilled cricket batsmen faced bowlers
      and attempted to strike delivered balls, whilst their vision was either
      temporally occluded through occlusion glasses prior to ball bounce or not
      occluded (control condition). A chronometric analysis was conducted on trials in
      the occlusion condition to quantify the pick-up of visual information to time
      biomechanical variables. Results indicated that initiation of weight transfer and
      bat downswing, as well as bat downswing completion, was significantly different
      between some individual batsmen. No significant difference was found between
      individual batsmen for time of weight transfer completion. Unexpectedly, it was
      found that achievement of the goal to strike delivered balls, that is, the
      frequency of bat-ball contacts was not significantly different between batsmen.
      Collectively, the findings indicate that individual differences exist in the
      coordination pattern of a complex whole body visual perceptual-motor skill, but
      these different patterns are used to achieve a similar outcome, which is known as
      motor equivalence. 

PMID- 25813741
TI  - Effects of bowing on perception of attractiveness.
AB  - Bowing is a greeting behavior. The present study examined the modulation effect
      of bowing on perception of attractiveness. In each trial, a portrait digitized
      from university yearbooks was presented on a computer screen. The portrait was
      mildly tilted toward participants to simulate a greeting bow (25-degree angle).
      Participants evaluated the subjective attractiveness of the face using a visual
      analog scale (0-100). The mean attractiveness judgment of the bowing portrait was
      significantly higher relative to that of the bending-backward or standing-still
      control conditions (Experiment 1). Additional control experiments revealed that
      alternative accounts relying on apparent spatial proximity and physical
      characteristics could not solely explain the effect of bowing (Experiment 2) and
      indicated that the effect was specific to objects perceived as faces (Experiment
      3). Furthermore, observers' in-return bowing behavior did not reduce the bowing
      effect (Experiment 4), and bowing motion increased the ratings of subjective
      politeness and submissiveness (Experiment 5). Finally, tilting the 3D faces
      elicited the same effect from observers as did tilting the still photos
      (Experiment 6). These results suggest that a tilting motion of portraits (or
      images of face-like objects) mimicking bowing enhances perceived attractiveness,
      at least as measured in a culture familiar with greeting by bowing. 

PMID- 25813742
TI  - Temporal cues derived from statistical patterns can overcome resource limitations
      in the attentional blink.
AB  - Previous studies have shown that humans are sensitive to statistical patterns
      indicating the likely locations, identities, and timings of visual targets. Here
      we tested whether participants can also use this kind of information to
      ameliorate the attentional blink (AB)-a reduction in accuracy for the second of
      two targets (T1, T2) presented at brief intertarget intervals (lags). In
      particular, we asked whether participants can use patterns arising from
      differential distributions of intertarget lags across trials to predict the
      arrival of T2. We tested this by comparing the ABs in an aging versus a nonaging
      distribution of trials, where aging refers to the increased likelihood of T2,
      given that it has not yet occurred, when lags occur with equal frequencies.
      Experiments 1 and 2 showed that the aging condition yielded greater T2 accuracy
      at longer lags than did the nonaging condition. In Experiment 3, we used a more
      sensitive response time measure to show faster T2 discrimination at shorter lags
      in the nonaging condition. These results demonstrate that participants can
      predict the likely onset of T2 by using statistical patterns present in the AB
      task, and that they can use this ability to more effectively direct limited
      processing resources.

PMID- 25813743
TI  - Erratum to: The hands shield attention from visual interference.

PMID- 25813745
TI  - Part III: Principal component analysis: bridging the gap between strain, sex and
      drug effects.
AB  - Previous work has identified the adolescent period as particularly sensitive to
      the short- and long-term effects of marijuana and its main psychoactive component
      Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). However, other studies have identified certain
      backgrounds as more sensitive than others, including the sex of the individual or
      the strain of the rat used. Further, the effects of THC may be specific to
      certain behavioural tasks (e.g. measures of anxiety), and the consequences of THC
      are not seen equally across all behavioural measures. Here, data obtained from
      adolescent male and female Long-Evans and Wistar rats exposed to THC and tested
      as adults, which, using standard ANOVA testing, showed strain- and sex-specific
      effects of THC, was analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA). PCA
      allowed for the examination of the relative contribution of our variables of
      interest to the variance in the data obtained from multiple behavioural tasks,
      including the skilled reaching task, the Morris water task, the discriminative
      fear-conditioning to context task, the elevated plus maze task and the
      conditioned place preference task to a low dose of amphetamine, as well as
      volumetric estimates of brain volumes and cfos activation. We observed that early
      life experience accounted for a large proportion of variance across data sets,
      although its relative contribution varied across tasks. Additionally, THC
      accounted for a very small proportion of the variance across all behavioural
      tasks. We demonstrate here that by using PCA, we were able to describe the main
      variables of interest and demonstrate that THC exposure had a negligible effect
      on the variance in the data set. 

PMID- 25813746
TI  - Cognitive bias, hand preference and welfare of common marmosets.
AB  - Common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) have hand preferences for grasping pieces
      of food and holding them while eating and these are stable throughout adult life.
      We report here that left-handed marmosets have negative cognitive bias compared
      to right-handed marmosets. Twelve marmosets were trained to expect a food reward
      from a bowl with a black lid and not from one with a white lid, or vice versa. In
      probe tests with ambiguous, grey-lidded bowls a left-handed group (N=7) were less
      likely to remove the lid to inspect the bowl than a right-handed group (N=5).
      This difference between left- and right-handed marmosets was not dependent on
      rate of learning, sex or age. In fact, hand-preference was not associated with
      rate of learning the task. Furthermore, retrospective examination of colony
      records of 39 marmosets revealed that more aggression was directed towards left-
      than right-handed marmosets. Hence, hand preference, which can be measured
      easily, could serve as an indicator of cognitive bias and may signal a need for
      particular care in laboratory environments. We explain the results by arguing
      that hand preference reflects more frequent (or dominant) use of the opposite
      hemisphere and this predisposes individuals to behave differently. 

PMID- 25813747
TI  - Memory formation and retention are affected in adult miR-132/212 knockout mice.
AB  - The miR-132/212 family is thought to play an important role in neural function
      and plasticity, while its misregulation has been observed in various
      neurodegenerative disorders. In this study, we analyzed 6-month-old miR-132/212
      knockout mice in a battery of cognitive and non-cognitive behavioral tests. No
      significant changes were observed in reflexes and basic sensorimotor functions as
      determined by the SHIRPA primary screen. Accordingly, miR-132/212 knockout mice
      did not differ from wild-type controls in general locomotor activity in an open
      field test. Furthermore, no significant changes of anxiety were measured in an
      elevated plus maze task. However, the mutant mice showed retention phase defects
      in a novel object recognition test and in the T-water maze. Moreover, the
      learning and probe phases in the Barnes maze were clearly altered in knockout
      mice when compared to controls. Finally, changes in BDNF, CREB, and MeCP2 were
      identified in the miR-132/212-deficient mice, providing a potential mechanism for
      promoting memory loss. Taken together, these results further strengthen the role
      of miR-132/212 in memory formation and retention, and shed light on the potential
      consequences of its deregulation in neurodegenerative diseases. 

PMID- 25813748
TI  - Experience affects immediate early gene expression in response to conspecific
      call notes in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus).
AB  - Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) produce numerous vocalizations,
      including the acoustically complex chick-a-dee call that is composed of A, B, C,
      and D notes. D notes are longer in duration and lower in frequency than the other
      note types and contain information regarding flock and species identification.
      Adult wild-caught black-capped chickadees have been shown to have similar amounts
      of immediate early gene (IEG) expression following playback of vocalizations with
      harmonic-like acoustic structure, similar to D notes. Here we examined how
      different environmental experiences affect IEG response to conspecific D notes.
      We hand-reared black-capped chickadees under three conditions: (1) with adult
      conspecifics, (2) with adult heterospecific mountain chickadees, and (3) without
      adults. We presented all hand-reared birds and a control group of field-reared
      black-capped chickadees, with conspecific D notes and quantified IEG expression
      in the caudomedial mesopallium (CMM) and caudomedial nidopallium (NCM). We found
      that field-reared birds that heard normal D notes had a similar neural response
      as a group of field-reared birds that heard playback of reversed D notes. Field
      reared birds that heard normal D notes also had a similar neural response as
      birds reared with adult conspecifics. Birds reared without adults had a
      significantly reduced IEG response, whereas the IEG expression in birds reared
      with heterospecifics was at intermediate levels between birds reared with
      conspecifics and birds reared without adults. Although acoustic characteristics
      have been shown to drive IEG expression, our results demonstrate that experience
      with adults or normal adult vocalizations is also an important factor. 

PMID- 25813749
TI  - Brain functional network changes following Prelimbic area inactivation in a
      spatial memory extinction task.
AB  - Several studies suggest a prefrontal cortex involvement during the acquisition
      and consolidation of spatial memory, suggesting an active modulating role at late
      stages of acquisition processes. Recently, we have reported that the prelimbic
      and infralimbic areas of the prefrontal cortex, among other structures, are also
      specifically involved in the late phases of spatial memory extinction. This study
      aimed to evaluate whether the inactivation of the prelimbic area of the
      prefrontal cortex impaired spatial memory extinction. For this purpose, male
      Wistar rats were implanted bilaterally with cannulae into the prelimbic region of
      the prefrontal cortex. Animals were trained during 5 consecutive days in a hidden
      platform task and tested for reference spatial memory immediately after the last
      training session. One day after completing the training task, bilateral infusion
      of the GABAA receptor agonist Muscimol was performed before the extinction
      protocol was carried out. Additionally, cytochrome c oxidase histochemistry was
      applied to map the metabolic brain activity related to the spatial memory
      extinction under prelimbic cortex inactivation. Results show that animals
      acquired the reference memory task in the water maze, and the extinction task was
      successfully completed without significant impairment. However, analysis of the
      functional brain networks involved by cytochrome oxidase activity interregional
      correlations showed changes in brain networks between the group treated with
      Muscimol as compared to the saline-treated group, supporting the involvement of
      the mammillary bodies at a the late stage in the memory extinction process. 

PMID- 25813750
TI  - Protein synthesis is not required for acquisition, consolidation, and extinction
      of high foot-shock active avoidance training.
AB  - Long-term memory of active avoidance in mice is not disturbed by administration
      of protein synthesis inhibitors (PSIs) when relatively high levels of training
      are used, whereas a detrimental effect is produced with lower levels of training.
      PSIs also disrupt extinction of avoidance behaviors in rodents, but it is not
      clear whether PSIs also affect this form of learning when the behavior to be
      extinguished was produced by a high level of training. Experiment 1 demonstrated
      that rats treated with the PSI cycloheximide (CXM) 30 min before training
      developed normal acquisition after training with either high or low foot-shock
      stimulation, but that memory consolidation was hindered only after low foot-shock
      training. Experiment 2 demonstrated that CXM disrupted extinction when
      administered before the first of a series of extinction sessions when low foot
      shock intensity was used during training; in contrast, after training with a
      higher foot-shock, the PSI treatment only interfered transiently with extinction.
      These results indicate that acquisition, consolidation, and extinction of active
      avoidance learning produced by high aversive stimulation are not dependent on
      protein synthesis and that these processes are governed by mechanisms different
      from those underlying moderate forms of learning.

PMID- 25813751
TI  - Children's weight status, body esteem, and self-concept after maternal gastric
      bypass surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is little research on the effects of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass
      (RYGB) surgery on the patients' offspring's weight and psychosocial well-being.
      The present study investigates how children are affected in terms of weight
      status, body esteem, and self-concept after maternal RYGB. METHODS: Sixty-nine
      women and their families were recruited from RYGB waiting lists at 5 Swedish
      hospitals. Data was collected during home visits 3 months before and 12 months
      after RYGB. Anthropometrical measures were taken, and the children completed the
      Body Esteem Scale (BES) and the Beck Self-Concept Inventory (BYI-S). RESULTS:
      Prevalence or relative risk in weight status between the time points were
      explored using Poisson regression models (General Estimating Equations). We found
      stronger statistical evidence for a decreased risk of overweight (RR = .85, 57.0%
      versus 48.6%, P = .048), than for obesity (RR = .87, 18.2% versus 15.9%, P =
      .447). The boys' body esteem increased slightly, whilst the girls' did not. There
      were no significant differences in mean BYI-S scores. CONCLUSIONS: The reasons
      behind the statistically significant decrease in overweight but not obesity risk
      in children after maternal RYGB may be caused by insufficient statistical power
      to detect changes in obesity risk alone. Body esteem seems to be slightly
      positively affected in boys 9 months after maternal RYGB. Longer follow-up times
      and larger samples would be useful in future research.

PMID- 25813752
TI  - Safety and effectiveness of bariatric surgery in dialysis patients and kidney
      transplantation candidates.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic renal disease is known to adversely affect the results of
      bariatric surgery. There is a paucity of literature on the safety and
      effectiveness of bariatric surgery on dialysis patients who are at very advanced
      stages in their renal disease. The objective of this study was to determine the
      safety and effectiveness of bariatric surgery in dialysis patients. METHODS: A
      retrospective review of a prospectively collected database was conducted for
      dialysis patients who underwent bariatric surgery between January 2006 and
      January 2012. Age, gender, body mass index (BMI), cause of renal failure,
      associated co-morbidities, type of surgery, early and late complications, and
      mortality were collected. RESULTS: Of the 3048 patients undergoing bariatric
      surgery during the study period, 21 dialysis patients (.7%) were identified.
      Eighteen patients underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB), 2
      patients underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, and 1 patient underwent
      laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding. Mean preoperative BMI was 47.1+/-5.5
      kg/m(2), and BMI decreased to 35.3+/-8.4 kg/m(2) after a mean follow-up period of
      27.6 months (range = 1.4-78.0 mo). Early major complications (<30 days of
      surgery) occurred in 2 patients (1 anastomotic leak and 1 anastomotic stricture).
      Four patients had a late complication, including 1 marginal ulcer with bleeding
      managed endoscopically, 1 small bowel obstruction requiring laparoscopic lysis of
      adhesions, 1 cholecystitis requiring cholecystectomy, and 1 anastomotic stricture
      requiring endoscopic dilation. There was 1 death in this cohort, at 45 days after
      LRYGB, that was unrelated to a surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic renal failure
      requiring dialysis should not be considered a contraindication to bariatric
      surgery. Our experience with this patient population has shown excellent medium
      term weight loss and an acceptable (albeit increased) risk/benefit ratio.

PMID- 25813753
TI  - Does the closure of mesenteric defects during laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery
      cause complications?
AB  - BACKGROUND: A well-known complication of laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass
      surgery (LRYGB) is bowel obstruction due to internal herniation (IH). Evidence
      suggests that mesenteric defects should be closed during LRYGB to reduce the risk
      of IH. Therefore, surgeons are now closing mesenteric defects during LRYGB using
      sutures, clips, or fibrin glue. However, it has been reported that complications
      may arise due to the closure of mesenteric defects. The aim of this review was to
      summarize the reported possible complications associated with the closure of
      mesenteric defects during LRYGB. METHODS: A literature search of PubMed and
      EMBASE was performed to identify studies related to the closure of mesenteric
      defects during LRYGB. The studies were screened for the listing of possible
      complications associated with the closure of mesenteric defects. This systematic
      review was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for
      Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis recommendations. RESULTS: Thirty studies
      complied with the inclusion criteria for our analysis, which included 21,789
      patients. Reported complications related to closure of the mesenteric defects
      were: small bowel obstruction because of IH, kinking, and adhesions. IH occurred
      because of incomplete closure of the mesenteric defects in 1.4% of all patients,
      1.2% by the antecolic approach, and 1.9% by the retrocolic approach,
      respectively. Kinking of the small bowel occurred in .2% of 1630 patients after
      closure of the mesenteric defects with clips and adhesion formation was found
      among 4.6% of 152 patients after closure of the mesenteric defects with
      nonabsorbable sutures. CONCLUSIONS: The reported risk of complications caused by
      closure of the mesenteric defects during LRYGB seems low.

PMID- 25813754
TI  - Duodenal-jejunal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy versus the sleeve gastrectomy
      procedure alone: the role of duodenal exclusion.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (SG) has become accepted as a stand
      alone procedure as a less complex operation than laparoscopic duodenojejunal
      bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (DJB-SG). OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to
      compare one-year results between DJB-SG and SG. SETTING: University hospital.
      METHODS: A total of 89 patients who received a DJB-SG surgery were matched with a
      group of SG that were equal in age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). Complication
      rates, weight loss, and remission of co-morbidities were evaluated after 12
      months. RESULTS: The mean preoperative patient BMI in the DJB-SG and SG groups
      was similar. There were more patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the
      DJB-SG group than in the SG group. The mean operative time and length of hospital
      stay (LOS) were significantly longer in the DJB-SG group than in the SG group. At
      12 months after surgery, the BMI was lower and excess weight loss higher in DJB
      SG than SG. Remission of T2DM was greater in the DJB-SG group. Low-density
      lipoprotein, total cholesterol, and metabolic syndrome (MS) improved after
      operation in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: In this study DJB-SG was superior to SG in
      T2DM remission, triglyceride improvement, excess weight loss, and lower BMI at 1
      year after surgery. Adding duodenal switch to sleeve gastrectomy increases the
      effect of diabetic control and MS resolution.

PMID- 25813755
TI  - Water relations and gas exchange of fan bryophytes and their adaptations to
      microhabitats in an Asian subtropical montane cloud forest.
AB  - Fan life forms are bryophytes with shoots rising from vertical substratum that
      branch repeatedly in the horizontal plane to form flattened photosynthetic
      surfaces, which are well suited for intercepting water from moving air. However,
      detailed water relations, gas exchange characteristics of fan bryophytes and
      their adaptations to particular microhabitats remain poorly understood. In this
      study, we measured and analyzed microclimatic data, as well as water release
      curves, pressure-volume relationships and photosynthetic water and light response
      curves for three common fan bryophytes in an Asian subtropical montane cloud
      forest (SMCF). Results demonstrate high relative humidity but low light levels
      and temperatures in the understory, and a strong effect of fog on water
      availability for bryophytes in the SMCF. The facts that fan bryophytes in dry air
      lose most of their free water within 1 h, and a strong dependence of net
      photosynthesis rates on water content, imply that the transition from a hydrated,
      photosynthetically active state to a dry, inactive state is rapid. In addition,
      fan bryophytes developed relatively high cell wall elasticity and the
      osmoregulatory capacity to tolerate desiccation. These fan bryophytes had low
      light saturation and compensation point of photosynthesis, indicating shade
      tolerance. It is likely that fan bryophytes can flourish on tree trunks in the
      SMCF because of substantial annual precipitation, average relative humidity, and
      frequent and persistent fog, which can provide continual water sources for them
      to intercept. Nevertheless, the low water retention capacity and strong
      dependence of net photosynthesis on water content of fan bryophytes indicate a
      high risk of unbalanced carbon budget if the frequency and severity of drought
      increase in the future as predicted. 

PMID- 25813756
TI  - Subarachnoid hemorrhage due to aneurysm rupture in a young woman with Alagille
      syndrome - A rare cause of sudden death.
AB  - The Alagille syndrome (AGS) or arteriohepatic dysplasia is a rare, autosomal
      dominant inherited disease with a prevalence of approximately 1:100,000. AGS was
      first described in 1969 and affects liver, heart, arterial blood vessels,
      skeleton and the eyes. The expression of AGS is variable. In severe cases a liver
      transplantation is required. Presented is the case of a 25-year-old woman with
      AGS. At the age of 7 and 8years she had liver transplantations. Other typical
      findings associated with Alagille syndrome (e.g. pulmonary or renal anomalies)
      were also present. The young woman apparently died suddenly and unexpectedly in a
      good health condition despite regular medical treatment. Cause of death was a
      subarachnoid hemorrhage with invasion of the hemorrhage into the ventricle system
      caused by a rupture of previously unknown large aneurysm in the terminal basilary
      artery. Intracranial vascular malformations are a common finding in patients with
      AGS and cause death in up to 16% of them. Life expectancy in AGS patients depends
      on the severity of changes of the affected liver. But AGS is also responsible for
      various vascular abnormalities in several other organs which can cause lethal
      complications. Due to the high rate of vascular complications and intracranial
      hemorrhage with the leading cause of mortality in patients with AGS, vascular
      screening by the use of noninvasive imaging techniques (CT or MR angiography) is
      required to avoid unexpected sudden death. 

PMID- 25813757
TI  - Estimation of sex from the anthropometric ear measurements of a Sudanese
      population.
AB  - The external ear and its prints have multifaceted roles in medico-legal practice,
      e.g., identification and facial reconstruction. Furthermore, its norms are
      essential in the diagnosis of congenital anomalies and the design of hearing
      aids. Body part dimensions vary in different ethnic groups, so the most accurate
      statistical estimations of biological attributes are developed using population
      specific standards. Sudan lacks comprehensive data about ear norms; moreover,
      there is a universal rarity in assessing the possibility of sex estimation from
      ear dimensions using robust statistical techniques. Therefore, this study
      attempts to establish data for normal adult Sudanese Arabs, assessing the
      existence of asymmetry and developing a population-specific equation for sex
      estimation. The study sample comprised 200 healthy Sudanese Arab volunteers (100
      males and 100 females) in the age range of 18-30years. The physiognomic ear
      length and width, lobule length and width, and conchal length and width
      measurements were obtained by direct anthropometry, using a digital sliding
      caliper. Moreover, indices and asymmetry were assessed. Data were analyzed using
      basic descriptive statistics and discriminant function analyses employing
      jackknife validations of classification results. All linear dimensions used were
      sexually dimorphic except lobular lengths. Some of the variables and indices show
      asymmetry. Ear dimensions showed cross-validated sex classification accuracy
      ranging between 60.5% and 72%. Hence, the ear measurements cannot be used as an
      effective tool in the estimation of sex. However, in the absence of other more
      reliable means, it still can be considered a supportive trait in sex estimation.
      Further, asymmetry should be considered in identification from the ear
      measurements. 

PMID- 25813758
TI  - MRI is more accurate than CT for patient-specific total knee arthroplasty.
AB  - Previous reports have stated that MRI is less accurate than CT for patient
      specific guide creation in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Twenty-three TKAs were
      performed with CT-based guides and 27 with MRI-based guides. A mechanical axis
      through the central third of the knee was achieved in 88.9% of MRI-guided TKA
      versus 69.6% of CT-guided TKA (p=0.07). There were nine component outliers in the
      CT group (39.1%) and two in the MRI group (7.4%, p=0.00768). The relative risk of
      having an outlier using a CT-based guide was 5.28 times that of an MRI-based
      guide. Superior overall alignment and fewer outliers were achieved with the use
      of MRI compared with CT. MRI is the best imaging modality for surgeons wishing to
      utilize patient specific guides for TKA. 

PMID- 25813759
TI  - Kinematic alignment produces near-normal knee motion but increases contact stress
      after total knee arthroplasty: A case study on a single implant design.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Kinematically aligned total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is of increasing
      interest because this method might improve postoperative patient satisfaction. In
      kinematic alignment the femoral component is implanted in a slightly more valgus
      and internally rotated position, and the tibial component is implanted in a
      slightly more varus and internally rotated position, than in mechanical
      alignment. However, the biomechanics of kinematically aligned TKA remain largely
      unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the kinematics and contact stresses
      of mechanically and kinematically aligned TKAs. METHODS: A musculoskeletal
      computer simulation was used to determine the effects of mechanically or
      kinematically aligned TKA. Knee kinematics were examined for mechanically
      aligned, kinematically aligned, and kinematically aligned outlier models.
      Patellofemoral and tibiofemoral contact forces were measured using finite element
      analysis. RESULTS: Greater femoral rollback and more external rotation of the
      femoral component were observed with kinematically aligned TKA than mechanically
      aligned TKA. However, patellofemoral and tibiofemoral contact stresses were
      increased in kinematically aligned TKA. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that
      kinematically aligned TKA produces near-normal knee kinematics, but that concerns
      for long-term outcome might arise because of high contact stresses.

PMID- 25813760
TI  - The influence of vehicle front-end design on pedestrian ground impact.
AB  - Accident data have shown that in pedestrian accidents with high-fronted vehicles
      (SUVs and vans) the risk of pedestrian head injuries from the contact with the
      ground is higher than with low-fronted vehicles (passenger cars). However, the
      reasons for this remain poorly understood. This paper addresses this question
      using multibody modelling to investigate the influence of vehicle front height
      and shape in pedestrian accidents on the mechanism of impact with the ground and
      on head ground impact speed. To this end, a set of 648 pedestrian/vehicle crash
      simulations was carried out using the MADYMO multibody simulation software.
      Impacts were simulated with six vehicle types at three impact speeds (20, 30,
      40km/h) and three pedestrian types (50th % male, 5th % female, and 6-year-old
      child) at six different initial stance configurations, stationary and walking at
      1.4m/s. Six different ground impact mechanisms, distinguished from each other by
      the manner in which the pedestrian impacted the ground, were identified. These
      configurations have statistically distinct and considerably different
      distributions of head-ground impact speeds. Pedestrian initial stance
      configuration (gait and walking speed) introduced a high variability to the head
      ground impact speed. Nonetheless, the head-ground impact speed varied
      significantly between the different ground impact mechanisms identified and the
      distribution of impact mechanisms was strongly associated with vehicle type. In
      general, impact mechanisms for adults resulting in a head-first contact with the
      ground were more severe with high fronted vehicles compared to low fronted
      vehicles, though there is a speed dependency to these findings. With high fronted
      vehicles (SUVs and vans) the pedestrian was mainly pushed forward and for
      children this resulted in high head ground contact speeds. 

PMID- 25813761
TI  - Valuation of safety under reference-dependent evaluation of income.
AB  - We analyze data of a Spanish nationally-representative survey where subjects
      reported their willingness to pay (WTP) for road safety improvements,
      specifically they hypothetically paid for a reduction of the risk of a road
      fatality and several injuries. Respondents also reported their current income
      (CI) and permanent income (PI). The latter refers to their normal income once
      they considered various stages of low/high earnings throughout their entire
      lives. Consequently, we define relative income as the comparison of CI with
      respect to PI. Three income frames are generated as explanatory variables: gain
      (with CI>PI); neutral (with CI=PI); and loss scenario (with CI<PI). Surprisingly,
      we find that conditional on current income, and on a set of characteristics,
      those respondents in gain frame reported higher WTP than those in neutral and
      loss scenario. Further analysis shows that the income frames effect is higher and
      more significant for the older half-sample (>45), being about three or four times
      higher than for the younger subset. Possible interpretations of the role of PI as
      a reference point are considered given the results. A reference-dependent utility
      function of income, where PI is the reference point, is proposed to describe the
      monetary valuation of safety within the theoretical framework previously
      developed in the safety economics literature. 

PMID- 25813762
TI  - Assessment of safety effects for widening urban roadways in developing crash
      modification functions using nonlinearizing link functions.
AB  - Since a crash modification factor (CMF) represents the overall safety performance
      of specific treatments in a single fixed value, there is a need to explore the
      variation of CMFs with different roadway characteristics among treated sites over
      time. Therefore, in this study, we (1) evaluate the safety performance of a
      sample of urban four-lane roadway segments that have been widened with one
      through lane in each direction and (2) determine the relationship between the
      safety effects and different roadway characteristics over time. Observational
      before-after analysis with the empirical Bayes (EB) method was assessed in this
      study to evaluate the safety effects of widening urban four-lane roadways to six
      lanes. Moreover, the nonlinearizing link functions were utilized to achieve
      better performance of crash modification functions (CMFunctions). The CMFunctions
      were developed using a Bayesian regression method including the estimated
      nonlinearizing link function to incorporate the changes in safety effects of the
      treatment over time. Data was collected for urban arterials in Florida, and the
      Florida-specific full SPFs were developed and used for EB estimation. The results
      indicated that the conversion of four-lane roadways to six-lane roadways resulted
      in a crash reduction of 15 percent for total crashes, and 24 percent for injury
      crashes on urban roadways. The results show that the safety effects vary across
      the sites with different roadway characteristics. In particular, LOS changes,
      time changes, and shoulder widths are significant parameters that affect the
      variation of CMFs. Moreover, it was found that narrowing shoulder and median
      widths to make space for an extra through lane shows a negative safety impact. It
      was also found that including the nonlinearizing link functions in developing
      CMFunctions shows more reliable estimates, if the variation of CMFs with specific
      parameters has a nonlinear relationship. The findings provide insights into the
      selection of roadway sites for adding through lanes. 

PMID- 25813763
TI  - Measuring vasoreactivity in pulmonary hypertension: a simple test, but do we
      understand it?

PMID- 25813764
TI  - Waiting with a failing right heart.

PMID- 25813765
TI  - Use of responder threshold criteria to evaluate the response to treatment in the
      phase III CHEST-1 study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension Soluble
      Guanylate Cyclase - Stimulator Trial 1 (CHEST-1) study, riociguat improved 6
      minute walking distance (6MWD) vs placebo in patients with inoperable chronic
      thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension or persistent/recurrent pulmonary
      hypertension after pulmonary endarterectomy. In this study, the proportion of
      patients who achieved responder thresholds that correlate with improved outcome
      in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension was determined at baseline and
      at the end of CHEST-1. METHODS: Patients received placebo or riociguat
      individually adjusted up to 2.5 mg 3 times a day for 16 weeks. Response criteria
      were defined as follows: 6MWD increase >=40 m, 6MWD >=380 m, cardiac index >=2.5
      liters/min/m(2), pulmonary vascular resistance <500 dyn?sec?cm(-5), mixed venous
      oxygen saturation >=65%, World Health Organization functional class I/II, N
      terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide <1,800 pg/ml, and right atrial pressure <8
      mm Hg. RESULTS: Riociguat increased the proportion of patients with 6MWD >=380 m,
      World Health Organization functional class I/II, and pulmonary vascular
      resistance <500 dyn?sec?cm(-5) from 37%, 34%, and 25% at baseline to 58%, 57%,
      and 50% at Week 16, whereas there was little change in placebo-treated patients
      (6MWD >=380 m, 43% vs 44%; World Health Organization functional class I/II, 29%
      vs 38%; pulmonary vascular resistance <500 dyn?sec?cm(-5), 27% vs 26%). Similar
      changes were observed for thresholds for cardiac index, mixed venous oxygen
      saturation, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, and right atrial pressure.
      CONCLUSIONS: In this exploratory analysis, riociguat increased the proportion of
      patients with inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension or
      persistent/recurrent pulmonary hypertension after pulmonary endarterectomy
      achieving criteria defining a positive response to therapy.

PMID- 25813766
TI  - Balloon atrial septostomy in pulmonary arterial hypertension: effect on survival
      and associated outcomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disease that,
      without early identification and treatment, may lead to right heart failure,
      multi-organ dysfunction and early death. In severe PAH, in addition to maximal
      medical therapy, balloon atrial septostomy (BAS) may be used for palliation and
      as a bridge to lung transplantation. We present our contemporary institutional
      experience utilizing BAS in adult and pediatric patients with severe PAH.
      METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of 46 BASs performed in 32
      patients with PAH from 2002 to 2013. Data obtained included vital status,
      functional class, medications, hemodynamic measurements from right heart
      catheterizations and biomarkers. Lung transplantation-free and repeat-BAS-free
      survival was analyzed. RESULTS: Median age at BAS was 23 (range 1 to 56) years.
      The most common indications were symptomatic right heart failure (21 of 46
      patients) and pre-syncope/syncope (19 of 46 patients); 69% of patients were WHO
      Functional Class III or IV pre-BAS. There were no procedural complications or
      deaths. There were no significant differences in biomarkers or hemodynamic
      findings between pre-BAS and 1 year or latest follow-up. Seven patients were
      successfully bridged to lung transplantation. Lung transplantation-free and
      repeat-BAS-free survival at 30 days, 1 year and 5 years was 87%, 61% and 32%,
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In our experienced center, BAS was shown to be safe in
      patients with severe PAH on maximal medical management, with no procedural deaths
      or complications. BAS was safely used as a bridge to lung transplantation or to
      alleviate right heart failure symptoms and/or syncope. Other potential benefits
      for end-organ function and overall survival remain to be determined.

PMID- 25813767
TI  - Adverse pulmonary vascular remodeling in the Fontan circulation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Fontan circulation is a palliation for patients with a
      functionally univentricular heart. It is characterized by gradual attrition over
      time. An increase in pulmonary vascular resistance could be a key factor in the
      long-term failure of the Fontan circulation. In this study we aimed to identify
      pulmonary vascular remodeling in patients with a Fontan circulation. METHODS:
      Pulmonary vascular histomorphometric analysis and immunohistochemistry were
      performed in lung tissue obtained at autopsy from 12 Fontan patients. These
      patients had died either peri-operatively (Group A: death during or <15 days
      after Fontan completion; n = 5) or in mid to long-term follow-up (Group B: death
      >5 years after Fontan completion; n = 7). Two age-matched control groups (n = 10
      and n = 14, respectively) were included. RESULTS: Intra-acinar pulmonary vessels
      in the Fontan Group B patients showed decreased medial thickness (p = 0.028)
      compared with age-matched controls, whereas intimal thickness was increased (p =
      0.002). Intimal thickness in the Fontan Group B patients correlated with age at
      death (r = 0.964, p < 0.001) and with the length of time that the Fontan
      circulation had been in place (r = 0.714, p = 0.036). Immunohistochemistry
      revealed a reduction of vascular smooth muscles cells in the medial layer of the
      intra-acinar pulmonary vessels. The eccentric intimal thickening was composed of
      mainly acellular fibrosis with collagen deposition. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a
      unique pattern of adverse pulmonary vascular remodeling in patients with a long
      standing Fontan circulation who had died during follow-up. This remodeling
      pattern may play a major role in long-term attrition of the Fontan circulation.

PMID- 25813768
TI  - Right atrial volume and reservoir function are novel independent predictors of
      clinical worsening in patients with pulmonary hypertension.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Symptoms and signs and indices of right heart function are predictors
      of clinical outcomes in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). However, the
      significance of right atrial (RA) indices has not been sufficiently investigated.
      We investigated whether RA parameters predict outcomes in patients with pre
      capillary PH. METHODS: Study subjects were 68 patients with pre-capillary PH. RA
      size and function (systolic, reservoir, and conduit functions) were evaluated by
      cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: During the mean follow-up period of
      24 months, 16 of 68 patients experienced clinical worsening (CW), defined as
      hospitalization because of right heart failure, lung transplantation, or PH
      related death. Kaplan-Meier and log-rank test showed that World Health
      Organization functional class, pericardial effusion, increased brain natriuretic
      peptide concentration, reduced right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF),
      increased minimum RA volume index, and decreased RA reservoir volume were
      associated with CW-free survival. The combination of RVEF and RA reservoir
      function was a better predictor of CW-free survival. In univariate Cox hazard
      proportional analysis, CW was associated with the RA reservoir volume index
      (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.80). In multivariate analysis, CW was associated with
      World Health Organization functional class (HR = 4.3), RA minimum volume index
      (HR = 1.07), and RA reservoir volume index (HR = 0.73). CONCLUSIONS: RA volume
      and reservoir function and their combined use with RVEF are novel predictors of
      CW in patients with pre-capillary PH.

PMID- 25813769
TI  - Pulmonary hypertension is associated with increased post-lung transplant
      mortality risk in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension associated with lung disease (PHLD) has been
      shown to be a predictor of disease severity and survival in patients awaiting
      lung transplantation. Little is known about the relationship of PHLD and survival
      after lung transplantation or how this may vary by disease. This study evaluated
      the effect of PHLD on 1-year survival after lung transplantation for patients
      with the 3 most common indications for transplantation: chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease (COPD), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and cystic
      fibrosis (CF). METHODS: Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data were
      obtained for all lung transplant recipients who received an allograft between May
      2005 and June 2010. The relationship between PHLD and 1-year survival after lung
      transplantation for each diagnostic group was examined with Kaplan-Meier
      estimates and Cox regression. Covariates included in the model were those defined
      in the current Lung Allocation Score system post-transplant survival model,
      including age, serum creatinine, percentage predicted forced vital capacity,
      functional status, and mechanical ventilation use at time of transplant. The
      estimated relative risk was calculated using Poisson regression with robust error
      variance and adjustment for covariates. RESULTS: Sample sizes for COPD, IPF, and
      CF patients were 2,025, 2,304, and 866, respectively. The 1-year post-transplant
      survival for COPD patients with PHLD was 76.9% vs 86.2% for COPD patients without
      PHLD (p = 0.001). In multivariate Cox regression analysis COPD patients with PHLD
      had a 1.74 (95% confidence interval, 1.3-2.3) times higher risk of 1-year post
      transplant mortality (p = 0.001). Similar analyses for IPF and CF diagnostic
      groups showed no significant difference in survival between patients with and
      without PHLD. CONCLUSIONS: COPD patients with PHLD have increased post-transplant
      1-year mortality. No significant difference was seen in patients with IPF or CF.
      Further studies to evaluate the potential mechanisms for this difference between
      diagnoses are needed.

PMID- 25813770
TI  - Limitations of right heart catheterization in the diagnosis and risk
      stratification of patients with pulmonary hypertension related to left heart
      disease: insights from a wireless pulmonary artery pressure monitoring system.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although right heart catheterization (RHC) remains the gold standard
      for assessment of hemodynamics in patients with known or suspected pulmonary
      hypertension (PH), there are significant limitations to this type of assessment.
      The current study evaluates the limitations of RHC in the diagnosis of left heart
      related PH (World Health Organization group II) among patients enrolled in the
      CHAMPION trial and discusses insights into patient risk from home implantable
      hemodynamic monitor (IHM) data that were not identified at the time of the RHC
      procedure. METHODS: The CHAMPION trial enrolled 550 New York Heart Association
      functional class III patients who had been hospitalized for heart failure (HF) in
      the previous year, regardless of left ventricular ejection fraction or etiology.
      Hemodynamic data obtained during baseline RHC were compared with IHM data
      obtained during the first week of home readings. HF hospitalization rates and
      mortality were analyzed to assess patient risk. RESULTS: The study population for
      this retrospective analysis comprised 537 patients with available IHM data. For
      320 patients in the PHRHC group, home IHM data confirmed the RHC findings with
      similar mean pulmonary artery pressures obtained from both methods (36 mm Hg vs
      36 mm Hg, p = 0.5066). However, of the 217 patients in the No PHRHC group, 106
      patients (48.8%) exhibited PH based on the home IHM data (PHIHM group). The
      remaining 111 patients (51.2%) in the No PHRHC group had no evidence of PH on the
      IHM data (No PHIHM group). Patients in the No PHRHC/PHIHM group had significantly
      higher mean PA pressures on IHM than patients in the No PHRHC/No PHIHM group (31
      mm Hg vs 18 mm Hg, p < 0.0001). Patients in the No PHRHC/No PHIHM group had
      significantly lower HF hospitalization rates than patients in the No PHRHC/PHIHM
      group (0.25 vs 0.49, incidence rate ratio = 0.51, 95% confidence interval = 0.33
      0.77, p = 0.0007). CONCLUSIONS: Using only RHC, World Health Organization group
      II PH may be significantly under-diagnosed. In patients with left-sided HF and
      resting mean PA pressure <=25 mm Hg during RHC, more frequent PA pressure
      monitoring using an IHM device can provide additional data for improved diagnosis
      and patient risk stratification compared with a single RHC alone.

PMID- 25813771
TI  - The impact of flooding on people living with HIV: a case study from the Ohangwena
      Region, Namibia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Floods are a disaster situation for all affected populations and
      especially for vulnerable groups within communities such as children, orphans,
      women, and people with chronic diseases such as HIV and AIDS. They need
      functioning health care, sanitation and hygiene, safe water, and healthy food
      supply, and are critically dependent on their social care and support networks. A
      study carried out in the Ohangwena region, Namibia, where HIV prevalence is high
      and extensive flooding frequently occurs, aims to provide a deeper understanding
      of the impact that flooding has on people living with HIV (PLWHIV) as well as on
      HIV service providers in the region. DESIGN: The qualitative research applying
      grounded theory included semi-structured interviews with PLWHIV, focus group
      discussions with HIV service providers, and a national feedback meeting. The
      findings were interpreted using the sustainable livelihoods framework, the
      natural hazard research approach, and health behaviour theories. RESULTS: The
      study reveals that flooding poses major problems to PLWHIV in terms of their
      everyday lives, affecting livelihoods, work, income, and living conditions. The
      factors threatening them under normal conditions - poverty, malnutrition, unsafe
      water, sanitation and hygiene, limited access to health facilities, a weak health
      status, and stigma - are intensified by flood-related breakdown of
      infrastructure, insecurity, malnutrition, and diseases evolving over the course
      of a flood. A potential dual risk exists for their health: the increased risk
      both of infection and disease due to the inaccessibility of health services and
      antiretroviral treatment. A HIV and Flooding Framework was developed to display
      the results. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that vulnerabilities and health
      risks of PLWHIV will increase in a disaster situation like flooding if access to
      HIV prevention, treatment, care and support are not addressed and ensured. The
      findings and the HIV and Flooding Framework are not specific to Ohangwena and can
      be transferred to any flood-affected region that has a high HIV prevalence and
      relies mainly on subsistence agriculture. They serve as a model case for
      analysing vulnerabilities related to health and health service provision under
      disaster conditions. The impact will vary according to the physical,
      geographical, climatological, social, and behavioural characteristics of the
      region and the people affected. In the Ohangwena region, a disaster risk
      management mechanism is already in place which addresses people with HIV during
      flooding. However, preparedness could be improved further by applying the HIV and
      Flooding Framework.

PMID- 25813772
TI  - ASEAN integration and health services.

PMID- 25813773
TI  - Effects of Insulin Glargine and Liraglutide Therapy on Liver Fat as Measured by
      Magnetic Resonance in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study determined the effects of insulin versus liraglutide
      therapy on liver fat in patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled
      with oral agents therapy, including metformin. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS:
      Thirty-five patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on metformin
      monotherapy or in combination with other oral antidiabetic medications were
      randomized to receive insulin glargine or liraglutide therapy for 12 weeks. The
      liver proton density fat fraction (PDFF) was measured by MRS. The mean liver
      PDFF, the total liver volume, and the total liver fat index were measured by MRI.
      The Student t test, the Fisher exact test, and repeated-measures ANOVA were used
      for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Insulin treatment was associated with a
      significant improvement in glycated hemoglobin (7.9% to 7.2% [62.5 to 55.2
      mmol/mol], P = 0.005), a trend toward a decrease in MRS-PDFF (12.6% to 9.9%, P =
      0.06), and a significant decrease in liver mean MRI-PDFF (13.8% to 10.6%, P =
      0.005), liver volume (2,010.6 to 1,858.7 mL, P = 0.01), and the total liver fat
      index (304.4 vs. 209.3 % ? mL, P = 0.01). Liraglutide treatment was also
      associated with a significant improvement in glycated hemoglobin (7.6% to 6.7%
      [59.8 to 50.2 mmol/mol], P < 0.001) but did not change MRS-PDFF (P = 0.80), liver
      mean MRI-PDFF (P = 0.15), liver volume (P = 0.30), or the total liver fat index
      (P = 0.39). CONCLUSIONS: The administration of insulin glargine therapy reduced
      the liver fat burden in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, the improvements
      in the liver fat fraction and glycemia control were not significantly different
      from those in the liraglutide group.

PMID- 25813774
TI  - Suppression of dedifferentiation and hypertrophy in canine chondrocytes through
      lentiviral vector expression of Sox9 and induced pluripotency stem cell factors.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Prolonged in vitro culture of primary articular chondrocytes results
      in dedifferentiation to a fibroblast-like cell with reduced expression of the
      Sox9 transcription factor and the extracellular matrix protein collagen II. The
      ability to genetically-modify chondrocytes to allow both proliferation and
      maintenance of an articular phenotype may provide increased numbers of
      appropriate cells for regeneration of large cartilage defects. RESULTS: Canine
      chondrocytes were expanded in monolayer culture and transduced with a lentiviral
      vector expressing Sox9 or in combination with a multicistronic lentiviral vector
      expressing the four induced pluripotency stem (iPS) cell factors, Oct4, Klf4,
      Sox2 and c-Myc (OSKM). 3D pellet cultures of transduced cells in the presence of
      TGFbeta-3 revealed increased pellet size and higher levels of total
      glycosaminoglycan in both Sox9 and Sox9+ OSKM co-transduced chondrocytes compared
      to untransduced and green fluorescent protein expressing controls.
      Immunohistochemical detection of Sox9 and collagen II was evident in transduced
      cells (Sox9, OSKM, or Sox9+ OSKM) with very low levels in untransduced
      chondrocytes, demonstrating a dedifferentiated state (P < 0.01). The marker for
      chondrocyte hypertrophy, collagen X was highly expressed in Sox9 transduced
      chondrocytes but lower in OSKM or Sox9+ OSKM cells (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: A
      combination of Sox9 and OSKM gene delivery to canine chondrocytes allows
      continuous proliferation in monolayer culture with a higher expression of col2a1
      without an increase in the hypertrophy marker collagen X in 3D pellet cultures.

PMID- 25813775
TI  - Hex1-related transcriptome of Trichoderma atroviride reveals expression patterns
      of ABC transporters associated with tolerance to dichlorvos.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The tolerance to organophosphate pesticide, dichlorvos, is essential
      for the application of Trichoderma in bioremediation and integrated pest
      management, although the molecular events associated with the tolerance process
      have not yet been elucidated. RESULTS: RNA-seq analysis of wild-type Trichoderma
      atroviride T23 and the hex1-deleted mutant under dichlorvos stress was designed
      to search for genes involved in the tolerance process. A total of 5382
      differentially expressed genes were identified, highlighting the complex
      transcriptional changes of T. atroviride in response to dichlorvos stress. 137
      genes were regulated by dichlorvos and hex1, encoding major facilitator
      superfamilies, cytochrome P450, glutathione-S-transferase, flavoprotein, Hsp70,
      Hsp90, etc. Pathway and expression analysis indicated that ABC transporters were
      affected by the disruption of hex1 gene and might play a vital role in the
      tolerance process. Expression patterns of seven selected ABC transporter genes
      were confirmed by qRT-PCR after exposure to dichlorvos for 2, 6 and 24 h.
      CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides insights into the genetic basis of
      dichlorvos tolerance in Trichoderma that may be exploited for further development
      of bioremediation or biocontrol agents.

PMID- 25813776
TI  - Association between risk perception, subjective knowledge, and depression in
      community-dwelling elderly people in Japan.
AB  - Risk perception is one of the core factors in theories of health behavior
      promotion. However, the association between knowledge, risk perception, and
      depressed mood in depression is unknown. The aim of this study was to clarify the
      relationships between subjective knowledge, risk perception, and objective scores
      of depression in community-dwelling elderly people in Japan. A total of 747
      elderly participants (mean age: 76.1, female: 59.8%) who completed the 15-item
      Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) along with items assessing subjective
      knowledge and risk perception were included in the analysis. We assessed the
      correlation between subjective knowledge and risk perception, and then compare
      GDS-15 scores by level of subjective knowledge and risk perception. Subjective
      knowledge was weakly associated with risk perception and related to lower GDS-15
      scores in a dose-response pattern, which did not change after adjusting for age,
      gender, basic activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental ADL, years of
      education and history of depression. There was no significant association between
      risk perception and GDS-15 scores. The relationship between knowledge, risk
      perception, and depressed mood in younger generations is unclear, but warrants
      examination. 

PMID- 25813777
TI  - Technique Tip: The Use of McGlamry Elevator to Assist Suture Passing in the
      Dorsal Technique of Plantar Plate Repair With Weil Osteotomy for Lesser
      Metatarsophalangeal Joint Instability.
AB  - The combination of a dorsal approach to the plantar plate with a Weil's
      metatarsal osteotomy has been shown to provide an adequate exposure for plantar
      plate repair. However, soft tissues in a restricted area of the
      metatarsophalangeal joint could present as a technical difficulty during suture
      retrieval during repair of the plantar plate. The purpose of this article is to
      describe the use of the McGlamry elevator for assistance in the retrieval of
      sutures through the proximal phalanx. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level V: Expert opinion.

PMID- 25813778
TI  - Topical Review: Use of Fetal Tissue in Foot and Ankle Surgery.
AB  - Fetal tissues are well known for their therapeutic potential. They contain
      numerous growth factors, cytokines, and matrix components that promote
      regeneration of tissues while downregulating inflammation and scar formation. As
      a result, use of these treatments has expanded over the previous 20 years
      throughout various surgical specialties, including orthopaedics. With improved
      methods of sterilization, processing, and storage, surgeons need to be informed
      about the potential benefits of fetal tissue in foot and ankle surgery. The aim
      of this review is to provide a brief historical background, basic anatomy and
      physiology, and a current review of the literature in regard to chronic wounds,
      diabetic foot ulcerations, plantar fasciitis, tendon repair, adhesion prevention,
      nerve repair, and bone healing. LEVELS OF EVIDENCE: Level V: Expert Opinion.

PMID- 25813779
TI  - 2013 Subtalar Arthroereisis Survey: The Current Practice Patterns of Members of
      the AOFAS.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Subtalar arthroereisis (SA) has been a procedure used for the
      correction of painful flexible flatfoot deformity in adults and children.
      Clinical studies of patients who had a SA are sparse and with mixed results and
      variable indications. The purpose of this study was to determine the current
      practice among orthopaedic foot and ankle specialists regarding SA. METHODS: Web
      based questionnaires were e-mailed to members of the American Orthopaedic Foot
      and Ankle Society (AOFAS). Requested information included demographics and
      practice patterns in regard to performing SA surgery. A total of 572 respondents
      completed the survey (32% response rate). RESULTS: A total of 273 respondents
      (48%) have performed SA. Of this group, 187 respondents (69%) still perform this
      procedure (33% of total respondents currently perform SA). Of the respondents,
      401 (70%) practice in the United States, 40% have performed SA, and 60% of those
      still perform this procedure. Of non-US respondents, 66% have performed SA, and
      80% of those still perform it. The most common US indications are painful
      congenital flatfoot, posterior tibial tendon dysfunction, and flatfoot associated
      with accessory navicular. CONCLUSION: Many doctors have performed SA, and a
      significant number no longer perform this procedure for various reasons. A
      greater percentage of non-US practitioners have performed and continue to perform
      SA than their counterparts in the United States. There is a common list of
      surgical indications. Most doctors who still perform this procedure have removed
      the implants, commonly for pain. SA is still being performed in the United States
      and throughout the world.

PMID- 25813780
TI  - Magnocellular-dorsal pathway function is associated with orthographic but not
      phonological skill: fMRI evidence from skilled Chinese readers.
AB  - Numerous studies have shown that magnocellular-dorsal (MD) pathway function is
      highly associated with reading ability, which is mostly indexed by phonological
      skill in alphabetic languages. However, it is less clear how MD pathway function
      influences phonological skill. As a logographic language, Chinese does not follow
      grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules, and thus provides a tool for delineating
      the effects of orthographic and phonological processing on reading. The current
      study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure MD pathway
      function in a coherent motion detection task for readers skilled in Chinese. A
      series of tests was used to assess participants' reading abilities, including
      orthographic and phonological processing skills. Results showed that several
      cortical regions of the MD pathway, including bilateral middle temporal visual
      motion areas (MT+) and the right posterior parietal cortex (PPC), were activated
      during the coherent motion detection task. Moreover, the activation was
      positively correlated with rapid naming speed, and greater activation in the left
      MT+ was associated with superior fluency and reduced accuracy in reading,
      suggesting that this pathway is also involved in modulating the speed of visual
      processing during reading. The most important finding was that activation of the
      right PPC was associated with orthographic awareness, but MD pathway activation
      was not related to phonological awareness. The results suggest that the MD
      pathway is highly associated with orthographic processing, which in turn
      influences more general aspects of reading skill. 

PMID- 25813785
TI  - Education section--Evidence Aid, present and future.

PMID- 25813787
TI  - MTCH2 is differentially expressed in rat testis and mainly related to apoptosis
      of spermatocytes.
AB  - MTCH2 has been described in liver as a protein involved in the intrinsic
      apoptotic pathway, although new evidence also associates this protein with
      cellular metabolism. In this work, the expression of MTCH2 in testis (an organ in
      which high levels of apoptosis normally take place as part of the spermatogenic
      process) is analyzed in rat, both at the mRNA and at the protein levels. Our
      results showed that MTCH2 was highly expressed in testis compared with other
      tissues and was differentially expressed according to developmental stage and
      testicular cell type. Protein expression was initially detected during the first
      spermatogenic wave at the time of meiosis onset and its levels increased in
      adulthood, with the highest expression levels being detected in meiotic prophase
      I. Specific differences in MTCH2 expression levels at the various stages of the
      adult seminiferous epithelium were also observed. Co-staining with TUNEL revealed
      a differential MTCH2 staining pattern in TUNEL-positive cells, mainly in dying
      primary spermatocytes, i.e., meiotic prophase I cells. Furthermore, upon mild
      hyperthermia (treatment shown to increase apoptosis in testis), MTCH2 levels rose
      concomitantly with a massive appearance of TUNEL-positive cells within the
      seminiferous tubules; these cells exhibited a differential MTCH2 distribution.
      Thus, MTCH2 is related to testicular apoptosis, especially during meiotic
      prophase. 

PMID- 25813788
TI  - Expression of odorant receptor Olfr78 in enteroendocrine cells of the colon.
AB  - The precise regulation of digestive and other physiological processes in the
      gastrointestinal tract in accordance with the food ingested requires continuous
      monitoring of the luminal content by chemosensory cells. With regard to the
      detection of chemical compounds in the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract, G
      protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are interesting signaling proteins, since some
      of them are well known to bind to macronutrients, including sugars, amino acids
      and lipids. We report that Olfr78, a member of the odorant receptor (OR) class of
      GPCRs, is expressed in the murine gut. Our results support the concept that
      Olfr78 is activated by propionate, an important nutrient generated in the colon
      by microbiota. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemical approaches show that
      Olfr78 is expressed in the colon but is absent from other gastrointestinal
      compartments, such as the stomach and small intestine. In the colon, Olfr78 is
      expressed by a subset of epithelial cells lining the crypts; these cells are
      endowed with an apical process protruding towards the crypt lumen. The Olfr78
      positive cells in the colon co-express the hormonal peptide YY (PYY), a marker
      for given enteroendocrine cells. The expression of the propionate receptor Olfr78
      in epithelial enteroendocrine cells of the colon suggests that Olfr78 is involved
      in the regulation of hormone secretion from such cells, as evoked by nutritional
      compounds. 

PMID- 25813789
TI  - The effect of psychosocial factors on outcomes of cochlear implantation.
AB  - CONCLUSION: Psychosocial factors should be considered during cochlear
      implantation (CI). There were differences in psychosocial characteristics
      according to the etiology of deafness. The outcomes may be affected by
      psychosocial variables such as the severity of mental distress and social
      problems as well as duration of deafness. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the psychosocial
      characteristics of deaf people undergoing CI and to determine which psychosocial
      factors affect performance after CI. METHODS: A total of 289 subjects who
      underwent CI were enrolled. The participants were classified into prelingually
      deaf (pre-LD) and postlingually deaf groups (post-LD), including progressive and
      sudden deafness subgroups. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
      was administered before CI to measure psychosocial and emotional problems. To
      measure CI outcomes, speech perception ability was assessed by the open-set
      Korean version of the Central Institute of Deafness (K-CID) test and categories
      of auditory performance (CAP) scores before and after CI. RESULTS: Approximately
      45% of subjects experienced psychological problems before undergoing CI. Subjects
      in the Pre-LD group had more psychosocial distress and were more likely to be
      oversensitive in interpersonal situations, while those in the post-LD group were
      more depressed. Deafness duration and psychosocial factors significantly
      predicted hearing ability after CI. Deafness duration directly and indirectly
      affected the outcome of CI. That is, duration of deafness caused psychosocial
      problems, which may have resulted in negative effects on outcomes of CI.

PMID- 25813791
TI  - Inhaled nitric oxide in acute pulmonary embolism: a systematic review.
AB  - Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is usually a complication secondary to migration of
      a deep venous clot or thrombi to lungs, but other significant etiologies include
      air, amniotic fluid, fat, and bone marrow. Regardless of the underlying etiology,
      little progress has been made in finding an effective pharmacologic intervention
      for this serious complication. Among the wide spectrum of PE, massive PE is
      associated with considerable morbidity and mortality, primarily due to severely
      elevated pulmonary vascular resistance leading to right ventricular failure,
      hypoxemia, and cardiogenic shock. We currently have limited therapeutic options
      at our disposal. Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) has been proposed as a potential
      therapeutic agent in cases of acute PE in which hemodynamic compromise secondary
      to increased pulmonary vascular resistance is present, based on iNO's selective
      dilation of the pulmonary vasculature and antiplatelet activity. A systematic
      search of studies using the PubMed database was undertaken in order to assess the
      available literature. Although there are currently no published randomized
      controlled trials on the subject, except a recently publish phase I trial
      involving eight patients, several case reports and case series describe and
      document the use of iNO in acute PE. The majority of published reports have
      documented improvements in oxygenation and hemodynamic variables, often within
      minutes of administration of iNO. These reports, when taken together, raise the
      possibility that iNO may be a potential therapeutic agent in acute PE. However,
      based on the current literature, it is not possible to conclude definitively
      whether iNO is safe and effective. These case reports underscore the need for
      randomized controlled trials to establish the safety and efficacy of iNO in the
      treatment of massive acute PE. The purpose of this article is to review the
      current literature in the use of iNO in the setting of PE given how acute PE
      causes acute onset of pulmonary hypertension. 

PMID- 25813792
TI  - The Mystery of High-density Lipoprotein: Quantity or Quality? Update on
      Therapeutic Strategies.
AB  - This review summarizes the data challenging the concept that cardiovascular
      protection through high-density lipoprotein (HDL) is only associated with its
      serum concentration. This conventional impression about its protective role now
      appears obsolete. New aspects of its mechanisms are revealed and novel
      therapeutic strategies are based on them. However, data from long-term cost
      effectiveness studies of treating HDL are still needed. There is a need for
      biomarkers that represent the functional characteristics of HDL in order to
      better quantify the total cardiovascular risk. 

PMID- 25813790
TI  - Multivariate neural biomarkers of emotional states are categorically distinct.
AB  - Understanding how emotions are represented neurally is a central aim of affective
      neuroscience. Despite decades of neuroimaging efforts addressing this question,
      it remains unclear whether emotions are represented as distinct entities, as
      predicted by categorical theories, or are constructed from a smaller set of
      underlying factors, as predicted by dimensional accounts. Here, we capitalize on
      multivariate statistical approaches and computational modeling to directly
      evaluate these theoretical perspectives. We elicited discrete emotional states
      using music and films during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning.
      Distinct patterns of neural activation predicted the emotion category of stimuli
      and tracked subjective experience. Bayesian model comparison revealed that
      combining dimensional and categorical models of emotion best characterized the
      information content of activation patterns. Surprisingly, categorical and
      dimensional aspects of emotion experience captured unique and opposing sources of
      neural information. These results indicate that diverse emotional states are
      poorly differentiated by simple models of valence and arousal, and that activity
      within separable neural systems can be mapped to unique emotion categories. 

PMID- 25813793
TI  - Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: an insight into its prevalence,
      predictors, and implications of early detection.
AB  - Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) is common, and at least
      half of patients presenting with signs and symptoms of heart failure are found to
      have preserved left ventricular systolic function. They have high mortality and
      morbidity and exert a substantial impact on health care costs worldwide. A range
      of conditions has been shown to predispose individuals to development of
      diastolic dysfunction and HFPEF. Chronic hypertension is the most common cause;
      it has been suggested that up to 60% of patients with HFPEF are hypertensive.
      Coronary artery disease, obesity, and diabetes are some of the other common
      contributory factors. Early detection of asymptomatic patients identified as at
      risk of developing this syndrome has the potential to reduce the risk of
      subsequent heart failure; this may be of benefit to focus our attention on
      prevention and intervention strategies in this population. 

PMID- 25813794
TI  - Laboratory-induced Mental Stress, Cardiovascular Response, and Psychological
      Characteristics.
AB  - Vulnerable populations, such as firefighters and patients with coronary artery
      disease, are susceptible to mental stress-induced cardiac events, including
      death. Mental stress tests are widely applied to investigate the mechanisms
      linking psychological stress to cardiovascular consequences and to predict the
      risk of death in those susceptible populations. However, some aspects of mental
      stress tests have not been thoroughly understood, which impairs their reliability
      and validity as a research and clinical tool. This review identifies types of
      mental stress tests applied in recent research and the exact cardiovascular
      responses induced by each mental stress test, along with the consideration of the
      influence of psychological characteristics on cardiovascular reactivity. 

PMID- 25813795
TI  - Current advances in endovascular therapy for infrapopliteal artery disease.
AB  - Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a systemic disease with significant
      morbidity and mortality. A substantial number of patients with PAD have
      infrapopliteal disease; however, diagnosis based solely on symptoms and ankle
      brachial index can lead to delayed or missed opportunities to provide improved
      quality of life and limb salvage, and potentially reduce mortality. Advances in
      techniques and devices, and modification of classification systems have shown
      that an endovascular approach should be the primary therapeutic option for
      critical limb ischemia resulting from infrapopliteal disease. 

PMID- 25813796
TI  - Newer modalities for imaging nonischemic cardiomyopathy.
AB  - Cardiomyopathies are practically classified as either ischemic or nonischemic
      based on the presence or absence of coronary artery disease. Although
      conventional twodimensional echocardiography can assess left ventricular ejection
      fraction, wall motion, and diastolic function, it does not fully capture
      myocardial mechanics or tissue characterization, and does not accurately identify
      patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathy (NICMP) at risk for sudden cardiac
      death. This article discusses advanced imaging modalities for assessment of
      NICMP, namely, three-dimensional echocardiography, strain imaging, cardiac
      magnetic resonance, cardiac computed tomography, and sympathetic innervation
      imaging. 

PMID- 25813797
TI  - A Novel Inhibitor of Protease-activated Receptor 1: A Review of Chemical
      Structure and Mode of Action.
AB  - Limitations of current antiplatelet therapies have led to the discovery of new
      antiplatelet agents with new modes of action. Vorapaxar has been developed as a
      thrombin receptor antagonist. This drug works against the protease-activated
      receptor 1 (PAR1) and inhibits platelet aggregation mediated by PAR1. This
      article reviews this new class of antiplatelet therapy in detail with an acute
      focus on the TRACER (Thrombin Receptor Antagonist for Clinical Event Reduction in
      Acute Coronary Syndrome) and TRA 2 degrees P-TIMI 50 (Trial to Assess the Effects
      of Vorapaxar in Preventing Heart Attack and Stroke in Patients With
      Atherosclerosis-Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction 50) trials. Vorapaxar has
      proven to be beneficial when administered to stable atherosclerotic patients.
      However, it has been shown to increase risk of intracranial hemorrhage in
      patients with known, previous history of cerebrovascular incidence. Despite these
      limitations, TRA 2 degrees P-TIMI 50 results showed that vorapaxar appears to
      have a definitive therapeutic benefit when administered alongside aspirin or when
      it is used as an addition to dual antiplatelet therapy for patients with stable
      atherosclerosis. 

PMID- 25813798
TI  - Best of the 2014 TCT Annual Meeting.

PMID- 25813799
TI  - The clot thickens: unusual presentation of a left atrial thrombus.
AB  - Left atrial thrombi are a significant cause of cardioembolic morbidity and
      mortality. Transesophageal echocardiography is the preferred method for complete
      visualization of atrial thrombi, and has a sensitivity and specificity of up to
      100% and 99%, respectively. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging has been shown to
      be useful in identifying tissue characteristics that may aid in differentiating
      between atrial myxoma and thrombi. This is an unusual case of a large, free
      floating atrial thrombus with a cystic appearance that was surgically removed.
      The echocardiographic appearance of the cystic atrial mass led to the
      consideration of another potential etiology for a cardiac mass, namely, atrial
      myxoma. Histopathologic analyses of the mass led to the final diagnosis of an
      atrial thrombus. 

PMID- 25813800
TI  - An example of the deleterious effects of right ventricular apical pacing.
AB  - Pacemaker implantation remains the mainstay of treatment in patients with
      symptomatic sinus node disease or severe heart block. Despite the dramatic
      benefits of this therapy, a high burden of ventricular pacing is known to have
      its disadvantages. Reported is the case of an 85-year-old woman with a history of
      sick sinus syndrome who presented with congestive heart failure after her
      atrioventricular sequential pacemaker defaulted to ventricular pacing mode as a
      result of battery depletion. After replacement of her generator and reinstitution
      of atrial pacing, dramatic improvements in her symptoms and echocardiographic
      findings were observed. Although it is difficult to predict which patients will
      ultimately develop cardiac decompensation as a result of ventricular pacing,
      closer follow-up and early recognition of these complications is essential to
      prevent adverse outcomes. 

PMID- 25813801
TI  - Pulmonary valve papillary fibroelastoma: a rare tumor and rare location.
AB  - Although rare, papillary fibroelastomas (PFEs) are considered the third most
      common cause of primary cardiac neoplasm. They are usually asymptomatic and are
      found during routine echocardiography. PFEs of the pulmonary valve are extremely
      rare. They are usually benign; however, because of their potential to embolize to
      the pulmonary circulation, it is often recommended that they be removed. This
      article reviews a case of an asymptomatic PFE of the pulmonary valve,
      incidentally found in a patient who presented with three-vessel coronary artery
      disease. 

PMID- 25813802
TI  - Correction to "The Potential Role of Anti-PCSK9 Monoclonal Antibodies in the
      Management of Hypercholesterolemia".

PMID- 25813803
TI  - Differential regulation of apoptosis in slow and fast twitch muscles of aged
      female F344BN rats.
AB  - Age-related muscle atrophy is characterized by decreases in muscle mass and is
      thought be mediated, at least in part, by increases in myocyte apoptosis. Recent
      data has demonstrated that the degree of muscle loss with aging may differ
      between males and females while other work has suggested that apoptosis as
      indicated by DNA fragmentation may be regulated differently in fast- and slow
      twitch muscles. Herein, we investigate how aging affects the regulation of muscle
      apoptosis in the fast-twitch extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and slow-twitch
      soleus muscles of young (6-month), aged (26-month), and very aged (30-month)
      female Fischer 344/NNiaHSD * Brown Norway/BiNia (F344BN) rats. Tissue sections
      were stained with hydroethidium for ROS and protein extract was subjected to
      immunoblotting for assessing apoptotic markers. Our data suggest that decreases
      in muscle mass were associated with increased DNA fragmentation (TUNEL positive)
      and increases in reactive oxygen species (ROS) as determined by hydroethidium
      staining in both the EDL and soleus. Similar to our previous work using aged male
      animals, we observed that the time course and magnitude of changes in Bax, Bcl-2,
      caspase-3, caspase-9, and cleavage of alpha-fodrin protein were regulated
      differently between muscles. These data suggest that aging in the female F344BN
      rat is associated with decreases in muscle mass, elevations in ROS level,
      increased muscle cell DNA fragmentation, and alterations in cell membrane
      integrity and that apoptotic mechanisms may differ between fiber types.

PMID- 25813804
TI  - Ontogeny and aging of the distal skin temperature rhythm in humans.
AB  - In circadian terms, human ontogeny is characterized by the emergence of a daily
      pattern, from a previous ultradian pattern, for most variables during the first 6
      months of life. Circadian aging in humans is characterized by a phase advance,
      accompanied by rhythm fragmentation and flattening. Despite an expanding body of
      literature focused on distal skin temperature, little information is available
      about the ontogeny and practically nothing about age-related changes in this
      rhythm. Thus, the aim was to evaluate the degree of maturation and aging of the
      circadian pattern of distal skin temperature to identify those parameters that
      are modified throughout life and could be used to differentiate subjects
      according to their age. For this, distal skin temperature was measured in 197
      volunteers (55 % women), including babies aged 15 days (30 subjects), 1 month (28
      subjects), 3 months (31 subjects), and 6 months (10 subjects); young adults aged
      19 years (37 subjects); middle-aged persons aged 46 years (27 subjects); older
      people aged 72 (34 subjects). Circadian system maturation was associated with an
      increase in amplitude and a reduction in skin temperature during sleep. During
      adulthood, women showed a more robust pattern (lower fragmentation, and higher
      night-time temperature, amplitude, circadian function index, and first harmonic
      relative power); however, these differences were lost with aging, a period of
      life that was consistently associated with a phase advance of the rhythm. In
      summary, distal skin temperature pattern can be used as a robust variable to
      discern between different ages throughout the life.

PMID- 25813805
TI  - Alveolar bone dynamics in osteoporotic rats treated with raloxifene or
      alendronate: confocal microscopy analysis.
AB  - In this study, the characteristics of the alveolar bone of rats with induced
      osteoporosis were examined. Thirty-two rats were divided into four groups
      according to the induction of osteoporosis and drugs administered: OG,
      osteoporotic rats without treatment (negative control); SG, rats which underwent
      sham surgery ovariectomy (SHAM); alendronate (AG), osteoporotic rats treated with
      alendronate; and RG, osteoporotic rats treated with raloxifene (RG). On the 8th
      day after ovariectomy and SHAM surgeries, drug therapy was started with AG or RG.
      On the 52nd day, 20 mg/kg calcein was administered to all of the rats, and on the
      80th day, 20 mg/kg alizarin red was administered. Euthanasia was performed on the
      98th day. The bone area marked by fluorochromes was calculated and data were
      subjected to two-way ANOVA test and Tukey's post-hoc test (p < 0.05). The
      comparison of the induced osteoporosis groups showed no statistically significant
      differences in bone turnover only between RG and SG (p = 0.074) and AG and OG (p
      = 0.138). All other comparisons showed significant differences (p < 0.001). The
      largest bone turnover was observed in RG and SG groups. RG was the medication
      that improved the dynamics of the alveolar bone of rats with induced
      osteoporosis, resembling that of healthy rats.

PMID- 25813806
TI  - Duplicate publication: copy, salami, and imalas.

PMID- 25813807
TI  - Certificate or license.

PMID- 25813808
TI  - A Review on Usage and Effectiveness of e-Learning in Medical Education.
AB  - E-learning is recently considered as a critical strategy to improve the
      effectiveness and efficiency of education. Although the use of e-learning has
      been growing rapidly in medical education, there are not sufficient data applying
      e-learning and evidence of the effectiveness. The purpose of the study is to
      review the recent literatures on applying e-learning in medical education
      settings and to identify usage types and educational effectiveness appeared in
      the research. The results demonstrated the types applying e-learning in medical
      education were categorized into the blended learning, online education, and
      virtual learning environment. The educational effectiveness of e-learning were
      the improvements of knowledge, clinical skill, attitude, and satisfaction. The
      study suggested the recommendations based on the results in order to apply e
      learning effectively to medical education. 

PMID- 25813809
TI  - Investigation of the requirements of 'good teaching' to improve teaching
      professionalism in medical education.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to survey the awareness of faculty (F) and
      students (S) on 'good teaching' and to analyze an example of good lesson, finally
      to identify the requirements of 'good teaching' in medical education. METHODS:
      Quantitative and qualitative methods were applied simultaneously. First, survey
      using a questionnaire was analyzed by frequency analysis and verified using chi
      square-test, Mann-Whitney test. Second, the case of good teaching and qualitative
      data were analyzed by 'priori codes coding' and 'open coding'. RESULTS: The
      results of survey are as follows: Both faculty and students regarded lessons that
      taught important content easy to understand (F: 50%; S: 69.1%); Lessons that
      allow students make sure important information (F: 48.6%; S: 51.4%); Lessons that
      prepare and plan considering the student's level and interest (F: m=3.78; S:
      m=3.76) were good lessons. Faculty wanted lessons that improve student's academic
      achievement (35.7%), while students choose lessons that deliver curriculum
      effectively using appropriate teaching method (47.1%). According to the results
      of case analysis, it turned out that characteristics of good teaching were as
      follows: Thorough plan and preparation of content, various teaching methods and
      materials, encouragement of intellectual inquiry and curiosity, active
      interaction between faculty and students, clear feedback and reasonable
      evaluation. CONCLUSION: Requirements of good teaching are open to faculty at
      school of medicine and are to be utilized as guidelines to monitor and improve
      their instruction.

PMID- 25813810
TI  - Analysis of Medical School Alumni's Perception on the Importance and Educational
      Needs of Outcomes.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study examined how important graduates consider the 15 items of
      educational outcomes (importance) and how much they feel that they have achieved
      at graduation (accomplishment), determined whether outcomes varied according to
      profession, and assessed what graduates' educational needs are. METHODS: A
      questionnaire was given to 85 graduates of Ajou University School of Medicine.
      The data were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test using SPSS 12.0. The Borich formula
      was used to examine graduates' educational needs. RESULTS: Educational outcomes,
      such as medical knowledge and clinical skills at the basic medical levels,
      communication skills, and social accountabilities, were considered important in
      every profession. The Kruskal-Wallis test results demonstrated that the 15 items
      of educational outcomes were not significantly different between careers
      (p>0.05), but the average scores were. Doctors in private practice placed an
      emphasis on keeping a healthy body and mind and continuing lifelong learning;
      doctors in general hospitals emphasized understanding the health care industry's
      policies; and professors at university hospitals focused on proper medical ethics
      the house staff emphasized teamwork with colleagues. CONCLUSION: These test
      results can be used as basic materials for reflecting on educational objectives,
      student performance, and revision of the curricula. Further studies on how to
      measure educational outcomes are necessary.

PMID- 25813811
TI  - Correlation of communication skills for emotional empathy and academic
      achievement on clinical performance examinations.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the correlation between
      communication skills for emotional empathy and academic achievement on the
      Clinical Performance Examination (CPX). METHODS: One hundred twelve medical
      school students were observed to determine the extent to which they applied
      communication skills for emotional empathy (preparation stage: interview
      attitude, respect; rapport stage: encouragement, active listening, will for
      support; empathy stage: verbal expression empathy, nonverbal expression empathy,
      acceptance) to the CPX, as well as their level of understanding of these skills
      to calculate the Pearson r, which can be used to determine the correlation
      between communication skills and academic achievement (hematochezia, fatigue,
      abnormal menstruation, chest pain, alcohol problems). RESULTS: Male students had
      higher scores than females for all communicational skills except verbal
      expression empathy. Fourth-year students had statistically more significant
      correlations than third-year students with regard to the rapport stage 'active
      listening' and empathy stage 'nonverbal expression' and abnormal menstruation and
      chest pain. Correlations were also more significant for hematochezia in the
      preparation stage 'interview attitude,' rapport stage 'encouragement,' and
      empathy stages 'verbal and nonverbal expression' and 'acceptance.' The empathy
      stage 'nonverbal expressions' was more significant for fourth-year students with
      alcohol problems. Third-year students largely had negative correlations between
      emotional empathy communication skills and CPX academic achievement, especially
      between the preparation stage 'respect' and abnormal menstruation, and between
      the rapport stage 'encouragement' and hematochezia. CONCLUSION: There was a
      significant correlation between hematochezia, wherein MS students deliver bad
      news to patients, and communication skills for emotional empathy.

PMID- 25813812
TI  - Analysis of Verbal Interactions in Problem-based Learning.
AB  - PURPOSE: Problem-based learning (PBL) is a constructive learning environment that
      solves ill-structured problems through collaborative learning. The purpose of
      this study was to analyze the interaction of students and a tutor in a small
      group PBL discussion. This study examined how the types of interactions are
      composed over the meeting. METHODS: Fourteen third-year subjects from Chonnam
      National University Medical School, Korea formed two tutorial groups. Two
      tutorial sessions were videotaped and analyzed. All videotapes were transcribed
      to analyze the interaction type. The criteria of interaction analysis were
      learning-oriented interaction (exploratory questioning, cumulative reasoning,
      handling conflicts about the knowledge), procedural interactions, and irrelevant
      task interactions. RESULTS: Nearly all discourses between tutors and students
      were learning-oriented interactions. The results showed that students spent more
      time on cumulative reasoning. In contrast, tutors implemented more exploratory
      questioning. Little time was spent on handling conflicts about knowledge and
      procedural and irrelevant/off-task interactions. CONCLUSION: To improve critical
      thinking and problem-solving competence in PBL, we should consider various
      efforts to encourage discussion about conflicting knowledge. A PBL tutor training
      program should be provided to facilitate PBL group discussions.

PMID- 25813813
TI  - The Relationship between the Level of I-conscousness We-consciousness and
      Interpersonal Problems of Korean Medical Students.
AB  - PURPOSE: In Korea, students should have the consciousness of 'I' and 'we' to
      adapt well in society. Medical students in Korea must develop interpersonal and
      intrapersonal characteristics that are in accordance with Korean culture. This
      study intends to determine the relationship between the level of I
      consciousness/we-consciousness and interpersonal problems in medical students.
      METHODS: The I-consciousness/we-consciousness Inventory and the Inventory of
      Interpersonal Problems were used for 212 first year medical students and 191
      second year medical students at Yonsei University College of Medicine in 2008.
      RESULTS: The levels of I-consciousness/we-consciousness and interpersonal
      problems in medical students were higher than those of other general college
      students. There was a significant inverse correlation between the level of I
      consciousness/we-consciousness and interpersonal problems for 118 of 130 factors.
      The higher the level of I-consciousness/we-consciousness in medical students is,
      the fewer interpersonal problems there are. CONCLUSION: Educational programs that
      take into account the consciousness of 'I' and 'we' are useful for the
      development of medical students' personalities.

PMID- 25813814
TI  - The importance of nonverbal communication skills.

PMID- 25813815
TI  - Handbook of individual differences, learning, and instruction.

PMID- 25813816
TI  - Pocket guide to teaching for medical instructors.

PMID- 25813817
TI  - Molecular detection of genes related to biofilm formation in multidrug-resistant
      Acinetobacter baumannii isolated from clinical settings.
AB  - Acinetobacter baumannii is a Gram-negative bacteria associated with hospital
      acquired infections. Definitely, antimicrobial resistance and biofilm formation
      capabilities of clinical isolates have threading potential to persistence in the
      hospital environment and colonization on medical equipment. Twenty-seven
      multidrug-resistant clinical isolates were selected from a collection of A.
      baumannii samples isolated from clinical settings. PCR assays showed the
      frequencies of genes related to biofilm formation: ompA (100%), bap (30%) and
      blaPER-1 (44%). Polyclonal antibodies against recombinant AbOmpA8-346 and Bap1
      487 proteins were obtained by the mouse immunization method. Western blotting
      revealed all isolates expressed AbOmpA and only eight isolates were positive for
      Bap factor. Two strains that had their bap gene disrupted with ISAba125 did not
      express Bap protein. Our findings showed that all double-negative bap/blaPER-1
      isolates were recovered from the bloodstream and had low biofilm formation
      capabilities, and mostly belonged to type D wrinkled colony morphology. However,
      clinical isolates extracted from the throats of patients were blaPER-1-positive
      and had a great capacity to form biofilm, and also mostly belonged to type C
      wrinkled colony morphology.

PMID- 25813818
TI  - Burden of varicella in Italy, 2001-2010: analysis of data from multiple sources
      and assessment of universal vaccination impact in three pilot regions.
AB  - Varicella represents the most widespread vaccine-preventable childhood infectious
      disease in Italy. The purpose of this retrospective study was to assess the
      burden of varicella in Italy and in three regions that first implemented
      universal varicella vaccination. Four data sources were analysed: statutory
      notification data, the National Hospital Discharge Database, mortality data, and
      the vaccination coverage reached in Sicilia, Veneto and Apulia. The incidence
      rates per 100,000 population were calculated using the Italian resident
      population provided by the Italian Institute of Statistics in 2001-2010. In 2001
      2010, the mean annual incidence of notifications of varicella was 150.7 cases per
      100,000 population, reaching 948.6 cases per 100,000 population in the paediatric
      age group. The annual incidence declined to 102.6 per 100,000 population in 2010.
      During the period considered, 20,295 hospitalizations for varicella were
      observed. The mean annual incidence was 3.4 per 100,000 population, reaching a
      minimum of 2.5 per 100,000 in 2009 and 2010. Of the hospitalizations, 68.4%
      occurred in the paediatric age group. The median length of hospital stay was 4
      days. During 2001-2003 and 2006-2010, 33 deaths were reported. In the three
      regions considered, vaccination coverage increased steadily, reaching 81.5% in
      Sicily, 79.4% in Veneto and 75.6% in Apulia in 2010. During the same period,
      hospitalization and notification rates decreased significantly. This study
      demonstrated that varicella continues to represent a relevant health problem in
      Italy, especially in the paediatric age group. Data obtained from the three
      Italian regions that first introduced universal vaccination demonstrated that
      vaccination reduces the incidence of varicella and hospitalization rates.

PMID- 25813819
TI  - Mechanism of resistance and antibacterial susceptibility in extended-spectrum
      beta-lactamase phenotype Klebsiella pneumoniae and Klebsiella oxytoca isolated
      between 2000 and 2010 in Japan.
AB  - Clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Klebsiella oxytoca collected from
      20 Japanese medical facilities between 2000 and 2010 were analysed to evaluate
      the mechanisms of resistance and antibacterial susceptibilities to 14
      antimicrobials. Overall, eight of 484 (1.6%) K. pneumoniae and 19 of 359 (5.3%)
      K. oxytoca were determined to be extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)
      phenotype isolates, and the identified ESBLs amongst the K. pneumoniae isolates
      were CTX-M-2, -3, -14 and -15, and SHV-12. In contrast, overproduction of
      chromosomal beta-lactamase OXY-2, which was due to a distinct mutation at the -
      10 promoter region of this gene, conferred the ESBL phenotype to all the K.
      oxytoca isolates except one. Based on the Clinical and Laboratory Standards
      Institute breakpoints, all the ESBL phenotype K. pneumoniae were susceptible to
      doripenem, flomoxef, moxalactam (latamoxef), cefmetazole and
      tazobactam/piperacillin, whereas the ESBL phenotype K. oxytoca were susceptible
      to ceftazidime and ceftibuten in addition to the above, with the exception of
      tazobactam/piperacillin. Amongst the oral antimicrobials, ceftibuten was
      relatively effective against both ESBL phenotype Klebsiella species compared with
      levofloxacin and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid.

PMID- 25813820
TI  - Prevalence and virulence characteristics of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli in
      a case-control study among patients from Iran.
AB  - Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) is an important agent of diarrhoeal
      diseases worldwide. The role of EAEC virulence factors in the clinical outcome of
      infection is not completely defined. This case-control study investigated the
      prevalence of EAEC, its virulence genes and the antimicrobial resistance profile
      of adult patients with and without diarrhoea attending three different hospitals
      in Zanjan, Iran. A total of 550 individual stool specimens (350 from diarrhoeal
      patients and 200 from patients without diarrhoea) were collected. One hundred and
      forty-one EAEC isolates were identified by a HEp-2 cell assay and PCR. EAEC
      isolates were detected with slightly higher frequency in patients with (27.7%)
      than in patients without (22%) diarrhoea (P >= 0.05). The EAEC genes aggR, aap
      and pet were identified more frequently in case patients compared with controls
      (P <= 0.05). Many of the EAEC isolates from the diarrhoeal patients had two or
      more virulence genes compared with those without diarrhoea (P <= 0.05). EAEC
      isolates exhibited high-level resistance to amoxicillin (82.3%), co-amoxiclav
      (78%), aztreonam (73.8%), tetracycline (66.6%) and ceftazidime (63.8%). In
      addition, 53.2% of isolates were resistant to at least three different classes of
      antimicrobial agents and were considered to be multidrug resistant. These results
      indicate a high prevalence and heterogeneity of gene profiles of EAEC in
      diarrhoeal and control patients, and suggest that the presence of aggR, aap and
      pet, the number of genes present and the antimicrobial resistance profile may be
      markers for more-virulent EAEC isolates.

PMID- 25813821
TI  - Effects of erythromycin on the phenotypic and genotypic biofilm expression in two
      clinical Staphylococcus capitis subspecies and a functional analysis of Ica
      proteins in S. capitis.
AB  - The ica operon encoding polysaccharide intercellular adhesion, which facilitates
      biofilm formation in staphylococci, has been extensively studied in
      Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus. Based on in silico
      analysis, we suggest the following functional model for Ica proteins in S.
      capitis. IcaA is responsible for polysaccharide synthesis. IcaA and IcaD complete
      transferring the growing sugar chain to the cell surface; IcaB is a deacetylase,
      with the same function as IcaB of S. epidermidis. IcaC mainly modifies the
      synthesized glucan by acetylation. We also examined the effects of subinhibitory
      concentrations of erythromycin on phenotypic biofilm expression and transcription
      of biofilm-related genes, using isolates representing the two subspecies of
      Staphylococcus capitis and different biofilm and resistance phenotypes. On
      induction with erythromycin, biofilm density was strongly elevated in two
      erythromycin-resistant S. capitis, but not in three susceptible isolates. In the
      representative erythromycin-resistant S. capitis subsp. urealyticus, there were
      significant upregulations of the icaA gene and its positive regulator sarA on
      transition to the stationary phase without erythromycin induction. There were
      also significant increases in the transcription levels of icaA, rsbU and sigB
      corresponding to a very strong biofilm phenotype in the stationary phase on
      erythromycin stress. In contrast, the representative erythromycin-susceptible S.
      capitis subsp. capitis displayed upregulation only of altE on entry into the
      stationary phase with erythromycin induction, but this change was not associated
      with enhancement of biofilm production. These findings suggest that the two
      subspecies of S. capitis adopt different pathogenesis and survival strategies to
      adapt to a hostile environment. 

PMID- 25813822
TI  - Loss of Leucine Zipper Putative Tumor Suppressor 1 (LZTS1) Expression Contributes
      to Lymph Node Metastasis of Breast Invasive Micropapillary Carcinoma.
AB  - Breast invasive micropapillary carcinoma (IMPC) is a rare subtype of breast
      cancer with a high potential of lymph node metastasis, aggressive clinical
      behavior, and poor disease-free or overall survival. Expression of leucine zipper
      putative tumor suppressor 1 (LZTS1) was frequently lost or reduced in breast
      cancer tissues. This study investigated the expression of LZTS1 protein in breast
      IMPC tissues using immunohistochemistry. In addition, somatic LZTS1 mutations and
      promoter methylation were assessed to determine an association with
      clinicopathological data from IMPC patients. LZTS1 protein was downregulated in
      62 (62 %) of 100 IMPC tissue samples and was significantly associated with lymph
      node metastasis (P < 0.05). A LZTS1 exon mutation occurred in one of the 53 IMPC
      cases analyzed, whereas a LZTS1 intron mutation occurred in 26 of 53 cases.
      Moreover, LZTS1 promoter was frequently methylated in IMPC samples and was
      associated with reduced LZTS1 expression levels in IMPC tissues. These data
      demonstrated that the loss of LZTS1 expression was associated with lymph node
      metastasis in patients with IMPC, and LZTS1 promoter methylation could be
      responsible for the loss of LZTS1 expression.

PMID- 25813823
TI  - Hypertrophy of the Left Liver in Patients with Large Tumors in the Right Liver.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It has been speculated that, when right-sided major hepatectomy
      (RSMH) is planned for patients with large tumors in the right liver, it may not
      lead to a marked decrease in normally functional hepatic mass. METHODS: We
      collected data for patients who had undergone RSMH for tumors more than 8 cm in
      diameter (n=50) and compared them with control patients who had undergone RSMH
      for tumors less than 5 cm in diameter (n=21). RESULTS: The ratio of the remnant
      left liver volume to the nontumorous liver volume (left liver ratio) in the
      patients with large tumors was significantly greater than that in the control
      group (50.0+/-12.8% vs. 40.2+/-8.3%, p=0.002). Left liver ratio was significantly
      correlated with tumor volume (p<0.001). Preoperative portal vein embolization was
      performed in only four of the 50 patients with large tumors. None of the patients
      with large tumors developed postoperative liver failure. CONCLUSIONS: Left liver
      volume in patients with large tumors in the right liver was larger than usual,
      perhaps reducing the risk of postoperative liver insufficiency after RSMH.

PMID- 25813824
TI  - Laparoscopic Simultaneous Resection of Colorectal Primary Tumor and Liver
      Metastases: Results of a Multicenter International Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With the advance of modern laparoscopic technology, laparoscopic
      colorectal surgery and laparoscopic liver surgery are both worldwide accepted.
      Preliminary brief series have shown the feasibility of combined laparoscopic
      resection of colorectal cancer (CRC) and synchronous colorectal liver metastases
      (SCRLM). We aim to report a large International multicenter series of
      laparoscopic simultaneous resection of CRC and SCRLM. METHODS: Between 1997 and
      2013, 142 laparoscopic liver resections were performed with simultaneous
      colorectal surgery for SCRLM. The surgical and postoperative variables evaluated
      were the duration of the intervention, blood loss, transfusion rate, conversion
      rate, resection margin, specific and overall morbidity, perioperative mortality,
      length of hospital stay, and survival. Univariate and multivariate analyses were
      performed examining postoperative morbidity in the all cohort of patients.
      RESULTS: The median number of liver lesions was 1 (1-9) and the median larger
      diameter at diagnosis was 28 (2-100) mm. The median operative time was 360 (120
      690) min. Seven patients (4.9%) required conversion. The global morbidity was
      31.0% and the mortality was 2.1%. After a median follow-up of 29 (1-108) months,
      40 patients (28.2%) developed tumor recurrence. Curative treatment of recurrence
      was possible in 17 patients (12.0%), including a second liver resection in 13
      patients (9.1%), which was performed by laparoscopy in 7 patients (4.9%). Overall
      1-, 3-, and 5-year survivals were 98.8, 82.1, and 71.9%, respectively. By
      multivariate analysis, ASA score>=3 [OR 13.6 (1.8-99.6); P=0.01] and operative
      time [OR 1.008 (1.001-1.016); P=0.03] were independent predictors of
      postoperative morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: Our combined data show that in experienced
      centers, simultaneous laparoscopic approach is technically feasible, safe, and
      associated with good oncological outcomes.

PMID- 25813826
TI  - Analysis of calretinin early expression in the rat hippocampus after beta amyloid
      (1-42) peptide injection.
AB  - It has already been reported that cannabinoids are neuroprotective agents against
      excitotoxicity in vitro and increase after acute brain damage in vivo. This
      background prompted us to study the localization and expression of the calcium 
      binding protein calretinin in a condition similar to Alzheimer disease and its
      possible relationship with cannabinoids and their supposed protective role. We
      carried out quantitative analysis of the transient changes in calretinin
      expression shown by hybridochemistry within neuronal cell populations in the
      hippocampus of a beta amyloid-treated rat model of Alzheimer's disease and their
      correlation with endocannabinoid increase. Calretinin expression increases
      throughout the first week after cortical amyloid-beta peptide injection, and then
      decreases towards normal levels in the rat hippocampus during the following
      weeks, indicating that decreased calretinin gene expression may be associated
      with either increase of endocannabinoids or VDM11-induced accumulation of
      endocannabinoids. In contrast, SR1, an antagonist, which limits the cannabinoid
      effect by selective binding to the cannabinoid receptor CB1, up-regulates
      calretinin expression with respect to non-treated rats. This could mean that the
      SR1 endocannabinoid-blocking action through CB1 receptors, that are normally
      stimulated by endocannabinoids to inhibit calcium increase, might cause a higher
      calretinin expression. This would allow us to speculate on a possible reverse
      relationship between endocannabinoid and calretinin levels in the hippocampal
      calcium-homeostasis balance.

PMID- 25813825
TI  - Celastrol supports survival of retinal ganglion cells injured by optic nerve
      crush.
AB  - The present study evaluates the effect of celastrol on the survival of retinal
      ganglion cells (RGCs) injured by optic nerve crush (ONC). Celastrol, a quinine
      methide triterpene extracted from the perennial vine Tripterygium wilfordii
      (Celastraceae), has been identified as a potential neuroprotective candidate in a
      comprehensive drug screen against various neurodegenerative diseases. Two weeks
      after ONC, the average density of remaining RGCs in retinas of animals treated
      with daily intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of celastrol (1mg/kg) was
      approximately 1332 cells/mm(2), or 40.8% of the Celastrol/Control group. In
      retinas of the Vehicle/ONC group about 381 RGCs/mm(2) were counted, which is 9.6%
      of the total number of RGCs in the DMSO/Control group. This corresponds to
      approximately a 250% increase in RGC survival mediated by celastrol treatment
      compared to Vehicle/ONC group. Furthermore, the average RGC number in retinas of
      ONC animals treated with a single intravitreal injection of 1mg/kg or 5mg/kg of
      celastrol was increased by approximately 80% (760 RGCs/mm(2)) and 78% (753
      RGCs/mm(2)), respectively, compared to Vehicle/ONC controls (422 cells/mm(2)).
      Injection of 0.2mg/kg of celastrol had no significant effect on cell survival,
      with the average number of RGCs being 514 cells/mm(2) in celastrol-treated
      animals versus 422 cells/mm(2) in controls. The expression levels of Hsp70, Hsf1,
      Hsf2, HO-1 and TNF-alpha in the retina were analyzed to evaluate the roles of
      these proteins in the celastrol-mediated protection of injured RGCs. No
      statistically significant change in HO-1, Hsf1 and Hsp70 levels was seen in
      animals with ONC. An approximately 2 fold increase in Hsf2 level was observed in
      celastrol-treated animals with or without injury. Hsf2 level was also increased
      1.8 fold in DMSO-treated animals with ONC injury compared to DMSO-treated animals
      with no injury suggesting that Hsf2 induction has an injury-induced component.
      Expression of TNF-alpha in retinas of celastrol-treated uninjured and ONC animals
      was reduced by approximately 2 and 1.5 fold compared to vehicle treated animals,
      respectively. The observed results suggest that mechanisms underlying celastrol's
      RGC protective effect are associated with inhibition of TNF-alpha-mediated cell
      death.

PMID- 25813827
TI  - The influence of emotional salience on the integration of person names into
      context.
AB  - Previous event-related potentials (ERP) studies on the processing of emotional
      information in sentence/discourse context have yielded inconsistent findings. An
      important reason for the discrepancies is the different lexico-semantic
      properties of the emotional words. The present study controlled for the lexico
      semantic meaning of emotional information by endowing the same person names with
      either positive or negative valence. ERPs were computed for positively and
      negatively valenced person names that were either congruent or incongruent to
      previous emotional contexts. We found that positive names elicited an N400 effect
      while negative names elicited a P600 effect in response to the incongruence.
      These results suggest that the integration of positive and negative information
      into emotional context exhibits different time courses, with a relatively delayed
      integration for negative information. Our study demonstrates that using person
      names constitutes a new and improved tool for investigating the integration of
      emotional information into context. 

PMID- 25813830
TI  - Journal of dairy Science(r) 2014 editorial report.

PMID- 25813829
TI  - Rates of TB across Europe are not falling quickly enough, officials warn.

PMID- 25813828
TI  - Interaction of astrocytes and T cells in physiological and pathological
      conditions.
AB  - The central nervous system (CNS) has long been recognized as a site of 'immune
      privilege' because of the existence of the blood brain barrier (BBB) which
      presumably isolates CNS from the peripheral immunosurveillance. Different from
      the peripheral organs, CNS is unique in response to all forms of CNS injury and
      disease which is mainly mediated by resident microglia and astrocyte. There is
      increasing evidence that immune cells are not only involved in neuroinflammation
      process but also the maintenance of CNS homeostasis. T cells, an important immune
      cell population, are involved in the pathogenesis of some neurological diseases
      by inducing either innate or adaptive immune responses. Astrocytes, which are the
      most abundant cell type in the CNS, maintain the integrity of BBB and actively
      participate in the initiation and progression of neurological diseases.
      Surprisingly, how astrocytes and T cells interact and the consequences of their
      interaction are not clear. In this review we briefly summarized T cells diversity
      and astrocyte function. Then, we examined the evidence for the astrocytes and T
      cells interaction under physiological and pathological conditions including
      ischemic stroke, multiple sclerosis, viral infection, and Alzheimer's disease.
      This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Cell Interactions In Stroke.

PMID- 25813831
TI  - Arthur Ferguson MacCallan: trachoma pioneer in Egypt 1903-1923.

PMID- 25813832
TI  - Evaluation of the distribution pattern of the circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre
      layer from the nasal hemiretina.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Chiasmal compression affects the crossed nerve fibres
      originating from the nasal hemiretina, as opposed to the uncrossed fibres from
      the temporal hemiretina. The objectives were to evaluate circumpapillary retinal
      nerve fibre layer (cpRNFL) thickness by spectral-domain optical coherence
      tomography in eyes with band atrophy (BA) accompanying temporal hemianopia due to
      chiasmal damage and to estimate the distribution pattern of cpRNFL from the nasal
      hemiretina. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 53 eyes with optic
      neuropathy due to chiasmal lesions and 72 normal eyes. Visual field sensitivity
      (VFS) was evaluated by standard automated perimetry. Eyes with abnormalities in
      the nasal visual hemifield were excluded. The structure-function relationships
      (cpRNFL thickness and VFS in the temporal hemifield) were evaluated in eyes with
      BA. The base levels composed of only non-neuronal elements and cpRNFL from the
      temporal hemiretina were estimated in the average and 12 sector-cpRNFL
      thicknesses using regression analysis. RESULTS: The base level in the average
      cpRNFL thickness was 71.2 um in eyes with BA, which corresponded to 70% of
      average thickness of normal controls. However, the estimated base level of 12
      sector-cpRNFL thicknesses represented the unique distribution pattern, in which
      base level-thickness localised at the 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock sectors was
      extensively reduced, with an even distribution of base levels at other sectors.
      CONCLUSIONS: The RNFL originating from the nasal hemiretina is estimated to enter
      into the optic disc predominantly at the 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock angles.

PMID- 25813834
TI  - Hypothesis-driven research for hypothesis-driven application.

PMID- 25813833
TI  - Updates on artemisinin: an insight to mode of actions and strategies for enhanced
      global production.
AB  - Application of traditional Chinese drug, artemisinin, originally derived from
      Artemisia annua L., in malaria therapy has now been globally accepted.
      Artemisinin and its derivatives, with their established safety records, form the
      first line of malaria treatment via artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs). In
      addition to its antimalarial effects, artemisinin has recently been evaluated in
      terms of its antitumour, antibacterial, antiviral, antileishmanial,
      antischistosomiatic, herbicidal and other properties. However, low levels of
      artemisinin in plants have emerged various conventional, transgenic and
      nontransgenic approaches for enhanced production of the drug. According to WHO
      (2014), approximately 3.2 billion people are at risk of this disease. However,
      unfortunately, artemisinin availability is still facing its short supply. To
      fulfil artemisinin's global demand, no single method alone is reliable, and there
      is a need to collectively use conventional and advanced approaches for its higher
      production. Further, it is the unique structure of artemisinin that makes it a
      potential drug not only against malaria but to other diseases as well. Execution
      of its action through multiple mechanisms is probably the reason behind its wide
      spectrum of action. Unfortunately, due to clues for developing artemisinin
      resistance in malaria parasites, it has become desirable to explore all possible
      modes of action of artemisinin so that new generation antimalarial drugs can be
      developed in future. The present review provides a comprehensive updates on
      artemisinin modes of action and strategies for enhanced artemisinin production at
      global level.

PMID- 25813835
TI  - Effect of Dietary Selenomethionine Supplementation on Growth Performance, Tissue
      Se Concentration, and Blood Glutathione Peroxidase Activity in Kid Boer Goats.
AB  - We used 240 kid Boer goats that were divided into six groups. The control group
      was fed a basal diet containing 0.05 mg of selenium (Se)/kg dry matter (DM).
      Trial groups received the basal diet supplemented with 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, or 0.5
      mg Se/kg DM (using a commercial selenomethionine product). Trial groups showed an
      improvement in growth performance (P < 0.05) despite no change in average daily
      feed intakes (ADFIs) (P > 0.05) compared to the control group A, quadratic model
      showed a correlation between glutathione peroxidase activity level in whole blood
      and dietary Se concentration (R(2) = 0.883, P < 0.04). The best linear model
      showed that increasing concentrations of Se in the blood (R(2) = 0.968, P <
      0.001) and muscle (R(2) = 0.942, P < 0.001) corresponded to increasing Se
      concentrations in feed. Accumulation of Se in different tissues and organs
      corresponded to increasing Se concentrations in the diet as well as to the total
      time goats spent feeding on supplemented diet. Kidney and muscle tissues showed
      the highest and lowest accumulation of Se, respectively. Thus, Se in goat meat
      can be increased by adding between 0.1 and 0.5 mg/kg of selenomethionine to the
      diet of goats.

PMID- 25813836
TI  - The dynamic shear moduli of whale blubber.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Blubber is a thick adipose tissue located beneath the dermas. Its
      viscoelastic properties affect whale tracking tag design, hydrodynamics, and
      acoustical properties that can be used to study animal behavior and avoid ship
      strikes. OBJECTIVE: Measure the dynamic shear storage and loss moduli for whale
      blubber at distances below the dermas for several species. Also, measure the non
      collagen and collagen protein content to explore a correlation to viscoelastic
      properties. METHODS: Blubber samples were obtained from whale strandings
      (humpback, sperm, and two gray) in the Pacific Northwest. Shear moduli were
      measured at oscillation frequencies of 0.31 Hz to 25 Hz using a rotational
      rheometer. Protein content was measured using a staining protocol. RESULTS:
      Storage modulus and loss modulus variation with frequency was very consistent
      across all samples tested. Log-linear and extended polynomials respectively had R
      squared values of at least 0.96. Variation of both moduli with depth was fit
      reasonably well by fourth-order polynomials. Protein content trends varied with
      species. CONCLUSIONS: The samples used in this study were necrotic tissue,
      however the variation with frequency and to a lesser extent depth was very
      consistent and may have a broader applicability. Protein content was not found to
      correlate to moduli values.

PMID- 25813837
TI  - Sudden cardiac death. Foreword.

PMID- 25813838
TI  - Sudden cardiac death.
AB  - Sudden death accounts for 300,000-400,000 deaths annually in the United States.
      Most sudden deaths are cardiac, and most sudden cardiac deaths are related to
      arrhythmias secondary to structural heart disease or primary electrical
      abnormalities of the heart. The most common structural disease leading to sudden
      death is ischemic heart disease. Nonischemic cardiomyopathy and other structural
      abnormalities such as arrhythmogenic ventricular dysplasia and hypertrophic
      cardiomyopathy may also be causative. Patients without structural disease have a
      primary electrical abnormality, such as long-QT syndrome or Brugada syndrome.
      Severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction is the main marker for sudden death
      in patients with ischemic or nonischemic cardiomyopathy. In other conditions,
      other markers for structural heart disease and electrical abnormalities need to
      be considered. It is seen that beta-blocker therapy is associated with a
      reduction in sudden cardiac death across a broad range of disorders.
      Nevertheless, the implantable cardioverter defibrillator remains the most
      effective treatment strategy in selected patients. 

PMID- 25813839
TI  - Physicians' knowledge, perceptions and behaviour towards antibiotic prescribing:
      a systematic review of the literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Knowledge, perceptions and prescribing behaviour are key to
      antibiotic prescribing. The aim of this paper is to systematically review this.
      METHOD: An extensive literature search from 1990 to 2014. RESULTS: Nineteen
      articles were included; eight in ambulatory care, seven in hospital settings and
      four in both, across all countries. Physicians still have inadequate knowledge
      and misconceptions about antibiotic prescribing. Moreover, some physicians,
      although aware that antibiotics are of limited benefit in some conditions, still
      prescribed them. Several factors influenced prescribing, including patients'
      expectations, severity and duration of infections, uncertainty over diagnosis,
      potentially losing patients and influence of pharmaceutical companies. Pocket
      sized guidelines seen as an important source of information for physicians.
      CONCLUSION: Inadequate knowledge of prescribing is prevalent among physicians.
      However, many physicians were interested in improving their antibiotic
      prescribing. Multifaceted interventions targeting all key stakeholders, including
      patients, are needed to improve future antibiotic prescribing.

PMID- 25813840
TI  - Hyaluronic Acid-Based Nanogels Produced by Microfluidics-Facilitated Self
      Assembly Improves the Safety Profile of the Cationic Host Defense Peptide
      Novicidin.
AB  - PURPOSE: Cationic host defence peptides constitute a promising class of
      therapeutic drug leads with a wide range of therapeutic applications, including
      anticancer therapy, immunomodulation, and antimicrobial activity. Although potent
      and efficacious, systemic toxicity and low chemical stability have hampered their
      commercial development. To overcome these challenges a novel nanogel-based drug
      delivery system was designed. METHOD: The peptide novicidin was self-assembled
      with an octenyl succinic anhydride-modified analogue of hyaluronic acid, and this
      formulation was optimized using a microfluidics-based quality-by-design approach.
      RESULTS: By applying design-of-experiment it was demonstrated that the
      encapsulation efficiency of novicidin (15% to 71%) and the zeta potential (-24 to
      -57 mV) of the nanogels could be tailored by changing the preparation process
      parameters, with a maximum peptide loading of 36 +/- 4%. The nanogels exhibited
      good colloidal stability under different ionic strength conditions and allowed
      complete release of the peptide over 14 days. Furthermore, self-assembly of
      novicidin with hyaluronic acid into nanogels significantly improved the safety
      profile at least five-fold and six-fold when tested in HUVECs and NIH 3T3 cells,
      respectively, whilst showing no loss of antimicrobial activity against
      Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. CONCLUSION: Formulation in nanogels
      could be a viable approach to improve the safety profile of host defence
      peptides.

PMID- 25813841
TI  - Organochlorine pesticides and PCBs in Southern Right Whales (Eubalaena australis)
      breeding at Peninsula Valdes, Argentina.
AB  - Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were
      assessed in blubber from 35 dead Southern Right Whales (SRW - Eubalaena
      australis) stranded at Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. The life cycle includes a
      feeding period in high productivity areas of the South West Atlantic and a
      reproductive period in coastal template waters of Argentina. Organochlorine
      pesticides showed higher concentrations (22.6+/-13.8 ng.g(-1)ww) than PCBs (7.5+/
      10 ng.g(-1)ww). Among pesticides, HCHs, DDTs, endosulfans, dieldrin, chlordans,
      heptachlor epoxide, and trans-nonachlor were detected. p,p'-DDE and p,p'-DDT were
      present in 69% and 26% of samples, respectively. p,p'-DDT/p,p'-DDE ratio showed
      low values (<0.33) as a result of aged DDT inputs. However, the occurrence of
      only p,p'-DDT in some samples suggests a recent pesticide input. alpha-HCH/gamma
      HCH ratio (<DL-0.37) indicated no recent contribution of technical HCH mixture
      and/or current use of lindane. Dieldrin was present in 77% of the samples and
      endosulfan was detected in all samples with predominance of alpha- (75%) over
      beta-endosulfan (19%) and scarce contribution of endosulfan sulphate (7%),
      suggesting a recent input of this insecticide to the environment in the SRW
      foraging area. A predominance of pentachlorobiphenyls was observed. In 21 samples
      at least one PCB indicator was found and PCB #118, highly toxic, contributed in
      5% to total PCBs. Although all these organochlorine compounds are forbidden they
      were bioaccumulated in the blubber of SRW with a predominance of endosulfans, the
      more recently used pesticide. The absence of data on chemical pollutants in
      stranded dead whales is highlighted as a priority for research. This is the first
      study on levels, compositional patterns, and organochlorine sources in SRW.
      Moreover, more research including milk, and other tissues/organs is recommended
      considered that in the studied specimens, mostly calves, pollutants are likely
      transferred from the mother during pregnancy and nursing.

PMID- 25813842
TI  - The therapeutics of Alzheimer's disease: where we stand and where we are heading.
AB  - Few diagnoses in modern medicine evoke more apprehension in patients and their
      families than Alzheimer disease (AD). Defined as a clinical and pathological
      entity a century ago, the disorder only came under intense molecular scrutiny in
      the mid-1980s. Genetic, histopathological, biochemical, and animal modeling
      studies have combined to provide evidence that the disease may begin with an
      imbalance between the production and clearance of the self-aggregating amyloid
      beta protein (Abeta) in brain regions serving memory and cognition. This concept
      has been furthered by recent analyses in humans of cerebrospinal fluid and
      neuroimaging biomarkers that suggest an approximate sequence of AD-type brain
      alterations beginning >2 decades before the onset of dementia. Although the Abeta
      hypothesis of Alzheimer causation does not explain all features of this
      multifactorial syndrome, experimental agents that lower or neutralize Abeta have
      become the major focus of therapeutic research. Several clinical trials in mild
      to-moderate AD have not met standard cognitive and functional endpoints, but
      there were important shortcomings in the agent and/or the trial design in each
      case. Based on the lessons learned, the field has moved on to test potentially
      disease-modifying agents in mild AD patients or via secondary prevention in
      presymptomatic subjects bearing amyloid plaques. Immunotherapeutic agents are
      receiving the most study, but other antiamyloid strategies and, importantly,
      nonamyloid targets such as tau and neuroinflammation are of great interest. The
      pace of recent developments augurs well for 1 or more experimental agents being
      shown to slow cognitive decline without major side effects. However, research
      funding from all sources will need to increase dramatically and soon to stave off
      the approaching tsunami of AD.

PMID- 25813843
TI  - Comments on Singh et al.: Laser vaginal rejuvenation: not ready for prime time.

PMID- 25813844
TI  - Laser vaginal rejuvenation: not ready for prime time-response to comments by
      Maggiore et al.

PMID- 25813845
TI  - A comparison of chemical shift sensitivity of trifluoromethyl tags: optimizing
      resolution in 19F NMR studies of proteins.
AB  - The elucidation of distinct protein conformers or states by fluorine ((19)F) NMR
      requires fluorinated moieties whose chemical shifts are most sensitive to subtle
      changes in the local dielectric and magnetic shielding environment. In this study
      we evaluate the effective chemical shift dispersion of a number of thiol-reactive
      trifluoromethyl probes [i.e. 2-bromo-N-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)acetamide
      (BTFMA), N-(4-bromo-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)acetamide (3-BTFMA), 3-bromo-1,1,1
      trifluoropropan-2-ol (BTFP), 1-bromo-3,3,4,4,4-pentafluorobutan-2-one (BPFB), 3
      bromo-1,1,1-trifluoropropan-2-one (BTFA), and 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl-1-thiol
      (TFET)] under conditions of varying polarity. In considering the sensitivity of
      the (19)F NMR chemical shift to the local environment, a series of methanol/water
      mixtures were prepared, ranging from relatively non-polar (MeOH:H2O = 4) to polar
      (MeOH:H2O = 0.25). (19)F NMR spectra of the tripeptide, glutathione ((2S)-2-amino
      4-{[(1R)-1-[(carboxymethyl)carbamoyl]-2-sulfanylethyl]carbamoyl}butanoic acid),
      conjugated to each of the above trifluoromethyl probes, revealed that the BTFMA
      tag exhibited a significantly greater range of chemical shift as a function of
      solvent polarity than did either BTFA or TFET. DFT calculations using the B3LYP
      hybrid functional and the 6-31G(d,p) basis set, confirmed the observed trend in
      chemical shift dispersion with solvent polarity.

PMID- 25813847
TI  - Introduction. Hypoadrenocorticism.

PMID- 25813846
TI  - Human gephyrin is encompassed within giant functional noncoding yin-yang
      sequences.
AB  - Gephyrin is a highly conserved gene that is vital for the organization of
      proteins at inhibitory receptors, molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis and other
      diverse functions. Its specific function is intricately regulated and its
      aberrant activities have been observed for a number of human diseases. Here we
      report a remarkable yin-yang haplotype pattern encompassing gephyrin. Yin-yang
      haplotypes arise when a stretch of DNA evolves to present two disparate forms
      that bear differing states for nucleotide variations along their lengths. The
      gephyrin yin-yang pair consists of 284 divergent nucleotide states and both
      variants vary drastically from their mutual ancestral haplotype, suggesting rapid
      evolution. Several independent lines of evidence indicate strong positive
      selection on the region and suggest these high-frequency haplotypes represent two
      distinct functional mechanisms. This discovery holds potential to deepen our
      understanding of variable human-specific regulation of gephyrin while providing
      clues for rapid evolutionary events and allelic migrations buried within human
      history. 

PMID- 25813848
TI  - Canine hypoadrenocorticism: pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment.
AB  - Hypoadrenocorticism (Addison disease) is an uncommon condition in dogs and even
      more rare in cats. Hypoadrenocorticism is most often caused by immune-mediated
      destruction of the adrenal glands resulting in decreased mineralocorticoid and
      glucocorticoid production. Although less common, some dogs with
      hypoadrenocorticism have normal serum electrolytes. Hypoadrenocorticism causes a
      wide variety of clinical symptoms including gastrointestinal upset, weakness,
      weight loss, and hypovolemia. Laboratory and diagnostic findings vary, but
      classic abnormalities include hyperkalemia, hyponatremia, azotemia, anemia, and
      lack of a stress leukogram. However, many other diseases present with similar
      symptoms and diagnostic findings. Definitive diagnosis requires
      adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation testing to demonstrate low basal
      and post-ACTH cortisol levels. In some cases, ACTH level or basal- and ACTH
      stimulated aldosterone levels must also be measured. The prognosis for
      hypoadrenocorticism is good with appropriate mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid
      supplementation. 

PMID- 25813849
TI  - A review of the genetics of hypoadrenocorticism.
AB  - Hypoadrenocorticism is an uncommon disease in dogs and rare in humans, where it
      is known as Addison disease (ADD). The disease is characterized by a deficiency
      in corticosteroid production from the adrenal cortex, requiring lifelong hormone
      replacement therapy. When compared with humans, the pathogenesis of
      hypoadrenocorticism in dogs is not well established, although the evidence
      supports a similar autoimmune etiology of adrenocortical pathology. Several
      immune response genes have been implicated in determining susceptibility to
      Addison disease in humans, some of which are shared with other autoimmune
      syndromes. Indeed, other types of autoimmune disease are common (approximately
      50%) in patients affected with ADD. Several lines of evidence suggest a genetic
      component to the etiology of canine hypoadrenocorticism. Certain dog breeds are
      overrepresented in epidemiologic studies, reflecting a likely genetic influence,
      supported by data from pedigree analysis. Molecular genetic studies have
      identified similar genes and signaling pathways, involved in ADD in humans, to be
      also associated with susceptibility to canine hypoadrenocorticism. Immune
      response genes such as the dog leukocyte antigen (DLA) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte
      associated protein 4 (CTLA4) genes seem to be particularly important. It is clear
      that there are genetic factors involved in determining susceptibility to canine
      hypoadrenocorticism, although similar to the situation in humans, this is likely
      to represent a complex genetic disorder. 

PMID- 25813850
TI  - Swimming kinematic and flotation analysis of conscious and sedated dogs using 3
      canine flotation devices.
AB  - Canine flotation devices (CFDs) are very popular; however, their efficacy is
      still under debate. There is no oversight to standardize device testing,
      certification, or qualification for use. We set out to assess the biomechanical
      and behavioral effects of 3 CFDs on swim and flotation characteristics of dogs.
      High-speed video recordings were used to measure behavior, range of motion (ROM),
      maximum flexion angle, and cycles of motion per minute while swimming and roll,
      yaw, and fear or panic scoring while floating. Predictably, swimming with no CFD
      yielded the largest ROM and flexion angles. CFDINF was associated with the least
      ROM. During flotation, CFDAB and CFDRW caused significant rolling and fear,
      whereas CFDINF was the most stable. CFDAB was associated with cranial downpitch
      in 2 dogs. Interpretation of the kinematics for CFDAB and CFDRW suggests that
      decreased stability in the water leads to a greater forced ROM when the position
      of the dog was conducive to swimming. When positioning forced the dog into a
      downward pitch, ROM was decreased because of the increased effort for the dogs to
      keep their head above water. CFDINF was most stable overall owing to a decreased
      swim effort, with most dogs showing the lowest fear scores and absolute
      relaxation. CFDAB and CFDRW caused the dogs significant rolling, fear, and
      distress, with obvious fighting of sedation. We hope to disseminate these results
      to dog owners in the hopes of providing a valid assessment of these devices. 

PMID- 25813851
TI  - Phenobarbital-responsive sialadenosis in dogs: case series.
AB  - Phenobarbital-responsive sialadenosis (PRS) is a rare idiopathic disease in dogs.
      Vomiting, retching, and gulping with bilateral enlargement of the submandibular
      salivary glands are the more frequent clinical signs. A thorough diagnostic
      examination must be performed to rule out the most important systemic etiologies
      involved with chronic vomiting, as there is no specific test to diagnose PRS.
      Diagnosis is confirmed clinically by a rapid and dramatic improvement of clinical
      signs after instauration of phenobarbital treatment. The aim of this article is
      to describe the clinical presentation, diagnostic findings, and outcome of a case
      series of 4 dogs with presumptive PRS. 

PMID- 25813852
TI  - A case report of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy left-side gastropexy to
      resolve a recurrent gastric dilatation in a dog previously treated with right
      side gastropexy for gastric dilatation volvulus.
AB  - A 6-year-old, large-breed, female dog was evaluated for gastric dilatation (GD).
      The dog was affected by GD volvulus, which had been surgically treated with
      gastric derotation and right incisional gastropexy. Recurrence of GD appeared 36
      hours after surgery. The dilatation was immediately treated with an orogastric
      probe but still recurred 4 times. Therefore, a left-side gastropexy by
      percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) was performed to prevent intermittent
      GD. After PEG tube placement, the patient recovered rapidly without side effects.
      Several techniques of gastropexy have been described as a prophylactic method for
      gastric dilatation volvulus, but to the authors' knowledge, this is the first
      report of left-sided PEG gastropexy performed in a case of canine GD recurrence
      after an incisional right gastropexy.

PMID- 25813853
TI  - Carotid Baroreceptor Stimulation in Resistant Hypertension and Heart Failure.
AB  - A significant number of hypertensive subjects fail to achieve adequate blood
      pressure control despite adherence to maximal doses of several antihypertensive
      drugs. In the same way although medical and device therapies continue to improve
      the clinical course of heart failure patients, morbidity, mortality and
      healthcare costs remain high. Electrical stimulation of the carotid sinus is a
      new interesting approach for the treatment of resistant hypertension and heart
      failure. The purpose of this paper is to overview the argument starting from
      physiological background and evaluating the clinical results obtained with this
      approach in these pathophysiological conditions.

PMID- 25813854
TI  - [The year of the horse and cancer of the urinary bladder].

PMID- 25813855
TI  - Ischemic preconditioning increases GSK-3beta/beta-catenin levels and ameliorates
      liver ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.
AB  - Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) ameliorates ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in a
      number of organs, and the glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta)/beta-catenin
      signaling pathway regulates I/R-induced proliferation and apoptosis in the
      central nervous system and heart. However, the function of this signaling pathway
      in IPC during liver I/R remains unclear. Thus, in this study, we aimed to
      investigte the role of the GSK-3beta/beta-catenin pathway during I/R and
      following ischemic preconditioning. For this purpose, 30 Sprague-Dawley rats were
      randomly divided into the sham-operated, the I/R and the IPC groups (n=10).
      Following reperfusion, liver pathology, as well as alanine aminotransferase
      (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), maleic dialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide
      dismutase (SOD) levels were assessed. Western blot analysis was performed to
      quantify the GSK-3beta, Ser9-phospho-GSK-3beta (p-GSK-3beta), cytosolic and
      nuclear beta-catenin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Bcl-2 and
      survivin levels. In addition, the Bcl-2 and survivin mRNA levels were assessed by
      RT-qPCR. Compared with the sham-operated group, I/R increased serum ALT, AST and
      MDA activity and decreased SOD levels, while IPC significantly decreased serum
      ALT, AST and MDA activity and increased SOD levels, compared with the I/R group.
      Simultaneously, I/R increased p-GSK-3beta protein expression, and decreased Bcl-2
      and survivin protein and mRNA levels. IPC further increased the protein
      expression of p-GSK-3beta, and also increased cytosolic and nuclear beta-catenin
      and VEGF expression compared with the I/R group; the expression of Bcl-2 and
      survivin was also increased by IPC, both at the mRNA and protein level. The total
      GSK-3beta expression remained unaltered in all the groups. In conclusion, our
      data demonstrate that IPC exerts protective effects against liver injury induced
      by I/R and activates the GSK-3beta/beta-catenin signaling pathway.

PMID- 25813856
TI  - Conventional and advanced (DTI/SWI) neuroimaging findings in pediatric
      oligodendroglioma.
AB  - PURPOSE: Oligodendroglioma are rare pediatric brain tumors. The literature about
      neuroimaging findings is scant. A correct presurgical diagnosis is important to
      plan the therapeutic approach. Here, we evaluated the conventional and advanced
      neuroimaging features in our cohort of pediatric oligodendrogliomas and discuss
      our findings in the context of the current literature. METHODS: Clinical
      histories were reviewed for tumor grading, neurologic manifestation, treatment,
      and clinical status at the last follow-up. Neuroimaging studies were
      retrospectively evaluated for tumor morphology and characteristics on
      conventional and advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). RESULTS: Five
      children with oligodendroglioma were included in this study. Four children were
      diagnosed with a low-grade oligodendroglioma. The location of the tumors included
      the frontal and temporal lobe in two cases each and the fronto-parietal lobe in
      one. In all oligodendrogliomas, tumor margins appeared sharp. In the high-grade
      oligodendroglioma, a cystic and partially hemorrhagic component was seen. In all
      children, the tumor showed a T1-hypointense and T2-hyperintense signal. The
      signal intensity on fluid attenuation inversion recovery (FLAIR) images was
      hyperintense in four and mixed hypo-hyperintense in one child. The anaplastic
      oligodendroglioma showed postcontrast enhancement and decreased diffusion while
      the low-grade oligodendrogliomas showed increased diffusion. One low-grade
      oligodendroglioma showed calcifications on susceptibility weighted imaging.
      CONCLUSION: Conventional MRI findings of pediatric oligodendrogliomas are
      nonspecific. Advanced MRI sequences may differentiate (1) low-grade and high
      grade pediatric oligodendrogliomas and (2) pediatric oligodendrogliomas and other
      brain tumors.

PMID- 25813858
TI  - Elucidation of several neglected reactions in the GC-MS identification of sialic
      acids as heptafluorobutyrates calls for an urgent reassessment of previous
      claims.
AB  - The current analytical protocol used for the GC-MS determination of free or 1,7
      lactonized natural sialic acids (Sias), as heptafluorobutyrates, overlooks
      several transformations. Using authentic reference standards and by combining GC
      MS and NMR analyses, flaws in the analytical protocol were pinpointed and
      elucidated, thus establishing the scope and limitations of the method. It was
      demonstrated that (a) Sias 1,7-lactones, even if present in biological samples,
      decompose under the acidic hydrolysis conditions used for their release; (b) Sias
      1,7-lactones are unpredicted artifacts, accidentally generated from their parent
      acids; (c) the N-acetyl group is quantitatively exchanged with that of the
      derivatizing perfluorinated anhydride; (d) the partial or complete failure of the
      Sias esterification-step with diazomethane leads to the incorrect quantification
      and structure attribution of all free Sias. While these findings prompt an urgent
      correction and improvement of the current analytical protocol, they could be
      instrumental for a critical revision of many incorrect claims reported in the
      literature. 

PMID- 25813857
TI  - Taxonomic and functional annotation of gut bacterial communities of Eisenia
      foetida and Perionyx excavatus.
AB  - Epigeic earthworms can significantly hasten the decomposition of organic matter,
      which is known to be mediated by gut associated microflora. However, there is
      scanty information on the abundance and diversity of the gut bacterial flora in
      different earthworm genera fed with a similar diet, particularly Eisenia foetida
      and Perionyx excavatus. In this context, 16S rDNA based clonal survey of gut
      metagenomic DNA was assessed after growth of these two earthworms on
      lignocellulosic biomass. A set of 67 clonal sequences belonging to E. foetida and
      75 to P. excavatus were taxonomically annotated using MG-RAST and RDP pipeline
      servers. Highest number of sequences were annotated to Proteobacteria (38-44%),
      followed by unclassified bacteria (14-18%) and Firmicutes (9.3-11%). Comparative
      analyses revealed significantly higher abundance of Actinobacteria and Firmicutes
      in the gut of P. excavatus. The functional annotation for the 16S rDNA clonal
      libraries of both the metagenomes revealed a high abundance of xylan degraders
      (12.1-24.1%). However, chitin degraders (16.7%), ammonia oxidizers (24.1%) and
      nitrogen fixers (7.4%) were relatively higher in E. foetida, while in P.
      excavatus; sulphate reducers and sulphate oxidizers (12.1-29.6%) were more
      abundant. Lignin degradation was detected in 3.7% clones of E. foetida, while
      cellulose degraders represented 1.7%. The gut microbiomes showed relative
      abundance of dehalogenators (17.2-22.2%) and aromatic hydrocarbon degraders (1.7
      5.6%), illustrating their role in bioremediation. This study highlights the
      significance of differences in the inherent microbiome of these two earthworms in
      shaping the metagenome for effective degradation of different types of biomass
      under tropical conditions. 

PMID- 25813859
TI  - Continuous topical drug delivery using osmotic pump in animal cochlear implant
      model: Continuous steroid delivery is effective for hearing preservation.
AB  - CONCLUSIONS: Continuous topical drug delivery using an osmotic pump is an
      effective supplementary technique for hearing preservation after cochlear
      implantation, as demonstrated in a guinea pig model. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the
      effect of continuous topical steroid delivery via an osmotic pump in an animal
      cochlear implant model. METHODS: Twenty-three guinea pigs were used for the
      study. The animals were divided into three groups: control group (n = 8), simple
      topical dexamethasone delivery group (sDEXA group, n = 7) and continuous topical
      dexamethasone delivery group (cDEXA, n = 8). The hearing thresholds of all
      animals were measured by pre-operative auditory brain stem responses (ABRs) at 2,
      8, 16, 24, and 32 kHz. ABRs were re-evaluated after cochlear implantation, and
      the animals were sacrificed for hematoxylin and eosin staining. RESULTS: The ABR
      threshold at 1 week post-operatively was significantly lower in the cDEXA group
      than in the control and sDEXA groups at most frequencies. Threshold shifts from
      baseline were statistically smaller in the cDEXA group than in the control and
      sDEXA groups at all frequencies. Histological analysis revealed decreased numbers
      of multi-nucleated giant cells and thinner histiocyte layers.

PMID- 25813861
TI  - Yeast transcription co-activator Sub1 and its human homolog PC4 preferentially
      bind to G-quadruplex DNA.
AB  - Using a G-quadruplex bait, we identified the transcription co-activator Sub1 as a
      G-quadruplex binding protein by quantitative LC-MS/MS and demonstrated in vivo G
      quadruplex binding by ChIP. In vitro, Sub1, and its human homolog PC4, bind
      preferentially to G-quadruplexes. This provides a possible mechanism by which G
      quadruplexes can influence gene transcription. 

PMID- 25813862
TI  - Hynobiidae origin in middle Cretaceous corroborated by the new mitochondrial
      genome of Hynobius chinensis.
AB  - Hynobius chinensis was first described by Gunther in the nineteenth century. At
      present, the origins of the extinct Hynobius chinensis on the Zhoushan Island
      (Hynobius chinensis-ZI) remain a mystery. It is the only species of family
      Hynobiidae on the Zhoushan Island. However, there is very little empirical
      evidence regarding Hynobius chinensis-ZI phylogenetic relationship, and when or
      how did its ancestors colonized the island. Here, we used mitochondrial genome
      data to recover the phylogeny of family Hynobiidae. Results suggested that the
      origin of Hynobiidae was most likely in Middle Cretaceous (~112.9 Mya), and some
      Hynobius species of Taiwan and Japan diverged earlier than that of the mainland
      of China. Hynobius chinensis-ZI diverged from its closest living relative
      (Hynobius yiwuensis) around 6.5 Mya, and Hynobius chinensis-ZI was isolated on
      Zhoushan Island since the postglacial transgression in Holocene period. 

PMID- 25813860
TI  - Signaling Pathways and Gene Regulatory Networks in Cardiomyocyte Differentiation.
AB  - Strategies for harnessing stem cells as a source to treat cell loss in heart
      disease are the subject of intense research. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs)
      can be expanded extensively in vitro and therefore can potentially provide
      sufficient quantities of patient-specific differentiated cardiomyocytes. Although
      multiple stimuli direct heart development, the differentiation process is driven
      in large part by signaling activity. The engineering of hPSCs to heart cell
      progeny has extensively relied on establishing proper combinations of soluble
      signals, which target genetic programs thereby inducing cardiomyocyte
      specification. Pertinent differentiation strategies have relied as a template on
      the development of embryonic heart in multiple model organisms. Here, information
      on the regulation of cardiomyocyte development from in vivo genetic and
      embryological studies is critically reviewed. A fresh interpretation is provided
      of in vivo and in vitro data on signaling pathways and gene regulatory networks
      (GRNs) underlying cardiopoiesis. The state-of-the-art understanding of signaling
      pathways and GRNs presented here can inform the design and optimization of
      methods for the engineering of tissues for heart therapies. 

PMID- 25813863
TI  - Label-free in vivo molecular imaging of underglycosylated mucin-1 expression in
      tumour cells.
AB  - Alterations in mucin expression and glycosylation are associated with cancer
      development. Underglycosylated mucin-1 (uMUC1) is overexpressed in most malignant
      adenocarcinomas of epithelial origin (for example, colon, breast and ovarian
      cancer). Its counterpart MUC1 is a large polymer rich in glycans containing
      multiple exchangeable OH protons, which is readily detectable by chemical
      exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI. We show here that deglycosylation of
      MUC1 results in >75% reduction in CEST signal. Three uMUC1(+) human malignant
      cancer cell lines overexpressing uMUC1 (BT20, HT29 and LS174T) show a
      significantly lower CEST signal compared with the benign human epithelial cell
      line MCF10A and the uMUC1(-) tumour cell line U87. Furthermore, we demonstrate
      that in vivo CEST MRI is able to make a distinction between LS174T and U87 tumour
      cells implanted in the mouse brain. These results suggest that the mucCEST MRI
      signal can be used as a label-free surrogate marker to non-invasively assess
      mucin glycosylation and tumour malignancy. 

PMID- 25813864
TI  - Aberrant hypomethylation-mediated CD147 overexpression promotes aggressive tumor
      progression in human prostate cancer.
AB  - Our previous study revealed the potential role of CD147 in human prostate cancer
      (PCa). Here, we investigated the CD147 promoter methylation status and the
      correlation with tumorigenicity in human PCa. CD147 mRNA and protein expression
      levels were both significantly higher in the 4 PCa cell lines, than in the 2 non
      tumorigenic benign human prostatic epithelial cell lines (all P<0.01). We showed
      hypomethylation of promoter regions of CD147 in PCa cell lines with significant
      CD147 expression as compared to non-tumorigenic benign human prostatic epithelial
      cell lines slowly expressing CD147. Additionally, the treatment of methylated
      cell lines with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine increased CD147 expression significantly
      in low-expressing cell lines and also activated the expression of matrix
      metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, which may be one of the most important downstream
      targets of CD147. Furthermore, PCa tissues displayed decreased DNA methylation in
      the promoter region of CD147 compared to the corresponding non-cancerous prostate
      tissues, and methylation intensity correlated inversely with the CD147 mRNA
      levels. There was a significant negative correlation between CD147 mRNA levels
      and the number of methylated sites in PCa tissues (r=-0.467, P<0.01). In
      conclusion, our data offer convincing evidence for the first time that the DNA
      promoter hypomethylation of CD147 may be one of the regulatory mechanisms
      involved in the cancer-related overexpression of CD147 and may play a crucial
      role in the tumorigenesis of PCa.

PMID- 25813865
TI  - Health in middle-aged and elderly women: A conceptual framework for healthy
      menopause.
AB  - Middle-aged and elderly women constitute a large and growing proportion of the
      population. The peri and postmenopausal period constitutes a challenging
      transition time for women's health, and menopausal health is a crucial aspect in
      healthy and successful aging. Currently, no framework for the concept of healthy
      menopause exists, despite its recognized importance. Therefore, we aimed to: (i)
      characterize healthy menopause; (ii) identify aspects that contribute to it; and
      (iii) explore potential approaches to measure it. We propose healthy menopause as
      a dynamic state, following the permanent loss of ovarian function, which is
      characterized by self-perceived satisfactory physical, psychological and social
      functioning, incorporating disease and disability, allowing the attainment of a
      woman's desired ability to adapt and capacity to self-manage. The concept of
      healthy menopause applies to all women from the moment they enter the menopausal
      transition, up until they reach early and late postmenopause and includes women
      with spontaneous, iatrogenic, and premature menopause. This conceptualization can
      be considered as a further step in the maintenance and improvement of health in
      menopausal women from different perspectives, foremost the woman's own
      perspective, followed by the clinical, public health, and societal perspectives,
      and can be seen as a further step in delineating lines for future research.
      Furthermore, it could facilitate the improvement of adequate preventive and
      treatment strategies, guide scientific efforts, and aid education and
      communication to health care practitioners and the general public, allowing women
      the achievement of their potential and the fulfillment of their fundamental role
      in society. 

PMID- 25813866
TI  - Erratum to: Isoprenoid Drugs, Biofuels, and Chemicals--Artemisinin, Farnesene,
      and Beyond.

PMID- 25813867
TI  - Defining the Role of the Tibial Tubercle-Trochlear Groove and Tibial Tubercle
      Posterior Cruciate Ligament Distances in the Work-up of Patients With
      Patellofemoral Disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The radiological work-up of patients with patellofemoral disorders
      continues to be debated. The interchangeability of the tibial tubercle-trochlear
      groove (TT-TG) distance between computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance
      imaging (MRI) has recently been questioned. In addition, a new measurement-the
      tibial tubercle-posterior cruciate ligament (TT-PCL) distance-has shown that not
      all patients with a pathological TT-TG distance (>20 mm) have lateralization of
      the tibial tubercle. Another factor to consider when looking at the position of
      the tibial tubercle is the knee joint rotation, defined as the angle between the
      femoral dorsal condylar line and the tibial dorsal condylar line. PURPOSE: To
      determine, with a larger population, if the TT-TG measurements can be used
      interchangeably between CT and MRI and to confirm the correlation between the TT
      PCL and TT-TG distances in determining tibial tubercle lateralization. STUDY
      DESIGN: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2. METHODS: Patients with
      patellofemoral disorders and MRI and CT scans of the same knee (n = 141) were
      identified. The TT-PCL, the knee joint rotation, and TT-TG were measured
      independently by 2 fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeons. Thirty measurements
      were repeated on a separate occasion to allow for an assessment of the intrarater
      reliability. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess
      reliability of the measurements. RESULTS: The mean TT-TG was 4.16 mm less on MRI
      (P < .05), with the mean TT-TG +/- SD being 17.72 +/- 5.15 mm on CT (range, 6.97
      31.33 mm) and 13.56 +/- 6.07 mm on MRI (range, 2-30.04 mm). The ICC for each
      rater comparing the 2 imaging modalities was only fair (0.54 and 0.48). The mean
      TT-PCL measurement was 20.32 +/- 3.45 mm (range, 10.11-32.01 mm) with excellent
      interobserver and intraobserver reliability (>0.75). Based on the TT-TG and TT
      PCL measurements, 4 groups of patients can be established. When knee joint
      rotation is compared among groups, an increased TT-TG may result from true
      lateralization of the tibial tubercle, an increased knee joint rotation, or both.
      CONCLUSION: Based on a statistically significant mean difference (4.11 mm) and
      only a fair ICC (0.54 and 0.48) for raters comparing the 2 modalities, the
      measurements for the TT-TG cannot be used interchangeably between CT and MRI.
      Therefore, currently accepted values for TT-TG based on CT scans should not be
      applied to an MRI scan. The TT-PCL measurement is a measure of true
      lateralization of the tibial tubercle, while the TT-TG is an amalgamated measure
      of true lateralization and knee joint rotation.

PMID- 25813868
TI  - Mortality in female and male French Olympians: a 1948-2013 cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Whereas intense physical activity has been associated with
      deleterious effects on elite athletes' health, in particular due to
      cardiovascular anomalies, long-term follow-ups have suggested lower mortality
      rates among elite athletes. Causes of death for French Olympic athletes and
      female elite athletes have not been studied. HYPOTHESIS/PURPOSE: We aimed to
      measure overall and disease-specific mortality of French female and male
      Olympians compared with the French general population. We hypothesize that
      Olympians, both women and men, have lower mortality rates. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort
      study; Level of evidence, 3. METHODS: French elite athletes (601 women and 1802
      men) participating in summer or winter Olympic Games from 1948 to 2010 had their
      vital status verified by national sources and were followed until 2013. Causes of
      death were obtained via the National Death registry from 1968 to 2012. Overall
      and disease-specific mortalities of Olympians were compared with those of the
      French general population through standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and 95%
      CIs. Olympians' observed and expected survivals were illustrated by Kaplan-Meier
      curves. RESULTS: At the endpoint of the study, 13 women and 222 men had died.
      Overall mortality in Olympians compared with that of their compatriots was 51%
      lower (SMR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.26-0.85) among women and 49% lower (SMR, 0.51; 95%
      CI, 0.45-0.59) among men. Olympic athletes' survival is significantly superior to
      that of the French general population (women, P = .03; men, P < .001). According
      to the total deaths occurring from 1968 to 2012 (12 among women, 202 among men),
      female Olympians died from neoplasm (50.0%), external causes (33.3%), and
      cardiovascular diseases (16.6%). The main causes of death among men were related
      to neoplasms (36.1%), cardiovascular diseases (24.3%), and external causes
      (14.4%). Regarding the main causes of mortality among male Olympic athletes, the
      SMRs were as follows: 0.55 for neoplasms (95% CI, 0.43-0.69), 0.55 for
      cardiovascular diseases (95% CI, 0.41-0.73), and 0.66 for external causes (95%
      CI, 0.44-0.94). CONCLUSION: French Olympians live longer than their compatriots:
      A lower overall mortality of similar magnitude is observed among male and female
      athletes compared with the general population. The main causes of death in French
      Olympians are neoplasms, cardiovascular diseases, and external causes.

PMID- 25813870
TI  - Human adjuvant-related syndrome or autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by
      adjuvants. Where have we come from? Where are we going? A proposal for new
      diagnostic criteria.
AB  - In 1964, Miyoshi reported a series of patients with diverse symptoms after
      receiving treatment with silicone or paraffin fillers. Miyoshi named this
      condition 'human adjuvant disease'. Since then, the literature has been flooded
      with case reports and case series of granulomatous and systemic autoimmune
      disorders related to vaccines, infection or other adjuvants such as silicone and
      other biomaterials. A new term -autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by
      adjuvants--has recently been coined for a process that includes several clinical
      features previously described by Miyoshi plus other clinical and laboratory
      parameters related to exposure to diverse external stimuli. Disorders such as
      siliconosis, Gulf War syndrome, macrophagic myofasciitis syndrome, sick building
      syndrome and post-vaccination syndrome have been included in
      autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants. Disorders such as Spanish
      toxic oil syndrome and Ardystil syndrome could also be included. Furthermore,
      biomaterials other than silicone should also be considered as triggering factors
      for these adjuvant-related syndromes. New diagnostic criteria in this field have
      been proposed. Nevertheless, many of these criteria are too subjective, leading
      to some patients being diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome or other 'central
      sensitization syndromes'. Diagnostic criteria based only on objective clinical
      and laboratory data to be further discussed and validated are proposed herein.

PMID- 25813869
TI  - Stimulation of the superficial zone protein and lubrication in the articular
      cartilage by human platelet-rich plasma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) contains high concentrations of autologous
      growth factors that originate from platelets. Intra-articular injections of PRP
      have the potential to ameliorate the symptoms of osteoarthritis in the knee.
      Superficial zone protein (SZP) is a boundary lubricant in articular cartilage and
      plays an important role in reducing friction and wear and therefore is critical
      in cartilage homeostasis. PURPOSE: To determine if PRP influences the production
      of SZP from human joint-derived cells and to evaluate the lubricating properties
      of PRP on normal bovine articular cartilage. STUDY DESIGN: Controlled laboratory
      study. METHODS: Cells were isolated from articular cartilage, synovium, and the
      anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) from 12 patients undergoing ACL reconstruction.
      The concentrations of SZP in PRP and culture media were measured by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay. Cellular proliferation was quantified by determination of
      cell numbers. The lubrication properties of PRP from healthy volunteers on bovine
      articular cartilage were investigated using a pin-on-disk tribometer. RESULTS: In
      general, PRP stimulated proliferation in cells derived from articular cartilage,
      synovium, and ACL. It also significantly enhanced SZP secretion from synovium-
      and cartilage-derived cells. An unexpected finding was the presence of SZP in PRP
      (2.89 +/- 1.23 MUg/mL before activation and 3.02 +/- 1.32 MUg/mL after
      activation). In addition, under boundary mode conditions consisting of high loads
      and low sliding speeds, nonactivated and thrombin-activated PRP decreased the
      friction coefficient (MU = 0.012 and MU = 0.015, respectively) compared with
      saline (MU = 0.047, P < .004) and high molecular weight hyaluronan (MU = 0.080, P
      < .006). The friction coefficient of the cartilage with PRP was on par with that
      of synovial fluid. CONCLUSION: PRP significantly stimulates cell proliferation
      and SZP secretion by articular cartilage and synovium of the human knee joint.
      Furthermore, PRP contains endogenous SZP and, in a functional bioassay,
      lubricates bovine articular cartilage explants. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: These
      findings provide evidence to explain the biochemical and biomechanical mechanisms
      underlying the efficacy of PRP treatment for osteoarthritis or damage in the knee
      joint.

PMID- 25813871
TI  - Primary prophylaxis to prevent obstetric complications in asymptomatic women with
      antiphospholipid antibodies: a systematic review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Obstetric complications are common in patients with antiphospholipid
      syndrome. However, the impact of antiphosholipid antibodies (aPL) in the
      pregnancy outcomes of asymptomatic aPL carriers is uncertain. The aim of this
      systematic review is to assess whether primary prophylaxis is beneficial to
      prevent obstetric complications during pregnancy in asymptomatic women positive
      for aPL who have no history of recurrent pregnancy loss or intrauterine fetal
      death. METHODS: Studies evaluating the effect of prophylactic treatment versus no
      treatment in asymptomatic pregnant aPL carriers were identified in an electronic
      database search. Design, population and outcome homogeneity of studies was
      assessed and meta-analysis was performed. The pooled Mantel-Haenszel relative
      risk of specific pregnancy outcomes was obtained using random effects models.
      Heterogeneity was measured with the I(2) statistic. All analyses were conducted
      using Review Manager 5.3. RESULTS: Data from five studies involving 154
      pregnancies were included and three studies were meta-analysed. The risk ratio
      and 95% confidence interval (CI) of live birth rates, preterm birth, low birth
      weight and overall pregnancy complications in treated and untreated pregnancies
      were 1.14 (0.18-7.31); 1.71 (0.32-8.98); 0.98 (0.07-13.54) and 2.15 (0.63
      7.33),respectively. Results from the meta-analysis revealed that prophylactic
      treatment with aspirin is not superior to placebo to prevent pregnancy
      complications in asymptomatic aPL carriers. CONCLUSION: This systematic review
      did not find evidence of the superiority of prophylactic treatment with aspirin
      compared to placebo or usual care to prevent unfavourable obstetric outcomes in
      otherwise healthy women with aPL during the first pregnancy.

PMID- 25813872
TI  - Outcome of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus on chronic dialysis: an
      observational study of incident patients of the French National Registry 2002
      2012.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective of this article is to describe the outcome (mortality,
      kidney transplantation) of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) on
      chronic dialysis. METHODS: The overall and cardiovascular (CV) mortality and
      access to kidney transplantation were studied in all SLE patients incident on
      chronic dialysis in France between 2002 and 2012 (REIN registry). They were
      compared to age- and sex-matched patients with diabetic nephropathy and with
      autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (PKD) on chronic dialysis. RESULTS:
      A total of 368 SLE patients were included in the national REIN registry between
      2002 and 2012. Cumulative incidence of death was 16.9% at five years, with no
      difference between haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Independent risk
      factors of death were age, past history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and
      chronic respiratory insufficiency. At five years, CV and all-cause mortality in
      SLE patients were lower than in matched diabetic patients, but three-fold higher
      than in matched PKD patients. Access to the kidney transplant waiting list and to
      kidney transplantation was higher in SLE patients than in matched diabetic
      patients, but lower than in matched PKD patients. CONCLUSIONS: SLE patients on
      chronic dialysis are a population at high risk of death influenced by CV burden
      and chronic respiratory failure, but not by the method of dialysis. Their
      outcome, in terms of mortality and access to kidney transplantation, is
      intermediate between diabetic patients and patients with PKD.

PMID- 25813873
TI  - Prohibitin-2 gene reveals sex-related differences in the salmon louse Caligus
      rogercresseyi.
AB  - Prohibitins are evolutionarily conserved proteins present in multiple cellular
      compartments, and are involved in diverse cellular processes, including steroid
      hormone transcription and gametogenesis. In the present study, we report for the
      first time the characterization of the prohibitin-2 (Phb2) gene in the sea lice
      Caligus rogercresseyi. The CrPhb2 cDNA showed a total length of 1406 bp, which
      contained a predicted open reading frame (ORF) of 894 base pairs (bp) encoding
      for 298 amino acids. Multiple sequence alignments of prohibitin proteins from
      other arthropods revealed a high degree of amino acid sequence conservation. In
      silico Illumina read counts and RT-qPCR analyses showed a sex-dependent
      differential expression, with mRNA levels exhibiting a 1.7-fold (RT-qPCR)
      increase in adult females compared with adult males. A total of nine single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified, three were located in the 5' UTR
      of the Phb2 messenger and six in the ORF, but no mutations associated with sex
      were found. These results contribute to expand the present knowledge of the
      reproduction-related genes in C. rogercresseyi, and may be useful in future
      experiments aimed at controlling the impacts of sea lice in fish farming.

PMID- 25813874
TI  - Genomic context drives transcription of insertion sequences in the bacterial
      endosymbiont Wolbachia wVulC.
AB  - Transposable elements (TEs) are DNA pieces that are present in almost all the
      living world at variable genomic density. Due to their mobility and density, TEs
      are involved in a large array of genomic modifications. In eukaryotes, TE
      expression has been studied in detail in several species. In prokaryotes, studies
      of IS expression are generally linked to particular copies that induce a
      modification of neighboring gene expression. Here we investigated global patterns
      of IS transcription in the Alphaproteobacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia wVulC,
      using both RT-PCR and bioinformatic analyses. We detected several transcriptional
      promoters in all IS groups. Nevertheless, only one of the potentially functional
      IS groups possesses a promoter located upstream of the transposase gene, that
      could lead up to the production of a functional protein. We found that the
      majority of IS groups are expressed whatever their functional status. RT-PCR
      analyses indicate that the transcription of two IS groups lacking internal
      promoters upstream of the transposase start codon may be driven by the genomic
      environment. We confirmed this observation with the transcription analysis of
      individual copies of one IS group. These results suggest that the genomic
      environment is important for IS expression and it could explain, at least partly,
      copy number variability of the various IS groups present in the wVulC genome and,
      more generally, in bacterial genomes. 

PMID- 25813875
TI  - Interleukin and growth factor gene variants and risk of carpal tunnel syndrome.
AB  - Recent research has identified DNA sequence variants within genes encoding
      structural components of the collagen fibril, the basic structural unit of
      tendons, to modify the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Since the expression
      of these previously associated genes are regulated by cytokine and growth factor
      signalling pathways, the aim of this study was to determine whether variants
      within these cell signalling pathway genes, namely interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta),
      IL-6, interleukin 6 receptor (IL-6R) and vascular endothelial growth factor
      A(VEGFA), are also associated with CTS. One hundred and three self-reported
      Coloured participants, with a history of carpal tunnel release surgery (CTS) and
      149 matched control participants (CON) without any reported history of CTS
      symptoms were genotyped for the functional IL-1beta rs16944 (-511C/T), IL-6
      rs1800795 (-174G/C), IL-6R rs2228145 (C/A) and VEGFA rs699947 (-2578C/A)
      variants. Only the IL-6R variant was significantly associated with CTS (p=0.005,
      OR=0.41, 95% CI 0.22-0.75). When the previously reported associated COL5A1 and
      BGN variants were included in the analysis, gene-gene interactions were also
      shown to significantly modulate the risk of CTS. In conclusion, the AA genotype
      of IL-6R rs2228145 was independently associated with reduced risk of CTS in a
      South African Coloured population. The IL-6R variant interacted with the
      previously reported COL5A1 and BGN variants to modulate CTS risk. This highlights
      that interleukin and growth factor gene variants should also be considered, in
      addition to the extracellular matrix proteins, for future research in determining
      the aetiology of CTS.

PMID- 25813876
TI  - Alpha-synuclein overexpression negatively regulates insulin receptor substrate 1
      by activating mTORC1/S6K1 signaling.
AB  - Alpha-synuclein (alpha-Syn) is a major component of Lewy bodies, a pathological
      feature of Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases collectively known as
      synucleinopathies. Among the possible mechanisms of alpha-Syn-mediated
      neurotoxicity is interference with cytoprotective pathways such as insulin
      signaling. Insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1 is a docking protein linking IRs to
      downstream signaling pathways such as phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt and
      mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)/ribosomal protein S6 kinase (S6K)1; the
      latter exerts negative feedback control on insulin signaling, which is impaired
      in Alzheimer's disease. Our previous study found that alpha-Syn overexpression
      can inhibit protein phosphatase (PP)2A activity, which is involved in the
      protective mechanism of insulin signaling. In this study, we found an increase in
      IRS-1 phosphorylation at Ser636 and decrease in tyrosine phosphorylation, which
      accelerated IRS-1 turnover and reduced insulin-Akt signaling in alpha-Syn
      overexpressing SK-N-SH cells and transgenic mice. The mTOR complex (C)1/S6K1
      blocker rapamycin inhibited the phosphorylation of IRS-1 at Ser636 in cells
      overexpressing alpha-Syn, suggesting that mTORC1/S6K1 activation by alpha-Syn
      causes feedback inhibition of insulin signaling via suppression of IRS-1
      function. alpha-Syn overexpression also inhibited PP2A activity, while the PP2A
      agonist C2 ceramide suppressed both S6K1 activation and IRS-1 Ser636
      phosphorylation upon alpha-Syn overexpression. Thus, alpha-Syn overexpression
      negatively regulated IRS-1 via mTORC1/S6K1 signaling while activation of PP2A
      reverses this process. These results provide evidence for a link between alpha
      Syn and IRS-1 that may represent a novel mechanism for alpha-Syn-associated
      pathogenesis. 

PMID- 25813877
TI  - Celsr3 and Fzd3 in axon guidance.
AB  - The assembly of functional neuronal circuits depends on the correct wiring of
      axons and dendrites. To reach their targets, axons are guided by a variety of
      extracellular guidance cues, including Netrins, Ephrins, Semaphorins and Slits.
      Corresponding receptors in the growth cone, the dynamic structure at the tip of
      the growing axon, sense and integrate these positional signals, and activate
      downstream effectors to regulate cytoskeletal organization. In addition to the
      four canonical families of axon guidance cues mentioned above, some proteins that
      regulate planar cell polarity were recently found to be critical for axon
      guidance. The seven-transmembrane domain receptors Celsr3 and Fzd3, in
      particular, control the development of most longitudinal tracts in the central
      nervous system, and axon navigation in the peripheral, sympathetic and enteric
      nervous systems. Despite their unequivocally important role, however, underlying
      molecular mechanisms remain elusive. We do not know which extracellular ligands
      they recognize, whether they have co-receptors in the growth cone, and what their
      downstream effectors are. Here, we review some recent advances and discuss future
      trends in this emerging field. 

PMID- 25813878
TI  - A polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane functionalized copper trimesate.
AB  - A metal-organic framework (MOF), copper trimesate (Cu3(BTC)2), was selectively
      functionalized with aminopropylisooctyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (O
      POSS) to make the external surface of Cu3(BTC)2 hydrophobic and thereby enhance
      the stability of the material against humidity. POSS modification was also
      successfully applied to other MOFs such as MOF-74 and MIL-100. 

PMID- 25813879
TI  - Parallel reductions in phenolic constituents resulting from the domestication of
      eggplant.
AB  - Crop domestication is often accompanied by changes in metabolite compositions
      that alter traits such as flavor, color, or other beneficial properties. Fruits
      of eggplants (Solanum melongena L.) and related species are abundant and diverse
      in pharmacologically interesting phenolic compounds, particularly hydroxycinnamic
      acid (HCA) conjugates such as the antioxidant caffeoylquinic acids (CQA) and HCA
      polyamine amides (HCAA). To understand metabolite variability through the lens of
      natural and artificial selection, HPLC-DAD was used to generate phenolic profiles
      for 32 compounds in fruits from 93 accessions representing 9 Solanum species.
      Profiles were used for identification of species-level and infraspecific chemical
      patterns across both genetic distance and landscape. Sampling of plant lines
      included the undomesticated progenitor of eggplant and Asian landraces with a
      genetic background associated with three Asian regions near proposed separate
      centers of domestication to test whether chemical changes were convergent despite
      different origins. Results showed ten compounds were unique to species, and ten
      other compounds varied significantly in abundance among species. Five CQAs and
      three HCA-polyamine conjugates were more abundant in wild (undomesticated) versus
      domesticated eggplant, indicating that artificial selection may have led to
      reduced phenolic levels. No chemical abundance patterns were associated with site
      origin. However, one genetically distinct lineage of geographically-restricted SE
      Asian eggplants (S. melongena subsp. ovigerum) had a higher HCAA content and
      diversity than other lineages, which is suggested to be related to artificial
      selection for small, firm fruit. Overall, patterns show that fruit size,
      palatability and texture were preferentially selected over health-beneficial
      phytochemical content during domestication of several nightshade crops. 

PMID- 25813880
TI  - Interconverting flavonostilbenes with antibacterial activity from Sophora
      alopecuroides.
AB  - Five flavonostilbenes (alopecurones H, I, J, K and L) and five known ones were
      isolated from roots of Sophora alopecuroides, in addition to ten other phenolic
      compounds. A non-enzymatic interconversion of the lavandulyl-substituted
      flavonostilbenes was observed among alopecurones A, H, I, and K through a Wessely
      Moser rearrangement reaction; this was proven by 1D and 2D NMR, HPLC-CD-PDA and
      HRMS analyses. Bioassay results suggested that flavonostilbenes exhibit
      significant antibacterial and anti-biofilm formation activities against
      Staphylococcus epidermidis with MIC values ranging from 3.1 to 12.5MUg/mL. 

PMID- 25813881
TI  - Geriatric assessment of older patients with cancer in Australia--a multicentre
      audit.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of geriatric
      assessment in patients aged over 70 years in Australian medical oncology clinics.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a multicentre audit in two parts: a retrospective
      file review of initial consultations with an oncologist and prospective audit of
      case presentations at multidisciplinary meetings (MDMs). Patients aged over 70
      years presenting to a medical oncology clinic or being discussed at an MDM were
      eligible. Data was collected at six oncology centres in Victoria, NSW and
      Canberra from October 2009 to March 2010. RESULTS: Data was collected from 251
      file reviews and 108 MDM discussions in a total of 304 patients. Median age was
      76 years (range 70-95). The geriatric assessment (GA) domains most frequently
      assessed during an initial consultation were the presence of comorbidities (92%),
      social situation-living alone or with someone (80%), social supports (63%), any
      mention of at least one Activity of Daily Living (ADL) (50%) and performance
      status (49%). Less frequently assessed were any Instrumental Activity of Daily
      Living (IADL) (26%), presence of a geriatric syndrome (24%), polypharmacy (29%)
      and creatinine clearance (11%). Only one patient had all components of ADLs and
      IADLs assessed. During MDMs all the geriatric domains were comparatively less
      frequently assessed. No patients had all ADL and IADL components discussed
      formally in an MDM. CONCLUSION: This is the first multicentre audit that reveals
      the low rates of GA in Australian medical oncology practice and describes the GA
      domains considered important by oncology clinicians.

PMID- 25813883
TI  - Atypical manifestations of leptospirosis.
AB  - Leptospirosis is an illness with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations and
      severe illness affects nearly all organ systems. Serious and potentially life
      threatening clinical manifestations of acute leptospirosis are caused by both
      direct tissue invasion by spirochaetes and by the host immune responses. In its
      severe form, leptospirosis can cause multi-organ dysfunction and death in a
      matter of days. Therefore it is critical to suspect and recognize the disease
      early, in order to initiate timely treatment. While the classical presentation of
      the disease is easily recognized by experienced clinicians practising in endemic
      regions, rarer manifestations can be easily missed. In this systematic review, we
      summarize the atypical manifestations reported in literature in patients with
      confirmed leptospirosis. Awareness of these unusual manifestations would
      hopefully guide clinicians towards early diagnosis. 

PMID- 25813882
TI  - A systematic review and meta-analysis of surgeries performed for treating deep
      seated cerebral cavernous malformations.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The clinical benefit of surgery for treatment of deep-seated cerebral
      cavernous malformations (CCMs) is still a matter of debate. Although the surgical
      removal of CCMs is widely accepted, the benefits of reducing the rate of
      haemorrhage must be balanced against the risk of peri-operative morbidity. Here,
      we provide a systematic review and meta-analysis of the clinical benefits of
      surgery for treating deeply localised CCMs. METHODS: A comprehensive search of
      PubMed and Embase was conducted to identify relevant studies. The rate and a 95%
      confidence interval (CI) were used to measure the risk of haemorrhage and adverse
      outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 34 cohort studies reporting surgeries on CCMs were
      included in our analysis. Overall, the average post-surgical haemorrhage rate was
      1.0% (95% CI: 0.7-1.4%). Nine per cent (95% CI: 6.9-11.3%) of the patients
      developed adverse events at follow-up following the surgical resection of deep
      seated CCMs. The percentage of transient neural defects following surgical
      resection was 34.6% (95% CI: 29.4-39.9%). The proportions of transient focal
      neurological defect before and after the year 2006 were 44.9% (95% CI: 34.1
      55.8%) and 30.3% (95% CI: 25.1-35.9%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our meta
      analysis demonstrates post-surgical haemorrhage rate and complications related to
      surgeries on deep-seated CCMs. The post-surgical haemorrhage rate was low with a
      relatively high rate of post-surgical complications.

PMID- 25813884
TI  - Regional differences in the placental levels of oxidative stress markers in pre
      eclampsia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine placental malondialdehyde (MDA), catalase, and glutathione
      peroxidase (GPx) levels in four placental regions among women with and without
      pre-eclampsia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among women aged 18
      35 years with a singleton pregnancy in Pune, India, between May 3, 2013, and June
      16, 2014. Three groups were enrolled: normotensive; pre-eclampsia, delivered at
      term; and pre-eclampsia, delivered preterm. Samples were collected from the
      central and peripheral placental regions (maternal and fetal sides) immediately
      after delivery. RESULTS: A total of 60 women were enrolled (35 normotensive; 11
      with pre-eclampsia delivered at term; 14 with pre-eclampsia, delivered preterm).
      MDA levels were higher in all regions of the placenta among the pre-eclampsia
      versus normotensive groups (P<0.01). MDA levels were higher in the central
      maternal region than in the central fetal region in the preterm pre-eclampsia
      group (P=0.023). The MDA levels in the central maternal region were also higher
      in the preterm than in the term pre-eclampsia group (P=0.014). Catalase activity
      was lower in the peripheral maternal (P=0.036) and fetal (P=0.050) regions in the
      preterm pre-eclampsia group versus the normotensive group. The activity of GPx
      was higher in the peripheral maternal region than in the central fetal region in
      the normotensive group (P=0.033). CONCLUSION: Pre-eclampsia might be
      characterized by differential placental oxidative stress and antioxidant enzyme
      activity.

PMID- 25813885
TI  - Advanced targeted therapies in cancer: Drug nanocarriers, the future of
      chemotherapy.
AB  - Cancer is the second worldwide cause of death, exceeded only by cardiovascular
      diseases. It is characterized by uncontrolled cell proliferation and an absence
      of cell death that, except for hematological cancers, generates an abnormal cell
      mass or tumor. This primary tumor grows thanks to new vascularization and, in
      time, acquires metastatic potential and spreads to other body sites, which causes
      metastasis and finally death. Cancer is caused by damage or mutations in the
      genetic material of the cells due to environmental or inherited factors. While
      surgery and radiotherapy are the primary treatment used for local and non
      metastatic cancers, anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapy, hormone and biological
      therapies) are the choice currently used in metastatic cancers. Chemotherapy is
      based on the inhibition of the division of rapidly growing cells, which is a
      characteristic of the cancerous cells, but unfortunately, it also affects normal
      cells with fast proliferation rates, such as the hair follicles, bone marrow and
      gastrointestinal tract cells, generating the characteristic side effects of
      chemotherapy. The indiscriminate destruction of normal cells, the toxicity of
      conventional chemotherapeutic drugs, as well as the development of multidrug
      resistance, support the need to find new effective targeted treatments based on
      the changes in the molecular biology of the tumor cells. These novel targeted
      therapies, of increasing interest as evidenced by FDA-approved targeted cancer
      drugs in recent years, block biologic transduction pathways and/or specific
      cancer proteins to induce the death of cancer cells by means of apoptosis and
      stimulation of the immune system, or specifically deliver chemotherapeutic agents
      to cancer cells, minimizing the undesirable side effects. Although targeted
      therapies can be achieved directly by altering specific cell signaling by means
      of monoclonal antibodies or small molecules inhibitors, this review focuses on
      indirect targeted approaches that mainly deliver chemotherapeutic agents to
      molecular targets overexpressed on the surface of tumor cells. In particular, we
      offer a detailed description of different cytotoxic drug carriers, such as
      liposomes, carbon nanotubes, dendrimers, polymeric micelles, polymeric conjugates
      and polymeric nanoparticles, in passive and active targeted cancer therapy, by
      enhancing the permeability and retention or by the functionalization of the
      surface of the carriers, respectively, emphasizing those that have received FDA
      approval or are part of the most important clinical studies up to date. These
      drug carriers not only transport the chemotherapeutic agents to tumors, avoiding
      normal tissues and reducing toxicity in the rest of the body, but also protect
      cytotoxic drugs from degradation, increase the half-life, payload and solubility
      of cytotoxic agents and reduce renal clearance. Despite the many advantages of
      all the anticancer drug carriers analyzed, only a few of them have reached the
      FDA approval, in particular, two polymer-protein conjugates, five liposomal
      formulations and one polymeric nanoparticle are available in the market, in
      contrast to the sixteen FDA approval of monoclonal antibodies. However, there are
      numerous clinical trials in progress of polymer-protein and polymer-drug
      conjugates, liposomal formulations, including immunoliposomes, polymeric micelles
      and polymeric nanoparticles. Regarding carbon nanotubes or dendrimers, there are
      no FDA approvals or clinical trials in process up to date due to their unresolved
      toxicity. Moreover, we analyze in detail the more promising and advanced
      preclinical studies of the particular case of polymeric nanoparticles as carriers
      of different cytotoxic agents to active and passive tumor targeting published in
      the last 5 years, since they have a huge potential in cancer therapy, being one
      of the most widely studied nano-platforms in this field in the last years. The
      interest that these formulations have recently achieved is stressed by the fact
      that 90% of the papers based on cancer therapeutics with polymeric nanoparticles
      have been published in the last 6 years (PubMed search).

PMID- 25813886
TI  - Comparative examination of adsorption of serum proteins on HSA- and PLGA-based
      nanoparticles using SDS-PAGE and LC-MS.
AB  - The behavior of nanosized drug carrier systems under cell culture conditions and
      therefore also the destiny in the body are highly influenced by the protein
      corona, which is formed upon entering a biological environment. Some of the
      adsorbed proteins, named opsonins, lead to a shortened plasma circulation half
      life of the nanoparticles. Others are attributed to promote the transport of
      nanoparticles into other compartments of the body, just to mention two examples.
      Hence, detailed knowledge concerning the composition of the protein corona is of
      great importance. The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of the
      nanoparticle starting material and the surface modification on the composition of
      the adsorbed serum proteins in a cell culture environment. Therefore, positively
      charged nanoparticles based on the biodegradable polymer poly(dl-lactide-co
      glycolide) (PLGA) stabilized with didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DMAB) and
      negatively charged nanoparticles based on human serum albumin (HSA) were prepared
      and modified with hydrophilic polymers. By incubating the nanoparticles with
      fetal bovine serum (FBS) the adsorption of serum proteins on the colloidal system
      was investigated. Using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
      (SDS-PAGE) a semi-quantitative analysis of the protein corona was performed and
      after enzymatic in-solution-digestion the adsorbed proteins were identified using
      high resolution LC-MS. Our study accentuates the influence of the core material,
      surface charge, and surface modification on the amount and nature of the adsorbed
      proteins. The combination of SDS-PAGE and LC-MS turns out to be a simple and
      reliable method to investigate the protein corona of nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25813887
TI  - Spatial updating of map-acquired representation.
AB  - In the present study, we examined whether people can update a map-acquired
      spatial representation. The participants learned a spatial layout from a map
      displayed on a computer screen, and then performed spatial judgments at a novel
      position either in the same room (Exp. 1) or in a distal room (Exp. 2). They were
      required to imagine the spatial layout from a perspective aligned with the
      learning direction, aligned with their facing direction during testing, or toward
      a novel direction misaligned with the two directions mentioned above. In both the
      immediate and nonimmediate environments, the participants performed better from
      the learning direction than from the novel direction, and also performed better
      from the facing direction than from the novel direction. These results reveal
      that people establish an orientation-specific spatial representation through map
      learning, and that they can update a map-acquired representation during
      locomotion. 

PMID- 25813888
TI  - Structure-directing star-shaped block copolymers: supramolecular vesicles for the
      delivery of anticancer drugs.
AB  - Amphiphilic polycarbonate/PEG copolymer with a star-like architecture was
      designed to facilitate a unique supramolecular transformation of micelles to
      vesicles in aqueous solution for the efficient delivery of anticancer drugs. The
      star-shaped amphipilic block copolymer was synthesized by initiating the ring
      opening polymerization of trimethylene carbonate (TMC) from methyl cholate
      through a combination of metal-free organo-catalytic living ring-opening
      polymerization and post-polymerization chain-end derivatization strategies.
      Subsequently, the self-assembly of the star-like polymer in aqueous solution into
      nanosized vesicles for anti-cancer drug delivery was studied. DOX was physically
      encapsulated into vesicles by dialysis and drug loading level was significant
      (22.5% in weight) for DOX. Importantly, DOX-loaded nanoparticles self-assembled
      from the star-like copolymer exhibited greater kinetic stability and higher DOX
      loading capacity than micelles prepared from cholesterol-initiated diblock
      analogue. The advantageous disparity is believed to be due to the transformation
      of micelles (diblock copolymer) to vesicles (star-like block copolymer) that
      possess greater core space for drug loading as well as the ability of such
      supramolecular structures to encapsulate DOX. DOX-loaded vesicles effectively
      inhibited the proliferation of 4T1, MDA-MB-231 and BT-474 cells, with IC50 values
      of 10, 1.5 and 1.0mg/L, respectively. DOX-loaded vesicles injected into 4T1 tumor
      bearing mice exhibited enhanced accumulation in tumor tissue due to the enhanced
      permeation and retention (EPR) effect. Importantly, DOX-loaded vesicles
      demonstrated greater tumor growth inhibition than free DOX without causing
      significant body weight loss or cardiotoxicity. The unique ability of the star
      like copolymer emanating from the methyl cholate core provided the requisite
      modification in the block copolymer interfacial curvature to generate vesicles of
      high loading capacity for DOX with significant kinetic stability that have
      potential for use as an anti-cancer drug delivery carrier for cancer therapy.

PMID- 25813889
TI  - Theoretical foundations for the measurement of environmental factors and their
      impact on participation among people with disabilities.
AB  - The ascendance of the World Health Organization's International Classification of
      Functioning, Disability and Heath (ICF) as the global standard for describing and
      characterizing aspects of disability has refocused attention on the role that
      environmental factors (EFs) have on the health and participation of people with
      disabilities, both as individuals and as a group. There has been a rise in the
      development of instruments designed to measure EFs alone and in relation to
      participation. Some instrument developers have used the ICF as a theoretical base
      for instrument development and to substantiate content validity claims. We
      contend that this is a misapplication of the ICF. There is a need to step back
      and reexamine the role that environmental theories can play in developing a
      conceptually driven approach to measuring the interaction between EFs and
      participation. For this review, we draw on the fields of social, community, and
      developmental psychology; disability studies; gerontology; public health; and
      rehabilitation. We discuss different approaches to the measurement of EFs. We
      suggest that given the complex nature of EFs and their influence on
      participation, there is a need for a fresh approach to EF measurement. The
      thoughtful application of theories and the use of advanced psychometric,
      measurement, and e-technologies and data visualization methods may enable
      researchers and clinicians to better quantify, document, and communicate the
      dynamic interrelationship between EFs and participation and health outcomes for
      people with disabilities at the individual, group, and population levels.

PMID- 25813891
TI  - Decisions about driving for persons with neurodegenerative conditions.

PMID- 25813890
TI  - Environmental barriers and supports to everyday participation: a qualitative
      insider perspective from people with disabilities.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe environmental factors that influence participation of
      people with disabilities. DESIGN: Constant comparative, qualitative analyses of
      transcripts from 36 focus groups across 5 research projects. SETTING: Home,
      community, work, and social participation settings. PARTICIPANTS: Community
      dwelling people (N=201) with diverse disabilities (primarily spinal cord injury,
      traumatic brain injury, and stroke) from 8 states. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASURES: Environmental barriers and supports to participation. RESULTS:
      We developed a conceptual framework to describe how environmental factors
      influence the participation of people with disabilities, highlighting 8 domains
      of environmental facilitators and barriers (built, natural, assistive technology,
      transportation, information and technology access, social support and attitudes,
      systems and policies, economics) and a transactional model showing the influence
      of environmental factors on participation at the micro (individual), mesa
      (community), and macro (societal) levels. Focus group data validated some
      International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health environmental
      categories while also bringing unique factors (eg, information and technology
      access, economic quality of life) to the fore. Data were used to construct items
      to enable people with disabilities to assess the impact of environmental factors
      on everyday participation from their firsthand experience. CONCLUSIONS:
      Participants with disabilities voiced the need to evaluate the impact of the
      environment on their participation at the immediate, community, and societal
      levels. The results have implications for assessing environmental facilitators
      and barriers to participation within rehabilitation and community settings,
      evaluating outcomes of environmental interventions, and effecting system and
      policy changes to target environmental barriers that may result in societal
      participation disparities versus opportunities.

PMID- 25813892
TI  - Driving after traumatic brain injury.

PMID- 25813893
TI  - Dexmedetomidine and regulation of splenic sympathetic nerve discharge in aged
      F344 rats.
AB  - Sedatives influence the immune system and centrally-acting alpha2-adrenergic
      receptor agonists, including Dexmedetomidine (Dex), modulate sympathetic nerve
      discharge (SND). Because sedatives are used under medical conditions that include
      elderly patients, and because advancing age attenuates SND responsivity to
      various interventions, we tested the hypothesis that splenic sympathoinhibitory
      responses to Dex would be attenuated in aged compared with young Fischer 344
      rats. Dex-mediated reductions in splenic SND were similar in aged and young
      baroreceptor-intact and -denervated rats, indicating that SND changes to Dex
      administration occur in an age-independent manner. These findings provide new
      information regarding interactions between alpha2-adrenergic agonists, advanced
      age, and SND regulation. 

PMID- 25813894
TI  - Mechanistic insight into ultrasound induced enhancement of simultaneous
      saccharification and fermentation of Parthenium hysterophorus for ethanol
      production.
AB  - This paper presents investigations into mechanism of ultrasound assisted
      bioethanol synthesis using Parthenium hysterophorus biomass through simultaneous
      saccharification and fermentation (SSF) mode. Approach of coupling experimental
      results to mathematical model for SSF using Genetic Algorithm based optimization
      has been adopted. Comparison of model parameters for experiments with mechanical
      shaking and sonication (10% duty cycle) give an interesting mechanistic account
      of influence of ultrasound on SSF system. A 4-fold rise in ethanol and cell mass
      productivity is seen with ultrasound. The analysis reveals following facets of
      influence of ultrasound on SSF: increase in Monod constant for glucose for cell
      growth, maximal specific growth rate and inhibition constant of cell growth by
      glucose and reduction in specific cell death rate. Values of inhibition constant
      of cell growth by ethanol (K3E), and constants for growth associated (a) and non
      growth associated (b) ethanol production remained unaltered with sonication.
      Beneficial effects of ultrasound are attributed to enhanced cellulose hydrolysis,
      enhanced trans-membrane transport of substrate and products as well as dilution
      of the toxic substances due to micro-convection induced by ultrasound. Intrinsic
      physiological functioning of cells remained unaffected by ultrasound as indicated
      by unaltered values of K3E, a and b. 

PMID- 25813895
TI  - SmartWADO: an Extensible WADO Middleware for Regional Medical Image Sharing.
AB  - Medical image sharing is an important problem in modern radiology, with wide
      applications in Internet and mobile devices. Some important features need to be
      added and optimized to medical image sharing. In this paper, we present an
      extensible Web Access to DICOM Persistent Objects (WADO) middleware based on
      image cache and real-time Web monitor technology for regional medical image
      sharing. We first develop the extension method of WADO standard and workflow of
      extended WADO service. Then, we design a medical image cache method to improve
      the performance of medical image on-demand transmission. Using the real-time
      monitor can discover the performance bottlenecks and optimized critical points.
      The experimental results show that the middleware effectively delivers medical
      images and reports to Web clients over the Internet, regardless of the platform
      used for access. It can be deployed in one hospital to provide WADO service to
      medical workers and also can be applied to regional picture archiving and
      communication systems (PACS) to transmit medical images and reports to Internet
      users in a way that is transparent to end-user applications. 

PMID- 25813896
TI  - Synthesis of N-methylarylnitrones derived from alkyloxybenzaldehydes and
      antineoplastic effect on human cancer cell lines.
AB  - New O-isoprenylated-N-methylarylnitrones derived from isomeric o, m and p
      hydroxybenzaldehydes have been prepared and the antineoplastic effects on human
      cancer cell lines were evaluated. The O-geranylated nitrone LQB-278 (1b) and its
      isomers 2b and 3b inhibited the NO production, but the anti-leukemic activity was
      drastically dependent on nitrone isomer, with the 1b being the most effective one
      (IC50 of 6.7 MUM) on Jurkat leukemia cell, by MTT assay. In addition, 1b up
      regulated p21CIP1/WAF1/Sdi1 protein expression (flow cytometry), a cell cycle
      inhibitor, reduced cell growth, and induced DNA fragmentation (increased sub-G1
      phase cells) and phosphatidylserine externalization in plasmatic membrane
      (increased annexin V positive cells). Finally, the 1b up-regulation of p21
      expression and apoptosis induction seem to be the mechanisms by which it promotes
      its anti-leukemic effects, making this new molecular architecture a promising
      prototype for leukemia intervention.

PMID- 25813897
TI  - alpha-Adrenoceptor antagonistic and hypotensive properties of novel
      arylpiperazine derivatives of pyrrolidin-2-one.
AB  - This study focused on a series of pyrrolidin-2-one derivatives connected via two
      or four methylene units to arylpiperazine fragment. The compounds obtained for
      alpha1- and alpha2-adrenoceptors were assessed. The compound with highest
      affinity for the alpha1-adrenoceptors was 1-{4-[4-(2-chloro-phenyl)-piperazin-1
      yl]-butyl}-pyrrolidin-2-one (10 h) with pKi=7.30. Compound with pKi (alpha1)
      ?6.44 were evaluated in functional bioassays for intrinsic activity at alpha1A-
      and alpha1B-adrenoceptors. All compounds tested were antagonists of the alpha1B
      adrenoceptors. Additionally, compounds 10e and 10h were alpha1A-adrenoceptors
      antagonist. The dual alpha1A-/alpha1B-adrenoceptors antagonists, compounds 10e
      and 10h were also tested in vivo for their hypotensive activity in rats. These
      compounds, when dosed of 1.0 mg/kg iv in normotensive, anesthetized rats,
      significantly decreased systolic and diastolic pressure and their hypotensive
      effects lasted for longer than one hour.

PMID- 25813898
TI  - Mental representations of magnitude and order: a dissociation by sensorimotor
      learning.
AB  - Numbers and spatially directed actions share cognitive representations. This
      assertion is derived from studies that have demonstrated that the processing of
      small- and large-magnitude numbers facilitates motor behaviors that are directed
      to the left and right, respectively. However, little is known about the role of
      sensorimotor learning for such number-action associations. In this study, we show
      that sensorimotor learning in a serial reaction-time task can modify the
      associations between number magnitudes and spatially directed movements.
      Experiments 1 and 3 revealed that this effect is present only for the learned
      sequence and does not transfer to a novel unpracticed sequence. Experiments 2 and
      4 showed that the modification of stimulus-action associations by sensorimotor
      learning does not occur for other sets of ordered stimuli such as letters of the
      alphabet. These results strongly suggest that numbers and actions share a common
      magnitude representation that differs from the common order representation shared
      by letters and spatially directed actions. Only the magnitude representation, but
      not the order representation, can be modified episodically by sensorimotor
      learning. 

PMID- 25813899
TI  - Electrophysiological difference between the representations of causal judgment
      and associative judgment in semantic memory.
AB  - Causally related concepts like "virus" and "epidemic" and general associatively
      related concepts like "ring" and "emerald" are represented and accessed
      separately. The Evoked Response Potential (ERP) procedure was used to examine the
      representations of causal judgment and associative judgment in semantic memory.
      Participants were required to remember a task cue (causal or associative)
      presented at the beginning of each trial, and assess whether the relationship
      between subsequently presented words matched the initial task cue. The ERP data
      showed that an N400 effect (250-450 ms) was more negative for unrelated words
      than for all related words. Furthermore, the N400 effect elicited by causal
      relations was more positive than for associative relations in causal cue
      condition, whereas no significant difference was found in the associative cue
      condition. The centrally distributed late ERP component (650-750 ms) elicited by
      the causal cue condition was more positive than for the associative cue
      condition. These results suggested that the processing of causal judgment and
      associative judgment in semantic memory recruited different degrees of
      attentional and executive resources.

PMID- 25813900
TI  - A simple HPLC-UV method for the determination of ciprofloxacin in human plasma.
AB  - A rapid and sensitive HPLC-UV method for the determination of ciprofloxacin in
      human plasma is described. Protein precipitation with acetonitrile was used to
      separate the drug from plasma protein. An ACE((r)) 5 C18 column (250 mm*4.6 mm, 5
      MUm) with an isocratic mobile phase consisting of phosphate buffer (pH 2.7) and
      acetonitrile (77:23, v/v) was used for separation. The UV detector was set at 277
      nm. The method was validated in the linear range of 0.05-8 MUg/ml with acceptable
      inter- and intra-assay precision, accuracy and stability. The method is simple
      and rapid and can be used to quantify this widely used antibiotic in the plasma
      of patients suffering from Peripheral Arterial Disease.

PMID- 25813901
TI  - A HPLC-fluorescence method for the quantification of abiraterone in plasma from
      patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
AB  - Abiraterone acetate is an oral prodrug of abiraterone, a selective inhibitor of
      CYP17, used for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer
      (mCRPC). To date, a single liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectroscopy method
      has been reported to assay abiraterone concentration in plasma from mCRPC
      patients. The aim of this study was to develop a simple and sensitive high
      performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method with fluorescence detection for
      quantification of abiraterone in plasma from mCRPC patients. After protein
      precipitation with acetonitrile and a liquid-liquid extraction with diethyl
      ether, abiraterone, and hydroxy-itraconazole (internal standard) were separated
      on a C8 Xterra((r)) MS column using a mobile phase of acetonitrile and glycine
      buffer 88.4 mM (pH 9.0) (60:40, v/v). Samples were eluted isocratically at a flow
      rate of 0.9 ml/min throughout an 11-min run. Fluorescence wavelengths' excitation
      and emission were 255 and 373 nm, respectively. The calibration was linear in the
      range 1.75-50 ng/ml. Inter- and intraday imprecision were less than 3.5 and 7%,
      respectively. This method is simple, sensitive, and selective. This analytical
      method was successfully applied to determine the steady-state plasma exposure to
      abiraterone in mCRPC patients. This method can be used in routine clinical
      practice to monitor plasma abiraterone concentrations in mCRPC patients.

PMID- 25813902
TI  - A sensitive and rapid HPLC-MS/MS method for the quantitative determination of
      trace amount of bromocriptine in small clinical prolactinoma tissue.
AB  - Usually, insufficient intratumoral concentration of therapeutic drugs is one of
      the reasons for tumor treatment failure. However, little is known about
      intratumoral distribution of bromocriptine in non-responding prolactinomas
      because of extremely low drug concentration and small prolactinoma tissue
      samples. In this study, a sensitive, rapid and high-throughput quantitative
      bioanalytical method has been established by using high-performance liquid
      chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) for the determination of
      bromocriptine at trace level in human prolactinoma tissue. As little as 20 mg
      (wet weight) tissue sample was required and total analysis time was 6 min in this
      method. The assay quantifies over a linear range of 50 fg/mg to 5 pg/mg, and has
      a 25 fg/mg limit of detection at a signal/noise ratio of 3. This validated method
      was successfully used to quantitatively determine bromocriptine in clinical post
      operative bromocriptine-sensitive and -resistant prolactinomas. The results
      revealed bromocriptine concentration in resistant prolactinomas (0.49-1.25 pg/mg)
      was significantly higher than that in sensitive prolactinomas (0.057-0.47 pg/mg).
      These results provided direct evidence to demonstrate the reseaon for failure of
      bromocriptine treatment in some patients with prolactinoma was "intrinsic" tumor
      (cell) resistence, rather than insufficient drug concentration in tumor tissue.
      Additionaly, this HPLC-MS/MS method has been shown to be suitable for
      bromocriptine analysis in small amount tissue sample and could be adapted for
      therapeutic drug monitoring of other clinical medicine.

PMID- 25813903
TI  - Determination of the metabolic profile of gentianine after oral administration to
      rats by high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-trap mass
      spectrometry.
AB  - We investigated the metabolic fate of gentianine after oral administration to
      Wistar rats for the first time. Liquid chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry
      detected four metabolites secogentianoxide, gentiandiol, gentianepoxide and
      gentianoxide in rat plasma together with the original compound gentianine. The
      structures of the metabolites were identified by comparing the retention times,
      as well as MS (mass) and MS/MS (tandem mass) spectra with those of authentic
      compounds, which were synthesized from gentianine or isolated from the urine.
      Three of the metabolites, secogentianoxide, gentianepoxide and gentianoxide, are
      novel compounds. The major in vivo metabolic processes associated with gentianine
      include N-oxide, epoxidation, dihydroxylation of double bond and hydrolysis of
      lactone. Gentianine together with the metabolites in plasma were quantified using
      gentianone as the internal standard. The mean C(max) of G0, G1, G2 and G3 are
      425.76, 287.56, 188.45 and 85.05 ng/mL, respectively. The mean T(max) of G0, G1,
      G2 and G3 are 1.16, 3.87, 6.23 and 4.28 h, respectively. The mean T(1/2) of G0,
      G1, G2 and G3 are 5.23, 12.34, 7.78 and 5.64 h, respectively. A comprehensive
      metabolic pathway was proposed. The new metabolites may shed light on clinical
      efficacy of gentianine.

PMID- 25813904
TI  - X-ray fluorescence microscopy demonstrates preferential accumulation of a
      vanadium-based magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent in murine colonic
      tumors.
AB  - Contrast agents that specifically enhance cancers on magnetic resonance imaging
      (MRI) will allow earlier detection. Vanadium-based chelates (VCs) selectively
      enhance rodent cancers on MRI, suggesting selective uptake of VCs by cancers.
      Here we report x-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) of VC uptake by murine colon
      cancer. Colonic tumors in mice treated with azoxymethane/dextran sulfate sodium
      were identified by MRI. Then a gadolinium-based contrast agent and a VC were
      injected intravenously; mice were sacrificed and colons sectioned. VC
      distribution was sampled at 120 minutes after injection to evaluate the long-term
      accumulation. Gadolinium distribution was sampled at 10 minutes after injection
      due to its rapid washout. XFM was performed on 72 regions of normal and cancerous
      colon from five normal mice and four cancer-bearing mice. XFM showed that all
      gadolinium was extracellular, with similar concentrations in colon cancers and
      normal colon. In contrast, the average VC concentration was twofold higher in
      cancers versus normal tissue (p < .002). Cancers also contained numerous "hot
      spots" with intracellular VC concentrations sixfold higher than the concentration
      in normal colon (p < .0001). No hot spots were detected in normal colon. This is
      the first direct demonstration that VCs selectively accumulate in cancer cells
      and thus may improve cancer detection.

PMID- 25813905
TI  - Improving adjuvant systems for polyclonal egg yolk antibody (IgY) production in
      laying hens in terms of productivity and animal welfare.
AB  - The antibody production in the egg yolks of immunized laying hens is seen as a
      way of improving animal welfare compared with conventional production by mammals.
      Immunoglobulin Y (IgY) technology, however, has still to address welfare issues
      linked to the widespread use of an adjuvant in vaccines. Currently, Freund's
      adjuvants, complete (FCA) or incomplete (FIA), remain the standard. This study
      sought to evaluate various approaches used to enhance egg yolk antibody
      production in terms of both productivity and avian welfare. The outer membrane
      protein (OMP) of Salmonella Typhimurium was used as the prototype antigen. At 20
      weeks of age, 56 ISA Brown hens, with specific-Salmonella-free status, were
      divided into seven groups (n=8) and received an initial intramuscular
      immunization. Hens in the two negative control groups received phosphate buffered
      saline (PBS) or FIA alone. Hens in the other groups received 80MUg of Salmonella
      OMP emulsified with one of the following adjuvants: 200MUl of FIA alone (T1);
      200MUl of FIA supplemented with 8MUg of C-phosphate-guanosine
      oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG-ODN) (T2); and 280MUl of Montanide ISA 70 VG (T4).
      Birds in the T3 group received the antigen in emulsion with FIA and were given
      the tested immunostimulatory component (l-carnitine) via their feed (100mg/kg). A
      positive control group (PC) received FCA for the first and final immunizations
      and FIA for the other boosters. Immunization was repeated after 20, 46, 82 and
      221 days. Eggs were collected regularly until 242 days after the first
      immunization and the anti-Salmonella Typhimurium activities in the yolk were
      determined by ELISA. After 242 days, the birds were euthanized and the injection
      sites were evaluated for gross and microscopic lesions. Among the tested
      immunostimulatory approaches, supplementation of FIA with CpG-ODN led to a
      significant and long-lasting enhancement of the specific antibody response. This
      treatment was even higher than the positive benchmark using FCA in the first
      immunization. The study results showed that a clinical examination of injection
      sites is insufficient for drawing conclusions about the local tolerance of
      vaccines. Tissue damage was noticeable in all treatment groups. The birds
      receiving the Montanide adjuvant, however, had fewer and less severe lesions.
      Given these limited side-effects, Montanide ISA 70 VG could provide the depot
      effect needed to ensure the immunomodulatory efficiency of CpG-ODN. The
      association of these two adjuvants could prove a promising alternative to
      Freund's adjuvants (FA). 

PMID- 25813906
TI  - A comparison of chewing rate between overweight and normal BMI individuals.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Previous attempts to identify an 'obese eating style' have led to
      conflicting findings. This observational study compared the chewing features of
      overweight or obese young adults with those of normal range BMI. We hypothesised
      that chewing features are individual-specific and differ between participants of
      a normal BMI and high BMI. METHODS: Fourteen overweight to obese participants
      (BMI>=25.0) were pairwise matched with 14 normal range BMI participants
      (18.5<BMI<25.0). Masticatory muscle activity was recorded using portable
      recorders during consumption of two rice meals in a laboratory setting and one
      pizza meal in the natural environment. A previously validated algorithm was used
      to assess time-frequency features of chewing episodes, including rate, duration,
      and power. Masticatory performance was assessed by a sieve test and was expressed
      as the percentage of particles <=2mm after a standardised chewing test. RESULTS:
      Regardless of the meal, chewing rate was remarkably consistent among participants
      (ICC=0.89; 95% CI=0.79-0.94). Chewing rate did not differ between high and normal
      BMI participants (p>0.05), whereas chewing power was significantly higher in high
      BMI participants (p<0.05). No other differences in chewing characteristics were
      found between BMI groups. Participants chewed at similar rate in the natural
      environment (pizza) and in the laboratory (rice) setting (p>0.05). Masticatory
      performance did not differ significantly (p>0.05) between the high (55.9%) and
      normal (52.4%) BMI groups. CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitations of the present
      study, chewing characteristics appear to be individual-specific with wide
      variability. Overweight participants chew at a similar rate to control
      participants, albeit slightly stronger. Our preliminary findings need to be
      replicated in larger samples.

PMID- 25813908
TI  - Low serum TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) levels are associated
      with acute ischemic stroke severity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a member of the
      tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily and its serum level is known to be
      closely associated with future cardiovascular events and prognosis of various
      cardiovascular diseases. We investigated whether serum TRAIL levels are
      associated with the severity of acute ischemic stroke and specific stroke
      subtype. METHODS: We used an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to measure the
      serum TRAIL levels of 293 patients with acute ischemic stroke within 7 days of
      onset. Stroke subtype was classified as large artery atherosclerosis,
      cardioembolism, small vessel occlusion and other determined etiology. We used
      National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score of first hospital day and
      stroke volume on diffusion-weighted imaging within 7 days of stroke onset for
      measuring the severity of acute ischemic stroke. RESULTS: The level of serum
      TRAIL showed significant negative correlations with NIHSS score and stroke
      volume. Serum TRAIL levels significantly decreased as the tertile of NIHSS score
      and stroke volume increased. The relative risk of patients with serum TRAIL<64.0
      pg/mL for the presence of highest tertile of NIHSS score was significantly
      increased (adjusted OR [95%CI]; 7.07 [3.64-13.74]). Regarding stroke volume, the
      relative risk of patients with serum TRAIL<71.5 pg/mL for the presence of highest
      tertile of stroke volume was also significantly increased (adjusted OR [95%CI];
      2.81 [1.61-4.92]). There are no significant differences of serum TRAIL level
      among stroke subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: Low serum TRAIL levels were significantly
      associated with the acute ischemic stroke severity. This finding suggests that
      serum TRAIL might also have a role in acute ischemic stroke as well as other
      cardiovascular diseases.

PMID- 25813907
TI  - The obesity-associated transcription factor ETV5 modulates circulating
      glucocorticoids.
AB  - The transcription factor E-twenty-six version 5 (ETV5) has been linked with
      obesity in genome-wide association studies. Moreover, ETV5-deficient mice
      (knockout; KO) have reduced body weight, lower fat mass, and are resistant to
      diet-induced obesity, directly linking ETV5 to the regulation of energy balance
      and metabolism. ETV5 is expressed in hypothalamic brain regions that regulate
      both metabolism and HPA axis activity, suggesting that ETV5 may also modulate HPA
      axis function. In order to test this possibility, plasma corticosterone levels
      were measured in ETV5 KO and wildtype (WT) mice before (pre-stress) and after
      (post-stress) a mild stressor (intraperitoneal injection). ETV5 deficiency
      increased both pre- and post-stress plasma corticosterone, suggesting that loss
      of ETV5 elevated glucocorticoid tone. Consistent with this idea, ETV5 KO mice
      have reduced thymus weight, suggestive of increased glucocorticoid-induced thymic
      involution. ETV5 deficiency also decreased the mRNA expression of glucocorticoid
      receptor (GR), mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), and vasopressin receptor 1A in
      the hypothalamus, without altering vasopressin, corticotropin-releasing hormone,
      or oxytocin mRNA expression. In order to test whether reduced MR and GR
      expression affected glucocorticoid negative feedback, a dexamethasone suppression
      test was performed. Dexamethasone reduced plasma corticosterone in both ETV5 KO
      and WT mice, suggesting that glucocorticoid negative feedback was unaltered by
      ETV5 deficiency. In summary, these data suggest that the obesity-associated
      transcription factor ETV5 normally acts to diminish circulating glucocorticoids.
      This might occur directly via ETV5 actions on HPA-regulatory brain circuitry,
      and/or indirectly via ETV5-induced alterations in metabolic factors that then
      influence the HPA axis. 

PMID- 25813909
TI  - Ethanol production from rape straw by a two-stage pretreatment under mild
      conditions.
AB  - The growing interest on rape oil as raw material for biodiesel production has
      resulted in an increasing availability of rape straw, an agricultural residue
      that is an attractive renewable source for the production of second-generation
      bioethanol. Pretreatment is one of the key steps in such a conversion process. In
      this work, a sequential two-stage pretreatment with dilute sulfuric acid (130 
      degrees C, 60 min, 2% w/v H2SO4) followed by H2O2 (1-5% w/v) in alkaline medium
      (NaOH) at low temperature (60, 90  degrees C) and at different pretreatment times
      (30-90 min) was investigated. The first-acid stage allows the solubilisation of
      hemicellulose fraction into fermentable sugars. The second-alkaline peroxide
      stage allows the delignification of the solid material whilst the cellulose
      remaining in rape straw turned highly digestible by cellulases. Simultaneous
      saccharification and fermentation with 15% (w/v) delignified substrate at 90 
      degrees C, 5% H2O2 for 60 min, led to a maximum ethanol production of 53 g/L and
      a yield of 85% of the theoretical.

PMID- 25813910
TI  - Dynamic Intraligamentary Stabilization (DIS) for treatment of acute anterior
      cruciate ligament ruptures: case series experience of the first three years.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In recent years, the scientific discussion has focused on new
      strategies to enable a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) to heal into
      mechanically stable scar tissue. Dynamic intraligamentary stabilization (DIS) was
      first performed in a pilot study of 10 patients. The purpose of the current study
      was to evaluate whether DIS would lead to similarly sufficient stability and good
      clinical function in a larger case series. METHODS: Acute ACL ruptures were
      treated by using an internal stabilizer, combined with anatomical repositioning
      of torn bundles and microfracturing to promote self-healing. Clinical assessment
      (Tegner, Lysholm, IKDC, and visual analogue scale [VAS] for patient satisfaction
      scores) and assessment of knee laxity was performed at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. A
      one-sample design with a non-inferiority margin was chosen to compare the
      preoperative and postoperative IKDS and Lysholm scores. RESULTS: 278 patients
      with a 6:4 male to female ratio were included. Average patient age was 31 years.
      Preoperative mean IKDC, Lysholm, and Tegner scores were 98.8, 99.3, and 5.1
      points, respectively. The mean anteroposterior (AP) translation difference from
      the healthy contralateral knee was 4.7 mm preoperatively. After DIS treatment,
      the mean 12-month IKDC, Lysholm, and Tegner scores were 93.6, 96.2, and 4.9
      points, respectively, and the mean AP translation difference was 2.3 mm. All
      these outcomes were significantly non-inferior to the preoperative or healthy
      contralateral values (p < 0.0001). Mean patient satisfaction was 8.8 (VAS 0-10).
      Eight ACL reruptures occurred and 3 patients reported insufficient subjective
      stability of the knee at the end of the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Anatomical
      repositioning, along with DIS and microfracturing, leads to clinically stable
      healing of the torn ACL in the large majority of patients. Most patients
      exhibited almost normal knee function, reported excellent satisfaction, and were
      able to return to their previous levels of sporting activity. Moreover, this
      strategy resulted in stable healing of all sutured menisci, which could lower the
      rate of osteoarthritic changes in future. The present findings support the
      discussion of a new paradigm in ACL treatment based on preservation and self
      healing of the torn ligament.

PMID- 25813911
TI  - Preventive effects of bortezomib on denervation-induced atrophy of the intrinsic
      laryngeal muscles: an experimental study in the rat.
AB  - CONCLUSION: Bortezomib was effective in attenuating atrophy of the posterior
      cricoarytenoid (PCA) muscle, but not the thyroarytenoid (TA) muscle. This was
      probably due to differences in the fiber composition of the two muscles. The PCA
      muscle is composed of a combination of fast- and slow-twitch fibers, and
      therefore is more resistant to atrophy than the TA muscle, which is composed
      solely of fast-twitch fibers. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the preventive effects
      of bortezomib on denervation-induced atrophy of the TA and PCA muscles in the
      rat. METHODS: Following transection of the left recurrent laryngeal nerve,
      bortezomib (100 MUg/kg) was administered subcutaneously on post-denervation days
      1 and 4, followed by a 10-day rest period every 14 days; each 2-week period
      constituted a single treatment cycle. In controls, saline was administered
      instead. Animals were killed for histological examination at 4 (n = 6), 8 (n =
      7), and 12 (n = 7) weeks post-denervation. Muscle atrophy was assessed using
      three indices: wet muscle weight, muscle fiber cross-sectional area, and the
      number of muscle fibers/mm(2). The effects of bortezomib were evaluated by
      comparing the left (L) and right (R) muscles, with sequential changes in the L/R
      ratio assessed. RESULTS: In saline-administered animals, atrophy of the left
      sided TA and PCA muscles progressed rapidly during the first 4 weeks post
      denervation, following which progression slowed. Atrophy was greater in the TA
      compared with the PCA muscle, although this difference was not statistically
      significant. In bortezomib-administered animals, atrophy of the PCA muscle was
      attenuated significantly at post-denervation weeks 8 and 12; no such reduction in
      atrophy was observed for the TA muscle.

PMID- 25813912
TI  - Severe cytomegalovirus infection in a second kidney transplant recipient treated
      with ganciclovir, leflunomide, and immunoglobulins, with complications including
      seizures, acute HCV infection, drug-induced pancytopenia, diabetes, cholangitis,
      and multi-organ failure with fatal outcome: a case report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cytomegaly remains one of the most common infectious complications in
      organ transplant recipients, and the course of the infection may have a negative
      effect on survival of the transplant and recipient. CASE REPORT: We describe the
      case of a 32-year-old female patient who received a second kidney transplant from
      a cadaveric donor in July 2012, treated successfully with ganciclovir for primary
      CMV infection in August 2012 and then re-treated from November due to re
      infection. The viral load at the start of re-treatment was 6 million copies. In
      view of ganciclovir treatment failure, Sando immunoglobulins were administered.
      Subsequently, when CMV viral load increased to 18 million copies, a decision was
      made to use combination treatment with leflunomide and ganciclovir.
      Immunosuppressive treatment was also modified by administering everolimus in view
      of its potential antiviral activity. Seizures, pancytopenia, diabetes, diarrhoea,
      and (probably) drug-induced liver damage and cholangitis were observed in the
      course of treatment. At 3 months of hospitalization, the patient was discharged
      home with viral load of 8000 copies. As treatment continuation, she received
      valganciclovir at the full therapeutic dose in view of very good kidney function
      (creatinine 0.7 mg/dl). The patient was re-hospitalized after 10 days due to
      fever and cough. Due to abnormal liver function test results and negative serum
      markers of viral hepatitis, HCV RNA was tested, with a positive result (above
      10^8 copies). Subsequently, decline in clinical status, overhydration, increasing
      creatinine levels, hepatic failure signs, and renewed CMV DNA increase to 520 000
      copies were observed. Despite intensive treatment, the patient died of multi
      organ failure. CONCLUSIONS: The case described illustrates the difficulties in
      the treatment of CMV infection and its possible dramatic complications.

PMID- 25813913
TI  - Spectrally encoded slit confocal microscopy using a wavelength-swept laser.
AB  - We present an implementation of spectrally encoded slit confocal microscopy. The
      method employs a rapid wavelength-swept laser as the light source and illuminates
      a specimen with a line focus that scans through the specimen as the wavelength
      sweeps. The reflected light from the specimen is imaged with a stationary line
      scan camera, in which the finite pixel height serves as a slit aperture. This
      scanner-free operation enables a simple and cost-effective implementation in a
      small form factor, while allowing for the three-dimensional imaging of biological
      samples.

PMID- 25813914
TI  - Errata: Two-stage multi-Gaussian fitting of conduit artery photoplethysmography
      waveform during induced unilateral hemodynamic events.

PMID- 25813915
TI  - Patterns of Child Mental Health Service Delivery in a Public System: Rural
      Children and the Role of Rural Residence.
AB  - This study uses existing data from Hawaii's public mental health system for
      children and youth as an example of a state-level examination of service use
      patterns and health care disparities. The purpose of this study was to compare
      differences in mental health service utilization between rural and non-rural
      children, especially use of residential services. This study used a performance
      measure approach to conduct multi-level modeling on existing administrative data
      to examine the impact of community factors on service utilization. Rural children
      were found to have the most serious levels of mental health problems at intake,
      more likely to be placed in out-of-home care, more likely to receive only out-of
      home care, more likely to in stay out-of-home longer, and less likely to receive
      follow-up care than their non-rural counterparts. Practice, policy, and research
      implications are discussed. 

PMID- 25813917
TI  - Multiple regenerative nodular hyperplasia in the left infrarenal vena cava
      accompanied by Abernethy malformation.
AB  - The current study presents the case of a 19-year-old male patient who was
      detected with an increased alanine aminotransferase and aspartate transaminase
      levels during a preoperative evaluation of the right inguinal hernia operation
      and was later found to have Abernethy malformation accompanied by multiple
      regenerative nodular hyperplasia and left intra renal inferior vena cava.
      Regenerative nodular hyperplasia accompanying these two abnormalities is
      extremely rare and to the best of our knowledge, such a case has not been
      reported to date. Abdominal ultrasound (US) and color Doppler US, dynamic
      abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and portography examinations were
      performed and a type 2 Abernethy malformation, partial malrotation of the
      inferior vena cava, and regenerative nodular hyperplasia were detected. We aimed
      to discuss the radiological signs of these two accompanying abnormalities with a
      literature review.

PMID- 25813916
TI  - Compromised small-world efficiency of structural brain networks in schizophrenic
      patients and their unaffected parents.
AB  - Several lines of evidence suggest that efficient information integration between
      brain regions is disrupted in schizophrenia. Abnormalities in white matter tracts
      that interconnect brain regions may be directly relevant to this
      pathophysiological process. As a complex mental disorder with high heritability,
      mapping abnormalities in patients and their first-degree relatives may help to
      disentangle the risk factors for schizophrenia. We established a weighted network
      model of white matter connections using diffusion tensor imaging in 25 nuclear
      families with schizophrenic probands (19 patients and 41 unaffected parents) and
      two unrelated groups of normal controls (24 controls matched with patients and 26
      controls matched with relatives). The patient group showed lower global
      efficiency and local efficiency. The decreased regional efficiency was localized
      in hubs such as the bilateral frontal cortices, bilateral anterior cingulate
      cortices, and left precuneus. The global efficiency was negatively correlated
      with cognition scores derived from a 5-factor model of schizophrenic
      psychopathology. We also found that unaffected parents displayed decreased
      regional efficiency in the right temporal cortices, left supplementary motor
      area, left superior temporal pole, and left thalamus. The global efficiency
      tended to be lower in unaffected parents. Our data suggest that (1) the global
      efficiency loss in neuroanatomical networks may be associated with the cognitive
      disturbances in schizophrenia; and (2) genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia may
      influence the anatomical organization of an individual's brain networks. 

PMID- 25813918
TI  - A rare case of impacted maxillary first premolar.
AB  - Among the dental and maxillary anomalies, impacted teeth are frequently
      encountered. However, the incidence of impaction of maxillary first premolars is
      very low. Herewith, we report a rare case of impacted maxillary left first
      premolar, in a vertical position, with the apical two-thirds of the root situated
      in the angle between the medial and antero-lateral walls of the maxillary sinus.
      The persistence of the maxillary left primary canine was also observed. The cone
      beam computed tomography evaluation of the case identified the close proximity of
      the impacted tooth with the root of the permanent canine and the nasal fossa. The
      finding may be helpful to dental practitioners, not only to anticipate the
      difficulties which may occur during surgical interventions, but also to prevent
      possible complications, such as maxillary infections or root resorptions. 

PMID- 25813919
TI  - Coexpression of type 2 immune targets in sputum-derived epithelial and dendritic
      cells from asthmatic subjects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Noninvasive sputum sampling has enabled the identification of
      biomarkers in asthmatic patients. Studies of discrete cell populations in sputum
      can enhance measurements compared with whole sputum in which changes in rare
      cells and cell-cell interactions can be masked. OBJECTIVE: We sought to enrich
      for sputum-derived human bronchial epithelial cells (sHBECs) and sputum-derived
      myeloid type 1 dendritic cells (sDCs) to describe transcriptional coexpression of
      targets associated with a type 2 immune response. METHODS: A case-control study
      was conducted with patients with mild asthma (asthmatic cases) and healthy
      control subjects. Induced sputum was obtained for simultaneous enrichment of
      sHBECs and sDCs by using flow cytometry. Quantitative PCR was used to measure
      mRNA for sHBEC thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), IL33, POSTN, and IL25 and
      downstream targets in sDCs (OX40 ligand [OX40L], CCL17, PPP1R14A, CD1E, CD1b,
      CD80, and CD86). RESULTS: Final analyses for the study sample were based on 11
      control subjects and 13 asthmatic cases. Expression of TSLP, IL33, and POSTN mRNA
      was increased in sHBECs in asthmatic cases (P = .001, P = .05, and P = .04,
      respectively). Expression of sDC OX40L and CCL17 mRNA was increased in asthmatic
      cases (P = .003 and P = .0001, respectively). sHBEC TSLP mRNA expression was
      strongly associated with sDC OX40L mRNA expression (R = 0.65, P = .001) and less
      strongly with sDC CCL17 mRNA expression. sHBEC IL33 mRNA expression was
      associated with sDC OX40L mRNA expression (R = 0.42, P = .04) but not sDC CCL17
      mRNA expression. CONCLUSIONS: Noninvasive sampling and enrichment of select cell
      populations from sputum can further our understanding of cell-cell interactions
      in asthmatic patients with the potential to enhance endotyping of asthmatic
      patients.

PMID- 25813920
TI  - Effect of radial head implant shape on joint contact area and location during
      static loading.
AB  - PURPOSE: To examine the effect of implant shape on radiocapitellar joint contact
      area and location in vitro. METHODS: We used 8 fresh-frozen cadaveric upper
      extremities. An elbow loading simulator examined joint contact in pronation,
      neutral rotation, and supination with the elbow at 90 degrees  flexion. Muscle
      tendons were attached to pneumatic actuators to allow for computer-controlled
      loading to achieve the desired forearm rotation. We performed testing with the
      native radial head, an axisymmetric implant, a reverse-engineered patient
      specific implant, and a population-based quasi-anatomic implant. Implants were
      inserted using computer navigation. Contact area and location were quantified
      using a casting technique. RESULTS: We found no significant difference between
      contact locations for the native radial head and the 3 implants. All of the
      implants had a contact area lower than the native radial head; however, only the
      axisymmetric implant was significantly different. There was no significant
      difference in contact area between implant shapes. CONCLUSIONS: The similar
      contact areas and locations of the 3 implant designs suggest that the shape of
      the implant may not be important with respect to radiocapitellar joint contact
      mechanics when placed optimally using computer navigation. Further work is needed
      to explore the sensitivity of radial head implant malpositioning on articular
      contact. The lower contact area of the radial head implants relative to the
      native radial head is similar to previous benchtop studies and is likely the
      result of the greater stiffness of the implant. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Radial head
      implant shape does not appear to have a pronounced influence on articular
      contact, and both axisymmetric and anatomic metal designs result in elevated
      cartilage stress relative to the intact state.

PMID- 25813921
TI  - Implications of radial head hemiarthroplasty dish depth on radiocapitellar
      contact mechanics.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of radial head implant dish depth on
      radiocapitellar joint contact mechanics. METHODS: Computed tomography images of
      13 fresh-frozen cadaveric humeri were reconstructed into 3-dimensional finite
      element models with accurate cartilage geometry. Native humeri were paired with
      the corresponding native radial heads and axisymmetric radial head prosthesis
      models of the following dish depths: 1.0 mm, 1.5 mm, 2.0 mm, 2.5 mm, and 3.0 mm.
      Radiocapitellar contact mechanics were quantified at 4 different flexion angles
      (0 degrees , 45 degrees , 90 degrees , and 135 degrees ) with a 100-N axial load
      applied to the radial head using a modeling protocol previously validated by
      cadaveric studies. The radial head was permitted to translate freely to its
      optimal position while the humerus was fully constrained. Output variables were
      contact area and peak contact stress. RESULTS: All prostheses had significantly
      decreased contact area and increased peak contact stress at all flexion angles
      relative to the native radiocapitellar joint. Contact area increased with
      prosthesis dish depth until reaching a plateau with a predicted local maximum at
      a mean depth of 3.2 +/- 0.7 mm. Peak contact stress was elevated for both the
      shallowest and deepest models and reached a predicted local minimum at a mean
      depth of 1.8 +/- 0.3 mm. CONCLUSIONS: Contact area and peak contact stress were
      dependent on radial head prosthesis dish depth. There was an optimal implant dish
      depth for radiocapitellar contact mechanics at approximately 2 mm. CLINICAL
      RELEVANCE: Optimizing radiocapitellar contact mechanics using rigorous and
      systematic prosthesis design techniques may lead to better clinical outcomes due
      to reduced capitellar cartilage degradation.

PMID- 25813922
TI  - Commentary on "Trends in carpal tunnel surgery: an online survey of members of
      the American Society for Surgery of the Hand".

PMID- 25813923
TI  - Accredited hand surgery fellowship Web sites: analysis of content and
      accessibility.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the accessibility and content of accredited hand surgery
      fellowship Web sites. METHODS: A list of all accredited hand surgery fellowships
      was obtained from the online database of the American Society for Surgery of the
      Hand (ASSH). Fellowship program information on the ASSH Web site was recorded.
      All fellowship program Web sites were located via Google search. Fellowship
      program Web sites were analyzed for accessibility and content in 3 domains:
      program overview, application information/recruitment, and education. RESULTS: At
      the time of this study, there were 81 accredited hand surgery fellowships with
      169 available positions. Thirty of 81 programs (37%) had a functional link on the
      ASSH online hand surgery fellowship directory; however, Google search identified
      78 Web sites. Three programs did not have a Web site. Analysis of content
      revealed that most Web sites contained contact information, whereas information
      regarding the anticipated clinical, research, and educational experiences during
      fellowship was less often present. Furthermore, information regarding past and
      present fellows, salary, application process/requirements, call responsibilities,
      and case volume was frequently lacking. Overall, 52 of 81 programs (64%) had the
      minimal online information required for residents to independently complete the
      fellowship application process. CONCLUSIONS: Hand fellowship program Web sites
      could be accessed either via the ASSH online directory or Google search, except
      for 3 programs that did not have Web sites. Although most fellowship program Web
      sites contained contact information, other content such as application
      information/recruitment and education, was less frequently present. CLINICAL
      RELEVANCE: This study provides comparative data regarding the clinical and
      educational experiences outlined on hand fellowship program Web sites that are of
      relevance to residents, fellows, and academic hand surgeons. This study also
      draws attention to various ways in which the hand surgery fellowship application
      process can be made more user-friendly and efficient.

PMID- 25813924
TI  - Thumb ligament injuries.
AB  - Thumb ligament injuries are common, particularly those involving the
      metacarpophalangeal joint. Our understanding and treatment of these injuries
      continues to evolve. This article provides a comprehensive review of recent
      literature with updates pertaining to the anatomy, function, diagnosis, and
      treatment of thumb ligament injuries. 

PMID- 25813925
TI  - In reply.

PMID- 25813926
TI  - Response to "Direct radial to ulnar nerve transfer to restore intrinsic muscle
      function in combined proximal median and ulnar nerve injury: case report and
      surgical technique".

PMID- 25813927
TI  - Bunnell technique and bidirectional barbed suture for flexor tendon repair.

PMID- 25813928
TI  - In reply.

PMID- 25813929
TI  - Letter regarding "Restoration of the central slip in congenital form of
      boutonniere deformity: case report".

PMID- 25813930
TI  - In reply.

PMID- 25813931
TI  - In reply.

PMID- 25813932
TI  - Regarding "The effect of brachioradialis release during distal radius fracture
      fixation on elbow flexion strength and wrist function".

PMID- 25813933
TI  - Letter regarding "Radiocapitellar joint contact pressures following radial head
      arthroplasty".

PMID- 25813934
TI  - In reply.

PMID- 25813935
TI  - Anti-cancer effects of cerium oxide nanoparticles and its intracellular redox
      activity.
AB  - Data on medical applications of cerium oxide nanoparticles CeO2 (CONP) are
      promising, yet information regarding their action in cells is incomplete and
      there are conflicting reports about in vitro toxicity. Herein, we have studied
      cytotoxic effect of CONP in several cancer and normal cell lines and their
      potential to change intracellular redox status. The IC50 was achieved only in two
      of eight tested cell lines, melanoma 518A2 and colorectal adenocarcinoma HT-29.
      Self-propagating room temperature method was applied to produce CONP with an
      average crystalline size of 4 nm. The results confirmed presence of Ce(3+) and
      O(2-) vacancies. The induction of cell death by CONP and the production of
      reactive oxygen species (ROS) were analyzed by flow-cytometry. Free radicals
      related antioxidant capacity of the cells was studied by the reduction of stable
      free radical TEMPONE using electron spin resonance spectroscopy. CONP showed low
      or moderate cytotoxicity in cancer cell lines: adenocarcinoma DLD1 and multi-drug
      resistant DLD1-TxR, non-small cell lung carcinoma NCI-H460 and multi-drug
      resistant NCI-H460/R, while normal cell lines (keratinocytes HaCaT, lung fetal
      fibroblasts MRC-5) were insensitive. The most sensitive were 518A2 melanoma and
      HT-29 colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines, with the IC50 values being between
      100 and 200 MUM. Decreased rate of TEMPONE reduction and increased production of
      certain ROS species (peroxynitrite and hydrogen peroxide anion) indicates that
      free radical metabolism, thus redox status was changed, and antioxidant capacity
      damaged in the CONP treated 518A2 and HT-29 cells. In conclusion, changes in
      intracellular redox status induced by CONP are partly attributed to the
      prooxidant activity of the nanoparticles. Further, ROS induced cell damages might
      eventually lead to the cell death. However, low inhibitory potential of CONP in
      the other human cell lines tested indicates that CONP may be safe for human usage
      in industry and medicine.

PMID- 25813936
TI  - Use of transgenic mouse models to understand the oral disposition and drug-drug
      interaction potential of cobimetinib, a MEK inhibitor.
AB  - Data from the clinical absolute bioavailability (F) study with cobimetinib
      suggested that F was lower than predicted based on its low hepatic extraction and
      good absorption. The CYP3A4 transgenic (Tg) mouse model with differential
      expression of CYP3A4 in the liver (Cyp3a(-/-)Tg-3A4Hep) or intestine (Cyp3a(-/
      )Tg-3A4Int) and both liver and intestine (Cyp3a(-/-)Tg-3A4Hep/Int) were used to
      study the contribution of intestinal metabolism to the F of cobimetinib. In
      addition, the effect of CYP3A4 inhibition and induction on cobimetinib exposures
      was tested in the Cyp3a(-/-)Tg-3A4Hep/Int and PXR-CAR-CYP3A4/CYP3A7 mouse models,
      respectively. After i.v. administration of 1 mg/kg cobimetinib to wild-type [(WT)
      FVB], Cyp3a(-/-)Tg-3A4Hep, Cyp3a(-/-)Tg-3A4Int, or Cyp3a(-/-)Tg-3A4Hep/Int mice,
      clearance (CL) (26-35 ml/min/kg) was similar in the CYP3A4 transgenic and WT
      mice. After oral administration of 5 mg/kg cobimetinib, the area under the curve
      (AUC) values of cobimetinib in WT, Cyp3a(-/-)Tg-3A4Hep, Cyp3a(-/-)Tg-3A4Int, or
      Cyp3a(-/-)Tg-3A4Hep/Int mice were 1.35, 3.39, 1.04, and 0.701 MUM?h,
      respectively. The approximately 80% lower AUC of cobimetinib in transgenic mice
      when intestinal CYP3A4 was present suggested that the intestinal first pass
      contributed to the oral CL of cobimetinib. Oxidative metabolites observed in
      human circulation were also observed in the transgenic mice. In drug-drug
      interaction (DDI) studies using Cyp3a(-/-)Tg-3A4Hep/Int mice, 8- and 4-fold
      increases in oral and i.v. cobimetinib exposure, respectively, were observed with
      itraconazole co-administration. In PXR-CAR-CYP3A4/CYP3A7 mice, rifampin induction
      decreased cobimetinib oral exposure by approximately 80%. Collectively, these
      data support the conclusion that CYP3A4 intestinal metabolism contributes to the
      oral disposition of cobimetinib and suggest that under certain circumstances the
      transgenic model may be useful in predicting clinical DDIs. 

PMID- 25813940
TI  - Current issues in medical education: what is important?

PMID- 25813937
TI  - Evaluation of cynomolgus monkeys for the identification of endogenous biomarkers
      for hepatic transporter inhibition and as a translatable model to predict
      pharmacokinetic interactions with statins in humans.
AB  - Inhibition of hepatic transporters such as organic anion transporting
      polypeptides (OATPs) 1B can cause drug-drug interactions (DDIs). Determining the
      impact of perpetrator drugs on the plasma exposure of endogenous substrates for
      OATP1B could be valuable to assess the risk for DDIs early in drug development.
      As OATP1B orthologs are well conserved between human and monkey, we assessed in
      cynomolgus monkeys the endogenous OATP1B substrates that are potentially suitable
      to assess DDI risk in humans. The effect of rifampin (RIF), a potent inhibitor
      for OATP1B, on plasma exposure of endogenous substrates of hepatic transporters
      was measured. From the 18 biomarkers tested, RIF (18 mg/kg, oral) caused
      significant elevation of plasma unconjugated and conjugated bilirubin, which may
      be attributed to inhibition of cOATP1B1 and cOATP1B3 based on in vitro to in vivo
      extrapolation analysis. To further evaluate whether cynomolgus monkeys are a
      suitable translational model to study OATP1B-mediated DDIs, we determined the
      inhibitory effect of RIF on in vitro transport and pharmacokinetics of
      rosuvastatin (RSV) and atorvastatin (ATV). RIF strongly inhibited the uptake of
      RSV and ATV by cOATP1B1 and cOATP1B3 in vitro. In agreement with clinical
      observations, RIF (18 mg/kg, oral) significantly decreased plasma clearance and
      increased the area under the plasma concentration curve (AUC) of intravenously
      administered RSV by 2.8- and 2.7-fold, and increased the AUC and maximum plasma
      concentration of orally administered RSV by 6- and 10.3-fold, respectively. In
      contrast to clinical findings, RIF did not significantly increase plasma exposure
      of either intravenous or orally administered ATV, indicating species differences
      in the rate-limiting elimination pathways. 

PMID- 25813938
TI  - A role for antizyme inhibitor in cell proliferation.
AB  - The polyamines are important for a variety of cellular functions, including cell
      growth. Their intracellular concentrations are controlled by a complex network of
      regulatory mechanisms, in which antizyme (Az) has a key role. Az reduces the
      cellular polyamine content by down-regulating both the enzyme catalysing
      polyamine biosynthesis, ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), and the uptake of
      polyamines. The activity of Az is repressed by the binding of a protein, named Az
      inhibitor (AzI), which is an enzymatically inactive homologue of ODC. Two forms
      of AzI have been described: AzI1, which is ubiquitous, and AzI2 which is
      expressed in brain and testis. In the present study, we have investigated the
      role of AzI1 in polyamine homeostasis and cell proliferation in breast cancer
      cells. The results obtained showed that the cellular content of AzI increased
      transiently after induction of cell proliferation by diluting cells in fresh
      medium. Inhibition of polyamine biosynthesis induced an even larger increase in
      the cellular AzI content, which remained significantly elevated during the 7-day
      experimental period. However, this increase was not a consequence of changes in
      cell cycle progression, as demonstrated by flow cytometry. Instead, the increase
      appeared to correlate with the cellular depletion of polyamines. Moreover,
      induced overexpression of AzI resulted in an increased cell proliferation with a
      concomitant increase in ODC activity and putrescine content. During mitosis, AzI1
      was localised in a pattern that resembled that of the two centrosomes, confirming
      earlier observations. Taken together, the results indicate that AzI fulfils an
      essential regulatory function in polyamine homeostasis and cell proliferation. 

PMID- 25813939
TI  - Site-selective solid phase synthesis of carbonylated peptides.
AB  - The aim of our research was to design an efficient method for the solid phase
      synthesis of carbonylated peptides. For this purpose, we designed and synthesized
      a fully protected derivative Fmoc-amino(2,5,5-trimetyhyl-1,3-dioxolan-2-yl)acetic
      acid (Fmoc-Atda-OH) of a novel unnatural amino acid (Thr(O)-2-amino-3-oxo
      butanoic acid). To obtain the mentioned derivative, two synthetic strategies were
      investigated using different reagents for carbonyl protection, ethane-1,2-diol
      and 2,2-dimethyl-propane-1,3-diol. The racemization of oxidized threonine was
      also analyzed and discussed. We successfully carried out the solid phase
      synthesis of peptides containing a Thr(O) moiety using Fmoc-Atda-OH according to
      the standard Fmoc strategy. The application of the designed building block allows
      the synthesis of peptides containing D,L-Thr(O) residue, which may be used as
      models of oxidatively modified peptides which occur in biological systems and are
      related to many diseases. 

PMID- 25813941
TI  - Comparison of Patient-Physician Interaction (PPI) Evaluation between Different
      Grade Medical Students.
AB  - PURPOSE: A proper patient-physician interaction (PPI) creates rapport between
      doctors and patients and improves medical outcomes. The importance of PPI
      evaluation items was evaluated in each medical student in grades 3 and 4, before
      and after their clinical clerkship. METHODS: Six PPI evaluation guidelines
      (SEGUE, Kalamazoo Consensus, Calgary-Cambridge Guide, Macy guideline, 2 Korean
      Consortium guidelines) were selected and importance of each guideline was
      evaluated through the structured questionnaire in 73 pre-clinical clerkship (3rd
      grade) and 78 post-clinical clerkship (4th-grade) medical students. RESULTS: The
      importance of medical communication items among total clinical performance,
      students-rated PPI portion was 21+/-9.7%. In SEGUE recommendations, 'Elicit
      information' was evaluated to be most important items before (58.3%) and after
      (65.8%) clinical clerkship. In Kalamazoo Consensus, 'Gathering information' was
      evaluated to be most important (49.3%/42.3%), same as in Calgary-Cambridge Guide
      (52.1%/56.4%) and Daegu Gyeongbuk Consortium (47.9%/43.6%). In the Macy
      guideline, 'Listening' was evaluated to be most important (28.8%/33.3%). In the
      Seoul Gyeonggi Consortium, 'Buidling relationships' was evaluated to be most
      important (23.3%/28.2%). CONCLUSION: In the 4th-grade post-clerkship medical
      students after clinical clerkship, importance of 'Gathering information' was
      evaluated to be less important, however, 'Giving information' and 'Understanding
      the patient perspective' was evaluated to be more important, compared to pre
      clerkship students 3rd-grade students.

PMID- 25813942
TI  - Comprehension of Patient-Physician Interaction through Analysis of Relationships
      between Domains in Clinical Performance Examination.
AB  - PURPOSE: This research investigated the psychometric properties of the patient
      physician interaction (PPI) domain in the clinical performance examination (CPX).
      This research aimed to understand the PPI domain in the CPX through a
      psychometric and relationship analysis between the domains. METHODS: Data were
      drawn from 1,302 examinees on a set of 6 common CPX cases and 1,066 on a 'bad
      news delivery' case. All cases included 7 PPI items, among which we calculated
      internal consistency reliability. Correlations were made between PPI and the
      other domains. Analyses using the structural equation model (SEM) were conducted
      to assess the relationships between latent factors and controlled measurement
      errors. To calculate the disparity between colleges, we performed a multi-level
      analysis. Also, we conducted t-tests to investigate the consistency of the PPI
      and information sharing (IS) scores in the 'bad news delivery' case. RESULTS:
      Correlation between the mean PPI score and the total CPX score was high (0.707).
      The correlations between PPI and other domains were; 0.904 for the patient's
      overall satisfaction, 0.41 for history taking, and 0.327 for patient education.
      In SEM, these correlations between latent variables increased. The proportion of
      level-2 (between-school component) variance in PPI was 4.1%. For 'bad news
      delivery', the group that checked 'yes' on the IS items had higher PPI scores
      (mostly p<0.01). CONCLUSION: PPI is an influential domain of the CPX and is
      highly related with the patient's overall satisfaction, clinical courtesy, and
      history taking. Disparities between schools in PPI are relatively small, such
      that the PPI could be due to individual factors rather than the school.

PMID- 25813943
TI  - Development of a patient-doctor communication skills model for medical students.
AB  - PURPOSE: Communication is a core clinical skill that can be taught and learned.
      The authors intended to develop a patient-doctor communication model for teaching
      and assessing undergraduate medical students in Korea. METHODS: To develop a
      model, literature reviews and an iterative process of discussion between faculty
      members of a communication skills course for second year medical students were
      conducted. The authors extracted common communication skill competencies by
      comparing the Kalamazoo Consensus Statement, SEGUE framework communication
      skills, the Calgary Cambridge Observation Guides, and previous communication
      skills lists that have been used by the authors. The content validity, with
      regard to clinical importance and feasibility, was surveyed by both faculty
      physicians and students. RESULTS: The first version of the model consisted of 36
      items under 7 categories: initiating the session (8 items), building a
      relationship (6), gathering information (8), understanding a patient's
      perspectives (4), sharing information (4), reaching an agreement (3), and closing
      the session (3). It was used as a guide for both students and teachers in an
      actual communication skills course. At the end of the course, student performance
      was assessed using two 7-minute standardized patient interviews with a 34-item
      checklist. This assessment tool was modified from the first version of the model
      to reflect the case specificity of the scenarios. A patient-doctor communication
      model, which can be taught to those with limited patient care experience, was
      finally developed. CONCLUSION: We recommended a patient-doctor communication
      skills model that can be used for teaching and evaluating preclinical and
      clinical students. Further studies are needed to verify its validity and
      reliability.

PMID- 25813944
TI  - Relationship between Learning Strategies and Academic Achievement in Medical
      College and Graduate Medical School Students.
AB  - PURPOSE: Cognitive researchers assume that learning strategies are related to
      three types of learning processes: 'surface learning,' 'strategy learning,' and
      'deep learning.' A 'deep learning' approach is widely accepted to be associated
      with long-term success in medical school, contributing to the development of
      doctors who take desirable approaches to self-directed learning and studying in
      medical practice. Therefore, this study measured how medical students learn and
      determined whether the use of learning strategies differs between high and low
      academic performers. In addition, we compared medical college students with
      graduate medical school students with regard to the use of learning strategies.
      METHODS: To explore the learning strategies of students and their relation to
      academic achievement, we performed LIST (Learning Strategies in Higher Education
      Inventory) in a sample of 111 Year 1 medical students. RESULTS: Medical students
      with high academic performance scored higher in most learning strategies than low
      performers. Additionally, learning strategies were used more frequently by
      graduate medical school students than medical students, specifically with regard
      to organization, elaboration, critical thinking, and time management. CONCLUSION:
      We conclude that learning strategy instruments provide information that enables
      medical students to optimize their study. To foster deep learning and intrinsic
      motivation in students, it might also be necessary to adopt more changes in
      teaching and assessment in medical schools.

PMID- 25813945
TI  - The effects of perfectionism on academic achievement in medical students.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the differential effects of
      multi-dimensional perfectionism on academic achievement, depression, engagement,
      and burnout in medical students. Also, the mediating effects of engagement on
      perfectionism and academic achievement, as well as the effects of burnout on
      perfectionism and depression, were examined. METHODS: Two hundred eight medical
      students participated, and 167 students completed questionnaires, including the
      Frost Multi-dimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS), Hewitt & Flett Multi
      dimensional Perfectionism Scale (HFMPS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI),
      Schaufeli Engagement Scale (SES), and Malslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey
      (MBI-GS). Academic achievement was measured as the grade point average (GPA) of
      the previous semester. Data were analyzed by correlation analyses, independent t
      tests, and Structural Equation Model (SEM) for path analysis. RESULTS: Adaptive
      perfectionism (personal standard, self-oriented perfectionism) was associated
      with GPA (r=0.164, p<0.05; r=0.173, p<0.05) and engagement (r=0.394, p<0.01;
      r=0.449, p<0.01), and maladaptive perfectionism (parental criticism, concern over
      mistakes, socially prescribed perfectionism) was associated with depression
      (r=0.208, p<0.01; r=0.254, p<0.01; r=0.234, p<0.01) and burnout (r=0.218, p<0.01;
      r=0.236, p<0.01; r=0.280, p<0.01). Engagement had mediating effects on adaptive
      perfectionism and GPA, and burnout had mediating effects on maladaptive
      perfectionism and depression. Students who experienced academic failure had lower
      engagement than those who did not. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that
      academic achievement and emotional difficulties such as depression are determined
      by adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism, respectively, in medical students.

PMID- 25813946
TI  - The school effect on the reliability of clinical performance examination in
      medical schools.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to test the reliability of the clinical
      performance examination (CPX) using Generalizability theory (G-theory). Through G
      theory, the effects of not only students and tasks but also the school will be
      analyzed as primary sources of error, which can affect the interpretation of the
      reliability of the CPX. METHODS: One thousand three hundred nineteen students
      from 16 medical schools that participated in the Seoul-Gyeonggi CPX Consortium
      2008 were enrolled. In our research design, we suppose that student is nested
      within school and crossed with task. Data analysis was conducted with urGenova.
      RESULTS: According to our analysis, the percentage of error variance was 6.2% for
      school, 14.9% for student nested within school, 14.4% for task, and 3% for
      interaction between school and task. An effect of school on students was
      observed, but the interaction between task and school was insignificant. When
      student is nested within school, the universe score decreased and the g
      coefficient was less than the g-coefficient of the p x t (p: studentm, t: task)
      design. CONCLUSION: The results show that generalizability theory is useful in
      detecting various error components in the CPX. Using the generalizability theory
      to improve the technical quality of performance assessments provides us with
      greater information compared with traditional test theories.

PMID- 25813948
TI  - Tips on measuring medical professionalism.

PMID- 25813947
TI  - Implementation of a problem-based learning program combined with team-based
      learning.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of problem
      based learning (PBL), in combination with team-based learning (TBL), in an
      integrated curriculum at Gachon University School of Medicine. METHODS: The study
      methods included in-depth interviews and an open questionnaire. The subjects of
      the study comprised 5 faculty members and 38 second-year graduate students.
      RESULTS: PBL, combined with TBL, was not helpful in enhancing student ability
      with regard to reasoning and self-directed learning. This program also had
      negative effects, increasing student tension and interfering with the dynamics of
      discussions due to frequent tutor intervention. CONCLUSION: Overall, PBL that is
      combined with TBL was a less useful method than PBL only. We recommended
      understanding the characteristics of each program and attempting to develop
      better programs that mix the positive aspects of TBL and PBL.

PMID- 25813949
TI  - Computerized testing.

PMID- 25813950
TI  - Degradability in vitro of polyurethanes based on synthetic atactic poly[(R,S)-3
      hydroxybutyrate].
AB  - The aim of the present study was to determine the degradability of aliphatic
      polyurethanes, based on a different amount of synthetic, atactic poly[(R,S)-3
      hydroxybutyrate] (a-PHB), in hydrolytic (phosphate buffer) and oxidative
      (H2O2/CoCl2) solutions. The soft segments were built with atactic poly[(R,S)-3
      hydroxybutyrate] and polycaprolactone or polyoxytetramethylenediols, whereas hard
      segments were the reaction product of 4,4'-methylenedicyclohexyl diisocyanate and
      1,4-butanediol.The selected properties - density and morphology of polymer
      surfaces - which could influence the sensitivity of polymers to degradation
      processes - were analyzed.The analysis of molecular mass (GPC), thermal
      properties (DSC) and the sample weight changes were undertaken to estimate the
      degree of degradability of polymer samples after incubation in environments
      studied.Investigated polyurethanes were amorphous with the very low amount of
      crystalline phases of hard segments.The polyurethane synthesized with a
      poly[(R,S)-3-hydroxybutyrate] and polyoxytetramethylenediol at a molar ratio of
      NCO:OH=3.7:1 (prepolymer step) appeared as the most sensitive for both
      degradative solutions. Its weight and molecular mass losses were the highest in
      comparison to other investigated polyurethanes.It could be expected that playing
      with the amount of poly[(R,S)-3-hydroxybutyrate] in polyurethane synthesis the
      rate of polyurethane degradation after immersion in living body would be modeled.

PMID- 25813951
TI  - Fabrication of Ti/HA composite and functionally graded implant by three
      dimensional printing.
AB  - The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of fabricating
      titanium(Ti)/hydroxyapatite(HA) composite and functionally graded implant by
      three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology. Nano-scale Ti and HA powders were
      mixed at the ratio of 8:2 and prepared with water-soluble binder. The Ti/HA
      composite CAD model was designed to be in cylinder shape (25 mm in diameter, 20
      mm in height) with the 100% bond area in each layer. The functionally graded
      implant was 25 mm in diameter and 10 mm in height with two segments. The upper
      segment was composed of 100% Ti in each layer, whereas the lower was composed of
      80%Ti/20%HA. The composite and functionally graded implant were fabricated by 3DP
      and sintered at 1200 degrees C under protective argon atmosphere. There occurred
      a chemical reaction between Ti and HA, in which new resultants of Ca3(PO4)2,
      CaTiO3, TiO2 and CaO were created. The sintered Ti/HA composite had the aperture
      size from 50 to 150 MUm and the compressive strength of 184.3+/-27.1 MPa. The
      result of this study demonstrated that it was feasible to fabricate Ti/HA
      composite and functionally graded implant by 3DP technology. The microstructure
      and mechanical properties of Ti/HA composite and functionally graded implant were
      conductive to bone cell ingrowth, resulting in the wide application of this
      biocomposite. 

PMID- 25813952
TI  - Determining the solubility parameter and the cross-link density of medical grade
      silicones: effect of increasing the range of swelling liquids.
AB  - Four samples of four medical grade silicones were swollen in six "good" liquids
      (i.e. those with a good swelling ability, in which silicones swell appreciably)
      at 25 degrees C, until they reached constant mass (i.e. equilibrium). The volume
      fraction, phi, of the silicone in the swollen sample was calculated for each
      grade of silicone. Using a combination of the six phi values obtained in this
      study and four of those obtained in a previous study, for each silicone grade,
      phi was plotted against deltal, the liquid solubility parameter for the ten
      liquids used. Using a curve fitting technique a second-order polynomial was
      plotted through the data points; the minimum in this polynomial provided a value
      for deltap (the polymer solubility parameter). Furthermore, the results showed
      that the deltap values obtained in this study (using ten liquids) were slightly
      but significantly greater (p<0.05) than those obtained in a previous study (using
      four liquids), for grade C6-165 only. Similarly, the chi and upsilon values
      obtained in the two studies were only significantly different (p<0.05) from each
      other, for grade C6-165. 

PMID- 25813953
TI  - Therapeutic effects of transdermal systems containing zinc-related materials on
      thermal burn rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the efficacy of slow zinc
      (Zn) release from beta-tricalcium phosphate powder (ZnTCP) containing 10 mol% Zn
      on rats with thermal burns. METHODS: The first-aid tapes were contained zinc
      sulfate (ZnSO4) solution, ZnTCP suspensions or zinc oxide ointment. After thermal
      burn treatments were performed on Zn-deficient rats, the groups D1, D2 and D3
      were treated with tapes containing ZnTCP, ZnSO4 and zinc oxide ointment. The
      effects of the tapes on wound area, plasma Zn levels and alkaline phosphatase
      activity (Alp) were investigated. RESULTS: The wound area profiles of all rat
      groups could be separated into before and after the scab formation at around day
      6. The area under the curve (Aw-AUC) for wound area profiles, therefore, was
      evaluated as an index of therapeutic scores for the thermal wound. The order of
      Aw-AUC was D3>C>D2>D1. The degree of expansion at the initial stage by thermal
      burns of group D1 was the lowest and that of group D2 was the highest, and the
      order was D1<D3<C<D2. CONCLUSIONS: ZnTCP treatment could control the initial
      inflammation caused by thermal burns.

PMID- 25813954
TI  - Gelatin sealing sheet for arterial hemostasis and anti-adhesion in vascular
      surgery: a dog model study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The bilayer gelatin sealing sheet was developed as a safe, effective,
      easy-to-handle and low-cost hemostatic agent. OBJECTIVE: To examine the
      feasibility of gelatin sealing sheets using a canine arterial hemorrhage model.
      METHODS: In vivo degradation of gelatin sealing sheets was examined by implanting
      subcutaneously in rats. For the hemostatic and anti-adhesion efficacy
      investigations, femoral arteries of dogs were pricked with syringe needle to make
      a small hole and a gelatin (i.e. experimental group) or fibrin glue sealing sheet
      (i.e. control group) was applied on the hole to stop bleeding (n=8). After
      discontinuation of the bleeding, the skin incisions were closed and re-examined 4
      weeks postoperatively. RESULTS: From the degradation study, 4 h thermally treated
      gelatin sheet which degraded within 3 weeks in vivo was chosen for the further
      hemostatic study. In all cases of gelatin and fibrin glue sealing sheets,
      bleeding from the needle hole on canine femoral arteries was effectively stopped.
      Postoperative adhesions and inflammation at the site in the experimental group
      were significantly less than those in the control group (P<0.01 for adhesion
      scores). CONCLUSIONS: The gelatin sealing sheet was found to be as effective as
      the fibrin glue sealing sheet as a surgical hemostatic agent, and more effective
      in preventing postoperative adhesions.

PMID- 25813955
TI  - Modification of the cell adhesion and hydrophilic characteristics of poly(ether
      ether-ketone) by 172-nm xenon excimer radiation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) has biomechanical and chemical
      properties that are excellent for biomedical applications; however, PEEK adhesion
      to bone or chondral tissue proceeds slowly due to poor hydrophilicity and other
      surface characteristics. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the structural change,
      hydrophilicity, and cytocompatibility of a PEEK surface after 172-nm xenon
      excimer UV-irradiation. METHODS: The surface characteristics before and after
      irradiation were evaluated by contact angle and ATR-FTIR measurements. Mouse
      osteoblast-like cells (MC3T3-E1) were cultured on PEEK plates and collected after
      6, 12 and 24 h for cell adhesion analysis by crystal violet staining (CVS) and
      scanning electron microscopy (SEM). RESULTS: UV-irradiation improved PEEK surface
      hydrophilicity, as indicated by a significant drop in water contact angle
      (p<0.05). Irradiated PEEK showed additional peaks around 3370 cm-1 and 1720 cm-1,
      highlighting the generation of hydroxyl and carbonyl groups. CVS and SEM revealed
      improved adhesion to the PEEK surface after UV-irradiation. CONCLUSION: Our
      results suggest that 172-nm UV-irradiated PEEK may be used in biomedical
      applications that require good cell adhesion.

PMID- 25813956
TI  - Material properties of the human posterior knee capsule.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is considerable interest to develop accurate subject-specific
      biomechanical models of the knee. Most of the existing models currently do not
      include a representation of the posterior knee capsule. In order to incorporate
      the posterior capsule in knee models, data is needed on its mechanical
      properties. OBJECTIVE: To quantify the mechanical properties of the human
      posterior knee capsule through semi-static tensile tests. METHODS: Fifteen
      posterior knee capsule specimens (5 knees, 3 male, 2 female; age 79.2+/-7.9
      years) were used to perform tensile tests. A medial, central and lateral specimen
      was taken from each knee. The cross-sectional area was measured, after which semi
      static tensile tests were performed to quantify the material properties. RESULTS:
      The stiffness of the capsule was randomly distributed over the regions. The
      global Young's modulus and yield strength was 8.58+/-10.77 MPa and 1.75+/-1.89
      MPa, respectively. A strong correlation (rho=0.900) was found between Young's
      modulus and yield strength. The location of failure was not associated with
      smallest cross-sectional area or highest strain. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest
      that the posterior knee capsule does not have a systematic (medial-central
      lateral) distribution of material properties. The posterior capsule may play an
      important role in knee joint mechanics, particularly when in hyper extension.

PMID- 25813957
TI  - Effects of plaque lengths on stent surface roughness.
AB  - The physical properties of the stent surface influence the effectiveness of
      vascular disease treatment after stent deployment. During the expanding process,
      the stent acquires high-level deformation that could alter either its
      microstructure or the magnitude of surface roughness. This paper constructed a
      finite element simulation to observe the changes in surface roughness during the
      stenting process. Structural transient dynamic analysis was performed using
      ANSYS, to identify the deformation after the stent is placed in a blood vessel.
      Two types of bare metal stents are studied: a Palmaz type and a Sinusoidal type.
      The relationship between plaque length and the changes in surface roughness was
      investigated by utilizing three different length of plaque; plaque length longer
      than the stent, shorter than the stent and the same length as the stent. In order
      to reduce computational time, 3D cyclical and translational symmetry was
      implemented into the FE model. The material models used was defined as a
      multilinear isotropic for stent and hyperelastic for the balloon, plaque and
      vessel wall. The correlation between the plastic deformation and the changes in
      surface roughness was obtained by intermittent pure tensile test using specimen
      whose chemical composition was similar to that of actual stent material. As the
      plastic strain is achieved from FE simulation, the surface roughness can be
      assessed thoroughly. The study found that the plaque size relative to stent
      length significantly influenced the critical changes in surface roughness. It was
      found that the length of stent which is equal to the plaque length was preferable
      due to the fact that it generated only moderate change in surface roughness. This
      effect was less influential to the Sinusoidal stent. 

PMID- 25813958
TI  - Evaluation of a dental pulp-derived cell sheet cultured on amniotic membrane
      substrate.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are transplanted for periodontal tissue
      regeneration, and the periodontal ligament (PDL) is regenerated using a cultured
      cell sheet. This cultured cell sheet is prepared using PDL-derived cells, growth
      factors, and amniotic membrane (AM). Dental pulp (DP)-derived cells can be easily
      obtained from extracted wisdom teeth, proliferate rapidly, and are less
      susceptible to bacterial infection than PDL-derived cells. Thus, to prepare a
      novel cell sheet, DP-derived cells were cultured on AM as a culture substrate for
      immunohistochemical examination. METHODS: Wisdom teeth extracted from three
      adults were cut along the cement-enamel border. DP tissue was collected, minced,
      and primarily cultured. After three or four passage cultures, DP-derived cells
      were cultured on AM, followed by hematoxylin-eosin (H-E) and immunofluorescence
      staining. RESULTS: DP-derived cells cultured on AM formed a layered structure.
      Cells positive for vimentin, Ki-67, ZO-1, desmoplakin, CD29, 44, 105 or 146, STRO
      1, collagen IV or VII or laminin 5 or alpha5 chain were localized. CONCLUSIONS:
      DP-derived cells proliferated on AM, while retaining the properties of DP, which
      allowed the cultured cell sheet to be prepared. In addition, the cultured cell
      sheet contained MSC, which suggests its potential application in periodontal
      tissue regeneration.

PMID- 25813959
TI  - Study of hip fracture risk by DXA-based patient-specific finite element model.
AB  - A number of factors may have effects on hip fracture, for example, bone mineral
      density (BMD), body weight and height, femur length, femoral neck length, etc. It
      is not clear which factor(s) has the dominant effect on hip fracture. Therefore,
      the factors were investigated by a previously developed DXA (dual energy X-ray
      absorptiometry) based finite element model. The finite element model is patient
      specific, as all information required in constructing the model was extracted
      from the patient's hip DXA image. DXA images of 180 patients were obtained from
      the Manitoba Bone Mineral Density Database. For each patient, a finite element
      model was constructed and fracture risk indices (FRI) were calculated at the
      three critical locations on the hip, i.e. the femoral neck, the intertrochanter
      and the subtrochanter. Possible correlations between the fracture risk indices
      and the factors were then investigated. The obtained results indicated that, for
      hip fractures resulted from lateral fall, areal BMD and patient's body weight are
      two dominant factors, but effects from the other factors are not trivial. The
      study suggested that hip fracture is the result of combined effects from all the
      factors. Therefore, use of areal BMD alone in clinical assessment of fracture
      risk is not reliable. 

PMID- 25813960
TI  - Erratum.

PMID- 25813961
TI  - Can argyrophilic nucleolar organizing region-associated protein amount be used
      for the detection of cardiac damage?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, tasteless, odorless,
      nonirritant gas and CO poisoning affects all organ systems. AIM: We aimed to
      detect any possible effects of CO exposure on the argyrophilic nucleolar
      organizing region (AgNOR)-associated protein synthesis of heart cells and whether
      there is any relationship between AgNOR protein amount and both carboxyhemoglobin
      (COHb) level and histopathological evaluation methods used for the detection of
      damage in heart tissue after CO exposure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The rats were
      divided into four groups (control, 1000, 3000, and 5000 ppm), each containing six
      rats. After CO intoxication, COHb levels were measured and the animals were
      killed on the 7th day. AgNOR staining was performed in the heart tissue. One
      hundred nuclei per rat were evaluated, and total AgNOR area/nuclear area and mean
      AgNOR number were analyzed for each nucleus. The CO exposure groups had
      significantly higher AgNOR values than the control group (p < 0.0001). According
      to cardiomyopathy (CMY) scoring methods, the differences between groups 3 and 4
      and groups 1 and 2 were significant (p < 0.05). A significant positive
      correlation between AgNOR values and both CMY and COHb levels were detected.
      CONCLUSION: The detection of AgNOR protein amount may give information about the
      CMY levels and be used to detect the CO intoxication levels instead of COHb in
      later periods.

PMID- 25813962
TI  - Salivary biochemical markers as potential acute toxicity parameters for acute
      radiation injury: A study on small experimental animals.
AB  - Researchers have been evaluating several biodosimetric/screening approaches to
      assess acute radiation injury, related to mass causality. Keeping in mind this
      background, we hypothesized that effect of whole-body irradiation in single
      fraction in graded doses can affect the secretion of various salivary components
      that could be used as acute radiation injury/toxicity marker, which can be used
      in screening of large population at the time of nuclear accidents/disaster.
      Thirty Sprague Dawley rats treated with whole-body cobalt-60 gamma irradiation of
      dose 1-5 Gy (dose rate: 0.95 Gy/min) were included in this study. Whole mixed
      saliva was collected from all animals before and after radiation up to 72 h
      postradiation. Saliva was analyzed for electrolytes, total protein, urea, and
      amylase. Intragroup comparison of salivary parameters at different radiation
      doses showed significant differences. Potassium was significantly increased as
      the dose increased from 1 Gy to 5 Gy (p < 0.01) with effect size of difference (r
      > 0.5). Sodium was significantly altered after 3-5 Gy (p < 0.01, r > 0.5), except
      1 and 2 Gy, whereas changes in sodium level were nonsignificant (p > 0.5). Urea,
      total protein, and amylase levels were also significantly increased as the
      radiation dose increased (p < 0.01) with large effect size of difference (r >
      0.5). This study suggests that salivary parameters were sensitive toward
      radiation even at low radiation dose which can be used as a predictor of
      radiation injury. 

PMID- 25813963
TI  - Will changes to patent infringements attract drug research in the UK?
AB  - Ever since the introduction of the 'Bolar' exemption into the national laws of
      the EU Member States, the UK has been perceived to be a relatively difficult
      territory in which to conduct clinical trials, as compared to EU territories
      having very broad 'Bolar' exemptions, such as France and Germany. This problem
      for the UK has now been comprehensively eliminated by an amendment to UK patent
      law that came into force on 1 October 2014. However, whilst addressing a problem
      faced by the pharmaceutical industry in connection with conducting clinical
      trials, the manner in which UK patent law has been amended raises important but
      as yet unanswered questions about the knock-on effects for enforcement of
      European patents having unitary effect, if and when the laws governing such
      patents come into force. 

PMID- 25813964
TI  - New scoring system predicts cardiovascular disease risk worldwide.

PMID- 25813965
TI  - Natural background groundwater composition in the Azores archipelago (Portugal):
      a hydrogeochemical study and threshold value determination.
AB  - Groundwater discharges were sampled in selected springs from Sao Miguel (Furnas
      and Fogo trachytic central volcanoes) and Santa Maria islands (Azores, Portugal),
      in order to characterize natural background levels (NBLs) and proceed to the
      determination of threshold values (TVs). Besides being a key issue in order to
      fully assess the anthropogenic pressures, NBLs are also instrumental to derive
      TVs, therefore complying with requirements from the European Union Groundwater
      Directive. The composition of groundwater corresponds mainly to low mineralized
      Na-HCO3 to Na-Cl water types, the latter dominant in Santa Maria island, with a
      decreasing order of Na>Ca>Mg>K and Cl>HCO3>SO4>NO3 for cations and anion
      respectively. The majority of the samples are slightly acid to slightly alkaline
      (pH range of 5.45-7.43), and the electrical conductivity range between 180 and
      1458 MUS/cm. Groundwater composition is controlled by two major drivers, addition
      of sea salts and dissolution of silicate minerals. Results shown that TVs
      established along the present study are in general in the lower rank when
      compared to the range of values proposed by the several EU member states, with
      the main exception of NO3, reflecting the impact of agriculture activities over
      water quality in the Azores, and lower than the national ones. The comparison
      between the estimated NBL and TV with values derived with another dataset from
      the Azores, usually higher, depicts the effect of a larger and diverse number of
      groundwater sources over calculations. On the other hand, all samples which show
      a contribution from volcanic/hydrothermal systems were excluded from the dataset,
      which explains why the derived NBLs and TVs are lower comparing to other active
      volcanic areas, which is also a conservative approach on a subject that has
      regulatory implications.

PMID- 25813966
TI  - Subcellular partitioning of metals in Aporrectodea caliginosa along a gradient of
      metal exposure in 31 field-contaminated soils.
AB  - Subcellular fractionation of metals in organisms was proposed as a better way to
      characterize metal bioaccumulation. Here we report the impact of a laboratory
      exposure to a wide range of field-metal contaminated soils on the subcellular
      partitioning of metals in the earthworm Aporrectodea caliginosa. Soils moderately
      contaminated were chosen to create a gradient of soil metal availability;
      covering ranges of both soil metal contents and of several soil parameters.
      Following exposure, Cd, Pb and Zn concentrations were determined both in total
      earthworm body and in three subcellular compartments: cytosolic, granular and
      debris fractions. Three distinct proxies of soil metal availability were
      investigated: CaCl2-extractable content dissolved content predicted by a semi
      mechanistic model and free ion concentration predicted by a geochemical
      speciation model. Subcellular partitionings of Cd and Pb were modified along the
      gradient of metal exposure, while stable Zn partitioning reflected regulation
      processes. Cd subcellular distribution responded more strongly to increasing soil
      Cd concentration than the total internal content, when Pb subcellular
      distribution and total internal content were similarly affected. Free ion
      concentrations were better descriptors of Cd and Pb subcellular distribution than
      CaCl2 extractable and dissolved metal concentrations. However, free ion
      concentrations and soil total metal contents were equivalent descriptors of the
      subcellular partitioning of Cd and Pb because they were highly correlated.
      Considering lowly contaminated soils, our results raise the question of the added
      value of three proxies of metal availability compared to soil total metal content
      in the assessment of metal bioavailability to earthworm. 

PMID- 25813967
TI  - Assessment of PAH dissipation processes in large-scale outdoor mesocosms
      simulating vegetated road-side swales.
AB  - Biofilters have been implemented in urban areas due to their ability to improve
      road runoff quality. However, little is known about the role of soil
      microorganisms and plants on pollutant remediation in planted swales. Therefore,
      four large-scale outdoor mesocosms were built and co-contaminated with metals and
      model polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (phenanthrene (Phen), pyrene (Pyr)
      and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP)), to better understand the complex functioning of swale
      like environments. Three macrophyte plant species were tested for enhanced
      remediation of PAHs: Juncus effusus, Iris pseudacorus, Phalaris arundinacea and a
      grass mix. Long-term dynamics of PAHs in water outflow and soil was studied.
      Results showed that only 0.07 to 0.22% of total PAHs were released in water
      outflow after one year. Two years after contamination, soil sample analyses
      showed a dissipation of 99.6% for Phen and 99.4% for Pyr whatever the mesocosm
      considered and ranging from 75.5 to 91% for BaP, depending on plant species.
      Furthermore, dissipation time-courses may be described by a biphasic process.
      Experiments showed that the grass mix facilitated BaP long-term biodegradation.
      Grass appeared also to be the best filter for suspended solids because of its
      dense rhizosphere, which prevents the transfer of BaP to groundwater. 

PMID- 25813968
TI  - Biodegradation of 1,4-dioxane: effects of enzyme inducers and trichloroethylene.
AB  - 1,4-Dioxane is a groundwater contaminant and probable human carcinogen. In this
      study, two well-studied degradative bacteria Mycobacterium vaccae JOB5 and
      Rhodococcus jostii RHA1 were examined for their 1,4-dioxane degradation ability
      in the presence and absence of its co-contaminant, trichloroethylene (TCE), under
      different oxygenase-expression conditions. These two strains were precultured
      with R2A broth (complex nutrient medium) before supplementation with propane or 1
      butanol to induce the expression of different oxygenases. Both propane- and 1
      butanol-induced JOB5 and RHA1 were able to degrade 1,4-dioxane, TCE, and mixtures
      of 1,4-dioxane/TCE. Complete degradation of 1,4-dioxane/TCE mixture was observed
      only in propane-induced strain JOB5. Inhibition was observed between 1,4-dioxane
      and TCE for all cells. Furthermore, product toxicity caused incomplete
      degradation of 1,4-dioxane by 1-butanol-induced JOB5. In general, the more TCE
      degraded, the greater extent of product toxicity cells experienced; however,
      susceptibility to product toxicity was found to be both strain- and inducer
      dependent. The findings of this study provide fundamental basis for developing an
      effective in-situ remediation method for 1,4-dioxane-contaminated ground water
      and the first known study of 1,4-dioxane degradation by wild-type strain RHA1. 

PMID- 25813969
TI  - An approach to using heart rate monitoring to estimate the ventilation and load
      of air pollution exposure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The effects of air pollution on health are associated with the amount
      of pollutants inhaled which depends on the environmental concentration and the
      inhaled air volume. It has not been clear whether statistical models of the
      relationship between heart rate and ventilation obtained using laboratory
      cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) can be applied to an external group to
      estimate ventilation. OBJECTIVES: To develop and evaluate a model to estimate
      respiratory ventilation based on heart rate for inhaled load of pollutant
      assessment in field studies. METHODS: Sixty non-smoking men; 43 public street
      workers (public street group) and 17 employees of the Forest Institute (park
      group) performed a maximum cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). Regression
      equation models were constructed with the heart rate and natural logarithmic of
      minute ventilation data obtained on CPET. Ten individuals were chosen randomly
      (public street group) and were used for external validation of the models (test
      group). All subjects also underwent heart rate register, and particulate matter
      (PM2.5) monitoring for a 24-hour period. RESULTS: For the public street group,
      the median difference between estimated and observed data was 0.5 (CI 95% -0.2 to
      1.4) l/min and for the park group was 0.2 (CI 95% -0.2 to 1.2) l/min. In the test
      group, estimated values were smaller than the ones observed in the CPET, with a
      median difference of -2.4 (CI 95% -4.2 to -1.8) l/min. The mixed model estimated
      values suggest that this model is suitable for situations in which heart rate is
      around 120-140bpm. CONCLUSION: The mixed effect model is suitable for ventilation
      estimate, with good accuracy when applied to homogeneous groups, suggesting that,
      in this case, the model could be used in field studies to estimate ventilation. A
      small but significant difference in the median of external validation estimates
      was observed, suggesting that the applicability of the model to external groups
      needs further evaluation.

PMID- 25813970
TI  - Sete Cidades and Furnas lake eutrophication (Sao Miguel, Azores): analysis of
      long-term monitoring data and remediation measures.
AB  - Eutrophication of lakes in the Azores archipelago (Portugal) has been described
      since the 80s, and due to water quality deterioration several remediation
      methodologies were applied. Long-term monitoring data on water quality from Sete
      Cidades and Furnas lakes (Sao Miguel island) were analyzed in order to address
      that the success of the ongoing policy reverses their eutrophic status. Sete
      Cidades lake (4.46 km2), made by two branches (so-called Green and Blue lakes),
      has a water volume equal to 58*10(6) m3 and a depth in the range between 24 and
      28.5m. Furnas lake (1.87 km2) has a volume equal to 14*10(6) m3 and a maximum
      depth of 15m. In Sete Cidades lake mean water temperature and pH range
      respectively between 13.4 degrees C to 17.7 degrees C and 7.04 to 8.06. Instead,
      mean temperature in Lake Furnas ranges between 16.6 degrees C and 17.2 degrees C,
      with a pH between 7.36 and 7.84. Mean water conductivity shows that both lakes
      correspond to very diluted waters, with values between 98.1 and 136.5 MUS/cm.
      Water chemistry is influenced by the monomictic character of the lakes, as anoxic
      environment in the hypolimnion due to O2 consumption during the summer, when
      stratification prevents mixing along the water column, explains sharp increase in
      TP, TN, N-ammoniacal, Mn and Fe. Major-ion content is rather constant along time,
      with some seasonal fluctuations, despite a decrease in SO4 observed in Sete
      Cidades lake which is suggested to be a result of runoff diversion, a result also
      shown by the decrease of the molal ratio TN/TP in both studied lakes.
      Nevertheless, the application of the trophic state index (TSITP) does not suggest
      an improvement in what concerns trophic status, which is explained by the
      internal P-loading, a source that have to be managed by environmental authorities
      in the near future in order to revert eutrophication.

PMID- 25813971
TI  - Insights from nature for cybersecurity.
AB  - The alarming rise in the quantity of malware in the past few years poses a
      serious challenge to the security community and requires urgent response.
      However, current countermeasures seem no longer to be effective. Thus, it is our
      belief that it is now time for researchers and security experts to turn to nature
      in the search for novel inspiration for defense systems. Nature has provided
      species with a whole range of offensive and defensive techniques, which have been
      developing and improving over the course of billions of years of evolution.
      Extremely diverse living conditions have promoted a large variation in the
      devised biosecurity solutions. In this article we introduce a novel Protection
      framework in which common denominators of the encountered offensive and defensive
      means are proposed and presented. The bio-inspired solutions are discussed in the
      context of cybersecurity, where some principles have already been adopted. The
      deployment of the whole nature-based framework should aid in the design and
      improvement of modern cyberdefense systems. 

PMID- 25813972
TI  - Health security preparedness and industry trends.
AB  - Given the number and diversity of risks in today's complex society, it is
      essential to focus on global risks that can be reduced through affordable,
      feasible approaches. Thus, the risks that should command the greatest focus are
      emergent infectious diseases. Fortunately, preparing responses to such threats
      can be entirely agnostic as to source or intent of the threat. This article
      considers the emergent infectious clinical threats, characterizes the steps that
      are essential to take to prepare for such threats, and discusses the roles that
      the biomedical industry should play in both the preparation for and response to
      such threats. The author assesses the readiness of the industry to play its role
      and suggests steps to consider to enable a more robust response. 

PMID- 25813973
TI  - Are US jurisdictions prepared to dispense medical countermeasures through open
      points of dispensing? Findings from a national study.
AB  - Communities will rely on open points of dispensing (PODs) for mass dispensing of
      medical countermeasures following a bioterrorism attack or a pandemic. US Cities
      Readiness Initiative (CRI) open POD preparedness is assessed using the Technical
      Assistance Review (TAR) but focuses on oral prophylaxis dispensing; mass
      vaccination readiness is not well measured. Non-CRI preparedness had not been
      studied. In 2013 an online questionnaire was sent to all 456 CRIs and a random
      sample of 500 non-CRIs to measure open POD preparedness and exercise
      participation. Hierarchical linear regression was used to describe factors
      associated with higher POD preparedness and exercise participation scores. In
      total, 257 subjects participated, for a 41% response rate. Almost all open PODs
      have existing written plans and/or a layout for each site (93.4%, n=240, and
      87.0%, n=220). Only half (46.7%, n=120) have an alternative dispensing modality
      in place, and even fewer (42.6%, n=104) report having adequate staffing.
      Determinants of open POD preparedness were perceived preparedness, participation
      in more POD exercises, and more closed POD coverage. Most jurisdictions conducted
      a full-scale exercise and a staff notification drill (83.7%, n=215 for both).
      Fewer than half (40.5%, n=104) have conducted a vaccination clinic exercise.
      Determinants of increased POD exercises were perceived preparedness, years of
      work experience, community type (nontribal), and larger population. Because
      successful open POD deployment is critical, jurisdictions need to plan for mass
      vaccination, use of alternative dispensing modalities, and recruitment strategies
      to increase POD staffing. 

PMID- 25813975
TI  - Marburg biosafety and biosecurity scale (MBBS): a framework for risk assessment
      and risk communication.
AB  - Current risk assessment and risk communication of biosafety and biosecurity
      concerns lack a convenient metric and conceptual framework. The absence of such a
      systematic tool makes communication more difficult and can lead to ambiguous
      public perception of and response to laboratory biosafety incidents and
      biosecurity threats. A new 7-category scoring scale is proposed for incidents and
      situations in laboratories related to the handling of human and animal pathogens.
      The scale aims to help clarify risk categories, facilitate coordination and
      communication, and improve public understanding of risk related to biosafety and
      biosecurity. 

PMID- 25813974
TI  - Are human service agencies ready for disasters? Findings from a mixed-methods
      needs assessment and planning project.
AB  - A mixed-methods design was used to assess the current capacity of human service
      agencies to provide services in a major disaster, identify challenges and
      successful strategies for providing those services, and formulate specific
      recommendations for government planners and the nonprofit sector to promote the
      integration of human service agencies into emergency preparedness and response. A
      web-based survey was completed by 188 unique human service agencies, 31
      semistructured interviews were conducted with human service agency and government
      leaders from southeastern Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic region, and a
      collaborative planning meeting was held to review the findings and develop
      systems-based recommendations. Survey results indicated that human service
      agencies serve the most vulnerable communities during disasters and would welcome
      integration into preparedness and response plans, but they currently face
      challenges that include a lack of real-time communication and opportunities for
      collaborative planning with government partners. Interview findings were grouped
      according to 5 themes that emerged: capacity, coordination, communication,
      training, and leadership. This study identified recommendations to assist human
      service agencies, local health departments, and emergency management agencies as
      they work to ensure that needed human services are available during disasters,
      despite the resource challenges that most agencies face. 

PMID- 25813976
TI  - Multiplex PCR for species-level identification of Bacillus anthracis and
      detection of pXO1, pXO2, and related plasmids.
AB  - The Bacillus anthracis virulence plasmids pXO1 and pXO2 have critical
      implications for biosafety and select agent status. The proper identification and
      characterization of B. anthracis and its plasmid profile is important to the
      biodefense research community. Multiplex PCR was used to simultaneously detect a
      B. anthracis-specific chromosomal mutation, 4 targets distributed across pXO1, 3
      targets distributed across pXO2, and highly conserved regions of the 16S gene,
      allowing an internal positive control for each sample. The multiplex PCR can
      produce as many as 9 easily separable and distinguishable amplicons, ranging in
      size from 188 to 555 bp. The PCR results were used to characterize DNA samples
      extracted from B. anthracis, other Bacillus species, and other bacterial species
      from many different genera. With the exception of 2 novel putative plasmids
      discovered, testing against inclusion and extensive exclusion panels showed 100%
      correlation to previously published and expected results. Upon testing 29
      previously unpublished B. anthracis strains, 10 (34.5%) were pXO1(+)/pXO2(+), 9
      (31.0%) were pXO1(+)/pXO2(-), 7 (24.1%) were pXO1(-)/pXO2(+), and 3 (10.3%) were
      pXO1(-)/pXO2(-). The present work presents a novel 9-target multiplex PCR assay
      capable of species-level identification of B. anthracis via a unique chromosomal
      marker and the detection of pXO1 and pXO2 via multiply redundant targets on each.

PMID- 25813977
TI  - Implications drawn from a military bioterror exercise in Israel.
AB  - Orange Flame is an Israeli preparedness build-up project, conducted by the
      Ministry of Health, that is aimed at improving national readiness and
      preparedness for unusual biological events. The project is intended for both
      medical and nonmedical organizations, and, since 2011, the exercise has also
      included operational units outside the medical corps. This has provided valuable
      insights into the consequences of bioterror or naturally occurring outbreaks for
      operative functionality and for the unique medical, logistical, and
      administrative efforts required from the armed forces in such an event. The 2-day
      drill reported on here executed a notional scenario in which category A bioterror
      agents were dispersed, causing civil and military casualties. Military personnel
      observed and assessed the performances of all participating organizations and
      observed the employment of emergency protocols during the drill. Military
      sustainment and operative capabilities were significantly affected by the
      occurrence of an unusual biological event. Comprehensive actions to be executed
      during such a scenario included quarantining military bases, considering
      postponement of military operations, and transferring on-call missions to other
      bases. Logistic consequences included the need for manpower and equipment
      reinforcement, as well as food and water supplies in cases of suspected source
      contamination. The project unveiled many operational and logistic quandaries and
      exposed various potential effects of a bioterror attack in the military. Lessons
      learned were used to revise preevent national and military doctrine for unusual
      biological events. 

PMID- 25813978
TI  - Development of drug-approval regulations for medical countermeasures against CBRN
      agents in Japan.
AB  - To develop approval regulations for drugs against chemical, biological,
      radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) agents in Japan, and to help inform arguments
      about the development of anti-CBRN agents, we analyzed documentation describing
      approval processes and data for drugs against CBRN agents. Sixteen countermeasure
      products against 10 CBRN agents have been approved in Japan. Approval schemes
      were grouped into 3 categories: application for off-label uses, expedited review
      for antiterrorism measures, and expedited review. Ten drug applications were
      designated "priority reviews," and the median review time was 4.4 months. No
      application relied exclusively on clinical trials to expose patients to CBRN
      threats. Clinical experience with drugs in victims of unexpected exposure was not
      necessarily important for approval. The United States is the most advanced
      country in terms of developing medical countermeasure products against CBRN
      agents. Japan has similarities with the US in approved products and application
      packages, but there were 3 unapproved products or indications that were approved
      under the Animal Rule in the US. The Animal Rule might encourage development of a
      novel product by providing efficacy evaluation in animal studies. The US also has
      regulations that do not exist in Japan that authorize administration of an
      investigational drug outside a clinical trial for patients. Introduction of the
      Animal Rule and expanded access of investigational drugs could contribute to
      development and approvals of novel countermeasure products and improve an
      emergency response in a crisis in Japan. 

PMID- 25813979
TI  - Public engagement and the governance of gain-of-function research.
AB  - The White House recently called for a "robust and broad deliberative process" to
      assess the risks and benefits of select gain-of-function studies, pausing current
      experiments and further grants until new federal policy on research funding and
      oversight is developed. At issue is whether and under what conditions laboratory
      studies that enhance the transmissibility and/or virulence of potential pandemic
      pathogens such as the H5N1 avian influenza virus should go forward. To date,
      professionals from medicine, public health, and the life sciences have dominated
      the debate, and each side of the controversy has cited the public's well-being as
      the principal motivator for their position. A major stakeholder, the general
      public, has not yet actively and systematically weighed in on the matter. This
      commentary considers in what form and with what benefit public participation may
      materialize in the current debate regarding the governance of gain-of-function
      research. 

PMID- 25813980
TI  - Dispensing medical countermeasures: emergency use authorities and liability
      protections.
AB  - The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2013 (PAHPRA)
      enhances emergency use authorities with respect to both approved and unapproved
      medical countermeasures (MCMs). PAHPRA authorities can also be critical to
      preserving tort liability protections for public health stakeholders, since these
      protections are often contingent upon appropriate authorizations for the MCMs
      utilized. This article details the evolution of emergency use authorities and
      liability protections, analyzes how these separate legal doctrines can intersect
      in practice, and discusses implications for facilitating preparedness and
      response activities and for protecting associated personnel. 

PMID- 25813981
TI  - Considering a career in neurology research? Heed these words.

PMID- 25813982
TI  - EGFR participates downstream of ERalpha in estradiol-17beta-D-glucuronide-induced
      impairment of Abcc2 function in isolated rat hepatocyte couplets.
AB  - Estradiol-17beta-D-glucuronide (E17G) induces acute endocytic internalization of
      canalicular transporters, including multidrug resistance-associated protein 2
      (Abcc2) in rat, generating cholestasis. Several proteins organized in at least
      two different signaling pathways are involved in E17G cholestasis: one pathway
      involves estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha), Ca(2+)-dependent protein kinase C and
      p38-mitogen activated protein kinase, and the other pathway involves GPR30, PKA,
      phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT and extracellular signal-related kinase 1/2. EGF
      receptor (EGFR) can potentially participate in both pathways since it interacts
      with GPR30 and ERalpha. Hence, the aim of this study was to analyze the potential
      role of this receptor and its downstream effectors, members of the Src family
      kinases in E17G-induced cholestasis. In vitro, EGFR inhibition by Tyrphostin
      (Tyr), Cl-387785 or its knockdown with siRNA strongly prevented E17G-induced
      impairment of Abcc2 function and localization. Activation of EGFR was necessary
      but not sufficient to impair the canalicular transporter function, whereas the
      simultaneous activation of EGFR and GPR30 could impair Abcc2 transport. The
      protection of Tyr was not additive to that produced by the ERalpha inhibitor ICI
      neither with that produced by Src kinase inhibitors, suggesting that EGFR shared
      the signaling pathway of ERalpha and Src. Further analysis of ERalpha, EGFR and
      Src activations induced by E17G, demonstrated that ERalpha activation precedes
      that of EGFR and EGFR activation precedes that of Src. In conclusion, activation
      of EGFR is a key factor in the alteration of canalicular transporter function and
      localization induced by E17G and it occurs before that of Src and after that of
      ERalpha.

PMID- 25813983
TI  - ID4 controls mammary stem cells and marks breast cancers with a stem cell-like
      phenotype.
AB  - Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is a heterogeneous disease with poor prognosis;
      however, its cellular origins and aetiology are poorly understood. In this study,
      we show that inhibitor of differentiation 4 (ID4) is a key regulator of mammary
      stem cell self-renewal and marks a subset of BLBC with a putative mammary basal
      cell of origin. Using an ID4GFP knock-in reporter mouse and single-cell
      transcriptomics, we show that ID4 marks a stem cell-enriched subset of the
      mammary basal cell population. ID4 maintains the mammary stem cell pool by
      suppressing key factors required for luminal differentiation. Furthermore, ID4 is
      specifically expressed by a subset of human BLBC that possess a very poor
      prognosis and a transcriptional signature similar to a mammary stem cell. These
      studies identify ID4 as a mammary stem cell regulator, deconvolute the
      heterogeneity of BLBC and link a subset of mammary stem cells to the aetiology of
      BLBC. 

PMID- 25813984
TI  - Associations between sleep difficulties and risk factors for cardiovascular
      disease in veterans and active duty military personnel of the Iraq and
      Afghanistan conflicts.
AB  - Recent evidence suggests that sleep disturbance may play an important role in the
      development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Despite the prevalence of sleep
      complaints among service members of recent military conflicts, few studies have
      examined associations between sleep and risk factors for CVD in this population.
      Symptom checklist items regarding distress about "trouble falling asleep" and
      "restless/disturbed sleep" were used as proxies for sleep onset and maintenance
      difficulties to examine these associations in US military service members of
      recent conflicts. Veterans having both sleep onset and maintenance difficulties
      had greater odds of being a current smoker and having psychiatric symptoms and
      diagnoses. Increased odds of a self-reported hypertension diagnosis and elevated
      systolic blood pressure were also found in certain subsets of this sample.
      Findings highlight the need for greater recognition of sleep difficulties as a
      CVD risk factor in a population known to be at increased risk for this condition.

PMID- 25813985
TI  - The effect of disease risk probability and disease type on interest in clinic
      based versus direct-to-consumer genetic testing services.
AB  - The effect of disease-specific cognitions on interest in clinic-based and direct
      to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing was assessed. Participants (N = 309) responded
      to an online hypothetical scenario and received genetic testing-related messages
      that varied by risk probability (25, 50, 75 %) and disease type (Alzheimer's
      disease vs. Type 2 Diabetes). Post-manipulation interest increased for both
      testing types, but was greater for clinic-based testing. Interest was greater for
      Type 2 Diabetes than for Alzheimer's disease, the latter perceived as more severe
      and likely, and less treatable and preventable. For DTC testing only,
      participants allocated to the high risk condition (75 %) had greater testing
      interest than those in the low (25 %) category. DTC testing is perceived as a
      viable, but less preferred, option compared with clinic-based testing.
      Particularly when considering DTC genetic testing, there is a need to emphasize
      subjective disease-related perceptions, including risk probability. 

PMID- 25813987
TI  - Recent advances in the role of cortisol and metabolic syndrome in age-related
      degenerative diseases.
AB  - The metabolic syndrome (MetS) presents an increasing prevalence in elderly
      people. A significant role in MetS is played by the stress response and cortisol.
      The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity is increased by central
      (loss of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors) and peripheral (11beta
      hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1, 11beta-HSD1, hyperactivity) mechanisms. The
      HPA hyperactivity has been found in chronic diseases affecting the endocrine
      (abdominal obesity with MetS, type 2 diabetes), cardiovascular (atherosclerosis,
      essential hypertension), and nervous systems (dementia, depression), in aging. A
      novel therapeutic approach (11beta-HSD1 inhibition) is promising in treating the
      HPA axis hyperactivity in chronic diseases with MetS. A large-scale national
      clinical trial (AGICO, AGIng, and COrtisol study) has been proposed by our group
      to evaluate the role of cortisol and MetS in the main pathologies of aging
      (vascular and degenerative dementia, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes,
      abdominal obesity). 

PMID- 25813986
TI  - Classification of pro-inflammatory status for interleukin-6 affects relative
      muscle strength in obese elderly women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obesity, defined by an excess amount of body fat or a percent body
      fat higher than 30 % for women is a complex chronic disorder with multifactorial
      etiology and is accompanied by chronic low-grade inflammation, which results in
      elevated pro-inflammatory cytokines. AIMS: The aim of this study was to compare
      muscle strength between high and low pro-inflammatory status in obese elderly
      women and to verify the relationship of IL-6 with muscle strength and fat-free
      mass. METHODS: Eighty-nine elderly women (age 69.47 +/- 6.07 years; body mass
      64.70 +/- 12.04 kg; height 1.52 +/- 0.06 m; body mass index 27.78 +/- 4.75
      kg/m(2)) were divided into two groups: high and low inflammatory status for IL-6.
      Lower limb muscle strength was tested using bilateral leg extension with the ten
      repetitions maximum test, IL-6 was measured by ELISA and body composition by dual
      energy X-ray absorptiometry. RESULTS: Women classified from the high pro
      inflammatory status presented lower relative muscle strength (P = 0.056) when
      compared with the low inflammatory status group, with no differences for absolute
      muscle strength (P = 0.18). There was a significant negative correlation of IL-6
      with relative muscle strength (P = 0.03, R = -0.22) and a considerable trend
      toward significance (P = 0.06, R = -0.19) and negative association with fat-free
      mass (P = 0.84, R = -0.02). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides insights that a high
      pro-inflammatory status in sedentary obese elderly women might impair muscle
      strength and negatively affect fat-free mass. Thus, elderly women classified with
      high pro-inflammatory status for IL-6 should receive further health care
      attention to prevent this deleterious condition.

PMID- 25813988
TI  - Analysis of Circadian Rhythm Gene Expression With Reference to Diurnal Pattern of
      Intraocular Pressure in Mice.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the expression of circadian rhythm clock genes in the iris
      ciliary body complex of mice and their association with the diurnal pattern of
      intraocular pressure (IOP). METHODS: Thirty wild-type C57BL/6 mice were
      acclimated to a 12-hour light-dark cycle. Intraocular pressure was measured with
      a rebound tonometer at six time points daily (circadian time [CT] 2, 6, 10, 14,
      18, and 22 hours) for five consecutive days. On day 6, mice were euthanized at CT
      2, 6, 10, 14, 18, and 22. Eyes were flash-frozen or fixed in 4% phosphate
      buffered paraformaldehyde. Total RNA was extracted from the iris-ciliary body
      complex, and RNA expression of circadian rhythm genes Bmal1, Clock, Cry1, Cry2,
      Per1, and Per2 was assessed by quantitative real-time PCR. Fixed eyes were
      paraffin embedded, and immunohistochemistry was performed to localize
      corresponding proteins (BMAL1, CLOCK, CRY1, CRY2, PER1, and PER2). Linear
      regression analysis was performed to correlate gene expression with IOP. RESULTS:
      Intraocular pressure demonstrated a consistent circadian pattern. The clock genes
      Bmal1, Clock, Cry1, Cry2, Per1, and Per2 showed a circadian pattern of expression
      in the iris-ciliary body complex of mice. Bmal1, Clock, Cry1, Per1, and Per2 gene
      expression demonstrated statistically significant correlations with diurnal
      variations of IOP. BMAL1, CLOCK, CRY1, CRY2, PER1, and PER2 proteins were found
      to be expressed locally in the nonpigmented epithelium of the ciliary body.
      CONCLUSIONS: Expression patterns of candidate circadian rhythm genes correlates
      with the diurnal pattern variation of IOP in mouse eyes, indicating a possible
      mechanism of IOP regulation through these genes.

PMID- 25813990
TI  - Test-Retest Repeatability of Microperimetry at the Border of Deep Scotomas.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the test-retest repeatability
      of microperimetric sensitivity at the border of deep scotomas. METHODS: Thirty
      normal participants underwent two examinations, each on the Macular Integrity
      Assessment (MAIA) microperimeter and on the MP-1 microperimeter (four
      examinations in total). A customized stimulus pattern allowed microperimetric
      sensitivity to be measured at the border of the optic nerve head (ONH), which
      acted as a model for the border of a deep scotoma-and also at the macular and
      peripapillary region. RESULTS: There were no significant changes in average point
      wise sensitivity (PWS) values between the two examinations for all three regions
      using the MAIA microperimeter (P >= 0.262). The PWS coefficient of repeatability
      (CoR) was +/-12.99 dB at the border of the ONH, which was significantly larger
      than points in the macular and peripapillary regions (P > 0.001). A significant
      decrease in average PWS, using the MP-1 microperimeter at the macular and
      peripapillary region (P < 0.001), meant that the PWS CoR could not be determined
      in these regions. No significant changes in average PWS were observed at the
      border of the ONH (P = 0.223), and the PWS CoR was +/-7.52 dB in this region.
      CONCLUSIONS: Microperimetric test-retest repeatability at the border of a deep
      scotoma was worse than at other areas of normal retina, and this highlights the
      limitation of applying a single estimate of test-retest repeatability to
      determine whether significant functional decline has occurred at the border of a
      deep scotoma.

PMID- 25813991
TI  - Peripapillary choroidal thickness in nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic
      neuropathy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare peripapillary choroidal thickness, macular thickness, and
      peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness between the affected
      eyes of patients with nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) and
      their unaffected eyes and the eyes of normal control subjects. METHODS: Thirty
      two eyes with NAION, 25 unaffected fellow eyes, and 25 normal control subjects
      met the inclusion criteria in this prospective comparative study at a single
      academic institution. Optic disc area, macular thickness, and RNFL thickness were
      evaluated at last follow up time using spectral-domain optical coherence
      tomography (OCT). Enhanced depth imaging OCT was obtained to evaluate
      peripapillary choroidal thickness. RESULTS: Mean follow up time was 4.9 +/-0.8
      months and all data was collected from the last follow up. The mean optic disc
      area in NAION eyes and their unaffected fellow eyes were significantly smaller
      than normal control disc area measurements (P<0.001). Average PCT and all
      regional values were significantly greater in the NAION eyes and unaffected
      fellow eyes than in the control eyes (P=0.01). In all subjects, optic disc area
      was correlated with average PCT (r = -0.33, P = 0.002). In addition, RNFL
      thickness and macular thickness values were significantly lesser in the NAION
      eyes than in the unaffected fellow eyes and control eyes. CONCLUSIONS: PCT is
      thicker in NAION eyes and unaffected fellow eyes than control eyes. Thick
      peripapillary choroid might contribute to the development of NAION.

PMID- 25813992
TI  - An Eye on Brain Integrity: Acute Optic Neuritis Affects Resting State Functional
      Connectivity.
AB  - PURPOSE: Currently, the ability for imaging to capture brain adaptations to
      injury that occurs in multiple sclerosis (MS) is limited. In particular, how the
      brain initially contends with the earliest clinical manifestations of white
      matter injury has yet to be defined. The purpose of this study was to determine
      the impact of acute optic neuritis (ON) on resting state functional connectivity
      magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fcMRI). METHODS: Fifteen patients with a
      clinically isolated syndrome of acute ON were evaluated at an academic center in
      a prospective study. Subjects were assessed with structural and functional vision
      measures, including optical coherence tomography (OCT), high- and low-contrast
      letter acuity testing, and visual fields and quality-of-life measures (VFQ-25).
      The rs-fcMRI was compared with age- and sex-matched healthy controls. RESULTS: We
      observed reduced functional connectivity within the visual system and a loss of
      anticorrelations between the visual system and nonvisual networks. Stronger
      functional connectivity between visual regions correlated with better quality of
      life, as measured by the VFQ-25, and better acuity scores for both high- and low
      contrast testing in the affected eye. CONCLUSIONS: The rs-fcMRI functional
      connectivity changes within (intranetwork) and between (internetwork) resting
      state networks occur after acute ON, indicating immediate cortical responses to
      focal inflammatory demyelination. Thus, focal white matter injury in the central
      nervous system acutely results in widespread network alterations that may lead to
      functional neurologic changes seen in MS.

PMID- 25813993
TI  - Tumor Regression After Brachytherapy for Choroidal Melanoma: Reduction of
      Thickness and Cross-Sectional Area by Shape and Regression Pattern.
AB  - PURPOSE: To model regression rate of thickness and cross-sectional area of
      choroidal melanomas after ruthenium and iodine brachytherapy by shape and
      regression pattern (RP). METHODS: We enrolled 330 of 388 consecutive uveal
      melanomas from 2000 to 2008 and analyzed images from I3 System-ABD 10-MHz B-Scan
      at diagnosis and during a 3-year-long follow-up. We classified tumor shape by
      Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study definitions and RP according to an earlier
      study. We plotted regression over time and compared thickness and cross-sectional
      area. RESULTS: The observed RP by thickness was classified as decrease (D) in
      43%, stable (S) in 5%, increase (I) in 1%, and other in 40% of eyes; main
      subpatterns were decrease-stable (DS) in 16% and zigzag in 10% of eyes. The
      corresponding percentages by area were 42%, 3%, 1%, 45%, 16%, and 14%. Regression
      pattern was discordant in 34% of eyes for thickness versus area. Area reduced
      faster than thickness when shape was oval to dome or mushroom and if RP was D.
      Pooled patterns D, DS, decrease-increase (DI), and zigzag corresponded with
      progressive but increasingly less pronounced regression for 3 years (56% by
      thickness and 69% by area), 2 years (50% and 52%), 6 months (29% and 33%), and 6
      months (19% and 23%), respectively. First-order exponential decay function fitted
      thickness and area regression for every shape and for patterns D, DS, DI, and
      zigzag. CONCLUSIONS: Heterogeneity in RP, variation in shape, and tumor cross
      sectional area as an alternative measure must be considered when tumor regression
      rate is used in outcome analysis.

PMID- 25813989
TI  - The Project MACULA Retinal Pigment Epithelium Grading System for Histology and
      Optical Coherence Tomography in Age-Related Macular Degeneration.
AB  - PURPOSE: To seek pathways of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) fate in age-related
      macular degeneration via a morphology grading system; provide nomenclature,
      visualization targets, and metrics for clinical imaging and model systems.
      METHODS: Donor eyes with geographic atrophy (GA) or choroidal neovascularization
      (CNV) and one GA eye with previous clinical spectral-domain optical coherence
      tomography (SDOCT) imaging were processed for histology, photodocumented, and
      annotated at predefined locations. Retinal pigment epithelial cells contained
      spindle-shaped melanosomes, apposed a basal lamina or basal laminar deposit
      (BLamD), and exhibited recognizable morphologies. Thicknesses and unbiased
      estimates of frequencies were obtained. RESULTS: In 13 GA eyes (449 locations),
      'Shedding,' 'Sloughed,' and 'Dissociated' morphologies were abundant; 22.2% of
      atrophic locations had 'Dissociated' RPE. In 39 CNV eyes (1363 locations), 37.3%
      of locations with fibrovascular/fibrocellular scar had 'Entombed' RPE;
      'Sloughed,' 'Dissociated,' and 'Bilaminar' morphologies were abundant. Of
      abnormal RPE, CNV and GA both had ~35% 'Sloughed'/'Intraretinal,' with more
      Intraretinal in CNV (9.5% vs. 1.8%). 'Shedding' cells associated with granule
      aggregations in BLamD. The RPE layer did not thin, and BLamD remained thick, with
      progression. Granule-containing material consistent with three morphologies
      correlated to SDOCT hyperreflective foci in the previously examined GA patient.
      CONCLUSIONS: Retinal pigment epithelium morphology indicates multiple pathways in
      GA and CNV. Atrophic/scarred areas have numerous cells capable of transcribing
      genes and generating imaging signals. Shed granule aggregates, possibly
      apoptotic, are visible in SDOCT, as are 'Dissociated' and 'Sloughed' cells. The
      significance of RPE phenotypes is addressable in longitudinal, high-resolution
      imaging in clinic populations. Data can motivate future molecular phenotyping
      studies.

PMID- 25813994
TI  - The Effects of Sonic Hedgehog on Retinal Muller Cells Under High-Glucose Stress.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate sonic hedgehog (SHH) expression and its effects on
      retinal Muller cells in diabetic rats and in vitro culture systems under high
      glucose stress. METHODS: Diabetic rats were induced by intraperitoneal injection
      of streptozotocin. Primary rat retinal Muller cells were grown in medium
      containing 5.5 or 35 mM glucose with SHH and/or cyclopamine. Retinas' and primary
      Muller cells' expression of SHH pathway components protein and mRNA were
      determined by Western blot analysis and real-time PCR. The effects of exogenous
      SHH and its inhibitor cyclopamine on retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) survival after
      3-month diabetes were examined by the counting of Brn-3a-labeled RGCs.
      Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), extracellular signal regulated kinases 1 and 2
      (ERK1/2), and P38 were detected by Western blot. RESULTS: Both mRNA and protein
      expression of SHH, SMO, GLI1, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in the
      retinas of diabetic rats and high-glucose cultured Muller cells increased in a
      time-dependent manner. Exogenous SHH increased the mRNA and protein expression of
      SHH, SMO, and GLI1 and cyclopamine reversed that effect. Three months after onset
      of diabetes, administration of SHH inhibited gliosis significantly and promoted
      RGC survival. Exogenous SHH upregulated the phosphorylation of PI3K and
      downregulated ERK1/2, but did not affect the expression of P38. CONCLUSIONS:
      Sonic hedgehog signaling pathway was upregulated in diabetic rat retina and high
      glucose cultured Muller cells, and SHH exerted neuroprotective effects on damaged
      RGCs in a rat diabetes model. The neuroprotective effects of SHH may act
      indirectly, via Muller cells, through PI3K or ERK1/2 pathways.

PMID- 25813995
TI  - Time-Dependent Changes of Cell Proliferation After Laser Photocoagulation in
      Mouse Chorioretinal Tissue.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study investigated the time course of cell proliferation after
      laser photocoagulation and analyzed the cell types of proliferating cells.
      METHODS: C57BL/6J mice received unilateral laser photocoagulation.
      Intraperitoneal bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) injection was performed, and mice were
      divided into two groups according to the injection paradigm: group 1 with
      continuous injection and group 2 with periodic injection. Each group was again
      divided into four subgroups according to injection period: 0 to 3 days (n = 11),
      0 to 7 days (n = 14), 0 to 14 days (n = 6), and 0 to 28 days (n = 6) after laser
      photocoagulation for group 1; and 0 to 3 days (n = 11), 4 to 7 days (n = 6), 8 to
      14 days (n = 6), and 15 to 28 days (n = 6) after laser photocoagulation for group
      2. The eyes were examined with immunohistochemistry using anti-BrdU antibody and
      other various antibodies for identification of proliferating cells. Manual cell
      counting and flow cytometry were performed for quantification. RESULTS: In group
      1, the number of BrdU+ cells showed marked increase during the first 3 days of
      laser lesioning, reaching its maximum after 7 days (P < 0.05). Group 2 also
      demonstrated peak proliferation during the first 3 days, but a significantly
      reduced number of BrdU+ cells were detected during 4 to 7 days, 8 to 14 days, and
      15 to 28 days of laser treatment (P < 0.05). BrdU+ cells colocalized with CD11b,
      F4/80, iba1, RPE65, CD31, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) labeling,
      and CD11b+, F4/80+, and iba1+ cells constituted the main fraction of BrdU+ cells.
      CONCLUSIONS: Laser photocoagulation induced cell proliferation mostly during the
      first 3 days, and many proliferating cells were identified as inflammatory cells,
      RPE cells, endothelial cells, and Muller cells.

PMID- 25813996
TI  - Automatic computer-aided diagnosis of retinal nerve fiber layer defects using
      fundus photographs in optic neuropathy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the validity of an automatic computer-aided diagnosis (CAD)
      system for detection of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) defects on fundus
      photographs of glaucomatous and nonglaucomatous optic neuropathy. METHODS: We
      have proposed an automatic detection method for RNFL defects on fundus
      photographs in various cases of glaucomatous and nonglaucomatous optic
      neuropathy. In order to detect the vertical dark bands as candidate RNFL defects,
      the nonuniform illumination of the fundus image was corrected, the blood vessels
      were removed, and the images were converted to polar coordinates with the center
      of the optic disc. False positives (FPs) were reduced by using knowledge-based
      rules. The sensitivity and FP rates for all images were calculated. RESULTS: We
      tested 98 fundus photographs with 140 RNFL defects and 100 fundus photographs of
      healthy normal subjects. The proposed method achieved a sensitivity of 90% and a
      0.67 FP rate per image and worked well with RNFL defects with variable depths and
      widths, with uniformly high detection rates regardless of the angular widths of
      the RNFL defects. The average detection accuracy was approximately 0.94. The
      overall diagnostic accuracy of the proposed algorithm for detecting RNFL defects
      among 98 patients and 100 healthy individuals was 86% sensitivity and 75%
      specificity. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed CAD system successfully detected RNFL
      defects in optic neuropathies. Thus, the proposed algorithm is useful for the
      detection of RNFL defects.

PMID- 25813997
TI  - Effects of Gelatin Hydrogel Loading Mitomycin C on Conjunctival Scarring in a
      Canine Filtration Surgery Model.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the effects and toxicities of gelatin hydrogel (GH)
      loading mitomycin C (MMC) on IOP and conjunctival scarring in a canine model of
      glaucoma surgery in comparison with conventional MMC application. METHODS:
      Glaucoma surgery models were made in six beagles. An MMC-loaded GH was implanted
      under the conjunctiva of one eye (GH-MMC group) and 0.04% MMC-soaked sponges were
      placed under the conjunctiva of the other eye (MMC group) for 5 minutes.
      Intraocular pressures and bleb features were then assessed for 4 weeks
      postoperative, followed by histological evaluation. The ratio of conjunctival
      area to scleral area, the densities of collagen and the numbers of fibroblasts,
      vessels, and proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-positive cells were then
      quantified. RESULTS: In both groups, IOP reduction and bleb formation were
      maintained in a similar manner for 4 weeks postoperative. No significant
      difference in the ratio of conjunctival area to scleral area was found between
      the two groups. Collagen density and the numbers of fibroblasts and vessels were
      significantly lower in the MMC-treated group than in the GH-MMC-treated group. No
      significant difference in PCNA-positive cells was found between the two groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: Implantation of MMC-loaded GH ameliorated toxicity to conjunctiva
      compared with the 5-minute placement of MMC, whereas its effect on IOP reduction
      and bleb formation was similar. These results suggest that using GH for the
      application of MMC is a safer method than the conventional application of MMC in
      glaucoma filtration surgery.

PMID- 25813998
TI  - Catalase therapy corrects oxidative stress-induced pathophysiology in incipient
      diabetic retinopathy.
AB  - PURPOSE: Preclinical studies have highlighted retinal oxidative stress in the
      pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. We evaluated whether a treatment designed
      to enhance cellular catalase reduces oxidative stress in retinal cells cultured
      in high glucose and in diabetic mice corrects an imaging biomarker responsive to
      antioxidant therapy (manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging [MEMRI]).
      METHODS: Human retinal Muller and pigment epithelial cells were chronically
      exposed to normal or high glucose levels and treated with a cell-penetrating
      derivative of the peroxisomal enzyme catalase (called CAT-SKL). Hydrogen peroxide
      (H2O2) levels were measured using a quantitative fluorescence-based assay. For in
      vivo studies, streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic C57Bl/6 mice were treated
      subcutaneously once a week for 3 to 4 months with CAT-SKL; untreated age-matched
      nondiabetic controls and untreated diabetic mice also were studied. MEMRI was
      used to analytically assess the efficacy of CAT-SKL treatment on diabetes-evoked
      oxidative stress-related pathophysiology in vivo. Similar analyses were performed
      with difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), an irreversible inhibitor of ornithine
      decarboxylase. RESULTS: After catalase transduction, high glucose-induced
      peroxide production was significantly lowered in both human retinal cell lines.
      In diabetic mice in vivo, subnormal intraretinal uptake of manganese was
      significantly improved by catalase supplementation. In addition, in the
      peroxisome-rich liver of treated mice catalase enzyme activity increased and
      oxidative damage (as measured by lipid peroxidation) declined. On the other hand,
      DFMO was largely without effect in these in vitro or in vivo assays. CONCLUSIONS:
      This proof-of-concept study raises the possibility that augmentation of catalase
      is a therapy for treating the retinal oxidative stress associated with diabetic
      retinopathy.

PMID- 25814000
TI  - Sildenafil Acutely Decreases Visual Responses in ON and OFF Retinal Ganglion
      Cells.
AB  - PURPOSE: Sildenafil (Viagra), a cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor,
      is widely used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction and pulmonary
      hypertension. Clinical studies have reported transient visual impairments in
      patients after single-dose sildenafil use, suggesting neural involvement in
      several retinal layers, and also, possibly, retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), which
      provide the unique output of visual information to the brain. However, the effect
      of sildenafil on the RGC light responses is poorly understood. We therefore
      evaluated its effect on RGC spiking activity. METHODS: We measured spontaneous
      and light-induced RGC spiking activity in Long-Evans rat ex vivo retinas by using
      the multielectrode array technique. Sildenafil citrate (0.3-30 MUM) was applied
      to retinal preparations under continuous perfusion, during 10 to 60 minutes,
      followed by sildenafil washout. RESULTS: A high concentration (30 MUM) of
      sildenafil decreased the magnitudes of both ON- and OFF-type RGC light responses,
      to 26.3% +/- 17% and 18.3% +/- 7%, respectively, of the initial value, in a
      reversible and concentration-dependent fashion, while in 50% of RGCs all light
      responses were completely suppressed. Sildenafil also greatly increased the
      latency of both types of light responses. In this study, we provided evidence
      that extended exposure to both sildenafil and repeated light stimulation
      potentiates drug effects and delays recovery. CONCLUSIONS: We found transient and
      concentration-dependent alterations of light responses at the RGC level after
      sildenafil exposure that are relevant for a better understanding of the acute
      visual effects of administration of this compound in humans.

PMID- 25814001
TI  - [Sentinel lymph node biopsy. Editorial].

PMID- 25814002
TI  - Salidroside inhibits the growth of human breast cancer in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Salidroside has been identified as one of the most potent compounds isolated from
      the plant Rhodiola rosea, and was found to have several important biological
      properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity; however, its
      anticancer effects are poorly understood. Thus, the present study focused on
      evaluating the effects of purified salidroside on the growth of human breast
      cancer in vitro and in vivo, and on further investigating its possible molecular
      mechanisms. The human breast cancer cell line, MCF-7, was incubated with various
      concentrations of salidroside, and cell proliferation, colony formation, cell
      cycle distribution, apoptosis, migration and invasion were assayed by several in
      vitro approaches. As a result, it was found that salidroside treatment
      significantly inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and
      invasion, as well as induced cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1
      phase in vitro. In addition, we also evaluated the effect of salidroside on tumor
      growth in a nude mouse model, and found that salidroside treatment significantly
      suppressed tumor growth in vivo. We also further disclosed that salidroside
      treatment significantly inhibited the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS)
      formation and MAPK pathway activation, which may contribute to the inhibition of
      tumor growth of breast cancer and reduction of oxidative stress. In conclusion,
      these findings suggest that salidroside may be a promising candidate target for
      the prevention and treatment of human breast cancer.

PMID- 25813999
TI  - Identification of a Novel Mucin Gene HCG22 Associated With Steroid-Induced Ocular
      Hypertension.
AB  - PURPOSE: The pathophysiology of ocular hypertension (OH) leading to primary open
      angle glaucoma shares many features with a secondary form of OH caused by
      treatment with glucocorticoids, but also exhibits distinct differences. In this
      study, a pharmacogenomics approach was taken to discover candidate genes for this
      disorder. METHODS: A genome-wide association study was performed, followed by an
      independent candidate gene study, using a cohort enrolled from patients treated
      with off-label intravitreal triamcinolone, and handling change in IOP as a
      quantitative trait. RESULTS: An intergenic quantitative trait locus (QTL) was
      identified at chromosome 6p21.33 near the 5' end of HCG22 that attained the
      accepted statistical threshold for genome-level significance. The HCG22
      transcript, encoding a novel mucin protein, was expressed in trabecular meshwork
      cells, and expression was stimulated by IL-1, and inhibited by triamcinolone
      acetate and TGF-beta. Bioinformatic analysis defined the QTL as an approximately
      4 kilobase (kb) linkage disequilibrium block containing 10 common single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Four of these SNPs were identified in the
      National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GTEx eQTL browser as
      modifiers of HCG22 expression. Most are predicted to disrupt or improve motifs
      for transcription factor binding, the most relevant being disruption of the
      glucocorticoid receptor binding motif. A second QTL was identified within the
      predicted signal peptide of the HCG22 encoded protein that could affect its
      secretion. Translation, O-glycosylation, and secretion of the predicted HCG22
      protein was verified in cultured trabecular meshwork cells. CONCLUSIONS:
      Identification of two independent QTLs that could affect expression of the HCG22
      mucin gene product via two different mechanisms (transcription or secretion) is
      highly suggestive of a role in steroid-induced OH.

PMID- 25814003
TI  - Minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum: analyzing contemporary practice in
      50 ACS NSQIP-pediatric institutions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) is a well
      established procedure. However, morbidity rate varies widely among institutions,
      and the incidence of major complications remains unknown. STUDY DESIGN: The
      American College of Surgeons 2012 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program
      Pediatric (NSQIP-P) participant user file was utilized to identify patients who
      underwent MIRPE at 50 participant institutions. Outcomes of interest were overall
      30-day morbidity, hospital readmission, and reoperation. RESULTS: Chest wall
      repair designated MIRPE accounted for 0.6% (n = 264) of all surgical cases
      included in the NSQIP-P database in 2012. The median age at surgical repair was
      15.2 years. Thoracoscopy was used in 83.7% of cases. No mediastinal injuries or
      perioperative blood transfusions were identified. The 30-day readmission rate was
      3.8%. Three patients (1.1%) required re-operation due to the following
      complications: superficial site infection, bar displacement and pneumothorax. The
      overall morbidity was 3.8% with no incidences of mortality. CONCLUSIONS: This
      analysis of a large prospective multicenter dataset demonstrates that major
      complications following MIRPE are uncommon in contemporary practice. Wound
      infection is the most common complication and the main cause of hospital
      readmission. Targeted quality improvement initiative should be focused on
      perioperative strategy to further reduce wound occurrences and hospital
      readmission.

PMID- 25814004
TI  - An ecosystem approach to understanding and managing within-host parasite
      community dynamics.
AB  - Hosts are typically coinfected by multiple parasite species, resulting in
      potentially overwhelming levels of complexity. We argue that an individual host
      can be considered to be an ecosystem in that it is an environment containing a
      diversity of entities (e.g., parasitic organisms, commensal symbionts, host
      immune components) that interact with each other, potentially competing for
      space, energy, and resources, ultimately influencing the condition of the host.
      Tools and concepts from ecosystem ecology can be applied to better understand the
      dynamics and responses of within-individual host-parasite ecosystems. Examples
      from both wildlife and human systems demonstrate how this framework is useful in
      breaking down complex interactions into components that can be monitored,
      measured, and managed to inform the design of better disease-management
      strategies. 

PMID- 25814005
TI  - Chemo-, regio-, and stereoselective Heck-Matsuda arylation of allylic alcohols
      under mild conditions.
AB  - Heck arylation with allylic alcohol is extremely challenging due to chemo-, regio
      , and stereoselective scrambling. Here we report a mild protocol for the alcohol
      selective beta- and alpha-arylation of allylic and cinnamyl alcohols respectively
      with aryldiazonium salts. The steric and electronic parameters of the alkene play
      a prominent role in the regioselectivity. 

PMID- 25814006
TI  - Head elevation and improved laryngoscopic view.

PMID- 25814007
TI  - Reliability and interpretation of pulmonary function tests when morbid obesity
      combines with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and neuromuscular weakness.

PMID- 25814008
TI  - Comparison of acute toxicities associated with cetuximab-based bioradiotherapy
      and platinum-based chemoradiotherapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinomas:
      A single-institution retrospective study in Japan.
AB  - CONCLUSION: Grade >= 3 mucositis/stomatitis and inability to feed orally were
      problematic for patients undergoing cetuximab-based bioradiotherapy (BRT) as well
      as platinum-based chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Severe mucositis/stomatitis and
      radiation dermatitis should be addressed carefully in patients undergoing
      cetuximab-based BRT as well. OBJECTIVES: The efficacy of cetuximab-based BRT in
      locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinomas has been established.
      However, the safety of cetuximab-based BRT in comparison with platinum-based CRT
      is currently under investigation. METHOD: This study retrospectively analyzed 14
      patients undergoing cetuximab-based BRT and 29 patients undergoing platinum-based
      CRT to compare the incidence of acute toxicities. In the BRT group, an initial
      cetuximab loading dose of 400 mg/m(2) was delivered 1 week before the start of
      radiotherapy. Seven weekly infusions of 250 mg/m(2) of cetuximab followed during
      the definitive radiotherapy. In the CRT group, cisplatin was administered at a
      dose of 40 mg/m(2) weekly during the definitive radiotherapy. RESULTS: The BRT
      group had a higher incidence of Grade >= 3 radiation dermatitis than did the CRT
      group (43% vs 3%, respectively, p < 0.01). The incidence rate of Grade >= 3
      mucositis/stomatitis was 64.3% and 41.4% in the BRT and CRT group, respectively
      (p = 0.1484), while the incidence rate of the inability to feed orally was 38.5%
      and 55.2%, respectively (p = 0.2053).

PMID- 25814009
TI  - [Hip Fracture--Epidemiology, Management and Liaison Service. Current status in
      the World and Japan].
AB  - Proximal femoral fracture in osteoporotic fracture is related to the life
      prognosis in the most severe. Many also report that has been reduced due to the
      spread of osteoporosis treatment in the world. In Japan in 1985 for the first
      time, we investigated all patients with hip fractures who were admitted to all
      hospitals with an orthopedic department in the Niigata Prefecture. We also have
      investigated the secular trends in the hip fracture incidence from 1985-2010.
      Proximal femoral fracture has been increasing in 2010, and there are no reports
      that have decreased. In Japan, where an aging society is to continue in the
      future, we need urgent countermeasure. 

PMID- 25814010
TI  - [Hip Fracture--Epidemiology, Management and Liaison Service. Risk factor for hip
      fracture].
AB  - Many risk factors have been identified for hip fracture, including female,
      advanced age, osteoporosis, previous fractures, low body weight or low body mass
      index, alcohol drinking, smoking, family history of fractures, use of
      glucocorticoid, factors related to falls, and bone strength. The factors related
      to falls are number of fall, frail, post stroke, paralysis, muscle weakness, anti
      anxiety drugs, anti-depression drugs, and sedatives. Dementia and respiratory
      disease and others have been reported to be risk factors for secondary hip
      fracture. 

PMID- 25814011
TI  - [Hip Fracture--Epidemiology, Management and Liaison Service. Medicines that
      prevent hip fracture].
AB  - Based on the results of numbers of the clinical trials, the medicines that
      prevent hip fracture are alendronate, risedronate, and denosumab, which are all
      antiresorptive. Although currently evidence is not available, combination
      anabolic and antiresoprtive therapy using teriparatide and denosumab is expected
      to efficiently prevent hip fracture because such therapy increases hip bone
      mineral density more than either drug alone. 

PMID- 25814012
TI  - [Hip Fracture--Epidemiology, Management and Liaison Service. Mortality and
      functional disability after hip fracture].
AB  - Factors associated with lower physical performance after hip fracture are
      physical function before hip fracture and cognitive impairment. The 1-year
      survival rate following hip fracture is a little lower than the expected survival
      rate ; while, the survival rate in subsequent years was lower than the expected
      survival rate. Factors associated with mortality are male sex, impaired walking
      ability before injury, cognitive impairment, diabetes mellitus, history of
      gastrectomy or colonectomy, and pneumonia during hospitalization. Long-term
      rehabilitation to maintain physical performance after hip fracture is needed. 

PMID- 25814013
TI  - [Hip Fracture--Epidemiology, Management and Liaison Service. Multidisciplinary
      approach for the treatment of proximal femoral fractures].
AB  - Multidisciplinary approach for proximal femoral fracture was organized in the
      hospital. Inter and intra division obstacles were discussed. After general
      consensus of the team was obtained, manuals and guidelines of the each division
      were prepared. In addition to this, the electrical chart specific for the
      proximal femoral fracture was made which enables to eliminate in-hospital
      reference letters. As the results, all patients were examined by internal
      medicine doctors at the time of admission. Average interval from the time of
      admission to surgery became 1.3 days. Closer relationship with psychiatrist made
      early detection and treatment of delirium possible. After changing the system to
      check the antiosteoporosis medication at the time of discharge by the ward
      pharmacist dramatically increased the prescription rate form 39 percent to 95
      percent. 

PMID- 25814014
TI  - [Hip Fracture--Epidemiology, Management and Liaison Service. What do we need to
      close care gaps in treating hip fracture?--How to include the UK experience into
      the care in Japan].
AB  - Various care gaps are noted in and between acute and rehabilitation hospitals,
      and after discharge from hospitals in Japan. In the most of acute care hospitals
      physicians take care of elderly fractured patients only by a request of
      orthopaedic team. This made a mean time until surgery was 4.5 days (2011). A
      critical pathway in treating hip fracture has certainly shortened days in the
      acute hospitals, care gaps may exist between hospitals. Although osteoporosis
      medication has started on discharge, it may be discontinued at home, in health or
      social care facilities under the care of primary care physicians. Even though it
      was estimated approximately 160,000 hip fractures per year in Japan, management
      of patients' address is not well established after discharge. In order to include
      the UK experience in Japan, two proposals were made for hospitals in treating hip
      fracture as follows. 1. Clinical auditing may be added to improve quality of
      care. An audit protocol is to be developed multidisciplinarily by orthopaedic
      surgeons and geriatricians, with interprofessional collaboration. 2. A fracture
      liaison service is to be established to make interprofessional care-mix possible,
      such as an increase of adherence of osteoporosis drugs and prevention of falls
      after discharge. A fracture liaison coordinator is to be assigned to the service
      in making a team approach possible to a patient and his/her family.

PMID- 25814015
TI  - [Hip Fracture--Epidemiology, Management and Liaison Service. Prevention of the
      secondary hip fractures utilizing the regional post-referral treatment plan].
AB  - Fragility fracture can result in a series of fractures, with the need for the
      prevention of secondary hip fractures seen as increasingly pertinent in Japan. In
      2006, regional post-referral treatment plans for femoral neck fracture came into
      effect in Japan, but treatment of fracture and prevention of secondary fracture
      were fragmented. Patient education about prevention included on explanation forms
      were commenced, but the levels of discharge prescription for osteoporosis
      medications did not indicate an improvement. We evaluated a fracture liaison
      service for post-referral treatment plans for femoral neck fracture, by
      registering rehabilitation-stage hospitals and surveying data over a six-month
      period about whether there was prescription of osteoporosis medications on
      discharge, and the varieties of medication prescribed. 

PMID- 25814016
TI  - [Hip Fracture--Epidemiology, Management and Liaison Service. Practice of the
      secondary fracture prevention of the proximal femoral fracture by the
      Osteoporosis Liaison Service].
AB  - The proximal femoral fracture number of patients increases with age, and it is
      predicted that patients over 90 years old will increase in future. It causes a
      decline of ADL and the QOL, mortality aggravation, a remarkable rise of medical
      care, the nursing-care cost when they present with a fracture. Primary prevention
      is important to prevent osteoporotic fracture, but the secondary prevention for
      the prior or new fracture patient is particularly important. For the practice of
      the secondary prevention, cooperation of a doctor and the medical staff who
      included not only the hospital but also the cooperation with the medical
      institution in the area is indispensable. This report introduces osteoporosis
      liaison service working on in our hospital and is happy if it is with
      consideration of the practice of the secondary prevention of the proximal femoral
      fracture. 

PMID- 25814017
TI  - [Hip Fracture--Epidemiology, Management and Liaison Service. Osteoporosis liaison
      service in Japan].
AB  - Osteoporosis liaison service (OLS) is a coordinator-based service provided by
      Japan Osteoporosis Society. Fracture Liaison Services, commonly known as FLS, are
      coordinator-based, secondary fracture prevention services implemented by health
      care systems for the treatment of osteoporotic patients. OLS includes not only
      FLS but also educational program, medical check-up for bone fragility and risk
      assessment for primary fracture in osteoporotic subjects. Japan Osteoporosis
      Society gives coordinators the certificate as a specialist for OLS since 2015.
      OLS in Japan should facilitate better performance of the treatment of
      osteoporosis and should contribute the reduction of clinical fractures. 

PMID- 25814018
TI  - [Hip Fracture--Epidemiology, Management and Liaison Service. Surgical treatment
      of femoral proximal fracture].
AB  - Fragility fracture is increasing with increasing in population of elderly.
      Especially hip fracture is increasing rapidly and has many problems such as
      deterioration of QOL and growing medical expenses. In hip fracture, it is
      necessary to leave the bed in early period after injury and begin the
      rehabilitation for start to walk again. So surgical treatment is usually
      advocated as soon as possible after injury. Hip fracture is mainly classified to
      femoral neck fracture which is intra-articular fracture of hip joint and
      trochanteric fracture which is extra-articular fracture. Surgical treatment is
      different in these fractures. In this article, diagnosis and treatment of these
      femoral neck fracture and trochanteric fracture, especially surgical methods are
      mentioned. 

PMID- 25814019
TI  - [Hip Fracture--Epidemiology, Management and Liaison Service. Rehabilitation for
      the hip fracture].
AB  - In Japan, the number of patients with hip fracture has been increasing year by
      year with a drastic increase in the number of ages. Hip fractures are not only
      the more significant osteoporotic fracture, but make activity in daily life (ADL)
      , health outcome, and quality of life (QOL) more difficult. To rehabilitate
      patients with hip fracture through a multidisciplinary approach is important in
      the early phases of fracture incidents in order to keep their ADL and QOL at a
      high level. 

PMID- 25814020
TI  - Quantitative analysis of Si/SiGeC superlattices using atom probe tomography.
AB  - SiGe and its alloys are used as key materials in innovative electronic devices.
      The analysis of these materials together with the localisation of dopants and
      impurities on a very fine scale is of crucial importance for better understanding
      their electronic properties. The quantification of carbon and germanium in an as
      grown Si/SiGeC superlattice has been investigated using Atom Probe Tomography as
      a function of analysis conditions and sample anneal temperature. The mass
      spectrum is heavily influenced by the analysis conditions and chemical
      identification is needed. It was found that quantitative results are obtained
      using a intermediate electric field. The evaporation of carbon ions shows a
      strong spatial and temporal correlation. A series of annealed samples have been
      analysed, presenting an inhomogeneous carbon distribution, appearing in the shape
      of small clusters. These findings confirm previous results and give a better
      understanding of the processes occurring in these technologically important
      materials. 

PMID- 25814021
TI  - Tetrabenzanthanthrenes by mitigation of rearrangements in the planarization of
      ortho-phenylene hexamers.
AB  - In general, ortho-phenylene hexamers are not good substrates for oxidative
      planarization because of competing backbone rearrangements. However, by first
      planarizing the ends, a target tetrabenzanthanthrene has been obtained by
      oxidation in good yield. DFT calculations suggest that the larger polycyclic
      aromatic subunits of the preplanarized substrate increase the rate of
      planarization relative to that of rearrangement. By implication, it may be
      possible to prepare graphene structures that cannot be made directly from simple
      polyphenylenes by instead designing precursors with larger polycyclic aromatic
      moieties. The photophysical properties of the tetrabenzanthanthrene core indicate
      that it may have promise as a functional chromophore. 

PMID- 25814023
TI  - Identification of glutathione adducts of alpha-chlorofatty aldehydes produced in
      activated neutrophils.
AB  - alpha-Chlorofatty aldehydes (alpha-ClFALDs) are produced by hypochlorous acid
      targeting plasmalogens during neutrophil activation. This study investigated the
      reaction of the alpha-chlorinated carbon of alpha-ClFALD with the nucleophile,
      GSH. Utilizing ESI/MS/MS, the reaction product of GSH and the 16-carbon alpha
      ClFALD, 2-chlorohexadecanal (2-ClHDA), was characterized. The resulting conjugate
      of 2-ClHDA and GSH (HDA-GSH) has an intact free aldehyde, and the chlorine at the
      alpha-carbon is ejected. Stable isotope-labeled [d4]HDA-GSH was synthesized,
      which further confirmed the structure, and was used to quantify natural alpha
      ClFALD conjugates of GSH (FALD-GSH) using reverse-phase LC with detection by
      ESI/MS/MS using selected reaction monitoring. HDA-GSH is elevated in RAW 264.7
      cells treated with physiologically relevant concentrations of exogenous 2-ClHDA.
      Furthermore, PMA-treated primary human neutrophils have elevated levels of HDA
      GSH and the conjugate of 2-chlorooctadecanal (2-ClODA) and GSH (ODA-GSH), as well
      as elevated levels of 2-ClHDA and 2-ClODA. Production of both conjugates in PMA
      stimulated neutrophils was reduced by 3-aminotriazole pretreatment, which also
      blocks endogenous alpha-ClFALD production. Additionally, plasma FALD-GSH levels
      were elevated in the K/BxN mouse arthritis model. Taken together, these studies
      demonstrate novel peptidoaldehydes derived from GSH and alpha-ClFALD in activated
      human neutrophils and in vivo in K/BxN mice. 

PMID- 25814022
TI  - Lipid phosphate phosphatases and their roles in mammalian physiology and
      pathology.
AB  - Lipid phosphate phosphatases (LPPs) are a group of enzymes that belong to a
      phosphatase/phosphotransferase family. Mammalian LPPs consist of three isoforms:
      LPP1, LPP2, and LPP3. They share highly conserved catalytic domains and catalyze
      the dephosphorylation of a variety of lipid phosphates, including phosphatidate,
      lysophosphatidate (LPA), sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), ceramide 1-phosphate, and
      diacylglycerol pyrophosphate. LPPs are integral membrane proteins, which are
      localized on plasma membranes with the active site on the outer leaflet. This
      enables the LPPs to degrade extracellular LPA and S1P, thereby attenuating their
      effects on the activation of surface receptors. LPP3 also exhibits noncatalytic
      effects at the cell surface. LPP expression on internal membranes, such as
      endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi, facilitates the metabolism of internal lipid
      phosphates, presumably on the luminal surface of these organelles. This action
      probably explains the signaling effects of the LPPs, which occur downstream of
      receptor activation. The three isoforms of LPPs show distinct and nonredundant
      effects in several physiological and pathological processes including embryo
      development, vascular function, and tumor progression. This review is intended to
      present an up-to-date understanding of the physiological and pathological
      consequences of changing the activities of the different LPPs, especially in
      relation to cell signaling by LPA and S1P. 

PMID- 25814024
TI  - Coronary artery spasm: mimicry, misdiagnosis and misfortune.

PMID- 25814025
TI  - Dilation balloon rupture during percutaneous dilational tracheostomy: using Blue
      Dolphin kit.
AB  - A 72-year-old man presented to the high dependency unit following an elective
      incisional hernia repair. He was extubated in the immediate postoperative period.
      Following established type 2 respiratory failure (secondary to hospital-acquired
      pneumonia), he required tracheal intubation and was ventilated in the intensive
      care unit (ICU). He failed extubation and subsequently had a percutaneous single
      stage dilational tracheostomy fitted as indicated. During the tracheostomy, while
      inflating the dilation balloon (used to dilate the trachea), the balloon burst in
      the trachea, at a pressure of 3 atmospheres. Following this, the entire dilating
      unit and tracheostomy tube were removed; no debris was left inside the trachea as
      confirmed by bronchoscope (used throughout the procedure). He made good recovery
      and was discharged to a surgical ward. This case report summarises the
      indications for tracheostomy, and reports the rare event of balloon rupture and
      how to manage it within the ICU setting. 

PMID- 25814026
TI  - Successful emergency splenectomy during cardiac arrest due to cytomegalovirus
      induced atraumatic splenic rupture.
AB  - A 27-year-old woman was admitted to the emergency department with fever and a
      petechial rash on suspicion of meningitis. Shortly after arriving she developed
      cardiac arrest. Blood work up showed severe lactate acidosis, anaemia and
      thrombocytopenia. A focused assessment with sonography in trauma scan showed free
      intraperitoneal fluid and an emergency laparotomy revealed massive bleeding from
      a ruptured spleen. The patient was successfully resuscitated. She proved to be
      infected with cytomegalovirus causing idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura,
      splenomegaly and splenic rupture. She was treated for 14 days with ganciclovir
      and meropenem and discharged on recovery. Atraumatic splenic rupture caused by
      viral infection is a rare condition although well described. In the case of our
      patient, thrombocytopenia added to the severity of the splenic rupture. A
      multidisciplinary team approach was essential for the management and the eventual
      recovery of the patient. 

PMID- 25814027
TI  - Acute appendicitis in a child with swine influenza (H1N1).
AB  - Swine flu is a multisystemic disease and can affect the gastrointestinal system.
      There are only three published reports of swine flu cases with acute
      appendicitis; two of them in children under 16 years of age. We present an
      unusual case of acute appendicitis in a child already diagnosed with swine flu
      infection. A 91/2-year-old girl presented with febrile illness and mild abdominal
      pain. PCR (+) was positive for H1N1. 3 days after hospital admission she
      developed acute appendicitis and was operated on. On the fourth postoperative day
      she developed right upper lobe atelectasis; she was started on antiviral
      treatment to which she responded very well. She was discharged on day 7 without
      further consequences in her postoperative course. Children with swine flu may be
      susceptible to rapidly deteriorating and complicated acute appendicitis. This
      calls for more caution especially in periods of epidemics. 

PMID- 25814028
TI  - Cystic meningioma: diagnostic difficulties and utility of MRI in diagnosis and
      management.
AB  - We report the case of a patient presenting with convulsions in the emergency
      department. A CT examination revealed a mixed solid and cystic frontal peripheral
      mass. The intra-axial or extra-axial location and the differentiation between
      primary or secondary origin were not evident so MRI was performed. The most
      probable diagnosis was cystic meningioma with intratumoural cysts. Based on MRI
      findings, the neurosurgeon resected the mass together with its cystic components.
      The histological report verified the diagnosis and the patient had an excellent
      outcome. 

PMID- 25814030
TI  - Special issue in honor of William Fenical, a pioneer in marine natural products
      discovery and drug development.

PMID- 25814029
TI  - Oncolytic reovirus enhances rituximab-mediated antibody-dependent cellular
      cytotoxicity against chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
AB  - The naturally occurring oncolytic virus (OV), reovirus, replicates in cancer
      cells causing direct cytotoxicity, and can activate innate and adaptive immune
      responses to facilitate tumour clearance. Reovirus is safe, well tolerated and
      currently in clinical testing for the treatment of multiple myeloma, in
      combination with dexamethasone/carfilzomib. Activation of natural killer (NK)
      cells has been observed after systemic delivery of reovirus to cancer patients;
      however, the ability of OV to potentiate NK cell-mediated antibody-dependent
      cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) is unexplored. This study elucidates the potential
      of oncolytic reovirus for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL),
      both as a direct cytotoxic agent and as an immunomodulator. We demonstrate that
      reovirus: (i) is directly cytotoxic against CLL, which requires replication
      competent virus; (ii) phenotypically and functionally activates patient NK cells
      via a monocyte-derived interferon-alpha (IFNalpha)-dependent mechanism; and (iii)
      enhances ADCC-mediated killing of CLL in combination with anti-CD20 antibodies.
      Our data provide strong preclinical evidence to support the use of reovirus in
      combination with anti-CD20 immunotherapy for the treatment of CLL. 

PMID- 25814031
TI  - Dactylomelane diterpenes from the sea hare Aplysia depilans.
AB  - A chemical investigation of the organic extract of the sea hare Aplysia depilans,
      collected off Skyros Island, Greece, yielded eight new brominated diterpenes (1
      8), featuring the rare dactylomelane skeleton, together with the previously
      reported luzodiol (9). The structure elucidation and the assignment of the
      relative configurations of the new natural products were based on extensive NMR
      spectroscopic and MS spectrometric analyses. Compounds 1-9 were evaluated for
      their cytotoxic activities against five human tumor cell lines, but were proven
      inactive.

PMID- 25814032
TI  - Positioning and joining of organic single-crystalline wires.
AB  - Organic single-crystal, one-dimensional materials can effectively carry charges
      and/or excitons due to their highly ordered molecule packing, minimized defects
      and eliminated grain boundaries. Controlling the alignment/position of organic
      single-crystal one-dimensional architectures would allow on-demand
      photon/electron transport, which is a prerequisite in waveguides and other
      optoelectronic applications. Here we report a guided physical vapour transport
      technique to control the growth, alignment and positioning of organic single
      crystal wires with the guidance of pillar-structured substrates. Submicrometre
      wide, hundreds of micrometres long, highly aligned, organic single-crystal wire
      arrays are generated. Furthermore, these organic single-crystal wires can be
      joined within controlled angles by varying the pillar geometries. Owing to the
      controllable growth of organic single-crystal one-dimensional architectures, we
      can present proof-of-principle demonstrations utilizing joined wires to allow
      optical waveguide through small radii of curvature (internal angles of ~90-120
      degrees ). Our methodology may open a route to control the growth of organic
      single-crystal one-dimensional materials with potential applications in
      optoelectronics. 

PMID- 25814033
TI  - Twenty years trends and socio-demographic characteristics of HIV prevalence in
      women giving birth in Catalonia (Spain).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies of the prevalence of HIV in sentinel populations are one of
      the key strategies to monitor the HIV epidemic. We describe HIV prevalence trends
      and identify differences across time in the sociodemographic characteristics of
      HIV-infected women giving birth in Catalonia. METHODS: We used dried blood
      specimens, residual to newborn screening, which have been collected in Catalonia
      every 2 months since 1994. The total number of samples obtained until 2009 and in
      2013 represented half of yearly newborns. From 2010 to 2012, the total number of
      samples obtained represented a quarter of yearly newborns. We studied the
      prevalence by year and place of current residence (Barcelona-city, cities>200,000
      inhabitants and cities <= 200,000 inhabitants) and by the mother's birth country.
      A total of 624,912 infants were tested for HIV antibodies from January 1994 to
      December 2013. RESULTS: HIV prevalence trends among women giving birth in
      Catalonia decreased until 2007. Thereafter, there was a change to a steady trend
      until 2013. However, among foreign women giving birth and living in cities <=
      200,000 inhabitants, the prevalence of HIV increased from 2007 to 2013.
      CONCLUSION: To ensure early identification and treatment of HIV-infected mothers,
      it is essential to maintain HIV surveillance programs and pre- and post-natal
      screening programs, both in Barcelona and in cities with 200,000 inhabitants or
      less, especially in immigrant women.

PMID- 25814034
TI  - Optimization and dissolution performance of spray-dried naproxen nano-crystals.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to investigate the in vitro dissolution performance
      of the different sized spray-dried nano-crystalline powders of naproxen. A DoE
      approach was used to formulate and optimize nano-crystalline suspensions. The
      critical wet milling operation parameters were i.e., drug concentration, drug-to
      stabilizer ratio, stabilizer type (HPMC E15 or Tween 80) and milling intensity.
      The nano-crystalline suspensions were optimized for size and physical stability
      and then spray-dried to obtain nano-crystalline powders. Trehalose and lactose
      were investigated as spray-drying auxiliary excipients to achieve non-aggregating
      powders. Particle size, DSC and PXRD were utilized for characterization of powder
      formulations. A modified USP apparatus II was utilized to determine the in vitro
      release/dissolution of powder formulations. The size of the nano-crystalline
      suspensions was dependent on drug concentration and milling intensity. HPMC E15
      containing formulations were better in terms of the spray-dried powder yield
      compared to Tween 80 containing formulations. Trehalose was selected to formulate
      non-aggregating nano-crystalline powders. No polymorphic changes were observed
      following the wet milling and spray-drying processes. Size dependent in vitro
      dissolution profiles, utilizing a dialysis sac method were obtained for the
      crystalline powders. 

PMID- 25814035
TI  - Tuning dual-drug release from composite scaffolds for bone regeneration.
AB  - This work presents the tuning of drug-loaded scaffolds for bone regeneration as
      dual-drug delivery systems. Two therapeutic substances, zoledronic acid (anti
      osteoporotic drug) and ibuprofen (anti-inflammatory drug) were successfully
      incorporated in a controlled manner into three dimensional designed porous
      scaffolds of apatite/agarose composite. A high-performance liquid chromatography
      method was optimized to separate and simultaneously quantify the two drugs
      released from the dual-drug codelivery system. The multifunctional porous
      scaffolds fabricated show a very rapid delivery of anti-inflammatory (interesting
      to reduce inflammation after implantation), whereas the anti-osteoporotic drug
      showed sustained release behaviour (important to promote bone regeneration).
      Since ibuprofen release was faster than desired, this drug was encapsulated in
      chitosan spheres which were then incorporated into the scaffolds, obtaining a
      release profile suitable for clinical application. The results obtained open the
      possibility to simultaneously incorporate two or more drugs to an osseous implant
      in a controlled way improving it for bone healing application. 

PMID- 25814036
TI  - Lead optimization attrition analysis (LOAA): a novel and general methodology for
      medicinal chemistry.
AB  - Herein, we report a novel and general method, lead optimization attrition
      analysis (LOAA), to benchmark two distinct small-molecule lead series using a
      relatively unbiased, simple technique and commercially available software. We
      illustrate this approach with data collected during lead optimization of two
      independent oncology programs as a case study. Easily generated graphics and
      attrition curves enabled us to calibrate progress and support go/no go decisions
      on each program. We believe that this data-driven technique could be used broadly
      by medicinal chemists and management to guide strategic decisions during drug
      discovery. 

PMID- 25814037
TI  - Laser cooling of BH and GaF: insights from an ab initio study.
AB  - The feasibility of laser cooling BH and GaF is investigated using ab initio
      quantum chemistry. The ground state X (1)Sigma(+) and first two excited states
      (3)Pi and (1)Pi of BH and GaF are calculated using the multireference
      configuration interaction (MRCI) level of theory. For GaF, the spin-orbit
      coupling effect is also taken into account in the electronic structure
      calculations at the MRCI level. Calculated spectroscopic constants for BH and GaF
      show good agreement with available theoretical and experimental results. The
      highly diagonal Franck-Condon factors (BH: f00 = 0.9992, f11 = 0.9908, f22 =
      0.9235; GaF: f00 = 0.997, f11 = 0.989, f22 = 0.958) for the (1)Pi (v' = 0-2) -> X
      (1)Sigma(+) (v = 0-2) transitions in BH and GaF are determined, which are found
      to be in good agreement with the theoretical and experimental data. Radiative
      lifetime calculations of the (1)Pi (v' = 0-2) state (BH: 131, 151, and 187 ns;
      GaF: 2.26, 2.36, and 2.48 ns) are found to be short enough for rapid laser
      cooling. The proposed laser cooling schemes that drive the (1)Pi (v' = 0) -> X
      (1)Sigma(+) (v = 0) transition use just one laser wavelength lambda00 (BH: 436
      nm, GaF: 209 nm). Though the cooling wavelength of GaF is deep in the UVC, a
      frequency quadrupled Ti:sapphire laser (189-235 nm) could be capable of
      generating useful quantities of light at this wavelength. The present results
      indicate that BH and GaF are two good choices of molecules for laser cooling. 

PMID- 25814038
TI  - Quantitative detection of syntrophic fatty acid-degrading bacterial communities
      in methanogenic environments.
AB  - In methanogenic habitats, volatile fatty acids (VFA), such as propionate and
      butyrate, are major intermediates in organic matter degradation. VFA are further
      metabolized to H(2), acetate and CO(2) by syntrophic fatty acid-degrading
      bacteria (SFAB) in association with methanogenic archaea. Despite their
      indispensable role in VFA degradation, little is known about SFAB abundance and
      their environmental distribution. To facilitate ecological studies, we developed
      four novel genus-specific quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays, with primer sets
      targeting known SFAB: Syntrophobacter, Smithella, Pelotomaculum and
      Syntrophomonas. Primer set specificity was confirmed using in silico and
      experimental (target controls, clone libraries and melt-curve analysis)
      approaches. These qPCR assays were applied to quantify SFAB in a variety of
      mesophilic methanogenic habitats, including a laboratory propionate enrichment
      culture, pilot- and full-scale anaerobic reactors, cow rumen, horse faeces, an
      experimental rice paddy soil, a bog stream and swamp sediments. The highest SFAB
      16S rRNA gene copy numbers were found in the propionate enrichment culture and
      anaerobic reactors, followed by the bog stream and swamp sediment samples. In
      addition, it was observed that SFAB and methanogen abundance varied with reactor
      configuration and substrate identity. To our knowledge, this research represents
      the first comprehensive study to quantify SFAB in methanogenic habitats using
      qPCR-based methods. These molecular tools will help investigators better
      understand syntrophic microbial communities in engineered and natural
      environments.

PMID- 25814039
TI  - Non-pathogenic Neisseria: members of an abundant, multi-habitat, diverse genus.
AB  - The genus Neisseria contains the important pathogens Neisseria meningitidis and
      Neisseria gonorrhoeae. These Gram-negative coccoid bacteria are generally thought
      to be restricted to humans and inhabit mucosal surfaces in the upper respiratory
      and genito-urinary tracts. While the meningococcus and gonococcus have been
      widely studied, far less attention has been paid to other Neisseria species. Here
      we review current knowledge of the distribution of commensal Neisseria in humans
      and other hosts. Analysis of the microbiome has revealed that Neisseria is an
      abundant member of the oropharyngeal flora, and we review its potential impact on
      health and disease. Neisseria also exhibit remarkable diversity, exhibiting both
      coccoid and rod-shaped morphologies, as well as environmental strains which are
      capable of degrading complex organic molecules. 

PMID- 25814040
TI  - Simple and sensitive microRNA labeling by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase.

PMID- 25814041
TI  - Adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy impact on clinical and economic
      outcomes for Medicaid enrollees with human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C
      coinfection.
AB  - We examined the impact of antiretroviral treatment adherence among hepatitis C
      (HCV) coinfected human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients on survival and
      clinical outcomes. We analyzed Medicaid claims data from 14 southern states from
      2005 to 2007, comparing survival and clinical outcomes and cost of treatment for
      HIV and HCV coinfected patients (N = 4115) at different levels of adherence to
      antiretroviral therapy (ART). More than one in five patients (20.5%) showed less
      than 50% adherence to antiretroviral treatment, but there were no racial/ethnic
      or gender disparities. Significant survival benefit was demonstrated at each
      incremental level of adherence to ART (one-year mortality ranging from 3.5% in
      the highest adherence group to 26.0% in the lowest). Low-adherence patients also
      had higher rates of hospitalization and emergency department visits. Relative to
      patients with high (>95%) ART adherence, those with less than 25% treatment
      adherence had fourfold greater risk of death (adjusted odds ratio 4.22 [95% CI:
      3.03, 5.87]). Nondrug Medicaid expenditures were lower for high-adherence
      patients, but cost of medications drove total Medicaid expenditures higher for
      high-adherence patients. Cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) saved
      (relative to the <25% low-adherence group) ranged from $21,874 for increasing
      adherence to 25-50% to $37,229 for increasing adherence to 75-95%. Adherence to
      ART for patients with HIV and HCV coinfection is associated with lower adverse
      clinical outcomes at a Medicaid cost per QALY commensurate with other well
      accepted treatment and prevention strategies. Further research is needed to
      identify interventions which can best achieve optimal ART adherence at a
      population scale.

PMID- 25814042
TI  - Efficacy of tobramycin aerosol in nasal polyposis.
AB  - CONTEXT: Treatment of infected nasal polyposis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Multicenter
      interventional prospective double-blind randomized study with matched groups:
      treatment with tobramycin aerosol versus isotonic saline aerosol. The study
      population included 55 patients: 23 receiving isotonic saline aerosol and 32
      receiving tobramycin. A novel device (Easynose(r)) was used with an original
      principle limiting pulmonary deposition and ensuring homogeneous peripheral
      deposition in the nasal cavities. OBJECTIVES: The principal objective was to
      compare bacteriological eradication between tobramycin 150mg/3ml versus isotonic
      saline, both administered by nebulization via the Easynose(r) device. RESULTS AND
      CONCLUSION: Tobramycin aerosol administered via the Easynose(r) device showed
      significantly better bacteriological eradication than isotonic saline.

PMID- 25814043
TI  - Comment on "Policy Review: Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement
      (JPEPA)-Analysis of a failed nurse migration policy".

PMID- 25814044
TI  - Predictors of public support for family presence during cardiopulmonary
      resuscitation: A population based study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The debate on whether individuals want their family to be present
      during cardiopulmonary resuscitation continues to be a contentious issue, but
      there is little analysis of the predictors of the general public's opinion. The
      aim of this population based study was to identify factors that predict public
      support for having family present during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. DESIGN:
      Data for this cross-sectional population based study were collected via computer
      assisted-telephone-interviews of people (n=1208) residing in Central Queensland,
      Australia. RESULTS: Participants supported family members being present should
      their child (75%), an adult relative (52%) or they themselves (51%) require
      cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Reasons cited for not wanting to be present were;
      distraction for the medical team (30.4%), too distressing (30%) or not known/not
      considered the option (19%). Sex and prior exposure to being present during the
      resuscitation of adults and children were both predictors of support (p<0.05).
      Reasons for not wanting to be present differed significantly for males and
      females (p=0.001). CONCLUSION: Individual support for being present during
      cardiopulmonary resuscitation varies according to; sex, prior exposure and if the
      family member who is being resuscitated is a family member, their child or the
      person themselves. A considerable proportion of the public have not considered
      nor planned for the option of being present during a cardiac arrest of an adult
      relative. Clinicians may find it useful to explain the experiences of other
      people who have been present when supporting families to make informed decisions
      about their involvement in emergency interventions.

PMID- 25814045
TI  - Josh Gordon suspended by the NFL "for at least one year" for substance abuse.

PMID- 25814046
TI  - Neurosteroidal modulation of in vitro epileptiform activity is enhanced in
      pilocarpine-treated epileptic rats.
AB  - We employed field potential recordings in brain slices obtained from pilocarpine
      treated epileptic (4-5weeks following a pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus)
      and age-matched, non-epileptic control (NEC) rats to establish the effects of the
      neurosteroid allotetrahydrodeoxycorticosterone (THDOC) on the epileptiform
      activity - including high frequency oscillations (HFOs; ripples: 80-200Hz, fast
      ripples: 250-500Hz) - induced by 4-aminopyridine (4AP) in piriform (PC) and
      entorhinal (EC) cortices. Both structures are highly susceptible to generate
      seizures and may also be involved in epileptogenesis. We found that THDOC
      application to pilocarpine-treated slices: (i) decreased interictal discharge
      frequency in PC while increasing it in EC; (ii) abolished ictal discharges in
      both areas in approx. one third of the experiments and reduced them in frequency
      and duration in the remaining experiments; and (iii) increased the occurrence of
      ripples and fast ripples associated to interictal events, and modified their
      pattern of occurrence during ictal discharges in both PC and EC. These effects
      were either weaker or absent in NEC tissue. Our results demonstrate that THDOC
      plays a structure-dependent modulatory role in epileptiform synchronization in
      the pilocarpine-treated epileptic rat brain where its actions are more pronounced
      than in NEC tissue. This evidence supports the application of neurosteroids as
      potential antiepileptic tools. 

PMID- 25814047
TI  - Potential role of adolescent alcohol exposure-induced amygdaloid histone
      modifications in anxiety and alcohol intake during adulthood.
AB  - Binge drinking is common during adolescence and can lead to the development of
      psychiatric disorders, including alcoholism in adulthood. Here, the role and
      persistent effects of histone modifications during adolescent intermittent
      ethanol (AIE) exposure in the development of anxiety and alcoholism in adulthood
      were investigated. Rats received intermittent ethanol exposure during post-natal
      days 28-41, and anxiety-like behaviors were measured after 1 and 24 h of the last
      AIE. The effects of AIE on anxiety-like and alcohol-drinking behaviors in
      adulthood were measured with or without treatment with the histone deacetylase
      (HDAC) inhibitor, trichostatin A (TSA). Amygdaloid brain regions were collected
      to measure HDAC activity, global and gene-specific histone H3 acetylation,
      expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and activity-regulated
      cytoskeleton-associated (Arc) protein and dendritic spine density (DSD).
      Adolescent rats displayed anxiety-like behaviors after 24 h, but not 1 h, of last
      AIE with a concomitant increase in nuclear and cytosolic amygdaloid HDAC activity
      and HDAC2 and HDAC4 levels leading to deficits in histone (H3-K9) acetylation in
      the central (CeA) and medial (MeA), but not in basolateral nucleus of amygdala
      (BLA). Interestingly, some of AIE-induced epigenetic changes such as, increased
      nuclear HDAC activity, HDAC2 expression, and decreased global histone acetylation
      persisted in adulthood. In addition, AIE decreased BDNF exons I and IV and Arc
      promoter specific histone H3 acetylation that was associated with decreased BDNF,
      Arc expression and DSD in the CeA and MeA during adulthood. AIE also induced
      anxiety-like behaviors and enhanced ethanol intake in adulthood, which was
      attenuated by TSA treatment via normalization of deficits in histone H3
      acetylation of BDNF and Arc genes. These novel results indicate that AIE induces
      long-lasting effects on histone modifications and deficits in synaptic events in
      the amygdala, which are associated with anxiety-like and alcohol drinking
      behaviors in adulthood.

PMID- 25814048
TI  - Efficacy of coupled low-volume plasma exchange with plasma filtration adsorption
      in treating pigs with acute liver failure: A randomised study.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Extracorporeal blood purification systems for supportive
      therapy of liver failure are widely used. We developed a novel blood purification
      system, named Li's artificial liver system (Li-ALS), which couples low-volume
      plasma exchange (low-volume PE) with plasma filtration adsorption (PFA). This
      study aims to evaluate the efficacy of our novel system in pigs with acute liver
      failure (ALF). METHODS: Thirty-two pigs were infused with D-galactosamine
      (1.3g/kg) to induce ALF. All animals were equally and randomly divided into four
      groups: the ALF control group received intensive care, the PFA group underwent
      five hour plasma recycling filtration and adsorption purification, the low-volume
      PE group received one hour low-volume PE, and the Li-ALS group underwent one hour
      low-volume PE, followed by five hour PFA. Intervention was initiated 36hours
      after drug administration. The efficacy of each treatment was assessed by
      survival time and improvement in hematological, biochemical, and
      immunohistological parameters. RESULTS: Pigs in the Li-ALS group survived longer
      than those in the other groups (p<0.001, ALF control: 60+/-2h; PFA group: 74+/
      2h; low-volume PE group: 75+/-2h; and Li-ALS group: 90+/-3h). Liver enzyme,
      bilirubin, bile acid and blood ammonia levels were decreased significantly after
      Li-ALS treatment, and increases in inflammatory cytokines were ameliorated. A
      higher hepatocyte regeneration index was also observed in the Li-ALS group.
      CONCLUSION: Our novel Li-ALS could expedite liver regeneration and improve
      survival time; hence, it could be promising for treating ALF.

PMID- 25814049
TI  - Inflammation in cystic fibrosis lung disease: Pathogenesis and therapy.
AB  - Lung disease is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with
      cystic fibrosis (CF). Although CF lung disease is primarily an infectious
      disorder, the associated inflammation is both intense and ineffective at clearing
      pathogens. Persistent high-intensity inflammation leads to permanent structural
      damage of the CF airways and impaired lung function that eventually results in
      respiratory failure and death. Several defective inflammatory responses have been
      linked to cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) deficiency
      including innate and acquired immunity dysregulation, cell membrane lipid
      abnormalities, various transcription factor signaling defects, as well as altered
      kinase and toll-like receptor responses. The inflammation of the CF lung is
      dominated by neutrophils that release oxidants and proteases, particularly
      elastase. Neutrophil elastase in the CF airway secretions precedes the appearance
      of bronchiectasis, and correlates with lung function deterioration and
      respiratory exacerbations. Anti-inflammatory therapies are therefore of
      particular interest for CF lung disease but must be carefully studied to avoid
      suppressing critical elements of the inflammatory response and thus worsening
      infection. This review examines the role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of
      CF lung disease, summarizes the results of past clinical trials and explores
      promising new anti-inflammatory options. 

PMID- 25814050
TI  - Randomized, controlled pilot trial of solifenacin succinate for overactive
      bladder in Parkinson's disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of solifenacin succinate in Parkinson's
      disease (PD) patients suffering from overactive bladder (OAB). BACKGROUND:
      Urinary dysfunction is a commonly encountered non-motor feature in PD that
      significantly impacts patient quality of life. DESIGN/METHODS: This was a double
      blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, 3-site study with an open label extension
      phase to determine the efficacy of solifenacin succinate in idiopathic PD
      patients with OAB. Patients were randomized to receive solifenacin succinate 5-10
      mg daily or placebo for 12 weeks followed by an 8-week open label extension. The
      primary outcome measure was the change in the mean number of micturitions per 24
      h period. Secondary outcome measures included the change in the mean number of
      urinary incontinence episodes and the mean number of nocturia episodes. RESULTS:
      Twenty-three patients were randomized in the study. There was no significant
      improvement in the primary outcome measure in the double-blind phase, but there
      was an improvement in the number of micturitions per 24 h period in the
      solifenacin succinate group compared to placebo at a mean dose of 6 mg/day (p =
      0.01). In the open label phase, the mean number of urinary incontinence episodes
      per 24 h period decreased (p = 0.03), as did the number of nocturia episodes per
      24 h period (p = 0.01). Adverse events included constipation and xerostomia,
      which resolved after treatment was discontinued. CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot
      trial, solifenacin succinate treatment led to an improvement in urinary
      incontinence, despite persistence in other OAB symptoms.

PMID- 25814051
TI  - [Overweight and obesity in young adults: relevance of job-related changes of
      exercise on fat, lean body and body mass in students].
AB  - Early adulthood is related to changes in lifestyle that negatively affect body
      weight and health. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of exercise
      changes on the development of weight and body composition in college
      students.Sixty-one randomly selected dental (ZMS) and 53 sport students (SLS)
      were accompanied over 5 years. Body mass, fat and lean body mass (LBM) were
      determined via DXA-technique. Exercise and physical activity were assessed by
      questionnaires and interviews.All exercise indices significantly increased in the
      SLS and significantly decreased in the ZMS. Physical activity slightly increased
      in both groups. Both cohorts comparably gained body mass, however, the increase
      in the SLS group can be attributed to LBM-changes with minor changes of fat-mass
      (2.4 % +/- 3.3 % vs. 0.1 +/- 1.0 %) whereas ZMS gained fat and LBM in a
      proportion of 2:1.Maintenance/increase of exercise compensate the negative
      effects of lifestyle changes on body composition during young adulthood.

PMID- 25814052
TI  - Measuring obesity in the absence of a gold standard.
AB  - Reliable measures of body composition are essential to develop effective policies
      to tackle obesity. The lack of an acceptable gold-standard for measuring fatness
      has made it difficult to evaluate alternative measures of obesity. We use latent
      class analysis to characterise existing diagnostics. Using data on US adults we
      show that measures based on body mass index and bioelectrical impedance analysis
      misclassify large numbers of individuals. For example, 45% of obese White women
      are misclassified as non-obese using body mass index, while over 50% of non-obese
      White women are misclassified as being obese using bioelectrical impedance
      analysis. In contrast the misclassification rates are low when waist
      circumference is used to measure obesity. These results have important
      implications for our understanding of differences in obesity rates across time
      and groups, as well as posing challenges for the econometric analysis of obesity.

PMID- 25814053
TI  - Race, response to chemotherapy, and outcome within clinical breast cancer
      subtypes.
AB  - The effect of race on breast cancer outcome is confounded by tumor and treatment
      heterogeneity. We examined a cohort of women with stage II-III breast cancer
      treated uniformly with neoadjuvant chemotherapy to identify factors associated
      with racial differences in chemotherapeutic response and long-term survival.
      Using a prospective database, we identified women with stage II-III breast cancer
      treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy from 1998 to 2011. Race was categorized as
      African-American (AA) or non-AA. Preplanned subtype analyses were stratified by
      hormone receptor (HR) and HER2. Pathologic response to chemotherapy (pCR), time
      to recurrence (TTR), and overall survival (OS) were assessed using logistic
      regression, Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox proportional hazards regression
      analyses. Of 349 women identified, 102 (29 %) were AA, who were younger (p =
      0.03), more obese (p < 0.001), and less likely to have HR+/HER2- tumors (p =
      0.01). No significant differences in pCR rate by race were found. At median
      follow-up of 6.5 years, AA had worse TTR (hazard ratio 1.51, 95 % CI 1.02-2.24),
      which was attenuated in multivariable modeling, and there was no significant
      difference in OS. When stratified by HR, worse outcomes were limited to HR+AA
      (TTR hazard ratio 1.85, 95 % CI 1.09-3.14; OS hazard ratio 2.42 95 % CI 1.37
      4.28), which remained significant in multivariable analysis including pCR rate
      and BMI. With long-term follow-up, racial disparity in outcome was limited to HR+
      breast cancer, with no apparent contribution of chemotherapy sensitivity. This
      suggests that disparity root causes may be driven by HR+ factors such as
      unmeasured molecular differences, endocrine therapy sensitivity, or adherence.

PMID- 25814054
TI  - The effect of YOCAS(c)(r) yoga for musculoskeletal symptoms among breast cancer
      survivors on hormonal therapy.
AB  - Up to 50% of breast cancer survivors on aromatase inhibitor therapy report
      musculoskeletal symptoms such as joint and muscle pain, significantly impacting
      treatment adherence and discontinuation rates. We conducted a secondary data
      analysis of a nationwide, multi-site, phase II/III randomized, controlled,
      clinical trial examining the efficacy of yoga for improving musculoskeletal
      symptoms among breast cancer survivors currently receiving hormone therapy
      (aromatase inhibitors [AI] or tamoxifen [TAM]). Breast cancer survivors currently
      receiving AI (N = 95) or TAM (N = 72) with no participation in yoga during the
      previous 3 months were randomized into 2 arms: (1) standard care monitoring and
      (2) standard care plus the 4-week yoga intervention (2x/week; 75 min/session) and
      included in this analysis. The yoga intervention utilized the UR Yoga for Cancer
      Survivors (YOCAS(c)((r))) program consisting of breathing exercises, 18 gentle
      Hatha and restorative yoga postures, and meditation. Musculoskeletal symptoms
      were assessed pre- and post-intervention. At baseline, AI users reported higher
      levels of general pain, muscle aches, and total physical discomfort than TAM
      users (all P <= 0.05). Among all breast cancer survivors on hormonal therapy,
      participants in the yoga group demonstrated greater reductions in musculoskeletal
      symptoms such as general pain, muscle aches and total physical discomfort from
      pre- to post-intervention than the control group (all P <= 0.05). The severity of
      musculoskeletal symptoms was higher for AI users compared to TAM users. Among
      breast cancer survivors on hormone therapy, the brief community-based YOCAS(c)(r)
      intervention significantly reduced general pain, muscle aches, and physical
      discomfort.

PMID- 25814055
TI  - An interview with Nora Volkow.

PMID- 25814056
TI  - Disruptions in aromatase expression in the brain, reproductive behavior, and
      secondary sexual characteristics in male guppies (Poecilia reticulata) induced by
      tributyltin.
AB  - Although bioaccumulation of tributyltin (TBT) in fish has been confirmed,
      information on possible effects of TBT on reproductive system of fish is still
      relatively scarce, particularly at environmentally relevant levels. To evaluate
      the adverse effects and intrinsic toxicological properties of TBT in male fish,
      we studied aromatase gene expression in the brain, sex steroid contents, primary
      and secondary sexual characteristics, and reproductive behavior in male guppies
      (Poecilia reticulata) exposed to tributyltin chloride at the nominal
      concentrations of 5, 50, and 500 ng/L for 28 days in a semi-static exposure
      system. Radioimmunoassay demonstrated that treatment with 50 ng/L TBT caused an
      increase in systemic levels of testosterone of male guppies. Gonopodial index,
      which showed a positive correlation with testosterone levels, was elevated in the
      5 ng/L and 50 ng/L TBT treated groups. Real-time PCR revealed that TBT exposure
      had inhibiting effects on expression of two isoforms of guppy aromatase in the
      brain, and these changes at the molecular levels were associated with a
      disturbance of reproductive behavior of the individuals, as measured by decreases
      in frequencies of posturing, sigmoid display, and chase activities when males
      were paired with females. This study provides the first evidence that TBT can
      cause abnormalities of secondary sexual characteristics in teleosts and that
      suppression of reproductive behavior in teleosts by TBT is due to its endocrine
      disrupting action as an aromatase inhibitor targeting the nervous system.

PMID- 25814057
TI  - Active and passive biomonitoring suggest metabolic adaptation in blue mussels
      (Mytilus spp.) chronically exposed to a moderate contamination in Brest harbor
      (France).
AB  - Brest harbor (Bay of Brest, Brittany, France) has a severe past of anthropogenic
      chemical contamination, but inputs tended to decrease, indicating a reassessment
      of its ecotoxicological status should be carried out. Here, native and caged
      mussels (Mytilus spp.) were used in combination to evaluate biological effects of
      chronic chemical contamination in Brest harbor. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
      (PAH) contamination was measured in mussel tissues as a proxy of harbor and urban
      pollution. Biochemical biomarkers of xenobiotic biotransformation, antioxidant
      defenses, generation of reducing equivalents, energy metabolism and oxidative
      damage were studied in both gills and digestive glands of native and caged
      mussels. In particular, activities of glutathione-S-transferase (GST), superoxide
      dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione
      reductase (GR), NADP-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDP), pyruvate kinase
      (PK) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) were measured and lipid
      peroxidation was assessed by malondialdehyde (MDA) quantification. In addition, a
      condition index was calculated to assess the overall health of the mussels.
      Moderate PAH contamination was detected in digestive glands of both native and
      caged individuals from the exposed site. Modulations of biomarkers were detected
      in digestive glands of native harbor mussels indicating the presence of a
      chemical pressure. In particular, results suggested increased biotransformation
      (GST), antioxidant defenses (CAT), NADPH generation (IDP) and gluconeogenesis
      (PEPCK), which could represent a coordinated response against chemically-induced
      cellular stress. Lipid peroxidation assessment and condition index indicated an
      absence of acute stress in the same mussels suggesting metabolic changes could,
      at least partially, offset the negative effects of contamination. In caged
      mussels, only GR was found modulated compared to non-exposed mussels but
      significant differences in oxidative stress and energy-related biomarkers were
      observed compared to native harbor mussels. Overall, these results suggested
      mussels chronically exposed to contamination have set up metabolic adaptation,
      which may contribute to their survival in the moderately contaminated harbor of
      Brest. Whether these adaptive traits result from phenotypic plasticity or genetic
      adaptation needs to be further investigated. 

PMID- 25814058
TI  - Enzymatic characterization of in vitro-expressed Baikal seal cytochrome P450
      (CYP) 1A1, 1A2, and 1B1: implication of low metabolic potential of CYP1A2
      uniquely evolved in aquatic mammals.
AB  - This study aimed to elucidate the catalytic function of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1
      enzymes in aquatic mammals. Alkoxyresorufin O-dealkylation (AROD) activities
      including methoxy- (MROD), ethoxy- (EROD), pentoxy- (PROD), and
      benzyloxyresorufin O-dealkylation (BROD), and 2- and 4-hydroxylation activities
      of 17beta-estradiol (E2) were measured by using yeast-expressed Baikal seal (Pusa
      sibirica) CYP1A1, 1A2, and 1B1 proteins. Heterologous protein expression of the
      Baikal seal CYP1s (bsCYP1s) in yeast microsomes was confirmed by reduced CO
      difference spectra and immunoblotting. Heterologously expressed human CYP1 enzyme
      (hCYP1) activities were simultaneously measured and compared with those of bsCYP1
      isozymes. Recombinant bsCYP1A1 protein showed the highest Vmax of EROD, followed
      by MROD, PROD, and BROD, similar to that of hCYP1A1. Vmax/Km ratios of all AROD
      activities catalyzed by bsCYP1A1 were lower than those catalyzed by hCYP1A1,
      suggesting less potential for AROD by bsCYP1A1. Enzymatic assays for bsCYP1A2
      showed no or minimal AROD activities, while hCYP1A2 displayed MROD and EROD
      activities. bsCYP1B1 showed an AROD profile (EROD>BROD>MROD>>PROD) similar to
      that of hCYP1B1; however, Vmax/Km ratios of all AROD activities by bsCYP1B1 were
      higher. Yeast microsomes containing bsCYP1A1 and 1B1 and hCYP1A1, 1A2, and 1B1
      metabolized E2 to 2-OHE2 and 4-OHE2, whereas bsCYP1A2 showed no such activity.
      Comparison of 4- and 2-hydroxylations of E2 by CYP1As suggests that bsCYP1A1,
      hCYP1A1, and 1A2 preferentially catalyze 2- rather than 4-hydroxylation. As for
      CYP1B1, the Vmax/Km ratios suggest that both Baikal seal and human CYPs catalyze
      4- rather than 2-hydroxylation. Interspecies comparison showed that bsCYP1B1 has
      higher metabolic potencies for both E2 hydroxylations than does hCYP1B1, whereas
      the activity of bsCYP1A1 was lower than that of hCYP1A1. Messenger RNA expression
      levels of bsCYP1s in the liver of Baikal seals indicated that bsCYP1A1 and 1A2
      enzymes contributed to 16.2% and 83.7% of total CYP1s, respectively; bsCYP1B1
      accounted for only 0.06%. Addition of anti-human CYP1A1 antibody in seal liver
      microsomes suppressed EROD activity more than did anti-human CYP1A2 antibody.
      Therefore, EROD may be catalyzed by hepatic bsCYP1A1 but not bsCYP1A2, consistent
      with the results of yeast-expressed bsCYP1A1 and 1A2. In silico substrate-docking
      models of bsCYP1s suggested that the defect in bsCYP1A2 enzymatic activities may
      be accounted for by the Pro substitution of highly conserved Thr in the I-helix,
      which is involved in formation of a hydrogen bond with the hydroperoxy
      intermediate on the heme. This Thr-Pro substitution is evolutionarily conserved
      across aquatic mammals and could explain their lower metabolic potential for
      persistent organic pollutants. 

PMID- 25814059
TI  - When stable-stage equilibrium is unlikely: integrating transient population
      dynamics improves asymptotic methods.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Evaluation of population projection matrices (PPMs) that are
      focused on asymptotically based properties of populations is a commonly used
      approach to evaluate projected dynamics of managed populations. Recently, a set
      of tools for evaluating the properties of transient dynamics has been expanded to
      evaluate PPMs and to consider the dynamics of populations prior to attaining the
      stable-stage distribution, a state that may never be achieved in disturbed or
      otherwise ephemeral habitats or persistently small populations. This study re
      evaluates data for a tropical orchid and examines the value of including such
      analyses in an integrative approach. METHODS: Six small populations of Lepanthes
      rubripetala were used as a model system and the R software package popdemo was
      used to produce estimates of the indices for the asymptotic growth rate (lambda),
      sensitivities, reactivity, first-time step attenuation, maximum amplification,
      maximum attenuation, maximal inertia and maximal attenuation. The response in
      lambda to perturbations of demographic parameters using transfer functions and
      multiple perturbations on growth, stasis and fecundity were also determined. The
      results were compared with previously published asymptotic indices. KEY RESULTS:
      It was found that combining asymptotic and transient dynamics expands the
      understanding of possible population changes. Comparison of the predicted density
      from reactivity and first-time step attenuation with the observed change in
      population size in two orchid populations showed that the observed density was
      within the predicted range. However, transfer function analysis suggests that the
      traditional approach of measuring perturbation of growth rates and persistence
      (inertia) may be misleading and is likely to result in erroneous management
      decisions. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results, an integrative approach is
      recommended using traditional PPMs (asymptotic processes) with an evaluation of
      the diversity of dynamics that may arise when populations are not at a stable
      stage distribution (transient processes). This method is preferable for designing
      rapid and efficient interventions after disturbances, and for developing
      strategies to establish new populations.

PMID- 25814060
TI  - Ripening of pepper (Capsicum annuum) fruit is characterized by an enhancement of
      protein tyrosine nitration.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Pepper (Capsicum annuum, Solanaceae) fruits are consumed
      worldwide and are of great economic importance. In most species ripening is
      characterized by important visual and metabolic changes, the latter including
      emission of volatile organic compounds associated with respiration, destruction
      of chlorophylls, synthesis of new pigments (red/yellow carotenoids plus
      xanthophylls and anthocyanins), formation of pectins and protein synthesis. The
      involvement of nitric oxide (NO) in fruit ripening has been established, but more
      work is needed to detail the metabolic networks involving NO and other reactive
      nitrogen species (RNS) in the process. It has been reported that RNS can mediate
      post-translational modifications of proteins, which can modulate physiological
      processes through mechanisms of cellular signalling. This study therefore
      examined the potential role of NO in nitration of tyrosine during the ripening of
      California sweet pepper. METHODS: The NO content of green and red pepper fruit
      was determined spectrofluorometrically. Fruits at the breaking point between
      green and red coloration were incubated in the presence of NO for 1 h and then
      left to ripen for 3 d. Profiles of nitrated proteins were determined using an
      antibody against nitro-tyrosine (NO2-Tyr), and profiles of nitrosothiols were
      determined by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Nitrated proteins were
      identified by 2-D electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis. KEY RESULTS:
      Treatment with NO delayed the ripening of fruit. An enhancement of nitrosothiols
      and nitroproteins was observed in fruit during ripening, and this was reversed by
      the addition of exogenous NO gas. Six nitrated proteins were identified and were
      characterized as being involved in redox, protein, carbohydrate and oxidative
      metabolism, and in glutamate biosynthesis. Catalase was the most abundant
      nitrated protein found in both green and red fruit. CONCLUSIONS: The RNS profile
      reported here indicates that ripening of pepper fruit is characterized by an
      enhancement of S-nitrosothiols and protein tyrosine nitration. The nitrated
      proteins identified have important functions in photosynthesis, generation of
      NADPH, proteolysis, amino acid biosynthesis and oxidative metabolism. The
      decrease of catalase in red fruit implies a lower capacity to scavenge H2O2,
      which would promote lipid peroxidation, as has already been reported in ripe
      pepper fruit.

PMID- 25814061
TI  - Zygomorphy evolved from disymmetry in Fumarioideae (Papaveraceae, Ranunculales):
      new evidence from an expanded molecular phylogenetic framework.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Fumarioideae (20 genera, 593 species) is a clade of
      Papaveraceae (Ranunculales) characterized by flowers that are either disymmetric
      (i.e. two perpendicular planes of bilateral symmetry) or zygomorphic (i.e. one
      plane of bilateral symmetry). In contrast, the other subfamily of Papaveraceae,
      Papaveroideae (23 genera, 230 species), has actinomorphic flowers (i.e. more than
      two planes of symmetry). Understanding of the evolution of floral symmetry in
      this clade has so far been limited by the lack of a reliable phylogenetic
      framework. Pteridophyllum (one species) shares similarities with Fumarioideae but
      has actinomorphic flowers, and the relationships among Pteridophyllum,
      Papaveroideae and Fumarioideae have remained unclear. This study reassesses the
      evolution of floral symmetry in Papaveraceae based on new molecular phylogenetic
      analyses of the family. METHODS: Maximum likelihood, Bayesian and maximum
      parsimony phylogenetic analyses of Papaveraceae were conducted using six plastid
      markers and one nuclear marker, sampling Pteridophyllum, 18 (90 %) genera and 73
      species of Fumarioideae, 11 (48 %) genera and 11 species of Papaveroideae, and a
      wide selection of outgroup taxa. Floral characters recorded from the literature
      were then optimized onto phylogenetic trees to reconstruct ancestral states using
      parsimony, maximum likelihood and reversible-jump Bayesian approaches. KEY
      RESULTS: Pteridophyllum is not nested in Fumarioideae. Fumarioideae are
      monophyletic and Hypecoum (18 species) is the sister group of the remaining
      genera. Relationships within the core Fumarioideae are well resolved and
      supported. Dactylicapnos and all zygomorphic genera form a well-supported clade
      nested among disymmetric taxa. CONCLUSIONS: Disymmetry of the corolla is a
      synapomorphy of Fumarioideae and is strongly correlated with changes in the
      androecium and differentiation of middle and inner tepal shape (basal spurs on
      middle tepals). Zygomorphy subsequently evolved from disymmetry either once (with
      a reversal in Dactylicapnos) or twice (Capnoides, other zygomorphic Fumarioideae)
      and appears to be correlated with the loss of one nectar spur.

PMID- 25814062
TI  - Eddy-driven subduction exports particulate organic carbon from the spring bloom.
AB  - The export of particulate organic carbon (POC) from the surface ocean to depth is
      traditionally ascribed to sinking. Here, we show that a dynamic eddying flow
      field subducts surface water with high concentrations of nonsinking POC.
      Autonomous observations made by gliders during the North Atlantic spring bloom
      reveal anomalous features at depths of 100 to 350 meters with elevated POC,
      chlorophyll, oxygen, and temperature-salinity characteristics of surface water.
      High-resolution modeling reveals that during the spring transition, intrusions of
      POC-rich surface water descend as coherent, 1- to 10-kilometer-scale filamentous
      features, often along the perimeter of eddies. Such a submesoscale eddy-driven
      flux of POC is unresolved in global carbon cycle models but can contribute as
      much as half of the total springtime export of POC from the highly productive
      subpolar oceans. 

PMID- 25814064
TI  - Ice sheets. Volume loss from Antarctic ice shelves is accelerating.
AB  - The floating ice shelves surrounding the Antarctic Ice Sheet restrain the
      grounded ice-sheet flow. Thinning of an ice shelf reduces this effect, leading to
      an increase in ice discharge to the ocean. Using 18 years of continuous satellite
      radar altimeter observations, we have computed decadal-scale changes in ice-shelf
      thickness around the Antarctic continent. Overall, average ice-shelf volume
      change accelerated from negligible loss at 25 +/- 64 cubic kilometers per year
      for 1994-2003 to rapid loss of 310 +/- 74 cubic kilometers per year for 2003
      2012. West Antarctic losses increased by ~70% in the past decade, and earlier
      volume gain by East Antarctic ice shelves ceased. In the Amundsen and
      Bellingshausen regions, some ice shelves have lost up to 18% of their thickness
      in less than two decades. 

PMID- 25814063
TI  - Vaccines. An Ebola whole-virus vaccine is protective in nonhuman primates.
AB  - Zaire ebolavirus is the causative agent of the current outbreak of hemorrhagic
      fever disease in West Africa. Previously, we showed that a whole Ebola virus
      (EBOV) vaccine based on a replication-defective EBOV (EBOVDeltaVP30) protects
      immunized mice and guinea pigs against lethal challenge with rodent-adapted EBOV.
      Here, we demonstrate that EBOVDeltaVP30 protects nonhuman primates against lethal
      infection with EBOV. Although EBOVDeltaVP30 is replication-incompetent, we
      additionally inactivated the vaccine with hydrogen peroxide; the chemically
      inactivated vaccine remained antigenic and protective in nonhuman primates.
      EBOVDeltaVP30 thus represents a safe, efficacious, whole-EBOV vaccine candidate
      that differs from other EBOV vaccine platforms in that it presents all viral
      proteins and the viral RNA to the host immune system, which might contribute to
      protective immune responses. 

PMID- 25814065
TI  - Superconductivity. Quasiparticle mass enhancement approaching optimal doping in a
      high-T(c) superconductor.
AB  - In the quest for superconductors with higher transition temperatures (T(c)), one
      emerging motif is that electronic interactions favorable for superconductivity
      can be enhanced by fluctuations of a broken-symmetry phase. Recent experiments
      have suggested the existence of the requisite broken-symmetry phase in the high
      T(c) cuprates, but the impact of such a phase on the ground-state electronic
      interactions has remained unclear. We used magnetic fields exceeding 90 tesla to
      access the underlying metallic state of the cuprate YBa2Cu3O(6+delta) over a wide
      range of doping, and observed magnetic quantum oscillations that reveal a strong
      enhancement of the quasiparticle effective mass toward optimal doping. This mass
      enhancement results from increasing electronic interactions approaching optimal
      doping, and suggests a quantum critical point at a hole doping of p(crit) ~ 0.18.

PMID- 25814068
TI  - Synthesis and antiproliferative evaluation of some novel B-nor-D-homosteroids.
AB  - Using 3beta-hydroxy-5-androsten-17-one as a starting material, a series of novel
      nitrogen-containing B-nor-D-homosteroids were designed and synthesized by the
      oximation, Beckman rearrangement, ozonation, cyclization and condensation
      reaction. The structures of all new compounds were determined by analysis of
      their NMR, MS and IR spectra. The antiproliferative activity of compounds was
      evaluated against HT-29 (colonic carcinoma), HeLa (human cervical carcinoma) and
      Bel 7404 (human liver carcinoma) cells. 

PMID- 25814066
TI  - Infectious disease. Life-threatening influenza and impaired interferon
      amplification in human IRF7 deficiency.
AB  - Severe influenza disease strikes otherwise healthy children and remains
      unexplained. We report compound heterozygous null mutations in IRF7, which
      encodes the transcription factor interferon regulatory factor 7, in an otherwise
      healthy child who suffered life-threatening influenza during primary infection.
      In response to influenza virus, the patient's leukocytes and plasmacytoid
      dendritic cells produced very little type I and III interferons (IFNs). Moreover,
      the patient's dermal fibroblasts and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived
      pulmonary epithelial cells produced reduced amounts of type I IFN and displayed
      increased influenza virus replication. These findings suggest that IRF7-dependent
      amplification of type I and III IFNs is required for protection against primary
      infection by influenza virus in humans. They also show that severe influenza may
      result from single-gene inborn errors of immunity. 

PMID- 25814067
TI  - Virology. Mutation rate and genotype variation of Ebola virus from Mali case
      sequences.
AB  - The occurrence of Ebola virus (EBOV) in West Africa during 2013-2015 is
      unprecedented. Early reports suggested that in this outbreak EBOV is mutating
      twice as fast as previously observed, which indicates the potential for changes
      in transmissibility and virulence and could render current molecular diagnostics
      and countermeasures ineffective. We have determined additional full-length
      sequences from two clusters of imported EBOV infections into Mali, and we show
      that the nucleotide substitution rate (9.6 * 10(-4) substitutions per site per
      year) is consistent with rates observed in Central African outbreaks. In
      addition, overall variation among all genotypes observed remains low. Thus, our
      data indicate that EBOV is not undergoing rapid evolution in humans during the
      current outbreak. This finding has important implications for outbreak response
      and public health decisions and should alleviate several previously raised
      concerns. 

PMID- 25814069
TI  - Synthesis of conjugated bile acids/azastilbenes as potential antioxidant and
      photoprotective agents.
AB  - A series of 14 bile acids/azastilbenes conjugates (1a-g and 2a-g) was prepared
      through the condensation of bile amides (1 and 2) and aromatic aldehydes. The
      newly synthesized conjugates were evaluated in vitro for their antioxidant and
      photoprotective activities. Six compounds (1, 1a, 1b, 2, 2a and 2b) showed
      promising antioxidant activity with IC50 values of 19.60-31.83 MUg mL(-1). The
      synthesized compounds presented a varied photoprotection profile, with the SPF
      ranging from 2 to 9. Among the 16 compounds tested for the protection against UVB
      sunrays, 3 compounds (2c, 2e and 2g) presented more significant protection than
      resveratrol and the free azastilbene 3; while the UVAPF increased from 2 in
      resveratrol and 5 in 3 to 5-11 in the majority of the conjugates.

PMID- 25814070
TI  - Increased plant sterol deposition in vascular tissue characterizes patients with
      severe aortic stenosis and concomitant coronary artery disease.
AB  - The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between phytosterols,
      oxyphytosterols, and other markers of cholesterol metabolism and concomitant
      coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with severe aortic stenosis who were
      scheduled for elective aortic valve replacement. Markers of cholesterol
      metabolism (plant sterols and cholestanol as markers of cholesterol absorption
      and lathosterol as an indicator of cholesterol synthesis) and oxyphytosterols
      were determined in plasma and aortic valve tissue from 104 consecutive patients
      with severe aortic stenosis (n=68 statin treatment; n=36 no statin treatment)
      using gas chromatography-flame ionization and mass spectrometry. The extent of
      CAD was determined by coronary angiography prior to aortic valve replacement.
      Patients treated with statins were characterized by lower plasma cholesterol,
      cholestanol, and lathosterol concentrations. However, statin treatment did not
      affect the sterol concentrations in cardiovascular tissue. The ratio of
      campesterol-to-cholesterol was increased by 0.46+/-0.34MUg/mg (26.0%) in plasma
      of patients with CAD. The absolute values for the cholesterol absorption markers
      sitosterol and campesterol were increased by 18.18+/-11.59ng/mg (38.8%) and
      11.40+/-8.69ng/mg (30.4%) in the tissues from patients with documented CAD
      compared to those without concomitant CAD. Campesterol oxides were increased by
      0.06+/-0.02ng/mg (17.1%) in the aortic valve cusps and oxidized sitosterol-to
      cholesterol ratios were up-regulated by 0.35+/-0.2ng/mg (22.7%) in the plasma of
      patients with CAD. Of note, neither cholestanol nor the ratio of cholestanol-to
      cholesterol was associated with CAD. Patients with concomitant CAD are
      characterized by increased deposition of plant sterols, but not cholestanol in
      aortic valve tissue. Moreover, patients with concomitant CAD were characterized
      by increased oxyphytosterol concentrations in plasma and aortic valve cusps. 

PMID- 25814071
TI  - Laparoscopic mini-gastric bypass in patients age 60 and older.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery in patients over age 60 was previously not
      considered, due to higher risk. The author presents a study of patients >=60
      years who underwent laparoscopic mini-gastric bypass (LMGB), to evaluate outcomes
      with follow-up to 6 years. METHODS: From 2007-2013, a prospectively maintained
      database was reviewed and patients >=60 years were identified. Demographics
      evaluated included age, sex, weight, BMI, comorbidities, operative time,
      complications, length of stay (LOS) and %EWL up to 72 months. RESULTS: From 2007
      2013, a total of 758 LMGBs were performed by one surgeon (CP). Eighty-eight (12%)
      were >=60 years old, with 62% female. Mean age of this cohort at operation was 64
      (60-74), and mean weight and BMI were 118 kg (78-171) and 43 kg/m(2) (33-61),
      respectively. Comorbidities were present in all patients, and one-third had
      previous abdominal operations. All patients underwent LMGB, without conversion to
      open. Mean operative time was 70 min (43-173). Only one patient required
      overnight ICU admission. Average LOS was 1.2 days (1-3). Overall complication
      rate was 4.5% (all minor); there were no major complications. Readmission rate
      was 1.2% (one patient). There was no surgical-related mortality. Follow-up to 90
      days was 89%, but steadily declined to 42% at 6 years (72 months). The %EWL was
      72% at 72 months. CONCLUSION: LMGB can be safely performed with good weight loss
      in patients >=60 years old, despite numerous comorbidities and previous abdominal
      operations.

PMID- 25814072
TI  - Endoscopic predictors for undifferentiated histology in differentiated gastric
      neoplasms prior to endoscopic resection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is often a discrepancy between results from endoscopic forceps
      biopsy and resected specimen. We aimed to identify endoscopic predictors for
      undifferentiated histology in differentiated gastric neoplasms prior to
      endoscopic resection. METHODS: Medical records of the patients who underwent
      endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for biopsy-proven differentiated gastric
      neoplasms at Seoul National University Hospital between July 2005 and July 2014
      were retrospectively reviewed. The lesions were divided into two groups based on
      the final histologic result of ESD: differentiated adenocarcinoma (DA group) and
      undifferentiated histology (UDH group). The discordant rate, clinicopathologic
      characteristics, and endoscopic factors were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 1641
      early gastric cancers from 1615 patients were included. Of these, 1556 (94.8%)
      were diagnosed as DA and 85 (5.2%) as UDH. The mean age was significantly lower,
      and number of women was higher in the UDH group than in the DA group. On
      multivariate analysis, age <65 years [odds ratio (OR) 1.75, 95 % confidence
      interval (CI) 1.10-2.80], female sex (OR 3.19, 95% CI 2.00-5.08), endoscopic size
      >10 mm (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.12-2.92), depressed type (OR 2.85, 95% CI 1.56-5.21),
      nodularity (OR 2.83, 95% CI 1.59-5.05), and whitish discoloration (OR 19.64, 95%
      CI 6.98-55.25) were independent predictors. CONCLUSIONS: Female sex, age <65
      years, large endoscopic size, depressed morphology, surface nodularity, and
      whitish discoloration were predictors for UDH. Meticulous attention should be
      paid to the lesions with these endoscopic predictors for determining the risk of
      UDH prior to endoscopic resection.

PMID- 25814073
TI  - Hybrid NOTES: TEO for transanal total mesorectal excision: intracorporeal
      resection and anastomosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic surgery for rectal TME achieves better patient recovery,
      lower morbidity, and shorter hospital stay than open surgery. However, in
      laparoscopic rectal surgery, the overall conversion rate is nearly 20%. Transanal
      TME combined with laparoscopy, known as Hybrid NOTES, is a less invasive
      procedure that provides adequate solutions to some of the limitations of rectal
      laparoscopy. Transanal TME via TEO with technical variants (intracorporeal
      resection and anastomosis, TEO review of the anastomosis) attempts to standardize
      and simplify the procedure. METHOD: Prospective observational study was used
      describe and assess the technique in terms of conversion to open surgery, overall
      morbidity, surgical site infection and hospital stay. The sample comprised
      consecutive patients diagnosed with rectal tumor less than 10 cm from the anal
      verge who were candidates for low anterior resection using TME (except T4).
      Demographic, surgical, postoperative, and pathological variables were analyzed,
      as well as morbidity rates. RESULTS: From September 2012 to August 2014, 32
      patients were included. The conversion rate was 0%. Overall morbidity was 31.3%,
      SSI rate was 9.4%, and mean hospital stay was 8 days. Oncological radical
      criteria were achieved with pathological parameters of 94% of complete TME and a
      median circumferential margin of 13 mm. CONCLUSION: The introduction of technical
      variants of TEO for transanal resection can facilitate a procedure that requires
      extensive experience in transanal and laparoscopic surgery. Studies of sphincter
      function, quality of life, and long-term oncological outcome are now necessary.

PMID- 25814074
TI  - Predictors of poor glycaemic control in older patients with type 2 diabetes
      mellitus.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: We assessed the predictors of poor glycaemic control among older
      patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Malaysia. METHODS: This cross
      sectional study used the data of 21,336 patients aged >= 60 years with T2DM from
      the Adult Diabetes Control and Management Registry 2008-2009. RESULTS: Predictors
      of poor glycaemic control were: age groups 60-69 years (odds ratio [OR] 1.96, 95%
      confidence interval [CI] 1.66-2.33) and 70-79 years (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.20-1.71);
      Malay (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.41-1.66) and Indian (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.19-1.46)
      ethnicities; T2DM durations of 5-10 years (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.35-1.58) and > 10
      years (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.59-1.91); the use of oral antidiabetic agents only (OR
      5.86, 95% CI 3.32-10.34), insulin only (OR 17.93, 95% CI 9.91-32.43), and oral
      antidiabetic agents and insulin (OR 29.42, 95% CI 16.47-52.53); and elevated
      blood pressure (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.01-1.20), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
      (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.38-1.59) and triglycerides (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.51-1.73).
      Hypertension (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.64-0.80), hypertension and dyslipidaemia (OR
      0.68, 95% CI 0.61-0.75), pre-obesity (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.82-0.98) and obesity (OR
      0.76, 95% CI 0.70-0.84) were less likely to be associated with poor glycaemic
      control. CONCLUSION: Young-old and middle-old age groups (i.e. < 80 years), Malay
      and Indian ethnicities, longer T2DM duration, the use of pharmacological agents,
      and elevated blood pressure and lipid levels were associated with poor glycaemic
      control. The presence of comorbidities, pre-obesity and obesity were less likely
      to be associated with poor glycaemic control.

PMID- 25814075
TI  - Morphology of distal radius curvatures: a CT-based study on the Malaysian Malay
      population.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to examine the differing curves of
      the volar distal radius of healthy Malaysian Malays, so as to obtain detailed
      morphological information that will further the understanding of volar plate
      osteosynthesis in Malaysian Malays. METHODS: Computed tomography with three
      dimensional reconstruction was performed on the wrists of 16 healthy Malaysian
      Malay volunteers. Profile measurements were made using a software program. A
      novel parameter, the pronator quadratus curve angle, was explored and introduced
      in this study. Interclass correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the
      level of agreement between the data collected by the principal investigator and
      that collected by an independent radiologist. RESULTS: The mean +/- standard
      deviation of the arc radii on the radial aspect was 17.50 degrees  +/- 5.40
      degrees , while the median (interquartile range [IQR]) of the arc radii on the
      ulnar aspect was 25.27 degrees  (IQR 5.80 degrees ). The mean +/- standard
      deviation of the curvature of the pronator quadratus line was 40.52 degrees  +/-
      2.48 degrees . The arc radii on the radial aspect was significantly lower than
      the arc radii on the ulnar aspect (p = 0.001). Different radial and ulnar arcs
      were observed in 56.25% of the radii; the arc was deeper on the ulnar aspect in
      93.75% of the radii. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, the
      likelihood of achieving anatomical reduction with uniformly curved, fixed-angle
      volar plates is questionable. Changes in the design of these implants may be
      needed to optimise their usage in the Malaysian Malay population.

PMID- 25814076
TI  - CML--Where do we stand in 2015?

PMID- 25814077
TI  - Natural course and biology of CML.
AB  - Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorder arising in the
      haemopoietic stem cell (HSC) compartment. This disease is characterised by a
      reciprocal t(9;22) chromosomal translocation, resulting in the formation of the
      Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome containing the BCR-ABL1 gene. As such, diagnosis and
      monitoring of disease involves detection of BCR-ABL1. It is the BCR-ABL1 protein,
      in particular its constitutively active tyrosine kinase activity, that forges the
      pathogenesis of CML. This aberrant kinase signalling activates downstream targets
      that reprogram the cell to cause uncontrolled proliferation and results in
      myeloid hyperplasia and 'indolent' symptoms of chronic phase (CP) CML. Without
      successful intervention, the disease will progress into blast crisis (BC),
      resembling an acute leukaemia. This advanced disease stage takes on an aggressive
      phenotype and is almost always fatal. The cell biology of CML is also centred on
      BCR-ABL1. The presence of BCR-ABL1 can explain virtually all the cellular
      features of the leukaemia (enhanced cell growth, inhibition of apoptosis, altered
      cell adhesion, growth factor independence, impaired genomic surveillance and
      differentiation). This article provides an overview of the clinical and cell
      biology of CML, and highlights key findings and unanswered questions essential
      for understanding this disease. 

PMID- 25814078
TI  - The choice of first-line chronic myelogenous leukemia treatment.
AB  - Imatinib has represented a revolution in the treatment of chronic myeloid
      leukemia (CML), inducing an overall survival never seen with previous therapies.
      However, with the commonly used dosage of 400 mg, one third of the treated
      patients does not reach the criteria associated with an optimal outcome and could
      potentially benefit from a different treatment strategy. Several trials exploring
      modified imatinib-based treatments or second-generation tyrosine-kinase as front
      line therapy have been performed. In some studies, high-dose (800 mg per day) or
      dose-adapted imatinib or imatinib plus interferon was reported to be able to
      induce better cytogenetic and molecular responses compared with standard-dose
      imatinib, although no improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) or overall
      survival (OS) have been so far reported. At the moment, these approaches are
      still considered investigational. On the other side, on the basis of their
      capacity to induce very fast and deep molecular responses, including major
      molecular responses (MMRs) and the newly defined very deep molecular responses
      MR4 and MR(4.5), and to prevent at least part of the early progressions to AP/BC
      that still occur during the first 2-3 years from diagnosis, dasatinib and
      nilotinib have been approved and registered by FDA and EMA as the first-line
      therapy for CML patients, opening the possibility to use different therapeutic
      strategies for newly diagnosed CML patients and a consequent intense debate among
      hematologists.

PMID- 25814079
TI  - Causes of resistance and treatment choices of second- and third-line treatment in
      chronic myelogenous leukemia patients.
AB  - For patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia who fail first-line therapy,
      several factors should be considered for the decision of the next treatment
      option. Second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) dasatinib, nilotinib,
      and bosutinib offer improved potency and a high likelihood of success for these
      patients. Overall, efficacy data are comparable for these agents, and so
      physicians should consider the BCR-ABL1 mutation profile and the patient's
      history to make a decision on the best choice. Only a few BCR-ABL1 mutations seem
      to be less responsive to any of the three drugs, and it is recommended to choose
      the second-line TKI that has shown clinical activity against the specific
      mutation in these cases. For patients with all other mutations and for patients
      with no mutations, it is recommended to choose the second-generation TKI based on
      the patient's disease history. The third-generation TKI ponatinib is available
      after dasatinib or nilotinib failure or for patients with T315I mutations.
      However, optimal dose of ponatinib is still under investigation. Overall, it is
      recommended to select a drug that minimizes the likelihood of worsening the
      patient's past side effects or comorbid conditions. In any case, chance and risk
      of allogeneic stem cell transplantation should be compared with the long-term
      outcome of TKI therapy in patients eligible for this procedure. 

PMID- 25814080
TI  - A review of the European LeukemiaNet recommendations for the management of CML.
AB  - Several guidelines and recommendations on the management of chronic myeloid
      leukemia (CML) have been prepared by several scientific societies. The European
      LeukemiaNet (ELN) appointed a panel of experts who submitted their
      recommendations to peer-reviewed scientific journals in 2006, 2009, and 2013.
      Here, we make a critical review of the last, 2013, ELN recommendations,
      concerning the use of the five available tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), the
      evaluation of cytogenetic and molecular response, and the strategy of treatment.
      Three TKIs (imatinib, nilotinib, dasatinib) are recommended first-line. Bosutinib
      and ponatinib are available second-line; ponatinib is particularly indicated in
      case of the T315I mutation. Achieving an optimal response, not only for survival
      but also for a deeper, stable, treatment-free remission, requires a BCR-ABL
      transcripts level <= 10 % at 3 months, <= 1 % at 6 months, <= 0.1 % at 1 year,
      and <= 0.01 % later on. Molecular monitoring must include mutational analysis in
      every case of failure. A successful treatment of accelerated and blastic phase
      requires TKIs, and in many cases also allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

PMID- 25814081
TI  - Management of adverse events associated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors in
      chronic myeloid leukemia.
AB  - Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) targeting the breakpoint cluster region-Abelson
      1 (BCR-ABL1) oncoprotein represent an outstanding progress in chronic myeloid
      leukemia (CML), and long-term survival has become a reality. However, the
      majority of patients need to be treated during their entire life span; thus,
      outcome does not solely depend on treatment efficacy but also on how well therapy
      is tolerated. TKIs have an overall favorable safety profile in clinical practice.
      Although many patients may encounter adverse events, these usually occur early
      after treatment initiation, are mild to moderate in intensity and resolve
      spontaneously, or are easily controlled with adequate supportive care. Whenever
      treatment interruption is necessary, re-exposition to the same TKI or switch to
      an alternative TKI is successful in the majority of the cases. However, long-term
      safety issues have not been fully elucidated at present, especially for new
      generation TKIs. Recent evidence has emerged that these new agents may sometimes
      impinge on vital organs such as the heart and lung in an irreversible fashion
      especially when comorbidities are present; thus, decision regarding of which TKI
      should be used must take into account disease-related, TKI-related, and patient
      related variables. The purpose of this article is to provide an up-to-date review
      of common adverse events associated with TKIs and how these events may be
      optimally managed. 

PMID- 25814082
TI  - Management of chronic myeloid leukemia in blast crisis.
AB  - Due to the high efficacy of BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibition (TKI) in chronic
      phase (CP) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), the frequency of blast crisis (BC) is
      greatly reduced compared to the pre-TKI era. However, TKI treatment of BC has
      only marginally improved the number of favorable responses, including remissions,
      which for the most part have only been transitory. Occasionally, they provide a
      therapeutic window to perform an allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT).
      The challenge remains to improve management of BC with the limited options
      available. We review and summarize articles pertaining to the treatment of BC CML
      published after 2002. Additionally, we will discuss whether there is a need for a
      new definition of BC and/or treatment failure. 

PMID- 25814083
TI  - Managing pregnancy in chronic myeloid leukaemia.
AB  - Over the past decade, we have witnessed significant advances in knowledge of the
      biology and treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). The development of
      molecular-targeted therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has
      fundamentally changed the outcome of this disease. Treatment with TKIs is now the
      standard of care in patients with CML and has dramatically improved long-term
      survival in the majority of patients. Patients who achieve major molecular
      response (MMR) after 2 years of treatment with imatinib have survival rates
      comparable to those of the general population. The success of TKIs has led to
      durable molecular response and possibility of normal life expectancies, such that
      it is now timely to address quality of life aspects such as fertility, pregnancy
      and family planning. Pregnancy in CML presents specific management and
      therapeutic challenges for the patient and the physician. Despite the recent
      treatment advances, we still have limited data on the safety of TKIs in pregnancy
      and its effect on fertility. However, there is a cause for concern and heightened
      awareness following the occurrence of a constellation of rare congenital
      malformations and spontaneous abortions in association with imatinib therapy.
      When a patient becomes pregnant whilst receiving TKI therapy, the difficulty lies
      in balancing the risk to the foetus of continuing therapy versus the risk to the
      patient of treatment interruption and potentially losing optimal disease
      response. All couples should be counselled on the risks associated with pregnancy
      whilst receiving TKI therapy. This is an essential aspect in patient care and
      frequently not emphasized enough by physicians. At the time of diagnosis,
      fertility preservation should be discussed with both male and female patients of
      childbearing potential. They should be made aware of fertility options which are
      available such as semen cryopreservation, ovarian or oocyte retrieval and storage
      and embryo cryopreservation in view of the potential detrimental effect of TKIs
      on fertility and gonadal function. The recommendation given to patients planning
      pregnancy differs according to their disease response to TKI therapy, which is
      the most important prognostic factor in CML.

PMID- 25814084
TI  - The role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in chronic myeloid leukemia.
AB  - Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is currently
      recommended as 2nd or 3rd line therapy for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia
      (CML) in first chronic phase or as salvage for patients with very advanced
      disease. As a consequence, numbers of HSCT in chronic phase have dropped
      significantly since the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), numbers
      of transplants in advanced disease to a lesser extent. These current
      recommendations consider primarily disease risk, defined as failure of TKI
      therapy; they might need to be adapted. We propose a more balanced appraisal of
      HSCT for individual patients which should include disease risk, transplant risk,
      and macroeconomic aspects. HSCT should be integrated into the treatment
      algorithms from diagnosis and be considered very early at first TKI failure for
      patients with high disease but low transplant risk. For patients with very
      advanced disease and high transplant risk in contrast, HSCT might only be
      recommended in a restricted research setting. 

PMID- 25814085
TI  - Discontinuation of tyrosine kinase therapy in CML.
AB  - Over the past decade, a broad array of drugs designed to selectively inhibit
      protein tyrosine kinases (tyrosine kinase inhibitors or TKIs) have emerged as
      novel therapies for cancer patients. Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is one of the
      best examples of successful targeted therapy with a TKI. The overall survival of
      CML patients who respond to treatment is close to that of the healthy population.
      The response in many patients is so profound that it is possible to consider
      stopping their treatment and with time, the number of patients in this group has
      increased to the point where the issue of treatment cessation has become of
      utmost importance. This has led to the development of a new concept in the
      evaluation of CML entitled treatment-free remission. It will be the criterion to
      evaluate the success of future clinical trials, especially if we want to improve
      the management of the disease to the point where we can claim to have cured CML. 

PMID- 25814086
TI  - The interferon-alpha revival in CML.
AB  - Interferon-alpha (IFNalpha) was once the standard of frontline treatment for
      chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Its pleiotropic mechanism of action in CML
      includes immune activation and specific targeting of CML stem cells. Early
      studies of IFNalpha in CML demonstrated that patients in chronic phase could
      attain extremely stable remissions, which correlated with long-term survival.
      Some patients even sustained their remission after discontinuing therapy, but the
      mechanism underlying this phenomenon is not well understood. Today, BCR-ABL
      tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as imatinib, induce remarkable responses
      in CML patients and have become the mainstay of CML therapy. Although TKIs target
      the pathogenic BCR-ABL protein in CML, they cannot fully eradicate CML stem
      cells. Some of the clinical trials testing IFNalpha plus imatinib combination
      therapy suggest that addition of IFNalpha increases the speed and rate of
      responses with imatinib therapy. However, the undesirable side effects of
      IFNalpha can make this therapy difficult to deliver, and the optimal therapeutic
      window for using IFNalpha in combination therapy is unknown. Further studies are
      needed to clarify the best niche for IFNalpha use in CML. 

PMID- 25814087
TI  - Prognostic scores for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia under particular
      consideration of competing causes of death.
AB  - Nowadays in many fields of medicine, prognostic scores are used to predict the
      outcome for individual patients. In chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), the Sokal,
      the Euro, and the EUTOS score are established prognostic scores which were
      addressed by the CML management recommendations of the European LeukemiaNet. This
      review provides a general definition of prognostic scores and explains their
      meaning. Main differences between the Sokal, the Euro, and the EUTOS score are
      highlighted. Due to the therapeutic success of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, the
      proportion of patients with causes of death unrelated to CML is growing. To
      assess the potential of a drug to prevent dying of CML, causes of death unrelated
      to CML need to be considered as competing risks. Supported by data of patients
      randomized to imatinib-based treatments within the German CML study IV, this
      review also explores the prognostic performance of the established scores if the
      primary event is death due to CML only and explains the implicit statistical
      particularities when treating other causes of death as competing risks. In the
      presence of competing risks, the application of both the cause-specific hazard
      model and the subdistribution hazard model is recommended when investigating the
      influence of prognostic factors on the event of interest. Another purpose of this
      work is to foster the ability of hematologists to interpret the outcome of a
      cause-specific hazard and a subdistribution hazard model and to understand the
      differences between them. 

PMID- 25814088
TI  - Molecular monitoring of chronic myeloid leukemia: principles and interlaboratory
      standardization.
AB  - Serial quantification of BCR-ABL1 messenger RNA (mRNA) is an important
      therapeutic indicator for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, but
      historically, there has been substantial variation in results reported by
      different laboratories. To help improve the comparability of results, an
      international scale (IS) for BCR-ABL1 was proposed which is being implemented by
      testing laboratories worldwide. This is being achieved most commonly by the
      derivation of laboratory-specific conversion factors, but increasingly by the use
      of kits or reagents that are calibrated to the first World Health Organization
      International Genetic Reference Panel for quantitation of BCR-ABL1 mRNA. Recent
      attention has focused on the need to define and validate levels of deeper
      molecular response (MR) within the context of the IS. While there has been
      substantial progress in the alignment of results, BCR-ABL1 measurement is
      technically challenging and standardization is an ongoing process. 

PMID- 25814089
TI  - Response-related predictors of survival in CML.
AB  - The assessment of response to tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment in
      chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) does not only reflect tumor burden at a given time
      but has been shown to be linked to long-term survival outcomes as well.
      Therefore, the quantification of molecular or cytogenetic response as early as 3
      months on treatment allows a prognostic stratification of a patient's individual
      risk. With competing TKI regimens available, a timely switch of treatment can be
      considered if unfavorable outcome has to be expected due to early response
      failure. Numerous studies have demonstrated the association of long-term outcome
      with early response for first-line treatment with imatinib, with second
      generation TKI and for second-line TKI treatment as well.

PMID- 25814090
TI  - Epidemiology of chronic myeloid leukaemia: an update.
AB  - National and regional population-based registries are, provided diagnostic
      accuracy and full coverage of the target population, indispensible tools for
      epidemiological research. Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) registries with more
      comprehensive reporting may also provide complementary data on treatment outcome
      to those obtained from clinical trials. Reports from several European CML
      registries consistently show a crude annual incidence of 0.7-1.0/100,000, a
      median age at diagnosis of 57-60 years and a male/female ratio of 1.2-1.7. The
      incidence of CML has been stable over time. Worldwide, variations in the reported
      incidence of CML may be due to methodological issues, but a true difference
      between different geographical areas and/or ethnical subgroups cannot be
      excluded. The prevalence of CML is not well known but has been estimated to be 10
      12/100,000 inhabitants with a steady increase due to the dramatic improvement in
      survival of these patients. In recent population-based studies, CML patients have
      an overall survival that is comparable to that shown in large clinical trials,
      though relative survival in patients >70 years is still decreased. The importance
      of socio-economic factors and health-care setting for outcome and the possible
      increased risk of secondary cancer in CML are areas of ongoing research.

PMID- 25814091
TI  - Changing the cost of care for chronic myeloid leukemia: the availability of
      generic imatinib in the USA and the EU.
AB  - Imatinib is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor and considered to be the most
      successful targeted anti-cancer agent yet developed given its substantial
      efficacy in treating chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and other malignant diseases.
      In the USA and the European Union (EU), Novartis' composition of matter patent on
      imatinib will expire in 2016. The potential impact on health system spending
      levels for CML after generic imatinib becomes available is the subject of
      significant interest among stakeholders. The extent of the potential savings
      largely depends on whether and to what extent prices decline and use stays the
      same or even increases. These are also empirical questions since the likely
      spending implications following generic imatinib's availability are predicated on
      multiple factors: physicians' willingness to prescribe generic imatinib, molecule
      characteristics, and health system priorities. This article discusses each of
      these issues in turn. We then review their implications for the development of
      country-specific cost-effectiveness models to predict the implications for cost
      and quality of care from generic imatinib. 

PMID- 25814092
TI  - Paraoxonase-1 enzyme activity assay for clinical samples: validation and
      correlation studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Paraoxonase-1 (PON1) enzyme is reported in various types of tissues
      and linked to numerous pathophysiological disorders. It is a potential biomarker
      in many pathological conditions such as cardiovascular diseases. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: We conducted several small-scale studies to evaluate PON1 performance as
      affected by sample types, storage, and interferences. We also carried out short
      term studies to compare the performance of the widely used PON1 assay to the
      similar commercially available PON1 kit assay method; sample size for the method
      comparison was N=40, and the number varied for other validation experiments.
      RESULTS: Our studies using various types of anticoagulants show that samples
      collected in tubes with NaF, citrate, EDTA, clot activator, and sodium heparin
      have increased PON1 levels that are 49%, 24.5%, 19.8%, 11.4%, and 8%,
      respectively, higher compared to serum samples collected in plain tubes. However,
      samples collected in lithium heparin tubes demonstrated 10.4% lower PON1 levels
      compared to serum collected in plain tubes. Biological interference such as
      hemolysis has little effect on PON1 levels; however, samples spiked with lipids
      have shown 13% lower PON 1 levels. Our studies comparing the PON1 method commonly
      available for PON1 assay and a similar non-ELISA commercially available PON1 kit
      method showed a weak Spearman correlation coefficient of R2=0.40 for the range of
      104.9-245.6 U/L. CONCLUSIONS: The current study provides new validation data on
      enzyme PON1 performance. While no appreciable change was seen with storage,
      samples type affects the enzyme performance. Our results should encourage
      additional clinical studies to investigate other aspects of factors known to
      affect PON1 enzyme function and performance.

PMID- 25814093
TI  - Preoperative diagnosis of sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastasis using 3D CT
      lymphography (CTLG).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) became a standard procedure for
      patients with early breast cancer, however, an indication of SLN navigation to
      metastatic disease may lead to misdiagnosis for staging. Preoperative CTLG with a
      water-soluble iodinated contrast medium visualizes the correct primary SLNs and
      its afferent lymphatic channels surrounding detailed anatomy, therefore it can
      predict LN metastasis by visualizing the lymph vessel obstruction or stain defect
      of the SLN by tumor. The current study presents the value of CTLG for
      preoperative prediction for SLN status. METHODS: A total of 228 patients with Tis
      T2 breast cancer who did not receive primary chemotherapy were studied. SLN
      metastasis was diagnosed according to the following staining patterns of SLNs and
      afferent lymphatic vessels: stain defect of SLN, obstruction, stagnation,
      dilation, and detour of the lymphatic vessels by tumor occupation. The diagnosis
      was compared with the pathological results to evaluate the accuracy of prediction
      for SLN metastasis using CTLG. RESULTS: Twenty-seven of 228 patients had
      metastatic SLN pathologically. Twenty-five of these were diagnosed as metastatic
      preoperatively. The accuracy for metastatic diagnosis using CTLG was 89.0%,
      sensitivity was 92.6%, and specificity was 88.6%. The positive predictive value
      was 52.1% and negative predictive value was 98.8%. CONCLUSION: CTLG can select
      the candidate with truly node negative cases in early breast cancer patients,
      because it predicts lymph node metastasis preoperatively from natural status of
      the lymphographic image. It also might omit the SLN biopsy itself.

PMID- 25814094
TI  - Pediatric emergency update: cyclic vomiting syndrome.

PMID- 25814095
TI  - Clinical Decision Making in Triage: An Integrative Review.

PMID- 25814096
TI  - ED Technician Educator: An Innovative Extension of the Nurse Educator Role.

PMID- 25814097
TI  - Response to "a comparison of paper documentation to electronic documentation for
      trauma resuscitations at a level I pediatric trauma center".

PMID- 25814098
TI  - Intra-operative augmented reality in distal locking.
AB  - PURPOSE: To design an augmented reality solution that assists surgeons during the
      distal locking of intramedullary nailing procedures. METHOD: Traditionally, the
      procedure is performed under X-ray guidance and requires a significant amount of
      time and radiation exposure. To absolve these complications, we propose video
      guidance that allows surgeons to achieve both the down-the-beam position of the
      intramedullary nail and its subsequent locking. For the down-the-beam position,
      the IM nail pose in X-ray is calculated using a 2D/3D registration scheme and
      later related to the patient leg pose which is calculated using video-tracked AR
      markers. For the distal locking, surgeons use an augmented radiolucent drill in
      which its tip position is detected and tracked in real-time under video guidance.
      VALIDATION: To evaluate the feasibility of our solution, we performed a
      preclinical study on dry bone phantom with the participation of four clinicians.
      RESULTS: Participants achieved 100 % success rate in the down-the beam
      positioning and 93 % success rate in distal locking using only two X-ray images
      in 100 s. CONCLUSIONS: We confirmed that intra-operative navigation using
      augmented reality provides an alternative way to perform distal locking in a safe
      and timely manner.

PMID- 25814100
TI  - An unsteady state retention model for fluid desorption from sorbents.
AB  - New studies regarding the sorption of fluids by solids are published every day.
      In performance testing, after the sorbent has reached saturation, it is usually
      removed from the sorbate bath and allowed to drain. The loss of liquid from the
      sorbents with time is of prime importance in the real-world application of
      sorbents, such as in oil spill response. However, there is currently no equation
      used for modeling the unsteady state loss of the liquid from the dripping
      sorbent. Here, an analytical model has been provided for modeling the dynamic
      loss of liquid from the sorbent in dripping experiments. Data from more than 60
      sorbent-sorbate systems has been used to validate the model. The proposed model
      shows excellent agreement with experimental results and is expressed as:
      U(t)=U(L)e(-Kt)+U(e) In which U(t) (kg/kg) is the uptake capacity of the sorbent
      at any time t (s) during dripping, U(L) (kg/kg) is the uptake capacity lost due
      to dripping, and U(e) (kg/kg) is the equilibrium uptake capacity reached after
      prolonged dripping. K (1/s) is defined as the Kamaan coefficient and controls the
      curvature of the retention profile. Kamaan ([symbol: see text] IPA phonetics:
      kaemalphan) is an Iranian (Farsi/Persian) word meaning "arc" or "curve" and hence
      the letter K has been designated.

PMID- 25814101
TI  - Forces, pressures and energies associated with liquid rising in nonuniform
      capillary tubes.
AB  - In this theoretical study, the forces, pressures, energies and kinetics for
      liquid rising in three types of capillary tubes were analyzed: one type was
      chemically homogeneous and the other two were nonuniform with chemical gradients.
      The tubes with chemical gradients were "designed" such that the liquid would
      still rise and attain the same ultimate height as an equivalent homogenous tube,
      but as shown here, the energies and kinetics of these inhomogeneous tubes are
      anticipated to be quite different from their homogeneous counterpart. 

PMID- 25814099
TI  - Examining endogenous dopamine in treated schizophrenia using [11C]-(+)-PHNO
      positron emission tomography: A pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Using positron emission tomography (PET) it is possible to estimate
      endogenous dopamine (DA) occupying D2/3 receptors (D2/3R) in the living human
      brain. Persons with schizophrenia (SZ) (previously medicated and naive) have
      increased endogenous DA occupying D2/3R in the caudate. It is unknown whether
      currently medicated patients demonstrate increased DA levels at D2/3R. Moreover,
      DA levels have not been estimated in SZ using agonist radiotracers, which may
      offer a more sensitive quantification over antagonists. METHODS: Using the
      agonist radiotracer [(11)C]-(+)-PHNO, DA levels were estimated at D2/3R
      (DeltaBP(ND)) in three patients with SZ (male, mean age=30+/-16). Patients were
      currently being treated long-term with Olanzapine (147+/-88 nmol/L). Results were
      compared to ten healthy controls (HCs). RESULTS: Medicated persons with SZ had
      greater DeltaBP(ND) in the left caudate (U=2, Z=-2.20, p=.03) and right putamen
      (U=2, Z=-2.20, p=.03). No differences were observed in the ventral striatum or
      globus pallidus. CONCLUSIONS: It is possible to estimate endogenous DA at D2/3R
      in SZ patients currently taking antipsychotics. Despite medication, patients
      continue to have increased endogenous DA at D2/3R. This lends more biological
      support to the clinical observation that relapses in symptoms can occur in the
      face of complete antipsychotic discontinuation. Future studies with larger
      samples are warranted.

PMID- 25814102
TI  - Reduction and control of domain spacing by additive inclusion: morphology and
      orientation effects of glycols on microphase separated PS-b-PEO.
AB  - Cylindrical phase polystyrene-b-polyethylene oxide (PS-b-PEO) block copolymer
      (BCP) was combined with lower molecular weight poly/ethylene glycols at different
      concentrations and their effect on the microphase separation of BCP thin films
      were studied. Well-ordered microphase separated, periodic nanostructures were
      realized using a solvent annealing approach for solution cast thin films. By
      optimizing solvent exposure time, the nature and concentration of the additives
      etc. the morphology and orientation of the films can be controlled. The addition
      of the glycols to PS-b-PEO enables a simple method by which the microdomain
      spacing of the phase separated BCP can be controlled at dimensions below 50 nm.
      Most interestingly, the additives results in an expected increase in domain
      spacing (i.e. pitch size) but in some conditions an unexpected reduction in
      domain spacing. The pitch size achieved by modification is in the range of 16-31
      nm compared to an unmodified BCP system which exhibits a pitch size of 25 nm. The
      pitch size modification achieved can be explained in terms of chemical structure,
      solubility parameters, crystallinity and glass transition temperature of the PEO
      because the additives act as PEO 'stress cracking agents' whereas the PS matrix
      remains chemically unaffected.

PMID- 25814103
TI  - Cardiac risk stratification and protection.
AB  - The goal of preoperative cardiac evaluation is to screen for undiagnosed cardiac
      disease or to find evidence of known conditions that are poorly controlled to
      allow management that reduces the risk of perioperative cardiac complications. A
      careful history and physical examination combined with the procedure-specific
      risk is the cornerstone of this assessment. This article reviews a brief history
      of prior cardiac risk stratification indexes, explores current practice
      guidelines by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart
      Association Task Force, reviews current methods for preoperative evaluation,
      discusses revascularization options, and evaluates perioperative medication
      recommendations. 

PMID- 25814104
TI  - Prevention of postoperative pulmonary complications.
AB  - Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) occur frequently among general
      surgical patients. The spectrum of illness is broad and includes preventable
      causes of morbidity and death. Careful preoperative evaluation can identify
      undiagnosed and undertreated illness and allow for preoperative intervention.
      Optimization of patient, surgical, and anesthetic factors is crucial in the
      prevention of PPCs. 

PMID- 25814105
TI  - Perioperative nutrition.
AB  - Perioperative nutrition is a vitally important yet often overlooked aspect of
      surgical care. Significant disparity exists between evidenced-based
      recommendations and practices encouraged by traditional surgical teaching. The
      metabolic response to surgical stress is complex. Poor nutrition has been
      demonstrated to correlate with adverse surgical outcomes. Perioperative nutrition
      encompasses preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative care. Preoperative
      nutritional assessment identifies at-risk patients who benefit from
      supplementation before surgery. Prehabilitation seeks to prepare patients for the
      impending surgical stress. Immunonutrition seems to provide a benefit, although
      its precise mechanisms are unknown. This article provides a review of the current
      state of perioperative nutrition. 

PMID- 25814106
TI  - Prophylactic antibiotics and prevention of surgical site infections.
AB  - Healthcare-associated infections present a significant source of preventable
      morbidity and mortality. More than 30% of all healthcare-associated infections
      are represented by surgical site infections, making them the most common subtype.
      Studies suggest that 40% to 60% of these infections are preventable, yet many
      hospitals have yet to implement evidence-based best practices. This article
      reviews the impact of surgical site infections, describes their measurement and
      reporting, and most importantly provides perioperative strategies for their
      prevention with a focus on the appropriate use of prophylactic antibiotics. 

PMID- 25814107
TI  - Deep venous thrombosis and venous thromboembolism prophylaxis.
AB  - "Venous thromboembolism (VTE) remains a significant risk for all surgical
      patients, despite validated guidelines. Development of VTE remains a high risk in
      hospitalized surgical patients, leading to complications in up to 30%. The
      stratification of patient risk factors and subsequent utilization of a validated
      prophylaxis and treatment regimen is, therefore, of utmost importance.
      Familiarity with the current guidelines and recommendations ultimately results in
      decreased morbidity, mortality, and health care costs. This article discusses the
      risk factors for developing VTE and management strategies based on the currently
      available guidelines." 

PMID- 25814108
TI  - Postoperative pain control.
AB  - Prevention and control of postoperative pain are essential. Inadequate treatment
      of postoperative pain continues to be a major problem after many surgeries and
      leads to worse outcomes, including chronic postsurgical pain. Optimal management
      of postoperative pain requires an understanding of the pathophysiology of pain,
      methods available to reduce pain, invasiveness of the procedure, and patient
      factors associated with increased pain, such as anxiety, depression,
      catastrophizing, and neuroticism. Use of a procedure-specific, multimodal
      perioperative pain management provides a rational basis for enhanced
      postoperative pain control, optimization of analgesia, decrease in adverse
      effects, and improved patient satisfaction. 

PMID- 25814109
TI  - Endpoints of resuscitation.
AB  - Despite the multiple causes of the shock state, all causes possess the common
      abnormality of oxygen supply not meeting tissue metabolic demands. Compensatory
      mechanisms may mask the severity of hypoxemia and hypoperfusion, since
      catecholamines and extracellular fluid shifts initially compensate for the
      physiologic derangements associated with patients in shock. Despite the
      achievement of normal physiologic parameters after resuscitation, significant
      metabolic acidosis may continue to be present in the tissues, as evidenced by
      increased lactate levels and metabolic acidosis. This review discusses the major
      endpoints of resuscitation in clinical use. 

PMID- 25814110
TI  - Optimal glucose management in the perioperative period.
AB  - Hyperglycemia is a common finding in surgical patients during the perioperative
      period. Factors contributing to poor glycemic control include counterregulatory
      hormones, hepatic insulin resistance, decreased insulin-stimulated glucose
      uptake, use of dextrose-containing intravenous fluids, and enteral and parenteral
      nutrition. Hyperglycemia in the perioperative period is associated with increased
      morbidity, decreased survival, and increased resource utilization. Optimal
      glucose management in the perioperative period contributes to reduced morbidity
      and mortality. To readily identify hyperglycemia, blood glucose monitoring should
      be instituted for all hospitalized patients. 

PMID- 25814111
TI  - Essentials of sepsis management.
AB  - Despite remarkable advances in the knowledge of infection and human response to
      it, sepsis continues to be one of the most common challenges surgeons and
      critical care providers face. Surgeons confront the problem of infection every
      day, in treating established infections or reacting to a consequence of surgical
      intervention. Infections after surgery continue to be a problem despite massive
      efforts to prevent them. Patients rely on the surgeon's ability to recognize
      infection and treat it. Also, preventing nosocomial infection and antibiotic
      resistance is a primary responsibility. This article describes diagnostic and
      therapeutic measures for sepsis in the perioperative surgical patient. 

PMID- 25814112
TI  - Transfusion and management of surgical patients with hematologic disorders.
AB  - Clinical trials have provided guidance in developing triggers for transfusing in
      the hemodynamically stable patient. These studies have identified that improved
      outcomes can be obtained in the massively transfused patient when platelets and
      fresh frozen plasma are transfused with packed red blood cells. Studies that
      characterize the complications of transfusions, such as transfusion-related acute
      lung injury and poor cancer-related outcomes, are discussed. Emerging data that
      characterize the risk factors associated with transfusion-related acute lung
      injury and suggest metastasis and local recurrence occur at a higher rate in the
      transfused patient are discussed. Hematologic disorders commonly encountered by
      surgeons are discussed. 

PMID- 25814113
TI  - Perioperative management of obese patients.
AB  - Obesity prevalence has quadrupled since the 1980s in the United States. It is
      estimated that 30% of the population is obese or has a body mass index of greater
      than or equal to 30 as defined by the World Health Organization. Surgeons are
      likely to engage in the care of obese patients and need to be adept in every
      aspect of the patients' care in order to have a successful hospital course. There
      is significant controversy in perioperative management of obese patients. This
      article discusses perioperative management of obese patients to provide
      guidelines, education, and discussion of current issues. 

PMID- 25814114
TI  - Perioperative management of elderly patients.
AB  - The older population only represents 13.7% of the US population but has grown by
      21% since 2002. The centenarian population is growing at a faster rate than the
      total US population. This unprecedented growth has significantly increased
      surgical demand. The establishment of quality and performance improvement data
      has allowed researchers to focus attention on the older patient population,
      resulting in an exponential increase in studies. Although there is still much
      work to be done in this field, overlying themes regarding the perioperative
      management of elderly patients are presented in this article based on a thorough
      literature review. 

PMID- 25814116
TI  - Management of pregnant patients undergoing general surgical procedures.
AB  - Pregnant patients have a 0.2% to 0.75% chance of developing a medical condition
      that requires a general surgical intervention during pregnancy. To safely and
      appropriately care for patients, surgeons must be cognizant of the maternal
      physiologic changes in pregnancy as well as of the unique risk to both mothers
      and fetuses of diagnostic modalities, anesthetic care, operative intervention,
      and postoperative management. Surgeons can be assured that, if these risks are
      understood and considered, operating during pregnancy, even in the abdomen, can
      be safely undertaken. 

PMID- 25814115
TI  - Perioperative management in the patient with substance abuse.
AB  - Drug and alcohol use is a pervasive problem in the general population and in
      those requiring anesthesia for an operation. History and screening can help
      delineate those who may be acutely intoxicated or chronic drug and alcohol users.
      Both acute intoxication and chronic abuse of these substances present challenges
      for anesthetic management during and after an operation. The clinician should be
      aware of problems that may be encountered during any part of anesthesia or
      postoperative care. 

PMID- 25814117
TI  - Advance directives, living wills, and futility in perioperative care.
AB  - Patient autonomy is preserved through the use of advance directives. A living
      will defines treatment by establishing parameters under which patients want to be
      treated. A durable power of attorney for health care establishes a surrogate for
      patients if they are unable to make decisions for themselves. In the
      perioperative setting, advance directives are applied with significant variation
      between surgeons, likely due to surgeons implying from informed consent
      discussions that patients want to pursue aggressive treatment. Futility is a rare
      occurrence in patient care that is difficult to define; however, there are some
      classic surgical conditions in which futility is part of the decision process. 

PMID- 25814118
TI  - Perioperative management.

PMID- 25814119
TI  - Perioperative management.

PMID- 25814120
TI  - Prof. Graeme Richard Hanson (16/7/1955-25/2/2015).

PMID- 25814121
TI  - Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus infection induces NF-kappaB activation through
      the TLR2, TLR3 and TLR9 pathways in porcine intestinal epithelial cells.
AB  - Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is a coronavirus that induces persistent
      diarrhoea in swine, resulting in severe economic losses in swine-producing
      countries. Insights into the interplay between PEDV infection and the innate
      immune system are necessary for understanding the associated mechanism of
      pathogenesis. The transcription factor NF-kappaB plays an important role in
      regulating host immune responses. Here, we elucidated for the first time to our
      knowledge the potential mechanism of PEDV-mediated NF-kappaB activation in
      porcine small intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). During PEDV infection, NF
      kappaB p65 was found to translocate from the cytoplasm to the nucleus, and PEDV
      dependent NF-kappaB activity was associated with viral dose and active
      replication. Using small interfering RNAs to screen different mRNA components of
      the Toll-like receptor (TLR) or RIG-I-like receptor signalling pathways, we
      demonstrated that TLR2, TLR3 and TLR9 contribute to NF-kappaB activation in
      response to PEDV infection, but not RIG-I. By screening PEDV structural proteins
      for their ability to induce NF-kappaB activities, we found that PEDV nucleocapsid
      protein (N) could activate NF-kappaB and that the central region of N was
      essential for NF-kappaB activation. Furthermore, TLR2 was involved in PEDV N
      induced NF-kappaB activation in IECs. Collectively, these findings provide new
      avenues of investigation into the molecular mechanisms of NF-kappaB activation
      induced by PEDV infection. 

PMID- 25814122
TI  - Targeting sphingolipid metabolism in the treatment of obesity/type 2 diabetes.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Obesity is a major factor that is linked to the development of type
      2 diabetes (T2D). Excess circulating fatty acids (FAs), which characterize
      obesity, induce insulin resistance, steatosis, beta cells dysfunction and
      apoptosis. These deleterious effects have been defined as lipotoxicity. AREAS
      COVERED: FAs are metabolized to different lipid species, including ceramides
      which play a crucial role in lipotoxicity. The action of ceramides on tissues,
      such as muscle, liver, adipose tissue and pancreatic beta cells, during the
      development of T2D will also be reviewed. In addition, the potential antagonist
      action of other sphingolipids, namely sphingoid base phosphates, on lipotoxicity
      in skeletal muscle and beta cells will be addressed. EXPERT OPINION: Ceramide is
      a critical mediator to the development of T2D linked to obesity. Targeting
      proteins involved in ceramide's deleterious action has not been possible due to
      their involvement in many other intracellular signaling pathways. A possible
      means of counteracting ceramide action would be to prevent the accumulation of
      the specific ceramide species involved in both insulin resistance and beta-cell
      apoptosis/dysfunction. Another possibility would be to adjust the dynamic balance
      between ceramide and sphingoid base phosphate, both known to display opposing
      properties on the development of T2D-linked obesity.

PMID- 25814123
TI  - Intrasellar abscess following pituitary surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: Intrasellar abscess is an uncommon cause of mass lesions in the sella
      turcica. Few cases have been reported in the literature, and much remains unknown
      about the etiology and diagnosis of these lesions. We sought to review a series
      of patients with intrasellar abscess encountered at our institution and identify
      defining characteristics of their presentation and management. METHODS: We
      conducted a retrospective chart review for intrasellar infection cases associated
      with a mass lesion. Included cases had clear demonstration of a mass lesion on
      imaging with subsequent positive microbiological cultures. Clinical presentation,
      management, post-operative course, neuroimaging, microbiology, and any
      perturbations in serum pituitary biochemical markers were examined. RESULTS: All
      examined patients had a history of antecedent transsphenoidal pituitary surgery
      within the preceding 10 months. All presented with headaches, three with
      progressive visual loss, one with meningismus, one with fever in the setting of
      an active cerebrospinal fluid leak, and one with fever, meningismus, hypotension,
      and progressive somnolence. No patient presented with acute endocrine
      abnormalities. A majority did not initially have any diffusion restriction
      present on MRI, but in one case we were able to track the evolution of diffusion
      restriction over sequential MRI scans. Two patients had complete resolution of
      presenting symptoms, while three experienced improvement or stabilization of
      their neurologic deficit. There were no mortalities. CONCLUSIONS: Pituitary
      abscess remains a rare diagnosis that can be difficult to make and to confirm. In
      our series we found a strong association between culture-positive abscess and
      recent pituitary surgery. When present, prompt treatment with surgical drainage
      and aggressive post-operative antibiotics can lead to a favorable outcome.

PMID- 25814124
TI  - Nebulised hypertonic saline does not reduce hospital length of stay in acute
      bronchiolitis.

PMID- 25814126
TI  - How to make a 'good doctor'.

PMID- 25814127
TI  - The way of making a good doctor.

PMID- 25814125
TI  - Clinical management of patients with gastric neuroendocrine neoplasms associated
      with chronic atrophic gastritis: a retrospective, multicentre study.
AB  - To provide data regarding clinical presentation, pathological features,
      management, and response to different treatments of patients with type I gastric
      neuroendocrine tumors in stages 0-2A. The study design consist of an Italian
      multicentre, retrospective analysis of patients with type I gastric
      neuroendocrine tumors managed with different therapeutic approaches: surgery,
      endoscopic surveillance, endoscopic resection, or somatostatin analog therapy.
      Among the 97 patients included, 3 underwent surgery, 45 (46.4%) radical
      endoscopic resection of the neoplastic lesions, 13 (13.4%) follow-up with upper
      endoscopy, and 36 (37.1%) somatostatin analog therapy. At the end of the follow
      up, all patients were alive and there was no evidence of metastatic disease.
      Somatostatin analog therapy resulted in a complete response in 76.0% of the
      patients and stable disease in 24.0%. A prolonged period of therapy, the use of a
      full dose of somatostatin analogs and higher gastrin levels at diagnosis were
      related to a complete response to the therapy. The recurrence rate was 26.3% in
      patients treated with somatostatin analog therapy and 26.2% in patients treated
      with endoscopic resection, without a statistically significant difference in
      terms of disease-free survival. Regarding recurrence of the disease, no
      statistical difference was found according to type of therapy, number of
      neoplastic lesions, and 2010 WHO classification. The only risk factor for tumor
      recurrence was a short period of medical treatment. In conclusion, our study
      suggested that endoscopic surveillance, endoscopic resection and somatostatin
      analog therapy represent valid options in the management of patients with type I
      gastric neuroendocrine tumors in stages 0-2A.

PMID- 25814128
TI  - A systematic review of training that use an integrated patient simulator.
AB  - The purpose of this article is to systematically review the literature that
      describes training and assessment that use an integrated patient simulator (IPS).
      We also tried to determine how to train learners with simulators, plan, and
      perform research on simulator-based education. Literature searches were conducted
      to identify articles from PubMed, EMBASE, and KMbase that were related to
      training and assessment that use an IPS, published from January 1999 to September
      2008. Forty articles met the criteria and were analyzed. The results were as
      follows: Studies on IPS are the most common in graduate medical education (GME).
      The impact of IPS-based education is relatively greater in GME versus
      undergraduate medical education (UME) or continuing medical education (CME). IPS
      research in GME is characterized by addressing the effectiveness of clinical
      application, the training of procedures, and algorithms, rather than knowledge or
      simple skills. And research design is more elaborate in GME than UME or CME. IPS
      training in CME focuses mostly on specific clinical skills. Most training
      sessions in UME are offered to groups, but assessment is performed for a single
      student. Also, inter-rater reliability is checked unsatisfactorily in UME. IPS
      research in UME is characterized by limitations in design due to connections to
      the regular curriculum. According to findings above, we propose that: more
      detailed research design should be performed to overcome the limitations of UME
      research. For GME, increasing simulator-based training opportunities is desired,
      because its effectiveness and adaptability are relatively high. 

PMID- 25814129
TI  - Correlations of Communication and Interpersonal Skills between Medical Students
      and Residents.
AB  - PURPOSE: Medical students' communication and interpersonal skills can be
      evaluated by standardized patients in a clinical performance examination (CPX).
      The purpose of this study is to investigate which communication and interpersonal
      skills are more closely correlated between medical students and residents.
      METHODS: This study included 2nd-year residents in 2009 who took the eight
      station CPX as 4th-year medical students in 2006. In-patients who were cared for
      by the residents were asked the seven items related to interpersonal and
      communication skills. The correlation between the scores of these seven items in
      the 2006 CPX and the scores in the 2009 patient survey was evaluated. RESULTS:
      Twenty-six residents, 11 in medical wards and 15 in surgical wards, participated
      in the study. The medical students' total scores tended to be correlated with the
      residents' scores (r=0.381, p=0.055). There was significant correlation between
      the scores for students and residents for 'Explaining more explicably' (r=0.470,
      p=0.015), and marginally significant correlation (r=0.385, p=0.052) for
      'Listening attentively.' There was no significant correlation for the other five
      items. CONCLUSION: 'Explaining more explicably' and 'Listening attentively',
      these skills were more closely correlated between medical students and residents.
      These basic communication skills should be included in graduate or licensing
      evaluations.

PMID- 25814130
TI  - Impacts of problem-based professionalism course in dental education.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study explores the effects of a professionalism course based on
      problem-based learning (PBL) for 2nd year dental students on professional role
      concept and on ethical reasoning. It also investigates students' attitudes toward
      professionalism development program. METHODS: The experimental group (n=36)
      participated in the 5-week professionalism course, which uses PBL approach while
      the control group (n=89) did not receive the professionalism instruction during
      the same period. The professionalism development program was implemented via
      discussions among students in small-group tutorial. Four professors, who served
      as group facilitators participated in faculty seminars before every tutorial.
      After each tutorial, students had to write essays on the cases they discussed in
      their groups. Both groups completed Professional Role Orientation Inventory and
      Defining Issue Test (KDIT) prior to and post intervention period. The
      experimental group also responded to questionnaires about the value of
      professionalism program. RESULTS: Analysis of covariance indicated that the
      experimental group's responsibility score significantly improved (F=32.552,
      p<0.001) while their perception of agency decreased (F=29.510, p<0.001). The
      program had little influence on ethical reasoning measured by DIT. Twenty-eight
      students (78%) responded that they learned the value of other opinions. Seventy
      percent of the students responded that the course is worthwhile or very
      worthwhile. CONCLUSION: The result reveals that students' professional role
      concept is associated with the learning experience in professionalism program
      based on PBL. Opportunities to think of professionalism in clinical situations
      improved students' sense of responsibility as dentist.

PMID- 25814131
TI  - Breast examination instruction by a standardized patient instructor.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to identify the effectiveness of a
      standardized patient (SP) instructor. The study was performed to compare the
      effects of two types of instruction on breast examination skills by an SP
      instructor and a professor. METHODS: Fifty-four medical students in the third
      year and 4 SPs participated in the study. In a pretest, each student was judged
      by the SP individually in performing a breast examination and completed a
      questionnaire about perception. Next, students were randomly assigned to 2
      experimental groups (small-group instruction by an SP instructor or professor). A
      posttest of performance and perception was administered using the same procedures
      as in the pretest. To identify the effectiveness of the SP instructor,
      differences in student scores between the groups were analyzed by t-test.
      RESULTS: In the posttest of student performance on the breast examination, there
      was no significant difference between the groups (p=0.270). With regard to
      student perception, scores on self-confidence in the breast examination were
      significantly different (p=0.026) between the groups, of which students who
      received instruction from the professor showed a higher level. Additionally,
      there was a significant effect on students' perceived reliability of instruction
      by the SP instructor (p=0.011), and students who were instructed by the SP
      demonstrated higher reliability compared with professor-taught students.
      CONCLUSION: Instruction by an SP instructor has the same effectiveness as
      instruction by a professor. SP instructors have very powerful effects on student
      performance and perception.

PMID- 25814132
TI  - Content Analysis of Standardized-Patients' Descriptive Feedback on Student
      Performance on the CPX.
AB  - PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to explore what kind of additional
      information is provided by the descriptive comments other than the rating scales,
      on the physician-patient interaction (PPI) in the clinical performance
      examination (CPX) and its feedback role in identifying students' strengths and
      weaknesses in communication skills. METHODS: The data were collected from 18
      medical schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi region, which participated in the CPX for
      fourth-year medical students in 2006 and 2007. In total 12,650 examination cases
      in 2006 and 12,814 cases in 2007 were analyzed. Descriptive comments from the
      standardized patients (SPs) were analyzed by content analysis, which includes a 4
      step process: coding, conceptualizing, categorizing and explanation. RESULTS: Ten
      categories (41 concepts) for 'strength' and 11 for 'weakness' (40 concepts) in
      the PPI were extracted. Among them, 10 categories were the same in both strength
      and weakness: providing adequate interview atmosphere, attentive listening,
      providing emotional support, non-verbal behaviors, professional attitude,
      questioning, explanation, reaching agreement, counseling & education and
      conducting adequate physical examination. For the 'structured and organized
      interview', only weakness was described. In 'providing emotional support' and
      'adequate interview atmosphere', comments on strengths were more frequently
      mentioned than weaknesses. However, communication skills that were related to non
      verbal behaviors were more frequently considered weaknesses rather than
      strengths. The numbers and content of the SP's comments on students' strengths
      and weaknesses in the PPI varied depending on the case specificities. CONCLUSION:
      The results suggest that the SPs' descriptive comments on student' performance on
      the CPX can provide additional information versus structured quantitative
      assessment tools such as performance checklists and rating scales. In particular,
      this information can be used as valuable feedback to identify the advantages and
      dicadvantages of the PPI and to enhance students' communication skills.

PMID- 25814133
TI  - Effect of patient safety education in surgical clerkship to develop competencies
      for managing and preventing medical errors.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to define the necessity and effectiveness of
      patient safety education during surgical clerkship to develop competency for
      managing and preventing medical errors. METHODS: Fifty 3rd-year students
      participated in the patient safety education program during a 4-week surgical
      clerkship. The students were divided into 4 groups: control group, pretest-only
      group, education-only group, and pretest and education group. Students were
      assessed using short essays and an oral exam for reasoning skills, clinical
      performance exams for patient education and communication skills, and multisource
      feedback and direct observation of error reporting for real-world problem-solving
      skills. The results were analyzed with SPSS 14.0K. The reliability (Cronbach
      alpha) of the entire assessment was 0.893. RESULTS: There was no difference in
      scores between early and late clerkship groups. Reasoning skills were improved by
      the pretest. Reasoning, patient education, and error reporting skills were much
      more developed by patient safety education. Real-world error identification,
      reporting, and communication did not change after the 4-week course. CONCLUSIONS:
      Patient safety education during surgical clerkship is necessary and effective.
      Error prevention and competency management in the real world should developed.

PMID- 25814134
TI  - Exploration of a leadership competency model for medical school faculties in
      Korea.
AB  - PURPOSE: To adapt to rapid and turbulent changes in the field of medicine,
      education, and society, medical school faculties need appropriate leadership. To
      develop leadership competencies through education, coaching, and mentoring, we
      need a leadership competency model. The purpose of this study was to develop a
      new leadership competency model that is suitable for medical school faculties in
      Korea. METHODS: To collect behavioral episodes with regard to leadership, we
      interviewed 54 subjects (faculties, residents, nurses) and surveyed 41 faculties
      with open-ended questionnaires. We classified the behavioral episodes based on
      Quinn and Cameron's leadership competency model and developed a Likert scale
      questionnaire to perform a confirmatory factor analysis. Two hundred seven
      medical school faculties responded to the questionnaire. RESULTS: The competency
      clusters that were identified by factor analysis were professionalism,
      citizenship, leadership, and membership to an organization. Accordingly, each
      cluster was linked with a dimension: self, society, team (that he/she is
      leading), and organization (to which he/she belongs). The clusters of
      competencies were: professional ability, ethics/morality, self-management, self
      development, and passion; public interest, networking, social participation, and
      active service; motivating, caring, promoting teamwork, nurturing, conflict
      management, directing, performance management, and systems thinking;
      organizational orientation, collaboration, voluntary participation, and cost
      benefit orientation. CONCLUSION: This competency model that fits medical school
      faculties in Korea can be used to design and develop selection plans, education
      programs, feedback tools, diagnostic evaluation tools, and career plan support
      programs.

PMID- 25814135
TI  - Where can I find the free item analysis program based on item response theory,
      computer-based testing and computerized adaptive testing?

PMID- 25814136
TI  - Medical education: past, present, and future.

PMID- 25814138
TI  - Erratum to: behavioral economics of food reinforcement and the effects of
      prefeeding, extinction, and eticlopride in dopamine D2 receptor mutant mice.

PMID- 25814137
TI  - 2-AG promotes the expression of conditioned fear via cannabinoid receptor type 1
      on GABAergic neurons.
AB  - RATIONALE: The contribution of two major endocannabinoids, 2-arachidonoylglycerol
      (2-AG) and anandamide (AEA), in the regulation of fear expression is still
      unknown. OBJECTIVES: We analyzed the role of different players of the
      endocannabinoid system on the expression of a strong auditory-cued fear memory in
      male mice by pharmacological means. RESULTS: The cannabinoid receptor type 1
      (CB1) antagonist SR141716 (3 mg/kg) caused an increase in conditioned freezing
      upon repeated tone presentation on three consecutive days. The cannabinoid
      receptor type 2 (CB2) antagonist AM630 (3 mg/kg), in contrast, had opposite
      effects during the first tone presentation, with no effects of the transient
      receptor potential vanilloid receptor type 1 (TRPV1) antagonist SB366791 (1 and 3
      mg/kg). Administration of the CB2 agonist JWH133 (3 mg/kg) failed to affect the
      acute freezing response, whereas the CB1 agonist CP55,940 (50 MUg/kg) augmented
      it. The endocannabinoid uptake inhibitor AM404 (3 mg/kg), but not VDM11 (3
      mg/kg), reduced the acute freezing response. Its co-administration with SR141716
      or SB366791 confirmed an involvement of CB1 and TRPV1. AEA degradation inhibition
      by URB597 (1 mg/kg) decreased, while 2-AG degradation inhibition by JZL184 (4 and
      8 mg/kg) increased freezing response. As revealed in conditional CB1-deficient
      mutants, CB1 on cortical glutamatergic neurons alleviates whereas CB1 on
      GABAergic neurons slightly enhances fear expression. Moreover, 2-AG fear
      promoting effects depended on CB1 signaling in GABAergic neurons, while an
      involvement of glutamatergic neurons remained inconclusive due to the high
      freezing shown by vehicle-treated Glu-CB1-KO. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest
      that increased AEA levels mediate acute fear relief, whereas increased 2-AG
      levels promote the expression of conditioned fear primarily via CB1 on GABAergic
      neurons.

PMID- 25814140
TI  - Nanoscale determination of the mass enhancement factor in the lightly doped bulk
      insulator lead selenide.
AB  - Bismuth chalcogenides and lead telluride/selenide alloys exhibit exceptional
      thermoelectric properties that could be harnessed for power generation and device
      applications. Since phonons play a significant role in achieving these desired
      properties, quantifying the interaction between phonons and electrons, which is
      encoded in the Eliashberg function of a material, is of immense importance.
      However, its precise extraction has in part been limited due to the lack of local
      experimental probes. Here we construct a method to directly extract the
      Eliashberg function using Landau level spectroscopy, and demonstrate its
      applicability to lightly doped thermoelectric bulk insulator PbSe. In addition to
      its high energy resolution only limited by thermal broadening, this novel
      experimental method could be used to detect variations in mass enhancement factor
      at the nanoscale level. This opens up a new pathway for investigating the local
      effects of doping and strain on the mass enhancement factor. 

PMID- 25814141
TI  - Caspase-8 Deficiency Presenting as Late-Onset Multi-Organ Lymphocytic
      Infiltration with Granulomas in two Adult Siblings.
AB  - Caspase-8 deficiency (CED) was originally described in 2002 in two pediatric
      patients presenting with clinical manifestations resembling autoimmune
      lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS) accompanied by infections, and T, B and NK
      cell defects. Since then, no new CED patients were published. Here we report two
      adult siblings (Pt1 and Pt2) presenting in their late thirties with pulmonary
      hypertension leading to lung transplant (Pt1), and a complex neurological disease
      leading to multiple cranial nerves palsies (Pt2) as their main manifestations. A
      thorough clinical and immunological evaluation was performed at the Primary
      Immunodeficiency Clinic at NIH, followed by whole exome sequencing. The patients
      had multiorgan lymphocytic infiltration and granulomas, as well as clinical signs
      of immune deficiency/ immune dysregulation. Both siblings carried homozygous
      mutations in CASP8, c.1096C > T, p.248R > W. This was the same mutation described
      on the previously published CED patients, to whom these new patients were likely
      distantly related. We report two new CED patients presenting during adulthood
      with life-threatening end-organ lymphocyte infiltrates affecting the lungs,
      liver, spleen, bone marrow and central nervous system. This phenotype broadens
      the clinical spectrum of manifestations associated with this disease and warrants
      the search of CASP8 mutations in other cohorts of patients. 

PMID- 25814143
TI  - Monash editorial.

PMID- 25814144
TI  - Concurrent urologic and palliative care after cystectomy for treatment of muscle
      invasive bladder cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: To characterize the effect of palliative care provided concurrently with
      usual urologic care for patients with bladder cancer undergoing cystectomy.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective, 6-month, serial cohort study comparing 33
      participants receiving usual care with cystectomy for muscle-invasive bladder
      cancer, with 30 participants also receiving concurrent palliative care. Patients
      and family caregivers completed validated symptom assessment and satisfaction
      surveys preoperatively and at 2, 4, and 6 months postoperatively. RESULTS: The
      intervention group saw improvements in most symptom measures over the 6 months
      following cystectomy compared with the control group. Depression and anxiety
      decreased over the 6-month period for the intervention group patients but
      increased over this time among the controls (P = 0.01). Fatigue decreased to a
      minimum for the intervention group participants at 4 months, whereas it peaked at
      this time for control participants (0.002). Quality-of-life and posttraumatic
      growth scores followed a similar pattern, with scores peaking at 4 months for the
      intervention group whereas controls reported their lowest scores at this time (P
      = 0.01 and P = 0.03, respectively). Changes in pain scores did not reach
      statistical significance. Neither family caregiver burden nor patient
      satisfaction showed statistically significant changes over time. CONCLUSIONS:
      Patients who received concurrent palliative care in addition to usual urologic
      care following radical cystectomy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer had better
      outcomes, including improved fatigue, depression, quality of life, and
      posttraumatic growth. Although further research on this topic is needed, our
      results suggest that providing palliative care services in addition to usual
      urologic care for patients with bladder cancer may significantly reduce
      postoperative symptoms.

PMID- 25814142
TI  - Neonatal Levels of T-cell Receptor Excision Circles (TREC) in Patients with
      22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome and Later Disease Features.
AB  - PURPOSE: Newborns with severe T-cell lymphopenia, including those with 22q11.2
      deletion syndrome (DS), have low numbers of T-cell receptor excision circles
      (TRECs). The aim of this study was to determine a possible correlation between
      neonatal TRECs in 22q11.2DS and the development of different phenotypes to
      elucidate the prognostic value of TREC in this disease. METHODS: In this national
      survey including 46 patients with 22q11.2DS born after 2005, TREC levels were
      determined using stored newborn screening blood spots on filter cards. Patients
      were grouped into quartiles according to their TREC values, except the two
      infants with thymus aplasia. RESULTS: The two patients with thymic aplasia had no
      detectable TREC. The rest had no severe clinical immunodeficiency. There was a
      significant correlation between low TRECs and the proportion of patients with
      CD3(+)CD4(+)T-cells below the 5th percentile of healthy infants (p = 0.027) as
      well as the proportion with an abnormal thymus feature either no thymus or
      remnant thymus as observed during heart surgery (p = 0.022). Significantly lower
      TRECs (p = 0.019) were found in patients with cardiac defects compared to no such
      defects. Patients within the lowest quartile of TREC values (<71 TRECs/MUL, n =
      11) had more frequent severe cardiac defects than the other quartiles (p =
      0.010). Eight of these patients in the lowest quartile needed an
      operation/intervention within two weeks after birth or died because of a cardiac
      defect. CONCLUSION: The low TREC values not only correlate with decreased T-cell
      immunity, but also with the occurrence of heart defects in the patients.

PMID- 25814147
TI  - [Otorhinolaryngology thematic issue. Presentation].

PMID- 25814146
TI  - The effect of age on functional outcomes after radical prostatectomy.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: As life expectancy increases, functional outcomes in elderly patients
      after radical prostatectomy (RP) become a more important factor to consider in
      treatment selection. The aim of this study was to determine age-dependent
      differences in functional outcomes after RP. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of
      8,295 patients who underwent RP from January 2009 to July 2013 were analyzed.
      Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to estimate the effect
      of age and other covariates on 3- and 12-month continence and potency rates.
      Continence was achieved if no more than one safety pad was used per day. Potency
      was defined as an international index of erectile function (IIEF)-5 score of 18
      or higher. RESULTS: In the entire cohort, 12-month (3-mo) continence and potency
      rates were 91.0% (76.1%) and 54.6% (40.9%), respectively. The 1-year continence
      rates for age groups < 65, >= 65 and < 70, >= 70 and < 75, and >= 75 years were
      93.2%, 90.8%, 86.0%, and 86.5%, respectively. The corresponding 1-year potency
      rates were 59.3%, 46.9%, 44.4%, and 31.3%. In both, univariate and multivariate
      analyses, older age had a significant negative effect on functional outcomes.
      Moreover, nerve sparing, pT category, and patients' body mass index were
      significantly associated with continence. Nerve sparing, pT category, patients'
      body mass index, and use of PDE5 inhibitor or intracavernous injection therapy
      significantly influenced potency. CONCLUSIONS: Older age has a significant
      adverse effect on recovery of continence and potency. Although functional
      outcomes in elderly patients and especially in patients aged 75 years or older
      are still good, they should be educated about the increased risk of incontinence
      and impotence after RP.

PMID- 25814145
TI  - Gemcitabine and cisplatin neoadjuvant chemotherapy for muscle-invasive urothelial
      carcinoma: Predicting response and assessing outcomes.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate gemcitabine-cisplatin (GC) neoadjuvant cisplatin-based
      chemotherapy (NAC) for pathologic response (pR) and cancer-specific outcomes
      following radical cystectomy (RC) for muscle-invasive bladder cancer and identify
      clinical parameters associated with pR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 150
      consecutive cases of muscle-invasive bladder cancer that received GC NAC followed
      by open RC (2000-2013). A cohort of 121 patients treated by RC alone was used for
      comparison. Pathologic response and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were compared.
      We created the Johns Hopkins Hospital Dose Index to characterize chemotherapeutic
      dosing regimens and accurately assess sufficient neoadjuvant dosing regarding
      patient tolerance. RESULTS: No significant difference was noted in 5-year CSS
      between GC NAC (58%) and non-NAC cohorts (61%). The median follow-up was 19.6
      months (GC NAC) and 106.5 months (non-NAC). Patients with residual non-muscle
      invasive disease after GC NAC exhibit similar 5-year CSS relative to patients
      with no residual carcinoma (P = 0.99). NAC pR (<= pT1) demonstrated improved 5
      year CSS rates (90.6% vs. 27.1%, P < 0.01) and decreased nodal positivity rates
      (0% vs. 41.3%, P<0.01) when compared with nonresponders (>= pT2).
      Clinicopathologic outcomes were inferior in NAC pathologic nonresponders when
      compared with the entire RC-only-treated cohort. A lower pathologic nonresponder
      rate was seen in patients tolerating sufficient dosing of NAC as stratified by
      the Johns Hopkins Hospital Dose Index (P = 0.049), congruent with the National
      Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines. A multivariate classification tree model
      demonstrated 60 years of age or younger and clinical stage cT2 as significant of
      NAC response (P< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Pathologic nonresponders fare worse than
      patients proceeding directly to RC alone do. Multiple predictive models
      incorporating clinical, histopathologic, and molecular features are currently
      being developed to identify patients who are most likely to benefit from GC NAC.

PMID- 25814148
TI  - [The main points of the otorhinolaryngology special issue].

PMID- 25814149
TI  - Doctors must speak out about adverse effects on health of austerity and
      extremism, conference hears.

PMID- 25814150
TI  - Supervising culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) nursing students: A
      challenge for clinical educators.
AB  - This paper presents and discusses the challenges faced by a group of clinical
      educators in teaching and assessing nursing students from culturally and
      linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in Australian English-speaking
      hospitals. A questionnaire was administered to eight university-appointed
      clinical educators external to the clinical venues in order to find out what
      issues they had experienced with CALD students and how they had responded to
      them. The educators' responses were contextualised with the perspectives of 19
      CALD students who responded to a student questionnaire, and analysed using
      Yoder's (1996) framework of instructional responses to ethnically diverse
      students. It was found that the clinical educators encountered difficulties in
      responding to CALD students with an instructional response that was not
      patronising, assimilationist or demeaning for the students. The findings suggest
      that most educators would have benefitted from targeted support by the school of
      nursing to develop a pedagogically appropriate approach to interacting with CALD
      students. This study points to the need for continuing education in cross
      cultural communication for nurses working in clinical education roles and
      provides ideas to this respect that build on CALD students' strengths and
      participants' suggestions. 

PMID- 25814151
TI  - Test-retest reliability of the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and
      Nurse Teacher (CLES + T) scale.
AB  - The Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher (CLES + T) scale
      evaluates the student nurses' perception of the learning environment and
      supervision within the clinical placement. It has never been tested in a
      replication study. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the test-retest
      reliability of the CLES + T scale. The CLES + T scale was administered twice to a
      group of 42 student nurses, with a one-week interval. Test-retest reliability was
      determined by calculations of Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) and
      weighted Kappa coefficients. Standard Error of Measurements (SEM) and Smallest
      Detectable Difference (SDD) determined the precision of individual scores. Bland
      Altman plots were created for analyses of systematic differences between the test
      occasions. The results of the study showed that the stability over time was good
      to excellent (ICC 0.88-0.96) in the sub-dimensions "Supervisory relationship",
      "Pedagogical atmosphere on the ward" and "Role of the nurse teacher".
      Measurements of "Premises of nursing on the ward" and "Leadership style of the
      manager" had lower but still acceptable stability (ICC 0.70-0.75). No systematic
      differences occurred between the test occasions. This study supports the
      usefulness of the CLES + T scale as a reliable measure of the student nurses'
      perception of the learning environment within the clinical placement at a
      hospital. 

PMID- 25814152
TI  - Does the difference between PART and Alzheimer's disease lie in the age-related
      changes in cerebral arteries that trigger the accumulation of Abeta and
      propagation of tau?

PMID- 25814154
TI  - Dendrimer-encapsulated Pd nanoparticles as catalysts for C-C cross-couplings in
      flow microreactors.
AB  - The inner walls of glass microreactors were functionalized with dendrimer
      encapsulated Pd nanoparticles. The catalysts were efficient for the Heck-Cassar
      (copper-free Sonogashira) and Suzuki-Miyaura (SMC) cross-coupling reactions. For
      the Heck-Cassar reaction between iodobenzene and phenylacetylene, the catalytic
      system exhibited a high turnover frequency (TOF) and on average required milder
      reaction conditions as compared to other continuous flow cross-couplings. A study
      of the substituent effect of para-substituted aryl halides revealed a beneficial
      effect of electron-withdrawing side groups for the SMC. Moreover, a reaction
      constant (rho) of 1.5, determined from the Hammett plot, indicated a possible
      rate-determining step other than the oxidative addition. 

PMID- 25814153
TI  - Soluble VCAM-1 impairs human brain endothelial barrier integrity via integrin
      alpha-4-transduced outside-in signalling.
AB  - Human brain microvascular endothelial cells forming the blood-brain barrier (BBB)
      release soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) under inflammatory
      conditions. Furthermore, sVCAM-1 serum levels in untreated patients with multiple
      sclerosis (MS) correlate with a breakdown of the BBB as measured by gadolinium
      enhanced MRI. To date, it is unknown whether sVCAM-1 itself modulates BBB
      permeability. Here, we provide evidence that human brain endothelium expresses
      integrin alpha-4/beta-1, the molecular binding partner of sVCAM-1, and that sVCAM
      1 directly impairs BBB function by inducing intracellular signalling events
      through integrin alpha-4. Primary human brain microvascular endothelial cells
      showed low to moderate integrin alpha-4 and strong beta-1 but no definite beta-7
      expression in vitro and in situ. Increased brain endothelial integrin alpha-4
      expression was observed in active MS lesions in situ and after angiogenic
      stimulation in vitro. Exposure of cultured primary brain endothelial cells to
      recombinant sVCAM-1 significantly increased their permeability to the soluble
      tracer dextran, which was paralleled by formation of actin stress fibres and
      reduced staining of tight junction-associated molecules. Soluble VCAM-1 was also
      found to activate Rho GTPase and p38 MAP kinase. Chemical inhibition of these
      signalling pathways partially prevented sVCAM-1-induced changes of tight junction
      arrangement. Importantly, natalizumab, a neutralising recombinant monoclonal
      antibody against integrin alpha-4 approved for the treatment of patients with
      relapsing-remitting MS, partially antagonised the barrier-disturbing effect of
      sVCAM-1. In summary, we newly characterised sVCAM-1 as a compromising factor of
      brain endothelial barrier function that may be partially blocked by the MS
      therapeutic natalizumab.

PMID- 25814155
TI  - Liver injury is uncommon in chronic gastrointestinal ischemia.

PMID- 25814156
TI  - Sperm DNA fragmentation, recurrent implantation failure and recurrent
      miscarriage.
AB  - Evidence is increasing that the integrity of sperm DNA may also be related to
      implantation failure and recurrent miscarriage (RM). To investigate this, the
      sperm DNA fragmentation in partners of 35 women with recurrent implantation
      failure (RIF) following in vitro fertilization, 16 women diagnosed with RM and
      seven recent fathers (control) were examined. Sperm were examined pre- and post
      density centrifugation by the sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) test and the
      terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. There
      were no significant differences in the age of either partner or sperm
      concentration, motility or morphology between three groups. Moreover, there were
      no obvious differences in sperm DNA fragmentation measured by either test.
      However, whilst on average sperm DNA fragmentation in all groups was
      statistically lower in prepared sperm when measured by the SCD test, this was not
      seen with the results from the TUNEL assay. These results do not support the
      hypothesis that sperm DNA fragmentation is an important cause of RIF or RM, or
      that sperm DNA integrity testing has value in such patients. It also highlights
      significant differences between test methodologies and sperm preparation methods
      in interpreting the data from sperm DNA fragmentation tests. 

PMID- 25814157
TI  - Roles of the Y chromosome genes in human cancers.
AB  - Male and female differ genetically by their respective sex chromosome
      composition, that is, XY as male and XX as female. Although both X and Y
      chromosomes evolved from the same ancestor pair of autosomes, the Y chromosome
      harbors male-specific genes, which play pivotal roles in male sex determination,
      germ cell differentiation, and masculinization of various tissues. Deletions or
      translocation of the sex-determining gene, SRY, from the Y chromosome causes
      disorders of sex development (previously termed as an intersex condition) with
      dysgenic gonads. Failure of gonadal development results not only in infertility,
      but also in increased risks of germ cell tumor (GCT), such as gonadoblastoma and
      various types of testicular GCT. Recent studies demonstrate that either loss of Y
      chromosome or ectopic expression of Y chromosome genes is closely associated with
      various male-biased diseases, including selected somatic cancers. These
      observations suggest that the Y-linked genes are involved in male health and
      diseases in more frequently than expected. Although only a small number of
      protein-coding genes are present in the male-specific region of Y chromosome, the
      impacts of Y chromosome genes on human diseases are still largely unknown, due to
      lack of in vivo models and differences between the Y chromosomes of human and
      rodents. In this review, we highlight the involvement of selected Y chromosome
      genes in cancer development in men. 

PMID- 25814159
TI  - From bench to bedside: bipolar androgen therapy in a pilot clinical study.
AB  - Prostate cancer remains a leading cause of cancer death in Europe and the United
      States and is an emerging problem in Asia despite significant improvements in
      available treatments over the last few decades. Androgen deprivation therapy
      (ADT) has been the core treatment of advance-staged disease since the discovery
      of prostate cancer's androgen dependence in 1941 by Huggins et al. [1] Options
      for initial medical treatment include gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues
      such as leuprolide (LHRH agonist) and degarelix (LHRH antagonist) and androgen
      receptor (AR) binding agents such as bicalutamide. Although most patients will
      initially respond to either surgical or medical castration, there is almost
      always progression to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) necessitating
      treatment with more novel agents. [2] However, even drugs such as abiraterone and
      enzalutamide, two next-generation agents used commonly in metastatic CRPC, have
      failed to demonstrate persistent efficacy in most patients. [3] ,[4]. 

PMID- 25814158
TI  - The effects of diabetes on male fertility and epigenetic regulation during
      spermatogenesis.
AB  - The effects of diabetes mellitus include long-term damages, dysfunctions, and
      failures of various organs. An important complication of diabetes is the
      disturbance in the male reproductive system. Glucose metabolism is an important
      event in spermatogenesis. Moreover, glucose metabolism is also important for
      maintaining basic cell activity, as well as specific functions, such as motility
      and fertilization ability in mature sperm. Diabetic disease and experimentally
      induced diabetes both demonstrated that either type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes
      could have detrimental effects on male fertility, especially on sperm quality,
      such as sperm motility, sperm DNA integrity, and ingredients of seminal plasma.
      Epigenetic modifications are essential during spermatogenesis. The epigenetic
      regulation represents chromatin modifications including DNA methylation, histone
      modifications, remodeling of nucleosomes and the higher-order chromatin
      reorganization and noncoding RNAs. If spermatogenesis is affected during the
      critical developmental window, embryonic gonadal development, and germline
      differentiation, environmentally-induced epigenetic modifications may become
      permanent in the germ line epigenome and have a potential impact on subsequent
      generations through epigenetic transgenerational inheritance. Diabetes may
      influence the epigenetic modification during sperm spermatogenesis and that these
      epigenetic dysregulation may be inherited through the male germ line and passed
      onto more than one generation, which in turn may increase the risk of diabetes in
      offspring. 

PMID- 25814160
TI  - A new simple technique of epididymal sperm collection for obstructive
      azoospermia.

PMID- 25814161
TI  - Comment on reversal of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in a Chinese cohort.

PMID- 25814162
TI  - First finding of spontaneous infections with Cryptosporidium baileyi and C.
      meleagridis in the red-legged partridge Alectoris rufa from an aviary in the
      Czech Republic.
AB  - This paper represents the first report of spontaneous infection with
      Cryptosporidium baileyi and Cryptosporidium meleagridis in the red-legged
      partridge (Alectoris rufa), as well as the percentage of positive samples and age
      associated dynamics of cryptosporidial infections in an aviary in the Czech
      Republic. The entire infection process was monitored over two semesters (July
      December 2012 and 2013) until release of birds for hunting purposes. Coprological
      examination of 663 pooled fecal samples and 89 post-mortem examinations of red
      legged partridges were carried out. Our results indicated that infections with C.
      baileyi only occurred in 5-7 week-old birds during 2013 (percentage of
      positivity, 1%) and those with C. meleagridis in 18-22 week (17%) and 17-21 week
      old birds (24%) during 2012 and 2013, respectively. Molecular characterization of
      isolates of C. baileyi and C. meleagridis heat shock protein 70 and actin genes
      were analyzed in order to support our coprological results. DNA sequence analysis
      of the 60kDa glycoprotein gene was used to subtype C. meleagridis. Our findings
      extend the host range for C. baileyi. 

PMID- 25814163
TI  - Activity of ceftaroline and comparator agents tested against Staphylococcus
      aureus from patients with bloodstream infections in US medical centres (2009-13).
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vitro
      antimicrobial activity of ceftaroline and comparator agents tested against
      Staphylococcus aureus isolates causing bloodstream infection (BSI). METHODS: A
      total of 4426 S. aureus isolates from patients with BSI were collected in 150
      medical centres in the USA in 2009-13 and tested for susceptibility to
      ceftaroline and comparators by the CLSI broth microdilution method. RESULTS:
      Overall, 45.5% of isolates were MRSA. Ceftaroline (MIC50/90, 0.25/1 mg/L) was
      active against 97.9% of S. aureus isolates at <=1 mg/L (highest MIC, 2 mg/L).
      Daptomycin (MIC50/90, 0.25/0.5 mg/L), linezolid (MIC50/90, 1/2 mg/L) and
      vancomycin (MIC50/90, 1/1 mg/L) were active against >=99.8% of isolates at the
      respective susceptible breakpoints. Susceptibility rates for clindamycin
      (MIC50/90, <=0.25/>2 mg/L) and levofloxacin (MIC50/90, <=0.5/>4 mg/L) were 80.8%
      and 59.2%, respectively. Against MSSA, ceftaroline (MIC50/90, 0.25/0.25 mg/L;
      100.0% susceptible) was 16-, 4-8- and 4-fold more active in vitro (based on
      MIC50/90) than ceftriaxone (MIC50/90, 4/4 mg/L), linezolid (MIC50/90, 1/2 mg/L)
      and vancomycin (MIC50/90, 1/1 mg/L), respectively, and slightly more potent than
      daptomycin (MIC50/90, 0.25/0.5 mg/L). When tested against MRSA, ceftaroline was
      active against 95.4% and 100.0% of isolates at <=1 and <=2 mg/L, respectively.
      Moreover, ceftaroline retained significant activity against S. aureus with
      reduced susceptibility to vancomycin, daptomycin, clindamycin, levofloxacin and
      trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. CONCLUSIONS: Ceftaroline demonstrated potent in
      vitro activity when tested against a large collection of contemporary (2009-13)
      S. aureus isolates causing BSI in US hospitals.

PMID- 25814164
TI  - Associations between individual and relationship characteristics and genital
      herpes disclosure.
AB  - Disclosure is often a challenge for individuals living with genital herpes. This
      study explores determinants of genital herpes disclosure with one's most recent
      sexual partner using an online questionnaire (n = 93). The majority of
      participants reported (80.4%) disclosure. Among non-disclosers, fear of negative
      partner reactions was the primary reason for non-disclosure. Age, relationship
      commitment, time in relationship, and expectations of partner's reaction were
      statistically significant predictors at the bivariate level. Reaction
      expectations and relationship commitment remained significant in the multivariate
      logistic regression model. Findings indicate that future disclosure research
      should focus on relationship context and managing negative expectations to
      increase disclosure.

PMID- 25814166
TI  - A dual-responsive supra-amphiphile based on a water-soluble pillar[7]arene and a
      naphthalene diimide-containing guest.
AB  - A dual-responsive supra-amphiphile was firstly constructed based on a water
      soluble pillar[7]arene and a naphthalene diimide-containing guest with a long
      alkyl chain and a trimethylammonium group. The morphologies of the self-assembly
      formed from this supra-amphiphile could be adjusted by changing solution pH or
      adding alpha-cyclodextrin. 

PMID- 25814165
TI  - The five-factor model of personality and self-reported versus biomarker diabetic
      control.
AB  - Five-factor personality was examined as an element of self-report diabetic
      control accuracy versus biomarker control (HbA1c) for 1474 diabetics in the 2006
      and 2008 Health and Retirement Study. Correlations of extraversion and self
      reported control (r = -.06, p < .01), and extraversion and HbA1c (r = .03, non
      significant), were significantly different (t = 2.87, p < .01). Correlations of
      openness and self-reported control (r = -.05, p < .05), and openness and HbA1c (r
      = .01, non-significant), were significantly different (t = 1.91, p < .05).
      Associations were found between self-reported control and conscientiousness (r = 
      .05, p < .05), neuroticism (r = .04, p < .05), and openness (r = -.05, p < .05).
      Neuroticism was associated with self-reports that diabetes was worse (r = .07, p
      < .01). Other correlations and comparisons were non-significant.

PMID- 25814167
TI  - Lipoxins exert antiangiogenic and anti-inflammatory effects on Kaposi's sarcoma
      cells.
AB  - Lipoxin A4 (LXA4) is an endogenously produced host molecule with anti
      inflammatory resolution effects. Previous studies demonstrated it to be involved
      in anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-mediated angiogenesis and in a
      possible anticancer role via interaction with its receptor, lipoxin A 4 receptor
      (ALXR). Here, we examined the effects of LXA4 and its epimer 15-epi-LXA4 in
      inhibiting proinflammatory and angiogenic functions in a human Kaposi's sarcoma
      tumor-derived cell line (KS-IMM). KS-IMM cells expressed increased levels of
      inflammatory cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) pathway enzymes
      when compared with human microvascular dermal endothelial cells (HMVEC-d). KS-IMM
      cells secreted high levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and chemotactic leukotriene
      B4 (LTB4). Treatment with LXA4 or 15-epi-LXA4 effectively reduced the levels of
      COX-2, 5-LO proteins, and secretion of PGE2 and LTB4 in KS-IMM cells. LXA4 or 15
      epi-LXA4 treatment also decreased secretion of proinflammatory interleukin 6 (IL
      6) and IL-8 cytokines but induced the secretion of anti-inflammatory IL-10. LXA4
      treatment reduced the phosphorylation of VEGF receptor (VEGFR) and ephrin family
      receptor tyrosine kinases. LXA4 treatment effectively induced dephosphorylation
      of multiple cellular kinases such as Focal Adhesion Kinase, Protein kinase B,
      nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells, and Extracellular
      signal-regulated kinases (ERK)1/2, and reduced angiogenic factor VEGF-C secretion
      in KS cells. LX treatment drastically induced the Src-homology 2 domain
      containing phosphatase tyrosine (Y542) phosphatase and reduced VEGFR-2
      phosphorylation at sites Y1059, Y1175, and Y1212. Treatment of KS-IMM cells with
      LXA4 resulted in selective localization of VEGFR-2 in nonlipid raft (non-LR) and
      ALXR to LR fractions. These results demonstrated that LXA4 or 15-epi-LXA4 induce
      anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic effects in KS cells and suggest that
      treatment with LXs is an attractive novel strategy against KS.

PMID- 25814168
TI  - Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): metformin.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is classically characterised by an
      accumulation of incompletely developed follicles in the ovaries due to
      anovulation. However, since the publication of the Rotterdam criteria, there is
      acceptance that menstrual cycle and endocrine dysfunction with hyperandrogenism
      is more important in reaching the diagnosis than ultrasound findings. It is
      diagnosed in up to 10% of women attending gynaecology clinics, but the prevalence
      in the population as a whole varies from 10% to 20%, depending on which
      diagnostic criteria are used. PCOS has been associated with hirsutism,
      infertility, acne, weight gain, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD),
      and endometrial hyperplasia. METHODS AND OUTCOMES: We conducted a systematic
      review and aimed to answer the following clinical question: What are the effects
      of metformin on hirsutism and menstrual frequency in women with PCOS? We
      searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up
      to May 2014 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically; please check our
      website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts
      from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and
      the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). RESULTS: We
      found 14 studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation
      of the quality of evidence for interventions. CONCLUSIONS: In this systematic
      review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the
      following interventions: metformin compared with placebo/no treatment, metformin
      compared with weight loss intervention, or metformin compared with cyproterone
      acetate-ethinylestradiol.

PMID- 25814170
TI  - Founder mutation causes classical Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD)
      in Chinese patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD) is a congenital muscular
      dystrophy rarely reported outside Japan. Here, we report three patients with
      Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD) in China who shared a similar
      clinical phenotype and 3-kb insertion in the FKTN 3' untranslated region.
      METHODS: Immunofluorescence staining was undertaken on muscle biopsies from three
      patients using alpha dystroglycan antibody (IIH6). Genomic DNA from patients and
      parents was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes. Polymerase chain reaction
      and DNA sequencing were employed to analyze the exons and surrounding intron
      sequences of the fukutin (FKTN) gene to detect mutations. Haplotype analysis was
      also performed on each patient and their parents. RESULTS: All patients had
      delayed mental and motor development, febrile convulsions, muscle weakness, and
      moderate to significant raised levels of serum creatine kinase (7000-11,160 U/L,
      25-60*normal). Brain MRI scans showed micropolygyria and extensive dysplasia in
      the white matter and brainstem. Electromyography revealed myopathic changes.
      Muscle immunofluorescence studies demonstrated reduced IIH6 staining. Genetic
      testing showed compound heterozygous mutations of FKTN. Cases 1 and 2 had a
      c.139C>T (p.Arg47(*)) heterozygous mutation. Case 3 had a c.346C>T (p.Gln116(*))
      heterozygous mutation. CONCLUSION: All patients had a heterozygous 3-kb insertion
      in the FKTN 3' untranslated region. Haplotype analyses suggested that these
      patients had the same haplotype as Japanese patients.

PMID- 25814171
TI  - [Aerobic capacity and quality of life in school children from 8 to 12].
AB  - Aerobic capacity is a powerful physiological indicator of the overall health
      status. The objective of this study was to analyse the relationship between
      aerobic capacity and quality of life in a sample of 298 (159 girls) school
      children aged 8-12 years. Aerobic capacity was tested using the Course-Navette
      test. Quality of life was assessed using the KIDSCREEN-10 Index scale. Males
      showed higher performance in the Course-Navette test and highest values of VO2max
      (P<.001 for both). ANOVA statistical analysis showed that the quality of life was
      significantly higher in school children with increased level of aerobic capacity
      compared to those with a low level (P=.001). Children with high aerobic capacity
      showed higher quality of life scores in relation to their peers with low scores
      (P<.001). As for the females, significant differences were found among those with
      high aerobic capacity level and their peers low levels (P<.031). The results of
      this study suggest that school children with higher level of aerobic capacity
      show better results in the quality of life index. Long-term intervention studies
      are needed to verify if an aerobic capacity development programme may upgrade the
      quality of life of children and adolescents. 

PMID- 25814169
TI  - Signatures of the Giant Pairing Vibration in the 14C and 15C atomic nuclei.
AB  - Giant resonances are collective excitation modes for many-body systems of
      fermions governed by a mean field, such as the atomic nuclei. The microscopic
      origin of such modes is the coherence among elementary particle-hole excitations,
      where a particle is promoted from an occupied state below the Fermi level (hole)
      to an empty one above the Fermi level (particle). The same coherence is also
      predicted for the particle-particle and the hole-hole excitations, because of the
      basic quantum symmetry between particles and holes. In nuclear physics, the giant
      modes have been widely reported for the particle-hole sector but, despite several
      attempts, there is no precedent in the particle-particle and hole-hole ones, thus
      making questionable the aforementioned symmetry assumption. Here we provide
      experimental indications of the Giant Pairing Vibration, which is the leading
      particle-particle giant mode. An immediate implication of it is the validation of
      the particle-hole symmetry. 

PMID- 25814172
TI  - A novel method for selectively labelling olivocochlear collaterals in the rat.
AB  - Axons of olivocochlear neurons originate from the brainstem and project to the
      cochlea. A subpopulation, medial olivocochlear (MOC) neurons, also projects
      collateral branches to the cochlear nucleus. The precise targets of these
      collaterals are as yet unknown. Previous methods for labelling these collaterals
      include firstly, cochlear injections of retrograde tracers, but this is
      technically demanding and can also label afferent projections or secondly,
      labelling by injecting tracers into the nuclei of origin of MOC neurons. However,
      this latter method is non-specific because it also labels non-MOC projections. A
      technique was used to specifically label MOC collaterals, which involved
      injections of the tracer biocytin at the floor of the fourth ventricle and
      fixation 3 hours later. Biocytin injections resulted in labelled neurons in the
      ventral nucleus of the trapezoid body and rostral periolivary nucleus, confirming
      MOC axonal labelling. Labelled neurons in dorsal cochlear nucleus indicated
      labelling of the dorsal acoustic stria and these injections were discarded. After
      selective MOC labelling, collateral branches were found to innervate granule cell
      regions, medial edge and core of the ventral cochlear nucleus, as well as the
      dorsal cochlear nucleus, in agreement with previous data. Therefore we conclude
      that injections at the floor of the fourth ventricle provide a simple, rapid and
      specific technique for labelling the majority of MOC axons and their collaterals
      and this technique may assist in defining the precise neuronal targets of
      olivocochlear collaterals in cochlear nucleus. 

PMID- 25814174
TI  - A fluorescent receptor for halide recognition: clues for the design of anion
      chemosensors.
AB  - The chemosensing properties of the polyaza-macrocycle 1-(6,7)-acridine-3,6,9,12
      tetraaza-tridecaphane have been investigated by means of emission fluorescence
      spectroscopy, considering halide ions as substrates. As in the case of the free
      ligand, the fluorescence emission of the complexes is due to the acridinium
      species which are formed after photoinduced proton transfer reaction. The
      complexation constants have been obtained for the bi- and tri-protonated ligands
      in deoxygenated aqueous solutions. Two different emission behaviours have been
      observed varying the anion. Fluoride and chloride give rise to fluorescence
      enhancement whereas bromide and iodide strongly quench the emission. The
      macrocycle shows an unusual higher selectivity towards the chloride anion rather
      than fluoride. The fluorescence emission has been modelled considering a modified
      Stern-Volmer equation, taking into account the quenching effects of the largest
      anions, which can be considered negligible for fluoride and chloride anions. Ab
      initio calculations allow us to interpret the fluorescence emission of the
      complexes in terms of activation energy related to the proton transfer reaction
      responsible for the emission process. 

PMID- 25814173
TI  - Monocyte and plasma expression of TAM ligand and receptor in renal failure: Links
      to unregulated immunity and chronic inflammation.
AB  - Chronic inflammation is increased in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD)
      and contributes to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Specific immune
      mechanisms and pathways that drive and maintain chronic inflammation in CKD are
      not well described. The TAM ligands (Gas6 and protein S) and receptors (Axl and
      Mer) have been recently recognized as playing a prominent role in immune
      regulation. The receptors exist in both soluble and cell-bound forms; the soluble
      receptors (sAxl and sMer) are believed to compete with the bound receptors and
      thus inhibit their function. In this study, we determined the expression of cell
      bound and soluble TAM proteins in patients with CKD. CKD patients had
      significantly lower expression of Mer in monocytes, yet increased expression of
      soluble TAM receptors sAxl and sMer in plasma compared to controls. The
      metalloproteinase ADAM 17, responsible for cleavage of Mer to its soluble form,
      was increased in patient monocytes. Elevated levels of soluble TAM receptors were
      more evident in patients with progressive renal failure. These observations
      suggest that functional deficiency of TAM receptor-mediated regulation of
      inflammation may contribute to chronic inflammation in patients with CKD. 

PMID- 25814175
TI  - Coronary thromboembolic acute myocardial infarction due to paroxysmal atrial
      fibrillation occurring after non-cardiac surgery.
AB  - Acute myocardial infarction is a well know precipitant of atrial fibrillation,
      but it is also becoming increasingly recognised that atrial fibrillation is a
      direct and indirect cause of acute myocardial infarction. Current guidelines do
      not recommend anticoagulation therapy in patients undergoing cardiac surgery who
      have a brief episode of atrial fibrillation lasting less than 48 h. However,
      recommendations for the management of atrial fibrillation following non-cardiac
      surgery are less clear. We describe the case of a 70-year-old man undergoing non
      cardiac surgery, who developed a short episode of perioperative atrial
      fibrillation and later presented with thromboembolic acute myocardial infarction
      due to a thrombotic occlusion of the right coronary artery.

PMID- 25814176
TI  - Vitamin D3 modulates the function of chicken macrophages.
AB  - Vitamin D3 is known to modulate both innate and adaptive immune responses in
      mammals, but there is little information on its effects on avian immune system
      cells. Here, we studied the effects of vitamin D3 on chicken macrophages. Chicken
      macrophages expressed vitamin D receptor (VDR) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)
      stimulation increased their VDR expression. Macrophages were treated with
      1,25(OH)2D3 in the presence or absence of Toll-like receptor ligands, such as LPS
      and Pam3CSK4. Subsequently, macrophage activation was assessed by measuring
      nitric oxide (NO) and expression of CXCL8 and interleukin (IL)-1beta. In
      addition, changes in major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-II and CD86 were
      examined. Treatment of cells with 1,25(OH)2D3 increased the ability of
      macrophages to respond to stimuli and produce NO, but vitamin D3 alone did not
      activate macrophages and resulted in the down-regulation of CD86, MHC-II, CXCL8
      and IL-1beta. These findings suggest that vitamin D3 has an immunomodulatory role
      in chicken macrophages. 

PMID- 25814177
TI  - An experimental fatigue study of a porous scaffold for the regeneration of
      articular cartilage.
AB  - The aim of this experimental study is to predict the long-term mechanical
      behavior of a porous scaffold implanted in a cartilage defect for tissue
      engineering purpose. Fatigue studies were performed by up to 100,000 unconfined
      compression cycles in a polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold with highly
      interconnected pores architecture. The scaffold compliance, stress-strain
      response and hysteresis energy have been measured after different number of
      fatigue cycles, while the morphology has been observed by scanning electron
      microscopy at the same fatigue times. To simulate the growing tissue in the
      scaffold/tissue construct, the scaffold was filled with an aqueous solution of
      polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and subjected to repeating cycles of freezing and thawing
      that increase the hydrogel stiffness. Fatigue studies show that the mechanical
      loading provokes failure of the dry scaffold at a smaller number of deformation
      cycles than when it is immersed in water, and also that 100,000 compressive
      dynamic cycles do not affect the scaffold/gel construct. This shows the stability
      of the scaffold implanted in a chondral defect and gives a realistic simulation
      of the mechanical performance from implantation of the empty scaffold to
      regeneration of the new tissue inside the scaffold's pores.

PMID- 25814178
TI  - Swelling significantly affects the material properties of the menisci in
      compression.
AB  - This study has evaluated the swelling of meniscal test samples associated with
      altered osmotic environments. Meniscal samples were cut and weighed, then placed
      in one of 3 solutions: deionized water, phosphate buffered saline (PBS) or 2*
      concentration PBS. The amount of swelling in meniscal samples was solution
      independent with average swelling greater than 20%. The effect of this swelling
      on the mechanical properties of the samples was evaluated under confined
      compression testing. Samples were measured using a photogrammetric technique at
      the time of sample preparation and again after 1h in PBS. Meniscal samples used
      for mechanical testing swelled on average 18% in thickness after 1h in isotonic
      PBS. Free-swollen tissue was 1/3 as stiff at equilibrium as those that were
      recompressed to their original thickness prior to testing. Secant moduli at peak
      stress were nine times greater in the recompressed samples than the free-swollen
      samples. Relaxation times were faster in swollen samples, indicating increased
      permeability compared to recompressed specimen. Swelling pressure in the tissue
      averaged 14.4kPa in isotonic PBS, identifying that the menisci are pre-stressed
      structures within the knee joint. Histological analysis identified that the
      quantity of swelling is related to both the osmotic pressure generated by
      proteoglycans and the local collagen architecture in the sample. This is the
      first study to quantify the amount and swelling in meniscal test samples. This
      swelling behavior significantly influences the properties of the tissue in
      compression and should be addressed in future mechanical testing and protocol
      development for the menisci. 

PMID- 25814180
TI  - Three-dimensional intervertebral kinematics in the healthy young adult cervical
      spine during dynamic functional loading.
AB  - The objective of this study was to determine the intervertebral kinematics of the
      young, healthy cervical spine during dynamic, three-dimensional, functional
      loading. Intervertebral motion was characterized by the range of motion (ROM) and
      the helical axis of motion (HAM). Biplane radiographs of the cervical spine were
      collected at 30 images/s as 29 participants (20-35 yr) performed dynamic
      flexion?extension, axial rotation, and lateral bending. Vertebral motion (C1-T1
      in flexion?extension, C3-T1 in lateral bending and axial rotation) was tracked
      with sub-millimeter accuracy using a validated volumetric model-based tracking
      process that matched subject-specific CT-based bone models to the radiographs.
      Flexion?extension ROM was smallest at the C2-C3 motion segment (12.7+/-2.6
      degrees ) and largest at the C5-C6 motion segment (19.7+/-3.7 degrees ). During
      head lateral bending and axial rotation, the intervertebral bending ROM was
      greater than the rotation ROM at every motion segment. The HAM demonstrated
      differences among motion segments and among movements. During flexion?extension,
      the helical axis of motion was directed nearly perpendicular to the sagittal
      plane for the C2-C3 through C7-T1 motion segments. During lateral bending, the
      angle between the HAM and the transverse plane progressively increased from the
      C6-C7 motion segment (approximately +/-22 degrees ) to the C3-C4 motion segment
      (approximately +/-40 degrees ). During axial rotation, the angle between the
      transverse plane and the HAM was approximately +/-42 degrees  at the C3-C4
      through C5-C6 motion segments, and approximately +/-32 degrees  at the C6-C7
      motion segment. This study provides valuable reference data for evaluating the
      effects of age, degeneration, and surgical procedures on cervical spine
      kinematics during three-dimensional dynamic functional loading.

PMID- 25814179
TI  - Predicted loading on the menisci during gait: The effect of horn laxity.
AB  - Radiographic measurements have established a link between meniscus extrusion and
      meniscus degeneration as well as with knee osteoarthritis. The presented work
      combines medical imaging with motion capture data from two healthy female
      subjects to create subject specific knee models that predict tibio-menisco
      femoral contact forces and ligament forces during muscle driven simulations of
      barefoot gait. The developed computational models were used to explore the
      relationship between the extent of meniscal extrusion and biomechanical function
      by altering the laxity of the meniscal horn attachments during gait. The
      extrusion distance increased as laxity increased and the amount of contact force
      transferred through the menisci during gait decreased rapidly as the meniscal
      attachments became more lax. Horn attachment lengths that were 20% longer than
      MRI attachment lengths resulted in an almost complete loss of force transfer
      through the menisci during the gait cycle. Relatively small changes (2-3mm) in
      the lengths at which horn bundles first become taut, manifested in large changes
      in the capacity of the tissue to transmit forces. As meniscal horn attachment
      laxity increased from 80% to 120% of the MRI measured horn distance, medial
      meniscus extrusion increased 3.9mm for the first subject and 2.7mm for the second
      subject. For the same horn laxity changes, the percent of medial tibiofemoral
      contact force transmitted through the medial meniscus during early stance
      decreased from 51% to 8% and from 36% to 14% for the two subjects. The results of
      our study show that increased meniscal extrusion occurs with increased laxity of
      the meniscal tibia attachments and this increased laxity results in loss of
      meniscal function.

PMID- 25814181
TI  - Tradeoffs between impact loading rate, vertical impulse and effective mass for
      walkers and heel strike runners wearing footwear of varying stiffness.
AB  - Humans experience repetitive impact forces beneath the heel during walking and
      heel strike running that cause impact peaks characterized by high rates and
      magnitudes of loading. Impact peaks are caused by the exchange of momentum
      between the ground and a portion of the body that comes to a full stop (the
      effective mass) during the period of the impact peak. A number of factors can
      influence this exchange of momentum, including footwear stiffness. This study
      presents and tests an impulse-momentum model of impact mechanics which predicts
      that effective mass and vertical impulse is greater in walkers and heel strike
      runners wearing less stiff footwear. The model also predicts a tradeoff between
      impact loading rate and effective mass, and between impact loading rate and
      vertical impulse among individuals wearing footwear of varying stiffness. We
      tested this model using 19 human subjects walking and running in minimal footwear
      and in two experimental footpads. Subjects walked and ran on an instrumented
      treadmill and 3D kinematic data were collected. As predicted, both vertical
      impulse (walking: F(2,54)=52.0, p=2.6E-13; running: F(2,54)=25.2, p=1.8E-8) and
      effective mass (walking: F(2,54)=12.1, p=4.6E-5; running: F(2,54)=15.5, p=4.7E-6)
      increase in less stiff footwear. In addition, there is a significant inverse
      relationship between impact loading rate and vertical impulse (walking: r=-0.88,
      p<0.0001; running: r=-0.78, p<0.0001) and between impact loading rate and
      effective mass (walking: r=-0.88, p<0.0001; running: r=-0.82, p<0.0001). The
      tradeoff relationships documented here raise questions about how and in what ways
      the stiffness of footwear heels influence injury risk during human walking and
      running. 

PMID- 25814182
TI  - Care Network for ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction: What Is the Ideal Catchment
      Area for Primary Angioplasty?

PMID- 25814184
TI  - Construction of amorphous TiO2/BiOBr heterojunctions via facets coupling for
      enhanced photocatalytic activity.
AB  - Facets coupled BiOBr with amorphous TiO2 composite photocatalysts are synthesized
      via an in situ direct growth approach under microwave irradiation. XRD, SEM and
      HRTEM characterizations indicate that the heterointerface between BiOBr and
      amorphous TiO2 occurs mainly on the {001} facets of BiOBr. BET and TEM verify
      that the heterojunctions possess higher specific surface areas and smaller
      amorphous TiO2 particle size than bare BiOBr and amorphous TiO2, exhibiting the
      inhibition function of BiOBr on the growth of TiO2 particles. XPS verifies the
      interaction between the two components. The degradation of methyl orange (MO) and
      phenol are used as the objective reaction to evaluate the photocatalytic activity
      of the as-prepared samples. The reaction rate constant of 15% TiO2/BiOBr
      composite is 3.4 times greater than that of pure BiOBr, which is attributed to
      its higher surface area, and efficient separation of photo-generated electron
      hole pairs between BiOBr and amorphous TiO2. 

PMID- 25814183
TI  - Quality of Vitamin K Antagonist Anticoagulation in Spain: Prevalence of Poor
      Control and Associated Factors.
AB  - INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: To study the prevalence of poorly controlled vitamin
      K antagonist anticoagulation in Spain in patients with nonvalvular atrial
      fibrillation, and to identify associated factors. METHODS: We studied 1056
      consecutive patients seen at 120 cardiology clinics in Spain between November
      2013 and March 2014. We analyzed the international normalized ratio from the 6
      months prior to the patient's visit, calculating the prevalence of poorly
      controlled anticoagulation, defined as < 65% time in therapeutic range using the
      Rosendaal method. RESULTS: Mean age was 73.6 years (standard deviation, 9.8
      years); women accounted for 42% of patients. The prevalence of poorly controlled
      anticoagulation was 47.3%. Mean time in therapeutic range was 63.8% (25.9%). The
      following factors were independently associated with poorly controlled
      anticoagulation: kidney disease (odds ratio = 1.53; 95% confidence interval, 1.08
      2.18; P = .018), routine nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (odds ratio = 1.79;
      95% confidence interval, 1.20-2.79; P = .004), antiplatelet therapy (odds ratio =
      2.16; 95% confidence interval, 1.49-3.12; P < .0001) and absence of angiotensin
      receptor blockers (odds ratio = 1.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-1.79; P =
      .011). CONCLUSIONS: There is a high prevalence of poorly controlled vitamin K
      antagonist anticoagulation in Spain. Factors associated with poor control are
      kidney disease, routine nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antiplatelet use,
      and absence of angiotensin receptor blockers.

PMID- 25814185
TI  - Investigation of disinfection byproducts formation in ferrate(VI) pre-oxidation
      of NOM and its model compounds followed by chlorination.
AB  - This study investigated the effect of disinfection by-products (DBPs) formation
      in pre-oxidation with ferrate(VI) (Fe(VI)O4(2-), Fe(VI)) and relationship between
      subsequent chlorination of Suwannee river natural organic matter (SRNOM) and
      eight model compounds containing moieties of alcohol, aldehyde, amines, amino
      acids, and phenol. The DBPs studied were trihalomethanes (THMs), chloral hydrate
      (CH), haloacetonitriles (HANs), and trichloronitromethane (TCNM). When the
      interaction of Fe(VI) and SRNOM was independently examined at pH 7.0, a decrease
      was seen in dissolved organic carbon and in the hydrophobic and hydrophilic
      fractions of NOM. With the model compounds, the results showed that Fe(VI) pre
      oxidation and subsequent chlorination decreased the formation of THMs with most
      of the compounds except amines and glycine. The effect of Fe(VI) preoxidation on
      CH and HANs formation from model compounds varied and was dependent on ferrate
      doses. Fe(VI) pre-oxidation significantly enhanced TCNM formation, compared to
      without pre-oxidation, from subsequent chlorination of methylamine, dimethylamine
      and glycine and the formation increased with increasing doses of ferrate.
      Correlations of DBPs formation between SRNOM and model compounds were sought to
      identify the moieties involved in influencing the formation of DBPs. The
      generation of DBPs is described using the parent molecules and the kinetics and
      reaction products of Fe(VI)/chlorine oxidation. 

PMID- 25814186
TI  - Effect of resveratrol on experimental non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
AB  - Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are
      increasing clinical problems for which effective treatments are required. The
      polyphenol resveratrol prevents the development of fatty liver disease in a
      number of experimental studies. We hypothesized that it could revert
      steatohepatitis, including hepatic inflammation and fibrosis, in an experimental
      NASH model. To induce hepatic steatohepatitis, a 65% fat, 2% cholesterol and 0.5%
      cholate (HFC) diet was fed to rats for 1 or 16 weeks, prior to treatment.
      Subsequently, the diet was supplemented with resveratrol (approx. 100mg/rat/day)
      to three intervention groups; week 2-4, 2-7 or 17-22. Treated animals were
      sacrificed at the end of each intervention period with appropriate control and
      HFC diet controls. Blood and liver were harvested for analysis. When commenced
      early, resveratrol treatment partially mitigated transaminase elevations, hepatic
      enlargement and TNFalpha induced protein-3 protein expression, but generally
      resveratrol treatment had no effect on elevated hepatic triglyceride levels,
      histological steatohepatitis or fibrosis. We observed a slight reduction in
      Collagen1alpha1 mRNA expression and no reduction in the mRNA expression of other
      markers of fibrosis, inflammation or steatosis (TGFbeta, TNFalpha, alpha2-MG, or
      SREBP-1c). Resveratrol metabolites were detected in serum, including trans
      resveratrol-3-O-sulphate/trans-resveratrol-4'-O-sulphate (mean concentration 7.9
      MUg/ml). Contrary to the findings in experimental steatosis, resveratrol
      treatment had no consistent therapeutic effect in alleviating manifest
      experimental steatohepatitis.

PMID- 25814187
TI  - Hepatic steatosis after islet transplantation: Can ultrasound predict the
      clinical outcome? A longitudinal study in 108 patients.
AB  - Percutaneous intra-portal islet transplantation (PIPIT) is a less invasive,
      safer, and repeatable therapeutic option for brittle type 1 diabetes, compared to
      surgical pancreas transplantation. Hepatic steatosis is a consequence of the
      islet engraftment but it is curiously present in a limited number of patients and
      its meaning is controversial. The aims of this study were to assess hepatic
      steatosis at ultrasound (US) after PIPIT investigating its relationship with
      graft function and its role in predicting the clinical outcome. From 1996 to
      2012, 108 patients underwent PIPIT: 83 type-1 diabetic patients underwent allo
      transplantation, 25 auto-transplantation. US was performed at baseline, 6, 12,
      and 24 months, recording steatosis prevalence, first detection, duration, and
      distribution. Contemporaneously, steatotic and non-steatotic patients were
      compared for the following parameters: infused islet mass, insulin independence
      rate, beta-score, C-peptide, glycated hemoglobin, exogenous insulin requirement,
      and fasting plasma glucose. Steatosis at US was detected in 21/108 patients,
      20/83 allo-transplanted and 1/25 auto-transplanted, mostly at 6 and 12 months.
      Infused islet mass was significantly higher in steatotic than non-steatotic
      patients (IE/kg: S=10.822; NS=6138; p=0.001). Metabolically, steatotic patients
      had worse basal conditions, but better islet function when steatosis was first
      detected, after which progressive islet exhaustion, along with steatosis
      disappearance, was observed. Conversely, in non-steatotic patients these
      parameters remained stable in time. Number of re-transplantations was
      significantly higher in steatotic than in non-steatotic patients (1.8 vs 1.1;
      p=0.001). Steatosis at US seems to be related to the islet mass and local
      overworking activity. It precedes metabolic alterations and can predict graft
      dysfunction addressing to therapeutic decisions before islet exhaustion. If
      steatosis does not appear, no conclusion can be drawn. 

PMID- 25814188
TI  - A tryptophanol-derived oxazolopiperidone lactam is cytotoxic against tumors via
      inhibition of p53 interaction with murine double minute proteins.
AB  - Inactivation of the p53 tumor suppressor protein by interaction with murine
      double minute (MDM) proteins, MDM2 and MDMX, is a common event in human tumors
      expressing wild-type p53. In these tumors, the simultaneous inhibition of these
      interactions with MDMs, for a full p53 reactivation, represents a promising
      anticancer strategy. Herein, we report the identification of a dual inhibitor of
      the p53 interaction with MDM2 and MDMX, the (S)-tryptophanol derivative OXAZ-1,
      from the screening of a small library of enantiopure tryptophanol-derived
      oxazolopiperidone lactams, using a yeast-based assay. With human colon
      adenocarcinoma HCT116 cell lines expressing wild-type p53 (HCT116 p53(+/+)) and
      its p53-null isogenic derivative (HCT116 p53(-/-)), it was shown that OXAZ-1
      induced a p53-dependent tumor growth-inhibitory effect. In fact, OXAZ-1 induced
      p53 stabilization, up-regulated p53 transcription targets, such as MDM2, MDMX,
      p21, Puma and Bax, and led to PARP cleavage, in p53(+/+), but not in p53(-/-),
      HCT116 cells. In addition, similar tumor cytotoxic effects were observed for OXAZ
      1 against MDMX-overexpressing breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 tumor cells, commonly
      described as highly resistant to MDM2-only inhibitors. In HCT116 p53(+/+) cells,
      the disruption of the p53 interaction with MDMs by OXAZ-1 was further confirmed
      by co-immunoprecipitation. It was also shown that OXAZ-1 potently triggered a p53
      dependent mitochondria-mediated apoptosis, characterized by reactive oxygen
      species generation, mitochondrial membrane potential dissipation, Bax
      translocation to mitochondria, and cytochrome c release, and exhibited a p53
      dependent synergistic effect with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs.
      Collectively, in this work, a novel selective activator of the p53 pathway is
      reported with promising antitumor properties to be explored either alone or
      combined with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs. Moreover, OXAZ-1 may represent
      a promising starting scaffold to search for new dual inhibitors of the p53-MDMs
      interaction. 

PMID- 25814190
TI  - Guillain-Barre syndrome associated with Mycobacterium bovis lymphadenitis.
AB  - Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an autoimmune disease that can be triggered by
      different infectious agents. Here we report the case of a 26-year-old Algerian
      woman who developed GBS associated with a Mycobacterium bovis cervical
      lymphadenitis. Following intravenous immunoglobulin therapy, the patient's
      neurologic state returned to normal after 3 months. The lymphadenitis responded
      more slowly to the antituberculous treatment and an excision of necrotic cervical
      lymph nodes had to be performed four times. Antibiotics were administered for 16
      months: ethambutol was stopped after 2 months, and rifampicin and isoniazid
      pursued for 14 months. An extensive etiological investigation showed that, in
      this case, the only likely infectious trigger GBS was the concomitant M. bovis
      infection. To our knowledge, this is the first report of GBS triggered by M.
      bovis. We performed a literature review revealing that the association between
      tuberculosis and Guillain-Barre syndrome is very rare (only seven cases
      previously reported) but is not coincidental. Physicians should be aware that
      tuberculosis can be a cause of GBS.

PMID- 25814191
TI  - Time orientation and eating behavior: Unhealthy eaters consider immediate
      consequences, while healthy eaters focus on future health.
AB  - Time orientation could play an important role in eating behavior. The current
      study investigated whether eating behavior is associated with the Consideration
      of Future Consequences scale (CFC). Specifically, it was examined whether
      unhealthy eaters consider the future less and are more concerned with immediate
      gratification. A related measure of time orientation is delay discounting, a
      process by which a reinforcer becomes less valuable when considered later in
      time. Recent research argues that the relation between time orientation and
      health behaviors is measured best at a behavior-specific level. In the current
      study, we explored the relationships between CFC and discount rate - both general
      and food-specific - and their influence on healthy eating. Participants with ages
      18 to 60 (N = 152; final sample N = 146) filled in an online questionnaire
      consisting of the CFC, a food-specific version of the CFC (CFC-food), the
      Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ) and an adapted MCQ version with snack food as
      a reinforcer. Self-reported healthy eating was positively related to the future
      subscale (r = .48, p < .001) and negatively to the immediate subscale of the CFC
      food (r = -.43, p < .001). The general CFC and discount rate (MCQ and MCQ-snack)
      were not related to healthy eating (all p > .05). In order to predict behavior,
      measurements of time orientation should thus be tailored to the behavior of
      interest. Based on current results, shifting one's concern from the immediate
      consequences of eating to a more future-oriented perspective may present an
      interesting target for future interventions aimed at promoting healthy eating and
      reducing overweight. 

PMID- 25814192
TI  - The association between diet quality and mental health during the perinatal
      period. A systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: While maternal nutrition during pregnancy is known to play a critical
      role in the health of both mother and offspring, the magnitude of this
      association has only recently been realized. Novel, epigenetic data suggest that
      maternal dietary intake has permanent phenotypic consequences for offspring,
      highlighting the potency of antenatal diet. To date, the relationship between
      poor antenatal diet and maternal mental health specifically, remains poorly
      understood. Therefore, we aimed to systematically review evidence that has
      examined associations between antenatal diet quality and the experience of
      depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms during the perinatal period. METHODS: A
      search for peer-reviewed papers was conducted using Medline Complete, PsycINFO,
      CINAHL, Academic Search Premiere and Psychology and Behavioral Science
      Collection. RESULTS: Nine studies (cohort = 4, cross-sectional = 5) published
      between 2005 and 2013 were eligible for inclusion in this review. A synthesis of
      findings revealed positive associations between poor quality and unhealthy diets
      and antenatal depressive and stress symptoms. Healthy diets were inversely
      associated with antenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms. Postnatal depressive
      symptoms demonstrated inconsistent results. CONCLUSIONS: Given the paucity of
      research examining diet quality and mental health in women during the perinatal
      period, further sufficiently powered studies are urgently required to examine
      this association.

PMID- 25814189
TI  - Re-engineering islet cell transplantation.
AB  - We are living exciting times in the field of beta cell replacement therapies for
      the treatment of diabetes. While steady progress has been recorded thus far in
      clinical islet transplantation, novel approaches are needed to make cell-based
      therapies more reproducible and leading to long-lasting success. The multiple
      facets of diabetes impose the need for a transdisciplinary approach to attain
      this goal, by targeting immunity, promoting engraftment and sustained functional
      potency. We discuss herein the emerging technologies applied to this rapidly
      evolving field. 

PMID- 25814193
TI  - The immediate effect of atlanto-axial high velocity thrust techniques on blood
      flow in the vertebral artery: A randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: High velocity thrust (HVT) cervical techniques have been associated
      with serious vertebral artery (VA) trauma. Despite numerous studies, the nature
      of this association is uncertain. Previous studies have failed to demonstrate
      haemodynamic effects on the VA in simulated pre-thrust positions. No study has
      investigated haemodynamic affects during or immediately following HVT, nor
      sufficiently controlled for the influence of the thrust. OBJECTIVES: To
      investigate the immediate effects of HVT of the atlanto-axial joint upon
      haemodynamics in the sub-occipital portion of the vertebral artery (VA3). DESIGN:
      Randomized Controlled Trial. METHOD: Twenty-three healthy participants (14 women,
      9 men; mean age 40, range 27-69 years of age) were randomly assigned to two
      groups: an intervention group (MANIP, n = 11) received HVT to the atlanto-axial
      segment whilst a control group (CG, n = 12) was held in the pre-manipulative hold
      position. Colour-flow Doppler ultrasound was used to measure VA3 haemodynamics.
      Primary outcome measures were peak systolic (PSV) and end diastolic velocities
      (EDV) of three cardiac cycles measured at neutral (N1), pre-HVT (PreMH), post-HVT
      (PostMH), post-HVT-neutral (N2) positions. RESULTS: Test-retest reliability for
      the Doppler measures demonstrated intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) of
      0.99 (95% CI 0.98-1.0) for PSV and 0.91 (95% CI 0.84-0.96) for EDV. Visually, EDV
      were lower in the MANIP group than in the CONTROL group across the four
      measurements. However, there were no significantly different changes (at p <=
      0.01) between the MANIP and CONTROL groups for any measurement variable.
      CONCLUSIONS: HVT to the atlanto-axial joint segment does not affect the
      haemodynamics of the sub-occipital portion of the vertebral artery during or
      immediately following HVT in healthy subjects.

PMID- 25814195
TI  - Blood and Hair Mercury Concentrations in the Pacific Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina
      richardii) Pup: Associations with Neurodevelopmental Outcomes.
AB  - Monomethylmercury (MeHg(+)) is an environmental pollutant, which at sufficiently
      high exposures, has induced neurotoxicosis in several animal species, including
      humans. Adverse neurological effects due to gestational exposure are of
      particular concern as MeHg(+) readily crosses the blood-brain and placental
      barriers. The degree to which environmental concentrations in marine prey affect
      free-living piscivorous wildlife, however, remains largely undetermined. We
      examined associations of gestational exposures to mercury on neurodevelopment and
      survival using hair and blood concentrations of total mercury ([THg]) in a
      stranded population of Pacific harbor seal pups from central California. A
      positive association was determined for the presence of abnormal neurological
      symptoms and increasing [THg] in blood (P = 0.04), but not hair. Neither hair nor
      blood [THg] was significantly associated with survival, or the neurodevelopmental
      milestone 'free-feeding', which was measured from the onset of hand-assisted
      feeding to the time at which pups were able to consume fish independently. Both
      hair and blood [THg] exceeded threshold values considered potentially toxic to
      humans and other mammalian wildlife species. The higher [THg] in blood associated
      with abnormal neurological symptoms may indicate an adverse effect of this
      pollutant on neurodevelopment in harbor seal pups. These data have broader
      implications with respect to human health and public policy as harbor seals and
      humans consume similar fish species, and it is possible that safeguard levels
      established for marine mammals could also extend to human populations that
      regularly consume fish.

PMID- 25814194
TI  - PICan: An integromics framework for dynamic cancer biomarker discovery.
AB  - Modern cancer research on prognostic and predictive biomarkers demands the
      integration of established and emerging high-throughput technologies. However,
      these data are meaningless unless carefully integrated with patient clinical
      outcome and epidemiological information. Integrated datasets hold the key to
      discovering new biomarkers and therapeutic targets in cancer. We have developed a
      novel approach and set of methods for integrating and interrogating phenomic,
      genomic and clinical data sets to facilitate cancer biomarker discovery and
      patient stratification. Applied to a known paradigm, the biological and clinical
      relevance of TP53, PICan was able to recapitulate the known biomarker status and
      prognostic significance at a DNA, RNA and protein levels. 

PMID- 25814196
TI  - Warthin's tumour: Aetiopathogenesis dilemma, ten years of our experience.
AB  - Despite the volume of studies written after the initial report by Hildebrand
      (1895) on Warthin's tumour (WT), its aetiopathogenesis continues to be an
      unresolved and controversial question. Many different genetic and/or
      environmental aetiological factors seem to act on heterotopic ductal inclusions
      and may give rise to WT following an unknown tumorigenic event. Recent studies
      discussed the importance of immunological reactions during the formation of the
      tumour. A hypersensitive/allergic reaction may play a role in epithelial
      proliferation and may stimulate the reactivity of the germinal centres in the
      lymphoid stroma as showed at histological examination. The aim of this study was
      to inform readers of the current understanding of possible risk factors with a
      suggested aetiological role in Warthin's tumorigenesis. From 2001 to 2011, a
      total of 342 patients with benign salivary neoplasm were admitted in the
      Department of Maxillofacial Surgery of the University of Naples "Federico II". A
      histological diagnosis of WT was made in 115 of the patients (33.6%); these were
      retrospectively investigated in our study. Correlation between the onset of WT
      and positivity for autoimmune diseases and smoking habits was calculated. The
      incidence rate of autoimmune thyroiditis in our series (9.5%) was significantly
      greater than that of the general population (0.58%) (p < 0.001). Analysis of our
      series and review of the literature support the hypothesis that this tumour is
      the result of an autoimmune reaction. Further studies and larger series are
      required to confirm this hypothesis and investigate the role of other
      aetiological factors in WT genesis. 

PMID- 25814198
TI  - Computed tomography angiography and magnetic resonance angiography imaging of the
      mesenteric vasculature.
AB  - Computed tomography angiography (CTA) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA)
      are highly accurate cross-sectional vascular imaging modalities that have almost
      completely replaced diagnostic catheter angiography for the evaluation of the
      mesenteric vasculature. CTA is the technique of choice when evaluating patients
      with suspected mesenteric ischemia; it permits to differentiate between occlusive
      and nonocclusive etiologies, to evaluate indirect signs of bowel ischemia, and in
      some instances, to provide alternative diagnoses. MRA has the advantage of not
      using ionizing radiation and iodinated contrast agents and can be appropriate in
      the nonacute setting. Both CTA and MRA are suitable for the assessment of
      patients with suspected chronic mesenteric ischemia, allowing to evaluate the
      degree of atherosclerotic steno-occlusive disease and the existence of collateral
      circulation, as well as other nonatherosclerotic vascular pathologies such as
      fibromuscular dysplasia and median arcuate ligament syndrome. CTA provides
      excellent depiction of visceral aneurysms and has an important role to plan
      therapy for both occlusive and aneurysmal diseases and in the follow-up of
      patients after open or endovascular mesenteric revascularization procedures. This
      article provides an introduction to the CTA and MRA imaging protocol to study the
      mesenteric vasculature, the imaging findings in patients presenting with acute
      and chronic mesenteric ischemia and visceral aneurysms, and the value of these
      imaging techniques for therapy planning and follow-up. 

PMID- 25814199
TI  - Endovascular management of visceral arterial aneurysms.
AB  - Visceral artery aneurysms are rare entities involving the celiac, superior
      mesenteric or inferior mesenteric arteries and their branches. While the natural
      history of these aneurysms is not well known as many are found incidentally, a
      definite risk of rupture and subsequent mortality has been demonstrated. There
      are several endovascular methods that an operator may choose to treat visceral
      artery aneurysms, and selection of the appropriate technique depends on the type
      and size of aneurysm and the anatomy of the affected artery. It is the aim of
      this paper to describe the indications, technical considerations and endovascular
      methods of treatment of visceral artery aneurysms and pseudoaneurysms. The
      following techniques of angiographic intervention are presented and discussed:
      isolation, covered stents, coil packing, liquid embolic agents and percutaneous
      thrombin injection. Where appropriate, individual aneurysm and artery specific
      treatment considerations are emphasized. To guide and assist practice, a
      suggested treatment algorithm is presented. 

PMID- 25814200
TI  - Acute mesenteric ischemia.
AB  - Acute mesenteric ischemia is a life-threatening condition that occurs when an
      abrupt decrease in blood flow results in inadequate supply to the intestines,
      leading to bowel infarction. Etiologies may include arterial embolus, arterial or
      venous thrombosis, and nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia. Other causes include
      vasculitis, traumatic injury, dissection of the aorta, cholesterol emboli, and
      intestinal obstruction. Mortality rates can approach 90% in the setting of bowel
      infarction. As such, it is important to establish an early diagnosis before the
      onset of bowel infarction. Treatment has traditionally involved surgical
      management. However, endovascular approaches have been increasingly reported in
      multiple case series describing success with initial endovascular therapy
      followed by open surgical intervention in some cases. Acuity of presentation,
      presence of bowel infarction, etiology of the ischemia, and risk factors may
      influence a planned treatment approach. The key to successful treatment of acute
      mesenteric ischemia involves early clinical recognition based on a detailed
      history and physical examination along with assessment of contributory risk
      factors, rapid acquisition of appropriate diagnostics to confirm a diagnosis, and
      early intervention to correct the underlying abnormality. 

PMID- 25814202
TI  - Managing mesenteric vasculitis.
AB  - Mesenteric vasculitis is a rare diagnosis, but it comprises a group of disorders
      that may have devastating manifestations. It is often difficult to diagnose using
      clinical symptoms and biomarkers. Vascular imaging often provides the best
      opportunity for the noninvasive diagnosis of vasculitis and obviates the need for
      performing a biopsy. The medical management of vasculitis involves controlling
      the inflammatory process with the use of steroids or other immunosuppressants,
      but medical therapy does not consistently provide regression of the vascular
      changes (ie, aneurysms or vascular occlusions) seen at the time of the initial
      diagnosis. Operative management remains the mainstay of therapy for focal
      occlusive or aneurysms, but the treatment options for multifocal disease remain
      challenging. Endovascular treatment is increasingly being used as a first line of
      treatment for symptomatic vasculitis. Interventionalists should be familiar with
      the indications and outcomes associated with the various therapeutic options for
      mesenteric vasculitis-associated occlusive disease and aneurysms. 

PMID- 25814203
TI  - Median arcuate ligament compression of the mesenteric vasculature.
AB  - Compression of the celiac artery by fibrous bands of the diaphragmatic crura has
      been associated with gastrointestinal symptoms such as postprandial pain and
      delayed gastric emptying, a phenomenon known as median arcuate ligament syndrome.
      The hemodynamic effects of this compression have also been implicated in the
      development of aneurysms of the celiac artery or its visceral collaterals. Both
      open surgical decompression and laparoscopic decompression of the celiac artery
      have proven effective in the treatment of the compressive syndrome. Endovascular
      stent placement has largely supplanted open surgical reconstruction for residual
      stenosis following surgical decompression but is not recommended as the sole
      treatment modality due to high failure rates. Endovascular techniques have also
      become the mainstay of management of aneurysmal disease associated with celiac
      artery compression. 

PMID- 25814201
TI  - Chronic mesenteric ischemia.
AB  - Endovascular management and treatment of chronic mesenteric ischemia has taken on
      an increasing role in recent years. The safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness
      have been validated in several studies. The procedure is best performed by an
      operator with a complete understanding of the pertinent imaging findings; a
      thorough knowledge of the risks, benefits, limitations, and technical challenges
      of the procedure; and understanding of the importance and necessity of long-term
      clinical management. This article outlines a general approach to endovascular
      management of chronic mesenteric ischemia and discusses indications, potential
      complications, and technical aspects of the procedure. 

PMID- 25814204
TI  - Isolated stenosis of the inferior mesenteric artery: to treat or not to treat?
AB  - The indication for treatment of inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) is generally not
      clear. The IMA is frequently ignored owing to its size and the presence of
      alternate pathways within the mesenteric vasculature. However, IMA treatment may
      be indicated in certain clinical scenarios. In this article, we focus on the
      indications for IMA treatment and technical considerations when treatment is
      indicated. 

PMID- 25814206
TI  - The effect of graded glass-zirconia structure on the bond between core and veneer
      in layered zirconia restorations.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that a graded glass
      zirconia structure can strengthen the core-veneer bond in layered zirconia
      materials. METHODS: A graded glass-zirconia structure was fabricated by
      infiltrating glass compositions developed in our laboratory into a presintered
      yttria tetrahedral zirconia polycrystal (Y-TZP) substrate by the action of
      capillary forces. The wettability of the infiltrated glass and Y-TZP substrate
      was investigated by the sessile drop technique. The microstructures of the graded
      glass-zirconia structure were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The
      phase structure characterization in the graded glass-zirconia structure were
      identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The elastic modulus and hardness
      of the graded glass-zirconia structure were evaluated from nanoindentations.
      Further, the shear bond strength (SBS) of the graded glass-zirconia structure and
      veneering porcelain was also evaluated. RESULTS: SEM images confirmed the
      formation of the graded glass-zirconia structure. Glass frits wet the Y-TZP
      substrate at 1200  degrees C with a contact angle of 43.2 degrees . Only a small
      amount of t-m transformation was observed in as-infiltrated Y-TZP specimens.
      Nanoindentation studies of the glass-zirconia graded structure showed that the
      elastic modulus and hardness of the surface glass layer were higher than those of
      the dense Y-TZP layer. The mean SBS values for the graded glass-zirconia
      structure and veneering porcelain (24.35 +/- 0.40 MPa) were statistically higher
      than those of zirconia and veneering porcelain (9.22 +/- 0.20 MPa) (P<0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: A graded glass-zirconia structure can be fabricated by the glass
      infiltration/densification technique, and this structure exhibits a strong core
      veneer bond.

PMID- 25814205
TI  - Predictors of caregiving satisfaction in informal caregivers of people with
      dementia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of dementia is increasing and consequently the demands
      from families, institutions and healthcare system. Although a substantial amount
      of research on caregiving has emphasized the negative aspects of caregiving,
      specifically on caregiver burden and depression, less attention has been paid to
      the positive aspects of caregiving. The aim of the present work was to study the
      phenomenon of caregiving satisfaction in informal caregivers of people with
      dementia by assessing their likely predictors. METHODS: A stress process model
      was used to study caregiver's satisfaction (measured using the Revised Caregiving
      Satisfaction Scale) on 101 informal caregivers of patients with dementia in
      relation to the caregiver's background and context, stress-related factors, and
      mediators. RESULTS: The regression model has an adjusted R(2) of 0.20, which
      indicates that having a consanguinity relationship with the care recipient,
      suffering from lower levels of subjective burden, and managing individuals with
      severe cognitive impairment are the most important predictors of higher
      caregiving satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Interventions focused on the enhancement of
      the caregiving satisfaction by increasing the understanding of the disease,
      should be especially addressed to caregivers without a consanguinity relationship
      and with high levels of subjective burden, and to those managing care recipients
      with mild or moderate stages of dementia.

PMID- 25814207
TI  - A Darwinian approach to the origin of life cycles with group properties.
AB  - A selective explanation for the evolution of multicellular organisms from
      unicellular ones requires knowledge of both selective pressures and factors
      affecting the response to selection. Understanding the response to selection is
      particularly challenging in the case of evolutionary transitions in
      individuality, because these transitions involve a shift in the very units of
      selection. We develop a conceptual framework in which three fundamental processes
      (growth, division, and splitting) are the scaffold for unicellular and
      multicellular life cycles alike. We (i) enumerate the possible ways in which
      these processes can be linked to create more complex life cycles, (ii) introduce
      three genes based on growth, division and splitting that, acting in concert,
      determine the architecture of the life cycles, and finally, (iii) study the
      evolution of the simplest five life cycles using a heuristic model of coupled
      ordinary differential equations in which mutations are allowed in the three
      genes. We demonstrate how changes in the regulation of three fundamental aspects
      of colonial form (cell size, colony size, and colony cell number) could lead
      unicellular life cycles to evolve into primitive multicellular life cycles with
      group properties. One interesting prediction of the model is that selection
      generally favors cycles with group level properties when intermediate body size
      is associated with lowest mortality. That is, a universal requirement for the
      evolution of group cycles in the model is that the size-mortality curve be U
      shaped. Furthermore, growth must decelerate with size. 

PMID- 25814208
TI  - Renal function in adult women with urinary tract infection in childhood.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The risk of deterioration of renal function in patients with urinary
      tract infection (UTI)-associated renal damage over several decades is
      incompletely known but of importance in regard to follow-up. METHODS: A
      population-based cohort of women followed from their first UTI in childhood was
      studied at median age of 27 years and now at 41 years. Renal damage was evaluated
      by (99m)Tc-dimercaptosuccinic acid scan and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) by
      (51)Cr-edetic acid clearance. Extent of individual kidney damage was graded as
      class 1 to 3. RESULTS: Eighty-six women completed the investigation, 58 with
      renal damage, and 28 without. Of those with damage, one had chronic kidney
      disease (CKD) stage 3, 14 stage 2, and 43 stage 1. Women with bilateral damage
      had lower GFR than those with no or unilateral damage (p < 0.0001). Women with
      class 3 damage had numerically but not significantly lower GFR than the others
      with damage (p = 0.07). Between the two studies there was significant decrease of
      GFR in the group with bilateral damage (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Women with UTI
      associated renal damage had remarkably well preserved renal function, but those
      with bilateral or severe individual kidney damage may be considered for regular
      monitoring of GFR and blood pressure.

PMID- 25814209
TI  - Reply: Is the electrocardiogram different in recurrent episodes of Takotsubo
      syndrome involving 2 different left ventricular territories in the same patient?

PMID- 25814210
TI  - Normal blood catecholamines, recurrent ventricular fibrillation, and "ventricular
      scar", in a patient with Takotsubo syndrome.

PMID- 25814211
TI  - 3-D assessment of infective endocarditis with anterior mitral valve perforation
      and flail posterior leaflet.

PMID- 25814212
TI  - Increased prothrombotic profile in the left atrial appendage of atrial
      fibrillation patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with an increased risk for
      thromboembolic events. While observational data demonstrated that the majority of
      clots are formed within the left atrial appendage, the mechanisms behind this
      finding remain unclear also due to the fact that vitro studies so far have been
      hampered by the inability to isolate and culture cells from the atrial
      appendages. METHODS: Patients suffering from AF undergoing cardiac surgery were
      recruited for this study and endocardial cells from their left (LAA) and right
      atrial appendage (RAA) were isolated and cultured according to a novel
      established protocol. Once in culture, cells were stimulated with TNF-alpha (10
      ng/mL) and the expression of prothrombotic as well as proinflammatory markers was
      analyzed. RESULTS: FACS analysis confirmed a high purity (98%) of isolated LAA
      endocardial cells. TNF-alpha significantly increased tissue factor (TF) and PAI-1
      expression (n=5; P<0.005), while TFPI remained unchanged. Similarly, expression
      of VCAM-1 was significantly higher in the LAA as compared to the RAA (n=5;
      P<0.0001). CONCLUSION: According to our newly established cell isolation
      protocol, this study reveals that in patients with AF, the endocardium of the LAA
      displays an increased prothrombotic and proinflammatory profile as compared to
      the RAA. This novel observation may constitute an important mechanism to explain
      the increased propensity of the LAA for clot formation, as well as the
      predominance of LAA-related thromboembolic complications in AF patients, and may
      have important implications for the development of novel treatment strategies.

PMID- 25814213
TI  - 17-year trends in incidence and prognosis of cardiogenic shock in patients with
      acute myocardial infarction in western Sweden.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiogenic shock remains the leading cause of in hospital death in
      acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and is associated with a mortality rate of
      approximately 50%. Here we investigated the 17-year trends in incidence and
      prognosis of AMI-induced cardiogenic shock in Vastra Gotaland in western Sweden,
      an area with approximately 1.6 million inhabitants. The study period includes the
      transition from thrombolysis to primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)
      as the region-wide therapy of choice for patients with ST-elevation myocardial
      infarction (STEMI). METHODS: Data on patients hospitalized in cardiac care units
      in Vastra Gotaland, Sweden between 1995 and 2013 were obtained from the Swedish
      Websystem for Enhancement of Evidence-based Care in Heart Disease Evaluated
      According to Recommended Therapies (SWEDEHEART). We determined the incidence of
      cardiogenic shock among patients diagnosed with AMI and the risk of death
      associated with developing cardiogenic shock. We fitted logistic regression
      models to study which factors predicted post-AMI cardiogenic shock. Analyses were
      performed on complete case data as well as after multiple imputation of missing
      data. RESULTS: Incidence of cardiogenic shock as a complication of AMI declined
      in western Sweden in the past decade, from 14% in 1995 to 4% in 2012. The risk of
      dying once cardiogenic shock had developed increased during the study period
      (p<0.01). Patients presenting with STEMI were more likely to develop cardiogenic
      shock than patients presenting with non STEMI (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The
      incidence of cardiogenic shock has declined but cardiogenic shock carries a worse
      prognosis today than in 1995.

PMID- 25814214
TI  - Evaluation of tissue accumulation levels of advanced glycation end products by
      skin autofluorescence: A novel marker of vascular complications in high-risk
      patients for cardiovascular disease.
AB  - A non-enzymatic reaction between reducing sugars and the amino groups of
      proteins, lipids and nucleic acids is known as the "Maillard reaction". The
      reactions have progressed in a normal aging process and at an accelerated rate
      under hyperglycemic, inflammatory, and/or oxidative stress conditions, thus
      leading to the formation and accumulation of advanced glycation end products
      (AGEs). Cross-linking modification of organic matrix proteins such as collagen by
      AGEs not only leads to an increase in vascular and myocardial stiffness, but also
      deteriorates structural integrity and physiological function of multiple organ
      systems. Furthermore, there is a growing body of evidence that interaction of
      AGEs with a cell surface receptor RAGE elicits oxidative stress generation and
      subsequently evokes inflammatory, thrombogenic and fibrotic reactions, thereby
      being involved in the development and progression of various age- or diabetes
      related disorders, including cardiovascular disease (CVD), Alzheimer's disease,
      osteoporosis, cancer growth and metastasis. Skin AGE levels measured in biopsy
      specimens are associated with the development and progression of diabetic
      microangiopathy. Recently, accumulation levels of AGEs in the skin can be
      measured non-invasively by autofluorescence. Accumulating evidence has suggested
      that skin autofluorescence (SAF) is correlated with the presence and severity of
      vascular complications of diabetes and could predict future cardiovascular events
      and death in patients with diabetes. This review summarizes the
      pathophysiological role of tissue accumulation levels of AGEs in vascular damage
      in high-risk patients, especially focusing on the association between SAF and
      cardiorenal disorder. 

PMID- 25814216
TI  - A phase I trial of intravenous catumaxomab: a bispecific monoclonal antibody
      targeting EpCAM and the T cell coreceptor CD3.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the safety and determine the
      maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of intravenous catumaxomab, a trifunctional
      bispecific antibody that binds to EpCAM on epithelial cancer cells and CD3 on T
      cells. METHODS: The trial was a dose-escalation study with a 3 + 3 design in
      epithelial cancers with known EpCAM expression. The dose-limiting toxicity (DLT)
      period consisted of 4 weeks, with weekly intravenous administration of
      catumaxomab. Key DLTs were >=grade 3 optimally treated non-hematological
      toxicity; >=grade 3 infusion-related reactions refractory to supportive care;
      >=grade 3 increase in liver enzymes and/or bilirubin not resolving to grade 2.
      RESULTS: Sixteen patients were enrolled receiving doses of 2 (n = 5), 4 (n = 3),
      7 (n = 7) and 10 ug catumaxomab (n = 1). The most common treatment-emergent
      adverse events (TEAEs) were chills (93.8 %) and pyrexia (87.5 %). The most common
      TEAE of grade >=3 was transient dose-dependent increases in aspartate
      aminotransferase (56.3 %). The intensity of toxicities decreased with the number
      of infusions. Also, serum IL-6 increased in a dose-dependent manner and reverted
      to low or undetectable levels after four infusions. A reversible decrease in
      liver function test (prothrombin time) at the 7-ug dose level was considered a
      DLT. The first patient at 10 ug experienced a fatal hepatic failure related to
      catumaxomab that led to the termination of the study. CONCLUSIONS: The MTD of
      weekly intravenous catumaxomab was 7 ug. Major toxicities were cytokine release
      related symptoms and hepatotoxicity.

PMID- 25814217
TI  - Protective effects of C-type natriuretic peptide on cisplatin-induced
      nephrotoxicity in mice.
AB  - PURPOSE: Cisplatin is a highly effective chemotherapeutic agent used to treat
      various malignancies, but its utility is compromised by its nephrotoxicity. C
      type natriuretic peptide (CNP), a member of the natriuretic peptide family,
      exhibits anti-inflammatory effects by activating its specific receptor, guanylyl
      cyclase (GC)-B. CNP and GC-B receptor are known to be expressed in both the
      vascular endothelium and the kidney. The objective of this study was to
      investigate the renoprotective effects of CNP in a mouse model of cisplatin
      induced nephrotoxicity. METHODS: C57BL/6 mice were divided into three groups:
      normal control mice; cisplatin (20 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) mice treated with
      vehicle; and cisplatin mice treated with CNP (2.5 ug/kg/min, subcutaneous). At 72
      h after cisplatin injection, urine, blood and kidney samples were collected.
      Urine and blood samples were examined biochemically. Histological findings and
      gene expression in kidney tissue were evaluated. RESULTS: CNP reduced
      histological renal tubular damage and apoptosis induced by cisplatin and
      suppressed plasma blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels, which were elevated
      by cisplatin administration. CNP treatment decreased the expression of kidney
      injury molecule-1 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, which were elevated in
      the kidney by cisplatin administration. CNP treatment attenuated the decrease in
      GC-B expression in cisplatin-induced kidney injury. CONCLUSIONS: The present
      study is the first to show that CNP inhibits nephrotoxicity and kidney cell
      damage induced by cisplatin. The mechanism of action may involve down-regulation
      of inflammatory cytokine expression in cisplatin-induced kidney injury and
      attenuation of apoptosis in renal tubular cells.

PMID- 25814218
TI  - Influence of cardiac stress protocol on myocardial perfusion imaging accuracy:
      The role of exercise level on the evaluation of ischemic burden.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Some specifics of cardiac stress protocols, i.e., stressor used or
      exercise level achieved, may impact myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) accuracy.
      METHODS: Four-hundred and seventy-five patients were submitted to MPI and
      coronary angiography. MPI was performed after exercise (303 patients) or
      dipyridamole stress (172 patients). A coronary stenosis >=70% was considered
      significant. In case of exercise test, a peak heart rate (HR) <85% of the maximal
      age predicted was considered submaximal and categorized as follows: >75% and <85%
      ("Group 1"); <75% ("Group 2"). RESULTS: At coronary angiography, 312/475 (66%)
      patients showed significant stenosis. In the overall population, MPI showed a
      high accuracy in unmasking significant coronary stenosis, independently of the
      stress protocol adopted (AUC .76 for exercise vs .78 for vasodilator; P = NS).
      However, in case of an exercise stress test, a significant interaction between
      peak %HR and MPI diagnostic power was evident. While an elevated accuracy was
      still maintained in "Group 1" patients (AUC .79; P vs maximal exercise = NS), a
      significant drop was demonstrated in "Group 2" patients (AUC .66; P vs maximal
      exercise = .012, and P vs "Group 1" = .042). CONCLUSIONS: The accuracy of MPI is
      not influenced by the stress protocol adopted. Exercise MPI maintains an elevated
      accuracy as long as the %HR remains >75%.

PMID- 25814219
TI  - Beyond ischemia evaluation: The potential for assessing and addressing physical
      inactivity in the cardiac stress laboratory.

PMID- 25814220
TI  - The next generation of prognostic series: Where we can improve on risk
      stratification?

PMID- 25814221
TI  - Erratum to: Increased Regional Epicardial Fat Volume Associated with Reversible
      Myocardial Ischemia in Patient's with Suspected Coronary Artery Disease.

PMID- 25814222
TI  - Intense moving intestinal activity as a source of artifact on myocardial
      perfusion SPECT study.

PMID- 25814223
TI  - Hospital length of stay and clinical outcomes in older STEMI patients after
      primary PCI: a report from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There has been a decline in hospital length of stay (LOS) after
      primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) for ST-segment elevation
      myocardial infarction (STEMI). OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to
      examine whether shorter LOS is safe for older patients undergoing PPCI for STEMI.
      METHODS: The study analyzed patients' characteristics and 30-day outcomes by LOS
      (short, <=3 days; medium, 4 to 5 days; long >5 days; where LOS was the discharge
      date minus the admission date plus 1) among 33,920 patients with STEMI in the
      linked CathPCI Registry-Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services dataset who were
      >=65 years of age and treated with PPCI from 2004 to 2009. RESULTS: Percents of
      patients in each category were as follows: 26.9%, 46.3%, and 26.8% for short,
      medium, and long LOS, respectively. Patients with a long LOS were generally
      older, female, and had more comorbidities, including cardiogenic shock and
      multivessel disease. Patients with a short LOS generally had higher ejection
      fraction and single-vessel disease. There was no significant difference in 30-day
      all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.00; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.74
      to 1.34) or major adverse cardiac events (MACE) (death, readmission for
      myocardial infarction, unplanned revascularization: HR: 1.03; 95% CI: 0.86 to
      1.25) for medium versus short LOS. There was a significant increase in adjusted
      mortality (HR: 2.30; 95% CI: 1.72 to 3.07) and MACE (HR: 1.75; 95% CI: 1.44 to
      2.12) for long versus short LOS. Patients with a very short LOS (1 to 2 days) had
      significantly increased 30-day mortality and MACE compared with a 3- to 4-day
      LOS. CONCLUSIONS: Patients discharged as early as 48 h after PPCI have outcomes
      similar to patients who stay in the hospital for 4 to 5 days. Early, but not very
      early (<48 h), discharge may be safe among selected older patients with STEMI.

PMID- 25814224
TI  - Balloon-to-door time: emerging evidence for shortening hospital stay after
      primary PCI for STEMI.

PMID- 25814226
TI  - At its heart, homeostasis is about T cells.

PMID- 25814225
TI  - Increased PTPN22 expression and defective CREB activation impair regulatory T
      cell differentiation in non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Critical impairment of adaptive immune response has been observed in
      patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) with reduced expansion of regulatory
      T cells (Treg) and enhanced effector T-cell responsiveness, both associated with
      poorer outcomes. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the mechanisms underlying T
      cell dysregulation in ACS. METHODS: We evaluated both early and downstream T-cell
      receptor activation pathways after ex vivo stimulation with anti-CD3 and anti
      CD28 crosslink in CD4(+) T cells from 20 patients with non-ST-segment elevation
      myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), 20 with stable angina (SA), and 20 controls. We
      reassessed 10 NSTEMI and 10 SA patients after 1 year. RESULTS: Phospho-flow
      analysis revealed reduced phosphorylation of the zeta-chain-associated protein
      kinase of 70 kDa at the inhibitory residue tyrosine 292, enhancing T-cell
      activation, in NSTEMI helper T cells versus SA and controls (each, p < 0.001),
      resulting from increased expression of the protein tyrosine phosphatase,
      nonreceptor type, 22 (PTPN22) (p < 0.001 for both comparisons), persisting at
      follow-up. We also observed reduced phosphorylation (p < 0.001 versus controls)
      and lower levels of binding to interleukins 2 and 10 core promoter regions of the
      transcription factor cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element-binding
      protein (CREB) in NSTEMI (p < 0.05 vs. controls), which recovered at 1 year.
      Finally, in NSTEMI patients, helper T cells had a reduced ability in T-cell
      receptor-induced Treg generation (p = 0.002 vs. SA; p = 0.001 vs. controls),
      partially recovered at 1 year. Restoring CREB activity and silencing PTPN22
      enhanced NSTEMI patients' ability to generate Treg. CONCLUSIONS: The persistent
      overexpression of PTPN22 and the transient reduction of CREB activity, associated
      with impaired Treg differentiation, might play a role in ACS.

PMID- 25814228
TI  - Entangled in a heart-ailing quandary: could modified cofilin-2 be a culprit of
      Alzheimer's disease of the heart?

PMID- 25814227
TI  - Cofilin-2 phosphorylation and sequestration in myocardial aggregates: novel
      pathogenetic mechanisms for idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recently, tangles and plaque-like aggregates have been identified in
      certain cases of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), traditionally labeled idiopathic
      (iDCM), where there is no specific diagnostic test or targeted therapy. This
      suggests a potential underlying cause for some of the iDCM cases. [Corrected]
      OBJECTIVES: This study sought to identify the make-up of myocardial aggregates to
      understand the molecular mechanisms of these cases of DCM; this strategy has been
      central to understanding Alzheimer's disease. METHODS: Aggregates were extracted
      from human iDCM samples with high congophilic reactivity (an indication of plaque
      presence), and the findings were validated in a larger cohort of samples. We
      tested the expression, distribution, and activity of cofilin in human tissue and
      generated a cardiac-specific knockout mouse model to investigate the functional
      impact of the human findings. We also modeled cofilin inactivity in vitro by
      using pharmacological and genetic gain- and loss-of-function approaches. RESULTS:
      Aggregates in human myocardium were enriched for cofilin-2, an actin
      depolymerizing protein known to participate in neurodegenerative diseases and
      nemaline myopathy. Cofilin-2 was predominantly phosphorylated, rendering it
      inactive. Cardiac-specific haploinsufficiency of cofilin-2 in mice recapitulated
      the human disease's morphological, functional, and structural phenotype.
      Pharmacological stimulation of cofilin-2 phosphorylation and genetic
      overexpression of the phosphomimetic protein promoted the accumulation of "stress
      like" fibers and severely impaired cardiomyocyte contractility. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      study provides the first biochemical characterization of prefibrillar myocardial
      aggregates in humans and the first report to link cofilin-2 to cardiomyopathy.
      The findings suggest a common pathogenetic mechanism connecting certain iDCMs and
      other chronic degenerative diseases, laying the groundwork for new therapeutic
      strategies.

PMID- 25814229
TI  - The cardiovascular in-training examination: development, implementation, results,
      and future directions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The American College of Cardiology (ACC), in collaboration with the
      National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), developed the first standardized in
      training examination (ITE) for cardiovascular disease fellows-in-training (FITs).
      In addition to testing knowledge, this examination uses the newly developed ACC
      Curricular Milestones to provide specific, competency-based feedback to program
      directors and FITs. The ACC ITE has been administered more than 5,000 times since
      2011. OBJECTIVES: This analysis sought to report the initial experience with the
      ITE, including feasibility and reliability of test development and
      implementation, as well as the ability of this process to provide useful feedback
      in key content areas. METHODS: The annual ACC ITE has been available to
      cardiovascular disease fellowship programs in the United States since 2011.
      Questions for this Web-based, secure, multiple-choice examination were developed
      by a group of cardiovascular disease specialists and each question was analyzed
      by the NBME to ensure quality. Scores were equated and standardized to allow for
      comparability. Trainees and program directors were provided detailed feedback,
      including a list of the curricular competencies tested by those questions
      answered incorrectly. RESULTS: The ITE was administered 5,118 times. In 2013, the
      examination was taken by 1,969 fellows, representing 194 training programs. Among
      the 3 training years, there was consistency in the examination scores. Total test
      scores and scores within each of the content areas increased with each FIT year
      (there was a statistically significant difference in each cohort's average scale
      score across administration years). There was also significant improvement in
      examination scores across the fellowship years. CONCLUSIONS: The ACC ITE is a
      powerful tool available to all training programs to assess medical knowledge.
      This examination also delivers robust and timely feedback addressing individual
      knowledge gaps, and thus, may serve as a basis for improving training curricula.

PMID- 25814230
TI  - The American College of Cardiology's in-training examination: a robust assessment
      tool for fellows, training programs, and the cardiovascular community.

PMID- 25814231
TI  - Secondary mitral regurgitation in heart failure: pathophysiology, prognosis, and
      therapeutic considerations.
AB  - The development of secondary mitral regurgitation (MR) due to left ventricular
      dysfunction, also known as functional MR, is strongly associated with a poor
      prognosis in patients with heart failure. The mechanisms underlying secondary MR
      are multifactorial; accurate imaging assessment of secondary MR may be
      challenging and nuanced; and the appropriate roles of medical, surgical, and
      interventional therapies for management of secondary MR are controversial and
      evolving. In this review, the pathophysiology, evaluation, and prognosis of
      secondary MR in patients with heart failure are discussed, and we evaluate in
      detail the evidence for the various therapeutic approaches for secondary MR,
      including guideline-directed medication for left ventricular dysfunction, cardiac
      resynchronization therapy and revascularization when appropriate, and mitral
      valve surgery and transcatheter interventions. The role of a multidisciplinary
      heart team in determining the optimal management strategy for secondary MR is
      also discussed. 

PMID- 25814233
TI  - Journalists and researchers: equal responsibility in protecting the public.

PMID- 25814232
TI  - New perspectives on the prevalence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
AB  - Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an important genetic heart muscle disease
      for which prevalence in the general population has not been completely resolved.
      For the past 20 years, most data have supported the occurrence of HCM at about 1
      in 500. However, the authors have interrogated a number of relevant advances in
      cardiovascular medicine, including widespread fee-for-service genetic testing,
      population genetic studies, and contemporary diagnostic imaging, as well as a
      greater index of suspicion and recognition for both the clinically expressed
      disease and the gene-positive-phenotype-negative subset (at risk for developing
      the disease). Accounting for the potential impact of these initiatives on disease
      occurrence, the authors have revisited the prevalence of HCM in the general
      population. They suggest that HCM is more common than previously estimated, which
      may enhance its recognition in the practicing cardiovascular community, allowing
      more timely diagnosis and the implementation of appropriate treatment options for
      many patients. 

PMID- 25814234
TI  - Build-a-cardiologist: the cardiologist of the future--the business of
      certification.

PMID- 25814235
TI  - Bradycardia and asystole is the predominant mechanism of sudden cardiac death in
      patients with chronic kidney disease.

PMID- 25814236
TI  - RNA sequencing analysis identifies new human collagen genes involved in cardiac
      remodeling.

PMID- 25814237
TI  - Omega-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids and arrhythmia risk: influences of load
      conditions and a differential endogenous metabolism.

PMID- 25814238
TI  - Applying cluster analysis to data of previously published chronic heart failure
      trials.

PMID- 25814239
TI  - Systems biology and clinical phenotypes of heart failure syndrome.

PMID- 25814240
TI  - Reply: applying cluster analysis to data of previously published chronic heart
      failure trials: systems biology and clinical phenotypes of heart failure
      syndrome.

PMID- 25814241
TI  - Reply: applying cluster analysis to data of previously published chronic heart
      failure trials.

PMID- 25814242
TI  - Matrix Metalloproteinase Inhibitor as an Antimicrobial Agent to Eradicate
      Enterococcus faecalis Biofilm.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Successful endodontic treatment outcomes require new strategies for
      the complete eradication of microbial biofilms in the root canal system. Matrix
      metalloproteinases (MMPs) are essential enzymes in microbial cell growth and
      homeostasis, and they require transition metal ion cofactors to function.
      Targeting MMP activity also preserves dentin collagen integrity. In this study,
      1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione (Phendione), a metal chelator, was tested as a
      potentially novel antimicrobial agent against Enterococcus faecalis and inhibitor
      of human MMP in the root canal. METHODS: Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)
      and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of Phendione on E. faecalis were
      determined. The antimicrobial properties of Phendione in the presence of dentin
      powder and various transition metal ions were examined. The ability of Phendione
      to inhibit human MMP-2 was subsequently tested. The efficacy of Phendione against
      E. faecalis biofilm was determined by exposure of 7-day-old E. faecalis biofilms
      to Phendione. RESULTS: The MIC and MBC of Phendione were 2.0 MUg/mL and 16
      MUg/mL, respectively, whereas 64 MUg/mL was required to kill E. faecalis biofilm.
      Phendione completely eradicated E. faecalis despite dentin preincubation. The
      presence of Zn(2+), and to a lesser extent Fe(2+), abrogated the antimicrobial
      effect of Phendione. In addition, Phendione at MIC and MBC significantly
      inhibited human MMP-2 activity. CONCLUSIONS: Phendione effectively eradicated E.
      faecalis biofilms and significantly inhibited human MMP-2 through its ability to
      chelate metal ions. The antibacterial property of Phendione was preserved in the
      presence of dentin. Phendione can potentially be applied in endodontic treatment
      as both an antimicrobial agent and MMP inhibitor.

PMID- 25814243
TI  - In Vivo Intracanal Temperature Evolution during Endodontic Treatment after the
      Injection of Room Temperature or Preheated Sodium Hypochlorite.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Heating a sodium hypochlorite solution improves its effectiveness.
      The aim of this study was to measure the in vivo temperature changes of sodium
      hypochlorite solutions that were initially preheated to 66 degrees C or at room
      temperature inside root canals during routine irrigation. METHODS: Thirty-five
      root canals were prepared to ISO size 40 with 4% taper. A type K (nickel-chromium
      nickel) thermocouple microprobe (Testo NV, Ternat, Belgium) was positioned within
      3 mm of the working length to measure the temperature at 1-second intervals. In
      each canal, 2 test protocols were evaluated in a randomized order with 3% sodium
      hypochlorite solutions: (1) preheated to 66 degrees C and (2) at room
      temperature. The temperature measurements began 5 seconds before the 25 seconds
      of irrigant injections and continued for 240 seconds. This resulted in 270 data
      points for each protocol. RESULTS: The temperature of the irrigant at room
      temperature increased from the initial intracanal temperature after injection of
      20.7 degrees C (+/-1.2 degrees C) to 30.9 degrees C (+/-1.3 degrees C) in 10
      seconds and to 35 degrees C (+/-0.9 degrees C) after 240 seconds. The temperature
      of the preheated to 66 degrees C solution decreased from 56.4 degrees C (+/-2.7
      degrees C) to 45.4 degrees C (+/-3.0 degrees C) after 5 seconds, reached 37
      degrees C (+/-0.9 degrees C) after 60 seconds, and reached 35.7 degrees C (+/-0.8
      degrees C) after 240 seconds. CONCLUSIONS: The original temperatures of the
      sodium hypochlorite solutions were buffered inside the root canal and tended to
      rapidly evolve to equilibrium. The findings of this study contribute to an
      improved understanding of the thermodynamic behaviors of irrigant solutions
      inside root canals in vivo.

PMID- 25814244
TI  - Varicella Zoster Virus and Internal Root Resorption: A Case Report.
AB  - Herpes zoster is a viral infection caused by the reactivation of the varicella
      zoster virus. One of the less well-recognized maxillofacial complications is
      tooth root resorption. To our knowledge, this is the first case report about
      internal resorption associated with varicella zoster virus involving different
      dental quadrants. A 38-year-old woman presented with internal resorption of
      maxillary canine and first premolar tooth roots on the right quadrant and
      generalized internal resorption of second molars of both mandibular quadrants.
      The patient's medical history showed mild oral lichen planus and infection with
      varicella zoster virus (chickenpox) with severe clinical manifestations 5 years
      previously. The patient developed diabetes mellitus type I and hypothyroidism a
      short time after varicella zoster virus infection, and by the time of infection
      with this virus, oral lichen planus had progressed from the reticular pattern to
      the generalized severe erosive form. Viral etiology could also be considered in
      these diseases. The root canals of the affected teeth were debrided, irrigated,
      and dried, and calcium hydroxide paste was placed in the root canals for a week
      during the first treatment session. The root canals were obturated during the
      second session. Six-month follow-up showed improvement of oral lichen planus and
      resolution of widening of periodontal ligament of the affected teeth, with follow
      up radiographs revealing no periapical problems. It appears some cases of
      internal root resorption classified as idiopathic might have viral etiology.
      Therefore, it is recommended that patients be questioned about a history of
      chickenpox and herpes zoster. 

PMID- 25814246
TI  - Switching to zebrafish neurobehavioral models: The obsessive-compulsive disorder
      paradigm.
AB  - Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is the tenth most disabling illness of any
      kind. OCD stands as a paradigm for complex neurobehavioral disorders due to its
      polygenic origin. It presents heterogenic clinical presentation, variable disease
      onset, progression and treatment responses, what makes its understanding a major
      neuropsychiatric challenge. Like with other neurobehavioral disorders, animal
      models are essential tools for decoding OCD genetic complexity, understanding its
      biological base and discovering novel treatments and diagnostic methods. 20 years
      of rodent OCD modeling have helped to understand the disease better, but multiple
      questions remain regarding OCD. Innovative whole genome sequencing (WGS)
      approaches might provide important answers on OCD risk associated genes. However,
      exploiting those large data sets through the use of traditional animal models is
      costly and time consuming. Zebrafish might be an appropriate animal model to
      streamline the pipeline of gene functional validation. This animal model shows
      several advantages versus rodent models, such as faster and cheaper genetic
      manipulation, strong impact on the 3Rs implementation, behavioral phenotypic
      reproducibility of OCD-like behaviors (obsessions and compulsions) and
      feasibility to develop high-throughput assays for novel OCD drug therapies
      discovery. In conclusion, zebrafish could be an innovative and relevant model for
      understanding OCD. 

PMID- 25814245
TI  - Enhancing screening and early detection among women transitioning to Medicare
      from the NBCCEDP in Georgia.
AB  - PURPOSE: The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program through
      each state's administration serves millions of low-income and uninsured women
      aged 40-64. Our purpose was to assess whether cases screened through Georgia's
      Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (BCCP) were diagnosed at an earlier stage of
      disease and whether those who used the state's program regularly continued to
      obtain age-appropriate screens as they aged out of BCCP into Medicare between
      2000 and 2005. METHODS: We used BCCP screening data to identify women with more
      than one screen and an interval of 18 months or less between screens as "regular"
      users of BCCP. Using the linked BCCP and Medicare enrollment/claims data, we
      tested whether women with any BCCP use (n = 3,134) or "regular" users (n = 1,590)
      were more likely than women not using BCCP (n = 10,086) to exhibit regular
      screening under Medicare. We used linked BCCP and Georgia Cancer Registry data to
      examine breast cancer incidence and stage at diagnosis of BCCP women compared to
      the Georgia population. RESULTS: Under Medicare, almost 63 % of women with any
      BCCP use were re-screened versus 51 % of non-BCCP users. The probability of being
      screened within 18 months of Medicare enrollment was 3.5 % points higher for any
      BCCP user and 17.7 points higher for "regular" BCCP users, compared to nonusers.
      Among Black non-Hispanics, the difference for any BCCP user was 13.7 % points and
      for regular users, 22.4 % points. A larger percentage of BCCP users were
      diagnosed at in situ or localized disease stage than overall. CONCLUSIONS: The
      majority of women aging out of the GA BCCP 2000-2005 had used the program to
      obtain regular mammography. Regular users of GA BCCP continued to be screened
      within appropriate intervals once enrolled in Medicare due perhaps to educational
      and support components of BCCP.

PMID- 25814247
TI  - Translational value of animal models of obesity-Focus on dogs and cats.
AB  - A prolonged imbalance between a relative increase in energy intake over a
      decrease in energy expenditure results in the development of obesity; extended
      periods of a positive energy balance eventually lead to the accumulation of
      abnormally high amounts of fat in adipose tissue but also in other organs.
      Obesity is considered a clinical state of impaired general heath in which the
      excessive increase in adipose tissue mass may be associated with metabolic
      disorders such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and
      cardiovascular diseases. This review discusses briefly the use of animal models
      for the study of obesity and its comorbidities. Generally, most studies are
      performed with rodents, such as diet induced obesity and genetic models. Here, we
      focus specifically on two different species, namely dogs and cats. Obese dogs and
      cats show many features of human obesity. Interestingly, however, dogs and cats
      differ from each other in certain aspects because even though obese dogs may
      become insulin resistant, this does not result in the development of diabetes
      mellitus. In fact, diabetes in dogs is typically not associated with obesity
      because dogs present a type 1 diabetes-like syndrome. On the other hand, obese
      cats often develop diabetes mellitus which shares many features with human type 2
      diabetes; feline and human diabetes are similar in respect to their
      pathophysiology, underlying risk factors and treatment strategies. Our review
      discusses genetic and endocrine factors in obesity, discusses obesity induced
      changes in lipid metabolism and includes some recent findings on the role of gut
      microbiota in obesity. Compared to research in rodent models, the array of
      available techniques and tools is unfortunately still rather limited in dogs and
      cats. Hence, even though physiological and pathophysiological phenomena are well
      described in dogs and cats, the underlying mechanisms are often not known and
      studies investigating causality specifically are scarce. 

PMID- 25814248
TI  - Translational value of animal models of kidney failure.
AB  - Acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are associated with
      decreased renal function and increased mortality risk, while the therapeutic
      armamentarium is unsatisfactory. The availability of adequate animal models may
      speed up the discovery of biomarkers for disease staging and therapy
      individualization as well as design and testing of novel therapeutic strategies.
      Some longstanding animal models have failed to result in therapeutic advances in
      the clinical setting, such as kidney ischemia-reperfusion injury and diabetic
      nephropathy models. In this regard, most models for diabetic nephropathy are
      unsatisfactory in that they do not evolve to renal failure. Satisfactory models
      for additional nephropathies are needed. These include anti-neutrophil
      cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis, IgA nephropathy, anti
      phospholipase-A2-receptor (PLA2R) membranous nephropathy and Fabry nephropathy.
      However, recent novel models hold promise for clinical translation. Thus, the AKI
      to CKD translation has been modeled, in some cases with toxins of interest for
      human CKD such as aristolochic acid. Genetically modified mice provide models for
      Alport syndrome evolving to renal failure that have resulted in clinical
      recommendations, polycystic kidney disease models that have provided clues for
      the development of tolvaptan, that was recently approved for the human disease in
      Japan; and animal models also contributed to target C5 with eculizumab in
      hemolytic uremic syndrome. Some ongoing trials explore novel concepts derived
      from models, such TWEAK targeting as tissue protection for lupus nephritis. We
      now review animal models reproducing diverse, genetic and acquired, causes of AKI
      and CKD evolving to kidney failure and discuss the contribution to clinical
      translation and prospects for the future. 

PMID- 25814250
TI  - Generation of improved mouse models for the study of hepatitis C virus.
AB  - Approximately 3% of the world's population suffers from chronic infections with
      hepatitis C virus (HCV). Although current treatment regimes are capable of
      effectively eradicating HCV infection from these patients, the cost of these
      combinations of direct-acting antivirals are prohibitive. Approximately 80% of
      untreated chronic HCV carriers will be at high risk for developing severe liver
      disease, including fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. A vaccine
      is urgently needed to lessen this global burden. Besides humans, HCV infection
      can be experimentally transmitted to chimpanzees, and this is the best model for
      studies of HCV infection and related innate and adaptive immune responses.
      Although the chimpanzee model yielded valuable insight, limited availability,
      high cost and ethical considerations limit their utility. The only small animal
      models of robust HCV infection are highly immunodeficient mice with human
      chimeric livers. However, these mice cannot be used to study adaptive immune
      responses and therefore a more relevant animal model is needed to assist in
      vaccine development. Novel strains of immunodeficient mice have been developed
      that allow for the engraftment of human hepatopoietic stem cells, as well as
      functional human lymphoid cells and tissues, effectively creating human immune
      systems in otherwise immunodeficient mice. These humanized mice are rapidly
      emerging as pre-clinical bridges for numerous pathogens that, like HCV, only
      cause infectious disease in humans. This review highlights the potential these
      new models have for changing the current landscape for HCV research and vaccine
      development. 

PMID- 25814249
TI  - Validity of animal models of type 1 diabetes, and strategies to enhance their
      utility in translational research.
AB  - Type 1 diabetes currently affects 20-40 million people worldwide. Insulin
      treatment is standard, but a majority of patients still experience glycemic
      instability and associated comorbidity: there is an unmet medical need for novel
      therapeutics. Animal models have been indispensable in testing innovative
      medicinal approaches since the early testing of insulin in dogs almost a century
      ago. Models include mainly rodents with spontaneous diabetes, or rodents and
      nonhuman primates in which diabetes is induced by chemicals that are toxic to
      insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells, or by pancreatectomy. To a less extent
      models in pigs are used. Rodent models have shown value in studies on
      pathogenesis and disease prevention, while models in nonhuman primates have
      translational value in testing beta-cell replacement products and
      immunosuppressives to prevent rejection. Evidently, for many immunosuppressives
      this validation follows from the close similarity in immune function. Gene
      therapy approaches are being tested in both rodents and nonhuman primates. We
      present an overview of models used to answer various research questions, with
      particular focus on their translational value. This includes a consideration of
      divergence between the animal model and the clinical condition, and a
      consideration of the species and model difference in pathogenesis, especially the
      induction of the diabetic state. Careful attention should be given to managing
      diabetic animals: outcome measures in the model are highly stress-sensitive and
      parameters that have potential for confounding should be addressed, i.e.,
      environment, metabolic management, and handling. This review concludes with a few
      recommendations on how to make animal models more clinical-like. 

PMID- 25814251
TI  - Carpentier-Edwards aortic pericardial bioprosthetic valve as a valid control in
      preclinical in vivo ovine studies.
AB  - To progress into clinical practice, a bioprosthetic heart valve must first pass
      through the preclinical evaluation phase. The International Standards
      Organization (ISO) recommends implantation of concurrent controls in any
      evaluation of a new or modified heart valve. A total of 8 adult sheep underwent
      aortic valve replacement, receiving either the CE Perimount Magna 3000 aortic
      pericardial bioprosthetic valve or the CE Perimount RSR aortic pericardial
      bioprosthetic valve, Model 2800. We performed serial blood sampling,
      echocardiography, angiography and necropsy after euthanasia. All 8 sheep survived
      until the end of their study term. Our 2-dimensional echocardiographic analysis
      showed a mean pressure gradient of 37.4+/-6.0mmHg at 14 days and 37.0+/-5.9mmHg
      at 90 days; mean cardiac output was 10.0+/-2.8l/min at 14 days and 9.6+/-1.6l/min
      at 90 days. Angiography before euthanasia showed a mean aortic transvalvular
      gradient of 32.3+/-15.3mmHg. At euthanasia, we saw no evidence of calcification
      in any of the valves. In our study, we found that both models of the CE
      bioprosthetic heart valve we tested proved to be valid controls, in the aortic
      position, in sheep-with no evidence of calcification. Most important, the valves
      we tested had a few model-related problems, allowing a clear determination of
      their suitability for introduction into a clinical trial. Investigators now have
      additional insight into the safety of these 2 models of valves and perhaps will
      be able to reduce the number of controls implanted. 

PMID- 25814252
TI  - The utility of animal models in developing immunosuppressive agents.
AB  - The immune system comprises an integrated network of cellular interactions. Some
      responses are predictable, while others are more stochastic. While in vitro the
      outcome of stimulating a single type of cell may be stereotyped and reproducible,
      in vivo this is often not the case. This phenomenon often merits the use of
      animal models in predicting the impact of immunosuppressant drugs. A heavy burden
      of responsibility lies on the shoulders of the investigator when using animal
      models to study immunosuppressive agents. The principles of the three R's: refine
      (less suffering,), reduce (lower animal numbers) and replace (alternative in
      vitro assays) must be applied, as described elsewhere in this issue. Well
      designed animal model experiments have allowed us to develop all the
      immunosuppressive agents currently available for treating autoimmune disease and
      transplant recipients. In this review, we examine the common animal models used
      in developing immunosuppressive agents, focusing on drugs used in transplant
      surgery. Autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, are covered elsewhere
      in this issue. We look at the utility and limitations of small and large animal
      models in measuring potency and toxicity of immunosuppressive therapies. 

PMID- 25814253
TI  - Cardiovascular pharmacotherapy: Innovation stuck in translation.
AB  - Systematic reviews of animal studies have revealed serious limitations in
      internal and external validity strongly affecting the reliability of this
      research. In addition inter-species differences are likely to further limit the
      predictive value of animal research for the efficacy and tolerability of new
      drugs in humans. Important changes in the research process are needed to allow
      efficient translation of preclinical discoveries to the clinic, including
      improvements in the laboratory and publication practices involving animal
      research and early incorporation of human proof-of-concept studies to optimize
      the interpretation of animal data for its predictive value for humans and the
      design of clinical trials. 

PMID- 25814254
TI  - The translational value of non-human primates in preclinical research on
      infection and immunopathology.
AB  - The immune system plays a central role in the defense against environmental
      threats - such as infection with viruses, parasites or bacteria - but can also be
      a cause of disease, such as in the case of allergic or autoimmune disorders. In
      the past decades the impressive development of biotechnology has provided
      scientists with biological tools for the development of highly selective
      treatments for the different types of disorders. However, despite some clear
      successes the translation of scientific discoveries into effective treatments has
      remained challenging. The often-disappointing predictive validity of the
      preclinical animal models that are used in the selection of the most promising
      vaccine or drug candidates is the Achilles heel in the therapy development
      process. This publication summarizes the relevance and usage of non-human
      primates as pre-clinical model in infectious and autoimmune diseases, in
      particular for biologicals, which due to their high species-specificity are
      inactive in lower species. 

PMID- 25814255
TI  - From mice to mind: Strategies and progress in translating neuroregeneration.
AB  - Decisions about what experimental therapies are advanced to clinical trials are
      based almost exclusively on findings in preclinical animal studies. Over the past
      30 years, animal models have forecast the success of hundreds of neuroprotective
      pharmacological therapies for stroke, Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord injury,
      traumatic brain injury and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Yet almost without
      exception, all have failed. Rapid advances in stem cell technologies have raised
      new hopes that these neurological diseases may one day be treatable. Still, how
      can neuroregenerative therapies be translated into clinical realities if
      available animal models are such poor surrogates of human disease? To address
      this question we discuss human and rodent neurogenesis, evaluate mechanisms of
      action for cellular therapies and describe progress in translating
      neuroregeneration to date. We conclude that not only are appropriate animal
      models critical to the development of safe and effective therapies, but that the
      multiple mechanisms of stem cell-mediated therapies may be particularly well
      suited to the mechanistically diverse nature of central nervous system diseases
      in mice and man. 

PMID- 25814256
TI  - Experimental colitis models: Insights into the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel
      disease and translational issues.
AB  - Inflammatory bowel diseases, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are
      characterized by chronic relapsing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract of
      unknown etiology that seems to be the consequence of a genetically driven
      dysregulated immune response against various local and environmental triggers
      through a defective epithelial barrier. During the last decades, a large number
      of animal experimental models of intestinal inflammation have been generated and
      provided valuable insights into the mechanisms that either maintain mucosal
      homeostasis or drive intestinal inflammation. Their study enabled the
      identification of various treatment targets and the development a large pipeline
      of new drugs, mostly biologics. Safety and therapeutic efficacy of these agents
      have been evaluated in a large number of clinical trials but only a minority has
      reached the clinic so far. Translational successes but mostly translational
      failures have prompted to re-evaluate results of efficacy and safety generated by
      pre-clinical testing and to re-examine the way to interpret experimental in vivo
      data. This review examines the contribution of the most popular experimental
      colitis models to our understanding of the pathogenesis of human inflammatory
      bowel diseases and their translational input in drug development and discusses
      ways to improve translational outcome. 

PMID- 25814257
TI  - Regulatory acceptance of animal models of disease to support clinical trials of
      medicines and advanced therapy medicinal products.
AB  - The utility of animal models of disease for assessing the safety of novel
      therapeutic modalities has become an increasingly important topic of discussion
      as research and development efforts focus on improving the predictive value of
      animal studies to support accelerated clinical development. Medicines are
      approved for marketing based upon a determination that their benefits outweigh
      foreseeable risks in specific indications, specific populations, and at specific
      dosages and regimens. No medicine is 100% safe. A medicine is less safe if the
      actual risks are greater than the predicted risks. The purpose of preclinical
      safety assessment is to understand the potential risks to aid clinical decision
      making. Ideally preclinical studies should identify potential adverse effects and
      design clinical studies that will minimize their occurrence. Most regulatory
      documents delineate the utilization of conventional "normal" animal species to
      evaluate the safety risk of new medicines (i.e., new chemical entities and new
      biological entities). Animal models of human disease are commonly utilized to
      gain insight into the pathogenesis of disease and to evaluate efficacy but less
      frequently utilized in preclinical safety assessment. An understanding of the
      limitations of the animal disease models together with a better understanding of
      the disease and how toxicity may be impacted by the disease condition should
      allow for a better prediction of risk in the intended patient population.
      Importantly, regulatory authorities are becoming more willing to accept and even
      recommend data from experimental animal disease models that combine efficacy and
      safety to support clinical development. 

PMID- 25814259
TI  - Back to the future of psychopharmacology: A perspective on animal models in drug
      discovery.
AB  - Psychopharmacology has had some bad publicity lately. Frankly, there have been
      some major problems along the way in developing new effective drugs for
      psychiatric disorders. After a prolonged period of high investments but low
      success rates, big pharmaceutical companies seem to retract their activities in
      the psychopharmacology field. Yet, the burden of mental disorders is likely to
      keep on growing in the next decades. In this position paper, we focus on drug
      development for depression and anxiety disorders, to narrow the scope of the
      assay. We describe the current situation of the psychopharmacology field, and
      analyse some of the methods and paradigms that have brought us here, but which
      should perhaps change to bring us even further. In addition, some of the factors
      contributing to the current stagnation in psychopharmacology are discussed.
      Finally, we suggest a number of changes that could lead to a more rational
      strategy for central nervous system drug development and which may circumvent
      some of the pitfalls leading to "me too" approaches. Central to the suggested
      changes, is the notion that mental disorders do not lead to several symptoms, but
      a network of causally related symptoms convolutes into a mental disorder. We call
      upon academia to put these changes in the early phases of drug development into
      effect. 

PMID- 25814258
TI  - Rapamycin ameliorates brain metabolites alterations after transient focal
      ischemia in rats.
AB  - Rapamycin has been shown to protect against middle cerebral artery occlusion
      (MCAo) induced ischemic injury. In this study, the neuroprotective effect of
      rapamycin on the metabolic changes induced by MCAo was evaluated using nuclear
      magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of brain tissues. MCAo in rats was induced
      by insertion of nylon filament. One hour after ischemia, rapamycin (250 ug/kg,
      i.p.) in dimethyl sulfoxide was administered. Reperfusion was done 2h after
      ischemia. Twenty-four hours after ischemia phospholipase A2 (PLA2) levels and
      metabolic changes were assessed. Perchloric acid extraction was performed on the
      brain of all animals (n=7; sham, vehicle; DMSO and rapamycin 250 ug/kg) and the
      various brain metabolites were assessed by NMR spectroscopy. In all 44
      metabolites were assigned in the proton NMR spectrum of rat brain tissues. In the
      vehicle group, we observed increased lactate levels and decreased levels of
      glutamate/glutamine, choline containing compounds, creatine/phosphocreatine
      (Cr/PCr), taurine, myo-inositol, gamma-amino butryic acid (GABA), N-aspartyl
      aspartate (NAA), purine and pyrimidine metabolites. In rapamycin treated rats,
      there was increase in the levels of choline containing compounds, NAA, myo
      inositol, glutamate/glutamine, GABA, Cr/PCr and taurine as compared to those of
      vehicle control (P<0.05). Rapamycin treatment reduced PLA2 levels as compared to
      vehicle group (P<0.05). Our findings indicated that rapamycin reduced the
      increased PLA2 levels and altered brain metabolites after MCAo. These protective
      effects might be attributed to its effect on cell membrane metabolism; glutamate
      induced toxicity and calcium homeostasis in stroke.

PMID- 25814260
TI  - Mouse models rarely mimic the transcriptome of human neurodegenerative diseases:
      A systematic bioinformatics-based critique of preclinical models.
AB  - Translational research for neurodegenerative disease depends intimately upon
      animal models. Unfortunately, promising therapies developed using mouse models
      mostly fail in clinical trials, highlighting uncertainty about how well mouse
      models mimic human neurodegenerative disease at the molecular level. We compared
      the transcriptional signature of neurodegeneration in mouse models of Alzheimer's
      disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease (HD) and amyotrophic
      lateral sclerosis (ALS) to human disease. In contrast to aging, which
      demonstrated a conserved transcriptome between humans and mice, only 3 of 19
      animal models showed significant enrichment for gene sets comprising the most
      dysregulated up- and down-regulated human genes. Spearman's correlation analysis
      revealed even healthy human aging to be more closely related to human
      neurodegeneration than any mouse model of AD, PD, ALS or HD. Remarkably, mouse
      models frequently upregulated stress response genes that were consistently
      downregulated in human diseases. Among potential alternate models of
      neurodegeneration, mouse prion disease outperformed all other disease-specific
      models. Even among the best available animal models, conserved differences
      between mouse and human transcriptomes were found across multiple animal model
      versus human disease comparisons, surprisingly, even including aging. Relative to
      mouse models, mouse disease signatures demonstrated consistent trends toward
      preserved mitochondrial function protein catabolism, DNA repair responses, and
      chromatin maintenance. These findings suggest a more complex and multifactorial
      pathophysiology in human neurodegeneration than is captured through standard
      animal models, and suggest that even among conserved physiological processes such
      as aging, mice are less prone to exhibit neurodegeneration-like changes. This
      work may help explain the poor track record of mouse-based translational
      therapies for neurodegeneration and provides a path forward to critically
      evaluate and improve animal models of human disease. 

PMID- 25814261
TI  - Considerations on pig models for appetite, metabolic syndrome and obese type 2
      diabetes: From food intake to metabolic disease.
AB  - (Mini)pigs have proven to be a valuable animal model in nutritional, metabolic
      and cardiovascular research and in some other biomedical research areas
      (toxicology, neurobiology). The large resemblance of (neuro)anatomy, the gastro
      intestinal tract, body size, body composition, and the omnivorous food choice and
      appetite of the pig are additional reasons to select this large animal species
      for (preclinical) nutritional and pharmacological studies. Both humans and pigs
      are prone to the development of obesity and related cardiovascular diseases such
      as hypertension and atherosclerosis. Bad cholesterol (LDL) is high and good
      cholesterol (HDL) is low in pigs, like in humans. Disease-relevant pig models
      fill the gap between rodent models and primate species including humans. Diet
      induced obese pigs show a phenotype related to the metabolic syndrome including
      high amounts of visceral fat, fatty organs, insulin resistance and high blood
      pressure. However, overt hyperglycaemia does not develop within 6 months after
      initiation of high sugar-fat feeding. Therefore, to accelerate the induction of
      obese type 2 diabetes, obese pigs can be titrated with streptozotocin, a chemical
      agent which selectively damages the insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells.
      However, insulin is required to maintain obesity. With proper titration of
      streptozotocin, insulin secretion can be restrained at such a level that
      hyperglycaemia will be induced but lipolysis is still inhibited due to the fact
      that inhibition of lipolysis is more sensitive to insulin compared to stimulation
      of glucose uptake. This strategy may lead to a stable hyperglycaemic, non-ketotic
      obese pig model which remains anabolic with time without the necessity of
      exogenous insulin treatment. 

PMID- 25814262
TI  - Animal models for osteoporosis.
AB  - The major types of osteoporosis in humans are postmenopausal osteoporosis, disuse
      osteoporosis, and glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. Animal models for
      postmenopausal osteoporosis are generated by ovariectomy. Bone loss occurs in
      estrogen deficiency due to enhanced bone resorption and impaired osteoblast
      function. Estrogen receptor alpha induces osteoclast apoptosis, but the mechanism
      for impaired osteoblast function remains to be clarified. Animal models for
      unloading are generated by tail suspension or hind limb immobilization by sciatic
      neurectomy, tenotomy, or using plaster cast. Unloading inhibits bone formation
      and enhances bone resorption, and the involvement of the sympathetic nervous
      system in it needs to be further investigated. The osteocyte network regulates
      bone mass by responding to mechanical stress. Osteoblast-specific BCL2 transgenic
      mice, in which the osteocyte network is completely disrupted, can be a mouse
      model for the evaluation of osteocyte functions. Glucocorticoid treatment
      inhibits bone formation and enhances bone resorption, and markedly reduces
      cancellous bone in humans and large animals, but not consistently in rodents. 

PMID- 25814264
TI  - Comparative Effectiveness of Multifaceted Outreach to Initiate Colorectal Cancer
      Screening in Community Health Centers: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates are low among vulnerable
      populations. Fecal immunochemical tests (FITs) are one screening modality with
      few barriers. Studies have shown that outreach can improve CRC screening, but
      little is known about its effectiveness among individuals with no CRC screening
      history. We sought to determine whether outreach increases FIT uptake among
      patients with no CRC screening history compared to usual care. METHODS: This
      study was a patient-level randomized controlled trial, including 420 patients who
      had never completed CRC screening and were eligible for FIT; 66% were female,
      62.1% were Latino, and 70.7% were uninsured. The main outcome measure was FIT
      completion within 6 months of the randomization date. We assessed FIT completion
      at different time points corresponding to receipt of outreach components. All
      analyses were re-run with 12-month data. RESULTS: Patients who received outreach
      were more likely to complete FIT than those in usual care (36.7% vs. 14.8%; p <
      0.001). FIT completion was more common among patients with increased clinic
      visits. The difference in FIT completion between the outreach and usual care
      groups decreased over time. DISCUSSION: The intervention improved FIT uptake
      among patients with no CRC screening history. However, the intervention was less
      effective than in a previous trial targeting patients due for repeat screening.
      Additional research is needed to determine the best methods for improving CRC
      screening among this hard-to-reach group.

PMID- 25814265
TI  - Association Between Study Quality and Publication Rates of Medical Education
      Abstracts Presented at the Society of General Internal Medicine Annual Meeting.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies reveal that 44.5% of abstracts presented at national meetings
      are subsequently published in indexed journals, with lower rates for abstracts of
      medical education scholarship. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine whether the
      quality of medical education abstracts is associated with subsequent publication
      in indexed journals, and to compare the quality of medical education abstracts
      presented as scientific abstracts versus innovations in medical education (IME).
      DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: Medical education abstracts
      presented at the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) 2009 annual meeting.
      MAIN MEASURES: Publication rates were measured using database searches for full
      text publications through December 2013. Quality was assessed using the validated
      Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI). KEY RESULTS:
      Overall, 64 (44%) medical education abstracts presented at the 2009 SGIM annual
      meeting were subsequently published in indexed medical journals. The MERSQI
      demonstrated good inter-rater reliability (intraclass correlation range, 0.77
      1.00) for grading the quality of medical education abstracts. MERSQI scores were
      higher for published versus unpublished abstracts (9.59 vs. 8.81, p = 0.03).
      Abstracts with a MERSQI score of 10 or greater were more likely to be published
      (OR 3.18, 95% CI 1.47-6.89, p = 0.003). ). MERSQI scores were higher for
      scientific versus IME abstracts (9.88 vs. 8.31, p < 0.001). Publication rates
      were higher for scientific abstracts (42 [66%] vs. 37 [46%], p = 0.02) and oral
      presentations (15 [23%] vs. 6 [8%], p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The publication rate
      of medical education abstracts presented at the 2009 SGIM annual meeting was
      similar to reported publication rates for biomedical research abstracts, but
      higher than publication rates reported for medical education abstracts. MERSQI
      scores were associated with higher abstract publication rates, suggesting that
      attention to measures of quality--such as sampling, instrument validity, and data
      analysis--may improve the likelihood that medical education abstracts will be
      published.

PMID- 25814266
TI  - Children's mathematical performance: five cognitive tasks across five grades.
AB  - Children in elementary school, along with college adults, were tested on a
      battery of basic mathematical tasks, including digit naming, number comparison,
      dot enumeration, and simple addition or subtraction. Beyond cataloguing
      performance to these standard tasks in Grades 1 to 5, we also examined
      relationships among the tasks, including previously reported results on a number
      line estimation task. Accuracy and latency improved across grades for all tasks,
      and classic interaction patterns were found, for example, a speed-up of
      subitizing and counting, increasingly shallow slopes in number comparison, and
      progressive speeding of responses especially to larger addition and subtraction
      problems. Surprisingly, digit naming was faster than subitizing at all ages,
      arguing against a pre-attentive processing explanation for subitizing. Estimation
      accuracy and speed were strong predictors of children's addition and subtraction
      performance. Children who gave exponential responses on the number line
      estimation task were slower at counting in the dot enumeration task and had
      longer latencies on addition and subtraction problems. The results provided
      further support for the importance of estimation as an indicator of children's
      current and future mathematical expertise.

PMID- 25814267
TI  - hBMP-2 and hTGF-beta1 expressed in implanted BMSCs synergistically promote the
      repairing of segmental bone defects.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of co-expressing hBMP-2 and hTGF-beta1 in
      BMSCs (bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells) on the repairing process of
      radial segmental defects in rats. METHODS: BMSCs were infected with a high titer
      recombinant adenovirus carrying hTGF-betal and/or hBMP-2 genes. Expression of
      exogenous genes in BMSCs was confirmed by RT-PCR and ELISA assays. In vitro
      effects of exogenous genes were assessed by MTT and ALP activity tests. A left
      radial defect model was created using 120 SD rats. Genetically modified or
      unmodified BMSCs were implanted with collagen sponge scaffolds into the 5-mm
      radial defect. The bone repair process was systematically monitored and evaluated
      by X-ray examinations, gross anatomic examinations, histological analyses, and
      biomechanical tests. RESULTS: Expression of hBMP-2 and hTGF-beta1 showed
      synergistic effects on promoting BMSC proliferation and enhancing ALP activity in
      vitro. Bone repair assays showed that hBMP-2 and hTGF-beta1 promoted the
      production of chondrocytes and osteoblasts. Implanted BMSCs transfected with both
      hBMP-2 and hTGF-beta1 led to the best bone repair outcome. CONCLUSION: hBMP-2 and
      hTGF-beta1 can synergistically improve the bone repair process. Our results
      suggest a potential clinical value of combining hBMP-2 and hTGF-beta1 in
      repairing bone defects.

PMID- 25814263
TI  - Investigating the mechanism(s) underlying switching between states in bipolar
      disorder.
AB  - Bipolar disorder (BD) is a unique disorder that transcends domains of function
      since the same patient can exhibit depression or mania, states with polar
      opposite mood symptoms. During depression, people feel helplessness, reduced
      energy, and risk aversion, while with mania behaviors include grandiosity,
      increased energy, less sleep, and risk preference. The neural mechanism(s)
      underlying each state are gaining clarity, with catecholaminergic disruption seen
      during mania, and cholinergic dysfunction during depression. The fact that the
      same patient cycles/switches between these states is the defining characteristic
      of BD however. Of greater importance therefore, is the mechanism(s) underlying
      cycling from one state - and its associated neural changes - to another,
      considered the 'holy grail' of BD research. Herein, we review studies
      investigating triggers that induce switching to these states. By identifying such
      triggers, researchers can study neural mechanisms underlying each state and
      importantly how such mechanistic changes can occur in the same subject. Current
      animal models of this switch are also discussed, from submissive- and dominant
      behaviors to kindling effects. Focus however, is placed on how seasonal changes
      can induce manic and depressive states in BD sufferers. Importantly, changing
      photoperiod lengths can induce local switches in neurotransmitter expression in
      normal animals, from increased catecholaminergic expression during periods of
      high activity, to increased somatostatin and corticotrophin releasing factor
      during periods of low activity. Identifying susceptibilities to this switch would
      enable the development of targeted animal models. From animal models, targeted
      treatments could be developed and tested that would minimize the likelihood of
      switching. 

PMID- 25814268
TI  - Fatigue Experiences Among OCD Outpatients.
AB  - Patients with OCD are impaired in multiple domains of functioning and quality of
      life. While associated psychopathology complaints and neuropsychological deficits
      were reported, the subjective experience of general fatigue and mental fatigue
      was scarcely investigated. In this single-center case-control study we compared
      50 non-depressed OCD outpatients consecutively recruited and 50 panic disorder
      (PD) outpatients, to determine whether they experienced fatigue differently.
      Assessment consisted of structured clinical interview for DSM-IV criteria by
      using the SCID-I and the SCID-II. Symptom severity was assessed using the Yale
      Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, the Hamilton
      Depression Rating Scale, the Clinical Global Impressions Scale, severity and the
      Global Assessment of Functioning Scale. Fatigue was assessed by using the
      Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI). Regarding MFI physical fatigue, an OR
      of 0.196 (95 % CI 0.080-0.478) was found, suggesting that its presence is
      associated with lower odds of OCD compared to PD. The same can be said for MFI
      mental fatigue, as an OR of 0.138 (95 % CI 0.049-0.326) was found, suggesting
      that its presence is associated with lower odds of OCD. Notably, OCD patients
      with OCDP co-morbidity reported higher scores of mental fatigue. In this study
      fatigue, including mental fatigue, seems not to be a prominent experience among
      adult non-depressed OCD patients.

PMID- 25814270
TI  - A range of personality traits and health beliefs influence mental health help
      seeking behaviour in young people.

PMID- 25814269
TI  - Does retirement reduce the risk of mental disorders? A national registry-linkage
      study of treatment for mental disorders before and after retirement of 245,082
      Danish residents.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The effect of retirement on mental health is not well understood. We
      examined the prevalence of hospital treatment for depression and purchase of
      antidepressant medication before, during and after retirement in a Danish
      population sample. We hypothesised that retirement was followed by reduced
      prevalence of hospital treatment for depression and antidepressant purchase.
      METHODS: Participants were 245,082 Danish workers who retired between 2000 and
      2006. Information on retirement, hospital treatment and antidepressant purchases
      were obtained from Danish national registers. The yearly prevalence of hospital
      treatment for depression and antidepressant purchases was estimated in relation
      to the year of retirement from 5 years prior to the retirement year to 5 years
      after retirement. Using logistic regressions with generalised estimating
      equations we analysed the trends in prevalence before, during and after the
      retirement. RESULTS: Two of 1000 participants were hospitalised with depression
      in the year of their retirement and 63 of 1000 purchased antidepressant
      medication during the retirement year. The prevalence of hospital treatment for
      depression increased before and around retirement, followed by a slight decline
      from 2 years after retirement with the prevalence of hospitalisation dropping
      from 0.21%(retirement +2 years) to 0.16% (retirement +5 years). For
      antidepressants, we observed a steady increase in purchases before retirement
      (retirement -2 years). This increase levelled off in the years around retirement,
      but continued after retirement (retirement +2 years). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this
      study did not confirm the hypothesis that retirement is beneficial for mental
      health measured by hospitalisation with depression and treatment with
      antidepressants. Although the temporary levelling off of the increase in
      antidepressant treatment around time of retirement might indicate a beneficial
      effect, this possible effect was only short-term.

PMID- 25814271
TI  - The application of HPLC and microprobe NMR spectroscopy in the identification of
      metabolites in complex biological matrices.
AB  - Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics can be used directly to
      identify a variety of metabolites in biological fluids and tissues. Metabolite
      analysis is an important part of life science and metabolomics research. However,
      the identification of some metabolites using NMR spectroscopy remains a big
      challenge owing to low abundance or signal overlap. It is important to develop a
      method to measure these compounds accurately. Two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy,
      metabolite prediction software packages, and spike-in experiments with authentic
      standards are often used to solve these problems, but they are costly and time
      consuming. In this study, methods were developed to identify metabolites in
      complex biological mixtures using both high-performance liquid chromatography
      (HPLC) and off-line microprobe NMR spectroscopy. With use of these methods, 83
      and 73 metabolites were identified in Sprague Dawley rat urine and feces,
      respectively. Among them, 40 and 45 metabolites, respectively, could not be
      identified with traditional NMR methods. Our research revealed that the
      combination of HPLC and NMR techniques could significantly improve the accuracy
      of trace and overlapped metabolite identification, while offering an effective
      and convenient approach to identify potential biomarkers in complex biological
      systems. 

PMID- 25814272
TI  - Determining fatty acids by desorption/ionization mass spectrometry using thin
      layer chromatography substrates.
AB  - In this study, we demonstrate the application of ambient mass spectrometry for
      measuring fatty acids from various biological sample matrices such as olive oil,
      fish oil, salmon, and human serum. Optimum performance was obtained after
      spotting samples onto thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plates as sample substrates
      for a custom-built solvent-assisted desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (DI
      MS) interface. Good to excellent linearities (coefficients of determination,
      0.9856 to 0.9977) and reproducibilities (average 6 % relative standard deviation
      (RSD) using syringe deposition) were obtained after application of an internal
      standard. Signal suppression phenomena were minimized by separating the analytes
      by TLC to some extent prior to DI-MS, leading to a fourfold increase of signal-to
      noise ratios as compared to single spot mixture analysis without TLC separation.
      Graphical Abstract Solvent-assisted desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry. 

PMID- 25814273
TI  - A multiresidue liquid chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric method for the
      detection and quantitation of 15 nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in
      bovine meat and milk.
AB  - This study concerns a validated liquid chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric
      (LC-MS/MS) multiresidue method for the simultaneous detection, identification,
      and quantitation of 15 nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in bovine
      meat and milk. The NSAIDs considered are carprofen, diclofenac, flufenamic acid,
      flunixin (5-hydroxyflunixin as marker metabolite in milk), ketoprofen, mefenamic
      acid, meloxicam, 4-methylaminoantipyrine (marker metabolite of metamizole in meat
      and milk), naproxen, niflumic acid, phenylbutazone (and metabolite
      oxyphenbutazone), ramifenazone, salicylic acid, and tolfenamic acid. These
      compounds were chosen as representatives of different chemical subclasses of
      NSAIDs. Flunixin-d3, diclofenac-d4, 4-aminoantipyrine-d3, and phenylbutazone-d10
      were used as internal standards. Performance characteristics were validated
      according to the Commission Decision 2002/657/EC (Off J Eur Communities, L221: 8
      36). Recovery percentages varied between 81 and 114% for bovine meat and between
      79 and 118% for milk. Repeatability percentages were within the range of 1-12%
      for meat and between 1 and 17% for milk, whereas the intralaboratory
      reproducibility varied between 3 and 19% for meat and between 3 and 23% for milk.
      The decision limit and the detection capability for bovine meat were within the
      range of 0.5-579 MUg kg(-1)and 0.6-642 MUg kg(-1), respectively. Those for milk
      were within the range of 0.12-55 MUg kg(-1) and 0.14-61 MUg kg(-1), respectively.
      The methods developed were successfully applied for proficiency test samples and
      routine samples analyzed in the laboratory. The methodology concerns fast, user
      friendly, and sensitive methods, which can be easily extended for other compounds
      and matrices. In general, such multiresidue methods contribute to the reduction
      of human exposure to these veterinary drug residues by consumption of
      contaminated bovine-derived products such as meat and milk.

PMID- 25814275
TI  - Multiplex detection of food allergens and gluten.
AB  - To help safeguard the food supply and detect the presence of undeclared food
      allergens and gluten, most producers and regulatory agencies rely on commercial
      test kits. Most of these are ELISAs with a few being PCR-based. These methods are
      very sensitive and analyte specific, requiring different assays to detect each of
      the different food allergens. Mass spectrometry offers an alternative approach
      whereby multiple allergens may be detected simultaneously. However, mass
      spectrometry requires expensive equipment, highly trained analysts, and several
      years before a quantitative approach can be achieved. Using multianalyte
      profiling (xMAP(r)) technology, a commercial multiplex test kit based on the use
      of established antibodies was developed for the simultaneous detection of up to
      14 different food allergens plus gluten. The assay simultaneously detects
      crustacean seafood, egg, gluten, milk, peanut, soy, and nine tree nuts (almond,
      Brazil nut, cashew, coconut, hazelnut, macadamia, pine nut, pistachio, and
      walnut). By simultaneously performing multiple tests (typically two) for each
      analyte, this magnetic bead-based assay offers built-in confirmatory analyses
      without the need for additional resources. Twenty-five of the assays were
      performed on buffer extracted samples, while five were conducted on samples
      extracted using reduced-denatured conditions. Thus, complete analysis for all 14
      allergens and gluten requires only two wells of a 96-well microtiter plate. This
      makes it possible to include in a single analytical run up to 48 samples. All 30
      bead sets in this multiplex assay detected 5 ng/mL of food allergen and gluten
      with responses greater than background. In addition, 26 of the bead sets
      displayed signal/noise ratios of five or greater. The bead-based design makes
      this 30-plex assay expandable to incorporate new antibodies and capture/detector
      methodologies by ascribing these new detectors to any of the unassigned bead sets
      that are commercially available.

PMID- 25814274
TI  - pH sensitivity of FRET reporters based on cyan and yellow fluorescent proteins.
AB  - It is generally acknowledged that the popular cyan and yellow fluorescent
      proteins carried by genetically encoded reporters suffer from strong pH
      sensitivities close to the physiological pH range. We studied the consequences of
      these pH responses on the intracellular signals of model Forster resonant energy
      transfer (FRET) tandems and FRET-based reporters of cAMP-dependent protein kinase
      activity (AKAR) expressed in the cytosol of living BHK cells, while changing the
      intracellular pH by means of the nigericin ionophore. Although the simultaneous
      pH sensitivities of the donor and the acceptor may mask each other in some cases,
      the magnitude of the perturbations can be very significant, as compared to the
      functional response of the AKAR biosensor. Replacing the CFP donor by the
      spectrally identical, but pH-insensitive Aquamarine variant (pK1/2 = 3.3)
      drastically modifies the biosensor pH response and gives access to the acid
      transition of the yellow acceptor. We developed a simple model of pH-dependent
      FRET and used it to describe the expected pH-induced changes in fluorescence
      lifetime and ratiometric signals. This model qualitatively accounts for most of
      the observations, but reveals a complex behavior of the cytosolic AKAR biosensor
      at acid pHs, associated to additional FRET contributions. This study underlines
      the major and complex impact of pH changes on the signal of FRET reporters in the
      living cell.

PMID- 25814278
TI  - Can medical students study happily?

PMID- 25814277
TI  - Endorsement of Criminal Behavior Amongst Offenders: Implications for DSM-5
      Gambling Disorder.
AB  - The fifth edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM) has changed the
      scoring threshold for a gambling disorder (GD) from five criteria to four and
      eliminated the illegal acts criterion. The impact of these changes was examined
      with data from a correctional population (N = 676) in Ontario, Canada. The
      offenders completed a self-report survey that included the Canadian problem
      gambling index, the South Oaks Gambling Screen and the DSM-IV criteria. Changing
      the threshold from 5 to 4 improved the convergent validity for GD and resulted in
      an increase in the percentage of offenders diagnosed with a GD from 7.4 to 10.2
      %. The results also indicate that the illegal acts criterion contributes to the
      convergent validity of GD. The evidence supports the change in the threshold from
      five to four, but also reinforces the importance of examining illegal acts when
      dealing with an offender population. The incorporation of illegal acts into the
      "lying to others" criteria appears to make up, to some extent, for the removal of
      the illegal acts criterion. 

PMID- 25814279
TI  - What kind of physicians should we foster?

PMID- 25814280
TI  - "I'm Not Happy, But I Don't Care": Help-Seeking Behavior, Academic Difficulties,
      and Happiness.
AB  - PURPOSE: Medical education is perceived as being very stressful, which leads to
      declines in subjective well-being in medical students. Therefore, student
      counseling is becoming an exigent issue. The goal of this study was to
      investigate the academic difficulties and subjective well-being of medical
      students to identify their needs with regard to counseling. In addition, we
      analyzed help-seeking behaviors of students to develop an effective counseling
      program. METHODS: We performed a survey (n=205) to determine the extent to which
      medical students encounter academic difficulties in their lives in medical school
      and how they attempt to resolve their problems. In addition, we used the Oxford
      Happiness Scale to examine the relationships between academic performance,
      previous help-seeking behavior, and happiness in medical students. RESULTS: Of
      various types of problems, 62% of medical students perceived learning
      difficulties to be the most serious issue in medical school. Despite encountering
      difficulties, more than 67% of students failed to seek help from faculty or their
      fellow students. There was a significant relationship between happiness score and
      previous help-seeking behavior. A lack of perceived seriousness was identified as
      the most significant barrier to seeking help. CONCLUSION: Access to counseling
      programs must be improved for students with apparent academic difficulties who do
      not seek counseling. Through such programs, students can learn and practice
      methods of coping with their difficulties and develop medical and professional
      competence.

PMID- 25814276
TI  - Mediational Role of Age of Onset in Gambling Disorder, a Path Modeling Analysis.
AB  - The aim of the study is to assess a mediational pathway, which includes patients'
      sex, personality traits, age of onset of gambling disorder (GD) and gambling
      related variables. The South Oaks Gambling Screen, the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90
      R) and the Temperament and Character Inventory-R were administered to a large
      sample of 1632 outpatients attending a specialized outpatient GD unit.
      Sociodemographic variables were also recorded. A Structural Equation Model was
      adjusted to assess the pathway. Age of onset mediated between personality profile
      (novelty seeking and self-transcendence) and GD severity and depression symptoms
      (measured by SCL-90-R). Sex had a direct effect on GD onset and depression
      symptoms: men initiated the GD earlier and reported fewer depression symptoms.
      Age of onset is a mediating variable between sex, personality traits, GD severity
      and depression symptoms. These empirical results provide new evidence about the
      underlying etiological process of dysfunctional behaviors related to gambling,
      and may help to guide the development of more effective treatment and prevention
      programs aimed at high-risk groups such as young men with high levels of novelty
      seeking and self-transcendence. 

PMID- 25814281
TI  - The effect of counseling for interpersonal relationship using myers-briggs type
      indicator.
AB  - PURPOSE: There are large differences between medical school curricula and those
      of other disciplines and graduate schools. Counseling program is designed to help
      participants understand their innate tendencies and have indirect experiences
      with the 16 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) types, which can lead to better
      interpersonal relationships. METHODS: The experimental and control groups, which
      were sampled randomly, comprised 34 students each. Each group was consisted of 17
      females and 17 males. We implemented a counseling program (understanding oneself,
      understanding others) only to the experimental group, not the control group. The
      effects of the program were analyzed by t-test and analysis of covariance
      (ANCOVA). The data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 Window. RESULTS: For the Human
      relationship scale as a whole, the experimental group showed an increase from
      3.641 to 3.846 (p=0.001). With regard to the subcategories, satisfaction
      increased from 3.705 to 4.022 (p=0.000), trust increased from 3.480 to 3.715
      (p=0.015), intimacy increased from 3.833 to 4.019 (p=0.007), and openness
      increased from 3.435 to 3.700 (p=0.006). CONCLUSION: This program improved
      interpersonal relationships by helping new students understand each other, build
      a rapport, and understand their personalities well with open minded attitudes.
      Their relationships gradually became more intimate than awkward through this
      program.

PMID- 25814282
TI  - Experience of Teaching a Class with a Film: Cognitive Changes with Regard to HIV.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to describe our experience of a class, using a
      film that deals with the social issues of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and
      the results of surveys before and after the class. METHODS: One hundred fifty-six
      second-year medical students were surveyed with self-questionnaires (9-point
      Likert scale) before, immediately after, and 2 years after a class that viewed a
      film ('Philadelphia', 1993). The same survey, comprising 4 items, was
      administered to 81 non-medical students in the same university. RESULTS: In 156
      medical students, 153 (98%) answered the questionnaires. Before the class, there
      was no significant difference between medical and non-medical students with
      regard to the cognition of social isolation of HIV-infected persons (4.13 vs.
      4.43, p=0.307). immediately after the class, medical student' cognition changed
      significantly in the positive direction on all items, irrespective of age, sex,
      and course grade. Two years after the class, this positive effect remained
      significant on 2 items: 'social isolation of HIV-infected persons' and 'casual
      contact with an HIV-infected person.' CONCLUSION: A film can be used to reinforce
      medical education in the affective domain.

PMID- 25814284
TI  - Experience of Bedside Teaching during Clerkship in Pulmonary Medicine for
      Improving Clinical Performance.
AB  - PURPOSE: Although the importance of bedside teaching is generally recognized,
      there is no published report on the actual experience or effects of bedside
      teaching in Korea. We aimed to study the effects and share the experience of
      bedside teaching during a clerkship in pulmonary medicine. METHODS: Bedside
      teaching was administered to 120 students through Year 3. To evaluate the
      improvement in clinical performance as a result of bedside teaching, students
      took the clinical performance examination (CPX) pre- and post-clerkship. They
      also completed a questionnaire about their perception of self-competence with
      regard to clinical performance. We analyzed the CPX scores and questionnaires.
      RESULTS: After introducing bedside teaching, CPX score on the pulmonary case
      increased from 48.9 to 60.1 between pre- and post-clerkship, respectively
      (p<0.001). Students had higher self-assessments of competency on the CPX, and
      their satisfaction with the clerkship increased. CONCLUSION: This study
      demonstrates that bedside teaching is effective in improving the clinical
      performance of medical students.

PMID- 25814283
TI  - Usefulness of a PC-Based Digitalized Recording System for Cystoscopy in Medical
      Education.
AB  - PURPOSE: Multimedia can be used to understand the basic anatomy and pathological
      features of the bladder, providing more intuitive knowledge than traditional
      education methods. Cystoscopy is one of the most fundamental and important
      diagnostic procedures for detecting pathology in the bladder. Thus, we developed
      a PC-based digitalized recording device and electronic document to create an
      electronic medical record to perform cystoscopy and used them for medical
      education. METHODS: To share them with an educatee, cystoscopic images from a
      camera unit were shown on the monitor of a personal computer, which was installed
      with an interface device with an S-VHS input. With these cystoscopic images, the
      operator could provide some information on important structures in the bladder,
      such as bilateral ureteral orifices, the verumontanum and the trigone to the
      educatee. Also, simple questionnaires were given to medical students to evaluate
      the effectiveness and value of this system. RESULTS: Cystoscopic images could be
      transferred to the monitor with considerable ease and quality through the
      personal computer. This system was effective and valuable in teaching the normal
      anatomy and pathology of the bladder. Also, based on the results of the
      questionnaire, we concluded that this system provides high-quality images that
      are sufficient to relay medical information and is superior to traditional
      methods with regard to educational effectiveness and increasing one's
      understanding of medical diseases. CONCLUSION: The PC-based recording system for
      cystoscopy substitutes for commercial recording devices for medical purposes, and
      provides sufficient medical information to medical students to allow them to
      understand the normal anatomy and pathological structure of the bladder.

PMID- 25814285
TI  - Developing and testing an evaluation tool to measure clinical teaching.
AB  - PURPOSE: Teaching evaluation tools can be used to provide feedback to medical
      educators and help them improve their teaching skills. The purpose of this study
      was to develop a clinical teaching evaluation tool and test its efficacy.
      METHODS: The draft tool was developed based on clinical education literature and
      was modified by the stakeholder groups. To examine the quality of the instrument,
      content and construct validity, as well as reliability and fitness were analyzed.
      Content validity was tested by the stakeholder groups using a survey, and
      construct validity was verified by confirmatory factor analysis using LISREL 8.8.
      Internal consistency of items was assessed thorough Cronbach alpha estimation.
      Rasch analysis using Winstep 3.65 was performed to estimate the fitness of the
      tool. RESULTS: The resulting tool consisted of 4 large categories, 25 small
      categories, and 43 items. According to the test results, the average importance
      of all 43 items was 4.03 (3.63 to 4.29). Cronbach alpha was 0.9689, and the
      correlation coefficients between the items were high. With regard to construct
      validity, 10 items needed minor modifications in the category setting. As the
      infit (0.76 to 1.23) and outfit (0.75 to 1.40) indices show, 42 items were fit to
      the item response theory. CONCLUSION: The clinical teaching evaluation tool that
      has been developed in this study is valid and reliable and fits the item response
      theory. It can be used as an evaluation method in a variety of clinical teaching
      settings.

PMID- 25814286
TI  - The strategies of feedback to improve medical students' performance.

PMID- 25814288
TI  - LRG1 suppresses the migration and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant tumor driven by complex
      pathological mechanisms and is characterized by fast progression and poor
      prognosis. The main cause of death in HCC patients is tumor metastasis. However,
      underlying molecular mechanisms of metastasis are largely unknown in HCC. In the
      present study, a novel metastasis-related gene, leucine-rich-alpha-2-glycoprotein
      1 (LRG1), was identified in HCC. We revealed that LRG1 expression was
      downregulated in HCC tissues by quantitative real-time PCR and
      immunohistochemical staining. In vitro assays demonstrated LRG1 had no effect on
      cell proliferation. Migratory and invasive potential of HCC cells was reduced by
      ectopic overexpression of LRG1, whereas silencing LRG1 could enhance migration
      and invasion of HCC cells. Furthermore, exogenous recombinant human protein of
      LRG1 could inhibit migration and invasion of HCC cells in vitro. The above
      findings indicate that LGR1 is involved in the inhibition of HCC metastasis and
      it may function as a novel metastasis suppressor in HCC. 

PMID- 25814287
TI  - Norcantharidin inhibits Wnt signal pathway via promoter demethylation of WIF-1 in
      human non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - Wingless-type (Wnt) family of secreted glycoproteins is a group of signal
      molecules implicated in oncogenesis. Abnormal activation of Wnt signal pathway is
      associated with a variety of human cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer
      (NSCLC). Wnt antagonists, such as the secreted frizzled-related protein (SFRP)
      family, Wnt inhibitory factor-1 (WIF-1) and cerberus, inhibit Wnt signal pathway
      by directly binding to Wnt molecules. Norcantharidin (NCTD) is known to possess
      anticancer activity but less nephrotoxicity than cantharidin. In this study, we
      found that NCTD inhibited cell proliferation, induced apoptosis, arrested cell
      cycle and suppressed cell invasion/migration in vitro. Additionally, Wnt signal
      pathway transcription was also suppressed. NCTD treatment blocked cytoplasmic
      translocation of beta-catenin into the nucleus. Alterations of apoptosis-related
      proteins, such as Bax, cleaved caspase-3 (pro-apoptotic) and Bcl-2 (anti
      apoptotic), had been detected. Furthermore, the expression levels of WIF-1 and
      SFRP1 were significantly increased in NCTD-treated groups compared with negative
      control (NC) groups. Abnormal methylation was observed in NC groups, while NCTD
      treatment promoted WIF-1 demethylation. The present study revealed that NCTD
      activated WIF-1 via promoter demethylation, inhibiting the canonical Wnt signal
      pathway in NSCLC, which may present a new therapeutic target in vivo.

PMID- 25814289
TI  - Detection of Autoantibodies Against Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein in
      Multiple Sclerosis and Related Diseases.
AB  - Autoantibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) occur in a
      proportion of patients with different inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the
      central nervous system, such as childhood multiple sclerosis (MS), acute
      disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), and neuromyelitis optica spectrum
      disorders (NMOSD). We describe here in detail a sensitive cell-based assay that
      allows the identification of autoantibodies against MOG in serum.

PMID- 25814290
TI  - Reprint of "Mathematics as verbal behavior".
AB  - "Behavior which is effective only through the mediation of other persons has so
      many distinguishing dynamic and topographical properties that a special treatment
      is justified and indeed demanded" (Skinner, 1957, p. 2). Skinner's demand for a
      special treatment of verbal behavior can be extended within that field to domains
      such as music, poetry, drama, and the topic of this paper: mathematics. For
      centuries, mathematics has been of special concern to philosophers who have
      continually argued to the present day about what some deem its "special nature."
      Two interrelated principal questions have been: (1) Are the subjects of
      mathematical interest pre-existing in some transcendental realm and thus are
      "discovered" as one might discover a new planet; and (2) Why is mathematics so
      effective in the practices of science and engineering even though originally such
      mathematics was "pure" with applications neither contemplated or even desired? I
      argue that considering the actual practice of mathematics in its history and in
      the context of acquired verbal behavior one can address at least some of its
      apparent mysteries. To this end, I discuss some of the structural and functional
      features of mathematics including verbal operants, rule-and contingency-modulated
      behavior, relational frames, the shaping of abstraction, and the development of
      intuition. How is it possible to understand Nature by properly talking about it?
      Essentially, it is because nature taught us how to talk. 

PMID- 25814291
TI  - Cocoa-rich diet ameliorates hepatic insulin resistance by modulating insulin
      signaling and glucose homeostasis in Zucker diabetic fatty rats.
AB  - Insulin resistance is the primary characteristic of type 2 diabetes and results
      from insulin signaling defects. Cocoa has been shown to exert anti-diabetic
      effects by lowering glucose levels. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible
      for this preventive activity and whether cocoa exerts potential beneficial
      effects on the insulin signaling pathway in the liver remain largely unknown.
      Thus, in this study, the potential anti-diabetic properties of cocoa on glucose
      homeostasis and insulin signaling were evaluated in type 2 diabetic Zucker
      diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats. Male ZDF rats were fed a control or cocoa-rich diet
      (10%), and Zucker lean animals received the control diet. ZDF rats supplemented
      with cocoa (ZDF-Co) showed a significant decrease in body weight gain, glucose
      and insulin levels, as well as an improved glucose tolerance and insulin
      resistance. Cocoa-rich diet further ameliorated the hepatic insulin resistance by
      abolishing the increased serine-phosphorylated levels of the insulin receptor
      substrate 1 and preventing the inactivation of the glycogen synthase kinase
      3/glycogen synthase pathway in the liver of cocoa-fed ZDF rats. The anti
      hyperglycemic effect of cocoa appeared to be at least mediated through the
      decreased levels of hepatic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and increased
      values of glucokinase and glucose transporter 2 in the liver of ZDF-Co rats.
      Moreover, cocoa-rich diet suppressed c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38 activation
      caused by insulin resistance. These findings suggest that cocoa has the potential
      to alleviate both hyperglycemia and hepatic insulin resistance in type 2 diabetic
      ZDF rats. 

PMID- 25814292
TI  - Patient care is at risk as NHS faces substantial deficit, says think tank.

PMID- 25814294
TI  - [Medicina Intensiva: a task of all of us].

PMID- 25814293
TI  - Capturing the cloud of diversity reveals complexity and heterogeneity of MRSA
      carriage, infection and transmission.
AB  - Genome sequencing is revolutionizing clinical microbiology and our understanding
      of infectious diseases. Previous studies have largely relied on the sequencing of
      a single isolate from each individual. However, it is not clear what degree of
      bacterial diversity exists within, and is transmitted between individuals.
      Understanding this 'cloud of diversity' is key to accurate identification of
      transmission pathways. Here, we report the deep sequencing of methicillin
      resistant Staphylococcus aureus among staff and animal patients involved in a
      transmission network at a veterinary hospital. We demonstrate considerable within
      host diversity and that within-host diversity may rise and fall over time.
      Isolates from invasive disease contained multiple mutations in the same genes,
      including inactivation of a global regulator of virulence and changes in phage
      copy number. This study highlights the need for sequencing of multiple isolates
      from individuals to gain an accurate picture of transmission networks and to
      further understand the basis of pathogenesis. 

PMID- 25814295
TI  - Sonographic assessment of lower uterine segment thickness at term in women with
      previous cesarean delivery.
AB  - AIM: The purpose of this study was to establish the validity of abdominal
      sonographic evaluation of lower uterine segment (LUS) thickness in full-term
      pregnancies with a single previous cesarean section, and to assess the usefulness
      of measuring LUS thickness in predicting the risk of uterine dehiscence. METHODS:
      Three hundred and thirty-six women with a single previous cesarean section who
      had an ultrasound measurement of the LUS thickness in pregnancy were enrolled.
      Abdominal sonographic assessment of LUS was carried out within 2 weeks of
      delivery. Sonographic measurements were correlated visual finding of a uterine
      scar at the time of the iterative cesarean section. Receiver operating curve
      analyses has been used to determine the detection rate and the risk of each
      actual value of LUS thickness vs. a thin uterine scar. RESULTS: In our present
      study, 2.5 mm was considered the critical cut-off value of the LUS thickness.
      This critical cut-off value was derived from the ROC curve with sensitivity,
      specificity, PPV, and NPV of 90.9, 84, 71.4, and 95.5 %, respectively (using
      transabdominal ultrasound). The linear regression model analysis revealed that
      full LUS thickness of <2.5 mm was the only factor to be correlated with
      translucent lower uterine segment (C3) (8.8 vs. 0 %; P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Full
      LUS thickness of <2.5 mm is associated with a higher risk of uterine dehiscence.

PMID- 25814296
TI  - Identifying the impact of inflammatory breast cancer on survival: a retrospective
      multi-center cohort study.
AB  - PURPOSE: Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) represents a rare and aggressive form
      of cancer with negative prognosis and high rate of recurrence. The purpose of
      this retrospective multi-center study was to evaluate the effect of IBC on
      overall and disease-free survival. Furthermore we analyzed the influence of
      hormone and Her2 receptor expression on inflammatory breast cancer cells on the
      clinical outcome of patients. METHODS: This retrospective German multi-center
      study included 11,780 patients with primary breast cancer recruited from 1992 to
      2008. In this sub-group analysis we focused on 70 patients with IBC. RESULTS:
      Despite the relatively small sample size, we could confirm the aggressiveness of
      inflammatory breast cancer and the different clinical behavior of IBC subtypes.
      It could be demonstrated that the lack of expression of hormone receptors on
      tumor cells is associated with a more aggressive clinical course and decreased
      overall and disease-free survival. Higher incidence of Her2 overexpression, that
      is typically associated with poor prognostic outcome among women with non-IBC
      tumors, seems however to have no prognostic significance. CONCLUSIONS: This
      BRENDA sub-group analysis, on a German cohort of breast cancer patients confirmed
      the negative outcome of IBC and the different clinical behavior of IBC subtypes.
      The best management of IBC requires intensive coordination and cooperation
      between various clinical disciplines involved in the treatment of IBC patients.
      Moreover there is a need to identify IBC-specific targeted therapies to improve
      the curing prospects of this subtype of cancer.

PMID- 25814297
TI  - Dual-energy contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM).
AB  - Dual-energy contrast-enhanced mammography is one of the latest developments in
      breast care. Imaging with contrast agents in breast cancer was already known from
      previous magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography studies. However,
      high costs, limited availability-or high radiation dose-led to the development of
      contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM). We reviewed the current
      literature, present our experience, discuss the advantages and drawbacks of CESM
      and look at the future of this innovative technique. 

PMID- 25814298
TI  - Cerebral aneurysm in a 12-year-old boy with a STAT3 mutation (hyper-IgE
      syndrome).

PMID- 25814299
TI  - Acute discrimination between superficial-partial and deep-partial thickness burns
      in a preclinical model with laser speckle imaging.
AB  - A critical need exists for a robust method that enables early discrimination
      between superficial-partial and deep-partial thickness burn wounds. In this
      study, we report on the use of laser speckle imaging (LSI), a simple, non
      invasive, optical imaging modality, to measure acute blood flow dynamics in a
      preclinical burn model. We used a heated brass comb to induce burns of varying
      severity to nine rats and collected raw speckle reflectance images over the
      course of three hours after burn. We induced a total of 12 superficial-partial
      and 18 deep-partial thickness burn wounds. At 3h after burn we observed a 28% and
      44% decrease in measured blood flow for superficial-partial and deep-partial
      thickness burns, respectively, and that these reductions were significantly
      different (p=0.00007). This preliminary data suggests the potential role of LSI
      in the clinical management of burn wounds. 

PMID- 25814301
TI  - Tuberculosis and survival in past populations: A paleo-epidemiological appraisal.
AB  - Historical assessments of the last two centuries consistently placed tuberculosis
      as the leading cause of mortality. However, for earlier periods, we can only
      calculate the frequencies of archaeological bone lesions, which tell us little
      about the real impact of the disease on mortality. These lesions are usually
      observed in individuals who have developed immune resistance, which is visible as
      healed osteo-articular lesions. This study aimed to test the differential impacts
      of tuberculosis, cribra orbitalia and cribra femoris on adult survival and sex
      based survival. We analyzed 28 French adult samples from the Antiquity and the
      Early Middle Ages. The age-at-death of 1480 individuals was estimated using
      cementochronology. Survival curves and median age-at-death were calculated to
      test new hypotheses that challenge the parasitic and deficiency theories of bone
      stress markers. Comparisons between carriers and non-carriers provided new
      information concerning the plausible causes of bone stress markers related to
      infections and TB. The most likely hypothesis is skeletal demineralization and
      osteoclastic resorption, which are usually observed close to tubercular granuloma
      or distant from active lesions. The bone marrow niche of Mycobacterium
      tuberculosis within CD271(+) BM-MSCs stem cells is the proposed explanation for
      the localized cortical resorption that is observed in bone stress markers. 

PMID- 25814300
TI  - Two positive tuberculosis cases in the late Nigrovits family, 18th century, Vac,
      Hungary.
AB  - Two mummies of the Hungarian mummy collection from Vac were the subjects of
      anthropological, paleopathological, radiological, paleomicrobiological,
      paleohistological and paleoproteomic studies. Both individuals belonged to the
      same family. The father, Jozsef Nigrovits (No 29), died at the age of 55 on the
      11th of November 1793; his son, Antal Nigrovits (No 54), died on the 16th of July
      1803, at the age of 22. They lived in the 18th century in Vac, a small town in
      northern Hungary. The macroscopic examination of the son showed a severely
      deformed neck and back region; the father has no visible mark of any illnesses.
      As earlier researches showed that tuberculosis was widespread in the community,
      the etiology of these deformities was examined. The paleomicrobiological results
      found that both individuals were infected with tuberculosis. Although they
      suffered from TB, the CT scan data of the bodies and their 3D reconstructions
      showed no skeletal evidence of tuberculosis. The deformity of the son turned to
      be a developmental abnormality of unknown origin, but no Pott's gibbus was
      present.

PMID- 25814302
TI  - Prevalence of drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis among children in China.
AB  - The available data on the epidemic of drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) among
      children in China is limited. This study attempted to clarify the drug resistance
      profiles of clinical strains isolated from children and estimate risk factors
      related to acquisition of drug resistance. All Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains
      from children (age <15 years) and adolescent (age 15-18 years) TB patients
      received in the strain library of Chinese Center for Disease Control and
      Prevention between January 2005 and December 2012 were included in the study. A
      study collection included 450 clinical isolates (100 from children, 159 from
      adolescents, and 191 from adults) from all over China. Drug susceptibility
      testing was performed by a proportion method. As a result, the drug resistance
      and multi-drug resistance (MDR) rates in children were 55% (55/100) and 22%
      (22/100), respectively. In children with MDR-TB, new cases accounted for 40.9%
      (9/22). Compared with adults, the drug resistance rates were similar in all
      subgroups (new cases, previously treated cases and all cases) of children (P >
      0.05), except for the lower resistance rate to isoniazid in total cases of
      children (P = 0.011). Patient related information was included in the MDR-TB
      association analysis. The treatment history was found to be strongly associated
      with MDR-TB in all three age groups (P < 0.05). Our results demonstrate that the
      prevalence of drug resistant TB in children in China is alarmingly high and
      similar to that seen in adults. In contrast, in adolescents, the drug resistance
      rate to most tested drugs was lower than in adults. Primary transmission and
      inadequate treatment are two equally important factors for the high MDR-TB rate
      in children. Thus, major efforts in the TB control in children should focus on
      decreasing the transmission of drug resistant TB and early testing of drug
      resistance. 

PMID- 25814303
TI  - [Association of air-pollution with acute myocardial infarction: A case-crossover
      study].
AB  - BACKGROUND: A large number of studies have demonstrated an association between
      ambient air pollutant exposures and acute myocardial infarctions (AMI). Case
      crossover methods are frequently used for analyzing the acute health effects of
      air pollution. Nevertheless, only a few studies controlled for potential
      confounders like other air pollutants and temperature. METHODS: The defined
      geographic entity for the collection of acute myocardial infarctions was composed
      of 15 municipalities in Charleroi. Charleroi is a relatively highly polluted
      region in Wallonia, the South of Belgium. The analyses presented hereafter
      concern patients in the 25-74 years age range over time from 1999 to 2009.
      Ambient concentrations of PM10, O3, NO2, CO and temperature were available from
      stationary monitors during this time period. A time-stratified case-crossover
      approach was applied. Season stratified analysis and analysis matching for
      environmental confounders were also performed. RESULTS: A total of 3303 AMIs were
      analyzed during the study period. For the entire year, O3 was significantly
      associated with AMI, OR=1.028 (CI95%: 1.003-1.054). The highest associations (for
      a 10 MUg.m(-3) rise in pollutant levels) between air pollution and myocardial
      infarction were observed for PM10 and O3 during the warm period, OR=1.086 (CI95%:
      1.020-1.151) and 1.064 (CI95%: 1.024-1.105), respectively. Matching cases and
      controls for temperature produced weaker association between O3 and AMI
      (OR=1.003, CI95%: 0.974-1.032). In contrast, this matching had no effect on the
      association between PM10 and AMI. The adjustment for NO2 concentration decreased
      the association between PM10 and AMI. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study
      reinforce the evidence of the short-term effects of air pollution on acute
      myocardial infarction, especially during the warm season. This also suggests that
      the case-crossover method is a suitable tool in studying the association between
      acute events and air pollution. Controlling for potential environmental
      confounding effects is also feasible with this method.

PMID- 25814304
TI  - Cause, correlation, conjecture.

PMID- 25814305
TI  - New genomes clarify mimicry evolution.
AB  - For over 100 years, it has been known that polymorphic mimicry is often switched
      by simple mendelian factors, yet the physical nature of these loci had escaped
      characterization. Now, the genome sequences of two swallowtail butterfly
      (Papilio) species have enabled the precise identification of a locus underlying
      mimicry, adding to unprecedented recent discoveries in mimicry genetics. 

PMID- 25814306
TI  - Transcriptional mimicry by tumor-associated stroma.
AB  - Recent molecular classification of colorectal cancer (CRC) has identified a poor
      prognosis transcriptional subtype associated with mesenchymal traits. New studies
      used CRC transcriptomic data to show that tumor-associated stroma mimics the gene
      signature of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and found no evidence for
      EMT of colorectal tumor cells. 

PMID- 25814307
TI  - Symbiotic plant-fungi interactions stripped down to the root.
AB  - Mycorrhizal fungi live in the roots of host plants and are crucial components of
      all forest ecosystems. A large-scale study of fungal genomics provides new
      insights into the evolution of mycorrhizae and a deep exploration of mycorrhizal
      diversity that helps to uncover the molecular and genetic details of fungal
      symbiotic relationships with plants. 

PMID- 25814313
TI  - Corrigendum: Common variants in ACYP2 influence susceptibility to cisplatin
      induced hearing loss.

PMID- 25814314
TI  - Introduction for the special issue on bioactive heterocycles.

PMID- 25814316
TI  - Attentional Bias in Psychopathy: An Examination of the Emotional Dot-Probe Task
      in Male Jail Inmates.
AB  - Numerous studies have identified differences in the identification of emotional
      displays between psychopaths and non-psychopaths; however, results have been
      equivocal regarding the nature of these differences. The present study
      investigated an alternative approach to examining the association between
      psychopathy and emotion processing by examining attentional bias to emotional
      faces; we used a modified dot-probe task to measure attentional bias toward
      emotional faces in comparison with neutral faces, among a sample of male jail
      inmates assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Results
      indicated a positive association between psychopathy and attention toward happy
      versus neutral faces, and that this association was attributable to Factor 1 of
      the psychopathy construct. 

PMID- 25814315
TI  - Cricothyroid Muscle Botulinum Toxin Injection to Improve Airway for Bilateral
      Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Paralysis, A Case Series.
AB  - Bilateral vocal fold paralysis most commonly results from iatrogenic trauma to
      the recurrent laryngeal nerve during surgical procedures in the anterior neck.
      Patients may require tracheostomy because of acute or gradual onset of dyspnea
      and airway compromise. The intralaryngeal injection of Botox has been considered
      as a possible therapy for these airway symptoms of bilateral vocal fold
      paralysis. Chronic unopposed activity of intact cricothyroid muscles could
      potentially result in gradual medialization of the vocal folds in patients with
      bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis. This case series describes three
      patients who successfully underwent injections of botulinum toxin into the
      bilateral cricothyroid muscles to offer sustained relief of dyspnea resulting
      from bilateral vocal fold paralysis. 

PMID- 25814317
TI  - Low Self-Control Among South Korean Adolescents: A Test of Gottfredson and
      Hirschi's Generality Hypothesis.
AB  - Theoretical propositions and empirical tests of Gottfredson and Hirschi's general
      theory continue to permeate the criminological literature. Nevertheless, the vast
      majority of studies have been conducted in North America and some European
      countries. Only a handful of empirical works have been conducted in East Asia. To
      further test the generality assertion of Gottfredson and Hirschi, the current
      study examines low self-control's efficacy in predicting the involvement of South
      Korean adolescents in typical delinquency, drinking, smoking, Internet addiction,
      and smartphone addiction. The presented findings largely support the generality
      hypothesis, although the theorists' assertion seems to be somewhat overstated. 

PMID- 25814318
TI  - Pharmacokinetics, safety, and tolerability of single and multiple-doses of
      pinocembrin injection administered intravenously in healthy subjects.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Pinocembrin is the most abundant flavonoid in
      propolis. Preclinical studies have suggested that pinocembrin protects rat brain
      against oxidation and apoptosis induced by ischemia-reperfusion both in vivo and
      in vitro. To investigate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of a new
      neuroprotective agent, pinocembrin. MATERIALS AND METHOD: A double-blind, placebo
      controlled, randomized study was carried out in 58 healthy subjects. Single
      ascending doses of pinocembrin (20-150 mg) were evaluated in 5 cohorts. Multi
      dose was studied at pinocembrin 60 mg. RESULTS: Pinocembrin was well tolerated.
      No serious adverse events occurred. No subjects were discontinued because of a
      treatment emergent AE. Treatment related adverse event was acute urticaria. Two
      subjects in 150 mg cohort developed grade II urticaria during the study. One
      subject discontinued after 3 days at 60 mg bid because of diarrhea. In the single
      dose study, the mean peak plasma pinocembrin concentration was obtained at the
      end of the 30-min infusion. The Cmax ranged from 0.28 MUg mL(-1) to 2.46 MUg mL(
      1). AUC (0,infinity) ranged from 10.34 MUg mL(-1) min to 89.34 MUg mL(-1) min.
      The T1/2 was similar across 5 dose groups, ranging from 40 to 55 min. Both
      urinary and feces excretion levels of pinocembrin were extremely low and similar
      among each dose groups, with mean values ranging from 0.07% to 0.17% and 0.94% to
      1.94% of the administered dose, respectively. Linear increases in Cmax and
      AUC(0,infinity) were observed. The pharmacokinetics of pinocembrin in multiple
      dose was similar to those observed in the single-dose study, with no evidence of
      accumulation. Both urinary and feces excretion levels of pinocembrin were
      extremely low. CONCLUSIONS: Pinocembrin displayed linear plasma pharmacokinetics
      over the dose range, 20-150 mg and was well tolerated up to 120 mg day(-1) when
      administered intravenously to healthy adults. No major safety concerns were
      identified that would preclude further clinical development of pinocembrin
      injection.

PMID- 25814319
TI  - Ethnobotanical survey of medicinally important shrubs and trees of Himalayan
      region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Present study was commenced with an aim to
      document the indigenous knowledge of medicinally important shrubs and trees of
      Himalayan region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. This is the first
      contribution to the quantitative ethnobotany of this region, as no reported data
      focusing on shrubs and trees from the area have been published. Study reported
      the ethnobotanical significance of medicinal plants for the treatment of various
      diseases. METHOD: Study was conducted during 2012-2014 following standard
      ethnobotanical methods. The ethnomedicinal data was collected through informed
      consent semi- structured interviews of 160 key informants. Documented data was
      analyzed by using quantitative indices of informant consensus factor (ICF),
      fidelity level (FL), use value (UV) and relative frequency citation (RFC).
      RESULTS: A total of 73 shrub and tree species belonging to 56 genera and 37
      families were reported to be used ethnomedicinally for the treatment of various
      ailments. Medicinal plant diversity showed that Rosaceae was dominating family
      with (9 spp.) followed by Moraceae (7 spp.), Euphorbiaceae, Mimosaceae, Pinaceae,
      Rhamnaceae (4 spp. each), Oleaceae (3 spp.), Apocynaceae, Caesalpinaceae,
      Ebenaceae, Fagaceae, Lythraceae, Papilionaceae, Acanthaceae, Verbenaceae (2 spp.
      each) while remaining 22 families were represented by one species each. Leaves
      (23%) were highly utilized plant parts, followed by fruits (22%), bark (18%),
      seeds (10%), roots (9%), flowers (8%), whole plant and aerial parts (4% each) and
      stem (2%). Modes of preparation fall into 14 categories including powder (33
      reports) followed by decoction (29 reports), paste (22 reports), juice (18
      reports), infusion (12 reports), raw (8 reports), extract and latex (5 reports
      each), gum and oil (4 reports each), fresh part and pulp (2 reports each), chewed
      and cooked (1 report each). The highest FIC was recorded for Gastro-intestinal
      disorders (0.58) followed by nail, skin and hair disorders (0.44). Maximum
      fidelity level (FL=100%) was expressed by Abies pindrow, Adhatoda vasica,
      Bauhinia variegata and Cedrela serrata. Based on use value Juglans regia (0.88)
      was found most significant species followed by Acacia nilotica (0.83),
      Phyllanthus emblica (0.81), Pinus roxburghii (0.75) and Punica granatum (0.71).
      CONCLUSION: The area has a rich diversity of medicinally important shrub and tree
      species. The tradition of using plants for medicinal purposes is still alive in
      the local community but recently this tradition is gradually declining in new
      generation. Therefore awareness is needed to be raised among the local people on
      sustainable use and conservation of local flora.

PMID- 25814320
TI  - Correlation between ATLS training and junior doctors' anatomical knowledge of
      intercostal chest drain insertion.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To review the ability of junior doctors (JDs) in identifying the
      correct anatomical site for intercostal chest drain insertion and whether prior
      Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) training influences this. DESIGN: We
      performed a prospective, observational study using a structured survey and asked
      a group of JDs (postgraduate year 1 [PGY1] or year 2 [PGY2]) to indicate on a
      photograph the exact preferred site for intercostal chest drain insertion.
      SETTING: This study was conducted in a large metropolitan university hospital in
      South Africa. RESULTS: A total of 152 JDs participated in the study. Among them,
      63 (41%) were men, and the mean age was 24 years. There were 90 (59%) PGY1
      doctors and 62 (41%) PGY2 doctors. Overall, 28% (42/152) of all JDs correctly
      identified the site that was located within the accepted safe triangle. A
      significantly higher proportion of PGY2 doctors selected the correct site when
      compared with PGY1 doctors (39% vs 20%, p = 0.026). Those who had prior ATLS
      provider training were 6.8 times more likely to be able to identify the correct
      site (RR = 6.8, 95% CI: 3.7-12.5). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the JDs do not have
      sufficient anatomical knowledge to identify the safe insertion site for
      intercostal chest drain. Those who had undergone ATLS training were more likely
      to be able to identify the safe insertion site.

PMID- 25814322
TI  - Knockdown of adipokinetic hormone synthesis increases susceptibility to oxidative
      stress in Drosophila--a role for dFoxO?
AB  - Insect adipokinetic hormones (AKHs) are pleiotropic hormones known to play a
      protective role in response to oxidative stress (OS). However, the precise
      signaling pathways are unclear. We present evidence that AKH may primarily employ
      the Forkhead box class O transcription factor (FoxO) to exert this effect. The
      impact of knocking down AKH synthesis or its over-expression in its response to
      OS was studied in Drosophila melanogaster. AKH knockdown (AKH-RNAi) as well as
      AKH overexpression (AKH-oex) was achieved using the Gal-4/UAS system and controls
      were w(1118) (+/+), AKH-Gal4/+, UAS-AKH/+ and UAS-AKH-RNAi/+. Exposure to 80 MUM
      hydrogen peroxide (HP) revealed that AKH-RNAi flies showed significantly higher
      mortality than AKH-oex or the respective control lines. This susceptibility was
      evidenced by significantly enhanced levels of protein carbonyls - a biomarker of
      OS, in AKH-RNAi flies compared to controls and AKH-oex flies. Interestingly, AKH
      oex flies had the least amount of protein carbonyls. AKH-RNAi flies had
      significantly less dFoxO transcript and translated protein compared to control
      and AKH-oex flies in un-challenged condition as well as when challenged with HP.
      Sestrin - a major antioxidant defense protein and one of the targets of dFoxO -
      was also significantly down-regulated (both at mRNA and protein level) in AKH
      RNAi flies (both unchallenged and challenged with HP) compared to control flies
      and flies with over-expressed AKH. These findings imply that dFoxO may act
      downstream of AKH as a transcription factor to mediate response to OS in D.
      melanogaster.

PMID- 25814321
TI  - Accumulation and effects of metal mixtures in two seaweed species.
AB  - Metal pollution, due to various anthropogenic sources, may pose a threat to
      marine ecosystems. Metals can be introduced into food chains via bioaccumulation
      in primary producers, and may potentially lead to toxic effects. Macroalgae are
      used as food by a wide variety of organisms, and are therefore extremely
      important in aquatic systems. This study investigated the accumulation and
      effects of metals in two macroalgae species. The green seaweed, Ulva lactuca and
      the red seaweed, Agardhiella subulata were each concurrently exposed to five
      metals (Cu, Ni, Pb, Cd, and Zn) and U. lactuca was also exposed to each metal
      individually for 48 h. Metal accumulation in the seaweed was measured, and
      various photosynthetic parameters were assessed, using imaging pulse amplitude
      modulated (PAM) fluorometry. Increased metal accumulation occurred in both
      seaweed species after 48 h exposure to metal mixtures and each metal
      individually. The distribution of metals in both seaweed species changed with
      increasing metal exposure concentrations, resulting in higher proportions of Cu
      and Zn in the metal-exposed groups, as compared to respective controls. Further,
      U. lactuca accumulated higher concentrations of metals when exposed to each metal
      individually rather than in metal mixtures, suggesting interactions among metals
      for uptake and/or bioaccumulation. Significant impairment of photosynthetic
      parameters in U. lactuca was observed after exposure to 100 and 1000 MUg/L metal
      mixtures, as well as 100 MUg/L of either Cd or Cu. These results demonstrate
      metal bioaccumulation and toxic effects in important primary producers, and may
      have implications for higher trophic levels.

PMID- 25814323
TI  - A digital implementation of neuron-astrocyte interaction for neuromorphic
      applications.
AB  - Recent neurophysiologic findings have shown that astrocytes play important roles
      in information processing and modulation of neuronal activity. Motivated by these
      findings, in the present research, a digital neuromorphic circuit to study neuron
      astrocyte interaction is proposed. In this digital circuit, the firing dynamics
      of the neuron is described by Izhikevich model and the calcium dynamics of a
      single astrocyte is explained by a functional model introduced by Postnov and
      colleagues. For digital implementation of the neuron-astrocyte signaling, Single
      Constant Multiply (SCM) technique and several linear approximations are used for
      efficient low-cost hardware implementation on digital platforms. Using the
      proposed neuron-astrocyte circuit and based on the results of MATLAB simulations,
      hardware synthesis and FPGA implementation, it is demonstrated that the proposed
      digital astrocyte is able to change the firing patterns of the neuron through
      bidirectional communication. Utilizing the proposed digital circuit, it will be
      illustrated that information processing in synaptic clefts is strongly regulated
      by astrocyte. Moreover, our results suggest that the digital circuit of neuron
      astrocyte crosstalk produces diverse neural responses and therefore enhances the
      information processing capabilities of the neuromorphic circuits. This is
      suitable for applications in reconfigurable neuromorphic devices which implement
      biologically brain circuits. 

PMID- 25814325
TI  - Evolutionary fire ecology: lessons learned from pines.
AB  - Macroevolutionary studies of the genus Pinus provide the oldest current evidence
      of fire as an evolutionary pressure on plants and date back to ca. 125 million
      years ago (Ma). Microevolutionary studies show that fire traits are variable
      within and among populations, especially among those subject to different fire
      regimes. In addition, there is increasing evidence of an inherited genetic basis
      to variability in fire traits. Added together, pines provide compelling evidence
      that fire can exert an evolutionary pressure on plants and, thus, shape
      biodiversity. In addition, evolutionary fire ecology is providing insights to
      improve the management of pine forests under changing conditions. The lessons
      learned from pines may guide research on the evolutionary ecology of other taxa. 

PMID- 25814326
TI  - Translocator proteins, porphyrins and abiotic stress: new light?
AB  - After four decades of extensive studies, the role of membrane-bound Translocator
      proteins (TSPOs) remains unclear and even controversial. In light of recent
      insights into the structure and activity of TSPOs, showing that they cannot only
      bind, but also enzymatically photodegrade protoporphyrin IX, we discuss their
      emerging physiological roles and regulation. 

PMID- 25814324
TI  - Relationship between metabolic control and self-monitoring of blood glucose in
      insulin-treated patients with diabetes mellitus.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between metabolic control (MC) and
      frequency of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) in insulin-treated patients
      with type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 (T2DM) diabetes mellitus, and to analyze the
      factors associated to MC. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A multicenter, cross-sectional,
      observational study was conducted in which endocrinologists enrolled diabetic
      patients treated with insulin who used a glucometer. The cut-off value for MC was
      HbA1c <= 7%. Grade of acceptance of the glucometer was assessed using a visual
      analogue scale (VAS). RESULTS: A total of 341 patients (53.5% males) with a mean
      age (SD) 52.8 (16.3) years, mean HbA1c of 7.69% (1.25) and 128 (37.5%) with T1DM
      and 211 (61.9%) with T2DM were evaluable. SMBG was done by 86.1% at least once
      weekly. No relationship was seen between MC and SMBG (P=.678) in the overall
      sample or in the T1DM (P=.940) or T2DM (P=.343) subgroups. In the logistic
      regression model, hyperglycemic episodes (Exp-b [risk] 1.794, P=0.022), falsely
      elevated HbA1c values (Exp-b 3.182, P=.005), and VAS (Exp-b 1.269, P=.008) were
      associated to poor MC in the total sample. Hyperglycemic episodes (Exp-b 2.538,
      P=.004), falsely elevated HbA1c values (Exp-b 3.125, P=.012), and VAS (Exp-b
      1.316, P=.026) were associated to poor MC in the T2DM subgroup, while body mass
      index (Exp-b 1.143, P=.046) was associated to poor MC in the T1DM subgroup.
      CONCLUSIONS: In this retrospective, non-controlled study on patients with DM
      treated with insulin who used a glucometer, no relationship was seen between the
      degree of metabolic control and frequency of use of the glucometer.

PMID- 25814327
TI  - Saying no to drugs.
AB  - Illicit drug use, and the associated health problems, is a frequent issue
      encountered by medical providers. Because of its salience as a piece of health
      care information, drug use history is often included in patient charts and
      presentations by house staff and medical students. However, if used and recorded
      inappropriately, drug use history can have significant long-lasting effects on
      the perception of patients in a system where they have little agency. 

PMID- 25814328
TI  - Palliative medicine fellows attend to compassion fatigue using John Stone's
      'Talking to the Family'.
AB  - For graduate medical education trainees, as well as contemporary practitioners,
      developing skills in recognizing compassion fatigue and practising self-care is
      vital to professional sustainability. The field of palliative medicine is no
      exception. In our fellowship programme, we use John Stone's poem, 'Talking to the
      Family,' to engage trainees in a professional development workshop on personal
      experiences and strategies for self-care. 

PMID- 25814329
TI  - Competency-based veterinary education: an integrative approach to learning and
      assessment in the clinical workplace.
AB  - When graduating from veterinary school, veterinary professionals must be ready to
      enter the complex veterinary profession. Therefore, one of the major
      responsibilities of any veterinary school is to develop training programmes that
      support students' competency development on the trajectory from novice student to
      veterinary professional. The integration of learning and assessment in the
      clinical workplace to foster this competency development in undergraduate
      veterinary education was the central topic of this thesis. 

PMID- 25814330
TI  - Reflecting upon multisource feedback as 'assessment for learning'.

PMID- 25814331
TI  - Assessment of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight
      mass spectrometry based methods for investigating 206 dioxin-like micropollutants
      in animal-derived food matrices.
AB  - This paper evaluates different multiresidue methods based on comprehensive two
      dimensional gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC*GC
      TOF/MS) to analyze dioxin-related micropollutants in complex food matrices. In a
      first step, the column sets Rtx-PCB/BPX-50 and Rtx-Dioxin2/BPX-50 were compared
      in terms of peak shape (width and symmetry) and resolution for the separation of
      polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzo-p
      dioxins/dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in solvent. A satisfactory separation of 206
      dioxin-related micropollutants including the 17 toxic PCDD/Fs was achieved in 75
      min with the column set Rtx-Dioxin2/BPX-50. In a second time, the GC*GC-TOF/MS
      method was spread to the analysis of dioxin-related micropollutants in complex
      food matrices. An extraction procedure including accelerated solvent extraction
      (ASE), centrifugal evaporation and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) was
      optimized. Starting with meat as a model matrix, a micropollutant spiking method
      was then set up by comparing seven methods in terms of recoveries and
      reproducibility. The method combining immersion of the meat in a large volume of
      solvent containing micropollutants followed by homogenization by blender induced
      recoveries in the acceptable range of 70-130% and satisfactory standard
      deviations (<=10%) for most of the compounds studied. Limits of detection of the
      GC*GC-TOF/MS method ranged between 50 and 100 pg/g of spiked fresh meat for PCBs
      and between 65 and 227 pg/g for PCDD/Fs. Potential applications of this method
      are discussed.

PMID- 25814332
TI  - Evaluation of injection methods for fast, high peak capacity separations with low
      thermal mass gas chromatography.
AB  - Low thermal mass gas chromatography (LTM-GC) was evaluated for rapid, high peak
      capacity separations with three injection methods: liquid, headspace solid phase
      micro-extraction (HS-SPME), and direct vapor. An Agilent LTM equipped with a
      short microbore capillary column was operated at a column heating rate of 250 
      degrees C/min to produce a 60s separation. Two sets of experiments were conducted
      in parallel to characterize the instrumental platform. First, the three injection
      methods were performed in conjunction with in-house built high-speed cryo
      focusing injection (HSCFI) to cryogenically trap and re-inject the analytes onto
      the LTM-GC column in a narrower band. Next, the three injection methods were
      performed natively with LTM-GC. Using HSCFI, the peak capacity of a separation of
      50 nl of a 73 component liquid test mixture was 270, which was 23% higher than
      without HSCFI. Similar peak capacity gains were obtained when using the HSCFI
      with HS-SPME (25%), and even greater with vapor injection (56%). For the 100 MUl
      vapor sample injected without HSCFI, the preconcentration factor, defined as the
      ratio of the maximum concentration of the detected analyte peak relative to the
      analyte concentration injected with the syringe, was determined to be 11 for the
      earliest eluting peak (most volatile analyte). In contrast, the preconcentration
      factor for the earliest eluting peak using HSCFI was 103. Therefore, LTM-GC is
      demonstrated to natively provide in situ analyte trapping, although not to as
      great an extent as with HSCFI. We also report the use of LTM-GC applied with time
      of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) detection for rapid, high peak capacity
      separations from SPME sampled banana peel headspace.

PMID- 25814333
TI  - Room-temperature cataluminescence from CO oxidation in a non-thermal plasma
      assisted catalysis system.
AB  - Cataluminescence (CTL) is a kind of chemiluminescence during catalytic reaction
      on surface of catalysts under a heated condition. Due to the low catalytic
      reactivity of CO, normally low intensity of CTL is obtained during
      heterogeneously catalytic oxidation of CO under heated conditions (normally
      higher than 150 degrees C), even catalyzed by precious-metal-based catalysts.
      Therefore, seeking enhanced CTL of CO at room temperature and using low-cost
      catalysts becomes significant. Here, CTL generated from CO oxidation was firstly
      reported at room temperature, which was carried out in a non-thermal plasma
      assisted (NTPA) catalysis system. With air acting as discharge gas, carrier gas
      as well as oxidant, a Mn/SiO2 nanomaterials-based NTPA catalysis system was
      fabricated for CO catalytic oxidation at room temperature, whose temperature was
      much lower than previous CTL methods. Relatively high and selective CTL responses
      were acquired during CO oxidation on surface of Mn/SiO2 nanomaterials, whereas no
      significant CTL signal was recorded without plasma assistance or on other metals
      doped SiO2 catalysts. Without any excitation light source or heating element, a
      low cost and simple CO sensor was fabricated by using common and easily
      synthesized catalysts. The present work has greatly simplified the constructions,
      and enlarged CTL applications. 

PMID- 25814334
TI  - Interactions of nano-oxides with low-molecular-weight organic acids in a
      contaminated soil.
AB  - Various low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs) play an important role in the
      mobilisation of contaminants and their subsequent uptake by plants. Nano
      maghemite (NM) and an amorphous Mn oxide (AMO) were investigated for their
      stabilisation potential under simulated rhizosphere conditions in terms of their
      use during chemical stabilisation and aided phytostabilisation of metal(loid)s in
      contaminated soils. In order to understand the reactivity of these potential
      sorbents of contaminants in soils and subsequent mobility of metal(loid)s, a set
      of time-dependent batch leaching experiments was performed using a mix of acetic,
      lactic, citric, malic and formic acids simulating root exudates. Despite being
      relatively unstable under given conditions, the AMO proved to be an efficient
      amendment for rapid stabilisation of both metals and As compared to NM.
      Generally, low pH (~ 4) and the presence of citrate complexes resulted in higher
      mobility of metals in the non- and NM-amended soil. In contrast, the presence of
      AMO in the soil accelerated the neutralisation reactions related to pH increase
      and (co-) precipitation of secondary Fe/Mn/Al oxyhydroxides. Mineralogical
      transformations of the AMO showed to be crucial for contaminant immobilisation.

PMID- 25814335
TI  - A novel two-dimensional liquid chromatographic system for the online toxicity
      prediction of pharmaceuticals and related substances.
AB  - In this study, a novel two-dimensional liquid chromatographic (2D-LC) system was
      developed for simultaneous separation and toxicity prediction of pharmaceutical
      and its related substances. A conventional ODS column was used on the 1st-D to
      separate the sample; while, bio-partitioning micellar chromatography served as
      the 2nd-D to predict toxicity of the components. The established system was
      tested for the toxicity of ibuprofen and its impurities with known toxicity. With
      only one injection, ibuprofen and its impurities were separated on the 1st-D; and
      LC50 values of individual impurity were obtained based on the quantitative
      retention-activity relationships, which agreed well with the reported data.
      Furthermore, LC50 values of photolysis transformation products (TPs) of
      carprofen, ketoprofen and diclofenac acid (as unknown compounds) were screened in
      this 2D-LC system, which could be an indicator of the toxicity of these TPs and
      was meaningful for the environmental monitoring and drinking water treatment. The
      established 2D-LC system was cost-effective, time-saving and reliable, and was
      promising for fast online screening of toxicity of known and unknown analytes in
      the complex sample in a single step. It may find applications in environment,
      pharmaceutical and food, etc. 

PMID- 25814336
TI  - Discrete limit and monotonicity properties of the Floquet eigenvalue in an age
      structured cell division cycle model.
AB  - We consider a cell population described by an age-structured partial differential
      equation with time periodic coefficients. We assume that division only occurs
      within certain time intervals at a rate [Formula: see text] for cells who have
      reached minimal positive age (maturation). We study the asymptotic behavior of
      the dominant Floquet eigenvalue, or Perron-Frobenius eigenvalue, representing the
      growth rate, as a function of the maturation age, when the division rate
      [Formula: see text] tends to infinity (divisions become instantaneous). We show
      that the dominant Floquet eigenvalue converges to a staircase function with an
      infinite number of steps, determined by a discrete dynamical system. This
      indicates that, in the limit, the growth rate is governed by synchronization
      phenomena between the maturation age and the length of the time intervals in
      which division may occur. As an intermediate result, we give a sufficient
      condition which guarantees that the dominant Floquet eigenvalue is a
      nondecreasing function of the division rate. We also give a counter example
      showing that the latter monotonicity property does not hold in general. 

PMID- 25814337
TI  - Material deprivation and unemployment affect coercive sex among young people in
      the urban slums of Blantyre, Malawi: A multi-level approach.
AB  - We explore relations among material deprivation (measured by insufficient
      housing, food insecurity and poor healthcare access), socio-economic status
      (employment, income and education) and coercive sex. A binary logistic multi
      level model is used in the estimation of data from a survey of 1071 young people
      aged 18-23 years, undertaken between June and July 2013, in the urban slums of
      Blantyre, Malawi. For young men, unemployment was associated with coercive sex
      (odds ratio [OR]=1.77, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.09-3.21) while material
      deprivation (OR=1.34, 95% CI: 0.75-2.39) was not. Young women in materially
      deprived households were more likely to report coercive sex (OR=1.37, 95% CI:
      1.07-2.22) than in non-materially deprived households. Analysis of local
      indicators of deprivation is critical to inform the development of effective
      strategies to reduce coercive sex in urban slums in Malawi. 

PMID- 25814339
TI  - Population and forensic data for three sets of forensic genetic markers in four
      ethnic groups from Iran: Persians, Lurs, Kurds and Azeris.
AB  - A total of 255 individuals (Persians, Lurs, Kurds and Azeris) from Iran were
      typed for three sets of forensic genetic markers with the NGM SElectTM,
      DIPplex((r)) and Argus X-12 kits. Statistically significant deviations (P<=0.002)
      from Hardy-Weinberg expectations were observed for the insertion-deletion markers
      HLD97 and HLD93 after Holm-Sidak correction. Statistically significant (P<0.05)
      levels of linkage disequilibrium were observed between markers within two of the
      four studied X-chromosomal linkage groups. AMOVA analyses of the three sets of
      markers did not show population structure when the individuals were grouped
      according to their ethnic group. The Iranian population grouped closely to
      populations living geographically near to Iran based on pairwise FST distances.
      The matching probabilities ranged from 1 in 3.2*10(7) males by using haplotype
      frequencies of four X-chromosomal haplogroups to 1 in 3.4*10(21) individuals for
      the 16 autosomal STRs. 

PMID- 25814338
TI  - Neighbourhood demolition, relocation and health. A qualitative longitudinal study
      of housing-led urban regeneration in Glasgow, UK.
AB  - We conducted a qualitative longitudinal study to explore how adult residents of
      disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods (Glasgow, UK) experienced neighbourhood
      demolition and relocation. Data from 23 households was collected in 2011 and
      2012. Some participants described moves to new or improved homes in different
      neighbourhoods as beneficial to their and their families' wellbeing. Others
      suggested that longstanding illnesses and problems with the new home and/or
      neighbourhood led to more negative experiences. Individual-level contextual
      differences, home and neighbourhood-level factors and variations in intervention
      implementation influence the experiences of residents involved in relocation
      programmes. 

PMID- 25814341
TI  - Monogenic autoinflammatory diseases: Cytokinopathies.
AB  - Rapid advances in genetics are providing unprecedented insight into functions of
      the innate immune system with identification of the mutations that cause
      monogenic autoinflammatory disease. Cytokine antagonism is profoundly effective
      in a subset of these conditions, particularly those associated with increased
      interleukin-1 (IL-1) activity, the inflammasomopathies. These include syndromes
      where the production of IL-1 is increased by mutation of innate immune sensors
      such as NLRP3, upstream signalling molecules such as PSTPIP1 and receptors or
      downstream signalling molecules, such as IL-1Ra. Another example of this is
      interferon (IFN) and the interferonopathies, with mutations in the sensors STING
      and MDA5, the upstream signalling regulator AP1S3, and a downstream inhibitor of
      IFN signalling, ISG15. We propose that this can be extended to cytokines such as
      IL-36, with mutations in IL-36Ra, and IL-10, with mutations in IL-10RA and IL
      10RB, however mutations in sensors or upstream signalling molecules are yet to be
      described in these instances. Additionally, autoinflammatory diseases can be
      caused by multiple cytokines, for example with the activation of NF-kappaB/Rel,
      for which we propose the term Relopathies. This nosology is limited in that some
      cytokine pathways may be degenerate in their generation or execution, however
      provides insight into likely autoinflammatory disease candidates and the
      cytokines with which newly identified mutations may be associated, and therefore
      targeted. 

PMID- 25814340
TI  - History of interleukin-4.
AB  - The history of the discovery and the development of our knowledge of IL-4
      exemplifies the path of progress in biomedical science. There are unanticipated
      twists and turns although progress is made, sometimes quickly, other times far
      too slowly. Illustrative is the extended time from the first report of IL-4 in
      1982 to the establishment of the efficacy of blocking IL-4 and its congener IL-13
      in the treatment of moderate to severe asthma and atopic dermatitis, a period of
      31years. The author was "present at the creation" and has been a participant or a
      witness to virtually all the major advances and recounts here his recollection of
      this history.

PMID- 25814342
TI  - Controlling the unfolded protein response-mediated life and death decisions in
      cancer.
AB  - Cancer cells are exposed to intrinsic (oncogene) or extrinsic
      (microenvironmental) challenges, leading to activation of stress response
      pathways. The unfolded protein response (UPR) is the cellular response to
      endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and plays a pivotal role in tumor development.
      Depending on ER stress intensity and duration, the UPR is either pro-survival to
      preserve ER homeostasis or pro-death if the stress cannot be resolved. On one
      hand, the adaptive arm of the UPR is essential for cancer cells to survive the
      harsh conditions they are facing, and on the other hand, cancer cells have
      evolved mechanisms to bypass ER stress-induced cell death, thereby conferring
      them with a selective advantage for malignant transformation. Therefore, the
      mechanisms involved in the balance between survival and death outcomes of the UPR
      may be exploited as therapeutic tools to treat cancer. 

PMID- 25814343
TI  - Living donor bone banking: processing and discarding--from procurement to
      therapeutic use.
AB  - Skeletal muscle and osteoarticular tissue banks are responsible to procure,
      process, store and distribute tissues, from living and cadaveric donors. The
      procedures involve the application of protocols covering all aspects of the
      banking, ensuring the best tissue quality and maximum safety for the recipient.
      An analysis on the causes of bone tissue discarded by Biotar Tissue Bank between
      January 2005 and December 2012 was carried. Bone tissue was obtained from both
      hip and knee replacement (femoral heads and tibial plateau respectively) in
      living donors treated at different medical-surgical institutions in Argentina.
      These tissues were processed at the Bank to produce both frozen and lyophilized
      cancellous bone. Out of 3413 donated bones received by the Bank, 77.55 % resulted
      in final product, while the remaining 22.44 % was discarded in compliance with
      the quality standards of both the Bank and the regulatory authority. Comparing
      the last and the first year of the studied period, the number of discarded tissue
      increased 3.6 times, while the number of collected bones was approximately 10
      times higher. Related to total disposed tissue, reactive serology was the most
      frequent cause (62.14 %), followed by inappropriate collection/storage of blood
      sample (30.81 %). A progressive reduction in the percentages of total discard was
      observed, and this was proportional to inappropriate collection/storage of blood
      sample. No significant differences were found in the discard rates due to
      positive serology throughout all the years studied. The success of a tissue bank
      requires full commitment of all the personnel especially the team members
      responsible for donor selection and the processing of allografts. It is important
      to critically screen donors in the early stages of donor recruitment. All of the
      procedures carried out by the tissue bank are parts of the quality control system
      which must be strictly carried out. Biotar Tissue Bank is continuously committed
      to ensure safety to the recipients. 

PMID- 25814344
TI  - Can anxiety and depression, separately or in combination predict subjective
      health status 10 years post-PCI?

PMID- 25814345
TI  - Re: Wasfy et al. Guidelines versus decision analysis is the wrong conversation.

PMID- 25814346
TI  - Percutaneous treatment of aorto-ostial coronary lesions: Current challenges and
      future directions.
AB  - Flow-limiting aorto-ostial coronary lesions are clinically important because they
      subtend a large myocardial territory and may induce extensive myocardial
      ischemia. Diagnosis and treatment of these lesions is challenging and procedural
      success and clinical outcomes are inferior to non-ostial lesions. The purpose of
      this review is to summarize current knowledge regarding aorto-ostial percutaneous
      coronary intervention and to suggest novel approaches for optimizing these
      procedures. 

PMID- 25814347
TI  - Testosterone may influence left ventricular diastolic function depending on
      previous myocardial infarction and smoking.

PMID- 25814348
TI  - Hybrid ABSORB bioresorbable vascular scaffold and drug eluting stent or hybrid
      BVS-DES percutaneous coronary intervention: Method and rationale for hybrid
      overlapping PCI.

PMID- 25814350
TI  - A case of intracerebral hemorrhage and apical ballooning: An important
      differential diagnosis in ST-segment elevation.

PMID- 25814349
TI  - Progression of matrixin and cardiokine expression patterns in an ovine model of
      heart failure and recovery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The molecular mechanisms underlying the geometrical changes of the
      left ventricle during the progression to heart failure and recovery are not well
      defined. OBJECTIVE: Here we investigate the involvement of matrixins and
      cardiokines in an ovine model of pressure-induced left ventricular failure (LVF).
      METHODS: Fifteen sheep underwent supracoronary aortic banding with an inflatable
      cuff. A controlled and progressive increase of LV pressure was monitored
      echocardiographically. Endomyocardial biopsies were collected throughout the
      development of LVF and subsequent recovery after pressure unloading. RESULTS:
      Thirteen sheep developed LVF with a subsequent recovery. Peak left ventricular
      hypertrophy (LVH) and dilatation (LVD) occurred at 31.5 +/- 1.6 weeks and 102.7
      +/- 2.2 weeks post-banding respectively, with an increase in LV internal diameter
      in diastole (LVIDd 5.11 +/- 0.12 compared to the control 3.37 +/- 0.07 cm,
      p<0.001), with preserved LV ejection fraction (LVEF). Reduced LVEF became evident
      116.5 +/- 2.7 weeks post-banding. Clinical and echocardiographic improvements
      were observed following deflation of the aortic banding cuff. By 138.1 +/- 3.1
      weeks cardiac performance recovered with restoration of LVEF. Significant changes
      in the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-1, -2, -3, vascular
      endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2,
      interferon (INF)-alpha-2 and soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) were observed
      throughout the progression to failure and recovery. CONCLUSIONS: We used an ovine
      model to study reversible LV remodelling without interruption and found
      significant changes in matrixin and cardiokine expression during LV progression
      to failure and recovery.

PMID- 25814351
TI  - Uncertainties in insurances for adults with congenital heart disease.

PMID- 25814352
TI  - Coronary microvascular dysfunction in patients with diabetes, hypertension and
      metabolic syndrome.

PMID- 25814353
TI  - Complete versus culprit-only revascularization in patients with multi-vessel
      disease undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention: A meta-analysis of
      randomized trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The best approach for revascularization of multi-vessel coronary
      disease in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing
      primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is controversial. METHODS: We
      searched the Medline and Web of Science databases, the Cochrane Register of
      Controlled Trials, and major conference proceedings for clinical trials that
      randomized STEMI patients with multi-vessel disease to a complete versus culprit
      only revascularization strategy. Random effects summary risk ratios (RR) were
      constructed using a DerSimonian-Laird model. RESULTS: A total of 6 trials met our
      selection criteria, which yielded 1,190 patients. The mean follow-up duration was
      20.5 months. The incidence of major adverse cardiac events was significantly
      reduced in the complete revascularization group versus the culprit-only
      revascularization group (RR 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.41-0.78, p <
      0.001). This was due to a lower risk of urgent revascularization with complete
      revascularization (RR 0.55, 95% CI 0.35-0.86, p = 0.01). A non-significant
      reduction was observed with complete versus culprit-only revascularization for
      the combined outcome of mortality or myocardial infarction (RR 0.56, 95% CI 0.30
      1.04, p = 0.06). CONCLUSION: Complete revascularization of significant coronary
      lesions at the time of primary PCI in patients with STEMI and multi-vessel
      disease was associated with better outcomes. This was primarily due to a
      reduction in the need for urgent revascularization. Larger trials are needed to
      determine if complete revascularization reduces death or myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25814354
TI  - Successful heart transplantation in an adult patient with partial anomalous
      pulmonary venous return from the left upper lobe.

PMID- 25814355
TI  - The controversy about the association between depression and coronary slow flow
      phenomenon.

PMID- 25814356
TI  - Long-term follow-up of the viability guided angioplasty after acute myocardial
      infarction (VIAMI) trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) not treated
      with primary or rescue percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are at risk for
      recurrent ischemia. In non-high risk patients, with proven viability in the
      infarct-area, the VIAMI trial showed benefit of early in-hospital stenting of the
      infarct-related coronary artery for the composite of death, myocardial infarction
      (MI), or unstable angina (UA) at 1 year follow-up. In this study we evaluated the
      long-term outcome (median 8 years) of patients included in the VIAMI-trial.
      METHODS: After being stable during the first 48 h of their acute MI, we randomly
      assigned 216 patients with viability to an invasive (PCI) or a conservative
      (ischemia-guided) strategy. The primary outcome was the composite endpoint of
      death from any cause, recurrent myocardial infarction, or unstable angina. The
      secondary outcome of this study was the need for (repeat) revascularization.
      RESULTS: The combined endpoint of death, recurrent MI and UA was 20.8% in the
      invasive group and 32.7% in the conservative group (hazard ratio 0.59; 95% CI
      0.36-0.99, p = 0.049). No differences were seen in death (8.5% vs. 8.2%, p =
      0.80) or MI (7.5% vs. 10.9%, p = 0.48). Only UA showed a significant difference
      (4.7% vs. 13.6%, p = 0.002). Repeated revascularization was performed in 22.6% of
      the invasive group and 41.8% of the conservative group (hazard ratio 0.43; 95% CI
      0.29-0.74, p < 0.001).' CONCLUSION: In patients with acute MI (treated with
      thrombolysis or without reperfusion therapy) and proven viability in the infarct
      area, we demonstrated a long-term benefit of early in-hospital stenting of the
      infarct-related coronary artery.

PMID- 25814357
TI  - Is anemia a new cardiovascular risk factor?
AB  - Anemia is frequent in patients with cardiovascular disease and is often
      characterized as the fifth cardiovascular risk factor. It is considered to
      develop due to a complex interaction of iron deficiency, cytokine production and
      impaired renal function, although other factors, such as blood loss, may also
      contribute. Unfortunately, treatment of anemia in cardiovascular disease lacks
      clear targets and specific therapy is not defined. Treatment with erythropoietin
      stimulating agents in combination with iron is the basic strategy but clear
      guidelines are not currently available. This review aims to clarify poorly
      investigated and defined issues concerning the relation of anemia and
      cardiovascular risk--in particular in patients with acute coronary syndromes and
      chronic heart failure--as well as the current therapeutic strategies in these
      clinical conditions.

PMID- 25814358
TI  - Right ventricular mural thrombus formation superimposed on previous anterior
      myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25814359
TI  - ISB news from the Chair of the Student and New Professionals Group.
AB  - An update from the new Chair of the Students and New Professionals Group of the
      International Society of Biometeorology.

PMID- 25814360
TI  - Introduction to the ECR Special Issue on Molecular Motors.

PMID- 25814361
TI  - Synaptic vesicle pools: Principles, properties and limitations.

PMID- 25814362
TI  - SUV420H2 suppresses breast cancer cell invasion through down regulation of the
      SH2 domain-containing focal adhesion protein tensin-3.
AB  - The genome-wide loss of histone H4 lysine 20 tri-methylation (H4K20me3) is
      observed in multiple types of cancer, including breast tumors. Since H4K20me3 is
      preferentially targeted to repetitive elements in the pericentromeric and
      telomeric heterochromatin and plays a role in chromatin integrity, the
      pathological effects of disrupted H4K20me3 in tumors have been attributed to
      genomic instability. However, in this report, we show that loss of H4K20me3
      modulates gene expression profiles, leading to increased cell invasion. Reduced
      H4K20me3 levels in tumor cells are often accompanied by a decrease in the
      expression of the H4K20-specific methyltransferase, SUV420H2. Exogenous delivery
      of SUV420H2 into MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells induced selective and
      specific changes in the expression of cancer-related genes. One of the most
      downregulated genes in response to SUV420H2 expression was the Src substrate,
      tensin-3, a focal adhesion protein that contributes to cancer cell migration.
      Depletion of tensin-3 suppressed breast cancer cell invasiveness. Furthermore,
      silencing of tensin-3 was associated with enrichment of H4K20me3 immediately
      upstream of the tensin-3 transcription start site, suggesting that the loss of
      H4K20me3 in tumor cells induced the expression of cancer-promoting genes. These
      findings connect the loss of H4K20me3 with tumor progression, through the
      transcriptional activation of cancer-promoting genes. 

PMID- 25814363
TI  - Lipocalin-2 inhibits osteoclast formation by suppressing the proliferation and
      differentiation of osteoclast lineage cells.
AB  - Lipocalin-2 (LCN2) is a member of the lipocalin superfamily and plays a critical
      role in the regulation of various physiological processes, such as inflammation
      and obesity. In this study, we report that LCN2 negatively modulates the
      proliferation and differentiation of osteoclast precursors, resulting in impaired
      osteoclast formation. The overexpression of LCN2 in bone marrow-derived
      macrophages or the addition of recombinant LCN2 protein inhibits the formation of
      multinuclear osteoclasts. LCN2 suppresses macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M
      CSF)-induced proliferation of osteoclast precursor cells without affecting their
      apoptotic cell death. Interestingly, LCN2 decreases the expression of the M-CSF
      receptor, c-Fms, and subsequently blocks its downstream signaling cascades. In
      addition, LCN2 inhibits RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation and attenuates
      the expression of c-Fos and nuclear factor of activated T cells c1 (NFATc1),
      which are important modulators in osteoclastogenesis. Mechanistically, LCN2
      inhibits NF-kappaB signaling pathways, as demonstrated by the suppression of
      IkappaBalpha phosphorylation, nuclear translocation of p65, and NF-kappaB
      transcriptional activity. Thus, LCN2 is an anti-osteoclastogenic molecule that
      exerts its effects by retarding the proliferation and differentiation of
      osteoclast lineage cells. 

PMID- 25814364
TI  - Glucagon--Early breakthroughs and recent discoveries.
AB  - Glucagon was discovered in 1922 as a hyperglycemic factor in the pancreas. During
      its early history up to 1970, glucagon was shown to increase circulating glucose
      through stimulating glycogenolysis in the liver. It was also shown to be a
      constituent of islet non-beta cells and to signal through G protein coupled
      receptors and cyclic AMP. Furthermore, its chemical characteristics, including
      amino acid sequence, and its processing from the preproglucagon gene had been
      established. During the modern research during the last 40 years, glucagon has
      been established as a key hormone in the regulation of glucose homeostasis,
      including a key role for the glucose counterregulation to hypoglycemia and for
      development of type 2 diabetes, and today glucagon is a potential target for
      treatment of the disease. Glucagon has also been shown to be a key factor beyond
      glucose control and involved in many processes. For the coming, future research,
      studies will be focused on alpha-cell biology beyond glucagon, hyperglucagonemia
      in other conditions than diabetes, its involvement in the regulation of body
      weight and energy expenditure and the potential of glucagon as a target for other
      diseases than type 2 diabetes, such as type 1 diabetes and obesity. This review
      summarizes the more than 90 years history of this important hormone as well as
      discusses potential future research regarding glucagon. 

PMID- 25814366
TI  - Pancreatic Resection Results in a Statewide Surgical Collaborative.

PMID- 25814365
TI  - Improving the Accuracy of Axillary Lymph Node Surgery in Breast Cancer with
      Ultrasound-Guided Wire Localization of Biopsy Proven Metastatic Lymph Nodes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aimed to evaluate whether the use of preoperative
      ultrasound (US)-guided wire localization of metastatic axillary lymph nodes (LN)
      assessed previously by core needle biopsy (CNB) and clip placement in breast
      cancer patients improves successful surgical removal. METHODS: A retrospective
      review examined breast cancer patients who underwent US-guided CNB of an axillary
      LN and biopsy clip placement as well as axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) or
      sentinel node lymph node biopsy (SLNB) from 1 January 2010 to 30 September 2013.
      Preoperative needle localization status, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and type of
      axillary LN surgery were reviewed. Confirmation that the metastatic LN had been
      surgically removed was determined on the specimen image, by pathologic report
      confirmation, or by pre-radiation therapy computed tomography (CT) scan. RESULTS:
      Preoperative US-guided needle localization was performed for 68.2 % (73/107) of
      the patients, with 97.3 % (n = 71) demonstrating confirmation of biopsy clip and
      LN removal versus 79.4 % (n = 27) of the 34 patients showing no performance of
      needle localization (p = 0.0043). Subgroup analysis showed a significant
      difference in removal of metastatic LN between the patients who received
      neoadjuvant chemotherapy [97 % of LNs removed with wire localization (n = 65/67)
      vs. 83.3 % of LNs removed without wire localization (n = 20/24; p = 0.04)] and
      the patients who had ALND, [96.3 % of LNs removed with wire localization (n =
      52/54) vs. 77.8 % of LNs removed without wire localization (n = 21/27; p =
      0.015)]. CONCLUSION: US-guided wire localization of metastatic axillary LNs that
      have had biopsy with clip placement significantly improves the success rate of
      surgical removal, allowing more accurate staging and decreasing the false
      negative rates of SLNB after neoadjuvant therapy.

PMID- 25814367
TI  - The effect of atrial fibrillation on outcomes in patients undergoing carotid
      endarterectomy or stent placement in general practice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation is a common comorbid condition among patients
      undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid artery stent placement (CAS);
      however, the outcomes of patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing CAS have
      not been fully examined. We sought to investigate the impact of atrial
      fibrillation on outcomes of CEA and CAS in general practice. METHODS: We analyzed
      the data from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS), which is representative of all
      admissions in the United States from 2005 to 2009. The primary end point was
      postoperative stroke, cardiac complication, postoperative mortality, and
      composite of these end points. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses
      were performed to determine, first, the association of atrial fibrillation
      (compared to without atrial fibrillation) and, second, the association of CEA
      (compared with CAS) in patients with atrial fibrillation with the occurrence of
      postoperative stroke, cardiac complication, or death. Covariates included in the
      logistic regression were the patient's gender, age, race/ethnicity, comorbid
      conditions, and symptom status (symptomatic vs asymptomatic status) and the
      hospital's characteristics. RESULTS: Of the total 672,074 patients who underwent
      CAS or CEA, 8.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.7-8.9) of the procedures were
      performed in patients with atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation was
      associated with an increased risk of postoperative stroke in patients undergoing
      CEA (n = 879 [1.7%]; P < .0001; odds ratio [OR], 1.57; 95% CI, 1.32-1.86) but not
      in patients undergoing CAS. The relative risk of the composite end point of
      postoperative stroke, cardiac complications, and mortality was increased in
      patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing CAS (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.18-1.74)
      and in those undergoing CEA (OR, 3.18; 95% CI, 2.89-3.49). After adjustment for
      potential confounders, the odds of the composite end point of postoperative
      stroke, cardiac complications, and mortality (OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.08-1.59) in
      atrial fibrillation patients were significantly higher among patients who
      underwent CEA (compared with those who underwent CAS). An opposite relationship
      was seen in patients without atrial fibrillation, in whom the composite end point
      was significantly lower in patients undergoing CEA. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis
      suggests that almost 10% of CAS and CEA is performed in patients with atrial
      fibrillation in general practice, and higher rates of adverse events are observed
      among these patients, particularly those undergoing CEA.

PMID- 25814369
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25814368
TI  - The vascular surgeon-scientist: a 15-year report of the Society for Vascular
      Surgery Foundation/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-mentored Career
      Development Award Program.
AB  - The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Foundation partnered with the National
      Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health
      (NIH) in 1999 to initiate a competitive career development program that provides
      a financial supplement to surgeon-scientists receiving NIH K08 or K23 career
      development awards. Because the program has been in existence for 15 years, a
      review of the program's success has been performed. Between 1999 and 2013, 41
      faculty members applied to the SVS Foundation program, and 29 from 21 different
      institutions were selected as awardees, resulting in a 71% success rate. Three
      women (10%) were among the 29 awardees. Nine awardees (31%) were supported by
      prior NIH F32 or T32 training grants. Awardees received their K award at an
      average of 3.5 years from the start of their faculty position, at the average age
      of 39.8 years. Thirteen awardees (45%) have subsequently received NIH R01 awards
      and five (17%) have received Veterans Affairs Merit Awards. Awardees received
      their first R01 at an average of 5.8 years after the start of their K award at
      the average age of 45.2 years. The SVS Foundation committed $9,350,000 to the
      Career Development Award Program. Awardees subsequently secured $45,108,174 in
      NIH and Veterans Affairs funds, resulting in a 4.8-fold financial return on
      investment for the SVS Foundation program. Overall, 23 awardees (79%) were
      promoted from assistant to associate professor in an average of 5.9 years, and 10
      (34%) were promoted from associate professor to professor in an average of 5.2
      years. Six awardees (21%) hold endowed professorships and four (14%) have secured
      tenure. Many of the awardees hold positions of leadership, including 12 (41%) as
      division chief and two (7%) as vice chair within a department of surgery. Eight
      (28%) awardees have served as president of a regional or national society.
      Lastly, 47 postdoctoral trainees have been mentored by recipients of the SVS
      Foundation Career Development Program on training grants or postdoctoral research
      fellowships. The SVS Foundation Career Development Program has been an effective
      vehicle to promote the development and independence of vascular surgeon
      scientists in the field of academic vascular surgery.

PMID- 25814370
TI  - Aortic fibrosarcoma presenting as rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

PMID- 25814371
TI  - Gigantic 25-cm abdominal aortic aneurysm.

PMID- 25814372
TI  - Adjunct endovascular interventions in carotid body tumors.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Most patients presenting with carotid body tumors (CBTs) seek medical
      attention when tumors have grown to exceed Shamblin I stage, rendering surgery a
      challenging undertaking and the associated morbidity a continuing threat to the
      clinical outcome. This study examined the availability, applicability, and
      overall clinical efficacy of adjunct endovascular interventions performed
      alongside CBT surgery and their potential in clinical decision making and
      clinical practice. METHODS: Studies reporting the feasibility, applicability, and
      clinical efficacy of adjunct endovascular interventions in the surgical
      management of CBTs were thoroughly searched using the Medline database from
      January 1967 to August 2013. RESULTS: There were no randomized studies on the
      efficacy of endovascular interventions in CBT surgery. Sixty studies met our
      inclusion criteria, reporting 465 patients (526 CBTs) with a mean age of 39.8
      years. The treated CBTs were a mean size of 4.9 cm. Patients treated with surgery
      with the use of adjunct endovascular interventions had a mean blood loss of 368.4
      mL (range, 25-to 2000 mL). There were 57 cranial nerve injuries, of which 28
      (49.1%) were permanent. Cerebrovascular accident occurred in nine patients, of
      which one died. Hospital stay was a mean of 4.4 days (range, 2-17 days).
      CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative selective endovascular embolization in patients with
      Shamblin II and Shamblin III CBTs may be beneficial when competently performed by
      interventional physicians proficient in neurovascular
      microcatheterization/embolization procedures.

PMID- 25814373
TI  - Is a gift authorship really a grift authorship?

PMID- 25814374
TI  - Aspirin therapy inhibits NLRP1 (nucleotide-binding domain-like receptor protein
      1) inflammasome gene expression in patients with peripheral artery disease.

PMID- 25814375
TI  - Erratum to: Isolation, culture, and induced multiple differentiation of Mongolian
      sheep bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

PMID- 25814376
TI  - WHO's new end TB strategy.

PMID- 25814377
TI  - Metal coordination study at Ag and Cd sites in crown thioether complexes through
      DFT calculations and hyperfine parameters.
AB  - Structural and electronic properties of [C12H24S6X], [C13H26S6OX], and
      [C14H28S6OX] (X: Ag(+), Cd(2+)) crown thioether complexes were investigated
      within the framework of the density functional theory (DFT) using the projector
      augmented wave (PAW) method. The theoretical results were compared with time
      differential perturbed gamma-gamma angular correlations (TDPAC) experiments
      reported in the literature using the (111)Ag->(111)Cd probe. In the case of
      X=Ag(+), a refinement of the structure was performed and the predicted
      equilibrium structures compared with available X-ray diffraction experimental
      data. Structural distortions induced by replacing Ag(+) with Cd(2+) were
      investigated as well as the electric-field gradient (EFG) tensor at the Cd(2+)
      sites. Our results suggest that the EFG at Cd(2+) sites corresponds to the Ag(+)
      coordination sphere structure, i.e., before the structural relaxations of the
      molecule with X=Cd(2+) are completed. The results are discussed in terms of the
      characteristics of the TDPAC (111)Ag->(111)Cd probe and the time window of the
      measurement, and provide an interesting tool with which to probe molecular
      relaxations. 

PMID- 25814378
TI  - Isolated Conglutin gamma from Lupin, but not Phytate, Lowers Serum Cholesterol
      Without Influencing Vascular Lesion Development in the ApoE-deficient Mouse
      Model.
AB  - Conglutin gamma and phytate are considered as potential biofunctional compounds
      of lupin protein isolate, but their impact on vascular health is unknown. This
      study aimed to investigate the effect of conglutin gamma and phytate,
      respectively, on circulating levels of sterols, markers of cholesterol
      biosynthesis and minerals, and on the development and progression of aortic
      lesions in apoE-deficient mice. To this end, mice were fed a western diet with
      either casein (200 g/kg; served as a control), conglutin gamma from L.
      angustifolius (200 g/kg) or casein (200 g/kg) supplemented with phytate (5 g/kg)
      for 16 weeks. Here we found that conglutin gamma but not phytate was capable of
      reducing the circulating concentration of cholesterol. Plasma levels of
      desmosterol and lathosterol as markers of the cholesterol synthesis were not
      affected, and 7-dehydrocholesterol was even higher in mice fed conglutin gamma
      than in mice fed casein or casein + phytate. All mice developed pronounced aortic
      lesions, but histological characterization of plaque area and composition showed
      no differences between the three groups of mice. Conclusively, conglutin gamma
      exerts cholesterol-lowering effects but appears to have no anti-atherosclerotic
      properties in the apoE-deficient mice. Phytate neither affected plasma
      cholesterol nor aortic lesion development.

PMID- 25814379
TI  - Excitability of the infraspinatus, but not the middle deltoid, is affected by
      shoulder elevation angle.
AB  - Although both the rotator cuff and deltoid muscle serve as shoulder abductors,
      they play different roles in shoulder movement. While the deltoid is a primary
      abductor, the rotator cuff is a stabilizer. They have different anatomic
      structures for force production and demonstrate different neuromuscular control
      at different shoulder angles, as measured by electromyographic activity.
      Corticospinal excitability may be associated with different neuromuscular control
      of the deltoid and rotator cuff at different angles. The purpose of this study
      was to investigate how shoulder joint position influences the corticospinal
      excitability of the deltoid and rotator cuff muscles. Transcranial magnetic
      stimulation was used to measure the corticospinal excitability of the middle
      deltoid and infraspinatus at 0 degrees  and 90 degrees  of arm elevation. Three
      parameters, a plateau value, exponential parameter, and threshold, were
      calculated from the input-output curve of the corticospinal pathway. The plateau
      value of the infraspinatus was significantly higher at 90 degrees  of arm
      elevation, while there is no difference in the excitability in the middle deltoid
      between elevation angles. The plateau value of the middle deltoid at 90 degrees 
      was 5 % lower than that at 0 degrees , but the plateau value of infraspinatus at
      90 degrees  was 55 % higher than that at 0 degrees . This suggests that the
      modulation of excitability varies with shoulder angle and reveals different
      neurological mechanism for the roles of the deltoid and rotator cuff.

PMID- 25814380
TI  - Disruption of the auditory response to a regular click train by a single, extra
      click.
AB  - It has been hypothesized that the steady-state response to a periodic sequence of
      clicks can be modeled as the superposition of responses to single clicks. Here,
      this hypothesis is challenged by presenting an extra click halfway between two
      consecutive clicks of a regular series, while measuring the auditory evoked
      field. After a solitary click at time zero, the click series sounded from 100 to
      900 ms, with the extra click presented around 500 ms. The silent period between
      two stimulus sequences was 310-390 ms (uniformly distributed) so that one
      stimulation cycle lasted, on average, 1250 ms. Five different click rates between
      20 and 60 Hz were examined. The disturbance caused by the extra click was
      revealed by subtracting the estimated steady-state response from the joint
      response to the click series and the extra click. The early peaks of the single
      click response effectively coincide with same-polarity peaks of the 20-Hz steady
      state response. Nevertheless, prediction of the latter from the former proved
      impossible. However, the 40-Hz steady-state response can be predicted reasonably
      well from the 20-Hz steady-state response. Somewhat surprisingly, the amplitude
      of the evoked response to the extra click grew when the click rate of the train
      was increased from 20 to 30 Hz; the opposite effect would have been expected from
      research on adaptation. The smaller amplitude at lower click rates might be
      explained by forward suppression. In this case, the apparent escape from
      suppression at higher rates might indicate that the clicks belonging to the
      periodic train are being integrated into an auditory stream, possibly in much the
      same manner as in classical stream segregation experiments.

PMID- 25814382
TI  - Arginine Functionally Improves Clinically Relevant Human Galactose-1-Phosphate
      Uridylyltransferase (GALT) Variants Expressed in a Prokaryotic Model.
AB  - Classic galactosemia is a rare genetic disease of the galactose metabolism,
      resulting from deficient activity of galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase
      (GALT). The current standard of care is lifelong dietary restriction of
      galactose, which however fails to prevent the development of long-term
      complications. Structural-functional studies demonstrated that the most prevalent
      GALT mutations give rise to proteins with increased propensity to aggregate in
      solution. Arginine is a known stabilizer of aggregation-prone proteins, having
      already shown a beneficial effect in other inherited metabolic disorders.Herein
      we developed a prokaryotic model of galactose sensitivity that allows evaluating
      in a cellular context the mutations' impact on GALT function, as well as the
      potential effect of arginine in functionally rescuing clinically relevant
      variants.This study revealed that some hGALT variants, previously described to
      exhibit no detectable activity in vitro, actually present residual activity when
      determined in vivo. Furthermore, it revealed that arginine presents a mutation
      specific beneficial effect, particularly on the prevalent p.Q188R and p.K285N
      variants, which led us to hypothesize that it might constitute a promising
      therapeutic agent in classic galactosemia. 

PMID- 25814381
TI  - Risk Factors Associated with HCV Among Opioid-Dependent Patients in a Multisite
      Study.
AB  - We examined risk factors associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among
      opioid-dependent patients enrolled into medication-assisted therapy
      (buprenorphine or methadone) to determine factors affecting chronic infection.
      Patients (N = 1039) were randomized as part of a larger, multisite clinical trial
      sponsored by the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network assessing
      liver function. HCV status was first assessed with an antibody screen; if
      positive, then current infection was determined with an antigen screen testing
      for detectable virus. Patients were classified as HCV negative, HCV positive but
      have cleared the virus, or as having chronic HCV. Logistic regression analysis
      was used to examine demographic and behavioral correlates of the three groups.
      Thirty-four percent of patients were classified with chronic infection and 14%
      had evidence of prior infection with apparent clearing of the virus. Chronic
      infection was associated with recent injection drug use and cocaine use. Chronic
      HCV infection was also associated with being older and Hispanic. Age, ethnicity,
      and current drug use increase the likelihood of being chronically infected with
      HCV. Strategies targeting high risk subgroups can aid in preventing further
      disease escalation.

PMID- 25814383
TI  - Clinical Severity of PGK1 Deficiency Due To a Novel p.E120K Substitution Is
      Exacerbated by Co-inheritance of a Subclinical Translocation t(3;14)(q26.33;q12),
      Disrupting NUBPL Gene.
AB  - Carriers of cytogenetically similar, apparently balanced familial chromosome
      translocations not always exhibit the putative translocation-associated disease
      phenotype. Additional genetic defects, such as genomic imbalance at breakpoint
      regions or elsewhere in the genome, have been reported as the most plausible
      explanation.By means of comprehensive molecular and functional analyses,
      additional to careful dissection of the t(3;14)(q26.33;q12) breakpoints, we
      unveil a novel X-linked PGK1 mutation and examine the contribution of these to
      the extremely severe clinical phenotype characterized by hemolytic anemia and
      neuromyopathy.The 3q26.33 breakpoint is 40 kb from the 5' region of
      tetratricopeptide repeat domain 14 gene (TTC14), whereas the 14q12 breakpoint is
      within IVS6 of nucleotide-binding protein-like gene (NUBPL) that encodes a
      mitochondrial complex I assembly factor. Disruption of NUBPL in translocation
      carriers leads to a decrease in the corresponding mRNA accompanied by a decrease
      in protein level. Exclusion of pathogenic genomic imbalance and reassessment of
      familial clinical history indicate the existence of an additional causal genetic
      defect. Consequently, by WES a novel mutation, c.358G>A, p.E120K, in the X-linked
      phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) was identified that segregates with the
      phenotype. Specific activity, kinetic properties, and thermal stability of this
      enzyme variant were severely affected. The novel PGK1 mutation is the primary
      genetic alteration underlying the reported phenotype as the translocation per se
      only results in a subclinical phenotype. Nevertheless, its co-inheritance
      presumably exacerbates PGK1-deficient phenotype, most likely due to a synergistic
      interaction of the affected genes both involved in cell energy supply. 

PMID- 25814384
TI  - MEF2D overexpression contributes to the progression of osteosarcoma.
AB  - The underlying molecular pathogenesis of osteosarcoma remains poorly understood.
      The transcription factor MEF2D promotes the survival of various types of cells
      and functions as an oncogene in liver cancer. However, its potential contribution
      to osteosarcoma has not been explored. In this study, we investigated MEF2D
      expression and function in osteosarcoma, finding that MEF2D elevation in
      osteosarcoma clinical specimens was associated with patients' poor prognosis.
      MEF2D suppression was shown to decrease the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells,
      while forced expression of MEF2D was able to promote the proliferation of normal
      bone fibroblast. Notably, MEF2D silencing abolished osteosarcoma tumorigenicity
      in an animal model. Mechanistic investigations revealed that MEF2D silencing
      triggered G2-M arrest in osteosarcoma cells by suppressing RPRM and CDKN1A. miR
      144 was found to suppress the expression of MEF2D in osteosarcoma cells.
      Collectively, our results demonstrated that MEF2D is a candidate oncogene for
      osteosarcoma and a potential molecular target for cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25814385
TI  - (De)criminalisation of possession of drugs for personal use - A view from the
      Czech Republic.

PMID- 25814386
TI  - Fractures in School Going Children.

PMID- 25814387
TI  - Suppressor of Deltex mediates Pez degradation and modulates Drosophila midgut
      homeostasis.
AB  - Pez functions as an upstream negative regulator of Yorkie (Yki) to regulate
      intestinal stem cell (ISC) proliferation and is essential for the activity of the
      Hippo pathway specifically in the Drosophila midgut epithelium. Here we report
      that Suppressor of Deltex (Su(dx)) acts as a negative regulator of Pez. We show
      that Su(dx) targets Pez for degradation both in vitro and in vivo. Overexpression
      of Su(dx) induces proliferation in the fly midgut epithelium, which can be
      rescued by overexpressed Pez. We also demonstrate that the interaction between
      Su(dx) and Pez, bridged by WW domains and PY/PPxY motifs, is required for Su(dx)
      mediated Pez degradation. Furthermore, we find that Kibra, a binding partner of
      Pez, stabilizes Pez via WW-PY/PPxY interaction. Moreover, PTPN14, a Pez mammalian
      homolog, is degraded by overexpressed Su(dx) or Su(dx) homologue WWP1 in
      mammalian cells. These results reveal a previously unrecognized mechanism of Pez
      degradation in maintaining the homeostasis of Drosophila midgut. 

PMID- 25814388
TI  - Internet-orientated Assessment of QOL and Actual Treatment Status in Japanese
      Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: The 3I survey.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: This survey aimed to compare actual lifestyle factors and
      QOL between Japanese IBD patients and healthy Japanese controls, by questionnaire
      using an internet-web system. METHODS: Through the internet-web system, we asked
      464 patients with Crohn's disease [CD], 360 patients with ulcerative colitis
      [UC], and 4100 healthy controls to answer a questionnaire including an eight-item
      short-form health survey [SF-8]. The survey was conducted until data had been
      accumulated from the predetermined numbers of patients [120 patients each with CD
      and UC] and healthy controls [240 subjects]. RESULTS: QOL assessment by SF-8
      revealed scores for six of the eight subscale items and the summary score for the
      mental component to be significantly lower in the CD and UC groups than in
      controls. There was a significant negative correlation between each SF-8 score
      and the degree of CD and UC symptoms. The marriage rate in adult patients was
      significantly lower in the CD than in the UC group or the controls. The mean
      annual income and the employment rate were significantly lower in the CD than in
      the UC group or the controls. CD patients receiving biologicals were more
      frequently satisfied with the efficacy of treatment than UC patients were with
      their treatment regimens [56% vs 29%]. CONCLUSIONS: Actual lifestyle factors and
      QOL appear to be impaired in Japanese patients with IBD, especially those with
      CD. The subjective efficacy of biologicals might be greater in CD than in UC.

PMID- 25814389
TI  - Surgical findings and auditory performance after cochlear implant revision
      surgery.
AB  - The objective of this study was to review cochlear reimplantation outcomes in the
      tertiary hospital and analyze whether facts such as type of failure, surgical
      findings, or etiology of deafness have an influence. A retrospective study
      including 38 patients who underwent cochlear implant revision surgery in a
      tertiary center is performed. Auditory outcomes (pure tone audiometry, %
      disyllabic words) along with etiology of deafness, type of complication, issues
      with insertion, and cochlear findings are included. Complication rate is 2.7 %.
      Technical failure rate is 57.9 % (50 % hard failure and 50 % soft failure), and
      medical failure (device infection or extrusion, migration, wound, or flap
      complication) is seen in 42.1 % of the cases. Management of cochlear implant
      complications and revision surgery is increasing due to a growing number of
      implantees. Cases that require explantation and reimplantation of the cochlear
      implant are safe procedures, where the depth of insertion and speech perception
      results are equal or higher in most cases. Nevertheless, there must be an
      increasing effort on using minimally traumatic electrode arrays and surgical
      techniques to improve currently obtained results.

PMID- 25814390
TI  - Somatosensory evoked potentials in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
      treated with hypothermia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) are reported to have high
      positive predictive value (PPV) for neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI) in
      neonates with moderate or severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Our
      objective was to assess if this predictive value remains high with the use of
      therapeutic hypothermia. METHODS: A cohort of HIE neonates treated with
      hypothermia was recruited between September 2008 and September 2010. SEPs were
      elicited after hypothermia and classified as bilateral absent N19, abnormal N19
      (i.e., delayed or unilateral absent), or normal. Qualitative evaluation of MRI
      was also performed. The primary outcome was moderate or severe NDI around 2 years
      of age. RESULTS: SEPs were performed after hypothermia in 26 of 34 neonates
      submitted to hypothermia with adequate follow-up at a median day of life 11 (IQR
      9, 13). Twenty-three (88%) had moderate encephalopathy. Eleven neonates (42%) had
      bilateral absent N19, 4 of whom had NDI, while fifteen neonates (58%) had either
      abnormal or normal N19, of whom only one had NDI. SEPs thus had a PPV of 0.36
      (4/11) and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.93 (14/15). Eighteen neonates
      (69%) had brain injury on MRI. MRI thus had a PPV of 0.28 (5/18) and an NPV of
      1.00 (8/8). CONCLUSIONS: Neonates with HIE treated with hypothermia with
      bilateral absent N19 potentials may have a better prognosis than reported in the
      pre-hypothermia era. MRI also had a low PPV and high NPV. SEPs should be
      interpreted with caution in this new population and need to be re-evaluated in
      larger studies.

PMID- 25814392
TI  - Obama chides Republicans as he marks health law's fifth anniversary.

PMID- 25814391
TI  - Antiepileptic drugs in Rett Syndrome.
AB  - PURPOSE: We investigated drugs most often used to treat epilepsy in Rett Syndrome
      and their efficacy in a large cohort of Italian patients. METHODS: This is a
      multi-centre retrospective study. Data of 165 Rett subjects were collected from
      the patients' files, and hospital charts. The efficacy of antiepileptic drugs
      (AEDs) was classified as follows: not effective; decrease in seizure frequency
      >=50% for at least 6 months; seizure-free for at least 2 years. Phenotypic and
      genetic categorization of patients was performed and it was considered in AEDs
      efficacy evaluation. RESULTS: There were 130 epileptic patients.Sodium valproate
      (VPA) was the most commonly administered AED (44.3%) at seizure onset, followed
      by Carbamazepine (CBZ) (25.4%) and Phenobarbital (PB) (13%). Monotherapy was the
      first treatment option in most patients. VPA and CBZ proved to be equally
      effective in Rett patients who presented seizures within the typical age range (4
      5 years), while Lamotrigine (LTG) was effective for patients in whom epilepsy
      started later. Overall, the frequency of side effects was low and the most often
      observed ones were restlessness and somnolence. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests
      that LTG, VPA and CBZ can be used as drugs of first choice in Rett Syndrome. The
      association of four drugs should be avoided since it did not result in any
      significant clinical improvement.

PMID- 25814393
TI  - Lymphadenectomy extent and survival of patients with gastric carcinoma: a
      systematic review and meta-analysis of time-to-event data from randomized trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The extent of lymph node dissection in patients with resectable non
      metastatic primary carcinoma of the stomach is still a controversial matter of
      debate, with special regard to its effect on survival. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of time-to-event data from
      randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the three main types of
      lymphadenectomy (D1, D2, and D3) for gastric cancer. Hazard ratio (HR) was
      considered the effect measure for both overall (OS), disease-specific (DSS) and
      disease-free survival (DFS). The quality of the available evidence was assessed
      using the GRADE system. RESULTS: Eight RCTs enrolling 2515 patients were
      eligible. The meta-analysis of four RCTs (n=1599) showed a significant impact of
      D2 versus D1 lymphadenectomy on DSS (summary HR=0.807, CI: 0.705-0.924, P=0.002),
      the corresponding number-to-treat being equal to ten. This effect remained
      clinically valuable even after adjustment for postoperative mortality. However,
      the quality of evidence was graded as moderate due to inconsistency issues. When
      OS and DFS were considered, the meta-analysis of respectively five (n=1653) and
      three RCTs (n=1332) found no significant difference between D2 and D1 lymph node
      dissection (summary HR=0.911, CI: 0.708-1.172, P=0.471, and summary HR=0.946, CI:
      0.840-1.066, P=0.366, respectively). However, at subgroup analysis D2 type
      resulted superior to D1 type lymphadenectomy in terms of OS considering the two
      RCTs carried out in Eastern countries (summary HR=0.627, CI: 0.396-0.994,
      P=0.047). As regards the D3 vs D2 comparison, the meta-analysis of the three
      available RCTs (n=862) showed no significant impact of more extended
      lymphadenectomy on OS (summary HR=0.990, CI: 0.814-1.205, P=0.924). CONCLUSIONS:
      Our findings support the superiority of D2 versus D1 lymphadenectomy in terms of
      survival benefit. However, this advantage is mainly limited to DSS, the level of
      evidence is moderate, and the interaction with other factors affecting patient
      survival (such as complementary medical therapy) remains to be elucidated.

PMID- 25814394
TI  - ENIGMA: crowdsourcing meets neuroscience.

PMID- 25814395
TI  - Challenges and opportunities in detecting Taenia solium tapeworm carriers in Los
      Angeles County California, 2009-2014.
AB  - Carriers of the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, are the sole source of
      neurocysticercosis, a parasitic tissue infection that can be chronic and severe.
      Identifying T. solium tapeworm carriers is challenging. Many are asymptomatic and
      go undetected and unreported. In addition, T. solium is difficult to distinguish
      from other Taenia species of less concern. From 2009 to 2014, 24 taeniasis cases
      were reported to the Los Angeles County (LAC) Department of Public Health. Twenty
      reports were received solely from our automated electronic laboratory reporting
      system (ELR), two from health care providers, and two were generated internally
      from investigation of households with a reported neurocysticercosis case. Further
      investigation identified one T. solium carrier originally reported by ELR and one
      identified from a neurocysticercosis case investigation. These results suggest
      that T. solium tapeworm carriers can be identified from investigation of ELR
      reports of unspeciated Taenia cases as well as from households of
      neurocysticercosis cases. 

PMID- 25814396
TI  - Relationship between oral clinical conditions and daily performances among young
      adults in India - a cross sectional study.
AB  - Objective of the present study was to investigate relationship between oral
      health-related quality of life using Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (OIDP)
      scale and specific clinical dental measures. A cross sectional descriptive survey
      was conducted among 800 students. Oral health status and impacts were assessed
      using WHO guidelines and OIDP index respectively. Chi square test and multiple
      logistic regressions were employed for statistical analysis. Participants with
      caries were significantly (p?0.05) more likely to have an impact on cleaning
      (OR=2.487) and sleeping and relaxing (OR=8.996). Similarly participants with oral
      mucosal conditions were more likely to have an impact on eating (OR=3.97),
      cleaning (OR=2.966) and physical activities (OR=11.190). Dental Aesthetic Index
      (DAI) impacted on cleaning (OR=2.134), emotional stability (OR=3.957) and social
      contact (OR=3.21). OIDP Index showed acceptable psychometric properties in the
      context of an oral health survey. Subjects presented a strong and consistent
      relationship between dental status and perceived impacts. 

PMID- 25814397
TI  - Changes in the elasticity of fibroadenoma during the menstrual cycle determined
      by real-time sonoelastography.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Shear-wave elastography (SWE) presents quantitative data that thought
      to represent intrinsic features of the target tissue. Factors affecting the
      metabolism of the breast parenchyma as well as age, menstrual cycle, hormone
      levels, pregnancy and lactation, pre-compression artifact during the examination
      could affect these elastic intrinsic features. Aim of our study is to determine
      variation of fibroadenoma elasticity during the menstrual cycle (MC) by means of
      real-time shear-wave elastography (SWE) and identify the optimal time for SWE
      evaluation. METHODS: Thirty volunteers (aged 20-40 years) who had biopsy-proven
      fibroadenoma greater than 1cm in diameter, with regular menstrual cycle and
      without contraceptive medication underwent SWE (ShearWave on Aixplorer, France)
      once weekly during MC. Statistical data were processed by using the software
      Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 19.0. A repeated measures
      analysis of variance was used for each lesion where the repeated factor was the
      elastographic measurements (premenstrual, menstrual and postmenstrual). Pillai's
      trace test was used. Pairwise correlation was calculated using Bonferroni
      correction. Values of p<0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS:
      The mean elasticity value of fibroadenomas in mid-cycle was 28.49 +/- 12.92 kPa,
      with the highest value obtained in the third week corresponding to the
      premenstrual stage (32.98 +/- 13.35 kPa) and the lowest value obtained in the
      first week corresponding to the postmenstrual stage (25.39 +/- 10.21 kPa).
      Differences between the elasticity values of fibroadenomas in premenstrual and
      postmenstrual periods were statistically significant (p<0.001). There were no
      significant differences in lesion size between the different phases of the
      menstrual cycle (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: In this study, we found that there is
      significant difference between the elasticity values of fibroadenomas on
      premenstrual and postmenstrual period. We propose that one week after
      menstruation would be appropriate time to perform breast SWE.

PMID- 25814398
TI  - The impact of PET/CT on the management of hepatic and extra hepatic metastases
      from gastrointestinal cancers.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the efficacy of positron emission tomography/computed
      tomography (PET/CT) in detection and management of hepatic and extrahepatic
      metastases from gastrointestinal cancers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between February
      2008 and July 2010, patients histopathologically diagnosed with gastrointestinal
      cancer and showing suspected metastasis on CT screening were subsequently
      evaluated with PET/CT. All patients were subgrouped according to
      histopathological origin and localization of the primary tumor. Localization of
      gastrointestinal cancers was further specified as lower gastrointestinal system
      (GIS), upper GIS, or hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB). Both accuracy and impact of
      CT and PET/CT on patient management were retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS: One
      hundred and thirteen patients diagnosed histopathologically with gastrointestinal
      cancers were retrospectively evaluated. Seventy-nine patients had adenocarcinoma
      and 34 patients other gastrointestinal tumors. Forty-one patients were in the
      upper GIS group, 30 patients in the HPB group, and 42 patients in the lower GIS
      group. Evaluation the diagnostic performance of PET/CT for suspected metastasis
      according to histopathological origin of the tumor, revealed that the sensitivity
      of PET/CT - although statistically not different - was higher in adenocarcinomas
      than in non-adenocarcinomas (90% (95% CI, 0.78-0.96) vs. 71.4% (95% CI, 0.45
      0.88), P=0.86). The specificity was not significantly different (85.7% (95% CI,
      0.70-0.93) vs. 85% (95% CI, 0.63-0.94), P=1.00). In the overall patient group; CT
      was significantly more sensitive than PET/CT for detection of hepatic metastases
      (94.7% vs. 78.9%, P=0.042), whereas PET/CT was significantly more specific than
      CT (48% vs. 98.7%, P<0.001). In subgroup analysis, sensitivity was not
      significantly different (P>0.05) but specificity was significantly higher in
      PET/CT than CT (P<0.05). The specificity of PET/CT was highest in upper GIS
      (100%) and HPB (100%) subgroups. In the overall patient group; for detection of
      extrahepatic metastasis, the sensitivity of CT (75%) and PET/CT (87.5%) showed no
      significant difference (P=0.437). However, PET/CT was significantly more specific
      than CT (88.7% vs. 70.4%, P=0.007). In subgroup analysis, no significant
      difference was found between CT and PET/CT either in sensitivity or in
      specificity (P>0.05). The specificity of PET/CT was highest in the lower GIS
      subgroup (93%). The management of 45 patients (39.8%) was revised after PET/CT
      evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: PET/CT has a higher specificity than CT in detecting
      suspected hepatic and extrahepatic metastases of gastrointestinal cancers, and
      has an impact of nearly 40% on changing patient management strategies.

PMID- 25814399
TI  - Medial meniscal posterior root/horn radial tears correlate with cartilage
      degeneration detected by T1rho relaxation mapping.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify factors on routine pulse sequence MRI
      associated with cartilage degeneration observed on T1rho relaxation mapping.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 137 subjects with knee pain. T1rho
      values were measured in the regions of interest on the surface layer of the
      cartilage on mid-coronal images of the femorotibial joint. Assessment of
      cartilage, subchondral bone, meniscus and ligaments was performed using routine
      pulse sequence MRI. Radiographic evaluation for osteoarthritis was also
      performed. RESULTS: Multiple regression analysis revealed posterior root/horn
      tears to be independent factors increasing the T1rho values of the cartilage in
      the medial compartment of the femorotibial joint. Even when adjusted for
      radiographically defined early-stage osteoarthritis, medial posterior meniscal
      radial tears significantly increased the T1rho values. CONCLUSIONS: This study
      showed that posterior root/horn radial tears in the medial meniscus are
      particularly important MRI findings associated with cartilage degeneration
      observed on T1rho relaxation mapping. Morphological factors of the medial
      meniscus on MRI provide findings useful for screening early-stage osteoarthritis.

PMID- 25814400
TI  - Immune biomarkers: the promises and pitfalls of personalized medicine.
AB  - Substantial progress in molecular immunology, coupled with an increasing focus on
      translational research and an enthusiasm for personalized medicine, has resulted
      in a rapid expansion in the field of immune biomarkers in recent years. In this
      Science and Society article, we provide a conceptual overview of the field and
      discuss the progress that has been made so far, as well as the future potential
      in the context of the scientific, logistical, financial, legal and ethical
      framework within which this research is being carried out and translated into
      clinical use. 

PMID- 25814401
TI  - Tumour immunology: A triple blow for cancer.

PMID- 25814402
TI  - [Cystic mass of the kidney].

PMID- 25814403
TI  - Estimates of absolute treatment benefit for individual patients required careful
      modeling of statistical interactions.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We aimed to compare modeling approaches to estimate the individual
      survival benefit of treatment with either coronary artery bypass graft surgery
      (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for patients with complex
      coronary artery disease. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We estimated survival with Cox
      regression models that included the treatment variable (CABG/PCI) interacting
      with either an internally developed overall prognostic index (PI) or with
      individual prognostic factors. We analyzed data of patients who were randomized
      in the Synergy between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Taxus and Cardiac
      Surgery trial (1,800 patients, 178 deaths). RESULTS: A negligible interaction
      with the PI (P = 0.51) led to 4-year survival estimates in favor of CABG for all
      patients. In contrast, individual interactions indicated substantial relative
      treatment effect heterogeneity (overall interaction P = 0.004), and estimates of
      4-year survival were numerically in favor of CABG for 1,275 of 1,800 patients
      (71%; 519 with 95% confidence). To test the more complex model with individual
      interactions, we first used penalized regression, resulting in smaller but
      largely consistent individual estimates of the survival difference between CABG
      and PCI. Second, strong treatment interactions were confirmed at external
      validation in 2,891 patients from a multinational registry. CONCLUSION: Modeling
      strategies that omit interactions may result in misleading estimates of absolute
      treatment benefit for individual patients with the potential hazard of suboptimal
      decision making.

PMID- 25814405
TI  - Triple tumor markers assay based on carbon-gold nanocomposite.
AB  - A sandwich-format electrochemical immunosensor for simultaneous determination of
      three cancer biomarkers using the carbon-gold nanocomposite (CGN) as immunoprobes
      was introduced. The CGN were fabricated through a simple microwave-assisted
      carbonization of glucose and deposition of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). This
      nanocomposite showed great adsorption ability to the redox probes such as some
      organic dyes and metal ions, due to the abundant reactive oxygen functional
      groups on its surface. The AuNPs decorated on the nanocomposite provided extra
      binding sites for the three antibodies carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), prostate
      specific antigen (PSA), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), respectively. The ionic liquid
      reduced graphene oxide was combined with poly(sodium-p-styrenesulfonate) as
      substrate to attach the three different antibodies through electrostatic
      adsorption. Three separate signals can be detected directly in a single run
      through square wave voltammetry. Under optimized conditions, the electrochemical
      immunosensor exhibited good sensitivity and selectivity for the simultaneous
      determination of CEA, PSA and AFP with linear ranges of 0.01-100 ng mL(-1). The
      detection limit for CEA, PSA and AFP is 2.7, 4.8 and 3.1 pg mL(-1), respectively.
      This method was applied for the analysis of CEA, PSA and AFP levels in clinical
      serum samples, and the results were in good agreement with those of enzyme linked
      immunosorbent assay (ELISA). This approach gives a promising simple and sensitive
      immunoassay strategy for the identification and validation of specific early
      cancer.

PMID- 25814406
TI  - Immobilization of Fab' fragments onto substrate surfaces: A survey of methods and
      applications.
AB  - Antibody immobilization onto surfaces has widespread applications in many
      different fields. It is desirable to bind antibodies such that their fragment
      antigen-binding (Fab) units are oriented away from the surface in order to
      maximize analyte binding. The immobilization of only Fab' fragments yields
      benefits over the more traditional whole antibody immobilization technique. Bound
      Fab' fragments display higher surface densities, yielding a higher binding
      capacity for the analyte. The nucleophilic sulfide of the Fab' fragments allows
      for specific orientations to be achieved. For biosensors, this indicates a higher
      sensitivity and lower detection limit for a target analyte. The last thirty years
      have shown tremendous progress in the immobilization of Fab' fragments onto gold,
      Si-based, polysaccharide-based, plastic-based, magnetic, and inorganic surfaces.
      This review will show the current scope of Fab' immobilization techniques
      available and illustrate methods employed to minimize non-specific adsorption of
      undesirables. Furthermore, a variety of examples will be given to show the
      versatility of immobilized Fab' fragments in different applications and future
      directions of the field will be addressed, especially regarding biosensors. 

PMID- 25814404
TI  - Deep Brain Stimulation Influences Brain Structure in Alzheimer's Disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is thought to improve the symptoms of
      selected neurological disorders by modulating activity within dysfunctional brain
      circuits. To date, there is no evidence that DBS counteracts progressive
      neurodegeneration in any particular disorder. OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS: We
      hypothesized that DBS applied to the fornix in patients with Alzheimer's Disease
      (AD) could have an effect on brain structure. METHODS: In six AD patients
      receiving fornix DBS, we used structural MRI to assess one-year change in
      hippocampal, fornix, and mammillary body volume. We also used deformation-based
      morphometry to identify whole-brain structural changes. We correlated volumetric
      changes to hippocampal glucose metabolism. We also compared volumetric changes to
      those in an age-, sex-, and severity-matched group of AD patients (n = 25) not
      receiving DBS. RESULTS: We observed bilateral hippocampal volume increases in the
      two patients with the best clinical response to fornix DBS. In one patient,
      hippocampal volume was preserved three years after diagnosis. Overall, mean
      hippocampal atrophy was significantly slower in the DBS group compared to the
      matched AD group, and no matched AD patients demonstrated bilateral hippocampal
      enlargement. Across DBS patients, hippocampal volume change correlated strongly
      with hippocampal metabolism and with volume change in the fornix and mammillary
      bodies, suggesting a circuit-wide effect of stimulation. Deformation-based
      morphometry in DBS patients revealed local volume expansions in several regions
      typically atrophied in AD. CONCLUSION: We present the first in-human evidence
      that, in addition to modulating neural circuit activity, DBS may influence the
      natural course of brain atrophy in a neurodegenerative disease.

PMID- 25814407
TI  - A novel colorimetric triple-helix molecular switch aptasensor for ultrasensitive
      detection of tetracycline.
AB  - Detection methods of antibiotic residues in blood serum and animal derived foods
      are of great interest. In this study a colorimetric aptasensor was designed for
      sensitive, selective and fast detection of tetracycline based on triple-helix
      molecular switch (THMS) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). As a biosensor, THMS
      shows distinct advantages including high stability, sensitivity and preserving
      the selectivity and affinity of the original aptamer. In the absence of
      tetracycline, THMS is stable, leading to the aggregation of AuNPs by salt and an
      obvious color change from red to blue. In the presence of tetracycline, aptamer
      binds to its target, signal transduction probe (STP) leaves the THMS and adsorbs
      on the surface of AuNPs. So the well-dispersed AuNPs remain stable against salt
      induced aggregation with a red color. The presented aptasensor showed high
      selectivity toward tetracyclines with a limit of detection as low as 266 pM for
      tetracycline. The designed aptasensor was successfully applied to detect
      tetracycline in serum and milk.

PMID- 25814408
TI  - Aptamer fluorescence anisotropy sensors for adenosine triphosphate by
      comprehensive screening tetramethylrhodamine labeled nucleotides.
AB  - We previously reported a fluorescence anisotropy (FA) approach for small
      molecules using tetramethylrhodamine (TMR) labeled aptamer. It relies on target
      binding induced change of intramolecular interaction between TMR and guanine (G)
      base. TMR-labeling sites are crucial for this approach. Only terminal ends and
      thymine (T) bases could be tested for TMR labeling in our previous work, possibly
      causing limitation in analysis of different targets with this FA strategy. Here,
      taking the analysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as an example, we
      demonstrated a success of conjugating TMR on other bases of aptamer adenine (A)
      or cytosine (C) bases and an achievement of full mapping various labeling sites
      of aptamers. We successfully constructed aptamer fluorescence anisotropy (FA)
      sensors for adenosine triphosphate (ATP). We conjugated single TMR on adenine
      (A), cytosine (C), or thymine (T) bases or terminals of a 25-mer aptamer against
      ATP and tested FA responses of 14 TMR-labeled aptamer to ATP. The aptamers having
      TMR labeled on the 16th base C or 23rd base A were screened out and exhibited
      significant FA-decreasing or FA-increasing responses upon ATP, respectively.
      These two favorable TMR-labeled aptamers enabled direct FA sensing ATP with a
      detection limit of 1 uM and the analysis of ATP in diluted serum. The
      comprehensive screening various TMR labeling sites of aptamers facilitates the
      successful construction of FA sensors using TMR-labeled aptamers. It will expand
      application of TMR-G interaction based aptamer FA strategy to a variety of
      targets.

PMID- 25814409
TI  - Urchin-like (gold core)@(platinum shell) nanohybrids: A highly efficient
      peroxidase-mimetic system for in situ amplified colorimetric immunoassay.
AB  - The development of signal-amplified colorimetric immunoassay relies on the design
      of highly efficient signal-transduction tags. One promising route is to exploit a
      novel enzyme mimetic system as the signal label. Herein, we report that urchin
      like (gold core)@(platinum shell) nanohybrids (Au@PtNHs) can be utilized as a
      highly efficient peroxidase mimetic system for in situ amplified colorimetric
      immunoassay of prostate-specific antigen (PSA, one kind of tumor marker).
      Initially, urchin-like Au@PtNHs were discovered to outperform horseradish
      peroxidase (HRP) by a vast margin in terms of the turnover number toward hydrogen
      peroxide (H2O2)-3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) system and the stability
      against high temperatures and HRP inhibitors. Based on this discovery, the assay
      was simply carried out on a capture antibody-immobilized microplate by using the
      Au@PtNH-labeled detection antibody as a signal-transduction tag with a sandwich
      type assay mode. The colorimetric signal stemmed from the labeled Au@PtNHs toward
      catalytic oxidation of TMB-H2O2 system. Experimental results indicated that the
      Au@PtNH-based colorimetric immunoassay could display a good colorimetric response
      toward PSA in the dynamic working range of 5-500 pg mL(-1) with a low detection
      limit of 2.9 pg mL(-1). Meanwhile, the developed immunoassay exhibited good
      precision and reproducibility, high specificity and acceptable accuracy for the
      detection of clinical serum samples. These results open up a new horizon for the
      development of highly sensitive, highly stable and inexpensive non-enzyme
      immunoassay platforms as an alternative to conventional enzyme-based immunoassay
      platforms.

PMID- 25814410
TI  - Reply to the Editor-More Awarenessless Risk-Interpretation of Ablation Risk
      Caused by Coronary Arterial Anatomy.

PMID- 25814411
TI  - Letter to Editor-Maneuvers in diagnosing permanent junctional reciprocating
      tachycardia.

PMID- 25814412
TI  - Letter to the Editor--Amiodarone and risk of acute pancreatitis.

PMID- 25814414
TI  - Reply to the editor--amiodarone and risk of acute pancreatitis.

PMID- 25814416
TI  - Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation in patients with left atrial appendage
      closure devices.

PMID- 25814413
TI  - Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) inhibition ameliorates
      arrhythmias elicited by junctin ablation under stress conditions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Aberrant calcium signaling is considered one of the key mechanisms
      contributing to arrhythmias, especially in the context of heart failure. In human
      heart failure, there is significant down-regulation of the sarcoplasmic reticulum
      (SR) protein junctin, and junctin deficiency in mice is associated with stress
      induced arrhythmias. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine
      whether the increased SR Ca(2+) leak and arrhythmias associated with junctin
      ablation may be associated with increased calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein
      kinase II (CaMKII) activity and phosphorylation of the cardiac ryanodine receptor
      (RyR2) and whether pharmacologic inhibition of CaMKII activity may prevent these
      arrhythmias. METHODS: Using a combination of biochemical, cellular, and in vivo
      approaches, we tested the ability of KN-93 to reverse aberrant CaMKII
      phosphorylation of RyR2. Specifically, we performed protein phosphorylation
      analysis, in vitro cardiomyocyte contractility and Ca(2+) kinetics, and in vivo
      ECG analysis in junctin-deficient mice. RESULTS: In the absence of junctin, RyR2
      channels displayed CaMKII-dependent hyperphosphorylation. Notably, CaMKII
      inhibition by KN-93 reduced the in vivo incidence of stress-induced ventricular
      tachycardia by 65% in junctin null mice. At the cardiomyocyte level, KN-93
      reduced the percentage of junctin null cells exhibiting spontaneous Ca(2+)
      aftertransients and aftercontractions under stress conditions by 35% and 37%,
      respectively. At the molecular level, KN-93 blunted the CaMKII-mediated
      hyperphosphorylation of RyR2 and phospholamban under stress conditions.
      CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that CaMKII inhibition is effective in preventing
      arrhythmogenesis in the setting of junctin ablation through modulation of both SR
      Ca(2+) release and uptake. Thus, it merits further investigation as promising
      molecular therapy.

PMID- 25814415
TI  - New insight into scar-related ventricular tachycardia circuits in ischemic
      cardiomyopathy: Fat deposition after myocardial infarction on computed tomography
      -A pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Myocardial fat deposition (FAT-DEP) has been frequently observed in
      regions of chronic myocardial infarction in patients with ischemic
      cardiomyopathy. The role of FAT-DEP within scar-related ventricular tachycardia
      (VT) circuits has not been investigated. OBJECTIVE: This pilot study aimed to
      assess the impact of myocardial FAT-DEP on local electrograms and VT circuits in
      patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy. METHODS: Contrast-enhanced computed
      tomography was performed in 22 patients with ischemic VT. Electroanatomic map
      points were registered to the corresponding contrast-enhanced computed tomography
      images. Myocardial FAT-DEP was identified and characterized using a
      postprocessing image overlay that highlighted areas below 0 Hounsfield units
      (HU). The mean attenuation of local myocardial regions corresponding to sampled
      electrograms was measured on short-axis images. The associations of mean
      attenuation with bipolar and unipolar amplitudes, left ventricular wall
      thickness, and VT circuit sites were investigated. RESULTS: Of 1801
      electroanatomic map points, 519 (28.8%) were located in regions with FAT-DEP.
      Significant differences were observed in mean intensity (23.2 +/- 35.6 HU vs 81.7
      +/- 21.9 HU; P < .001), bipolar (0.75 +/- 0.83 mV vs 2.9 +/- 2.4 mV; P < .001)
      and unipolar (3.1 +/- 1.7 mV vs 7.4 +/- 4.3 mV; P < .001) amplitudes, and left
      ventricular wall thickness (5.2 +/- 1.7 mm vs 8.2 +/- 2.5 mm; P < .001) between
      regions with and without FAT-DEP. Lower HU was strongly associated with lower
      bipolar and unipolar amplitudes (P < .0001, respectively). Importantly, FAT-DEP
      was associated with critical VT circuit sites with fractionated or isolated
      potentials. CONCLUSION: FAT-DEP was associated with electrogram characteristics
      and VT circuit sites. Further work will be needed to determine whether FAT-DEP
      plays a causal role in the generation of ischemic scar-related VT circuits.

PMID- 25814417
TI  - Clinical and molecular characterization of a cardiac ryanodine receptor founder
      mutation causing catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is a
      difficult-to-diagnose cause of sudden cardiac death (SCD). We identified a family
      of 1400 individuals with multiple cases of CPVT, including 36 SCDs during youth.
      OBJECTIVES: We sought to identify the genetic cause of CPVT in this family, to
      preventively treat and clinically characterize the mutation-positive individuals,
      and to functionally characterize the pathogenic mechanisms of the mutation.
      METHODS: Genetic testing was performed for 1404 relatives. Mutation-positive
      individuals were preventively treated with beta-blockers and clinically
      characterized with a serial exercise treadmill test (ETT) and Holter monitoring.
      In vitro functional studies included caffeine sensitivity and store overload
      induced calcium release activity of the mutant channel in HEK293 cells. RESULTS:
      We identified the p.G357S_RyR2 mutation, in the cardiac ryanodine receptor, in
      179 family members and in 6 SCD cases. No SCD was observed among treated mutation
      positive individuals over a median follow-up of 37 months; however, 3 relatives
      who had refused genetic testing (confirmed mutation-positive individuals)
      experienced SCD. Holter monitoring did not provide relevant information for CPVT
      diagnosis. One single ETT was unable to detect complex cardiac arrhythmias in 72%
      of mutation-positive individuals, though the serial ETT improved the accuracy.
      Functional studies showed that the G357S mutation increased caffeine sensitivity
      and store overload-induced calcium release activity under conditions that mimic
      catecholaminergic stress. CONCLUSION: Our study supports the use of genetic
      testing to identify individuals at risk of SCD to undertake prophylactic
      interventions. We also show that the pathogenic mechanisms of p.G357S_RyR2 appear
      to depend on beta-adrenergic stimulation.

PMID- 25814419
TI  - A narrow complex tachycardia with varying RP intervals: What is the mechanism?

PMID- 25814420
TI  - Outcomes of nonpharmacologic treatment of atrial fibrillation in patients with
      hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Limited data exist regarding the outcome of atrial fibrillation (AF)
      surgery and catheter ablation in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
      OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of
      nonpharmacologic treatment of AF in HCM. METHODS: One hundred forty-seven
      patients (46 female, age 55 +/- 11 years, ejection fraction [EF] 58% +/- 8%) with
      symptomatic paroxysmal (58%), persistent (31%), and long-standing persistent AF
      (11%) refractory to antiarrhythmic drugs who presented for their first catheter
      ablation (n = 79) or AF surgery (n = 68) were included. RESULTS: After follow-up
      of 35 months (interquartile range 13, 60), 29% of patients who underwent catheter
      ablation and 51% of those who had undergone AF surgery had no documented
      recurrent atrial arrhythmia after a single procedure. Repeat ablation was
      performed in 55% of patients with recurrent arrhythmia in the catheter group and
      24% in the surgery group, increasing the success rate to 39% and 53%,
      respectively, after 1 or more procedures. Predictors of success after the first
      procedure in a multivariable setting included higher baseline EF and male gender.
      Persistent or long-standing AF and log of AF duration were associated with lower
      success. Major complications occurred in 6% of the catheter ablation group and
      18% of the AF surgery group. During follow-up, 16 patients died (9 in catheter
      group, 7 in surgery group) and 1 underwent heart replacement. Lower baseline EF
      and older age were independently associated with death. CONCLUSION: Catheter
      ablation and AF surgery are associated with symptomatic improvement in HCM
      patients. However, long-term success is lower and complications are higher than
      previously reported.

PMID- 25814418
TI  - Race- and sex-related differences in care for patients newly diagnosed with
      atrial fibrillation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with an increased risk of
      stroke and death. Uniform utilization of appropriate therapies for AF may help
      reduce those risks. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine whether significant race
      and sex differences exist in the treatment of newly diagnosed AF in Medicare
      beneficiaries. METHODS: We used administrative encounter data for Medicare
      beneficiaries to identify patients with newly diagnosed AF during 2010-2011.
      Services received after initial AF diagnosis were cataloged, including visits
      with a cardiologist or electrophysiologist, catheter ablation procedures, and use
      of oral anticoagulants, rate control agents, and antiarrhythmic drugs. RESULTS:
      Overall, 517,941 patients met study criteria, of whom 452,986 (87%) were white,
      36,425 (7%) black, and 28,530 (6%) Hispanic. Male patients comprised 209,788
      (41%) of the cohort. In multivariate analysis, there were statistically
      significant differences in the use of AF-related services by both race and sex,
      with white patients and male patients receiving the most care. The most notable
      disparities were for catheter ablation (Hispanic vs white: adjusted hazard ratio
      [AHR] 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.63-0.79; P < .001; female vs male: AHR
      0.65; 95% CI 0.63-0.68; P < .001) and receipt of oral anticoagulation (black vs
      white: AHR 0.94; 95% CI 0.92-0.95; P < .001; Hispanic vs white: AHR 0.94; 95% CI
      0.93-0.97; P < .001; female vs male: AHR 0.93; 95% CI 0.93-0.94; P < .001).
      CONCLUSION: Race and sex appear to have a significant effect on the health care
      provided to this cohort of Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with AF. Possible
      explanations include racial differences in access, patient preferences, treatment
      bias, and unmeasured clinical characteristics.

PMID- 25814421
TI  - Reply the editor--a tachycardia using a decrementally conducting concealed
      accessory pathway between the superior caval vein-right atrial junction and the
      right ventricle.

PMID- 25814422
TI  - To the Editor - More awarenessless risk-Interpretation of ablation risk caused by
      coronary arterial anatomy.

PMID- 25814423
TI  - Imipramine for incessant ventricular arrhythmias in 2 unrelated patients with
      Andersen-Tawil syndrome.

PMID- 25814424
TI  - Isolation and characterization of StERF transcription factor genes from potato
      (Solanum tuberosum L.).
AB  - Ethylene response factor (ERF) is a major subfamily of the AP2/ERF family and
      plays significant roles in the regulation of abiotic- and biotic-stress
      responses. ERF proteins can interact with the GCC-box cis-element and then
      initiate a transcriptional cascade activating downstream ethylene response and
      enhancing plant stress tolerance. In this research, we cloned five StERF genes
      from potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). The expressional analysis of StERF genes
      revealed that they showed tissue- or organ-specific expression patterns and the
      expression levels in leaf, stem, root, flower, and tuber were different. The
      assays of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and the
      reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) showed that the expression of five StERF genes
      was regulated by ethephon, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salt and drought stress. The
      result from the yeast one-hybrid experiment showed that five StERFs had trans
      activation activity and could specifically bind to the GCC-box cis-elements. The
      StERFs responded to abiotic factors and hormones suggested that they possibly had
      diverse roles in stress and hormone regulation of potato. 

PMID- 25814425
TI  - A Review of the Key Clinical Trials of 2014.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Over the last year, multiple, potentially practice-changing,
      cardiology trials or studies have been published or presented at international
      meetings including the American College of Cardiology, European Association for
      Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions, European Society of Cardiology,
      Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics, Heart Failure Congress, Heart Rhythm
      Society, Heart Failure Society of America, American Society of Hypertension and
      the American Heart Association. METHODS: Clinical trial results presented at
      major cardiology conferences during 2014 were reviewed by the authors. Search
      terms included heart failure (HF), acute coronary syndrome, stable coronary
      disease, interventional cardiology, atrial fibrillation, electrophysiology and
      coronary prevention. Selection criteria were trials of broad relevance to the
      cardiology community, those with potential to change current practice and those
      with potential to guide further phase III research. RESULTS: In this paper, the
      authors describe and place in clinical context, new HF, data including neprilysin
      inhibitors, intravenous ferric carboxymaltose, potassium-absorbing compounds,
      quadripolar leads for cardiac resynchronization therapy and intraventricular
      device intervention. New trial data are also described for acute coronary
      syndromes (clopidogrel, prasugrel, ticagrelor), stable coronary artery disease
      (ivabradine), percutaneous coronary intervention (the role of thrombectomy or
      treatment of non-culprit lesions during primary intervention, pressure wire
      studies and outcomes of new stent designs), transcatheter aortic valve
      intervention data, atrial fibrillation (anticoagulation and direct current
      cardioversion), electrophysiology (leadless pacemaker devices, use of quinidine
      in Brugada syndrome) and coronary prevention (landmark Ezetimibe outcome data,
      PCSK9 clinical trials, childhood prevalence of hypertension, renal denervation
      for resistant hypertension and the role of cardiac computerized tomography in
      cardiovascular screening). CONCLUSION: This paper summarizes key clinical trials
      during 2014 and should be of practical interest to clinicians and cardiology
      researchers.

PMID- 25814426
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25814427
TI  - Anterior eye health recording.
AB  - AIMS: To survey eye care practitioners from around the world regarding their
      current practice for anterior eye health recording to inform guidelines on best
      practice. METHODS: The on-line survey examined the reported use of: word
      descriptions, sketching, grading scales or photographs; paper or computerised
      record cards and whether these were guided by proforma headings; grading scale
      choice, signs graded, level of precision, regional grading; and how much time eye
      care practitioners spent on average on anterior eye health recording. RESULTS:
      Eight hundred and nine eye care practitioners from across the world completed the
      survey. Word description (p<0.001), sketches (p=0.002) and grading scales
      (p<0.001) were used more for recording the anterior eye health of contact lens
      patients than other patients, but photography was used similarly (p=0.132). Of
      the respondents, 84.5% used a grading scale, 13.5% using two, with the original
      Efron (51.6%) and CCLRU/Brien-Holden-Vision-Institute (48.5%) being the most
      popular. The median features graded was 11 (range 1-23), frequency from 91.6%
      (bulbar hyperaemia) to 19.6% (endothelial blebs), with most practitioners grading
      to the nearest unit (47.4%) and just 14.7% to one decimal place. The average time
      taken to report anterior eye health was reported to be 6.8+/-5.7 min, with the
      maximum time available 14.0+/-11 min. CONCLUSIONS: Developed practice and
      research evidence allows best practice guidelines for anterior eye health
      recording to be recommended. It is recommended to: record which grading scale is
      used; always grade to one decimal place, record what you see live rather than
      based on how you intend to manage a condition; grade bulbar and limbal
      hyperaemia, limbal neovascularisation, conjunctival papillary redness and
      roughness (in white light to assess colouration with fluorescein instilled to aid
      visualisation of papillae/follicles), blepharitis, meibomian gland dysfunction
      and sketch staining (both corneal and conjunctival) at every visit. Record other
      anterior eye features only if they are remarkable, but indicate that the key
      tissue which have been examined.

PMID- 25814428
TI  - Tear break-up time for tear film evaluation: Are moistening solutions
      interchangeable?
AB  - PURPOSE: It was the main purpose of this study to investigate the influence of
      the moistening solution on TBUT measurements in an asymptomatic population.
      METHODS: An online survey was employed to determine the compliance of Spanish eye
      care practitioners with the recommended normalized procedure to administer TBUT.
      For the purpose of examining the clinical relevance of discrepancies from the
      recommended procedure, a randomized, double-masked, bilateral study was designed
      in which a micropipette was used to moisten fluorescein strips with a controlled
      volume of six different solutions, commonly available in the contact lens office,
      and TBUT was measured in 58 non-dry eye (OSDI<15) subjects (age from 19 to 32
      years). RESULTS: Results from the online survey revealed that 64% of Spanish
      practitioners frequently use (or have used) different solutions to moisten
      fluorescein strips during TBUT assessment. Statistically significant differences
      in TBUT values were found between the various solutions as a whole
      (chi(2)=198.384, p<0.001), as well as between all solutions when explored pair
      wise (all p<0.001), except for the two saline solutions. CONCLUSIONS: The present
      findings support the relevance of selecting the appropriate solution when
      conducting TBUT for the evaluation of the tear film. Deviations from the
      recommended procedure may result in misdiagnosis of dry eye and unnecessary
      patient referral.

PMID- 25814429
TI  - The Prevalence of ADHD in Fayoum City (Egypt) Among School-Age Children:
      Depending on a DSM-5-Based Rating Scale.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we created a new valid rating scale to estimate
      the prevalence of ADHD among school-age children in Fayoum City. METHOD: We
      conducted two consequential studies (Studies 1 and 2). In Study 1, the sample
      comprised 106 children. The ages of the sample participants ranged between 6 and
      14 years. The purpose of that study was to validate a new Diagnostic and
      Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5)-based ADHD rating scale.
      In Study 2, the sample consisted of 420 children with ages ranging from 6 to 14
      years. We used the new rating scale to estimate the prevalence of ADHD. RESULTS:
      The first study showed that the new rating scale for ADHD was valid. The second
      study revealed that the prevalence of ADHD in Fayoum City was 20.5%, with 33.8%
      among boys and 6.8% among girls. CONCLUSION: We validated a new ADHD rating scale
      and estimated the prevalence of ADHD in Fayoum City for the first time in Egypt.

PMID- 25814430
TI  - Prioritization of Companion Animal Transmissible Diseases for Policy Intervention
      in Europe.
AB  - A number of papers have been published on the prioritization of transmissible
      diseases in farm animals and wildlife, based either on semiquantitative or truly
      quantitative methods, but there is no published literature on the prioritization
      of transmissible diseases in companion animals. In this study, available
      epidemiological data for diseases transmissible from companion animals to man
      were analysed with the aim of developing a procedure suitable for their
      prioritization within a European framework. A new method and its associated
      questionnaire and scoring system were designed based on methods described by the
      World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Modifications were applied to allow
      for the paucity of specific information on companion animal transmissible
      diseases. The OIE method was also adapted to the subject and to the regional
      scope of the interprofessional network addressing zoonotic diseases transmitted
      via companion animals in Europe: the Companion Animals multisectoriaL
      interprofessionaL Interdisciplinary Strategic Think tank On zoonoses (CALLISTO).
      Adaptations were made based on information collected from expert groups on viral,
      bacterial and parasitic diseases using a structured questionnaire, in which all
      questions were closed-ended. The expert groups were asked to select the most
      appropriate answer for each question taking into account the relevance and
      reliability of the data available in the scientific literature. Subsequently, the
      scoring of the answers obtained for each disease covered by the questionnaire was
      analysed to obtain two final overall scores, one for human health impact and one
      for agricultural economic impact. The adapted method was then applied to select
      the 15 most important pathogens (five for each pathogen group: viral, bacterial
      and parasitic) on the basis of their overall impact on public health and
      agriculture. The result of the prioritization exercise was a joint priority list
      (available at www.callistoproject.eu) of relevant pathogens according to these
      two criteria. As the scope of CALLISTO was comprehensive in terms of geographical
      area, animal species involved and impact of the diseases, the list of prioritized
      diseases had to accommodate the realities in different European countries and the
      differences in biology and animal-human relationships in a wide range of species
      including cats and dogs, pet pigs and sheep as well as captive reptiles. The
      methodology presented in this paper can be used to generate accurate priority
      lists according to narrower and more specific objectives. 

PMID- 25814431
TI  - Prototheca zopfii Genotype 2-induced Nasal Dermatitis in a Cat.
AB  - Few published cases of feline protothecosis exist; all of these were restricted
      to the skin and speciation of the causative organism revealed an infection with
      Prototheca wickerhamii in each case. This report describes Prototheca zopfii
      genotype 2-induced inflammation of the nasal skin and cutaneous mucosa of the
      right nostril in a 14-year-old neutered female domestic shorthair cat.
      Microscopical examination revealed marked pyogranulomatous inflammation with
      numerous intralesional algae. These had a round to ovoid shape, were 8-21 MUm in
      diameter, formed endospores and displayed a positive immunoreaction for
      Prototheca zopfii antigen. By 18S rRNA gene amplification and sequencing the
      intralesional algae were confirmed as Prototheca zopfii and further characterized
      as Prototheca zopfii genotype 2. This case report reveals Prototheca zopfii as an
      additional Prototheca species associated with feline protothecosis. 

PMID- 25814432
TI  - Progression from optimal blood glucose and pre-diabetes to type 2 diabetes in a
      high risk population with or without hypertension in Isfahan, Iran.
AB  - AIM: To estimate the progression rates from normal glucose tolerance (NGT),
      isolated impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), isolated impaired fasting glucose
      (IFG) and combined IFG/IGT to type 2 diabetes (T2D) in a high risk population
      with and without hypertension (HTN) in Isfahan, Iran. METHODS: During a mean (SD)
      follow-up period of 6.8 (1.7) years, 1489 non-diabetic first-degree relatives of
      patients with T2D with or without HTN were followed for the occurrence of T2D. At
      baseline and through follow-ups, participants underwent a standard 75g 2-h oral
      glucose tolerance test. Blood pressure was measured by standardised protocols and
      HTN was defined according to the criteria of the JNC7. RESULTS: The progression
      rate (95% confidence interval) from NGT, isolated IFG, isolated IGT, and combined
      IFG/IGT to T2D was 10.0 (4.3, 19.6), 21.7 (9.5, 42.3), 28.2 (12.3, 54.7) and 64.7
      (41.0, 96.4) per 1000 person-years in participants with HTN and 3.1 (1.5, 4.7),
      16.3 (10.3, 24.2), 25.9 (17.0, 37.7) and 57.9 (46.1, 71.7) per 1000 person-years
      in participants without HTN based on 10,134 person-years of follow-up. Compared
      with individuals with NGT and without HTN, individuals with NGT and HTN, isolated
      IFG, isolated IGT, and combined IFG/IGT with or without HTN at baseline were more
      likely to progress to T2D. Compared with participants without HTN, individuals
      with concomitant HTN were not significantly more likely to progress to T2D.
      CONCLUSIONS: Compared with individuals without HTN, the presence of NGT, isolated
      IFG, isolated IGT, and combined IFG/IGT with concomitant HTN was not associated
      with higher likelihood of progression to T2D in high-risk individuals in Iran.

PMID- 25814434
TI  - Molecular profile of clonal strains of human skeletal stem/progenitor cells with
      different potencies.
AB  - Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs, also known as bone marrow-derived mesenchymal
      stem cells) are fibroblastic reticular cells, a subset of which is composed of
      multipotent skeletal stem cells (SSCs). SSCs/BMSCs are able to recreate a
      bone/marrow organ in vivo. To determine differences between clonogenic
      multipotent SSCs and similarly clonogenic but non-multipotent BMSCs, we
      established single colony-derived strains (SCDSs, initiated by individual Colony
      Forming Unit-Fibroblasts) and determined their differentiation capacity by vivo
      transplantation. In this series of human SCDSs (N=24), 20.8% formed fibrous
      tissue (F), 66.7% formed bone (B), and 12.5% formed a bone/marrow organ, and thus
      were multipotent (M). RNA isolated from 12 SCDSs just prior to transplantation
      was analyzed by microarray. Although highly similar, there was variability from
      one SCDS to another, and SCDSs did not strictly segregate into the three
      functional groups (F, B or M) by unsupervised hierarchical clustering. We then
      compared 3 F-SCDSs to 3 M-SCDSs that did segregate. Genes associated with
      skeletogenesis, osteoblastogeneis, hematopoiesis, and extracellular matrix were
      over-represented in M-SCDSs compared with F-SCDSs. These results highlight the
      heterogeneity of SSCs/BMSCs, even between functionally similar SCDSs, but also
      indicate that differences can be detected that may shed light on the character of
      the SSC. 

PMID- 25814435
TI  - Differential Roles of PIN1 and PIN2 in Root Meristem Maintenance Under Low-B
      Conditions in Arabidopsis thaliana.
AB  - Boron (B) is an essential element for plants; its deficiency causes rapid
      cessation of root elongation. In addition, B influences auxin accumulation in
      plants. To assess the importance of auxin transport in B-dependent root
      elongation, Arabidopsis thaliana pin1-pin4 mutants were grown under low-B
      conditions. Among them, only the pin2/eir1-1 mutant showed a significantly
      shorter root under low-B conditions than under control conditions. Moreover, the
      root meristem size of pin2/eir1-1 was reduced under low-B conditions. Among the
      PIN-FORMED (PIN) family, PIN1 and PIN2 are important for root meristem
      growth/maintenance under normal conditions. To investigate the differential
      response of pin1 and pin2 mutants under low-B conditions, the effect of low-B on
      PIN1-green fluorescent protein (GFP) and PIN2-GFP accumulation and localization
      was examined. Low-B did not affect PIN2-GFP, while it reduced the accumulation of
      PIN1-GFP. Moreover, no signal from DII-VENUS, an auxin sensor, was detected under
      the low-B condition in the stele of wild-type root meristems. Taken together,
      these results indicate that under low-B conditions PIN1 is down-regulated and
      PIN2 plays an important role in root meristem maintenance. 

PMID- 25814436
TI  - Effect of Transmural Transport Properties on Atheroma Plaque Formation and
      Development.
AB  - We propose a mathematical model of atheroma plaque initiation and early
      development in coronary arteries using anisotropic transmural diffusion
      properties. Our current approach is on the process on plaque initiation and
      intimal thickening rather than in severe plaque progression and rupture
      phenomena. The effect of transport properties, in particular the anisotropy of
      diffusion properties of the artery, on plaque formation and development is
      investigated using the proposed mathematical model. There is not a strong
      influence of the anisotropic transmural properties on LDL, SMCs and collagen
      distribution and concentrations along the artery. On the contrary, foam cells
      distribution strongly depends on the value of the radial diffusion coefficient of
      the substances [Formula: see text] and the ratio [Formula: see text]. Decreasing
      [Formula: see text] or diffusion coefficients ratio means a higher concentration
      of the foam cells close to the intima. Due to the fact that foam cells
      concentration is associated to the necrotic core formation, the final
      distribution of foam cells is critical to evolve into a vulnerable or fibrotic
      plaque. 

PMID- 25814437
TI  - Staffing subsidies and the quality of care in nursing homes.
AB  - Concerns about the quality of state-financed nursing home care has led to the
      wide-scale adoption by states of pass-through subsidies, in which Medicaid
      reimbursement rates are directly tied to staffing expenditure. We examine the
      effects of Medicaid pass-through on nursing home staffing and quality of care by
      adapting a two-step FGLS method that addresses clustering and state-level
      temporal autocorrelation. We find that pass-through subsidies increases staffing
      by about 1% on average and 2.7% in nursing homes with a low share of Medicaid
      patients. Furthermore, pass-through subsidies reduce the incidences of pressure
      ulcer worsening by about 0.9%. 

PMID- 25814438
TI  - Combining confocal and single molecule localisation microscopy: A correlative
      approach to multi-scale tissue imaging.
AB  - Many biological questions require information at different spatial scales that
      include molecular, organelle, cell and tissue scales. Here we detail a method of
      multi-scale imaging of human cardiac tissue by correlatively combining nano-scale
      data of direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM) with
      cellular and tissue level data provided by confocal microscopy. By utilising
      conventional fluorescence dyes the same cellular structures can be imaged with
      both modalities. Human cardiac tissue was first imaged at the nanoscale to
      identify macro-molecular membrane complexes containing the cardiac muscle
      proteins junctophilin (JPH) and the ryanodine receptor (RyR). The distribution of
      these proteins and an additional cell membrane marker (wheat germ agglutinin,
      WGA) were subsequently imaged by confocal microscopy. By segmenting dSTORM data
      into membrane and non-membrane components we demonstrate increased colocalization
      of RyR with JPH at the plasma-membrane as compared to intracellular compartments.
      Strategies for antibody labelling, quality control, locating and aligning
      structures between modalities, and analysis of combined multi-scaled data sets
      are described. 

PMID- 25814439
TI  - Near infrared lasers in flow cytometry.
AB  - Technology development in flow cytometry has closely tracked laser technology,
      the light source that flow cytometers almost exclusively use to excite
      fluorescent probes. The original flow cytometers from the 1970s and 1980s used
      large water-cooled lasers to produce only one or two laser lines at a time.
      Modern cytometers can take advantage of the revolution in solid state laser
      technology to use almost any laser wavelength ranging from the ultraviolet to the
      near infrared. Commercial cytometers can now be equipped with many small solid
      state lasers, providing almost any wavelength needed for cellular analysis. Flow
      cytometers are now equipped to analyze 20 or more fluorescent probes
      simultaneously, requiring multiple laser wavelengths. Instrument developers are
      now trying to increase this number by designing fluorescent probes that can be
      excited by laser wavelength at the "edges" of the visible light range, in the
      near ultraviolet and near-infrared region. A variety of fluorescent probes have
      been developed that excite with violet and long wavelength ultraviolet light;
      however, the near-infrared range (660-800 nm) has yet seen only exploitation in
      flow cytometry. Fortunately, near-infrared laser diodes and other solid state
      laser technologies appropriate for flow cytometry have been in existence for some
      time, and can be readily incorporated into flow cytometers to accelerate
      fluorescent probe development. The near infrared region represents one of the
      last "frontiers" to maximize the number of fluorescent probes that can be
      analyzed by flow cytometry. In addition, near infrared fluorescent probes used in
      biomedical tracking and imaging could also be employed for flow cytometry with
      the correct laser wavelengths. This review describes the available technology,
      including lasers, fluorescent probes and detector technology optimal for near
      infrared signal detection.

PMID- 25814440
TI  - An optimized procedure for exosome isolation and analysis using serum samples:
      Application to cancer biomarker discovery.
AB  - Exosomes are RNA and protein-containing nanovesicles secreted by all cell types
      and found in abundance in body fluids, including blood, urine and cerebrospinal
      fluid. These vesicles seem to be a perfect source of biomarkers, as their cargo
      largely reflects the content of parental cells, and exosomes originating from all
      organs can be obtained from circulation through minimally invasive or non
      invasive means. Here we describe an optimized procedure for exosome isolation and
      analysis using clinical samples, starting from quick and robust extraction of
      exosomes with Total exosome isolation reagent, then isolation of RNA followed by
      qRT-PCR. Effectiveness of this workflow is exemplified by analysis of the miRNA
      content of exosomes derived from serum samples - obtained from the patients with
      metastatic prostate cancer, treated prostate cancer patients who have undergone
      prostatectomy, and control patients without prostate cancer. Three promising
      exosomal microRNA biomarkers were identified, discriminating these groups: hsa
      miR375, hsa-miR21, hsa-miR574. 

PMID- 25814441
TI  - Drosophila and experimental neurology in the post-genomic era.
AB  - For decades, the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has been among the premiere
      genetic model systems for probing fundamental neurobiology, including elucidation
      of mechanisms responsible for human neurologic disorders. Flies continue to offer
      virtually unparalleled versatility and speed for genetic manipulation, strong
      genomic conservation, and a nervous system that recapitulates a range of cellular
      and network properties relevant to human disease. I focus here on four critical
      challenges emerging from recent advances in our understanding of the genomic
      basis of human neurologic disorders where innovative experimental strategies are
      urgently needed: (1) pinpointing causal genes from associated genomic loci; (2)
      confirming the functional impact of allelic variants; (3) elucidating nervous
      system roles for novel or poorly studied genes; and (4) probing network
      interactions within implicated regulatory pathways. Drosophila genetic approaches
      are ideally suited to address each of these potential translational roadblocks,
      and will therefore contribute to mechanistic insights and potential breakthrough
      therapies for complex genetic disorders in the coming years. Strategic
      collaboration between neurologists, human geneticists, and the Drosophila
      research community holds great promise to accelerate progress in the post-genomic
      era. 

PMID- 25814442
TI  - Pre-therapy mRNA expression of TNF is associated with regimen-related
      gastrointestinal toxicity in patients with esophageal cancer: a pilot study.
AB  - PURPOSE: Esophageal cancer has a high mortality rate, and its multimodality
      treatment is often associated with significant rates of severe toxicity. Effort
      is needed to uncover ways to maximize effectiveness of therapy through
      identification of predictive markers of response and toxicity. As such, the aim
      of this study was to identify genes predictive of chemoradiotherapy-induced
      gastrointestinal toxicity using an immune pathway-targeted approach. METHODS:
      Adults with esophageal cancer treated with chemotherapy consisting of 5
      fluorouracil and cisplatin and 45-50 Gy radiation were recruited to the study.
      Pre-therapy-collected whole blood was analyzed for relative expression of immune
      genes using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Gene expression was
      compared between patients who experienced severe regimen-related gastrointestinal
      toxicity vs. those experiencing mild to moderate toxicity. RESULTS: Blood from 31
      patients were analyzed by RT-PCR. Out of 84 immune genes investigated, TNF was
      significantly elevated (2.05-fold, p = 0.025) in the toxic group (n = 12)
      compared to the non-toxic group (n = 19). Nausea and vomiting was the most
      commonly documented severe toxicity. No associations between toxicity and
      response, age, sex, histology, or treatment were evident. CONCLUSIONS: This study
      supports evidence of TNF as a predictive biomarker in regimen-related
      gastrointestinal toxicity. Confirming these findings in a larger cohort is
      warranted.

PMID- 25814443
TI  - Guideline sheets on the side effects of anticancer drugs are useful for general
      practitioners.
AB  - PURPOSE: General practitioners (GPs) are more and more involved in the treatment
      of cancer patients but feel not informed enough about anticancer treatments and
      associated side effects. Better communication with treatment centers is needed.
      We hypothesized that information sheets could improve communication. METHODS:
      This prospective, multicentric, and interventionist study aimed at implementing
      and assessing therapeutic sheets describing the side effects of anticancer drugs
      used for digestive and gynecological cancers and their recommended management.
      GPs' phone interviews were done through three successive phases and two
      independent cohorts. The first phase (T1; 242 GPs with one patient recently
      treated) listed their expectations, the second (T2; 158 GPs with one patient
      beginning treatment) assessed the GPs' opinion regarding the sheets, and the
      third (T3; responder GPs 4 months after the start of T2) assessed their
      usefulness in practice. RESULTS: In T1, 94% of GPs declared their need of having
      information sheets, notably for the management of side effects. Thirty-one one
      page sheets were created. In T2, 83.5% gave a favorable opinion about sheets and
      80% envisaged their use in the case of side effect. In T3, 56% of GPs whose
      patient had experienced a side effect had used successfully the sheets for its
      management, and 21% of patients with side effect were hospitalized. A strong
      correlation existed between the use of the sheet by GPs and the hospitalization
      (OR 7.35 in the case of no use vs use). CONCLUSION: The guideline sheets
      represent a simple and low-cost solution to help GPs managing drugs' side effects
      and perhaps decrease the rate of unplanned hospitalizations.

PMID- 25814444
TI  - Sexual concerns of women diagnosed with breast cancer-related lymphedema.
AB  - PURPOSE: Lymphedema is a common side effect of breast cancer treatment that may
      negatively impact on a woman's physical and psychological well-being. This study
      aimed to understand the impact of breast cancer-related lymphedema on women's
      sexual functioning, and to identify key concerns of these women regarding sexual
      issues. METHODS: Purposive sampling recruited 17 women aged 38-67 years with mild
      to severe lymphedema. Telephone interviews concerning sexual issues were
      transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis undertaken. RESULTS: Women perceived
      sexual concerns arising from lymphedema to exacerbate concerns arising from
      breast cancer. Four interrelated factors determined the extent of lymphedema's
      sexual impact: (a) swelling severity and location, (b) needing to wear a
      compression garment, (c) body image concerns raised by lymphedema and breast
      cancer treatment, and (d) their sexual partner's acceptance and supportiveness.
      In particular, a supportive partner was instrumental in assisting women to
      overcome sexual issues caused by severe swelling and/or body image concerns. Few
      women reported being asked about sexual issues by any health professional, and
      most women indicated that they were unwilling to discuss sexual concerns with
      health professionals, friends, or family. CONCLUSIONS: Lymphedema had the
      potential to accentuate sexual issues caused by breast cancer, but most women
      were reluctant to discuss issues with anyone other than their partner. These
      findings are relevant to health professionals designing breast cancer
      psychosexual interventions and future research addressing lymphedema-specific
      sexual concerns.

PMID- 25814445
TI  - Re: Loss of heterozygosity at the CYP2D6 locus in breast cancer: implications for
      germline pharmacogenetic studies.

PMID- 25814446
TI  - Interleukin-33 and Behcet disease: Another cytokine among others.
AB  - Since the discovery of interleukin-33 (IL-33) ligand for the ST2 receptor, scarce
      studies have implicated this cytokine in the pathogenesis of Behcet's disease
      (BD). IL-33 is member of the IL-1 superfamily of cytokines that is expressed by
      epithelial cells, endothelial cells, inflammatory cells and central nervous
      tissue. Its expression is upregulated following pro-inflammatory situations
      making IL-33 essential to innate immunity. IL-33 can function both as a
      traditional cytokine and as a nuclear factor regulating gene transcription. It is
      thought to function as an "alarmin" which is released following cell necrosis to
      alert the immune system of tissue damage or stress. This short review highlights
      the emerging roles of IL-33 protein and raises many interrogations about its
      involvement in BD. 

PMID- 25814447
TI  - The dilemma of DQ HLA-antibodies.
AB  - Accurate identification of antibody reactivity against HLA-DQ antigens was
      difficult by using the old serological assays because of the strong linkage
      disequilibrium between HLA-DR and HLA-DQ (the usual inheritance of a certain HLA
      DR molecule that ties together with the same DQ molecule within a racial group).
      The accurate and precise identifications of anti-HLA-antibodies of DQ
      specificities were made possible with the introduction of multiplex-bead arrays
      (Luminex), using single antigen bead (SAB) assay. The SAB assay is also
      considered today to be the most sensitive and specific method for
      alloimmunization assessment even for the low titer anti-HLA-antibodies. However,
      it is becoming clear that the detection of the HLA antibodies by SAB is not
      absolutely perfect due to the variation in densities, conformations and
      orientations of the antigen coated beads. Unlike HLA-DR, the HLA-DQ antigens are
      made of two polymorphic chains, both (alpha and beta chains) can contribute to
      the process of immunization individually or jointly. Routine SAB testing
      approach, which assigns the specificities based on beta chains and ignores the
      contribution of the DQalpha chains, can lead to erroneous DQ-antibody
      assignments. Therefore, it is important to recognize both the peculiarity of the
      HLA-DQ antigens as well as the nature of the assay format used in order to reach
      the correct antibody assignments. Erroneous donor specific antibodies (DSA)
      assignment may lead to denial of an otherwise immunologically compatible organ
      transplant, or exposing transplant recipients to unnecessary investigations or
      immunosuppression. The following two patients presented with HLA-antibodies
      against DQ antigens (anti-DQ-Abs) highlight these two scenarios. 

PMID- 25814448
TI  - Large-scale determination of absolute phosphorylation stoichiometries in human
      cells by motif-targeting quantitative proteomics.
AB  - Our ability to model the dynamics of signal transduction networks will depend on
      accurate methods to quantify levels of protein phosphorylation on a global scale.
      Here we describe a motif-targeting quantitation method for phosphorylation
      stoichiometry typing. Proteome-wide phosphorylation stoichiometry can be obtained
      by a simple phosphoproteomic workflow integrating dephosphorylation and isotope
      tagging with enzymatic kinase reaction. Proof-of-concept experiments using CK2-,
      MAPK- and EGFR-targeting assays in lung cancer cells demonstrate the advantage of
      kinase-targeted complexity reduction, resulting in deeper phosphoproteome
      quantification. We measure the phosphorylation stoichiometry of >1,000
      phosphorylation sites including 366 low-abundance tyrosine phosphorylation sites,
      with high reproducibility and using small sample sizes. Comparing drug-resistant
      and sensitive lung cancer cells, we reveal that post-translational
      phosphorylation changes are significantly more dramatic than those at the protein
      and messenger RNA levels, and suggest potential drug targets within the kinase
      substrate network associated with acquired drug resistance. 

PMID- 25814450
TI  - Teleneurocritical care and telestroke.
AB  - Telestroke and teleneurologic intensive care units (teleneuro-ICUs) optimize the
      diagnosis and treatment of neurologic emergencies. Establishment of a telestroke
      or teleneuro-ICU program relies on investment in experienced stroke and
      neurocritical care personnel as well as advanced telecommunications technologies.
      Telemanagement of neurologic emergencies can be standardized to improve outcomes,
      but it is essential to have a relationship with a tertiary care facility that can
      use endovascular, neurosurgical, and neurocritical care advanced therapies after
      stabilization. The next stage in telestroke/teleneuro-ICU management involves the
      use of mobile stroke units to shorten the time to treatment in neurocritically
      ill patients. 

PMID- 25814449
TI  - Telemedicine in the intensive care unit: state of the art.
AB  - Critical care medicine is at a crossroads in which limited numbers of staff care
      for increasing numbers of patients as the population ages and use of ICUs
      increases. Also at this time health care spending must be curbed. The high
      intensity intensivist staffing model has been linked to improved mortality,
      complications, and costs. Tele-ICU uses technology to implement this high
      intensity staffing model in areas that are relatively underserved. When
      implemented correctly and in the right populations this technology has improved
      outcomes. Future studies regarding implementation, organization, staffing, and
      innovation are needed to determine the optimal use of this critical care
      professional enhanced technology. 

PMID- 25814452
TI  - Telemedicine in the intensive care unit: its role in emergencies and disaster
      management.
AB  - Disasters and emergencies lead to an overburdened health care system after the
      event, so additional telemedicine support can improve patient outcomes. If
      telemedicine is going to become an integral part of disaster response, there
      needs to be improved preparation for the use of telemedicine technologies.
      Telemedicine can improve patient triage, monitoring, access to specialists,
      health care provider burnout, and disaster recovery. However, the evidence for
      telemedicine and tele-intensive care in the disaster setting is limited, and it
      should be further studied to identify situations in which it is the most
      clinically effective and cost-effective. 

PMID- 25814451
TI  - Outcomes related to telemedicine in the intensive care unit: what we know and
      would like to know.
AB  - Telemedicine has been increasingly used in the intensive care unit setting (Tele
      ICU) for providing care. Given the shortage of qualified intensivists and
      critical care nurses in the United States and the ever-increasing demand for
      intensive care services, Tele-ICU has been proposed as a strategy to bridge this
      supply/demand gap. The Tele-ICU staffing model provides for many important
      outcome benefits that have been evaluated over the years by several studies. In
      this review, the authors summarize the existing evidence and identify areas where
      further evaluation is warranted. 

PMID- 25814453
TI  - Increasing quality through telemedicine in the intensive care unit.
AB  - This article explores the hypothesis that a telemedicine intensive care unit
      (Tele-ICU) platform is uniquely suited to facilitate quality performance
      improvement (PI). This article addresses some substantial hurdles to overcome
      that may limit the effectiveness of a Tele-ICU platform to achieve PI objectives.
      Lastly, this article describes the author's experience with a PI project to
      improve ventilator management conducted via a Tele-ICU hub interacting with 11
      geographically dispersed ICUs. Using this example to illustrate the concepts, the
      author hopes to shed some light on the successes and lessons learned so as to
      generate best-practice guidelines for Tele-ICU-directed PI initiatives. 

PMID- 25814454
TI  - The role of telemedicine in pediatric critical care.
AB  - Telemedicine technologies involve real-time, live, interactive video and audio
      communication and allow pediatric critical care physicians to have a virtual
      presence at the bedsides of critically ill children. Telemedicine use is
      increasing and will be a common in remote emergency departments, inpatient wards,
      and intensive care units for pediatric care. Hospitals and physicians that use
      telemedicine technologies provide higher quality of care, are more efficient in
      resource use with improved cost-effectiveness, and have higher satisfaction among
      patients, parents, and remote providers. More research will result in improved
      access to pediatric critical care expertise. 

PMID- 25814455
TI  - Telemedicine and the patient with sepsis.
AB  - Severe sepsis remains a significant medical problem affecting up to 18 million
      individuals worldwide. Mortality remains high ranging between 28% and 50%. Owing
      to this and the time-sensitive nature of this disease state, early identification
      and prompt interventions are necessary to improve outcomes. Technology associated
      with telemedicine may help in screening, identifying, and monitoring the
      attainment of the severe sepsis bundle elements in a timely manner. However, the
      heterogeneity of systemic inflammatory response syndrome and clinical assessment
      necessary to diagnose and assess patients with severe sepsis makes technology
      alone insufficient to improve the outcomes in these patients. 

PMID- 25814456
TI  - The impact of telemedicine in cardiac critical care.
AB  - Telemedicine was recognized in the 1970s as a legitimate entity for applying the
      use of modern information and communications technologies to the delivery of
      health services. Telecardiology is one of the fastest growing fields in
      telemedicine. The advancement of technologies and Web-based applications has
      allowed better transmission of health care delivery. This article discusses
      current advancements, the scope of telemedicine in cardiology, and its
      application to the critically ill. The impact of telecardiology consultation
      continues to evolve and includes many promising applications with potential
      positive implications for admission rates, morbidity, and mortality. 

PMID- 25814457
TI  - Practice challenges of intensive care unit telemedicine.
AB  - For more than 20 years, a 100-year-old state-based system for medical licensure
      has not progressed commensurate with the level of 21st century technology
      development. Despite government and nongovernment organizational attempts, each
      state maintains a process of variable and time-consuming requirements with lack
      of reciprocity. Lack of available reimbursement for Tele-ICU physician services
      is thought to be a long-standing and significant barrier to the rapid adoption of
      Tele-ICU programs. By reviewing the reimbursement guidelines for telehealth
      services across all major patient financial classes, a model is discussed for
      developing financial projections to determine exactly what reimbursement is
      available for Tele-ICU programs.

PMID- 25814458
TI  - Options for tele-intensive care unit design: centralized versus decentralized and
      other considerations: it is not just a "another black sedan".
AB  - This article seeks assist physicians or administrators considering establishing a
      Tele-ICU. Owing to an apparent domination of the Tele-ICU field by a single
      vendor, some may believe that there is only one design option. In fact, there are
      many alternative design formats that do not require the consumer to possess high
      level technical expertise. As when purchasing any major item, if the consumer can
      formulate basic concepts of design and research the various vendors, then the
      consumer can develop the Tele-ICU system best for their facility, finances,
      availability of staff, coverage model, and quality metric goals. 

PMID- 25814459
TI  - Telemedicine in the ICU.

PMID- 25814460
TI  - Mediating Role of Psychological Resources on the Association Between Childhood
      Socioeconomic Status and Current Health in the Community Adult Population of
      Japan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The majority of studies on the role of psychological resources
      linking childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and adult health have been conducted
      in Western countries. Empirical evidence for mediation effects of psychological
      resources is currently lacking in Japan. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was
      to investigate the mediating effect of psychological resources (mastery and sense
      of coherence [SOC]) on the association between childhood SES and current health.
      METHOD: Analyses were conducted on cross-sectional data (1,497 men and 1,764
      women) from the Japanese Study of Stratification, Health, Income, and
      Neighborhood Study (J-SHINE) in Tokyo. Psychological resources (mastery and SOC),
      childhood SES (parents' education and perceived childhood SES), and current
      health of adults (psychological distress measured by K6 and self-rated health)
      were measured using a self-report questionnaire. RESULTS: Mastery and SOC
      significantly and independently mediated the association between childhood SES
      and current health in the total sample after adjusting for age, gender, and
      respondent education, regardless of type of SES or health outcome indicators.
      Similar mediation effects were observed for both men and women. A few gender
      differences were observed; specifically, SOC significantly mediated the
      association between parents' education and current health only among women, and
      it mediated the association between perceived childhood SES and current health
      only among men. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the findings underscore the importance of
      the mediating role of psychological resources in the association between
      childhood SES and current health.

PMID- 25814462
TI  - Automatic evaluation of hypernasality based on a cleft palate speech database.
AB  - The hypernasality is one of the most typical characteristics of cleft palate (CP)
      speech. The evaluation outcome of hypernasality grading decides the necessity of
      follow-up surgery. Currently, the evaluation of CP speech is carried out by
      experienced speech therapists. However, the result strongly depends on their
      clinical experience and subjective judgment. This work aims to propose an
      automatic evaluation system for hypernasality grading in CP speech. The database
      tested in this work is collected by the Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan
      University, which has the largest number of CP patients in China. Based on the
      production process of hypernasality, source sound pulse and vocal tract filter
      features are presented. These features include pitch, the first and second energy
      amplified frequency bands, cepstrum based features, MFCC, short-time energy in
      the sub-bands features. These features combined with KNN classier are applied to
      automatically classify four grades of hypernasality: normal, mild, moderate and
      severe. The experiment results show that the proposed system achieves a good
      performance. The classification rates for four hypernasality grades reach up to
      80.4%. The sensitivity of proposed features to the gender is also discussed.

PMID- 25814461
TI  - Psychological Treatments for Chronic Pain in East and Southeast Asia: A
      Systematic Review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Psychological treatments are recognised as generally effective for
      chronic pain. However, little is known about the evidence for psychological
      treatments for chronic pain in Asia. PURPOSE: This study aimed (1) to identify
      all treatment outcome studies in the area of psychological approaches to chronic
      pain in adult populations of East Asia and Southeast Asia and (2) to evaluate the
      treatment types, the evidence for treatment outcomes and research design quality
      with regard to these studies. METHODS: We identified all psychologically based
      treatment outcome studies for chronic pain in East and Southeast Asia by
      searching CENTRAL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, MEDLINE (via Ovid), Global Health and Web of
      Science from the beginning of each abstracting service until December 2014 (week
      4). RESULTS: Seventeen studies met inclusion criteria including a total of N =
      1,890 participants. Four were randomised controlled trials (RCTs), five
      controlled clinical trials (CCTs) and eight cohort studies. Treatment outcomes
      included pain, disability, depression and anxiety. Overall, the studies included
      in this review showed small to medium within-group effect sizes for all four
      outcomes. A majority of the studies were rated as weak in design quality. Three
      RCTs were found to be of strong quality, one of moderate quality and only one CCT
      of moderate quality. CONCLUSION: The current available literature on
      psychological treatments for chronic pain in East and Southeast Asia is generally
      small in scale, mostly preliminary and lags behind on some developments occurring
      in North America and Europe. Further development of treatment methods and
      research designs is warranted.

PMID- 25814463
TI  - Study on the stereoselective degradation of three triazole fungicides in
      sediment.
AB  - The stereoselective degradation behaviors of chiral triazole fungicides
      (hexaconazole, flutriafol and tebuconazole) in sediment were investigated under
      laboratory conditions. The enantiomers were completely separated by high
      performance liquid chromatography on a cellulose tris(3-chloro-4
      methylphenylcarbamate) (Lux Cellulose-2) column. The mean recoveries of
      hexaconazole, flutriafol and tebuconazole in sediment ranged from 86.7% to
      105.9%. The methods were successfully applied for the enantioselective
      degradation analysis of fungicides in sediment. The results showed that the
      dissipation of hexaconazole, flutriafol and tebuconazole stereoisomers in
      sediment followed first-order kinetics (R(2)>0.95). The degradation rate of the
      enantiomers was different in sediment, and the (-)-enantiomer (t(1/2) was 86 days
      for hexaconazole, 139 for flutriafol and 136 for tebuconazole) degraded faster
      than the (+)-enantiomer (t(1/2) was 94 days for hexaconazole, 144 for flutriafol
      and 151 for tebuconazole) in native condition. The fungicides were degraded
      slowly, and no significant enantioselective degradation were observed under
      sterilized conditions. The results may hold promising implications for the
      environmental and ecological risk assessment of three important chiral triazole
      fungicides.

PMID- 25814465
TI  - Halogen-bonded photoresponsive materials.
AB  - The aim of the present review is to illustrate to the reader the state of the art
      on the construction of supramolecular azobenzene-containing materials formed by
      halogen bonding. These materials include several examples of polymeric, liquid
      crystalline or crystalline species whose performances are either superior to the
      corresponding performances of their hydrogen-bonded analogues or simply
      distinctive of the halogen-bonded species. 

PMID- 25814464
TI  - Reward and Toxicity of Cocaine Metabolites Generated by Cocaine Hydrolase.
AB  - Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) gene therapy is emerging as a promising concept for
      treatment of cocaine addiction. BChE levels after gene transfer can rise 1000
      fold above those in untreated mice, making this enzyme the second most abundant
      plasma protein. For months or years, gene transfer of a BChE mutated into a
      cocaine hydrolase (CocH) can maintain enzyme levels that destroy cocaine within
      seconds after appearance in the blood stream, allowing little to reach the brain.
      Rapid enzyme action causes a sharp rise in plasma levels of two cocaine
      metabolites, benzoic acid (BA) and ecgonine methyl ester (EME), a smooth muscle
      relaxant that is mildly hypotensive and, at best, only weakly rewarding. The
      present study, utilizing Balb/c mice, tested reward effects and cardiovascular
      effects of administering EME and BA together at molar levels equivalent to those
      generated by a given dose of cocaine. Reward was evaluated by conditioned place
      preference. In this paradigm, cocaine (20 mg/kg) induced a robust positive
      response but the equivalent combined dose of EME + BA failed to induce either
      place preference or aversion. Likewise, mice that had undergone gene transfer
      with mouse CocH (mCocH) showed no place preference or aversion after repeated
      treatments with a near-lethal 80 mg/kg cocaine dose. Furthermore, a single
      administration of that same high cocaine dose failed to affect blood pressure as
      measured using the noninvasive tail-cuff method. These observations confirm that
      the drug metabolites generated after CocH gene transfer therapy are safe even
      after a dose of cocaine that would ordinarily be lethal. 

PMID- 25814466
TI  - IR Spectroscopic Techniques to Study Isolated Biomolecules.
AB  - The combination of mass spectrometry, infrared action spectroscopy and quantum
      chemical calculations provides a variety of approaches to the study of the
      structure of biologically relevant molecules in vacuo. This chapter reviews some
      of the experimental methods that are currently in use, which can roughly be
      divided into two main categories: (1) low-temperature neutral molecules in a
      molecular beam environment, which can be investigated in a conformationally
      selective manner by the application of double-resonance laser spectroscopy and
      (2) ionized species which can conveniently be manipulated and selected by mass
      spectrometric methods and which can be investigated spectroscopically by
      wavelength-dependent photo-dissociation. Both approaches rely on the application
      of infrared tunable laser spectroscopy and the laser sources most commonly used
      in current studies are briefly reviewed in Sect. 3. Along with quantum-chemical
      calculations, reviewed in Chapter 3 of this book (Gaigeot and Spezia, Top Curr
      Chem doi:10.1007/128_2014_620), the experimental IR spectra reveal a wealth of
      information on the structural properties of the biological species. 

PMID- 25814467
TI  - Upregulation of NKG2C+ natural killer cells, TLR-2 expression on monocytes and
      downregulation of regulatory T-cells influence PEG-IFN treatment efficacy in
      entecavir-suppressed patients with CHB.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that host immune responses influence
      antiviral efficacy in chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The aim of this study was to
      characterize the immunological features responsible for improved treatment
      responses with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN)-alpha2a in entecavir (ETV)
      suppressed patients with CHB. METHODS: Peripheral natural killer (NK) cells, Toll
      like receptors (TLRs), T-cell subsets, regulatory T-cells (Tregs) and programmed
      death 1 (PD-1) were evaluated dynamically in 77 patients undergoing a clinical
      trial (OSST trial, NCT00940485) by flow cytometry. Response was defined as
      hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)
      loss and HBsAg seroconversion (either as singular events or in combination at
      week 48). RESULTS: Compared with ETV responders or PEG-IFN-alpha non-responders,
      PEG-IFN-alpha responders exhibited a significant decline in HBsAg during
      treatment (P=0.033 and P<0.001, respectively) and a significant decline in Treg
      proportions from week 12 to week 24 (P=0.036 and P=0.004, respectively).
      Moreover, PEG-IFN-alpha responders showed a significantly higher increase in the
      NKG2C(+) NK cell proportions from baseline to week 12 (P=0.0073) and of TLR2(+)
      monocytes at week 12 than PEG-IFN-alpha non-responders (P=0.039). CONCLUSIONS:
      Successful response to PEG-IFN-alpha correlates with an early significant
      restoration of impaired immune responses. Although antiviral treatment response
      can be achieved by both IFN and ETV, the underlying immunological features vary
      which may explain the generally observed difference in off-treatment durability
      of response between the two treatments, as well as effects on HBsAg.

PMID- 25814468
TI  - The effects of atorvastatin on the prevention of osteoporosis and dyslipidemia in
      the high-fat-fed ovariectomized rats.
AB  - Previous studies reported that statins showed positive effects on bone in both
      human and animal models. This study aimed to investigate the effects of
      atorvastatin on the prevention of osteoporosis and dyslipidemia in ovariectomized
      rats fed with high-fat emulsion. The 3-month-old female rats were subjected to
      either sham operations (n = 8) or ovariectomized operations (OVX, n = 24). The
      OVX rats were orally administered deionized water (n = 8) or standardized high
      fat emulsion without (n = 8) or with atorvastatin (n = 8). All rats were injected
      twice with calcein before sacrificed for the purpose of double in vivo labeling.
      After 12 weeks, all rats were sacrificed under anesthesia. Biochemistry,
      histomorphometry, mechanical test, micro-computed tomography analysis, mechanical
      test, histology, and component analysis were performed. We found that high-fat
      emulsion significantly decreased body weight, bone formation, collagen content of
      bone, and bone biomechanics, while increased blood, liver, and bone marrow
      lipids. Atorvastatin treatment prevented dyslipidemia, reversed hepatic
      steatosis, optimized composition of bone, and improved bone mechanical
      properties. The current study provided further evidence that atorvastatin might
      be useful for the treatment of osteoporotic patients with dyslipidemia.

PMID- 25814469
TI  - Reduced cortical thickness in gambling disorder: a morphometric MRI study.
AB  - Gambling disorder has recently been recognized as a prototype 'behavioral
      addiction' by virtue of its inclusion in the DSM-5 category of 'Substance-Related
      and Addictive Disorders.' Despite its newly acquired status and prevalence rate
      of 1-3 % globally, relatively little is known regarding the neurobiology of this
      disorder. The aim of this study was to explore cortical morphometry in untreated
      gambling disorder, for the first time. Subjects with gambling disorder (N = 16)
      free from current psychotropic medication or psychiatric comorbidities, and
      healthy controls (N = 17), were entered into the study and undertook magnetic
      resonance imaging (3T MRI). Cortical thickness was quantified using automated
      segmentation techniques (FreeSurfer), and group differences were identified using
      permutation cluster analysis, with stringent correction for multiple comparisons.
      Gambling disorder was associated with significant reductions (average 15.8-19.9
      %) in cortical thickness, versus controls, predominantly in right frontal
      cortical regions. Pronounced right frontal morphometric brain abnormalities occur
      in gambling disorder, supporting neurobiological overlap with substance disorders
      and its recent reclassification as a behavioral addiction. Future work should
      explore the trait versus state nature of the findings and whether similarities
      exist with other not-yet-reclassified putative behavioral addictions.

PMID- 25814472
TI  - Clarification: surnames and social mobility in England.

PMID- 25814470
TI  - Classical conditioning in borderline personality disorder: an fMRI study.
AB  - Previous research suggests disturbed emotional learning and memory in borderline
      personality disorder (BPD). Studies investigating the neural correlates of
      aversive differential delay conditioning in BPD are currently lacking. We aimed
      to investigate acquisition, within-session extinction, between-session extinction
      recall, and reacquisition. We expected increased activation in the insula,
      amygdala, and anterior cingulate, and decreased prefrontal activation in BPD
      patients. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, 27 medication-free female
      BPD patients and 26 female healthy controls (HC) performed a differential delay
      aversive conditioning paradigm. An electric shock served as unconditioned
      stimulus, two neutral pictures as conditioned stimuli (CS+/CS-). Dependent
      variables were blood-oxygen-level-dependent response, skin conductance response
      (SCR), and subjective ratings (valence, arousal). No significant between-group
      differences in brain activation were found [all p(FDR) > 0.05]. Within-group
      comparisons for CS+unpaired > CS- revealed increased insula activity in BPD
      patients but not in HC during early acquisition; during late acquisition, both
      groups recruited fronto-parietal areas [p(FDR) < 0.05]. During extinction, BPD
      patients rated both CS+ and CS- as significantly more arousing and aversive than
      HC and activated the amygdala in response to CS+. In contrast, HC showed
      increased prefrontal activity in response to CS+ > CS during extinction. During
      extinction recall, there was a trend for stronger SCR to CS+ > CS in BPD
      patients. Amygdala habituation to CS+paired (CS+ in temporal contingency with the
      aversive event) during acquisition was found in HC but not in patients. Our
      findings suggest altered temporal response patterns in terms of increased
      vigilance already during early acquisition and delayed extinction processes in
      individuals with BPD. 

PMID- 25814471
TI  - Viperin is induced following toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) ligation and has a virus
      responsive function in human trophoblast cells.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Viperin, a virus-inducible antiviral protein, has been reported to
      inhibit the replication of a variety of viruses. However, its expression and
      function in trophoblast cells remains unclear. Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) is a
      key component of the innate immune system that recognizes viral double-stranded
      RNA and triggers immune reactions by producing type I interferon. We hypothesized
      that viperin inhibits the replication of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in
      trophoblast cells. METHODS: In situ examinations of viperin expression was
      conducted in the human first-trimester placenta by immunohistochemical staining.
      Using a human trophoblast cell culture system, we studied the effect of TLR-3
      ligation on viperin expression by treating trophoblasts with polyinosinic
      polycytidylic acid [Poly (I: C)] (a synthetic double-stranded RNA, which mimics
      viral RNA). Viperin mRNA and protein expression were evaluated by real-time PCR
      and Western blot analysis. In a HCMV infected Swan 71 cell model, HCMV immediate
      early 1 (IE1) protein mRNA expression was evaluated by real-time PCR after
      viperin RNA interference. RESULTS: Viperin was localized in trophoblast cells.
      Poly (I: C) induced viperin expression in a dosage and time-dependent manner.
      Blocking of TLR3 signaling by neutralizing antibody against IFN-beta abolished
      the stimulation of viperin expression. After HCMV infection, expression of
      viperin mRNA and protein was unregulated. HCMV IE1 mRNA expression was
      significantly inhibited by viperin RNA interference. DISCUSSION: Viperin is a
      virus-responsive protein that is constitutively expressed in human trophoblast
      cells. However, contrary to our hypothesis, viperin facilitates HCMV replication
      post infection.

PMID- 25814473
TI  - Measurement invariance of English and French Health Education Impact
      Questionnaire (heiQ) empowerment scales validated for cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: If measurement invariance (MI) is demonstrated for a scale completed by
      respondents from two different language groups, it means that the scale measures
      the same construct in the same way in both groups. We assessed MI of the French-
      and English-language versions of the five Health Education Impact Questionnaire
      (heiQ) empowerment scales validated for the cancer setting. METHODS: Data came
      from two cross-sectional studies of Canadian cancer survivors (704 English, 520
      French). Single-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test whether
      the hypothesized factor structure of the French-language heiQ empowerment scales
      fit the data. Multi-group CFAs were conducted to assess different levels of MI
      conditions (configural, metric, scalar, strict, as well as MI of factor
      variances, covariances, and latent means) of the French- and English-language
      heiQ empowerment scales. RESULTS: The correlated five-factor model showed good
      fit in both language groups (goodness-of-fit indices: CFI >= .97; RMSEA <= .07).
      Goodness-of-fit indices and tests of differences in fit between models supported
      MI of the five-factor model across the two language groups (?CFI <= -.010
      combined with ?RMSEA <= .015). CONCLUSIONS: The French- and English-language heiQ
      empowerment scales measure the same five dimensions of empowerment in the same
      way across both language groups. Thus, any observed similarities or differences
      between French- and English-speaking respondents completing these scales are
      valid and reflect similarities or differences in empowerment across language
      groups, not measurement artifact. Consequently, heiQ empowerment data from
      English- and French-speaking respondents can be directly pooled or contrasted in
      data analyses.

PMID- 25814474
TI  - A Lifetime of Allograft Function with Kidneys from Older Donors.
AB  - Strategies to increase expanded criteria donor (ECD) transplantation are needed.
      We quantified the extent to which ECD kidneys provide recipients with a lifetime
      of allograft function by determining the difference between patient survival and
      death-censored allograft survival (graft survival). Initial analyses compared 5
      year outcomes in the Eurotransplant Senior Program (European) and the United
      States Renal Data System. Among European recipients >=65 years, patient survival
      exceeded graft survival, and ECD recipients returned to dialysis for an average
      of 5.2 months after transplant failure. Among United States recipients >=60
      years, graft survival exceeded patient survival. Although patient survival in
      elderly recipients in the United States was low (49% at 5 years), the average
      difference in patient survival at 10 years in elderly recipients in the United
      States with an ECD versus non-ECD transplant was only 7 months. The probability
      of patient survival with a functioning allograft at 5 years was higher with ECD
      transplantation within 1 year after activation to the waiting list than with
      delayed non-ECD transplantation >=3 years after activation to the waiting list.
      Subsequent analyses demonstrated that ECD transplants do not provide a lifetime
      of allograft function in recipients <50 years in the United States. These
      findings should encourage ECD transplantation in patients >=60 years, demonstrate
      that rapid ECD transplantation is superior to delayed non-ECD transplantation,
      and challenge the policy in the United States of allowing patients <50 years to
      receive an ECD transplant. 

PMID- 25814476
TI  - EEG Duration: The Long and the Short of It.
AB  - Current American Clinical Neurophysiology Society guidelines require a minimum of
      20 minutes of artifact-free EEG recording; however, the optimum duration for
      routine EEGs is not established. Our hypothesis was that an EEG recording of 40
      minutes' duration would yield more information than a 20-minute EEG in capturing
      epileptiform abnormalities and in obtaining sleep. We retrospectively studied 150
      consecutive EEGs of 40 minutes' duration performed at St Christopher's Hospital
      for Children. Although the majority (89%) of interictal EEG abnormalities can be
      identified within the first 20 minutes of a routine EEG, extending the time of a
      routine EEG increases the yield significantly by identifying an additional 11% of
      abnormal studies (P = .0001), precluding the need for further long-term
      monitoring in these patients. Forty-three percent of interictal epileptiform
      abnormalities were found during sleep. We recommend that routine EEGs be
      performed for 40 minutes, whenever possible, to improve yield in a cost-effective
      manner.

PMID- 25814475
TI  - Neuropsychological Impairment in School-Aged Children Born to Mothers With
      Gestational Diabetes.
AB  - The aim of this study was to determine whether school-aged children born to
      mothers with gestational diabetes show delays in their neuropsychological
      development. Several key neuropsychological characteristics of 32 children aged 7
      to 9 years born to mothers with gestational diabetes were examined by comparing
      their performance on cognitive tasks to that of 28 children aged 8 to 10 years
      whose mothers had glucose levels within normal limits during pregnancy. The
      gestational diabetes group showed low performance on graphic, spatial, and
      bimanual skills and a higher presence of soft neurologic signs. Lower scores for
      general intellectual level and the working memory index were also evident. Our
      results suggest that gestational diabetes is associated with mild cognitive
      impairment. 

PMID- 25814478
TI  - Industry's pledges to limit harms of alcohol are unlikely to work, research
      finds.

PMID- 25814479
TI  - Progress in studying intrinsically disordered proteins with atomistic
      simulations.
AB  - Intrinsically disordered proteins are increasingly the focus of biological
      research since their significance was acknowledged over a decade ago. Due to
      their importance in biomolecular interactions, they are found to play key roles
      in many diseases such as cancers and amyloidoses. However, because they lack
      stable structure they pose a challenge for many experimental methods that are
      traditionally used to study proteins. Atomistic molecular dynamics simulations
      can help get around many of the problems faced by such methods provided
      appropriate timescales are sampled and underlying empirical force fields are
      applicable. This review presents recent works that highlight the power and
      potential of atomistic simulations to transform the investigatory pipeline by
      providing critical insights into the behavior and interactions of intrinsically
      disordered proteins. 

PMID- 25814480
TI  - The role of TRPV1 in improving VSMC function and attenuating hypertension.
AB  - The transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) channel, a ligand-gated
      cation channel of the TRP subfamily, can be activated by multiple stimuli,
      including capsaicin. Currently, cumulative studies have demonstrated an
      interesting link between TRPV1 and cardiovascular diseases, including
      hypertension. Additionally, the protective effect of TRPV1 against hypertension
      and its related disorders has been proved to be partly involved with the improved
      action of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). This review focuses on the
      current knowledge of TRPV1 in improving VSMC function and attenuating
      hypertension. 

PMID- 25814481
TI  - Low-dose adefovir dipivoxil may induce Fanconi syndrome: clinical characteristics
      and long-term follow-up for Chinese patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) nephrotoxicity is well known at a dose of 60
      mg day(-1) or 120 mg day(-1). However, renal toxicity at a low-dose of 10 mg ADV
      for HBV-infected patients is not fully described. Our objective was to analyse
      the clinical features and outcomes of ADV-related Fanconi's syndrome in the
      Chinese population. METHODS: This was a retrospective study. A total of 35
      patients with ADV-related Fanconi's syndrome were studied. Clinical
      manifestations and biochemical parameters were analysed. 19 patients were from
      Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) included from August 2010 to
      December 2012. A total of 16 patients were eligible from case reports in the
      Chinese population retrieved in PUBMED, WANFANG and CNKI database. Bone mineral
      density and biochemical parameters including serum phosphate, calcium,
      creatinine, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were measured before and after ADV
      cessation and during the follow-up. RESULTS: All recruited patients had
      hypophosphataemia, increased urinary phosphate excretion and elevated alkaline
      phosphatase. Serum phosphate levels rapidly increased especially within the 4
      weeks after ADV cessation. Serum creatinine remained high or at the upper limit
      of normal range even after ADV cessation for 1 year. ALP increased in the first
      three months of ADV cessation and decreased at the 24th week. Bone mineral
      density was significantly improved after 6 months cessation of ADV. CONCLUSIONS:
      ADV can be nephrotoxic at prolonged low doses of 10 mg. For those who take ADV
      long term, regular monitoring of serum phosphate, creatinine levels and urine
      routine tests are required.

PMID- 25814482
TI  - Expression of Thyroid Hormone Receptors in Villous Trophoblasts and Decidual
      Tissue at Protein and mRNA Levels Is Downregulated in Spontaneous and Recurrent
      Miscarriages.
AB  - Thyroid hormones are essential for the maintenance of pregnancy, and a deficiency
      in maternal thyroid hormones has been associated with early pregnancy losses. The
      expression of THRalpha1, THRbeta1 and THRalpha2 increases with gestational age.
      The aim of this study was the investigation of the protein and mRNA-levels of THR
      isoforms THRalpha1, THRalpha2, THRbeta1 and THRbeta2 in normal, spontaneous and
      recurrent miscarriages. The identification of THR-expressing cells in the decidua
      was done with double immunofluorescence. The nuclear expression of THRalpha1,
      THRalpha2, THRbeta1 and THRbeta2 is downregulated at protein level in spontaneous
      and recurrent miscarriages in villous trophoblast tissue. In decidual tissue, we
      found a significant downregulation only for THRalpha1 in spontaneous
      miscarriages. For recurrent miscarriages, THRalpha1 and THRbeta1 were both
      significantly downregulated in decidual tissue. By applying HLA-G as a
      trophoblast marker, we found a significant co-expression only for THRbeta2. The
      results of our study show that thyroid hormone receptors THRalpha1, THRalpha2,
      THRbeta1 and THRbeta2 are downregulated in spontaneous and recurrent
      miscarriages. The majority of cells expressing the thyroid hormone receptors in
      the decidua are decidual stromal cells.

PMID- 25814483
TI  - The process of development of a prioritization tool for a clinical decision
      support build within a computerized provider order entry system: Experiences from
      St Luke's Health System.
AB  - To establish a process for the development of a prioritization tool for a
      clinical decision support build within a computerized provider order entry system
      and concurrently to prioritize alerts for Saint Luke's Health System. The process
      of prioritizing clinical decision support alerts included (a) consensus sessions
      to establish a prioritization process and identify clinical decision support
      alerts through a modified Delphi process and (b) a clinical decision support
      survey to validate the results. All members of our health system's physician
      quality organization, Saint Luke's Care as well as clinicians, administrators,
      and pharmacy staff throughout Saint Luke's Health System, were invited to
      participate in this confidential survey. The consensus sessions yielded a
      prioritization process through alert contextualization and associated Likert-type
      scales. Utilizing this process, the clinical decision support survey polled the
      opinions of 850 clinicians with a 64.7 percent response rate. Three of the top
      rated alerts were approved for the pre-implementation build at Saint Luke's
      Health System: Acute Myocardial Infarction Core Measure Sets, Deep Vein
      Thrombosis Prophylaxis within 4 h, and Criteria for Sepsis. This study
      establishes a process for developing a prioritization tool for a clinical
      decision support build within a computerized provider order entry system that may
      be applicable to similar institutions.

PMID- 25814484
TI  - Magnetotransport of single crystalline NbAs.
AB  - We report transport measurement in zero and applied magnetic field on a single
      crystal of NbAs. Transverse and longitudinal magnetoresistance in the plane of
      this tetragonal structure does not saturate up to 9 T. In the transverse
      configuration (H ? c, I ? c) it is 230,000% at 2 K. The Hall coefficient changes
      sign from hole-like at room temperature to electron-like below ~150 K. The
      electron carrier density and mobility calculated at 2 K based on a single band
      approximation are 1.8 * 10(19) cm(-3) and 3.5 * 10(5) cm(2) Vs(-1), respectively.
      These values are similar to reported values for TaAs and NbP, and further
      emphasize that this class of noncentrosymmetric, transition-metal monopnictides
      is a promising family to explore the properties of Weyl semimetals and the
      consequences of their novel electronic structure.

PMID- 25814485
TI  - Life after ibrutinib? A new unmet need in CLL.
AB  - In this issue of Blood, Jain et al reported on the poor outcomes of patients with
      chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) after the discontinuation of ibrutinib.

PMID- 25814486
TI  - New prognostic tools for myeloma.
AB  - In this issue of Blood, Palumbo et al show, in a study performed with the
      cooperation of the International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG), that detailed
      systematic geriatric assessment of elderly myeloma patients might be a useful
      tool for identifying fit and frail individuals. Like most malignancies, multiple
      myeloma mainly affects elderly patients. Even so, in daily clinical practice, we
      usually only consider chronological age (i.e., is the patient under or above 65
      years of age?). However, it is quite obvious that there is a huge difference
      between a 70-year-old fit patient and a frail patient above the age of 80.

PMID- 25814487
TI  - When the brain tells the blood how to clot.
AB  - In this issue of Blood, Tian et al report that during traumatic brain injury,
      small membrane vesicles, called microparticles, disseminate procoagulant factors
      from the brain into the systemic circulation. The delivery appears to occur
      through the disrupted blood-brain barrier.

PMID- 25814488
TI  - Long-term outcomes in MPS-IH: throwing stars.
AB  - After a herculean data-gathering effort, in this issue of Blood, Aldenhoven and
      colleagues from Europe and North America provide an eye-opening assessment of
      long-term neurocognitive, organ, joint, and tissue function after allogeneic
      transplantation of children with mucopolysaccharidosis type I-Hurler syndrome
      (MPS-IH), along with an analysis defining a path to better these outcomes.

PMID- 25814489
TI  - Population-based study on the impact of the familial form of Waldenstrom
      macroglobulinemia on overall survival.

PMID- 25814490
TI  - A roadmap for discovery and translation in lymphoma.

PMID- 25814491
TI  - Improving fMRI reliability in presurgical mapping for brain tumours.
AB  - PURPOSE: Functional MRI (fMRI) is becoming increasingly integrated into clinical
      practice for presurgical mapping. Current efforts are focused on validating data
      quality, with reliability being a major factor. In this paper, we demonstrate the
      utility of a recently developed approach that uses receiver operating
      characteristic-reliability (ROC-r) to: (1) identify reliable versus unreliable
      data sets; (2) automatically select processing options to enhance data quality;
      and (3) automatically select individualised thresholds for activation maps.
      METHODS: Presurgical fMRI was conducted in 16 patients undergoing surgical
      treatment for brain tumours. Within-session test-retest fMRI was conducted, and
      ROC-reliability of the patient group was compared to a previous healthy control
      cohort. Individually optimised preprocessing pipelines were determined to improve
      reliability. Spatial correspondence was assessed by comparing the fMRI results to
      intraoperative cortical stimulation mapping, in terms of the distance to the
      nearest active fMRI voxel. RESULTS: The average ROC-r reliability for the
      patients was 0.58+/-0.03, as compared to 0.72+/-0.02 in healthy controls. For the
      patient group, this increased significantly to 0.65+/-0.02 by adopting optimised
      preprocessing pipelines. Co-localisation of the fMRI maps with cortical
      stimulation was significantly better for more reliable versus less reliable data
      sets (8.3+/-0.9 vs 29+/-3 mm, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated ROC-r
      analysis for identifying reliable fMRI data sets, choosing optimal postprocessing
      pipelines, and selecting patient-specific thresholds. Data sets with higher
      reliability also showed closer spatial correspondence to cortical stimulation.
      ROC-r can thus identify poor fMRI data at time of scanning, allowing for repeat
      scans when necessary. ROC-r analysis provides optimised and automated fMRI
      processing for improved presurgical mapping.

PMID- 25814493
TI  - Lifting the veil: how to use clinical neuropsychology to assess dementia.
AB  - Neurologists often struggle to interpret the results of neuropsychological
      testing, even though cognitive assessments are an integral component of the
      diagnostic process in dementia syndromes. This article reviews the principles
      underlying clinical neuropsychology, background on common neuropsychological
      tests, and tips on how to interpret the results when assessing patients with
      dementia. General cognitive screening tools, appropriate for use by general
      neurologists and psychiatrists, as well as specific cognitive tests examining the
      main cognitive domains (attention and orientation, memory, visuospatial function,
      language and executive function) in patients with dementia are considered.
      Finally, the pattern of deficits, helpful in defining clinical dementia
      phenotypes and sometimes in predicting the underlying molecular pathology, are
      outlined. Such clinicopathological associations will become invaluable as disease
      modifying treatments for dementia are developed and implemented. 

PMID- 25814492
TI  - What causes intracerebral bleeding after thrombolysis for acute ischaemic stroke?
      Recent insights into mechanisms and potential biomarkers.
AB  - The overall population benefit of intravascular recombinant tissue plasminogen
      activator (rtPA) on functional outcome in ischaemic stroke is clear, but there
      are some treated patients who are harmed by early symptomatic intracranial
      haemorrhage (ICH). Although several clinical and radiological factors increase
      the risk of rtPA-related ICH, none of the currently available risk prediction
      tools are yet useful for practical clinical decision-making, probably reflecting
      our limited understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Finding new methods to
      identify patients at highest risk of rtPA-related ICH, or new measures to limit
      risk, are urgent challenges in acute stroke therapy research. In this article, we
      focus on the potential underlying mechanisms of rtPA-related ICH, highlight
      promising candidate risk biomarkers and suggest future research directions. 

PMID- 25814494
TI  - Sialylated IgG-Fc: a novel biomarker of chronic inflammatory demyelinating
      polyneuropathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Sialylation in Fc portion of IgG plays a crucial role in the
      pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases and the working mechanism of intravenous
      immunoglobulin (IVIG). We aim to test whether IgG-Fc sialylation is a biomarker
      of disease activity for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).
      METHODS: By using specific lectins for sialylation, galactosylation and
      agalactosylation, lectin-enzyme assay and lectin blotting with pretreatment of
      IgG degradating enzyme of Streptococcus pyogenes were performed to compare the
      glycosylation levels of serum IgG-Fc (1) between patients of untreated CIDP
      (n=107) and normal control subjects (n=27), (2) among patients with untreated
      CIDP of different clinical severities and (3) before and after IVIG treatment of
      patients with CIDP (n=12). RESULTS: Sialylation and galactosylation of IgG-Fc
      were significantly reduced in patients with CIDP than normal control subjects
      (p=0.003 and 0.033, respectively), whereas agalactosylation was increased in CIDP
      (p=0.21). Ratios of sialylated/agalactosylated IgG-Fc levels were significantly
      reduced in CIDP (p<0.001) and inversely related to disease severity (p=0.044).
      After IVIG treatment, levels of sialylated IgG-Fc significantly increased
      (p=0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Sialylation of IgG-Fc is reduced in CIDP. Its level
      correlated with clinical severity and increased after IVIG treatment. Sialylated
      as well as ratio of sialylated/agalactosylated IgG-Fc could be new measures to
      monitor the disease severity and treatment status in CIDP.

PMID- 25814495
TI  - Turning the tide or riding the waves? Impacts of antibiotic stewardship and
      infection control on MRSA strain dynamics in a Scottish region over 16 years: non
      linear time series analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To explore temporal associations between planned antibiotic
      stewardship and infection control interventions and the molecular epidemiology of
      methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). DESIGN: Retrospective
      ecological study and time-series analysis integrating typing data from the
      Scottish MRSA reference laboratory. SETTING: Regional hospital and primary care
      in a Scottish Health Board. PARTICIPANTS: General adult (N=1,051,993) or
      intensive care (18,235) admissions and primary care registrations (460,000
      inhabitants) between January 1997 and December 2012. INTERVENTIONS: Hand-hygiene
      campaign; MRSA admission screening; antibiotic stewardship limiting use of
      macrolides and '4Cs' (cephalosporins, coamoxiclav, clindamycin and
      fluoroquinolones). OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence density of MRSA clonal complexes
      CC22, CC30 and CC5/Other in hospital (isolates/1000 occupied bed days, OBDs) and
      community (isolates/10,000 inhabitant-days). RESULTS: 67% of all clinical MRSA
      isolates (10,707/15,947) were typed. Regional MRSA population structure was
      dominated by hospital epidemic strains CC30, CC22 and CC45. Following declines in
      overall MRSA prevalence density, CC5 and other strains of community origin became
      increasingly important. Reductions in use of '4Cs' and macrolides anticipated
      declines in sublineages with higher levels of associated resistances. In
      multivariate time-series models (R(2)=0.63-0.94) introduction of the hand-hygiene
      campaign, reductions in mean length of stay (when >4 days) and bed occupancy
      (when >74 to 78%) predicted declines in CC22 and CC30, but not CC5/other strains.
      Lower importation pressures, expanded MRSA admission screening, and reductions in
      macrolide and third generation cephalosporin use (thresholds for association: 135
      141, and 48-81 defined daily doses/1000 OBDs, respectively) were followed by
      declines in all clonal complexes. Strain-specific associations with
      fluoroquinolones and clindamycin reflected resistance phenotypes of clonal
      complexes. CONCLUSIONS: Infection control measures and changes in population
      antibiotic use were important predictors of MRSA strain dynamics in our region.
      Strategies to control MRSA should consider thresholds for effects and strain
      specific impacts.

PMID- 25814496
TI  - Workplace violence against nurses in Chinese hospitals: a cross-sectional survey.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of workplace violence that Chinese nurses
      have encountered, identify risk factors and provide a basis for future targeted
      interventions. SETTING: Heilongjiang, a province in northeast China. METHODS: A
      cross-sectional survey. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 588 nurses provided data. There
      were also in-depth interviews with 12 nurses, 7 hospital administrators and 6
      health officials. RESULTS: A total of 7.8% of the nurses reported physically
      violent experiences and 71.9% reported non-physically violent experiences in the
      preceding year. Perpetrators were patients or their relatives (93.5% and 82%,
      respectively), and 24% of nurses experienced non-physical violence that involved
      Yi Nao (gangs specifically targeting hospitals). Inexperienced nurses were more
      likely to report physical (13.2%) or non-physical (89.5%) violence compared with
      experienced nurses. Graduate-level nurses were more likely to perceive and report
      non-physical violence (84.6%). Nurses who worked rotating shifts were 3.668 times
      (95% CI 1.275 to 10.554) more likely to experience physical violence, and 1.771
      times (95% CI 1.123 to 2.792) more likely to experience non-physical violence
      compared with nurses who worked fixed day shifts. Higher anxiety levels about
      workplace violence and work types were associated with violence. Interviewees
      perceived financial burdens, unsatisfactory treatment outcomes and
      miscommunications as influencing factors for workplace violence. CONCLUSIONS:
      Preplacement education should focus on high-risk groups to reduce workplace
      violence. Increased awareness from the public and policymakers is necessary to
      develop effective control strategies at individual, hospital and national levels.

PMID- 25814497
TI  - Is exposure to e-cigarette communication associated with perceived harms of e
      cigarette secondhand vapour? Results from a national survey of US adults.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: E-cigarettes are frequently advertised and portrayed in the media as
      less harmful compared with regular cigarettes. Earlier surveys reported public
      perceptions of harms to people using e-cigarettes; however, public perceptions of
      harms from exposure to secondhand vapour (SHV) have not been studied. We examined
      associations between self-reported exposure to e-cigarette advertising, media
      coverage, and interpersonal discussion and perceived harms of SHV. DESIGN:
      Observational study. SETTING: National online sample of US adults aged >=18
      years. PARTICIPANTS: 1449 US adults (mean age 49.5 years), 51.3% female, 76.6%
      non-Hispanic Caucasian, 7.5% African-American, 10.0% Hispanic and 5.9% other
      races. OUTCOMES: Perceived harm measures included (1) harmfulness of SHV to one's
      health, (2) concern about health impact of breathing SHV and (3) comparative harm
      of SHV versus secondhand smoke (SHS). Predictors were (1) self-reported frequency
      of exposure to e-cigarette advertising, media coverage and interpersonal
      discussion (close friends or family) and (2) perceived valence of exposure from
      each source. Covariates were demographic characteristics, cigarette smoking
      status and e-cigarette use, and were weighted to the general US adult population.
      RESULTS: More frequent interpersonal discussion was associated with lower
      perceived harmfulness of SHV to one's health and lower perceived comparative harm
      of SHV versus SHS. Frequency of e-cigarette ad and other media exposure were not
      significant predictors. Perceived negative valence of ad exposure and
      interpersonal discussion (vs no exposure) was associated with higher perceived
      harm across all three outcomes, while negative valence of media coverage was
      associated with higher concern about health impact of breathing SHV. Perceived
      positive valence (vs no exposure) of interpersonal discussion was associated with
      lower perceived harm across all three outcomes about health impact of breathing
      SHV. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to information about e-cigarettes through advertising,
      media coverage and interpersonal discussion could play a role in shaping public
      perceptions of the harmfulness of SHV.

PMID- 25814498
TI  - Accuracy of popular media reporting on tobacco cessation therapy in substance
      abuse and mental health populations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tobacco cessation therapy is not consistently provided for alcohol,
      drug abuse and mental health (ADM) populations, despite the enormous health
      consequences of tobacco addiction in these groups and research supporting the
      effectiveness of treatment. Policymakers, however, tend to rely on popular media
      reports rather than the scientific literature in regulating treatment. Our goal
      was to determine whether popular reporting accurately reflects findings from the
      scientific literature on tobacco cessation treatment for ADM populations in
      treatment. METHODS: We compared the results of systematic reviews on tobacco
      cessation therapy published before 2004 with articles published in traditional
      media and on the internet over the following 8 years. We searched LexisNexis and
      Google and assessed them using the Index of Scientific Quality (ISQ). RESULTS: We
      found that popular reporting on this topic was consistent with findings reported
      in contemporaneous scientific literature. Our results suggest that the failure to
      consistently provide tobacco cessation therapy to ADM populations in treatment is
      not due to poor research translation. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings also suggest that
      in this topic area, scientific research findings have diffused relatively
      quickly. Further study of journalism in this area may suggest new strategies for
      effective translation of scientific findings into popular reporting on tobacco
      control.

PMID- 25814500
TI  - Erratum: Action-specific disruption of perceptual confidence.
AB  - Fleming, S. M., Maniscalco, B., Ko, Y., Amendi, N., Ro, T., & Lau, H. (2015).
      Action-specific disruption of perceptual confidence. Psychological Science, 26,
      89-98. (Original DOI: 10.1177/0956797614557697). 

PMID- 25814502
TI  - Conspiracist ideation as a predictor of climate-science rejection: an alternative
      analysis.

PMID- 25814499
TI  - Mitochondrial and plastid genome architecture: Reoccurring themes, but
      significant differences at the extremes.
AB  - Mitochondrial and plastid genomes show a wide array of architectures, varying
      immensely in size, structure, and content. Some organelle DNAs have even
      developed elaborate eccentricities, such as scrambled coding regions, nonstandard
      genetic codes, and convoluted modes of posttranscriptional modification and
      editing. Here, we compare and contrast the breadth of genomic complexity between
      mitochondrial and plastid chromosomes. Both organelle genomes have independently
      evolved many of the same features and taken on similar genomic embellishments,
      often within the same species or lineage. This trend is most likely because the
      nuclear-encoded proteins mediating these processes eventually leak from one
      organelle into the other, leading to a high likelihood of processes appearing in
      both compartments in parallel. However, the complexity and intensity of genomic
      embellishments are consistently more pronounced for mitochondria than for
      plastids, even when they are found in both compartments. We explore the
      evolutionary forces responsible for these patterns and argue that organelle DNA
      repair processes, mutation rates, and population genetic landscapes are all
      important factors leading to the observed convergence and divergence in organelle
      genome architecture. 

PMID- 25814501
TI  - The robust relationship between conspiracism and denial of (climate) science.

PMID- 25814504
TI  - The Influence of Interpersonal Style on the Appraisal of Intimate Partner
      Violence.
AB  - Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a common type of violence that is associated
      with a number of psychological problems among women who experience it. Recent
      research suggests that interpersonal style may influence the degree to which
      women exhibit psychological problems following IPV exposure. One possible
      mechanism through which interpersonal style may exert its effects is by
      influencing appraisals of the violence they experience, although this has not yet
      been tested empirically. In this study, we examined the effects of dimensions of
      interpersonal style (dominance and warmth) on IPV appraisals in a sample of young
      adult women (N = 219) who reported experiencing physical and/or sexual violence
      from their romantic partner in the past year using a Bayesian approach to
      multiple linear regression. Our results indicated that both dominance and warmth
      were associated with less negative (i.e., less betrayed, self-blaming, fearful,
      alienated, angry, and shameful) appraisals of IPV, exhibiting small- to medium
      sized effects when controlling for severity of violence. However, this effect was
      more prominent for dominance than for warmth. These findings shed light on the
      role of interpersonal style in the response to IPV and indicate directions for
      future research.

PMID- 25814505
TI  - Childhood Maltreatment and Revictimization in a Homeless Population.
AB  - We examined the hypothesis that exposure to childhood maltreatment increases the
      vulnerability to Adult Victimization (AV) in a homeless population (N = 500). We
      also investigated the effects of specific types (emotional, physical, and sexual)
      and cumulative experience of childhood maltreatment on AV, and whether gender
      moderates these relationships. All three groups with AV experience (emotional,
      physical, and sexual) indicated higher exposure to childhood abuse and cumulative
      maltreatment, and those who were sexually victimized as an adult showed higher
      exposure to childhood neglect. In addition, exposure to childhood maltreatment
      had type-specific and cumulative effects on AV. Exposure to all types of
      childhood abuse maintained a strong direct association with AV, regardless of
      demographic characteristics, including age, ethnicity, marital status, education
      level, and housing situation. In addition, exposure to physical neglect showed a
      significant relationship with Adult Sexual Victimization. Cumulative experience
      of childhood maltreatment was consistently associated with cumulative risk of
      experiencing AV. Gender had no significant effect on these relationships.
      Findings suggest that intervention programs in homeless population should
      consider the history of childhood maltreatment and its characteristics to
      increase the effectiveness of intervention strategies for AV in this population.

PMID- 25814506
TI  - The Relationship Between Exposure to Violence and Anger in Thai Adolescents.
AB  - Youth violence is a serious public health problem in Thailand, and yet is poorly
      understood and is thought to vary considerably between metropolitan and rural
      areas. This article reports the findings of a cross-sectional study involving
      1,170 technical college students who completed self-report questionnaires
      assessing the frequency of violent acts, antisocial behavior, and angry emotion.
      There were no differences in self-reported violent activities between
      metropolitan and rural participants, but those attending colleges in the
      metropolitan areas reported more acts involving weapons. Scores on the measure of
      anger expression predicted physical and verbal assault, specifically punching and
      name calling, suggesting that the implementation of interventions which help
      students to improve control over anger may be a useful violence prevention
      approach.

PMID- 25814507
TI  - Prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Due to Community Violence Among
      University Students in the World's Most Dangerous Megacity: A Cross-Sectional
      Study From Pakistan.
AB  - Community violence among the youth can lead to a number of adverse psychiatric
      outcomes including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, little
      research has been conducted in non-Western countries to assess this problem. This
      study aims to fill the void by assessing the lifetime exposure to traumatic
      events and burden of probable PTSD among university students in Karachi,
      Pakistan. A cross-sectional study was conducted at four private institutions in
      Karachi. Self-administered questionnaires were filled out by 320 students.
      Lifetime exposure and symptoms of PTSD were assessed using modified Composite
      International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
      Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) questionnaires, respectively. A PCL-C score of
      44 or above was used as cutoff for probable PTSD. Pearson chi-square test was
      used to assess the association between PTSD and different variables at a level of
      significance of 5%. Ninety-three percent of the respondents reported having
      lifetime exposure to at least one traumatic event with sudden unexpected death of
      a loved one (n = 187) and assaultive violence (n = 169) being the commonest
      reported traumatic events. Positive association for PTSD was seen with enduring
      physical attacks and motor vehicle accidents. Over a quarter of the students
      screened positive for probable PTSD, among them almost one third were male and
      17% were female. Our results indicate a high exposure to violent events and
      elevated rates of lifetime PTSD among urban youth. Reduction in violence and
      better access to mental health facilities is warranted to decrease the health
      burden of PTSD in Pakistan.

PMID- 25814509
TI  - Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Cognitive impairment is a significant non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease
      (PD). Longitudinal cohort studies have demonstrated that approximately 50% of
      those with PD develop dementia after 10 years, increasing to over 80% after 20
      years. Deficits in cognition can be identified at the time of PD diagnosis in
      some patients and this mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) has been studied
      extensively over the last decade. Although PD-MCI is a risk factor for developing
      Parkinson's disease dementia there is evidence to suggest that PD-MCI might
      consist of distinct subtypes with different pathophysiologies and prognoses. The
      major pathological correlate of Parkinson's disease dementia is Lewy body
      deposition in the limbic system and neocortex although Alzheimer's related
      pathology is also an important contributor. Pathological damage causes alteration
      to neurotransmitter systems within the brain, producing behavioural change.
      Management of cognitive impairment in PD requires a multidisciplinary approach
      and accurate communication with patients and relatives is essential. 

PMID- 25814508
TI  - Impaired Organization of Paired-Pulse TMS-Induced I-Waves After Human Spinal Cord
      Injury.
AB  - Paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the human motor cortex
      results in consecutive facilitatory motor-evoked potential (MEP) peaks in surface
      electromyography in intact humans. Here, we tested the effect of an incomplete
      cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) on early (first) and late (second and third)
      MEP peaks in a resting intrinsic finger muscle. We found that all peaks had
      decreased amplitude in SCI subjects compared with controls. The second and third
      peaks were delayed with the third peak also showing an increased duration. The
      delay of the third peak was smaller than that seen in controls at lower
      stimulation intensity, suggesting lesser influence of decreased corticospinal
      inputs. A mathematical model showed that after SCI the third peak aberrantly
      contributed to spinal motoneurone recruitment, regardless on the motor unit
      threshold tested. Temporal and spatial aspects of the late peaks correlated with
      MEP size and hand motor output. Thus, early and late TMS-induced MEP peaks
      undergo distinct modulation after SCI, with the third peak likely reflecting a
      decreased ability to summate descending volleys at the spinal level. We argue
      that the later corticospinal inputs on the spinal cord might be crucial for
      recruitment of motoneurones after human SCI. 

PMID- 25814510
TI  - Parent preferences for telephone coaching to prevent and manage childhood
      obesity.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess parent preferences for utilisation of a parent-focused,
      telephone-based coaching service, or 'FITLINE,' to prevent or manage childhood
      obesity. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of parents of children aged 2-12 years
      was conducted at a paediatric practice in Greater Boston, Massachusetts, USA,
      between July 2012 and May 2013. Parents received questionnaires with clinic visit
      paperwork and opted-in to the study by returning them to clinic staff or by mail.
      The anonymous pen-to-paper questionnaire assessed parents' potential FITLINE
      utilisation, preferences regarding educational content and logistics, and
      parent/child demographics. Simple logistical regression was used to assess
      associations between parent and child factors and FITLINE interest. RESULTS:
      Among n=114 participants, most parents reported being very likely (n=53, 48%) or
      somewhat likely (n=44, 40%) to use a FITLINE-promoting healthy habits for
      children if it was made available. Interest in a FITLINE was greatest among
      overweight or obese parents (OR 3.12, CI 1.17 to 8.30) and those with children
      aged <5 years (OR 2.42, CI 1.02 to 5.73). Parents desired to discuss their own
      health and fitness goals (84%) along with educational topics such as healthy food
      shopping on a budget (91%) and how to meet children's physical activity needs
      (81%). Most parents preferred to obtain a FITLINE referral from a paediatrician
      or nurse (73%), instead of a school nurse (42%) or child-care provider (26%).
      CONCLUSIONS: Given strong interest among parents in a FITLINE and the urgency of
      the youth obesity epidemic, implementation of a pilot phone-based service should
      be strongly considered.

PMID- 25814511
TI  - Improving medical students' written communication skills: design and evaluation
      of an educational curriculum.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Written and verbal communication skills are important
      skills for all physicians. While verbal skills are taught and assessed in medical
      school, medical students report limited instruction in written communication
      skills. This study examined the impact of a curriculum delivered during a 6-week
      clinical rotation in Internal Medicine on the objective assessment of medical
      students' written communication skills. METHODS: The curriculum consisted of two
      educational programmes: a medical student communication tutorial and a resident
      feedback workshop. The study was conducted from March 2012 to January 2013 at
      McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The study featured three arms:
      (1) control, (2) medical student communication tutorial alone and (3) student
      tutorial and resident feedback workshop. Data were collected on 126 students
      during 6-week Internal Medicine clerkship rotations. Students' written
      consultation notes were collected prior to the educational programmes and at 6
      weeks. Blinded faculty assessors used an independently validated Assessment
      Checklist to evaluate consultation notes. RESULTS: Consultation note scores
      improved from week 1 to week 6 across all study arms. However, the change was
      statistically significant only in arm 3, featuring both the medical student
      tutorial and the resident feedback workshop, with mean scores improving from 4.75
      (SD=1.496) to 5.56 (SD=0.984) out of 7. The mean difference between week 1 and
      week 6 was significantly different (0.806, p=0.002, 95% CI 0.306 to 1.058).
      CONCLUSIONS: The combination of a resident feedback workshop with medical student
      written communication tutorial improves objective evaluations of consultation
      note scores over student tutorial alone.

PMID- 25814512
TI  - Evaluating elements of trust: Race and class in risk communication in post
      Katrina New Orleans.
AB  - This study seeks to determine the relative influence of race and class on trust
      in sources of messages of environmental risk in post-Katrina New Orleans. It
      poses two hypotheses to test that influence: H1-African-Americans ("Blacks")
      trust risk message sources less than European American ("Whites") do and H2-The
      higher the socioeconomic class, the lower the trust in risk message sources. A 37
      question telephone survey (landlines and cellphones) was conducted in Orleans
      Parish in 2012 (n = 414). The overall margin of error was +/-4.8% at a 95%
      confidence interval. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the first
      hypothesis was rejected, while the second was supported. Additional data analysis
      revealed that frequency of use of sources of risk information appears to be a
      positive factor in building trust. 

PMID- 25814513
TI  - Measuring the perceived uncertainty of scientific evidence and its relationship
      to engagement with science.
AB  - Many scholars have argued for the need to communicate openly not only scientific
      successes to the public but also limitations, such as the tentativeness of
      research findings, in order to enhance public trust and engagement. Yet, it has
      not been quantitatively assessed how the perception of scientific uncertainties
      relates to engagement with science on an individual level. In this article, we
      report the development and testing of a new questionnaire in English and German
      measuring the perceived uncertainty of scientific evidence. Results indicate that
      the scale is reliable and valid in both language versions and that its two
      subscales are differentially related to measures of engagement: Science-friendly
      attitudes were positively related only to 'subjectively' perceived uncertainty,
      whereas interest in science as well as behavioural engagement actions and
      intentions were largely uncorrelated. We conclude that perceiving scientific
      knowledge to be uncertain is only weakly, but positively related to engagement
      with science.

PMID- 25814514
TI  - Toxic cerebellar syndrome due to methotrexate.

PMID- 25814516
TI  - Modifying the Poor Prognosis Associated with 18F-FDG-Avid NET with Peptide
      Receptor Chemo-Radionuclide Therapy (PRCRT).

PMID- 25814517
TI  - Molecular imaging of infectious and inflammatory diseases: a terra incognita.

PMID- 25814515
TI  - The Novel Ribonucleotide Reductase Inhibitor COH29 Inhibits DNA Repair In Vitro.
AB  - COH29 [N-(4-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-5-phenylthiazol-2-yl)-3,4-dihydroxybenzamide],
      a novel antimetabolite drug developed at City of Hope Cancer Center, has
      anticancer activity that stems primarily from the inhibition of human
      ribonucleotide reductase (RNR). This key enzyme in deoxyribonucleotide
      biosynthesis is the target of established clinical agents such as hydroxyurea and
      gemcitabine because of its critical role in DNA replication and repair. Herein we
      report that BRCA-1-defective human breast cancer cells are more sensitive than
      wild-type BRCA-1 counterparts to COH29 in vitro and in vivo. Microarray gene
      expression profiling showed that COH29 reduces the expression of DNA repair
      pathway genes, suggesting that COH29 interferes with these pathways. It is well
      established that BRCA1 plays a role in DNA damage repair, especially homologous
      recombination (HR) repair, to maintain genome integrity. In BRCA1-defective
      HCC1937 breast cancer cells, COH29 induced more double-strand breaks (DSBs) and
      DNA-damage response than in HCC1937 + BRCA1 cells. By EJ5- and DR-green
      fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter assay, we found that COH29 could inhibit
      nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) efficiency and that no HR activity was detected
      in HCC1937 cells, suggesting that repression of the NHEJ repair pathway may be
      involved in COH29-induced DSBs in BRCA1-deficient HCC1937 cells. Furthermore, we
      observed an accumulation of nuclear Rad51 foci in COH29-treated HCC1937 + BRCA1
      cells, suggesting that BRCA1 plays a crucial role in repairing and recovering
      drug-induced DNA damage by recruiting Rad51 to damage sites. In summary, we
      describe here additional biologic effects of the RNR inhibitor COH29 that
      potentially strengthen its use as an anticancer agent. 

PMID- 25814518
TI  - Development of a Widely Usable Amino Acid Tracer: 76Br-alpha-Methyl-Phenylalanine
      for Tumor PET Imaging.
AB  - Radiolabeled amino acids are superior PET tracers for the imaging of malignant
      tumors, and amino acids labeled with (76)Br, an attractive positron emitter
      because of its relatively long half-life (16.2 h), could potentially be a widely
      usable tumor imaging tracer. In this study, in consideration of its stability and
      tumor specificity, we designed two (76)Br-labeled amino acid derivatives, 2
      (76)Br-bromo-alpha-methyl-l-phenylalanine (2-(76)Br-BAMP) and 4-(76)Br-bromo
      alpha-methyl-l-phenylalanine (4-(76)Br-BAMP), and investigated their potential as
      tumor imaging agents. METHODS: Both (76)Br- and (77)Br-labeled amino acid
      derivatives were prepared. We performed in vitro and in vivo stability studies
      and cellular uptake studies using the LS180 colon adenocarcinoma cell line.
      Biodistribution studies in normal mice and in LS180 tumor-bearing mice were
      performed, and the tumors were imaged with a small-animal PET scanner. RESULTS:
      Both (77)Br-BAMPs were stable in the plasma and in the murine body. Although both
      (77)Br-BAMPs were taken up by LS180 cells and the uptake was inhibited by L-type
      amino acid transporter 1 inhibitors, 2-(77)Br-BAMP exhibited higher uptake than 4
      (77)Br-BAMP. In the biodistribution studies, 2-(77)Br-BAMP showed more rapid
      blood clearance and lower renal accumulation than 4-(77)Br-BAMP. More than 90% of
      the injected radioactivity was excreted in the urine by 6 h after the injection
      of 2-(77)Br-BAMP. High tumor accumulation of 2-(77)Br-BAMP was observed in tumor
      bearing mice, and PET imaging with 2-(76)Br-BAMP enabled clear visualization of
      the tumors. CONCLUSION: 2-(77)Br-BAMP exhibited preferred pharmacokinetics and
      high LS180 tumor accumulation, and 2-(76)Br-BAMP enabled clear visualization of
      the tumors by PET imaging. These findings suggest that 2-(76)Br-BAMP could
      constitute a potential new PET tracer for tumor imaging and may eventually enable
      the wider use of amino acid tracers.

PMID- 25814520
TI  - Correlation of BRAFV600E Mutation and Glucose Metabolism in Thyroid Cancer
      Patients: An 18F-FDG PET Study.
AB  - There is significant interest in a better understanding of the genetic
      underpinnings of the increased glucose metabolic rates of cancer cells. Thyroid
      cancer demonstrates a broad variability of (18)F-FDG uptake as well as several
      well-characterized oncogenic mutations. In this study, we evaluated the
      differences in glucose metabolism of the BRAF(V600E) mutation versus BRAF wild
      type (BRAF-WT) in patients with metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC)
      and poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (PDTC). METHODS: Forty-eight DTC and 34
      PDTC patients who underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT for tumor staging were identified
      from a database search. All patients were tested for the BRAF(V600E) mutation and
      assigned to 1 of 2 groups: BRAF(V600E) mutated and BRAF-WT. (18)F-FDG uptake of
      tumor tissue was quantified by maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of the
      hottest malignant lesion in 6 prespecified body regions (thyroid bed, lymph
      nodes, lung, bone, soft tissue, and other). When there were multiple lesions in 1
      of the prespecified body regions, only the 1 with the highest (18)F-FDG uptake
      was analyzed. RESULTS: In the DTC cohort, 24 tumors harbored a BRAF(V600E)
      mutation, whereas 24 tumors were BRAF-WT. (18)F-FDG uptake of BRAF(V600E)
      positive lesions (median SUVmax, 6.3; n = 53) was significantly higher than that
      of BRAF-WT lesions (n = 39; median SUVmax, 4.7; P = 0.019). In the PDTC group,
      only 5 tumors were BRAF(V600E)-positive, and their (18)F-FDG uptake was not
      significantly different from the BRAF-WT tumors. There was also no significant
      difference between the SUVmax of all DTCs and PDTCs, regardless of BRAF
      mutational status (P = 0.90). CONCLUSION: These data suggest that BRAF(V600E)
      mutated DTCs are significantly more (18)F-FDG-avid than BRAF-WT tumors. The
      effect of BRAF(V600E) on tumor glucose metabolism in PDTC needs further study in
      larger groups of patients.

PMID- 25814519
TI  - The Effect of Bi-Terminal PEGylation of an Integrin alphavbeta6-Targeted 18F
      Peptide on Pharmacokinetics and Tumor Uptake.
AB  - Radiotracers based on the peptide A20FMDV2 selectively target the cell surface
      receptor integrin alphavbeta6. This integrin has been identified as a prognostic
      indicator correlating with the severity of disease for several challenging
      malignancies. In previous studies of A20FMDV2 peptides labeled with 4-(18)F
      fluorobenzoic acid ((18)F-FBA), we have shown that the introduction of
      poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) improves pharmacokinetics, including increased uptake
      in alphavbeta6-expressing tumors. The present study evaluated the effect of site
      specific C-terminal or dual (N- and C-terminal) PEGylation, yielding (18)F-FBA
      A20FMDV2-PEG28 (4) and (18)F-FBA-PEG28-A20FMDV2-PEG28 (5), on alphavbeta6
      targeted tumor uptake and pharmacokinetics. The results are compared with (18)F
      FBA -labeled A20FMDV2 radiotracers (1- 3) bearing either no PEG or different PEG
      units at the N terminus. METHODS: The radiotracers were prepared and radiolabeled
      on solid phase. Using 3 cell lines, DX3purobeta6 (alphavbeta6+), DX3puro
      (alphavbeta6-), and BxPC-3 (alphavbeta6+), we evaluated the radiotracers in vitro
      (serum stability; cell binding and internalization) and in vivo in mouse models
      bearing paired DX3purobeta6-DX3puro and, for 5, BxPC-3 xenografts. RESULTS: The
      size and location of the PEG units significantly affected alphavbeta6 targeting
      and pharmacokinetics. Although the C-terminally PEGylated 4 showed some
      improvements over the un-PEGylated (18)F-FBA-A20FMDV2 (1), it was the bi
      terminally PEGylated 5 that displayed the more favorable combination of high
      alphavbeta6 affinity, selectivity, and pharmacokinetic profile. In vitro, 5 bound
      to alphavbeta6-expressing DX3purobeta6 and BxPC-3 cells with 60.5% +/- 3.3% and
      48.8% +/- 8.3%, respectively, with a significant fraction of internalization
      (37.2% +/- 4.0% and 37.6% +/- 4.1% of total radioactivity, respectively). By
      comparison, in the DX3puro control 5: showed only 3.0% +/- 0.5% binding and 0.9%
      +/- 0.2% internalization. In vivo, 5: maintained high, alphavbeta6-directed
      binding in the paired DX3purobeta6-DX3puro model (1 h: DX3purobeta6, 2.3 +/- 0.2
      percentage injected dose per gram [%ID/g]; DX3purobeta6/DX3puro ratio, 6.5:1; 4
      h: 10.7:1). In the pancreatic BxPC-3 model, uptake was 4.7 +/- 0.9 %ID/g (1 h)
      despite small tumor sizes (20-80 mg). CONCLUSION: The bi-PEGylated radiotracer 5
      showed a greatly improved pharmacokinetic profile, beyond what was predicted from
      individual N- or C-terminal PEGylation. It appears that the 2 PEG units acted
      synergistically to result in an improved metabolic profile including high
      alphavbeta6+ tumor uptake and retention.

PMID- 25814521
TI  - Creativity and Bipolar Disorder: Igniting a Dialogue.
AB  - Bipolar disorder (BD) has been related to heightened creativity, yet core
      questions remain unaddressed about this association. We used qualitative methods
      to investigate how highly creative individuals with BD understand the role of
      symptoms and treatment in their creativity, and possible mechanisms underpinning
      this link. Twenty-two individuals self-identified as highly creative and living
      with BD took part in focus groups and completed quantitative measures of
      symptoms, quality of life (QoL), and creativity. Using thematic analysis, five
      themes emerged: the pros and cons of mania for creativity, benefits of altered
      thinking, the relationship between creativity and medication, creativity as
      central to one's identity, and creativity's importance in stigma reduction and
      treatment. Despite reliance on a small sample who self-identified as having BD,
      findings shed light on previously mixed results regarding the influence of mania
      and treatment and suggest new directions for the study of mechanisms driving the
      creative advantage in BD. 

PMID- 25814522
TI  - Recursive Health Care Structures and Choice in the Manner of Our Dying: An Auto
      Ethnographic Account.
AB  - Science has shaped our understanding of the diseases we are diagnosed with.
      Medical treatment has transformed their natural courses. The law has married
      medical knowledge and experience to the legal competence of physicians to make
      ultimate decisions for the patient at the end of life. When it is our time to
      die, we will confront a pre-structured health care landscape affording some
      courses of action while limiting others. In this article, I provide an auto
      ethnographic account of the dying of one woman, my wife, diagnosed with ovarian
      cancer. It speaks of our meeting with oncology, her refusal of aggressive
      treatment, and the palliative care allies we found for her way of dying. It also
      speaks of the opportunities for choice in dying that emerge when participants in
      the care collective accept that one of them must die while the others live on. 

PMID- 25814523
TI  - Methotrexate in IBD: the return of the prodigal son.

PMID- 25814524
TI  - Pediatric Anterior Mediastinal Mass: A Review Article.
AB  - One of the more challenging cases facing a pediatric anesthesiologist is the
      management of patients presenting with an anterior mediastinal mass (AMM).
      Patients with an AMM may have severe cardiopulmonary compromise that can be
      exacerbated when undergoing general anesthesia. Several case reports have
      documented cardiopulmonary collapse during induction or maintenance of general
      anesthesia and even for procedures done without anesthesia. Despite increased
      understanding and management of these patients, perioperative complications,
      defined as anything from transient decreases in blood pressure correcting with
      fluids or mild airway obstruction requiring no intervention, to complete
      cardiopulmonary collapse, are still estimated to occur during 9% to 20% of
      anesthetic procedures. The purpose of this review article is to provide
      foundational knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of a patient with an AMM,
      with particular emphasis on the pediatric patient. It will assist in recognizing
      presenting signs and symptoms and discuss the appropriate preoperative testing,
      which together can help assess perioperative risk and determine the appropriate
      anesthetic management plan for the patient's safety and comfort. 

PMID- 25814525
TI  - An unusual case of native mitral valve thrombosis and obstruction.

PMID- 25814527
TI  - Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor reprograms bone marrow stromal cells to
      actively suppress B lymphopoiesis in mice.
AB  - The mechanisms that mediate the shift from lymphopoiesis to myelopoiesis in
      response to infectious stress are largely unknown. We show that treatment with
      granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), which is often induced during
      infection, results in marked suppression of B lymphopoiesis at multiple stages of
      B-cell development. Mesenchymal-lineage stromal cells in the bone marrow,
      including CXCL12-abundant reticular (CAR) cells and osteoblasts, constitutively
      support B lymphopoiesis through the production of multiple B trophic factors. G
      CSF acting through a monocytic cell intermediate reprograms these stromal cells,
      altering their capacity to support B lymphopoiesis. G-CSF treatment is associated
      with an expansion of CAR cells and a shift toward osteogenic lineage commitment.
      It markedly suppresses the production of multiple B-cell trophic factors by CAR
      cells and osteoblasts, including CXCL12, kit ligand, interleukin-6, interleukin
      7, and insulin-like growth factor-1. Targeting bone marrow stromal cells is one
      mechanism by which inflammatory cytokines such as G-CSF actively suppress
      lymphopoiesis. 

PMID- 25814526
TI  - Hyperglycemia repression of miR-24 coordinately upregulates endothelial cell
      expression and secretion of von Willebrand factor.
AB  - An elevated level of von Willebrand factor (VWF) in diabetic patients is
      associated with increased risk of thrombotic cardiovascular events. The
      underlying mechanism of how VWF expression is upregulated in diabetes mellitus is
      poorly understood. We now report that hyperglycemia-induced repression of
      microRNA-24 (miR-24) increases VWF expression and secretion in diabetes mellitus.
      In diabetic patients and diabetic mouse models (streptozotocin/high-fat diet
      induced and db/db mice), miR-24 is reduced in both tissues and plasma. Knockdown
      of miR-24 in mice leads to increased VWF mRNA and protein levels and enhanced
      platelet tethering (spontaneous thrombosis). miR-24 tightly controls VWF levels
      through pleiotropic effects, including direct binding to the 3' untranslated
      region of VWF and targeting FURIN and the histamine H1 receptor, known regulators
      of VWF processing and secretion in endothelial cells. We present a novel
      mechanism for miR-24 downregulation through hyperglycemia-induced activation of
      aldose reductase, reactive oxygen species, and c-Myc. These findings support a
      critical role for hyperglycemic repression of miR-24 in VWF-induced pathology.
      miR-24 represents a novel therapeutic target to prevent adverse thrombotic events
      in patients with diabetes mellitus. 

PMID- 25814528
TI  - Thymic expression of a T-cell receptor targeting a tumor-associated antigen
      coexpressed in the thymus induces T-ALL.
AB  - T-cell receptors (TCRs) and chimeric antigen receptors recognizing tumor
      associated antigens (TAAs) can now be engineered to be expressed on a wide array
      of immune effectors. Engineered receptors targeting TAAs have most commonly been
      expressed on mature T cells, however, some have postulated that receptor
      expression on immune progenitors could yield T cells with enhanced potency. We
      generated mice (survivin-TCR-transgenic [Sur-TCR-Tg]) expressing a TCR
      recognizing the immunodominant epitope (Sur20-28) of murine survivin during early
      stages of thymopoiesis. Spontaneous T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL)
      occurred in 100% of Sur-TCR-Tg mice derived from 3 separate founders. The
      leukemias expressed the Sur-TCR and signaled in response to the Sur20-28 peptide.
      In preleukemic mice, we observed increased cycling of double-negative thymocytes
      expressing the Sur-TCR and increased nuclear translocation of nuclear factor of
      activated T cells, consistent with TCR signaling induced by survivin expression
      in the murine thymus. beta2M(-/-) Sur-TCR-Tg mice, which cannot effectively
      present survivin peptides on class I major histocompatibility complex, had
      significantly diminished rates of leukemia. We conclude that TCR signaling during
      the early stages of thymopoiesis mediates an oncogenic signal, and therefore
      expression of signaling receptors on developing thymocytes with specificity for
      TAAs expressed in the thymus could pose a risk for neoplasia, independent of
      insertional mutagenesis. 

PMID- 25814529
TI  - Energy balance and fitness in adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic
      leukemia.
AB  - There is limited information on body composition, energy balance, and fitness
      among survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), especially those
      treated without cranial radiation therapy (CRT). This analysis compares these
      metrics among 365 ALL survivors with a mean age of 28.6 +/- 5.9 years (149
      treated with and 216 without CRT) and 365 age-, sex-, and race-matched peers. We
      also report risk factors for outcomes among survivors treated without CRT. Male
      survivors not exposed to CRT had abnormal body composition when compared with
      peers (% body fat, 26.2 +/- 8.2 vs 22.7 +/- 7.1). Survivors without CRT had
      similar energy balance but had significantly impaired quadriceps strength (-21.9
      +/- 6.0 Newton-meters [Nm]/kg, 60 degrees /s) and endurance (-11.4 +/- 4.6 Nm/kg,
      300 degrees /s), exercise capacity (-2.0 +/- 2.1 ml/kg per minute), low-back and
      hamstring flexibility (-4.7 +/- 1.6 cm), and dorsiflexion range of motion (-3.1
      +/- 0.9 degrees ) and higher modified total neuropathy scores (+1.6 +/- 1.1) than
      peers. Cumulative asparaginase dose >=120,000 IU/m(2) was associated with
      impaired flexibility, vincristine dose >=39 mg/m(2) with peripheral neuropathy,
      glucocorticoid (prednisone equivalent) dose >=8000 mg/m(2) with hand weakness,
      and intrathecal methotrexate dose >=225 mg with dorsiflexion weakness. Physical
      inactivity was associated with hand weakness and decreased exercise capacity.
      Smoking was associated with peripheral neuropathy. Elimination of CRT from ALL
      therapy has improved, but not eliminated, body-composition outcomes. Survivors
      remain at risk for impaired fitness.

PMID- 25814530
TI  - B7-H3 expression in donor T cells and host cells negatively regulates acute graft
      versus-host disease lethality.
AB  - Members of the B7 family have been shown to be important for regulating immune
      responses by providing either positive or negative costimulatory signals. The
      function of B7-H3 has been controversial. We show that B7-H3 is upregulated in
      graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) target organs, including the colon, liver, and
      lung. Infusion of allogeneic donor T cells into B7-H3(-/-) vs wild-type (WT)
      recipients resulted in increased GVHD lethality associated with increased T-cell
      proliferation, colonic inflammatory cytokines, and destruction of epithelial
      barriers. Allogeneic B7-H3(-/-) vs WT donor T cells also had increased T-cell
      proliferation and GVHD lethality associated with increased proliferation and
      cytokine secretion in the spleen, intraepithelial lymphocyte inflammatory
      cytokines, and intestinal permeability. Both resting and activated regulatory T
      cells (Tregs) lack B7-H3 messenger RNA. Consistent with these data, GVHD was
      augmented in recipients of B7-H3(-/-) Treg-depleted grafts. In two delayed
      lymphocyte infusion (DLI) models, T cells lacking B7-H3 are capable of providing
      graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effects. We conclude that B7-H3 is responsible for
      providing a negative costimulatory signal. Our studies provide support for
      developing and testing new therapies directed toward the B7-H3 pathway, including
      approaches to augment host B7-H3 early after bone marrow transplantation to
      prevent GVHD and to develop potent antagonistic antibodies later after transplant
      to facilitate DLI-mediated GVL without GVHD complications. 

PMID- 25814533
TI  - Targeting deubiquitinase activity with a novel small-molecule inhibitor as
      therapy for B-cell malignancies.
AB  - Usp9x was recently shown to be highly expressed in myeloma patients with short
      progression-free survival and is proposed to enhance stability of the survival
      protein Mcl-1. In this study, we found that the partially selective Usp9x
      deubiquitinase inhibitor WP1130 induced apoptosis and reduced Mcl-1 protein
      levels. However, short hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown (KD) of Usp9x in myeloma
      cells resulted in transient induction of apoptosis, followed by a sustained
      reduction in cell growth. A compensatory upregulation of Usp24, a deubiquitinase
      closely related to Usp9x, in Usp9x KD cells was noted. Direct Usp24 KD resulted
      in marked induction of myeloma cell death that was associated with a reduction of
      Mcl-1. Usp24 was found to sustain myeloma cell survival and Mcl-1 regulation in
      the absence of Usp9x. Both Usp9x and Usp24 were expressed and activated in
      primary myeloma cells whereas Usp24 protein overexpression was noted in some
      patients with drug-refractory myeloma and other B-cell malignancies. Furthermore,
      we improved the drug-like properties of WP1130 and demonstrated that the novel
      compound EOAI3402143 dose-dependently inhibited Usp9x and Usp24 activity,
      increased tumor cell apoptosis, and fully blocked or regressed myeloma tumors in
      mice. We conclude that small-molecule Usp9x/Usp24 inhibitors may have therapeutic
      activity in myeloma. 

PMID- 25814531
TI  - The IL-33/ST2 axis augments effector T-cell responses during acute GVHD.
AB  - Interleukin (IL)-33 binding to the receptor suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (ST2)
      produces pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects. Increased levels of
      soluble ST2 (sST2) are a biomarker for steroid-refractory graft-versus-host
      disease (GVHD) and mortality. However, whether sST2 has a role as an immune
      modulator or only as a biomarker during GVHD was unclear. We show increased IL-33
      production by nonhematopoietic cells in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract in mice
      post-conditioning and patients during GVHD. Exogenous IL-33 administration during
      the peak inflammatory response worsened GVHD. Conversely, GVHD lethality and
      tumor necrosis factor-alpha production was significantly reduced in il33(-/-)
      recipients. ST2 was upregulated on murine and human alloreactive T cells and sST2
      increased as experimental GVHD progressed. Concordantly, st2(-/-) vs wild-type
      (WT) donor T cells had a marked reduction in GVHD lethality and GI
      histopathology. Alloantigen-induced IL-18 receptor upregulation was lower in st2(
      /-) T cells, and linked to reduced interferon-gamma production by st2(-/-) vs WT
      T cells during GVHD. Blockade of IL-33/ST2 interactions during allogeneic
      hematopoietic cell transplantation by exogenous ST2-Fc infusions had a marked
      reduction in GVHD lethality, indicating a role of ST2 as a decoy receptor
      modulating GVHD. Together, these studies point to the IL-33/ST2 axis as a novel
      and potent target for GVHD therapy. 

PMID- 25814532
TI  - Risk-stratified outcomes of nonmyeloablative HLA-haploidentical BMT with high
      dose posttransplantation cyclophosphamide.
AB  - Related HLA-haploidentical blood or marrow transplantation (BMT) with high-dose
      posttransplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCy) is being increasingly used because of
      its acceptable safety profile. To better define outcomes of nonmyeloablative
      (NMA) HLA-haploidentical BMT with PTCy, 372 consecutive adult hematologic
      malignancy patients who underwent this procedure were retrospectively studied.
      Risk-stratified outcomes were evaluated using the refined Disease Risk Index
      (DRI), developed to stratify disease risk across histologies and allogeneic BMT
      regimens. Patients received uniform conditioning, T-cell-replete allografting,
      then PTCy, mycophenolate mofetil, and tacrolimus. Six-month probabilities of
      nonrelapse mortality and severe acute graft-versus-host disease were 8% and 4%.
      With 4.1-year median follow-up, 3-year probabilities of relapse, progression-free
      survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were 46%, 40%, and 50%, respectively.
      By refined DRI group, low (n = 71), intermediate (n = 241), and high/very high (n
      = 60) risk groups had 3-year PFS estimates of 65%, 37%, and 22% (P < .0001), with
      corresponding 3-year OS estimates of 71%, 48%, and 35% (P = .0001). On
      multivariable analyses, the DRI was statistically significantly associated with
      relapse, PFS, and OS (each P < .001). This analysis demonstrates that the DRI
      effectively risk stratifies recipients of NMA HLA-haploidentical BMT with PTCy
      and also suggests that this transplantation platform yields similar survivals to
      those seen with HLA-matched BMT. 

PMID- 25814535
TI  - Correction to "The tumor proteasome is a primary target for the natural
      anticancer compound withaferin A isolated from 'Indian winter cherry'".

PMID- 25814536
TI  - Speeding new antibiotics to market: a fake fix?

PMID- 25814534
TI  - Value of pentraxin-3 and galectin-3 in acute coronary syndrome: a short-term
      prospective cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) continues to be a leading cause of
      morbidity and mortality worldwide. Galectin-3 and pentraxin-3 are two prognostic
      biomarkers that have been studied in heart failure (HF). However, there are
      limited data on these biomarkers in the ACS population. The objective of the
      study was to determine the variables that are most affected by high
      concentrations of pentraxin-3 and galectin-3, and the influence they have on
      outcomes of all-cause mortality in patients with ACS. METHODS: We included a
      total of 160 patients [ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI),n = 64; non
      STEMI/unstable angina (NSTEMI/UA), n = 38; and control subjects with chronic
      stable angina (CSA)/microvascular angina (MVA) n = 58]. Plasma pentraxin-3 and
      galectin-3 levels were assessed from these patients at the time of hospital
      admission. Major adverse cardiovascular events including all-cause mortality,
      rehospitalizations and coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) were assessed
      at 6 months. RESULTS: The median concentration of pentraxin-3 and galectin-3 were
      significantly higher in STEMI than in NSTEMI patients (p < 0.005) or controls (p
      < 0.005). Greater numbers of deaths (4 versus 0) were observed in STEMI patients
      with higher levels of these biomarkers. In addition, ACS patients with high
      levels of pentraxin-3 and galectin-3 had lower left ventricular ejection fraction
      (LVEF) (p < 0.005), and a moderate correlation was observed between LVEF and
      pentraxin-3 levels (r = -0.45, p < 0.005). Patients with higher galectin-3 levels
      were also observed to have a lower estimated glomerular fraction rate (eGFR), and
      a moderate correlation was observed between them (r = -0.34, p < 0.005).
      CONCLUSION: Pentraxin-3 and galectin-3 hold much promise in the ACS population as
      prognostic biomarkers.

PMID- 25814537
TI  - Commentary: Will 20th century patient safeguards be reversed in the 21st century?

PMID- 25814539
TI  - Visual analytics in healthcare--opportunities and research challenges.

PMID- 25814540
TI  - A novel tool for visualizing chronic kidney disease associated polymorbidity: a
      13-year cohort study in Taiwan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to analyze and visualize the polymorbidity
      associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The study shows diseases associated
      with CKD before and after CKD diagnosis in a time-evolutionary type
      visualization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our sample data came from a population of
      one million individuals randomly selected from the Taiwan National Health
      Insurance Database, 1998 to 2011. From this group, those patients diagnosed with
      CKD were included in the analysis. We selected 11 of the most common diseases
      associated with CKD before its diagnosis and followed them until their death or
      up to 2011. We used a Sankey-style diagram, which quantifies and visualizes the
      transition between pre- and post-CKD states with various lines and widths. The
      line represents groups and the width of a line represents the number of patients
      transferred from one state to another. RESULTS: The patients were grouped
      according to their states: that is, diagnoses, hemodialysis/transplantation
      procedures, and events such as death. A Sankey diagram with basic zooming and
      planning functions was developed that temporally and qualitatively depicts they
      had amid change of comorbidities occurred in pre- and post-CKD states.
      DISCUSSION: This represents a novel visualization approach for temporal patterns
      of polymorbidities associated with any complex disease and its outcomes. The
      Sankey diagram is a promising method for visualizing complex diseases and
      exploring the effect of comorbidities on outcomes in a time-evolution style.
      CONCLUSIONS: This type of visualization may help clinicians foresee possible
      outcomes of complex diseases by considering comorbidities that the patients have
      developed.

PMID- 25814541
TI  - Update on informatics-focused certification and accreditation activities.

PMID- 25814542
TI  - Junior doctor is struck off after prescribing errors and "disgraceful" conduct.

PMID- 25814546
TI  - The effect of eye movements and blinks on afterimage appearance and duration.
AB  - The question of whether eye movements influence afterimage perception has been
      asked since the 18th century, and yet there is surprisingly little consensus on
      how robust these effects are and why they occur. The number of historical
      theories aiming to explain the effects are more numerous than clear experimental
      demonstrations of such effects. We provide a clearer characterization of when eye
      movements and blinks do or do not affect afterimages with the aim to distinguish
      between historical theories and integrate them with a modern understanding of
      perception. We found neither saccades nor pursuit reduced strong afterimage
      duration, and blinks actually increased afterimage duration when tested in the
      light. However, for weak afterimages, we found saccades reduced duration, and
      blinks and pursuit eye movements did not. One interpretation of these results is
      that saccades diminish afterimage perception because they cause the afterimage to
      move unlike a real object. Furthermore, because saccades affect weak afterimages
      but not strong ones, we suggest that their effect is modulated by the ambiguity
      of the afterimage signal. 

PMID- 25814545
TI  - Modeling peripheral visual acuity enables discovery of gaze strategies at
      multiple time scales during natural scene search.
AB  - Like humans, monkeys make saccades nearly three times a second. To understand the
      factors guiding this frequent decision, computational models of vision attempt to
      predict fixation locations using bottom-up visual features and top-down goals.
      How do the relative influences of these factors evolve over multiple time scales?
      Here we analyzed visual features at fixations using a retinal transform that
      provides realistic visual acuity by suitably degrading visual information in the
      periphery. In a task in which monkeys searched for a Gabor target in natural
      scenes, we characterized the relative importance of bottom-up and task-relevant
      influences by decoding fixated from nonfixated image patches based on visual
      features. At fast time scales, we found that search strategies can vary over the
      course of a single trial, with locations of higher saliency, target-similarity,
      edge-energy, and orientedness looked at later on in the trial. At slow time
      scales, we found that search strategies can be refined over several weeks of
      practice, and the influence of target orientation was significant only in the
      latter of two search tasks. Critically, these results were not observed without
      applying the retinal transform. Our results suggest that saccade-guidance
      strategies become apparent only when models take into account degraded visual
      representation in the periphery.

PMID- 25814547
TI  - Tolerance for local and global differences in the integration of shape
      information.
AB  - Shape is a critical cue to object identity. In psychophysical studies, radial
      frequency (RF) patterns, paths deformed from circular by a sinusoidal modulation
      of radius, have proved valuable stimuli for the demonstration of global
      integration of local shape information. Models of the mechanism of integration
      have focused on the periodicity in measures of curvature on the pattern, despite
      the fact that other properties covary. We show that patterns defined by rectified
      sinusoidal modulation also exhibit global integration and are indistinguishable
      from conventional RF patterns at their thresholds for detection, demonstrating
      some indifference to the modulating function. Further, irregular patterns
      incorporating four different frequencies of modulation are globally integrated,
      indicating that uniform periodicity is not critical. Irregular patterns can be
      handed in the sense that mirror images cannot be superimposed. We show that
      mirror images of the same irregular pattern could not be discriminated near their
      thresholds for detection. The same irregular pattern and a pattern with four
      cycles of a constant frequency of modulation completing 2pi radians were,
      however, perfectly discriminated, demonstrating the existence of discrete
      representations of these patterns by which they are discriminated. It has
      previously been shown that RF patterns of different frequencies are perfectly
      discriminated but that patterns with the same frequency but different numbers of
      cycles of modulation were not. We conclude that such patterns are identified,
      near threshold, by the set of angles subtended at the center of the pattern by
      adjacent points of maximum convex curvature. 

PMID- 25814548
TI  - Investigation of interocular blur suppression using luminance-modulated and
      contrast-modulated noise stimuli.
AB  - Presenting two sufficiently dissimilar images, one to each eye, may result in
      interocular suppression. The present study measured interocular suppression depth
      and extent in binocularly normal participants when blurring one eye only with
      varying dioptric lens powers (+0.5, +1, +2, and +4 D). Visual stimuli consisted
      of eight concentric rings of alternate polarity, divisible into eight sectors,
      within the central circular 24 degrees  visual field. Binocular "ring" stimuli
      therefore consisted of 64 individually testable dichoptic sectors. Using a two
      alternative forced choice paradigm with a staircase procedure, signal strength of
      each dichoptic sector in the blurred eye was adjusted to perceptually match that
      of the surrounding ring from the nonblurred eye, determining the point of
      subjective equality. Rings were defined by differences in luminance (L),
      luminance-modulated noise (LM), or contrast-modulated noise (CM). Suppression
      depth was similar irrespective of sector location within the visual field and
      increased with increasing difference in interocular blur. Adding dynamic noise
      (LM vs. L stimuli) reduced the effect of blur on measured suppression depth.
      Significantly deeper suppression was measured for CM than for LM stimuli, both
      created using dynamic noise, the difference increasing at higher levels of
      interocular blur. As binocularity is disrupted with interocular blur, this result
      suggests that CM envelope combination may be processed by later mechanisms
      receiving binocular input than those required for the processing of LM stimuli.
      Differences in suppression depth between LM and CM stimuli could not be
      attributed to differences in spatial summation properties, stimulus visibility,
      noise modulation, or differential effects on blur discriminability. 

PMID- 25814549
TI  - Why hearts flutter: Distorted dim motions.
AB  - When a display of red spots or hearts on a blue surround is moved around under
      dim light, the spots appear to wobble or flutter relative to the surround (the
      "fluttering hearts" effect). We explain this as follows: Rods and cones both
      respond to the hearts. Rods are more sluggish than cones, with a latency of ~50
      ms, and they are also much more sensitive to blue than to red (the Purkinje
      shift; Purkinje, 1825). Thus a red spot oscillating on a blue ground produces a
      double image: a light spot seen by the cones, followed by a trailing dark spot
      seen by the rods. These interacting spots of opposite luminance polarity move
      like "reverse phi" (Anstis, 1970) and this generates the fluttering hearts
      effect. We find that hearts flutter most markedly at or near mesopic
      equiluminance, when the red is lighter than the blue as seen by the cones, but
      darker than the blue as seen by the rods. These same red/blue luminance ratios
      give rise to two new illusions: the ghostly twin illusion, and the reversal of
      red/blue grating movement. 

PMID- 25814552
TI  - Industry's pledges to limit harms of alcohol are unlikely to work, research
      finds.

PMID- 25814553
TI  - Prehypertension in midlife is associated with worse cognition a decade later in
      middle-aged and older women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: previous studies raised the possibility that adverse health effects
      associated with elevated blood pressure (BP) begin at prehypertension levels (BP
      = 120-139/80-89 mmHg), yet few studies have examined the effects of
      prehypertension on cognitive functioning. OBJECTIVE: to examine the relationship
      between BP categories and cognitive functions in middle-aged and older women.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: two hundred and forty-seven women from the Women's Healthy
      Ageing Project had their BP measured twice, at mean ages 50 and 60 years. Tests
      of executive function, processing speed and verbal episodic memory were also
      administered at follow-up. Analyses of co-variance were performed to evaluate the
      associations between BP categories and cognitive performance. RESULTS:
      prehypertensive BP at age 50 years is a significant predictor of reduced
      processing speed and verbal episodic memory a decade later. Cross-sectional
      measurements at age 60 years showed that untreated hypertensive women performed
      significantly worse on verbal episodic memory compared with their prehypertensive
      peers. CONCLUSION: hypertension is a modifiable cardiovascular risk factor, and
      our results suggest that reducing midlife BP, even at prehypertensive levels, may
      be an effective prevention strategy to reduce risk for subsequent cognitive
      decline in middle-aged and older women.

PMID- 25814554
TI  - Phospho-tyrosine dependent protein-protein interaction network.
AB  - Post-translational protein modifications, such as tyrosine phosphorylation,
      regulate protein-protein interactions (PPIs) critical for signal processing and
      cellular phenotypes. We extended an established yeast two-hybrid system employing
      human protein kinases for the analyses of phospho-tyrosine (pY)-dependent PPIs in
      a direct experimental, large-scale approach. We identified 292 mostly novel pY
      dependent PPIs which showed high specificity with respect to kinases and
      interacting proteins and validated a large fraction in co-immunoprecipitation
      experiments from mammalian cells. About one-sixth of the interactions are
      mediated by known linear sequence binding motifs while the majority of pY-PPIs
      are mediated by other linear epitopes or governed by alternative recognition
      modes. Network analysis revealed that pY-mediated recognition events are tied to
      a highly connected protein module dedicated to signaling and cell growth pathways
      related to cancer. Using binding assays, protein complementation and phenotypic
      readouts to characterize the pY-dependent interactions of TSPAN2 (tetraspanin 2)
      and GRB2 or PIK3R3 (p55gamma), we exemplarily provide evidence that the two pY
      dependent PPIs dictate cellular cancer phenotypes. 

PMID- 25814556
TI  - Kinase-two-hybrid: towards the conditional interactome.
AB  - The dynamics of the protein-protein interaction network and how it responds to
      biological perturbations remain difficult to assay by most traditional
      techniques. A novel kinase-dependent yeast two-hybrid framework by Stelzl and
      colleagues (Grossmann et al, 2015) provides a new prism to study how tyrosine
      phosphorylation regulates the changes in the interactome under varying
      conditions.

PMID- 25814557
TI  - Integrity--not just a federal issue.

PMID- 25814555
TI  - Systematic analysis of BRAF(V600E) melanomas reveals a role for JNK/c-Jun pathway
      in adaptive resistance to drug-induced apoptosis.
AB  - Drugs that inhibit RAF/MEK signaling, such as vemurafenib, elicit profound but
      often temporary anti-tumor responses in patients with BRAF(V) (600E) melanoma.
      Adaptive responses to RAF/MEK inhibition occur on a timescale of hours to days,
      involve homeostatic responses that reactivate MAP kinase signaling and
      compensatory mitogenic pathways, and attenuate the anti-tumor effects of RAF/MEK
      inhibitors. We profile adaptive responses across a panel of melanoma cell lines
      using multiplex biochemical measurement, single-cell assays, and statistical
      modeling and show that adaptation involves at least six signaling cascades that
      act to reduce drug potency (IC50) and maximal effect (i.e., Emax ? 1). Among
      these cascades, we identify a role for JNK/c-Jun signaling in vemurafenib
      adaptation and show that RAF and JNK inhibitors synergize in cell killing. This
      arises because JNK inhibition prevents a subset of cells in a cycling population
      from becoming quiescent upon vemurafenib treatment, thereby reducing drug Emax.
      Our findings demonstrate the breadth and diversity of adaptive responses to
      RAF/MEK inhibition and a means to identify which steps in a signaling cascade are
      most predictive of phenotypic response. 

PMID- 25814559
TI  - Planetary Science. Mars rover finds long-chain organic compounds.

PMID- 25814560
TI  - Planetary Science. 'Fixed' nitrogen found in martian soil.

PMID- 25814562
TI  - Glaciology. Himalayan ice can fool climate studies.

PMID- 25814561
TI  - Chemical Regulation. Reform of toxics law is contentious.

PMID- 25814563
TI  - Neuroscience. A ?1 billion brain reboot.

PMID- 25814564
TI  - Infectious Diseases. A reassuring snapshot of Ebola.

PMID- 25814565
TI  - Social Sciences. Measuring child abuse's legacy.

PMID- 25814566
TI  - Cause of death.

PMID- 25814567
TI  - Infectious Disease. How to bolster the antifungal pipeline.

PMID- 25814568
TI  - Materials Science. Exploiting weak interactions in DNA self-assembly.

PMID- 25814569
TI  - Neuroscience. Treating brain disorders with neuromodulation.

PMID- 25814570
TI  - Environmental Economics. Do biofuel policies seek to cut emissions by cutting
      food?

PMID- 25814571
TI  - Genetics. For complex disease genetics, collaboration drives progress.

PMID- 25814572
TI  - Applied Optics. Sorting out light.

PMID- 25814573
TI  - Brazil's drought: beware deforestation.

PMID- 25814574
TI  - Brazil's drought: protect biodiversity.

PMID- 25814577
TI  - Dynamic DNA devices and assemblies formed by shape-complementary, non-base
      pairing 3D components.
AB  - We demonstrate that discrete three-dimensional (3D) DNA components can
      specifically self-assemble in solution on the basis of shape-complementarity and
      without base pairing. Using this principle, we produced homo- and
      heteromultimeric objects, including micrometer-scale one- and two-stranded
      filaments and lattices, as well as reconfigurable devices, including an actuator,
      a switchable gear, an unfoldable nanobook, and a nanorobot. These multidomain
      assemblies were stabilized via short-ranged nucleobase stacking bonds that
      compete against electrostatic repulsion between the components' interfaces. Using
      imaging by electron microscopy, ensemble and single-molecule fluorescence
      resonance energy transfer spectroscopy, and electrophoretic mobility analysis, we
      show that the balance between attractive and repulsive interactions, and thus the
      conformation of the assemblies, may be finely controlled by global parameters
      such as cation concentration or temperature and by an allosteric mechanism based
      on strand-displacement reactions. 

PMID- 25814576
TI  - The structure of the dynactin complex and its interaction with dynein.
AB  - Dynactin is an essential cofactor for the microtubule motor cytoplasmic dynein-1.
      We report the structure of the 23-subunit dynactin complex by cryo-electron
      microscopy to 4.0 angstroms. Our reconstruction reveals how dynactin is built
      around a filament containing eight copies of the actin-related protein Arp1 and
      one of beta-actin. The filament is capped at each end by distinct protein
      complexes, and its length is defined by elongated peptides that emerge from the
      alpha-helical shoulder domain. A further 8.2 angstrom structure of the complex
      between dynein, dynactin, and the motility-inducing cargo adaptor Bicaudal-D2
      shows how the translational symmetry of the dynein tail matches that of the
      dynactin filament. The Bicaudal-D2 coiled coil runs between dynein and dynactin
      to stabilize the mutually dependent interactions between all three components. 

PMID- 25814578
TI  - Ab initio calculation of the neutron-proton mass difference.
AB  - The existence and stability of atoms rely on the fact that neutrons are more
      massive than protons. The measured mass difference is only 0.14% of the average
      of the two masses. A slightly smaller or larger value would have led to a
      dramatically different universe. Here, we show that this difference results from
      the competition between electromagnetic and mass isospin breaking effects. We
      performed lattice quantum-chromodynamics and quantum-electrodynamics computations
      with four nondegenerate Wilson fermion flavors and computed the neutron-proton
      mass-splitting with an accuracy of 300 kilo-electron volts, which is greater than
      0 by 5 standard deviations. We also determine the splittings in the Sigma, Xi, D,
      and Xicc isospin multiplets, exceeding in some cases the precision of
      experimental measurements. 

PMID- 25814579
TI  - Crystallization in Ising quantum magnets.
AB  - Dominating finite-range interactions in many-body systems can lead to intriguing
      self-ordered phases of matter. For quantum magnets, Ising models with power-law
      interactions are among the most elementary systems that support such phases.
      These models can be implemented by laser coupling ensembles of ultracold atoms to
      Rydberg states. Here, we report on the experimental preparation of crystalline
      ground states of such spin systems. We observe a magnetization staircase as a
      function of the system size and show directly the emergence of crystalline states
      with vanishing susceptibility. Our results demonstrate the precise control of
      Rydberg many-body systems and may enable future studies of phase transitions and
      quantum correlations in interacting quantum magnets. 

PMID- 25814580
TI  - Distances with <4% precision from type Ia supernovae in young star-forming
      environments.
AB  - The luminosities of type Ia supernovae (SNe), the thermonuclear explosions of
      white-dwarf stars, vary systematically with their intrinsic color and the rate at
      which they fade. From images taken with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), we
      identified SNe Ia that erupted in environments that have high ultraviolet surface
      brightness and star-formation surface density. When we apply a steep model
      extinction law, we calibrate these SNe using their broadband optical light curves
      to within ~0.065 to 0.075 magnitude, corresponding to <4% in distance. The tight
      scatter, probably arising from a small dispersion among progenitor ages, suggests
      that variation in only one progenitor property primarily accounts for the
      relationship between their light-curve widths, colors, and luminosities. 

PMID- 25814581
TI  - The nongravitational interactions of dark matter in colliding galaxy clusters.
AB  - Collisions between galaxy clusters provide a test of the nongravitational forces
      acting on dark matter. Dark matter's lack of deceleration in the "bullet cluster"
      collision constrained its self-interaction cross section sigma(DM)/m < 1.25
      square centimeters per gram (cm(2)/g) [68% confidence limit (CL)] (sigma(DM),
      self-interaction cross section; m, unit mass of dark matter) for long-ranged
      forces. Using the Chandra and Hubble Space Telescopes, we have now observed 72
      collisions, including both major and minor mergers. Combining these measurements
      statistically, we detect the existence of dark mass at 7.6sigma significance. The
      position of the dark mass has remained closely aligned within 5.8 +/- 8.2
      kiloparsecs of associated stars, implying a self-interaction cross section
      sigma(DM)/m < 0.47 cm(2)/g (95% CL) and disfavoring some proposed extensions to
      the standard model.

PMID- 25814582
TI  - The in vivo dynamics of antigenic variation in Trypanosoma brucei.
AB  - Trypanosoma brucei, a causative agent of African Sleeping Sickness, constantly
      changes its dense variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) coat to avoid elimination by
      the immune system of its mammalian host, using an extensive repertoire of
      dedicated genes. However, the dynamics of VSG expression in T. brucei during an
      infection are poorly understood. We have developed a method, based on de novo
      assembly of VSGs, for quantitatively examining the diversity of expressed VSGs in
      any population of trypanosomes and monitored VSG population dynamics in vivo. Our
      experiments revealed unexpected diversity within parasite populations and a
      mechanism for diversifying the genome-encoded VSG repertoire. The interaction
      between T. brucei and its host is substantially more dynamic and nuanced than
      previously expected. 

PMID- 25814583
TI  - Redox cycling of Fe(II) and Fe(III) in magnetite by Fe-metabolizing bacteria.
AB  - Microorganisms are a primary control on the redox-induced cycling of iron in the
      environment. Despite the ability of bacteria to grow using both Fe(II) and
      Fe(III) bound in solid-phase iron minerals, it is currently unknown whether
      changing environmental conditions enable the sharing of electrons in mixed-valent
      iron oxides between bacteria with different metabolisms. We show through magnetic
      and spectroscopic measurements that the phototrophic Fe(II)-oxidizing bacterium
      Rhodopseudomonas palustris TIE-1 oxidizes magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles using
      light energy. This process is reversible in co-cultures by the anaerobic Fe(III)
      reducing bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens. These results demonstrate that Fe
      ions bound in the highly crystalline mineral magnetite are bioavailable as
      electron sinks and electron sources under varying environmental conditions,
      effectively rendering magnetite a naturally occurring battery. 

PMID- 25814584
TI  - Intergenerational transmission of child abuse and neglect: real or detection
      bias?
AB  - The literature has been contradictory regarding whether parents who were abused
      as children have a greater tendency to abuse their own children. A prospective 30
      year follow-up study interviewed individuals with documented histories of
      childhood abuse and neglect and matched comparisons and a subset of their
      children. The study assessed maltreatment based on child protective service (CPS)
      agency records and reports by parents, nonparents, and offspring. The extent of
      the intergenerational transmission of abuse and neglect depended in large part on
      the source of the information used. Individuals with histories of childhood abuse
      and neglect have higher rates of being reported to CPS for child maltreatment but
      do not self-report more physical and sexual abuse than matched comparisons.
      Offspring of parents with histories of childhood abuse and neglect are more
      likely to report sexual abuse and neglect and that CPS was concerned about them
      at some point in their lives. The strongest evidence for the intergenerational
      transmission of maltreatment indicates that offspring are at risk for childhood
      neglect and sexual abuse, but detection or surveillance bias may account for the
      greater likelihood of CPS reports. 

PMID- 25814586
TI  - Strength in disability.

PMID- 25814585
TI  - Spring-loaded unraveling of a single SNARE complex by NSF in one round of ATP
      turnover.
AB  - During intracellular membrane trafficking, N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor
      (NSF) and alpha-soluble NSF attachment protein (alpha-SNAP) disassemble the
      soluble NSF attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complex for recycling of the
      SNARE proteins. The molecular mechanism by which NSF disassembles the SNARE
      complex is largely unknown. Using single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy and
      magnetic tweezers, we found that NSF disassembled a single SNARE complex in only
      one round of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) turnover. Upon ATP cleavage, the NSF
      hexamer developed internal tension with dissociation of phosphate ions. After
      latent time measuring tens of seconds, NSF released the built-up tension in a
      burst within 20 milliseconds, resulting in disassembly followed by immediate
      release of the SNARE proteins. Thus, NSF appears to use a "spring-loaded"
      mechanism to couple ATP hydrolysis and unfolding of substrate proteins. 

PMID- 25814587
TI  - Accreditation process for clinical trials in India moves a step closer.

PMID- 25814588
TI  - Draft Genome Sequences of Sanguibacteroides justesenii, gen. nov., sp. nov.,
      Strains OUH 308042T (= ATCC BAA-2681T) and OUH 334697 (= ATCC BAA-2682), Isolated
      from Blood Cultures from Two Different Patients.
AB  - We announce here the draft genome sequences of Sanguibacteroides justesenii, gen.
      nov., sp. nov., strains OUH 308042(T) (= DSM 28342(T) = ATCC BAA-2681(T)) and OUH
      334697 (= DSM 28341 = ATCC BAA-2682), isolated from blood cultures from two
      different patients and composed of 51 and 39 contigs for totals of 3,385,516 and
      3,410,672 bp, respectively. 

PMID- 25814589
TI  - Genome Sequence of Phytophthora fragariae var. fragariae, a Quarantine Plant
      Pathogenic Fungus.
AB  - Phytophthora fragariae var. fragariae is a serious plant-pathogenic fungus
      causing red core disease in strawberries, resulting in a larger number of fruit
      produced, and the fungus has been regulated as a quarantine pest of many
      countries and regions. Here, we announce the genome sequence of P. fragariae var.
      fragariae, and this information might provide insight into the mechanism of
      pathogenicity and host specificity of this pathogen, as well as help us further
      identify targets for fungicides. 

PMID- 25814590
TI  - Human BK Polyomavirus Plasmid pBKV (34-2) (Dunlop) Contains Mutations Not Found
      in the Originally Published Sequences.
AB  - The plasmid pBKV (34-2) (ATCC 45025) contains the entire BK polyomavirus Dunlop
      genome. Sequencing revealed 12 point mutations compared to the GenBank sequence,
      but only 4 point mutations compared to the published sequence. The origin of
      these differences is unknown, but may impact virological as well as diagnostic
      research and development. 

PMID- 25814592
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Lysinibacillus sp. Strain A1, Isolated from Malaysian
      Tropical Soil.
AB  - In this work, we describe the genome of Lysinibacillus sp. strain A1, which was
      isolated from tropical soil. Analysis of its genome sequence shows the presence
      of a gene encoding for a putative peptidase responsible for nitrogen compounds. 

PMID- 25814591
TI  - Complete Genome Sequence of the Hypervirulent Bacterium Clostridium difficile
      Strain G46, Ribotype 027.
AB  - Clostridium difficile is one of the leading causes of antibiotic-associated
      diarrhea in health care facilities worldwide. Here, we report the genome sequence
      of C. difficile strain G46, ribotype 027, isolated from an outbreak in Glamorgan,
      Wales, in 2006. 

PMID- 25814593
TI  - Whole-Genome Sequences of Nonencapsulated Haemophilus influenzae Strains Isolated
      in Italy.
AB  - Haemophilus influenzae is an important human pathogen involved in invasive
      disease. Here, we report the whole-genome sequences of 11 nonencapsulated H.
      influenzae (ncHi) strains isolated from both invasive disease and healthy
      carriers in Italy. This genomic information will enrich our understanding of the
      molecular basis of ncHi pathogenesis. 

PMID- 25814594
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of the Phenazine-Producing Pseudomonas fluorescens Strain 2
      79.
AB  - Pseudomonas fluorescens strain 2-79, a natural isolate of the rhizosphere of
      wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), possesses antagonistic potential toward several
      fungal pathogens. We report the draft genome sequence of strain 2-79, which
      comprises 5,674 protein-coding sequences. 

PMID- 25814595
TI  - Whole-genome sequencing of a pandoravirus isolated from keratitis-inducing
      acanthamoeba.
AB  - Following the recent discovery of two Pandoravirus species in 2013, a previously
      described endocytobiont isolated from the inflamed eye of a patient with
      keratitis was subjected to whole-genome sequencing (WGS). Here, we present the
      complete genome sequence of a new Pandoravirus isolate. 

PMID- 25814596
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of the Beneficial Rhizobacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens
      DSM 8569, a Natural Isolate of Oilseed Rape (Brassica napus).
AB  - Pseudomonas fluorescens DSM 8569 represents a natural isolate of the rhizosphere
      of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) in Germany and possesses antagonistic potential
      toward the fungal pathogen Verticillium. We report here the draft genome sequence
      of strain DSM 8569, which comprises 5,914 protein-coding sequences. 

PMID- 25814597
TI  - Complete genomic sequence of rabies virus from an ethiopian wolf.
AB  - Ethiopian wolves are the rarest canid in the world, with only 500 found in the
      Ethiopian highlands. Rabies poses the most immediate threat to their survival,
      causing epizootic cycles of mass mortality. The complete genome sequence of a
      rabies virus (RABV) derived from an Ethiopian wolf during the most recent
      epizootic is reported here. 

PMID- 25814598
TI  - Complete genome sequence of a chikungunya virus imported from bali to Germany.
AB  - Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) strain DH130003 was isolated from a traveler with
      Chikungunya fever returning from Bali to Germany. Although strains of the east
      central/south African lineage bearing the A226V mutation have predominated in
      most parts of Asia since 2005, CHIKV DH130003 belongs to the Asian lineage. 

PMID- 25814599
TI  - Draft Genome Sequences of Four Bacillus thermoamylovorans Strains Isolated from
      Milk and Acacia Gum, a Food Ingredient.
AB  - The thermophilic bacterium Bacillus thermoamylovorans produces highly heat
      resistant spores that can contaminate food products, leading to their spoilage.
      Here, we present the whole-genome sequences of four B. thermoamylovorans strains,
      isolated from milk and acacia gum. 

PMID- 25814600
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of the Yeast Starmerella bombicola NBRC10243, a Producer of
      Sophorolipids, Glycolipid Biosurfactants.
AB  - The yeast Starmerella bombicola NBRC10243 is an excellent producer of
      sophorolipids (SLs) from various feedstocks. Here, we report the draft genome
      sequence of S. bombicola NBRC10243. Analysis of the sequence may provide insight
      into the properties of this yeast that make it superior for use in the production
      of functional glycolipids and biomolecules, leading to the further development of
      S. bombicola NBRC10243 for industrial applications. 

PMID- 25814601
TI  - Complete Genome Sequences of Escherichia coli Strains 1303 and ECC-1470 Isolated
      from Bovine Mastitis.
AB  - Escherichia coli is the leading causative agent of acute bovine mastitis. Here,
      we report the complete genome sequence of E. coli O70:H32 strain 1303, isolated
      from an acute case of bovine mastitis, and E. coli Ont:Hnt strain ECC-1470,
      isolated from a persistent infection. 

PMID- 25814603
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Pedobacter sp. Strain NL19, a Producer of Potent
      Antibacterial Compounds.
AB  - Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Pedobacter sp. strain NL19. The
      genome has 5.99 Mbp and a G+C content of 39.0%. NL19 was isolated from sludge
      from an abandoned uranium mine in the north of Portugal, and it produces potent
      antibacterials against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. 

PMID- 25814602
TI  - Complete Genome Sequence and Annotation of Corynebacterium singulare DSM 44357,
      Isolated from a Human Semen Specimen.
AB  - Corynebacterium singulare DSM 44357 is a urease-positive microorganism isolated
      from human semen. The complete genome sequence of C. singulare DSM 44357
      comprises 2,830,519 bp with a mean G+C content of 60.12% and 2,581 protein-coding
      genes. The deduced antibiotic resistance pattern of this strain includes
      macrolides, lincosamides, aminoglycosides, chloramphenicol, and tetracyline. 

PMID- 25814604
TI  - Genome Sequence of Organophosphorus Pesticide-Degrading Bacterium Pseudomonas
      stutzeri Strain YC-YH1.
AB  - Pseudomonas stutzeri strain YC-YH1, isolated from pesticide-polluted soil,
      efficiently degrades organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) such as chlorpyrifos,
      parathion-methyl, triazophos, and parathion. Here, we report the genome sequence
      (4.83 Mb) of P. stutzeri YC-YH1 to facilitate further investigation of the OPP
      degrading mechanism. 

PMID- 25814606
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of the Deinococcus-Thermus Bacterium Meiothermus ruber
      Strain A.
AB  - The draft genome sequence of the Deinococcus-Thermus group bacterium Meiothermus
      ruber strain A, isolated from a cyanobacterial enrichment culture obtained from
      Octopus Spring (Yellowstone National Park, WY), comprises 2,968,099 bp in 170
      contigs. It is predicted to contain 2,895 protein-coding genes, 44 tRNA-coding
      genes, and 2 rRNA operons. 

PMID- 25814605
TI  - Whole-Genome Sequencing of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Italian Strain
      57/13, the Causative Agent of Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia.
AB  - Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides is generally considered one of most
      pathogenic Mycoplasma species, and it is the etiological agent of contagious
      bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP). Here, we present the annotated genome sequence of
      M. mycoides subsp. mycoides Italian strain 57/13, isolated in 1992 during CBPP
      outbreaks in Italy. 

PMID- 25814607
TI  - Genome Sequence of Polycyclovorans algicola Strain TG408, an Obligate Polycyclic
      Aromatic Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacterium Associated with Marine Eukaryotic
      Phytoplankton.
AB  - Polycyclovorans algicola strain TG408 is a recently discovered bacterium
      associated with marine eukaryotic phytoplankton and exhibits the ability to
      utilize polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) almost exclusively as sole
      sources of carbon and energy. Here, we present the genome sequence of this
      strain, which is 3,653,213 bp, with 3,477 genes and an average G+C content of
      63.8%. 

PMID- 25814608
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Kitasatospora griseola Strain MF730-N6, a Bafilomycin,
      Terpentecin, and Satosporin Producer.
AB  - We report here the draft genome sequence of Kitasatospora griseola strain MF730
      N6, a known producer of bafilomycin, terpentecin, and satosporins. The current
      assembly comprises 8 contigs covering 7.97 Mb. Genome annotation revealed 7,225
      protein coding sequences, 100 tRNAs, 40 rRNA genes, and 23 secondary metabolite
      biosynthetic gene clusters. 

PMID- 25814610
TI  - Draft Genome of the Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Strain A155
      Clinical Isolate.
AB  - Acinetobacter baumannii is a bacterial pathogen with serious implications on
      human health, due to increasing reports of multidrug-resistant strains isolated
      from patients. Total DNA from the multidrug-resistant A. baumannii strain A155
      clinical isolate was sequenced to greater than 65* coverage, providing high
      quality contig assemblies. 

PMID- 25814609
TI  - Genome Sequence of Vibrio campbellii Strain UMTGB204, a Marine Bacterium Isolated
      from a Green Barrel Tunicate.
AB  - Vibrio campbellii strain UMTGB204 was isolated from a green barrel tunicate. The
      genome of this strain comprises 5,652,224 bp with 5,014 open reading frames, 9
      rRNAs, and 116 tRNAs. It contains genes related to virulence and environmental
      tolerance. Gene clusters for the biosynthesis of nonribosomal peptides and
      bacteriocin were also identified. 

PMID- 25814611
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Clostridium tyrobutyricum Strain DIVETGP, Isolated from
      Cow's Milk for Grana Padano Production.
AB  - We announce the draft genome sequence of Clostridium tyrobutyricum strain
      DIVETGP. This strain was isolated from cow's milk used for Grana Padano cheese
      production. The genome was obtained using Illumina HiSeq technology and comprises
      45 contigs for 3,018,999 bp, with a G+C content of 30.8%. 

PMID- 25814612
TI  - Complete Genome Sequences of a Clinical Isolate and an Environmental Isolate of
      Vibrio parahaemolyticus.
AB  - Vibrio parahaemolyticus is the leading cause of seafood-borne infections in the
      United States. We report complete genome sequences for two V. parahaemolyticus
      strains isolated in 2007, CDC_K4557 and FDA_R31 of clinical and oyster origin,
      respectively. These two sequences might assist in the investigation of
      differential virulence of this organism. 

PMID- 25814613
TI  - Draft Genome Sequences of Pseudomonas fluorescens Strains SF39a and SF4c,
      Potential Plant Growth Promotion and Biocontrol Agents.
AB  - Pseudomonas fluorescens SF4c and SF39a, strains isolated from wheat rhizosphere,
      have potential applications in plant growth promotion and biocontrol of fungal
      diseases of crop plants. We report the draft genome sequences of SF4c and SF39a
      with estimated sizes of 6.5 Mb and 5.9 Mb, respectively. 

PMID- 25814614
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Cupriavidus pauculus Strain KF709, a Biphenyl-Utilizing
      Bacterium Isolated from Biphenyl-Contaminated Soil.
AB  - We report the draft genome sequence of Cupriavidus pauculus strain KF709, which
      comprises 6,826,799 bp with 6,272 coding sequences. The strain KF709 utilizes
      biphenyl and degrades low-chlorinated biphenyls; however, it possesses fewer
      coding sequences involved in the degradation of aromatic compounds than other
      strains belonging to the Betaproteobacteria. 

PMID- 25814615
TI  - Complete Genome Sequences of Sulfurospirillum Strains UCH001 and UCH003 Isolated
      from Groundwater in Japan.
AB  - Sulfurospirillum strains UCH001 and UCH003 were isolated from anaerobic cis-1,2
      dichloroethene-dechlorinating microbial consortia derived from groundwater in
      Japan. Here, we report the complete genome sequences of strains UCH001 and
      UCH003. 

PMID- 25814616
TI  - Whole-Genome Sequence of Clostridium botulinum A2B3 87, a Highly Virulent Strain
      Involved in a Fatal Case of Foodborne Botulism in Italy.
AB  - Here, we report the genome sequence of a rare bivalent strain of Clostridium
      botulinum, A2B3 87. The strain was isolated from a foodborne botulism case that
      occurred in Italy in 1995. The case was characterized by rapid evolution of the
      illness and failure of conventional treatments. 

PMID- 25814617
TI  - Whole-Genome Sequencing of a Vibrio cholerae El Tor Strain Isolated in the
      Imported Cholera Focus in Siberia.
AB  - The draft genome sequence of Vibrio cholerae O1 strain I-1263, isolated from a
      patient in the imported focus in Siberia, was determined. The established
      structural features of the mobile genetic elements indicate stage-by-stage
      formation of a highly pathogenic V. cholerae clone and promote understanding of
      the mechanisms of evolutionary pathogen transformations. 

PMID- 25814618
TI  - Complete Genome Sequence of Feline Panleukopenia Virus Strain HRB-CS1, Isolated
      from a Domestic Cat in Northeastern China.
AB  - Here, we report the complete genome sequence of feline panleukopenia virus (FPLV)
      strain HRB-CS1, isolated from a dead domestic cat showing enteric symptoms in
      China in 2014. The genome of HRB-CS1 was sequenced and analyzed, which will help
      to understand the genetic characteristics and evolution of FPLV in China. 

PMID- 25814619
TI  - Syrian doctors risk arrest and deportation for treating fellow refugees in
      Lebanon and Jordan.

PMID- 25814620
TI  - Pushing the limits of chemistry point-of-care testing for the management of
      patients under investigation for Ebola virus disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With the recent outbreak in West Africa, hospitals worldwide have
      been developing protocols for suspect of cases of Ebola virus disease. Patients
      with Ebola virus disease present with a severe gastroenteritis leading to
      dehydration and electrolyte abnormalities and as such, routine chemistry analysis
      is essential for patient management. While point-of-care testing can be used with
      additional precautions for rapid chemistry analyses in a laboratory setting,
      significant delays could ensue before specimens arrive to the laboratory. This
      study evaluated the stability of eight chemistry analytes up to 4 h post
      collection. METHODS: Blood was collected by venipuncture from 20 healthy
      volunteers and tested at times 0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 240 h. Approximately 100 ul
      of blood was dispensed into a CHEM 8+Cartridge and processed on a model 300 i
      STAT 1 Analyzer (Abbott Point of Care Inc.) and ANOVA was used to assess
      statistical significant difference from the initial time point. RESULTS: While
      the manufacturer recommends testing within 30 min of collection, no significant
      variation was observed for most analytes with time points extending up to 4 h. In
      contrast, glucose concentrations decreased significantly (P < 0.0001) over time
      at an average rate of 0.0032 mmol/L per min. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides
      supporting data suggesting that delays up to 4 h can be tolerated, giving ample
      time for collection and transport of specimens to the clinical laboratory. For
      glucose, POC testing could still be used, taking into account the collection time
      and the average rate of decrease.

PMID- 25814621
TI  - Association of irisin concentrations with the presence of diabetic nephropathy
      and retinopathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Irisin, a recently identified myokine, is involved in the protection
      of mice against obesity and diabetes. This study aims to determine the serum and
      vitreous concentrations of irisin in patients with diabetic nephropathy and
      diabetic retinopathy. METHODS: A total of 178 patients with type 2 diabetes
      mellitus, as well as 22 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients without diabetic
      retinopathy and 35 patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy were enrolled
      in this study. RESULTS: Serum irisin concentrations were significantly elevated
      in the control group compared with those in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.
      Furthermore, type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with macroalbuminuria exhibited
      significantly lower serum irisin concentrations than the controls and type 2
      diabetes mellitus patients with normoalbuminuria and microalbuminuria. Simple
      regression analysis showed that the serum irisin concentrations in type 2
      diabetes mellitus patients were negatively correlated with age, fasting plasma
      glucose, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, blood urea nitrogen,
      creatinine, and positively correlated with creatinine clearance and angiotensin
      converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers treatment.
      Proliferative diabetic retinopathy patients showed significantly decreased serum
      and vitreous irisin concentrations compared with the control group and type 2
      diabetes mellitus patients without diabetic retinopathy. Furthermore, decreased
      serum and vitreous irisin concentrations were found in type 2 diabetes mellitus
      patients without diabetic retinopathy than those in the controls. CONCLUSION:
      Irisin concentrations are associated with the presence of diabetic nephropathy
      and diabetic retinopathy.

PMID- 25814622
TI  - UK government apologises for contaminated blood scandal.

PMID- 25814623
TI  - Glucocorticoid therapy for Duchenne cardiomyopathy: A Hobson's choice?

PMID- 25814624
TI  - Staging lymphocyte presence in human atherosclerosis: a tale told by numbers.

PMID- 25814625
TI  - Myocardial fibrosis burden predicts left ventricular ejection fraction and is
      associated with age and steroid treatment duration in duchenne muscular
      dystrophy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy exhibit progressive cardiac
      and skeletal muscle dysfunction. Based on prior data, cardiac dysfunction in
      Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients may be influenced by myocardial fibrosis and
      steroid therapy. We examined the longitudinal relationship of myocardial fibrosis
      and ventricular dysfunction using cardiac magnetic resonance in a large Duchenne
      muscular dystrophy cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS: We reviewed 465 serial cardiac
      magnetic resonance studies (98 Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients with >=4
      cardiac magnetic resonance studies) for left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)
      and presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), a marker for myocardial
      fibrosis. LVEF was modeled by examining LGE status, myocardial fibrosis burden
      (as assessed by the number of LGE-positive left ventricular segments), patient
      age, and steroid treatment duration. An age-only model demonstrated that LVEF
      declined 0.58 +/- 0.10% per year. In patients with both LGE-negative and LGE
      positive studies (n=51), LVEF did not decline significantly over time if LGE was
      absent but declined 2.2 +/- 0.31% per year when LGE was present. Univariate
      modeling showed significant associations between LVEF and steroid treatment
      duration, presence of LGE, and number of LGE-positive left ventricular segments;
      multivariate modeling showed that LVEF declined by 0.93 +/- 0.09% for each LGE
      positive left ventricular segment, whereas age and steroid treatment duration
      were not significant. The number of LGE-positive left ventricular segments
      increased with age, and longer steroid treatment duration was associated with
      lower age-related increases. CONCLUSION: Progressive myocardial fibrosis, as
      detected by LGE, was strongly correlated with the LVEF decline in Duchenne
      muscular dystrophy patients. Longer steroid treatment duration was associated
      with a lower age-related increase in myocardial fibrosis burden.

PMID- 25814627
TI  - A Comparative Descriptive Study of Characteristics of Early- and Late-Onset
      Dementia Family Caregivers.
AB  - Characteristics of early- and late-onset dementia family caregivers were
      described and compared. Based on a theoretical model of role transition, data
      were collected through structured interviews from 48 caregivers of adults with
      Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia older than the age of 70 and 48
      caregivers of similarly diagnosed adults younger than the age of 60. A
      significantly higher proportion of caregivers of younger adults were spouses and
      gainfully employed compared with those of older adults; they had more years of
      schooling, took care of a person with more severe impairments, received more
      help, perceived themselves as better prepared to deal with future needs, and
      better informed about services. They did not differ from caregivers of older
      adults in terms of psychological distress, role confidence, self-efficacy, and
      social support. This study highlights differences and similarities to be
      considered in the development of services tailored to the specific needs of each
      group. 

PMID- 25814626
TI  - A change in inflammatory footprint precedes plaque instability: a systematic
      evaluation of cellular aspects of the adaptive immune response in human
      atherosclerosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Experimental studies characterize adaptive immune response as a
      critical factor in the progression and complications of atherosclerosis. Yet, it
      is unclear whether these observations translate to the human situation. This
      study systematically evaluates cellular components of the adaptive immune
      response in a biobank of human aortas covering the full spectrum of
      atherosclerotic disease. METHODS AND RESULTS: A systematic analysis was performed
      on 114 well-characterized perirenal aortic specimens with immunostaining for T
      cell subsets (CD3/4/8/45RA/45RO/FoxP3) and the Th1/non-Th1/Th17 ratio (CD4(+)T
      bet(+)/CD4(+)T-bet(-)/CD4(+)/interleukin-17(+) double staining). CD20 and CD138
      were used to identify B cells and plasma cells, while B-cell maturation was
      evaluated by AID/CD21 staining and expression of lymphoid homeostatic CXCL13.
      Scattered CD4 and CD8 cells with a T memory subtype were found in normal aorta
      and early, nonprogressive lesions. The total number of T cells increases in
      progressive atherosclerotic lesions (~1:5 CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio). A further
      increase in medial and adventitial T cells is found upon progression to
      vulnerable lesions.This critical stage is further hallmarked by de novo formation
      of adventitial lymphoidlike structures containing B cells and plasma cells, a
      process accompanied by transient expression of CXCL13. A dramatic reduction of T
      cell subsets, disappearance of lymphoid structures, and loss of CXCL13 expression
      characterize postruptured lesions. FoxP3 and Th17 T cells were minimally present
      throughout the atherosclerotic process. CONCLUSIONS: Transient CXCL13 expression,
      restricted presence of B cells in human atherosclerosis, along with formation of
      nonfunctional extranodal lymphoid structures in the phase preceding plaque
      rupture, indicates a "critical" change in the inflammatory footprint before and
      during plaque destabilization.

PMID- 25814628
TI  - Nasal Inoculation of the Commensal Neisseria lactamica Inhibits Carriage of
      Neisseria meningitidis by Young Adults: A Controlled Human Infection Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Herd protection by meningococcal vaccines is conferred by population
      level reduction of meningococcal nasopharyngeal colonization. Given the inverse
      epidemiological association between colonization by commensal Neisseria lactamica
      and meningococcal disease, we investigated whether controlled infection of human
      volunteers with N. lactamica prevents colonization by Neisseria meningitidis.
      METHODS: In a block-randomized human challenge study, 310 university students
      were inoculated with 10(4) colony-forming units of N. lactamica or were sham
      inoculated, and carriage was monitored for 26 weeks, after which all participants
      were reinoculated with N. lactamica and resampled 2 weeks later. RESULTS: At
      baseline, natural N. meningitidis carriage in the control group was 22.4%
      (36/161), which increased to 33.6% (48/143) by week 26. Two weeks after
      inoculation of N. lactamica, 33.6% (48/143) of the challenge group became
      colonized with N. lactamica. In this group, meningococcal carriage reduced from
      24.2% (36/149) at inoculation to 14.7% (21/143) 2 weeks after inoculation (-9.5%;
      P = .006). The inhibition of meningococcal carriage was only observed in carriers
      of N. lactamica, was due both to displacement of existing meningococci and to
      inhibition of new acquisition, and persisted over at least 16 weeks. Crossover
      inoculation of controls with N. lactamica replicated the result. Genome
      sequencing showed that inhibition affected multiple meningococcal sequence types.
      CONCLUSIONS: The inhibition of meningococcal carriage by N. lactamica is even
      more potent than after glycoconjugate meningococcal vaccination. Neisseria
      lactamica or its components could be a novel bacterial medicine to suppress
      meningococcal outbreaks. This observation explains the epidemiological
      observation of natural immunity conferred by carriage of N. lactamica. CLINICAL
      TRIALS REGISTRATION: NCT02249598.

PMID- 25814629
TI  - Reply to Tubiana et al.

PMID- 25814631
TI  - Echocardiography in Patients With Enterococcal Bacteremia.

PMID- 25814630
TI  - Enhancing Resident Safety by Preventing Healthcare-Associated Infection: A
      National Initiative to Reduce Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections in
      Nursing Homes.
AB  - Preventing healthcare-associated infection (HAI) is a key contributor to
      enhancing resident safety in nursing homes. In 2013, the U.S. Department of
      Health and Human Services approved a plan to enhance resident safety by reducing
      HAIs in nursing homes, with particular emphasis on reducing indwelling catheter
      use and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI). Lessons learned from
      a recent multimodal Targeted Infection Prevention program in a group of nursing
      homes as well as a national initiative to prevent CAUTI in over 950 acute care
      hospitals called "On the CUSP: STOP CAUTI" will now be implemented in nearly 500
      nursing homes in all 50 states through a project funded by the Agency for
      Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). This "AHRQ Safety Program in Long-Term
      Care: HAIs/CAUTI" will emphasize professional development in catheter
      utilization, catheter care and maintenance, and antimicrobial stewardship as well
      as promoting patient safety culture, team building, and leadership engagement. We
      anticipate that an approach integrating technical and socio-adaptive principles
      will serve as a model for future initiatives to reduce other infections,
      multidrug resistant organisms, and noninfectious adverse events among nursing
      home residents. 

PMID- 25814632
TI  - Administration Technique and Acceptance of Inhaler Devices in Patients With
      Asthma or COPD.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Correct technique and patient acceptance of inhalation devices for
      lung disease influence successful long-term management. Patient ability to use
      the proper technique may differ depending on the device as well as patient
      factors. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of our study are to measure self-reported
      level of acceptability of inhaler devices in community settings and compare
      correct use of inhaler devices using a novel scale for measuring appropriate
      inhaler technique. METHODS: This prospective observational study enrolled
      patients from 3 different practice sites with asthma and/or chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease (COPD) who were using an inhaler device. In addition to
      describing the samples' overall acceptability and correct use scores for the
      different inhalers, acceptability and correct use scores were compared based on
      patient characteristics. RESULTS: A total of 161 patients completed the study.
      The results show that acceptability was lowest for the pressurized metered dose
      inhaler (pMDI) with a spacer (S); effective use was best demonstrated with pMDI
      and poorest with pMDI-S. Older patients were found to be more accepting of the
      HandiHaler device than younger patients. Patients reporting taking more inhaled
      drugs were found to be more accepting of the pMDI-S than those taking fewer
      drugs. Finally, patients reporting taking more inhaled drugs demonstrated less
      effective use of the HandiHaler device than patients taking fewer drugs.
      CONCLUSION: Pulmonary disease duration does not ensure improved use for all
      inhalers; patients taking more drugs demonstrate less-effective use for some
      devices. Assessment of patient acceptance and factors that predict the ability to
      use a device should be considered to individualize therapy.

PMID- 25814633
TI  - Increasing Sibling Relative Risk of Survival to Older and Older Ages and the
      Importance of Precise Definitions of "Aging," "Life Span," and "Longevity".
AB  - The lack of a formal definition of human longevity continues to generate
      confusion about its genetic and nongenetic determinants. In order to characterize
      how differences in birth year cohorts and percentiles of survival are associated
      with familial contribution to variation in survival, we estimated sibling
      relative risk of living to increasingly rare percentiles of survival based on a
      dataset of 1,917 validated sibships each containing at least one individual
      living to age 90 years. About 1,042 of the sibships included at least one
      individual who survived to age 100 and 511 included at least one individual who
      survived to age 105 and older. We show that sibling relative risk increases with
      older ages, sex, and earlier birth year cohorts of the proband and siblings of
      male 90-year-olds (5th percentile of survival) have 1.73 (95% CI: 1.5; 2.0) times
      the chance of living to age 90, while siblings of both male and female probands
      who survived to age 105 years (~0.01 percentile of survival) have 35.6 (95%CI:
      15.1; 67.7) times the chance of living to age 105 compared with population
      controls. These results emphasize the importance of consistently defining the
      longevity phenotype in terms of rarity of survival for appropriate comparisons
      across studies. 

PMID- 25814634
TI  - Maximal fat oxidation during exercise is positively associated with 24-hour fat
      oxidation and insulin sensitivity in young, healthy men.
AB  - Disturbances in fat oxidation have been associated with an increased risk of
      obesity and metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance. There is large
      intersubject variability in the capacity to oxidize fat when a person is
      physically active, although the significance of this for metabolic health is
      unclear. We investigated whether the maximal capacity to oxidize fat during
      exercise is related to 24-h fat oxidation and insulin sensitivity. Maximal fat
      oxidation (MFO; indirect calorimetry during incremental exercise) and insulin
      sensitivity (Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index) were measured in 53
      young, healthy men (age 24 +/- 7 yr, Vo2max 52 +/- 6 ml.kg(-1).min(-1)). Fat
      oxidation over 24 h (24-h FO; indirect calorimetry) was assessed in 16 young,
      healthy men (age 26 +/- 8 yr, Vo2max 52 +/- 6 ml.kg(-1).min(-1)) during a 36-h
      stay in a whole-room respiration chamber. MFO (g/min) was positively correlated
      with 24-h FO (g/day) (R = 0.65, P = 0.003; R = 0.46, P = 0.041 when controlled
      for Vo2max [l/min]), 24-h percent energy from FO (R = 0.58, P = 0.009), and
      insulin sensitivity (R = 0.33, P = 0.007). MFO (g/min) was negatively correlated
      with 24-h fat balance (g/day) (R = -0.51, P = 0.021) but not significantly
      correlated with 24-h respiratory quotient (R = -0.29, P = 0.142). Although
      additional investigations are needed, our data showing positive associations
      between MFO and 24-h FO, and between MFO and insulin sensitivity in healthy young
      men suggests that a high capacity to oxidize fat while one is physically active
      could be advantageous for the maintenance of metabolic health.

PMID- 25814635
TI  - Self-paced exercise in hot and cool conditions is associated with the maintenance
      of %VO2peak within a narrow range.
AB  - This study examined the time course and extent of decrease in peak oxygen uptake
      (VO2peak) during self-paced exercise in HOT (35 degrees C and 60% relative
      humidity) and COOL (18 degrees C and 40% relative humidity) laboratory
      conditions. Ten well-trained cyclists completed four consecutive 16.5-min time
      trials (15-min self-paced effort with 1.5-min maximal end-spurt to determine
      VO2peak) interspersed by 5 min of recovery on a cycle ergometer in each
      condition. Rectal temperature increased significantly more in HOT (39.4 +/- 0.7
      degrees C) than COOL (38.6 +/- 0.3 degrees C; P < 0.001). Power output was lower
      throughout HOT compared with COOL (P < 0.001). The decrease in power output from
      trial 1 to 4 was ~16% greater in HOT (P < 0.001). Oxygen uptake (Vo2) was lower
      throughout HOT than COOL (P < 0.05), except at 5 min and during the end-spurt in
      trial 1. In HOT, VO2peak reached 97, 89, 85, and 85% of predetermined maximal
      Vo2, whereas in COOL 97, 94, 93, and 92% were attained. Relative exercise
      intensity (%VO2peak) during trials 1 and 2 was lower in HOT (~84%) than COOL
      (~86%; P < 0.05), decreasing slightly during trials 3 and 4 (~80 and ~85%,
      respectively; P < 0.05). However, heart rate was higher throughout HOT (P =
      0.002), and ratings of perceived exertion greater during trials 3 and 4 in HOT (P
      < 0.05). Consequently, the regulation of self-paced exercise appears to occur in
      conjunction with the maintenance of %VO2peak within a narrow range (80-85%
      VO2peak). This range widens under heat stress, however, when exercise becomes
      protracted and a disassociation develops between relative exercise intensity,
      heart rate, and ratings of perceived exertion.

PMID- 25814636
TI  - In vivo behavior of the human soleus muscle with increasing walking and running
      speeds.
AB  - The interaction between the muscle fascicle and tendon components of the human
      soleus (SO) muscle influences the capacity of the muscle to generate force and
      mechanical work during walking and running. In the present study, ultrasound
      based measurements of in vivo SO muscle fascicle behavior were combined with an
      inverse dynamics analysis to investigate the interaction between the muscle
      fascicle and tendon components over a broad range of steady-state walking and
      running speeds: slow-paced walking (0.7 m/s) through to moderate-paced running
      (5.0 m/s). Irrespective of a change in locomotion mode (i.e., walking vs.
      running) or an increase in steady-state speed, SO muscle fascicles were found to
      exhibit minimal shortening compared with the muscle-tendon unit (MTU) throughout
      stance. During walking and running, the muscle fascicles contributed only 35 and
      20% of the overall MTU length change and shortening velocity, respectively.
      Greater levels of muscle activity resulted in increasingly shorter SO muscle
      fascicles as locomotion speed increased, both of which facilitated greater tendon
      stretch and recoil. Thus the elastic tendon contributed the majority of the MTU
      length change during walking and running. When transitioning from walking to
      running near the preferred transition speed (2.0 m/s), greater, more economical
      ankle torque development is likely explained by the SO muscle fascicles
      shortening more slowly and operating on a more favorable portion (i.e., closer to
      the plateau) of the force-length curve. 

PMID- 25814637
TI  - Integrating physiology across scales and formalizing hypothesis exploration with
      agent-based modeling.

PMID- 25814639
TI  - Asynchrony of lingual muscle recruitment during sleep in obstructive sleep apnea.
AB  - Pharyngeal collapsibility during sleep increases primarily due to decline in
      dilator muscle activity. However, genioglossus EMG is known to increase during
      apneas and hypopneas, usually without reversing upper airway obstruction or
      inspiratory flow limitation. The present study was undertaken to test the
      hypothesis that intense activation of the genioglossus fails to prevent
      pharyngeal obstruction during sleep, and to evaluate if sleep-induced changes in
      tongue muscle coordination may be responsible for this phenomenon. We compared
      genioglossus and tongue retractors EMG activity in 13 obstructive sleep apnea
      (OSA) patients during wakefulness, while breathing through inspiratory resistors,
      to the activity observed at the end of apneas and hypopneas after 25 mg of
      brotizolam, before arousal, at equal esophageal pressure. During wakefulness,
      resistive breathing triggered increases in both genioglossus and retractor EMG.
      Activation of agonist tongue muscles differed considerably from that of the arm,
      as both genioglossus and retractors were activated similarly during all tongue
      movements. During sleep, flow limitation triggered increases in genioglossal EMG
      that could reach more than twofold the level observed while awake. In contrast,
      EMGs of the retractors reached less than half the wakefulness level. In sleeping
      OSA patients, genioglossal activity may increase during obstructed breathing to
      levels that exceed substantially those required to prevent pharyngeal collapse
      during wakefulness. In contrast, coactivation of retractors is deficient during
      sleep. These findings suggest that sleep-induced alteration in tongue muscle
      coordination may be responsible for the failure of high genioglossal EMG activity
      to alleviate flow limitation. 

PMID- 25814640
TI  - Biomarkers of multiorgan injury in a preclinical model of exertional heat stroke.
AB  - It is likely that the pathophysiology of exertional heat stroke (EHS) differs
      from passive heat stroke (PHS), but this has been difficult to verify
      experimentally. C57Bl/6 mice were instrumented with temperature transponders and
      underwent 3 wk of training using voluntary and forced running wheels. An EHS
      group was exposed to environmental temperatures (Tenv) of 37.5, 38.5, or 39.5
      degrees C at either 30, 50, or 90% relative humidities (RH) while exercising on a
      forced running wheel. Results were compared with sham-matched exercise controls
      (EXC) and naive controls (NC). In EHS, mice exercised in heat until they reached
      limiting neurological symptoms (loss of consciousness). The symptom-limited
      maximum core temperatures achieved were between 42.1 and 42.5 degrees C at 50%
      RH. All mice that were followed for 4 days survived. Additional groups were
      killed at 0.5, 3, 24, and 96 h, post-EHS or -EXC. Histopathology revealed
      extensive damage in all regions of the small intestine, liver, and kidney. Plasma
      creatine kinase, blood urea nitrogen, alanine transaminase, and intestinal fatty
      acid binding protein-2 were significantly elevated compared with matched EXC and
      NC, suggesting multiple organ injury to striated muscle, kidney, liver, and
      intestine, respectively. EHS mice were hypoglycemic immediately following EHS but
      exhibited sustained hyperglycemia through 4 days. The results demonstrate unique
      features of survivable EHS in the mouse that included loss of consciousness,
      extensive organ injury, and rhabdomyolysis. 

PMID- 25814638
TI  - Noninvasive assessment of muscle temperature during rest, exercise, and
      postexercise recovery in different environments.
AB  - We introduced noninvasive and accurate techniques to estimate muscle temperature
      (Tm) of vastus lateralis (VL), triceps brachii (TB), and trapezius (TRAP) during
      rest, exercise, and postexercise recovery using the insulation disk (iDISK)
      technique. Thirty-six volunteers (24 men, 12 women; 73.0 +/- 12.2 kg; 1.75 +/-
      0.07 m; 24.4 +/- 5.5 yr; 49.2 +/- 6.8 ml.kg(-1).min(-1) peak oxygen uptake)
      underwent periods of rest, cycling exercise at 40% of peak oxygen uptake, and
      postexercise recovery in three environments: Normal (24 degrees C, 56% relative
      humidity), Hot-Humid (30 degrees C, 60% relative humidity), and Hot-Dry (40
      degrees C, 24% relative humidity). Participants were randomly allocated into the
      "model" and the "validation" groups. Results in the model group demonstrated that
      Tm (VL: 36.65 +/- 1.27 degrees C; TB: 35.76 +/- 1.73 degrees C; TRAP: 36.53 +/-
      0.96 degrees C) was increased compared with iDISK (VL: 35.67 +/- 1.71 degrees C;
      TB: 34.77 +/- 2.27 degrees C; TRAP: 35.98 +/- 1.34 degrees C) across all
      environments (P < 0.001). Stepwise regression analysis generated models that
      accurately predicted Tm (predTm) of VL (R(2) = 0.73-0.91), TB (R(2) = 0.85-0.93),
      and TRAP (R(2) = 0.84-0.86) using iDISK and the difference between the current
      iDISK temperature and that recorded between 1 and 4 min before. Cross-validation
      analyses in the validation group demonstrated small differences (P < 0.05) of no
      physiological significance, small effect size of the differences, and strong
      associations (r = 0.85-0.97; P < 0.001) between Tm and predTm. Moreover, narrow
      95% limits of agreement and low percent coefficient of variation were observed
      between Tm and predTm. It is concluded that the developed noninvasive, practical,
      and inexpensive techniques provide accurate estimations of VL, TB, and TRAP Tm
      during rest, cycling exercise, and postexercise recovery. 

PMID- 25814641
TI  - Quantitative assessment of multiscale structural and functional alterations in
      asthmatic populations.
AB  - Relationships between structural and functional variables in asthmatic lungs at
      local and global (or lobar) levels remain to be discovered. This study aims to
      investigate local alterations of structural variables [bifurcation angle,
      circularity, airway wall thickness (WT), and hydraulic diameter (Dh)] in
      asthmatic subjects, and their correlations with other imaging and pulmonary
      function test-based global and lobar metrics, including lung shape, air-trapping,
      regional volume change, and more. Sixty-one healthy subjects, and 67 nonsevere
      and 67 severe asthmatic subjects were studied. The structural variables were
      derived from computed tomography images at total lung capacity (TLC). Air
      trapping was measured at functional residual capacity, and regional volume change
      (derived from image registration) was measured between functional residual
      capacity and TLC. The tracheal diameter and WT predicted by 61 healthy subjects
      were used to normalize the Dh and WT. New normalization schemes allowed for the
      dissociation of luminal narrowing and wall thickening effects. In severe
      asthmatic subjects, the alteration of bifurcation angle was found to be
      correlated with a global lung shape at TLC, and circularity was significantly
      decreased in the right main bronchus. While normalized WT increased especially in
      the upper lobes of severe asthmatic subjects, normalized Dh decreased in the
      lower lobes. Among local structural variables, normalized Dh was the most
      representative variable, because it was significantly correlated with alterations
      of functional variables, including pulmonary function test's data. In conclusion,
      understanding multiscale phenomena may help to provide guidance in the search for
      potential imaging-based phenotypes for the development and outcomes assessment of
      therapeutic intervention. 

PMID- 25814643
TI  - Genetic Variations in MicroRNA-Binding Sites Affect MicroRNA-Mediated Regulation
      of Several Genes Associated With Cardio-metabolic Phenotypes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies enabled us to discover a large number
      of variants and genomic loci contributing to cardiovascular and metabolic
      disorders. However, because the vast majority of the identified variants are
      thought to merely be proxies for other functional variants, the causal mechanisms
      remain to be elucidated. We hypothesized that the part of the functional variants
      involved in deregulating cardiometabolic genes is located in microRNA (miRNA)
      binding sites. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using the largest genome-wide association
      studies available on glycemic indices, lipid traits, anthropometric measures,
      blood pressure, coronary artery diseases, and type 2 diabetes mellitus, we
      identified 11,067 variants that are associated with cardiometabolic phenotypes.
      Of these, 230 variants are located within miRNA-binding sites in the 3'
      untranslated region of 155 cardiometabolic genes. Thirty-seven of 230 variants
      were found to fulfill our predefined criteria for being functional in their
      genomic loci. Ten variants were subsequently selected for experimental validation
      based on genome-wide association studies results, expression quantitative trait
      loci (eQTL) analyses, and coexpression of their host genes and regulatory miRNAs
      in relevant tissues. Luciferase reporter assays revealed an allele-specific
      regulation of genes hosting the variants by miRNAs. These cotransfection
      experiments showed that rs174545 (FADS1:miR-181a-2), rs1059611 (LPL:miR-136),
      rs13702 (LPL:miR-410), rs1046875 (FN3KRP:miR-34a), rs7956 (MKRN2:miR-154),
      rs3217992 (CDKN2B:miR-138-2-3p), and rs11735092 (HSD17B13:miR-375) decrease or
      abrogate miRNA-dependent regulation of the genes. Conversely, 2 variants, rs6857
      (PVRL2:miR-320e) and rs907091 (IKZF3:miR-326), were shown to enhance the activity
      of miRNAs on their host genes. CONCLUSIONS: We provide evidence for a model in
      which polymorphisms in miRNA-binding sites can both positively and negatively
      affect miRNA-mediated regulation of cardiometabolic genes.

PMID- 25814642
TI  - Spinal segment-specific transcutaneous stimulation differentially shapes
      activation pattern among motor pools in humans.
AB  - Transcutaneous and epidural electrical spinal cord stimulation techniques are
      becoming more valuable as electrophysiological and clinical tools. Recently, we
      observed selective activation of proximal and distal motor pools during epidural
      spinal stimulation. In the present study, we hypothesized that the
      characteristics of recruitment curves obtained from leg muscles will reflect a
      relative preferential activation of proximal and distal motor pools based on
      their arrangement along the lumbosacral enlargement. The purpose was to describe
      the electrophysiological responses to transcutaneous stimulation in leg muscles
      innervated by motoneurons from different segmental levels. Stimulation delivered
      along the rostrocaudal axis of the lumbosacral enlargement in the supine position
      resulted in a selective topographical recruitment of proximal and distal leg
      muscles, as described by threshold intensity, slope of the recruitment curves,
      and plateau point intensity and magnitude. Relatively selective recruitment of
      proximal and distal motor pools can be titrated by optimizing the site and
      intensity level of stimulation to excite a given combination of motor pools. The
      slope of the recruitment of particular muscles allows characterization of the
      properties of afferents projecting to specific motoneuron pools, as well as to
      the type and size of the motoneurons. The location and intensity of
      transcutaneous spinal electrical stimulation are critical to target particular
      neural structures across different motor pools in investigation of specific
      neuromodulatory effects. Finally, the asymmetry in bilateral evoked potentials is
      inevitable and can be attributed to both anatomical and functional peculiarities
      of individual muscles or muscle groups. 

PMID- 25814645
TI  - Gene expression profiles of the cochlea and vestibular endorgans: localization
      and function of genes causing deafness.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We sought to elucidate the gene expression profiles of the causative
      genes as well as the localization of the encoded proteins involved in hereditary
      hearing loss. METHODS: Relevant articles (as of September 2014) were searched in
      PubMed databases, and the gene symbols of the genes reported to be associated
      with deafness were located on the Hereditary Hearing Loss Homepage using
      localization, expression, and distribution as keywords. RESULTS: Our review of
      the literature allowed us to systematize the gene expression profiles for genetic
      deafness in the inner ear, clarifying the unique functions and specific
      expression patterns of these genes in the cochlea and vestibular endorgans.
      CONCLUSIONS: The coordinated actions of various encoded molecules are essential
      for the normal development and maintenance of auditory and vestibular function.

PMID- 25814647
TI  - Clockwatching--is that really hate?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To consider experiences of hate, which occur in clinical encounters.
      METHOD: A review of the electronic and manual literatures. RESULTS: Hate has
      become diluted to a euphemism, the 'difficult patient'. CONCLUSION: Retaining use
      of the word hate avoids overlooking subtle cues in the unfolding relationship.

PMID- 25814644
TI  - Nonbiased Molecular Screening Identifies Novel Molecular Regulators of Fibrogenic
      and Proliferative Signaling in Myxomatous Mitral Valve Disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pathological processes underlying myxomatous mitral valve
      degeneration (MMVD) remain poorly understood. We sought to identify novel
      mechanisms contributing to the development of this condition. METHODS AND
      RESULTS: Microarrays were used to measure gene expression in 11 myxomatous and 11
      nonmyxomatous human mitral valves. Differential gene expression (thresholds
      P<0.05; fold-change >1.5) and pathway activation (Ingenuity) were confirmed using
      quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and
      immunohistochemistry. Contributions of bone morphogenetic protein 4 and
      transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta2 to differential gene expression were
      evaluated in vitro. Contributions of angiotensin II to differential pathway
      activation were examined in mice in vivo. A total of 2602 genes were
      differentially expressed between myxomatous and nonmyxomatous valves. Canonical
      TGF-beta signaling was increased in MMVD because of increased ligand expression
      and derepression of SMA mothers against decapentaplegic 2/3 signaling and was
      confirmed with quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and
      immunohistochemistry. Myxomatous valves demonstrated activation of canonical bone
      morphogenetic protein and Wnt/beta-catenin signaling and upregulation of their
      common target runt-related transcription factor 2. Our data set provided
      transcriptional and immunohistochemical evidence for activated immune cell
      infiltration. In vitro treatment of mitral valve interstitial cells with TGF
      beta2 increased beta-catenin signaling at mRNA and protein levels, suggesting
      interactions between TGF-beta2 and Wnt signaling. In vivo infusion of mice with
      angiotensin II recaptured several changes in signaling pathways characteristic of
      human MMVD. CONCLUSIONS: These data support a new disease framework whereby
      activation of TGF-beta2, bone morphogenetic protein 4, Wnt/beta-catenin, or
      immune signaling plays major roles in the pathogenesis of MMVD. We propose these
      pathways act in a context-dependent manner to drive phenotypic changes that
      fundamentally differ from those observed in aortic valve disease and open novel
      avenues guiding future research into the pathogenesis of MMVD.

PMID- 25814646
TI  - Pulmonary Rehabilitation After Total Laryngectomy: A Multicenter Time-Series
      Clinical Trial Evaluating the Provox XtraHME in HME-Naive Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Both the immediate beneficial physiological changes in a laboratory
      setting and the long-term clinical outcomes of heat and moisture exchanger (HME)
      use are well described. So far, there has not been any research published that
      provides detailed insight in the pattern of changes in both respiratory function
      and patients' experiences with HMEs in the first weeks of use. METHODS: A
      multicenter time-series study design with a 2-week double baseline period. All
      patients used the XtraHME for 12 weeks afterward. Data were collected 2 weeks, 6
      weeks, and 12 weeks after the start of HME use. RESULTS: Data of 30 patients were
      analyzed. Pulmonary symptoms decreased significantly during the 12 weeks of HME
      use. After 2 weeks, a significant decrease in daily coughs and daily forced
      expectorations was seen. The general quality of life showed a significant
      increase throughout the study. More general physical complaints also
      significantly decreased with HME use. Patient satisfaction with the HME was high.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that there is a significant influence of the
      XtraHME on pulmonary status that can already be observed after 2 weeks of using
      the XtraHME and continues to improve further after 6 weeks of XtraHME use.

PMID- 25814648
TI  - Tumour-educated circulating monocytes are powerful candidate biomarkers for
      diagnosis and disease follow-up of colorectal cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Cancer immunology is a growing field of research whose aim is to
      develop innovative therapies and diagnostic tests. Starting from the hypothesis
      that immune cells promptly respond to harmful stimuli, we used peripheral blood
      monocytes in order to characterise a distinct gene expression profile and to
      evaluate its potential as a candidate diagnostic biomarker in patients with
      colorectal cancer (CRC), a still unmet clinical need. DESIGN: We performed a case
      control study including 360 peripheral blood monocyte samples from four European
      oncological centres and defined a gene expression profile specific to CRC. The
      robustness of the genetic profile and disease specificity were assessed in an
      independent setting. RESULTS: This screen returned 43 putative diagnostic
      markers, which we refined and validated in the confirmative multicentric analysis
      to 23 genes with outstanding diagnostic accuracy (area under the curve (AUC)=0.99
      (0.99 to 1.00), Se=100.0% (100.0% to 100.0%), Sp=92.9% (78.6% to 100.0%) in
      multiple-gene receiver operating characteristic analysis). The diagnostic
      accuracy was robustly maintained in prospectively collected independent samples
      (AUC=0.95 (0.85 to 1.00), Se=92.6% (81.5% to 100.0%), Sp=92.3% (76.9% to 100.0%).
      This monocyte signature was expressed at early disease onset, remained robust
      over the course of disease progression, and was specific for the monocytic
      fraction of mononuclear cells. The gene modulation was induced specifically by
      soluble factors derived from transformed colon epithelium in comparison to normal
      colon or other cancer histotypes. Moreover, expression changes were plastic and
      reversible, as they were abrogated upon withdrawal of these tumour-released
      factors. Consistently, the modified set of genes reverted to normal expression
      upon curative treatment and was specific for CRC. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the
      first to demonstrate monocyte plasticity in response to tumour-released soluble
      factors. The identified distinct signature in tumour-educated monocytes might be
      used as a candidate biomarker in CRC diagnosis and harbours the potential for
      disease follow-up and therapeutic monitoring.

PMID- 25814649
TI  - Genetic variants of lipase activity in chronic pancreatitis.

PMID- 25814651
TI  - Prognostic value of KRAS mutations in stage III colon cancer: post hoc analysis
      of the PETACC8 phase III trial dataset.

PMID- 25814650
TI  - Understanding the concept of resilience in relation to looked after children: A
      Delphi survey of perceptions from education, social care and foster care.
AB  - There has been a surge of interest regarding the application of resilience theory
      in childcare practice and how resilience can be promoted among vulnerable
      children, in particular, looked after children. However, little is known about
      how people working with looked after children understand the concept of
      resilience. This study aimed to explore how social workers, teachers and foster
      carers, working with looked after children, understand resilience and whether
      there is consensus as to what constitutes resilience. The study also sought to
      explore whether there are differences in how resilience is constructed across
      these groups. In total, 106 participants took part in a Delphi survey (34
      teachers, 36 foster carers, 36 social workers). There was moderate consensus that
      resilience related to survival, coping and a sense of self-worth. Resilience was
      not considered a panacea but a concept that also had limitations. Participants
      understood resilience in ways that were both similar and different to existing
      conceptualisations within the literature. However, there were many aspects of
      resilience for which there was no consensus or significant difference of opinion
      between the participant groups. The need for further training and research is
      discussed, in order to support attempts to promote resilience among looked after
      children. 

PMID- 25814652
TI  - On the HUNT for cardiovascular risk factors and disease in patients with
      psoriatic arthritis: population-based data from the Nord-Trondelag Health Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the presence of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and
      established CV disease in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and the general
      population and to compare the 10-year risk of a fatal CV event calculated by the
      Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) algorithm. METHODS: Patients with PsA
      (n=338) and controls (n=50 468) were recruited from the Nord-Trondelag Health
      Study 3. Age-adjusted and sex-adjusted prevalence rates of CV risk factors and
      comorbidity were calculated and the SCORE algorithm was applied. RESULTS: There
      was an increased prevalence of angina pectoris (5.0% vs 3.6%, p=0.01), history of
      percutaneous coronary intervention (2.4% vs 1.4%, p=0.04), hypertension (45.3% vs
      39.3%, p=0.01), obesity (32.0% vs 22.4%) and tobacco smoking (21.3% vs 16.4%,
      p=0.02) in patients with PsA compared with controls. Patients with PsA had
      elevated levels of C reactive protein (CRP; p<0.001), body mass index (BMI;
      p<0.001) and triglycerides (p=0.01). The median calculated CV risk in patients
      with PsA was low and comparable with controls (0.87 vs 0.83, p=0.24). The
      distribution across CV risk classes was similar among patients with PsA and
      controls. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with PsA have a higher risk of CV disease than
      the background population, although there was no difference between groups in 10
      year risk of a fatal CV event estimated by SCORE. However, patients with PsA had
      elevated levels of CV risk factors not included in the SCORE algorithm, such as
      BMI, triglycerides and CRP.

PMID- 25814653
TI  - MicroRNAs in cardiovascular disease: an introduction for clinicians.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding, RNA molecules approximately 22
      nucleotides in length which act as post-transcriptional regulators of gene
      expression. Individual miRNAs have been shown to regulate the expression of
      multiple genes. Conversely, the expression of individual genes can be regulated
      by multiple miRNAs. Consequently, since their discovery just over 20 years ago,
      miRNAs have been identified as key regulators of complex biological processes
      linked to multiple cardiovascular pathologies, including left ventricular
      hypertrophy, ischaemic heart disease, heart failure, hypertension and
      arrhythmias. Furthermore, since the finding that miRNAs are present in the
      circulation, they have been investigated as novel biomarkers, especially in the
      context of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and heart failure. While there is
      little convincing evidence that miRNAs can outperform traditional biomarkers,
      such as cardiac troponins, in the diagnosis of AMI, there is potential for miRNAs
      to complement existing risk prediction models and act as valuable markers of post
      AMI prognosis. Encouragingly, the concept of miRNA-based therapeutics is
      developing, with synthetic antagonists of miRNAs (antagomiRs) currently in phase
      II trials for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection. In the
      cardiovascular field, promising preclinical studies suggest that they could be
      useful in treating disorders ranging from heart failure to dyslipidaemia,
      although several challenges related to specificity and targeted delivery remain
      to be overcome. Through this review, we provide clinicians with a brief overview
      of the ever-expanding world of miRNAs.

PMID- 25814654
TI  - Alzheimer's disease-related peptide PS2V plays ancient, conserved roles in
      suppression of the unfolded protein response under hypoxia and stimulation of
      gamma-secretase activity.
AB  - The PRESENILIN1 and PRESENILIN2 genes encode structurally related proteases
      essential for gamma-secretase activity. Of nearly 200 PRESENILIN mutations
      causing early onset, familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) only the K115Efx10
      mutation of PSEN2 causes truncation of the open reading frame. If translated, the
      truncated product would resemble a naturally occurring isoform of PSEN2 named
      PS2V that is induced by hypoxia and found at elevated levels in late onset
      Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains. The function of PS2V is largely unexplored. We
      show that zebrafish possess a PS2V-like isoform, PS1IV, produced from the fish's
      PSEN1 rather than PSEN2 orthologous gene. The molecular mechanism controlling
      formation of PS2V/PS1IV was probably present in the ancient common ancestor of
      the PSEN1 and PSEN2 genes. Human PS2V and zebrafish PS1IV have highly divergent
      structures but conserved abilities to stimulate gamma-secretase activity and to
      suppress the unfolded protein response (UPR) under hypoxia. The putative protein
      truncation caused by K115Efx10 resembles PS2V in its ability to increase gamma
      secretase activity and suppress the UPR. This supports increased Abeta levels as
      a common link between K115Efx10 early onset AD and sporadic, late onset AD. The
      ability of mutant variants of PS2V to stimulate gamma-secretase activity
      partially correlates with their ability to suppress the UPR. The cytosolic,
      transmembrane and luminal domains of PS2V are all critical to its gamma-secretase
      and UPR-suppression activities. Our data support a model in which chronic hypoxia
      in aged brains promotes excessive Notch signalling and accumulation of Abeta that
      contribute to AD pathogenesis. 

PMID- 25814656
TI  - Treatment of Benign Thyroid Nodules: Comparison of Surgery with Radiofrequency
      Ablation.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Nodular goiter is one of the most common benign lesions
      in thyroid nodule. The main treatment of the disease is still the traditional
      surgical resection, however there are many problems such as general anesthesia,
      surgical scar, postoperative thyroid or parathyroid function abnormalities, and
      high nodules recurrence rate in residual gland. The purpose of this study was to
      compare the efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of 2 treatment methods,
      surgery and radiofrequency ablation, for the treatment of benign thyroid nodules.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: From May 2012 to September 2013, 200 patients with nodular
      goiters who underwent surgery (group A) and 200 patients treated by
      radiofrequency ablation (group B) were enrolled in this study. Inclusion criteria
      were the following: 1) cosmetic problem, 2) nodule-related symptoms, 3)
      hyperfunctioning nodules related to thyrotoxicosis, and 4) refusal of surgery
      (for group B). An internally cooled radiofrequency ablation system and an 18-ga
      internally cooled electrode were used. We compared the 2 groups in terms of
      efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness during a 1-year follow-up. RESULTS:
      After radiofrequency ablation, the nodule volume decreased significantly from 5.4
      to 0.4 mL (P = .002) at the 12-month follow-up. The incidence of complications
      was significantly higher from surgery than from radiofrequency ablation (6.0%
      versus 1.0%, P = .002). Hypothyroidism was detected in 71.5% of patients after
      surgery but in none following radiofrequency ablation. The rate of residual
      nodules (11.9% versus 2.9%, P = .004) and hospitalization days was significantly
      greater after surgery (6.6 versus 2.1 days, P < .001), but the cost difference
      was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical resection and radiofrequency ablation
      are both effective treatments of nodular goiter. Compared with surgery, the
      advantages of radiofrequency ablation include fewer complications, preservation
      of thyroid function, and fewer hospitalization days. Therefore, radiofrequency
      ablation should be considered a first-line treatment for benign thyroid nodules.

PMID- 25814655
TI  - Expanded GAA repeats impair FXN gene expression and reposition the FXN locus to
      the nuclear lamina in single cells.
AB  - Abnormally expanded DNA repeats are associated with several neurodegenerative
      diseases. In Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA), expanded GAA repeats in intron 1 of the
      frataxin gene (FXN) reduce FXN mRNA levels in averaged cell samples through a
      poorly understood mechanism. By visualizing FXN expression and nuclear
      localization in single cells, we show that GAA-expanded repeats decrease the
      number of FXN mRNA molecules, slow transcription, and increase FXN localization
      at the nuclear lamina (NL). Restoring histone acetylation reverses NL
      positioning. Expanded GAA-FXN loci in FRDA patient cells show increased NL
      localization with increased silencing of alleles and reduced transcription from
      alleles positioned peripherally. We also demonstrate inefficiencies in
      transcription initiation and elongation from the expanded GAA-FXN locus at single
      cell resolution. We suggest that repressive epigenetic modifications at the
      expanded GAA-FXN locus may lead to NL relocation, where further repression may
      occur. 

PMID- 25814657
TI  - Negative Susceptibility Vessel Sign and Underlying Intracranial Atherosclerotic
      Stenosis in Acute Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The role of MR imaging in predicting underlying
      intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis before endovascular stroke therapy has not
      been studied. Our aim was to determine the diagnostic value of the negative
      susceptibility vessel sign on T2*-weighted gradient-echo MR imaging for
      predicting underlying intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis in patients with
      acute MCA occlusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-one consecutive patients with
      acute stroke because of MCA occlusion underwent gradient-echo MR imaging and MRA
      before endovascular therapy. The negative susceptibility vessel sign was defined
      as an absence of a hypointense signal change within the occluded MCA on gradient
      echo imaging. Underlying intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis was determined by
      conventional angiography. The sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and
      accuracy of the negative susceptibility vessel sign for predicting the presence
      of underlying intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis were assessed. RESULTS: The
      negative susceptibility vessel sign was identified in 42 (46.1%) of 91 patients,
      and 18 (19.8%) patients had an underlying intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis
      responsible for acute ischemic symptoms. The negative susceptibility vessel sign
      was more frequently observed in patients with intracranial atherosclerotic
      stenosis than in those without it (100% versus 32.9%, P < .001). In the
      prediction of an underlying intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis, the negative
      susceptibility vessel sign had 100% sensitivity, 67.1% specificity, 42.9%
      positive predictive value, 100% negative predictive value, and an accuracy of
      73.6%. CONCLUSIONS: The negative susceptibility vessel sign on gradient-echo MR
      imaging is a sensitive marker with a high negative predictive value for the
      presence of an underlying intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis in patients with
      acute ischemic stroke because of MCA occlusions. The susceptibility vessel sign
      can be used in decision-making when performing subsequent endovascular
      revascularization therapy in patients with acute MCA occlusions.

PMID- 25814658
TI  - Imaging the Parasinus Region with a Third-Generation Dual-Source CT and the
      Effect of Tin Filtration on Image Quality and Radiation Dose.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: CT is the imaging technique of choice in the evaluation
      of midface trauma or inflammatory disease. We performed a systematic evaluation
      of scan protocols to optimize image quality and radiation exposure on third
      generation dual-source CT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: CT protocols with different
      tube voltage (70-150 kV), current (25-300 reference mAs), prefiltration, pitch
      value, and rotation time were systematically evaluated. All images were
      reconstructed with iterative reconstruction (Advanced Modeled Iterative
      Reconstruction, level 2). To individually compare results with otherwise
      identical factors, we obtained all scans on a frozen human head. Conebeam CT was
      performed for image quality and dose comparison with multidetector row CT.
      Delineation of important anatomic structures and incidental pathologic conditions
      in the cadaver head was evaluated. RESULTS: One hundred kilovolts with tin
      prefiltration demonstrated the best compromise between dose and image quality.
      The most dose-effective combination for trauma imaging was Sn100 kV/250 mAs
      (volume CT dose index, 2.02 mGy), and for preoperative sinus surgery planning,
      Sn100 kV/150 mAs (volume CT dose index, 1.22 mGy). "Sn" indicates an additional
      prefiltration of the x-ray beam with a tin filter to constrict the energy
      spectrum. Exclusion of sinonasal disease was possible with even a lower dose by
      using Sn100 kV/25 mAs (volume CT dose index, 0.2 mGy). CONCLUSIONS: High image
      quality at very low dose levels can be achieved by using a Sn100-kV protocol with
      iterative reconstruction. The effective dose is comparable with that of
      conventional radiography, and the high image quality at even lower radiation
      exposure favors multidetector row CT over conebeam CT.

PMID- 25814659
TI  - Intravenous Infusion of Nitroglycerine Leads to Increased Permeability on Dynamic
      Contrast-Enhanced MR Imaging in Pig Brains.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: It has been suggested that off-label use of transdermal
      nitroglycerine patches to prevent frostbite may lead to severe acute mountain
      sickness and ataxia. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of
      nitroglycerine on brain vascular permeability by using dynamic contrast-enhanced
      MR imaging in a swine model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight Danish Landrace
      Yorkshire-Danish Landrace pigs of approximately 20-25 kg were scanned with a
      dynamic contrast-enhanced MR perfusion protocol with and without nitroglycerine
      intravenous infusion. Compartmental analysis was performed on the basis of the
      Tofts model, and voxel-based quantitative values of the volume transfer constants
      from the vascular to the extracellular space were determined. RESULTS: The scan
      with nitroglycerine infusion resulted in significantly higher volume transfer
      constant values than values derived from the first scan without nitroglycerine
      infusion. Increased volume transfer constant values were observed in 6 of 8
      animals. CONCLUSIONS: Infusion of nitroglycerine increases the vascular
      permeability of the swine brain on the basis of the transfer constant estimated
      from dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging.

PMID- 25814660
TI  - Cranial Nerve Abnormalities in Oculo-Auriculo-Vertebral Spectrum.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cranial nerve abnormalities might be observed in
      hemifacial microsomia and microtia (oculo-auriculo-vertebral spectrum), but the
      rate, features, and relationship with functional impairment or phenotype severity
      have not yet been defined. This study aimed at investigating absence/asymmetry,
      abnormal origin, morphology and course of cranial nerves, and presence/asymmetry
      of the foramen ovale and inferior alveolar nerve canal in a cohort of oculo
      auriculo-vertebral spectrum patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-nine patients
      with oculo-auriculo-vertebral spectrum (mean age, 7 years; age range, 0.2-31
      years; 12 females) underwent brain MR imaging, CT, and neurologic evaluation; 19
      patients had a more severe phenotype (Goldenhar syndrome). RESULTS: Cranial nerve
      abnormalities were detected only in patients with Goldenhar syndrome (17/19,
      bilaterally in 8) and were involved the second (4/19), third (1/18), fifth
      (11/19), sixth (8/16), seventh (11/18), and eighth (8/18) cranial nerves.
      Multiple cranial nerve abnormalities were common (11/17). Eleven patients showed
      bone foramina abnormalities. Trigeminal and facial nerve dysfunctions were common
      (44% and 58%, respectively), especially in patients with Goldenhar syndrome.
      Trigeminal abnormalities showed a good correlation with ipsilateral dysfunction
      (P = .018), which further increased when bone foramina abnormalities were
      included. The facial nerve showed a trend toward correlation with ipsilateral
      dysfunction (P = .081). Diplopia was found only in patients with Goldenhar
      syndrome and was associated with third and sixth cranial nerve abnormalities (P =
      .006). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with oculo-auriculo-vertebral spectrum,
      cranial nerve morphologic abnormalities are common, correlate with phenotype
      severity, and often entail a functional impairment. The spectrum of cranial nerve
      abnormalities appears wider than simple hypo-/aplasia and includes an anomalous
      cisternal course and partial/complete fusion of diverse cranial nerves.

PMID- 25814661
TI  - Intratympanic Contrast in the Evaluation of Meniere Disease: Understanding the
      Limits.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Studies describing endolymphatic hydrops in Meniere
      disease after off-label intratympanic gadolinium-based contrast have been limited
      by long acquisition times. We aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of post
      intratympanic imaging on a 3T MR imaging system within a clinically tolerable
      acquisition time and to address potential pitfalls in acquisition or
      interpretation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: FDA Investigational New Drug 115,342 and
      institutional review board approval were obtained for intratympanic injection of
      8-fold diluted Gd-DTPA into the more symptomatic ear of 6 adults with Meniere
      disease. 3T MR imaging was performed using a 3-inch surface coil before and up to
      28 hours after injection using FLAIR to define the nonenhancing endolymphatic
      space within the enhancing perilymph. Variable FLAIR TI images were used to
      determine the impact of fluid-suppression on interpretation. Image quality was
      assessed for perilymphatic and extralabyrinthine contrast enhancement, definition
      of endolymphatic anatomy, and other anatomic variants or pathologic findings.
      RESULTS: The surface coil afforded 0.375 * 0.375 mm in-plane FLAIR resolution in
      <4 minutes 30 seconds, sufficient to perceive the nonenhancing spiral lamina,
      interscalar septa, and endolymphatic structures. Coronal views highlighted a
      potential interpretation pitfall of vestibular endolymphatic distention
      overestimation due to partial volume averaging. Varying FLAIR TI resulted in
      visible changes in the perception of the cochlear endolymphatic space. CSF
      enhancement was detectable at the internal auditory canal fundus on the injected
      side in half of the patients, which may confound interpretation. CONCLUSIONS:
      Using a surface coil preserves high resolution within a clinically acceptable
      acquisition time. Pitfalls remain regarding the interpretation of these images
      and optimizing protocols across platforms in the absence of a clear internal
      reference for standardization.

PMID- 25814662
TI  - 4E-BPs Control Fat Storage by Regulating the Expression of Egr1 and ATGL.
AB  - Early growth response transcription factor Egr1 controls multiple aspects of cell
      physiology and metabolism. In particular, Egr1 suppresses lipolysis and promotes
      fat accumulation in adipocytes by inhibiting the expression of adipose
      triglyceride lipase. According to current dogma, regulation of the Egr1
      expression takes place primarily at the level of transcription. Correspondingly,
      treatment of cultured adipocytes with insulin stimulates expression of Egr1 mRNA
      and protein. Unexpectedly, the MEK inhibitor PD98059 completely blocks insulin
      stimulated increase in the Egr1 mRNA but has only a moderate effect on the Egr1
      protein. At the same time, mTORC1 inhibitors rapamycin and PP242 suppress
      expression of the Egr1 protein and have an opposite effect on the Egr1 mRNA.
      Mouse embryonic fibroblasts with genetic ablations of TSC2 or 4E-BP1/2 express
      less Egr1 mRNA but more Egr1 protein than wild type controls. (35)S-labeling has
      confirmed that translation of the Egr1 mRNA is much more effective in 4E-BP1/2
      null cells than in control. A selective agonist of the CB1 receptors, ACEA, up
      regulates Egr1 mRNA, but does not activate mTORC1 and does not increase Egr1
      protein in adipocytes. These data suggest that although insulin activates both
      the Erk and the mTORC1 signaling pathways in adipocytes, regulation of the Egr1
      expression takes place predominantly via the mTORC1/4E-BP-mediated axis. In
      confirmation of this model, we show that 4E-BP1/2-null MEFs express less ATGL and
      accumulate more fat than control cells, while knock down of Egr1 in 4E-BP1/2-null
      MEFs increases ATGL expression and decreases fat storage. 

PMID- 25814663
TI  - Ethylene Regulates Levels of Ethylene Receptor/CTR1 Signaling Complexes in
      Arabidopsis thaliana.
AB  - The plant hormone ethylene is perceived by a five-member family of receptors in
      Arabidopsis thaliana. The receptors function in conjunction with the Raf-like
      kinase CTR1 to negatively regulate ethylene signal transduction. CTR1 interacts
      with multiple members of the receptor family based on co-purification analysis,
      interacting more strongly with receptors containing a receiver domain. Levels of
      membrane-associated CTR1 vary in response to ethylene, doing so in a post
      transcriptional manner that correlates with ethylene-mediated changes in levels
      of the ethylene receptors ERS1, ERS2, EIN4, and ETR2. Interactions between CTR1
      and the receptor ETR1 protect ETR1 from ethylene-induced turnover. Kinetic and
      dose-response analyses support a model in which two opposing factors control
      levels of the ethylene receptor/CTR1 complexes. Ethylene stimulates the
      production of new complexes largely through transcriptional induction of the
      receptors. However, ethylene also induces turnover of receptors, such that levels
      of ethylene receptor/CTR1 complexes decrease at higher ethylene concentrations.
      Implications of this model for ethylene signaling are discussed. 

PMID- 25814664
TI  - Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta) Inhibition Enhances Dendritic Cell
      based Cancer Vaccine Potency via Suppression of Interferon-gamma-induced
      Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase Expression.
AB  - Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) functions as a crucial mediator of tumor
      mediated immune tolerance by causing T-cell suppression via tryptophan starvation
      in a tumor environment. Glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta) is also
      involved in immune and anti-tumor responses. However, the relativity of these
      proteins has not been as well defined. Here, we found that GSK-3beta-dependent
      IDO expression in the dendritic cell (DC) plays a role in anti-tumor activity via
      the regulation of CD8(+) T-cell polarization and cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity.
      By the inhibition of GSK-3beta, attenuated IDO expression and impaired JAK1/2
      Stat signaling crucial for IDO expression were observed. Protein kinase Cdelta
      (PKCdelta) activity and the interaction between JAK1/2 and Stat3, which are
      important for IDO expression, were also reduced by GSK-3beta inhibition. CD8(+) T
      cell proliferation mediated by OVA-pulsed DC was blocked by interferon (IFN)
      gamma-induced IDO expression via GSK-3beta activity. Specific cytotoxic T
      lymphocyte activity mediated by OVA-pulsed DC against OVA-expressing EG7 thymoma
      cells but not OVA-nonexpressing EL4 thymoma cells was also attenuated by the
      expressed IDO via IFN-gamma-induced activation of GSK-3beta. Furthermore, tumor
      growth that was suppressed with OVA-pulsed DC vaccination was restored by IDO
      expressing DC via IFN-gamma-induced activation of GSK-3beta in an OVA-expressing
      murine EG7 thymoma model. Taken together, DC-based immune response mediated by
      interferon-gamma-induced IDO expression via GSK-3beta activity not only regulates
      CD8(+) T-cell proliferation and cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity but also
      modulates OVA-pulsed DC vaccination against EG7 thymoma. 

PMID- 25814665
TI  - Identification of Equine Lactadherin-derived Peptides That Inhibit Rotavirus
      Infection via Integrin Receptor Competition.
AB  - Human rotavirus is the leading cause of severe gastroenteritis in infants and
      children under the age of 5 years in both developed and developing countries.
      Human lactadherin, a milk fat globule membrane glycoprotein, inhibits human
      rotavirus infection in vitro, whereas bovine lactadherin is not active. Moreover,
      it protects breastfed infants against symptomatic rotavirus infections. To
      explore the potential antiviral activity of lactadherin sourced by equines, we
      undertook a proteomic analysis of milk fat globule membrane proteins from donkey
      milk and elucidated its amino acid sequence. Alignment of the human, bovine, and
      donkey lactadherin sequences revealed the presence of an Asp-Gly-Glu (DGE)
      alpha2beta1 integrin-binding motif in the N-terminal domain of donkey sequence
      only. Because integrin alpha2beta1 plays a critical role during early steps of
      rotavirus host cell adhesion, we tested a minilibrary of donkey lactadherin
      derived peptides containing DGE sequence for anti-rotavirus activity. A 20-amino
      acid peptide containing both DGE and RGD motifs (named pDGE-RGD) showed the
      greatest activity, and its mechanism of antiviral action was characterized; pDGE
      RGD binds to integrin alpha2beta1 by means of the DGE motif and inhibits
      rotavirus attachment to the cell surface. These findings suggest the potential
      anti-rotavirus activity of equine lactadherin and support the feasibility of
      developing an anti-rotavirus peptide that acts by hindering virus-receptor
      binding. 

PMID- 25814666
TI  - A motif from Lys216 to Lys222 in human BUB3 protein is a nuclear localization
      signal and critical for BUB3 function in mitotic checkpoint.
AB  - Human BUB3 is a key mitotic checkpoint factor that recognizes centromeric
      components and recruits other mitotic checkpoint molecules to the unattached
      kinetochore. The key amino acid residues responsible for its localization are not
      yet defined. In this study, we identified a motif from Lys(216) to Lys(222) in
      BUB3 as its nuclear localization signal. A BUB3 mutant with deletion of this
      motif (Del216-222) was found to localize to both the cytoplasm and the nucleus,
      distinct from the exclusively nuclear distribution of wild-type BUB3. Further
      analysis revealed that residues Glu(213), Lys(216), Lys(217), Lys(218), Tyr(219),
      and Phe(221), but not Lys(222), contribute to nuclear localization.
      Interestingly, the nuclear localization signal was also critical for the
      kinetochore localization of BUB3. The deletion mutant Del216-222 and a subtle
      mutant with four residue changes in this region (E213Q/K216E/K217E/K218E (QE))
      did not localize to the kinetochore efficiently or mediate mitotic checkpoint
      arrest. Protein interaction data suggested that the QE mutant was able to
      interact with BUB1, MAD2, and BubR1 but that its association with the centromeric
      components CENP-A and KNL1 was impaired. A motif from Leu(61) to Leu(65) in CENP
      A was found to be involved in the association of BUB3 and CENP-A in cells;
      however, further assays suggested that CENP-A does not physically interact with
      BUB3 and does not affect BUB3 localization. Our findings help to dissect the
      mechanisms of BUB3 in mitotic checkpoint signaling. 

PMID- 25814667
TI  - The roles of family B and D DNA polymerases in Thermococcus species 9 degrees N
      Okazaki fragment maturation.
AB  - During replication, Okazaki fragment maturation is a fundamental process that
      joins discontinuously synthesized DNA fragments into a contiguous lagging strand.
      Efficient maturation prevents repeat sequence expansions, small duplications, and
      generation of double-stranded DNA breaks. To address the components required for
      the process in Thermococcus, Okazaki fragment maturation was reconstituted in
      vitro using purified proteins from Thermococcus species 9 degrees N or cell
      extracts. A dual color fluorescence assay was developed to monitor reaction
      substrates, intermediates, and products. DNA polymerase D (polD) was proposed to
      function as the replicative polymerase in Thermococcus replicating both the
      leading and the lagging strands. It is shown here, however, that it stops before
      the previous Okazaki fragments, failing to rapidly process them. Instead, Family
      B DNA polymerase (polB) was observed to rapidly fill the gaps left by polD and
      displaces the downstream Okazaki fragment to create a flap structure. This flap
      structure was cleaved by flap endonuclease 1 (Fen1) and the resultant nick was
      ligated by DNA ligase to form a mature lagging strand. The similarities to both
      bacterial and eukaryotic systems and evolutionary implications of archaeal
      Okazaki fragment maturation are discussed. 

PMID- 25814668
TI  - MicroRNA-7 Promotes Glycolysis to Protect against 1-Methyl-4-phenylpyridinium
      induced Cell Death.
AB  - Parkinson disease is associated with decreased activity of the mitochondrial
      electron transport chain. This defect can be recapitulated in vitro by
      challenging dopaminergic cells with 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP(+)), a
      neurotoxin that inhibits complex I of electron transport chain. Consequently,
      oxidative phosphorylation is blocked, and cells become dependent on glycolysis
      for ATP production. Therefore, increasing the rate of glycolysis might help cells
      to produce more ATP to meet their energy demands. In the present study, we show
      that microRNA-7, a non-coding RNA that protects dopaminergic neuronal cells
      against MPP(+)-induced cell death, promotes glycolysis in dopaminergic SH-SY5Y
      and differentiated human neural progenitor ReNcell VM cells, as evidenced by
      increased ATP production, glucose consumption, and lactic acid production.
      Through a series of experiments, we demonstrate that targeted repression of RelA
      by microRNA-7, as well as subsequent increase in the neuronal glucose transporter
      3 (Glut3), underlies this glycolysis-promoting effect. Consistently, silencing
      Glut3 expression diminishes the protective effect of microRNA-7 against MPP(+).
      Further, microRNA-7 fails to prevent MPP(+)-induced cell death when SH-SY5Y cells
      are cultured in a low glucose medium, as well as when differentiated ReNcell VM
      cells or primary mouse neurons are treated with the hexokinase inhibitor, 2-deoxy
      d-glucose, indicating that a functional glycolytic pathway is required for this
      protective effect. In conclusion, microRNA-7, by down-regulating RelA, augments
      Glut3 expression, promotes glycolysis, and subsequently prevents MPP(+)-induced
      cell death. This protective effect of microRNA-7 could be exploited to correct
      the defects in oxidative phosphorylation in Parkinson disease. 

PMID- 25814669
TI  - Bioenergetic mechanisms in astrocytes may contribute to amyloid plaque deposition
      and toxicity.
AB  - Alzheimer disease (AD) is characterized neuropathologically by synaptic
      disruption, neuronal loss, and deposition of amyloid beta (Abeta) protein in
      brain structures that are critical for memory and cognition. There is increasing
      appreciation, however, that astrocytes, which are the major non-neuronal glial
      cells, may play an important role in AD pathogenesis. Unlike neurons, astrocytes
      are resistant to Abeta cytotoxicity, which may, in part, be related to their
      greater reliance on glycolytic metabolism. Here we show that, in cultures of
      human fetal astrocytes, pharmacological inhibition or molecular down-regulation
      of a main enzymatic regulator of glycolysis, 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose
      2,6-biphosphatase (PFKFB3), results in increased accumulation of Abeta within and
      around astrocytes and greater vulnerability of these cells to Abeta toxicity. We
      further investigated age-dependent changes in PFKFB3 and astrocytes in AD
      transgenic mice (TgCRND8) that overexpress human Abeta. Using a combination of
      Western blotting and immunohistochemistry, we identified an increase in glial
      fibrillary acidic protein expression in astrocytes that paralleled the escalation
      of the Abeta plaque burden in TgCRND8 mice in an age-dependent manner.
      Furthermore, PFKFB3 expression also demonstrated an increase in these mice,
      although at a later age (9 months) than GFAP and Abeta. Immunohistochemical
      staining showed significant reactive astrogliosis surrounding Abeta plaques with
      increased PFKFB3 activity in 12-month-old TgCRND8 mice, an age when AD pathology
      and behavioral deficits are fully manifested. These studies shed light on the
      unique bioenergetic mechanisms within astrocytes that may contribute to the
      development of AD pathology. 

PMID- 25814670
TI  - Low pH-driven folding of WW45-SARAH domain leads to stabilization of the WW45
      Mst2 complex.
AB  - The scaffolding protein Salvador (Sav) plays a key role in the Hippo (Hpo)
      signalling pathway, which controls tissue growth by inhibiting cell proliferation
      and promoting apoptosis. Dysregulation of the Hippo pathway contributes to cancer
      development. Since the identification of the first Sav gene in 2002, very little
      is known regarding the molecular basis of Sav-SARAH mediating interactions due to
      its insolubility. In this study, refolding of the first Sav (known as WW45)-SARAH
      provided insight into the biochemical and biophysical properties, indicating that
      WW45-SARAH exhibits properties of a disordered protein, when the domain was
      refolded at a neutral pH. Interestingly, WW45-SARAH shows folded and rigid
      conformations relative to the decrease in pH. Further, diffracting crystals were
      obtained from protein refolded under acidic pH, suggesting that the refolded WW45
      protein at low pH has a homogeneous and stable conformation. A comparative
      analysis of molecular properties found that the acidic-stable fold of WW45-SARAH
      enhances a heterotypic interaction with Mst2-SARAH. In addition, using an Mst2
      mutation that disrupts homotypic dimerization, we showed that the monomeric Mst2
      SARAH domain could form a stable complex of 1:1 stoichiometric ratio with WW45
      refolded under acidic pH. 

PMID- 25814671
TI  - Targeting Abl kinases to regulate vascular leak during sepsis and acute
      respiratory distress syndrome.
AB  - The vascular endothelium separates circulating fluid and inflammatory cells from
      the surrounding tissues. Vascular leak occurs in response to wide-spread
      inflammatory processes, such as sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome,
      because of the formation of gaps between endothelial cells. Although these
      disorders are leading causes of mortality in the intensive care unit, no medical
      therapies exist to restore endothelial cell barrier function. Recent evidence
      highlights a key role for the Abl family of nonreceptor tyrosine kinases in
      regulating vascular barrier integrity. These kinases have well-described roles in
      cancer progression and neuronal morphogenesis, but their functions in the
      vasculature have remained enigmatic until recently. The Abl family kinases, c-Abl
      (Abl1) and Abl related gene (Arg, Abl2), phosphorylate several cytoskeletal
      effectors that mediate vascular permeability, including nonmuscle myosin light
      chain kinase, cortactin, vinculin, and beta-catenin. They also regulate cell-cell
      and cell-matrix junction dynamics, and the formation of actin-based cellular
      protrusions in multiple cell types. In addition, both c-Abl and Arg are activated
      by hyperoxia and contribute to oxidant-induced endothelial cell injury. These
      numerous roles of Abl kinases in endothelial cells and the current clinical usage
      of imatinib and other Abl kinase inhibitors have spurred recent interest in
      repurposing these drugs for the treatment of vascular barrier dysfunction. This
      review will describe the structure and function of Abl kinases with an emphasis
      on their roles in mediating vascular barrier integrity. We will also provide a
      critical evaluation of the potential for exploiting Abl kinase inhibition as a
      novel therapy for inflammatory vascular leak syndromes. 

PMID- 25814672
TI  - Hic-5 Mediates TGFbeta-Induced Adhesion in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells by a Nox4
      Dependent Mechanism.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Focal adhesions (FAs) link the cytoskeleton to the extracellular
      matrix and as such play important roles in growth, migration, and contractile
      properties of vascular smooth muscle cells. Recently, it has been shown that
      downregulation of Nox4, a transforming growth factor (TGF) beta-inducible,
      hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-producing enzyme, affects the number of FAs. However,
      the effectors downstream of Nox4 that mediate FA regulation are unknown. The FA
      resident protein H2O2-inducible clone (Hic)-5 is H2O2 and TGFbeta inducible, and
      a binding partner of the heat shock protein (Hsp) 27. The objective of this study
      was to elucidate the mechanism, by which Hic-5 and Hsp27 participate in TGFbeta
      induced, Nox4-mediated vascular smooth muscle cell adhesion and migration.
      APPROACH AND RESULTS: Through a combination of molecular biology and biochemistry
      techniques, we found that TGFbeta, by a Nox4-dependent mechanism, induces the
      expression and interaction of Hic-5 and Hsp27, which is essential for Hic-5
      localization to FAs. Importantly, we found that Hic-5 expression is required for
      the TGFbeta-mediated increase in FA number, adhesive forces and migration.
      Mechanistically, Nox4 downregulation impedes Smad (small body size and mothers
      against decapentaplegic) signaling by TGFbeta, and Hsp27 and Hic-5 upregulation
      by TGFbeta is blocked in small body size and mothers against decapentaplegic 4
      deficient cells. CONCLUSIONS: Hic-5 and Hsp27 are effectors of Nox4 required for
      TGFbeta-stimulated FA formation, adhesion strength and migration in vascular
      smooth muscle cell.

PMID- 25814673
TI  - Histone Methyltransferase SET1 Mediates Angiotensin II-Induced Endothelin-1
      Transcription and Cardiac Hypertrophy in Mice.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Endothelin-1 is a potent vasoconstrictor derived from vascular
      endothelium. Elevated endothelin-1 levels are observed in a host of
      cardiovascular pathologies including cardiomyopathy. The epigenetic mechanism
      responsible for endothelin-1 induction in these pathological processes remains
      elusive. APPROACH AND RESULTS: We report here that induction of endothelin-1
      expression in endothelial cells by angiotensin II (Ang II) was accompanied by the
      accumulation of histone H3K4 trimethylation, a preeminent histone modification
      for transcriptional activation, on the endothelin-1 promoter. In the meantime,
      Ang II stimulated the expression and the occupancy of Suv, Ez, and Trithorax
      domain 1 (SET1), a mammalian histone H3K4 trimethyltransferase, on the endothelin
      1 promoter, both in vitro and in vivo. SET1 was recruited to the endothelin-1
      promoter by activating protein 1 (c-Jun/c-Fos) and synergized with activating
      protein 1 to activate endothelin-1 transcription in response to Ang II treatment.
      Knockdown of SET1 in endothelial cells blocked Ang II-induced endothelin-1
      synthesis and abrogated hypertrophy of cultured cardiomyocyte. Finally,
      endothelial-specific depletion of SET1 in mice attenuated Ang II-induced
      pathological hypertrophy and cardiac fibrosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that
      SET1 epigenetically activates endothelin-1 transcription in endothelial cells,
      thereby contributing to Ang II-induced cardiac hypertrophy. As such, screening of
      small-molecule compound that inhibits SET1 activity will likely offer a new
      therapeutic solution to the treatment of cardiomyopathy.

PMID- 25814674
TI  - Impairment of Wound Healing in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Influences
      Circulating MicroRNA Patterns via Inflammatory Cytokines.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: MicroRNAs (miRNA/miR) are stably present in body fluids and are
      increasingly explored as disease biomarkers. Here, we investigated influence of
      impaired wound healing on the plasma miRNA signature and their functional
      importance in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. APPROACH AND RESULTS: miRNA
      array profiling identified 41 miRNAs significantly deregulated in diabetic
      controls when compared with patients with diabetes mellitus-associated peripheral
      arterial disease and chronic wounds. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain
      reaction validation confirmed decrease in circulating miR-191 and miR-200b levels
      in type 2 diabetic versus healthy controls. This was reverted in diabetic
      subjects with associated peripheral arterial disease and chronic wounds, who also
      exhibited higher circulating C-reactive protein and proinflammatory cytokine
      levels compared with diabetic controls. miR-191 and miR-200b were significantly
      correlated with C-reactive protein or cytokine levels in patients with diabetes
      mellitus. Indeed, proinflammatory stress increased endothelial- or platelet
      derived secretion of miR-191 or miR-200b. In addition, dermal cells took up
      endothelial-derived miR-191 leading to downregulation of the miR-191 target
      zonula occludens-1. Altered miR-191 expression influenced angiogenesis and
      migratory capacities of diabetic dermal endothelial cells or fibroblasts,
      respectively, partly via its target zonula occludens-1. CONCLUSIONS: This study
      reports that (1) inflammation underlying nonhealing wounds in patients with type
      2 diabetes mellitus influences plasma miRNA concentrations and (2) miR-191
      modulates cellular migration and angiogenesis via paracrine regulation of zonula
      occludens-1 to delay the tissue repair process.

PMID- 25814676
TI  - PDE1C negatively regulates growth factor receptor degradation and promotes VSMC
      proliferation.

PMID- 25814675
TI  - Endothelial uncoupling protein 2 regulates mitophagy and pulmonary hypertension
      during intermittent hypoxia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a process of lung vascular remodeling,
      which can lead to right heart dysfunction and significant morbidity. The
      underlying mechanisms leading to PH are not well understood, and therapies are
      limited. Using intermittent hypoxia (IH) as a model of oxidant-induced PH, we
      identified an important role for endothelial cell mitophagy via mitochondrial
      uncoupling protein 2 (Ucp2) in the development of IH-induced PH. APPROACH AND
      RESULTS: Ucp2 endothelial knockout (VE-KO) and Ucp2 Flox (Flox) mice were
      subjected to 5 weeks of IH. Ucp2 VE-KO mice exhibited higher right ventricular
      systolic pressure and worse right heart hypertrophy, as measured by increased
      right ventricle weight/left ventricle plus septal weight (RV/LV+S) ratio, at
      baseline and after IH. These changes were accompanied by increased mitophagy.
      Primary mouse lung endothelial cells transfected with Ucp2 siRNA and subjected to
      cyclic exposures to CoCl2 (chemical hypoxia) showed increased mitophagy, as
      measured by PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 and LC3BII/I ratios, decreased
      mitochondrial biogenesis, and increased apoptosis. Similar results were obtained
      in primary lung endothelial cells isolated from VE-KO mice. Moreover, silencing
      PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 in the endothelium of Ucp2 knockout mice, using
      endothelial-targeted lentiviral silencing RNA in vivo, prevented IH-induced PH.
      Human pulmonary artery endothelial cells from people with PH demonstrated changes
      similar to Ucp2-silenced mouse lung endothelial cells. CONCLUSIONS: The loss of
      endothelial Ucp2 leads to excessive PTEN-induced putative kinase 1-induced
      mitophagy, inadequate mitochondrial biosynthesis, and increased apoptosis in
      endothelium. An endothelial Ucp2-PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 axis may be
      effective therapeutic targets in PH.

PMID- 25814677
TI  - Small HDL promotes cholesterol efflux by the ABCA1 pathway in macrophages:
      implications for therapies targeted to HDL.

PMID- 25814678
TI  - Long noncoding RNAs in diabetic retinopathy.

PMID- 25814679
TI  - Thrombi and neutrophils.

PMID- 25814680
TI  - Conserved microRNA program as key to mammalian cardiac regeneration: insights
      from zebrafish.

PMID- 25814681
TI  - Cholesterol homeostasis regulation by miR-223: basic science mechanisms and
      translational implications.

PMID- 25814682
TI  - Harnessing the heart of big data.

PMID- 25814683
TI  - "String theory" of c-kit(pos) cardiac cells: a new paradigm regarding the nature
      of these cells that may reconcile apparently discrepant results.
AB  - Although numerous preclinical investigations have consistently demonstrated
      salubrious effects of c-kit(pos) cardiac cells administered after myocardial
      infarction, the mechanism of action remains highly controversial. We and others
      have found little or no evidence that these cells differentiate into mature
      functional cardiomyocytes, suggesting paracrine effects. In this review, we
      propose a new paradigm predicated on a comprehensive analysis of the literature,
      including studies of cardiac development; we have (facetiously) dubbed this
      conceptual construct "string theory" of c-kit(pos) cardiac cells because it
      reconciles multifarious and sometimes apparently discrepant results. There is
      strong evidence that, during development, the c-kit receptor is expressed in
      different pools of cardiac progenitors (some capable of robust cardiomyogenesis
      and others with little or no contribution to myocytes). Accordingly, c-kit
      positivity, in itself, does not define the embryonic origins, lineage
      capabilities, or differentiation capacities of specific cardiac progenitors. C
      kit(pos) cells derived from the first heart field exhibit cardiomyogenic
      potential during development, but these cells are likely depleted shortly before
      or after birth. The residual c-kit(pos) cells found in the adult heart are
      probably of proepicardial origin, possess a mesenchymal phenotype (resembling
      bone marrow mesenchymal stem/stromal cells), and are capable of contributing
      significantly only to nonmyocytic lineages (fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, and
      endothelial cells). If these 2 populations (first heart field and proepicardium)
      express different levels of c-kit, the cardiomyogenic potential of first heart
      field progenitors might be reconciled with recent results of c-kit(pos) cell
      lineage tracing studies. The concept that c-kit expression in the adult heart
      identifies epicardium-derived, noncardiomyogenic precursors with a mesenchymal
      phenotype helps to explain the beneficial effects of c-kit(pos) cell
      administration to ischemically damaged hearts despite the observed paucity of
      cardiomyogenic differentiation of these cells. 

PMID- 25814688
TI  - Letter by McLean and Oudit regarding article, "myostatin regulates energy
      homeostasis in the heart and prevents heart failure".

PMID- 25814687
TI  - Getting to the heart of the matter: new insights into cardiac fibrosis.
AB  - Fibrotic diseases are a significant global burden for which there are limited
      treatment options. The effector cells of fibrosis are activated fibroblasts
      called myofibroblasts, a highly contractile cell type characterized by the
      appearance of alpha-smooth muscle actin stress fibers. The underlying mechanism
      behind myofibroblast differentiation and persistence has been under much
      investigation and is known to involve a complex signaling network involving
      transforming growth factor-beta, endothelin-1, angiotensin II, CCN2 (connective
      tissue growth factor), and platelet-derived growth factor. This review addresses
      the contribution of these signaling molecules to cardiac fibrosis. 

PMID- 25814684
TI  - Endothelial cell metabolism in normal and diseased vasculature.
AB  - Higher organisms rely on a closed cardiovascular circulatory system with blood
      vessels supplying vital nutrients and oxygen to distant tissues. Not
      surprisingly, vascular pathologies rank among the most life-threatening diseases.
      At the crux of most of these vascular pathologies are (dysfunctional) endothelial
      cells (ECs), the cells lining the blood vessel lumen. ECs display the remarkable
      capability to switch rapidly from a quiescent state to a highly migratory and
      proliferative state during vessel sprouting. This angiogenic switch has long been
      considered to be dictated by angiogenic growth factors (eg, vascular endothelial
      growth factor) and other signals (eg, Notch) alone, but recent findings show that
      it is also driven by a metabolic switch in ECs. Furthermore, these changes in
      metabolism may even override signals inducing vessel sprouting. Here, we review
      how EC metabolism differs between the normal and dysfunctional/diseased
      vasculature and how it relates to or affects the metabolism of other cell types
      contributing to the pathology. We focus on the biology of ECs in tumor blood
      vessel and diabetic ECs in atherosclerosis as examples of the role of endothelial
      metabolism in key pathological processes. Finally, current as well as unexplored
      EC metabolism-centric therapeutic avenues are discussed. 

PMID- 25814690
TI  - Correction.

PMID- 25814685
TI  - Readers, writers, and erasers: chromatin as the whiteboard of heart disease.
AB  - Dynamic packaging of DNA into strings of nucleosomes is a major mechanism whereby
      eukaryotic cells regulate gene expression. Intricate control of nucleosomal
      structure and assembly governs access of RNA polymerase II to DNA and consequent
      RNA synthesis. As part of this, post-translational modifications of histone
      proteins are central to the regulation of chromatin structure, playing vital
      roles in regulating the activation and repression of gene transcription. In the
      heart, dynamic homeostasis of histone modification-driven by the actions of
      modifiers and recruitment of downstream effectors-is a fundamental regulator of
      the transcriptional reprogramming that occurs in the setting of disease-related
      stress. Here, we examine the growing evidence for histone modification as a key
      mechanism governing pathological growth and remodeling of the myocardium. 

PMID- 25814689
TI  - Response to letter regarding "myostatin regulates energy homeostasis in the heart
      and prevents heart failure".

PMID- 25814686
TI  - Innate immunity and the failing heart: the cytokine hypothesis revisited.
AB  - Elevated levels of inflammatory mediators have been identified in patients with
      heart failure, including heart failure with reduced and preserved ejection
      fraction, as well as acute decompensated heart failure. Moreover, experimental
      studies have shown repeatedly that activation of inflammation in the heart
      provokes left ventricular remodeling and left ventricular dysfunction.
      Nonetheless, phase III clinical trials that have attempted to antagonize
      inflammatory mediators have been negative with respect to the primary end points
      of the trials, and in some patients, resulted in worsening heart failure or
      death. The following review will discuss how recent developments in the field of
      innate immunity have advanced our understanding of the role of inflammation in
      the pathogenesis of heart failure and will discuss the negative outcomes of the
      existing clinical trials in light of this new information. 

PMID- 25814691
TI  - Correction.

PMID- 25814693
TI  - How to avoid haste and waste in occupational, environmental and public health
      research.

PMID- 25814692
TI  - Functional Dissection of the CCBE1 Protein: A Crucial Requirement for the
      Collagen Repeat Domain.
AB  - RATIONALE: Collagen- and calcium-binding EGF domain-containing protein 1 (CCBE1)
      is essential for lymphangiogenesis in vertebrates and has been associated with
      Hennekam syndrome. Recently, CCBE1 has emerged as a crucial regulator of vascular
      endothelial growth factor-C (VEGFC) signaling. OBJECTIVE: CCBE1 is a secreted
      protein characterized by 2 EGF domains and 2 collagen repeats. The functional
      role of the different CCBE1 protein domains is completely unknown. Here, we
      analyzed the functional role of the different CCBE1 domains in vivo and in vitro.
      METHODS AND RESULTS: We analyzed the functionality of several CCBE1 deletion
      mutants by generating knock-in mice expressing these mutants, by analyzing their
      ability to enhance Vegfc signaling in vivo in zebrafish, and by testing their
      ability to induce VEGFC processing in vitro. We found that deleting the collagen
      domains of CCBE1 has a much stronger effect on CCBE1 activity than deleting the
      EGF domains. First, although CCBE1DeltaCollagen mice fully phenocopy CCBE1 knock
      out mice, CCBE1DeltaEGF knock-in embryos still form rudimentary lymphatics.
      Second, Ccbe1DeltaEGF, but not Ccbe1DeltaCollagen, could partially substitute for
      Ccbe1 to enhance Vegfc signaling in zebrafish. Third, CCBE1DeltaEGF, similarly to
      CCBE1, but not CCBE1DeltaCollagen could activate VEGFC processing in vitro.
      Furthermore, a Hennekam syndrome mutation within the collagen domain has a
      stronger effect than a Hennekam syndrome mutation within the EGF domain.
      CONCLUSIONS: We propose that the collagen domains of CCBE1 are crucial for the
      activation of VEGFC in vitro and in vivo. The EGF domains of CCBE1 are
      dispensable for regulation of VEGFC processing in vitro, however, they are
      necessary for full lymphangiogenic activity of CCBE1 in vivo.

PMID- 25814694
TI  - Improving the evidence base on public health assets--the way ahead: a proposed
      research agenda.

PMID- 25814695
TI  - A longitudinal study of hepatitis C virus testing and infection status
      notification on behaviour change in people who inject drugs.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing and counselling have the potential to
      impact individual behaviour and transmission dynamics at the population level.
      Evidence of the impact of an HCV-positive status notification on injection risk
      reduction is limited. The objective of our study was to (1) assess drug and
      alcohol use and injection risk behaviours following notification; (2) to compare
      behaviour change in people who inject drugs (PWID) who received a positive test
      result and those who remained negative; and (3) to assess the effect of age on
      risk behaviour. METHODS: Data from the International Collaboration of Incident
      HIV and HCV Infection in Injecting Cohorts (InC3 Study) were analysed.
      Participants who were initially HCV seronegative were followed prospectively with
      periodic HCV blood testing and post-test disclosure and interview-administered
      questionnaires assessing drug use and injection behaviours. Multivariable
      generalised estimating equations were used to assess behavioural changes over
      time. RESULTS: Notification of an HCV-positive test was independently associated
      with a small increase in alcohol use relative to notification of a negative test.
      No significant differences in postnotification injection drug use, receptive
      sharing of ancillary injecting equipment and syringe borrowing postnotification
      were observed between diagnosis groups. Younger PWID receiving a positive HCV
      test notification demonstrated a significant increase in subsequent alcohol use
      compared with younger HCV negative. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of PWID reporting
      alcohol use increased among those receiving an HCV-positive notification,
      increased the frequency of alcohol use postnotification, while no reduction in
      injection drug use behaviours was observed between notification groups. These
      findings underscore the need to develop novel communication strategies during
      post-test notification to improve their impact on subsequent alcohol use and risk
      behaviours.

PMID- 25814696
TI  - High-Throughput Analysis and Automation for Glycomics Studies.
AB  - This review covers advances in analytical technologies for high-throughput (HTP)
      glycomics. Our focus is on structural studies of glycoprotein glycosylation to
      support biopharmaceutical realization and the discovery of glycan biomarkers for
      human disease. For biopharmaceuticals, there is increasing use of glycomics in
      Quality by Design studies to help optimize glycan profiles of drugs with a view
      to improving their clinical performance. Glycomics is also used in comparability
      studies to ensure consistency of glycosylation both throughout product
      development and between biosimilars and innovator drugs. In clinical studies
      there is as well an expanding interest in the use of glycomics-for example in
      Genome Wide Association Studies-to follow changes in glycosylation patterns of
      biological tissues and fluids with the progress of certain diseases. These
      include cancers, neurodegenerative disorders and inflammatory conditions. Despite
      rising activity in this field, there are significant challenges in performing
      large scale glycomics studies. The requirement is accurate identification and
      quantitation of individual glycan structures. However, glycoconjugate samples are
      often very complex and heterogeneous and contain many diverse branched glycan
      structures. In this article we cover HTP sample preparation and derivatization
      methods, sample purification, robotization, optimized glycan profiling by UHPLC,
      MS and multiplexed CE, as well as hyphenated techniques and automated data
      analysis tools. Throughout, we summarize the advantages and challenges with each
      of these technologies. The issues considered include reliability of the methods
      for glycan identification and quantitation, sample throughput, labor intensity,
      and affordability for large sample numbers.

PMID- 25814697
TI  - Male genital lichen sclerosus.
AB  - Male genital lichen sclerosus (MGLSc) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease
      responsible for male sexual dyspareunia and urological morbidity. An afeared
      complication is squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the penis. The precise
      etiopathogenesis of MGLSc remains controversial although genetic, autoimmune and
      infective (such as human papillomavirus (HPV) hepatitis C (HCV), Epstein-Barr
      virus (EBV) and Borrelia) factors have been implicated: Consideration of all the
      evidence suggests that chronic exposure of susceptible epithelium to urinary
      occlusion by the foreskin seems the most likely pathomechanism. The mainstay of
      treatment is topical ultrapotent corticosteroid therapy. Surgery is indicated for
      cases unresponsive to topical corticosteroid therapy, phimosis, meatal stenosis,
      urethral stricture, carcinoma in situ (CIS) and squamous cell carcinoma. 

PMID- 25814699
TI  - Serendipity and its role in dermatology.
AB  - Serendipity is a pleasant surprise of finding a particularly useful information
      while not looking for it. Significant historic events occurring as a result of
      serendipity include the discovery of the law of buoyancy (Archimedes principle)
      by the Greek mathematician Archimedes, of the Americas by Christopher Columbus
      and of gravity by Sir Isaac Newton. The role of serendipity in science has been
      immensely beneficial to mankind. A host of important discoveries in medical
      science owe their origin to serendipity of which perhaps the most famous is the
      story of Sir Alexander Fleming and his discovery of Penicillin. In the field of
      dermatology, serendipity has been responsible for major developments in the
      therapy of psoriasis, hair disorders, aesthetic dermatology and dermatosurgery.
      Besides these many other therapeutic modalities in dermatology were born as a
      result of such happy accidents. 

PMID- 25814698
TI  - Immunomodulators in warts: Unexplored or ineffective?
AB  - Cutaneous warts are known to be recurrent and often resistant to therapy.
      Resistant warts may reflect a localized or systemic cell mediated immune (CMI)
      deficiency to HPV. Many modalities of treatment are in use; most of the provider
      administered therapies are destructive and cause scarring, such as cryotherapy,
      chemical cauterisation, curettage, electrodessication and laser removal. Most
      patient-applied agents like podophyllotoxin have the risk of application-site
      reactions and recurrence. Thus immunotherapy is a promising modality which could
      lead to resolution of warts without any physical changes or scarring and in
      addition would augment the host response against the causative agent, thereby
      leading to complete resolution and decreased recurrences. Immunomodulators can be
      administered systemically, intralesionally or intradermally, and topically. A few
      agents have been tried and studied extensively such as cimetidine and
      interferons; others are new on the horizon, such as Echinacea, green tea
      catechins and quadrivalent HPV vaccine, and their efficacy is yet to be
      completely established. Though some like levamisole have shown no efficacy as
      monotherapy and are now used only in combination, other more recent agents
      require large and long term randomized placebo-controlled trials to clearly
      establish their efficacy or lack of it. In this review, we focus on the
      immunomodulators that have been used for the treatment of warts and the studies
      that have been conducted on them. 

PMID- 25814700
TI  - Zinc-responsive acral hyperkeratotic dermatosis-A novel entity or a subset of
      some well-known dermatosis?
AB  - BACKGROUND: We are reporting a series of interesting cases, which presented to us
      with psoriasiform lesions distributed over the acral regions of the body. The
      cases are unusual because they were resistant to conventional treatment
      modalities like topical corticosteroids, tacrolimus and oral methotrexate but
      showed significant improvement on oral zinc therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten
      patients with characteristic clinical features of distinctive hyperkeratotic
      plaque in the acral areas, who were resistant to treatment by different
      modalities including potent topical steroids and oral methotrexate, were included
      for detailed investigations. A proper history was taken and relevant laboratory
      investigations were done which included blood count, urine, liver function, renal
      function, hepatitis-C virus serology and serum zinc levels. Patients were
      followed up every 2 weeks. Histopathological examinations of the lesional tissue
      were done at baseline and after 6 weeks of therapy. Patients were given oral zinc
      daily and no other treatment during the 6 weeks course. RESULTS: All our patients
      were non-reactive to hepatitis-C. Of the ten patients only one patient (10%)
      showed low titer of serum zinc, another (10%) showed higher zinc level, while the
      rest of the patients had normal zinc level. Five of our patients had chronic
      renal failure, one had Grave's disease and the remaining had no associated
      systemic illness. Histopathology mostly showed hyperkeratosis, acanthosis,
      prominent granular layer, spongiosis and dermal infiltrate. After 6 weeks of
      follow up, all patients showed rapid and remarkable therapeutic response with
      zinc. CONCLUSIONS: We here report a series of patients, discernible because of
      their uniform clinical presentation of acral hypekeratotic plaques and in showing
      a noticeable response to zinc. Clinical, histopathological and laboratory
      investigations were done to rule out diseases of similar morphology including
      psoriasis, acral necrolytic erythema and lichen simplex chronicus. Authors
      understand that further studies with greater number cases and more detailed
      investigations are required to establish exact etio-pathogenesis and nomenclature
      of this distinct subset of patients.

PMID- 25814701
TI  - Quality of life and psychological morbidity in vitiligo patients: a study in a
      teaching hospital from north-East India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Vitiligo is an acquired discoloration of skin and mucous membrane of
      great cosmetic importance affecting 1-4% of the world's population. It causes
      disfiguration in all races, more so in dark-skinned people because of strong
      contrast. Men, women, and children with vitiligo face severe psychological and
      social disadvantage. AIM: To assess the impact of the disease on the quality of
      life of patients suffering from vitiligo, also to ascertain any psychological
      morbidity like depression associated with the disease and to compare the results
      with that of healthy control group. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dermatology Life
      Quality Index (DLQI) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) are administered
      to 100 vitiligo patients presenting to the Dermatology OPD and 50 age- and sex
      matched healthy controls. Results were analyzed and compared with that of control
      group. Findings are also correlated in relation to demographic and clinical
      profile of the disease. Statistical analysis is made to see the significance.
      RESULTS: Vitiligo-affected patients had significantly elevated total DLQI scores
      (P < 0.001) compared to healthy controls. There is increase in parameters like
      itch, embarrassment, social and leisure activities in the patient cohort than the
      control group. Patients of vitiligo are also found to be more depressed (P <
      0.001) than the controls. CONCLUSION: Quality of life (QOL) in patients affected
      with vitiligo declined more severely, and also there is increase in incidence of
      depression than in the control group. These changes are critical for the
      psychosocial life of the affected people.

PMID- 25814702
TI  - Glycolic Acid peels/azelaic Acid 20% cream combination and low potency triple
      combination lead to similar reduction in melasma severity in ethnic skin: results
      of a randomized controlled study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Numerous therapeutic options have been tried in the management of
      melasma. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This prospective randomized study was planned to
      assess the efficacy of low potency triple combination (TC) cream (TC-hydroquinone
      2%/tretinoin 0.05%/fluocinolone 0.01%) versus glycolic acid (GA) peels/azelaic
      acid (AA) 20% cream (GA/AA) combination in melasma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty
      patients with melasma were recruited into this study and randomized into two
      groups. Group A consisting 20 patients received TC cream once a day for night
      time application for 3 months. Group B comprising of 20 patients received GA/AA
      20% cream combination for 3 months. The disease severity was monitored with
      digital photography, melasma area and severity index (MASI) score, which was
      calculated at baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks, and visual analog scale (VAS)
      score, which was calculated at baseline and 12 weeks. RESULTS: Of 40 patients, 38
      were completed the study. A significant reduction in MASI and VAS was recorded
      after 6 weeks and 12 weeks of treatment in both groups A and B (P = 0.001).
      However, there was no significant difference in the mean MASI scores between the
      two groups at baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks. Similarly, there was no difference
      in the mean VAS scores between the two groups at baseline and 12 weeks. Four
      patients in group A and 3 in group B experienced adverse effects such as
      irritation, dryness, and photosensitivity. CONCLUSION: Both low potency TC cream
      and GA/AA 20% cream combination are effective in treating melasma among Indian
      patients.

PMID- 25814703
TI  - Clinico-mycological study of dermatophyte toenail onychomycosis in new delhi,
      India.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There is a constant need to define the epidemiological and
      mycological characteristics of onychomycosis (OM) for optimal management
      strategies. OBJECTIVES: To define the epidemiological and mycological
      characteristics of patients with dermatophyte toenail OM in a tertiary care
      hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hundred consecutive patients of KOH and culture
      positive dermatophyte toenail OM were subjected to detailed history, clinical
      examination and investigations. RESULTS: Maximum number of patients (40%)
      belonged to 31-45 years age group and there was a male preponderance (M:F =
      6.7:1). The mean duration of disease was 54 months. Thirty-three patients had
      fingernail involvement in addition to the toenail OM and 37% had co-existent
      cutaneous dermatophyte infection. Discoloration was the most common symptom
      (98%). Ninety-four (94%) patients had distal lateral subungual onychomycosis
      (DSLO) while two had superficial onychomycosis (SO) and only one had proximal
      superficial onychomycosis (PSO). Trichophyton interdigitale was the most common
      etiological agent (61%) followed by Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton
      verrucosum. CONCLUSIONS: Toenail OM is more common in males. DSLO was the most
      common clinical variant and T. interdigitale the most common etiological fungus
      responsible for toenail OM in our region. The importance of early diagnosis and
      treatment is highlighted as long-standing toenail OM predisposes to fingernail
      onychomycosis and recurrent tinea pedis.

PMID- 25814704
TI  - Skin prick test in patients with chronic allergic skin disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic allergic skin disorders are the inflammatory and
      proliferative conditions in which both genetic and environmental factors play
      important roles. Chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) and atopic dermatitis (AD)
      are among the most common chronic allergic skin disorders. These can be provoked
      by various food and aeroallergens. Skin prick tests (SPTs) represent the cheapest
      and most effective method to diagnose type I hypersensitivity. Positive skin
      tests with a history suggestive of clinical sensitivity strongly incriminate the
      allergen as a contributor to the disease process. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To
      determine the incidence of positive SPT in patients with chronic allergic skin
      disorders and to identify the various allergens implicated in positive SPT.
      METHODS: Fifty patients of chronic allergic disorders were recruited in this
      study. They were evaluated by SPT with both food and aeroallergens. RESULTS: In
      our study, SPT positivity in patients of CIU was 63.41% and in AD was 77.78%. Out
      of the 41 patients of CIU, the most common allergen groups showing SPT positivity
      were dust and pollen, each comprising 26.83% patients. SPT reaction was positive
      with food items (21.6%), insects (17.07%), fungus (12.20%), and Dermatophagoides
      farinae, that is, house dust mite (HDM) (7.32%). The allergen which showed
      maximum positivity was grain dust wheat (19.51%). Among nine patients of AD,
      maximum SPT positivity was seen with Dermatophagoides farinae, pollen Amaranthus
      spinosus, grain dust wheat, and cotton mill dust; each comprising 22.22% of
      patients. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that a significant number of patients of
      CIU and AD showed sensitivity to dust, pollen, insects, Dermatophagoides farinae,
      and fungi on SPT. Thus, it is an important tool in the diagnosis of CIU and AD.

PMID- 25814705
TI  - Facial angiofibromas of tuberous sclerosis treated with topical sirolimus in an
      Indian patient.
AB  - Facial angiofibromas are the most visible and unsightly of all the cutaneous
      manifestations of tuberous sclerosis (TSC). A 17-year-old female, a known case of
      TSC, presented for the treatment of cosmetically disfiguring facial
      angiofibromas. She was started on twice daily application of 0.1% sirolimus
      ointment prepared from crushed tablets of sirolimus compounded in white soft
      paraffin. After 3 months of use, there was visible decrease in the erythema and
      the size of the angiofibromas. In an attempt to accelerate the response, the
      concentration was further increased to 1% sirolimus which was used for a month,
      resulting in a decrease not only in the size and redness but also in the number
      of the angiofibromas. The patient did not experience any cutaneous or systemic
      complications related to therapy. Sirolimus belongs to a novel class of
      anticancer drugs known as mTOR (mammalian target of Rapamycin) inhibitors.
      Sirolimus has been used as a targeted therapy for the renal and neurological
      manifestations of TSC. Topical preparation of sirolimus is not commercially
      available till date and hence preparations from crushed tablets or oral solution
      of sirolimus have been used with beneficial effects in treatment of angiofibromas
      especially in younger patients with flatter lesions. Randomized controlled trials
      are necessary to enable us to confirm the efficacy, long-term safety, the optimal
      dosage and possibility of reappearance once the drug is withdrawn. This is
      possibly the first case report of the use of topical sirolimus in India. 

PMID- 25814706
TI  - Novel uses of skin biopsy punches in dermatosurgery.
AB  - The skin punch or surgical punch is an instrument which is used almost
      exclusively by dermatologists. It is a circular hollow blade attached to a pencil
      like handle ranging in size from 0.5 to 10 mm. It is available as a disposable,
      reusable, and automated instrument. The punch can be used as a diagnostic,
      therapeutic, and cosmetic tool in dermatology. We have used punch as a
      diagnostic, therapeutic, and cosmetic tool in our dermatosurgery practice in our
      hospital. Various original research articles, text book publications, and review
      articles were studied and compiled. Techniques used by various authors and our
      own experiences with punch have been described. This article aims at providing
      the novel usefulness of skin biopsy punch in dermatology as the basic punch
      surgery is quick and easy to learn. Complications such as bleeding and infection
      are minimal. 

PMID- 25814707
TI  - Cutaneous B cell lymphomas: Report of two interesting cases.
AB  - Cutaneous B cell lymphomas can arise primarily from the skin or may occur due to
      secondary spread from nodal lymphomas. Primary lymphomas are confined to the skin
      without systemic spread and they differ from secondary lymphomas in their
      clinical behavior, treatment and prognosis. Cutaneous lymphomas being relatively
      rare, lack of precise definition and understanding of their clinical behavior
      diseases leads to pitfalls in the diagnosis. We report two cases of cutaneous B
      cell lymphomas who presented with fever of unknown origin initially and later
      found to have skin lesions. Hence, skin can be a potential diagnostic clue in the
      evaluation of patients with fever of unknown origin. The distinctions between the
      primary and the secondary lymphomas become important in choosing the treatment
      and assessing the prognosis. 

PMID- 25814708
TI  - Diffuse cutaneous mastocytosis with bullous lesions and pulmonary involvement: a
      rare case.
AB  - Mastocytosis is defined as a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by an
      accumulation of mast cells in one or more organs, particularly in the skin, bone
      marrow, liver, spleen and lymph nodes. However here we describe an 11-month-old
      girl child presented with diffuse cutaneous mastocytosis with bullous lesion,
      having pulmonary involvement, which is very rare and there is no available case
      report from India. 

PMID- 25814709
TI  - Multiple synchronous verrucous carcinomas of the scalp in the background of
      generalized verruca vulgaris.
AB  - Verrucous carcinoma (VC) is a clinicopathologic entity which is defined as a
      locally aggressive, clinically exophytic, slow-growing, well-differentiated,
      squamous cell carcinoma with negligible metastatic potential. The cutaneous form
      of VC is typically known to arise from the palmoplantar and the genitocrural
      areas. Involvement of the scalp is extremely rare. Multiple synchronous
      involvement of the scalp by VC along with associated generalized verruca vulgaris
      has possibly never been reported before. We present this unique report of VC in a
      38-year-old male patient with emphasis on its atypical clinical presentation and
      the resultant challenges in management. Interestingly, the tumor cells of our
      patient were confirmed to be positive for human papillomavirus infection by
      polymerase chain reaction and by p16 immunohistochemistry. 

PMID- 25814710
TI  - Dermatitis neglecta -- a dirty dermatosis: report of three cases.
AB  - Dermatitis neglecta is a condition that results from inadequate frictional
      cleansing leading to accumulation of corneocytes, sebum and sweat ultimately
      resulting in hyper-pigmented patch or verrucous plaque. Recognizing this
      condition avoids unnecessary, aggressive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
      Here we report three cases of dermatitis neglecta in whom the dermatitis
      developed as a result of intentional neglect of personal hygiene. 

PMID- 25814711
TI  - A rare case of subungual melanoma.
AB  - A 51-year-old male presented with blackish discoloration of nails of 10 months
      duration. Examination revealed black dystrophic left thumb finger nail. Detailed
      examination showed a mass under the dystrophic nail. Hutchinson sign was
      positive. Histopathology revealed characteristic features of melanoma. A detailed
      evaluation revealed no features of local or distant metastasis. The entire lesion
      was then removed surgically along with disarticulation at the interphalangeal
      joint. Resection-free margin was confirmed. This case is being reported for the
      rare occurrence of subungual melanoma in the Indian population and also for
      presentation with a long history of lesion with no evidence of metastasis. 

PMID- 25814712
TI  - Secondary Syphilid Developing Over Healed Lesions of Varicella: Wolf's Isotopic
      Response?
AB  - Isotopic response is a distinctive phenomenon in which a new skin disorder occurs
      at the site of another, unrelated, and already healed skin disease. Most of the
      cases documented in the literature were associated with herpes zoster as primary
      disease while the list of "second" diseases is quite long. We report here a
      hitherto unreported occurrence of isotopic response in which secondary syphilis
      occurred on the healed lesions of varicella. 

PMID- 25814713
TI  - Psoriatic erythroderma and hypothalamus-pituitary axis suppression due to misuse
      of systemic steroid: two challenging cases.
AB  - Adding corticosteroid in homeopathic pills, self medication of steroid in the
      backdrop permanent cure in cases of psoriasis is not very uncommon in clinical
      practice in Indian subcontinent. First case a 52 year man, a known case of
      psoriasis vulgaris with psoriatic arthropathy of 15 years duration received
      multiple modalities of therapies without any satisfactory response. He was on
      self medication of tab prednisolone 10 mg daily with Cushingoid features. Second
      case a 22 year old boy, a known case of psoriasis from last 06 years was on
      Homeopathic treatment with Cushinoid features. Tapering of systemic steroid in
      first case and discontinuation of homeopathic drug in second case resulted in
      erythroderma and features of adrenal insufficiiency. Investigation revealed low
      morning cortisol and low cortisol following ACTH stimulation suggestive of HPA
      axis suppression. Planned withdrawal of steroid under the cover of short acting
      systemic steroid for short duration along with combination of immunosuppressants
      and supportive care gave an excellent result in both the cases. 

PMID- 25814714
TI  - An Open Label Prospective Randomized Trial to Compare the Efficacy of Coal Tar
      salicylic Acid Ointment Versus Calcipotriol/Betamethasone Dipropionate Ointment
      in the Treatment of Limited Chronic Plaque Psoriasis.

PMID- 25814715
TI  - Authors' reply.

PMID- 25814716
TI  - Benign Lymphangiomatous Papules or Plaques after Radiotherapy is the Correct
      Terminology.

PMID- 25814717
TI  - Author's Reply.

PMID- 25814718
TI  - Amniotic band: a rare presentation.

PMID- 25814719
TI  - Hemilateral proteus syndrome: an unusual hamartomatous disorder with significant
      cerebellar tonsillar herniation.

PMID- 25814720
TI  - Autologous platelet rich plasma in pyoderma gangrenosum - two case reports.

PMID- 25814721
TI  - Multiple painless cutaneous nodules.

PMID- 25814722
TI  - Erratum: Remission of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis during bevacizumab
      therapy for renal cell cancer: Erratum.

PMID- 25814723
TI  - Development of a guideline to approach plagiarism in Indian scenario: Retraction.
AB  - [This retracts the article on p. 473 in vol. 59, PMID: 25284853.]. 

PMID- 25814724
TI  - Neonatal pustular dermatosis: an overview.
AB  - Neonatal pustular eruption is a group of disorders characterized by various forms
      of pustulosis seen in first 4 weeks of life. Its presentation is often similar
      with some subtle differences, which can be further established by few simple
      laboratory aids, to arrive at a definite diagnosis. Given their ubiquitous
      presentation, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate among self-limiting,
      noninfectious, pustular dermatosis such as erythema toxicum neonatorum, transient
      neonatal pustular melanosis, miliaria pustulosa, etc., and potentially life
      threatening infections such as herpes simplex virus and varicella zoster virus
      infections. This review article tries to address the chronological, clinical,
      morphological, and histological differences among the various pustular eruptions
      in a newborn, in order to make it easier for a practicing dermatologist to
      diagnose and treat these similar looking but different entities of pustulation
      with a clear demarcation between the physiological benign pustular rashes and the
      infectious pustular lesions. 

PMID- 25814725
TI  - Bacterial contamination in cutaneous leishmaniasis: its effect on the lesions'
      healing course.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The colonization of aerobic and anaerobic microbial agents on
      cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) lesions, especially acute erosive ulcerative ones,
      has been mentioned in previous studies showing controversial results on the
      healing course of lesions with the use of antibiotics. AIMS: The purpose of this
      study was to evaluate the prevalence of secondary bacterial infections in CL
      lesions and the effect of its elimination on the lesions' improvement rate.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional clinical trial was performed on 84
      acute CL patients. The required skin samples were taken. Cultivation for bacteria
      was conducted. Patients with positive culture results were divided into two
      groups. Both groups received standard anti-leishmania treatment, whereas only one
      group was treated with cephalexin 40-50 mg/kg/day for 10 days. The improvement
      rate was evaluated in the following visits based on changes in the lesions'
      induration size. RESULTS: Among the 84 studied patients, 22.6% had a negative
      culture result whereas the result was positive in 77.4%. The most common
      pathogenic germs were Staphylococcus aureus (52.3%) and Staphylococcus
      epidermidis (9.5%); 34/5% of the positive lesions received antibiotic treatment.
      Finally, among the lesions with a 75-100% improvement rate, no significant
      difference was observed between the antibiotic-treated and -untreated groups
      (36.1% vs. 63.9%, respectively, P = 0.403). CONCLUSIONS: The most common pathogen
      was S. aureus and, as a primary outcome, the simultaneous treatment for microbial
      agents did not have any considerable effect on the improvement rate of CL
      lesions.

PMID- 25814726
TI  - G-231A and G+70C Polymorphisms of Endothelin Receptor Type-A Gene could Affect
      the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index Score and Endothelin 1 Levels.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The etiopathogenesis of psoriasis has not been clearly elucidated
      although the role of chronic inflammation, imbalance between pro- and anti
      inflammatory cytokines, and many immunological events have been established.
      Endothelin 1 (EDN1) and endothelin receptor type-A (EDNRA) are implicated in the
      inflammatory process. The relationships between EDN1 and EDNRA polymorphisms with
      several diseases have been found. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This study examined the
      possible association of EDN1 (G5665T and T-1370G) and EDNRA (G-231A and G + 70C)
      single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with the occurence of psoriasis, and
      evaluated the relationship between genotypes and clinical/laboratory
      manifestation of psoriasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed genotype and
      allele distributions of the above-mentioned polymorphisms in 151 patients with
      psoriasis and 152 healthy controls by real-time PCR combined with melting curve
      analysis. RESULTS: We did not find significant differences in the genotype and
      allele distributions of EDN1 T-1370G, EDNRA G-231A, and EDNRA G+70C polymorphisms
      between patients with psoriasis and healthy controls. Psoriasis area and severity
      index (PASI) score of EDNRA -231 polymorphic A allele carrying subjects (AA and
      AA + AG) was higher than that of wild homozygotes (P = 0.044 and P = 0.027,
      respectively). In addition, EDN1 levels in EDNRA+70 polymorphic C allele carriers
      (CC + CG) were elevated when compared with GG genotype; however, the difference
      was at borderline significance (P = 0.05). CONCLUSION: Although there were no
      associations between studied polymorphisms and psoriasis susceptibility, the PASI
      score and EDN1 levels seem to be affected by EDNRA G-231A and G + 70C
      polymorphisms.

PMID- 25814727
TI  - Gender differences in depression and anxiety among atopic dermatitis patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dermatological patients invariably suffer one or the other
      psychological problems which may escalate to the extent of a mental disorder. One
      of the most common dermatological disorders is atopic dermatitis (AD), but the
      literature has limited data on gender differences for psychiatric morbidity in
      such patients. AIMS: To evaluate and compare gender differences in the prevalence
      of depression and anxiety in AD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional
      study with consecutive sampling was done in an outpatient clinic of Dermatology
      at a Tertiary Care Center. AD subjects giving informed consent were evaluated on
      a brief semi-structured performa for collecting demographic and clinical
      information. Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) was used to
      assess the presence of psychiatric symptoms in these patients. Descriptive
      analysis was done for the socio-demographic profile and independent sample t
      test, Chi-square and Cramer's V test was carried out to find in-between group
      differences for males and females. RESULTS: A total of 81 patients were included
      in the final analysis (males = 36, females = 45) with no significant difference
      in mean age between male and female subjects (36.14 +/- 17.62 and 33.98 +/- 14.49
      years, respectively; P = 0.54). When including moderate to severe grade of
      depression or anxiety, the current study found prevalence rates of 15% and 12%
      respectively. Females had significantly more anxiety and depression scores than
      males (P = 0.04 and P = 0.03 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: There is a female
      preponderance of depression and anxiety disorder in AD patients.

PMID- 25814728
TI  - Role of Interleukin-2 in Uremic Pruritus Among Attendants of AL-Zahraa Hospital
      Dialysis Unit.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Uremic pruritus (UP) is a very distressing symptom and remains one of
      the most frustrating and potentially disabling symptoms in patients with end
      stage renal disease (ESRD). Its etiopathogenesis remains unclear and complex. The
      aim of this study was to investigate the possible role of interleukin-2 (IL-2) in
      UP, and correlate its level with the severity of itching in ESRD patients.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was carried out on 60 patients on maintenance
      hemodialysis (HD), 30 patients with UP and 30 patients without UP, and 30
      apparently healthy age- and sex-matched subjects as controls. Itch intensity was
      scored as mild, moderate, and severe using five-dimensional itch scale. Some
      relevant clinical parameters (age, sex, xerosis, presence of neuropathy, duration
      of dialysis, complete medical history, and history of pruritic skin diseases) and
      laboratory findings including creatinine, urea, calcium, phosphorus, parathyroid
      hormone, and serum levels of IL-2 were evaluated. RESULTS: In our study, we found
      a statistically significant difference in IL-2 level between patients and
      controls. However, there was no statistically significant difference in IL-2
      levels between cases with pruritus and cases without pruritus. Also, there was a
      statistically significant relation between IL-2 level and duration of the
      disease. CONCLUSION: Further studies are needed to understand the contribution of
      IL-2 and possibly other cytokines in the pathogenesis of this distressing symptom
      in ESRD.

PMID- 25814729
TI  - Body-art practices among undergraduate medical university students in dar es
      salaam, Tanzania, 2014.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Body-art practices are increasing among adolescents and young adults.
      Although substantial data are available in developed countries, little has been
      documented about body-art practices in developing countries. OBJECTIVE: To
      determine the magnitude, types and reasons for practicing body-art practices
      among undergraduate medical University students in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducteed among
      undergraduate University students in Dar es Salaam involving 536 respondents from
      two Universities. We used a self-administered questionnaire to collect data.
      Analyses were based on summary measures and bivariate analyses. RESULTS: While
      7.5% of undergraduate students reported having tattoos, 20% reported having body
      puncturing or piercing. Body piercing is reported more among female university
      undergraduate students than their male counterparts. Reported main reasons for
      undergoing body-art include "a mark of beauty," 24%, "just wanted one," 18% and
      "a mark of femininity or masculinity," 17%. The majority (98%) of students were
      aware that unsafe body-art practices may lead to contracting HIV and more than
      half (52%) reported awareness of the risk of Hepatitis B infection. CONCLUSIONS:
      Despite high awareness of the potential risks involved in unsafe body arts that
      include tattoo and piercing, these practices are increasing among adolescents and
      young adults. There is need to have educational and counseling efforts so as to
      minimize associated health risks.

PMID- 25814730
TI  - Aquagenic keratoderma treated with tap water iontophoresis.
AB  - Aquagenic keratoderma (AK) is a rare acquired skin condition characterized by
      recurrent and transient white papules and plaques associated with a burning
      sensation, pain, pruritus and/or hyperhidrosis on the palms and more rarely,
      soles triggered by sweat or contact with water. Often AK cause significant
      discomfort, thus requiring an appropriate therapy. Topical aluminum-based
      products are the most commonly used medications, but they are not always
      effective. We report a case of AK unresponsive to topical 20% of aluminum
      chloride successfully treated with tap water iontophoresis. 

PMID- 25814731
TI  - A tumor hidden beneath the nail plate: report of a rare case of onychomatricoma
      with three-dimensional histopathological analysis and immunohistochemical study.
AB  - Onychomatricoma is a tumor of the nail matrix which often presents with
      alterations in the nail plate while the tumor itself is concealed beneath the
      nail plate. It is a benign, biphasic fibroepithelial tumor which has to be
      differentiated from other subungual and periungual tumors. We report a rare case
      of onychomatricoma and describe a three-dimensional histopathological analysis
      and immunohistochemical patterns of onychomatricoma. 

PMID- 25814732
TI  - Tumor-Infiltrating CD8+ Lymphocytes Effect on Clinical Outcome of Muco-Cutaneous
      Melanoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent data have changed our views of prognostic factors in cutaneous
      melanoma, while some newer methods have yielded better prognostic information.
      Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes are believed to represent the immune
      reaction/response to melanoma cells which is often found in melanocytic cancer.
      AIM AND OBJECTIVE: We carried out an analysis, aiming to establish pooled
      estimates for clinical outcomes based on the presence of CD8+ T cell in
      melanocytic cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We have included 42 patients with
      primary cutaneous melanocytic cancer without preoperative treatments in our
      study. We next analyzed the proliferative activity of CD8+ T cells that
      infiltrated in tumor cell nests. The intratumoral and adjacent to invasive margin
      of tumor CD+ T-cell infiltration were analyzed which could also reflect antitumor
      immunity. RESULTS: The total number of CD8+ cells especially adjacent to invasive
      margin of tumor was positively correlated with anatomical tumor thickness (P <
      .001) and not correlated with patient's age and sex. The stage of tumor which is
      related to vascular-neural invasion, regional lymph nodes involvement and tumor
      thickness shows positive correlation with CD8+ infiltration in tumor (P < .004, P
      < .005, P < .001), respectively. Acral melanoma shows more CD8 lymphocytes
      infiltration and also recurrence rate of tumor (P < .005). CONCLUSION: We believe
      that CD8+ T-cell infiltration in primary cutaneous melanocytic cancer represents
      the immune reaction/response to melanoma which could be an important new therapy
      for melanoma although more research is needed on this treatment modality.

PMID- 25814733
TI  - Fluconazole-induced acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis.
AB  - Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) is a severe cutaneous adverse
      reaction and is usually caused by drugs. It is characterized by fever and acute,
      extensive occurrence of disseminated sterile pustules, accompanied by fever,
      malaise and peripheral blood leucocytosis. There have been several reports to
      date of AGEP following exposure to antifungals. In particular, terbinafine is
      included in the list of the agents conferring the highest risk of AGEP. The
      authors report the case of a 70-year-old male patient who developed AGEP shortly
      after commencing treatment with fluconazole, which has been reported in
      association with AGEP in a single case report. To our knowledge, this is the
      first reported case of AGEP associated with positive fluconazole patch test. 

PMID- 25814734
TI  - Cost of care of atopic dermatitis in India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common dermatologic condition with a
      prevalence varying from 5% to 15%, and it has been rising over time. Several
      studies from developed countries have revealed the substantial economic burden of
      AD on health care budgets. There has been no research however on the cost of care
      of AD from India a country where health care is self-funded with no health
      insurance or social security provided by the government. AIM: The aim of our
      study was to assess prospectively the cost of care of AD in children in an
      outpatient hospital setting in India. METHODS: A total of 40 children with AD,
      <10 years of age, registered in the pediatric dermatology clinic at our institute
      were enrolled for the study. All patients were followed-up for 6 months.
      Demographic information, clinical profile, severity, and the extent of AD were
      recorded in predesigned performa. Caregivers were asked to fill up a cost
      assessment questionnaire specially designed for the study. It had a provision for
      measuring direct, indirect, and provider costs. RESULTS: Of the 40 patients, 37
      completed the study. Mean total cost for AD was Rs. 6235.00 +/- 3514.00. Direct
      caregiver cost was Rs. 3022.00 +/- 1620.00 of which treatment cost constituted
      77.2 +/- 11.1%. The total provider cost (cost of consultation,
      nursing/paramedical staff and infrastructure was Rs. 948.00, which was 15.2% of
      the total cost of care and the mean indirect cost calculated by adding loss of
      earnings of parents due to hospital visits was Rs. 2264.00 +/- 2392.00 (range: 0
      13,332). The mean total cost depending on the severity of AD was Rs. 3579.00 +/-
      948.00, Rs. 6806.00 +/- 3676.00 and Rs. 8991.00 +/- 3129.00 for mild, moderate
      and severe disease, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: AD causes a considerable drain on
      the financial resources of families in India since the treatment is mostly self
      funded. Cost of care of AD is high and comparable to those of chronic physical
      illness, such as diabetes mellitus, and this cost is higher in severely ill
      patients. This study is an attempt to highlight the cost of care of AD and the
      need for conducting more studies to sensitize the government and insurance
      agencies to economic aspects of AD.

PMID- 25814735
TI  - Histology of psoriatic erythroderma in infants: analytical study of eight cases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Erythroderma in infants is a rare condition of varied etiology.
      Psoriasis is now emerging as the most common cause of erythroderma in infants.
      Early diagnosis of the etiological cause much depends upon the histological
      confirmation, which is essential for an early and appropriate treatment. AIM: It
      was aimed to study the histological findings in psoriatic erythroderma in
      infants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 8 infants up to 1 year of age
      presenting with erythroderma, clinically suspected to be of psoriatic etiology
      attending private clinic were included. After detailed history taking and astute
      clinical exam, all of them were biopsied. In case 6, with a positive family
      history of psoriasis and asthma in parents, biopsy was taken from two sites. The
      histological findings of all nine biopsies were studied and analyzed. RESULTS:
      Histology of all eight children showed psoriasi form pattern with acanthosis (AC)
      and dilated papillary capillaries (PC). Spongiform (SF) pattern was seen in the
      second biopsy (6b) of child with features of both psoriasis and atopy. SF pustule
      of Kogoj or Munro's abscess was not seen in any of them. CONCLUSION: Regular AC
      and PC dilatation were the consistent histological findings observed in infants
      with erythrodermic psoriasis. These were the early findings observed in younger
      infants. Co-existence of psoriasis with atopic dermatitis may indicate a common
      pathogenic mechanism or an immunogenetic spin-off.

PMID- 25814736
TI  - Isolated tenosynovitis as a sole manifestation: the great mimicker still
      continues to surprise us.
AB  - A middle aged male presented with non-tender cystic swelling over left distal
      forearm since 1 year. No other cutaneous abnormality could be found except mild
      paresthesia of the overlying skin and equivocal thickening of the ipsilateral
      ulnar nerve. Routine investigation was within normal limits. Detailed workup of
      the patient including MRI of the lesion suggested the diagnosis as tenosynovitis
      with a soft tissue mass. Fine needle aspiration cytology from the cyst showed
      foamy macrophages and acid fast bacilli; while PCR of the aspirate confirmed the
      etiological agent as M. leprae. We, thus, report a unique case of isolated
      tenosynovitis as a sole manifestation of pure neural leprosy which is extremely
      rare in world literature. 

PMID- 25814737
TI  - Fruit and food eponyms in dermatology.
AB  - Dermatology world is brimming with myriad of interesting clinical conditions,
      signs and syndromes. It is infinite, which has systemic clinical connotations
      too. Complicated pronunciations of diagnosis have always placed residents in an
      intricate state. Each one is trying his best to make this cumbersome subject
      comparatively more acceptable and convenient. The present paper is an attempt to
      further simplify the subject by correlating difficult conditions with commonly
      used and seen things such as fruit and food. A total of 45 dermatological
      conditions were found to be based on fruit and food eponyms. For example,
      strawberries can remind us of strawberry gums of Wegener's granulomatosis and
      strawberry nevus. 

PMID- 25814739
TI  - A Case of Multifocal Skin Metastases from Lung Cancer Presenting with Vasculitic
      type Cutaneous Nodule.
AB  - Although cutaneous metastasis occurs usually at the terminal stage of the
      disease, it may be rarely concurrent with the diagnosis and may also present as
      the first sign of the illness. A 55-year-old male patient presented with
      vasculitic-type cutaneous nodular lesions and a necrotic distal phalangeal lesion
      developed over the last month. He was a tradesman and smoked 40 packets year. On
      physical examination, he was found to have multiple cutaneous lesions on the skin
      of the face, limbs, neck, scalp, dorsal side, fingers, subungual side, right leg,
      and feet. A skin lesion punch biopsy was performed and squamous cell carcinoma
      metastasis was detected. He was diagnosed as having squamous cell lung cancer
      with bronchoscopic biopsy. Although it is very rare, cutaneous metastases that is
      concurrent with the diagnosis of lung cancer may be the first sign of the
      disease. In patients with suspicious skin lesions, the patient's age, smoking
      history, and other symptoms should be evaluated and a biopsy should be performed.

PMID- 25814738
TI  - Thalidomide in dermatology: revisited.
AB  - The use of thalidomide in relation to dermatology is well- known and enough data
      is available in the literature about various aspects of thalidomide. Despite
      being an interesting and useful drug for many dermatoses, it is associated with
      many health hazards including the birth defects, phocomelia. We hereby present a
      comprehensive review about thalidomide and its application in dermatology. 

PMID- 25814740
TI  - Generalized eruptive syringoma.
AB  - Eruptive syringoma is a very rare variant of syringoma. It is a benign adnexal
      tumor of the intraepidermal portion of eccrine sweat ducts. Here we report a 32
      year-old female presented with classical asymptomatic eruptive syringomas
      involving her face and extremities. 

PMID- 25814741
TI  - Co-existence of various clinical and histopathological features of mycosis
      fungoides in a young female.
AB  - Mycosis fungoides is the most common type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) and
      a rare disorder that typically affects older adults with erythematous scaling
      patches and plaques. Hypopigmented patches are a rare clinical variant of the
      disease. Granulomatous mycosis fungoides (GMF) is also a rare type of CTCL. No
      particular clinical criteria are available for the diagnosis of GMF, because of
      its variable presentations, and so the detection of GMF is primarily considered
      as a histopathological diagnosis. Rarely, a co-existence of more than one
      clinical or histopathological feature of mycosis fungoides may be present. To the
      best of our knowledge this is the first report of MF that shows the simultaneous
      co-existence of more than one clinical and histopathological variant of MF. We
      present a 29-year-old female with clinical presentations of both classic and
      hypopigmented mycosis fungoides (MF), and also the histopathological features of
      the classic and granulomatous types of the disease. 

PMID- 25814742
TI  - De novo histoid leprosy: a case report from a post-elimination area.
AB  - Histoid leprosy is an uncommon variant of lepromatous leprosy that usually
      follows treatment failure. Occasionally it occurs de novo without any history of
      previous inadequate or irregular treatment. We, hereby, report a case of de novo
      histoid leprosy in a 25-year-old man from the post-elimination area of Kashmir,
      where the prevalence rate of the disease was reported to be 0.17/10000 in March,
      2013 (NLEP). 

PMID- 25814743
TI  - Multiple trichofolliculomas mimicking multiple trichoepitheliomas.
AB  - Trichofolliculomas are benign hair follicle hamartomas which were initially
      considered as hair follicle tumors. Usually presenting as a solitary lesion
      associated with a tuft of vellus hairs, multiple trichofolliculomas are rare.
      Trichofolliculomas are characterized by a histopathological feature of dermal
      keratin cyst with cyst wall showing radiating hair follicles. We report this case
      for the rare presentation of multiple trichofolliculomas on the face which
      clinically mimicked multiple trichoepitheliomas. 

PMID- 25814744
TI  - Basal cell carcinoma with halo phenomenon in a young female: significance of
      dermatoscopy in early diagnosis.
AB  - Halo phenomenon of nevus may be observed as a circular reaction, although it is
      unusual around tumors. A 29-year-old woman presented with a pigmented lesion on
      the cheek since three years. She noted whitening of the skin around the lesion
      almost after a year following its appearance. Dermatologic examination revealed a
      pigmented nodular lesion with a hypopigmented halo on the left infraorbital
      region. The clinical impression was halo nevus, whereas basal cell carcinoma
      (BCC) was considered in dermatoscopic differential diagnosis. The diagnosis was
      infiltrative-type BCC histopathologically. The persistence of a perilesional halo
      around an enlarging pigmented lesion should be carefully examined with
      accompanying dermatoscopic findings even in young patients for early diagnosis of
      tumoral lesions. 

PMID- 25814745
TI  - Keloids: an unwanted spontaneity in rubinstein-taybi syndrome.
AB  - Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RTS) is a rare developmental disorder comprising of
      mental retardation, unusual facial appearance, broad thumbs, and big toes. It is
      frequently associated with molecular lesions in the cAMP response element binding
      protein. Many cutaneous abnormalities are associated with RTS. Multiple
      spontaneous keloids are some of them. We hereby report a case of this rare
      syndrome associated with keloids without any preceding trauma. 

PMID- 25814746
TI  - Scleromyxedema, a therapeutic dilemma.
AB  - Scleromyxedema is characterized by indurated erythematous papules disseminated on
      the face, chest and limbs. About twenty cases treated with thalidomide, stem
      cells, melphalan and immunoglobulin with varying results have been described. We
      present the case of a 28-year-old male patient diagnosed with scleromyxedema not
      associated with monoclonal gammopathy, multi-treated with anti-leprosy drugs,
      UVA1, and thalidomide for 4 years with no improvement. 

PMID- 25814747
TI  - Peripheral T cell lymphoma: not otherwise specified.
AB  - Peripheral T cell lymphoma (PTCL) is a heterogeneous group of hematological
      tumors originating from mature T cells, which constitutes less than 15% of all
      non-Hodgkins lymphomas in adults. Primary cutaneous PTCL-not otherwise specified
      (NOS) represent a subgroup of PTCLs with no consistent immunophenotypic, genetic
      or clinical features. PTCL-NOS frequently has an aggressive course with a
      tendency for systemic involvement, however, a well-defined therapeutic and
      prognostic approach has not been outlined yet. We report a case of PTCL-NOS with
      multiple cutaneous lesions in a young adult male with an emphasis on the
      treatment modality used. 

PMID- 25814748
TI  - Rowell's Syndrome to ds-DNA Negative Lupus Nephritis: A Yet Unreported
      Progression.
AB  - Rowell's syndrome is now identified as a subtype of subacute lupus erythematosus
      (LE) with erythema multiforme-like skin lesions, positive serum rheumatoid
      factor, anti-Ro La positivity and speckled pattern of antinuclear antibodies.
      Here we describe a case of Rowell's syndrome in an 18-year-old female who was
      found to be ds-DNA negative, who later progressed to develop stage V lupus
      nephritis (LN) over a course of 4 months. Although extremely rare, most cases of
      LN are drug induced. Of only seven cases of non-drug induced LN with negative
      dsDNA, none had cutaneous involvement. Ours was a unique case of progression of
      Rowells syndrome to ds-DNA negative LN. 

PMID- 25814749
TI  - Primary anetoderma in a young male involving palms, soles and the scalp: rarest
      of the rare.
AB  - Primary anetoderma is a rare idiopathic disease of the skin, characterized by
      circumscribed areas of loose skin, and loss of elastic fibers upon
      histopathologic examination. Two forms are traditionally distinguished, primary
      and secondary. Primary anetoderma occurs when there is no underlying associated
      skin disease, whereas the latter refers to an abnormal repair mechanism of
      preexisting skin lesions. We are reporting a case of primary anetoderma with
      lesions present all over the body, including the scalp, palms and soles, the
      sites that are not known to be involved in this condition. 

PMID- 25814751
TI  - Ulceronecrotic penicillosis.
AB  - A 40-year-old male human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) -positive patient on highly
      active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) developed bilateral cervical
      lymphadenopathy with fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) showing yeast cells
      of Penicillium marneffei. The adenopathy disappeared after 9 months of
      itraconazole therapy at a dose of 200 mg/day. Seven years later and 2 days
      following second-line HAART, the patient presented with generalized papulonodules
      and ulceronecrotic lesions. Biopsy of the skin lesion revealed plenty of yeast
      forms dividing by binary fission morphologically resembling Penicillium
      marneffei. Significant improvement was observed at 2 weeks of starting
      itraconazole 400 mg/day. After 3 months, the dose was reduced to 200 mg/day and
      advised to continue for 6 months. Penicillosis presenting initially in the form
      of cervical adenopathy and later, developing typical skin lesions rapidly
      progressing to ulcerative and necrotic erosions may be due to continued
      immunosuppression followed by immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS).

PMID- 25814750
TI  - Subcutaneous rhinosporidiosis masquerading as soft tissue tumor: diagnosed by
      fine-needle aspiration cytology.
AB  - Rhinosporidiosis is a chronic granulomatous lesion caused by Rhinosporidium
      seeberi. It frequently involves nasopharynx and ocular region. Presenting as
      cutaneous and subcutaneous mass is extremely rare. This report describes the FNA
      cytology of rhinosporidiosis occurring as a soft tissue mass in the right mid
      thigh region. We present a rare case of a 71-year-old male, who presented with
      multiple subcutaneous soft tissue mass lesions in the posteromedial aspect of mid
      right thigh region since 2 weeks. Local examination revealed multiple firm to
      hard mass with skin over the swelling was unremarkable. CT of the right thigh
      showed a heterogeneous lesion with infiltrative margins in the thigh. Clinically
      soft tissue sarcoma was considered. Diagnostic FNAC was performed showing
      numerous mature and immature sporangias with giant cell reaction. Hence, an
      excision biopsy confirmed the rhinosporidiosis. To conclude, the FNAC diagnosis
      of rhinosporidiosis is specific. Preoperative diagnosis is possible even in cases
      with unusual clinical presentations. 

PMID- 25814752
TI  - Goltz syndrome: a newborn with ectrodactyly and skin lesions.
AB  - Goltz syndrome or Focal Dermal Hypoplasia is a rare multisystem disorder,
      involving all the three germ cell layers. The disease is thought to be inherited
      in X-linked dominant fashion with heterogeneous mutations of the PORCN gene at
      Xp11.23 locus. Majority of the cases are sporadic, mainly due to postzygotic
      somatic mutations. The clinical spectrum includes characteristic cutaneous
      manifestations, multiple skeletal anomalies, and involvement of the eyes, hair,
      nails, kidneys, and so on. Considerable variability is noted in the clinical
      expression of the disease probably due to genomic mosaicism. Around 300 cases of
      Goltz syndrome have been reported in the literature. Here, we report such a case
      with characteristic skin lesions, multiple bony defects, distinctive facial
      features, coloboma of iris, and bilateral hydronephrosis. The diagnosis was
      evident immediately after birth due to the characteristic clinical picture of the
      baby. 

PMID- 25814753
TI  - Poikiloderma vasculare atrophicans: a distinct clinical entity?
AB  - This paper describes a typical case of poikiloderma vasculare atrophicans (PVA)
      in a 48-year-old female. Histologically, the features were suggestive of PVA with
      the absence of Pautrier's microabscess or atypical lymphoid cells. The biopsy
      specimen was positive for cluster of differentiation (CD) 8 on
      immunohistochemical staining. Its exact pathogenesis remains obscure, and it
      remains unclear whether PVA actually is mycosis fungoides (MF), a forme fruste of
      MF, or a distinct and benign dermatosis with CD8+ phenotype that can perhaps be
      labeled as PVA. However, it has a long benign clinical course without progression
      to tumor stage of MF in most cases, and its status within the spectrum of
      cutaneous T-cell lymphoma remains poorly understood. Yet it is imperative to
      distinguish PVA from poikilodermic MF. 

PMID- 25814754
TI  - Emopamil binding protein mutation in conradi-hunermann-happle syndrome
      representing plaque-type psoriasis.
AB  - Conradi-Hunermann-Happle syndrome (CDPX2, OMIM 302960) is an inherited X-linked
      dominant variant of chondrodysplasia punctata which primarily affects the skin,
      bones, and eyes. CDPX2 patients display skin defects, including ichthyotic
      lesions, follicular atrophoderma, cicatricial alopecia, and less frequently
      ichthyosiform erythroderma, cataracts, and skeletal abnormalities consisting of
      short stature, asymmetric shortening of the limbs, epiphyseal stippling, and
      craniofacial defects. CDPX2 results from mutations in emopamil binding protein
      (EBP) gene. The aim of our study is to identify EBP mutation in a unique case of
      Conradi-Hunermann-Happle syndrome with rare psoriasiform lesions. 

PMID- 25814755
TI  - An Overlap of Angiolymphoid Hyperplasia with Eosinophilia and Kimura's Disease:
      Successful Treatment of Skin Lesions with Cryotherapy.
AB  - Kimura's disease is characterized by a triad of painless subcutaneous masses,
      eosinophilia in the peripheral blood and in tissues with marked increase in Serum
      Ig E. Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia (ALHE) manifests with the
      presence of dermal papules and nodules. Unique clinical, histopathological, and
      biochemical findings are noted in these individual entities. A 32-year-female
      presented with multiple nodules in the axillae for 2 years. Peripheral smear
      showed eosinophilia with AEC of 6080. Histopathological examination showed
      features of overlap. Antinuclear antibody immunoflorescence was was negative.
      CD31, CD34, and FVIII were positive in vascular component. A CT chest revealed
      left axillary lymphadenopathy. The patient was treated with Cryotherapy and there
      was complete regression of skin lesions, with no recurrence after 1 year of
      follow-up. ALHE and KD are common in the head and neck region, but no reports of
      an overlap, presenting with lesions in the axillae are available to date, to the
      best of our knowledge. Response of skin lesions to cryotherapy is highlighted. 

PMID- 25814756
TI  - Leishmaniasis recidiva cutis of the lips mimicking granulomatous cheilitis.
AB  - Leishmaniasis recidiva cutis (LRC) is an unusual form of acute cutaneous
      leishmaniasis. Herein, we present a case of LRC of the lips mimicking
      granulomatous cheilitis. An 8-year-old, Syrian child admitted with a swelling and
      disfigurement of his lips for 4 years. Abundant intra and extracellular
      Leishmania amastigotes were determined in the smear prepared from the lesion with
      Giemsa stain. Histopathology showed foamy histiocytes and leishmania parasites
      within the cytoplasm of macrophages in the epidermis and a dense dermal mixed
      type inflammatory cell infiltrate composed of lymphocytes, foamy histiocytes with
      multinucleated giant cells. On the basis of anamnestic data, the skin smears
      results, clinical and histopathologic findings, LRC was diagnosed. The patient
      was treated with meglumine antimoniate intramuscularly and fluconazole orally.
      Cryotherapy was applied to the residual papular lesions. The lesion improved
      markedly at the first month of the treatment. 

PMID- 25814757
TI  - Juvenile localized scleroderma with port wine stain: coincidental or possible
      common pathogenetic association.
AB  - Port wine stain and juvenile localized scleroderma are two different dermatoses
      usually encountered in pediatric age group. Up to now, there are reports of
      morphea patients initially diagnosed and treated as port wine stain. Coexistence
      of both diseases is not found yet. We herein present a case of juvenile localized
      scleroderma on the left side of trunk, with congenital port wine stain located on
      the ipsilateral face at V1-V2 distribution. 

PMID- 25814758
TI  - Gorlin-goltz syndrome: a rare case.
AB  - Gorlin-Goltz syndrome or nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome is characterized by
      multiple basocellular epitheliomas, keratocysts in the jaws, bifid ribs, palmar
      and/or plantar pits and ectopic calcifications of the falx cerebri. We describe a
      case of Gorlin-Goltz syndrome illustrating the importance of a thorough
      examination including the examination of palms and soles and detailed
      investigations in a patient having lesions suggestive of basal cell carcinoma and
      multiple naevi. 

PMID- 25814759
TI  - Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the skin: an exceedingly rare primary skin
      tumor.
AB  - Primary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the skin (LE-lCS) is a very rare
      cutaneous malignancy of uncertain origin. The neoplasm reveals typical
      morphological similarity to undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma
      (lymphoepithelioma). This case report presents a 47-year-old man with a 5 mm
      erythematous papule on dorsal nose of six months duration. The patient underwent
      complete surgical excision and is disease free 7 months later. 

PMID- 25814760
TI  - Familial atypical multiple mole melanoma syndrome in an adult Indian male-case
      report and literature review.
AB  - Familial atypical multiple mole melanoma syndrome (FAMMMS) is an autosomal
      dominant genodermatosis characterized by multiple melanocytic nevi, usually more
      than 50, and a family history of melanoma. It is known to be associated with
      carcinoma of pancreas and other malignancies involving gastrointestinal tract,
      breast, lung, larynx, and skin in the kindred. There is no published report of
      FAMMMS in dark-skinned individuals. We report a case of FAMMMS in a dark-skinned
      adult Indian male, who had multiple extensive nevi all over the body and oral
      mucosa; associated with malignant melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma (Marjolin's
      ulcer), and carcinoma of pancreas. His father had died of carcinoma of lung and
      his sister had a partial phenotypic expression. The clinical presentation of the
      case is discussed with review of literature. 

PMID- 25814761
TI  - A case of genital porokeratosis and review of literature.
AB  - We present a case of a 64-year-old uncircumcised male who initially presented to
      the provider with a 1 year history of a solitary lesion on the glans penis that
      was clinically diagnosed as porokeratosis of Mabelli. A biopsy on a follow-up
      visit confirmed provider's clinical suspicion. This article highlights the
      progression and treatment options for porokeratosis on the male genitalia. 

PMID- 25814762
TI  - Acroangiodermatitis associated with iatrogenic arteriovenous fistula mimicking
      verruca vulgaris.

PMID- 25814764
TI  - Agminated spitz nevus on sole of elderly.

PMID- 25814763
TI  - Bloom syndrome with extensive pulmonary involvement in a child.

PMID- 25814765
TI  - Disseminated cutaneous rhinosporidiosis: a polymorphic presentation in an
      immunocompetent patient.

PMID- 25814766
TI  - Concurrent occurrence of pemphigus vulgaris and oral submucous fibrosis: an
      unusual presentation.

PMID- 25814767
TI  - Effectiveness of a multidisciplinary itch clinic in the management of chronic
      pruritus.

PMID- 25814768
TI  - Necrotic plaque on the calf and thigh of a woman with cryptogenic cirrhosis.

PMID- 25814769
TI  - Solitary plaque with recurrent blistering on the finger of a child.

PMID- 25814770
TI  - In situ preparation, electrical and surface analytical characterization of
      pentacene thin film transistors.
AB  - The fabrication of organic thin film transistors with highly reproducible
      characteristics presents a very challenging task. We have prepared and analyzed
      model pentacene thin film transistors under ultra-high vacuum conditions,
      employing surface analytical tools and methods. Intentionally contaminating the
      gold contacts and SiO2 channel area with carbon through repeated adsorption,
      dissociation, and desorption of pentacene proved to be very advantageous in the
      creation of devices with stable and reproducible parameters. We mainly focused on
      the device properties, such as mobility and threshold voltage, as a function of
      film morphology and preparation temperature. At 300 K, pentacene displays
      Stranski-Krastanov growth, whereas at 200 K fine-grained, layer-like film growth
      takes place, which predominantly influences the threshold voltage. Temperature
      dependent mobility measurements demonstrate good agreement with the established
      multiple trapping and release model, which in turn indicates a predominant
      concentration of shallow traps in the crystal grains and at the oxide
      semiconductor interface. Mobility and threshold voltage measurements as a
      function of coverage reveal that up to four full monolayers contribute to the
      overall charge transport. A significant influence on the effective mobility also
      stems from the access resistance at the gold contact-semiconductor interface,
      which is again strongly influenced by the temperature dependent, characteristic
      film growth mode.

PMID- 25814771
TI  - Intimacy and Emotion Work in Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Relationships.
AB  - Knowledge about how gender shapes intimacy is dominated by a heteronormative
      focus on relationships involving a man and a woman. In this study, the authors
      shifted the focus to consider gendered meanings and experiences of intimacy in
      same-sex and different-sex relationships. They merged the gender-as-relational
      perspective-that gender is co-constructed and enacted within relationships-with
      theoretical perspectives on emotion work and intimacy to frame an analysis of in
      depth interviews with 15 lesbian, 15 gay, and 20 heterosexual couples. They found
      that emotion work directed toward minimizing and maintaining boundaries between
      partners is key to understanding intimacy in long-term relationships. Moreover,
      these dynamics, including the type and division of emotion work, vary for men and
      women depending on whether they are in a same-sex or different-sex relationship.
      These findings push thinking about diversity in long-term relationships beyond a
      focus on gender difference and toward gendered relational contexts.

PMID- 25814772
TI  - Surface Polar Lipids Differ in Male and Female Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera:
      Psychodidae).
AB  - The polar lipids on the surface of the Old World sand fly, Phlebotomus papatasi
      (Scopoli), were analyzed by high-resolution mass spectrometry. Blood-fed females
      and nonblood-fed females and males were separately analyzed and compared. The
      major polar lipids were found to be long-chain diols and fatty acids. Relatively
      high levels of diacylglycerols were found in blood-fed females and in males. A
      wide variety of lipids were found at low levels, including esters, sterols,
      monoacylglycerols, and hydroxy fatty acids. Blood-fed females had several lyso
      lipids and N-acyl amino acids that were not found on unfed females or males.
      These substances may be surfactants used in blood feeding. Heneicosenoic acid was
      found on females at more than twice the level of males, suggesting it could be a
      component of a female pheromone. Four substances were identified on males at
      twofold higher levels than on females: tetradienoic acid,
      methoxyhexadecasphinganine, butyl octadecanoate, and
      diacylglycerol(14:1/12:0/0:0). These could be short-range pheromones involved in
      courtship, and they will be further analyzed in future behavioral bioassays.

PMID- 25814773
TI  - On linear combinations of units with bounded coefficients and double-base digit
      expansions.
AB  - Let [Formula: see text] be the maximal order of a number field. Belcher showed in
      the 1970s that every algebraic integer in [Formula: see text] is the sum of
      pairwise distinct units, if the unit equation [Formula: see text] has a non
      trivial solution [Formula: see text]. We generalize this result and give
      applications to signed double-base digit expansions.

PMID- 25814774
TI  - 2-Supernilpotent Mal'cev algebras.
AB  - In this note we prove that a Mal'cev algebra is 2-supernilpotent ([1, 1, 1] =  0)
      if and only if it is polynomially equivalent to a special expanded group. This
      generalizes Gumm's result that a Mal'cev algebra is abelian if and only if it is
      polynomially equivalent to a module over a ring.

PMID- 25814775
TI  - The Suicidal Animal: Science and the Nature of Self-Destruction.

PMID- 25814776
TI  - Peatland Microbial Communities as Indicators of the Extreme Atmospheric Dust
      Deposition.
AB  - We investigated a peat profile from the Izery Mountains, located within the so
      called Black Triangle, the border area of Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany.
      This peatland suffered from an extreme atmospheric pollution during the last 50
      years, which created an exceptional natural experiment to examine the impact of
      pollution on peatland microbes. Testate amoebae (TA), Centropyxis aerophila and
      Phryganella acropodia, were distinguished as a proxy of atmospheric pollution
      caused by extensive brown coal combustion. We recorded a decline of mixotrophic
      TA and development of agglutinated taxa as a response for the extreme
      concentration of Al (30 g kg-1) and Cu (96 mg kg-1) as well as the extreme amount
      of fly ash particles determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis,
      which were used by TA for shell construction. Titanium (5.9 %), aluminum (4.7 %),
      and chromium (4.2 %) significantly explained the highest percentage of the
      variance in TA data. Elements such as Al, Ti, Cr, Ni, and Cu were highly
      correlated (r > 0.7, p < 0.01) with pseudostome position/body size ratio and
      pseudostome position. Changes in the community structure, functional diversity,
      and mechanisms of shell construction were recognized as the indicators of dust
      pollution. We strengthen the importance of the TA as the bioindicators of the
      recent atmospheric pollution.

PMID- 25814777
TI  - Whale sharks target dense prey patches of sergestid shrimp off Tanzania.
AB  - Large planktivores require high-density prey patches to make feeding
      energetically viable. This is a major challenge for species living in tropical
      and subtropical seas, such as whale sharks Rhincodon typus. Here, we characterize
      zooplankton biomass, size structure and taxonomic composition from whale shark
      feeding events and background samples at Mafia Island, Tanzania. The majority of
      whale sharks were feeding (73%, 380 of 524 observations), with the most common
      behaviour being active surface feeding (87%). We used 20 samples collected from
      immediately adjacent to feeding sharks and an additional 202 background samples
      for comparison to show that plankton biomass was ~10 times higher in patches
      where whale sharks were feeding (25 vs. 2.6 mg m-3). Taxonomic analyses of
      samples showed that the large sergestid Lucifer hanseni (~10 mm) dominated while
      sharks were feeding, accounting for ~50% of identified items, while copepods (<2
      mm) dominated background samples. The size structure was skewed towards larger
      animals representative of L.hanseni in feeding samples. Thus, whale sharks at
      Mafia Island target patches of dense, large, zooplankton dominated by sergestids.
      Large planktivores, such as whale sharks, which generally inhabit warm
      oligotrophic waters, aggregate in areas where they can feed on dense prey to
      obtain sufficient energy.

PMID- 25814778
TI  - BRCA genetic screening in Middle Eastern and North African: mutational spectrum
      and founder BRCA1 mutation (c.798_799delTT) in North African.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The contribution of BRCA1 mutations to both hereditary and sporadic
      breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) has not yet been thoroughly investigated in
      MENA. METHODS: To establish the knowledge about BRCA1 mutations and their
      correlation with the clinical aspect in diagnosed cases of HBOC in MENA
      populations. A systematic review of studies examining BRCA1 in BC women in
      Cyprus, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia was conducted.
      RESULTS: Thirteen relevant references were identified, including ten studies
      which performed DNA sequencing of all BRCA1 exons. For the latter, 31 mutations
      were detected in 57 of the 547 patients ascertained. Familial history of BC was
      present in 388 (71%) patients, of whom 50 were mutation carriers. c.798_799delTT
      was identified in 11 North African families, accounting for 22% of total
      identified BRCA1 mutations, suggesting a founder allele. A broad spectrum of
      other mutations including c.68_69delAG, c.181T>G, c.5095C>T, and c.5266dupC, as
      well as sequence of unclassified variants and polymorphisms, was also detected.
      CONCLUSION: The knowledge of genetic structure of BRCA1 in MENA should contribute
      to the assessment of the necessity of preventive programs for mutation carriers
      and clinical management. The high prevalence of BC and the presence of frequent
      mutations of the BRCA1 gene emphasize the need for improving screening programs
      and individual testing/counseling.

PMID- 25814779
TI  - Secernin-1 contributes to colon cancer progression through enhancing matrix
      metalloproteinase-2/9 exocytosis.
AB  - Emerging evidence shows that exocytosis plays a key role in tumor development and
      metastasis. Secernin-1 (SCRN1) is a novel regulator of exocytosis. Our previous
      work identified SCRN1 as a tumor-associated gene by bioinformatics analysis of
      transcriptomes. In this study, we demonstrated the aberrant overexpression of
      SCRN1 at mRNA and protein level in colon cancer. We also revealed that
      overexpression of SCRN1 was significantly associated with the tumor development
      and poor prognosis. Experiments in vitro validated that SCRN1 may promote cancer
      cell proliferation and secretion of matrix metalloproteinase-2/9 (MMP-2/9)
      proteins to accelerate tumor progression. 

PMID- 25814780
TI  - Effect of periodontal surgery on osteoprotegerin levels in gingival crevicular
      fluid, saliva, and gingival tissues of chronic periodontitis patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study was undertaken to investigate the OPG profiles in gingival
      crevicular fluid (GCF), saliva, and gingival tissues of chronic periodontitis
      (CP) patients in response to open flap debridement (OFD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS:
      The study included 30 subjects divided into 2 groups: 20 CP patients and 10
      periodontally healthy subjects. Plaque index, gingival index, pocket depth, and
      clinical attachment level measurements were recorded for all subjects. GCF,
      salivary, and gingival samples were collected from all 30 subjects at baseline
      and 3 and 6 month after OFD from the 20 CP patients. GCF and salivary OPG levels
      were assessed by ELISA assay, while OPG expression in gingival tissues was
      examined by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: GCF, salivary and gingival OPG
      profiles were significantly higher in control subjects compared to CP patients at
      baseline (P < 0.001). Within CP group, OPG levels in GCF, saliva, and gingival
      samples showed a significant increase at 3 and 6 months after OFD (P < 0.001)
      compared to baseline. Although OPG values increased significantly in gingival
      samples and insignificantly in saliva after 3 months compared to 6 months, yet
      GCF levels were significantly decreased. CONCLUSIONS: OPG might be considered as
      a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker of periodontal bone destruction. This trial
      is registered with NCT02160613.

PMID- 25814781
TI  - 3-nitrotyrosine modified proteins in atherosclerosis.
AB  - Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of premature death worldwide, and
      atherosclerosis is the main contributor. Lipid-laden macrophages, known as foam
      cells, accumulate in the subendothelial space of the lesion area and contribute
      to consolidate a chronic inflammatory environment where oxygen and nitrogen
      derived oxidants are released. Oxidatively modified lipids and proteins are
      present both in plasma as well as atherosclerotic lesions. A relevant oxidative
      posttranslational protein modification is the addition of a nitro group to the
      hydroxyphenyl ring of tyrosine residues, mediated by nitric oxide derived
      oxidants. Nitrotyrosine modified proteins were found in the lesion and also in
      plasma from atherosclerotic patients. Despite the fact of the low yield of
      nitration, immunogenic, proatherogenic, and prothrombotic properties acquired by
      3-nitrotyrosine modified proteins are in agreement with epidemiological studies
      showing a significant correlation between the level of nitration found in plasma
      proteins and the prevalence of cardiovascular disease, supporting the usefulness
      of this biomarker to predict the outcome and to take appropriate therapeutic
      decisions in atherosclerotic disease. 

PMID- 25814782
TI  - Identification of endogenous controls for analyzing serum exosomal miRNA in
      patients with hepatitis B or hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Serum exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) have received considerable attention as
      potential biomarkers for diagnosing cancer. The canonical technique for measuring
      miRNA transcript levels is reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain
      reaction (RT-qPCR). One prerequisite for validating RT-qPCR data is proper
      normalization with respect to stably expressed endogenous reference genes.
      However, genes that meet all of the criteria of a control gene for exosomal
      miRNAs have not yet been identified. To find out the control gene for exosomal
      miRNAs, we evaluated the expression stability of 11 well-known reference genes in
      circulating exosomes. In this study, we found that the combination of miR-221,
      miR-191, let-7a, miR-181a, and miR-26a can be an optimal gene reference set for
      normalizing the expression of liver-specific miRNAs. This combination enhanced
      the robustness of the relative quantification analyses. These findings highlight
      the importance of validating reference genes before quantifying target miRNAs.
      Furthermore, our findings will improve studies that monitor hepatitis progression
      and will aid in the discovery of noninvasive biomarkers to diagnose early stage
      HCC. 

PMID- 25814783
TI  - Conservation of the Tsc/Rheb/TORC1/S6K/S6 Signaling in Fission Yeast.
AB  - The TSC/Rheb/TORC1/S6K/S6 signaling pathway plays critical roles in regulating
      protein synthesis and growth in eukaryotes. Our recent work using fission yeast
      Schizosaccharomyces pombe revealed that this signaling pathway is conserved from
      humans to fission yeast. In addition to target of rapamycin (TOR) homologsand
      tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) homologs, fission yeast but not budding yeast,
      has a functional homolog of Rheb, a small G-protein acting as an activator of TOR
      complex 1 (TORC1). Several lines of genetic evidence suggest that the Tsc1-Tsc2
      complex and Rheb act as upstream players of TORC1 in fission yeast. We have
      recently demonstrated that TORC1, but not TORC2, regulates phosphorylation of
      ribosomal protein S6 in response to nutrient availability. Candidate S6 kinase
      (S6K) protein has been identified. In addition, we find that rapamycin prevents a
      subset of TORC1 activity to regulate S6 phosphorylation in fission yeast.

PMID- 25814784
TI  - Losses in Ferroelectric Materials.
AB  - Ferroelectric materials are the best dielectric and piezoelectric materials known
      today. Since the discovery of barium titanate in the 1940s, lead zirconate
      titanate ceramics in the 1950s and relaxor-PT single crystals (such as lead
      magnesium niobate-lead titanate and lead zinc niobate-lead titanate) in the 1980s
      and 1990s, perovskite ferroelectric materials have been the dominating
      piezoelectric materials for electromechanical devices, and are widely used in
      sensors, actuators and ultrasonic transducers. Energy losses (or energy
      dissipation) in ferroelectrics are one of the most critical issues for high power
      devices, such as therapeutic ultrasonic transducers, large displacement
      actuators, SONAR projectors, and high frequency medical imaging transducers. The
      losses of ferroelectric materials have three distinct types, i.e., elastic,
      piezoelectric and dielectric losses. People have been investigating the
      mechanisms of these losses and are trying hard to control and minimize them so as
      to reduce performance degradation in electromechanical devices. There are
      impressive progresses made in the past several decades on this topic, but some
      confusions still exist. Therefore, a systematic review to define related concepts
      and clear up confusions is urgently in need. With this objective in mind, we
      provide here a comprehensive review on the energy losses in ferroelectrics,
      including related mechanisms, characterization techniques and collections of
      published data on many ferroelectric materials to provide a useful resource for
      interested scientists and engineers to design electromechanical devices and to
      gain a global perspective on the complex physical phenomena involved. More
      importantly, based on the analysis of available information, we proposed a
      general theoretical model to describe the inherent relationships among elastic,
      dielectric, piezoelectric and mechanical losses. For multi-domain ferroelectric
      single crystals and ceramics, intrinsic and extrinsic energy loss mechanisms are
      discussed in terms of compositions, crystal structures, temperature, domain
      configurations, domain sizes and grain boundaries. The intrinsic and extrinsic
      contributions to the total energy dissipation are quantified. In domain
      engineered ferroelectric single crystals and ceramics, polarization rotations,
      domain wall motions and mechanical wave scatterings at grain boundaries are
      believed to control the mechanical quality factors of piezoelectric resonators.
      We show that a thorough understanding on the kinetic processes is critical in
      analyzing energy loss behavior and other time-dependent properties in
      ferroelectric materials. At the end of the review, existing challenges in the
      study and control of losses in ferroelectric materials are analyzed, and future
      perspective in resolving these issues is discussed.

PMID- 25814785
TI  - Epigenetic regulation of inflammatory cytokines and associated genes in human
      malignancies.
AB  - Inflammation is a multifaceted defense response of immune system against
      infection. Chronic inflammation has been implicated as an imminent threat for
      major human malignancies and is directly linked to various steps involved in
      tumorigenesis. Inflammatory cytokines, interleukins, interferons, transforming
      growth factors, chemokines, and adhesion molecules have been associated with
      chronic inflammation. Numerous cytokines are reported to be aberrantly regulated
      by different epigenetic mechanisms like DNA methylation and histone modifications
      in tumor tissues, contributing to pathogenesis of tumor in multiple ways. Some of
      these cytokines also work as epigenetic regulators of other crucial genes in
      tumor biology, either directly or indirectly. Such regulations are reported in
      lung, breast, cervical, gastric, colorectal, pancreatic, prostate, and head and
      neck cancers. Epigenetics of inflammatory mediators in cancer is currently
      subject of extensive research. These investigations may help in understanding
      cancer biology and to develop effective therapeutic strategies. The purpose of
      this paper is to have a brief view of the aberrant regulation of inflammatory
      cytokines in human malignancies. 

PMID- 25814787
TI  - Cardiac migration of endogenous mesenchymal stromal cells in patients with
      inflammatory cardiomyopathy.
AB  - Introduction. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have immunomodulatory features. The
      aim of this study was to investigate the migration and homing potential of
      endogenous circulating MSC in virus negative inflammatory cardiomyopathy (CMi).
      Methods. In 29 patients with (n = 23) or without (n = 6) CMi undergoing
      endomyocardial biopsies (EMB), transcardiac gradients (TCGs) of circulating MSC
      were measured by flow cytometry from blood simultaneously sampled from aorta and
      coronary sinus. The presence of MSC in EMB, cardiac inflammation, and SDF-1alpha
      mRNA expression were detected via immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR.
      Results. MSC defined as CD45(-)CD34(-)CD11b(-)CD73(+)CD90(+) cells accounted for
      0.010 [0.0025-0.048]%/peripheral mononuclear cell (PMNC) and as CD45(-)CD34(
      )CD11b(-)CD73(+)CD105(+) cells for 0.019 [0.0026-0.067]%/PMNC, both with similar
      counts in patients with or without cardiac inflammation. There was a 29.9% (P <
      0.01) transcardiac reduction of circulating MSC in patients with CMi, correlating
      with the extent of cardiac inflammation (P < 0.05, multivariate analysis). A
      strong correlation was found between the TCG of circulating MSC and numbers of
      MSC (CD45(-)CD34(-)CD90(+)CD105(+)) in EMB (r = -0.73, P < 0.005). SDF-1alpha was
      the strongest predictor for increased MSC in EMB (P < 0.005, multivariate
      analysis). Conclusions. Endogenous MSC continuously migrate to the heart in
      patients with CMi triggered by cardiac inflammation. 

PMID- 25814786
TI  - The chaperone balance hypothesis: the importance of the extracellular to
      intracellular HSP70 ratio to inflammation-driven type 2 diabetes, the effect of
      exercise, and the implications for clinical management.
AB  - Recent evidence shows divergence between the concentrations of extracellular 70
      kDa heat shock protein [eHSP70] and its intracellular concentrations [iHSP70] in
      people with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). A vital aspect regarding HSP70 physiology is
      its versatility to induce antagonistic actions, depending on the location of the
      protein. For example, iHSP70 exerts a powerful anti-inflammatory effect, while
      eHSP70 activates proinflammatory pathways. Increased eHSP70 is associated with
      inflammatory and oxidative stress conditions, whereas decreased iHSP70 levels are
      related to insulin resistance in skeletal muscle. Serum eHSP70 concentrations are
      positively correlated with markers of inflammation, such as C-reactive protein,
      monocyte count, and TNF-alpha, while strategies to enhance iHSP70 (e.g., heat
      treatment, chemical HSP70 inducers or coinducers, and physical exercise) are
      capable of reducing the inflammatory profile and the insulin resistance state.
      Here, we present recent findings suggesting that imbalances in the HSP70 status,
      described by the [eHSP70]/[iHSP70] ratio, may be determinant to trigger a chronic
      proinflammatory state that leads to insulin resistance and T2DM development. This
      led us to hypothesize that changes in this ratio value could be used as a
      biomarker for the management of the inflammatory response in insulin resistance
      and diabetes. 

PMID- 25814788
TI  - Secretion of one adipokine Nampt/Visfatin suppresses the inflammatory stress
      induced NF-kappaB activity and affects Nampt-dependent cell viability in Huh-7
      cells.
AB  - Nampt/visfatin acts in both intracellular and extracellular compartments to
      regulate multiple biological roles, including NAD metabolism, cancer,
      inflammation, and senescence. However, its function in chronic inflammation and
      carcinogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been well-defined. Here
      we use Huh-7 hepatoma cells as a model to determine how Nampt/visfatin affects
      cellular survival under oxidative stress. We found that the transition of
      Nampt/visfatin from intracellular into extracellular form was induced by H2O2
      treatment in 293T cells and confirmed that this phenomenon was not due to cell
      death but through the secretion of Nampt/visfatin. In addition, Nampt/visfatin
      suppressed cell viability in oxidative treatment in Huh-7 cells and acted on the
      inhibition of hepatoma cell growth. Oxidative stress also reduced the Nampt
      mediated activation of NF-kappaB gene expression. In this study, we identify a
      novel feature of Nampt/visfatin which functions as an adipokine that can be
      secreted upon cellular stress. Our results provide an example to understand how
      adipokine interacts with chemotherapeutic treatment by oxidative stress in HCC. 

PMID- 25814790
TI  - From Editor's desk.

PMID- 25814789
TI  - Inflammasome in platelets: allying coagulation and inflammation in infectious and
      sterile diseases?
AB  - Platelets are crucial effector cells in hemostasis. In addition, platelets are
      increasingly recognized as major inflammatory cells with key roles in innate and
      adaptive immune responses. Activated platelets have key thromboinflammatory
      activities linking coagulation to inflammatory response in a variety of
      coagulation disorders and vasculopathies. Recently identified inflammatory
      activities of platelets include the synthesis of IL-1beta from spliced pre-RNA,
      as well as the presence and assembly of inflammasome which intermediate IL-1beta
      secretion. Here we review the mechanisms by which platelets activate translation
      machinery and inflammasome assembly to synthesize and release IL-1beta. The
      contributions of these processes to protective and pathogenic responses during
      infectious and inflammatory diseases are discussed. 

PMID- 25814791
TI  - Bronchopleural fistula treatment: From the archetype of surgery to the future of
      stem cell therapy.

PMID- 25814793
TI  - A stepwise approach to the etiologic diagnosis of pleural effusion in respiratory
      intensive care unit and short-term evaluation of treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pleural effusions in respiratory intensive care unit (RICU) are
      associated with diseases of varied etiologies and often carry a grave prognosis.
      This prospective study was conducted to establish an etiologic diagnosis in a
      series of such patients before starting treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty
      consecutive patients, diagnosed with pleural effusion on admission or during
      their stay in RICU, were further investigated by a two-step approach. (1)
      Etiologic diagnosis was established by sequential clinical history and findings
      on physical examination, laboratory tests, chest radiograph, CECT/HRCT/PET-CT and
      pleural fluid analysis. (2) Patients who remained undiagnosed were subjected to
      fiber-optic bronchoscopy, video-assisted thoracoscopic pleural biopsy, and
      histopathology. RESULTS: Etiologic diagnosis of pleural effusion was established
      in 44 (88%) Metastases (24%); para-pneumonia (22%); congestive cardiac failure
      (18%); tuberculosis (14%); hemothorax (4%); trapped lung, renal failure, and
      liver cirrhosis (2% each). Six patients (12%) remained undiagnosed, as the final
      diagnostic thoracoscopic biopsy could not be performed in five and tissue
      histopathology findings were inconclusive in one. Out of the 50 patients, 10 died
      in the hospital; 2 left against medical advice; and 2 were referred to oncology
      center for further treatment. The remaining 36 patients were clinically
      stabilized and discharged. During a 3-month follow-up, eight of them were re
      hospitalized, of which four died. CONCLUSIONS: Pleural effusion in RICU carries a
      high risk of mortality. Etiologic diagnosis can be established in most cases.

PMID- 25814792
TI  - Clinico-radiological profile and risk factors in patients with anthracosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anthracosis is the black pigmentation of the mucosal lining of the
      tracheo-bronchial tree. The significance of this finding is not known and often
      ignored. The aim of the present study is to find the association of anthracosis
      with demographic variables, biomass fuel and occupational exposure, respiratory
      diseases, radiological pattern and functional morbidity. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Enrolment of the subjects for the study was done at SMS hospital, Jaipur.
      Patients with anthracosis evident on bronchoscopy were included as the cases.
      Patients without anthracosis on bronchoscopy, matched according to age, gender
      and smoking habits, were included in the control group. Subjects in both the arms
      completed a questionnaire and also underwent computed tomography (CT) of the
      chest and six minute walk test (6MWT). RESULTS: Thirty cases and 53 controls were
      included in the study. The patients with anthracosis presented with symptoms
      ranging from cough (76.65%), hemoptysis (46.6%), fever (26.6%), dyspnea (90%) and
      malaise (73.3%). Biomass fuel exposure for the cases was 35.13 +/- 55.86 hours in
      a year and for the controls was 28.15 +/- 40.09 hours in a year (P > 0.05). Stone
      mining was significantly associated with anthracosis (P < 0.05). CT chest
      revealed fibrosis (43.3%), consolidation (33.3%), cavitation (16.6%) and mass
      (46.6%) in the cases. Sixty percent of cases and 15% of controls were diagnosed
      to have either old or active pulmonary tuberculosis (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:
      Anthracosis is associated with pulmonary tuberculosis. Biomass exposure is not
      significantly associated with anthracosis. Post tubercular fibrosis is more
      common on CT chest of patients with anthracosis.

PMID- 25814794
TI  - Congenital cystic lesions of the lungs: The perils of misdiagnosis - A single
      center experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A majority of cystic lesions in the western world are detected
      antenatally, whereas, the diagnosis in our setup occurs once the child becomes
      symptomatic. Surgical management is primarily dictated by the presence of
      symptoms, recurrent infection, and rarely by the potential risk of malignant
      transformation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was carried out
      on all consecutive patients with cystic lung lesions managed at our center from
      January 2000 through June 2011 for antenatal diagnosis, presentation, diagnostic
      modalities, treatment, and complications. RESULTS: Forty cystic lung lesions were
      identified. Only 8% were antenatally detected. Out of 40, the final diagnosis was
      congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation in 19, congenital lobar emphysema in
      11, and bronchogenic cysts and pulmonary sequestration in five each. Of these,
      20% had received a course of prior antitubercular therapy and 30% had an
      intercostal drain inserted prior to referral to our center. Postoperative
      morbidity in the form of bronchopleural fistula, pneumothorax, and non-expansion
      of the residual lung was noted in 10% of the patients. CONCLUSION: Antenatal
      diagnosis of these lesions is still uncommon in third world countries. Prior to
      referral to a pediatric surgical center a large number of patients received
      antitubercular drugs and an intercostal drain insertion, due to incorrect
      diagnosis.

PMID- 25814795
TI  - Utility of semi-rigid thoracoscopy in undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Semi-rigid thoracoscopy is a safe and efficacious procedure in
      patients with undiagnosed pleural effusion. Literature on its utility from
      developing countries is limited. We herein describe our initial experience on the
      utility of semi-rigid thoracoscopy from a tertiary care teaching and referral
      center in north India. We also perform a systematic review of studies reporting
      the utility of semi-rigid thoracoscopy from India. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The
      primary objective was to evaluate the diagnostic utility of semi-rigid
      thoracoscopy in patients with undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion. Semi-rigid
      thoracoscopy was performed under local anesthesia and conscious sedation in the
      bronchoscopy suite. RESULTS: A total of 48 patients underwent semi-rigid
      thoracoscopy between August 2012 and December 2013 for undiagnosed pleural
      effusion. Mean age was 50.9 +/- 14.1 years (range: 17-78 years). Pre-procedure
      clinico-radiological diagnoses were malignant pleural effusion [36 patients
      (75%)], tuberculosis (TB) [10 (20.83%) patients], and empyema [2 patients
      (4.17%)]. Patients with empyema underwent the procedure for pleural biopsy,
      optimal placement of intercostal tube and adhesiolysis. Thoracoscopic pleural
      biopsy diagnosed pleural malignancy in 30 (62.5%) patients and TB in 2 (4.17%)
      patients. Fourteen (29.17%) patients were diagnosed with non-specific pleuritis
      and normal pleura was diagnosed on a pleural biopsy in 2 (4.17%) patients.
      Overall, a definitive diagnosis of either pleural malignancy or TB was obtained
      in 32 (66.7%) patients. Combined overall sensitivity, specificity, positive
      predictive value and negative predictive value of thoracoscopic pleural biopsy
      for malignant pleural effusion were 96.77%, 100%, 100% and 66.67%, respectively.
      There was no procedure-related mortality. On performing a systematic review of
      literature, four studies on semi-rigid thoracoscopy from India were identified.
      CONCLUSION: Semi-rigid thoracoscopy is a safe and efficacious procedure in
      patients with undiagnosed exudative pleural effusions.

PMID- 25814796
TI  - First-line anti-tubercular drug resistance of mycobacterial strains from re
      treatment cases that were smear-positive at 4(th) month onwards under the Revised
      National Tuberculosis Control Program.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Programmatic management of drug-resistant TB (PMDT) under the RNTCP
      is being implemented in West Bengal in a phased manner since 2011. During the
      initial years MDR-TB cases were identified based on criteria A. This study
      examines the first line anti-tubercular drug resistance pattern of mycobacteria
      cultured from sputum samples of MDR suspects who were retreatment cases smear
      positive from 4(th) month onwards. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the following
      retrospective record based study, data on Drug Sensitivity Testing (DST) of
      sputum samples of MDR suspects between September 2011 and August 2012 were
      collected from the IRL Kolkata and analysed. Sputum samples, collected in the
      districts maintaining adequate aseptic containment measures, were decontaminated
      and centrifuged and the sediment inoculated on LJ medium. Probable M.
      tuberculosis colonies were identified by typical colony characteristics and Ziehl
      Neelsen (ZN) staining. Sensitivity of the four 1(st) line drugs (Streptomycin,
      Isoniazid, Ethambutol and Rifampicin) was deduced by the economic variant of the
      proportion method. RESULTS: Of all the 917 MDR suspects whose sputum was
      examined, 64 mycobacteria culture positive strains (6.98%) were mono-resistant to
      any of the four first line anti-tubercular drugs. Among the mono-resistant
      strains 43 (4.69%) were resistant to Rifampicin while 12 (1.31%) were resistant
      to INH. There were a total 78 (8.51%) poly drug-resistant strains. MDR-TB strains
      were seen in 741 (80.81%) samples. CONCLUSION: The magnitude of drug resistance
      were very high among retreatment patients that were smear positive from 4(th)
      months onwards probably because of repeated courses of anti-tubercular drugs
      prior to drug sensitivity testing (DST). The decision of the PMDT to enlist all
      retreatment patients as MDR suspects at initiation will result in early
      identification and treatment of MDR-TB patients.

PMID- 25814797
TI  - Assessment of spontaneous pneumothorax in adults in a tertiary care hospital.
AB  - CONTEXT: Pneumothorax continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality
      among respiratory patients, but there is a paucity of data regarding etiology,
      clinical profile, management, and outcome of spontaneous pneumothorax (SP), from
      this part of the world. AIMS: To assess the patients of spontaneous pneumothorax
      in adults with special reference to the etiology, clinical presentation,
      management, and outcome of SP. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Prospective, observational
      study conducted in a tertiary care institution over a period of one year.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: All adult patients of SP attending the department of
      pulmonary medicine in a tertiary hospital were studied and detailed clinical,
      radiological, and management data were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: Sixty
      consecutive patients, who satisfied the inclusion criteria were included in the
      study. Among them 10 had primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) and 50 had
      secondary spontaneous pneumothorax (SSP). The overall male to female ratio was
      4:1. The mean age of the PSP patients was 26.3 +/- 2.19 years, whereas, that of
      the SSP patients was 53.42 +/- 2.07 years (P < 0.0001). Seventy percent of the
      patients were smokers. The most common clinical manifestation of PSP was chest
      pain (80%) in contrast to dyspnea in SSP (96%). The most common cause of SSP
      (42%) was found to be chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) followed by
      pulmonary tuberculosis (30%). The cases were managed with intercostal tube
      drainage (85%), simple aspiration (8.33%), and observation (6.67%). Full
      expansion of the lung was noted in 91.67% of the cases. CONCLUSION: Spontaneous
      pneumothorax was more common in men. SSP was far more common in this study, and
      the predominant underlying cause of SSP was COPD, which surpassed tuberculosis as
      the leading cause of SSP. This is in contrast to the results from previous
      studies done in our country. Intercostal tube drainage was the mainstay of
      treatment and the response was good.

PMID- 25814798
TI  - Subclinical atherosclerotic vascular disease in chronic obstructive pulmonary
      disease: Prospective hospital-based case control study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an important non
      communicable disease worldwide with a rising global incidence. COPD is associated
      with multiple co-morbidities. Patients with COPD are at increased risk of
      atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular events. Cardiovascular diseases are an
      important cause of morbidity and mortality in COPD. The present case-control
      study was designed to assess the relationship between sub-clinical
      atherosclerotic vascular diseases with COPD. METHODS: It was a prospective case
      control blinded observational study. There were 142 COPD patients and 124 age-and
      sex-matched controls without COPD and cardiovascular diseases. Frequency of sub
      clinical atherosclerosis was assessed by the carotid B-mode duplex
      ultrasonography assessment of carotid wall intima medial thickness (IMT). Plaque
      was defined as IMT of more than 1.2 mm. RESULTS: Prevalence of carotid plaqing
      was significantly higher amongst patients of COPD (38.7%) compared to controls
      (13.7%, odds ratio 3.9, P < 0.0001). Multinomial logistic regression analysis
      revealed COPD as an independent predictor of carotid plaqing (r = 0.85, P <
      0.023). CONCLUSION: The frequency of carotid plaqing is high in COPD patients.
      Carotid plaqing may be due to shared risk factors or the presence of low-grade
      systemic inflammation. Presence of increased CIMT and carotid plaqing in COPD
      patients identifies early atherosclerotic changes and future cardiovascular risk.
      Hence screening of CIMT should be a part of cardiovascular assessment in patients
      with COPD.

PMID- 25814800
TI  - Intercostal muscle flap for repair of bronchopleural fistula.
AB  - A 50-year-old male patient, a known case of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
      (COPD), presented with the features of bronchopleural fistula (BPF) on the right
      side for 1 month. The patient was a chronic smoker and did not give any history
      suggestive of pulmonary Koch's. The patient had sudden-onset breathlessness and
      chest pain 1 month before, which was diagnosed to be due to spontaneous
      pneumothorax. An intercostal drain was inserted but even after 1 month of all
      conservative measures, the lung remained collapsed and there was large air leak
      in the intercostal drain. Computed tomogram (CT) of the chest revealed collapsed
      and entrapped lung with surgical emphysema of the subcutaneous tissues due to
      rupture of the emphysematous bulla on the right side along with the presence of
      emphysematous bullae on the left upper lobe also. Surgical intervention in the
      form of decortication of entrapped lung and repair of the BPF with intercostal
      muscle flap was performed. The patient recovered well and was discharged after 10
      days. 

PMID- 25814801
TI  - Rare Endobronchial metastasis from uterine leiomyosarcoma.
AB  - Uterine sarcomas are rare and represent approximately 3.2% of all invasive
      uterine cancers. The annual incidence rate is less than two per 100,000 women.
      The median age at which uterine sarcoma diagnosed is 56 years. The most common
      histologic pattern is leiomyosarcoma (LMS) which originates from the myometrium
      or myometrial vessels. Uterine LMSs are aggressive tumors with high rates of
      recurrence. The most common mode of spread is hematogenous, with lymphatic spread
      being rare. Recurrences of up to 70% are reported in stage I and II disease with
      the site of recurrence being distal, most commonly the lungs or the upper
      abdomen. But the intra bronchial spread is extremely rare. Here we are reporting
      a case of uterine LMS with endobronchial metastasis causing whole lung collapse. 

PMID- 25814799
TI  - Anemia in Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Prevalence, pathogenesis, and
      potential impact.
AB  - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common preventable and
      treatable lifestyle-related disease with high global prevalence. COPD is
      associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Comorbidities are
      important events in the natural history of the disease and have a negative effect
      on the morbidity and mortality of COPD patients. Cardiac diseases, lung cancer,
      osteoporosis, and depression are common comorbidities reported for COPD.
      Recently, anemia has been recognized as a frequent comorbidity in COPD patients.
      The prevalence of anemia in patients with COPD varies from 7.5% to 33%. Anemia of
      chronic disease (ACD) is probably the most common type of anemia associated with
      COPD. ACD is driven by COPD-mediated systemic inflammation. Anemia in COPD is
      associated with greater healthcare resource utilization, impaired quality of
      life, decreased survival, and a greater likelihood of hospitalization. We need
      large prospective studies to discern the association between anemia and COPD. 

PMID- 25814802
TI  - Management of severe obstructive sleep apnea using mandibular advancement devices
      with auto continuous positive airway pressures.
AB  - The use of continuous positive airway pressures (CPAP) is considered standard
      treatment of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Treatment of the
      disease poses a great challenge not only for its diagnostic purpose but also for
      its treatment part. In about 29-83% of the patients, treatment is difficult
      because of non-compliance resulting due to high pressures, air leaks and other
      related issues. In such situations, alternative methods of treatment need to be
      looked for so as to ascertain better management. Mandibular advancement devices
      along with CPAP may show better treatment outcome in specific situations. 

PMID- 25814803
TI  - Serial bronchoscopic lung lavage in pulmonary alveolar proteinosis under local
      anesthesia.
AB  - Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare disease, characterized by alveolar
      accumulation of surfactant composed of proteins and lipids due to defective
      surfactant clearance by alveolar macrophages. Mainstay of treatment is whole lung
      lavage, which requires general anesthesia. Herein, we report a case of primary
      PAP, successfully treated with serial bronchoscopic lung lavages under local
      anesthesia. 

PMID- 25814804
TI  - Pulmonary nocardiosis revisited: A case series.
AB  - Pulmonary nocardiosis is a rising bacterial infection, with a high propensity for
      misdiagnosis. On account of a paucity of prospective studies, there is limited
      understanding on various aspects of its diagnosis and treatment. We present three
      patients with pulmonary nocardiosis, with emphasis on the predisposing factors,
      variable disease course, and treatment issues. There is a need to understand the
      basis of these discrepancies so as to rationalize the management of this
      potentially fatal infection. 

PMID- 25814805
TI  - Unexplained dyspnea in a patient of chronic arsenicosis: A diagnostic challenge
      and learning curve for physicians.
AB  - Chronic arsenic exposure causes cutaneous effects like hyperkeratosis, peripheral
      vascular disease, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, non-cirrhotic portal
      hypertension, hepatomegaly, peripheral neuropathy, respiratory involvement, bad
      obstetrical outcome, hematological disturbances, and diabetes mellitus. Here we
      present a case of a 24-year-old lady, with chronic exposure to arsenic,
      presenting to us with progressive dyspnea. We found pulmonary arterial
      hypertension (PAH) as a cause of her dyspnea. PAH can occur in arsenicosis,
      secondary to arsenic-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung
      fibrosis, and portal hypertension, which we excluded by appropriate
      investigations in our case. We also excluded a familial or heritable form of PAH.
      Thus, with the exclusion of all these secondary causes of PAH, as well as a
      hereditary cause, we came to a conclusion that this PAH might be due to chronic
      arsenic exposure. To the best of our knowledge, no case of PAH in chronic
      arsenicosis has been reported to date. 

PMID- 25814806
TI  - Tubercular and bacterial coinfection: A case series.
AB  - Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health issue in India. Although dual
      infection with tuberculosis and bacteria/fungi has been reported in
      immunocompromised patients, their co-occurrence in individuals with preserved
      immunity may complicate the clinical presentation, leading to inadequate
      treatment and unsatisfactory outcomes. In patients with pulmonary tuberculosis,
      the occurrence of tubercular lesions in atypical locations may further confound
      the clinical picture if only one of the pathogens is isolated, initially leading
      to a suboptimal therapeutic response. A strong index of suspicion and additional
      diagnostic testing may be required for diagnosis and treatment of the second
      infection. We report three unusual cases of concurrent tubercular and bacterial
      infection, of which two are pulmonary and one is extrapulmonary. 

PMID- 25814807
TI  - Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage due to valproic acid: Case report and review of the
      literature.
AB  - Valproic acid (VPA) is one of the most frequently used antiepileptic drugs for
      the treatment of focal and generalized epilepsies, absence seizures, and Lennox
      Gastaut syndrome (LGS). VPA has been demonstrated to have a negative effect on
      both the intrinsic and extrinsic coagulation systems and controversy exists about
      the clinical relevance of such hematological abnormalities. We describe a case of
      reversible lung hemorrage due to VPA. In English-language literature only two
      other similar cases (one of which fatal) have been described so far. 

PMID- 25814808
TI  - Respiratory failure with hilar mass: Role of endobronchial ultrasound-guided
      transbronchial needle aspiration in the medical intensive care unit.
AB  - We report the case of a 58-year-old man on chronic steroid therapy, who developed
      a rapidly progressive right upper lobe infiltrate/mass that extended into the
      right hilum. Respiratory failure necessitated endotracheal intubation. Broad
      spectrum antibiotics were initiated without clinical improvement and because of
      his immunosuppressive therapy opportunistic pathogens were considered.
      Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) was
      performed in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) with rapid onsite evaluation.
      Specimens obtained from the right hilar mass revealed organisms suspicious for
      cryptococcal infection, subsequently confirmed via a culture. No complications
      occurred during the EBUS procedure despite the patient requiring vasopressor
      support and 100% inspired oxygen. Little data exists regarding the use of EBUS in
      patients admitted to the MICU with respiratory failure of unknown etiology and
      mediastinal/hilar lymphadenopathy. This case illustrates the potential safe use
      of EBUS-TBNA in patients presenting with respiratory failure, with a mediastinal
      or hilar mass and suspected infectious etiology. 

PMID- 25814809
TI  - Mutifaceted care of OSA: The role of mandibular advancement splints.

PMID- 25814810
TI  - Peripheral wedge-shaped radiographic lung opacity in a young patient.

PMID- 25814811
TI  - Diffuse cystic lung disease in a child.

PMID- 25814812
TI  - Tuberculosis of palate.

PMID- 25814813
TI  - Advanced large cell lung tumor with neuroendocrine differentiation in an HIV
      positive patient.

PMID- 25814814
TI  - Hemodynamically asymptomatic spontaneous rupture of the descending thoracic aorta
      masquerading as a lung mass.

PMID- 25814815
TI  - An unusual case of mesothelioma.

PMID- 25814816
TI  - POEMS syndrome with pulmonary nocardiosis: A unique presentation.

PMID- 25814817
TI  - Diagnostic utility of conventional transbronchial needle aspiration without rapid
      on-site evaluation in patients with lung cancer.

PMID- 25814818
TI  - The relationship between lung function and indoor air pollution among rural women
      in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

PMID- 25814819
TI  - Osteoporosis in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

PMID- 25814820
TI  - Retrospective cohort versus case-control study - A comment on chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease and low bone mass: A case-control study.

PMID- 25814821
TI  - Respond to Vitamin D status in adult critically ill patients in Eastern India: An
      observational retrospective study.

PMID- 25814822
TI  - 'Oorja' in India: Assessing a large-scale commercial distribution of advanced
      biomass stoves to households.
AB  - Replacing traditional stoves with advanced alternatives that burn more cleanly
      has the potential to ameliorate major health problems associated with indoor air
      pollution in developing countries. With a few exceptions, large government and
      charitable programs to distribute advanced stoves have not had the desired
      impact. Commercially-based distributions that seek cost recovery and even profits
      might plausibly do better, both because they encourage distributors to supply and
      promote products that people want and because they are based around properly
      incentivized supply chains that could more be scalable, sustainable, and
      replicable. The sale in India of over 400,000 "Oorja" stoves to households from
      2006 onwards represents the largest commercially-based distribution of a
      gasification-type advanced biomass stove. BP's Emerging Consumer Markets (ECM)
      division and then successor company First Energy sold this stove and the
      pelletized biomass fuel on which it operates. We assess the success of this
      effort and the role its commercial aspect played in outcomes using a survey of
      998 households in areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka where the stove was sold as
      well as detailed interviews with BP and First Energy staff. Statistical models
      based on this data indicate that Oorja purchase rates were significantly
      influenced by the intensity of Oorja marketing in a region as well as by pre
      existing stove mix among households. The highest rate of adoption came from LPG
      using households for which Oorja's pelletized biomass fuel reduced costs. Smoke-
      and health-related messages from Oorja marketing did not significantly influence
      the purchase decision, although they did appear to affect household perceptions
      about smoke. By the time of our survey, only 9% of households that purchased
      Oorja were still using the stove, the result in large part of difficulties First
      Energy encountered in developing a viable supply chain around low-cost
      procurement of "agricultural waste" to make pellets. The business orientation of
      First Energy allowed the company to pivot rapidly to commercial customers when
      the household market encountered difficulties. The business background of
      managers also facilitated the initial marketing and distribution efforts that
      allowed the stove distribution to reach scale.

PMID- 25814823
TI  - Factors that may Facilitate or Hinder a Family-Focus in the Treatment of Parents
      with a Mental Illness.
AB  - Children with mentally ill parents are at risk of developing mental health
      problems themselves. To enhance early support for these children may prevent
      mental health problems from being transmitted from one generation to the next.
      The sample (N = 219) included health professionals in a large university
      hospital, who responded to a web-based survey on the routines of the mental
      health services, attitudes within the workforce capacity, worker's knowledge on
      the impact of parental mental illness on children, knowledge on legislation
      concerning children of patients, experience, expectations for possible outcomes
      of change in current clinical practice and demographic variables. A total of 56 %
      reported that they did not identify whether or not patients had children. There
      were no significant differences between the groups (identifiers and non
      identifiers) except for the two scales measuring aspects of knowledge, i.e.,
      Knowledge Children and Knowledge Legislation where workers who identified
      children had higher scores. The results also showed that younger workers with a
      medium level of education scored higher on Positive Attitudes. Furthermore,
      workers who reported to have more knowledge about children and the impact of
      mental illness on the parenting role were less concerned about a child-focussed
      approach interfering with the patient-therapist relation.

PMID- 25814824
TI  - CFH Y402H polymorphism is associated with elevated vitreal GM-CSF and choroidal
      macrophages in the postmortem human eye.
AB  - PURPOSE: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of
      irreversible blindness in people 50 years of age or older in developed countries.
      The homozygous CC genotype in the complement factor H (CFH) Y402H single
      nucleotide polymorphism (SNP; rs1061170) is widely recognized as a risk factor
      for the development of AMD. In this study, we examined vitreal levels of
      granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), a hematopoietic
      cytokine, and macrophages in the choroid of postmortem human eyes genotyped for
      the CFH Y402H SNP. METHODS: Twenty-two pairs of postmortem, non-diseased, human
      donor eyes were obtained. The vitreous and retinal tissues of the left eyes were
      collected for GM-CSF level measurement and CFH Y402H genotyping, respectively.
      The right eyes were paraffin-embedded and sectioned for immunohistochemistry
      using a macrophage and microglia marker, CD68. Cell cultures of RPE cells were
      stimulated with complement C3a, C5a, 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE), or tumor necrosis
      factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and GM-CSF expression was measured with a suspension
      assay or quantitative PCR. RESULTS: Eyes genotyped with the CC or the CT risk
      variant of the CFH Y402H SNP showed significantly increased levels of GM-CSF in
      the vitreous compared to eyes with the protective TT variant (mean +/- standard
      error of mean, 607.54+/-85.83 pg/ml or 656.32+/-15.20 pg/ml versus 286.69+/-81.96
      pg/ml, p<0.05). The choroid of eye tissues genotyped with the CC variant showed
      higher levels of CD68 immunoreactivity than the tissues genotyped with the TT
      variant (p<0.05). The GM-CSF levels detected in the supernatant of RPE cells in
      culture treated with HNE or TNF-alpha were significantly higher compared to the
      non-treated control (145.88+/-5.06 pg/ml and 149.32+/-3.76 pg/ml versus 123.27+/
      4.05 pg/ml, p<0.05). Furthermore, the gene expression of GM-CSF detected in the
      lysate of RPE cells stimulated with complement C3a or C5a showed significantly
      increased fold changes compared to the non-treated control (C3a: 2.38+/-0.31
      fold, p<0.05; C5a: 2.84+/-0.54 fold, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed a
      relationship between the CFH Y402H polymorphism and GM-CSF levels in the vitreous
      and accumulation of choroidal macrophages in the postmortem eye. These data
      suggest that the at-risk variant of the CFH gene may contribute to the
      dysregulation of proinflammatory cytokines locally in the eye.

PMID- 25814826
TI  - Analysis of rare variants in the CFH gene in patients with the cuticular drusen
      subtype of age-related macular degeneration.
AB  - PURPOSE: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cuticular drusen (CD), a
      clinical subtype of AMD, have been linked to genetic variants in the complement
      factor H (CFH) gene. In this study, we aimed to investigate the frequency of rare
      variants in the CFH gene in 180 cases with CD. In addition, we aimed to determine
      the frequency of a previously reported rare, highly penetrant CFH variant
      (p.Arg1210Cys) in a Dutch-German non-CD-type AMD case-control cohort, and to
      describe the phenotype of patients carrying the p.Arg1210Cys variant. METHODS:
      Study subjects were selected from the European Genetic Database (EUGENDA), a
      joint AMD database of the Radboud University Medical Centre and the University
      Hospital of Cologne, and graded at the Cologne Image Reading Centre and
      Laboratory (CIRCL). Additionally, two CD cases were recruited from the VU Medical
      Centre in Amsterdam. The CFH gene was analyzed in 180 CD cases with Sanger
      sequencing. All identified variants were analyzed for potential damaging effects
      with prediction software tools Sorting Intolerant from Tolerant (SIFT) and
      Polymorphism Phenotyping (PolyPhen). In addition, we genotyped the p.Arg1210Cys
      variant in 813 non-CD type AMD cases and 1175 controls. RESULTS: Sequencing
      identified 11 rare, heterozygous missense variants, one frameshift variant, and
      one splice acceptor site variant in 16 CD cases. The p.Arg1210Cys variant was
      identified in two CD cases but was not identified in our Dutch-German non-CD-type
      AMD case-control cohort. CONCLUSIONS: The present study identified the presence
      of rare variants in the CFH gene in 16 (8.8%) of 180 patients with the CD subtype
      of AMD. The carriers of rare CFH variants displayed a significantly earlier age
      at onset than non-carriers (p=0.016). The rare missense variant p.Arg1210Cys was
      identified in two CD cases, but was not detected in 813 non-CD type AMD cases or
      in the 1,175 controls of our Dutch-German cohort. The current study suggests that
      the p.Arg1210Cys variant may be restricted to a subset of patients with the CD
      subtype of AMD. Detailed clinical phenotyping, including fluorescein angiography,
      of patients with AMD carrying the p.Arg1210Cys variant in other cohorts is
      required to confirm this finding.

PMID- 25814825
TI  - Presence of rd8 mutation does not alter the ocular phenotype of late-onset
      retinal degeneration mouse model.
AB  - PURPOSE: A spontaneous frameshift mutation, c.3481delC, in the Crb1 gene is the
      underlying cause of dysplasia and retinal degeneration in rd8 mice. The rd8
      mutation is found in C57BL/6N but not in C57BL/6J mouse sub-strains. The
      development of ocular pathology in single knockout Ccl2-/-, Cx3cr1-/- and in
      double knockout Ccl2-/-, Cx3cr1-/- mice raised on a C57BL/6 background has been
      reported to depend on the presence of a rd8 mutation. In this study, we
      investigated the influence of the rd8 mutation on the retinal pathology that we
      previously described in the late-onset retinal degeneration (L-ORD) mouse model
      with a heterozygous S163R mutation in the C1q-tumor necrosis factor-related
      protein-5Ctrp5+/- gene that was generated on a C57BL/6J background. METHODS:
      Mouse lines carrying the Ctrp5 S163R and rd8 mutations (Ctrp5+/-;rd8/rd8),
      corresponding controls without the rd8 mutation (Ctrp5+/-;wt/wt), and wild-type
      mice with and without the rd8 mutation (Wtrd8/rd8 and Wtwt/wt, respectively) were
      generated by systematic breeding of mice in our L-ORD mouse colony. Genotyping
      the mice for the rd8 (del C at nt3481 in Crb1) and Ctrp5 S163R mutations was
      performed with allelic PCR or sequencing. Retinal morphology was studied with
      fundus imaging, histology, light microscopy, electron microscopy, and
      immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Genotype analysis of the mice in L-ORD mouse
      colony detected the rd8 mutation in the homozygous and heterozygous state. Fundus
      imaging of wild-type mice without the rd8 mutation (Wtwt/wt) revealed no
      autofluorescence (AF) spots up to 6-8 months and few AF spots at 21 months.
      However, the accumulation of AF lesions accelerated with age in the Ctrp5+/- mice
      that lack the rd8 mutation (Ctrp5+/-;wt/wt). The number of AF lesions was
      significantly increased (p<0.001), and they were small and uniformly distributed
      throughout the retina in the 21-month-old Ctrp5+/-;wt/wt mice when compared to
      the age-matched controls. Wild-type and Ctrp5+/- mice with the rd8 mutation
      (Wtrd8/rd8 and Ctrp5+/-;rd8/rd8, respectively) revealed an integrated retinal
      architecture with well-defined outer segments/inner segments (OS/IS), outer
      nuclear layer (ONL), outer plexiform layer (OPL), and inner nuclear layer (INL).
      The presence of pseudorosette structures reported in the rd8 mice between the ONL
      and the INL in the ventral quadrant of the retina was not observed in all
      genotypes studied. Further, the external limiting membrane was continuous in the
      Ctrp5+/-;rd8/rd8 and Wtrd8/rd8 mice. Evaluation of the retinal phenotype revealed
      that the Ctrp5+/-;wt/wt mice developed characteristic L-ORD pathology including
      age-dependent accumulation of AF spots, development of sub-retinal, sub-RPE, and
      basal laminar deposits, and Bruch's membrane abnormalities at older age, while
      these changes were not observed in the age-matched littermate WTwt/wt mice.
      CONCLUSIONS: The Wtrd8/rd8 and Ctrp5+/-;rd8/rd8 mice raised on C57BL/6J did not
      develop early onset retinal changes that are characteristic of the rd8 phenotype,
      supporting the hypothesis that manifestation of rd8-associated pathology depends
      on the genetic background. The retinal pathology observed in mice with the
      Ctrp5+/-;wt/wt genotype is consistent with the L-ORD phenotype observed in
      patients and with the phenotype we described previously. The lack of rd8
      associated retinal pathology in the Ctrp5+/-;wt/wt mouse model raised on the
      C57BL/6J background and the development of the L-ORD phenotype in these mice in
      the presence and absence of the rd8 mutation suggests that the pathology observed
      in the Ctrp5+/-;wt/wt mice is primarily associated with the S163R mutation in the
      Ctrp5 gene.

PMID- 25814827
TI  - Cytokine changes in tears and relationship to contact lens discomfort.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the reproducibility of a multiplex bead assay for measuring
      cytokines in tears and correlations between ocular discomfort with or without
      contact lens wear and the concentration of cytokines in tears. METHODS: Ninety
      participants (divided into two groups) were enrolled in this prospective study.
      They were asked to rate their ocular comfort and collect their tears in the
      morning and just before sleep for 10 days with or without contact lenses. The
      participants collected their tears using a glass microcapillary tube for both
      stages. Galyfilcon A lenses were worn on a daily disposable basis during the
      contact lens stage, and comfort scores and tears were collected before lens
      insertion and prior to lens removal at the end of the day. Tears were analyzed
      for cytokine concentrations using a 27-plex multibead assay. Correlations were
      sought between cytokine concentrations and comfort. RESULTS: There was a
      significant (p<0.022) decrease in ocular comfort over the day with or without
      lens wear. The magnitude of ocular discomfort was significantly greater (p<0.009)
      with lens wear. The concentrations of 12 cytokines differed significantly between
      the groups; thus, these cytokines were not analyzed further. For the remaining 15
      cytokines, interleukin-8 (IL-8) was the only cytokine that changed in both groups
      during the day without (reduced by >-0.5 Log pg/ml, p<0.001) or with lens wear
      (reduced by >-0.2 Log pg/ml, p<0.001). The change in the vascular endothelial
      growth factor (VEGF) concentration only in tears was correlated to ocular
      comfort, but this was not changed by contact lens wear. CONCLUSIONS: Ocular
      comfort during the day is magnified by contact lens wear. However, the increase
      in the change in comfort during lens wear was not associated with changes in 15
      cytokines in the tear film.

PMID- 25814828
TI  - Novel homozygous large deletion including the 5' part of the SPATA7 gene in a
      consanguineous Israeli Muslim Arab family.
AB  - PURPOSE: To identify the genetic defect in a consanguineous Israeli Muslim Arab
      family with juvenile retinitis pigmentosa (RP). METHODS: DNA samples were
      collected from the index patient, her parents, her affected sister, and two non
      affected siblings. Genome-wide linkage analysis with 250 K single nucleotide
      polymorphism (SNP) arrays was performed using DNA from the two affected patients.
      Owing to consanguinity in the family, we applied homozygosity mapping to identify
      the disease-causing gene. The candidate gene SPATA7 was screened for mutations
      with PCR amplifications and direct Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: Following high
      density SNP arrays, we identified several homozygous genomic regions one of which
      included the SPATA7 gene. Several mutations in SPATA7 have been reported for
      various forms of retinal dystrophy, including Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA)
      and juvenile RP. PCR-based sequence content mapping, long-distance PCR
      amplifications, and subsequent sequencing analysis revealed a homozygous 63.4 kb
      large deletion that encompasses the 5' part of the SPATA7 gene including exons 1
      5. The mutation showed concordant segregation with the phenotype in the family as
      expected for autosomal recessive mode of inheritance and is consistent with a
      diagnosis of juvenile RP. CONCLUSIONS: We report a novel homozygous large
      deletion in SPATA7 associated with juvenile RP in a consanguineous Israeli Muslim
      Arab family. This is the first larger deletion mutation reported for SPATA7.

PMID- 25814829
TI  - Lens capsule structure assessed with atomic force microscopy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To image the ultrastructure of the anterior lens capsule at the
      nanoscale level using atomic force microscopy (AFM). METHODS: Experiments were
      performed on anterior lens capsules maintained in their in situ location
      surrounding the lens from six human cadavers (donor age range: 44-88 years), four
      cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis age range: 4.83-8.92 years), and seven
      pigs (<6 months). Hydration of all samples was maintained using Dulbecco's
      Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM). Whole lenses were removed from the eye and placed
      anterior side up in agarose gel before gel hardening where only the posterior
      half of the lens was contained within the gel. After the gel hardened, the Petri
      dish was filled with DMEM until the point where the intact lens was fully
      submerged. AFM was used to image the anterior lens surface in contact mode. An
      integrated analysis program was used to calculate the interfibrillar spacing,
      fiber diameter, and surface roughness of the samples. RESULTS: The AFM images
      depict a highly ordered fibrous structure at the surface of the lens capsule in
      all three species. The interfibrillar spacing for the porcine, cynomolgus monkey,
      and human lens capsules was 0.68+/-0.25, 1.80+/-0.39, and 1.08+/-0.25 MUm,
      respectively. In the primate, interfibrillar spacing significantly decreased
      linearly as a function of age. The fiber diameters ranged from 50 to 950 nm.
      Comparison of the root mean square (RMS) and average deviation demonstrate that
      the surface of the porcine lens capsule is the smoothest, and that the human and
      cynomolgus monkey capsules are significantly rougher. CONCLUSIONS: AFM was
      successful in providing high-resolution images of the nanostructure of the lens
      capsule samples. Species-dependent differences were observed in the overall
      structure and surface roughness.

PMID- 25814830
TI  - Synthesis and Interfacial Activity of Novel Heterogemini Sulfobetaines in Aqueous
      Solution.
AB  - Three new heterogemini sulfobetaines and their chloride salts were synthesised.
      The interfacial activities of the obtained chlorides in aqueous solution were
      studied by equilibrium and dynamic surface tension measurements. The critical
      micelle concentration, surface excess concentration, minimum area per surfactant
      molecule and standard Gibbs energy of adsorption as well as micelle lifetime and
      diffusion coefficient were determined. The adsorption properties and micelle
      lifetime of these compounds significantly depend on the length of alkyl chain.
      The critical micelle concentration decreases with increasing chain length of the
      compounds considered. The values of the diffusion coefficient of N-alkyl-N-methyl
      N-(3-sulfopropyl)-6-(N-alkyl-N-methylamino)hexylammonium chloride tend to
      decrease as the concentration is increased.

PMID- 25814831
TI  - Developing a Co-Regulated, Cue-Based Feeding Practice: The Critical Role of
      Assessment and Reflection.
AB  - Assessment of early feeding skills of vulnerable infants is common practice in
      neonatal care centers. However, assessment is often merely an identification of
      feeding outcomes, rather than a description of the infant's capacities and
      methods of adapting to the feeding challenge. Descriptive assessment of the
      feeding process takes into account the dynamic nature of feeding and notes
      changes that occur as the infant matures and gains feeding experience. Assessment
      of the variability that occurs during the feeding as the challenge changes, due
      to fatigue or physiologic instability, are critical to understanding the infant's
      feeding skills. As individual components of the feeding are assessed, such as
      sucking, swallowing and breathing, a reflective process builds understanding of
      the patterns of coordination of system components in relation to one another.
      Taking the whole into account and considering the dynamics of the process is
      necessary if we are going to select appropriate interventions targeted to the
      individual infant's feeding skills. Using a very preterm infant case, this paper
      will illustrate assessment of early feeding skills and demonstrate how reflection
      on and integration of the components of the assessment identifies potential
      targets for co-regulated, cue-based feeding.

PMID- 25814832
TI  - Acetic Acid Mediated Synthesis of Phosphonate-Substituted Titanium Oxo Clusters.
AB  - New phosphonate/acetate-substituted titanium oxo/alkoxo clusters were prepared
      from Ti(OiPr)4 and bis(trimethylsilyl) phosphonates in the presence of acetic
      acid, which served to generate water in situ through ester formation. The process
      led to clusters with a higher degree of condensation than in previously known
      phosphonate-substituted titanium oxo clusters. The clusters
      [Ti6O4(OiPr)10(OAc)2(O3PR)2] (OAc = acetate) were obtained for a large variety of
      functional and non-functional groups R under a range of reaction conditions. This
      cluster type, which is also retained in solution, therefore appears to be very
      robust. Two other clusters, [Ti5O(OiPr)11(OAc)(O3PCH2CH2CH2Br)3] and
      [Ti5O3(OiPr)6(OAc)4(O3P-xylyl)2], were only isolated in special cases.

PMID- 25814833
TI  - Mixed-Metal Oxo Clusters Structurally Derived from Ti6O4(OR)8(OOCR')8.
AB  - The mixed-metal oxo clusters FeTi5O4(OiPr)4(OMc)10 (OMc = methacrylate),
      Zn2Ti4O4(OiPr)2(OMc)10, Cd4Ti2O2(OAc)2(OMc)10(HOiPr)2, [Ca2Ti4O4(OAc)2(OMc)10] n
      , and [Sr2Ti4O4(OMc)12(HOMc)2] n were obtained from the reaction of titanium
      alkoxides with the corresponding metal acetates and methacrylic acid. Their
      structures are derived from Ti clusters with the composition Ti6O4(OR)8(OOCR')8.
      The Ca and Sr derivatives consist of chains of condensed clusters.

PMID- 25814835
TI  - Opposite-side flavour tagging of B mesons at the LHCb experiment.
AB  - The calibration and performance of the opposite-side flavour tagging algorithms
      used for the measurements of time-dependent asymmetries at the LHCb experiment
      are described. The algorithms have been developed using simulated events and
      optimized and calibrated with B+->J/psiK+, B0->J/psiK*0 and B0->D*-MU+nuMU decay
      modes with 0.37 fb-1 of data collected in pp collisions at [Formula: see text]
      during the 2011 physics run. The opposite-side tagging power is determined in the
      B+->J/psiK+ channel to be (2.10+/-0.08+/-0.24) %, where the first uncertainty is
      statistical and the second is systematic.

PMID- 25814836
TI  - Measurement of Upsilon production in pp collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - The production of Upsilon(1S), Upsilon(2S) and Upsilon(3S) mesons in proton
      proton collisions at the centre-of-mass energy of [Formula: see text] is studied
      with the LHCb detector. The analysis is based on a data sample of 25 pb-1
      collected at the Large Hadron Collider. The Upsilon mesons are reconstructed in
      the decay mode Upsilon->MU+MU- and the signal yields are extracted from a fit to
      the MU+MU- invariant mass distributions. The differential production cross
      sections times dimuon branching fractions are measured as a function of the
      Upsilon transverse momentum pT and rapidity y, over the range pT <15 GeV/c and
      2.0<y<4.5. The cross-sections times branching fractions, integrated over these
      kinematic ranges, are measured to be [Formula: see text] where the first
      uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third is due to the
      unknown polarisation of the three Upsilon states.

PMID- 25814834
TI  - Measurement of the relative prompt production rate of chic2 and chic1 in pp
      collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - A measurement is presented of the relative prompt production rate of chic2 and
      chic1 with 4.6 fb-1 of data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp
      collisions at [Formula: see text]. The two states are measured via their
      radiative decays chic->J/psi+gamma, with the photon converting into an e+e- pair
      for J/psi rapidity |y(J/psi)|<1.0 and photon transverse momentum pT(gamma)>0.5
      GeV/c. The measurement is given for six intervals of pT(J/psi) between 7 and 25
      GeV/c. The results are compared to theoretical predictions.

PMID- 25814843
TI  - Search for charged Higgs bosons in e+e- collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - A search is made for charged Higgs bosons predicted by Two-Higgs-Doublet
      extensions of the Standard Model (2HDM) using electron-positron collision data
      collected by the OPAL experiment at [Formula: see text], corresponding to an
      integrated luminosity of approximately 600 pb-1. Charged Higgs bosons are assumed
      to be pair-produced and to decay into [Formula: see text], taunutau or AW+/-. No
      signal is observed. Model-independent limits on the charged Higgs-boson
      production cross section are derived by combining these results with previous
      searches at lower energies. Under the assumption [Formula: see text], motivated
      by general 2HDM type II models, excluded areas on the [Formula: see text] plane
      are presented and charged Higgs bosons are excluded up to a mass of 76.3 GeV at
      95 % confidence level, independent of the branching ratio BR(H+/-->taunutau ). A
      scan of the 2HDM type I model parameter space is performed and limits on the
      Higgs-boson masses [Formula: see text] and mA are presented for different choices
      of tanbeta.

PMID- 25814849
TI  - The post-Higgs MSSM scenario: habemus MSSM?
AB  - We analyze the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model that we
      have after the discovery of the Higgs boson at the LHC, the hMSSM (habemus
      MSSM?), i.e. a model in which the lighter h boson has a mass of approximately 125
      GeV which, together with the non-observation of superparticles at the LHC,
      indicates that the SUSY-breaking scale MS is rather high, MS ?1 TeV. We first
      demonstrate that the value Mh ~125 GeV fixes the dominant radiative corrections
      that enter the MSSM Higgs boson masses, leading to a Higgs sector that can be
      described, to a good approximation, by only two free parameters. In a second
      step, we consider the direct supersymmetric radiative corrections and show that,
      to a good approximation, the phenomenology of the lighter Higgs state can be
      described by its mass and three couplings: those to massive gauge bosons and to
      top and bottom quarks. We perform a fit of these couplings using the latest LHC
      data on the production and decay rates of the light h boson and combine it with
      the limits from the negative search of the heavier H,A and H+/- states, taking
      into account the current uncertainties.

PMID- 25814845
TI  - Measurement of psi(2S) meson production in pp collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - The differential cross-section for the inclusive production of psi(2S) mesons in
      pp collisions at [Formula: see text] has been measured with the LHCb detector.
      The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb-1. The psi(2S)
      mesons are reconstructed in the decay channels psi(2S)->MU+MU- and psi(2S)
      >J/psipi+pi-, with the J/psi meson decaying into two muons. Results are presented
      both for promptly produced psi(2S) mesons and for those originating from b-hadron
      decays. In the kinematic range pT(psi(2S))<=16 GeV/c and 2<y(psi(2S))<=4.5 we
      measure [Formula: see text] where the last uncertainty on the prompt cross
      section is due to the unknown psi(2S) polarization. Recent QCD calculations are
      found to be in good agreement with our measurements. Combining the present result
      with the LHCb J/psi measurements we determine the inclusive branching fraction
      [Formula: see text] where the last uncertainty is due to the [Formula: see text],
      [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] branching fraction uncertainties.

PMID- 25814846
TI  - Measurement of relative branching fractions of B decays to psi(2S) and J/psi
      mesons.
AB  - The relative rates of B-meson decays into J/psi and psi(2S) mesons are measured
      for the three decay modes in pp collisions recorded with the LHCb detector. The
      ratios of branching fractions ([Formula: see text]) are measured to be [Formula:
      see text] where the third uncertainty is from the ratio of the psi(2S) and J/psi
      branching fractions to MU+MU-.

PMID- 25814848
TI  - Measurement of J/psi polarization in pp collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - An angular analysis of the decay J/psi->MU+MU- is performed to measure the
      polarization of prompt J/psi mesons produced in pp collisions at [Formula: see
      text]. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 0.37 fb-1 collected
      with the LHCb detector. The measurement is presented as a function of transverse
      momentum, pT, and rapidity, y, of the J/psi meson, in the kinematic region
      2<pT<15 GeV/c and 2.0<y<4.5.

PMID- 25814847
TI  - Charmonium and e+e- pair photoproduction at mid-rapidity in ultra-peripheral Pb
      Pb collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - The ALICE Collaboration at the LHC has measured the J/psi and psi'
      photoproduction at mid-rapidity in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at [Formula:
      see text]. The charmonium is identified via its leptonic decay for events where
      the hadronic activity is required to be minimal. The analysis is based on an
      event sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 23 MUb-1. The
      cross section for coherent and incoherent J/psi production in the rapidity
      interval -0.9<y<0.9, are [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text],
      respectively. The results are compared to theoretical models for J/psi production
      and the coherent cross section is found to be in good agreement with those models
      incorporating moderate nuclear gluon shadowing at Bjorken-x around 10-3, such as
      EPS09 parametrization. In addition the cross section for the process gammagamma
      >e+e- has been measured and found to be in agreement with models implementing QED
      at leading order.

PMID- 25814850
TI  - Energy dependence of the transverse momentum distributions of charged particles
      in pp collisions measured by ALICE.
AB  - Differential cross sections of charged particles in inelastic pp collisions as a
      function of pT have been measured at [Formula: see text] at the LHC. The pT
      spectra are compared to NLO-pQCD calculations. Though the differential cross
      section for an individual [Formula: see text] cannot be described by NLO-pQCD,
      the relative increase of cross section with [Formula: see text] is in agreement
      with NLO-pQCD. Based on these measurements and observations, procedures are
      discussed to construct pp reference spectra at [Formula: see text] up to pT=50
      GeV/c as required for the calculation of the nuclear modification factor in
      nucleus-nucleus and proton-nucleus collisions.

PMID- 25814837
TI  - Measurement of the charge asymmetry in top quark pair production in pp collisions
      at [Formula: see text] using the ATLAS detector.
AB  - A measurement of the top-antitop production charge asymmetry AC is presented
      using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.04 fb-1 of pp
      collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC.
      Events are selected with a single lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse
      momentum and at least four jets of which at least one jet is identified as coming
      from a b-quark. A kinematic fit is used to reconstruct the [Formula: see text]
      event topology. After background subtraction, a Bayesian unfolding procedure is
      performed to correct for acceptance and detector effects. The measured value of
      AC is [Formula: see text], consistent with the prediction from the MC@NLO Monte
      Carlo generator of AC =0.006+/-0.002. Measurements of AC in two ranges of
      invariant mass of the top-antitop pair are also shown.

PMID- 25814838
TI  - Search for lepton flavour violation in the eMU continuum with the ATLAS detector
      in [Formula: see text]pp collisions at the LHC.
AB  - This paper presents a search for the t-channel exchange of an R-parity violating
      scalar top quark ([Formula: see text]) in the e+/-MU? continuum using 2.1 fb-1 of
      data collected by the ATLAS detector in [Formula: see text]pp collisions at the
      Large Hadron Collider. Data are found to be consistent with the expectation from
      the Standard Model backgrounds. Limits on R-parity-violating couplings at 95 %
      C.L. are calculated as a function of the scalar top mass ([Formula: see text]).
      The upper limits on the production cross section for pp->eMUX, through the t
      channel exchange of a scalar top quark, ranges from 170 fb for [Formula: see
      text] to 30 fb for [Formula: see text].

PMID- 25814859
TI  - Performance of the LHCb RICH detector at the LHC.
AB  - The LHCb experiment has been taking data at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at
      CERN since the end of 2009. One of its key detector components is the Ring
      Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) system. This provides charged particle identification
      over a wide momentum range, from 2-100 GeV/c. The operation and control,
      software, and online monitoring of the RICH system are described. The particle
      identification performance is presented, as measured using data from the LHC.
      Excellent separation of hadronic particle types (pi, K, p) is achieved.

PMID- 25814858
TI  - Measurement of the forward energy flow in pp collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - The energy flow created in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] is studied within
      the pseudorapidity range 1.9<eta<4.9 with data collected by the LHCb experiment.
      The measurements are performed for inclusive minimum-bias interactions, hard
      scattering processes and events with an enhanced or suppressed diffractive
      contribution. The results are compared to predictions given by Pythia-based and
      cosmic-ray event generators, which provide different models of soft hadronic
      interactions.

PMID- 25814839
TI  - Measurement of [Formula: see text] production with a veto on additional central
      jet activity in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV using the ATLAS
      detector.
AB  - A measurement of the jet activity in [Formula: see text] events produced in
      proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented, using
      2.05 fb-1 of integrated luminosity collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large
      Hadron Collider. The [Formula: see text] events are selected in the dilepton
      decay channel with two identified b-jets from the top quark decays. Events are
      vetoed if they contain an additional jet with transverse momentum above a
      threshold in a central rapidity interval. The fraction of events surviving the
      jet veto is presented as a function of this threshold for four different central
      rapidity interval definitions. An alternate measurement is also performed, in
      which events are vetoed if the scalar transverse momentum sum of the additional
      jets in each rapidity interval is above a threshold. In both measurements, the
      data are corrected for detector effects and compared to the theoretical models
      implemented in MC@NLO, Powheg, Alpgen and Sherpa. The experimental uncertainties
      are often smaller than the spread of theoretical predictions, allowing deviations
      between data and theory to be observed in some regions of phase space.

PMID- 25814851
TI  - Jet and underlying event properties as a function of charged-particle
      multiplicity in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - Characteristics of multi-particle production in proton-proton collisions at
      [Formula: see text] are studied as a function of the charged-particle
      multiplicity, Nch. The produced particles are separated into two classes: those
      belonging to jets and those belonging to the underlying event. Charged particles
      are measured with pseudorapidity |eta|<2.4 and transverse momentum pT>0.25 GeV/c.
      Jets are reconstructed from charged-particles only and required to have pT>5
      GeV/c. The distributions of jet pT, average pT of charged particles belonging to
      the underlying event or to jets, jet rates, and jet shapes are presented as
      functions of Nch and compared to the predictions of the pythia and herwig event
      generators. Predictions without multi-parton interactions fail completely to
      describe the Nch-dependence observed in the data. For increasing Nch, pythia
      systematically predicts higher jet rates and harder pT spectra than seen in the
      data, whereas herwig shows the opposite trends. At the highest multiplicity, the
      data-model agreement is worse for most observables, indicating the need for
      further tuning and/or new model ingredients.

PMID- 25814862
TI  - Measurements of the branching fractions of [Formula: see text] decays.
AB  - The branching fractions of the decay [Formula: see text] for different
      intermediate states are measured using data, corresponding to an integrated
      luminosity of 1.0 fb-1, collected by the LHCb experiment. The total branching
      fraction, its charmless component [Formula: see text] and the branching fractions
      via the resonant [Formula: see text] states etac (1S) and psi(2S) relative to the
      decay via a J/psi intermediate state are [Formula: see text] Upper limits on the
      B+ branching fractions into the etac (2S) meson and into the charmonium-like
      states X(3872) and X(3915) are also obtained.

PMID- 25814840
TI  - Measurement of the top quark mass with the template method in the [Formula: see
      text] channel using ATLAS data.
AB  - The top quark mass has been measured using the template method in the [Formula:
      see text] channel based on data recorded in 2011 with the ATLAS detector at the
      LHC. The data were taken at a proton-proton centre-of-mass energy of [Formula:
      see text] and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.04 fb-1. The analyses
      in the e+jets and MU+jets decay channels yield consistent results. The top quark
      mass is measured to be mtop=174.5+/-0.6stat+/-2.3syst GeV.

PMID- 25814861
TI  - Measurement of inelastic, single- and double-diffraction cross sections in proton
      proton collisions at the LHC with ALICE.
AB  - Measurements of cross sections of inelastic and diffractive processes in proton
      proton collisions at LHC energies were carried out with the ALICE detector. The
      fractions of diffractive processes in inelastic collisions were determined from a
      study of gaps in charged particle pseudorapidity distributions: for single
      diffraction (diffractive mass MX <200 GeV/c2) [Formula: see text], and [Formula:
      see text], respectively at centre-of-mass energies [Formula: see text]; for
      double diffraction (for a pseudorapidity gap Deltaeta>3) sigmaDD/sigmaINEL=0.11+/
      0.03,0.12+/-0.05, and [Formula: see text], respectively at [Formula: see text].
      To measure the inelastic cross section, beam properties were determined with van
      der Meer scans, and, using a simulation of diffraction adjusted to data, the
      following values were obtained: [Formula: see text] mb at [Formula: see text] and
      [Formula: see text] at [Formula: see text]. The single- and double-diffractive
      cross sections were calculated combining relative rates of diffraction with
      inelastic cross sections. The results are compared to previous measurements at
      proton-antiproton and proton-proton colliders at lower energies, to measurements
      by other experiments at the LHC, and to theoretical models.

PMID- 25814853
TI  - Measurement of the sum of WW and WZ production with W+dijet events in pp
      collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - A measurement of the inclusive WW+WZ diboson production cross section in proton
      proton collisions is reported, based on events containing a leptonically decaying
      W boson and exactly two jets. The data sample, collected at [Formula: see text]
      with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0
      fb-1. The measured value of the sum of the inclusive WW and WZ cross sections is
      sigma(pp->WW+WZ)=68.9+/-8.7 (stat.)+/-9.7 (syst.)+/-1.5 (lum.) pb, consistent
      with the standard model prediction of 65.6+/-2.2 pb. This is the first
      measurement of WW+WZ production in pp collisions using this signature. No
      evidence for anomalous triple gauge couplings is found and upper limits are set
      on their magnitudes.

PMID- 25814842
TI  - Measurement of tau polarization in W->taunu decays with the ATLAS detector in pp
      collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - In this paper, a measurement of tau polarization in W->taunu decays is presented.
      It is measured from the energies of the decay products in hadronic tau decays
      with a single final state charged particle. The data, corresponding to an
      integrated luminosity of 24 pb-1, were collected by the ATLAS experiment at the
      Large Hadron Collider in 2010. The measured value of the tau polarization is
      [Formula: see text], in agreement with the Standard Model prediction, and is
      consistent with a physically allowed 95 % CL interval [-1,-0.91]. Measurements of
      tau polarization have not previously been made at hadron colliders.

PMID- 25814844
TI  - A search for [Formula: see text] resonances with the ATLAS detector in 2.05 fb-1
      of proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - A search for top quark pair resonances in final states containing at least one
      electron or muon has been performed with the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large
      Hadron Collider. The search uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated
      luminosity of 2.05 fb-1, which was recorded in 2011 at a proton-proton centre-of
      mass energy of 7 TeV. No evidence for a resonance is found and limits are set on
      the production cross-section times branching ratio to [Formula: see text] for
      narrow and wide resonances. For narrow Z' bosons, the observed 95 % Bayesian
      credibility level limits range from 9.3 pb to 0.95 pb for masses in the range of
      mZ'=500 GeV to mZ'=1300 GeV. The corresponding excluded mass region for a
      leptophobic topcolour Z' boson (Kaluza-Klein gluon excitation in the Randall
      Sundrum model) is mZ'<880 GeV ([Formula: see text]).

PMID- 25814869
TI  - QCD corrections to [Formula: see text] in FDR.
AB  - I apply FDR-a recently introduced four-dimensional approach to quantum field
      theories (QFTs)-to the computation of the NLO QCD corrections to [Formula: see
      text] in the large top mass limit. The calculation involves all key ingredients
      of QCD-namely ultraviolet, infrared, and collinear divergences, besides [Formula:
      see text] renormalization-and paves the way for successful use of FDR in massless
      one-loop QFT computations. I show in detail how the correct result emerges in
      FDR, and discuss the translation rules to dimensional regularization.

PMID- 25814870
TI  - Higgs characterisation via vector-boson fusion and associated production: NLO and
      parton-shower effects.
AB  - Vector-boson fusion and associated production at the LHC can provide key
      information on the strength and structure of the Higgs couplings to the Standard
      Model particles. Using an effective field theory approach, we study the effects
      of next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections matched to a parton shower on
      selected observables for various spin-0 hypotheses. We find that inclusion of NLO
      corrections is needed to reduce the theoretical uncertainties on the total rates
      as well as to reliably predict the shapes of the distributions. Our results are
      obtained in a fully automatic way via FeynRules and MadGraph5_aMC@NLO.

PMID- 25814841
TI  - Search for heavy neutrinos and right-handed W bosons in events with two leptons
      and jets in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] with the ATLAS detector.
AB  - This letter reports on a search for hypothetical heavy neutrinos, N, and right
      handed gauge bosons, WR, in events with high transverse momentum objects which
      include two reconstructed leptons and at least one hadronic jet. The results were
      obtained from data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.1 fb-1
      collected in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text] with the ATLAS
      detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No excess above the Standard Model
      background expectation is observed. Excluded mass regions for Majorana and Dirac
      neutrinos are presented using two approaches for interactions that violate lepton
      and lepton-flavor numbers. One approach uses an effective operator framework, the
      other approach is guided by the Left-Right Symmetric Model. The results described
      in this letter represent the most stringent limits to date on the masses of heavy
      neutrinos and WR bosons obtained in direct searches.

PMID- 25814852
TI  - Measurement of jet shapes in top-quark pair events at [Formula: see text] using
      the ATLAS detector.
AB  - A measurement of jet shapes in top-quark pair events using 1.8 fb-1 of [Formula:
      see text]pp collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC is
      presented. Samples of top-quark pair events are selected in both the single
      lepton and dilepton final states. The differential and integrated shapes of the
      jets initiated by bottom-quarks from the top-quark decays are compared with those
      of the jets originated by light-quarks from the hadronic W-boson decays [Formula:
      see text] in the single-lepton channel. The light-quark jets are found to have a
      narrower distribution of the momentum flow inside the jet area than b-quark jets.

PMID- 25814857
TI  - Search for supersymmetry in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV in events
      with a single lepton, jets, and missing transverse momentum.
AB  - : Results are reported from a search for new physics processes in events
      containing a single isolated high-transverse-momentum lepton (electron or muon),
      energetic jets, and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a
      4.98 fb-1 sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV,
      obtained with the CMS detector at the LHC. Three separate background estimation
      methods, each relying primarily on control samples in the data, are applied to a
      range of signal regions, providing complementary approaches for estimating the
      background yields. The observed yields are consistent with the predicted standard
      model backgrounds. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the
      parameter space for the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the
      standard model, as well as on cross sections for simplified models, which provide
      a generic description of the production and decay of new particles in specific,
      topology based final states. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online
      version of this article (doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-013-2404-z) contains
      supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

PMID- 25814854
TI  - Jet energy resolution in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text] recorded
      in 2010 with the ATLAS detector.
AB  - The measurement of the jet energy resolution is presented using data recorded
      with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text]. The
      sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed
      from energy deposits measured by the calorimeters and calibrated using different
      jet calibration schemes. The jet energy resolution is measured with two different
      in situ methods which are found to be in agreement within uncertainties. The
      total uncertainties on these measurements range from 20 % to 10 % for jets within
      |y|<2.8 and with transverse momenta increasing from 30 GeV to 500 GeV. Overall,
      the Monte Carlo simulation of the jet energy resolution agrees with the data
      within 10 %.

PMID- 25814855
TI  - Measurement of the [Formula: see text] production cross section in the tau + jets
      channel using the ATLAS detector.
AB  - A measurement of the top quark pair production cross section in the final state
      with a hadronically decaying tau lepton and jets is presented. The analysis is
      based on proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the
      LHC, with a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The data sample corresponds to an
      integrated luminosity of 1.67 fb-1. The cross section is measured to be [Formula:
      see text] and is in agreement with other measurements and with the Standard Model
      prediction.

PMID- 25814865
TI  - Search for physics beyond the standard model in events with tau leptons, jets,
      and large transverse momentum imbalance in pp collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - A search for physics beyond the standard model is performed with events having
      one or more hadronically decaying tau leptons, highly energetic jets, and large
      transverse momentum imbalance. The data sample corresponds to an integrated
      luminosity of 4.98 fb-1 of proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text]
      collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2011. The number of observed events
      is consistent with predictions for standard model processes. Lower limits on the
      mass of the gluino in supersymmetric models are determined.

PMID- 25814868
TI  - Search for supersymmetry in hadronic final states with missing transverse energy
      using the variables alphaT and b-quark multiplicity in pp collisions at [Formula:
      see text].
AB  - An inclusive search for supersymmetric processes that produce final states with
      jets and missing transverse energy is performed in pp collisions at a centre-of
      mass energy of 8 TeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of
      11.7 fb-1 collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. In this search, a
      dimensionless kinematic variable, alphaT, is used to discriminate between events
      with genuine and misreconstructed missing transverse energy. The search is based
      on an examination of the number of reconstructed jets per event, the scalar sum
      of transverse energies of these jets, and the number of these jets identified as
      originating from bottom quarks. No significant excess of events over the standard
      model expectation is found. Exclusion limits are set in the parameter space of
      simplified models, with a special emphasis on both compressed-spectrum scenarios
      and direct or gluino-induced production of third-generation squarks. For the case
      of gluino-mediated squark production, gluino masses up to 950-1125 GeV are
      excluded depending on the assumed model. For the direct pair-production of
      squarks, masses up to 450 GeV are excluded for a single light first- or second
      generation squark, increasing to 600 GeV for bottom squarks.

PMID- 25814864
TI  - Search for a standard-model-like Higgs boson with a mass in the range 145 to 1000
      GeV at the LHC.
AB  - A search for a standard-model-like Higgs boson in the H->WW and H->ZZ decay
      channels is reported, for Higgs boson masses in the range 145<mH<1000 GeV. The
      search is based upon proton-proton collision data samples corresponding to an
      integrated luminosity of up to 5.1 fb-1 at [Formula: see text] and up to 5.3 fb-1
      at [Formula: see text], recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The combined
      upper limits at 95 % confidence level on products of the cross section and
      branching fractions exclude a standard-model-like Higgs boson in the range
      145<mH<710 GeV, thus extending the mass region excluded by CMS from 127-600 GeV
      up to 710 GeV.

PMID- 25814866
TI  - Measurement of masses in the [Formula: see text] system by kinematic endpoints in
      pp collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - A simultaneous measurement of the top-quark, W-boson, and neutrino masses is
      reported for [Formula: see text] events selected in the dilepton final state from
      a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb-1 collected by
      the CMS experiment in pp collisions at [Formula: see text]. The analysis is based
      on endpoint determinations in kinematic distributions. When the neutrino and W
      boson masses are constrained to their world-average values, a top-quark mass
      value of [Formula: see text] is obtained. When such constraints are not used, the
      three particle masses are obtained in a simultaneous fit. In this unconstrained
      mode the study serves as a test of mass determination methods that may be used in
      beyond standard model physics scenarios where several masses in a decay chain may
      be unknown and undetected particles lead to underconstrained kinematics.

PMID- 25814856
TI  - Multi-channel search for squarks and gluinos in [Formula: see text]pp collisions
      with the ATLAS detector at the LHC.
AB  - A search for supersymmetric particles in final states with zero, one, and two
      leptons, with and without jets identified as originating from b-quarks, in 4.7 fb
      1 of [Formula: see text]pp collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider and
      recorded by the ATLAS detector is presented. The search uses a set of variables
      carrying information on the event kinematics transverse and parallel to the beam
      line that are sensitive to several topologies expected in supersymmetry. Mutually
      exclusive final states are defined, allowing a combination of all channels to
      increase the search sensitivity. No deviation from the Standard Model expectation
      is observed. Upper limits at 95 % confidence level on visible cross-sections for
      the production of new particles are extracted. Results are interpreted in the
      context of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension to the Standard Model
      and in supersymmetry-inspired models with diverse, high-multiplicity final
      states.

PMID- 25814878
TI  - Fastlim: a fast LHC limit calculator.
AB  - Fastlim is a tool to calculate conservative limits on extensions of the Standard
      Model from direct LHC searches without performing any Monte Carlo event
      generation. The program reconstructs the visible cross sections (cross sections
      after event selection cuts) from pre-calculated efficiency tables and cross
      section tables for simplified event topologies. As a proof of concept of the
      approach, we have implemented searches relevant for supersymmetric models with R
      parity conservation. Fastlim takes the spectrum and coupling information of a
      given model point and provides, for each signal region of the implemented
      analyses, the visible cross sections normalised to the corresponding upper limit,
      reported by the experiments, as well as the [Formula: see text] value. To
      demonstrate the utility of the program we study the sensitivity of the recent
      ATLAS missing energy searches to the parameter space of natural SUSY models. The
      program structure allows the straightforward inclusion of external efficiency
      tables and can be generalised to R-parity violating scenarios and non-SUSY
      models. This paper serves as a self-contained user guide and indicates the
      conventions and approximations used.

PMID- 25814879
TI  - Holographic thermalization in [Formula: see text] super Yang-Mills theory at
      finite coupling.
AB  - We investigate the behavior of energy-momentum tensor correlators in holographic
      [Formula: see text] super Yang-Mills plasma, taking finite coupling corrections
      into account. In the thermal limit we determine the flow of quasinormal modes as
      a function of the 't Hooft coupling. Then we use a specific model of holographic
      thermalization to study the deviation of the spectral densities from their
      thermal limit in an out-of-equilibrium situation. The main focus lies on the
      thermalization pattern with which the plasma constituents approach their thermal
      distribution as the coupling constant decreases from the infinite coupling limit.
      All obtained results point towards the weakening of the usual top-down
      thermalization pattern.

PMID- 25814883
TI  - Geonic black holes and remnants in Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity.
AB  - We show that electrically charged solutions within the Eddington-inspired Born
      Infeld theory of gravity replace the central singularity by a wormhole supported
      by the electric field. As a result, the total energy associated with the electric
      field is finite and similar to that found in the Born-Infeld electromagnetic
      theory. When a certain charge-to-mass ratio is satisfied, in the lowest part of
      the mass and charge spectrum the event horizon disappears, yielding stable
      remnants. We argue that quantum effects in the matter sector can lower the mass
      of these remnants from the Planck scale down to the TeV scale.

PMID- 25814880
TI  - Black holes as critical point of quantum phase transition.
AB  - We reformulate the quantum black hole portrait in the language of modern
      condensed matter physics. We show that black holes can be understood as a
      graviton Bose-Einstein condensate at the critical point of a quantum phase
      transition, identical to what has been observed in systems of cold atoms. The
      Bogoliubov modes that become degenerate and nearly gapless at this point are the
      holographic quantum degrees of freedom responsible for the black hole entropy and
      the information storage. They have no (semi)classical counterparts and become
      inaccessible in this limit. These findings indicate a deep connection between the
      seemingly remote systems and suggest a new quantum foundation of holography. They
      also open an intriguing possibility of simulating black hole information
      processing in table-top labs.

PMID- 25814882
TI  - Nonstandard Higgs couplings from angular distributions in [Formula: see text].
AB  - We compute the fully differential rate for the Higgs-boson decay [Formula: see
      text], with [Formula: see text]. For these processes we assume the most general
      matrix elements within an effective Lagrangian framework. The electroweak chiral
      Lagrangian we employ assumes minimal particle content and Standard Model gauge
      symmetries, but it is otherwise completely general. We discuss how information on
      new physics in the decay form factors may be obtained that is inaccessible in the
      dilepton-mass spectrum integrated over angular variables. The form factors are
      related to the coefficients of the effective Lagrangian, which are used to
      estimate the potential size of new-physics effects.

PMID- 25814881
TI  - A naturally light dilaton and a small cosmological constant.
AB  - We present a non-supersymmetric theory with a naturally light dilaton. It is
      based on a 5D holographic description of a conformal theory perturbed by a close
      to-marginal operator of dimension [Formula: see text] which develops a
      condensate. As long as the dimension of the perturbing operator remains very
      close to marginal (even for large couplings) a stable minimum at hierarchically
      small scales is achieved, where the dilaton mass squared is suppressed by
      [Formula: see text]. At the same time the cosmological constant in this sector is
      also suppressed by [Formula: see text], and thus it is parametrically smaller
      than in a broken SUSY theory. As a byproduct we also present an exact solution to
      the scalar-gravity system that can be interpreted as a new holographic
      realization of spontaneously broken conformal symmetry. Even though this metric
      deviates substantially from AdS space in the deep IR it still describes a non
      linearly realized exactly conformal theory. We also display the effective
      potential for the dilaton for arbitrary holographic backgrounds.

PMID- 25814884
TI  - Implications of improved Higgs mass calculations for supersymmetric models.
AB  - We discuss the allowed parameter spaces of supersymmetric scenarios in light of
      improved Higgs mass predictions provided by FeynHiggs 2.10.0. The Higgs mass
      predictions combine Feynman-diagrammatic results with a resummation of leading
      and subleading logarithmic corrections from the stop/top sector, which yield a
      significant improvement in the region of large stop masses. Scans in the pMSSM
      parameter space show that, for given values of the soft supersymmetry-breaking
      parameters, the new logarithmic contributions beyond the two-loop order
      implemented in FeynHiggs tend to give larger values of the light CP-even Higgs
      mass, [Formula: see text], in the region of large stop masses than previous
      predictions that were based on a fixed-order Feynman-diagrammatic result, though
      the differences are generally consistent with the previous estimates of
      theoretical uncertainties. We re-analyse the parameter spaces of the CMSSM, NUHM1
      and NUHM2, taking into account also the constraints from CMS and LHCb
      measurements of [Formula: see text]and ATLAS searches for [Formula: see text]
      events using 20/fb of LHC data at 8 TeV. Within the CMSSM, the Higgs mass
      constraint disfavours [Formula: see text], though not in the NUHM1 or NUHM2.

PMID- 25814886
TI  - Implications of the Higgs discovery for the MSSM.
AB  - The implications of the discovery of the Higgs boson at the LHC with a mass of
      approximately 125 GeV are summarised in the context of the minimal supersymmetric
      extension of the Standard Model, the MSSM. Discussed are the implications from
      the measured mass and production/decay rates of the observed particle and from
      the constraints in the search for the heavier Higgs states at the LHC.

PMID- 25814887
TI  - Supersymmetric fits after the Higgs discovery and implications for model
      building.
AB  - The data from the first run of the LHC at 7 and 8 TeV, together with the
      information provided by other experiments such as precision electroweak
      measurements, flavour measurements, the cosmological density of cold dark matter
      and the direct search for the scattering of dark matter particles in the LUX
      experiment, provide important constraints on supersymmetric models. Important
      information is provided by the ATLAS and CMS measurements of the mass of the
      Higgs boson, as well as the negative results of searches at the LHC for events
      with [Formula: see text] accompanied by jets, and the LHCb and CMS measurements
      of [Formula: see text]. Results are presented from frequentist analyses of the
      parameter spaces of the CMSSM and NUHM1. The global [Formula: see text] functions
      for the supersymmetric models vary slowly over most of the parameter spaces
      allowed by the Higgs mass and the [Formula: see text] search, with best-fit
      values that are comparable to the [Formula: see text] for the standard model. The
      95 % CL lower limits on the masses of gluinos and squarks allow significant
      prospects for observing them during the LHC runs at higher energies.

PMID- 25814871
TI  - Observation of the diphoton decay of the Higgs boson and measurement of its
      properties.
AB  - Observation of the diphoton decay mode of the recently discovered Higgs boson and
      measurement of some of its properties are reported. The analysis uses the entire
      dataset collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions during the
      2011 and 2012 LHC running periods. The data samples correspond to integrated
      luminosities of 5.1[Formula: see text]at [Formula: see text] and 19.7[Formula:
      see text]at 8[Formula: see text] . A clear signal is observed in the diphoton
      channel at a mass close to 125[Formula: see text] with a local significance of
      [Formula: see text], where a significance of [Formula: see text] is expected for
      the standard model Higgs boson. The mass is measured to be [Formula: see text] ,
      and the best-fit signal strength relative to the standard model prediction is
      [Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]. Additional
      measurements include the signal strength modifiers associated with different
      production mechanisms, and hypothesis tests between spin-0 and spin-2 models.

PMID- 25814860
TI  - Measurement of kT splitting scales in W->lnu events at [Formula: see text] with
      the ATLAS detector.
AB  - A measurement of splitting scales, as defined by the kT clustering algorithm, is
      presented for final states containing a W boson produced in proton-proton
      collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The measurement is based on the
      full 2010 data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb-1 which
      was collected using the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Cluster
      splitting scales are measured in events containing W bosons decaying to electrons
      or muons. The measurement comprises the four hardest splitting scales in a kT
      cluster sequence of the hadronic activity accompanying the W boson, and ratios of
      these splitting scales. Backgrounds such as multi-jet and top-quark-pair
      production are subtracted and the results are corrected for detector effects.
      Predictions from various Monte Carlo event generators at particle level are
      compared to the data. Overall, reasonable agreement is found with all generators,
      but larger deviations between the predictions and the data are evident in the
      soft regions of the splitting scales.

PMID- 25814890
TI  - Infrared saturation and phases of gauge theories with BRST symmetry.
AB  - We investigate the infrared limit of the quantum equation of motion of the gauge
      boson propagator in various gauges and models with a BRST symmetry. We find that
      the saturation of this equation at low momenta distinguishes between the Coulomb,
      Higgs and confining phase of the gauge theory. The Coulomb phase is characterized
      by a massless gauge boson. Physical states contribute to the saturation of the
      transverse equation of motion of the gauge boson at low momenta in the Higgs
      phase, while the saturation is entirely due to unphysical degrees of freedom in
      the confining phase. This corollary to the Kugo-Ojima confinement criterion in
      linear covariant gauges also is sufficient for confinement in general covariant
      gauges with BRST and anti-BRST symmetry, maximal Abelian gauges with an
      equivariant BRST symmetry, non-covariant Coulomb gauge and in the Gribov
      Zwanziger theory.

PMID- 25814863
TI  - Search for a light charged Higgs boson in the decay channel [Formula: see text]
      in [Formula: see text] events using pp collisions at [Formula: see text] with the
      ATLAS detector.
AB  - A search for a charged Higgs boson (H+) in [Formula: see text] decays is
      presented, where one of the top quarks decays via t->H+b, followed by H+-> two
      jets ([Formula: see text]). The other top quark decays to Wb, where the W boson
      then decays into a lepton (e/MU) and a neutrino. The data were recorded in pp
      collisions at [Formula: see text] by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2011, and
      correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb-1. With no observation of a
      signal, 95 % confidence level (CL) upper limits are set on the decay branching
      ratio of top quarks to charged Higgs bosons varying between 5 % and 1 % for H+
      masses between 90 GeV and 150 GeV, assuming [Formula: see text].

PMID- 25814867
TI  - Improved luminosity determination in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] using
      the ATLAS detector at the LHC.
AB  - The luminosity calibration for the ATLAS detector at the LHC during pp collisions
      at [Formula: see text] in 2010 and 2011 is presented. Evaluation of the
      luminosity scale is performed using several luminosity-sensitive detectors, and
      comparisons are made of the long-term stability and accuracy of this calibration
      applied to the pp collisions at [Formula: see text]. A luminosity uncertainty of
      [Formula: see text] is obtained for the 47 pb-1 of data delivered to ATLAS in
      2010, and an uncertainty of [Formula: see text] is obtained for the 5.5 fb-1
      delivered in 2011.

PMID- 25814872
TI  - Measurement of the [Formula: see text] production cross-section using [Formula:
      see text] events with [Formula: see text]-tagged jets in [Formula: see text]
      collisions at [Formula: see text] and 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
AB  - The inclusive top quark pair ([Formula: see text]) production cross-section
      [Formula: see text] has been measured in proton-proton collisions at [Formula:
      see text] and [Formula: see text] with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, using
      [Formula: see text] events with an opposite-charge [Formula: see text] pair in
      the final state. The measurement was performed with the 2011 7 TeV dataset
      corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 [Formula: see text] and the 2012
      8 TeV dataset of 20.3 [Formula: see text]. The numbers of events with exactly one
      and exactly two [Formula: see text]-tagged jets were counted and used to
      simultaneously determine [Formula: see text] and the efficiency to reconstruct
      and [Formula: see text]-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the
      associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section was measured to be:
      [Formula: see text]where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics,
      experimental and theoretical systematic effects, knowledge of the integrated
      luminosity and of the LHC beam energy. The results are consistent with recent
      theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. Fiducial
      measurements corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons are also
      reported, together with the ratio of cross-sections measured at the two centre-of
      mass energies. The inclusive cross-section results were used to determine the top
      quark pole mass via the dependence of the theoretically predicted cross-section
      on [Formula: see text] giving a result of [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]
      GeV. By looking for an excess of [Formula: see text] production with respect to
      the QCD prediction, the results were also used to place limits on the pair
      production of supersymmetric top squarks [Formula: see text] with masses close to
      the top quark mass, decaying via [Formula: see text] to predominantly right
      handed top quarks and a light neutralino [Formula: see text], the lightest
      supersymmetric particle. Top squarks with masses between the top quark mass and
      177 GeV are excluded at the 95 % confidence level.

PMID- 25814888
TI  - Measurement of the [Formula: see text] meson lifetime using [Formula: see text]
      decays.
AB  - The lifetime of the [Formula: see text] meson is measured using semileptonic
      decays having a [Formula: see text] meson and a muon in the final state. The
      data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of [Formula: see text], are
      collected by the LHCb detector in [Formula: see text] collisions at a centre-of
      mass energy of 8 TeV. The measured lifetime is [Formula: see text]where the first
      uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic.

PMID- 25814889
TI  - Measurement of [Formula: see text] polarisation in [Formula: see text] collisions
      at [Formula: see text] = 7 TeV.
AB  - The polarisation of prompt [Formula: see text] mesons is measured by performing
      an angular analysis of [Formula: see text] decays using proton-proton collision
      data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0[Formula: see text],
      collected by the LHCb detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The
      polarisation is measured in bins of transverse momentum [Formula: see text] and
      rapidity [Formula: see text] in the kinematic region [Formula: see text] and
      [Formula: see text], and is compared to theoretical models. No significant
      polarisation is observed.

PMID- 25814874
TI  - Measurement of differential cross sections for the production of a pair of
      isolated photons in pp collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - A measurement of differential cross sections for the production of a pair of
      isolated photons in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text] is presented.
      The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0[Formula: see text]
      collected with the CMS detector. A data-driven isolation template method is used
      to extract the prompt diphoton yield. The measured cross section for two isolated
      photons, with transverse energy above 40 and 25[Formula: see text] respectively,
      in the pseudorapidity range [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and with an
      angular separation [Formula: see text], is [Formula: see text][Formula: see
      text]. Differential cross sections are measured as a function of the diphoton
      invariant mass, the diphoton transverse momentum, the azimuthal angle difference
      between the two photons, and the cosine of the polar angle in the Collins-Soper
      reference frame of the diphoton system. The results are compared to theoretical
      predictions at leading, next-to-leading, and next-to-next-to-leading order in
      quantum chromodynamics.

PMID- 25814891
TI  - Measurement of charged particle multiplicities and densities in [Formula: see
      text] collisions at [Formula: see text]TeV in the forward region.
AB  - Charged particle multiplicities are studied in proton-proton collisions in the
      forward region at a centre-of-mass energy of [Formula: see text]TeV with data
      collected by the LHCb detector. The forward spectrometer allows access to a
      kinematic range of [Formula: see text] in pseudorapidity, momenta greater than
      [Formula: see text] and transverse momenta greater than [Formula: see text]. The
      measurements are performed using events with at least one charged particle in the
      kinematic acceptance. The results are presented as functions of pseudorapidity
      and transverse momentum and are compared to predictions from several Monte Carlo
      event generators.

PMID- 25814873
TI  - Measurements of jet vetoes and azimuthal decorrelations in dijet events produced
      in [Formula: see text] collisions at [Formula: see text] using the ATLAS
      detector.
AB  - Additional jet activity in dijet events is measured using [Formula: see text]
      collisions at ATLAS at a centre-of-mass energy of [Formula: see text], for jets
      reconstructed using the [Formula: see text] algorithm with radius parameter
      [Formula: see text]. This is done using variables such as the fraction of dijet
      events without an additional jet in the rapidity interval bounded by the dijet
      subsystem and correlations between the azimuthal angles of the dijet s. They are
      presented, both with and without a veto on additional jet activity in the
      rapidity interval, as a function of the scalar average of the transverse momenta
      of the dijet s and of the rapidity interval size. The double differential dijet
      cross section is also measured as a function of the interval size and the
      azimuthal angle between the dijet s. These variables probe differences in the
      approach to resummation of large logarithms when performing QCD calculations. The
      data are compared to powheg, interfaced to the pythia 8 and herwig parton shower
      generators, as well as to hej with and without interfacing it to the ariadne
      parton shower generator. None of the theoretical predictions agree with the data
      across the full phase-space considered; however, powheg+pythia 8 and hej+ariadne
      are found to provide the best agreement with the data. These measurements use the
      full data sample collected with the ATLAS detector in [Formula: see
      text][Formula: see text] collisions at the LHC and correspond to integrated
      luminosities of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] for data collected
      during 2010 and 2011, respectively.

PMID- 25814894
TI  - Comprehensive Bayesian analysis of rare (semi)leptonic and radiative [Formula:
      see text] decays.
AB  - The available data on [Formula: see text] decays are in good agreement with the
      Standard Model when permitting subleading power corrections of about [Formula:
      see text] at large hadronic recoil. Constraining new-physics effects in [Formula:
      see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], the data still demand the
      same size of power corrections as in the Standard Model. In the presence of
      chirality-flipped operators, all but one of the power corrections reduce
      substantially. The Bayes factors are in favor of the Standard Model. Using new
      lattice inputs for [Formula: see text] form factors and under our minimal prior
      assumption for the power corrections, the favor shifts toward models with
      chirality-flipped operators. We use the data to further constrain the hadronic
      form factors in [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] transitions.

PMID- 25814876
TI  - Search for heavy neutrinos and [Formula: see text] bosons with right-handed
      couplings in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - A search for heavy, right-handed neutrinos, [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see
      text]), and right-handed [Formula: see text] bosons, which arise in the left
      right symmetric extensions of the standard model, has been performed by the CMS
      experiment. The search was based on a sample of two lepton plus two jet events
      collected in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8[Formula:
      see text] corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 [Formula: see text].
      For models with strict left-right symmetry, and assuming only one [Formula: see
      text] flavor contributes significantly to the [Formula: see text] decay width,
      the region in the two-dimensional [Formula: see text] mass plane excluded at a 95
      % confidence level extends to approximately [Formula: see text] and covers a
      large range of neutrino masses below the [Formula: see text] boson mass,
      depending on the value of [Formula: see text]. This search significantly extends
      the [Formula: see text] exclusion region beyond previous results.

PMID- 25814896
TI  - Study of the photon's pole structure in the noncommutative Schwinger model.
AB  - The photon self-energy of the noncommutative Schwinger model at two- and three
      loop order is analyzed. It is shown that the mass spectrum of the model does not
      receive any correction from the noncommutativity parameter ([Formula: see text])
      at these orders. Also it remains unchanged to all orders. The exact one-loop
      effective action for the photon is also calculated.

PMID- 25814885
TI  - Measurement of the top-quark mass in all-jets [Formula: see text] events in pp
      collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV.
AB  - The mass of the top quark is measured using a sample of [Formula: see text]
      candidate events with at least six jets in the final state. The sample is
      selected from data collected with the CMS detector in pp collisions at [Formula:
      see text] TeV in 2011 and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.54
      [Formula: see text]. The mass is reconstructed for each event employing a
      kinematic fit of the jets to a [Formula: see text] hypothesis. The top-quark mass
      is measured to be [Formula: see text] GeV. A combination with previously
      published measurements in other decay modes by CMS yields a mass of [Formula: see
      text] GeV.

PMID- 25814897
TI  - The CMSSM and NUHM1 after LHC Run 1.
AB  - We analyze the impact of data from the full Run 1 of the LHC at 7 and 8 TeV on
      the CMSSM with [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] and the NUHM1 with
      [Formula: see text], incorporating the constraints imposed by other experiments
      such as precision electroweak measurements, flavour measurements, the
      cosmological density of cold dark matter and the direct search for the scattering
      of dark matter particles in the LUX experiment. We use the following results from
      the LHC experiments: ATLAS searches for events with [Formula: see text]
      accompanied by jets with the full 7 and 8 TeV data, the ATLAS and CMS
      measurements of the mass of the Higgs boson, the CMS searches for heavy neutral
      Higgs bosons and a combination of the LHCb and CMS measurements of [Formula: see
      text] and [Formula: see text]. Our results are based on samplings of the
      parameter spaces of the CMSSM for both [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see
      text] and of the NUHM1 for [Formula: see text] with 6.8[Formula: see text],
      6.2[Formula: see text] and 1.6[Formula: see text] points, respectively, obtained
      using the MultiNest tool. The impact of the Higgs-mass constraint is assessed
      using FeynHiggs 2.10.0, which provides an improved prediction for the masses of
      the MSSM Higgs bosons in the region of heavy squark masses. It yields in general
      larger values of [Formula: see text] than previous versions of FeynHiggs,
      reducing the pressure on the CMSSM and NUHM1. We find that the global [Formula:
      see text] functions for the supersymmetric models vary slowly over most of the
      parameter spaces allowed by the Higgs-mass and the [Formula: see text] searches,
      with best-fit values that are comparable to the [Formula: see text] for the best
      Standard Model fit. We provide 95 % CL lower limits on the masses of various
      sparticles and assess the prospects for observing them during Run 2 of the LHC.

PMID- 25814899
TI  - The effect of LHC jet data on MSTW PDFs.
AB  - We consider the effect on LHC jet cross sections on partons distribution
      functions (PDFs), in particular the MSTW2008 set of PDFs. We first compare the
      published inclusive jet data to the predictions using MSTW2008, finding a very
      good description. We also use the parton distribution reweighting procedure to
      estimate the impact of these new data on the PDFs, finding that the combined
      ATLAS 2.76 and 7 TeV data, and CMS 7 TeV data have some significant impact. We
      then also investigate the impact of ATLAS, CMS and DO dijet data using the same
      techniques. In this case we investigate the effect of using different scale
      choices for the NLO cross section calculation. We find that the dijet data is
      generally not completely compatible with the corresponding inclusive jet data,
      often tending to pull PDFs, particularly the gluon distribution, away from the
      default values. However, the effect depends on the dijet dataset used as well as
      the scale choice. We also note that conclusions may be affected by limiting the
      pull on the data luminosity chosen by the best fit, which is sometimes a number
      of standard deviations. Finally we include the inclusive jet data in a new PDF
      fit explicitly. This enables us to check the consistency of the exact result with
      that obtained from the reweighting procedure. There is generally good, but not
      full quantitative agreement. Hence, the conclusion remains that MSTW2008 PDFs
      already fit the published jet data well, but the central values and uncertainties
      are altered and improved, respectively, to a significant, but not dramatic extent
      by inclusion of these data.

PMID- 25814875
TI  - Measurement of the muon reconstruction performance of the ATLAS detector using
      2011 and 2012 LHC proton-proton collision data.
AB  - This paper presents the performance of the ATLAS muon reconstruction during the
      LHC run with [Formula: see text] collisions at [Formula: see text]-8 TeV in 2011
      2012, focusing mainly on data collected in 2012. Measurements of the
      reconstruction efficiency and of the momentum scale and resolution, based on
      large reference samples of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula:
      see text] decays, are presented and compared to Monte Carlo simulations.
      Corrections to the simulation, to be used in physics analysis, are provided. Over
      most of the covered phase space (muon [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]
      GeV) the efficiency is above [Formula: see text] and is measured with per-mille
      precision. The momentum resolution ranges from [Formula: see text] at central
      rapidity and for transverse momentum [Formula: see text] GeV, to [Formula: see
      text] at large rapidity and [Formula: see text] GeV. The momentum scale is known
      with an uncertainty of [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] depending on
      rapidity. A method for the recovery of final state radiation from the muons is
      also presented.

PMID- 25814901
TI  - Dipole operator constraints on composite Higgs models.
AB  - Flavour- and CP-violating electromagnetic or chromomagnetic dipole operators in
      the quark sector are generated in a large class of new physics models and are
      strongly constrained by measurements of the neutron electric dipole moment and
      observables sensitive to flavour-changing neutral currents, such as the [Formula:
      see text] branching ratio and [Formula: see text]. After a model-independent
      discussion of the relevant constraints, we analyze these effects in models with
      partial compositeness, where the quarks get their masses by mixing with vector
      like composite fermions. These scenarios can be seen as the low-energy limit of
      composite Higgs or warped extra dimensional models. We study different choices
      for the electroweak representations of the composite fermions motivated by
      electroweak precision tests as well as different flavour structures, including
      flavour anarchy and [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text] flavour symmetries
      in the strong sector. In models with "wrong-chirality" Yukawa couplings, we find
      a strong bound from the neutron electric dipole moment, irrespective of the
      flavour structure. In the case of flavour anarchy, we also find strong bounds
      from flavour-violating dipoles, while these constraints are mild in the flavour
      symmetric models.

PMID- 25814902
TI  - The extent of the stop coannihilation strip.
AB  - Many supersymmetric models such as the constrained minimal supersymmetric
      extension of the Standard Model (CMSSM) feature a strip in parameter space where
      the lightest neutralino [Formula: see text] is identified as the lightest
      supersymmetric particle, the lighter stop squark [Formula: see text] is the next
      to-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP), and the relic [Formula: see text]
      cold dark matter density is brought into the range allowed by astrophysics and
      cosmology by coannihilation with the lighter stop squark [Formula: see text]
      NLSP. We calculate the stop coannihilation strip in the CMSSM, incorporating
      Sommerfeld enhancement effects, and we explore the relevant phenomenological
      constraints and phenomenological signatures. In particular, we show that the
      [Formula: see text] may weigh several TeV, and its lifetime may be in the
      nanosecond range, features that are more general than the specific CMSSM
      scenarios that we study in this paper.

PMID- 25814903
TI  - The effect on PDFs and [Formula: see text] due to changes in flavour scheme and
      higher twist contributions.
AB  - I consider the effect on MSTW partons distribution functions (PDFs) due to
      changes in the choices of theoretical procedure used in the fit. I first consider
      using the 3-flavour fixed flavour number scheme instead of the standard general
      mass variable flavour number scheme used in the MSTW analysis. This results in
      the light quarks increasing at all relatively small [Formula: see text] values,
      the gluon distribution becoming smaller at high values of [Formula: see text] and
      larger at small [Formula: see text], the preferred value of the coupling constant
      [Formula: see text] falling, particularly at NNLO, and the fit quality
      deteriorates. I also consider lowering the kinematic cut on [Formula: see text]
      for DIS data and simultaneously introducing higher twist terms which are fit to
      data. This results in much smaller effects on both PDFs and [Formula: see text]
      than the scheme change, except for quarks at very high [Formula: see text]. I
      show that the structure function one obtains from a fixed input set of PDFs using
      the fixed flavour scheme and variable flavour scheme differ significantly for
      [Formula: see text] at high [Formula: see text], and that this is due to the fact
      that in the fixed flavour scheme there is a slow convergence of large logarithmic
      terms of the form [Formula: see text] relevant for this regime. I conclude that
      some of the most significant differences in PDF sets are largely due to the
      choice of flavour scheme used.

PMID- 25814877
TI  - Measurement of flow harmonics with multi-particle cumulants in Pb+Pb collisions
      at [Formula: see text] TeV with the ATLAS detector.
AB  - ATLAS measurements of the azimuthal anisotropy in lead-lead collisions at
      [Formula: see text] TeV are shown using a dataset of approximately 7 [Formula:
      see text]b[Formula: see text] collected at the LHC in 2010. The measurements are
      performed for charged particles with transverse momenta [Formula: see text] GeV
      and in the pseudorapidity range [Formula: see text]. The anisotropy is
      characterized by the Fourier coefficients, [Formula: see text], of the charged
      particle azimuthal angle distribution for [Formula: see text]-4. The Fourier
      coefficients are evaluated using multi-particle cumulants calculated with the
      generating function method. Results on the transverse momentum, pseudorapidity
      and centrality dependence of the [Formula: see text] coefficients are presented.
      The elliptic flow, [Formula: see text], is obtained from the two-, four-, six-
      and eight-particle cumulants while higher-order coefficients, [Formula: see text]
      and [Formula: see text], are determined with two- and four-particle cumulants.
      Flow harmonics [Formula: see text] measured with four-particle cumulants are
      significantly reduced compared to the measurement involving two-particle
      cumulants. A comparison to [Formula: see text] measurements obtained using
      different analysis methods and previously reported by the LHC experiments is also
      shown. Results of measurements of flow fluctuations evaluated with multi-particle
      cumulants are shown as a function of transverse momentum and the collision
      centrality. Models of the initial spatial geometry and its fluctuations fail to
      describe the flow fluctuations measurements.

PMID- 25814892
TI  - Study of the production of charged pions, kaons, and protons in pPb collisions at
      [Formula: see text]5.02[Formula: see text].
AB  - Spectra of identified charged hadrons are measured in pPb collisions with the CMS
      detector at the LHC at [Formula: see text]. Charged pions, kaons, and protons in
      the transverse-momentum range [Formula: see text]-1.7[Formula: see text] and
      laboratory rapidity [Formula: see text] are identified via their energy loss in
      the silicon tracker. The average [Formula: see text] increases with particle mass
      and the charged multiplicity of the event. The increase of the average [Formula:
      see text] with charged multiplicity is greater for heavier hadrons. Comparisons
      to Monte Carlo event generators reveal that Epos Lhc, which incorporates
      additional hydrodynamic evolution of the created system, is able to reproduce
      most of the data features, unlike Hijing and Ampt. The [Formula: see text]
      spectra and integrated yields are also compared to those measured in pp and PbPb
      collisions at various energies. The average transverse momentum and particle
      ratio measurements indicate that particle production at LHC energies is strongly
      correlated with event particle multiplicity.

PMID- 25814895
TI  - Probing color coherence effects in pp collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - A study of color coherence effects in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of
      7[Formula: see text] is presented. The data used in the analysis were collected
      in 2010 with the CMS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated
      luminosity of 36 pb[Formula: see text]. Events are selected that contain at least
      three jets and where the two jets with the largest transverse momentum exhibit a
      back-to-back topology. The measured angular correlation between the second- and
      third-leading jet is shown to be sensitive to color coherence effects, and is
      compared to the predictions of Monte Carlo models with various implementations of
      color coherence. None of the models describe the data satisfactorily.

PMID- 25814908
TI  - Lurking pseudovectors below the TeV scale.
AB  - If electroweak symmetry breaking is driven by a new strongly coupled dynamical
      sector, one expects the bound states to appear at the TeV scale or slightly
      below. However, electroweak precision data imposes severe constraints on most of
      the existing models, putting them under strain. Conventional models require the
      new composite states to come in pairs of rather heavy, close to degenerate spin-1
      resonances. In this paper I argue that spin-1 states can actually be lighter
      without clashing with experimental bounds. As an example, I consider a composite
      model with a light pseudovector resonance that couples to the Standard Model
      gauge boson, fermion, and scalar fields. I show how such a resonance leaves
      basically no imprint on the NLO corrections to the Standard Model. This happens
      not through parameter tuning, but rather as a consequence of generic properties
      of realistic UV completions. This pseudovector is mostly unconstrained by
      existing data and could be as light as 600 GeV. In the last part of the paper I
      briefly discuss its most characteristic signatures for direct detection at
      colliders.

PMID- 25814905
TI  - Measurement of quarkonium production at forward rapidity in [Formula: see text]
      collisions at [Formula: see text]TeV.
AB  - The inclusive production cross sections at forward rapidity of [Formula: see
      text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text](1S) and [Formula: see text](2S)
      are measured in [Formula: see text] collisions at [Formula: see text] with the
      ALICE detector at the LHC. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding
      to an integrated luminosity of 1.35 pb[Formula: see text]. Quarkonia are
      reconstructed in the dimuon-decay channel and the signal yields are evaluated by
      fitting the [Formula: see text] invariant mass distributions. The differential
      production cross sections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum
      [Formula: see text] and rapidity [Formula: see text], over the ranges [Formula:
      see text] GeV/c for [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] GeV/c for all other
      resonances and for [Formula: see text]. The measured cross sections integrated
      over [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], and assuming unpolarized
      quarkonia, are: [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]b, [Formula: see text]
      [Formula: see text]b, [Formula: see text] nb and [Formula: see text] nb, where
      the first uncertainty is statistical and the second one is systematic. The
      results are compared to measurements performed by other LHC experiments and to
      theoretical models.

PMID- 25814893
TI  - Search for direct top squark pair production in events with a [Formula: see text]
      boson, [Formula: see text]-jets and missing transverse momentum in [Formula: see
      text] TeV [Formula: see text] collisions with the ATLAS detector.
AB  - A search is presented for direct top squark pair production using events with at
      least two leptons including a same-flavour opposite-sign pair with invariant mass
      consistent with the [Formula: see text] boson mass, jets tagged as originating
      from [Formula: see text]-quarks and missing transverse momentum. The analysis is
      performed with proton-proton collision data at [Formula: see text] collected with
      the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2012 corresponding to an integrated luminosity
      of 20.3 fb[Formula: see text]. No excess beyond the Standard Model expectation is
      observed. Interpretations of the results are provided in models based on the
      direct pair production of the heavier top squark state ([Formula: see text])
      followed by the decay to the lighter top squark state ([Formula: see text]) via
      [Formula: see text], and for [Formula: see text] pair production in natural gauge
      mediated supersymmetry breaking scenarios where the neutralino ([Formula: see
      text]) is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle and decays producing a
      [Formula: see text] boson and a gravitino ([Formula: see text]) via the [Formula:
      see text] process.

PMID- 25814904
TI  - Measurement of WZ and ZZ production in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] in
      final states with b-tagged jets.
AB  - Measurements are reported of the WZ and ZZ production cross sections in proton
      proton collisions at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] in final states where
      one Z boson decays to b-tagged jets. The other gauge boson, either W or Z, is
      detected through its leptonic decay (either [Formula: see text], [Formula: see
      text] or [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], or [Formula: see text]). The
      results are based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 18.9
      fb[Formula: see text] collected with the CMS detector at the Large Hadron
      Collider. The measured cross sections, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see
      text], are consistent with next-to-leading order quantum chromodynamics
      calculations.

PMID- 25814898
TI  - The differential production cross section of the [Formula: see text](1020) meson
      in [Formula: see text] = 7 TeV [Formula: see text] collisions measured with the
      ATLAS detector.
AB  - A measurement is presented of the [Formula: see text] production cross section at
      [Formula: see text] = 7 TeV using [Formula: see text] collision data
      corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 383 [Formula: see text], collected
      with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Selection of [Formula: see text](1020)
      mesons is based on the identification of charged kaons by their energy loss in
      the pixel detector. The differential cross section is measured as a function of
      the transverse momentum, [Formula: see text], and rapidity, [Formula: see text],
      of the [Formula: see text](1020) meson in the fiducial region 500 [Formula: see
      text] 1200 MeV, [Formula: see text] 0.8, kaon [Formula: see text] 230 MeV and
      kaon momentum [Formula: see text] 800 MeV. The integrated [Formula: see text]
      meson production cross section in this fiducial range is measured to be [Formula:
      see text] = 570 [Formula: see text] 8 (stat) [Formula: see text] 66 (syst)
      [Formula: see text] 20 (lumi) [Formula: see text].

PMID- 25814900
TI  - Electron reconstruction and identification efficiency measurements with the ATLAS
      detector using the 2011 LHC proton-proton collision data.
AB  - Many of the interesting physics processes to be measured at the LHC have a
      signature involving one or more isolated electrons. The electron reconstruction
      and identification efficiencies of the ATLAS detector at the LHC have been
      evaluated using proton-proton collision data collected in 2011 at [Formula: see
      text] TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb[Formula: see
      text]. Tag-and-probe methods using events with leptonic decays of [Formula: see
      text] and [Formula: see text] bosons and [Formula: see text] mesons are employed
      to benchmark these performance parameters. The combination of all measurements
      results in identification efficiencies determined with an accuracy at the few per
      mil level for electron transverse energy greater than 30 GeV.

PMID- 25814906
TI  - Search for invisible decays of Higgs bosons in the vector boson fusion and
      associated ZH production modes.
AB  - A search for invisible decays of Higgs bosons is performed using the vector boson
      fusion and associated ZH production modes. In the ZH mode, the Z boson is
      required to decay to a pair of charged leptons or a [Formula: see text] quark
      pair. The searches use the 8?a[Formula: see text] pp collision dataset collected
      by the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up
      to 19.7?a[Formula: see text]. Certain channels include data from 7?a[Formula: see
      text] collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.9?a[Formula: see
      text]. The searches are sensitive to non-standard-model invisible decays of the
      recently observed Higgs boson, as well as additional Higgs bosons with similar
      production modes and large invisible branching fractions. In all channels, the
      observed data are consistent with the expected standard model backgrounds. Limits
      are set on the production cross section times invisible branching fraction, as a
      function of the Higgs boson mass, for the vector boson fusion and ZH production
      modes. By combining all channels, and assuming standard model Higgs boson cross
      sections and acceptances, the observed (expected) upper limit on the invisible
      branching fraction at [Formula: see text]?a[Formula: see text] is found to be
      0.58?a(0.44) at 95?a% confidence level. We interpret this limit in terms of a
      Higgs-portal model of dark matter interactions.

PMID- 25814913
TI  - Large J expansion in ABJM theory revisited.
AB  - Recently there has been progress in the computation of the anomalous dimensions
      of gauge theory operators at strong coupling by making use of the AdS/CFT
      correspondence. On the string theory side they are given by dispersion relations
      in the semiclassical regime. We revisit the problem of a large-charge expansion
      of the dispersion relations for simple semiclassical strings in an [Formula: see
      text] background. We present the calculation of the corresponding anomalous
      dimensions of the gauge theory operators to an arbitrary order using three
      different methods. Although the results of the three methods look different,
      power series expansions show their consistency.

PMID- 25814915
TI  - Higgs characterisation at NLO in QCD: CP properties of the top-quark Yukawa
      interaction.
AB  - At the LHC the CP properties of the top-quark Yukawa interaction can be probed
      through Higgs production in gluon fusion or in association with top quarks. We
      consider the possibility for both CP-even and CP-odd couplings to the top quark
      to be present, and study CP-sensitive observables at next-to-leading order (NLO)
      in QCD, including parton-shower effects. We show that the inclusion of NLO
      corrections sizeably reduces the theoretical uncertainties, and confirm that di
      jet correlations in [Formula: see text] jet production through gluon fusion and
      correlations of the top-quark decay products in [Formula: see text] production
      can provide sensitive probes of the CP nature of the Higgs interactions.

PMID- 25814916
TI  - Oxaliplatin analogues with carboxy derivatives of boldine with enhanced
      antioxidant activity.
AB  - A new oxaliplatin analog [Pt(dach)(L5)] (1) was synthesized and characterized as
      a continuation of a study of the previously reported [Pt(dach)(L6)] (2), where
      dach = (1R,2R)-diaminocyclohexane, L5 = 3-carboxyboldine, and L6 = 3
      carboxypredicentrine. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibited a substantially enhanced
      antioxidant activity compared to oxaliplatin (130 and 30 times for 1 and 13 and 4
      times for 2 using the DPPH and FRAP assays, resp.). In addition, 1 and 2
      exhibited cytotoxic activity in the same range as oxaliplatin toward the two
      human tumor cell lines (MCF-7 and HT-29) studied and two to four times lower
      activity in the human colon nontumor cell line (CCD-841). Preadministration of L5
      or L6 to the colon tumor (HT-29) and the colon nontumor (CCD-841) cell lines
      prior to oxaliplatin addition increased the viability of the nontumor cell line
      to a greater extent than that of the tumor cell line. 

PMID- 25814917
TI  - A Hybrid Approach to Finding Relevant Social Media Content for Complex Domain
      Specific Information Needs.
AB  - While contemporary semantic search systems offer to improve classical keyword
      based search, they are not always adequate for complex domain specific
      information needs. The domain of prescription drug abuse, for example, requires
      knowledge of both ontological concepts and "intelligible constructs" not
      typically modeled in ontologies. These intelligible constructs convey essential
      information that include notions of intensity, frequency, interval, dosage and
      sentiments, which could be important to the holistic needs of the information
      seeker. In this paper, we present a hybrid approach to domain specific
      information retrieval that integrates ontology-driven query interpretation with
      synonym-based query expansion and domain specific rules, to facilitate search in
      social media on prescription drug abuse. Our framework is based on a context-free
      grammar (CFG) that defines the query language of constructs interpretable by the
      search system. The grammar provides two levels of semantic interpretation: 1) a
      top-level CFG that facilitates retrieval of diverse textual patterns, which
      belong to broad templates and 2) a low-level CFG that enables interpretation of
      specific expressions belonging to such textual patterns. These low-level
      expressions occur as concepts from four different categories of data: 1)
      ontological concepts, 2) concepts in lexicons (such as emotions and sentiments),
      3) concepts in lexicons with only partial ontology representation, called lexico
      ontology concepts (such as side effects and routes of administration (ROA)), and
      4) domain specific expressions (such as date, time, interval, frequency and
      dosage) derived solely through rules. Our approach is embodied in a novel
      Semantic Web platform called PREDOSE, which provides search support for complex
      domain specific information needs in prescription drug abuse epidemiology. When
      applied to a corpus of over 1 million drug abuse-related web forum posts, our
      search framework proved effective in retrieving relevant documents when compared
      with three existing search systems.

PMID- 25814919
TI  - Anti-inflammatory effects of Cordyceps mycelium (Paecilomyces hepiali, CBG-CS-2)
      in Raw264.7 murine macrophages.
AB  - Cordyceps (CS) is a traditional Chinese herb with various biological effects that
      include immune modulation. CBG-CS-2 is a strain, Paecilomyces hepiali, of the
      Cordyceps spp. The anti-inflammatory effects of CBG-CS-2 were investigated. The
      water-soluble fraction of CBG-CS-2 has high anti-inflammatory activity in LPS
      induced Raw264.7 macrophages. We tested the role of CBG-CS-2 on the anti
      inflammation cascade in LPS-stimulated Raw264.7 cells. CBG-CS-2 significantly
      decreased NO production, iNOS expression, and pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion
      in a dose-dependent manner. To investigate the mechanism by which CBG-CS-2
      inhibits NO, iNOS, and pro-inflammatory cytokines, we examined the activities of
      NF-kappaB and AP-1 in LPS-activated macrophages. The results demonstrate that CBG
      CS-2 suppresses the production and expression of NO, iNOS, and pro-inflammatory
      cytokines in LPS-activated macrophages via inhibition of NF-kappaB and AP-1,
      which may play an important role in inflammation. These findings suggest that CBG
      CS-2 has modulatory effects on the inflammatory system in macrophages, and that
      it can serve as a useful anti-inflammatory dietary supplement or drug.

PMID- 25814918
TI  - Plasma metabolomics reveals a potential panel of biomarkers for early diagnosis
      in acute coronary syndrome.
AB  - Discovery of new biomarkers is critical for early diagnosis of acute coronary
      syndrome (ACS). Recent advances in metabolomic technologies have drastically
      enhanced the possibility of improving the knowledge of its physiopathology
      through the identification of the altered metabolic pathways. In this study,
      analyses of peripheral plasma from non-ST segment elevation ACS patients and
      healthy controls by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MC) permitted the
      identification of 15 metabolites with statistical differences (p < 0.05) between
      experimental groups. Additionally, validation by GC-MC and liquid chromatography
      MC permitted us to identify a potential panel of biomarkers formed by 5-OH
      tryptophan, 2-OH-butyric acid and 3-OH-butyric acid. This panel of biomarkers
      reflects the oxidative stress and the hypoxic state that suffers the myocardial
      cells and consequently constitutes a metabolomic signature of the atherogenesis
      process that could be used for early diagnosis of ACS.

PMID- 25814921
TI  - Comparison between cigarette smoke-induced emphysema and cigarette smoke extract
      induced emphysema.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Emphysema is the main pathological feature of COPD and
      also is the focus of the related research. Although several emphysema animal
      models have been established, exact comparison of findings is seldom. The present
      study aimed to compare cigarette smoke (CS) exposure-induced emphysema model and
      intraperitoneal injection of cigarette smoke extract (CSE)-induced emphysema
      model to evaluate the effectiveness of the two different modeling methods.
      METHODS: Six-week-old male C57BL/6 J mice were used and randomly divided into two
      groups: CS exposure and intraperitoneal injection of CSE. Each group was
      subdivided into two subgroups: control and CS or CSE. Lung function, mean linear
      intercept (MLI), destructive index (DI), apoptotic index (AI), total and
      differential cells count in broncholavolar lavage fluid (BALF), SOD and IL-6
      concentration in serum were measured. RESULTS: Compared with their respective
      controls, lung function was significantly decreased in CS and CSE groups (P <
      0.01); MLI, DI, and AI of lung tissue were significantly higher in CS and CSE
      groups (P < 0.01); total number of leukocytes, the number and percentage of
      neutrophils (NEUs), and the number of macrophages (MAC) in BALF were
      significantly higher in CS and CSE groups (P < 0.01); SOD concentration in serum
      was significantly decreased in CS and CSE groups (P < 0.01); IL-6 concentration
      in serum was significantly increased in in CS and CSE groups (P < 0.01). There
      was no significant difference between CS group and CSE group in any of the
      parameters described above. CONCLUSIONS: Both CS exposure and intraperitoneal
      injection of CSE could induce emphysema and the effectiveness of the two
      different modeling methods were equal.

PMID- 25814920
TI  - E-cigarettes versus NRT for smoking reduction or cessation in people with mental
      illness: secondary analysis of data from the ASCEND trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: People with mental illness have higher rates of smoking than the
      general population and are at greater risk of smoking-related death and
      disability. In smokers from the general population, electronic cigarettes (e
      cigarettes) have been shown to have a similar effect on quit rates as nicotine
      replacement therapy, but little is known about their effect in smokers with
      mental illness. METHODS: Secondary analysis of data from the ASCEND trial
      involving 657 dependent adult smokers motivated to quit, randomised to 16 mg
      nicotine e-cigarette, 21 mg nicotine patch, or 0 mg nicotine e-cigarette, with
      minimal behavioural support. Using self-reported medication use and the
      Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System, we identified 86
      participants with mental illness and analysed their cessation and smoking
      reduction outcomes. RESULTS: For e-cigarettes alone, and all interventions
      pooled, there was no statistically significant difference in biochemically
      verified quit rates at six months between participants with and without mental
      illness, nor in smoking reduction, adverse events, treatment compliance, or
      acceptability. Rates of relapse to smoking were higher in participants with
      mental illness. Among this group, differences between treatments were not
      statistically significant for cessation (patch 14% [5/35], 16 mg e-cigarette 5%
      [2/39], 0 mg e-cigarette 0% [0/12], p = 0.245), adverse events or relapse rates.
      However, e-cigarette users had higher levels of smoking reduction, treatment
      compliance, and acceptability. CONCLUSIONS: The use of e-cigarettes for quitting
      appears to be equally effective, safe, and acceptable for people with and without
      mental illness. For people with mental illness, e-cigarettes may be as effective
      and safe as patches, yet more acceptable, and associated with greater smoking
      reduction. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical trials Registry,
      number: ACTRN12610000866000.

PMID- 25814923
TI  - Population finiteness is not a concern for null hypothesis significance testing
      when studying human behavior. A reply to Pollet (2013).

PMID- 25814922
TI  - Eye movements reveal sexually dimorphic deficits in children with fetal alcohol
      spectrum disorder.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We examined the accuracy and characteristics of saccadic eye
      movements in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) compared with
      typically developing control children. Previous studies have found that children
      with FASD produce saccades that are quantifiably different from controls.
      Additionally, animal studies have found sex-based differences for behavioral
      effects after prenatal alcohol exposure. Therefore, we hypothesized that eye
      movement measures will show sexually dimorphic results. METHODS: Children (aged 5
      18 years) with FASD (n = 71) and typically developing controls (n = 113)
      performed a visually-guided saccade task. Saccade metrics and behavior were
      analyzed for sex and group differences. RESULTS: Female control participants had
      greater amplitude saccades than control males or females with FASD. Accuracy was
      significantly poorer in the FASD group, especially in males, which introduced
      significantly greater variability in the data. Therefore, we conducted additional
      analyses including only those trials in which the first saccade successfully
      reached the target within a +/- 1 degrees  window. In this restricted amplitude
      dataset, the females with FASD made saccades with significantly lower velocity
      and longer duration, whereas the males with FASD did not differ from the control
      group. Additionally, the mean and peak deceleration were selectively decreased in
      the females with FASD. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the hypothesis that
      children with FASD exhibit specific deficits in eye movement control and sensory
      motor integration associated with cerebellar and/or brain stem circuits.
      Moreover, prenatal alcohol exposure may have a sexually dimorphic impact on eye
      movement metrics, with males and females exhibiting differential patterns of
      deficit.

PMID- 25814924
TI  - Transcriptomal changes and functional annotation of the developing non-human
      primate choroid plexus.
AB  - The choroid plexuses are small organs that protrude into each brain ventricle
      producing cerebrospinal fluid that constantly bathes the brain. These organs
      differentiate early in development just after neural closure at a stage when the
      brain is little vascularized. In recent years the plexus has been shown to have a
      much more active role in brain development than previously appreciated thereby it
      can influence both neurogenesis and neural migration by secreting factors into
      the CSF. However, much of choroid plexus developmental function is still unclear.
      Most previous studies on this organ have been undertaken in rodents but
      translation into humans is not straightforward since they have a different timing
      of brain maturation processes. We have collected choroid plexus from three fetal
      gestational ages of a non-human primate, the baboon, which has much closer brain
      development to humans. The transcriptome of the plexuses was determined by next
      generation sequencing and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software was used to
      annotate functions and enrichment of pathways of changes in the transcriptome.
      The number of unique transcripts decreased with development and the majority of
      differentially expressed transcripts were down-regulated through development
      suggesting a more complex and active plexus earlier in fetal development. The
      functional annotation indicated changes across widespread biological functions in
      plexus development. In particular we find age-dependent regulation of genes
      associated with annotation categories: Gene Expression, Development of
      Cardiovascular System, Nervous System Development and Molecular Transport. Our
      observations support the idea that the choroid plexus has roles in shaping brain
      development. 

PMID- 25814925
TI  - Molecular cloning and characterization of the allatotropin precursor and receptor
      in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria.
AB  - Allatotropins (ATs) are pleiotropic neuropeptides initially isolated from the
      tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. In 2008, the first receptor for AT-like peptides
      (ATR) was characterized in Bombyx mori. Since then, ATRs have also been
      characterized in M. sexta, Tribolium castaneum, Aedes aegypti and Bombus
      terrestris. These receptors show sequence similarity to vertebrate orexin (ORX)
      receptors. When generating an EST-database of the desert locust (Schistocerca
      gregaria) central nervous system, we found cDNA sequences encoding the Schgr-AT
      precursor and a fragment of its putative receptor. This receptor cDNA has now
      been completed and functionally expressed in mammalian cell lines. Activation of
      this receptor, designated as Schgr-ATR, by Schgr-AT caused an increase in
      intracellular calcium ions, as well as cyclic AMP (cAMP), with an EC50 value in
      the nanomolar range. In addition, the transcript distribution of both the Schgr
      AT precursor and Schgr-ATR was investigated by means of quantitative real-time
      PCR. Moreover, we found more evidence for the myotropic and allatostimulatory
      actions of Schgr-AT in the desert locust. These data are discussed and situated
      in a broader context by comparison with literature data on AT and ATR in insects.

PMID- 25814926
TI  - Ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis in yeast cells expressing neurotoxic proteins.
AB  - Critically impaired protein degradation is discussed to contribute to
      neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's, Huntington's, Alzheimer's,
      and motor neuron diseases. Misfolded, aggregated, or surplus proteins are
      efficiently degraded via distinct protein degradation pathways, including the
      ubiquitin-proteasome system, autophagy, and vesicular trafficking. These pathways
      are regulated by covalent modification of target proteins with the small protein
      ubiquitin and are evolutionary highly conserved from humans to yeast. The yeast
      Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an established model for deciphering mechanisms of
      protein degradation, and for the elucidation of pathways underlying programmed
      cell death. The expression of human neurotoxic proteins triggers cell death in
      yeast, with neurotoxic protein-specific differences. Therefore, yeast cell death
      models are suitable for analyzing the role of protein degradation pathways in
      modulating cell death upon expression of disease-causing proteins. This review
      summarizes which protein degradation pathways are affected in these yeast models,
      and how they are involved in the execution of cell death. I will discuss to which
      extent this mimics the situation in other neurotoxic models, and how this may
      contribute to a better understanding of human disorders. 

PMID- 25814928
TI  - Heat shock response and homeostatic plasticity.
AB  - Heat shock response and homeostatic plasticity are mechanisms that afford
      functional stability to cells in the face of stress. Each mechanism has been
      investigated independently, but the link between the two has not been extensively
      explored. We explore this link. The heat shock response enables cells to adapt to
      stresses such as high temperature, metabolic stress and reduced oxygen levels.
      This mechanism results from the production of heat shock proteins (HSPs) which
      maintain normal cellular functions by counteracting the misfolding of cellular
      proteins. Homeostatic plasticity enables neurons and their target cells to
      maintain their activity levels around their respective set points in the face of
      stress or disturbances. This mechanism results from the recruitment of
      adaptations at synaptic inputs, or at voltage-gated ion channels. In this
      perspective, we argue that heat shock triggers homeostatic plasticity through the
      production of HSPs. We also suggest that homeostatic plasticity is a form of
      neuroprotection. 

PMID- 25814929
TI  - The pattern of c-Fos expression and its refractory period in the brain of rats
      and monkeys.
AB  - Intense activation of neurons triggers the appearance of immediate expression
      genes, including c-Fos. This gene is related to various signal cascades involved
      in biochemical processes such as neuronal plasticity, cell growth and mitosis.
      Here we investigate the expression pattern and the refractory period of c-Fos in
      rats and monkey's brains after stimulation with pentylenetetrazol. Rats and
      monkeys were sacrificed at various times after PTZ-induced seizure. Here we show
      that rats and monkeys already showed c-Fos expression at 0.5 h after seizure.
      Yet, the pattern of protein expression was longer in monkeys than rats, and also
      was not uniform (relative intensity) across different brain regions in monkeys as
      opposed to rats. In addition monkeys had a regional brain variation with regard
      to the temporal profile of c-Fos expression, which was not seen in rats. The
      refractory period after a second PTZ stimulation was also markedly different
      between rats and monkeys with the latter even showing a summatory effect on c-Fos
      expression after a second stimulation. However, assessment of c-Fos mRNA in rats
      indicated a post-transcriptional control mechanism underlying the duration of the
      refractory period. The difference in the protein expression pattern in rodents
      and primates characterizes a functional aspect of brain biochemistry that differs
      between these mammalian orders and may contribute for the more developed primate
      cognitive complexity as compared to rodents given c-Fos involvement in cognitive
      and learning tasks. 

PMID- 25814927
TI  - Making sense of Wnt signaling-linking hair cell regeneration to development.
AB  - Wnt signaling is a highly conserved pathway crucial for development and
      homeostasis of multicellular organisms. Secreted Wnt ligands bind Frizzled
      receptors to regulate diverse processes such as axis patterning, cell division,
      and cell fate specification. They also serve to govern self-renewal of somatic
      stem cells in several adult tissues. The complexity of the pathway can be
      attributed to the myriad of Wnt and Frizzled combinations as well as its diverse
      context-dependent functions. In the developing mouse inner ear, Wnt signaling
      plays diverse roles, including specification of the otic placode and patterning
      of the otic vesicle. At later stages, its activity governs sensory hair cell
      specification, cell cycle regulation, and hair cell orientation. In regenerating
      sensory organs from non-mammalian species, Wnt signaling can also regulate the
      extent of proliferative hair cell regeneration. This review describes the current
      knowledge of the roles of Wnt signaling and Wnt-responsive cells in hair cell
      development and regeneration. We also discuss possible future directions and the
      potential application and limitation of Wnt signaling in augmenting hair cell
      regeneration. 

PMID- 25814930
TI  - Matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) is indispensable for long term potentiation in
      the central and basal but not in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala.
AB  - It has been shown that matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) is required for
      synaptic plasticity, learning and memory. In particular, MMP-9 involvement in
      long-term potentiation (LTP, the model of synaptic plasticity) in the hippocampus
      and prefrontal cortex has previously been demonstrated. Recent data suggest the
      role of MMP-9 in amygdala-dependent learning and memory. Nothing is known,
      however, about its physiological correlates in the specific pathways in the
      amygdala. In the present study we show that LTP in the basal and central but not
      lateral amygdala (LA) is affected by MMP-9 knock-out. The MMP-9 dependency of LTP
      was confirmed in brain slices treated with a specific MMP-9 inhibitor. The
      results suggest that MMP-9 plays different roles in synaptic plasticity in
      different nuclei of the amygdala. 

PMID- 25814931
TI  - Numb is not a critical regulator of Notch-mediated cell fate decisions in the
      developing chick inner ear.
AB  - The Notch signaling pathway controls differentiation of hair cells and supporting
      cells in the vertebrate inner ear. Here, we have investigated whether Numb, a
      known regulator of Notch activity in Drosophila, is involved in this process in
      the embryonic chick. The chicken homolog of Numb is expressed throughout the
      otocyst at early stages of development and is concentrated at the basal pole of
      the cells. It is asymmetrically allocated at some cell divisions, as in
      Drosophila, suggesting that it could act as a determinant inherited by one of the
      two daughter cells and favoring adoption of a hair-cell fate. To test the
      implication of Numb in hair cell fate decisions and the regulation of Notch
      signaling, we used different methods to overexpress Numb at different stages of
      inner ear development. We found that sustained or late Numb overexpression does
      not promote hair cell differentiation, and Numb does not prevent the reception of
      Notch signaling. Surprisingly, none of the Numb-overexpressing cells
      differentiated into hair cells, suggesting that high levels of Numb protein could
      interfere with intracellular processes essential for hair cell survival. However,
      when Numb was overexpressed early and more transiently during ear development, no
      effect on hair cell formation was seen. These results suggest that in the inner
      ear at least, Numb does not significantly repress Notch activity and that its
      asymmetric distribution in dividing precursor cells does not govern the choice
      between hair cell and supporting cell fates. 

PMID- 25814932
TI  - The choroid plexus-a multi-role player during infectious diseases of the CNS.
AB  - The choroid plexus (CP) is the source of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) production and
      location of the blood-CSF barrier (BCSFB), which is constituted by the epithelial
      cells of the CP. Several infectious pathogens including viruses, bacteria, fungi
      and parasites cross the BCSFB to enter the central nervous system (CNS),
      ultimately leading to inflammatory infectious diseases like meningitis and
      meningoencephalitis. The CP responds to this challenge by the production of
      chemokines and cytokines as well as alterations of the barrier function of the
      BCSFB. During the course of CNS infectious disease host immune cells enter the
      CNS, eventually contributing to the cellular damage caused by the disease.
      Additional complications, which are in certain cases caused by choroid plexitis,
      can arise due to the response of the CP to the pathogens. In this review we will
      give an overview on the multiple functions of the CP during brain infections
      highlighting the CP as a multi-role player during infectious diseases of the CNS.
      In this context the importance of tools for investigation of these CP functions
      and a possible suitability of the CP as therapeutic target will be discussed. 

PMID- 25814934
TI  - Brain region-specific gene expression profiles in freshly isolated rat microglia.
AB  - Microglia are important cells in the brain that can acquire different
      morphological and functional phenotypes dependent on the local situation they
      encounter. Knowledge on the region-specific gene signature of microglia may hold
      valuable clues for microglial functioning in health and disease, e.g.,
      Parkinson's disease (PD) in which microglial phenotypes differ between affected
      brain regions. Therefore, we here investigated whether regional differences exist
      in gene expression profiles of microglia that are isolated from healthy rat brain
      regions relevant for PD. We used an optimized isolation protocol based on a rapid
      isolation of microglia from discrete rat gray matter regions using density
      gradients and fluorescent-activated cell sorting. Application of the present
      protocol followed by gene expression analysis enabled us to identify subtle
      differences in region-specific microglial expression profiles and show that the
      genetic profile of microglia already differs between different brain regions when
      studied under control conditions. As such, these novel findings imply that brain
      region-specific microglial gene expression profiles exist that may contribute to
      the region-specific differences in microglia responsivity during disease
      conditions, such as seen in, e.g., PD. 

PMID- 25814933
TI  - Prenatal stress is a vulnerability factor for altered morphology and biological
      activity of microglia cells.
AB  - Several lines of evidence suggest that the dysregulation of the immune system is
      an important factor in the development of depression. Microglia are the resident
      macrophages of the central nervous system and a key player in innate immunity of
      the brain. We hypothesized that prenatal stress (an animal model of depression)
      as a priming factor could affect microglial cells and might lead to depressive
      like disturbances in adult male rat offspring. We investigated the behavioral
      changes (sucrose preference test, Porsolt test), the expression of C1q and CD40
      mRNA and the level of microglia (Iba1 positive) in 3-month-old control and
      prenatally stressed male offspring rats. In addition, we characterized the
      morphological and biochemical parameters of potentially harmful (NO, iNOS, IL
      1beta, IL-18, IL-6, TNF-alpha, CCL2, CXCL12, CCR2, CXCR4) and beneficial (insulin
      like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF))
      phenotypes in cultures of microglia obtained from the cortices of 1-2 days old
      control and prenatally stressed pups. The adult prenatally stressed rats showed
      behavioral (anhedonic- and depression-like) disturbances, enhanced expression of
      microglial activation markers and an increased number of Iba1-immunopositive
      cells in the hippocampus and frontal cortex. The morphology of glia was altered
      in cultures from prenatally stressed rats, as demonstrated by immunofluorescence
      microscopy. Moreover, in these cultures, we observed enhanced expression of CD40
      and MHC II and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-1beta, IL-18,
      TNF-alpha and IL-6. Prenatal stress significantly up-regulated levels of the
      chemokines CCL2, CXCL12 and altered expression of their receptors, CCR2 and CXCR4
      while IGF-1 production was suppressed in cultures of microglia from prenatally
      stressed rats. Our results suggest that prenatal stress may lead to excessive
      microglia activation and contribute to the behavioral changes observed in
      depression in adulthood. 

PMID- 25814935
TI  - Caloric restriction protects against electrical kindling of the amygdala by
      inhibiting the mTOR signaling pathway.
AB  - Caloric restriction (CR) has been shown to possess antiepileptic properties;
      however its mechanism of action is poorly understood. CR might inhibit the
      activity of the mammalian or mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling
      cascade, which seems to participate crucially in the generation of epilepsy.
      Thus, we investigated the effect of CR on the mTOR pathway and whether CR
      modified epilepsy generation due to electrical amygdala kindling. The former was
      studied by analyzing the phosphorylation of adenosine monophosphate-activated
      protein kinase, protein kinase B and the ribosomal protein S6. The mTOR cascade
      is regulated by energy and by insulin levels, both of which may be changed by CR;
      thus we investigated if CR altered the levels of energy substrates in the blood
      or the level of insulin in plasma. Finally, we studied if CR modified the
      expression of genes that encode proteins participating in the mTOR pathway. CR
      increased the after-discharge threshold and tended to reduce the after-discharge
      duration, indicating an anti-convulsive action. CR diminished the phosphorylation
      of protein kinase B and ribosomal protein S6, suggesting an inhibition of the
      mTOR cascade. However, CR did not change glucose, beta-hydroxybutyrate or insulin
      levels; thus the effects of CR were independent from them. Interestingly, CR also
      did not modify the expression of any investigated gene. The results suggest that
      the anti-epileptic effect of CR may be partly due to inhibition of the mTOR
      pathway. 

PMID- 25814936
TI  - Object similarity affects the perceptual strategy underlying invariant visual
      object recognition in rats.
AB  - In recent years, a number of studies have explored the possible use of rats as
      models of high-level visual functions. One central question at the root of such
      an investigation is to understand whether rat object vision relies on the
      processing of visual shape features or, rather, on lower-order image properties
      (e.g., overall brightness). In a recent study, we have shown that rats are
      capable of extracting multiple features of an object that are diagnostic of its
      identity, at least when those features are, structure-wise, distinct enough to be
      parsed by the rat visual system. In the present study, we have assessed the
      impact of object structure on rat perceptual strategy. We trained rats to
      discriminate between two structurally similar objects, and compared their
      recognition strategies with those reported in our previous study. We found that,
      under conditions of lower stimulus discriminability, rat visual discrimination
      strategy becomes more view-dependent and subject-dependent. Rats were still able
      to recognize the target objects, in a way that was largely tolerant (i.e.,
      invariant) to object transformation; however, the larger structural and pixel
      wise similarity affected the way objects were processed. Compared to the findings
      of our previous study, the patterns of diagnostic features were: (i) smaller and
      more scattered; (ii) only partially preserved across object views; and (iii) only
      partially reproducible across rats. On the other hand, rats were still found to
      adopt a multi-featural processing strategy and to make use of part of the optimal
      discriminatory information afforded by the two objects. Our findings suggest
      that, as in humans, rat invariant recognition can flexibly rely on either view
      invariant representations of distinctive object features or view-specific object
      representations, acquired through learning. 

PMID- 25814937
TI  - Midbrain catecholaminergic neurons co-express alpha-synuclein and tau in
      progressive supranuclear palsy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the frequency and distribution of alpha-synuclein deposits
      in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). METHODS: The brains of 25 cases of
      pathologically confirmed PSP were evaluated with immunohistochemistry for alpha
      synuclein and tau. Multiple immunofluorescent stains were applied to analyze the
      expression of tau and alpha-synuclein aggregates in catecholaminergic neurons.
      Patients' clinical symptoms were retrospectively recorded. RESULTS: Deposits
      alpha-synuclein in the form of typical Lewy bodies (LBs) were only found in two
      PSP cases (8%) that fulfilled the clinical subtype of PSP known as Richardson's
      syndrome (RS). LBs were present in the locus ceruleus (LC), substantia nigra pars
      compacta (SNc), basal forebrain, amygdala and cingulated cortex in a distribution
      mimicking that of Parkinson's disease (PD). Triple-immunolabeling revealed co
      expression of alpha-synuclein and tau proteins in some tyrosine hydroxilase (TH)
      positive neurons of the LC and SNc. CONCLUSIONS: There is no apparent clinical
      correlation between the presence of LBs in PSP. Tau protein co-aggregate with
      alpha-synuclein in catecholaminergic neurons of PSP brains suggesting a
      synergistic interaction between the two proteins. This is in keeping with the
      current view of neurodegenerative disorders as "misfolded protein diseases".

PMID- 25814938
TI  - Anatomical inputs to sulcal portions of areas 9m and 8Bm in the macaque monkey.
AB  - Neuronal activities recorded from the dorsal bank of the anterior cingulate
      sulcus have suggested that this cortical area is involved in control of search
      vs. repetition, goal-based action selection and encoding of prediction error
      regarding action value. In this study, to explore potential anatomical bases for
      these neuronal activities, we injected retrograde tracers (CTB-Alexa-488 and CTB
      gold) into the dorsal bank of the anterior cingulate sulcus and examined the
      distribution of labeled cell bodies in macaque monkey brains. The Nissl staining
      showed that the cortex in the dorsal bank of the anterior cingulate sulcus has
      consistent layer 4 which means that the cortical region is a part of the granular
      prefrontal cortex. The injection site belonged to the sulcal portion of area 9m
      in two cases and the sulcal portion of area 8Bm in one case. In addition to the
      continuous distribution of labeled cells in the two areas (areas 9m and 8Bm)
      around the injection site, the labeled cells were densely distributed in the
      cingulate areas (areas 24, 32, and 23) in all the cases. The dense labeling of
      cells was also found in other prefrontal areas (areas 46, 10, 11, and 12) in the
      two cases with injection into the sulcal portion of area 9m, whereas the dense
      labeling of cells was found in pre-motor areas (F6 and F7) in the case with
      injection into the sulcal portion of area 8Bm. The dense labeling of cells in the
      prefrontal and premotor areas was more similar to those previously found after
      injections into dorsal parts of areas 9 and 8B. Subcortical distribution of
      labeled cells was found in the mediodorsal nucleus of thalamus, claustrum, and
      substantia nigra pars compacta in all the cases. 

PMID- 25814939
TI  - Preserving cortico-striatal function: deep brain stimulation in Huntington's
      disease.
AB  - Huntington's disease (HD) is an incurable neurodegenerative disease characterized
      by the triad of chorea, cognitive dysfunction and psychiatric disturbances. Since
      the discovery of the HD gene, the pathogenesis has been outlined, but to date a
      cure has not been found. Disease modifying therapies are needed desperately to
      improve function, alleviate suffering, and provide hope for symptomatic patients.
      Deep brain stimulation (DBS), a proven therapy for managing the symptoms of some
      neurodegenerative movement disorders, including Parkinson's disease, has been
      reported as a palliative treatment in select cases of HD with debilitating chorea
      with variable success. New insights into the mechanism of action of DBS suggest
      it may have the potential to circumvent other manifestations of HD including
      cognitive deterioration. Furthermore, because DBS is already widely used,
      reversible, and has a risk profile that is relatively low, new studies can be
      initiated. In this article we contend that new clinical trials be considered to
      test the effects of DBS for HD. 

PMID- 25814940
TI  - Corrigendum: Valenced action/inhibition learning in humans is modulated by a
      genetic variant linked to dopamine D2 receptor expression.
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. 140 in vol. 8, PMID: 25147510.]. 

PMID- 25814942
TI  - The inhibitory avoidance discrimination task to investigate accuracy of memory.
AB  - The present study was aimed at developing a new inhibitory avoidance task, based
      on training and/or testing rats in multiple contexts, to investigate accuracy of
      memory. In the first experiment, male Sprague-Dawley rats were given footshock in
      an inhibitory avoidance apparatus and, 48 h later, retention latencies of each
      rat were assessed in the training apparatus (Shock box) as well as in a novel,
      contextually modified, apparatus. Retention latencies in the Shock box were
      significantly longer than those in the Novel box, indicating accurate memory of
      the training context. When the noradrenergic stimulant yohimbine (0.3 mg/kg, sc)
      was administered after the training, 48-h retention latencies in the Shock box,
      but not Novel box, were increased, indicating that the noradrenergic activation
      enhanced memory of the training experience without reducing memory accuracy. In
      the second experiment, rats were trained on an inhibitory avoidance
      discrimination task: They were first trained in an inhibitory avoidance apparatus
      without footshock (Non-Shock box), followed 1 min later by footshock training in
      a contextually modified apparatus (Shock box). Forty-eight-hour retention
      latencies in the Shock and Non-Shock boxes did not differ from each other but
      were both significantly longer than those in a Novel box, indicating that rats
      remembered the two training contexts but did not have episodic-like memory of the
      association of footshock with the correct training context. When the interval
      between the two training episodes was increased to 2 min, rats showed accurate
      memory of the association of footshock with the training context. Yohimbine
      administered after the training also enhanced rats' ability to remember in which
      training context they had received actual footshock. These findings indicate that
      the inhibitory avoidance discrimination task is a novel variant of the well
      established inhibitory avoidance task suitable to investigate accuracy of memory.

PMID- 25814941
TI  - Reconceptualizing anhedonia: novel perspectives on balancing the pleasure
      networks in the human brain.
AB  - Anhedonia, the lack of pleasure, has been shown to be a critical feature of a
      range of psychiatric disorders. Yet, it is currently measured primarily through
      subjective self-reports and as such has been difficult to submit to rigorous
      scientific analysis. New insights from affective neuroscience hold considerable
      promise in improving our understanding of anhedonia and for providing useful
      objective behavioral measures to complement traditional self-report measures,
      potentially leading to better diagnoses and novel treatments. Here, we review the
      state-of-the-art of hedonia research and specifically the established mechanisms
      of wanting, liking, and learning. Based on this framework we propose to
      conceptualize anhedonia as impairments in some or all of these processes, thereby
      departing from the longstanding view of anhedonia as solely reduced subjective
      experience of pleasure. We discuss how deficits in each of the reward components
      can lead to different expressions, or subtypes, of anhedonia affording novel ways
      of measurement. Specifically, we review evidence suggesting that patients
      suffering from depression and schizophrenia show impairments in wanting and
      learning, while some aspects of conscious liking seem surprisingly intact.
      Furthermore, the evidence suggests that anhedonia is heterogeneous across
      psychiatric disorders, depending on which parts of the pleasure networks are most
      affected. This in turn has implications for diagnosis and treatment of anhedonia.

PMID- 25814943
TI  - The frequency of hippocampal theta rhythm is modulated on a circadian period and
      is entrained by food availability.
AB  - The hippocampal formation plays a critical role in the generation of episodic
      memory. While the encoding of the spatial and contextual components of memory
      have been extensively studied, how the hippocampus encodes temporal information,
      especially at long time intervals, is less well understood. The activity of place
      cells in hippocampus has previously been shown to be modulated at a circadian
      time-scale, entrained by a behavioral stimulus, but not entrained by light. The
      experimental procedures used in the previous study of this phenomenon, however,
      necessarily conflated two alternative entraining stimuli, the exposure to the
      recording environment and the availability of food, making it impossible to
      distinguish between these possibilities. Here we demonstrate that the frequency
      of theta-band hippocampal EEG varies with a circadian period in freely moving
      animals and that this periodicity mirrors changes in the firing rate of
      hippocampal neurons. Theta activity serves, therefore, as a proxy of circadian
      modulated hippocampal neuronal activity. We then demonstrate that the frequency
      of hippocampal theta driven by stimulation of the reticular formation also varies
      with a circadian period. Because this effect can be observed without having to
      feed the animal to encourage movement we were able to identify what stimulus
      entrains the circadian oscillation. We show that with reticular-activated
      recordings started at various times of the day the frequency of theta varies
      quasi-sinusoidally with a 25 h period and phase-aligned when referenced to the
      animal's regular feeding time, but not the recording start time. Furthermore, we
      show that theta frequency consistently varied with a circadian period when the
      data obtained from repeated recordings started at various times of the day were
      referenced to the start of food availability in the recording chamber. This
      pattern did not occur when data were referenced to the start of the recording
      session or to the actual time of day when this was not also related to feeding
      time. This double dissociation demonstrates that hippocampal theta is modulated
      with a circadian timescale, and that this modulation is strongly entrained by
      food. One interpretation of this finding is that the hippocampus is responsive to
      a food entrainable oscillator (FEO) that might modulate foraging behavior over
      circadian periods. 

PMID- 25814944
TI  - Activation of 5-HT7 receptor stimulates neurite elongation through mTOR, Cdc42
      and actin filaments dynamics.
AB  - Recent studies have indicated that the serotonin receptor subtype 7 (5-HT7R)
      plays a crucial role in shaping neuronal morphology during embryonic and early
      postnatal life. Here we show that pharmacological stimulation of 5-HT7R using a
      highly selective agonist, LP-211, enhances neurite outgrowth in neuronal primary
      cultures from the cortex, hippocampus and striatal complex of embryonic mouse
      brain, through multiple signal transduction pathways. All these signaling
      systems, involving mTOR, the Rho GTPase Cdc42, Cdk5, and ERK, are known to
      converge on the reorganization of cytoskeletal proteins that subserve neurite
      outgrowth. Indeed, our data indicate that neurite elongation stimulated by 5-HT7R
      is modulated by drugs affecting actin polymerization. In addition, we show, by 2D
      Western blot analyses, that treatment of neuronal cultures with LP-211 alters the
      expression profile of cofilin, an actin binding protein involved in
      microfilaments dynamics. Furthermore, by using microfluidic chambers that
      physically separate axons from the soma and dendrites, we demonstrate that
      agonist-dependent activation of 5-HT7R stimulates axonal elongation. Our results
      identify for the first time several signal transduction pathways, activated by
      stimulation of 5-HT7R, that converge to promote cytoskeleton reorganization and
      consequent modulation of axonal elongation. Therefore, the activation of 5-HT7R
      might represent one of the key elements regulating CNS connectivity and
      plasticity during development. 

PMID- 25814909
TI  - Measurement of jet multiplicity distributions in [Formula: see text] production
      in pp collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - The normalised differential top quark-antiquark production cross section is
      measured as a function of the jet multiplicity in proton-proton collisions at a
      centre-of-mass energy of 7[Formula: see text] at the LHC with the CMS detector.
      The measurement is performed in both the dilepton and lepton+jets decay channels
      using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0[Formula: see text].
      Using a procedure to associate jets to decay products of the top quarks, the
      differential cross section of the [Formula: see text] production is determined as
      a function of the additional jet multiplicity in the lepton+jets channel.
      Furthermore, the fraction of events with no additional jets is measured in the
      dilepton channel, as a function of the threshold on the jet transverse momentum.
      The measurements are compared with predictions from perturbative quantum
      chromodynamics and no significant deviations are observed.

PMID- 25814945
TI  - Novel agonists for serotonin 5-HT7 receptors reverse metabotropic glutamate
      receptor-mediated long-term depression in the hippocampus of wild-type and Fmr1
      KO mice, a model of Fragile X Syndrome.
AB  - Serotonin 5-HT7 receptors are expressed in the hippocampus and modulate the
      excitability of hippocampal neurons. We have previously shown that 5-HT7
      receptors modulate glutamate-mediated hippocampal synaptic transmission and long
      term synaptic plasticity. In particular, we have shown that activation of 5-HT7
      receptors reversed metabotropic glutamate receptor-mediated long-term depression
      (mGluR-LTD) in wild-type (wt) and in Fmr1 KO mice, a mouse model of Fragile X
      Syndrome in which mGluR-LTD is abnormally enhanced, suggesting that 5-HT7
      receptor agonists might be envisaged as a novel therapeutic strategy for Fragile
      X Syndrome. In this perspective, we have characterized the basic in vitro
      pharmacokinetic properties of novel molecules with high binding affinity and
      selectivity for 5-HT7 receptors and we have tested their effects on synaptic
      plasticity using patch clamp on acute hippocampal slices. Here we show that LP
      211, a high affinity selective agonist of 5-HT7 receptors, reverses mGluR-LTD in
      wt and Fmr1 KO mice, correcting a synaptic malfunction in the mouse model of
      Fragile X Syndrome. Among novel putative agonists of 5-HT7 receptors, the
      compound BA-10 displayed improved affinity and selectivity for 5-HT7 receptors
      and improved in vitro pharmacokinetic properties with respect to LP-211. BA-10
      significantly reversed mGluR-LTD in the CA3-CA1 synapse in wt and Fmr1KO mice,
      indicating that BA-10 behaved as a highly effective agonist of 5-HT7 receptors
      and reduced exaggerated mGluR-LTD in a mouse model of Fragile X Syndrome. On the
      other side, the compounds RA-7 and PM-20, respectively arising from in vivo
      metabolism of LP-211 and BA-10, had no effect on mGluR-LTD thus did not behave as
      agonists of 5-HT7 receptors in our conditions. The present results provide
      information about the structure-activity relationship of novel 5-HT7 receptor
      agonists and indicate that LP-211 and BA-10 might be used as novel
      pharmacological tools for the therapy of Fragile X Syndrome. 

PMID- 25814947
TI  - Editorial on emerging neuroimaging tools for studying normal and abnormal human
      brain development.

PMID- 25814946
TI  - Pre-reproductive maternal enrichment influences rat maternal care and offspring
      developmental trajectories: behavioral performances and neuroplasticity
      correlates.
AB  - Environmental enrichment (EE) is a widely used paradigm for investigating the
      influence of complex stimulations on brain and behavior. Here we examined whether
      pre-reproductive exposure to EE of female rats may influence their maternal care
      and offspring cognitive performances. To this aim, from weaning to breeding age
      enriched females (EF) were reared in enriched environments. Females reared in
      standard conditions were used as controls. At 2.5 months of age all females were
      mated and reared in standard conditions with their offspring. Maternal care
      behaviors and nesting activity were assessed in lactating dams. Their male pups
      were also behaviorally evaluated at different post-natal days (pnd). Brain BDNF,
      reelin and adult hippocampal neurogenesis levels were measured as biochemical
      correlates of neuroplasticity. EF showed more complex maternal care than controls
      due to their higher levels of licking, crouching and nest building activities.
      Moreover, their offspring showed higher discriminative (maternal odor preference
      T-maze, pnd 10) and spatial (Morris Water Maze, pnd 45; Open Field with objects,
      pnd 55) performances, with no differences in social abilities (Sociability test,
      pnd 35), in comparison to controls. BDNF levels were increased in EF frontal
      cortex at pups' weaning and in their offspring hippocampus at pnd 21 and 55. No
      differences in offspring reelin and adult hippocampal neurogenesis levels were
      found. In conclusion, our study indicates that pre-reproductive maternal
      enrichment positively influences female rats' maternal care and cognitive
      development of their offspring, demonstrating thus a transgenerational
      transmission of EE benefits linked to enhanced BDNF-induced neuroplasticity. 

PMID- 25814907
TI  - Measurement of the centrality and pseudorapidity dependence of the integrated
      elliptic flow in lead-lead collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV with the ATLAS
      detector.
AB  - The integrated elliptic flow of charged particles produced in Pb+Pb collisions at
      [Formula: see text] TeV has been measured with the ATLAS detector using data
      collected at the Large Hadron Collider. The anisotropy parameter, [Formula: see
      text], was measured in the pseudorapidity range [Formula: see text] with the
      event-plane method. In order to include tracks with very low transverse momentum
      [Formula: see text], thus reducing the uncertainty in [Formula: see text]
      integrated over [Formula: see text], a [Formula: see text] data sample recorded
      without a magnetic field in the tracking detectors is used. The centrality
      dependence of the integrated [Formula: see text] is compared to other
      measurements obtained with higher [Formula: see text] thresholds. The integrated
      elliptic flow is weakly decreasing with [Formula: see text]. The integrated
      [Formula: see text] transformed to the rest frame of one of the colliding nuclei
      is compared to the lower-energy RHIC data.

PMID- 25814948
TI  - Improper activation of D1 and D2 receptors leads to excess noise in prefrontal
      cortex.
AB  - The dopaminergic system has been shown to control the amount of noise in the
      prefrontal cortex (PFC) and likely plays an important role in working memory and
      the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. We developed a model that takes into
      account the known receptor distributions of D1 and D2 receptors, the changes
      these receptors have on neuron response properties, as well as identified
      circuitry involved in working memory. Our model suggests that D1 receptor under
      stimulation in supragranular layers gates internal noise into the PFC leading to
      cognitive symptoms as has been proposed in attention disorders, while D2 over
      stimulation gates noise into the PFC by over-activation of cortico-striatal
      projecting neurons in infragranular layers. We apply this model in the context of
      a memory-guided saccade paradigm and show deficits similar to those observed in
      schizophrenic patients. We also show set-shifting impairments similar to those
      observed in rodents with D1 and D2 receptor manipulations. We discuss how the
      introduction of noise through changes in D1 and D2 receptor activation may
      account for many of the symptoms of schizophrenia depending on where this
      dysfunction occurs in the PFC. 

PMID- 25814951
TI  - Clinical trial design of serious gaming in mild cognitive impairment.

PMID- 25814949
TI  - Mismatch negativity latency as a biomarker of amnestic mild cognitive impairment
      in chinese rural elders.
AB  - The aim was to evaluate the mismatch negativity (MMN) component, a correlate of
      the automatic detection of changes in the acoustic environment, in healthy
      adults, and adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Forty-three
      aMCI subjects and 43 healthy Chinese older adults were arranged into experimental
      group and control group, respectively. Their MMN amplitude and latency were
      measured at the FZ, FCZ, and CZ electrode sites under a passive auditory oddball
      task. The results showed that the latencies obtained from the FZ, FCZ, and CZ
      electrode sites were significantly longer in the aMCI adults than in the control
      adults (P  < 0.01) while there were no significant differences in MMN amplitude
      between two groups (P  > 0.05). The MMN latency was found to be a sensitive and
      specific biomarker of aMCI. 

PMID- 25814952
TI  - Effect of a water-maze procedure on the redox mechanisms in brain parts of aged
      rats.
AB  - The Morris water maze (MWM) is a tool for assessment of age-related modulations
      spatial learning and memory in laboratory rats. In our work was investigated the
      age-related decline of MWM performance in 11-month-old rats and the effect
      exerted by training in the MWM on the redox mechanisms in rat brain parts. Young
      adult (3-month-old) and aged (11-month-old) male rats were trained in the MWM.
      Intact animals of the corresponding age were used as the reference groups. The
      level of pro- and antioxidant capacity in brain tissue homogenates was assessed
      using the chemiluminescence method. A reduced performance in the MWM test was
      found in 11-month-old rats: at the first day of training they showed only 30% of
      successful MWM trials. However, at the last training day the percentage of
      successful trials was equal for young adult and aged animals. This indicates that
      the aged 11-month-old rats can successfully learn in MWM. Therewith, the MWM
      spatial learning procedure itself produces changes in different processes of
      redox homeostasis in 11-month-old and 3-month-old rats as compared to intact
      animals. Young adult rats showed a decrease in prooxidant capacity in all brain
      parts, while 11-month-old rats demonstrated an increase in antioxidant capacity
      in the olfactory bulb, pons + medulla oblongata and frontal lobe cortex. Hence,
      the MWM procedure activates the mechanisms that restrict the oxidative stress in
      brain parts. The obtained results may be an argument for further development of
      the animal training procedures aimed to activate the mechanisms that can prevent
      the age-related deterioration of performance in the learning test. This may be
      useful not only for the development of training procedures applicable to human
      patients with age-related cognitive impairments, but also for their
      rehabilitation. 

PMID- 25814950
TI  - Emotional memory for musical excerpts in young and older adults.
AB  - The emotions evoked by music can enhance recognition of excerpts. It has been
      suggested that memory is better for high than for low arousing music (Eschrich et
      al., 2005; Samson et al., 2009), but it remains unclear whether positively
      (Eschrich et al., 2008) or negatively valenced music (Aube et al., 2013;
      Vieillard and Gilet, 2013) may be better recognized. Moreover, we still know very
      little about the influence of age on emotional memory for music. To address these
      issues, we tested emotional memory for music in young and older adults using
      musical excerpts varying in terms of arousal and valence. Participants completed
      immediate and 24 h delayed recognition tests. We predicted highly arousing
      excerpts to be better recognized by both groups in immediate recognition. We
      hypothesized that arousal may compensate consolidation deficits in aging, thus
      showing more prominent benefit of high over low arousing stimuli in older than
      younger adults on delayed recognition. We also hypothesized worst retention of
      negative excerpts for the older group, resulting in a recognition benefit for
      positive over negative excerpts specific to older adults. Our results suggest
      that although older adults had worse recognition than young adults overall,
      effects of emotion on memory do not seem to be modified by aging. Results on
      immediate recognition suggest that recognition of low arousing excerpts can be
      affected by valence, with better memory for positive relative to negative low
      arousing music. However, 24 h delayed recognition results demonstrate effects of
      emotion on memory consolidation regardless of age, with a recognition benefit for
      high arousal and for negatively valenced music. The present study highlights the
      role of emotion on memory consolidation. Findings are examined in light of the
      literature on emotional memory for music and for other stimuli. We finally
      discuss the implication of the present results for potential music interventions
      in aging and dementia. 

PMID- 25814954
TI  - Hypoxia inducible factor signaling and experimental persistent pulmonary
      hypertension of the newborn.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and nuclear factor
      kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NFkappaB) activity are increased
      in a lamb model of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN). These
      events can trigger hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) signaling in response to
      hypoxia, which has been shown to contribute to pulmonary vascular remodeling in
      rodent models of pulmonary hypertension. However, the role of HIF signaling in
      chronic intrauterine pulmonary hypertension is not well understood. AIM: To
      determine if HIF signaling is increased in the lamb model of PPHN, and to
      identify the underlying mechanisms. RESULTS: PPHN was induced in lambs by
      antenatal ligation of the ductus arteriosus at 128 days gestation. After 9 days,
      lungs and pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMC) were isolated from control
      and PPHN lambs. HIF-1alpha expression was increased in PPHN lungs and HIF
      activity was increased in PPHN PASMC relative to controls. Hypoxia increased HIF
      activity to a greater degree in PPHN vs. control PASMC. Control PASMC were
      exposed to cyclic stretch at 1 Hz and 15% elongation for 24 h, as an in vitro
      model of vascular stress. Stretch increased HIF activity, which was attenuated by
      inhibition of mitochondrial complex III and NFkappaB. CONCLUSION: Increased HIF
      signaling in PPHN is triggered by stretch, via mechanisms involving mitochondrial
      ROS and NFkappaB. Hypoxia substantially amplifies HIF activity in PPHN vascular
      cells. Targeting these signaling molecules may attenuate and reverse pulmonary
      vascular remodeling associated with PPHN.

PMID- 25814956
TI  - Arginase induction and activation during ischemia and reperfusion and functional
      consequences for the heart.
AB  - Induction and activation of arginase is among the fastest responses of the heart
      to ischemic events. Induction of arginase expression and enzyme activation under
      ischemic conditions shifts arginine consumption from nitric oxide formation (NO)
      to the formation of ornithine and urea. In the heart such a switch in substrate
      utilization reduces the impact of the NO/cGMP-pathway on cardiac function that
      requires intact electromechanical coupling but at the same time it induces
      ornithine-dependent pathways such as the polyamine metabolism. Both effects
      significantly reduce the recovery of heart function during reperfusion and
      thereby limits the success of reperfusion strategies. In this context, changes in
      arginine consumption trigger cardiac remodeling in an unfavorable way and
      increases the risk of arrhythmia, specifically in the initial post-ischemic
      period in which arginase activity is dominating. However, during the entire
      ischemic period arginase activation might be a meaningful adaptation that is
      specifically relevant for reperfusion following prolonged ischemic periods.
      Therefore, a precise understanding about the underlying mechanism that leads to
      arginase induction as well as of it's mechanistic impact on post-ischemic hearts
      is required for optimizing reperfusion strategies. In this review we will
      summarize our current understanding of these processes and give an outlook about
      possible treatment options for the future. 

PMID- 25814953
TI  - Transport proteins determine drug sensitivity and resistance in a protozoan
      parasite, Trypanosoma brucei.
AB  - Drug resistance in pathogenic protozoa is very often caused by changes to the
      'transportome' of the parasites. In Trypanosoma brucei, several transporters have
      been implicated in uptake of the main classes of drugs, diamidines and
      melaminophenyl arsenicals. The resistance mechanism had been thought to be due to
      loss of a transporter known to carry both types of agents: the aminopurine
      transporter P2, encoded by the gene TbAT1. However, although loss of P2 activity
      is well-documented as the cause of resistance to the veterinary diamidine
      diminazene aceturate (DA; Berenil((r))), cross-resistance between the human-use
      arsenical melarsoprol and the diamidine pentamidine (melarsoprol/pentamidine
      cross resistance, MPXR) is the result of loss of a separate high affinity
      pentamidine transporter (HAPT1). A genome-wide RNAi library screen for resistance
      to pentamidine, published in 2012, gave the key to the genetic identity of HAPT1
      by linking the phenomenon to a locus that contains the closely related T. brucei
      aquaglyceroporin genes TbAQP2 and TbAQP3. Further analysis determined that
      knockdown of only one pore, TbAQP2, produced the MPXR phenotype. TbAQP2 is an
      unconventional aquaglyceroporin with unique residues in the "selectivity region"
      of the pore, and it was found that in several MPXR lab strains the WT gene was
      either absent or replaced by a chimeric protein, recombined with parts of TbAQP3.
      Importantly, wild-type AQP2 was also absent in field isolates of T. b. gambiense,
      correlating with the outcome of melarsoprol treatment. Expression of a wild-type
      copy of TbAQP2 in even the most resistant strain completely reversed MPXR and re
      introduced HAPT1 function and transport kinetics. Expression of TbAQP2 in
      Leishmania mexicana introduced a pentamidine transport activity indistinguishable
      from HAPT1. Although TbAQP2 has been shown to function as a classical
      aquaglyceroporin it is now clear that it is also a high affinity drug
      transporter, HAPT1. We discuss here a possible structural rationale for this
      remarkable ability. 

PMID- 25814958
TI  - Online social networking sites and mental health research.

PMID- 25814959
TI  - Addressing stigma relating to mental illness in low- and middle-income countries.

PMID- 25814957
TI  - Neural stem cells respond to stress hormones: distinguishing beneficial from
      detrimental stress.
AB  - Neural stem cells (NSCs), the progenitors of the nervous system, control
      distinct, position-specific functions and are critically involved in the
      maintenance of homeostasis in the brain. The responses of these cells to various
      stressful stimuli are shaped by genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors
      via mechanisms that are age and developmental stage-dependent and still remain,
      to a great extent, elusive. Increasing evidence advocates for the beneficial
      impact of the stress response in various settings, complementing the extensive
      number of studies on the detrimental effects of stress, particularly in the
      developing brain. In this review, we discuss suggested mechanisms mediating both
      the beneficial and detrimental effects of stressors on NSC activity across the
      lifespan. We focus on the specific effects of secreted factors and we propose
      NSCs as a "sensor," capable of distinguishing among the different stressors and
      adapting its functions accordingly. All the above suggest the intriguing
      hypothesis that NSCs are an important part of the adaptive response to stressors
      via direct and indirect, specific mechanisms. 

PMID- 25814960
TI  - Encouraging 5-year olds to attend to landmarks: a way to improve children's
      wayfinding strategies in a virtual environment.
AB  - Wayfinding is defined as the ability to learn and remember a route through an
      environment. Previous researchers have shown that young children have
      difficulties remembering routes. However, very few researchers have considered
      how to improve young children's wayfinding abilities. Therefore, we investigated
      ways to help children increase their wayfinding skills. In two studies, a total
      of 72 5-year olds were shown a route in a six turn maze in a virtual environment
      and were then asked to retrace this route by themselves. A unique landmark was
      positioned at each junction and each junction was made up of two paths: a correct
      path and an incorrect path. Two different strategies improved route learning
      performance. In Experiment 1, verbally labeling on-route junction landmarks
      during the first walk reduced the number of errors and the number of trials to
      reach a learning criterion when the children retraced the route. In Experiment 2,
      encouraging children to attend to on-route junction landmarks on the first walk
      reduced the number of errors when the route was retraced. This was the first
      study to show that very young children can be taught route learning skills. The
      implications of our results are discussed. 

PMID- 25814955
TI  - Can endurance exercise preconditioning prevention disuse muscle atrophy?
AB  - Emerging evidence suggests that exercise training can provide a level of
      protection against disuse muscle atrophy. Endurance exercise training imposes
      oxidative, metabolic, and heat stress on skeletal muscle which activates a
      variety of cellular signaling pathways that ultimately leads to the increased
      expression of proteins that have been demonstrated to protect muscle from
      inactivity -induced atrophy. This review will highlight the effect of exercise
      induced oxidative stress on endogenous enzymatic antioxidant capacity (i.e.,
      superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase), the role of
      oxidative and metabolic stress on PGC1-alpha, and finally highlight the effect
      heat stress and HSP70 induction. Finally, this review will discuss the supporting
      scientific evidence that these proteins can attenuate muscle atrophy through
      exercise preconditioning. 

PMID- 25814961
TI  - Judgment of musical emotions after cochlear implantation in adults with
      progressive deafness.
AB  - While cochlear implantation is rather successful in restoring speech
      comprehension in quiet environments (Nimmons et al., 2008), other auditory tasks,
      such as music perception, can remain challenging for implant users. Here, we
      tested how patients who had received a cochlear implant (CI) after post-lingual
      progressive deafness perceive emotions in music. Thirteen adult CI recipients
      with good verbal comprehension (dissyllabic words >=70%) and 13 normal hearing
      participants matched for age, gender, and education listened to 40 short musical
      excerpts that selectively expressed fear, happiness, sadness, and peacefulness (
      Vieillard et al., 2008). The participants were asked to rate (on a 0-100 scale)
      how much the musical stimuli expressed these four cardinal emotions, and to judge
      their emotional valence (unpleasant-pleasant) and arousal (relaxing-stimulating).
      Although CI users performed above chance level, their emotional judgments (mean
      correctness scores) were generally impaired for happy, scary, and sad, but not
      for peaceful excerpts. CI users also demonstrated deficits in perceiving arousal
      of musical excerpts, whereas rating of valence remained unaffected. The current
      findings indicate that judgments of emotional categories and dimensions of
      musical excerpts are not uniformly impaired after cochlear implantation. These
      results are discussed in relation to the relatively spared abilities of CI users
      in perceiving temporal (rhythm and metric) as compared to spectral (pitch and
      timbre) musical dimensions, which might benefit the processing of musical
      emotions (Cooper et al., 2008). 

PMID- 25814962
TI  - Intrusions of a drowsy mind: neural markers of phenomenological unpredictability.
AB  - The transition from a relaxed to a drowsy state of mind is often accompanied by
      hypnagogic experiences: most commonly, perceptual imagery, but also linguistic
      intrusions, i.e., the sudden emergence of unpredictable anomalies in the stream
      of inner speech. This study has sought to describe the contents of such
      intrusions, to verify their association with the progression of sleep onset, and
      to investigate the electroencephalographic processes associated with linguistic
      intrusions as opposed to more common hypnagogic perceptual imagery. A single
      participant attended 10 experimental sessions in the EEG laboratory, where he was
      allowed to drift into a drowsy state of mind, while maintaining metacognition of
      his own experiences. Once a linguistic intrusion or a noticeable perceptual image
      occurred, the participant pressed a button and reported it verbally. An increase
      in the EEG-defined depth of drowsiness as assessed by the Hori system of sleep
      onset was observed in the last 20 s before a button press. Likewise, EEG
      Dimension of Activation values decreased before the button press, indicating that
      the occurrence of cognitively incongruous experiences coincides with the rapid
      change of EEG predictability patterns. EEG hemispheric asymmetry analysis showed
      that linguistic intrusions had a higher alpha and gamma power in the left
      hemisphere electrodes, whereas perceptual imagery reports were associated with a
      higher beta power over the right hemisphere. These findings indicate that the
      modality as well as the incongruence of drowsiness-related hypnagogic experiences
      is strongly associated with distinct EEG signatures in this participant. Sleep
      onset may provide a unique possibility to study the neural mechanisms
      accompanying the fragmentation of the stream of consciousness in healthy
      individuals. 

PMID- 25814963
TI  - An improved cognitive model of the Iowa and Soochow Gambling Tasks with regard to
      model fitting performance and tests of parameter consistency.
AB  - The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Soochow Gambling Task (SGT) are two
      experience-based risky decision-making tasks for examining decision-making
      deficits in clinical populations. Several cognitive models, including the
      expectancy-valence learning (EVL) model and the prospect valence learning (PVL)
      model, have been developed to disentangle the motivational, cognitive, and
      response processes underlying the explicit choices in these tasks. The purpose of
      the current study was to develop an improved model that can fit empirical data
      better than the EVL and PVL models and, in addition, produce more consistent
      parameter estimates across the IGT and SGT. Twenty-six opiate users (mean age
      34.23; SD 8.79) and 27 control participants (mean age 35; SD 10.44) completed
      both tasks. Eighteen cognitive models varying in evaluation, updating, and choice
      rules were fit to individual data and their performances were compared to that of
      a statistical baseline model to find a best fitting model. The results showed
      that the model combining the prospect utility function treating gains and losses
      separately, the decay-reinforcement updating rule, and the trial-independent
      choice rule performed the best in both tasks. Furthermore, the winning model
      produced more consistent individual parameter estimates across the two tasks than
      any of the other models. 

PMID- 25814964
TI  - Women are underrepresented in fields where success is believed to require
      brilliance.
AB  - Women's underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
      (STEM) fields is a prominent concern in our society and many others. Closer
      inspection of this phenomenon reveals a more nuanced picture, however, with women
      achieving parity with men at the Ph.D. level in certain STEM fields, while also
      being underrepresented in some non-STEM fields. It is important to consider and
      provide an account of this field-by-field variability. The field-specific ability
      beliefs (FAB) hypothesis aims to provide such an account, proposing that women
      are likely to be underrepresented in fields thought to require raw intellectual
      talent-a sort of talent that women are stereotyped to possess less of than men.
      In two studies, we provide evidence for the FAB hypothesis, demonstrating that
      the academic fields believed by laypeople to require brilliance are also the
      fields with lower female representation. We also found that the FABs of
      participants with college-level exposure to a field were more predictive of its
      female representation than those of participants without college exposure,
      presumably because the former beliefs mirror more closely those of the field's
      practitioners (the direct "gatekeepers"). Moreover, the FABs of participants with
      college exposure to a field predicted the magnitude of the field's gender gap
      above and beyond their beliefs about the level of mathematical and verbal skills
      required. Finally, we found that beliefs about the importance of brilliance to
      success in a field may predict its female representation in part by fostering the
      impression that the field demands solitary work and competition with others.
      These results suggest new solutions for enhancing diversity within STEM and
      across the academic spectrum. 

PMID- 25814965
TI  - Corrigendum: Measuring the crowd within again: a pre-registered replication
      study.
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. 786 in vol. 5, PMID: 25120505.]. 

PMID- 25814966
TI  - Attention is complex: causes and effects.

PMID- 25814912
TI  - Searches for electroweak production of charginos, neutralinos, and sleptons
      decaying to leptons and W, Z, and Higgs bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV.
AB  - Searches for the direct electroweak production of supersymmetric charginos,
      neutralinos, and sleptons in a variety of signatures with leptons and [Formula:
      see text], [Formula: see text], and Higgs bosons are presented. Results are based
      on a sample of proton-proton collision data collected at center-of-mass energy
      [Formula: see text] with the CMS detector in 2012, corresponding to an integrated
      luminosity of 19.5 [Formula: see text]. The observed event rates are in agreement
      with expectations from the standard model. These results probe charginos and
      neutralinos with masses up to 720 [Formula: see text], and sleptons up to 260
      [Formula: see text], depending on the model details.

PMID- 25814967
TI  - Criterion and incremental validity of the emotion regulation questionnaire.
AB  - Although research on emotion regulation (ER) is developing, little attention has
      been paid to the predictive power of ER strategies beyond established constructs.
      The present study examined the incremental validity of the Emotion Regulation
      Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross and John, 2003), which measures cognitive reappraisal
      and expressive suppression, over and above the Big Five personality factors. It
      also extended the evidence for the measure's criterion validity to yet unexamined
      criteria. A university student sample (N = 203) completed the ERQ, a measure of
      the Big Five, and relevant cognitive and emotion-laden criteria. Cognitive
      reappraisal predicted positive affect beyond personality, as well as experiential
      flexibility and constructive self-assertion beyond personality and affect.
      Expressive suppression explained incremental variance in negative affect beyond
      personality and in experiential flexibility beyond personality and general
      affect. No incremental effects were found for worry, social anxiety, rumination,
      reflection, and preventing negative emotions. Implications for the construct
      validity and utility of the ERQ are discussed. 

PMID- 25814968
TI  - The intersection of turn-taking and repair: the timing of other-initiations of
      repair in conversation.
AB  - The transitions between turns at talk in conversation tend to occur quickly, with
      only a slight gap of ~100-300 ms between them. This estimate of central tendency,
      however, hides a wealth of complex variation, as a number of factors, such as the
      type of turns involved, have been shown to influence the timing of turn
      transitions. This article considers one specific type of turn that does not
      conform to the statistical trend, namely turns that deal with troubles of
      speaking, hearing, and understanding, known as other-initiations of repair (OIR).
      The results of a quantitative analysis of 169 OIRs in face-to-face conversation
      reveal that the most frequent cases occur after gaps of ~700 ms. Furthermore,
      OIRs that locate a source of trouble in a prior turn specifically tend to occur
      after shorter gaps than those that do not, and those that correct errors in a
      prior turn, while rare, tend to occur without delay. An analysis of the
      transitions before OIRs, using methods of conversation analysis, suggests that
      speakers use the extra time (i) to search for a late recognition of the
      problematic turn, (ii) to provide an opportunity for the speaker of the
      problematic turn to resolve the trouble independently, and (iii) to produce
      visual signals, such as facial gestures. In light of these results, it is argued
      that OIRs take priority over other turns at talk in conversation and therefore
      are not subject to the same rules and constraints that motivate fast turn
      transitions in general. 

PMID- 25814969
TI  - Events and children's sense of time: a perspective on the origins of everyday
      time-keeping.
AB  - In this article I discuss abstract or pure time versus the content of time,
      (i.e., events, activities, and other goings-on). Or, more specifically, the
      utility of these two sorts of time in time-keeping or temporal organization. It
      is often assumed that abstract, uniform, and objective time is a universal
      physical entity out there, which humans may perceive of. However, this sort of
      evenly flowing time was only recently introduced to the human community, together
      with the mechanical clock. Before the introduction of mechanical clock-time,
      there were only events available to denote the extent of time. Events defined
      time, unlike the way time may define events in our present day culture. It is
      therefore conceivable that our primeval or natural mode of time-keeping involves
      the perception, estimation, and coordination of events. I find it likely that
      events continues to subserve our sense of time and time-keeping efforts,
      especially for children who have not yet mastered the use of clock-time. Instead
      of seeing events as a distraction to our perception of time, I suggest that our
      experience and understanding of time emerges from our perception of events. 

PMID- 25814975
TI  - Pedagogical psychology: beyond the 21st century.

PMID- 25814970
TI  - Beyond practices and values: toward a physio-bioecological analysis of sleeping
      arrangements in early infancy.

PMID- 25814971
TI  - Reward learning and negative emotion during rapid attentional competition.
AB  - Learned stimulus-reward associations influence how attention is allocated, such
      that stimuli rewarded in the past are favored in situations involving limited
      resources and competition. At the same time, task-irrelevant, high-arousal
      negative stimuli capture attention and divert resources away from tasks resulting
      in poor behavioral performance. Yet, investigations of how reward learning and
      negative stimuli affect perceptual and attentional processing have been conducted
      in a largely independent fashion. We have recently reported that performance
      based monetary rewards reduce negative stimuli interference during perception.
      The goal of the present study was to investigate how stimuli associated with past
      monetary rewards compete with negative stimuli during a subsequent attentional
      task when, critically, no performance-based rewards were at stake. Across two
      experiments, we found that target stimuli that were associated with high reward
      reduced the interference effect of potent, negative distractors. Similar to our
      recent findings with performance-based rewards, our results demonstrate that
      reward-associated stimuli reduce the deleterious impact of negative stimuli on
      behavior. 

PMID- 25814972
TI  - New frontiers and applications of attachment theory.

PMID- 25814976
TI  - Breathing for answering: the time course of response planning in conversation.
AB  - We investigate the timing of pre-answer inbreaths in order to shed light on the
      time course of response planning and execution in conversational turn-taking.
      Using acoustic and inductive plethysmography recordings of seven dyadic
      conversations in Dutch, we show that pre-answer inbreaths in conversation
      typically begin briefly after the end of questions. We also show that the
      presence of a pre-answer inbreath usually co-occurs with substantially delayed
      answers, with a modal latency of 576 vs. 100 ms for answers not preceded by an
      inbreath. Based on previously reported minimal latencies for internal intercostal
      activation and the production of speech sounds, we propose that vocal responses,
      either in the form of a pre-utterance inbreath or of speech proper when an
      inbreath is not produced, are typically launched in reaction to information
      present in the last portion of the interlocutor's turn. We also show that short
      responses are usually made on residual breath, while longer responses are more
      often preceded by an inbreath. This relation of inbreaths to answer length
      suggests that by the time an inbreath is launched, typically during the last few
      hundred milliseconds of the question, the length of the answer is often prepared
      to some extent. Together, our findings are consistent with a two-stage model of
      response planning in conversational turn-taking: early planning of content often
      carried out in overlap with the incoming turn, and late launching of articulation
      based on the identification of turn-final cues. 

PMID- 25814973
TI  - Stroop effects from newly learned color words: effects of memory consolidation
      and episodic context.
AB  - The Stroop task is an excellent tool to test whether reading a word automatically
      activates its associated meaning, and it has been widely used in mono- and
      bilingual contexts. Despite of its ubiquity, the task has not yet been employed
      to test the automaticity of recently established word-concept links in novel-word
      learning studies, under strict experimental control of learning and testing
      conditions. In three experiments, we thus paired novel words with native language
      (German) color words via lexical association and subsequently tested these words
      in a manual version of the Stroop task. Two crucial findings emerged: When novel
      word Stroop trials appeared intermixed among native-word trials, the novel-word
      Stroop effect was observed immediately after the learning phase. If no native
      color words were present in a Stroop block, the novel-word Stroop effect only
      emerged 24 h later. These results suggest that the automatic availability of a
      novel word's meaning depends either on supportive context from the learning
      episode and/or on sufficient time for memory consolidation. We discuss how these
      results can be reconciled with the complementary learning systems account of word
      learning. 

PMID- 25814974
TI  - Feedforward and feedback processes in vision.

PMID- 25814977
TI  - The dopamine imbalance hypothesis of fatigue in multiple sclerosis and other
      neurological disorders.
AB  - Fatigue is one of the most pervasive symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), and has
      engendered hundreds of investigations on the topic. While there is a growing
      literature using various methods to study fatigue, a unified theory of fatigue in
      MS is yet to emerge. In the current review, we synthesize findings from
      neuroimaging, pharmacological, neuropsychological, and immunological studies of
      fatigue in MS, which point to a specific hypothesis of fatigue in MS: the
      dopamine imbalance hypothesis. The communication between the striatum and
      prefrontal cortex is reliant on dopamine, a modulatory neurotransmitter.
      Neuroimaging findings suggest that fatigue results from the disruption of
      communication between these regions. Supporting the dopamine imbalance
      hypothesis, structural and functional neuroimaging studies show abnormalities in
      the frontal and striatal regions that are heavily innervated by dopamine neurons.
      Further, dopaminergic psychostimulant medication has been shown to alleviate
      fatigue in individuals with traumatic brain injury, chronic fatigue syndrome, and
      in cancer patients, also indicating that dopamine might play an important role in
      fatigue perception. This paper reviews the structural and functional neuroimaging
      evidence as well as pharmacological studies that suggest that dopamine plays a
      critical role in the phenomenon of fatigue. We conclude with how specific aspects
      of the dopamine imbalance hypothesis can be tested in future research. 

PMID- 25814978
TI  - Retinoid receptors in bone and their role in bone remodeling.
AB  - Vitamin A (retinol) is a necessary and important constituent of the body which is
      provided by food intake of retinyl esters and carotenoids. Vitamin A is known
      best for being important for vision, but in addition to the eye, vitamin A is
      necessary in numerous other organs in the body, including the skeleton. Vitamin A
      is converted to an active compound, all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), which is
      responsible for most of its biological actions. ATRA binds to intracellular
      nuclear receptors called retinoic acid receptors (RARalpha, RARbeta, RARgamma).
      RARs and closely related retinoid X receptors (RXRalpha, RXRbeta, RXRgamma) form
      heterodimers which bind to DNA and function as ligand-activated transcription
      factors. It has been known for many years that hypervitaminosis A promotes
      skeleton fragility by increasing osteoclast formation and decreasing cortical
      bone mass. Some epidemiological studies have suggested that increased intake of
      vitamin A and increased serum levels of retinoids may decrease bone mineral
      density and increase fracture rate, but the literature on this is not conclusive.
      The current review summarizes how vitamin A is taken up by the intestine,
      metabolized, stored in the liver, and processed to ATRA. ATRA's effects on
      formation and activity of osteoclasts and osteoblasts are outlined, and a summary
      of clinical data pertaining to vitamin A and bone is presented. 

PMID- 25814979
TI  - Early social environment affects the endogenous oxytocin system: a review and
      future directions.
AB  - Endogenous oxytocin plays an important role in a wide range of human functions
      including birth, milk ejection during lactation, and facilitation of social
      interaction. There is increasing evidence that both variations in the oxytocin
      receptor (OXTR) and concentrations of oxytocin are associated with differences in
      these functions. The causes for the differences that have been observed in tonic
      and stimulated oxytocin release remain unclear. Previous reviews have suggested
      that across the life course, these differences may be due to individual factors,
      e.g., genetic variation (of the OXTR), age or sex, or be the result of early
      environmental influences, such as social experiences, stress, or trauma partly by
      inducing epigenetic changes. This review has three aims. First, we briefly
      discuss the endogenous oxytocin system, including physiology, development,
      individual differences, and function. Second, current models describing the
      relationship between the early life environment and the development of the
      oxytocin system in humans and animals are discussed. Finally, we describe
      research designs that can be used to investigate the effects of the early
      environment on the oxytocin system, identifying specific areas of research that
      need further attention. 

PMID- 25814980
TI  - Subgingival microbiota in health compared to periodontitis and the influence of
      smoking.
AB  - The etiology of periodontitis has traditionally been associated to a consortium
      of three bacterial species-the so-called "red-complex" of periodontal disease
      which has been the target for most diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
      However, other species have also been found to correlate with disease severity.
      In addition, the influence of smoking on periodontal microbiota is poorly
      understood. In the current manuscript, the composition of the subgingival
      microbiota in healthy individuals vs. patients with chronic periodontitis has
      been investigated using 16S pyrosequencing and the influence of smoking on
      periodontal composition has been examined. Subgingival bacterial communities were
      sampled from 82 patients: 22 non-smoking healthy controls, 28 non-smoking
      periodontal patients, and 32 smoking periodontal patients. Bacterial diversity
      was higher in periodontal patients than in healthy subjects, which could be
      interpreted as the consequence of a nutritionally richer environment or a reduced
      immune competence. Periodontal patients showed a significantly higher
      prevalence/relative abundance of "established" periopathogens but also other taxa
      whose role is not well-established and that should be targets for future
      research. These include Anaeroglobus, Bulleidia, Desulfobulbus, Filifactor,
      Mogibacterium, Phocaeicola, Schwartzia or TM7. The microbial community of smoking
      associated periodontitis is less diverse and distinct from that of non-smokers,
      indicating that smoking has an influence on periodontal ecology. Interestingly,
      the high sequencing coverage allowed the detection at low proportions of
      periodontal pathogens in all healthy individuals, indicating that chronic
      periodontitis cannot be strictly considered an infectious disease but the outcome
      of a polymicrobial dysbiosis, where changes in the proportions of microbial
      consortia trigger the inflammatory and tissue-degradation responses of the host. 

PMID- 25814981
TI  - The Pseudomonas aeruginosa antimetabolite L -2-amino-4-methoxy-trans-3-butenoic
      acid (AMB) is made from glutamate and two alanine residues via a thiotemplate
      linked tripeptide precursor.
AB  - The Pseudomonas aeruginosa toxin L-2-amino-4-methoxy-trans-3-butenoic acid (AMB)
      is a non-proteinogenic amino acid which is toxic for prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
      Production of AMB requires a five-gene cluster encoding a putative LysE-type
      transporter (AmbA), two non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (AmbB and AmbE), and
      two iron(II)/alpha-ketoglutarate-dependent oxygenases (AmbC and AmbD).
      Bioinformatics analysis predicts one thiolation (T) domain for AmbB and two T
      domains (T1 and T2) for AmbE, suggesting that AMB is generated by a processing
      step from a precursor tripeptide assembled on a thiotemplate. Using a combination
      of ATP-PPi exchange assays, aminoacylation assays, and mass spectrometry-based
      analysis of enzyme-bound substrates and pathway intermediates, the AmbB substrate
      was identified to be L-alanine (L-Ala), while the T1 and T2 domains of AmbE were
      loaded with L-glutamate (L-Glu) and L-Ala, respectively. Loading of L-Ala at T2
      of AmbE occurred only in the presence of AmbB, indicative of a trans loading
      mechanism. In vitro assays performed with AmbB and AmbE revealed the dipeptide L
      Glu-L-Ala at T1 and the tripeptide L-Ala-L-Glu-L-Ala attached at T2. When AmbC
      and AmbD were included in the assay, these peptides were no longer detected.
      Instead, an L-Ala-AMB-L-Ala tripeptide was found at T2. These data are in
      agreement with a biosynthetic model in which L-Glu is converted into AMB by the
      action of AmbC, AmbD, and tailoring domains of AmbE. The importance of the
      flanking L-Ala residues in the precursor tripeptide is discussed. 

PMID- 25814982
TI  - Biomarker-based classification of bacterial and fungal whole-blood infections in
      a genome-wide expression study.
AB  - Sepsis is a clinical syndrome that can be caused by bacteria or fungi. Early
      knowledge on the nature of the causative agent is a prerequisite for targeted
      anti-microbial therapy. Besides currently used detection methods like blood
      culture and PCR-based assays, the analysis of the transcriptional response of the
      host to infecting organisms holds great promise. In this study, we aim to examine
      the transcriptional footprint of infections caused by the bacterial pathogens
      Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli and the fungal pathogens Candida
      albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus in a human whole-blood model. Moreover, we use
      the expression information to build a random forest classifier to classify if a
      sample contains a bacterial, fungal, or mock-infection. After normalizing the
      transcription intensities using stably expressed reference genes, we filtered the
      gene set for biomarkers of bacterial or fungal blood infections. This selection
      is based on differential expression and an additional gene relevance measure. In
      this way, we identified 38 biomarker genes, including IL6, SOCS3, and IRG1 which
      were already associated to sepsis by other studies. Using these genes, we trained
      the classifier and assessed its performance. It yielded a 96% accuracy
      (sensitivities >93%, specificities >97%) for a 10-fold stratified cross
      validation and a 92% accuracy (sensitivities and specificities >83%) for an
      additional test dataset comprising Cryptococcus neoformans infections.
      Furthermore, the classifier is robust to Gaussian noise, indicating correct class
      predictions on datasets of new species. In conclusion, this genome-wide approach
      demonstrates an effective feature selection process in combination with the
      construction of a well-performing classification model. Further analyses of genes
      with pathogen-dependent expression patterns can provide insights into the
      systemic host responses, which may lead to new anti-microbial therapeutic
      advances. 

PMID- 25814983
TI  - Microbial communities in dark oligotrophic volcanic ice cave ecosystems of Mt.
      Erebus, Antarctica.
AB  - The Earth's crust hosts a subsurface, dark, and oligotrophic biosphere that is
      poorly understood in terms of the energy supporting its biomass production and
      impact on food webs at the Earth's surface. Dark oligotrophic volcanic ecosystems
      (DOVEs) are good environments for investigations of life in the absence of
      sunlight as they are poor in organics, rich in chemical reactants and well known
      for chemical exchange with Earth's surface systems. Ice caves near the summit of
      Mt. Erebus (Antarctica) offer DOVEs in a polar alpine environment that is starved
      in organics and with oxygenated hydrothermal circulation in highly reducing host
      rock. We surveyed the microbial communities using PCR, cloning, sequencing and
      analysis of the small subunit (16S) ribosomal and Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate
      Carboxylase/Oxygenase (RubisCO) genes in sediment samples from three different
      caves, two that are completely dark and one that receives snow-filtered sunlight
      seasonally. The microbial communities in all three caves are composed primarily
      of Bacteria and fungi; Archaea were not detected. The bacterial communities from
      these ice caves display low phylogenetic diversity, but with a remarkable
      diversity of RubisCO genes including new deeply branching Form I clades,
      implicating the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle as a pathway of CO2 fixation.
      The microbial communities in one of the dark caves, Warren Cave, which has a
      remarkably low phylogenetic diversity, were analyzed in more detail to gain a
      possible perspective on the energetic basis of the microbial ecosystem in the
      cave. Atmospheric carbon (CO2 and CO), including from volcanic emissions, likely
      supplies carbon and/or some of the energy requirements of chemoautotrophic
      microbial communities in Warren Cave and probably other Mt. Erebus ice caves. Our
      work casts a first glimpse at Mt. Erebus ice caves as natural laboratories for
      exploring carbon, energy and nutrient sources in the subsurface biosphere and the
      nutritional limits on life. 

PMID- 25814984
TI  - von Willebrand Factor is elevated in HIV patients with a history of thrombosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Arterial and venous thrombotic events are more prevalent in HIV
      infected individuals compared to the general population, even in the era of
      combination antiretroviral therapy. Although the mechanism is not fully
      understood, recent evidence suggests a role for chronic immune activation.
      METHODS: We reviewed the Dutch National HIV registry database for HIV infected
      patients in Rotterdam with a history of arterial or venous thrombosis and
      calculated the incidence. We collected samples from patients with and without
      thrombosis and compared plasma levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), LPS binding
      protein (LBP), soluble CD14 (sCD14), and von Willebrand Factor antigen level
      (vWF). RESULTS: During a 10-year period, a total of 60 documented events in
      14,026 person years of observation (PYO) occurred, resulting in an incidence rate
      of 2.50, 2.21, and 4.28 for arterial, venous and combined thrombotic events per
      1000 PYO, respectively. The vWF was elevated in the majority of study subjects
      (mean 2.36 SD +/- 0.88 IU/ml); we found a significant difference when comparing
      venous cases to controls (mean 2.68 SD +/- 0.82 IU/ml vs. 2.20 SD +/- 0.77 IU/ml;
      p = 0.024). This difference remained significant for recurrent events (mean 2.78
      SD +/- 0.75; p = 0.043). sCD14 was positively correlated with LPS (r = 0.255; p =
      0.003). CONCLUSION: The incidence of venous thrombosis was two-fold higher in HIV
      infected patients compared to age-adjusted data from general population cohort
      studies. We couldn't find a clear association between immune activation markers
      to either arterial or venous thrombotic events. We observed a marked increase in
      vWF levels as well as a correlation of vWF to first and recurrent venous thrombo
      embolic events. These findings suggest that HIV infection is an independent risk
      factor for coagulation abnormalities and could contribute to the observed high
      incidence in venous thrombosis. This could be a reason to prolong anti-thrombotic
      treatment in HIV patients with a history of thrombosis.

PMID- 25814985
TI  - Association of blaOXA-23 and bap with the persistence of Acinetobacter baumannii
      within a major healthcare system.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Acinetobacter baumannii is an emerging opportunistic nosocomial
      pathogen. Two factors that may enhance persistence in healthcare settings are
      antimicrobial resistance and biofilm-forming ability. The aim of this work was to
      determine whether A. baumannii isolates that persist in healthcare settings
      (endemic), can be differentiated from sporadic isolates based upon their ability
      to resist antibiotics and their biofilm-forming capability. METHODS: Two hundred
      and ninety A. baumannii isolates were isolated over 17 months in the Detroit
      Medical Center (DMC). The isolates were genotyped using repetitive extragenic
      palindromic-PCR (REP-PCR). REP-types appearing greater than 10 times during
      active surveillance were considered endemic. The in vitro biofilm-forming ability
      and antibiotic resistance profile of each isolate were evaluated. Isolates were
      tested for the presence of two genetic markers-one implicated in biofilm
      formation (bap) and the other in antibiotic resistance (blaOXA-23). RESULTS: Of
      the 290 isolates evaluated, 84% carried bap and 36% carried blaOXA-23 . Five
      unique REP-PCR banding-types were detected >10 times (endemic) and constituted
      58% of the 290 isolates. These five endemic REP-PCR types were 5.1 times more
      likely than sporadic isolates to carry both bap and blaOXA-23 . Furthermore,
      endemic isolates were resistant to 3 more antibiotic classes, on average, than
      sporadic isolates and four of the five endemic REP-PCR types formed denser
      biofilms in vitro than sporadic isolates. CONCLUSIONS: Endemic A. baumannii
      isolates are more likely than sporadic isolates to possess factors that increase
      virulence and enhance survival within a large healthcare system.

PMID- 25814986
TI  - Selective pressure of antibiotics on ARGs and bacterial communities in manure
      polluted freshwater-sediment microcosms.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate selective pressure of antibiotics on
      antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and bacterial communities in manure-polluted
      aquatic environment. Three treatment groups were set up in freshwater-sediment
      microcosms: tetracyclines group, sulfonamides group and fluoroquinolones group.
      Sediment and water samples were collected on day 14 after treatment. Antibiotic
      concentrations, ARGs abundances and bacterial community composition were
      analyzed. Antibiotic concentrations were determined by ultra-performance liquid
      chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. ARGs abundances were
      quantified by real time quantitative PCR. Bacterial community composition was
      analyzed based on amplicon sequencing. Of the three classes of antibiotics
      analyzed in the treatment groups, accumulation amounts were tetracyclines>
      fluoroquinolone> sulfonamides in the sediment samples, while they were
      sulfonamides> fluoroquinolone> tetracyclines in the water samples. In the
      treatment groups, the relative abundances of some tet resistance genes [tet(W)
      and tet(X)] and plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes [oqx(B) and
      aac(6')-Ib] in sediment samples were significantly higher than those in the
      paired water samples. Tetracyclines significantly selected the bacterial classes
      including Gammaproteobacteria, Clostridia, and the genera including Salmonella,
      Escherichia/Shigella, Clostridium, Stenotrophomonas in sediment samples. The
      significant selection on bacterial communities posed by sulfonamides and
      fluoroquinolones was also observed. The results indicated that sediment may
      supply an ideal setting for maintenance and persistence of tet resistance genes
      [tet(W) and tet(X)] and PMQR genes [oqx(B) and aac(6')-Ib] under antibiotic
      pollution. The results also highlighted that antibiotics significantly selected
      specific bacterial communities including the taxa associated with opportunistic
      pathogens. 

PMID- 25814987
TI  - Single gene-based distinction of individual microbial genomes from a mixed
      population of microbial cells.
AB  - Recent progress in environmental microbiology has revealed vast populations of
      microbes in any given habitat that cannot be detected by conventional culturing
      strategies. The use of sensitive genetic detection methods such as CARD-FISH and
      in situ PCR have been limited by the cell wall permeabilization requirement that
      cannot be performed similarly on all cell types without lysing some and leaving
      some nonpermeabilized. Furthermore, the detection of low copy targets such as
      genes present in single copies in the microbial genomes, has remained
      problematic. We describe an emulsion-based procedure to trap individual microbial
      cells into picoliter-volume polyacrylamide droplets that provide a rigid support
      for genetic material and therefore allow complete degradation of cellular
      material to expose the individual genomes. The polyacrylamide droplets are
      subsequently converted into picoliter-scale reactors for genome amplification.
      The amplified genomes are labeled based on the presence of a target gene and
      differentiated from those that do not contain the gene by flow cytometry. Using
      the Escherichia coli strains XL1 and MC1061, which differ with respect to the
      presence (XL1), or absence (MC1061) of a single copy of a tetracycline resistance
      gene per genome, we demonstrate that XL1 genomes present at 0.1% of MC1061
      genomes can be differentiated using this method. Using a spiked sediment
      microbial sample, we demonstrate that the method is applicable to highly complex
      environmental microbial communities as a target gene-based screen for individual
      microbes. The method provides a novel tool for enumerating functional cell
      populations in complex microbial communities. We envision that the method could
      be optimized for fluorescence-activated cell sorting to enrich genetic material
      of interest from complex environmental samples. 

PMID- 25814910
TI  - Light-quark and gluon jet discrimination in [Formula: see text] collisions at
      [Formula: see text] with the ATLAS detector.
AB  - A likelihood-based discriminant for the identification of quark- and gluon
      initiated jets is built and validated using 4.7 fb[Formula: see text] of proton
      proton collision data at [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] collected with
      the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Data samples with enriched quark or gluon content
      are used in the construction and validation of templates of jet properties that
      are the input to the likelihood-based discriminant. The discriminating power of
      the jet tagger is established in both data and Monte Carlo samples within a
      systematic uncertainty of [Formula: see text] 10-20 %. In data, light-quark jets
      can be tagged with an efficiency of [Formula: see text] while achieving a gluon
      jet mis-tag rate of [Formula: see text] in a [Formula: see text] range between
      [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] for jets in the acceptance of the
      tracker. The rejection of gluon-jets found in the data is significantly below
      what is attainable using a Pythia 6 Monte Carlo simulation, where gluon-jet mis
      tag rates of 10 % can be reached for a 50 % selection efficiency of light-quark
      jets using the same jet properties.

PMID- 25814988
TI  - Electrifying microbes for the production of chemicals.
AB  - Powering microbes with electrical energy to produce valuable chemicals such as
      biofuels has recently gained traction as a biosustainable strategy to reduce our
      dependence on oil. Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is one of the
      bioelectrochemical approaches developed in the last decade that could have
      critical impact on the current methods of chemical synthesis. MES is a process in
      which electroautotrophic microbes use electrical current as electron source to
      reduce CO2 to multicarbon organics. Electricity necessary for MES can be
      harvested from renewable resources such as solar energy, wind turbine, or
      wastewater treatment processes. The net outcome is that renewable energy is
      stored in the covalent bonds of organic compounds synthesized from greenhouse
      gas. This review will discuss the future of MES and the challenges that lie ahead
      for its development into a mature technology. 

PMID- 25814989
TI  - Adhesion, biofilm formation, cell surface hydrophobicity, and antifungal
      planktonic susceptibility: relationship among Candida spp.
AB  - We have performed the characterization of the adhesion profile, biofilm
      formation, cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) and antifungal susceptibility of 184
      Candida clinical isolates obtained from different human reservoirs. Adhesion was
      quantified using a flow cytometric assay and biofilm formation was evaluated
      using two methodologies: XTT and crystal violet assay. CSH was quantified with
      the microbial adhesion to hydrocarbons test while planktonic susceptibility was
      assessed accordingly the CLSI protocol for yeast M27-A3 S4. Yeast cells of non
      albicans species exhibit increased ability to adhere and form biofilm. However,
      the correlation between adhesion and biofilm formation varied according to
      species and also with the methodology used for biofilm assessment. No association
      was found between strain's site of isolation or planktonic antifungal
      susceptibility and adhesion or biofilm formation. Finally CSH seemed to be a good
      predictor for biofilm formation but not for adhesion. Despite the marked
      variability registered intra and inter species, C. tropicalis and C. parapsilosis
      were the species exhibiting high adhesion profile. C. tropicalis, C.
      guilliermondii, and C. krusei revealed higher biofilm formation values in terms
      of biomass. C. parapsilosis was the species with lower biofilm metabolic
      activity. 

PMID- 25814991
TI  - Virus Infections and Sudden Death in Infancy: The Role of Interferon-gamma.
AB  - Respiratory infections have been implicated in sudden infant death syndrome
      (SIDS). As interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) is a major response to virus infection,
      we examined (1) the frequency of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), IFNG T +
      874A, in SIDS infants, their parents, and ethnic groups with different incidences
      of SIDS; (2) model systems with a monocytic cell line (THP-1) and human
      peripheral blood monocytes (PBMC) for effects of levels of IFN-gamma on
      inflammatory responses to bacterial antigens identified in SIDS; (3) interactions
      between genetic and environmental factors on IFN-gamma responses. IFNG T + 874A
      genotypes were determined for SIDS infants from three countries; families who had
      a SIDS death; populations with high (Indigenous Australian), medium (Caucasian),
      and low (Bangladeshi) SIDS incidences. The effect of IFN-gamma on cytokine
      responses to endotoxin was examined in model systems with THP-1 cells and human
      PBMC. The IFN-gamma responses to endotoxin and toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST
      1) were assessed in relation to genotype, gender, and reported smoking. There was
      a marginal association with IFNG T + 874A genotype and SIDS (p = 0.06).
      Indigenous Australians had significantly higher proportions of the IFNG T + 874A
      SNP (TT) associated with high responses of IFN-gamma. THP-1 cells showed a dose
      dependent effect of IFN-gamma on cytokine responses to endotoxin. For PBMC, IFN
      gamma enhanced interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha
      responses but reduced IL-8 and IL-10 responses. Active smoking had a suppressive
      effect on baseline levels of IFN-gamma. There was no effect of gender or genotype
      on IFN-gamma responses to bacterial antigens tested; however, significant
      differences were observed between genotypes in relation to smoking. The results
      indicate virus infections contribute to dysregulation of cytokine responses to
      bacterial antigens and studies on physiological effects of genetic factors must
      include controls for recent or concurrent infection and exposure to cigarette
      smoke. 

PMID- 25814992
TI  - Our Journey from the Study of Human Autoantibodies to the microRNA World.

PMID- 25814993
TI  - Unity in diversity, a systems approach to regulating plant cell physiology by 2
      oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases.
AB  - Could a disjoint group of enzymes synchronize their activities and execute a
      complex multi-step, measurable, and reproducible response? Here, I surmise that
      the alpha-ketoglutarate dependent superfamily of non-haem iron (II) dioxygenases
      could influence cell physiology as a cohesive unit, and that the broad spectra of
      substrates transformed is an absolute necessity to this portrayal. This eclectic
      group comprises members from all major taxa, and participates in pesticide
      breakdown, hypoxia signaling, and osmotic stress neutralization. The oxidative
      decarboxylation of 2-oxoglutarate to succinate is coupled with a concomitant
      substrate hydroxylation and, in most cases, is followed by an additional
      specialized conversion. The domain profile of a protein sequence was used as an
      index of miscellaneous reaction chemistry and interpreted alongside existent
      kinetic data in a linear model of integrated function. Statistical parameters
      were inferred by the creation of a novel, empirically motivated flat-file
      database of over 3800 sequences (DB2OG) with putative 2-oxoglutarate dependent
      activity. The collated information was categorized on the basis of existing
      annotation schema. The data suggests that 2OG-dependent enzymes incorporate
      several desirable features of a systems level player. DB2OG, is free, accessible
      without a login to all users, and available at the following URL (http://comp
      biol.theacms.in/DB2OG.html). 

PMID- 25814990
TI  - Metabolic reprograming of mononuclear phagocytes in progressive multiple
      sclerosis.
AB  - Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and demyelinating disease of the
      central nervous system (CNS). Accumulation of brain damage in progressive MS is
      partly the result of mononuclear phagocytes (MPs) attacking myelin sheaths in the
      CNS. Although there is no cure yet for MS, significant advances have been made in
      the development of disease modifying agents. Unfortunately, most of these drugs
      fail to reverse established neurological deficits and can have adverse effects.
      Recent evidence suggests that MPs polarization is accompanied by profound
      metabolic changes, whereby pro-inflammatory MPs (M1) switch toward glycolysis,
      whereas anti-inflammatory MPs (M2) become more oxidative. It is therefore
      possible that reprograming MPs metabolism could affect their function and repress
      immune cell activation. This mini review describes the metabolic changes
      underpinning macrophages polarization and anticipates how metabolic re-education
      of MPs could be used for the treatment of MS. KEY POINTS: Inflammation in
      progressive MS is mediated primarily by MPs.Cell metabolism regulates the
      function of MPs.DMAs can re-educate the metabolism of MPs to promote healing.

PMID- 25814995
TI  - Biological control of the cucurbit powdery mildew pathogen Podosphaera xanthii by
      means of the epiphytic fungus Pseudozyma aphidis and parasitism as a mode of
      action.
AB  - Epiphytic yeasts, which colonize plant surfaces, may possess activity that can be
      harnessed to help plants defend themselves against various pathogens. Due to
      their unique characteristics, epiphytic yeasts belonging to the genus Pseudozyma
      hold great potential for use as biocontrol agents. We identified a unique,
      biologically active isolate of the epiphytic yeast Pseudozyma aphidis that is
      capable of inhibiting Botrytis cinerea via a dual mode of action, namely induced
      resistance and antibiosis. Here, we show that strain L12 of P. aphidis can reduce
      the severity of powdery mildew caused by Podosphaera xanthii on cucumber plants
      with an efficacy of 75%. Confocal and scanning electron microscopy analyses
      demonstrated P. aphidis proliferation on infected tissue and its production of
      long hyphae that parasitize the powdery mildew hyphae and spores as an
      ectoparasite. We also show that crude extract of P. aphidis metabolites can
      inhibit P. xanthii spore germination in planta. Our results suggest that in
      addition to its antibiosis as mode of action, P. aphidis may also act as an
      ectoparasite on P. xanthii. These results indicate that P. aphidis strain L12 has
      the potential to control powdery mildew. 

PMID- 25814994
TI  - Enriching rice with Zn and Fe while minimizing Cd risk.
AB  - Enriching iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) content in rice grains, while minimizing
      cadmium (Cd) levels, is important for human health and nutrition. Natural genetic
      variation in rice grain Zn enables Zn-biofortification through conventional
      breeding, but limited natural Fe variation has led to a need for genetic
      modification approaches, including over-expressing genes responsible for Fe
      storage, chelators, and transporters. Generally, Cd uptake and allocation is
      associated with divalent metal cations (including Fe and Zn) transporters, but
      the details of this process are still unknown in rice. In addition to genetic
      variation, metal uptake is sometimes limited by its bioavailability in the soil.
      The availability of Fe, Zn, and Cd for plant uptake varies widely depending on
      soil redox potential. The typical practice of flooding rice increases Fe while
      decreasing Zn and Cd availability. On the other hand, moderate soil drying
      improves Zn uptake but also increases Cd and decreases Fe uptake. Use of Zn- or
      Fe-containing fertilizers complements breeding efforts by providing sufficient
      metals for plant uptake. In addition, the timing of nitrogen fertilization has
      also been shown to affect metal accumulation in grains. The purpose of this mini
      review is to identify knowledge gaps and prioritize strategies for improving the
      nutritional value and safety of rice. 

PMID- 25814996
TI  - Target or barrier? The cell wall of early- and later-diverging plants vs cadmium
      toxicity: differences in the response mechanisms.
AB  - Increasing industrialization and urbanization result in emission of pollutants in
      the environment including toxic heavy metals, as cadmium and lead. Among the
      different heavy metals contaminating the environment, cadmium raises great
      concern, as it is ecotoxic and as such can heavily impact ecosystems. The cell
      wall is the first structure of plant cells to come in contact with heavy metals.
      Its composition, characterized by proteins, polysaccharides and in some instances
      lignin and other phenolic compounds, confers the ability to bind non-covalently
      and/or covalently heavy metals via functional groups. A strong body of evidence
      in the literature has shown the role of the cell wall in heavy metal response: it
      sequesters heavy metals, but at the same time its synthesis and composition can
      be severely affected. The present review analyzes the dual property of plant cell
      walls, i.e., barrier and target of heavy metals, by taking Cd toxicity as
      example. Following a summary of the known physiological and biochemical responses
      of plants to Cd, the review compares the wall-related mechanisms in early- and
      later-diverging land plants, by considering the diversity in cell wall
      composition. By doing so, common as well as unique response mechanisms to
      metal/cadmium toxicity are identified among plant phyla and discussed. After
      discussing the role of hyperaccumulators' cell walls as a particular case, the
      review concludes by considering important aspects for plant engineering. 

PMID- 25814997
TI  - Phenotype and transcriptome analysis reveals chloroplast development and pigment
      biosynthesis together influenced the leaf color formation in mutants of Anthurium
      andraeanum 'Sonate'.
AB  - Leaf color is one of the well-sought traits in breeding program for Anthurium
      andraeanum Lind. Knowledge of mechanisms in anthuriums to produce leaves with
      different shades of green would help to effectively select desirable traits. In
      this study, the micro- and ultra-structural and physiological features of leaves
      on wild type and leaf color mutants (dark green, rubescent, etiolated, albino) in
      A. andraeanum 'Sonate' were analyzed. Results show that chloroplasts of leaf
      color mutants exhibited abnormal morphology and distribution. Using next
      generation sequencing technology followed by de novo assembly, leaf
      transcriptomes comprising of 41,017 unigenes with an average sequence length of
      768 bp were produced from wild type and rubescent mutant. From the 27,539 (67.1%)
      unigenes with annotated functions, 858 significantly differently expressed genes
      (DEGs) were identified, consisting of 446 up-regulated genes and 412 down
      regulated genes. Genes that affect chloroplasts development and division, and
      chlorophyll biosynthesis were included in the down-regulated DEGs. Quantitative
      real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis validated that the expression level of those
      genes was significantly lower in the rubescent, etiolated, and albino mutant
      compared to wild type plants, which concurs with the differences in micro- and
      ultra-structures and physiological features between these two types of plants.
      Conclusively, the leaf color formation is greatly affected by the activity of
      chloroplast development and pigment biosynthesis. And the possible formation
      pathway of leaf color mutant of A. andraeanum 'Sonate' is deduced based on our
      results. 

PMID- 25814999
TI  - Large genetic screens for gynogenesis and androgenesis haploid inducers in
      Arabidopsis thaliana failed to identify mutants.
AB  - Gynogenesis is a process in which the embryo genome originates exclusively from
      female origin, following embryogenesis stimulation by a male gamete. In contrast,
      androgenesis is the development of embryos that contain only the male nuclear
      genetic background. Both phenomena are of great interest in plant breeding as
      haploidization is an efficient tool to reduce the length of breeding schemes to
      create varieties. Although few inducer lines have been described, the genetic
      control of these phenomena is poorly understood. We developed genetic screens to
      identify mutations that would induce gynogenesis or androgenesis in Arabidopsis
      thaliana. The ability of mutant pollen to induce either gynogenesis or
      androgenesis was tested by crossing mutagenized plants as males. Seedlings from
      these crosses were screened with recessive phenotypic markers, one genetically
      controlled by the female genome and another by the male genome. Positive and
      negative controls confirmed the unambiguous detection of both gynogenesis and
      androgenesis events. This strategy was applied to 1,666 EMS-mutagenised lines and
      47 distant Arabidopsis strains. While an internal control suggested that the
      mutagenesis reached saturation, no gynogenesis or androgenesis inducer was found.
      However, spontaneous gynogenesis was observed at a frequency of 1/10,800.
      Altogether, these results suggest that no simple EMS-induced mutation in the male
      genome is able to induce gynogenesis or androgenesis in Arabidopsis. 

PMID- 25814998
TI  - Possible roles for polycomb repressive complex 2 in cereal endosperm.
AB  - The polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) is an evolutionarily conserved
      multimeric protein complex in both plants and animals. In contrast to animals,
      plants have evolved a range of different components of PRC2 and form diverse
      complexes that act in the control of key regulatory genes at many stages of
      development during the life cycle. A number of studies, particularly in the model
      species Arabidopsis thaliana, have highlighted the role of PRC2 and of epigenetic
      controls via parent-of-origin specific gene expression for endosperm development.
      However, recent research in cereal plants has revealed that although some
      components of PRC2 show evolutionary conservation with respect to parent-of
      origin specific gene expression patterns, the identity of the imprinted genes
      encoding PRC2 components is not conserved. This disparity may reflect the facts
      that cereal plant genomes have undergone different patterns of duplication during
      evolution compared to A. thaliana and that the endosperm development program is
      not identical in monocots and eudicots. In this context, we focus this review on
      the expression of imprinted PRC2 genes and their roles in endosperm development
      in cereals. 

PMID- 25815000
TI  - Opening Pandora's box: cause and impact of errors on plant pigment studies.

PMID- 25814914
TI  - Measurement of top quark-antiquark pair production in association with a W or Z
      boson in pp collisions at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text].
AB  - A measurement of the cross section for the production of top quark-antiquark
      pairs ([Formula: see text]) in association with a vector boson V (W or Z) in
      proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] is presented.
      The results are based on a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of
      19.5 fb[Formula: see text] recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC. The
      measurement is performed in three leptonic (e and [Formula: see text]) channels:
      a same-sign dilepton analysis targeting [Formula: see text] events, and trilepton
      and four-lepton analyses designed for [Formula: see text] events. In the same
      sign dilepton channel, the [Formula: see text] cross section is measured as
      [Formula: see text], corresponding to a significance of 1.6 standard deviations
      over the background-only hypothesis. Combining the trilepton and four-lepton
      channels, a direct measurement of the [Formula: see text] cross section,
      [Formula: see text], is obtained with a significance of 3.1 standard deviations.
      The measured cross sections are compatible with standard model predictions within
      their experimental uncertainties. The inclusive [Formula: see text] process is
      observed with a significance of 3.7 standard deviations from the combination of
      all three leptonic channels.

PMID- 25815001
TI  - Common bean reaction to angular leaf spot comprises transcriptional modulation of
      genes in the ALS10.1 QTL.
AB  - Genetic resistance of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) against angular leaf
      spot (ALS), caused by the fungus Pseudocercospora griseola, is conferred by
      quantitative trait loci (QTL). In this study, we determined the gene content of
      the major QTL ALS10.1 located at the end of chromosome Pv10, and identified those
      that are responsive to ALS infection in resistant (CAL 143) and susceptible (IAC
      UNA) genotypes. Based on the current version of the common bean reference genome,
      the ALS10.1 core region contains 323 genes. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis of these
      coding sequences revealed the presence of genes involved in signal perception and
      transduction, programmed cell death (PCD), and defense responses. Two putative R
      gene clusters were found at ALS10.1 containing evolutionary related coding
      sequences. Among them, the Phvul.010G025700 was consistently up-regulated in the
      infected IAC-UNA suggesting its contribution to plant susceptibility to the
      fungus. We identified six other genes that were regulated during common bean
      response to P. griseola; three of them might be negative regulators of immunity
      as they showed opposite expression patterns during resistant and susceptible
      reactions at the initial phase of fungal infection. Taken together, these
      findings suggest that common bean reaction to P. griseola involves
      transcriptional modulation of defense genes in the ALS10.1 locus, contributing to
      resistance or susceptibility depending on the plant-pathogen interaction. 

PMID- 25815002
TI  - Intracellular iron sensing by the direct binding of iron to regulators.

PMID- 25815004
TI  - Mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson disease: evidence in mutant PARK2
      fibroblasts.
AB  - Mutations in PARK2, encoding Parkin, cause an autosomal recessive form of
      juvenile Parkinson Disease (JPD). The aim of the present study was to investigate
      the impact of PARK2 mutations on mitochondrial function and morphology in human
      skin fibroblasts. We analyzed cells obtained from four patients clinically
      characterized by JPD, harboring recessive mutations in PARK2. By quantitative PCR
      we found a reduction (<50%) of PARK2 transcript in all patients but one; however
      Western Blot analysis demonstrated the virtual absence of Parkin protein in all
      mutant fibroblasts. Respiration assays showed an increment of oxygen consumption,
      which was uncoupled to ATP cellular levels. This finding was probably due to
      presence of altered mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsim), confirmed by JC
      1 analysis. The mitochondrial network was comparable between mutant and control
      cells but, interestingly, a "chain-like" network was found only in mutant
      fibroblasts. Dissipation of DeltaPsim usually leads to mitochondrial
      fragmentation in healthy cells and eventually to mitophagy; however, this
      behavior was not observed in patients' fibroblasts. The absence of mitochondrial
      fragmentation in mutant Parkin fibroblasts could results in accumulation of
      damaged mitochondria not targeted to mitophagy. This condition should increase
      the oxidative stress and lead to cellular dysfunction and death. Our results
      suggest that PARK2 mutations cause mitochondrial impairment, in particular
      reduction in ATP cellular levels and alteration of DeltaPsim, even in non
      neuronal cells and confirm the hypothesis that Parkin holds a pivotal role in pro
      fission events. 

PMID- 25815003
TI  - Genetic variation in the functional ENG allele inherited from the non-affected
      parent associates with presence of pulmonary arteriovenous malformation in
      hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia 1 (HHT1) and may influence expression of
      PTPN14.
AB  - HHT shows clinical variability within and between families. Organ site and
      prevalence of arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) depend on the HHT causative gene
      and on environmental and genetic modifiers. We tested whether variation in the
      functional ENG allele, inherited from the unaffected parent, alters risk for
      pulmonary AVM in HHT1 mutation carriers who are ENG haploinsufficient. Genetic
      association was found between rs10987746 of the wild type ENG allele and presence
      of pulmonary AVM [relative risk = 1.3 (1.0018-1.7424)]. The rs10987746-C at-risk
      allele associated with lower expression of ENG RNA in a panel of human
      lymphoblastoid cell lines (P = 0.004). Moreover, in angiogenically active human
      lung adenocarcinoma tissue, but not in uninvolved quiescent lung, rs10987746-C
      was correlated with expression of PTPN14 (P = 0.004), another modifier of HHT.
      Quantitative TAQMAN expression analysis in a panel of normal lung tissues from 69
      genetically heterogeneous inter-specific backcross mice, demonstrated strong
      correlation between expression levels of Eng, Acvrl1, and Ptpn14 (r2 = 0.75-0.9,
      P < 1 * 10(-12)), further suggesting a direct or indirect interaction between
      these three genes in lung in vivo. Our data indicate that genetic variation
      within the single functional ENG gene influences quantitative and/or qualitative
      differences in ENG expression that contribute to risk of pulmonary AVM in HHT1,
      and provide correlative support for PTPN14 involvement in endoglin/ALK1 lung
      biology in vivo. PTPN14 has been shown to be a negative regulator of Yap/Taz
      signaling, which is implicated in mechanotransduction, providing a possible
      molecular link between endoglin/ALK1 signaling and mechanical stress. EMILIN2,
      which showed suggestive genetic association with pulmonary AVM, is also reported
      to interact with Taz in angiogenesis. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms
      regulating these interactions in endothelial cells may ultimately provide more
      rational choices for HHT therapy. 

PMID- 25815006
TI  - DDR-mediated crosstalk between DNA-damaged cells and their microenvironment.
AB  - The DNA damage response (DDR) is an evolutionarily conserved signaling cascade
      that senses and responds to double-strand DNA breaks by organizing downstream
      cellular events, ranging from appropriate DNA repair to cell cycle checkpoints.
      In higher organisms, the DDR prevents neoplastic transformation by directly
      protecting the information contained in the genome and by regulating cell fate
      decisions, like apoptosis and senescence, to ensure the removal of severely
      damaged cells. In addition to these well-studied cell-autonomous effects,
      emerging evidence now shows that the DDR signaling cascade can also function in a
      paracrine manner, thus influencing the biology of the surrounding cellular
      microenvironment. In this context, the DDR plays an emerging role in shaping the
      damaged tumor microenvironment through the regulation of tissue repair and local
      immune responses, thereby providing a promising avenue for novel therapeutic
      interventions. Additionally, while DDR-mediated extracellular signals can convey
      information to surrounding, undamaged cells, they can also feedback onto DNA
      damaged cells to reinforce selected signaling pathways. Overall, these
      extracellular DDR signals can be subdivided into two time-specific waves: a rapid
      bystander effect occurring within a few hours of DNA damage; and a late, delayed,
      senescence-associated secretory phenotype generally requiring multiple days to
      establish. Here, we highlight and discuss examples of rapid and late DDR-mediated
      extracellular alarm signals. 

PMID- 25815005
TI  - DNA methyltransferase 1 mutations and mitochondrial pathology: is mtDNA
      methylated?
AB  - Autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia-deafness and narcolepsy (ADCA-DN) and
      Hereditary sensory neuropathy with dementia and hearing loss (HSN1E) are two
      rare, overlapping neurodegenerative syndromes that have been recently linked to
      allelic dominant pathogenic mutations in the DNMT1 gene, coding for DNA (cytosine
      5)-methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1). DNMT1 is the enzyme responsible for maintaining
      the nuclear genome methylation patterns during the DNA replication and repair,
      thus regulating gene expression. The mutations responsible for ADCA-DN and HSN1E
      affect the replication foci targeting sequence domain, which regulates DNMT1
      binding to chromatin. DNMT1 dysfunction is anticipated to lead to a global
      alteration of the DNA methylation pattern with predictable downstream
      consequences on gene expression. Interestingly, ADCA-DN and HSN1E phenotypes
      share some clinical features typical of mitochondrial diseases, such as optic
      atrophy, peripheral neuropathy, and deafness, and some biochemical evidence of
      mitochondrial dysfunction. The recent discovery of a mitochondrial isoform of
      DNMT1 and its proposed role in methylating mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests
      that DNMT1 mutations may directly affect mtDNA and mitochondrial physiology. On
      the basis of this latter finding the link between DNMT1 abnormal activity and
      mitochondrial dysfunction in ADCA-DN and HSN1E appears intuitive, however, mtDNA
      methylation remains highly debated. In the last years several groups demonstrated
      the presence of 5-methylcytosine in mtDNA by different approaches, but, on the
      other end, the opposite evidence that mtDNA is not methylated has also been
      published. Since over 1500 mitochondrial proteins are encoded by the nuclear
      genome, the altered methylation of these genes may well have a critical role in
      leading to the mitochondrial impairment observed in ADCA-DN and HSN1E. Thus, many
      open questions still remain unanswered, such as why mtDNA should be methylated,
      and how this process is regulated and executed? 

PMID- 25815007
TI  - The rule of declining adaptability in microbial evolution experiments.
AB  - One of the most recurrent observations after two decades of microbial evolution
      experiments regards the dynamics of fitness change. In a given environment, low
      fitness genotypes are recurrently observed to adapt faster than their more fit
      counterparts. Since adaptation is the main macroscopic outcome of Darwinian
      evolution, studying its patterns of change could potentially provide insight into
      key issues of evolutionary theory, from fixation dynamics to the genetic
      architecture of organisms. Here, we re-analyze several published datasets from
      experimental evolution with microbes and show that, despite large differences in
      the origin of the data, a pattern of inverse dependence of adaptability with
      fitness clearly emerges. In quantitative terms, it is remarkable to observe
      little if any degree of idiosyncrasy across systems as diverse as virus, bacteria
      and yeast. The universality of this phenomenon suggests that its emergence might
      be understood from general principles, giving rise to the exciting prospect that
      evolution might be statistically predictable at the macroscopic level. We discuss
      these possibilities in the light of the various theories of adaptation that have
      been proposed and delineate future directions of research. 

PMID- 25815008
TI  - KLF15 and PPARalpha Cooperate to Regulate Cardiomyocyte Lipid Gene Expression and
      Oxidation.
AB  - The metabolic myocardium is an omnivore and utilizes various carbon substrates to
      meet its energetic demand. While the adult heart preferentially consumes fatty
      acids (FAs) over carbohydrates, myocardial fuel plasticity is essential for
      organismal survival. This metabolic plasticity governing fuel utilization is
      under robust transcriptional control and studies over the past decade have
      illuminated members of the nuclear receptor family of factors (e.g., PPARalpha)
      as important regulators of myocardial lipid metabolism. However, given the
      complexity of myocardial metabolism in health and disease, it is likely that
      other molecular pathways are likely operative and elucidation of such pathways
      may provide the foundation for novel therapeutic approaches. We previously
      demonstrated that Kruppel-like factor 15 (KLF15) is an independent regulator of
      cardiac lipid metabolism thus raising the possibility that KLF15 and PPARalpha
      operate in a coordinated fashion to regulate myocardial gene expression requisite
      for lipid oxidation. In the current study, we show that KLF15 binds to,
      cooperates with, and is required for the induction of canonical PPARalpha
      mediated gene expression and lipid oxidation in cardiomyocytes. As such, this
      study establishes a molecular module involving KLF15 and PPARalpha and provides
      fundamental insights into the molecular regulation of cardiac lipid metabolism. 

PMID- 25815009
TI  - Real-Life Report on Chemoembolization Using DEBIRI for Liver Metastases from
      Colorectal Cancer.
AB  - Background. Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) has been investigated in
      patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer (LMCRC). Limited experience
      and available data suggest that TACE can achieve disease stabilization or
      improvement, even in heavily pretreated patients. Methods. Patients with LMCRC,
      ECOG 0-2, who failed at least 1 line of systemic chemotherapy, received
      embolizations with 2 mL of microspheres preloaded with 100 mg of irinotecan.
      Beads were delivered selectively into hepatic arteries. Primary endpoint was
      overall survival (OS), analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Secondary endpoint
      was safety, assessed using CTCAE version 4.0. Results. 27 patients were treated
      using DEBIRI. Patient median age was 57 years (range was 45-82 years). The median
      number of total embolizations was 1.3 (range 1-3). The median OS was 5.4 months
      (95% CI; 1.1-22.7 months). The most reported postembolization events were nausea
      (8/27), vomiting (6/27), right upper quadrant pain (16/27), fatigue (9/27), and
      the development of ascites (6/27). 5/26 patients required hospitalization after
      TACE for severe pain. Hospitalization was also required for 1 case of allergic
      reaction and 1 case of infection. Conclusion. Our data suggest that TACE with
      DEBIRI could be efficacious in a palliative setting for patients with LMCRC, but
      they do not necessarily support routine use in clinical practice. 

PMID- 25815010
TI  - The estimation of first-phase insulin secretion by using components of the
      metabolic syndrome in a chinese population.
AB  - Aims. There are two phases of insulin secretion, the first (FPIS) and second
      phase (SPIS). In this study, we built equations to predict FPIS with metabolic
      syndrome (MetS) components and fasting plasma insulin (FPI). Methods. Totally,
      186 participants were enrolled. 75% of participants were randomly selected as the
      study group to build equations. The remaining 25% of participants were selected
      as the external validation group. All participants received a frequently sampled
      intravenous glucose tolerance test, and acute insulin response after the glucose
      load (AIRg) was obtained. The AIRg was considered as FPIS. Results. When MetS
      components were only used, the following equation was built: log (FPIS) = 1.477 -
      0.119 * fasting plasma glucose (FPG) + 0.079 * body mass index (BMI) - 0.523 *
      high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). After FPI was added, the second
      equation was formulated: log (FPIS) = 1.532 - 0.127 * FPG + 0.059 * BMI - 0.511 *
      HDL-C + 0.375 * log (FPI), which provided a better accuracy than the first one.
      Conclusions. Using MetS components, the FPIS could be estimated accurately. After
      adding FPI into the equation, the predictive power increased further. We hope
      that these equations could be widely used in daily practice. 

PMID- 25815011
TI  - Evaluation of the Clinical Impact of ISO 4049 in Comparison with Miniflexural
      Test on Mechanical Performances of Resin Based Composite.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different specimens
      dimensions on the mechanical properties of a commercial microfilled resin
      composite by using a modified ISO 4049 standard protocol, that generally provides
      specimen dimensions of 25 mm length * 2 mm width * 2 mm height; these standard
      dimensions are not clinically realistic considering the teeth diameter and length
      average. Furthermore, the overlapping irradiations required lead to specimens
      that are not homogeneous with the presence of some flaws due to packaging steps.
      For this reason, a miniflexural test was employed in this work both to simulate
      clinically realistic dimensions and to concentrate fewer defects. The flexural
      tests were performed at varying span length, in the range between 18.5 mm as
      stated by the ISO 4049 flexural test (IFT) and 10.5 mm according to the
      miniflexural test (MFT), at the increasing of layers with a 1 mm buildup
      multilayering technique. The results evidenced the impact of specimen dimensions
      on mechanical performances and consequently stability of resin-based composite
      with the formation of an asymmetrical structure which possesses higher stiffness
      and strength at increasing layering steps. 

PMID- 25815013
TI  - Intertoe Squamous Cell Carcinoma Developed in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis
      under Etanercept Therapy.
AB  - The use of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) inhibitors in the treatment of
      various inflammatory conditions has altered the field of medical therapeutics.
      Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common cancer of the skin, usually
      affecting sun-exposed areas of the body. We present here the case of a 75-year
      old woman with rheumatoid arthritis, who developed an intertoe squamous cell
      carcinoma (SCC) of the right foot. According to her history, she received
      etanercept and methotrexate for 5 years for rheumatoid arthritis. The rare
      localization of this cancer could suggest a possible linkage of the malignancy to
      the chronic intake of anti-TNF-alpha treatment. This is the first reported case
      of an interdigital SCC developed under the use of an anti-TNF-alpha agent. 

PMID- 25815012
TI  - Correlation of endometrial glycodelin expression and pregnancy outcome in cases
      with polycystic ovary syndrome treated with clomiphene citrate plus metformin: a
      controlled study.
AB  - Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between
      clomiphene citrate (CC) plus metformin treatment and endometrial glycodelin
      expression and to then correlate this relationship with pregnancy outcomes.
      Material and Methods. A total of 30 patients diagnosed with polycystic ovary
      syndrome (PCOS) according to the Rotterdam criteria constituted our study group.
      All had been admitted to the gynecology outpatient clinic between June 1, 2011,
      and January 1, 2012, for infertility treatment. Our control group consisted of 20
      patients admitted for routine Pap smear control. They had no history of
      infertility and were not using contraceptives and they were actively attempting
      pregnancy. Midluteal progesterone measurement and pipelle endometrial biopsies
      were performed with both groups. For PCOS patients, metformin treatment was
      initiated right after the biopsy and CC was added in the second menstrual cycle.
      Pipelle endometrial biopsies were repeated. Histological dating and
      immunohistochemistry for glycodelin were performed by a single pathologist who
      was blinded to the patients' clinical data. Result(s). The posttreatment
      ovulation rate in the study group was 93.3%. No pregnancies were achieved in
      either group when glycodelin expression was not present, even in the presence of
      ovulation. When glycodelin expression was high in PCOS group, the pregnancy rate
      was 60% and all pregnancies ended in live births. In weak expression group,
      however, three out of four pregnancies ended as early pregnancy losses.
      Conclusion(s). Endometrial glycodelin expression is an important predictor of
      pregnancy outcomes in both PCOS and fertile groups. 

PMID- 25815014
TI  - Granulomatosis with polyangiitis presenting as a parotid gland abscess.
AB  - Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) is a small-vessel vasculitis consisting of
      necrotizing granulomatous lesions in airways and focal necrotizing
      glomerulonephritis. However, it may affect other sites such as the skin, central
      nervous system, eyes, heart, gastrointestinal tract, and liver. We describe a
      rare case of GPA in which the initial manifestation was the involvement of the
      parotid gland mimicking a pyogenic abscess. 

PMID- 25815015
TI  - Mesenchymal stem cell therapy in nonhematopoietic diseases.

PMID- 25815016
TI  - Successful strategies to engage research partners for translating evidence into
      action in community health: a critical review.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To undertake a critical review describing key strategies supporting
      development of participatory research (PR) teams to engage partners for creation
      and translation of action-oriented knowledge. METHODS: Sources are four leading
      PR practitioners identified via bibliometric analysis. Authors' publications were
      identified in January 1995-October 2009 in PubMed, Embase, ISI Web of Science and
      CAB databases, and books. Works were limited to those with a process description
      describing a research project and practitioners were first, second, third, or
      last author. RESULTS: Adapting and applying the "Reliability Tested Guidelines
      for Assessing Participatory Research Projects" to retained records identified
      five key strategies: developing advisory committees of researchers and intended
      research users; developing research agreements; using formal and informal group
      facilitation techniques; hiring co-researchers/partners from community; and
      ensuring frequent communication. Other less frequently mentioned strategies were
      also identified. CONCLUSION: This review is the first time these guidelines were
      used to identify key strategies supporting PR projects. They proved effective at
      identifying and evaluating engagement strategies as reported by completed
      research projects. Adapting these guidelines identified gaps where the tool was
      unable to assess fundamental PR elements of power dynamics, equity of resources,
      and member turnover. Our resulting template serves as a new tool to measure
      partnerships.

PMID- 25815017
TI  - Multicenter historical cohort study of the relationship between shift work and
      blood pressure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Regarding the relationship between blood pressure (BP) and shift work
      (SW), previous studies have reported contradictory results. In the present study,
      we used Bayesian multilevel modeling to evaluate the association of SW and BP
      after controlling some confounding factors. METHODS: Data of this multicenter
      historical study were extracted from annual observations of the male workers of
      Isfahan's Mobarakeh Steel Company (IMSC) and Polyacryl Iran Corporation (PIC) in
      Isfahan, Iran, between 2003 and 2011. In this research, we assessed the effect of
      SW on systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DPB) with controlling body mass index,
      age, work experience, marriage, and education status. RESULTS: A total of 8613
      (IMSC, n = 5314 and PIC, n = 3299) workers participated in this study with a mean
      [standard deviation (SD)] age of 41.60 (8.30) and mean (SD) work experience of
      16.17 (7.89) years. In this study, after controlling confounding factors, we
      found no significant relationship between SW and SBP and DBP. CONCLUSION: In
      general, the results of this multicenter cohort study did not support a
      relationship between SW and BP. We suggest prospective studies with controlling
      more confounding factors in this area.

PMID- 25815018
TI  - Dabigatran versus Enoxaparin in the prevention of venous thromboembolism after
      total knee arthroplasty: A randomized clinical trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) and deep vein thrombophlebitis (DVT) is
      a serious problem with high mortality and morbidity rates. This study was
      conducted to compare efficacy and safety results of the two types of VTE
      preventing in patients underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA). METHODS: Having
      considered exclusion criteria, 90 patients of 136 ones were registered in the
      study. Our patients of TKA were split randomly in two groups. Totally, 45
      patients received enoxaparin, 40 mg 12 h before surgery and treated by 40 mg
      daily up to 15 days. The second group (45 patients) were treated by dabigatran
      150 mg 4 h after surgery and 225 mg daily up to 15 days. Efficacy was evaluated
      by Doppler sonography after 15 days for the presence of DVT and safety was
      determined by 3 months follow-up for all-cause mortality and any major or minor
      bleedings. RESULTS: Two groups were similar in baseline characteristics. The
      efficacy outcome events occurred in 2.2% (2 of 90) of the patients (1 symptomatic
      VTE in dabigatran and 1 in the enoxaparin group) without significant statistical
      difference between groups (P = 0.64). In terms of safety, 3 patients (6.6%) in
      dabigatran and 2 patients (4.4%) in enoxaparin group had major bleeding (P =
      0.66) and 8 patients (17.7%) in dabigatran and 7 patients (15.7%) in enoxaparin
      group had non-major bleeding event (P = 0.81). There were no death, pulmonary
      emboli, and cardiac events during follow-up. CONCLUSION: Three months follow-up
      did not show statistical difference in efficacy and safety between dabigatran and
      enoxaparin. Future studies with mentioning to later outcomes for checking safety
      are warranted.

PMID- 25815019
TI  - The effects of different doses of atorvastatin on serum lipid profile, glycemic
      control, and liver enzymes in patients with ischemic cerebrovascular accident.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite established effects of atorvastatin on level of serum lipid
      profile in patients with different underlying clinical conditions, the effects of
      this drug on other serum biomarkers remain uncertain. We examined the effects of
      atorvastatin therapy on lipid profile, glycemic control, and liver enzymes in
      patients with ischemic cerebrovascular accident without any history or clinical
      evidences of diabetes, heart failure, renal failure, or hepatic disease. METHODS:
      In a randomized double-blinded controlled trial, 140 hospitalized patients with
      an ischemic cerebrovascular accident were included and randomly assigned to
      receive either atorvastatin 40 mg (n = 70) or atorvastatin 20 mg daily (n = 70)
      for 3 months. The levels of biomarkers were measured at the time of
      administrating drugs as well as at the time of completing the treatment. RESULTS:
      A significant reduction was revealed in serum triglyceride, total cholesterol,
      low-density lipoprotein, non-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and also
      aspartate aminotransferase levels as well as a significant increase in serum HDL
      level following administration of atorvastatin in both case and control groups
      who received the atorvastatin 40 mg/day and 20 mg/day, respectively (all P <
      0.050). Although a significant increase in fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c
      was observed in the case group received atorvastatin 40 mg/day (both P < 0.001),
      but this elevation was not occurred in another group treated with lower dose of
      the drug (both P > 0.050). CONCLUSION: Daily administration of 20 mg and 40 mg
      doses of atorvastatin for 3 months provides improvement in serum lipid profiles;
      however, because of interfering effect of high-dose atorvastatin on glycemic
      control status, the use of the former dose may be preferred. This is very
      important in these patients because the positive effects of high-dose
      atorvastatin in stroke patients are not confirmed.

PMID- 25815020
TI  - Rheumatoid factor, anti-nuclear antibody in ischemic heart disease: Acute versus
      chronic patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Immunopathological and inflammatory processes play important roles in
      the initiation and development of ischemic heart disease. Hence, this study aimed
      to evaluate the relationship between serum levels rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti
      nuclear antibodies (ANA) and severity of coronary stenotic lesions. METHODS:
      Totally 140 patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) (n = 70) and chronic
      stable angina (CSA) (n = 70) that undergoing coronary angiography were enrolled
      in this study. ANA by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and serum
      level of RF was measured by latex method. The severity of coronary stenotic
      lesions calculated by Gensini score. To analyze the correlations of ANA and RF to
      Gensini score Pearson correlation test was used. To adjust the effect of age and
      other confounder factors such hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and smoking
      multiple linear regression was used. RESULTS: The mean serum levels of RF and ANA
      in CSA group were significantly higher than ACS group after adjusting for the
      confounder factors (P < 0.050 for ANA). Serum levels of ANA significantly
      correlated with severity of coronary stenotic lesions calculated by Gensini score
      (r = 0.40 and P < 0.050). After adjusting confounders, multiple linear regression
      analysis showed ANA remained independently associated with Gensini scores in ACS
      group (B = 0.505, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Higher serum levels of ANA may be
      considered as independent risk factors for ACS.

PMID- 25815021
TI  - Evaluating factors associated with uncontrolled hypertension: Isfahan cohort
      study, Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hypertension (HTN) considers as one of the most common risk factors,
      which potentially raises the risk of cardiovascular disease. Regarding high
      prevalence of HTN among Iranian population this study designed to examine a range
      of socio-demographic and clinical variables to determine the association with
      failure to achieve blood pressure control in a cohort of hypertensive subjects.
      METHODS: This retrospective cohort study is a part of Isfahan cohort study which
      carried out on adults aged 35 years old or more. Subjects with confirmed HTN
      entered in this sub-study. For all subjects questionnaire included socio
      demographic characteristics, clinical data and lifestyle behavior completed by
      trained nurses. Uncontrolled HTN was defined as systolic and diastolic blood
      pressure more than 140/90 in the presence or absent of pharmacological treatment.
      RESULTS: The prevalence of uncontrolled men was significantly higher than
      controlled in both 2001 and 2007 (P < 0.001). A significant association was found
      between sex and control of blood pressure: compared with women, being men [odds
      ratio (OR) = 2.31; 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.64-3.24] was significantly
      associated with uncontrolled HTN in 2001 and (OR = 2.38; 95% CI = 1.78-3.18).
      Among lifestyle behaviors, tendency for more consumption of salty foods increased
      the risk of uncontrolled HTN in 2001 by 1.73 times [OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.20
      2.50, (P = 0.003)]. Patients who were naive to mono-therapy without considering
      the type of antihypertensive drug were found to be associated with uncontrolled
      blood pressure (OR = 0.14; 95 % CI =0.1-0.2). CONCLUSION: Uncontrolled HTN was
      sex, marital status, diabetes, tendency to salty foods and medication adherence.
      Assessment of them presence of these risk factors is warranted to recommend an
      aggressive HTN management with the goal of reducing excessive risk of
      cardiovascular events caused by uncontrolled HTN.

PMID- 25815023
TI  - A case of Marfan's syndrome with multi-level aortic dissections.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although Marfan's syndrome is a disease with various phenotypes, but
      the major mechanism of death is cardiovascular complication. Aortic dissection is
      a major cause of death in Marfan syndrome. CASE REPORT: A 30-year-old man with
      severe refractory chest and left flank pain and history of previously surgically
      repaired Type A aortic dissection was referred to the hospital. His typical
      manifestations of Marfan's syndrome were identified. Cardiovascular imaging
      showed an acute spiral dissection in the descending aorta extending to the left
      renal and femoral arteries with no evidence of thrombosis in its huge false lumen
      (8 cm). By the diagnosis of acute, expanded, spiral, Type B aortic dissection, he
      underwent the stent grafting of dissected aorta. He discharged without any
      complication. On follow-up cardiovascular imaging, thrombosed false lumen in
      stented aorta from descending aorta to the proximal abdominal aorta was seen.
      CONCLUSION: Endovascular treatment of Type B dissection is an effective treatment
      in Type B dissection, even in patients with Marfan syndrome.

PMID- 25815022
TI  - Self-efficacy strategies to improve exercise in patients with heart failure: A
      systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite exercise is recommended as an adjunct to medication therapy
      in patients with heart failure (HF), non-adherence to exercise is a major
      problem. While improving self-efficacy is an effective way to increase physical
      activity, the evidence concerning the relationship between strategies to enhance
      self-efficacy and exercise among HF has not been systematically reviewed. The
      objective of this systematic review is to assess the effect of interventions to
      change the self-efficacy on exercise in patients with HF. METHODS: A systematic
      database search was conducted for articles reporting exercise self-efficacy
      interventions. Databases such as PubMed, ProQuest, CINAHL, Scopus, and PsycINFO,
      and the Cochrane Library were searched with restrictions to the years 2000-June
      2014. A search of relevant databases identified 10 studies. Published randomized
      controlled intervention studies focusing strategies to change self-efficacy to
      exercise adherence in HF were eligible for inclusion. In addition, studies that
      have applied self-efficacy-based interventions to improve exercise are discussed.
      RESULTS: Limited published data exist evaluating the self-efficacy strategies to
      improve exercise in HF. Dominant strategies to improve patients' self-efficacy
      were performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion,
      emotional arousal. CONCLUSION: Evidence from some trials supports the view that
      incorporating the theory of self-efficacy into the design of an exercise
      intervention is beneficial. Moreover, exercise interventions aimed at integrating
      the four strategies of exercise self-efficacy can have positive effects on
      confidence and the ability to initiate exercise and recover HF symptoms. Findings
      of this study suggest that a positive relationship exists between self-efficacy
      and initiating and maintaining exercise in HF, especially in the short-term
      period.

PMID- 25815024
TI  - Methadone induced torsades de pointes and ventricular fibrillation: A case
      review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Methadone is a synthetic opioid, which has been successfully used in
      treating heroin addiction and chronic pain syndrome in palliative care for more
      than 30 years. This drug is a potent blocker of the delayed rectifier potassium
      ion channel, which may result in corrected QT (QTc) interval prolongation and
      increased risk of torsades de pointes (TdP) in susceptible individuals. CASE
      REPORT: We describe here a case of methadone-induced TdP that deteriorated into
      ventricular fibrillation, which was resolved after treatment with IV magnesium,
      potassium, and Lidocaine. Our purpose in this case review was to highlight the
      risk of cardiac arrhythmias, in particular QTc interval prolongation leading to
      TdP in a heroin-dependent patient receiving methadone substitution therapy, and
      then to present a perspective on treatment and prevention strategies of methadone
      induced prolonged QTc. CONCLUSION: Methadone-induced TdP is a potentially fatal
      complication of methadone therapy. As the popularity of methadone use grows,
      clinicians will encounter more cases of methadone induced TdP, especially in our
      region, Iran. Hence, a thorough patient history and electrocardiogram monitoring
      are essential for patients treated with this agent, and alterations in treatment
      options may be necessary.

PMID- 25814911
TI  - Muon reconstruction efficiency and momentum resolution of the ATLAS experiment in
      proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV in 2010.
AB  - This paper presents a study of the performance of the muon reconstruction in the
      analysis of proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV at the LHC,
      recorded by the ATLAS detector in 2010. This performance is described in terms of
      reconstruction and isolation efficiencies and momentum resolutions for different
      classes of reconstructed muons. The results are obtained from an analysis of
      [Formula: see text] meson and [Formula: see text] boson decays to dimuons,
      reconstructed from a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 40
      pb[Formula: see text]. The measured performance is compared to Monte Carlo
      predictions and deviations from the predicted performance are discussed.

PMID- 25815025
TI  - In Vitro and In Vivo Antileishmanial Effects of Pistacia khinjuk against
      Leishmania tropica and Leishmania major.
AB  - The present study aims to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo antileishmanial
      activities of Pistacia khinjuk Stocks (Anacardiaceae) alcoholic extract and to
      compare its efficacy with a reference drug, meglumine antimoniate (MA,
      Glucantime), against Leishmania tropica and Leishmania major. This extract (0-100
      ug/mL) was evaluated in vitro against promastigote and intracellular amastigote
      forms of L. tropica (MRHO/IR/75/ER) and then tested on cutaneous leishmaniasis
      (CL) in male BALB/c mice with L. major to reproduce the antileishmanial activity
      topically. In vitro, P. khinjuk extract significantly (P < 0.05) inhibited the
      growth rate of promastigote (IC50 58.6 +/- 3.2 ug/mL) and intramacrophage
      amastigotes (37.3 +/- 2.5 ug/mL) of L. tropica as a dose-dependent response. In
      the in vivo assay, after 30 days of treatment, 75% recovery was observed in the
      infected mice treated with 30% extract. After treatment of the subgroups with the
      concentration of 20 and 30% of P. khinjuk extract, mean diameter of lesions was
      significantly (P < 0.05) reduced. To conclude, the present investigation
      demonstrated that P. vera extract had in vitro and in vivo effectiveness against
      L. major. Obtained findings also provide the scientific evidences that natural
      plants could be used in the traditional medicine for the prevention and treatment
      of CL. 

PMID- 25815028
TI  - The effects and possible mechanisms of puerarin to treat endometriosis model
      rats.
AB  - Objective. To explore the effects of puerarin to treat endometriosis (EMT) model
      rats and the possible regulatory mechanisms. Methods. EMT model rats were
      surgically induced by autotransplantion of endometrial tissues. The appropriate
      dosage of puerarin to treat EMT model rats was determined by observing the
      pathologic morphology of ectopic endometrial tissues and by detecting the levels
      of estradiol (E2) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) of both serum and ectopic
      endometrial tissues. The related genes and proteins of ectopic endometrial
      tissues were analyzed by Real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) to explore
      the possible mechanisms. Results. Puerarin could reduce the levels of E2 and PGE2
      and prevent the growth of ectopic endometrium tissues by inhibiting the
      expression of aromatase cytochrome P450 (p450arom) and cyclooxygenase-2 (cox-2);
      puerarin could adjust the anabolism of E2 by upregulating the expression of
      17beta-hydroxysteroid-2 (17beta-hsd-2) and downregulating the expression of
      17beta-hydroxysteroid-1 (17beta-hsd-1) of the ectopic endometrium tissues;
      puerarin could increase the expression of ERbeta and improve the inflammatory
      microenvironment of EMT model rats. Conclusions. Our data suggest that puerarin
      has a therapeutic effect on EMT model rats and could be a potential therapeutic
      agent for the treatment of EMT in clinic. 

PMID- 25815030
TI  - Therapeutic Effects of TianDiJingWan on the Abeta 25-35-Induced Alzheimer's
      Disease Model Rats.
AB  - The main purpose of this study was to demonstrate the therapeutic effects and
      mechanism of TDJW, a modern Chinese medicine prescription developed based on the
      basic traditional Chinese medicine theory of "tonifying the kidney essence," on
      the Abeta 25-35-induced AD rats. The AD model was established by the
      intracerebroventricular administrations of Abeta 25-35 into the hippocampus CA1
      tissue of SD male rats. 72 rats were randomly divided into six groups: sham
      operation, AD model, donepezil, high TDJW group, medium TDJW group, and low TDJW
      group. After oral administration of TDJW, the results of Morris water maze and
      step-down test showed that the learning and memory abilities of AD rats were
      significantly improved. And biochemical measurement demonstrated that Ach and Glu
      in hippocampus tissues of AD rats were increased as well. Moreover, the Abeta
      deposits and p-Tau aggregations in hippocampus CA1 tissues of AD rats were
      attenuated as observed in the micrographs of immunohistochemistry study, and the
      results of ELISA indicated that the expressions of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and IL-6
      in hippocampus tissues were significantly decreased. In conclusion, the present
      study demonstrated that TDJW could be used as a promising therapeutic agent for
      the clinical applications of AD treatment in patients. 

PMID- 25815031
TI  - The Prescription Pattern of Chinese Herbal Products Containing Ginseng among
      Tamoxifen-Treated Female Breast Cancer Survivors in Taiwan: A Population-Based
      Study.
AB  - Background. The purpose of our study is to analyze the association between
      prescribed Chinese herbal products (CHPs) containing Ginseng and the risk of
      endometrial cancer among tamoxifen (TMX) users and to identify any possible
      interactive effects between Ginseng and TMX with respect to preventing the
      development of subsequent endometrial cancer in an estrogen-dependent breast
      cancer population in Taiwan. Methods. All patients newly diagnosed with invasive
      breast cancer receiving tamoxifen treatment from January 1, 1998, to December 31,
      2008, were selected from the National Health Insurance Research Database. The
      usage, frequency of service, and CHP-Ginseng prescribed across the 30,556 TMX
      treated breast cancer (BC) survivors were evaluated. Logistic regression was
      employed to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) for the utilization of CHP-Ginseng.
      Cox's proportional hazard regression was performed to calculate the hazard ratios
      (HRs) for endometrial cancer associated with Ginseng use among the TMX-treated BC
      cohort. Results. The HR for the development of endometrial cancer among breast
      cancer survivors who had ever taken Ginseng after TXM treatment was significantly
      decreased compared to those who never used CHP. Conclusion. A significant
      inhibitory relationship between Ginseng consumption and subsequent endometrial
      cancer less than 2 years after TMX treatment was detected among BC survivors. 

PMID- 25815027
TI  - The th17/treg immune balance in ulcerative colitis patients with two different
      chinese syndromes: dampness-heat in large intestine and spleen and kidney yang
      deficiency syndrome.
AB  - Objective. To investigate the Th17/Treg immune balance in the ulcerative colitis
      (UC) patients with two Chinese syndrome: dampness-heat in large intestine (DHLI)
      and spleen and kidney Yang deficiency (SKYD). Methods. Ninety UC patients (45
      were diagnosed with DHLI and 45 with SKYD syndrome) and 23 healthy people were
      recruited. The serumIL-17 and TGF-beta1 levels of these participants were
      measured with ELISA; the expression of IL-17 and TGF-beta 1 in colonic mucosa
      tissue was determined with immunohistochemistry and the percentage of Th17 and
      Treg in peripheral blood with flow cytometry. Results. The levels of IL-17 and
      Th17 were significantly higher in both DHLI and SKYD groups than in healthy
      control group and higher in DHLI than in SKYD group (P < 0.05). The levels of TGF
      beta1 and Treg were significantly lower in the two UC patients groups than in
      healthy control group; and lower in SKYD group than in DHLI group (P < 0.05).
      Conclusions. UC with DHLI syndrome could be characterized by the elevation of
      Th17 and IL-17 levels, which indicated an accentuation of inflammatory reaction;
      UC with SKYD syndrome could be characterized by the reduction of serum Treg and
      TGF-beta1 levels, which represented a depression of immune tolerance. 

PMID- 25815029
TI  - Propolis Is an Efficient Fungicide and Inhibitor of Biofilm Production by Vaginal
      Candida albicans.
AB  - Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is one of the most common genital infections in
      women. The therapeutic arsenal remains restricted, and some alternatives to VVC
      treatment are being studied. The present study evaluated the influence of a
      propolis extractive solution (PES) on biofilm production by Candida albicans
      isolated from patients with VVC. Susceptibility testing was used to verify the
      minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of PES, with fluconazole and nystatin as
      controls. The biofilm formation of 29 vaginal isolates of C. albicans and a
      reference strain that were exposed to PES was evaluated using crystal violet
      staining. Colony-forming units were evaluated, proteins and carbohydrates of the
      matrix biofilm were quantified, and scanning electron microscopy was performed.
      The MIC of PES ranged from 68.35 to 546.87 MUg/mL of total phenol content in
      gallic acid. A concentration of 546.87 MUg/mL was able to cause the death of
      75.8% of the isolates. PES inhibited biofilm formation by C. albicans from VVC.
      Besides antifungal activity, PES appears to present important antibiofilm
      activity on abiotic surfaces, indicating that it may have an additional
      beneficial effect in the treatment of VVC. 

PMID- 25815032
TI  - The Protective Effects of Areca catechu Extract on Cognition and Social
      Interaction Deficits in a Cuprizone-Induced Demyelination Model.
AB  - Schizophrenia is a serious psychiatric illness with an unclear cause. One theory
      is that demyelination of white matter is one of the main pathological factors
      involved in the development of schizophrenia. The current study evaluated the
      protective effects of Areca catechu nut extract (ANE) on a cuprizone-induced
      demyelination mouse model. Two doses of ANE (1% and 2%) were administered orally
      in the diet for 8 weeks. Animals subjected to demyelination showed impaired
      spatial memory and less social activity. In addition, mice subjected to
      demyelination displayed significant myelin damage in cortex and demonstrated a
      higher expression of NG2 and PDGFRalpha and AMPK activation. ANE treatment not
      only significantly enhanced cognitive ability and social activity, but also
      protected myelin against cuprizone toxicity by promoting oligodendrocyte
      precursor cell (OPC) differentiation. In addition, ANE treatment demonstrated
      significant dephosphorylation of AMPKalpha, indicating a regulatory role for ANE
      in schizophrenia. This study showed that ANE treatment may enhance cognitive
      ability and social activity by facilitating OPC differentiation and protecting
      against myelin damage in cortex. Results also suggest the AMPK signaling pathway
      may be involved in this process. 

PMID- 25815026
TI  - Efficacy and safety of pomegranate medicinal products for cancer.
AB  - Preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrate potent effects of
      pomegranate preparations in cancer cell lines and animal models with chemically
      induced cancers. We have carried out one systematic review of the effectiveness
      of pomegranate products in the treatment of cancer and another on their safety.
      The PubMed search provided 162 references for pomegranate and cancer and 122
      references for pomegranate and safety/toxicity. We identified 4 clinical studies
      investigating 3 pomegranate products, of which one was inappropriate because of
      the low polyphenol content. The evidence of clinical effectiveness was poor
      because the quality of the studies was poor. Although there is no concern over
      safety with the doses used in the clinical studies, pomegranate preparations may
      be harmful by inducing synthetic drug metabolism through activation of liver
      enzymes. We have analysed various pomegranate products for their content of
      anthocyanins, punicalagin, and ellagic acid in order to compare them with the
      benchmark doses from published data. If the amount of coactive constituents is
      not declared, patients risk not benefiting from the putative pomegranate effects.
      Moreover, pomegranate end products are affected by many determinants. Their
      declaration should be incorporated into the regulatory guidance and controlled
      before pomegranate products enter the market. 

PMID- 25815034
TI  - The anti-porcine parvovirus activity of nanometer propolis flavone and propolis
      flavone in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Objectives. The present study was conducted to evaluate the activity of nanometer
      propolis flavone (NPF) on inhibiting porcine parvovirus (PPV) in vitro and in
      vivo. Methods. In vitro, the effect of NPF on cellular infectivity of PPV was
      carried out before and after adding drug and simultaneous adding and PPV after
      being mixed. In vivo, the anti-PPV effect of NPF in guinea pigs was performed.
      Results. The results showed that NPF could significantly inhibit PPV infecting
      porcine kidney- (PK-) 15 cells compared with propolis flavone (PF), and the
      activity of NPF was the best in preadding drug pattern. NPF at high and medium
      doses was able to observably restrain PPV copying in lung, gonad, blood, and
      spleen, decrease the impact of PPV on weight of guinea pigs, and improve
      hemagglutination inhibition (HI) of PPV in serum. In addition, it could also
      increase the contents of IL-2 and IL-6 in serum after PPV challenge. Conclusion.
      These results indicated that NPF could significantly improve the anti-PPV
      activity of PF, and its high concentration possessed the best efficacy.
      Therefore, NPF would be expected to be exploited into a new-style antiviral drug.

PMID- 25815033
TI  - Effects of Passive Hydrotherapy WATSU (WaterShiatsu) in the Third Trimester of
      Pregnancy: Results of a Controlled Pilot Study.
AB  - Background. WATSU (WaterShiatsu) is a complementary therapeutic treatment method
      comprising passive stretches and massage techniques administered in 35 degrees C
      warm water. Pregnant women claim safe methods to reduce pain, stress, and
      fatigue. Therefore, we conducted a pilot study evaluating the effects of WATSU on
      pregnancy-related complaints in third trimester pregnant women. Methods. Nine
      healthy pregnant women at gestational week >=34 were included in an intervention
      group (receiving WATSU) and compared to eight women in a passive control group
      (receiving no treatment). WATSU was performed on days 1 and 4 of the study,
      accompanied by ultrasound examinations. Outcomes include physiological and
      psychometric as well as qualitative data. Participants in the control group
      completed questionnaires only. Results. WATSU was found to significantly lower
      participants' levels of stress and pain and to improve their mental health
      related quality of life and mood. In comparison to the passive control group,
      participants in the intervention group reported reduction in perceived stress
      from day 1 to day 8 (P = 0.036, Cohen's f = 0.57). Qualitative data indicate that
      WATSU was appreciated as enjoyable and deeply relaxing. No negative side effects
      were reported. Conclusion. Our findings support the notion that WATSU yields
      therapeutic benefits for pregnant women and warrant further research. This study
      has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01708018. 

PMID- 25815035
TI  - Enhanced evidence-based chinese medicine clinical practice guidelines in Hong
      Kong: a study protocol for three common diseases.
AB  - We presented a study protocol of developing Chinese medicine clinical practice
      guidelines for three common diseases in Hong Kong, including insomnia, chronic
      gastritis, and cerebral infarction. This research project will be conducted in
      three phases. First phase is the preparation stage which consists of the
      establishment of steering committee and panel. Second phase involves 6 steps,
      which are searching and identifying evidence, text mining process, Delphi survey,
      synthesizing of data, consensus conference, and drafting guidelines. In this
      phase, text mining technique, evidence-based method, and formal consensus method
      are combined to get consolidated supporting data as the source of CM CPGs. The
      final phase comprised external reviews, dissemination, and updating. The outputs
      from this project will provide three CM CPGs for insomnia, chronic gastritis, and
      cerebral infarction for Hong Kong local use. 

PMID- 25815036
TI  - Manual medicine related injuries experienced by physicians: a missing aspect in
      therapies using manipulation of joints.
AB  - Background. In 2010 Manual Medicine (MM) was the second most common additional
      qualification among physicians in Germany, which is recommended to be used in
      several guidelines. Aim of this analysis was to raise the amount of information
      on MM related injuries (MMri) experienced by physicians at any point of their
      career while applying MM. Methods. Data on MMri of a questionnaire that was used
      to gain first insights into MM in Germany from a health services research
      perspective was analysed. Results. A total of 301 physicians (20% female)
      participated in this study. The participants' mean age was 46. 11% of the
      participants experienced some kind of MMri during their career as a MM provider.
      In the three worst cases these MMri were fractures and therefore classified as
      moderate. Mild MMri were joint dysfunction syndromes (N = 30), distortions of
      fingers (N = 7), and shoulder pain (N = 3). Subgroup analyses showed no
      significant differences in the rate of MMri when comparing gender, provider
      organizations for postgraduate MM courses, and medical disciplines. Conclusion.
      Our analysis shows risks for providers of MM. As this analysis suffers from the
      risk of recall bias, future studies should be performed to get more insights into
      this aspect of MM. 

PMID- 25815037
TI  - Preclinical evaluation on the tumor suppression efficiency and combination drug
      effects of fermented wheat germ extract in human ovarian carcinoma cells.
AB  - Fermented wheat germ extract (FWGE) is a nutrient supplement and a potential
      antitumor ingredient for developing an integrated chemotherapy with standard
      chemotherapeutic drugs for treating ovarian cancer patients. In this study, we
      evaluated the tumor suppression efficiency of FWGE in human ovarian carcinoma
      cells, SKOV-3 and ES-2, and found the half-maximal inhibitory concentrations
      (IC50s) to be 643.76 MUg/mL and 246.11 MUg/mL after 48 h of FWGE treatment. FWGE
      treatment also induced programmed cell death by activating the caspase-7 cleavage
      in both SKOV-3 and ES-2 cells, but only caspase-3 and poly(adenosine diphosphate
      ribose) polymerase cleavages were activated in SKOV-3 cells. Moreover, FWGE
      exhibited combination drug effects with cisplatin and docetaxel in SKOV-3 and ES
      2 cells by enhancing the cytotoxicity of both drugs. In conclusion, we found that
      FWGE not only suppressed cell growth but also induced caspase-3-related and
      caspase-7-related cell death in human ovarian carcinoma cells. FWGE treatment
      further enhanced the cytotoxicity of cisplatin and docetaxel, suggesting that
      FWGE is a potential ingredient in the development of adjuvant chemotherapy with
      cisplatin or docetaxel for treating ovarian cancer patients. 

PMID- 25815038
TI  - Chinese herbal decoction based on syndrome differentiation as maintenance therapy
      in patients with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer: an exploratory and small
      prospective cohort study.
AB  - Objective. To investigate the treatment effect and treatment length of Chinese
      herbal decoction (CHD) as maintenance therapy on patients with extensive-stage
      small-cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) and to reflect the real syndrome differentiation
      (Bian Zheng) practices of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Patients and
      Methods. Different CHDs were prescribed for each patient based on syndrome
      differentiation. The length of CHD treatment was divided into two phases for
      analyzing progression-free survival (PFS) and postprogression survival (PPS).
      Results. Three hundred and fifty-seven CHDs were prescribed based on syndrome
      differentiation during the study period. Median PFS was significantly longer in
      patients who received CHD >3 months than patients who received CHD <=3 months in
      the first phase (8.7 months versus 4.5 months; hazard ratio (HR), 0.52; 95%
      confidence interval (CI), 0.41-0.99; P = 0.0009). Median PPS was significantly
      longer in patients who received CHD >7 months than patients who received CHD <=7
      months in the second phase (11.7 months versus 5.1 months; HR, 2.32; 95% CI, 1.90
      2.74; P = 0.002). Conclusion. CHD could improve PFS and PPS, which are closely
      related to treatment time and deepness of response of first-line therapy. In
      addition, CHD could improve body function and keep patients in a relatively
      stable state. 

PMID- 25815040
TI  - Study on TCM Syndrome Differentiation of Primary Liver Cancer Based on the
      Analysis of Latent Structural Model.
AB  - Primary liver cancer (PLC) is one of the most common malignant tumors because of
      its high incidence and high mortality. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) plays
      an active role in the treatment of PLC. As the most important part in the TCM
      system, syndrome differentiation based on the clinical manifestations from
      traditional four diagnostic methods has met great challenges and questions with
      the lack of statistical validation support. In this study, we provided evidences
      for TCM syndrome differentiation of PLC using the method of analysis of latent
      structural model from clinic data, thus providing basis for establishing TCM
      syndrome criteria. And also we obtain the common syndromes of PLC as well as
      their typical clinical manifestations, respectively. 

PMID- 25815039
TI  - Ancient records and modern research on the mechanisms of chinese herbal medicines
      in the treatment of diabetes mellitus.
AB  - Over the past decades, Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) have been extensively and
      intensively studied through from both clinical and experimental perspectives and
      CHM have been proved to be effective in the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM).
      This study, by searching ancient records and modern research papers, reviewed CHM
      in terms of their clinical application and principal mechanism in the treatment
      of DM. We summarized the use of CHM mentioned in 54 famous ancient materia medica
      monographs and searched papers on the hypoglycemic effect of several
      representative CHM. Main mechanisms and limitations of CHM and further research
      direction for DM were discussed. On the basis of the study, we were led to
      conclude that TCM, as a main form of complementary and alternative medicine
      (CAM), was well recorded in ancient literatures and has less adverse effects as
      shown by modern studies. The mechanisms of CHM treatment of DM are complex,
      multilink, and multitarget, so we should find main hypoglycemic mechanism through
      doing research on CHM monomer active constituents. Many CHM monomer constituents
      possess noteworthy hypoglycemic effects. Therefore, developing a novel natural
      product for DM and its complications is of much significance. It is strongly
      significant to pay close attention to CHM for treatment of DM and its
      complications. 

PMID- 25815041
TI  - Personal prayer in patients dealing with chronic illness: a review of the
      research literature.
AB  - Background. Prayer is commonly used among patients for health purposes.
      Therefore, this review focused on three main questions: (1) why do people turn to
      prayer in times of illness?, (2) what are the main topics of their prayers?, and
      (3) how do they pray? Method. We undertook a systematic review of the literature
      by searching the databases PubMed, Medline, and PsycINFO. The following inclusion
      criteria were used: (1) participants in the study were patients dealing with an
      illness, (2) the study examined the use of private rather than intercessory
      prayer, and (3) the content and purpose of prayer rather than its effects were
      investigated. Results. 16 articles were included in the final review.
      Participants suffered from a variety of chronic diseases, mostly cancer. Five
      main categories for the reasons and topics of prayer were found: (1) disease
      centered prayer, (2) assurance-centered prayer, (3) God-centered prayer, (4)
      others-centered prayer, and (5) lamentations. Among these, disease-centered
      prayer was most common. Conclusions. Although most patients with chronic diseases
      do pray for relief from their physical and mental suffering, the intention of
      their prayers is not only for healing. Rather, prayer can be a resource that
      allows patients to positively transform the experience of their illness. 

PMID- 25815043
TI  - A hybrid intelligent diagnosis approach for quick screening of Alzheimer's
      disease based on multiple neuropsychological rating scales.
AB  - Neuropsychological testing is an effective means for the screening of Alzheimer's
      disease. Multiple neuropsychological rating scales should be used together to get
      subjects' comprehensive cognitive state due to the limitation of a single scale,
      but it is difficult to operate in primary clinical settings because of the
      inadequacy of time and qualified clinicians. Aiming at identifying AD's stages
      more accurately and conveniently in screening, we proposed a computer-aided
      diagnosis approach based on critical items extracted from multiple
      neuropsychological scales. The proposed hybrid intelligent approach combines the
      strengths of rough sets, genetic algorithm, and Bayesian network. There are two
      stages: one is attributes reduction technique based on rough sets and genetic
      algorithm, which can find out the most discriminative items for AD diagnosis in
      scales; the other is uncertain reasoning technique based on Bayesian network,
      which can forecast the probability of suffering from AD. The experimental data
      set consists of 500 cases collected by a top hospital in China and each case is
      determined by the expert panel. The results showed that the proposed approach
      could not only reduce items drastically with the same classification precision,
      but also perform better on identifying different stages of AD comparing with
      other existing scales. 

PMID- 25815042
TI  - A clinical decision support system for the diagnosis, fracture risks and
      treatment of osteoporosis.
AB  - Expanding medical knowledge increases the potential risk of medical errors in
      clinical practice. We present, OPAD, a clinical decision support system in the
      field of the medical care of osteoporosis. We utilize clinical information from
      international guidelines and experts in the field of osteoporosis. Physicians are
      provided with user interface to insert standard patient data, from which OPAD
      provides instant diagnostic comments, 10-year risk of fragility fracture,
      treatment options for the given case, and when to offer a follow-up DXA
      evaluation. Thus, the medical decision making is standardized according to the
      best expert knowledge at any given time. OPAD was evaluated in a set of 308
      randomly selected individuals. OPAD's ten-year fracture risk computation is
      nearly identical to FRAX (r = 0.988). In 58% of cases OPAD recommended DXA
      evaluation at the present time. Following a DXA measurement in all individuals,
      71% of those that were recommended to have DXA at the present time received
      recommendation for further investigation or specific treatment by the OPAD. In
      only 5.9% of individuals in which DXA was not recommended, the result of the BMD
      measurement changed the recommendations given by OPAD.

PMID- 25815044
TI  - Application of a hybrid method combining grey model and back propagation
      artificial neural networks to forecast hepatitis B in china.
AB  - Accurate incidence forecasting of infectious disease provides potentially
      valuable insights in its own right. It is critical for early prevention and may
      contribute to health services management and syndrome surveillance. This study
      investigates the use of a hybrid algorithm combining grey model (GM) and back
      propagation artificial neural networks (BP-ANN) to forecast hepatitis B in China
      based on the yearly numbers of hepatitis B and to evaluate the method's
      feasibility. The results showed that the proposal method has advantages over GM
      (1, 1) and GM (2, 1) in all the evaluation indexes.

PMID- 25815045
TI  - Community-based decision making and priority setting using the R software: the
      community priority index.
AB  - This paper outlines how to compute community priority indices in the context of
      multicriteria decision making in community settings. A simple R function was
      developed and validated with community needs assessment data. Particularly, the
      first part of this paper briefly overviews the existing methods for priority
      setting and reviews the utility of a multicriteria decision-making approach for
      community-based prioritization. The second part illustrates how community
      priority indices can be calculated using the freely available R program to handle
      community data by showing the computational and mathematical steps of CPI
      (Community Priority Index) with bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals. 

PMID- 25815046
TI  - Particle swarm optimization algorithm for optimizing assignment of blood in blood
      banking system.
AB  - This paper reports the performance of particle swarm optimization (PSO) for the
      assignment of blood to meet patients' blood transfusion requests for blood
      transfusion. While the drive for blood donation lingers, there is need for
      effective and efficient management of available blood in blood banking systems.
      Moreover, inherent danger of transfusing wrong blood types to patients,
      unnecessary importation of blood units from external sources, and wastage of
      blood products due to nonusage necessitate the development of mathematical models
      and techniques for effective handling of blood distribution among available blood
      types in order to minimize wastages and importation from external sources. This
      gives rise to the blood assignment problem (BAP) introduced recently in
      literature. We propose a queue and multiple knapsack models with PSO-based
      solution to address this challenge. Simulation is based on sets of randomly
      generated data that mimic real-world population distribution of blood types.
      Results obtained show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm for BAP with no
      blood units wasted and very low importation, where necessary, from outside the
      blood bank. The result therefore can serve as a benchmark and basis for decision
      support tools for real-life deployment. 

PMID- 25815047
TI  - An agent-based epidemic simulation of social behaviors affecting HIV transmission
      among Taiwanese homosexuals.
AB  - Computational simulations are currently used to identify epidemic dynamics, to
      test potential prevention and intervention strategies, and to study the effects
      of social behaviors on HIV transmission. The author describes an agent-based
      epidemic simulation model of a network of individuals who participate in high
      risk sexual practices, using number of partners, condom usage, and relationship
      length to distinguish between high- and low-risk populations. Two new concepts
      free links and fixed links-are used to indicate tendencies among individuals who
      either have large numbers of short-term partners or stay in long-term monogamous
      relationships. An attempt was made to reproduce epidemic curves of reported HIV
      cases among male homosexuals in Taiwan prior to using the agent-based model to
      determine the effects of various policies on epidemic dynamics. Results suggest
      that when suitable adjustments are made based on available social survey
      statistics, the model accurately simulates real-world behaviors on a large scale.

PMID- 25815048
TI  - Effectiveness of brace treatment for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Effectiveness of brace treatment for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis
      (AIS) was demonstrated by the BrAIST study in 2013. Objectives of this study were
      to confirm its effectiveness by analyzing our results and to clarify the factors
      affecting the results of the treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: According to the
      Scoliosis Research Society AIS brace studies standardization criteria, patients
      with age 10 years or older, Risser 0 to II, less than 1 year post-menarche, curve
      magnitude 25 to 40 degrees before brace treatment and who received no prior
      treatment were included in the study. At skeletal maturity, the rate of the
      patients whose curve was stabilized, exceeded 45 degrees, and who were
      recommended or underwent surgery were investigated. Additionally, initial
      correction rate by the brace and factors affecting the results were investigated.
      RESULTS: A total of 33 patients (27 females and 6 males) could be followed-up
      until their skeletal maturity and included in the analysis. An average age was
      11.9 years, average Cobb angle was 30.8 degrees , and Risser sign was 0 in 13
      patients, I in 5, and II in 15 patients before treatment. There were 13 thoracic
      curves, 14 thoracolumbar or lumbar curves, and 6 double curves. Initial
      correction rate by the brace was 53.8% for the total curves. In terms of curve
      pattern, 34.4% for thoracic curve, 73.9% for thoracolumbar or lumbar curve, and
      48.8% for double curve. After an average follow-up period of 33 months, 8
      patients improved in more than 6 degrees, change of 17 patients were within 6
      degrees, and 8 progressed in more than 6 degrees. Therefore, totally, 76% (25/33)
      of the curves were stabilized by the treatment. Four curves (12%) exceeded 45
      degrees and one patient (3%) underwent surgery. Our results were better than the
      reported natural history. Factors that affected the results were hump degree
      before treatment and initial correction rate by the brace. CONCLUSIONS: 76% of
      the curve with AIS could be stabilized by brace treatment. Brace treatment was
      effective for treatment of AIS. Factors affecting the results were hump degrees
      and initial correction rate.

PMID- 25815049
TI  - Differences between pre-existing type and de novo type left convex thoracolumbar
      / lumbar scoliosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lenke 5C type adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) with a Cobb angle
      of over 30 degrees has high risk of progression. The need for corrective
      surgeries for degenerative lumbar scoliosis has been increasing these days and
      some of those cases are pre-existing type scoliosis. However, it is said to be
      difficult to differentiate pre-existing type scoliosis from de novo type
      scoliosis. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relevant X ray metrics of
      degenerative lumbar scoliosis and to discover differences between pre-existing
      and de novo type scoliosis. METHODS: Of 54 consecutive patients who were
      diagnosed as candidates for corrective surgery for left convex thoracolumbar /
      lumbar scoliosis since December 2008, 19 patients over age 50 were included in
      this study. The average age was 60 years old (50-80 years old). All patients were
      female. Coronal and sagittal parameters were contrasted between two groups
      divided according to the existence of scoliosis in their adolescence; clear (AIS)
      and unclear (de novo). RESULTS: Eleven were AIS, and 8 were de novo. The average
      age was 54.0 years old for AIS and 67.4 for de novo (p<0.05). Cobb angles (69
      degrees , 49 degrees ) and L4 tilt (30 degrees , 22 degrees ) were found to be
      significantly greater in AIS. Nash-Moe rotation assessment showed that rotational
      deformity was greater in AIS type than in de novo type. Lumbar lordosis (28
      degrees , 32 degrees ), thoracolumbar kyphosis (24 degrees , 12 degrees ),
      sagittal vertical axis (37mm, 58mm), and pelvic incidence (51 degrees , 60
      degrees ) showed no significant difference between the groups, however, pelvic
      tilt (24 degrees , 33 degrees ) showed significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: Among
      patients over 50 with degenerative thoracolumbar / lumbar scoliosis, those with
      pre-existing type scoliosis were found to have greater Cobb angle, greater L4
      tilt, greater rotational deformity, less pelvic tilt, and were candidates for
      surgery at a younger age than those with de novo type scoliosis. In other words,
      those with de novo type scoliosis have less coronal deformity and worse sagittal
      pelvic alignment than those with pre-existing type scoliosis and are not
      considered candidates for surgery until a more advanced age. This study
      demonstrates some differences between pre-existing and de novo type scoliosis,
      contrasts the natural history of the two types of candidates for thoracolumbar /
      lumbar scoliosis surgery, and suggests the importance of performing surgery for
      Lenke 5C type adolescent idiopathic scoliosis at a younger age.

PMID- 25815050
TI  - Measurement of axial vertebral rotation using three-dimensional ultrasound
      images.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Axial vertebral rotation (AVR) is one of the important parameters to
      evaluate the severity and predict the progression of scoliosis. However, the AVR
      measurements on radiographs may underestimate its actual value. This pilot study
      investigated a new three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound method to measure AVR.
      METHODS: Three cadaveric vertebrae T7, L1, and L3 were scanned with a 3D medical
      ultrasound system. Nine sets of ultrasound data, the vertebral rotation from 0 to
      40 degrees  with 5 degrees  increments, were recorded from each vertebra. An in
      house program was developed to reconstruct and measure the 3D vertebral images.
      The rotation of each reconstructed vertebra was determined by the angle between
      the line going through the centres of either laminae (L-L) or transverse
      processes (TP-TP) and a reference vertical plane. Three raters measured the
      rotation in 3 sessions, in which they used the mouse pointer to select the L-L or
      TP-TP according to their knowledge of vertebral anatomy. The program detected the
      3D coordinates of these points and calculated the AVR. The intra-class
      correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to calculate the intra-reliability and
      inter-reliability. The mean absolute difference (MAD+/-SD) and the range of
      difference (RD) between the actual values and the average measurements of each
      rater were computed to evaluate the accuracy of methods. RESULTS: When rotation
      was greater than 30 degrees  for both L1 and L3, all raters found it difficult to
      determine one of the lamina areas due to the lack of ultrasound information in an
      area behind the spinous process. Therefore, the corresponding measurements were
      excluded. The ICC values of the intra-reliability (L-L, TP-TP) for the three
      raters were (0.987, 0.991), (0.989, 0.998) and (0.997, 1.000), respectively;
      meanwhile, the inter-reliability were 0.991 for (L-L) and 0.992 for (TP-TP). All
      ICC values were greater than 0.98 indicating both methods were highly reliable.
      The MAD+/-SD values (L-L, TP-TP) for the three raters were (1.5+/-0.3 degrees ,
      1.2+/-0.2 degrees ), (1.6+/-0.3 degrees , 1.3+/-0.3 degrees ), and (1.7+/-0.5
      degrees , 0.9+/-0.2 degrees ), respectively. The RD (L-L, TP-TP) were (0-4.5
      degrees , 0-3.5 degrees ), (0-5.1 degrees , 0-4.3 degrees ), and (0-5.1 degrees ,
      0-2.8 degrees ) for the three raters, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The (L-L) and
      (TP-TP) methods could be used to measure AVR reliability from the 3D ultrasound
      images.

PMID- 25815051
TI  - Which is the best schedule of autologous blood storage for preoperative
      adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients?
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is critically important for AIS patients to avoid perioperative
      allogeneic blood transfusions. Toward this aim, many institutes use autologous
      blood storage to perform perioperative transfusions. However, there is no
      standard timeline for collecting blood for storage. Therefore, the objective of
      this prospective cohort study was to compare the outcome of two different
      schedules for collecting autologous blood before operation in adolescent
      idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients. METHODS: Inclusion criteria are AIS
      patients, younger than 20 years old, female, operated between 2009 and 2013 with
      posterior spinal fusion and instrumentation who had 1600 mL autologous blood
      collected before operation. A total of 61 patients were participated in this
      study. They were randomly divided into 2 groups based on the storage interval.
      Weekly group (1W-G) consisted of 30 patients with a total of 1600mL blood
      collected weekly beginning 4 weeks before the operation. Biweekly group (2W-G)
      consisted of 31 patients with a total of 1600 mL blood collected biweekly
      beginning 8 weeks before the operation. The instrumented levels, total bleeding,
      complications during blood transfusion, and hematological examinations (RBC, Hb,
      Hct, MCH, MCV, MCHC) were evaluated. A hematological examination was performed
      before blood collection, before the operation, and on postoperative days 1, 3,
      and 7. Vasovagal reflex (VVR) was evaluated as complications during blood
      drawing. RESULT: Mean age, height, and weight did not differ significantly
      between the 2 groups. There were no significant differences in instrumented
      levels, bleeding during operation, after operation, and collected blood during
      operation. With the autologous blood, allogeneic blood transfusion was completely
      avoided. VVR was more frequent in the biweekly group significantly (1W-G 4.2% vs
      2W-G 15.3%). In terms of hematological examination, all values showed no
      significant differences between two groups in the pre-drawing and the pre
      operation stage. However, the postoperative Hb and Hct values were higher in the
      weekly group. Also, MCV and MCHC showed the same behavior with higher values in
      the weekly group. CONCLUSION: A weekly schedule of autologous blood storage is
      better than a biweekly storage schedule.

PMID- 25815052
TI  - Prescriptive analytics applied to brace treatment for AIS: a pilot demonstration.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prescriptive analytics is a concept combining statistical and
      computer sciences to prescribe an optimal course of action, based on predictions
      of possible future events. In this simulation study we investigate using
      prescriptive analytics to recommend optimal in-brace corrections for braced
      Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) patients. The objectives were to estimate
      the efficacy of these recommendations, ultimately working toward improved brace
      design protocols. METHODS: Data was obtained for 90 AIS patients who had finished
      brace treatment at our center (60 full-time and 30 nighttime braces). Rates of
      >=6 degree progression were 53% for daytime and 30% for nighttime braces. A
      modeling technique previously developed by our group was used to predict these
      patients' likely treatment outcomes given a range of in-brace corrections - the
      model was blinded to the true outcomes during this process. Each patient's
      'recommended' correction was identified as the least aggressive correction
      resulting in a desirable predicted outcome. The efficacy of these recommendations
      was estimated using a technique called "clinical trial simulation" (CTS). This
      technique used a statistical model to predict progression rate under the model
      recommended treatment, and compared it to the true progression rate, observed
      retrospectively, under the actual treatment. Significance was calculated using a
      permutation test. RESULTS: Model-recommended corrections ranged from 20%-58% for
      daytime and 65%-130% for nighttime braces, roughly corresponding with previous
      literature. Interestingly, in 37% of cases the recommended correction was less
      than that which had actually been applied, suggesting some opportunity for less
      aggressive (more comfortable) braces without compromising treatment outcome. The
      CTS estimated 26% fewer progressive cases using the model-recommended in-brace
      correction, over the actual correction observed retrospectively in the charts
      (p=0.05). The patients whose correction decreased under the model's
      recommendation did not show an increased progression rate. CONCLUSIONS: Optimal
      correction may be less than the maximum achievable correction. The preliminary
      results suggest that considering model-generated recommendations during brace
      fitting could improve outcomes. Future work will expand the system to recommend
      wear-times as well as corrections, improving its clinical relevance. We envision
      this pilot demonstration to promote development of model-based decision support
      in scoliosis treatment, and prompt discussion on its future role.

PMID- 25815053
TI  - A new corrective technique for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: convex
      manipulation using 6.35 mm diameter pure titanium rod followed by concave
      fixation using 6.35 mm diameter titanium alloy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It has been thought that corrective posterior surgery for adolescent
      idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) should be started on the concave side because initial
      convex manipulation would increase the risk of vertebral malrotation, worsening
      the rib hump. With the many new materials, implants, and manipulation techniques
      (e.g., direct vertebral rotation) now available, we hypothesized that
      manipulating the convex side first is no longer taboo. METHODS: Our technique has
      two major facets. (1) Curve correction is started from the convex side with a
      derotation maneuver and in situ bending followed by concave rod application. (2)
      A 6.35 mm diameter pure titanium rod is used on the convex side and a 6.35 mm
      diameter titanium alloy rod on the concave side. Altogether, 52 patients were
      divided into two groups. Group N included 40 patients (3 male, 37 female; average
      age 15.9 years) of Lenke type 1 (23 patients), type 2 (2), type 3 (3), type 5
      (10), type 6 (2). They were treated with a new technique using 6.35 mm diameter
      different-stiffness titanium rods. Group C included 12 patients (all female,
      average age 18.8 years) of Lenke type 1 (6 patients), type 2 (3), type 3 (1),
      type 5 (1), type 6 (1). They were treated with conventional methods using 5.5 mm
      diameter titanium alloy rods. Radiographic parameters (Cobb angle/thoracic
      kyphosis/correction rates) and perioperative data were retrospectively collected
      and analyzed. RESULTS: Preoperative main Cobb angles (groups N/C) were 56.8
      degrees /60.0 degrees , which had improved to 15.2 degrees /17.1 degrees  at the
      latest follow-up. Thoracic kyphosis increased from 16.8 degrees  to 21.3 degrees 
      in group N and from 16.0 degrees  to 23.4 degrees  in group C. Correction rates
      were 73.2% in group N and 71.7% in group C. There were no significant differences
      for either parameter. Mean operating time, however, was significantly shorter in
      group N (364 min) than in group C (456 min). CONCLUSION: We developed a new
      corrective surgical technique for AIS using a 6.35 mm diameter pure titanium rod
      initially on the convex side. Correction rates in the coronal, sagittal, and
      axial planes were the same as those achieved with conventional methods, but the
      operation time was significantly shorter.

PMID- 25815054
TI  - Comparison of biomechanical behavior between a cast material torso jacket and a
      polyethylene based jacket.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Numerous designs are used to the treatment of Early Onset Scoliosis.
      For example, a Thoraco-Lumbo-Sacral Orthosis (TLSO) is constructed using
      Polyethylene (PE). In addition, a series of castings has been implemented using
      cast material (3M, BSN Medical). The cast material has some significant
      advantages over the PE design including: growth preserving, improved compliance,
      decreased invasiveness, delaying or avoiding surgery, and the ability to allow
      the skin to breathe. However, the mechanical effectiveness of the cast material
      brace as compared to the TLSO is unknown, thus providing the objective of this
      study. METHODS: A total of 23 standardized tensile tests were performed on the
      Delta-Cast Soft((r)) and 3M(TM) Scotchcast(TM) Plus Casting Tape in order to
      obtain mechanical properties (Young's and shear moduli and Poisson ratios). Using
      a radiograph of a thoracic spine, the size of twelve vertebrae and eleven
      intervertebral discs were measured and used to create a finite element spine
      model. Simulations using this model were used to establish mechanical loads which
      were then applied to finite element models of the TLSO and cast jacket. The
      thicknesses and number of material layers was varied in these models. Multiple
      simulations were performed. RESULTS: It was found that a 6.6.mm thick cast jacket
      made of Delta-Cast Soft((r)) had a maximum deformation of 4.7 mm, a maximum
      stress of 2.9 MPa and a structural factor of safety of 5.71. On the other hand, a
      4 mm thick jacket made of PE had a maximum deformation of 2 mm, a maximum stress
      of 8.9 MPa and a structural factor of safety of 2.70. The cast jacket was 3.5
      times lighter and had a material of cost 1/5 of the PE brace. CONCLUSIONS: Based
      on the results, either design will generate the proper constraint forces to
      maintain spinal correction. But, based on the design parameters (thickness,
      mechanical properties, structural factor of safety and cost) the brace made of
      cast material, though slightly thicker has superior structural and cost benefits.
      Thus, from the biomechanical point of view, the cast brace is more efficient than
      the PE brace.

PMID- 25815055
TI  - Mid- and long-term clinical outcomes of corrective fusion surgery which did not
      achieve sufficient pelvic incidence minus lumbar lordosis value for adult spinal
      deformity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent studies have demonstrated sagittal spinal balance was more
      important than coronal balance in terms of clinical result of surgery for adult
      spinal deformity. Notably, Schwab reported that one of the target spinopelvic
      parameters for corrective surgery was that pelvic incidence (PI) minus lumbar
      lordosis (LL) should be within +/- 10  degrees . The present study aimed to
      investigate whether the clinical outcome of corrective fusion surgery was really
      poor for patients who could not acquire sufficient PI-LL value through the
      surgery. METHODS: The present study included 13 patients (mean 68.5 yrs old) with
      adult spinal deformity. Inclusion criteria were corrective fusion surgery more
      than 4 intervertebral levels, PI-LL >=10 degrees  on the whole spine X-ray
      immediately after surgery, and follow-up period >=3 years. All surgeries were
      performed by posterior approach. Parameters using SRS-Schwab classification,
      proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) of >=15 degrees , implants loosening, and non
      union were investigated using the total standing spinal X-ray. Clinical outcomes
      were evaluated by Japanese Orthopaedic Association scores (JOA score), Oswestry
      Disability Index, SF-36, Visual Analog Scale for low back pain, and satisfaction
      for surgery using SRS-22 questionnaire. RESULTS: All patients showed the PI-LL
      >=20 degrees  before surgery. Although the LL were acquired mean 23.6 degrees 
      after surgery, significant loss of correction was observed at final follow up.
      The acquired coronal spinal alignment was maintained within the follow-up period.
      However, sagittal vertical axis (SVA) was shifted forward significantly, from
      mean 4.5cm immediately after surgery to 11.1cm at final follow-up. Five patients
      showed PJK, 10 patients showed implants loosening, 8 patients showed non-union at
      final follow-up. The JOA score and mental health summary measures of SF-36 were
      significantly improved at final follow-up. The satisfaction score was mean 3.3
      points, including 3 patients with >=4 points, at final follow-up. The
      satisfaction score correlated negatively with SVA at final follow-up (rho=-0.58
      p=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: The forward shift of SVA was frequently observed, and SVA
      at final follow-up related to the patient's satisfaction of surgery. This study
      indicated the importance of postoperative PI-LL value, but also noted 23% of
      patients acquired good SVA and satisfaction nevertheless they had inadequate
      postoperative LL.

PMID- 25815056
TI  - Radiological assessment of shoulder balance following posterior spinal fusion for
      thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to evaluate shoulder balance
      following posterior spinal fusion for thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis
      (AIS). METHODS: Twenty-four patients (22 females) with thoracic AIS who had
      undergone posterior fusion with segmental pedicle screws were retrospectively
      reviewed. The mean follow-up duration was 29 (range, 24-55) months. Fifteen
      patients had type 1 curves, seven had type 2 curves, and two had type 3 curves
      according to the Lenke classification. The proximal thoracic (PT) and main
      thoracic (MT) Cobb angles, percent correction of PT (PTC) and MT (MTC) curves, T1
      tilt, and shoulder asymmetry according to radiographic shoulder height (RSH) were
      measured on preoperative, immediately postoperative, and final follow-up
      radiographs. The preoperative PT and MT curve side-bending percent correction
      (PTBC and MTBC) were also measured. The PTC:MTC ratio was employed as an index of
      PTC and MTC matching. Patients were divided into two groups according to
      radiographic findings immediately postoperatively: the balanced group (|RSH| <20
      mm) and imbalanced group (|RSH| >=20 mm). The preoperative indices (RSH, PTBC,
      MTBC, PTC, and MTC), preoperative and postoperative T1 tilt, and PTC:MTC ratio
      were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The mean PT and MT were 33.0
      degrees  and 64.2 degrees  preoperatively, 16.1 degrees  (50.5%) and 16.8 degrees
      (74.0%) immediately postoperatively, and 16.9 degrees  (49.0%) and 19.2 degrees 
      (70.3%) at final follow-up, respectively. The mean preoperative RSH of -12.3 mm
      changed to +11.1 mm immediately postoperatively and improved to +5.7 mm at final
      follow-up. Seventeen patients were "balanced" and seven were "imbalanced"
      immediately postoperatively. There were significant differences in the PTC
      (p=0.04), postoperative T1 tilt (p=0.04), and PTC:MTC ratio (p=0.02) between the
      two groups (Wilcoxon rank-sum test). Only one patient had an imbalanced shoulder
      at the final follow-up. She had marked shoulder imbalance immediately
      postoperatively (RSH: +40 mm). CONCLUSIONS: Sufficient correction of PT curves
      that is matched with correction of MT curves is necessary to prevent
      postoperative shoulder imbalance. Almost all patients in our series had
      satisfactory results in terms of shoulder balance at final follow-up, but one
      patient with marked shoulder imbalance immediately postoperatively may have
      residual long-term shoulder imbalance.

PMID- 25815057
TI  - Significance of peak height velocity as a predictive factor for curve progression
      in patients with idiopathic scoliosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Much attention has been paid to peak height velocity (PHV) as a
      possible predictor of curve progression in patients with idiopathic scoliosis
      (IS). The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between the magnitude
      of the Cobb angle at PHV and scoliosis progression, defined as having surgery
      prior to skeletal maturity in female patients with IS. METHODS: A retrospective
      review identified 56 skeletally immature female IS patients who were followed
      until maturity. The mean age and the mean pubertal status at the initial visit
      were 10 years and 24 months before menarche respectively, with a follow-up period
      of 5 years. They were divided into two groups: non-surgery group (NS) and surgery
      group (S), depending on their treatment method in use at the final follow-up
      visit. Surgery group was defined as an ultimately having surgery due to Cobb
      angle greater than 45 degrees prior to skeletal maturity regardless of
      conservative management. Height measurements were recorded at each visit; height
      velocity was calculated as the height change, in cm, divided by the time
      interval, in years. The PHV, chronological age at PHV (APHV), height at PHV
      (HPHV), and final height (FH) were determined for each group. In patients with
      Cobb angle greater than 30 degrees, the corrected height was calculated by Kono
      formula and corrected height velocity values were provided. The sensitivity,
      specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver-operating 
      characteristic (ROC) analysis were calculated to predict spinal curve progression
      for various Cobb-angle cutoff values at PHV. RESULTS: The corrected PHV had a
      mean value of 8.5 and 8.9 cm/year in the NS-group and S-group, respectively. The
      APHV was 11.9 and 11 years, the corrected HPHV was 152.9, and 149.3 cm, and the
      corrected FH was 159.9 and 159.3 cm, respectively. When a Cobb angle of 31.5
      degrees was at PHV, ROC analysis revealed 78% sensitivity, 82% specificity, and
      an AUC of 0.93, acceptable values for curve progression in patients with IS.
      CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that 31.5 degrees of spinal curvature when
      patients are at PHV is a significant predictive indicator for progression of the
      curve to a magnitude requiring surgery. We suggest that the curve-progression
      risk assessment in patients with IS should include PHV, along with measures of
      skeletal and non-skeletal maturities.

PMID- 25815058
TI  - Reliability study for the Rib Index in chest radiographs of a control group.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Rib Index, (RI), extracted from the double rib contour sign
      (DRCS) on lateral spinal radiographs to evaluate rib hump deformity, (RHD), in
      idiopathic scoliosis, (IS), patients, has been previously introduced. Although
      various papers using the RI have been published, no study on its reproducibility
      has been reported. The aim of this report is to estimate the variations of the RI
      in a number of a pair set of lateral chest radiographs (LCRs). The hypothesis was
      that the RI should have minimal variability for each subject having successive
      LCRs. METHODS: Seventy randomized patients who were treated in the hospital for
      lung diseases (mainly pneumonia or other communicable lung diseases), were
      initially included in the study. Each of these patients had two successive LCRs
      (named A and B group of radiographs) at the radiological department of the
      hospital, by the same technician, during the course of their treatment. The
      radiation source - patient distance was constant. LCRs obtained at an incorrect
      patient's position, or from patients who underwent a thoracic intervention and
      all LCRs with symmetric hemi-thoraces were excluded from the study. The LCRs of
      49 patients were deemed suitable for inclusion in the study. The RI was
      calculated in both (A and B) LCRs of each patient. The statistical analysis
      included the following techniques: paired t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient
      and intra- and inter-observer error using the formula (SD/?2)/2, where SD is this
      of the differences of the two sets of measurement (As-Bs). The SPSS v16
      statistical package was used. RESULTS: In the 49 pairs of LCRs there was no
      statistical difference of the RI, (paired t-test p< 0.314). The RI in the A and B
      group of LCRs was perfectly correlated (correlation coefficient = 0,924, p <
      0.0001). The intra-observer error was 0.0080 while the inter-observer error
      0.0213 in terms of 95% CI. CONCLUSION: The RI proves to be a reliable method to
      evaluate the thoracic deformity and the effect of surgical or non-operative
      treatment on the IS RHD. RI is a simple method, a safe reproducible way to assess
      the RHD based on lateral radiographs, without the need for any further special
      radiographs and exposure to additional radiation.

PMID- 25815059
TI  - Current management approach to hidradenocarcinoma: a comprehensive review of the
      literature.
AB  - Hidradenocarcinoma is a rare malignant adnexal tumour which arises from the
      intradermal duct of eccrine sweat glands. The head and neck are the most common
      sites of hidradenocarcinoma, but rarely it can occur on the extremities. As it is
      an aggressive tumour, regional lymph nodes and distant viscera are the most
      common sites of metastasis. Diagnosis is confirmed by histopathology and
      immunohistochemistry. Hidradenocarcinoma should be differentiated from benign and
      malignant adnexal tumours. Being an aggressive and rare tumour, no uniform
      treatment guidelines have been documented so far for metastatic
      hidradenocarcinoma. Wide local excision is the mainstay of the treatment, but
      because of high local recurrence, radiotherapy in a dose of 50Gy-70Gy and/or 5
      fluorouracil and capecitabine-based combination chemotherapy may be given to
      further improve local control. Other treatment strategies are targeted therapies
      like trastuzumab, EGFR inhibitors, PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway inhibitors, hormonal
      agents like antiandrogens, electrochemotherapy, or clinical trials. 

PMID- 25815060
TI  - The Restaurant Food Hot Potato: Stop Passing it on-A Commentary on Mah and
      Timming's, 'Equity in Public Health Ethics: The Case of Menu Labelling Policy at
      the Local Level'.
AB  - In the case discussion, 'Equity in Public Health Ethics: The Case of Menu
      Labelling Policy at the Local Level' (2014), Mah and Timming state that menu
      labelling would 'place requirements for information disclosure on private sector
      food businesses, which, as a policy instrument, is arguably less intrusive than
      related activities such as requiring changes to the food content'. In this
      commentary on Mah and Timming's case study, I focus on discussing how menu
      labelling policy permits governments to avoid addressing the heart of the
      problem, which is high-calorie, high-sodium restaurant food. Menu labelling
      policy does not address food content in a way that is meaningful for change,
      instead relying on individuals to change their behaviour given new information.
      Besides having questionable efficacy, this raises concerns about moralizing food
      choices.

PMID- 25815061
TI  - Bacterial rose garden for metagenomic SNP-based phylogeny visualization.
AB  - BACKGROUND: One of the most challenging tasks in genomic analysis nowadays is
      metagenomics. Biomedical applications of metagenomics give rise to datasets
      containing hundreds and thousands of samples from various body sites for hundreds
      of patients. Inherently metagenome is by far more complex than a single genome as
      it varies in time by the amount of bacteria comprising it. Other levels of data
      complexity include geography of the samples and phylogenetic distance between the
      genomes of the same operational taxonomic unit (OTU). We have developed the
      visualization concept for the representation of multilayer metagenomics data -
      the bacterial rose garden. The approach allows to display the taxonomic distance
      between the representatives of the same OTU in different samples and use variety
      of the metadata for display. RESULTS: We have developed the principle of
      visualization allowing for multilayer information representation. We have
      incorporated data on OTU diversity across metagenomes and origin of the samples.
      The visual representation we have called "rose" is focused on the phylogenetic
      distance between the representatives of the same OTU. The visual representation
      is realized as interactive data chart which allows user to interact with data and
      explore variables. It is known that classical representation of the taxonomic
      tree is a reduction of information from original pairwise distance matrix. The
      visualization presented is a way to save all the information available through
      projection of distance matrix into single dimensional space of one sample. It
      could serve as a basis for further more complex information representation. We
      have used the principle proposed for visualization of 101 bacterial OTUs
      phylogenetic distances, finally we provide open code for the web page generation.
      CONCLUSIONS: Bacterial rose garden is a versatile visualization principle coping
      with the major difficulties of metagenomic big-data visualization without loss of
      data. The method proposed is showing the interconnectedness of variables and is
      realized as user-friendly web page allowing for dynamic data exploration. The
      concept provided serves as one of the original approaches for metagenomic data
      representation and sharing. Full functional prototype could be found at
      http://rosegarden.datalaboratory.ru.

PMID- 25815062
TI  - Wikipedia Chemical Structure Explorer: substructure and similarity searching of
      molecules from Wikipedia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Wikipedia, the world's largest and most popular encyclopedia is an
      indispensable source of chemistry information. It contains among others also
      entries for over 15,000 chemicals including metabolites, drugs, agrochemicals and
      industrial chemicals. To provide an easy access to this wealth of information we
      decided to develop a substructure and similarity search tool for chemical
      structures referenced in Wikipedia. RESULTS: We extracted chemical structures
      from entries in Wikipedia and implemented a web system allowing structure and
      similarity searching on these data. The whole search as well as visualization
      system is written in JavaScript and therefore can run locally within a web page
      and does not require a central server. The Wikipedia Chemical Structure Explorer
      is accessible on-line at www.cheminfo.org/wikipedia and is available also as an
      open source project from GitHub for local installation. CONCLUSIONS: The web
      based Wikipedia Chemical Structure Explorer provides a useful resource for
      research as well as for chemical education enabling both researchers and students
      easy and user friendly chemistry searching and identification of relevant
      information in Wikipedia. The tool can also help to improve quality of chemical
      entries in Wikipedia by providing potential contributors regularly updated list
      of entries with problematic structures. And last but not least this search system
      is a nice example of how the modern web technology can be applied in the field of
      cheminformatics. Graphical abstractWikipedia Chemical Structure Explorer allows
      substructure and similarity searches on molecules referenced in Wikipedia.

PMID- 25815064
TI  - Is the risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia declining?
AB  - BACKGROUND: The number of older adults with dementia will increase around the
      world in the decades ahead as populations age. Current estimates suggest that
      about 4.2 million adults in the US have dementia and that the attributable
      economic cost of their care is about $200 billion per year. The worldwide
      dementia prevalence is estimated at 44.3 million people and the total cost at
      $604 billion per year. It is expected that the worldwide prevalence will triple
      to 135.5 million by 2050. However, a number of recent population-based studies
      from countries around the world suggest that the age-specific risk of dementia
      may be declining, which could help moderate the expected increase in dementia
      cases that will accompany the growing number of older adults. DISCUSSION: At
      least nine recent population-based studies of dementia incidence or prevalence
      have shown a declining age-specific risk in the US, England, The Netherlands,
      Sweden, and Denmark. A number of factors, especially rising levels of education
      and more aggressive treatment of key cardiovascular risk factors such as
      hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, may be leading to improving 'brain health'
      and declining age-specific risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia in countries
      around the world. SUMMARY: Multiple epidemiological studies from around the world
      suggest an optimistic trend of declining population dementia risk in high-income
      countries over the past 25 years. Rising levels of education and more widespread
      and successful treatment of key cardiovascular risk factors may be the driving
      factors accounting for this decline in dementia risk. Whether this optimistic
      trend will continue in the face of rising worldwide levels of obesity and
      diabetes and whether this trend is also occurring in low- and middle-income
      countries are key unanswered questions which will have enormous implications for
      the extent of the future worldwide impact of Alzheimer's disease and dementia on
      patients, families, and societies in the decades ahead.

PMID- 25815065
TI  - 3alpha,5alpha-Cyclocholestan-6beta-yl ethers as donors of the cholesterol moiety
      for the electrochemical synthesis of cholesterol glycoconjugates.
AB  - 3alpha,5alpha-Cyclocholestan-6beta-yl alkyl and aryl ethers were proved to be
      efficient cholesteryl donors in the electrochemical synthesis of glycoconjugates.
      3alpha,5alpha-Cyclocholestan-6beta-ol (i-cholesterol) and its tert
      butyldimethylsilyl ether can also be used for this purpose. The i-cholesterol
      derivatives show similar reactivities to those of previously studied
      3alpha,5alpha-cyclocholestan-6beta-thioethers. 

PMID- 25815063
TI  - Mild cognitive impairment and deficits in instrumental activities of daily
      living: a systematic review.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There is a growing body of evidence that subtle deficits in
      instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) may be present in mild cognitive
      impairment (MCI). However, it is not clear if there are IADL domains that are
      consistently affected across patients with MCI. In this systematic review,
      therefore, we aimed to summarize research results regarding the performance of
      MCI patients in specific IADL (sub)domains compared with persons who are
      cognitively normal and/or patients with dementia. METHODS: The databases
      PsycINFO, PubMed and Web of Science were searched for relevant literature in
      December 2013. Publications from 1999 onward were considered for inclusion.
      Altogether, 497 articles were retrieved. Reference lists of selected articles
      were searched for potentially relevant articles. After screening the abstracts of
      these 497 articles, 37 articles were included in this review. RESULTS: In 35
      studies, IADL deficits (such as problems with medication intake, telephone use,
      keeping appointments, finding things at home and using everyday technology) were
      documented in patients with MCI. Financial capacity in patients with MCI was
      affected in the majority of studies. Effect sizes for group differences between
      patients with MCI and healthy controls were predominantly moderate to large.
      Performance-based instruments showed slight advantages (in terms of effect sizes)
      in detecting group differences in IADL functioning between patients with MCI,
      patients with Alzheimer's disease and healthy controls. CONCLUSION: IADL
      requiring higher neuropsychological functioning seem to be most severely affected
      in patients with MCI. A reliable identification of such deficits is necessary, as
      patients with MCI with IADL deficits seem to have a higher risk of converting to
      dementia than patients with MCI without IADL deficits. The use of assessment
      tools specifically designed and validated for patients with MCI is therefore
      strongly recommended. Furthermore, the development of performance-based
      assessment instruments should be intensified, as they allow a valid and reliable
      assessment of subtle IADL deficits in MCI, even if a proxy is not available.
      Another important point to consider when designing new scales is the inclusion of
      technology-associated IADL. Novel instruments for clinical practice should be
      time-efficient and easy to administer.

PMID- 25815066
TI  - Enhancing the reactivity of 1,2-diphospholes in cycloaddition reactions.
AB  - Two different approaches have been employed to enhance the reactivity of 1-alkyl
      1,2-diphospholes - the introduction of electron-withdrawing groups either at the
      phosphorus atoms or in the para-position of the arene ring. The alkylation of
      sodium 1,2-diphospha-3,4,5-triphenylcyclopentadienide with alkyl halides Hal-CH2
      R (R = CN, COOEt, OMe, CH2OEt) results in corresponding 1-alkyl-3,4,5-triphenyl
      1,2-diphospholes (alkyl = CH2CN (1a), CH2COOEt (1b), CH2OMe (1c), and (CH2)2OEt
      (1d)), which spontaneously undergo the intermolecular [4 + 2] cycloaddition
      reactions at room temperature to form the mixture of the cycloadducts, 2a-c,
      respectively. However the alkylation of sodium 1,2-diphospha-3,4,5-tri(p
      fluorophenyl)cyclopentadienide with ethyl iodide leads to stable 1-ethyl-3,4,5
      tris(p-fluorophenyl)-1,2-diphosphole (1e), which forms the [4 + 2] cycloadduct
      2,3,4,4a,5,6-hexa(p-fluorophenyl)-1-ethyl-1,7,7a-triphospha-4,7
      (ethylphosphinidene)indene (2e) only upon heating up to 60  degrees C. With
      further heating to 120  degrees C with N-phenylmaleimide, the cycloadducts 2a-c
      and 2e undergo the retro-Diels-Alder reaction and form only one product of the [4
      + 2] cycloaddition reaction 3a-s, 3e with good yields up to 65%. 

PMID- 25815067
TI  - Electrochemical selenium- and iodonium-initiated cyclisation of hydroxy
      functionalised 1,4-dienes.
AB  - The cobalt(I)-catalysed 1,4-hydrovinylation reaction of allyloxytrimethylsilane
      and allyl alcohol with substituted 1,3-dienes leads to hydroxy-functionalised 1,4
      dienes in excellent regio- and diastereoselective fashion. Those 1,4-dienols can
      be converted into tetrahydrofuran and pyran derivatives under indirect
      electrochemical conditions generating selenium or iodonium cations. The reactions
      proceed in good yields and regioselectivities for the formation of single
      diastereomers. 

PMID- 25815068
TI  - Synthesis of dinucleoside acylphosphonites by phosphonodiamidite chemistry and
      investigation of phosphorus epimerization.
AB  - The reaction of the diamidite, (iPr2N)2PH, with acyl chlorides proceeds with the
      loss of HCl to give the corresponding acyl diamidites, RC(O)P(N(iPr)2)2 (R = Me
      (7), Ph (9)), without the intervention of sodium to give a phosphorus anion. The
      structure of 9 was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The coupling of
      the diamidites 7 and 9 with 5'-O-DMTr-thymidine was carried out with N
      methylimidazolium triflate as the activator to give the monoamidites 3'-O
      (P(N(iPr)2)C(O)R)-5'-O-DMTr-thymidine, and further coupling with 3'-O-(tert
      butyldimethylsilyl)thymidine was carried out with activation by pyridinium
      trifluoroacetate/N-methylimidazole. The new dinucleoside acylphosphonites could
      be further oxidized, hydrolyzed to the H-phosphonates, and sulfurized to give the
      known mixture of diastereomeric phosphorothioates. The goal of this work was the
      measurement of the barrier to inversion of the acylphosphonites, which was
      expected to be low by analogy to the low barrier found in acylphosphines.
      However, the barrier was found to be high as no epimerization was detected up to
      150  degrees C, and consistent with this, density functional theory calculations
      give an inversion barrier of over 40 kcal/mol. 

PMID- 25815069
TI  - Properties of cationic monosubstituted tetraalkylammonium cyclodextrin
      derivatives - their stability, complexation ability in solution or when deposited
      on solid anionic surface.
AB  - The thermal stability of the monosubstituted cationic cyclodextrin (CD)
      derivatives PEMEDA-beta-CD and PEMPDA-beta-CD, which differ in their substituent
      linker length (ethylene and propylene, respectively), was studied via (1)H NMR
      experiments. PEMPDA-beta-CD exhibited higher resistance towards the Hofmann
      degradation and was chosen as a more suitable host molecule for further studies.
      Inclusion properties of PEMPDA-beta-CD in solution with a series of simple
      aromatic guests (salicylic acid, p-methoxyphenol and p-nitroaniline) were
      determined by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and compared to the native
      beta-CD. Permanently charged cationic CD derivatives were successfully deposited
      on the anionic solid surface of polymeric Nafion((r)) 117 membrane via
      electrostatic interactions. Deposition kinetics and coverage of the surface were
      determined by ELSD. Finally, the ability of the CD derivatives bound to the solid
      surface to encapsulate aromatic compounds from aqueous solution was measured by
      UV-vis spectroscopy. The obtained results are promising for future industrial
      applications of the monosubstituted beta-CD derivatives, because the preparation
      of cationic CD derivatives is applicable in large scale, without the need of
      chromatographic purification. Their ionic deposition on a solid surface is
      simple, yet robust and a straightforward process as well. 

PMID- 25815070
TI  - Cathodic reductive coupling of methyl cinnamate on boron-doped diamond electrodes
      and synthesis of new neolignan-type products.
AB  - The electroreduction reaction of methyl cinnamate on a boron-doped diamond (BDD)
      electrode was investigated. The hydrodimer, dimethyl 3,4-diphenylhexanedioate
      (racemate/meso = 74:26), was obtained in 85% yield as the major product, along
      with small amounts of cyclic methyl 5-oxo-2,3-diphenylcyclopentane-1-carboxylate.
      Two new neolignan-type products were synthesized from the hydrodimer. 

PMID- 25815071
TI  - Formulation development, stability and anticancer efficacy of core-shell
      cyclodextrin nanocapsules for oral chemotherapy with camptothecin.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to design and evaluate hybrid cyclodextrin
      (CD) nanocapsules intended for the oral delivery of the anticancer agent
      camptothecin (CPT) in order to maintain drug stability in the body and to improve
      its eventual bioavailability. For this reason, an amphiphilic cyclodextrin (CD)
      derivative per-modified on the primary face 6OCAPRO was used as core molecule to
      form nanocapsules with the nanoprecipitation technique. Nanocapsules were further
      coated with the cationic polymer chitosan to improve the cellular uptake and
      interaction with biological membranes through positive surface charge.
      Nanocapsules were evaluated for their in vitro characteristics such as particle
      size, zeta potential, drug loading and release profiles followed by cell culture
      studies with the MCF-7 and Caco-2 cell line evaluating their anticancer efficacy
      and permeability. The CD nanocapsules were imaged by scanning electron microscopy
      (SEM). The concentration of CPT entrapped in nanocapsules was determined by
      reversed phase HPLC. The in vitro release study of CPT was performed with a
      dialysis bag method under sink conditions mimicking the gastric and intestinal
      pH. The hydrolytic stability of CPT in nanocapsules was investigated in simulated
      gastric and intestinal fluids (SGF, SIF). RESULTS: The mean particle sizes of
      both anionic and cationic CPT-loaded nanocapsules were in the range of 180-200 nm
      with polydispersity indices lower than 0.400 indicating monodisperse size
      distribution of nanocapsules with favourable potential for intracellular drug
      delivery to tumour cells. Surface charges of anionic and cationic nanocapsules
      were demonstrated as -21 mV and +18 mV, respectively. The stability of CPT in
      simulated release media, SGF and SIF were maintained suggesting the improved
      protection of the drug molecule from rapid hydrolysis degradation or
      gastrointestinal pH in nanocapsule oily core. Furthermore CD nanocapsules showed
      higher anticancer efficacy than CPT solution against the MCF-7 cell line.
      Permeation of CPT across Caco-2 cells was found to be 3 fold higher when
      incorporated in hybrid CD nanocapsules compared with a DMSO solution. CONCLUSION:
      Oral CD nanocapsules indicating increased oral bioavailability might be a
      promising strategy to maintain the physiological stability and to improve the
      oral bioavailability of problematic anticancer drugs such as CPT which may
      contribute to patient quality of life and drug efficacy in cancer therapy.

PMID- 25815072
TI  - Copper-catalyzed cascade reactions of alpha,beta-unsaturated esters with keto
      esters.
AB  - A copper-catalyzed cascade reaction of alpha,beta-unsaturated esters with keto
      esters is reported. It features a copper-catalyzed reductive aldolization
      followed by a lactonization. This method provides a facile approach to prepare
      gamma-carboxymethyl-gamma-lactones and delta-carboxymethyl-delta-lactones under
      mild reaction conditions. 

PMID- 25815074
TI  - 2-(1-Hydroxypropyn-2-yl)-1-vinylpyrroles: the first successful Favorsky
      ethynylation of pyrrolecarbaldehydes.
AB  - 1-Vinylpyrrole-2-carbaldehydes react with acetylene at atmospheric pressure in a
      NaOH/EtOH/DMSO system at 7-10  degrees C to afford 2-(1-hydroxypropyn-2-yl)-1
      vinylpyrroles in 53-94% yield. Thus, the first base-mediated direct ethynylation
      of pyrrolecarbaldehydes with free acetylene under modified conditions of the
      Favorsky reaction has been implemented to pave an expedient route to important
      biomolecules containing a pyrrole ring. 

PMID- 25815073
TI  - TEMPO-derived spin labels linked to the nucleobases adenine and cytosine for
      probing local structural perturbations in DNA by EPR spectroscopy.
AB  - Three 2'-deoxynucleosides containing semi-flexible spin labels, namely (T)A, (U)A
      and (U)C, were prepared and incorporated into deoxyoligonucleotides using the
      phosphoramidite method. All three nucleosides contain 2,2,6,6
      tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) connected to the exocyclic amino group; (T)A
      directly and (U)A as well as (U)C through a urea linkage. (T)A and (U)C showed a
      minor destabilization of a DNA duplex, as registered by a small decrease in the
      melting temperature, while (U)A destabilized the duplex by more than 10  degrees
      C. Circular dichroism (CD) measurements indicated that all three labels were
      accommodated in B-DNA duplex. The mobility of the spin label (T)A varied with
      different base-pairing partners in duplex DNA, with the (T)A*T pair being the
      least mobile. Furthermore, (T)A showed decreased mobility under acidic conditions
      for the sequences (T)A*C and (T)A*G, to the extent that the EPR spectrum of the
      latter became nearly superimposable to that of (T)A*T. The reduced mobility of
      the (T)A*C and (T)A*G mismatches at pH 5 is consistent with the formation of
      (T)AH(+)*C and (T)AH(+)*G, in which protonation of N1 of A allows the formation
      of an additional hydrogen bond to N3 of C and N7 of G, respectively, with G in a
      syn-conformation. The urea-based spin labels (U)A and (U)C were more mobile than
      (T)A, but still showed a minor variation in their EPR spectra when paired with A,
      G, C or T in a DNA duplex. (U)A and (U)C had similar mobility order for the
      different base pairs, with the lowest mobility when paired with C and the highest
      when paired with T. 

PMID- 25815075
TI  - Novel biphenyl-substituted 1,2,4-oxadiazole ferroelectric liquid crystals:
      synthesis and characterization.
AB  - Two novel series of unsymmetrically substituted 1,2,4-oxadiazole viz., R.Ox.C(*)C
      n compounds are synthesized and characterized. An optically active, (S)-(+)
      methyl 3-hydroxy-2-methylpropionate is used to introduce a chiral center in the
      molecule. A biphenyl moiety prepared by Suzuki coupling reaction is directly
      attached to the oxadiazole core at C-5 position. Investigations for the phase
      behavior revealed that the series with a benzyl group on one end of the
      oxadiazole core exhibits an 1D orthogonal smectic-A phase while the second series
      with dodecyl flexible end chain shows orthogonal smectic-A and tilted chiral
      smectic-C (SmC*) phases over a wide range of temperatures. The smectic-C phase
      exhibits ferroelectric (FE) polarization switching. The mesomorphic thermal
      stabilities of these compounds are discussed in the domain of the symmetry and
      the flexibility of the alkyloxy end chain length attached to the chiral center. 

PMID- 25815076
TI  - Switching the reaction pathways of electrochemically generated beta
      haloalkoxysulfonium ions - synthesis of halohydrins and epoxides.
AB  - beta-Haloalkoxysulfonium ions generated by the reaction of electrogenerated Br(+)
      and I(+) ions stabilized by dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) reacted with sodium
      hydroxide and sodium methoxide to give the corresponding halohydrins and
      epoxides, respectively, whereas the treatment with triethylamine gave alpha
      halocarbonyl compounds. 

PMID- 25815078
TI  - Synthesis of the furo[2,3-b]chromene ring system of hyperaspindols A and B.
AB  - The synthesis of the unique furo[2,3-b]chromene ring system found in
      hyperaspidinols A and B, acylphloroglucinols from Hypericum chinense has been
      achieved in twelve steps. By comparison of the NMR spectra of the synthesized
      compounds with those of the natural products, a relative stereochemistry is
      suggested, especially that of the ketal carbon. 

PMID- 25815077
TI  - Natural phenolic metabolites with anti-angiogenic properties - a review from the
      chemical point of view.
AB  - Considering the many secondary natural metabolites available from plants,
      phenolic compounds play a particularly important role in human health as they
      occur in significant amounts in many fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants. In
      this review natural phenolic compounds of plant origin with significant anti
      angiogenic properties are discussed. Thirteen representatives from eight
      different natural or natural-like phenolic subclasses are presented with an
      emphasis on their synthesis and methods to modify the parent compounds. When
      available, the consequence of structural variation on the pharmacological
      activity of the molecules is described. 

PMID- 25815079
TI  - Superstructures with cyclodextrins: Chemistry and applications II.

PMID- 25815080
TI  - Anionic sigmatropic-electrocyclic-Chugaev cascades: accessing 12-aryl-5
      (methylthiocarbonylthio)tetracenes and a related anthra[2,3-b]thiophene.
AB  - 1,4-Diols resulting from the double addition of ArCCLi (Ar = Ph, substituted
      phenyl, 2-thienyl) to ortho-C6H4(CHO)2 undergo cascades to tetracenes on simple
      admixture of LiHDMS, CS2 and MeI. Acene formation proceeds by [3,3]-sigmatropic
      rearrangement of xanthate anions followed by 6pi electrocyclisations. The
      reactions are terminated by E2 or anionic Chugaev-type eliminations. Structural
      packing motifs and electronic properties are reported for the tetracenes. 

PMID- 25815081
TI  - Photovoltaic-driven organic electrosynthesis and efforts toward more sustainable
      oxidation reactions.
AB  - The combination of visible light, photovoltaics, and electrochemistry provides a
      convenient, inexpensive platform for conducting a wide variety of sustainable
      oxidation reactions. The approach presented in this article is compatible with
      both direct and indirect oxidation reactions, avoids the need for a
      stoichiometric oxidant, and leads to hydrogen gas as the only byproduct from the
      corresponding reduction reaction. 

PMID- 25815082
TI  - Selective methylation of kaempferol via benzylation and deacetylation of
      kaempferol acetates.
AB  - A strategy for selective mono-, di- and tri-O-methylation of kaempferol,
      predominantly on the basis of selective benzylation and controllable
      deacetylation of kaempferol acetates, was developed. From the selective
      deacetylation and benzylation of kaempferol tetraacetate (1), 3,4',5,-tri-O
      acetylkaempferol (2) and 7-O-benzyl-3,4'5,-tri-O-acetylkaempferol (8) were
      obtained, respectively. By controllable deacetylation and followed selective or
      direct methylation of these two intermediates, eight O-methylated kaempferols
      were prepared with 51-77% total yields from kaempferol. 

PMID- 25815083
TI  - Stereoselective cathodic synthesis of 8-substituted (1R,3R,4S)-menthylamines.
AB  - The electrochemical generation of menthylamines from the corresponding menthone
      oximes equipped with an additional substituent in position 8 is described. Due to
      1,3-diaxial interactions a pronounced diastereoselectivity for the menthylamines
      is found. 

PMID- 25815084
TI  - Azirinium ylides from alpha-diazoketones and 2H-azirines on the route to 2H-1,4
      oxazines: three-membered ring opening vs 1,5-cyclization.
AB  - Strained azirinium ylides derived from 2H-azirines and alpha-diazoketones under
      Rh(II)-catalysis can undergo either irreversible ring opening across the N-C2
      bond to 2-azabuta-1,3-dienes that further cyclize to 2H-1,4-oxazines or
      reversibly undergo a 1,5-cyclization to dihydroazireno[2,1-b]oxazoles.
      Dihydroazireno[2,1-b]oxazoles derived from 3-aryl-2H-azirines and 3
      diazoacetylacetone or ethyl diazoacetoacetate are able to cycloadd to
      acetyl(methyl)ketene generated from 3-diazoacetylacetone under Rh(II) catalysis
      to give 4,6-dioxa-1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]oct-2-ene and/or 5,7-dioxa-1
      azabicyclo[4.3.1]deca-3,8-diene-2-one derivatives. According to DFT calculations
      (B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p)), the cycloaddition can involve two modes of nucleophilic
      attack of the dihydroazireno[2,1-b]oxazole intermediate on acetyl(methyl)ketene
      followed by aziridine ring opening into atropoisomeric oxazolium betaines and
      cyclization. Azirinium ylides generated from 2,3-di- and 2,2,3-triaryl
      substituted azirines give rise to only 2-azabuta-1,3-dienes and/or 2H-1,4
      oxazines. 

PMID- 25815085
TI  - An unusually stable chlorophosphite: What makes BIFOP-Cl so robust against
      hydrolysis?
AB  - Two chlorophosphites, the biphenyl-based BIFOP-Cl and the diphenyl ether-based O
      BIFOP-Cl, exhibit striking differences regarding their reaction with water. While
      BIFOP-Cl is nearly completely unreactive, its oxo-derivative O-BIFOP-Cl reacts
      instantly with water, yielding a tricyclic hydrocarbon unit after rearrangement.
      The analysis of the crystal structure of O-BIFOP-Cl and BIFOP-Cl revealed that
      the large steric demand of encapsulating fenchane units renders the phosphorus
      atom nearly inaccessible by nucleophilic reagents, but only for BIFOP-Cl. In
      addition to the steric effect, a hypervalent P(III)-O interaction as well as an
      electronic conjugation effect causes the high reactivity of O-BIFOP-Cl. A DFT
      study of the hydrolysis in BIFOP-Cl verifies a higher repulsive interaction to
      water and a decreased leaving tendency of the chloride nucleofuge, which is
      caused by the fenchane units. This high stability of BIFOP-Cl against
      nucleophiles supports its application as a chiral ligand, for example, in Pd
      catalysts. 

PMID- 25815086
TI  - A simple and efficient method for the preparation of 5-hydroxy-3-acyltetramic
      acids.
AB  - Oxidation of the bisenolates of 3-acyltetramic acid to the corresponding 5
      hydroxylated compounds using molecular oxygen is reported. The deprotection of
      the resulting compounds was also achieved. 

PMID- 25815087
TI  - C-5'-Triazolyl-2'-oxa-3'-aza-4'a-carbanucleosides: Synthesis and biological
      evaluation.
AB  - A novel series of 2'-oxa-3'-aza-4'a-carbanucleosides, featured with a triazole
      linker at the 5'-position, has been developed by exploiting a click chemistry
      reaction of 5'-azido-2'-oxa-3'-aza-4'a-carbanucleosides with substituted alkynes.
      Biological tests indicate an antitumor activity for the synthesized compounds:
      most of them inhibit cell proliferation of Vero, BS-C-1, HEp-2, MDCK, and HFF
      cells with a CC50 in the range of 5.0-40 MUM. The synthesized compounds do not
      show any antiviral activity. 

PMID- 25815088
TI  - Functionalized branched EDOT-terthiophene copolymer films by
      electropolymerization and post-polymerization "click"-reactions.
AB  - The electrocopolymerization of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) with the
      branched thiophene building block 2,2':3',2"-terthiophene (3T) is presented as a
      versatile route to functional polymer films. Comparisons to blend systems of the
      respective homopolymers PEDOT and P3T by in situ spectroelectrochemistry and
      Raman spectroscopy prove the successful copolymer formation and the access to
      tailored redox properties and energy levels. The use of EDOT-N3 as co-monomer
      furthermore allows modifications of the films by polymer analogous reactions.
      Here, we exemplarily describe the post-functionalization with ionic moieties by
      1,3-dipolar cycloaddition ("click"-chemistry) which allows to tune the surface
      polarity of the copolymer films from water contact angles of 140 degrees  down to
      40 degrees . 

PMID- 25815089
TI  - IR and electrochemical synthesis and characterization of thin films of PEDOT
      grown on platinum single crystal electrodes in [EMMIM]Tf2N ionic liquid.
AB  - Thin films of PEDOT synthesized on platinum single electrodes in contact with the
      ionic liquid 1-ethyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium triflimide ([EMMIM]Tf2N) were
      studied by cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, infrared spectroscopy and
      atomic force microscopy. It was found that the polymer grows faster on Pt(111)
      than on Pt(110) or Pt(100) and that the redox reactions associated with the PEDOT
      p-doping process are much more reversible in [EMMIM]Tf2N than in acetonitrile.
      Finally, the ion exchange and charge carriers' formation during the p-doping
      reaction of PEDOT were studied using in situ FTIR spectroscopy. 

PMID- 25815091
TI  - Immunological dysfunction during or after antiviral therapy for recurrent
      hepatitis C reduces graft survival.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Pegylated interferon and ribavirin (PEGIFN/RBV) therapy for
      recurrent hepatitis C after liver transplantation (LT) is associated with a lower
      sustained virological response (SVR) rate as well as more frequent side effects
      compared to non-transplant patients. We aimed to determine the incidence and
      clinical characteristics of LT recipients with recurrent hepatitis C who
      developed immunological dysfunction (ID) during or after PEG-IFN/RBV therapy and
      to assess its impact on patient and graft survival. METHODS: Seventy-four
      deceased donor LT recipients with histological recurrence of hepatitis C were
      treated with PEG-IFN/RBV from 1/00 to 12/08. ID was defined as biopsy-proven
      rejection or moderate plasma cell hepatitis. Patients were followed up until
      death, re-LT or 30 September 2011. RESULTS: Twelve patients (16 %) had ID, 8
      (10.7 %) had cholestasis without ID, while 54 had no ID/cholestasis during or
      after discontinuation of PEG-IFN/RBV therapy. Biopsy-proven acute cellular
      rejection prior to (hazard ratio = 4.87, p = 0.009) and type of immunosuppression
      at the time of initiation of PEG-IFN/RBV were the only independent predictors of
      ID. Patients who were on tacrolimus at the time of initiation of PEG-IFN/RBV had
      a significantly lower risk of ID compared to those who were on cyclosporine (HR
      0.254, p = 0.023). Patients with ID had a trend toward a lower SVR rate (25 vs.
      54 %, p = 0.18) and a significantly higher rate of graft failure (33 vs. 4 %, p =
      0.004) compared to patients with no ID/cholestasis. CONCLUSIONS: ID is common
      during or after PEG-IFN/RBV therapy for recurrent hepatitis C and frequently
      associated with decreased graft survival, trending toward low rates of SVR.
      Careful monitoring of liver biochemistries during or after PEG-IFN/RBV therapy
      with a low threshold to biopsy patients and particularly those receiving
      cyclosporine-based immunosuppression may improve outcomes in these patients.

PMID- 25815090
TI  - Nanocrystalline cerium dioxide efficacy for gastrointestinal motility: potential
      for prokinetic treatment and prevention in elderly.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Constipation is a common condition, with prevalence after 65 years,
      is a major colorectal cancer risk factor. Recent works have demonstrated advances
      in personalized, preventive nanomedicine, leading to the construction of new
      materials and nanodrugs, in particular, nanocrystalline cerium dioxide (NCD),
      having strong antioxidative prebiotic effect. The aim of our study was to
      investigate the influence of NCD on motor function of the stomach and colon in
      vivo and contractive activity of smooth muscles in different year-old rats.
      METHODS: We included 80 rats: 3- (weight 130-160 g, n = 40) and 24-month old
      (weight 390-450 g, n = 40), divided into four groups as follows: I-control group;
      rats of II-IV groups were injected intragastrically one injection per day during
      10 days, 3 ml of water 3 ml/kg stabilizing solution, and 1 mmol/ml NCD,
      respectively. In all animals, we recorded spontaneous and carbachol-stimulated
      (0.01 mg/kg) gastrointestinal tract motor activity. We used the index of motor
      activity (IMA), expressed in cmH2O, for characterization of the motor function.
      We investigated smooth muscle contraction by tenzometric method, studied the
      spontaneous and stimulated motility by ballonographic method. RESULTS: IMA
      reduced by 21.1 + 0.2% (p < 0.01) in the old rats of the control group compared
      with the young rats. A 10-day administration of NCD increased IMA in the stomach
      of young rats by 9.3% (r < 0.001) vs the control group. The exposure of NCD
      increased the amplitude of contraction to 34.2 +/- 5.4 mN (n = 10) in the stomach
      of old rats and increased by 32.1 +/- 2.4% vs the control group (p < 0.05). NCD
      did not influence acetylcholine (ACh) contractions in the stomach of young rats;
      however, in the stomach of old rats, V nr increased by 90 +/- 15.2% (r < 0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: The index of motor activity is decreased in old rats.
      Nanocrystalline cerium dioxide increased the index of motor activity in all
      groups of rats and also evoked a significant increase of colon contractions in
      old rats.

PMID- 25815092
TI  - Investigation to determine staff exposure and describe animal bite surveillance
      after detection of a rabid zebra in a safari lodge in Kenya, 2011.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Rabies is a fatal viral infection, resulting in >55,000 deaths
      globally each year. In August 2011, a young orphaned zebra at a Kenyan safari
      lodge acquired rabies and potentially exposed >150 tourists and local staff. An
      investigation was initiated to determine exposures among the local staff, and to
      describe animal bite surveillance in the affected district. METHODS: We
      interviewed lodge staff on circumstances surrounding the zebra's illness and
      assessed their exposure status. We reviewed animal bite report forms from the
      outpatient department at the district hospital. RESULTS: The zebra was reported
      bitten by a dog on 31(st) July 2011, became ill on 23(rd)August, and died three
      days later. There were 22 employees working at the lodge during that time. Six
      (27%) had high exposure due to contact with saliva (bottle feeding, veterinary
      care) and received four doses of rabies vaccine and one of immune-globulin, and
      16 (73%) had low exposure due to casual contact and received only four doses of
      rabies vaccine. From January 2010 to September 2011, 118 cases of animal bites
      were reported in the district; 67 (57%) occurred among males, 65 (57%) in
      children <15 years old, and 61 (52%) were inflicted in a lower extremity.
      Domestic and stray dogs accounted for 98% of reported bites. CONCLUSION: Dog
      bites remains the main source of rabies exposure in the district, but exposure
      can result from wildlife. This highlights the importance of a one health approach
      with strong communication between wildlife, veterinary, and human health sectors
      to improve rabies prevention and control.

PMID- 25815093
TI  - Knowledge, attitude and practices of HIV post exposure prophylaxis amongst health
      workers in Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Timely PEP after needle stick exposure to high risk body fluids can
      reduce the rate of occupational transmission significantly. Ignorance of this may
      increase the risk of seroconversion to HIV for healthcare workers. This study was
      conducted with the aim of demonstrating the current level of knowledge and
      practise of healthcare workers as regards PEP. METHODS: This was a cross
      sectional study, pretested questionnaire were self administered to 372 health
      workers from various clinical specialties. The responses were collated and
      analyzed; results were presented in frequency tables. RESULTS: This study
      revealed a high level of awareness among the respondents as 83.3% were aware of
      PEP. Despite the high level of awareness, respondents still have an inadequate
      knowledge about PEP, only 32% of the respondents could name at least two of the
      recommended drugs for PEP, only 54.0% of respondents knew when to commence PEP
      following occupational exposure to HIV. There was a low level of practice of PEP
      among the respondents as only 6.3% of respondents had PEP despite occurrence of
      needle stick injury. CONCLUSION: This study revealed a general low level use of
      PEP despite the average knowledge of PEP and the favourable attitude towards HIV
      PEP amongst the respondents.

PMID- 25815094
TI  - [Lisch nodules in Von Recklinghausen disease].

PMID- 25815095
TI  - [Giant angioma of the liver].

PMID- 25815096
TI  - [Partial invasive and metastatic hydatidiform mole: report of a case].

PMID- 25815097
TI  - The uterine choriocarcinoma in postmenopausal women: specificities of diagnosis
      and treatment.
AB  - Choriocarcinoma is a gestational trophoblastic tumor that mainly affects women of
      childbearing age. Cases of choriocarcinoma in postmenopausal women are
      exceptional. Through an observation and literature review, we propose to study
      the specific diagnosis and treatment features of this tumor in menopausal women.
      We report the observation of a pure uterine choriocarcinoma, which occurred in
      post-menopause. The diagnosis was made on the analysis of surgical specimens
      confirmed by measurement of hCG. Chemotherapy was started after a total
      hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy first. The improvement was
      dramatic after 3 courses of chemotherapy and the patient is in complete remission
      after five years of monitoring. The primitive forms of pure choriocarcinoma in
      postmenopausal women are exceptional. Their etiology is poorly understood and
      their treatment based on chemotherapy. 

PMID- 25815099
TI  - Mental health of doctors in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Doctors are vulnerable to psychiatric morbidity as a result of
      their busy schedules and multiple role obligations. Yet, they often don't admit
      they have mental health problems nor are they readily subjected to mental health
      evaluation by their colleagues due to fear of labeling and general stigma.
      METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of doctors in the service of University of
      Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria was done using a socio-demographic
      questionnaire and the twelve items General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) using a
      cut-off point of 3 to indicate possibility of psychiatric disorder (GHQ-12
      positive). Non-parametric analysis and regression test of factors associated with
      psychiatric morbidity was done using SPSS. Level of significance was set at 0.05
      p-value. RESULTS: Two hundred and forty one doctors representing 68.9% of the
      doctors participated in the survey. The point prevalence of psychiatric morbidity
      among the doctors using the GHQ-12 was 14.9%. Being married, non-participation in
      social activities and perception of work load as being "heavy" were significantly
      associated with psychiatric morbidity (p-value < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The
      prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among doctors at the University of Ilorin
      Teaching Hospital was higher than the general population prevalence. Measures to
      lessen the negative effect of marriage and the perceived heavy work load on
      mental health of doctors, such as provision of recreational facilities within the
      hospital and encouragement of doctors' participation in social activities are
      advanced.

PMID- 25815098
TI  - Prevalence of extensively drug-resistant gram negative bacilli in surgical
      intensive care in Egypt.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of extensively drug resistant gram negative bacilli
      (XDR-GNB) is rapidly progressing; however in Egypt data are sparse. We conducted
      the present study to quantify the incidence, risk factors and outcome of patients
      harboring XDR-GNB. METHODS: A one year prospective study was done by collecting
      all the bacteriological reports for cultures sent from the surgical intensive
      care unit, Cairo university teaching hospital. XDR-GNB were defined as any gram
      negative bacilli resistant to three or more classes of antimicrobial agents.
      Patients with XDR-GNB compared with those sustaining non extensively drug
      resistant infection. A multivariate logistic regression model was created to
      identify independent predictors of multi-resistance. RESULTS: During one-year
      study period, a total of 152 samples (65%) out of 234 gram negative bacilli
      samples developed extensively drug resistant infection. XDR strains were
      significantly higher in Acinetobacterspp (86%), followed by Pseudomonas (63%),
      then Proteus (61%), Klebsiella (52%), and E coli (47%). Fourth generation
      cephalosporine (Cefipime) had the lowest susceptibility (10%) followed by third
      generation cephalosporines (11%), Quinolones (31%), Amikacin (42%), Tazobactam
      (52%), Carbapinems (52%), and colistin (90%). Relaparotomy was the only
      significant risk factor for acquisition of XDR infection. CONCLUSION: Extensively
      drug-resistant gram negative infections are frequent in our ICU. This is an
      alarming health care issue in Egypt which emphasizes the need to rigorously
      implement infection control practices.

PMID- 25815100
TI  - [ENT primitive extranodal tuberculosis: about 15 cases].

PMID- 25815101
TI  - Discrete papular lichen myxedematosus: a rare entity or an under- diagnosed
      disease?
AB  - Primary cutaneous mucinoses are characterized by abnormal mucin deposits in the
      skin. Discrete papular lichenmyxedematosus (DPLM) is an unusual subtype which is
      characterized by the presence of multiples smooth, waxy, or flesh-colored
      papules, 2 to 5 mm in size affecting the trunk and limbs and most commonly
      proximal sites. We report a 42-year-old man with both the clinical and
      histopathological described criteria. 

PMID- 25815102
TI  - Dyslipidemia, obesity and other cardiovascular risk factors in the adult
      population in Senegal.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: According to the WHO, 50% of deaths worldwide (40.1% in developing
      countries) are due to chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Of these chronic
      NCDs, cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death and disability in
      developed countries. The Framingham study has shown the importance of
      hypercholesterolemia as a primary risk factor. In Senegal, the epidemiology of
      dyslipidemia and obesity are still poorly understood due to the lack of
      comprehensive studies on their impact on the general population. This motivated
      this study to look into the key epidemiologic and socio-demographic determinants
      of these risk factors. METHODS: It was a cross-sectional descriptive
      epidemiological survey which included 1037 individuals selected by cluster
      sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire following the WHO STEPwise
      approach. Socio-demographic, health and biomedical variables were collected. P
      value <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: The average
      age was 48 years with a female predominance (M: F of 0.6). The literacy rate was
      65.2% and 44.7% of participants were from rural areas. The prevalence of
      hypercholesterolemia, hyperLDLemia, hypoHDLemia, hypertriglyceridemia and mixed
      hyperlipidemia were 56%, 22.5%, 12.4%, 7.11% and 1.9% respectively. One in four
      was obese (BMI> 30kg/m2) and 34.8% had abdominal obesity. The main factors
      significantly associated with dyslipidemia were obesity, urban dwelling, physical
      inactivity and a family history of dyslipidemia. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of
      dyslipidemia, obesity and other risk factors in the population was high needing
      immediate care for those affected and implementation of prevention strategies.

PMID- 25815103
TI  - [Seroprevalence of hepatitis C at the Military Hospital Mohammed V of Rabat].

PMID- 25815104
TI  - [Vitamin D deficiency in adults in Gabon: isolated case or unrecognized
      problem?].

PMID- 25815105
TI  - Syntax.
AB  - Syntax is the cognitive capacity of human beings that allows us to connect
      linguistic meaning with linguistic form. The study of syntax is a huge field that
      has generated a great deal of empirical and theoretical work over the decades.
      This article outlines why understanding our syntactic capacity is important to
      cognitive science in general and why the data of syntactic research is to be
      taken seriously. It then provides an overview of a number of broad findings about
      the character of the syntax of human language, including evidence for abstract
      constituent structure, core properties of constituents, the importance of
      functional categories, the link between syntactic structure and meaning, and the
      range of types of syntactic dependencies, including dependencies of form,
      dependencies of position, and dependencies that create new meanings. WIREs Cogn
      Sci 2015, 6:131-147. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1332 This article is categorized under:
      Linguistics > Language in Mind and Brain Linguistics > Linguistic Theory
      Psychology > Language.

PMID- 25815106
TI  - P2X7 receptor as a key player in oxidative stress-driven cell fate in
      nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
AB  - Incidences of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease parallels increase in the global
      obesity epidemic. NAFLD has been shown to be associated with risks of
      cardiometabolic disorders and kidney disturbances. It is accompanied by insulin
      and leptin resistance that complicate the diagnosis and treatment of this public
      health menace. Though significant research is underway for understanding the
      molecular mechanisms of NAFLD and its subsequent inflammatory and fibrotic
      manifestations like nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, the role of purinergic
      receptors has been unclear. It is increasingly being recognized that damage
      associated molecular patterns like NAD and ATP that are released from injured
      cells via hepatocellular injury either by oxidative stress or lipotoxicity from
      steatosis activate the purinergic receptor. Based on evidence from inflammatory
      responses in the airways and vasculature and autoimmune complications in humans
      and rodents, it is beyond doubt that hepatocellular inflammation such as that
      seen in NASH can result from the activation of purinergic receptors. This event
      can result in the formation of inflammasomes and can be an important pathway for
      the progression of NASH. The present review evaluates the current knowledge of
      the role of oxidative stress and its signaling via P2X7 receptors in
      hepatocellular injury that might contribute to the NASH pathophysiology. 

PMID- 25815108
TI  - Role of circulating miRNAs as biomarkers in idiopathic pulmonary arterial
      hypertension: possible relevance of miR-23a.
AB  - Idiopathic pulmonary hypertension (IPAH) is a rare disease characterized by a
      progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance leading to heart failure.
      MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that control the expression of genes,
      including some involved in the progression of IPAH, as studied in animals and
      lung tissue. These molecules circulate freely in the blood and their expression
      is associated with the progression of different vascular pathologies. Here, we
      studied the expression profile of circulating miRNAs in 12 well-characterized
      IPAH patients using microarrays. We found significant changes in 61 miRNAs, of
      which the expression of miR23a was correlated with the patients' pulmonary
      function. We also studied the expression profile of circulating messenger RNA
      (mRNAs) and found that miR23a controlled 17% of the significantly changed mRNA,
      including PGC1alpha, which was recently associated with the progression of IPAH.
      Finally we found that silencing of miR23a resulted in an increase of the
      expression of PGC1alpha, as well as in its well-known regulated genes CYC, SOD,
      NRF2, and HO1. The results point to the utility of circulating miRNA expression
      as a biomarker of disease progression. 

PMID- 25815109
TI  - Association of age-related macular degeneration with erythrocyte antioxidant
      enzymes activity and serum total antioxidant status.
AB  - The aim was to estimate association of the oxidative stress with the occurrence
      of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The activities of erythrocyte
      antioxidant enzymes: superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and
      catalase (CAT) and additionally serum total antioxidant status (TAS) were used as
      indicators of the oxidative stress level. 57 AMD patients (32 early and 25 late
      AMD) and 50 healthy, age and gender matched controls were included. GPx activity
      (P < 0.001) and serum TAS (P = 0.015) were significantly lower in AMD patients.
      The difference was not significant for SOD or CAT activities. Significant
      interaction between GPx and SOD was detected (P = 0.003). At high levels of SOD
      activity (over 75th percentile), one standard deviation decrease in GPx increases
      the odds for AMD for six times (OR = 6.22; P < 0.001). ROC analysis revealed that
      combined values of GPx activity and TAS are significant determinants of AMD
      status. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive
      values were 75%, 95%, 52%, 69%, and 90%, respectively. The study showed that low
      GPx activity and TAS are associated with AMD. SOD modulates the association of
      GPx and AMD. The results suggest that erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes activity
      and serum TAS could be promising markers for the prediction of AMD. 

PMID- 25815107
TI  - Protective actions of 17beta-estradiol and progesterone on oxidative neuronal
      injury induced by organometallic compounds.
AB  - Steroid hormones synthesized in and secreted from peripheral endocrine glands
      pass through the blood-brain barrier and play a role in the central nervous
      system. In addition, the brain possesses an inherent endocrine system and
      synthesizes steroid hormones known as neurosteroids. Increasing evidence shows
      that neuroactive steroids protect the central nervous system from various harmful
      stimuli. Reports show that the neuroprotective actions of steroid hormones
      attenuate oxidative stress. In this review, we summarize the antioxidative
      effects of neuroactive steroids, especially 17beta-estradiol and progesterone, on
      neuronal injury in the central nervous system under various pathological
      conditions, and then describe our recent findings concerning the neuroprotective
      actions of 17beta-estradiol and progesterone on oxidative neuronal injury induced
      by organometallic compounds, tributyltin, and methylmercury. 

PMID- 25815110
TI  - Diabetes and Alzheimer disease, two overlapping pathologies with the same
      background: oxidative stress.
AB  - There are several oxidative stress-related pathways interconnecting Alzheimer's
      disease and type II diabetes, two public health problems worldwide. Coincidences
      are so compelling that it is attractive to speculate they are the same disorder.
      However, some pathological mechanisms as observed in diabetes are not necessarily
      the same mechanisms related to Alzheimer's or the only ones related to
      Alzheimer's pathology. Oxidative stress is inherent to Alzheimer's and feeds a
      vicious cycle with other key pathological features, such as inflammation and
      Ca(2+) dysregulation. Alzheimer's pathology by itself may lead to insulin
      resistance in brain, insulin resistance being an intervening variable in the
      neurodegenerative disorder. Hyperglycemia and insulin resistance from diabetes,
      overlapping with the Alzheimer's pathology, aggravate the progression of the
      neurodegenerative processes, indeed. But the same pathophysiological background
      is behind the consequences, oxidative stress. We emphasize oxidative stress and
      its detrimental role in some key regulatory enzymes. 

PMID- 25815111
TI  - SIRT1 and stem cells: In the forefront with cardiovascular disease,
      neurodegeneration and cancer.
AB  - Cardiovascular disease, nervous system disorders, and cancer in association with
      other diseases such as diabetes mellitus result in greater than sixty percent of
      the global annual deaths. These noncommunicable diseases also affect at least one
      third of the population in low and middle-income countries and lead to
      hypertension, elevated cholesterol, malignancy, and neurodegenerative disorders
      such as Alzheimer's disease and stroke. With the climbing lifespan of the world's
      population, increased prevalence of these disorders is expected requiring the
      development of new therapeutic strategies against these disabling disease
      entities. Targeting stem cell proliferation for cardiac disease, vascular
      disorders, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders is receiving great enthusiasm,
      especially those that focus upon SIRT1, a mammalian homologue of the yeast silent
      information regulator-2. Modulation of the cellular activity of SIRT1 can involve
      oversight by nicotinamide/nicotinic acid mononucleotide adenylyltransferase,
      mammalian forkhead transcription factors, mechanistic of rapamycin pathways, and
      cysteine-rich protein 61, connective tissue growth factor, and nephroblastoma
      over-expressed gene family members that can impact cytoprotective outcomes.
      Ultimately, the ability of SIRT1 to control the programmed cell death pathways of
      apoptosis and autophagy can determine not only cardiac, vascular, and neuronal
      stem cell development and longevity, but also the onset of tumorigenesis and the
      resistance against chemotherapy. SIRT1 therefore has a critical role and holds
      exciting prospects for new therapeutic strategies that can offer reparative
      processes for cardiac, vascular, and nervous system degenerative disorders as
      well as targeted control of aberrant cell growth during cancer. 

PMID- 25815112
TI  - Substrates for clinical applicability of stem cells.
AB  - The capability of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to differentiate into a
      variety of cells in the human body holds great promise for regenerative medicine.
      Many substrates exist on which hPSCs can be self-renewed, maintained and expanded
      to further the goal of clinical application of stem cells. In this review, we
      highlight numerous extracellular matrix proteins, peptide and polymer based
      substrates, scaffolds and hydrogels that have been pioneered. We discuss their
      benefits and shortcomings and offer future directions as well as emphasize
      commercially available synthetic peptides as a type of substrate that can bring
      the benefits of regenerative medicine to clinical settings. 

PMID- 25815113
TI  - Hematopoietic stem cell-derived adipocytes and fibroblasts in the tumor
      microenvironment.
AB  - The tumor microenvironment (TME) is complex and constantly evolving. This is due,
      in part, to the crosstalk between tumor cells and the multiple cell types that
      comprise the TME, which results in a heterogeneous population of tumor cells and
      TME cells. This review will focus on two stromal cell types, the cancer
      associated adipocyte (CAA) and the cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF). In the
      clinic, the presence of CAAs and CAFs in the TME translates to poor prognosis in
      multiple tumor types. CAAs and CAFs have an activated phenotype and produce
      growth factors, inflammatory factors, cytokines, chemokines, extracellular matrix
      components, and proteases in an accelerated and aberrant fashion. Through this
      activated state, CAAs and CAFs remodel the TME, thereby driving all aspects of
      tumor progression, including tumor growth and survival, chemoresistance, tumor
      vascularization, tumor invasion, and tumor cell metastasis. Similarities in the
      tumor-promoting functions of CAAs and CAFs suggest that a multipronged
      therapeutic approach may be necessary to achieve maximal impact on disease. While
      CAAs and CAFs are thought to arise from tissues adjacent to the tumor, multiple
      alternative origins for CAAs and CAFs have recently been identified. Recent
      studies from our lab and others suggest that the hematopoietic stem cell, through
      the myeloid lineage, may serve as a progenitor for CAAs and CAFs. We hypothesize
      that the multiple origins of CAAs and CAFs may contribute to the heterogeneity
      seen in the TME. Thus, a better understanding of the origin of CAAs and CAFs, how
      this origin impacts their functions in the TME, and the temporal participation of
      uniquely originating TME cells may lead to novel or improved anti-tumor
      therapeutics. 

PMID- 25815114
TI  - Role of nanotopography in the development of tissue engineered 3D organs and
      tissues using mesenchymal stem cells.
AB  - Recent regenerative medicine and tissue engineering strategies (using cells,
      scaffolds, medical devices and gene therapy) have led to fascinating progress of
      translation of basic research towards clinical applications. In the past decade,
      great deal of research has focused on developing various three dimensional (3D)
      organs, such as bone, skin, liver, kidney and ear, using such strategies in order
      to replace or regenerate damaged organs for the purpose of maintaining or
      restoring organs' functions that may have been lost due to aging, accident or
      disease. The surface properties of a material or a device are key aspects in
      determining the success of the implant in biomedicine, as the majority of
      biological reactions in human body occur on surfaces or interfaces. Furthermore,
      it has been established in the literature that cell adhesion and proliferation
      are, to a great extent, influenced by the micro- and nano-surface characteristics
      of biomaterials and devices. In addition, it has been shown that the functions of
      stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells in particular, could be regulated through
      physical interaction with specific nanotopographical cues. Therefore, guided stem
      cell proliferation, differentiation and function are of great importance in the
      regeneration of 3D tissues and organs using tissue engineering strategies. This
      review will provide an update on the impact of nanotopography on mesenchymal stem
      cells for the purpose of developing laboratory-based 3D organs and tissues, as
      well as the most recent research and case studies on this topic. 

PMID- 25815115
TI  - Evaluating alternative stem cell hypotheses for adult corneal epithelial
      maintenance.
AB  - In this review we evaluate evidence for three different hypotheses that explain
      how the corneal epithelium is maintained. The limbal epithelial stem cell (LESC)
      hypothesis is most widely accepted. This proposes that stem cells in the basal
      layer of the limbal epithelium, at the periphery of the cornea, maintain
      themselves and also produce transient (or transit) amplifying cells (TACs). TACs
      then move centripetally to the centre of the cornea in the basal layer of the
      corneal epithelium and also replenish cells in the overlying suprabasal layers.
      The LESCs maintain the corneal epithelium during normal homeostasis and become
      more active to repair significant wounds. Second, the corneal epithelial stem
      cell (CESC) hypothesis postulates that, during normal homeostasis, stem cells
      distributed throughout the basal corneal epithelium, maintain the tissue.
      According to this hypothesis, LESCs are present in the limbus but are only active
      during wound healing. We also consider a third possibility, that the corneal
      epithelium is maintained during normal homeostasis by proliferation of basal
      corneal epithelial cells without any input from stem cells. After reviewing the
      published evidence, we conclude that the LESC and CESC hypotheses are consistent
      with more of the evidence than the third hypothesis, so we do not consider this
      further. The LESC and CESC hypotheses each have difficulty accounting for one
      main type of evidence so we evaluate the two key lines of evidence that
      discriminate between them. Finally, we discuss how lineage-tracing experiments
      have begun to resolve the debate in favour of the LESC hypothesis. Nevertheless,
      it also seems likely that some basal corneal epithelial cells can act as long
      term progenitors if limbal stem cell function is compromised. Thus, this aspect
      of the CESC hypothesis may have a lasting impact on our understanding of corneal
      epithelial maintenance, even if it is eventually shown that stem cells are
      restricted to the limbus as proposed by the LESC hypothesis. 

PMID- 25815116
TI  - Imprinted Zac1 in neural stem cells.
AB  - Neural stem cells (NSCs) and imprinted genes play an important role in brain
      development. On historical grounds, these two determinants have been largely
      studied independently of each other. Recent evidence suggests, however, that NSCs
      can reset select genomic imprints to prevent precocious depletion of the stem
      cell reservoir. Moreover, imprinted genes like the transcriptional regulator Zac1
      can fine tune neuronal vs astroglial differentiation of NSCs. Zac1 binds in a
      sequence-specific manner to pro-neuronal and imprinted genes to confer
      transcriptional regulation and furthermore coregulates members of the p53-family
      in NSCs. At the genome scale, Zac1 is a central hub of an imprinted gene network
      comprising genes with an important role for NSC quiescence, proliferation and
      differentiation. Overall, transcriptional, epigenomic, and genomic mechanisms
      seem to coordinate the functional relationships of NSCs and imprinted genes from
      development to maturation, and possibly aging. 

PMID- 25815117
TI  - Induced pluripotent stem cells: Mechanisms, achievements and perspectives in farm
      animals.
AB  - Pluripotent stem cells are unspecialized cells with unlimited self-renewal, and
      they can be triggered to differentiate into desired specialized cell types. These
      features provide the basis for an unlimited cell source for innovative cell
      therapies. Pluripotent cells also allow to study developmental pathways, and to
      employ them or their differentiated cell derivatives in pharmaceutical testing
      and biotechnological applications. Via blastocyst complementation, pluripotent
      cells are a favoured tool for the generation of genetically modified mice. The
      recently established technology to generate an induced pluripotency status by
      ectopic co-expression of the transcription factors Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc
      allows to extending these applications to farm animal species, for which the
      derivation of genuine embryonic stem cells was not successful so far. Most
      induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are generated by retroviral or lentiviral
      transduction of reprogramming factors. Multiple viral integrations into the
      genome may cause insertional mutagenesis and may increase the risk of tumour
      formation. Non-integration methods have been reported to overcome the safety
      concerns associated with retro and lentiviral-derived iPS cells, such as
      transient expression of the reprogramming factors using episomal plasmids, and
      direct delivery of reprogramming mRNAs or proteins. In this review, we focus on
      the mechanisms of cellular reprogramming and current methods used to induce
      pluripotency. We also highlight problems associated with the generation of iPS
      cells. An increased understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying
      pluripotency and refining the methodology of iPS cell generation will have a
      profound impact on future development and application in regenerative medicine
      and reproductive biotechnology of farm animals. 

PMID- 25815118
TI  - Cardiac disease modeling using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived human
      cardiomyocytes.
AB  - Causative mutations and variants associated with cardiac diseases have been found
      in genes encoding cardiac ion channels, accessory proteins, cytoskeletal
      components, junctional proteins, and signaling molecules. In most cases the
      functional evaluation of the genetic alteration has been carried out by
      expressing the mutated proteins in in-vitro heterologous systems. While these
      studies have provided a wealth of functional details that have greatly enhanced
      the understanding of the pathological mechanisms, it has always been clear that
      heterologous expression of the mutant protein bears the intrinsic limitation of
      the lack of a proper intracellular environment and the lack of pathological
      remodeling. The results obtained from the application of the next generation
      sequencing technique to patients suffering from cardiac diseases have identified
      several loci, mostly in non-coding DNA regions, which still await functional
      analysis. The isolation and culture of human embryonic stem cells has initially
      provided a constant source of cells from which cardiomyocytes (CMs) can be
      obtained by differentiation. Furthermore, the possibility to reprogram cellular
      fate to a pluripotent state, has opened this process to the study of genetic
      diseases. Thus induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) represent a completely new
      cellular model that overcomes the limitations of heterologous studies.
      Importantly, due to the possibility to keep spontaneously beating CMs in culture
      for several months, during which they show a certain degree of maturation/aging,
      this approach will also provide a system in which to address the effect of long
      term expression of the mutated proteins or any other DNA mutation, in terms of
      electrophysiological remodeling. Moreover, since iPSC preserve the entire
      patients' genetic context, the system will help the physicians in identifying the
      most appropriate pharmacological intervention to correct the functional
      alteration. This article summarizes the current knowledge of cardiac genetic
      diseases modelled with iPSC. 

PMID- 25815119
TI  - Stem cell therapy in inflammatory bowel disease: A promising therapeutic
      strategy?
AB  - Inflammatory bowel diseases are inflammatory, chronic and progressive diseases of
      the intestinal tract for which no curative treatment is available. Research in
      other fields with stem cells of different sources and with immunoregulatory cells
      (regulatory T-lymphocytes and dendritic T-cells) opens up new expectations for
      their use in these diseases. The goal for stem cell-based therapy is to provide a
      permanent cure. To achieve this, it will be necessary to obtain a cellular
      product, original or genetically modified, that has a high migration capacity and
      homes into the intestine, has high survival after transplantation, regulates the
      immune reaction while not being visible to the patient's immune system, and
      repairs the injured tissue. 

PMID- 25815121
TI  - Mesenchymal stem cells as a therapeutic tool to treat sepsis.
AB  - Sepsis is a clinical syndrome caused by a deregulated host response to an
      infection. Sepsis is the most frequent cause of death in hospitalized patients.
      Although knowledge of the pathogenesis of sepsis has increased substantially
      during the last decades, attempts to design effective and specific therapies
      targeting components of the derailed host response have failed. Therefore, there
      is a dramatic need for new and mechanistically alternative therapies to treat
      this syndrome. Based on their immunomodulatory properties, adult mesenchymal stem
      or stromal cells (MSCs) can be a novel therapeutic tool to treat sepsis. Indeed,
      MSCs reduce mortality in experimental models of sepsis by modulating the
      deregulated inflammatory response against bacteria through the regulation of
      multiple inflammatory networks, the reprogramming of macrophages and neutrophils
      towards a more anti-inflammatory phenotype and the release of anti-microbial
      peptides. This report will review the current knowledge on the effects of MSC
      treatment in preclinical experimental small animal models of sepsis. 

PMID- 25815120
TI  - "Second-generation" stem cells for cardiac repair.
AB  - Over the last years, stem cell therapy has emerged as an inspiring alternative to
      restore cardiac function after myocardial infarction. A large body of evidence
      has been obtained in this field but there is no conclusive data on the efficacy
      of these treatments. Preclinical studies and early reports in humans have been
      encouraging and have fostered a rapid clinical translation, but positive results
      have not been uniformly observed and when present, they have been modest. Several
      types of stem cells, manufacturing methods and delivery routes have been tested
      in different clinical settings but direct comparison between them is challenging
      and hinders further research. Despite enormous achievements, major barriers have
      been found and many fundamental issues remain to be resolved. A better knowledge
      of the molecular mechanisms implicated in cardiac development and myocardial
      regeneration is critically needed to overcome some of these hurdles. Genetic and
      pharmacological priming together with the discovery of new sources of cells have
      led to a "second generation" of cell products that holds an encouraging promise
      in cardiovascular regenerative medicine. In this report, we review recent
      advances in this field focusing on the new types of stem cells that are currently
      being tested in human beings and on the novel strategies employed to boost cell
      performance in order to improve cardiac function and outcomes after myocardial
      infarction. 

PMID- 25815123
TI  - Tooth-derived stem cells: Update and perspectives.
AB  - Tissue engineering is an emerging field of science that focuses on creating
      suitable conditions for the regeneration of tissues. The basic components for
      tissue engineering involve an interactive triad of scaffolds, signaling
      molecules, and cells. In this context, stem cells (SCs) present the
      characteristics of self-renewal and differentiation capacity, which make them
      promising candidates for tissue engineering. Although they present some common
      markers, such as cluster of differentiation (CD)105, CD146 and STRO-1, SCs
      derived from various tissues have different patterns in relation to
      proliferation, clonogenicity, and differentiation abilities in vitro and in vivo.
      Tooth-derived tissues have been proposed as an accessible source to obtain SCs
      with limited morbidity, and various tooth-derived SCs (TDSCs) have been isolated
      and characterized, such as dental pulp SCs, SCs from human exfoliated deciduous
      teeth, periodontal ligament SCs, dental follicle progenitor cells, SCs from
      apical papilla, and periodontal ligament of deciduous teeth SCs. However,
      heterogeneity among these populations has been observed, and the best method to
      select the most appropriate TDSCs for regeneration approaches has not yet been
      established. The objective of this review is to outline the current knowledge
      concerning the various types of TDSCs, and discuss the perspectives for their use
      in regenerative approaches. 

PMID- 25815122
TI  - Transplantation of stem cell-derived astrocytes for the treatment of amyotrophic
      lateral sclerosis and spinal cord injury.
AB  - Neglected for years, astrocytes are now recognized to fulfill and support many,
      if not all, homeostatic functions of the healthy central nervous system (CNS).
      During neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and
      spinal cord injury (SCI), astrocytes in the vicinity of degenerating areas
      undergo both morphological and functional changes that might compromise their
      intrinsic properties. Evidence from human and animal studies show that deficient
      astrocyte functions or loss-of-astrocytes largely contribute to increased
      susceptibility to cell death for neurons, oligodendrocytes and axons during ALS
      and SCI disease progression. Despite exciting advances in experimental CNS
      repair, most of current approaches that are translated into clinical trials focus
      on the replacement or support of spinal neurons through stem cell
      transplantation, while none focus on the specific replacement of astroglial
      populations. Knowing the important functions carried out by astrocytes in the
      CNS, astrocyte replacement-based therapies might be a promising approach to
      alleviate overall astrocyte dysfunction, deliver neurotrophic support to
      degenerating spinal tissue and stimulate endogenous CNS repair abilities.
      Enclosed in this review, we gathered experimental evidence that argue in favor of
      astrocyte transplantation during ALS and SCI. Based on their intrinsic properties
      and according to the cell type transplanted, astrocyte precursors or stem cell
      derived astrocytes promote axonal growth, support mechanisms and cells involved
      in myelination, are able to modulate the host immune response, deliver
      neurotrophic factors and provide protective molecules against oxidative or
      excitotoxic insults, amongst many possible benefits. Embryonic or adult stem
      cells can even be genetically engineered in order to deliver missing gene
      products and therefore maximize the chance of neuroprotection and functional
      recovery. However, before broad clinical translation, further preclinical data on
      safety, reliability and therapeutic efficiency should be collected. Although
      several technical challenges need to be overcome, we discuss the major hurdles
      that have already been met or solved by targeting the astrocyte population in
      experimental ALS and SCI models and we discuss avenues for future directions
      based on latest molecular findings regarding astrocyte biology. 

PMID- 25815124
TI  - Could cancer and infection be adverse effects of mesenchymal stromal cell
      therapy?
AB  - Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells [also referred to as mesenchymal stem cells
      (MSCs)] are a heterogeneous subset of stromal cells. They can be isolated from
      bone marrow and many other types of tissue. MSCs are currently being tested for
      therapeutic purposes (i.e., improving hematopoietic stem cell engraftment,
      managing inflammatory diseases and regenerating damaged organs). Their tropism
      for tumors and inflamed sites and their context-dependent potential for producing
      trophic and immunomodulatory factors raises the question as to whether MSCs
      promote cancer and/or infection. This article reviews the effect of MSCs on tumor
      establishment, growth and metastasis and also susceptibility to infection and its
      progression. Data published to date shows a paradoxical effect regarding MSCs,
      which seems to depend on isolation and expansion, cells source and dose and the
      route and timing of administration. Cancer and infection may thus be adverse or
      therapeutic effects arising form MSC administration. 

PMID- 25815125
TI  - Mitochondria as therapeutic targets for cancer stem cells.
AB  - Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are maintained by their somatic stem cells and are
      responsible for tumor initiation, chemoresistance, and metastasis. Evidence for
      the CSCs existence has been reported for a number of human cancers. The CSC
      mitochondria have been shown recently to be an important target for cancer
      treatment, but clinical significance of CSCs and their mitochondria properties
      remain unclear. Mitochondria-targeted agents are considerably more effective
      compared to other agents in triggering apoptosis of CSCs, as well as general
      cancer cells, via mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondrial metabolism is altered
      in cancer cells because of their reliance on glycolytic intermediates, which are
      normally destined for oxidative phosphorylation. Therefore, inhibiting cancer
      specific modifications in mitochondrial metabolism, increasing reactive oxygen
      species production, or stimulating mitochondrial permeabilization transition
      could be promising new therapeutic strategies to activate cell death in CSCs as
      well, as in general cancer cells. This review analyzed mitochondrial function and
      its potential as a therapeutic target to induce cell death in CSCs. Furthermore,
      combined treatment with mitochondria-targeted drugs will be a promising strategy
      for the treatment of relapsed and refractory cancer. 

PMID- 25815126
TI  - Vital roles of stem cells and biomaterials in skin tissue engineering.
AB  - Tissue engineering essentially refers to technology for growing new human tissue
      and is distinct from regenerative medicine. Currently, pieces of skin are already
      being fabricated for clinical use and many other tissue types may be fabricated
      in the future. Tissue engineering was first defined in 1987 by the United States
      National Science Foundation which critically discussed the future targets of
      bioengineering research and its consequences. The principles of tissue
      engineering are to initiate cell cultures in vitro, grow them on scaffolds in
      situ and transplant the composite into a recipient in vivo. From the beginning,
      scaffolds have been necessary in tissue engineering applications. Regardless, the
      latest technology has redirected established approaches by omitting scaffolds.
      Currently, scientists from diverse research institutes are engineering skin
      without scaffolds. Due to their advantageous properties, stem cells have robustly
      transformed the tissue engineering field as part of an engineered bilayered skin
      substitute that will later be discussed in detail. Additionally, utilizing
      biomaterials or skin replacement products in skin tissue engineering as strategy
      to successfully direct cell proliferation and differentiation as well as to
      optimize the safety of handling during grafting is beneficial. This approach has
      also led to the cells' application in developing the novel skin substitute that
      will be briefly explained in this review. 

PMID- 25815127
TI  - Neural differentiation from embryonic stem cells in vitro: An overview of the
      signaling pathways.
AB  - Neurons derived from embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have gained great merit in both
      basic research and regenerative medicine. Here we review and summarize the
      signaling pathways that have been reported to be involved in the neuronal
      differentiation of ESCs, particularly those associated with in vitro
      differentiation. The inducers and pathways explored include retinoic acid,
      Wnt/beta-catenin, transforming growth factor/bone morphogenetic protein, Notch,
      fibroblast growth factor, cytokine, Hedgehog, c-Jun N-terminal kinase/mitogen
      activated protein kinase and others. Some other miscellaneous molecular factors
      that have been reported in the literature are also summarized and discussed.
      These include calcium, calcium receptor, calcineurin, estrogen receptor, Hox
      protein, ceramide, glycosaminioglycan, ginsenoside Rg1, opioids, two pore channel
      2, nitric oxide, chemically defined medium, cell-cell interactions, and physical
      stimuli. The interaction or crosstalk between these signaling pathways and
      factors will be explored. Elucidating these signals in detail should make a
      significant contribution to future progress in stem cell biology and allow, for
      example, better comparisons to be made between differentiation in vivo and in
      vitro. Of equal importance, a comprehensive understanding of the pathways that
      are involved in the development of neurons from ESCs in vitro will also
      accelerate their application as part of translational medicine. 

PMID- 25815128
TI  - Importance of the stem cell microenvironment for ophthalmological cell-based
      therapy.
AB  - Cell therapy is a promising treatment for diseases that are caused by cell
      degeneration or death. The cells for clinical transplantation are usually
      obtained by culturing healthy allogeneic or exogenous tissue in vitro. However,
      for diseases of the eye, obtaining the adequate number of cells for clinical
      transplantation is difficult due to the small size of tissue donors and the
      frequent needs of long-term amplification of cells in vitro, which results in low
      cell viability after transplantation. In addition, the transplanted cells often
      develop fibrosis or degrade and have very low survival. Embryonic stem cells
      (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) are also promising candidates for
      cell therapy. Unfortunately, the differentiation of ESCs can bring immune
      rejection, tumorigenicity and undesired differentiated cells, limiting its
      clinical application. Although iPS cells can avoid the risk of immune rejection
      caused by ES cell differentiation post-transplantation, the low conversion rate,
      the risk of tumor formation and the potentially unpredictable biological changes
      that could occur through genetic manipulation hinder its clinical application.
      Thus, the desired clinical effect of cell therapy is impaired by these factors.
      Recent research findings recognize that the reason for low survival of the
      implanted cells not only depends on the seeded cells, but also on the cell
      microenvironment, which determines the cell survival, proliferation and even
      reverse differentiation. When used for cell therapy, the transplanted cells need
      a specific three-dimensional structure to anchor and specific extra cellular
      matrix components in addition to relevant cytokine signaling to transfer the
      required information to support their growth. These structures present in the
      matrix in which the stem cells reside are known as the stem cell
      microenvironment. The microenvironment interaction with the stem cells provides
      the necessary homeostasis for cell maintenance and growth. A large number of
      studies suggest that to explore how to reconstruct the stem cell microenvironment
      and strengthen its combination with the transplanted cells are key steps to
      successful cell therapy. In this review, we will describe the interactions of the
      stem cell microenvironment with the stem cells, discuss the importance of the
      stem cell microenvironment for cell-based therapy in ocular diseases, and
      introduce the progress of stem cell-based therapy for ocular diseases. 

PMID- 25815129
TI  - Using induced pluripotent stem cells as a tool for modelling carcinogenesis.
AB  - Cancer is a highly heterogeneous group of diseases that despite improved
      treatments remain prevalent accounting for over 14 million new cases and 8.2
      million deaths per year. Studies into the process of carcinogenesis are limited
      by lack of appropriate models for the development and pathogenesis of the disease
      based on human tissues. Primary culture of patient samples can help but is
      difficult to grow for a number of tissues. A potential opportunity to overcome
      these barriers is based on the landmark study by Yamanaka which demonstrated the
      ability of four factors; Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc to reprogram human somatic
      cells in to pluripotency. These cells were termed induced pluripotent stem cells
      (iPSCs) and display characteristic properties of embryonic stem cells. This
      technique has a wide range of potential uses including disease modelling, drug
      testing and transplantation studies. Interestingly iPSCs also share a number of
      characteristics with cancer cells including self-renewal and proliferation,
      expression of stem cell markers and altered metabolism. Recently, iPSCs have been
      generated from a number of human cancer cell lines and primary tumour samples
      from a range of cancers in an attempt to recapitulate the development of cancer
      and interrogate the underlying mechanisms involved. This review will outline the
      similarities between the reprogramming process and carcinogenesis, and how these
      similarities have been exploited to generate iPSC models for a number of cancers.

PMID- 25815130
TI  - CD271 as a marker to identify mesenchymal stem cells from diverse sources before
      culture.
AB  - Mesenchymal stem cells, due to their characteristics are ideal candidates for
      cellular therapy. Currently, in culture these cells are defined by their
      adherence to plastic, specific surface antigen expression and multipotent
      differentiation potential. However, the in vivo identification of mesenchymal
      stem cells, before culture, is not so well established. Pre-culture
      identification markers would ensure higher purity than that obtained with
      selection based on adherence to plastic. Up until now, CD271 has been described
      as the most specific marker for the characterization and purification of human
      bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. This marker has been shown to be specifically
      expressed by these cells. Thus, CD271 has been proposed as a versatile marker to
      selectively isolated and expand multipotent mesenchymal stem cells with both
      immunosuppressive and lymphohematopoietic engraftment-promoting properties. This
      review focuses on this marker, specifically on identification of mesenchymal stem
      cells from different tissues. Literature revision suggests that CD271 should not
      be defined as a universal marker to identify mesenchymal stem cells before
      culture from different sources. In the case of bone marrow or adipose tissue,
      CD271 could be considered a quite suitable marker; however this marker seems to
      be inadequate for the isolation of mesenchymal stem cells from other tissues such
      as umbilical cord blood or wharton's jelly among others. 

PMID- 25815131
TI  - Adult stem cells in neural repair: Current options, limitations and perspectives.
AB  - Stem cells represent a promising step for the future of regenerative medicine. As
      they are able to differentiate into any cell type, tissue or organ, these cells
      are great candidates for treatments against the worst diseases that defy doctors
      and researchers around the world. Stem cells can be divided into three main
      groups: (1) embryonic stem cells; (2) fetal stem cells; and (3) adult stem cells.
      In terms of their capacity for proliferation, stem cells are also classified as
      totipotent, pluripotent or multipotent. Adult stem cells, also known as somatic
      cells, are found in various regions of the adult organism, such as bone marrow,
      skin, eyes, viscera and brain. They can differentiate into unipotent cells of the
      residing tissue, generally for the purpose of repair. These cells represent an
      excellent choice in regenerative medicine, every patient can be a donor of adult
      stem cells to provide a more customized and efficient therapy against various
      diseases, in other words, they allow the opportunity of autologous
      transplantation. But in order to start clinical trials and achieve great results,
      we need to understand how these cells interact with the host tissue, how they can
      manipulate or be manipulated by the microenvironment where they will be
      transplanted and for how long they can maintain their multipotent state to
      provide a full regeneration. 

PMID- 25815132
TI  - Development of cancer-initiating cells and immortalized cells with genomic
      instability.
AB  - Cancers that develop after middle age usually exhibit genomic instability and
      multiple mutations. This is in direct contrast to pediatric tumors that usually
      develop as a result of specific chromosomal translocations and epigenetic
      aberrations. The development of genomic instability is associated with mutations
      that contribute to cellular immortalization and transformation. Cancer occurs
      when cancer-initiating cells (CICs), also called cancer stem cells, develop as a
      result of these mutations. In this paper, we explore how CICs develop as a result
      of genomic instability, including looking at which cancer suppression mechanisms
      are abrogated. A recent in vitro study revealed the existence of a CIC induction
      pathway in differentiating stem cells. Under aberrant differentiation conditions,
      cells become senescent and develop genomic instabilities that lead to the
      development of CICs. The resulting CICs contain a mutation in the alternative
      reading frame of CDKN2A (ARF)/p53 module, i.e., in either ARF or p53. We
      summarize recently established knowledge of CIC development and cellular
      immortality, explore the role of the ARF/p53 module in protecting cells from
      transformation, and describe a risk factor for genomic destabilization that
      increases during the process of normal cell growth and differentiation and is
      associated with the downregulation of histone H2AX to levels representative of
      growth arrest in normal cells. 

PMID- 25815133
TI  - Adult stem-like cells in kidney.
AB  - Human pluripotent cells are promising for treatment for kidney diseases, but the
      protocols for derivation of kidney cell types are still controversial. Kidney
      tissue regeneration is well confirmed in several lower vertebrates such as fish,
      and the repair of nephrons after tubular damages is commonly observed after renal
      injury. Even in adult mammal kidney, renal progenitor cell or system is
      reportedly presents suggesting that adult stem-like cells in kidney can be
      practical clinical targets for kidney diseases. However, it is still unclear if
      kidney stem cells or stem-like cells exist or not. In general, stemness is
      defined by several factors such as self-renewal capacity, multi-lineage potency
      and characteristic gene expression profiles. The definite use of stemness may be
      obstacle to understand kidney regeneration, and here we describe the recent broad
      findings of kidney regeneration and the cells that contribute regeneration. 

PMID- 25815134
TI  - Niche interactions in epidermal stem cells.
AB  - Within the epidermis and dermis of the skin, cells secrete and are surrounded by
      the extracellular matrix (ECM), which provides structural and biochemical
      support. The ECM of the epidermis is the basement membrane, and collagen and
      other dermal components constitute the ECM of the dermis. There is significant
      variation in the composition of the ECM of the epidermis and dermis, which can
      affect "cell to cell" and "cell to ECM" interactions. These interactions, in
      turn, can influence biological responses, aging, and wound healing; abnormal ECM
      signaling likely contributes to skin diseases. Thus, strategies for manipulating
      cell-ECM interactions are critical for treating wounds and a variety of skin
      diseases. Many of these strategies focus on epidermal stem cells, which reside in
      a unique niche in which the ECM is the most important component; interactions
      between the ECM and epidermal stem cells play a major role in regulating stem
      cell fate. As they constitute a major portion of the ECM, it is likely that
      integrins and type IV collagens are important in stem cell regulation and
      maintenance. In this review, we highlight recent research-including our previous
      work-exploring the role that the ECM and its associated components play in
      shaping the epidermal stem cell niche. 

PMID- 25815135
TI  - Neural stem cells could serve as a therapeutic material for age-related
      neurodegenerative diseases.
AB  - Progressively loss of neural and glial cells is the key event that leads to
      nervous system dysfunctions and diseases. Several neurodegenerative diseases, for
      instance Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease, are
      associated to aging and suggested to be a consequence of deficiency of neural
      stem cell pool in the affected brain regions. Endogenous neural stem cells exist
      throughout life and are found in specific niches of human brain. These neural
      stem cells are responsible for the regeneration of new neurons to restore, in the
      normal circumstance, the functions of the brain. Endogenous neural stem cells can
      be isolated, propagated, and, notably, differentiated to most cell types of the
      brain. On the other hand, other types of stem cells, such as mesenchymal stem
      cells, embryonic stem cells, and induced pluripotent stem cells can also serve as
      a source for neural stem cell production, that hold a great promise for
      regeneration of the brain. The replacement of neural stem cells, either
      endogenous or stem cell-derived neural stem cells, into impaired brain is highly
      expected as a possible therapeutic mean for neurodegenerative diseases. In this
      review, clinical features and current routinely treatments of age-related
      neurodegenerative diseases are documented. Noteworthy, we presented the promising
      evidence of neural stem cells and their derivatives in curing such diseases,
      together with the remaining challenges to achieve the best outcome for patients. 

PMID- 25815136
TI  - Molecular mechanism of extrinsic factors affecting anti-aging of stem cells.
AB  - Scientific evidence suggests that stem cells possess the anti-aging ability to
      self-renew and maintain differentiation potentials, and quiescent state. The
      objective of this review is to discuss the micro-environment where stem cells
      reside in vivo, the secreted factors to which stem cells are exposed, the hypoxic
      environment, and intracellular factors including genome stability, mitochondria
      integrity, epigenetic regulators, calorie restrictions, nutrients, and vitamin D.
      Secreted tumor growth factor-beta and fibroblast growth factor-2 are reported to
      play a role in stem cell quiescence. Extracellular matrices may interact with
      caveolin-1, the lipid raft on cell membrane to regulate quiescence. N-cadherin,
      the adhesive protein on niche cells provides support for stem cells. The hypoxic
      micro-environment turns on hypoxia-inducible factor-1 to prevent mesenchymal stem
      cells aging through p16 and p21 down-regulation. Mitochondria express
      glucosephosphate isomerase to undergo glycolysis and prevent cellular aging.
      Epigenetic regulators such as p300, protein inhibitors of activated Stats and H19
      help maintain stem cell quiescence. In addition, calorie restriction may lead to
      secretion of paracrines cyclic ADP-ribose by intestinal niche cells, which help
      maintain intestinal stem cells. In conclusion, it is crucial to understand the
      anti-aging phenomena of stem cells at the molecular level so that the key to
      solving the aging mystery may be unlocked. 

PMID- 25815137
TI  - Mesenchymal stem cells and collagen patches for anterior cruciate ligament
      repair.
AB  - AIM: To investigate collagen patches seeded with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)
      and/or tenocytes (TCs) with regards to their suitability for anterior cruciate
      ligament (ACL) repair. METHODS: Dynamic intraligamentary stabilization utilizes a
      dynamic screw system to keep ACL remnants in place and promote biological
      healing, supplemented by collagen patches. How these scaffolds interact with
      cells and what type of benefit they provide has not yet been investigated in
      detail. Primary ACL-derived TCs and human bone marrow derived MSCs were seeded
      onto two different types of 3D collagen scaffolds, Chondro-Gide((r)) (CG) and
      Novocart((r)) (NC). Cells were seeded onto the scaffolds and cultured for 7 d
      either as a pure populations or as "premix" containing a 1:1 ratio of TCs to
      MSCs. Additionally, as controls, cells were seeded in monolayers and in co
      cultures on both sides of porous high-density membrane inserts (0.4 MUm). We
      analyzed the patches by real time polymerase chain reaction, glycosaminoglycan
      (GAG), DNA and hydroxy-proline (HYP) content. To determine cell spreading and
      adherence in the scaffolds microscopic imaging techniques, i.e., confocal laser
      scanning microscopy (cLSM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), were applied.
      RESULTS: CLSM and SEM imaging analysis confirmed cell adherence onto scaffolds.
      The metabolic cell activity revealed that patches promote adherence and
      proliferation of cells. The most dramatic increase in absolute metabolic cell
      activity was measured for CG samples seeded with tenocytes or a 1:1 cell premix.
      Analysis of DNA content and cLSM imaging also indicated MSCs were not
      proliferating as nicely as tenocytes on CG. The HYP to GAG ratio significantly
      changed for the premix group, resulting from a slightly lower GAG content,
      demonstrating that the cells are modifying the underlying matrix. Real-time
      quantitative polymerase chain reaction data indicated that MSCs showed a trend of
      differentiation towards a more tenogenic-like phenotype after 7 d. CONCLUSION: CG
      and NC are both cyto-compatible with primary MSCs and TCs; TCs seemed to perform
      better on these collagen patches than MSCs.

PMID- 25815138
TI  - Minor Structural Change to Tertiary Sulfonamide RORc Ligands Led to Opposite
      Mechanisms of Action.
AB  - A minor structural change to tertiary sulfonamide RORc ligands led to distinct
      mechanisms of action. Co-crystal structures of two compounds revealed
      mechanistically consistent protein conformational changes. Optimized
      phenylsulfonamides were identified as RORc agonists while benzylsulfonamides
      exhibited potent inverse agonist activity. Compounds behaving as agonists in our
      biochemical assay also gave rise to an increased production of IL-17 in human
      PBMCs whereas inverse agonists led to significant suppression of IL-17 under the
      same assay conditions. The most potent inverse agonist compound showed >180-fold
      selectivity over the ROR isoforms as well as all other nuclear receptors that
      were profiled. 

PMID- 25815139
TI  - Discovery of Novel Multiacting Topoisomerase I/II and Histone Deacetylase
      Inhibitors.
AB  - Designing multitarget drugs remains a significant challenge in current antitumor
      drug discovery. Because of the synergistic effect between topoisomerase and HDAC
      inhibitors, the present study reported the first-in-class triple inhibitors of
      topoisomerase I/II and HDAC. On the basis of 3-amino-10-hydroxylevodiamine and
      SAHA, a series of hybrid molecules was successfully designed and synthesized. In
      particular, compound 8c was proven to be a potent inhibitor of topoisomerase I/II
      and HDAC with good antiproliferative and apoptotic activities. This proof-of
      concept study also validated the effectiveness of discovering triple
      topoisomerase I/II and HDAC inhibitors as novel antitumor agents. 

PMID- 25815140
TI  - Identification of 8-aminoadenosine derivatives as a new class of human
      concentrative nucleoside transporter 2 inhibitors.
AB  - Purine-rich foods have long been suspected as a major cause of hyperuricemia. We
      hypothesized that inhibition of human concentrative nucleoside transporter 2
      (hCNT2) would suppress increases in serum urate levels derived from dietary
      purines. To test this hypothesis, the development of potent hCNT2 inhibitors was
      required. By modifying adenosine, an hCNT2 substrate, we successfully identified
      8-aminoadenosine derivatives as a new class of hCNT2 inhibitors. Compound 12
      moderately inhibited hCNT2 (IC50 = 52 +/- 3.8 MUM), and subsequent structure
      activity relationship studies led to the discovery of compound 48 (IC50 = 0.64 +/
      0.19 MUM). Here we describe significant findings about structural requirements
      of 8-aminoadenosine derivatives for exhibiting potent hCNT2 inhibitory activity. 

PMID- 25815141
TI  - Synthesis and Evaluation of Conjugates of Novel TLR7 Inert Ligands as Self
      Adjuvanting Immunopotentiators.
AB  - During the design and synthesis of a series of 8-hydroxy-2-(2-methoxyethoxy)
      adenine derivatives bearing various substituted -RCOOH groups at the 9-position,
      we identified a TLR7-inert ligand, which does not activate TLR7 signaling
      pathway. Of interest, the coupling of weakly immunogenic antigens via the -RCOOH
      group was able to significantly enhance the immunogenicity of the antigens.
      Herein, an inert ligand, 9-(3-carboxypropyl)-8-hydroxy-2-(2-methoxyethoxy)
      adenine (5, GD2), was synthesized and conjugated to 5 different weakly
      immunogenic antigens (BSA, OVA, MSA, MG7, and thymosin). Compared with the GD2
      and the potent agonist UC-1 V150, all conjugates demonstrated potent
      immunogenicity in vitro and in vivo. All conjugates induced prolonged increases,
      while UC-1 V150 showed a rapid decline in the levels of proinflammatory cytokines
      following initial increases. These data indicate that the immunostimulatory
      activity of TLR7-inert ligands could be amplified and prolonged by conjugation to
      antigens, thus broadening the potential therapeutic application of these agents. 

PMID- 25815142
TI  - Pyrimidinone nicotinamide mimetics as selective tankyrase and wnt pathway
      inhibitors suitable for in vivo pharmacology.
AB  - The canonical Wnt pathway plays an important role in embryonic development, adult
      tissue homeostasis, and cancer. Germline mutations of several Wnt pathway
      components, such as Axin, APC, and beta-catenin, can lead to oncogenesis.
      Inhibition of the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) catalytic domain of the
      tankyrases (TNKS1 and TNKS2) is known to inhibit the Wnt pathway via increased
      stabilization of Axin. In order to explore the consequences of tankyrase and Wnt
      pathway inhibition in preclinical models of cancer and its impact on normal
      tissue, we sought a small molecule inhibitor of TNKS1/2 with suitable
      physicochemical properties and pharmacokinetics for hypothesis testing in vivo.
      Starting from a 2-phenyl quinazolinone hit (compound 1), we discovered the
      pyrrolopyrimidinone compound 25 (AZ6102), which is a potent TNKS1/2 inhibitor
      that has 100-fold selectivity against other PARP family enzymes and shows 5 nM
      Wnt pathway inhibition in DLD-1 cells. Moreover, compound 25 can be formulated
      well in a clinically relevant intravenous solution at 20 mg/mL, has demonstrated
      good pharmacokinetics in preclinical species, and shows low Caco2 efflux to avoid
      possible tumor resistance mechanisms. 

PMID- 25815144
TI  - Discovery of DS-1558: A Potent and Orally Bioavailable GPR40 Agonist.
AB  - GPR40 is a G protein-coupled receptor that is predominantly expressed in
      pancreatic beta-cells. GPR40 agonists stimulate insulin secretion in the presence
      of high glucose concentration. On the basis of this mechanism, GPR40 agonists are
      possible novel insulin secretagogues with reduced or no risk of hypoglycemia. The
      improvement of in vitro activity and metabolic stability of compound 1 led to the
      discovery of 13, (3S)-3-ethoxy-3-(4-{[(1R)-4-(trifluoromethyl)-2,3-dihydro-1H
      inden-1-yl]oxy}phenyl)propanoic acid, as a potent and orally available GPR40
      agonist. Compound 13 (DS-1558) was found to have potent glucose lowering effects
      during an oral glucose tolerance test in ZDF rats. 

PMID- 25815143
TI  - N (1)-Fluoroalkyltryptophan Analogues: Synthesis and in vitro Study as Potential
      Substrates for Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase.
AB  - Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (hIDO) is an enzyme that catalyzes the oxidative
      cleavage of the indole ring of l-tryptophan through the kynurenine pathway,
      thereby exerting immunosuppressive properties in inflammatory and tumoral
      tissues. The syntheses of 1-(2-fluoroethyl)-tryptophan (1-FETrp) and 1-((1-(2
      fluoroethyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)methyl)-tryptophan, two N (1)-fluoroalkylated
      tryptophan derivatives, are described here. In vitro enzymatic assays with these
      two new potential substrates of hIDO show that 1-FETrp is a good and specific
      substrate of hIDO. Therefore, its radioactive isotopomer, 1-[(18)F]FETrp, should
      be a molecule of choice to visualize tumoral and inflammatory tissues and/or to
      validate new potential inhibitors. 

PMID- 25815145
TI  - Synthesis of a New Peptide-Coumarin Conjugate: A Potential Agent against
      Cryptococcosis.
AB  - Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are currently being investigated as potential
      sources of novel therapeutics against an increasing number of microorganisms
      resistant to conventional antibiotics. The conjugation of an AMP to other
      bioactive compounds is an interesting approach for the development of new
      derivatives with increased antimicrobial efficiency and broader spectra of
      action. In this work, the synthesis of a new peptide-coumarin conjugate via
      copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition is described. The conjugate was
      assayed for in vitro cytotoxicity and displayed antifungal activity against
      Cryptococcus gattii and Cryptococcus neoformans. Additionally, the conjugate
      exhibited increased antifungal efficacy when compared with the individual
      peptide, coumarin, or triazole moieties. Treatment of C. gattii with the peptide
      coumarin conjugate enhanced the production of reactive oxygen species, suggesting
      that the oxidative burst plays an important role in the mechanism of action of
      the conjugate. 

PMID- 25815146
TI  - Pyrido[4,3-e][1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazines as Selective, Brain Penetrant
      Phosphodiesterase 2 (PDE2) Inhibitors.
AB  - A novel series of pyrido[4,3-e][1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazines is reported as
      potent PDE2/PDE10 inhibitors with drug-like properties. Selectivity for PDE2 was
      obtained by introducing a linear, lipophilic moiety on the meta-position of the
      phenyl ring pending from the triazole. The SAR and protein flexibility were
      explored with free energy perturbation calculations. Rat pharmacokinetic data and
      in vivo receptor occupancy data are given for two representative compounds 6 and
      12. 

PMID- 25815147
TI  - Synthesis and Structure-Activity Relationship Study of 1-Phenyl-1-(quinazolin-4
      yl)ethanols as Anticancer Agents.
AB  - A quinazoline derivative PVHD121 (1a) was shown to have strong antiproliferative
      activity against various tumor-derived cell lines, including A549 (lung), NCI
      H460 (lung), HCT116 (colon), MCF7 (breast), PC3 (prostate), and HeLa (cervical)
      cells with IC50 values from 0.1 to 0.3 MUM. A structure-activity relationship
      (SAR) study at the 2- and 4-position of the quinazoline core lead to the
      discovery of more potent anticancer agents (14, 16, 17, 19, 24, and 31). The
      results of an in vitro tubulin polymerization assay and fluorescent-based
      colchicine site competition assay with purified tubulin indicated that 1a
      inhibits tubulin polymerization by binding to the colchicine site. 

PMID- 25815148
TI  - alpha-Carbonic Anhydrases Possess Thioesterase Activity.
AB  - The alpha-carbonic anhydrases (CAs, EC 4.2.1.1) show catalytic versatility acting
      as esterases with carboxylic, sulfonic, and phosphate esters. Here we prove by
      kinetic, spectroscopic, and MS studies that they also possess thioesterase
      activity with a dithiocarbamate ester as a substrate (PhSO2NHCSSMe). Its CA
      mediated hydrolysis leads to benzenesulfonamide, methyl mercaptan, and COS. The
      CA thioesterase activity may be useful for designing prodrug enzyme inhibitors,
      whereas some CA isoforms may use this activity for modulating
      physiologic/pathologic processes, which are possibly amenable to drug discovery
      of agents with multiple mechanisms of action. 

PMID- 25815149
TI  - Design and Synthesis of Acetylenyl Benzamide Derivatives as Novel Glucokinase
      Activators for the Treatment of T2DM.
AB  - Novel acetylenyl-containing benzamide derivatives were synthesized and screened
      using an in vitro assay measuring increases in glucokinase activity stimulated by
      10 mM glucose concentration and glucose uptake in rat hepatocytes. Lead
      optimization of an acetylenyl benzamide series led to the discovery of several
      active compounds via in vitro enzyme assays (EC50 < 40 nM) and in vivo OGTT
      assays (AUC reduction > 40% at 50 mg/kg). Of the active compounds tested, 3-(3
      amino-phenylethynyl)-5-(2-methoxy-1-methyl-ethoxy)-N-(1-methyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)
      benzamide (19) was identified as a potent glucokinase activator exhibiting an
      EC50 of 27 nM and eliciting a 2.16-fold increase in glucose uptake. Compound 19
      caused a glucose AUC reduction of 47.4% (30 mg/kg) in an OGTT study in C57BL/6J
      mice compared to 22.6% for sitagliptin (30 mg/kg). Single treatment of the
      compound 19 in C57BL/6J mice elicited basal glucose lowering activity without any
      significant evidence for hypoglycemia risk. Compound 19 was therefore selected as
      a candidate for further preclinical development for the treatment of type 2
      diabetes. 

PMID- 25815150
TI  - Discovery of potent hexapeptide agonists to human neuromedin u receptor 1 and
      identification of their serum metabolites.
AB  - Neuromedin U (NMU) and S (NMS) display various physiological activities,
      including an anorexigenic effect, and share a common C-terminal heptapeptide
      amide sequence that is necessary to activate two NMU receptors (NMUR1 and NMUR2).
      On the basis of this knowledge, we recently developed hexapeptide agonists 2 and
      3, which are highly selective to human NMUR1 and NMUR2, respectively. However,
      the agonists are still less potent than the endogenous ligand, hNMU. Therefore,
      we performed an additional structure-activity relationship study, which led to
      the identification of the more potent hexapeptide 5d that exhibits similar NMUR1
      agonistic activity as compared to hNMU. Additionally, we studied the stability of
      synthesized agonists, including 5d, in rat serum, and identified two major
      biodegradation sites: Phe(2)-Arg(3) and Arg(5)-Asn(6). The latter was more
      predominantly cleaved than the former. Moreover, substitution with 4
      fluorophenylalanine, as in 5d, enhanced the metabolic stability at Phe(2)-Arg(3).
      These results provide important information to guide the development of practical
      hNMU agonists. 

PMID- 25815151
TI  - Synthesis and Evaluation of Quinazolines as Inhibitors of the Bacterial Cell
      Division Protein FtsZ.
AB  - The bacterial cell division protein FtsZ is one of many potential targets for the
      development of novel antibiotics. Recently, zantrin Z3 was shown to be a cross
      species inhibitor of FtsZ; however, its specific interactions with the protein
      are still unknown. Herein we report the synthesis of analogues that contain a
      more tractable core structure and an analogue with single-digit micromolar
      inhibition of FtsZ's GTPase activity, which represents the most potent inhibitor
      of Escherichia coli FtsZ reported to date. In addition, the zantrin Z3 core has
      been converted to two potential photo-cross-linking reagents for proteomic
      studies that could shed light on the molecular interactions between FtsZ and
      molecules related to zantrin Z3. 

PMID- 25815152
TI  - Improved angiostatic activity of dasatinib by modulation with hydrophobic chains.
AB  - Dasatinib is an orally active nonselective tyrosine kinase inhibitor used to
      treat certain types of adult leukemia. By inhibiting PDGFR-beta and SFKs in both
      tumor cells and tumor-associated endothelial cells, dasatinib inhibits tumor
      growth and angiogenesis. Herein, dasatinib derivatives modified with hydrophobic
      chains were prepared and evaluated for their in vitro antiproliferative
      selectivity and their in vivo antiangiogenic activity. For one of the
      derivatives, modified with a long perfluorinated chain, a significant enhancement
      in antiangiogenic activity was observed. Combined, these results suggest a
      possible generic route to modulate the angiostatic activity of drugs. 

PMID- 25815153
TI  - Synthesis and Evaluation of Heterocyclic Catechol Mimics as Inhibitors of
      Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT).
AB  - 3-Hydroxy-4-pyridinones and 5-hydroxy-4-pyrimidinones were identified as
      inhibitors of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) in a high-throughput screen.
      These heterocyclic catechol mimics exhibit potent inhibition of the enzyme and an
      improved toxicity profile versus the marketed nitrocatechol inhibitors tolcapone
      and entacapone. Optimization of the series was aided by X-ray cocrystal
      structures of the novel inhibitors in complex with COMT and cofactors SAM and
      Mg(2+). The crystal structures suggest a mechanism of inhibition for these
      heterocyclic inhibitors distinct from previously disclosed COMT inhibitors. 

PMID- 25815154
TI  - Synthesis of New DPP-4 Inhibitors Based on a Novel Tricyclic Scaffold.
AB  - A novel molecular scaffold has been synthesized, and its synthesis and
      incorporation into new analogues of biologically active molecules will be
      discussed. A comparison of the inhibitory activity of these compounds to the
      known type-2 diabetes compound (sitagliptin) against dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP
      4) will be shown. 

PMID- 25815155
TI  - Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation of Tetrasubstituted Pyridines as Potent 5-HT2C
      Receptor Agonists.
AB  - A series of pyrido[3,4-d]azepines that are potent and selective 5-HT2C receptor
      agonists is disclosed. Compound 7 (PF-04781340) is identified as a suitable lead
      owing to good 5-HT2C potency, selectivity over 5-HT2B agonism, and in vitro ADME
      properties commensurate with an orally available and CNS penetrant profile. The
      synthesis of a novel bicyclic tetrasubstituted pyridine core template is
      outlined, including rationale to account for the unexpected formation of
      aminopyridine 13 resulting from an ammonia cascade cyclization. 

PMID- 25815156
TI  - Positron emission tomography to elucidate pharmacokinetic differences of
      regioisomeric retinoid x receptor agonists.
AB  - RXR partial agonist NEt-4IB (2a, 6-[ethyl-(4-isobutoxy-3
      isopropylphenyl)amino]pyridine-3-carboxylic acid: EC50 = 169 nM, E max = 55%)
      showed a blood concentration higher than its E max after single oral
      administration at 30 mg/kg to mice, and repeated oral administration at 10
      mg/kg/day to KK-A(y) mice afforded antitype 2 diabetes activity without the side
      effects caused by RXR full agonists. However, RXR full agonist NEt-3IB (1a), in
      which the isobutoxy and isopropyl groups of 2a are interchanged, gave a much
      lower blood concentration than 2a. Here we used positron emission tomography
      (PET) with tracers [(11)C]1a, [(11)C]2a and fluorinated derivatives [(18)F]1b,
      [(18)F]2b, which have longer half-lives, to examine the reason why 1a and 2a
      exhibited significantly different blood concentrations. As a result, the reason
      for the high blood concentration of 2a after oral administration was found to be
      linked to higher intestinal absorbability together with lower biliary excretion,
      compared with 1a. 

PMID- 25815157
TI  - Exploiting the Polypharmacology of beta-Carbolines to Disrupt O. volvulus
      Molting.
AB  - Onchocerciasis is an infection caused by the filarial worm Onchocerca volvulus,
      which can eventually result in blindness. The lack of an effective
      macrofilaricide and the possible development of ivermectin-resistant strains of
      O. volvulus necessitate the need for alternative treatment strategies. We have
      shown that targeting the L3-stage-specific chitinase OvCHT1 impairs the shedding
      of the filarial cuticle. In our continued efforts to discover OvCHT1 inhibitors,
      we identified the beta-carboline alkaloid scaffolding as a chitinase inhibitor
      that is capable of penetrating the worm cuticle. Herein, we disclose the rich
      polypharmacology of the beta-carboline class of compounds as an approach to
      abrogate the molting of the parasite and thus the initiation of infection in the
      human host. 

PMID- 25815158
TI  - Farnesyl diphosphate synthase inhibitors with unique ligand-binding geometries.
AB  - Farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FPPS) is an important drug target for bone
      resorption, cancer, and some infectious diseases. Here, we report five new
      structures including two having unique bound ligand geometries. The diamidine
      inhibitor 7 binds to human FPPS close to the homoallylic (S2) and allosteric (S3)
      sites and extends into a new site, here called S4. With the bisphosphonate
      inhibitor 8, two molecules bind to Trypanosoma brucei FPPS, one molecule in the
      allylic site (S1) and the other close to S2, the first observation of two
      bisphosphonate molecules bound to FPPS. We also report the structures of apo-FPPS
      from T. brucei, together with two more bisphosphonate-bound structures (2,9), for
      purposes of comparison. The diamidine structure is of particular interest because
      7 could represent a new lead for lipophilic FPPS inhibitors, while 8 has low
      micromolar activity against T. brucei, the causative agent of human African
      trypanosomiasis. 

PMID- 25815159
TI  - Phenolic diterpenoid derivatives as anti-influenza a virus agents.
AB  - A series of diterpenoid derivatives based on podocarpic acid were synthesized and
      evaluated as anti-influenza A virus agents. Several of the novel podocarpic acid
      derivatives exhibited nanomolar activities against an H1N1 influenza A virus
      (A/Puerto Rico/8/34) that was resistant to two anti-influenza drugs, oseltamivir
      and amantadine. This class of compounds inhibits the influenza virus by targeting
      the viral hemagglutinin-mediated membrane fusion. These results indicated that
      podocarpic acid derivatives may serve as potential drug candidates to fight drug
      resistant influenza A virus infections. 

PMID- 25815160
TI  - Homeopathy and integrative medicine: keeping an open mind.
AB  - Some physicians have incorporated some forms of complementary and alternative
      medicine (CAM) or related medicinal products in their clinical practices,
      suggesting that an unconventional treatment approach might be seen as an
      integration rather than as an alternative to standard medical practice. Among the
      various CAMs, homeopathy enjoys growing popularity with the lay population, but
      it is not acknowledged by academia or included in medical guidelines. The major
      problem is to establish the effectiveness of this clinical approach using the
      strict criteria of evidence-based medicine. This issue of the Journal of Medicine
      and the Person collects contributions from some of the most prestigious centers
      and research groups working in the field of homeopathy and integrative medicine.
      These contributions are not specialized information but are of general interest,
      focusing on this discipline as one of the emerging fields of personalized medical
      treatment.

PMID- 25815161
TI  - eNanoMapper: harnessing ontologies to enable data integration for nanomaterial
      risk assessment.
AB  - Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are being developed to meet specific application
      needs in diverse domains across the engineering and biomedical sciences (e.g.
      drug delivery). However, accompanying the exciting proliferation of novel
      nanomaterials is a challenging race to understand and predict their possibly
      detrimental effects on human health and the environment. The eNanoMapper project
      (www.enanomapper.net) is creating a pan-European computational infrastructure for
      toxicological data management for ENMs, based on semantic web standards and
      ontologies. Here, we describe the development of the eNanoMapper ontology based
      on adopting and extending existing ontologies of relevance for the nanosafety
      domain. The resulting eNanoMapper ontology is available at
      http://purl.enanomapper.net/onto/enanomapper.owl. We aim to make the re-use of
      external ontology content seamless and thus we have developed a library to
      automate the extraction of subsets of ontology content and the assembly of the
      subsets into an integrated whole. The library is available (open source) at
      http://github.com/enanomapper/slimmer/. Finally, we give a comprehensive survey
      of the domain content and identify gap areas. ENM safety is at the boundary
      between engineering and the life sciences, and at the boundary between molecular
      granularity and bulk granularity. This creates challenges for the definition of
      key entities in the domain, which we also discuss. 

PMID- 25815162
TI  - A Far-Red Emitting Probe for Unambiguous Detection of Mobile Zinc in Acidic
      Vesicles and Deep Tissue.
AB  - Imaging mobile zinc in acidic environments remains challenging because most small
      molecule optical probes display pH-dependent fluorescence. Here we report a
      reaction-based sensor that detects mobile zinc unambiguously at low pH. The
      sensor responds reversibly and with a large dynamic range to exogenously applied
      Zn2+ in lysosomes of HeLa cells, endogenous Zn2+ in insulin granules of MIN6
      cells, and zinc-rich mossy fiber boutons in hippocampal tissue from mice. This
      long-wavelength probe is compatible with the green-fluorescent protein, enabling
      multicolor imaging, and facilitates visualization of mossy fiber boutons at
      depths of >100 um, as demonstrated by studies in live tissue employing two-photon
      microscopy.

PMID- 25815163
TI  - Surface modification processes during methane decomposition on Cu-promoted Ni
      ZrO2 catalysts.
AB  - The surface chemistry of methane on Ni-ZrO2 and bimetallic CuNi-ZrO2 catalysts
      and the stability of the CuNi alloy under reaction conditions of methane
      decomposition were investigated by combining reactivity measurements and in situ
      synchrotron-based near-ambient pressure XPS. Cu was selected as an exemplary
      promoter for modifying the reactivity of Ni and enhancing the resistance against
      coke formation. We observed an activation process occurring in methane between
      650 and 735 K with the exact temperature depending on the composition which
      resulted in an irreversible modification of the catalytic performance of the
      bimetallic catalysts towards a Ni-like behaviour. The sudden increase in
      catalytic activity could be explained by an increase in the concentration of
      reduced Ni atoms at the catalyst surface in the active state, likely as a
      consequence of the interaction with methane. Cu addition to Ni improved the
      desired resistance against carbon deposition by lowering the amount of coke
      formed. As a key conclusion, the CuNi alloy shows limited stability under
      relevant reaction conditions. This system is stable only in a limited range of
      temperature up to ~700 K in methane. Beyond this temperature, segregation of Ni
      species causes a fast increase in methane decomposition rate. In view of the
      applicability of this system, a detailed understanding of the stability and
      surface composition of the bimetallic phases present and the influence of the Cu
      promoter on the surface chemistry under relevant reaction conditions are
      essential.

PMID- 25815164
TI  - Life at the mesoscale: the self-organised cytoplasm and nucleoplasm.
AB  - The cell contains highly dynamic structures exploiting physical principles of
      self-organisation at the mesoscale (100 nm to 10 MUm). Examples include non
      membrane bound cytoplasmic bodies, cytoskeleton-based motor networks and multi
      scale chromatin organisation. The challenges of mesoscale self-organisation were
      discussed at a CECAM workshop in July 2014. Biologists need approaches to observe
      highly dynamic, low affinity, low specificity associations and to perturb single
      structures, while biological physicists and biomathematicians need to work
      closely with biologists to build and validate quantitative models. A table of
      terminology is included to facilitate multidisciplinary efforts to reveal the
      richness and diversity of mesoscale cell biology. 

PMID- 25815165
TI  - Bacterial and viral identification and differentiation by amplicon sequencing on
      the MinION nanopore sequencer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The MinIONTM nanopore sequencer was recently released to a community
      of alpha-testers for evaluation using a variety of sequencing applications.
      Recent reports have tested the ability of the MinIONTM to act as a whole genome
      sequencer and have demonstrated that nanopore sequencing has tremendous potential
      utility. However, the current nanopore technology still has limitations with
      respect to error-rate, and this is problematic when attempting to assemble whole
      genomes without secondary rounds of sequencing to correct errors. In this study,
      we tested the ability of the MinIONTM nanopore sequencer to accurately identify
      and differentiate bacterial and viral samples via directed sequencing of
      characteristic genes shared broadly across a target clade. RESULTS: Using a 6
      hour sequencing run time, sufficient data were generated to identify an E. coli
      sample down to the species level from 16S rDNA amplicons. Three poxviruses
      (cowpox, vaccinia-MVA, and vaccinia-Lister) were identified and differentiated
      down to the strain level, despite over 98% identity between the vaccinia strains.
      The ability to differentiate strains by amplicon sequencing on the MinIONTM was
      accomplished despite an observed per-base error rate of approximately 30%.
      CONCLUSIONS: While nanopore sequencing, using the MinIONTM platform from Oxford
      Nanopore in particular, continues to mature into a commercially available
      technology, practical uses are sought for the current versions of the technology.
      This study offers evidence of the utility of amplicon sequencing by demonstrating
      that the current versions of MinIONTM technology can accurately identify and
      differentiate both viral and bacterial species present within biological samples
      via amplicon sequencing.

PMID- 25815166
TI  - An outbreak of carbapenem-resistant OXA-48 - producing Klebsiella pneumonia
      associated to duodenoscopy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) have become a major
      problem for healthcare systems worldwide. While the first reports from European
      hospitals described the introduction of CPE from endemic countries, there is now
      a growing number of reports describing outbreaks of CPE in European hospitals.
      Here we report an outbreak of Carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae in a German
      University hospital which was in part associated to duodenoscopy. FINDINGS:
      Between December 6, 2012 and January 10, 2013, carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae
      (CRKP) was cultured from 12 patients staying on 4 different wards. The
      amplification of carbapenemase genes by multiplex PCR showed presence of the bla
      OXA-48 gene. Molecular typing confirmed the identity of all 12 isolates.
      Reviewing the medical records of CRKP cases revealed that there was a spatial
      relationship between 6 of the cases which were located on the same wards. The
      remaining 6 cases were all related to endoscopic retrograde
      cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) which was performed with the same duodenoscope.
      The outbreak ended after the endoscope was sent to the manufacturer for
      maintenance. CONCLUSIONS: Though the outbreak strain was also disseminated to
      patients who did not undergo ERCP and environmental sources or medical personnel
      also contributed to the outbreak, the gut of colonized patients is the main
      source for CPE. Therefore, accurate and stringent reprocessing of endoscopic
      instruments is extremely important, which is especially true for more complex
      instruments like the duodenoscope (TJF Q180V series) involved in the outbreak
      described here.

PMID- 25815167
TI  - Crystalline-induced kidney disease: a case for urine microscopy.

PMID- 25815168
TI  - Atazanavir nephrotoxicity.
AB  - Atazanavir is commonly used as one of the key drugs in combination antiretroviral
      therapy for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, atazanavir has the
      potential to yield its crystalline precipitation in urine and renal interstitial
      tissues, leading to crystalluria, urolithiasis, acute kidney injury (AKI) or
      chronic kidney disease (CKD). In epidemiological studies, atazanavir/ritonavir
      alone or in combination with tenofovir has been associated with increased risk of
      progression to CKD. However, renal biopsies were not provided in these studies.
      Case reports showing an association between atazanavir use and tubulointerstitial
      nephritis among HIV-infected individuals provide clues as to the potential causes
      of atazanavir nephrotoxicity. We now review atazanavir-related kidney disease
      including urolithiasis, renal dysfunction and interstitial nephritis and
      illustrate the review with a further case of atazanavir-associated kidney injury
      with sequential renal biopsies. There are two forms of atazanavir-associated
      tubulointerstitial nephritis: acute tubulointerstitial nephritis that may develop
      AKI rapidly (in weeks) after initiation of atazanavir, and chronic
      tubulointerstitial nephritis that may develop progressive CKD slowly (in years)
      with granuloma and intrarenal precipitation of atazanavir crystals as well as
      crystalluria. Caution should be exercised when prescribing atazanavir to patients
      at high risk of CKD, and therapy should be reevaluated if renal function
      deteriorates, especially associated with crystalluria and hematuria. 

PMID- 25815169
TI  - What is new in the management of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis?
AB  - Rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) results from severe crescentic
      damage to glomeruli and leads to irreversible kidney failure if not diagnosed and
      managed in a timely fashion. Traditional treatment has relied on glucocorticoids
      and cyclophosphamide, with additional plasmapheresis for certain conditions. Here
      we describe updates in the management of RPGN, according to the underlying renal
      pathology. However, there remains a paucity of trials that have enrolled patients
      with more advanced renal disease, dialysis dependence or with RPGN, and we are
      therefore still reliant on extrapolation of data from studies of patients with a
      less severe form of disease. In addition, reporting bias results in publication
      of cases or cohorts showing benefit for newer agents in advanced disease or RPGN,
      but it remains unclear how many unsuccessful outcomes in these circumstances take
      place. Since clinical trials specifically in RPGN are unlikely, use of biologic
      registries or combination of sufficient sized cohort series may provide
      indications of benefit outside of a clinical trial setting and should be
      encouraged, in order to provide some evidence for the efficacy of therapeutic
      regimens in RPGN and advanced renal disease. 

PMID- 25815170
TI  - Real-time ultrasound-guided percutaneous renal biopsy with needle guide by
      nephrologists decreases post-biopsy complications.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Percutaneous renal biopsy (PRB) can result in serious complications.
      The study is aimed to compare the biopsy yield and complications rate of the real
      time ultrasonagram (USG)-guided PRB and needle tracking with and without needle
      guide in two different study periods. METHODS: We compared the yield and
      complications of 2138 kidney biopsies performed in two different periods, 1510
      biopsies during the first period from April 2004-December 2010 and 628 biopsies
      during second period from January 2011-March 2013. All biopsies in both periods
      were performed by nephrologists. Radiologists provided the real-time image
      without needle guide during the first period while nephrologists performed both
      imaging and biopsy with needle guide during the second period. RESULTS: Of all
      the 2138 patients, 226 (10.5%) patients developed 118 minor and 108 major
      complications. Only 13 (2.1%) major complications occurred in the second period
      and 95 (6.7%) in the first period (P < 0.001). The relative risk of developing a
      major complication without guide was 3.04 times greater than that of the biopsies
      performed with use of the guide. The mean number of glomeruli per biopsy obtained
      during the second period (17.98 +/- 6.75) was significantly greater than that of
      the first period (14.14 +/- 6.01) (P = 0.004). The number of passes to acquire
      adequate tissue (P = 0.001) and percentage of cortex on biopsy (P = 0.001) were
      also significantly better in the second period. The optimal observation period
      post biopsy is 24 h. CONCLUSIONS: Real-time USG imaging supported by needle guide
      device is associated with better biopsy yield and fewer complications.

PMID- 25815171
TI  - Histiocytic glomerulopathy associated with macrophage activation syndrome.
AB  - We present an interesting case of a 37-year old man with acute renal failure
      following a febrile illness. Laboratory results showed features of macrophage
      activation syndrome (MAS) with anemia, thrombocytopenia, hypofibrinogenemia and
      elevated ferritin levels. Renal biopsy was then done to determine the cause of
      renal failure and showed unique glomerular findings with massive histiocytic
      infiltration ('histiocytic glomerulopathy') and evidence of endothelial injury.
      Recognizing that the histiocytic infiltrate and endothelial injury is a part of
      MAS is important because early recognition and treatment is of utmost importance
      since the disease can be fatal. 

PMID- 25815172
TI  - Iron-based phosphate binders: do they offer advantages over currently available
      phosphate binders?
AB  - Increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality has been associated with the
      hyperphosphatemia seen in patients with end-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD).
      Oral phosphate binders are prescribed in these patients to prevent intestinal
      absorption of dietary phosphate and reduce serum phosphate. In prospective
      observational cohorts they have shown to decrease all-cause and cardiovascular
      mortality risk. Different problems have been associated with currently available
      phosphate binders as positive calcium balance and impaired outcomes with calcium
      based phosphate binders or increased costs with non-calcium-based phosphate
      binders. Iron-based phosphate binders represent a new class of phosphate binders.
      Several iron-based phosphate binders have undergone testing in clinical trials.
      Ferric citrate (JTT-751) and sucroferric oxyhydroxide (PA21) are the two iron
      based binders that have passed to the clinical field after being found safe and
      effective in decreasing serum phosphate. Iron from ferric citrate is partially
      absorbed compared to sucroferric oxyhydroxide. Ferric citrate usage could result
      in an important reduction in erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) and IV iron
      usage, resulting in significant cost savings. Sucroferric oxyhydroxide was
      effective in lowering serum phosphorus in dialysis patients with similar efficacy
      to sevelamer carbonate, but with lower pill burden, and better adherence. Ferric
      citrate may be more suited for the treatment of chronic hyperphosphatemia in CKD
      patients requiring iron supplements but its use may have been hampered by
      potential aluminum overload, as citrate facilitates its absorption; sucroferric
      oxyhydroxide may be more suited for hyperphosphatemic CKD patients not requiring
      iron supplementation, with low pill burden. 

PMID- 25815175
TI  - Treatment of adynamic bone disease in a haemodialysis patient with teriparatide.
AB  - Prevalence of adynamic bone disease (ABD), characterized by low bone turnover and
      absence or a reduced number of osteoblasts and osteoclasts, is increasing
      steadily over the last years. We present a dialysis patient, with recurrent bone
      fractures and biopsy-proven ABD, who was treated with teriparatide. Nine months
      after initiation of treatment, iPTH plasma levels increased to 520 pg/mL and a
      second bone biopsy revealed high bone turnover, normal mineralization and normal
      bone volume. Two years later, iPTH was 250-350 pg/dL and bone metabolism
      parameters within normal range. The probable utility of teriparatide in the
      treatment of ABD in dialysis patients is discussed. 

PMID- 25815173
TI  - The intestine and the kidneys: a bad marriage can be hazardous.
AB  - The concept that the intestine and chronic kidney disease influence each other,
      emerged only recently. The problem is multifaceted and bidirectional. On one
      hand, the composition of the intestinal microbiota impacts uraemic retention
      solute production, resulting in the generation of essentially protein-bound
      uraemic toxins with strong biological impact such as vascular damage and
      progression of kidney failure. On the other hand, the uraemic status affects the
      composition of intestinal microbiota, the generation of uraemic retention solutes
      and their precursors and causes disturbances in the protective epithelial barrier
      of the intestine and the translocation of intestinal microbiota into the body.
      All these elements together contribute to the disruption of the metabolic
      equilibrium and homeostasis typical to uraemia. Several measures with putative
      impact on intestinal status have recently been tested for their influence on the
      generation or concentration of uraemic toxins. These include dietary measures,
      prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics and intestinal sorbents. Unfortunately, the
      quality and the evidence base of many of these studies are debatable, especially
      in uraemia, and often results within one study or among studies are
      contradictory. Nevertheless, intestinal uraemic metabolite generation remains an
      interesting target to obtain in the future as an alternative or additive to
      dialysis to decrease uraemic toxin generation. In the present review, we aim to
      summarize (i) the role of the intestine in uraemia by producing uraemic toxins
      and by generating pathophysiologically relevant changes, (ii) the role of uraemia
      in modifying intestinal physiology and (iii) the therapeutic options that could
      help to modify these effects and the studies that have assessed the impact of
      these therapies. 

PMID- 25815174
TI  - Calcitonin, the forgotten hormone: does it deserve to be forgotten?
AB  - Calcitonin is a 32 amino acid hormone secreted by the C-cells of the thyroid
      gland. Calcitonin has been preserved during the transition from ocean-based life
      to land dwellers and is phylogenetically older than parathyroid hormone.
      Calcitonin secretion is stimulated by increases in the serum calcium
      concentration and calcitonin protects against the development of hypercalcemia.
      Calcitonin is also stimulated by gastrointestinal hormones such as gastrin. This
      has led to the unproven hypothesis that postprandial calcitonin stimulation could
      play a role in the deposition of calcium and phosphate in bone after feeding.
      However, no bone or other abnormalities have been described in states of
      calcitonin deficiency or excess except for diarrhea in a few patients with
      medullary thyroid carcinoma. Calcitonin is known to stimulate renal 1,25 (OH)2
      vitamin D (1,25D) production at a site in the proximal tubule different from
      parathyroid hormone and hypophosphatemia. During pregnancy and lactation, both
      calcitonin and 1,25D are increased. The increases in calcitonin and 1,25D may be
      important in the transfer of maternal calcium to the fetus/infant and in the
      prevention and recovery of maternal bone loss. Calcitonin has an immediate effect
      on decreasing osteoclast activity and has been used for treatment of
      hypercalcemia. Recent studies in the calcitonin gene knockout mouse have shown
      increases in bone mass and bone formation. This last result together with the
      presence of calcitonin receptors on the osteocyte suggests that calcitonin could
      possibly affect osteocyte products which affect bone formation. In summary, a
      precise role for calcitonin remains elusive more than 50 years after its
      discovery. 

PMID- 25815176
TI  - Optimization of the convection volume in online post-dilution haemodiafiltration:
      practical and technical issues.
AB  - In post-dilution online haemodiafiltration (ol-HDF), a relationship has been
      demonstrated between the magnitude of the convection volume and survival.
      However, to achieve high convection volumes (>22 L per session) detailed notion
      of its determining factors is highly desirable. This manuscript summarizes
      practical problems and pitfalls that were encountered during the quest for high
      convection volumes. Specifically, it addresses issues such as type of vascular
      access, needles, blood flow rate, recirculation, filtration fraction,
      anticoagulation and dialysers. Finally, five of the main HDF systems in Europe
      are briefly described as far as HDF prescription and optimization of the
      convection volume is concerned. 

PMID- 25815177
TI  - Venovenous haemodiafiltration for the management of dabigatran overdose in
      intensive care unit.
AB  - Dabigatran is a direct thrombin inhibitor indicated for thromboembolism
      prophylaxis in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. The procedure to
      manage dabigatran-associated haemorrhages is not well formalized. Conventional
      haemodialysis has been evaluated with good results. Patients with dabigatran
      associated bleeding may be unstable and convective techniques like venovenous
      haemodiafiltration (HDF) can be interesting. We report the case of a 74-year-old,
      critically ill patient with haemorrhagic shock and dabigatran overexposure due to
      acute kidney injury. He underwent HDF and dabigatran blood concentrations
      decreased from 325.3 ng/mL to 160.5 ng/mL. We report here key pharmacokinetics
      parameters (half-life, extraction coefficient, clearance). 

PMID- 25815179
TI  - The curious right-sided predominance of peritoneal dialysis-related hydrothorax.
AB  - A known complication of peritoneal dialysis is the movement of dialysate into the
      pleural space, termed hydrothorax. Peritoneal dialysis-related hydrothorax is
      almost uniformly right-sided and represents one of many presentations of the
      porous diaphragm syndrome. In addition to diaphragm porosity, the inherent
      intestinal circulation, lower hydrostatic pressure in the right upper quadrant
      and liver capsule may contribute to this right-sided predominance. Similar right
      sided presentations have been described in Meigs syndrome, bilious effusions with
      gastric or duodenal perforations, hepatic hydrothorax and nephrotic syndrome
      related chylothorax. PD-related hydrothorax can be repaired by pleurodesis or
      video-assisted thoracoscopy followed by resumption of peritoneal dialysis. 

PMID- 25815178
TI  - Strategies for preserving residual renal function in peritoneal dialysis
      patients.
AB  - Although there have been many advancements in the treatment of patients with
      chronic kidney disease (CKD) over the last 50 years, in terms of reducing
      cardiovascular risk, mortality remains unacceptably high, particularly for those
      patients who progress to stage 5 CKD and initiate dialysis (CKD5d). As mortality
      risk increases exponentially with progressive CKD stage, the question arises as
      to whether preservation of residual renal function once dialysis has been
      initiated can reduce mortality risk. Observational studies to date have reported
      an association between even small amounts of residual renal function and improved
      patient survival and quality of life. Dialysis therapies predominantly provide
      clearance for small water-soluble solutes, volume and acid-base control, but
      cannot reproduce the metabolic functions of the kidney. As such, protein-bound
      solutes, advanced glycosylation end-products, middle molecules and other
      azotaemic toxins accumulate over time in the anuric CKD5d patient. Apart from
      avoiding potential nephrotoxic insults, observational and interventional trials
      have suggested that a number of interventions and treatments may potentially
      reduce the progression of earlier stages of CKD, including targeted blood
      pressure control, reducing proteinuria and dietary intervention using
      combinations of protein restriction with keto acid supplementation. However, many
      interventions which have been proven to be effective in the general population
      have not been equally effective in the CKD5d patient, and so the question arises
      as to whether these treatment options are equally applicable to CKD5d patients.
      As strategies to help preserve residual renal function in CKD5d patients are not
      well established, we have reviewed the evidence for preserving or losing residual
      renal function in peritoneal dialysis patients, as urine collections are
      routinely collected, whereas few centres regularly collect urine from
      haemodialysis patients, and haemodialysis dialysis patients are at risk of sudden
      intravascular volume shifts associated with dialysis treatments. On the other
      hand, peritoneal dialysis patients are exposed to a variety of hypertonic
      dialysates and episodes of peritonitis. Whereas blood pressure control, using an
      angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) or angiotensin receptor blocker
      (ARB), and low-protein diets along with keto acid supplementation have been shown
      to reduce the rate of progression in patients with earlier stages of CKD, the
      strategies to preserve residual renal function (RRF) in dialysis patients are not
      well established. For peritoneal dialysis patients, there are additional
      technical factors that might aggravate the rate of loss of residual renal
      function including peritoneal dialysis prescriptions and modality, bio
      incompatible dialysis fluid and over ultrafiltration of fluid causing
      dehydration. In this review, we aim to evaluate the evidence of interventions and
      treatments, which may sustain residual renal function in peritoneal dialysis
      patients. 

PMID- 25815180
TI  - Plasma nitrate/nitrite removal by peritoneal dialysis might predispose infants
      with low blood pressure to cerebral ischaemia.
AB  - The underlying pathogenic mechanisms of neurological complications in infants
      undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD) are poorly understood. We report on four male
      infants treated with PD who developed symptomatic cerebral ischaemia. Blood
      pressure (BP) levels were low both before the event and at presentation. In two
      patients, we observed that the removal of nitrate and nitrite by PD could have
      impaired the nitrate/nitrite--nitrite oxide (NO) pathway, a system that generates
      NO independently of NO synthase. Our observation suggests that low BP and reduced
      NO bioavailability puts infants treated with PD at risk for impaired cerebral
      blood flow and consequently for brain ischaemia. 

PMID- 25815181
TI  - Peritoneal ultrafiltration in end-stage chronic heart failure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiorenal syndrome type 2 (CRS-2) is common in end-stage chronic
      heart failure (CHF). Peritoneal ultrafiltration (pUF) may entail clinical
      functional improvement and a reduction in hospitalizations. METHODS: Thirty-nine
      consecutive end-stage CHF patients with stable CRS-2 were initiated on ambulatory
      pUF after interdisciplinary cardiological/nephrological evaluation and
      prospectively followed for 1 year. All-cause hospitalization was the primary end
      point. Secondary end points included mortality, treatment alteration and change
      in weight, NYHA functional class or quality of life (QoL). Outcomes were compared
      both within the pUF cohort (365 prior to initiation) and with 39 matched CHF
      patients receiving standard medical treatment. RESULTS: Compared with
      pretreatment, there was a trend to a reduction in 1-year hospitalization days in
      the pUF group (P = 0.07). One-year mortality was 33% in the pUF group and 23% in
      the matched control cohort. pUF was stopped in eight patients (18%) due to
      recurrent peritonitis (n = 3), insufficient ultrafiltration (n = 3) or cardiac
      recompensation (n = 1). Compared with standard medical treatment, pUF
      significantly improved volume overload (P < 0.05), NYHA functional class (P <
      0.001) and mental health (P < 0.05). Moreover, hospitalization days for all
      causes as well as cardiovascular hospitalization days were significantly reduced
      during the interim periods in the pUF group (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001,
      respectively). CONCLUSIONS: pUF is effective in improving the clinical condition
      of end-stage CHF patients suffering from CRS-2. Randomized controlled trials are
      needed to clarify the effects of pUF on hospitalization and mortality in these
      patients.

PMID- 25815182
TI  - Advanced chronic kidney disease in non-valvular atrial fibrillation: extending
      the utility of R2CHADS2 to patients with advanced renal failure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The R2CHADS2 is a new prediction rule for stroke risk in atrial
      fibrillation (AF) patients wherein R stands for renal risk. However, it was
      created from a cohort that excluded patients with advanced renal failure (defined
      as glomerular filtration rate of <30 mL/min). Our study extends the use of
      R2CHADS2 to patients with advanced renal failure and aims to compare its
      predictive power against the currently used CHADS and CHA2DS2VaSc. METHODS: This
      retrospective cohort study analyzed the 1-year risk for stroke of the 524
      patients with AF at Metropolitan Hospital Center. AUC and C statistics were
      calculated using three groups: (i) the entire cohort including patients with
      advanced renal failure, (ii) a cohort excluding patients with advanced renal
      failure and (iii) all patients with GFR < 30 mL/min only. RESULTS: R2CHADS2, as a
      predictor for stroke risk, consistently performs better than CHADS2 and
      CHA2DS2VsC in groups 1 and 2. The C-statistic was highest in R2CHADS compared
      with CHADS or CHADSVASC in group 1 (0.718 versus 0.605 versus 0.602) and in group
      2 (0.724 versus 0.584 versus 0.579). However, there was no statistically
      significant difference in group 3 (0.631 versus 0.629 versus 0.623). CONCLUSION:
      Our study supports the utility of R2CHADS2 as a clinical prediction rule for
      stroke risk in patients with advanced renal failure.

PMID- 25815183
TI  - Remission of aHUS neurological damage with eculizumab.
AB  - Atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome (aHUS) is a rare disease characterized by
      haemolytic microangiopathic anaemia, thrombocytopaenia and acute onset of renal
      failure, in the absence of Escherichia coli infection. Renal damage usually
      progresses to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), sometimes being accompanied by
      signs of extrarenal thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA). We report a case of full
      neurological and haematological recovery after eculizumab treatment in a patient
      with ESRD secondary to chronic aHUS refractory to plasmatherapy while she was
      under dialysis. It highlights the use of eculizumab for controlling extrarenal
      manifestations of aHUS in this population. 

PMID- 25815184
TI  - Light and heavy chain deposition disease associated with CH1 deletion.
AB  - Light and heavy chain deposition disease (LHCDD) is a rare complication of
      monoclonal gammopathy. In all documented cases, LHCDD is the association of
      deposits of a monoclonal light chain with a normal heavy chain, especially in the
      kidneys. We describe here a 78-year-old woman whose renal biopsy showed nodular
      glomerulosclerosis, initially diagnosed as diabetic nephropathy. Detailed kidney
      biopsy immunofluorescence study corrected the diagnosis to gamma1-kappa-LHCDD.
      Advanced immunoblot analysis showed deletion of CH1 in the both blood and kidney
      heavy chain. We report here, to our knowledge, the first case of gamma1 LHCDD
      associated with a deletion of CH1. 

PMID- 25815186
TI  - Invasive candidiasis presenting multiple pulmonary cavitary lesions on chest
      computed tomography.
AB  - We herein report a case of invasive candidiasis presenting rare findings on chest
      computed tomography (CT). The chest CT scan showed multiple small cavitary
      lesions and nodules with surrounding ground-glass opacity, and also bilateral
      pleural effusion. Although this CT finding is thought as specific for pulmonary
      aspergillosis, two sets of blood culture specimens were drawn which yielded
      Candida albicans in our case. Antifungal therapy was started and the chest CT
      findings showed a remarkable improvement. To our knowledge, this is the first
      case report describing multiple pulmonary cavitary lesions in invasive
      candidiasis. 

PMID- 25815185
TI  - Perturbation and restoration of the fathead minnow gut microbiome after low-level
      triclosan exposure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Triclosan is a widely used antimicrobial compound and emerging
      environmental contaminant. Although the role of the gut microbiome in health and
      disease is increasingly well established, the interaction between environmental
      contaminants and host microbiome is largely unexplored, with unknown consequences
      for host health. This study examined the effects of low, environmentally relevant
      levels of triclosan exposure on the fish gut microbiome. Developing fathead
      minnows (Pimephales promelas) were exposed to two low levels of triclosan over a
      7-day exposure. Fish gastrointestinal tracts from exposed and control fish were
      harvested at four time points: immediately preceding and following the 7-day
      exposure and after 1 and 2 weeks of depuration. RESULTS: A total of 103 fish gut
      bacterial communities were characterized by high-throughput sequencing and
      analysis of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. By measures of both alpha and
      beta diversity, gut microbial communities were significantly differentiated by
      exposure history immediately following triclosan exposure. After 2 weeks of
      depuration, these differences disappear. Independent of exposure history,
      communities were also significantly structured by time. This first detailed
      census of the fathead minnow gut microbiome shows a bacterial community that is
      similar in composition to those of zebrafish and other freshwater fish. Among the
      triclosan-resilient members of this host-associated community are taxa associated
      with denitrification in wastewater treatment, taxa potentially able to degrade
      triclosan, and taxa from an unstudied host-associated candidate division.
      CONCLUSIONS: The fathead minnow gut microbiome is rapidly and significantly
      altered by exposure to low, environmentally relevant levels of triclosan, yet
      largely recovers from this short-term perturbation over an equivalently brief
      time span. These results suggest that even low-level environmental exposure to a
      common antimicrobial compound can induce significant short-term changes to the
      gut microbiome, followed by restoration, demonstrating both the sensitivity and
      resilience of the gut flora to challenges by environmental toxicants. This short
      term disruption in a developing organism may have important long-term
      consequences for host health. The identification of multiple taxa not often
      reported in the fish gut suggests that microbial nitrogen metabolism in the fish
      gut may be more complex than previously appreciated.

PMID- 25815188
TI  - Parents' perceptions on offspring risk and prevention of anxiety and depression:
      a qualitative study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Offspring of patients with anxiety or depression are at high risk for
      developing anxiety or depression. Despite the positive findings regarding
      effectiveness of prevention programs, recruitment for prevention activities and
      trials is notoriously difficult. Our randomized controlled prevention trial was
      terminated due to lack of patient inclusion. Research on mentally-ill parents'
      perceptions of offspring's risk and need for preventive intervention may shed
      light on this issue, and may enhance family participation in prevention
      activities and trials. METHODS: Qualitative data were collected through semi
      structured interviews with 24 parents (patients with anxiety or depression, or
      their partners). An inductive content analysis of the data was performed. Five
      research questions were investigated regarding parents' perceptions of anxiety,
      depression, and offspring risk; anxiety, depression, and parenting; the need for
      offspring intervention and prevention; and barriers to and experiences with
      participation in preventive research. RESULTS: Parental perceptions of the impact
      of parental anxiety and depression on offspring greatly differed. Parents
      articulated concerns about children's symptomatology, however, most parents did
      not perceive a direct link between parent symptoms and offspring quality of life.
      They experienced an influence of parental symptoms on family quality of life, but
      chose not to discuss that with their children in order to protect them. Parents
      were not well aware of the possibilities regarding professional help for
      offspring and preferred parent-focused rather than offspring-focused
      interventions such as parent psycho-education. Important barriers to
      participation in preventive research included parental overburden, shame and
      stigma, and perceived lack of necessity for intervention. CONCLUSIONS: This study
      highlights the importance of educating parents in adult health care. Providing
      psycho-education regarding offspring risk, communication in the family, and
      parenting in order to increase parental knowledge and parent-child communication,
      and decrease guilt and shame are important first steps in motivating parents to
      participate in preventive treatment.

PMID- 25815187
TI  - Best practice in bereavement photography after perinatal death: qualitative
      analysis with 104 parents.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Postmortem memento photography has emerged in Western hospitals as
      part of compassionate bereavement care for parents facing perinatal death. Many
      parents endorse this psychosocial intervention, yet implementation varies greatly
      and little research on parents' specific needs guides health care professionals.
      Parents are in crisis and vulnerable after the death of their child, thus best
      practice is crucial. This study contributes 104 parents' experiences and opinions
      toward the understanding of best practice in perinatal bereavement photography.
      METHODS: Parents who experienced the perinatal death of their child were
      recruited from U.S.-based bereavement organizations and social media sites.
      Volunteers completed an anonymous internet survey with open- and closed-ended
      questions. Direct recommendations and pertinent statements regarding the process
      of postmortem photography were analyzed for thematic content in keeping with
      conventional content analysis. Recurrent themes and sub-themes were counted to
      identify response patterns. RESULTS: Of 93 parents with pictures, 92 endorsed
      them. Of 11 without pictures, nine wanted them. Parents made a variety of
      recommendations regarding appropriate psychosocial support, the consent process,
      obstacles to photography, logistics of photography, and material aspects of
      photographs themselves. Overall, parents wanted many pictures and much variety.
      Some wanted professional photography while others wanted support for taking their
      own pictures. Parents wanted guidance from staff who respected their particular
      needs. Many said decisions were difficult during their crisis. Parents who were
      initially resistant expressed current appreciation for pictures or expressed
      regret that they had not participated. Parents recommended that professionals
      strongly encourage parents to create memento photos despite parents' initial
      reservations. Persistent cultural reasons against photography emerged in one
      case. Quotes by parents illuminate themes and enable respondents to speak
      directly to health care professionals. CONCLUSIONS: Parents overwhelmingly
      support postmortem bereavement photography when conducted sensitively, even if
      imperfectly executed. Providers significantly influence parents during their
      crises; mindful, patient-centered care with appropriate respect for difference is
      necessary. Providers must understand the importance of postmortem photographs to
      parents who have limited opportunity to capture memories of their child.
      Hospitals should provide education and support for this important psychosocial
      intervention.

PMID- 25815189
TI  - A mediation model of mindfulness and decentering: sequential psychological
      constructs or one and the same?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mindfulness and decentering are closely related processes both
      assumed to promote well-being. While some researchers claim that mindfulness and
      decentering can be clearly differentiated others suggest to use these concepts
      interchangeably. The precise relation between mindfulness and decentering remains
      unclear and therefore the present study aims to determine the relation between
      mindfulness and decentering. METHODS: In a structural equation modeling
      framework, a mediation model was tested among a sample group of 495 university
      students (average age 20.8 years, 30.3% female). RESULTS: The identified model
      shows an acceptable fit to the data and illustrates the role of decentering as a
      mediator of the relationship between mindfulness and depressive symptoms by
      complementary mediation and indirect-only mediation. CONCLUSION: The present
      results cannot sustain previous research, which converted mindfulness and
      decentering into one single variable. Rather the data suggests to treat
      mindfulness and decentering as two separable concepts and to regard decentering
      as an important working mechanism of mindfulness.

PMID- 25815190
TI  - Attachment-oriented psychological intervention for couples facing breast cancer:
      protocol of a randomised controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is evidence that both breast cancer patients and their partners
      are affected emotionally, when facing a breast cancer diagnosis. Several couple
      interventions have been evaluated, but there is a need for couple intervention
      studies with a clear theoretical basis and a strong design. The Hand in Hand
      intervention is designed to enhance interdependent coping in the couples and to
      address patients and partners that are both initially distressed and non
      distressed. METHODS: The Hand in Hand study is a randomised controlled trial
      among 199 breast cancer patients and their partners. Couples were randomised to 4
      8 couple sessions with a psychologist in addition to usual care, or to usual care
      only, approximately 2 months after the patients' primary surgery date. The
      intervention was delivered within 3 months, and outcomes were assessed prior to
      randomisation and 5 and 10 months after primary surgery date. The primary outcome
      is patients' cancer-specific distress at the 5-month follow-up measured by the
      Impact of Event Scale. Secondary outcomes are assessed for both breast cancer
      patients and partners. These outcomes are: general distress, symptoms of anxiety
      and depression, health-related quality of life and measures of dyadic adjustment,
      intimacy and partner involvement. Cancer-specific distress is also assessed for
      partners. Eligible patients were women >= 18 years newly diagnosed with primary
      breast cancer, cohabiting with a male partner, having no previous cancer
      diagnoses, receiving no neo-adjuvant treatment, having no history of
      hospitalisation due to psychosis, and able to read and speak Danish. Partners
      were eligible if they could read and speak Danish and were >= 18 years.
      DISCUSSION: This study investigates the effect of an attachment-oriented
      psychological intervention for breast cancer patients and their partners. The
      intervention has a theoretical framework and a strong design. If proven
      effective, this intervention would be helpful in optimising psychosocial care and
      rehabilitation of couples coping with breast cancer. TRIAL REGISTRATION:
      ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01368380.

PMID- 25815191
TI  - Gender-differences in risk factors for suicidal behaviour identified by perceived
      burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness and acquired capability: cross-sectional
      analysis from a longitudinal cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicidal Behavior (IPT) is
      supported by recent epidemiological data. Unique risk factors for the IPT
      constructs have been identified in community epidemiological studies. Gender
      differences in these risk factors may contribute substantially to our
      understanding of suicidal risk, and require further investigation. The present
      study explores gender differences in the predictors and correlates of perceived
      burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness and acquired capability for suicide.
      METHODS: Participants (547 males, 739 females) aged 32-38 from the PATH through
      Life study, an Australian population-based longitudinal cohort study (n=1,177)
      were assessed on perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness and acquired
      capability for suicide using the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire and Acquired
      Capability for Suicide Survey, and on a range of demographic, social support,
      psychological, mental health and physical health measures. Gender differences in
      the predictors of the IPT constructs were assessed using linear regression
      analyses. RESULTS: Higher perceived burdensomeness increased suicide ideation in
      both genders, while higher thwarted belongingness increased suicide ideation only
      in females. In females, thwarted belongingness was uniquely related to perceived
      burdensomeness, while greater physical health was significantly associated with
      greater thwarted belongingness in males but not in females. There were trends
      suggesting greater effects of being single and greater perceived burdensomeness
      for men, and stronger effects of less positive friendship support for women
      associated with greater thwarted belongingness. CONCLUSIONS: Men and women differ
      in the pattern of psychological characteristics that predict suicide ideation,
      and in the factors predicting vulnerability. Suicide prevention strategies need
      to take account of gender differences.

PMID- 25815192
TI  - A short tool to screen HIV-infected patients for mild neurocognitive disorders -
      a pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We aimed to evaluate the accuracy and acceptability of a short
      screening test battery for mild neurocognitive deficits. METHODS: HIV-infected
      individuals with a suppressed viral load were examined at the University Hospital
      Basel with a screening test consisting of a questionnaire and selected cognitive
      tests, administered by trained nurses, followed by an in-depth neuropsychological
      examination. Test acceptance was evaluated with a questionnaire. RESULTS: 30
      patients were included in this study (median age of 52.5 years (interquartile
      range (IQR) 47-64), prior AIDS-defining condition in 37%, median CD4 cell count
      658 (IQR 497-814) cells/MUl). Overall, 25 (83%) patients were diagnosed with HIV
      associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) on in-depth neuropsychological
      assessment (16 patients had asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment (ANI), 8 a
      mild neurocognitive disorder (MND) and 1 patient HIV-associated dementia (HAD).
      Among 25 patients with HAND, only 9 patients (36%) were complaining of memory
      loss. The screening battery revealed neurocognitive deficits in 17 (57%) patients
      (sensitivity 64%, specificity 80%, positive predictive value 94% and negative
      predictive value 31%). Most patients (83%) estimated the screening test as
      valuable and not worrisome. CONCLUSIONS: A questionnaire combined with selected
      neuropsychological tests is a short, easy-to-perform very well accepted screening
      tool for mild neurocognitive disorders in asymptomatic HIV-infected individuals.

PMID- 25815193
TI  - Rumination and interoceptive accuracy predict the occurrence of the thermal grill
      illusion of pain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: While the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the thermal grill
      illusion of pain (TGI) have been thoroughly studied, psychological determinants
      largely remain unknown. The present study aimed to investigate whether cognitive
      and affective personality traits encompassing rumination, interoception, and
      suggestibility may be identified as characteristics favouring the elicitation of
      paradoxical pain experiences. METHODS: The dominant hand of 54 healthy volunteers
      was stimulated with a water-bath driven thermal grill providing an interlaced
      temperature combination of 15 and 41 degrees C. Pain intensity and pain
      unpleasantness perceptions were rated on a combined verbal-numerical scale (NRS).
      Traits were assessed via questionnaires, the heartbeat-tracking task, and warmth
      suggestions. RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses uncovered trait rumination and
      interoceptive accuracy (IA) as major predictors of the likelihood of the illusive
      pain occurrence (all p < .05). Rumination and suggestibility had an impact on
      unpleasant pain perceptions. CONCLUSION: Our findings allowed identifying
      psychological factors substantially involved in the individual pre-disposition to
      reporting painful sensations in the thermal grill paradigm. These psychological
      characteristics may also be relevant in the context of central neuropathic pain,
      which to a large extent incorporates the same neural pathways.

PMID- 25815194
TI  - The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: psychometric properties of the
      parent and teacher version in children aged 4-7.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire is one of the most
      employed screening instruments. Although there is a large research body
      investigating its psychometric properties, reliability and validity are not yet
      fully tested using modern techniques. Therefore, we investigate reliability,
      construct validity, measurement invariance, and predictive validity of the parent
      and teacher version in children aged 4-7. Besides, we intend to replicate
      previous studies by investigating test-retest reliability and criterion validity.
      METHODS: In a Dutch community sample 2,238 teachers and 1,513 parents filled out
      questionnaires regarding problem behaviors and parenting, while 1,831 children
      reported on sociometric measures at T1. These children were followed-up during
      three consecutive years. Reliability was examined using Cronbach's alpha and
      McDonald's omega, construct validity was examined by Confirmatory Factor
      Analysis, and predictive validity was examined by calculating developmental
      profiles and linking these to measures of inadequate parenting, parenting stress
      and social preference. Further, mean scores and percentiles were examined in
      order to establish norms. RESULTS: Omega was consistently higher than alpha
      regarding reliability. The original five-factor structure was replicated, and
      measurement invariance was established on a configural level. Further, higher SDQ
      scores were associated with future indices of higher inadequate parenting, higher
      parenting stress and lower social preference. Finally, previous results on test
      retest reliability and criterion validity were replicated. CONCLUSIONS: This
      study is the first to show SDQ scores are predictively valid, attesting to the
      feasibility of the SDQ as a screening instrument. Future research into predictive
      validity of the SDQ is warranted.

PMID- 25815195
TI  - Oncologists' perception of depressive symptoms in patients with advanced cancer:
      accuracy and relational correlates.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Health care providers often inaccurately perceive depression in
      cancer patients. The principal aim of this study was to examine oncologist
      patient agreement on specific depressive symptoms, and to identify potential
      predictors of accurate detection. METHODS: 201 adult advanced cancer patients
      (recruited across four French oncology units) and their oncologists (N = 28)
      reported depressive symptoms with eight core symptoms from the BDI-SF. Various
      indices of agreement, as well as logistic regression analyses were employed to
      analyse data. RESULTS: For individual symptoms, medians for sensitivity and
      specificity were 33% and 71%, respectively. Sensitivity was lowest for suicidal
      ideation, self-dislike, guilt, and sense of failure, while specificity was lowest
      for negative body image, pessimism, and sadness. Indices independent of base rate
      indicated poor general agreement (median DOR = 1.80; median ICC = .30). This was
      especially true for symptoms that are more difficult to recognise such as sense
      of failure, self-dislike and guilt. Depression was detected with a sensitivity of
      52% and a specificity of 69%. Distress was detected with a sensitivity of 64% and
      a specificity of 65%. Logistic regressions identified compassionate care, quality
      of relationship, and oncologist self-efficacy as predictors of patient-physician
      agreement, mainly on the less recognisable symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The results
      suggest that oncologists have difficulty accurately detecting depressive
      symptoms. Low levels of accuracy are problematic, considering that oncologists
      act as an important liaison to psychosocial services. This underlines the
      importance of using validated screening tests. Simple training focused on
      psychoeducation and relational skills would also allow for better detection of
      key depressive symptoms that are difficult to perceive.

PMID- 25815196
TI  - Chronic pain in multi-traumatized outpatients with a refugee background resettled
      in Norway: a cross-sectional study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Traumatized refugees often report significant levels of chronic pain
      in addition to posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and more information is
      needed to understand pain in refugees exposed to traumatic events. This study
      aimed to assess the frequency of chronic pain among refugee psychiatric
      outpatients, and to compare outpatients with and without chronic pain on trauma
      exposure, psychiatric morbidity, and psychiatric symptom severity. METHODS: We
      conducted a cross-sectional study of sixty-one psychiatric outpatients with a
      refugee background using structured clinical diagnostic interviews to assess for
      traumatic events [Life Events Checklist (LEC)], PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress
      Disorder) and complex PTSD [Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV PTSD Module
      (SCID-PTSD) and Structured Interview for Disorders of Extreme Stress (SIDES)],
      chronic pain (SIDES Scale VI) and psychiatric symptoms [M.I.N.I. International
      Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.)]. Self-report measures were used to assess
      symptoms of posttraumatic stress [Impact of Event Scale-revised (IES-R)],
      depression and anxiety [Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25)] and several markers
      of acculturation in Norway. RESULTS: Of the 61 outpatients included, all but one
      reported at least one chronic pain location, with a mean of 4.6 locations per
      patient. Chronic pain at clinical levels was present in 66% of the whole sample
      of outpatients, and in 88% of the outpatients with current PTSD diagnosis. The
      most prevalent chronic pain locations were head (80%), chest (74%), arms/legs
      (66%) and back (62%). Women had significantly more chronic pain locations than
      men. Comorbid PTSD and chronic pain were found in 57% of the outpatients.
      Significant differences were found between outpatients with and without chronic
      pain on posttraumatic stress, psychological distress, and DESNOS severity.
      CONCLUSIONS: Chronic pains are common in multi-traumatized refugees in outpatient
      clinics in Norway, and are positively related to symptomatology and severity of
      psychiatric morbidity. The presence of chronic pain, as well as comorbid chronic
      pain and PTSD, in psychiatric outpatients with a refugee background call for an
      integrated assessment and treatment for both conditions.

PMID- 25815197
TI  - The "child size medicines" concept: policy provisions in Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the 'make
      medicines child size' (MMCS) campaign by urging countries to prioritize
      procurement of medicines with appropriate strengths for children's age and weight
      and, in child-friendly formulations of rectal and flexible oral solid
      formulations. This study examined policy provisions for MMCS recommendations in
      Uganda. METHODS: This was an in-depth case study of the Ugandan health policy
      documents to assess provisions for MMCS recommendations in respect to oral and
      rectal medicine formulations for malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea, the major
      causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Uganda- diseases that were
      also emphasized in the MMCS campaign. Asthma and epilepsy were included as
      conditions that require long term care. Schistomiasis was included as a neglected
      tropical disease. Content analysis was used to assess evidence of policy
      provisions for the MMCS recommendations. RESULTS: For most medicines for the
      selected diseases, appropriate strength for children's age and weight was
      addressed especially in the EMHSLU 2012. However, policy documents neither
      referred to 'child size medicines' concept nor provided for flexible oral solid
      dosage formulations like dispersible tablets, pellets and granules- indicating
      limited adherence to MMCS recommendations. Some of the medicines recommended in
      the clinical guidelines as first line treatment for malaria and pneumonia among
      children were not evidence-based. CONCLUSION: The Ugandan health policy documents
      reflected limited adherence to the MMCS recommendations. This and failure to use
      evidence based medicines may result into treatment failure and or death. A
      revision of the current policies and guidelines to better reflect 'child size',
      child appropriate and evidence based medicines for children is recommended.

PMID- 25815198
TI  - What variables should be considered in allocating Primary health care
      Pharmaceutical budgets to districts in Uganda?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A key policy question for the government of Uganda is how to
      equitably allocate primary health care pharmaceutical budgets to districts. This
      paper seeks to identify variables influencing current primary health care
      pharmaceutical expenditure and their usefulness in allocating prospective
      pharmaceutical budgets to districts. METHODS: This was a cross sectional,
      retrospective observational study using secondary administrative data. We
      collected data on the value of pharmaceuticals procured by primary health care
      facilities in each district from National Medical Stores for the financial year
      2011/2012. The dependent variable was expressed as per capita district
      pharmaceutical expenditure. By reviewing literature we identified 26 potential
      explanatory variables. They include supply, need and demand, and health system
      organization variables that may influence the demand and supply of health
      services and the corresponding pharmaceutical expenditure. We collected secondary
      data for these variables for all the districts in Uganda (n = 112). We performed
      econometric analysis to estimate parameters of various regression models.
      RESULTS: There is a significant correlation between per capita district
      pharmaceutical expenditure and total district population, rural poverty, access
      to drinking water and outpatient department (OPD) per capita utilisation.(P <
      0.01). The percentage of health centre IIIs (HC III) among each district's health
      facilities is significantly correlated with per capita pharmaceutical expenditure
      (P < 0.05). OPD per capita utilisation has a relatively strong correlation with
      per capita pharmaceutical expenditure (r = 0.498); all the other significant
      factors are weakly correlated with per capita pharmaceutical expenditure (r <
      0.5). From several iterations of an initially developed model, the proposed final
      model for explaining per capita pharmaceutical expenditure explains about 53% of
      the variation in pharmaceutical expenditure among districts in Uganda (Adjusted
      R(2) = 0.528). All variables in the model are significant (p < 0.01).
      CONCLUSIONS: From evaluation of the various models, proposed variables to
      consider in allocating prospective primary health care pharmaceutical budgets to
      districts in Uganda are: district outpatient department attendance per capita,
      total district population, total number of government health facilities in the
      district and the district human poverty index.

PMID- 25815199
TI  - Pharmaceutical policy Part 1 The challenge to pharmacists to engage in policy
      development.
AB  - Across the world medicines are the ubiquitous technology in the diagnosis,
      treatment and prevention of disease. Pharmaceutical policy, as part of national
      health care policy, is concerned with the provision and use of medicines.
      Pharmacists are critical to the medicines management process, yet are often
      largely detached from policy development. Logically, they should inform
      Government policies which impact on their work or where their skills could be
      best applied to implement health care policy and medicines utilisation in
      particular. It therefore makes it critically important that the pharmaceutical
      profession engages with national policy makers and in the strategic planning for
      health care. This is the first of two articles directed to this specific issue.
      Firstly, it identifies a number of the practice challenges for pharmacy and
      medicines management, their implications for policy and the need for a balanced
      approach. Drawing from a range of international experiences some key learning
      points in respect of formulating and implementing national medicines policies are
      presented. Finally, reference is made to several authoritative evidence bases to
      inform the development of pharmaceutical practice and medicines management
      policies. 

PMID- 25815200
TI  - Patient access schemes in Asia-pacific markets: current experience and future
      potential.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Patient access (or risk-sharing) schemes are alternative market
      access agreements between healthcare payers and medical product manufacturers for
      conditional coverage of promising health technologies. This study aims to
      identify and characterize patient access schemes to date in the Asia-Pacific
      region. METHODS: We reviewed the literature on patient access schemes over the
      last two decades using publicly available databases, Internet, and grey
      literature searches. We extracted key features of each scheme identified,
      including the drug, clinical indication, stakeholders involved, and details of
      the scheme. We categorized schemes according to a previously published taxonomy
      of scheme types and by country. RESULTS: We identified 3 schemes in South Korea,
      5 in New Zealand, and 98 in Australia. Most (97.2%; n = 103) schemes focused on
      pharmaceuticals, few on medical technologies. More than half of the schemes
      related to treatments for cancer and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid
      arthritis. The majority (77.4%; n =82) involved pricing arrangements. Evidence
      generation schemes were rarely used. About half (41.8%; n = 41) of schemes in
      Australia were hybrid by nature, consisting of pricing arrangements with a
      conditional treatment continuation component. CONCLUSIONS: Australia has the most
      experience with patient access schemes and its experience may provide useful
      insights for other Asia-Pacific countries. The main targets are pharmaceuticals
      likely to have high budget impact (due to high per-patient costs and/or large
      volumes of use), and pharmaceuticals that may be adopted more widely than
      indicated. With the proliferation of high-cost medicines, the use of schemes may
      increase to address rising cost pressures, consumer demands, and uncertainties,
      while attempting to provide patient access to innovative care within finite
      budgets. Future research is warranted to evaluate the performance of patient
      access schemes.

PMID- 25815201
TI  - Uptake of new antidiabetic medications in three emerging markets: a comparison
      between Brazil, China and Thailand.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: New antidiabetic medications such as insulin analogues and
      thiazolidinediones have been introduced over the last decade. This study compares
      the uptake of new agents in three emerging pharmaceutical markets: Brazil, China,
      and Thailand. METHODS: Using longitudinal IMS Health sales data, we calculated
      the quarterly percentage market share for types of insulins and oral hypoglycemic
      agents from 2002 through 2012 in each country. New oral hypoglycemic agents
      included: alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, thiazolidinediones, dipeptidyl peptidase
      4 inhibitors, and non-sulfonylurea secretagogues. RESULTS: While China had the
      highest use of insulin cartridges and pens (85.6% in 2010), Brazil was the
      earliest adopter of insulin analogues and had the greatest use of these products
      overall (44.6% of the insulin market) in 2010, which then decreased by almost
      half by 2012. Together, sulfonylureas and metformin dominated the markets in
      Brazil and Thailand (~89% and ~96% respectively) over the 10-year period. Between
      2002 and 2012, there was a shift in use from sulfonylureas to metformin; the
      market share of newer agents remained 10% or less in both countries. In China,
      however, market share of new oral agents grew rapidly from 13.1% to 44.4%. While
      metformin use was relatively stable in China (one-third of the market),
      sulfonylureas declined substantially over the 10-year period (41.5% to 20.8%).
      CONCLUSION: Given large cost differentials between newer and older insulins and
      among oral hypoglycemic agents, it is important to evaluate uptake of newer
      products over time. Uptake patterns differed in the study countries, likely due
      to different medicines policy approaches. Future research should evaluate how
      trends in use of antidiabetic products align with national clinical practice
      guidelines and pharmaceutical policies, as well as the impacts of different
      patterns of use on cost and clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25815202
TI  - Onion membrane: an efficient adsorbent for decoloring of wastewater.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recently, researchers have tried to design synthetic materials by
      replicating natural materials as an adsorbent for removing various types of
      environmental pollutants, which have reached to the risky levels in nature for
      many countries in the world. In this research, the potential of onion membrane
      obtained from intermediate of onion shells for adsorption of methylene blue (MB)
      as a model cationic dye was exhibited. METHODS: Before and after adsorption, the
      membrane was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and
      optical and scanning electron microscopy in order to prove its dye adsorption
      capability. The various experimental conditions affecting dye adsorption were
      explored to achieve maximum adsorption capacity. RESULTS: The dye adsorption
      capacity of the membrane was found to be 1.055 g.g(-1) with 84.45% efficiency
      after one hour and 1.202 g.g(-1) with 96.20% efficiency after eight hours in
      contact with the dye solution (0.3 g.L(-1)). Moreover, the kinetic, thermodynamic
      and adsorption isotherm models were employed to described the MB adsorption
      processes. The results show that the data for adsorption of MB onto the membrane
      fitted well with the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models.
      In addition, the MB adsorption from room temperature to ~50 degrees C is
      spontaneous and thermodynamically favorable. CONCLUSIONS: Evidently, the high
      efficiency and fast removal of methylene blue using onion membrane suggest the
      synthesis of polymer-based membranes with similar physical and chemical
      properties of onion membrane as a valuable and promising wastewater decoloring
      agents in water treatment.

PMID- 25815203
TI  - The estimation of per capita loadings of domestic wastewater in Tehran.
AB  - The amount of wastewater characteristics loading is one of the main parameters in
      the design of wastewater collection and treatment systems. The generation per
      capita per day (GPCD) of wastewater characteristics was estimated by analyzing
      the monthly data of nine wastewater treatment plants in Tehran, capital city of
      Iran. GPCD values were calculated from measured collected wastewater flow, the
      population and concentration data. The results indicated the values of 32.96 +/-
      1.91, 49.25 +/- 2.49, 37.31 +/- 2.44, 6.77 +/- 0.53, 1.96 +/- 0.11, 92.23 +/-
      5.68, 2.07 +/- 0.39 and 128.96 +/- 6.69 g/d.cap of GPCD for BOD5, COD, TSS, TKN,
      P, TDS, ON and TS, respectively, for Tehran's wastewater. The per capita
      estimated for the wastewater production and treatment were determined to be
      186.06 +/- 7.85 and 136.72 +/- 5.43 L/d.cap, respectively. It is estimated that
      about 504 m(3)/d and 346 m(3)/d of sludge, will be produced and waste as
      excrement raw sludge, respectively, in Tehran. Simple regression models were
      presented the relationships such as the change of collected and treated
      wastewater with population and changes of GPCD parameters with each other. It was
      revealed that the Tehran's wastewater may be classified as highly degradable, but
      during recent decades its Biodegradability Index (BI) has been reduced up to 15%.
      The new suggested revised per capita parameters can be used for design purposes
      in Tehran, and possibly, in areas with similar characteristics, substituting the
      classical values obtained from foreign textbooks. These values could help in
      designing more accurate treatment systems and may lower the required capacity for
      the treatment of wastewater up to 40% in Tehran. 

PMID- 25815204
TI  - Healthcare resource implications of hypoglycemia-related hospital admissions and
      inpatient hypoglycemia: retrospective record-linked cohort studies in England.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Using a retrospective cohort study, the mean length of hospital stay
      (LoS) and total per-patient expenditure for hypoglycemia requiring admission to
      hospital were estimated. In a separate matched retrospective cohort study, the
      effect of inpatient hypoglycemia on LoS, expenditure, and risk of all-cause
      mortality while admitted was investigated. METHODS: The cohorts consisted of
      patients aged >=18 years with a diagnosis of type 1 or 2 diabetes between January
      1, 2002 and October 30, 2012 in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink database,
      who had initiated insulin treatment and had a recording of hypoglycemia in the
      same period. In the matched retrospective cohort study, exposed patients (who
      experienced hypoglycemia in hospital) were case-matched with patients who did not
      experience hypoglycemia during admission (unexposed). Generalized linear
      regression was used to estimate LoS. Risk of all-cause mortality was evaluated
      via logistic regression. RESULTS: In the retrospective cohort study (1131
      patients), mean LoS was 5.46 (95% CI 4.62 to 6.45) days for type 1 diabetes, and
      5.04 (95% CI 4.46 to 5.71) days for type 2 diabetes. Mean cost per admission was
      L1034 (95% CI L855 to L1253). In the matched retrospective cohort study (1079
      pairs of patients), exposed patients had a mean LoS of 11.91 days (95% CI 10.96
      to 12.94 days) versus 4.80 (95% CI 4.41 to 5.23) for unexposed patients,
      p<0.0001. Exposed patients had a higher mortality risk compared with unexposed
      patients (OR 1.439 (95% CI 1.060to 1.952), p=0.0195). Total average per-patient
      cost for exposed patients was GBP (L)2235, 40% (p<0.0001) higher than total
      average admission cost in unexposed patients. CONCLUSIONS: Hypoglycemia has a
      significant negative impact on patient outcomes, healthcare resource use, and
      expenditure.

PMID- 25815205
TI  - Durability of oral hypoglycemic agents in drug naive patients with type 2
      diabetes: report from the Swedish National Diabetes Register (NDR).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the durability of monotherapy with different classes of
      oral hypoglycemic agents (OHAs) in drug naive patients with type 2 diabetes
      mellitus (T2DM) in real life. METHODS: Men and women with T2DM, who were new
      users of OHA monotherapy and registered in the Swedish National Diabetes Register
      July 2005-December 2011, were available (n=17 309) and followed for up to 5.5
      years. Time to monotherapy failure, defined as discontinuation of continuous use
      with the initial agent, switch to a new agent, or add-on treatment of a second
      agent, was analyzed as a measure of durability. Baseline characteristics were
      balanced by propensity score matching 1:5 between groups of sulfonylurea (SU)
      versus metformin (n=4303) and meglitinide versus metformin (n=1308). HRs with 95%
      CIs were calculated using Cox regression models. RESULTS: SU and meglitinide, as
      compared with metformin, were associated with increased risk of monotherapy
      failure (HR 1.74; 95% CI 1.56 to 1.94 and 1.66; 1.37 to 2.00 for SU and
      meglitinide, respectively). When broken down by type of monotherapy failure, SU
      and meglitinide were associated with an increased risk of add-on treatment of a
      second agent (HR 3.14; 95% CI 2.66 to 3.69 and 2.52; 1.89 to 3.37 for SU and
      meglitinide, respectively) and of switch to a new agent (HR 2.81; 95% CI 2.01 to
      3.92 and 3.78; 2.25 to 6.32 for SU and meglitinide, respectively). The risk of
      discontinuation did not differ significantly between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: In
      this nationwide observational study reflecting clinical practice, SU and
      meglitinide showed substantially increased risk of switch to a new agent or add
      on of a second agent compared with metformin. These results indicate superior
      glycemic durability with metformin compared with SU and also meglitinide in real
      life.

PMID- 25815206
TI  - Plasma 1-deoxysphingolipids are predictive biomarkers for type 2 diabetes
      mellitus.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT) catalyzes the condensation of serine
      and palmitoyl coenzyme A, the first step in the de novo sphingolipid synthesis.
      Apart from these canonical substrates, SPT can also metabolize alanine and other
      acyl coenzyme As. This forms a spectrum of atypical sphingoid bases which are
      altered in the context of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and type 2 diabetes
      mellitus (T2DM). We investigated whether atypical sphingolipids can be used as
      prospective markers to predict the incidence of T2DM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND
      METHODS: Using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, we analyzed the sphingoid
      base profile in a prospective cohort with 339 individuals. All individuals were
      followed up for a period of 8 years. RESULTS: Confirming earlier results, we
      found 1-deoxysphingolipids (1-deoxySLs) to be significantly elevated in patients
      with MetS, impaired fasting glucose, and T2DM. Patients who developed T2DM during
      the follow-up period (n=32) showed significantly higher 1-deoxySL levels at
      baseline compared with those who did not develop T2DM until the end of the study
      (n=70). 1-Deoxysphingosine levels were independent predictors for T2DM even after
      adjusting for glycated hemoglobin (standardized adjusted OR=2.1, CI 95% (1.19 to
      3.71); p=0.010), MetS (standardized adjusted OR=1.97, CI 95% (1.13 to 3.43);
      p=0.017), and other risk factors such as age, sex, BMI, and lipid-lowering drugs.
      Similar results were observed for the 1-deoxysphinganine levels. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      results support a novel role for 1-deoxySL as predictive biomarkers for the
      development of T2DM in risk patients and warrants further larger prospective
      trials in lower risk cohorts.

PMID- 25815207
TI  - Cardiovascular disease in HIV patients: from bench to bedside and backwards.
AB  - HIV patients are exposed to a higher risk of adverse cardiovascular events, due
      to complex interactions between traditional risk factors and HIV infection itself
      in terms of ongoing endothelial dysfunctional immune activation/inflammation and
      increased risk of thrombosis. On the other hand, long-span antiretroviral therapy
      administration still raises questions on its long-term safety in an era in which
      life expectancy is becoming longer and longer while treatment of non-HIV-related
      serious events is increasingly raising concern. In this article, we will
      critically analyse the current knowledge of pathological and clinical aspects
      pertaining to the increased risk of cardiovascular events associated with HIV. 

PMID- 25815208
TI  - Coronary artery stenosis risk and time course in Kawasaki disease patients:
      experience at a US tertiary pediatric centre.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Despite treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), the natural
      progression to coronary artery stenosis in Kawasaki disease is not well defined
      and remains a potential cause of long-term morbidity. We present a novel study,
      at a US tertiary paediatric care centre, identifying risk factors for stenosis.
      METHODS: We reviewed charts of all children who underwent cardiac catheterisation
      for coronary artery abnormalities, from 1998 to January 2014, at a tertiary
      paediatric care centre. Demographic and diagnostic data included time intervals
      to echocardiographic changes and confirmed catheterisation cases of stenosis.
      Multivariate survival analysis was used to evaluate risk factors with stenosis
      formation as the main outcome measure. RESULTS: 53 children met the inclusion
      criteria and 18 (34.6%) developed stenosis. Only those with giant coronary
      aneurysms (GCA) developed stenosis, with the highest risk group overall being
      children under the age of 6 months (hazard ratio (HR) 2.82 3.79, p=0.004). In a
      subset of only cases of GCA (33), a majority went on to develop stenosis (18/33).
      Median time to diagnosis was 190 days. In this group, children under the age of 6
      months were again at highest risk (HR 2.62, p=0.04). IVIG administration, sex and
      ethnicity were not statistically significant predictors. CONCLUSIONS: This
      retrospective study demonstrates a relatively high incidence of stenosis in
      children with Kawasaki disease and coronary vascular abnormalities. Overall, a
      majority of cases with GCA progressed into stenosis, with children under the age
      of 6 months being at highest risk.

PMID- 25815209
TI  - SWI enhances vein detection using gadolinium in multiple sclerosis.
AB  - Susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) combined with the FLAIR sequence provides
      the ability to depict in vivo the perivenous location of inflammatory
      demyelinating lesions - one of the most specific pathologic features of multiple
      sclerosis (MS). In addition, in MS white matter (WM) lesions, gadolinium-based
      contrast media (CM) can increase vein signal loss on SWI. This report focuses on
      two cases of WM inflammatory lesions enhancing on SWI images after CM injection.
      In these lesions in fact the CM increased the contrast between the parenchyma and
      the central vein allowing as well, in one of the two cases, the detection of a
      vein not visible on the same SWI sequence acquired before CM injection. 

PMID- 25815210
TI  - Comparison of vertebroplasty using directional versus straight needle.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Percutaneous vertebroplasty is a minimally invasive procedure that
      can be performed to treat pain and immobility associated with vertebral
      compression fractures. Previous studies have shown that a single injection can
      achieve adequate fill across the midline of the vertebral body. PURPOSE: To
      compare the radiological outcomes of using a novel steerable needle with using a
      conventional, straight needle in unipedicular vertebroplasty. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: Data were collected from 19 patients who were operated at our institute
      between 1 September 2010 and 31 March 2011. Outcomes were measured in terms of
      radiological evidence of midline crossing of cement. The available pre- and
      postoperative pain scores and complications were reviewed. Student's t-test was
      used to compare mean cement projection across the midline in both groups with P <
      0.05 considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: Mean fill across the
      midline was significantly greater with the steerable needle (58%) compared with
      the straight needle (35%) (P = 0.046). Cement leakage was higher with the
      steerable needle (44% versus 30%); however no clinical complications were
      reported in either group. CONCLUSION: Percutaneous vertebroplasty using a
      directional needle is an excellent example of advancement and refinement in
      spinal surgery without increased clinical risk. Our results indicate that the
      novel technique can potentially provide better radiological outcomes when
      compared with a straight needle. A larger, randomized multicenter prospective
      trial would be valuable in confirming these findings.

PMID- 25815211
TI  - The ACE2/Apelin Signaling, MicroRNAs, and Hypertension.
AB  - The renin-angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS) plays a pivotal role in the
      development of hypertension. Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which
      primarily metabolises angiotensin (Ang) II to generate the beneficial
      heptapeptide Ang-(1-7), serves as a negative regulator of the RAAS. Apelin is a
      second catalytic substrate for ACE2 and functions as an inotropic and
      cardiovascular protective peptide. The physiological effects of Apelin are
      exerted through binding to its receptor APJ, a seven-transmembrane G protein
      coupled receptor that shares significant homology with the Ang II type 1 receptor
      (AT1R). The deregulation of microRNAs, a class of short and small noncoding RNAs,
      has been shown to involve cardiovascular remodeling and pathogenesis of
      hypertension via the activation of the Ang II/AT1R pathway. MicroRNAs are linked
      with modulation of the ACE2/Apelin signaling, which exhibits beneficial effects
      in the cardiovascular system and hypertension. The ACE2-coupled crosstalk among
      the RAAS, the Apelin system, and microRNAs provides an important mechanistic
      insight into hypertension. This paper focuses on what is known about the
      ACE2/Apelin signaling and its biological roles, paying particular attention to
      interactions and crosstalk among the ACE2/Apelin signaling, microRNAs, and
      hypertension, aiming to facilitate the exploitation of new therapeutic medicine
      to control hypertension. 

PMID- 25815212
TI  - Whole-foods, plant-based diet alleviates the symptoms of osteoarthritis.
AB  - Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of a whole-foods, plant-based diet
      (WFPB) to reduce symptoms of osteoarthritis. Methods. Six-week, prospective
      randomized open-label study of patients aged 19-70 with osteoarthritis.
      Participants were randomized to a WFPB (intervention) or continuing current diet
      (control). Outcomes were assessed by mixed models analysis of participant self
      assessed weekly SF-36v2 domain t scores, weekly Patient Global Impression of
      Change (PGIC) scales, and mean weekly Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain assessment.
      Mixed models analysis also evaluated pre-post change from baseline level for
      standard clinical measures: weight, BMI, body temperature, pulse, and blood
      pressure. Results. Forty participants were randomized. Thirty-seven of them, 18
      control and 19 intervention, completed the study. The intervention group reported
      a significantly greater improvement than the control group in SF-36v2
      energy/vitality, physical functioning, role physical, and the physical component
      summary scale. The differences between the intervention and control PGIC scales
      were statistically significant over time. Intervention group improvement in VAS
      weekly mean was also significantly greater than that of the control group from
      week 2 onward. Conclusion. Study results suggest that a whole-foods, plant-based
      diet significantly improves self-assessed measures of functional status among
      osteoarthritis patients. 

PMID- 25815213
TI  - Effects of Statin versus the Combination of Ezetimibe plus Statin on Serum Lipid
      Absorption Markers in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome.
AB  - Background. The use of statins is essential for aggressive lipid-lowering
      treatment in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients with dyslipidemia. Recently,
      elevation of sitosterol, a lipid absorption marker, was reported to be associated
      with premature atherosclerosis. The purpose of the present study was to examine
      the impact of ezetimibe, a selective intestinal cholesterol transporter
      inhibitor, in ACS patients. Methods. A total of 197 ACS patients were randomized
      to pitavastatin + ezetimibe (n = 100) or pitavastatin (n = 97). Low-density
      lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and sitosterol levels were evaluated on admission
      and after 12 weeks. Results. After 12 weeks, the pitavastatin + ezetimibe group
      showed a significantly greater decrease of sitosterol (baseline versus after 12
      weeks; 2.9 +/- 2.5 versus 1.7 +/- 1.0 ng/mL, P < 0.001) than the pitavastatin
      group (2.7 +/- 1.5 versus 3.0 +/- 1.4 ng/mL). The baseline sitosterol level was
      significantly higher in patients with achieved LDL-C levels >= 70 mg/dL than in
      patients with levels < 70 mg/dL (3.2 +/- 2.5 versus 2.4 +/- 1.3 ng/mL, P =
      0.006). Conclusions. Ezetimibe plus statin therapy in ACS patients with
      dyslipidemia decreased LDL-C and sitosterol levels more than statin therapy solo.
      Sitosterol Elevation was a predictor of poor response to aggressive lipid
      lowering treatment in ACS patients. 

PMID- 25815214
TI  - Treatment of the Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip with an Abduction Brace in
      Children up to 6 Months Old.
AB  - Introduction. Use of Pavlik harness for the treatment of DDH can be complicated
      for parents. Any misuse or failure in the adjustments may lead to significant
      complications. An abduction brace was introduced in our institution, as it was
      thought to be easier to use. Aim. We assess the results for the treatment of DDH
      using our abduction brace in children of 0-6 months old and compare these results
      with data on treatments using the Pavlik harness. Method. Retrospective analysis
      of patients with DDH from 0 to 6 months old at diagnosis, performed from 2004 to
      2009. Outcomes were rates of reduction of the hip and avascular necrosis of the
      femoral head (AVN). Follow-up was at one year and up to 4 years old. Results. Hip
      reduction was successful in 28 of 33 patients (85%), with no AVN. Conclusion. Our
      results in terms of hip reduction rate and AVN rate are similar to those found in
      literature assessing Pavlik harness use, with a simpler and comfortable treatment
      procedure. 

PMID- 25815215
TI  - Hyponatraemia after fracture is often caused by hypovolaemia, not SIADH.

PMID- 25815216
TI  - Anesthesia management of a 20-month-old patient with giant unilateral wilms
      tumor.
AB  - Wilms tumour (WT) (or nephroblastoma) is one of the most common malignant kidney
      tumors in children. On subsequent stages clinically it is often characterized by
      abdominal hypertension syndrome, which, in turn, leads to development of
      respiratory insufficiency. Other symptoms comprise renal deficiency,
      hypertension, and abnormalities of hemostasis and hemogram. Treatment includes
      rounds of preoperative chemotherapy and subsequent surgery. We report a case of
      perioperative management for nephrectomy in 20-month-old patient with a giant
      unilateral WT. The complexity of anesthesia was determined by the size of tumor,
      increased intra-abdominal pressure, respiratory deficiency, and hypercoagulation.

PMID- 25815217
TI  - Fulminant hepatic failure secondary to primary hepatic angiosarcoma.
AB  - Background. Hepatic angiosarcoma is a rare and aggressive tumor that often
      presents at an advanced stage with nonspecific symptoms. Objective. To report a
      case of primary hepatic angiosarcoma in an otherwise healthy man with normal
      liver function tests two months prior to presenting with a short period of
      jaundice that progressed to fulminant hepatic failure. Methods. Case report and
      review of literature. Conclusion. This case illustrates the rapidity of
      progression to death after the onset of symptoms in a patient with hepatic
      angiosarcoma. Research on early diagnostic strategies and newer therapies are
      needed to improve prognosis in this rare and poorly understood malignancy with
      limited treatment options. 

PMID- 25815219
TI  - Retracted: Anti-GBM of Pregnancy: Acute Renal Failure Resolved after Spontaneous
      Abortion, Plasma Exchange, Hemodialysis, and Steroids.
AB  - [This retracts the article DOI: 10.1155/2014/243746.]. 

PMID- 25815218
TI  - Combined treatment with antiviral therapy and rituximab in patients with mixed
      cryoglobulinemia: review of the literature and report of a case using direct
      antiviral agents-based antihepatitis C virus therapy.
AB  - Mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) is an autoimmune/B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder
      associated with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection, manifesting as a systemic
      vasculitis. In the last decade, antiviral treatment (AT) with pegylated
      interferon (Peg-IFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) was considered the first therapeutic
      option for HCV-MC. In MC patients ineligible or not responsive to antivirals, the
      anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab (RTX) is effective. A combined AT plus
      RTX was also suggested. Since the introduction of direct acting antivirals
      (DAAs), few data were published about MC and no data about a combined schedule.
      Here, we report a complete remission of MC after a sustained virological response
      following a combined RTX/Peg-IFN+RBV+DAA (boceprevir) treatment and review the
      literature about the combined RTX/AT. 

PMID- 25815220
TI  - Rare occurrence of lip spindle cell lipoma.
AB  - Spindle cell lipoma (SCL) is a rare distinct variant of lipoma, which presents as
      a painless, circumscribed, slow-growing, superficial lesion on the lip and can
      mimic a minor salivary gland tumour. We present a slow growing lower lip lesion
      and its management. Case Report. A 38-year-old female gave an eight-year history
      of a slow-growing mass on her lower lip with intermittent change in size. She
      presented with a submucosal nodule and thin overlying mucosa adjacent to the
      vermilion border. Surgical excision was carried as the diagnostic and therapeutic
      approach. Conclusion. Lip SCL is rare, and surgical excision is advocated in
      order to exclude underlying pathology and minor salivary gland tumours. 

PMID- 25815221
TI  - Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty: intraoperative and postoperative
      imaging spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.
AB  - We describe a case report of using the same handheld spectral-domain anterior
      segment optical coherence tomography (ASOCT) for rapid intraoperative and
      postoperative imaging in a case of Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty
      (DMEK). A 67-year-old woman, with Fuchs dystrophy and corneal decompensation,
      underwent DMEK with intraoperative ASOCT imaging using the handheld Envisu
      spectral domain ASOCT system (Bioptigen, Inc., Morrisville, NC, USA). We found
      that this easy-to-use portable system with handheld probe allowed for rapid
      imaging of the anterior segment during donor manipulation to visualize the
      orientation of the DMEK donor, as well as to confirm the initial adhesion of the
      DMEK donor. Moreover, the same system may be used for postoperative monitoring of
      graft adhesion, corneal thickness, and stromal remodeling in the clinic with very
      high-definition images. 

PMID- 25815222
TI  - Bilateral and symmetrical anteromedial bowing of the lower limbs in a patient
      with neurofibromatosis type-I.
AB  - An 8-year-old girl was referred to our department because of generalized bowing
      of long bones (radii, ulnae, and femora) and significant bilateral and
      symmetrical posteromedial bowing of the tibiae and fibulae. The femora were
      laterally bowed whereas the tibiae and fibulae showed posteromedial bowing
      between the middle and distal thirds of the tibia with posterior cortical
      thickening effectively causing the development of bilateral congenital
      anterolateral bowing of the tibiae and fibulae. We referred to closing-wedge
      osteotomy of the left tibia along with fibular osteotomy in order to realign the
      deformity. Due to the delayed appearance of skin stigmata in her early life, the
      diagnosis of neurofibromatosis was ruled out. At the age of 9 years, cafe-au-lait
      spots and axillary freckling were apparent. Genetic tests confirmed von
      Recklinghausen disease (neurofibromatosis type-I (NF1)) (gene has been localised
      to 17q22). Interestingly, bilateral and symmetrical anteromedial bowing of the
      tibiae and fibulae has not been described in patients with NF-I. 

PMID- 25815223
TI  - Conversion of a surgical elbow arthrodesis to total elbow arthroplasty.
AB  - Arthrodesis of the elbow joint addresses pain due to intra-articular pathology,
      but with significant functional limitations. Loss of motion at the elbow is not
      completely compensated by the wrist and shoulder joints and elbow fusion is thus
      purely a salvage procedure. Advances in joint arthroplasty have allowed surgeons
      to address the functional limitations of arthrodesis, but despite these advances
      the elbow is still one of the joint replacements with higher complication rate.
      Conversion of a joint fusion to arthroplasty has been reported for the hip, knee,
      shoulder, and ankle. The takedown of a surgically fused elbow was reported in
      German literature in 2013. We present the first such case report in the English
      literature with a 49-year-old male whose status is elbow fusion performed for
      trauma 31 years prior. 

PMID- 25815224
TI  - Arthroscopic quadriceps tendon repair: two case reports.
AB  - Recently, although some studies of open repair of the tendon of the quadriceps
      femoris have been published, there have been no reports in the literature on
      primary arthroscopic repair. In our present study, we present two cases of
      quadriceps tendon injury arthroscopically repaired with excellent results. Case 1
      involved a 68-year-old man who was injured while shifting his weight to prevent a
      fall. MRI showed complete rupture at the insertion of the patella of the
      quadriceps tendon. The rupture was arthroscopically repaired using both suture
      anchor and pull-out suture fixation methods via bone tunnels (hereafter, pull-out
      fixation). Two years after surgery, retearing was not observed on MRI and both
      Japan Orthopedic Association (JOA) Knee and Lysholm scores had recovered to 100.
      Case 2 involved a 50-year-old man who was also injured when shifting his weight
      to prevent a fall. MRI showed incomplete superficial rupture at the insertion of
      the patella of the quadriceps tendon. The rupture was arthroscopically repaired
      using pull-out fixation of six strand sutures. One year after surgery, MRI
      revealed a healed tendon and his JOA and Lysholm scores were 95 and 100,
      respectively. Thus, arthroscopic repair may be a useful surgical method for
      repairing quadriceps tendon injury. 

PMID- 25815225
TI  - Hybrid tumor of the parotid gland: a case report and review of the literature.
AB  - The parotid gland is the most common location of benign neoplasms affecting major
      salivary glands. Hybrid tumors are very rare tumor entities which are composed of
      two different tumor types, each of which conforms to an exactly defined tumor
      category. The tumor entities of a hybrid tumor are not separated but have an
      identical origin within the same topographical area. This report describes a 51
      year-old male with three neoplasms occurring within a single parotid gland tumor.
      The clinical, radiological, and histologic features are described in addition to
      a review of the literature. 

PMID- 25815226
TI  - A surprising finding after external ear polypectomy in a deaf mute patient.
AB  - Introduction. External auditory canal polyps usually reflect an inflammatory
      process. Rarely, they may reflect a serious condition that warrants urgent
      intervention. Case Report. A 19-year-old deaf mute female presented to our
      department with persistent left ear discharge and a reddish mass in the ear.
      After surgery, the cause was identified as a neglected foreign body. Tympanic
      membrane was intact. Conclusion. Aural polyp that is resistant to medical
      treatment should raise the suspicion of an inflammatory polyp with underlying
      chronic suppurative otitis media or foreign body. Rarer neoplastic and
      immunological causes should also be considered. 

PMID- 25815227
TI  - Thoracocervicofacial Emphysema after Heimlich's Maneuvre.
AB  - We report an extremely rare example of a thoracocervicofacial subcutaneous
      emphysema after Heimlich maneuver case. 

PMID- 25815228
TI  - Unusual initial presentation of herpes simplex virus as inguinal lymphadenopathy.
AB  - Genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections are a common cause of inguinal
      lymphadenopathy. However, surgical excision of enlarged inguinal nodes is almost
      never performed to initially diagnose genital herpes simplex virus, due to the
      distinct external presentation of genital herpetic vesicles that usually occur
      with the first symptoms of infection. Therefore, the histologic and
      immunophenotypic features of HSV-associated inguinal lymphadenopathy are
      unfamiliar to most pathologists. The current report describes the lymph node
      pathology of two immunocompetent patients, whose initial HSV diagnosis was
      established through surgical excision of enlarged inguinal lymph nodes.
      Histologic examination showed features consistent with viral lymphadenopathy,
      including florid follicular hyperplasia, monocytoid B-cell hyperplasia, and
      paracortical hyperplasia without extensive necrosis. Immunohistochemical stains
      for HSV antigens, using polyclonal anti-HSV I and II antibodies, demonstrate
      strong immunoreactivity for HSV in a small number of cells in the subcapsular
      sinuses, especially in areas with monocytoid B-cell hyperplasia. Rare scattered
      HSV-positive cells also are identified in paracortical areas and germinal
      centers. We conclude that an initial diagnosis of genital HSV infection may be
      established by inguinal lymph node biopsy. 

PMID- 25815229
TI  - Hepatocellular carcinoma with both fibrolamellar and classical components: an
      unusual morphological pattern.
AB  - Fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC) is an uncommon form of primary liver malignancy
      with unique clinical, histological, and biological characteristics. It is usually
      seen in young adults without underlying liver disease. Histologically, it shows
      large cells with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm, large vesicular nuclei,
      prominent nucleoli, and lamellar type fibrosis. In contrast, classical
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is typically present in elderly male patients with
      cirrhosis. It is the most common histological subtype, and it is characterized by
      its resemblance to the normal liver, both in its growth pattern and its cytology.
      The unusual case of a liver carcinoma that presented with histological features
      of both FLC and classical HCC is herein reported. This was the case of a 37-year
      old female complaining of diffuse abdominal discomfort and epigastric pain for
      two months. She was referred to us for further management after she was diagnosed
      with HCC in a noncirrhotic liver. She underwent a left-sided hepatectomy. A
      yellow nodular mass with well-defined borders and a necrotic center was present
      in the resection specimen. The morphological features and immunohistochemical
      studies were consistent with a diagnosis of FLC mixed with classical HCC. The
      patient was followed up for five months, and no signs of recurrence were evident.

PMID- 25815230
TI  - Cytological features of mammary analogue secretory carcinoma of the parotid gland
      in a 15-year-old girl: a case report with review of the literature.
AB  - Mammary analogue secretory carcinoma (MASC) is a recently recognized tumor of
      salivary glands characterized by the ETV6-NTRK3 fusion gene. This tumor is very
      rare in children and adolescents. We report a case of MASC in a 15-year-old girl,
      the fifth youngest case so far reported. The patient complained of a left infra
      auricular mass that gradually enlarged for a year. Fine-needle aspiration
      cytology/imprint cytology showed individual tumor cells that had faintly
      eosinophilic granular cytoplasm with secretion granules sometimes seen adjacent
      to the tumor cells. These cytological features overlapped between those of
      zymogen granule-poor acinic cell carcinoma (AciCC) and MASC. In addition to the
      case report, we present a review of the related literature with a focus on the
      cytological features of MASC. The differential diagnostic clues are also
      discussed. 

PMID- 25815231
TI  - Systemic steroid treatment for severe expanding pneumococcal pneumonia.
AB  - The treatment of bacterial community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is based on
      appropriate antibiotic therapy and supportive care such as intravenous fluids and
      supplemental oxygen. There is no available data regarding the use of steroids in
      CAP in children. We present an unusual case of a child with severe respiratory
      distress, on the brink of mechanical ventilation, due to a rapidly expanding
      pneumococcal pneumonia. The administration of systemic steroids resulted in a
      dramatic response with rapid improvement of clinical and radiological
      abnormalities followed by improvement of laboratory abnormalities. This case
      report should raise the awareness of the potential benefits of steroids in the
      treatment of severe pneumonia in children. Prospective randomized trials are
      needed to confirm the efficacy of steroids in this setting and to determine which
      patients would benefit most from this. 

PMID- 25815232
TI  - Pulmonary epithelioid hemangioendothelioma in a patient with Crohn's disease.
AB  - Pulmonary epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (PEH) is a rare neoplasm, largely
      unresponsive to chemotherapeutic medications, and with varied prognosis. Imaging
      on computerized tomography may demonstrate perivascular nodules, but diagnosis is
      ultimately made on biopsy with immunohistochemical analysis. Here we describe a
      case of PEH in a 14-year-old male with Crohn's disease, which, to our knowledge,
      has not previously been described in the literature. 

PMID- 25815233
TI  - Corrigendum to "Gitelman Syndrome in a School Boy Who Presented with Generalized
      Convulsion and Had a R642H/R642W Mutation in the SLC12A3 Gene".
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2014/279389.]. 

PMID- 25815234
TI  - Costello syndrome with severe nodulocystic acne: unexpected significant
      improvement of acanthosis nigricans after oral isotretinoin treatment.
AB  - We report the case of 17-year-old female diagnosed with Costello syndrome.
      Genetic testing provided a proof with G12S mutation in the HRAS gene since 3
      years of age with a presentation of severe nodulocystic acne on her face. After 2
      months of oral isotretinoin treatment, improvement in her acne was observed.
      Interestingly, an unexpected significant improvement of acanthosis nigricans on
      her neck and dorsum of her hands was found as well. We present this case as a
      successful treatment option by using oral isotretinoin for the treatment of
      acanthosis nigricans in Costello syndrome patients. 

PMID- 25815235
TI  - Ischemic cardiomyopathy and cerebral infarction in a young patient associated
      with khat chewing.
AB  - Khat is a stimulating agent used by many people in the Horn of Africa and the
      Arabian peninsula. Khat chewing is a known cardiovascular risk factor and is
      thought to cause vasoconstriction, systemic hypertension, and thrombogenicity. A
      33-year-old Somalian man initially presented with loss of neurological function
      of the left arm, hazy vision, and headache. He smokes tobacco and chews two
      bundles of khat a week for more than 10 years. His ECG on admission showed a Q
      wave in V1 and V2 and 2 mm ST-elevations in V1, V2, and V3 and a terminal
      negative T wave in I, aVL, V2, V3, and V4, consistent with a recent, evolving
      anterior infarction. A noncontrast enhanced CT of the brain showed ischemia in
      the right middle cerebral artery vascular territory. An MRI showed recent
      ischemia in the vascular territory of the posterior division of the right middle
      cerebral artery. Coronary angiography showed a 70% stenosis with haziness of the
      proximal left anterior descending artery. Diagnostic tests and imaging are
      consistent with recent myocardial infarction in the LAD vascular territory
      because of coronary spasm and cerebral infarction in the middle cerebral artery
      vascular territory probably related to khat chewing. 

PMID- 25815236
TI  - Rhabdomyolysis Occurring under Statins after Intense Physical Activity in a
      Marathon Runner.
AB  - Statins are widely used in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia and their side
      effects on muscles are well established. Conversely, data are sparse regarding
      the safety of this class of drugs in subjects who engage in sports, particularly
      those who have intense sports activity. We report the case of a marathon runner
      who presented with acute rhabdomyolysis during competition while being under
      rosuvastatin treatment. This case raises the question of the need for temporary
      discontinuation of statin therapy when intense physical activity is planned. 

PMID- 25815237
TI  - Retroperitoneal perforation of the appendix presenting as a right thigh abscess.
AB  - A rare case of a retroperitoneal rupture of the appendix is being reported here.
      A 53-year-old male presented to us with a right sided thigh abscess. There were
      not any abdominal complaints at presentation. There was continuous discharge
      after incision and drainage from the thigh. Isolation, in culture, of an enteric
      bacterium from the pus prompted an evaluation of the gastrointestinal tract as a
      possible source. An MRI scan revealed fluid tracking from the right paracolic
      gutter over the psoas sheath and paraspinal muscle into the thigh. A CT scan
      revealed the perforation at the base of the appendix into the retroperitoneum. At
      laparotomy the above findings were confirmed. A segmental ileocaecal resection
      was done. The patient made an uneventful recovery. The absence of abdominal
      symptoms at presentation leads to delay in diagnosis in such cases. Nonresolving
      thigh and groin abscesses should lead to the evaluation of the gastrointestinal
      tract as origin. Diagnostic clues may also be provided by culture reports what as
      happened in this case. 

PMID- 25815238
TI  - A case of ruptured aortic arch aneurysm successfully treated by thoracic
      endovascular aneurysm repair with chimney graft.
AB  - We report the case of aortic arch aneurysm rupture treated successfully with
      thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair (TEVAR) accompanied by aortic arch
      debranching using the chimney graft technique. A 94-year-old man was transported
      to the hospital after complaining of chest pain for one day. Contrast-enhanced
      computed tomographic (CT) images revealed an aortic arch aneurysm rupture.
      Considering the patient's age and postoperative activities of daily living, TEVAR
      was used. In order to place an indwelling stent graft from the ascending aorta to
      the periphery, the chimney graft technique was used to debranch the
      brachiocephalic artery. Hemodynamics was stabilized postsurgically. Plain CT
      performed 20 days postoperatively confirmed that the intrathoracic hematoma had
      decreased in size. Although respiratory failure was persistent, there were
      improvements and the patient was extubated 34 days postoperatively and discharged
      from the intensive care unit 37 days postoperatively. On postoperative day 75, he
      was discharged from the hospital to an elder care facility. Few reports have
      focused on stent grafting for treating aortic arch aneurysm rupture. TEVAR using
      the chimney graft technique could be an effective treatment option for patients
      with a decreased ability to tolerate surgery. 

PMID- 25815239
TI  - Unusual fungal infections in renal transplant recipients.
AB  - Fungal infections are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in renal
      transplant recipients. The causative agent and the risk factors differ depending
      on the period after the kidney transplant. Also the incidence varies according to
      the geographical area. We are reporting three cases of fungal infections in renal
      transplant recipients. Two of them have etiological agents which are common among
      immunosuppressed patients, but with an atypical clinical presentation, while one
      of them is a subcutaneous infection caused by a less frequent dematiaceous
      fungus, Aureobasidium pullulans. These cases highlight how a high index of
      clinical suspicion and prompt diagnosis is very much essential for better
      outcome. The emerging fungal infections and paucity of data regarding their
      management pose a challenge to the transplant physicians. 

PMID- 25815240
TI  - TAP-Stenting Technique for Bifurcation Stenosis of Celiac Artery.
AB  - We report a clinical course of a patient who developed severe ischemic liver
      injury and total occlusion of the celiac artery (CA). A 40-year-old man presented
      with abdominal pain. Computed tomography indicated total occlusion of the CA.
      Laboratory data demonstrated markedly elevated hepatic enzymes. An exploratory
      laparotomy was not necessitated due to absence of peritonism. The patient was
      successfully treated by endovascular recanalization of the CA occlusion via
      transcatheter balloon angioplasty and TAP-stenting (T-stenting and small
      protrusion) technique. Endovascular intervention in patients solely with liver
      failure appears practicable and early treatment is advised. 

PMID- 25815241
TI  - Teaching and Learning Medical Biochemistry: Perspectives from a Student and an
      Educator.

PMID- 25815242
TI  - Dual-Energy CT: What the Neuroradiologist Should Know.
AB  - Because of the different attenuations of tissues at different energy levels, dual
      energy CT offers tissue differentiation and characterization, reduction of
      artifacts, and remodeling of contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and signal-to-noise
      ratio (SNR), hereby creating new opportunities and insights in CT imaging. The
      applications for dual-energy imaging in neuroradiology are various and still
      expanding. Automated bone removal is used in CT angiography and CT venography of
      the intracranial vessels. Monoenergetic reconstructions can be used in patients
      with or without metal implants in the brain and spine to reduce artifacts,
      improve CNR and SNR, or to improve iodine conspicuity. Differentiation of iodine
      and hemorrhage is used in high-density lesions, after intra-arterial
      recanalization in stroke patients or after administration of contrast media.
      Detection of underlying (vascular and non-vascular) pathology and spot sign can
      be used in patients presenting with (acute) intracranial hemorrhage.

PMID- 25815243
TI  - Personality, Emotions, and the Emotional Disorders.
AB  - We examined symptom-level relations between the emotional disorders and general
      traits within the five-factor model of personality. Neuroticism correlated
      strongly with the general distress/negative affectivity symptoms (depressed mood,
      anxious mood, worry) that are central to these disorders; more moderately with
      symptoms of social phobia, affective lability, panic, posttraumatic stress
      disorder, lassitude, checking, and obsessive intrusions; and more modestly with
      agoraphobia, specific phobia, and other symptoms of depression and obsessive
      compulsive disorder. Extraversion was negatively correlated with symptoms of
      social anxiety/social phobia and was positively related to scales assessing
      expansive positive mood and increased social engagement in bipolar disorder.
      Conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness showed weaker associations and
      generally added little to the prediction of these symptoms. It is noteworthy,
      moreover, that our key findings replicated well across (a) self-rated versus (b)
      interview-based symptom measures. We conclude by discussing the diagnostic and
      assessment implications of these data.

PMID- 25815244
TI  - Comparison of dose distributions hippocampus in high grade gliomas irradiation
      with linac-based imrt and volumetric arc therapy: a dosimetric study.
AB  - The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of sparing contralateral
      hippocampus during partial brain radiotherapy in high grade gliomas. 20
      previously treated patients were replanned to 60 Gy in 30 fractions with sparing
      intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arctherapy
      (VMAT) using the following planning objectives: 100 % of PTV covered by 95%
      isodose without violating organs at risk (OAR) and hot spot dose constraints. For
      each, standard intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plans were generated, as
      well as sparing IMRT and VMAT plans which spared contralateral (hemispheric
      cases) hippocampus. When the three plans were compared, there was equivalent PTV
      coverage, homogeneity, and conformality. Sparing IMRT significantly reduced
      maximum, mean, V20, V30 and V40 hippocampus doses compared with standart IMRT and
      VMAT (p < 0.05). VMAT significantly reduced maximum left lens and mean eye doses
      compared with standart IMRT and sparing IMRT (p < 0.05). Brainstem, chiasm, left
      and right optic nerves, right eyes and lens doses were similar. VMAT
      significantly reduced monitor units compared with standart IMRT and sparing IMRT
      (p < 0.05). It is possible to spare contralateral hippocampus during PBRT for
      high grade gliomas using IMRT. This approach may reduce late cognitive sequelae
      of cranial radiotherapy. 

PMID- 25815245
TI  - Clinical characteristics and treatment-related biomarkers associated with
      response to high-dose interleukin-2 in metastatic melanoma and renal cell
      carcinoma: retrospective analysis of an academic community hospital's experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Immunotherapy in the treatment of metastatic melanoma and renal cell
      carcinoma can produce durable therapeutic responses, which may improve survival.
      We aimed to identify clinical characteristics and biomarkers associated with
      response to high-dose interleukin-2 therapy (IL-2) in patients with metastatic
      melanoma and renal cell carcinoma treated at an academic community hospital.
      PATIENTS/METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed clinical variables and biomarkers
      of 50 consecutive metastatic melanoma or renal cell carcinoma patients treated at
      our institution with IL-2 during 2004 - 2012. We evaluated clinical
      characteristics: metastatic sites of disease, prior therapies, number of IL-2
      doses per cycle, response duration, autoimmune phenomena, and peak fever, as well
      as laboratory biomarkers: baseline LDH, platelet nadir, and baseline and highest
      absolute lymphocyte count (ALC). Survival outcomes were calculated using Kaplan
      Meier curves. RESULTS: Variables differing between responders (clinical benefit
      group) and non-responders (no clinical benefit group) in metastatic melanoma
      included platelet nadir during treatment (p = 0.015), autoimmune phenomena (p =
      0.049), and in renal cell carcinoma, platelet nadir (p = 0.026). There were no
      significant differences between number of doses of IL-2 received per cycle and
      response in either cancer subtype. Clinical benefit occurred in 25% of patients
      (9/36) when IL-2 was given as first-line therapy. Median overall survival for the
      clinical benefit group from the initiation of IL-2 to death or last follow-up was
      61 months versus 17 months for the no clinical benefit group (p < 0.001) for
      metastatic melanoma. In renal cell carcinoma overall survival for clinical
      benefit patients was 48 months versus 17 months. No treatment-related deaths
      occurred. CONCLUSIONS: High-dose IL-2 can be safely administered by an
      experienced team in a non-intensive care oncology unit. The clinical benefit
      group developed autoimmune phenomena (melanoma patients), lower platelet nadir,
      and on average, received the same number of IL-2 doses as the no clinical benefit
      group, suggesting a response relationship to the patient's baseline immune
      status. Further investigation of immune predictors of response may be useful to
      select appropriate patients for this therapy.

PMID- 25815246
TI  - Prognostic value of the lymph node ratio for lymph-node-positive breast cancer-
      is it just a denominator problem?
AB  - PURPOSE: To examine the prognostic value of lymph node ratio (LNR) for patients
      with node-positive breast cancer with varying numbers of minimum nodes removed
      (>5, > 10 and > 15 total node count). METHODS: This study examined the original
      histopathological reports of 332 node-positive patients treated in the state of
      New South Wales (NSW), Australia between 1 April 1995 and 30 September 1995. The
      LNR was defined as the number of positive lymph nodes (LNs) over the total number
      of LNs removed. The LNR cutoffs were defined as low-risk, 0.01-0.20; intermediate
      risk, 0.21- 0.65; and high-risk, LNR >0.65. RESULTS: The median follow-up was
      10.3 years. In multivariate analysis, LNR was an independent predictor of 10-year
      breast cancer specific survival when > 5 nodes were removed. However, LNR was not
      an independent predictor when > 15 nodes were removed. In a multivariate analysis
      the relative risk of death (RR) decreased from 2.20 to 1.05 for intermediate-risk
      LNR and from 3.07 to 2.64 for high-risk while P values increased from 0.027 to
      0.957 for intermediate-risk LNR and 0.018 to 0.322 for high-risk with the number
      of nodes removed increasing from > 5 to > 15. CONCLUSIONS: Although LNR is
      important for patients with low node denominators, for patients with macroscopic
      nodal metastases in several nodes following an axillary dissection who have more
      than 15 nodes dissected, the oncologist can be satisfied that prognosis,
      selection of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy fields can be based on the
      numerator of the positive nodes.

PMID- 25815247
TI  - The flavonoid profile of pigeonpea, Cajanus cajan: a review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pigeonpea is ranked as the sixth largest grain legume produced by
      volume and as such is a major global food crop for livestock and human
      consumption. We show that pigeonpea contains a number of flavonoids and report
      their distribution and concentration within different parts of the plant.
      FINDINGS: There are a total of 27 flavonoids reported in the literature
      representing seven flavonoid classes. We found no published evidence of flavanols
      (catechins/flavan-3-ols) or aurones reported from pigeonpea, nor any study of the
      flavonoids from pigeonpea flowers. CONCLUSIONS: Despite over 40 years of research
      in to various aspects of pigeonpea we identified research gaps related to the
      phytochemical properties of pigeonpea. We explain how addressing these gaps could
      help to realise the full potential of pigeonpea in agricultural production.

PMID- 25815248
TI  - New method to determine proton trajectories in the equatorial plane of a dipole
      magnetic field.
AB  - A parametric description of proton trajectories in the equatorial plane of
      Earth's dipole magnetic field has been derived. The exact expression of the
      angular coordinate contains an integral to be performed numerically. The radial
      coordinate results from the initial conditions by basic mathematical operations
      and by using trigonometric functions. With the approximate angular coordinate
      formula, applicable for a wide variety of cases of protons trapped in Earth's
      radiation belts, no numerical integration is needed. The results of exact and
      approximate expressions were compared for a specific case and small differences
      were found. 

PMID- 25815250
TI  - Is lithium potentially a trace element?
AB  - Lithium, a naturally occurring element, is widely used in clinical settings for
      psychiatric treatment. Several studies showed that micro-dose lithium (e.g.,
      lithium in drinking water) could have anti-aging and anti-dementia effects in
      addition to an anti-suicidal effect, although anti-mania and psychosis or anti
      cancer effects are yet to be determined. Although these studies do not provide
      conclusive evidence, further studies are warranted to investigate whether lithium
      is trace element. If so, future studies would need to determine what levels are
      required to maintain mental health. 

PMID- 25815249
TI  - Placebo eff ects in psychiatry: mediators and moderators.
AB  - A strong placebo response in psychiatric disorders has been noted for the past 50
      years and various attempts have been made to identify predictors of it, by use of
      meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials and laboratory studies. We reviewed
      31 meta-analyses and systematic reviews of more than 500 randomised placebo
      controlled trials across psychiatry (depression, schizophrenia, mania, attention
      deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, psychosis, binge-eating disorder, and
      addiction) for factors identified to be associated with increased placebo
      response. Of 20 factors discussed, only three were often linked to high placebo
      responses: low baseline severity of symptoms, more recent trials, and unbalanced
      randomisation (more patients randomly assigned to drug than placebo). Randomised
      controlled trials in non-drug therapy have not added further predictors, and
      laboratory studies with psychological, brain, and genetic approaches have not
      been successful in identifying predictors of placebo responses. This
      comprehensive Review suggests that predictors of the placebo response are still
      to be discovered, the response probably has more than one mediator, and that
      different and distinct moderators are probably what cause the placebo response
      within psychiatry and beyond.

PMID- 25815251
TI  - Culturally sanctioned suicide: Euthanasia, seppuku, and terrorist martyrdom.
AB  - Suicide is one of the greatest concerns in psychiatric practice, with
      considerable efforts devoted to prevention. The psychiatric view of suicide tends
      to equate it with depression or other forms of mental illness. However, some
      forms of suicide occur independently of mental illness and within a framework of
      cultural sanctioning such that they aren't regarded as suicide at all. Despite
      persistent taboos against suicide, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in
      the context of terminal illness is increasingly accepted as a way to preserve
      autonomy and dignity in the West. Seppuku, the ancient samurai ritual of suicide
      by self-stabbing, was long considered an honorable act of self-resolve such that
      despite the removal of cultural sanctioning, the rate of suicide in Japan remains
      high with suicide masquerading as seppuku still carried out both there and
      abroad. Suicide as an act of murder and terrorism is a practice currently popular
      with Islamic militants who regard it as martyrdom in the context of war. The
      absence of mental illness and the presence of cultural sanctioning do not mean
      that suicide should not be prevented. Culturally sanctioned suicide must be
      understood in terms of the specific motivations that underlie the choice of death
      over life. Efforts to prevent culturally sanctioned suicide must focus on
      alternatives to achieve similar ends and must ultimately be implemented within
      cultures to remove the sanctioning of self-destructive acts. 

PMID- 25815253
TI  - Smoking in schizophrenic patients: A critique of the self-medication hypothesis.
AB  - A common remark among laypeople, and notably also among mental health workers, is
      that individuals with mental illnesses use drugs as self-medication to allay
      clinical symptoms and the side effects of drug treatments. Roots of the self
      medication concept in psychiatry date back at least to the 1980s. Observations
      that rates of smokers in schizophrenic patients are multiple times the rates for
      regular smoking in the general population, as well as those with other disorders,
      proved particularly tempting for a self-medication explanation. Additional
      evidence came from experiments with animal models exposed to nicotine and the
      identification of neurobiological mechanisms suggesting self-medication with
      smoking is a plausible idea. More recently, results from studies comparing
      smoking and non-smoking schizophrenic patients have led to the questioning of the
      self-medication hypothesis. Closer examination of the literature points to the
      possibility that smoking is less beneficial on schizophrenic symptomology than
      generally assumed while clearly increasing the risk of cancer and other smoking
      related diseases responsible for early mortality. It is a good time to examine
      the evidence for the self-medication concept as it relates to smoking. Our
      approach is to focus on data addressing direct or implied predictions of the
      hypothesis in schizophrenic smokers. 

PMID- 25815254
TI  - Raising attention to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in schizophrenia.
AB  - Schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are two
      psychiatric disorders with a negative impact on quality of life of individuals
      affected. Although they are classified into distinct disorders categories,
      attentional dysfunction is considered as a core feature in both conditions,
      either at the clinical then pathophysiological level. Beyond the obvious clinical
      overlap between these disorders, the Research Domain Criteria approach might
      offer an interesting perspective for disentangling common circuits underpinning
      both disorders. Hence, we review evidences regarding the overlap between
      schizophrenia and ADHD, at the clinical level, and at the level of underlying
      brain mechanisms. The evidence regarding the influence of environmental risk
      factors in the emergence of both disorders, and their developmental trajectories
      is also reviewed. Among these, we will try to elucidate the complex relationship
      between stimulants use and psychotic symptoms, discussing the potential role of
      ADHD medication in inducing psychosis or in exacerbating it. We aim that, taken
      together, these findings may promote further investigation with important
      implications both for clinicians and research. In fact, considering the amounting
      evidence on the overlap between schizophrenia and ADHD, the delineation of their
      boundaries might help in the decision for diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, it
      may help to promote interventions focused on the prevention of both schizophrenia
      and ADHD, by the reduction of recognized environmental risk factors. 

PMID- 25815255
TI  - Assessment of psychological predictors of weight loss: How and what for?
AB  - Obesity is a multifactorial disease and the prominent factors playing a role in
      its pathogenesis are biological, environmental and psychological. There is a
      growing interest in understanding psychological functioning of obese subjects and
      the influence of psychological factors on treatment outcome. The aim of the
      present narrative review is to critically analyze the current literature, in
      order to point out the most common psychological constructs studied in obesity
      and to give an overview of the main existing tools investigating psychological
      features which have been considered significant for the prediction of success in
      weight loss and maintenance programs in obese patients. In this framework, the
      most common psychological constructs studied are: self-motivation, self-efficacy,
      locus of control, health related quality of life, self-esteem, self-control,
      concerns about body image, outcome expectations, and personality traits. These
      features have been explored through a wide variety of psychometric instruments.
      However, as an overall, studies evaluating the association between psychological
      features and treatment outcome failed to give consistent results. A possible
      explanation may consist on the fact that many tools widely used to explore
      psychological features were not specifically designed for obese patients and none
      of them was comprehensive of all possible psychological features involved. The
      identification of well-defined sub-groups of patients and the validation of more
      reliable and comprehensive tools, specifically designed for obese subjects,
      should be forecasted in order to reach a better knowledge of psychological
      functioning of obese individuals and to improve the outcome of weight loss
      programs. 

PMID- 25815252
TI  - Role of perinatal long-chain omega-3 fatty acids in cortical circuit maturation:
      Mechanisms and implications for psychopathology.
AB  - Accumulating translational evidence suggests that the long-chain omega-3 fatty
      acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) plays a role in the maturation and stability of
      cortical circuits that are impaired in different recurrent psychiatric disorders.
      Specifically, rodent and cell culture studies find that DHA preferentially
      accumulates in synaptic and growth cone membranes and promotes neurite outgrowth,
      dendritic spine stability, and synaptogenesis. Additional evidence suggests that
      DHA may play a role in microglia-mediated synaptic pruning, as well as myelin
      development and resilience. In non-human primates n-3 fatty acid insufficiency
      during perinatal development leads to widespread deficits in functional
      connectivity in adult frontal cortical networks compared to primates raised on
      DHA-fortified diet. Preterm delivery in non-human primates and humans is
      associated with early deficits in cortical DHA accrual. Human preterm birth is
      associated with long-standing deficits in myelin integrity and cortical circuit
      connectivity and increased risk for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder
      (ADHD), mood, and psychotic disorders. In general, ADHD and mood and psychotic
      disorders initially emerge during rapid periods of cortical circuit maturation
      and are characterized by DHA deficits, myelin pathology, and impaired cortical
      circuit connectivity. Together these associations suggest that early and
      uncorrected deficits in fetal brain DHA accrual may represent a modifiable risk
      factor for cortical circuit maturation deficits in psychiatric disorders, and
      could therefore have significant implications for informing early intervention
      and prevention strategies. 

PMID- 25815256
TI  - Effects of music and music therapy on mood in neurological patients.
AB  - Mood disorder and depressive syndromes represent a common comorbid condition in
      neurological disorders with a prevalence rate that ranges between 20% and 50% of
      patients with stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease.
      Notwithstanding, these conditions are often under-diagnosed and under-treated in
      the clinical practice and negatively affect the functional recovery, the
      adherence to treatment, the quality of life, and even the mortality risk. In
      addition, a bidirectional association between depression and neurological
      disorders may be possible being that depressive syndromes may be considered as a
      risk factor for certain neurological diseases. Despite the large amount of
      evidence regarding the effects of music therapy (MT) and other musical
      interventions on different aspects of neurological disorders, no updated article
      reviewing outcomes such as mood, emotions, depression, activity of daily living
      and so on is actually available; for this reason, little is known about the
      effectiveness of music and MT on these important outcomes in neurological
      patients. The aim of this article is to provide a narrative review of the current
      literature on musical interventions and their effects on mood and depression in
      patients with neurological disorders. Searching on PubMed and PsycInfo databases,
      25 studies corresponding to the inclusion criteria have been selected; 11 of them
      assess the effects of music or MT in Dementia, 9 explore the efficacy on patients
      with Stroke, and 5 regard other neurological diseases like Multiple Sclerosis,
      Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/motor neuron disease, Chronic quadriplegia,
      Parkinson's Disease, and Acquired Brain dysfunctions. Selected studies are based
      on relational and rehabilitative music therapy approaches or concern music
      listening interventions. Most of the studies support the efficacy of MT and other
      musical interventions on mood, depressive syndromes, and quality of life on
      neurological patients. 

PMID- 25815257
TI  - Sensation/novelty seeking in psychotic disorders: A review of the literature.
AB  - The evaluation of personality traits is important for the better understanding of
      the person suffering from psychosis and for treatment individualization. However
      literature on patients' personality and character in such disorders is limited.
      The aim of this review was to summarize the literature on sensation/novelty
      seeking (SNS), a trait which is biologically based and highly heritable and is
      associated with dopamine activity, and refers to a person's tendency to seek
      varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences. A total of 38
      studies were included in this review, involving 2808 patients and 2039 healthy
      controls. There is consistent evidence that this trait is independently
      associated with alcohol and substance abuse in patients with schizophrenia and
      related disorders. The estimation of SNS would help clinicians to identify
      patients at risk for abuse. There is also some evidence that higher SNS levels
      may relate to medication non-adherence and seem to increase the risk of patients'
      aggressive and violent behavior, but studies are scarce. SNS was found not to be
      related to suicidality, whereas in the fields of patients' quality of life and
      psychopathology results are contradictory, but most studies show no possible
      association. Several studies suggest that SNS is lower in psychotic patients
      compared to controls, whereas most yield no differences. The evidence for this
      trait as a potential endophenotype of schizophrenia is weak. SNS may be
      implicated in psychotic disorders' course and prognosis in several ways and
      should be always inquired for. This trait can be reliably measured with the use
      of easily applicable self-rated instruments, and patients' accounts could inform
      clinicians when planning management and delivering individualized treatment. 

PMID- 25815259
TI  - Postpartum depression: A systematic review of the genetics involved.
AB  - Postpartum depression is one of the most prevalent psychopathologies. Its
      prevalence is estimated to be between 10% and 15%. Despite its multifactorial
      etiology, it is known that genetics play an important role in the genesis of this
      disorder. This paper reviews epidemiological evidence supporting the role of
      genetics in postpartum depression (PPD). The main objectives of this review are
      to determine which genes and polymorphisms are associated with PPD and discuss
      how this association may occur. In addition, this paper explores whether these
      genes are somehow related to or even the same as those linked to Major Depression
      (MD). To identify gaps in the current knowledge that require investigation, a
      systematic review was conducted in the electronic databases PubMed, LILACS and
      SciELO using the index terms "postpartum depression" and "genetics". Literature
      searches for articles in peer-reviewed journals were made until April 2014. PPD
      was indexed 56 times with genetics. The inclusion criteria were articles in
      Portuguese, Spanish or English that were available by institutional means or sent
      by authors upon request; this search resulted in 20 papers. Genes and
      polymorphisms traditionally related to MD, which are those involved in the
      serotonin, catecholamine, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and tryptophan
      metabolism, have been the most studied, and some have been related to PPD. The
      results are conflicting and some depend on epigenetics, which makes the data
      incipient. Further studies are required to determine the genes that are involved
      in PPD and establish the nature of the relationship between these genes and PPD. 

PMID- 25815258
TI  - Transcranial direct current stimulation in psychiatric disorders.
AB  - The interest in non-invasive brain stimulation techniques is increasing in recent
      years. Among these techniques, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has
      been the subject of great interest among researchers because of its easiness to
      use, low cost, benign profile of side effects and encouraging results of research
      in the field. This interest has generated several studies and randomized clinical
      trials, particularly in psychiatry. In this review, we provide a summary of the
      development of the technique and its mechanism of action as well as a review of
      the methodological aspects of randomized clinical trials in psychiatry, including
      studies in affective disorders, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder,
      child psychiatry and substance use disorder. Finally, we provide an overview of
      tDCS use in cognitive enhancement as well as a discussion regarding its clinical
      use and regulatory and ethical issues. Although many promising results regarding
      tDCS efficacy were described, the total number of studies is still low,
      highlighting the need of further studies aiming to replicate these findings in
      larger samples as to provide a definite picture regarding tDCS efficacy in
      psychiatry. 

PMID- 25815260
TI  - Review of the genetic basis of emotion dysregulation in children and adolescents.
AB  - Previous evidence suggests that emotion dysregulation may have different
      biological correlates between adults and children/adolescents. Although the role
      of genetic factors has been extensively studied in adult-onset emotion
      dysregulation, the genetic basis for pediatric-onset emotion dysregulation
      remains elusive. The current review article presents a summary of previous
      studies that have suggested a few genetic variants associated with pediatric
      emotion dysregulation. Among these candidate loci, many prior studies have been
      focused on serotonin transporter promoter gene polymorphism 5-HTTLPR. Certain
      alleles of the 5-HTTLPR gene polymorphism have been found to be associated with
      traits associated with emotion dysregulation, such as aggression, affect
      reactivity, and insecure attachment. Additionally, genetic variants involving
      dopamine and neurophysiological biomarkers like the COMT Val158Met (rs460) and
      dopamine receptor D2/ ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing one
      polymorphisms may play a role in emotion dysregulation. Inconsistent findings
      have been noted, possibly due to the heterogeneity in study designs and
      characteristics of different populations. Further research on the role of genetic
      predetermination of emotion dysregulation in children and adolescents is
      warranted. 

PMID- 25815261
TI  - Associative stigma in family members of psychotic patients in Flanders: An
      exploratory study.
AB  - AIM: To assess presence and severity of associative stigma in family members of
      psychotic patients and factors for higher associative stigma. METHODS:
      Standardized semi-structured interview of 150 family members of psychotic
      patients receiving full time treatment. This study on associative stigma in
      family members of psychotic patients was part of a larger research program on the
      burden of the family, using "Interview for the Burden of the Family" and the
      chapters stigma, treatment and attribution from the "Family interview Schedule".
      The respondents were relatives, one per patient, either partner or parent. The
      patients had been diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder. All
      contacts with patients and relatives were in Dutch. Relatives were deemed
      suitable to participate in this research if they saw the patient at least once a
      week. Recruitment took place in a standardized way: after obtaining the patient's
      consent, the relatives were approached to participate. The results were analyzed
      using SPSS Version 18.0. RESULTS: The prevalence of associative stigma in this
      sample is 86%. Feelings of depression in the majority of family members are
      prominent. Twenty-one point three percent experienced guilt more or less
      frequent, while shame was less pronounced. Also, 18.6% of all respondents
      indicated that they tried to hide the illness of their family member for others
      regularly or more. Three six point seven percent really kept secret about it in
      certain circumstances and 29.3% made efforts to explain what the situation or
      psychiatric condition of their family member really is like. Factors with marked
      significance towards higher associative stigma are a worsened relationship
      between the patient and the family member, conduct problems to family members,
      the patients' residence in a residential care setting, and hereditary
      attributional factors like genetic hereditability and character. The level of
      associative stigma has significantly been predicted by the burden of aggressive
      disruptions to family housemates of the psychotic patient. CONCLUSION: Family
      members of psychotic patients in Flanders experience higher associative stigma
      compared to previous international research. Disruptive behavior by the patient
      towards in-housing family members is the most accurate predictor of higher
      associative stigma.

PMID- 25815262
TI  - Mood Spectrum Model: Evidence reconsidered in the light of DSM-5.
AB  - AIM: to investigate studies conducted with the Mood Spectrum Structured
      Interviews and Self-Report versions (SCI-MOODS and MOODS-SR). METHODS: We
      conducted a review of studies published between 1997 and August 2014. The search
      was performed using Pubmed and PsycINFO databases. Analysis of the papers
      followed the inclusion and exclusion criteria recommended by the PRISMA
      Guidelines, namely: (1) articles that presented a combination of at least two
      terms, "SCI-MOODS" [all fields] or "MOODS-SR" [all fields] or "mood spectrum"
      [all fields]; (2) manuscript in English; (3) original articles; and (4)
      prospective or retrospective original studies (analytical or descriptive),
      experimental or quasi-experimental studies. Exclusion criteria were: (1) other
      study designs (case reports, case series, and reviews); (2) non-original studies
      including editorials, book reviews and letters to the editor; and (3) studies not
      specifically designed and focused on SCI-MOODS or MOODS-SR. RESULTS: The search
      retrieved 43 papers, including 5 reviews of literature or methodological papers,
      and 1 case report. After analyzing their titles and abstracts, according to the
      eligibility criteria, 6 were excluded and 37 were chosen and included. The SCI
      MOODS and the MOODS-SR have been tested in published studies involving 52
      different samples across 4 countries (Italy, United States, Spain and Japan). The
      proposed mood spectrum approach has demonstrated its usefulness mainly in 3
      different areas: (1) Patients with the so-called "pure" unipolar depression that
      might manifest hypomanic atypical and/or sub-threshold aspects systematically
      detectable with the mood questionnaire; (2) Spectrum features not detected by
      other instruments are clinically relevant, because they might manifest in waves
      during the lifespan, sometimes together, sometimes alone, sometimes reaching the
      severity for a full-blown disorder, sometimes interfering with other mental
      disorders or complicating the course of somatic diseases; and (3) Higher scores
      on the MOODS-SR factors assessing "psychomotor disturbances", "mixed instability"
      and "suicidality" delineate subtypes of patients characterized by the more severe
      forms of mood disorders, the higher risk for psychotic symptoms, and the lower
      quality of life after the remission of the full-blown-episode. CONCLUSION: The
      mood spectrum model help researchers and clinicians in the systematic assessment
      of those areas of psychopathology that are still neglected by the Diagnostic and
      Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 classification.

PMID- 25815263
TI  - Light treatment for seasonal Winter depression in African-American vs Caucasian
      outpatients.
AB  - AIM: To compare adherence, response, and remission with light treatment in
      African-American and Caucasian patients with Seasonal Affective Disorder.
      METHODS: Seventy-eight study participants, age range 18-64 (51 African-Americans
      and 27 Caucasians) recruited from the Greater Baltimore Metropolitan area, with
      diagnoses of recurrent mood disorder with seasonal pattern, and confirmed by a
      Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
      Disorders-IV, were enrolled in an open label study of daily bright light
      treatment. The trial lasted 6 wk with flexible dosing of light starting with
      10000 lux bright light for 60 min daily in the morning. At the end of six weeks
      there were 65 completers. Three patients had Bipolar II disorder and the
      remainder had Major depressive disorder. Outcome measures were remission (score
      <= 8) and response (50% reduction) in symptoms on the Structured Interview Guide
      for the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (SIGH-SAD) as well as symptomatic
      improvement on SIGH-SAD and Beck Depression Inventory-II. Adherence was measured
      using participant daily log. Participant groups were compared using t-tests, chi
      square, linear and logistic regressions. RESULTS: The study did not find any
      significant group difference between African-Americans and their Caucasian
      counterparts in adherence with light treatment as well as in symptomatic
      improvement. While symptomatic improvement and rate of treatment response were
      not different between the two groups, African-Americans, after adjustment for
      age, gender and adherence, achieved a significantly lower remission rate (African
      Americans 46.3%; Caucasians 75%; P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: This is the first study
      of light treatment in African-Americans, continuing our previous work reporting a
      similar frequency but a lower awareness of SAD and its treatment in African
      Americans. Similar rates of adherence, symptomatic improvement and treatment
      response suggest that light treatment is a feasible, acceptable, and beneficial
      treatment for SAD in African-American patients. These results should lead to
      intensifying education initiatives to increase awareness of SAD and its treatment
      in African-American communities to increased SAD treatment engagement. In African
      American vs Caucasian SAD patients a remission gap was identified, as reported
      before with antidepressant medications for non-seasonal depression, demanding
      sustained efforts to investigate and then address its causes.

PMID- 25815264
TI  - Systematic review of evidence for different treatment settings in anorexia
      nervosa.
AB  - AIM: To compare outcomes in anorexia nervosa (AN) in different treatment
      settings: inpatient, partial hospitalization and outpatient. METHODS: Completed
      and published in the English language, randomized controlled trials comparing
      treatment in two or more settings or comparing different lengths of inpatient
      stay, were identified by database searches using terms "anorexia nervosa" and
      "treatment" dated to July 2014. Trials were assessed for risk of bias and quality
      according to the Cochrane handbook by two authors (Madden S and Hay P) Data were
      extracted on trial quality, participant features and setting, main outcomes and
      attrition. RESULTS: Five studies were identified, two comparing inpatient
      treatment to outpatient treatment, one study comparing different lengths of
      inpatient treatment, one comparing inpatient treatment to day patient treatment
      and one comparing day patient treatment with outpatient treatment. There was no
      difference in treatment outcomes between the different treatment settings and
      different lengths of inpatient treatment. Both outpatient treatment and day
      patient treatment were significantly cheaper than inpatient treatment. Brief
      inpatient treatment followed by evidence based outpatient care was also cheaper
      than prolonged inpatient care for weight normalization also followed by evidence
      based outpatient care. CONCLUSION: There is preliminary support for AN treatment
      in less restrictive settings but more research is needed to identify the optimum
      treatment setting for anorexia nervosa.

PMID- 25815265
TI  - Brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in first episode of psychosis: A
      systematic review.
AB  - AIM: To systematically review studies measuring peripheric brain-derived
      neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels on first-episode psychosis patients and
      variables related to them. METHODS: A systematic search was made of articles
      published in the Medline database from 2002 up to June 2014. Included are
      original studies that report enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay measurement of
      BDNF levels in serum or plasma in patients with a diagnosis of first episode
      psychosis (FEP) and age- and gender- matched healthy controls. RESULTS: Of the
      initially identified 147 articles, only 18 satisfied the inclusion criteria. Of
      this, 15 found a significant reduction in patients with FEP compared with age-
      and gender - matched controls. CONCLUSION: Peripheral BDNF levels are generally
      reduced in FEP patients. There are some factors that may influence BDNF levels
      that need to be further studied. Furthermore, a future meta-analysis in this
      topic is needed.

PMID- 25815266
TI  - Bioengineered stem cells as an alternative for islet cell transplantation.
AB  - Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune and increasingly prevalent condition caused by
      immunological destruction of beta cells. Insulin remains the mainstay of therapy.
      Endeavours in islet transplantation have clearly demonstrated that type 1
      diabetes is treatable by cellular replacement. Many challenges remain with this
      approach. The opportunity to use bioengineered embryonic or adult pluripotential
      stem cells, or islets derived from porcine xenograft sources could address future
      demands, but are still associated with considerable challenges. This detailed
      review outlines current progress in clinical islet transplantation, and places
      this in perspective for the remarkable scientific advances now occurring in stem
      cell and regenerative medicine approaches in the treatment of future curative
      treatment of diabetes. 

PMID- 25815268
TI  - Conversion from calcineurin inhibitors to mTOR inhibitors stabilizes diabetic and
      hypertensive nephropathy after liver transplant.
AB  - AIM: To investigate if conversion to the mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors
      (mTORi) improves renal function in diabetic and/or hypertensive liver transplant
      patients immunosuppressed with tacrolimus or cyclosporine. METHODS: The study
      included 86 liver graft recipients immunosuppressed with mTORi treatment after
      orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), including all liver recipients with
      worsening renal function before conversion to mTORi (n = 55 patients) and
      recipients with normal renal function who converted to mTORi for other reasons (n
      = 31 patients). We identified patients with diabetes mellitus (n = 28), arterial
      hypertension (n = 27), proteinuria (n = 27) and all three factors (n = 8) (some
      patients have hypertension and diabetes and no proteinuria). The primary endpoint
      was evolution in renal function defined as the development in plasma creatinine
      as a function of diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HT) or proteinuria. We
      required elevated serum creatinine for at least two weeks to define renal
      dysfunction. RESULTS: Only patients that converted because of renal failure with
      plasma creatinine levels > 1.5 mg/dL showed an improvement of renal function
      (2.14 to 1.77 mg/dL) (P = 0.02). Patients with DM showed no improvement of serum
      creatinine levels (1.31 mg/dL to 1.37 mg/dL) compared with non DM patients (1.31
      mg/dL to 1.15 mg/dL) (P = 0.01), HT patients (1.48 mg/dL to 1.5 mg/dL) with non
      HT patients (1.21mg/dL to 1.08 mg/dL) and patients with proteinuria (1.44 mg/dL
      to 1.41 mg/dL) and no proteinuria (1.31 mg/dL to 1.11 mg/dL). CONCLUSION: In OLT
      recipients with diabetes or hypertensive nephropathy, conversion to mTORi does
      not improve renal function but stabilizes plasma levels of creatinine.
      Proteinuria is not a contraindication to conversion to mTORi; it also stabilizes
      renal function. Conversion to mTORi should only be avoided in patients with
      diabetes, hypertension and proteinuria.

PMID- 25815269
TI  - Underestimation of chronic renal dysfunction after liver transplantation: ICEBERG
      study.
AB  - AIM: To compare prevalence of chronic renal dysfunction (CRD) according to serum
      creatinine (sCr) vs estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) among maintenance
      liver transplant patients. METHODS: The ICEBERG study was an observational,
      retrospective, cross-sectional, and multicenter study. Consecutive adult patients
      (aged 18 years or older) with liver transplantation (LT) performed at least two
      years previously were recruited. Multi-organ transplant recipients were excluded.
      Chronic renal dysfunction was defined according to sCr based criteria in routine
      clinical practice (>= 2 mg/dL) and eGFR using MDRD-4 equation (< 60 mL/min per
      1.73 m(2)). Agreement between sCr definition and eGFR assessment was evaluated
      using the Kappa index. Cox regression analysis was applied to identify predictive
      factors for developing CRD after LT. RESULTS: A total of 402 patients were
      analyzed (71.6% males). Mean +/- SD age at transplant was 52.4 +/- 9.8 years.
      Alcoholic cirrhosis without hepatocellular carcinoma was the most common reason
      for LT (32.8%). Mean time since LT was 6.9 +/- 3.9 years. Based on sCr
      assessment, 35.3% of patients (95%CI: 30.6-40.0) had CRD; 50.2% (95%CI: 45.3
      55.1) according to eGFR. In 32.2% of cases, sCr assessment had underestimated
      CRD. Multivariate analysis showed the following factors associated with
      developing CRD: eGFR < 60 mL/min per 1.73 m(2) at three months post-transplant
      [hazard ratio (HR) = 4.76; 95%CI: 2.78-8.33; P < 0.0001]; calcineurin inhibitor
      use (HR = 2.31; 95%CI: 1.05-5.07; P = 0.0371); male gender (HR = 1.98; 95%CI:
      1.09-3.60; P = 0.0260); and >= 10 years post-transplantation (HR = 1.95; 95%CI:
      1.08-3.54; P = 0.0279). CONCLUSION: Seven years after LT, CRD affected half our
      patients, which was underestimated by sCr. An eGFR < 60 mL/min per 1.73 m(2)
      three months post-LT was predictive of subsequent CRD.

PMID- 25815270
TI  - Diagnostic dilemma of coagulation problems in an HIV-positive patient with end
      stage liver disease undergoing liver transplantation.
AB  - Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may result in devastating multi-organ
      complications, including cirrhosis. Consequently, liver transplantation is often
      required for these patients. We report a case of a 43-year-old female with
      cryptogenic cirrhosis and HIV on highly active antiretroviral therapy, presenting
      for non-related living donor liver transplantation. The intra-operative course
      was complicated by hepatic artery and portal vein thrombosis, requiring
      thrombectomy. On postoperative day-3, the patient required re-transplantation
      with a cadaveric donor organ due to primary graft failure. 

PMID- 25815267
TI  - Ultraviolet-induced alloantigen-specific immunosuppression in transplant
      immunity.
AB  - After the first observation of the immunosuppressive effects of ultraviolet (UV)
      irradiation was reported in 1974, therapeutic modification of immune responses by
      UV irradiation began to be investigated in the context immunization. UV-induced
      immunosuppression is via the action of regulatory T cells (Tregs). Antigen
      specific Tregs were induced by high-dose UV-B irradiation before antigen
      immunization in many studies, as it was considered that functional alteration
      and/or modulation of antigen-presenting cells by UV irradiation was required for
      the induction of antigen-specific immunosuppression. However, it is also reported
      that UV irradiation after immunization induces antigen-specific Tregs. UV-induced
      Tregs are also dominantly transferable, with interleukin-10 being important for
      UV-induced immunosuppression. Currently, various possible mechanisms involving
      Treg phenotype and cytokine profile have been suggested. UV irradiation
      accompanied by alloantigen immunization induces alloantigen-specific transferable
      Tregs, which have potential therapeutic applications in the transplantation
      field. Here we review the current status of UV-induced antigen-specific
      immunosuppression on the 40(th) anniversary of its discovery. 

PMID- 25815271
TI  - Neuropsychological assessment of individuals with brain tumor: comparison of
      approaches used in the classification of impairment.
AB  - Approaches to classifying neuropsychological impairment after brain tumor vary
      according to testing level (individual tests, domains, or global index) and
      source of reference (i.e., norms, controls, and pre-morbid functioning). This
      study aimed to compare rates of impairment according to different classification
      approaches. Participants were 44 individuals (57% female) with a primary brain
      tumor diagnosis (mean age = 45.6 years) and 44 matched control participants (59%
      female, mean age = 44.5 years). All participants completed a test battery that
      assesses pre-morbid IQ (Wechsler adult reading test), attention/processing speed
      (digit span, trail making test A), memory (Hopkins verbal learning test-revised,
      Rey-Osterrieth complex figure-recall), and executive function (trail making test
      B, Rey-Osterrieth complex figure copy, controlled oral word association test).
      Results indicated that across the different sources of reference, 86-93% of
      participants were classified as impaired at a test-specific level, 61-73% were
      classified as impaired at a domain-specific level, and 32-50% were classified as
      impaired at a global level. Rates of impairment did not significantly differ
      according to source of reference (p > 0.05); however, at the individual
      participant level, classification based on estimated pre-morbid IQ was often
      inconsistent with classification based on the norms or controls. Participants
      with brain tumor performed significantly poorer than matched controls on tests of
      neuropsychological functioning, including executive function (p = 0.001) and
      memory (p < 0.001), but not attention/processing speed (p > 0.05). These results
      highlight the need to examine individuals' performance across a multi-faceted
      neuropsychological test battery to avoid over- or under-estimation of impairment.

PMID- 25815273
TI  - Cognitive screening in brain tumors: short but sensitive enough?
AB  - Cognitive deficits in brain tumors are generally thought to be relatively mild
      and non-specific, although recent evidence challenges this notion. One
      possibility is that cognitive screening tools are being used to assess cognitive
      functions but their sensitivity to detect cognitive impairment may be limited.
      For improved sensitivity to recognize mild and/or focal cognitive deficits in
      brain tumors, neuropsychological evaluation tailored to detect specific
      impairments has been thought crucial. This study investigates the sensitivity of
      a cognitive screening tool, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), compared to
      a brief but tailored cognitive assessment (CA) for identifying cognitive deficits
      in an unselected primary brain tumor sample (i.e., low/high-grade gliomas,
      meningiomas). Performance is compared on broad measures of impairment: (a) number
      of patients impaired on the global screening measure or in any cognitive domain;
      and (b) number of cognitive domains impaired and specific analyses of MoCA-Intact
      and MoCA-Impaired patients on specific cognitive tests. The MoCA-Impaired group
      obtained lower naming and word fluency scores than the MoCA-Intact group, but
      otherwise performed comparably on cognitive tests. Overall, based on our results
      from patients with brain tumor, the MoCA has extremely poor sensitivity for
      detecting cognitive impairments and a brief but tailored CA is necessary. These
      findings will be discussed in relation to broader issues for clinical management
      and planning, as well as specific considerations for neuropsychological
      assessment of brain tumor patients. 

PMID- 25815274
TI  - Census of solo LuxR genes in prokaryotic genomes.
AB  - luxR genes encode transcriptional regulators that control acyl homoserine lactone
      based quorum sensing (AHL QS) in Gram negative bacteria. On the bacterial
      chromosome, luxR genes are usually found next or near to a luxI gene encoding the
      AHL signal synthase. Recently, a number of luxR genes were described that have no
      luxI genes in their vicinity on the chromosome. These so-called solo luxR genes
      may either respond to internal AHL signals produced by a non-adjacent luxI in the
      chromosome, or can respond to exogenous signals. Here we present a survey of solo
      luxR genes found in complete and draft bacterial genomes in the NCBI databases
      using HMMs. We found that 2698 of the 3550 luxR genes found are solos, which is
      an unexpectedly high number even if some of the hits may be false positives. We
      also found that solo LuxR sequences form distinct clusters that are different
      from the clusters of LuxR sequences that are part of the known luxR-luxI
      topological arrangements. We also found a number of cases that we termed twin
      luxR topologies, in which two adjacent luxR genes were in tandem or divergent
      orientation. Many of the luxR solo clusters were devoid of the sequence motifs
      characteristic of AHL binding LuxR proteins so there is room to speculate that
      the solos may be involved in sensing hitherto unknown signals. It was noted that
      only some of the LuxR clades are rich in conserved cysteine residues. Molecular
      modeling suggests that some of the cysteines may be involved in disulfide
      formation, which makes us speculate that some LuxR proteins, including some of
      the solos may be involved in redox regulation. 

PMID- 25815272
TI  - Modulation of Immune Cell Functions by the E3 Ligase Cbl-b.
AB  - Maintenance of immunological tolerance is a critical hallmark of the immune
      system. Several signaling checkpoints necessary to balance activating and
      inhibitory input to immune cells have been described so far, among which the E3
      ligase Cbl-b appears to be a central player. Cbl-b is expressed in all leukocyte
      subsets and regulates several signaling pathways in T cells, NK cells, B cells,
      and different types of myeloid cells. In most cases, Cbl-b negatively regulates
      activation signals through antigen or pattern recognition receptors and co
      stimulatory molecules. In line with this function, cblb-deficient immune cells
      display lower activation thresholds and cblb knockout mice spontaneously develop
      autoimmunity and are highly susceptible to experimental autoimmunity.
      Interestingly, genetic association studies link CBLB-polymorphisms with
      autoimmunity also in humans. Vice versa, the increased activation potential of
      cblb-deficient cells renders them more potent to fight against malignancies or
      infections. Accordingly, several reports have shown that cblb knockout mice
      reject tumors, which mainly depends on cytotoxic T and NK cells. Thus, targeting
      Cbl-b may be an interesting strategy to enhance anti-cancer immunity. In this
      review, we summarize the findings on the molecular function of Cbl-b in different
      cell types and illustrate the potential of Cbl-b as target for immunomodulatory
      therapies. 

PMID- 25815275
TI  - Comparison of whole genome sequences from human and non-human Escherichia coli
      O26 strains.
AB  - Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O26 is the second leading E. coli
      serogroup responsible for human illness outbreaks behind E. coli O157:H7. Recent
      outbreaks have been linked to emerging pathogenic O26:H11 strains harboring stx 2
      only. Cattle have been recognized as an important reservoir of O26 strains
      harboring stx 1; however the reservoir of these emerging stx 2 strains is
      unknown. The objective of this study was to identify nucleotide polymorphisms in
      human and cattle-derived strains in order to compare differences in polymorphism
      derived genotypes and virulence gene profiles between the two host species. Whole
      genome sequencing was performed on 182 epidemiologically unrelated O26 strains,
      including 109 human-derived strains and 73 non-human-derived strains. A panel of
      289 O26 strains (241 STEC and 48 non-STEC) was subsequently genotyped using a set
      of 283 polymorphisms identified by whole genome sequencing, resulting in 64
      unique genotypes. Phylogenetic analyses identified seven clusters within the O26
      strains. The seven clusters did not distinguish between isolates originating from
      humans or cattle; however, clusters did correspond with particular virulence gene
      profiles. Human and non-human-derived strains harboring stx 1 clustered
      separately from strains harboring stx 2, strains harboring eae, and non-STEC
      strains. Strains harboring stx 2 were more closely related to non-STEC strains
      and strains harboring eae than to strains harboring stx 1. The finding of human
      and cattle-derived strains with the same polymorphism derived genotypes and
      similar virulence gene profiles, provides evidence that similar strains are found
      in cattle and humans and transmission between the two species may occur. 

PMID- 25815276
TI  - A systematic review and meta-analysis of the epidemiology of pathogenic
      Escherichia coli of calves and the role of calves as reservoirs for human
      pathogenic E. coli.
AB  - Escherichia coli bacteria are the most common causes of diarrhea and septicemia
      in calves. Moreover, calves form a major reservoir for transmission of pathogenic
      E. coli to humans. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of publications on E.
      coli as calf pathogens and the role of calves as reservoir have not been done so
      far. We reviewed studies between 1951 and 2013 reporting the presence of
      virulence associated factors (VAFs) in calf E. coli and extracted the following
      information: year(s) and country of sampling, animal number, health status,
      isolate number, VAF prevalence, serotypes, diagnostic methods, and biological
      assays. The prevalence of VAFs or E. coli pathotypes was compared between healthy
      and diarrheic animals and was analyzed for time courses. Together, 106 papers
      with 25,982 E. coli isolates from 27 countries tested for VAFs were included. F5,
      F17, and F41 fimbriae and heat-stable enterotoxin (ST) - VAFs of enterotoxigenic
      E. coli (ETEC) were significantly associated with calf diarrhea. On the contrary,
      ETEC VAF F4 fimbriae and heat-labile enterotoxin as well as enteropathogenic
      (EPEC), Shiga toxin-producing (STEC), and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) were
      not associated with diarrhea. The prevalence increased overtime for ST-positive
      isolates, but decreased for F5- and STEC-positive isolates. Our study provides
      useful information about the history of scientific investigations performed in
      this domain so far, and helps to define etiological agents of calf disease, and
      to evaluate calves as reservoir hosts for human pathogenic E. coli. 

PMID- 25815277
TI  - Rab11 in disease progression.
AB  - Membrane/protein trafficking in the secretory/biosynthetic and endocytic pathways
      is mediated by vesicles. Vesicle trafficking in eukaryotes is regulated by a
      class of small monomeric GTPases: the Rab protein family. Rab proteins represent
      the largest branch of the Ras superfamily GTPases, and have been concerned in a
      variety of intracellular vesicle trafficking and different intracellular
      signalling pathways. Rab11 (a subfamily of the Ypt/Rab gene family), an
      evolutionarily conserved ubiquitously expressed subfamily of Rab GTPases, has
      been implicated in regulating vesicular trafficking through the recycling of
      endosomes. Rabs have been grouped into different subfamilies based on the
      distinct unambiguous sequence motifs. Three members: Rab11a, Rab11b and Rab25
      make up the Rab11 GTPase subfamily. In this review article, we describe an
      overview over Rab11 subfamily with a brief structural aspect and its roles in
      implicating different disease progression. 

PMID- 25815278
TI  - Capability of Cartilage Extract to In Vitro Differentiation of Rat Mesenchymal
      Stem Cells (MSCs) to Chondrocyte Lineage.
AB  - The importance of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), as adult stem cells (ASCs) able
      to divide into a variety of different cells is of utmost importance for stem cell
      researches. In this study, the ability of cartilage extract to induce
      differentiation of rat derived omentum tissue MSCs (rOT-MSCs) into chondrocyte
      cells (CCs) was investigated. After isolation of rOT-MSCs, they were co-cultured
      with different concentrations of hyaline cartilage extract and chondrocyte
      differentiation was monitored. Expression of MSCs markers was analyzed via flow
      cytometry. Moreover, expression of octamer- binding transcription factor-4 (Oct
      4), Wilm's tumor suppressor gene-1 (WT-1), aggrecan (AG), collagen type-II (CT
      II) and collagen type-X (CT-X) was analyzed using RT-PCR on 16, 18 and 21 days.
      Furthermore, immunocytochemistry and western blot were performed for CT-II
      production. Finally, proteoglycans (PGs) were examined using toluidine blue and
      alcian blue staining. The phenotypic characterization revealed the positive
      expression of CD90, CD44 and negative expression of CD45 in rOT-MSCs. These cells
      also expressed mRNA of Oct-4 and WT-1 as markers of omentum tissue.
      Differentiated rOT-MSCs in the presence of 20 ug/ ml cartilage extract expressed
      AG, CT-II, CT-X, and PGs as specific markers of CCs. These observations suggest
      that cartilage extract is potentially able to induce differentiation of MSCs into
      chondrocyte lineage and may be considered as an available source for imposing
      tissue healing on the damaged cartilage. More investigations are needed to prove
      in vivo cartilage repair via cartilage extract or its effective factors. 

PMID- 25815279
TI  - In vitro differentiation of neural stem cells into noradrenergic-like cells.
AB  - Neural stem cells (NSCs) as a heterogeneous multipotent and self- renewal
      population are found in different areas in the developing mammalian nervous
      system, as well as the sub-ventricular zone (SVZ) and the hippocampus of the
      adult brain. NSCs can give rise to neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The
      aim of this study was to differentiate neural stem cells into noradrenergic-like
      cells in vitro. Neural stem cells were harvested from SVZ of newborn rat brains.
      The cells were cultured in DMEM12, B-27 supplemented with 20 ng/ ml (hFGF) and 20
      ng/ ml (EGF) for 2 weeks. Neurospheres were differentiated in neurobasal medium,
      B-27 supplemented with BDNF (50 ng/ ml) and GDNF (30 ng/ ml) for 3 and 5 days.
      Cell culture techniques and immunocytochemistry were applied to examine
      neurospheres and tyrosine hydroxylase positive cells. The number of neurites was
      counted 3 and 5 days after the induction of differentiation. Nestin and Sox2 were
      expressed in NSCs and neurospheres. NSCs were differentiated into noradrenergic-
      like cells (NACs). Tyrosine hydroxylase was detected in these cells. The results
      of NSCs differentiation for 5 days culture had a significant decrease (P<=0.05)
      in the number of TH positive cells with one or two neurite per cell, and a
      significant increase (P<=0.05) in the number of TH positive cells with three,
      four or more neurites per cell, compared with 3 days culture. Based on these
      results, NSCs have the ability to differentiate into noradrenergic cells in the
      presence of BDNF and GDNF growth factors. 

PMID- 25815280
TI  - Evaluation of miR-141, miR-200c, miR-30b Expression and Clinicopathological
      Features of Bladder Cancer.
AB  - Bladder cancer (BC) ranks the second most common genitourinary tract malignant
      tumor with high mortality and 70% recurrence rate worldwide. MiRNAs expression
      has noticeable role in bladder tumorigenesis. The purpose of this study was to
      assess miR-200c, miR-30b and miR-141 in tissue samples of patients with BC and
      healthy adjacent tissue samples and their association with muscle invasion, grade
      and the size of the tumor. Transurethral resection tissue samples were collected
      from thirty- five newly diagnosed untreated patients with BC from 2013 to 2014.
      The control group consisted of adjacent normal urothelium. All samples, observed
      by two pathologists, were diagnosed transitional cell carcinomas (TCC) with the
      proportion of tumor cells greater than 80%. Total RNA including miRNAs was
      extracted from about 50 mg tissue samples by applying TRIzol reagent. 2((
      DeltaDelta CT)) method was used to calculate relative quantification of miRNA
      expression. Two of 35 patients were females and the other 33 were males. Invasion
      to bladder muscle was observed in 13 (37%) cases. MiR-141, miR-200-c and miR30-b
      were up-regulated in 91%, 79% and 64% of malignant tissues, respectively. Down
      regulation of miR-141 had a strong association with muscle invasion (P= 0.017).
      Significant inverse correlation between grading and miRNA-141 level was observed
      (P= 0.043). 

PMID- 25815281
TI  - Lack of Association between miRNA-146a rs2910164 and miRNA-499 rs3746444 Gene
      Polymorphisms and Susceptibility to Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
AB  - Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in miRNAsmay alter its expression levels
      or processing and contribute to susceptibility to a wide range of diseases. Our
      study aimed to evaluate the possible association between miRNA-146a rs2910164 and
      miRNA-499 rs3746444 polymorphisms and susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis
      (PTB) in a sample of Iranian population. This case- control study was performed
      on 202 PTB patients and 204 healthy individuals. Genotyping was performed using
      tetra amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (T-ARMS
      PCR). The results indicated that neither miRNA-499 rs3746444 nor miRNA-146a
      rs2910164 are associated with the risk of PTB in a sample of Iranian population.
      Larger studies with different ethnicities are required to validate our findings. 

PMID- 25815282
TI  - Characterization of Carbapenemases in Extensively Drug Resistance Acinetobacter
      baumannii in a Burn Care Center in Iran.
AB  - The emergence of multidrug resistance (MDR) and extensively drug resistance (XDR)
      in Acinetobacter baumannii has made an important challenge in the treatment of
      infections caused by this organism. The ability of carbapenemase production is
      one of the main mechanisms for the emergence of MDR and/or XDR in A. baumannii.
      The aim of this study was to detect carbapenemase producer A. baumannii. In this
      study, 65 imipenem resistant A. baumannii were collected from burned patients.
      Biochemical identification, antibiotic susceptibility test and multiplex
      polymerase chain reactions for the detection of carbapenemases genes were
      performed. The results showed that all strains carried bla OXA-51. 83%, 12.5% and
      9.23% strains harbored bla OXA-23, bla VIM and bla KPC genes, respectively. None
      of the isolates carried bla IMP, bla OXA-48, blaNDM-1 and bla SPM-1 genes. The
      results of this study indicate the emergence of Klebsiella pneumoniae
      Carbapenemase (KPC) in A. baumannii causing nosocomial infections in burned
      patients which can be important for hospital infection prevention systems in
      Iran. 

PMID- 25815283
TI  - RNA Extraction from Animal and Human's Cancerous Tissues: Does Tissue Matter?
AB  - The reliability of gene expression profiling, based technologies and methods to
      find transcriptional differences representative of the original samples is
      influenced by the quality of the extracted RNA. Hence, RNA extraction is the
      first step to investigate the gene expression and its function. Consequently, the
      quality of extracted RNA is really significant. Correspondingly, this research
      was accomplished to optimize the RNA extraction methods and compare the amounts
      of tissue or quality of tissue. Relatively, the cancerous tissue of human stomach
      in fresh and frozen conditions and also the mouse fresh tissue were studied. Some
      factors like the amount of samples, efficacy differences of diverse extraction
      buffers (TriPure, Trizol) and also the efficacy of b-mercaptoethanol were
      compared and investigated. The results indicated that the less amount (1-2 mg)
      compared to other amounts (2-5 mg, 5-15 mg) yielded the best quality and the RNA
      bands (5S, 18S, 28S) were observed perfectly. Relatively, comparing and measuring
      some kinds of buffers (Trizol, TriPure) indicated no difference in RNA extraction
      quality. The last investigated factor was the effect of b- mercaptoethanol which
      was used along with TriPure to remove the RNAse. Conclusively, no effective
      impression was observed. 

PMID- 25815284
TI  - The effect of adiponectin on osteonectin gene expression by oxidized low density
      lipoprotein-treated vascular smooth muscle cells.
AB  - Osteonectin is a bone- associated protein involved in vascular calcification.
      Adiponectin may protect against cardiovascular disease but possible effects on
      vascular calcification have been poorly studied. The aim of this study was to
      investigate the modulatory effect of adiponectin on oxidized low density
      lipoprotein (oxLDL)- induced expression of osteonectin in human aorta vascular
      smooth muscle cells (HA/VSMCs). HA/VSMCs were cultured in F12K media and then
      treated with oxLDL (100 ug/mL) in the presence or absence of adoponectin (5
      ug/mL) for 24 and 48 hours. mRNA expression and protein level of osteonectin were
      determined by quantitative real-time PCR and western blot analysis, respectively.
      After exposure to oxLDL, osteonectin expression increased 1.62 +/- 0.23- and 6.62
      +/- 0.48-fold after 24 and 48 hours respectively compared to the control.
      Adiponectin increased oxLDL- induced osteonectin expression in a time-dependent
      manner after 24 and 48 hours (3.24 +/- 0.39- and 24.93 +/- 2.15-fold,
      respectively). Western blotting confirmed that osteonectin protein was
      upregulated by adiponectin.Our data suggest that OxLDL might cause the increase
      of osteonectin expression both at mRNA and protein level. This upregulation is
      intensified by adiponectin. 

PMID- 25815285
TI  - Tagging polyketides/non-ribosomal peptides with a clickable functionality and
      applications.
AB  - Bioorthogonal chemistry has recently emerged to be one of the most powerful tools
      in drug discovery and chemical biology. The exploration of it has successfully
      advanced the field of natural product research. In this Perspective, we survey
      current strategies for the installation of chemical handles into the molecular
      scaffolds of several major classes of natural products, including polyketides
      (PKs), non-ribosomal peptides (NRPs), and their hybrids. By tagging these natural
      products with chemical handles and coupling them with subsequent bioorthogonal
      reactions, researchers have visualized and studied the mode of action of natural
      products, as well as synthesized derivatives with better pharmaceutical
      properties. We conclude this Perspective by considering two questions: is there a
      general way to synthesize tagged PKs/NRPs? Does natural product labeling have a
      broader impact in the field of natural product research beyond current known
      applications? 

PMID- 25815286
TI  - Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy in polymer study.
AB  - This review outlines the recent works of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy
      (2DCOS) in polymer study. 2DCOS is a powerful technique applicable to the in
      depth analysis of various spectral data of polymers obtained under some type of
      perturbation. The powerful utility of 2DCOS combined with various analytical
      techniques in polymer studies and noteworthy developments of 2DCOS used in this
      field are also highlighted. 

PMID- 25815287
TI  - Exploring the conformational landscape of menthol, menthone, and isomenthone: a
      microwave study.
AB  - The rotational spectra of the monoterpenoids menthol, menthone, and isomenthone
      are reported in the frequency range of 2-8.5 GHz, obtained with broadband Fourier
      transform microwave spectroscopy. For menthol only one conformation was
      identified under the cold conditions of the molecular jet, whereas three
      conformations were observed for menthone and one for isomenthone. The
      conformational space of the different molecules was extensively studied using
      quantum chemical calculations, and the results were compared with molecular
      parameters obtained by the measurements. Finally, a computer program is
      presented, which automatically identifies different species in a dense broadband
      microwave spectrum using calculated ab initio rotational constants as initial
      input parameters. 

PMID- 25815288
TI  - Relationships among ergot alkaloids, cytochrome P450 activity, and beef steer
      growth.
AB  - Determining a grazing animal's susceptibility to ergot alkaloids has been a
      research topic for decades. Our objective was to determine if the PromegaTM P450
      Glo assay could be used to indirectly detect ergot alkaloids or their metabolites
      in urine of steers. The first experiment validated the effects of ergot alkaloids
      [0, 20, and 40 MUM of ergotamine (ET), dihydroergotamine (DHET), and ergonovine
      (EN)] on human CYP3A4 using the P450-Glo assay (PromegaTM V9800). With this
      assay, luminescence is directly proportional to CYP450 activity. Relative
      inhibition of in vitro cytochrome P450 activity was affected (P < 0.001) by an
      interaction between alkaloids and concentration. That interaction resulted in no
      concentration effect of EN, but within ET and DHET 20 and 40 MUM concentrations
      inhibited CYP450 activity when compared with controls. In experiment 2, urine was
      collected from Angus-sired crossbred steers (n = 39; 216 +/- 2.6 days of age; 203
      +/- 1.7 kg) after grazing tall fescue pastures for 105 days. Non-diluted urine
      was added to the PromegaTM P450-Glo assay, and observed inhibition (3.7 % +/- 2.7
      of control). Urine content of total ergot alkaloids (331.1 ng/mg of creatinine +/
      325.7) was determined using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Urine inhibition
      of CYP450 activity and total alkaloids were correlated (r = -0.31; P < 0.05).
      Steers were genotyped at CYP450 single nucleotide polymorphism, C994G. Steer
      genotype affected (P < 0.03) inhibition of CYP450 activity by urine; heterozygous
      steers had the least amount of CYP450 inhibition suggesting that genotyping
      cattle may be a method of identifying animals that are susceptible to ergot
      alkaloids. Although, additional research is needed, we demonstrate that the
      PromegaTM P450-Glo assay is sensitive to ergot alkaloids and urine from steers
      grazing tall fescue. With some refinement the P450-Glo assay has potential as a
      tool for screening cattle for their exposure to fescue toxins. 

PMID- 25815289
TI  - Age and the means of bypassing stasis influence the intrinsic subtype of
      immortalized human mammary epithelial cells.
AB  - Based on molecular features, breast cancers are grouped into intrinsic subtypes
      that have different prognoses and therapeutic response profiles. With increasing
      age, breast cancer incidence increases, with hormone receptor-positive and other
      luminal-like subtype tumors comprising a majority of cases. It is not known at
      what stage of tumor progression subtype specification occurs, nor how the process
      of aging affects the intrinsic subtype. We examined subtype markers in
      immortalized human mammary epithelial cell lines established following exposure
      of primary cultured cell strains to a two-step immortalization protocol that
      targets the two main barriers to immortality: stasis (stress-associated
      senescence) and replicative senescence. Cell lines derived from epithelial cells
      obtained from non-tumorous pre- and post-menopausal breast surgery tissues were
      compared. Additionally, comparisons were made between lines generated using two
      different genetic interventions to bypass stasis: transduction of either an shRNA
      that down-regulated p16(INK4A), or overexpressed constitutive active cyclin
      D1/CDK2. In all cases, the replicative senescence barrier was bypassed by
      transduction of c-Myc. Cells from all resulting immortal lines exhibited normal
      karyotypes. Immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, and gene expression analyses of
      lineage-specific markers were used to categorize the intrinsic subtypes of the
      immortalized lines. Bypassing stasis with p16 shRNA in young strains generated
      cell lines that were invariably basal-like, but the lines examined from older
      strains exhibited some luminal features such as keratin 19 and estrogen receptor
      expression. Overexpression of cyclin D1/CDK2 resulted in keratin 19 positive,
      luminal-like cell lines from both young and old strains, and the lines examined
      from older strains exhibited estrogen receptor expression. Thus age and the
      method of bypassing stasis independently influence the subtype of immortalized
      human mammary epithelial cells. 

PMID- 25815290
TI  - The value of proteomics in lung cancer.
AB  - Many studies have identified the prognostic and predictive value of proteins or
      peptides in lung cancer but most failed to provide strong evidence for their
      clinical applicability. The strongest predictive proteins seem to be fatty acid
      binding protein heart (H-FABP), and the 8-peak mass spectrography signature of
      VeriStrat. When focusing on VeriStrat, a 'VeriStrat good' profile did not
      discriminate between chemotherapy and erlotinib. The 'VeriStrat poor' profile
      showed a better outcome to chemotherapy than to erlotinib. VeriStrat is a
      prognostic test and only the "poor profile" discriminates for the type of therapy
      that should be chosen. Whether it adds useful information in patients with
      advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and wild type EGFR mutations is still
      doubtful. The position of the VeriStrat test in clinical practice is still not
      clear and we are waiting for prospective studies where biomarker test are
      involved in clinical decision. 

PMID- 25815291
TI  - A new proteomic test could guide treatment decision in second-line therapy for
      patients with EGFR unselected non-small cell lung cancer?

PMID- 25815292
TI  - Clinical perspective on PROSE: does VeriStrat testing improve selection of second
      line treatment for patients with non-small cell lung cancer?

PMID- 25815293
TI  - Writing in PROSE proteomic-based selection for second line treatment in non-small
      cell lung cancer.

PMID- 25815294
TI  - Intra-articular versus intravenous tranexamic acid in primary total knee
      replacement.

PMID- 25815295
TI  - Innate immunity and adaptive immunity in Crohn's disease.

PMID- 25815296
TI  - Towards the prophylactic and therapeutic use of human neutralizing monoclonal
      antibodies for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

PMID- 25815297
TI  - Real-time liquid biopsies become a reality in cancer treatment.

PMID- 25815298
TI  - Non-intubated thoracic surgery-A survey from the European Society of Thoracic
      Surgeons.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A survey amongst the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS)
      members has been performed to investigate the currents trends, rates of adoption
      as well as potential for future expansion of non-intubated thoracic surgery
      (NITS) performed under spontaneous ventilation. METHODS: A 14-question-based
      questionnaire has been e-mailed to ESTS members. To facilitate the completion of
      the questionnaire, questions entailed either quantitative or multiple-choice
      answers. Investigated issues included previous experience with NITS and number of
      procedures performed, preferred types of anesthesia protocols (i.e., thoracic
      epidural anesthesia, intercostal or paravertebral blocks, laryngeal mask, use of
      additional sedation), type of procedures, ideal candidates for NITS, main
      advantages and technical disadvantages. Non-univocal answer to multiple-choice
      questions was permitted. RESULTS: Out of 105 responders, 62 reported an
      experience with NITS. The preferred types of anesthesia were intercostal blocks
      with (59%) or without (50%) sedation, followed by laryngeal mask with sedation
      (43%) and thoracic epidural anesthesia with sedation (20%). The most frequently
      performed procedures included thoracoscopic management of recurrent pleural
      effusion (98%), pleural decortication for empyema thoracis and lung biopsy for
      interstitial lung disease (26% each); pericardial window and mediastinal biopsy
      (20% each). More complex procedures such as lobectomy, lung volume reduction
      surgery and thymectomy have been performed by a minority of responders (2% each).
      Poor-risk patients due to co-morbidities (70%) and patients with poor pulmonary
      function (43%) were considered the ideal candidates. Main advantages included
      faster, recovery (67%), reduced morbidity (59%) and shorter hospital stay with
      decreased costs (43% each). Reported technical disadvantages included coughing
      (59%) and poor maneuverability due to diaphragmatic and lung movements (56%).
      Overall, 69% of responders indicated that NITS procedures will be likely to
      increase in the near future. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this survey, suggest that
      NITS is already quite widely adopted by ESTS members to perform simple
      thoracoscopic procedures. A future expanded adoption of this strategy is also
      hypothesized.

PMID- 25815299
TI  - Rate of early onset Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - It is generally accepted that the population rate of early onset Alzheimer's
      disease (EOAD) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is 1-2%. However, the true population
      based rate of EOAD has never been verified by a systematic review and meta
      analysis. We used electronic searches of Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline and
      PubMed databases to identify published related studies. The systematic review and
      meta-analysis was then to be conducted to calculate a pooled rate of EOAD and
      make comparisons between studies and geographic distribution. A total of 13
      papers were included in our systematic review and meta-analysis. The rate of
      EOAD, 5.5% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.039-0.079, P<0.001], was generated
      after pooled analysis of all studies in random effect model. The pooled analysis
      of the rate in developed country was 5.9% (95% CI: 0.040-0.085, P<0.001). The
      pooled analysis of the rate in developing countries was 4.4% (95% CI: 0.028
      0.066, P<0.001). Our study showed that the rate of EOAD in AD is 5.5%, not 1-2%
      as usually demonstrated. And our results indicated that the rate in developed
      countries was relative higher than in developing countries. Further trials with
      larger samples across more countries and more careful designed of experiments are
      required to confirm whether our findings are truly significant. 

PMID- 25815300
TI  - Neuroprotective effects of porphyran derivatives against 6-hydroxydopamine
      induced cytotoxicity is independent on mitochondria restoration.
AB  - We previously reported that acetylated and phosphorylated derivatives of
      porphyran extracted from Porphyra haitanensis exhibit antioxidant activity in
      cell-free system. The aim of the present study was to investigate the
      neuroprotective effects of porphyran and its derivatives on 6-hydroxydopamine (6
      OHDA)-induced cytotoxicity. 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium
      bromide (MTT) assay was used to measure cell viability. Changes in the
      mitochondrial transmembrane potential (DeltaPsim) were measured by rhodamine123
      using flow cytometry. The results showed that porphyran and its two derivatives,
      acetylated porphyran (AP) and phosphorylated porphyran (PP) (<1 mg/mL) alone did
      not have any toxic effects on MES23.5 cells. The cell viability decreased when
      cells were treated with 25 umol/L 6-OHDA. Both AP and PP, rather than porphyran,
      significantly antagonized 25 umol/L 6-OHDA-induced cytotoxicity. However, neither
      AP nor PP could antagonize 6-OHDA-induced mitochondrial transmembrane potential
      (DeltaPsim) collapse. None of the three materials were effective on cell survival
      when cells were cotreated with 75 umol/L 6-OHDA. These results suggest that two
      derivatives of porphyran, AP and PP, could antagonize the weak toxicity of 6-OHDA
      on MES23.5 dopaminergic cells, possessing minor neuroprotective effects
      independent of mitochondria restoration. 

PMID- 25815301
TI  - Pneumothorax as a complication of central venous catheter insertion.
AB  - The central venous catheter (CVC) is a catheter placed into a large vein in the
      neck [internal jugular vein (IJV)], chest (subclavian vein or axillary vein) or
      groin (femoral vein). There are several situations that require the insertion of
      a CVC mainly to administer medications or fluids, obtain blood tests
      (specifically the "central venous oxygen saturation"), and measure central venous
      pressure. CVC usually remain in place for a longer period of time than other
      venous access devices. There are situations according to the drug administration
      or length of stay of the catheter that specific systems are indicated such as; a
      Hickman line, a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line or a Port-a
      Cath may be considered because of their smaller infection risk. Sterile technique
      is highly important here, as a line may serve as a port of entry for pathogenic
      organisms, and the line itself may become infected with organisms such as
      Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococci. In the current review
      we will present the complication of pneumothorax after CVC insertion. 

PMID- 25815302
TI  - Pneumothorax from diagnosis to treatment, hands on course: Part II.
AB  - Pneumothorax is a situation where air is inserted in the pleural space that
      separates the lung from the chest wall. Pneumothorax can be primary or secondary.
      There is also a third type called; tensioned. Based on the concentration of air
      and type of pneumothorax the proper treatment has to be selected. There are cases
      where the concentration is minimal and observation is enough and more severe
      cases where surgery is required. Currently there are many techniques used for the
      biopsy of lung lesions. The bronchoscope (forceps, fine needle aspiration), fine
      needle aspiration under computed tomography scan and endobronchial ultrasound
      (EBUS) are commonly used. However, all these techniques have in common a possible
      side effect; pneumothorax. In our current issue we will focus on the different
      minimally invasive techniques of pneumothorax management. Moreover, a
      presentation will be made for several systems that are being used for air or
      fluid aspiration. 

PMID- 25815305
TI  - The Ming-Yi Medical Charity Foundation of Guangdong Province endorses Annals of
      Translational Medicine.

PMID- 25815303
TI  - Pacemaker insertion.
AB  - A pacemaker (PM) (or artificial PM, so as not to be confused with the heart's
      natural PM) is a medical device that uses electrical impulses, delivered by
      electrodes contracting the heart muscles, to regulate the beating of the heart.
      The primary purpose of this device is to maintain an adequate heart rate, either
      because the heart's natural PM is not fast enough, or there is a block in the
      heart's electrical conduction system. Modern PMs are externally programmable and
      allow the cardiologist to select the optimum pacing modes for individual
      patients. Some combine a PM and defibrillator in a single implantable device. PMs
      can be temporary or permanent. Temporary PMs are used to treat short-term heart
      problems, such as a slow heartbeat that's caused by a heart attack, heart
      surgery, or an overdose of medicine. Permanent PMs are used to control long-term
      heart rhythm problems. A PM can relieve some arrhythmia symptoms, such as fatigue
      and fainting. A PM also can help a person who has abnormal HRs resume a more
      active lifestyle. In the current mini review we will focus on the insertion of a
      PM and the possible pneumothorax that can be caused. 

PMID- 25815304
TI  - Chest drainage systems in use.
AB  - A chest tube is a flexible plastic tube that is inserted through the chest wall
      and into the pleural space or mediastinum. It is used to remove air in the case
      of pneumothorax or fluid such as in the case of pleural effusion, blood, chyle,
      or pus when empyema occurs from the intrathoracic space. It is also known as a
      Bulau drain or an intercostal catheter. Insertion of chest tubes is widely
      performed by radiologists, pulmonary physicians and thoracic surgeons. Large
      catheters or small catheters are used based on each situation that the medical
      doctor encounters. In the current review we will focus on the chest drain systems
      that are in use. 

PMID- 25815306
TI  - Validation of simple sequence length polymorphism regions of commonly used mouse
      strains for marker assisted speed congenics screening.
AB  - Marker assisted speed congenics technique is commonly used to facilitate
      backcrossing of mouse strains in nearly half the time it normally takes
      otherwise. Traditionally, the technique is performed by analyzing PCR amplified
      regions of simple sequence length polymorphism (SSLP) markers between the
      recipient and donor strains: offspring with the highest number of markers showing
      the recipient genome across all chromosomes is chosen for the next generation.
      Although there are well-defined panels of SSLP makers established between certain
      pairs of mice strains, they are incomplete for most strains. The availability of
      well-established marker sets for speed congenic screens would enable the
      scientific community to transfer mutations across strain backgrounds. In this
      study, we tested the suitability of over 400 SSLP marker sets among 10 mouse
      strains commonly used for generating genetically engineered models. The panel of
      markers presented here can readily identify the specified strains and will be
      quite useful in marker assisted speed congenic screens. Moreover, unlike newer
      single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array methods which require sophisticated
      equipment, the SSLP markers panel described here only uses PCR and agarose gel
      electrophoresis of amplified products; therefore it can be performed in most
      research laboratories. 

PMID- 25815307
TI  - Biologically active and antimicrobial peptides from plants.
AB  - Bioactive peptides are part of an innate response elicited by most living forms.
      In plants, they are produced ubiquitously in roots, seeds, flowers, stems, and
      leaves, highlighting their physiological importance. While most of the bioactive
      peptides produced in plants possess microbicide properties, there is evidence
      that they are also involved in cellular signaling. Structurally, there is an
      overall similarity when comparing them with those derived from animal or insect
      sources. The biological action of bioactive peptides initiates with the binding
      to the target membrane followed in most cases by membrane permeabilization and
      rupture. Here we present an overview of what is currently known about bioactive
      peptides from plants, focusing on their antimicrobial activity and their role in
      the plant signaling network and offering perspectives on their potential
      application. 

PMID- 25815308
TI  - Current and potential applications of host-defense peptides and proteins in
      urology.
AB  - The use of antibiotics has become increasingly disfavored as more multidrug
      resistant pathogens are on the rise. A promising alternative to the use of these
      conventional drugs includes antimicrobial peptides or host-defense peptides.
      These peptides typically consist of short amino acid chains with a net cationic
      charge and a substantial portion of hydrophobic residues. They mainly target the
      bacterial cell membrane but are also capable of translocating through the
      membrane and target intracellular components, making it difficult for bacteria to
      gain resistance as multiple essential cellular processes are being targeted. The
      use of these peptides in the field of biomedical therapies has been examined, and
      the different approaches to using them under various settings are constantly
      being discovered. In this review, we discuss the current and potential
      applications of these host-defense peptides in the field of urology. Besides the
      use of these peptides as antimicrobial agents, the value of these biological
      molecules has recently been expanded to their use as antitumor and anti-kidney
      stone agents. 

PMID- 25815309
TI  - Lutein has a protective effect on hepatotoxicity induced by arsenic via Nrf2
      signaling.
AB  - Arsenic produces liver disease through the oxidative stress. While lutein can
      alleviate cytotoxic and oxidative injury, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related
      factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway plays a critical role in defending oxidative species.
      However, the mechanisms by which lutein protects the liver against the effect of
      arsenic are not known. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the mechanisms
      involved in the action of lutein using mice model in which hepatotoxicity was
      induced by arsenic. We found that mice treatment with lutein could reverse
      changes in morphological and liver indexes and result in a significant
      improvement in hepatic function comparing with arsenic trioxide group. Lutein
      treatment improved the activities of antioxidant enzymes and attenuated
      increasing of ROS and MDA induced by arsenic trioxide. Lutein could increase the
      mRNA and protein expression of Nrf2 signaling related genes (Nrf2, Nqo1, Ho-1,
      and Gst). These findings provide additional evidence that lutein may be useful
      for reducing reproductive injury associated with oxidative stress by the
      activation of Nrf2 signaling. Our findings suggest a possible mechanism of
      antioxidant lutein in preventing the hepatotoxicity, which implicate that a
      dietary lutein may be a potential treatment for liver diseases, especially for
      arsenicosis therapy. 

PMID- 25815310
TI  - Lack of association between JAK3 gene polymorphisms and cardiovascular disease in
      Spanish patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a polygenic disease associated with accelerated
      atherosclerosis and increased cardiovascular (CV) mortality. JAK/STAT signalling
      pathway is involved in autoimmune diseases and in the atherosclerotic process.
      JAK3 is a highly promising target for immunomodulatory drugs and polymorphisms in
      JAK3 gene have been associated with CV events in incident dialysis patients.
      Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the potential role of JAK3
      polymorphisms in the development of CV disease in patients with RA. 2136 Spanish
      RA patients were genotyped for the rs3212780 and rs3212752 JAK3 gene
      polymorphisms by TaqMan assays. Subclinical atherosclerosis was evaluated in 539
      of these patients by carotid ultrasonography (US). No statistically significant
      differences were found when each polymorphism was assessed according to carotid
      intima-media thickness values and presence/absence of carotid plaques in RA,
      after adjusting the results for potential confounders. Moreover, no significant
      differences were obtained when RA patients were stratified according to the
      presence/absence of CV events after adjusting for potential confounders. In
      conclusion, our results do not confirm association between JAK3 polymorphisms and
      CV disease in RA. 

PMID- 25815311
TI  - Genome-wide identification, evolutionary, and expression analyses of histone H3
      variants in plants.
AB  - Histone variants alter the nucleosome structure and play important roles in
      chromosome segregation, transcription, DNA repair, and sperm compaction. Histone
      H3 is encoded by many genes in most eukaryotic species and is the histone that
      contains the largest variety of posttranslational modifications. Compared with
      the metazoan H3 variants, little is known about the complex evolutionary history
      of H3 variants proteins in plants. Here, we study the identification,
      evolutionary, and expression analyses of histone H3 variants from genomes in
      major branches in the plant tree of life. Firstly we identified all the histone
      three related (HTR) genes from the examined genomes, then we classified the four
      groups variants: centromeric H3, H3.1, H3.3 and H3-like, by phylogenetic
      analysis, intron information, and alignment. We further demonstrated that the H3
      variants have evolved under strong purifying selection, indicating the
      conservation of HTR proteins. Expression analysis revealed that the HTR has a
      wide expression profile in maize and rice development and plays important roles
      in development. 

PMID- 25815312
TI  - Hematopoietic cancer cell lines can support replication of Sabin poliovirus type
      1.
AB  - Viral vaccines can be produced in adherent or in suspension cells. The objective
      of this work was to screen human suspension cell lines for the capacity to
      support viral replication. As the first step, it was investigated whether
      poliovirus can replicate in such cell lines. Sabin poliovirus type 1 was serially
      passaged on five human cell lines, HL60, K562, KG1, THP-1, and U937. Sabin type 1
      was capable of efficiently replicating in three cell lines (K562, KG1, and U937),
      yielding high viral titers after replication. Expression of CD155, the poliovirus
      receptor, did not explain susceptibility to replication, since all cell lines
      expressed CD155. Furthermore, we showed that passaged virus replicated more
      efficiently than parental virus in KG1 cells, yielding higher virus titers in the
      supernatant early after infection. Infection of cell lines at an MOI of 0.01
      resulted in high viral titers in the supernatant at day 4. Infection of K562 with
      passaged Sabin type 1 in a bioreactor system yielded high viral titers in the
      supernatant. Altogether, these data suggest that K562, KG1, and U937 cell lines
      are useful for propagation of poliovirus. 

PMID- 25815313
TI  - Analysis of monocytic and granulocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells subsets
      in patients with hepatitis C virus infection and their clinical significance.
AB  - Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) have been shown to inhibit T-cell
      responses in many diseases, but, in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients,
      MDSCs are still poorly studied. In this assay, we investigated the phenotype and
      frequency of two new populations of MDSCs denoted as monocytic and granulocytic
      MDSCs (M-MDSCs and G-MDSCs) in HCV infected patients and analyzed their clinical
      significance in these patients respectively. We found that the frequency of
      CD14(+)HLA-DR(-/low) cells (M-MDSCs) from HCV infected patients (mean +/- SE,
      3.134% +/- 0.340%) was significantly increased when compared to healthy controls
      (mean +/- SE, 1.764% +/- 0.461%) (Z = -2.438, P = 0.015), while there was no
      statistical difference between the frequency of HLA-DR(
      /low)CD33(+)CD11b(+)CD15(+) (G-MDSCs) of HCV infected patients and healthy donors
      (0.201% +/- 0.038% versus 0.096% +/- 0.026%, P > 0.05), which suggested that HCV
      infection could cause the proliferation of M-MDSCs instead of G-MDSCs. Besides,
      we found that the frequency of M-MDSCs in HCV infected patients had certain
      relevance with age (r = 0.358, P = 0.003); patients older than 40 years old group
      (mean +/- SE, 3.673% +/- 0.456%) had a significantly higher frequency of M-MDSCs
      than that of age less than 40 years old group (mean +/- SE, 2.363% +/- 0.482%) (Z
      = -2.685, P = 0.007). The frequency of M-MDSCs, however, had no correlation with
      HCV RNA loads, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT),
      and the level of liver inflammation degree. 

PMID- 25815314
TI  - Dengue patients exhibit higher levels of PrM and E antibodies than their
      asymptomatic counterparts.
AB  - Dengue virus infection is a common tropical disease which often occurs without
      being detected. These asymptomatic cases provide information in relation to the
      manifestation of immunological aspects. In this study, we developed an ELISA
      method to compare neutralizing effects of dengue prM and E antibodies between
      dengue patients and their asymptomatic household members. Recombinant D2
      premembrane (prM) was constructed, cloned, and tested for antigenicity. The
      recombinant protein was purified and tested with controls by using an indirect
      ELISA method. Positive dengue serum samples with their asymptomatic pair were
      then carried out onto the developed ELISA. In addition, commercially available
      recombinant envelope (E) protein was used to develop an ELISA which was tested
      with the same set of serum samples in the prM ELISA. Asymptomatic individuals
      showed preexisting heterotypic neutralizing antibodies. The recombinant prM was
      antigenically reactive in the developed ELISA. Dengue patients had higher prM and
      E antibodies compared to their household members. Our study highlights the
      neutralizing antibodies levels with respect to dengue prM and E between dengue
      patients and asymptomatic individuals. 

PMID- 25815315
TI  - Curcumin mitigates accelerated aging after irradiation in Drosophila by reducing
      oxidative stress.
AB  - Curcumin, belonging to a class of natural phenol compounds, has been extensively
      studied due to its antioxidative, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and
      antineurodegenerative effects. Recently, it has been shown to exert dual
      activities after irradiation, radioprotection, and radiosensitization. Here, we
      investigated the protective effect of curcumin against radiation damage using D.
      melanogaster. Pretreatment with curcumin (100 MUM) recovered the shortened
      lifespan caused by irradiation and increased eclosion rate. Flies subjected to
      high-dose irradiation showed a mutant phenotype of outstretched wings, whereas
      curcumin pretreatment reduced incidence of the mutant phenotype. Protein
      carbonylation and formation of gammaH2Ax foci both increased following high-dose
      irradiation most likely due to generation of reactive oxygen species. Curcumin
      pretreatment reduced the amount of protein carbonylation as well as formation of
      gammaH2Ax foci. Therefore, we suggest that curcumin acts as an oxidative stress
      reducer as well as an effective protective agent against radiation damage. 

PMID- 25815316
TI  - Effect of recombinant prophenin 2 on the integrity and viability of Trichomonas
      vaginalis.
AB  - Trichomonas vaginalis is the causal agent of trichomoniasis, which is associated
      with preterm child delivery, low birth weight, and an increased risk of infection
      by human papilloma virus and human immunodeficiency virus following exposure.
      Several reports have established increasing numbers of trichomoniasis cases
      resistant to metronidazole, the agent used for treatment, and it is therefore
      important to identify new therapeutic alternatives. Previously, our group
      reported the effect of tritrpticin, a synthetic peptide derived from porcine
      prophenin, on T. vaginalis; however, the hemolytic activity of this small peptide
      complicates its possible use as a therapeutic agent. In this study, we report
      that the propeptide and the processed peptide of prophenin 2 (cleaved with
      hydroxylamine) affected the integrity and growth of T. vaginalis and that pro
      prophenin 2 displays some resistance to proteolysis by T. vaginalis proteinases
      at 1 h. Its effect on T. vaginalis as well as its low hemolytic activity and
      short-time stability to parasite proteinases makes prophenin 2 an interesting
      candidate for synergistic or alternative treatment against T. vaginalis. 

PMID- 25815317
TI  - Antibacterial activity of synthetic peptides derived from lactoferricin against
      Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212.
AB  - Peptides derived from human and bovine lactoferricin were designed, synthesized,
      purified, and characterized using RP-HPLC and MALDI-TOF-MS. Specific changes in
      the sequences were designed as (i) the incorporation of unnatural amino acids in
      the sequence, the (ii) reduction or (iii) elongation of the peptide chain length,
      and (iv) synthesis of molecules with different number of branches containing the
      same sequence. For each peptide, the antibacterial activity against Escherichia
      coli ATCC 25922 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 was evaluated. Our results
      showed that Peptides I.2 (RWQWRWQWR) and I.4 ((RRWQWR)4K2Ahx2C2) exhibit bigger
      or similar activity against E. coli (MIC 4-33 MUM) and E. faecalis (MIC 10-33
      MUM) when they were compared with lactoferricin protein (LF) and some of its
      derivate peptides as II.1 (FKCRRWQWRMKKLGA) and IV.1 (FKCRRWQWRMKKLGAPSITCVRRAE).
      It should be pointed out that Peptides I.2 and I.4, containing the RWQWR motif,
      are short and easy to synthesize; our results demonstrate that it is possible to
      design and obtain synthetic peptides that exhibit enhanced antibacterial activity
      using a methodology that is fast and low-cost and that allows obtaining products
      with a high degree of purity and high yield.

PMID- 25815318
TI  - Chronic ingestion of high dosed Phikud Navakot extraction induces mesangiolysis
      in rats with alteration of AQP1 and Hsp60 expressions.
AB  - Phikud Navakot (PN) is commonly used in Thai traditional medicine for alleviation
      of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular symptoms; however little is known about the
      chronic toxicity effects of the extracts from the herbs in PN. Repeated
      extraction doses of 10, 100, and 1,000 mg/kg/day were randomly administered to
      both male and female Sprague Dawley rats for 12 months. Histopathological study
      revealed that mesangiolysis was predominately found at the highest dose.
      Aquaporin 1 (AQP1) expression in the mesangiolytic glomeruli was significantly
      lower than in the intact glomeruli. This may be relevant to an imbalance of
      vascular function manifested by AQP1 alteration. In the mesangiolytic glomeruli,
      60 kDa heat shock protein (Hsp60) was significantly upregulated on the
      endothelial lining cells of aneurysm and vascular cyst. Hsp60 increase may be
      related to endothelial cell damage due to its intracellular protective role.
      Blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels remained within their normal range
      indicating well-functioning renal reserve function. In conclusion, high dosed PN
      may affect the endothelium leading to inability of vascular permeability and
      consequence to mesangiolysis. Our results suggest that only a high dose of
      chronic oral administration of PN is relatively toxic in association with
      mesangiolysis. The NOAEL was determined to be 100 mg/kg/day. 

PMID- 25815320
TI  - A game system for cognitive rehabilitation.
AB  - Brain injury such as traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke is the major cause
      of long-term disabilities in many countries. The increasing rate of brain damaged
      victims and the heterogeneity of impairments decrease rehabilitation
      effectiveness and competence resulting in higher cost of rehabilitation
      treatment. On the other hand, traditional rehabilitation exercises are boring,
      thus leading patients to neglect the prescribed exercises required for recovery.
      Therefore, we propose game-based approach to address these problems. This paper
      presents a rehabilitation gaming system (RGS) for cognitive rehabilitation. The
      RGS is developed based on a proposed conceptual framework which has also been
      presented in this paper. 

PMID- 25815319
TI  - Vitamin supplementation as possible prophylactic treatment against migraine with
      aura and menstrual migraine.
AB  - Migraine is the most common form of headache disorder globally. The etiology of
      migraine is multifactorial, with genetic components and environmental
      interactions considered to be the main causal factors. Some researchers postulate
      that deficits in mitochondrial energy reserves can cause migraine or an increase
      in homocysteine levels can lead to migraine attacks; therefore, vitamins could
      play a vital role in migraine prevention. For instance, riboflavin influences
      mitochondrial dysfunction and prevents migraine. Genes such as flavoenzyme 5,10
      methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), especially the C677T variant, have
      been associated with elevated plasma levels of homocysteine and migraine with
      aura. Homocysteine catalyzation requires the presence of vitamins B6, B12, and
      folic acid, which can decrease the severity of migraine with aura, making these
      vitamins potentially useful prophylactic agents for treating migraine with aura.
      Menstrual migraine, on the other hand, is associated with increased prostaglandin
      (PG) levels in the endometrium, indicating a role for vitamin E, which is an anti
      PG. Vitamin C can also be used as a scavenger of reactive oxygen species for
      treating neurogenic inflammation in migraine patients. This paper reviews
      possible therapies based on vitamin supplementation for migraine prophylaxis,
      focusing on migraine with aura and menstrual migraine. 

PMID- 25815321
TI  - Current and emerging cell culture manufacturing technologies for influenza
      vaccines.
AB  - Annually, influenza virus infects millions of people worldwide. Vaccination
      programs against seasonal influenza infections require the production of hundreds
      of million doses within a very short period of time. The influenza vaccine is
      currently produced using a technology developed in the 1940s that relies on
      replicating the virus in embryonated hens' eggs. The monovalent viral preparation
      is inactivated and purified before being formulated in trivalent or tetravalent
      influenza vaccines. The production process has depended on a continuous supply of
      eggs. In the case of pandemic outbreaks, this mode of production might be
      problematic because of a possible drastic reduction in the egg supply and the low
      flexibility of the manufacturing process resulting in a lack of supply of the
      required vaccine doses in a timely fashion. Novel production systems using
      mammalian or insect cell cultures have emerged to overcome the limitations of the
      egg-based production system. These industrially well-established production
      systems have been primarily selected for a faster and more flexible response to
      pandemic threats. Here, we review the most important cell culture manufacturing
      processes that have been developed in recent years for mass production of
      influenza vaccines. 

PMID- 25815322
TI  - EULAR task force recommendations on annual cardiovascular risk assessment for
      patients with rheumatoid arthritis: an audit of the success of implementation in
      a rheumatology outpatient clinic.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: EULAR recommendations for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk management
      include annual CVD risk assessments for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
      We evaluated the recording of CVD risk factors (CVD-RF) in a rheumatology
      outpatient clinic, where EULAR recommendations had been implemented. Further, we
      compared CVD-RF recordings between a regular rheumatology outpatient clinic
      (RegROC) and a structured arthritis clinic (AC). METHODS: In 2012, 1142 RA
      patients visited the rheumatology outpatient clinic: 612 attended RegROC and 530
      attended AC. We conducted a search in the patient journals to ascertain the rate
      of CVD-RF recording. RESULTS: The overall CVD-RF recording rate was 40.1% in the
      rheumatology outpatient clinic, reflecting a recording rate of 59.1% in the AC
      and 23.6% in the RegROC. The odds ratios for having CVD-RFs recorded for patients
      attending AC compared to RegROC were as follows: blood pressure: 12.4, lipids:
      5.0-6.0, glucose: 9.1, HbA1c: 6.1, smoking: 1.4, and for having all the CVD-RFs
      needed to calculate the CVD risk by the systematic coronary risk evaluation
      (SCORE): 21.0. CONCLUSION: The CVD-RF recording rate was low in a rheumatology
      outpatient clinic. However, a systematic team-based model was superior compared
      to a RegROC. Further measures are warranted to improve CVD-RF recording in RA
      patients.

PMID- 25815323
TI  - Effect of luteolin and apigenin on the expression of Oct-4, Sox2, and c-Myc in
      dental pulp cells with in vitro culture.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Dental pulp cells (DPCs) are promising cell source for dental
      tissue regeneration. Recently, small molecules which optimize microenvironment or
      activate the reprogramming network provide a new way to enhance the pluripotency.
      Two promising bioflavonoids luteolin and apigenin were reported to enhance
      reprogramming efficiency in mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF). However, their
      effect and underlying mechanism in cell fate determination of human DPCs remain
      unclear. METHODS: To elucidate the effect of luteolin and apigenin on the cell
      fate determination of DPCs, we explored the cell proliferation, cell cycle,
      senescence, apoptosis, expression of pluripotency markers Oct-4, Sox2, and c-Myc,
      and multilineage differentiation capability of DPCs with luteolin or apigenin
      treatment. RESULTS: We demonstrated that luteolin and apigenin inhibited cell
      proliferation, arrested DPCs in G2/M and S phase, and upregulated PI value and
      apoptosis. Moreover, luteolin and apigenin increased telomerase activity,
      maintained DPCs in a presenescent state, and activated the expression of Oct-4,
      Sox2, and c-Myc at a dose- and time-dependent pattern in DPCs even at late
      passages, albeit repressed lineage-specific differentiation. CONCLUSIONS:
      Addition of luteolin and apigenin in the culture medium might provide an
      effective way to maintain DPCs in an undifferentiated stage and inhibit lineage
      specific differentiation.

PMID- 25815324
TI  - Effect of supplemental lutein and zeaxanthin on serum, macular pigmentation, and
      visual performance in patients with early age-related macular degeneration.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the 2-year effect of multiple doses of lutein/zeaxanthin on
      serum, macular pigmentation, and visual performance on patients with early age
      related macular degeneration (AMD). METHODS: In this randomized, double-blinded,
      and placebo-controlled trial, 112 early AMD patients randomly received either 10
      mg lutein, 20 mg lutein, a combination of lutein (10 mg) and zeaxanthin (10 mg),
      or placebo daily for 2 years. Serum concentration of lutein/zeaxanthin, macular
      pigment optical density (MPOD), visual functions including best-spectacle
      corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast sensitivity (CS), flash recovery time
      (FRT), and vision-related quality of life (VFQ25) was quantified. RESULTS: Serum
      lutein concentration and MPOD significantly increased in all the active treatment
      groups. Supplementation with 20 mg lutein was the most effective in increasing
      MPOD and CS at 3 cycles/degree for the first 48 weeks. However, they both
      significantly increased to the same peak value following supplementation with
      either 10 mg or 20 mg lutein during the intervention. No statistical changes of
      BCVA or FRT were observed during the trial. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term lutein
      supplementation could increase serum lutein concentration, MPOD, and visual
      sensitivities of early AMD patients. 10 mg lutein daily might be an advisable
      long-term dosage for early AMD treatment.

PMID- 25815325
TI  - A novel rat model of vitamin D deficiency: safe and rapid induction of vitamin D
      and calcitriol deficiency without hyperparathyroidism.
AB  - Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a range of clinical disorders. To study
      the mechanisms involved and improve treatments, animal models are tremendously
      useful. Current vitamin D deficient rat models have important practical
      limitations, including time requirements when using, exclusively, a vitamin D
      deficient diet. More importantly, induction of hypovitaminosis D causes
      significant fluctuations in parathyroid hormone (PTH) and mineral levels,
      complicating the interpretation of study results. To overcome these shortcomings,
      we report the successful induction of vitamin D deficiency within three weeks,
      with stable serum PTH and minerals levels, in Wistar rats. We incorporated two
      additional manoeuvres compared to a conventional diet. Firstly, the vitamin D
      depleted diet is calcium (Ca) enriched, to attenuate the development of secondary
      hyperparathyroidism. Secondly, six intraperitoneal injections of paricalcitol
      during the first two weeks are given to induce the rapid degradation of
      circulating vitamin D metabolites. After three weeks, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3
      (25D) and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D) levels had dropped below detection
      limits, with unchanged serum PTH, Ca, and phosphate (P) levels. Therefore, this
      model provides a useful tool to examine the sole effect of hypovitaminosis D, in
      a wide range of research settings, without confounding changes in PTH, Ca, and P.

PMID- 25815326
TI  - Molecular detection and sensitivity to antibiotics and bacteriocins of pathogens
      isolated from bovine mastitis in family dairy herds of central Mexico.
AB  - Thirty-two farms (n = 535 cows) located in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, were
      sampled. Pathogens from bovine subclinical mastitis (SCM) and clinical mastitis
      (CLM) were identified by 16S rDNA and the sensitivity to both antibiotics and
      bacteriocins of Bacillus thuringiensis was tested. Forty-six milk samples were
      selected for their positive California Mastitis Test (CMT) (>=3) and any
      abnormality in the udder or milk. The frequency of SCM and CLM was 39.1% and
      9.3%, respectively. Averages for test day milk yield (MY), lactation number (LN),
      herd size (HS), and number of days in milk (DM) were 20.6 kg, 2.8 lactations,
      16.7 animals, and 164.1 days, respectively. MY was dependent on dairy herd (DH),
      LN, HS, and DM (P < 0.01), and correlations between udder quarters from the CMT
      were around 0.49 (P < 0.01). Coagulase-negative staphylococci were mainly
      identified, as well as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus uberis,
      Brevibacterium stationis, B. conglomeratum, and Staphylococcus agnetis. Bacterial
      isolates were resistant to penicillin, clindamycin, ampicillin, and cefotaxime.
      Bacteriocins synthesized by Bacillus thuringiensis inhibited the growth of
      multiantibiotic resistance bacteria such as S. agnetis, S. equorum, Streptococcus
      uberis, Brevibacterium stationis, and Brachybacterium conglomeratum, but they
      were not active against S. sciuri, a microorganism that showed an 84% resistance
      to antibiotics tested in this study. 

PMID- 25815327
TI  - Temozolomide and radiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone in high grade gliomas: a
      very long term comparative study and literature review.
AB  - Temozolomide (TMZ) is the first line drug in the care of high grade gliomas. The
      combined treatment of TMZ plus radiotherapy is more effective in the care of
      brain gliomas then radiotherapy alone. Aim of this report is a survival
      comparison, on a long time (>10 years) span, of glioma patients treated with
      radiotherapy alone and with radiotherapy + TMZ. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this
      report we retrospectively reviewed the outcome of 128 consecutive pts with
      diagnosis of high grade gliomas referred to our institutions from April 1994 to
      November 2001. The first 64 pts were treated with RT alone and the other 64 with
      a combination of RT and adjuvant or concomitant TMZ. RESULTS: Grade 3 (G3)
      haematological toxicity was recorded in 6 (9%) of 64 pts treated with RT and TMZ.
      No G4 haematological toxicity was observed. Age, histology, and administration of
      TMZ were statistically significant prognostic factors associated with 2 years
      overall survival (OS). PFS was for GBM 9 months, for AA 11. CONCLUSIONS: The
      combination of RT and TMZ improves long term survival in glioma patients. Our
      results confirm the superiority of the combination on a long time basis.

PMID- 25815328
TI  - Patient-specific simulation of coronary artery pressure measurements: an in vivo
      three-dimensional validation study in humans.
AB  - Pressure measurements using finite element computations without the need of a
      wire could be valuable in clinical practice. Our aim was to compare the computed
      distal coronary pressure values with the measured values using a pressure wire,
      while testing the effect of different boundary conditions for the simulation.
      Eight coronary arteries (lumen and outer vessel wall) from six patients were
      reconstructed in three-dimensional (3D) space using intravascular ultrasound and
      biplane angiographic images. Pressure values at the distal and proximal end of
      the vessel and flow velocity values at the distal end were acquired with the use
      of a combo pressure-flow wire. The 3D lumen and wall models were discretized into
      finite elements; fluid structure interaction (FSI) and rigid wall simulations
      were performed for one cardiac cycle both with pulsatile and steady flow in
      separate simulations. The results showed a high correlation between the measured
      and the computed coronary pressure values (coefficient of determination [r(2)]
      ranging between 0.8902 and 0.9961), while the less demanding simulations using
      steady flow and rigid walls resulted in very small relative error. Our study
      demonstrates that computational assessment of coronary pressure is feasible and
      seems to be accurate compared to the wire-based measurements.

PMID- 25815330
TI  - Ascorbic acid, ultraviolet C rays, and glucose but not hyperthermia are elicitors
      of human beta-defensin 1 mRNA in normal keratinocytes.
AB  - Hosts' innate defense systems are upregulated by antimicrobial peptide elicitors
      (APEs). Our aim was to investigate the effects of hyperthermia, ultraviolet A
      rays (UVA), and ultraviolet C rays (UVC) as well as glucose and ascorbic acid
      (AA) on the regulation of human beta-defensin 1 (DEFB1), cathelicidin (CAMP), and
      interferon-gamma (IFNG) genes in normal human keratinocytes (NHK). The indirect
      in vitro antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria
      monocytogenes of these potential APEs was tested. We found that AA is a more
      potent APE for DEFB1 than glucose in NHK. Glucose but not AA is an APE for CAMP.
      Mild hypo- (35 degrees C) and hyperthermia (39 degrees C) are not APEs in NHK. AA
      dependent DEFB1 upregulation below 20 mM predicts in vitro antimicrobial activity
      as well as glucose- and AA-dependent CAMP and IFNG upregulation. UVC upregulates
      CAMP and DEFB1 genes but UVA only upregulates the DEFB1 gene. UVC is a previously
      unrecognized APE in human cells. Our results suggest that glucose upregulates
      CAMP in an IFN-gamma-independent manner. AA is an elicitor of innate immunity
      that will challenge the current concept of late activation of adaptive immunity
      of this vitamin. These results could be useful in designing new potential drugs
      and devices to combat skin infections. 

PMID- 25815331
TI  - The role of cingulate cortex in vicarious pain.
AB  - Vicarious pain is defined as the observation of individuals in pain. There is
      growing neuroimaging evidence suggesting that the cingulate cortex plays a
      significant role in self-experienced pain processing. Yet, very few studies have
      directly tested the distinct functions of the cingulate cortex for vicarious
      pain. In this review, one EEG and eighteen neuroimaging studies reporting
      cingulate cortex activity during pain observation were discussed. The data
      indicate that there is overlapping neural activity in the cingulate cortex during
      self- and vicarious pain. Such activity may contribute to shared neural pain
      representations that permit inference of the affective state of individuals in
      pain, facilitating empathy. However, the exact location of neuronal populations
      in which activity overlaps or differs for self- and observed pain processing
      requires further confirmation. This review also discusses evidence suggesting
      differential functions of the cingulate cortex in cognitive, affective, and motor
      processing during empathy induction. While affective processing in the cingulate
      cortex during pain observation has been explored relatively more often, its
      attention and motor roles remain underresearched. Shedding light on the neural
      correlates of vicarious pain and corresponding empathy in healthy populations can
      provide neurobiological markers and intervention targets for empathic deficits
      found in various clinical disorders. 

PMID- 25815332
TI  - Genetic and metabolic intraspecific biodiversity of Ganoderma lucidum.
AB  - Fourteen Ganoderma lucidum strains from different geographic regions were
      identified using ITS region sequencing. Based on the sequences obtained, the
      genomic relationship between the analyzed strains was determined. All G. lucidum
      strains were also genetically characterized using the AFLP technique. G. lucidum
      strains included in the analysis displayed an AFLP profile similarity level in
      the range from 9.6 to 33.9%. Biolog FF MicroPlates were applied to obtain data on
      utilization of 95 carbon sources and mitochondrial activity. The analysis allowed
      comparison of functional diversity of the fungal strains. The substrate
      utilization profiles for the isolates tested revealed a broad variability within
      the analyzed G. lucidum species and proved to be a good profiling technology for
      studying the diversity in fungi. Significant differences have been demonstrated
      in substrate richness values. Interestingly, the analysis of growth and biomass
      production also differentiated the strains based on the growth rate on the agar
      and sawdust substrate. In general, the mycelial growth on the sawdust substrate
      was more balanced and the fastest fungal growth was observed for GRE3 and FCL192.

PMID- 25815329
TI  - HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders: the relationship of HIV infection with
      physical and social comorbidities.
AB  - The prevalence of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) associated neurocognitive
      disorders (HAND) will undoubtedly increase with the improved longevity of HIV
      infected persons. HIV infection, itself, as well as multiple physiologic and
      psychosocial factors can contribute to cognitive impairment and neurologic
      complications. These comorbidities confound the diagnosis, assessment, and
      interventions for neurocognitive disorders. In this review, we discuss the role
      of several key comorbid factors that may contribute significantly to the
      development and progression of HIV-related neurocognitive impairment, as well as
      the current status of diagnostic strategies aimed at identifying HIV-infected
      individuals with impaired cognition and future research priorities and
      challenges. 

PMID- 25815333
TI  - Plant antimicrobial peptides as potential anticancer agents.
AB  - Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are part of the innate immune defense mechanism of
      many organisms and are promising candidates to treat infections caused by
      pathogenic bacteria to animals and humans. AMPs also display anticancer
      activities because of their ability to inactivate a wide range of cancer cells.
      Cancer remains a cause of high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Therefore, the
      development of methods for its control is desirable. Attractive alternatives
      include plant AMP thionins, defensins, and cyclotides, which have anticancer
      activities. Here, we provide an overview of plant AMPs anticancer activities,
      with an emphasis on their mode of action, their selectivity, and their efficacy. 

PMID- 25815335
TI  - Optical coherence tomography in patients with Chiari I malformation.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: To evaluate optic nerve head with spectral domain optical
      coherence tomography (OCT) in patients with Chiari I malformation (CMI) compared
      to healthy controls. METHODS: Cross-sectional study. OCT of the optic nerve head
      of 22 patients with CMI and 22 healthy controls was quantitatively analyzed. The
      healthy controls were matched for age and sex with the study population. Mean
      retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness was calculated for both eyes; the mean
      thickness value was also registered for each quadrant and for each subfield of
      the four quadrants. RESULTS: CMI patients showed a reduction of the RNFL
      thickness in both eyes. This reduction was more statistically significant (P <
      0.05) for the inferior quadrant in the right eye and in each quadrant than nasal
      one in the left eye. CONCLUSION: A distress of the retinal nerve fibers could
      explain the observed reduction of the RNFL thickness in patients with CMI; in our
      series the reduction of the RNFL thickness seems lower when CMI is associated
      with syringomyelia.

PMID- 25815334
TI  - Generation of neurospheres from human adipose-derived stem cells.
AB  - Transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) to treat neurodegenerative disease
      shows promise; however, the clinical application of NSCs is limited by the
      invasive procurement and ethical concerns. Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) are
      a source of multipotent stem cells that can self-renew and differentiate into
      various kinds of cells; this study intends to generate neurospheres from human
      ADSCs by culturing ADSCs on uncoated culture flasks in serum-free neurobasal
      medium supplemented with B27, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), and
      epidermal growth factor (EGF); the ADSCs-derived neurospheres were terminally
      differentiated after growth factor withdrawal. Expression of Nestin, NeuN, MAP2,
      and GFAP in ADSCs and terminally differentiated neurospheres was shown by
      quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), western
      blotting, and immunocytochemistry; cell proliferation in neurospheres was
      evaluated by cell cycle analyses, immunostaining, and flow cytometry. These data
      strongly support the conclusion that human ADSCs can successfully differentiate
      into neurospheres efficiently on uncoated culture flasks, which present similar
      molecular marker pattern and proliferative ability with NSCs derived from
      embryonic and adult brain tissues. Therefore, human ADSCs may be an ideal
      alternative source of stem cells for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

PMID- 25815336
TI  - Increased incidence of atrial fibrillation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) among
      patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to the general population.
      METHODS: A population-based inception cohort of Olmsted County, Minnesota,
      residents with incident RA in 1980-2007 and a cohort of non-RA subjects from the
      same population base were assembled and followed until 12/31/2008. The occurrence
      of AF was ascertained by medical record review. RESULTS: The study included 813
      patients with RA and 813 non-RA subjects (mean age 55.9 (SD:15.7) years, 68%
      women in both cohorts). The prevalence of AF was similar in the RA and non-RA
      cohorts at RA incidence/index date (4% versus 3%; P = 0.51). The cumulative
      incidence of AF during follow-up was higher among patients with RA compared to
      non-RA subjects (18.3% versus 16.3% at 20 years; P = 0.048). This difference
      persisted after adjustment for age, sex, calendar year, smoking, and hypertension
      (hazard ratio: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.07, 2.00). There was no evidence of a differential
      impact of AF on mortality in patients with RA compared to non-RA subjects (hazard
      ratio 2.5 versus 2.8; interaction P = 0.31). CONCLUSION: The incidence of AF is
      increased in patients with RA, even after adjustment for AF risk factors. AF
      related mortality risk did not differ between patients with and without RA.

PMID- 25815337
TI  - Predicting the functions of long noncoding RNAs using RNA-seq based on Bayesian
      network.
AB  - Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play key roles in various
      biological processes. However, functions of most lncRNAs are poorly
      characterized. Here, we represent a framework to predict functions of lncRNAs
      through construction of a regulatory network between lncRNAs and protein-coding
      genes. Using RNA-seq data, the transcript profiles of lncRNAs and protein-coding
      genes are constructed. Using the Bayesian network method, a regulatory network,
      which implies dependency relations between lncRNAs and protein-coding genes, was
      built. In combining protein interaction network, highly connected coding genes
      linked by a given lncRNA were subsequently used to predict functions of the
      lncRNA through functional enrichment. Application of our method to prostate RNA
      seq data showed that 762 lncRNAs in the constructed regulatory network were
      assigned functions. We found that lncRNAs are involved in diverse biological
      processes, such as tissue development or embryo development (e.g., nervous system
      development and mesoderm development). By comparison with functions inferred
      using the neighboring gene-based method and functions determined using lncRNA
      knockdown experiments, our method can provide comparable predicted functions of
      lncRNAs. Overall, our method can be applied to emerging RNA-seq data, which will
      help researchers identify complex relations between lncRNAs and coding genes and
      reveal important functions of lncRNAs. 

PMID- 25815338
TI  - MicroRNA-146b-3p regulates retinal inflammation by suppressing adenosine
      deaminase-2 in diabetes.
AB  - Hyperglycemia- (HG-) Amadori-glycated albumin- (AGA-) induced activation of
      microglia and monocytes and their adherence to retinal vascular endothelial cells
      contribute to retinal inflammation leading to diabetic retinopathy (DR). There is
      a great need for early detection of DR before demonstrable tissue damages become
      irreversible. Extracellular adenosine, required for endogenous anti-inflammation,
      is regulated by the interplay of equilibrative nucleoside transporter with
      adenosine deaminase (ADA) and adenosine kinase. ADA, including ADA1 and ADA2,
      exists in all organisms. However, because ADA2 gene has not been identified in
      mouse genome, how diabetes alters adenosine-dependent anti-inflammation remains
      unclear. Studies of pig retinal microglia and human macrophages revealed a causal
      role of ADA2 in inflammation. Database search suggested miR-146b-3p recognition
      sites in the 3'-UTR of ADA2 mRNA. Coexpression of miR-146b-3p, but not miR-146-5p
      or nontargeting miRNA, with 3'-UTR of the ADA2 gene was necessary to suppress a
      linked reporter gene. In the vitreous of diabetic patients, decreased miR-146b-3p
      is associated with increased ADA2 activity. Ectopic expression of miR-146b-3p
      suppressed ADA2 expression, activity, and TNF-alpha release in the AGA-treated
      human macrophages. These results suggest a regulatory role of miR-146b-3p in
      diabetes related retinal inflammation by suppressing ADA2. 

PMID- 25815339
TI  - Regulation of miRNAs affects radiobiological response of lung cancer stem cells.
AB  - Radiotherapy (RT) is a key therapeutic strategy for lung cancer, the most common
      cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, but radioresistance often occurs and
      leads to failure of RT. It is therefore important to clarify the mechanism
      underlying radioresistance in lung cancer. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are
      considered the fundamental reason for radioresistance. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have
      been regarded as important regulatory molecules of CSCs, carcinogenesis, and
      treatment response of cancers. It is crucial to clarify how regulation of miRNAs
      affects repair of DNA damage, redistribution, repopulation, reoxygenation, and
      radiosensitivity (5R) of lung cancer stem cells (LCSCs). A thorough understanding
      of the regulation of miRNAs affecting 5R of LCSCs has potential impact on
      identifying novel targets and thus may improve the efficacy of lung cancer
      radiotherapy. 

PMID- 25815340
TI  - The differential effects of a selective kappa-opioid receptor agonist, U50488, in
      guinea pig heart tissues.
AB  - The differential effects of a selective kappa- (kappa-) opioid receptor agonist,
      U50488, were elucidated by monitoring the contraction of isolated guinea pig
      atrial and ventricular muscles. In electrically driven left atria, U50488 in
      nanomolar concentration range decreased the contractile force. Norbinaltorphimine
      (norBNI), a selective kappa-receptor antagonist, and pertussis toxin (PTX)
      abolished the negative inotropic effect of U50488. In contrast, the inhibitory
      effect was not affected by the pretreatment of atropine or propranolol. Even
      though U50488 exerted a negative inotropic effect in the left atrium, it did not
      affect the contractile force of the right atrium and ventricles paced at 2 Hz.
      Similarly, the beating rate of the spontaneously beating right atrium was also
      unaffected by U50488. These results indicate that the activation of kappa-opioid
      receptors can only produce negative inotropic effect in left atria via activation
      of PTX-sensitive G protein in guinea pigs. The absence of negative inotropic
      effects in right atria and ventricles suggests that there may be a greater
      distribution of functional kappa-opioid receptors in guinea pig left atria than
      in right atria and ventricles, and the distribution of the receptors may be
      species-specific. 

PMID- 25815341
TI  - Association of IL-6 polymorphism -174G/C and metabolic syndrome in hypertensive
      patients.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Visceral obesity, the central core of metabolic syndrome (MetS), is
      conceived as the pathogenic basis of an increased cardiovascular burden and is
      related with changes in cytokines. We investigated whether IL-6-174G/C gene
      polymorphism is associated with MetS prevalence in hypertensive patients. METHOD:
      A population of hypertensive patients was included and stratified by the presence
      of MetS according to IDF criteria and evaluated by Framingham risk score. The IL
      6-174G/C genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction and the prevalence
      of MetS was compared between "C" carrier and "non-C" carrier groups. RESULTS:
      From an original sample of 664 patients, 612 (34.2% men, age 57.3 +/- 10.1, 30.4%
      diabetics) were included. MetS was diagnosed in 51.3% of total population and "C"
      carriers demonstrated high prevalence of MetS (P < 0.05) and each of its
      components. On binary logistic regression, it was observed that the IL-6
      polymorphism was independently associated with occurrence of MetS, even after
      adjusting for covariates (OR 1.13-2.37, 95% CI, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The C
      allele at the -174 locus of IL-6 gene is independently associated with the
      occurrence of metabolic syndrome, emphasizing the importance of inflammatory
      genetic background in the pathogenesis of visceral obesity and related
      cardiovascular burden.

PMID- 25815342
TI  - Evolution of action potential alternans in rabbit heart during acute regional
      ischemia.
AB  - This study investigates the development of the spatiotemporal pattern of action
      potential alternans during acute regional ischemia. Experiments were carried out
      in isolated Langendorff-perfused rabbit heart using a combination of optical
      mapping and microelectrode recordings. The alternans pattern significantly
      changed over time and had a biphasic character reaching maximum at 6-9 min after
      occlusion. Phase I (3-11 minutes of ischemia) is characterized by rapid increase
      in the alternans magnitude and expansion of the alternans territory. Phase I is
      followed by gradual decline of alternans (Phase II) in both magnitude and
      territory. During both phases we observed significant beat-to-beat variations of
      the optical action potential amplitude (OAPA) alternans. Simultaneous
      microelectrode recordings from subepicardial and subendocardial layers showed
      that OAPA alternans coincided with intramural 2 : 1 conduction blocks. Our
      findings are consistent with the modeling studies predicting that during acute
      regional ischemia alternans can be driven by 2 : 1 conduction blocks in the
      ischemic region. 

PMID- 25815343
TI  - Cholesterol-induced hepatic inflammation does not underlie the predisposition to
      insulin resistance in dyslipidemic female LDL receptor knockout mice.
AB  - Chronic inflammation is considered a causal risk factor predisposing to insulin
      resistance. However, evidence is accumulating that inflammation confined to the
      liver may not be causal to metabolic dysfunction. To investigate this, we
      assessed if hepatic inflammation explains the predisposition towards insulin
      resistance in low-density lipoprotein receptor knock-out (Ldlr (-/-)) mice. For
      this, wild type (WT) and Ldlr (-/-) mice were fed a chow diet, a high fat (HF)
      diet, or a high fat, high cholesterol (HFC) diet for 2 weeks. Plasma lipid levels
      were elevated in chow-fed Ldlr (-/-) mice compared to WT mice. Although short
      term HF or HFC feeding did not result in body weight gain and adipose tissue
      inflammation, dyslipidemia was worsened in Ldlr (-/-) mice compared to WT mice.
      In addition, dyslipidemic HF-fed Ldlr (-/-) mice had a higher hepatic glucose
      production rate than HF-fed WT mice, while peripheral insulin resistance was
      unaffected. This suggests that HF-fed Ldlr (-/-) mice suffered from hepatic
      insulin resistance. While HFC-fed Ldlr (-/-) mice displayed the anticipated
      increased hepatic inflammation, this did neither exacerbate systemic nor hepatic
      insulin resistance. Therefore, our results show that hepatic insulin resistance
      is unrelated to cholesterol-induced hepatic inflammation in Ldlr (-/-) mice,
      indicating that hepatic inflammation may not contribute to metabolic dysfunction
      per se. 

PMID- 25815344
TI  - The value of a panel of autoantibodies for predicting the activity of lupus
      nephritis at time of renal biopsy.
AB  - Few studies have correlated serum biomarkers with renal histology, the gold
      standard for renal activity, in lupus nephritis (LN). We tested a panel of
      autoantibodies and complement at the time of kidney biopsy and after treatment.
      Anti-dsDNA, anti-nucleosome, anti-ribosome P, and anti-C1q antibodies and C3/C4
      were measured in 107 patients with LN at the time of renal biopsy and after 6-12
      months and were correlated with clinical/histological parameters. At multivariate
      analysis, high titers of anti-C1q antibodies or of anti-dsDNA antibodies (P =
      0.005, OR = 8.67, CI: 2.03-37.3) were the independent predictors that
      discriminate proliferative from nonproliferative LN. All the immunological
      parameters, except anti-ribosome, showed a significant correlation with activity
      index but not with chronicity index. Only anti-C1q showed a significant
      correlation with the amount of proteinuria (R = 0.2, P = 0.03). None of the
      immunological parameters were predictive of remission at 6 and 12 months. We
      found that anti-C1q alone or in combination with anti-dsDNA emerged as the most
      reliable test in differentiating proliferative and nonproliferative LN. Anti-C1q
      was the only test correlated with the clinical presentation of LN. After
      treatment, the titre of the autoantibodies was significantly reduced, but none
      was predictive of remission. 

PMID- 25815345
TI  - PGE2-induced IDO1 inhibits the capacity of fully mature DCs to elicit an in vitro
      antileukemic immune response.
AB  - In the last years, dendritic cells (DC) have been evaluated for antitumor
      vaccination. Although DC-based vaccines have raised great expectations, their
      clinical translation has been largely disappointing. For these results, several
      explanations have been proposed. In particular, the concomitant expression by DCs
      of tolerogenic pathways, such as the immunosuppressive agent indoleamine 2,3
      dioxygenase-1 (IDO1), has been demonstrated. The aim of this study is to evaluate
      both the stimulatory and the tolerogenic feature of monocyte-derived DCs (Mo-DCs)
      after maturation with PGE2. In particular, the role of IDO1 expression in PGE2
      matured Mo-DCs has been addressed. Here we show that PGE2, which is required for
      full maturation of DCs, is one mediator of DC tolerance by enhancing IDO1. PGE2
      mediated expression of IDO1 results in the production of kynurenine, in the
      generation of Tregs, and in the inhibition of either the allogeneic or the
      autologous antigen-specific stimulatory capacity of DCs. When pulsed with
      leukemic lysates and matured with PGE2, DCs are impaired in the induction of IFN
      gamma secreting CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells due to IDO1 upregulation. Moreover, the
      inhibition of IDO1 enhances the antileukemic response. Overall, these results
      point toward the use of IDO1 inhibitors to enhance the vaccination capacity of
      DCs, matured with PGE2. 

PMID- 25815346
TI  - Effective binding of a phosphatidylserine-targeting antibody to Ebola virus
      infected cells and purified virions.
AB  - Ebola virus is responsible for causing severe hemorrhagic fevers, with case
      fatality rates of up to 90%. Currently, no antiviral or vaccine is licensed
      against Ebola virus. A phosphatidylserine-targeting antibody (PGN401,
      bavituximab) has previously been shown to have broad-spectrum antiviral activity.
      Here, we demonstrate that PGN401 specifically binds to Ebola virus and recognizes
      infected cells. Our study provides the first evidence of phosphatidylserine
      targeting antibody reactivity against Ebola virus. 

PMID- 25815347
TI  - Neutrophil migration in the activation of the innate immune response to different
      Flavobacterium psychrophilum vaccines in zebrafish (Danio rerio).
AB  - Flavobacterium psychrophilum is a Gram-negative bacterium, responsible for the
      bacterial cold-water disease and the rainbow trout fry syndrome in freshwater
      salmonid fish. At present, there is only one commercial vaccine in Chile, made
      with two Chilean F. psychrophilum isolates and another licensed in Europe. The
      present study analyzed neutrophil migration, as a marker of innate immune
      activation, in zebrafish (Danio rerio) in response to different F. psychrophilum
      bath vaccines, which is the first step in evaluating vaccine effectiveness and
      efficiency in fish. Results indicated that bacterins of the LM-02-Fp isolate were
      more immunogenic than those from the LM-13-Fp isolate. However, no differences
      were observed between the same bacteria inactivated by either formaldehyde or
      heat. Importantly, the same vaccine formulation without an adjuvant only
      triggered a mild neutrophil migration compared to the complete vaccine.
      Observations also found that, after a year of storage at 4 degrees C, the
      activation of the innate immune system by the different vaccines was considerably
      decreased. Finally, new vaccine formulations prepared with heat and formaldehyde
      inactivated LM-02-Fp were significantly more efficient than the available
      commercial vaccine in regard to stimulating the innate immune system. 

PMID- 25815348
TI  - Connexin 43 communication channels in follicular dendritic cell development and
      in follicular lymphomas.
AB  - Follicular dendritic cells (FDC) show homo- and heterocellular metabolic coupling
      through connexin 43 (Cx43) gap junctions and support B cell selection and
      maturation in germinal centers. In follicular lymphomas B cells escape apoptosis
      while FDC develop abnormally. Here we tested Cx43 channels in reactive FDC
      development and follicular lymphomas. In culture, the treatment of FDC-B cell
      clusters (resembling to "ex vivo" germinal centers) with Gap27 peptide, mimicking
      the 2nd extracellular loop of Cx43 protein, significantly impaired FDC-B cell
      cluster formation and cell survival. In untreated cultures of intact clusters,
      cell proliferation showed a moderate reduction. In tissues, Cx43 protein levels
      run parallel with the density of FDC both in reactive germinal centers and in
      malformed follicles of follicular lymphomas and showed strong upregulation in
      newly generated and/or degrading bi-/multinuclear FDC of rudimentary processes.
      However, the inverse correlation between Cx43 expression and B cell proliferation
      seen in reactive germinal centers was not detected in follicular lymphomas.
      Furthermore, Cx43 levels were not associated with either lymphoma grade or bone
      marrow involvement. Our results suggest that Cx43 channels are critical in FDC
      and "ex vivo" germinal center development and in the persistence of FDC in
      follicular lymphomas but do not affect tumor progression. 

PMID- 25815350
TI  - A plasma diagnostic model of human T-cell leukemia virus-1 associated myelopathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Human T-cell leukemia virus-1 (HTLV-1) associated myelopathy/tropic
      spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) is induced by chronic inflammation in spinal cord
      due to HTLV-1 infection. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neopterin or proviral load are
      clinically measured as disease grading biomarkers, however, they are not exactly
      specific to HAM/TSP. Therefore, we aimed to identify HAM/TSP-specific biomarker
      molecules and establish a novel less-invasive plasma diagnostic model for
      HAM/TSP. METHODS: Proteome-wide quantitative profiling of CSFs from six
      asymptomatic HTLV-1 carriers (AC) and 51 HAM/TSP patients was performed. Fourteen
      severity grade biomarker proteins were further examined plasma enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assays (n = 71). Finally, we constructed three-factor
      logistic regression model and evaluated the diagnostic power using 105 plasma
      samples. RESULTS: Quantitative analysis for 1871 nonredundant CSF proteins
      identified from 57 individuals defined 14 CSF proteins showing significant
      correlation with Osame's motor disability score (OMDS). Subsequent ELISA
      experiments using 71 plasma specimens confirmed secreted protein acidic and rich
      in cysteine (SPARC) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) demonstrated
      the same correlations in plasma (R = -0.373 and R = 0.431, respectively). In this
      training set, we constructed a HAM/TSP diagnostic model using SPARC, VCAM1, and
      viral load. Sensitivity and specificity to diagnose HAM/TSP patients from AC (AC
      vs. OMDS 1-11) were 85.3% and 81.1%, respectively. Importantly, this model could
      be also useful for determination of therapeutic intervention point (OMDS 1-3 + AC
      vs. OMDS 4-11), exhibiting 80.0% sensitivity and 82.9% specificity.
      INTERPRETATION: We propose a novel less-invasive diagnostic model for early
      detection and clinical stratification of HAM/TSP.

PMID- 25815349
TI  - Variation in longevity gene KLOTHO is associated with greater cortical volumes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Identifying genetic variation associated with brain structures in
      aging may elucidate new biologic mechanisms underlying resilience to cognitive
      decline. We investigated whether carrying one copy of the protective haplotype
      "KL-VS" in longevity gene KLOTHO (KL) is associated with greater gray matter
      volume in healthy human aging compared to carrying no copies. METHODS: We
      performed unbiased whole-brain analysis in cognitively normal older adults from
      two independent cohorts to assess the relationship between KL-VS and gray matter
      volume using voxel-based morphometry. RESULTS: We found that KL-VS heterozygosity
      was associated with greater volume in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
      (rDLPFC). Because rDLPFC is important for executive function, we analyzed working
      memory and processing speed in individuals. KL-VS heterozygosity was associated
      with enhanced executive function. Larger rDLPFC volume correlated with better
      executive function across the lifespan examined. Statistical analysis suggested
      that volume partially mediates the effect of genotype on cognition.
      INTERPRETATION: These results suggest that variation in KL is associated with
      bigger brain volume and better function.

PMID- 25815351
TI  - Passive immunotherapy of tauopathy targeting pSer413-tau: a pilot study in mice.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Cellular inclusions of hyperphosphorylated tau are a hallmark of
      tauopathies, which are neurodegenerative disorders that include Alzheimer's
      disease (AD). Active and passive immunization against hyperphosphorylated tau has
      been shown to attenuate phenotypes in model mice. We developed new monoclonal
      antibodies to hyperphosphorylated tau and sought high therapeutic efficacy for
      future clinical use. METHODS: Using more than 20 antibodies, we investigated
      which sites on tau are phosphorylated early and highly in the tauopathy mouse
      models tau609 and tau784. These mice display tau hyperphosphorylation, synapse
      loss, memory impairment at 6 months, and tangle formation and neuronal loss at 15
      months. We generated mouse monoclonal antibodies to selected epitopes and
      examined their effects on memory and tau pathology in aged tau609 and tau784 mice
      by the Morris water maze and by histological and biochemical analyses. RESULTS:
      Immunohistochemical screening revealed that pSer413 is expressed early and
      highly. Monoclonal antibodies to pSer413 and to pSer396 (control) were generated.
      These antibodies specifically recognized pathological tau in AD brains but not
      normal tau in control brains according to Western blots. Representative anti
      pSer413 and anti-pSer396 antibodies were injected intraperitoneally into 10-11-
      or 14-month-old mice once a week at 0.1 or 1 mg/shot 5 times. The anti-pSer413
      antibody significantly improved memory, whereas the anti-pSer396 antibodies
      showed less effect. The cognitive improvement paralleled a reduction in the
      levels of tau hyperphosphorylation, tau oligomer accumulation, synapse loss,
      tangle formation, and neuronal loss. INTERPRETATION: These results indicate that
      pSer413 is a promising target in the treatment of tauopathy.

PMID- 25815352
TI  - AAV.Dysferlin Overlap Vectors Restore Function in Dysferlinopathy Animal Models.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Dysferlinopathies are a family of untreatable muscle disorders caused
      by mutations in the dysferlin gene. Lack of dysferlin protein results in
      progressive dystrophy with chronic muscle fiber loss, inflammation, fat
      replacement, and fibrosis; leading to deteriorating muscle weakness. The
      objective of this work is to demonstrate efficient and safe restoration of
      dysferlin expression following gene therapy treatment. METHODS: Traditional gene
      therapy is restricted by the packaging capacity limit of adeno-associated virus
      (AAV), however, use of a dual vector strategy allows for delivery of over-sized
      genes, including dysferlin. The two vector system (AAV.DYSF.DV) packages the
      dysferlin cDNA utilizing AAV serotype rh.74 through the use of two discrete
      vectors defined by a 1 kb region of homology. Delivery of AAV.DYSF.DV via
      intramuscular and vascular delivery routes in dysferlin deficient mice and
      nonhuman primates was compared for efficiency and safety. RESULTS: Treated
      muscles were tested for dysferlin expression, overall muscle histology, and
      ability to repair following injury. High levels of dysferlin overexpression was
      shown for all muscle groups treated as well as restoration of functional outcome
      measures (membrane repair ability and diaphragm specific force) to wild-type
      levels. In primates, strong dysferlin expression was demonstrated with no safety
      concerns. INTERPRETATION: Treated muscles showed high levels of dysferlin
      expression with functional restoration with no evidence of toxicity or immune
      response providing proof of principle for translation to dysferlinopathy
      patients.

PMID- 25815353
TI  - Optimizing multiple sclerosis diagnosis: gene expression and genomic association.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) at disease onset is sometimes
      masqueraded by other diagnostic options resembling MS clinically or
      radiologically (NonMS). In the present study we utilized findings of large-scale
      Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) to develop a blood gene expression-based
      classification tool to assist in diagnosis during the first demyelinating event.
      METHODS: We have merged knowledge of 110 MS susceptibility genes gained from MS
      GWAS studies together with our experimental results of differential blood gene
      expression profiling between 80 MS and 31 NonMS patients. Multiple classification
      algorithms were applied to this cohort to construct a diagnostic classifier that
      correctly distinguished between MS and NonMS patients. Accuracy of the classifier
      was tested on an additional independent group of 146 patients including 121 MS
      and 25 NonMS patients. RESULTS: We have constructed a 42 gene-transcript
      expression-based MS diagnostic classifier. The overall accuracy of the
      classifier, as tested on an independent patient population consisting of
      diagnostically challenging cases including NonMS patients with positive MRI
      findings, achieved a correct classification rate of 76.0 +/- 3.5%.
      INTERPRETATION: The presented diagnostic classification tool complements the
      existing diagnostic McDonald criteria by assisting in the accurate exclusion of
      other neurological diseases at presentation of the first demyelinating event
      suggestive of MS.

PMID- 25815354
TI  - Anti-tau antibody reduces insoluble tau and decreases brain atrophy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We previously found a strong reduction in tau pathology and insoluble
      tau in P301S tau transgenic mice following intracerebroventricular infusion of
      the anti-tau antibody HJ8.5. We sought to determine the effects of HJ8.5 in the
      same model following peripheral administration. METHODS: The primary objective
      was to determine if HJ8.5 administered at a dose of 50 mg kg(-1) week(-1) by
      intraperitoneal (IP) injection to 6-month-old P301S mice for 3 months would
      influence phospho-tau (p-tau) accumulation, tau insolubility, and
      neurodegeneration. RESULTS: Treatment with HJ8.5 at 50 mg/kg showed a very strong
      decrease in detergent-insoluble tau. Importantly, HJ8.5 significantly reduced the
      loss of cortical and hippocampal tissue volumes compared to control treated mice.
      HJ8.5 treatment reduced hippocampal CA1 cellular layer staining with the p-tau
      antibody AT8 and thio-S-positive tau aggregates in piriform cortex and amygdala.
      Moreover, mice treated with HJ8.5 at 50 mg/kg showed a decrease in
      motor/sensorimotor deficits compared to vehicle-treated mice. Some effects of
      HJ8.5, including reduction in brain atrophy, and p-tau immunostaining were also
      seen with a dose of 10 mg kg(-1) week(-1). In BV2-microglial cells, we observed
      significantly higher uptake of P301S tau aggregates in the presence of HJ8.5.
      HJ8.5 treatment also resulted in a large dose-dependent increase of tau in the
      plasma. INTERPRETATION: Our results indicate that systemically administered anti
      tau antibody HJ8.5 significantly decreases insoluble tau, decreases brain
      atrophy, and improves motor/sensorimotor function in a mouse model of tauopathy.
      These data further support the idea that anti-tau antibodies should be further
      assessed as a potential treatment for tauopathies.

PMID- 25815355
TI  - Cannabinoid agonist rescues learning and memory after a traumatic brain injury.
AB  - Traumatic brain injury can cause persistent challenges including problems with
      learning and memory. Previous studies suggest that the activation of the
      cannabinoid 1 receptor after a traumatic brain injury could be beneficial. We
      tested the hypothesis that posttraumatic brain injury administration of a
      cannabinoid 1 receptor agonist can rescue deficits in learning and memory. Young
      adult male rats were subjected to a moderately severe controlled cortical impact
      brain injury, with a subset given postinjury i.p. injections of a cannabinoid
      receptor agonist. Utilizing novel object recognition and the morris water task,
      we found that the brain-injured animals treated with the agonist showed a marked
      recovery. 

PMID- 25815356
TI  - Histopathology and clinical course of MOG-antibody-associated encephalomyelitis.
AB  - We present histological, MRI, and clinical features of an adult patient with
      relapsing encephalomyelitis and antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte
      glycoprotein (MOG). Furthermore, we report molecular details of the recognized
      epitope that is specific for human MOG. A brain biopsy revealed multiple
      sclerosis (MS)-type II pathology. Some features overlapped with both MS and
      neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD), whereas others were distinct
      from both MS and NMOSD. Immunoadsorption and rituximab induced clinical
      stabilization. This case contributes a new, so far missing link in the emerging
      spectrum of MOG-antibody-associated encephalomyelitis. 

PMID- 25815357
TI  - ABCG2 variant has opposing effects on onset ages of Parkinson's disease and gout.
AB  - Uric acid (urate) has been suggested to play a protective role in Parkinson's
      disease onset through its antioxidant activity. Dysfunction of ABCG2, a high
      capacity urate exporter, is a major cause for early-onset gout based on
      hyperuricemia. In this study, the effects of a dysfunctional ABCG2 variant
      (Q141K, rs2231142) were analyzed on the ages at onset of gout patients (N = 507)
      and Parkinson's disease patients (N = 1015). The Q141K variant hastened the gout
      onset (P = 0.0027), but significantly associated with later Parkinson's disease
      onset (P = 0.025). Our findings will be helpful for development of more effective
      prevention of Parkinson's disease. 

PMID- 25815360
TI  - Human RNASET2 derivatives as potential anti-angiogenic agents: actin binding
      sequence identification and characterization.
AB  - Human RNASET2 (hRNASET2) has been demonstrated to exert antiangiogenic and
      antitumorigenic effects independent of its ribonuclease capacity. We suggested
      that RNASET2 exerts its antiangiogenic and antitumorigenic activities via binding
      to actin and consequently inhibits cell motility. We focused herein on the
      identification of the actin binding site of hRNASET2 using defined sequences
      encountered within the whole hRNASET2 protein. For that purpose we designed 29
      different hRNASET2-derived peptides. The 29 peptides were examined for their
      ability to bind immobilized actin. Two selected peptides-A103-Q159 consisting of
      57 amino acids and peptide K108-K133 consisting of 26 amino acids were
      demonstrated to have the highest actin binding ability and concomitantly the most
      potent anti-angiogenic activity. Further analyses on the putative mechanisms
      associated with angiogenesis inhibition exerted by peptide K108-K133 involved its
      location during treatment within the HUVE cells. Peptide K108-K133 readily
      penetrates the cell membrane within 10 min of incubation. In addition,
      supplementation with angiogenin delays the entrance of peptide K108-K133 to the
      cell suggesting competition on the same cell internalization route. The peptide
      was demonstrated to co-localize with angiogenin, suggesting that both molecules
      bind analogous cellular epitopes, similar to our previously reported data for
      ACTIBIND and trT2-50. 

PMID- 25815358
TI  - A practical algorithm for managing Alzheimer's disease: what, when, and why?
AB  - Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and its prevalence
      is increasing. Recent developments in AD management provide improved ways of
      supporting patients and their caregivers throughout the disease continuum.
      Managing cardiovascular risk factors, maintaining an active lifestyle (with
      regular physical, mental and social activity) and following a Mediterranean diet
      appear to reduce AD risk and may slow cognitive decline. Pharmacologic therapy
      for AD should be initiated upon diagnosis. All of the currently available
      cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs; donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine) are
      indicated for mild-to-moderate AD. Donepezil (10 and 23 mg/day) and rivastigmine
      transdermal patch (13.3 mg/24 h) are indicated for moderate-to-severe AD.
      Memantine, an N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist, is approved for moderate
      to-severe AD. ChEIs have been shown to improve cognitive function, global
      clinical status and patients' ability to perform activities of daily living.
      There is also evidence for reduction in emergence of behavioral symptoms with
      ChEI therapy. Treatment choice (e.g., oral vs. transdermal) should be based on
      patient or caregiver preference, ease of use, tolerability, and cost. Treatment
      should be individualized; patients can be switched from one ChEI to another if
      the initial agent is poorly tolerated or ineffective. Memantine may be introduced
      in moderate-to-severe disease stages. Clinicians will regularly monitor symptoms
      and behaviors, manage comorbidities, assess function, educate and help caregivers
      access information and support, evaluate patients' fitness to drive or own
      firearms, and provide advice about the need for legal and financial planning.
      Review of caregiver well-being and prompt referral for support is vital. 

PMID- 25815361
TI  - Successful re-treatment of a relapsed V600E mutated HCL patient with low-dose
      vemurafenib.
AB  - Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a chronic B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder that
      accounts for 2% of all leukemia. Recent identification of the recurrent V600E
      BRAF mutation in a majority of HCL patients has led some teams to evaluate the
      clinical potential of vemurafenib, a BRAF V600 specific inhibitor in a limited
      number of refractory HCL patients. Recently, we published the case of an HCL
      patient successfully treated with a low dose of vemurafenib. Eight months after
      the ending of treatment this patient relapsed. We present here the successful
      retreatment of this patient with a second line of vemurafenib. Our data suggest
      for the first time that vemurafenib at the dose of 240 mg once a day could be
      sufficient to maintain a complete hematological remission after an initial
      induction treatment with low-dose vemurafenib (2 * 240 mg) daily without inducing
      major toxicity. 

PMID- 25815362
TI  - Simple, rapid and accurate molecular diagnosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia by
      loop mediated amplification technology.
AB  - The diagnostic work-up of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) includes the
      cytogenetic demonstration of the t(15;17) translocation and/or the PML-RARA
      chimeric transcript by RQ-PCR or RT-PCR. This latter assays provide suitable
      results in 3-6 hours. We describe here two new, rapid and specific assays that
      detect PML-RARA transcripts, based on the RT-QLAMP (Reverse Transcription
      Quenching Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification) technology in which RNA
      retrotranscription and cDNA amplification are carried out in a single tube with
      one enzyme at one temperature, in fluorescence and real time format. A single
      tube triplex assay detects bcr1 and bcr3 PML-RARA transcripts along with GUS
      housekeeping gene. A single tube duplex assay detects bcr2 and GUSB. In 73 APL
      cases, these assays detected in 16 minutes bcr1, bcr2 and bcr3 transcripts. All
      81 non-APL samples were negative by RT-QLAMP for chimeric transcripts whereas
      GUSB was detectable. In 11 APL patients in which RT-PCR yielded equivocal
      breakpoint type results, RT-QLAMP assays unequivocally and accurately defined the
      breakpoint type (as confirmed by sequencing). Furthermore, RT-QLAMP could amplify
      two bcr2 transcripts with particularly extended PML exon 6 deletions not
      amplified by RQ-PCR. RT-QLAMP reproducible sensitivity is 10(-3) for bcr1 and
      bcr3 and 10(-)2 for bcr2 thus making this assay particularly attractive at
      diagnosis and leaving RQ-PCR for the molecular monitoring of minimal residual
      disease during the follow up. In conclusion, PML-RARA RT-QLAMP compared to RT-PCR
      or RQ-PCR is a valid improvement to perform rapid, simple and accurate molecular
      diagnosis of APL. 

PMID- 25815363
TI  - Alpha-fetoprotein activates AKT/mTOR signaling to promote CXCR4 expression and
      migration of hepatoma cells.
AB  - CXCR4, stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha(SDF 1alpha) receptor, stimulates growth
      and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Alpha-fetoprotein(AFP) governs
      the expression of some metastasis-related genes. Here we report that AFP and
      CXCR4 levels correlated in HCC tissues. AFP-expressing vectors induced CXCR4. In
      agreement, AFP depletion by siRNA decreased CXCR4. AFP co-localized and
      interacted with PTEN, thus inducing CXCR4 by activating AKT(Ser473)
      phosphorylation. In turn, phospho-mTOR(Ser2448) entered the nucleus and bound the
      CXCR4 gene promoter. Thus, AFP promoted migration of HCC cells. In concusion, AFP
      induced CXCR4 by activating the AKT/mTOR signal pathway. 

PMID- 25815364
TI  - Fatal acute liver failure with hepatitis B virus infection during nataluzimab
      treatment in multiple sclerosis.

PMID- 25815365
TI  - Erratum: Fatal acute liver failure with hepatitis B virus infection during
      natalizumab treatment in multiple sclerosis.

PMID- 25815366
TI  - Mutant KRAS as a critical determinant of the therapeutic response of colorectal
      cancer.
AB  - Mutations in the KRAS oncogene represent one of the most prevalent genetic
      alterations in colorectal cancer (CRC), the third leading cause of cancer-related
      death in the US. In addition to their well-characterized function in driving
      tumor progression, KRAS mutations have been recognized as a critical determinant
      of the therapeutic response of CRC. Recent studies demonstrate that KRAS-mutant
      tumors are intrinsically insensitive to clinically-used epidermal growth factor
      receptor (EGFR) targeting antibodies, including cetuximab and panitumumab.
      Acquired resistance to the anti-EGFR therapy was found to be associated with
      enrichment of KRAS-mutant tumor cells. However, the underlying molecular
      mechanism of mutant-KRAS-mediated therapeutic resistance has remained unclear.
      Despite intensive efforts, directly targeting mutant KRAS has been largely
      unsuccessful. This review summarizes the recent advances in understanding the
      biological function of KRAS mutations in determining the therapeutic response of
      CRC, highlighting several recently developed agents and strategies for targeting
      mutant KRAS, such as synthetic lethal interactions.

PMID- 25815367
TI  - The roles of interferon-inducible p200 family members IFI16 and p204 in innate
      immune responses, cell differentiation and proliferation.
AB  - p204 is a member of the interferon-inducible p200 family proteins in mice. The
      p200 family has been reported to be multifunctional regulators of cell
      proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and senescence. Interferon-inducible
      protein 16 (IFI16) is regarded as the human ortholog of p204 in several studies.
      This is possibly due to the similarity of their structures. However the
      consistency of their functions is still elusive. Currently, an emerging focus has
      been placed upon the role of the p200 proteins as sensors for microbial DNA in
      innate immune responses and provides new insights into infections as well as
      autoimmune diseases. This review specially focuses on IFI16 and p204, the member
      of p200 family in human and murine respectively, and their pathophysiological
      roles in innate immune responses, cell differentiation and proliferation.

PMID- 25815369
TI  - Ionospheric correction based on ingestion of global ionospheric maps into the
      NeQuick 2 model.
AB  - The global ionospheric maps (GIMs), generated by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
      and Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) during a period over 13
      years, have been adopted as the primary source of data to provide global
      ionospheric correction for possible single frequency positioning applications.
      The investigation aims to assess the performance of new NeQuick model, NeQuick 2,
      in predicting global total electron content (TEC) through ingesting the GIMs data
      from the previous day(s). The results show good performance of the GIMs-driven
      NeQuick model with average 86% of vertical TEC error less than 10 TECU, when the
      global daily effective ionization indices (Az) versus modified dip latitude
      (MODIP) are constructed as a second order polynomial. The performance of GIMs
      driven-NeQuick model presents variability with solar activity and behaves better
      during low solar activity years. The accuracy of TEC prediction can be improved
      further through performing a four-coefficient function expression of Az versus
      MODIP. As more measurements from earlier days are involved in the Az optimization
      procedure, the accuracy may decrease. The results also reveal that more efforts
      are needed to improve the NeQuick 2 model capabilities to represent the
      ionosphere in the equatorial and high-latitude regions. 

PMID- 25815370
TI  - Modelling the effect of SPION size in a stent assisted magnetic drug targeting
      system with interparticle interactions.
AB  - Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and it is caused by the interaction
      of genomic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Although chemotherapy is one
      way of treating cancers, it also damages healthy cells and may cause severe side
      effects. Therefore, it is beneficial in drug delivery in the human body to
      increase the proportion of the drugs at the target site while limiting its
      exposure at the rest of body through Magnetic Drug Targeting (MDT).
      Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are derived from polyol
      methods and coated with oleic acid and can be used as magnetic drug carrier
      particles (MDCPs) in an MDT system. Here, we develop a mathematical model for
      studying the interactions between the MDCPs enriched with three different
      diameters of SPIONs (6.6, 11.6, and 17.8 nm) in the MDT system with an implanted
      magnetizable stent using different magnetic field strengths and blood velocities.
      Our computational analysis allows for the optimal design of the SPIONs enriched
      MDCPs to be used in clinical applications.

PMID- 25815371
TI  - Free vibrations of a cantilevered SWCNT with distributed mass in the presence of
      nonlocal effect.
AB  - The Hamilton principle is applied to deduce the free vibration frequencies of a
      cantilever single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) in the presence of an added
      mass, which can be distributed along an arbitrary part of the span. The nonlocal
      elasticity theory by Eringen has been employed, in order to take into account the
      nanoscale effects. An exact formulation leads to the equations of motion, which
      can be solved to give the frequencies and the corresponding vibration modes.
      Moreover, two approximate semianalytical methods are also illustrated, which can
      provide quick parametric relationships. From a more practical point of view, the
      problem of detecting the mass of the attached particle has been solved by
      calculating the relative frequency shift due to the presence of the added mass:
      from it, the mass value can be easily deduced. The paper ends with some numerical
      examples, in which the nonlocal effects are thoroughly investigated. 

PMID- 25815372
TI  - Flavonoids: separation and quantitation.

PMID- 25815368
TI  - Sustained high level transgene expression in mammalian cells mediated by the
      optimized piggyBac transposon system.
AB  - Sustained, high level transgene expression in mammalian cells, especially stem
      cells, may be desired in many cases for studying gene functions. Traditionally,
      stable transgene expression has been accomplished by using retroviral or
      lentiviral vectors. However, such viral vector-mediated transgene expression is
      often at low levels and can be reduced over time due to low copy numbers and/or
      chromatin remodeling repression. The piggyBac transposon has emerged as a
      promising non-viral vector system for efficient gene transfer into mammalian
      cells. Despite its inherent advantages over lentiviral and retroviral systems,
      piggyBac system has not been widely used, at least in part due to the limited
      availability of piggyBac vectors with manipulation flexibilities. Here, we seek
      to optimize piggyBac-mediated transgene expression and generate a more efficient,
      user-friendly piggyBac system. By engineering a panel of versatile piggyBac
      vectors and constructing recombinant adenoviruses expressing piggyBac transposase
      (PBase), we demonstrate that adenovirus-mediated PBase expression significantly
      enhances the integration efficiency and expression level of transgenes in
      mesenchymal stem cells and osteosarcoma cells, compared to that obtained from co
      transfection of the CMV-PBase plasmid. We further determine the drug selection
      timeline to achieve optimal stable transgene expression. Moreover, we demonstrate
      that the transgene copy number of piggyBac-mediated integration is approximately
      10 times higher than that mediated by retroviral vectors. Using the engineered
      tandem expression vector, we show that three transgenes can be simultaneously
      expressed in a single vector with high efficiency. Thus, these results strongly
      suggest that the optimized piggyBac system is a valuable tool for making stable
      cell lines with sustained, high transgene expression.

PMID- 25815373
TI  - Using shadow page cache to improve isolated drivers performance.
AB  - With the advantage of the reusability property of the virtualization technology,
      users can reuse various types and versions of existing operating systems and
      drivers in a virtual machine, so as to customize their application environment.
      In order to prevent users' virtualization environments being impacted by driver
      faults in virtual machine, Chariot examines the correctness of driver's write
      operations by the method of combining a driver's write operation capture and a
      driver's private access control table. However, this method needs to keep the
      write permission of shadow page table as read-only, so as to capture isolated
      driver's write operations through page faults, which adversely affect the
      performance of the driver. Based on delaying setting frequently used shadow
      pages' write permissions to read-only, this paper proposes an algorithm using
      shadow page cache to improve the performance of isolated drivers and carefully
      study the relationship between the performance of drivers and the size of shadow
      page cache. Experimental results show that, through the shadow page cache, the
      performance of isolated drivers can be greatly improved without impacting
      Chariot's reliability too much. 

PMID- 25815374
TI  - Clinical effects of a natural extract of urinary human menopausal gonadotrophin
      in normogonadotropic infertile patients.
AB  - Purified human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG) is a natural product extracted from
      the urine of postmenopausal women that contains pituitary follicle-stimulating
      hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and a small amount of human chorionic
      gonadotropin (HCG). Here we retrospectively conducted a clinical pharmaceutical
      study on a cohort of normogonadotropic infertile patients addressed to long GnRH
      agonist protocol with serum LH concentration ranging from 0.5 IU/L to 1.5 IU/L
      during the midfollicle phase, aiming at evaluating the effects of purified HMG
      supplementation during ovarian stimulation. There was no significant difference
      in either the basic clinical features of the patients or the pregnancy rate
      (71.4% versus 66.3%, P > 0.05) or other related indicators of pregnancy outcome.
      However, there was a higher level of serum oestradiol (E2) on the day of human
      chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) (1999.10 +/- 860.50 IU/L versus 2883.29 +/- 1427.382
      IU/L, P = 0.000) but lower fertilization rate (89.1% versus 69.6%, P < 0.000) in
      patients getting HMG supplementation and a higher risk of developing ovarian
      hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). We suppose that exogenous LH supplementation is
      not needed when serum LH concentration of the midfollicle phase is around 0.5-1.5
      IU/L during the long GnRH-agonist protocol. Adding exogenous HMG may decrease the
      fertilization rate and increase the risk of developing OHSS. 

PMID- 25815375
TI  - Temporal trends in chorioamnionitis by maternal race/ethnicity and gestational
      age (1995-2010).
AB  - Objective. To characterize trends in chorioamnionitis (CAM) by maternal
      race/ethnicity and gestational age. Study Design. We examined trends in CAM from
      1995-2010 among singleton births in all Kaiser Permanente Southern California
      hospitals (n = 471,821). Data were extracted from Perinatal Service System and
      clinical utilization records. Gestational age- and race/ethnicity-specific
      biannual diagnosis rates were estimated using the Poisson regression after
      adjusting for potential confounding factors. Results. Overall diagnosis rates of
      CAM increased from 2.7% in 1995-1996 to 6.0% in 2009-2010 with a relative
      increase of 126% (95% confidence intervals [CI] 113%-149%). From 1995-1996 to
      2009-2010, CAM increased among the Whites (1.8% to 4.3%, P-value for trend
      <.001), Blacks (2.2% to 3.7%, P-value for trend <.001), Hispanics (2.4% to 5.8%,
      P-value for trend <.001), and Asian/Pacific Islanders (3.6% to 9.0%, P-value for
      trend <.001). The adjusted relative percentage change in CAM from 1995-1996 to
      2009-2010 was for Whites [preterm 21% (9%-78%), term 138% (108%-173%)], for
      Blacks [preterm 24% (-9%-81%), term 62% (30%-101%)], for Hispanics [preterm 31%
      (3%-66%), term 135% (114%-159%)], and for Asian/Pacific Islanders [preterm 44%
      (9%-127%), term 145% (109%-188%)]. Conclusion. The findings suggest that CAM
      diagnosis rate has increased for all race/ethnic groups. This increase is
      primarily due to increased diagnosis at term gestation. 

PMID- 25815376
TI  - Endosome traffic machinery meets the p53-p21 axis.
AB  - SIRT1 regulates p53 transcriptional activation in response to genotoxic insult by
      deacetylating key lysine residues. We recently identified the multifunctional
      protein PACS-2 as a SIRT1 inhibitor. After DNA damage, PACS-2 binds and inhibits
      SIRT1 to increase p53-dependent transactivation of the CDK inhibitor p21 (CDKN1A)
      and induce cell cycle arrest.

PMID- 25815377
TI  - Specialist consensus.

PMID- 25815379
TI  - Guideline for the diagnosis and management of dentin hypersensitivity.

PMID- 25815378
TI  - An overview of detection and screening of oral cancer in Taiwan.
AB  - Oral cancer is a fatal disease, which accounts for the fourth highest incidence
      of malignancy in males and the seventh highest in the general population of
      Taiwan. About 95% of oral cancer is oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The
      relatively high prevalence of OSCC in Taiwan is mainly because a high-risk group
      of the population exists, made up of 2.5 million people and who exhibit habits of
      betel nut chewing as well as cigarette smoking. Unfortunately, about 50% of the
      new OSCC cases found in medical centers presented with TNM stage III or IV cancer
      lesions leading to a low 5-year survival. Therefore, it is generally accepted
      that the prevention and screening of OSCC at early stages or premalignant levels
      in the high-risk group of the population is as equally important as treatment. In
      this review article, we describe the current status of OSCC in Taiwan regarding
      epidemiology. Furthermore we research and highlight the importance of various
      conventional and novel methods in the detection of this disease. 

PMID- 25815380
TI  - Outlining a preventive oral health care system for China.
AB  - The most recent Chinese health care reform, scheduled to run until 2020, has been
      underway for a number of years. Oral health care has not been explicitly
      mentioned in the context of this reform. However, oral health is an integral part
      of general health and the under-servicing of the Chinese population in the area
      of dental care is particularly high. The article describes how this problem could
      be addressed. Based on present scientific knowledge,specifically on evidence
      based strategies and long-term empirical experience from Western industrialised
      countries, as well as findings from Chinese pilot studies, the author outlines a
      preventive oral health care system tailored specifically to the conditions
      prevailing in China. He describes the background and rationale for a clearly
      structured, preventive system and summarises the scientific cornerstones on which
      this concept is founded. The single steps of this model, that are adapted
      specifically to China, are presented so as to facilitate a critical discussion on
      the pros and cons of the approach. The author concludes that, by implementing
      preventive oral care, China could gradually reduce the under-servicing of great
      parts of the population with dental care that largely avoids dental disease and
      preserves teeth at a price that is affordable to both public health and patients.
      This approach would minimise the danger of starting a cycle of re-restorations,
      owing to outdated treatment methods. The proposal would both fit in well with and
      add to the current blueprint for Chinese health care reform. 

PMID- 25815381
TI  - Effect of Fe2O3on optical properties of zirconia dental ceramic.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of Fe2O3on the optical properties of yttria
      stabilised tetragonal zirconia (Y-TZP) dental ceramic when added, and to
      determine the correct content required to mimic the natural dentin. METHODS: Disc
      shaped Y-TZP specimens (0.50 +/- 0.01 mm in thickness) containing various
      contents of Fe2O3were fabricated by cold isostatic pressing and pressureless
      sintering, and then compared with human dentin slices (n = 40) under different
      moisture conditions. The visible light transmittance and colour parameters were
      recorded by a computer-controlled spectrocolourimeter. Sintered density and
      microstructure were investigated with the Archimedes' method and scanning
      electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. RESULTS: With the reduction of moisture
      in dentin slices, the direct transmittance dropped from 1.58% to 0.87%. The
      direct transmittance of coloured zirconia specimens, ranging from 1.22% to 1.40%,
      covered the range of dentin. With increasing Fe2O3content, the L* value of the
      coloured specimens decreased from 88.95 to 84.18, while b* increased from 3.43 to
      12.02. The relative densities of all groups were over 99% of the theoretical
      value. The SEM indicated that zirconia with various amounts of Fe2O3retained the
      compact microcrystalline tetragonal structure. CONCLUSION: Small amounts of
      colourant additions affected the colour and the transmittance slightly, but had
      no influence on the sintered density and microstructure. Y-TZP could be improved
      by the control of colourant additives of Fe2O3in order to mimic the natural
      colour of dentin and to obtain a better aesthetical appearance of restorations,
      especially when the content was around 0.08 wt%.

PMID- 25815382
TI  - Prevalence of non-carious cervical lesions and associated risk indicators in
      middle-aged and elderly populations in Southern China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the prevalence of NCCL and associated risk indicators in 35
      to 44-year-olds and 65- to 74-year-olds from both urban and suburban districts
      of Guangzhou, Southern China. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on
      NCCL with a sample of 768 35- to 44-year-olds and 991 65- to 74-year-olds, and
      the Tooth wear index was applied to record the tooth wear. Data on socioeconomic
      status, health behaviour and general health condition were obtained from a
      structured questionnaire. RESULTS: The prevalence of NCCL was 76.8% and 81.3% in
      middle-aged and elderly populations, respectively. The results from the analysis
      of covariance (ANCOVA) demonstrated that for the 35- to 44-year-olds, those who
      were male, older, living in the suburban district and used toothpicks frequently,
      they tended to have more teeth with NCCL. Men, who were aged between 65 and 74
      years old, who used toothpicks frequently, drank vinegar beverages, ate hard food
      and had not visited a dentist in a year; tended to have more teeth with NCCL.
      CONCLUSION: NCCL was very common amongst middle-aged and elderly populations in
      South China. Older men who had unhealthy oral habits like using toothpicks,
      eating hard food and drinking vinegar beverages tended to have more teeth with
      NCCL. Oral health education would benefit those at risk.

PMID- 25815383
TI  - Early dental treatments for patients with cleidocranial dysplasia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the early dental interventional strategies for adolescent
      patients and a child patient with cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD). METHODS:
      Surgical exposure using the apically repositioned flap technique combined with
      orthodontic traction was used in the adolescent patients whose ideal treatment
      time for initiating treatment was missed. For the child patient whose ideal
      treatment time for initiating treatment was not missed, the simple surgical
      exposure method was carried out in order to promote the eruption of the impacted
      incisors. RESULTS: All the impacted maxillary incisors of the three CCD patients
      were successfully positioned into a proper alignment either through the two
      stages of crown exposure and the elastic traction or simple surgical exposure.
      CONCLUSION: Crown exposure surgery combined with light force orthodontic traction
      provides an effective approach to treat the typical dental abnormalities of
      adolescent CCD patients. Simple surgical exposure was also an effective way for a
      child CCD patient for whom the most ideal time for initiation of treatment was
      not missed.

PMID- 25815384
TI  - Prevalence of tooth agenesis in adolescent Chinese populations with or without
      orthodontics.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of hypodontia in the general population
      and orthodontic population in adolescent Chinese Hans. METHODS: Two groups named
      the general population (6015 subjects) and the orthodontic population (2781
      subjects) were investigated, respectively. The former came from the students of
      three general universities in North China and the latter came from patients
      coming to the Department of Orthodontics, Peking University School and Hospital
      of Stomatology for orthodontic consulting during the summer and winter holidays
      in 2008. The prevalence and average missing number of hypodontic teeth was
      investigated in the two groups. The distribution of missing teeth was analysed
      between jaw positions and between genders. RESULTS: The prevalence of tooth
      agenesis was found to be 5.89% for the general population group and 7.48% for
      orthodontic subjects. Tooth agenesis was more frequently found in females than in
      males in both of the two groups and showed a statistically significant difference
      (P < 0.01). Tooth agenesis was found more frequently in the mandible than in the
      maxilla in the general population but had no difference in the orthodontic
      population. The prevalence and the number of missing teeth were higher in the
      orthodontic population than in the general population. Tooth agenesis showed
      different characteristics in the two populations. The congenital absence of the
      second mandibular premolars and the maxillary lateral incisors increased in the
      orthodontic population. Gender difference in hypodontia expressed an opposite
      effect in the two groups. Although tooth agenesis was more frequently found in
      females than in males, males missed more teeth than females in the orthodontic
      population. CONCLUSION: Tooth agenesis showed different characteristics between
      the general and orthodontic adolescent Chinese populations.

PMID- 25815385
TI  - A quantitative metabolomics peek into planarian regeneration.
AB  - The fresh water planarian species Schmidtea mediterranea is an emerging stem cell
      model because of its capability to regenerate a whole animal from a small piece
      of tissue. It is one of the best model systems to address the basic mechanisms
      essential for regeneration. Here, we are interested in studying the roles of
      various amines, thiols and nucleotides in planarian regeneration, stem cell
      function and growth. We developed mass spectrometry based quantitative methods
      and validated the differential enrichment of 35 amines, 7 thiol metabolites and 4
      nucleotides from both intact and regenerating planarians. Among the amines,
      alanine in sexual and asparagine in asexual are the highest (>1000 ng/mg) in the
      intact planarians. The levels of thiols such as cysteine and GSH are 651 and 1107
      ng mg(-1) in planarians. Among the nucleotides, the level of cGMP is the lowest
      (0.03 ng mg(-1)) and the level of AMP is the highest (187 ng mg(-1)) in both of
      the planarian strains. We also noticed increasing levels of amines in both
      anterior and posterior regenerating planarians. The blastema from day 3
      regenerating planarians also showed higher amounts of many amines. Interestingly,
      the thiol (cysteine and GSH) levels are well maintained during planarian
      regeneration. This suggests an inherent and effective mechanism to control
      induced oxidative stress because of the robust regeneration and stem cell
      proliferation. Like in intact planarians, the level of cGMP is also very low in
      regenerating planarians. Surprisingly, the levels of amines and thiols in head
      regenerating blastemas are ~3 times higher compared to those for tail
      regenerating blastemas. Thus our results strongly indicate the potential roles of
      amines, thiols and nucleotides in planarian regeneration. 

PMID- 25815386
TI  - Healthy eating on a budget.

PMID- 25815387
TI  - Dr Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, to address the controversies of the 2013
      prevention guidelines at the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association 21st
      Annual Symposium.

PMID- 25815388
TI  - Position statement: HIV criminalization laws and policies promote discrimination
      and must be reformed.

PMID- 25815389
TI  - Fungal endocarditis after hybrid periventricular closure of muscular ventricular
      septal defect by Amplatzer occluder in a child.

PMID- 25815390
TI  - Letter by Herzig regarding article, "Electronic cigarettes: a scientific review".

PMID- 25815392
TI  - Letter by Psaty et al regarding article, "Heart failure with recovered ejection
      fraction: clinical description, biomarkers, and outcomes".

PMID- 25815391
TI  - Response to letter regarding article, "Electronic cigarettes: a scientific
      review".

PMID- 25815393
TI  - Response to letter regarding article, "Heart failure with recovered ejection
      fraction: clinical description, biomarkers, and outcomes".

PMID- 25815394
TI  - Core facilities: Shared support.

PMID- 25815396
TI  - All in good time. Does the time of day you exercise matter in blood glucose
      management?

PMID- 25815395
TI  - Survey of staff and family members of patients in Bulgarian hospices on the
      concept of "good death".
AB  - The concept of a "good death" has been intensely discussed over the past decades.
      The objective of this study is to investigate this concept among staff and
      patients' relatives in 29 Bulgarian hospices and 5 palliative care units. Self
      administered questionnaires were completed by 190 members of staff and 216
      patients' relatives. Death without pain and suffering and death in one's sleep
      were leading concepts in both the groups. Staff preferred death in the presence
      of relatives, while relatives preferred fast and sudden death. Although we were
      able to define the common concept of a good death as painless and sudden death in
      one's sleep, death is unique phenomenon and good palliative care should be based
      on communication with patients about their idea of a good death.

PMID- 25815397
TI  - Stopping damage before it starts.

PMID- 25815398
TI  - Manual maintenance. How to ensure your agency's policy manual is relevent and
      respected.

PMID- 25815399
TI  - ECG changes in acute coronary syndrome. How to identify and understand the
      significance of ECG changes occurring throughout acute coronary syndrome.

PMID- 25815400
TI  - Protein Attachment on Nanodiamonds.
AB  - A recent advance in nanotechnology is the scale-up production of small and
      nonaggregated diamond nanoparticles suitable for biological applications. Using
      detonation nanodiamonds (NDs) with an average diameter of ~4 nm as the
      adsorbents, we have studied the static attachment of three proteins (myoglobin,
      bovine serum albumin, and insulin) onto the nanoparticles by optical
      spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and dynamic light scattering, and
      electrophoretic zeta potential measurements. Results show that the protein
      surface coverage is predominantly determined by the competition between protein
      protein and protein-ND interactions, giving each protein a unique and
      characteristic structural configuration in its own complex. Specifically, both
      myoglobin and bovine serum albumin show a Langmuir-type adsorption behavior,
      forming 1:1 complexes at saturation, whereas insulin folds into a tightly bound
      multimer before adsorption. The markedly different adsorption patterns appear to
      be independent of the protein concentration and are closely related to the
      affinity of the individual proteins for the NDs. The present study provides a
      fundamental understanding for the use of NDs as a platform for nanomedical drug
      delivery. 

PMID- 25815403
TI  - Report of the Canadian Nurses Association's National Expert Commission on the
      future of healthcare.

PMID- 25815402
TI  - One-pot synthesis of highly substituted N-fused heteroaromatic bicycles from
      azole aldehydes.
AB  - An efficient route to substituted N-fused aromatic heterocycles, including
      indolizines, imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines, and imidazo[1,5-a]pyridines from azole
      aldehydes, is reported. Wittig olefination of the aldehydes with fumaronitrile
      and triethylphosphine affords predominantly E-alkenes that undergo rapid
      cyclization upon treatment with a mild base. Substituent control of the 1-, 2-,
      and 3-positions of the resulting heteroaromatic bicycles is shown. Alternatively,
      the isolable E-alkene undergoes selective alkylation with electrophiles, followed
      by in situ annulation to indolizines additionally substituted at the 6-position. 

PMID- 25815404
TI  - Reflection I.

PMID- 25815401
TI  - Analytical validation of a melanoma diagnostic gene signature using formalin
      fixed paraffin-embedded melanocytic lesions.
AB  - AIM: These studies were to validate the analytical performance of a gene
      expression signature that differentiates melanoma and nevi, using RNA expression
      from 14 signature genes and nine normalization genes that generates a melanoma
      diagnostic score (MDS). MATERIALS & METHODS: Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded
      melanocytic lesions were evaluated in these studies. RESULTS: The overall SD of
      the assay was determined to be 0.69 MDS units. Individual amplicons within the
      signature had an average amplification efficiency of 92% and a SD less than 0.5
      CT. The MDS was reproducible across a 2000-fold dilution range of input RNA.
      Melanin, an inhibitor of PCR, does not interfere with the signature. CONCLUSION:
      These studies indicate this signature is robust and reproducible and is
      analytically validated on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded melanocytic lesions.

PMID- 25815405
TI  - Future-proofing nursing education.
AB  - The origin of future-proofing seems lost in the mists of recent history.
      Dictionaries date its use from about 1991, referring to the prevention of
      obsolescence in information technology manufacturing and occasionally in
      organizational systems. However, closer analysis in healthcare demonstrates it
      can be traced back to the Rand Corporation and the studies commissioned there in
      the 1960s. These aimed at identifying the predictive factors in planning
      healthcare, including development of the workforce. It is a managerial concept
      that helps to project a vision of change that is not simply reactive or short
      term. It permits a focus on leadership and the maximising of learning
      opportunities and includes analysis of the policy horizon. It held within it an
      assumption about the importance of establishing the cognitive frameworks that
      would influence long-term behaviours and not focus simply on short-term gains.
      This paper utilises this approach to explore options for future-proofing of nurse
      education. 

PMID- 25815406
TI  - Implications of the fundamentals of care for nursing education.
AB  - Nursing education grounds clinical practice. The Fundamentals of Care pose
      challenges to current education and outline opportunities to improve education in
      the future. In my essay, I specify the current challenge presented by the
      Fundamentals of Care for nursing today and my approach in addressing that
      challenge. I go on to outline conceptual and evidentiary highlights within the
      realm of the Fundamentals of Care and select related topics. Finally, I
      synthesize implications for nursing education from the challenge juxtaposed
      against conceptual and evidentiary ideas. 

PMID- 25815407
TI  - Reflection II.

PMID- 25815408
TI  - The imperative for new approaches for managing and leading in healthcare for the
      21st century--observations from the Canadian Nurses Association's National Expert
      Commission Experience and Report.
AB  - The Canadian healthcare system must change to meet current and future realities,
      particularly to respond effectively to changing age and cultural demographics and
      new medical/scientific technologies. To meet its ongoing policy role, the
      Canadian Nurses Association established a National Expert Commission in 2011,
      mandated to prepare a report on healthcare reform and transformation, with a
      clear focus on the role individual nurses and the nursing profession generally
      could play in ensuring better health, better care and better value for Canadians.
      In this paper, Commission co-chair, health law specialist Maureen McTeer,
      outlines the key findings and recommendations of their final report, titled A
      Nursing Call to Action: The Health of our Nation, the Future of our Health System
      which she and co-chair Dr. Marlene Smadu presented originally at the CNA's
      biennial meeting in Vancouver, in June, 2012. The discussion focuses on the
      rationale behind the commission's recommendation for a new registered nursing
      education curriculum and approach to training. 

PMID- 25815409
TI  - Global perspectives on nursing and its contribution to healthcare and health
      policy: thoughts on an emerging policy model.
AB  - We know from rigorous evidence that nurses can exert an incredible impact on the
      everyday lives of people and their health. Nurses can also contribute in much
      wider spheres of influence by applying their knowledge and skills to address
      broader issues affecting population health across communities, nations and
      globally. Despite the prevalence of so many vexing health and social issues,
      nurses often fail to think globally, or even regionally, when they are lobbying
      for change. And while much political influence is local, some issues are simply
      too complex to rely on local influence alone. Importantly in all this, we must
      acknowledge the ways these complex health issues are shaped by economic and
      political agendas and not necessarily by healthcare agendas. As such, the nursing
      community has to act globally and locally, both within and outside of the nursing
      arena. This paper explores early thinking about an evolving model of spheres--or
      "bubbles"--of policy influence in which nurses can and must operate to more
      effectively impact key global health and healthcare challenges.

PMID- 25815410
TI  - Leading healthcare in complexity.
AB  - Healthcare institutions and providers are in complexity. Networks of
      interconnections from relationships and technology create conditions in which
      interdependencies and non-linear dynamics lead to surprising, unpredictable
      outcomes. Previous effective approaches to leadership, focusing on top-down
      bureaucratic methods, are no longer effective. Leading in complexity requires
      leaders to accept the complexity, create an adaptive space in which innovation
      and creativity can flourish and then integrate the successful practices that
      emerge into the formal organizational structure. Several methods for doing
      adaptive space work will be discussed. Readers will be able to contrast
      traditional leadership approaches with leading in complexity. They will learn new
      behaviours that are required of complexity leaders, along with challenges they
      will face, often from other leaders within the organization. 

PMID- 25815411
TI  - Some wicked thoughts on nursing leadership.
AB  - Nursing is everywhere in healthcare and at all levels, and is among other things
      numerically dominant. Yet it arguably plays a less prominent role in charting the
      future course of the system than it should. As in any complex system, power
      matters in health, and the history of healthcare and gender relations explains a
      good deal of why nursing's influence has not rivaled that of medicine. But
      society has progressed immensely in the last century and nursing has both
      contributed to and benefited from these broader social trajectories. If the
      profession is to expand its leadership role in healthcare, it will have to
      reflect on its internal politics, its culture of representation and decision
      making, and how to translate its diversity into a coherent change agenda. Perhaps
      above all it must champion and focus on the public interest to avoid being
      defined as just another interest group. 

PMID- 25815412
TI  - Na/Ca Intermixing around Silicate and Phosphate Groups in Bioactive
      Phosphosilicate Glasses Revealed by Heteronuclear Solid-State NMR and Molecular
      Dynamics Simulations.
AB  - We characterize the intermixing of network-modifying Na(+)/Ca(2+) ions around the
      silicate (QSi(n)) and phosphate (QP(n)) tetrahedra in a series of 16 Na2O-CaO
      SiO2-P2O5 glasses, whose P content and silicate network connectivity were varied
      independently. The set includes both bioactive and bioinactive compositions and
      also encompasses two soda-lime-silicate members devoid of P, as well as two CaO
      SiO2 glasses and one Na2O-SiO2-P2O5 glass. The various Si/P<->Na/Ca contacts were
      probed by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations together with heteronuclear magic
      angle-spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experimentation utilizing
      (23)Na{(31)P} and (23)Na{(29)Si} REDOR, as well as (31)P{ (23)Na} and
      (29)Si{(23)Na} REAPDOR. We introduce an approach for quantifying the extent of
      Na(+)/Ca(2+) ordering around a given QP(n) or QSi(n) group, encoded by the
      preference factor 0? PM ? 1 conveying the relative weights of a random cation
      intermixing (PM = 0) and complete preference/ordering (PM = 1) for one of the
      species M, which represents either Na(+) or Ca(2+). The MD-derived preference
      factors reveal phosphate and silicate species surrounded by Na(+)/Ca(2+) ions
      intermixed nearly randomly (PM ? 0.15), except for the QSi(4) and QSi(1) groups,
      which manifest more significant cation ordering with preference for Na+ and Ca2+,
      respectively. The overall weak preferences are essentially independent of the Si
      and P contents of the glass, whereas PM primarily correlates with the total
      amount of network modifiers: as the latter is increased, the Na/Ca distribution
      around the {QP(0), QSi(1), QSi(2)} groups with preference for Ca2(+ )tend to
      randomize (i.e., PCa decreases), while the PNa-values grow slightly for the
      {QP(1), QSi(3), QSi(4)} species already preferring coordination of Na. The set of
      experimental preference factors {PCa} for the orthophosphate (QP(0)) groups
      extracted from (31)P{(23)Na} REAPDOR NMR-derived M2(P-Na) dipolar second moments
      agrees well with the MD-generated counterparts. Our results on the Na/Ca
      intermixing in soda-lime-silicate glasses are discussed in relation to previous
      reports, highlighting the dependence of the conclusion on the approach to data
      evaluation.

PMID- 25815413
TI  - Synthesis and potent antimalarial activity of kalihinol B.
AB  - Of the 50+ kalihinane diterpenoids reported to date, only five had been tested
      for antimalarial activity, in spite of the fact that kalihinol A is the most
      potent among the members of the larger family of antimalarial isocyanoterpenes.
      We have validated a strategy designed to access many of the kalihinanes with a 12
      step enantioselective synthesis of kalihinol B, the tetrahydrofuran isomer of
      kalihinol A (a tetrahydropyran). Kalihinol B shows similarly high potency against
      chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum. 

PMID- 25815414
TI  - Real-time in situ probing of high-temperature quantum dots solution synthesis.
AB  - Understanding the formation mechanism of colloidal nanocrystals is of paramount
      importance in order to design new nanostructures and synthesize them in a
      predictive fashion. However, reliable data on the pathways leading from molecular
      precursors to nanocrystals are not available yet. We used synchrotron-based time
      resolved in situ small and wide-angle X-ray scattering to experimentally monitor
      the formation of CdSe quantum dots synthesized in solution through the heating up
      of precursors in octadecene at 240  degrees C. Our experiment yields a complete
      movie of the structure of the solution from the self-assembly of the precursors
      to the formation of the quantum dots. We show that the initial cadmium precursor
      lamellar structure melts into small micelles at 100  degrees C and that the first
      CdSe nuclei appear at 218.7  degrees C. The size distributions and concentration
      in nanocrystals are measured in a quantitative fashion as a function of time. We
      show that a short nucleation burst lasting 30 s is followed by a slow decrease of
      nanoparticle concentration. The rate-limiting process of the quantum dot
      formation is found to be the thermal activation of selenium. 

PMID- 25815415
TI  - Selective reversible hydrogenation of Mg(B3H8)2/MgH2 to Mg(BH4)2: pathway to
      reversible borane-based hydrogen storage?
AB  - Mg(B3H8)2.2THF (THF = tetrahydrofuran) was prepared by the addition of BH3.THF to
      Mg/Hg amalgam. Heating a 1:2 molar mixture of Mg(B3H8)2.2THF and MgH2 to 200 
      degrees C under 5 MPa H2 for 2 h leads to nearly quantitative conversion to
      Mg(BH4)2. The differential scanning calorimetry profile of the reaction measured
      under 5 MPa H2 shows an initial endothermic feature at ~65  degrees C for a phase
      change of the compound followed by a broad exothermic feature that reaches a
      maximum at 130  degrees C corresponding to the hydrogenation of Mg(B3H8)2 to
      Mg(BH4)2. Heating Mg(B3H8)2.2THF to 200  degrees C under 5 MPa H2 pressure in the
      absence of MgH2 gives predominantly MgB12H12 as well as significant amounts of
      MgB10H10 and Mg(BH4)2. Hydrogenation of a mixture of Mg(B3H8)2.2THF and LiH in a
      1:4 molar ratio at 130  degrees C under 5 MPa H2 yields [B12H12](2-) in addition
      to [BH4](-), while a 1:4 molar ratio of Mg(B3H8)2.2THF and NaH yields [BH4](-)
      and a new borane, likely [B2H7](-). Hydrogenation of the NaH-containing mixture
      at 130  degrees C gives primarily the alternative borane, indicating it is an
      intermediate in the two-step conversion of the triborane to [BH4](-). The solvent
      free triborane Mg(B3H8)2, derived from the low-temperature dehydrogenation of
      Mg(BH4)2, also produces Mg(BH4)2, but higher temperature and pressure is required
      to effect the complete transformation of the Mg(B3H8)2. These results show that
      the reversible transformation of the triborane depends on the stability of the
      metal hydride. The more stable the metal hydride, that is, LiH > NaH > MgH2, the
      lower is the "regeneration" efficiency. 

PMID- 25815416
TI  - Not whether but when, and what that means for why: the disastrous mathematical
      myopia of those who should know better.

PMID- 25815417
TI  - Gallium-catalyzed domino arylation/oxycyclization of allenes with phenols.
AB  - The synthesis of dihydrobenzofuran-appended oxindoles has been accomplished
      taking advantage of an unprecedented reaction between allenols and phenols under
      metal catalysis. 

PMID- 25815418
TI  - Amygdala Hyperactivity at Rest in Paranoid Individuals With Schizophrenia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The amygdala's role in threat perception suggests that increased
      activation of this region may be related to paranoid ideation. However,
      investigations of amygdala function in paranoid individuals with schizophrenia,
      compared with both healthy individuals and nonparanoid individuals with
      schizophrenia, have consistently reported reduced task-related activation. The
      reliance of blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional MRI on a contrast between
      events and baseline, and the inability to quantitatively measure this baseline,
      may account for these counterintuitive findings. The present study tested for
      differences in baseline levels of amygdala activity in paranoid and nonparanoid
      individuals with schizophrenia using arterial spin labeling perfusion MRI.
      METHOD: Resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) and task-related activation of the
      amygdala were measured in 25 healthy individuals, 16 individuals with
      schizophrenia who were actively paranoid at the time of scanning, and 16
      individuals with schizophrenia who were not paranoid. RESULTS: Analysis of
      relative CBF values extracted from the amygdala bilaterally revealed
      significantly increased activity in the left amygdala in paranoid patient
      volunteers compared with healthy comparison subjects and nonparanoid patient
      volunteers. Increased CBF was also evident in the right amygdala but did not
      reach the level of statistical significance. Paranoid volunteers also showed
      significantly decreased task-related activation of the amygdala compared with the
      two other groups. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that amygdala
      hyperactivation may underlie paranoia in schizophrenia. Additionally, the
      reported differences between paranoid and nonparanoid patient volunteers
      emphasize the importance of considering symptom-based subgroups and baseline
      levels of activity in future investigations of neural activation in
      schizophrenia.

PMID- 25815419
TI  - Depression Subtypes in Predicting Antidepressant Response: A Report From the
      iSPOT-D Trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The study aims were 1) to describe the proportions of individuals who
      met criteria for melancholic, atypical, and anxious depressive subtypes, as well
      as subtype combinations, in a large sample of depressed outpatients, and 2) to
      compare subtype profiles on remission and change in depressive symptoms after
      acute treatment with one of three antidepressant medications. METHOD:
      Participants 18-65 years of age (N=1,008) who met criteria for major depressive
      disorder were randomly assigned to 8 weeks of treatment with escitalopram,
      sertraline, or extended-release venlafaxine. Participants were classified by
      subtype. Those who met criteria for no subtype or multiple subtypes were
      classified separately, resulting in eight mutually exclusive groups. A mixed
      effects model using the intent-to-treat sample compared the groups' symptom score
      trajectories, and logistic regression compared likelihood of remission (defined
      as a score <=5 on the 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self
      Report). RESULTS: Thirty-nine percent of participants exhibited a pure-form
      subtype, 36% met criteria for more than one subtype, and 25% did not meet
      criteria for any subtype. All subtype groups exhibited a similar significant
      trajectory of symptom reduction across the trial. Likelihood of remission did not
      differ significantly between subtype groups, and depression subtype was not a
      moderator of treatment effect. CONCLUSIONS: There was substantial overlap of the
      three depressive subtypes, and individuals in all subtype groups responded
      similarly to the three antidepressants. The consistency of these findings with
      those of the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression trial
      suggests that subtypes may be of minimal value in antidepressant selection.

PMID- 25815420
TI  - ABCB1 Genetic Effects on Antidepressant Outcomes: A Report From the iSPOT-D
      Trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The ABCB1 gene encodes P-glycoprotein, which limits brain
      concentrations of certain antidepressants. ABCB1 variation has been associated
      with antidepressant efficacy and side effects in small-sample studies. Cognitive
      impairment in major depressive disorder predicts poor treatment outcome, but
      ABCB1 genetic effects in patients with cognitive impairment are untested. The
      authors examined ABCB1 genetic variants as predictors of remission and side
      effects in a large clinical trial that also incorporated cognitive assessment.
      METHOD: The authors genotyped 10 ABCB1 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in
      683 patients with major depressive disorder treated for at least 2 weeks, of whom
      576 completed 8 weeks of treatment with escitalopram, sertraline, or extended
      release venlafaxine (all substrates for P-glycoprotein) in a large randomized,
      prospective, pragmatic trial. Antidepressant efficacy was assessed with the 16
      item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self-Rated (QIDS-SR), and side
      effects with a rating scale for frequency, intensity, and burden of side effects.
      General and emotional cognition was assessed with a battery of 13 tests. RESULTS:
      The functional SNP rs10245483 upstream from ABCB1 had a significant effect on
      remission and side effect ratings that was differentially related to medication
      and cognitive status. Common homozygotes responded better and had fewer side
      effects with escitalopram and sertraline. Minor allele homozygotes responded
      better and had fewer side effects with venlafaxine, with the better response most
      apparent for patients with cognitive impairment. CONCLUSIONS: The functional
      polymorphism rs10245483 differentially affects remission and side effect outcomes
      depending on the antidepressant. The predictive power of the SNP for response or
      side effects was not lessened by the presence of cognitive impairment.

PMID- 25815422
TI  - Adiponectin-mediated antilipotoxic effects in regenerating pancreatic islets.
AB  - Pathways that stimulate beta-cell regeneration remain of great clinical interest,
      yet effective therapeutic avenues that promote survival or reconstitution of beta
      cell mass remain elusive. Using a mouse model with inducible beta-cell apoptosis
      followed by adiponectin-mediated regeneration, we aimed to identify key molecules
      boosting beta-cell viability. In the regenerating pancreatic islets, we examined
      changes within the transcriptome and observed an extensive up-regulation of genes
      encoding proteins involved in lipid transport and metabolism. The most prominent
      targets were further confirmed by quantitative PCR and immunofluorescence. Among
      the upstream regulators predicted by pathway analysis of the transcriptome, we
      detected enhanced levels of 2 key transcription factors, Hepatocyte Nuclear
      Factor 4alpha and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptoralpha. Our data
      suggest that improving pancreatic islet lipid metabolism as an important
      antilipotoxic phenomenon to boost beta-cell regeneration. This is primarily
      mediated by the adipokine adiponectin that exerts its action on both the beta
      cell directly as well as on the adipocyte. Adiponectin induces lipid metabolism
      gene expression in regenerating islets through Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4alpha
      and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptoralpha. Adiponectin also modulates
      leptin levels via preserving adipose tissue mass in the insulinopenic state. 

PMID- 25815423
TI  - Ion-transfer voltammetric behavior of propranolol at nanoscale liquid-liquid
      interface arrays.
AB  - In this work, the ion-transfer voltammetric detection of the protonated beta
      blocker propranolol was explored at arrays of nanoscale interfaces between two
      immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES). Silicon nitride nanoporous membranes
      with 400 pores in a hexagonal arrangement, with either 50 or 17 nm radius pores,
      were used to form regular arrays of nanoITIES. It was found that the aqueous-to
      organic ion-transfer current continuously increased steadily rather than reaching
      a limiting current plateau after the ion-transfer wave; the slope of this
      limiting current region was concentration dependent and associated with the high
      ion flux at the nanointerfaces. Electrochemical data were examined in terms of an
      independent nanointerface approach and an equivalent microdisc approach,
      supported by finite element simulation. In comparison to the larger interface
      configuration (50 nm radius), the array of 17 nm radius nanoITIES exhibited a 6.5
      times higher current density for propranolol detection due to the enhanced ion
      flux arising from the convergent diffusion to smaller electrochemical interfaces.
      Both nanoITIES arrays achieved the equivalent limits of detection, 0.8 MUM, using
      cyclic voltammetry. Additionally, the effect of scan rate on the charging and
      faradaic currents at these nanoITIES arrays, as well as their stability over
      time, was investigated. The results demonstrate that arrays of nanoscale liquid
      liquid interfaces can be applied to study electrochemical drug transfer, and
      provide the basis for the development of miniaturized and integrated detection
      platforms for drug analysis. 

PMID- 25815421
TI  - The ovary is an alternative site of origin for high-grade serous ovarian cancer
      in mice.
AB  - Although named "ovarian cancer," it has been unclear whether the cancer actually
      arises from the ovary, especially for high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC), also
      known as high-grade serous ovarian cancer, the most common and deadliest ovarian
      cancer. In addition, the tumor suppressor p53 is the most frequently mutated gene
      in HGSC. However, whether mutated p53 can cause HGSC remains unknown. In this
      study, we bred a p53 mutation, p53(R172H), into conditional Dicer-Pten double
      knockout (DKO) mice, a mouse model duplicating human HGSC, to generate triple
      mutant (TKO) mice. Like DKO mice, these TKO mice develop metastatic HGSCs
      originating from the fallopian tube. Unlike DKO mice, however, even after
      fallopian tubes are removed in TKO mice, ovaries alone can develop metastatic
      HGSCs, indicating that a p53 mutation can drive HGSC arising from the ovary. To
      confirm this, we generated p53(R172H)-Pten double-mutant mice, one of the genetic
      control lines for TKO mice. As anticipated, these double-mutant mice also develop
      metastatic HGSCs from the ovary, verifying the HGSC-forming ability of ovaries
      with a p53 mutation. Our study therefore shows that ovaries harboring a p53
      mutation, as well as fallopian tubes, can be a distinct tissue source of high
      grade serous ovarian cancer in mice. 

PMID- 25815424
TI  - Prevention of cardiovascular risk in women who had hypertension during pregnancy
      after 36 weeks gestation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyse preventive interventions of women with cardiovascular risk
      factors postpartum. METHODS: 3.5 years postpartum, women with history of
      hypertension in pregnancy were invited for a questionnaire, 1 year after a
      cardiovascular risk assessment. RESULTS: Two hundred and fifty-seven women
      completed the questionnaire. At risk factor analyses, 35% had hypertension, 37%
      abnormal lipid- or glucose levels, 63% BMI >= 25 and 19% smoked. One year later,
      36% of women with hypertension used anti-hypertensives, 0% of women with abnormal
      laboratory findings used anti-cholesterol and 1% anti-diabetes medication, 31% of
      the obese women achieved BMI reduction (>= 5%), 42% of the women who smoked,
      quit. CONCLUSION: A minority improved their risk profile.

PMID- 25815425
TI  - Characterization of Skin Aging-Associated Secreted Proteins (SAASP) Produced by
      Dermal Fibroblasts Isolated from Intrinsically Aged Human Skin.
AB  - Most molecular hallmarks of cellular senescence have been identified in studies
      of cells aged in vitro by driving them into replicative or stress-induced
      senescence. Comparatively, less is known about the characteristic features of
      cells that have aged in vivo. Here we provide a systematic molecular analysis of
      normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDFs) that were isolated from intrinsically
      aged human skin of young versus middle aged versus old donors. Intrinsically aged
      NHDFs in culture exhibited more frequently nuclear foci positive for p53 binding
      protein 1 and promyelocytic leukemia protein reminiscent of 'DNA segments with
      chromatin alterations reinforcing senescence (DNA-SCARS)'. Formation of such foci
      was neither accompanied by increased DNA double strand breaks, nor decreased cell
      viability, nor telomere shortening. However, it was associated with the
      development of a secretory phenotype, indicating incipient cell senescence. By
      quantitative analysis of the entire secretome present in conditioned cell culture
      supernatant, combined with a multiplex cytokine determination, we identified 998
      proteins secreted by intrinsically aged NHDFs in culture. Seventy of these
      proteins exhibited an age-dependent secretion pattern and were accordingly
      denoted 'skin aging-associated secreted proteins (SAASP)'. Systematic comparison
      of SAASP with the classical senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP)
      revealed that matrix degradation as well as proinflammatory processes are common
      aspects of both conditions. However, secretion of 27 proteins involved in the
      biological processes of 'metabolism' and 'adherens junction interactions' was
      unique for NHDFs isolated from intrinsically aged skin. In conclusion,
      fibroblasts isolated from intrinsically aged skin exhibit some, but not all,
      molecular hallmarks of cellular senescence. Most importantly, they secrete a
      unique pattern of proteins that is distinct from the canonical SASP and might
      reflect specific processes of skin aging. 

PMID- 25815428
TI  - Improved selectivity for partial oxidation of methane to methanol in the presence
      of nitrite ions and BiVO4 photocatalyst.
AB  - Nitrite ions are shown to have significant influence on the selectivity of the
      photocatalytic oxidation of methane to methanol. An almost complete inhibition of
      undesired CO2 has been achieved with BiVO4 in the presence of a low concentration
      of nitrite, which might act both as a UV filter and as a hydroxyl radical
      scavenger. 

PMID- 25815426
TI  - Regulation and Function of the Caspase-1 in an Inflammatory Microenvironment.
AB  - The inflammasome is a complex of proteins that has a critical role in mounting an
      inflammatory response in reply to a harmful stimulus that compromises the
      homeostatic state of the tissue. The NLRP3 inflammasome, which is found in a
      wound-like environment, is comprised of three components: the NLRP3, the adaptor
      protein ASC and caspase-1. Interestingly, although ASC levels do not fluctuate,
      caspase-1 levels are elevated in both physiological and pathological conditions.
      Despite the observation that merely raising caspase-1 levels is sufficient to
      induce inflammation, the crucial question regarding the mechanism governing its
      expression is unexplored. We found that, in an inflammatory microenvironment,
      caspase-1 is regulated by NF-kappaB. Consistent with this association, the
      inhibition of caspase-1 activity parallels the effects on wound healing caused by
      the abrogation of NF-kappaB activation. Surprisingly, not only does inhibition of
      the NF-kappaB/caspase-1 axis disrupt the inflammatory phase of the wound-healing
      program, but it also impairs the stimulation of cutaneous epithelial stem cells
      of the proliferative phase. These data provide a mechanistic basis for the
      complex interplay between different phases of the wound-healing response in which
      the downstream signaling activity of immune cells can kindle the amplification of
      local stem cells to advance tissue repair. 

PMID- 25815429
TI  - "I'm Still Here": Resilience Among Older Survivors of Breast Cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cancer presents a severe adversity that calls on intrinsic strength
      factors such as resilience. Breast cancer is especially common among older women.
      Understanding the interaction between the mechanisms of resilience and the
      psychosocial impact of cancer requires consideration of developmental age.
      OBJECTIVE: This research explores resilience from the point of view of older
      women who recently completed treatment for early-stage breast cancer. METHODS:
      Constructivist grounded theory directed data collection and analysis of 31
      personal, semistructured interviews with 18 women aged 70 to 94 years. RESULTS:
      Faced with overcoming the adversity of a first cancer experience, participants
      rebounded and restored balance to their lives with a sense that they did the work
      of managing cancer with self-efficacy and autonomy. Resilience was evidenced as a
      multidimensional process containing a natural interaction of attributes. Self
      reliance, optimism, and persevering were embedded in human interconnectedness.
      CONCLUSIONS: The process of cancer survivorship was positioned in the larger
      picture of the joys and hardships of having lived a long life. The core self
      continued through these changing times, connecting the past, present, and
      anticipated future, as exemplified by "I'm still here." Regaining balance
      required tenacity, pragmatism, and dedication to do the work that needed to be
      done to treat cancer and move on with life. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Resilience
      is a valuable resource in strength-based approaches in healthcare. Practical
      examples for clinicians who follow a strength-based approach to promote
      adaptation for the continuing challenges of breast cancer survivorship among
      older women include acknowledging unique individual expressions of resilience.
      Gero-oncology is a salient field for multidisciplinary teams who seek to study
      resilience.

PMID- 25815427
TI  - Acute Inhibition of MEK Suppresses Congenital Melanocytic Nevus Syndrome in a
      Murine Model Driven by Activated NRAS and Wnt Signaling.
AB  - Congenital melanocytic nevus (CMN) syndrome is the association of pigmented
      melanocytic nevi with extra-cutaneous features, classically melanotic cells
      within the central nervous system, most frequently caused by a mutation of NRAS
      codon 61. This condition is currently untreatable and carries a significant risk
      of melanoma within the skin, brain, or leptomeninges. We have previously proposed
      a key role for Wnt signaling in the formation of melanocytic nevi, suggesting
      that activated Wnt signaling may be synergistic with activated NRAS in the
      pathogenesis of CMN syndrome. Some familial pre-disposition suggests a germ-line
      contribution to CMN syndrome, as does variability of neurological phenotypes in
      individuals with similar cutaneous phenotypes. Accordingly, we performed exome
      sequencing of germ-line DNA from patients with CMN to reveal rare or undescribed
      Wnt-signaling alterations. A murine model harboring activated NRAS(Q61K) and Wnt
      signaling in melanocytes exhibited striking features of CMN syndrome, in
      particular neurological involvement. In the first model of treatment for this
      condition, these congenital, and previously assumed permanent, features were
      profoundly suppressed by acute post-natal treatment with a MEK inhibitor. These
      data suggest that activated NRAS and aberrant Wnt signaling conspire to drive CMN
      syndrome. Post-natal MEK inhibition is a potential candidate therapy for patients
      with this debilitating condition. 

PMID- 25815430
TI  - Factors Influencing Adherence in Cancer Patients Taking Oral Tyrosine Kinase
      Inhibitors: A Qualitative Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nonadherence in cancer patients taking oral anticancer drugs is
      common. Reasons for nonadherence are still not really understood as influencing
      factors are often complex, dynamic, and interrelated. OBJECTIVE: A qualitative
      study was conducted to gain insight into (non-)adherence behavior in patients
      taking oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors by exploring (1) processes and factors
      influencing (non-)adherence and (2) their interrelatedness. METHODS:
      Semistructured interviews were held with 30 patients of different ages and with
      different types of cancer. A grounded theory approach was used. RESULTS: Three
      foci were found when dealing with oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors: (1) a focus on
      survival, (2) a focus on quality of life, and (3) a balance between survival and
      quality of life. The process of adherence was determined by a set of complex and
      interrelated influencing factors: treatment-related side effects, hope, anxiety,
      trust, and feedback mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS: This qualitative study gives insight
      into processes and factors influencing (non-)adherence behavior in patients
      taking oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The results of this study can help
      healthcare professionals understand why patients taking oral tyrosine kinase
      inhibitors do not always adhere to their therapy. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE:
      Conditions should be created by which patients get maximum opportunity to
      establish a balance between survival and quality of life. An open climate and a
      trust-based relationship should be established in which patients feel comfortable
      to openly discuss their therapy and the difficulties they experience.

PMID- 25815432
TI  - Eating disorder prevention initiatives for athletes: A review.
AB  - A substantial amount of evidence suggests that collegiate and elite athletes
      involved in weight-sensitive sports are at greater risk of developing eating
      disorders (EDs) than the general population. With the limited effectiveness of
      treatment for EDs, prevention of EDs has been broadly considered in the
      literature. The present paper reviewed the existing literature on ED prevention
      programmes for athletes in order to determine the current status of prevention
      programmes and recommend future directions. The available literature suggests
      that selective, primary interventions with multiple targets and an interactive
      multimodal approach appear most effective. Current challenges in the field,
      including lack of longitudinal research, hesitation by the sport community to be
      involved in ED research and poor cross-field communication and collaboration, are
      also explored. The lack of dissemination of evidence-based prevention programmes
      and the simultaneous promotion of prevention programmes that have not yet been
      empirically examined are also discussed. Based on these observations future
      directions are recommended. 

PMID- 25815431
TI  - Opioid-induced hyperalgesia in community-dwelling adults with chronic pain.
AB  - The hyperalgesic effects of long-term opioid use in community-dwelling adults
      with chronic pain have not been widely reported. Therefore, the primary aim of
      this study was to determine the associations between opioid use and heat pain
      (HP) perception in a sample of community-dwelling adults with chronic pain. The
      study cohort involved 187 adults (85 opioid and 102 nonopioid) with chronic pain
      consecutively admitted to an outpatient interdisciplinary pain treatment program.
      Heat pain perception was assessed using a validated quantitative sensory test
      method of levels. An effect of opioid use was observed for nonstandardized (P =
      0.004) and standardized (P = 0.005) values of HP 5-0.5 in which values of the
      opioid group were lower (more hyperalgesic) compared with those of the nonopioid
      group. HP 5-0.5 is a measure of the slope of the line connecting HP 0.5 (HP
      threshold) and HP 5 (intermediate measure of HP tolerance). In univariable (P =
      0.019) and multiple variable (P = 0.003) linear regression analyses (adjusted for
      age, sex, body mass index, work status, pain diagnosis, pain severity,
      depression, and pain catastrophizing), opioid use was associated with lower (more
      hyperalgesic) nonstandardized values of HP 5-0.5. Similarly, in univariable (P =
      0.004) and multiple variable (P = 0.011) linear regression analyses (adjusted for
      work status, pain diagnosis, pain severity, depression, and pain
      catastrophizing), opioid use was associated with lower standardized values of HP
      5-0.5. In this sample of community-dwelling adults, these observations suggest
      that long-term opioid use was associated with hyperalgesia independent of other
      clinical factors known to influence HP perception. 

PMID- 25815433
TI  - Switching mechanism in two-terminal vanadium dioxide devices.
AB  - Two-terminal thin film VO2 devices show an abrupt decrease of resistance when the
      current or voltage applied exceeds a threshold value. This phenomenon is often
      described as a field-induced metal-insulator transition. We fabricate nano-scale
      devices with different electrode separations down to 100 nm and study how the dc
      switching voltage and current depend on device size and temperature. Our
      observations are consistent with a Joule heating mechanism governing the
      switching. Pulsed measurements show a switching time to the high resistance state
      of the order of one hundred nanoseconds, consistent with heat dissipation time.
      In spite of the Joule heating mechanism which is expected to induce device
      degradation, devices can be switched for more than 10(10) cycles making VO2 a
      promising material for nanoelectronic applications. 

PMID- 25815435
TI  - Controlling Clusters of Colloidal Platelets: Effects of Edge and Face Surface
      Chemistries on the Behavior of Montmorillonite Suspensions.
AB  - The structural and rheological consequences of adsorbing pyrophosphate anions to
      the edges and polyetheramines to the faces of montmorillonite platelets in
      aqueous suspension were investigated. Oscillatory rheology and scattering
      experiments showed that the two surface treatments act in different regions of
      the phase diagram and that this can be attributed to modifications of local
      particle interactions resulting in changes to the behavior and morphology of
      platelet clusters. The polyetheramine was found to neutralize surface charge,
      reducing electrostatic repulsion between platelets and therefore allowing them to
      come into closer proximity. This reduces the effective volume fraction of the
      clusters and reverses jamming in low ionic strength arrested phases. Conversely,
      the adsorption of pyrophosphate was found to introduce a high concentration of
      negative charge to the particle edge, resisting the formation of bonded
      percolating gels at high ionic strength. The two separate surface chemistries can
      be applied in parallel with no adverse effects and thus have the potential to be
      applied to dual functionalization of two-dimensional colloids such as platelets.
      This has implications for finer formulation design where targeted rheology
      modification could be achieved by careful selection of chemistry at one surface
      accompanied by an additional function at the other. 

PMID- 25815434
TI  - Hemocompatibility of Poly(vinyl alcohol)-Gelatin Core-Shell Electrospun
      Nanofibers: A Scaffold for Modulating Platelet Deposition and Activation.
AB  - In this study, we evaluate coaxial electrospun nanofibers with gelatin in the
      shell and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in the core as a potential vascular material
      by determining fiber surface roughness, as well as human platelet deposition and
      activation under varying conditions. PVA scaffolds had the highest surface
      roughness (Ra=65.5+/-6.8 nm) but the lowest platelet deposition (34.2+/-5.8
      platelets) in comparison to gelatin nanofibers (Ra=36.8+/-3.0 nm and 168.9+/-29.8
      platelets) and coaxial nanofibers (1 Gel:1 PVA coaxial, Ra=24.0+/-1.5 nm and
      150.2+/-17.4 platelets. 3 Gel:1 PVA coaxial, Ra=37.1+/-2.8 nm and 167.8+/-15.4
      platelets). Therefore, the chemical structure of the gelatin nanofibers dominated
      surface roughness in platelet deposition. Due to their increased stiffness, the
      coaxial nanofibers had the highest platelet activation rate, rate of thrombin
      formation, in comparison to gelatin and PVA fibers. Our studies indicate that
      mechanical stiffness is a dominating factor for platelet deposition and
      activation, followed by biochemical signals, and lastly surface roughness.
      Overall, these coaxial nanofibers are an appealing material for vascular
      applications by supporting cellular growth while minimizing platelet deposition
      and activation.

PMID- 25815437
TI  - Extracts of Scutellariae Radix inhibit low-density lipoprotein oxidation and the
      lipopolysaccharide-induced macrophage inflammatory response.
AB  - Traditional herbal formulas made from Scutellariae Radix (SR), the root of
      Scutellaria baicalensis, have previously been used in the treatment of
      inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis. The aim of the present study was
      to investigate the effects of SR on low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation and
      inflammation in macrophages, which are early events in the development of
      atherosclerosis. High-performance liquid chromatography photo-diode array
      analysis was used to obtain a three-dimensional chromatogram of SR. The
      antioxidative effects of SR were evaluated by determining its scavenging
      activities against ABTS and DPPH radicals. The inhibitory effect of SR on LDL
      oxidation was examined using a thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance assay and a
      relative electrophoretic mobility assay. In addition, the anti-inflammatory
      effects of SR were evaluated in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 murine
      macrophage cells. The results showed that SR exhibited radical-scavenging
      activities in a dose-dependent manner; in addition, SR attenuated the Cu2+
      induced oxidation of LDL as well as significantly inhibited nitric oxide (NO)
      production and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) expression in LPS-induced RAW264.7
      cells. Furthermore, SR induced the protein expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1)
      in RAW264.7 cells. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated
      that SR decreased the oxidation of LDL and suppressed inflammatory responses in
      macrophages, which occurred at least in part via the induction of HO-1. These
      results therefore suggested that SR may be a potential therapeutic agent for the
      treatment of atherosclerosis.

PMID- 25815436
TI  - Antitumorigenic effect of plumbagin by induction of SH2-containing protein
      tyrosine phosphatase 1 in human gastric cancer cells.
AB  - A recent study reported that plumbagin downregulated the activity of Janus kinase
      2 (JAK2)-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathway to
      show various antitumor effects in multiple myeloma cells. We aimed in this in
      vitro study to demonstrate the inhibition of JAK2/STAT3 pathway by plumbagin
      through inducing SH2-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase 1 (SHP1) expression
      in the MKN-28 gastric cancer cell line. We performed western blot analysis to
      measure SHP1, phosphor-JAK2/STAT3 level, and observed that plumbagin induced SHP1
      expression and simultaneously downregulated phosphor-JAK2/STAT3 in MKN-28 cells,
      with negative SHP1 expression. This effect was consistent when JAK2/STAT3
      signaling was activated by interleukin-6 (IL-6), and ameliorated when cells were
      treated with prevanadate, a protein tyrosin phosphatase inhibitor. Furthermore,
      plumbagin significantly reduced gene expression of cyclin D1, vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-1, Bcl-xL, survivin and matrix metalloproteinase
      9 (MMP-9), known target products of STAT3 activation in gastric carcinogenesis by
      reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Several functional
      studies such as water soluble tetrazolium salt-1 (WST-1) assay, wound closure
      assay, Matrigel invasion assay and Annexin V assay were also performed, and we
      validated the functional effect of plumbagin for inhibition of cell
      proliferation, migration and invasion, and induction of apoptosis. Collectively,
      our findings suggest that plumbagin is a potential regulator of cellular growth,
      migration, invasion and apoptosis by inhibiting both constitutive and inducible
      STAT3 activity through induction of SHP1 in gastric cancer cells.

PMID- 25815438
TI  - Biomarkers of "Linguistic Anxiety" in aphasia: a proof-of-concept case study.
AB  - This is a proof-of-concept case study designed to evaluate the presence of
      "Linguistic Anxiety" in a person with mild aphasia. The participant (aged 68) was
      tested on linguistic and non-linguistic cognitive tasks administered under
      conditions that differed in levels of anxiety. A validated anxiety-induction
      technique rarely used in previous aphasia studies was employed: the participant
      was instructed to prepare for a public speaking presentation. Measures of
      linguistic and non-linguistic cognitive performance, and anxiety (self-report and
      psychophysiologic) were obtained. The participant exhibited increased
      psychophysiologic stress reactivity (heart rate, skin conductance and self-report
      ratings) in the high-anxiety condition. In the state of increased anxiety,
      performance on language tasks, in particular discourse production, declined
      relative to performance in low-anxiety settings. Even in mild aphasia, language
      based anxiety can interfere with language performance. This finding provides a
      basis for carrying out a study with a larger sample that can open a new path to
      assessment and treatment of persons with aphasia. 

PMID- 25815440
TI  - Resveratrol suppresses vascular endothelial growth factor secretion via
      inhibition of CXC-chemokine receptor 4 expression in ARPE-19 cells.
AB  - The present study characterizes the effects of resveratrol (Res) on vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE)
      cells. ARPE-19 cells were treated with CoCl2, a hypoxia mimetic agent. CoCl2
      treatment increased protein levels of hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha (HIF
      1alpha) and CXC-chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4), and secretion of VEGF. To confirm
      the effects of Res on VEGF secretion, the human umbilical vein endothelial cell
      tube formation assay was performed with conditioned medium from Res-treated ARPE
      19 cells. The well-known antioxidant Res effectively blocked these effects and
      reduced phosphorylation of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB, an upstream activator of
      CXCR4. Furthermore, Res also suppressed VEGF secretion induced by SDF-1, a ligand
      of CXCR4. Conditioned medium from Res-treated ARPE-19 cells clearly suppressed
      tube formation compared with hypoxia-treated conditioned medium. The results
      demonstrated that Res inhibited the hypoxia mimetic CoCl2-induced expression of
      VEGF in ARPE-19 cells. Res suppressed CXCR4 expression through decreased
      phosphorylation of NF-kappaB, resulting in downregulation of VEGF secretion.

PMID- 25815441
TI  - Upregulation of microRNA-492 induced by epigenetic drug treatment inhibits the
      malignant phenotype of clear cell renal cell carcinoma in vitro.
AB  - Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common type of cancer of the
      renal parenchyma. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs of ~22 nucleotides in
      length, which function as post-transcriptional regulators. Recently, the
      downregulation of miRNA (miR)-492 was observed to be associated with ccRCC;
      however, the molecular mechanism by which miR492 inhibited ccRCC remained to be
      elucidated. In the present study, it was demonstrated that miR-492 was markedly
      downregulated in ccRCC tissues when compared with adjacent normal tissues, as
      determined by reverse transcription-quantitative poymerase chain reaction (PCR).
      This downregulation was predominantly due to the hypermethylation of the CpG
      island of the miR-492 promoter, which was detected by methylation specific PCR
      and bisulfite genomic sequencing PCR, and was shown to inhibit miR-492
      transcription. Through the use of a DNA demethylation agent, 5-aza-2'
      deoxycytidine or the histone deacetylase inhibitor 4-phenylbutyric acid, the
      expression level of miR-492 was significantly upregulated in ccRCC cells, which
      further inhibited cell proliferation and invasion, while promoting cell apoptosis
      and adhesion. In conclusion, the present study provided novel insights into the
      potential mechanisms involved in ccRCC and it is hypothesized that miR-492 may
      become a promising therapeutic agent in the treatment of ccRCC.

PMID- 25815442
TI  - Overexpression of Tyro3 receptor tyrosine kinase leads to the acquisition of
      taxol resistance in ovarian cancer cells.
AB  - The majority of patients with ovarian cancer are diagnosed at the advanced stages
      (III/IV) and their 5-year-survival rate is relatively low. One of the major
      causes of the poor prognosis of ovarian cancer is the development of resistance
      to first-line chemotherapy, including platinum and taxol. Therefore, improvements
      in current understanding of chemoresistance is required for the successful
      treatment of ovarian cancer. In the present study, taxol-resistant ovarian cancer
      cells, SKOV3/TR, were established by exposing parental SKOV3 cells to increasing
      concentrations of taxol. . Briefly, cells were treated with 1.5 nM (for 4 weeks),
      3 nM (for 4 weeks), 6 nM (for 5 weeks), 12 nM (for 5 weeks) and 24 nM taxol (for
      8 weeks) over 6 months. The SKOV3/TR cells were found to be smaller in size and
      rounder in shape compared with their parental cells. Cell viability and colony
      formation assays demonstrated an increase in the population doubling time of the
      SKOV3/TR cells, indicating a reduction in the proliferative capacity of these
      cells. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis
      revealed that, among the TAM receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), the mRNA and
      protein expression levels of Tyro3 RTK were increased, while those of Axl and Mer
      RTK were decreased in the SKOV3/TR cells. In addition, restoration of the level
      of Tyro3 by transfecting Tyro3-specific small interfering RNA into the SKOV3/TR
      cells reduced the proliferative capacity of the cells, indicating that
      upregulation of the expression of Tyro3 in SKOV3/TR cells may promote survival in
      the presence of taxol, which eventually resulted in the acquisition of resistance
      upon taxol treatment. The present study subsequently found that, in the SKOV3/TR
      cells, the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was elevated, and
      antioxidant treatment with N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) exerted more profound
      antiproliferative effects compared with the parental cells. The western blot
      analysis demonstrated that treatment of the SKOV3/TR cells with NAC reduced the
      protein expression of Tyro3, and the inhibitory effect of NAC on the
      phosphorylation of Akt was increased, which may have had a positive effect on the
      proliferation of the SKOV3/TR cells. The levels of phosphorylation and protein
      expression of signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3) were
      not affected by NAC treatment, indicating that the phosphorylation of Akt, but
      not expression or phosphorylation of STAT3, was associated with the increased
      intracellular ROS level in the SKOV3/TR cells. Taken together, the results of the
      present study demonstrated that the acquired taxol resistance of ovarian cancer
      cells was associated with ROS-dependent upregulation in the expression of Tyro3
      RTK and the subsequent activation of Akt.

PMID- 25815443
TI  - High purity microfluidic sorting and analysis of circulating tumor cells: towards
      routine mutation detection.
AB  - A new generation of the Ephesia cell capture technology optimized for CTC capture
      and genetic analysis is presented, characterized in depth and compared with the
      CellSearch system as a reference. This technology uses magnetic particles bearing
      tumour-cell specific EpCAM antibodies, self-assembled in a regular array in a
      microfluidic flow cell. 48,000 high aspect-ratio columns are generated using a
      magnetic field in a high throughput (>3 ml h(-1)) device and act as sieves to
      specifically capture the cells of interest through antibody-antigen interactions.
      Using this device optimized for CTC capture and analysis, we demonstrated the
      capture of epithelial cells with capture efficiency above 90% for concentrations
      as low as a few cells per ml. We showed the high specificity of capture with only
      0.26% of non-epithelial cells captured for concentrations above 10 million cells
      per ml. We investigated the capture behavior of cells in the device, and
      correlated the cell attachment rate with the EpCAM expression on the cell
      membranes for six different cell lines. We developed and characterized a two-step
      blood processing method to allow for rapid processing of 10 ml blood tubes in
      less than 4 hours, and showed a capture rate of 70% for as low as 25 cells spiked
      in 10 ml blood tubes, with less than 100 contaminating hematopoietic cells. Using
      this device and procedure, we validated our system on patient samples using an
      automated cell immunostaining procedure and a semi-automated cell counting
      method. Our device captured CTCs in 75% of metastatic prostate cancer patients
      and 80% of metastatic breast cancer patients, and showed similar or better
      results than the CellSearch device in 10 out of 13 samples. Finally, we
      demonstrated the possibility of detecting cancer-related PIK3CA gene mutation in
      20 cells captured in the chip with a good correlation between the cell count and
      the quantitation value Cq of the post-capture qPCR.

PMID- 25815444
TI  - Network challenges for cyber physical systems with tiny wireless devices: a case
      study on reliable pipeline condition monitoring.
AB  - The synergy of computational and physical network components leading to the
      Internet of Things, Data and Services has been made feasible by the use of Cyber
      Physical Systems (CPSs). CPS engineering promises to impact system condition
      monitoring for a diverse range of fields from healthcare, manufacturing, and
      transportation to aerospace and warfare. CPS for environment monitoring
      applications completely transforms human-to-human, human-to-machine and machine
      to-machine interactions with the use of Internet Cloud. A recent trend is to gain
      assistance from mergers between virtual networking and physical actuation to
      reliably perform all conventional and complex sensing and communication tasks.
      Oil and gas pipeline monitoring provides a novel example of the benefits of CPS,
      providing a reliable remote monitoring platform to leverage environment,
      strategic and economic benefits. In this paper, we evaluate the applications and
      technical requirements for seamlessly integrating CPS with sensor network plane
      from a reliability perspective and review the strategies for communicating
      information between remote monitoring sites and the widely deployed sensor nodes.
      Related challenges and issues in network architecture design and relevant
      protocols are also provided with classification. This is supported by a case
      study on implementing reliable monitoring of oil and gas pipeline installations.
      Network parameters like node-discovery, node-mobility, data security, link
      connectivity, data aggregation, information knowledge discovery and quality of
      service provisioning have been reviewed. 

PMID- 25815446
TI  - Integration of GPS precise point positioning and MEMS-based INS using unscented
      particle filter.
AB  - Integration of Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial Navigation System
      (INS) integrated system involves nonlinear motion state and measurement models.
      However, the extended Kalman filter (EKF) is commonly used as the estimation
      filter, which might lead to solution divergence. This is usually encountered
      during GPS outages, when low-cost micro-electro-mechanical sensors (MEMS)
      inertial sensors are used. To enhance the navigation system performance,
      alternatives to the standard EKF should be considered. Particle filtering (PF) is
      commonly considered as a nonlinear estimation technique to accommodate severe
      MEMS inertial sensor biases and noise behavior. However, the computation burden
      of PF limits its use. In this study, an improved version of PF, the unscented
      particle filter (UPF), is utilized, which combines the unscented Kalman filter
      (UKF) and PF for the integration of GPS precise point positioning and MEMS-based
      inertial systems. The proposed filter is examined and compared with traditional
      estimation filters, namely EKF, UKF and PF. Tightly coupled mechanization is
      adopted, which is developed in the raw GPS and INS measurement domain. Un
      differenced ionosphere-free linear combinations of pseudorange and carrier-phase
      measurements are used for PPP. The performance of the UPF is analyzed using a
      real test scenario in downtown Kingston, Ontario. It is shown that the use of UPF
      reduces the number of samples needed to produce an accurate solution, in
      comparison with the traditional PF, which in turn reduces the processing time. In
      addition, UPF enhances the positioning accuracy by up to 15% during GPS outages,
      in comparison with EKF. However, all filters produce comparable results when the
      GPS measurement updates are available. 

PMID- 25815445
TI  - Performance and stress analysis of metal oxide films for CMOS-integrated gas
      sensors.
AB  - The integration of gas sensor components into smart phones, tablets and wrist
      watches will revolutionize the environmental health and safety industry by
      providing individuals the ability to detect harmful chemicals and pollutants in
      the environment using always-on hand-held or wearable devices. Metal oxide gas
      sensors rely on changes in their electrical conductance due to the interaction of
      the oxide with a surrounding gas. These sensors have been extensively studied in
      the hopes that they will provide full gas sensing functionality with CMOS
      integrability. The performance of several metal oxide materials, such as tin
      oxide (SnO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), indium oxide (In2O3) and indium-tin-oxide (ITO),
      are studied for the detection of various harmful or toxic cases. Due to the need
      for these films to be heated to temperatures between 250 degrees C and 550
      degrees C during operation in order to increase their sensing functionality, a
      considerable degradation of the film can result. The stress generation during
      thin film deposition and the thermo-mechanical stress that arises during post
      deposition cooling is analyzed through simulations. A tin oxide thin film is
      deposited using the efficient and economical spray pyrolysis technique, which
      involves three steps: the atomization of the precursor solution, the transport of
      the aerosol droplets towards the wafer and the decomposition of the precursor at
      or near the substrate resulting in film growth. The details of this technique and
      a simulation methodology are presented. The dependence of the deposition
      technique on the sensor performance is also discussed. 

PMID- 25815448
TI  - High-speed incoming infrared target detection by fusion of spatial and temporal
      detectors.
AB  - This paper presents a method for detecting high-speed incoming targets by the
      fusion of spatial and temporal detectors to achieve a high detection rate for an
      active protection system (APS). The incoming targets have different image
      velocities according to the target-camera geometry. Therefore, single-target
      detector-based approaches, such as a 1D temporal filter, 2D spatial filter and 3D
      matched filter, cannot provide a high detection rate with moderate false alarms.
      The target speed variation was analyzed according to the incoming angle and
      target velocity. The speed of the distant target at the firing time is almost
      stationary and increases slowly. The speed varying targets are detected stably by
      fusing the spatial and temporal filters. The stationary target detector is
      activated by an almost zero temporal contrast filter (TCF) and identifies targets
      using a spatial filter called the modified mean subtraction filter (M-MSF). A
      small motion (sub-pixel velocity) target detector is activated by a small TCF
      value and finds targets using the same spatial filter. A large motion (pixel
      velocity) target detector works when the TCF value is high. The final target
      detection is terminated by fusing the three detectors based on the threat
      priority. The experimental results of the various target sequences show that the
      proposed fusion-based target detector produces the highest detection rate with an
      acceptable false alarm rate. 

PMID- 25815447
TI  - Design of a hybrid (wired/wireless) acquisition data system for monitoring of
      cultural heritage physical parameters in Smart Cities.
AB  - Preventive conservation represents a working method and combination of techniques
      which helps in determining and controlling the deterioration process of cultural
      heritage in order to take the necessary actions before it occurs. It is
      acknowledged as important, both in terms of preserving and also reducing the cost
      of future conservation measures. Therefore, long-term monitoring of physical
      parameters influencing cultural heritage is necessary. In the context of Smart
      Cities, monitoring of cultural heritage is of interest in order to perform future
      comparative studies and load information into the cloud that will be useful for
      the conservation of other heritage sites. In this paper the development of an
      economical and appropriate acquisition data system combining wired and wireless
      communication, as well as third party hardware for increased versatility, is
      presented. The device allows monitoring a complex network of points with high
      sampling frequency, with wired sensors in a 1-wire bus and a wireless centralized
      system recording data for monitoring of physical parameters, as well as the
      future possibility of attaching an alarm system or sending data over the
      Internet. This has been possible with the development of three board's designs
      and more than 5000 algorithm lines. System tests have shown an adequate system
      operation. 

PMID- 25815449
TI  - Adaptive software architecture based on confident HCI for the deployment of
      sensitive services in Smart Homes.
AB  - Smart spaces foster the development of natural and appropriate forms of human
      computer interaction by taking advantage of home customization. The interaction
      potential of the Smart Home, which is a special type of smart space, is of
      particular interest in fields in which the acceptance of new technologies is
      limited and restrictive. The integration of smart home design patterns with
      sensitive solutions can increase user acceptance. In this paper, we present the
      main challenges that have been identified in the literature for the successful
      deployment of sensitive services (e.g., telemedicine and assistive services) in
      smart spaces and a software architecture that models the functionalities of a
      Smart Home platform that are required to maintain and support such sensitive
      services. This architecture emphasizes user interaction as a key concept to
      facilitate the acceptance of sensitive services by end-users and utilizes
      activity theory to support its innovative design. The application of activity
      theory to the architecture eases the handling of novel concepts, such as
      understanding of the system by patients at home or the affordability of assistive
      services. Finally, we provide a proof-of-concept implementation of the
      architecture and compare the results with other architectures from the
      literature. 

PMID- 25815450
TI  - An adaptive supervisory sliding fuzzy cerebellar model articulation controller
      for sensorless vector-controlled induction motor drive systems.
AB  - This paper presents the implementation of an adaptive supervisory sliding fuzzy
      cerebellar model articulation controller (FCMAC) in the speed sensorless vector
      control of an induction motor (IM) drive system. The proposed adaptive
      supervisory sliding FCMAC comprised a supervisory controller, integral sliding
      surface, and an adaptive FCMAC. The integral sliding surface was employed to
      eliminate steady-state errors and enhance the responsiveness of the system. The
      adaptive FCMAC incorporated an FCMAC with a compensating controller to perform a
      desired control action. The proposed controller was derived using the Lyapunov
      approach, which guarantees learning-error convergence. The implementation of
      three intelligent control schemes--the adaptive supervisory sliding FCMAC,
      adaptive sliding FCMAC, and adaptive sliding CMAC--were experimentally
      investigated under various conditions in a realistic sensorless vector-controlled
      IM drive system. The root mean square error (RMSE) was used as a performance
      index to evaluate the experimental results of each control scheme. The analysis
      results indicated that the proposed adaptive supervisory sliding FCMAC
      substantially improved the system performance compared with the other control
      schemes.

PMID- 25815451
TI  - A wafer level vacuum encapsulated capacitive accelerometer fabricated in an
      unmodified commercial MEMS process.
AB  - We present the design and fabrication of a single axis low noise accelerometer in
      an unmodified commercial MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) process. The new
      microfabrication process, MEMS Integrated Design for Inertial Sensors (MIDIS),
      introduced by Teledyne DALSA Inc. allows wafer level vacuum encapsulation at 10
      milliTorr which provides a high Quality factor and reduces noise interference on
      the MEMS sensor devices. The MIDIS process is based on high aspect ratio bulk
      micromachining of single-crystal silicon layer that is vacuum encapsulated
      between two other silicon handle wafers. The process includes sealed Through
      Silicon Vias (TSVs) for compact design and flip-chip integration with signal
      processing circuits. The proposed accelerometer design is sensitive to single
      axis in-plane acceleration and uses a differential capacitance measurement. Over
      +/-1 g measurement range, the measured sensitivity was 1 fF/g. The accelerometer
      system was designed to provide a detection resolution of 33 milli-g over the
      operational range of +/-100 g.

PMID- 25815452
TI  - Application of HFCT and UHF sensors in on-line partial discharge measurements for
      insulation diagnosis of high voltage equipment.
AB  - Partial discharge (PD) measurements provide valuable information for assessing
      the condition of high voltage (HV) insulation systems, contributing to their
      quality assurance. Different PD measuring techniques have been developed in the
      last years specially designed to perform on-line measurements. Non-conventional
      PD methods operating in high frequency bands are usually used when this type of
      tests are carried out. In PD measurements the signal acquisition, the subsequent
      signal processing and the capability to obtain an accurate diagnosis are
      conditioned by the selection of a suitable detection technique and by the
      implementation of effective signal processing tools. This paper proposes an
      optimized electromagnetic detection method based on the combined use of wideband
      PD sensors for measurements performed in the HF and UHF frequency ranges,
      together with the implementation of powerful processing tools. The effectiveness
      of the measuring techniques proposed is demonstrated through an example, where
      several PD sources are measured simultaneously in a HV installation consisting of
      a cable system connected by a plug-in terminal to a gas insulated substation
      (GIS) compartment. 

PMID- 25815453
TI  - An analytical model for squeeze-film damping of perforated torsional microplates
      resonators.
AB  - Squeeze-film damping plays a significant role in the performance of micro
      resonators because it determines their quality factors. Perforations in
      microstructures are often used to control the squeeze-film damping in micro
      resonators. To model the perforation effects on the squeeze-film damping, many
      analytical models have been proposed, however, most of the previous models have
      been concerned with the squeeze-film damping due to the normal motion between the
      perforated vibrating plate and a fixed substrate, while there is a lack of works
      that model the squeeze-film damping of perforated torsion microplates, which are
      also widely used in MEMS devices. This paper presents an analytical model for the
      squeeze-film damping of perforated torsion microplates. The derivation in this
      paper is based on a modified Reynolds equation that includes compressibility and
      rarefaction effects. The pressure distribution under the vibrating plate is
      obtained using the double sine series. Closed-form expressions for the stiffness
      and the damping coefficients of the squeeze-film are derived. The accuracy of the
      model is verified by comparing its results with the finite element method (FEM)
      results and the experimental results available in the literature. The regime of
      validity and limitations of the present model are assessed. 

PMID- 25815454
TI  - Comparison of Surgical Pleth Index-guided Analgesia with Conventional Analgesia
      Practices in Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To compare surgical pleth index (SPI)-guided analgesia with
      conventional analgesia by evaluating intraoperative analgesic requirements,
      postoperative pain, and emergence agitation in children. METHODS: This study was
      designed as a parallel, two-arm, double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Forty
      five children undergoing elective adenotonsillectomy were randomly allocated to
      SPI-guided group (SPI-guided analgesia group, n = 21) or control group
      (conventional analgesia group, n = 24). Anesthesia was maintained with
      sevoflurane 2 to 3 vol% in 50% nitrous oxide and oxygen to achieve state entropy
      between 40 and 60. Intraoperative fentanyl 0.5 MUg/kg was administered for the
      first event persisting 3 min and subsequent events persisting 5 min. An event was
      defined as an SPI over 50 (SPI-guided group) or a blood pressure or heart rate
      20% above the baseline (control group). The primary outcome was intraoperative
      fentanyl requirement. Secondary outcomes included intraoperative sevoflurane
      consumption, postoperative emergence agitation and pain score, and postoperative
      rescue analgesic requirements. RESULTS: Intraoperative fentanyl requirement was
      lower in SPI-guided group than in control group (0.43 +/- 0.53 vs. 1.73 +/- 0.59
      MUg/kg; P < 0.001). Intraoperative sevoflurane consumption was similar. The
      proportion of patients with high emergence agitation scores (4 to 5) was greater
      in SPI-guided group (61.9 vs. 25.0%; P = 0.01). The postoperative pain score and
      rescue fentanyl consumption were higher in SPI-guided group (7 [4.5; 9] vs. 3 [2;
      6.75]; P = 0.002; 0.50 +/- 0.34 vs. 0.29 +/- 0.30 MUg/kg; P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS:
      As currently constructed, SPI does not appear to be valid in children. This may
      be due to both differences in blood vessel distensibility and baseline increased
      heart rates in children versus adults.

PMID- 25815455
TI  - TRPV4 Is Required for Hypoxic Pulmonary Vasoconstriction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) is critically important in
      regionally heterogeneous lung diseases by directing blood toward better
      oxygenated lung units, yet the molecular mechanism of HPV remains unknown.
      Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are a large cation channel family
      that has been implicated in HPV, specifically in the pulmonary artery smooth
      muscle cell (PASMC) Ca and contractile response to hypoxia. In this study, the
      authors probed the role of the TRP family member, TRPV4, in HPV. METHODS: HPV was
      assessed by using isolated perfused mouse lungs or by intravital microscopy to
      directly visualize pulmonary arterioles in mice. In vitro experiments were
      performed in primary human PASMC. RESULTS: The hypoxia-induced pulmonary artery
      pressure increase seen in wild-type mice (5.6 +/- 0.6 mmHg; mean +/- SEM) was
      attenuated both by inhibition of TRPV4 (2.8 +/- 0.5 mmHg), or in lungs from TRPV4
      deficient mice (Trpv4) (3.4 +/- 0.5 mmHg; n = 7 each). Functionally, Trpv4 mice
      displayed an exaggerated hypoxemia after regional airway occlusion (paO2 71% of
      baseline +/- 2 vs. 85 +/- 2%; n = 5). Direct visualization of pulmonary
      arterioles by intravital microscopy revealed a 66% reduction in HPV in Trpv4
      mice. In human PASMC, inhibition of TRPV4 blocked the hypoxia-induced Ca influx
      and myosin light chain phosphorylation. TRPV4 may form a heteromeric channel with
      TRPC6 as the two channels coimmunoprecipitate from PASMC and as there is no
      additive effect of TRPC and TRPV4 inhibition on Ca influx in response to the
      agonist, 11,12-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid. CONCLUSION: TRPV4 plays a critical role
      in HPV, potentially via cooperation with TRPC6.

PMID- 25815456
TI  - Resolution of Small Bowel Follicular Lymphoma With Treatment of Concomitant
      Hepatitis B.
AB  - We report a case of small bowel follicular lymphoma regression with hepatitis B
      virus treatment. Our patient underwent surveillance colonoscopy that showed
      profound nodularity in the terminal ileum that was consistent with non-Hodgkin's
      lymphoma (NHL) on biopsy. Upon further testing the patient was found to be
      infected with hepatitis B virus. We decided to treat hepatitis B first to prevent
      its reactivation if the patient underwent therapy for NHL and with the thought
      that NHL can be stimulated by immunological response to antigens. Our patient was
      started on Entecavir, and fortunately the NHL regressed with no recurrence on
      follow-up endoscopies and biopsies. 

PMID- 25815457
TI  - Feasibility of Ultrasound-Guided Sacroiliac Joint Injections in Children
      Presenting with Sacroiliitis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of US-guided sacroiliac
      joint injection in the treatment of sacroiliitis in children. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: This study was approved by the institutional review board and informed
      oral and written consent was obtained from the patients and their parents. In 13
      patients (7 females and 6 males), 9 - 16 years (mean +/- std 11.39 +/-1.98), 18
      sacroiliac joint (SI joint) injections were performed under US guidance. All
      patients suffered from severe sacroiliitis. US scanning was performed using a
      linear-array transducer operating at 5 - 18 MHz. Rating of the patients pain
      using a 0 - 10 dolorimetry scale on a visual analog score (VAS) was recorded
      before, immediately after and 3 months after injection to monitor severity and
      therapeutic response. RESULTS: Injection could be performed in all patients
      without complication and showed good response immediately and 3 months after the
      injection with a decrease of the VAS (from mean +/- std 9.44 +/- 1.097 to 3.89 +/
      3.82, p < 0.001 and to 0.56 +/- 1.097, p < 0.05, respectively). CONCLUSION: US
      guided SI joint injection was feasible in all children, relatively quick and easy
      to perform and appeared effective in the treatment of children with sacroiliitis.

PMID- 25815460
TI  - Access to patients' health records for drug therapy problem determination by
      pharmacists.
AB  - Objectives: To evaluate differences in the number and type of drug therapy
      problems (DTPs) identified by pharmacists with and without access to patients'
      primary care health records; determine the confidence level of pharmacists in
      their assessment of DTPs with and without access to health records; and determine
      the type of information pharmacists need to confirm their assessment. Methods:
      The study design was an exploratory and comparative evaluation of comprehensive
      medication management assessments. Pharmacists initially completed patient
      assessments without access to the patient's primary care health record.
      Pharmacists documented the visit according to the standard of care and documented
      the assessment in a standardized study form. Pharmacists then reviewed the
      patient's primary care health record and documented a revised assessment in the
      standardized study form. The standardized form included sections about the number
      of DTPs, the classification of DTPs, the pharmacist's confidence level in
      identifying DTPs, and the information needed to increase the pharmacist's
      confidence level in identifying DTPs. Results: Pharmacists evaluated 24 patients
      and identified 132 DTPs. After reviewing patients' primary care health records,
      31 DTPs were deemed "false DTPs," 3 DTPs were recategorized, and 9 new DTPs were
      identified. Practitioner confidence levels in DTP determination improved after
      reviewing patients' primary care health records. The health information most
      frequently identified as desirable after the initial review was laboratory tests.
      Conclusion: Pharmacists identified more DTPs with lower confidence levels without
      access to patients' primary care health records. Fewer DTPs were deemed
      "confirmed DTPs" and confidence in the practitioners' assessments improved after
      review of the primary care health records. Access to primary care health records
      can help community pharmacists build an efficient and comprehensive medication
      management practice.

PMID- 25815458
TI  - Glioblastoma: molecular pathways, stem cells and therapeutic targets.
AB  - Glioblastoma (GBM), a WHO-defined Grade IV astrocytoma, is the most common and
      aggressive CNS malignancy. Despite current treatment modalities, the survival
      time remains dismal. The main cause of mortality in patients with this disease is
      reoccurrence of the malignancy, which is attributed to treatment-resistant cancer
      stem cells within and surrounding the primary tumor. Inclusion of novel
      therapies, such as immuno- and DNA-based therapy, may provide better means of
      treating GBM. Furthermore, manipulation of recently discovered non-coding
      microRNAs, some of which regulate tumor growth through the development and
      maintenance of GBM stem cells, could provide new prospective therapies. Studies
      conducted by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) also demonstrate the role of
      molecular pathways, specifically the activated PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, in GBM
      tumorigenesis. Inhibition of the aforementioned pathway may provide a more direct
      and targeted method to GBM treatment. The combination of these treatment
      modalities may provide an innovative therapeutic approach for the management of
      GBM. 

PMID- 25815459
TI  - cMET in NSCLC: Can We Cut off the Head of the Hydra? From the Pathway to the
      Resistance.
AB  - In the last decade, the tyrosine kinase receptor cMET, together with its ligand
      hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), has become a target in non-small cell lung cancer
      (NSCLC). Signalization via cMET stimulates several oncological processes amongst
      which are cell motility, invasion and metastasis. It also confers resistance
      against several currently used targeted therapies, e.g., epidermal growth factor
      receptor (EGFR) inhibitors. In this review, we will discuss the basic structure
      of cMET and the most important signaling pathways. We will also look into
      aberrations in the signaling and the effects thereof in cancer growth, with the
      focus on NSCLC. Finally, we will discuss the role of cMET as resistance
      mechanism. 

PMID- 25815461
TI  - Cbl participates in shikonin-induced apoptosis by negatively regulating
      phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B signaling.
AB  - Shikonin, a naturally occurring naphthoquinone, exhibits anti-tumorigenic
      activity. However, its precise mechanisms of action have remained elusive. In the
      present study, the involvement in the action of shikonin of the ubiquitin ligases
      Cbl-b and c-Cbl, which are negative regulators of phosphoinositide 3-kinase
      (PI3K) activation, was investigated. Shikonin was observed to reduce cell
      viability and induce apoptosis and G2/M phase arrest in lung cancer cells. In
      addition, shikonin increased the protein levels of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2)
      associated X and p53 and reduced those of Bcl-2. Additionally, shikonin inhibited
      PI3k/Akt activity and upregulated Cbl protein expression. In addition, a specific
      inhibitor of PI3K, LY294002, was observed to have a synergistic effect on the
      proliferation inhibition and apoptotic induction of A549 cells with shikonin. In
      conclusion, the results of the present study suggested that Cbl proteins promote
      shikonin-induced apoptosis by negatively regulating PI3K/Akt signaling in lung
      cancer cells.

PMID- 25815462
TI  - Apoptosis of HL-60 human leukemia cells induced by Asiatic acid through
      modulation of B-cell lymphoma 2 family proteins and the mitogen-activated protein
      kinase signaling pathway.
AB  - The toxicities of conventional chemotherapeutic agents to normal cells restrict
      their dosage and clinical efficacy in acute leukemia; therefore, it is important
      to develop novel chemotherapeutics, including natural products, which selectively
      target cancer-specific pathways. The present study aimed to explore the effect of
      the chemopreventive agent asiatic acid (AA) on the proliferation and apoptotic
      rate of the leukemia cell line HL-60 and investigated the mechanisms underlying
      its anti-tumor activity. The effect of AA on the proliferation of HL-60 cells was
      evaluated using the MTT assay. Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium
      iodide double staining followed by flow cytometric analysis as well as Hoechst
      33258 staining were used to analyze the apoptotic rate of the cells. Furthermore,
      changes of survivin, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), myeloid cell leukemia 1 (Mcl-1),
      extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and
      p38 expressions were detected by western blot analysis. AA blocked the growth of
      HL-60 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The IC50-value of AA on HL-60
      cells was 46.67 +/- 5.08 umol/l for 24 h. AA induced apoptosis in a dose
      dependent manner, which was inhibited in the presence of Z-DEVD-FMK, a specific
      inhibitor of caspase. The anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2, Mcl-1 and survivin were
      downregulated by AA in a dose-dependent manner. Concurrently, AA inhibited ERK
      and p38 phosphorylation in a dose-dependent manner, while JNK phosphorylation was
      not affected. In conclusion, the present study indicated that the p38 and ERK
      pathways, as well as modulation of Bcl-2 family and survivin proteins were key
      regulators of apoptosis induced in HL-60 cells in response to AA.

PMID- 25815463
TI  - Epigenetic modification and preliminary investigation of the mechanism of the
      immune evasion of HL-60 cells.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to explore the effect of epigenetic modification
      of class II transactivator (CIITA) methylation on histocompatibility complex
      (MHC) class II expression and the immune evasion of leukemia HL-60 cells. HL-60
      cells were treated with various concentrations of 5-aza-2'deoxycytidine (5-Aza
      CdR) and 0.5 umol/l suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) for 24 h and then
      stimulated by interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) for 48 h. The mRNA levels of MHC class
      I, II and co-stimulatory molecules were quantified by reverse transcription
      polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The levels of CIITA protein were determined
      by western blot analysis, and the CpG island methylation ratios in the CIITA
      promoter IV (CIITApIV) were analyzed by bisulfite-sequencing PCR (BSP). MHC I as
      well as the co-stimulatory molecules CD40 and CD80 were significantly increased
      following treatment with 5-Aza-CdR + SAHA + IFN-gamma (epigenetic groups)
      compared with those in the control group and IFN-gamma group (P<0.05). The
      expression of MHC class II and CIITA was restored and increased in an 5-Aza-CdR
      concentration-dependent manner in the three epigenetic groups. The results of the
      BSP assay showed that the methylation rate of CIITApIV CpG sites decreased with
      the treatment of epigenetic modification and negatively correlated to the 5-Aza
      CdR concentration. This demonstrated that the negative expression of CIITA
      protein was the key reason for the loss of MHC II expression in HL-60 cells. The
      results of the present study may help to illustrate the mechanism of immune
      evasion in HL-60 cells.

PMID- 25815465
TI  - Correction: Multimeric scaffolds displaying the HIV-1 envelope MPER induce MPER
      specific antibodies and cross-neutralizing antibodies when co-immunized with
      gp160 DNA.

PMID- 25815464
TI  - GAGA factor maintains nucleosome-free regions and has a role in RNA polymerase II
      recruitment to promoters.
AB  - Previous studies have shown that GAGA Factor (GAF) is enriched on promoters with
      paused RNA Polymerase II (Pol II), but its genome-wide function and mechanism of
      action remain largely uncharacterized. We assayed the levels of transcriptionally
      engaged polymerase using global run-on sequencing (GRO-seq) in control and GAF
      RNAi Drosophila S2 cells and found promoter-proximal polymerase was significantly
      reduced on a large subset of paused promoters where GAF occupancy was reduced by
      knock down. These promoters show a dramatic increase in nucleosome occupancy upon
      GAF depletion. These results, in conjunction with previous studies showing that
      GAF directly interacts with nucleosome remodelers, strongly support a model where
      GAF directs nucleosome displacement at the promoter and thereby allows the entry
      Pol II to the promoter and pause sites. This action of GAF on nucleosomes is at
      least partially independent of paused Pol II because intergenic GAF binding sites
      with little or no Pol II also show GAF-dependent nucleosome displacement. In
      addition, the insulator factor BEAF, the BEAF-interacting protein Chriz, and the
      transcription factor M1BP are strikingly enriched on those GAF-associated genes
      where pausing is unaffected by knock down, suggesting insulators or the
      alternative promoter-associated factor M1BP protect a subset of GAF-bound paused
      genes from GAF knock-down effects. Thus, GAF binding at promoters can lead to the
      local displacement of nucleosomes, but this activity can be restricted or
      compensated for when insulator protein or M1BP complexes also reside at GAF bound
      promoters. 

PMID- 25815467
TI  - Correction: Profiling of serum and urinary microRNAs in children with atopic
      dermatitis.

PMID- 25815466
TI  - The distribution of ocular Chlamydia prevalence across Tanzanian communities
      where trachoma is declining.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mathematical models predict an exponential distribution of infection
      prevalence across communities where a disease is disappearing. Trachoma control
      programs offer an opportunity to test this hypothesis, as the World Health
      Organization has targeted trachoma for elimination as a public health concern by
      the year 2020. Local programs may benefit if a single survey could reveal whether
      infection was headed towards elimination. Using data from a previously-published
      2009 survey, we test the hypothesis that Chlamydia trachomatis prevalence across
      75 Tanzanian communities where trachoma had been documented to be disappearing is
      exponentially distributed. METHODS/FINDINGS: We fit multiple continuous
      distributions to the Tanzanian data and found the exponential gave the best
      approximation. Model selection by Akaike Information Criteria (AICc) suggested
      the exponential distribution had the most parsimonious fit to the data. Those
      distributions which do not include the exponential as a special or limiting case
      had much lower likelihoods of fitting the observed data. 95% confidence intervals
      for shape parameter estimates of those distributions which do include the
      exponential as a special or limiting case were consistent with the exponential.
      Lastly, goodness-of-fit testing was unable to reject the hypothesis that the
      prevalence data came from an exponential distribution. CONCLUSIONS: Models
      correctly predict that infection prevalence across communities where a disease is
      disappearing is best described by an exponential distribution. In Tanzanian
      communities where local control efforts had reduced the clinical signs of
      trachoma by 80% over 10 years, an exponential distribution gave the best fit to
      prevalence data. An exponential distribution has a relatively heavy tail, thus
      occasional high-prevalence communities are to be expected even when infection is
      disappearing. A single cross-sectional survey may be able to reveal whether
      elimination efforts are on-track.

PMID- 25815468
TI  - Detection of powdery mildew in two winter wheat plant densities and prediction of
      grain yield using canopy hyperspectral reflectance.
AB  - To determine the influence of plant density and powdery mildew infection of
      winter wheat and to predict grain yield, hyperspectral canopy reflectance of
      winter wheat was measured for two plant densities at Feekes growth stage (GS)
      10.5.3, 10.5.4, and 11.1 in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons. Reflectance in
      near infrared (NIR) regions was significantly correlated with disease index at GS
      10.5.3, 10.5.4, and 11.1 at two plant densities in both seasons. For the two
      plant densities, the area of the red edge peak (Sigmadr680-760 nm), difference
      vegetation index (DVI), and triangular vegetation index (TVI) were significantly
      correlated negatively with disease index at three GSs in two seasons. Compared
      with other parameters Sigmadr680-760 nm was the most sensitive parameter for
      detecting powdery mildew. Linear regression models relating mildew severity to
      Sigmadr680-760 nm were constructed at three GSs in two seasons for the two plant
      densities, demonstrating no significant difference in the slope estimates between
      the two plant densities at three GSs. Sigmadr680-760 nm was correlated with grain
      yield at three GSs in two seasons. The accuracies of partial least square
      regression (PLSR) models were consistently higher than those of models based on
      Sigmadr680760 nm for disease index and grain yield. PLSR can, therefore, provide
      more accurate estimation of disease index of wheat powdery mildew and grain yield
      using canopy reflectance.

PMID- 25815471
TI  - Correction: Comprehensive selection of reference genes for gene expression
      normalization in sugarcane by real time quantitative RT-PCR.

PMID- 25815469
TI  - Characterization of binding and inhibitory properties of TAK-063, a novel
      phosphodiesterase 10A inhibitor.
AB  - Phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A) inhibition is a novel and promising approach for
      the treatment of central nervous system disorders such as schizophrenia and
      Huntington's disease. A novel PDE10A inhibitor, TAK-063 [1-[2-fluoro-4-(1H
      pyrazol-1-yl)phenyl]-5-methoxy-3-(1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)-pyridazin-4(1H)-one]
      has shown high inhibitory activity and selectivity for human recombinant PDE10A2
      in vitro; the half-maximal inhibitory concentration was 0.30 nM, and selectivity
      over other phosphodiesterases (PDEs) was more than 15000-fold. TAK-063 at 10 uM
      did not show more than 50% inhibition or stimulation of 91 enzymes or receptors
      except for PDEs. In vitro autoradiography (ARG) studies using rat brain sections
      revealed that [3H]TAK-063 selectively accumulated in the caudate putamen (CPu),
      nucleus accumbens (NAc), globus pallidus, substantia nigra, and striatonigral
      projection, where PDE10A is highly expressed. This [3H]TAK-063 accumulation was
      almost entirely blocked by an excess amount of MP-10, a PDE10A selective
      inhibitor, and the accumulation was not observed in brain slices of Pde10a
      knockout mice. In rat brain sections, [3H]TAK-063 bound to a single high-affinity
      site with mean +/- SEM dissociation constants of 7.2 +/- 1.2 and 2.6 +/- 0.5 nM
      for the CPu and NAc shell, respectively. Orally administered [14C]TAK-063
      selectively accumulated in PDE10A expressing brain regions in an in vivo ARG
      study in rats. Striatal PDE10A occupancy by TAK-063 in vivo was measured using T
      773 as a tracer and a dose of 0.88 mg/kg (p.o.) was calculated to produce 50%
      occupancy in rats. Translational studies with TAK-063 and other PDE10A inhibitors
      such as those presented here will help us better understand the pharmacological
      profile of this class of potential central nervous system drugs. 

PMID- 25815470
TI  - Rapid adsorption of copper(II) and lead(II) by rice straw/Fe3O4 nanocomposite:
      optimization, equilibrium isotherms, and adsorption kinetics study.
AB  - Rice straw/magnetic nanocomposites (RS/Fe3O4-NCs) were prepared via co
      precipitation method for removal of Pb(II) and Cu(II) from aqueous solutions.
      Response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized to find the optimum conditions
      for removal of ions. The effects of three independent variables including initial
      ion concentration, removal time, and adsorbent dosage were investigated on the
      maximum adsorption of Pb (II) and Cu (II). The optimum conditions for the
      adsorption of Pb(II) and Cu(II) were obtained (100 and 60 mg/L) of initial ion
      concentration, (41.96 and 59.35 s) of removal time and 0.13 g of adsorbent for
      both ions, respectively. The maximum removal efficiencies of Pb(II) and Cu(II)
      were obtained 96.25% and 75.54%, respectively. In the equilibrium isotherm study,
      the adsorption data fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model. The adsorption
      kinetics was best depicted by the pseudo-second order model. Desorption
      experiments showed adsorbent can be reused successfully for three adsorption
      desorption cycles. 

PMID- 25815472
TI  - Cardiovascular toxicity of multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitors in advanced solid
      tumors: a population-based observational study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Treatment with small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has
      improved survival in many cancers, yet has been associated with an increased risk
      of adverse events. Warnings of cardiovascular events are common in drug labels of
      many TKIs. Despite these warnings, cardiovascular toxicity of patients treated
      with TKIs remains unclear. Here, we evaluate the cardiovascular outcomes of
      advanced cancer patients treated with small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
      METHODS: A population based cohort study was undertaken involving adults aged >18
      years in Ontario, Canada, diagnosed with any advanced malignancy between 2006 and
      2012. Data were extracted from linked administrative governmental databases.
      Adults with advanced cancer receiving TKIs were identified and followed
      throughout the time period. The main outcomes of interest were rates of
      hospitalization for ischemic heart disease (acute myocardial infarction and
      angina) or cerebrovascular accidents and death. RESULTS: 1642 patients with a
      mean age of 62.5 years were studied; 1046 were treated with erlotinib, 166 with
      sorafenib and 430 with sunitinib. Over the 380 day median follow-up period (range
      6-1970 days), 1.1% of all patients had ischemic heart events, 0.7% had
      cerebrovascular accidents and 72.1% died. Rates of cardiovascular events were
      similar to age and gender-matched individuals without cancer. In a subgroup
      analysis of treatment patients with a prior history of ischemic heart disease,
      3.3% had ischemic heart events while 1.2% had cerebrovascular accidents.
      CONCLUSIONS: TKIs do not appear to increase the cause-specific hazard of ischemic
      heart disease and cerebrovascular accidents compared to age and gender-matched
      individuals without advanced cancer.

PMID- 25815473
TI  - Molecular signatures discriminating the male and the female sexual pathways in
      the pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera.
AB  - The genomics of economically important marine bivalves is studied to provide
      better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying their different
      reproductive strategies. The recently available gonad transcriptome of the black
      lip pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera is a novel and powerful resource to study
      these mechanisms in marine mollusks displaying hermaphroditic features. In this
      study, RNAseq quantification data of the P. margaritifera gonad transcriptome
      were analyzed to identify candidate genes in histologically-characterized gonad
      samples to provide molecular signatures of the female and male sexual pathway in
      this pearl oyster. Based on the RNAseq data set, stringent expression analysis
      identified 1,937 contigs that were differentially expressed between the gonad
      histological categories. From the hierarchical clustering analysis, a new
      reproduction model is proposed, based on a dual histo-molecular analytical
      approach. Nine candidate genes were identified as markers of the sexual pathway:
      7 for the female pathway and 2 for the male one. Their mRNA levels were assayed
      by real-time PCR on a new set of gonadic samples. A clustering method revealed
      four principal expression patterns based on the relative gene expression ratio. A
      multivariate regression tree realized on these new samples and validated on the
      previously analyzed RNAseq samples showed that the sexual pathway of P.
      margaritifera can be predicted by a 3-gene-pair expression ratio model of 4
      different genes: pmarg-43476, pmarg-foxl2, pmarg-54338 and pmarg-fem1-like. This
      3-gene-pair expression ratio model strongly suggests only the implication of
      pmarg-foxl2 and pmarg-fem1-like in the sex inversion of P. margaritifera. This
      work provides the first histo-molecular model of P. margaritifera reproduction
      and a gene expression signature of its sexual pathway discriminating the male and
      female pathways. These represent useful tools for understanding and studying sex
      inversion, sex differentiation and sex determinism in this species and other
      related species for aquaculture purposes such as genetic selection programs. 

PMID- 25815474
TI  - Delta-tocotrienol suppresses radiation-induced microRNA-30 and protects mice and
      human CD34+ cells from radiation injury.
AB  - We reported that microRNA-30c (miR-30c) plays a key role in radiation-induced
      human cell damage through an apoptotic pathway. Herein we further evaluated
      radiation-induced miR-30 expression and mechanisms of delta-tocotrienol (DT3), a
      radiation countermeasure candidate, for regulating miR-30 in a mouse model and
      human hematopoietic CD34+ cells. CD2F1 mice were exposed to 0 (control) or 7-12.5
      Gy total-body gamma-radiation, and CD34+ cells were irradiated with 0, 2 or 4 Gy
      of radiation. Single doses of DT3 (75 mg/kg, subcutaneous injection for mice or 2
      MUM for CD34+ cell culture) were administrated 24 h before irradiation and animal
      survival was monitored for 30 days. Mouse bone marrow (BM), jejunum, kidney,
      liver and serum as well as CD34+ cells were collected at 1, 4, 8, 24, 48 or 72 h
      after irradiation to determine apoptotic markers, pro-inflammatory cytokines
      interleukin (IL)-1beta and IL-6, miR-30, and stress response protein expression.
      Our results showed that radiation-induced IL-1beta release and cell damage are
      pathological states that lead to an early expression and secretion of miR-30b and
      miR-30c in mouse tissues and serum and in human CD34+ cells. DT3 suppressed IL
      1beta and miR-30 expression, protected against radiation-induced apoptosis in
      mouse and human cells, and increased survival of irradiated mice. Furthermore, an
      anti-IL-1beta antibody downregulated radiation-induced NFkappaBp65
      phosphorylation, inhibited miR-30 expression and protected CD34+ cells from
      radiation exposure. Knockdown of NFkappaBp65 by small interfering RNA (siRNA)
      significantly suppressed radiation-induced miR-30 expression in CD34+ cells. Our
      data suggest that DT3 protects human and mouse cells from radiation damage may
      through suppression of IL-1beta-induced NFkappaB/miR-30 signaling. 

PMID- 25815475
TI  - A Nurr1 agonist causes neuroprotection in a Parkinson's disease lesion model
      primed with the toll-like receptor 3 dsRNA inflammatory stimulant poly(I:C).
AB  - Dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) are
      characterized by the expression of genes required for dopamine synthesis,
      handling and reuptake and the expression of these genes is largely controlled by
      nuclear receptor related 1 (Nurr1). Nurr1 is also expressed in astrocytes and
      microglia where it functions to mitigate the release of proinflammatory cytokines
      and neurotoxic factors. Given that Parkinson's disease (PD) pathogenesis has been
      linked to both loss of Nurr1 expression in the SNpc and inflammation, increasing
      levels of Nurr1 maybe a promising therapeutic strategy. In this study a novel
      Nurr1 agonist, SA00025, was tested for both its efficiency to induce the
      transcription of dopaminergic target genes in vivo and prevent dopaminergic
      neuron degeneration in an inflammation exacerbated 6-OHDA-lesion model of PD.
      SA00025 (30mg/kg p.o.) entered the brain and modulated the expression of the
      dopaminergic phenotype genes TH, VMAT, DAT, AADC and the GDNF receptor gene c-Ret
      in the SN of naive rats. Daily gavage treatment with SA00025 (30mg/kg) for 32
      days also induced partial neuroprotection of dopaminergic neurons and fibers in
      rats administered a priming injection of polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid
      (poly(I:C) and subsequent injection of 6-OHDA. The neuroprotective effects of
      SA00025 in this dopamine neuron degeneration model were associated with changes
      in microglial morphology indicative of a resting state and a decrease in
      microglial specific IBA-1 staining intensity in the SNpc. Astrocyte specific GFAP
      staining intensity and IL-6 levels were also reduced. We conclude that Nurr1
      agonist treatment causes neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects in an
      inflammation exacerbated 6-OHDA lesion model of PD.

PMID- 25815476
TI  - Expression patterns of bovine CD1 in vivo and assessment of the specificities of
      the anti-bovine CD1 antibodies.
AB  - Research addressing the in vivo effects of T cell activation by lipids,
      glycolipids, and lipopeptides is hampered by the absence of a suitable animal
      model. Mice and rats do not express CD1a, CD1b, and CD1c molecules that present
      pathogen-derived lipid antigens in humans. In cattle, two CD1A and three CD1B
      genes are transcribed. The proteins encoded by these genes differ in their
      antigen binding domains and in their cytoplasmic tails, suggesting that they may
      traffic differently in the cell and thus have access to different antigens. In
      the current study, we describe the genomic organization of the bovine CD1 locus
      and transcription of bovine CD1 genes in freshly isolated dendritic cells and B
      cells from different tissues. After determining the specificity of previously
      only partly characterized anti-CD1 antibodies by testing recombinant single chain
      bovine CD1 proteins and CD1-transfected cells, we were able to determine cell
      surface protein expression on freshly isolated cells. Our study suggests that
      CD1b1 and CD1b3 are more broadly expressed than CD1b5, and CD1a2 is more broadly
      expressed than CD1a1. Pseudoafferent lymph dendritic cells express CD1B genes,
      but no transcription is detected in lymph nodes. Even though B cells transcribe
      CD1B genes, there is no evidence of protein expression at the cell surface. Thus,
      patterns of CD1 protein expression are largely conserved among species.

PMID- 25815477
TI  - Volumetric modulated arc therapy vs. c-IMRT for the treatment of upper thoracic
      esophageal cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare plans using volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) with
      conventional sliding window intensity-modulated radiation therapy (c-IMRT) to
      treat upper thoracic esophageal cancer (EC). METHODS: CT datasets of 11 patients
      with upper thoracic EC were identified. Four plans were generated for each
      patient: c-IMRT with 5 fields (5F) and VMAT with a single arc (1A), two arcs
      (2A), or three arcs (3A). The prescribed doses were 64 Gy/32 F for the primary
      tumor (PTV64). The dose-volume histogram data, the number of monitoring units
      (MUs) and the treatment time (TT) for the different plans were compared. RESULTS:
      All of the plans generated similar dose distributions for PTVs and organs at risk
      (OARs), except that the 2A- and 3A-VMAT plans yielded a significantly higher
      conformity index (CI) than the c-IMRT plan. The CI of the PTV64 was improved by
      increasing the number of arcs in the VMAT plans. The maximum spinal cord dose and
      the planning risk volume of the spinal cord dose for the two techniques were
      similar. The 2A- and 3A-VMAT plans yielded lower mean lung doses and heart V50
      values than the c-IMRT. The V20 and V30 for the lungs in all of the VMAT plans
      were lower than those in the c-IMRT plan, at the expense of increasing V5, V10
      and V13. The VMAT plan resulted in significant reductions in MUs and TT.
      CONCLUSION: The 2A-VMAT plan appeared to spare the lungs from moderate-dose
      irradiation most effectively of all plans, at the expense of increasing the low
      dose irradiation volume, and also significantly reduced the number of required
      MUs and the TT. The CI of the PTVs and the OARs was improved by increasing the
      arc-number from 1 to 2; however, no significant improvement was observed using
      the 3A-VMAT, except for an increase in the TT.

PMID- 25815478
TI  - Hybridization and back-crossing in giant petrels (Macronectes giganteus and M.
      halli) at Bird Island, South Georgia, and a summary of hybridization in seabirds.
AB  - Hybridization in natural populations provides an opportunity to study the
      evolutionary processes that shape divergence and genetic isolation of species.
      The emergence of pre-mating barriers is often the precursor to complete
      reproductive isolation. However, in recently diverged species, pre-mating
      barriers may be incomplete, leading to hybridization between seemingly distinct
      taxa. Here we report results of a long-term study at Bird Island, South Georgia,
      of the extent of hybridization, mate fidelity, timing of breeding and breeding
      success in mixed and conspecific pairs of the sibling species, Macronectes halli
      (northern giant petrel) and M. giganteus (southern giant petrel). The proportion
      of mixed-species pairs varied annually from 0.4-2.4% (mean of 1.5%), and showed
      no linear trend with time. Mean laying date in mixed-species pairs tended to be
      later than in northern giant petrel, and always earlier than in southern giant
      petrel pairs, and their breeding success (15.6%) was lower than that of
      conspecific pairs. By comparison, mixed-species pairs at both Marion and
      Macquarie islands always failed before hatching. Histories of birds in mixed
      species pairs at Bird Island were variable; some bred previously or subsequently
      with a conspecific partner, others subsequently with a different allospecific
      partner, and some mixed-species pairs remained together for multiple seasons. We
      also report the first verified back-crossing of a hybrid giant petrel with a
      female northern giant petrel. We discuss the potential causes and evolutionary
      consequences of hybridization and back-crossing in giant petrels and summarize
      the incidence of back-crossing in other seabird species. 

PMID- 25815479
TI  - Control group design, contamination and drop-out in exercise oncology trials: a
      systematic review.
AB  - PURPOSE: Important considerations for exercise trials in cancer patients are
      contamination and differential drop-out among the control group members that
      might jeopardize the internal validity. This systematic review provides an
      overview of different control groups design characteristics of exercise-oncology
      trials and explores the association with contamination and drop-out rates.
      METHODS: Randomized controlled exercise-oncology trials from two Cochrane reviews
      were included. Additionally, a computer-aided search using Medline (Pubmed),
      Embase and CINAHL was conducted after completion date of the Cochrane reviews.
      Eligible studies were classified according to three control group design
      characteristics: the exercise instruction given to controls before start of the
      study (exercise allowed or not); and the intervention the control group was
      offered during (any (e.g., education sessions or telephone contacts) or none) or
      after (any (e.g., cross-over or exercise instruction) or none) the intervention
      period. Contamination (yes or no) and excess drop-out rates (i.e., drop-out rate
      of the control group minus the drop-out rate exercise group) were described
      according to the three design characteristics of the control group and according
      to the combinations of these three characteristics; so we additionally made
      subgroups based on combinations of type and timing of instructions received.
      RESULTS: 40 exercise-oncology trials were included based on pre-specified
      eligibility criteria. The lowest contamination (7.1% of studies) and low drop-out
      rates (excess drop-out rate -4.7+/-9.2) were found in control groups offered an
      intervention after the intervention period. When control groups were offered an
      intervention both during and after the intervention period, contamination (0%)
      and excess drop-out rates (-10.0+/-12.8%) were even lower. CONCLUSIONS: Control
      groups receiving an intervention during and after the study intervention period
      have lower contamination and drop-out rates. The present findings can be
      considered when designing future exercise-oncology trials.

PMID- 25815481
TI  - Risk behaviours among female sex workers in China: a systematic review and data
      synthesis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Commercial sex is one of the major modes of HIV transmission in
      China. Understanding HIV risk behaviours in female sex workers (FSW) is of great
      importance for prevention. This study aims to assess the magnitude and temporal
      changes of risk behaviours in Chinese FSW. METHOD: Five electronic databases were
      searched to identify peer-reviewed English and Chinese language articles
      published between January 2000 and December 2012 that reported risk behaviours
      among FSW in China, including condom use, HIV testing, and drug use. Linear
      regression and Spearman's rank correlation were used to examine temporal trends
      in these risk factors. The study followed PRISMA guidelines for meta-analyses and
      was registered in the PROSPERO database for systematic reviews. RESULTS: A total
      of 583 articles (44 English, 539 Chinese) investigating 594,583 Chinese FSW were
      included in this review. At last sex, condom use was highest with commercial
      partners (clients), increasing from 53.7% in 2000 to 84.9% in 2011. During this
      same time period, condom use increased with regular partners from 15.2% to 40.4%
      and with unspecified partners from 38.6% to 82.5%. Increasing trends were also
      found in the proportion of sampled FSW who reported testing for HIV in the past
      12 months (from 3.2% in 2000 to 48.0% in 2011), while drug use behaviours
      decreased significantly from 10.9% to 2.6%. CONCLUSION: During the first decade
      of 2000, Chinese FSWs' self-reported risk behaviours have decreased significantly
      while HIV testing has increased. Further outreach and intervention efforts are
      needed to encourage condom use with regular partners, continue promotion of HIV
      testing, and provide resources for the most vulnerable FSW, particularly low tier
      FSW, who may have limited access to sexual health and prevention programs.

PMID- 25815480
TI  - Classification and characterization of species within the genus lens using
      genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS).
AB  - Lentil (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris) is a nutritious and affordable pulse with
      an ancient crop domestication history. The genus Lens consists of seven taxa,
      however, there are many discrepancies in the taxon and gene pool classification
      of lentil and its wild relatives. Due to the narrow genetic basis of cultivated
      lentil, there is a need towards better understanding of the relationships amongst
      wild germplasm to assist introgression of favourable genes into lentil breeding
      programs. Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) is an easy and affordable method that
      allows multiplexing of up to 384 samples or more per library to generate genome
      wide single nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers. In this study, we aimed to
      characterize our lentil germplasm collection using a two-enzyme GBS approach. We
      constructed two 96-plex GBS libraries with a total of 60 accessions where some
      accessions had several samples and each sample was sequenced in two technical
      replicates. We developed an automated GBS pipeline and detected a total of
      266,356 genome-wide SNPs. After filtering low quality and redundant SNPs based on
      haplotype information, we constructed a maximum-likelihood tree using 5,389 SNPs.
      The phylogenetic tree grouped the germplasm collection into their respective taxa
      with strong support. Based on phylogenetic tree and STRUCTURE analysis, we
      identified four gene pools, namely L. culinaris/L. orientalis/L. tomentosus, L.
      lamottei/L. odemensis, L. ervoides and L. nigricans which form primary,
      secondary, tertiary and quaternary gene pools, respectively. We discovered
      sequencing bias problems likely due to DNA quality and observed severe run-to-run
      variation in the wild lentils. We examined the authenticity of the germplasm
      collection and identified 17% misclassified samples. Our study demonstrated that
      GBS is a promising and affordable tool for screening by plant breeders interested
      in crop wild relatives. 

PMID- 25815482
TI  - Heritable CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes
      aegypti.
AB  - In vivo targeted gene disruption is a powerful tool to study gene function. Thus
      far, two tools for genome editing in Aedes aegypti have been applied, zinc-finger
      nucleases (ZFN) and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN). As a
      promising alternative to ZFN and TALEN, which are difficult to produce and
      validate using standard molecular biological techniques, the clustered regularly
      interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated sequence 9 (CRISPR/Cas9)
      system has recently been discovered as a "do-it-yourself" genome editing tool.
      Here, we describe the use of CRISPR/Cas9 in the mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti.
      In a transgenic mosquito line expressing both Dsred and enhanced cyan fluorescent
      protein (ECFP) from the eye tissue-specific 3xP3 promoter in separated but
      tightly linked expression cassettes, we targeted the ECFP nucleotide sequence for
      disruption. When supplying the Cas9 enzyme and two sgRNAs targeting different
      regions of the ECFP gene as in vitro transcribed mRNAs for germline
      transformation, we recovered four different G1 pools (5.5% knockout efficiency)
      where individuals still expressed DsRed but no longer ECFP. PCR amplification,
      cloning, and sequencing of PCR amplicons revealed indels in the ECFP target gene
      ranging from 2-27 nucleotides. These results show for the first time that
      CRISPR/Cas9 mediated gene editing is achievable in Ae. aegypti, paving the way
      for further functional genomics related studies in this mosquito species. 

PMID- 25815483
TI  - Type, number or both? A population-based matched case-control study on the risk
      of fall injuries among older people and number of medications beyond fall
      inducing drugs.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Drug use is a modifiable risk factor for fall-related injuries in
      older people. Whereas the injurious effect of polypharmacy is established, that
      of low numbers of medications has not been fully ascertained. Neither do we know
      whether it is the number per se or the type of medications that actually matters.
      We assessed this question for fall injuries leading to hospitalization. DESIGN:
      National register-based, population-based, matched case-control study. SETTING:
      Community dwellers aged 65+ years living in Sweden between March 2006 and
      December 2009. METHODS: Cases (n = 64,399) were identified in the national
      inpatient register and four controls per case were randomly matched by gender,
      date of birth and residential area. The association between number of prescribed
      medications, assessed through linkage with the Swedish prescribed drug register,
      and the risk of injurious falls was estimated with odds ratios with 95%
      confidence intervals using conditional logistic regression, adjusted for
      demographic and health status. RESULTS: The number of medications was associated
      with an increased risk of fall injury in a dose-response fashion, even after
      adjustment for marital status, comorbidity and number of fall-risk-inducing drugs
      (FRIDs). Using ten or more medications was associated with an almost two-fold
      higher risk (adjusted OR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.66 to 1.88). When stratified by use (or
      not) of at least one FRID, the association weakened slightly among both non-users
      (adjusted OR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.34 to 1.67) and users (adjusted OR: 1.67, 95% CI:
      1.58 to 1.77). CONCLUSION: In older people, not only large but also small numbers
      of medications may affect the risk for them to sustain injurious falls. Although
      the mechanisms lying behind this are complex, the finding challenges the
      prevention strategies targeting either specific types of medications (FRIDs) or
      high numbers of them.

PMID- 25815485
TI  - [Colonization and development of intestinal bifidobacteria in early infancy].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the characteristics of the colonization of 8 species of
      bifidobacteria by systematically profiling fecal bifidobacterial community in the
      early life of infants. METHODS: Fresh fecal samples including meconium samples
      were collected for culture and isolation of fecal bifidobacteria from 16 cases of
      full-term newborn infants born between March and April 2013 at their life of 2,
      4, 7, 10, 14, 28, and 90 days. The isolated fecal bifidobacteria were
      taxonomically identified to genus and 8 species with PCR analysis. RESULTS: One
      hundred and fifty-two predominant bifidobacteria strains were detected in the
      fecal samples, the detection rate of B. breve (22.4%) were the highest.
      Bifidobacteria were found in the feces of 8% infants 4 days after birth. The
      colonization rates increased to 54% and 60% at 28 days and 3 months respectively,
      significantly exceeding the colonization rate at 4 days after birth (P<0.05).
      Adult-type bifidobacteria B. catenulatum were found in the infants 10 days after
      birth, and infant-type bifidobacteria B. infantis were found at 14 days after
      birth, but infant-type bifidobacteria B. infantis were detected at a high level
      until 3 months after birth. The most tested infants had 2 species or less of
      bifidobacteria. CONCLUSIONS: Intestinal bifidobacteria in infants might have less
      diversity in early infancy. Infant-type bifidobacteria appear late, while adult
      type bifidobacteria colonize earlier.

PMID- 25815486
TI  - [Clinical efficacy of preferred use of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation in
      treatment of neonatal pulmonary hemorrhage].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of preferred use of
      high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) in the treatment of neonatal
      pulmonary hemorrhage. METHODS: The clinical efficacy of preferred use of HFOV
      (preferred use group) and rescue use of HFOV after conventional mechanical
      ventilation proved ineffective (rescue use group) in the treatment of 26 cases of
      neonatal pulmonary hemorrhage was retrospectively analyzed. The oxygenation index
      (OI), pulmonary hemorrhage time, hospitalization time, ventilation time, oxygen
      therapy time, complications, and outcome of the two groups were compared.
      RESULTS: Compared with the rescue use group, the preferred use group had
      significantly lower IO values at 1, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours after treatment
      (P<0.05). Compared with the rescue use group, the preferred use group had a
      significantly lower incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) (P<0.05)
      and a significantly higher cure rate (P<0.05). There were no statistically
      significant differences in the incidences of pneumothorax, intracranial
      hemorrhage, and digestive tract hemorrhage between the two groups (P>0.05).
      Compared with those in the rescue use group, children who survived in the
      preferred use group had significantly shorter pulmonary hemorrhage time,
      hospitalization time, ventilation time, and oxygen therapy time (P<0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the rescue use of HFOV, preferred use of HFOV can
      better improve oxygenation function, reduce the incidence of VAP, shorten the
      course of disease, and increase cure rate while not increasing the incidence of
      adverse effects.

PMID- 25815487
TI  - [Relationship between placental inflammation and fetal inflammatory response
      syndrome and brain injury in preterm infants].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between histological chorioamnionitis
      (HCA) and fetal inflammatory response syndrome (FIRS) and brain injury in preterm
      infants. METHODS: One hundred and three singleton infants with premature rupture
      of membranes (PROM) (gestation ages of less than 34 weeks) were enrolled. All the
      placentas were submitted for pathological evaluation. Umbilical cord blood
      interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF
      alpha) and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) levels were measured
      with liquid chip. All preterm infants accepted brain imaging examinations. Based
      on the placental pathological examination and umbilical cord blood level of IL-6,
      the 103 infants were classified into HCA- FIRS-, HCA+ FIRS-, and HCA+ FIRS+
      groups. RESULTS: The incidences of HCA, FIRS, and brain injury were 53.4%, 20.4%
      and 38.8% respectively. The prevalence of brain injury in HCA- FIRS-, HCA+ FIRS-,
      and HCA+ FIRS+ cases was 21%, 41%, and 76% respectively (P<0.01). The grade 2 and
      grade 3 of placental inflammation and the inflammation at stage 2 and stage 3
      increased the risk of brain injury. The cord blood levels of IL-8, TNF-alpha, and
      G-CSF in the HCA+ FIRS+ group were significantly higher than in the other two
      groups, and the levels of the above parameters in the HCA+ FIRS- were higher than
      in the HCA- FIRS- group (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Placental inflammation and FIRS
      are associated with brain injury in preterm infants. Preterm infants exposed to
      severe placental inflammation have an increased risk of brain injury. Cord blood
      IL-8, TNF-alpha and G-CSF may be involved in the process of brain injury in
      preterm infants with placental inflammation and FIRS.

PMID- 25815484
TI  - P247 and p523: two in vivo-expressed megalocytivirus proteins that induce
      protective immunity and are essential to viral infection.
AB  - Megalocytivirus is a DNA virus with a broad host range among teleost fish.
      Although the complete genome sequences of a number of megalocytivirus isolates
      have been reported, the functions of most of the genes of this virus are unknown.
      In this study, we selected two megalocytivirus immunogens, P247 and P523, which
      were expressed during host infection and, when in the form of DNA vaccines
      (pCN247 and pCN523 respectively), elicited strong protectivity against lethal
      megalocytivirus challenge in a turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) model. Compared to
      control fish, fish vaccinated with pCN247 and pCN523 exhibited drastically
      reduced viral loads in tissues and high levels of survival rates. Immune response
      analysis showed that pCN247 and pCN523 (i) induced production of specific serum
      antibodies, (ii) caused generation of cytotoxic immune cells and specific memory
      immune cells that responded to secondary antigen stimulation, and (iii)
      upregulated the expression of genes involved in innate and adaptive immunity. To
      examine the potential role of P247 and P523 in viral infection, the expression of
      P247 and P523 was knocked down by siRNA. Subsequent in vivo infection study
      showed that P247 and P523 knockdown significantly impaired viral replication.
      Furthermore, whole-genome transcriptome analysis revealed that P247 and P523
      knockdown altered the expression profiles of 26 and 41 viral genes, respectively,
      putatively participating in diverse aspects of viral infection. Taken together,
      these results indicate that P247 and P523 induce protective immunity in teleost
      and play fundamental roles essential to viral replication. These observations
      provide the first evidence that suggests a likely link between the protectivity
      of viral immunogens and their biological significance in viral replication. 

PMID- 25815488
TI  - [Significance of trace deposition of immunoglobulin M in glomerular mesangium in
      children with minimal change nephrotic syndrome].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the significance of trace immunoglobulin M (IgM) deposits in
      glomerular mesangium in children with minimal change primary nephrotic syndrome
      (PNS). METHODS: One hundred and six children who were clinically diagnosed with
      PNS and pathologically diagnosed with minimal change disease (MCD) and trace
      deposition of IgM in renal tissues were enrolled as subjects. Eighty-one PNS
      children with MCD but no deposition of immune complexes were used as the control
      group. The clinical characteristics and efficacies of glucocorticoids and
      immunosuppressants were retrospectively analyzed in the two groups. All patients
      were given full-dose prednisone by oral administration, and patients with
      glucocorticoid resistance or frequent relapses were additionally given
      immunosuppressants. RESULTS: The incidence of glucocorticoid resistance in the
      IgM deposit group was significantly higher than that in the control group (27.2%
      vs 12.3%; P<0.05). The incidence of frequent relapses in the IgM deposit group
      was also significantly higher than that in the control group (48.1% vs 10.4%;
      P<0.05). The complete remission rate for glucocorticoid-resistant patients
      treated with prednisone combined with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) was 68% and 62%
      respectively in the IgM deposit and control groups (P>0.05). The relapse
      frequency in patients with frequent relapses was significantly reduced in both
      groups after treatment with prednisone and MMF in combination (P<0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: Trace deposition of IgM in renal tissues may be an important factor
      for glucocorticoid resistance and frequent relapses in PNS children with MCD.
      Prednisone combined with MMF may be a better choice in the treatment of patients
      with glucocorticoid resistance or frequent relapses.

PMID- 25815489
TI  - [Value of determination of haptoglobin and alpha1-antitrypsin in predicting
      response to glucocorticoid therapy in children with primary nephrotic syndrome].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the value of the determination of serum and urine haptoglobin
      (HP) and alpha 1-antitrypsin (AAT) in predicting the response to glucocorticoid
      therapy in children with primary nephrotic syndrome (PNS). METHODS: A total of 84
      children with PNS were classified to steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS)
      (n=58) and steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) groups (n=26). Forty
      healthy children were randomly selected for the control group. HP and AAT levels
      in blood and urinary samples were determined using ELISA. The efficiency of HP
      and AAT in predicting the response to glucocorticoid treatment of PNS was
      evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. RESULTS: Compared
      with the control group, both the SSNS and SRNS groups had significantly higher
      serum HP concentrations and urine AAT/Cr ratio before treatment (P<0.05);
      compared with the SSNS group, the SRNS group had significantly higher serum HP
      concentrations and urine AAT/Cr ratio before treatment and after one week and
      four weeks of treatment (P<0.05). Serum HP had the highest efficiency in
      predicting the response to glucocorticoid treatment of PNS at the concentration
      of 37.935 mg/mL, with the sensitivity and specificity being 92.3% and 86.2%
      respectively. Urine AAT/Cr ratio had the highest prediction efficiency at 0.0696,
      with the sensitivity and specificity being 100% and 79.3% respectively. ROC curve
      analysis of serum HP combined with urine AAT/Cr ratio showed a better prediction
      efficiency, with the sensitivity and specificity being 92.3% and 96.6%
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The increase in serum HP level or urine AAT/Cr ratio
      may indicate glucocorticoid resistance in the early stage of PNS. A combination
      of the two can achieve better efficiency in the prediction of SRNS.

PMID- 25815490
TI  - [Association between angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 gene polymorphisms and
      childhood primary nephrotic syndrome].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) gene polymorphisms have been
      shown to be implicated in hypertension, diabetic nephropathy, and other diseases.
      However, it remains unclear whether ACE2 gene polymorphisms are involved in the
      development of primary nephrotic syndrome (PNS) in children. The aim of this
      study was to assess the association between A9570G polymorphisms of ACE2 gene and
      PNS in a group of Han children in Guangdong Province, China. METHODS: The
      genotype distribution and allele frequency of ACE2 gene A9570G in 66 children
      with PNS and 60 healthy subjects (control group) were analyzed by polymerase
      chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. RESULTS: Allele
      frequency and genotype distribution showed no significant difference between the
      PNS and control groups whether in female or in male children (P>0.05). The PNS
      group was classified into the glucocorticoid-sensitive and glucocorticoid
      resistant subgroups according to glucocorticoid treatment response. Subgroup
      analysis revealed that in female children, the frequency of GG genotype was 17%
      in the glucocorticoid-sensitive group vs 45% in the glucocorticoid-sensitive
      group (P=0.018); the frequency of G allele was 31% in the glucocorticoid
      sensitive group vs 61% in the glucocorticoid-resistant group (P=0.023). In male
      children, the frequency of G genotype/G allele was 36% in the glucocorticoid
      sensitive group vs 64% in the glucocorticoid-resistant group (P=0.017).
      CONCLUSIONS: There is no clear association between ACE2 gene A9570G polymorphisms
      and childhood PNS, but ACE2 gene A9570G polymorphisms might be associated with
      glucocorticoid treatment response in children with PNS. The G allele might be a
      genetic susceptibility factor of glucocorticoid resistance in children with PNS.

PMID- 25815491
TI  - [Efficacy of regular or intermittent inhalation of corticosteroids in treatment
      of asthma and its effects on growth and development in children].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To observe the efficacy of regular or intermittent inhalation of
      salmeterol/fluticasone propionate (SM/FP) in the treatment of bronchial asthma
      and its effects on growth and development in children. METHODS: A total of 112
      children diagnosed with bronchial asthma between September 2012 and October 2013
      were assigned to standardized treatment (standard group, n=56) and non
      standardized treatment (intermittent group, n=56). Comparisons of clinical
      symptom scores and main pulmonary function indicators between the two groups were
      carried out before treatment and at 6 and 12 months after treatment. The growth
      velocity and changes in body mass index (BMI) were observed in the two groups.
      RESULTS: At 6 and 12 months after the treatment, the standard group had
      significantly reduced clinical symptom scores and significantly increased
      pulmonary function indicators (percentage of predicted peak expiratory flow,
      PEF%; percentage of forced expiratory volume in 1 second, FEV1%) (P<0.05); the
      intermittent group had significantly reduced clinical symptom scores and
      significantly increased FEV1% (P<0.05), but PEF% was significantly increased only
      at 6 months after treatment (P<0.05). At 12 months after treatment, the standard
      group had significantly lower clinical symptom scores and significantly higher
      PEF% and FEV1% when compared with the intermittent group (P<0.05). The growth
      velocity and BMI showed no significant differences between the two groups at 6
      and 12 months after treatment (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with intermittent
      inhalation, long-term regular inhalation of SM/FP performs better in controlling
      clinical symptoms and enhancing pulmonary function in children with asthma.
      Inhalation of SM/FP for one year reveals no apparent effect on the growth and
      development of these children.

PMID- 25815492
TI  - [Association of ORMDL3 single nucleotide polymorphisms with
      lysophosphatidylcholine and apolipoprotein B levels in children with asthma].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the association of ORMDL3 single nucleotide polymorphisms
      (SNP) with lysophosphatidylcholine (LysoPC) and apolipoprotein B (apoB) levels.
      METHODS: A total of 300 children diagnosed with bronchial asthma between January
      2010 and December 2012 were selected for the asthma group, and 298 children
      diagnosed with upper respiratory tract infection in the same period were selected
      for the control group. Serum LysoPC and apoB levels were measured using enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay. Genotype analysis was performed using the TaqMan
      probe. RESULTS: LysoPC and apoB levels were significantly higher in the asthma
      group than in the control group (P<0.01). Among children with various genotypes
      of ORMDL3 gene at locus rs12603332, the asthma group had significantly higher
      LysoPC and apoB levels than the control group (P<0.01). Among the children with
      asthma, those with CC genotype had significantly higher LysoPC and apoB levels
      than those with CT and TT genotypes (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: LysoPC and apoB may
      intervene in the pathological process of asthma. Pro-inflammatory gene ORMDL3 SNP
      rs12603332 may be associated with high LysoPC and apoB levels, which leads to the
      occurrence of childhood asthma.

PMID- 25815493
TI  - [Risk factors for the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome in
      children with measles].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the risk factors for the development of acute respiratory
      distress syndrome (ARDS) in children with measles. METHODS: The clinical data of
      55 children with measles were retrospectively studied. Of the 55 children, 11
      were complicated by ARDS. The risk factors for the development of ARDS were
      investigated by univariate analysis and multivariate non-conditional logistic
      regression analysis. RESULTS: The univariate analysis showed that there were
      significant differences in the oxygen inhalation mode (nasal catheter/mask), the
      rate of sepsis, blood C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and lymphocyte counts at
      admission between the ARDS and non-ARDS groups (P<0.05). The presence of sepsis
      and higher blood CRP levels were identified as the major risk factors for the
      development of ARDS by the multivariate logistic regression analysis (OR=116.444,
      1.050 respectively; P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The children with measles who have
      sepsis and higher blood CRP levels are at risk of ARDS.

PMID- 25815494
TI  - [Clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of children with critical hand
      foot-mouth disease treated with mechanical ventilation].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical characteristics of children with critical
      hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) who were treated with mechanical ventilation and
      to explore the risk factors for poor prognosis. METHODS: The clinical data of 63
      children with critical HFMD who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care
      unit between April 2012 and September 2013 and needed mechanical ventilation were
      retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 63 children, 43 were boys and 20
      were girls, and their mean age was 25 +/- 18 months, with 81% under 3 years old.
      The four death cases were all under three years old. Compared with the cured
      cases, the death cases had a significantly lower mean age (8 +/- 3 months vs 25
      +/- 18 months; P<0.05). Poor peripheral circulation above the elbow or knee
      joint, pulmonary edema involving at least two thirds of the lung field, and
      pulmonary hemorrhage were all closely related to death (P<0.01). The death cases
      and cured cases had significantly different peripheral white blood cell counts,
      blood lactic acid, and blood glucose (24 +/- 11* 109/L vs 12 +/- 5*109/L; 6.6 +/-
      1.8 mmol/L vs 3.6 +/- 1.7 mmol/L; 16.4 +/- 2.5 mmol/L vs 10.0 +/- 3.0 mmol/L).
      The cases with critical illness score <90 had a significantly higher death risk
      (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Children with critical HFMD are mainly under 3 years old.
      The children face extremely high risk of death when they suffer from poor
      peripheral circulation above the elbow or knee joint, pulmonary edema involving
      at least two thirds of the lung field, and pulmonary hemorrhage. Significant
      increases in peripheral white blood cell counts, blood lactic acid, and blood
      glucose are risk factors for poor prognosis. Critical illness score is also
      related to poor prognosis.

PMID- 25815495
TI  - [Plasma proteomic analysis in children with infectious mononucleosis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the abnormal expression of plasma proteins by analysis of
      proteomic expression profile in children with infectious mononucleosis (IM).
      METHODS: Two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) followed by the mass
      spectrometry was used to examine important protein spots with different
      expression levels between children with IM and normal controls. RESULTS: Seven
      differential proteins were obtained: hemopexin, vitamin D binding protein, fetuin
      A, C-reactive protein, apolipoprotein A, haptoglobin and transthyretin. Compared
      with the control group, haptoglobin showed a higher expression level in children
      with IM, and the expression levels of the other proteins were obviously down
      regulated. CONCLUSIONS: The expression changes of differential proteins
      identified in this study are all related with the liver acute injury, suggesting
      that children with IM are associated with acute liver injury. Further studies on
      the characteristics of above proteins will contribute to the diagnosis and
      treatment of pediatric IM.

PMID- 25815497
TI  - [Efficacy and safety of the WT-2009 chemotherapy protocol in treatment of Wilms'
      tumor in children].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the WT-2009 chemotherapy
      protocol for Wilms' tumor (WT) in children. METHODS: The clinical data of 34
      children with newly-diagnosed WT between July 2009 and December 2013 were
      retrospectively analyzed. Among the 34 children, 2 died before treatment, 6
      children did not accept therapy and 26 accepted the chemotherapy based on the WT
      2009 chemotherapy protocol. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the 2-year
      survival rate. RESULTS: The pathological analysis revealed the favorable
      histology WT was common (88%, 30/34). The most common first manifestation was
      abdominal masses (56%, 19/34). Among the 26 patients who accepted the
      chemotherapy based on the WT-2009 protocol, complete remission was achieved in 24
      cases (92%), partial remission was achieved in 1 case (4%), and disease relapse
      was found in 1 case (4%). Severe pulmonary infection occurred in 1 case in the
      course of treatment. The 2-year overall survival rate and event-free survival
      rate were 100% and 89.7% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Favorable histology is most
      common pathological type in children with WT. The chemotherapy based on the WT
      2009 protocol for WT can produce a favorable prognosis and a high tolerance.

PMID- 25815496
TI  - [Measurement of Foxp3 and NFAT1 in children with aplastic anemia].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of Foxp3 and NFAT1 protein in peripheral blood
      (PB) in children with aplastic anemia (AA) and their roles in the pathogenesis of
      AA. METHODS: The expression levels of Foxp3 and NFAT1 protein of mononuclear
      cells in PB were measured by Western blot in 68 children with AA before and after
      treatment and in 60 normal children (control group). The correlation between
      Foxp3 and NFAT1 protein expression and the correlation of the Foxp3 and NFAT1
      protein expression with blood Hb, WBC and platelet levels were analyzed. RESULTS:
      The expression levels of Foxp3 and NFAT1 protein in PB in the acute phase in the
      AA group were significantly lower than in the control group (P<0.05). After
      treatment (recovery phase) the expression levels of Foxp3 and NFAT1 protein
      increased obviously compared with those in the acute phase (P<0.05). The Foxp3
      protein level was positively correlated with the NFAT1 protein level (r=0.812,
      P<0.05). Both the Foxp3 and NFAT1 protein levels were positively correlated with
      blood Hb, WBC and platelet levels in children with AA in the recovery phase
      (r=0.537, 0.579, 0.655 respectively; P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The Foxp3 and NFAT1
      protein levels in PB are reduced in children with AA, suggesting that they are
      involved in the pathogenesis of AA. The measurement of Foxp3 and NFAT1 protein
      levels may be useful in the severity evaluation of AA.

PMID- 25815498
TI  - [Risk factors for type 1 diabetes among Uyghur children in Xinjiang, China].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risk factors for type 1 diabetes among Uygur
      children in Xinjiang, China, in order to provide a basis for the prevention of
      this disease among Uygur children in Xinjiang. METHODS: The clinical data of 94
      Uygur children with type 1 diabetes (case group) and 96 Uygur children without
      diabetes (control group) between January, 2003 and December, 2013, were
      retrospectively analyzed. The risk factors for type 1 diabetes among Uyghur
      children in Xinjiang were explored using univariate and multivariate analyses.
      RESULTS: According to the result of univariate analysis, there were significant
      differences in age, prodromal infection, residence, feeding method, time for
      intake of starchy foods, time for intake of high-fat foods, family history, islet
      cell antibodies (ICA), insulin autoantibodies (IAA), and glutamic acid
      decarboxylase antibodies between the case and the control groups (P<0.05).
      According to the result of multivariate logistic analysis, older age, early
      intake of starchy foods, early intake of high-fat foods, prodromal infection,
      positive ICA, and positive IAA were major risk factors for type 1 diabetes, and
      breastfeeding was a protective factor. CONCLUSIONS: Type 1 diabetes among Uyghur
      children in Xinjiang is caused by multiple factors. Prevention and reduction of
      prodromal infection, reasonable diet, and promotion of breastfeeding can reduce
      the risk of disease.

PMID- 25815499
TI  - [Association between rs1079595 polymorphisms in the DRD2 gene and the
      distractibility based the temperament in school-age children].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the association between rs1079595 polymorphisms in the DRD2
      gene and the distractibility in school-age children. METHODS: The genotyping at
      rs1079595 was performed and the distractibility was measured based on the
      temperament questionnaire in 120 8-12 years old school-age children in order to
      analyze the effects of the rs1079595 polymorphism and its interaction with the
      gender, age and delivery mode on the distractibility. RESULTS: There was an
      association between the distractibility and rs1079595 polymorphisms. The
      distractibility score in children with GG/GT genotypes was significantly higher
      than in children with the TT genotype (4.3 +/- 0.6 vs 4.0 +/- 0.7; P<0.05). The
      interaction between rs1079595 polymorphisms and the delivery mode produced an
      effect on the distractibility. The normal delivery children with T alleles were
      associated with a low distractibility (OR=0.037, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The
      distractibility based the temperament might be influenced by the rs1079595
      polymorphism and its interaction with the delivery mode in school-age children.

PMID- 25815500
TI  - [Roles of PKCbeta/P66Shc oxidative stress signal pathway in mediating hyperoxia
      induced ROS production in alveolar epithelial cells].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the roles of PKCbeta/P66Shc oxidative stress signal pathway
      in mediating hyperoxia-induced reactive oxgen species (ROS) production in
      alveolar epithelial cells (A549) and the protective effects of PKCbeta inhibitor
      on hyperoxia-induced injuries of alveolar epithelial cells. METHODS: A549 cells
      were cultured in vitro and randomly divided into three groups: control, hyperoxia
      and PKCbeta inhibitor LY333531 treatment. The hyperoxia group was exposed to a
      mixture of O2 (950 mL/L) and CO2 (50 mL/L) for 10 minutes and then cultured in a
      closed environment. The LY333531 group was treated with PKCbeta inhibitor
      LY333531 of 10 umol/L for 24 hours before hyperoxia induction. Cells were
      collected 24 hours after culture and the levels of PKCbeta, Pin1, P66Shc and
      P66Shc-Ser36 were detected by Western blot. The intracellular translocation of
      P66Shc, the production of ROS and cellular mitochondria membrane potential were
      measured using the confocal microscopy. RESULTS: Compared with the control group,
      the levels of PKCbeta, Pin1, P66Shc and P-P66Shc-Ser36 in A549 cells 24 hours
      after culture increased significantly in the hyperoxia group. These changes in
      the hyperoxia group were accompanied with an increased translocation rate of
      P66Shc from cytoplasm into mitochondria, an increased production of mitochondrial
      ROS, and a reduced mitochondrial membrane potential. Compared with the hyperoxia
      group, the levels of Pin1, P66Shc and P66Shc-Ser36 in A549 cells, the
      translocation rate of P66Shc from cytoplasm into mitochondria and the production
      of mitochondrial ROS decreased significantly, while the mitochondrial membrane
      potential increased significantly in the LY333531 treatment group. However, there
      were significant differences in the above mentioned measurements between the
      LY333531 treatment and control groups. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperoxia can increase the
      expression of PKCbeta in alveolar epithelial cells and production of
      mitochondrial ROS and decrease mitochondrial membrane potential. PKCbeta
      inhibitor LY333531 can partially disrupt these changes and thus alleviate the
      hyperoxia-induced alveolar epithelial cell injury.

PMID- 25815501
TI  - [Effects of Shenfu injection on calreticulin expression and neuronal apoptosis in
      the cerebral cortex of neonatal rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain damage].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the expression of calreticulin (CRT) and the changes of
      intracellular free calcium and neuronal apoptosis in the cerebral cortex of
      neonatal rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD), and to investigate the
      intervention effects of Shenfu injection. METHODS: Seven-day-old rats were
      randomly assigned to three groups: control, hypoxic-ischemia (HI) and Shenfu
      treated. Each group (n=50) was subdivided into 5 groups sacrificed at 3, 6, 12,
      24 and 72 hours. Rat models of HIBD were prepared according to the Rice's method.
      Rats in the control group only underwent the separation of right common
      carotidartery. Shenfu injection was administered by intraperitoneal injections
      right after HI insults and then once daily at a dosage of 10 mL/kg for 3 days in
      the Shenfu-treated group. The expression of CRT in the cerebral cortex was
      detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. The free calcium concentrations were
      determined under a fluorescent microscope. The apoptosis rate was measured by the
      flow cytometry. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the expression levels
      of CRT in the HI and the Shenfu-treated groups were obviously up-regulated
      (P<0.05), and the expression levels of CRT in the Shenfu-treated group were
      notably higher than those in the HI group (P<0.05) at all time points. The
      concentrations of intracellular free calcium and the apoptosis rate of neurons in
      the cerebral cortex in the Shenfu-treated group were significantly reduced
      compared with those in the HI group (P<0.05), but increased significantly
      compared with those in the control group at all time points (P<0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: Shenfu injection may have neuroprotective effects against HIBD by up
      regulation of CRT expression and relief of calcium overload.

PMID- 25815502
TI  - [Effect of non-usage of prophylactic antibiotics on nosocomial infections
      following interventional therapy for congenital heart disease in children].

PMID- 25815504
TI  - [Mediastinal primitive neuroectodermal tumor in a newborn infant].

PMID- 25815503
TI  - [Autistic spectrum disorders associated with chromosome Mar15q11.2: a case
      report].

PMID- 25815505
TI  - [Advance in therapy for Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy].
AB  - Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) is the most common X-linked
      recessive inherited neuromuscular disease, characterized by progressive muscle
      weakness. Mutations in the dystrophin gene are responsible for this disease.
      Treatment for this disease has always been a topic of interest. With the
      development of diagnosis and treatment technology of molecular biology, promising
      therapies have been developed. This review article summarizes the advance in
      traditional therapy, cell transplantation and gene therapy for this disease. 

PMID- 25815507
TI  - Risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss in patients with common preexisting
      sensorineural hearing impairment: a population-based study in Taiwan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The role of preexisting sensorineural hearing impairment on the risk
      for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) is still unclear. In this study, we
      aimed to assess the risk of SSHL in patients with common preexisting
      sensorineural hearing impairment using population-based data. METHODS: A
      population-based case-control study design was used to analyze claims data
      between January 2001 and December 2011 obtained from the Taiwan National Health
      Insurance Research Database. The cases consisted of 514 patients with SSHL and
      the controls were frequency matched to 2,570 cases by sex, 10-year age group, and
      year of index date. Common sensorineural hearing impairments were retrospectively
      assessed in the cases and controls. Associations between sensorineural hearing
      impairment and risk of SSHL were evaluated using unconditional univariate and
      multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The mean age for the 3,084
      study subjects was 53.1 years (standard deviation, S.D. = 15.6). Of the 514
      cases, 49 (9.5%) had sensorineural hearing impairment while only 44 (1.7%) of the
      2,570 controls had the same condition. Univariate logistic regression analyses
      indicated that preexisting sensorineural hearing impairment was significantly
      associated with SSHL (odds ratio, OR = 6.05, p < 0.001). Other comorbidities
      including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia also showed
      significant associations with SSHL. Similar results were obtained when the
      association between SSHL and sensorineural hearing impairment was adjusted with
      either all the covariates (adjusted OR = 6.22, p < 0.001) or with only those
      selected using a backward elimination procedure (adjusted OR = 6.20, p < 0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: Results from this population-based case-control study revealed that
      common sensorineural hearing impairment might be a novel risk factor for SSHL.

PMID- 25815506
TI  - Exome and transcriptome sequencing of Aedes aegypti identifies a locus that
      confers resistance to Brugia malayi and alters the immune response.
AB  - Many mosquito species are naturally polymorphic for their abilities to transmit
      parasites, a feature which is of great interest for controlling vector-borne
      disease. Aedes aegypti, the primary vector of dengue and yellow fever and a
      laboratory model for studying lymphatic filariasis, is genetically variable for
      its capacity to harbor the filarial nematode Brugia malayi. The genome of Ae.
      aegypti is large and repetitive, making genome resequencing difficult and
      expensive. We designed exome captures to target protein-coding regions of the
      genome, and used association mapping in a wild Kenyan population to identify a
      single, dominant, sex-linked locus underlying resistance. This falls in a region
      of the genome where a resistance locus was previously mapped in a line
      established in 1936, suggesting that this polymorphism has been maintained in the
      wild for the at least 80 years. We then crossed resistant and susceptible
      mosquitoes to place both alleles of the gene into a common genetic background,
      and used RNA-seq to measure the effect of this locus on gene expression. We found
      evidence for Toll, IMD, and JAK-STAT pathway activity in response to early stages
      of B. malayi infection when the parasites are beginning to die in the resistant
      genotype. We also found that resistant mosquitoes express anti-microbial peptides
      at the time of parasite-killing, and that this expression is suppressed in
      susceptible mosquitoes. Together, we have found that a single resistance locus
      leads to a higher immune response in resistant mosquitoes, and we identify genes
      in this region that may be responsible for this trait. 

PMID- 25815508
TI  - Changes in the radiocarbon reservoir age in Lake Xingyun, Southwestern China
      during the Holocene.
AB  - Chronology is a necessary component of paleoclimatology. Radiocarbon dating plays
      a central role in determining the ages of geological samples younger than ca. 50
      ka BP. However, there are many limitations for its application, including
      radiocarbon reservoir effects, which may cause incorrect chronology in many
      lakes. Here we demonstrate temporal changes in the radiocarbon reservoir age of
      Lake Xingyun, Southwestern China, where radiocarbon ages based on bulk organic
      matter have been reported in previous studies. Our new radiocarbon ages,
      determined from terrestrial plant macrofossils suggest that the radiocarbon
      reservoir age changed from 960 to 2200 years during the last 8500 cal a BP years.
      These changes to the reservoir effect were associated with inputs from either pre
      aged organic carbon or 14C-depleted hard water in Lake Xingyun caused by
      hydrological change in the lake system. The radiocarbon reservoir age may in
      return be a good indicator for the carbon source in lake ecosystems and
      depositional environment.

PMID- 25815509
TI  - Individual and temporal variation in habitat association of an alien carnivore at
      its invasion front.
AB  - Gathering information on how invasive species utilize the habitat is important,
      in order to better aim actions to reduce their negative impact. We studied
      habitat use and selection of 55 GPS-marked raccoon dogs (30 males, 25 females) at
      their invasion front in Northern Sweden, with particular focus on differences
      between males and females, between movement states, and between seasons and times
      of the day. Daily movement pattern was used to classify GPS-locations into
      dispersing and settled. We focused on both anthropogenic and natural landscape
      characteristics. Since we did not have any a priori knowledge about the spatial
      scale of raccoon dog habitat selection, we first assessed how landscape
      characteristics of random points changed with distance from the GPS-location they
      were paired to. Because changes in habitat use became less pronounced at
      approximately 5 km for all variables, we focused on habitat use at two spatial
      scales: fine (500 m) and coarse (5 km). Habitat selection was strongest at the
      coarse scale, and reflected the results found for habitat use. Raccoon dogs
      selected agricultural areas and wetlands, lower altitudes, and shallow slopes,
      and avoided forests, open natural areas, and areas close to water and roads.
      There were no differences in habitat selection between males and females, or
      between movement states. This lack of sexual segregation increases the
      probability of encountering potential mates during dispersal, and therefore the
      likelihood for reproduction in new areas. The seasonal and diurnal pattern of
      habitat use may provide guidance for where and when to aim management efforts. 

PMID- 25815510
TI  - Theory of choice in bandit, information sampling and foraging tasks.
AB  - Decision making has been studied with a wide array of tasks. Here we examine the
      theoretical structure of bandit, information sampling and foraging tasks. These
      tasks move beyond tasks where the choice in the current trial does not affect
      future expected rewards. We have modeled these tasks using Markov decision
      processes (MDPs). MDPs provide a general framework for modeling tasks in which
      decisions affect the information on which future choices will be made. Under the
      assumption that agents are maximizing expected rewards, MDPs provide normative
      solutions. We find that all three classes of tasks pose choices among actions
      which trade-off immediate and future expected rewards. The tasks drive these
      trade-offs in unique ways, however. For bandit and information sampling tasks,
      increasing uncertainty or the time horizon shifts value to actions that pay-off
      in the future. Correspondingly, decreasing uncertainty increases the relative
      value of actions that pay-off immediately. For foraging tasks the time-horizon
      plays the dominant role, as choices do not affect future uncertainty in these
      tasks. 

PMID- 25815511
TI  - Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, endothelial function and markers of
      endothelialization. Changes after CPAP.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVES: This study tries to assess the endothelial function in vivo
      using flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and several biomarkers of endothelium
      formation/restoration and damage in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA)
      syndrome at baseline and after three months with CPAP therapy. DESIGN:
      Observational study, before and after CPAP therapy. SETTING AND PATIENTS: We
      studied 30 patients with apnoea/hypopnoea index (AHI) >15/h that were compared
      with themselves after three months of CPAP therapy. FMD was assessed non
      invasively in vivo using the Laser-Doppler flowmetry. Circulating cell-free DNA
      (cf-DNA) and microparticles (MPs) were measured as markers of endothelial damage
      and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was determined as a marker of
      endothelial restoration process. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: After three month with
      CPAP, FMD significantly increased (1072.26 +/- 483.21 vs. 1604.38 +/- 915.69 PU,
      p< 0.005) cf-DNA and MPs significantly decreased (187.93 +/- 115.81 vs. 121.28 +/
      78.98 pg/ml, p<0.01, and 69.60 +/- 62.60 vs. 39.82 +/- 22.14 U/MUL, p<0.05,
      respectively) and VEGF levels increased (585.02 +/- 246.06 vs. 641.11 +/- 212.69
      pg/ml, p<0.05). These changes were higher in patients with more severe disease.
      There was a relationship between markers of damage (r = -0.53, p<0.005) but not
      between markers of damage and restoration, thus suggesting that both types of
      markers should be measured together. CONCLUSIONS: CPAP therapy improves FMD. This
      improvement may be related to an increase of endothelial restoration process and
      a decrease of endothelial damage.

PMID- 25815512
TI  - A promoter polymorphism (rs17222919, -1316T/G) of ALOX5AP gene is associated with
      decreased risk of ischemic stroke in two independent Chinese populations.
AB  - No coding sequence variants of the gene encoding 5-lipoxygenase-activating
      protein (ALOX5AP) leading to amino acid substitutions have been identified.
      Therefore, variants in the ALOX5AP promoter region have received attention
      recently. The purpose of this study was to explore whether the promoter
      polymorphism rs17222919 is involved in the etiology of ischemic stroke (IS) in
      the Chinese Han population. We investigated the rs17222919 polymorphism by TaqMan
      genotyping in two independent Chinese Han samples: the first comprised 910 IS
      patients and 925 healthy inhabitants from the northern Henan Province, while the
      second included 1003 IS patients and 889 healthy controls from the southern Henan
      Province. Functional characterization of rs17222919 was performed by an in vitro
      luciferase assay. After adjusting for conventional risk factors, the G allele
      frequencies in the IS groups were significantly lower than that in the control
      groups of the two independent Chinese cohorts (19.0% vs. 22.9%, P = 0.004, odds
      ratio (OR) = 0.792, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.675-0.929; 18.8% vs. 22.9%,
      P = 0.002, OR = 0.782, 95% CI = 0.668-0.915, respectively). This was also
      observed in the large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA) and stroke of other
      undetermined etiology (SUE) subtypes (P = 0.019, OR = 0.815, 95% CI = 0.687
      0.967; P = 0.021, OR = 0.815, 95% CI = 0.685-0.970, respectively). Additionally,
      the TG genotype and G allele frequencies were significantly lower in the IS
      compared with the control group in two female cohorts (P<0.05). Finally, the in
      vitro luciferase assay demonstrated that the G allele has a significantly lower
      transcription activity than the T allele (P = 0.031). Our study provides evidence
      that the promoter single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs17222919 is a potential
      genetic protective factor for IS in the Chinese Han population. 

PMID- 25815513
TI  - A 1.6-Mb microdeletion in chromosome 17q22 leads to NOG-related symphalangism
      spectrum disorder without intellectual disability.
AB  - Microdeletions in chromosome 17q22, where the NOG gene resides, have been
      reported leading to the NOG-related symphalangism spectrum disorder (NOG-SSD),
      intellectual disability and other developmental abnormalities. In this study we
      reported a dominant Chinese Han family segregating with typical NOG-SSD symptoms
      including proximal symphalangism, conductive hearing loss, amblyopia and
      strabismus, but not intellectual disability. Sanger sequencing identified no
      pathogenic mutation in the coding regions of candidate genes NOG, GDF5 and FGF9.
      SNP genotyping in the genomic region surrounding NOG identified loss of
      heterozygosity in the affected family members. By array comparative genomic
      hybridization and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, we identified
      and mapped the breakpoints of a novel 1.6-Mb microdeletion in chromosome 17q22
      that included NOG and twelve other genes. It is the first microdeletion reported
      in chromosome 17q22 that is associated with NOG-SSD only but not with
      intellectual disability. Our results may help identifying the dosage sensitive
      genes for intellectual disability and other developmental abnormalities in
      chromosome 17q22. Our study also suggested that genomic deletions in chromosome
      17q22 should be screened in the NOG-SSD patients in which no pathogenic mutation
      is identified by conventional sequencing methods. 

PMID- 25815515
TI  - Pure, single crystal Ge nanodots formed using a sandwich structure via pulsed UV
      excimer laser annealing.
AB  - In this paper, a sandwich structure comprising a SiO2 capping layer, amorphous
      Germanium (a-Ge) nanodots (NDs), and a pit-patterned Silicon (Si) substrate is
      developed, which is then annealed by utilizing a pulsed ultraviolet excimer laser
      in order to fabricate an array of pure, single crystal Ge NDs at room
      temperature. A wide bandgap SiO2 capping layer is used as a transparent thermally
      isolated layer to prevent thermal loss and Si-Ge intermixing. The two-dimensional
      pit-patterned Si substrate is designed to confine the absorbed laser energy,
      reduce the melting point, and block the surface migration of the Ge. After
      optimizing the laser radiation parameters such that the laser energy density is
      200 mJ cm(-2), the laser annealing period is 10 s, and the number of laser shots
      is 10, pure, single crystal Ge NDs that have both a regular arrangement and a
      uniform size distribution are obtained in the pits of the Si substrates. The
      Raman spectrum shows a highly symmetric Ge transversal optical peak with a full
      width at half maximum of 4.2 cm(-1) at 300.7 cm(-1), which is close to that of
      the original Ge wafer. In addition, the high-resolution transmission electron
      microscopy image for the Ge NDs and the corresponding selected area electron
      diffraction pattern shows a clear single crystalline structure without any
      impurities. 

PMID- 25815514
TI  - Comparison of discectomy versus sequestrectomy in lumbar disc herniation: a meta
      analysis of comparative studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lumbar disc removal is currently the standard treatment for lumbar
      disc herniation. No consensus has been achieved whether aggressive disc resection
      with curettage (discectomy) versus conservative removal of the offending disc
      fragment alone (sequestrectomy) provides better outcomes. This study aims to
      compare the reherniation rate and clinical outcomes between discectomy and
      sequestrectomy by literature review and a meta-analysis. METHODS: A systematic
      search of PubMed, Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library was performed up to
      June 1, 2014. Outcomes of interest assessing the two techniques included
      demographic and clinical baseline characteristics, perioperative variables,
      complications, recurrent herniation rate and post-operative functional outcomes.
      RESULTS: Twelve eligible trials evaluating discectomy vs sequestrectomy were
      identified including one randomized controlled study, five prospective and six
      retrospective comparative studies. By contrast to discectomy, sequestrectomy was
      associated with significantly less operative time (p<0.001), lower visual
      analogue scale (VAS) for low back pain (p<0.05), less post-operative analgesic
      usage (p<0.05) and better patients' satisfaction (p<0.05). Recurrent herniation
      rate, reoperation rate, intraoperative blood loss, hospitalization duration and
      VAS for sciatica were without significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: According to
      our pooled data, sequestrectomy entails equivalent reherniation rate and
      complications compared with discectomy but maintains a lower incidence of
      recurrent low back pain and higher satisfactory rate. High-quality prospective
      randomized controlled trials are needed to firmly assess these two procedures.

PMID- 25815516
TI  - Taurolithocholic acid promotes intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma cell growth via
      muscarinic acetylcholine receptor and EGFR/ERK1/2 signaling pathway.
AB  - Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a malignant cancer of the biliary tract and its
      occurrence is associated with chronic cholestasis which causes an elevation of
      bile acids in the liver and bile duct. The present study aimed to investigate the
      role and mechanistic effect of bile acids on the CCA cell growth. Intrahepatic
      CCA cell lines, RMCCA-1 and HuCCA-1, were treated with bile acids and their
      metabolites to determine the growth promoting effect. Cell viability, cell cycle
      analysis, EdU incorporation assays were conducted. Intracellular signaling
      proteins were detected by western immunoblotting. Among eleven forms of bile
      acids and their metabolites, only taurolithocholic acid (TLCA) concentration
      dependently (1-40 uM) increased the cell viability of RMCCA-1, but not HuCCA-1
      cells. The cell cycle analysis showed induction of cells in the S phase and the
      EdU incorporation assay revealed induction of DNA synthesis in the TLCA-treated
      RMCCA-1 cells. Moreover, TLCA increased the phosphorylation of EGFR, ERK 1/2 and
      also increased the expression of cyclin D1 in RMCCA-1 cells. Furthermore, TLCA
      induced RMCCA-1 cell growth could be inhibited by atropine, a non-selective
      muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) antagonist, AG 1478, a specific EGFR
      inhibitor, or U 0126, a specific MEK 1/2 inhibitor. These results suggest that
      TLCA induces CCA cell growth via mAChR and EGFR/EKR1/2 signaling pathway.
      Moreover, the functional presence of cholinergic system plays a certain role in
      TLCA-induced CCA cell growth.

PMID- 25815517
TI  - Vaccarin promotes endothelial cell proliferation in association with
      neovascularization in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Angiogenesis is a major pathological component of several diseases, including
      traumatic vascular disease and coronary heart disease. The purpose of the present
      study was to determine the effects of vaccarin on endothelial cell migration and
      neovascularization, which are important and necessary components of wound
      healing. The present study investigated and confirmed neovascularization induced
      by vaccarin in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, the effects of vaccarin (1.08 and
      2.15 uM) on proliferation, migration and tube formation of human microvascular
      endothelial cells (HMEC)-1 were evaluated via sulforhodamine B assay and
      migration and tube formation assay, respectively. Furthermore, a mouse Matrigel
      plus model was used to detect capillary-like tube structures in vivo.
      Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the protein expression of cluster of
      differentiation 31 (CD31), p-AKT and p-extracellular-signal-regulated kinases
      (Erk). Vaccarin significantly promoted HMEC-1 proliferation and migration and
      tube formation of HMEC-1 at a dose of 2.15 uM. In vivo, vaccarin delivered by
      daily oral administration significantly improved epidermal growth factor-induced
      angiogenesis in an intradermal inoculation mouse model. The mouse Matrigel model
      study also revealed that vaccarin significantly promoted neovascularization via
      detection of CD31 levels and enhanced protein expression of p-Akt and p-Erk. In
      addition, vaccarin also promoted expression of CD31.

PMID- 25815518
TI  - Synergistic effects of valproic acid and arsenic trioxide on RPMI8226 cells in
      vitro and the possible underlying mechanisms.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to investigate the synergistic effects of
      valproic acid (VPA) and arsenic trioxide (ATO) on the proliferation of RPMI8226
      cells and the possible underlying mechanisms. Cell apoptosis was assessed by flow
      cytometry. The mRNA expression levels were analyzed by semi-quantitative
      polymerase chain reaction, and the protein expression levels were analyzed by
      western blotting. The histone acetylation and methylation states of the gene
      promoters were detected using a chromatin immunoprecipitation technique. The
      apoptotic rates of the RPMI8226 cells in the combined drug groups were
      significantly increased compared with those of the single drug groups (P<0.05).
      The mRNA and protein expression levels of Bcl-2 and the expression levels of
      HDAC1 mRNA and H3K9me2 protein decreased significantly in the combined groups
      compared with the single drug groups. The mRNA and protein expression levels of
      Bax, Caspase 8, Caspase 9 and LSD1, and the protein expression of acetylated H3
      increased significantly in the combination groups compared with the single drug
      groups. Histone methylation and acetylation of the Bcl-2 and bax gene promoters
      were increased in the combination groups compared with the single drug groups.
      VPA and ATO had synergistic effects on the proliferation of RPMI8226 cells, which
      may have been associated with the decreased expression of Bcl-2 and the increased
      expression levels of Bcl-2-associated X protein, Caspase 8 and Caspase 9.
      Therefore, the expression levels of the Bcl-2 gene family may have been regulated
      by the levels of gene promoter methylation and acetylation.

PMID- 25815519
TI  - Litsea japonica extract inhibits neuronal apoptosis and the accumulation of
      advanced glycation end products in the diabetic mouse retina.
AB  - The retinal accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) is a
      condition, which is found in diabetic retinopathy. The purpose of the present
      study was to investigate the protective effect of Litsea japonica extract (LJE)
      and to elucidate its underlying protective mechanism in model diabetic db/db
      mice. Male, 7 -week-old db/db mice were treated with LJE (100 or 250 mg/kg body
      weight) once a day orally for 12 weeks. The expression levels of AGEs and their
      receptor (RAGE) were subsequently assessed by immunohistochemistry. An
      electrophoretic mobility shift assay and southwestern histochemistry were used to
      detect activated nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB). The immunohistochemical
      analysis demonstrated that LJE significantly reduced the expression levels of the
      AGEs and RAGE in the neural retinas of the db/db mice. LJE markedly inhibited the
      apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells. In addition, LJE suppressed the activation
      of NF-kappaB. These results suggested that LJE may be beneficial for the
      treatment of diabetes-induced retinal neurodegeneration, and the ability of LJE
      to attenuate retinal ganglion cell loss may be mediated by inhibition of the
      accumulation of AGEs.

PMID- 25815521
TI  - Anti-inflammatory effects of Gualou Guizhi decoction in transient focal cerebral
      ischemic brains. [Corrected].
AB  - The aim of the present study was to explore the neuroprotective effects of Gualou
      Guizhi decoction (GLGZD) in a rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion
      (MCAO). Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups: Sham (no MCAO), MCAO
      (MCAO with no GLGZD treatment) and GLGZD (MCAO with GLGZD treatment). Rats in the
      MCAO and GLGZD groups were subjected to permanent occlusion of the left middle
      cerebral artery. Neurological function and infarct volume were measured.
      Microglial activation and inflammatory cell accumulation were measured using
      immunohistochemistry. mRNA and protein expression of inflammatory mediators were
      examined using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and
      an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The expression of proteins associated with
      the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-kappaB) inflammation signaling pathway was
      analyzed using western blotting. The results of the present study suggested that
      infarct size was significantly reduced and neurological behavior function was
      improved in rats with MCAO treated with GLGZD compared with rats in the MCAO
      group. Amoeboid microglial expansion and inflammatory cell migration were
      observed in the infarcted areas of rats in the GLGZD group and were not
      identified in those of the MCAO group. Target mRNA and protein levels, and
      inflammatory cell infiltration were significantly reduced in the GLGZD group
      compared with the MCAO model group. Notably, GLGZD treatment induced
      neuroprotective effects, reducing inflammation and inhibiting NF-kappaB signaling
      compared with the MCAO group. Therefore, GLGZD may exhibit anti-inflammatory
      effects against ischemia-reperfusion brain injury and may be a therapeutic target
      for ischemic stroke.

PMID- 25815520
TI  - Effects of OsteoKing on osteoporotic rabbits.
AB  - Heng-Gu-Gu-Shang-Yu-He-Ji, also known as OsteoKing, is used as a herbal
      Traditional Chinese Medicine for the treatment of bone disease, including femoral
      head necrosis and osteoarthritis. However, whether OsteoKing has anti
      osteoporotic properties has remained to be elucidated. The purpose of the present
      study was therefore to investigate the effects of OsteoKing on ovariectomy
      induced osteoporosis in rabbits. Female New Zealand white rabbits were randomly
      divided into an ovariectomized (OVX) group and a sham-surgery group. The rabbits
      in the OVX group were subjected to an ovariectomy, while the rabbits in the sham
      group were subjected to the removal of an area of fat near the two ovaries. Bone
      mineral density, mechanical properties, serum biochemical parameters and micro
      architecture were examined at 150 days post-OVX to characterize the experimental
      animal model. Once the osteoporotic rabbit model had been established, the
      rabbits in the OVX group were divided into the following groups: Model group,
      nilestriol group and 300 and 600 mg/kg OsteoKing groups, containing 16 rabbits in
      each group. OsteoKing and nilestriol were administered orally. The bone mineral
      density, mechanical properties, serum biochemical parameters, histology and micro
      architecture were examined using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometric analysis,
      mechanical assessments, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, histopathological
      evaluation and micro-computerized tomography examination following 60 days and
      120 days of treatment, respectively. Treatment with OsteoKing led to an elevation
      in the bone mineral density of the vertebra and serum phosphorus levels, reduced
      serum concentrations of osteocalcin, procollagen type I N-terminal peptide,
      tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b and cross-linked N-telopeptide of type I
      collagen, improved mechanical properties (maximum load, stiffness and energy
      absorption capacity), and micro-architecture of the lumbar vertebra in the OVX
      osteoporotic rabbit model following treatment for 120 days. In conclusion, it was
      demonstrated that OsteoKing is effective in the prevention of estrogen deficiency
      associated bone loss and may be a promising drug for the treatment of post
      menopausal osteoporosis.

PMID- 25815522
TI  - A low-cost wheat bran medium for biodegradation of the benzidine-based
      carcinogenic dye Trypan Blue using a microbial consortium.
AB  - Environmental release of benzidine-based dyes is a matter of health concern.
      Here, a microbial consortium was enriched from textile dye contaminated soils and
      investigated for biodegradation of the carcinogenic benzidine-based dye Trypan
      Blue using wheat bran (WB) as growth medium. The PCR-DGGE analysis of enriched
      microbial consortium revealed the presence of 15 different bacteria.
      Decolorization studies suggested that the microbial consortium has high metabolic
      activity towards Trypan Blue as complete removal of 50 mg?L-1 dye was observed
      within 24 h at 30 +/- 0.2  degrees C and pH 7. Significant reduction in TOC (64%)
      and COD (88%) of dye decolorized broths confirmed mineralization. Induction in
      azoreductase (500%), NADH-DCIP reductase (264%) and laccase (275%) proved
      enzymatic decolorization of dye. HPLC analysis of dye decolorized products showed
      the formation of six metabolites while the FTIR spectrum indicated removal of
      diazo bonds at 1612.30 and 1581.34 cm-1. The proposed dye degradation pathway
      based on GC-MS and enzyme analysis suggested the formation of two low molecular
      weight intermediates. Phytotoxicity and acute toxicity studies revealed the less
      toxic nature of the dye degradation products. These results provide experimental
      evidence for the utilization of agricultural waste as a novel low-cost growth
      medium for biodegradation of benzidine-based dyes, and suggested the potential of
      the microbial consortium in detoxification. 

PMID- 25815523
TI  - Association between air pollutants and cardiovascular disease mortality in Wuhan,
      China.
AB  - We examined the associations of daily mean concentrations of ambient air
      pollutants (particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitric oxide (NO2))
      and daily cardiovascular diseases (CVD) mortality in Wuhan, China using a case
      crossover design to analyze four years of data (2006-2009) collected from the
      Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Wuhan
      Environmental Protection Bureau. From 2006 to 2009, daily average concentrations
      of PM10, SO2 and NO2 were 115.60 ug/m3, 53.21 ug/m3 and 53.08 ug/m3,
      respectively. After adjusting for temperature and relative humidity, a 10 ug/m3
      increase in SO2 and NO2 over a 24-h period was associated with CVD mortality
      relative risk (R.R.) of 1.010 (95% CI: 1.000, 1.020) for SO2 and 1.019 (95% CI:
      1.005, 1.033) for NO2, but there was no significant association between increases
      in PM10 and mortality. Subgroup analysis on by gender showed a significant
      association of 1.026 (95% CI: 1.007, 1.045) between NO2 and CVD among males,
      while no significant statistical effect was shown among females. Subgroup
      analysis by age showed that for those older than 65 years, every 10 ug/m3
      increase in NO2 was associated with a 1.6% (95% CI: 0.1%, 3.1%) increase in CVD
      mortality. Subgroup analysis on different types of CVD showed that every 10 ug/m3
      increase in PM10 and SO2 were significantly associated with an approximately
      1.012 (95% CI: 1.002, 1.022) and 1.021 (95% CI: 1.002, 1.040) increase,
      respectively, in ischemic heart disease (ICH) mortality. In conclusion, exposure
      to NO2 is significantly associated with CVD mortality. Larger, multi-center
      studies in Chinese cities are being currently conducted to validate these
      findings. 

PMID- 25815525
TI  - Antibody microarray profiling of osteosarcoma cell serum for identifying
      potential biomarkers.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to identify biomarkers in osteosarcoma (OS) cell
      serum by antibody microarray profiling, which may be used for OS diagnosis and
      therapy. An antibody microarray was used to detect the expression levels of
      cytokines in serum samples from 20 patients with OS and 20 healthy individuals.
      Significantly expressed cytokines in OS serum were selected when P<0.05 and fold
      change >2. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to validate the
      antibody microarray results. Finally, classification accuracy was calculated by
      cluster analysis. Twenty one cytokines were significantly upregulated in OS cell
      serum samples compared with control samples. Expression of interleukin-6,
      monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, tumor growth factor-beta, growth-related
      oncogene, hepatocyte growth factor, chemokine ligand 16, Endoglin, matrix
      metalloproteinase-9 and platelet-derived growth factor-AA was validated by
      ELISAs. OS serum samples and control samples were distinguished by significantly
      expressed cytokines with an accuracy of 95%. The results demonstrated that
      expressed cytokines identified by antibody microarray may be used as biomarkers
      for OS diagnosis and therapy.

PMID- 25815526
TI  - Heart failure as an independent predictor of thrombus persistence in nonvalvular
      atrial fibrillation: a transesophageal echocardiography-based study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Formation of left atrial (LA) thrombus is one of the most serious
      complications in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). OBJECTIVES: The aim of
      our study was to determine the predictors of LA thrombus resolution among
      patients with AF receiving oral anticoagulation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: After a
      retrospective analysis of 1877 transesophageal echocardiographic examinations
      (TEEs) performed in our department between January 2009 and June 2013, we
      included 64 patients (women, 36%; mean age at diagnosis, 64 +/-8.8 years) with
      nonvalvular AF and LA thrombi on TEE into the study. All patients received oral
      anticoagulation and underwent follow-up TEE within a few months since diagnosis.
      RESULTS: After a mean follow-up period of 88 +/-107 days, thrombus resolution was
      observed in 30 patients (47%). The univariate Cox proportional regression model
      showed that heart failure and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction were
      associated with the persistence of LA thrombus (hazard ratio [HR], 2.72; 95%
      confidence interval [CI], 1.32-5.61; P = 0.007 and HR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.94-0.99; P
      = 0.04; respectively). The international normalized ratio and CHA2DS2-VASc score
      were not prognostic for thrombus resolution (HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.37-1.1; P = 0.1
      and HR 1.10; 95% CI, 0.91-1.33; P = 0.3; respectively). In a multivariate
      analysis, heart failure was the only independent factor predicting unsuccessful
      resolution of LA thrombus (P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Heart failure is an
      independent negative predictor of LA thrombus resolution in patients with AF
      receiving oral anticoagulation.

PMID- 25815524
TI  - Sevoflurane ameliorates intestinal ischemia-reperfusion-induced lung injury by
      inhibiting the synergistic action between mast cell activation and oxidative
      stress.
AB  - Preconditioning with sevoflurane (SEV) can protect against ischemia-reperfusion
      injury in several organs, however, the benefits of SEV against acute lung injury
      (ALI), induced by intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (IIR), and the underlying
      mechanisms remain to be elucidated. The present study was designed to investigate
      the effects of SEV preconditioning on IIR-mediated ALI and the associated
      mechanisms in a rat model. Female Sprague-Dawley rats treated with 2.3% SEV or
      apocynin (AP), an inhibitor of NADPH oxidase, were subjected to 75 min superior
      mesenteric artery occlusion followed by 2 h reperfusion in the presence or
      absence of the mast cell degranulator compound 48/80 (CP). SEV and AP were
      observed to downregulate the protein expression levels of p47(phox) and
      gp91(phox) in the lungs of normal rats. IIR resulted in severe lung injury,
      characterized by significant increases in pathological injury scores, lung
      wet/dry weight ratio, protein expression levels of p4(7phox), gp91(phox) and ICAM
      1, the presence of hydrogen peroxide, malondydehyde and interleukin-6, and the
      activity of myeloperoxidase. In addition, significant reductions were observed in
      the expression of prosurfactant protein C, accompanied by an increase in MC
      degranulation, demonstrated by significant elevations in the number of mast
      cells, expression levels of tryptase and the concentration of beta
      hexosaminidase. These changes were further augmented in the presence of CP. In
      addition, SEV and AP preconditioning significantly alleviated the above
      alterations induced by IIR alone or in combination with CP. These findings
      suggested that SEV and AP attenuated IIR-induced ALI by inhibiting NADPH oxidase
      and the synergistic action between oxidative stress and mast cell activation.

PMID- 25815527
TI  - Doppler-Resolved Kinetics of Saturation Recovery.
AB  - Frequency-modulated laser transient absorption has been used to monitor the
      ground-state rotational energy-transfer rates of CN radicals in a double
      resonance, depletion recovery experiment. When a pulsed laser is used to burn a
      hole in the equilibrium ground-state population of one rotational state without
      velocity selection, the population recovery rate is found to depend strongly on
      the Doppler detuning of a narrow-band probe laser. Similar effects should be
      apparent for any relaxation rate process that competes effectively with velocity
      randomization. Alternative methods of extracting thermal rate constants in the
      presence of these non-thermal conditions are evaluated. Total recovery rate
      constants, analogous to total removal rate constants in an experiment preparing a
      single initial rotational level, are in good agreement with quantum scattering
      calculations, but are slower than previously reported experiments and show
      qualitatively different rotational state dependence between Ar and He collision
      partners. Quasi-classical trajectory studies confirm that the differing
      rotational state dependence is primarily a kinematic effect. 

PMID- 25815528
TI  - Synthesis of diazatricyclic common structure of madangamine alkaloids.
AB  - A general synthetic route toward a diazatricyclic core common to the madangamine
      family is described. Ring-closing metathesis and palladium-catalyzed
      cycloisomerization provided the cis-fused diazadecalin structure, accompanied by
      formation of the N-Boc-enamine, which was utilized as an N-acyliminium ion
      equivalent. Direct cyclization from the N-Boc-enamine was achieved through the in
      situ formation of an N,O-acetal. 

PMID- 25815529
TI  - Direct Aerobic Carbonylation of C(sp2)-H and C(sp3)-H Bonds through Ni/Cu
      Synergistic Catalysis with DMF as the Carbonyl Source.
AB  - The direct carbonylation of aromatic sp(2) and unactivated sp(3) C-H bonds of
      amides was achieved via nickel/copper catalysis under atmospheric O2 with the
      assistance of a bidentate directing group. The sp(2) C-H functionalization showed
      high regioselectivity and good functional group compatibility. The sp(3) C-H
      functionalization showed high site-selectivity by favoring the C-H bonds of alpha
      methyl groups over those of the alpha-methylene, beta- or gamma-methyl groups.
      Moreover, this reaction showed a predominant preference for functionalizing the
      alpha-methyl over alpha-phenyl group. Mechanistic studies revealed that
      nickel/copper synergistic catalysis is involved in this process. 

PMID- 25815530
TI  - Approved Drugs Containing Thiols as Inhibitors of Metallo-beta-lactamases:
      Strategy To Combat Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria.
AB  - Resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics can be mediated by metallo-beta-lactamase
      enzymes (MBLs). An MBL inhibitor could restore the effectiveness of beta-lactams.
      We report on the evaluation of approved thiol-containing drugs as inhibitors of
      NDM-1, VIM-1, and IMP-7. Drugs were assessed by a novel assay using a purchasable
      fluorescent substrate and thermal shift. Best compounds were tested in
      antimicrobial susceptibility assay. Using these orthogonal screening methods, we
      identified drugs that restored the activity of imipenem. 

PMID- 25815532
TI  - Correlated visible-light absorption and intrinsic magnetism of SrTiO3 due to
      oxygen deficiency: bulk or surface effect?
AB  - The visible-light absorption and luminescence of wide band gap (3.25 eV)
      strontium titanate (SrTiO3) are well-known, in many cases, to originate from the
      existence of natural oxygen deficiency in the material. In this study based on
      density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we provide, to the best of our
      knowledge, the first report indicating that oxygen vacancies in the bulk and on
      the surfaces of SrTiO3 (STO) play different roles in the optical and magnetic
      properties. We found that the doubly charged state of oxygen vacancy (VO(2+)) is
      dominant in bulk SrTiO3 and does not contribute to the sub-band gap
      photoexcitation or intrinsic magnetism of STO. Neutral oxygen vacancies (VO(0))
      on (001) surfaces terminated with both TiO2 and SrO layers induce magnetic
      moments, which are dependent on the charged state of VO. The calculated
      absorption spectra for the (001) surfaces exhibit mid-infrared absorption (<0.5
      eV) and sub-band gap absorption (2.5-3.1 eV) due to oxygen vacancies. In
      particular, VO(0) on the TiO2-terminated surface has a relatively low formation
      energy and magnetic moments, which can explain the recently observed spin
      dependent photon absorptions of STO in a magnetic circular dichroism measurement
      [Rice, W. D.; et al. Nat. Mater.13, 481, 2014].

PMID- 25815533
TI  - Soft Nanocomposites--From Interface Control to Interphase Formation.
AB  - We report measurements of structure, mechanical properties, glass transition
      temperature, and contact angle of a novel nanocomposite material consisting of
      swellable silsesquioxane nanoparticles with grafted poly(ethyl methacrylate)
      (PEMA) brushes and PEMA matrices with varying molecular weight. We measured the
      interparticle distance at the surface of the composites using scanning probe
      microscopy (SPM) and in the bulk of ~0.5 MUm thick films by grazing incidence
      small angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). For a given molecular weight of the brush
      unstable dispersions at high molecular weight of the matrix indicate an intrinsic
      incompatibility between polymer-grafted-nanoparticles and homopolymer matrices.
      This incompatibility is affirmed by a high contact angle between the polymer
      grafted-nanoparticles and the high molecular weight matrix as measured by SPM.
      For unstable dispersions, we measured a decreased glass transition temperature
      along with a decreased plateau modulus by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis
      (DMTA) which indicates the formation of a liquid-like layer at the brush-matrix
      interface. This proves the ability to decouple the structural and mechanical
      properties from the potential to be swollen with small molecules. It opens a new
      area of use of these soft nanocomposites as slow release materials with tailored
      mechanical properties. 

PMID- 25815531
TI  - A Hidden State in Light-Harvesting Complex II Revealed By Multipulse
      Spectroscopy.
AB  - Light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) is pivotal both for collecting solar
      radiation for photosynthesis, and for protection against photodamage under high
      light intensities (via a process called nonphotochemical quenching, NPQ).
      Aggregation of LHCII is associated with fluorescence quenching, and is used as an
      in vitro model system of NPQ. However, there is no agreement on the nature of the
      quencher and on the validity of aggregation as a model system. Here, we use
      ultrafast multipulse spectroscopy to populate a quenched state in unquenched
      (unaggregated) LHCII. The state shows characteristic features of lutein and
      chlorophyll, suggesting that it is an excitonically coupled state between these
      two compounds. This state decays in approximately 10 ps, making it a strong
      competitor for photodamage and photochemical quenching. It is observed in
      trimeric and monomeric LHCII, upon re-excitation with pulses of different
      wavelengths and duration. We propose that this state is always present, but is
      scarcely populated under low light intensities. Under high light intensities it
      may become more accessible, e.g. by conformational changes, and then form a
      quenching channel. The same state may be the cause of fluorescence blinking
      observed in single-molecule spectroscopy of LHCII trimers, where a small
      subpopulation is in an energetically higher state where the pathway to the
      quencher opens up. 

PMID- 25815534
TI  - Highly ordered binary assembly of silica mesochannels and surfactant micelles for
      extraction and electrochemical analysis of trace nitroaromatic explosives and
      pesticides.
AB  - The rapid and sensitive detection of nitroaromatic compounds is of great
      significance for human health, the environment, and public security. The present
      work reports on the extraction and electrochemical analysis of trace
      nitroaromatic compounds, such as explosives and organophosphate pesticides (OPs),
      using the indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes modified with a highly ordered and
      aligned binary assembly of silica mesochannels and micelles (BASMM). With a pore
      diameter of ca. 2-3 nm, silica mesochannels (SMs) perpendicularly oriented to the
      ITO electrode surface can provide hard and robust supports to confine the soft
      cylindrical micelles formed by the aggregation of cationic surfactants, namely,
      cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). Due to the organized self-assembly of
      hydrocarbon tails of CTAB surfactants, each micelle has a hydrophobic core, which
      acts as an excellent adsorbent for rapid extraction and preconcentration of trace
      nitroaromatic compounds from aqueous solutions via the hydrophobic effect.
      Furthermore, the cylindrical micelles are directly in contact with the underlying
      electrode surface, to which extracted compounds can freely diffuse and then be
      reduced therein, thus allowing their determination by means of voltammetry. Using
      the BASMM/ITO sensor, electrochemical analysis of trace nitroaromatic explosives,
      including 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), 2,4,6-trinitrophenol, 2,6-dinitrotoluene,
      3-nitrophenol, and nitrobenzene, and OPs, such as paraoxon, methyl parathion, and
      fenitrothion, was achieved with a fast response, wide linear range, high
      sensitivity, and low detection limit at the ppb level. TNT and paraoxon in real
      apple, tea, and water samples were also determined. By combining the
      heterogeneous extraction and determination in one ordered binary nanostructure,
      the BASMM sensor provides a very simple, rapid, and cost-effective way for
      analysis of nitroaromatic compounds and can be extended to a wide range of
      lipophilic yet redox-active analytes. 

PMID- 25815535
TI  - Pregnancy in kidney transplanted women: what are the optimal conditions for a
      better pregnancy outcome?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Motherhood has long been not recommended for kidney transplanted
      women for fear of adverse effects on the graft and the risks to the fetus. AIMS:
      This article aimed to provide evidence based answer to the following questions
      regarding pregnancy in kidney transplanted women: 1. what are the nephrologic and
      obstetrical parameters that can influence the pregnancy outcome? 2. What is the
      impact of pregnancy on graft? 3. What are the optimal conditions for pregnancy
      planning in kidney transplanted women? METHODS: A literature search was conducted
      using as key words "pregnancy", "renal transplant", "renal graft survival" in the
      PubMed database over the period from January 1994 to December 2011. RESULTS:
      Recovery of renal function in kidney transplanted patients is followed by
      restoration of endocrine function. Knowledge of the initial nephropathy assesses
      the risk of recurrence after transplantation, which may affect the graft. Chronic
      glomerular nephropathies are the most frequent from 32 to 76.1%. Duration of
      hemodialysis (over 2 years) is associated with a risk of preterm delivery and
      growth retardation. A period of 1 year between renal transplantation and
      conception seems reasonable to stabilize renal function and reduce the doses of
      immunosuppressants. The number of unintended pregnancies remains high (50%). The
      incidence of pregnancy after renal transplantation varies between 3 and 21.2%.
      Graft survival in patients who carried a pregnancy is equivalent to that of
      patients who were not pregnant. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnancy in kidney transplanted
      patients is a highrisk pregnancy, but it does not seem to affect graft function
      through certain conditions.

PMID- 25815537
TI  - [Audit of sterilization practices in two Tunisian hospitals: current situation
      and perspectives].
AB  - BACKGROUND: In most Tunisian hospitals, medical devices (MD) are sterilized at
      surgical or medicine departments. AIM: to overview during one month the practice
      of sterilization. aterial METHODS: An audit of practices through direct
      observation was carried out at the neonatology and gynaecology departments at the
      Maternity and Neonatology Center of Tunis and the surgical department at the
      Salah Azaiz Institute. An assessment grid has been defined and the non-compliance
      rates have been calculated. A score has been drawn for four evaluation categories
      of MD treatment. 123 criteria were assessed. RESULTS: The level of non-compliance
      ranges from 53% to 62% depending on the department. Scores interpretation
      underlines that the present situation is behind the required level of safety.
      Traceability stands at the most critical position. Staff and environment safety
      present scores of 26/54 and 28/62 respectively for the Maternity and Neonatology
      Center of Tunis and the Salah Azaiz Institute. The less critical situation is
      that of patient safety, even if it is far below the expected level. CONCLUSION:
      This audit has highlighted major malfunctions in the sterilization process. This
      is related to the absence of a strict regulation. A corrective action plan has
      been implemented for the short, medium and long terms.

PMID- 25815536
TI  - [Weekly variation of sudden cardiac death in northen Tunisia].
AB  - BACKGROUND: The sudden cardiac death remains a major public health problem.
      Several studies have reported weekly variation of this dramatic event. AIM: The
      aim of this work is to determine the day-of-week variability in sudden cardiac
      death in northen Tunisia. METHODS: We prospectively collected clinical, socio
      demographic and autopsic data of victims of sudden cardiac death occurring in the
      northern Tunisia between october 1 st ,2010 and september 30,2012. RESULTS: The
      study population included 392 men and 108 women with a mean age of 52.27 + / -
      15.8 years. Three quarters of the victims was sedentary, 57.9% were smoker and a
      family history of sudden death was identified in 9.8% of cases. The vast majority
      of deaths had occurred either in a public place (41.4%) or at home (36.6%).
      Ischemic heart disease was the leading cause of death with 267 cases (53.4%);
      however a negative autopsy was found in 13.9% of victims. The highest sudden
      death occurrence was on Sundays (17.8%) and the lowest on Mondays (11.4% p:
      0.01).The same weekly variation was noted among both men and women , and also in
      victims > 60 years, a minimum of events occurred on Mondays (11.6%) and a maximum
      on Sundays (21.9%). In addition, we found the same peak of mortality on Sunday
      (18.8%) in young adults and the nadir on Monday (10.3%). CONCLUSIONS: The present
      study demonstrates marked variation in the occurrence of sudden cardiac death in
      the northern Tunisia with peak on Sundays and nadir on Mondays. No age or gender-
      related differences were found in weekly variation of sudden death.

PMID- 25815538
TI  - [Schizophrenia and education: about 32 Tunisian students suffering from
      schizophrenia].
AB  - AIM: To study the schooling among school and university students suffering from
      schizophrenia. METHODS: A retrospective, descriptive and analytic study based on
      information from medical records of patients treated in Psychopedagogy Unit in
      psychiatry department "B" of the Hedi Chaker Hospital University of Sfax, during
      the period from 1995 to 2009. Inclusion criteria were: diagnosis of schizophrenia
      (DSM-IV-TR) and follow-up duration of at least one year. RESULTS: Thirty-two
      patients were included. The sex ratio (M/F) was 2.2. The average age was 20.7
      years at the first consultation and 19.17 years at the disease onset which was
      insidious in 75% of cases. Undifferentiated (46.8%) and paranoid (31.2%) were the
      most frequent types of schizophrenia. The education level at the disease onset
      was secondary (62.5%) and high (37.5%). The school results were low in 62.5%.
      Patients who received at least one blank year were 56.3% and those who were
      reoriented 12.5%. They dropped out in 75% of cases. Grade repetition after the
      onset of schizophrenia (53.1%) was correlated with two factors: low socioeconomic
      status (p= 0.008) and conventional antipsychotic treatment (p= 0.021).
      CONCLUSION: Our results confirm the negative impact of schizophrenia on the
      normal course of schooling. Collaboration between psychiatrist, school doctor and
      teacher becomes a necessity to guarantee early schizophrenia diagnosis and
      adequate medical and educational care.

PMID- 25815539
TI  - [Cutaneous melanoma: about 200 cases].
AB  - AIM: To analyze the clinical and pathological aspects of cutaneous melanoma and
      to determine the prognostic factors. METHODS: This is a retrospective study about
      200 cases of cutaneous melanoma collected in Salah Azaiz Institute over a period
      of 36 years (1969-2005). RESULTS: The mean age was 55.4 years, with a slight
      female predominance. The tumour was developed on a pre-existent lesion in 31.5%
      of cases. The average delay of consultation was 18 months. The mean tumor size
      was 37 mm (10-180 mm). The ulcero exophytic appearance represented 45% of the
      cases. The tumor was metastatic in 19.5 % of cases. Hands and feet represented
      53% of the tumour localizations. The treatment was curative in 71% of cases and
      palliative in 13% of cases. The lymph node dissection was performed in 59% of the
      patients. Histologically, nodular melanoma and Grade V of Clark represented 43.5
      and 35% of the cases, respectively. The mean tumoral thickness was 14 mm.
      Chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiotherapy were performed in 5.5%, 3.5% and
      5.5% of cases respectively. The lymph node recurrences were noted in 43.6% of the
      patients treated with curative intent. The mean recurrence free survival was 76
      months. Tumour size > 2 cm, the localization on the leg, Clark level invasion IV
      and the involvement of the tumour margin were significant prognostic factors for
      the recurrence free survival. The prognostic factors for the metastasis free
      survival were: tumour size, tumour localization, type of resection and finally
      the lymph node dissection. The 5-year overall survival was 28.5% and was
      influenced significantly by the tumour size, tumour localization, type of
      resection, involvement of the tumour margins, Clark grade, tumour thickness and
      finally the lymph node involvement. CONCLUSION: The dismal prognosis can be
      improved by early diagnosis and especially the prevention based on the photo
      protection and surveillance of patients at high risk.

PMID- 25815540
TI  - [Bacteriological aspects of catheter cultures: study over 24 months].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Catheter-related infections are the sixth leading cause of nosocomial
      infections with approximately 7% of cases. AIM: The aim of this work was to
      establish the bacterial epidemiology of the catheter and TIC culture (totally
      implantable catheter) at the Mohamed V Military Teaching Hospital (MVHMI), and to
      study the antibiotic susceptibility of bacteria isolated. METHODS: this is a
      retrospective study over 24 months, including the venous and arterial catheters
      as well as the TIC treated at the Microbiology laboratory of the MVHMI. The
      culture was realized by the quantitative Brun Buisson method. The antibiotic
      susceptibility was made according to the French Society guidelines. RESULTS: We
      have collected 282 cases with 255 catheters and 27 TIC. The significant rate
      culture was 51,42% (n=145) for catheters and TIC, including 90,43% catheters and
      9,57% TIC. These catheters and TIC with positive culture emanated primarily from
      hemodialysis (32,41%) and surgical intensive care unit (28,97%) services. The
      microorganisms distribution by species showed the prevalence of Staphylococcus
      aureus (15,91%) followed by Acinetobacter baumannii (14,77%) and Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa (7,39%). The meticilline resistance rate in Staphylococcus aureus was
      7,14%. The Acinetobacter baumannii resistance rate was 64%, and 80,8% for
      imipenem and ceftazidime respectively. The rate of resistance of Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa to imipenem and ceftazidime was 69.23% for each. CONCLUSION: The
      bacterial epidemiology of the catheters and TIC cultures is dominated by the
      potentially nosocomial bacteria. Multidrug resistance of A. baumannii and P.
      aeruginosa requires an improved catheters management and strengthening nosocomial
      infections prevention.

PMID- 25815541
TI  - [Dietary intake in Crohn's disease: results of a prospective comparative study].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diet is thought to have an important role in the etiopathogenesis of
      Crohn's disease. In the other hand, Crohn's disease is frequently associated with
      nutritional deficiencies probably as result of disease activity and poor oral
      intake. AIMS: To investigate the dietary intake in patients with Crohn's disease
      in comparison with matched population controls and to assess the correlation
      between the results of the dietary enquete, nutritional status and disease
      activity. METHODS: We conducted a prospective case control study in patients with
      Crohn's disease and matched controls. All subjects were evaluated in respect of
      dietary intake (based on "NUTISTAR" logiciel) and nutritional status. RESULTS: We
      studied 23 patients and 23 controls. There was no statistical difference between
      patients and controls according to the proportion of carbohydrates, fat and
      protein intakes. Energy intakes were significantly lower in patients with Crohn's
      disease (1991 + 678 kcal/j) compared to controls (2537 + 345 kcal/j) (p=0.007) ;
      and in active disease (1353 + 308 kcal/j) compared to inactive disease patients
      (2481 + 415 kcal/j) (p<0.0001). In Crohn's disease patients, correlation study
      showed that energy intakes were correlated with CDAI (p<0.0001 ; r = - 0.74) and
      BMI (p=0.03 ; r = 0.45). CONCLUSION: In Crohn's disease, an inadequate dietary
      intake is correlated with nutritional status and disease activity.

PMID- 25815542
TI  - [Socio-medical profile of post-polio syndrome patients in center east of
      Tunisia].
AB  - BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of the post polio syndrome is purely clinic. It occurs
      few decade after poliomyelitis. It associates recent appearance or progressive
      worsening of muscular weakness, pain, muscular fatigue or atrophy. It remains not
      recognized in Tunisia. AIM: of our study is to identify the socio-medical profile
      of the postpolio population in the Tunisian east central region through a check
      of the risk factors and the clinical characteristics of these patients. METHODS:
      Descriptive study analyzing 32 files (medical expertise) of post polio syndrome
      patients RESULTS: The risk factors of post polio syndrome such us female gender,
      obesity, low educational level, early age of poliomyelitis appearance and the
      importance of physical effort at work, were observed in our study and are in
      agreement with the literature data. Average delay of post polio syndrome
      occurrence was 40 years. Most Disturbing symptom was the muscular pain. All our
      patients indicated negative impact on their everyday life and their work. They
      all asked for their right for incapacity or long-term disease beside the National
      health insurance fund (CNAM). CONCLUSION: Recognition of patients affected by the
      Post polio syndrome and their social and medical needs are necessary.

PMID- 25815543
TI  - [National survey of maternal mortality of 2010 : data of Tunisia].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tunisia has investigated maternal mortality in 2010 to determine
      maternal mortality ratio (MMR) nationally and regionally, in addition to the
      indentifying main causes of this mortality. OBJECTIVES: Describe methodology of
      this study and its principal findings in the region of Tunis and discuss the
      national maternal mortality strategy. METHODOLOGY: This is a Ramos study
      (Reproductive Ag Mortality Studies) that consists on identifying maternal deaths
      from reproductive age group (RAG) women deaths. We started by the a rehearsal and
      targeting of (RAG) women deaths , then we investigated a next of kin person of
      the decedent women by verbal autopsy, thereafter we identified maternal deaths to
      be confidentially investigated to judge the potential avoidability of the death.
      The study took place in 2010, it was carried out by 5 couples of investigators
      supervised by a coordinator doctor. RESULTS: A total of 200 deaths of (RAG) women
      were found in Tunis, 7 deaths among them were maternal deaths, that corresponds
      to an MMR of 41/100000 live births. The mean age of the deceased women was 35
      years. The main causes of maternal deaths were hemorrhage (3/7), thrombo-embolic
      diseases (2 times for7) and HELLP syndrome (1/7). Four of a total of 4 deaths (3
      deaths were not marked), were avoidable. The majority of late women had a
      satisfying educational level, 4 of 7 had financial autonomy. All of them had
      pregnancy monitoring, 5 times of 7 in university hospital. All the childbirth
      were medically assisted, Caesarean section was carried in 6 of 7 cases.
      Nationally, the MMR was estimated to 44.8/100 000 LB, that to say a decrease of
      35% compared to 1993. The decrease was significant for all the regions of the
      country, except the great Tunis where opposite trend was recorded. This could be
      more likely related to quality of care rather than socio-economic conditions
      seeing that social determinants in Tunis are favorable. In fact, the Tunisian
      maternal mortality strategy had essentially focused on the monitoring system of
      maternal deaths rather than the quality of care improvement interventions,
      results were disappointing due to the lack of institutional engagement. The
      achievement of the OMD5 objectives is compromised, due to socio-economic
      constraint especially in certain regions, poor governance and lack of engagement
      of ministry of health in reducing maternal mortality. CONCLUSION: Tunisian
      maternal mortality strategy should be revised and adapted to regional context,
      also should includ multisectoral interventions. Priority would be given to
      quality of care improvement, by launching the experience of care setting
      accreditation in one hand, and in the other improving partnership between
      different levels of care.

PMID- 25815544
TI  - [Cervical spondylodiscitis in hospital environment in Lome (Togo)].
AB  - BACKGROUND: The spine is a frequent site of infection but cervical spine
      localization seems to be rare. OBJECTIVE: to determine the frequency and features
      of cervical spondylodiscitis in patients attending the Sylvanus Olympio
      University Hospital Center in Togo. METHODS: A retrospective study of patients
      hospitalized in the Department of Rheumatology over a 20-year period was
      conducted. The positive diagnosis of infectious spondylodiscitis has been
      clinical and radiological. The etiological presumption was founded on clinical
      and epidemiological arguments. RESULTS: Of the 2881 patients hospitalized, 356
      had infectious spondylodiscitis of which 15 cases of cervical spondylodiscitis
      (eight men and seven women). The average age of these 15 patients was 37 years at
      the onset of the disease of which the mean disease duration was six months. The
      disease was essentially located at the levels of C3C4 (seven patients) and C5C6
      (four patients). Spondylodiscitis was related to presumptive tuberculosis in 10
      patients and banal germ in the remaining five others. There were three HIV
      infected patients. The onset of the symptomatology was progressive in all the 10
      patients suffering from tuberculosis spondylodiscitis. The symptomatology has
      been characterized by inflammatory pains (10 patients), mechanic pains (five
      patients), and a gibbosity (four patients). CONCLUSION: This study attests of the
      scarcity of the cervical spondylodiscitis.

PMID- 25815545
TI  - [Prevalence of specific learning disorders in a cohort of children with school
      failure].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Specific learning disorders (SLD) are poorly known and studied in
      Tunisia. A National research project on their prevalence was launched recently.
      Aim of this study was to estimate prevalence of SLD in a cohort of children with
      school failure. METHODS: Cross-sectional descriptive study with a population of
      287 First and Third grade Primary School students, screened by their teachers as
      facing learning problems through a systematic screening process based on
      achievement and behavior. Multidisciplinary assessment consisted in general
      medical examination, child psychiatry, child neurology, speech therapy and
      psychology (cognitive). 180 students have been assessed. RESULTS: Prevalence of
      SLD over study population was 32%, which gives a general population prevalence
      6.4%. Most common SLDs were dyslexia and dyscalculia. Most of children with SLD
      came from disadvantaged social groups. CONCLUSION: Despite methodological
      limitations, this first study on SLD sheds some light on their prevalence in
      Tunisian students, and opens perspectives for future more focused studies and
      interventions for their management in Tunisia.

PMID- 25815546
TI  - Applicability of the Old European Respiratory Society/European Community for
      Steel and Coal reference equations for spirometry interpretation in Tunisian
      adult population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tunisian pulmonary functional laboratories accept the default
      settings for reference equations (European Respiratory Society/European Community
      for Steel and Coal (ERS/ECSC1983) offered by the manufacturer even though adult
      Tunisian reference equations (Tunisian1995) are available. OBJECTIVE: To compare
      the spirometric profile of Tunisian subjects, according to the two reference
      equations. POPULATION AND METHODS: Spirometric data were recorded from 1192
      consecutive spirometry procedures in adults aged 18-60 years. Reference values
      and lower limits of normality (LLN) were calculated using the two reference
      equations. Applied definitions: large airway obstructive ventilatory defect
      (LAOVD): ratio between the 1st second expiratory volume and forced vital capacity
      (FEV1/FVC) < LLN. Small AOVD (SAOVD): FEV1/FVC > LLN and FVC > LLN and maximal
      midexpiratory flow < LLN. Tendency through a restrictive ventilatory defect
      (TRVD): FEV1 and FVC < LLN. The spirometric profile, according the two reference
      equations, was determined. RESULTS: Using Tunisian1995 reference equations, 34%,
      7%, 37% and 19% of spirometry records were interpreted as normal, and as having,
      LAOVD, SAOVD and TRVD, respectively. Using ERS/ECSC1983 reference equations, 85%,
      3%, 9% and 2% of spirometry records were interpreted as normal, and as having,
      LAOVD, SAOVD and TRVD, respectively. Using the ERS/ECSC1983 reference equations,
      misclassification was worse for LAOVD, for SAOVD and for TRVD, respectively, 68%,
      94% and 89%. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that the use of the old Caucasian
      reference equations resulted in misinterpretation of spirometry data in a
      significant proportion of subjects. This could result in inappropriate diagnosis
      and/or management.

PMID- 25815547
TI  - [Acute steroid-induced psychosis in active microscopic polyangiitis].

PMID- 25815548
TI  - Unusual and extensive presentation of Merkel cell carcinoma.

PMID- 25815549
TI  - [Malignant external otitis due to Aspergillus niger in leukemic patient: a case
      report].

PMID- 25815550
TI  - [Diffuse calcinosis complicating an adult onset dermatomyositis].

PMID- 25815551
TI  - [Example of traveler's pathology: atypical boil-like papules].

PMID- 25815552
TI  - [Chaotic atrial tachycardia of the child: a case report].

PMID- 25815553
TI  - Epilepsy, pemphigus and celiac disease: an exceptional association.

PMID- 25815554
TI  - [Implantation of appendix on cecal diverticulum: a rare variant anatomy].

PMID- 25815555
TI  - [The mediastinum: an unusual location of synovial sarcoma].

PMID- 25815556
TI  - [Rupture of splenic artery aneurysm during pregnancy: a diagnosis not to be
      missed].

PMID- 25815557
TI  - [Wegener's granulomatosis revealed by an involvment of the lacrimal gland].

PMID- 25815558
TI  - [Atypic central serous chorioretinopathy in patient treated by systemic
      corticosteroid therapy].

PMID- 25815559
TI  - Amine-Functionalized Titanate Nanosheet-Assembled Yolk@Shell Microspheres for
      Efficient Cocatalyst-Free Visible-Light Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction.
AB  - Exploiting advanced semiconductor photocatalyst with superior activity and
      selectivity for the conversion of CO2 into solar fuels and valuable chemicals is
      of worldwide interest. In this report, hierarchical amine-functionalized titanate
      nanosheets based yolk@shell microspheres were synthesized via one-pot organic
      amine mediated anhydrous alcoholysis of titanium(IV) butoxide. The selected
      organic amine, diethylenetriamine, played multiple roles. First, it was essential
      for the crystallographic, morphological and textural control of the synthesized
      titanate nanoarchitectures. Second, it was crucial for the in situ
      functionalization of titanate nanosheets by concurrent interlayer intercalation
      and surface grafting, which gave rise to the strong visible-light absorption
      ability and high CO2 adsorption capacity. As a consequence of the synergetic
      tuning in multilevel microstructures, an integrated engineering of the
      multifunctional modules of the titanate-based photocatalysts was achieved for
      efficient CO2 reduction toward solar fuels. 

PMID- 25815560
TI  - Numts: an impediment to DNA barcoding of Polyclinids, Tunicata.
AB  - The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene, a widely accepted
      molecular marker for species identification and classification, has been
      questioned because of the presence of Numts. In this study we found the presence
      of Numts in the COI chromatogram of two tunicates, Polyclinum indicum and
      Polyclinum madrasensis belonging to the genus Polyclinum. Numts were also present
      in our sequence (Accession Number: KJ944391) and in other sequences belonging to
      genus Polyclinum in the GenBank record. The GeneBank database of genus Polyclinum
      contains COI-like sequences and COI pseudogenes, but no record of COI gene from
      Polyclinids. The prevalence of Numts in Polyclinids belonging to Tunicata, is an
      impediment to DNA barcoding studies of Polyclinum species.

PMID- 25815561
TI  - The complete mitochondrial genome of the white-rot fungus Ganoderma meredithiae
      (Polyporales, Basidiomycota).
AB  - Complete nucleotide sequence of the 78,447 bp mitochondrial genome of the white
      rotting fungus Ganoderma meredithiae Adask. & Gilb. has been determined by next
      generation sequencing technology. The circular molecule encodes a set of
      mitochondrial protein and RNA genes, including 15 conserved proteins, 29 tRNAs,
      large and small ribosomal RNAs, and 18 homing endonucleases, with a GC content of
      26.14%. All structural genes are located on the same strand except trnW-CCA.
      Compared with previously sequenced mtDNAs of G. lucidum and G. sinense, the gene
      order of protein and rRNA genes among the three mitogenomes is highly conserved;
      however, the tRNA composition is slightly different. The mitochondrial genome of
      G. meredithiae will contribute to understanding the phylogeny and evolution of
      Ganoderma and Ganodermataceae, the group containing many species with high
      medicinal values.

PMID- 25815562
TI  - van der Waals Interactions on the Mesoscale: Open-Science Implementation,
      Anisotropy, Retardation, and Solvent Effects.
AB  - The self-assembly of heterogeneous mesoscale systems is mediated by long-range
      interactions, including van der Waals forces. Diverse mesoscale architectures,
      built of optically and morphologically anisotropic elements such as DNA,
      collagen, single-walled carbon nanotubes, and inorganic materials, require a tool
      to calculate the forces, torques, interaction energies, and Hamaker coefficients
      that govern assembly in such systems. The mesoscale Lifshitz theory of van der
      Waals interactions can accurately describe solvent and temperature effects,
      retardation, and optically and morphologically anisotropic materials for
      cylindrical and planar interaction geometries. The Gecko Hamaker open-science
      software implementation of this theory enables new and sophisticated insights
      into the properties of important organic/inorganic systems: interactions show an
      extended range of magnitudes and retardation rates, DNA interactions show an
      imprint of base pair composition, certain SWCNT interactions display retardation
      dependent nonmonotonicity, and interactions are mapped across a range of material
      systems in order to facilitate rational mesoscale design. 

PMID- 25815563
TI  - The influence of day care centres for people with dementia on family caregivers:
      an integrative review of the literature.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Day care centres (DCC) for people with dementia (PWD) have received
      increased attention recently, due to a shift in policy from the use of
      residential care towards home-based services. The aim of this study is to provide
      an extended understanding of the influence of DCCs on family caregivers (FCs).
      METHOD: An integrative review including 19 studies was used: qualitative (n = 2),
      quantitative non-randomised (n = 8), quantitative descriptive studies (n = 7),
      and with mixed-method design (n = 2). The quality of the studies was evaluated by
      the mixed-methods appraisal tool (MMAT). RESULTS: FC experienced the DCC both as
      a respite service, and to some extent as a support service, improving their
      competence in caring for the PWD. The quality of the DCC influenced its use, and
      the FC's motivation to care for the PWD. FC's gender, role, individual needs, PWD
      behavioural problems and need for assistance played an important role.
      CONCLUSION: As a respite and support service, DCCs have the potential to give FCs
      a feeling of safety and relief, reduce the caregiver's burden, and increase their
      motivation towards their role as caregivers. These outcomes depend on the quality
      of treatment, and how the service meets the FC's needs for flexibility, support,
      information, and responsibility sharing.

PMID- 25815564
TI  - Major depression and electrovestibulography.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: No electrophysiological neuroimaging or genetic markers have been
      established that strongly relate to a diagnosis of major depression or its
      severity. The objective of this paper is to describe the preliminary evaluation
      of a potential new biomarker for depression utilizing the recording of electrical
      activity from the outer ear canal referred to as electrovestibulography (EVestG).
      METHODS: Sensory oto-acoustic features were extracted from EVestG data to compare
      31 healthy age- and gender-matched individuals as controls to 43 major depressive
      disorder (MDD) subjects (22 symptomatic (MDD-S), 21 reduced symptomatic (MDD-R)).
      The stimulus was a single supine-vertical translation. The six features examined
      were based on the measured firing pattern interval histogram and the shape of the
      average field potential response. RESULTS: An unbiased classification accuracy of
      85, 87 and 77% was achieved for separating Control from MDD-S, Control from MDD,
      and MDD-S from MDD-R groups respectively. Features used showed low but
      significant correlations (P < 0.05) with MADRS and CORE assessments. CONCLUSIONS:
      The results support the use of separate features for measuring MDD symptomatology
      versus diagnosing MDD, representing plausible different mechanisms of brain
      function in MDD-S and MDD-R. The first evidence of the successful application of
      sensory oto-acoustic features toward diagnosing and measuring the symptomatology
      of MDD is presented.

PMID- 25815570
TI  - Effect of dantrolene premedication on various cardiovascular and biochemical
      variables and the recovery in healthy isoflurane-anesthetized horses.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of dantrolene premedication on various
      cardiovascular and biochemical variables and recovery in isoflurane-anesthetized
      horses. ANIMALS: 6 healthy horses. PROCEDURES: Each horse was anesthetized twice
      with a 21- to 28-day washout period between anesthetic sessions. Food was not
      withheld from horses before either session. During each session, dantrolene (6
      mg/kg in 2 L of water) or water (2 L) was administered via a nasogastric tube 1
      hour before anesthesia was induced. Anesthesia was maintained with isoflurane for
      90 minutes, during which blood gas analyses and lithium-dilution cardiac output
      (CO) measurements were obtained every 10 minutes. Serum creatine kinase activity
      was measured before and at 4, 8, and 12 hours after anesthesia. RESULTS: When
      horses were premedicated with dantrolene, CO at 25, 35, and 45 minutes after
      induction of anesthesia was significantly lower than that when horses were
      premedicated with water after which time difficulty in obtaining valid
      measurements suggested a continued decrease in CO; plasma potassium concentration
      progressively increased during anesthesia, whereas serum creatine kinase activity
      remained fairly stable and within reference limits through 12 hours after
      anesthesia; and 2 of 6 horses developed cardiac arrhythmias that required medical
      intervention. The quality of anesthetic recovery was slightly better when horses
      were premedicated with dantrolene versus water, although the time required for
      recovery did not differ significantly between treatments. CONCLUSIONS AND
      CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results suggested that dantrolene premedication prevented
      muscle damage without affecting anesthetic recovery but impaired CO and
      precipitated hyperkalemia and cardiac arrhythmias in healthy isoflurane
      anesthetized horses.

PMID- 25815565
TI  - Lower brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels associated with worsening fatigue
      in prostate cancer patients during repeated stress from radiation therapy.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Fatigue during cancer treatment is associated with depression.
      Neurotrophic factors play a major role in depression and stress and might provide
      insight into mechanisms of fatigue. This study investigated the association
      between plasma concentrations of three neurotrophic factors (BDNF, brain-derived
      neurotrophic factor; GDNF, glial-derived neurotrophic factor; and SNAPIN, soluble
      N-ethylmaleimide sensitive fusion attachment receptor-associated protein) and
      initial fatigue intensification during external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) in
      euthymic non-metastatic prostate cancer men. METHODS: Fatigue, as measured by the
      13-item Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Fatigue (FACT-F), and plasma
      neurotrophic factors were collected at baseline (prior to EBRT) and mid-EBRT.
      Subjects were categorized into fatigue and no fatigue groups using a > 3-point
      change in FACT-F scores between the two time points. Multiple linear regressions
      analysed the associations between fatigue and neurotrophic factors. RESULTS: FACT
      F scores of 47 subjects decreased from baseline (43.95 +/- 1.3) to mid-EBRT
      (38.36 +/- 1.5, P < 0.001), indicating worsening fatigue. SNAPIN levels were
      associated with fatigue scores (rs = 0.43, P = 0.005) at baseline. A significant
      decrease of BDNF concentration (P = 0.008) was found in fatigued subjects during
      EBRT (n = 39). CONCLUSIONS: Baseline SNAPIN and decreasing BDNF levels may
      influence worsening fatigue during EBRT. Further investigations are warranted to
      confirm their role in the pathophysiology and therapeutics of fatigue.

PMID- 25815571
TI  - Neuromuscular blocking effects of vecuronium in dogs with autosomal-recessive
      centronuclear myopathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potency of vecuronium and duration of vecuronium
      induced neuromuscular blockade in dogs with centronuclear myopathy (CNM).
      ANIMALS: 6 Labrador Retrievers with autosomal-recessive CNM and 5 age- and weight
      matched control dogs. PROCEDURES: Dogs were anesthetized on 2 occasions (1-week
      interval) with propofol, dexmedetomidine, and isoflurane. Neuromuscular function
      was monitored with acceleromyography and train-of-four (TOF) stimulation. In an
      initial experiment, potency of vecuronium was evaluated by a cumulative-dose
      method, where 2 submaximal doses of vecuronium (10 MUg/kg each) were administered
      IV sequentially. For the TOF's first twitch (T1), baseline twitch amplitude and
      maximal posttreatment depression of twitch amplitude were measured. In the second
      experiment, dogs received vecuronium (50 MUg/kg, IV) and the time of spontaneous
      recovery to a TOF ratio (ie, amplitude of TOF's fourth twitch divided by
      amplitude of T1) >= 0.9 and recovery index (interval between return of T1
      amplitude to 25% and 75% of baseline) were measured. RESULTS: Depression of T1
      after each submaximal dose of vecuronium was not different between groups. Median
      time to a TOF ratio >= 0.9 was 76.7 minutes (interquartile range [IQR; 25th to
      75th percentile], 66.7 to 99.4 minutes) for dogs with CNM and 75.0 minutes (IQR,
      47.8 to 96.5 minutes) for controls. Median recovery index was 18.0 minutes (IQR,
      9.7 to 23.5 minutes) for dogs with CNM and 20.2 minutes (IQR, 8 to 25.1 minutes)
      for controls. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: For the study dogs, neither
      potency nor duration of vecuronium-induced neuromuscular blockade was altered by
      CNM. Vecuronium can be used to induce neuromuscular blockade in dogs with
      autosomal-recessive CNM.

PMID- 25815572
TI  - Renal, gastrointestinal, and hemostatic effects of oral administration of
      meloxicam to Hispaniolan Amazon parrots (Amazona ventralis).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate renal, gastrointestinal, and hemostatic effects
      associated with oral administration of multiple doses of meloxicam to healthy
      Hispaniolan Amazon parrots (Amazona ventralis). ANIMALS: 12 Hispaniolan Amazon
      parrots. PROCEDURES: Birds were assigned to receive meloxicam oral suspension
      (1.6 mg/kg, PO, q 12 h) and 2.5 mL of tap water inserted into the crop by use of
      a gavage tube (n = 8) or the equivalent volume of tap water only (control group;
      4) for 15 days. Urine and feces were collected 2 hours after treatment
      administration each day. Feces were evaluated for occult blood. Results of a CBC
      and serum biochemical analysis and measured N-acetyl-beta-d-glucosaminidase (NAG)
      activity and whole blood clotting time were evaluated before, during, and after
      completion of treatments. Results of urinalysis and measured urine NAG activity
      were also evaluated. RESULTS: Birds treated with meloxicam had a significant
      increase in number of WBCs and decrease in PCV from before to after treatment.
      The PCV also decreased significantly, compared with results for the control
      group; however, WBC count and PCV for all birds remained within reference ranges
      throughout the study. One parrot treated with meloxicam had a single high value
      for urine NAG activity. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Meloxicam
      administered orally at the dosage used in this study caused no apparent negative
      changes in several renal, gastrointestinal, or hemostatic variables in healthy
      Hispaniolan Amazon parrots. Additional studies to evaluate adverse effects of
      NSAIDs in birds will be needed.

PMID- 25815573
TI  - Application of in vivo microdialysis for investigation of unbound drug
      concentrations of intravenously administered sulfadimidine in the paranasal sinus
      mucosa of horses.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To monitor concentrations of sulfadimidine in the paranasal sinus
      mucosa (PSM) of unsedated horses following IV administration of trimethoprim
      sulfadimidine via in vivo microdialysis. ANIMALS: 10 healthy adult horses.
      PROCEDURES: Concentric microdialysis probes were implanted into the subepithelial
      layers of the frontal sinus mucosa of standing sedated horses. Four hours after
      implantation, trimethoprim-sulfadimidine (30 mg/kg) was administered IV every 24
      hours for 2 days; dialysate and plasma samples were collected at intervals during
      that 48-hour period and analyzed for concentrations of sulfadimidine. The
      dialysate concentration and relative loss of sulfadimidine from the perfusate
      were used to calculate the PSM concentration. RESULTS: Microdialysis probe
      implantation and subsequent in vivo microdialysis were successfully performed for
      all 10 horses. Following the first and second administration of trimethoprim
      sulfadimidine, mean +/- SD peak concentrations of sulfadimidine were 55.3 +/-
      10.3 MUg/mL and 51.5 +/- 8.7 MUg/mL, respectively, in plasma and 9.6 +/- 4.5
      MUg/mL and 7.0 +/- 3.3 MUg/mL, respectively, in the PSM. Peak sulfadimidine
      concentrations in the PSM were detected at 5.9 +/- 2.7 hours and 5.4 +/- 2.3
      hours following the first and second drug administrations, respectively. For 12
      hours, mean PSM sulfadimidine concentration remained greater than the minimum
      inhibitory concentration indicative of sulfonamide susceptibility of equine
      bacterial isolates (4.75 MUg/mL). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: In vivo
      microdialysis for continuous monitoring of PSM sulfadimidine concentrations in
      unsedated horses was feasible. Intravenous administration of trimethoprim (5
      mg/kg) and sulfadimidine (25 mg/kg) proved likely to be efficient for treating
      sinusitis caused by highly susceptible pathogens, providing that the dosing
      interval is 12 hours.

PMID- 25815574
TI  - Platelet activation in a population of critically ill dogs as measured with whole
      blood flow cytometry and thromboelastography.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether critically ill dogs had increased platelet
      activation and whether the proportion of activated platelets correlated with
      severity of illness. ANIMALS: 82 dogs in the intensive care unit of a veterinary
      teaching hospital and 24 healthy control dogs. PROCEDURES: Flow cytometry with
      monoclonal mouse anti-human CD61 and CD62 antibodies in resting and ADP-treated
      samples and kaolin-activated thromboelastography were used to compare platelet
      activation in blood samples of critically ill and control dogs. Serum
      antithrombin, von Willebrand factor, fibrinogen, and activated protein C
      concentrations; prothrombin time (PT); and activated partial thromboplastin time
      (aPTT) were measured. Revised survival prediction index, acute patient physiology
      and laboratory evaluation, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, and multiple
      organ dysfunction syndrome scores were used to estimate severity of illness.
      Severity of illness scores and platelet activation measurements were compared
      with survival time and duration and cost of hospitalization. RESULTS: Critically
      ill and control dogs had no differences in platelet activation for non-ADP
      treated samples measured. Critically ill dogs had significantly increased
      platelet activation in response to 2, 6, and 10 MUM ADP. Critically ill dogs had
      significantly increased maximum amplitude, alpha angle, and global clot strength
      and significantly decreased clot formation time. Critically ill dogs had
      significantly increased fibrinogen concentration, PT, and aPTT and significantly
      decreased antithrombin concentration. Survivors and nonsurvivors had similar flow
      cytometry and thromboelastography values. Three dogs developed macrothrombosis.
      CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: In this study, critically ill dogs had
      hyperreactive platelets, which may have contributed to a high incidence of
      hypercoagulability in this patient population.

PMID- 25815575
TI  - Effects of postexercise feeding of a supplemental carbohydrate and protein bar
      with or without astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis to exercise-conditioned
      dogs.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To characterize the postprandial nutrient profiles of exercise
      conditioned dogs fed a supplemental carbohydrate and protein bar with or without
      astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis immediately after exercise. ANIMALS: 34
      exercise-conditioned adult Husky-Pointer dogs. PROCEDURES: The study had 2
      phases. During phase 1, postprandial plasma glucose concentration was determined
      for dogs fed a bar containing 25% protein and 18.5% or 37.4% maltodextrin plus
      dextrin (rapidly digestible carbohydrate; RDC), or dry kibble (30% protein and 0%
      RDC) immediately after exercise. During phase 2, dogs were exercised for 3 days
      and fed a bar (25% protein and 37.4% RDC) with (CPA; n = 8) or without (CP; 8)
      astaxanthin or no bar (control; 8) immediately after exercise. Pre- and
      postexercise concentrations of plasma biochemical analytes and serum amino acids
      were determined on days 1 and 3. RESULTS: Phase 1 postexercise glucose
      concentration was increased when dogs were provided the 37.4% RDC bar, but not 0%
      or 18.5% RDC. On day 3 of phase 2, the CPA group had the highest pre-exercise
      triglyceride concentration and significantly less decline in postexercise glucose
      concentration than did the CP and control groups. Mean glucose concentration for
      the CP and CPA groups was significantly higher than that for the control group
      between 15 and 60 minutes after bar consumption. Compared to immediately after
      exercise, branched-chain amino acid, tryptophan, leucine, and threonine
      concentrations 15 minutes after exercise were significantly higher for the CP and
      CPA groups, but were lower for the control group. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL
      RELEVANCE: Dogs fed a bar with 37.4% RDCs and 25% protein immediately after
      exercise had increased blood nutrient concentrations for glycogen and protein
      synthesis, compared with control dogs.

PMID- 25815576
TI  - Effect of oral administration of cyclosporine on Toxoplasma gondii infection
      status of cats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether anti-inflammatory doses of cyclosporine activate
      Toxoplasma gondii in chronically infected cats or potentiate infection in cats
      exposed for the first time. ANIMALS: 30 T gondii-negative cats. PROCEDURES: Cats
      were assigned to 1 of 3 groups (10 cats/group). Group 1 (control) cats were
      administered a placebo for 126 days; group 2 cats were administered a placebo for
      84 days, followed by cyclosporine at 7.5 mg/kg/d, PO, for 42 days; and group 3
      cats were administered cyclosporine at 7.5 mg/kg/d, PO, for 126 days. Cats were
      orally inoculated with T gondii on day 42. Results for fecal flotations, PCR
      assays, and histologic examinations and IgM and IgG titers were analyzed.
      Cyclosporine concentrations were measured on selected days. RESULTS: All cats
      were infected by T gondii and developed signs of self-limiting gastrointestinal
      tract infection. Group 3 had the highest incidence and severity of CNS and
      pulmonary histopathologic findings typical of toxoplasmosis. One cat in group 3
      died of systemic toxoplasmosis; that cat had a cyclosporine concentration of
      1,690 ng/mL. Group 2 cats infected with T gondii before cyclosporine
      administration did not have repeated oocyst shedding. Group 3 cats shed fewer
      oocysts for a shorter time than did control cats of group 1. CONCLUSIONS AND
      CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Oral administration of cyclosporine in accordance with the
      protocol for this study did not potentiate the enteroepithelial phase of T gondii
      infection. Cats with high cyclosporine blood concentrations at the time of
      primary T gondii infection may be at risk of developing systemic toxoplasmosis.

PMID- 25815578
TI  - Pharmacokinetics of an oral extended-release formulation of doxycycline hyclate
      containing acrylic acid and polymethacrylate in dogs.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the pharmacokinetics of doxycycline hyclate administered
      orally in the form of experimental formulations with different proportions of
      acrylic acid-polymethacrylate-based matrices. ANIMALS: 30 healthy adult dogs.
      PROCEDURES: In a crossover study, dogs were randomly assigned (in groups of 10)
      to receive a single oral dose (20 mg/kg) of doxycycline hyclate without
      excipients (control) or extended-release formulations (ERFs) containing
      doxycycline, acrylic acid polymer, and polymethacrylate in the following
      proportions: 1:0.5:0.0075 (ERF1) or 1:1:0.015 (ERF2). Serum concentrations of
      doxycycline were determined for pharmacokinetic analysis before and at several
      intervals after each treatment. RESULTS: Following oral administration to the
      study dogs, each ERF resulted in therapeutic serum doxycycline concentrations for
      48 hours, whereas the control treatment resulted in therapeutic serum doxycycline
      concentrations for only 24 hours. All pharmacokinetic parameters for ERF1 and
      ERF2 were significantly different; however, findings for ERF1 did not differ
      significantly from those for the control treatment. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL
      RELEVANCE: Results indicated that both ERFs containing doxycycline, acrylic acid
      polymer, and polymethacrylate had an adequate pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic
      relationship for a time-dependent drug and a longer release time than doxycycline
      alone following oral administration in dogs. Given the minimum effective serum
      doxycycline concentration of 0.26 MUg/mL, a dose interval of 48 hours can be
      achieved for each tested ERF. This minimum inhibitory concentration has the
      potential to be effective against several susceptible bacteria involved in
      important infections in dogs. Treatment of dogs with either ERF may have several
      benefits over treatment with doxycycline alone.

PMID- 25815577
TI  - Characterization of discrete equine intestinal epithelial cell lineages.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To characterize epithelial cells of the small intestine and colon in
      horses without clinical gastrointestinal abnormalities with an emphasis on the
      stem cell niche constituents. SAMPLE: Mucosal biopsy specimens from small and
      large intestines obtained from 12 horses euthanized for reasons unrelated to
      gastrointestinal disease or systemic disease. PROCEDURES: Intestinal biopsy
      specimens were collected by sharp dissection immediately following euthanasia.
      Specimens were prepared for immunohistochemical, immunofluorescence, and
      transmission electron microscopic imaging to detect and characterize each
      epithelial cell type. Antibodies against protein biomarkers for cellular
      identification were selected on the basis of expression in other mammalian
      species. RESULTS: Intestinal epithelial cell types were identified by means of
      immunostaining and morphological characterization with transmission electron
      microscopy. Some differences in biomarker expression and antibody cross
      reactivity were identified in equine tissue, compared with other species.
      However, each known type of mucosal epithelial cell was identified in equine
      tissue. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The methodology used can enhance
      detection of stem cells and progenitor cells as well as postmitotic cell lineages
      in equine intestinal tissues. Results may have relevance to regenerative
      potential of intestinal mucosa and survival in horses with colic.

PMID- 25815579
TI  - In vitro mechanical evaluation of equine laryngeal tie-forward constructs
      prepared with different suture materials and placement patterns.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the mechanical properties of laryngeal tie-forward (LTF)
      constructs prepared with different suture materials and suture placement patterns
      during single load to failure testing. SAMPLE: Larynges harvested from 50 horse
      cadavers and 5 intact horse cadavers. PROCEDURES: In vitro LTF constructs were
      created by a standard technique with polyester sutures, a standard technique with
      polyethylene sutures, a modified technique with metallic implants and polyester
      sutures, a modified technique with metallic implants and polyethylene sutures, or
      a modified tie-off technique with polyester sutures (10 of each type of
      construct). Mechanical properties including maximal load (N) at failure and
      failure mode were compared among constructs. Also, maximal loads at failure of
      the in vitro LTF constructs were compared with the loads exerted on the sutures
      tightened to achieve rostral laryngeal advancement in intact cadavers. RESULTS:
      Constructs prepared by a standard technique with polyethylene sutures had a
      significantly higher pull out strength than those prepared by a modified
      technique with metallic implants and either polyester or polyethylene sutures.
      For constructs prepared by a standard technique with polyethylene sutures or
      similarly placed polyester sutures, maximal load at failure did not differ but
      the failure mode did differ significantly. The load to failure for all in vitro
      constructs was higher than the maximal load measured during a range of motion
      test in intact horse cadavers. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results
      suggested that LTF procedures can be performed in live horses with any of the
      suture materials and techniques tested.

PMID- 25815581
TI  - Dual-head wireless powered video capsule based on new type of receiving coils.
AB  - Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) has been a great breakthrough in visually
      detecting the pathological changes of gastrointestinal (GI) wall, but the limit
      of viewing angle and power by batteries still hinder the wide application of WCE.
      In order to address these shortcomings, a dual-head video capsule system based on
      new type of receiving coils is presented. First, the dual-head video capsule
      system is designed, which could capture images of the whole GI tract in two
      channels, transforming the images into NTSC videos at a frame rate of 30 f s(-1)
      and transmitting the signals outside the body. Second, the wireless power
      transmission platform with new type of receiving coils is established to provide
      at least 108 mW of continuous, stable energy for the capsule. Then a prototype
      was fabricated and applied in animal experiments. The designed dual-head video
      capsule system is proved to be feasible and a potential solution for future
      clinical application.

PMID- 25815580
TI  - Success of Laparoscopic Robot-Assisted Approaches to Ureteropelvic Junction
      Obstruction Based on Preoperative Renal Function.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: No literature exists examining the risk factors for
      failure after robot-assisted laparoscopic pyeloplasty for ureteropelvic junction
      obstruction (UPJO) in children. The goal of this study was to compare the success
      of robot-assisted pyeloplasty between UPJO kidneys with preoperative renal
      function <30% versus >30%. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of all
      patients who underwent a robot-assisted laparoscopic pyeloplasty for UPJO at a
      single institution from June 2009 to September 2013 by four surgeons. A failed
      procedure was defined as necessitating a second surgery for the UPJO,
      nonresolution of symptoms with no improvement of washout on postoperative
      mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG)-3 scan, and/or a reduction in renal function of
      the obstructed kidney to <10%. Success was compared between patients with <30%
      and >30% preoperative differential renal function via the Fisher exact test.
      RESULTS: There were 116 patients who were included. At a mean follow-up of 507
      days after the surgical procedure, there were eight (8%) failures. The majority
      of the failures (5/8) were in kidneys whose preoperative function was <30%. There
      was a significant difference in the success of procedures performed on kidneys
      with >30% (86/89, 97%) versus <30% (7/12, 58%) preoperative renal function
      (P=0.0005). CONCLUSIONS: In this large cohort of patients, kidneys with
      preoperative function >30%, robot-assisted pyeloplasty had a 97% success rate.
      This was significantly different than the success of robot-assisted pyeloplasty
      (58%) in kidneys with preoperative function <30%. This information is useful for
      patient counseling as these patients may be at higher risk for a secondary
      procedure such as a subsequent nephrectomy or may benefit from a preoperative
      trial of nephrostomy tube drainage.

PMID- 25815582
TI  - Thermal ablative treatment of uterine fibroids.
AB  - In addition to surgical methods of treating uterine fibroids, numerous non
      invasive treatments have been developed. Many of these involve the use of
      hyperthermia, the heating of tissue by a variety of methods. These include the
      use of lasers, radiofrequency, microwave energy and high intensity focused
      ultrasound, guided by both ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. In this
      review we examine the technology behind these treatment modalities and review the
      current evidence for their use. 

PMID- 25815583
TI  - Post-transcriptional regulation of satellite cell quiescence by TTP-mediated mRNA
      decay.
AB  - Skeletal muscle satellite cells in their niche are quiescent and upon muscle
      injury, exit quiescence, proliferate to repair muscle tissue, and self-renew to
      replenish the satellite cell population. To understand the mechanisms involved in
      maintaining satellite cell quiescence, we identified gene transcripts that were
      differentially expressed during satellite cell activation following muscle
      injury. Transcripts encoding RNA binding proteins were among the most
      significantly changed and included the mRNA decay factor Tristetraprolin.
      Tristetraprolin promotes the decay of MyoD mRNA, which encodes a transcriptional
      regulator of myogenic commitment, via binding to the MyoD mRNA 3' untranslated
      region. Upon satellite cell activation, p38alpha/beta MAPK phosphorylates MAPKAP2
      and inactivates Tristetraprolin, stabilizing MyoD mRNA. Satellite cell specific
      knockdown of Tristetraprolin precociously activates satellite cells in vivo,
      enabling MyoD accumulation, differentiation and cell fusion into myofibers.
      Regulation of mRNAs by Tristetraprolin appears to function as one of several
      critical post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms controlling satellite cell
      homeostasis. 

PMID- 25815586
TI  - Optimized electrospinning synthesis of iron-nitrogen-carbon nanofibers for high
      electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction in alkaline medium.
AB  - To achieve iron-nitrogen-carbon (Fe-N-C) nanofibers with excellent
      electrocatalysis for replacing high-cost Pt-based catalysts in the cathodes of
      fuel cells and metal-air batteries, we have investigated and evaluated the
      effects of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) concentration and the proportion of iron to
      PAN, along with voltage and flow rate during the electrospinning process, and
      thus proposed three criteria to optimize these parameters for ideal nanofiber
      catalysts. The best half-wave potential of an optimized catalysts is 0.82 V
      versus reversible hydrogen electrode in an alkaline medium, which reaches the
      best range of the non-precious-metal catalysts reported and is very close to that
      of commercial Pt/C catalysts. Furthermore, the electron-transfer number of our
      catalysts is superior to that of the Pt/C, indicating the catalysts undergo a
      four-electron process. The durability of the optimized Fe-N-C nanofibers is also
      better than that of the Pt/C, which is attributed to the homogeneous distribution
      of the active sites in our catalysts. 

PMID- 25815585
TI  - Bovine F1Fo ATP synthase monomers bend the lipid bilayer in 2D membrane crystals.
AB  - We have used a combination of electron cryo-tomography, subtomogram averaging,
      and electron crystallographic image processing to analyse the structure of intact
      bovine F(1)F(o) ATP synthase in 2D membrane crystals. ATPase assays and mass
      spectrometry analysis of the 2D crystals confirmed that the enzyme complex was
      complete and active. The structure of the matrix-exposed region was determined at
      24 A resolution by subtomogram averaging and repositioned into the tomographic
      volume to reveal the crystal packing. F(1)F(o) ATP synthase complexes are
      inclined by 16 degrees  relative to the crystal plane, resulting in a zigzag
      topology of the membrane and indicating that monomeric bovine heart F(1)F(o) ATP
      synthase by itself is sufficient to deform lipid bilayers. This local membrane
      curvature is likely to be instrumental in the formation of ATP synthase dimers
      and dimer rows, and thus for the shaping of mitochondrial cristae.

PMID- 25815584
TI  - Juxtaposition of heterozygous and homozygous regions causes reciprocal crossover
      remodelling via interference during Arabidopsis meiosis.
AB  - During meiosis homologous chromosomes undergo crossover recombination. Sequence
      differences between homologs can locally inhibit crossovers. Despite this,
      nucleotide diversity and population-scaled recombination are positively
      correlated in eukaryote genomes. To investigate interactions between
      heterozygosity and recombination we crossed Arabidopsis lines carrying
      fluorescent crossover reporters to 32 diverse accessions and observed hybrids
      with significantly higher and lower crossovers than homozygotes. Using
      recombinant populations derived from these crosses we observed that heterozygous
      regions increase crossovers when juxtaposed with homozygous regions, which
      reciprocally decrease. Total crossovers measured by chiasmata were unchanged when
      heterozygosity was varied, consistent with homeostatic control. We tested the
      effects of heterozygosity in mutants where the balance of interfering and non
      interfering crossover repair is altered. Crossover remodeling at homozygosity
      heterozygosity junctions requires interference, and non-interfering repair is
      inefficient in heterozygous regions. As a consequence, heterozygous regions show
      stronger crossover interference. Our findings reveal how varying homolog
      polymorphism patterns can shape meiotic recombination. 

PMID- 25815587
TI  - Upregulated microRNA-16 as an oncogene in renal cell carcinoma.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRs) are small, endogenous noncoding RNAs that serve a significant
      function in various biologic processes, including those involved in cancer. The
      present study aimed to determine the expression and function of miR-16 in renal
      cell carcinoma (RCC). Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify
      the expression of miR-16 in 48 paired RCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues.
      The impact of miR-16 on cell proliferation, migration and apoptosis was analyzed
      by transfecting miR-16 mature molecules into the renal cancer cell lines 786-O
      and ACHN. The results indicated that miR-16 was significantly upregulated in RCC
      tissues (P<0.05). Downregulation of miR-16 resulted in reduced cell proliferation
      and migration and increased levels of apoptosis, while overexpression of miR-16
      resulted in accelerated cellular proliferation and migration, suggesting that miR
      16 may function as an oncogene in RCC. The present study demonstrated for the
      first time, to the best of our knowledge, that miR-16 is upregulated in RCC and
      acts as an oncogene by inducing cellular proliferation, migration and reducing
      apoptosis. Further study of miR-16 in RCC may clarify the molecular mechanisms of
      RCC carcinogenesis and aid in the development of novel biomarkers and therapeutic
      options.

PMID- 25815588
TI  - A novel molecular probe 131I-K237 targeting tumor angiogenesis in human prostate
      cancer xenografts.
AB  - Specific molecular probes are essential for the early diagnosis of prostate
      cancer. In addition, peptides have been shown to have numerous uses as diagnostic
      and therapeutic molecular probes. The K237 peptide binds to the vascular
      endothelial growth factor receptor with high affinity and specificity, and was
      predicted to have potential use as a probe in tumor angiogenesis. The overall aim
      of the present study was to assess the diagnostic potential of 131I-K237 as a
      molecular probe for prostate cancer. The K237 peptide was radiolabeled with 131I
      using an Iodogen method. The radiolabeling efficiency and radiochemical purity
      were found to be 73.7 +/- 3.2 and 96.7 +/- 0.6%, respectively, which were
      determined using thin layer chromatography and high performance liquid
      chromatography in vitro. Cellular uptake and competition binding experiments were
      used to identify the affinity of 131I-K237 to LNCaP prostate cancer cells. The
      binding ratio of 131I-K237 to LNCaP cells in the experimental group was 95.8 +/-
      1.5%, whereas the binding ratios in the 5 kBq Na131I, 10 kBq Na131I, 15 kBq
      Na131I and PBS groups were 8.2 +/- 0.4, 8.3 +/- 0.2, 8.5 +/- 0.2 and 0.0%,
      respectively. In addition, the binding ratio of 131I-K237 to LNCaP significantly
      decreased with the increased dose of unlabeled K237. A total of 40 male BALB/c
      mice with LNCaP xenografts were used for biodistribution and single photon
      emission computed tomography imaging analysis. An image was obtained and tumors
      were visible from 2 h post injection of 131I-K237. In conclusion, the results of
      the present study showed that 131I-K237 had a high affinity for LNCaP cells and
      may be considered as a candidate diagnostic molecular probe for prostate cancer.

PMID- 25815589
TI  - Association study of polymorphisms in interferon-gamma receptor genes with the
      risk of pulmonary tuberculosis.
AB  - Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by mycobacterium, which most
      commonly affects the lungs. The adaptive immune response in Mycobacterium
      tuberculosis is predominantly mediated by the interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma)
      signaling pathway, which is regulated by IFN-gamma receptors (IFNGR). IFN-gamma
      activates the transcription of a number of genes that are important in immune
      responses, thus the appropriate function of IFNGR appears to be important in host
      defense against mycobacteria. In the present study, 22 genetic variants in IFNGR1
      and IFNGR2 were genotyped in 673 patients and 592 normal controls to investigate
      the association between IFNGR1 and IFNGR2 polymorphisms and the risk of TB.
      Statistical analyses revealed that four genetic variants in IFNGR1, rs9376269,
      rs9376268, rs9376267 and rs56251346 were marginally associated with the risk of
      TB (P = 0.02-0.04), while other single nucleotide polymorphisms in IFNGR1 and
      IFNGR2 did not exhibit any associations. However, the significance of the four
      genetic variants rs9376269, rs9376268, rs9376267 and rs56251346 was eliminated
      following a multiple testing correction of the data (P>0.05). The present results
      revealed that certain genetic variants in IFNGR genes may be associated with TB
      development, which may be useful preliminary data for future investigation.

PMID- 25815590
TI  - Effects of cinobufacini injection on cell proliferation and the expression of
      topoisomerases in human HepG-2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
AB  - The present study aimed to investigate the effects of cinobufacini injection on
      the proliferation and expression of topoisomerases in human HepG-2
      hepatocarcinoma cells. The cells were divided into a control group and an
      experimental group, in which 0.105, 0.21, 0.42 mg/l cinobufacini was injected.
      Cell proliferation was assessed using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) -2,5
      diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, levels of apoptosis were detected using
      annexin V/propidium iodide staining and cell cycles were analyzed using flow
      cytometric analysis. The mRNA and protein expression levels of topoisomerase
      (TOPO) I and TOPO II were determined by reverse transcription-quantitative
      polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, respectively. Cinobufacini
      injection significantly inhibited the proliferation of the HepG-2 cells (P<0.05),
      induced apoptosis (P<0.05) in a dose- and time-dependent manner, induced tumor
      cell arrest at the S phase in a dose-dependent manner, and downregulated the mRNA
      and protein expression levels of TOPO I and TOPO II (P<0.05) in a dose-dependent
      manner. Therefore, cinobufacini was found to inhibit human HepG-2 hepatocellular
      carcinoma cell proliferation, and downregulation of the expression levels of TOPO
      I and TOPO II may contribute to the effect on proliferation observed in the Hep
      G2 cells following cinobbufacini injection.

PMID- 25815591
TI  - Effects of silencing the ATP-binding cassette protein E1 gene by electroporation
      on the proliferation and migration of EC109 human esophageal cancer cells.
AB  - In the present study, the gene expression of ATP-binding cassette protein E1
      (ABCE1) in the EC109 human esophageal cancer cell line was silenced using
      electroporation to examine the effect if the ABCE1 gene on the growth migration
      and cell cycle of cancer cells. The small interference (si)RNA sequence of ABCE1
      was designed and synthesized to transfect the EC109 cells by electroporation. The
      mRNA and protein expression levels of ABCE1 were then detected by reverse
      transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blot
      analysis. The analysis of the cell cycle and apoptosis was performed using flow
      cytometry. The effect of silencing the ABCE1 gene on the proliferation, migration
      and invasive ability of the EC109 human esophageal cancer cells were assessed
      using a Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and with proliferation, wound-healing and
      cell invasion assays. The mRNA and protein expression levels of ABCE1 were
      significantly lower in the experimental group compared with the control group
      (P<0.05). The apoptotic rate of the experimental group was markedly higher than
      the control group and blank group (P<0.01). The CCK-8 proliferation assay
      revealed that, compared with the control and blank groups, the proliferation of
      the EC109 cells in the experimental group was significantly inhibited (P<0.05).
      The wound healing assay revealed that the migration capacity of the cells in the
      experimental group was significantly decreased (P<0.05). The Transwell chamber
      assay demonstrated that the invasive ability of the EC109 cells in the
      experimental group was significantly decreased (P<0.01). These results revealed
      that ABCE1 is closely associated with cell proliferation, invasion and migration
      in esophageal cancer and silencing the ABCE1 gene by electroporation can
      significantly reduce the proliferation, invasion and migration capacity of EC109
      cells in vitro.

PMID- 25815592
TI  - Limitations and extensions of the lock-and-key principle: differences between gas
      state, solution and solid state structures.
AB  - The lock-and-key concept is discussed with respect to necessary extensions.
      Formation of supramolecular complexes depends not only, and often not even
      primarily on an optimal geometric fit between host and guest. Induced fit and
      allosteric interactions have long been known as important modifications.
      Different binding mechanisms, the medium used and pH effects can exert a major
      influence on the affinity. Stereoelectronic effects due to lone pair orientation
      can lead to variation of binding constants by orders of magnitude. Hydrophobic
      interactions due to high-energy water inside cavities modify the mechanical lock
      and-key picture. That optimal affinities are observed if the cavity is only
      partially filled by the ligand can be in conflict with the lock-and-key
      principle. In crystals other forces than those between host and guest often
      dominate, leading to differences between solid state and solution structures.
      This is exemplified in particular with calixarene complexes, which by X-ray
      analysis more often than other hosts show guest molecules outside their cavity.
      In view of this the particular problems with the identification of weak
      interactions in crystals is discussed. 

PMID- 25815595
TI  - Towards understanding the decomposition/isomerism channels of stratospheric
      bromine species: ab initio and quantum topology study.
AB  - The present study aims at a fundamental understanding of bonding characteristics
      of the C-Br and O-Br bonds. The target molecular systems are the isomeric
      CH3OBr/BrCH2OH system and their decomposition products. Calculations of
      geometries and frequencies at different density functional theory (DFT) and
      Hartree-Fock/Moller-Plesset (HF/MP2) levels have been performed. Results have
      been assessed and evaluated against those obtained at the coupled cluster single
      double (Triplet) (CCSD(T)) level of theory. The characteristics of the C-Br and O
      Br bonds have been identified via analysis of the electrostatic potential,
      natural bond orbital (NBO), and quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM).
      Analysis of the electrostatic potential (ESP) maps enabled the quantitative
      characterization of the Br sigma-holes. Its magnitude seems very sensitive to the
      environment and the charge accumulated in the adjacent centers. Some quantum
      topological parameters, namely N2rho, ellipticity at bond critical points and the
      Laplacian bond order, were computed and discussed. The potential energy function
      for internal rotation has been computed and Fourier transformed to characterize
      the conformational preferences and origin of the barriers. NBO energetic
      components for rotation about the C-Br and O-Br bonds as a function of torsion
      angle have been computed and displayed. 

PMID- 25815594
TI  - In silico analysis of the genes encoding proteins that are involved in the
      biosynthesis of the RMS/MAX/D pathway revealed new roles of Strigolactones in
      plants.
AB  - Strigolactones were described as a new group of phytohormones in 2008 and since
      then notable large number of their functions has been uncovered, including the
      regulation of plant growth and development, interactions with other organisms and
      a plant's response to different abiotic stresses. In the last year,
      investigations of the strigolactone biosynthesis pathway in two model species,
      Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa, resulted in great progress in
      understanding the functions of four enzymes that are involved in this process. We
      performed in silico analyses, including the identification of the cis-regulatory
      elements in the promoters of genes encoding proteins of the strigolactone
      biosynthesis pathway and the identification of the miRNAs that are able to
      regulate their posttranscriptional level. We also searched the databases that
      contain the microarray data for the genes that were analyzed from both species in
      order to check their expression level under different growth conditions. The
      results that were obtained indicate that there are universal regulations of
      expression of all of the genes that are involved in the strigolactone
      biosynthesis in Arabidopsis and rice, but on the other hand each stage of
      strigolactone production may be additionally regulated independently. This work
      indicates the presence of crosstalk between strigolactones and almost all of the
      other phytohormones and suggests the role of strigolactones in the response to
      abiotic stresses, such as wounding, cold or flooding, as well as in the response
      to biotic stresses. 

PMID- 25815593
TI  - Understanding FRET as a research tool for cellular studies.
AB  - Communication of molecular species through dynamic association and/or
      dissociation at various cellular sites governs biological functions.
      Understanding these physiological processes require delineation of molecular
      events occurring at the level of individual complexes in a living cell. Among the
      few non-invasive approaches with nanometer resolution are methods based on
      Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). FRET is effective at a distance of 1-10
      nm which is equivalent to the size of macromolecules, thus providing an
      unprecedented level of detail on molecular interactions. The emergence of
      fluorescent proteins and SNAP- and CLIP- tag proteins provided FRET with the
      capability to monitor changes in a molecular complex in real-time making it
      possible to establish the functional significance of the studied molecules in a
      native environment. Now, FRET is widely used in biological sciences, including
      the field of proteomics, signal transduction, diagnostics and drug development to
      address questions almost unimaginable with biochemical methods and conventional
      microscopies. However, the underlying physics of FRET often scares biologists.
      Therefore, in this review, our goal is to introduce FRET to non-physicists in a
      lucid manner. We will also discuss our contributions to various FRET
      methodologies based on microscopy and flow cytometry, while describing its
      application for determining the molecular heterogeneity of the plasma membrane in
      various cell types. 

PMID- 25815596
TI  - Preservation of renal blood flow by the antioxidant EUK-134 in LPS-treated pigs.
AB  - Sepsis is associated with an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS), however,
      the precise role of ROS in the septic process remains unknown. We hypothesized
      that treatment with EUK-134 (manganese-3-methoxy N,N'-bis(salicyclidene)ethylene
      diamine chloride), a compound with superoxide dismutase and catalase activity,
      attenuates the vascular manifestations of sepsis in vivo. Pigs were instrumented
      to measure cardiac output and blood flow in renal, superior mesenteric and
      femoral arteries, and portal vein. Animals were treated with saline (control),
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 10 ug.kg-1.h-1), EUK-134, or EUK-134 plus LPS. Results
      show that an LPS-induced increase in pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) as well as a
      trend towards lower blood pressure (BP) were both attenuated by EUK-134. Renal
      blood flow decreased with LPS whereas superior mesenteric, portal and femoral
      flows did not change. Importantly, EUK-134 decreased the LPS-induced fall in
      renal blood flow and this was associated with a corresponding decrease in LPS
      induced protein nitrotyrosinylation in the kidney. PO2, pH, base excess and
      systemic vascular resistance fell with LPS and were unaltered by EUK-134. EUK-134
      also had no effect on LPS-associated increase in CO. Interestingly, EUK-134 alone
      resulted in higher CO, BP, PAP, mean circulatory filling pressure, and portal
      flow than controls. Taken together, these data support a protective role for EUK
      134 in the renal circulation in sepsis. 

PMID- 25815597
TI  - Nano SiO2 and MgO improve the properties of porous beta-TCP scaffolds via
      advanced manufacturing technology.
AB  - Nano SiO2 and MgO particles were incorporated into beta-tricalcium phosphate
      (beta-TCP) scaffolds to improve the mechanical and biological properties. The
      porous cylindrical beta-TCP scaffolds doped with 0.5 wt % SiO2, 1.0 wt % MgO, 0.5
      wt % SiO2 + 1.0 wt % MgO were fabricated via selective laser sintering
      respectively and undoped beta-TCP scaffold was also prepared as control. The
      phase composition and mechanical strength of the scaffolds were evaluated. X-ray
      diffraction analysis indicated that the phase transformation from beta-TCP to
      alpha-TCP was inhibited after the addition of MgO. The compressive strength of
      scaffold was improved from 3.12 +/- 0.36 MPa (beta-TCP) to 5.74 +/- 0.62 MPa
      (beta-TCP/SiO2), 9.02 +/- 0.55 MPa (beta-TCP/MgO) and 10.43 +/- 0.28 MPa (beta
      TCP/SiO2/MgO), respectively. The weight loss and apatite-forming ability of the
      scaffolds were evaluated by soaking them in simulated body fluid. The results
      demonstrated that both SiO2 and MgO dopings slowed down the degradation rate and
      improved the bioactivity of beta-TCP scaffolds. In vitro cell culture studies
      indicated that SiO2 and MgO dopings facilitated cell attachment and
      proliferation. Combined addition of SiO2 and MgO were found optimal in enhancing
      both the mechanical and biological properties of beta-TCP scaffold. 

PMID- 25815598
TI  - Sex-specific diurnal immobility induced by forced swim test in wild type and
      clock gene deficient mice.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The link between alterations in circadian rhythms and depression are
      well established, but the underlying mechanisms are far less elucidated. We
      investigated the circadian characteristics of immobility behavior in wild type
      (WT) mice and mice with mutations in core Clock genes. METHODS: All mice were
      tested with forced swim test (FST) at 4 h intervals. RESULTS: These experiments
      revealed significant diurnal rhythms associated with immobility behavior in both
      male and female WT mice with sex-different circadian properties. In addition,
      male mice showed significantly less immobility during the night phase in
      comparison to female mice. Female Per1Brdm1 mice also showed significant
      rhythmicity. However, the timing of rhythmicity was very different from that
      observed in female wild type mice. Male Per1Brdm1 mice showed a pattern of
      rhythmicity similar to that of wild type mice. Furthermore, female Per1Brdm1 mice
      showed higher duration of immobility in comparison to male Per1Brdm1 mice in both
      daytime and early night phases. Neither Per2Brdm1 nor ClockDelta19 mice showed
      significant rhythmicity, but both female Per2Brdm1 and ClockDelta19 mice had
      lower levels of immobility, compared to males. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights
      the differences in the circadian characteristics of immobility induced by FST in
      WT, ClockDelta19, Per1, and Per2 deficient mice.

PMID- 25815601
TI  - Ser49Gly polymorphism in the beta-adrenergic receptor 1 gene in a population
      sample from Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, stratified by self-identified skin
      color and genetic ancestry.
AB  - Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have the highest worldwide mortality rate of any
      type of disease. In recent years, genetic research regarding CVD has been
      conducted using association studies, in which the presence of a genetic
      polymorphism associated with a specific cell signaling pathway in a lower or in a
      higher frequency among patients may be interpreted as a possible causal factor.
      Genetic polymorphisms that occur in the beta-adrenergic receptor 1 (beta-ADR1)
      can result in significant changes in its function that may result in
      physiopathologies. Ambiguous categorizations, such as skin color and self
      reported ethnicity have been used in pharmacogenetic studies as phenotypic
      proxies for ancestry; however, admixed populations present a particular challenge
      to the effectiveness of this approach. The main objective of the present study
      was to estimate the diversity and the frequency of the Ser49Gly polymorphism of
      the beta-ADR1 gene in a sample of 188 male individuals from the population of Rio
      de Janeiro. The Ser49Gly frequencies were analyzed by two forms of sample
      stratification: The phenotypic criterion of black or non-black skin color, and
      African or non-African ancestry, defined using Y-chromosome single nucleotide
      polymorphisms and autosomal indel markers. These results were used to evaluate
      whether marker-based ancestry criteria and/or skin color were associated with the
      frequency of the Ser49Gly polymorphisms in the heterogeneous Rio de
      Janeiro/Brazilian population. The DNA fragments of interest were amplified by
      polymerase chain reaction with specific primers for the Ser49Gly marker, and
      genotyping reactions were performed by restriction with the enzyme Eco0109I.
      Heterozygosity values ranging from 0.25 to 0.50 and 0.20 to 0.41 were found for
      the groups stratified by ancestry and skin color, respectively. Using the Hardy
      Weinberg equilibrium at the ser49Gly marker, it was found that there was no
      significant deviation in the genotype distribution of the whole Rio de Janeiro
      sample or the stratified sample. Analysis of the allelic distribution in the Rio
      de Janeiro population sample revealed frequencies of 80.30 and 19.70% for the
      wild-type (Ser49) and mutated (Gly49) alleles, respectively. Significant
      differences were observed in the allele frequencies of the Ser49Gly marker
      between the self-defined black and non-black phenotype, and the African and non
      African descendant genotype population samples. A significant difference was also
      observed between blacks and African-descendant individuals, with a lesser degree
      of genetic differentiation. The results presented in the present study suggest
      that the Ser49Gly marker has a distribution that is influenced by an ancestral
      component, due to the increased prevalence of the Gly49 polymorphism in the black
      and African descendant populations of the Rio de Janeiro state. This evidence, in
      combination with clinical studies, may contribute to a detailed analysis of the
      pattern of susceptibility to CVD involved in beta-ADR1 receptor mechanism
      failure.

PMID- 25815602
TI  - A Steady-State Approximation to the Two-Dimensional Master Equation for Chemical
      Kinetics Calculations.
AB  - In the field of chemical kinetics, the solution of a two-dimensional master
      equation that depends explicitly on both total internal energy (E) and total
      angular momentum (J) is a challenging problem. In this work, a weak-E/fixed-J
      collisional model (i.e., weak-collisional internal energy relaxation/free
      collisional angular momentum relaxation) is used along with the steady-state
      approach to solve the resulting (simplified) two-dimensional (E,J)-grained master
      equation. The corresponding solutions give thermal rate constants and product
      branching ratios as functions of both temperature and pressure. We also have
      developed a program that can be used to predict and analyze experimental chemical
      kinetics results. This expedient technique, when combined with highly accurate
      potential energy surfaces, is cable of providing results that may be meaningfully
      compared to experiments. The reaction of singlet oxygen with methane proceeding
      through vibrationally excited methanol is used as an illustrative example. 

PMID- 25815600
TI  - Differentiation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells into germ-like
      cells in mouse seminiferous tubules.
AB  - Our previous study demonstrated that human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells
      (HUMSCs) were capable of differentiation into germ cells in vitro. To assess this
      potential in vivo, HUMSCs were microinjected into the lumen of seminiferous
      tubules of immunocompetent mice, which were treated with busulfan to destroy
      endogenous spermatogenesis. Bromodeoxyuridine labeling studies demonstrated that
      HUMSCs survived in the tubule for at least 120 days, exhibited a round cell shape
      typical of proliferating or differentiating germ cells, migrated to the basement
      of the tubule, where proliferating spermatogonia reside and returned to the
      luminal compartment, where differentiating spermatids and spermatozoa reside. The
      migration pattern resembled that of germ cell development in vivo.
      Immunohistochemical and colocalization studies revealed that transplanted HUMSCs
      expressed the germ cell markers octamer-binding transcription factor 4, alpha6
      integrin, C-kit and VASA, confirming the germ cell differentiation. In addition,
      it was observed that tubules transplanted with HUMSCs exhibited marked
      improvement in the histological features damaged by the chemotherapeutic
      busulfan, as judged by morphology and quantitative histology. Taken together,
      these data demonstrated the capacity of HUMSCs to form germ cells in the testes
      and to repair testicular tissue. These findings suggest a potential utility of
      HUMSCs to treat the infertility and testicular insufficiency caused by cancer
      therapeutics.

PMID- 25815599
TI  - Hepatitis A virus genotype distribution during a decade of universal vaccination
      of preadolescents.
AB  - A universal vaccination program among preadolescents was implemented in
      Catalonia, Spain, during the period of 1999-2013 and its effectiveness has been
      clearly demonstrated by an overall significant attack rate reduction. However,
      reductions were not constant over time, and increases were again observed in 2002
      2009 due to the occurrence of huge outbreaks. In the following years, in the
      absence of large outbreaks, the attack rate decreased again to very low levels.
      However, an increase of symptomatic cases in the <5 age group has recently been
      observed. This is an unexpected observation since children younger than 6 are
      mostly asymptomatic. Such a long vaccination campaign offers the opportunity to
      analyze not only the effectiveness of vaccination, but also the influence of the
      circulating genotypes on the incidence of hepatitis A among the different age
      groups. This study has revealed the emergence of genotype IC during a foodborne
      outbreak, the short-lived circulation of vaccine-escape variants isolated during
      an outbreak among the men-having-sex-with-men group, and the association of
      genotype IIIA with the increase of symptomatic cases among the very young. From a
      public health perspective, two conclusions may be drawn: vaccination is better at
      an early age, and the vaccination schedule must be complete and include all
      recommended vaccine doses. 

PMID- 25815604
TI  - H-bonded supramolecular polymer for the selective dispersion and subsequent
      release of large-diameter semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes.
AB  - Semiconducting, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are promising candidates
      for applications in thin-film transistors, solar cells, and biological imaging.
      To harness their full potential, however, it is necessary to separate the
      semiconducting from the metallic SWNTs present in the as-synthesized SWNT
      mixture. While various polymers are able to selectively disperse semiconducting
      SWNTs, the subsequent removal of the polymer is challenging. However, many
      applications require semiconducting SWNTs in their pure form. Toward this goal,
      we have designed a 2-ureido-6[1H]-pyrimidinone (UPy)-based H-bonded
      supramolecular polymer that can selectively disperse semiconducting SWNTs. The
      dispersion purity is inversely related to the dispersion yield. In contrast to
      conventional polymers, the polymer described herein was shown to disassemble into
      monomeric units upon addition of an H-bond-disrupting agent, enabling isolation
      of dispersant-free, semiconducting SWNTs. 

PMID- 25815603
TI  - Accumulation potentials of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) and
      perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFSAs) in maize (Zea mays).
AB  - Uptake of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) by maize represents a potential source of
      exposure for humans, either directly or indirectly via feed for animals raised
      for human consumption. The aim of the following study was, therefore, to
      determine the accumulation potential of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs)
      and perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFSAs) in maize (Zea mays). Two different
      concentrations of PFAAs were applied as aqueous solution to the soil to attain
      target concentrations of 0.25 mg or 1.00 mg of PFAA per kg of soil. Maize was
      grown in pots, and after harvesting, PFAA concentrations were measured in the
      straw and kernels of maize. PFCA and PFSA concentrations of straw decreased
      significantly with increasing chain length. In maize kernels, only PFCAs with a
      chain length <= C8 as well as perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS) were detected.
      The highest soil-to-plant transfer for both straw and kernels was determined for
      short-chained PFCAs and PFSAs. 

PMID- 25815605
TI  - Iridium-catalyzed chemoselective reductive nucleophilic addition to N
      methoxyamides.
AB  - Iridium-catalyzed reductive nucleophilic addition to N-methoxyamides is reported.
      The reaction took place in high yields in the presence of a variety of sensitive
      functional groups such as esters and nitro groups. Mechanistic studies revealed
      that the reaction of N-methoxyamides proceeded without equilibrium to an enamine
      intermediate in contrast to that with tert-amides. 

PMID- 25815606
TI  - Stable radicals from commonly used precursors trichlorosilane and
      diphenylchlorophosphine.
AB  - Intermediate species dichlorosilylene was generated in situ from trichlorosilane
      and inserted into the P-Cl bond of diphenylchlorophosphine (Ph2P-Cl) to obtain
      Ph2P-SiCl3 (1). Monodechlorination of 1 by cyclic alkyl(amino) carbenes
      (cAACs)/KC8 in THF at low temperature led to the formation of stable radicals
      Ph2P-Si(cAAC.)Cl2 (2a,b). Compounds 2a,b were characterized by X-ray single
      crystal diffraction, mass spectrometry and studied by cyclic voltammetry and
      theoretical calculations. Radical properties of 2 are confirmed by EPR
      measurements that suggest the radical electron in 2 couples with (14)N (I = 1),
      (35/37)Cl (I = 3/2), and (31)P (I = 1/2) nuclei leading to multiple hyperfine
      lines. Hyperfine coupling parameters computed from DFT calculations are in good
      agreement with those of experimental values. Electronic distributions obtained
      from the theoretical calculations suggest that the radical electron mostly
      resides on the carbene C of 2. 

PMID- 25815608
TI  - Early stage P22 viral capsid self-assembly mediated by scaffolding protein: atom
      resolved model and molecular dynamics simulation.
AB  - Molecular dynamics simulation of an atom-resolved bacteriophage P22 capsid model
      is used to delineate the underlying mechanism of early stage P22 self-assembly. A
      dimer formed by the C-terminal fragment of scaffolding protein with a new
      conformation is demonstrated to catalyze capsomer (hexamer and pentamer)
      aggregation efficiently. Effects of scaffolding protein/coat protein binding
      patterns and scaffolding protein concentration on efficiency, fidelity, and
      capsid curvature of P22 self-assembly are identified. 

PMID- 25815609
TI  - Iron-bismuth halido compounds: molecules, clusters, and polymers.
AB  - The pentamethylcyclopentadienyl substituted iron-bismuth halides
      [Bi{FeCp*(CO)2}X2] [X = Cl (1), Br (2), I (3); Cp* = eta(5)-C5Me5] were
      synthesized starting from [FeCp*(CO)2]2 and BiX3 (X = Cl, Br), followed by
      halogen exchange reaction with KI in case of 3. From a reaction mixture of
      [FeCp*(CO)2]2 with BiCl3 in CH2Cl2 to which CH3CN had been added, a novel
      coordination polymer of the formula [FeCp*(CO)2(CH3CN)]2n[Bi4Cl14]n (4) was
      isolated. The change of the molar ratio from 1:1 to 1:2 in the reaction of
      [FeCp*(CO)2]2 with BiBr3 afforded the novel ionic complex
      [{FeCp*(CO)2Br]2[Bi6Br22{FeCp*(CO)2}].CH2Cl2 (5.CH2Cl2). It is demonstrated that
      treatment of [FeCp*(CO)2X] (X = Cl, Br) with BiCl3 and BiBr3, respectively, is a
      more convenient route to synthesize the new halido bismuthates 4 and 5. 

PMID- 25815607
TI  - Blood-brain barrier permeability of Gualou Guizhi granules and neuroprotective
      effects in ischemia/reperfusion injury.
AB  - The present study aimed to estimate the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability of
      Gualou Guizhi granules (GLGZG) in normal rats and in rat models of
      ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, and to examine the neuroprotective effects of
      GLGZG. A sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of
      flight-mass spectrometry analytical method was developed to determinate the
      components of GLGZG in the plasma and brain tissue. Middle cerebral artery
      occlusion (MCAO) in rats served as a model of in vivo I/R. Citrulline, gallic
      acid, albiflorin, peoniflorin, liquiritin apioside, liquiritin, isoliquiritin
      apioside, isoliquiritin, liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin and glycyrrhizinic
      acid rapidly passed into the bloodstream. Citrulline, albiflorin, peoniflorin,
      liquiritin apioside, liquiritin, liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin and
      glycyrrhizinic acid also passed the BBB and reached the brain tissue of MCAO
      rats, while isoliquiritigenin and glycyrrhizinic acid were not detected in the
      brain tissue of the normal rats. The potential neuroprotective effect of GLGZG
      was determined in MCAO rats. The intragastric administration of GLGZG following
      reperfusion of rats for 2 h decreased the neurological defects and infarction
      volume, attenuated pathological changes of brain tissue and exerted a significant
      protective effect in cerebral ischemia injury. In conclusion, certain components
      of GLGZG passed through the BBB, particularly following cerebral ischemia injury,
      and this may be therapeutically effective for the treatment of cerebral ischemia
      injury in the human brain.

PMID- 25815610
TI  - Oligolayer-coated nanoparticles: impact of surface topography at the nanobio
      interface.
AB  - Layer-by-layer coating of nanoparticles with a layer number in the single-digit
      range has gained increasing attention in the field of nanomedicinal research.
      However, the impact of using various polyelectrolytes on oligolayer formation
      and, more importantly, their influence on the interaction with the biological
      system has not often been considered in the past. Hence, we investigated the
      polyelectrolyte deposition profiles and resulting surface topographies of up to
      three polyelectrolyte layers on a flat gold sensor surface using three different
      polycations, namely, poly(ethylene imine) (PEI), poly(allylamine hydrochloride)
      (PAH), and poly(diallylammonium chloride) (PD), each in combination with
      poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS). Surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy and atomic
      force microscopy revealed that the PEI/PSS pair in particular showed a so-called
      overshoot phenomenon, which is associated with partial polyelectrolyte desorption
      from the surface. This is also reflected by a significant increase in the surface
      roughness. Then, after having transferred the oligolayer assembly onto
      nanoparticles of ~32 nm, we realized that quite similar surface topographies must
      have emerged on a curved gold surface. A major finding was that the extent of
      surface roughness contributes significantly to the fashion by which the
      oligolayer-coated nanoparticles interact with serum proteins and associate with
      cells. For example, for the PEI/PSS system, both the surface roughness and
      protein adsorption increased by a factor of ~12 from the second to third coating
      layer and, at the same time, the cell association massively decreased to only one
      third. Our study shows that surface roughness, along with other particle
      properties such as size, shape, zeta potential, and hydrophobicity, is another
      decisive factor for nanoparticles in a biological context, which has indeed been
      discussed previously but has not to date been investigated for oligolayers.

PMID- 25815611
TI  - [Sexuality in the elderly].
AB  - Sustaining and strengthening the ability of the elderly to continue their sexual
      needs can be realized as part of improving their quality of life, health and well
      being. There is no age at which ends the expression of sexuality and intimacy.
      Through education, quality of life and advances in medicine, the average life
      expectancy is still increasing. Sexual activity of older people society usually
      describe using pejorative terms as an inappropriate, bizarre or obscene, but
      these labels are different than reality. Hormonal changes and other physiological
      changes associated with aging affect sexual interest. Erectile dysfunction is a
      problem in men increasing with age. There is no evidence that premature
      ejaculation is more common in older age. Cross-sectional studies showed no
      difference in sexual dysfunction between older and younger women. Age is not a
      barrier to sexually transmitted diseases. The most common pathogenetic factors
      for male erectile dysfunction are vascular diseases. In women, the most important
      symptoms of sexual dysfunction are lack of emotional wellbeing and a sense of
      intimacy during sexual intercourse. 

PMID- 25815612
TI  - [Obesity as a factor in the development of cancer in type 2 diabetes].
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of malignant tumors in
      patients with type 2 diabetes and the factors contributing to the development of
      cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical records of 1087 patients with type 2
      diabetes were retrospectively analyzed and a group of 74 (6.8%) patients with
      malignant tumor were found during treatment of diabetes. RESULTS: The most common
      sites of malignancies in patients with type 2 diabetes were: kidney (33.3%) and
      colorectal cancer (26.7%). The highest mean body mass index (BMI) was in the
      group of patients with uterus cancer and amounted to 36.1 kg/m2. The next highest
      BMI recorded in the case of breast cancer - 32.6 kg/m2, cancer of the kidney -
      31.6 kg/m2 and colorectal cancer - 31.3 kg/m2. The lowest BMI values were
      observed in gallbladder cancer - 25.2 kg/m2 and lung cancer - 26.4 kg/m2. BMI in
      the various types of cancer were not statistically significant. In the group with
      normal BMI prostate cancer was most common. In the group of overweight and
      obesity patients kidney and colon cancers occurred more frequently, while in
      obese women - breast and uterus tumors. More than 80% of patients with type 2
      diabetes who were diagnosed with cancer were overweight or obese. In the group of
      obese patients the highest average glycated hemoglobin was observed and if
      compared to those with normal weight it was significantly higher (p = 0.01).
      CONCLUSIONS: In the group of obese patients, the most common tumors were renal
      and colorectal cancer, and cancer of the breast and uterus in a group of obese
      women. The use of metformin in the presence of other risk factors do not protect
      against the development of cancer.

PMID- 25815613
TI  - [Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the breast - a case report].
AB  - Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor among women in Poland. According
      to the Center of Oncology (The National Cancer Registry) in 2010 in our country
      15,784 new cases have been noted. Since 1970s worldwide growth of new cases of
      breast cancer have been reported. Among the well-known histological types of
      breast tumors, small percentage - only 0.1% - include squamous cell component.
      CASE REPORT: A 69-year-old female met her doctor because of the right breast
      tumor. After two months of observation, in the last two weeks before the visit,
      the tumor started to grow very rapidly. As the diagnosis from fine needle
      aspiration biopsy (squamous cell carcinoma) was very rare for this location, and
      considering the other clinical symptoms the woman reported, it was suspected to
      be metastatic. Finally, as the other origins of the primary tumor have been
      declined and as the patient's condition begun to worsen very rapidly, the urgent
      treatment: mastectomy (toilet mastectomy) and adjuvant chemotherapy afterward,
      according to the pathological report were performed. CONCLUSIONS: Rare
      histological types of the breast cancer use to suggest a metastatic origin or
      behave as tumors with highly malignant histological grade.

PMID- 25815614
TI  - [Does acetylsalicylic acid and vitamin K antagonists are risk factors of macular
      degeneration related with age?].
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of chronic use of
      acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) and vitamin K antagonists (VKA) on the incidence of
      age related macular degeneration (AMD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included
      292 individuals (187 women, 105 men, aged 45-94 (mean 73.2 +/- 10.2 years). All
      individuals completed a survey and underwent a full eye examination. Patients
      were divided into four groups according to the presence or absence of
      degenerative changes at the bottom of an eye: group D - 80 patients with drusen
      (23 men and 57 women), 27,4% of studied population, group GA - 25 patients with
      geographic atrophy (10 men, 15 women), 8,56% of studied population, group CNV -
      52 patients with neovascular form of AMD (28 men, 24 women), 17,81% of studied
      population, group Z - 135 healthy people (44 men, 91 women), 46,23% of studied
      population. Among study group 79 patients (27,1%) used aspirin, 32 people (11%)
      used vitamin K antagonists (acenocoumarol or warfarin), 181 people (61,9%) didn't
      use any drug. RESULTS: Patients from D and CNV group took ASA and VKA more often
      than patients from GA and Z group. The percentages were: in a group Z - 30,37%,
      in group D - 46,25%, in group GA - 32%, in group CNV - 48,08% (p=0,0407). There
      was no relationship between belonging to a group and use of ASA (p=0,3169). A
      statistically significant relationship between belonging to a group and use of
      VKA was discovered. The number of people using VKA in group D and CNV was
      statistically significantly higher than in the healthy control group and
      percentage were as follows: in group Z - 8,15%, in group D - 17,5%, in group GA
      0%, in group CNV - 13,46% (p=0,0159). Patient groups differed statistically
      significantly due to age (p=0,0043), sex (p=0,0197), family history of macular
      diseases (p <0,0001), smoking (p=0,011), prevalence of hypercholesterolemia
      (p=0,0437), ischemic heart disease (p= 0,0173). The consumption of fish at least
      once a week and eating fruits and vegetables more often than once a day was
      associated with a reduced incidence of AMD p=0,0009, p=0,0003. Patients without
      AMD assessed their quality of life at a higher level than people with AMD
      (p<0,0001). ASA and VKA intake was found not to be an independent risk factor for
      AMD. Positive family history was an independent risk factor for AMD in all
      groups. Also age >=75, fish consumption > 1 week, male gender were independent
      risk factors for AMD in specified groups. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with drusen and
      exudative form of AMD took ASA and VKA more often than healthy people and
      patients with geographic atrophy. ASA or VKA intake was found not to be an
      independent risk factor for AMD. Positive family history was an independent risk
      factor for AMD in all groups. In selected groups: age >=75, male gender and
      reduced consumption of fish was found to be an independent risk factor for AMD.
      Number of people taking ASA and VKA is increasing and further studies are needed
      to assess their impact on the organ of vision.

PMID- 25815615
TI  - [The effect of high-frequency current and ultrasonic wave on selected indicators
      of body weight].
AB  - Effective change the appearance of the body through available both invasive and
      non-invasive methods such as treatment has been documented in numerous clinical
      trials. Liposuction and lipoplasty are currently the most widely used methods of
      reducing fat deposits. Technological advances made has become increasingly
      popular use of invasive procedures using energy fields and high-frequency
      ultrasonic wave. It is now one of the most effective and safe methods of
      treatment, based on the principle of mechanical and thermal stimulation of the
      physiological processes leading to the reduction of locally accumulated fat. AIM:
      The aim of the study was to evaluate the behavior of selected parameters of body
      weight in patients undergoing fat reduction BTL Exilis device. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: IThe study included a 50-group of women who are patients of the
      Specialist Outpatient Clinic Al-Med in Kolobrzeg. Taken twice the measurement of
      body weight, waist circumference and thickness measurement of skinfolds before
      the first treatment, and after a series of treatments. Treatment consisted of 4
      sessions while maintaining the 10-day interval between treatments. RESULTS: In
      the study a statistically significant reduction in the studied parameters such as
      actual body weight, waist circumference, fat mass and thickness of the skinfolds
      were showed. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of treatment with the energy field of
      highfrequency ultrasonic wave in a reduction in the size of fat body mass and
      improving the contour shape. Willingness to continue participation examined in
      this type of surgery proves positive reception of therapy and its effectiveness.

PMID- 25815616
TI  - [Quality of life, acceptance of illness and a sense of health control in patients
      with chronic musculoskeletal disorders during the rehabilitation process].
AB  - In medical science it is accepted that in order to determine the state of
      physical, mental as well as the progress of treatment, the concept of quality of
      life is applicable. However, the most popular use of the term is in the case of
      chronic diseases and particularly in the lives of those who are sick. Examples of
      such diseases are diseases of the musculoskeletal system and especially
      osteoarthritis of the knee and hip. The level of quality of life in chronic
      disease are also affected by psychological factors that can significantly help
      people in the healing process as well as acceptance of existing disease. AIM: The
      aim of study was to evaluate the association between quality of life, acceptance
      of illness and sense of control over own health in patients with chronic motor
      disability during the rehabilitation course. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study
      included 105 patients (76 women and 29 men) with osteoarthritis of the hip and
      knee, undergoing rehabilitation at the Municipal Clinic "Lecznica" in Lodz. The
      study used a questionnaire in the development of their own - specifying the basic
      socio-demographic data subjects, the SF-36 questionnaire - evaluating the quality
      of life of patients, Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS BJ Felton, TA Revenson,
      Hinrichsen GA) in the adaptation of the Z. Juczynski and Multidimensional Scale
      Health Locus of Control MHLC (KA wallstone, BS wallstone, R. DeVellis) in
      adaptation of Z. Juczynski. RESULTS: The distribution of respondents by type of
      disease is as follows: diseases of the knee -63.81%, hip - 23.81% and knee and
      hip disorders - 12.38%. A similar breakdown occurs in women and men. The average
      level of quality of life in this population of patients was 88.63, which is not
      too high. Evaluation of the results of health locus of control scale laid the
      equal distribution of respondents, taking into account all the studied rocks.
      Thanks to the use of Pearson's correlation coefficient allowed the conclusion
      that the level of quality of life correlates positively with the acceptance of
      the disease and internal locus of control pain in patients. CONCLUSIONS: Quality
      of life of the patients in the general dimension is in significant correlation
      with the acceptance of the disease and with a sense of control over their own
      health internally. Patients who have a high sense of control health by others or
      by accident is characterized by a lower level of acceptance of his illness.
      Acceptance of the disease and a sense of control over their own health may be
      important factors for health behaviors.

PMID- 25815617
TI  - [Fixed appliance therapy in patients with impaired short-circuit in the anterior
      part of the maxilla].
AB  - Malocclusion in the anterior segment of maxilla and mandible are easily visible
      not only for dentists but also for the doctors of other specialties. Early
      diagnosis and appropriate therapy is important not only for occlusion but also
      for aesthetic reasons. AIM: The aim of the paper is to evaluate the anterior
      segment of maxilla and mandible in patients with malocclusion in this part and
      correct occlusion in the lateral segments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical
      documentation, i.e. medical history, extra- and intraoral radiograms, diagnostic
      casts, panoramic and lateral cephalometric radiograms of patients aged 7-12
      diagnosed with malocclusion in the anterior segment of maxilla and mandible and
      who were treated with a fixed sectional appliance and facemask was analyzed.
      Descriptive and cephalometric features were analyzed before (T1) and after (T2)
      the treatment in 25 children. The differences between the status before and after
      the treatment, and the extent of change between T1 and T2 were analyzed. RESULTS:
      Statistical analysis of mean values of selected metrical features before (at T1)
      and after (at T2) the treatment has revealed that all metrical features
      concerning soft, bony and dental tissues determining the facial profile, the
      shape of the bony and dental structures have changed and have reached values
      which are closer to the norm for the population for selected features. The
      changes were statistically significant (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with
      fixed appliances segment facemask resulted in statistically significant
      improvement in the parameters investigated, which demonstrates the applicability
      of this therapy in the treatment of anterior maxillary segment in patients with
      mixed dentition.

PMID- 25815618
TI  - Polymyalgia rheumatica in a patient with splenic marginal zone lymphoma - a case
      report.
AB  - Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a common inflammatory disease in elderly people.
      We present a case of a 49-year-old woman diagnosed with PMR. The treatment with
      prednisone resulted in a rapid resolution of clinical symptoms. However,
      inflammatory markers remained elevated. Ultrasonography and computed tomography
      revealed the presence of a large splenic lesion. A cyst was suspected but,
      because of the high risk of splenic rupture, a splenectomy was performed. The
      histopathological examination revealed the presence of splenic marginal zone
      lymphoma. Inflammatory markers returned to normal after splenectomy. Prednisone
      was tapered but clinical symptoms of PMR reappeared after lowering the dose of
      prednisone <10 mg/day. Thus, treatment with methotrexate was started, which
      allowed for further tapering of prednisone. 

PMID- 25815619
TI  - The use of dermoscopy in diagnostics of a pilonidal cyst ("jeep disease") - case
      reports.
AB  - The differential diagnosis of pinkish, firm nodules is difficult and has been
      based mainly on the morphology of vessels in dermoscopy. The aim of the study was
      to present dermoscopic features of two nodular pilonidal cysts in the diagnostic
      procedure of pink nodular lesions. The cases presented here belong to a rare
      variety of nodular pilonidal cysts known as the "motorcyclist's" or " jeep
      driver's nodule". Dermoscopy reveals an irregular, whitish and pink-colored
      background, with centrally located confluent, whitish streaks extending within
      the lesion, radial from the center to the periphery. Moreover, multiple,
      diffused, dotted vessels, arranged peripherally and the small central ulceration
      have also been observed. Described cases have shown doctors the importance of the
      utmost vigilance when conducting the dermoscopy of pink nodules, which may
      suggest amelanocytic melanoma, basal and squamous cell carcinoma, pyogenic
      granuloma, lymphoma, pseudolymphoma and even the pilonidal cyst. 

PMID- 25815620
TI  - [Influence of exogenous and endogenous factors on the course of psoriasis].
AB  - Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory disease, which symptoms appear mainly within
      the skin. Genetic and environmental factors are known to play a key role in
      etiopathogenesis of psoriasis. Therapy directed against psoriasis includes the
      topical and the systemic treatment. The immunotherapy (biologicals) is known to
      be relatively less harmful, due to action strictly against proinflammatory
      molecules, responsible in part for the progression of psoriasis. Because of
      substantial role of environmental factors in the etiopathogenesis of psoriasis,
      it is possible to get a clinical improvement of psoriatic lesions by modification
      of patients dietary habits and their lifestyle. Reduction of the calorific value
      of meals, the bodyweight reduction, the diet rich in unsaturated fats and
      antioxidants, likewise, abstinence and the reduction of stress level in everyday
      life, are known to have a positive effect on the course of psoriasis. It is
      stated that psoriatic patients are suffering from many other diseases e.g.
      cardiovascular, respiratory and hormonal diseases, whose treatment might
      exacerbate psoriasis. Thus, patients with psoriasis following the appropriate
      recommendations can greatly reduce disease progression. 

PMID- 25815621
TI  - [Milk fat - the only existing for any reason].
AB  - The milk fat is characterized by an unique composition (over 400 different fatty
      acids) and stereospecific structure of triglycerides, similar to human milk fat.
      Almost entirely it is encircled by envelopes made of phosphorolipids and
      proteins, making the fat stabile oxidatively and resistant for hydrolysis. The
      envelope of fatty spherule ensures stability of emulsions, as well, as very high
      extent of dispersion, making milk fat the most easily digested fat in human diet.
      Phosphorolipids, proteins, peptides and numerous enzymes present inside the
      envelope are characterized by very high biological activity. All - without any
      exception - components of milk fat, also saturated fatty acids considered as
      atherogenic, are extremely biologically active. Lipophylic antioxidants
      (conjugated linoleic acid, alpha-tocopherol, vitamin A and beta-carotene,
      coenzyme Q10, vitamin D3 and phospholipids) are efficient in inhibition of
      processes of lipids peroxidation within cell structures and of plasma
      lipoproteins. The unique components of milk fat i.e. conjugated linoleic acid and
      ether lipids (alkyloglyceroles and alkyloglycerophospholipids) possess the
      broadest spectrum of pro-health activity. 

PMID- 25815622
TI  - [Interpersonal games as a method for doctors' occupational stress].
AB  - Doctors are frequently expose to stress during their occupational work. It is
      mainly the result of burdens caused by taking care of patients, dysfunctional
      arrangements of the health care system and difficult relationships in their
      workplace. Chronic stress brings negative emotions and they need to cope with
      them . Doctors, willing to achieve it, may initiate interpersonal games with the
      hidden motive of restoring their internal balance. Based on transactional
      analysis, the authors describe some of the games which may be found in doctors'
      environment: "How to get out of there", "Mine is better than yours", "Scapegoat",
      "Fault" and "double bind". The outcome of the games may be receiving a support,
      proving a benefit derived from stress, getting the feeling of being not guilty,
      justification, or releasing emotions in apparently unintended way. Interpersonal
      games may help stressed doctors to get rid of internal tension but at the same
      time they may be a source of stress for other participants in the games. The way
      to limit their destructive impact is to create such administrative and
      organizational solutions which allow to make working conditions more friendly. 

PMID- 25815623
TI  - [Abortion and conscientious objection].
AB  - Polish laws specify the parties responsible for lawful medical care in the
      availability of abortion differently than the Resolution of the Council of
      Europe. According to Polish regulations they include all Polish doctors while
      according to the Resolution, the state. Polish rules should not discriminate
      against anyone in connection with his religion or belief, even more so because
      the issue of abortion is an example of an unresolved ethical dispute. The number
      of lawful abortion in Poland does not exceed 1000 per year and can be carried out
      by only a few specialists contracted by the National Health Fund. Sufficient
      information and assistance should be provided to all pregnant women by the
      National Health Fund. The participation of all physicians in the informing
      process is not necessary, as evidenced by the lack of complaints to provide
      information on where in vitro fertilization treatment can be found - until
      recently only available when paid for by the individual and performed in much
      larger numbers than abortion. Entities performing this paid procedure made sure
      to provide information on their own. The rejection of the right to the
      conscientious objection clause by negating the right to refuse information may
      lead some to give up the profession or cause the termination of certain
      professionals on the basis of the professed worldview. Meanwhile, doctors are not
      allowed to be discriminated against on the basis of their conscience or religion.

PMID- 25815624
TI  - Investigating the mechanisms of amylolysis of starch granules by solution-state
      NMR.
AB  - Starch is a prominent component of the human diet and is hydrolyzed by alpha
      amylase post-ingestion. Probing the mechanism of this process has proven
      challenging, due to the intrinsic heterogeneity of individual starch granules. By
      means of solution-state NMR, we demonstrate that flexible polysaccharide chains
      protruding from the solvent-exposed surfaces of waxy rice starch granules are
      highly mobile and that during hydrothermal treatment, when the granules swell,
      the number of flexible residues on the exposed surfaces increases by a factor of
      15. Moreover, we show that these flexible chains are the primary substrates for
      alpha-amylase, being cleaved in the initial stages of hydrolysis. These findings
      allow us to conclude that the quantity of flexible alpha-glucan chains protruding
      from the granule surface will greatly influence the rate of energy acquisition
      from digestion of starch. 

PMID- 25815625
TI  - Long-circulating iodinated albumin-gadolinium nanoparticles as enhanced magnetic
      resonance and computed tomography imaging probes for osteosarcoma visualization.
AB  - Multimodal imaging probes represent an extraordinary tool for accurate diagnosis
      of diseases due to the complementary advantages of multiple imaging modalities.
      The purpose of the work was to fabricate a simple dual-modality MR/CT probe for
      osteosarcoma visualization in vivo. Protein-directed synthesis methods offer a
      suitable alternative to MR/CT probe produced by synthetic chemistry. Bovine serum
      albumin (BSA) bound to gadolinium nanoparticles (GdNPs) was first prepared via a
      biomimetic synthesis method and was subsequently iodinated by chloramine-T
      method. The final iodinated BSA-GdNPs (I-BSA-GdNPs) showed excellent chemical
      stability and biocompatibility, intense X-ray attenuation coefficient, and good
      MR imaging ability. However, an iodinated protein nanoparticles synthesis for
      MR/CT imaging, as well as its useful application, has not been reported yet.
      Intravenous injection of I-BSA-GdNPs into orthotopic osteosarcoma-bearing rats
      led to its accumulation and retention by the tumor, allowing for a noninvasive
      tumor dual-modality imaging through the intact thigh. The long-circulating dual
      model I-BSA-GdNPs probes possess potential application for image-guided drug
      delivery and image-guided surgery. Our study is therefore highlighting the
      properties of albumin in this field combined with its useful use in dual-model
      MR/CT osteosarcoma visualization, underlining its potential use as a drug carrier
      for a future therapy on cancer. 

PMID- 25815626
TI  - Metallothioneins in the lung cancer.
AB  - Metallothioneins (MTs) are low weight proteins involved in several key cellular
      processes such as metal ions homeostasis, detoxification and scavenging of free
      radicals. Four groups of MTs are distinguished: MT-1, MT-2, MT-3 and MT-4.
      Regardless of the type, MTs are characterized by high content of cysteine,
      responsible for their biological properties such as binding of relevant zinc and
      copper ions, as well as toxic ions such as lead and cadmium. MTs were
      additionally shown to protect cells against oxidative stress damage and
      participate in differentiation, proliferation and/or apoptosis of normal and
      cancer cells. Many studies of different neoplasms showed association of elevated
      MTs levels with occurrence of chemo- and radiotherapy resistance and poor
      patients' outcome. In this review, we summarize and discuss the potential
      mechanism of action of metallotioneins in lung physiology and pathology. 

PMID- 25815628
TI  - Argon ion irradiation induced morphological instability of bare and thiol
      functionalized Au(111) surfaces.
AB  - Ar ion irradiation-induced changes in the morphology of bare and 1-dodecanethiol
      self-assembled monolayer (SAM) covered Au(111) surfaces have been investigated
      systematically. The changes were followed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)
      and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements while varying the ion
      charge (Ar(+),Ar(4+)), energy (10-40 keV) and fluency (10(12)-10(13) ions per
      cm(2)). The impact of flame-annealing of the Au(111) surface on subsequent ion
      bombardment was considered and more prominent related surface morphology changes
      were noted. The irradiation of Au(111) surfaces generated Au vacancy and adatom
      islands and caused roughening of step edges. The size and abundance of these
      islands and the level of deformation on the step edges depended strongly on the
      ion energy and fluency. In case of the SAM functionalized surface, the gold
      vacancy islands present on the surface already from the SAM formation were
      modified, step edges roughened and gold adatom islands formed. Similarly to the
      bare surface, the level of surface deformation increased as a function of ion
      energy and fluency. The Ar(4+) irradiation caused on the average slightly larger
      vacancy islands on the SAM modified surfaces than the Ar(+) irradiation.
      Irradiation to fluency of 10(12) ions per cm(2) mostly maintained standing-up
      orientation of the thiolates whereas irradiation to higher fluency resulted in
      reduced surface coverage and flat-lying molecules. As a general trend the DDT
      covered surfaces were more susceptible for irradiation-induced surface morphology
      changes than the unmodified Au surfaces. 

PMID- 25815627
TI  - Neuropathic alterations of the myenteric plexus neurons following subacute
      intraperitoneal administration of salsolinol.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Impairment of the enteric nervous system has been suggested to
      occur within the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, in the current
      study, we consider salsolinol (1-methyl-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4
      tetrahydroisoquinoline, SAL) as a substance that can potentially induce myenteric
      neurodegen-eration. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Male Wistar rats were subjected to
      continuous intraperitoneal dosing of salsolinol (200 mg/kg in total) with osmotic
      mini-pumps for either two or four weeks. An equivalent group of rats served as
      the control. Jejunal myenteric neurons were subjected to immunofluorescence
      staining to detect neuron specific protein - protein gene product (pan-neuronal
      marker, PGP 9.5), nitric oxide synthase (NOS), choline acetyltransferase (ChAT),
      Bax-protein and alpha-synuclein. In search of any functional impairment within
      the gastrointestinal tract, gut motility was assessed by determining the residual
      solid food contents in the stomach and the small and large intestine transit.
      RESULTS: The myenteric neuron count, the mean size of the neuron body, the area
      of ganglia and the diameter of nerve strands were decreased in both of the
      salsolinol-treated groups compared with the controls. The number of NOS-positive
      cells was lower in the salsolinol-treated groups, while the number of ChAT
      positive cells remained unchanged in comparison with the controls. Neurons
      expressing the pro-apoptotic Bax protein and alpha-synuclein deposits were
      observed among the myenteric neurons of the salsolinol-treated rats. CONCLUSIONS:
      Salsolinol evokes enteric neuronal cell death via initiation of apoptosis and
      leads to the formation of pathological aggregates of alpha-synuclein. Impairment
      of myenteric neurons, mainly the inhibitory motor neurons, might be responsible
      for the abnormal intestinal transit. Thus, salsolinol might be regarded as a
      suitable compound for inducing experimental enteric neurodegeneration in rats.

PMID- 25815629
TI  - All-wurtzite ZnO/ZnSe hetero-nanohelix: formation, mechanics and luminescence.
AB  - A unique all-wurtzite ZnO/ZnSe hetero-nanohelix is formed via growing wurtzite
      ZnSe nanoteeth on ZnO nanobelts through a one step thermal evaporation method.
      The microstructure and growth mechanism of the hetero-nanohelix are investigated
      in detail. The formation of metastable wurtzite ZnSe is attributed to the
      wurtzite ZnO template. Mechanical forces, thermal expansion and polar plane in
      hexagonal crystals are suggested to contribute to the bending of the nanohelix. A
      boomerang-like structural block is proposed to assemble the zigzag ZnO nanobelts.
      The incorporation of Se into ZnO results in a strong orange emission. The
      heterostructure of the ZnO/ZnSe nanohelix is confirmed by elemental mapping and
      luminescence imaging. The fabrication of such a hetero-nanohelix may provide
      insights into the growth mechanism of the rich family of ZnO-based
      nanostructures. 

PMID- 25815630
TI  - Reversibly Cross-Linkable Thermoresponsive Self-Folding Hydrogel Films.
AB  - This paper reports a novel approach for the design of self-folding films using
      reversibly cross-linkable thermoresponsive polymers with coumarin groups: poly(N
      isopropylacrylamide-co-7-(2-methacryloyloxyethoxy)-4-methylcoumarin). We
      demonstrated that, depending on the structure of the films and the conditions of
      cross-linking/de-cross-linking, one can fabricate a variety of different forms
      ranging from simple tubes to complex centipede-like structures. The demonstrated
      approach opens new perspectives for the design of 3D self-assembling materials. 

PMID- 25815631
TI  - Intramedullary spinal epidermoid presenting after thoracic meningocele repair:
      case report.
AB  - A 4-year-old girl with a history of thoracic meningocele repair at the age of 3
      months presented with progressive myelopathy. An intramedullary thoracic
      epidermoid was identified on MRI. The patient underwent excision of the
      epidermoid and subsequently returned to neurological baseline. This case
      illustrates the potential for delayed development of intraspinal epidermoid after
      initial repair of a simple meningocele. 

PMID- 25815632
TI  - Multimodal treatment strategies for complex pediatric cerebral arteriovenous
      fistulas: contemporary case series at Barrow Neurological Institute.
AB  - OBJECT Pediatric cerebral arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) are rare but potentially
      lethal vascular lesions. Management strategies for these lesions have undergone
      considerable evolution in the last decade with the advent of new endovascular,
      surgical, and radiosurgical technologies. This study sought to review current
      treatment strategies and long-term clinical outcomes at a high-volume
      cerebrovascular institute. METHODS A retrospective chart review was performed on
      patients with a diagnosis of cerebral AVF from 1999 to 2012. Patients with
      carotid-cavernous fistulas, vein of Galen malformations, and age > 18 years were
      excluded from final analysis. Medical history, surgical and nonsurgical
      treatment, and clinical outcomes were documented. Pre- and postoperative
      angiograms were analyzed to assess for obliteration of the fistula. RESULTS
      Seventeen patients with pial AVFs (29.4%), dural AVFs (64.7%), or mixed
      pial/dural AVFs (5.9%) were identified. The majority of lesions were paramedian
      (70.6%) and supratentorial (76.5%). The study population had a mean age of 6.4
      years, with a slight male predominance (52.9%), and the most common presenting
      symptoms were seizures (23.5%), headaches (17.6%), congestive heart failure
      (11.7%), and enlarging head circumference (11.7%). Among patients who underwent
      intervention (n = 16), 56.3% were treated with endovascular therapy alone, 6.3%
      were treated with open surgery alone, and 37.5% required a multimodal approach.
      Overall, 93.8% of the treated patients received endovascular treatment, 43.8%
      received open surgery, and 12.5% received radiosurgery. Endovascular embolysates
      included Onyx (n = 5), N-butyl cyanoacrylate (NBCA; n = 4), or coil embolization
      (n = 7) with or without balloon assistance (n = 2). Complete angiographic
      obliteration was achieved in 87.5% at the last follow-up evaluation (mean follow
      up 3.1 years). One infant with incomplete AVF obliteration died of congestive
      heart failure, and 1 patient with complete obliteration died of acute sinus
      thrombosis, with an overall complication rate of 18.8%. CONCLUSIONS Pediatric
      cerebral AVFs are challenging neurosurgical lesions. Although advancements in
      endovascular therapy in the last decade have greatly changed the natural course
      of this disease, a multidisciplinary approach remains necessary for a large
      subset of patients. Surgeon experience with a thorough analysis of preoperative
      imaging is paramount to achieving acceptable clinical outcomes. 

PMID- 25815633
TI  - Transoccipital endoscopic fenestration of atrial cysts causing ventricular
      entrapment.
AB  - OBJECT Cystic lesions in the atrium (trigone) of the lateral ventricle may become
      symptomatic due to obstruction of physiological CSF circulation and/or from mass
      effect on adjacent structures. A minimally invasive approach that not only allows
      for straightforward access to multiple regions of the atrial cyst wall, but also
      enables direct inspection of the entire lateral ventricular system, has not been
      elaborated. In this paper the authors describe their experience with the
      endoscopic transoccipital horn approach for treating cystic lesions in the atrium
      of the lateral ventricle. METHODS A retrospective review was performed of all
      patients who underwent endoscopic surgical treatment for cysts in the atrium of
      the lateral ventricle between 1999 and 2014. RESULTS The cohort consisted of 13
      consecutive patients who presented with symptomatic lateral ventricular
      entrapment due to the presence of an atrial cyst. There were 9 male and 4 female
      patients, with a median age of 5 years. Headache was the most common complaint at
      presentation. The transoccipital horn approach facilitated successful cyst
      reduction and fenestration in all cases. Temporal and occipital horn entrapment
      was reversed in all cases, with reestablishment of a physiological CSF flow
      pattern throughout the ventricles. Hydrocephalus was also reversed in all
      patients presenting with this neuroimaging finding at presentation. No cyst or
      ventricular entrapment was noted to recur during a mean follow-up period of 36
      months. No patient in the study cohort required repeat surgery or permanent CSF
      diversion postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS The endoscopic transoccipital horn
      approach represents a safe and effective treatment strategy for patients with
      symptomatic atrial cysts of the lateral ventricle. Using this minimally invasive
      technique, all poles of the lateral ventricular system can be visualized and the
      unobstructed flow of CSF can be confirmed after cyst resection obviating the need
      for additional diversion. 

PMID- 25815634
TI  - Yawning as a presenting symptom of Chiari malformation Type I: report of 2 cases.
AB  - Yawning is thought to be a behavior regulated by the brainstem. Although
      excessive yawning has been reported in brainstem strokes, demyelination, and
      tumors, the cases presented here are the first reports of excessive yawning in
      patients with Chiari malformation Type I (CM-I). The authors believe that
      brainstem compression at the craniocervical junction and ensuing edema were
      implicated in this curious symptomatology. They describe excessive yawning as a
      presenting feature of CM-I in 2 adolescent females. The presentation was acute in
      the first case and more chronic in the second. Both patients underwent foramen
      magnum decompression, which resulted in complete cessation of the excessive
      yawning. 

PMID- 25815635
TI  - Even mild depression is associated with among-day blood pressure variability,
      including masked non-dipping assessed by 7-d/24-h ambulatory blood pressure
      monitoring.
AB  - The effect of mild depression on blood pressure (BP) was assessed in 116 Japanese
      (32-79 years). As compared to non-depressive (Geriatric Depression Scale, GDS-15
      score <5) subjects, mild depressives (GDS-15 score: 1-15) had shorter sleep
      duration (p = 0.021), lower subjective quality of life (health: p = 0.016; life
      satisfaction: p < 0.001; and happiness: p < 0.001), and higher 7-d systolic BP (p
      < 0.05). "Masked non-dipping" (dipping on day 1, but non-dipping on at least 1 of
      the following 6 d) was more frequent among depressive than non-depressive
      normotensives (p = 0.008). Among-day BP variability may underlie cardiovascular
      disease accompanying a key component of psychological depression. 

PMID- 25815637
TI  - Comprehensive kinetic analysis and influence of reaction components for
      chlorzoxazone 6-hydroxylation in human liver microsomes with CYP antibodies.
AB  - 1. Chlorzoxazone (CLZ) is currently being used as a marker substrate in
      vitro/vivo studies to quantify cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) activity in humans.
      Although in CLZ 6-hydroxylation several CYPs are responsible, previous studies
      have presented the monophasicity of the reaction in human liver microsomes
      (HLMs). Furthermore, the Km values of CYP2E1 for the 6-hydroxylation in HLMs were
      reported to be lower than those of its recombinant enzymes. 2. This study aimed
      to provide the comprehensive Km values for the CLZ 6-hydroxylation in HLMs using
      CYP antibodies. The Eadie-Hofstee plots revealed a biphasic profile and indicate
      that the reaction was mainly mediated by CYP1A2 as well as CYP2E1. The formation
      of 6-hydroxychlorzoxazone was more specific for CYP2E1 activity at higher
      substrate concentration in HLMs. 3. Moreover, KOH as a vehicle for substrate or
      sucrose included in HLMs preparation had some effect on the activity of CLZ 6
      hydroxylase. These constituents seemed to be casually related to the apparent
      monophasic kinetics and variability in Km values for the CLZ 6-hydroxylation in
      HLMs. 4. The Km of CYP1A2 and CYP2E1 in HLMs was 3.8 umol/L and 410 umol/L,
      respectively, and the value of CYP2E1 was close to that of recombinant CYP2E1. 

PMID- 25815638
TI  - Reactive metabolite activation by CYP2C19-mediated rhein hepatotoxicity.
AB  - 1. Rhein, an active ingredient in the root of rhubarb, is used for its beneficial
      effects in a variety of clinical applications including the treatment of
      osteoarthritis and diabetic nephropathy. However, its hepatotoxicity has been
      reported in recent years. Rhein belongs to the conjugate structure which could be
      activated to reactive metabolites (RMs) inducing side-effects. This study is to
      explore the relationship between RMs and hepatotoxicity. 2. Based on the early
      detection of RMs, we have established a series of key technologies to research
      rhein hepatotoxicity mechanism: IC50 shift experiments and reduced glutathione
      (GSH) trapping experiment are adopted to identify RMs. The model of low activity
      of CYP450 enzymes (CYPs) in primary rat hepatocyte is constructed to analyze the
      relationship between the primary metabolic enzyme and hepatotoxicity of rhein
      better. 3. The IC50 shift value for CYP2C19 is 1.989, it suggests that CYP2C19
      could activate rhein to RM. The structure of RM is epoxide intermediate. Besides,
      it is found that CYP2C19 is a primary metabolic enzyme for rhein. In the
      cytotoxicity assay, it is reported that rhein could cause mitochondrial
      dysfunction. Furthermore, mitochondrial membrane potential (Deltapsim) and AST
      levels could be restored by adding inhibitor of CYP2C19 together with rhein,
      which further shows that CYP2C19 could mediate the hepatotoxicity of rhein. 4. We
      put forward the possible mechanism that reactive metabolite activation by CYP2C19
      mediated rhein hepatotoxicity, it provides important information on predicting in
      vivo drug-induced liver injury (DILI). 

PMID- 25815639
TI  - Real-time evaluation of cell viability using nanoprobes.

PMID- 25815636
TI  - A nonapoptotic role for BAX and BAK in eicosanoid metabolism.
AB  - BCL-2 proteins are key regulators of programmed cell death. The interplay between
      pro and antiapoptotic BCL-2 members has important roles in many cancers. In
      addition to their apoptotic function, recent evidence supports key nonapoptotic
      roles for several BCL-2 proteins. We used an unbiased lipidomics strategy to
      reveal that the proapoptotic proteins BAX, and to a lesser extent BAK, regulate
      the cellular inflammatory response by mediating COX-2 expression and
      prostaglandin biosynthesis. COX-2 upregulation in response to the bacterial
      endotoxin lipopolysaccharide is blunted in the absence of BAX, and Bax(-/-) mouse
      embryonic fibroblasts display altered kinetics of NFkappaB and MAPK signaling
      following endotoxin treatment. Our approach uncovers a novel, nonapoptotic
      function for BAX in regulation of the cellular inflammatory response and suggests
      that inflammation and apoptosis are more tightly connected than previously
      anticipated. 

PMID- 25815640
TI  - Determinants of clinician adoption of regenerative therapies in the UK and
      Canada: an ophthalmology perspective.
AB  - The determinants of adoption of regenerative medicine therapies are currently
      poorly understood. This study aims to draw comparison between the UK and Canada
      in terms of factors likely to affect healthcare adoption of future regenerative
      therapies in ophthalmology. Conducting semi-structured interviews with senior
      ophthalmologists in the UK and Canada, their perceptions of factors either
      enabling or limiting adoption were recorded and analyzed. A number of key
      concepts were extracted from the interview data, perceived by stakeholders to
      contribute to adoption. The core factors developed in this work will be of use to
      those looking to understand the opportunities and risks involved in securing
      clinician adoption in both the UK and Canada. 

PMID- 25815644
TI  - The Causes of Their Death Appear (Unto Our Shame Perpetual): Why Root Cause
      Analysis Is Not the Best Model for Error Investigation in Mental Health Services.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Root cause analysis (RCA) is the model of accident investigation
      mandated by the New South Wales Ministry of Health in Australia to review all
      serious incidents. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the RCA model is not suitable
      for reviewing adverse events in mental health services such as suicides and
      homicides. The aims of the research were to evaluate the impact of RCA on
      improving patient outcomes in a regional mental health service in New South
      Wales, Australia, and to discover whether the RCA model is the most appropriate
      model in mental health. METHODS: The literature on RCA was reviewed. The
      effectiveness of implementation of RCA recommendations was evaluated using
      quantitative and qualitative data. RESULTS: Suicides and homicides, which
      constitute 90% of serious critical incidents in mental health, do not always lend
      themselves well to identification of a root cause. There is evidence for low
      clinician engagement in the recommendations that arise from RCAs and a poor level
      of evidence that implementation of RCA recommendations results in safer patient
      care. Most troubling is the finding that RCAs frequently make recommendations
      that repeat existing policy or previous recommendations. CONCLUSIONS: Although
      the RCA model offers a formal and systematic approach to the review of serious
      critical incidents in mental health, it is not the model of best fit. Only 65% of
      recommendations made through RCA reviews are implemented within 12 months.

PMID- 25815641
TI  - CaMKII Phosphorylation of Na(V)1.5: Novel in Vitro Sites Identified by Mass
      Spectrometry and Reduced S516 Phosphorylation in Human Heart Failure.
AB  - The cardiac voltage-gated sodium channel, Na(V)1.5, drives the upstroke of the
      cardiac action potential and is a critical determinant of myocyte excitability.
      Recently, calcium (Ca(2+))/calmodulin(CaM)-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII)
      has emerged as a critical regulator of Na(V)1.5 function through phosphorylation
      of multiple residues including S516, T594, and S571, and these phosphorylation
      events may be important for the genesis of acquired arrhythmias, which occur in
      heart failure. However, phosphorylation of full-length human Na(V)1.5 has not
      been systematically analyzed and Na(V)1.5 phosphorylation in human heart failure
      is incompletely understood. In the present study, we used label-free mass
      spectrometry to assess phosphorylation of human Na(V)1.5 purified from HEK293
      cells with full coverage of phosphorylatable sites and identified 23 sites that
      were phosphorylated by CaMKII in vitro. We confirmed phosphorylation of S516 and
      S571 by LC-MS/MS and found a decrease in S516 phosphorylation in human heart
      failure, using a novel phospho-specific antibody. This work furthers our
      understanding of the phosphorylation of Na(V)1.5 by CaMKII under normal and
      disease conditions, provides novel CaMKII target sites for functional validation,
      and provides the first phospho-proteomic map of full-length human Na(V)1.5.

PMID- 25815646
TI  - Usefulness of dual-phase 18F-FDG PET/CT for diagnosing small pancreatic tumors.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The usefulness of dual-phase F-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) positron
      emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for pancreatic tumors was
      investigated including numerous small tumors. METHODS: Consecutive 116 patients
      with solid pancreatic tumors were subjected. Maximum standard uptake values
      (SUVmax) at 1 and 2 hours after FDG injection were defined as early and delayed
      SUVmax, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to
      determine the optimal cutoff value of early SUVmax. Diagnostic accuracy of dual
      phase FDG PET/CT was compared with that of single phase. RESULTS: The mean +/- SD
      tumor size was 25 +/-12 mm in diameter. The level of early SUVmax and proportion
      of elevated SUVmax in delayed phase were significantly higher in malignancy than
      those in benignancy for less than 25 mm tumors (4.1 +/- 2.6 vs 1.9 +/- 0.5, P <
      0.001; 89% vs 17%, P < 0.0001) although they did not reach statistical
      significance for greater than or equal to 25 mm tumors. When diagnostic criteria
      of dual-phase FDG PET/CT for less than 25 mm tumors were determined as (1) early
      SUVmax greater than or equal to 2.1 and/or (2) delayed SUVmax greater than early
      SUVmax, sensitivity, specificity, and over all accuracy of dual-phase FDG PET/CT
      were better than that of single phase for less than 25 mm tumor (93%, 83%, and
      91% vs 79%, 83%, and 80%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Dual-phase FDG PET/CT might
      be useful for diagnosing small pancreatic tumors.

PMID- 25815645
TI  - High phosphate serum levels correlate with the severity of experimental severe
      acute pancreatitis: insight into the purinergic system.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Extracellular purines are a component of the systemic inflammatory
      response, and their levels are modulated by ectonucleotidases. In addition,
      nucleotide hydrolysis releases phosphate. We studied serum phosphate levels as a
      predictor of severity in acute pancreatitis (AP) and their correlation with
      extracellular purinergic metabolism. METHODS: Acute pancreatitis was induced by
      the retrograde injection of sodium taurocholate. The AP group was compared with
      animals submitted to a model of sepsis by cecal ligation and puncture. The sham
      group was submitted to laparotomy and closure. We measured the phosphate and
      purine levels in serum and the expression of 5'-nucleotidase (CD73) and the
      adenosine A2a receptor in pancreatic tissue by quantitative real-time polymerase
      chain reaction. RESULTS: Serum phosphate levels were higher in severe AP and
      correlated with severity. Severe AP led to increased serum levels of adenosine
      diphosphate, adenosine monophosphate, and adenosine. In addition, adenosine
      monophosphate conversion to adenosine in serum was accelerated in the AP groups.
      We found a positive correlation between serum adenosine and phosphate in the AP
      groups. The expression levels of CD73 and the adenosine A2a receptor in the
      pancreas were not altered. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that serum phosphate
      correlates with severity in AP and implicates extracellular purines in the
      systemic response to severe AP.

PMID- 25815647
TI  - Nationwide epidemiological survey of autoimmune pancreatitis in Japan in 2011.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To clarify the clinicoepidemiological features of autoimmune
      pancreatitis (AIP) in Japan, a nationwide epidemiological survey was conducted.
      METHODS: Patients with AIP who had visited selected hospitals in 2011 were
      surveyed. Autoimmune pancreatitis was diagnosed according to the revised clinical
      diagnostic criteria for AIP (Japan Pancreas Society 2011). The study consisted of
      2 stage surveys; the number of patients with AIP was estimated by the first
      questionnaire, and their clinical features were assessed by the second
      questionnaire. RESULTS: The estimated total number of AIP patients in 2011 was
      5745 (95% confidence interval, 5325-6164), with an overall prevalence rate of 4.6
      per 100,000 population. The number of patients who were newly diagnosed as AIP
      was estimated to be 1808 (95% confidence interval, 1597-2018), with an annual
      incidence rate of 1.4 per 100,000 population. The sex ratio (male to female) was
      3.2, and the mean age was 66.3 (11.5). Among the 936 patients whose detailed
      clinical information was obtained, 86.4% of the patients presented high serum
      immunoglobulin G4 levels (>=135 mg/dL), and 82.3% received steroid therapy.
      CONCLUSIONS: The data represent the current clinical features of AIP in Japan.

PMID- 25815648
TI  - In vitro activity of calcium sulfate and hydroxyapatite antifungal disks loaded
      with amphotericin B or voriconazole in consideration for adjunctive osteomyelitis
      management.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Regarding antibiotic-loaded cements, there is an abundant amount of
      literature regarding the antibacterial in vitro inhibitory and clinical
      applications for the treatment of osteomyelitis. The opposite can be said about
      literature regarding in vitro antifungal-loaded cement drug delivery for the
      treatment of fungal osteomyelitis. METHODS: Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida
      (ATCC 1023ATCC, Manassas, Virginia) were plated on antibiotic/antifungal-free
      plates. Voriconazole- and amphotericin B-impregnated calcium sulfate and
      hydroxyapatite (HA) disks, calcium sulfate + HA control disks, and control
      polymethylmethacrylate disks were laid separately onto plates separately
      inoculated with Aspergillus and Candida spp. The zones of inhibition obtained
      were measured in millimeters at 24, 36, and 96 hours. RESULTS: Etest (bioMerieux,
      Marcy l'Etoile, France) results demonstrated susceptibility of Aspergillus and
      Candida to amphotericin B and voriconazole. The zone of inhibition data
      demonstrated that voriconazole and amphotericin B retained their antifungal
      activity when mixed into the calcium sulfate + HA bone void filler and eluted at
      biologically effective antifungal concentrations over 96 hours. CONCLUSIONS: The
      calcium sulfate + HA bone void filler is a biocompatible ceramic carrier vehicle
      that can successfully deliver the antifungal drugs voriconazole and amphotericin
      B in the adjunctive treatment of fungal osteomyelitis. It is a reliable strategy
      in the local delivery of antifungal drugs to an area of osteomyelitis.

PMID- 25815649
TI  - Isolation of dermatophytes (and other fungi) from human nail and skin dust
      produced by podiatric medical treatments in Australia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Podiatric physicians routinely use electric drills for the treatment
      of nail and skin conditions. The grinding process produces human nail and skin
      dust that is generally vacuumed into bags in the grinding unit. Many of the nails
      are thought to be mycotic, particularly because they are obtained from patients
      with symptoms of dermatophyte infections. Currently, there is limited information
      available on the detection of fungi from nail dust samples. Herein, we attempt to
      address this situation and outline some of the difficulties that pathology
      laboratories face in isolating and identifying dermatophytes from nail samples.
      METHODS: Fifty nail dust bags from podiatric medical clinics across all of the
      states and territories of Australia were collected and analyzed. Samples from the
      bags were inoculated onto primary isolation media. Fungal colonies that grew were
      then inoculated onto potato dextrose agar for identification using standard
      morphological (macroscopic and microscopic) features. RESULTS: One hundred fifty
      one colonies of dermatophytes were identified from 43 of the 50 samples. In
      addition 471 nondermatophyte molds were isolated, along with some yeasts and
      bacteria. CONCLUSIONS: The most common dermatophytes isolated were from the
      Trichophyton mentagrophytes/interdigitale complexes. Trichophyton rubrum,
      Trichophyton tonsurans, Trichophyton soudanense, and Epidermophyton floccosum
      were also isolated. An unidentified group of dermatophytes was also present. The
      three most common genera of nondermatophyte molds were Aspergillus, Penicillium,
      and Scopulariopsis, all of which have been implicated in onychomycosis and more
      general disease. The presence of viable fungal pathogens in the dust could
      potentially pose a health problem to podiatric physicians.

PMID- 25815650
TI  - The prevalence of interdigital erythrasma: a prospective study from an outpatient
      clinic in Turkey.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Erythrasma is a superficial skin infection caused by Corynebacterium
      minutissimum . Interdigital erythrasma is the most common form and is easily
      confused with tinea pedis. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence
      of interdigital erythrasma in patients with clinically suspected tinea pedis.
      METHODS: This study was performed between January 1, 2011, and January 31, 2012.
      It included 182 patients who presented with concerns about interdigital lesions.
      All of the patients were examined with a Wood's lamp, and smears were stained
      with Gram's method. Direct examination with 20% potassium hydroxide was
      performed. RESULTS: Of 182 patients with interdigital lesions, 73 (40.1%) were
      diagnosed as having erythrasma. The mean +/- SD age of the patients with
      erythrasma was 45.52 +/- 10.83 years (range, 22-70 years). Most of the patients
      with erythrasma were women (56.2%). The most often clinical finding was
      desquamation. Using only Wood's lamp examination or Gram's staining resulted in
      31 (42.5%) or 14 (19.2%) positive patients, respectively. Using Wood's lamp
      examination and Gram's staining concurrently resulted in 28 positive patients
      (38.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Interdigital erythrasma is a common condition and can be
      difficult to differentiate from tinea pedis. Simple and rapid diagnosis can be
      made with Wood's lamp examination, but Gram's staining is also a useful method,
      especially in patients with negative Wood's lamp examination findings.

PMID- 25815651
TI  - Pseudomonas aeruginosa: an uncommon cause of diabetic foot infection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pseudomonas aeruginosa has traditionally been considered a common
      pathogen in diabetic foot infection (DFI), yet the 2012 Infectious Diseases
      Society of America guideline for DFI states that "empiric therapy directed at P
      aeruginosa is usually unnecessary." The objective of this study was to evaluate
      the frequency of P aeruginosa isolated from bone or tissue cultures from patients
      with DFI. METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional survey of diabetic patients
      presenting with a foot infection to an urban county hospital between July 1,
      2012, and December 31, 2013. All of the patients had at least one debridement
      procedure during which tissue or bone cultures from operative or bedside
      debridements were obtained. The chi(2) test and the t test of means were used to
      determine relationships between variables and the frequency of P aeruginosa in
      culture. RESULTS: The median number of bacteria isolated from DFI was two.
      Streptococcus spp and Staphylococcus aureus were the most commonly isolated
      organisms; P aeruginosa was isolated in only five of 112 patients (4.5%). The
      presence of P aeruginosa was not associated with the patient's age, glycosylated
      hemoglobin level, tobacco abuse, the presence of osteomyelitis, a prescription
      for antibiotic drugs in the preceding 3 months, or the type of operative
      procedure. CONCLUSIONS: Pseudomonas aeruginosa was an infrequent isolate from DFI
      in this urban, underserved diabetic population. The presence of P aeruginosa was
      not associated with any measured risk factors. By introducing a clinical practice
      guideline, we hope to discourage frontline providers from using routine
      antipseudomonal antibiotic drugs for DFI.

PMID- 25815652
TI  - Occupational stress among Australian podiatric physicians in general and
      geriatric practice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: High levels of occupational stress have been reported in podiatric
      physicians practicing in Australia. One possible stressor is the predominance of
      the treatment of aged patients with chronic disease in podiatric medical
      practice. METHODS: Forty podiatric physicians attending a regional podiatric
      medical conference were invited to participate in the research using a
      convenience sampling method. Podiatric physicians were asked to complete a survey
      examining occupational stress in general and specifically in relation to practice
      with older adults (defined as those older than 65 years). RESULTS: The survey of
      sources of occupational stress among podiatrists identified patient demands and
      expectations as the most significant stressor in general and geriatric practice
      for the podiatric physician. The perceived limited clinical gains and chronic
      nature of the conditions in older patients was also ranked highly as a stressor.
      CONCLUSIONS: Working with the elderly is a substantial part of podiatric medical
      practice and, as such, needs to be seen with a more positive attitude by many
      practitioners. The development of geriatric practice as a speciality within the
      profession may help raise the value of working with the elderly. This has
      implications for preparing podiatric physicians for practice with the geriatric
      population along with the need for strategies to avoid or minimize these work
      stressors.

PMID- 25815653
TI  - Ultrasound diagnosis and evaluation of plantar heel pain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: One of the most common causes of heel pain is plantar fasciitis;
      however, there are other pathologic disorders that can mimic the symptoms and
      clinical presentation of this disorder. The purpose of this study was to
      retrospectively review the prevalence of various pathologic disorders on
      ultrasound in patients with proximal plantar heel pain. METHODS: The medical
      records and diagnostic ultrasound reports of patients presenting with plantar
      heel pain between March 1, 2006, and March 31, 2007, were reviewed
      retrospectively, and the prevalence of various etiologies was collected. The
      inclusion criteria were based on their clinical presentation of plantar fasciitis
      or previous diagnosis of plantar fasciitis from an unknown source. Ultrasound
      evaluation was then performed to confirm the clinical diagnosis. RESULTS: We
      examined 175 feet of 143 patients (62 males and 81 females; age range, 16-79
      years). Plantar fibromas were present in 90 feet (51%). Plantar fasciitis was
      diagnosed in 128 feet (73%). Coexistent plantar fibroma and plantar fascial
      thickening was found in 63 feet (36%). Of the 47 feet that were negative for
      plantar fasciitis on ultrasound, 27 (57%) revealed the presence of plantar
      fibroma. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic ultrasound can effectively and safely identify
      the prevalence of various etiologies of heel pain. The high prevalence of plantar
      fibromas and plantar fascial tears cannot be determined by clinical examination
      alone, and, therefore, ultrasound evaluation should be performed for confirmation
      of diagnosis.

PMID- 25815654
TI  - Radiographic anatomy of the foot and ankle-part 5. The phalanges.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The normal radiographic anatomy of the foot and ankle, aside from my
      previous work, has been addressed only superficially or sparingly in the medical
      literature. This project correlates the detailed radiographic anatomy of the
      entire adult foot and ankle (two-dimensional) to osteology (three-dimensional).
      METHODS: Each bone's position was determined after meticulous examination and
      correlation to an articulated skeleton relative to the image receptor and
      direction of the x-ray beam, with correlation to the radiograph for confirmation.
      RESULTS: Images of each foot and distal leg bone ("front" and "back"
      perspectives) are presented alongside a corresponding radiographic image for
      comparison. The normal gross and radiographic anatomy is correlated and described
      for each radiographic positioning technique. CONCLUSIONS: Foundational knowledge
      is provided that future researchers can use as a baseline ("normal") and that
      students and practitioners can use for comparison when interpreting radiographs
      and distinguishing abnormal findings. The results of the original project, owing
      to its broad scope, have been divided into five parts: the lower leg, the greater
      tarsus, the lesser tarsus, the metatarsals, and the phalanges (the focus of this
      article).

PMID- 25815655
TI  - Entrapment of the superficial peroneal nerve: an anatomical insight.
AB  - Entrapment of the superficial peroneal nerve is an uncommon neuropathy that may
      occur because of mechanical compression of the nerve, usually at its exit from
      the crural fascia. The symptoms include sensory alterations over the distribution
      area of the superficial peroneal nerve. Clinical examination, electrophysiologic
      findings, and imaging techniques can establish the diagnosis. Variations in the
      superficial peroneal sensory innervation over the dorsum of the foot may lead to
      variable results during neurologic examination and variable symptomatology in
      patients with nerve entrapment or lesions. Knowledge of the nerve's anatomy at
      the lower leg, foot, and ankle is of essential significance for the neurologist
      and surgeon intervening in the area. 

PMID- 25815656
TI  - Fracture healing: an appraisal of the effects of frequently prescribed
      medications.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recognizing the existence of adverse drug effects of frequently
      prescribed drugs can empower a clinician with knowledge to avoid dangerous
      adverse effects that may result in hazardous, negative patient outcomes on either
      fracture healing or bone health. Pharmacovigilance reports have described the
      influence of medications, allowing for bone health to be quite unpredictable.
      METHODS: First, mechanisms found in the medical literature of potential drug
      adverse effects regarding fracture healing are presented. Second, the 100 most
      frequently prescribed medications in 2010 are reviewed regarding adverse effects
      on fracture healing. These reported adverse effects are evaluated for medical
      causation. Last, a data table describing the 100 reviewed medications and their
      reported effects on fracture healing is provided. RESULTS: The actual number of
      different medications in the review was 72. Reported drug adverse effects on bone
      and fracture healing occurred with 59 of the 72 drugs (81.9%). These adverse
      effects are either described as a definitive statement or represented by
      postmarketing case reports. Thirteen of the 72 review drugs (18.1%) did not have
      any description of the possible effects on bone health. A total of 301 cases
      reports describing delayed union, malunion, and nonunion of fractures represent
      31 of the 72 medications reviewed (43.1%). CONCLUSIONS: This review offers the
      health-care provider information regarding potential adverse drug effects on bone
      health. Empowered with this information, clinicians may assist their patients in
      maximizing pharmacologic outcomes by avoiding these reported harmful adverse
      effects.

PMID- 25815657
TI  - Severe chronic heel pain in a diabetic patient with plantar fasciitis
      successfully treated through transcranial direct current stimulation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recently, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a
      noninvasive brain stimulation technique, was proposed as a suitable method for
      the treatment of several chronic pain syndromes. We describe a case of severe
      heel pain in a diabetic patient with plantar fasciitis successfully treated with
      tDCS. METHODS: The present study investigated whether tDCS treatment could reduce
      pain and pain-related anxiety in a 65-year-old diabetic man affected by treatment
      resistant right heel pain due to plantar fasciitis. The patient underwent five
      tDCS treatment sessions on 5 consecutive days. Each session consisted of 20-min
      anodal tDCS over the left primary motor cortex leg area. RESULTS: The
      neurostimulation protocol induced a decrease in pain intensity and pain-related
      anxiety that outlasted the stimulation (1 week). Furthermore, the patient stopped
      the intake of opioid medication. CONCLUSIONS: Therapeutic neuromodulation with
      tDCS may represent an alternative option for treating severe lower-extremity
      pain.

PMID- 25815659
TI  - A rare presentation of foot pain: bilateral navicular-medial cuneiform coalition.
AB  - In this case report, we discuss a rare tarsal coalition occurring bilaterally
      between the navicular and the medial cuneiform in a 15-year-old girl and
      highlight the management of such cases. 

PMID- 25815658
TI  - Multiple simultaneous metatarsal stress fractures in the same foot.
AB  - Metatarsal stress fractures are common overuse injuries in athletes, military
      recruits, and ballet dancers, usually occurring in the second, third, and fourth
      metatarsals, respectively. Such fractures may also occur in a variety of other
      individuals, regardless of demographic characteristics, sex, or profession, and
      they are highly associated with excessive activity. Moreover, these types of
      fractures are usually diagnosed late and have poor outcomes. To our knowledge,
      there has been only one case report of an individual with stress fractures of all
      three central metatarsals in the same foot. We describe herein a racehorse
      training jockey who presented with multiple simultaneous metatarsal stress
      fractures in the same foot. We also discuss the possible mechanisms by which this
      entity occurred, as well as its management and outcome. 

PMID- 25815660
TI  - To cipro or not to cipro: bilateral achilles ruptures with the use of quinolones.
AB  - Ciprofloxacin and other fluoroquinolones are commonly used broad-spectrum
      antimicrobial agents for treating bacterial infections. This class of antibiotic
      drugs has uncommon adverse effects that include tendonitis, tendon ruptures, and
      other tendon abnormalities. We describe a patient with spontaneous bilateral
      complete Achilles tendon rupture after ciprofloxacin treatment. Surgical repair
      was performed successfully, and the patient completed physical rehabilitation
      without incident. Care should be exercised when selecting pharmaceutical agents
      to maintain a positive benefit-to-risk balance. 

PMID- 25815661
TI  - Acral lentiginous melanoma of the foot misdiagnosed as a traumatic ulcer. A
      cautionary case.
AB  - The incidence of cutaneous melanoma is rising faster than that of almost any
      other cancer in the United States. Acral lentiginous melanoma is a subtype of
      melanoma that involves the palms, soles, and nail beds. Although it is one of the
      rarer types of melanoma, it has a poorer prognosis than other more common
      subtypes. We describe a case of plantar acral melanoma in a 66-year-old woman
      that was initially misdiagnosed as a traumatic foot ulcer. We highlight this case
      to emphasize the importance of close observation and biopsy of ulcerative lesions
      of the foot that have atypical features or are refractory to standard treatment. 

PMID- 25815662
TI  - Red, exophytic nodule of the plantar foot an unusual presentation of a pyogenic
      granuloma.
AB  - Pyogenic granulomas are benign vascular tumors characterized histologically by a
      lobular proliferation of capillaries. We report an unusual presentation of a
      pyogenic granuloma in an elderly patient with a bleeding red nodule on the
      plantar surface of the foot. Nodular exophytic plantar foot lesions often present
      a diagnostic challenge, as the differential diagnosis includes benign and
      malignant entities ranging from eccrine poroma and pyogenic granuloma to Kaposi's
      sarcoma and amelanotic melanoma. This case highlights the need for an adequate
      biopsy technique to confirm the diagnosis and guide management. 

PMID- 25815663
TI  - The role of podiatric medicine in the health-care team. A paradigm shift.
AB  - As physicians, podiatric medical doctors should not define themselves as medical
      professionals who treat the foot and ankle but rather as medical professionals
      who prevent, diagnose, and treat people who have foot and ankle problems.
      Patients who come to see podiatric physicians often have other health-care
      issues, and because of the education and training that doctors of podiatric
      medicine receive, they are uniquely qualified to identify and respond to findings
      not only related to the pedal extremity but also that may affect overall health,
      have a major effect on quality of life, and even help reduce overall health-care
      costs. The role of podiatric medicine as a truly integrated branch of medical
      care needs to be reassessed. 

PMID- 25815664
TI  - The 1-percent solution.

PMID- 25815669
TI  - Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 3-substituted amino-4
      hydroxylcoumarin derivatives as chitin synthase inhibitors and antifungal agents.
AB  - A series of novel 3-substituted amino-4-hydroxycoumarin derivatives have been
      designed and synthesized as chitin synthase (CHS) inhibitors. All the synthesized
      compounds have been screened for their CHS inhibition activity and antimicrobial
      activity in vitro. The enzymatic assay indicated that most of the compounds have
      good inhibitory activity against CHS, in which compound 6o with IC50 of 0.10
      mmol/L had stronger activity than that of polyoxins B, which acts as control drug
      with IC50 of 0.18 mmol/L. As far as the antifungal activity is concerned, most of
      the compounds possessed moderate to excellent activity against some
      representative pathogenic fungi. Especially, compound 6b was found to be the most
      potent agent against Cryptococcus neoformans with minimal inhibitory
      concentration (MIC) of 4 MUg/mL. Moreover, the results of antibacterial screening
      showed that these compounds have negligible actions to some tested bacteria.
      Therefore, these compounds would be promising to develop selective antifungal
      agents.

PMID- 25815668
TI  - Synthesis, antitumor activity and molecular docking study of some novel 3-benzyl
      4(3H)quinazolinone analogues.
AB  - A novel series of 3-benzyl-substituted-4(3H)-quinazolinones were designed,
      synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antitumor activity. The results of
      this study demonstrated that 2-(3-benzyl-6-methyl-4-oxo-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2
      ylthio)-N-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)acetamide, 2-(3-benzyl-6,7-dimethoxy-4-oxo-3,4
      dihydroquinazolin-2-ylthio)-N-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)acetamide and 3-(3-benzyl-6
      methyl-4-oxo-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2-ylthio)-N-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)
      propanamide have shown amazing broad spectrum antitumor activity with mean GI(50)
      (10.47, 7.24 and 14.12 uM. respectively), and are nearly 1.5-3.0-fold more potent
      compared with the positive control 5-FU with mean GI50, 22.60 uM. On the other
      hand, compounds 6 and 10 yielded selective activities toward CNS, renal and
      breast cancer cell lines, whereas compound 9 showed selective activities towards
      leukemia cell lines. Molecular docking methodology was performed for compounds 7
      and 8 into ATP binding site of EGFR-TK which showed similar binding mode to
      erlotinib, while compound 11 into ATP binding site of B-RAF kinase inhibited the
      growth of melanoma cell lines through inhibition of B-RAF kinase, similar to
      PLX4032.

PMID- 25815670
TI  - Design, synthesis, antimicrobial evaluation and molecular docking studies of some
      new 2,3-dihydrothiazoles and 4-thiazolidinones containing sulfisoxazole.
AB  - Microbial resistance to the available drugs poses a serious threat in modern
      medicine. We report the design, synthesis and in vitro antimicrobial evaluation
      of new functionalized 2,3-dihydrothiazoles and 4-thiazolidinones tagged with
      sulfisoxazole moiety. Compound 8d was most active against Bacillis subtilis (MIC,
      0.007 ug/mL). Moreover, compounds 7c-d and 8c displayed significant activities
      against B. subtilis and Streptococcus pneumoniae (MIC, 0.03-0.06 ug/mL and 0.06
      0.12 ug/mL versus ampicillin 0.24 ug/mL and 0.12 ug/mL; respectively). Compounds
      7a and 7c-d were highly potent against Escherichia coli (MIC, 0.49-0.98 ug/mL
      versus gentamycin 1.95 ug/mL). On the other hand, compounds 7e and 9c were
      fourfolds more active than amphotericin B against Syncephalastrum racemosum.
      Molecular docking studies showed that the synthesized compounds could act as
      inhibitors for the dihydropteroate synthase enzyme (DHPS). This study is a
      platform for the future design of more potent antimicrobial agents.

PMID- 25815671
TI  - Phosphoramidate-based peptidomimetic inhibitors of membrane type-1 matrix
      metalloproteinase.
AB  - Membrane-type I matrix metalloproteinases (MT1-MMP) is an enzyme critical to the
      remodeling and homeostasis of extracellular matrix, and when over expressed it
      contributes to metastasis and cancer cell progression. Because of its role and
      implication as a biomarker that is upregulated in various cancers, MT1-MMP has
      become an attractive target for drug discovery. A small pilot library of
      peptidomimetics containing a phosphoramidate core as a zinc-binding group was
      synthesized and tested for inhibitory potency against MT1-MMP. From this library,
      a novel two residue peptidomimetic scaffold was identified that confers potency
      against MT1-MMP at submicromolar concentrations. The results of this study
      confirm that for this scaffold, valine is favored as a P1 residue and leucine in
      the P1' position. Furthermore, steric tolerance was observed for the N-terminus,
      thus implicating that a second-generation library could be constructed to extend
      the scaffold to P2 without concomitant loss of affinity within the MT1-MMP
      catalytic domain. 

PMID- 25815672
TI  - Effects of Eicosapentaenoic Acid on the Cytoprotection Through Nrf2-Mediated Heme
      Oxygenase-1 in Human Endothelial Cells.
AB  - Consumption of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, particularly eicosapentaenoic
      acid (EPA), is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of developing
      cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate whether heme
      oxygenase-1 (HO-1) induction contributes to the cytoprotective effects of EPA in
      endothelial cells threatened with oxidative damage. In this study, we
      investigated the effect of EPA on the induction of HO-1 by NF-E2-related factor 2
      (Nrf2) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. In cells treated with low
      concentrations of EPA (10-25 MUM), HO-1 expression increased in a time- and
      concentration-dependent manner. Additionally, EPA treatment increased Nrf2
      nuclear translocation and antioxidant response element activity, leading to the
      upregulation of HO-1 expression. Furthermore, treatment with EPA reduced hydrogen
      peroxide (H(2)O(2))-induced cell death. The reduction in cell death was reversed
      by treatment with zinc protoporphyrin, an inhibitor of HO-1, indicating that HO-1
      contributed to the protective effect of EPA. These data suggest that EPA protects
      against H(2)O(2)-induced oxidative stress in endothelial cells by activating Nrf2
      and inducting HO-1 expression.

PMID- 25815674
TI  - Cytoprotective Role of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin in Vascular Endothelial Cell Under
      Hypoxia/Reoxygenation Condition.
AB  - Ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury is a critical factor in the pathogenesis of
      tissue injury after myocardial infarction, multiple organ failure, and other
      acute ischemic events. Previous studies suggest that alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT)
      plays a cytoprotective role in beta cells and human pulmonary cells. We
      hypothesize that AAT may have the potential to reduce IR-induced vascular injury
      involved in cell apoptosis and permeability. In this study, we investigate the
      role of AAT in human umbilical vein endothelial cells using a model wherein
      endothelial cell monolayers are exposed to hypoxia/reoxygenation (HR). We found
      that exogenous AAT alleviated HR injury in a dose- and time-dependent manner.
      Furthermore, by gain and loss function experiments, we demonstrated that
      overexpression of AAT decreased cell apoptosis and promoted proliferation by
      inhibiting Rac1/PAK/p38 signaling and against oxidative stress, and also reduced
      cellular permeability by increasing ZO-1 and occludin expression. Thus, we
      provided evidences to illustrate that AAT played a cytoprotective role in
      vascular endothelial cell under HR condition, suggesting that AAT treatment may
      be therapeutically beneficial to reduce IR-induced vascular injury. 

PMID- 25815673
TI  - Inhibition of Myogenic Tone in Rat Cremaster and Cerebral Arteries by SKA-31, an
      Activator of Endothelial KCa2.3 and KCa3.1 Channels.
AB  - Endothelial KCa2.3 and KCa3.1 channels contribute to the regulation of myogenic
      tone in resistance arteries by Ca(2+)-mobilizing vasodilatory hormones. To define
      further the functional role of these channels in distinct vascular beds, we have
      examined the vasodilatory actions of the KCa channel activator SKA-31 in
      myogenically active rat cremaster and middle cerebral arteries. Vessels
      pressurized to 70 mm Hg constricted by 80-100 MUm (ie, 25%-45% of maximal
      diameter). SKA-31 (10 MUM) inhibited myogenic tone by 80% in cremaster and ~65%
      in middle cerebral arteries, with IC50 values of ~2 MUM in both vessels. These
      vasodilatory effects were largely prevented by the KCa2.3 blocker UCL1684 and the
      KCa3.1 blocker TRAM-34 and abolished by endothelial denudation. Preincubation
      with N(G) nitro L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 0.1 mM) did not affect the
      inhibitory response to SKA-31, but attenuated the ACh-evoked dilation by ~45%.
      Penitrem-A, a blocker of BK(Ca) channels, did not alter SKA-31 evoked
      vasodilation but did reduce the inhibition of myogenic tone by ACh, the BKCa
      channel activator NS1619, and sodium nitroprusside. Collectively, these data
      demonstrate that SKA-31 produces robust inhibition of myogenic tone in resistance
      arteries isolated from distinct vascular beds in an endothelium-dependent manner.

PMID- 25815675
TI  - Improvements in CYP2C9 Genotyping Accuracy Are Needed: A Report of the First
      Proficiency Testing for Warfarin-related CYP2C9 and VKORC1 Genotyping in China.
AB  - Warfarin is the most commonly used oral anticoagulant in clinical practice. The
      cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) and vitamin K epoxide reductase complex 1 (VKORC1)
      genotypes have been confirmed to be associated with warfarin dose requirements.
      Accurate genotyping results are of particular importance for obtaining reliable
      genotype-guided warfarin dosing information. This study aims to determine
      analytic performance of laboratories offering CYP2C9 and VKORC1 testing in China.
      A proficiency panel of 15 validated cell samples covering common CYP2C9 and
      VKORC1 genetic polymorphisms was provided to 31 participating laboratories, and
      their genotyping results were evaluated. Fourteen data sets (45.2%) performed
      well with the entire panel of samples, and 17 data sets (54.8%) reported at least
      one genotyping error. For VKORC1 (-1639G>A), participating laboratories were 100%
      successful in detecting genotypes of GG, GA, and AA. For CYP2C9, participants
      were greater than 90% successful in detecting genotypes of *1/*1, *1/*2, *1/*3,
      *2/*3, and *3/*3. However, 15 laboratories failed to detect rarely encountered
      variant genotype *2/*2. The poor performance of CYP2C9 genotyping may be because
      of the limitation of methodologies used for detecting CYP2C9*2 allele. The
      proficiency testing survey highlighted the need for improving genotyping accuracy
      for some laboratories in this field. 

PMID- 25815676
TI  - Effect of Glucagon-like Peptide-1 on High-Glucose-induced Oxidative Stress and
      Cell Apoptosis in Human Endothelial Cells and Its Underlying Mechanism.
AB  - Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) has been demonstrated to play an important role
      in type 2 diabetes mellitus, leading to cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed
      to examine the GLP-1 regulation of high-glucose-induced oxidative stress and cell
      apoptosis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and its underlying
      mechanism. HUVECs were isolated from healthy umbilical cords and cultured. GLP-1
      and the GLP-1R antagonist, exendin (9-39), were used to pretreat the cells. The
      expression of NADPH oxidase subunits gp91 and p22 messenger RNA was detected by
      real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Reactive oxygen species
      production was detected with flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy.
      Lucigenin assay was used to measure the NADPH oxidase activity. The terminal
      deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling assay was used to
      investigate endothelial cell apoptosis. Apoptosis proteins were detected by
      immunoblotting. GLP-1 decreased high-glucose-induced oxidative stress, the
      expression of gp91 and p22phox messenger RNAs, and NADPH oxidase activation.
      Exendin (9-39) antagonized the effects of GLP-1 on high-glucose-induced oxidative
      stress. GLP-1 also increased HUVEC's high-glucose-induced proliferation and
      inhibited apoptosis. GLP-1 inhibited high-glucose-induced oxidative stress and
      cell apoptosis in HUVECs through GLP-1R-dependent and GLP-1 (9-36)-related
      pathways. GLP-1 suppressed high-glucose-induced oxidative stress and consequently
      may have an antiatherosclerosis effect on diabetes mellitus patients. 

PMID- 25815677
TI  - Nasolacrimal System Fractures: A Description of Radiologic Findings and
      Associated Outcomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fractures of the bony nasolacrimal system (NLS), including the
      lacrimal sac fossa and nasolacrimal canal, have not been comprehensively
      described in patients with facial trauma. Characterization of these injuries may
      help facial trauma surgeons better predict which patients will develop lacrimal
      outflow obstruction symptoms including epiphora and dacryocystitis and who may
      eventually need lacrimal surgery. METHODS: CT images for all patients seen at the
      University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics for craniofacial trauma were
      reviewed from January 2001 to December 2005. Patients were included if they had a
      NLS fracture and at least 1 year of follow-up. Fracture patterns were described
      and correlated with clinical outcomes documented in the medical record. Outcomes,
      including the development of epiphora or dacryocystitis and the need for lacrimal
      surgery, were analyzed using Fisher exact test. RESULTS: We identified 104
      patients with NLS fractures among 1980 patients with craniofacial trauma who had
      at least 1 year of follow-up. Eleven patients (10.6%) developed epiphora or
      dacryocystitis, and 2 patients (1.9%) required dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR). Ten
      radiographic injury patterns were characterized. Avulsion of the lacrimal crest,
      bone fragment in the lacrimal sac fossa or duct, duct compression greater than
      50%, and nasomaxillary buttress displacement were significantly associated with
      the development of epiphora or dacryocystitis (P < 0.05). Nasomaxillary buttress
      displacement was significantly associated with the eventual need for DCR (P =
      0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with radiographic evidence of NLS fracture have an
      approximately 10% risk of developing epiphora or dacryocystitis. We describe 5
      NLS fracture findings that are significantly associated with the development of
      lacrimal outflow obstruction. The presence of nasomaxillary buttress fracture and
      displacement suggests a significantly higher risk of eventually needing lacrimal
      surgery.

PMID- 25815678
TI  - User perceptions of existing home access solutions and a novel home access
      device.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate end user perspectives of four existing home
      access solutions (HAS) and a newly designed experimental device (the ARISE).
      METHOD: A cross-sectional design was used to evaluate the ARISE prototype against
      other HAS. Specifically, participants trialed stairs, a ramp, a platform lift
      (PL), a stair glide and the ARISE, after which they completed questionnaires
      aimed at soliciting their perspectives of these solutions. The time taken by
      participants to use each HAS was also collected. RESULTS: Five HAS design
      features were deemed as important by 90% of participants: ease of use, ability to
      use independently, reliability, safety and security. Time taken to use each HAS
      from fastest to slowest was: stairs, the ARISE, ramp, PL and stair glide. The
      ARISE prototype was rated as the first or second most preferred device by the
      most number of participants, followed by the PL, then the ramp. CONCLUSIONS:
      Results from this study provide greater understanding of user perspectives of
      HAS. End user feedback on a novel prototype device has provided valuable insight
      into its usability and function, which should not only guide future development
      of this device, but also provide direction for other innovations around home
      access. Implications for Rehabilitation It is anticipated that gaining a better
      understanding of strengths and weaknesses of home access solutions will: assist
      clinicians and end users in finding solutions that meet the individuals' needs.
      lead to the development of new or improved solutions that more closely address
      user needs. encourage further innovation in the area.

PMID- 25815679
TI  - The impact of mobility assistive technology devices on participation for
      individuals with disabilities.
AB  - AIM: This study aims to address the gap in research and contribute to the body of
      knowledge on the perspectives assistive technology device users have toward their
      devices. METHOD: Mixed methods were used to better understand the impact of
      mobility assistive technology devices (MATDs) on participation for individuals
      with disabilities. The Functional Mobility Assessment was administered in
      conjunction with two qualitative questions developed by the research team
      allowing participants to expound on the impact of their MATD experience.
      Participants were recruited online via the National Spinal Cord Injury
      Association website and in-person at Abilities Expo in Atlanta, Georgia, and the
      International Seating Symposium in Nashville, Tennessee. RESULTS: Results are
      consistent with findings from prior research regarding accessibility for
      individuals with disabilities. Corresponding findings were found in both the
      quantitative and qualitative data and are categorized into several major themes:
      environment (indoor and outdoor), surface heights, transportation, dependence,
      independence, quality of life and participation. CONCLUSION: Quantitative data
      from this study indicate that users of MATD are satisfied with the way in which
      their devices enable maneuvering indoors, while qualitative data suggest
      otherwise. Implications for healthcare practitioners are described and future
      recommendations are provided. Implications for Rehabilitation Healthcare
      professionals should advocate for proper mobility assistive technology devices
      (MATDs) for their patients in order to enable increased independence, safety and
      efficiency. Healthcare professionals must be cognizant of the impact of the
      environment and/or environmental barriers when prescribing MATD. Additional areas
      of interest for future research may include investigating the impact of MATD in
      association with date of onset of disability, according to diagnoses, or specific
      to length of time since acquiring the device.

PMID- 25815681
TI  - Development and evaluation of a hand tracker using depth images captured from an
      overhead perspective.
AB  - PURPOSE: We present the development and evaluation of a robust hand tracker based
      on single overhead depth images for use in the COACH, an assistive technology for
      people with dementia. The new hand tracker was designed to overcome limitations
      experienced by the COACH in previous clinical trials. METHODS: We train a random
      decision forest classifier using ~5000 manually labeled, unbalanced, training
      images. Hand positions from the classifier are translated into task actions based
      on proximity to environmental objects. Tracker performance is evaluated using a
      large set of ~24 000 manually labeled images captured from 41 participants in a
      fully-functional washroom, and compared to the system's previous colour-based
      hand tracker. RESULTS: Precision and recall were 0.994 and 0.938 for the depth
      tracker compared to 0.981 and 0.822 for the colour tracker with the current data,
      and 0.989 and 0.466 in the previous study. CONCLUSIONS: The improved tracking
      performance supports integration of the depth-based tracker into the COACH toward
      unsupervised, real-world trials. Implications for Rehabilitation The COACH is an
      intelligent assistive technology that can enable people with cognitive
      disabilities to stay at home longer, supporting the concept of aging-in-place.
      Automated prompting systems, a type of intelligent assistive technology, can help
      to support the independent completion of activities of daily living, increasing
      the independence of people with cognitive disabilities while reducing the burden
      of care experienced by caregivers. Robust motion tracking using depth imaging
      supports the development of intelligent assistive technologies like the COACH.
      Robust motion tracking also has application to other forms of assistive
      technologies including gaming, human-computer interaction and automated
      assessments.

PMID- 25815680
TI  - A scoping review of video gaming in rehabilitation.
AB  - PURPOSE: To examine the scope of the peer-reviewed literature on the use of
      commercially available video gaming in rehabilitation. METHODS: Five databases
      (SCOPUS, Cochrane, PsycINFO, PubMed and CINAHL) were searched for articles
      published between January 1990 and January 2014. The reference lists of selected
      articles were also reviewed to identify other relevant studies. RESULTS: Thirty
      articles met the inclusion criteria. Commercially available video gaming in
      rehabilitation was most commonly recommended by physiotherapists (50% or 15/30
      studies) for populations at risk for falls or with decreased balance (67% or
      19/30 studies). The most commonly used target outcomes were those assessing
      balance and/or fall prevention, with the Berg Balance Scale being the most
      frequently used (53% or 16/30 studies) outcome measure. The Nintendo Wii was the
      most prevalent gaming system (90% or 27/30 studies) used in the identified
      studies. CONCLUSION: Video gaming in rehabilitation is widely used by clinicians.
      Preliminary findings show that video gaming technology can be applied across a
      wide variety of rehabilitation populations, with some evidence showing clinical
      gains in physical functioning (e.g. gait and balance). There is a need for more
      robust clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of using video game systems as an
      adjunct to conventional rehabilitation. Implications for Rehabilitation Video
      gaming is a readily available technology that has been suggested as an enjoyable
      and motivating activity that engages patients in rehabilitation programming.
      Video gaming is becoming an increasingly popular adjunct to traditional therapy.
      Video gaming is most commonly used by physical therapists in a hospital setting
      for those with balance impairments. Video gaming has been shown to improve
      functional outcomes.

PMID- 25815682
TI  - Exploring assistive technology and post-school outcomes for students with severe
      disabilities.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study sought to understand the extent to which students with severe
      disabilities receive assistive technology in school and out-of-school, and the
      relationship between receipt of assistive technology in school and post-school
      outcomes for these students. METHOD: This study was a secondary analysis of the
      National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) from the USA. To analyze the
      data in this correlational study, researchers conducted frequency distributions,
      Chi Square Tests of Associations, significance tests and logistic regressions.
      RESULTS: The main results suggest (a) receipt of assistive technology in school
      varied greatly by disability identification; (b) receipt of assistive technology
      post-school also varied by disability identification, but receipt was generally
      lower; and (c) few statistically significant post-school outcome differences
      existed between students who received assistive technology and those who did not.
      CONCLUSION: An under-utilization of assistive technology exists in practice in
      the USA for students with severe disabilities. Implications for Rehabilitation An
      under-utilization of assistive technology for secondary students and adults with
      severe disabilities likely exists. A need exists for improved collaboration
      between professionals in rehabilitation and professionals in schools to ensure
      continuation of needed services or aids, such as assistive technology. Additional
      research is needed to better understand the adult life (or post-school) outcomes
      of individuals with severe disabilities, factors from PK-12 schooling or post
      school services that positively and negative impact those outcomes.

PMID- 25815684
TI  - MicroRNA-21 promotes osteogenic differentiation by targeting small mothers
      against decapentaplegic 7.
AB  - Previous studies have suggested that microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) may positively or
      negatively control osteogenic differentiation and mineralization by targeting
      negative regulators of osteogenesis or important osteogenic factors. miR-21 is
      important in osteoblast differentiation and Smad7 is a critical regulator of
      osteogenic differentiation, which inhibits proliferation, differentiation and
      mineralization in mouse osteoblast cells. However, the association between Smad7
      and miR-21 remain to be elucidated. In the present study, miR-21 was found to
      promote the level of osteogenic differentiation and increase matrix
      mineralization in MC3T3-E1 cells. Furthermore, Smad7 was identified as a direct
      target of miR-21 in the MC3T3-E1 cells. The overexpression of miR-21 affected the
      protein levels of SMAD7, but not the mRNA levels, which suggested that miR-21
      regulates the levels of SMAD7 by inhibiting translation, rather than by promoting
      mRNA decay. Forced expression of miR-21 promoted osteogenic differentiation and
      mineralization, while inhibition of miR-21 suppressed these processes. The
      present study also identified for the first time, to the best of our knowledge,
      the promotion of osteogenic differentiation and mineralization by miR-21, by
      repressing the expression of Smad7.

PMID- 25815685
TI  - Oscillatory motion in layered materials: graphene, boron nitride, and molybdenum
      disulfide.
AB  - Offset-driven self-retraction and oscillatory motion of bilayer graphene has been
      observed experimentally and is potentially relevant for nanoscale technological
      applications. In a previous article, we showed that friction between laterally
      offset graphene layers is controlled by roughness and proposed a simple reduced
      order model based on density-functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD)
      data, with which predictions on the experimental size-scale could be made. In
      this article, we extend our study to other layered materials, with emphasis on
      boron nitride (BN) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). Using MD and DFT simulations
      of these systems and a generalized version of the reduced-order model, we predict
      that BN will exhibit behavior similar to graphene (heavily-damped oscillation
      with a decay rate that increases with roughness) and that MoS2 shows no
      oscillatory behavior even in the absence of roughness. This is attributed to the
      higher energy barrier for sliding in MoS2 as well as the surface structure. Our
      generalized reduced-order model provides a guide to predicting and tuning
      experimental oscillation behavior using a few parameters that can be derived from
      simulation data. 

PMID- 25815683
TI  - Neurofibromin controls macropinocytosis and phagocytosis in Dictyostelium.
AB  - Cells use phagocytosis and macropinocytosis to internalise bulk material, which
      in phagotrophic organisms supplies the nutrients necessary for growth. Wildtype
      Dictyostelium amoebae feed on bacteria, but for decades laboratory work has
      relied on axenic mutants that can also grow on liquid media. We used forward
      genetics to identify the causative gene underlying this phenotype. This gene
      encodes the RasGAP Neurofibromin (NF1). Loss of NF1 enables axenic growth by
      increasing fluid uptake. Mutants form outsized macropinosomes which are promoted
      by greater Ras and PI3K activity at sites of endocytosis. Relatedly, NF1 mutants
      can ingest larger-than-normal particles using phagocytosis. An NF1 reporter is
      recruited to nascent macropinosomes, suggesting that NF1 limits their size by
      locally inhibiting Ras signalling. Our results link NF1 with macropinocytosis and
      phagocytosis for the first time, and we propose that NF1 evolved in early
      phagotrophs to spatially modulate Ras activity, thereby constraining and shaping
      their feeding structures. 

PMID- 25815686
TI  - DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit inhibitor reverses acquired
      radioresistance in lung adenocarcinoma by suppressing DNA repair.
AB  - The mechanisms underlying lung cancer radioresistance remain to be fully
      elucidated. The DNA repair pathway is a predominant target of radiotherapy, which
      is considered to be involved in the acquired radioresistance of cancer cells. The
      present study aimed to establish a radioresistant cell model using the A549 human
      lung cancer cell line, and to further investigate the potential mechanisms
      underlying the radioresistance. The A549R radioresistant lung cancer cell variant
      was established by exposing the parental A549 cells to repeated gamma-ray
      irradiation at a total dose of 60 Gy. Colony formation assays were then used to
      determine cell survival following gamma-ray exposure. The established
      radioresistant cells were subsequently treated with or without the NU7026 DNA
      PKcs inhibitor. The levels of DNA damage were determined by counting the number
      of fluorescent gamma-H2AX foci in the cells. The cellular capacity for DNA repair
      was assessed using antibodies for the detection of various DNA repair pathway
      proteins. The radioresistant sub-clones exhibited significantly decreased
      survival following NU7026 treatment, compared with the parental cells, as
      determined by colony formation assays (P<0.05), and this finding was found to be
      dose-dependent. Treatment with the DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK)
      inhibitor significantly reduced gamma-H2AX foci formation (P<0.05) following
      acute radiation exposure in the radioresistant sub-clones, compared with the
      parental control cells. The decreased levels of gamma-H2AX were accompanied by an
      increase in the percentage of apoptotic cells in the radioresistant cell line
      following post-radiation treatment with the DNA-PKcs inhibitor. The expression
      levels of proteins associated with the DNA repair pathway were altered markedly
      in the cells treated with NU7026. The results of the present study suggested that
      radioresistance may be associated with enhanced DNA repair following exposure to
      radiation, resulting in reduced apoptosis. Therefore, the quantity of gamma-H2AX
      determines the radioresistance of cells. The DNA repair pathway is important in
      mediating radioresistance, and treatment with the DNA-PKcs inhibitor, NU7026
      restored the acquired radiation resistance.

PMID- 25815687
TI  - MicroRNA-133a inhibits proliferation and invasion, and induces apoptosis in
      gastric carcinoma cells via targeting fascin actin-bundling protein 1.
AB  - Fascin actin-bundling protein 1 (FSCN1) is associated with tumor progression. In
      addition, deregulation of the expression of FSCN1 has been observed in certain
      types of cancer. However, the detailed role of FSCN1 in gastric cancer remains to
      be elucidated. In the present study, downregulation of microRNA (miR)-133a and
      upregulation of FSCN1 were both observed in gastric cancer tissues and cell
      lines. Functional studies have revealed that miR-133a is able to bind to the 3'
      untranslated region of FSCN1 mRNA, and overexpression of miR-133a causes
      downregulation of FSCN1 expression, while downregulation of miR-133a leads to an
      increased FSCN1 expression in gastric cancer cells. Furthermore, overexpression
      of miR-133a inhibited proliferation and invasion, but promoted apoptosis of
      gastric cancer cells, which may be reversed by upregulation of FSCN1. By
      contrast, downregulation of miR-133a enhanced proliferation and invasion, but
      suppressed apoptosis in gastric cancer cells. In conclusion, the anti-oncogenic
      activity of miR-133a may involve the inhibition of the target gene FSCN1. The
      present study suggested that miR-133a may be a potential therapeutic target in
      the treatment of gastric cancer.

PMID- 25815688
TI  - Effects of hearing and aging on sentence-level time-gated word recognition.
AB  - PURPOSE: Aging is known to influence temporal processing, but its relationship to
      speech perception has not been clearly defined. To examine listeners' use of
      contextual and phonetic information, the Revised Speech Perception in Noise test
      (R-SPIN) was used to develop a time-gated word (TGW) task. METHOD: In Experiment
      1, R-SPIN sentence lists were matched on context, target-word length, and median
      word segment length necessary for target recognition. In Experiment 2, TGW
      recognition was assessed in quiet and in noise among adults of various ages with
      normal hearing to moderate hearing loss. Linear regression models of the minimum
      word duration necessary for correct identification and identification failure
      rates were developed. Age and hearing thresholds were modeled as continuous
      predictors with corrections for correlations among multiple measurements of the
      same participants. RESULTS: While aging and hearing loss both had significant
      impacts on task performance in the most adverse listening condition (low context,
      in noise), for most conditions, performance was limited primarily by hearing
      loss. CONCLUSION: Whereas hearing loss was strongly related to target-word
      recognition, the effect of aging was only weakly related to task performance.
      These results have implications for the design and evaluation of studies of
      hearing and aging.

PMID- 25815689
TI  - Modulatory role of resveratrol on cytotoxic activity of cisplatin, sensitization
      and modification of cisplatin resistance in colorectal cancer cells.
AB  - Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer-associated mortality
      worldwide. Cisplatin (CIS) is one of the most active cytotoxic agents in current
      use and it has proven efficacy against various human malignancies. However, its
      clinical usefulness has been restricted by detrimental side effects, including
      nephrotoxicity and myelosuppression. The aim of the present study was to attempt
      to decrease the required dose of CIS, in order to minimize its side effects, and
      increase its capability to arrest, delay or reverse carcinogenesis. In addition,
      the present study aimed to ameliorate CIS-resistance in CRC cells, using the
      natural compound resveratrol (RSVL). RSVL (3,4', 5-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene) is
      a naturally occurring polyphenol present in the roots of white hellebore
      (Veratrum grandiflorum O. Loes) and extracted from >70 other plant species. RSVL
      can exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, and it has been shown to
      be active in the regulation of numerous cellular events associated with
      carcinogenesis. The present study evaluated the effects of RSVL on sensitization
      of both parent and CIS-resistant HCT-116 CRC cells to the action of cisplatin.
      The CIS was administered at a dose of 5 and 20 ug/ml, and CIS cytotoxicity,
      apoptosis, cell cycle and cisplatin cellular uptake were examined in the presence
      and absence of RSVL (15 ug/ml). RSVL treatment showed anti-proliferative effects
      and enhanced the cytotoxic effects of cis against the growth of both parent and
      CIS-resistant HCT-116 CRC cells, with a half maximal inhibitory concentration of
      4.20 ug/ml and 4.72 ug/ml respectively. RSVL also induced a significant increase
      in the early apoptosis fraction and enhanced the subsequent apoptotic effects of
      CIS. The cellular uptake of CIS was significantly increased in the presence of
      RSVL, as compared with CIS treatment alone, and RSVL treatment sensitized the CIS
      resistant HCT-116 cells. In conclusion, RSVL treatment increased the cytotoxic
      activity of CIS against the growth of both parent and CIS-resistant HCT-116 CRC
      cells.

PMID- 25815691
TI  - Tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis regulates particle-induced
      inflammatory osteolysis via the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling
      pathway.
AB  - Periprosthetic osteolysis is the predominant cause of artificial joint loosening.
      Previous studies have demonstrated that p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38
      MAPK) may be involved in periprosthetic osteolysis. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)
      like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) is a member of the TNF family and is a
      multifunctional cytokine, which regulates cellular proliferation, angiogenesis,
      inflammation and apoptosis via the p38 MAPK signaling pathway. The present study
      investigated the expression levels of TWEAK and p38 MAPK in periprosthetic
      interface membranes and in RAW264.7 monocyte/macrophage cells, which were treated
      with titanium (Ti) particle stimulation, with or without a p38 inhibitor
      (SB203580). This was performed to determine whether TWEAK was involved in the
      particle-induced inflammatory osteolysis via the p38 MAPK signaling pathway. The
      expression levels of TWEAK, p38 MAPK and phosphorylated (p-)p38 MAPK were
      evaluated in the periprosthetic interface membrane tissues and the RAW cells by
      reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western
      blotting. The contents of interleukin-6 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in
      the supernatant were measured by ELISA. The results demonstrated that the
      expression levels of TWEAK and p-p38 MAPK increased in the periprosthetic
      interface membrane tissues and the RAW cells stimulated with Ti particles,
      suggesting that TWEAK was involved in particle-induced inflammatory osteolysis
      via the p38 MAPK signaling pathway.

PMID- 25815690
TI  - Resveratrol analog piceatannol restores the palmitic acid-induced impairment of
      insulin signaling and production of endothelial nitric oxide via activation of
      anti-inflammatory and antioxidative heme oxygenase-1 in human endothelial cells.
AB  - Growing evidence suggests that the elevation of free fatty acids, including
      palmitic acid (PA), are associated with inflammation and oxidative stress, which
      may be involved in endothelial dysfunction, characterized by the reduced
      bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO) synthesized from endothelial NO synthase
      (eNOS). Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is important in the preservation of NO
      bioavailability. Piceatannol (Pic), with similar chemical structure to
      resveratrol, is suggested to possess similar protective effects as resveratrol.
      In the present study, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), stimulated
      with PA, were used to examine the endothelial protective effects of Pic. Pic
      increased the expression of HO-1 via nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor-2
      activation in the HUVECs, and decreased the PA-induced secretions of interleukin
      6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and the formation of reactive oxygen species
      ROS via inhibition of NF-kappaB activation. Notably, following inhibition of HO-1
      activity by tin protoporphryin-IX, Pic did not prevent cytokine secretion, ROS
      formation, and NF-kappaB activation in the PA-stimulated HUVECs. PA attenuated
      insulin-mediated insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) tyrosine phosphorylation,
      leading to decreased glucose uptake, and phosphorylation of eNOS, leading to a
      reduction in the production of NO. Pic effectively mitigated the inhibitory
      effects of PA on the insulin-mediated phosphorylation of IRS-1 and eNOS, which
      was not observed following inhibition of HO-1 activity. The results of the
      present study suggested that Pic may have the potential to prevent PA-induced
      impairment of insulin signaling and eNOS function, by inducing the expression of
      the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, HO-1.

PMID- 25815694
TI  - (Arylimido)vanadium(V)-alkylidene complexes containing fluorinated aryloxo and
      alkoxo ligands for fast living ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) and
      highly cis-specific ROMP.
AB  - (Arylimido)vanadium(V)-alkylidene complexes, V(CHSiMe3)(N-2,6
      X2C6H3)(OC6F5)(PMe3)2 [X = Me (2), Cl (4)], exhibited remarkable catalytic
      activities for ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of norbornene, and
      the ROMP by 2 proceeded in a living manner, affording ultrahigh molecular weight
      polymers. Cis-specific ROMP was achieved with the alkoxo analogues, V(CHSiMe3)(N
      2,6-X2C6H3)[OC(CH3)(CF3)2]-(PMe3)2 [X = Me (5), Cl (6)]. Both the activity and
      the selectivity increased upon addition of PMe3, even at 50  degrees C. 

PMID- 25815692
TI  - Atrophic vaginitis in breast cancer survivors: a difficult survivorship issue.
AB  - Management of breast cancer includes systematic therapies including chemotherapy
      and endocrine therapy can lead to a variety of symptoms that can impair the
      quality of life of many breast cancer survivors. Atrophic vaginitis, caused by
      decreased levels of circulating estrogen to urinary and vaginal receptors, is
      commonly experienced by this group. Chemotherapy induced ovarian failure and
      endocrine therapies including aromatase inhibitors and selective estrogen
      receptor modulators can trigger the onset of atrophic vaginitis or exacerbate
      existing symptoms. Symptoms of atrophic vaginitis include vaginal dryness,
      dyspareunia, and irritation of genital skin, pruritus, burning, vaginal
      discharge, and soreness. The diagnosis of atrophic vaginitis is confirmed through
      patient-reported symptoms and gynecological examination of external structures,
      introitus, and vaginal mucosa. Lifestyle modifications can be helpful but are
      usually insufficient to significantly improve symptoms. Non-hormonal vaginal
      therapies may provide additional relief by increasing vaginal moisture and fluid.
      Systemic estrogen therapy is contraindicated in breast cancer survivors.
      Continued investigations of various treatments for atrophic vaginitis are
      necessary. Local estrogen-based therapies, DHEA, testosterone, and pH-balanced
      gels continue to be evaluated in ongoing studies. Definitive results are needed
      pertaining to the safety of topical estrogens in breast cancer survivors. 

PMID- 25815693
TI  - Connective tissue growth factor stimulates the proliferation, migration and
      differentiation of lung fibroblasts during paraquat-induced pulmonary fibrosis.
AB  - It is well established that paraquat (PQ) poisoning can cause severe lung injury
      during the early stages of exposure, finally leading to irreversible pulmonary
      fibrosis. Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is an essential growth factor
      that is involved in tissue repair and pulmonary fibrogenesis. In the present
      study, the role of CTGF was examined in a rat model of pulmonary fibrosis induced
      by PQ poisoning. Histological examination revealed interstitial edema and
      extensive cellular thickening of interalveolar septa at the early stages of
      poisoning. At 2 weeks after PQ administration, lung tissue sections exhibited a
      marked thickening of the alveolar walls with an accumulation of interstitial
      cells with a fibroblastic appearance. Masson's trichrome staining revealed a
      patchy distribution of collagen deposition, indicating pulmonary fibrogenesis.
      Western blot analysis and immunohistochemical staining of tissue samples
      demonstrated that CTGF expression was significantly upregulated in the PQ-treated
      group. Similarly, PQ treatment of MRC-5 human lung fibroblast cells caused an
      increase in CTGF in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the addition of CTGF to
      MRC-5 cells triggered cellular proliferation and migration. In addition, CTGF
      induced the differentiation of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts, as was evident from
      increased expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) and collagen. These
      findings demonstrate that PQ causes increased CTGF expression, which triggers
      proliferation, migration and differentiation of lung fibroblasts. Therefore, CTGF
      may be important in PQ-induced pulmonary fibrogenesis, rendering this growth
      factor a potential pharmacological target for reducing lung injury.

PMID- 25815695
TI  - Microbial Degradation Mechanism and Pathway of the Novel Insecticide Paichongding
      by a Newly Isolated Sphingobacterium sp. P1-3 from Soil.
AB  - Using 1-((6-chloropydidin-3-yl)methyl)-7-methyl-8-nitro-5propoxy-1,2,3,5,6,7
      hexahydroimidazo[1,2-alpha-]-pyridine (IPP) as the sole carbon source, we
      isolated a strain with a higher activity of IPP-degrading bacterium
      Sphingobacterium sp. P1-3 from soil. At 30  degrees C, pH 7.0 ,and 10 mg L(-1)
      IPP content, the degradation rate of IPP by Sphingobacterium sp. P1-3 could reach
      57.75 and 62.47% in 20 and 30 days, respectively. The value of DT50 of IPP was 27
      d at the level of 30 mg L(-1) IPP, while DT50 in the blank test was 151 d. During
      the IPP biodegradation process, five intermediates (M1-M5) were monitored and
      identified. On the basis of the identified metabolites and their biodegradation
      courses, a possible biodegradation pathway was proposed. IPP biodegradation
      mainly occurred on the tetrahydropyridine ring. IPP was transformed to five
      different metabolites by strain P1-3 through the oxidation and elimination of
      methyl, propyl, and nitro groups. Moreover, a new pathway involving M2 (1-((6
      chloropydidin-3-yl)methyl)-7-methyl-8-hydroxy-5-propoxy-1,2,3,5,6,7
      hexahydroimidazo [1,2-alpha-]-pyridine), M3 (1-((6-chloropydidin-3-yl)methyl)-7
      methyl-5-carbonyl-1,2,3,5,6,7-hexahydroimidazo[1,2-alpha-]-pyridine), and M5 (8
      amino-1,2,3,5,6,7-hexahydroimidazo[1,2-alpha-]-pyridine) was first monitored and
      identified. 

PMID- 25815696
TI  - Experimental and Chemical Kinetics Study of the Effects of Halon 1211 (CF2BrCl)
      on the Laminar Flame Speed and Ignition of Light Hydrocarbons.
AB  - In this study, the effect of Halon 1211 (CF2BrCl) on the ignition delay time and
      laminar flame speed of CH4, C2H4, and C3H8 were investigated experimentally for
      the first time. The results showed that the effects of Halon 1211 on the ignition
      delay time are strongly dependent on the hydrocarbon: the ignition delay time of
      CH4 is significantly decreased by Halon 1211 addition, while a significant
      increase in the ignition delay time was observed with C2H4 for the lowest
      temperatures investigated. Ignition delay times for C3H8 were slightly increased,
      mostly on the low-temperature side and for the fuel-rich case. A significant
      reduction in the laminar flame speed was observed for all of the fuels. A
      tentative chemical kinetics model was assembled from existing models and
      completed with reactions that have been determined in the literature or estimated
      when necessary. The experimental results were reproduced satisfactorily by the
      model, and a chemical analysis showed that most of the effects of Halon 1211 on
      the ignition delay times of C2H4 and C3H8 are due to the consumption of H radical
      through the reaction HBr + H ? Br + H2. In the case of methane, the CF2 radical
      promotes the formation of H via CF2 + CH3 ? CH2:CF2 + H, which then promotes the
      branching reaction H + O2 ? OH + O. The laminar flame speed results can be
      explained using catalytic cycles involving Br atoms that are similar to those
      reported in the literature for CF3Br. This study exhibits the need for a better
      estimation of the chlorine atom chemistry during the combustion of hydrocarbons
      in the presence of fire suppressants. 

PMID- 25815698
TI  - Probing the influence of phosphonate bonding modes to uranium(VI) on structural
      topology and stability: a complementary experimental and computational
      investigation.
AB  - Systematic control of the reactions between U(VI) and 1,4
      phenylenebis(methylene))bis(phosphonic acid) (pmbH4) allows for alterations in
      the bonding between these constituents and affords three uranyl phosphonate
      compounds with chiral one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D), and three
      dimensional (3D) structures, namely, [TPA][UO2(pmbH3)(pmbH2)H2O].2H2O (1),
      [NH4]2[UO2(pmb)] (2), UO2(pmbH2) (3), and the first uranyl mixed
      phosphite/phosphonate compound [TMA]2[(UO2)2(pmb)(HPO3)] (4) (TPA = NPr4+, TMA =
      NMe4+). These compounds crystallize in the space groups P212121, P1, P21/c, and
      Cmcm, respectively. Further investigation of the local uranyl coordination
      environment reveals that in 1 only oxygen atoms from P=O moieties ligate the
      uranium centers; whereas in 2 only P-O(-) oxygen atoms are involved in bonding
      and yield a layered topology. Compound 3 differs sharply from the first two in
      that conjugated P=O and P-O(-) oxygen atoms chelate the uranium centers resulting
      in a 3D framework. In compound 4, a phosphonate group bridges three uranyl
      centers further coordinated with a phosphite ligand HPO32-, which is a product of
      pmbH4 decomposing, forming a 2D layered structure. Compounds 3 and 4 also contain
      a different coordination environment for U(VI) than that found in 1 or 2. In this
      case, tetragonal bipyramidal UO6 units occur instead of the far more common UO7
      pentagonal bipyramids found in 1 and 2. Interestingly, 1 converts to 3 at
      elevated reaction temperatures, indicating that the formation of 1 is likely
      under kinetic control. This is supported by thermal analysis, which reveals that
      3 has higher thermal stability than 1 or 2. UV-vis-near-IR absorption and
      fluorescence spectroscopy show that the absorption and photoluminescence
      intensity increases from 1 to 4. Density functional theory electronic structure
      calculations provide insight into the nature of the interactions between U(VI)
      and the phosphonate ligands.

PMID- 25815697
TI  - Blocking the adhesion cascade at the premetastatic niche for prevention of breast
      cancer metastasis.
AB  - Shear-resistant adhesion and extravasation of disseminated cancer cells at the
      target organ is a crucial step in hematogenous metastasis. We found that the
      vascular adhesion molecule E-selectin preferentially promoted the shear-resistant
      adhesion and transendothelial migration of the estrogen receptor (ER)(-)/CD44(+)
      hormone-independent breast cancer cells, but not of the ER(+)/CD44(-/low) hormone
      dependent breast cancer cells. Coincidentally, CD44(+) breast cancer cells were
      abundant in metastatic lung and brain lesions in ER(-) breast cancer, suggesting
      that E-selectin supports hematogenous metastasis of ER(-)/CD44(+) breast cancer.
      In an attempt to prevent hematogenous metastasis through the inhibition of a
      shear-resistant adhesion of CD44(+) cancer cells to E-selectin-expressing blood
      vessels on the premetastatic niche, an E-selectin targeted aptamer (ESTA) was
      developed. We demonstrated that a single intravenous injection of ESTA reduced
      metastases to a baseline level in both syngeneic and xenogeneic forced breast
      cancer metastasis models without relocating the site of metastasis. The effect of
      ESTA was absent in E-selectin knockout mice, suggesting that E-selectin is a
      molecular target of ESTA. Our data highlight the potential application of an E
      selectin antagonist for the prevention of hematogenous metastasis of ER(
      )/CD44(+) breast cancer. 

PMID- 25815699
TI  - Risk factors for peritoneal dissemination of gastric cancer.
AB  - AIM: Tumor dissemination, lymphnode involvement and surgical resection technique
      are the most important factors affecting patient prognosis with gastric cancer.
      Peritoneal dissemination adversely affects the survival rate in patients.
      Microscopic peritoneal dissemination can be detected with peritoneal lavage
      cytological examination. Peroperatively detected microscopic peritoneal
      dissemination changes the treatment plan for patients and can be useful when
      selecting patients who should undergo adjuvant chemotherapy. METHODS: At the
      Trakya Universtity Faculty of Medicine, General Surgery Department, a 41-year-old
      patient who was macroscopic peritoneal dissemination during the dates January
      December 2011 was included in the study. Perioperative peritoneal lavage was
      performed and cytological examination of peritoneal aspirate carried out. Using
      tumor markers the relationship between lymph node metastasis, prognostic type,
      tumor location and perineural invasion was investigated on the serum and
      peritoneal fluid. RESULTS: Forty-one patients were operated on; 10 of them
      (24.4%) had positive malignant cytology and 31 (75.7%) had negative cytology.
      Just 1 (7.2%) patient was found to have positive cytology out of 13 (31.7%) that
      did not have serous invasion. Of the 28 (68.3%) patients with serous invasion, 9
      patients (32.1%) were found to have positive cytology. No significant pattern was
      detected in the carcino-embryionic antigen, cancer antigen 19-9 and AFP levels in
      both the positive and negative cytology serum and peritoneal lavage fluid. Of the
      41 patients operated on 5 (12.2%) were found to have cardia dissemination and 13
      (31.7%) were found to have dissemination located at the corpus. Peritoneal
      dissemination was found to be significantly high in gastric cancer located in the
      cardia and corpus. Fourteen (34.1%) of the patients had stage I and stage II
      cancer and 27 (65.9%) of patient's had cancer in stages III and IV. Just 1 (7.1%)
      patient with stage I or II cancer was found to have positive malignant cytology,
      however 9 (33.3%) patient's of stage III and IV gastric cancer patients were
      tested positively for malignant cytology. CONCLUSION: A positive relationship was
      detected in the positive peritoneal cell malignancy with cancer stage, age,
      invasion depth and tumor location in patients.

PMID- 25815700
TI  - [Treatment of persistent postmastectomy pain with 5% Lidocaine medicated
      plaster].
AB  - Persistent postmastectomy pain (PPMP) syndrome is characterized by neuropathic
      pain that develops following surgery in breast cancer patients. The reported
      incidence of PPMP ranges between 30% and 50% and is estimated to increase as the
      number of women surviving cancer continues to rise. Though effective, today's
      drug treatments are poorly tolerated, limiting their use and reducing adherence
      to therapy. Since neuropathic pain is localized, international guidelines suggest
      that topical treatment with 5% Lidocaine medicated plaster either alone or
      combined with systemic drugs can be considered for pain management. In this
      retrospective study we reviewed the medical records of 11 patients treated with
      5% lidocaine medicated plaster for moderate-to-severe PPMP at our institute
      between November 2013 and October 2014. Analysis showed that treatment with 5%
      Lidocaine medicated plaster, either alone or in combination with systemic drugs,
      achieved significant pain control already after the first week of therapy. The
      effectiveness and tolerability of 5% Lidocaine medicated plaster we observed
      suggests that it is a viable option in the management of PPMP. 

PMID- 25815701
TI  - Distinguishing bicontinuous lipid cubic phases from isotropic membrane
      morphologies using (31)P solid-state NMR spectroscopy.
AB  - Nonlamellar lipid membranes are frequently induced by proteins that fuse, bend,
      and cut membranes. Understanding the mechanism of action of these proteins
      requires the elucidation of the membrane morphologies that they induce. While
      hexagonal phases and lamellar phases are readily identified by their
      characteristic solid-state NMR line shapes, bicontinuous lipid cubic phases are
      more difficult to discern, since the static NMR spectra of cubic-phase lipids
      consist of an isotropic (31)P or (2)H peak, indistinguishable from the spectra of
      isotropic membrane morphologies such as micelles and small vesicles. To date,
      small-angle X-ray scattering is the only method to identify bicontinuous lipid
      cubic phases. To explore unique NMR signatures of lipid cubic phases, we first
      describe the orientation distribution of lipid molecules in cubic phases and
      simulate the static (31)P chemical shift line shapes of oriented cubic-phase
      membranes in the limit of slow lateral diffusion. We then show that (31)P T2
      relaxation times differ significantly between isotropic micelles and cubic-phase
      membranes: the latter exhibit 2 orders of magnitude shorter T2 relaxation times.
      These differences are explained by the different time scales of lipid lateral
      diffusion on the cubic-phase surface versus the time scales of micelle tumbling.
      Using this relaxation NMR approach, we investigated a DOPE membrane containing
      the transmembrane domain (TMD) of a viral fusion protein. The static (31)P
      spectrum of DOPE shows an isotropic peak, whose T2 relaxation times correspond to
      that of a cubic phase. Thus, the viral fusion protein TMD induces negative
      Gaussian curvature, which is an intrinsic characteristic of cubic phases, to the
      DOPE membrane. This curvature induction has important implications to the
      mechanism of virus-cell fusion. This study establishes a simple NMR diagnostic
      probe of lipid cubic phases, which is expected to be useful for studying many
      protein-induced membrane remodeling phenomena in biology. 

PMID- 25815702
TI  - Phosphine-catalyzed enantioselective intramolecular [3+2] annulations to generate
      fused ring systems.
AB  - Substantial progress has been described in the development of asymmetric variants
      of the phosphine-catalyzed intermolecular [3+2] annulation of allenes with
      alkenes; however, there have not been corresponding advances for the
      intramolecular process, which can generate a higher level of complexity (an
      additional ring and stereocenter(s)). In this study, we describe the application
      of chiral phosphepine catalysts to address this challenge, thereby providing
      access to useful scaffolds that are found in bioactive compounds, including
      diquinane and quinolin-2-one derivatives, with very good stereoselectivity. The
      products of the [3+2] annulation can be readily transformed into structures that
      are even more stereochemically rich. Mechanistic studies are consistent with beta
      addition of the phosphepine to the allene being the turnover-limiting step of the
      catalytic cycle, followed by a concerted [3+2] cycloaddition to the pendant
      olefin. 

PMID- 25815703
TI  - Fetuin-A 742 (C/T) and 766 (C/G) polymorphic sites are associated with increased
      risk of myocardial infarction in older patients (>= 40 years of age).
AB  - Inflammation and genetics have key roles in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis,
      and the etiology of myocardial infarction (MI). Recent studies have indicated
      that lower serum levels of fetuin-A may accelerate the vascular mineralization
      process, which leads to pathophysiological conditions, such as coronary heart
      disease and chronic renal failure. The aim of the present study was to evaluate
      the association between specific fetuin-A polymorphisms (742 and 766) that are
      associated with circulating serum levels, and MI cases. The study consisted of
      292 participants; 146 healthy control subjects and 146 patients with MI. The
      patient group was divided into two subgroups: 56 MI <= 40 years and 90 MI >= 40
      years. The genotype distribution of fetuin 742 (C/T) and fetuin 766 (C/G) were
      determined by restriction enzyme digestion of polymerase chain reaction products.
      A significant difference was determined between the patients with MI and the
      control subjects with regards to fetuin-A 742 C/T gene polymorphism (P=0.028),
      regardless of age. Genotype distributions of fetuin-A 742 (C/G, P=0.004) and 766
      (C/T, P=0.017) were statistically different in the older patients with MI (MI >=
      40 years old), as compared with the healthy controls; however, there were no
      significant differences between the younger patients with MI and the controls,
      with regards to fetuin-A 742 C/T (P=0.519) and 766 C/G (P=0.653) gene
      polymorphisms. In addition, an association was observed between the presence of
      fetuin-A 742 T and 766 G alleles, and MI cases. The present study demonstrates
      that fetuin-A 742 (C/T) and 766 (C/G) genotypes may be risk factors for MI in
      patients older than 40 years of age.

PMID- 25815705
TI  - Large-scale fabrication and application of magnetite coated Ag NW-core water
      dispersible hybrid nanomaterials.
AB  - In this work, we report a large scale synthetic procedure that allows attachment
      of magnetite nanoparticles onto Ag NWs in situ, which was conducted in a
      triethylene glycol (TREG) solution with iron acetylacetonate and Ag NWs as
      starting materials. The as-prepared Ag NW/Fe3O4 NP composites are well
      characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, FT-IR, and VSM techniques. It was found that
      the mass ratio of iron acetylacetonate to Ag NWs plays a crucial role in
      controlling the amount of magnetite nanoparticles decorated on the Ag NWs. The
      resulting Ag NW/Fe3O4 NP composites exhibit superparamagnetic properties at room
      temperature, and can be well dispersed in aqueous and organic solutions, which is
      greatly beneficial for their application and functionality. Thus, the as-prepared
      magnetic silver nanowires show good catalytic activity, using the catalytic
      reduction of methylene blue (MB) as a model reaction. Furthermore, the Ag
      NW/Fe3O4 NP composites can be functionalized with polydopamine (Pdop), resorcinol
      formaldehyde resin (PFR), and SiO2, respectively, in aqueous/ethanol solution.
      Meanwhile they can also be coated with polyphosphazene (PZS) in organic solution,
      resulting in a unique nanocable with well-defined core shell structures. Besides,
      taking Ag NW/Fe3O4@SiO2 as an example, a hollow magnetic silica nanotube can be
      obtained with the use of Ag NWs as physical templates and a solution of ammonium
      and H2O2. These can greatly improve the application of the Ag NW/Fe3O4 NP
      composites. The as-synthesized above nanocomposites have high potential for
      applications in the fields of polymers, wastewater treatment, sensors, and
      biomaterials. 

PMID- 25815704
TI  - Bayesian model selection applied to the analysis of fluorescence correlation
      spectroscopy data of fluorescent proteins in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is a powerful technique to
      investigate molecular dynamics with single molecule sensitivity. In particular,
      in the life sciences it has found widespread application using fluorescent
      proteins as molecularly specific labels. However, FCS data analysis and
      interpretation using fluorescent proteins remains challenging due to typically
      low signal-to-noise ratio of FCS data and correlated noise in autocorrelated data
      sets. As a result, naive fitting procedures that ignore these important issues
      typically provide similarly good fits for multiple competing models without clear
      distinction of which model is preferred given the signal-to-noise ratio present
      in the data. Recently, we introduced a Bayesian model selection procedure to
      overcome this issue with FCS data analysis. The method accounts for the highly
      correlated noise that is present in FCS data sets and additionally penalizes
      model complexity to prevent over interpretation of FCS data. Here, we apply this
      procedure to evaluate FCS data from fluorescent proteins assayed in vitro and in
      vivo. Consistent with previous work, we demonstrate that model selection is
      strongly dependent on the signal-to-noise ratio of the measurement, namely,
      excitation intensity and measurement time, and is sensitive to saturation
      artifacts. Under fixed, low intensity excitation conditions, physical transport
      models can unambiguously be identified. However, at excitation intensities that
      are considered moderate in many studies, unwanted artifacts are introduced that
      result in nonphysical models to be preferred. We also determined the appropriate
      fitting models of a GFP tagged secreted signaling protein, Wnt3, in live
      zebrafish embryos, which is necessary for the investigation of Wnt3 expression
      and secretion in development. Bayes model selection therefore provides a robust
      procedure to determine appropriate transport and photophysical models for
      fluorescent proteins when appropriate models are provided, to help detect and
      eliminate experimental artifacts in solution, cells, and in living organisms. 

PMID- 25815706
TI  - Direct deposit laminate nanocomposites with enhanced propellent properties.
AB  - One of the challenges in the use of energetic nanoparticles within a polymer
      matrix for propellant applications is obtaining high particle loading (high
      energy density) while maintaining mechanical integrity and reactivity. In this
      study, we explore a new strategy that utilizes laminate structures. Here, a
      laminate of alternating layers of aluminum nanoparticle (Al-NPs)/copper oxide
      nanoparticle (CuO-NPs) thermites in a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) reactive
      binder, with a spacer layer of PVDF was fabricated by a electrospray layer-by
      layer deposition method. The deposited layers containing up to 60 wt % Al-NPs/CuO
      NPs thermite are found to be uniform and mechanically flexible. Both the reactive
      and mechanical properties of laminate significantly outperformed the single-layer
      structure with the same material composition. These results suggest that
      deploying a multilayer laminate structure enables the incorporation of high
      loadings of energetic materials and, in some cases, enhances the reactive
      properties over the corresponding homogeneous structure. These results imply that
      an additive manufacturing approach may yield significant advantages in developing
      a tailored architecture for advanced propulsion systems. 

PMID- 25815707
TI  - Intravenous immunoglobulin for suspected or proven infection in neonates.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neonates are at higher risk of infection due to immuno-incompetence.
      Maternal transport of immunoglobulins to the fetus mainly occurs after 32 weeks'
      gestation, and endogenous synthesis begins several months after birth.
      Administration of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) provides immunoglobulin G
      (IgG) that can bind to cell surface receptors, provide opsonic activity, activate
      complement, promote antibody-dependent cytotoxicity and improve neutrophilic
      chemo-luminescence. Theoretically, infectious morbidity and mortality could be
      reduced by the administration of IVIG. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of IVIG
      on mortality and morbidity caused by suspected or proven infection at study entry
      in neonates. To assess in a subgroup analysis the effects of IgM-enriched IVIG on
      mortality from suspected infection. SEARCH METHODS: For this update, MEDLINE,
      EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, CINAHL, trial registries, Web of Science, reference
      lists of identified studies, meta-analyses and personal files were searched in
      2013. No language restrictions were applied. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised or
      quasi-randomised controlled trials involving newborn infants (< 28 days old);
      IVIG for treatment of suspected or proven bacterial or fungal infection compared
      with placebo or no intervention; and where one of the following outcomes was
      reported, mortality, length of hospital stay or psychomotor development at follow
      up. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Statistical analyses included typical risk
      ratio (RR), risk difference (RD), weighted mean difference (WMD), number needed
      to treat for an additional beneficial outcome (NNTB) or an additional harmful
      outcome (NNTH), all with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and the I(2) statistic
      to examine for statistical heterogeneity. MAIN RESULTS: The updated search
      identified one published study that was previously ongoing. A total of 9 studies
      evaluating 3973 infants were included in this review. Mortality during hospital
      stay in infants with clinically suspected infection was not significantly
      different after IVIG treatment (9 studies (n = 2527); typical RR 0.95, 95% CI
      0.80 to 1.13; typical RD -0.01, 95% CI - 0.04 to 0.02; I(2) = 23% for RR and 29%
      for RD). Death or major disability at 2 years corrected age was not significantly
      different in infants with suspected infection after IVIG treatment (1 study (n =
      1985); RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.09; RD -0.01, 95% CI -0.05 to 0.03). Mortality
      during hospital stay was not significantly different after IVIG treatment in
      infants with proven infection at trial entry (1 trial (n = 1446); RR 0.95, 95% CI
      0.74 to 1.21; RD -0.01, 95% CI -0.04 to 0.03). Death or major disability at 2
      years corrected age was not significantly different after IVIG treatment in
      infants with proven infection at trial entry (1 trial (n = 1393); RR 1.03, 95% CI
      0.91 to 1.18; RD 0.01, 95% CI -0.04 to 0.06). Mortality during hospital stay in
      infants with clinically suspected or proven infection at trial entry was not
      significantly different after IVIG treatment (1 study (n = 3493); RR 1.00, 95% CI
      0.86 to 1.16; RD 0.00, 95% CI - 0.02 to 0.03). Death or major disability at 2
      years corrected age was not significantly different after IVIG treatment in
      infants with suspected or proven infection at trial entry (1 study (n = 3493); RR
      1.00, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.09; RD -0.00, 95% CI -0.03 to 0.03). Length of hospital
      stay was not reduced for infants with suspected or proven infection at trial
      entry (1 study (n = 3493); mean difference (MD) 0.00 days, 95% CI -0.61 to 0.61).
      No significant difference in mortality during hospital stay after administration
      of IgM-enriched IVIG for suspected infection at trial entry was reported in 4
      studies (n = 266) (typical RR 0.68, 95% CI 0.39 to 1.20; RD -0.06, 95% CI -0.14
      to 0.02; I(2) = 17% for RR and 53% for RD). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The
      undisputable results of the INIS trial, which enrolled 3493 infants, and our meta
      analyses (n = 3973) showed no reduction in mortality during hospital stay, or
      death or major disability at two years of age in infants with suspected or proven
      infection. Although based on a small sample size (n = 266), this update provides
      additional evidence that IgM-enriched IVIG does not significantly reduce
      mortality during hospital stay in infants with suspected infection. Routine
      administration of IVIG or IgM-enriched IVIG to prevent mortality in infants with
      suspected or proven neonatal infection is not recommended. No further research is
      recommended.

PMID- 25815709
TI  - Counter-ion-dependent alkyne iminium ion cyclization for divergent synthesis of N
      fused indolylidine, indole, and indoline derivatives promoted by the
      Lewis/Bronsted acid.
AB  - Divergent synthesis of N-fused indolylidine, indole, and indoline derivatives
      using alkyne iminium ion cyclization is described. Trapping of vinyl cation
      intermediate generated after alkyne iminium ion cyclization was found to be
      dependent on the Lewis/Bronsted acid and solvent used. N-Fused indolylidine
      triflate could be used in the divergent synthesis of N-fused indole derivatives. 

PMID- 25815710
TI  - Effects of daily walking on office, home and 24-h blood pressure in hypertensive
      patients.
AB  - Aerobic exercise has been recommended in the management of hypertension. However,
      few studies have examined the effect of walking on ambulatory blood pressure
      (BP), and no studies have employed home BP monitoring. We investigated the
      effects of daily walking on office, home, and 24-h ambulatory BP in hypertensive
      patients. Sixty-five treated or untreated patients with essential hypertension
      (39 women and 26 men, 60 +/- 9 years) were examined in a randomized cross-over
      design. The patients were asked to take a daily walk of 30-60 min to achieve 10
      000 steps/d for 4 weeks, and to maintain usual activities for another 4 weeks.
      The number of steps taken and home BP were recorded everyday. Measurement of
      office and ambulatory BP, and sampling of blood and urine were performed at the
      end of each period. The average number of steps were 5349 +/- 2267/d and 10 049
      +/- 3403/d in the control and walking period, respectively. Body weight and
      urinary sodium excretion did not change. Office, home, and 24-h BP in the walking
      period were lower compared to the control period by 2.6 +/- 9.4/1.3 +/- 4.9 mmHg
      (p < 0.05), 1.6 +/- 6.8/1.5 +/- 3.7 mmHg (p < 0.01), and 2.4 +/- 7.6/1.8 +/- 5.3
      mmHg (p < 0.01), respectively. Average 24-h heart rate and serum triglyceride
      also decreased significantly. The changes in 24-h BP with walking significantly
      correlated with the average 24-h BP in the control period. In conclusion, daily
      walking lowered office, home, and 24-h BP, and improved 24-h heart rate and lipid
      metabolism in hypertensive patients. However, the small changes in BP may limit
      the value of walking as a non-pharmacologic therapy for hypertension. 

PMID- 25815708
TI  - Multiscale Speciation of U and Pu at Chernobyl, Hanford, Los Alamos, McGuire AFB,
      Mayak, and Rocky Flats.
AB  - The speciation of U and Pu in soil and concrete from Rocky Flats and in particles
      from soils from Chernobyl, Hanford, Los Alamos, and McGuire Air Force Base and
      bottom sediments from Mayak was determined by a combination of X-ray absorption
      fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) element maps.
      These experiments identify four types of speciation that sometimes may and other
      times do not exhibit an association with the source terms and histories of these
      samples: relatively well ordered PuO2+x and UO2+x that had equilibrated with O2
      and H2O under both ambient conditions and in fires or explosions; instances of
      small, isolated particles of U as UO2+x, U3O8, and U(VI) species coexisting in
      close proximity after decades in the environment; alteration phases of uranyl
      with other elements including ones that would not have come from soils; and
      mononuclear Pu-O species and novel PuO2+x-type compounds incorporating additional
      elements that may have occurred because the Pu was exposed to extreme chemical
      conditions such as acidic solutions released directly into soil or concrete. Our
      results therefore directly demonstrate instances of novel complexity in the A and
      MUm-scale chemical speciation and reactivity of U and Pu in their initial
      formation and after environmental exposure as well as occasions of unexpected
      behavior in the reaction pathways over short geological but significant
      sociological times. They also show that incorporating the actual disposal and
      site conditions and resultant novel materials such as those reported here may be
      necessary to develop the most accurate predictive models for Pu and U in the
      environment. 

PMID- 25815711
TI  - Design and optimization of lipid-modified poly(amidoamine) dendrimer coated iron
      oxide nanoparticles as probes for biomedical applications.
AB  - Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with a wide size range (2.6-14.1 nm)
      were synthesized and coated with the amphiphilic poly(amidoamine) PAMAM-C12
      dendrimer. The resulting well dispersed and stable water suspensions were fully
      characterized in order to explore their possible use in biomedical applications.
      The structural and magnetic properties of the nanoparticles were preserved during
      the coating and were related to their relaxometric behaviour. The Nuclear
      Magnetic Resonance Dispersion (NMRD) profiles were found to be in accordance with
      the Roch model. The biocompatibility was assessed by means of cell viability
      tests and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) analysis. The nanoparticles'
      capability of being detected via Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was
      investigated by means of clinical MRI scanners both in water and agar gel
      phantoms, and in a mouse model. 

PMID- 25815714
TI  - Coalescence, Cracking, and Crack Healing in Drying Dispersion Droplets.
AB  - The formation of a uniform film from a polymer dispersion is a complex phenomenon
      involving the interplay of many processes: evaporation and resulting fluid flows
      through confined geometries, particle packing and deformation, coalescence, and
      cracking. Understanding this multidimensional problem has proven challenging,
      precluding a clear understanding of film formation to date. This is especially
      true for drying dispersion droplets, where the particular geometry introduces
      additional complexity such as lateral flow toward the droplet periphery. We study
      the drying of these droplets using a simplified approach in which we
      systematically vary a single parameter: the glass transition temperature (Tg) of
      the polymer. We combine optical with scanning electron microscopy to elucidate
      these processes from the macroscopic down to the single-particle level, both
      qualitatively and quantitatively, over times ranging from seconds to days. Our
      results indicate that the polymer Tg has a marked influence on the time evolution
      of particle deformation and coalescence, giving rise to a distinct and sudden
      cracking transition. Moreover, in cracked droplets it affects the frequently
      overlooked time scale of crack healing, giving rise to a second transition from
      self-healing to permanently cracked droplets. These findings are in line with the
      classical Routh-Russel model for film formation yet extend its scope from
      particle-level dynamics to long-range polymer flow. 

PMID- 25815713
TI  - Indomethacin-induced gastric ulceration in rats: Ameliorative roles of Spondias
      mombin and Ficus exasperata.
AB  - CONTEXT: Spondias mombin Linn (Anacardiaceae) and Ficus exasperata Valh
      (Moraceae) are botanicals with known phytotherapeutic potentials in the
      traditional system of medicine in the world. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this
      study is to investigate the quantitative polyphenolic constituents and
      gastroprotective effects of aqueous leaf extracts of Spondias mombin and Ficus
      exasperata against indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer in rats. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Ulceration was induced by a single oral administration of indomethacin
      (30 mg/kg body weight (b.w.)). Ulcerated rats were orally administered with
      esomeprazole (a reference drug) at a dose of 20 mg/kg body weight, and Spondias
      mombin and Ficus exasperata at a dose of 100 and 200 mg/kg b.w. once daily for 21
      d after ulcer induction. Gastric secretions and antioxidant parameters were
      thereafter evaluated. RESULTS: The significantly increased (p < 0.05) ulcer
      index, gastric volume, malondialdehyde level, and pepsin activity by indomethacin
      were effectively reduced by 65.40, 36.47, 45.71, and 53.79%, respectively,
      following treatment with F. exasperata at 200 mg/kg b.w. S. mombin at this
      regimen also attenuated these parameters by 71.70, 46.62, 50.16, and 55.73%.
      Moreover, the extracts significantly increase the reduced activity of superoxide
      dismutase as well as pH and mucin content in the ulcerated rats. DISCUSSION AND
      CONCLUSION: These findings are indicative of gastroprotective and antioxidative
      potentials of the extracts which is also evident in the degree of % inhibition
      against ulceration. The available data in this study suggest that the extracts
      proved to be capable of ameliorating indomethacin-induced gastric ulceration and
      the probable mechanisms are via antioxidative and proton pump inhibition.

PMID- 25815712
TI  - Large-scale metabolomics reveals a complex response of Aspergillus nidulans to
      epigenetic perturbation.
AB  - The microbial world offers a rich source of bioactive compounds for those able to
      sift through it. Technologies capable of quantitatively detecting natural
      products while simultaneously identifying known compounds would expedite the
      search for new pharmaceutical leads. Prior efforts have targeted histone
      deacetylases in fungi to globally activate the production of new secondary
      metabolites, yet no study has directly assessed its effects with minimal bias at
      the metabolomic level. Using untargeted metabolomics, we monitored changes in
      >1000 small molecules secreted from the model fungus, Aspergillus nidulans,
      following genetic or chemical reductions in histone deacetylase activity (HDACi).
      Through quantitative, differential analyses, we found that nearly equal numbers
      of compounds were up- and down-regulated by >100 fold. We detected products from
      both known and unknown biosynthetic pathways and discovered that A. nidulans is
      capable of producing fellutamides, proteasome inhibitors whose expression was
      induced by ~100 fold or greater upon HDACi. This work adds momentum to an "omics"
      driven resurgence in natural products research, where direct detection replaces
      bioactivity as the primary screen for new pharmacophores. 

PMID- 25815715
TI  - Quantification of the host response proteome after herpes simplex virus type 1
      infection.
AB  - Viruses employ numerous host cell metabolic functions to propagate and manage to
      evade the host immune system. For herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1), a virus
      that has evolved to efficiently infect humans without seriously harming the host
      in most cases, the virus-host interaction is specifically interesting. This
      interaction can be best characterized by studying the proteomic changes that
      occur in the host during infection. Previous studies have been successful at
      identifying numerous host proteins that play important roles in HSV infection;
      however, there is still much that we do not know. This study identifies host
      metabolic functions and proteins that play roles in HSV infection, using global
      quantitative stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC)
      proteomic profiling of the host cell combined with LC-MS/MS. We showed
      differential proteins during early, mid and late infection, using both cytosolic
      and nuclear fractions. We identified hundreds of differentially regulated
      proteins involved in fundamental cellular functions, including gene expression,
      DNA replication, inflammatory response, cell movement, cell death, and RNA post
      transcriptional modification. Novel differentially regulated proteins in HSV
      infections include some previously identified in other virus systems, as well as
      fusion protein, involved in malignant liposarcoma (FUS) and hypoxia up-regulated
      1 protein precursor (HYOU1), which have not been identified previously in any
      virus infection. 

PMID- 25815716
TI  - Ccr4-not regulates RNA polymerase I transcription and couples nutrient signaling
      to the control of ribosomal RNA biogenesis.
AB  - Ribosomal RNA synthesis is controlled by nutrient signaling through the
      mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway. mTORC1 regulates
      ribosomal RNA expression by affecting RNA Polymerase I (Pol I)-dependent
      transcription of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) but the mechanisms involved remain
      obscure. This study provides evidence that the Ccr4-Not complex, which regulates
      RNA Polymerase II (Pol II) transcription, also functions downstream of mTORC1 to
      control Pol I activity. Ccr4-Not localizes to the rDNA and physically associates
      with the Pol I holoenzyme while Ccr4-Not disruption perturbs rDNA binding of
      multiple Pol I transcriptional regulators including core factor, the high
      mobility group protein Hmo1, and the SSU processome. Under nutrient rich
      conditions, Ccr4-Not suppresses Pol I initiation by regulating interactions with
      the essential transcription factor Rrn3. Additionally, Ccr4-Not disruption
      prevents reduced Pol I transcription when mTORC1 is inhibited suggesting Ccr4-Not
      bridges mTORC1 signaling with Pol I regulation. Analysis of the non-essential Pol
      I subunits demonstrated that the A34.5 subunit promotes, while the A12.2 and A14
      subunits repress, Ccr4-Not interactions with Pol I. Furthermore, ccr4Delta is
      synthetically sick when paired with rpa12Delta and the double mutant has enhanced
      sensitivity to transcription elongation inhibition suggesting that Ccr4-Not
      functions to promote Pol I elongation. Intriguingly, while low concentrations of
      mTORC1 inhibitors completely inhibit growth of ccr4Delta, a ccr4Delta rpa12Delta
      rescues this growth defect suggesting that the sensitivity of Ccr4-Not mutants to
      mTORC1 inhibition is at least partially due to Pol I deregulation. Collectively,
      these data demonstrate a novel role for Ccr4-Not in Pol I transcriptional
      regulation that is required for bridging mTORC1 signaling to ribosomal RNA
      synthesis. 

PMID- 25815717
TI  - Suboptimal effectiveness of the 2011-2012 seasonal influenza vaccine in adult
      Korean populations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of the 2011-2012 seasonal influenza vaccine was
      evaluated in adult Korean populations with regard to how well it could prevent
      laboratory-confirmed influenza and influenza-related complications. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A retrospective case-control and retrospective cohort study was
      conducted among patients who visited four selected hospitals from September 2011
      to May 2012. The analysis included 1,130 laboratory-confirmed influenza patients.
      For each influenza case, one control patient was chosen at a ratio of 1:1. A
      control was defined as an age group-matched patient who visited the same hospital
      with influenza-like illness within 48 hours of symptom onset but for whom
      laboratory tests were negative for influenza. Age group and visit date were
      matched between the cases and controls. Vaccine effectiveness (VE) was defined as
      [100 * (1-odds ratio for influenza in vaccinated versus non-vaccinated persons)].
      The patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza were followed for at least one
      month through reviewing the medical records and conducting a telephone interview.
      RESULTS: The VE of the 2011-2012 seasonal influenza vaccine was 3.8% [95%
      confidence interval (CI), -16.5% to 20.6%] for preventing laboratory-confirmed
      influenza, -16.1% (95% CI, -48.3 to 9.1) for influenza A and 26.2% (95% CI, -2.6
      to 46.2) for influenza B. The age-specific adjusted VE was 0.3% (95% CI, -29.4 to
      23.1) among participants aged 19 to 49 years, 11.9% (95% CI, -34.3 to 42.2) among
      those aged 50 to 64 years and -3.9% (-60.1 to 32.5) among those aged >=65 years.
      The adjusted VE for preventing any influenza-related complications was -10.7%
      (95% CI, -41.1% to 42.2%). CONCLUSIONS: The 2011-2012 seasonal influenza vaccine
      was not effective in preventing laboratory-confirmed influenza or influenza
      related complications in adult Korean populations.

PMID- 25815718
TI  - The ubiquitin ligase UBE3A dampens ERK pathway signalling in HPV E6 transformed
      HeLa cells.
AB  - Signalling through the ERK MAP kinase pathway plays an important role in many
      biological processes and it is often deregulated in disease states such as
      cancer. One major effect of MAP kinase signalling is to promote gene expression
      through the phosphorylation and activation of transcription factors like ELK1.
      ELK1 in turn controls the activity of immediate-early genes such as FOS. Here we
      have used ELK1 activation in HeLa cells as a read out to conduct a genome-wide
      siRNA screen to identify negative regulators of ERK-mediated immediate-early gene
      activation. One of the candidates that we identified was the E3 ubiquitin ligase
      UBE3A/E6-AP. Reductions in UBE3A levels cause increased basal levels of ERK
      activity, a loss of growth factor-mediated ERK activation and concomitant defects
      in immediate-early gene expression. Thus, UBE3A acts to dampen down basal level
      ERK activation and to prime the pathway for growth factor-mediated activation.
      Mechanistically, we demonstrate that UBE3A functions in HeLa cells through its
      binding partner, HPV18 E6 protein and the E6 target protein p53. Loss of either
      E6 or p53 blocks the effect of UBE3A depletion on ERK pathway signalling,
      indicating that in the context of oncogenic viral protein expression, UBE3A plays
      an important role in negating the consequences of p53 activation on ERK pathway
      signalling. 

PMID- 25815719
TI  - Variable importance and prediction methods for longitudinal problems with missing
      variables.
AB  - We present prediction and variable importance (VIM) methods for longitudinal data
      sets containing continuous and binary exposures subject to missingness. We
      demonstrate the use of these methods for prognosis of medical outcomes of severe
      trauma patients, a field in which current medical practice involves rules of
      thumb and scoring methods that only use a few variables and ignore the dynamic
      and high-dimensional nature of trauma recovery. Well-principled prediction and
      VIM methods can provide a tool to make care decisions informed by the high
      dimensional patient's physiological and clinical history. Our VIM parameters are
      analogous to slope coefficients in adjusted regressions, but are not dependent on
      a specific statistical model, nor require a certain functional form of the
      prediction regression to be estimated. In addition, they can be causally
      interpreted under causal and statistical assumptions as the expected outcome
      under time-specific clinical interventions, related to changes in the mean of the
      outcome if each individual experiences a specified change in the variable
      (keeping other variables in the model fixed). Better yet, the targeted MLE used
      is doubly robust and locally efficient. Because the proposed VIM does not
      constrain the prediction model fit, we use a very flexible ensemble learner (the
      SuperLearner), which returns a linear combination of a list of user-given
      algorithms. Not only is such a prediction algorithm intuitive appealing, it has
      theoretical justification as being asymptotically equivalent to the oracle
      selector. The results of the analysis show effects whose size and significance
      would have been not been found using a parametric approach (such as stepwise
      regression or LASSO). In addition, the procedure is even more compelling as the
      predictor on which it is based showed significant improvements in cross-validated
      fit, for instance area under the curve (AUC) for a receiver-operator curve (ROC).
      Thus, given that 1) our VIM applies to any model fitting procedure, 2) under
      assumptions has meaningful clinical (causal) interpretations and 3) has
      asymptotic (influence-curve) based robust inference, it provides a compelling
      alternative to existing methods for estimating variable importance in high
      dimensional clinical (or other) data. 

PMID- 25815720
TI  - The effects of extraversion, social support on the posttraumatic stress disorder
      and posttraumatic growth of adolescent survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among
      extraversion, social support, posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic
      growth among adolescent survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake. METHODS: Six
      hundred thirty-eight participants were selected from the survivors of the 2008
      Wenchuan earthquake. Participants completed four main questionnaires, including
      the Extraversion Subscale, the Social Support Scale, the Child PTSD Symptom
      Scale, and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. RESULTS: A bivariate correlation
      analysis revealed significant correlations among extraversion, social support,
      posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic growth. Extraversion had
      significant indirect effects on posttraumatic stress disorder (beta = -.037, p <
      .01) and posttraumatic growth (beta = .077, p < .001) through social support. The
      results also indicated that extraversion had a significant direct effect on
      posttraumatic growth and a nonsignificant direct effect on posttraumatic stress
      disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Social support fully mediates the relationship between
      extraversion and posttraumatic stress disorder and partially mediates the
      relationship between extraversion and posttraumatic growth. Psychological
      interventions and care for survivors of the earthquake should include the various
      functions and sources of social support and how they serve to benefit
      individuals.

PMID- 25815721
TI  - Rapid identification of major QTLs associated with rice grain weight and their
      utilization.
AB  - To uncover the genetics of rice grain weight, we constructed an RIL population
      derived from a cross between a large grain accession M201 and a small size
      variety JY293. Specific Locus Amplified Fragment Sequencing (SLAF-Seq) technology
      was used to genotype two bulked DNA pools made from individual DNA of the
      heaviest 30 lines and the lightest 30 lines according to the 1000 grain weight
      (TGW). Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) was used to identify SLAFs strongly
      associated with TGW. Two marker-intensive regions at 24,600,000-24,850,000 bp and
      25,000,000-25,350,000 bp on chromosome 3 were identified tightly related to the
      TGW. Then a linkage map of chromosome 3 was constructed with SSR markers and some
      SLAF derived single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Quantitative trait locus
      (QTL) mapping for TGW, grain length, grain width, and grain thickness revealed
      one major QTL in the second hot-region and two other minor QTLs for grain weight.
      These three QTLs displayed hierarchical effects on grain length and grain weight
      in order of qTGW3.2 (qGL3) qTGW3.1 (GS3) qTGW3.3. Multiple comparisons of means
      among the eight combinations of 3 QTLs revealed that the lines with two of three
      QTLs deriving from M201 displayed a large grain weight phenotype (TGW 40.2g,
      average data of three years) and lines with both qTGW3.1 and qTGW3.3 alleles from
      M201 (42.5g) had similar grain weight to the qTGW3.2 (40.8g) alone. Two
      strategies with similar effectiveness were proposed to improve grain weight by
      marker-assisted selection (MAS). One is to introduce the novel qTGW3.2 allele
      alone, and the other is to pyramid qTGW3.1 and qTGW3.3 alleles together. One new
      allele of GS3 (39 bp deletion in intron 1) and two SNPs in coding sequence of
      qGL3 identified in this study from M201 are useful in pyramiding elite alleles
      for molecular breeding for improvement of rice yield. 

PMID- 25815722
TI  - Vitamin D prevents hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced blood-brain barrier disruption
      via vitamin D receptor-mediated NF-kB signaling pathways.
AB  - Maintaining blood-brain barrier integrity and minimizing neuronal injury are
      critical components of any therapeutic intervention following ischemic stroke.
      However, a low level of vitamin D hormone is a risk factor for many vascular
      diseases including stroke. The neuroprotective effects of 1,25(OH)2D3 (vitamin D)
      after ischemic stroke have been studied, but it is not known whether it prevents
      ischemic injury to brain endothelial cells, a key component of the neurovascular
      unit. We analyzed the effect of 1,25(OH)2D3 on brain endothelial cell barrier
      integrity and tight junction proteins after hypoxia/reoxygenation in a mouse
      brain endothelial cell culture model that closely mimics many of the features of
      the blood-brain barrier in vitro. Following hypoxic injury in bEnd.3 cells,
      1,25(OH)2D3 treatment prevented the decrease in barrier function as measured by
      transendothelial electrical resistance and permeability of FITC-dextran (40 kDa),
      the decrease in the expression of the tight junction proteins zonula occludin-1,
      claudin-5, and occludin, the activation of NF-kB, and the increase in matrix
      metalloproteinase-9 expression. These responses were blocked when the interaction
      of 1,25(OH) )2D3 with the vitamin D receptor (VDR) was inhibited by pyridoxal 5'
      phosphate treatment. Our findings show a direct, VDR-mediated, protective effect
      of 1,25(OH) )2D3 against ischemic injury-induced blood-brain barrier dysfunction
      in cerebral endothelial cells. 

PMID- 25815723
TI  - Low dose nicotine attenuates Abeta neurotoxicity through activation early growth
      response gene 1 pathway.
AB  - Epidemiological studies indicate that smoking is negatively correlated with the
      incidence and development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nicotine was reported to
      be the active factor. However, the detailed mechanisms still remain to be fully
      elucidated. Early growth response gene 1 (EGR-1) plays important roles in several
      important biological processes such as promoting cell growth, differentiation,
      anti oxidative stress, and apoptosis, but few in the pathogenesis of AD. In the
      present study, we show that nicotine can activate the MAPK/ERK/EGR-1 signaling
      pathway partially through alpha7 nAChR. In addition, the up-regulation of EGR-1
      by nicotine can also increase the phosphorylation of CyclinD1 which contributes
      to the attenuation of amyloid-beta (Abeta(25-35)) -induced neurotoxicity.
      Although nicotine and Abeta(25-35) can activate EGR-1, the expression of EGR-1 is
      down-regulated following treatment with nicotine and Abeta(25-35). This study
      demonstrates that low dose nicotine attenuates Abeta(25-35)-induced neurotoxicity
      in vitro and in vivo through activating EGR-1 pathway.

PMID- 25815724
TI  - Culicidae community composition and temporal dynamics in Guapiacu Ecological
      Reserve, Cachoeiras de Macacu, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
AB  - A temporal observational study was conducted of the Culicidae fauna in a remnant
      area of Atlantic Forest within a private reserve (Guapiacu Ecological Reserve
      REGUA) presenting typical vegetation cover of dense rain forest, with some
      patches recovering a floristic composition similar to that of the original
      community. Research was carried out to analyze the influence of climatic factors
      (mean monthly temperature, rainfall, and air relative humidity) on the temporal
      dynamics of the mosquito communities that occur in the reserve. The completeness
      of the mosquito inventory was assessed with individual-based rarefaction
      extrapolation curves. Differences in species composition between sites and months
      were tested with PERMANOVA. True diversities of orders 0, 1, and 2 (effective
      numbers) were estimated and compared between sites, months, and years. Multiple
      stepwise regressions were used to assess relationships between climatic
      variables, measures of diversity, and abundances of the most common species.
      There were significant interactive effects between year and site on measures of
      diversity. However, diversity estimates showed little variation among months, and
      these were weakly correlated with climatic variables. Abundances of the most
      common species were significantly related to temperature or relative humidity,
      but not rainfall. The presence of mosquito species known to be vectors of human
      diseases combined with an intermittent flow of visitors to the study area
      suggests there is a risk of disease transmission that warrants further
      monitoring. 

PMID- 25815725
TI  - DNA methylation combinations in adjacent normal colon tissue predict cancer
      recurrence: evidence from a clinical cohort study.
AB  - Accumulating evidence has suggested the requirement for further stratification of
      patients in the same tumor stage according to molecular factors. We evaluate the
      combination of cancer stage and DNA methylation status as an indicator of the
      risk of recurrence and mortality among patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). A
      cohort study of 215 patients with CRC (mean age 64.32 years; 50.5% of men) from
      Tri-Service General Hospital in Taiwan examined the association between cancer
      stage and risk of CRC recurrence and mortality. A Cox proportional hazard model
      was used to analyze patient methylation status and clinical information at study
      entry, and their associations with CRC recurrence and mortality during follow-up.
      The advanced stage patients with p16, hMLH1, and MGMT methylation were associated
      with higher risk of CRC recurrence compared with the local stage patients with
      unmethylation status in tumor tissues, with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) (95%
      confidence interval [CI]) of 9.64 (2.92-31.81), 8.29 (3.40-20.22), and 11.83
      (3.49-40.12), respectively. When analyzing normal tissues, we observed similar
      risk of CRC recurrence with adjusted HRs (95% CI) of 10.85 (4.06-28.96), 9.04
      (3.79-21.54), and 12.61 (4.90-32.44), respectively. For combined analyses, the
      risk of recurrence in the patients in advanced stage with DNA methylation in both
      normal and tumor tissues, compared with local stage with unmethylation, was
      increased with adjusted HR (95% CI) of 9.37 (3.36-26.09). In the advanced stage
      patients, methylation status and tissue subtype were associated with increased
      risk of 5-year cumulative CRC recurrence (p < 0.001). This study demonstrates
      that clustering DNA methylation status according to cancer stage and tissue
      subtype is critical for the assessment of risk of recurrence in CRC patients and
      also indicated an underlying mechanism.

PMID- 25815726
TI  - Associations of blood pressure with body composition among Afro-Caribbean
      children in Barbados.
AB  - Despite complex presentation of adult hypertension and a concomitant obesity
      epidemic, little is known about overweight in relation to blood pressure among
      Caribbean children. We examined blood pressure in relation to body size in a
      cross-sectional study of 573 Barbadian children aged 9-10 years (2010-2011). The
      United States normative blood pressure percentiles were used to identify children
      with high (>=95th percentile) or high normal blood pressure (90th-95th
      percentile). The World Health Organization body mass index cut-off points were
      used to assess weight status. MAJOR FINDINGS: Thirty percent of children were
      overweight/obese. Percentage fat mass differed between girls (20.4%) and boys
      (17.72%) (p<0.05). Mean systolic blood pressure among girls was 106.11 (95% CI
      105.05, 107.17) mmHg and 105.23 (104.09, 106.38) for boys. The percentages with
      high or high-normal mean systolic blood pressure were 14.38% (10.47, 18.29) for
      girls and 8.08% (4.74, 11.41) for boys. Height and body mass index were
      independent correlates of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Mean systolic
      blood pressure was related to lean mass but not fat mass, while diastolic blood
      pressure was associated with fat mass index and overweight. PRINCIPAL CONCLUSION:
      One third of 9-10 year old children in Barbados were overweight/obese and 12% had
      elevated mean systolic blood pressure. BP was related to body size. These
      findings signal potential adverse trends in weight gain and BP trends for
      children growing up in the context of a country that has recently undergone rapid
      economic transition.

PMID- 25815728
TI  - Protruding structures on caterpillars are controlled by ectopic Wnt1 expression.
AB  - Spine-like or protruding structures, which may be aposematic for predators, are
      often observed in multiple segments of lepidopteran larvae (caterpillars). For
      example, the larvae of the Chinese wheel butterfly, Byasa alcinous, display many
      protrusions on their backs as a warning that they are toxic. Although these
      protrusions are formed by an integument lined with single-layered epidermal
      cells, the molecular mechanisms underlying their formation have remained unclear.
      In this study, we focused on a spontaneous mutant of the silkworm, Bombyx mori,
      Knobbed, which shows similar protrusions to B. alcinous and demonstrates that
      Wnt1 plays a crucial role in the formation of protrusion structures. Using both
      transgene expression and RNAi-based knockdown approaches, we showed that Wnt1
      designates the position where epidermal cells excessively proliferate, leading to
      the generation of knobbed structures. Furthermore, in the B. alcinous larvae,
      Wnt1 was also specifically expressed in association with the protrusions. Our
      results suggest that Wnt1 plays a role in the formation of protrusions on the
      larval body, and is conserved broadly among diverse species in Lepidoptera.

PMID- 25815727
TI  - A resorbable antibiotic-eluting polymer composite bone void filler for
      perioperative infection prevention in a rabbit radial defect model.
AB  - Nearly 1.3 million total joint replacement procedures are performed in the United
      States annually, with numbers projected to rise exponentially in the coming
      decades. Although finite infection rates for these procedures remain consistently
      low, device-related infections represent a significant cause of implant failure,
      requiring secondary or revision procedures. Revision procedures manifest several
      fold higher infection recurrence rates. Importantly, many revision surgeries,
      infected or not, require bone void fillers to support the host bone and provide a
      sufficient tissue bed for new hardware placement. Antibiotic-eluting bone void
      fillers (ABVF), providing both osteoconductive and antimicrobial properties,
      represent one approach for reducing rates of orthopedic device-related
      infections. Using a solvent-free, molten-cast process, a polymer-controlled
      antibiotic-eluting calcium carbonate hydroxyapatite (HAP) ceramic composite BVF
      (ABVF) was fabricated, characterized, and evaluated in vivo using a bacterial
      challenge in a rabbit radial defect window model. ABVF loaded with tobramycin
      eliminated the infectious burden in rabbits challenged with a clinically relevant
      strain of Staphylococcus aureus (inoculum as high as 107 CFU). Histological,
      microbiological, and radiographic methods were used to detail the effects of ABVF
      on microbial challenge to host bone after 8 weeks in vivo. In contrast to the
      HAP/BVF controls, which provided no antibiotic protection and required euthanasia
      3 weeks post-operatively, tobramycin-releasing ABVF animals showed no signs of
      infection (clinical, microbiological, or radiographic) when euthanized at the 8
      week study endpoint. ABVF sites did exhibit fibrous encapsulation around the
      implant at 8 weeks. Local antibiotic release from ABVF to orthopedic sites
      requiring bone void fillers eliminated the periprosthetic bacterial challenge in
      this 8-week in vivo study, confirming previous in vitro results.

PMID- 25815729
TI  - The roles of phosphorylation and SHAGGY-like protein kinases in geminivirus C4
      protein induced hyperplasia.
AB  - Even though plant cells are highly plastic, plants only develop hyperplasia under
      very specific abiotic and biotic stresses, such as when exposed to pathogens like
      Beet curly top virus (BCTV). The C4 protein of BCTV is sufficient to induce
      hyperplasia and alter Arabidopsis development. It was previously shown that C4
      interacts with two Arabidopsis Shaggy-like protein kinases, AtSK21 and 23, which
      are negative regulators of brassinosteroid (BR) hormone signaling. Here we show
      that the C4 protein interacts with five additional AtSK family members. Bikinin,
      a competitive inhibitor of the seven AtSK family members that interact with C4,
      induced hyperplasia similar to that induced by the C4 protein. The Ser49 residue
      of C4 was found to be critical for C4 function, since: 1) mutagenesis of Ser49 to
      Ala abolished the C4-induced phenotype, abolished C4/AtSK interactions, and
      resulted in a mutant protein that failed to induce changes in the BR signaling
      pathway; 2) Ser49 is phosphorylated in planta; and 3) plant-encoded AtSKs must be
      catalytically active to interact with C4. A C4 N-myristoylation site mutant that
      does not localize to the plasma membrane and does not induce a phenotype,
      retained the ability to bind AtSKs. Taken together, these results suggest that
      plasma membrane associated C4 interacts with and co-opts multiple AtSKs to
      promote its own phosphorylation and activation to subsequently compromise cell
      cycle control. 

PMID- 25815730
TI  - Transcriptional factor DLX3 promotes the gene expression of enamel matrix
      proteins during amelogenesis.
AB  - Mutation of distal-less homeobox 3 (DLX3) is responsible for human tricho-dento
      osseous syndrome (TDO) with amelogenesis imperfecta, indicating a crucial role of
      DLX3 in amelogenesis. However, the expression pattern of DLX3 and its specific
      function in amelogenesis remain largely unknown. The aim of this study was to
      investigate the effects of DLX3 on enamel matrix protein (EMP) genes. By
      immunohistochemistry assays of mouse tooth germs, stronger immunostaining of DLX3
      protein was identified in ameloblasts in the secretory stage than in the pre
      secretory and maturation stages, and the same pattern was found for Dlx3 mRNA
      using Realtime PCR. In a mouse ameloblast cell lineage, forced expression of DLX3
      up-regulated the expression of the EMP genes Amelx, Enam, Klk4, and Odam, whereas
      knockdown of DLX3 down-regulated these four EMP genes. Further, bioinformatics,
      chromatin immunoprecipitation, and luciferase assays revealed that DLX3
      transactivated Enam, Amelx, and Odam through direct binding to their enhancer
      regions. Particularly, over-expression of mutant-DLX3 (c.571_574delGGGG,
      responsible for TDO) inhibited the activation function of DLX3 on expression
      levels and promoter activities of the Enam, Amelx, and Odam genes. Together, our
      data show that DLX3 promotes the expression of the EMP genes Amelx, Enam, Klk4,
      and Odam in amelogenesis, while mutant-DLX3 disrupts this regulatory function,
      thus providing insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the enamel
      defects of TDO disease.

PMID- 25815731
TI  - Helicobacter pylori seropositivity's association with markers of iron, 1-carbon
      metabolism, and antioxidant status among US adults: a structural equations
      modeling approach.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We tested a model in which Helicobacter pylori seropositivity (Hps)
      predicted iron status, which in turn acted as a predictor for markers of 1-C
      metabolism that were then allowed to predict antioxidant status. METHODS:
      National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES 1999-2000) cross
      sectional data among adults aged 20-85 y were analyzed (n = 3,055). Markers of
      Hps, iron status (serum ferritin and transferrin saturation (TS)); 1-C metabolism
      (serum folate (FOLserum), B-12, total homocysteine (tHcy), methylmalonic acid
      (MMA)) and antioxidant status (vitamins A and E) were entered into a structural
      equations model (SEM). RESULTS: Predictors of Hps included older age, lower
      education and income, racial/ethnic groups (lowest among Non-Hispanic Whites),
      and lifetime cigarette smoking. SEM modeling indicated that Hps had a direct
      inverse relationship with iron status (combining serum ferritin and TS) which in
      turn was positively related to 1-C metabolites (higher serum folate, B-12 or
      lower tHcy/MMA) that were positively associated with antioxidant status
      (combining serum vitamins A and E). Another pathway that was found bypassed 1-C
      metabolites (Hps -> Iron_st -> Antiox). The sum of all indirect effects from Hps
      combining both pathways and the other indirect pathways in the model (Hps ->
      Iron_st -> OneCarbon; Hps ->OneCarbon ->Antiox) was estimated at beta = -0.006+/
      0.003, p<0.05. CONCLUSIONS: In sum, of the total effect of H. pylori
      seropositivity on antioxidant status, two significant indirect pathways through
      Iron status and 1-Carbon metabolites were found. Randomized controlled trials
      should be conducted to uncover the concomitant causal effect of H. pylori
      eradication on improving iron status, folate, B-12 and antioxidant status among
      H. pylori seropositive individuals.

PMID- 25815732
TI  - Age and gender adjusted comparison of clinical features between severe cases
      infected with H7N9 and H1N1pdm influenza A in Jiangsu Province, China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Influenza H7N9 and H1N1pdm can cause severe human infections. It is
      important to investigate the distinguishing clinical features between these two
      diseases. Several studies have compared the differences in general, however, age
      and gender adjusted comparisons may be more useful and informative to the health
      professionals. METHODS: A total of 184 severe H1N1pdm patients and 37 severe H7N9
      patients from Jiangsu Province were included in this analysis to perform age and
      gender adjusted comparison of clinical features. RESULTS: After adjusting age and
      gender, no significant differences in chronic medical conditions or treatment
      were found between severely ill patients with H7N9 and H1N1pdm. Severely ill
      patients with H7N9 had significantly longer interval from onset of illness to
      neuraminidase inhibitor treatment and to death. They were more likely to have
      complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), liver and renal
      dysfunctions, and had a significantly higher risk of death. CONCLUSION: Our
      results suggests that age and gender should be adjusted as important confounding
      factors when comparing the clinical features between severe H7N9 and H1N1pdm
      patients to avoid any misunderstanding regarding the differences between these
      two diseases particularly in terms of clinical severity and prognosis.

PMID- 25815733
TI  - Exploring regulation genes involved in the expression of L-amino acid oxidase in
      Pseudoalteromonas sp. Rf-1.
AB  - Bacterial L-amino acid oxidase (LAAO) is believed to play important biological
      and ecological roles in marine niches, thus attracting increasing attention to
      understand the regulation mechanisms underlying its production. In this study, we
      investigated genes involved in LAAO production in marine bacterium
      Pseudoalteromonas sp. Rf-1 using transposon mutagenesis. Of more than 4,000
      mutants screened, 15 mutants showed significant changes in LAAO activity. Desired
      transposon insertion was confirmed in 12 mutants, in which disrupted genes and
      corresponding functionswere identified. Analysis of LAAO activity and lao gene
      expression revealed that GntR family transcriptional regulator, methylase, non
      ribosomal peptide synthetase, TonB-dependent heme-receptor family, Na+/H+
      antiporter and related arsenite permease, N-acetyltransferase GCN5, Ketol-acid
      reductoisomerase and SAM-dependent methytransferase, and their coding genes may
      be involved in either upregulation or downregulation pathway at transcriptional,
      posttranscriptional, translational and/or posttranslational level. The nhaD and
      sdmT genes were separately complemented into the corresponding mutants with
      abolished LAAO-activity. The complementation of either gene can restore LAAO
      activity and lao gene expression, demonstrating their regulatory role in LAAO
      biosynthesis. This study provides, for the first time, insights into the
      molecular mechanisms regulating LAAO production in Pseudoalteromonas sp. Rf-1,
      which is important to better understand biological and ecological roles of LAAO. 

PMID- 25815734
TI  - Processing of Horizontal Sound Localization Cues in Newborn Infants.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: By measuring event-related brain potentials (ERPs), the authors
      tested the sensitivity of the newborn auditory cortex to sound lateralization and
      to the most common cues of horizontal sound localization. DESIGN: Sixty-eight
      healthy full-term newborn infants were presented with auditory oddball sequences
      composed of frequent and rare noise segments in four experimental conditions. The
      authors tested in them the detection of deviations in the primary cues of sound
      lateralization (interaural time and level difference) and in actual sound source
      location (free-field and monaural sound presentation). ERP correlates of deviance
      detection were measured in two time windows. RESULTS: Deviations in both primary
      sound localization cues and the ear of stimulation elicited a significant ERP
      difference in the early (90 to 140 msec) time window. Deviance in actual sound
      source location (the free-field condition) elicited a significant response in the
      late (290 to 340 msec) time window. CONCLUSIONS: The early differential response
      may indicate the detection of a change in the respective auditory features. The
      authors suggest that the late differential response, which was only elicited by
      actual sound source location deviation, reflects the detection of location
      deviance integrating the various cues of sound source location. Although the
      results suggest that all of the tested binaural cues are processed by the
      neonatal auditory cortex, utilizing the cues for locating sound sources of these
      cues may require maturation and learning.

PMID- 25815735
TI  - Correction: Antiarrhythmic agents and the risk of malignant neoplasm of liver and
      intrahepatic bile ducts.

PMID- 25815736
TI  - Severe spinal cord compression due to extramedullary hematopoiesis.

PMID- 25815737
TI  - Bilateral cerebellopontine arachnoid cyst: A rare entity.
AB  - Bilateral cerebellopontine angle (CPA) arachnoid cysts (ACs) are very rare: only
      one case is reported in literature. Pathogenesis of those cysts is unknown; they
      are thought to be congenital. The presenting symptoms of CPA AC are frequently
      nonspecific or otological. The management of ACs of the CPA is controversial. We
      are reporting two cases of bilateral CPA AC with their pathophysiology and review
      of literature. 

PMID- 25815739
TI  - Not quite a win-win: the corporate agenda of the stay at work/return to work
      project.
AB  - The idea that efforts are necessary to transform the dominant framework of
      workplace safety and health in the United States, from one of compensation and
      disability to one of stay at work/return to work (SAW/RTW) for workers injured or
      made ill on the job, has become increasingly widespread. SAW/RTW advocates argue
      that everyone "wins" when unnecessary disability is reduced. Toward this end,
      advocates have put forward a program and implemented a strategy with strong
      proponents among a coalition of corporate-connected professionals. The seemingly
      obvious conclusions of their arguments bear closer critical scrutiny, however.
      Addressing key questions-why injured workers do not SAW/RTW, who the coalition of
      SAW/RTW proponents includes, and what the coalition proposes-reveals that the
      SAW/RTW approach mainly benefits employers and the corporate-connected advocates.
      These assertions are detailed, and principles of an alternative approach that
      will serve the needs of injured workers are outlined. 

PMID- 25815738
TI  - Noninvasive assessment of hemodynamics: a comparative analysis of fingertip pulse
      contour analysis and impedance cardiography.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Systemic hemodynamic assessment is useful for characterizing the
      underlying physiology of hypertension, selecting individualized treatment
      approaches, and understanding the underlying mechanisms of action of
      interventions. Invasive methods are not suitable for routine clinic or research
      use, and noninvasive methods such as impedance cardiography have technical and
      practical limitations. Fingertip pulse contour analysis using the Nexfin device
      is a novel alternative to noninvasive assessment of blood pressure and
      hemodynamics. Although both impedance cardiography and the Nexfin have been
      validated against invasive methods, the extent to which they are correlated with
      each other is unknown. This study is a comparative analysis of data
      simultaneously obtained by impedance cardiography and using the Nexfin device.
      METHODS: As part of a larger clinical trial, 13 adults with type 2 diabetes
      completed cardiovascular reactivity testing on three occasions: at study baseline
      and after two 4-week dietary treatment periods. Blood pressure, hemodynamics, and
      heart rate variability were assessed at rest and during acute mental stress.
      RESULTS: Blood pressure, heart rate, and heart rate variability data were
      significantly correlated between the two devices, but hemodynamic data (stroke
      volume, cardiac output, total peripheral resistance) were not significantly
      correlated. Both techniques detected treatment-related changes in blood pressure
      and total peripheral resistance, but significantly differed in the magnitude
      and/or direction of treatment effects. CONCLUSION: We conclude that Nexfin is not
      an appropriate alternative to impedance cardiography for measurement of
      underlying hemodynamics in psychophysiological research, but may be useful for
      beat-to-beat monitoring of blood pressure and heart rate variability.

PMID- 25815740
TI  - Teen worker safety training: methods used, lessons taught, and time spent.
AB  - Safety training is strongly endorsed as one way to prevent teens from performing
      dangerous tasks at work. The objective of this mixed methods study was to
      characterize the safety training that teenagers receive on the job. From 2010
      through 2012, focus groups and a cross-sectional survey were conducted with
      working teens. The top methods of safety training reported were safety videos (42
      percent) and safety lectures (25 percent). The top lessons reported by teens were
      "how to do my job" and "ways to spot hazards." Males, who were more likely to do
      dangerous tasks, received less safety training than females. Although most teens
      are getting safety training, it is inadequate. Lessons addressing safety
      behaviors are missing, training methods used are minimal, and the time spent is
      insignificant. More research is needed to understand what training methods and
      lessons should be used, and the appropriate safety training length for
      effectively preventing injury in working teens. In addition, more research
      evaluating the impact of high-quality safety training compared to poor safety
      training is needed to determine the best training programs for teens. 

PMID- 25815741
TI  - Development of a safety communication and recognition program for construction.
AB  - Leading-indicator-based (e.g., hazard recognition) incentive programs provide an
      alternative to controversial lagging-indicator-based (e.g., injury rates)
      programs. We designed a leading-indicator-based safety communication and
      recognition program that incentivized safe working conditions. The program was
      piloted for two months on a commercial construction worksite and then redesigned
      using qualitative interview and focus group data from management and workers. We
      then ran the redesigned program for six months on the same worksite. Foremen
      received detailed weekly feedback from safety inspections, and posters displayed
      worksite and subcontractor safety scores. In the final program design, the whole
      site, not individual subcontractors, was the unit of analysis and recognition.
      This received high levels of acceptance from workers, who noted increased levels
      of site unity and team-building. This pilot program showed that construction
      workers value solidarity with others on site, demonstrating the importance of
      health and safety programs that engage all workers through a reliable and
      consistent communication infrastructure. 

PMID- 25815742
TI  - Community perspectives on the risk of indoor air pollution arising from
      contaminated groundwater.
AB  - The migration of volatile contaminants into overlying buildings, known as vapor
      intrusion, is a health concern for people living above contaminated groundwater.
      As public health and environmental agencies develop protocols to evaluate vapor
      intrusion exposure, little attention has been paid to the experiences and
      opinions of communities likely to be affected by vapor intrusion. Using a
      community-driven research approach and qualitative interviews, we explored
      community perspectives on the vapor intrusion pathway and the perceived impact on
      community health and well-being among neighbors living atop a large, shallow
      chlorinated solvent plume in San Antonio, TX. Most participants associated vapor
      intrusion with health risks, expressing concern about the unavoidable and
      uncontrollable nature of their exposure. Few were satisfied with the
      responsiveness of public officials. Above all, participants wanted more accurate,
      transparent information and additional independent scientific investigations. 

PMID- 25815743
TI  - Reducing lead in air and preventing childhood exposure near lead smelters:
      learning from the U.S. experience.
AB  - Childhood lead exposure and poisoning near primary lead smelters continues in
      developed and developing countries. In the United States, the problem of lead
      poisoning in children caused by smelter emissions was first documented in the
      early 1970s. In 1978, Environmental Protection Agency set National Ambient Air
      Quality Standards for lead. Attainment of this lead standard in areas near
      operating lead smelters took twenty to thirty years. Childhood lead exposure and
      poisoning continued to occur after the lead National Ambient Air Quality
      Standards were set and before compliance was achieved. This article analyzes and
      discusses the factors that led to the eventual achievement of the 1978 lead
      National Ambient Air Quality Standards near primary smelters and the reduction of
      children's blood lead levels in surrounding communities. Factors such as federal
      and state regulation, monitoring of emissions, public health activities such as
      blood lead surveillance and health education, relocation of children,
      environmental group and community advocacy, and litigation all played a role. 

PMID- 25815744
TI  - Occupational health and safety for agricultural workers in Thailand: gaps and
      recommendations, with a focus on pesticide use.
AB  - Over 16.7 million workers in Thailand (42 percent of the working population) are
      engaged in agriculture, disproportionately from the lower socioeconomic strata of
      Thai society. Most agricultural workers (over 93 percent) work in the informal
      sector without the protections of regulations or enforcement of labor or health
      and safety laws or enrollment in a social security system. Although Thailand's
      use of herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides is growing, there is little
      regulation of the sale, use, or application of these potentially toxic chemicals.
      This paper summarizes the research to date on occupational health and safety for
      Thai agricultural workers, identifies gaps in pesticide regulations and the
      current systems for occupational health and safety and social support for Thai
      agricultural workers, and makes recommendations for future policy and research
      initiatives to fill the identified gaps. 

PMID- 25815745
TI  - Working Behind Wyoming's Carbon Curtain.
AB  - Dan Neal, formerly the Executive Director of the Equality State Policy Center in
      Casper, Wyoming, was presented the Lorin Kerr Award by the Occupational Health
      and Safety Section of the American Public Health Association at its annual
      meeting in November 2014. The Kerr Award recognizes individuals who have stepped
      up to provide new leadership in occupational health and safety activism with
      sustained and outstanding efforts and dedication to improving the lives of
      workers. (Lorin Kerr [1909-1991] was a life-long activist and served for over
      forty years as a physician for the United Mine Workers. He was dedicated to
      improving access to health care for coal miners and other workers and to
      obtaining compensation for and preventing black lung disease.) Neal's acceptance
      speech introduces us to the health and safety concerns in Wyoming's expanding
      energy sector and explains how a coalition for occupational safety and health is
      organizing to address these concerns. 

PMID- 25815749
TI  - Accidental poisoning with 6-MP in a sibling of pediatric patient treated with
      maintenance chemotherapy.

PMID- 25815748
TI  - Lamp-lit bridges as dual light-traps for the night-swarming mayfly, Ephoron
      virgo: interaction of polarized and unpolarized light pollution.
AB  - Ecological photopollution created by artificial night lighting can alter animal
      behavior and lead to population declines and biodiversity loss. Polarized light
      pollution is a second type of photopollution that triggers water-seeking insects
      to ovisposit on smooth and dark man-made objects, because they simulate the
      polarization signatures of natural water bodies. We document a case study of the
      interaction of these two forms of photopollution by conducting observations and
      experiments near a lamp-lit bridge over the river Danube that attracts mass
      swarms of the mayfly Ephoron virgo away from the river to oviposit on the asphalt
      road of the bridge. Millions of mayflies swarmed near bridge-lights for two
      weeks. We found these swarms to be composed of 99% adult females performing their
      upstream compensatory flight and were attracted upward toward unpolarized bridge
      lamp light, and away from the horizontally polarized light trail of the river.
      Imaging polarimetry confirmed that the asphalt surface of the bridge was strongly
      and horizontally polarized, providing a supernormal ovipositional cue to Ephoron
      virgo, while other parts of the bridge were poor polarizers of lamplight.
      Collectively, we confirm that Ephoron virgo is independently attracted to both
      unpolarized and polarized light sources, that both types of photopollution are
      being produced at the bridge, and that spatial patterns of swarming and
      oviposition are consistent with evolved behaviors being triggered maladaptively
      by these two types of light pollution. We suggest solutions to bridge and
      lighting design that should prevent or mitigate the impacts of such scenarios in
      the future. The detrimental impacts of such scenarios may extend beyond Ephoron
      virgo.

PMID- 25815750
TI  - Dicarbonyl L-xylulose reductase (DCXR), a "moonlighting protein" in the bovine
      epididymis.
AB  - During maturation and the acquisition of their fertilization potential, male germ
      cells are subjected to various sequential modifications that occur in the
      epididymis. Protein addition, reorganization or withdrawal, comprise some of
      these modifications. Dicarbonyl L-xylulose reductase (DCXR), a multifunctional
      protein involved in various enzymatic and protein interaction processes in
      different physiological systems, is one of the proteins added to spermatozoa in
      the epididymis. DCXR is a well-conserved protein with multiple characteristics
      including enzymatic activities and mediation of cell-cell interaction. In this
      study, we characterized the DCXR gene and protein expression in the bovine
      epididymis. Dicarbonyl L-xylulose reductase mRNA is differentially expressed in
      the caput, corpus, and cauda epididymide epithelial cells with a higher level
      observed in the cauda region. Tissue protein expression follows the same pattern
      as the corresponding mRNA expression with a cytoplasmic and apical distribution
      in the corpus and cauda epithelial cells, respectively. The protein can also be
      found with a nuclear localization in cauda epididymidis epithelial cells.
      Dicarbonyl L-xylulose reductase is secreted in the epididymis luminal compartment
      in the soluble fraction and is associated with microvesicular elements named
      epididymosomes. In spermatozoa, the DCXR protein was found in the cytoplasmic and
      membranous fractions. Expression of the DCXR protein is higher on caput
      spermatozoa but finally shows a weak detection in semen. These data describe DCXR
      in the bovine epididymis and reveal that its behavior differs from that found in
      humans. It seems that, in this model, the DCXR protein might have a questionable
      involvement in the fertilization process. 

PMID- 25815751
TI  - Strong isotope effects on melting dynamics and ice crystallisation processes in
      cryo vitrification solutions.
AB  - The nucleation and growth of crystalline ice during cooling, and further
      crystallization processes during re-warming are considered to be key processes
      determining the success of low temperature storage of biological objects, as used
      in medical, agricultural and nature conservation applications. To avoid these
      problems a method, termed vitrification, is being developed to inhibit ice
      formation by use of high concentration of cryoprotectants and ultra-rapid
      cooling, but this is only successful across a limited number of biological
      objects and in small volume applications. This study explores physical processes
      of ice crystal formation in a model cryoprotective solution used previously in
      trials on vitrification of complex biological systems, to improve our
      understanding of the process and identify limiting biophysical factors. Here we
      present results of neutron scattering experiments which show that even if ice
      crystal formation has been suppressed during quench cooling, the water molecules,
      mobilised during warming, can crystallise as detectable ice. The crystallisation
      happens right after melting of the glass phase formed during quench cooling,
      whilst the sample is still transiting deep cryogenic temperatures. We also
      observe strong water isotope effects on ice crystallisation processes in the
      cryoprotectant mixture. In the neutron scattering experiment with a fully
      protiated water component, we observe ready crystallisation occurring just after
      the glass melting transition. On the contrary with a fully deuteriated water
      component, the process of crystallisation is either completely or substantially
      supressed. This behaviour might be explained by nuclear quantum effects in water.
      The strong isotope effect, observed here, may play an important role in
      development of new cryopreservation strategies. 

PMID- 25815752
TI  - Impairment and disability in persons with MS: do functional performance or
      functional limitations matter?
AB  - Persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) often demonstrate impairment in
      cardiorespiratory and musculoskeletal systems that may be associated with
      functional performance, functional limitations, and disability limitations. This
      study examined such relationships in persons with MS using Nagi's disablement
      model and its subsequent conceptual modifications. The sample included 63 persons
      with MS (75% relapsing-remitting MS, median EDSS = 4.0, and mean MS duration =
      13.1 years) who underwent measurements of aerobic fitness and muscular strength
      (i.e. impairment), functional performance, functional limitations, and disability
      limitations. The data were primarily examined using path analysis in Mplus 7.0.
      Our final model provided an excellent fit for the data (chi2 = 0.67, df = 3, p =
      0.88, SRMR = 0.01, and CFI = 1.00). The final model indicated that aerobic
      fitness and muscular strength were indirectly associated with disability
      limitations in persons with MS through a pathway that included functional
      limitations (indirect path coefficients of 0.29 and 0.20, respectively), but not
      functional performance. Aerobic fitness and muscular strength may be the
      important targets of exercise training interventions for improving perceived
      functional limitations and disability limitations in persons with MS. 

PMID- 25815753
TI  - MUC1 selectively targets human pancreatic cancer in orthotopic nude mouse models.
AB  - The goal of this study was to determine whether MUC1 antibody conjugated with a
      fluorophore could be used to visualize pancreatic cancer. Anti-MUC1 (CT2)
      antibody was conjugated with 550 nm or 650 nm fluorophores. Nude mouse were used
      to make subcutaneous and orthotopic models of pancreatic cancer. Western blot and
      flow cytometric analysis confirmed the expression of MUC1 in human pancreatic
      cancer cell lines including BxPC-3 and Panc-1. Immunocytochemistry with
      fluorophore conjugated anti-MUC1 antibody demonstrated fluorescent areas on the
      membrane of Panc-1 cancer cells. After injecting the conjugated anti-MUC1
      antibodies via the tail vein, subcutaneously transplanted Panc-1 and BxPC-3
      tumors emitted strong fluorescent signals. In the subcutaneous tumor models, the
      fluorescent signal from the conjugated anti-MUC1 antibody was noted around the
      margin of the tumor and space between the cells. The conjugated anti-MUC1
      antibody bound the tumor in orthotopically-transplanted Panc-1 and BxPC-3 models
      enabling the tumors to be imaged. This study showed that fluorophore conjugated
      anti-MUC1 antibodies could visualize pancreatic tumors in vitro and in vivo and
      may help to improve the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. 

PMID- 25815754
TI  - Long-Term, Open-Label, Safety Study of Edivoxetine 12 to 18 mg Once Daily as
      Adjunctive Treatment for Patients With Major Depressive Disorder Who Are Partial
      Responders to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Treatment.
AB  - Long-term safety, tolerability, and efficacy of adjunctive edivoxetine
      hydrochloride (hereafter edivoxetine), a highly selective and potent
      norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, was assessed in patients with major depressive
      disorder (MDD) experiencing partial response to selective serotonin reuptake
      inhibitor treatment. Data are from a multicenter, 54-week, open-label trial of
      adjunctive edivoxetine 12 to 18 mg once daily in patients with MDD who had
      experienced partial response by history to 6 or more weeks of current selective
      serotonin reuptake inhibitor therapy and who had a 17-item GRID Hamilton Rating
      Scale for Depression total score 16 or higher at study entry. Safety measures
      included discontinuation rate, treatment-emergent adverse events, serious adverse
      events, and vital signs. Efficacy measures included the Montgomery-Asberg
      Depression Rating Scale. Of 608 patients, 328 (54%) completed the open-label
      adjunctive treatment. Study discontinuation due to adverse events occurred in
      17.0%, and there were 13 serious adverse events (1 death). Treatment-emergent
      adverse events 5% or higher were nausea, hyperhidrosis, constipation, headache,
      dry mouth, dizziness, vomiting, insomnia, and upper respiratory tract infection.
      Mean increases were observed in systolic blood pressure (range, 0.0-2.3 mm Hg),
      diastolic blood pressure (range, 1.9-3.3 mm Hg), and pulse (range, 5.9-8.4 beats
      per minute). Mean improvements on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (
      17.0) were observed from baseline to week 54. The safety profile from this study
      provides an overview of outcomes associated with edivoxetine and norepinephrine
      reuptake inhibition as an adjunctive treatment in patients with MDD who were
      treated up to 1 year.

PMID- 25815755
TI  - Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction: Clinical Characterization and Preliminary
      Assessment of Contributory Factors and Dose-Response Relationship.
AB  - Emerging evidence suggests that sexual dysfunction emerging during treatment with
      selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and/or serotonin-norepinephrine
      reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) persists in some patients beyond drug discontinuation
      (post-SSRI sexual dysfunction [PSSD]). We sought to identify and characterize a
      series of such cases and explore possible explanatory factors and exposure
      response relationship. Subjects who responded to an invitation in a forum
      dedicated to PSSD filled out a survey via online software. Case probability was
      defined according to the following 3 categories of increasing presumed likelihood
      of PSSD. Noncases did not meet the criteria for possible cases. Possible cases
      were subjects with normal pretreatment sexual function who first experienced
      sexual disturbances while using a single SSRI/SNRI, which did not resolve upon
      drug discontinuation for 1 month or longer as indicated by Arizona Sexual
      Experience Scale scores. High-probability cases were also younger than 50-year
      olds; did not have confounding medical conditions, medications, or drug use; and
      had normal scores on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Five hundred
      thirty-two (532) subjects completed the survey, among which 183 possible cases
      were identified, including 23 high-probability cases. Female sex, genital
      anesthesia, and depression predicted current sexual dysfunction severity, but
      dose/defined daily dose ratio and anxiety did not. Genital anesthesia did not
      correlate with depression or anxiety, but pleasureless orgasm was an independent
      predictor of both depression and case probability. Limitations of the study
      include retrospective design and selection and report biases that do not allow
      generalization or estimation of incidence. However, our findings add to previous
      reports and support the existence of PSSD, which may not be fully explained by
      alternative nonpharmacological factors related to sexual dysfunction, including
      depression and anxiety. 

PMID- 25815756
TI  - Restless legs syndrome associated with the combined use of duloxetine plus
      paroxetine.

PMID- 25815757
TI  - Hospice and palliative care: differences matter.

PMID- 25815758
TI  - Communicating with patients and their families about palliative and end-of-life
      care: comfort and educational needs of nurses.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Effectively discussing palliative care with patients and families
      requires knowledge and skill. The purpose of this study was to determine
      perceived needs of inpatient nurses for communicating with patients and families
      about palliative and end-of-life (EoL) care. METHOD: A non-experimental design
      was used. In total, 60 inpatient nurses from one hospital in Idaho completed the
      End of Life Professional Caregiver Survey (EPCS), which examines three domains:
      patient and family-centered communication, cultural and ethical values, and
      effective care delivery. RESULTS: The number of years' experience nurses had
      (F(9,131.57)=2.22, p=0.0246; Wilk's ^=0.709) and the unit they worked on
      (F(6,110)=2.49, p=0.0269; Wilk's ^=0.775) had a significant effect on their
      comfort discussing EoL and palliative care with patients and their families. For
      all three domains, years of nursing experience was positively associated with
      comfort in communicating about EoL care. Oncology nurses were most comfortable
      with regard to patient and family-centered communication. DISCUSSION: The success
      and sustainability of this service is dependent on education for health-care
      providers. Studies are needed to determine the most effective ways to meet this
      educational challenge.

PMID- 25815759
TI  - Fentanyl pectin nasal spray for breakthrough cancer pain.

PMID- 25815760
TI  - Deathbed phenomena reported by patients in palliative care: clinical
      opportunities and responses.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Reports from patients on seeing or hearing a dead relative or
      dreaming a highly significant dream at the end of life can be perplexing for
      health professionals who may wonder how best to respond. AIM: The aim of this
      study was to systematically review the literature on deathbed phenomena (DBP),
      and provide suggestions for a clinical response to dying patients' recounts of
      these hard-to-explain phenomena. METHODS: The authors searched for relevant
      studies which reported on DBP within a palliative care context. Eligibility
      criteria were established, a review process was employed and a narrative
      synthesis approach was used to interpret the data. RESULTS: In total, eight
      papers met the inclusion criteria. Reported prevalence of DBP ranged from 24-51%
      with common themes described. Distinguishing between DBP and hallucinations was
      discussed, requiring very different clinical responses. Phenomena were timed most
      often in the last hours or days before death. Experiencing a DBP was, in most
      cases, deeply meaningful, bringing comfort, peace and reassurance. Health
      professionals were not surprised to hear of a DBP, but were not always well
      prepared to respond appropriately. CONCLUSIONS: Rather than simply dismissing DBP
      as medication related or the physiological effects of dying, the significance of
      these events and the comfort afforded by them to patients and carers should be
      recognised. Disclosure of DBP may enable health professionals to discuss more
      spiritual and existential concerns, which have the potential to offer hope,
      meaning and connection. We propose strategies and approaches for strengthening
      compassionate clinical practice in this area.

PMID- 25815761
TI  - The unmet palliative care needs of those dying with dementia.
AB  - An estimated 33.9 million people are living with dementia worldwide. The overall
      estimated median survival time from onset of dementia to death is 4.1 years for
      men and 4.6 years for women, with longer survival times in those with early-onset
      dementia. Much has been discussed about the needs of this vulnerable group of
      people particularly in terms of their health-care and end-of-life care (EoLC)
      needs. However, the literature suggests that people with end-stage dementia are
      still not receiving adequate or appropriate EoLC. Difficulty diagnosing dementia,
      a stigma surrounding the disease, lack of education of the dementia disease
      process and the ability to identify complications encountered at end-stage
      dementia by health-care providers, families and carers are some of the factors
      preventing those with dementia receiving effective EoLC. Great strides have been
      made to improve dementia palliative care; however, this cohort of patients still
      receive fewer referrals to appropriate palliative care services than other
      terminally ill patients. 

PMID- 25815762
TI  - The role of UK district nurses in providing care for adult patients with a
      terminal diagnosis: a meta-ethnography.
AB  - AIM: To explore the role of UK district nurses in providing care for adult
      patients with a terminal diagnosis by reviewing qualitative research. DESIGN:
      Meta-ethnography was used to conduct the synthesis. DATA SOURCES: CINAHL, MEDLINE
      and British Nursing Index (BNI) were searched comprehensively for primary
      research relating to the role of UK district nurses in palliative care. REVIEW
      METHODS: The abstracts and titles of 700 papers were screened against inclusion
      criteria, of these 97 full papers were appraised. Some 24 studies reported in 25
      papers were selected for inclusion in the synthesis. FINDINGS: In total, five key
      themes were identified: valuing the role; practical role; relationships with
      patients and families; providing psychological support; and role uncertainty.
      Further synthesis yielded two 'lines of argument'. The concept of the 'expert
      friend' argues that the atypical relationship district nurses cultivate with
      patients underpins district nurses' provision of palliative care and profoundly
      influences the nature of psychological support given. Secondly, the concept of
      'threat and opportunity' encapsulates the threat district nurses can feel to
      their traditional role in palliative care through changing health and social
      policy, while recognising the benefits that access to specialist knowledge and
      better training can bring. CONCLUSION: The findings have implications for
      understanding the motivators and barriers experienced by district nurses
      delivering palliative care in a time of unprecedented change to community health
      services.

PMID- 25815763
TI  - Palliative approach education for rural nurses and health-care workers: a mixed
      method study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this mixed-method study was to evaluate the outcomes of an
      educational intervention in a palliative approach for rural nurses and health
      care workers (HCWs) using a team-based method. METHODS: Pre- and post-test
      measures using the Palliative Care Nursing Self-Competence (PCSNC) scale and the
      Self-Perceived Palliative Care Knowledge instrument were used to evaluate
      learning outcomes. Participant post-test scores were also compared to normative
      provincial data. FINDINGS: At post-test, HCWs showed statistically significant
      improvements across 7 of 10 domains in self-perceived competence and 6 of 12
      domains in self-perceived knowledge; all scores were equivalent to or better than
      provincial normative data. Nurses' self-perceived knowledge showed statistically
      significant improvements in 3 of 12 domains; all post-test scores were equivalent
      to provincial normative data. Qualitative data indicated improvements in
      familiarity with the resources available for palliative care and in communication
      among the nursing team. CONCLUSION: An educational intervention can improve the
      competence and knowledge of rural HCWs and nurses in a palliative approach.

PMID- 25815767
TI  - Accelerated and synchronized oviposition induced by flight of young females may
      intensify larval outbreaks of the rice leaf roller.
AB  - Physiological management of migration-reproduction trade-offs in energy
      allocation often includes a package of adaptions referred to as the oogenesis
      flight syndrome. In some species, this trade-off may be overestimated, because
      factors like flight behavior and environmental conditions may mitigate it. In
      this study, we examined the reproductive consequences induced by different flight
      scenarios in an economically-important Asian migrant insect, Cnaphalocrocis
      medinalis. We found that the influences of flight on reproduction are not
      absolutely positive or negative, but instead depend on the age at which the moth
      begins flight, flight duration, and how many consecutive nights they are flown.
      Adult flight on the 1st or 2nd night after emergence, flight for 6 h or 12 h
      nightly, and flight on the first two consecutive nights after emergence
      significantly accelerated onset of oviposition or enhanced synchrony of egg
      laying. The latter can contribute to subsequent larval outbreaks. However, flight
      after the 3rd night, flight for 18 h at any age, or flight on more than 3
      consecutive nights after adult emergence did not promote reproductive
      development, and in some scenarios even constrained adult reproduction. These
      results indicate that there is a migration/reproduction trade-off in C.medinalis,
      but that it is mitigated or eliminated by flight under appropriate conditions.
      The strategy of advanced and synchronized oviposition triggered by migratory
      flight of young females may be common in other migratory insect pests.

PMID- 25815766
TI  - Gut microbiota and tacrolimus dosing in kidney transplantation.
AB  - Tacrolimus dosing to establish therapeutic levels in recipients of organ
      transplants is a challenging task because of much interpatient and intrapatient
      variability in drug absorption, metabolism, and disposition. In view of the
      reported impact of gut microbial species on drug metabolism, we investigated the
      relationship between the gut microbiota and tacrolimus dosing requirements in
      this pilot study of adult kidney transplant recipients. Serial fecal specimens
      were collected during the first month of transplantation from 19 kidney
      transplant recipients who either required a 50% increase from initial tacrolimus
      dosing during the first month of transplantation (Dose Escalation Group, n=5) or
      did not require such an increase (Dose Stable Group, n=14). We characterized
      bacterial composition in the fecal specimens by deep sequencing of the PCR
      amplified 16S rRNA V4-V5 region and we investigated the hypothesis that gut
      microbial composition is associated with tacrolimus dosing requirements. Initial
      tacrolimus dosing was similar in the Dose Escalation Group and in the Stable
      Group (4.2 +/- 1.1 mg/day vs. 3.8 +/- 0.8 mg/day, respectively, P=0.61, two-way
      between-group ANOVA using contrasts) but became higher in the Dose Escalation
      Group than in the Dose Stable Group by the end of the first transplantation month
      (9.6 +/- 2.4 mg/day vs. 3.3 +/- 1.5 mg/day, respectively, P<0.001). Our
      systematic characterization of the gut microbial composition identified that
      fecal Faecalibacterium prausnitzii abundance in the first week of transplantation
      was 11.8% in the Dose Escalation Group and 0.8% in the Dose Stable Group
      (P=0.002, Wilcoxon Rank Sum test, P<0.05 after Benjamini-Hochberg correction for
      multiple hypotheses). Fecal Faecalibacterium prausnitzii abundance in the first
      week of transplantation was positively correlated with future tacrolimus dosing
      at 1 month (R=0.57, P=0.01) and had a coefficient +/- standard error of 1.0 +/-
      0.6 (P=0.08) after multivariable linear regression. Our novel observations may
      help further explain inter-individual differences in tacrolimus dosing to achieve
      therapeutic levels.

PMID- 25815769
TI  - Kinematic analysis of males with transtibial amputation carrying military loads.
AB  - The biomechanical responses to load carriage, a common task for dismounted
      troops, have been well studied in nondisabled individuals. However, with recent
      shifts in the rehabilitation and retention process of injured servicemembers,
      there remains a substantial need for understanding these responses in persons
      with lower-limb amputations. Temporal-spatial and kinematic gait parameters were
      analyzed among 10 male servicemembers with unilateral transtibial amputation
      (TTA) and 10 uninjured male controls. Participants completed six treadmill
      walking trials in all combinations of two speeds (1.34 and 1.52 m/s) and three
      loads (none, 21.8, and 32.7 kg). Persons with TTA exhibited biomechanical
      compensations to carried loads that are comparable to those observed in uninjured
      individuals. However, several distinct gait changes appear to be unique to those
      with TTA, notably, increased dorsiflexion (deformation) of the prosthetic
      foot/ankle, less stance knee flexion on the prosthetic limb, and altered trunk
      forward lean/excursion. Such evidence supports the need for future work to assess
      the risk for overuse injuries with carried loads in this population in addition
      to guiding the development of adaptive prosthetic feet/components to meet the
      needs of redeployed servicemembers or veterans/civilians in physically demanding
      occupations. 

PMID- 25815768
TI  - Time-calibrated phylogenomics of the classical swine fever viruses: genome-wide
      bayesian coalescent approach.
AB  - The phylogeny of classical swine fever virus (CSFV), the causative agent of
      classical swine fever (CSF), has been investigated extensively. However, no
      evolutionary research has been performed using the whole CSFV genome. In this
      study, we used 37 published genome sequences to investigate the time-calibrated
      phylogenomics of CSFV. In phylogenomic trees based on Bayesian inference (BI) and
      Maximum likelihood (ML), the 37 isolates were categorized into five genetic types
      (1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.3, and 3.4). Subgenotype 1.1 is divided into 3 groups and 1
      unclassified isolate, 2.1 into 4 groups, 2.3 into 2 groups and 1 unclassified
      isolate, and subgenotype 1.2 and 3.4 consisted of one isolate each. We did not
      observe an apparent temporal or geographical relationship between isolates. Of
      the 14 genomic regions, NS4B showed the most powerful phylogenetic signal.
      Results of this evolutionary study using Bayesian coalescent approach indicate
      that CSFV has evolved at a rate of 13*.010-4 substitutions per site per year. The
      most recent common ancestor of CSFV appeared 2770.2 years ago, which was about
      8000 years after pig domestication. The effective population size of CSFV
      underwent a slow increase until the 1950s, after which it has remained constant.

PMID- 25815770
TI  - Association of Parkinson's Disease and Its Subtypes with Agricultural Pesticide
      Exposures in Men: A Case-Control Study in France.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pesticides have been associated with Parkinson's disease (PD), but
      there are few data on important exposure characteristics such as dose-effect
      relations. It is unknown whether associations depend on clinical PD subtypes.
      OBJECTIVES: We examined quantitative aspects of occupational pesticide exposure
      associated with PD and investigated whether associations were similar across PD
      subtypes. METHODS: As part of a French population-based case-control study
      including men enrolled in the health insurance plan for farmers and agricultural
      workers, cases with clinically confirmed PD were identified through
      antiparkinsonian drug claims. Two controls were matched to each case. Using a
      comprehensive occupational questionnaire, we computed indicators for different
      dimensions of exposure (duration, cumulative exposure, intensity). We used
      conditional logistic regression to compute odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence
      intervals (CIs) among exposed male farmers (133 cases, 298 controls). We examined
      the relation between pesticides and PD subtypes (tremor dominant/non-tremor
      dominant) using polytomous logistic regression. RESULTS: There appeared to be a
      stronger association with intensity than duration of pesticide exposure based on
      separate models, as well as a synergistic interaction between duration and
      intensity (p-interaction = 0.04). High-intensity exposure to insecticides was
      positively associated with PD among those with low-intensity exposure to
      fungicides and vice versa, suggesting independent effects. Pesticide exposure in
      farms that specialized in vineyards was associated with PD (OR = 2.56; 95% CI:
      1.31, 4.98). The association with intensity of pesticide use was stronger,
      although not significantly (p-heterogeneity = 0.60), for tremor-dominant (p-trend
      < 0.01) than for non-tremor-dominant PD (p-trend = 0.24). CONCLUSIONS: This study
      helps to better characterize different aspects of pesticide exposure associated
      with PD, and shows a significant association of pesticides with tremor-dominant
      PD in men, the most typical PD presentation. CITATION: Moisan F, Spinosi J,
      Delabre L, Gourlet V, Mazurie JL, Benatru I, Goldberg M, Weisskopf MG, Imbernon
      E, Tzourio C, Elbaz A. 2015. Association of Parkinson's disease and its subtypes
      with agricultural pesticide exposures in men: a case-control study in France.
      Environ Health Perspect 123:1123-1129; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307970.

PMID- 25815772
TI  - A simple criterion for determining the static friction force between nanowires
      and flat substrates using the most-bent-state method.
AB  - A simple criterion was developed to assess the appropriateness of the currently
      available models that estimate the static friction force between nanowires and
      substrates using the 'most-bent-state' method. Our experimental testing of the
      static friction force between Al2O3 nanowires and Si substrate verified our
      theoretical analysis, as well as the establishment of the criterion. It was found
      that the models are valid only for the bent nanowires with the ratio of wire
      length over the minimum curvature radius [Formula: see text] no greater than 1.
      For the cases with [Formula: see text] greater than 1, the static friction force
      was overestimated as it neglected the effect of its tangential component. 

PMID- 25815771
TI  - Systematic analysis and identification of stress-responsive genes of the NAC gene
      family in Brachypodium distachyon.
AB  - Plant-specific NAC proteins are one of the largest families of transcription
      factors in plants, and members of this family have been characterized with roles
      in the regulation of diverse biological processes, including development and
      stress responses. In the present study, we identified 101 putative NAC domain
      encoding genes (BdNACs) through systematic sequence analysis in Brachypodium
      distachyon, a new model plant of family Poaceae. BdNAC proteins were
      phylogenetically clustered into 13 groups, and each group possesses similar motif
      compositions. Phylogenetic analysis using known stress-related NACs from
      Arabidopsis and rice as query sequences identified 18 BdNACs as putative stress
      responsive genes. In silico promoter analysis showed that almost all BdNAC genes
      contain putative stress-related cis-elements in their promoter regions.
      Expression profile of BdNAC genes in response to abiotic stresses and
      phytohormones was analyzed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Several putative
      stress-responsive BdNAC genes, including BdNAC003 and BdNAC044 which is ortholog
      of known stress-responsive rice gene SNAC1 and SNAC2, respectively, were highly
      regulated by multiple abiotic stresses and stress-related phytohormone
      treatments. Taken together, our results presented here would be helpful in laying
      the foundation for understanding of the complex mechanisms of NAC mediated
      abiotic stress signaling transduction pathways in B. distachyon. 

PMID- 25815773
TI  - Association of the glucocorticoid receptor D641V variant with steroid-resistant
      asthma: a case-control study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Several mutations of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene cause
      malfunction of the protein, resulting in steroid resistance. In diseases other
      than asthma, the GR variants I559N, D641V, and V729I have been linked to steroid
      resistance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the link of these GR variants
      in steroid-resistant (SR) asthma in the Chinese Han population. METHODS: GR
      polymorphisms were determined in 64 SR asthma patients, 217 steroid-sensitive
      (SS) asthma patients and 221 healthy control (CTR) individuals. The analysis of
      the GR variants was performed using PCR-sequence specific primers according to
      the European Molecular Biology Laboratory database (NC_000005.8). In addition,
      ligand binding and serum cortisol levels were determined. RESULTS: Compared with
      SS asthma patients and CTRs, a significant lower frequency of the GR D641V
      variant AA genotype (P=0.003, 0.014, respectively) and the A allele (P=0.001,
      0.009, respectively) was found in SR asthma patients. Furthermore, the
      equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd) of GR ligand binding in SR asthma patients
      with the GR D641V variant AA genotype was significantly lower compared with the
      AT or the TT genotype carriers (P=0.006, 0.016, respectively). There was no
      significant difference between the I559N and V729I GR variants on comparing SR
      asthma patients with SS asthma patients or CTRs. CONCLUSION: This study suggests
      that the D641V variant of the GR is probably associated with SR asthma in the
      Chinese Han population.

PMID- 25815774
TI  - Clinical validation study of genetic markers for capecitabine efficacy in
      metastatic colorectal cancer patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Pharmacogenetic studies continue to search for pretreatment
      predictors of chemotherapeutic efficacy and toxicity in metastatic colorectal
      cancer. Both genome-wide association studies and candidate gene studies have
      yielded potential genetic markers for chemosensitivity. We conducted a clinical
      association study, validating the effect of specific genetic markers cited in
      recently published papers on the efficacy of the oral 5-fluoro-uracil prodrug
      capecitabine. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Germline DNA was collected for 268 metastatic
      colorectal cancer patients from the CAIRO trial, a multicenter phase III trial,
      randomizing between combined or sequential first-line treatment with
      capecitabine, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin. Genotyping was performed for eight
      single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), using high-resolution melting curves.
      Four SNPs are located in the MTRR gene, and another four SNPs showed significant
      association with 5-fluoro-uracil cytotoxicity in a recent in-vitro genome-wide
      association study. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS);
      secondary endpoints were objective response and overall survival. RESULTS: In
      patients receiving capecitabine monotherapy, rs4702484, located in ADCY2 and
      close to MTRR, was associated with slightly reduced PFS for homozygous wild-type
      patients (CC 6.2 vs. CT 8.0 months; P=0.018). For the other selected genetic
      markers, we found no association with PFS, overall survival, or radiologic
      response upon treatment with capecitabine, either in the total study population
      or in the capecitabine monotherapy subgroup. CONCLUSION: With the exception of
      rs4702484, we found no evidence of an effect on capecitabine chemosensitivity for
      any of the studied SNPs. More specifically, variants in methionine synthase
      reductase (MTRR) are not likely associated with capecitabine efficacy.

PMID- 25815775
TI  - Identification of active ingredients in Wuzhuyu decoction improving migraine in
      mice by spectral efficiency association.
AB  - Wuzhuyu decoction is a traditional Chinese medicine used for the effective
      treatment of migraines, termed 'Jueyin headache', in China. However, there have
      been few investigations to clarify the composition of Wuzhuyu decoction for the
      treatment of migraines. In the present study, 10 types of Wuzhuyu decoction were
      analyzed by chromatograms. 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)-depletion mouse models of
      migraine were prepared by subcutaneous injection of reserpine and placement of
      autologous blood clots in the cerebral cortex. The levels of 5-HT, noradrenaline
      (NE), dopamine (DA), nitric oxide (NO) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in the
      brain tissues and sera of the mice were determined. The ingredients and
      pharmacodynamic indices of the Wuzhuyu decoctions were analyzed using spectral
      efficiency association by partial least squares regression. The levels of 5-HT,
      NE and DA in the mouse brain tissues were reduced to 337.785 +/- 84.504, 171.173
      +/- 65.172 and 242.075 +/- 158.621 mg/g brain tissue, respectively. The level of
      NO in the brain tissues increased to 0.425 +/- 0.184 umol/g protein and the
      activities of NOS in the brain tissues and sera increased to 0.719 +/- 0.477 U/mg
      and 50.688 +/- 8.132 U/ml, respectively. Regarding the ingredients of the Wuzhuyu
      decoction, those with significant regression coefficients were ginsenoside-Rg1,
      Re, Rb1, rutaevine (Rv), limonin (Li), evodiamine (Ev), rutaecarpine (Ru) and
      substance X (awaiting identification). Rg1, Re, Rb1, Rv, Li, Ev, Ru and X in the
      Wuzhuyu decoction were observed to yield the pharmacological effects, whereas
      Rb1, Rv and Ev were important in index improvement.

PMID- 25815776
TI  - MicroRNA-509-3p inhibits cancer cell proliferation and migration by targeting the
      mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 8 oncogene in renal cell
      carcinoma.
AB  - microRNAs (miRNAs; miR) are a class of small non-coding RNA molecules, which are
      involved in the pathogenesis of human diseases through the negative regulation of
      gene expression. Previous studies have demonstrated that miR-509-3p is a novel
      miRNA associated with cell proliferation and migration in 786-O renal cell
      carcinoma (RCC) cells. However, the mechanism of action of miR-509-3p in RCC
      remains to be elucidated. The present study aimed to examine the functional role
      and mechanism of miR-509-3p in the development of RCC. The results demonstrated
      that the expression levels of miR-509-3p were downregulated in the 786-O and ACHN
      RCC cell lines compared with the normal tissues of 10 patients with RCC, as
      determined by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The
      mRNA expression levels of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 8
      (MAP3K8) were upregulated in the RCC cell lines. Functional investigations
      demonstrated that the overexpression of miR-509-3p inhibited the migration and
      proliferation of the RCC cells, as determined by wound scratch and 3-(4,5
      dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assays. Luciferase reporter
      assays revealed that the overexpression of miR-509-3p reduced the transcriptional
      activity of MAP3K8. Furthermore, the present study demonstrated that the ectopic
      transfection of miR-509-3p led to a significant reduction in the mRNA and protein
      expression levels of MAP3K8 in the RCC cells. Finally, knockdown of MAP3K8
      inhibited the migration and proliferation of the RCC cells. Therefore, the
      results of the present study demonstrated that the miR-509-3p RCC suppressor was
      a significant regulator of the MAP3K8 oncogene, suggesting that it may have a
      potential therapeutic role in the treatment of RCC.

PMID- 25815778
TI  - Treatment for Acquired Apraxia of Speech: A Systematic Review of Intervention
      Research Between 2004 and 2012.
AB  - Objectives: The aim was for the appointed committee of the Academy of
      Neurological Communication Disorders and Sciences to conduct a systematic review
      of published intervention studies of acquired apraxia of speech (AOS), updating
      the previous committee's review article from 2006. Method: A systematic search of
      11 databases identified 215 articles, with 26 meeting inclusion criteria of (a)
      stating intention to measure effects of treatment on AOS and (b) data
      representing treatment effects for at least 1 individual stated to have AOS.
      Results: All studies involved within-participant experimental designs, with
      sample sizes of 1 to 44 (median = 1). Confidence in diagnosis was rated high to
      reasonable in 18 of 26 studies. Most studies (24/26) reported on articulatory
      kinematic approaches; 2 applied rhythm/rate control methods. Six studies had
      sufficient experimental control for Class III rating according to the Clinical
      Practice Guidelines Process Manual (American Academy of Neurology, 2011), with 15
      others satisfying all criteria for Class III except use of independent or
      objective outcome measurement. Conclusions: The most important global clinical
      conclusion from this review is that the weight of evidence supports a strong
      effect for both articulatory-kinematic and rate/rhythm approaches to AOS
      treatment. The quantity of work, experimental rigor, and reporting of diagnostic
      criteria continue to improve and strengthen confidence in the corpus of research.

PMID- 25815777
TI  - cDNA microarray analysis of the effect of cantharidin on DNA damage, cell cycle
      and apoptosis-associated gene expression in NCI-H460 human lung cancer cells in
      vitro.
AB  - Cantharidin (CTD) induces cytotoxic effects in different types of human cancer
      cell; however, to date, there have been no studies on the effects of CTD on gene
      expression in human lung cancer cells and the potential associated signaling
      pathways. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate how CTD affects the
      expression of key genes and functional pathways of human H460 lung cancer cells
      using complementary DNA microarray analysis. Human H460 lung cancer cells were
      cultured for 24 h in the presence or absence of 10 uM CTD; gene expression was
      then examined using microarray analysis. The results indicated that 8 genes were
      upregulated > 4-fold, 29 genes were upregulated >3-4-fold and 156 genes were
      upregulated >2-3-fold. In addition, 1 gene was downregulated >4 fold, 14 genes
      were downregulated >3-4-fold and 150 genes were downregulated >2-3 fold in H460
      cells following exposure to CTD. It was found that CTD affected DNA damage genes,
      including DNIT3 and GADD45A, which were upregulated 2.26- and 2.60-fold,
      respectively, as well as DdiT4, which was downregulated 3.14-fold. In addition,
      the expression of genes associated with the cell cycle progression were altered,
      including CCND2, CDKL3 and RASA4, which were upregulated 2.72-, 2.19- and 2.72
      fold, respectively; however, CDC42EP3 was downregulated 2.16-fold. Furthermore,
      apoptosis-associated genes were differentially expressed, including CARD6, which
      was upregulated 3.54-fold. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that CTD
      affected the expression of genes associated with DNA damage, cell cycle
      progression and apoptotic cell death in human lung cancer H460 cells.

PMID- 25815779
TI  - Site-specific analysis of protein hydration based on unnatural amino acid
      fluorescence.
AB  - Hydration of proteins profoundly affects their functions. We describe a simple
      and general method for site-specific analysis of protein hydration based on the
      in vivo incorporation of fluorescent unnatural amino acids and their analysis by
      steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy. Using this method, we investigate the
      hydration of functionally important regions of dehalogenases. The experimental
      results are compared to findings from molecular dynamics simulations. 

PMID- 25815780
TI  - DNA methylation consistency implicates the primary tumor cell origin of recurrent
      hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - AIMS: To investigate if DNA methylation pattern assay could be a new approach to
      identifying the primary tumor cell origin of the recurrent hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC). MATERIALS & METHODS: Methylation of 24 genes and expression of
      22 cancer stem cell (CSC) biomarkers were quantitatively measured in 10 paired
      primary and recurrent HCC specimens. The HBV viral-host junctions were determined
      in six pairs of them with HBV infection. RESULTS: Similar DNA methylation
      patterns were observed among nine of ten pairs of primary and recurrent tumors.
      In five of six paired specimens with HBV infection, exactly same HBV DNA
      integrations were identified in each paired tumors. The expression of seven CSC
      biomarkers increased significantly in either primary or recurrent tumor tissues.
      CONCLUSION: Recurrent HCCs mostly originate from their primary tumors. Assay of
      DNA methylation patterns could provide a new approach to determining the origin
      of recurrent HCC.

PMID- 25815782
TI  - Gene expression changes in human mesenchymal stem cells from patients with
      osteoporosis.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to investigate the underlying molecular
      mechanisms of osteoporosis and to identify novel candidate genes involved in this
      disease. The gene expression profile of GSE35958 was downloaded from Gene
      Expression Omnibus, including five samples of human mesenchymal stem cells from
      patients with osteoporosis and four control samples. Differentially expressed
      genes (DEGs) were initially identified following an analysis using Student's t
      test. Subsequently, a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the
      significant pathways was constructed, based on the Human Protein Reference
      Database. In the significant pathways, DEGs were screened using cut-off criteria
      of FDR<0.1 and |log(2)FC|>1.5. A co-change network for pathways was also
      constructed using the method of cumulative hypergeometric probability
      distribution. Finally, the transcriptional regulatory network for DEGs was
      constructed based on the TRANSFAC database. In total, 1,127 DEGs, including 554
      upregulated and 573 downregulated DEGs, were screened. The constructed PPI
      network for the DEGs involved in the two significant pathways, including focal
      adhesion and lysosome, demonstrated that the five DEGs with a high degree (>60)
      were beta-catenin, SHC-transforming protein 1, RAC-alpha serine/threonine-protein
      kinase, caveolin 1 and filamin A, with degrees of 135, 117, 117, 73 and 63,
      respectively. The pathway with the degree of 22 in the constructed co-change
      network was neuroactive ligand receptor interaction. The nine genes with a high
      (>= 9) degree in the constructed transcriptional regulatory network were REL
      associated protein, upstream stimulatory factor 1, specificity protein 1, Fos
      related antigen 1, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A, upstream stimulatory
      factor 2, ETS domain-containing protein Elk1, JUND and retinoic acid receptor
      alpha, with degrees of 29, 27, 19, 18, 17, 13, 11, 11 and 9, respectively. The
      DEGs with high degree in the PPI and transcriptional regulatory networks may be
      candidate target molecules, which may be used to monitor, diagnose and treat
      osteoporosis.

PMID- 25815784
TI  - Novel synthetic approach to charge-compensated phosphonio-nido-carboranes.
      Synthesis and structural characterization of neutral mono and bis(phosphonio)
      nido-ortho-carboranes.
AB  - A number of monosubstituted n-(triphenylphosphonio)-7,8-dicarba-nido
      undecaboranes (2a, n = 1; 2b, n = 3; 2c, n = 5; 2d, n = 9) were prepared via a
      cross-coupling reaction between the tetrabutylammonium iodo-7,8-dicarba-nido
      undecaborates (1a-d) and PPh3 in the presence of a Pd(PPh3)4 catalyst. The
      substitution rate was found to depend on the iodine position in the carborane
      cage. Under similar conditions, the reaction of 5,6-diiodo- (3) and 9,11-diiodo
      7,8-dicarba-nido-undecaborate (5) anions exclusively yielded the monosubstitution
      products 5-iodo-6-(triphenylphosphonio)-7,8-dicarba-nido-undecaborane (4) and 9
      iodo-11-(triphenylphosphonio)-7,8-dicarba-nido-undecaborane (6), respectively.
      The reaction of tetrabutylammonium 6,9-diiodo-7,8-dicarba-nido-undecaborate (7)
      exclusively produced the phosphine substitution product in the open face of the
      nido-carborane, 6-iodo-9-triphenylphosphonio-7,8-dicarba-nido-undecaborane (8).
      The addition of a base (Cs2CO3, NaH) to the reactions of 3 and 5 with PPh3
      afforded the corresponding bis(triphenylphosphonio)-7,8-dicarba-nido
      undecaboranes, 9 and 10. Compound 10 was also prepared from 6 using the general
      procedure. The reaction of the triiodocarborane tetrabutylammonium 5,6,9-triiodo
      7,8-dicarba-nido-undecaborate (11) with excess PPh3 in the presence of Cs2CO3 and
      Pd(PPh3)4 only produced neutral 5-iodo-6,9-bis(triphenylphosphonio)-7,8-dicarba
      nido-undecaborane (12); no positively charged tris(phosphonio) species formed.
      The compositions of all prepared compounds were determined by multinuclear NMR
      spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The structures of compounds
      2c, 6, 8, 9, and 12 were established by the X-ray diffraction analysis of single
      crystals. 

PMID- 25815783
TI  - Combinatorial Consensus Scoring for Ligand-Based Virtual Fragment Screening: A
      Comparative Case Study for Serotonin 5-HT(3)A, Histamine H(1), and Histamine H(4)
      Receptors.
AB  - In the current study we have evaluated the applicability of ligand-based virtual
      screening (LBVS) methods for the identification of small fragment-like
      biologically active molecules using different similarity descriptors and
      different consensus scoring approaches. For this purpose, we have evaluated the
      performance of 14 chemical similarity descriptors in retrospective virtual
      screening studies to discriminate fragment-like ligands of three membrane-bound
      receptors from fragments that are experimentally determined to have no affinity
      for these proteins (true inactives). We used a complete fragment affinity data
      set of experimentally determined ligands and inactives for two G protein-coupled
      receptors (GPCRs), the histamine H1 receptor (H1R) and the histamine H4 receptor
      (H4R), and one ligand-gated ion channel (LGIC), the serotonin receptor (5-HT3AR),
      to validate our retrospective virtual screening studies. We have exhaustively
      tested consensus scoring strategies that combine the results of multiple actives
      (group fusion) or combine different similarity descriptors (similarity fusion),
      and for the first time systematically evaluated different combinations of group
      fusion and similarity fusion approaches. Our studies show that for these three
      case study protein targets both consensus scoring approaches can increase virtual
      screening enrichments compared to single chemical similarity search methods. Our
      cheminformatics analyses recommend to use a combination of both group fusion and
      similarity fusion for prospective ligand-based virtual fragment screening. 

PMID- 25815785
TI  - PPM1A regulates antiviral signaling by antagonizing TBK1-mediated STING
      phosphorylation and aggregation.
AB  - Stimulator of interferon genes (STING, also known as MITA and ERIS) is critical
      in protecting the host against DNA pathogen invasion. However, the molecular
      mechanism underlying the regulation of STING remains unclear. Here, we show that
      PPM1A negatively regulates antiviral signaling by targeting STING in its
      phosphatase activity-dependent manner, and in a line with this, PPM1A
      catalytically dephosphorylates STING and TBK1 in vitro. Importantly, we provide
      evidence that whereas TBK1 promotes STING aggregation in a phosphorylation
      dependent manner, PPM1A antagonizes STING aggregation by dephosphorylating both
      STING and TBK1, emphasizing that phosphorylation is crucial for the efficient
      activation of STING. Our findings demonstrate a novel regulatory circuit in which
      STING and TBK1 reciprocally regulate each other to enable efficient antiviral
      signaling activation, and PPM1A dephosphorylates STING and TBK1, thereby
      balancing this antiviral signal transduction. 

PMID- 25815781
TI  - Engineering protocells: prospects for self-assembly and nanoscale production
      lines.
AB  - The increasing ease of producing nucleic acids and proteins to specification
      offers potential for design and fabrication of artificial synthetic "organisms"
      with a myriad of possible capabilities. The prospects for these synthetic
      organisms are significant, with potential applications in diverse fields
      including synthesis of pharmaceuticals, sources of renewable fuel and
      environmental cleanup. Until now, artificial cell technology has been largely
      restricted to the modification and metabolic engineering of living unicellular
      organisms. This review discusses emerging possibilities for developing synthetic
      protocell "machines" assembled entirely from individual biological components. We
      describe a host of recent technological advances that could potentially be
      harnessed in design and construction of synthetic protocells, some of which have
      already been utilized toward these ends. More elaborate designs include options
      for building self-assembling machines by incorporating cellular transport and
      assembly machinery. We also discuss production in miniature, using microfluidic
      production lines. While there are still many unknowns in the design, engineering
      and optimization of protocells, current technologies are now tantalizingly close
      to the capabilities required to build the first prototype protocells with
      potential real-world applications. 

PMID- 25815786
TI  - Identification of KRAS and PIK3CA but not BRAF mutations in patients with gastric
      cancer.
AB  - Cetuximab, an immunoglobulin G1 chimeric monoclonal antibody directed against the
      epidermal growth factor receptor, is currently considered to be the strategy with
      the most potential for the treatment of gastric cancer due to the low frequency
      of KRAS mutations in patients with gastric cancer. However, the therapeutic
      success of cetuximab in colorectal cancer (CRC) has demonstrated that the
      clinical effect of cetuximab is closely dependent not only on KRAS mutations, but
      also BRAF and phosphoinositide-3-kinase, catalytic, alpha polypeptide (PIK3CA)
      mutations. In the present study, the status of KRAS, BRAF and PIK3CA mutations in
      gastric cancer were investigated concomitantly in order to aid the selection of
      patients eligible for treatment with cetuximab. Mutations in KRAS (exon 2), BRAF
      (exon 15) and PIK3CA (exon 9 and exon 20) were retrospectively evaluated by high
      resolution melting analysis and DNA direct sequencing in samples from 156
      patients with gastric cancer. Mutations in either KRAS or PIK3CA were identified
      in 13 samples (8.3%), 7 samples with KRAS mutations and 6 samples with PIK3CA
      mutations. No mutations in the BRAF gene were identified. The frequency of
      mutations in either KRAS or PIK3CA were significantly higher in patients without
      lymph node metastasis than those with. Furthermore, KRAS and PIK3CA mutations
      were mutually exclusive. The present study, therefore, suggested that it may be
      necessary to evaluate KRAS and PIK3CA mutations concomitantly for the selection
      of patients eligible for treatment with cetuximab.

PMID- 25815787
TI  - Mapping shape to visuomotor mapping: learning and generalisation of sensorimotor
      behaviour based on contextual information.
AB  - Humans can learn and store multiple visuomotor mappings (dual-adaptation) when
      feedback for each is provided alternately. Moreover, learned context cues
      associated with each mapping can be used to switch between the stored mappings.
      However, little is known about the associative learning between cue and required
      visuomotor mapping, and how learning generalises to novel but similar conditions.
      To investigate these questions, participants performed a rapid target-pointing
      task while we manipulated the offset between visual feedback and movement end
      points. The visual feedback was presented with horizontal offsets of different
      amounts, dependent on the targets shape. Participants thus needed to use
      different visuomotor mappings between target location and required motor response
      depending on the target shape in order to "hit" it. The target shapes were taken
      from a continuous set of shapes, morphed between spiky and circular shapes. After
      training we tested participants performance, without feedback, on different
      target shapes that had not been learned previously. We compared two hypotheses.
      First, we hypothesised that participants could (explicitly) extract the linear
      relationship between target shape and visuomotor mapping and generalise
      accordingly. Second, using previous findings of visuomotor learning, we developed
      a (implicit) Bayesian learning model that predicts generalisation that is more
      consistent with categorisation (i.e. use one mapping or the other). The
      experimental results show that, although learning the associations requires
      explicit awareness of the cues' role, participants apply the mapping
      corresponding to the trained shape that is most similar to the current one,
      consistent with the Bayesian learning model. Furthermore, the Bayesian learning
      model predicts that learning should slow down with increased numbers of training
      pairs, which was confirmed by the present results. In short, we found a good
      correspondence between the Bayesian learning model and the empirical results
      indicating that this model poses a possible mechanism for simultaneously learning
      multiple visuomotor mappings. 

PMID- 25815788
TI  - Serum microRNA-125a-5p, a useful biomarker in liver diseases, correlates with
      disease progression.
AB  - It has been demonstrated that liver microRNA-125a-5p (miR-125a-5p) is correlated
      with disease progression in different liver diseases, including liver fibrosis
      and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The present study investigated whether serum
      miR-125a-5p correlated with the progression of different liver diseases. Serum
      samples were obtained from healthy individuals, patients with chronic hepatitis B
      who had undergone a liver biopsy, and patients with HCC and were analyzed for the
      levels of miR-125a-5p. Compared with the healthy controls, the serum levels of
      miR-125a-5p were significantly higher in the liver fibrosis serum, and were
      reduced in HCC. With the development of liver fibrosis, there was a significant
      increase in the expression of miR-125a-5p (P<0.05). In comparing histological
      activity index (HAI) scores, higher expression levels of miR125a-5p were observed
      in the high HAI score group (P<0.05). Furthermore, correlation between serum miR
      125a-5p and viral replication (P<0.001) was observed. Notably, miR-125a-5p
      demonstrated significant correlation with other markers in the liver fibrosis
      group (P<0.001). In the patients with HCC, lower serum levels of miR-125a-5p were
      correlated with a poor prognosis, determined by Kaplan-Meier curve analysis
      (P=0.009). In the liver fibrosis and HCC groups, different expression levels of
      serum miR-125a-5p were observed, and were correlated with disease progression.
      The results of the present study suggested that serum miR-125a-5p may be used as
      a non-invasive biomarker for monitoring disease progression in liver diseases.

PMID- 25815789
TI  - Development and validation of a 3-Plex RT-qPCR assay for the simultaneous
      detection and quantitation of the three PML-RARa fusion transcripts in acute
      promyelocytic leukemia.
AB  - Rapid diagnosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) with promyelocytic leukemia
      retinoic acid receptor alpha (PML-RARa) contributes to a highly effective therapy
      with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA). Real-time quantitative reverse transcription
      polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is a valuable tool to diagnose APL with PML
      RARa. However, a single RT-qPCR analysis, which is laborious and costly, has to
      be performed in three reactions to determine whether one of the three PML-RARa
      transcripts is present and to quantify the involved transcript. This paper
      describes a novel TaqMan MGB probe-based 3-plex RT-qPCR assay in a single
      reaction to detect simultaneously the three PML-RARa transcripts. Specific
      primers and probe were designed, and the results were further normalized to the
      Abelson gene. The detection results for the serially diluted plasmid indicate
      that the analytical sensitivity was 10 copies per reaction for PML-RARa bcr1,
      bcr2, and bcr3. A relatively high sensitivity of 10-4 was achieved with this
      assay when analyzing the bcr1 transcripts obtained from the NB4 cell line. The
      reproducibility was satisfactory because the coefficients of variation of cycle
      threshold values were less than 3% for both inter- and intra-assays. After
      testing 319 newly diagnosed patients with leukemia (including 61 APL cases), the
      results of the 3-plex RT-qPCR assay completely agreed with the traditional
      methods used for the detection of PML-RARa. The quantitative results of the 3
      plex RT-qPCR were highly correlated with the single RT-qPCR and showed similar
      assay sensitivity for 60 PML-RARa positive APL samples at diagnosis and 199
      samples from 57 patients during follow-up. Interestingly, one PML-RARa bcr2 case
      at diagnosis with breakpoint at 1579, which was not detected by the single RT-q
      PCR, was detected by the 3-plex RT-qPCR assay. The 3-plex RT-qPCR assay is a
      specific, sensitive, stable, and cost-effective method that can be used for the
      rapid diagnosis and treatment monitoring of APL with PML-RARa. 

PMID- 25815792
TI  - In Silico and in Vitro Study of Binding Affinity of Tripeptides to Amyloid beta
      Fibrils: Implications for Alzheimer's Disease.
AB  - Self-assembly of Abeta peptides into amyloid aggregates has been suggested as the
      major cause of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nowadays, there is no medication for AD,
      but experimental data indicate that reversion of the process of amyloid
      aggregation reduces the symptoms of disease. In this paper, all 8000 tripeptides
      were studied for their ability to destroy Abeta fibrils. The docking method and
      the more sophisticated MM-PBSA (molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface
      area) method were employed to calculate the binding affinity and mode of
      tripeptides to Abeta fibrils. The ability of these peptides to depolymerize Abeta
      fibrils was also investigated experimentally using atomic force microscopy and
      fluorescence spectroscopy (Thioflavin T assay). It was shown that tripeptides
      prefer to bind to hydrophobic regions of 6Abeta9-40 fibrils. Tripeptides WWW,
      WWP, WPW and PWW were found to be the most potent binders. In vitro experiments
      showed that tight-binding tripeptides have significant depolymerizing activities
      and their DC50 values determined from dose-response curves were in micromolar
      range. The ability of nonbinding (GAM, AAM) and weak-binding (IVL and VLA)
      tripeptides to destroy Abeta fibrils was negligible. In vitro data of tripeptide
      depolymerizing activities support the predictions obtained by molecular docking
      and all-atom simulation methods. Our results suggest that presence of multiple
      complexes of heterocycles forming by tryptophan and proline residues in
      tripeptides is crucial for their tight binding to Abeta fibrils as well as for
      extensive fibril depolymerization. We recommend PWW for further studies as it has
      the lowest experimental binding constant. 

PMID- 25815791
TI  - High glucose promotes gastric cancer chemoresistance in vivo and in vitro.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to determine whether gastric cancer
      chemoresistance was increased under high glucose conditions by means of a
      clinical case study and experimental cytology. The expression of nicotinamide
      phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt), silent information regulator 1 (sirt1), p53, p
      glycoprotein (P-gp) and topoisomerase (topo)-IIalpha was evaluated in gastric
      cancer tissues and gastric cancer with diabetes tissues by immunohistochemistry.
      Subsequently, the survival time of the patients was assessed. For further
      investigation, the human gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 was subjected to
      different glucose concentrations and the aforementioned proteins were detected
      using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western
      blot analysis. Finally, cell sensitivity to chemotherapy treatment was examined
      in order to elucidate the role of high glucose in MDR. Positive expression of
      Nampt, Sirt1, p53, P-gp and Topo-IIalpha was observed to be higher in gastric
      cancer with diabetes patients compared with gastric cancer patients (P=0.01,
      0.003, 0.0025, 0.016 and 0.336, respectively) with reduced survival time. Similar
      results were observed in SGC7901 cells. Additionally, cell proliferation rates of
      SGC7901 cells increased at glucose concentrations of 4,500 and 9,000 mg/l.
      Notably, the inhibition rates of 5-fluorouracil on cells decreased over 48 h when
      treated with 4,500 and 9,000 mg/l glucose compared with 1,000 mg/l. In
      conclusion, patients suffering from gastric cancer and diabetes exhibited greater
      negative effects, such as a poorer response to chemotherapy and had a lower
      survival time. High glucose conditions promoted gastric cancer cell proliferation
      and reduced susceptibility to chemotherapy drugs. These data provided a potential
      diagnostic and therapeutic strategy for gastric cancer chemoresistance.

PMID- 25815794
TI  - Total internal reflection fluorescence spectrometry using a dual optical fiber
      sample cell.
AB  - A novel total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) spectrometric technique
      using a dual optical fiber sample cell was developed. A conventional silica
      optical fiber was used for exciting fluorescence compounds in its evanescent wave
      field. A liquid core waveguide (LCW) was used to collect the fluorescence photons
      emitted from fluorescence compounds existing in an excitation fiber's evanescent
      wave field. The collected fluorescence photons were guided through the LCW and
      sent to a fluorescence spectrometer for detection. The spatial separation of
      excitation light and fluorescence light reduces the excitation-light-related
      optical noise signal, which is the major factor limiting fluorescence techniques
      from achieving lower detection limit. Preliminary results obtained from this work
      indicate that the optical fiber TIRF system of this work can detect 4.6*10(-18)
      mole rhodamine 6G (2.7*10(6) molecules) existing in the evanescent wave field of
      the excitation optical fiber. 

PMID- 25815793
TI  - Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Human Serum Albumin Adducts Formed with N
      Oxidized Metabolites of 2-Amino-1-methylphenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine in Human
      Plasma and Hepatocytes.
AB  - 2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), a carcinogenic
      heterocyclic aromatic amine formed in cooked meats, is metabolically activated to
      electrophilic intermediates that form covalent adducts with DNA and protein. We
      previously identified an adduct of PhIP formed at the Cys(34) residue of human
      serum albumin following reaction of albumin with the genotoxic metabolite 2
      hydroxyamino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (HONH-PhIP). The major
      adducted peptide recovered from a tryptic/chymotryptic digest was identified as
      the missed-cleavage peptide LQQC*([SO2PhIP])PFEDHVK, a [cysteine-S-yl-PhIP]-S
      dioxide linked adduct. In this investigation, we have characterized the albumin
      adduction products of N-sulfooxy-2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine
      (N-sulfooxy-PhIP), which is thought to be a major genotoxic metabolite of PhIP
      formed in vivo. Targeted and data-dependent scanning methods showed that N
      sulfooxy-PhIP adducted to the Cys(34) of albumin in human plasma to form
      LQQC*([SO2PhIP])PFEDHVK at levels that were 8-10-fold greater than the adduct
      levels formed with N-(acetyloxy)-2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine
      (N-acetoxy-PhIP) or HONH-PhIP. We also discovered that N-sulfooxy-PhIP forms an
      adduct at the sole tryptophan (Trp(214)) residue of albumin in the sequence
      AW*([PhIP])AVAR. However, stable adducts of PhIP with albumin were not detected
      in human hepatocytes. Instead, PhIP and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-(5
      hydroxy)phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (5-HO-PhIP), a solvolysis product of the
      proposed nitrenium ion of PhIP, were recovered during the proteolysis, suggesting
      a labile sulfenamide linkage had formed between an N-oxidized intermediate of
      PhIP and Cys(34) of albumin. A stable adduct was formed at the Tyr(411) residue
      of albumin in hepatocytes and identified as a deaminated product of PhIP,
      Y(*[desaminoPhIP])TK, where the 4-HO-tyrosine group bound to the C-2 imidazole
      atom of PhIP. 

PMID- 25815796
TI  - Non-aggregated Zn(ii)octa(2,6-diphenylphenoxy) phthalocyanine as a hole
      transporting material for efficient perovskite solar cells.
AB  - A non-aggregated Zn(ii)octa(2,6-diphenylphenoxy) phthalocyanine (coded as TT80)
      has been used as a hole-transporting material for perovskite solar cells. The
      cells were fabricated under three different configurations by changing the uptake
      solvent (chlorobenzene or toluene) and incorporating additives
      (bis(trifluoromethane) sulfonimide lithium salt (LiTFSI) and 4-tert-butylpyridine
      (TBP). A power conversion efficiency of 6.7% (AM1.5G standard conditions) was
      achieved for the best cell under optimized configuration. 

PMID- 25815795
TI  - Sheath-flow microfluidic approach for combined surface enhanced Raman scattering
      and electrochemical detection.
AB  - The combination of hydrodynamic focusing with embedded capillaries in a
      microfluidic device is shown to enable both surface enhanced Raman scattering
      (SERS) and electrochemical characterization of analytes at nanomolar
      concentrations in flow. The approach utilizes a versatile polystyrene device that
      contains an encapsulated microelectrode and fluidic tubing, which is shown to
      enable straightforward hydrodynamic focusing onto the electrode surface to
      improve detection. A polydimethyslsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel positioned over
      both the embedded tubing and SERS active electrode (aligned ~200 MUm from each
      other) generates a sheath flow that confines the analyte molecules eluting from
      the embedded tubing over the SERS electrode, increasing the interaction between
      the Riboflavin (vitamin B2) and the SERS active electrode. The microfluidic
      device was characterized using finite element simulations, amperometry, and Raman
      experiments. This device shows a SERS and amperometric detection limit near 1 and
      100 nM, respectively. This combination of SERS and amperometry in a single device
      provides an improved method to identify and quantify electroactive analytes over
      either technique independently. 

PMID- 25815797
TI  - Smac therapeutic Peptide nanoparticles inducing apoptosis of cancer cells for
      combination chemotherapy with Doxorubicin.
AB  - Smac-conjugated nanoparticle (Smac-NP) was designed to induce the apoptosis of
      cancer cells and as a drug carrier for combination therapy. It contained three
      parts, a SmacN7 peptide which could induce apoptosis of cancer cells by
      interacting with XIAPs, the cell penetrating domain rich in arginine, and four
      hydrophobic tails for self-assembled Smac-NP. We demonstrated that Smac-NPs
      exerted an antitumor effect in breast cancer cell MDA-MB-231 and nonsmall lung
      cancer (NSCLC) cell H460, which efficiently inhibited cancer cells proliferation
      without influencing normal liver cell lines LO2. Smac-NPs also significantly
      induced apoptosis of MDA-MB-231 and H460 cells through activating pro-caspase-3,
      down-regulating the expression of antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 and up-regulating
      the pro-apoptotic protein Bax. Furthermore, Smac-NPs could be explored as a drug
      delivery system to load hydrophobic drug such as DOX for combination therapy. The
      DOX-loaded nanoparticles (DOX-Smac-NPs) exhibited higher cellular uptake
      efficiency and antitumor effect. Our work provided a new insight into therapeutic
      peptides integrated with drug simultaneously in one system for cancer combination
      treatment. 

PMID- 25815799
TI  - Average and local structure, debye temperature, and structural rigidity in some
      oxide compounds related to phosphor hosts.
AB  - The average and local structure of the oxides Ba2SiO4, BaAl2O4, SrAl2O4, and
      Y2SiO5 are examined to evaluate crystal rigidity in light of recent studies
      suggesting that highly connected and rigid structures yield the best phosphor
      hosts. Simultaneous momentum-space refinements of synchrotron X-ray and neutron
      scattering yield accurate average crystal structures, with reliable atomic
      displacement parameters. The Debye temperature ThetaD, which has proven to be a
      useful proxy for structural rigidity, is extracted from the experimental atomic
      displacement parameters and compared with predictions from density functional
      theory calculations and experimental low-temperature heat capacity measurements.
      The role of static disorder on the measured displacement parameters, and the
      resulting Debye temperatures, are also analyzed using pair distribution function
      of total neutron scattering, as refined over varying distance ranges of the pair
      distribution function. The interplay between optimal bonding in the structure,
      structural rigidity, and correlated motion in these structures is examined, and
      the different contributions are delineated. 

PMID- 25815798
TI  - Effect of cerium oxide doping on the performance of CaO-based sorbents during
      calcium looping cycles.
AB  - A series of CaO-based sorbents were synthesized through a sol-gel method and
      doped with different amounts of CeO2. The sorbent with a Ca/Ce molar ratio of
      15:1 showed an excellent absorption capacity (0.59 gCO2/g sorbent) and a
      remarkable cycle durability (up to 18 cycles). The admirable capture performance
      of CaCe-15 was ascribed to its special morphology formed by the doping of CeO2
      and the well-distributed CeO2 particles. The sorbents doped with CeO2 possessed a
      loose shell-connected cross-linking structure, which was beneficial for the
      contact between CaO and CO2. CaO and CeO2 were dispersed homogeneously, and the
      existence of CeO2 also decreased the grain size of CaO. The well-dispersed CeO2,
      which could act as a barrier, effectively prevented the CaO crystallite from
      growing and sintering, thus the sorbent exhibited outstanding stability. The
      doping of CeO2 also improved the carbonation rate of the sorbent, resulting in a
      high capacity in a short period of time. 

PMID- 25815800
TI  - Acceptable macronutrient distribution ranges and hypertension.
AB  - Acceptable macronutrient distribution ranges (AMDRs) for carbohydrate, fat, and
      protein have been set by considering epidemiological evidences that suggest
      consumption within these ranges plays a role in reducing risk of chronic
      diseases. Little evidence has been presented on the relationship between the
      intake outside the AMDR for macronutrient and hypertension. Therefore, this study
      was performed to examine the association between the intake outside the AMDR and
      hypertension in Korean adults. This study was based on data obtained from the
      fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The AMDR for
      carbohydrate is 55-70%, for fat is 15-25%, and for protein is 7-20% of the energy
      intake for adults. The subjects who did not meet the AMDRs for carbohydrate, fat
      and protein were considered to be the non-AMDR group. The odds ratio of the non
      AMDR group was 1.25 (95% CI, 1.02-1.53) in the hypertensive subjects without anti
      hypertensive medication and 1.25 (95% CI, 1.06-1.48) in the hypertensive subjects
      with anti-hypertensive medication after adjustment for age, sex, current smoking,
      heavy drinking, physical inactivity, obesity, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia,
      total energy intake, high sodium intake, and vitamin D deficiency. The intake
      outside the AMDR was significantly associated with hypertension in Korean adults.
      The AMDR might be useful nutritional requirement for dietary management of
      hypertension. In the future, these findings need to be verified through
      prospective population-based studies. 

PMID- 25815801
TI  - Ni3+ doped monolayer layered double hydroxide nanosheets as efficient electrodes
      for supercapacitors.
AB  - Ni(3+) doped NiTi layered double hydroxide (NiTi-LDH) monolayer nanosheets with a
      particle size of ~ 20 nm and a thickness of ~ 0.9 nm have been successfully
      prepared through a facile bottom-up approach. These NiTi-LDH monolayer nanosheets
      exhibit excellent supercapacitor performance, including a high specific
      pseudocapacitance (2310 F g(-1) at 1.5 A g(-1)) and long durability compared with
      bulk LDH, owing to highly exposed conductive Ni(3+) species (NiOOH) which lead to
      the increased mobility rate of surface charge and electrolyte-transfer.
      Therefore, this work is expected to take a significant step towards exploring
      novel 2D monolayer electrode materials with unique physical and chemical
      properties for applications in energy storage and conversion.

PMID- 25815802
TI  - 3-way networks: application of hypergraphs for modelling increased complexity in
      comparative genomics.
AB  - We present and develop the theory of 3-way networks, a type of hypergraph in
      which each edge models relationships between triplets of objects as opposed to
      pairs of objects as done by standard network models. We explore approaches of how
      to prune these 3-way networks, illustrate their utility in comparative genomics
      and demonstrate how they find relationships which would be missed by standard 2
      way network models using a phylogenomic dataset of 211 bacterial genomes. 

PMID- 25815803
TI  - Whole-Body Diffusion-weighted Imaging in Hodgkin Lymphoma and Diffuse Large B
      Cell Lymphoma.
AB  - Whole-body imaging, in particular molecular imaging with fluorine 18 ((18)F)
      fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET), is essential to
      management of lymphoma. The assessment of disease extent provided by use of whole
      body imaging is mandatory for planning appropriate treatment and determining
      patient prognosis. Assessment of treatment response allows clinicians to tailor
      the treatment strategy during therapy if necessary and to document complete
      remission at the end of treatment. Because of rapid technical developments, such
      as echo-planar sequences, parallel imaging, multichannel phased-array surface
      coils, respiratory gating, and moving examination tables, whole-body diffusion
      weighted (DW) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging that reflects cell density is now
      feasible in routine clinical practice. Whole-body DW MR imaging allows anatomic
      assessment as well as functional and quantitative evaluation of tumor sites by
      calculation of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). Because of their high
      cellularity and high nucleus-to-cytoplasm ratio, lymphomatous lesions have low
      ADC values and appear hypointense on ADC maps. As a result, whole-body DW MR
      imaging with ADC mapping has become a promising tool for lymphoma staging and
      treatment response assessment. The authors review their 4 years of experience
      with 1.5-T and 3-T whole-body DW MR imaging used with (18)F-FDG PET/computed
      tomography at baseline, interim, and end of treatment in patients with Hodgkin
      lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and discuss the spectrum of imaging
      findings and potential pitfalls, limitations, and challenges associated with
      whole-body DW MR imaging in these patients.

PMID- 25815804
TI  - Electroactive polypyrrole nanowire arrays: synergistic effect of cancer treatment
      by on-demand drug release and photothermal therapy.
AB  - An electroresponsive drug release system based on polypyrrole (Ppy) nanowires was
      developed to induce the local delivery of anticancer drug, doxorubicin (DOX),
      according to the applied electric field. DOX-conjugated Ppy nanowire (NW)
      (DOX/Ppy NW) array was initially prepared by electrochemical deposition of a
      mixture of pyrrole monomers and biotin as dopants in the anodic alumina oxide
      membrane as a sacrificial template. Morphological observation by scanning
      electron microscopy revealed free-standing and 3D nanotopographical features with
      large surface area and high density. In addition, we investigated the antitumor
      efficacy of DOX released from DOX/Ppy NW array in response to the external
      electric field using two kinds of cancer cell lines, human oral squamous
      carcinoma cells (KB cells) and human breast cancer cells (MCF7 cells). Meanwhile,
      strong photothermal effect as a result of a near-infrared absorbing ability of
      Ppy synergistically maximizes the chemotherapeutic efficacy. Our results
      suggested that the proposed multifunctional Ppy platform possessing several
      beneficial features is very promising for many therapeutic applications including
      cancer. 

PMID- 25815805
TI  - Anterior transpedicular screw fixation of cervical spine: Is it safe?
      Morphological feasibility, technical properties, and accuracy of manual
      insertion.
AB  - OBJECT Due to lack of construct stability of the current anterior cervical
      approaches, supplemental posterior cervical approaches are frequently employed.
      The use of an anterior-only approach with anterior transpedicular screws (ATPSs)
      has been proposed as a means of providing 3-column fixation. This study was
      designed to investigate the feasibility of anterior transpedicular screw (ATPS)
      fixation of cervical spine, to obtain the morphological measurements for
      technical prerequisites, and to evaluate the accuracy of the ATPS using
      fluoroscopy. METHODS The study included both radiological and anatomical
      investigations. The radiological investigations were based on data from cervical
      spine CT scans performed in 65 patients. Technical prerequisites of ATPS were
      calculated using OsiriX for Mac OS. In the anatomical part of the study, 30
      pedicles (C3-7) from 6 formalin-preserved cadavers were manually instrumented.
      Measurements obtained included pedicle width (PW), pedicle height (PH), pedicle
      transverse angle (PTA), distance of the entry point from the midline (DEPM), and
      distance of the entry point from the superior endplate (DEPSEP). The authors also
      analyzed screw position in the manually instrumented vertebrae. RESULTS The mean
      PW and PH values showed a tendency to increase from C-3 to C-7 in both males and
      females. The means were significantly larger for both PW and PH in males than in
      females at all levels (p = 0.001). The overall mean PTA value was significantly
      lower at C-7 (p < 0.0001). The mean value for the distance of entry point from
      the midline (DEPM) represented a point at the contralateral side of the pedicle
      for every level except C-7. The mean DEPSEP values showed significant differences
      between all levels (p < 0.0001). Seven of the 30 screws were identified as
      breaching the pedicle (23.3%); these screw malplacements were seen at C-3 (3
      screws), C-4 (2 screws), and C-5 (2 screws). CONCLUSIONS The morphological
      measurements of this study demonstrated that ATPS fixation is feasible in
      selected cases. They indicate that ATPS insertion using a fluoroscopy-assisted
      pedicle axis view is safe at the C-6 and C-7 levels, but the results at the other
      levels did not prove the safety of this technique. 

PMID- 25815806
TI  - Soft-tissue reconstruction after total en bloc sacrectomy.
AB  - OBJECT Total en bloc sacrectomy is a dramatic procedure that results in extensive
      sacral defects. The authors present a series of patients who underwent flap
      reconstruction after total sacrectomy, report clinical outcomes, and provide a
      treatment algorithm to guide surgical care of this unique patient population.
      METHODS After institutional review board approval, data were collected for all
      patients who underwent total sacrectomy between 2002 and 2012 at The Johns
      Hopkins Hospital. Variables included demographic data, medical history, tumor
      characteristics, surgical details, postoperative complications, and clinical
      outcomes. All subtotal sacrectomies were excluded. RESULTS Between 2002 and 2012,
      9 patients underwent total sacrectomy with flap reconstruction. Diagnoses
      included chordoma (n = 5), osteoblastoma (n = 1), sarcoma (n = 2), and metastatic
      colon cancer (n = 1). Six patients received gluteus maximus (GM) flaps with a
      prosthetic rectal sling following a single-stage, posterior sacrectomy. Four
      required additional paraspinous muscle (PSM) or pedicled latissimus dorsi (LD)
      fasciocutaneous flaps. Three patients underwent multistage sacrectomy with an
      anterior-posterior approach, 2 of whom received pedicled vertical rectus
      abdominis myocutaneous (VRAM) flaps, and 1 of whom received local GM, LD, and PSM
      flaps. Flap complications included dehiscence (n = 4) and infection (n = 1).
      During the 1st year of follow-up, 2 of 9 patients (22%) were able to ambulate
      with an assistive device by the 1st postoperative month, and 6 of 9 (67%) were
      ambulatory with a walker by the 3rd postoperative month. By postoperative Month
      12, 5 of 9 patients (56%)-or 5 of 5 patients not lost to follow-up (100%)-were
      able to able to ambulate independently. CONCLUSIONS The authors' experience
      suggests that the GM and pedicled VRAM flaps are reliable options for softtissue
      reconstruction of total sacrectomy defects. For posterior-only operations, GM
      flaps with or without a prosthetic rectal sling are generally used. For
      multistage operations including a laparotomy, the authors consider the pedicled
      VRAM flap to be the gold standard for simultaneous reconstruction of the pelvic
      diaphragm and obliteration of dead space. 

PMID- 25815807
TI  - Editorial: Total sacrectomy for malignant sacral tumors via a posterior-only
      approach.

PMID- 25815808
TI  - Laminoplasty versus laminectomy and fusion for multilevel cervical myelopathy: a
      meta-analysis of clinical and radiological outcomes.
AB  - OBJECT Posterior cervical surgery, expansive laminoplasty (EL) or laminectomy
      followed by fusion (LF), is usually performed in patients with multilevel (>= 3)
      cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). However, the superiority of either of
      these techniques is still open to debate. The aim of this study was to compare
      clinical outcomes and postoperative kyphosis in patients undergoing EL versus LF
      by performing a meta-analysis. METHODS Included in the meta-analysis were all
      studies of EL versus LF in adults with multilevel CSM in MEDLINE (PubMed),
      EMBASE, and the Cochrane library. A random-effects model was applied to pool data
      using the mean difference (MD) for continuous outcomes, such as the Japanese
      Orthopaedic Association (JOA) grade, the cervical curvature index (CCI), and the
      visual analog scale (VAS) score for neck pain. RESULTS Seven studies comprising
      302 and 290 patients treated with EL and LF, respectively, were included in the
      final analyses. Both treatment groups showed slight cervical lordosis and
      moderate neck pain in the baseline state. Both groups were similarly improved in
      JOA grade (MD 0.09, 95% CI -0.37 to 0.54, p = 0.07) and neck pain VAS score (MD 
      0.33, 95% CI -1.50 to 0.84, p = 0.58). Both groups evenly lost cervical lordosis.
      In the LF group lordosis seemed to be preserved in long-term follow-up studies,
      although the difference between the 2 treatment groups was not statistically
      significant. CONCLUSIONS Both EL and LF lead to clinical improvement and loss of
      lordosis evenly. There is no evidence to support EL over LF in the treatment of
      multilevel CSM. Any superiority between EL and LF remains in question, although
      the LF group shows favorable long-term results. 

PMID- 25815809
TI  - Is total en bloc sacrectomy using a posterior-only approach feasible and safe for
      patients with malignant sacral tumors?
AB  - OBJECT In this study the authors' aim was to describe their experience with total
      en bloc sacrectomy using a posterioronly approach and to assess the outcome of
      patients with malignant sacral tumors who underwent this procedure at their
      center. METHODS The authors identified and retrospectively reviewed the records
      of 10 patients with malignant sacral tumors who underwent a total en bloc
      sacrectomy via a single posterior approach at their center. The pathological
      diagnosis was chordoma in 4 patients, chondrosarcoma in 1, osteosarcoma in 1,
      malignant schwannoma in 1, malignant giant cell tumor in 1, and Ewing's sarcoma
      in 2. Radiological examination revealed that the tumor involved S1-5 in 7
      patients, S1-4 in 1, S1-3 in 1, and S1-2 in 1. RESULTS All 10 patients were
      stable during the perioperative period. The mean surgery duration was 282 minutes
      (range 250-310 minutes). The median estimated blood loss was 2595 ml (range 1500
      3200 ml). All patients were followed up for 13-29 months (mean 22 months). Two
      patients had a local recurrence. Two patients died of disease, 1 patient was
      alive with disease, and 7 patients were alive without evidence of disease. Among
      the 8 surviving patients, 6 were able to walk without assistive devices, and 2
      were able to walk with crutches. The total complication rate was 40% (4 of 10).
      Wound complications (deep infection and wound healing problems) occurred in 3
      patients, and a distal deep vein thrombosis occurred in 1 patient. CONCLUSIONS
      Total en bloc sacrectomy using a posterior-only approach is feasible and safe in
      selected patients and is an important procedure for the treatment of primary
      malignant tumor involving the entire sacrum or only the top portion. 

PMID- 25815811
TI  - A biased competition theory of cytotoxic T lymphocyte interaction with tumor
      nodules.
AB  - The dynamics of the interaction between Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes (CTL) and tumor
      cells has been addressed in depth, in particular using numerical simulations.
      However, stochastic mathematical models that take into account the competitive
      interaction between CTL and tumors undergoing immunoediting, a process of tumor
      cell escape from immunesurveillance, are presently missing. Here, we introduce a
      stochastic dynamical particle interaction model based on experimentally measured
      parameters that allows to describe CTL function during immunoediting. The model
      describes the competitive interaction between CTL and melanoma cell nodules and
      allows temporal and two-dimensional spatial progression. The model is designed to
      provide probabilistic estimates of tumor eradication through numerical
      simulations in which tunable parameters influencing CTL efficacy against a tumor
      nodule undergoing immunoediting are tested. Our model shows that the rate of
      CTL/tumor nodule productive collisions during the initial time of interaction
      determines the success of CTL in tumor eradication. It allows efficient cytotoxic
      function before the tumor cells acquire a substantial resistance to CTL attack,
      due to mutations stochastically occurring during cell division. Interestingly, a
      bias in CTL motility inducing a progressive attraction towards a few scout CTL,
      which have detected the nodule enhances early productive collisions and tumor
      eradication. Taken together, our results are compatible with a biased competition
      theory of CTL function in which CTL efficacy against a tumor nodule undergoing
      immunoediting is strongly dependent on guidance of CTL trajectories by scout
      siblings. They highlight unprecedented aspects of immune cell behavior that might
      inspire new CTL-based therapeutic strategies against tumors. 

PMID- 25815810
TI  - Systems biology of tissue-specific response to Anaplasma phagocytophilum reveals
      differentiated apoptosis in the tick vector Ixodes scapularis.
AB  - Anaplasma phagocytophilum is an emerging pathogen that causes human granulocytic
      anaplasmosis. Infection with this zoonotic pathogen affects cell function in both
      vertebrate host and the tick vector, Ixodes scapularis. Global tissue-specific
      response and apoptosis signaling pathways were characterized in I. scapularis
      nymphs and adult female midguts and salivary glands infected with A.
      phagocytophilum using a systems biology approach combining transcriptomics and
      proteomics. Apoptosis was selected for pathway-focused analysis due to its role
      in bacterial infection of tick cells. The results showed tissue-specific
      differences in tick response to infection and revealed differentiated regulation
      of apoptosis pathways. The impact of bacterial infection was more pronounced in
      tick nymphs and midguts than in salivary glands, probably reflecting bacterial
      developmental cycle. All apoptosis pathways described in other organisms were
      identified in I. scapularis, except for the absence of the Perforin ortholog.
      Functional characterization using RNA interference showed that Porin knockdown
      significantly increases tick colonization by A. phagocytophilum. Infection with
      A. phagocytophilum produced complex tissue-specific alterations in transcript and
      protein levels. In tick nymphs, the results suggested a possible effect of
      bacterial infection on the inhibition of tick immune response. In tick midguts,
      the results suggested that A. phagocytophilum infection inhibited cell apoptosis
      to facilitate and establish infection through up-regulation of the JAK/STAT
      pathway. Bacterial infection inhibited the intrinsic apoptosis pathway in tick
      salivary glands by down-regulating Porin expression that resulted in the
      inhibition of Cytochrome c release as the anti-apoptotic mechanism to facilitate
      bacterial infection. However, tick salivary glands may promote apoptosis to limit
      bacterial infection through induction of the extrinsic apoptosis pathway. These
      dynamic changes in response to A. phagocytophilum in I. scapularis tissue
      specific transcriptome and proteome demonstrated the complexity of the tick
      response to infection and will contribute to characterize gene regulation in
      ticks.

PMID- 25815812
TI  - Enhanced hepatogenic transdifferentiation of human adipose tissue mesenchymal
      stem cells by gene engineering with Oct4 and Sox2.
AB  - Adipose tissue mesenchymal stem cells (ATMSCs) represent an attractive tool for
      the establishment of a successful stem cell-based therapy in the field of liver
      regeneration medicine. ATMSCs overexpressing Oct4 and Sox2 (Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs)
      showed enhanced proliferation and multipotency. Hence, we hypothesized that Oct4
      and Sox2 can increase "transdifferentiation" of ATMSCs into cells of the hepatic
      lineage. In this study, we generated Oct4- and Sox2-overexpressing human ATMSCs
      by liposomal transfection. We confirmed the expression of mesenchymal stem cell
      surface markers without morphological alterations in both red-fluorescent protein
      (RFP) (control)- and Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs by flow cytometry. After induction of
      differentiation into hepatocyte-like cells, the morphology of ATMSCs changed and
      they began to appear as round or polygonal epithelioid cells. Hepatic markers
      were evaluated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and confirmed
      by immunofluorescence. The results showed that albumin was strongly expressed in
      hepatogenic differentiated Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs, whereas the expression level of
      alpha-fetoprotein was lower than that of RFP-ATMSCs. The functionality of
      hepatocytes was evaluated by periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining and urea assays.
      The number of PAS-positive cells was significantly higher and urea production was
      significantly higher in Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs compared to that in RFP-ATMSCs. Taken
      together, the hepatocyte-like cells derived from Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs were mature
      hepatocytes, possibly functional hepatocytes with enhanced capacity to store
      glycogen and produce urea. In this study, we demonstrated the enhanced
      transdifferentiation of Oct4- and Sox2-overexpressing ATMSCs into hepatocyte-like
      cells that have enhanced hepatocyte-specific functions. Therefore, we expect that
      Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs may become a very useful source for hepatocyte regeneration or
      liver cell transplantation. 

PMID- 25815813
TI  - Participation of the classical speech areas in auditory long-term memory.
AB  - Accumulating evidence suggests that storing speech sounds requires transposing
      rapidly fluctuating sound waves into more easily encoded oromotor sequences. If
      so, then the classical speech areas in the caudalmost portion of the temporal
      gyrus (pSTG) and in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) may be critical for
      performing this acoustic-oromotor transposition. We tested this proposal by
      applying repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to each of these
      left-hemisphere loci, as well as to a nonspeech locus, while participants
      listened to pseudowords. After 5 minutes these stimuli were re-presented together
      with new ones in a recognition test. Compared to control-site stimulation, pSTG
      stimulation produced a highly significant increase in recognition error rate,
      without affecting reaction time. By contrast, IFG stimulation led only to a weak,
      non-significant, trend toward recognition memory impairment. Importantly, the
      impairment after pSTG stimulation was not due to interference with perception,
      since the same stimulation failed to affect pseudoword discrimination examined
      with short interstimulus intervals. Our findings suggest that pSTG is essential
      for transforming speech sounds into stored motor plans for reproducing the sound.
      Whether or not the IFG also plays a role in speech-sound recognition could not be
      determined from the present results. 

PMID- 25815814
TI  - Distracted by the Unthought - Suppression and Reappraisal of Mind Wandering under
      Stereotype Threat.
AB  - Previous research has found that subtle reminders of negative stereotypes about
      one's group can lead individuals to underperform on stereotype-relevant tests
      (e.g., women in math, ethnic minorities on intelligence tests). This so called
      stereotype threat effect can contribute to systematic group differences in
      performance that can obscure the true abilities of certain social groups and
      thereby sustain social inequalities. In the present study, we examined processes
      underlying stereotype threat effects on women's math performance, specifically
      focusing on the role of suppression of mind wandering (i.e., task-irrelevant
      thinking) in stereotype threat (ST) and no threat (NT) situations. Based on a
      process model of stereotype threat effects on performance, we hypothesized that
      women under stereotype threat spontaneously suppress mind wandering, and that
      this suppression impairs performance. An alternative regulation strategy that
      prevents suppression (i.e., reappraising task-irrelevant thoughts as normal) was
      predicted to prevent stereotype threat effects on performance. We manipulated
      stereotype threat (ST vs. NT) and cognitive regulation strategy (suppression,
      reappraisal, or no strategy) and measured women's performance on a math and a
      concentration task (N = 113). We expected three groups to perform relatively more
      poorly: Those in ST with either no strategy or suppression and those in NT with a
      suppression strategy. We tested the performance of these groups against the
      remaining three groups hypothesized to perform relatively better: those in NT
      with no strategy or reappraisal and those in ST with reappraisal. The results
      showed the expected pattern for participants' math performance, but not for
      concentration achievement. This pattern suggests that ineffective self-regulation
      by suppressing mind wandering can at least partly explain stereotype threat
      effects on performance, whereas a reappraisal strategy can prevent this
      impairment. We discuss implications for the understanding of processes underlying
      stereotype threat effects and the benefits of reappraising subjective experience
      under threat. 

PMID- 25815815
TI  - Simultaneous detection of P300 and steady-state visually evoked potentials for
      hybrid brain-computer interface.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We study the feasibility of a hybrid Brain-Computer Interface (BCI)
      combining simultaneous visual oddball and Steady-State Visually Evoked Potential
      (SSVEP) paradigms, where both types of stimuli are superimposed on a computer
      screen. Potentially, such a combination could result in a system being able to
      operate faster than a purely P300-based BCI and encode more targets than a purely
      SSVEP-based BCI. APPROACH: We analyse the interactions between the brain
      responses of the two paradigms, and assess the possibility to detect
      simultaneously the brain activity evoked by both paradigms, in a series of 3
      experiments where EEG data are analysed offline. MAIN RESULTS: Despite
      differences in the shape of the P300 response between pure oddball and hybrid
      condition, we observe that the classification accuracy of this P300 response is
      not affected by the SSVEP stimulation. We do not observe either any effect of the
      oddball stimulation on the power of the SSVEP response in the frequency of
      stimulation. Finally results from the last experiment show the possibility of
      detecting both types of brain responses simultaneously and suggest not only the
      feasibility of such hybrid BCI but also a gain over pure oddball- and pure SSVEP
      based BCIs in terms of communication rate.

PMID- 25815816
TI  - Anthropometry and body composition of adolescents in cracow, poland.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to determine the level
      of adiposity and obesity in Polish adolescents and compare the results with
      earlier studies conducted in this population as well as those carried out in
      other populations. METHODS: The study group consisted of 456 boys and 514 girls
      aged 14-18 years living in Cracow chosen from randomly selected secondary
      schools. Weight, height, waist, and hip circumference (WC, HC) as well as
      triceps, biceps, subscapular, and suprailiac skinfold thickness (SFT) were
      measured. Body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio
      (WHtR), subscapular/triceps skinfold ratio (STR), and percentage body fat were
      computed. The prevalence of overweight and obesity based on Polish children
      growth reference were calculated and age-dependent and gender-specific smoothed
      percentile curves for BMI and ROC curves were generated. RESULTS: Weight, height,
      WC, HC (up 16yr), WHtR (up 15yr), and WHR were considerably higher in males than
      females. Weight, height, and HC increased with age; WHtR remained the same. The
      prevalence of overweight and obesity were 10.2% (boys 10.3%; girls 10.1%) and
      4.2% (boys 5.3%; girls 3.3%). ROC analysis revealed that WHtR was the best tool
      for detection of obesity (AUC of 0.982+/-0.007) in males, whereas the sum of four
      SFTs (AUC: 0.968+/-0.011) and WHtR (AUC: 0.963+/-0.012) were the best predictors
      of obesity in females. CONCLUSIONS: The level of adiposity in Cracow adolescents
      increased during the last decade. However, it is still lower than in other well
      developed societies struggling with obesity epidemics.

PMID- 25815817
TI  - Avoidant personality disorder versus social phobia: the significance of childhood
      neglect.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Avoidant personality disorder (AvPD) and social phobia (SP) are
      common disorders both in the community and in clinical settings. Whether the two
      disorders represent different severity levels of social anxiety disorder is
      currently in dispute. The relationship between AvPD and SP is probably more
      complex than previously assumed. Several environmental, temperamental, and
      constitutional factors may play a role in the etiology of AvPD and SP. Better
      knowledge about childhood experiences may shed light on similarities and
      differences between the two disorders. The aim of this study was to compare self
      reported childhood experiences in AvPD and SP patients. DESIGN: This is a cross
      sectional multi-site study of 91 adult patients with AvPD and/ or SP. We compared
      patients with AvPD with and without SP (AvPD group) to patients with SP without
      AvPD (SP group). METHODS: The patients were examined using structured diagnostic
      interviews and self-report measures, including Child Trauma Questionnaire,
      Parental Bonding Instrument, and Adult Temperament Questionnaire. RESULTS: Both
      AvPD and SP were associated with negative childhood experiences. AvPD patients
      reported more severe childhood neglect than patients with SP, most pronounced for
      physical neglect. The difference between the disorders in neglect remained
      significant after controlling for temperamental factors and concurrent abuse.
      CONCLUSIONS: The study indicates that childhood neglect is a risk factor for AvPD
      and may be one contributing factor to phenomenological differences between AvPD
      and SP.

PMID- 25815819
TI  - Walking the straight and narrow: the moderating effect of evaluation apprehension
      on the relationship between collectivism and corruption.
AB  - Previous studies obtained mixed results regarding the association between
      collectivism and corruption. To make sense of the mixed results, the current
      research examined the moderating role of evaluation apprehension on the
      relationship between collectivism and corruption. Study 1, using a bribery
      scenario, indicated that collectivism facilitated corruption only when evaluation
      apprehension was low. Study 2, using a real money bribery game, confirmed the
      moderated model found in Study 1. Study 3 further demonstrated the different
      effects of vertical/horizontal collectivism on corruption. Our results suggest
      that a society may effectively combat corruption by increasing its social costs
      while, at the same time, retaining its collectivistic values. 

PMID- 25815818
TI  - Cleavage of Dicer protein by I7 protease during vaccinia virus infection.
AB  - Dicer is the key component in the miRNA pathway. Degradation of Dicer protein is
      facilitated during vaccinia virus (VV) infection. A C-terminal cleaved product of
      Dicer protein was detected in the presence of MG132 during VV infection. Thus, it
      is possible that Dicer protein is cleaved by a viral protease followed by
      proteasome degradation of the cleaved product. There is a potential I7 protease
      cleavage site in the C-terminus of Dicer protein. Indeed, reduction of Dicer
      protein was detected when Dicer was co-expressed with I7 protease but not with an
      I7 protease mutant protein lack of the protease activity. Mutation of the
      potential I7 cleavage site in the C-terminus of Dicer protein resisted its
      degradation during VV infection. Furthermore, Dicer protein was reduced
      dramatically by recombinant VV vI7Li after the induction of I7 protease. If VV
      could facilitate the degradation of Dicer protein, the process of miRNA should be
      affected by VV infection. Indeed, accumulation of precursor miR122 was detected
      after VV infection or I7 protease expression. Reduction of miR122 would result in
      the suppression of HCV sub-genomic RNA replication, and, in turn, the amount of
      viral proteins. As expected, significant reduction of HCVNS5A protein was
      detected after VV infection and I7 protease expression. Therefore, our results
      suggest that VV could cleave Dicer protein through I7 protease to facilitate
      Dicer degradation, and in turn, suppress the processing of miRNAs. Effect of
      Dicer protein on VV replication was also studied. Exogenous expression of Dicer
      protein suppresses VV replication slightly while knockdown of Dicer protein does
      not affect VV replication significantly. 

PMID- 25815820
TI  - A comprehensive alanine-scanning mutagenesis study reveals roles for salt bridges
      in the structure and activity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa elastase.
AB  - The relationship between salt bridges and stability/enzymatic activity is
      unclear. We studied this relationship by systematic alanine-scanning mutation
      analysis using the typical M4 family metalloprotease Pseudomonas aeruginosa
      elastase (PAE, also known as pseudolysin) as a model. Structural analysis
      revealed seven salt bridges in the PAE structure. We constructed ten mutants for
      six salt bridges. Among these mutants, six (Asp189Ala, Arg179Ala, Asp201Ala,
      Arg205Ala, Arg245Ala and Glu249Ala) were active and four (Asp168Ala, Arg198Ala,
      Arg253Ala, and Arg279Ala) were inactive. Five mutants were purified, and their
      catalytic efficiencies (kcat/Km), half-lives (t1/2) and thermal unfolding curves
      were compared with those of PAE. Mutants Asp189Ala and Arg179Ala both showed
      decreased thermal stabilities and increased activities, suggesting that the salt
      bridge Asp189-Arg179 stabilizes the protein at the expense of catalytic
      efficiency. In contrast, mutants Asp201Ala and Arg205Ala both showed slightly
      increased thermal stability and slightly decreased activity, suggesting that the
      salt bridge Asp201-Arg205 destabilizes the protein. Mutant Glu249Ala is related
      to a C-terminal salt bridge network and showed both decreased thermal stability
      and decreased activity. Furthermore, Glu249Ala showed a thermal unfolding curve
      with three discernable states [the native state (N), the partially unfolded state
      (I) and the unfolded state (U)]. In comparison, there were only two discernable
      states (N and U) in the thermal unfolding curve of PAE. These results suggest
      that Glu249 is important for catalytic efficiency, stability and unfolding
      cooperativity. This study represents a systematic mutational analyses of salt
      bridges in the model metalloprotease PAE and provides important insights into the
      structure-function relationship of enzymes.

PMID- 25815821
TI  - The gloves are off: let battle commence.

PMID- 25815822
TI  - Ebola survivor Will Pooley honoured at BJN Awards.

PMID- 25815823
TI  - Nasogastric feeding for stroke patients: practice and education.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Dysphagia is common after stroke, so feeding through a
      nasogastric (NG) tube may be necessary. These tubes are frequently dislodged,
      causing interruption to feeding and hydration, and potential aspiration of feed
      or fluids into the lungs. Interventions to prevent this may include taping tubes
      to the face; the application of hand mittens or bandaging patients' hands;
      inserting the NG tube into the nostril on the stroke-affected side; and nasal
      bridles. The aims of this survey were to investigate the management of NG feeding
      for stroke patients, including current tube confirmation and securing techniques,
      and associated nurse education. This was part of a three-phased sequential mixed
      methods study. This paper reports on the second quantitative phase. METHODS: A
      quantitative postal survey, based on initial qualitative findings, was sent to
      registered nurses (n=528) from the National Stroke Nurses Forum and Scottish
      Stroke Nurses Forum, in addition to registered nurses working on stroke units
      within the local health board. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 59%
      (n=314/528). Tape was the most commonly used method for securing tube position,
      followed by inserting the tube on the stroke-affected side. Hand mittens were
      used more frequently than the nasal bridle; bandaging hands was reported once.
      Taping was considered to be more acceptable and safer than hand mittens or the
      nasal bridle, but less effective. Training in inserting NG feeding tubes was
      received by 56% (n=176/314). Methods used for confirming tube position included
      aspiration and X-ray. Provision of training in confirmation techniques varied.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the management of NG feeding for dysphagic
      stroke patients requires standardisation, as does the education for nurses to
      ensure that this intervention is carried out safely, effectively and acceptably.

PMID- 25815824
TI  - The value of Master's degrees for registered nurses.
AB  - The value of graduates in the nursing workforce has been recognised in the move
      to all-graduate preparation of pre-registration nurses in England ( Nursing and
      Midwifery Council, 2010 ). Increasingly, after registration continuing
      professional development programmes for nurses are being offered at Master's
      level. However, there is limited evidence of the relationship between
      postgraduate study and improved patient outcomes. Evidence that does exist
      suggests that nurses who engage in postgraduate study are more likely to have
      improved critical thinking and decision-making skills, demonstrate leadership
      qualities to empower them to challenge poor practice, and have the skills needed
      for advanced clinical practice roles. This article explores these issues and
      makes recommendations for further work in this area. 

PMID- 25815825
TI  - 'Not a job for a man': factors in the use of touch by male nursing staff.
AB  - While the numbers of male nursing staff are growing in both the UK and the USA,
      there remains a significant imbalance both in terms of the total number and the
      specialities in which male staff choose to work. Management, education and
      technology-dominated roles, characterised as 'high-tech, low-touch' specialities
      attract disproportionately larger numbers of male nursing staff. AIM: The aim of
      this narrative literature review was to explore and critically review the factors
      that influence the perception and use of touch by male nursing staff in
      contemporary healthcare settings. METHOD: A comprehensive review of the
      literature was undertaken using significant online databases focusing on evidence
      from peer-reviewed journals published in English. RESULTS: Key influential
      factors arising from 11 selected studies included male nurses' definitions of
      touch; fear of touch misinterpretation; coping strategies employed; the
      assessment of certain groups of patients; gender-derived stressors; the emotional
      experiences of male staff; and the limited consideration of these issues in the
      pre-registration nursing curriculum. CONCLUSION: A range of factors regarding
      touch impact on the way male nurses use touch when caring for patients. A lack of
      research-based education in the preparation of male students leads to the
      development of various protective strategies. There is a need for the particular
      challenges facing male students and staff to be explicitly addressed within
      undergraduate and post-qualifying education and training programmes.

PMID- 25815826
TI  - The meaning of compassion.

PMID- 25815827
TI  - Revalidation: what does it mean?

PMID- 25815828
TI  - The role of nurses' and patients' personal beliefs in nursing care.
AB  - In this monthly column, Aysha Mendes discusses the need for nurses to acknowledge
      their own beliefs and worldview, and the impact these may have on how they care
      for patients-and the importance of acknowledging patients' own perspectives. 

PMID- 25815829
TI  - Will nurses be enabled to speak up when things go wrong?
AB  - Professor Alan Glasper of the University of Southampton discusses the
      Government's efforts to provide support for whistleblowers who wish to escalate
      healthcare concerns in institutions in England. 

PMID- 25815830
TI  - Applying the lessons of the Francis Inquiries: Culture Change.
AB  - In this two-part column John Tingle discusses the Department of Health's progress
      report on applying the lessons learned from the tragic events at Mid
      Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. 

PMID- 25815831
TI  - Relationships: from staff nurse to nurse consultant. Part 2: nurse-patient
      relationships.

PMID- 25815832
TI  - Is Magnet hospital status for us?

PMID- 25815833
TI  - Correction: Evolving a 24-hr oscillator in budding yeast.

PMID- 25815834
TI  - The higher temperature in the areola supports the natural progression of the
      birth to breastfeeding continuum.
AB  - Numerous functional features that promote the natural progression of the birth to
      breastfeeding continuum are concentrated in the human female's areolar region.
      The aim of this study was to look more closely into the thermal characteristics
      of areola, which are said to regulate the local evaporation rate of odors and
      chemical signals that are uniquely important for the neonate's 'breast crawl'. A
      dermatological study of the areolae and corresponding intern breast quadrants was
      undertaken on the mothers of 70 consecutive, healthy, full-term breastfed
      infants. The study took place just after the births at the Policlinico Abano
      Terme, in Italy from January to February 2014. Temperature, pH and elasticity
      were assessed one day postpartum using the Soft Plus 5.5 (Callegari S.P.A.,
      Parma, Italy). The mean areolar temperature was found to be significantly higher
      than the corresponding breast quadrant (34.60 +/-1.40 degrees C vs. 34.04 +/-2.00
      degrees C, p<0.001) and the pH was also significantly higher (4.60+/-0.59 vs.
      4.17+/-0.59, p<0.001). In contrast, the elasticity of the areolar was
      significantly lower (23.52+/-7.83 vs. 29.02+/-8.44%, p<0.003). Our findings show,
      for the first time, that the areolar region has a higher temperature than the
      surrounding breast skin, together with higher pH values and lower elasticity. We
      believe that the higher temperature of the areolar region may act as a thermal
      signal to guide the infant directly to the nipple and to the natural progression
      of the birth to breastfeeding continuum. 

PMID- 25815835
TI  - Identification of prognostic factors in early stage low rectal cancer to optimize
      surgical treatment; local excision or abdominoperineal resection.

PMID- 25815836
TI  - Proliferation of cultured mouse choroid plexus epithelial cells.
AB  - The choroid plexus (ChP) epithelium is a multifunctional tissue found in the
      ventricles of the brain. The major function of the ChP epithelium is to produce
      cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that bathes and nourishes the central nervous system
      (CNS). In addition to the CSF, ChP epithelial cells (CPECs) produce and secrete
      numerous neurotrophic factors that support brain homeostasis, such as adult
      hippocampal neurogenesis. Accordingly, damage and dysfunction to CPECs are
      thought to accelerate and intensify multiple disease phenotypes, and CPEC
      regeneration would represent a potential therapeutic approach for these diseases.
      However, previous reports suggest that CPECs rarely divide, although this has not
      been extensively studied in response to extrinsic factors. Utilizing a cell-cycle
      reporter mouse line and live cell imaging, we identified scratch injury and the
      growth factors insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and epidermal growth factor
      (EGF) as extrinsic cues that promote increased CPEC expansion in vitro.
      Furthermore, we found that IGF-1 and EGF treatment enhances scratch injury
      induced proliferation. Finally, we established whole tissue explant cultures and
      observed that IGF-1 and EGF promote CPEC division within the intact ChP
      epithelium. We conclude that although CPECs normally have a slow turnover rate,
      they expand in response to external stimuli such as injury and/or growth factors,
      which provides a potential avenue for enhancing ChP function after brain injury
      or neurodegeneration.

PMID- 25815838
TI  - Population structure of the bacterial pathogen Xylella fastidiosa among street
      trees in Washington D.C.
AB  - Bacterial leaf scorch, associated with the bacterial pathogen Xylella fastidiosa,
      is a widely established and problematic disease of landscape ornamentals in
      Washington D.C. A multi-locus sequence typing analysis was performed using 10
      housekeeping loci for X. fastidiosa strains in order to better understand the
      epidemiology of leaf scorch disease in this municipal environment. Samples were
      collected from 7 different tree species located throughout the District of
      Columbia, consisting of 101 samples of symptomatic and asymptomatic foliage from
      84 different trees. Five strains of the bacteria were identified. Consistent with
      prior data, these strains were host specific, with only one strain associated
      with members of the red oak family, one strain associated with American elm, one
      strain associated with American sycamore, and two strains associated with
      mulberry. Strains found for asymptomatic foliage were the same as strains from
      the symptomatic foliage on individual trees. Cross transmission of the strains
      was not observed at sites with multiple species of infected trees within an
      approx. 25 m radius of one another. X. fastidiosa strain specificity observed for
      each genus of tree suggests a highly specialized host-pathogen relationship. 

PMID- 25815837
TI  - Mechanisms underlying early rapid increases in creatinine in paraquat poisoning.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common after severe paraquat poisoning
      and usually heralds a fatal outcome. The rapid large increases in serum
      creatinine (Cr) exceed that which can be explained by creatinine kinetics based
      on loss of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). METHODS AND FINDINGS: This
      prospective multi-centre study compared the kinetics of two surrogate markers of
      GFR, serum creatinine and serum cystatin C (CysC), following paraquat poisoning
      to understand and assess renal functional loss after paraquat poisoning. Sixty
      six acute paraquat poisoning patients admitted to medical units of five hospitals
      were included. Relative changes in creatinine and CysC were monitored in serial
      blood and urine samples, and influences of non-renal factors were also studied.
      RESULTS: Forty-eight of 66 patients developed AKI (AKIN criteria), with 37 (56%)
      developing moderate to severe AKI (AKIN stage 2 or 3). The 37 patients showed
      rapid increases in creatinine of >100% within 24 hours, >200% within 48 hours and
      >300% by 72 hours and 17 of the 37 died. CysC concentration increased by 50% at
      24 hours in the same 37 patients and then remained constant. The creatinine/CysC
      ratio increased 8 fold over 72 hours. There was a modest fall in urinary
      creatinine and serum/urine creatinine ratios and a moderate increase in urinary
      paraquat during first three days. CONCLUSION: Loss of renal function contributes
      modestly to the large increases in creatinine following paraquat poisoning. The
      rapid rise in serum creatinine most probably represents increased production of
      creatine and creatinine to meet the energy demand following severe oxidative
      stress. Minor contributions include increased cyclisation of creatine to
      creatinine because of acidosis and competitive or non-competitive inhibition of
      creatinine secretion. Creatinine is not a good marker of renal functional loss
      after paraquat poisoning and renal injury should be evaluated using more specific
      biomarkers of renal injury.

PMID- 25815839
TI  - Membrane translocation of IL-33 receptor in ventilator induced lung injury.
AB  - Ventilator-induced lung injury is associated with inflammatory mechanism and
      causes high mortality. The objective of this study was to discover the role of IL
      33 and its ST2 receptor in acute lung injury induced by mechanical ventilator
      (ventilator-induced lung injury; VILI). Male Wistar rats were intubated after
      tracheostomy and received ventilation at 10 cm H2O of inspiratory pressure (PC10)
      by a G5 ventilator for 4 hours. The hemodynamic and respiratory parameters were
      collected and analyzed. The morphological changes of lung injury were also
      assessed by histological H&E stain. The dynamic changes of lung injury markers
      such as TNF-alpha and IL-1beta were measured in serum, bronchoalveolar lavage
      fluid (BALF), and lung tissue homogenization by ELISA assay. During VILI, the IL
      33 profile change was detected in BALF, peripheral serum, and lung tissue by
      ELISA analysis. The Il-33 and ST2 expression were analyzed by
      immunohistochemistry staining and western blot analysis. The consequence of VILI
      by H&E stain showed inducing lung congestion and increasing the expression of pro
      inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha and IL-1beta in the lung tissue
      homogenization, serum, and BALF, respectively. In addition, rats with VILI also
      exhibited high expression of IL-33 in lung tissues. Interestingly, the data
      showed that ST2L (membrane form) was highly accumulated in the membrane fraction
      of lung tissue in the PC10 group, but the ST2L in cytosol was dramatically
      decreased in the PC10 group. Conversely, the sST2 (soluble form) was slightly
      decreased both in the membrane and cytosol fractions in the PC10 group compared
      to the control group. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that ST2L
      translocation from the cytosol to the cell membranes of lung tissue and the down
      expression of sST2 in both fractions can function as new biomarkers of VILI.
      Moreover, IL-33/ST2 signaling activated by mechanically responsive lung injury
      may potentially serve as a new therapy target.

PMID- 25815840
TI  - Modeling the potential effects of new tobacco products and policies: a dynamic
      population model for multiple product use and harm.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent declines in US cigarette smoking prevalence have coincided
      with increases in use of other tobacco products. Multiple product tobacco models
      can help assess the population health impacts associated with use of a wide range
      of tobacco products. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We present a multi-state, dynamical
      systems population structure model that can be used to assess the effects of
      tobacco product use behaviors on population health. The model incorporates
      transition behaviors, such as initiation, cessation, switching, and dual use,
      related to the use of multiple products. The model tracks product use prevalence
      and mortality attributable to tobacco use for the overall population and by sex
      and age group. The model can also be used to estimate differences in these
      outcomes between scenarios by varying input parameter values. We demonstrate
      model capabilities by projecting future cigarette smoking prevalence and smoking
      attributable mortality and then simulating the effects of introduction of a
      hypothetical new lower-risk tobacco product under a variety of assumptions about
      product use. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to examine the range of
      population impacts that could occur due to differences in input values for
      product use and risk. We demonstrate that potential benefits from cigarette
      smokers switching to the lower-risk product can be offset over time through
      increased initiation of this product. Model results show that population health
      benefits are particularly sensitive to product risks and initiation, switching,
      and dual use behaviors. CONCLUSION: Our model incorporates the variety of tobacco
      use behaviors and risks that occur with multiple products. As such, it can
      evaluate the population health impacts associated with the introduction of new
      tobacco products or policies that may result in product switching or dual use.
      Further model development will include refinement of data inputs for non
      cigarette tobacco products and inclusion of health outcomes such as morbidity and
      disability.

PMID- 25815841
TI  - A prospective, observational study on the application of ultra-wide-field
      angiography in the evaluation and management of patients with anterior uveitis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Evaluation of peripheral retinal vascular changes in anterior uveitis
      using ultra-wide-field fluorescein angiography. DESIGN: A prospective,
      observational study of a case series of patients diagnosed with anterior uveitis.
      METHODS:  SETTING: Clinical observation at an academic medical center. Patient or
      Study Population: A total of 65 eyes of 33 patients corresponded with the
      research criteria of anterior uveitis in the opinion of specialists of Peking
      University First Hospital. OBSERVATION PROCEDURES: Patients were diagnosed
      primarily through clinical examinations and conventional fluorescein angiography.
      Subsequently, ultra-wide-field fluorescein angiograms were obtained for each
      patient. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome was the detection of peripheral
      retinal changes by ultra-wide-field fluorescein angiography, and how these
      changes influenced the evaluation and management of the disease. RESULTS:
      Peripheral vessel leakage was detected in 27 eyes (42%) with anterior uveitis, of
      which 15 eyes displayed active inflammation and 12 eyes displayed inactive
      inflammation. Peripheral vessel leakage was found in seven of eight eyes with
      cystoid macular edema. Cystoid macular edema was detected in 7 of 27 eyes (26%)
      with peripheral vessel leakage, whereas 1 of 38 eyes (3%) did not display
      peripheral vessel leakage (p<0.01). 44.4% of the patients with peripheral vessel
      leakage had a specific etiology. The relevant treatment strategies were modified
      based on the results of the ultra-wide-field fluorescein angiography. 12 patients
      with peripheral vessel leakage and a quiescent anterior segment were added to
      those receiving topical glucocorticoids, while 3 patients with serious peripheral
      vessel leakage and an active anterior segment received a sub-Tenon injection of
      triamcinolone acetonide. CONCLUSIONS: Ultra-wide-field fluorescein angiography
      was very effective in detecting peripheral retinal vascular pathology in anterior
      uveitis. The changes found in the periphery were important in the evaluation and
      management of anterior uveitis.

PMID- 25815842
TI  - From the guest editor: an integrated multidisciplinary view of tumor metabolism.

PMID- 25815844
TI  - Drivers of the Warburg phenotype.
AB  - The Warburg effect was first described by Otto Warburg in the 1920s and describes
      the preferential conversion of glucose to lactate as opposed to its metabolism
      through the citric acid cycle to fuel oxidative phosphorylation in the
      mitochondria, even in the presence of oxygen. This phenotype is a common feature
      of malignant cells and is also observed in some highly proliferative normal
      tissues. The selective advantage provided by this phenotype is not entirely
      clear. Adopting this metabolic state may allow tumor cells to balance their need
      for ATP, biosynthetic precursor molecules, and reducing power in order to respond
      to growth and proliferation signals and may provide a selective advantage in the
      hypoxic and acidic microenvironments that are often a feature of solid tumors.
      Oncogenic signaling pathways and responses to the local microenvironment combine
      to produce this metabolic phenotype via a number of molecular mechanisms. A
      better understanding of these mechanisms in both tumor and normal tissues and a
      more complete understanding of how the Warburg effect interacts with the rest of
      the tumor metabolic network should provide opportunities for novel clinical
      intervention. 

PMID- 25815843
TI  - Alternative fuels for cancer cells.
AB  - Tumor metabolism is significantly altered to support the various metabolic needs
      of tumor cells. The most prominent change is the increased tumor glycolysis that
      leads to increased glucose uptake and utilization. However, it has become obvious
      that many non-glucose nutrients, such as amino acids, lactate, acetate, and
      macromolecules, can serve as alternative fuels for cancer cells. This knowledge
      reveals an unexpected flexibility and evolutionarily conserved model in which
      cancer cells uptake nutrients from their external environment to fulfill their
      necessary energetic needs. Tumor cells may have evolved the ability to utilize
      different carbon sources because of the limited supply of nutrients in their
      microenvironment, which can be driven by oncogenic mutations or tumor
      microenvironmental stresses. In certain cases, these factors permanently alter
      the tumor cells' metabolism, causing certain nutrients to become indispensable
      and thus creating opportunities for therapeutic intervention to eradicate tumors
      by their metabolic vulnerabilities.

PMID- 25815847
TI  - Common responses of tumors and wounds to hypoxia.
AB  - Hypoxia is a characteristic of tumors and wounds. Hypoxic cells develop 2 common
      strategies to face hypoxia: the glycolytic switch and the angiogenic switch. At
      the onset of hypoxia, alleviation of the Pasteur effect ensures short-term cell
      survival. Long-term hypoxic cell survival requires a further acceleration of the
      glycolytic flux under the control of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 that stimulates
      the expression of most glycolytic transporters and enzymes, uncouples glycolysis
      from the TCA cycle, and rewires glycolysis to lactic fermentation. Hypoxic cells
      also trigger angiogenesis, a process that aims to restore normal
      microenvironmental conditions. Transcription factors (hypoxia-inducible factor 1,
      nuclear factor kappaB, activator protein 1) and lactate cooperate to stimulate
      the expression of proangiogenic agents. Cancer cells differ from normal hypoxic
      cells by their proliferative agenda and by a high metabolic heterogeneity. These
      effects in tumor account for further molecular and metabolic changes and for a
      persistent stimulation of angiogenesis. 

PMID- 25815845
TI  - Novel therapeutic targets of tumor metabolism.
AB  - The study of tumor metabolism has resulted in new understandings of how cancer
      cells modify metabolic pathways that control cellular energetics to allow
      increased proliferation and survival. Tumor cells have been shown to alter
      metabolic pathways involved in glucose, glutamine, and mitochondrial metabolism
      to generate raw materials needed for rapid cellular proliferation, maintain
      favorable cellular redox environments, modify cellular epigenetics, and even
      promote and maintain oncogenic transformation. As a consequence, there has been
      intense scientific and clinical interest in targeting metabolic alterations that
      are commonly adopted by tumor cells for therapeutic purposes. In this review, we
      describe common metabolic alterations seen in tumor cells and discuss how these
      alterations are being investigated as potential targets for pharmacological
      intervention in preclinical and clinical settings. We also discuss some of the
      challenges associated with using tumor metabolism as a therapeutic target in
      cancer therapy, along with potential avenues to overcome these challenges. 

PMID- 25815846
TI  - Metformin, an old drug, brings a new era to cancer therapy.
AB  - Metformin is the most commonly prescribed drug for type 2 diabetes mellitus as it
      is inexpensive, safe, and efficient in ameliorating hyperglycemia and
      hyperinsulinemia. Epidemiological and clinical observation studies have shown
      that metformin use reduces risk of cancer in patients with type 2 diabetes
      mellitus and improves prognosis and survival rate of the cancer patients.
      Furthermore, ongoing clinical trials of metformin in cancer therapy are extending
      to nondiabetic population. Thus, metformin is emerging as an attractive candidate
      for cancer prevention and treatment. This review summarizes recent progress in
      studies of metformin use in cancer and discusses the possibility to enhance its
      efficacy and to prevent cancer metastasis. 

PMID- 25815850
TI  - Lifestyle and cancer risk.
AB  - The global incidence of cancer is expected to increase substantially over the
      next decades. This trend is very much driven by a rise in lifestyle-related
      cancers due to economic and demographic transitions worldwide. Lifestyle factors,
      such as smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity, diet, and physical inactivity, and
      also reproductive and hormonal factors are considered as causes of cancer and
      main targets for primary prevention. While smoking, which may be responsible for
      around 20% to 30% of all incident cancers, is clearly the strongest lifestyle
      related risk factor overall, followed by alcohol consumption and obesity, the
      importance of specific factors for individual cancer types and subtypes varies
      greatly. Remarkably, it has been argued that half of all cancers in industrially
      developed and affluent societies could be avoided by nonsmoking, reducing alcohol
      consumption, weight control and physical activity, a plant-based diet, and breast
      feeding. 

PMID- 25815848
TI  - Metabolism and its sequelae in cancer evolution and therapy.
AB  - Cancers progress through a series of events that can be characterized as "somatic
      evolution." A central premise of Darwinian evolutionary theory is that the
      environment imparts pressure to select for species that are most fit within that
      particular microenvironmental context. Furthermore, the rate of evolution is
      proportional to both (1) the strength of the environmental selection and (2) the
      phenotypic variance of the selected population. It is notable that, during the
      progression of cancers from carcinogenesis to local invasion to metastasis, the
      selective landscape continuously changes, and throughout this process, there is
      increased selection for cells that have altered metabolic phenotypes: implying
      that these phenotypes impart a selective advantage during the process of
      environmental selection. One of the most prevalent selected phenotypes is that of
      aerobic glycolysis, that is, the continued fermentation of glucose even in the
      presence of adequate oxygen. The mechanisms of this so-called "Warburg effect"
      have been well studied, and there are multiple models to explain how this occurs
      at the molecular level. Herein, we propose that unifying insights can be gained
      by evaluating the environmental context within which this phenotype arises. In
      other words, we focus not on the "how" but the "why" do cancer cells exhibit high
      aerobic glycolysis. This is best approached by examining the sequelae of aerobic
      glycolysis that may impart a selective advantage. Many of these have been
      considered, including generation of anabolic substrates, response rates of
      glycolysis vis-a-vis respiration, and generation of antioxidants. A further
      sequeala considered here is that aerobic glycolysis results in a high rate of
      lactic acid production; resulting in acidification of the extracellular space.
      Indeed, it has been shown that a low extracellular pH promotes local invasion,
      promotes metastasis, and inhibits antitumor immunity. In naturally occurring
      cancers, low extracellular pH is a strong negative prognostic indicator of
      metastasis-free survival. Furthermore, it has been shown that inhibition of
      extracellular acidosis can inhibit metastasis and promote antitumor immunity.
      Hence, we propose that excess acid production confers a selective advantage for
      cells during the somatic evolution of cancers. 

PMID- 25815849
TI  - Stress, metabolism and cancer: integrated pathways contributing to immune
      suppression.
AB  - The potential for immune cells to control cancers has been recognized for many
      decades, but only recently has real excitement begun to spread through the
      oncology community following clear evidence that therapeutic blockade of specific
      immune-suppressive mechanisms is enough to make a real difference in survival for
      patients with several different advanced cancers. However, impressive and
      encouraging as these new clinical data are, it is clear that more effort should
      be devoted toward understanding the full spectrum of factors within cancer
      patients, which have the potential to block or weaken antitumor activity by
      immune cells. The goal of this brief review is to highlight recent literature
      revealing interactive stress and metabolic pathways, particularly those mediated
      by the sympathetic nervous system, which may conspire to block immune cells from
      unleashing their full killing potential. There is exciting new information
      regarding the role of neurogenesis by tumors and adrenergic signaling in cancer
      progression (including metabolic changes associated with cachexia and lipolysis)
      and in regulation of immune cell function and differentiation. However, much more
      work is needed to fully understand how the systemic metabolic effects mediated by
      the brain and nervous system can be targeted for therapeutic efficacy in the
      setting of immunotherapy and other cancer therapies. 

PMID- 25815851
TI  - Effects of exercise on tumor physiology and metabolism.
AB  - Exercise is a potent regulator of a range of physiological processes in most
      tissues. Solid epidemiological data show that exercise training can reduce
      disease risk and mortality for several cancer diagnoses, suggesting that exercise
      training may directly regulate tumor physiology and metabolism. Here, we review
      the body of literature describing exercise intervention studies performed in
      rodent tumor models and elaborate on potential mechanistic effects of exercise on
      tumor physiology. Exercise has been shown to reduce tumor incidence, tumor
      multiplicity, and tumor growth across numerous different transplantable,
      chemically induced or genetic tumor models. We propose 4 emerging mechanistic
      effects of exercise, including (1) vascularization and blood perfusion, (2)
      immune function, (3) tumor metabolism, and (4) muscle-to-cancer cross-talk, and
      discuss these in details. In conclusion, exercise training has the potential to
      be a beneficial and integrated component of cancer management, but has yet to
      fully elucidate its potential. Understanding the mechanistic effects of exercise
      on tumor physiology is warranted. Insight into these mechanistic effects is
      emerging, but experimental intervention studies are still needed to verify the
      cause-effect relationship between these mechanisms and the control of tumor
      growth. 

PMID- 25815852
TI  - Cancer cachexia, recent advances, and future directions.
AB  - Cancer cachexia is defined as a multifactorial syndrome characterized by an
      ongoing loss of skeletal muscle mass with or without loss of fat mass. The
      syndrome cannot be fully reversed by conventional nutritional support, and
      despite an increased number of studies related to cancer cachexia, the underlying
      mechanisms are still poorly defined, and therapeutic options are limited. This
      review focuses on recent studies investigating mechanisms and pathways in cancer
      cachexia. The role of molecular and functional imaging in identifying cachexia at
      an earlier stage, in identifying potential metabolic targets and pathways, and in
      assessing treatment efficacy is also reviewed. 

PMID- 25815853
TI  - Imaging tumor metabolism using in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
AB  - Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a powerful tool for noninvasively
      investigating normal and abnormal metabolism. When used in combination with
      imaging strategies, multinuclear MRS methods provide detailed biochemical
      information that can be directly correlated with anatomical features.
      Hyperpolarized C MRS is a new technology that reflects real-time metabolic
      conversion and is likely to be extremely valuable in managing patients with
      cancer. This article reviews the use of in vivo P, H, and C MRS for assessing
      cancer metabolism in order to provide information for diagnosis, planning
      treatment, assessing response to therapy, and predicting survival for patients
      with cancer. 

PMID- 25815856
TI  - Difficulties in Daily Life Reported by Patients With Homonymous Visual Field
      Defects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Homonymous visual field defects (HVFD) are common after
      postchiasmatic acquired brain injury and may have a significant impact on
      independent living and participation in society. Vision-related difficulties
      experienced in daily life are usually assessed using questionnaires. The current
      study 1) links the content of 3 of these questionnaires to the International
      Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and 2) provides
      analyses of vision-related difficulties reported by patients with HVFD and
      minimal comorbidities. METHODS: Fifty-four patients with homonymous hemianopia or
      quadrantanopia were asked about difficulties experienced in daily life because of
      their HVFD. This was performed during a structured interview including 3
      standardized questionnaires: National Eye Institute Visual Functioning
      Questionnaire, Independent Mobility Questionnaire, and Cerebral Visual Disorders
      Questionnaire. The reported difficulties were linked to the ICF according to the
      ICF linking rules. Main outcome measures were presence or absence of experienced
      difficulties. RESULTS: The ICF linking procedure resulted in a classification
      table that can be used in future studies of vision-related difficulties. Besides
      well-known difficulties related to reading, orientation, and mobility, a high
      proportion of patients with HVFD reported problems that previously have not been
      documented in the literature, such as impaired light sensitivity, color vision,
      and perception of depth. CONCLUSIONS: A systematic inventory of difficulties
      experienced in daily life by patients with HVFD was performed using the ICF.
      These findings have implications for future study, assessment and rehabilitation
      of patients with HVFD.

PMID- 25815857
TI  - Dermatomyositis-Related Nonischemic Central Retinal Vein Occlusion.
AB  - A 25-year-old woman with dermatomyositis suffered a right central retinal vein
      occlusion (CRVO) with visual acuity of 20/40. Examination of the right eye showed
      vitreous cells, suggesting inflammation of the central retinal vein leading to a
      CRVO as the presumed mechanism. She was admitted to hospital, and extensive
      evaluation was negative. She was maintained on corticosteroids to manage her
      dermatomyositis. One month later, she had macular edema and elevated intraocular
      pressure. Both resolved with dorzolamide, timolol, and intravitreal bevacizumab,
      and vision returned to 20/20 in the right eye. 

PMID- 25815854
TI  - Imaging tumor metabolism using positron emission tomography.
AB  - Positron emission tomography (PET) is an extraordinarily sensitive clinical
      imaging modality for interrogating tumor metabolism. Radiolabeled PET substrates
      can be traced at subphysiological concentrations, allowing noninvasive imaging of
      metabolism and intratumoral heterogeneity in systems ranging from advanced cancer
      models to patients in the clinic. There are a wide range of novel and more
      established PET radiotracers, which can be used to investigate various aspects of
      the tumor, including carbohydrate, amino acid, and fatty acid metabolism. In this
      review, we briefly discuss the more established metabolic tracers and describe
      recent work on the development of new tracers. Some of the unanswered questions
      in tumor metabolism are considered alongside new technical developments, such as
      combined PET/magnetic resonance imaging scanners, which could provide new imaging
      solutions to some of the outstanding diagnostic challenges facing modern cancer
      medicine. 

PMID- 25815855
TI  - Attenuated age-impact on systemic inflammatory markers in the presence of a
      metabolic burden.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The overall burden of chronic disease, inflammation and
      cardiovascular risk increases with age. Whether the relationship between age and
      inflammation is impacted by presence of an adverse metabolic burden is not known.
      METHODS: We determined inflammatory markers in humans (336 Caucasians and 224
      African Americans) and in mice, representing a spectrum of age, weight and
      metabolic burden. RESULTS: In humans, levels of inflammatory markers increased
      significantly with age in subjects without the metabolic syndrome, (P=0.009 and
      P=0.037 for C-reactive protein, P<0.001 and P=0.001 for fibrinogen, P<0.001 and
      P=0.005 for serum amyloid-A, for Caucasians and African Americans, respectively).
      In contrast, trend patterns of inflammatory markers did not change significantly
      with age in subjects with metabolic syndrome in either ethnic group, except for
      fibrinogen in Caucasians. A composite z-score for systemic inflammation increased
      significantly with age in subjects without metabolic syndrome (P=0.004 and
      P<0.006 for Caucasians and African Americans, respectively) but not in subjects
      with metabolic syndrome (P=0.009 for difference in age trend between metabolic
      syndrome and non-metabolic syndrome). In contrast, no similar age trend was found
      in vascular inflammation. The findings in humans were paralleled by results in
      mice as serum amyloid-A levels increased across age (range 2-15 months, P<0.01)
      and were higher in ob/ob mice compared to control mice (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS:
      Presence of a metabolic challenge in mice and humans influences levels of
      inflammatory markers over a wide age range. Our results underscore that already
      at a young age, presence of a metabolic burden enhances inflammation to a level
      that appears to be similar to that of decades older people without metabolic
      syndrome.

PMID- 25815858
TI  - Nerve Fiber Layer Infarcts in Thiamine Deficiency.
AB  - Thiamine deficiency classically manifests as the triad of Wernicke
      encephalopathy: acute confusional state, ataxic gait, and ocular motor
      dysfunction. However, most patients do no present with this classic triad. Optic
      neuropathy in thiamine deficiency is a rare manifestation and is usually
      associated with fundus appearances of optic disc swelling or optic disc pallor.
      We present 2 unique cases of thiamine deficiency where the fundus demonstrated
      peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickening without florid disc swelling
      or pallor. 

PMID- 25815859
TI  - Can AST/ALT ratio indicate recovery after acute paracetamol poisoning? The
      authors reply.

PMID- 25815861
TI  - Animal models for some important RNA viruses of public health concern in SEARO
      countries: viral hemorrhagic fever.
AB  - Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are major public health problems in the South
      East Asia Regional (SEAR) countries. VHFs are a group of illnesses; that are
      caused by four families of viruses, viz. Arenaviridae, Bunyaviridae, Filoviridae
      and Flaviviridae. All VHFs have common features: they affect several organs and
      damage the blood vessels. These symptoms are often accompanied by hemorrhage. To
      understand pathogenesis, genetic and environmental influence that increase the
      risk of VHFs, efficacy and safety studies on candidate vaccines and testing of
      various therapeutic agents, appropriate animal models are essential tools in
      public and animals health. In the current review, the suitable animal models for
      Flavivirus [Dengue hemorhagic fever (DHF), Kyasanur forest disease (KFD)];
      Bunyavirus [Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), Hantavirus fever (HF)]; and
      Paramyxovirus [Nipah virus fever (NiV)] have been reviewed with specific emphasis
      on emerging and reemerging viruses in SEAR countries. 

PMID- 25815862
TI  - Computational approach for elucidating interactions of cross-species miRNAs and
      their targets in Flaviviruses.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Combating viral diseases has been a challenging task
      since time immemorial. Available molecular approaches are limited and not much
      effective for this daunting task. MicroRNA based therapies have shown promise in
      recent times. MicroRNAs are tiny non-coding RNAs that regulate translational
      repression of target mRNA in highly specific manner. METHODS: In this study, we
      have determined the target regions for human and viral microRNAs in the conserved
      genomic regions of selected viruses of Flaviviridae family using miRanda and
      performed a comparative target selectivity analysis among them. RESULTS: Specific
      target regions were determined and they were compared extensively among
      themselves by exploring their position to determine the vicinity. Based on the
      multiplicity and cooperativity analysis, interaction maps were developed manually
      to represent the interactions between top-ranking miRNAs and genomes of the
      viruses considered in this study. Self-organizing map (SOM) was used to cluster
      the best-ranked microRNAs based on the vital physicochemical properties.
      INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: This study will provide deep insight into the
      interrelation of the viral and human microRNAs interactions with the selected
      Flaviviridae genomes and will help to identify cross-species microRNA targets on
      the viral genome.

PMID- 25815860
TI  - Urinary Bisphenol A Levels during Pregnancy and Risk of Preterm Birth.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Preterm birth (PTB), a leading cause of infant mortality and
      morbidity, has a complex etiology with a multitude of interacting causes and risk
      factors. The role of environmental contaminants, particularly bisphenol A (BPA),
      is understudied with regard to PTB. OBJECTIVES: In the present study we examined
      the relationship between longitudinally measured BPA exposure during gestation
      and PTB. METHODS: A nested case-control study was performed from women enrolled
      in a prospective birth cohort study at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston,
      Massachusetts, during 2006-2008. Urine samples were analyzed for BPA
      concentrations at a minimum of three time points during pregnancy on 130 cases of
      PTB and 352 randomly assigned controls. Clinical classifications of PTB were
      defined as "spontaneous," which was preceded by spontaneous preterm labor or
      preterm premature rupture of membranes, or "placental," which was preceded by
      preeclampsia or intrauterine growth restriction. RESULTS: Geometric mean
      concentrations of BPA did not differ significantly between cases and controls. In
      adjusted models, urinary BPA averaged across pregnancy was not significantly
      associated with PTB. When examining clinical classifications of PTB, urinary BPA
      late in pregnancy was significantly associated with increased odds of delivering
      a spontaneous PTB. After stratification on infant's sex, averaged BPA exposure
      during pregnancy was associated with significantly increased odds of being
      delivered preterm among females, but not males. CONCLUSIONS: These results
      provide little evidence of a relationship between BPA and prematurity, though
      further research may be warranted given the generalizability of participant
      recruitment from a tertiary teaching hospital, limited sample size, and
      significant associations among females and within the clinical subcategories of
      PTB. CITATION: Cantonwine DE, Ferguson KK, Mukherjee B, McElrath TF, Meeker JD.
      2015. Urinary bisphenol A levels during pregnancy and risk of preterm birth.
      Environ Health Perspect 123:895-901; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408126.

PMID- 25815863
TI  - Genetic variability of Trypanosoma cruzi TcI isolates from rural and urban areas
      of Venezuela.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Several studies have demonstrated genetic heterogeneity
      in populations of Trypanosoma cruzi that allowed the identification of six
      different discrete typing units (DTU) classified as TcI, TcII, TcIII, TcIV, TcV
      and TcVI. Furthermore, some characterization studies have described genetic
      variability within TcI isolates from endemic regions. The objective of the
      present study was to analyze Venezuelan T. cruzi isolates, obtained from
      triatomine-vectors, mammal-hosts including infected humans, detected in both
      rural and urban areas from diverse geographic origins. METHODS: Molecular
      characterization of 44 Venezuelan T. cruzi isolates, obtained from triatomine
      vectors, mammalian hosts and human patients from both rural and urban areas of
      different geographic origins, were carried out. Samples were analyzed by PCR
      amplification of the intergenic region of the mini-exon gene, 24Salpha rDNA and
      18S rDNA, followed by sequencing of the amplification products. RESULTS: The TcI
      amplification pattern was found in 42 out of 44 (95.5%) isolates; a TcIII strain
      and one possible TcIV were also found. The sequence analysis of the TcI
      Venezuelan isolates showed genetic variability among them. Urban isolates formed
      a homogeneous group, with differences in their sequences, when compared to rural
      isolates. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: The results showed genetic heterogeneity
      in Venezuelan TcI strains, probably in response to different environmental
      conditions.

PMID- 25815864
TI  - Effect of tumour necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 promoter polymorphisms
      on course of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in Turkish patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In this case-control study, we investigated whether IL-6 (-174G/C) and
      TNF-alpha (-308G/A) gene polymorphisms affect the clinical course and outcome of
      CCHF. METHODS: Total 150 patients with CCHF and 170 controls were examined in
      this study. Genotyping of these polymorphisms were performed by PCR-RFLP methods.
      RESULTS: We found no statistically significant differences in genotype and allele
      frequencies of these polymorphisms between patients and controls [(chi2 = 1.31, p
      = 0.51 for TNF-alpha) and (chi2 = 2.61, p = 0.27 for IL-6)]. Either TNF-alpha AA
      or IL-6 CC genotypes in dead cases were not observed in this study. Frequency of
      heterozygous genotypes in both IL-6 (GC) and TNF-alpha (GA) was higher in dead
      patients than living patients. However, the difference was not statistically
      significant. A significant difference was found in AST levels and INR when
      compared to patients with CCHF who died and who survived [OR = 13.9 (95% CI =
      1.79-107) for INR, p = 0.01] and [OR = 23.3 (95% CI = 3.62-149) for AST, p =
      0.001], respectively. CONCLUSION: We did not find a significant association of IL
      6 -174G/C and TNF-alpha -308G/A polymorphisms on the prognosis of CCHF and
      mortality in this study. We suggest that AST and INR may be important biomarkers
      for determining the risk of severity and death as a result of infection with
      Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV).

PMID- 25815865
TI  - Vitamin D status in children with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne
      viral disease, causing severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks. This study aimed
      at determining the serum vitamin D levels and investigated the association
      between Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) and serum vitamin D levels in
      children with CCHF. METHODS: A total of 45 children aged between 5 and 15 yr,
      viz. 15 healthy control (HC) and 30 pediatric patients diagnosed with CCHF with
      real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (patient group) were selected for the
      study. RESULTS: Analysis of the blood serum samples taken from the said
      individuals revealed that vitamin D, parathyroid hormone and calcium levels of
      the patients and the control groups were statistically different. INTERPRETATION
      & CONCLUSION: It was found that the serum vitamin D levels of the pediatric
      patients with CCHF were lower when compared to those of the controls, and that a
      low vitamin D level could negatively affect the reaction of the body to
      infections in children having CCHF.

PMID- 25815866
TI  - Morphological and molecular characterization of the ecological, biological and
      behavioural variants of the JE vector Culex tritaeniorhynchus: an assessment of
      its taxonomic status.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Culex tritaeniorhynchus (Diptera: Culicidae), an
      important vector of Japanese encephalitis belongs to the Culex vishnui subgroup
      which includes two other vector species namely, Cx. Vishnui and Cx.
      pseudovishnui. Many varieties and types of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus have been
      reported, besides populations that exhibit behavioural and biological
      differences. This study was undertaken to find out whether Cx. tritaeniorhynchus
      populations exhibiting behavioural and biological variations, and those from
      different geographical areas, are comprised of more than one taxon or belong to a
      single taxon. METHODS: Morphological characterization was done by examining 153
      morphological and morphometric characters in the larval (75), pupal (60) and
      adult stages (18) of five geographical populations of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus.
      Molecular characterization was done by PCR amplification of mitochondrial
      cytochrome c oxidase (COI) gene sequences (DNA barcodes) and another
      hypervariable genetic marker, the ribosomal DNA (16S). One-way ANOVA, principal
      component analysis (PCA) and discriminant factor analysis (DFA) were done for
      statistical analyses using the statistical package SPSS IBM version 19.0.
      RESULTS: Morphological characterization showed that no intraspecific
      differentiation can be made among the five geographical populations of Cx.
      tritaeniorhynchus. Molecular characterization done by DNA barcoding also showed
      that the COI sequences of all the five populations of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus
      grouped into a single taxonomic clade plus the genetic differentiation among
      these was non-significant and the overall gene flow among the populations was
      very high. Analysis of the ribosomal DNA also confirmed that the Cx.
      tritaeniorhynchus populations belonged to a single taxon. INTERPRETATION &
      CONCLUSION: Culex tritaeniorhynchus is a taxon that does not involve cryptic
      species.

PMID- 25815867
TI  - Isolation and characterization of Vagococcus sp from midgut of Culex
      quinquefasciatus (Say) mosquito.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Mosquito gut is a rich source of microorganisms. These
      microorganisms exhibit close association and contribute various physiological
      processes taking place in mosquito gut. The present study is aimed to
      characterize two bacterial isolates M19 and GB11 recovered from the gut of Culex
      quinquefasciatus mosquito collected from Bhuj and Jamnagar districts of Gujarat,
      India. METHODS: Both the strains were characterized using polyphasic approach
      including, phenotypic characterization, whole cell protein profiling and
      sequencing of 16S rRNA gene and groESL region. RESULTS: Sequences of 16S rRNA
      gene of M19 and GB11 were 99% similar to Vagococcus carniphilus and Vagococcus
      fluvialis. But phenotypic profile, whole cell protein profile and sequence of
      groESL region of both isolates were found to be similar to V. fluvialis.
      CONCLUSION: Based on phenotypic, genotypic and protein profiling, both the
      strains were identified as V. fluvialis. So far this species was known from
      domestic animals and human sources only. This is the first report of V. fluvialis
      inhabiting midgut of Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquito collected from Arabian sea
      coastal of India.

PMID- 25815869
TI  - Biodiversity of culicid mosquitoes in rural Neka township of Mazandaran province,
      northern Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: This paper presents the results of a study on ecological
      parameters including diversity indices applied on populations of Culicidae
      mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from three rural areas (Darvishan, Chalmardi and
      Khairabad) of Neka township in Mazandaran province, northern Iran. METHODS: Adult
      and larval stages of mosquitoes were systematically sampled to obtain data
      required for measuring diversity of mosquitoes in these areas. Alfa and beta
      indices were analyzed to compare mosquito diversity. A total of 5270 specimens
      belonging to four genera and 14 different species were collected and identified.
      RESULTS: Evaluation of dominance structure of species showed that culicid
      mosquitoes of Neka rangelands include one eudominant species, two dominant
      species, two subdominant species, two rare species and eight subrare species when
      Heydemann classification was used. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Data analysis
      revealed a higher diversity of mosquitoes in Khairabad with a low degree of
      interspecific dominance, while Darvishan and Chalmardi recorded the lowest
      observed diversity and a high degree of interspecific dominance. The cluster
      analysis based on Jaccard's index indicated the relationship between the
      categories and indicates that Darvishan and Khairabad are the closest categories
      in their specific composition.

PMID- 25815868
TI  - Cost-effective medium for the production of mosquito pupicidal lipopeptide from
      Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtilis (VCRC B471).
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: A cyclic lipopeptide (CLP), surfactin produced by a
      strain of Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtilis (VCRC B471) was found to exhibit
      mosquitocidal activity. The present study was carried out to enhance the
      surfactin level using low cost material in the production medium. METHODS: Two
      carbon sources, glucose and common sugar, and two nitrogen sources, ammonium
      nitrate and soya were used in the study. Different concentrations of 'C' and 'N'
      sources were used in the production medium to enhance the production of
      surfactin. RESULTS: A new medium (SS7) containing 2% sugar, 6% soya and 0.5%
      common salt with micronutrients was designed which was found to enhance the
      production of surfactin. The crude mosquitocidal metabolite (CMM) produced in
      this medium was 3 g/l which was two times higher than that obtained using
      synthetic medium NYSM. The LC50 dosage of the CMM to the pupal stages of An.
      stephensi (2.3 MUg/ml) was comparable to that obtained with CMM from the
      conventional medium. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: The newly designed cost
      effective medium designated as sugar soya medium (SSM) enhanced the production of
      surfactin and the cost of production was estimated as [symbol: see text] 6 per
      litre, which is six times lesser than that of the conventional medium.
      Replacement of sodium chloride with cooking salt further reduced the cost of the
      medium.

PMID- 25815870
TI  - A bibliometric profile of lymphatic filariasis research in India.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Tropical and vector borne diseases have always been a
      challenge for the medical science and society and exerted high impact on society
      in terms of financial, economical and psychological relevance. Lymphatic
      filariasis (LF) is one of the tropical diseases which is prevalent in under
      developing and developed countries. The objective of this study is to analyze the
      literature published in the area of filariasis research. The focus is to see the
      Indian contribution and its impact in terms of global publication and share,
      citation analysis and its impact, productive Indian institutions engaged in
      filariasis research and their impact, international collaborative research,
      productive journals, and highly cited papers published by Indian authors.
      METHODS: The data for this study was obtained from Scopus, a multidisciplinary
      database, for the period of forty years (1973-2012) using key words lymphatic
      filariasis, elephantiasis, Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi and Brugia timori
      available in the title, abstract and key words fields. The citation count has
      been taken as the number of citations scored by the papers since their
      publication. The international collaboration by Indian authors in filariasis
      research has been manually analyzed through author's affiliation field. RESULTS:
      The search strategy using key words yielded 13,598 articles on different aspects
      of filariasis published during the forty years period. Indian authors have
      published 1970 articles which is 14.49% of global share, making it second highest
      productive country on filariasis research. United States holds first rank with
      2956 articles (21.74% share). In terms of citation count, Indian research have
      quite good impact and has been ranked third; and in terms of average citation per
      paper it is far behind, while Ghana and Nigeria holds top two ranks.
      INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: There have been continued efforts in providing
      better facilities for research, though Indian filariasis research has to go long
      way in order to remove the incidence of the disease from Indian population and
      the results presented through this study shall be helpful for stakeholders in
      framing policies in this direction.

PMID- 25815871
TI  - Effect of salinity on the behavior of Aedes aegypti populations from the coast
      and plateau of southeastern Brazil.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Mosquito larvae can develop in fresh, salty and brackish
      water. The larvae of Aedes aegypti develop in fresh water. However, in laboratory
      studies, tolerance of this species for oviposition and hatching in brackish water
      was observed. Immature forms of Ae. aegypti have also been found developing in
      brackish water in coastal areas. The purpose of the study was to compare the
      effects of salt on the biological cycle of Ae. aegypti populations from coastal
      and plateau areas of southeastern Brazil. METHODS: Aedes aegypti were collected
      from plateau (Taubate) and coastal (Sao Sebastiao) municipalities to establish
      colonies. Specimens of the F1 generation were exposed to five salt concentrations
      (3.5, 7, 10.5, 14 and 17.5%) to assess the oviposition and cycle development from
      egg hatching to adult eclosion. Deionized water was used in the control groups.
      RESULTS: Both Taubate and Sao Sebastiao populations oviposited in all salt
      concentrations tested; however, development occurred in all except in the 17.5%
      concentration. Significant differences in development and adult size were
      observed at intermediate concentrations (Sao Sebastiao from 10.5% and Taubate
      from 7%, for both variables) between the two populations. INTERPRETATION &
      CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed different response patterns to
      salinity between the two populations, suggesting better adaptive adjustment of
      the coastal population to the metabolic constraints exerted by salt. The
      implications of this adaptation are discussed, and additional studies are
      suggested to evaluate the mechanisms that determinate the adaptive processes of
      Ae. aegypti in brackish water and the implications to its vectorial capacity.

PMID- 25815872
TI  - Screening of some weeds for larvicidal activity against Aedes albopictus, a
      vector of dengue and chikungunya.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Screening of crude extracts of plants facilitates the
      establishment of highly effective extract for mosquito control. This practice
      should be preferred before in depth study of plant extracts rather than spending
      much efforts and energy in detailed examinations for practically ineffective
      extracts. In this study, leaf powders of four weed plants were used for the quick
      screening of effective plant extract as larvicide against III instar larvae of
      Aedes albopictus Skuse. At the same time, effect of different seasons on the
      larvicidal efficacy of plants and selection of proper solvents for further
      investigation were also studied. METHODS: Leaves of Vernonia cinerea, Prosopis
      juliflora, Hyptis suaveolens and Malvastrum coromandelianum plants were collected
      in summer, winter and rainy seasons from Madhya Pradesh region (India). To assess
      the larvicidal efficacy the suspensions of leaf powders in different solvents
      (isopropanol, methanol, acetone, dimethylsulfoxide and water) were used for
      larvicidal bioassay. The mortality counts were made after 24 h and the LC50 and
      LC90 values were calculated. RESULTS: Results showed that leaf powder of V.
      cinerea in acetone collected during summer showed highest efficacy with LC50
      value of 0.22 g/l and LC90 of 0.96 g/l followed by methanolic solution of P.
      juliflora with LC50 of 0.44 g/l and LC90 value as 1.85 g/l. Amongst all solvents,
      leaf powder in acetone; while among seasons, summer collected plant materials
      were found to be more effective larvicides as compared to others. INTERPRETATION
      & CONCLUSION: Summer and winter collected leaves of V. cinerea and P. juliflora
      dissolved in the solvents of medium polarity range showed significant larval
      toxicity and thus suggests a detailed study on these plants as potential larval
      control agents.

PMID- 25815873
TI  - Status of DDT and pyrethroid resistance in Indian Aedes albopictus and absence of
      knockdown resistance (kdr) mutation.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Aedes albopictus is one of the vectors for dengue and
      chikungunya and emergence of pyrethroid resistance in this species could be of a
      major concern in controlling the vector. This study reports insecticide
      susceptibility status of Ae. albopictus to DDT and pyrethroids in some Indian
      populations and status of presence of knockdown resistance (kdr) mutations.
      METHODS: Three to four day old adult female Ae. albopictus collected from Delhi,
      Gurgaon (Haryana), Hardwar (Uttarakhand), Guwahati (Assam) and Kottayam (Kerala)
      were bio-assayed with DDT (4%), permethrin (0.75%) and deltamethrin (0.05%)
      impregnated papers using WHO standard susceptibility test kit. Mosquitoes were
      PCRgenotyped for F1534C kdr-mutation in the voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC)
      gene. DDT and pyrethroid resistant individuals were sequenced for partial domain
      II, III and IV of VGSC targeting residues S989, I1011, V1016, F1534 and D1794
      where kdr mutations are reported in Ae. aegypti. RESULTS: Adult bioassays
      revealed varying degree of resistance against DDT among five populations of Ae.
      albopictus with corrected mortalities ranging between 61 and 92%. Kerala and
      Delhi populations showed incipient resistance against permethrin and deltamethrin
      respectively. All other populations were susceptible for both the synthetic
      pyrethroids. None of the kdr mutations was detected in any of DDT, deltamethrin
      and permethrin resistant individuals. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Ae. albopictus
      has developed resistance against DDT and there is emergence of incipient
      resistance against pyrethroids in some populations. So far, there is no evidence
      of presence of knockdown resistance (kdr) mutation in Ae. albopictus.

PMID- 25815874
TI  - Chlorfenapyr: irritant effect compared to other insecticides and its intrinsic
      toxicity in multiple-insecticide-susceptible and -resistant Anopheles stephensi
      (Diptera: Culicidae).
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: For effective management of vector resistance there is a
      need for new insecticide molecules with novel modes of action. For desired toxic
      effect of an insecticide, apart from other behavioural aspects, toxicity and
      chemical nature of the molecule are important that may cause irritability in the
      mosquito to the insecticide affecting the uptake. In this study, a pyrrole class
      insecticide, chlorfenapyr (a late acting insecticide) was tested for its
      irritability against multiple-insecticide-susceptible and -resistant strains of
      Anopheles stephensi Liston 1901 (Diptera: Culicidae). METHODS: Studies were
      conducted to assess the irritability due to chlorfenapyr, DDT, malathion,
      deltamethrin and permethrin and intrinsic toxicity of chlorfenapyr in multiple
      insecticide-susceptible and -resistant laboratory strains of An. stephensi
      following standard WHO methods. RESULTS: Chlorfenapyr molecule has shown least
      irritant effect against susceptible and resistant strains among all the
      insecticides tested allowing more landing time to the vector species on the
      impregnated surfaces to pick-up lethal dose. CONCLUSION: Chlorfenapyr could be an
      ideal insecticide for management of multiple-insecticide-resistance including
      pyrethroids.

PMID- 25815875
TI  - Spatial distribution of Aedes mosquitoes with special attention to bionomics of
      Aedes albopictus subpopulations collected from various parts of Odisha.

PMID- 25815876
TI  - Blood feeding behaviour of mosquitoes in Japanese encephalitis endemic and non
      endemic areas.

PMID- 25815877
TI  - Rapid diagnosis of dengue infection in acute phase.

PMID- 25815878
TI  - Antineoplastic effect of a novel chemopreventive agent, neokestose, on the Caco-2
      cell line via inhibition of expression of nuclear factor-kappaB and
      cyclooxygenase-2.
AB  - Neokestose is a 6G-fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and an important prebiotic. When
      FOS are ingested by patients with colorectal cancer, they may come into contact
      with cancer cells prior to being fermented by bifidobacteria in the colon. In the
      present study, the effects of neokestose on cell proliferation, cell cycle and
      apoptosis of the colorectal cancer cell line Caco-2 were investigated to evaluate
      its anti-cancer effect. An MTT assay showed that neokestose-treated Caco-2 cells
      exhibited a significant and dose-dependent loss of viability. Flow cytometric
      analysis indicated that the sub-G1 population of Caco-2 cells was significantly
      increased following treatment with neokestose, and the percentage of Caco-2 cells
      in the stage of late apoptosis was also significantly increased in a dose
      dependent manner. Western blot analysis showed that the overexpression of nuclear
      factor-kappaB, a central molecule responsible for the transition from
      inflammation to cancer, and cyclooxygenase-2, an important enzyme in colorectal
      tumorigenesis, in colorectal carcinoma cells was inhibited by neokestose.
      Accordingly, the present study provided in vitro evidence that neokestose may be
      used as a dietary chemopreventive agent, whose application is more rational than
      that of COX-2 inhibitors or aspirin for preventing colorectal cancer.

PMID- 25815879
TI  - AIB-OR: improving onion routing circuit construction using anonymous identity
      based cryptosystems.
AB  - The rapid growth of Internet applications has made communication anonymity an
      increasingly important or even indispensable security requirement. Onion routing
      has been employed as an infrastructure for anonymous communication over a public
      network, which provides anonymous connections that are strongly resistant to both
      eavesdropping and traffic analysis. However, existing onion routing protocols
      usually exhibit poor performance due to repeated encryption operations. In this
      paper, we first present an improved anonymous multi-receiver identity-based
      encryption (AMRIBE) scheme, and an improved identity-based one-way anonymous key
      agreement (IBOWAKE) protocol. We then propose an efficient onion routing protocol
      named AIB-OR that provides provable security and strong anonymity. Our main
      approach is to use our improved AMRIBE scheme and improved IBOWAKE protocol in
      onion routing circuit construction. Compared with other onion routing protocols,
      AIB-OR provides high efficiency, scalability, strong anonymity and fault
      tolerance. Performance measurements from a prototype implementation show that our
      proposed AIB-OR can achieve high bandwidths and low latencies when deployed over
      the Internet.

PMID- 25815880
TI  - Upregulated microRNA-214 enhances cardiac injury by targeting ITCH during
      coxsackievirus infection.
AB  - Viral myocarditis (VM), a severe clinical condition characterized by cardiac
      inflammation, is most frequently induced as a result of coxsackievirus infection.
      Evidence suggests that microRNAs may have significant roles in the progression of
      cardiac injury during coxsackievirus infection. Concurrently, microRNA (miR)-214
      was found to be upregulated in the plasma and myocardial cells during this
      process. In the present study, eight candidate miRNAs, the functions of which are
      associated with myocarditis, were selected and their expression levels were
      evaluated by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. miR
      146b and miR-214 were found to have significantly upregulated expression levels
      in the heart tissues of patients with VM compared with those of the control
      subjects. Predictions via the use of online bioinformatics tools and confirmed by
      dual-luciferase assay and western blot analysis, revealed that ITCH, an NF-kappaB
      signaling suppressor, was a target gene of miR-214. To investigate the biological
      function of miR-214, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 expression
      levels were evaluated in HeLa cell culture supernatant. The results revealed that
      miR-214 overexpression enhanced the expression of the two cytokines. In addition,
      the function of miR-214 was partially rescued by ITCH overexpression.
      Subsequently, concurrent results were obtained following experiments in murine
      cardiac myocytes. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated
      that miR-214 contributed to the adverse inflammatory response to viral infection
      of the heart during coxsackievirus infection and is therefore a potential
      therapeutic target for the treatment of viral myocarditis.

PMID- 25815881
TI  - Ego-resiliency reloaded: a three-component model of general resiliency.
AB  - Ego-resiliency (ER) is a capacity that enables individuals to adapt to constantly
      changing environmental demands. The goal of our research was to identify
      components of Ego-resiliency, and to test the reliability and the structural and
      convergent validity of the refined version of the ER11 Ego-resiliency scale. In
      Study 1 we used a factor analytical approach to assess structural validity and to
      identify factors of Ego-resiliency. Comparing alternative factor-structures, a
      hierarchical model was chosen including three factors: Active Engagement with the
      World (AEW), Repertoire of Problem Solving Strategies (RPSS), and Integrated
      Performance under Stress (IPS). In Study 2, the convergent and divergent validity
      of the ER11 scale and its factors and their relationship with resilience were
      tested. The results suggested that resiliency is a double-faced construct, with
      one function to keep the personality system stable and intact, and the other
      function to adjust the personality system in an adaptive way to the dynamically
      changing environment. The stability function is represented by the RPSS and IPS
      components of ER. Their relationship pattern is similar to other constructs of
      resilience, e.g. the Revised Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (R-CD-RISC). The
      flexibility function is represented by the unit of RPSS and AEW components. In
      Study 3 we tested ER11 on a Hungarian online representative sample and integrated
      the results in a model of general resiliency. This framework allows us to grasp
      both the stability-focused and the plasticity-focused nature of resiliency. 

PMID- 25815882
TI  - Diagnose human colonic tissues by terahertz near-field imaging.
AB  - Based on a terahertz (THz) pipe-based near-field imaging system, we demonstrate
      the capability of THz imaging to diagnose freshly surgically excised human
      colonic tissues. Through THz near-field scanning the absorbance of the colonic
      tissues, the acquired images can clearly distinguish cancerous tissues from
      healthy tissues fast and automatically without pathological hematoxylin and eosin
      stain diagnosis. A statistical study on 58 specimens (20 healthy tissues and 38
      tissues with tumor) from 31 patients (mean age: 59 years; range: 46 to 79 years)
      shows that the corresponding diagnostic sensitivity and specificity on colonic
      tissues are both 100%. Due to its capability to perform quantitative analysis,
      our study indicates the potential of the THz pipe-based near-field imaging for
      future automation on human tumor pathological examinations.

PMID- 25815883
TI  - H-ferritin-regulated microRNAs modulate gene expression in K562 cells.
AB  - In a previous study, we showed that the silencing of the heavy subunit (FHC)
      offerritin, the central iron storage molecule in the cell, is accompanied by a
      modification in global gene expression. In this work, we explored whether
      different FHC amounts might modulate miRNA expression levels in K562 cells and
      studied the impact of miRNAs in gene expression profile modifications. To this
      aim, we performed a miRNA-mRNA integrative analysis in K562 silenced for FHC
      (K562shFHC) comparing it with K562 transduced with scrambled RNA (K562shRNA).
      Four miRNAs, namely hsa-let-7g, hsa-let-7f, hsa-let-7i and hsa-miR-125b, were
      significantly up-regulated in silenced cells. The remarkable down-regulation of
      these miRNAs, following FHC expression rescue, supports a specific relation
      between FHC silencing and miRNA-modulation. The integration of target predictions
      with miRNA and gene expression profiles led to the identification of a regulatory
      network which includes the miRNAs up-regulated by FHC silencing, as well as91
      down-regulated putative target genes. These genes were further classified in 9
      networks; the highest scoring network, "Cell Death and Survival, Hematological
      System Development and Function, Hematopoiesis", is composed by 18 focus
      molecules including RAF1 and ERK1/2. We confirmed that, following FHC silencing,
      ERK1/2 phosphorylation is severely impaired and that RAF1 mRNA is significantly
      down-regulated. Taken all together, our data indicate that, in our experimental
      model, FHC silencing may affect RAF1/pERK1/2 levels through the modulation of a
      specific set of miRNAs and add new insights in to the relationship among iron
      homeostasis and miRNAs. 

PMID- 25815884
TI  - Lung fibroblasts share mesenchymal stem cell features which are altered in
      chronic obstructive pulmonary disease via the overactivation of the Hedgehog
      signaling pathway.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Alteration of functional regenerative properties of parenchymal lung
      fibroblasts is widely proposed as a pathogenic mechanism for chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease (COPD). However, what these functions are and how they are
      impaired in COPD remain poorly understood. Apart from the role of fibroblasts in
      producing extracellular matrix, recent studies in organs different from the lung
      suggest that such cells might contribute to repair processes by acting like
      mesenchymal stem cells. In addition, several reports sustain that the Hedgehog
      pathway is altered in COPD patients thus aggravating the disease. Nevertheless,
      whether this pathway is dysregulated in COPD fibroblasts remains unknown.
      OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: We investigated the stem cell features and the expression
      of Hedgehog components in human lung fibroblasts isolated from histologically
      normal parenchymal tissue from 25 patients--8 non-smokers/non-COPD, 8 smokers-non
      COPD and 9 smokers with COPD--who were undergoing surgery for lung tumor
      resection. RESULTS: We found that lung fibroblasts resemble mesenchymal stem
      cells in terms of cell surface marker expression, differentiation ability and
      immunosuppressive potential and that these properties were altered in lung
      fibroblasts from smokers and even more in COPD patients. Furthermore, we showed
      that some of these phenotypic changes can be explained by an over activation of
      the Hedgehog signaling in smoker and COPD fibroblasts. CONCLUSIONS: Our study
      reveals that lung fibroblasts possess mesenchymal stem cell-features which are
      impaired in COPD via the contribution of an abnormal Hedgehog signaling. These
      processes should constitute a novel pathomechanism accounting for disease
      occurrence and progression.

PMID- 25815885
TI  - Ulinastatin reduces the resistance of liver cancer cells to epirubicin by
      inhibiting autophagy.
AB  - During chemotherapy, drug resistance caused by autophagy remains a major
      challenge to successful treatment of cancer patients. The purpose of this study
      is to show that ulinastatin (UTI), a trypsin inhibitor, could reduce the
      resistance of liver cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agent epirubicin (EPI). We
      achieved this conclusion by analyzing the effect of EPI alone or UTI plus EPI on
      SMMC-7721 and MHCC-LM3 liver cancer cells. We also generated an EPI-resistant
      liver cancer cell line (MHCC-LM3er cells), and found that UTI could sensitize the
      LM3er cells to EPI. Autophagy usually functions to protect cancer cells during
      chemotherapy. Our study showed that UTI inhibited the autophagy induced by EPI in
      liver cancer cells, which promoted apoptosis, and therefore, reduced the
      resistance of the cancer cells to EPI. Further studies showed that the UTI
      mediated inhibition on autophagy was achieved by inhibiting transcriptional
      factor nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) signaling pathway. To verify our results
      in vivo, we injected MHCC-LM3 liver cancer cells or EPI-resistant LM3er cells
      into mice, and found that EPI could only effectively inhibit the growth of tumor
      in MHCC-LM3 cell-injected mice, but not in LM3er cell-injected mice. However,
      when UTI was also administered, the growth of tumor was inhibited in the MHCC
      LM3er cell-injected mice as well. Our results suggest that UTI may be used in
      combination with anti-cancer drugs, such as EPI, to improve the outcome of cancer
      therapy. 

PMID- 25815886
TI  - Primary treatment response rather than front line stem cell transplantation is
      crucial for long term outcome of peripheral T-cell lymphomas.
AB  - Outcome of systemic peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) is unsatisfactory and no
      controlled clinical study guides the therapy. Phase II studies suggest to
      consolidate response achieved after front-line treatment with stem cell
      transplant (SCT). We retrospectively evaluate the impact of front-line SCT
      consolidation in a single Center cohort of 209 patients treated during the last
      two decades. Median age was 49 years (range 15-85) with a prevalence of male sex
      (61%), advanced stage (68%) while IPI was >2 in 44%. Primary treatment was MACOP
      B (39%) CHO(E)P (39%), intensive regimens (18%) or others (4%). Complete response
      to primary treatment (i.e. before SCT) was 60% (5% partial remission). Forty-four
      patients further proceeded to SCT while 92 did not receive consolidation. Outcome
      of primary responders was good, with a 3-year overall survival of 74% (82% in
      ALCL ALK+ and 69% for the other histologies). By multivariate analysis a better
      overall survival was significantly associated with IPI<2 (P=0.001), primary
      response (P=0.000), and ALCL ALK+ (P=0.012). The multivariate analysis performed
      on responders, showed that only IPI was predictive of a better survival while
      ALCL ALK+ and undergoing SCT were not. Response to primary treatment rather than
      post-remission programs is the crucial determinant of PTCL outcome. 

PMID- 25815887
TI  - Comparison of diagnostic accuracy of microscopy and flow cytometry in evaluating
      N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antibodies in serum using a live cell-based assay.
AB  - N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is an autoimmune neurological
      disease, diagnosed by a specific autoantibody against NMDAR. Antibody testing
      using commercially available cell-based assays (CBA) or immunohistochemistry on
      rat brain tissue has proven high specificity and sensitivity. Here we compare an
      immunofluorescence live CBA to a flow cytometry (FACS) based assay to detect
      NMDAR antibodies by their binding to the surface of HEK293A cells functionally
      expressing NMDAR. Both assays were first established using a discovery group of
      76 individuals and then validated in a group of 32 patients in a blinded manner.
      In the CBA, 23 of 23 patients with NMDAR encephalitis were positive for NMDAR
      antibodies and 0 of 85 controls (32 healthy controls and 53 patients with other
      neurological diseases), resulting in a sensitivity and specificity of 100% (95%
      confidence intervals (CI) 85.1-100.0 and 95.7-100.0, respectively). The FACS
      based assay detected NMDAR antibodies in 20 of 23 patients and in 0 of 85
      controls. Therefore, with an equally high specificity (95% CI 95.7-100.0) the
      sensitivity of the FACS based assay was 87% (95% CI 66.4-97.2). Comparing
      antibody titers from CBA with delta median fluorescence intensities from FACS
      showed a high concordance (kappa = 0.943, p<0.0001) and correlation (r = 0.697,
      p<0.0001). In conclusion, evaluation of the FACS based assay revealed a lower
      sensitivity and high inter-assay variation, making the CBA a more reliable
      detection method. 

PMID- 25815889
TI  - Design, fabrication and metrological evaluation of wearable pressure sensors.
AB  - Pressure sensors are valuable transducers that are necessary in a huge number of
      medical application. However, the state of the art of compact and lightweight
      pressure sensors with the capability of measuring the contact pressure between
      two surfaces (contact pressure sensors) is very poor. In this work, several types
      of wearable contact pressure sensors are fabricated using different conductive
      textile materials and piezo-resistive films. The fabricated sensors differ in
      size, the textile conductor used and/or the number of layers of the sandwiched
      piezo-resistive film. The intention is to study, through the obtaining of their
      calibration curves, their metrological properties (repeatability, sensitivity and
      range) and determine which physical characteristics improve their ability for
      measuring contact pressures. It has been found that it is possible to obtain
      wearable contact pressure sensors through the proposed fabrication process with
      satisfactory repeatability, range and sensitivity; and that some of these
      properties can be improved by the physical characteristics of the sensors. 

PMID- 25815888
TI  - Immune response in a wild bird is predicted by oxidative status, but does not
      cause oxidative stress.
AB  - The immune system provides vital protection against pathogens, but extensive
      evidence suggests that mounting immune responses can entail survival and
      fecundity costs. The physiological mechanisms that underpin these costs remain
      poorly understood, despite their potentially important role in shaping life
      histories. Recent studies involving laboratory models highlight the possibility
      that oxidative stress could mediate these costs, as immune-activation can
      increase the production of reactive oxygen species leading to oxidative stress.
      However, this hypothesis has rarely been tested in free-ranging wild populations,
      where natural oxidative statuses and compensatory strategies may moderate immune
      responses and their impacts on oxidative status. Furthermore, the possibility
      that individuals scale their immune responses according to their oxidative
      status, conceivably to mitigate such costs, remains virtually unexplored. Here,
      we experimentally investigate the effects of a phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) immune
      challenge on oxidative status in wild male and female white-browed sparrow
      weavers, Plocepasser mahali. We also establish whether baseline oxidative status
      prior to challenge predicts the scale of the immune responses. Contrary to
      previous work on captive animals, our findings suggest that PHA-induced immune
      activation does not elicit oxidative stress. Compared with controls (n = 25
      birds), PHA-injected birds (n = 27 birds) showed no evidence of a differential
      change in markers of oxidative damage or enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant
      protection 24 hours after challenge. We did, however, find that the activity of a
      key antioxidant enzyme (superoxide dismutase, SOD) prior to immune-activation
      predicted the scale of the resulting swelling: birds with stronger initial SOD
      activity subsequently produced smaller swellings. Our findings (i) suggest that
      wild birds can mount immune responses without suffering from systemic oxidative
      stress, and (ii) lend support to biomedical evidence that baseline oxidative
      status can impact the scale of immune responses; a possibility not yet recognised
      in ecological studies of immunity. 

PMID- 25815890
TI  - The effect of cholesterol on the long-range network of interactions established
      among sea anemone Sticholysin II residues at the water-membrane interface.
AB  - Actinoporins are alpha-pore forming proteins with therapeutic potential, produced
      by sea anemones. Sticholysin II (StnII) from Stichodactyla helianthus is one of
      its most extensively characterized members. These proteins remain stably folded
      in water, but upon interaction with lipid bilayers, they oligomerize to form a
      pore. This event is triggered by the presence of sphingomyelin (SM), but
      cholesterol (Chol) facilitates pore formation. Membrane attachment and pore
      formation require changes involving long-distance rearrangements of residues
      located at the protein-membrane interface. The influence of Chol on membrane
      recognition, oligomerization, and/or pore formation is now studied using StnII
      variants, which are characterized in terms of their ability to interact with
      model membranes in the presence or absence of Chol. The results obtained frame
      Chol not only as an important partner for SM for functional membrane recognition
      but also as a molecule which significantly reduces the structural requirements
      for the mentioned conformational rearrangements to occur. However, given that the
      DOPC:SM:Chol vesicles employed display phase coexistence and have domain
      boundaries, the observed effects could be also due to the presence of these
      different phases on the membrane. In addition, it is also shown that the Arg51
      guanidinium group is strictly required for membrane recognition, independently of
      the presence of Chol. 

PMID- 25815891
TI  - Occurrence of lipophilic marine toxins in shellfish from Galicia (NW of Spain)
      and synergies among them.
AB  - Lipophilic marine toxins pose a serious threat for consumers and an enormous
      economic problem for shellfish producers. Synergistic interaction among toxins
      may play an important role in the toxicity of shellfish and consequently in human
      intoxications. In order to study the toxic profile of molluscs, sampled during
      toxic episodes occurring in different locations in Galicia in 2014, shellfish
      were analyzed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), the
      official method for the detection of lipophilic toxins. The performance of this
      procedure was demonstrated to be fit for purpose and was validated in house
      following European guidelines. The vast majority of toxins present in shellfish
      belonged to the okadaic acid (OA) group and some samples from a particular area
      contained yessotoxin (YTX). Since these toxins occur very often with other
      lipophilic toxins, we evaluated the potential interactions among them. A human
      neuroblastoma cell line was used to study the possible synergies of OA with other
      lipophilic toxins. Results show that combination of OA with dinophysistoxin 2
      (DTX2) or YTX enhances the toxicity triggered by OA, decreasing cell viability
      and cell proliferation, depending on the toxin concentration and incubation time.
      The effects of other lipophilic toxins as 13-desmethyl Spirolide C were also
      evaluated in vitro. 

PMID- 25815892
TI  - Cadmium-containing carbonic anhydrase CDCA1 in marine diatom Thalassiosira
      weissflogii.
AB  - The Carbon Concentration Mechanism (CCM) allows phytoplakton species to
      accumulate the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) necessary for an efficient
      photosynthesis even under carbon dioxide limitation. In this mechanism of primary
      importance for diatoms, a key role is played by carbonic anhydrase (CA) enzymes
      which catalyze the reversible hydration of CO2, thus taking part in the
      acquisition of inorganic carbon for photosynthesis. A novel CA, named CDCA1, has
      been recently discovered in the marine diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii. CDCA1 is
      a cambialistic enzyme since it naturally uses Cd2+ as catalytic metal ion, but if
      necessary can spontaneously exchange Cd2+ to Zn2+. Here, the biochemical and
      structural features of CDCA1 enzyme will be presented together with its putative
      biotechnological applications for the detection of metal ions in seawaters. 

PMID- 25815893
TI  - Identification and bioactivity of compounds from the fungus Penicillium sp. CYE
      87 isolated from a marine tunicate.
AB  - In the course of our continuous interest in identifying bioactive compounds from
      marine microbes, we have investigated a tunicate-derived fungus, Penicillium sp.
      CYE-87. A new compound with the 1,4-diazepane skeleton, terretrione D (2),
      together with the known compounds, methyl-2-([2-(1H-indol-3
      yl)ethyl]carbamoyl)acetate (1), tryptamine (3), indole-3-carbaldehyde (4), 3,6
      diisobutylpyrazin-2(1H)-one (5) and terretrione C (6), were isolated from
      Penicillium sp. CYE-87. The structures of the isolated compounds were established
      by spectral analysis, including 1D (1H, 13C) and 2D (COSY, multiplicity edited
      HSQC and HMBC) NMR and HRESIMS, as well as comparison of their NMR data with
      those in the literature. The compounds were evaluated for their antimigratory
      activity against the human breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231) and their
      antiproliferation activity against HeLa cells. Compounds 2 and 6 showed
      significant antimigratory activity against MDA-MB-231, as well as antifungal
      activity against C. albicans. 

PMID- 25815894
TI  - Ameliorative effects of Gualou Guizhi decoction on inflammation in focal cerebral
      ischemic-reperfusion injury.
AB  - Gualou Guizhi decoction (GLGZD) is a well-established Traditional Chinese
      Medicinal formulation which has long been used to treat stroke in a clinical
      setting in China. The present study investigated the ameliorative effects of
      GLGZD on inflammation in focal cerebral ischemic-reperfusion injury. A rat model
      of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was employed. Rats were administrated
      GLGZD (7.2 and 14.4 g/kg per day) or saline as control 2 h after reperfusion and
      daily over the following seven days. Neurological deficit score and screen test
      were evaluated at 1, 3, 5 and 7 days after MCAO. Brain infarct size and brain
      histological changes were observed via 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride
      staining and regular hematoxylin & eosin staining. Furthermore, inflammation
      mediators and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) were investigated using ELISA and
      immunohistochemistry. GLGZD treatment significantly improved neurological
      function, ameliorated histological changes to the brain and decreased infarct
      size in focal cerebral ischemic-reperfusion injury. GLGZD was found to
      significantly reduce interleukin (IL)-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and NF
      kappaB levels, while increasing levels of IL-10. In conclusion, the present study
      suggested that GLGZD has a neuroprotective effect on focal cerebral ischemic
      reperfusion injury and this effect is likely to be associated with the anti
      inflammatory function of GLGZD.

PMID- 25815895
TI  - Explaining diversity in metagenomic datasets by phylogenetic-based feature
      weighting.
AB  - Metagenomics is revolutionizing our understanding of microbial communities,
      showing that their structure and composition have profound effects on the
      ecosystem and in a variety of health and disease conditions. Despite the
      flourishing of new analysis methods, current approaches based on statistical
      comparisons between high-level taxonomic classes often fail to identify the
      microbial taxa that are differentially distributed between sets of samples, since
      in many cases the taxonomic schema do not allow an adequate description of the
      structure of the microbiota. This constitutes a severe limitation to the use of
      metagenomic data in therapeutic and diagnostic applications. To provide a more
      robust statistical framework, we introduce a class of feature-weighting
      algorithms that discriminate the taxa responsible for the classification of
      metagenomic samples. The method unambiguously groups the relevant taxa into
      clades without relying on pre-defined taxonomic categories, thus including in the
      analysis also those sequences for which a taxonomic classification is difficult.
      The phylogenetic clades are weighted and ranked according to their abundance
      measuring their contribution to the differentiation of the classes of samples,
      and a criterion is provided to define a reduced set of most relevant clades.
      Applying the method to public datasets, we show that the data-driven definition
      of relevant phylogenetic clades accomplished by our ranking strategy identifies
      features in the samples that are lost if phylogenetic relationships are not
      considered, improving our ability to mine metagenomic datasets. Comparison with
      supervised classification methods currently used in metagenomic data analysis
      highlights the advantages of using phylogenetic information. 

PMID- 25815896
TI  - DNA methyltransferase 3, a target of microRNA-29c, contributes to neuronal
      proliferation by regulating the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
AB  - Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia in the aged
      population, presents an increasing clinical challenge in terms of diagnosis and
      treatment. Neurodegeneration is one of the hallmarks of AD, which consequently
      induces cognitive impairment. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a
      neuroprotective factor, has been implicated in neuronal survival and
      proliferation. The epigenetic mechanism of BDNF methylation may be responsible
      for the reduced expression of BDNF in patients with AD. DNA methyltransferase may
      contribute to the methylation of BDNF, which is involved in neuroprotection in
      AD. In addition, epigenetic modifications, including a combination of microRNAs
      (miRNAs/miRs) and DNA methylation, have been suggested as regulatory mechanisms
      in the control of neuronal survival. In the present study, the expression of miR
      29c was determined in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with AD and of
      healthy control individuals. A marked decrease in the expression of miR-29c was
      observed in the AD group compared with the normal control group, accompanied by a
      decreased in the expression of BDNF. Additionally, a significant increase in the
      expression of DNA methyltransferase 3 (DNMT3) was observed in the CSF from the
      patients with AD. Correlation analysis revealed that the expression of miR-29c
      was positively correlated with BDNF and negatively correlated with DNMT3 protein
      in the CSF of patients with AD. In addition, the regulatory association between
      miR-29c, DNMT3 and BDNF were also examined in vitro. It was demonstrated that miR
      29c directly targeted DNMT3 and contributed to neuronal proliferation by
      regulating the expression of BDNF, at least partially, through enhancing the
      activity of the tyrosine receptor kinase B/extracellular signal-regulated kinase
      signaling pathway. In conclusion, the present study suggested that miR-29c may be
      a promising potential therapeutic target in the treatment of AD.

PMID- 25815899
TI  - One-pot enzymatic conversion of carbon dioxide and utilization for improved
      microbial growth.
AB  - We developed a process for one-pot CO2 conversion and utilization based on simple
      conversion of CO2 to bicarbonate at ambient temperature with no energy input, by
      using the cross-linking-based composites of carboxylated polyaniline nanofibers
      (cPANFs) and carbonic anhydrase. Carbonic anhydrase was immobilized on cPANFs via
      the approach of magnetically separable enzyme precipitate coatings (Mag-EPC),
      which consists of covalent enzyme attachment, enzyme precipitation, and cross
      linking with amine-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles. Mag-EPC showed a half
      life of 236 days under shaking, even resistance to 70% ethanol sterilization, and
      recyclability via facile magnetic separation. For one-pot CO2 conversion and
      utilization, Mag-EPC was used to accelerate the growth of microalga by supplying
      bicarbonate from CO2, representing 1.8-fold increase of cell concentration when
      compared to the control sample. After two repeated uses via simple magnetic
      separation, the cell concentration with Mag-EPC was maintained as high as the
      first cycle. This one-pot CO2 conversion and utilization is an alternative as
      well as complementary process to adsorption-based CO2 capture and storage as an
      environmentally friendly approach, demanding no energy input based on the
      effective action of the stabilized enzyme system. 

PMID- 25815900
TI  - Correction to cooperative binding of ferrocenylnaphthalene diimide carrying beta
      cyclodextrin converts double-stranded DNA to a rod-like structure.

PMID- 25815898
TI  - Lipidomic analysis links mycobactin synthase K to iron uptake and virulence in M.
      tuberculosis.
AB  - The prolonged survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) in the host
      fundamentally depends on scavenging essential nutrients from host sources. M. tb
      scavenges non-heme iron using mycobactin and carboxymycobactin siderophores,
      synthesized by mycobactin synthases (Mbt). Although a general mechanism for
      mycobactin biosynthesis has been proposed, the biological functions of individual
      mbt genes remain largely untested. Through targeted gene deletion and global
      lipidomic profiling of intact bacteria, we identify the essential biochemical
      functions of two mycobactin synthases, MbtK and MbtN, in siderophore biosynthesis
      and their effects on bacterial growth in vitro and in vivo. The deletion mutant,
      DeltambtN, produces only saturated mycobactin and carboxymycobactin,
      demonstrating an essential function of MbtN as the mycobactin dehydrogenase,
      which affects antigenicity but not iron uptake or M. tb growth. In contrast,
      deletion of mbtK ablated all known forms of mycobactin and its deoxy precursors,
      defining MbtK as the essential acyl transferase. The mbtK mutant showed markedly
      reduced iron scavenging and growth in vitro. Further, DeltambtK was attenuated
      for growth in mice, demonstrating a non-redundant role of hydroxamate
      siderophores in virulence, even when other M. tb iron scavenging mechanisms are
      operative. The unbiased lipidomic approach also revealed unexpected consequences
      of perturbing mycobactin biosynthesis, including extreme depletion of
      mycobacterial phospholipids. Thus, lipidomic profiling highlights connections
      among iron acquisition, phospholipid homeostasis, and virulence, and identifies
      MbtK as a lynchpin at the crossroads of these phenotypes. 

PMID- 25815897
TI  - Lipopolysaccharide-induced middle ear inflammation disrupts the cochlear intra
      strial fluid-blood barrier through down-regulation of tight junction proteins.
AB  - Middle ear infection (or inflammation) is the most common pathological condition
      that causes fluid to accumulate in the middle ear, disrupting cochlear
      homeostasis. Lipopolysaccharide, a product of bacteriolysis, activates
      macrophages and causes release of inflammatory cytokines. Many studies have shown
      that lipopolysaccharides cause functional and structural changes in the inner ear
      similar to that of inflammation. However, it is specifically not known how
      lipopolysaccharides affect the blood-labyrinth barrier in the stria vascularis
      (intra-strial fluid-blood barrier), nor what the underlying mechanisms are. In
      this study, we used a cell culture-based in vitro model and animal-based in vivo
      model, combined with immunohistochemistry and a vascular leakage assay, to
      investigate lipopolysaccharide effects on the integrity of the mouse intra-strial
      fluid-blood barrier. Our results show lipopolysaccharide-induced local infection
      significantly affects intra-strial fluid-blood barrier component cells. Pericytes
      and perivascular-resident macrophage-like melanocytes are particularly affected,
      and the morphological and functional changes in these cells are accompanied by
      substantial changes in barrier integrity. Significant vascular leakage is found
      in the lipopolysaccharide treated-animals. Consistent with the findings from the
      in vivo animal model, the permeability of the endothelial cell monolayer to FITC
      albumin was significantly higher in the lipopolysaccharide-treated monolayer than
      in an untreated endothelial cell monolayer. Further study has shown the
      lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation to have a major effect on the expression
      of tight junctions in the blood barrier. Lipopolysaccharide was also shown to
      cause high frequency hearing loss, corroborated by previous reports from other
      laboratories. Our findings show lipopolysaccharide-evoked middle ear infection
      disrupts inner ear fluid balance, and its particular effects on the intra-strial
      fluid-blood barrier, essential for cochlear homeostasis. The barrier is degraded
      as the expression of tight junction-associated proteins such as zona occludens 1,
      occludin, and vascular endothelial cadherin are down-regulated. 

PMID- 25815901
TI  - "Elastic" property of mesoporous silica shell: for dynamic surface enhanced Raman
      scattering ability monitoring of growing noble metal nanostructures via a
      simplified spatially confined growth method.
AB  - The Raman enhancing ability of noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) is an important
      factor for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate screening, which is
      generally evaluated by simply mixing as-prepared NPs with Raman reporters for
      Raman signal measurements. This method usually leads to incredible results
      because of the NP surface coverage nonuniformity and reporter-induced NP
      aggregation. Moreover, it cannot realize in situ, continuous SERS
      characterization. Herein, we proposed a dynamic SERS monitoring strategy for NPs
      with precisely tuned structures based on a simplified spatially confined NP
      growth method. Gold nanorod (AuNR) seed NPs were coated with a mesoporous silica
      (mSiO2) shell. The permeability of mSiO2 for both reactive species and Raman
      reporters rendered the silver overcoating reaction and SERS indication of NP
      growth. Additionally, the mSiO2 coating ensured monodisperse NP growth in a Raman
      reporter-rich reaction system. Moreover, "elastic" features of mSiO2 were
      observed for the first time, which is crucial for holding the growing NP without
      breakage. This feature makes the mSiO2 coating adhere to metal NPs throughout the
      growing process, providing a stable Raman reporter distribution microenvironment
      near the NPs and ensuring that the substrate's SERS ability comparison is
      accurate. Three types of NPs, i.e., core-shell Au@AgNR@mSiO2, Au@AuNR@mSiO2, and
      yolk-shell Au@void@AuNR@mSiO2 NPs, were synthesized via core-shell overgrowth and
      galvanic replacement methods, showing the versatility of the approach. The living
      cell SERS labeling ability of Au@AgNR@mSiO2-based tags was also demonstrated.
      This strategy addresses the problems of multiple batch NP preparation,
      aggregation, and surface adsorption differentiation, which is a breakthrough for
      the dynamic comparison of SERS ability of metal NPs with precisely tuned
      structures and optical properties. 

PMID- 25815902
TI  - The first example of a mixed valence ternary compound of silver with random
      distribution of Ag(I) and Ag(II) cations.
AB  - The reaction between colourless AgSbF6 and sky-blue Ag(SbF6)2 (molar ratio 2 : 1)
      in gaseous HF at 323 K yields green Ag3(SbF6)4, a new mixed-valence ternary
      fluoride of silver. Unlike in all other Ag(I)/Ag(II) systems known to date, the
      Ag(+) and Ag(2+) cations are randomly distributed on a single 12b Wyckoff
      position at the 4 axis of the I43d cell. Each silver forms four short (4 *
      2.316(7) A) and four long (4 * 2.764(6) A) contacts with the neighbouring
      fluorine atoms. The valence bond sum analysis suggests that such coordination
      would correspond to a severely overbonded Ag(I) and strongly underbonded Ag(II).
      Thorough inspection of thermal ellipsoids of the fluorine atoms closest to Ag
      centres reveals their unusual shape, indicating that silver atoms must in fact
      have different local coordination spheres; this is not immediately apparent from
      the crystal structure due to static disorder of fluorine atoms. The Ag K-edge
      XANES analysis confirmed that the average oxidation state of silver is indeed
      close to +11/3. The optical absorption spectra lack features typical of a metal
      thus pointing out to the semiconducting nature of Ag3(SbF6)4. Ag3(SbF6)4 is
      magnetically diluted and paramagnetic (MU(eff) = 1.9 MU(B)) down to 20 K with a
      very weak temperature independent paramagnetism. Below 20 K weak
      antiferromagnetism is observed (Theta = -4.1 K). Replacement of Ag(I) with
      potassium gives K(I)2Ag(II)(SbF6)4 which is isostructural to Ag(I)2Ag(II)(SbF6)4.
      Ag3(SbF6)4 is a genuine mixed-valence Ag(I)/Ag(II) compound, i.e. Robin and Day
      Class I system (localized valences), despite Ag(I) and Ag(II) adopting the same
      crystallographic position.

PMID- 25815904
TI  - Contribution of dihydrouridine in folding of the D-arm in tRNA.
AB  - Posttranscriptional modifications of transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are proven to be
      critical for all core aspects of tRNA function. While the majority of tRNA
      modifications were discovered in the 1970s, their contribution in tRNA folding,
      stability, and decoding often remains elusive. In this work an NMR study was
      performed to obtain more insight in the role of the dihydrouridine (D)
      modification in the D-arm of tRNAi(Met) from S. pombe. While the unmodified
      oligonucleotide adopted several undefined conformations that interconvert in
      solution, the presence of a D nucleoside triggered folding into a hairpin with a
      stable stem and flexible loop region. Apparently the D modification is required
      in the studied sequence to fold into a stable hairpin. Therefore we conclude that
      D contributes to the correct folding and stability of D-arm in tRNA. In contrast
      to what is generally assumed for nucleic acids, the sharp 'imino' signal for the
      D nucleobase at 10 ppm in 90% H2O is not indicative for the presence of a stable
      hydrogen bond. The strong increase in pKa upon loss of the aromatic character in
      the modified nucleobase slows down the exchange of its 'imino' proton
      significantly, allowing its observation even in an isolated D nucleoside in 90%
      H2O in acidic to neutral conditions. 

PMID- 25815903
TI  - Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia: prognosis and management.
AB  - Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (WM) is a B-cell lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma
      characterized by monoclonal immunoglobulin M protein in the serum and
      infiltration of bone marrow with lymphoplasmacytic cells. Asymptomatic patients
      can be observed without therapy. First-line therapy should consist of the
      monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody, rituximab, given typically in combination with
      other agents. We prefer dexamethasone, rituximab, cyclophosphamide (DRC) as
      initial therapy for most patients with symptomatic WM. Other reasonable options
      are bortezomib, rituximab, dexamethasone (BoRD) or bendamustine plus rituximab
      (BR). All of these regimens are associated with excellent response and
      tolerability. Initial therapy is usually administered for 6 months, followed by
      observation. Response to therapy is assessed using the standard response criteria
      developed by the International Working Group on Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia.
      Relapse is almost inevitable in WM but may occur years after initial therapy. In
      symptomatic patients relapsing more than 1-2 years after initial therapy, the
      original treatment can be repeated. For relapse occurring sooner, an alternative
      regimen is used. In select patients, high-dose chemotherapy followed by
      autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation may be an option at relapse.
      Options for therapy of relapsed WM besides regimens used in the front-line
      setting include ibrutinib, purine nucleoside analogs (cladribine, fludarabine),
      carfilzomib and immunomodulatory agents (thalidomide, lenalidomide).

PMID- 25815905
TI  - Coexistence of PM2.5 and low temperature is associated with morning hypertension
      in hypertensives.
AB  - We tested the hypothesis that concentration of PM2.5 is associated with home BP
      level. We analyzed home BP data for 91 consecutive days in 40 hypertensives.
      PM2.5 solely was not correlated with home BP levels, but low temperature was
      associated with a 1.6-fold increased likelihood of morning hypertension (p <
      0.001) under the condition of high PM2.5 concentration. In addition, coexistence
      of low temperature and high PM2.5 was associated with a 2.3-fold increased
      likelihood of morning hypertension (p < 0.001) compared with high temperature and
      low PM2.5 condition. Environmental and meteorological factors could be important
      causes of enhanced home BP elevation.

PMID- 25815906
TI  - Neurogenic Potential Assessment and Pharmacological Characterization of 6-Methoxy
      1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline (Pinoline) and Melatonin-Pinoline Hybrids.
AB  - 6-Methoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline (pinoline) and N-acetyl-5
      methoxytryptamine (melatonin) are both structurally related to 5
      hydroxytryptamine (serotonin). Here we describe the design, synthesis, and
      characterization of a series of melatonin rigid analogues resulting from the
      hybridization of both pinoline and melatonin structures. The pharmacological
      evaluation of melatonin-pinoline hybrids comprises serotonergic and melatonergic
      receptors, metabolic enzymes (monoamine oxidases), antioxidant potential, the in
      vitro blood-brain barrier permeability, and neurogenic studies. Pinoline at trace
      concentrations and 2-acetyl-6-methoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline (2) were
      able to stimulate early neurogenesis and neuronal maturation in an in vitro model
      of neural stem cells isolated from the adult rat subventricular zone. Such
      effects are presumably mediated via serotonergic and melatonergic stimulation,
      respectively. 

PMID- 25815908
TI  - Topological states in a one-dimensional fermi gas with attractive interaction.
AB  - We describe a novel topological superfluid state, which forms in a one
      dimensional Fermi gas with Rashba-like spin-orbit coupling, a Zeeman field, and
      intrinsic attractive interactions. In spite of total number conservation and the
      presence of gapless excitations, Majorana-like zero modes appear in this system
      and can be linked with interfaces between two distinct phases that naturally form
      at different regions of the harmonic trap. As a result, the low lying collective
      excitations of the system, including the dipole oscillations and the long
      wavelength phonons are all doubly degenerate. While backscattering from point
      impurities can lead to a splitting of the degeneracies that scales algebraically
      with the system size, the smooth confining potential can only cause an
      exponentially small splitting. We show that the topological state can be uniquely
      probed by a pumping effect induced by a slow sweep of the Zeeman field from a
      high initial value down to zero. The effect is expected to be robust to
      introducing a finite temperature as long as it is much smaller than the
      interaction induced single particle gap in the final state of the sweep. 

PMID- 25815907
TI  - CT Urography for Evaluation of the Ureter.
AB  - Over the past decade, computed tomographic (CT) urography has emerged as the
      primary imaging modality for evaluating the urinary tract in various clinical
      settings, including the initial workup of hematuria. With the widespread
      implementation of CT urography, it is critical for radiologists to understand
      normal ureteral anatomy and the varied appearance of pathologic ureteral
      conditions at CT urography. Pathologic findings at CT urography include
      congenital abnormalities, filling defects, dilatation, narrowing, and deviations
      in course. These abnormalities are reviewed, along with the indications for CT
      urography, current imaging protocols with specific techniques for optimal
      evaluation of the ureter, and dose reduction strategies.

PMID- 25815909
TI  - Two copies of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen state of light lead to refutation of
      EPR ideas.
AB  - Bell's theorem applies to the normalizable approximations of original Einstein
      Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) state. The constructions of the proof require measurements
      difficult to perform, and dichotomic observables. By noticing the fact that the
      four mode squeezed vacuum state produced in type II down-conversion can be seen
      both as two copies of approximate EPR states, and also as a kind of polarization
      supersinglet, we show a straightforward way to test violations of the EPR
      concepts with direct use of their state. The observables involved are simply
      photon numbers at outputs of polarizing beam splitters. Suitable chained Bell
      inequalities are based on the geometric concept of distance. For a few settings
      they are potentially a new tool for quantum information applications, involving
      observables of a nondichotomic nature, and thus of higher informational capacity.
      In the limit of infinitely many settings we get a Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger
      type contradiction: EPR reasoning points to a correlation, while quantum
      prediction is an anticorrelation. Violations of the inequalities are fully
      resistant to multipair emissions in Bell experiments using parametric down
      conversion sources. 

PMID- 25815910
TI  - Nonlinear entanglement and its application to generating cat States.
AB  - The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox, which was formulated to argue for the
      incompleteness of quantum mechanics, has since metamorphosed into a resource for
      quantum information. The EPR entanglement describes the strength of linear
      correlations between two objects in terms of a pair of conjugate observables in
      relation to the Heisenberg uncertainty limit. We propose that entanglement can be
      extended to include nonlinear correlations. We examine two driven harmonic
      oscillators that are coupled via third-order nonlinearity can exhibit
      quadraticlike nonlinear entanglement which, after a projective measurement on one
      of the oscillators, collapses the other into a cat state of tunable size. 

PMID- 25815911
TI  - Asymptotic bound for heat-bath algorithmic cooling.
AB  - The purity of quantum states is a key requirement for many quantum applications.
      Improving the purity is limited by fundamental laws of thermodynamics. Here, we
      are probing the fundamental limits for a natural approach to this problem,
      namely, heat-bath algorithmic cooling (HBAC). The existence of the cooling limit
      for HBAC techniques was proved by Schulman, Mor, and Weinstein. A bound for this
      value was found by Elias et al. and numerical testing supported the hypothesis
      that their bound may be the actual limit. A proof or disproof of whether their
      bound was the actual limit remained open for the past decade. Here, for the first
      time, we prove this limit. In the context of quantum thermodynamics, this
      corresponds to the maximum extractable work from the quantum system. We also
      establish, in the case of higher dimensional reset systems, how the performance
      of HBAC depends on the energy spectrum of the reset system.

PMID- 25815912
TI  - Atom interferometry in an optical cavity.
AB  - We propose and demonstrate a new scheme for atom interferometry, using light
      pulses inside an optical cavity as matter wave beam splitters. The cavity
      provides power enhancement, spatial filtering, and a precise beam geometry,
      enabling new techniques such as low power beam splitters (<100  MUW), large
      momentum transfer beam splitters with modest power, or new self-aligned
      interferometer geometries utilizing the transverse modes of the optical cavity.
      As a first demonstration, we obtain Ramsey-Raman fringes with >75% contrast and
      measure the acceleration due to gravity, g, to 60  MUg/sqrt[Hz] resolution in a
      Mach-Zehnder geometry. We use >10(7) cesium atoms in the compact mode volume (600
      MUm 1/e(2) waist) of the cavity and show trapping of atoms in higher transverse
      modes. This work paves the way toward compact, high sensitivity, multiaxis
      interferometry.

PMID- 25815913
TI  - Spin-orbital exchange of strongly interacting fermions in the p band of a two
      dimensional optical lattice.
AB  - Mott insulators with both spin and orbital degeneracy are pertinent to a large
      number of transition metal oxides. The intertwined spin and orbital fluctuations
      can lead to rather exotic phases such as quantum spin-orbital liquids. Here, we
      consider two-component (spin 1/2) fermionic atoms with strong repulsive
      interactions on the p band of the optical square lattice. We derive the spin
      orbital exchange for quarter filling of the p band when the density fluctuations
      are suppressed, and show that it frustrates the development of long-range spin
      order. Exact diagonalization indicates a spin-disordered ground state with ferro
      orbital order. The system dynamically decouples into individual Heisenberg spin
      chains, each realizing a Luttinger liquid accessible at higher temperatures
      compared to atoms confined to the s band. 

PMID- 25815914
TI  - Entanglement swapping between discrete and continuous variables.
AB  - We experimentally realize "hybrid" entanglement swapping between discrete
      variable (DV) and continuous-variable (CV) optical systems. DV two-mode
      entanglement as obtainable from a single photon split at a beam splitter is
      robustly transferred by means of efficient CV entanglement and operations, using
      sources of squeezed light and homodyne detections. The DV entanglement after the
      swapping is verified without postselection by the logarithmic negativity of up to
      0.28+/-0.01. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the optimally transferred state
      can be postselected into a highly entangled state that violates a Clauser-Horne
      Shimony-Holt inequality by more than 4 standard deviations, and thus it may serve
      as a resource for quantum teleportation and quantum cryptography. 

PMID- 25815915
TI  - Solution to the quantum Zermelo navigation problem.
AB  - The solution to the problem of finding a time-optimal control Hamiltonian to
      generate a given unitary gate, in an environment in which there exists an
      uncontrollable ambient Hamiltonian (e.g., a background field), is obtained. In
      the classical context, finding the time-optimal way to steer a ship in the
      presence of a background wind or current is known as the Zermelo navigation
      problem, whose solution can be obtained by working out geodesic curves on a space
      equipped with a Randers metric. The solution to the quantum Zermelo problem,
      which is shown here to take a remarkably simple form, is likewise obtained by
      finding explicit solutions to the geodesic equations of motion associated with a
      Randers metric on the space of unitary operators. The result reveals that the
      optimal control in a sense "goes along with the wind." 

PMID- 25815916
TI  - Randomized benchmarking of single-qubit gates in a 2D array of neutral-atom
      qubits.
AB  - We characterize single-qubit Clifford gate operations with randomized
      benchmarking in a 2D array of neutral-atom qubits and demonstrate global and site
      selected gates with high fidelity. An average fidelity of F2=0.9983(14) is
      measured for global microwave-driven gates applied to a 49-qubit array. Single
      site gates are implemented with a focused laser beam to Stark shift the
      microwaves into resonance at a selected site. At Stark selected single sites we
      observe F2=0.9923(7) and an average spin-flip crosstalk error at other sites of
      0.002(9).

PMID- 25815917
TI  - Absence of diffusion in an interacting system of spinless fermions on a one
      dimensional disordered lattice.
AB  - We study the infinite temperature dynamics of a prototypical one-dimensional
      system expected to exhibit many-body localization. Using numerically exact
      methods, we establish the dynamical phase diagram of this system based on the
      statistics of its eigenvalues and its dynamical behavior. We show that the
      nonergodic phase is reentrant as a function of the interaction strength,
      illustrating that localization can be reinforced by sufficiently strong
      interactions even at infinite temperature. Surprisingly, within the accessible
      time range, the ergodic phase shows subdiffusive behavior, suggesting that the
      diffusion coefficient vanishes throughout much of the phase diagram in the
      thermodynamic limit. Our findings strongly suggest that Wigner-Dyson statistics
      of eigenvalue spacings may appear in a class of ergodic but subdiffusive systems.

PMID- 25815918
TI  - Quantum imaging by coherent enhancement.
AB  - Conventional wisdom dictates that to image the position of fluorescent atoms or
      molecules, one should stimulate as much emission and collect as many photons as
      possible. That is, in this classical case, it has always been assumed that the
      coherence time of the system should be made short, and that the statistical
      scaling ~1/?t defines the resolution limit for imaging time t. However, here we
      show in contrast that given the same resources, a long coherence time permits a
      higher resolution image. In this quantum regime, we give a procedure for
      determining the position of a single two-level system and demonstrate that the
      standard errors of our position estimates scale at the Heisenberg limit as ~1/t,
      a quadratic, and notably optimal, improvement over the classical case.

PMID- 25815920
TI  - Sequestration of vacuum energy and the end of the universe.
AB  - Recently, we proposed a mechanism for sequestering the standard model vacuum
      energy that predicts that the Universe will collapse. Here we present a simple
      mechanism for bringing about this collapse, employing a scalar field whose
      potential is linear and becomes negative, providing the negative energy density
      required to end the expansion. The slope of the potential is chosen to allow for
      the expansion to last until the current Hubble time, about 10^{10} years, to
      accommodate our Universe. Crucially, this choice is technically natural due to a
      shift symmetry. Moreover, vacuum energy sequestering selects radiatively stable
      initial conditions for the collapse, which guarantee that immediately before the
      turnaround the Universe is dominated by the linear potential which drives an
      epoch of accelerated expansion for at least an e fold. Thus, a single,
      technically natural choice for the slope ensures that the collapse is imminent
      and is preceded by the current stage of cosmic acceleration, giving a new answer
      to the "why now?" 

PMID- 25815921
TI  - Reconstructing the nature of the first cosmic sources from the anisotropic 21-cm
      signal.
AB  - The redshifted 21-cm background is expected to be a powerful probe of the early
      Universe, carrying both cosmological and astrophysical information from a wide
      range of redshifts. In particular, the power spectrum of fluctuations in the 21
      cm brightness temperature is anisotropic due to the line-of-sight velocity
      gradient, which in principle allows for a simple extraction of this information
      in the limit of linear fluctuations. However, recent numerical studies suggest
      that the 21-cm signal is actually rather complex, and its analysis likely depends
      on detailed model fitting. We present the first realistic simulation of the
      anisotropic 21-cm power spectrum over a wide period of early cosmic history. We
      show that on observable scales, the anisotropy is large and thus measurable at
      most redshifts, and its form tracks the evolution of 21-cm fluctuations as they
      are produced early on by Lyman-alpha radiation from stars, then switch to x-ray
      radiation from early heating sources, and finally to ionizing radiation from
      stars. In particular, we predict a redshift window during cosmic heating (at
      z~15), when the anisotropy is small, during which the shape of the 21-cm power
      spectrum on large scales is determined directly by the average radial
      distribution of the flux from x-ray sources. This makes possible a model
      independent reconstruction of the x-ray spectrum of the earliest sources of
      cosmic heating.

PMID- 25815922
TI  - Measuring the speed of light with baryon acoustic oscillations.
AB  - In this Letter, we describe a new method to use baryon acoustic oscillations
      (BAO) to derive a constraint on the possible variation of the speed of light. The
      method relies on the fact that there is a simple relation between the angular
      diameter distance (D(A)) maximum and the Hubble function (H) evaluated at the
      same maximum-condition redshift, which includes speed of light c. We note the
      close analogy of the BAO probe with a laboratory experiment: here we have D(A)
      which plays the role of a standard (cosmological) ruler, and H^{-1}, with the
      dimension of time, as a (cosmological) clock. We evaluate if current or future
      missions such as Euclid can be sensitive enough to detect any variation of c.

PMID- 25815919
TI  - Joint analysis of BICEP2/keck array and Planck Data.
AB  - We report the results of a joint analysis of data from BICEP2/Keck Array and
      Planck. BICEP2 and Keck Array have observed the same approximately 400  deg^{2}
      patch of sky centered on RA 0 h, Dec. -57.5 degrees . The combined maps reach a
      depth of 57 nK deg in Stokes Q and U in a band centered at 150 GHz. Planck has
      observed the full sky in polarization at seven frequencies from 30 to 353 GHz,
      but much less deeply in any given region (1.2  MUK deg in Q and U at 143 GHz). We
      detect 150*353 cross-correlation in B modes at high significance. We fit the
      single- and cross-frequency power spectra at frequencies >=150  GHz to a lensed
      LambdaCDM model that includes dust and a possible contribution from inflationary
      gravitational waves (as parametrized by the tensor-to-scalar ratio r), using a
      prior on the frequency spectral behavior of polarized dust emission from previous
      Planck analysis of other regions of the sky. We find strong evidence for dust and
      no statistically significant evidence for tensor modes. We probe various model
      variations and extensions, including adding a synchrotron component in
      combination with lower frequency data, and find that these make little difference
      to the r constraint. Finally, we present an alternative analysis which is similar
      to a map-based cleaning of the dust contribution, and show that this gives
      similar constraints. The final result is expressed as a likelihood curve for r,
      and yields an upper limit r_{0.05}<0.12 at 95% confidence. Marginalizing over
      dust and r, lensing B modes are detected at 7.0sigma significance.

PMID- 25815924
TI  - Exclusive window onto Higgs Yukawa couplings.
AB  - We show that both flavor-conserving and flavor-violating Yukawa couplings of the
      Higgs boson to first- and second-generation quarks can be probed by measuring
      rare decays of the form h->MV, where M denotes a vector meson and V indicates
      either gamma, W or Z. We calculate the branching ratios for these processes in
      both the standard model and its possible extensions. We discuss the experimental
      prospects for their observation. The possibility of accessing these Higgs
      couplings appears to be unique to the high-luminosity LHC and future hadron
      colliders, providing further motivation for those machines. 

PMID- 25815927
TI  - Association of atoms into universal dimers using an oscillating magnetic field.
AB  - In a system of ultracold atoms near a Feshbach resonance, pairs of atoms can be
      associated into universal dimers by an oscillating magnetic field with a
      frequency near that determined by the dimer binding energy. We present a simple
      expression for the transition rate that takes into account many-body effects
      through a transition matrix element of the contact. In a thermal gas, the width
      of the peak in the transition rate as a function of the frequency is determined
      by the temperature. In a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms, the width is
      determined by the inelastic scattering rates of a dimer with zero-energy atoms.
      Near an atom-dimer resonance, there is a dramatic increase in the width from
      inelastic atom-dimer scattering and from atom-atom-dimer recombination. The
      recombination contribution provides a signature for universal tetramers that are
      Efimov states consisting of two atoms and a dimer. 

PMID- 25815925
TI  - Effects of heavy sea quarks at low energies.
AB  - We present a factorization formula for the dependence of light hadron masses and
      low energy hadronic scales on the mass M of a heavy quark: apart from an overall
      mass-independent factor Q, ratios such as r_{0}(M)/r_{0}(0) are computable in
      perturbation theory at large M. The perturbation theory part is stable concerning
      different loop orders. Our nonperturbative Monte Carlo results obtained in a
      model calculation, where a doublet of heavy quarks is decoupled, match
      quantitatively to the perturbative prediction. Upon taking ratios of different
      hadronic scales at the same mass, the perturbative function drops out and the
      ratios are given by the decoupled theory up to M^{-2} corrections. We verify-in
      the continuum limit-that the sea quark effects of quarks with masses around the
      charm mass are very small in such ratios.

PMID- 25815926
TI  - Polarization shaping for unidirectional rotational motion of molecules.
AB  - Control of the orientation of the angular momentum of linear molecules is
      demonstrated by means of laser polarization shaping. For this purpose, we combine
      two orthogonally polarized and partially time-overlapped femtosecond laser pulses
      so as to produce a spinning linear polarization which in turn induces
      unidirectional rotation of N2 molecules. The evolution of the rotational response
      is probed by a third laser beam that can be either linearly or circularly
      polarized. The physical observable is the frequency shift imparted to the probe
      beam as a manifestation of the angular Doppler effect. Our experimental results
      are confirmed by theoretical computations, which allow one to gain a deep
      physical insight into the laser-molecule interaction.

PMID- 25815928
TI  - Two-state wave packet for strong field-free molecular orientation.
AB  - We demonstrate strong laser-field-free orientation of absolute-ground-state
      carbonyl sulfide molecules. The molecules are oriented by the combination of a
      485-ps-long nonresonant laser pulse and a weak static electric field. The edges
      of the laser pulse create a coherent superposition of two rotational states
      resulting in revivals of strong transient molecular orientation after the laser
      pulse. The experimentally attained degree of orientation ?costheta?~0.6
      corresponds to the theoretical maximum for mixing of the two states. Switching
      off the dc field would provide the same orientation completely field free. 

PMID- 25815929
TI  - Signatures of molecular orbital structure in lateral electron momentum
      distributions from strong-field ionization.
AB  - Strong-field ionization of aligned diatomic and polyatomic molecules such as O2,
      N2, C2H4, and others in circularly polarized laser fields is investigated
      theoretically. By calculating the emission-angle-resolved lateral width of the
      momentum distribution perpendicular to the polarization plane, we show that nodal
      planes in molecular orbitals are directly imprinted on the angular dependence of
      the width. We demonstrate that orbital symmetries can be distinguished with the
      information obtained by observing the lateral width in addition to the angular
      distributions.

PMID- 25815930
TI  - Molecular orbital imaging of the acetone S2 excited state using time-resolved (e,
      2e) electron momentum spectroscopy.
AB  - We report a time-resolved (e, 2e) experiment on the deuterated acetone molecule
      in the S2 Rydberg state with a lifetime of 13.5 ps. The acetone S2 state was
      prepared by a 195 nm pump laser and probed with electron momentum spectroscopy
      using a 1.2 keV incident electron beam of 1 ps temporal width. In spite of the
      low data statistics as well as of the limited time resolution (+/-35  ps) due to
      velocity mismatch, the experimental results clearly demonstrate that electron
      momentum spectroscopy measurements of short-lived transient species are feasible,
      opening the door to time-resolved orbital imaging in momentum space.

PMID- 25815931
TI  - Conditional ramsey spectroscopy with synchronized atoms.
AB  - We investigate Ramsey spectroscopy performed on a synchronized ensemble of two
      level atoms. The synchronization is induced by the collective coupling of the
      atoms to a heavily damped mode of an optical cavity. We show that, in principle,
      with this synchronized system it is possible to observe Ramsey fringes
      indefinitely, even in the presence of spontaneous emission and other sources of
      individual-atom dephasing. This could have important consequences for atomic
      clocks and a wide range of precision metrology applications. 

PMID- 25815932
TI  - Nonclassicality phase-space functions: more insight with fewer detectors.
AB  - Systems of on-off detectors are well established for measuring radiation fields
      in the regime of small photon numbers. We propose to combine these detector
      systems with unbalanced homodyning with a weak local oscillator. This approach
      yields phase-space functions, which represent the click counterpart of the s
      parametrized quasiprobabilities of standard photoelectric detection theory. This
      introduced class of distributions can be directly sampled from the measured click
      counting statistics. Therefore, our technique visualizes nonclassical effects
      without further data processing. Surprisingly, a small number of on-off diodes
      can yield more insight than perfect photon number resolution. Quantum signatures
      in the particle and wave domain of the quantized radiation field, as shown by
      photon number and squeezed states, respectively, will be uncovered in terms of
      negativities of the sampled phase-space functions. Application in the vast fields
      of quantum optics and quantum technology will benefit from our efficient
      nonclassicality characterization approach. 

PMID- 25815933
TI  - Hard-X-ray directional dark-field imaging using the speckle scanning technique.
AB  - X-ray dark-field imaging can provide inaccessible and complementary information
      compared to conventional absorption contrast imaging. However, extraction of the
      dark-field signal is difficult, and sophisticated optics are often required. In
      this Letter, we report a novel approach to generate high-quality dark-field
      images using a simple membrane. The dark-field image is extracted from the
      maximum correlation coefficient by applying a cross-correlation algorithm to a
      stack of speckle images collected by scanning a membrane in a transverse
      direction to the incident x-ray beam. The new method can also provide directional
      dark-field information, which is extremely useful for the study of strongly
      ordered systems. The potential of the proposed technique for nondestructive x-ray
      imaging is demonstrated by imaging representative samples. 

PMID- 25815934
TI  - Gauge field optics with anisotropic media.
AB  - By considering gauge transformations on the macroscopic Maxwell's equations, a
      two-dimensional gauge field, with its pseudomagnetic field in the real space, is
      identified as tilted anisotropy in the constitutive parameters. We show that the
      optical spin Hall effect with broadband response and one-way edge states become
      possible simply by using anisotropic media. The proposed gauge field also allows
      us to obtain unidirectional propagation for a particular pseudospin based on the
      Aharonov-Bohm effect. Our approach will be useful in spoof magneto-optics with
      arbitrary magnetic fields mimicked by metamaterials with subwavelength unit
      cells. It also serves as a generic way to design polarization-dependent devices. 

PMID- 25815935
TI  - Radially polarized light for detection and nanolocalization of dielectric
      particles on a planar substrate.
AB  - A fast noninvasive method based on scattering from a focused radially polarized
      light to detect and localize subwavelength nanoparticles on a substrate is
      presented. The technique relies on polarization matching in the far field between
      scattered and spurious reflected fields. Results show a localization uncertainty
      of ~10^{-4}lambda^{2} is possible for a particle of area ~lambda^{2}/16. The
      effect of simple pupil shaping is also shown. 

PMID- 25815936
TI  - Theory of the antibubble collapse.
AB  - A theory of the collapse of a punctured antibubble is developed. The motion of
      the rim of air formed at the edge of the collapsing air film cannot be described
      by a potential flow and is characterized by high Reynolds numbers. The rim
      velocity is not constant but gradually decreases with time and is determined by
      the balance between the surface tension and hydrodynamic drag forces. A collapse
      equation is derived and solved. The agreement between the theory and existing
      experiments is shown. 

PMID- 25815937
TI  - Observation of a multimode plasma response and its relationship to density
      pumpout and edge-localized mode suppression.
AB  - Density pumpout and edge-localized mode (ELM) suppression by applied n=2 magnetic
      fields in low-collisionality DIII-D plasmas are shown to be correlated with the
      magnitude of the plasma response driven on the high-field side (HFS) of the
      magnetic axis but not the low-field side (LFS) midplane. These distinct responses
      are a direct measurement of a multimodal magnetic plasma response, with each
      structure preferentially excited by a different n=2 applied spectrum and
      preferentially detected on the LFS or HFS. Ideal and resistive magneto
      hydrodynamic (MHD) calculations find that the LFS measurement is primarily
      sensitive to the excitation of stable kink modes, while the HFS measurement is
      primarily sensitive to resonant currents (whether fully shielding or partially
      penetrated). The resonant currents are themselves strongly modified by kink
      excitation, with the optimal applied field pitch for pumpout and ELM suppression
      significantly differing from equilibrium field alignment. 

PMID- 25815938
TI  - Pedestal bifurcation and resonant field penetration at the threshold of edge
      localized mode suppression in the DIII-D Tokamak.
AB  - Rapid bifurcations in the plasma response to slowly varying n=2 magnetic fields
      are observed as the plasma transitions into and out of edge-localized mode (ELM)
      suppression. The rapid transition to ELM suppression is characterized by an
      increase in the toroidal rotation and a reduction in the electron pressure
      gradient at the top of the pedestal that reduces the perpendicular electron flow
      there to near zero. These events occur simultaneously with an increase in the
      inner-wall magnetic response. These observations are consistent with strong
      resonant field penetration of n=2 fields at the onset of ELM suppression, based
      on extended MHD simulations using measured plasma profiles. Spontaneous
      transitions into (and out of) ELM suppression with a static applied n=2 field
      indicate competing mechanisms of screening and penetration of resonant fields
      near threshold conditions. Magnetic measurements reveal evidence for the
      unlocking and rotation of tearinglike structures as the plasma transitions out of
      ELM suppression. 

PMID- 25815939
TI  - Enhancement of maximum attainable ion energy in the radiation pressure
      acceleration regime using a guiding structure.
AB  - Radiation pressure acceleration is a highly efficient mechanism of laser-driven
      ion acceleration, with the laser energy almost totally transferrable to the ions
      in the relativistic regime. There is a fundamental limit on the maximum
      attainable ion energy, which is determined by the group velocity of the laser. In
      the case of tightly focused laser pulses, which are utilized to get the highest
      intensity, another factor limiting the maximum ion energy comes into play, the
      transverse expansion of the target. Transverse expansion makes the target
      transparent for radiation, thus reducing the effectiveness of acceleration.
      Utilization of an external guiding structure for the accelerating laser pulse may
      provide a way of compensating for the group velocity and transverse expansion
      effects. 

PMID- 25815940
TI  - Softening of roton and phonon modes in a Bose-Einstein condensate with spin-orbit
      coupling.
AB  - Roton-type excitations usually emerge from strong correlations or long-range
      interactions, as in superfluid helium or dipolar ultracold atoms. However, in a
      weakly short-range interacting quantum gas, the recently synthesized spin-orbit
      (SO) coupling can lead to various unconventional phases of superfluidity and give
      rise to an excitation spectrum of roton-maxon character. Using Bragg
      spectroscopy, we study a SO-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate of ^{87}Rb atoms and
      show that the excitation spectrum in a "magnetized" phase clearly possesses a two
      branch and roton-maxon structure. As Raman coupling strength Omega is decreased,
      a roton-mode softening is observed, as a precursor of the phase transition to a
      stripe phase that spontaneously breaks spatially translational symmetry. The
      measured roton gaps agree well with theoretical calculations. Furthermore, we
      determine sound velocities both in the magnetized and in the nonmagnetized
      phases, and a phonon-mode softening is observed around the phase transition in
      between. The validity of the f-sum rule is examined. 

PMID- 25815941
TI  - Anisotropic phases of superfluid ^{3}he in compressed aerogel.
AB  - It has been shown that the relative stabilities of various superfluid states of
      ^{3}He can be influenced by anisotropy in a silica aerogel framework. We prepared
      a suite of aerogel samples compressed up to 30% for which we performed pulsed NMR
      on ^{3}He imbibed within the aerogel. We identified A and B phases and determined
      their magnetic field-temperature phase diagrams as a function of strain. From
      these results, we infer that the B phase is distorted by negative strain forming
      an anisotropic superfluid state more stable than the A phase. 

PMID- 25815942
TI  - Anomalous quantum glass of bosons in a random potential in two dimensions.
AB  - We present a quantum Monte Carlo study of the "quantum glass" phase of the two
      dimensional Bose-Hubbard model with random potentials at filling rho=1. In the
      narrow region between the Mott and superfluid phases, the compressibility has the
      form kappa~exp(-b/T^{alpha})+c with alpha<1 and c vanishing or very small. Thus,
      at T=0 the system is either incompressible (a Mott glass) or nearly
      incompressible (a Mott-glass-like anomalous Bose glass). At stronger disorder,
      where a glass reappears from the superfluid, we find a conventional highly
      compressible Bose glass. On a path connecting these states, away from the
      superfluid at larger Hubbard repulsion, a change of the disorder strength by only
      10% changes the low-temperature compressibility by more than 4 orders of
      magnitude, lending support to two types of glass states separated by a phase
      transition or a sharp crossover. 

PMID- 25815943
TI  - Spin-dependent acoustic response in the nonunitary A1 and A2 phases of superfluid
      3He under high magnetic fields.
AB  - The transverse acoustic impedance of superfluid ^{3}He was measured in the A1 and
      A2 phases up to 13 T to investigate the surface states in nonunitary superfluids.
      The temperature dependence of the impedance was much larger in the A1 phase than
      in the A2 phase. This nonsymmetric behavior indicates that momentum exchange with
      walls for spin-down surface states is quite different from that for spin-up
      surface states. The spin-dependent response might be a reflection of an essential
      feature of the nonunitary states where gap amplitudes depend on spin states. Weak
      coupling theories ignore any spin-dependent processes and do not account for the
      nonsymmetric behavior.

PMID- 25815944
TI  - Molecular to atomic phase transition in hydrogen under high pressure.
AB  - The metallization of high-pressure hydrogen, together with the associated
      molecular to atomic transition, is one of the most important problems in the
      field of high-pressure physics. It is also currently a matter of intense debate
      due to the existence of conflicting experimental reports on the observation of
      metallic hydrogen on a diamond-anvil cell. Theoretical calculations have
      typically relied on a mean-field description of electronic correlation through
      density functional theory, a theory with well-known limitations in the
      description of metal-insulator transitions. In fact, the predictions of the
      pressure-driven dissociation of molecules in high-pressure hydrogen by density
      functional theory is strongly affected by the chosen exchange-correlation
      functional. In this Letter, we use quantum Monte Carlo calculations to study the
      molecular to atomic transition in hydrogen. We obtain a transition pressure of
      447(3) GPa, in excellent agreement with the best experimental estimate of the
      transition 450 GPa based on an extrapolation to zero band gap from experimental
      measurements. Additionally, we find that C2/c is stable almost up to the
      molecular to atomic transition, in contrast to previous density functional theory
      (DFT) and DFT+quantum Monte Carlo studies which predict large stability regimes
      for intermediary molecular phases. 

PMID- 25815945
TI  - Morphological instability of grain boundaries in two-phase coherent solids.
AB  - We show both computationally and analytically that grain boundaries that exhibit
      shear-coupled motion become morphologically unstable in solid alloys that phase
      separate into coherent domains of distinct chemical compositions. We carry out
      simulations of continuum models demonstrating that this instability is mediated
      by long-range elastic interaction between compositional domains and grain
      boundaries. In addition, we perform a linear stability analysis that predicts the
      range of unstable wavelengths in good quantitative agreement with simulations. In
      nonlinear stages, this pattern-forming instability leads to the breakup of low
      angle grain boundaries, thereby strongly impacting microstructural evolution in a
      wide range of phase-separating materials. 

PMID- 25815946
TI  - Competing kinetics and he bubble morphology in W.
AB  - The growth process of He bubbles in W is investigated using molecular dynamics
      and parallel replica dynamics for growth rates spanning 6 orders of magnitude.
      Fast and slow growth regimes are defined relative to typical diffusion hopping
      times of W interstitials around the He bubble. Slow growth rates allow the
      diffusion of interstitials around the bubble, favoring the biased growth of the
      bubble towards the surface. In contrast, at fast growth rates interstitials do
      not have time to diffuse around the bubble, leading to a more isotropic growth
      and increasing the surface damage. 

PMID- 25815947
TI  - Big data of materials science: critical role of the descriptor.
AB  - Statistical learning of materials properties or functions so far starts with a
      largely silent, nonchallenged step: the choice of the set of descriptive
      parameters (termed descriptor). However, when the scientific connection between
      the descriptor and the actuating mechanisms is unclear, the causality of the
      learned descriptor-property relation is uncertain. Thus, a trustful prediction of
      new promising materials, identification of anomalies, and scientific advancement
      are doubtful. We analyze this issue and define requirements for a suitable
      descriptor. For a classic example, the energy difference of zinc blende or
      wurtzite and rocksalt semiconductors, we demonstrate how a meaningful descriptor
      can be found systematically. 

PMID- 25815948
TI  - From mild to wild fluctuations in crystal plasticity.
AB  - Macroscopic crystal plasticity is classically viewed as an outcome of
      uncorrelated dislocation motions producing Gaussian fluctuations. An apparently
      conflicting picture emerged in recent years emphasizing highly correlated
      dislocation dynamics characterized by power-law distributed fluctuations. We use
      acoustic emission measurements in crystals with different symmetries to show that
      intermittent and continuous visions of plastic flow are not incompatible. We
      demonstrate the existence of crossover regimes where strongly intermittent events
      coexist with a Gaussian quasiequilibrium background and propose a simple
      theoretical framework compatible with these observations. 

PMID- 25815949
TI  - Distinct metallization and atomization transitions in dense liquid hydrogen.
AB  - We perform molecular dynamics simulations driven by accurate quantum Monte Carlo
      forces on dense liquid hydrogen. There is a recent report of a complete
      atomization transition between a mixed molecular-atomic liquid and a completely
      dissociated fluid in an almost unaccessible pressure range [Nat. Commun. 5, 3487
      (2014)]. Here, instead, we identify a different transition between the fully
      molecular liquid and the mixed-atomic fluid at ~400  GPa, i.e., in a much more
      interesting pressure range. We provide numerical evidence supporting the metallic
      behavior of this intermediate phase. Therefore, we predict that the metallization
      at finite temperature occurs in this partially dissociated molecular fluid, well
      before the complete atomization of the liquid. At high temperature this first
      order transition becomes a crossover, in very good agreement with the
      experimental observation. Several systematic tests supporting the quality of our
      large scale calculations are also reported.

PMID- 25815950
TI  - Local observation of the site occupancy of Mn in a MnFePSi compound.
AB  - MnFePSi compounds are promising materials for magnetic refrigeration as they
      exhibit a giant magnetocaloric effect. From first principles calculations and
      experiments on bulk materials, it has been proposed that this is due to the Mn
      and Fe atoms preferentially occupying two different sites within the atomic
      lattice. A recently developed technique was used to deconvolve the obscuring
      effects of both multiple elastic scattering and thermal diffuse scattering of the
      probe in an atomic resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy investigation of
      a MnFePSi compound. This reveals, unambiguously, that the Mn atoms preferentially
      occupy the 3g site in a hexagonal crystal structure, confirming the theoretical
      predictions. After deconvolution, the data exhibit a difference in the Fe L_{2,3}
      ratio between the 3f and 3g sites consistent with differences in magnetic moments
      calculated from first principles, which are also not observed in the raw data. 

PMID- 25815951
TI  - Universality class of the mott transition.
AB  - Pressure dependence of the conductivity and thermoelectric power is measured
      through the Mott transition in the layer organic conductor
      EtMe_{3}P[Pd(dmit)_{2}]_{2}. The critical behavior of the thermoelectric effect
      provides a clear and objective determination of the Mott-Hubbard transition
      during the isothermal pressure sweep. Above the critical end point, the metal
      insulator crossing, determined by the thermoelectric effect minimum value, is not
      found to coincide with the maximum of the derivative of the conductivity as a
      function of pressure. We show that the critical exponents of the Mott-Hubbard
      transition fall within the Ising universality class regardless of the
      dimensionality of the system. 

PMID- 25815952
TI  - Strong localization of Majorana end States in chains of magnetic adatoms.
AB  - A recent experiment [Nadj-Perge et al, Science 346, 602 (2014)] gives possible
      evidence for Majorana bound states in chains of magnetic adatoms placed on a
      superconductor. While many features of the observed end states are naturally
      interpreted in terms of Majorana states, their strong localization remained
      puzzling. We consider a linear chain of Anderson impurities on a superconductor
      as a minimal model and treat it largely analytically within mean-field theory. We
      explore the phase diagram, the subgap excitation spectrum, and the Majorana wave
      functions. Owing to a strong velocity renormalization, the latter are localized
      on a scale which is parametrically small compared to the coherence length of the
      host superconductor. 

PMID- 25815953
TI  - Signatures of fractional exclusion statistics in the spectroscopy of quantum Hall
      droplets.
AB  - We show how spectroscopic experiments on a small Laughlin droplet of rotating
      bosons can directly demonstrate Haldane fractional exclusion statistics of
      quasihole excitations. The characteristic signatures appear in the single
      particle excitation spectrum. We show that the transitions are governed by a
      "many-body selection rule" which allows one to relate the number of allowed
      transitions to the number of quasihole states on a finite geometry. We illustrate
      the theory with numerically exact simulations of small numbers of particles. 

PMID- 25815954
TI  - Chiral projected entangled-pair state with topological order.
AB  - We show that projected entangled-pair states (PEPS) can describe chiral
      topologically ordered phases. For that, we construct a simple PEPS for spin-1/2
      particles in a two-dimensional lattice. We reveal a symmetry in the local
      projector of the PEPS that gives rise to the global topological character. We
      also extract characteristic quantities of the edge conformal field theory using
      the bulk-boundary correspondence. 

PMID- 25815955
TI  - Approaching truly freestanding graphene: the structure of hydrogen-intercalated
      graphene on 6H-SiC(0001).
AB  - We measure the adsorption height of hydrogen-intercalated quasifreestanding
      monolayer graphene on the (0001) face of 6H silicon carbide by the normal
      incidence x-ray standing wave technique. A density functional calculation for the
      full (6?3*6?3)-R30 degrees  unit cell, based on a van der Waals corrected
      exchange correlation functional, finds a purely physisorptive adsorption height
      in excellent agreement with experiments, a very low buckling of the graphene
      layer, a very homogeneous electron density at the interface, and the lowest known
      adsorption energy per atom for graphene on any substrate. A structural comparison
      to other graphenes suggests that hydrogen-intercalated graphene on 6H-SiC(0001)
      approaches ideal graphene.

PMID- 25815956
TI  - Novel relativistic plasma excitations in a gated two-dimensional electron system.
AB  - The microwave response of a two-dimensional electron system (2DES) covered by a
      conducting top gate is investigated in the relativistic regime for which the 2D
      conductivity sigma_{2D}>c/2pi. Weakly damped plasma waves are excited in the
      gated region of the 2DES. The frequency and amplitude of the resulting plasma
      excitations show a very unusual dependence on the magnetic field, conductivity,
      gate geometry, and separation from the 2DES. We show that such relativistic
      plasmons survive for temperatures up to 300 K, allowing for new room-temperature
      microwave and terahertz applications. 

PMID- 25815957
TI  - Topological index for periodically driven time-reversal invariant 2D systems.
AB  - We define a new Z2-valued index to characterize the topological properties of
      periodically driven two dimensional crystals when the time-reversal symmetry is
      enforced. This index is associated with a spectral gap of the evolution operator
      over one period of time. When two such gaps are present, the Kane-Mele index of
      the eigenstates with eigenvalues between the gaps is recovered as the difference
      of the gap indices. This leads to an expression for the Kane-Mele invariant in
      terms of the Wess-Zumino amplitude. We illustrate the relation of the new index
      to the edge states in finite geometries by numerically solving an explicit model
      on the square lattice that is periodically driven in a time-reversal invariant
      way.

PMID- 25815958
TI  - Controlling the spin of co atoms on pt(111) by hydrogen adsorption.
AB  - We investigate the effect of H adsorption on the magnetic properties of
      individual Co atoms on Pt(111) with scanning tunneling microscopy. For pristine
      Co atoms, we detect no inelastic features in the tunnel spectra. Conversely, CoH
      and CoH2 show a number of low-energy vibrational features in their differential
      conductance identified by isotope substitution. Only the fcc-adsorbed species
      present conductance steps of magnetic origin, with a field splitting identifying
      their effective spin as Seff=2 for CoH and 3/2 for CoH2. The exposure to H2 and
      desorption through tunnel electrons allow the reversible control of the spin in
      half-integer steps. Because of the presence of the surface, the hydrogen-induced
      spin increase is opposite to the spin sequence of CoHn molecules in the gas
      phase.

PMID- 25815959
TI  - Phase diagram of cuprate high-temperature superconductors described by a field
      theory based on anharmonic oxygen degrees of freedom.
AB  - In high temperature superconductors, although some phenomena such as the Mott
      transition (MT) at low doping are clearly driven by electron correlations, recent
      experimental data imply that anharmonic oxygen degrees of freedom-characteristic
      of perovskite materials-are playing a significant role. A key test of the role of
      anharmonic oxygen is to reproduce the complex cuprate phase diagram from a simple
      model. Here, we show that a field theory based on nonlinear coupling to
      anharmonic oxygens, parametrized from ab initio calculations, quantitatively
      reproduces the cuprate phase diagram for dopings above the MT. Pairing is
      mediated by renormalized oxygen vibrations transmuted into excitations of the
      pseudogap. The observed strong dependence of gap to transition temperature ratio
      on Tc also emerges from this field theory. This work suggests that including
      vibrational degrees of freedom is key to developing a complete understanding of
      the cuprates.

PMID- 25815960
TI  - Glide-plane symmetry and superconducting gap structure of iron-based
      superconductors.
AB  - We consider the effect of glide-plane symmetry of the Fe-pnictogen/chalcogen
      layer in Fe-based superconductors on pairing in spin fluctuation models. Recent
      theories have proposed that so-called eta-pairing states with nonzero total
      momentum can be realized and possess exotic properties such as odd parity spin
      singlet symmetry and time-reversal symmetry breaking. Here we show that eta
      pairing is inevitable when there is orbital weight at the Fermi level from
      orbitals with even and odd mirror reflection symmetry in z; however, by explicit
      calculation, we conclude that the gap function that appears in observable
      quantities is identical to that found in earlier, 1 Fe per unit cell
      pseudocrystal momentum calculations.

PMID- 25815962
TI  - Tunable giant spin hall conductivities in a strong spin-orbit semimetal: Bi(1-x)
      Sb(x).
AB  - Intrinsic spin Hall conductivities are calculated for strong spin-orbit Bi(1
      x)Sb(x) semimetals, from the Kubo formula and using Berry curvatures evaluated
      throughout the Brillouin zone from a tight-binding Hamiltonian. Nearly crossing
      bands with strong spin-orbit interaction generate giant spin Hall conductivities
      in these materials, ranging from 474 (h/e)(Omega  cm)^{-1} for bismuth to 96
      (h/e)(Omega  cm)^{-1} for antimony; the value for bismuth is more than twice that
      of platinum. The large spin Hall conductivities persist for alloy compositions
      corresponding to a three-dimensional topological insulator state, such as
      Bi(0.83)Sb(0.17). The spin Hall conductivity could be changed by a factor of 5
      for doped Bi, or for Bi(0.83)Sb(0.17), by changing the chemical potential by 0.5
      eV, suggesting the potential for doping or voltage tuned spin Hall current.

PMID- 25815963
TI  - Electric-field-induced modification of the magnon energy, exchange interaction,
      and curie temperature of transition-metal thin films.
AB  - The electric-field-induced modification in the Curie temperature of prototypical
      transition-metal thin films with the perpendicular magnetic easy axis, a
      freestanding Fe(001) monolayer and a Co monolayer on Pt(111), is investigated by
      first-principles calculations of spin-spiral structures in an external electric
      field (E field). An applied E field is found to modify the magnon (spin-spiral
      formation) energy; the change arises from the E-field-induced screening charge
      density in the spin-spiral states due to p-d hybridizations. The Heisenberg
      exchange parameters obtained from the magnon energy suggest an E-field-induced
      modification of the Curie temperature, which is demonstrated via Monte Carlo
      simulations that take the magnetocrystalline anisotropy into account. 

PMID- 25815961
TI  - Detection of a superconducting phase in a two-atom layer of hexagonal Ga film
      grown on semiconducting GaN(0001).
AB  - The recent observation of the superconducting state at atomic scale has motivated
      the pursuit of exotic condensed phases in two-dimensional (2D) systems. Here we
      report on a superconducting phase in two-monolayer crystalline Ga films
      epitaxially grown on wide-band-gap semiconductor GaN(0001). This phase exhibits a
      hexagonal structure and only 0.552 nm in thickness, nevertheless, brings about a
      superconducting transition temperature Tc as high as 5.4 K, confirmed by in situ
      scanning tunneling spectroscopy and ex situ electrical magnetotransport and
      magnetization measurements. The anisotropy of critical magnetic field and
      Berezinski-Kosterlitz-Thouless-like transition are observed, typical for the 2D
      superconductivity. Our results demonstrate a novel platform for exploring atomic
      scale 2D superconductors, with great potential for understanding the interface
      superconductivity.

PMID- 25815964
TI  - Three-particle complexes in two-dimensional semiconductors.
AB  - We evaluate binding energies of trions X+/-, excitons bound by a donor or
      acceptor charge X^{D(A)}, and overcharged acceptors or donors in two-dimensional
      atomic crystals by mapping the three-body problem in two dimensions onto one
      particle in a three-dimensional potential treatable by a purposely developed
      boundary-matching-matrix method. We find that in monolayers of transition metal
      dichalcogenides the dissociation energy of X^{+/-} is typically much larger than
      that of localized exciton complexes, so that trions are more resilient to
      heating, despite the fact that their recombination line in optics is less
      redshifted from the exciton line than the line of X^{D(A)}.

PMID- 25815965
TI  - Ultrafast terahertz probes of interacting dark excitons in chirality-specific
      semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes.
AB  - Ultrafast terahertz spectroscopy accesses the dark excitonic ground state in
      resonantly excited (6,5) single-walled carbon nanotubes via internal, direct
      dipole-allowed transitions between the lowest-lying dark-bright pair state of ~6 
      meV. An analytical model reproduces the response that enables the quantitative
      analysis of transient densities of dark excitons and e-h plasma, oscillator
      strength, transition energy renormalization, and dynamics. Nonequilibrium, yet
      stable, quasi-one-dimensional quantum states with dark excitonic correlations
      rapidly emerge even with increasing off-resonance photoexcitation and experience
      a unique crossover to complex phase-space filling of both dark and bright pair
      states, different from dense two- and three-dimensional excitons influenced by
      the thermalization, cooling, and ionization to free carriers. 

PMID- 25815966
TI  - Exciton mapping at subwavelength scales in two-dimensional materials.
AB  - Spatially resolved electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) is performed at
      diffuse interfaces between MoS2 and MoSe2 single layers. With a monochromated
      electron source (20 meV) we successfully probe excitons near the interface by
      obtaining the low loss spectra at the nanometer scale. The exciton maps clearly
      show variations even with a 10 nm separation between measurements; consequently,
      the optical band gap can be measured with nanometer-scale resolution, which is 50
      times smaller than the wavelength of the emitted photons. By performing core-loss
      EELS at the same regions, we observe that variations in the excitonic signature
      follow the chemical composition. The exciton peaks are observed to be broader at
      interfaces and heterogeneous regions, possibly due to interface roughness and
      alloying effects. Moreover, we do not observe shifts of the exciton peak across
      the interface, possibly because the interface width is not much larger than the
      exciton Bohr radius.

PMID- 25815967
TI  - Identifying structural flow defects in disordered solids using machine-learning
      methods.
AB  - We use machine-learning methods on local structure to identify flow defects-or
      particles susceptible to rearrangement-in jammed and glassy systems. We apply
      this method successfully to two very different systems: a two-dimensional
      experimental realization of a granular pillar under compression and a Lennard
      Jones glass in both two and three dimensions above and below its glass transition
      temperature. We also identify characteristics of flow defects that differentiate
      them from the rest of the sample. Our results show it is possible to discern
      subtle structural features responsible for heterogeneous dynamics observed across
      a broad range of disordered materials. 

PMID- 25815968
TI  - Calcium alternans is due to an order-disorder phase transition in cardiac cells.
AB  - Electromechanical alternans is a beat-to-beat alternation in the strength of
      contraction of a cardiac cell, which can be caused by an instability of calcium
      cycling. Using a distributed model of subcellular calcium we show that alternans
      occurs via an order-disorder phase transition which exhibits critical slowing
      down and a diverging correlation length. We apply finite size scaling along with
      a mapping to a stochastic coupled map model, to show that this transition in two
      dimensions is characterized by critical exponents consistent with the Ising
      universality class. These findings highlight the important role of cooperativity
      in biological cells, and suggest novel approaches to investigate the onset of the
      alternans instability in the heart. 

PMID- 25815970
TI  - Interactions and stress relaxation in monolayers of soft nanoparticles at fluid
      fluid interfaces.
AB  - Nanoparticles with grafted layers of ligand molecules behave as soft colloids
      when they adsorb at fluid-fluid interfaces. The ligand brush can deform and
      reconfigure, adopting a lens-shaped configuration at the interface. This behavior
      strongly affects the interactions between soft nanoparticles at fluid-fluid
      interfaces, which have proven challenging to probe experimentally. We measure the
      surface pressure for a stable 2D interfacial suspension of nanoparticles grafted
      with ligands, and extract the interaction potential from these data by comparison
      to Brownian dynamics simulations. A soft repulsive potential with an exponential
      form accurately reproduces the measured surface pressure data. A more realistic
      interaction potential model is also fitted to the data to provide insights into
      the ligand configuration at the interface. The stress of the 2D interfacial
      suspension upon step compression exhibits a single relaxation time scale, which
      is also attributable to ligand reconfiguration. 

PMID- 25815969
TI  - Emergence of upstream swimming via a hydrodynamic transition.
AB  - We demonstrate that upstream swimming of sperm emerges via an orientation
      disorder-order transition. The order parameter, the average orientation of the
      sperm head against the flow, follows a 0.5 power law with the deviation from the
      critical flow shear rate (gamma-gamma_{c}). This transition is successfully
      explained by a hydrodynamic bifurcation theory, which extends the sperm upstream
      swimming to a broad class of near surface microswimmers that possess front-back
      asymmetry and circular motion. 

PMID- 25815971
TI  - Friction boosted by equilibrium misalignment of incommensurate two-dimensional
      colloid monolayers.
AB  - Colloidal two-dimensional monolayers sliding in an optical lattice are of recent
      importance as a frictional system. In the general case when the monolayer and
      optical lattices are incommensurate, we predict two important novelties, one in
      the static equilibrium structure, the other in the frictional behavior under
      sliding. Structurally, realistic simulations show that the colloid layer should
      possess in full equilibrium a small misalignment rotation angle relative to the
      optical lattice, an effect so far unnoticed but visible in some published
      experimental moire patterns. Under sliding, this misalignment has the effect of
      boosting the colloid monolayer friction by a considerable factor over the
      hypothetical aligned case discussed so far. A frictional increase of similar
      origin must generally affect other incommensurate adsorbed monolayers and
      contacts, to be sought out case by case. 

PMID- 25815972
TI  - Burstiness and aging in social temporal networks.
AB  - The presence of burstiness in temporal social networks, revealed by a power-law
      form of the waiting time distribution of consecutive interactions, is expected to
      produce aging effects in the corresponding time-integrated network. Here, we
      propose an analytically tractable model, in which interactions among the agents
      are ruled by a renewal process, that is able to reproduce this aging behavior. We
      develop an analytic solution for the topological properties of the integrated
      network produced by the model, finding that the time translation invariance of
      the degree distribution is broken. We validate our predictions against numerical
      simulations, and we check for the presence of aging effects in a empirical
      temporal network, ruled by bursty social interactions. 

PMID- 25815973
TI  - Human alveolar epithelial cell responses to core-shell superparamagnetic iron
      oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs).
AB  - Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) have been prepared and coated
      with positively (-NH3(+)) and negatively (-COO(-)) charged shells. These NPs, as
      well as their "bare" precursor, which actually contain surface hydroxyl groups,
      have been characterized in vitro, and their influence on a human epithelial cell
      line has been assessed in terms of cell metabolic activity, cellular membrane
      lysis, mitochondrial activity, and reactive oxygen species production. Their
      physicochemical characterizations and protein-nanoparticle interactions have been
      determined using dynamic light scattering, high-resolution transmission electron
      microscopy, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI
      TOF) spectrometry, and Coomassie Blue fast staining. Cell-SPION interactions have
      been determined by PrestoBlue resazurin-based, Trypan Blue dye exclusion-based,
      and MTS cell proliferation assays as well as by reactive oxygen species
      determination. The results show that different surface characteristics cause
      different protein corona and cell responses. Some proteins (e.g., albumin) are
      adsorbed only on positively charged coatings and others (e.g., fibrinogen) only
      on negatively charged coating. No cell deaths occur, but cell proliferation is
      influenced by surface chemistry. Proliferation reduction is dose dependent and
      highest for bare SPIONs. Negatively charged SPIONs were the most biocompatible. 

PMID- 25815974
TI  - Interaction between physical and psychosocial risk factors on the presence of
      neck/shoulder symptoms and its consequences.
AB  - This study aimed to quantify the interaction between physical and psychosocial
      factors on the presence of neck/shoulder symptoms (NSS) and its consequences
      (reduced activities and absenteeism) among 1294 coal mining workers in Indonesia.
      A self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on current
      workplace exposure and NSS and its consequences. Participants were grouped into
      one of four combination exposure groups: low physical and low psychosocial (as
      the reference group); low physical and high psychosocial; high physical and low
      psychosocial, and high physical and high psychosocial (HPhyHPsy). The
      attributable proportion (AP) due to interaction between both factors was
      examined. Individuals in the HPhyHPsy group were most likely to report NSS [odds
      ratio (OR) 4.83, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.43-9.58], reduced activities (OR
      3.90, 95% CI 2.36-6.43), and absenteeism (OR 3.91, 95% CI 2.11-7.25). This study
      has shown an interaction between physical and psychosocial factors that increases
      the OR of NSS (AP 0.49, 95% CI 0.08-0.89). Practitioner Summary: Although
      physical and psychosocial factors are known to be predictors for NSS, little is
      known about their interaction. Self-reported questionnaire was used to obtain
      information about physical and psychosocial factors at work. This study found an
      interaction between the physical and psychosocial risk factors that increases the
      odds ratio of NSS. 

PMID- 25815975
TI  - Differential modulation of synaptic plasticity and local circuit activity in the
      dentate gyrus and CA1 regions of the rat hippocampus by corticosterone.
AB  - Depending on its severity, timing and context, stress has been shown to have a
      differential regional effect on hippocampal synaptic plasticity. While the focus
      of attention in most recent studies is on excitatory synapses and generation,
      modifications of inhibitory synapses and local interneurons cannot be ignored. We
      have now examined the effects of corticosterone (CORT) on extrinsic afferent and
      local circuit plasticity of the perforant path on the dentate gyrus (DG) and the
      ventral hippocampal commissure on CA1. Local circuit activity was measured by
      responses to paired-pulse stimulation. Control rats expressed afferent long-term
      potentiation (LTP) and local circuit plasticity in both the DG and CA1.
      Administration of a high dosage of CORT-reduced paired-pulse inhibition and
      increased facilitation in DG but not in CA1, whereas administration of a moderate
      CORT dosage had no effect. Moderate CORT doses caused enhancement of LTP in the
      DG but not in CA1, while high CORT doses converted LTP to long-term depression in
      the CA1 but had no effect in the DG. CORT blocked theta burst stimulation-induced
      local circuit plasticity otherwise found in control DG. These findings suggest
      that elevation of the level of CORT results in a regionally differentiated
      physiological response. In addition, the results indicate that CORT affects
      aspects of local circuit activity and plasticity in the DG but less so in the
      CA1. It is possible that these differentiated alterations underlie some of the
      behavioral consequences and memory processes under stressful conditions. 

PMID- 25815976
TI  - Evolving nutritional strategies in the presence of competition: a geometric agent
      based model.
AB  - Access to nutrients is a key factor governing development, reproduction and
      ultimately fitness. Within social groups, contest-competition can fundamentally
      affect nutrient access, potentially leading to reproductive asymmetry among
      individuals. Previously, agent-based models have been combined with the Geometric
      Framework of nutrition to provide insight into how nutrition and social
      interactions affect one another. Here, we expand this modelling approach by
      incorporating evolutionary algorithms to explore how contest-competition over
      nutrient acquisition might affect the evolution of animal nutritional strategies.
      Specifically, we model tolerance of nutrient excesses and deficits when ingesting
      nutritionally imbalanced foods, which we term 'nutritional latitude'; a higher
      degree of nutritional latitude constitutes a higher tolerance of nutritional
      excess and deficit. Our results indicate that a transition between two
      alternative strategies occurs at moderate to high levels of competition. When
      competition is low, individuals display a low level of nutritional latitude and
      regularly switch foods in search of an optimum. When food is scarce and contest
      competition is intense, high nutritional latitude appears optimal, and
      individuals continue to consume an imbalanced food for longer periods before
      attempting to switch to an alternative. However, the relative balance of
      nutrients within available foods also strongly influences at what levels of
      competition, if any, transitions between these two strategies occur. Our models
      imply that competition combined with reproductive skew in social groups can play
      a role in the evolution of diet breadth. We discuss how the integration of agent
      based, nutritional and evolutionary modelling may be applied in future studies to
      further understand the evolution of nutritional strategies across social and
      ecological contexts. 

PMID- 25815977
TI  - Evaluating the toxicity of silver nanoparticles by detecting phosphorylation of
      histone H3 in combination with flow cytometry side-scattered light.
AB  - Post-translational modification of histones is linked to a variety of biological
      processes and disease states. This paper focuses on phosphorylation of histone H3
      at serine 10 (p-H3S10), induced by silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and discusses the
      usefulness of p-H3S10 as a marker to evaluate the toxicity of AgNPs. Cultured
      human cells showed remarkable p-H3S10 immediately after treatment with AgNPs but
      not with Ag microparticles. p-H3S10 lasts up to 24 h and strongly depends upon
      the cellular uptake of AgNPs. Removal of Ag ions suppressed p-H3S10, while adding
      an excess of Ag ions augmented p-H3S10. We expected that p-H3S10 requires two
      events: cellular uptake of AgNPs and continuous release of Ag ions from
      intracellular AgNPs. AgNPs enhanced the expression of the proto-oncogene c-jun,
      and p-H3S10 increased in the promoter sites of the gene, indicating that p-H3S10
      might indicate a biological reaction related to carcinogenesis. We previously
      showed that side-scattered light from flow cytometry could be used to measure the
      uptake potential of nanoparticles [ Suzuki , H. ; Toyooka , T. ; Ibuki , Y.
      Simple and easy method to evaluate uptake potential of nanoparticles in mammalian
      cells using a flow cytometric light scatter analysis . Environ. Sci. Technol.
      2007 , 41 ( 8 ), 3018 - 3024 ]. Our current findings suggest that p-H3S10 can be
      used to evaluate the toxicity of AgNPs and Ag ion release in combination with
      detection of side-scattered light from flow cytometry. 

PMID- 25815978
TI  - Biophysics of molecular gastronomy.
AB  - Chefs and scientists exploring biophysical processes have given rise to molecular
      gastronomy. In this Commentary, we describe how a scientific understanding of
      recipes and techniques facilitates the development of new textures and expands
      the flavor palette. The new dishes that result engage our senses in unexpected
      ways. PAPERCLIP. 

PMID- 25815979
TI  - Food for the brain.
AB  - Diet is a major issue facing humanity. To combat malnourishment and diseases
      associated with overnutrition, both research and technological breakthroughs are
      needed. 

PMID- 25815980
TI  - Modeling human nutrition using human embryonic stem cells.
AB  - Nutrition presents unanswered scientific questions of high public health
      importance. We envision model systems composed of interacting gastrointestinal
      and metabolic tissues derived from human embryonic stem cells, populated by gut
      microbiota. The culture will be embedded in 3D scaffolds, creating a controlled
      experimental system that enables tissue sampling and imaging. 

PMID- 25815981
TI  - Putting the balance back in diet.
AB  - The notion of dietary balance is fundamental to health yet is not captured by
      focusing on the intake of energy or single nutrients. Advances in nutritional
      geometry have begun to unravel and integrate the interactive effects of multiple
      nutrients on health, lifespan, aging, and reproduction. 

PMID- 25815982
TI  - Multisensory flavor perception.
AB  - The perception of flavor is perhaps the most multisensory of our everyday
      experiences. The latest research by psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists
      increasingly reveals the complex multisensory interactions that give rise to the
      flavor experiences we all know and love, demonstrating how they rely on the
      integration of cues from all of the human senses. This Perspective explores the
      contributions of distinct senses to our perception of food and the growing
      realization that the same rules of multisensory integration that have been
      thoroughly explored in interactions between audition, vision, and touch may also
      explain the combination of the (admittedly harder to study) flavor senses.
      Academic advances are now spilling out into the real world, with chefs and food
      industry increasingly taking the latest scientific findings on board in their
      food design. 

PMID- 25815984
TI  - Fermented foods as experimentally tractable microbial ecosystems.
AB  - Microbial communities of fermented foods have provided humans with tools for
      preservation and flavor development for thousands of years. These simple,
      reproducible, accessible, culturable, and easy-to-manipulate systems also provide
      opportunities for dissecting the mechanisms of microbial community formation.
      Fermented foods can be valuable models for processes in less tractable
      microbiota. 

PMID- 25815983
TI  - Cultivating healthy growth and nutrition through the gut microbiota.
AB  - Microbiota assembly is perturbed in children with undernutrition, resulting in
      persistent microbiota immaturity that is not rescued by current nutritional
      interventions. Evidence is accumulating that this immaturity is causally related
      to the pathogenesis of undernutrition and its lingering sequelae. Preclinical
      models in which human gut communities are replicated in gnotobiotic mice have
      provided an opportunity to identify and predict the effects of different dietary
      ingredients on microbiota structure, expressed functions, and host biology. This
      capacity sets the stage for proof-of-concept tests designed to deliberately shape
      the developmental trajectory and configurations of microbiota in children
      representing different geographies, cultural traditions, and states of health.
      Developing these capabilities for microbial stewardship is timely given the
      global health burden of childhood undernutrition, the effects of changing eating
      practices brought about by globalization, and the realization that affordable
      nutritious foods need to be developed to enhance our capacity to cultivate
      healthier microbiota in populations at risk for poor nutrition. 

PMID- 25815985
TI  - Meeting the global food demand of the future by engineering crop photosynthesis
      and yield potential.
AB  - Increase in demand for our primary foodstuffs is outstripping increase in yields,
      an expanding gap that indicates large potential food shortages by mid-century.
      This comes at a time when yield improvements are slowing or stagnating as the
      approaches of the Green Revolution reach their biological limits. Photosynthesis,
      which has been improved little in crops and falls far short of its biological
      limit, emerges as the key remaining route to increase the genetic yield potential
      of our major crops. Thus, there is a timely need to accelerate our understanding
      of the photosynthetic process in crops to allow informed and guided improvements
      via in-silico-assisted genetic engineering. Potential and emerging approaches to
      improving crop photosynthetic efficiency are discussed, and the new tools needed
      to realize these changes are presented. 

PMID- 25815987
TI  - Time for food: the intimate interplay between nutrition, metabolism, and the
      circadian clock.
AB  - The circadian clock, a highly specialized, hierarchical network of biological
      pacemakers, directs and maintains proper rhythms in endocrine and metabolic
      pathways required for organism homeostasis. The clock adapts to environmental
      changes, specifically daily light-dark cycles, as well as rhythmic food intake.
      Nutritional challenges reprogram the clock, while time-specific food intake has
      been shown to have profound consequences on physiology. Importantly, a critical
      role in the clock-nutrition interplay appears to be played by the microbiota. The
      circadian clock appears to operate as a critical interface between nutrition and
      homeostasis, calling for more attention on the beneficial effects of chrono
      nutrition. 

PMID- 25815986
TI  - Nutrient-sensing mechanisms across evolution.
AB  - For organisms to coordinate their growth and development with nutrient
      availability, they must be able to sense nutrient levels in their environment.
      Here, we review select nutrient-sensing mechanisms in a few diverse organisms. We
      discuss how these mechanisms reflect the nutrient requirements of specific
      species and how they have adapted to the emergence of multicellularity in
      eukaryotes.

PMID- 25815990
TI  - The hunger genes: pathways to obesity.
AB  - The global rise in the prevalence of obesity and associated co-morbidities such
      as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer represents a major public
      health concern. The biological response to increased consumption of palatable
      foods or a reduction in energy expenditure is highly variable between
      individuals. A more detailed mechanistic understanding of the molecular,
      physiological, and behavioral pathways involved in the development of obesity in
      susceptible individuals is critical for identifying effective mechanism-based
      preventative and therapeutic interventions. 

PMID- 25815988
TI  - I'm eating for two: parental dietary effects on offspring metabolism.
AB  - It has long been understood that the pathogenesis of complex diseases such as
      diabetes includes both genetic and environmental components. More recently, it
      has become clear that not only does an individual's environment influence their
      own metabolism, but in some cases, the environment experienced by their parents
      may also contribute to their risk of metabolic disease. Here, we review the
      evidence that parental diet influences metabolic phenotype in offspring in
      mammals and provide a current survey of our mechanistic understanding of these
      effects. 

PMID- 25815989
TI  - Promoting health and longevity through diet: from model organisms to humans.
AB  - Reduced food intake, avoiding malnutrition, can ameliorate aging and aging
      associated diseases in invertebrate model organisms, rodents, primates, and
      humans. Recent findings indicate that meal timing is crucial, with both
      intermittent fasting and adjusted diurnal rhythm of feeding improving health and
      function, in the absence of changes in overall intake. Lowered intake of
      particular nutrients rather than of overall calories is also key, with protein
      and specific amino acids playing prominent roles. Nutritional modulation of the
      microbiome can also be important, and there are long-term, including inter
      generational, effects of diet. The metabolic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms
      that mediate both improvement in health during aging to diet and genetic
      variation in the response to diet are being identified. These new findings are
      opening the way to specific dietary and pharmacological interventions to
      recapture the full potential benefits of dietary restriction, which humans can
      find difficult to maintain voluntarily. 

PMID- 25815994
TI  - SnapShot: GI tract development.
AB  - The endoderm germ layer contributes to the respiratory and gastrointestinal (GI)
      lineages during development, giving rise to an array of specialized epithelial
      cell types lining organs, including the thyroid, thymus, lungs, liver, biliary
      system, pancreas, and intestines. This SnapShot timelines and summarizes key
      stages following gastrulation, including endoderm patterning, organ
      specification, and organogenesis. A lineage tree of the developing endocrine
      pancreas is outlined to further illustrate this process. 

PMID- 25815991
TI  - Neural control of energy balance: translating circuits to therapies.
AB  - Recent insights into the neural circuits controlling energy balance and glucose
      homeostasis have rekindled the hope for development of novel treatments for
      obesity and diabetes. However, many therapies contribute relatively modest
      beneficial gains with accompanying side effects, and the mechanisms of action for
      other interventions remain undefined. This Review summarizes current knowledge
      linking the neural circuits regulating energy and glucose balance with current
      and potential pharmacotherapeutic and surgical interventions for the treatment of
      obesity and diabetes.

PMID- 25815995
TI  - Pressure ulcers: how much do nursing students really know?
AB  - AIM: Taking care of patients with pressure ulcers requires a high level of
      knowledge. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of nursing
      students' knowledge of pressure ulcer prevention, classification and management.
      METHODS: The study was conducted in two nursing colleges (Razi Nursing and
      Midwifery College and Shahrekord Nursing and Midwifery College) in Iran. All
      final-year bachelors nursing students in both colleges were invited to
      participate in the study. Data were collected using Pieper's Pressure Ulcer
      Knowledge Test (PPUKT). RESULTS: Participants answered correctly 67% of all 41
      items in three sections (prevention, classification and evaluation). The
      students' rate of correct answers in the pressure ulcer evaluation category was
      significantly higher than the correct answers in the other two categories.
      CONCLUSION: The study revealed that nursing students had insufficient knowledge
      of pressure ulcers. It was concluded that courses aimed at raising students'
      knowledge of pressure ulcers are needed in nurse education.

PMID- 25815993
TI  - A century of cholesterol and coronaries: from plaques to genes to statins.
AB  - One-fourth of all deaths in industrialized countries result from coronary heart
      disease. A century of research has revealed the essential causative agent:
      cholesterol-carrying low-density lipoprotein (LDL). LDL is controlled by specific
      receptors (LDLRs) in liver that remove it from blood. Mutations that eliminate
      LDLRs raise LDL and cause heart attacks in childhood, whereas mutations that
      raise LDLRs reduce LDL and diminish heart attacks. If we are to eliminate
      coronary disease, lowering LDL should be the primary goal. Effective means to
      achieve this goal are currently available. The key questions are: who to treat,
      when to treat, and how long to treat. 

PMID- 25815996
TI  - Drains and gauze-based NPWT in the management of extensive tissue loss.

PMID- 25815997
TI  - Wounds with exudate and odour.

PMID- 25815998
TI  - Deep bone infections following surgery.

PMID- 25816000
TI  - Deaths and pressure ulcers: should death certificate reporting be mandatory?

PMID- 25815999
TI  - Pressure-ulcer reduction using low-friction fabric bootees.
AB  - At St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, implementation of
      pressure management measures has reduced the incidence of hospital-acquired
      pressure ulcers. There is now a focus on those pressure ulcers still occurring
      despite these measures, particularly grade 2 ulcers on the heel, which are often
      attributed to friction and shear. During 2012 and 2013 low friction fabric
      bootees (Parafricta(r)) were used on at-risk patients (where possible) to attempt
      to address this issue. The bootees were first introduced in 2012. There was a
      decline in heel ulcers of 78% in the 2 years, which accounted for a sizeable
      portion of the overall decline in all grade 2 pressure ulcers. There was also a
      substantial change in the ratio of heel to all other grade 2 pressure ulcers,
      which fell from 0.67 to 0.24. On the basis of heel pressure ulcers avoided, there
      is an implied net saving to the NHS. The trust concluded that routine use of low
      friction fabric bootees made a significant further contribution towards achieving
      zero harm targets and had done so while providing substantial cost benefits. 

PMID- 25816001
TI  - Electronic versus paper records: documentation of pressure ulcer data.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The documentation of patient data on health records is a vital
      component of the care process. Accurate and complete recording of this data is a
      necessary practice. The adoption of electronic health records to improve the
      quality of nursing documentation is on the rise. OBJECTIVES: This study compares
      the accuracy and completeness of pressure ulcer data documentation between
      electronic and paper records. DESIGN: A descriptive, comparative design with a
      retrospective review of patient records. Settings and sample: Two hospitals were
      chosen purposefully, one using electronic recording of patient data and the other
      using paper records. METHODS: In the first phase, all hospitalised patients aged
      18 years and over were inspected for pressure ulcers. In the second phase, the
      files of patients with pressure ulcers were audited. RESULTS: Of the 52 patients
      with ulcers found in the hospital that used an electronic system, 43 of their
      records documented the pressure ulcers (83%). Of the 55 patients with pressure
      ulcers in the hospital using paper records, 39 files had corresponding
      documentation of the presence of a pressure ulcer (71%). CONCLUSION: In terms of
      accuracy and completeness, more comprehensive documentation practice was found on
      the electronic health records compared with paper records. However, both types of
      systems have shortcomings in the practice of pressure ulcer data documentation.

PMID- 25815992
TI  - Immune regulation of metabolic homeostasis in health and disease.
AB  - Obesity is an increasingly prevalent disease worldwide. While genetic and
      environmental factors are known to regulate the development of obesity and
      associated metabolic diseases, emerging studies indicate that innate and adaptive
      immune cell responses in adipose tissue have critical roles in the regulation of
      metabolic homeostasis. In the lean state, type 2 cytokine-associated immune cell
      responses predominate in white adipose tissue and protect against weight gain and
      insulin resistance through direct effects on adipocytes and elicitation of beige
      adipose. In obesity, these metabolically beneficial immune pathways become
      dysregulated, and adipocytes and other factors initiate metabolically deleterious
      type 1 inflammation that impairs glucose metabolism. This review discusses our
      current understanding of the functions of different types of adipose tissue and
      how immune cells regulate adipocyte function and metabolic homeostasis in the
      context of health and disease and highlights. We also highlight the potential of
      targeting immuno-metabolic pathways as a therapeutic strategy to treat obesity
      and associated diseases. 

PMID- 25816002
TI  - Use of fibre dressings in children with severe epidermolysis bullosa.
AB  - This non-comparative study explored the benefits of a natural gelling fibre
      dressing in 10 children with epidermolysis bullosa (EB). The clinical challenge
      in managing these children is that they often present with recalcitrant wounds
      that are perpetuated by critical colonisation, presence of biofilms and
      infection. KytoCel(r) (Aspen Medical) is a highly absorbent dressing composed of
      natural, biodegradable acylated chitosan. These fibres bond with wound exudate to
      form a clear gel that locks in fluid absorbs pathogens and is conformable to the
      wound bed. It also has haemostatic properties. ( Dutta PK et al, 2004 ; Lee et
      al, 2009 ; Stephen Haynes et al, 2014 ). Factors considered were whether the
      dressing could aid healing, reduce bleeding, reduce bioburden, be atraumatic and
      comfortable during wear time and removal. 

PMID- 25816004
TI  - Lead tissue viability nurse.

PMID- 25816003
TI  - Pressure-ulcer management and prevention in acute and primary care.
AB  - This article describes a study to ascertain what it is like to follow the
      processes in practice for prevention and management of pressure ulcers as one
      aspect of care among others. The participants in this study were bands 5 and 6
      staff nurses and healthcare assistants (HCAs) (n=72) recruited from two acute and
      two primary NHS trusts. Data were gathered from open-ended questions via an
      online survey (n=61) and interviews (n=11). The interviews were transcribed and
      all the data were analysed by thematic analysis. The findings show that
      participants believe there has been a high-profile imposition of guidelines and
      policies by management during at least the past 18 months, resulting in perceived
      good outcomes in the form of fewer pressure ulcers generally and less
      fragmentation of care, particularly within primary care. However, a number of
      perceived obstacles to the implementation of recommended interventions remain,
      notably lack of time and lack of knowledge. 

PMID- 25816006
TI  - Robotic neurorehabilitation in patients with chronic stroke: psychological well
      being beyond motor improvement.
AB  - Although gait abnormality is one of the most disabling events following stroke,
      cognitive, and psychological impairments can be devastating. The Lokomat is a
      robotic that has been used widely for gait rehabilitation in several movement
      disorders, especially in the acute and subacute phases. The aim of this study was
      to evaluate the effectiveness of gait robotic rehabilitation in patients affected
      by chronic stroke. Psychological impact was also taken into consideration. Thirty
      patients (13 women and 17 men) affected by chronic stroke entered the study. All
      participants underwent neurological examination with respect to ambulation,
      Ashworth, Functional Independence Measure, and Tinetti scales to assess their
      physical status, and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Psychological General
      Well-being Index, and Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced to evaluate the
      Lokomat-related psychological impact before and after either a conventional
      treatment or the robotic training. During each rehabilitation period (separated
      by a no-treatment period), patients underwent a total of 40 1 h training sessions
      (i.e. five times a week for 8 weeks). After the conventional treatment, the
      patients did not achieve a significant improvement in the functional status,
      except balance (P<0.001) and walking ability (P<0.01), as per the Tinetti scale.
      Indeed, after the robotic rehabilitation, significant improvements were detected
      in almost all the motor and psychological scales that we investigated,
      particularly for Psychological General Well-being Index and Coping Orientation to
      Problem Experienced. Manual and robotic-assisted body weight-supported treadmill
      training optimizes the sensory inputs relevant to step training, repeated
      practice, as well as neuroplasticity. Several controlled trials have shown a
      superior effect of Lokomat treatment in stroke patients' walking ability and
      velocity in particular. Therefore, our preliminary results proved that active
      robotic training not only facilitates gait and physical function but also the
      psychological status, even in patients affected by chronic stroke. 

PMID- 25816005
TI  - HOMER2, a stereociliary scaffolding protein, is essential for normal hearing in
      humans and mice.
AB  - Hereditary hearing loss is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorder.
      More than 80 genes have been implicated to date, and with the advent of targeted
      genomic enrichment and massively parallel sequencing (TGE+MPS) the rate of novel
      deafness-gene identification has accelerated. Here we report a family segregating
      post-lingual progressive autosomal dominant non-syndromic hearing loss (ADNSHL).
      After first excluding plausible variants in known deafness-causing genes using
      TGE+MPS, we completed whole exome sequencing in three hearing-impaired family
      members. Only a single variant, p.Arg185Pro in HOMER2, segregated with the
      hearing-loss phenotype in the extended family. This amino acid change alters a
      highly conserved residue in the coiled-coil domain of HOMER2 that is essential
      for protein multimerization and the HOMER2-CDC42 interaction. As a scaffolding
      protein, HOMER2 is involved in intracellular calcium homeostasis and cytoskeletal
      organization. Consistent with this function, we found robust expression in
      stereocilia of hair cells in the murine inner ear and observed that over
      expression of mutant p.Pro185 HOMER2 mRNA causes anatomical changes of the inner
      ear and neuromasts in zebrafish embryos. Furthermore, mouse mutants homozygous
      for the targeted deletion of Homer2 present with early-onset rapidly progressive
      hearing loss. These data provide compelling evidence that HOMER2 is required for
      normal hearing and that its sequence alteration in humans leads to ADNSHL through
      a dominant-negative mode of action. 

PMID- 25816007
TI  - A phosphorylation-related variant ADD1-rs4963 modifies the risk of colorectal
      cancer.
AB  - It is well-established that abnormal protein phosphorylation could play an
      essential role in tumorgenesis by disrupting a variety of physiological processes
      such as cell growth, signal transduction and cell motility. Moreover, increasing
      numbers of phosphorylation-related variants have been identified in association
      with cancers. ADD1 (alpha-adducin), a versatile protein expressed ubiquitously in
      eukaryotes, exerts an important influence on membrane cytoskeleton, cell
      proliferation and cell-cell communication. Recently, a missense variant at the
      codon of ADD1's phosphorylation site, rs4963 (Ser586Cys), was reported to modify
      the risk of non-cardia gastric cancer. To explore the role of ADD1-rs4963 in
      colorectal cancer (CRC), we conducted a case-control study with a total of 1054
      CRC cases and 1128 matched controls in a Chinese population. After adjustment for
      variables including age, gender, smoking and drinking, it was demonstrated that
      this variant significantly conferred susceptibility to CRC (G versus C: OR =
      1.16, 95% CI = 1.03-1.31, P = 0.016; CG versus CC: OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.02-1.55,
      P = 0.036; GG versus CC: OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.06-1.72, P = 0.015). We further
      investigated the interaction of ADD1-rs4963 with smoking or drinking exposure,
      but found no significant result. This study is the first report of an association
      between ADD1 and CRC risk, promoting our knowledge of the genetics of CRC. 

PMID- 25816008
TI  - Mechanisms of gain control by voltage-gated channels in intrinsically-firing
      neurons.
AB  - Gain modulation is a key feature of neural information processing, but underlying
      mechanisms remain unclear. In single neurons, gain can be measured as the slope
      of the current-frequency (input-output) relationship over any given range of
      inputs. While much work has focused on the control of basal firing rates and
      spike rate adaptation, gain control has been relatively unstudied. Of the limited
      studies on gain control, some have examined the roles of synaptic noise and
      passive somatic currents, but the roles of voltage-gated channels present
      ubiquitously in neurons have been less explored. Here, we systematically examined
      the relationship between gain and voltage-gated ion channels in a conductance
      based, tonically-active, model neuron. Changes in expression (conductance
      density) of voltage-gated channels increased (Ca2+ channel), reduced (K+
      channels), or produced little effect (h-type channel) on gain. We found that the
      gain-controlling ability of channels increased exponentially with the steepness
      of their activation within the dynamic voltage window (voltage range associated
      with firing). For depolarization-activated channels, this produced a greater
      channel current per action potential at higher firing rates. This allowed these
      channels to modulate gain by contributing to firing preferentially at states of
      higher excitation. A finer analysis of the current-voltage relationship during
      tonic firing identified narrow voltage windows at which the gain-modulating
      channels exerted their effects. As a proof of concept, we show that h-type
      channels can be tuned to modulate gain by changing the steepness of their
      activation within the dynamic voltage window. These results show how the impact
      of an ion channel on gain can be predicted from the relationship between channel
      kinetics and the membrane potential during firing. This is potentially relevant
      to understanding input-output scaling in a wide class of neurons found throughout
      the brain and other nervous systems. 

PMID- 25816010
TI  - Fast or slow? Compressions (or not) in number-to-line mappings.
AB  - We investigated, in a university student population, spontaneous (non-speeded)
      fast and slow number-to-line mapping responses using non-symbolic (dots) and
      symbolic (words) stimuli. Seeking for less conventionalized responses, we used
      anchors 0-130, rather than the standard 0-100. Slow responses to both types of
      stimuli only produced linear mappings with no evidence of non-linear compression.
      In contrast, fast responses revealed distinct patterns of non-linear compression
      for dots and words. A predicted logarithmic compression was observed in fast
      responses to dots in the 0-130 range, but not in the reduced 0-100 range,
      indicating compression in proximity of the upper anchor 130, not the standard
      100. Moreover, fast responses to words revealed an unexpected significant
      negative compression in the reduced 0-100 range, but not in the 0-130 range,
      indicating compression in proximity to the lower anchor 0. Results show that fast
      responses help revealing the fundamentally distinct nature of symbolic and non
      symbolic quantity representation. Whole number words, being intrinsically
      mediated by cultural phenomena such as language and education, emphasize the
      invariance of magnitude between them-essential for linear mappings, and
      therefore, unlike non-symbolic (psychophysical) stimuli, yield spatial mappings
      that don't seem to be influenced by the Weber-Fechner law of psychophysics.
      However, high levels of education (when combined with an absence of standard
      upper anchors) may lead fast responses to overestimate magnitude invariance on
      the lower end of word numerals.

PMID- 25816009
TI  - In silico screening based on predictive algorithms as a design tool for exon
      skipping oligonucleotides in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
AB  - The use of antisense 'splice-switching' oligonucleotides to induce exon skipping
      represents a potential therapeutic approach to various human genetic diseases. It
      has achieved greatest maturity in exon skipping of the dystrophin transcript in
      Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), for which several clinical trials are
      completed or ongoing, and a large body of data exists describing tested
      oligonucleotides and their efficacy. The rational design of an exon skipping
      oligonucleotide involves the choice of an antisense sequence, usually between 15
      and 32 nucleotides, targeting the exon that is to be skipped. Although parameters
      describing the target site can be computationally estimated and several have been
      identified to correlate with efficacy, methods to predict efficacy are limited.
      Here, an in silico pre-screening approach is proposed, based on predictive
      statistical modelling. Previous DMD data were compiled together and, for each
      oligonucleotide, some 60 descriptors were considered. Statistical modelling
      approaches were applied to derive algorithms that predict exon skipping for a
      given target site. We confirmed (1) the binding energetics of the oligonucleotide
      to the RNA, and (2) the distance in bases of the target site from the splice
      acceptor site, as the two most predictive parameters, and we included these and
      several other parameters (while discounting many) into an in silico screening
      process, based on their capacity to predict high or low efficacy in either
      phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (89% correctly predicted) and/or 2'O
      Methyl RNA oligonucleotides (76% correctly predicted). Predictions correlated
      strongly with in vitro testing for sixteen de novo PMO sequences targeting
      various positions on DMD exons 44 (R2 0.89) and 53 (R2 0.89), one of which
      represents a potential novel candidate for clinical trials. We provide these
      algorithms together with a computational tool that facilitates screening to
      predict exon skipping efficacy at each position of a target exon.

PMID- 25816011
TI  - Association of neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis with myeloid differentiation-2
      and GM2 activator protein genetic polymorphisms.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of neonatal
      necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) with myeloid differentiation-(MD-2) and GM2
      activator protein (GM2A) genetic polymorphisms. Gene resequencing of the MD-2 and
      GM2A gene exons was performed on 42 neonates, diagnosed with NEC (NEC group), as
      well as in the rs11465996 locus, located in the MD-2 gene promoter region. The
      aim was to detect the genetic polymorphisms present in the neonates with NEC and
      compare the functional polymorphic loci with 83 neonates without NEC (control
      group), who had been born during the same period. A polymorphic locus with
      abnormal frequency was detected in the exon region of the MD-2 gene. In the NEC
      group, the frequency of genotypes carrying the low frequency allele (G) in the
      rs11465996 locus (MD-2 promoter region) was significantly higher compared with
      the control group (chi(2)=4.388, P=0.036). Furthermore, the frequencies of
      genotypes carrying the low frequency A and C alleles in the rs1048719 (GM2A gene
      exon 1) and rs2075783 loci (GM2A intron), respectively, were significantly higher
      in the NEC group compared with the control group (chi(2)=4.316, P=0.038; and
      chi(2)=13.717, P=0.000, respectively). In addition, the rs11465996 polymorphism
      in the MD-2 gene promoter region was found to be associated with the severity of
      NEC. Furthermore, the rs2075783 polymorphism in the GM2A gene exon 1 and the
      rs1048719 polymorphism in the intron region of this gene, were associated with
      the occurrence of NEC. The present study demonstrated that gene polymorphisms of
      MD-2 and GM2A were associated with the occurrence or severity of NEC; however,
      further in-depth exploration is required to clarify the associations between
      genetic predispositions to polymorphisms, and NEC.

PMID- 25816013
TI  - Identification and validation of novel chromosomal integration and expression
      loci in Escherichia coli flagellar region 1.
AB  - Escherichia coli is used as a chassis for a number of Synthetic Biology
      applications. The lack of suitable chromosomal integration and expression loci is
      among the main hurdles of the E. coli engineering efforts. We identified and
      validated chromosomal integration and expression target sites within E. coli K12
      MG1655 flagellar region 1. We analyzed five open reading frames of the flagellar
      region 1, flgA, flgF, flgG, flgI, and flgJ, that are well-conserved among
      commonly-used E. coli strains, such as MG1655, W3110, DH10B and BL21-DE3. The
      efficiency of the integration into the E. coli chromosome and the expression of
      the introduced genetic circuit at the investigated loci varied significantly. The
      integrations did not have a negative impact on growth; however, they completely
      abolished motility. From the investigated E. coli K12 MG1655 flagellar region 1,
      flgA and flgG are the most suitable chromosomal integration and expression loci. 

PMID- 25816012
TI  - Concerted activity of IgG1 antibodies and IL-4/IL-25-dependent effector cells
      trap helminth larvae in the tissues following vaccination with defined secreted
      antigens, providing sterile immunity to challenge infection.
AB  - Over 25% of the world's population are infected with helminth parasites, the
      majority of which colonise the gastrointestinal tract. However, no vaccine is yet
      available for human use, and mechanisms of protective immunity remain unclear. In
      the mouse model of Heligmosomoides polygyrus infection, vaccination with
      excretory-secretory (HES) antigens from adult parasites elicits sterilising
      immunity. Notably, three purified HES antigens (VAL-1, -2 and -3) are sufficient
      for effective vaccination. Protection is fully dependent upon specific IgG1
      antibodies, but passive transfer confers only partial immunity to infection,
      indicating that cellular components are also required. Moreover, immune mice show
      greater cellular infiltration associated with trapping of larvae in the gut wall
      prior to their maturation. Intra-vital imaging of infected intestinal tissue
      revealed a four-fold increase in extravasation by LysM+GFP+ myeloid cells in
      vaccinated mice, and the massing of these cells around immature larvae. Mice
      deficient in FcRgamma chain or C3 complement component remain fully immune,
      suggesting that in the presence of antibodies that directly neutralise parasite
      molecules, the myeloid compartment may attack larvae more quickly and
      effectively. Immunity to challenge infection was compromised in IL-4Ralpha- and
      IL-25-deficient mice, despite levels of specific antibody comparable to immune
      wild-type controls, while deficiencies in basophils, eosinophils or mast cells or
      CCR2-dependent inflammatory monocytes did not diminish immunity. Finally, we
      identify a suite of previously uncharacterised heat-labile vaccine antigens with
      homologs in human and veterinary parasites that together promote full immunity.
      Taken together, these data indicate that vaccine-induced immunity to intestinal
      helminths involves IgG1 antibodies directed against secreted proteins acting in
      concert with IL-25-dependent Type 2 myeloid effector populations.

PMID- 25816014
TI  - Anatomical confirmation of computed tomography-based diagnosis of the
      atherosclerosis discovered in 17th century Korean mummy.
AB  - In the present study on a newly discovered 17th century Korean mummy, computed
      tomography (CT) revealed multiple aortic calcifications within the aortic wall
      that were indicative of ancient atherosclerosis. The CT-based findings were
      confirmed by our subsequent post-factum dissection, which exhibited possible
      signs of the disease including ulcerated plaques, ruptured hemorrhages, and
      intimal thickening where the necrotic core was covered by the fibrous cap. These
      findings are strong indicators that the mummy suffered from aortic
      atherosclerosis during her lifetime. The present study is a good example of how
      CT images of vascular calcifications can be a useful diagnostic tool in forming
      at least preliminary diagnoses of ancient atherosclerosis. 

PMID- 25816015
TI  - The impact of immunosenescence on humoral immune response variation after
      influenza A/H1N1 vaccination in older subjects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although influenza causes significant morbidity and mortality in the
      elderly, the factors underlying the reduced vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy
      in this age group are not completely understood. Age and immunosenescence
      factors, and their impact on humoral immunity after influenza vaccination, are of
      growing interest for the development of better vaccines for the elderly. METHODS:
      We assessed associations between age and immunosenescence markers (T cell
      receptor rearrangement excision circles - TREC content, peripheral white blood
      cell telomerase - TERT expression and CD28 expression on T cells) and influenza
      A/H1N1 vaccine-induced measures of humoral immunity in 106 older subjects at
      baseline and three timepoints post-vaccination. RESULTS: TERT activity (TERT mRNA
      expression) was significantly positively correlated with the observed increase in
      the influenza-specific memory B cell ELISPOT response at Day 28 compared to
      baseline (p-value=0.025). TREC levels were positively correlated with the
      baseline and early (Day 3) influenza A/H1N1-specific memory B cell ELISPOT
      response (p-value=0.042 and p-value=0.035, respectively). The expression and/or
      expression change of CD28 on CD4+ and/or CD8+ T cells at baseline and Day 3 was
      positively correlated with the influenza A/H1N1-specific memory B cell ELISPOT
      response at baseline, Day 28 and Day 75 post-vaccination. In a multivariable
      analysis, the peak antibody response (HAI and/or VNA at Day 28) was negatively
      associated with age, the percentage of CD8+CD28 low T cells, IgD+CD27- naive B
      cells, and percentage overall CD20- B cells and plasmablasts, measured at Day 3
      post-vaccination. The early change in influenza-specific memory B cell ELISPOT
      response was positively correlated with the observed increase in influenza A/H1N1
      specific HAI antibodies at Day 28 and Day 75 relative to baseline (p-value=0.007
      and p-value=0.005, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that influenza
      specific humoral immunity is significantly influenced by age, and that specific
      markers of immunosenescence (e.g., the baseline/early expression of CD28 on CD4+
      and/or CD8+ T cells and T cell immune abnormalities) are correlated with
      different humoral immune response outcomes observed after vaccination in older
      individuals, and thus can be potentially used to predict vaccine immunogenicity.

PMID- 25816016
TI  - Folate receptor-alpha (FOLR1) expression and function in triple negative tumors.
AB  - Folate receptor alpha (FOLR1) has been identified as a potential prognostic and
      therapeutic target in a number of cancers. A correlation has been shown between
      intense overexpression of FOLR1 in breast tumors and poor prognosis, yet there is
      limited examination of the distribution of FOLR1 across clinically relevant
      breast cancer subtypes. To explore this further, we used RNA-seq data from
      multiple patient cohorts to analyze the distribution of FOLR1 mRNA across breast
      cancer subtypes comprised of estrogen receptor positive (ER+), human epidermal
      growth factor receptor positive (HER2+), and triple negative (TNBC) tumors. FOLR1
      expression varied within breast tumor subtypes; triple negative/basal tumors were
      significantly associated with increased expression of FOLR1 mRNA, compared to ER+
      and HER2+ tumors. However, subsets of high level FOLR1 expressing tumors were
      observed in all clinical subtypes. These observations were supported by
      immunohistochemical analysis of tissue microarrays, with the largest number of 3+
      positive tumors and highest H-scores of any subtype represented by triple
      negatives, and lowest by ER+ tumors. FOLR1 expression did not correlate to common
      clinicopathological parameters such as tumor stage and nodal status. To delineate
      the importance of FOLR1 overexpression in triple negative cancers, RNA
      interference was used to deplete FOLR1 in overexpressing triple negative cell
      breast lines. Loss of FOLR1 resulted in growth inhibition, whereas FOLR1
      overexpression promoted folate uptake and growth advantage in low folate
      conditions. Taken together, our data suggests patients with triple negative
      cancers expressing high FOLR1 expression represent an important population of
      patients that may benefit from targeted anti-FOLR1 therapy. This may prove
      particularly helpful for a large number of patients who would typically be
      classified as triple negative and who to this point have been left without any
      targeted treatment options. 

PMID- 25816018
TI  - Retraction Note: Novel two-stage surgical treatment for Cantrell syndrome
      complicated by severe pulmonary hypertension: a case report.

PMID- 25816017
TI  - Retinal vascular fractal dimension, childhood IQ, and cognitive ability in old
      age: the Lothian Birth Cohort Study 1936.
AB  - PURPOSE: Cerebral microvascular disease is associated with dementia. Differences
      in the topography of the retinal vascular network may be a marker for
      cerebrovascular disease. The association between cerebral microvascular state and
      non-pathological cognitive ageing is less clear, particularly because studies are
      rarely able to adjust for pre-morbid cognitive ability level. We measured retinal
      vascular fractal dimension (Df) as a potential marker of cerebral microvascular
      disease. We examined the extent to which it contributes to differences in non
      pathological cognitive ability in old age, after adjusting for childhood mental
      ability. METHODS: Participants from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 Study (LBC1936)
      had cognitive ability assessments and retinal photographs taken of both eyes aged
      around 73 years (n = 648). IQ scores were available from childhood. Retinal
      vascular Df was calculated with monofractal and multifractal analysis, performed
      on custom-written software. Multiple regression models were applied to determine
      associations between retinal vascular Df and general cognitive ability (g),
      processing speed, and memory. RESULTS: Only three out of 24 comparisons (two eyes
      * four Df parameters * three cognitive measures) were found to be significant.
      This is little more than would be expected by chance. No single association was
      verified by an equivalent association in the contralateral eye. CONCLUSIONS: The
      results show little evidence that fractal measures of retinal vascular
      differences are associated with non-pathological cognitive ageing.

PMID- 25816019
TI  - In-stent restenosis because of nickel hypersensitivity: a bioresorbable solution?

PMID- 25816020
TI  - Acute and chronic total occlusion of the left circumflex artery following
      unprotected left main stenting: two contrasting cases.

PMID- 25816021
TI  - FOCUS--Development of a Global Communication and Modeling Platform for Applied
      and Computational Medicinal Chemists.
AB  - Communication of data and ideas within a medicinal chemistry project on a global
      as well as local level is a crucial aspect in the drug design cycle. Over a time
      frame of eight years, we built and optimized FOCUS, a platform to produce,
      visualize, and share information on various aspects of a drug discovery project
      such as cheminformatics, data analysis, structural information, and design. FOCUS
      is tightly integrated with internal services that involve-among others-data
      retrieval systems and in-silico models and provides easy access to automated
      modeling procedures such as pharmacophore searches, R-group analysis, and
      similarity searches. In addition, an interactive 3D editor was developed to
      assist users in the generation and docking of close analogues of a known lead. In
      this paper, we will specifically concentrate on issues we faced during
      development, deployment, and maintenance of the software and how we continually
      adapted the software in order to improve usability. We will provide usage
      examples to highlight the functionality as well as limitations of FOCUS at the
      various stages of the development process. We aim to make the discussion as
      independent of the software platform as possible, so that our experiences can be
      of more general value to the drug discovery community. 

PMID- 25816022
TI  - Calcium oxalate crystals: an integral component of the Sclerotinia
      sclerotiorum/Brassica carinata pathosystem.
AB  - Oxalic acid is an important virulence factor for disease caused by the fungal
      necrotrophic pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, yet calcium oxalate (CaOx)
      crystals have not been widely reported. B. carinata stems were infected with S.
      sclerotiorum and observed using light microscopy. Six hours post inoculation
      (hpi), CaOx crystals were evident on 46% of stem sections and by 72 hpi on 100%,
      demonstrating that the secretion of oxalic acid by S. sclerotiorum commences
      before hyphal penetration. This is the first time CaOx crystals have been
      reported on B. carinata infected with S. sclerotiorum. The shape of crystals
      varied as infection progressed. Long tetragonal rods were dominant 12 hpi (68% of
      crystal-containing samples), but by 72 hpi, 50% of stems displayed bipyramidal
      crystals, and only 23% had long rods. Scanning electron microscopy from 24 hpi
      revealed CaOx crystals in all samples, ranging from tiny irregular crystals (<
      0.5 MUm) to large (up to 40 MUm) highly organized arrangements. Crystal
      morphology encompassed various forms, including tetragonal prisms, oval plates,
      crystal sand, and druses. Large conglomerates of CaOx crystals were observed in
      the hyphal mass 72 hpi and these are proposed as a strategy of the fungus to hold
      and detoxify Ca2+ions. The range of crystal morphologies suggests that S.
      sclerotiorum growth and infection controls the form taken by CaOx crystals. 

PMID- 25816023
TI  - Comparative analysis of the influence of Fructus Ligustri Lucidi on a rat lumbar
      disc herniation model.
AB  - Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is a term used for a group of conditions, including
      back pain, femoral nerve pain and sciatica. Currently available treatments and
      surgical options are insufficient for patients with LDH. Fructus Ligustri Lucidi
      (FLL) is a herb that is used for treating age-associated diseases. The results of
      the present study suggested that FLL may be used for treatment of patients with
      LDH. In the present study, matrix metalloproteinase-1, -3, -8 and -9 (MMP-1, -3, 
      8 and -9) protein and mRNA expression downregulation was observed in patients
      with LDH according to western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative
      polymerase chain reaction. By contrast, upregulation of interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL
      6, IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) expression was observed in
      patients with LDH, according to an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Mechanical
      allodynia was observed in rats with LDH not treated with FLL; however, not in FLL
      treated rats. IL-2, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-alpha expression levels in the serum from
      untreated rats were significantly higher than that of the FLL-treated rat models.
      Protein expression levels of MMPs in FLL-treated rats were lower than those in
      untreated rats. However, the mechanisms underlying the association between FLL
      and protein expression levels require further investigation.

PMID- 25816024
TI  - Predominant virulent IbA10G2 subtype of Cryptosporidium hominis in human isolates
      in Barcelona: a five-year study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cryptosporidium infection is a worldwide cause of diarrheal disease.
      To gain insight into the epidemiology of the infection in a certain geographic
      area, molecular methods are needed to determine the species/genotypes and
      subtypes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: From 2004 to 2009, 161
      cryptosporidiosis cases were detected in two hospitals in Barcelona. Diagnosis
      was performed by microscopic observation of oocysts in stool specimens following
      modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining. Most cases (82%) occurred in children. The
      number of cases increased in summer and autumn. Molecular characterization of
      Cryptosporidium was performed in 69 specimens, and C. hominis and C. parvum were
      identified in 88.4% and 10.1% of the cases, respectively. C. meleagridis was
      detected in one specimen. Subtyping based on the gp60 polymorphism showed six
      subtypes, four C. hominis and two C. parvum. Subtype IbA10G2 was the most
      prevalent subtype corresponding to 90% of all C. hominis isolates. This is the
      first report on the distribution of specific Cryptosporidium subtypes from humans
      in Spain. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In our geographic area, the anthroponotic
      behavior of C. hominis, the lower infective dose, and the higher virulence of
      certain subtypes may contribute to the high incidence of human cryptosporidiosis
      caused by the IbA10G2 subtype. Further studies should include populations with
      asymptomatic shedding of the parasite.

PMID- 25816025
TI  - Urinary CXCL1: a novel predictor of IgA nephropathy progression.
AB  - BACKGROUND: IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common form of primary
      glomerulonephritis worldwide. In recent years, consistent efforts have been made
      to develop new non-invasive biomarkers for IgAN progression. In our previous in
      vitro study we found mesangial derived CXCL1 as a contributor for kidney injury,
      and observed higher urinary CXCL1 levels in patients with IgAN. It implied that
      the urinary CXCL1 might be a potential biomarker. METHODS: In the present study,
      we enrolled 425 IgAN patients with follow-up data and detected their urinary
      CXCL1 levels at the time of renal biopsy, to explore the predictive value of
      urinary CXCL1 in IgAN progression. Urinary CXCL1 levels were measured using
      enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Urinary CXCL1 levels were associated
      with presently well established predictors of IgAN progression, including SBP (r
      = 0.138, p = 0.004), DBP (r = 0.114, p = 0.019), proteinuria (r = 0.155, p =
      0.001), eGFR (r = -0.259, p<0.001) and tubular atrophy and interstitial fibrosis
      (r = 0.181, p<0.001). After adjusted for them, higher levels of urinary CXCL1
      were independently associated with a greater risk of deterioration in renal
      function (HR, per s.d. increment of natural log-transformed CXCL1: 1.748; 95% CI:
      1.222-2.499, P = 0.002). Furthermore, time-dependent receiver operating
      characteristic (ROC) curve showed that urinary CXCL1, when combined with
      proteinuria and eGFR, could enhance the prognostic value of these traditional
      predictors for IgAN progression. CONCLUSIONS: The results in our present study
      suggested urinary CXCL1 as a new non-invasive predictor of IgAN progression.

PMID- 25816026
TI  - Severe cholestatic hepatitis due to temozolomide: an adverse drug effect to keep
      in mind. Case report and review of literature.
AB  - Temozolomide is the current standard of therapy for postoperative patients with
      glioblastoma starting adjuvant radiotherapy. Hematologic adverse events are the
      most frequent side effects of temozolomide, while liver toxicity has been
      reported only in the post-marketing period. Here we report a case of severe
      temozolomide-induced liver injury during concurrent radiotherapy treatment, at a
      dose level of 75 mg/m2. The aim of this case report is to focus on the problems
      of temozolomide-induced hepatotoxicity. In conclusion, a close monitoring of
      liver function tests is recommended during treatment with temozolomide.

PMID- 25816027
TI  - Road accident due to a pancreatic insulinoma: a case report.
AB  - Insulinoma is a rare pancreatic endocrine tumor, typically sporadic and solitary.
      Although the Whipple triad, consisting of hypoglycemia, neuroglycopenic symptoms,
      and symptoms relief with glucose administration, is often present, the diagnosis
      may be challenging when symptoms are less typical. We report a case of road
      accident due to an episode of loss of consciousness in a patient with pancreatic
      insulinoma. In the previous months, the patient had occasionally reported
      nonspecific symptoms. During hospitalization, endocrine examinations were
      compatible with an insulin-producing tumor. Abdominal computerized tomography and
      magnetic resonance imaging allowed us to identify and localize the tumor. The
      patient underwent a robotic distal pancreatectomy with partial omentectomy and
      splenectomy. Insulin-producing tumors may go undetected for a long period due to
      nonspecific clinical symptoms, and may cause episodes of loss of consciousness
      with potentially lethal consequences. Robot-assisted procedures can be performed
      with the same techniques of the traditional surgery, reducing surgical trauma,
      intraoperative blood loss, and hospital stays.

PMID- 25816028
TI  - Safe contrast volumes for preventing contrast-induced nephropathy in elderly
      patients with relatively normal renal function during percutaneous coronary
      intervention.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate contrast media volume to creatinine
      clearance (V/CrCl) ratio for predicting contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) and to
      determine a safe V/CrCl cut off value to avoid CIN in elderly patients with
      relatively normal renal function during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
      We prospectively enrolled 1020 consecutive elderly patients (age >=65 years) with
      relative normal renal function (baseline serum creatinine <1.5 mg/dL) undergoing
      PCI. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to identify the
      optimal cut off value of V/CrCl for detecting CIN. The predictive value of V/CrCl
      for CIN was assessed with a multivariate logistic regression. Thirty-nine
      patients (3.8%) developed CIN. There was a significant association between a
      higher V/CrCl ratio and CIN risk (P < 0.001). ROC curve analysis indicated that a
      V/CrCl ratio of 2.74 was a fair discriminator for CIN (C statistic = 0.68). After
      adjusting for other known CIN risk factors, V/CrCl ratios >2.74 remained
      significantly associated with CIN (odds ratio = 3.21, 95% confidence interval
      [CI] 1.45-7.09, P = 0.004) and worse long-term mortality (hazard ratio = 1.96,
      95% CI 1.14-3.38, P = 0.016). A V/CrCl ratio >2.74 was a significant independent
      predictor of CIN and was independently associated with long-term mortality in
      elderly patients with relatively normal renal function.

PMID- 25816029
TI  - Improving hospital discharge time: a successful implementation of Six Sigma
      methodology.
AB  - Delays in discharging patients can impact hospital and emergency department (ED)
      throughput. The discharge process is complex and involves setting specific
      challenges that limit generalizability of solutions. The aim of this study was to
      assess the effectiveness of using Six Sigma methods to improve the patient
      discharge process. This is a quantitative pre and post-intervention study. Three
      hundred and eighty-six bed tertiary care hospital. A series of Six Sigma driven
      interventions over a 10-month period. The primary outcome was discharge time
      (time from discharge order to patient leaving the room). Secondary outcome
      measures included percent of patients whose discharge order was written before
      noon, percent of patients leaving the room by noon, hospital length of stay
      (LOS), and LOS of admitted ED patients. Discharge time decreased by 22.7% from
      2.2 hours during the preintervention period to 1.7 hours post-intervention (P <
      0.001). A greater proportion of patients left their room before noon in the
      postintervention period (P < 0.001), though there was no statistical difference
      in before noon discharge. Hospital LOS dropped from 3.4 to 3.1 days
      postintervention (P < 0.001). ED mean LOS of patients admitted to the hospital
      was significantly lower in the postintervention period (6.9 +/- 7.8 vs 5.9 +/-
      7.7 hours; P < 0.001). Six Sigma methodology can be an effective change
      management tool to improve discharge time. The focus of institutions aspiring to
      tackle delays in the discharge process should be on adopting the core principles
      of Six Sigma rather than specific interventions that may be institution-specific.

PMID- 25816030
TI  - Quality appraisal of clinical practice guidelines on pancreatic cancer: a PRISMA
      compliant article.
AB  - Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) play an important role in health care. The
      guideline development process should be precise and rigorous to ensure that the
      results are reproducible and not vague. To determine the quality of guidelines,
      the Appraisal of Guidelines and Research and Evaluation (AGREE) instrument was
      developed and introduced. The objective of this study is to assess the
      methodological quality of CPGs on pancreatic cancer. Five databases (included
      MEDLINE and EMBASE) and guideline websites were searched till April, 2014. The
      methodological quality of the guidelines was assessed by 4 authors independently
      using the AGREE II instrument. From 2526 citations, 21 relevant guidelines were
      included. The overall agreement among reviewers was moderate (intraclass
      correlation coefficient = 0.86, 95% confidence interval 0.64-0.96). The mean
      scores were moderate for the domains "scope and purpose" and "clarity of
      presentation"; however, they were low for the domains "stakeholder involvement"
      (31.22), "rigor of development", "applicability", and "editorial independence".
      These domain scores were lower when compared with international levels. There are
      5 (23.81%) guidelines that described the systematic methods for searching.
      Moreover, only 5 (23.81%) guidelines reported that methodological expertise were
      included in the guideline developing teams. The quality and transparency of the
      development process and the consistency in the reporting of pancreatic cancer
      guidelines need to be improved. Many other methodological disadvantages were
      identified. In the future, pancreatic cancer CPGs should base on the best
      available evidence rigorously developed and reported. Greater efforts are needed
      to provide high-quality guidelines that serve as a useful and reliable tool for
      clinical decision making in this field.

PMID- 25816031
TI  - Trunk restraint therapy: the continuous use of the harness could promote feedback
      dependence in poststroke patients: a randomized trial.
AB  - The objective of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects of the task
      specific training with trunk restraint compared with the free one in poststroke
      reaching movements. The design was randomized trial. The setting was University
      of Campinas (Unicamp). Twenty hemiparetic chronic stroke patients were selected
      and randomized into 2 training groups: trunk restraint group (TRG) (reaching
      training with trunk restraint) and trunk free group (TFG) (unrestraint reaching).
      Twenty sessions with 45 minutes of training were accomplished. The patients were
      evaluated in pretreatment (PRE), posttreatment (POST) and 3 months after the
      completed training (RET) (follow-up). Main outcome measures were modified
      Ashworth scale, Barthel index, Fugl-Meyer scale, and kinematic analysis (movement
      trajectory, velocity, angles). A significant improvement, which maintained in the
      RET test, was found in the motor (P < 0.001) and functional (P = 0.001) clinical
      assessments for both groups. For trunk displacement, only TFG obtained a
      reduction statistical significance from PRE to the POST test (P = 0.002),
      supporting this result in the RET test. Despite both groups presenting a
      significant increase in the shoulder horizontal adduction (P = 0.003), only TRG
      showed a significant improvement in the shoulder (P = 0.001--PRE to POST and RET)
      and elbow (P = 0.038--PRE to RET) flexion extension, and in the velocity rate (P
      = 0.03--PRE to RET). The trunk restraint therapy showed to be a long-term
      effective treatment in the enhancement of shoulder and elbow active joint range
      and velocity rate but not in the maintenance of trunk retention. Trial
      registration: NCT02364141.

PMID- 25816032
TI  - Solid serous cystadenoma of the pancreas: a case report of 2 patients revealing
      vimentin, beta-catenin, alpha-1 antitrypsin, and alpha-1 antichymotrypsin as new
      immunohistochemistry staining markers.
AB  - Solid serous cystadenoma (SCA) of the pancreas is a rare type of pancreatic solid
      tumors. Postoperative pathological evaluation is of particular importance for
      distinguishing solid SCA of the pancreas from other pancreatic solid tumors. Here
      we present 2 cases of solid SCA of the pancreas, both preoperatively diagnosed
      with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. One case had positive OctreoScan test.
      Surgical resections were done for both cases. Postoperative immunohistochemistry
      assays were conducted with marker panels for SCA and 2 types of pancreatic solid
      tumors, which were neuroendocrine tumor (pNET) and solid pseudopapillary tumor
      (SPT). Two cases showed typical staining patterns for SCA markers. Notably, both
      cases showed positivity for 4 SPT markers (vimentin, beta-catenin, alpha-1
      antitrypsin, and alpha-1 antichymotrypsin). Emphasis should be paid to those 4
      new markers for future pathological diagnosis of solid SCA of the pancreas.

PMID- 25816033
TI  - Simulated activity but real trauma: a systematic review on Nintendo Wii injuries
      based on a case report of an acute anterior cruciate ligament rupture.
AB  - Video gaming injuries are classically regarded as eccentric accidents and novelty
      diagnoses. A case of an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear sustained during
      Wii boxing spurned us to review the literature for other Wii-related injuries and
      Wii-based posttraumatic rehabilitation. The English literature listed in PubMed
      was systematically reviewed by searching for "Wii (trauma or injury or
      fracture)." Full-text articles were included after duplicate, blinded review. The
      type and treatment of injury as well as the Wii-based rehabilitation programs
      found were analyzed. Additionally, a new case of an acute ACL tear-sustained
      playing, Wii boxing, is additionally presented. After exclusion of irrelevant
      articles, 13 articles describing Wii-related injuries were included reporting on
      3 fractures, 6 nonosseous, 2 overuse injuries, and 2 rehabilitation programs
      using Wii for posttraumatic rehabilitation. Among the presented Wii-related
      injuries, only 12.5% were treated conservatively, whereas 87.5% underwent either
      surgical or interventional treatment. Because of the reported case, the
      literature search was limited to Wii-related injuries excluding other video
      games. Another limitation of this article lies in the fact that mainly case
      reports but no controlled trials exist on the topic. Assumingly, primarily the
      more severe injuries are reported in the literature with an unknown number of
      possibly minor injuries. Motion-controlled video games, such as Wii, are becoming
      increasingly popular as a recreational entertainment. Because of their wide
      acceptance and entertaining nature, they are also increasingly recognized as a
      tool in rehabilitation. However, although the activity is simulated, injuries are
      real. Our systematic review shows that Wii gaming can lead to severe injuries,
      sometimes with lasting limitations.

PMID- 25816034
TI  - Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease as a risk factor of arterial stiffness measured
      by the cardioankle vascular index.
AB  - Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with risk factors for
      cardiovascular disease. The cardioankle vascular index (CAVI), a new measure of
      arterial stiffness, was recently developed and is independent of blood pressure.
      We investigated whether NAFLD is associated with arterial stiffness as measured
      using the CAVI in an apparently healthy population.A total of 2954 subjects
      without any known liver diseases were enrolled. NAFLD was diagnosed via typical
      ultrasonography. The clinical characteristics examined included age, sex, body
      mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and the levels of aspartate
      aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, total cholesterol, high-density
      lipoprotein-cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol triglycerides, and
      glucose. Arterial stiffness was defined using an age- and sex-specific threshold
      of the upper quartile of the CAVI.NAFLD was found in 1249 (42.3%) of the analyzed
      subjects. Using an age-, sex-, and BMI-adjusted model, NAFLD was associated with
      a 42% increase in the risk for arterial stiffness (highest quartile of the CAVI).
      The risk for arterial stiffness increased according to the severity of NAFLD
      (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.27 [1.02 - 1.57] vs 1.78 [1.37 
      2.31], mild vs moderate-to-severe, respectively). When adjusted for other risk
      factors, including BMI, WC, smoking status, diabetes, and hypertension, these
      relationships remained statistically significant.Patients with NAFLD are at a
      high risk for arterial stiffness regardless of classical risk factors. The
      presence of cardiometabolic risk factors may attenuate the prediction of arterial
      stiffness by means of NAFLD presence. Thus, physicians should carefully assess
      subjects with NAFLD for atherosclerosis and associated comorbidities. 

PMID- 25816035
TI  - Serum Golgi protein 73 (GP73) is a diagnostic and prognostic marker of chronic
      HBV liver disease.
AB  - Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is the most commonly used marker of liver injury,
      but normal ALT levels are seen in a proportion of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV)
      infected patients with severe liver injury. Golgi protein 73 (GP73) is a
      promising alternative marker of liver injury. This study assessed the relation
      between GP73 levels and liver disease severity, monitored the kinetic changes in
      GP73 levels in chronic HBV patients receiving entecavir (ETV) therapy, and
      investigated the potential diagnostic and prognostic values of serum GP73 as a
      new liver injury biomarker in chronic HBV infections. This study enrolled 1150
      patients with chronic HBV infections, 200 of whom were retrospectively enrolled
      in this study after receiving 1 year of ETV treatment. GP73 expression in liver
      tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry. GP73 levels in single or serial
      serum samples were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
      Immunohistochemical analysis indicated that GP73 protein expression in the liver
      increased progressively with pathologic progression from nonexistent or mild
      hepatitis to severe hepatitis and cirrhosis during chronic HBV infection. Serum
      GP73 levels were positively correlated with the disease severity of chronic HBV
      infections (r = 0.58, P < 0.001). In patients with normal ALT levels, serum GP73
      concentrations were significantly higher in patients with prominent hepatic
      inflammatory injury and fibrosis than in patients without hepatic inflammatory
      injury or fibrosis. Serum GP73 concentrations and GP73 protein expression were
      decreased in the liver tissues of patients whose ALT levels normalized after 1
      year of ETV antiviral therapy. Changes in serum GP73 levels were closely
      associated with changes in liver injury severity, and, therefore, GP73 may be an
      effective new liver inflammatory injury biomarker, and could be useful for
      monitoring the prognosis of chronic HBV infectious patients with normal ALT
      levels.

PMID- 25816036
TI  - TNM staging of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: an observational analysis and
      comparison by both AJCC and ENETS systems from 1 single institution.
AB  - We aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics and compare the surgical outcome
      of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (p-NETs) using the 2 tumor-node-metastasis
      (TNM) systems by both the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Staging
      Manual (seventh edition) and the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS).
      Moreover, we sought to validate the prognostic value of the new AJCC criterion.
      Data of 145 consecutive patients who were all surgically treated and
      histologically diagnosed as p-NETs from January 2002 to June 2013 in our single
      institution were retrospectively collected and analyzed. The 5-year overall
      survival (OS) rates for AJCC classifications of stages I, II, III, and IV were
      79.5%, 63.1%, 15.0%, and NA, respectively, (P < 0.005). As for the ENETS system,
      the OS rates at 5 years for stages I, II, III, and IV were 75.5%, 72.7%, 29.0%,
      and NA, respectively, (P < 0.005). Both criteria present no statistically notable
      difference between stage I and stage II (P > 0.05) but between stage I and stages
      III and IV (P < 0.05), as well as those between stage II and stages III and IV (P
      < 0.05). Difference between stage III and IV by ENETS was significant (P =
      0.031), whereas that by the AJCC was not (P = 0.144). What's more, the AJCC
      Staging Manual (seventh edition) was statistically significant in both uni- and
      multivariate analyses by Cox regression (P < 0.005 and P = 0.025, respectively).
      Our study indicated that the ENETS TNM staging system might be superior to the
      AJCC Staging Manual (seventh edition) for the clinical practice of p-NETs.
      Together with tumor grade and radical resection, the new AJCC system was also
      validated to be an independent predictor for p-NETs.

PMID- 25816037
TI  - Characteristics of lumbar disc herniation with exacerbation of presentation due
      to spinal manipulative therapy.
AB  - The aim of this article was to delineate the characteristics of lumbar disc
      herniation (LDH) in patients with exacerbation of symptoms caused by spinal
      manipulative therapy (SMT). The main emphasis should be on the prevention of this
      condition by identifying relevant risk factors. Detailed clinico-radiological
      profiles of a total number of 10 LDH patients with exacerbation of presentation
      after SMT were reviewed. All the patients underwent neurological and magnetic
      resonance imaging examinations. Laminectomy and discectomy were performed, and
      follow-up was carried out in all patients. The duration of symptoms in the
      patients before SMT was 4-15 years. After the therapy, an acute exacerbation of
      back and radicular pain was observed within 24 h. Magnetic resonance imaging
      showed that L4-L5 was the most frequently affected level observed (7 patients),
      and each patient had a large disc fragment in the spinal canal. The disc
      fragments were classified into 3 types according to their localizations. The time
      internal between the exacerbation of presentation and surgery was 23.1 days. No
      perioperative complications were noted. All the patients were relieved of
      radicular pain a few days after surgery. During postoperative follow-up, all
      patients regained the ability to walk; one patient received catheterization for 1
      month and another for 6 months. Eight patients reported a complete resolution of
      presentation and the rest 2 patients were significantly improved. SMT should be
      prohibited in some LDH patients to prevent neurological damages, in whom there
      are 5 possible risk factors. Surgical results for these patients are encouraging.

PMID- 25816038
TI  - Medium-based noninvasive preimplantation genetic diagnosis for human alpha
      thalassemias-SEA.
AB  - To develop a noninvasive medium-based preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)
      test for alpha-thalassemias-SEA. The embryos of alpha-thalassemia-SEA carriers
      undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) were cultured. Single cells were biopsied
      from blastomeres and subjected to fluorescent gap polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
      analysis; the spent culture media that contained embryo genomic DNA and
      corresponding blastocysts as verification were subjected to quantitative-PCR (Q
      PCR) detection of alpha-thalassemia-SEA. The diagnosis efficiency and allele
      dropout (ADO) ratio were calculated, and the cell-free DNA concentration was
      quantitatively assessed in the culture medium. The diagnosis efficiency of medium
      based alpha-thalassemias-SEA detection significantly increased compared with that
      of biopsy-based fluorescent gap PCR analysis (88.6% vs 82.1%, P < 0.05). There is
      no significant difference regarding ADO ratio between them. The optimal time for
      medium-based alpha-thalassemias-SEA detection is Day 5 (D5) following IVF. Medium
      based alpha-thalassemias-SEA detection could represent a novel, quick, and
      noninvasive approach for carriers to undergo IVF and PGD.

PMID- 25816039
TI  - Epidemiology and long-term survival in HIV-infected patients with Pneumocystis
      jirovecii pneumonia in the HAART era: experience in a university hospital and
      review of the literature.
AB  - As highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) is widely available, the
      incidence of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) has decreased significantly
      but still represents a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in developed
      countries. We analyzed all the cases with PJP in human immunodeficiency virus
      (HIV)-infected patients from 2000 to 2013 in a university hospital in Barcelona,
      Spain, and conducted a systematic literature review to evaluate data regarding
      incidence, mortality, and long-term survival after PJP in developed settings. One
      hundred thirty-six episodes of PJP were analyzed. During the study period, the
      incidence decreased significantly (from 13.4 cases/1000 patients-year to 3.3
      cases/1000 patients-year, P < 0.001). Oppositely, median age of the patients
      increased from 34 years in 2000 to 45 in 2013 (P = 0.024). PJP preceded HIV
      diagnosis in nearly 50% of the cases. Fifteen (11%) patients died during the PJP
      episode. The main risk factor for in-hospital mortality in our cohort was age >50
      years (odds ratio 4.96, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.45-15.14). Patients who
      survived were followed-up during a mean time of 44 months. Overall 5-year
      survival of patients after hospital discharge was 73%. Survival likelihood was
      54% higher (88% [95% CI 81-96]) among HAART-adherent patients. Mean age and the
      proportion of patients with unknown HIV infection at the time of PJP diagnosis
      have increased in developed countries in the HAART era. Although the incidence
      has decreased, in-hospital mortality remains stable in this setting. Long-term
      survival is very high among HAART-adherent patients.

PMID- 25816040
TI  - Clinicopathological features and prognostic factors of young patients with
      surgically treated liver cancer.
AB  - This article compares the clinical characteristics and prognosis of young
      patients in different age groups with liver cancer (LC). In this retrospective
      study, we searched the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results population
      based database and identified 2641 patients who had been diagnosed with LC
      between 1988 and 2005. These patients were categorized into 2 different age
      ranges: Group 1 (<=35 years) and Group 2 (36-45 years). Five-year cancer-specific
      survival (CSS) data were obtained. Kaplan-Meier methods and multivariable Cox
      regression models were used to analyze the long-term survival outcomes and risk
      factors. There were significant differences between the age groups for stage and
      tumor size (P < 0.001). The 5-year liver CSS rate was 20.4% and 14.5%,
      respectively (P < 0.001). Univariate and multivariate analysis also confirmed the
      difference (P < 0.001). Further analysis showed that this significant difference
      existed in localized, regional, and distant-stage patients. Young patients with
      LC of age 18 to 45 years are inherently heterogeneous. Patients aged <=35 years
      have better CSS than those aged 36 to 45 years, despite exhibiting unfavorable
      clinicopathological characteristics.

PMID- 25816041
TI  - Cardiovascular dysfunction due to sympathetic hypoactivity after complete
      cervical spinal cord injury: a case report and literature review.
AB  - Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most devastating of all traumatic events;
      it may cause permanent dysfunction in several organ systems and lead to motor and
      sensory impairment. Cardiovascular dysfunction has been recognized to be the
      leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the acute and chronic stages
      following SCI. Although cardiovascular dysfunction causes the deaths of many SCI
      patients, most clinicians are unfamiliar with the phenomenon. The purpose of
      reporting our case is to remind clinicians to consider the possibility of
      cardiovascular dysfunction in patients with complete SCI. The patient signed
      informed consent for publication of this case report and any accompanying image.
      The ethical approval of this study was waived by the ethics committee of the
      Chonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju, Korea, because this study was a
      case report and the number of patients was <3. A 63-year-old man was transferred
      to our emergency room after a fall. He complained of weakness and numbness of the
      lower extremity. Radiologic evaluation revealed C7/T1 unilateral facet
      dislocation with spinal cord contusion. On neurologic examination, the patient
      exhibited a paraplegic state below the T4 dermatome because of complete SCI. His
      vital signs were stable, but respiration was shallow. We performed intraoperative
      manual reduction and anterior interbody fusion. On the second postoperative day,
      the patient experienced sudden cardiac arrest after he was shifted from a supine
      to a semilateral position. Upon position change, heart rate was decreased <40
      beats/min and blood pressure could not be checked. We immediately started cardiac
      massage and administered atropine 0.5 mg and epinephrine 1 mg, and the patient
      was successfully resuscitated. Cardiac arrest recurred when we performed
      endotracheal suction or changed patient's position. Echocardiographic and Holter
      monitoring findings demonstrated normal heart function and sinus bradycardia, and
      there was no evidence of pulmonary thromboembolism. We concluded that cardiac
      arrest was induced by sympathetic hypoactivity following complete SCI. Two months
      later, this phenomenon had resolved, and 4 months after presentation, he was
      discharged reliant on a home ventilator. Through this report, we emphasize that a
      thorough understanding of cardiovascular dysfunction following SCI is important
      for establishing a diagnosis and optimizing clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25816044
TI  - Insufficient dollars and qualified personnel to meet United States mental health
      needs.
AB  - The American populace currently supports the need for providing additional mental
      health services for adolescents who frequently express anger and mood instability
      and maybe are at risk for major psychiatric disorders and behavioral problems;
      Vietnam, Iraqi, and Afghanistan veterans or military personnel still on duty
      diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, or other similar combat
      related disabilities; the approximately 1 million prisoners currently
      incarcerated primarily because of substance abuse and needing medically related
      rehabilitative services; and senior citizens who experience dementia and
      depression and require improved therapeutics. The problems outlined herein are as
      follows: far too limited monies are being spent for mental health services (5.6%
      of total US expenditures for health or roughly one fifth of what is consumed for
      hospital care); effective therapies are often lacking; and there is a shortage of
      qualified mental health personnel except in upscale urban and suburban areas.
      Unfortunately, these problems are so immense that, even with enhanced
      prioritization of our available resources, they are still not entirely solvable.
      The American public may continue to impart lip service when attempting to respond
      to our nation's mental health needs or may decide to spend vastly more money for
      such care. The latter choice may not be forthcoming in the near future for
      various cultural-societal-clinical-fiscal reasons. 

PMID- 25816042
TI  - C-arm cone-beam CT-guided transthoracic lung core needle biopsy as a standard
      diagnostic tool: an observational study.
AB  - C-arm cone-beam computed tomography (CT)-guided transthoracic lung core needle
      biopsy (CNB) is a safe and accurate procedure for the evaluation of patients with
      pulmonary nodules. This article will focus on the clinical features related to
      CNB in terms of diagnostic performance and complication rate. Moreover, the
      concept of categorizing pathological diagnosis into 4 categories, which could be
      used for clinical management, follow-up, and quality assurance is also
      introduced. We retrospectively collected data regarding 375 C-arm cone-beam CT
      guided CNBs from January 2010 and June 2014. Clinical and radiological variables
      were evaluated in terms of success or failure rate. Pathological reports were
      inserted in 4 homogenous groups (nondiagnostic--L1, benign--L2, malignant not
      otherwise specified--L3, and malignant with specific histotype--L4), defining for
      each category a hierarchy of suggested actions. The sensitivity, specificity, and
      positive and negative predictive value and accuracy for patients subjected to
      CNBs were of 96.8%, 100%, 100%, 100%, and 97.2%, respectively. Roughly 75% of our
      samples were diagnosed as malignant, with 60% lung adenocarcinoma diagnoses.
      Molecular analyses were performed on 85 malignant samples to verify applicability
      of targeted therapy. The rate of "nondiagnostic" samples was 12%. C-arm cone-beam
      CT-guided transthoracic lung CNB can represent the gold standard for the
      diagnostic evaluation of pulmonary nodules. A clinical and pathological
      multidisciplinary evaluation of CNBs was needed in terms of integration of
      radiological, histological, and oncological data. This approach provided
      exceptional performances in terms of specificity, positive and negative
      predictive values; sensitivity in our series was lower compared with other large
      studies, probably due to the application of strong criteria of adequacy for CNBs
      (L1 class rate). The satisfactory rate of collected material was evaluated not
      only in terms of merely diagnostic performances but also for predictive results
      by molecular analysis.

PMID- 25816043
TI  - Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in myopic, emmetropic, and hyperopic
      children.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to investigate the peripapillary retinal nerve
      fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in myopic, emmetropic, and hyperopic children using
      optical coherence tomography. Two-hundred one right eyes of subjects aged 4 to 18
      years were divided into 3 groups based on their postcycloplegic spherical
      equivalent: myopes (<-1.0 D), emmetropes (>=-1.0 to <=+1.0 D), and hyperopes
      (>+1.0 D). The RNFL was correlated with age, spherical equivalent, and axial
      length. The RNFL was compared between the 3 groups before and after age
      adjustment. The RNFL was thickest in the hyperopic group (107.2 +/- 10.13 MUm, n
      = 73), followed by the emmetropic group (102.5 +/- 9.2 MUm, n = 61), and then the
      myopic group (95.7 +/- 10.3, n = 67) (all P < 0.0001). The myopic group (9.6 +/-
      3.9 years) was significantly older than the emmetropic (6.9 +/- 2.7 years) and
      hyperopic (6.5 +/- 1.9 years) groups (both P < 0.0001). When adjusted for age,
      myopes had a thinner RNFL than the other 2 groups (all P < 0.0001), but there was
      no RNFL thickness difference between the emmetropic and hyperopic groups (P >
      0.05). A thinner RNFL was associated with an older age (r = -0.4, P < 0.0001), a
      more myopic spherical equivalent (r = 0.5, P < 0.0001), and a longer axial length
      (r = -0.4, P < 0.0001) on Pearson correlation analysis. The apparently thicker
      RNFL in hyperopic and emmetropic children was attributed to their younger age as
      compared with their myopic counterparts. When adjusted for age, only myopia was
      associated with a thinner RNFL, with emmetropic and hyperopic children having
      equal RNFL thicknesses. Advancing age, a more myopic spherical equivalent, and a
      longer axial length were associated with a thinner RNFL in children.

PMID- 25816045
TI  - Despair or hope: the future of mental health service delivery in the United
      States.

PMID- 25816046
TI  - Religious vs. conventional cognitive behavioral therapy for major depression in
      persons with chronic medical illness: a pilot randomized trial.
AB  - We examine the efficacy of conventional cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT)
      versus religiously integrated CBT (RCBT) in persons with major depression and
      chronic medical illness. Participants were randomized to either CCBT (n = 67) or
      RCBT (n = 65). The intervention in both groups consisted of ten 50-minute
      sessions delivered remotely during 12 weeks (94% by telephone). Adherence to
      treatment was similar, except in more religious participants in whom adherence to
      RCBT was slightly greater (85.7% vs. 65.9%, p = 0.10). The intention-to-treat
      analysis at 12 weeks indicated no significant difference in outcome between the
      two groups (B = 0.33; SE, 1.80; p = 0.86). Response rates and remission rates
      were also similar. Overall religiosity interacted with treatment group (B = 
      0.10; SE, 0.05; p = 0.048), suggesting that RCBT was slightly more efficacious in
      the more religious participants. These preliminary findings suggest that CCBT and
      RCBT are equivalent treatments of major depression in persons with chronic
      medical illness. Efficacy, as well as adherence, may be affected by client
      religiosity. 

PMID- 25816047
TI  - Correcting errors in Turkington et al. (2014): taking criticism seriously.

PMID- 25816048
TI  - Cognitive behavioral techniques for psychosis: a biostatistician's perspective.

PMID- 25816049
TI  - Increased Hair Cortisol Concentrations and BMI in Patients With Pituitary-Adrenal
      Disease on Hydrocortisone Replacement.
AB  - CONTEXT: Intrinsic imperfections and lack of reliable biomarkers preclude optimal
      individual dosing of hydrocortisone replacement in adrenal insufficiency (AI).
      However, the clinical relevance of optimal dosing is exemplified by frequently
      occurring side effects of overreplacement and the dangers of underreplacement.
      Cortisol in scalp hair has been identified as a retrospective biomarker for long
      term cortisol exposure. We compared hair cortisol concentrations (CORT(hair)) of
      patients with primary or secondary AI on replacement therapy with those of
      patient controls with a pituitary disease without AI (PCs) and of healthy
      controls (HCs). METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, hair samples and
      anthropometric data were collected in 132 AI patients (52 males), 42 PCs (11
      males), and 195 HCs (90 males). The proximal 3 cm of hair were used. CORT(hair)
      were measured using an ELISA. RESULTS: CORT(hair) were higher in AI patients than
      in HCs and PCs (P < .001), and hydrocortisone dose correlated with CORT(hair) (P
      = .04). Male AI patients demonstrated higher CORT(hair) than female patients (P <
      .001). AI patients had higher body mass index (BMI) than HCs (P < .001), and BMI
      correlated with CORT(hair) in the whole sample (P < .001). CONCLUSION:
      Physiological hydrocortisone replacement is associated with increased CORT(hair).
      The association between CORT(hair) and BMI could suggest a mild overtreatment
      that may lead to adverse anthropomorphic side effects, especially in males.
      CORT(hair) measurements may be a promising additional tool to monitor cumulative
      hydrocortisone replacement in AI.

PMID- 25816050
TI  - Association of Plasma Ceramides and Sphingomyelin With VLDL apoB-100 Fractional
      Catabolic Rate Before and After Rosuvastatin Treatment.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The objective of the study was to examine post hoc associations
      between plasma sphingolipids and lipoprotein kinetics in men with the metabolic
      syndrome after rosuvastatin treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Plasma sphingolipid
      profiling, determined by tandem mass spectrometry, was performed in a randomized,
      double-blind, triple-crossover trial (n = 12) of 5-week treatment periods with
      placebo or rosuvastatin (10 or 40 mg/d) with 2-week washouts between treatments.
      RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Baseline plasma ceramides were associated with very low
      density lipoprotein (VLDL) apolipoprotein (apo)-B-100 concentration (r = 0.58, P
      < .05) and inversely with VLDL apoB-100 fractional catabolic rate (FCR; r = 
      0.67, P = .02). Posttreatment changes with rosuvastatin (40 mg/d) in plasma
      ceramides were inversely associated with VLDL apoB-100 FCR (r = -0.62, P = .03)
      independent of changes in plasma triglycerides, cholesterol, and low-density
      lipoprotein-cholesterol. By contrast, baseline and postrosuvastatin treatment
      plasma sphingomyelin levels were not associated with apoB-100 kinetics. Plasma
      ceramides and sphingomyelin were not associated with the kinetics or
      concentrations of high-density lipoprotein apoA-I, and low-density lipoprotein
      apoB. In the metabolic syndrome, the ability of rosuvastatin to increase VLDL
      apoB-100 FCR may reflect ceramide-specific mechanistic actions and/or
      sphingolipid exchange.

PMID- 25816051
TI  - Plasma GAD65, a Marker for Early beta-Cell Loss After Intraportal Islet Cell
      Transplantation in Diabetic Patients.
AB  - CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Intraportal islet transplantation can restore insulin
      production in type 1 diabetes patients, but its effect is subject to several
      interfering processes. To assess the influence of beta-cell loss before and
      during engraftment, we searched for a real-time marker of beta-cell destruction.
      Previous studies showed that 65-kDa isoform of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD65) is
      discharged by chemically damaged rat beta-cells. We therefore examined the
      utility of the GAD65 assay to detect and quantify destruction of human beta-cells
      in vitro and in vivo. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: A time-resolved fluorescence
      immunoassay was used to measure GAD65 discharge from beta-cells after
      administration of toxins or after intraportal transplantation. The study in
      patients involved type 1 diabetes recipients of 56 implants. RESULTS: GAD65 was
      discharged from cultured human beta-cells between 4 and 24 hours after acute
      insult and proportional to the number of dying cells. It was also detected in
      plasma during the first 24 hours after intraportal transplantation of human islet
      cell grafts. Diabetic nude rat recipients without hyperglycemic correction
      exhibited higher plasma GAD65 levels than those with normalization. In type 1
      diabetes recipients of grafts with 2-5 * 10(6) beta-cells per kilogram of body
      weight, five of six with plasma GAD65 greater than 1 ng/mL failed to increase
      plasma C-peptide by greater than 0.5 ng/mL at posttransplant month 2, whereas
      five of six with undetectable plasma GAD 65 and 15 of 19 with intermediate levels
      did result in such increase. CONCLUSION: Plasma GAD65 qualifies as a marker for
      early beta-cell loss after intraportal transplantation. Further studies are
      needed to extend its clinical utility.

PMID- 25815923
TI  - Search for monotop signatures in proton-proton collisions at ?s=8  TeV.
AB  - Results are presented from a search for new decaying massive particles whose
      presence is inferred from an imbalance in transverse momentum and which are
      produced in association with a single top quark that decays into a bottom quark
      and two light quarks. The measurement is performed using 19.7  fb^{-1} of data
      from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, collected with
      the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. No deviations from the standard model
      predictions are observed and lower limits are set on the masses of new invisible
      bosons. In particular, scalar and vector particles, with masses below 330 and 650
      GeV, respectively, are excluded at 95% confidence level, thereby substantially
      extending a previous limit published by the CDF Collaboration. 

PMID- 25816052
TI  - The impact of matrix metalloproteinase 2 on prognosis and clinicopathology of
      breast cancer patients: a systematic meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUNDS: Matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) plays a crucial role in the
      progression of breast cancer (BC). The prognostic role of MMP-2 expression in BC
      patients has been widely reported, but the results were inconsistent. Thus, a
      meta-analysis was conducted to gain a better insight into the impact of MMP-2
      expression on survival and clinicopathological features of BC patients. METHODS:
      Identical search strategies were used to search relevant literatures in
      electronic databases update to August 1, 2014. Individual hazard ratios (HRs) and
      odds ratios (ORs) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were extracted and
      pooled to evaluate the strength of the association between positive MMP-2
      expression and survival results and clinicopathological features of BC patients.
      Begg's tests, Egger's tests and funnel plots were used to evaluate publication
      bias. Heterogeneity and sensitivity analysis were also assessed. All the work was
      completed using STATA. RESULTS: Pooled HRs and 95% CIs suggested that MMP-2
      expression had an unfavorable impact on both OS (HR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.29-1.82) and
      DFS/RFS/DDFS (HR: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.07-1.86) in BC patients. Furthermore, MMP-2
      expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (positive vs
      negative: OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.17-3.12). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, positive MMP-2
      expression might be a significant predictive factor for poor prognosis in
      patients with BC.

PMID- 25816053
TI  - Lymphatic transport of orally administered probucol-loaded mPEG-DSPE micelles.
AB  - CONTEXT: Transporting drugs through the lymphatic system has attracted increasing
      attention. Lipid-based formulations have been proved to be an effective way to
      improve systemic bioavailability of highly lipophilic drugs by increasing
      intestinal lymphatic transport. OBJECTIVE: The formulation of polymer micelle was
      developed for probucol to improve its intestinal lymphatic transport. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Methoxy-polyethylenelglycol-distearyl phosphatidyl-ethanolamine
      (mPEG-DSPE) polymer was chosen to develop the micelles for probucol. The
      physicochemical properties were characterized. Caco-2 cell model, unconscious and
      conscious lymph duct cannulated rat models were established for in vitro and in
      vivo evaluation of lymphatic transport. RESULTS: In vitro evaluation in the Caco
      2 cell model showed that the micellar formulation could significantly increase
      the uptake and transport of probucol. The study in unconscious and conscious
      lymph duct cannulated rat models further verified the significant enhancement of
      lymphatic transport of probucol by mPEG-DSPE micelles. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:
      These results suggested that mPEG-DSPE micellar formulation could provide a
      useful alternative approach for improving the lymphatic transport of hydrophobic
      compounds.

PMID- 25816054
TI  - Pattern recognition of monosaccharides via a virtual lectin array constructed by
      boronate affinity-based pH-featured encoding.
AB  - Lectin array is an important tool in the fields of carbohydrate chemistry,
      glycobiology, and glycomics. Because natural lectins are associated with some
      apparent disadvantages such as tedious purification and easy loss of activity,
      artificial materials are applied to overcome such shortages by mimicking and
      replacing lectins in an artificial lectin array, among which boronate affinity
      based materials are very outstanding and widely used. However, complicated
      synthetic works are often involved to design and create boronate affinity-based
      lectin-mimics. In this work, a facile and novel method was proposed to establish
      a virtual lectin array based on boronate affinity-based pH-featured encoding for
      discrimination of monosaccharides by pattern recognition. The dependence of
      boronate affinity on environmental pH was selected to encode each monosaccharide
      for feature generation, and the pH-featured encoding was used to construct the
      virtual lectin array. On the basis of the virtual array, pattern recognition
      algorithms were applied for data analysis. Monosaccharides were discriminated by
      principal component analysis, and the relations in the virtual lectin array were
      unraveled by cluster analysis. In this proof-of-concept work, without complicated
      synthesis or preparation, the proposed method was successful in mimicking lectin
      array and discriminating nine elementary monosaccharides found in nature, and it
      was also a new way of encoding in expanding the applications of boronate affinity
      based materials and methods in the field of biomimetics. 

PMID- 25816056
TI  - Differential MR delayed enhancement patterns of chronic myocardial infarction
      between extracellular and intravascular contrast media.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Because the distribution volume and mechanism of extracellular and
      intravascular MR contrast media differ considerably, the enhancement pattern of
      chronic myocardial infarction with extracellular or intravascular media might
      also be different. This study aims to investigate the differences in MR
      enhancement patterns of chronic myocardial infarction between extracellular and
      intravascular contrast media. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty pigs with myocardial
      infarction underwent cine MRI, first pass perfusion MRI and delayed enhancement
      MRI with extracellular or intravascular media at four weeks after coronary
      occlusion. Myocardial blood flow (MBF) was determined with microsphere
      measurement. The infarction histopathological changes were evaluated by
      hematoxylin and eosin staining and Masson's trichrome method. RESULTS: Cine MRI
      revealed the reduced wall thickening in chronic infarction compared with normal
      myocardium. Moreover, significant wall thinning in chronic infarction was
      observed in cine MRI. Peak first-pass signal intensity didn't significantly
      differ between chronic infarction and normal myocardium no matter what kinds of
      contrast media. At the following delayed enhancement phase, extracellular media
      enhanced signal intensity was significantly higher in chronic infarction than in
      normal myocardium. Conversely, intravascular media-enhanced signal intensity was
      almost equivalent among chronic infarction and normal myocardium. At four weeks
      after infarction, MBF in chronic infarction approached to that in normal
      myocardium. Large thick-walled vessels were detected at peri-infarction zones.
      The cardiomyocytes were replaced by scar tissue consisting of dilated blood
      vessels and discrete fibers of collagen. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic infarction was
      characterized by the significantly reduced wall thickening and the definite wall
      thinning. First-pass myocardial perfusion defect was not detected in chronic
      infarction with two media due to the significantly recovered MBF and well
      developed collateral vessels. Infarction remodeling enlarged the extracellular
      compartment, which was available for extracellular media but not accessible to
      intravascular media. Extracellular media identified chronic infarction as the
      hyper-enhancement; nonetheless, intravascular media didn't provide delayed
      enhancement.

PMID- 25816055
TI  - Air Pollution from Road Traffic and Systemic Inflammation in Adults: A Cross
      Sectional Analysis in the European ESCAPE Project.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Exposure to particulate matter air pollution (PM) has been associated
      with cardiovascular diseases. OBJECTIVES: In this study we evaluated whether
      annual exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with systemic
      inflammation, which is hypothesized to be an intermediate step to cardiovascular
      disease. METHODS: Six cohorts of adults from Central and Northern Europe were
      used in this cross-sectional study as part of the larger ESCAPE project (European
      Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects). Data on levels of blood markers for
      systemic inflammation-high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen
      were available for 22,561 and 17,428 persons, respectively. Land use regression
      models were used to estimate cohort participants' long-term exposure to various
      size fractions of PM, soot, and nitrogen oxides (NOx). In addition, traffic
      intensity on the closest street and traffic load within 100 m from home were used
      as indicators of traffic air pollution exposure. RESULTS: Particulate air
      pollution was not associated with systemic inflammation. However, cohort
      participants living on a busy (> 10,000 vehicles/day) road had elevated CRP
      values (10.2%; 95% CI: 2.4, 18.8%, compared with persons living on a quiet
      residential street with < 1,000 vehicles/day). Annual NOx concentration was also
      positively associated with levels of CRP (3.2%; 95% CI: 0.3, 6.1 per 20 MUg/m3),
      but the effect estimate was more sensitive to model adjustments. For fibrinogen,
      no consistent associations were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Living close to busy
      traffic was associated with increased CRP concentrations, a known risk factor for
      cardiovascular diseases. However, it remains unclear which specific air
      pollutants are responsible for the association.

PMID- 25816057
TI  - 3,3'-Diindolylmethane attenuates cardiac H9c2 cell hypertrophy through 5'
      adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase-alpha.
AB  - 3,3'-Diindolylmethane (DIM) is the major product of the acid-catalyzed
      condensation of indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a component of extracts of Brassica food
      plants. Numerous studies have suggested that DIM has several beneficial
      biological activities, including elimination of free radicals, antioxidant and
      anti-angiogenic effects and activation of apoptosis of various tumor cells. In
      the present study, an in vitro model was established, using 1 uM angiotensin II
      (Ang II) in cultured rat cardiac H9c2 cells, to observe the effects of DIM on
      cardiac hypertrophy. Following 24 h stimulation with DIM (1, 5, and 10 uM) with
      or without Ang II, cells were characterized by immunofluorescence to analyze
      cardiac alpha-actinin expression. Cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and molecular markers
      of cardiac hypertrophy were assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
      Atrial natriuretic peptide, brain natriuretic peptide and myosin heavy chain beta
      mRNA expression were induced by Ang II in H9c2 cells treated with the optimal
      concentration of DIM for 6, 12, and 24 h. The levels of phosphorylated and total
      proteins of the 5' AMP-activated protein kinase alpha (AMPKalpha)/mitogen
      activated protein kinase (MAPK)/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling
      pathways in H9c2 cells treated with DIM for 0, 15, 30, and 60 min induced by Ang
      II were determined by western blot analysis. The results showed that DIM
      attenuated cellular hypertrophy in vitro, enhanced the phosphorylation of
      AMPKalpha and inhibited the MAPK-mTOR signaling pathway in response to
      hypertrophic stimuli.

PMID- 25816058
TI  - [Differential diagnoses of paranasal sinus disorders: a radiological approach].

PMID- 25816061
TI  - [Bursitis trochanterica as a sequela of tendinitis calcarea of the m. gluteus
      med. tendon].

PMID- 25816060
TI  - Integrative teaching in radiology - a survey.
AB  - PURPOSE: To survey integrative teaching in radiology at German universities.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire about radiological education was sent
      electronically to all 37 chairpersons of university radiology departments in
      Germany. The questions included the course type, teaching methods, concept,
      perception, and advantages and disadvantages of integrative teaching. Statistical
      analysis was performed with nonparametric statistics and chi-square test.
      RESULTS: The survey was considered representative with a return rate of 68 %.
      Integrative teaching is established at 4/5 of all departments. Integrative
      teaching is well accepted with an acceptance rate that is significantly higher in
      so-called "Modellstudiengangen" [model courses of study] (100 %) compared to
      conventional courses of study (72 %). The advantages of integrative teaching
      include linking of content (92 %) and preparation for interdisciplinary work (76
      %). The disadvantages include high effort (75 %) and time (67 %) for
      organization. Furthermore, there is a risk that basic radiological facts and
      knowledge cannot be conveyed and that the visibility of radiology as an
      independent discipline is lost. Conventional radiological teaching has a
      similarly high acceptance (84 %) compared to integrative courses (76 %).
      CONCLUSION: Integrative teaching has a high acceptance among chairpersons in
      radiology in Germany despite the greater effort. A good interdisciplinary
      collaboration is essential for integrative teaching and at the same time this can
      be conveyed to the students. However, the visibility of radiology as a discipline
      and the possibility to cover basic radiological content must be ensured.
      Therefore, both conventional courses and integrative teaching seems reasonable,
      especially in cross-disciplinary subjects such as radiology. KEY POINTS: Both
      integrative teaching and conventional radiological teaching are highly accepted.
      The advantages include the linking of multidisciplinary content and the
      preparation for interdisciplinary cooperation. The disadvantages include more
      time and effort for organization and reduced visibility of cross-disciplinary
      subjects.

PMID- 25816067
TI  - [Chief executive officer participation as medical coworker based on legal and
      labor law requirements].

PMID- 25816068
TI  - De novo transcriptomic analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes from the Chinese
      goose: gene discovery and immune system pathway description.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Chinese goose is one of the most economically important poultry
      birds and is a natural reservoir for many avian viruses. However, the nature and
      regulation of the innate and adaptive immune systems of this waterfowl species
      are not completely understood due to limited information on the goose genome.
      Recently, transcriptome sequencing technology was applied in the genomic studies
      focused on novel gene discovery. Thus, this study described the transcriptome of
      the goose peripheral blood lymphocytes to identify immunity relevant genes.
      PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: De novo transcriptome assembly of the goose peripheral blood
      lymphocytes was sequenced by Illumina-Solexa technology. In total, 211,198
      unigenes were assembled from the 69.36 million cleaned reads. The average length,
      N50 size and the maximum length of the assembled unigenes were 687 bp, 1,298 bp
      and 18,992 bp, respectively. A total of 36,854 unigenes showed similarity by
      BLAST search against the NCBI non-redundant (Nr) protein database. For functional
      classification, 163,161 unigenes were comprised of three Gene Ontology (Go)
      categories and 67 subcategories. A total of 15,334 unigenes were annotated into
      25 eukaryotic orthologous groups (KOGs) categories. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes
      and Genomes (KEGG) database annotated 39,585 unigenes into six biological
      functional groups and 308 pathways. Among the 2,757 unigenes that participated in
      the 15 immune system KEGG pathways, 125 of the most important immune relevant
      genes were summarized and analyzed by STRING analysis to identify gene
      interactions and relationships. Moreover, 10 genes were confirmed by PCR and
      analyzed. Of these 125 unigenes, 109 unigenes, approximately 87%, were not
      previously identified in the goose. CONCLUSION: This de novo transcriptome
      analysis could provide important Chinese goose sequence information and
      highlights the value of new gene discovery, pathways investigation and immune
      system gene identification, and comparison with other avian species as useful
      tools to understand the goose immune system.

PMID- 25816069
TI  - Altered hemodynamic activity in conduct disorder: a resting-state FMRI
      investigation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Youth with conduct disorder (CD) not only inflict serious physical
      and psychological harm on others, but are also at greatly increased risk of
      sustaining injuries, developing depression or substance abuse, and engaging in
      criminal behaviors. The underlying neurobiological basis of CD remains unclear.
      OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated whether participants with CD have
      altered hemodynamic activity under resting-state conditions. METHODS: Eighteen
      medication-naive boys with CD and 18 age- and sex- matched typically developing
      (TD) controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in the
      resting state. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) was measured
      and compared between the CD and TD groups. RESULTS: Compared with the TD
      participants, the CD participants showed lower ALFF in the bilateral
      amygdala/parahippocampus, right lingual gyrus, left cuneus and right insula.
      Higher ALFF was observed in the right fusiform gyrus and right thalamus in the CD
      participants compared to the TD group. CONCLUSIONS: Youth with CD displayed
      widespread functional abnormalities in emotion-related and visual cortical
      regions in the resting state. These results suggest that deficits in the
      intrinsic activity of resting state networks may contribute to the etiology of
      CD.

PMID- 25816070
TI  - Progressive thinning of visual cortex in primary open-angle glaucoma of varying
      severity.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate possible changes of cortical thickness
      in the visual cortex in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) of varying severity.
      Twenty normal controls (NC), 20 mild (MP) and 17 severe (SP) POAG patients were
      recruited and scanned using magnetic resonance imaging. Cortical thickness
      analyses with regions of interest (V1, V2, ventral V3, V4 and V5/MT+) were used
      to assess the cortical changes among the three groups. Furthermore, the
      associations of cortical thickness with retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL)
      thickness and mean deviation of visual field were analyzed. Compared with the NC
      group, decreased cortical thickness was detected in the bilateral V5/MT+ areas in
      the MP group and the left V1, bilateral V2 and V5/MT+ areas in the SP group.
      Cortical thinning of the bilateral V2 areas was detected in the SP group compared
      with the MP group. In addition, cortical thinning of these visual areas was
      related to the ophthalmologic measurements. In conclusion, POAG patients exhibit
      cortical thinning in the bilateral V5/MT+ in the early stage of disease. The
      cortical degeneration in visual areas is discrepant with disease progressing and
      the dorsal pathway might be selectively damaged in POAG. Therefore, the cortical
      thinning of these visual areas may play a key role in the progression of POAG and
      can serve as a novel biomarker for accurately evaluating the severity of POAG. 

PMID- 25816071
TI  - Salubrinal protects cardiomyocytes against apoptosis in a rat myocardial
      infarction model via suppressing the dephosphorylation of eukaryotic translation
      initiation factor 2alpha.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to examine the role of eIF2alpha in
      cardiomyocyte apoptosis and evaluate the cardioprotective role of salubrinal in a
      rat myocardial infarction (MI) model. Rat left anterior descending coronary
      arteries were ligated and the classical proteins involved in the endoplasmic
      reticulum stress (ERS)-induced apoptotic pathway were analyzed using quantitative
      polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis. Salubrinal was administered
      to the rats and cardiomyocyte apoptosis and infarct size were evaluated by a
      specific staining method. Compared with the sham surgery group, the rate of
      cardiomyocyte apoptosis in the MI group was increased with the development of the
      disease. It was also demonstrated that the mRNA and protein levels of GRP78,
      caspase-12, CHOP and the protein expression of p-eIF2alpha were increased in the
      MI group. Furthermore, the results showed that treatment with salubrinal can
      decrease cardiomyocyte apoptosis and infarct size by increasing eIF2alpha
      phosphorylation and decreasing the expression of caspase-12 and CHOP. The present
      study suggests that salubrinal protects against ER stress-induced rat
      cadiomyocyte apoptosis via suppressing the dephosphorylation of eIF2alpha in the
      ERS-associated pathway.

PMID- 25816072
TI  - Elevated survivin expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells is central to
      collateral formation in coronary chronic total occlusion.
AB  - Survivin is essential to angiogenesis and revascularization, but its role in
      coronary collateral formation remains unclear. The role of survivin in peripheral
      blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of coronary chronic total occlusion (CTO)
      patients was investigated. Coronary CTO patients (n=46; mean age 60.1+/-8.5, male
      54.3%) (CTO group) and normal control patients (n=18; mean age 58.0+/-10.0, male
      55.6%) underwent angiographic collateral vessel grading by Rentrop classification
      (C0 - C3) and provided peripheral blood between June 2006 and February 2007. Rat
      hind limb ischemia models were constructed using four equal groups of Sprague
      Dawley rats (n=36): normal control, sham operation, operation and granulocyte
      macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). PBMC numbers and characteristics,
      collateral vessels, survivin, CD4, CD8, CD44, vascular endothelial growth factor
      (VEGF) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression were determined
      using RT-PCR, flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry and western blot analysis. PBMC
      survivin mRNA and protein expression levels were higher in patients with good
      collateral circulation (C2 + C3) than in patients with no collateral flow (C0)
      (all P<0.05). Survivin single-positive and survivin and CD8, VEGF and ICAM-1
      double-positive percentages were elevated in patients with good collateral
      circulation compared to those with normal and no collateral flow (all P<0.05),
      consistent with the rat model results, wherein higher survivin levels produced
      significantly larger and more visible collateral vessels. In conclusion, elevated
      survivin expression in PBMCs, particularly survivin and CD8, VEGF, and ICAM-1
      double-positive PBMCs, may be crucial for good collateral formation in patients
      with coronary CTO, as confirmed by assessment of a rat model.

PMID- 25816073
TI  - Agmatine protects Muller cells from high-concentration glucose-induced cell
      damage via N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor inhibition.
AB  - Neural injury is associated with the development of diabetic retinopathy. Muller
      cells provide structural and metabolic support for retinal neurons. High glucose
      concentrations are known to induce Muller cell activity. Agmatine is an
      endogenous polyamine, which is enzymatically formed in the mammalian brain and
      has exhibited neuroprotective effects in a number of experimental models. The
      aims of the present study were to investigate whether agmatine protects Muller
      cells from glucose-induced damage and to explore the mechanisms underlying this
      process. Lactate dehydrogenase activity and tumor necrosis factor-alpha mRNA
      expression were significantly reduced in Muller cells exposed to a high glucose
      concentration, following agmatine treatment, compared with cells not treated with
      agmatine. In addition, agmatine treatment inhibited glucose-induced Muller cell
      apoptosis, which was associated with the regulation of Bax and Bcl-2 expression.
      Agmatine treatment suppressed glucose-induced phosphorylation of mitogen
      activated protein kinase (MAPK) protein in Muller cells. The present study
      demonstrated that the protective effects of agmatine on Muller cells were
      inhibited by N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA). The results of the present study
      suggested that agmatine treatment protects Muller cells from high-concentration
      glucose-induced cell damage. The underlying mechanisms may relate to the anti
      inflammatory and antiapoptotic effects of agmatine, as well as to the inhibition
      of the MAPK pathway, via NMDA receptor suppression. Agmatine may be of use in the
      development of novel therapeutic approaches for patients with diabetic
      retinopathy.

PMID- 25816074
TI  - Assessment of turbulence models for pulsatile flow inside a heart pump.
AB  - Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is applied to study the unsteady flow inside a
      pulsatile pump left ventricular assist device, in order to assess the sensitivity
      to a range of commonly used turbulence models. Levels of strain and wall shear
      stress are directly relevant to the evaluation of risk from haemolysis and
      thrombosis, and thus understanding the sensitivity to these turbulence models is
      important in the assessment of uncertainty in CFD predictions. The study focuses
      on a positive displacement or pulsatile pump, and the CFD model includes valves
      and moving pusher plate. An unstructured dynamic layering method was employed to
      capture this cyclic motion, and valves were simulated in their fully open
      position to mimic the natural scenario, with in/outflow triggered at control
      planes away from the valves. Six turbulence models have been used, comprising
      three relevant to the low Reynolds number nature of this flow and three more
      intended to investigate different transport effects. In the first group, we
      consider the shear stress transport (SST) [Formula: see text] model in both its
      standard and transition-sensitive forms, and the 'laminar' model in which no
      turbulence model is used. In the second group, we compare the one equation
      Spalart-Almaras model, the standard two equation [Formula: see text] and the full
      Reynolds stress model (RSM). Following evaluation of spatial and temporal
      resolution requirements, results are compared with available experimental data.
      The model was operated at a systolic duration of 40% of the pumping cycle and a
      pumping rate of 86 BPM (beats per minute). Contrary to reasonable preconception,
      the 'transition' model, calibrated to incorporate additional physical modelling
      specifically for these flow conditions, was not noticeably superior to the
      standard form of the model. Indeed, observations of turbulent viscosity ratio
      reveal that the transition model initiates a premature increase of turbulence in
      this flow, when compared with both experimental and higher order numerical
      results previously reported in the literature. Furthermore, the RSM is indicated
      to provide the most accurate prediction over much of the flow, due to its ability
      to more correctly account for three-dimensional effects. Finally, the clinical
      relevance of the results is reported along with a discussion on the impact of
      such modelling uncertainties.

PMID- 25816075
TI  - DNA-Tile Structures Induce Ionic Currents through Lipid Membranes.
AB  - Self-assembled DNA nanostructures have been used to create man-made transmembrane
      channels in lipid bilayers. Here, we present a DNA-tile structure with a nominal
      subnanometer channel and cholesterol-tags for membrane anchoring. With an outer
      diameter of 5 nm and a molecular weight of 45 kDa, the dimensions of our
      synthetic nanostructure are comparable to biological ion channels. Because of its
      simple design, the structure self-assembles within a minute, making its creation
      scalable for applications in biology. Ionic current recordings demonstrate that
      the tile structures enable ion conduction through lipid bilayers and show gating
      and voltage-switching behavior. By demonstrating the design of DNA-based membrane
      channels with openings much smaller than that of the archetypical six-helix
      bundle, our work showcases their versatility inspired by the rich diversity of
      natural membrane components. 

PMID- 25816076
TI  - Efficient labeling in vitro with non-ionic gadolinium magnetic resonance imaging
      contrast agent and fluorescent transfection agent in bone marrow stromal cells of
      neonatal rats.
AB  - Although studies have been undertaken on gadolinium labeling-based molecular
      imaging in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the use of non-ionic gadolinium in
      the tracking of stem cells remains uncommon. To investigate the efficiency in
      tracking of stem cells with non-ionic gadolinium as an MRI contrast agent, a
      rhodamine-conjugated fluorescent reagent was used to label bone marrow stromal
      cells (BMSCs) of neonatal rats in vitro, and MRI scanning was undertaken. The
      fluorescent-conjugated cell uptake reagents were able to deliver gadodiamide into
      BMSCs, and cell uptake was verified using flow cytometry. In addition, the
      labeled stem cells with paramagnetic contrast medium remained detectable by an
      MRI monitor for a minimum of 28 days. The present study suggested that this
      method can be applied efficiently and safely for the labeling and tracking of
      bone marrow stromal cells in neonatal rats.

PMID- 25816077
TI  - Economical synthesis of 13C-labeled opiates, cocaine derivatives and selected
      urinary metabolites by derivatization of the natural products.
AB  - The illegal use of opiates and cocaine is a challenge world-wide, but some
      derivatives are also valuable pharmaceuticals. Reference samples of the active
      ingredients and their metabolites are needed both for controlling administration
      in the clinic and to detect drugs of abuse. Especially, (13)C-labeled compounds
      are useful for identification and quantification purposes by mass spectroscopic
      techniques, potentially increasing accuracy by minimizing ion
      alteration/suppression effects. Thus, the synthesis of [acetyl-(13)C4]heroin,
      [acetyl-(13)C4-methyl-(13)C]heroin, [acetyl-(13)C2-methyl-(13)C]6-acetylmorphine,
      [N-methyl-(13)C-O-metyl-(13)C]codeine and phenyl-(13)C6-labeled derivatives of
      cocaine, benzoylecgonine, norcocaine and cocaethylene was undertaken to provide
      such reference materials. The synthetic work has focused on identifying (13)C
      atom-efficient routes towards these derivatives. Therefore, the (13)C-labeled
      opiates and cocaine derivatives were made from the corresponding natural
      products.

PMID- 25816078
TI  - Identification of floral scent in chrysanthemum cultivars and wild relatives by
      gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
AB  - The objective of this study was to identify the major volatile compounds and
      their relative concentrations in flowers of different chrysanthemum cultivars and
      their wild relatives. The volatile organic components of fresh flowers were
      analyzed using a headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas
      chromatography-mass spectrometry. In total, 193 volatile organic components were
      detected; the major scent components were monoterpenoids and oxygenated
      monoterpenoids, which accounted for 68.59%-99.93% of the total volatiles in all
      tested materials except for Chrysanthemum indicum collected from Huangshan, in
      which they accounted for only 37.45% of total volatiles. The major volatile
      compounds were camphor, alpha-pinene, chrysanthenone, safranal, myrcene,
      eucalyptol, 2,4,5,6,7,7ab-hexahydro-1H-indene, verbenone, beta-phellandrene and
      camphene. In a hierarchical cluster analysis, 39 accessions of Chrysanthemum and
      its relatives formed six clusters based on their floral volatile compounds. In a
      principal component analysis, only spider type flowers were located closely on
      the score plot. The results of this study provide a basis for breeding
      chrysanthemum cultivars which desirable floral scents. 

PMID- 25816079
TI  - Synthesis, antiproliferative activity and molecular properties predictions of
      galloyl derivatives.
AB  - The present study was designed to investigate the in vitro antiproliferative
      activity against ten human cancer cell lines of a series of galloyl derivatives
      bearing substituted-1,3,4-oxadiazole and carbohydrazide moieties. The compounds
      were also assessed in an in silico study of the absorption, distribution,
      metabolism and excretion (ADME) in the human body using Lipinski's parameters,
      the topological polar surface area (TPSA) and percentage of absorption (%ABS). In
      general, the introduction of N'-(substituted)-arylidene galloyl hydrazides 4-8
      showed a moderate antitumor activity, while the 2-methylthio- and 2-thioxo-1,3,4
      oxadiazol-5-yl derivatives 9 and 10 led to increased inhibition of cancer cell
      proliferation. The precursor compound methyl gallate 2 and the intermediary
      galloyl hydrazide 3 showed greater antiproliferative activity with GI50 values <
      5.54 uM against all human tumor cell lines tested. A higher inhibition effect
      against ovarian cancer (OVCAR-3) (GI50 = 0.05-5.98 uM) was also shown, with
      compounds 2, 3, 9 and 10 with GI50 <= 0.89 uM standing out in this respect. The
      in silico study revealed that the compounds showed good intestinal absorption. 

PMID- 25816081
TI  - Neurological morbidity and mortality associated with the endovascular treatment
      of cerebral arteriovenous malformations before and during the Onyx era.
AB  - OBJECT: The widespread implementation of the embolic agent Onyx has changed the
      endovascular management of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). Recent
      data suggest that outcomes following embolization and resection may have worsened
      in the Onyx era. It has been hypothesized that there may be increased
      complications with Onyx embolization and increased surgical aggressiveness in
      patients treated with Onyx. In this study the authors analyzed their
      institutional experience with the endovascular treatment of cerebral AVMs prior
      to and after the introduction of Onyx to determine factors associated with
      periprocedural neurological morbidity and mortality. METHODS: A retrospective
      review was performed of all patients with cerebral AVMs undergoing embolization
      at the Barrow Neurological Institute from 1995 to 2012. RESULTS: Endovascular
      treatment of 342 cerebral AVMs was performed over 446 treatment sessions (mean
      age 37.8 years, range 1-83 years). Clinical presentation included hemorrhage in
      47.6%, seizures in 21.9%, headaches in 11.1%, and no symptoms in 10% of cases.
      The endovascular pretreatment strategy was preoperative in 78.9%, preradiosurgery
      in 9.1%, palliative in 5.3%, targeted in 4.4%, and curative in 2.3%. The median
      Spetzler-Martin grade was III. The mean number of arteries embolized was 3.5
      (range 0-13 arteries), and the mean number of treatment sessions was 1.3 (range 1
      4 sessions). Onyx was used in 105 AVMs (30.7%), and N-butyl cyanoacrylate (NBCA)
      without Onyx was used in 229 AVMs (67%). AVMs treated with Onyx had a higher mean
      number of arterial pedicles embolized than did NBCA cases (4.3 +/- 2.7 vs 3.2 +/-
      2.4, respectively; p < 0.001) and a greater number of sessions (1.5 +/- 0.7 vs
      1.2 +/- 0.5, respectively; p < 0.05). Unexpected immediate postprocedural
      permanent neurological deficits were present in 9.6% of AVMs, while transient
      deficits were present in 1.8%. There was 1 death (0.3%). Spetzler-Martin grade
      was not associated with differences in outcome, as permanent neurological
      deficits were observed in 12%, 9%, 13%, 11%, and 13% of AVMs for Spetzler-Martin
      Grades I-V, respectively (p = 0.91). The use of Onyx compared with NBCA was not
      associated with differences in periprocedural morbidity (p = 0.23). This lack of
      a difference persisted even when controlling for number of arteries and sessions
      (p = 0.14). Sex was not associated with differences in outcome. CONCLUSIONS:
      Permanent and transient postprocedural neurological deficits were noted in 9.6%
      and 1.8% of all cases, respectively. AVM grade was not associated with
      endovascular outcome. Despite the greater number of sessions required and
      arteries embolized for Onyx cases, there was no statistically significant
      difference in the risk of neurological deficits following cerebral AVM
      embolization with Onyx and NBCA.

PMID- 25816080
TI  - Extended orbital exenteration for sinonasal malignancy with orbital apex
      extension: surgical technique and clinical analysis.
AB  - OBJECT: The majority of sinonasal malignancies present with advanced disease, and
      cure rates are generally poor. Surgical extirpation remains the mainstay of
      treatment. In cases of sinonasal malignancy with orbital apex extension, gross
      total tumor resection requires orbital exenteration and bony skull base resection
      around the orbital apex to provide sufficient margins. In this retrospective
      study, the authors describe their surgical strategy in and technique for orbital
      exenteration with orbital apex resection in patients at Tokyo Medical and Dental
      University who had sinonasal malignancy with orbital apex extension. They also
      analyzed the clinical features of and the results in these patients. METHODS:
      Between February 2001 and August 2012 at the authors' institution, sinonasal
      malignancy with orbital apex extension was treated using craniofacial tumor
      resection with orbital exenteration including skull base bone around the orbital
      apex. The authors describe this technique and analyze the surgical indications,
      extent of resection, primary tumor location, outcome, pathological findings, and
      neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies of the patients who underwent the technique.
      RESULTS: The patients consisted of 12 men and 3 women with a mean age of 47.7
      years (range 14-79 years). The longest postoperative follow-up was 9.5 years, and
      the shortest was 0.67 year (mean 3.0 years). Tumor originated at the ethmoid
      sinus in 6 patients (40%), maxillary sinus in 5 (33%), nasal cavity in 2 (13%),
      and orbital cavity and maxillary bone in 1 patient each (7%). Histological
      analysis of tumor specimens revealed squamous cell carcinoma in 9 patients (60%),
      rhabdomyosarcoma in 2 (13%), and small cell carcinoma, mucoepidermoid carcinoma,
      adenoid cystic carcinoma, and Ewing sarcoma in 1 patient each (7%). Two patients
      experienced recurrences at 1 and 5 months after treatment; these patients died at
      5 and 10 months after surgery, respectively. Estimated 5-year recurrence-free
      survival (RFS) was 86.7%, and estimated 5-year overall survival (OS) was 86.2%;
      there was no perioperative mortality. None of the patients had new neurological
      deficits as a result of the surgery, but 5 patients suffered infectious
      complications from the graft transplanted into the cavity after resection. There
      were no other perioperative complications. CONCLUSIONS: These authors are the
      first to describe a technique for extended orbital exenteration with orbital apex
      skull base resection. The technique provided sufficient margins for gross-total
      resection of the sinonasal malignancy with orbital apex extension. The estimated
      5-year OS and RFS rates were high, and the perioperative complication rate was
      acceptably low, demonstrating the safety and efficacy of this technique.

PMID- 25816082
TI  - Combined rigid and flexible endoscopy for tumors in the posterior third
      ventricle.
AB  - OBJECT: Tumors leading to occlusion of the sylvian aqueduct include those of
      pineal, thalamic, and tectal origins. These tumors cause obstructive
      hydrocephalus and thus necessitate a CSF diversion procedure such as an
      endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV), often coupled with an endoscopic biopsy
      (EBX). Lesions located posterior to the massa intermedia pose a technical
      challenge, as the use of a rigid endoscope for performing both an ETV and EBX is
      limited. The authors describe their experience using a combined rigid and
      flexible endoscopic procedure through a single bur hole for both procedures in
      patients with posterior third ventricular tumors. METHODS: Since January 2012,
      patients with posterior third ventricular tumors causing hydrocephalus underwent
      dual ETV and EBX procedures using the combined rigid-flexible endoscopic
      technique. Following institutional review board approval, data from clinical,
      radiological, surgical, and pathological records were retrospectively collected.
      RESULTS: Six patients 3.5-53 years of age were included. Lesion locations
      included pineal (n = 3), fourth ventricle (n = 1), aqueduct (n = 1), and tectum
      (n = 1). The ETV and EBX were successful in all cases. Pathologies included
      pilocytic astrocytoma, pineoblastoma, ependymoma Grade II, germinoma, low-grade
      glioneural tumor, and atypical choroid plexus papilloma. One patient experienced
      an immediate postoperative intraventricular hemorrhage necessitating evacuation
      of the clots and resection of the tumor, eventually leading to the patient's
      death. CONCLUSIONS: The authors recommend using a combined rigid-flexible
      endoscope for endoscopic third ventriculostomy and biopsy to approach posterior
      third ventricular tumors (behind the massa intermedia). This technique overcomes
      the limitations of using a rigid endoscope by reaching 2 distant regions.

PMID- 25816083
TI  - A successful case of multiple stereotactic radiosurgeries for ipsilateral
      recurrent trigeminal neuralgia.
AB  - Trigeminal neuralgia is a common pain syndrome primarily managed medically,
      although many patients require surgical or radiotherapeutic intervention.
      Stereotactic radiosurgery has become a preferred method of treatment given its
      high efficacy rates and relatively favorable toxicity profile. However, many
      patients have refractory pain even after repeat courses of stereotactic
      radiosurgery. Historically, 2 courses have been the limit in such patients. The
      authors present a case of multiply recurrent trigeminal neuralgia treated with a
      third course of radiosurgery in which the patient had successful pain control and
      no additional toxicity. Meticulous attention to the therapeutic technique allows
      the continued application of stereotactic radiosurgery in patients.

PMID- 25816084
TI  - Plaque morphology (the PLAC Scale) on CT angiography: predicting long-term
      anatomical success of primary carotid stenting.
AB  - OBJECT: Carotid angioplasty and stenting has emerged as an alternative to carotid
      endarterectomy for the treatment of atherosclerotic carotid stenosis. Primary
      carotid stenting, performed using self-expanding stents alone without deliberate
      use of embolic protection devices and balloon angioplasty, has been shown to be
      effective and faster, cheaper, and potentially safer than conventional
      techniques. However, the long-term morphological results of this technique have
      not been established. The aim of this study was to determine whether
      preprocedural carotid plaque imaging at the site of maximal stenosis by using CT
      angiography (CTA) could predict the long-term morphological outcome of primary
      carotid stenting. METHODS: One hundred eighty-one patients were treated over an
      11-year period. Preprocedural CTA was performed in 102 of these. A morphological
      scale (the Predicting Long-term outcome with Angioplasty of the Carotid artery
      [PLAC] Scale), with grades from 0 to 4 and A or B, was used to evaluate the
      circumferential degree of plaque calcification, and the presence or absence of
      soft plaque. All patients were followed using duplex carotid ultrasound and plain
      radiographs. Satisfactory morphological outcome was defined as a peak systolic
      velocity < 120 cm/s and internal carotid artery/common carotid artery ratio <
      1.4. RESULTS: The average follow-up duration was 29.7 months (median 24.5 months,
      range 0.3-87 months). Univariate logistic regression demonstrated that a low
      calcification grade (p < 0.001), less thick calcification (p < 0.001), and
      moderate amounts of soft plaque (p < 0.001) are factors that are highly
      associated with good long-term outcome. Multivariate analyses confirmed that
      these factors are independent of each other in predicting outcome. CONCLUSIONS:
      The long-term morphological outcome of primary carotid stenting was predicted
      with considerable accuracy by using a straightforward CTA carotid plaque grading
      scale.

PMID- 25816085
TI  - Microrecording and image-guided stereotactic biopsy of deep-seated brain tumors.
AB  - OBJECT: Image-guided stereotactic brain tumor biopsy cannot easily obtain samples
      of small deep-seated tumor or selectively sample the most viable region of
      malignant tumor. Image-guided stereotactic biopsy in combination with depth
      microrecording was evaluated to solve such problems. METHODS: Operative records,
      MRI findings, and pathological specimens were evaluated in 12 patients with small
      deep-seated brain tumor, in which image-guided stereotactic biopsy was performed
      with the aid of depth microrecording. The tumors were located in the caudate
      nucleus (1 patient), thalamus (7 patients), midbrain (2 patients), and cortex (2
      patients). Surgery was performed with a frameless stereotactic system in 3
      patients and with a frame-based stereotactic system in 9 patients. Microrecording
      was performed to study the electrical activities along the trajectory in the deep
      brain structures and the tumor. The correlations were studied between the
      electrophysiological, MRI, and pathological findings. Thirty-two patients with
      surface or large brain tumor were also studied, in whom image-guided stereotactic
      biopsy without microrecording was performed. RESULTS: The diagnostic yield in the
      group with microrecording was 100% (low-grade glioma 4, high-grade glioma 4,
      diffuse large B-cell lymphoma 3, and germinoma 1), which was comparable to 93.8%
      in the group without microrecording. The postoperative complication rate was as
      low as that of the conventional image-guided method without using microelectrode
      recording, and the mortality rate was 0%, although the target lesions were small
      and deep-seated in all cases. Depth microrecording revealed disappearance of
      neural activity in the tumor regardless of the tumor type. Neural activity began
      to decrease from 6.3 +/- 4.5 mm (mean +/- SD) above the point of complete
      disappearance along the trajectory. Burst discharges were observed in 6 of the 12
      cases, from 3 +/- 1.4 mm above the point of decrease of neural activity. Injury
      discharges were often found at 0.5-1 mm along the trajectory between the area of
      decreased and disappeared neural activity. Close correlations between
      electrophysiological, MRI, and histological findings could be found in some
      cases. CONCLUSIONS: Image-guided stereotactic biopsy performed using depth
      microrecording was safe, it provided accurate positional information in real
      time, and it could distinguish the tumor from brain structures during surgery.
      Moreover, this technique has potential for studying the epileptogenicity of the
      brain tumor.

PMID- 25816086
TI  - Editorial: Arteriovenous malformations and embolization.

PMID- 25816087
TI  - Assessing early unplanned reoperations in neurosurgery: opportunities for quality
      improvement.
AB  - OBJECT: Review of morbidities and mortality has been the primary method used to
      assess surgical quality by physicians, hospitals, and oversight agencies. The
      incidence of reoperation has been proposed as a candidate quality indicator for
      surgical care. The authors report a comprehensive assessment of reoperations
      within a neurosurgical department and discuss how such data can be integrated
      into quality improvement initiatives to optimize value of care delivery. METHODS:
      All neurosurgical procedures performed in the main operating room or the
      outpatient surgery center at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Santa
      Monica Medical Center from July 2008 to December 2012 were considered for this
      study. Interventional radiology and stereotactic radiosurgery procedures were
      excluded. Early reoperations within 7 days of the index surgery were reviewed and
      their preventability status was evaluated. RESULTS: The incidence of early
      unplanned reoperation was 2.6% (occurring after 183 of 6912 procedures). More
      than half of the patients who underwent early unplanned reoperation initially had
      surgery for shunt-related conditions (34.4%) or intracranial tumor (23.5%). Shunt
      failure was the most common indication for early unplanned reoperation (34.4%),
      followed by postoperative bleeding (20.8%) and postoperative elevated
      intracranial pressure (9.8%). The average time interval (+/- SD) between the
      index surgery and reoperation was 3.0 +/- 1.9 days. The average length of stay
      following reoperation was 12.1 +/- 14.4 days. CONCLUSIONS: This study enabled an
      in-depth assessment of reoperations within an academic neurosurgical practice and
      identification of strategic opportunities for department-wide quality improvement
      initiatives. The authors provide a nuanced discussion regarding the use of
      absolute reoperations as a quality indicator for neurosurgical patient
      populations.

PMID- 25816089
TI  - Editorial: Management of hemangioblastomas in patients with von Hippel-Lindau
      disease: stereotactic radiosurgery compared to surgical excision.

PMID- 25816088
TI  - Stereotactic radiosurgery for intracranial hemangioblastomas: a retrospective
      international outcome study.
AB  - OBJECT: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of stereotactic
      radiosurgery (SRS) in the management of intracranial hemangioblastomas. METHODS:
      Six participating centers of the North American Gamma Knife Consortium and 13
      Japanese Gamma Knife centers identified 186 patients with 517 hemangioblastomas
      who underwent SRS. Eighty patients had 335 hemangioblastomas associated with von
      Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) and 106 patients had 182 sporadic hemangioblastomas.
      The median target volume was 0.2 cm(3) (median diameter 7 mm) in patients with
      VHL and 0.7 cm(3) (median diameter 11 mm) in those with sporadic
      hemangioblastoma. The median margin dose was 18 Gy in VHL patients and 15 Gy in
      those with sporadic hemangioblastomas. RESULTS: At a median of 5 years (range 0.5
      18 years) after treatment, 20 patients had died of intracranial disease
      progression and 9 patients had died of other causes. The overall survival after
      SRS was 94% at 3 years, 90% at 5 years, and 74% at 10 years. Factors associated
      with longer survival included younger age, absence of neurological symptoms,
      fewer tumors, and higher Karnofsky Performance Status. Thirty-three (41%) of the
      80 patients with VHL developed new tumors and 17 (16%) of the106 patients with
      sporadic hemangioblastoma had recurrences of residual tumor from the original
      tumor. The 5-year rate of developing a new tumor was 43% for VHL patients, and
      the 5-year rate of developing a recurrence of residual tumor from the original
      tumor was 24% for sporadic hemangioblastoma patients. Factors associated with a
      reduced risk of developing a new tumor or recurrences of residual tumor from the
      original tumor included younger age, fewer tumors, and sporadic rather than VHL
      associated hemangioblastomas. The local tumor control rate for treated tumors was
      92% at 3 years, 89% at 5 years, and 79% at 10 years. Factors associated with an
      improved local tumor control rate included VHL-associated hemangioblastoma, solid
      tumor, smaller tumor volume, and higher margin dose. Thirteen patients (7%)
      developed adverse radiation effects (ARE) after SRS, and one of these patients
      died due to ARE. CONCLUSIONS: When either sporadic or VHL-associated tumors were
      observed to grow on serial imaging studies, SRS provided tumor control in 79%-92%
      of tumors.

PMID- 25816090
TI  - Intraoperative subcortical mapping of a language-associated deep frontal tract
      connecting the superior frontal gyrus to Broca's area in the dominant hemisphere
      of patients with glioma.
AB  - OBJECT: The deep frontal pathway connecting the superior frontal gyrus to Broca's
      area, recently named the frontal aslant tract (FAT), is assumed to be associated
      with language functions, especially speech initiation and spontaneity. Injury to
      the deep frontal lobe is known to cause aphasia that mimics the aphasia caused by
      damage to the supplementary motor area. Although fiber dissection and
      tractography have revealed the existence of the tract, little is known about its
      function. The aim of this study was to determine the function of the FAT via
      electrical stimulation in patients with glioma who underwent awake surgery.
      METHODS: The authors analyzed the data from subcortical mapping with electrical
      stimulation in 5 consecutive cases (3 males and 2 females, age range 40-54 years)
      with gliomas in the left frontal lobe. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and
      tractography of the FAT were performed in all cases. A navigation system and
      intraoperative MRI were used in all cases. During the awake phase of the surgery,
      cortical mapping was performed to find the precentral gyrus and Broca's area,
      followed by tumor resection. After the cortical layer was removed, subcortical
      mapping was performed to assess language-associated fibers in the white matter.
      RESULTS: In all 5 cases, positive responses were obtained at the stimulation
      sites in the subcortical area adjacent to the FAT, which was visualized by the
      navigation system. Speech arrest was observed in 4 cases, and remarkably slow
      speech and conversation was observed in 1 case. The location of these sites was
      also determined on intraoperative MR images and estimated on preoperative MR
      images with DTI tractography, confirming the spatial relationships among the
      stimulation sites and white matter tracts. Tumor removal was successfully
      performed without damage to this tract, and language function did not deteriorate
      in any of the cases postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: The authors identified the left
      FAT and confirmed that it was associated with language functions. This tract
      should be recognized by clinicians to preserve language function during brain
      tumor surgery, especially for tumors located in the deep frontal lobe on the
      language-dominant side.

PMID- 25816091
TI  - MicroRNA-218 and microRNA-520a inhibit cell proliferation by downregulating E2F2
      in hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer type worldwide and
      the third leading cause of cancer-associated mortality. To date, its pathogenesis
      has remained poorly understood. Previous studies have demonstrated that
      deregulated microRNA (miR) participates in hepatocarcinogenesis. In the present
      study, miR-218 and miR-520a were observed to be downregulated in human HCC cells
      relative to normal hepatic cells. Overexpression of miR-218 or miR-520a inhibited
      cell proliferation and induced cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase checkpoint.
      Furthermore, a dual-luciferase reporter assay identified that E2F2 was a novel
      direct target of miR-218 but not miR-520a in HCC. In addition, miR-218 and miR
      520a were observed to negatively regulate E2F2 mRNA and protein levels. This
      suggested that miR-218 regulated the expression of E2F2 via directly binding to
      its 3'-untranslated region, whereas miR-520a affected E2F2 expression indirectly.
      In conclusion, these results indicated that miR-218 and miR-520a are crucial in
      the development of HCC via the inhibition of cell proliferation and cycle
      progression by downregulating E2F2.

PMID- 25816092
TI  - Synthesis of fluorophosphate nucleotide analogues and their characterization as
      tools for 19F NMR studies.
AB  - To broaden the scope of existing methods based on (19)F nucleotide labeling, we
      developed a new method for the synthesis of fluorophosphate (oligo)nucleotide
      analogues containing an O to F substitution at the terminal position of the
      (oligo)phosphate moiety and evaluated them as tools for (19)F NMR studies. Using
      three efficient and comprehensive synthetic approaches based on
      phosphorimidazolide chemistry and tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride,
      fluoromonophosphate, or fluorophosphate imidazolide as fluorine sources, we
      prepared over 30 fluorophosphate-containing nucleotides, varying in nucleobase
      type (A, G, C, U, m(7)G), phosphate chain length (from mono to tetra), and
      presence of additional phosphate modifications (thio, borano, imido, methylene).
      Using fluorophosphate imidazolide as fluorophosphorylating reagent for 5'
      phosphorylated oligos we also synthesized oligonucleotide 5'-(2
      fluorodiphosphates), which are potentially useful as (19)F NMR hybridization
      probes. The compounds were characterized by (19)F NMR and evaluated as (19)F NMR
      molecular probes. We found that fluorophosphate nucleotide analogues can be used
      to monitor activity of enzymes with various specificities and metal ion
      requirements, including human DcpS enzyme, a therapeutic target for spinal
      muscular atrophy. The compounds can also serve as reporter ligands for protein
      binding studies, as exemplified by studying interaction of fluorophosphate mRNA
      cap analogues with eukaryotic translation initiation factor (eIF4E). 

PMID- 25816093
TI  - Is cadmium exposure associated with the burden, vulnerability and rupture of
      human atherosclerotic plaques?
AB  - The general population is exposed to cadmium from food and smoking. Cadmium is a
      widely spread toxic pollutant that seems to be associated with cardiovascular
      diseases, although little is known if it contributes to the occurrence of
      atherosclerotic plaques and the process whereby plaques become vulnerable and are
      prone to rupture. We tested the hypotheses that cadmium exposure is associated
      not only with an increased subclinical burden of atherosclerotic plaques in
      different vascular territories and early signs of plaque vulnerability, but also
      with cadmium content and plaque-rupture in the clinical phase of the disease.
      Ultrasound technique was used to measure plaque prevalence and echogenicity in
      the carotid and femoral arteries in a population sample of women (n = 599) in
      whom blood cadmium was measured. In addition cadmium was measured in snap-frozen
      endarterectomies and whole blood obtained from patients who were referred to
      surgery because of symptomatic carotid plaques (n = 37). Sixteen endarterectomies
      were divided into three parts corresponding to different flow conditions and
      plaque vulnerability. In the population sample blood cadmium was associated with
      the number of vascular territories with plaques (p = 0.003 after adjustment for
      potential confounders). The cadmium concentrations in symptomatic plaques were 50
      fold higher in plaque tissue than in blood. Cadmium levels in blood and plaque
      correlated, also after adjustment for smoking and other cardiovascular risk
      factors (p<0.001). Compared with the other parts of the plaque, the cadmium
      content was double as high in the part where plaque rupture usually occurs. In
      conclusion, the results show that cadmium exposure is associated with the burden
      of subclinical atherosclerosis in middle-aged women with different degrees of
      glucose tolerance, and that the content of cadmium in symptomatic plaques in
      patients is related to that in blood, but much higher, and preferentially located
      in the part of plaque where rupture often occurs. 

PMID- 25816094
TI  - Actin-mediated gene expression depends on RhoA and Rac1 signaling in proximal
      tubular epithelial cells.
AB  - Morphological alterations of cells can lead to modulation of gene expression. An
      essential link is the MKL1-dependent activation of serum response factor (SRF),
      which translates changes in the ratio of G- and F-actin into mRNA transcription.
      SRF activation is only partially characterized in non-transformed epithelial
      cells. Therefore, the impact of GTPases of the Rho family and changes in F-actin
      structures were analyzed in renal proximal tubular epithelial cells. Activation
      of SRF signaling was compared to the regulation of a known MKL1/SRF target gene,
      connective tissue growth factor (CTGF). In the human proximal tubular cell line
      HKC-8 overexpression of two actin mutants either favoring or preventing the
      formation of F-actin fibers regulated SRF-mediated transcription as well as CTGF
      expression. Only overexpression of constitutively active RhoA activated SRF
      dependent gene expression whereas no effect was detected upon overexpression of
      Rac1 mutants. To elucidate the functional role of Rho kinases as downstream
      mediators of RhoA, pharmacological inhibition and genetic inhibition by transient
      siRNA knock down were compared. Upon stimulation with lysophosphatidic acid (LPA)
      Rho kinase inhibitors partially suppressed SRF-mediated transcription, whereas
      interference with Rho kinase expression by siRNA reduced activation of SRF, but
      barely affected CTGF expression. Together with the partial inhibition of CTGF
      expression by the pharmacological inhibitors Y27432 and H1154, Rho kinases seem
      to be less important in mediating RhoA signaling related to CTGF expression in
      HKC-8 epithelial cells. Short term pharmacological inhibition of Rac1 activity by
      EHT1864 reduced SRF-dependent CTGF expression in HKC-8 cells, but was overcome by
      a stimulatory effect after prolonged incubation after 4-6 h. Similarly, human
      primary cells of proximal but not of distal tubular origin showed inhibitory as
      well as stimulatory effects of Rac1 inhibition. Thus, RhoA signaling activates
      MKL1-SRF-mediated CTGF expression in proximal tubular cells, whereas Rac1
      signaling is more complex with adaptive cellular responses. 

PMID- 25816095
TI  - Hypothermia augments neuroprotective activity of mesenchymal stem cells for
      neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
AB  - Though hypothermia is the only clinically available treatment for neonatal
      hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), it is not completely effective in severe
      cases. We hypothesized that combined treatment with hypothermia and
      transplantation of human umbilical cord blood (UCB)-derived mesenchymal stem
      cells (MSCs) would synergistically attenuate severe HIE compared to stand-alone
      therapy. To induce hypoxia-ischemia (HI), male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected
      to 8% oxygen for 120 min after unilateral carotid artery ligation on postnatal
      day (P) 7. After confirmation of severe HIE involving >50% of the ipsilateral
      hemisphere volume as determined by diffusion-weighted brain magnetic resonance
      imaging (MRI) within 2 h after HI, intraventricular MSC transplantation (1 * 105
      cells) and/or hypothermia with target temperature at 32 degrees C for 24 h were
      administered 6 h after induction of HI. Follow-up brain MRI at P12 and P42,
      sensorimotor function tests at P40-42, evaluation of cytokines in the
      cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) at P42, and histologic analysis of peri-infarct tissues
      at P42 were performed. Severe HI resulted in progressively increased brain
      infarction over time as assessed by serial MRI, increased number of cells
      positive for terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase nick-end labeling,
      microgliosis and astrocytosis, increased CSF cytokine levels, and impaired
      function in behavioral tests such as rotarod and cylinder tests. All of the
      abnormalities observed in severe HIE showed greater improvement after combined
      treatment with hypothermia and MSC transplantation than with either therapy
      alone. Overall, these findings suggest that combined treatment with hypothermia
      and human UCB-derived MSC transplantation might be a novel therapeutic modality
      to improve the prognosis of severe HIE, an intractable disease that currently has
      no effective treatment. 

PMID- 25816096
TI  - Differential phenotypic and functional profiles of TcCA-2 -specific cytotoxic
      CD8+ T cells in the asymptomatic versus cardiac phase in Chagasic patients.
AB  - It has been reported that the immune response mediated by T CD8+ lymphocytes
      plays a critical role in the control of Trypanosoma cruzi infection and that the
      clinical symptoms of Chagas disease appear to be related to the competence of the
      CD8+ T immune response against the parasite. Herewith, in silico prediction and
      binding assays on TAP-deficient T2 cells were used to identify potential HLA
      A*02:01 ligands in the T. cruzi TcCA-2 protein. The TcCA-2-specific CD8+ T cells
      were functionality evaluated by Granzyme B and cytokine production in peripheral
      blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from Chagas disease patients stimulated with the
      identified HLA-A*02:01 peptides. The specific cells were phenotypically
      characterized by flow cytometry using several surface markers and HLA-A*02:01 APC
      labeled dextramer loaded with the peptides. In the T. cruzi TcCA-2 protein four T
      CD8+ epitopes were identified which are processed and presented during Chagas
      disease. Interestingly, a differential cellular phenotypic profile could be
      correlated with the severity of the disease. The TcCA-2-specific T CD8+ cells
      from patients with cardiac symptoms are mainly effector memory cells (TEM and
      TEMRA) while, those present in the asymptomatic phase are predominantly naive
      cells (TNAIVE). Moreover, in patients with cardiac symptoms the percentage of
      cells with senescence features is significantly higher than in patients at the
      asymptomatic phase of the disease. We consider that the identification of these
      new class I-restricted epitopes are helpful for designing biomarkers of sickness
      pathology as well as the development of immunotherapies against T. cruzi
      infection. 

PMID- 25816097
TI  - C-C chemokine receptor 2 inhibitor ameliorates hepatic steatosis by improving ER
      stress and inflammation in a type 2 diabetic mouse model.
AB  - Hepatic steatosis is the accumulation of excess fat in the liver. Recently,
      hepatic steatosis has become more important because it occurs in the patients
      with obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hyperlipidemia and is associated with
      endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and insulin resistance. C-C chemokine receptor
      2 (CCR2) inhibitor has been reported to improve inflammation and glucose
      intolerance in diabetes, but its mechanisms remained unknown in hepatic
      steatosis. We examined whether CCR2 inhibitor improves ER stress-induced hepatic
      steatosis in type 2 diabetic mice. In this study, db/db and db/m (n = 9) mice
      were fed CCR2 inhibitor (2 mg/kg/day) for 9 weeks. In diabetic mice, CCR2
      inhibitor decreased plasma and hepatic triglycerides levels and improved insulin
      sensitivity. Moreover, CCR2 inhibitor treatment decreased ER stress markers
      (e.g., BiP, ATF4, CHOP, and XBP-1) and inflammatory cytokines (e.g., TNFalpha, IL
      6, and MCP-1) while increasing markers of mitochondrial biogenesis (e.g., PGC
      1alpha, Tfam, and COX1) in the liver. We suggest that CCR2 inhibitor may
      ameliorate hepatic steatosis by reducing ER stress and inflammation in type 2
      diabetes mellitus. 

PMID- 25816098
TI  - Diacerein improves left ventricular remodeling and cardiac function by reducing
      the inflammatory response after myocardial infarction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The inflammatory response has been implicated in the pathogenesis of
      left ventricular (LV) remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI). An
      anthraquinone compound with anti-inflammatory properties, diacerein inhibits the
      synthesis and activity of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis
      factor and interleukins 1 and 6. The purpose of this study was to investigate the
      effects of diacerein on ventricular remodeling in vivo. METHODS AND RESULTS:
      Ligation of the left anterior descending artery was used to induce MI in an
      experimental rat model. Rats were divided into two groups: a control group that
      received saline solution (n = 16) and a group that received diacerein (80 mg/kg)
      daily (n = 10). After 4 weeks, the LV volume, cellular signaling, caspase 3
      activity, and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) transcription were compared
      between the two groups. After 4 weeks, end-diastolic and end-systolic LV volumes
      were reduced in the treatment group compared to the control group (p < .01 and p
      < .01, respectively). Compared to control rats, diacerein-treated rats exhibited
      less fibrosis in the LV (14.65%+/- 7.27% vs. 22.57%+/- 8.94%; p < .01), lower
      levels of caspase-3 activity, and lower levels of NF-kappaB p65 transcription.
      CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with diacerein once a day for 4 weeks after MI improved
      ventricular remodeling by promoting lower end-systolic and end-diastolic LV
      volumes. Diacerein also reduced fibrosis in the LV. These effects might be
      associated with partial blockage of the NF-kappaB pathway.

PMID- 25816100
TI  - Association between metabolic syndrome, smoking status and coronary artery
      calcification.
AB  - Coronary artery calcification (CAC), an indicator of coronary artery stenosis, is
      an independent risk factor of ischemic heart disease. Smoking increases the risk
      of metabolic syndrome (MS) and cardiovascular disease. Almost no previous studies
      have evaluated the combined effect of MS and smoking status on CAC. Therefore, in
      this study we examined the relationships between CAC, MS, and smoking. This study
      included 775 adult males without histories of cardiovascular disease who visited
      the Health Promotion Center at the University Hospital in Gyeonggi-do, Republic
      of Korea from January 2, 2010 to December 31, 2012. All subjects were screened
      for CAC by multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT). CAC increased significantly
      with age and body mass index (BMI). Among MS components, abdominal obesity and
      elevated fasting blood glucose were correlated with CAC. After adjusting for age
      and BMI, MS was associated with a 1.46-fold increase in CAC (95% CI:1.02-2.09),
      abdominal obesity was associated with a 1.45-fold increase (95% CI:1.04-2.04),
      elevated fasting blood glucose was associated with a 2-fold increase (95% CI:1.36
      2.94), and MS and smoking combined were associated with 2.44-fold increase in
      CAC. Thus, the combination of smoking and MS had a greater impact on CAC than any
      single factor alone. MS is correlated with an increased risk of CAC, and a
      combination of MS and smoking is associated with even greater risk. These
      findings can be used to prevent cardiovascular disease in adults. 

PMID- 25816099
TI  - The roles of variants in human multidrug resistance (MDR1) gene and their
      haplotypes on antiepileptic drugs response: a meta-analysis of 57 studies.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Previous studies reported the associations between the ATP-binding
      cassette sub-family B member 1 (ABCB1, also known as MDR1) polymorphisms and
      their haplotypes with risk of response to antiepileptic drugs in epilepsy,
      however, the results were inconclusive. METHODS: The Pubmed, Embase, Web of
      Science, CNKI and Chinese Biomedicine databases were searched up to July 15,
      2014. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated
      using a fixed-effects or random-effects model based on heterogeneity tests. Meta
      regression and Galbraith plot analysis were carried out to explore the possible
      heterogeneity. RESULTS: A total of 57 studies involving 12407 patients (6083 drug
      resistant and 6324 drug-responsive patients with epilepsy) were included in the
      pooled-analysis. For all three polymorphisms (C3435T, G2677T/A, and C1236T), we
      observed a wide spectrum of minor allele frequencies across different
      ethnicities. A significantly decreased risk of AEDs resistance was observed in
      Caucasian patients with T allele of C3435T variant, which was still significant
      after adjusted by multiple testing corrections (T vs C: OR=0.83, 95%CI=0.71-0.96,
      p=0.01). However, no significant association was observed between the other two
      variants and AEDs resistance. Of their haplotypes in ABCB1 gene (all studies were
      in Indians and Asians), no significant association was observed with AEDs
      resistance. Moreover, sensitivity and Cumulative analysis showed that the results
      of this meta-analysis were stable. CONCLUSION: In summary, this meta-analysis
      demonstrated that effect of C3435T variant on risk of AEDs resistance was
      ethnicity-dependent, which was significant in Caucasians. Additionally, further
      studies in different ethnic groups are warranted to clarify possible roles of
      haplotypes in ABCB1 gene in AEDs resistance, especially in Caucasians.

PMID- 25816101
TI  - Synergistic interactions between Drosophila orthologues of genes spanned by de
      novo human CNVs support multiple-hit models of autism.
AB  - Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are highly heritable and characterised by
      deficits in social interaction and communication, as well as restricted and
      repetitive behaviours. Although a number of highly penetrant ASD gene variants
      have been identified, there is growing evidence to support a causal role for
      combinatorial effects arising from the contributions of multiple loci. By
      examining synaptic and circadian neurological phenotypes resulting from the
      dosage variants of unique human:fly orthologues in Drosophila, we observe
      numerous synergistic interactions between pairs of informatically-identified
      candidate genes whose orthologues are jointly affected by large de novo copy
      number variants (CNVs). These CNVs were found in the genomes of individuals with
      autism, including a patient carrying a 22q11.2 deletion. We first demonstrate
      that dosage alterations of the unique Drosophila orthologues of candidate genes
      from de novo CNVs that harbour only a single candidate gene display neurological
      defects similar to those previously reported in Drosophila models of ASD
      associated variants. We then considered pairwise dosage changes within the set of
      orthologues of candidate genes that were affected by the same single human de
      novo CNV. For three of four CNVs with complete orthologous relationships, we
      observed significant synergistic effects following the simultaneous dosage change
      of gene pairs drawn from a single CNV. The phenotypic variation observed at the
      Drosophila synapse that results from these interacting genetic variants supports
      a concordant phenotypic outcome across all interacting gene pairs following the
      direction of human gene copy number change. We observe both specificity and
      transitivity between interactors, both within and between CNV candidate gene
      sets, supporting shared and distinct genetic aetiologies. We then show that
      different interactions affect divergent synaptic processes, demonstrating
      distinct molecular aetiologies. Our study illustrates mechanisms through which
      synergistic effects resulting from large structural variation can contribute to
      human disease. 

PMID- 25816103
TI  - Analysis of the cytotoxicity of carbon-based nanoparticles, diamond and graphite,
      in human glioblastoma and hepatoma cell lines.
AB  - Nanoparticles have attracted a great deal of attention as carriers for drug
      delivery to cancer cells. However, reports on their potential cytotoxicity raise
      questions of their safety and this matter needs attentive consideration. In this
      paper, for the first time, the cytotoxic effects of two carbon based
      nanoparticles, diamond and graphite, on glioblastoma and hepatoma cells were
      compared. First, we confirmed previous results that diamond nanoparticles are
      practically nontoxic. Second, graphite nanoparticles exhibited a negative impact
      on glioblastoma, but not on hepatoma cells. The studied carbon nanoparticles
      could be a potentially useful tool for therapeutics delivery to the brain tissue
      with minimal side effects on the hepatocytes. Furthermore, we showed the
      influence of the nanoparticles on the stable, fluorescently labeled tumor cell
      lines and concluded that the labeled cells are suitable for drug cytotoxicity
      tests. 

PMID- 25816105
TI  - Quantitative Assessment of Tendon Healing by Using MR T2 Mapping in a Rabbit
      Achilles Tendon Transection Model Treated with Platelet-rich Plasma.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine if magnetic resonance (MR) imaging T2 mapping can be used
      to quantify histologic tendon healing by using a rabbit Achilles tendon
      transection model treated with platelet-rich plasma (PRP). MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The
      Achilles tendons of 24 New Zealand white rabbits (48 limbs) were surgically
      transected, and PRP (in the test group) or saline (in the control group) was
      injected into the transection site. The rabbits were sacrificed 2, 4, 8, and 12
      weeks after surgery. Thereafter, T2 mapping and histologic evaluations were
      performed by using the Bonar scale. A mixed-model multivariate analysis of
      variance was used to test the effects of time and PRP treatment on the T2 value
      and Bonar grade, respectively. The correlation between the T2 value and Bonar
      grade was also assessed by using the Spearman correlation coefficient. RESULTS:
      The Bonar scale values decreased in both groups during tendon healing. The T2
      value also shortened over time (P < .001 for both groups). The T2 values were
      positively correlated with the Bonar grade (rho = 0.78, P < .001). Both the T2
      value and Bonar scale value were lower in the PRP group than in the control group
      at 4, 8, and 12 weeks; however, there was no significant effect of PRP treatment
      on the T2 value or Bonar grade. CONCLUSION: The T2 value changes reflected
      histologic tendon healing. While T2 and Bonar grade were lower at all time points
      in tendons treated with PRP, there was no significant difference between the
      treatment and control tendons.

PMID- 25816102
TI  - Nanoscale materials for hyperthermal theranostics.
AB  - Recently, the use of nanoscale materials has attracted considerable attention
      with the aim of designing personalized therapeutic approaches that can enhance
      both spatial and temporal control over drug release, permeability, and uptake.
      Potential benefits to patients include the reduction of overall drug dosages,
      enabling the parallel delivery of different pharmaceuticals, and the possibility
      of enabling additional functionalities such as hyperthermia or deep-tissue
      imaging (LIF, PET, etc.) that complement and extend the efficacy of traditional
      chemotherapy and surgery. This mini-review is focused on an emerging class of
      nanometer-scale materials that can be used both to heat malignant tissue to
      reduce angiogenesis and DNA-repair while simultaneously offering complementary
      imaging capabilities based on radioemission, optical fluorescence, magnetic
      resonance, and photoacoustic methods. 

PMID- 25816104
TI  - Chronic Lung Allograft Dysfunction: Oxygen-enhanced T1-Mapping MR Imaging of the
      Lung.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate oxygen-enhanced T1-mapping magnetic resonance (MR) imaging
      of the lungs for detection of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) in
      patients who have undergone double lung transplantation. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      The local ethics committee approved this study. Seventy-six recipients of double
      lung allografts who underwent MR imaging of the lungs during an outpatient visit
      between 2011 and 2013 were included in this study after they provided written
      informed consent. Patients were classified as having CLAD on the basis of
      spirometric results and were divided into three groups: no CLAD (bronchiolitis
      obliterans syndrome level 0 [BOS 0]), early CLAD (BOS 0p), and late-stage CLAD
      (BOS 1-3). Coronal T1 maps of the lungs were acquired with the patient breathing
      room air and 100% oxygen by using an inversion-recovery snapshot fast low-angle
      shot sequence at 1.5 T. The median and interquartile range of T1 values at room
      air and at 100% oxygen and the oxygen transfer function were calculated.
      Statistical analysis was performed with analysis of variance and the Tukey
      honestly significant difference test or the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Mann
      Whitney U test (alpha = 0.05). Bonferroni correction was applied for multiple
      comparisons. RESULTS: The oxygen transfer function was significantly lower in
      patients in the BOS 0p (P = .025) and BOS 1-3 groups (P = .003) than it was in
      the patients with BOS 0. Absolute T1 values (room air, P = .66; 100% oxygen, P =
      .67) did not differ significantly among the groups. The heterogeneity of T1
      values, measured by using the interquartile range, showed a strong trend toward
      higher values in patients with BOS (room air, P = .06; 100% oxygen, P = .08).
      CONCLUSION: Oxygen transfer function may serve as an early marker for detection
      of CLAD.

PMID- 25816106
TI  - Prognostic Role of Diffusion-weighted MR Imaging for Resectable Gastric Cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: To prospectively investigate the role of apparent diffusion coefficient
      (ADC) calculated from diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging as a
      potential prognostic biomarker in the evaluation of the aggressiveness of gastric
      cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study had institutional review
      board approval. Informed consent was obtained from all patients. Between October
      2009 and December 2013, a total of 99 patients (65 men, 34 women; mean age, 62.02
      years; age range, 32.33-85.15 years) with biopsy-proved cancer (28
      esophagogastric junction and 71 gastric cancers) were examined with a 1.5-T MR
      imaging system, including T1-, T2-, and diffusion-weighted sequences. ADC
      measurements were obtained. Seventy-one patients were directly treated with
      surgery, while 28 underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy beforehand. Pathologic ADC,
      pathologic T and N stages, tumor location, surgical approach, and histologic
      subtype were investigated with univariate and multivariate analyses by using the
      Cox regression model. RESULTS: At a total median follow-up period of 21 months,
      31 patients had died. The median follow-up was 25 months for the surgery-only
      group (19 of 31 events [61%]) and 28 months for the chemotherapy group (12 of 31
      events [39%]). In the multivariate analysis, ADC values of 1.5 * 10(-3) mm(2)/sec
      or lower were associated with a negative prognosis, both in the total population
      (log-relative risk, 1.73; standard error, 0.56; P = .002) and in the surgery-only
      (log-relative risk, 1.97; standard error, 0.66; P = .003) and chemotherapy (log
      relative risk, 2.93; standard error, 1.41; P = .03) groups, along with other
      significant prognostic factors (in particular, pathologic T and N stages).
      CONCLUSION: Pathologic ADC represents a strong independent prognostic factor in
      the evaluation of the aggressiveness of gastric cancer, in addition to clinical
      and surgical variables.

PMID- 25816107
TI  - Cognitive factors influencing treatment decision-making in patients with
      localised prostate cancer: development of a standardised questionnaire.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Men diagnosed with localised prostate cancer have to make a well
      informed treatment choice between (robot-assisted) radical prostatectomy,
      external beam radiotherapy and, in selected cases, brachytherapy and active
      surveillance. We developed and validated a questionnaire to determine the
      cognitive reasons motivating this choice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Prostate
      Cancer Decision-Making Questionnaire (PC-DMQ) was designed in-house and validated
      through the Delphi method. Finally, we tested the questionnaire in a cohort of 24
      men, recently diagnosed with localised PC, before undergoing RARP (n = 16), EBRT
      (n = 6), brachytherapy (n = 1) or active surveillance (n = 1). RESULTS: The
      experts reached consensus after three rounds. In the patient cohort, 75% of men
      undergoing RARP chose this treatment because 'it provides the best chance of
      cure'. Reasons to choose EBRT were not as explicit: 33.3% chose this treatment
      because 'it provides the best chance of cure' and 33.3% because 'the maintenance
      of potency is important to them'. CONCLUSIONS: The PC-DMQ is a comprehensive and
      standardised tool that allows further research into cognitive factors that
      influence treatment decision-making in patients with localised PC.

PMID- 25816108
TI  - Binder-free Si nanoparticle electrode with 3D porous structure prepared by
      electrophoretic deposition for lithium-ion batteries.
AB  - A binder-free silicon (Si) based electrode for lithium-ion battery was fabricated
      in an organic solvent through one-step electrophoretic deposition (EPD). The
      nanosized Si and acetylene black (AB) particles were bonded tightly together to
      form a homogeneous co-deposited film with 3D porous structure through the EPD
      process. The 3D porous structure provides buffer spaces to alleviate the
      mechanical stress due to silicon volume change during the cycling and improves
      lithium-ion conductivity by shortening ion diffusion length and better ion
      conducting pathway. The electrode prepared with 5 s deposition duration shows the
      best cycling performance among electrodes fabricated by EPD method, and thus, it
      was selected to be compared with the silicon electrode prepared by the
      conventional method. Our results demonstrate that the Si nanoparticle electrode
      prepared through EPD exhibits smaller cycling capacity decay rate and better rate
      capability than the electrode prepared by the conventional method. 

PMID- 25816109
TI  - Aquatic photochemical kinetics of benzotriazole and structurally related
      compounds.
AB  - Benzotriazole corrosion inhibitors are not completely removed during wastewater
      treatment and are frequently detected in surface waters. Here, the photochemical
      kinetics of benzotriazoles and structurally related compounds were assessed for
      natural aqueous environments. The direct photochemical half-lives during exposure
      to simulated sunlight ranged from 1.3 to 1.8 days for benzotriazole and its
      derivatives (4-methyl-, 5-methyl-, 4-hydroxy-substituted benzotriazoles).
      Benzotriazole is more resistant to direct photodegradation than indazole (0.28
      days) and indole (0.09 days), while benzimidazole showed no significant decay.
      Hydroxyl radicals (1.6 * 10(-16) M) and singlet oxygen (2.5 * 10(-13) M) are
      formed during simulated sunlight exposure in the presence of dissolved organic
      matter (13 mgC L(-1)). All tested compounds reacted rapidly with hydroxyl
      radicals near the diffusion-controlled limit (8.3 to 12 * 10(9) M(-1) s(-1)).
      Only 4-hydroxybenzotriazole and indole showed significant reactivity towards
      singlet oxygen and their photochemical half-lives in the presence of organic
      matter were shorter (0.1 days for both) than for benzotriazole and its methylated
      derivatives (1.4-1.5 days). The photochemical half-lives determined here are
      relatively long and support the persistence of benzotriazoles in the environment.
      At the same time, these results suggest that photochemical transformation can be
      supplementary to microbial degradation. While the presented study focused on
      environmental photodegradation kinetics, the relevance of transformation products
      remains to be investigated. 

PMID- 25816111
TI  - Growth and setting of gas bubbles in a viscoelastic matrix imaged by X-ray
      microtomography: the evolution of cellular structures in fermenting wheat flour
      dough.
AB  - X-ray tomography is a relevant technique for the dynamic follow-up of gas bubbles
      in an opaque viscoelastic matrix, especially using image analysis. It has been
      applied here to pieces of fermenting wheat flour dough of various compositions,
      at two different voxel sizes (15 and 5 MUm). The resulting evolution of the main
      cellular features shows that the creation of cellular structures follows two
      regimes that are defined by a characteristic time of connectivity, tc [30 and 80
      min]: first (t <= tc), bubbles grow freely and then (t >= tc) they become
      connected since the percolation of the gas phase is limited by liquid films.
      During the first regime, bubbles can be tracked and the local strain rate can be
      measured. Its values (10(-4)-5 * 10(-4) s(-1)) are in agreement with those
      computed from dough viscosity and internal gas pressure, both of which depend on
      the composition. For higher porosity, P = 0.64 in our case, and thus occurring in
      the second regime, different cellular structures are obtained and XRT images show
      deformed gas cells that display complex shapes. The comparison of these images
      with confocal laser scanning microscopy images suggests the presence of liquid
      films that separate these cells. The dough can therefore be seen as a three-phase
      medium: viscoelastic matrix/gas cell/liquid phase. The contributions of the
      different levels of matter organization can be integrated by defining a capillary
      number (C = 0.1-1) that makes it possible to predict the macroscopic dough
      behavior. 

PMID- 25816112
TI  - Investigation of Line Width Narrowing and Spectral Jumps of Single Stable Defect
      Centers in ZnO at Cryogenic Temperature.
AB  - Finding new solid state defect centers in novel host materials is crucial for
      realizing integrated hybrid quantum photonic devices. We present a preparation
      method for defect centers with photostable bright single photon emission in zinc
      oxide, a material with promising properties in terms of processability,
      availability, and applications. A detailed optical study reveals a complex
      dynamic of intensity fluctuations at room temperature. Measurements at cryogenic
      temperatures show very sharp (<60 GHz) zero phonon lines (ZPLs) at 580 nm to  620
      nm (~ 2.0 eV) with frozen out fast fluctuations. Remaining discrete jumps of the
      ZPL, which depend on the excitation power, are observed. The low temperature
      results will narrow down speculations on the origin of visible-near-infrared
      (NIR) wavelength defect emission in zinc oxide and provide a basis for improved
      theoretical models. 

PMID- 25816110
TI  - Benefit of losartan/hydrochlorothiazide-fixed dose combination treatment for
      isolated morning hypertension: The MAPPY study.
AB  - Morning hypertension is an established risk factor for cardiovascular events. In
      the Morning Hypertension and Angiotensin Receptor Blocker/Hydrochlorothiazide
      Combination Therapy (MAPPY) study, a 50-mg losartan/12.5-mg hydrochlorothiazide
      combination (Los/HCTZ) lowered morning blood pressure (BP) more effectively than
      100-mg losartan (High-Los) in treated hypertensive patients with morning
      hypertension. The aim of this MAPPY study sub-analysis was to determine whether
      Los/HCTZ was effective for controlling isolated morning hypertension (morning BP
      >= 135/85 mmHg and evening BP < 135/85 mmHg), sustained hypertension (morning and
      evening BP >= 135/85 mmHg), or both. Of the 110 patients studied, 25 (22.7%) had
      isolated morning hypertension, and 85 (77.3%) had sustained hypertension at
      baseline. After 3-month treatment, isolated morning hypertension developed into
      controlled hypertension (morning and evening BP < 135/85 mmHg) in 9 of 11
      Los/HCTZ patients (81.8%) and 3 of 14 High-Los patients (21.4%) (p = 0.003, chi
      square test). Sustained hypertension developed into controlled hypertension in 21
      of 44 Los/HCTZ patients (47.7%) and 13 of 41 High-Los patients (31.7%)(NS). The
      rates of achievement of SBP < 135 mmHg both in the morning and evening were:
      81.8% and 21.4% in Los/HCTZ- and High-Los-treated isolated morning hypertension
      (p = 0.003), respectively; and 61.4% and 36.6% in Los/HCTX- and High-Los-treated
      sustained hypertension (p = 0.022), respectively. In conclusion, Los/HCTZ was
      effective for controlling both types of morning hypertension, especially isolated
      morning hypertension. Los/HCTZ was superior to High-Los in treating both types of
      morning hypertension.

PMID- 25816113
TI  - Changes in inorganic fine particulate matter sensitivities to precursors due to
      large-scale US emissions reductions.
AB  - We examined the impact of large US emissions changes, similar to those estimated
      to have occurred between 2005 and 2012 (high and low emissions cases,
      respectively), on inorganic PM2.5 sensitivities to further NOx, SO2, and NH3
      emissions reductions using the chemical transport model GEOS-Chem. Sensitivities
      to SO2 emissions are larger year-round and across the US in the low emissions
      case than the high emissions case due to more aqueous-phase SO2 oxidation.
      Sensitivities to winter NOx emissions are larger in the low emissions case, more
      than 2* those of the high emissions case in parts of the northern Midwest.
      Sensitivities to NH3 emissions are smaller (~40%) in the low emissions case, year
      round, and across the US. Differences in NOx and NH3 sensitivities indicate an
      altered atmospheric acidity. Larger sensitivities to SO2 and NOx in the low
      emissions case imply that reducing these emissions may improve air quality more
      now than they would have in 2005; conversely, NH3 reductions may not improve air
      quality as much as previously assumed. 

PMID- 25816115
TI  - Optimization of image quality and patient dose in radiographs of paediatric
      extremities using direct digital radiography.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of beam quality
      on the image quality (IQ) of ankle radiographs of paediatric patients in the age
      range of 0-1 year whilst maintaining constant effective dose (ED). METHODS:
      Lateral ankle radiographs of an infant foot phantom were taken at a range of tube
      potentials (40.0-64.5 kVp) with and without 0.1-mm copper (Cu) filtration using a
      Trixell Pixium 4600 detector (Trixell, Morains, France). ED to the patient was
      computed for the default exposure parameters using PCXMC v. 2.0 and was fixed for
      other beam qualities by modulating the tube current-time product. The contrast-to
      noise ratio (CNR) was measured between the tibia and adjacent soft tissue. The IQ
      of the phantom images was assessed by three radiologists and a reporting
      radiographer. Four IQ criteria were defined each with a scale of 1-3, giving a
      maximum score of 12. Finally, a service audit of clinical images at the default
      and optimum beam qualities was undertaken. RESULTS: The measured CNR for the 40
      kVp/no Cu image was 12.0 compared with 7.6 for the default mode (55  0.1 mm Cu).
      An improvement in the clinical IQ scores was also apparent at this lower beam
      quality. CONCLUSION: Lowering tube potential and removing filtration improved the
      clinical IQ of paediatric ankle radiographs in this age range. ADVANCES IN
      KNOWLEDGE: There are currently no UK guidelines on exposure protocols for
      paediatric imaging using direct digital radiography. A lower beam quality will
      produce better IQ with no additional dose penalty for infant extremity imaging.

PMID- 25816114
TI  - Behavioral modeling of human choices reveals dissociable effects of physical
      effort and temporal delay on reward devaluation.
AB  - There has been considerable interest from the fields of biology, economics,
      psychology, and ecology about how decision costs decrease the value of rewarding
      outcomes. For example, formal descriptions of how reward value changes with
      increasing temporal delays allow for quantifying individual decision preferences,
      as in animal species populating different habitats, or normal and clinical human
      populations. Strikingly, it remains largely unclear how humans evaluate rewards
      when these are tied to energetic costs, despite the surge of interest in the
      neural basis of effort-guided decision-making and the prevalence of disorders
      showing a diminished willingness to exert effort (e.g., depression). One common
      assumption is that effort discounts reward in a similar way to delay. Here we
      challenge this assumption by formally comparing competing hypotheses about effort
      and delay discounting. We used a design specifically optimized to compare
      discounting behavior for both effort and delay over a wide range of decision
      costs (Experiment 1). We then additionally characterized the profile of effort
      discounting free of model assumptions (Experiment 2). Contrary to previous
      reports, in both experiments effort costs devalued reward in a manner opposite to
      delay, with small devaluations for lower efforts, and progressively larger
      devaluations for higher effort-levels (concave shape). Bayesian model comparison
      confirmed that delay-choices were best predicted by a hyperbolic model, with the
      largest reward devaluations occurring at shorter delays. In contrast, an
      altogether different relationship was observed for effort-choices, which were
      best described by a model of inverse sigmoidal shape that is initially concave.
      Our results provide a novel characterization of human effort discounting behavior
      and its first dissociation from delay discounting. This enables accurate
      modelling of cost-benefit decisions, a prerequisite for the investigation of the
      neural underpinnings of effort-guided choice and for understanding the deficits
      in clinical disorders characterized by behavioral inactivity. 

PMID- 25816116
TI  - Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Southern Chile, 1995-2012.
AB  - Hantavirus is endemic to the Region de Los Lagos in southern Chile; its incidence
      is 8.5 times higher in the communes of the Andean area than in the rest of the
      region. We analyzed the epidemiologic aspects of the 103 cases diagnosed by
      serology and the clinical aspects of 80 hospitalized patients during 1995-2012.
      Cases in this region clearly predominated during winter, whereas in the rest of
      the country, they occur mostly during summer. Mild, moderate, and severe disease
      was observed, and the case-fatality rate was 32%. Shock caused death in 75% of
      those cases; high respiratory frequency and elevated creatinine plasma level were
      independent factors associated with death. Early clinical suspicion, especially
      in rural areas, should prompt urgent transfer to a hospital with an intensive
      care unit and might help decrease the high case-fatality rate. 

PMID- 25816117
TI  - Anti-profibrotic effects of artesunate on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in
      Sprague Dawley rats.
AB  - The present study aimed to determine whether artesunate has beneficial effects on
      bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats and to examine the possible
      mechanisms underlying these effects. All experiments were performed with male
      Sprague Dawley rats weighing 180-250 g. Animals were randomly divided into four
      experimental groups that were administered either saline alone, artesunate alone,
      bleomycin alone or bleomycin + artesunate. Lung histopathology was investigated
      by hematoxylin and eosin staining and Masson staining. Lung profibrotic molecules
      were analyzed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, immunoblotting
      and immunohistochemistry. In rats treated with artesunate, pulmonary fibrosis
      induced by bleomycin was significantly reduced. Administration of artesunate
      significantly improved bleomycin-induced morphological alterations. Profibrotic
      molecules, including transforming growth factor-beta1, Smad3, heat shock protein
      47, alpha-smooth muscle actin and collagen type I were also reduced by
      artesunate. These findings suggest that artesunate improves bleomycin-induced
      pulmonary fibrosis pathology in rats possibly by inhibiting profibrotic molecules
      associated with pulmonary fibrosis.

PMID- 25816118
TI  - Computational networks of activating transcription factor 3 gene in Huh7 cell
      lines and hepatitis C virus-infected Huh7 cell lines.
AB  - Activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) is an adaptive-response gene of the ATF
      family. ATF3 activity may be induced in response to a number of different stress
      associated signals and ATF3 is involved in a variety of cellular processes.
      However, the functions of ATF3 and its molecular networks in human hepatoma cells
      lines and hepatitis C virus-infected Huh7 (HCV-Huh7) cells are not well
      understood. In the present study, ATF3 regulatory networks in Huh7 and HCV-Huh7
      cell lines were established using the linear programming-based GRNinfer software
      and molecule annotation system 3.0 software. The gene expression omnibus dataset,
      GSE20948, was analyzed. The resulting network consisted of clusters located
      upstream and downstream of ATF3 in Huh7 and HCV-Huh7 cell lines. Using the
      annotation, visualization and integrated discovery (DAVID) software, 10
      activation and 2 inhibition enriched functional annotation clusters were
      identified downstream of ATF3 in HCV-Huh7 cells. However, there were no enriched
      functional annotation clusters identified upstream of ATF3 in HCV-Huh7 cells.
      Furthermore, no clusters were identified downstream nor upstream of ATF3 in Huh7
      cells. Gene ontology term and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway
      analyses demonstrated that ATF3 may be involved in a number of biological
      processes, in particular, in metabolism regulation in HCV-Huh7 cells. It is
      hypothesized that the ATF3 pathway may be activated in Huh7 cells following HCV
      infection and that it is a potential 'hub' in the network of HCV-Huh7 cells.

PMID- 25816121
TI  - Correction: Crystal structure of calcium binding protein-5 from Entamoeba
      histolytica and its involvement in initiation of phagocytosis of human
      erythrocytes.

PMID- 25816119
TI  - An International Normalized Ratio-Based Definition of Acute Traumatic
      Coagulopathy Is Associated With Mortality, Venous Thromboembolism, and Multiple
      Organ Failure After Injury.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Acute traumatic coagulopathy is associated with adverse outcomes
      including death. Previous studies examining acute traumatic coagulopathy's
      relation with mortality are limited by inconsistent criteria for syndrome
      diagnosis, inadequate control of confounding, and single-center designs. In this
      study, we validated the admission international normalized ratio as an
      independent risk factor for death and other adverse outcomes after trauma and
      compared two common international normalized ratio-based definitions for acute
      traumatic coagulopathy. DESIGN: Multicenter prospective observational study.
      SETTING: Nine level I trauma centers in the United States. PATIENTS: A total of
      1,031 blunt trauma patients with hemorrhagic shock. INTERVENTIONS: None.
      MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: International normalized ratio exhibited a
      positive adjusted association with all-cause in-hospital mortality, hemorrhagic
      shock-associated in-hospital mortality, venous thromboembolism, and multiple
      organ failure. Acute traumatic coagulopathy affected 50% of subjects if defined
      as an international normalized ratio greater than 1.2 and 21% of subjects if
      defined by international normalized ratio greater than 1.5. After adjustment for
      potential confounders, acute traumatic coagulopathy defined as an international
      normalized ratio greater than 1.5 was significantly associated with all-cause
      death (odds ratio [OR], 1.88; p < 0.001), hemorrhagic shock-associated death (OR,
      2.44; p = 0.001), venous thromboembolism (OR, 1.73; p < 0.001), and multiple
      organ failure (OR, 1.38; p = 0.02). Acute traumatic coagulopathy defined as an
      international normalized ratio greater than 1.2 was not associated with an
      increased risk for the studied outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated international
      normalized ratio on hospital admission is a risk factor for mortality and
      morbidity after severe trauma. Our results confirm this association in a
      prospectively assembled multicenter cohort of severely injured patients. Defining
      acute traumatic coagulopathy by using an international normalized ratio greater
      than 1.5 but not an international normalized ratio greater than 1.2 identified a
      clinically meaningful subset of trauma patients who, adjusting for confounding
      factors, experienced more adverse outcomes. Targeting future therapies for acute
      traumatic coagulopathy to patients with an international normalized ratio greater
      than 1.5 may yield greater returns than using a lower international normalized
      ratio threshold.

PMID- 25816120
TI  - Middle-aged women's decisions about body weight management: needs assessment and
      testing of a knowledge translation tool.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess middle-aged women's needs when making body
      weight management decisions and to evaluate a knowledge translation tool for
      addressing their needs. METHODS: A mixed-methods study used an interview-guided
      theory-based survey of professional women aged 40 to 65 years. The tool
      summarized evidence to address their needs and enabled women to monitor actions
      taken. Acceptability and usability were reported descriptively. RESULTS: Sixty
      female participants had a mean body mass index of 28.0 kg/m(2) (range, 17.0-44.9
      kg/m(2)), and half were premenopausal. Common options for losing (82%) or
      maintaining (18%) weight included increasing physical activity (60%), eating
      healthier (57%), and getting support (40%). Decision-making involved getting
      information on options (52%), soliciting others' decisions/advice (20%), and
      being self-motivated (20%). Preferred information sources included written
      information (97%), counseling (90%), and social networking websites (43%). Five
      professionals (dietitian, personal trainer, occupational therapist, and two
      physicians) had similar responses. Of 53 women sent the tool, 27 provided
      acceptability feedback. They rated it as good to excellent for information on
      menopause (96%), body weight changes (85%), and managing body weight (85%). Most
      would tell others about it (81%). After 4 weeks of use, 25 women reported that
      the wording made sense (96%) and that the tool had clear instructions (92%) and
      was easy to use across time (88%). The amount of information was rated as just
      right (64%), but the tool had limited space for responding (72%). CONCLUSIONS:
      When making decisions about body weight management, women's needs were "getting
      information" and "getting support." The knowledge translation tool was acceptable
      and usable, but further evaluation is required.

PMID- 25816122
TI  - Efficacy of IPL device combined with intralesional corticosteroid injection for
      the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic scars with regards to the recovery of
      skin barrier function: A pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Keloids and hypertrophic scars are prevalent and psychologically
      distressful dermatologic conditions. Various treatment modalities have been tried
      but without complete success by any one method. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the
      efficacy of a combination of intense pulsed light (IPL) device and intralesional
      corticosteroid injection for the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic scars with
      respect to the recovery of skin barrier function. METHODS: Totally 52 Korean
      patients were treated by the combined treatment at 4-8-week intervals. Using
      digital photographs, changes in scar appearance were assessed with modified
      Vancouver Scar Scale (MVSS), physicians' global assessment (PGA) and patient's
      satisfaction score. In 12 patients, the stratum corneum (SC) barrier function was
      assessed by measuring transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and SC capacitance.
      RESULTS: Most scars demonstrated significant clinical improvement in MVSS, PGA
      and patient's satisfaction score after the combined therapy. A significant
      decrease of TEWL and elevation of SC capacitance were also documented after the
      treatment. CONCLUSION: The combination therapy (IPL + corticosteroid injection)
      not only improves the appearance of keloids and hypertrophic scars but also
      increases the recovery level of skin hydration status in terms of the skin
      barrier function.

PMID- 25816124
TI  - Rehabilitation of moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury.
AB  - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as an alteration in brain function, or
      other evidence of brain pathology, caused by an external force. Traumatic brain
      injury is a leading cause of morbidity and disability and is considered a major
      public health concern. Traumatic brain injury sequelae can lead to long-term
      impairments in physical, cognitive, behavioral, and social function. Traumatic
      brain injury rehabilitation requires an interdisciplinary holistic team approach
      in the management of medical complications, the prevention of further disability,
      and helping patients return to their highest level of independence. The authors
      review TBI pathophysiology, grading severity, common medical complications,
      cognitive rehabilitation, prognosis, and common outcomes used in TBI
      rehabilitation. 

PMID- 25816123
TI  - In Utero Fine Particle Air Pollution and Placental Expression of Genes in the
      Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Signaling Pathway: An ENVIRONAGE Birth Cohort
      Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Developmental processes in the placenta and the fetal brain are
      shaped by the same biological signals. Recent evidence suggests that adaptive
      responses of the placenta to the maternal environment may influence central
      nervous system development. OBJECTIVES: We studied the association between in
      utero exposure to fine particle air pollution with a diameter <= 2.5 MUm (PM2.5)
      and placental expression of genes implicated in neural development. METHODS:
      Expression of 10 target genes in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
      signaling pathway were quantified in placental tissue of 90 mother-infant pairs
      from the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort using quantitative real-time polymerase chain
      reaction. Trimester-specific PM2.5 exposure levels were estimated for each
      mother's home address using a spatiotemporal model. Mixed-effects models were
      used to evaluate the association between the target genes and PM2.5 exposure
      measured in different time windows of pregnancy. RESULTS: A 5-MUg/m3 increase in
      residential PM2.5 exposure during the first trimester of pregnancy was associated
      with a 15.9% decrease [95% confidence interval (CI): -28.7, -3.2%, p = 0.015] in
      expression of placental BDNF at birth. The corresponding estimate for synapsin 1
      (SYN1) was a 24.3% decrease (95% CI: -42.8, -5.8%, p = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS:
      Placental expression of BDNF and SYN1, two genes implicated in normal
      neurodevelopmental trajectories, decreased with increasing in utero exposure to
      PM2.5. Future studies are needed to confirm our findings and evaluate the
      potential relevance of associations between PM2.5 and placental expression of
      BDNF and SYN1 on neurodevelopment. We provide the first molecular epidemiological
      evidence concerning associations between in utero fine particle air pollution
      exposure and the expression of genes that may influence neurodevelopmental
      processes.

PMID- 25816125
TI  - Mechanisms of traumatic brain injury.
AB  - The authors describe the mechanisms of traumatic brain injury (TBI), examining in
      depth the characteristics of closed head, penetrating, and blast-related TBI.
      Events on a structural as well as cellular level are reviewed. Blast-related
      brain injury, in particular, affects military service members preferentially, but
      is also relevant in cases of industrial accidents as well as terrorist events. 

PMID- 25816126
TI  - Improving Nursing Knowledge of Alcohol Withdrawal: Second Generation Education
      Strategies.
AB  - Christiana Care Health System implemented a Care Management Guideline for Alcohol
      Withdrawal Symptom Management, which provided direction for inpatient screening
      for alcohol withdrawal risk, assessment, and treatment. Nurses educated on its
      use expressed confusion with the use of the assessment tools, pharmacokinetics,
      and pathophysiology of alcohol withdrawal and delirium tremens. Reeducation was
      provided by nursing professional development specialists. Pre- and postsurveys
      revealed that nurses were more confident in caring for patients with alcohol
      withdrawal.

PMID- 25816127
TI  - Cyclometalated iridium complex-based label-free photoelectrochemical biosensor
      for DNA detection by hybridization chain reaction amplification.
AB  - Photoactive material is the most crucial factor which intimately determines
      analytical performances of the photoelectrochemical sensor. On the basis of the
      high affinity of dipyrido [3,2-a:2',3'-c] phenazine (dppz) with DNA helix, a
      novel photoactive intercalator, [(ppy)2Ir(dppz)](+)PF6(-)(ppy = 2-phenylpyridine
      and dppz = dipyrido [3,2-a:2',3'-c] phenazine) was prepared and characterized by
      UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and cyclic
      voltammetry. The photoelectrochemical properties of the as-prepared iridium(III)
      complex immobilized on the ITO electrode was investigated. Either cathodic or
      anodic photocurrent generation can be observed when triethanolamine (TEOA) or
      dissolved O2 is used as a sacrificial electron donor/acceptor, respectively. The
      probable photocurrent-generation mechanisms are speculated. A highly sensitive
      iridium(III) complex-based photoelectrochemical sensor was proposed for DNA
      detection via hybridization chain reaction (HCR) signal amplification. Under
      optimal conditions, the biosensor was found to be linearly proportional to the
      logarithm of target DNA concentration in the range from 0.025 to 100 pmol L(-1)
      with a detection limit of 9.0 fmol L(-1) (3sigma). Moreover, the proposed sensor
      displayed high selectivity and good reproducibility, demonstrating efficient and
      stable photoelectric conversion ability of the Ir(III) complex. 

PMID- 25816128
TI  - Screening and assessment of nutritional status following stroke: results from a
      national survey of registered dietitians in Canada.
AB  - PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to survey registered dietitians (RDs) at
      acute care hospitals across Canada to determine whether valid screening and
      assessment methods (i.e. those with formal evaluation of the psychometric and/or
      clinimetric properties of the tool) are used to identify protein-energy
      malnutrition following stroke. METHODS: One hundred and twenty-five Canadian
      healthcare institutions admitting high volumes (>=100/year) of acute stroke
      patients were identified. RDs at these sites who provided services to patients
      recovering from acute stroke were contacted and invited to participate in an
      online survey. RESULTS: Ninety-five RDs completed the survey. Sixty dietitians
      (63%) indicated that patients were screened routinely at their institution, which
      was conducted primarily by dietitians (n = 64, 67.3%). Ten respondents (10.5%)
      stated they used a screening tool with previously-established validity, while 32
      (33.7%) indicated they used a validated assessment tool. Among dietitians using
      validated tools, 40% and 64% indicated that they used modified versions of the
      original screening and assessment tools. The most frequently cited tools used for
      both screening and assessment purposes were Subjective Global Assessment and Mini
      Nutritional Assessment. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this national survey suggest
      that screening and assessment of nutritional status following acute stroke is
      conducted using tools that have not been validated previously. Implications for
      Rehabilitation Although the use of valid screening and assessment tools is
      considered part of evidence-based practice, and recommendations for their
      adoption are included in several national stroke-specific clinical practice
      guidelines, the results from an online survey suggest that they are not used in
      clinical practice by RDs in Canada caring for patients following stroke. There
      are associated risks with the use of screening and assessment tools, which have
      not been formally validated. The true nutritional status of patients may not be
      initially identified correctly, and the response to subsequent nutritional
      interventions may not be assessed accurately or reliably. While the results of
      this survey were stroke-specific, we suggest that the results are likely
      generalizable to dietitians working in other patient areas.

PMID- 25816129
TI  - Anthelmintic activity in vivo of epiisopiloturine against juvenile and adult
      worms of Schistosoma mansoni.
AB  - Schistosomiasis is a serious disease currently estimated to affect more that 207
      million people worldwide. Due to the intensive use of praziquantel, there is
      increasing concern about the development of drug-resistant strains. Therefore, it
      is necessary to search for and investigate new potential schistosomicidal
      compounds. This work reports the in vivo effect of the alkaloid epiisopiloturine
      (EPI) against adults and juvenile worms of Schistosoma mansoni. EPI was first
      purified its thermal behavior and theoretical solubility parameters charaterised.
      In the experiment, mice were treated with EPI over the 21 days post-infection
      with the doses of 40 and 200 mg/kg, and 45 days post-infection with single doses
      of 40, 100 and 300 mg/kg. The treatment with EPI at 40 mg/kg was more effective
      in adult worms when compared with doses of 100 and 300 mg/kg. The treatment with
      40 mg/kg in adult worms reduced parasite burden significantly, lead to reduction
      in hepatosplenomegaly, reduced the egg burden in faeces, and decreased granuloma
      diameter. Scanning electron microscopy revealed morphological changes to the
      parasite tegument after treatment, including the loss of important features.
      Additionally, the in vivo treatment against juvenile with 40 mg/kg showed a
      reduction of the total worm burden of 50.2%. Histopathological studies were
      performed on liver, spleen, lung, kidney and brain and EPI was shown to have a
      DL50 of 8000 mg/kg. Therefore EPI shows potential to be used in schistosomiasis
      treatment. This is the first time that schistosomicidal in vivo activity of EPI
      has been reported. 

PMID- 25816130
TI  - Gliotoxin potentiates osteoblast differentiation by inhibiting nuclear factor
      kappaB signaling.
AB  - The differentiation of pluripotent mesenchymal stem cells to mature osteoblasts
      is crucial for the maintenance of the adult skeleton. In rheumatic arthritis,
      osteoblast differentiation is impaired by the overproduction of cytokine tumor
      necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. It has been demonstrated that TNF-alpha is able to
      inhibit osteoblast differentiation through the activation of nuclear factor (NF)
      kappaB signaling. As a result of the critical role of TNF-alpha and NF-kappaB in
      the pathogenesis of bone-loss associated diseases, these factors are regarded as
      key targets for the development of therapeutic agents. In the current study, the
      role of the NF-kappaB inhibitor gliotoxin (GTX) in the regulation of osteoblast
      differentiation was evaluated. The non-toxic GTX doses were determined to be <= 3
      ug/ml. It was revealed that GTX was able to block TNF-alpha-induced inhibition of
      osteoblast differentiation, as indicated by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity
      and ALP staining assays, as well as the expression levels of osteoblast
      associated genes Col I, Ocn, Bsp, Runx2, Osx and ATF4. Additionally, it was
      identified that gliotoxin directly promoted bone morphogenetic protein-2-induced
      osteoblast differentiation. GTX was found to inhibit the accumulation of NF
      kappaB protein p65 in the nucleus and reduce NF-kappaB transcriptional activity,
      suggesting that GTX potentiated osteoblast differentiation via the suppression of
      NF-kappaB signaling.

PMID- 25816131
TI  - A pulse coupled neural network segmentation algorithm for reflectance confocal
      images of epithelial tissue.
AB  - Automatic segmentation of nuclei in reflectance confocal microscopy images is
      critical for visualization and rapid quantification of nuclear-to-cytoplasmic
      ratio, a useful indicator of epithelial precancer. Reflectance confocal
      microscopy can provide three-dimensional imaging of epithelial tissue in vivo
      with sub-cellular resolution. Changes in nuclear density or nuclear-to
      cytoplasmic ratio as a function of depth obtained from confocal images can be
      used to determine the presence or stage of epithelial cancers. However, low
      nuclear to background contrast, low resolution at greater imaging depths, and
      significant variation in reflectance signal of nuclei complicate segmentation
      required for quantification of nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio. Here, we present an
      automated segmentation method to segment nuclei in reflectance confocal images
      using a pulse coupled neural network algorithm, specifically a spiking cortical
      model, and an artificial neural network classifier. The segmentation algorithm
      was applied to an image model of nuclei with varying nuclear to background
      contrast. Greater than 90% of simulated nuclei were detected for contrast of 2.0
      or greater. Confocal images of porcine and human oral mucosa were used to
      evaluate application to epithelial tissue. Segmentation accuracy was assessed
      using manual segmentation of nuclei as the gold standard. 

PMID- 25816132
TI  - A GFP expressing influenza A virus to report in vivo tropism and protection by a
      matrix protein 2 ectodomain-specific monoclonal antibody.
AB  - The severity of influenza-related illness is mediated by many factors, including
      in vivo cell tropism, timing and magnitude of the immune response, and presence
      of pre-existing immunity. A direct way to study cell tropism and virus spread in
      vivo is with an influenza virus expressing a reporter gene. However, reporter
      gene-expressing influenza viruses are often attenuated in vivo and may be
      genetically unstable. Here, we describe the generation of an influenza A virus
      expressing GFP from a tri-cistronic NS segment. To reduce the size of this
      engineered gene segment, we used a truncated NS1 protein of 73 amino acids
      combined with a heterologous dimerization domain to increase protein stability.
      GFP and nuclear export protein coding information were fused in frame with the
      truncated NS1 open reading frame and separated from each other by 2A self
      processing sites. The resulting PR8-NS1(1-73)GFP virus was successfully rescued
      and replicated as efficiently as the parental PR8 virus in vitro and was slightly
      attenuated in vivo. Flow cytometry-based monitoring of cells isolated from PR8
      NS1(1-73)GFP virus infected BALB/c mice revealed that GFP expression peaked on
      day two in all cell types tested. In particular respiratory epithelial cells and
      myeloid cells known to be involved in antigen presentation, including dendritic
      cells (CD11c+) and inflammatory monocytes (CD11b+ GR1+), became GFP positive
      following infection. Prophylactic treatment with anti-M2e monoclonal antibody or
      oseltamivir reduced GFP expression in all cell types studied, demonstrating the
      usefulness of this reporter virus to analyze the efficacy of antiviral treatments
      in vivo. Finally, deep sequencing analysis, serial in vitro passages and ex vivo
      analysis of PR8-NS1(1-73)GFP virus, indicate that this virus is genetically and
      phenotypically stable. 

PMID- 25816133
TI  - Tumor necrosis factor disrupts claudin-5 endothelial tight junction barriers in
      two distinct NF-kappaB-dependent phases.
AB  - Capillary leak in severe sepsis involves disruption of endothelial cell tight
      junctions. We modeled this process by TNF treatment of cultured human dermal
      microvascular endothelial cell (HDMEC) monolayers, which unlike human umbilical
      vein endothelial cells form claudin-5-dependent tight junctions and a high
      resistance permeability barrier. Continuous monitoring with electrical cell
      substrate impedance sensing revealed that TNF disrupts tight junction-dependent
      HDMEC barriers in discrete steps: an ~5% increase in transendothelial electrical
      resistance over 40 minutes; a decrease to ~10% below basal levels over 2 hours
      (phase 1 leak); an interphase plateau of 1 hour; and a major fall in
      transendothelial electrical resistance to < 70% of basal levels by 8-10 hours
      (phase 2 leak), with EC50 values of TNF for phase 1 and 2 leak of ~30 and ~150
      pg/ml, respectively. TNF leak is reversible and independent of cell death. Leak
      correlates with disruption of continuous claudin-5 immunofluorescence staining,
      myosin light chain phosphorylation and loss of claudin-5 co-localization with
      cortical actin. All these responses require NF-kappaB signaling, shown by
      inhibition with Bay 11 or overexpression of IkappaB super-repressor, and are
      blocked by H-1152 or Y-27632, selective inhibitors of Rho-associated kinase that
      do not block other NF-kappaB-dependent responses. siRNA combined knockdown of Rho
      associated kinase-1 and -2 also prevents myosin light chain phosphorylation, loss
      of claudin-5/actin co-localization, claudin-5 reorganization and reduces phase 1
      leak. However, unlike H-1152 and Y-27632, combined Rho-associated kinase-1/2
      siRNA knockdown does not reduce the magnitude of phase 2 leak, suggesting that H
      1152 and Y-27632 have targets beyond Rho-associated kinases that regulate
      endothelial barrier function. We conclude that TNF disrupts TJs in HDMECs in two
      distinct NF-kappaB-dependent steps, the first involving Rho-associated kinase and
      the second likely to involve an as yet unidentified but structurally related
      protein kinase(s). 

PMID- 25816134
TI  - Retinal glia promote dorsal root ganglion axon regeneration.
AB  - Axon regeneration in the adult central nervous system (CNS) is limited by several
      factors including a lack of neurotrophic support. Recent studies have shown that
      glia from the adult rat CNS, specifically retinal astrocytes and Muller glia, can
      promote regeneration of retinal ganglion cell axons. In the present study we
      investigated whether retinal glia also exert a growth promoting effect outside
      the visual system. We found that retinal glial conditioned medium significantly
      enhanced neurite growth and branching of adult rat dorsal root ganglion neurons
      (DRG) in culture. Furthermore, transplantation of retinal glia significantly
      enhanced regeneration of DRG axons past the dorsal root entry zone after root
      crush in adult rats. To identify the factors that mediate the growth promoting
      effects of retinal glia, mass spectrometric analysis of retinal glial conditioned
      medium was performed. Apolipoprotein E and secreted protein acidic and rich in
      cysteine (SPARC) were found to be present in high abundance, a finding further
      confirmed by western blotting. Inhibition of Apolipoprotein E and SPARC
      significantly reduced the neuritogenic effects of retinal glial conditioned
      medium on DRG in culture, suggesting that Apolipoprotein E and SPARC are the
      major mediators of this regenerative response. 

PMID- 25816135
TI  - Neonatal Streptococcus pneumoniae infection may aggravate adulthood allergic
      airways disease in association with IL-17A.
AB  - Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that some bacteria colonization or
      infections in early-life increased the risk for subsequent asthma development.
      However, little is known about the mechanisms by which early-life bacterial
      infection increases this risk. The aim of this study was to investigate the
      effect of neonatal Streptococcus pneumoniae infection on the development of
      adulthood asthma, and to explore the possible mechanism. A non-lethal S.
      pneumoniae lung infection was established by intranasal inoculation of neonatal
      (1-week-old) female mice with D39. Mice were sensitized and challenged with
      ovalbumin in adulthood to induce allergic airways disease (AAD). Twenty-four
      hours later, the lungs and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were collected to
      assess AAD. Neonatal S. pneumoniae infection exacerbated adulthood hallmark
      features of AAD, with enhanced airway hyperresponsiveness and increased
      neutrophil recruitment into the airways, increased Th17 cells and interleukin
      (IL)-17A productions. Depletion of IL-17A by i.p. injection of a neutralizing
      monoclonal antibody reduced neutrophil recruitment into the airways, alleviated
      airway inflammation and decreased airway hyperresponsiveness. Furthermore, IL-17A
      depletion partially restored levels of inteferon-gamma, but had no effect on the
      release of IL-5 or IL-13. Our data suggest that neonatal S. pneumoniae infection
      may promote the development of adulthood asthma in association with increased IL
      17A production. 

PMID- 25816136
TI  - Tightly regulated expression of Autographa californica multicapsid
      nucleopolyhedrovirus immediate early genes emerges from their interactions and
      possible collective behaviors.
AB  - To infect their hosts, DNA viruses must successfully initiate the expression of
      viral genes that control subsequent viral gene expression and manipulate the host
      environment. Viral genes that are immediately expressed upon infection play
      critical roles in the early infection process. In this study, we investigated the
      expression and regulation of five canonical regulatory immediate-early (IE) genes
      of Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus: ie0, ie1, ie2, me53,
      and pe38. A systematic transient gene-expression analysis revealed that these IE
      genes are generally transactivators, suggesting the existence of a highly
      interactive regulatory network. A genetic analysis using gene knockout viruses
      demonstrated that the expression of these IE genes was tolerant to the single
      deletions of activator IE genes in the early stage of infection. A network graph
      analysis on the regulatory relationships observed in the transient expression
      analysis suggested that the robustness of IE gene expression is due to the
      organization of the IE gene regulatory network and how each IE gene is activated.
      However, some regulatory relationships detected by the genetic analysis were
      contradictory to those observed in the transient expression analysis, especially
      for IE0-mediated regulation. Statistical modeling, combined with genetic analysis
      using knockout alleles for ie0 and ie1, showed that the repressor function of ie0
      was due to the interaction between ie0 and ie1, not ie0 itself. Taken together,
      these systematic approaches provided insight into the topology and nature of the
      IE gene regulatory network. 

PMID- 25816138
TI  - Re: Can Spontaneous Correction Loss of the Minor Cures Be Ignored at the Final
      Follow-up?

PMID- 25816139
TI  - Accuracies in Measuring Spinopelvic Parameters in Full-Spine Lateral Standing
      Radiograph.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Prospective comparative study of measuring pelvic incidence (PI)
      among standing radiographs of whole spine and pelvis and computed tomographic
      (CT) scans in a cohort of patients. OBJECTIVE: To analyze accuracies in measuring
      PI and other spinopelvic parameters. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Previous reports
      indicated relatively low agreement in measuring PI even among experienced spinal
      surgeons; intra- and inter-rater reliability in manually measuring PI were 0.69
      (0.62-0.74) and 0.41 (0.36-0.45), respectively; the mean interclass correlation
      coefficient value of manually measuring PI was 0.881. No study compared PI on
      standing radiographs with that measured on CT scans. METHODS: A total of 120
      consecutive patients with spinal disease (38 patients had history of hip
      arthroplasty) who admitted to our hospital from April 2012 for 6 months were
      enrolled. Subjects had obtained full-spine lateral standing radiograph, standing
      radiograph of pelvis, and CT scans. Pelvic incidence on full-spine lateral
      standing radiograph and that on pelvis lateral standing radiograph were measured
      manually by 2 experienced spinal surgeons. Intra- and interobserver reliability
      of the measurements were analyzed by using interclass correlation coefficient. On
      CT scans, PI was measured using 3-dimensional CT scan software (CT-PI). PI among
      3 different imaging modalities was evaluated using correlation coefficients.
      RESULTS: In whole-spine radiographs, the intra- and interobserver agreement rates
      with measurements in PI (0.84 and 0.79, respectively) and sacral slope (0.87 and
      0.83, respectively) were lower than those in pelvic tilt (0.98 and 0.96,
      respectively) and PI-lumbar lordosis (0.97 and 0.97, respectively). The
      correlation coefficient between P-PI and CT-PI was higher (0.95) than that
      between FS-PI and CT-PI (0.81) and between FS-PI and P-PI (0.85). CONCLUSION: The
      reliability of measuring PI is comparatively lower than that of other spinopelvic
      parameters, and the variability of PI measurement is mainly due to difficulty of
      precisely identifying sacral endplate. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 2.

PMID- 25816137
TI  - Pulmonary inflammation is regulated by the levels of the vesicular acetylcholine
      transporter.
AB  - Acetylcholine (ACh) plays a crucial role in physiological responses of both the
      central and the peripheral nervous system. Moreover, ACh was described as an anti
      inflammatory mediator involved in the suppression of exacerbated innate response
      and cytokine release in various organs. However, the specific contributions of
      endogenous release ACh for inflammatory responses in the lung are not well
      understood. To address this question we have used mice with reduced levels of the
      vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT), a protein required for ACh storage
      in secretory vesicles. VAChT deficiency induced airway inflammation with enhanced
      TNF-alpha and IL-4 content, but not IL-6, IL-13 and IL-10 quantified by ELISA.
      Mice with decreased levels of VAChT presented increased collagen and elastic
      fibers deposition in airway walls which was consistent with an increase in
      inflammatory cells positive to MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in the lung. In vivo lung
      function evaluation showed airway hyperresponsiveness to methacholine in mutant
      mice. The expression of nuclear factor-kappa B (p65-NF-kB) in lung of VAChT
      deficient mice were higher than in wild-type mice, whereas a decreased expression
      of janus-kinase 2 (JAK2) was observed in the lung of mutant animals. Our findings
      show the first evidence that cholinergic deficiency impaired lung function and
      produce local inflammation. Our data supports the notion that cholinergic system
      modulates airway inflammation by modulation of JAK2 and NF-kB pathway. We
      proposed that intact cholinergic pathway is necessary to maintain the lung
      homeostasis. 

PMID- 25816140
TI  - The Impact of Preoperative Angiographic Identification of the Artery of
      Adamkiewicz on Surgical Decision Making in Patients Undergoing Thoracolumbar
      Corpectomy.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of spinal
      angiography on selection of surgical side in patients undergoing thoracolumbar
      corpectomy. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The artery of Adamkiewicz provides the
      major blood supply to the thoracolumbar spinal cord. Its location makes it
      vulnerable to injury during surgical procedures. Preoperative diagnostic spinal
      angiography is often used to determine the level and lateralization of the
      artery. METHODS: Data were gathered regarding level and laterality of the
      Adamkiewicz artery in 34 patients who underwent lateral extracavitary approaches
      to the thoracolumbar spine, preceded by diagnostic spinal angiography for
      localization of that artery. Two experienced spine surgeons were retrospectively
      polled regarding ideal side of approach for each case. This was compared with the
      actual side that was selected after angiographic localization. RESULTS: The
      artery was successfully identified in 71% of patients. The artery was most
      commonly located on the left side (83%) between T9 and L1 (83%). Diagnostic
      angiography seemed to have influenced surgical decision making in 54% of cases.
      In 21% of patients, there was no need to alter the side of approach. In the
      remaining 25%, the surgical plan was not altered on the basis of angiographic
      data, presumably due to anatomic limitations. No angiography- or surgery-related
      complications occurred in any of the patients. CONCLUSION: Preoperative spinal
      angiography seems to impact surgical decision making with regard to alteration of
      the side of approach in patients undergoing thoracolumbar corpectomy via lateral
      extracavitary approaches. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.

PMID- 25816141
TI  - Fungal Infections of the Spine.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Review of the literature. OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively examine the
      frequency of published fungal infections by species and the treatment algorithms
      used to eradicate the disease. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Fungal infections of
      the spine present unique challenges to the modern multispecialty treatment team.
      Although rare in comparison with bacterial infections, fungal infections have
      been increasing in incidence over the past several decades. Evidences-based
      practice is limited to referencing smaller case series. METHODS: MEDLINE, Scopus,
      and EMBASE searches were carried out by one of the authors as well as by the
      research desk at the University of Miami/Calder Memorial Library. We included
      peer-reviewed articles published between 1948 and September 2010; case reports,
      series, and reviews were all examined and compiled into a database. RESULTS: A
      total of 130 articles, representing 157 cases, were included in the review.
      Aspergillus (60 cases, 38.2% of the total) and Candida species (36 cases, 22.9%
      of the total) were the 2 most common organisms. Surgery was associated with a
      greater survival rate than medical management alone in patients with Aspergillus
      (26.9% mortality in surgical patients; 60% in medically treated patients) and
      Candida (0% vs. 28.6%). Overall mortality was 19.3%. The overall recurrence rate
      was 7.4%. Amphotericin use was associated with a higher mortality rate than
      azoles. CONCLUSION: Aspergillus is the most common published pathogen in fungal
      infections of the spine. Recent publications depicting the use of newer
      antifungal medications such as azoles report higher survival rates. Surgically
      treated patients in combination with antifungal therapy showed highest
      frequencies of patient survival in Aspergillus and Candida infections. LEVEL OF
      EVIDENCE: 3.

PMID- 25816142
TI  - Point of View.

PMID- 25816143
TI  - Fast and accurate semi-automated segmentation method of spinal cord MR images at
      3T applied to the construction of a cervical spinal cord template.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To design a fast and accurate semi-automated segmentation method for
      spinal cord 3T MR images and to construct a template of the cervical spinal cord.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A semi-automated double threshold-based method (DTbM) was
      proposed enabling both cross-sectional and volumetric measures from 3D T2
      weighted turbo spin echo MR scans of the spinal cord at 3T. Eighty-two healthy
      subjects, 10 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, 10 with spinal muscular
      atrophy and 10 with spinal cord injuries were studied. DTbM was compared with
      active surface method (ASM), threshold-based method (TbM) and manual outlining
      (ground truth). Accuracy of segmentations was scored visually by a radiologist in
      cervical and thoracic cord regions. Accuracy was also quantified at the cervical
      and thoracic levels as well as at C2 vertebral level. To construct a cervical
      template from healthy subjects' images (n=59), a standardization pipeline was
      designed leading to well-centered straight spinal cord images and accurate
      probability tissue map. RESULTS: Visual scoring showed better performance for
      DTbM than for ASM. Mean Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) was 95.71% for DTbM and
      90.78% for ASM at the cervical level and 94.27% for DTbM and 89.93% for ASM at
      the thoracic level. Finally, at C2 vertebral level, mean DSC was 97.98% for DTbM
      compared with 98.02% for TbM and 96.76% for ASM. DTbM showed similar accuracy
      compared with TbM, but with the advantage of limited manual interaction.
      CONCLUSION: A semi-automated segmentation method with limited manual intervention
      was introduced and validated on 3T images, enabling the construction of a
      cervical spinal cord template.

PMID- 25816144
TI  - Production of functional human vitamin A transporter/RBP receptor (STRA6) for
      structure determination.
AB  - STRA6 is a plasma membrane protein that mediates the transport of vitamin A, or
      retinol, from plasma retinol binding protein (RBP) into the cell. Mutations in
      human STRA6 are associated with Matthew-Wood syndrome, which is characterized by
      severe developmental defects. Despite the obvious importance of this protein to
      human health, little is known about its structure and mechanism of action. To
      overcome the difficulties frequently encountered with the production of membrane
      proteins for structural determination, STRA6 has been expressed in Pichia
      pastoris as a fusion to green fluorescent protein (GFP), a strategy which has
      been a critical first step in solving the crystal structures of several membrane
      proteins. STRA6-GFP was correctly targeted to the cell surface where it bound
      RBP. Here we report the large-scale expression, purification and characterisation
      of STRA6-GFP. One litre of culture, corresponding to 175 g cells, yielded about
      1.5 mg of pure protein. The interaction between purified STRA6 and its ligand RBP
      was studied by surface plasmon resonance-based binding analysis. The interaction
      between STRA6 and RBP was not retinol-dependent and the binding data were
      consistent with a transient interaction of 1 mole RBP/mole STRA6.

PMID- 25816145
TI  - NGF and P75NTR gene expression is associated with the hepatic fibrosis stage due
      to viral and non-viral causes.
AB  - This study evaluated the relative mRNA expression levels of nerve growth factor
      (NGF) and the p75 neurothrophin receptor (p75NTR) in different histological
      stages of human liver disease. Fifty-one liver biopsy specimens obtained from
      patients with hepatitis B virus (n = 6), hepatitis C virus (n = 28), and non
      viral hepatitis--(n = 9) and standard histological liver (n = 8) as controls (CT)
      were subjected to qPCR and histopathological exams. Our data revealed a
      significant difference in the NGF expression levels between the three patient
      groups and the Control group. p75NTR expression levels in the HCV and NVH groups
      were higher than those observed in the HBV and Control groups. In cases of liver
      cirrhosis, higher p75NTR mRNA expression was observed, whereas NGF was expressed
      at higher levels in patients with hepatic fibrosis. NGF expression was lower in
      the F1 liver fibrosis stage, and p75NTR receptor expression continuously and
      proportionately increased compared to the increase in the degree of fibrosis and
      was significantly higher in livers in fibrosis stages 3 and 4. The hepatic levels
      of NGF and p75NTR were decreased and increased, respectively, relative to the
      stage of inflammatory activity. A positive correlation between p75NTR and NGF
      gene expression was observed in livers with mild to moderate fibrosis, though not
      in cases of severe fibrosis and cirrhosis. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate
      that the course of chronic liver disease can be regulated by NGF and p75NTR,
      which function by decreasing or inhibiting hepatocyte regeneration and
      proliferation.

PMID- 25816147
TI  - Patterns and structures of land use change in the Three Rivers Headwaters Region
      of China.
AB  - Located in Qinghai Province of China, the Three Rivers Headwaters Region is the
      source region of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lantsang Rivers, and plays an important
      role in biodiversity conservation and regulating water supply. Despite many
      efforts on land use change in Qinghai, knowledge of the spatial variation of land
      use change is still lacking. This study examines the patterns of land use change
      across various watersheds, prefectures and the temple surroundings. Remote
      sensing images of 1987, 1997 and 2007 were analyzed to derive land use
      distributions; patterns and structures of the landscape were then quantified with
      landscape metrics. The results illustrated that the Yangtze River headwater
      region had more diverse and more evenly distributed landscape, while the Lantsang
      and the Yellow headwater regions showed a decline in landscape diversity.
      Comparison of the land use patterns of four prefectures revealed that Yushu
      Prefecture experienced an increase in landscape diversity from 1987 to 2007 while
      the land use patches in Guoluo Prefecture exhibited more aggregated patterns than
      other prefectures. Analysis of the spatial variations of land use change in the
      temple surroundings illustrated that 19.7% and 35.9% of the temples in Guoluo and
      Yushu Prefectures, respectively, encountered land use change for their immediate
      areas within 2 km. Comparison of the surroundings of temples and human
      settlements found that land use change was not evenly distributed, and that
      greater land use change had occurred for the surroundings of human settlements.
      Such findings provided insights into the spatial variation of land use change in
      the Three Rivers Headwaters Region. 

PMID- 25816146
TI  - Impact of thromboprophylaxis across the US acute care setting.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) can be reduced by
      appropriate use of anticoagulant prophylaxis. VTE prophylaxis does, however,
      remain substantially underused, particularly among acutely ill medical
      inpatients. We sought to evaluate the clinical and economic impact of increasing
      use of American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP)-recommended VTE prophylaxis
      among medical inpatients from a US healthcare system perspective. METHODS AND
      FINDINGS: In this retrospective database cost-effectiveness evaluation, a
      decision-tree model was developed to estimate deaths within 30 days of admission
      and outcomes attributable to VTE that might have been averted by use of low
      molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) or unfractionated heparin (UFH). Incremental cost
      effectiveness ratio was calculated using "no prophylaxis" as the comparator. Data
      from the ENDORSE US medical inpatients and the US nationwide Inpatient Sample
      (NIS) were used to estimate the annual number of eligible inpatients who failed
      to receive ACCP-recommended VTE prophylaxis. The cost-effectiveness analysis
      indicated that VTE-prevention strategies would reduce deaths by 0.5% and 0.3%,
      comparing LMWH and UFH strategies with no prophylaxis, translating into savings
      of $50,637 and $25,714, respectively, per death averted. The ENDORSE findings
      indicated that 51.1% of US medical inpatients were at ACCP-defined VTE risk,
      47.5% of whom received ACCP-recommended prophylaxis. By extrapolating these
      findings to the NIS and applying cost-effectives analysis results, the full
      implementation of ACCP guidelines would reduce number of deaths (by 15,875 if
      using LMWH or 10,201 if using UFH), and was extrapolated to calculate the cost
      reduction of $803M for LMWH and $262M for UFH. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts to improve
      VTE prophylaxis use in acutely ill inpatients are warranted due to the potential
      for reducing VTE-attributable deaths, with net cost savings to healthcare
      systems.

PMID- 25816149
TI  - A probably minor role for land-applied goat manure in the transmission of
      Coxiella burnetii to humans in the 2007-2010 Dutch Q fever outbreak.
AB  - In 2007, Q fever started to become a major public health problem in the
      Netherlands, with small ruminants as most probable source. In order to reduce
      environmental contamination, control measures for manure were implemented because
      of the assumption that manure was highly contaminated with Coxiella burnetii. The
      aims of this study were 1) to clarify the role of C. burnetii contaminated manure
      from dairy goat farms in the transmission of C. burnetii to humans, 2) to assess
      the impact of manure storage on temperature profiles in dunghills, and 3) to
      calculate the decimal reduction time of the Nine Mile RSA 493 reference strain of
      C. burnetii under experimental conditions in different matrices. For these
      purposes, records on distribution of manure from case and control herds were
      mapped and a potential relation to incidences of human Q fever was investigated.
      Additionally, temperatures in two dunghills were measured and related to heat
      resistance of C. burnetii. Results of negative binomial regression showed no
      significant association between the incidence of human Q fever cases and the
      source of manure. Temperature measurements in the core and shell of dunghills on
      two farms were above 40 degrees C for at least ten consecutive days which would
      result in a strong reduction of C. burnetii over time. Our findings indicate that
      there is no relationship between incidence of human Q fever and land applied
      manure from dairy goat farms with an abortion wave caused by C. burnetii.
      Temperature measurements in dunghills on two farms with C. burnetii shedding
      dairy goat herds further support the very limited role of goat manure as a
      transmission route during the Dutch human Q fever outbreak. It is very likely
      that the composting process within a dunghill will result in a clear reduction in
      the number of viable C. burnetii. 

PMID- 25816150
TI  - VP22 mediates intercellular trafficking and enhances the in vitro antitumor
      activity of PTEN.
AB  - PTEN acts as a phosphatidylinositol phosphatase with a possible role in the
      phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathway. Mutations in PTEN are frequent
      and their presence is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer, which is
      the most common type of non-cutaneous malignancy in females. Delivery of the
      tumor suppressor PTEN gene represents a powerful strategy for breast cancer
      therapy, but a present limitation of gene therapy is the ability to deliver
      sufficient quantities of active proteins to target cells. The capacity of HSV
      1VP22 fusion proteins to spread from the primary transduced cell to surrounding
      cells could improve gene therapeutics, particularly in cancer. To assess the
      potential efficacy of VP22 as a gene therapy for breast cancer, expression
      vectors for N- and C-terminal PTEN-VP22 fusion proteins were constructed. VP22
      mediated intercellular transport and antitumor efficacy in BT549 (PTEN-null)
      breast tumor cells were investigated. The results showed that PTEN-VP22 has the
      same spreading abilities as VP22. In cell proliferation and apoptosis assays,
      PTEN-VP22 gene transfer induces a stronger anti-proliferative effect and
      apoptotic activity compared with PTEN gene transfer alone. In addition, VP22
      enhanced the PTEN-mediated decrease in the level of phosphorylated AKT. The
      results show that PTEN-VP22 can spread in vitro and PTEN-VP22 gene induces
      significantly greater antitumor activity than the PTEN gene alone. This study
      confirms the utility of VP22-mediated delivery in vitro and suggests that PTEN
      VP22 may have applications in breast cancer gene therapy.

PMID- 25816148
TI  - A comparison of technique modifications in laparoscopic donor nephrectomy: a
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of different technique modifications in
      laparoscopic donor nephrectomy. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analyses. DATA
      SOURCES: Searches of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Central from January 1st
      1997 until April 1st 2014. STUDY DESIGN: All cohort studies and randomized
      clinical trials comparing fully laparoscopic donor nephrectomy with modifications
      of the standard technique including hand-assisted, retroperitoneoscopic and
      single port techniques, were included. DATA-EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS: The primary
      outcome measure was the number of complications. Secondary outcome measures
      included: conversion to open surgery, first warm ischemia time, estimated blood
      loss, graft function, operation time and length of hospital stay. Each technique
      modification was compared with standard laparoscopic donor nephrectomy. Data was
      pooled with a random effects meta-analysis using odds ratios, weighted mean
      differences and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals. To assess
      heterogeneity, the I2 statistic was used. First, randomized clinical trials and
      cohort studies were analyzed separately, when data was comparable, pooled
      analysis were performed. RESULTS: 31 studies comparing laparoscopic donor
      nephrectomy with other technique modifications were identified, including 5
      randomized clinical trials and 26 cohort studies. Since data of randomized
      clinical trials and cohort studies were comparable, these data were pooled. There
      were significantly less complications in the retroperitoneoscopic group as
      compared to transperitoneal group (OR 0.52, 95%CI 0.33-0.83, I2 = 0%). Hand
      assisted techniques showed shorter first warm ischemia and operation times.
      CONCLUSIONS: Hand-assistance reduces the operation and first warm ischemia times
      and may improve safety for surgeons with less experience in laparoscopic donor
      nephrectomy. The retroperitoneoscopic approach was significantly associated with
      less complications. However, given the, in general, poor to intermediate quality
      and considerable heterogeneity in the included studies, further high-quality
      studies are required. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The review protocol was registered in
      the PROSPERO database before the start of the review process (CRD number
      42013006565).

PMID- 25816151
TI  - Retinoic acid-related orphan receptor RORbeta, circadian rhythm abnormalities and
      tumorigenesis (Review).
AB  - Nuclear receptors are a superfamily of transcription factors including the
      steroid hormone receptors, non-steroid hormone receptors and the orphan nuclear
      receptor family. Retinoic acid-related orphan receptor (ROR)beta, as a member of
      the orphan nuclear receptor family, plays an important regulatory role in the
      maintenance of a variety of physiological and pathological processes. RORbeta has
      been determined to act as an osteogenic repressor in regulating bone formation,
      and is involved in regulating circadian rhythm. The findings of recent studies
      concerning the association between tumorigenesis and circadian rhythm have shown
      that an aberrant circadian rhythm may promote tumorigenesis and tumor
      progression. The mechanisms discussed in this review demonstrate how aberrant
      RORbeta-induced circadian rhythm may become a new direction for future studies on
      tumorigenesis and strategy design for cancer prevention. 

PMID- 25816152
TI  - Correction: Endocardial tip cells in the human embryo--facts and hypotheses.

PMID- 25816153
TI  - Ophiopogonin-D suppresses MDA-MB-435 cell adhesion and invasion by inhibiting
      matrix metalloproteinase-9.
AB  - Ophiopogonin-D is one of steroidal saponins isolated from the root of the Chinese
      medicinal plant Ophiopogon japonicas. It has been claimed to possess anti
      inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. The present study was the first to
      examine the anti-tumor metastasis properties of ophiopogonin-D. An MTT assay
      showed that ophiopogonin-D inhibited the proliferation of MDA-MB-435 melanoma
      cells, and decreased invasion was demonstrated using a Transwell invasion assay.
      Furthermore, adhesion of MDA-MB-435 cells to human umbilical vascular endothelial
      cells and to fibronectin was inhibited by ophiopogonin-D. Gelatin zymography and
      western blot analysis showed that ophiopogonin-D inhibited the expression and
      secretion of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), but not that of MMP-2.
      Inhibition of phosphorylation of p38 by ophiopogonin-D indicated its inhibition
      of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Overall, the results suggested
      that ophiopogonin-D may be considered as a candidate drug for treating or
      preventing tumor metastasis.

PMID- 25816154
TI  - The 'slingshot' technique to align palatally impacted canines with elastomeric
      chain.
AB  - Orthodontic alignment of palatally ectopic maxillary canines can be challenging.
      Treatment is usually prolonged and further complicated by the need for surgical
      exposure. Several methods are commonly used and have been described in the
      literature. This article presents two cases to describe a relatively unknown yet
      effective technique using the 'slingshot' method. This method is operator
      friendly and easily tolerated by patients. 

PMID- 25816155
TI  - Observation of Excitonic Rydberg States in Monolayer MoS2 and WS2 by
      Photoluminescence Excitation Spectroscopy.
AB  - We have identified excited exciton states in monolayers of MoS2 and WS2 supported
      on fused silica by means of photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy. In
      monolayer WS2, the positions of the excited A exciton states imply an exciton
      binding energy of 0.32 eV. In monolayer MoS2, excited exciton transitions are
      observed at energies of 2.24 and 2.34 eV. Assigning these states to the B exciton
      Rydberg series yields an exciton binding energy of 0.44 eV. 

PMID- 25816156
TI  - The effects of gene polymorphisms in angiotensin II receptors on pregnancy
      induced hypertension and preeclampsia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To assess whether the polymorphisms of angiotensin II type 1 and type
      2 receptors (AT1R, AT2R) are associated with pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH)
      and preeclampsia. METHODS: Studies were searched from PubMed, ISI Web of Science
      and HuGE Navigator. RESULTS: The A1166C polymorphism of AT1R, A1675G and C3123A
      polymorphisms of AT2R were analyzed. Significant association was found in
      recessive model (OR = 1.581, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.054-2.371) and co
      dominant (GG versus AG) model (OR = 1.900, 95%CI: 1.001-3.604) between the A1675G
      polymorphism and preeclampsia. No association was found between the other
      polymorphisms and PIH or preeclampsia. CONCLUSIONS: The A1675G polymorphism might
      be associated with preeclampsia, but the A1166C and C3123A polymorphisms had no
      effect on PIH or preeclampsia.

PMID- 25816157
TI  - Ischemic postconditioning regulates cardiomyocyte autophagic activity following
      ischemia/reperfusion injury.
AB  - Ischemic postconditioning (IPostC) is a promising protective mechanism for
      combating reperfusion injury. However, the role of autophagy in the protective
      effects of IPostC and the associated signaling pathways have remained to be
      elucidated. Male Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to 30 min ischemia and 1, 2,
      3, 6, 12 and 24 h of reperfusion, with or without IPostC treatment. Autophagic
      flux was evaluated by detecting mRNA and protein expression levels of microtubule
      associated protein 1 light chain 3 and p62. Phosphorylated (p)-P70S6 kinase
      (P70S6K), p-adenosine monophosphate-activated kinase (AMPK) and Beclin 1 protein
      levels were measured by western blot analysis. Myocardial infarct size was
      measured using staining with Evans blue dye and myocardial apoptosis was
      evaluated by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end
      labeling staining. Autophagic activity was observed to be inhibited within the
      first hour of reperfusion, increased during 2-6 h and reduced from 12-24 h
      following IPostC compared with reperfusion without IPostC. Inhibition of
      autophagy by chloroquine significantly reversed the effects of IPostC on
      myocardial infarct size and the levels of apoptosis. IPostC significantly
      increased Beclin 1 levels, inhibited AMPK activation and increased P70S6K
      activation within the first hour compared with reperfusion without IPostC. IPostC
      attenuated the upregulation of Beclin 1 levels, increased AMPK activation and
      reduced P70S6K activation between 2 and 12 h, and subsequently exerted the
      opposite effects on these molecules between 12 and 24 h. IPostC was demonstrated
      to regulate autophagic activity in a time-dependent manner. The Beclin 1 and AMPK
      mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathways are suggested to be involved in
      the regulation of IPostC in autophagy.

PMID- 25816159
TI  - Enteral nutrition support to treat malnutrition in inflammatory bowel disease.
AB  - Malnutrition is a common consequence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Diet
      has an important role in the management of IBD, as it prevents and corrects
      malnutrition. It is well known that diet may be implicated in the aetiology of
      IBD and that it plays a central role in the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal
      tract disease. Often oral nutrition alone is not sufficient in the management of
      IBD patients, especially in children or the elderly, and must be combined with
      oral supplementation or replaced with tube enteral nutrition. In this review, we
      describe several different approaches to enteral nutrition-total parenteral, oral
      supplementation and enteral tube feeding-in terms of results, patients
      compliance, risks and and benefits. We also focus on the home enteral nutrition
      strategy as the future goal for treating IBD while focusing on patient wellness.

PMID- 25816158
TI  - Detection of sialic acid-utilising bacteria in a caecal community batch culture
      using RNA-based stable isotope probing.
AB  - Sialic acids are monosaccharides typically found on cell surfaces and attached to
      soluble proteins, or as essential components of ganglioside structures that play
      a critical role in brain development and neural transmission. Human milk also
      contains sialic acid conjugated to oligosaccharides, glycolipids, and
      glycoproteins. These nutrients can reach the large bowel where they may be
      metabolised by the microbiota. However, little is known about the members of the
      microbiota involved in this function. To identify intestinal bacteria that
      utilise sialic acid within a complex intestinal community, we cultured the caecal
      microbiota from piglets in the presence of 13C-labelled sialic acid. Using RNA
      based stable isotope probing, we identified bacteria that consumed 13C-sialic
      acid by fractionating total RNA in isopycnic buoyant density gradients followed
      by 16S rRNA gene analysis. Addition of sialic acid caused significant microbial
      community changes. A relative rise in Prevotella and Lactobacillus species was
      accompanied by a corresponding reduction in the genera Escherichia/Shigella,
      Ruminococcus and Eubacterium. Inspection of isotopically labelled RNA sequences
      suggests that the labelled sialic acid was consumed by a wide range of bacteria.
      However, species affiliated with the genus Prevotella were clearly identified as
      the most prolific users, as solely their RNA showed significantly higher relative
      shares among the most labelled RNA species. Given the relevance of sialic acid in
      nutrition, this study contributes to a better understanding of their microbial
      transformation in the intestinal tract with potential implications for human
      health. 

PMID- 25816160
TI  - Sourdough fermentation of wheat flour does not prevent the interaction of
      transglutaminase 2 with alpha2-gliadin or gluten.
AB  - The enzyme transglutaminase 2 (TG2) plays a crucial role in the initiation of
      celiac disease by catalyzing the deamidation of gluten peptides. In susceptible
      individuals, the deamidated peptides initiate an immune response leading to
      celiac disease. Several studies have addressed lactic fermentation plus addition
      of enzymes as a means to degrade gluten in order to prevent adverse response in
      celiacs. Processing for complete gluten degradation is often harsh and is not
      likely to yield products that are of comparable characteristics as their gluten
      containing counterparts. We are concerned that incomplete degradation of gluten
      may have adverse effects because it leads to more available TG2-binding sites on
      gluten peptides. Therefore, we have investigated how lactic acid fermentation
      affects the potential binding of TG2 to gluten protein in wheat flour by means of
      estimating TG2-mediated transamidation in addition to measuring the available TG2
      binding motif QLP, in alpha2-gliadin. We show that lactic fermentation of wheat
      flour, as slurry or as part of sourdough bread, did not decrease the TG2-mediated
      transamidation, in the presence of a primary amine, to an efficient level (73%
      102% of unfermented flour). Nor did the lactic fermentation decrease the
      available TG2 binding motif QLP in alpha2-gliadin to a sufficient extent in
      sourdough bread (73%-122% of unfermented control) to be useful for celiac safe
      food. 

PMID- 25816161
TI  - Improvement in plasma drug activity during the early treatment interval among
      Tanzanian patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Individual pharmacokinetic variability may be common in patients
      treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) but data are sparse from
      resource-limited settings and across the early treatment interval. METHODS:
      Plasma drug activity, as measured by the TB Drug Activity (TDA) assay at 2 and 4
      weeks of treatment with a standardized MDR-TB regimen was performed in patients
      with pulmonary MDR-TB from Tanzania. TDA values were correlated with measures of
      early treatment outcome including every two week collection of sputum for time-to
      positivity (TTP) in liquid culture from the MGIT 960 automated system. Patients
      were evaluated at 24 weeks and those surviving without delayed sputum culture
      conversion (>8 weeks), culture reversion after previously negative, or weight
      loss were defined as having a favorable outcome. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients
      were enrolled with a mean age of 37 +/-12 years. All were culture positive from
      the pretreatment sputum sample with a mean TTP in MGIT of 257 +/-134 hours, and
      the median time to culture conversion on treatment was 6 weeks. Twenty patients
      (80%) had an increase in TDA, with the overall mean TDA at 2 weeks of 2.1 +/-0.7
      compared to 2.4 +/-0.8 at 4 weeks (p = 0.005). At 2 weeks 13 subjects (52%) had a
      TDA value > 2-log killing against their own M. tuberculosis isolate compared to
      17 subjects (68%) at 4 weeks (McNemar's exact test p = 0.29). An interim
      treatment outcome was able to be determined in 23 patients (92%), of whom 7 had a
      poor outcome (30%). An increase in TDA from week 2 to week 4 was associated with
      favorable outcome, [unadjusted OR = 20.0, 95% CI: 1.61-247.98, exact p = 0.017
      and adjusted OR = 19.33, 95% CI: 1.55-241.5, exact p = 0.023]. CONCLUSIONS: The
      majority of patients with MDR-TB in Tanzania had an increase in plasma drug
      activity from week 2 to week 4 of treatment as measured by the TDA assay.
      Understanding the etiology and full impact of this dynamic may inform therapeutic
      intervention.

PMID- 25816163
TI  - Fire and worker health and safety: an introduction to the special issue.
AB  - One century ago, the landmark fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York
      City claimed the lives of 146 garment workers and helped spur the adoption of
      fire safety measures and laws targeting dangerous working conditions. Since that
      time, continuing advances have been made to address the threat of fire-in
      workplace fire safety practices and regulations, in training and safety
      requirements for firefighters and first responders, and in hazard communication
      laws that enhance disaster planning and response. Recent high profile events,
      including the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion, derailments of fuel cargo
      trains, and garment factory fires in Bangladesh, have brought renewed attention
      to fire as a workplace health and safety issue and to the unevenness of safety
      standards and regulatory enforcement, in the United States as well as
      internationally. In this article, we provide an overview of fire as a workplace
      health and safety hazard and an introduction to the essays included in this
      special issue of New Solutions on fire and work. 

PMID- 25816164
TI  - Bangladesh: currently the worst, but possibly the future's best.
AB  - Garment workers in Bangladesh producing clothing for international brands have
      experienced repeated factory fires and building collapses in the last 10 years,
      resulting in more than 1,600 deaths and hundreds of disabling injuries. After the
      Tazreen Fashion fire in December 2012 and the Rana Plaza building collapse in
      April 2013, more than 190 international clothing brands and retailers signed an
      "Accord on Fire and Building Safety" with two international union federations.
      Full implementation of the provisions of the Accord would change "business as
      usual" in Bangladesh's garment industry and set a positive example for other
      countries and other industries with global supply chains. The components,
      challenges, and controversies of the Accord are detailed in the article. 

PMID- 25816162
TI  - Mismatch repair-deficient crypt foci in Lynch syndrome--molecular alterations and
      association with clinical parameters.
AB  - Lynch syndrome is caused by germline mutations of DNA mismatch repair (MMR)
      genes, most frequently MLH1 and MSH2. Recently, MMR-deficient crypt foci (MMR
      DCF) have been identified as a novel lesion which occurs at high frequency in the
      intestinal mucosa from Lynch syndrome mutation carriers, but very rarely progress
      to cancer. To shed light on molecular alterations and clinical associations of
      MMR-DCF, we systematically searched the intestinal mucosa from Lynch syndrome
      patients for MMR-DCF by immunohistochemistry. The identified lesions were
      characterised for alterations in microsatellite-bearing genes with proven or
      suspected role in malignant transformation. We demonstrate that the prevalence of
      MMR-DCF (mean 0.84 MMR-DCF per 1 cm2 mucosa in the colorectum of Lynch syndrome
      patients) was significantly associated with patients' age, but not with patients'
      gender. No MMR-DCF were detectable in the mucosa of patients with sporadic MSI-H
      colorectal cancer (n = 12). Microsatellite instability of at least one tested
      marker was detected in 89% of the MMR-DCF examined, indicating an immediate onset
      of microsatellite instability after MMR gene inactivation. Coding microsatellite
      mutations were most frequent in the genes HT001 (ASTE1) with 33%, followed by
      AIM2 (17%) and BAX (10%). Though MMR deficiency alone appears to be insufficient
      for malignant transformation, it leads to measurable microsatellite instability
      even in single MMR-deficient crypts. Our data indicate for the first time that
      the frequency of MMR-DCF increases with patients' age. Similar patterns of coding
      microsatellite instability in MMR-DCF and MMR-deficient cancers suggest that
      certain combinations of coding microsatellite mutations, including mutations of
      the HT001, AIM2 and BAX gene, may contribute to the progression of MMR-deficient
      lesions into MMR-deficient cancers. 

PMID- 25816165
TI  - Preventing fire-related occupational deaths: residential sprinklers save
      civilians, property, and firefighters.
AB  - Residential fires are an important public health problem, with proven strategies
      to prevent death and injury. Residential sprinkler systems are one such strategy.
      While the benefits of this technology tend to center on civilian lives and
      property, there are also benefits for firefighters. The purpose of this article
      is to describe these benefits and discuss residential sprinkler systems as a
      strategy to reduce the risk of firefighter injury and death. Because of the
      benefits for firefighter safety, firefighters' knowledge about fire prevention,
      and their authority on this topic, firefighters are an essential stakeholder for
      raising awareness among the public and policymakers about the existence of and
      benefits associated with residential sprinkler systems. 

PMID- 25816166
TI  - Workplace fire-not a misfortune, but an avoidable occupational hazard in Korea.
AB  - In this article, we argue that workplace fire should be understood within an
      occupational safety and health context. We selected two cases of fire and
      explosion with the greatest numbers of fatalities from the annual lists of the
      "Worst Manslaughter Companies of the Year" in Korea. Through review of
      information from major media, government, courts, and workers' advocacy
      organizations, we found that these incidents resulted from violations of basic
      safety rules by the companies, and that the penalties imposed on them were light.
      In addition, precarious workers were more vulnerable to such risk, and self
      regulation did not work even in large corporations. Like other types of
      occupational hazards, explosions and fires can be prevented, but prevention
      requires that occupational safety and health regulations be thoroughly enforced
      and that heavy penalties be imposed in order to eliminate any incentives for
      regulatory violations. 

PMID- 25816167
TI  - Emerging from the tragedies in Bangladesh: a challenge to voluntarism in the
      global economy.
AB  - Under the regime of private company or multi-stakeholder voluntary codes of
      conduct and industry social auditing, workers have absorbed low wages and unsafe
      and abusive conditions; labor leaders and union members have become the targets
      of both government and factory harassment and violence; and trade union power has
      waned. Nowhere have these private systems of codes and audits so clearly failed
      to protect workers as in Bangladesh's apparel industry. However, international
      labor groups and Bangladeshi unions have succeeded in mounting a challenge to
      voluntarism in the global economy, persuading more than 180 companies to make a
      binding and enforceable commitment to workers' safety in an agreement with 12
      unions. The extent to which this Bangladesh Accord will be able to influence the
      entrenched global regime of voluntary codes and weak trade unions remains an open
      question. But if the Accord can make progress in Bangladesh, it can help to
      inspire similar efforts in other countries and in other industries. 

PMID- 25816168
TI  - Firefighters and flame retardant activism.
AB  - In the past decade, exposure to flame retardant chemicals has become a pressing
      health concern and widely discussed topic of public safety for firefighters in
      the United States. Working through local, state, and national unions and
      independent health and advocacy organizations, firefighters have made important
      contributions to efforts to restrict the use of certain flame retardants.
      Firefighters are key members in advocacy coalitions dedicated to developing new
      environmental health regulations and reforming flammability standards to reflect
      the best available fire science. Their involvement has been motivated by
      substantiated health concerns and critiques of deceptive lobbying practices by
      the chemical industry. Drawing on observations and interviews with firefighters,
      fire safety experts, and other involved stakeholders, this article describes why
      firefighters are increasingly concerned about their exposure to flame retardant
      chemicals in consumer products, and analyzes their involvement in state and
      national environmental health coalitions. 

PMID- 25816169
TI  - A growing fire hazard concern in communities: home oxygen therapy and continued
      smoking habits.
AB  - The Safe Home Care Project investigated both qualitatively and quantitatively a
      range of occupational safety and health hazards, as well as injury and illness
      prevention practices, among home care aides in Massachusetts. This article
      reports on a hazard identified by aides during the study's initial focus groups:
      smoking by home care clients on long-term oxygen therapy. Following the
      qualitative phase we conducted a cross-sectional survey among 1,249 aides and
      found that medical oxygen was present in 9 percent of aide visits (314 of aides'
      3,484 recent client visits) and that 25 percent of clients on oxygen therapy were
      described as smokers. Based on our findings, the Board of Health in a local town
      conducted a pilot study to address fire hazards related to medical oxygen.
      Medical oxygen combined with smoking or other sources of ignition is a serious
      fire and explosion hazard that threatens not only workers who visit homes but
      also communities. 

PMID- 25816170
TI  - From infancy to adolescence: the development and future of the national
      firefighter near-miss reporting system.
AB  - The National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System (NFFNMRS) is a voluntary
      adverse event reporting system designed as a repository to which firefighters
      submit information on the hazards seen in their work, detailing the events that
      led to near-misses and injuries. This descriptive article discusses the
      development of the system since its inception, the strengths and limitations of
      the resultant data, and the improvements to be made to ensure the system's
      usefulness. Especially in their infancy, near-miss systems are very dependent on
      funding and sensitive to any reductions as they head toward steady-state
      reporting. This sustainability factor has significant implications for continued
      reporting to the system and the ultimate utility of the data. Very few such data
      systems exist for occupational health surveillance. 

PMID- 25816171
TI  - Climate change and wildland firefighter health and safety.
AB  - The author examines how climate change is impacting wildland firefighters.
      Climate change has made wildland fires more frequent and more intense. The
      increase in frequency and intensity of fires has pushed the number of fatalities
      and injuries higher in recent decades. The most common hazards on fires follow
      the trend of fire in general in that these hazards become more frequent and
      intense. Burnovers, heat exhaustion, tree hazards, and many other common fire
      hazards are more likely. The fire suppression agencies are making every effort to
      improve health and safety on fires by improving communication, weather
      forecasting, mapping, fire shelters, decision making and more. Despite these
      efforts, wildfires are becoming ever more hazardous because of climate change and
      the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires. 

PMID- 25816172
TI  - Safety sustainability.

PMID- 25816173
TI  - DNA-directed assembly of gold nanohalo for quantitative plasmonic imaging of
      single-particle catalysis.
AB  - Plasmonic imaging under a dark-field microscope (DFM) holds great promise for
      single-particle analysis in bioimaging, nanophotonics, and nanocatalysis. Here,
      we designed a DNA-directed programmable assembly strategy to fabricate a halo
      like Au nanostructure (nanohalo) that couples plasmonic large gold nanoparticles
      (L-AuNPs) with catalytically active small AuNPs (S-AuNPs) in a single
      nanoarchitecture. Catalytic reaction occurring on S-AuNPs changes its
      permittivity, which results in a significant variation of the plasmonic resonance
      of the nanohalo. Hence, we can indirectly monitor catalytic reactions on a single
      nanohalo under DFM, on the basis of which we have obtained quantitative
      information on both nanocatalysis and catalyst poisoning. Our study thus provides
      a cost-effective means to quantitatively study metal NP-based catalysis at single
      particle level. 

PMID- 25816174
TI  - Total synthesis of the tetracyclic indole alkaloid ht-13-B.
AB  - An expedient synthesis corroborating the proposed structure of the tetracyclic
      indole alkaloid ht-13-B is presented. Key synthetic steps include acyliminium ion
      allylation, a Mitsunobu reaction, a palladium-catalyzed Stille-Kelly cross
      coupling reaction, and a carbon monoxide-mediated palladium-catalyzed reductive N
      heterocyclization. The chiral centers are ultimately derived from commercially
      available trans-4-hydroxy-l-proline. 

PMID- 25816175
TI  - Artesunate induces apoptosis and inhibits growth of Eca109 and Ec9706 human
      esophageal cancer cell lines in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Esophageal cancer is a common malignant tumor worldwide with a high incidence
      rate in China and it is a great threat to human health. Combined modality therapy
      is used for chemotherapeutic treatment of esophageal cancer; however, drug
      resistance and side effects of the drugs is a major barrier to the success of
      chemotherapy. As chemotherapy with common drugs is far from providing
      satisfactory clinical outcomes for patients with esophageal cancer, more
      efficient drugs are urgently required. Artesunate (Art) is the first-line
      treatment option for malaria; however, it was recently revealed that Art has
      remarkable anti-tumor activity, making it a novel candidate for cancer
      chemotherapy. Although the anti-cancer effects of Art have been well documented,
      its potential against esophageal cancer has rarely been explored. The present
      study aimed to investigate the significance and mechanism of the anti
      proliferative activity of Art on esophageal cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. In
      the in vitro experiments, Art inhibited the growth as well as induced cell
      apoptosis and cell cycle arrest of esophageal cancer cell lines (Eca109 and
      Ec9706) in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, downregulation of
      mitochondrial membrane potential, B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) and CDC25A, as well
      as upregulation of BCL-2-associated X protein (Bax) and caspase-3 expression in
      Art-treated cells were identified. In addition, an in vivo study showed that Art
      produced a dose-dependent tumor regression in nude mice, while side effects were
      low. The anti-tumor activity of 200 mg/kg Art was similar to that of 3 mg/kg
      cisplatin. In conclusion, Art exerted concentration-dependent inhibitory activity
      against esophageal cancer in vivo and in vitro by inducing cell apoptosis and
      cell cycle arrest through affecting mitochondrial membrane potential, BCL-2, Bax,
      caspase-3 and CDC25A.

PMID- 25816178
TI  - Executive summary of key concepts.

PMID- 25816176
TI  - WO3 nanorolls self-assembled as thin films by hydrothermal synthesis.
AB  - We report a novel type of WO3 nanostructure, i.e. nanorolls obtained as a self
      assembled thin film on a transparent conductive substrate. The mild conditions of
      preparation, avoiding the use of HCl, result in an eco-friendly hydrothermal
      method with reduced crystallization time. FESEM and HR-TEM show that WO3
      nanocrystals are made of rolled nanoflakes with a telescope-like appearance at
      their tip. For their nano-porosity, electrochemical accessibility, good adhesion
      to substrates and the envisaged presence of nanocavities between the WO3 layers,
      these materials hold tremendous promise in nano-electronics, electrochromic
      devices, water photo-splitting cells, Li-ion batteries and nano-templated filters
      for UV radiation. 

PMID- 25816179
TI  - Can our hospitals survive?

PMID- 25816180
TI  - The ethics of research, writing, and publication.

PMID- 25816181
TI  - Comparative analysis of hospital energy use: pacific northwest and scandinavia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to establish the potential for significant energy
      reduction in hospitals in the United States by providing evidence of Scandinavian
      operational precedents with high Interior Environmental Quality (IEQ) and
      substantially lower energy profiles than comparable U.S. facilities. These
      facilities set important precedents for design teams seeking operational examples
      for achieving aggressive energy and interior environmental quality goals. This
      examination of operational hospitals is intended to offer hospital owners,
      designers, and building managers a strong case and concrete framework for
      strategies to achieve exceptionally high performing buildings. BACKGROUND: Energy
      efficient hospitals have the potential to significantly impact the U.S.'s overall
      energy profile, and key stakeholders in the hospital industry need specific,
      operationally grounded precedents in order to successfully implement informed
      energy reduction strategies. This study is an outgrowth of previous research
      evaluating high quality, low energy hospitals that serve as examples for new high
      performance hospital design, construction, and operation. Through extensive
      interviews, numerous site visits, the development of case studies, and data
      collection, this team has established thorough qualitative and quantitative
      analyses of several contemporary hospitals in Scandinavia and the Pacific
      Northwest. Many Scandinavian hospitals demonstrate a low energy profile, and when
      analyzed in comparison with U.S. hospitals, such Scandinavian precedents help
      define the framework required to make significant changes in the U.S. hospital
      building industry. METHODS: Eight hospitals, four Scandinavian and four Pacific
      Northwest, were quantitatively compared using the Environmental Protection
      Agency's Portfolio Manager, allowing researchers to answer specific questions
      about the impact of energy source and architectural and mechanical strategies on
      energy efficiency in operational hospitals. RESULTS: Specific architectural,
      mechanical, and plant systems make these Scandinavian hospitals more energy
      efficient than their Pacific Northwest counterparts. More importantly,
      synergistic systems integration allows for their significant reductions in energy
      consumption. CONCLUSIONS: This quantitative comparison of operational
      Scandinavian and Pacific Northwest hospitals resulted in compelling evidence of
      the potential for deep energy savings in the U.S., and allowed researchers to
      outline specific strategies for achieving such reductions.

PMID- 25816182
TI  - Informing Hospital Change Processes through Visualization and Simulation: A Case
      Study at a Children's Emergency Clinic.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the use of visualization and simulation tools in order
      to involve stakeholders and inform the process in hospital change processes,
      illustrated by an empirical study from a children's emergency clinic. BACKGROUND:
      Reorganization and redevelopment of a hospital is a complex activity that
      involves many stakeholders and demands. Visualization and simulation tools have
      proven useful for involving practitioners and eliciting relevant knowledge. More
      knowledge is desired about how these tools can be implemented in practice for
      hospital planning processes. METHODS: A participatory planning process including
      practitioners and researchers was executed over a 3-year period to evaluate a
      combination of visualization and simulation tools to involve stakeholders in the
      planning process and to elicit knowledge about needs and requirements. RESULTS:
      The initial clinic proposal from the architect was discarded as a result of the
      empirical study. Much general knowledge about the needs of the organization was
      extracted by means of the adopted tools. Some of the tools proved to be more
      accessible than others for the practitioners participating in the study. The
      combination of tools added value to the process by presenting information in
      alternative ways and eliciting questions from different angles. CONCLUSIONS:
      Visualization and simulation tools inform a planning process (or other types of
      change processes) by providing the means to see beyond present demands and
      current work structures. Long-term involvement in combination with accessible
      tools is central for creating a participatory setting where the practitioners'
      knowledge guides the process.

PMID- 25816183
TI  - Space planners' perception of an assessment instrument for briefs in the pre
      design phase of new healthcare environments.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The main purpose of the study was to investigate the usability of a
      newly developed instrument designed to assess the content and quality briefs (CQB
      I) in programs for new healthcare environments. We studied the perception of
      using the instrument on a group of space planners. BACKGROUND: The study is part
      of a larger project designed to ensure the quality of the planning of new
      healthcare environments with a focus on documents (programs or briefs) created in
      the early phases of the planning process. In this study, we used an instrument
      that measures the clarity of the mission statement for the project based on user
      needs and care activities that will take place in the new healthcare environment.
      The instrument further evaluates whether there are clear patient-related outcome
      measures specified and whether the information in the documents is person
      oriented and evidence-based. METHODS: The study used a mixed-method design where
      the relevance and usability of the instrument was estimated and a focus group
      interview was conducted. RESULTS: The study showed that a CQB-I is perceived to
      be a relevant instrument primarily as a guide for programming, but also for
      monitoring the produced programs. CONCLUSIONS: Instruments like CQB-I can help to
      bring research results into planning and contribute to dialogue and collaboration
      in the early phases of a planning process by orienting planning participants to
      user needs and facilitating the discussion and articulation of clear performance
      indicators.

PMID- 25816184
TI  - Design characteristics of acute care units in china.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the current state of design characteristics of acute care
      units in China's public hospitals and compare these with characteristics with
      acute care units in the United States. BACKGROUND: The healthcare construction
      industry in China is one of the fastest growing sectors in China and, arguably,
      in the world. Understanding the physical design of acute care units in China is
      of great importance because it will influence a large population. METHODS:
      Descriptive study was performed of unit configuration, size, patient visibility,
      distance to nursing station and supplies, and lighting conditions in 25 units in
      19 public hospitals built after 2003. Data and information were collected based
      on spatial and visibility analysis. RESULTS: The study identified major design
      characteristics of the recently built (from 2003 onward) acute care units in
      China, comparing them, where appropriate, with those in U.S. It found there are
      three dominant types of unit layout: single-corridor (52%), triangular (36%), and
      double-corridor (12%). The number of private rooms is very low (11%), compared
      with two- or three-bed rooms. Centralized nursing stations are the only type of
      nurses' working area. China also has a large unit size in terms of number of
      patient beds. The average number of patient beds in a unit is 40.6 in China
      (versus 32.9 in U.S.). The care units in China have longer walking distance from
      nursing station to patient bedside. The percentage of beds visible from a nursing
      station is lower in China than in the U.S. The access to natural light and direct
      sunlight in patient rooms is greater in China compared with those in U.S.-100% of
      patient rooms in China have natural lighting. A majority of them face south or
      southeast and thus receiving direct sunlight (91.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Because of the
      differences in economies and building codes, there are dramatic differences
      between the spatial characteristics of acute care units in China and the United
      States.

PMID- 25816185
TI  - Confirming, Classifying, and Prioritizing Needed Over-the-Bed Table Improvements
      via Methodological Triangulation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This article presents the results of a qualitative study that
      confirmed, classified, and prioritized user needs for the design of a more
      useful, usable, and actively assistive over-the-bed table. BACKGROUND: Manganelli
      et al. (2014) generated a list of 74 needs for use in developing an actively
      assistive over-the-bed table. This present study assesses the value and
      importance of those needs. METHODS: Fourteen healthcare subject matter experts
      and eight research and design subject matter experts engaged in a participatory
      and iterative research and design process. A mixed methods qualitative approach
      used methodological triangulation to confirm the value of the findings and
      ratings to establish importance. Open and closed card sorts and a Delphi study
      were used. Data analysis methods included frequency analysis, content analysis,
      and a modified Kano analysis. RESULTS: A table demonstrating the needs that are
      of high importance to both groups of subject matter experts and classification of
      the design challenges each represents was produced. Through this process, the
      list of 74 needs was refined to the 37 most important need statements for both
      groups. CONCLUSIONS: Designing a more useful, usable, and actively assistive over
      the-bed table is primarily about the ability to position it optimally with
      respect to the user for any task, as well as improving ease of use and usability.
      It is also important to make explicit and discuss the differences in priorities
      and perspectives demonstrated between research and design teams and their
      clients.

PMID- 25816186
TI  - Development and psychometric testing of a post-occupancy evaluation.

PMID- 25816187
TI  - Embracing variation.

PMID- 25816188
TI  - Impact of the design of the built environment on people with dementia: an
      evidence-based review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In this review the impact of the design of the built environment on
      people with dementia in long-term care settings is systematically analyzed and
      summarized. Architects and designers will be provided with credible evidence on
      which they can confidently base their design decisions. Researchers will be able
      to determine which environmental aspects have been well investigated and where
      there are gaps in the current state of the research. BACKGROUND: A great number
      of studies have established a relationship between the design of the physical
      environment of long-term care settings and outcomes of people with dementia.
      However, the methods employed are heterogeneous and the results are often
      conflicting. Consequently, the process of integrating the best evidence available
      into architectural designs may be hindered. METHODS: A systematic literature
      search was conducted reviewing studies that meet certain inclusion criteria.
      Using an evidence-based approach, the methodical quality of the studies was
      rated. RESULTS: One hundred sixty-nine studies were found. They were thematically
      summarized into four main categories: basic design decisions, environmental
      attributes, ambience, and environmental information. The effectiveness of the
      interventions on the behavior, cognition, function, well being, social abilities,
      orientation, and care outcomes on people with dementia was illustrated by
      matrices. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this review indicate that, with the exception
      of cognition, specific design interventions are beneficial to the outcomes of
      people with dementia. Overall, the field of environmental design for people with
      dementia is well researched in many aspects and only few gaps in knowledge were
      identified.

PMID- 25816189
TI  - Design research and the globalization of healthcare environments.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Global healthcare practice has expanded in the past 20 years. At the
      same time the incorporation of research into the design process has gained
      prominence as a best practice among architects. The authors of this study
      investigated the status of design research in a variety of international
      settings. We intended to answer the question, "how pervasive is healthcare design
      research outside of the United States?" METHOD: The authors reviewed the
      international literature on the design of healthcare facilities. More than 500
      international studies and conference proceedings were incorporated in this
      literature review. A team of five research assistants searched multiple databases
      comparing approximately 16 keywords to geographic location. Some of those
      keywords included: evidence-based design, salutogenic design, design research,
      and healthcare environment. Additional articles were gathered by contacting
      prominent researchers and asking for their personal assessment of local health
      design research studies. RESULTS: While there are design researchers in most
      parts of the world, the majority of studies focus on the needs of populations in
      developed countries and generate guidelines that have significant cost and
      cultural implications that prohibit their implementation in developing countries.
      Additionally, the body of literature discussing the role of culture in healthcare
      environments is extremely limited. CONCLUSION: Design researchers must address
      the cultural implications of their studies. Additionally, we need to expand our
      research objectives to address healthcare design in countries that have not been
      previous considered.

PMID- 25816191
TI  - Letter to the Editors: Comments on Wood-Nartker et al. Article in HERD 7(3).

PMID- 25816190
TI  - Positive distraction and the rehabilitation hospitals of joao filgueiras lima.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This article discusses the use of positive distraction, an evidence
      based design approach, in rehabilitation hospitals in Brazil through the work of
      Joao Filgueiras Lima ("Lele"). BACKGROUND: In many parts of the world architects
      may not formally incorporate theories of positive distraction and evidence-based
      design, but there are multiple international examples of health facility
      architects and designers that use nature, daylighting, art, and social
      interaction to enhance the healing experience. The work of the Brazilian
      architect Joao Filgueiras Lima is a particularly salient example. Lima has been a
      dominant figure in 20th and 21st century Brazilian architecture and the architect
      of several rehabilitation facilities. METHODS: First positive distraction is
      defined as it relates to nature and art, and in the context of rehabilitation
      hospitals. Second, rehabilitation facilities are defined. The discussion then
      focuses on awareness of evidence-based design in Latin America. Next, Brazilian
      healthcare architecture is discussed along with the history of the Brazilian
      Sarah rehabilitation hospitals designed by Lele and Lele's role in the history of
      Brazilian architecture. Last we look at Lele's use of positive distraction.
      RESULTS: Despite Lele's recognition in Brazil, his work has not gained much
      international exposure. Lele played a critical role in the design of the Sarah
      facilities and served on the board of directors for the Technological Center of
      the Sarah Network (CTRS) in Brazil from 1992 to 2009. Based on our review of his
      work it was clear that Lele used positive distraction as a tool for creating
      healing environments. CONCLUSIONS: In spite of the lack of formal integration of
      evidence-based design in healthcare architecture in Latin America, many of its
      basic tenets have been incorporated in Brazilian rehabilitation hospitals. Lele's
      projects are a clear example of this phenomenon and demonstrate an alignment
      between research and practitioner objectives. The presence of nature, art, and
      natural light in his rehabilitation hospitals serves as a model for evidence
      based design in facilities throughout the world and presents an opportunity to
      measure the benefits of positive distraction on rehabilitation patient outcomes.

PMID- 25816192
TI  - Letter to the Editors: It's Time to Start Focusing on Service Quality in
      Healthcare.

PMID- 25816194
TI  - Monothiolation and Reduction of Graphene Oxide via One-Pot Synthesis: Hybrid
      Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction.
AB  - The functionalization of graphene provides diverse possibilities to improve the
      handling of graphene and enable further chemical transformation on graphene.
      Graphene functionalized with mainly heteroatom-based functional groups to enhance
      its chemical and physical properties is intensively pursued but often resulted in
      grafting of the heteroatoms as various functional groups. Here, we show that
      graphene oxide can be functionalized with predominantly a single type of sulfur
      moiety and reduced simultaneously to form monothiol-functionalized graphene. The
      thiol-functionalized graphene shows a high electrical conductivity and
      heterogeneous electron transfer rate. Graphene is also embedded with a trace
      amount of manganese impurities originating from a prior graphite oxidation
      process, which facilitates the thiol-functionalized graphene to function as a
      hybrid electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reactions in alkaline medium with an
      onset potential lower than for Pt/C. Further characterizations of the graphene
      are performed with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy
      with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared
      spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, Raman spectroscopy, and electrochemical
      impedance spectroscopy. This material contributes to the class of hybrids that
      are highly active electrocatalysts. 

PMID- 25816195
TI  - Barnidipine real-life tolerability in arterial hypertension: results from the
      BASIC-HT study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Blood pressure (BP) is generally poorly controlled in hypertensive
      patients. One cause is poor adherence to drugs, which can be improved by
      treatments combining good efficacy and tolerability. Barnidipine is a strong
      lipophilic calcium channel blocker (CCB) with efficacy similar to other
      dihydropyridines. OBJECTIVE: BASIC HT is an observational study in a large
      population of patients with essential hypertension to evaluate the tolerability
      of barnidipine in a real-life setting. METHODS: 20479 patients were enrolled in
      the study. Tolerability and efficacy was assessed at 2 visits during a 3-month
      period. 20275 patients were included in the analysis. RESULTS: Adverse events
      were reported by 10.6% of the patients, leading to treatment discontinuation in
      3%. Events were those expected with CCBs. The drop-out rate was 8%. Mean systolic
      and diastolic pressure decreased from 159.6 to 138.2 and from 92.5 to 81.7 mmHg.
      CONCLUSION: The decrease in BP, is probably due to stimulation of good adherence
      by barnidipine.

PMID- 25816196
TI  - Easy Access to Metallic Copper Nanoparticles with High Activity and Stability for
      CO Oxidation.
AB  - Copper catalysts are very promising, affordable alternatives for noble metals in
      CO oxidation; however, the nature of the active species remains unclear and
      differs throughout previous reports. Here, we report the preparation of 8 nm
      copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs), with high metallic content, directly deposited
      onto the surface of silica nanopowders by magnetron sputtering deposition. The as
      prepared Cu/SiO2 contains 85% Cu0 and 15% Cu2+ and was enriched in the Cu0 phase
      by H2 soft pretreatment (96% Cu0 and 4% Cu2+) or further oxidized after treatment
      with O2 (33% Cu0 and 67% Cu2+). These catalysts were studied in the catalytic
      oxidation of CO under dry and humid conditions. Higher activity was observed for
      the sample previously reduced with H2, suggesting that the presence of Cu-metal
      species enhances CO oxidation performance. Inversely, a poorer performance was
      observed for the sample previously oxidized with O2. The presence of water vapor
      caused only a small increase in the temperature require for the reaction to reach
      100% conversion. Under dry conditions, the Cu NP catalyst was able to maintain
      full conversion for up to 45 h at 350  degrees C, but it deactivated with time on
      stream in the presence of water vapor.

PMID- 25816197
TI  - A multicenter, non-comparative study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of fixed
      dose olmesartan/amlodipine in Korean patients with hypertension who are naive or
      non-responders to anti-hypertensive monotherapy (ACE-HY study).
AB  - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a fixed-dose
      combination (FDC) of olmesartan and amlodipine in Korean hypertensive patients
      who were naive to or uncontrolled by amlodipine or losartan monotherapy. This was
      a prospective, open-label, multi-center, non-comparative study with a planned
      treatment period of 12 weeks. The primary outcome was changed in seated diastolic
      blood pressure (SeDBP) from baseline to week 12. Secondary outcomes were changed
      in seated systolic blood pressure (SeSBP), the proportion of patients achieving
      target blood pressure (BP), and 24-h ambulatory BP. Safety and tolerability were
      also evaluated. A total of 376 patients were enrolled from 20 centers in Korea.
      The age of the patients was 52.4 +/- 11.7 years, and 224 (59.6%) were male. Full
      analysis set included 110 naive (group 1), 132 previously amlodipine-treated
      (group 2) and 134 previously losartan-treated (group 3) patients. The SeDBP
      decreased at 12 weeks in all three groups: by 23.1 +/- 7.8 mm Hg (103.3 +/- 3.0
      to 80.2 +/- 8.1 mm Hg) in group 1, 14.3 +/- 8.2 mm Hg (94.6 +/- 5.1 to 80.3 +/-
      8.6 mm Hg) in group 2, and 15.7 +/- 6.8 mm Hg (94.6 +/- 4.8 to 78.9 +/- 7.0 mm
      Hg) in group 3 (all p < 0.001). Furthermore, the SeSBP and 24-h ambulatory BP
      decreased significantly in all three groups, and > 80% of patients achieved their
      target BP. Overall, the olmesartan/amlodipine FDC was well tolerated, and there
      were no serious adverse events associated with medication. In conclusion, the
      olmesartan/amlodipine FDC showed efficacy and safety in Korean patients with
      hypertension, who had never been treated or were uncontrolled with monotherapy.

PMID- 25816198
TI  - Changes in ovaries and uterus after aglepristone administration in the third week
      of luteal phase of non-pregnant bitches.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The mechanism of aglepristone action in the placentation time in the
      bitch remains unclear. The aim of this study was to describe the mechanism by
      which aglepristone influences ovaries and uterus and to measure the levels of
      steroid sex hormones in non-pregnant bitches. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen
      bitches assigned to a study (n=9) and control (n=5) group were given aglepristone
      and saline solution, respectively, on the 19th and 20th day after LH peak. On the
      26th day after LH peak an ovariohysterectomy was performed. Blood samples were
      screened for estradiol and progesterone concentrations. Ovaries and uterine horns
      and bodies were isolated for histological and morphometrical diagnosis and
      immunohistochemistry analysis of alpha-estrogen and progesterone receptor
      expression. RESULTS: A decrease of progesterone (p<0.01) and no differences in
      total estrogen level in the study group were observed. There were no significant
      differences either in the histomorphometry or alpha-estrogen and progesterone
      receptors expression in ovaries. Increase in expression of progesterone receptors
      in endometrium without surface epithelium of horns (p<0.05), endometrial surface
      epithelium (p<0.05), myometrium of uterine body (p<0.01) and estrogen receptors
      in endometrium without surface epithelium of horns (p<0.05) was observed.
      Elevated estrogen receptors probably increased sensitivity of tissues to
      estrogens in the bloodstream and led to notable inflammation, haemorrhages, and
      hyperplasia in endometrium with mononuclear immune cell infiltration. The
      myometrium of horns and endometrium of uterine body of study bitches were
      significantly thicker than in the control group (p<0.05 and p<0.01). Furthermore
      myometrium of uterine body was thicker than myometrium of horns (p<0.001) and
      expression of progesterone receptors was higher in uterine body (p<0.01). No
      differences were observed between endometrium of horns and body within groups.
      CONCLUSION: To the knowledge of the authors this is the first study, which
      describes the inflammatory effect developing in uterus in response to
      aglepristone administration, and attempts to elucidate its mechanisms.

PMID- 25816200
TI  - The influence of ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) on the transformation
      and solubility of metallic palladium and palladium(II) oxide in the environment.
AB  - The environmental occurrence of elevated concentrations of platinum (Pt),
      palladium (Pd) and rhodium (Rh) from automotive catalytic converters has been
      well-documented. Limited information exists regarding their chemical behavior
      post-emission, however, especially in the presence of commonly occurring
      complexing agents. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of
      ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) on the possible environmental
      transformation and solubility of Pd by conducting batch experiments using
      metallic palladium (Pd black) and palladium(ii) oxide (PdO). Changes in the
      particle surface chemistry of treated samples were analyzed using X-ray
      Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Transition Electron Microscopy/Energy
      Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (TEM/EDX) techniques. Metallic palladium was
      partially transformed into PdOx (x < 1), while PdO remained largely unaffected.
      The pH of EDTA solutions was observed to modulate Pd solubility, with Pd black
      demonstrating a higher solubility compared to PdO. Solubility was also found to
      increase with a corresponding increase in the strength of EDTA solution
      concentrations, as well as with the length of extraction time. The overall
      solubility of Pd remained relatively low for most samples (<1 wt%). A dissolution
      rate of 2.01 +/- 0.17 nmol m(-2) h(-1) was calculated for Pd black in 0.1 M EDTA
      (pH 7). In contrast to previously held assumptions about the environmental
      immobility of Pd, small amounts of this element emitted in metallic form are
      likely to be soluble in the presence of complexing agents such as EDTA. 

PMID- 25816199
TI  - The gene YALI0E20207g from Yarrowia lipolytica encodes an N-acetylglucosamine
      kinase implicated in the regulated expression of the genes from the N
      acetylglucosamine assimilatory pathway.
AB  - The non-conventional yeast Yarrowia lipolytica possesses an ORF, YALI0E20207g,
      which encodes a protein with an amino acid sequence similar to hexokinases from
      different organisms. We have cloned that gene and determined several enzymatic
      properties of its encoded protein showing that it is an N-acetylglucosamine
      (NAGA) kinase. This conclusion was supported by the lack of growth in NAGA of a
      strain carrying a YALI0E20207g deletion. We named this gene YlNAG5. Expression of
      YlNAG5 as well as that of the genes encoding the enzymes of the NAGA catabolic
      pathway-identified by a BLAST search-was induced by this sugar. Deletion of
      YlNAG5 rendered that expression independent of the presence of NAGA in the medium
      and reintroduction of the gene restored the inducibility, indicating that YlNag5
      participates in the transcriptional regulation of the NAGA assimilatory pathway
      genes. Expression of YlNAG5 was increased during sporulation and homozygous
      Ylnag5/Ylnag5 diploid strains sporulated very poorly as compared with a wild type
      isogenic control strain pointing to a participation of the protein in the
      process. Overexpression of YlNAG5 allowed growth in glucose of an Ylhxk1glk1
      double mutant and produced, in a wild type background, aberrant morphologies in
      different media. Expression of the gene in a Saccharomyces cerevisiae hxk1 hxk2
      glk1 triple mutant restored ability to grow in glucose.

PMID- 25816201
TI  - High strain-rate response of injectable PAA hydrogel.
AB  - Hydrogel materials have been widely considered as potential soft tissue
      replacements because of their high permeability, hydrophilicity, and
      biocompatibility, as well as their low coefficient of friction. Injectable
      (thermo-responsive) hydrogels can provide support and cushioning at irregularly
      shaped disease sites, and are thus suitable for use in treating osteoarthritis or
      degenerative disc disease. However, while some injectable hydrogels have been
      proven to sustain human body weight during daily activities, their mechanical
      properties under harsh dynamic conditions have not been well documented. A
      specified injectable polyacrylic acid (PAA) hydrogel was prepared for this study.
      To simulate sudden impacts or unexpected shocks to the PAA hydrogel, the split
      Hopkinson pressure bar technique was utilized. The dynamic responses of various
      hydrogels at confined high strain rates (100-2590 s(-1)) were presented. Hydrogel
      specimens with 3.37, 6.75, and 13.5% acrylic acid (AAc) concentrations were
      tested in the following three different material conditions: raw, phosphate
      buffered saline (PBS) swollen, and PBS swollen with elevated temperature (37 
      degrees C). The dynamic bulk moduli of the hydrogels varied from 1.55 to 47.8 MPa
      depending on the given hydrogel's AAc concentration and swollen condition. 

PMID- 25816202
TI  - Characterization of dedifferentiating human mature adipocytes from the visceral
      and subcutaneous fat compartments: fibroblast-activation protein alpha and
      dipeptidyl peptidase 4 as major components of matrix remodeling.
AB  - Mature adipocytes can reverse their phenotype to become fibroblast-like cells.
      This is achieved by ceiling culture and the resulting cells, called
      dedifferentiated fat (DFAT) cells, are multipotent. Beyond the potential value of
      these cells for regenerative medicine, the dedifferentiation process itself
      raises many questions about cellular plasticity and the pathways implicated in
      cell behavior. This work has been performed with the objective of obtaining new
      information on adipocyte dedifferentiation, especially pertaining to new targets
      that may be involved in cellular fate changes. To do so, omental and subcutaneous
      mature adipocytes sampled from severely obese subjects have been dedifferentiated
      by ceiling culture. An experimental design with various time points along the
      dedifferentiation process has been utilized to better understand this process.
      Cell size, gene and protein expression as well as cytokine secretion were
      investigated. Il-6, IL-8, SerpinE1 and VEGF secretion were increased during
      dedifferentiation, whereas MIF-1 secretion was transiently increased. A marked
      decrease in expression of mature adipocyte transcripts (PPARgamma2, C/EBPalpha,
      LPL and Adiponectin) was detected early in the process. In addition, some matrix
      remodeling transcripts (FAP, DPP4, MMP1 and TGFbeta1) were rapidly and strongly
      up-regulated. FAP and DPP4 proteins were simultaneously induced in
      dedifferentiating mature adipocytes supporting a potential role for these enzymes
      in adipose tissue remodeling and cell plasticity. 

PMID- 25816204
TI  - Transcranial direct current stimulation improves ipsilateral selective muscle
      activation in a frequency dependent manner.
AB  - Failure to suppress antagonist muscles can lead to movement dysfunction, such as
      the abnormal muscle synergies often seen in the upper limb after stroke. A
      neurophysiological surrogate of upper limb synergies, the selectivity ratio (SR),
      can be determined from the ratio of biceps brachii (BB) motor evoked potentials
      to transcranial magnetic stimulation prior to forearm pronation versus elbow
      flexion. Surprisingly, cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (c-TDCS)
      over ipsilateral primary motor cortex (M1) reduces (i.e. improves) the SR in
      healthy adults, and chronic stroke patients. The ability to suppress antagonist
      muscles may be exacerbated at high movement rates. The aim of the present study
      was to investigate whether the selective muscle activation of the biceps brachii
      (BB) is dependent on altering frequency demands, and whether the c-tDCS
      improvement of SR is dependent on task frequency. Seventeen healthy participants
      performed repetitive isometric elbow flexion and forearm pronation at three
      rates, before and after c-tDCS or sham delivered to ipsilateral left M1.
      Ipsilateral c-tDCS improved the SR in a frequency dependent manner by selectively
      suppressing BB antagonist excitability. Our findings confirm that c-tDCS is an
      effective tool for improving selective muscle activation, and provide novel
      evidence for its efficacy at rates of movement where it is most likely to benefit
      task performance.

PMID- 25816205
TI  - Can direct conversion of used nitrogen to new feed and protein help feed the
      world?
AB  - The increase in the world population, vulnerability of conventional crop
      production to climate change, and population shifts to megacities justify a re
      examination of current methods of converting reactive nitrogen to dinitrogen gas
      in sewage and waste treatment plants. Indeed, by up-grading treatment plants to
      factories in which the incoming materials are first deconstructed to units such
      as ammonia, carbon dioxide and clean minerals, one can implement a highly
      intensive and efficient microbial resynthesis process in which the used nitrogen
      is harvested as microbial protein (at efficiencies close to 100%). This can be
      used for animal feed and food purposes. The technology for recovery of reactive
      nitrogen as microbial protein is available but a change of mindset needs to be
      achieved to make such recovery acceptable. 

PMID- 25816203
TI  - Transcriptomic profiling of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis reveals reprogramming of
      the Crp regulon by temperature and uncovers Crp as a master regulator of small
      RNAs.
AB  - One hallmark of pathogenic yersiniae is their ability to rapidly adjust their
      life-style and pathogenesis upon host entry. In order to capture the range,
      magnitude and complexity of the underlying gene control mechanisms we used
      comparative RNA-seq-based transcriptomic profiling of the enteric pathogen Y.
      pseudotuberculosis under environmental and infection-relevant conditions. We
      identified 1151 individual transcription start sites, multiple riboswitch-like
      RNA elements, and a global set of antisense RNAs and previously unrecognized
      trans-acting RNAs. Taking advantage of these data, we revealed a temperature
      induced and growth phase-dependent reprogramming of a large set of
      catabolic/energy production genes and uncovered the existence of a thermo
      regulated 'acetate switch', which appear to prime the bacteria for growth in the
      digestive tract. To elucidate the regulatory architecture linking nutritional
      status to virulence we also refined the CRP regulon. We identified a massive
      remodelling of the CRP-controlled network in response to temperature and
      discovered CRP as a transcriptional master regulator of numerous conserved and
      newly identified non-coding RNAs which participate in this process. This finding
      highlights a novel level of complexity of the regulatory network in which the
      concerted action of transcriptional regulators and multiple non-coding RNAs under
      control of CRP adjusts the control of Yersinia fitness and virulence to the
      requirements of their environmental and virulent life-styles. 

PMID- 25816207
TI  - Antiaromatic characteristic analysis of 1,4-diazapentalene derivatives: a
      theoretical study.
AB  - 1,4-Diazapentalene heteroacenes are potential n-type semiconductors that could be
      used as a new type of material for organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), but
      their synthesis is still challenging due to their antiaromaticity. The study on
      their structure-stability relationship should provide useful guidance to the
      design of stable diazapentalenes. We examined the stability of several types of
      heteroacenes bearing the 1,4-diazapentalene core using NICS(1)zz calculations.
      The influence of the fusion pattern, the introduction of substituents, and the
      incorporation of other heterocycles on the antiaromaticity of the central 1,4
      diazapentalene core was systematically studied. It was found that the linear
      fusion of aromatic rings to the antiaromatic core increases the stability of the
      heteroacene. The fusion of electron-poor heterocyclic rings also enhances the
      stability effectively, whereas the fusion of electron-rich heterocyclic rings
      destabilizes the system. In addition, the combination of the linear fusion
      pattern or introduction of electron-poor heterocyclic rings to the antiaromatic
      core reduces the reorganization energy for electron transport, suggesting a way
      to achieve better n-type semiconductors. 

PMID- 25816208
TI  - Apoptin-modified human mesenchymal stem cells inhibit growth of lung carcinoma in
      nude mice.
AB  - Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent a novel carrier for gene therapy
      and apoptin is a potential tumor-selective apoptosis-inducing protein. In the
      present study, the anti-tumoral effect of MSCs modified with apoptin against lung
      carcinoma was evaluated. Apoptin protein was expressed in a prokaryotic
      expression system and purified by affinity chromatography. Subsequently, anti
      apoptin antibody was prepared by immunizing BALB/c mice with purified apoptin
      protein. Human MSCs were isolated, amplified and transduced with lentiviral
      vectors encoding full-length apoptin, in which the secretory signal and protein
      transduction sequence were added into the amino terminus to assist apoptin in
      entering into target cells. The differentiation and apoptin expression of apoptin
      modified MSCs were confirmed. Subsequently, the anti-tumor effect of apoptin
      modified MSCs was measured in vitro and in vivo. Following modification with
      apoptin, MSCs retained their differentiation capacity, and successfully
      synthesized and secreted apoptin, which entered target cells and selectively
      induced lung cancer cell apoptosis through activating caspase-3. The percentage
      of tumor cells with activated caspase-3 in the apoptin-modified MSCs group was
      markedly higher than that in the MSCs group (16.5 +/- 2.9% at 24 h and 27.3 +/-
      2.0% at 48 h vs. 3.4 +/- 1.1% at 24 h and 2.2 +/- 0.6% at 48 h). When injected
      into nude mice, apoptin-modified MSCs inhibited the growth of lung carcinoma
      compared with that in the control groups (0.14 +/- 0.02 g vs. 0.21 +/- 0.04 g vs.
      0.31 +/- 0.05 g, P < 0.05). The results of the present study provided preclinical
      support of apoptin-based cancer therapy with MSCs as cellular vehicles.

PMID- 25816209
TI  - An in silico insight into novel therapeutic interaction of LTNF peptide-LT10 and
      design of structure based peptidomimetics for putative anti-diabetic activity.
AB  - Lethal Toxin Neutralizing Factor (LTNF) obtained from Opossum serum (Didephis
      virginiana) is known to exhibit toxin-neutralizing activity for envenomation
      caused by animals, plants and bacteria. Small synthetic peptide- LT10 (10mer)
      derived from N-terminal fraction of LTNF exhibit similar anti-lethal and anti
      allergic property. In our in silico study, we identified Insulin Degrading Enzyme
      (IDE) as a potential target of LT10 peptide followed by molecular docking and
      molecular dynamic (MD) simulation studies which revealed relatively stable
      interaction of LT10 peptide with IDE. Moreover, their detailed interaction
      analyses dictate IDE-inhibitory interactions of LT10 peptide. This prediction of
      LT10 peptide as a novel putative IDE-inhibitor suggests its possible role in anti
      diabetic treatment since IDE- inhibitors are known to assist treatment of
      Diabetes mellitus by enhancing insulin signalling. Furthermore, series of
      structure based peptidomimetics were designed from LT10 peptide and screened for
      their inhibitory interactions which ultimately led to a small set of
      peptidomimetic inhibitors of IDE. These peptidomimetic thus might provide a new
      class of IDE-inhibitors, those derived from LT10 peptide.

PMID- 25816211
TI  - Reappearance of chikungunya, formerly called dengue, in the Americas.
AB  - After an absence of ~200 years, chikungunya returned to the American tropics in
      2013. The virus is maintained in a complex African zoonotic cycle but escapes
      into an urban cycle at 40- to 50-year intervals, causing global pandemics. In
      1823, classical chikungunya, a viral exanthem in humans, occurred on Zanzibar,
      and in 1827, it arrived in the Caribbean and spread to North and South America.
      In Zanzibar, the disease was known as kidenga pepo, Swahili for a sudden cramp
      like seizure caused by an evil spirit; in Cuba, it was known as dengue, a Spanish
      homonym of denga. During the eighteenth century, dengue (present-day chikungunya)
      was distinguished from breakbone fever (present-day dengue), another febrile
      exanthem. In the twentieth century, experiments resulted in the recovery and
      naming of present-day dengue viruses. In 1952, chikungunya virus was recovered
      during an outbreak in Tanzania, but by then, the virus had lost its original name
      to present-day dengue viruses. 

PMID- 25816210
TI  - Gallic acid induces necroptosis via TNF-alpha signaling pathway in activated
      hepatic stellate cells.
AB  - Gallic acid (3, 4, 5-trihydroxybenzoic acid, GA), a natural phenolic acid widely
      found in gallnuts, tea leaves and various fruits, possesses several bioactivities
      against inflammation, oxidation, and carcinogenicity. The beneficial effect of GA
      on the reduction of animal hepatofibrosis has been indicated due to its
      antioxidative property. However, the cytotoxicity of GA autoxidation causing cell
      death has also been reported. Herein, we postulated that GA might target
      activated hepatic stellate cells (aHSCs), the cell type responsible for
      hepatofibrosis, to mitigate the process of fibrosis. The molecular cytotoxic
      mechanisms that GA exerted on aHSCs were then analyzed. The results indicated
      that GA elicited aHSC programmed cell death through TNF-alpha-mediated
      necroptosis. GA induced significant oxidative stress through the suppression of
      catalase activity and the depletion of glutathione (GSH). Elevated oxidative
      stress triggered the production of TNF-alpha facilitating the undergoing of
      necroptosis through the up-regulation of key necroptotic regulatory proteins
      TRADD and receptor-interacting protein 3 (RIP3), and the inactivation of caspase
      8. Calmodulin and calpain-1 activation were engaged, which promoted subsequent
      lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP). The TNF-alpha antagonist (SPD-304) and
      the RIP1 inhibitor (necrostatin-1, Nec-1) confirmed GA-induced TNFR1-mediated
      necroptosis. The inhibition of RIP1 by Nec-1 diverted the cell death from
      necroptosis to apoptosis, as the activation of caspase 3 and the increase of
      cytochrome c. Collectively, this is the first report indicating that GA induces
      TNF signaling-triggered necroptosis in aHSCs, which may offer an alternative
      strategy for the amelioration of liver fibrosis. 

PMID- 25816212
TI  - Analysis of the technology acceptance model in examining hospital nurses'
      behavioral intentions toward the use of bar code medication administration.
AB  - Serious medication errors continue to exist in hospitals, even though there is
      technology that could potentially eliminate them such as bar code medication
      administration. Little is known about the degree to which the culture of patient
      safety is associated with behavioral intention to use bar code medication
      administration. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model, this study evaluated
      the relationships among patient safety culture and perceived usefulness and
      perceived ease of use, and behavioral intention to use bar code medication
      administration technology among nurses in hospitals. Cross-sectional surveys with
      a convenience sample of 163 nurses using bar code medication administration were
      conducted. Feedback and communication about errors had a positive impact in
      predicting perceived usefulness (beta=.26, P<.01) and perceived ease of use
      (beta=.22, P<.05). In a multiple regression model predicting for behavioral
      intention, age had a negative impact (beta=-.17, P<.05); however, teamwork within
      hospital units (beta=.20, P<.05) and perceived usefulness (beta=.35, P<.01) both
      had a positive impact on behavioral intention. The overall bar code medication
      administration behavioral intention model explained 24% (P<.001) of the variance.
      Identified factors influencing bar code medication administration behavioral
      intention can help inform hospitals to develop tailored interventions for RNs to
      reduce medication administration errors and increase patient safety by using this
      technology.

PMID- 25816213
TI  - Knockdown of ubiquitin protein ligase E3A affects proliferation and invasion, and
      induces apoptosis of breast cancer cells through regulation of annexin A2.
AB  - The present study used RNA interference (RNAi) to study how the expression of
      annexin A2 was affected by ubiquitin protein ligase E3A (UBE3A). In addition, the
      proliferation, apoptosis and invasiveness of BT-549 breast cancer cells was
      studied following knockdown of UBE3A. Three pairs of small interfering RNA
      (siRNA) fragments targeting UBE3A were designed and transfected into the BT-549
      cells. The effects of silencing UBE3A were detected by reverse transcription
      polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, and the same methods were used to
      detect the expression levels of annexin A2. Cell proliferation was determined
      using the Cell Counting kit-8, and flow cytometry and a Transwell chamber assay
      were used to assess the rate of cell apoptosis and invasion, respectively.
      Following transfection with the three siRNAs targeting UBE3A for 72 h, the mRNA
      expression levels of UBE3A were downregulated, as compared with those in the
      untreated groups, and siRNA1 was the shown to be the most effective siRNA for
      silencing UBE3A expression. The protein expression levels were concordant with
      the mRNA expression levels of UBE3A. In addition, the mRNA and protein expression
      levels of annexin A2 were downregulated. Cellular proliferation and invasion of
      the siRNA1 group was inhibited as compared with those in the untreated groups,
      and apoptosis of UBE3A-siRNA1 cells was increased as compared with that in the
      untreated groups. The results of the present study indicated that UBE3A may
      regulate the expression of annexin A2, resulting in promotion of proliferation
      and invasion and suppression of apoptosis in BT-549 cells.

PMID- 25816214
TI  - Computed Tomography Angiography With High Flow Rates: An In Vitro and In Vivo
      Feasibility Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to test high-flow application of contrast
      media (CM) using novel high-flow needles and to assess injection- and flow
      related parameters in a circulation phantom and in an in vivo population.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A circulation phantom simulating physiological parameters
      was used. Preheated CM (300 mg/mL) was injected at flow rates varying between 5
      and 15 mL/s through a novel 18-gauge high-flow intravenous injection needle. In
      addition, feasibility of these high-flow needles was tested with administration
      of flow rates of 9 mL/s in 20 patients referred for pre-transcatheter aortic
      valve implantation assessment. Injection parameters (eg, peak pressures, peak
      flow rates) in both phantom and in vivo setup were continuously monitored by a
      data acquisition program. Attenuation at predefined levels of the aorta (eg,
      aortic root to common femoral arteries) was measured in all patients to determine
      clinical applicability. RESULTS: In the phantom setup, injection rates up to 15
      mL/s were feasible. An enhancement plateau was reached at 11 mL/s (464 [20] HU).
      In patients, no pressure- or flow-related complications (eg, extravasation) were
      recorded (mean [SD] peak pressure, 154 [8] psi; mean [SD] peak flow rate, 9.2
      [0.1 mL/s; range, 9.1-9.6]). Diagnostic attenuation values were reached at all
      predefined levels of the aorta (330.8 [113.1] HU to 622.9 [81.5] HU).
      CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that injections with 9 mL/s using high-flow
      injection needles are safe. The pressure limit of 325 psi was not reached, and
      the injections resulted in diagnostic attenuation values. Using this dedicated
      needle, high flow rates should not be considered a drawback for CM application in
      routine CT angiography examinations.

PMID- 25816215
TI  - Feasibility of Selective Catheter-Directed Coronary Computed Tomography
      Angiography Using Ultralow-Dose Intracoronary Contrast Injection in a Swine
      Model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Selective catheter-directed intracoronary contrast injected coronary
      computed tomography angiography (selective CCTA) has recently been introduced for
      on-site evaluation of coronary artery disease during coronary artery
      catheterization. In this study, we aimed to develop a feasible protocol for
      selective CCTA using ultralow-dose contrast medium as compared with conventional
      intravenous CCTA (IV CCTA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A novel combined system
      incorporating coronary angiography and a 320-detector row computed tomographic
      scanner was used to study 4 swine (35-40 kg) under animal institutional review
      board approval. A selective CCTA scan was simultaneously performed with an
      injection of 13.13 mgI/mL of modulated contrast medium at multiple different
      injection rates including 2, 3, and 4 mL/s and different total injection volumes
      of either 20 or 30 mL. Intravenous CCTA was performed with 60 mL of contrast
      medium, followed by 30 mL of saline chaser at 5 mL/s. Coronary mean and peak
      intensity, transluminal attenuation gradient, as well as 3-dimensional maximum
      intensity projections were obtained. RESULTS: Attenuation values (mean +/-
      standard error, in Hounsfield units [HUs]) of selective CCTA for the left
      anterior descending (LAD) and right coronary artery (RCA) using the various
      combinations of injection rates and total injection volumes were as follows: 20
      mL at 2 mL/s (LAD, 270.3 +/- 20.4 HU; RCA, 322.6 +/- 7.4 HU), 20 mL at 3 mL/s
      (LAD, 262.9 +/- 20.4 HU; RCA, 264.7 +/- 7.4 HU), 30 mL at 3 mL/s (LAD, 276.8 +/-
      20.4 HU; RCA, 274.0 +/- 7.4 HU), 20 mL at 4 mL/s (LAD, 268.0 +/- 20.4 HU; RCA,
      277.7 +/- 7.4 HU), and 30 mL at 4 mL/s (LAD, 251.3 +/- 20.4 HU; RCA, 334.7 +/-
      7.4 HU). The representative protocol of the selective CCTA studies produced
      results within the optimal enhancement range (approximately 250-350 HU) for all
      segments, and comparison of transluminal attenuation gradient data with selective
      CCTA and IV CCTA studies demonstrated that the former method was more homogenous
      (-1.5245 and -1.7558 for LAD as well as 0.0459 and 0.0799 for RCA, respectively).
      Notably, the volume of iodine contrast medium used for selective CCTA was
      reported to be 1.09% (0.2 g) of IV CCTA (24 g). CONCLUSIONS: The current findings
      demonstrate the feasibility of selective CCTA using ultralow-dose intracoronary
      contrast injection. This technique may provide additional means of coronary
      evaluation in patients who may require strategic planning before a procedure
      using a combined modality system.

PMID- 25816216
TI  - Aerosol transmission of infectious disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The concept of aerosol transmission is developed to resolve
      limitations in conventional definitions of airborne and droplet transmission.
      METHODS: The method was literature review. RESULTS: An infectious aerosol is a
      collection of pathogen-laden particles in air. Aerosol particles may deposit onto
      or be inhaled by a susceptible person. Aerosol transmission is biologically
      plausible when infectious aerosols are generated by or from an infectious person,
      the pathogen remains viable in the environment for some period of time, and the
      target tissues in which the pathogen initiates infection are accessible to the
      aerosol. Biological plausibility of aerosol transmission is evaluated for Severe
      Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus and norovirus and discussed for
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis, influenza, and Ebola virus. CONCLUSIONS: Aerosol
      transmission reflects a modern understanding of aerosol science and allows
      physically appropriate explanation and intervention selection for infectious
      diseases.

PMID- 25816217
TI  - PET/CT characterization of non-small-cell lung cancer heterogeneity.

PMID- 25816219
TI  - Quantitative Guidance for Stove Usage and Performance to Achieve Health and
      Environmental Targets.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Displacing the use of polluting and inefficient cookstoves in
      developing countries is necessary to achieve the potential health and
      environmental benefits sought through clean cooking solutions. Yet little
      quantitative context has been provided on how much displacement of traditional
      technologies is needed to achieve targets for household air pollutant
      concentrations or fuel savings. OBJECTIVES: This paper provides instructive
      guidance on the usage of cooking technologies required to achieve health and
      environmental improvements. METHODS: We evaluated different scenarios of
      displacement of traditional stoves with use of higher performing technologies.
      The air quality and fuel consumption impacts were estimated for these scenarios
      using a single-zone box model of indoor air quality and ratios of thermal
      efficiency. RESULTS: Stove performance and usage should be considered together,
      as lower performing stoves can result in similar or greater benefits than a
      higher performing stove if the lower performing stove has considerably higher
      displacement of the baseline stove. Based on the indoor air quality model, there
      are multiple performance-usage scenarios for achieving modest indoor air quality
      improvements. To meet World Health Organization guidance levels, however, three
      stone fire and basic charcoal stove usage must be nearly eliminated to achieve
      the particulate matter target (< 1-3 hr/week), and substantially limited to meet
      the carbon monoxide guideline (< 7-9 hr/week). CONCLUSIONS: Moderate health gains
      may be achieved with various performance-usage scenarios. The greatest benefits
      are estimated to be achieved by near-complete displacement of traditional stoves
      with clean technologies, emphasizing the need to shift in the long term to near
      exclusive use of clean fuels and stoves. The performance-usage scenarios are also
      provided as a tool to guide technology selection and prioritize behavior change
      opportunities to maximize impact.

PMID- 25816220
TI  - Molecular variability and genetic structure of Chrysodeixis includens
      (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), an important soybean defoliator in Brazil.
AB  - This study provides the first genetic characterization of the soybean looper,
      Chrysodeixis includens (Walker, 1857), an important defoliating pest species of
      soybean crops in Brazil. Population genetic variability and the genetic structure
      of C. includens populations were evaluated by using ISSR markers with samples
      from the major soybean producing regions in Brazil in the growing seasons
      2011/2012. Seven different primers were applied for population characterization
      of the molecular variability and genetic structure of 8 soybean looper
      populations from 8 states of Brazil. The seven ISSR loci generated 247 bands in
      246 individuals of C. includens sampled. The expected heterozygosity (HE) in the
      populations varied between 0.093 and 0.106, while the overall HE was 0.099,
      indicating low genetic diversity. The analysis of molecular variance indicated
      that 98% of the variability was expressed among individuals within populations
      (FST = 0.021, p = 0.001). The low level of polymorphism over all populations, the
      high levels of gene flow, and the low genetic structure are indicatives of the
      exchange of genetic information between the different sampled regions. Population
      structuring suggests the presence of two major groups which do not correlate with
      their geographic sampling location in Brazil. These results may indicate recent
      recolonization of C. includens in Brazil or migration patterns following source
      sink dynamics. Furthermore, the presence of two groups within C. includens
      suggests that a study on development of resistance or any other genetic-based
      trait needs to be evaluated on both groups, and pest management in soybean fields
      should be aware that differences may come to the control strategies they use.

PMID- 25816221
TI  - Comprehensive comparison of three different immunosuppressive regimens for liver
      transplant patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: steroid-free
      immunosuppression, induction immunosuppression and standard immunosuppression.
AB  - The different choices of immunosuppression (IS) regimens influenced the outcomes
      of liver transplantation. Steroid was applied as a standard IS to prevent and
      treat rejections. However, steroid-related complications were increasingly
      prominent. This study compared the efficacy and safety of standard IS regimens
      with the efficacy and safety of steroid-free IS regimen and induction IS regimen
      in Chinese liver transplantation recipients for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A
      total of 329 patients who underwent liver transplantation from January 2008 to
      December 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. Three different groups of patients
      received standard triple-drug IS regimen of steroid, tacrolimus (TAC) and
      mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) (triple-drug regimen group; n=57), induction
      contained IS regimen of basiliximab, steroid, TAC and MMF (BS group; n=241), and
      induction-contained and steroid-free regimen of basiliximab, TAC and MMF (SF
      group; n=31), respectively. There were no significant differences in terms of
      patient, tumor-free and graft survival rates. The acute rejection rate and
      rejection time were equivalent in different groups. But compared with BS group,
      higher incidences of biliary complications (11.52% vs. 30.77%, p=0.013) and graft
      dysfunction (0.48% vs. 13.64%, p=0.003) were observed in SF group. Furthermore,
      compared with the two groups, incidence of pleural effusion was also higher in SF
      group (15.79%, 11.96% vs. 45.45%, respectively, both p<0.01). And a trend towards
      less proportion of De novo diabetes was revealed in SF group. Although it was
      found that patient, tumor-free and graft survival rates were equivalent among
      three IS regimens, higher incidences of complications were demonstrated in
      steroid-free regimen in patients for HCC. These findings suggested that steroid
      free IS regimen has no clear advantages in comparison with standard IS regimens
      for liver transplant recipients with HCC and the postoperative complications
      should be treated with concentrated attention. 

PMID- 25816222
TI  - CD4 cell count trends after commencement of antiretroviral therapy among HIV
      infected patients in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia: a retrospective cross-sectional
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The rate and extent of CD4 cell recovery varies widely among HIV
      infected patients with different baseline CD4 cell count strata. The objective of
      the study was to assess trends in CD4 cell counts in HIV-infected patients after
      initiation of antiretroviral therapy in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. METHODS: A
      retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted by reviewing medical records of
      HIV patients who received antiretroviral treatment at twenty health centers in
      Tigray region during 2008-2012. Multi-stage cluster sampling technique was
      employed to collect data, and the data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0
      software. RESULTS: The median change from baseline to the most recent CD4 cell
      count was +292 cells/MUl. By 5 years, the overall median (inter-quartile range,
      IQR) CD4 cell count was 444(263-557) cells/MUl while the median (IQR) CD4 cell
      count was 342(246-580) cells/MUl among patients with baseline CD4 cell counts
      <=200 cells/MUl, 500(241-557) cells/MUl among those with baseline CD4 cell counts
      of 201-350 cells/MUl, and 652(537-767) cells/MUl among those with baseline CD4
      cell counts >350 cells/MUl. Higher baseline CD4 cell counts and being male were
      independently associated with the risk of immunological non-response at 12
      months. Furthermore, it was also investigated that these factors were significant
      predictors of subsequent CD4 cell recovery. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with higher
      baseline CD4 cell stratum returned to normal CD4 Cell counts though they had an
      increased risk of immunological non-response at 12 months compared to those with
      the least baseline CD4 cell stratum. The findings suggest that consideration be
      given to initiation of HAART at a CD4 cell count >350 cells/MUl to achieve better
      immune recovery, and to HIV-infected male patients to improve their health
      seeking behavior.

PMID- 25816223
TI  - Kinetically-defined component actions in gene repression.
AB  - Gene repression by transcription factors, and glucocorticoid receptors (GR) in
      particular, is a critical, but poorly understood, physiological response. Among
      the many unresolved questions is the difference between GR regulated induction
      and repression, and whether transcription cofactor action is the same in both.
      Because activity classifications based on changes in gene product level are
      mechanistically uninformative, we present a theory for gene repression in which
      the mechanisms of factor action are defined kinetically and are consistent for
      both gene repression and induction. The theory is generally applicable and
      amenable to predictions if the dose-response curve for gene repression is non
      cooperative with a unit Hill coefficient, which is observed for GR-regulated
      repression of AP1LUC reporter induction by phorbol myristate acetate. The theory
      predicts the mechanism of GR and cofactors, and where they act with respect to
      each other, based on how each cofactor alters the plots of various kinetic
      parameters vs. cofactor. We show that the kinetically-defined mechanism of action
      of each of four factors (reporter gene, p160 coactivator TIF2, and two
      pharmaceuticals [NU6027 and phenanthroline]) is the same in GR-regulated
      repression and induction. What differs is the position of GR action. This insight
      should simplify clinical efforts to differentially modulate factor actions in
      gene induction vs. gene repression. 

PMID- 25816225
TI  - Surface plasmon resonance imaging by holographic enhanced mapping.
AB  - We designed, constructed and tested a holographic surface plasmon resonance
      (HoloSPR) objective-based microscope for simultaneous amplitude-contrast and
      phase-contrast surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi). SPRi is a widely spread
      tool for label-free detection of changes in refractive index and concentration,
      as well as mapping of thin films. Currently, most of the SPR sensors rely on the
      detection of amplitude or phase changes of light. Despite the high sensitivities
      achieved so far, each technique alone has a limited detection range with optimal
      sensitivity. Here we use a high numerical aperture objective that avoids all the
      limitations due to the use of a prism-based configuration, yielding highly
      magnified and distortion-free images. Holographic reconstructions of SPR images
      and real-time kinetic measurements are presented to show the capability of
      HoloSPR to provide a versatile imaging method for high-throughput SPR detection
      complementary to conventional SPR techniques. 

PMID- 25816224
TI  - Early virological and immunological events in asymptomatic Epstein-Barr virus
      infection in African children.
AB  - Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection often occurs in early childhood and is
      asymptomatic. However, if delayed until adolescence, primary infection may
      manifest as acute infectious mononucleosis (AIM), a febrile illness characterised
      by global CD8+ T-cell lymphocytosis, much of it reflecting a huge expansion of
      activated EBV-specific CD8+ T-cells. While the events of AIM have been intensely
      studied, little is known about how these relate to asymptomatic primary
      infection. Here Gambian children (14-18 months old, an age at which many acquire
      the virus) were followed for the ensuing six months, monitoring circulating EBV
      loads, antibody status against virus capsid antigen (VCA) and both total and
      virus-specific CD8+ T-cell numbers. Many children were IgG anti-VCA-positive and,
      though no longer IgM-positive, still retained high virus loads comparable to AIM
      patients and had detectable EBV-specific T-cells, some still expressing
      activation markers. Virus loads and the frequency/activation status of specific T
      cells decreased over time, consistent with resolution of a relatively recent
      primary infection. Six children with similarly high EBV loads were IgM anti-VCA
      positive, indicating very recent infection. In three of these donors with HLA
      types allowing MHC-tetramer analysis, highly activated EBV-specific T-cells were
      detectable in the blood with one individual epitope response reaching 15% of all
      CD8+ T-cells. That response was culled and the cells lost activation markers over
      time, just as seen in AIM. However, unlike AIM, these events occurred without
      marked expansion of total CD8+ numbers. Thus asymptomatic EBV infection in
      children elicits a virus-specific CD8+ T-cell response that can control the
      infection without over-expansion; conversely, in AIM it appears the CD8 over
      expansion, rather than virus load per se, is the cause of disease symptoms. 

PMID- 25816226
TI  - Violacein induces p44/42 mitogen-activated protein kinase-mediated solid tumor
      cell death and inhibits tumor cell migration.
AB  - Microbial secondary metabolites have emerged as alternative novel drugs for the
      treatment of human cancers. Violacein, a purple pigment produced by
      Chromobacterium violaceum, was investigated in the present study for its anti
      tumor properties in tumor cell lines. Clinically applicable concentrations of
      violacein were demonstrated to inhibit the proliferative capacity of tumor cell
      lines according to a crystal violet proliferation assay. The underlying mechanism
      was the promotion of apoptotic cell death, as indicated by poly(ADP ribose)
      polymerase cleavage and p44/42 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling
      determined by western blot analysis. Collectively, this provided mechanistic
      evidence that violacein elicits extracellular-signal regulated kinase-induced
      apoptosis via the intrinsic pathway. The anti-malignant properties of violacein
      in the present study were further demonstrated by its inhibitory effects on brain
      tumor cell migration, specifically glioblastomas, one of the most invasive and
      therapeutically resistant neoplasms in the clinic. Additionally, solid tumors
      examined in the present study displayed differential cellular responses and
      sensitivities to violacein as observed by morphologically induced cellular
      changes that contributed to its anti-migratory properties. In conclusion,
      violacein is a novel natural product with the potential to kill several types of
      human tumor cell lines, as well as prevent disease recurrence by antagonizing
      cellular processes that contribute to metastatic invasion.

PMID- 25816227
TI  - Evaluation of different RGD ligand densities in the development of cell-based
      drug delivery systems.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The inclusion of the tripeptide Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) in otherwise inert
      biomaterials employed for cell encapsulation has been observed to be an effective
      strategy to provide the immobilized cells with a more suitable microenvironment.
      PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to determine the impact of different RGD
      densities on the behavior of baby hamster kidney (BHK) fibroblasts able to
      secrete vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) encapsulated in alginate
      microcapsules. METHODS: Alginate was modified by varying the concentration of RGD
      peptides in the coupling reaction. After obtaining four different types of
      alginate, cells were encapsulated in alginate-poly-L-lysine-alginate (APA)
      microcapsules. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The results obtained after viability, cell
      proliferation and VEGF secretion assays showed that the inclusion of RGD in
      alginate enhances the functionality of immobilized cells, obtaining the highest
      values with the intermediate RGD density. CONCLUSION: These results put in
      evidence that alginate modification influences the behavior of immobilized cells
      but even more that the employed density of the tripeptide is of crucial
      importance, obtaining in some cases even excessive activity of the encapsulated
      cells.

PMID- 25816229
TI  - MAFCO: a compression tool for MAF files.
AB  - In the last decade, the cost of genomic sequencing has been decreasing so much
      that researchers all over the world accumulate huge amounts of data for present
      and future use. These genomic data need to be efficiently stored, because storage
      cost is not decreasing as fast as the cost of sequencing. In order to overcome
      this problem, the most popular general-purpose compression tool, gzip, is usually
      used. However, these tools were not specifically designed to compress this kind
      of data, and often fall short when the intention is to reduce the data size as
      much as possible. There are several compression algorithms available, even for
      genomic data, but very few have been designed to deal with Whole Genome
      Alignments, containing alignments between entire genomes of several species. In
      this paper, we present a lossless compression tool, MAFCO, specifically designed
      to compress MAF (Multiple Alignment Format) files. Compared to gzip, the proposed
      tool attains a compression gain from 34% to 57%, depending on the data set. When
      compared to a recent dedicated method, which is not compatible with some data
      sets, the compression gain of MAFCO is about 9%. Both source-code and binaries
      for several operating systems are freely available for non-commercial use at:
      http://bioinformatics.ua.pt/software/mafco. 

PMID- 25816228
TI  - Genetic recombination between human and animal parasites creates novel strains of
      human pathogen.
AB  - Genetic recombination between pathogens derived from humans and livestock has the
      potential to create novel pathogen strains, highlighted by the influenza pandemic
      H1N1/09, which was derived from a re-assortment of swine, avian and human
      influenza A viruses. Here we investigated whether genetic recombination between
      subspecies of the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, from humans and animals
      can generate new strains of human pathogen, T. b. rhodesiense (Tbr) responsible
      for sleeping sickness (Human African Trypanosomiasis, HAT) in East Africa. The
      trait of human infectivity in Tbr is conferred by a single gene, SRA, which is
      potentially transferable to the animal pathogen Tbb by sexual reproduction. We
      tracked the inheritance of SRA in crosses of Tbr and Tbb set up by co
      transmitting genetically-engineered fluorescent parental trypanosome lines
      through tsetse flies. SRA was readily transferred into new genetic backgrounds by
      sexual reproduction between Tbr and Tbb, thus creating new strains of the human
      pathogen, Tbr. There was no evidence of diminished growth or transmissibility of
      hybrid trypanosomes carrying SRA. Although expression of SRA is critical to
      survival of Tbr in the human host, we show that the gene exists as a single copy
      in a representative collection of Tbr strains. SRA was found on one homologue of
      chromosome IV in the majority of Tbr isolates examined, but some Ugandan Tbr had
      SRA on both homologues. The mobility of SRA by genetic recombination readily
      explains the observed genetic variability of Tbr in East Africa. We conclude that
      new strains of the human pathogen Tbr are being generated continuously by
      recombination with the much larger pool of animal-infective trypanosomes. Such
      novel recombinants present a risk for future outbreaks of HAT. 

PMID- 25816230
TI  - Cultural variation in the use of overimitation by the Aka and Ngandu of the Congo
      Basin.
AB  - Studies in Western cultures have observed that both children and adults tend to
      overimitate, copying causally irrelevant actions in the presence of clear causal
      information. Investigation of this feature in non-Western groups has found little
      difference cross-culturally in the frequency or manner with which individuals
      overimitate. However, each of the non-Western populations studied thus far has a
      history of close interaction with Western cultures, such that they are now far
      removed from life in a hunter-gatherer or other small-scale culture. To
      investigate overimitation in a context of limited Western cultural influences, we
      conducted a study with the Aka hunter-gatherers and neighboring Ngandu
      horticulturalists of the Congo Basin rainforest in the southern Central African
      Republic. Aka children, Ngandu children, and Aka adults were presented with a
      reward retrieval task similar to those performed in previous studies, involving a
      demonstrated sequence of causally relevant and irrelevant actions. Aka children
      were found not to overimitate as expected, instead displaying one of the lowest
      rates of overimitation seen under similar conditions. Aka children copied fewer
      irrelevant actions than Aka adults, used a lower proportion of irrelevant actions
      than Ngandu children and Aka adults, and had less copying fidelity than Aka
      adults. Measures from Ngandu children were intermediate between the two Aka
      groups. Of the participants that succeeded in retrieving the reward, 60% of Aka
      children used emulation rather than imitation, compared to 15% of Ngandu
      children, 11% of Aka adults, and 0% of Western children of similar age. From
      these results, we conclude that cross-cultural variation exists in the use of
      overimitation during childhood. Further study is needed under a more diverse
      representation of cultural and socioeconomic groups in order to investigate the
      cognitive underpinnings of overimitation and its possible influences on social
      learning and the biological and cultural evolution of our species. 

PMID- 25816231
TI  - The influence of primary care quality on hospital admissions for people with
      dementia in England: a regression analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To test the impact of a UK pay-for-performance indicator, the Quality
      and Outcomes Framework (QOF) dementia review, on three types of hospital
      admission for people with dementia: emergency admissions where dementia was the
      primary diagnosis; emergency admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions
      (ACSCs); and elective admissions for cataract, hip replacement, hernia, prostate
      disease, or hearing loss. METHODS: Count data regression analyses of hospital
      admissions from 8,304 English general practices from 2006/7 to 2010/11. We
      identified relevant admissions from national Hospital Episode Statistics and
      aggregated them to practice level. We merged these with practice-level data on
      the QOF dementia review. In the base case, the exposure measure was the reported
      QOF register. As dementia is commonly under-diagnosed, we tested a predicted
      practice register based on consensus estimates. We adjusted for practice
      characteristics including measures of deprivation and uptake of a social benefit
      to purchase care services (Attendance Allowance). RESULTS: In the base case
      analysis, higher QOF achievement had no significant effect on any type of
      hospital admission. However, when the predicted register was used to account for
      under-diagnosis, a one-percentage point improvement in QOF achievement was
      associated with a small reduction in emergency admissions for both dementia (
      0.1%; P=0.011) and ACSCs (-0.1%; P=0.001). In areas of greater deprivation,
      uptake of Attendance Allowance was consistently associated with significantly
      lower emergency admissions. In all analyses, practices with a higher proportion
      of nursing home patients had significantly lower admission rates for elective and
      emergency care. CONCLUSION: In one of three analyses at practice level, the QOF
      review for dementia was associated with a small but significant reduction in
      unplanned hospital admissions. Given the rising prevalence of dementia,
      increasing pressures on acute hospital beds and poor outcomes associated with
      hospital stays for this patient group, this small change may be clinically and
      economically relevant.

PMID- 25816232
TI  - Intrapericardial administration of mesenchymal stem cells in a large animal
      model: a bio-distribution analysis.
AB  - The appropriate administration route for cardiovascular cell therapy is essential
      to ensure the viability, proliferative potential, homing capacity and
      implantation of transferred cells. At the present, the intrapericardial
      administration of pharmacological agents is considered an efficient method for
      the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. However, only a few reports have
      addressed the question whether the intrapericardial delivery of Mesenchymal Stem
      Cells (MSCs) could be an optimal administration route. This work firstly aimed to
      analyze the pericardial fluid as a cell-delivery vehicle. Moreover, the in vivo
      biodistribution pattern of intrapericardially administered MSCs was evaluated in
      a clinically relevant large animal model. Our in vitro results firstly showed
      that, MSCs viability, proliferative behavior and phenotypic profile were
      unaffected by exposure to pericardial fluid. Secondly, in vivo cell tracking by
      magnetic resonance imaging, histological examination and Y-chromosome
      amplification clearly demonstrated the presence of MSCs in pericardium,
      ventricles (left and right) and atrium (left and right) when MSCs were
      administered into the pericardial space. In conclusion, here we demonstrate that
      pericardial fluid is a suitable vehicle for MSCs and intrapericardial route
      provides an optimal retention and implantation of MSCs.

PMID- 25816234
TI  - The differences in health care utilization between Medical Aid and health
      insurance: a longitudinal study using propensity score matching.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVES: Health care utilization has progressively increased, especially
      among Medical Aid beneficiaries in South Korea. The Medical Aid classifies
      beneficiaries into two categories, type 1 and 2, on the basis of being incapable
      (those under 18 or over 65 years of age, or disabled) or capable of working,
      respectively. Medical Aid has a high possibility for health care utilization due
      to high coverage level. In South Korea, the national health insurance (NHI)
      achieved very short time to establish coverage for the entire Korean population.
      However there there remaine a number of problems to be solved. Therefore, the
      objective of this study was to investigate the differences in health care
      utilization between Medical Aid beneficiaries and Health Insurance beneficiaries.
      METHODS & DESIGN: Data were collected from the Korean Welfare Panel Study from
      2008 to 2012 using propensity score matching. Of the 2,316 research subjects, 579
      had Medical Aid and 1,737 had health insurance. We also analyzed three dependent
      variables: days spent in the hospital, number of outpatient visits, and
      hospitalizations per year. Analysis of variance and longitudinal data analysis
      were used. RESULTS: The number of outpatient visits was 1.431 times higher
      (p<0.0001) in Medical Aid beneficiaries, the number of hospitalizations per year
      was 1.604 times higher (p<0.0001) in Medical Aid beneficiaries, and the number of
      days spent in the hospital per year was 1.282 times higher (p<0.268) for Medical
      Aid beneficiaries than in individuals with Health Insurance. Medical Aid patients
      had a 0.874 times lower frequency of having an unmet needs due to economic
      barrier (95% confidence interval: 0.662-1.156). CONCLUSIONS: Health insurance
      coverage has an impact on health care utilization. More health care utilization
      among Medical Aid beneficiaries appears to have a high possibility of a moral
      hazard risk under the Health Insurance program. Therefore, the moral hazard for
      Medical Aid beneficiaries should be avoided.

PMID- 25816233
TI  - Separating recognition processes of declarative memory via anodal tDCS: boosting
      old item recognition by temporal and new item detection by parietal stimulation.
AB  - There is emerging evidence from imaging studies that parietal and temporal
      cortices act together to achieve successful recognition of declarative
      information; nevertheless, the precise role of these regions remains elusive. To
      evaluate the role of these brain areas in declarative memory retrieval, we
      applied bilateral tDCS, with anode over the left and cathode over the right
      parietal or temporal cortices separately, during the recognition phase of a
      verbal learning paradigm using a balanced old-new decision task. In a parallel
      group design, we tested three different groups of healthy adults, matched for
      demographic and neurocognitive status: two groups received bilateral active
      stimulation of either the parietal or the temporal cortex, while a third group
      received sham stimulation. Accuracy, discriminability index (d') and reaction
      times of recognition memory performance were measurements of interest. The d'
      sensitivity index and accuracy percentage improved in both active stimulation
      groups, as compared with the sham one, while reaction times remained unaffected.
      Moreover, the analysis of accuracy revealed a different effect of tDCS for old
      and new item recognition. While the temporal group showed enhanced performance
      for old item recognition, the parietal group was better at correctly recognising
      new ones. Our results support an active role of both of these areas in memory
      retrieval, possibly underpinning different stages of the recognition process. 

PMID- 25816235
TI  - Genetic population structure accounts for contemporary ecogeographic patterns in
      tropic and subtropic-dwelling humans.
AB  - Contemporary human populations conform to ecogeographic predictions that animals
      will become more compact in cooler climates and less compact in warmer ones.
      However, it remains unclear to what extent this pattern reflects plastic
      responses to current environments or genetic differences among populations.
      Analyzing anthropometric surveys of 232,684 children and adults from across 80
      ethnolinguistic groups in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Americas, we confirm
      that body surface-to-volume correlates with contemporary temperature at
      magnitudes found in more latitudinally diverse samples (Adj. R2 = 0.14-0.28).
      However, far more variation in body surface-to-volume is attributable to genetic
      population structure (Adj. R2 = 0.50-0.74). Moreover, genetic population
      structure accounts for nearly all of the observed relationship between
      contemporary temperature and body surface-to-volume among children and adults.
      Indeed, after controlling for population structure, contemporary temperature
      accounts for no more than 4% of the variance in body form in these groups. This
      effect of genetic affinity on body form is also independent of other ecological
      variables, such as dominant mode of subsistence and household wealth per capita.
      These findings suggest that the observed fit of human body surface-to-volume with
      current climate in this sample reflects relatively large effects of existing
      genetic population structure of contemporary humans compared to plastic response
      to current environments.

PMID- 25816237
TI  - Detecting static and dynamic differences between eyes-closed and eyes-open
      resting states using ASL and BOLD fMRI.
AB  - Resting-state fMRI studies have increasingly focused on multi-contrast
      techniques, such as BOLD and ASL imaging. However, these techniques may reveal
      different aspects of brain activity (e.g., static vs. dynamic), and little is
      known about the similarity or disparity of these techniques in detecting resting
      state brain activity. It is therefore important to assess the static and dynamic
      characteristics of these fMRI techniques to guide future applications. Here we
      acquired fMRI data while subjects were in eyes-closed (EC) and eyes-open (EO)
      states, using both ASL and BOLD techniques, at two research centers (NIDA and
      HNU). Static brain activity was calculated as voxel-wise mean cerebral blood flow
      (CBF) using ASL, i.e., CBF-mean, while dynamic activity was measured by the
      amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) of BOLD, i.e., BOLD-ALFF, at both
      NIDA and HNU, and CBF, i.e., CBF-ALFF, at NIDA. We showed that mean CBF was lower
      under EC than EO in the primary visual cortex, while BOLD-ALFF was higher under
      EC in the primary somatosensory cortices extending to the primary auditory
      cortices and lower in the lateral occipital area. Interestingly, mean CBF and
      BOLD-ALFF results overlapped at the visual cortex to a very small degree.
      Importantly, these findings were largely replicated by the HNU dataset. State
      differences found by CBF-ALFF were located in the primary auditory cortices,
      which were generally a subset of BOLD-ALFF and showed no spatial overlap with CBF
      mean. In conclusion, static brain activity measured by mean CBF and dynamic brain
      activity measured by BOLD- and CBF-ALFF may reflect different aspects of resting
      state brain activity and a combination of ASL and BOLD may provide complementary
      information on the biophysical and physiological processes of the brain. 

PMID- 25816239
TI  - American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria for Infertility.
AB  - The new American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria for Infertility
      provide updated imaging guidelines for evaluating infertility in females. It
      provides a meticulous overview of common causes of infertility including
      ovulatory, uterine, tubal, peritoneal, and pituitary factors. The article
      provides great detail regarding the imaging modalities for evaluation of
      infertility in females. The article title mentioned is American College of
      Radiology Appropriateness Criteria for Infertility, whereas the article discusses
      female factors of infertility, and the male factors such as obstructive
      azoospermia, which could be evaluated by imaging, are not been addressed. 

PMID- 25816238
TI  - Affect-laden imagery and risk taking: the mediating role of stress and risk
      perception.
AB  - This paper investigates how affect-laden imagery that evokes emotional stress
      influences risk perception and risk taking in real-life scenarios. In a series of
      three studies, we instructed participants to imagine the consequences of risky
      scenarios and then rate the intensity of the experienced stress, perceived risk
      and their willingness to engage in risky behavior. Study 1 showed that people
      spontaneously imagine negative rather than positive risk consequences, which are
      directly related to their lower willingness to take risk. Moreover, this
      relationship was mediated by feelings of stress and risk perception. Study 2
      replicated and extended these findings by showing that imagining negative risk
      consequences evokes psychophysiological stress responses observed in elevated
      blood pressure. Finally, in Study 3, we once again demonstrated that a higher
      intensity of mental images of negative risk consequences, as measured by enhanced
      brain activity in the parieto-occipital lobes, leads to a lower propensity to
      take risk. Furthermore, individual differences in creating vivid and intense
      negative images of risk consequences moderated the strength of the relationship
      between risk perception and risk taking. Participants who created more vivid and
      intense images of negative risk consequences paid less attention to the
      assessments of riskiness in rating their likelihood to take risk. To summarize,
      we showed that feelings of emotional stress and perceived riskiness mediate the
      relationship between mental imagery and risk taking, whereas individual
      differences in abilities to create vivid mental images may influence the degree
      to which more cognitive risk assessments are used in the risk-taking process.

PMID- 25816236
TI  - Frequency and geographic distribution of gyrA and gyrB mutations associated with
      fluoroquinolone resistance in clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates: a
      systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The detection of mutations in the gyrA and gyrB genes in the
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome that have been demonstrated to confer
      phenotypic resistance to fluoroquinolones is the most promising technology for
      rapid diagnosis of fluoroquinolone resistance. METHODS: In order to characterize
      the diversity and frequency of gyrA and gyrB mutations and to describe the global
      distribution of these mutations, we conducted a systematic review, from May 1996
      to April 2013, of all published studies evaluating Mycobacterium tuberculosis
      mutations associated with resistance to fluoroquinolones. The overall goal of the
      study was to determine the potential utility and reliability of these mutations
      as diagnostic markers to detect phenotypic fluoroquinolone resistance in
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis and to describe their geographic distribution.
      RESULTS: Forty-six studies, covering four continents and 18 countries, provided
      mutation data for 3,846 unique clinical isolates with phenotypic resistance
      profiles to fluoroquinolones. The gyrA mutations occurring most frequently in
      fluoroquinolone-resistant isolates, ranged from 21-32% for D94G and 13-20% for
      A90V, by drug. Eighty seven percent of all strains that were phenotypically
      resistant to moxifloxacin and 83% of ofloxacin resistant isolates contained
      mutations in gyrA. Additionally we found that 83% and 80% of moxifloxacin and
      ofloxacin resistant strains respectively, were observed to have mutations in the
      gyrA codons interrogated by the existing MTBDRsl line probe assay. In China and
      Russia, 83% and 84% of fluoroquinolone resistant strains respectively, were
      observed to have gyrA mutations in the gene regions covered by the MTBDRsl assay.
      CONCLUSIONS: Molecular diagnostics, specifically the Genotype MTBDRsl assay,
      focusing on codons 88-94 should have moderate to high sensitivity in most
      countries. While we did observe geographic differences in the frequencies of
      single gyrA mutations across countries, molecular diagnostics based on detection
      of all gyrA mutations demonstrated to confer resistance should have broad and
      global utility.

PMID- 25816240
TI  - Changes of soil particle size distribution in tidal flats in the Yellow River
      Delta.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The tidal flat is one of the important components of coastal wetland
      systems in the Yellow River Delta (YRD). It can stabilize shorelines and protect
      coastal biodiversity. The erosion risk in tidal flats in coastal wetlands was
      seldom been studied. Characterizing changes of soil particle size distribution
      (PSD) is an important way to quantity soil erosion in tidal flats.
      METHOD/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Based on the fractal scale theory and network
      analysis, we determined the fractal characterizations (singular fractal dimension
      and multifractal dimension) soil PSD in a successional series of tidal flats in a
      coastal wetland in the YRD in eastern China. The results showed that the major
      soil texture was from silt loam to sandy loam. The values of fractal dimensions,
      ranging from 2.35 to 2.55, decreased from the low tidal flat to the high tidal
      flat. We also found that the percent of particles with size ranging between 0.4
      and 126 MUm was related with fractal dimensions. Tide played a great effort on
      soil PSD than vegetation by increasing soil organic matter (SOM) content and
      salinity in the coastal wetland in the YRD. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Tidal flats
      in coastal wetlands in the YRD, especially low tidal flats, are facing the risk
      of soil erosion. This study will be essential to provide a firm basis for the
      coast erosion control and assessment, as well as wetland ecosystem restoration.

PMID- 25816241
TI  - Cloning and characterization of the human integrin beta6 gene promoter.
AB  - The integrin beta6 (ITGB6) gene, which encodes the limiting subunit of the
      integrin alphavbeta6 heterodimer, plays an important role in wound healing and
      carcinogenesis. The mechanism underlying ITGB6 regulation, including the
      identification of DNA elements and cognate transcription factors responsible for
      basic transcription of human ITGB6 gene, remains unknown. This report describes
      the cloning and characterization of the human ITGB6 promoter. Using 5'-RACE
      (rapid amplification of cDNA ends) analysis, the transcriptional initiation site
      was identified. Promoter deletion analysis identified and functionally validated
      a TATA box located in the region -24 to -18 base pairs upstream of the ITGB6
      promoter. The regulatory elements for transcription of the ITGB6 gene were
      predominantly located -289 to -150 from the ITGB6 promoter and contained putative
      binding sites for transcription factors such as STAT3 and C/EBPalpha. Using
      chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, this study has demonstrated, for the first
      time, that transcription factors STAT3 and C/EBPalpha are involved in the
      positive regulation of ITGB6 transcription in oral squamous cell carcinoma cells.
      These findings have important implications for unraveling the mechanism of
      abnormal ITGB6 activation in tissue remodeling and tumorigenesis. 

PMID- 25816242
TI  - Proteome analysis identifies the Dpr protein of Streptococcus mutans as an
      important factor in the presence of early streptococcal colonizers of tooth
      surfaces.
AB  - Oral streptococci are primary colonizers of tooth surfaces and Streptococcus
      mutans is the principal causative agent of dental caries in humans. A number of
      proteins are involved in the formation of monospecies biofilms by S. mutans. This
      study analyzed the protein expression profiles of S. mutans biofilms formed in
      the presence or absence of S. gordonii, a pioneer colonizer of the tooth surface,
      by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). After identifying S. mutans
      proteins by Mass spectrometric analysis, their expression in the presence of S.
      gordonii was analyzed. S. mutans was inoculated with or without S. gordonii DL1.
      The two species were compartmentalized using 0.2-MUl Anopore membranes. The
      biofilms on polystyrene plates were harvested, and the solubilized proteins were
      separated by 2-DE. When S. mutans biofilms were formed in the presence of S.
      gordonii, the peroxide resistance protein Dpr of the former showed 4.3-fold
      increased expression compared to biofilms that developed in the absence of the
      pioneer colonizer. In addition, we performed a competition assay using S. mutans
      antioxidant protein mutants together with S. gordonii and other initial
      colonizers. Growth of the dpr-knockout S. mutans mutant was significantly
      inhibited by S. gordonii, as well as by S. sanguinis. Furthermore, a cell
      viability assay revealed that the viability of the dpr-defective mutant was
      significantly attenuated compared to the wild-type strain when co-cultured with
      S. gordonii. Therefore, these results suggest that Dpr might be one of the
      essential proteins for S. mutans survival on teeth in the presence of early
      colonizing oral streptococci. 

PMID- 25816243
TI  - A novel approach for treatment of the impacted maxillary incisor.
AB  - This case report demonstrates a novel treatment approach to deal with a severely
      rotated and impacted upper central incisor in an adolescent patient. A precision
      custom-made gold attachment was fabricated from a prototype using cone beam
      computerized tomograph (CBCT) scan data and then used to align and de-rotate the
      impacted central incisor. 

PMID- 25816244
TI  - Seroprotective antibodies to 2011 variant influenza A(H3N2v) and seasonal
      influenza A(H3N2) among three age groups of US Department of Defense service
      members.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In 2011, a new variant of influenza A(H3N2) emerged that contained a
      recombination of genes from swine H3N2 viruses and the matrix (M) gene of
      influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus. New combinations and variants of pre-existing
      influenza viruses are worrisome if there is low or nonexistent immunity in a
      population, which increases chances for an outbreak or pandemic. METHODS: Sera
      collected in 2011 were obtained from US Department of Defense service members in
      three age groups: 19-21 years, 32-33 years, and 47-48 years. Pre- and post
      vaccination samples were available for the youngest age group, and
      postvaccination samples for the two older groups. Specimens were tested using
      microneutralization assays for antibody titers against H3N2v (A/Indiana/10/2011)
      and seasonal H3N2 virus (A/Perth/16/2009). RESULTS: The youngest age group had
      significantly (p<0.05) higher geometric mean titers for H3N2v with 165 (95%
      confidence interval [CI]: 105-225) compared with the two older groups, aged 32-33
      and 47-48 years, who had geometric mean titers of 68 (95% CI: 55-82) and 46 (95%
      CI: 24-65), respectively. Similarly, the youngest age group also had the highest
      geometric mean titers for seasonal H3N2. In the youngest age group, the
      proportion of patients who seroconverted after vaccination was 12% for H3N2v and
      27% for seasonal H3N2. DISCUSSION: Our results were similar to previous studies
      that found highest seroprotection among young adults and decreasing titers among
      older adults. The proportion of 19- to 21-year-olds who seroconverted after
      seasonal vaccination was low and similar to previous findings. Improving our
      understanding of H3N2v immunity among different age groups in the United States
      can help inform vaccination plans if H3N2v becomes more transmissible in the
      future.

PMID- 25816245
TI  - Human neutrophil peptides induce interleukin-8 in intestinal epithelial cells
      through the P2 receptor and ERK1/2 signaling pathways.
AB  - Human neutrophil peptides (HNPs) are antimicrobial peptides produced
      predominantly by neutrophils. We have previously reported that HNP 1-3 levels are
      increased in the sera and plasma of patients with active ulcerative colitis. The
      increased expression of interleukin-8 (IL-8) has also been demonstrated in the
      colonic mucosa of patients with active ulcerative colitis. HNPs induce IL-8 in
      lung epithelial cells and monocytes through the P2Y6 signaling pathway. However,
      the association between HNPs and IL-8 in the intestinal mucosa has not yet been
      investigated. In the present study, we investigated the effects of HNP-1 on the
      production of IL-8 by human intestinal epithelial cells and the underlying
      signaling mechanisms. We observed a significant increase in IL-8 expression in
      the human colon carcinoma cell line, Caco-2, following treatment with HNP-1. The
      non-selective P2 receptor antagonists, suramin and pyridoxal phosphate-6-azo
      (benzene-2,4-disulfonic acid) tetrasodium salt hydrate (PPADS), significantly
      blocked the HNP-1-induced expression of IL-8 in the Caco-2 cells. The P2Y6
      specific antagonist, MRS2578, led to a significant but partial decrease in IL-8
      expression, suggesting that P2 receptors in addition to P2Y6 are involved in the
      HNP-1-induced production of IL-8 by Caco-2 cells. In agreement with this finding,
      HNP-1 also significantly increased IL-8 production in the P2Y6-negative human
      colon cancer cell line, HT-29, and this increase was blocked by treatment with
      suramin and PPADS. HNP-1 significantly increased the phosphorylation of
      extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and p38 mitogen-activated
      protein kinase (MAPK) in the HT-29 cells. However, the HNP-1-induced production
      of IL-8 was suppressed by the ERK1/2 inhibitor, U0126, but not by the p38 MAPK
      inhibitor, SB203580. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that HNP-1 induces IL-8
      production not only through P2Y6, but also through additional P2 receptors via an
      ERK1/2-dependent mechanism in intestinal epithelial cells.

PMID- 25816246
TI  - Smoothing spline ANOVA decomposition of arbitrary splines: an application to eye
      movements in reading.
AB  - The Smoothing Spline ANOVA (SS-ANOVA) requires a specialized construction of
      basis and penalty terms in order to incorporate prior knowledge about the data to
      be fitted. Typically, one resorts to the most general approach using tensor
      product splines. This implies severe constraints on the correlation structure,
      i.e. the assumption of isotropy of smoothness can not be incorporated in general.
      This may increase the variance of the spline fit, especially if only a relatively
      small set of observations are given. In this article, we propose an alternative
      method that allows to incorporate prior knowledge without the need to construct
      specialized bases and penalties, allowing the researcher to choose the spline
      basis and penalty according to the prior knowledge of the observations rather
      than choosing them according to the analysis to be done. The two approaches are
      compared with an artificial example and with analyses of fixation durations
      during reading. 

PMID- 25816247
TI  - Behavioral immune system and ingroup derogation: the effects of infectious
      diseases on ingroup derogation attitudes.
AB  - From evolutionary reasoning, we derived a novel hypothesis that ingroup
      derogation is an evolved response of behavioral immune system which follows the
      smoke detector principle and the functional flexibility principle. This
      hypothesis was tested and supported across three experiments. In Experiment 1,
      participants' group membership was manipulated by using a minimal group paradigm.
      The results indicated that mere social categorization alone - a heuristic cue
      that implies the differentiation between "us" and "them" - was sufficient to
      elicit ingroup derogation among Chinese participants, and, such an intergroup
      bias was positively associated with the perceived vulnerability to diseases,
      which was also more consistently associated with ingroup attitudes. Experiment 2
      extended and partially replicated Experiment 1 by showing that when there were
      cues of diseases in the immediate physical environment, Chinese participants
      exaggerated their attitudes of ingroup derogation. The results also showed that
      this effect was mainly driven by outgroup attraction. Experiment 3 changed the
      method of disease manipulation, and found that Chinese participants responded
      more strongly to disease cues originating from ingroup members and that they
      endorsed more ingroup derogation attitudes even when the ingroup and outgroup
      members were both displaying cues of diseases. Taken together, these results
      reveal the previously unexplored effects of infectious diseases on ingroup
      derogation attitudes, and suggest an interesting linkage between the evolved
      behavioral immune system and the ingroup derogation.

PMID- 25816248
TI  - An enzymatic assay for high-throughput screening of cytidine-producing microbial
      strains.
AB  - Cytidine is an industrially useful precursor for the production of antiviral
      compounds and a variety of industrial compounds. Interest in the microbial
      production of cytidine has grown recently and high-throughput screening of
      cytidine over-producers is an important approach in large-scale industrial
      production using microorganisms. An enzymatic assay for cytidine was developed
      combining cytidine deaminase (CDA) and indophenol method. CDA catalyzes the
      cleavage of cytidine to uridine and NH3, the latter of which can be accurately
      determined using the indophenol method. The assay was performed in 96-well plates
      and had a linear detection range of cytidine of 0.058-10 mM. This assay was used
      to determine the amount of cytidine in fermentation flasks and the results were
      compared with that of High Perfomance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method. The
      detection range of the CDA method is not as wide as that of the HPLC, furthermore
      the correlation factor of CDA method is not as high as that of HPLC. However, it
      was suitable for the detection of large numbers of crude samples and was applied
      to high-throughput screening for high cytidine-producing strains using 96-well
      deep-hole culture plates. This assay was proved to be simple, accurate, specific
      and suitable for cytidine detection and high-throughput screening of cytidine
      producing strains in large numbers of samples (96 well or more).

PMID- 25816251
TI  - Oberholzeria (Fabaceae subfam. Faboideae), a new monotypic legume genus from
      Namibia.
AB  - Oberholzeria etendekaensis, a succulent biennial or short-lived perennial
      shrublet is described as a new species, and a new monotypic genus. Discovered in
      2012, it is a rare species known only from a single locality in the Kaokoveld
      Centre of Plant Endemism, north-western Namibia. Phylogenetic analyses of
      molecular sequence data from the plastid matK gene resolves Oberholzeria as the
      sister group to the Genisteae clade while data from the nuclear rDNA ITS region
      showed that it is sister to a clade comprising both the Crotalarieae and
      Genisteae clades. Morphological characters diagnostic of the new genus include:
      1) succulent stems with woody remains; 2) pinnately trifoliolate, fleshy leaves;
      3) monadelphous stamens in a sheath that is fused above; 4) dimorphic anthers
      with five long, basifixed anthers alternating with five short, dorsifixed
      anthers, and 5) pendent, membranous, one-seeded, laterally flattened, slightly
      inflated but indehiscent fruits. 

PMID- 25816250
TI  - Assessing glucose uptake through the yeast hexose transporter 1 (Hxt1).
AB  - The transport of glucose across the plasma membrane is mediated by members of the
      glucose transporter family. In this study, we investigated glucose uptake through
      the yeast hexose transporter 1 (Hxt1) by measuring incorporation of 2-NBDG, a non
      metabolizable, fluorescent glucose analog, into the yeast Saccharomyces
      cerevisiae. We find that 2-NBDG is not incorporated into the hxt null strain
      lacking all glucose transporter genes and that this defect is rescued by
      expression of wild type Hxt1, but not of Hxt1 with mutations at the putative
      glucose-binding residues, inferred from the alignment of yeast and human glucose
      transporter sequences. Similarly, the growth defect of the hxt null strain on
      glucose is fully complemented by expression of wild type Hxt1, but not of the
      mutant Hxt1 proteins. Thus, 2-NBDG, like glucose, is likely to be transported
      into the yeast cells through the glucose transport system. Hxt1 is internalized
      and targeted to the vacuole for degradation in response to glucose starvation.
      Among the mutant Hxt1 proteins, Hxt1N370A and HXT1W473A are resistant to such
      degradation. Hxt1N370A, in particular, is able to neither uptake 2-NBDG nor
      restore the growth defect of the hxt null strain on glucose. These results
      demonstrate 2-NBDG as a fluorescent probe for glucose uptake in the yeast cells
      and identify N370 as a critical residue for the stability and function of Hxt1. 

PMID- 25816249
TI  - Multi-site clinical evaluation of DW-MRI as a treatment response metric for
      breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate diffusion weighted MRI (DW-MR) as a response metric for
      assessment of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with primary breast
      cancer using prospective multi-center trials which provided MR scans along with
      clinical outcome information. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 39 patients with
      locally advanced breast cancer accrued from three different prospective clinical
      trials underwent DW-MR examination prior to and at 3-7 days (Hull University), 8
      11 days (University of Michigan) and 35 days (NeoCOMICE) post-treatment
      initiation. Thirteen patients, 12 of which participated in treatment response
      study, from UM underwent short interval (<1hr) MRI examinations, referred to as
      "test-retest" for examination of repeatability. To further evaluate stability in
      ADC measurements, a thermally controlled diffusion phantom was used to assess
      repeatability of diffusion measurements. MRI sequences included contrast-enhanced
      T1-weighted, when appropriate, and DW images acquired at b-values of 0 and 800
      s/mm2. Histogram analysis and a voxel-based analytical technique, the Parametric
      Response Map (PRM), were used to derive diffusion response metrics for assessment
      of treatment response prediction. RESULTS: Mean tumor apparent diffusion
      coefficient (ADC) values generated from patient test-retest examinations were
      found to be very reproducible (|DeltaADC|<0.1x10-3mm2/s). This data was used to
      calculate the 95% CI from the linear fit of tumor voxel ADC pairs of co
      registered examinations (+/-0.45x10-3mm2/s) for PRM analysis of treatment
      response. Receiver operating characteristic analysis identified the PRM metric to
      be predictive of outcome at the 8-11 (AUC = 0.964, p = 0.01) and 35 day (AUC =
      0.770, p = 0.05) time points (p<.05) while whole-tumor ADC changes where
      significant at the later 35 day time interval (AUC = 0.825, p = 0.02).
      CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the feasibility of performing a prospective
      analysis of DW-MRI as a predictive biomarker of NAC in breast cancer patients. In
      addition, we provide experimental evidence supporting the use of sensitive
      analytical tools, such as PRM, for evaluating ADC measurements.

PMID- 25816252
TI  - A novel GTP-binding inhibitor, FX2149, attenuates LRRK2 toxicity in Parkinson's
      disease models.
AB  - Leucine-rich repeat kinase-2 (LRRK2), a cytoplasmic protein containing both GTP
      binding and kinase activities, has emerged as a highly promising drug target for
      Parkinson's disease (PD). The majority of PD-linked mutations in LRRK2
      dysregulate its GTP binding and kinase activities, which may contribute to
      neurodegeneration. While most known LRRK2 inhibitors are developed to target the
      kinase domain, we have recently identified the first LRRK2 GTP binding inhibitor,
      68, which not only inhibits LRRK2 GTP binding and kinase activities with high
      potency in vitro, but also reduces neurodegeneration. However, the in vivo
      effects of 68 are low due to its limited brain penetration. To address this
      problem, we reported herein the design and synthesis of a novel analog of 68,
      FX2149, aimed at increasing the in vivo efficacy. Pharmacological
      characterization of FX2149 exhibited inhibition of LRRK2 GTP binding activity by
      ~90% at a concentration of 10 nM using in vitro assays. Furthermore, FX2149
      protected against mutant LRRK2-induced neurodegeneration in SH-SY5Y cells at 50
      200 nM concentrations. Importantly, FX2149 at 10 mg/kg (i.p.) showed significant
      brain inhibition efficacy equivalent to that of 68 at 20 mg/kg (i.p.), determined
      by mouse brain LRRK2 GTP binding and phosphorylation assays. Furthermore, FX2149
      at 10 mg/kg (i.p.) attenuated lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced microglia
      activation and LRRK2 upregulation in a mouse neuroinflammation model comparable
      to 68 at 20 mg/kg (i.p.). Our results highlight a novel GTP binding inhibitor
      with better brain efficacy, which represents a new lead compound for further
      understanding PD pathogenesis and therapeutic studies.

PMID- 25816253
TI  - Pediatric Disposition Classification (Reverse Triage) System to Create Surge
      Capacity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Critically insufficient pediatric hospital capacity may develop
      during a disaster or surge event. Research is lacking on the creation of
      pediatric surge capacity. A system of "reverse triage," with early discharge of
      hospitalized patients, has been developed for adults and shows great potential
      but is unexplored in pediatrics. METHODS: We conducted an evidence-based modified
      Delphi consensus process with 25 expert panelists to derive a disposition
      classification system for pediatric inpatients on the basis of risk tolerance for
      a consequential medical event (CME). For potential validation, critical
      interventions (CIs) were derived and ranked by using a Likert scale to indicate
      CME risk should the CI be withdrawn or withheld for early disposition. RESULTS:
      Panelists unanimously agreed on a 5-category risk-based disposition
      classification system. The panelists established upper limit (mean) CME risk for
      each category as <2% (interquartile range [IQR]: 1-2%); 7% (5-10%), 18% (10-20%),
      46% (20-65%), and 72% (50-90%), respectively. Panelists identified 25 CIs with
      varying degrees of CME likelihood if withdrawn or withheld. Of these, 40% were
      ranked high risk (Likert scale mean >=7) and 32% were ranked modest risk (<=3).
      CONCLUSIONS: The classification system has potential for an ethically acceptable
      risk-based taxonomy for pediatric inpatient reverse triage, including
      identification of those deemed safe for early discharge during surge events.

PMID- 25816254
TI  - ICRP: past, present, and future.
AB  - The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is a premier
      international organisation for the protection of workers, patients, and the
      public against ionising radiation. It was established in 1928 to advance, for the
      public benefit, the science of radiological protection, with its work in the
      early years focusing mainly on occupational exposure in medicine. The name
      'International Commission on Radiological Protection' was adopted in 1950 to
      reflect the wider and more diverse areas of work that were being undertaken. ICRP
      has published 13 sets of general recommendations and these form the basis of
      radiation safety standards worldwide. ICRP consists of the Main Commission and
      five standing committees. There are 84 official members of the Main Commission
      and Committees 1-5, but more than 200 members who work with ICRP through its task
      groups. ICRP has developed a strategic plan for 2011-2017 and has made progress
      with some of its initiatives. These include establishing close liaison with other
      radiological protection organisations, responding to the needs and concerns of
      the radiological protection community, and identifying areas of work that require
      scrutiny of science and practice to produce relevant recommendations. This
      strategy means that ICRP will continue to be a leader in radiological protection
      for many years to come. 

PMID- 25816255
TI  - International Commission on Radiological Protection Committee 1: current status
      and future directions.
AB  - Commission 1 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection considers
      the risk of induction of cancer and heritable disease (stochastic effects)
      together with the underlying mechanisms of radiation action. Committee 1 also
      considers the risks, severity, and mechanisms of induction of tissue/organ damage
      and developmental defects (deterministic effects). The Committee was
      significantly revamped in 2013 and last met in Abu Dhabi in October 2013.
      Committee 1 evaluated progress on two ongoing task groups: Task Group 64 'Cancer
      Risk from Alpha Emitters' and Task Group 75 'Stem Cell Radiobiology'. Following
      approval from the Main Commission, Committee 1 established two new task groups:
      Task Group 91 'Radiation Risk Inference at Low Dose and Low Dose Rate Exposure
      for Radiological Protection Purposes' and Task Group 92 'Terminology and
      Definitions'. This article presents a synopsis of the current status of Committee
      1 and outlines the tasks that Committee 1 may undertake in the future. 

PMID- 25816256
TI  - Overview of ICRP Committee 2 'Doses from Radiation Exposure'.
AB  - Over many years, Committee 2 of the International Commission on Radiological
      Protection (ICRP) has provided sets of dose coefficients to allow users to
      evaluate equivalent and effective doses for intakes of radionuclides or exposure
      to external radiation for comparison with dose limits, constraints, and reference
      levels as recommended by ICRP. Following the 2007 Recommendations, Committee 2
      and its task groups are engaged in a substantial programme of work to provide new
      dose coefficients for various conditions of radiation exposure. The methodology
      being applied in the calculation of doses can be regarded as state-of-the-art in
      terms of the biokinetic models used to describe the behaviour of inhaled and
      ingested radionuclides, and the dosimetric models used to model radiation
      transport for external and internal exposures. The level of sophistication of
      these models is greater than required for calculation of the protection
      quantities with their inherent simplifications and approximations, which were
      introduced necessarily, for example by the use of radiation and tissue weighting
      factors. However, ICRP is at the forefront of developments in this area, and its
      models are used for scientific as well as protection purposes. This overview
      provides an outline of recent work and future plans, including publications on
      dose coefficients for adults, children, and in-utero exposures, with new
      dosimetric phantoms in each case. The Committee has also recently finished a
      report on radiation exposures of astronauts in space, and is working with members
      of the other ICRP committees on the development of advice on the use of effective
      dose. 

PMID- 25816257
TI  - Overview of ICRP Committee 3 'Protection in Medicine'.
AB  - According to the 2011-2017 strategic plan, Committee 3 develops recommendations
      and guidance for protection of patients, staff, and the public against radiation
      exposure when ionising radiation is used for medical diagnosis, therapy, or
      biomedical research. This paper presents an overview of the work that Committee 3
      has accomplished in recent years and describes its current work. The
      International Commission on Radiological Protection reports dealing with
      radiological protection in medicine from 2000 to the present cover topics on
      education and training in radiological protection; preventing accidental
      exposures in radiation therapy; doses to patients from radiopharmaceuticals;
      radiation safety aspects of brachytherapy; release of patients after therapy with
      unsealed radionuclides; and managing radiation dose in interventional radiology,
      digital radiology, computed tomography, paediatrics, cardiology, and other
      medical specialties. Current work deals with radiological protection in ion beam
      therapy, occupational protection in brachytherapy, justification in imaging,
      radiological protection in cone-beam computed tomography, occupational protection
      in interventional procedures, diagnostic reference levels for diagnostic and
      interventional imaging, and an update of an earlier publication on doses to
      patients and staff from radiopharmaceuticals. Committee 3 is also involved in
      preparation of a document on effective dose and its use in medicine. 

PMID- 25816258
TI  - Overview of ICRP Committee 5.
AB  - The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) established
      Committee 5 in 2005 in response to the need to provide direct demonstration of
      environmental protection from radiation in accordance with national law and
      international agreements. The development of the ICRP system for environmental
      protection was facilitated by research over the previous decades, as well as by
      ICRP's evaluation of the ethical and philosophical basis for environmental
      protection as laid out in ICRP Publication 91. The 2007 Recommendations
      (Publication 103) incorporated environmental protection as one of the integral
      elements of the radiation protection system. Over a relatively short time, the
      system has evolved to incorporate a set of 12 Reference Animals and Plants
      (RAPs), which is a small enough number to develop comprehensive databases for
      each RAP, but wide ranging enough to provide some insight into radiation impact
      and protection against such impact, as appropriate, in terrestrial, freshwater,
      and marine ecosystems. As necessary, the databases can be used to derive
      supplementary databases for Representative Organisms typical for a particular
      exposure situation of concern or under study. The system, to date, details
      biology of the RAPs (Publication 108); outlines transfer factors for estimation
      of internal concentrations of radionuclides of environmental significance under
      different situations (Publication 114); provides further information (Publication
      108) on dosimetry, biological effects, and derived consideration reference levels
      (bands of environmental dose rates where potential detrimental effects may
      deserve attention); and provides information on application of the system in
      planned, emergency, and existing exposure situations (Publication 124).
      Currently, a review of experimental determinations of relative biological
      effectiveness, to guide derivation of specific weighting factors for use in
      environmental radiation protection if possible and necessary, is being concluded,
      as is work on improved dosimetry. Further work in this area involves
      consolidation of databases, recommendations for derivation of specific databases
      for Representative Organisms on the basis of the RAP data, and recommendations
      for application of the system to environmental protection in relation to certain
      human activities of potential environmental concern. Consideration needs to be
      made for the wider range of ecosystem effects that may be covered in ecological
      risk assessments, which incorporate the complete suite of stressors that result
      from human activity, and their effects, to understand the role of radiation
      effects in this context. 

PMID- 25816259
TI  - Radiobiology of tissue reactions.
AB  - Tissue effects of radiation exposure are observed in virtually all normal
      tissues, with interactions when several organs are involved. Early reactions
      occur in turnover tissues, where proliferative impairment results in hypoplasia;
      late reactions, based on combined parenchymal, vascular, and connective tissue
      changes, result in loss of function within the exposed volume; consequential late
      effects develop through interactions between early and late effects in the same
      organ; and very late effects are dominated by vascular sequelae. Invariably,
      involvement of the immune system is observed. Importantly, latent times of late
      effects are inversely dependent on the biologically equieffective dose. Each
      tissue component and--importantly--each individual symptom/endpoint displays a
      specific dose-effect relationship. Equieffective doses are modulated by exposure
      conditions: in particular, dose-rate reduction--down to chronic levels--and dose
      fractionation impact on late responding tissues, while overall exposure time
      predominantly affects early (and consequential late) reactions. Consequences of
      partial organ exposure are related to tissue architecture. In 'tubular' organs
      (gastrointestinal tract, but also vasculature), punctual exposure affects
      function in downstream compartments. In 'parallel' organs, such as liver or
      lungs, only exposure of a significant (organ-dependent) fraction of the total
      volume results in clinical consequences. Forthcoming studies must address
      biomarkers of the individual risk for tissue reactions, and strategies to
      prevent/mitigate tissue effects after exposure.

PMID- 25816260
TI  - Threshold doses and circulatory disease risks.
AB  - Tissue reactions (deterministic effects) become manifest either early or late
      after doses above a threshold dose, which is the basis for recommended dose
      limits for avoiding such effects. Threshold doses have been defined for
      comparative purposes at 1% incidence of an effect, although the choice of
      incidence level may be scenario-dependent in practice. Latency time before
      manifestation is related to cell turnover rates and tissue complexity. In
      general, threshold doses become lower for longer follow-up times because of the
      slow progression of injury before manifestation, particularly after lower doses.
      Radiosensitive individuals may contribute to low threshold doses, which would
      provide a safety margin for the majority of a population. A threshold dose of 0.5
      Gy was proposed for radiation-induced circulatory disease, after acute or chronic
      exposures, in the International Commission on Radiological Protection Publication
      118. However, more recent meta-analyses of low-dose population studies suggest
      that, if a linear dose-incidence is assumed, the risk of some types of
      circulatory disease after doses <0.5 Gy or <10 mGy day(-1) may be positive and
      similar to that for induced cancer. Animal studies show that doses >2 Gy induce
      the expression of inflammatory and thrombotic molecules in endothelial cells.
      This causes progressive loss of capillaries in the heart and leads to reduced
      perfusion, myocardial cell death, and fibrosis. However, doses <1 Gy inhibit both
      inflammatory cell adhesion to endothelial cells and the development of
      atherosclerosis in mice. Different mechanisms of injury at low and high doses
      preclude the simple extrapolation of risk on a linear-quadratic basis from acute
      to chronic exposures. 

PMID- 25816261
TI  - General tissue reactions and implications for radiation protection.
AB  - Non-cancer effects and risks at low doses from ionising radiation are
      controversial topics within the field of radiation protection. These issues are
      discussed in International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP)
      Publication 118, 'ICRP statement on tissue reactions'. Both non-cancer effects
      and risks are expected to become increasingly important to the system of
      radiation protection. Before this can happen, several factors must be considered:
      thorough characterisation of the relationship between dose and risk; verification
      of the biological mechanisms for any noted excess risk; and adjustment of noted
      excess risks through the use of a detriment factor. It is difficult to
      differentiate the relatively small risks associated with radiation from other
      risk factors in the low-dose region of the dose-response curve. Several recent
      papers have indicated the possibility of a non-linear dose-response relationship
      for non-cancer effects. In addition, there are still many uncertainties
      associated with the biological mechanisms for non-cancer effects. Finally, it is
      essential to consider the incorporation of detriment into a well-defined system
      of radiological protection. Given the recent interest in non-cancer effects, it
      is essential to facilitate discussions in order to define dose limits more
      clearly within the existing system of radiation protection for both cancer and
      non-cancer effects. 

PMID- 25816262
TI  - The lens of the eye: exposures in the UK medical sector and mechanistic studies
      of radiation effects.
AB  - The recommendation from the International Commission on Radiological Protection
      that the occupational equivalent dose limit for the lens of the eye should be
      reduced to 20 mSv year(-1), averaged over 5 years with no year exceeding 50 mSv,
      has stimulated a discussion on the practicalities of implementation of this
      revised dose limit, and the most appropriate risk and protection framework to
      adopt. This brief paper provides an overview of some of the drivers behind the
      move to a lower recommended dose limit. The issue of implementation in the
      medical sector in the UK has been addressed through a small-scale survey of doses
      to the lens of the eye amongst interventional cardiologists and radiologists. In
      addition, a mechanistic study of early and late post-irradiation changes in the
      lens of the eye in in-vivo-exposed mice is outlined. Surveys and studies such as
      those described can contribute to a deeper understanding of fundamental and
      practical issues, and therefore contribute to a robust evidence base for ensuring
      adequate protection of the eye while avoiding undesirable restrictions to working
      practices. 

PMID- 25816263
TI  - Dosimetric models of the eye and lens of the eye and their use in assessing dose
      coefficients for ocular exposures.
AB  - Based upon recent epidemiological studies of ocular exposure, the Main Commission
      of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in ICRP
      Publication 118 states that the threshold dose for radiation-induced cataracts is
      now considered to be approximately 0.5 Gy for both acute and fractionated
      exposures. Consequently, a reduction was also recommended for the occupational
      annual equivalent dose to the lens of the eye from 150 mSv to 20 mSv, averaged
      over defined periods of 5 years. To support ocular dose assessment and
      optimisation, Committee 2 included Annex F within ICRP Publication 116 . Annex F
      provides dose coefficients - absorbed dose per particle fluence - for photon,
      electron, and neutron irradiation of the eye and lens of the eye using two
      dosimetric models. The first approach uses the reference adult male and female
      voxel phantoms of ICRP Publication 110. The second approach uses the stylised eye
      model of Behrens et al., which itself is based on ocular dimensional data given
      in Charles and Brown. This article will review the data and models of Annex F
      with particular emphasis on how these models treat tissue regions thought to be
      associated with stem cells at risk. 

PMID- 25816264
TI  - Dose limits to the lens of the eye: International Basic Safety Standards and
      related guidance.
AB  - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safety requirements: 'General
      Safety Requirements Part 3--Radiation protection and safety of radiation sources:
      International Basic Safety Standards' (BSS) was approved by the IAEA Board of
      Governors at its meeting in September 2011, and was issued as General Safety
      Requirements Part 3 in July 2014. The equivalent dose limit for the lens of the
      eye for occupational exposure in planned exposure situations was reduced from 150
      mSv year(-1) to 20 mSv year(-1), averaged over defined periods of 5 years, with
      no annual dose in a single year exceeding 50 mSv. This reduction in the dose
      limit for the lens of the eye followed the recommendation of the International
      Commission on Radiological Protection in its statement on tissue reactions of 21
      April 2011. IAEA has developed guidance on the implications of the new dose limit
      for the lens of the eye. This paper summarises the process that led to the
      inclusion of the new dose limit for the lens of the eye in the BSS, and the
      implications of the new dose limit.

PMID- 25816265
TI  - Implications in medical imaging of the new ICRP thresholds for tissue reactions.
AB  - The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) statement on
      tissue reactions, issued by the Commission in April 2011, reviewed
      epidemiological evidence and suggested that there are some tissue reactions where
      threshold doses are or may be lower than those previously considered. For the
      lens of the eye, the threshold is now considered to be 0.5 Gy. The absorbed dose
      threshold for circulatory disease in the heart and brain may be as low as 0.5 Gy.
      These values can be reached in some patients during interventional cardiology or
      neuroradiology procedures. They may also be of concern for repeated computed
      tomography examinations of the head. The new thresholds should be considered in
      optimisation strategies for clinical procedures, especially in patients likely to
      require repeated interventions. The new dose thresholds also affect occupational
      protection for operators and staff. Some operators do not protect their eyes or
      their brain adequately. After several years of work without proper protection,
      the absorbed doses to the lens of the eye and the brain of staff can exceed 0.5
      Gy. More research is needed to understand the biological effects of cumulative
      incident air kerma and the instantaneous air kerma rates currently used in
      medical imaging. The new thresholds, and the need for specific occupational
      dosimetry related to lens doses, should be considered in radiation protection
      programmes, and should be included in the education and training of professionals
      involved in fluoroscopy guided procedures and computed tomography. 

PMID- 25816266
TI  - Non-cancer effects: science and values aspects of protection decisions.
AB  - The Nuclear Energy Agency organised its third workshop on 'Science and values in
      radiological protection' in November 2012 in Tokyo. One of the issues addressed,
      non-cancer effects, had also been addressed in the first two science and values
      workshops (Helsinki, Finland, 2008; Vaux-de-Cernay, France, 2009), but presented
      several new elements of relevance to International Commission on Radiological
      Protection discussions of the evolution of the system of radiological protection.
      Radiological protection science, both epidemiological and biological, now
      suggests that stroke and heart disease may well be caused by radiation exposure
      at doses of the order of 0.5 Gy or less. Further, it is possible that such
      detriments may be caused by either chronic or acute exposures. While significant
      uncertainties remain, the need to consider non-cancer detriment in risk
      assessment and in the development of protection strategies is now a significant
      scientific and ethical question. This paper will present the results of the
      Nuclear Energy Agency science and values workshop discussion of non-cancer risks,
      and of the questions and possible future directions raised during the workshop. 

PMID- 25816267
TI  - Implications of the implementation of the revised dose limit to the lens of the
      eye: the view of IRPA professionals.
AB  - In April 2011, the International Commission on Radiological Protection issued a
      statement on reduction of the equivalent dose limits for the lens of the eye, and
      strongly recommended its consideration in the revision of the International
      Atomic Energy Agency's International Basic Safety Standards on Radiation
      Protection. The reduced dose limit was incorporated in the final version of the
      Basic Safety Standards. As significant concern was expressed by radiation
      protection professionals worldwide, the International Radiation Protection
      Association (IRPA) established a task group to assess the impact of
      implementation of the revised dose limit for the lens of the eye for occupational
      exposure. IRPA Associate Societies (ASs) were asked for their views using a
      questionnaire addressing three topics: implications for dosimetry, implications
      for methods of protection, and wider implications. The responses received
      indicate various methods of approach and express different points of view,
      reflecting nuances of particular ASs or specific professional groups. Topic
      experts nominated by ASs were selected to assist with collation of responses, and
      a report was produced by the task group. Conclusions were drawn on the three
      issues, including potential cost implications. A number of recommendations were
      drawn from the responses received including: the request for more understanding
      about the relationship between exposure of the lens of the eye and cataract
      formation, and further guidance to assist implementation; the importance of
      economic and social considerations when introducing the limits into national
      regulations; the need to propose or define procedures related to employment of
      people with existing or pre-cataract conditions; and the practical aspects
      relating to dosimetry and protective equipment. 

PMID- 25816268
TI  - Engaging with local stakeholders: some lessons from Fukushima for recovery.
AB  - The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident contaminated the soil of
      densely populated regions in Fukushima prefecture with radioactive caesium, which
      poses significant risks of internal and external exposure to the residents.
      Applying the knowledge of post-Chernobyl accident studies, internal exposures in
      excess of a few mSv per year would be expected to be common in Fukushima.
      However, extensive whole-body-counter surveys have shown that the internal
      exposure levels of residents are much lower than estimated; in 2012-2013, the Cs
      137 detection percentages (the detection limit being ~300 Bq body(-1)) were
      approximately 1% for adults and practically 0% for children. These results are
      consistent with those of many other measurements/studies conducted to date in
      Fukushima. As a consequence, risks from external exposure assume greater
      importance for the majority of residents in Fukushima due to the lower
      contribution from internal exposure. In both cases, average doses remain low,
      although some residents are exposed to higher-than-average risks; it is these
      members of the population who need to be identified and followed-up.
      Consequently, it is essential to re-establish communication at all levels in
      society. 

PMID- 25816269
TI  - Experience and current issues with recovery management from the Fukushima
      accident.
AB  - This paper describes the experiences of, and issues with, recovery management
      following the accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The Fukushima
      accident has brought about socio-economic consequences with inevitable changes to
      daily life, as well as psychological effects. There is heightened concern amongst
      the population about the risk and effects of radiation at low doses. Experience
      has shown that the direct involvement of the affected population and local
      professionals is a decisive factor for management of the recovery phase. The
      radiological protection system of the International Commission on Radiological
      Protection (ICRP) seems to be relevant to the recovery requirements of the
      Fukushima accident, although some problems remain in implementation. Reference
      levels could play a role in improving the situation by requiring an iterative
      optimisation process. The Fukushima experience indicated that a routine, top-down
      approach using radiological criteria alone was unable to deal with the complexity
      of the problems, and that stakeholder engagement should be explored. The
      technical knowledge gap between radiation experts and the public caused a lot of
      confusion. Experts should understand the ethical values attached to recovery, and
      ICRP should be more active in promoting trustworthy radiological protection
      advice. 

PMID- 25816270
TI  - Decision making for late-phase recovery from nuclear or radiological incidents:
      new guidance from NCRP.
AB  - In 2010, the US National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP)
      established a scientific committee (SC5-1) to prepare a comprehensive report on
      the framework and approach for optimising decision making in late-phase recovery
      from nuclear or radiological incidents that lead to wide-area contamination. The
      NCRP report builds on recommendations from the International Commission on
      Radiological Protection's (ICRP) Publication 111 which specifically addresses the
      protection of people living in long-term contaminated areas. Based on this
      approach, the report addresses all relevant dimensions: health, environment,
      economic, psychological, cultural, ethical, and political. NCRP, like ICRP,
      considers optimisation to be the best approach to decision making for balancing
      these multiple risk factors in situations involving wide-area contamination where
      the conventional clean-up approach may encounter some serious constraints. The
      NCRP report describes optimisation as an iterative process that can be broken
      down into a series of steps, all of which involve deliberations with stakeholders
      as a necessary element for a community-focused recovery effort. The steps,
      elaborated on in the report, range from defining the situation to a series of
      actions involving assessing impacts, evaluating options, developing a strategy,
      and demonstrating its successful implementation. In conclusion, the NCRP report
      makes a series of recommendations aimed at enhancing and strengthening late-phase
      recovery following a major nuclear or radiological incident. 

PMID- 25816271
TI  - Review of the ICRP system of protection: the approach to existing exposure
      situations.
AB  - The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) system of
      protection consists of existing, planned, and emergency exposure situations. With
      the 2007 Recommendations in ICRP Publication 103, a coherent approach has been
      established that emphasises the optimisation of protection with appropriate
      constraints or reference levels in each exposure situation. Existing exposure
      situations pose unique challenges because the source of exposure already exists,
      and it may not always be possible to control the source directly. This is the
      case for naturally occurring sources, which are ubiquitous in the environment and
      vary widely in the magnitude of exposures that may be received by individuals.
      Decisions on protection strategies must consider a graded, pragmatic, and
      flexible approach for dealing with exposure of members of the public, and those
      that may be occupationally exposed while working with naturally occurring
      sources. Although limits are not applicable, aspects of the management approach
      for planned exposure situations may be appropriate, depending upon the magnitude
      of exposures. 

PMID- 25816272
TI  - Application of the Commission's recommendations to naturally occurring
      radioactive material.
AB  - Since publication of the 2007 Recommendations (ICRP Publication 103), the
      International Commission on Radiological Protection has focused on preparing a
      series of publications dedicated to different types of existing exposure
      situations, such as radon exposure, cosmic exposure in aviation, and exposure to
      naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). The publication related to NORM
      will present the main types of corresponding activities, and describe the
      characteristics of NORM exposure. It will also develop a conceptual framework for
      the practical application of the Commission's system to NORM exposure. In
      particular, the publication will explain why NORM activities are generally
      considered to be existing exposure situations, and when some of them should be
      managed as planned exposure situations. It will indicate when the workers should
      be considered as occupationally exposed. It will also provide recommendations
      regarding application of the three principles of radiological protection. The
      need to consider the justification of the re-use or recycling of residues
      carefully will be highlighted. Guidance will be provided for selection of the
      reference level, and for implementation of the optimisation process through a
      graded approach including both prevention and mitigation of exposures.
      Flexibility will be recommended for the application of dose limits, notably when
      the situation is managed as a planned exposure situation. 

PMID- 25816273
TI  - What should a radiation regulator do about naturally occurring radioactive
      material?
AB  - The standard regulatory framework of authorisation, review and assessment,
      inspection and enforcement, and regulation making is directed principally towards
      ensuring the regulatory control of planned exposure situations. Some mining and
      industrial activities involving exposures to naturally occurring radioactive
      material (NORM), such as uranium mining or the treatment and conditioning of NORM
      residues, may fit readily within this standard framework. In other cases, such as
      oil and gas exploration and production, the standard regulatory framework needs
      to be adjusted. For example, it is not sensible to require that an oil company
      seek a licence from the radiation regulator before drilling a well. The paper
      discusses other approaches that a regulator might take to assure protection and
      safety in such activities involving exposures to NORM, including the use of
      conditional exemptions from regulatory controls. It also suggests some areas
      where further guidance from the International Commission on Radiological
      Protection on application of the system of radiological protection to NORM would
      assist both regulators and operators. 

PMID- 25816274
TI  - Radiological protection in North American naturally occurring radioactive
      material industries.
AB  - All soils and rocks contain naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). Many
      ores and raw materials contain relatively high levels of natural radionuclides,
      and processing such materials can further increase the concentrations of natural
      radionuclides, sometimes referred to as 'technologically enhanced naturally
      occurring radioactive material' (TENORM). Examples of NORM minerals include
      uranium ores, monazite (a source of rare earth minerals), and phosphate rock used
      to produce phosphate fertiliser. Such activities have the potential to result in
      above background radiation exposure to workers and the public. The objective of
      this paper is to review the sources and exposure from NORM in North American
      industries, and provide a perspective on the potential radiological hazards to
      workers and the environment. Proper consideration of NORM issues is important and
      needs to be integrated in the assessment of these projects. Concerns over
      radioactivity and radiation amongst non-governmental organisations and the local
      public have resulted in the cancellation of NORM mining and mineral extraction
      projects, as well as inhibition of the safe use of by-product materials from
      various NORM industries. This paper also briefly comments on the current
      regulatory framework for NORM (TENORM) in Canada and the USA, as well as the
      potential implications of the recent activities of the International Commission
      on Radiological Protection for NORM industries. 

PMID- 25816276
TI  - ICRP's approach to protection of the living environment under different exposure
      situations.
AB  - The International Commission on Radiological Protection's (ICRP) system to
      protect the living components of the environment is designed to provide a broad
      and practical framework across all exposure situations. The objectives of ICRP
      are therefore also set in fairly broad terms, recognising that national and local
      environmental protection requirements may need to be set within them. The
      framework recognises the need to be able to demonstrate an adequate level of
      protection in relation to planned exposure situations, whilst also providing an
      ability to manage existing situations and accidents, as well as emergency
      situations, in a rational way. The objects of protection are always real biota in
      real exposure situations, and the scientific basis for their protection needs to
      be based on data originating from studies on the relationships between exposure
      and dose, dose and effects, and effects and consequences in real animals and
      plants. The framework that has been developed has therefore had to take such
      realities into account to make the optimum use of the data currently available,
      whilst being sufficiently flexible to accommodate new scientific information as
      it arises without having to alter the framework as a whole. 

PMID- 25816275
TI  - Construction of a naturally occurring radioactive material project in the BeAAT
      hazardous waste facilities.
AB  - This paper does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Commission
      on Radiological Protection. Naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) is
      produced during exploration and production operations of subsidiaries of the Abu
      Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) in the United Arab Emirates, and accumulates
      in drilling tubulars, plant equipment, and components. These NORM hazardous
      wastes need to be managed in such a way that they do not damage human health and
      the environment. The primary radionuclides of concern in the oil and gas
      industries are radium-226 and radium-228. These radioisotopes are the decay
      products of uranium and thorium isotopes that are present in subsurface
      formations from which hydrocarbons are produced. While uranium and thorium are
      largely immobile, radium is slightly more soluble and may become mobilised in the
      fluid phases of the formation (International Association of Oil & Gas Producers,
      2008). In order to treat and dispose of NORM waste products safely, ADNOC's
      subsidiary 'TAKREER' is developing a new facility, on behalf of all ADNOC
      subsidiaries, within the existing Central Environmental Protection Facilities
      (BeAAT) in Ruwais city. The NORM plant is envisaged to treat, handle, and dispose
      of NORM waste in the forms of scale, sludge, and contaminated equipment. The NORM
      treatment facility will cover activities such as decontamination, volume
      reduction, NORM handling, and concrete immobilisation of NORM waste into packages
      for designated landfilling. 

PMID- 25816277
TI  - Establishing relationships between environmental exposures to radionuclides and
      the consequences for wildlife: inferences and weight of evidence.
AB  - Ecological risk assessments for radioactive substances are based on a number of
      inference rules to compensate for knowledge gaps, and generally require the
      implementation of a weight-of-evidence approach. Until recently, dose (rate)
      response relationships used to derive radioprotection criteria for wildlife have
      mainly relied on laboratory studies from a limited number of species as
      representatives of biodiversity. There is no doubt that additional knowledge,
      combined with advanced conceptual and mathematical approaches, is needed to
      develop general rules and increase confidence when extrapolating from test
      species to complex biological/ecological systems. Moreover, field data sets based
      on robust sampling strategies are still needed to validate benchmark values
      derived from controlled laboratory tests, and to indicate potential indirect
      ecological effects, if any. This paper illustrates, through several examples, the
      need for implementing a combined laboratory-field-model approach to obtain
      science-based benchmark doses (or dose rates) (e.g. screening benchmarks for
      ecological risk assessments or derived consideration reference levels), based on
      robust meta-analysis of dose-effect relationships covering ecologically relevant
      exposure time scales, species, and endpoints. 

PMID- 25816278
TI  - Use of the ICRP system for the protection of marine ecosystems.
AB  - The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recently
      reinforced the international system of radiological protection, initially focused
      on humans, by identifying principles of environmental protection and proposing a
      framework for assessing impacts of ionising radiation on non-human species, based
      on a reference flora and fauna approach. For this purpose, ICRP developed
      dosimetric models for a set of Reference Animals and Plants, which are
      representative of flora and fauna in different environments (terrestrial,
      freshwater, marine), and produced criteria based on information on radiation
      effects, with the aim of evaluating the level of potential or actual radiological
      impacts, and as an input for decision making. The approach developed by ICRP for
      flora and fauna is consistent with the approach used to protect humans. The
      International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) includes considerations on the
      protection of the environment in its safety standards, and is currently
      developing guidelines to assess radiological impacts based on the aforementioned
      ICRP approach. This paper presents the method developed by IAEA, in a series of
      meetings with international experts, to enable assessment of the radiological
      impact to the marine environment in connection with the Convention on the
      Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972 (London
      Convention 1972). This method is based on IAEA's safety standards and ICRP's
      recommendations, and was presented in 2013 for consideration by representatives
      of the contracting parties of the London Convention 1972; it was approved for
      inclusion in its procedures, and is in the process of being incorporated into
      guidelines. 

PMID- 25816279
TI  - Radiological protection in computed tomography and cone beam computed tomography.
AB  - The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has sustained
      interest in radiological protection in computed tomography (CT), and ICRP
      Publications 87 and 102 focused on the management of patient doses in CT and
      multi-detector CT (MDCT) respectively. ICRP forecasted and 'sounded the alarm' on
      increasing patient doses in CT, and recommended actions for manufacturers and
      users. One of the approaches was that safety is best achieved when it is built
      into the machine, rather than left as a matter of choice for users. In view of
      upcoming challenges posed by newer systems that use cone beam geometry for CT
      (CBCT), and their widened usage, often by untrained users, a new ICRP task group
      has been working on radiological protection issues in CBCT. Some of the issues
      identified by the task group are: lack of standardisation of dosimetry in CBCT;
      the false belief within the medical and dental community that CBCT is a 'light',
      low-dose CT whereas mobile CBCT units and newer applications, particularly C-arm
      CT in interventional procedures, involve higher doses; lack of training in
      radiological protection among clinical users; and lack of dose information and
      tracking in many applications. This paper provides a summary of approaches used
      in CT and MDCT, and preliminary information regarding work just published for
      radiological protection in CBCT. 

PMID- 25816280
TI  - Patient dose monitoring in Dubai in radiography and interventional procedures.
AB  - This paper presents ongoing actions in Dubai on patient dose monitoring in
      digital radiographic examinations, mammography, interventional procedures, and
      dental radiological procedures. The aim of Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is to
      move towards the establishment of local diagnostic reference levels. DHA has
      participated in national and regional projects under the umbrella of the
      International Atomic Energy Agency. The need for local radiation protection
      educational programmes and wider patient dosimetry monitoring and recording
      emerged from this work. 

PMID- 25816281
TI  - Radiation epidemiology and recent paediatric computed tomography studies.
AB  - Recent record-linkage studies of cancer risk following computed tomography (CT)
      procedures among children and adolescents under 21 years of age must be
      interpreted with caution. The reasons why the examinations were performed were
      not known, and the dosimetric approaches did not include individual dose
      reconstructions or account for the possibility for missed examinations. The
      recent report (2013) on children by the United Nations Scientific Committee on
      the Effects of Atomic Radiation concluded that the associations may have resulted
      from confounding by indication (also called 'reverse causation'), and not
      radiation exposure. The reported cancer associations may very well have been
      related to the patients' underlying health conditions that prompted the
      examinations. Reverse causation has been observed in other epidemiological
      investigations, such as a Swedish study of thyroid cancer risk following I-131
      scintillation imaging scans, and in studies of brain cancer risk following
      Thorotrast for cerebral angiography. Epidemiological patterns reported in the CT
      studies were also inconsistent with the world's literature. For example, in a UK
      study, teenagers had a higher risk of brain tumour than young children; in an
      Australian study, cancers not previously linked to radiation were significantly
      elevated; and in a Taiwanese study, the risk of benign tumours decreased with age
      at the time of CT examination. In all studies, solid tumours appeared much
      earlier than previously reported. Remarkably, in the Australian study, brain
      cancer excesses were seen regardless of whether or not the CT was to the head,
      i.e. a significant excess was reported for CT examinations of the abdomen and
      extremities, which involved no radiation exposure to the brain. In the UK study,
      the significance of the 'leukaemia' finding was only because myelodysplastic
      syndrome was added to the category, and there was no significance for leukaemia
      alone. Without knowledge of why CT examinations were performed, any future
      studies will be equally difficult to interpret. It is noteworthy that two recent
      studies of children in France and Germany found no significant excess cancer risk
      from CT scans once adjustment was made for conditions that prompted the scan,
      family history, or other predisposing factors known to be associated with
      increased cancer risk. Nonetheless, such studies have heightened awareness of
      these relatively high-dose diagnostic procedures, and the need to reduce
      unnecessary examinations and lower the dose per examination commensurate with the
      desired image quality. 

PMID- 25816282
TI  - Use of effective dose in medicine.
AB  - This paper does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Commission
      on Radiological Protection. The protection quantity 'effective dose' was
      developed by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) for
      use in the radiological protection of workers and the public. In this context, it
      is used as a risk-adjusted dosimetric quantity to optimise protection, comparing
      received or planned doses with constraints, reference levels, and limits
      expressed in the same quantity. Considering exposures incurred during medical
      procedures, effective dose can be of practical value for comparing: doses from
      different diagnostic examinations and interventional procedures; the use of
      similar technologies and procedures in different hospitals and countries; and the
      use of different technologies for the same medical examination, provided that the
      representative patients or patient populations for which the effective doses are
      derived are similar with regard to age and sex. However, as stated in ICRP
      Publication 103, '... risk assessment for medical diagnosis and treatment... is
      best evaluated using appropriate risk values for the individual tissues at risk
      and for the age and sex distribution of the individuals undergoing the medical
      procedures'. This topic was explored in a session of the First ICRP Symposium
      with arguments for and against the use of a new quantity referred to as
      'effective risk', and examination of variations in estimated risk for different
      diagnostic procedures according to the age and sex of the exposed individuals.
      This paper restates the primary purposes of effective dose, and summarises
      estimates of variation in individual risk from medical procedures. The authors
      support the judicious use of effective dose as an indicator of possible risk, but
      caution against the use of effective risk as compared with the calculation of
      scientific best estimates of risk with consideration of associated uncertainties.

PMID- 25816283
TI  - Exposures and effects in the marine environment after the Fukushima accident.
AB  - This paper does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Commission
      on Radiological Protection. Radiation doses to marine biota near the Fukushima
      Daiichi nuclear power plant have been estimated for the immediate aftermath and
      subsequent period of the accident. Dose estimations using monitoring data have
      been complemented by means of dynamic transfer modelling, improving on the more
      traditional equilibrium transfer approach. Earlier assessments using equilibrium
      transfer models overestimated the exposures in the immediate aftermath of the
      accident, whereas dynamic transfer modelling brings them more in line with the
      doses calculated from monitored activity concentrations in the biota. On that
      basis, marine biota populations in the vicinity of Fukushima do not seem to be at
      significant risk. The situation in the late post-accident period shows a tendency
      for lower exposures, but radiocaesium in sediments and biota persists to this
      day, with some organisms inhabiting local hotspots. Little is known about how
      long radionuclides will continue to remain in the local environment, or the long
      term effects on populations due to limited knowledge on the effects of chronic
      radiation exposures to marine organisms. Therefore, the marine environment at
      Fukushima needs further study. The Fukushima nuclear accident remains an ongoing
      problem for marine radioecology, requiring constant re-evaluation of the
      cumulative extent of contamination and effects on the environment for years to
      come. 

PMID- 25816284
TI  - MicroRNA profiling of atrial fibrillation in canines: miR-206 modulates intrinsic
      cardiac autonomic nerve remodeling by regulating SOD1.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A critical mechanism in atrial fibrillation (AF) is cardiac autonomic
      nerve remodeling (ANR). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that
      regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Numerous miRNAs are
      involved in diseases of the nervous and cardiovascular systems. OBJECTIVE: We
      aimed to assess the underlying role of miRNAs in regulating cardiac ANR in AF by
      right atrial tachypacing (A-TP) in canines. METHODS AND RESULTS: Following 4-week
      A-TP, the superior left ganglionated plexuses (SLGPs), which are embedded in the
      fat pads of the left atrium, were subjected to miRNA expression profiling to
      screen preferentially expressed miRNAs. Sixteen miRNAs showed significantly
      differential expression between the control and A-TP groups, including miR-206,
      miR-203, miR-224 and miR-137. In particular, we focused on miR-206, which was
      elevated ~10-fold in A-TP dogs. Forced expression of miR-206 through lentiviral
      infection based on A-TP in vivo significantly shortened the atrial effective
      refractory period (AERP) (81 +/- 7 vs. 98 +/- 7 ms, P < 0.05).
      Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the regeneration of nerves increased
      more than 2-fold by miR-206 overexpression (P < 0.01). The expression of
      superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) was repressed by miR-206 overexpression by Western
      blot and luciferase assay, indicative of SOD1 as a direct target of miR-206.
      Overexpression of miR-206 increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in vitro
      and in vivo, whereas miR-206 silencing attenuated irradiation- or A-TP-induced
      ROS. Knockdown of SOD1 effectively abolished ROS reduction caused by miR-206
      silencing. CONCLUSIONS: Our results found the differential expression of miRNAs
      in response to ANR in AF and elucidated the important role of miR-206 by
      targeting SOD1. The study illustrated the novel molecular mechanism of ANR and
      indicated a potential therapeutic target for AF.

PMID- 25816285
TI  - Improving the performance of an EEG-based motor imagery brain computer interface
      using task evoked changes in pupil diameter.
AB  - For individuals with high degrees of motor disability or locked-in syndrome, it
      is impractical or impossible to use mechanical switches to interact with
      electronic devices. Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) can use motor imagery to
      detect interaction intention from users but lack the accuracy of mechanical
      switches. Hence, there exists a strong need to improve the accuracy of EEG-based
      motor imagery BCIs attempting to implement an on/off switch. Here, we investigate
      how monitoring the pupil diameter of a person as a psycho-physiological parameter
      in addition to traditional EEG channels can improve the classification accuracy
      of a switch-like BCI. We have recently noticed in our lab (work not yet
      published) how motor imagery is associated with increases in pupil diameter when
      compared to a control rest condition. The pupil diameter parameter is easily
      accessible through video oculography since most gaze tracking systems report
      pupil diameter invariant to head position. We performed a user study with 30
      participants using a typical EEG based motor imagery BCI. We used common spatial
      patterns to separate motor imagery, signaling movement intention, from a rest
      control condition. By monitoring the pupil diameter of the user and using this
      parameter as an additional feature, we show that the performance of the
      classifier trying to discriminate motor imagery from a control condition improves
      over the traditional approach using just EEG derived features. Given the
      limitations of EEG to construct highly robust and reliable BCIs, we postulate
      that multi-modal approaches, such as the one presented here that monitor several
      psycho-physiological parameters, can be a successful strategy in making BCIs more
      accurate and less vulnerable to constraints such as requirements for long
      training sessions or high signal to noise ratio of electrode channels. 

PMID- 25816286
TI  - An integrative approach for modeling and simulation of heterocyst pattern
      formation in cyanobacteria filaments.
AB  - Heterocyst differentiation in cyanobacteria filaments is one of the simplest
      examples of cellular differentiation and pattern formation in multicellular
      organisms. Despite of the many experimental studies addressing the evolution and
      sustainment of heterocyst patterns and the knowledge of the genetic circuit
      underlying the behavior of single cyanobacterium under nitrogen deprivation,
      there is still a theoretical gap connecting these two macroscopic and microscopic
      processes. As an attempt to shed light on this issue, here we explore heterocyst
      differentiation under the paradigm of systems biology. This framework allows us
      to formulate the essential dynamical ingredients of the genetic circuit of a
      single cyanobacterium into a set of differential equations describing the time
      evolution of the concentrations of the relevant molecular products. As a result,
      we are able to study the behavior of a single cyanobacterium under different
      external conditions, emulating nitrogen deprivation, and simulate the dynamics of
      cyanobacteria filaments by coupling their respective genetic circuits via
      molecular diffusion. These two ingredients allow us to understand the principles
      by which heterocyst patterns can be generated and sustained. In particular, our
      results point out that, by including both diffusion and noisy external conditions
      in the computational model, it is possible to reproduce the main features of the
      formation and sustainment of heterocyst patterns in cyanobacteria filaments as
      observed experimentally. Finally, we discuss the validity and possible
      improvements of the model. 

PMID- 25816287
TI  - Cessation of mass drug administration for lymphatic filariasis in Zanzibar in
      2006: was transmission interrupted?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is targeted for elimination through annual
      mass drug administration (MDA) for 4-6 years. In 2006, Zanzibar stopped MDA
      against LF after five rounds of MDA revealed no microfilaraemic individuals
      during surveys at selected sentinel sites. We asked the question if LF
      transmission was truly interrupted in 2006 when MDA was stopped.
      METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In line with ongoing efforts to shrink the LF
      map, we performed the WHO recommended transmission assessment surveys (TAS) in
      January 2012 to verify the absence of LF transmission on the main Zanzibar
      islands of Unguja and Pemba. Altogether, 3275 children were tested on both
      islands and 89 were found to be CFA positive; 70 in Pemba and 19 in Unguja. The
      distribution of schools with positive children was heterogeneous with pronounced
      spatial variation on both islands. Based on the calculated TAS cut-offs of 18 and
      20 CFA positive children for Pemba and Unguja respectively, we demonstrated that
      transmission was still ongoing in Pemba where the cut-off was exceeded.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated ongoing transmission of LF on Pemba in 2012.
      Moreover, we presented evidence from previous studies that LF transmission was
      also active on Unguja shortly after stopping MDA in 2006. Based on these
      observations the government of Zanzibar decided to resume MDA against LF on both
      islands in 2013.

PMID- 25816288
TI  - Comparative genomic analysis reveals a critical role of de novo nucleotide
      biosynthesis for Saccharomyces cerevisiae virulence.
AB  - In recent years, the number of human infection cases produced by the food related
      species Saccharomyces cerevisiae has increased. Whereas many strains of this
      species are considered safe, other 'opportunistic' strains show a high degree of
      potential virulence attributes and can cause infections in immunocompromised
      patients. Here we studied the genetic characteristics of selected opportunistic
      strains isolated from dietary supplements and also from patients by array
      comparative genomic hybridization. Our results show increased copy numbers of IMD
      genes in opportunistic strains, which are implicated in the de novo biosynthesis
      of the purine nucleotides pathway. The importance of this pathway for virulence
      of S. cerevisiae was confirmed by infections in immunodeficient murine models
      using a GUA1 mutant, a key gene of this pathway. We show that exogenous guanine,
      an end product of this pathway in its triphosphorylated form, increases the
      survival of yeast strains in ex vivo blood infections. Finally, we show the
      importance of the DNA damage response that activates dNTP biosynthesis in yeast
      cells during ex vivo blood infections. We conclude that opportunistic yeasts may
      use an enhanced de novo biosynthesis of the purine nucleotides pathway to
      increase survival and favor infections in the host.

PMID- 25816289
TI  - Worse breast cancer prognosis of BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation carriers: what's the
      evidence? A systematic review with meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Conflicting conclusions have been published regarding breast cancer
      survival of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. Here we provide an evidence-based
      systematic literature review. METHODS: Eligible publications were observational
      studies assessing the survival of breast cancer patients carrying a BRCA1/2
      mutation compared to non-carriers or the general breast cancer population. We
      performed meta-analyses and best-evidence syntheses for survival outcomes taking
      into account study quality assessed by selection bias, misclassification bias and
      confounding. RESULTS: Sixty-six relevant studies were identified. Moderate
      evidence for a worse unadjusted recurrence-free survival for BRCA1 mutation
      carriers was found. For BRCA1 and BRCA2 there was a tendency towards a worse
      breast cancer-specific and overall survival, however, results were heterogeneous
      and the evidence was judged to be indecisive. Surprisingly, only 8 studies
      considered adjuvant treatment as a confounder or effect modifier while only two
      studies took prophylactic surgery into account. Adjustment for tumour
      characteristics tended to shift the observed risk estimates towards a relatively
      more favourable survival. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to currently held beliefs of
      some oncologists, current evidence does not support worse breast cancer survival
      of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers in the adjuvant setting; differences if any are
      likely to be small. More well-designed studies are awaited.

PMID- 25816290
TI  - Model-independent phenotyping of C. elegans locomotion using scale-invariant
      feature transform.
AB  - To uncover the genetic basis of behavioral traits in the model organism C.
      elegans, a common strategy is to study locomotion defects in mutants. Despite
      efforts to introduce (semi-)automated phenotyping strategies, current methods
      overwhelmingly depend on worm-specific features that must be hand-crafted and as
      such are not generalizable for phenotyping motility in other animal models.
      Hence, there is an ongoing need for robust algorithms that can automatically
      analyze and classify motility phenotypes quantitatively. To this end, we have
      developed a fully-automated approach to characterize C. elegans' phenotypes that
      does not require the definition of nematode-specific features. Rather, we make
      use of the popular computer vision Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) from
      which we construct histograms of commonly-observed SIFT features to represent
      nematode motility. We first evaluated our method on a synthetic dataset
      simulating a range of nematode crawling gaits. Next, we evaluated our algorithm
      on two distinct datasets of crawling C. elegans with mutants affecting
      neuromuscular structure and function. Not only is our algorithm able to detect
      differences between strains, results capture similarities in locomotory
      phenotypes that lead to clustering that is consistent with expectations based on
      genetic relationships. Our proposed approach generalizes directly and should be
      applicable to other animal models. Such applicability holds promise for
      computational ethology as more groups collect high-resolution image data of
      animal behavior. 

PMID- 25816291
TI  - Decorin binding proteins of Borrelia burgdorferi promote arthritis development
      and joint specific post-treatment DNA persistence in mice.
AB  - Decorin binding proteins A and B (DbpA and B) of Borrelia burgdorferi are of
      critical importance for the virulence of the spirochete. The objective of the
      present study was to further clarify the contribution of DbpA and B to
      development of arthritis and persistence of B. burgdorferi after antibiotic
      treatment in a murine model of Lyme borreliosis. With that goal, mice were
      infected with B. burgdorferi strains expressing either DbpA or DbpB, or both DbpA
      and B, or with a strain lacking the adhesins. Arthritis development was monitored
      up to 15 weeks after infection, and bacterial persistence was studied after
      ceftriaxone and immunosuppressive treatments. Mice infected with the B.
      burgdorferi strain expressing both DbpA and B developed an early and prominent
      joint swelling. In contrast, while strains that expressed DbpA or B alone, or the
      strain that was DbpA and B deficient, were able to colonize mouse joints, they
      caused only negligible joint manifestations. Ceftriaxone treatment at two or six
      weeks of infection totally abolished joint swelling, and all ceftriaxone treated
      mice were B. burgdorferi culture negative. Antibiotic treated mice, which were
      immunosuppressed by anti-TNF-alpha, remained culture negative. Importantly, among
      ceftriaxone treated mice, B. burgdorferi DNA was detected by PCR uniformly in
      joint samples of mice infected with DbpA and B expressing bacteria, while this
      was not observed in mice infected with the DbpA and B deficient strain. In
      conclusion, these results show that both DbpA and B adhesins are crucial for
      early and prominent arthritis development in mice. Also, post-treatment borrelial
      DNA persistence appears to be dependent on the expression of DbpA and B on B.
      burgdorferi surface. Results of the immunosuppression studies suggest that the
      persisting material in the joints of antibiotic treated mice is DNA or DNA
      containing remnants rather than live bacteria. 

PMID- 25816292
TI  - Prevalence and associated factors of unprotected anal intercourse with regular
      male sex partners among HIV negative men who have sex with men in China: a cross
      sectional survey.
AB  - The HIV prevalence and incidence among men who have sex with men (MSM) in China
      are high. Unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) with a regular male sex partner
      (RP), a significant predictor of HIV sero-conversion, was high yet under
      emphasized among MSM having RP (MSMRP). The present cross-sectional survey
      interviewed 307 HIV negative MSMRP recruited through convenient sampling from
      multiple sources, including venue-based outreaching, online recruitment, and
      referrals made by peers, in Beijing and Chengdu, China. Among MSMRP, the
      prevalence of UAI with RP in the last three months was 52.4%. The results of the
      multivariate analysis showed that trust and intimacy within the relationship with
      RP and presence of clinical depression symptoms were positively associated with
      UAI with RP in the last three months. Other associated scalar factors derived
      from the Theory of Planned Behavior were related to perceptions on condom use,
      including positive attitudes toward condom use (a negative association),
      subjective norm of the perception that MSM do not usually use condoms during anal
      intercourse with RP (a positive association), perceived behavioral control over
      condom use with RP (a negative association), and behavioral intention to use
      condoms with RP in the coming three months (a negative association). It is seen
      that MSMRP were at high risk of HIV/STD transmission. The associated factors
      hence involved those related to perceptions about condom use, mental health, and
      interpersonal relationship. Future interventions should take these multi
      dimensional factors into account. In particular, future research to test the
      efficacy of couple-based interventions that include mental health elements needs
      to be conducted, as trust and intimacy within the relationship were associated
      with UAI among MSMRP, and mental health problems may exist for both the MSMRP and
      their RP. 

PMID- 25816293
TI  - Dissecting antibodies with regards to linear and conformational epitopes.
AB  - An important issue for the performance and specificity of an antibody is the
      nature of the binding to its protein target, including if the recognition
      involves linear or conformational epitopes. Here, we dissect polyclonal sera by
      creating epitope-specific antibody fractions using a combination of epitope
      mapping and an affinity capture approach involving both synthesized peptides and
      recombinant protein fragments. This allowed us to study the relative amounts of
      antibodies to linear and conformational epitopes in the polyclonal sera as well
      as the ability of each antibody-fraction to detect its target protein in Western
      blot assays. The majority of the analyzed polyclonal sera were found to have most
      of the target-specific antibodies directed towards linear epitopes and these were
      in many cases giving Western blot bands of correct molecular weight. In contrast,
      many of the antibodies towards conformational epitopes did not bind their target
      proteins in the Western blot assays. The results from this work have given us
      insights regarding the nature of the antibody response generated by immunization
      with recombinant protein fragments and has demonstrated the advantage of using
      antibodies recognizing linear epitopes for immunoassay involving wholly or
      partially denatured protein targets. 

PMID- 25816294
TI  - Transcriptome analysis of Bombyx mori larval midgut during persistent and
      pathogenic cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus infection.
AB  - Many insects can be persistently infected with viruses but do not show any
      obvious adverse effects with respect to physiology, development or reproduction.
      Here, Bombyx mori strain Daizo, persistently infected with cytoplasmic
      polyhedrosis virus (BmCPV), was used to study the host's transcriptional response
      after pathogenic infection with the same virus in midgut tissue of larvae
      persistently and pathogenically infected as 2nd and 4th instars. Next generation
      sequencing revealed that from 13,769 expressed genes, 167 were upregulated and
      141 downregulated in both larval instars following pathogenic infection. Several
      genes that could possibly be involved in B. mori immune response against BmCPV or
      that may be induced by the virus in order to increase infectivity were
      identified, whereas classification of differentially expressed transcripts
      (confirmed by qRT-PCR) resulted in gene categories related to physical barriers,
      immune responses, proteolytic/metabolic enzymes, heat-shock proteins, hormonal
      signaling and uncharacterized proteins. Comparison of our data with the available
      literature (pathogenic infection of persistently vs. non-persistently infected
      larvae) unveiled various similarities of response in both cases, which suggests
      that pre-existing persistent infection does not affect in a major way the
      transcriptome response against pathogenic infection. To investigate the possible
      host's RNAi response against BmCPV challenge, the differential expression of RNAi
      related genes and the accumulation of viral small RNAs (vsRNAs) were studied.
      During pathogenic infection, siRNA-like traces like the 2-fold up-regulation of
      the core RNAi genes Ago-2 and Dcr-2 as well as a peak of 20 nt small RNAs were
      observed. Interestingly, vsRNAs of the same size were detected at lower rates in
      persistently infected larvae. Collectively, our data provide an initial
      assessment of the relative significance of persistent infection of silkworm
      larvae on the host response following pathogenic infection with CPV, while they
      also highlight the relative importance of RNAi as an antiviral mechanism.

PMID- 25816295
TI  - Reward-related attentional bias and adolescent substance use: a prognostic
      relationship?
AB  - Current cognitive-motivational addiction theories propose that prioritizing
      appetitive, reward-related information (attentional bias) plays a vital role in
      substance abuse behavior. Previous cross-sectional research has shown that
      adolescent substance use is related to reward-related attentional biases. The
      present study was designed to extend these findings by testing whether these
      reward biases have predictive value for adolescent substance use at three-year
      follow-up. Participants (N = 657, mean age = 16.2 yrs at baseline) were a sub
      sample of Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a large
      longitudinal community cohort study. We used a spatial orienting task as a
      behavioral index of appetitive-related attentional processes at baseline and a
      substance use questionnaire at both baseline and three years follow-up. Bivariate
      correlational analyses showed that enhanced attentional engagement with cues that
      predicted potential reward and nonpunishment was positively associated with
      substance use (alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis) three years later. However, reward
      bias was not predictive of changes in substance use. A post-hoc analysis in a
      selection of adolescents who started using illicit drugs (other than cannabis) in
      the follow-up period demonstrated that stronger baseline attentional engagement
      toward cues of nonpunishment was related to a higher level of illicit drug use
      three years later. The finding that reward bias was not predictive for the
      increase in substance use in adolescents who already started using substances at
      baseline, but did show prognostic value in adolescents who initiated drug use in
      between baseline and follow-up suggests that appetitive bias might be especially
      important in the initiation stages of adolescent substance use. 

PMID- 25816297
TI  - Vegetative characters, growth habit and microsporangiate strobilus of lycopsid
      Minostrobus chaohuensis.
AB  - Late Devonian Minostrobus chaohuensis is one of the earliest monosporangiate
      strobilate isoetaleans. Based on new material of this plant, the vegetative axis
      and microsporangiate strobilus are studied in detail, and the whole plant
      knowledge is summarized. The vegetative axis is isotomously branched. The stem is
      up to 55 mm in diameter with helically arranged leaf cushions. Stems and thick
      branches bear long fusiform leaf cushions and interareas with vertical linear
      ornamentations. A ligule pit, oblanceolate leaf scar, and vascular bundle scar
      appear on the leaf cushion. Distal axes have persistent lanceolate leaves and
      rhombic leaf bases. The microsporangiate strobilus is cylindrical in shape,
      possesses sporophyll with alate pedicel and long triangular lamina, uniseriate
      sporangial wall, subarchesporial pad inside the sporangium, and microspore with
      cingulum. Based on comparisons with other isoetaleans, the usage of the terms
      "leaf cushion" and "leaf base" is discussed, and Minostrobus chaohuensis is
      considered as a tree-like lycopsid. It suggests that arborescent isoetaleans with
      monosporangiate strobili had appeared and diversified in the Late Devonian. The
      multi-dichotomous branching system of Minostrobus provides new data on the
      evolution of growth architecture in rhizomorphic lycopsids. 

PMID- 25816296
TI  - Efficacy and safety of sitagliptin added to insulin in Japanese patients with
      type 2 diabetes: the EDIT randomized trial.
AB  - AIMS: To clarify the efficacy and safety of adding sitagliptin to insulin therapy
      in Japanese patients with suboptimally controlled type 2 diabetes (T2DM). STUDY
      DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a 24-week, prospective, randomized, open-labeled,
      controlled trial. Patients with T2DM who were suboptimally controlled despite
      receiving at least twice daily injection of insulin were enrolled in the study.
      The patients were randomized to continuation of insulin treatment (Insulin group)
      or addition of sitagliptin 50 to 100 mg daily to insulin treatment (Ins+Sita
      group). The primary outcome was change in HbA1c at week 24. RESULTS: Adding
      sitagliptin to insulin significantly reduced HbA1c from 7.9 +/- 1.0% at baseline
      to 7.0 +/- 0.8% at week 24 (P <0.0001), while there was no significant change in
      HbA1c in the Insulin group (7.8 +/- 0.7% vs. 7.8 +/- 1.1%, P = 0.32). The
      difference in HbA1c reduction between the groups was 0.9% (95% confidence
      interval, 0.4 to 1.5, P = 0.01). There was no significant weight gain in either
      group. Incidence of hypoglycemia was significantly reduced in the Ins+Sita group
      compared with the Insulin group. Treatment satisfaction was improved in the
      Ins+Sita group. Baseline HbA1c level and beta cell function were associated with
      the magnitude of reduction in HbA1c in the Ins+Sita group. CONCLUSION: Adding
      sitagliptin to insulin reduced HbA1c without weight gain or increase in
      hypoglycemia, and improved treatment satisfaction in Japanese patients with T2DM
      who were suboptimally controlled despite at least twice daily injection of
      insulin. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The University Hospital Medical Information Network
      (UMIN) Clinical Trials Registry UMIN000004678.

PMID- 25816299
TI  - Direct medical cost of type 2 diabetes in singapore.
AB  - Due to the chronic nature of diabetes along with their complications, they have
      been recognised as a major health issue, which results in significant economic
      burden. This study aims to estimate the direct medical cost associated with type
      2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Singapore in 2010 and to examine both the
      relationship between demographic and clinical state variables with the total
      estimated expenditure. The National Healthcare Group (NHG) Chronic Disease
      Management System (CDMS) database was used to identify patients with T2DM in the
      year 2010. DM-attributable costs estimated included hospitalisations, accident
      and emergency (A&E) room visits, outpatient physician visits, medications,
      laboratory tests and allied health services. All charges and unit costs were
      provided by the NHG. A total of 500 patients with DM were identified for the
      analyses. The mean annual direct medical cost was found to be $2,034, of which
      61% was accounted for by inpatient services, 35% by outpatient services, and 4%
      by A&E services. Independent determinants of total costs were DM treatments such
      as the use of insulin only (p<0.001) and the combination of both oral medications
      and insulin (p=0.047) as well as having complications such as cerebrovascular
      disease (p<0.001), cardiovascular disease (p=0.002), peripheral vascular disease
      (p=0.001), and nephropathy (p=0.041). In this study, the cost of DM treatments
      and DM-related complications were found to be strong determinants of costs. This
      finding suggests an imperative need to address the economic burden associated
      with diabetes with urgency and to reorganise resources required to improve
      healthcare costs. 

PMID- 25816298
TI  - Low parasitemia in submicroscopic infections significantly impacts malaria
      diagnostic sensitivity in the highlands of Western Kenya.
AB  - Asymptomatic malaria infections represent a major challenge in malaria control
      and elimination in Africa. They are reservoirs of malaria parasite that can
      contribute to disease transmission. Therefore, identification and control of
      asymptomatic infections are important to make malaria elimination feasible. In
      this study, we investigated the extent and distribution of asymptomatic malaria
      in Western Kenya and examined how varying parasitemia affects performance of
      diagnostic methods including microscopy, conventional PCR, and quantitative PCR.
      In addition, we compared parasite prevalence rates and parasitemia levels with
      respect to topography and age in order to explore factors that influence malaria
      infection. Over 11,000 asymptomatic blood samples from children and adolescents
      up to 18 years old representing broad areas of Western Kenya were included.
      Quantitative PCR revealed the highest parasite positive rate among all methods
      and malaria prevalence in western Kenya varied widely from less than 1% to over
      50%. A significantly lower parasitemia was detected in highland than in lowland
      samples and this contrast was also observed primarily among submicroscopic
      samples. Although we found no correlation between parasitemia level and age,
      individuals of younger age group (aged <14) showed significantly higher parasite
      prevalence. In the lowlands, individuals of aged 5-14 showed significantly higher
      prevalence than those under age 5. Our findings highlight the need for a more
      sensitive and time-efficient assay for asymptomatic malaria detection
      particularly in areas of low-transmission. Combining QPCR with microscopy can
      enhance the capacity of detecting submicroscopic asymptomatic malaria infections.

PMID- 25816301
TI  - Female employment reduces fertility in rural Senegal.
AB  - Economic growth and modernization of society are generally associated with
      fertility rate decreases but which forces trigger this is unclear. In this paper
      we assess how fertility changes with increased labor market participation of
      women in rural Senegal. Evidence from high-income countries suggests that higher
      female employment rates lead to reduced fertility rates but evidence from
      developing countries at an early stage of demographic transition is largely
      absent. We concentrate on a rural area in northern Senegal where a recent boom in
      horticultural exports has been associated with a sudden increase in female off
      farm employment. Using survey data we show that employed women have a
      significantly higher age at marriage and at first childbirth, and significantly
      fewer children. As causal identification strategy we use instrumental variable
      and difference-in-differences estimations, combined with propensity score
      matching. We find that female employment reduces the number of children per woman
      by 25%, and that this fertility-reducing effect is as large for poor as for non
      poor women and larger for illiterate than for literate women. Results imply that
      female employment is a strong instrument for empowering rural women, reducing
      fertility rates and accelerating the demographic transition in poor countries.
      The effectiveness of family planning programs can increase if targeted to areas
      where female employment is increasing or to female employees directly because of
      a higher likelihood to reach women with low-fertility preferences. Our results
      show that changes in fertility preferences not necessarily result from a cultural
      evolution but can also be driven by sudden and individual changes in economic
      opportunities. 

PMID- 25816300
TI  - Mutation in MRPS34 compromises protein synthesis and causes mitochondrial
      dysfunction.
AB  - The evolutionary divergence of mitochondrial ribosomes from their bacterial and
      cytoplasmic ancestors has resulted in reduced RNA content and the acquisition of
      mitochondria-specific proteins. The mitochondrial ribosomal protein of the small
      subunit 34 (MRPS34) is a mitochondria-specific ribosomal protein found only in
      chordates, whose function we investigated in mice carrying a homozygous mutation
      in the nuclear gene encoding this protein. The Mrps34 mutation causes a
      significant decrease of this protein, which we show is required for the stability
      of the 12S rRNA, the small ribosomal subunit and actively translating ribosomes.
      The synthesis of all 13 mitochondrially-encoded polypeptides is compromised in
      the mutant mice, resulting in reduced levels of mitochondrial proteins and
      complexes, which leads to decreased oxygen consumption and respiratory complex
      activity. The Mrps34 mutation causes tissue-specific molecular changes that
      result in heterogeneous pathology involving alterations in fractional shortening
      of the heart and pronounced liver dysfunction that is exacerbated with age. The
      defects in mitochondrial protein synthesis in the mutant mice are caused by
      destabilization of the small ribosomal subunit that affects the stability of the
      mitochondrial ribosome with age. 

PMID- 25816302
TI  - Prolactin receptors and placental lactogen drive male mouse pancreatic islets to
      pregnancy-related mRNA changes.
AB  - Pregnancy requires a higher functional beta cell mass and this is associated with
      profound changes in the gene expression profile of pancreatic islets. Taking Tph1
      as a sensitive marker for pregnancy-related islet mRNA expression in female mice,
      we previously identified prolactin receptors and placental lactogen as key
      signalling molecules. Since beta cells from male mice also express prolactin
      receptors, the question arose whether male and female islets have the same
      phenotypic resilience at the mRNA level during pregnancy. We addressed this
      question in vitro, by stimulating cultured islets with placental lactogen and in
      vivo, by transplanting male or female islets into female acceptor mice.
      Additionally, the islet mRNA expression pattern of pregnant prolactin receptor
      deficient mice was compared with that of their pregnant wild-type littermates.
      When cultured with placental lactogen, or when transplanted in female recipients
      that became pregnant (day 12.5), male islets induced the 'islet pregnancy gene
      signature', which we defined as the 12 highest induced genes in non-transplanted
      female islets at day 12.5 of pregnancy. In addition, serotonin immunoreactivity
      and beta cell proliferation was also induced in these male transplanted islets at
      day 12.5 of pregnancy. In order to further investigate the importance of
      prolactin receptors in these mRNA changes we used a prolactin receptor deficient
      mouse model. For the 12 genes of the signature, which are highly induced in
      control pregnant mice, no significant induction of mRNA transcripts was found at
      day 9.5 of pregnancy. Together, our results support the key role of placental
      lactogen as a circulating factor that can trigger the pregnancy mRNA profile in
      both male and female beta cells. 

PMID- 25816304
TI  - Measuring and modelling the radiological impact of a phosphogypsum deposition
      site on the surrounding environment.
AB  - Phosphogypsum (PG) is a waste product (residue) from the production of phosphoric
      acid characterized by technologically enhanced natural radioactivity. Croatia's
      largest PG deposition site is situated at the edge of Lonjsko Polje Nature Park,
      a sensitive ecosystem possibly endangered by PG particles. This field study
      investigates two aspects relevant for the general radiological impact of PG: risk
      assessment for the environment and risk assessment for occupationally exposed
      workers and local inhabitants. Activity concentrations of natural radionuclides
      ((238)U, (235)U, (232)Th, (226)Ra, (210)Pb, and (40)K) were measured in the PG
      (at the deposition site), soil, and grass samples (in the vicinity of the site).
      The ERICA Assessment Tool was used to estimate the radiological impact of PG
      particles on non-human biota of the Lonjsko Polje Nature Park. The average annual
      effective dose for occupationally exposed workers was 0.4 mSv which was within
      the worldwide range.

PMID- 25816303
TI  - Lesion load may predict long-term cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis
      patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques provided evidences into
      the understanding of cognitive impairment (CIm) in Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
      OBJECTIVES: To investigate the role of white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) in
      predicting long-term CIm in a cohort of MS patients. METHODS: 303 out of 597
      patients participating in a previous multicenter clinical-MRI study were enrolled
      (49.4% were lost at follow-up). The following MRI parameters, expressed as
      fraction (f) of intracranial volume, were evaluated: cerebrospinal fluid (CSF-f),
      WM-f, GM-f and abnormal WM (AWM-f), a measure of lesion load. Nine years later,
      cognitive status was assessed in 241 patients using the Symbol Digit Modalities
      Test (SDMT), the Semantically Related Word List Test (SRWL), the Modified Card
      Sorting Test (MCST), and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). In
      particular, being SRWL a memory test, both immediate recall and delayed recall
      were evaluated. MCST scoring was calculated based on the number of categories,
      number of perseverative and non-perseverative errors. RESULTS: AWM-f was
      predictive of an impaired performance 9 years ahead in SDMT (OR 1.49, CI 1.12
      1.97 p = 0.006), PASAT (OR 1.43, CI 1.14-1.80 p = 0.002), SRWL-immediate recall
      (OR 1.72 CI 1.35-2.20 p<0.001), SRWL-delayed recall (OR 1.61 CI 1.28-2.03
      p<0.001), MCST-category (OR 1.52, CI 1.2-1.9 p<0.001), MCST-perseverative
      error(OR 1.51 CI 1.2-1.9 p = 0.001), MCST-non perseverative error (OR 1.26 CI
      1.02-1.55 p = 0.032). CONCLUSION: In our large MS cohort, focal WM damage
      appeared to be the most relevant predictor of the long-term cognitive outcome.

PMID- 25816305
TI  - Soluble CD14 and total IgE in the serum of atopic and nonatopic adolescents in
      relation to environmental factors: a pilot study.
AB  - The CD14 receptor is expressed on the surfaces of monocytes, macrophages, and, to
      a lesser extent, of activated granulocytes and B lymphocytes (mCD14). It also
      exists in soluble form in the serum (sCD14), in which it binds microbial
      compounds and indoor allergens. The objectives of this study were to see whether
      serum sCD14 concentrations could be used as a marker of atopic disorders and to
      estimate the effects of environmental factors (tobacco smoke exposure, childhood
      residence in urban or rural areas, and having a pet) on sCD14 and IgE values.
      Mass fraction of sCD14 and total IgE were determined in the sera of atopic (N=53)
      and non-atopic (N=35) participants using the standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent
      assay. Exposure to pets and environmental tobacco smoke was estimated based on
      the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire
      (ISAAC). Median sCD14 concentration was significantly lower in atopic than in non
      atopic girls (3.49 vs. 3.83 MUg mL(-1); p<0.010). The number of smokers at home
      positively correlated with the sCD14 level in atopics, and urban atopics had
      significantly lower sCD14 levels than rural atopics (3.47 vs. 3.92 MUg mL(-1),
      p=0.028). Median total IgE concentration was significantly lower in atopic pet
      owners than in atopics with no pets (161 vs. 252 kIU L(-1); p=0.021). In
      conclusion, while sex and environmental factors might be involved in sCD14
      expression, particularly in atopics, we found no correlation between sCD14 and
      total IgE concentrations. The usefulness of sCD14 as a marker of atopic disorders
      should be investigated further, particularly in relation to the severity of
      allergic disorders.

PMID- 25816306
TI  - In vivo toxicity of a new antifungal agent 2,4-dithiophenoxy-1-iodo-4-bromo
      benzene: a follow up on our in vitro study.
AB  - Triazole fungicide fluconazole has become the most widely used antifungal agent
      in the world, mainly because of its ability to penetrate well into body fluids
      and tissues. However, it has been reported to interact with many drugs and
      because of its common use, the risk of resistance to fluconazole increases. This
      calls for new anti-fungal drugs that would be able to replace it. In 2006, a new
      thialo benzene derivative - 2,4-dithiophenoxy-1-iodo-4-bromo benzene
      (C18H12S2IBr) - was synthesised with a carbon backbone similar to fluconazole,
      and, according to the early in vitro tests, much greater efficiency. Followed an
      in vitro test of its cytotoxicity, in which the new drug showed promising results
      as an alternative to fluconazole. The aim of this study was take the next step
      and test C18H12S2IBr toxicity in vivo. We opted for a four-week test on Wistar
      rats, in which the new antifungal agent was orally applied at doses two and a
      half and five times lower than those of fluconazole. There were no changes in
      daily food and water consumption, but weight gain in female rats and relative
      organ weights changed in the treated groups, pointing to sex-related differences
      in drug metabolism and effects. Fluconazole significantly increased leukocytes
      and lowered neutrophils whereas C18H12S2IBr did not, while other haematological
      changes in respect to the vehicle control were similar between the treated
      groups. Differences in cytochrome c in the liver and kidney suggested greater
      apoptotic effect of the new drug, but interpretation remains inconclusive,
      considering that other key indicators (biochemistry and histopathology) do not
      support greater toxicity. Considering that C18H12S2IBr is more active at lower
      concentrations and has comparable toxic effects to fluconazole in rats, this new
      compound shows some promise in the treatment of fungal infections. Future, more
      detailed animal studies are needed, that will include drug interactions and
      molecular toxicity pathways. If the results are promising, clinical studies
      should follow.

PMID- 25816307
TI  - Atrazine levels in the Jaboticabal water stream (Sao Paulo State, Brazil) and its
      toxicological effects on the pacu fish Piaractus mesopotamicus.
AB  - The aim of this study was to determine the environmental concentration of
      atrazine (ATZ) in five streams located in the north of Sao Paulo state (Brazil)
      and evaluate its toxicological impact on young specimens of the pacu fish
      Piaractus mesopotamicus. Samples of water were collected on three occasions
      between 2010 and 2011, corresponding to periods signifying the beginning, middle,
      and end of rain season. ATZ levels were estimated by a high-performance liquid
      chromatography coupled with a mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) triple quadrupole.
      Later, the quotient of environmental risk (QR) was determined based on the medium
      lethal concentration (LC50 48 h), non-observable effect concentration (NOEC), and
      the estimated environmental concentration (EEC) of ATZ detected in the
      environment. Histological changes in gills and liver were also studied, along
      with the brain activity of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The highest
      concentration of ATZ measured was 10.4 MUg L(-1). The ATZ LC50 (48 h) for young
      P. mesopotamicus was 24.46 mg L(-1) and the QR was classified as "safe". Although
      the QR indicated that ATZ could be safe for the tested species, it caused many
      histological alterations in the liver and gills of the exposed specimens, and an
      increase in the AChE levels.

PMID- 25816308
TI  - Can sodium bicarbonate really help in treating metabolic acidosis caused by
      aluminium phosphide poisoning?

PMID- 25816309
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25816311
TI  - Bacteria on a peripheral blood smear as presenting sign of overwhelming post
      splenectomy infection in a patient with secondary acute myeloid leukemia.

PMID- 25816310
TI  - A new formula for estimation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in an ethnic
      Chinese population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is an established risk
      factor for cardiovascular disease and is usually estimated by the Friedewald
      formula (FF) calculated from three parameters, namely, total cholesterol (TC),
      triglyceride (TG), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). We aimed to
      develop a new and simple formula (NF) for LDL-C estimation. METHODS: This cross
      sectional study enrolled two study populations (a testing group, n=16,749, and a
      validation group, n=4940). Linear regression analysis was used in the testing
      group to investigate the association between measured LDL-C (mLDL-C) and TC
      concentration, and was verified in the validation group. RESULTS: The NF yielded
      an estimated LDL-C (eLDL-C) equal to 0.75 * total cholesterol-0.6465 (mmol/L).
      For the subjects with TC between 2.58 and 7.74 mmol/L, the difference between
      mLDL-C and eLDL-C using the NF was less than that from the FF (testing group: 
      0.04 to -0.20 vs. -0.28 to -0.38 mmol/L; validation group: 0.01 to -0.12 vs. 
      0.23 to -0.30 mmol/L; p<0.001, respectively). The predictability of the NF was
      not inferior to that of the FF in subjects with different triglyceride and HDL-C
      concentrations, and was not affected by diabetes diagnosis and statin use.
      However, the NF performed similar to or worse than the FF at TC concentrations
      <2.58 mmol/L and >7.74 mmol/L, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In the Chinese
      population, the accuracy of eLDL-C measurement with the NF was better than that
      with the FF, especially in subjects with TC levels between 2.58 and 7.74 mmol/L.
      The NF is simple and may be used for screening as well as for follow-up of
      patients on lipid lowering agents.

PMID- 25816312
TI  - Not all fats are created equal: adipose vs. ectopic fat, implication in
      cardiometabolic diseases.
AB  - Adipose tissue is a recognized endocrine organ that acts not only as a fuel
      storage but also is able to secrete adipokines that can modulate inflammation.
      Most of the fat is composed of white adipocytes (WAT), although also brown/beige
      adipocytes (BAT/BeAT) have been found in humans. BAT is located close to the neck
      but also among WAT in the epicardial fat and perivascular fat. Adipocyte
      hypertrophy and infiltration of macrophages impair adipose tissue metabolism
      determining "adiposopathy" (i.e., sick fat) and increasing the risk to develop
      metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this review was to search
      and discuss the available literature on the impact of different types of fat and
      fat distribution on cardiometabolic risk. Visceral fat, but also ectopic fat,
      either in liver, muscle and heart, can increase the risk to develop insulin
      resistance, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Results recently
      published showed that BAT could have an impact on cardiometabolic risk, not only
      because it is implicated in energy metabolism but also because it can modulate
      glucose and lipid metabolism. Therapeutical interventions that can increase
      energy expenditure, successfully change fat distribution and reduce ectopic fat,
      also through BAT activation, were discussed. 

PMID- 25816314
TI  - Temporal analysis of E. coli, TSS and wastewater micropollutant loads from
      combined sewer overflows: implications for management.
AB  - A combined sewer overflow (CSO) outfall was monitored to assess the impact of
      temporal mass loads on the appropriateness of treatment options. Instantaneous
      loads (mass per s) varied by approximately three orders of magnitude during
      events (n = 9 in spring, summer and the fall) with no significant seasonal
      variations. The median fraction of total loads discharged with the first 25% of
      the total volume ranged from 28% (theophylline) to 40% (Total Suspended Solids
      (TSS)) and loads remained high for the duration of the events. E. coli and TSS
      loads originated primarily from wastewater (WW) (63% and 75%, respectively).
      However, a mix of stormwater (SW) and sewer deposit (SD) resuspension contributed
      from 73 to 95% for the first 50% of the volume discharged of total TSS loads for
      2 events. The contribution of SD resuspension was not negligible for Wastewater
      Micropollutants (WWMPs), especially for carbamazepine. Sustained high loads over
      the course of CSOs highlight the need to revisit current CSO and SW management
      strategies that focus on the treatment of early discharge volumes. 

PMID- 25816313
TI  - alpha7 Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-specific antibody induces inflammation
      and amyloid beta42 accumulation in the mouse brain to impair memory.
AB  - Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) expressed in the brain are involved in
      regulating cognitive functions, as well as inflammatory reactions. Their density
      is decreased upon Alzheimer disease accompanied by accumulation of beta-amyloid
      (Abeta42), memory deficit and neuroinflammation. Previously we found that alpha7
      nAChR-specific antibody induced pro-inflammatory interleukin-6 production in U373
      glioblastoma cells and that such antibodies were present in the blood of humans.
      We raised a hypothesis that alpha7 nAChR-specific antibody can cause
      neuroinflammation when penetrating the brain. To test this, C57Bl/6 mice were
      either immunized with extracellular domain of alpha7 nAChR subunit alpha7(1-208)
      or injected with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 5 months. We studied
      their behavior and the presence of alpha3, alpha4, alpha7, beta2 and beta4 nAChR
      subunits, Abeta40 and Abeta42 and activated astrocytes in the brain by sandwich
      ELISA and confocal microscopy. It was found that either LPS injections or
      immunizations with alpha7(1-208) resulted in region-specific decrease of alpha7
      and alpha4beta2 and increase of alpha3beta4 nAChRs, accumulation of Abeta42 and
      activated astrocytes in the brain of mice and worsening of their episodic memory.
      Intravenously transferred alpha7 nAChR-specific-antibodies penetrated the brain
      parenchyma of mice pre-injected with LPS. Our data demonstrate that (1)
      neuroinflammation is sufficient to provoke the decrease of alpha7 and alpha4beta2
      nAChRs, Abeta42 accumulation and memory impairment in mice and (2) alpha7(1-208)
      nAChR-specific antibodies can cause inflammation within the brain resulting in
      the symptoms typical for Alzheimer disease. 

PMID- 25816315
TI  - Pharmacokinetics and tolerability of inhaled umeclidinium and vilanterol alone
      and in combination in healthy Chinese subjects: a randomized, open-label,
      crossover trial.
AB  - Inhaled umeclidinium (UMEC) and the combination of inhaled UMEC with vilanterol
      (UMEC/VI) are approved maintenance treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary
      disease in the US and EU. This was a randomized, open-label, three-period
      crossover, single- and repeat-dose study to assess the pharmacokinetics (PK),
      safety, and tolerability of inhaled UMEC/VI 62.5/25 MUg (delivering 55/22 MUg)
      and UMEC/VI 125/25 MUg (delivering 113/22 MUg) compared with their monotherapy
      components (UMEC 62.5 MUg, UMEC 125 MUg and, VI 25 MUg [delivering 55, 113, and
      22 MUg, respectively]) in healthy Chinese subjects (n=20). UMEC and VI were
      rapidly absorbed following single and repeat dosing (time to maximum plasma
      concentration [tmax]: UMEC = 5 min; VI = 5 min). The median tlast was 2-4 h for
      UMEC and 1-2 h for VI following single doses of UMEC/VI and UMEC monotherapy
      (both doses). UMEC reached steady-state prior to Day 10; steady-state for VI
      could not be assessed. UMEC accumulation following repeat dosing was 11-34% based
      on Cmax and 19-59% based on area under the concentration-time curve from time
      zero to 2 h (AUC(0-2)). VI accumulation following repeat dosing was 25-66% based
      on Cmax and 17-43% based on AUC(0-2). The evidence was not sufficient to suggest
      that systemic exposure was substantially different between UMEC/VI combination
      therapy and the constituent monotherapies following single or repeat dosing.
      Following both single- and repeat-dose administration, the inter-subject
      coefficient of variation for all UMEC PK parameter estimates ranged from 12% to
      165% for all treatments, indicating a wide range of variability in inhaled PK
      parameters. Twelve subjects experienced >=1 adverse event (AE). Six subjects
      experienced >=1 treatment-related AE; the most commonly reported treatment
      related AE was chest discomfort (n=3 [15%]). No clinically important changes in
      vital signs or electrocardiogram parameters were reported. These data suggest
      that single- and repeat-dose administration of UMEC/VI combination therapy in
      healthy Chinese subjects did not result in substantial differences in systemic
      exposure compared with UMEC and VI as monotherapies. TRIAL REGISTRATION:
      Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01899638 NCT01899638.

PMID- 25816316
TI  - Mycetoma in the Sudan: an update from the Mycetoma Research Centre, University of
      Khartoum, Sudan.
AB  - This communication reports on the Mycetoma Research Centre of the University of
      Khartoum, Sudan experience on 6,792 patients seen during the period 1991-2014.The
      patients were predominately young (64% under 30 years old) males (76%). The
      majority (68%) were from the Sudan mycetoma belt and 28% were students. Madurella
      mycetomatis eumycetoma was the most common type (70%). In 66% of the patients the
      duration of the disease was less than five years, and 81% gave a history of
      sinuses discharging mostly black grains (78%). History of trauma at the mycetoma
      site was reported in 20%. Local pain was reported in 27% of the patients, and
      only 12% had a family history of mycetoma. The study showed that 57% of the
      patients had previous surgical excisions and recurrence, and only 4% received
      previous medical treatment for mycetoma. Other concomitant medical diseases were
      reported in 4% of the patients. The foot (76%) and hand (8%) were the most
      commonly affected sites. Less frequently affected sites were the leg and knee
      (7%), thigh (2%), buttock (2%) and arm and forearm (1%). Rare sites included the
      chest wall, head and neck, back, abdominal wall, perineum, oral cavity, tongue
      and eye. Multiple sites mycetoma was recorded in 135 (2%) of cases. At
      presentation, 37% of patients had massive lesions, 79% had sinuses, 8% had local
      hyper-hydrosis at the mycetoma lesion, 11% had regional lymphadenopathy, while 6%
      had dilated tortuous veins proximal to the mycetoma lesions. The diagnosis of
      mycetoma was established by combined imaging techniques and cytological,
      histopathological, serological tests and grain culture. Patients with
      actinomycetoma received a combination of antimicrobial agents, while eumycetoma
      patients received antifungal agents combined with various surgical excisions.
      Surgical excisions in the form of wide local excision, debridement or amputation
      were done in 807 patients, and of them 248 patients (30.7%) had postoperative
      recurrence. Different types of amputations were done in 120 patients (1.7%). 

PMID- 25816317
TI  - Stress and the multiple-role woman: taking a closer look at the "superwoman".
AB  - In the academic literature there is debate as to whether women who engage in
      multiple social roles experience more or less stress than women in fewer roles.
      For the present research we examined the relationship between levels of
      engagement in seven distinct roles and perceived stress and life satisfaction in
      a small non-random sample of women in North America (N = 308). We did not find a
      significant correlation between role engagement and perceived stress, though we
      did find a small but significant positive correlation between role engagement and
      life satisfaction. Similarly, in a subset of the participants (N = 31), there was
      not a significant relationship between the level of role engagement and
      physiological stress as measured by hair or urinary cortisol levels. We found a
      significant negative correlation between perceived stress and life satisfaction,
      and role satisfaction. The results from multiple regression models did not
      identify the level of role engagement as a significant predictor of either
      perceived stress or life satisfaction. Role satisfaction in addition to several
      life style variables such as the frequency of sex and exercise were identified as
      significant predictors of both outcome variables. We also examined the
      popularized notion of the "superwoman", which we defined as women who fell within
      the 4th quartile of role engagement, or those engaged in the
      wife/mother/worker/homemaker role combination. Based on popular discourses
      surrounding the superwoman we expected that superwomen would exhibit higher
      levels of perceived stress. Our results revealed that superwomen do not
      experience a significantly higher level of perceived stress than non-superwomen.
      The results of our study therefore suggest that multiple role engagement in
      women, even at a relatively high level as experienced by "superwomen", is not
      associated with significantly higher stress, or reduced life satisfaction. 

PMID- 25816318
TI  - Japanese encephalitis virus nonstructural protein NS5 interacts with
      mitochondrial trifunctional protein and impairs fatty acid beta-oxidation.
AB  - Infection with Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) can induce the expression of pro
      inflammatory cytokines and cause acute encephalitis in humans. beta-oxidation
      breaks down fatty acids for ATP production in mitochondria, and impaired beta
      oxidation can induce pro-inflammatory cytokine expression. To address the role of
      fatty-acid beta-oxidation in JEV infection, we measured the oxygen consumption
      rate of mock- and JEV-infected cells cultured with or without long chain fatty
      acid (LCFA) palmitate. Cells with JEV infection showed impaired LCFA beta
      oxidation and increased interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF
      alpha) expression. JEV nonstructural protein 5 (NS5) interacted with hydroxyacyl
      CoA dehydrogenase alpha and beta subunits, two components of the mitochondrial
      trifunctional protein (MTP) involved in LCFA beta-oxidation, and NS5 proteins
      were detected in mitochondria and co-localized with MTP. LCFA beta-oxidation was
      impaired and higher cytokines were induced in cells overexpressing NS5 protein as
      compared with control cells. Deletion and mutation studies showed that the N
      terminus of NS5 was involved in the MTP association, and a single point mutation
      of NS5 residue 19 from methionine to alanine (NS5-M19A) reduced its binding
      ability with MTP. The recombinant JEV with NS5-M19A mutation (JEV-NS5-M19A) was
      less able to block LCFA beta-oxidation and induced lower levels of IL-6 and TNF
      alpha than wild-type JEV. Moreover, mice challenged with JEV-NS5-M19A showed less
      neurovirulence and neuroinvasiveness. We identified a novel function of JEV NS5
      in viral pathogenesis by impairing LCFA beta-oxidation and inducing cytokine
      expression by association with MTP. 

PMID- 25816319
TI  - A novel three-filament model of force generation in eccentric contraction of
      skeletal muscles.
AB  - We propose and examine a three filament model of skeletal muscle force
      generation, thereby extending classical cross-bridge models by involving titin
      actin interaction upon active force production. In regions with optimal actin
      myosin overlap, the model does not alter energy and force predictions of cross
      bridge models for isometric contractions. However, in contrast to cross-bridge
      models, the three filament model accurately predicts history-dependent force
      generation in half sarcomeres for eccentric and concentric contractions, and
      predicts the activation-dependent forces for stretches beyond actin-myosin
      filament overlap. 

PMID- 25816320
TI  - Adenoviruses associated with acute respiratory diseases reported in Beijing from
      2011 to 2013.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adenovirus is one of the most common causes of viral acute
      respiratory infections. To identify the types of human adenoviruses (HAdVs)
      causing respiratory illness in Beijing, a sentinel surveillance project on the
      viral aetiology of acute respiratory infection was initiated in 2011. PRINCIPAL
      FINDINGS: Through the surveillance project, 4617 cases of respiratory infections
      were identified during 2011-2013. Throat swabs (pharynx and tonsil secretions)
      were collected from all the patients, and 15 different respiratory viruses were
      screened by multiplex one-step PCR method. 45 were identified as adenovirus
      positive from sporadic and outbreak cases of respiratory infection by a multiplex
      one-step RT-PCR method, and a total of 21 adenovirus isolates were obtained. Five
      HAdV types among three species, including HAdV-3 (species HAdV-B), HAdV-4
      (species HAdV-E), HAdV-7 (species HAdV-B), HAdV-55 (species HAdV-B), and an
      undefined HAdV type (species HAdV-C) were identified. The comparison results of
      the penton base, hexon, and fiber gene sequences of the Beijing HAdV-3, HAdV-4,
      HAdV-7, and HAdV-55 strains in this study and those from the GenBank database
      indicated significant spatial and temporal conservation and stability of
      sequences within the genome; however, the phylogenetic relationship indicated
      that both strain BJ04 and strain BJ09 isolated in 2012 and 2013, respectively,
      may have recombined between HAdV-1 genome and HAdV-2 genome within species HAdV
      C, indicating intraspecies recombination. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed that
      at least 5 HAdV types including HAdV-3, HAdV-4, HAdV-7, HAdV-55 and an undefined
      HAdV type were co-circulating and were the causative agents of respiratory tract
      infections in recent years in Beijing. HAdV-3, HAdV-4, HAdV-7, and HAdV-55 showed
      the apparent stability of the genomes, while intraspecies recombination was
      identified in strain BJ04 and BJ09. The recombinants carrying penton base gene of
      HAdV-1 as well as hexon and fiber genes of HAdV-2 might be a novel type of HAdV
      worthy of further study.

PMID- 25816321
TI  - Human dendritic cell DC-SIGN and TLR-2 mediate complementary immune regulatory
      activities in response to Lactobacillus rhamnosus JB-1.
AB  - The microbiota is required for optimal host development and ongoing immune
      homeostasis. Lactobacilli are common inhabitants of the mammalian large intestine
      and immunoregulatory effects have been described for certain, but not all,
      strains. The mechanisms underpinning these protective effects are beginning to be
      elucidated. One such protective organism is Lactobacillus rhamnosus JB-1 (Lb.
      rhamnosus JB-1). Lb. murinus has no such anti-inflammatory protective effects and
      was used as a comparator organism. Human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MDDCs)
      were co-incubated with bacteria and analysed over time for bacterial adhesion and
      intracellular processing, costimulatory molecule expression, cytokine secretion
      and induction of lymphocyte polarization. Neutralising antibodies were utilized
      to identify the responsible MDDC receptors. Lb. rhamnosus JB-1 adhered to MDDCs,
      but internalization and intracellular processing was significantly delayed,
      compared to Lb. murinus which was rapidly internalized and processed. Lb. murinus
      induced CD80 and CD86 expression, accompanied by high levels of cytokine
      secretion, while Lb. rhamnosus JB-1 was a poor inducer of costimulatory molecule
      expression and cytokine secretion. Lb. rhamnosus JB-1 primed MDDCs induced Foxp3
      expression in autologous lymphocytes, while Lb. murinus primed MDDCs induced
      Foxp3, T-bet and Ror-gammat expression. DC-SIGN was required for Lb. rhamnosus JB
      1 adhesion and influenced IL-12 secretion, while TLR-2 influenced IL-10 and IL-12
      secretion. Here we demonstrate that the delayed kinetics of bacterial processing
      by MDDCs correlates with MDDC activation and stimulation of lymphocytes. Thus,
      inhibition or delay of intracellular processing may be a novel strategy by which
      certain commensals may avoid the induction of proinflammatory responses. 

PMID- 25816322
TI  - Sexual behaviours of homosexual and bisexual men in France: a generational
      approach.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In high-income countries, the social and epidemiological contexts
      surrounding homosexuality and AIDS have changed profoundly in recent decades.
      This work sought to examine key indicators of the long-term sexual trajectories
      of successive generations of men who have sex with men (MSM) in France. METHODS:
      We performed a longitudinal analysis of the French Gay Press surveys, which were
      self-administered socio-behavioural questionnaires, repeated from 1985 to 2011 in
      the gay press, and on the internet in 2004 and 2011. An age-cohort analysis using
      graphical representations and multivariate logistic regressions was conducted
      among participants aged 18-59 (N = 38 821). RESULTS: First sexual intercourse
      occurred more often with a male partner in younger generations than in older
      ones: 76.0% in MSM who turned 18 in 1956-1959, 75.6% in 1980-1983, 83.7% in 2008
      2011, p(overall) = 0.0002). Every generation showed the same pattern of sexual
      trajectory between 1985 and 2011: globally, the frequency of masturbation
      increased from the 1985 survey to the early 1990s and then decreased from the
      late 1990s to the end of the study period. Inversely, the frequency of oral and
      anal sex decreased in the mid-1980s and increased from 1990 to 2011. The
      frequency of both oral sex and anal intercourse is currently quite high,
      regardless of generation (>95% and around 80%, respectively). Compared to their
      predecessors, recent generations of young MSM reported more frequent oral and
      anal sex, but fewer male partners in the previous 12 months. DISCUSSION: While
      the increased frequency of first intercourse with a man over successive
      generations since the 1970s may be related to reduced social pressure for
      heterosexuality, there is evidence that sexual norms among MSM are widespread,
      with practices spreading across age groups and generations. Although AIDS
      profoundly affected sexual practices in the 1980s, further AIDS-related events
      (discovery of HIV antiretroviral drugs and their use in prevention) do not appear
      to have accentuated ongoing trends in sexual practices.

PMID- 25816323
TI  - MiR-145 inhibits metastasis by targeting fascin actin-bundling protein 1 in
      nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Based on our recent microarray analysis, we found that miR-145 was
      obviously downregulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tissues. However,
      little is known about its function and mechanism involving in NPC development and
      progression. METHODS: Quantitative RT-PCR was used to detect miR-145 expression
      in NPC cell lines and clinical samples. Wound healing, Transwell migration and
      invasion, three-dimension spheroid invasion assays, and lung metastasis model
      were performed to test the migratory, invasive, and metastatic ability of NPC
      cells. Luciferase reporter assay, quantitative RT-PCR, and Western blotting were
      used to verify the target of miR-145. RESULTS: MiR-145 was obviously decreased in
      NPC cell lines and clinical samples (P<0.01). Ectopic overexpression of miR-145
      significantly inhibited the migratory and invasive ability of SUNE-1 and CNE-2
      cells. In addition, stably overexpressing of miR-145 in SUNE-1 cells could
      remarkably restrain the formation of metastatic nodes in the lungs of mice.
      Furthermore, fascin actin-bundling protein 1 (FSCN1) was verified as a target of
      miR-145, and silencing FSCN1 with small RNA interfering RNA could suppress NPC
      cell migration and invasion. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrated that miR-145
      function as a tumor suppressor in NPC development and progression via targeting
      FSCN1, which could sever as a potential novel therapeutic target for patients
      with NPC.

PMID- 25816325
TI  - Automatic identification of mobile and rigid substructures in molecular dynamics
      simulations and fractional structural fluctuation analysis.
AB  - The analysis of structural mobility in molecular dynamics plays a key role in
      data interpretation, particularly in the simulation of biomolecules. The most
      common mobility measures computed from simulations are the Root Mean Square
      Deviation (RMSD) and Root Mean Square Fluctuations (RMSF) of the structures.
      These are computed after the alignment of atomic coordinates in each trajectory
      step to a reference structure. This rigid-body alignment is not robust, in the
      sense that if a small portion of the structure is highly mobile, the RMSD and
      RMSF increase for all atoms, resulting possibly in poor quantification of the
      structural fluctuations and, often, to overlooking important fluctuations
      associated to biological function. The motivation of this work is to provide a
      robust measure of structural mobility that is practical, and easy to interpret.
      We propose a Low-Order-Value-Optimization (LOVO) strategy for the robust
      alignment of the least mobile substructures in a simulation. These substructures
      are automatically identified by the method. The algorithm consists of the
      iterative superposition of the fraction of structure displaying the smallest
      displacements. Therefore, the least mobile substructures are identified,
      providing a clearer picture of the overall structural fluctuations. Examples are
      given to illustrate the interpretative advantages of this strategy. The software
      for performing the alignments was named MDLovoFit and it is available as free
      software at: http://leandro.iqm.unicamp.br/mdlovofit. 

PMID- 25816324
TI  - Correlation between activation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and prognosis of breast
      cancer in Chinese women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Abnormal activation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR (PAM) pathway, caused by PIK3CA
      mutation, KRAS mutation, PTEN loss, or AKT1 mutation, is one of the most frequent
      signaling abnormalities in breast carcinoma. However, distribution and
      frequencies of mutations in PAM pathway are unclear in breast cancer patients
      from the mainland of China and the correlation between these mutations and breast
      cancer outcome remains to be identified. METHODS: A total of 288 patients with
      invasive ductal breast cancer were recruited in this study. Mutations in PIK3CA
      (exons 4, 9 and 20), KRAS (exon 2) and AKT1 (exon 3) were detected using Sanger
      sequencing. PTEN loss was measured by immunohistochemistry assay. Correlations
      between these genetic aberrations and clinicopathological features were analyzed.
      RESULTS: The frequencies of PIK3CA mutation, KRAS mutation, AKT1 mutation and
      PTEN loss were 15.6%, 1.8%, 4.4% and 35.3%, respectively. However, except for
      PTEN loss, which was tied to estrogen receptor (ER) status, these alterations
      were not associated with other clinicopathological features. Survival analysis
      demonstrated that PIK3CA mutation, PTEN loss and PAM pathway activation were not
      associated with disease-free survival (DFS). Subgroup analysis of patients with
      ER positive tumors revealed that PIK3CA mutation more strongly reduced DFS
      compared to wild-type PIK3CA (76.2% vs. 54.2%; P = 0.011). PIK3CA mutation was
      also an independent factor for bad prognosis in ER positive patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: AKT1, KRAS and PIK3CA mutations and PTEN loss all exist in women
      with breast cancer in the mainland China. PIK3CA mutation may contribute to the
      poor outcome of ER positive breast carcinomas, providing evidence for the
      combination of PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors and endocrine therapy.

PMID- 25816326
TI  - Incidence and Factors Predicting Venous Thromboembolism After Surgical Treatment
      of Fractures Below the Hip.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to investigate the incidence and risk factors
      of postoperative venous thromboembolism (VTE) in a series of patients with
      fractures below the hip. In addition, we sought to examine the rates of VTE
      before and after introduction of thromboprophylaxis. DESIGN: Retrospective
      review. SETTING: University-based academic medical center. PATIENTS: Nine hundred
      one consecutive patients met the inclusion criteria. Of the 901 patients, 337
      (37.4%) were treated before the initiation of institutional guidelines for
      thromboprophylaxis and 564 (62.6%) received thromboprophylaxis in accordance with
      our hospitalization protocol. INTERVENTION: Surgical intervention for fractures
      occurring in the lower extremity below the hip. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS:
      Symptomatic thromboembolic events within 90 days of surgery and risk factors of
      postoperative VTE. RESULTS: Of the 901 patients, 25 (2.7%) had confirmed
      symptomatic deep vein thrombosis and 13 (1.4%) had symptomatic pulmonary
      embolism. The overall incidence of symptomatic VTE was significantly different
      between the patients not receiving thromboprophylaxis (6.8%; 23 of 337) and those
      receiving thromboprophylaxis (2.3%; 13 of 564). Of the 31 variables tested for an
      association with VTE, an advanced age of more than 60 years, cardiovascular
      disease, and chronic lung disease were independent risk factors. CONCLUSIONS:
      Clinically detectable VTE in fractures of the lower extremity below the hip are
      not uncommon, and thromboprophylaxis seemed to decrease the incidence of
      postoperative VTE. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic Level II. See the guidelines for
      authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

PMID- 25816327
TI  - Molecular dynamics study of naturally existing cavity couplings in proteins.
AB  - Couplings between protein sub-structures are a common property of protein
      dynamics. Some of these couplings are especially interesting since they relate to
      function and its regulation. In this article we have studied the case of cavity
      couplings because cavities can host functional sites, allosteric sites, and are
      the locus of interactions with the cell milieu. We have divided this problem into
      two parts. In the first part, we have explored the presence of cavity couplings
      in the natural dynamics of 75 proteins, using 20 ns molecular dynamics
      simulations. For each of these proteins, we have obtained two trajectories around
      their native state. After applying a stringent filtering procedure, we found
      significant cavity correlations in 60% of the proteins. We analyze and discuss
      the structure origins of these correlations, including neighbourhood, cavity
      distance, etc. In the second part of our study, we have used longer simulations
      (>=100 ns) from the MoDEL project, to obtain a broader view of cavity couplings,
      particularly about their dependence on time. Using moving window computations we
      explored the fluctuations of cavity couplings along time, finding that these
      couplings could fluctuate substantially during the trajectory, reaching in
      several cases correlations above 0.25/0.5. In summary, we describe the structural
      origin and the variations with time of cavity couplings. We complete our work
      with a brief discussion of the biological implications of these results.

PMID- 25816328
TI  - A rhizosphere-associated symbiont, Photobacterium spp. strain MELD1, and its
      targeted synergistic activity for phytoprotection against mercury.
AB  - Though heavy metal such as mercury is toxic to plants and microorganisms, the
      synergistic activity between them may offer benefit for surviving. In this study,
      a mercury-reducing bacterium, Photobacterium spp. strain MELD1, with an MIC of 33
      mg x kg(-1) mercury was isolated from a severely mercury and dioxin contaminated
      rhizosphere soil of reed (Phragmites australis). While the whole genome
      sequencing of MELD1 confirmed the presence of a mer operon, the mercury reductase
      MerA gene showed 99% sequence identity to Vibrio shilloni AK1 and implicates its
      route resulted from the event of horizontal gene transfer. The efficiency of
      MELD1 to vaporize mercury (25 mg x kg(-1), 24 h) and its tolerance to toxic
      metals and xenobiotics such as lead, cadmium, pentachlorophenol,
      pentachloroethylene, 3-chlorobenzoic acid, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin
      and 1,2,3,7,8,9-hexachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin is promising. Combination of a long
      yard bean (Vigna unguiculata ssp. Sesquipedalis) and strain MELD1 proved
      beneficial in the phytoprotection of mercury in vivo. The effect of mercury (Hg)
      on growth, distribution and tolerance was examined in root, shoot, leaves and pod
      of yard long bean with and without the inoculation of strain MELD1. The model
      plant inoculated with MELD1 had significant increases in biomass, root length,
      seed number, and increased mercury uptake limited to roots. Biolog plate assay
      were used to assess the sole-carbon source utilization pattern of the isolate and
      Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) productivity was analyzed to examine if the strain
      could contribute to plant growth. The results of this study suggest that, as a
      rhizosphere-associated symbiont, the synergistic activity between the plant and
      MELD1 can improve the efficiency for phytoprotection, phytostabilization and
      phytoremediation of mercury.

PMID- 25816329
TI  - An S188V mutation alters substrate specificity of non-stereospecific alpha
      haloalkanoic acid dehalogenase E (DehE).
AB  - The non-stereospecific alpha-haloalkanoic acid dehalogenase E (DehE) degrades
      many halogenated compounds but is ineffective against beta-halogenated compounds
      such as 3-chloropropionic acid (3CP). Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations
      and site-directed mutagenesis we show here that introducing the mutation S188V
      into DehE improves substrate specificity towards 3CP. MD simulations showed that
      residues W34, F37, and S188 of DehE were crucial for substrate binding. DehE
      showed strong binding ability for D-2-chloropropionic acid (D-2CP) and L-2
      chloropropionic acid (L-2CP) but less affinity for 3CP. This reduced affinity was
      attributed to weak hydrogen bonding between 3CP and residue S188, as the
      carboxylate of 3CP forms rapidly interconverting hydrogen bonds with the backbone
      amide and side chain hydroxyl group of S188. By replacing S188 with a valine
      residue, we reduced the inter-molecular distance and stabilised bonding of the
      carboxylate of 3CP to hydrogens of the substrate-binding residues. Therefore, the
      S188V can act on 3CP, although its affinity is less strong than for D-2CP and L
      2CP as assessed by Km. This successful alteration of DehE substrate specificity
      may promote the application of protein engineering strategies to other
      dehalogenases, thereby generating valuable tools for future bioremediation
      technologies. 

PMID- 25816331
TI  - Condition number estimation of preconditioned matrices.
AB  - The present paper introduces a condition number estimation method for
      preconditioned matrices. The newly developed method provides reasonable results,
      while the conventional method which is based on the Lanczos connection gives
      meaningless results. The Lanczos connection based method provides the condition
      numbers of coefficient matrices of systems of linear equations with information
      obtained through the preconditioned conjugate gradient method. Estimating the
      condition number of preconditioned matrices is sometimes important when
      describing the effectiveness of new preconditionerers or selecting adequate
      preconditioners. Operating a preconditioner on a coefficient matrix is the
      simplest method of estimation. However, this is not possible for large-scale
      computing, especially if computation is performed on distributed memory parallel
      computers. This is because, the preconditioned matrices become dense, even if the
      original matrices are sparse. Although the Lanczos connection method can be used
      to calculate the condition number of preconditioned matrices, it is not
      considered to be applicable to large-scale problems because of its weakness with
      respect to numerical errors. Therefore, we have developed a robust and
      parallelizable method based on Hager's method. The feasibility studies are
      curried out for the diagonal scaling preconditioner and the SSOR preconditioner
      with a diagonal matrix, a tri-daigonal matrix and Pei's matrix. As a result, the
      Lanczos connection method contains around 10% error in the results even with a
      simple problem. On the other hand, the new method contains negligible errors. In
      addition, the newly developed method returns reasonable solutions when the
      Lanczos connection method fails with Pei's matrix, and matrices generated with
      the finite element method. 

PMID- 25816330
TI  - Eicosapentaenoic acid ameliorates non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in a novel mouse
      model using melanocortin 4 receptor-deficient mice.
AB  - Many attempts have been made to find novel therapeutic strategies for non
      alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), while their clinical efficacy is unclear. We
      have recently reported a novel rodent model of NASH using melanocortin 4 receptor
      deficient (MC4R-KO) mice, which exhibit the sequence of events that comprise
      hepatic steatosis, liver fibrosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma with obesity
      related phenotypes. In the liver of MC4R-KO mice, there is a unique histological
      feature termed hepatic crown-like structures (hCLS), where macrophages interact
      with dead hepatocytes and fibrogenic cells, thereby accelerating inflammation and
      fibrosis. In this study, we employed MC4R-KO mice to examine the effect of highly
      purified eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), a clinically available n-3 polyunsaturated
      fatty acid, on the development of NASH. EPA treatment markedly prevented the
      development of hepatocyte injury, hCLS formation and liver fibrosis along with
      lipid accumulation. EPA treatment was also effective even after MC4R-KO mice
      developed NASH. Intriguingly, improvement of liver fibrosis was accompanied by
      the reduction of hCLS formation and plasma kallikrein-mediated transforming
      growth factor-beta activation. Moreover, EPA treatment increased the otherwise
      reduced serum concentrations of adiponectin, an adipocytokine with anti
      inflammatory and anti-fibrotic properties. Collectively, EPA treatment
      effectively prevents the development and progression of NASH in MC4R-KO mice
      along with amelioration of hepatic steatosis. This study unravels a novel anti
      fibrotic mechanism of EPA, thereby suggesting a clinical implication for the
      treatment of NASH. 

PMID- 25816332
TI  - Diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care tests for hepatitis C virus infection: a
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Point-of-care tests provide a plausible diagnostic strategy for
      hepatitis C infection in economically impoverished areas. However, their utility
      depends upon the overall performance of individual tests. METHODS: A literature
      search was conducted using the metasearch engine Metta, a query interface for
      retrieving articles from five leading medical databases. Studies were included if
      they employed point-of-care tests to detect antibodies of hepatitis C virus and
      compared the results with reference tests. Two reviewers performed a quality
      assessment of the studies and extracted data for estimating test accuracy.
      FINDINGS: Thirty studies that had evaluated 30 tests fulfilled the inclusion
      criteria. The overall pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood-ratio,
      negative likelihood-ratio and diagnostic odds ratio for all tests were 97.4% (95%
      CI: 95.9-98.4), 99.5% (99.2-99.7), 80.17 (55.35-116.14), 0.03 (0.02-0.04), and
      3032.85 (1595.86-5763.78), respectively. This suggested a high pooled accuracy
      for all studies. We found substantial heterogeneity between studies, but none of
      the subgroups investigated could account for the heterogeneity. Genotype
      diversity of HCV had no or minimal influence on test performance. Of the seven
      tests evaluated in the meta-regression model, OraQuick had the highest test
      sensitivity and specificity and showed better performance than a third generation
      enzyme immunoassay in seroconversion panels. The next highest test sensitivities
      and specificities were from TriDot and SDBioline, followed by Genedia and
      Chembio. The Spot and Multiplo tests produced poor test sensitivities but high
      test specificities. Nine of the remaining 23 tests produced poor test
      sensitivities and specificities and/or showed poor performances in seroconversion
      panels, while 14 tests had high test performances with diagnostic odds ratios
      ranging from 590.70 to 28822.20. CONCLUSIONS: Performances varied widely among
      individual point-of-care tests for diagnosis of hepatitis C virus infection.
      Physicians should consider this while using specific tests in clinical practice.

PMID- 25816333
TI  - Identification and expression analysis of the interferon-induced protein with
      tetratricopeptide repeats 5 (IFIT5) gene in duck (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus).
AB  - The interferon-induced proteins with tetratricopeptide repeats (IFITs) protein
      family mediates antiviral effects by inhibiting translation initiation, cell
      proliferation, and migration in the interferon (IFN) dependent innate immune
      system. Several members of this family, including IFIT1, IFIT2, IFIT3 and IFIT5,
      have been heavily studied in mammals. Avian species contain only one family
      member, IFIT5, and little is known about the role of this protein in birds. In
      this study, duck IFIT5 (duIFIT5) full-length mRNA was cloned by reverse
      transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and rapid amplification of the
      cDNA ends (RACE). Based on the sequence obtained, we performed a series of
      bioinformatics analyses, and found that duIFIT5 was most similar to homologs in
      other avian species. Also, duIFIT5 contained eight conserved TPR motifs and two
      conserved multi-domains (TPR_11 and TPR_12). Finally, we used duck hepatitis
      virus type 1 (DHV-1) and polyriboinosinicpolyribocytidylic acid (poly (I:C)) as a
      pathogen or a pathogen-associated molecular pattern induction to infect three-day
      old domestic ducklings. The liver and spleen were collected to detect the change
      in duIFIT5 transcript level upon infection by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT
      PCR). DuIFIT5 expression rapidly increased after DHV-1 infection and maintained a
      high level, while the transcripts of duIFIT5 peaked at 8h after poly (I:C)
      infection and then returned to normal. Taken together, these results provide a
      greater understanding of avian IFIT5.

PMID- 25816334
TI  - Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping in Puerto Rican children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) have been identified using
      tissue or cell samples from diverse human populations, thus enhancing our
      understanding of regulation of gene expression. However, few studies have
      attempted to identify eQTL in racially admixed populations such as Hispanics.
      METHODS: We performed a systematic eQTL study to identify regulatory variants of
      gene expression in whole blood from 121 Puerto Rican children with (n = 63) and
      without (n = 58) asthma. Genome-wide genotyping was conducted using the Illumina
      Omni2.5M Bead Chip, and gene expression was assessed using the Illumina HT-12
      microarray. After completing quality control, we performed a pair-wise genome
      analysis of ~15 K transcripts and ~1.3 M SNPs for both local and distal effects.
      This analysis was conducted under a regression framework adjusting for age,
      gender and principal components derived from both genotypic and mRNA data. We
      used a false discovery rate (FDR) approach to identify significant eQTL signals,
      which were next compared to top eQTL signals from existing eQTL databases. We
      then performed a pathway analysis for our top genes. RESULTS: We identified
      36,720 local pairs in 3,391 unique genes and 1,851 distal pairs in 446 unique
      genes at FDR <0.05, corresponding to unadjusted P values lower than 1.5x10-4 and
      4.5x10-9, respectively. A significant proportion of genes identified in our study
      overlapped with those identified in previous studies. We also found an enrichment
      of disease-related genes in our eQTL list. CONCLUSIONS: We present results from
      the first eQTL study in Puerto Rican children, who are members of a unique
      Hispanic cohort disproportionately affected with asthma, prematurity, obesity and
      other common diseases. Our study confirmed eQTL signals identified in other
      ethnic groups, while also detecting additional eQTLs unique to our study
      population. The identified eQTLs will help prioritize findings from future genome
      wide association studies in Puerto Ricans.

PMID- 25816336
TI  - Impact of exposure to intimate partner violence on CD4+ and CD8+ T cell decay in
      HIV infected women: longitudinal study.
AB  - Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a risk factor for HIV acquisition in many
      settings, but little is known about its impact on cellular immunity especially in
      HIV infected women, and if any impact differs according to the form of IPV. We
      tested hypotheses that exposure to IPV, non-partner rape, hunger, pregnancy,
      depression and substance abuse predicted change in CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell count in
      a dataset of 103 HIV infected young women aged 15-26 enrolled in a cluster
      randomised controlled trial. Multiple regression models were fitted to measure
      rate of change in CD4 and CD8 and including terms for age, person years of
      CD4+/CD8+ T-cell observation, HIV positivity at baseline, and stratum. Exposure
      variables included drug use, emotional, physical or sexual IPV exposure, non
      partner rape, pregnancy and food insecurity. Mean CD4+ T cell count at baseline
      (or first HIV+ test) was 567.6 (range 1121-114). Participants were followed for
      an average of 1.3 years. The magnitude of change in CD4 T-cells was significantly
      associated with having ever experienced emotional abuse from a current partner at
      baseline or first HIV+ test (Coeff -132.9 95% CI -196.4, -69.4 p<0.0001) and drug
      use (Coeff -129.9 95% CI -238.7, -21.2 p=0.02). It was not associated with other
      measures. The change in CD8 T-cells was associated with having ever experienced
      emotional abuse at baseline or prior to the first HIV+ test (Coeff -178.4 95%CI 
      330.2, -26.5 p=0.02). In young ART-naive HIV positive women gender-based violence
      exposure in the form of emotional abuse is associated with a faster rate of
      decline in markers of cellular immunity. This highlights the importance of
      attending to emotional abuse when studying the physiological impact of IPV
      experience and the mechanisms of its impact on women's health. 

PMID- 25816335
TI  - Mitochondrial dysfunction reveals the role of mRNA poly(A) tail regulation in
      oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy pathogenesis.
AB  - Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD), a late-onset disorder characterized by
      progressive degeneration of specific muscles, results from the extension of a
      polyalanine tract in poly(A) binding protein nuclear 1 (PABPN1). While the roles
      of PABPN1 in nuclear polyadenylation and regulation of alternative poly(A) site
      choice are established, the molecular mechanisms behind OPMD remain undetermined.
      Here, we show, using Drosophila and mouse models, that OPMD pathogenesis depends
      on affected poly(A) tail lengths of specific mRNAs. We identify a set of mRNAs
      encoding mitochondrial proteins that are down-regulated starting at the earliest
      stages of OPMD progression. The down-regulation of these mRNAs correlates with
      their shortened poly(A) tails and partial rescue of their levels when
      deadenylation is genetically reduced improves muscle function. Genetic analysis
      of candidate genes encoding RNA binding proteins using the Drosophila OPMD model
      uncovers a potential role of a number of them. We focus on the deadenylation
      regulator Smaug and show that it is expressed in adult muscles and specifically
      binds to the down-regulated mRNAs. In addition, the first step of the cleavage
      and polyadenylation reaction, mRNA cleavage, is affected in muscles expressing
      alanine-expanded PABPN1. We propose that impaired cleavage during nuclear
      cleavage/polyadenylation is an early defect in OPMD. This defect followed by
      active deadenylation of specific mRNAs, involving Smaug and the CCR4-NOT
      deadenylation complex, leads to their destabilization and mitochondrial
      dysfunction. These results broaden our understanding of the role of mRNA
      regulation in pathologies and might help to understand the molecular mechanisms
      underlying neurodegenerative disorders that involve mitochondrial dysfunction. 

PMID- 25816337
TI  - The extracellular redox state modulates mitochondrial function, gluconeogenesis,
      and glycogen synthesis in murine hepatocytes.
AB  - Circulating redox state changes, determined by the ratio of reduced/oxidized
      pairs of different metabolites, have been associated with metabolic diseases.
      However, the pathogenic contribution of these changes and whether they modulate
      normal tissue function is unclear. As alterations in hepatic gluconeogenesis and
      glycogen metabolism are hallmarks that characterize insulin resistance and type 2
      diabetes, we tested whether imposed changes in the extracellular redox state
      could modulate these processes. Thus, primary hepatocytes were treated with
      different ratios of the following physiological extracellular redox couples: beta
      hydroxybutyrate (betaOHB)/acetoacetate (Acoc), reduced glutathione (GSH)/oxidized
      glutathione (GSSG), and cysteine/cystine. Exposure to a more oxidized ratio via
      extracellular betaOHB/Acoc, GSH/GSSG, and cysteine/cystine in hepatocytes from
      fed mice increased intracellular hydrogen peroxide without causing oxidative
      damage. On the other hand, addition of more reduced ratios of extracellular
      betaOHB/Acoc led to increased NAD(P)H and maximal mitochondrial respiratory
      capacity in hepatocytes. Greater betaOHB/Acoc ratios were also associated with
      decreased beta-oxidation, as expected with enhanced lipogenesis. In hepatocytes
      from fasted mice, a more extracellular reduced state of betaOHB/Acoc led to
      increased alanine-stimulated gluconeogenesis and enhanced glycogen synthesis
      capacity from added glucose. Thus, we demonstrated for the first time that the
      extracellular redox state regulates the major metabolic functions of the liver
      and involves changes in intracellular NADH, hydrogen peroxide, and mitochondrial
      respiration. Because redox state in the blood can be communicated to all
      metabolically sensitive tissues, this work confirms the hypothesis that
      circulating redox state may be an important regulator of whole body metabolism
      and contribute to alterations associated with metabolic diseases. 

PMID- 25816338
TI  - Sediment quality of the SW coastal Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea, China: a comprehensive
      assessment based on the analysis of heavy metals.
AB  - Historically, the Bohai Sea is one of the most important fishing grounds in
      China. Yet, surrounded by one of the biggest economic rims of China, its
      ecological functions have been declining rapidly in recent two decades under the
      heavy anthropogenic impacts. The Laizhou Bay is the smallest one of the three
      main bays in the Bohai Sea. Owing to the rich brine deposits, chemical industries
      using brine as raw materials are booming in the southern coast of the Laizhou
      Bay, the scale of which ranks as the largest one in China. In order to monitor
      and assess the environmental quality, surface sediments were collected from the
      coastal waters of southwestern Laizhou Bay and the rivers it connects with during
      summer and autumn in 2012, and analyzed for heavy metals. Several widely adopted
      methods were used in the overall assessment of heavy metal pollution status and
      potential ecological risks in these sediments, and the data were analyzed to
      infer the main sources of the pollutants. The results showed that the remarkably
      high concentrations of heavy metals were almost all recorded in a small number of
      riverine sites. Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn were the main environmental threat according to
      the sediment quality guidelines. The marine area was generally in good condition
      with no or low risk from the studied metals and adverse effects on biota could
      hardly occur. Natural sources dominated the concentrations and distributions of
      Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in the marine area. Our results indicated that heavy metal
      pollution was not a main cause of the ecological degradation of the Laizhou Bay
      at present. 

PMID- 25816340
TI  - Potential cost savings of medication therapy management in safety-net clinics.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate potential cost savings based on estimated cost avoidance
      from medication therapy management (MTM) services delivered in safety-net clinics
      over 4 years. METHODS: High-risk patients taking multiple medications and with
      chronic conditions were referred for MTM services in primary care safety-net
      clinics in Maryland from October 1, 2009, to September 30, 2013. Medication
      related problems (MRPs) were identified and pharmacists' costs determined to
      evaluate the estimated cost savings and return on investment (ROI). A range of
      potential economic outcomes for each MRP identified was assigned to a cost
      avoidance for outpatient visit, urgent care visit, emergency department visit,
      and/or hospitalization. RESULTS: Over 4 years, 246 patients received MTM, nearly
      2,100 medications were reviewed, and 814 MRPs were identified. The most common
      MRPs identified were subtherapeutic doses, nonadherence, and untreated
      indications, with respective prevalences of 38%, 19%, and 16%. The corresponding
      costs of medical services were estimated at $115,220-$614,570 for all MRPs
      identified, yielding a mean of $141.55-$755.00 per identified MRP. Pharmacists'
      expenses for encounters were calculated at a total expenditure of $57,307.50 for
      16,965 minutes. ROI based on the time spent during billable face-to-face
      encounters ranged from 1:5 to 1:25. CONCLUSION: Pharmacist-provided MTM in safety
      net clinics yielded potential economic benefits to the organization. The Primary
      Care Coalition of Montgomery County plans to expand MTM services to additional
      clinics to improve patient care and increase cost savings through preventable
      medical services.

PMID- 25816339
TI  - Identification of an ADAM17 cleavage region in human CD16 (FcgammaRIII) and the
      engineering of a non-cleavable version of the receptor in NK cells.
AB  - CD16a and CD16b are IgG Fc receptors expressed by human natural killer (NK) cells
      and neutrophils, respectively. Both CD16 isoforms undergo a rapid down-regulation
      in expression by ADAM17-mediated proteolytic cleavage upon cell activation by
      various stimuli. We examined soluble CD16 released from activated NK cells and
      neutrophils by mass spectrometric analysis, and identified three separate
      cleavage sites in close proximity at P1/P1' positions alanine195/valine196,
      valine196/serine197, and threonine198/isoleucine199, revealing a membrane
      proximal cleavage region in CD16. Substitution of the serine at position 197 in
      the middle of the cleavage region for a proline (S197P) effectively blocked CD16a
      and CD16b cleavage in cell-based assays. We also show that CD16a/S197P was
      resistant to cleavage when expressed in the human NK cell line NK92 and primary
      NK cells derived from genetically-engineered human induced pluripotent stem
      cells. CD16a is a potent activating receptor and despite blocking CD16a shedding,
      the S197P mutation did not disrupt IgG binding by the receptor or its activation
      of NK92 cells by antibody-treated tumor cells. Our findings provide further
      characterization of CD16 cleavage by ADAM17 and they demonstrate that a non
      cleavable version of CD16a can be expressed in engineered NK cells.

PMID- 25816341
TI  - MAP kinase phosphatase 2 regulates macrophage-adipocyte interaction.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Inflammation is critical for the development of obesity-associated
      metabolic disorders. This study aims to investigate the role of mitogen-activated
      protein kinase phosphatase 2 (MKP-2) in inflammation during macrophage-adipocyte
      interaction. METHODS: White adipose tissues (WAT) from mice either on a high-fat
      diet (HFD) or normal chow (NC) were isolated to examine the expression of MKP-2.
      Murine macrophage cell line RAW264.7 stably expressing MKP-2 was used to study
      the regulation of MKP-2 in macrophages in response to saturated free fatty acid
      (FFA) and its role in macrophage M1/M2 activation. Macrophage-adipocyte co
      culture system was employed to investigate the role of MKP-2 in regulating
      inflammation during adipocyte-macrophage interaction. c-Jun N-terminal kinase
      (JNK)- and p38-specific inhibitors were used to examine the mechanisms by which
      MKP-2 regulates macrophage activation and macrophage-adipocytes interaction.
      RESULTS: HFD changed the expression of MKP-2 in WAT, and MKP-2 was highly
      expressed in the stromal vascular cells (SVCs). MKP-2 inhibited the production of
      proinflammatory cytokines in response to FFA stimulation in macrophages. MKP-2
      inhibited macrophage M1 activation through JNK and p38. In addition,
      overexpression of MKP-2 in macrophages suppressed inflammation during macrophage
      adipocyte interaction. CONCLUSION: MKP-2 is a negative regulator of macrophage M1
      activation through JNK and p38 and inhibits inflammation during macrophage
      adipocyte interaction.

PMID- 25816342
TI  - Effects of source- versus household contamination of tubewell water on child
      diarrhea in rural Bangladesh: a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Shallow tubewells are the primary drinking water source for most
      rural Bangladeshis. Fecal contamination has been detected in tubewells, at low
      concentrations at the source and at higher levels at the point of use. We
      conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess whether improving the
      microbiological quality of tubewell drinking water by household water treatment
      and safe storage would reduce diarrhea in children <2 years in rural Bangladesh.
      METHODS: We randomly assigned 1800 households with a child aged 6-18 months
      (index child) into one of three arms: chlorine plus safe storage, safe storage
      and control. We followed households with monthly visits for one year to promote
      the interventions, track their uptake, test participants' source and stored water
      for fecal contamination, and record caregiver-reported child diarrhea prevalence
      (primary outcome). To assess reporting bias, we also collected data on health
      outcomes that are not expected to be impacted by our interventions. FINDINGS:
      Both interventions had high uptake. Safe storage, alone or combined with
      chlorination, reduced heavy contamination of stored water. Compared to controls,
      diarrhea in index children was reduced by 36% in the chlorine plus safe storage
      arm (prevalence ratio, PR = 0.64, 0.55-0.73) and 31% in the safe storage arm (PR
      = 0.69, 0.60-0.80), with no difference between the two intervention arms. One
      limitation of the study was the non-blinded design with self-reported outcomes.
      However, the prevalence of health outcomes not expected to be impacted by water
      interventions did not differ between study arms, suggesting minimal reporting
      bias. CONCLUSIONS: Safe storage significantly improved drinking water quality at
      the point of use and reduced child diarrhea in rural Bangladesh. There was no
      added benefit from combining safe storage with chlorination. Efforts should be
      undertaken to implement and evaluate long-term efforts for safe water storage in
      Bangladesh. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01350063.

PMID- 25816343
TI  - A multi-omics approach identifies key hubs associated with cell type-specific
      responses of airway epithelial cells to staphylococcal alpha-toxin.
AB  - Responsiveness of cells to alpha-toxin (Hla) from Staphylococcus aureus appears
      to occur in a cell-type dependent manner. Here, we compare two human bronchial
      epithelial cell lines, i.e. Hla-susceptible 16HBE14o- and Hla-resistant S9 cells,
      by a quantitative multi-omics strategy for a better understanding of Hla-induced
      cellular programs. Phosphoproteomics revealed a substantial impact on
      phosphorylation-dependent signaling in both cell models and highlights
      alterations in signaling pathways associated with cell-cell and cell-matrix
      contacts as well as the actin cytoskeleton as key features of early rHla-induced
      effects. Along comparable changes in down-stream activity of major protein
      kinases significant differences between both models were found upon rHla
      treatment including activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor EGFR and
      mitogen-activated protein kinases MAPK1/3 signaling in S9 and repression in
      16HBE14o- cells. System-wide transcript and protein expression profiling indicate
      induction of an immediate early response in either model. In addition, EGFR and
      MAPK1/3-mediated changes in gene expression suggest cellular recovery and
      survival in S9 cells but cell death in 16HBE14o- cells. Strikingly, inhibition of
      the EGFR sensitized S9 cells to Hla indicating that the cellular capacity of
      activation of the EGFR is a major protective determinant against Hla-mediated
      cytotoxic effects. 

PMID- 25816344
TI  - Ligand-target prediction by structural network biology using nAnnoLyze.
AB  - Target identification is essential for drug design, drug-drug interaction
      prediction, dosage adjustment and side effect anticipation. Specifically, the
      knowledge of structural details is essential for understanding the mode of action
      of a compound on a target protein. Here, we present nAnnoLyze, a method for
      target identification that relies on the hypothesis that structurally similar
      binding sites bind similar ligands. nAnnoLyze integrates structural information
      into a bipartite network of interactions and similarities to predict structurally
      detailed compound-protein interactions at proteome scale. The method was
      benchmarked on a dataset of 6,282 pairs of known interacting ligand-target pairs
      reaching a 0.96 of area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (AUC)
      when using the drug names as an input feature for the classifier, and a 0.70 of
      AUC for "anonymous" compounds or compounds not present in the training set.
      nAnnoLyze resulted in higher accuracies than its predecessor, AnnoLyze. We
      applied the method to predict interactions for all the compounds in the DrugBank
      database with each human protein structure and provide examples of target
      identification for known drugs against human diseases. The accuracy and
      applicability of our method to any compound indicate that a comparative docking
      approach such as nAnnoLyze enables large-scale annotation and analysis of
      compound-protein interactions and thus may benefit drug development. 

PMID- 25816345
TI  - Factors associated with nurses' intention to leave their jobs after the Fukushima
      Daiichi Nuclear Power plant accident.
AB  - We conducted a survey among nurses who were working at the Fukushima Medical
      University Hospital at the time of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
      accident to clarify the factors associated with their intention to leave their
      jobs during the radiation emergency. We asked 345 nurses (17 men and 328 women)
      about their intention to leave their jobs after the accident. We also asked about
      relevant factors including the participants' demographic factors, living
      situation, working status, and knowledge of radiation health effects. We found
      that living with preschoolers (OR = 1.87, 95%CI: 1.02-3.44, p = 0.042), anxiety
      about life in Fukushima City after the accident (OR = 5.55, 95%CI: 1.18-26.13, p
      = 0.030), consideration of evacuation from Fukushima after the accident (OR =
      2.42, 95%CI: 1.45-4.06, p = 0.001), consideration of the possible radiation
      health effects in children (OR = 1.90, 95%CI: 1.02-3.44, p = 0.042), and anxiety
      about relationships with colleagues in the hospital after the accident (OR =
      3.23, p = 0.001) were independently associated with the nurses' intention to
      leave their jobs after the accident. On the other hand, the percentage of nurses
      with knowledge on radiation health effects was relatively low among those who had
      the intention to leave the job and among those who did not have the intention to
      leave the job after the accident, with no significant differences between the two
      groups. Our results suggest the need for an education program for nurses
      regarding radiation health effects. 

PMID- 25816346
TI  - Playing vs. nonplaying aerobic training in tennis: physiological and performance
      outcomes.
AB  - This study compared the effects of playing and nonplaying high intensity
      intermittent training (HIIT) on physiological demands and tennis stroke
      performance in young tennis players. Eleven competitive male players (13.4 +/-
      1.3 years) completed both a playing and nonplaying HIIT session of equal
      distance, in random order. During each HIIT session, heart rate (HR), blood
      lactate, and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were monitored. Before and after
      each HIIT session, the velocity and accuracy of the serve, and forehand and
      backhand strokes were evaluated. The results demonstrated that both HIIT sessions
      achieved an average HR greater than 90% HRmax. The physiological demands (average
      HR) were greater during the playing session compared to the nonplaying session,
      despite similar lactate concentrations and a lower RPE. The results also indicate
      a reduction in shot velocity after both HIIT sessions; however, the playing HIIT
      session had a more deleterious effect on stroke accuracy. These findings suggest
      that 1) both HIIT sessions may be sufficient to develop maximal aerobic power, 2)
      playing HIIT sessions provide a greater physiological demand with a lower RPE,
      and 3) playing HIIT has a greater deleterious effect on stroke performance, and
      in particular on the accuracy component of the ground stroke performance, and
      should be incorporated appropriately into a periodization program in young male
      tennis players. 

PMID- 25816347
TI  - Real-time state estimation in a flight simulator using fNIRS.
AB  - Working memory is a key executive function for flying an aircraft. This function
      is particularly critical when pilots have to recall series of air traffic control
      instructions. However, working memory limitations may jeopardize flight safety.
      Since the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) method seems promising
      for assessing working memory load, our objective is to implement an on-line fNIRS
      based inference system that integrates two complementary estimators. The first
      estimator is a real-time state estimation MACD-based algorithm dedicated to
      identifying the pilot's instantaneous mental state (not-on-task vs. on-task). It
      does not require a calibration process to perform its estimation. The second
      estimator is an on-line SVM-based classifier that is able to discriminate task
      difficulty (low working memory load vs. high working memory load). These two
      estimators were tested with 19 pilots who were placed in a realistic flight
      simulator and were asked to recall air traffic control instructions. We found
      that the estimated pilot's mental state matched significantly better than chance
      with the pilot's real state (62% global accuracy, 58% specificity, and 72%
      sensitivity). The second estimator, dedicated to assessing single trial working
      memory loads, led to 80% classification accuracy, 72% specificity, and 89%
      sensitivity. These two estimators establish reusable blocks for further fNIRS
      based passive brain computer interface development.

PMID- 25816348
TI  - Co-encapsulating the fusogenic peptide INF7 and molecular imaging probes in
      liposomes increases intracellular signal and probe retention.
AB  - Liposomes are promising vehicles to deliver diagnostic and therapeutic agents to
      cells in vivo. After uptake into cells by endocytosis, liposomes are degraded in
      the endolysosomal system. Consequently, the encapsulated cargo molecules
      frequently remain sequestered in endosomal compartments; this limits their
      usefulness in many applications (e.g. gene delivery). To overcome this, various
      fusogenic peptides have been developed to facilitate delivery of liposomally
      encapsulated molecules into the cytosol. One such peptide is the pH-sensitive
      influenza-derived peptide INF7. Liposomal delivery of imaging agents is an
      attractive approach for enabling cell imaging and cell tracking in vivo, but can
      be hampered by inadequate intracellular accumulation and retention of probes
      caused by exocytosis (and possible degradation) of endosome-entrapped probes.
      Such signal loss could be minimized by facilitating escape of probe molecules
      from endolysosomal compartments into the cytosol. We investigated the ability of
      co-encapsulated INF7 to release liposomally-delivered rhodamine fluorophores into
      the cytosol after endosomal acidification/maturation. We co-encapsulated INF7 and
      fluorescent rhodamine derivatives having vastly different transport properties to
      show that after endocytosis by CV1 cells, the INF7 peptide is activated by acidic
      endosomal pH and facilitates efficient release of the fluorescent tracers into
      the cytosol. Furthermore, we show that INF7-facilitated escape from endosomes
      markedly enhanced retention of tracers that cannot be actively extruded from the
      cytosol. Minimizing loss of intracellular probes improves cellular imaging by
      increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of images and lengthening the time window
      that imaging can be performed. In particular, this will enhance in vivo electron
      paramagnetic resonance imaging, an emergent magnetic resonance imaging modality
      requires exogenous paramagnetic imaging agents and is highly promising for
      cellular and molecular imaging. 

PMID- 25816349
TI  - Estrogenicity of glabridin in Ishikawa cells.
AB  - Glabridin is an isoflavan from licorice root, which is a common component of
      herbal remedies used for treatment of menopausal symptoms. Past studies have
      shown that glabridin resulted in favorable outcome similar to 17beta-estradiol
      (17beta-E2), suggesting a possible role as an estrogen replacement therapy (ERT).
      This study aims to evaluate the estrogenic effect of glabridin in an in-vitro
      endometrial cell line -Ishikawa cells via alkaline phosphatase (ALP) assay and ER
      alpha-SRC-1-co-activator assay. Its effect on cell proliferation was also
      evaluated using Thiazoyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The results showed
      that glabridin activated the ER-alpha-SRC-1-co-activator complex and displayed a
      dose-dependent increase in estrogenic activity supporting its use as an ERT.
      However, glabridin also induced an increase in cell proliferation. When glabridin
      was treated together with 17beta-E2, synergistic estrogenic effect was observed
      with a slight decrease in cell proliferation as compared to treatment by 17beta
      E2 alone. This suggest that the combination might be better suited for providing
      high estrogenic effects with lower incidences of endometrial cancer that is
      associated with 17beta-E2. 

PMID- 25816350
TI  - Decreased HIV-specific T-regulatory responses are associated with effective DC
      vaccine induced immunity.
AB  - The role of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in vaccination has been poorly
      investigated. We have reported that vaccination with ex vivo-generated dendritic
      cells (DC) loaded with HIV-lipopeptides (LIPO-5-DC vaccine) in HIV-infected
      patients was well tolerated and highly immunogenic. These responses and their
      relation to viral replication following analytical treatment interruption (ATI)
      were variable. Here, we investigated whether the presence of HIV-specific Tregs
      might explain these differences. Co-expression of CD25, CD134, CD39 and FoxP3 was
      used to delineate both antigen-specific Tregs and effectors T cells (Teffs).
      Median LIPO-5 specific-CD25+CD134+ polyfunctional T cells increased from 0.1%
      (IQR 0-0.3) before vaccination (week -4) to 2.1% (IQR 1.1-3.9) at week 16
      following 4 immunizations (p=0.001) and were inversely correlated with maximum
      viral load following ATI (r=-0.77, p=0.001). Vaccinees who displayed lower levels
      of HIV-specific CD4+CD134+CD25+CD39+FoxP3+ Tregs responded better to the LIPO-5
      DC vaccine. After vaccination, the frequency of HIV-specific Tregs decreased
      (from 69.3 at week -4 to 31.7% at week 16) and inversely correlated with HIV
      specific IFN-gamma-producing cells (r=-0.64, p=0.002). We show that therapeutic
      immunization skewed the HIV-specific response from regulatory to effector
      phenotype which impacts on the magnitude of viral replication following ATI.

PMID- 25816351
TI  - The differential expression of OCT4 isoforms in cervical carcinoma.
AB  - OCT4 is a transcription factor involved in maintaining stem cell phenotype and
      pluripotential. However, it remains unclear the expression pattern and biological
      function of OCT4 isoforms in cervical cancer. Here, we reported that both nuclear
      OCT4A and cytoplasmic OCT4B were overexpressed in CC. OCT4A was responsible for
      self-renewal of cervical cancer stem-like cells (CCSCs). Furthermore, OCT4B
      overexpression in SiHa cervical cancer cell line significantly increased cell
      proliferation and tumorigenesis by inhibiting apoptosis. Moreover, OCT4B enhanced
      angiogenesis by the upregulation of CD34, VEGF, HIF-1alpha and IL-6, and promoted
      tumor cell mobility to the surrounding tissue by the upregulation of MMP2 and
      MMP9, and the induction of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In
      conclusion, nuclear OCT4A may serve as a marker of CCSCs and the driving force
      for cervical cancer metastasis and recurrence, while cytoplasmic OCT4B may
      cooperate with OCT4A to regulate the progression of cervical cancer through
      inducing angiogenesis and EMT. 

PMID- 25816352
TI  - An essential signal peptide peptidase identified in an RNAi screen of serine
      peptidases of Trypanosoma brucei.
AB  - The serine peptidases of Trypanosoma brucei have been viewed as potential drug
      targets. In particular, the S9 prolyl oligopeptidase subfamily is thought to be a
      good avenue for drug discovery. This is based on the finding that some S9
      peptidases are secreted and active in the mammalian bloodstream, and that they
      are a class of enzyme against which drugs have successfully been developed. We
      collated a list of all serine peptidases in T. brucei, identifying 20 serine
      peptidase genes, of which nine are S9 peptidases. We screened all 20 serine
      peptidases by RNAi to determine which, if any, are essential for bloodstream form
      T. brucei survival. All S9 serine peptidases were dispensable for parasite
      survival in vitro, even when pairs of similar genes, coding for oligopeptidase B
      or prolyl oligopeptidase, were targeted simultaneously. We also found no effect
      on parasite survival in an animal host when the S9 peptidases oligopeptidase B,
      prolyl oligopeptidase or dipeptidyl peptidase 8 were targeted. The only serine
      peptidase to emerge from the RNAi screen as essential was a putative type-I
      signal peptide peptidase (SPP1). This gene was essential for parasite survival
      both in vitro and in vivo. The growth defect conferred by RNAi depletion of SPP1
      was rescued by expression of a functional peptidase from an RNAi resistant SPP1
      gene. However, expression of catalytically inactive SPP1 was unable to rescue
      cells from the SPP1 depleted phenotype, demonstrating that SPP1 serine peptidase
      activity is necessary for T. brucei survival. 

PMID- 25816353
TI  - Factors associated with medication adherence among patients with schizophrenia in
      Mekelle, Northern Ethiopia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Non-adherence to antipsychotic medication has a negative impact on
      the course of illness resulting in increased risk of relapse, rehospitalization
      and suicide, and increased costs to healthcare systems. The objective of this
      study was to investigate factors associated with medication adherence among
      patients with schizophrenia at Ayder Referral Hospital and Mekelle Hospital in
      Mekelle, Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia. METHODS: The study was a cross
      sectional survey in which sociodemographic characteristics, drug attitudes,
      insight and side effects were measured and explored in terms of their
      relationship with medication adherence. A structured questionnaire as a data
      collection tool was used. Data were analyzed with the help of SPSS Version 20.0.
      RESULTS: A total of 393 patients participated, 26.5% were non-adherent to their
      antipsychotic medication. The factors significantly associated with better
      adherence were positive treatment attitudes (AOR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.26, 1.55),
      fewer side effects (AOR = 0.97, 95% CI: 0.94, 0.99), awareness of illness (AOR =
      1.44, 95% CI: 1.12, 1.85) and the ability to relabel symptoms (AOR = 1.57, 95%
      CI: 1.19, 2.07). However, khat chewers (AOR = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.68), being
      illiterate (AOR = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.47) and older age group (AOR = 0.03, 95%
      CI: 0.01, 0.16) were associated with less medication adherence. CONCLUSIONS: A
      high prevalence of medication non-adherence was found among patients with
      schizophrenia. Intervention strategies focused on educating the patients to
      better understand the illness, medications and their potential side effects might
      be useful in improving adherence to antipsychotic medication treatment.

PMID- 25816355
TI  - Development of a Rabbit Model of Radiation-Induced Sciatic Nerve Injury: In Vivo
      Evaluation Using T2 Relaxation Time Measurements.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To develop a rabbit model of radiation-induced sciatic nerve injury
      (RISNI), using computed tomography (CT)-guided stereotactic radiosurgery, and
      assess the value of T2 measurements of injured nerves. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Twenty New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into A (n = 5) and B (n = 15)
      groups. Group A rabbits underwent CT and magnetic resonance scan and were then
      killed for comparison of images and anatomy of sciatic nerves. One side of the
      sciatic nerve of group B rabbits received irradiation doses of 35, 50, or 70 Gy
      (n = 5 per group). Magnetic resonance imaging and functional assessments were
      performed before irradiation and 1, 2, 3, and 4 months thereafter. RESULT: The
      thigh section of the sciatic nerve outside the pelvis could be observed by CT and
      magnetic resonance imaging. T2 values of the irradiated nerve of the 35-Gy group
      increased gradually, peaking at 4 months; T2 values of the 50-Gy group increased
      faster, peaking at 3 months. Significant differences between the 35-Gy and
      control groups were found at 3 and 4 months, and between the 50-Gy and control
      groups at 2, 3, and 4 months. Functional scores of the 50-Gy group declined
      progressively, whereas the 35-Gy group scores reached a low point at 3 months
      posttreatment and then recovered. Functional scores of the irradiated limbs
      demonstrated a negative correlation with T2 values (r = -0.591 and -0.595, P <
      0.05). Electron microscopy revealed progressive deformation and degeneration of
      the irradiated nerve in the 35- and 50-Gy groups, which were more severe in the
      50-Gy group. CONCLUSIONS: A rabbit RISNI model can be produced using the midthigh
      segment of the sciatic nerve and single-fraction doses of 35 and 50 Gy. Although
      T2 values are useful for monitoring RISNI, they may not be sensitive enough to
      evaluate its severity.

PMID- 25816354
TI  - Small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements, regardless of their zinc
      content, increase growth and reduce the prevalence of stunting and wasting in
      young burkinabe children: a cluster-randomized trial.
AB  - Small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) are promising home
      fortification products, but the optimal zinc level needed to improve growth and
      reduce morbidity is uncertain. We aimed to assess the impact of providing SQ-LNS
      with varied amounts of zinc, along with illness treatment, on zinc-related
      outcomes compared with standard care. In a placebo-controlled, cluster-randomized
      trial, 34 communities were stratified to intervention (IC) or non-intervention
      cohorts (NIC). 2435 eligible IC children were randomly assigned to one of four
      groups:1) SQ-LNS without zinc, placebo tablet; 2) SQ-LNS containing 5mg zinc,
      placebo tablet; 3) SQ-LNS containing 10mg zinc, placebo tablet; or 4) SQ-LNS
      without zinc and 5mg zinc tablet from 9-18 months of age. During weekly morbidity
      surveillance, oral rehydration salts were provided for reported diarrhea and
      antimalarial therapy for confirmed malaria. Children in NIC (n = 785) did not
      receive SQ-LNS, tablets, illness surveillance or treatment. At 9 and 18 months,
      length, weight and hemoglobin were measured in all children. Reported adherence
      was 97 +/- 6% for SQ-LNS and tablets. Mean baseline hemoglobin was 89 +/- 15g/L.
      At 18 months, change in hemoglobin was greater in IC than NIC (+8 vs -1g/L,
      p<0.0001), but 79.1% of IC were still anemic (vs. 91.1% in NIC). Final plasma
      zinc concentration did not differ by group. During the 9-month observation
      period, the incidence of diarrhea was 1.10 +/- 1.03 and of malaria 0.54 +/- 0.50
      episodes per 100 child-days, and did not differ by group. Length at 18 months was
      significantly greater in IC compared to NIC (77.7 +/- 3.0 vs. 76.9 +/- 3.4 cm;
      p<0.001) and stunting prevalence was significantly lower in IC (29.3%) than NIC
      (39.3%; p<0.0001), but did not differ by intervention group within IC. Wasting
      prevalence was also significantly lower in IC (8.7%) than in NIC (13.5%; p =
      0.0003). Providing SQ-LNS daily with or without zinc, along with malaria and
      diarrhea treatment, significantly increased growth and reduced stunting, wasting
      and anemia prevalence in young children. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov
      NCT00944281.

PMID- 25816356
TI  - Effect of HIF-1alpha on biological activation of human tongue squamous cell
      carcinoma SCC-15 cells in vitro.
AB  - Hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) is a key regulator for tumor cells
      and tissues to adapt to hypoxic condition. Suppressing the expression of HIF
      1alpha is important to evaluate its effect on cancer cells. This study was
      carried out to analyze the effect of HIF-1alpha on the biological activation of
      human tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) SCC-15 cells. In this experiment,
      deferoxamine mesylate (DFO) was used to induce hypoxic condition. HIF-1alpha gene
      was suppressed by lentiviral vector. The effect of the level of HIF-1alpha
      expression was tested on the proliferation, cell cycle, cell apoptosis and cell
      invasion of SCC-15 cells. We demonstrated that SCC-15 cells showed a more
      aggressive phenotype after treated with DFO. Additionally, DFO was able to induce
      the expression of HIF-1alpha protein. Lentiviral vector can effectively inhibit
      HIF-1alpha expression on mRNA and protein level. Under normoxic or hypoxic
      conditions, downregulation of HIF-1alpha for SCC-15 cells induced cell apoptosis
      and inhibited growth and invasion. These results showed that suppressing the
      expression of HIF-1alpha inhibited the aggressive potential of SCC-15 cells under
      normoxic and hypoxic condition. Thus, finding an effective and safe pathway to
      inhibit the expression of HIF-1alpha can help us to improve the survival rate of
      human TSCC patients. 

PMID- 25816358
TI  - An unusual presentation of oculoauriculovertebral spectrum with a Tessier 30
      cleft: report on two cases.
AB  - Oculoauriculovertebral spectrum (OAVS, OMIM 164210) is a complex condition
      characterized by defects in aural, oral, and mandibular development. Other
      craniofacial and extracranial anomalies can be present. With the exception of the
      Tessier number 7 cleft, atypical clefting has rarely been reported in association
      with OAVS. Here, we report on two unrelated cases with a typical phenotype of
      OAVS and a Tessier 30 associated cleft. One of them also had other atypical
      facial clefts. We discuss the association between atypical facial clefts and
      OAVS. 

PMID- 25816359
TI  - Chemical composition, antioxidant properties and hepatoprotective effects of
      chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) decoction extract against alcohol-induced
      oxidative stress in rat.
AB  - The present study assessed the chemical composition, antioxidant properties, and
      hepatoprotective effects of subacute pre-treatment with chamomile (Matricaria
      recutita L.) decoction extract (CDE) against ethanol (EtOH)-induced oxidative
      stress in rats. The colorimetric analysis demonstrated that the CDE is rich in
      total polyphenols, total flavonoids and condensed tannins, and exhibited an
      important in vitro antioxidant activity. The use of LC/MS technique allowed us to
      identify 10 phenolic compounds in CDE. We found that CDE pretreatment, in vivo,
      protected against EtOH-induced liver injury evident by plasma transaminases
      activity and preservation of the hepatic tissue structure. The CDE counteracted
      EtOH-induced liver lipoperoxidation, preserved thiol -SH groups and prevented the
      depletion of antioxidant enzyme activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase
      (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). We also showed that acute alcohol
      administration increased tissue and plasma hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), calcium
      and free iron levels. More importantly, CDE pre-treatment reversed all EtOH
      induced disturbances in intracellular mediators. In conclusion, our data suggest
      that CDE exerted a potential hepatoprotective effect against EtOH-induced
      oxidative stress in rat, at least in part, by negatively regulating Fenton
      reaction components such as H(2)O(2) and free iron, which are known to lead to
      cytotoxicity mediated by intracellular calcium deregulation.

PMID- 25816357
TI  - Seeking a mechanism for the toxicity of oligomeric alpha-synuclein.
AB  - In a number of neurological diseases including Parkinson's disease (PD), alpha
      synuclein is aberrantly folded, forming abnormal oligomers, and amyloid fibrils
      within nerve cells. Strong evidence exists for the toxicity of increased
      production and aggregation of alpha-synuclein in vivo. The toxicity of alpha
      synuclein is popularly attributed to the formation of "toxic oligomers": a
      heterogenous and poorly characterized group of conformers that may share common
      molecular features. This review presents the available evidence on the properties
      of alpha-synuclein oligomers and the potential molecular mechanisms of their
      cellular disruption. Toxic alpha-synuclein oligomers may impact cells in a number
      of ways, including the disruption of membranes, mitochondrial depolarization,
      cytoskeleton changes, impairment of protein clearance pathways, and enhanced
      oxidative stress. We also examine the relationship between alpha-synuclein toxic
      oligomers and amyloid fibrils, in the light of recent studies that paint a more
      complex picture of alpha-synuclein toxicity. Finally, methods of studying and
      manipulating oligomers within cells are described.

PMID- 25816360
TI  - System for exposing cultured cells to intermittent hypoxia utilizing gas
      permeable cultureware.
AB  - Tissue intermittent hypoxia (IH) occurs in obstructive sleep apnea, sickle cell
      anemia, physical exercise and other conditions. Poor gas solubility and slow
      diffusion through culture media hampers mimicking IH-induced transitions of O(2)
      in vitro. We aimed to develop a system enabling exposure of cultured cells to IH
      and to validate such exposure by real-time O(2) measurements and cellular
      responses. Standard 24-well culture plates and plates with bottoms made from a
      gas permeable film were placed in a heated cabinet. Desired cycling of O(2)
      levels was induced using programmable solenoids to purge mixtures of 95% N(2) +
      5% CO(2) or 95% O(2) + 5% CO(2). Dissolved oxygen, gas pressure, temperature, and
      water evaporation were measured during cycling. IH-induced cellular effects were
      evaluated by hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) and NF-kappaB luciferase reporters in
      HEK296 cells and by insulin secretion in rat insulinoma cells. Oxygen cycling in
      the cabinet was translated into identical changes of O(2) at the well bottom in
      gas permeable, but not in standard cultureware. Twenty-four hours of IH exposure
      increased HIF (112%), NF-kappaB (111%) and insulin secretion (44%). Described
      system enables reproducible and prolonged IH exposure in cultured cells while
      controlling for important environmental factors.

PMID- 25816361
TI  - Biphasic response of cardiodynamic adaptations to swimming exercise in rats.
AB  - The aim of research was to assess exercise-induced changes in mechanics of hearts
      isolated from rats, as well as time-course of those changes. Wistar rats (n = 42)
      were divided into control, moderately trained (swimming 1 hour, 5 days a week for
      9 or 12 weeks) and strenuously trained (swimming 2, 3 and 4 times a day for an
      hour in weeks 10, 11 and 12, respectively) groups. After sacrificing, hearts
      (weight: 1480.82 +/- 145.38 mg) were isolated and perfused on a Langendorff
      apparatus. Coronary perfusion pressure (CPP) was gradually increased (from 40 to
      120 cm H(2)O) in order to establish coronary autoregulation. Parameters of
      cardiac contractility were recorded: maximum and minimum rate of change of
      pressure in the left ventricle (dp/dt max and dp/dt min), systolic and diastolic
      left ventricular pressure (SLVP and DLVP), heart rate (HR) and coronary flow
      (CF). Nine weeks of moderate exercise induced slight depression of coronary
      function (decrease of dp/dt max, dp/dt min, SLVP and DLVP), while 3 additional
      weeks of moderate training improved hearts function, but not to the extent that
      the strenuous training program did. The results of our study add evidence about
      beneficial effects of regular moderate exercise on heart, and furthermore, show
      that exercising frequently, if the intensity stays within moderate range, may not
      have detrimental effects on cardiodynamics.

PMID- 25816362
TI  - The assessment of septal wall motion in patients undergoing CABG by myocardial
      perfusion-gated SPECT.
AB  - PURPOSE: In this study, we aimed to assess the presence and prevalence of
      paradoxical septal motion (PSM) by myocardial perfusion-gated single-photon
      emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging in patients undergoing coronary
      artery bypass grafting (CABG). METHODS: A total of 172 patients (145 men and 27
      women, with a mean age of 64.81 +/- 8.93 years) undergoing CABG surgery were
      included in the study. All selected scintigraphic studies of the patients
      undergoing CABG were reprocessed. Semiquantitative interpretation of septal
      perfusion, wall motion, and wall thickening was performed with QPS and QGS
      programs. Phase analysis parameters were also obtained using the Emory Cardiac
      Toolbox. According to myocardial perfusion-gated SPECT results, the patients were
      trichotomized as follows: group 1 (nonischemic PSM): regular perfusion and
      thickening of the septal wall and abnormal motion of the septal wall; group 2
      (ischemic PSM): abnormal perfusion, motion, and thickening of the septal wall;
      group 3 (non-PSM): normal perfusion, motion, and thickening of the septal wall.
      The data in each of the three groups were compared using Student's t-test and one
      way analysis of variance. RESULTS: No PSM (normal perfusion, motion, and
      thickening of the septal wall) was observed in 19.2% of patients undergoing CABG,
      whereas nonischemic PSM (regular perfusion and thickening of the septal wall and
      abnormal motion of the septal wall) was observed in 60.5% of patients and
      ischemic PSM (abnormal perfusion, motion and thickening of the septal wall) was
      seen in 20.3% of patients. CONCLUSION: According to our study results, PSM is
      fairly common in patients undergoing CABG. It will be beneficial to use
      myocardial perfusion scintigraphy-gated SPECT, which is a noninvasive examination
      method, to identify the presence of PSM and investigate whether it is accompanied
      by ischemia or infarction.

PMID- 25816364
TI  - Correction: The genetic basis of variation in clean lineages of Saccharomyces
      cerevisiae in response to stresses encountered during bioethanol fermentations.

PMID- 25816363
TI  - Long-Term Ambient Residential Traffic-Related Exposures and Measurement Error
      Adjusted Risk of Incident Lung Cancer in the Netherlands Cohort Study on Diet and
      Cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently
      declared air pollution carcinogenic to humans. However, no study of air pollution
      and lung cancer to date has incorporated adjustment for exposure measurement
      error, and few have examined specific histological subtypes. OBJECTIVES: Our aim
      was to assess the association of air pollution and incident lung cancer in the
      Netherlands Cohort Study on Diet and Cancer and the impact of measurement error
      on these associations. METHODS: The cohort was followed from 1986 through 2003,
      and 3,355 incident cases were identified. Cox proportional hazards models were
      used to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals, for long-term
      exposures to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), black smoke (BS), PM2.5 (particulate matter
      with diameter <= 2.5 MUm), and measures of roadway proximity and traffic volume,
      adjusted for potential confounders. Information from a previous validation study
      was used to correct the effect estimates for measurement error. RESULTS: We
      observed elevated risks of incident lung cancer with exposure to BS [hazard ratio
      (HR) = 1.16; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.32, per 10 MUg/m3], NO2 (HR = 1.29; 95% CI: 1.08,
      1.54, per 30 MUg/m3), PM2.5 (HR = 1.17; 95% CI: 0.93, 1.47, per 10 MUg/m3), and
      with measures of traffic at the baseline address. The exposures were positively
      associated with all lung cancer subtypes. After adjustment for measurement error,
      the HRs increased and the 95% CIs widened [HR = 1.19 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.39) for BS
      and HR = 1.37 (95% CI: 0.86, 2.17) for PM2.5]. CONCLUSIONS: These findings add
      support to a growing body of literature on the effects of air pollution on lung
      cancer. In addition, they highlight variation in measurement error by pollutant
      and support the implementation of measurement error corrections when possible.
      CITATION: Hart JE, Spiegelman D, Beelen R, Hoek G, Brunekreef B, Schouten LJ, van
      den Brandt P. 2015. Long-term ambient residential traffic-related exposures and
      measurement error-adjusted risk of incident lung cancer in the Netherlands Cohort
      Study on Diet and Cancer. Environ Health Perspect 123:860-866;
      http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408762.

PMID- 25816365
TI  - Wound edge protectors in open abdominal surgery to reduce surgical site
      infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Surgical site infections remain one of the most frequent
      complications following abdominal surgery and cause substantial costs, morbidity
      and mortality. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of wound edge protectors in
      open abdominal surgery in reducing surgical site infections. EVIDENCE REVIEW: A
      systematic literature search was conducted according to a prespecified review
      protocol in a variety of data-bases combined with hand-searches for randomized
      controlled trials on wound edge protectors in patients undergoing laparotomy. A
      qualitative and quantitative analysis of included trials was conducted. FINDINGS:
      We identified 16 randomized controlled trials including 3695 patients
      investigating wound edge protectors published between 1972 and 2014. Critical
      appraisal uncovered a number of methodological flaws, predominantly in the older
      trials. Wound edge protectors significantly reduced the rate of surgical site
      infections (risk ratio 0.65; 95%CI, 0.51-0.83; p = 0.0007; I2 = 52%). The results
      were robust in a number of sensitivity analyses. A similar effect size was found
      in the subgroup of patients undergoing colorectal surgery (risk ratio 0.65;
      95%CI, 0.44-0.97; p = 0.04; I2 = 56%). Of the two common types of wound
      protectors double ring devices were found to exhibit a greater protective effect
      (risk ratio 0.29; 95%CI, 0.15-0.55) than single-ring devices (risk ratio 0.71;
      95%CI, 0.54-0.92), but this might largely be due to the lower quality of
      available data for double-ring devices. Exploratory subgroup analyses for the
      degree of contamination showed a larger protective effect in contaminated cases
      (0.44; 95%CI, 0.28-0.67; p = 0.0002, I2 = 23%) than in clean-contaminated
      surgeries (0.72, 95%CI, 0.57-0.91; p = 0.005; I2 = 46%) and a strong effect on
      the reduction of superficial surgical site infections (risk ratio 0.45; 95%CI,
      0.24-0.82; p = 0.001; I2 = 72%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Wound edge protectors
      significantly reduce the rate of surgical site infections in open abdominal
      surgery. Further trials are needed to explore their effectiveness in different
      risk constellations.

PMID- 25816366
TI  - Quantification of cellular viability by automated microscopy and flow cytometry.
AB  - Cellular viability is usually determined by measuring the capacity of cells to
      exclude vital dyes such as 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI), or by assessing
      nuclear morphology with chromatinophilic plasma membrane-permeant dyes, such as
      Hoechst 33342. However, a fraction of cells that exclude DAPI or exhibit normal
      nuclear morphology have already lost mitochondrial functions and/or manifest
      massive activation of apoptotic caspases, and hence are irremediably committed to
      death. Here, we developed a protocol for the simultaneous detection of plasma
      membrane integrity (based on DAPI) or nuclear morphology (based on Hoechst
      33342), mitochondrial functions (based on the mitochondrial transmembrane
      potential probe DiOC6(3)) and caspase activation (based on YO-PRO(r)-3, which can
      enter cells exclusively upon the caspase-mediated activation of pannexin 1
      channels). This method, which allows for the precise quantification of dead,
      dying and healthy cells, can be implemented on epifluorescence microscopy or flow
      cytometry platforms and is compatible with a robotized, high-throughput workflow.

PMID- 25816367
TI  - Activation of AKR1C1/ERbeta induces apoptosis by downregulation of c-FLIP in
      prostate cancer cells: A prospective therapeutic opportunity.
AB  - We provide first-time evidence for ERbeta-mediated transcriptional upregulation
      of c-FLIP as an underlying mechanism in the development of castrate-resistant
      cancer. While androgens inhibit apoptosis partly through transcriptional
      upregulation of the anti-apoptotic protein, c-FLIP in androgen-responsive cells,
      they downregulate c-FLIP in androgen-independent cells. We found that although
      Sp1 and p65 trans-activate c-FLIP, the combination of Sp1 and p65 has
      differential effects in a cellular context-dependent manner. We show that
      activation of the androgen metabolism enzyme, aldo-keto reductase, AKR1C1,
      relieves androgen independence through activation of 3beta-Adiol-mediated
      upregulation of ERbeta. ERbeta competes with Sp1 and Sp3 to transcriptionally
      downregulate c-FLIP in the absence of consensus estrogen-response element in
      androgen-independent cells. Forced expression of AR in androgen-independent cells
      show that ERbeta-mediated growth inhibition occurs under conditions of androgen
      independence. Reactivation of ERbeta with the estrogenic metabolite, 2
      methoxyestradiol, decreased enrichment ratio of Sp1/Sp3 at the c-FLIP promoter
      with concomitant effects on cell growth and death. Expression of Sp1 and c-FLIP
      are elevated while AKR1C1, ERbeta and Sp3 are significantly low in human prostate
      tumor samples. ERbeta is epigenetically silenced in prostate cancer patients,
      therefore our results suggest that combination of ERbeta agonists with ADT would
      benefit men stratified on the basis of high estrogen levels. 

PMID- 25816368
TI  - Association between Arsenic Exposure from Drinking Water and Longitudinal Change
      in Blood Pressure among HEALS Cohort Participants.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cross-sectional studies have shown associations between arsenic
      exposure and prevalence of high blood pressure; however, studies examining the
      relationship of arsenic exposure with longitudinal changes in blood pressure are
      lacking. METHOD: We evaluated associations of arsenic exposure in relation to
      longitudinal change in blood pressure in 10,853 participants in the Health
      Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study (HEALS). Arsenic was measured in well water
      and in urine samples at baseline and in urine samples every 2 years after
      baseline. Mixed-effect models were used to estimate the association of baseline
      well and urinary creatinine-adjusted arsenic with annual change in blood pressure
      during follow-up (median, 6.7 years). RESULT: In the HEALS population, the median
      water arsenic concentration at baseline was 62 MUg/L. Individuals in the highest
      quartile of baseline water arsenic or urinary creatinine-adjusted arsenic had a
      greater annual increase in systolic blood pressure compared with those in the
      reference group (beta = 0.48 mmHg/year; 95% CI: 0.35, 0.61, and beta = 0.43
      mmHg/year; 95% CI: 0.29, 0.56 for water arsenic and urinary creatinine-adjusted
      arsenic, respectively) in fully adjusted models. Likewise, individuals in the
      highest quartile of baseline arsenic exposure had a greater annual increase in
      diastolic blood pressure for water arsenic and urinary creatinine-adjusted
      arsenic, (beta = 0.39 mmHg/year; 95% CI: 0.30, 0.49, and beta = 0.45 mmHg/year;
      95% CI: 0.36, 0.55, respectively) compared with those in the lowest quartile.
      CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that long-term arsenic exposure may accelerate
      age-related increases in blood pressure. These findings may help explain
      associations between arsenic exposure and cardiovascular disease.

PMID- 25816369
TI  - The role of prenatal care and social risk factors in the relationship between
      immigrant status and neonatal morbidity: a retrospective cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Literature evaluating association between neonatal morbidity
      and immigrant status presents contradictory results. Poorer compliance with
      prenatal care and greater social risk factors among immigrants could play roles
      as major confounding variables, thus explaining contradictions. We examined
      whether prenatal care and social risk factors are confounding variables in the
      relationship between immigrant status and neonatal morbidity. METHODS:
      Retrospective cohort study: 231 pregnant African immigrant women were recruited
      from 2007-2010 in northern Spain. A Spanish population sample was obtained by
      simple random sampling at 1:3 ratio. Immigrant status (Spanish, Sub-Saharan and
      Northern African), prenatal care (Kessner Index adequate, intermediate or
      inadequate), and social risk factors were treated as independent variables. Low
      birth weight (LBW < 2500 grams) and preterm birth (< 37 weeks) were collected as
      neonatal morbidity variables. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) were estimated
      by unconditional logistic regression with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).
      RESULTS: Positive associations between immigrant women and higher risk of
      neonatal morbidity were obtained. Crude OR for preterm births in Northern
      Africans with respect to nonimmigrants was 2.28 (95% CI: 1.04-5.00), and crude OR
      for LBW was 1.77 (95% CI: 0.74-4.22). However, after adjusting for prenatal care
      and social risk factors, associations became protective: adjusted OR for preterm
      birth = 0.42 (95% CI: 0.14-1.32); LBW = 0.48 (95% CI: 0.15-1.52). Poor compliance
      with prenatal care was the main independent risk factor associated with both
      preterm birth (adjusted OR inadequate care = 17.05; 95% CI: 3.92-74.24) and LBW
      (adjusted OR inadequate care = 6.25; 95% CI: 1.28-30.46). Social risk was an
      important independent risk factor associated with LBW (adjusted OR = 5.42; 95%
      CI: 1.58-18.62). CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal care and social risk factors were major
      confounding variables in the relationship between immigrant status and neonatal
      morbidity.

PMID- 25816371
TI  - Leaf surface lipophilic compounds as one of the factors of silver birch chemical
      defense against larvae of gypsy moth.
AB  - Plant chemical defense against herbivores is a complex process which involves a
      number of secondary compounds. It is known that the concentration of leaf surface
      lipophilic compounds (SLCs), particularly those of flavonoid aglycones are
      increased with the defoliation treatment of silver birch Betula pendula. In this
      study we investigated how the alteration of SLCs concentration in the food
      affects the fitness and innate immunity of the gypsy moth Lymantria dispar. We
      found that a low SLCs concentrations in consumed leaves led to a rapid larval
      development and increased females' pupae weight (= fecundity) compared to larvae
      fed with leaves with high SLCs content. Inversely, increasing the compounds
      concentration in an artificial diet produced the reverse effects: decreases in
      both larval weight and larval survival. Low SLCs concentrations in tree leaves
      differently affected larval innate immunity parameters. For both sexes, total
      hemocytes count in the hemolymph increased, while the activity of plasma
      phenoloxidase decreased when larvae consume leaves with reduced content of SLCs.
      Our results clearly demonstrate that the concentration of SLCs in silver birch
      leaves affects not only gypsy moth fitness but also their innate immune status
      which might alter the potential resistance of insects against infections and/or
      parasitoids.

PMID- 25816370
TI  - The GATA factor elt-1 regulates C. elegans developmental timing by promoting
      expression of the let-7 family microRNAs.
AB  - Postembryonic development in Caenorhabditis elegans is a powerful model for the
      study of the temporal regulation of development and for the roles of microRNAs in
      controlling gene expression. Stable switch-like changes in gene expression occur
      during development as stage-specific microRNAs are expressed and subsequently
      down-regulate other stage-specific factors, driving developmental progression.
      Key genes in this regulatory network are phylogenetically conserved and include
      the post-transcriptional microRNA repressor LIN-28; the nuclear hormone receptor
      DAF-12; and the microRNAs LIN-4, LET-7, and the three LET-7 family miRNAs (miR
      48, miR-84, and miR-241). DAF-12 is known to regulate transcription of miR-48,
      miR-84 and miR-241, but its contribution is insufficient to account for all of
      the transcriptional regulation implied by the mutant phenotypes. In this work,
      the GATA-family transcription factor ELT-1 is identified from a genetic enhancer
      screen as a regulator of developmental timing in parallel to DAF-12, and is shown
      to do so by promoting the expression of the LET-7, miR-48, miR-84, and miR-241
      microRNAs. The role of ELT-1 in developmental timing is shown to be separate from
      its role in cell-fate maintenance during post-embryonic development. In addition,
      analysis of Chromatin Immnoprecipitation (ChIP) data from the modENCODE project
      and this work suggest that the contribution of ELT-1 to the control of let-7
      family microRNA expression is likely through direct transcription regulation. 

PMID- 25816372
TI  - Thrombomodulin promotes corneal epithelial wound healing.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the role of thrombomodulin (TM) in corneal epithelial wound
      healing, and to investigate whether recombinant TM epidermal growth factor-like
      domain plus serine/threonine-rich domain (rTMD23) has therapeutic potential in
      corneal epithelial wound healing. METHODS: TM localization and expression in the
      murine cornea were examined by immunofluorescence staining. TM expression after
      injury was also studied. The effect of rTMD23 on corneal wound healing was
      evaluated by in vitro and in vivo assays. RESULTS: TM was expressed in the cornea
      in normal adult mice. TM expression increased in the early phase of wound healing
      and decreased after wound recovery. In the in vitro study, platelet-derived
      growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) induced TM expression in murine corneal epithelial
      cells by mediating E26 transformation-specific sequence-1 (Ets-1) via the
      mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. The administration of
      rTMD23 increased the rate of corneal epithelial wound healing. CONCLUSIONS: TM
      expression in corneal epithelium was modulated during the corneal wound healing
      process, and may be regulated by PDGF-BB. In addition, rTMD23 has therapeutic
      potential in corneal injury.

PMID- 25816373
TI  - Sensitivity towards fear of electric shock in passive threat situations.
AB  - Human judgment and decision-making (JDM) requires an assessment of different
      choice options. While traditional theories of choice argue that cognitive
      processes are the main driver to reach a decision, growing evidence highlights
      the importance of emotion in decision-making. Following these findings, it
      appears relevant to understand how individuals asses the attractiveness or
      riskiness of a situation in terms of emotional processes. The following study
      aims at a better understanding of the psychophysiological mechanisms underlying
      threat sensitivity by measuring skin conductance responses (SCRs) in passive
      threat situations. While previous studies demonstrate the role of magnitude on
      emotional body reactions preceding an outcome, this study focuses on probability.
      In order to analyze emotional body reactions preceding negative events with
      varying probability of occurrence, we have our participants play a two-stage card
      game. The first stage of the card game reveals the probability of receiving an
      unpleasant electric shock. The second stage applies the electric shock with the
      previously announced probability. For the analysis, we focus on the time interval
      between the first and second stage. We observe a linear relation between SCRs in
      anticipation of receiving an electric shock and shock probability. This finding
      indicates that SCRs are able to code the likelihood of negative events. We
      outline how this coding function of SCRs during the anticipation of negative
      events might add to an understanding of human JDM. 

PMID- 25816375
TI  - Executive Summary of Key Concepts.

PMID- 25816374
TI  - Effect of interwall interaction on the electronic structure of double-walled
      carbon nanotubes.
AB  - Through this study, the results of density functional theory calculations within
      the local density approximation of the electronic structure of zigzag-zigzag
      double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs), with chiral indices (n, 0)@(m, 0) for n
      = 7-15, and m = 15-26, has been presented and the effects of interwall
      interaction and orbital hybridization on the electronic structure of these
      systems has been discussed. It was observed that the electronic band gap of the
      aforementioned DWCNTs depends on the interwall distance only for metallic
      semiconductor configurations and on the intrinsic properties of the constituent
      tubes in all other combinations. It was also observed that the calculated band
      gap for most of the metallic-metallic DWCNTs was smaller than semiconductor
      metallic, metallic-semiconductor, and semiconductor-semiconductor configurations.
      Metallic-semiconductor DWCNTs were found to be desirable for band gap tuning
      applications because of their dependence on interwall distance, opening up the
      possibility of using such systems in electronic device applications, such as
      transistors. Other applications include the use of DWCNTs in macroscopic carbon
      nanotube conducting wires, for which metallic-metallic and semiconducting
      metallic zigzag-zigzag DWCNTs were found to be the most desirable configurations
      due to their small band gaps. 

PMID- 25816376
TI  - A milestone of change.

PMID- 25816377
TI  - Effects of revised consultation room design on patient-physician communication.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of a revised consultation room design on
      patient-physician interaction in an outpatient setting. BACKGROUND: The growth of
      ambulatory medical care makes outpatient facilities the primary point of health
      care contact for many Americans. However, the outpatient consultation room design
      remains largely unchanged, despite its increased use and the adoption of
      technology-mediated information sharing in clinical encounter. METHODS: A
      randomized controlled trial used a postvisit questionnaire to assess six domains
      of interest (satisfaction with the visit and the consultation room, mutual
      respect, patient trust in the physician, communication quality, people-room
      interaction, and interpersonal-room interaction) in two different room designs (a
      traditional room and an experimental room in which a pedestal table had replaced
      the examination table). RESULTS: Interpersonal-room interaction was enhanced in
      the experimental consultation room when compared to the traditional consultation
      room (p = .0038). Participants in the experimental consultation room had better
      access to the computer screen, increased provider information sharing, and more
      time engaging providers in conversation about information on the monitor.
      CONCLUSIONS: Changing the layout of a consultation room has the potential to
      improve interpersonal communication through better information sharing.
      Clinicians who are interested in maximizing the benefits of their clinical
      encounter should consider changing the layout of their consultation room,
      especially the positioning of the computer screen.

PMID- 25816378
TI  - Optimizing the patient-centered environment: results of guided tours with health
      care providers and employees.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine providers' perspectives on the care environment and patient
      centered care (PCC) through the eyes of the veteran patient, using guided tours
      qualitative methodology. BACKGROUND: Environmental factors, such as
      attractiveness and function, have the potential to improve patients' experiences.
      Participatory qualitative methods allow researchers to explore the environment
      and facilitate discussion. METHODS: Guided tours were conducted with 25 health
      care providers/employees at two Veterans Affairs (VA) health care facilities. In
      guided tours, participants lead the researcher through an environment, commenting
      on their surroundings, thoughts, and feelings. The researcher walks along with
      the participant, asking open-ended questions as needed to foster discussion and
      gain an understanding of the participant's view. Participants were asked to walk
      through the facility as though they were a veteran. Tours were audio recorded,
      with participant permission, and transcribed verbatim by research assistants.
      Three qualitative researchers were responsible for codebook development and
      coding transcripts and used data-driven coding approaches. RESULTS: Participants
      discussed physical appearance of the environment and how that influences
      perceptions about care. Overall, participants highlighted the need to shed the
      "institutional" appearance. Differences between VA and non-VA health care
      facilities were discussed, including availability of private rooms and staff to
      assist with navigating the facility. They reviewed resources in the facility,
      such as the information desk to assist patients and families. Finally, they
      offered suggestions for future improvements, including improvements to waiting
      areas and quiet areas for patients to relax and "get away" from their rooms.
      CONCLUSIONS: Participants highlighted many small changes to the care environment
      that could enhance the patient experience. Additionally, they examined the
      environment from the patient's perspective, to identify elements that enhance, or
      detract from, the patient's care experience.

PMID- 25816379
TI  - Assessing the physical service setting: a look at emergency departments.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the attributes of the physical setting that are important
      for developing a positive service climate within emergency departments and to
      validate a measure for assessing physical service design. BACKGROUND: The design
      of the physical setting is an important and contributing factor for creating a
      service climate in organizations. Service climate is defined as employee
      perceptions of the practices, procedures, and behaviors that get rewarded,
      supported, and expected with regard to customer service and customer service
      quality. There has been research conducted which identifies antecedents within
      organization that promotes a positive service climate which in turn creates
      service-oriented behaviors by employees toward clients. The antecedent of the
      physical setting and its impact on perceptions of service climate has been less
      commonly explored. METHODS: Using the concept of the physical service setting
      (which may be defined as aspects of the physical, built environment that
      facilitate the delivery of quality service), attributes of the physical setting
      and their relationship with service climate were explored by means of a
      quantitative paper survey distributed to emergency nurses (n = 180) throughout a
      province in Canada. RESULTS: The results highlight the validity and reliability
      of six scales measuring the physical setting and its relation to service.
      Respondents gave low ratings to the physical setting of their departments, in
      addition to low ratings of service climate. CONCLUSIONS: Respondents feel that
      the design of the physical setting in the emergency departments where they work
      is not conducive to providing quality service to clients. Certain attributes of
      the physical setting were found to be significant in influencing perceptions of
      service climate, hence service quality, within the emergency department setting.

PMID- 25816380
TI  - An Exploration of the Nightstand and Over-the-Bed Table in an Inpatient
      Rehabilitation Hospital.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study seeks to determine where patients in a rehabilitation
      hospital keep the greatest percentage of their belongings, that is, in/on the
      nightstand or on the over-the-bed table. BACKGROUND: This study provides an
      inventory of patient items located on the over-the-bed table and in/on the
      nightstand. Understanding the functions of furnishings within the patient room is
      key for future preparation for designing a next-generation over-the-bed table or
      for redesigning a more useful nightstand. METHODS: The contents on the top of the
      nightstand; the contents in the top, middle, and bottom drawers of the
      nightstand; items next to the nightstand; and the contents on the over-the-bed
      table within patient rooms were inventoried and placed into categories using
      similar, patient item categories as the Brooks et al. (2011) study, which
      examined the contents of the nightstand and the over-the-bed table in assisted
      living and skilled nursing facilities. RESULTS: Overall, patients in a
      rehabilitation hospital had a greater percentage of their belongings on the top
      of the nightstand as compared to their belongings located in all three combined
      drawers of the nightstand. Overall, patients had a greater percentage of their
      belongings located on the over-the-bed table as compared to their belongings
      located on the nightstand. CONCLUSIONS: Tabletop surface area was used
      extensively in patient rooms at a rehabilitation hospital, but nightstand drawers
      were underutilized.

PMID- 25816381
TI  - An empirical examination of the impacts of decentralized nursing unit design.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to examine the impact of
      decentralization on operational efficiency, staff well-being, and teamwork on
      three inpatient units. BACKGROUND: Decentralized unit operations and the
      corresponding physical design solution were hypothesized to positively affect
      several concerns-productive use of nursing time, staff stress, walking distances,
      and teamwork, among others. With a wide adoption of the concept, empirical
      evidence on the impact of decentralization was warranted. METHODS: A multimethod,
      before-and-after, quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study, focusing
      on five issues, namely, (1) how nurses spend their time, (2) walking distance,
      (3) acute stress, (4) productivity, and (5) teamwork. Data on all five issues
      were collected on three older units with centralized operational model (before
      move). The same set of data, with identical tools and measures, were collected on
      the same units after move in to new physical units with decentralized operational
      model. Data were collected during spring and fall of 2011. RESULTS:
      Documentation, nurse station use, medication room use, and supplies room use
      showed consistent change across the three units. Walking distance increased
      (statistically significant) on two of the three units. Self-reported level of
      collaboration decreased, although assessment of the physical facility for
      collaboration increased. CONCLUSIONS: Decentralized nursing and physical design
      models potentially result in quality of work improvements associated with
      documentation, medication, and supplies. However, there are unexpected
      consequences associated with walking, and staff collaboration and teamwork. The
      solution to the unexpected consequences may lie in operational interventions and
      greater emphasis on culture change.

PMID- 25816383
TI  - Institutional Review Boards and Peer-Reviewed Publication.

PMID- 25816382
TI  - Ambient versus traditional environment in pediatric emergency department.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We sought to examine the effect of exposure to an ambient environment
      in a pediatric emergency department. We hypothesized that passive distraction
      from ambient lighting in an emergency department would lead to reduction in
      patient pain and anxiety and increased caregiver satisfaction with services.
      BACKGROUND: Passive distraction has been associated with lower anxiety and pain
      in patients and affects perception of wait time. A pediatric ED was designed that
      optimized passive distraction techniques using colorful ambient lighting.
      METHODS: Participants were nonrandomly assigned to either an ambient ED
      environment or a traditional ED environment. Entry and exit questionnaires
      assessed caregiver expectations and experiences. Pain ratings were obtained with
      age-appropriate scales, and wait times were recorded. RESULTS: A total of 70
      participants were assessed across conditions, that is, 40 in the ambient ED group
      and 30 in the traditional ED group. Caregivers in the traditional ED group
      expected a longer wait, had higher anxiety pretreatment, and felt more scared
      than those in the ambient ED group. Caregivers in the ambient ED group felt more
      included in the care of their child and rated quality of care higher than
      caregivers in the traditional ED group. Pain ratings and administrations of pain
      medication were lower in the ambient ED group. CONCLUSIONS: Mean scores for the
      ambient ED group were in the expected direction on several items measuring
      satisfaction with ED experiences. Results were suggestive of less stress in
      caregivers, less pain in patients, and higher satisfaction levels in the ambient
      ED group.

PMID- 25816385
TI  - A Practitioner's Transition to Academic Researcher.

PMID- 25816384
TI  - Ten trends transforming cancer care and their effects on space planning for
      academic medical centers.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This article aims to define the major trends currently affecting space
      needs for academic medical center (AMC) cancer centers. It will distinguish
      between the trends that promote the concentration of services with those that
      promote decentralization as well as identify opportunities for achieving greater
      effectiveness in cancer care space planning. BACKGROUND: Changes in cancer care
      higher survival rates, increased clinical trials, new technology, and changing
      practice models-increasingly fill hospitals' and clinicians' schedules and strain
      clinical space resources. Conflicts among these trends are concentrating some
      services and dispersing others. As a result, AMCs must expand and renovate
      intelligently to continue providing state-of-the-art, compassionate care.
      CONCLUSIONS: Although the typical AMC cancer center can expect to utilize more
      space than it would have 10 years ago, a deeper understanding of the cancer
      center enterprise can lead to opportunities for more effectively using available
      facility resources. Each AMC must determine for itself the appropriate balance of
      patient volume, clinical activity, and services between its main hospital campus
      and satellite branches. As well, space allocation should be flexible, as care
      trends, medical technology, and the provider's own priorities shift over time.
      The goal isn't necessarily more space-it's better space.

PMID- 25816386
TI  - Positioning patient status monitors in a family waiting room.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine where to place patient status displays for family members
      in the operating room family waiting room at The Children's Hospital of
      Philadelphia. METHODS: We calculated the percentage of seats from which wall
      monitors placed in hypothetical positions would be usable. We validated the
      usability of the new monitors by observing nonemployees' use of monitors in the
      waiting room 1 week before and 1 week after implementation. RESULTS: Compared to
      the legacy monitor, the new monitors were observed to be used from more locations
      within the waiting room and more people were observed to use the new monitors
      soon after entering the waiting room. CONCLUSIONS: Seemingly trivial decisions
      like where in a waiting room to place monitors can be informed by careful data
      collection and the consequences can observably impact communication between
      hospital staff and family members waiting for loved ones in surgery.

PMID- 25816388
TI  - In search of the happy balance-intuition and evidence.

PMID- 25816387
TI  - If I were a band-aid, where would I be? Researching the use and location of
      supplies on two patient units.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the use and storage
      of supplies in the neonatal intensive care and women's health units of Parkland
      Hospital in Dallas, Texas. BACKGROUND: Construction of a new Parkland Hospital is
      underway, with completion of the 862-bed, 2.5-million square feet hospital in
      2014. Leaders from the hospital and representatives from one of its major vendors
      collaborated on a research study to evaluate the hospital's current supply
      management system and develop criteria to create an improved system to be
      implemented at the new hospital. METHOD: Approach includes qualitative and
      quantitative methods, that is, written survey, researcher observations, focus
      groups, and evaluation of hospital supply reports. RESULTS: Approaching the ideal
      location of supplies can be best approached by defining a nurse's activity at the
      point of care. Determining an optimal supply management system must be approached
      by understanding the "what" of caregivers' activities and then determining the
      "where" of the supplies that support those activities. CONCLUSIONS: An ideal
      supply management system locates supplies as close as possible to the point of
      use, is organized by activity, and is standardized within and across units.

PMID- 25816389
TI  - The editor replies.

PMID- 25816390
TI  - Lundin reacts-a last word.

PMID- 25816392
TI  - Genetic and histopathological alterations induced by cypermethrin in rat kidney
      and liver: Protection by sesame oil.
AB  - Pesticides are widespread synthesized substances used for public health
      protection and agricultural programs. However, they cause environmental pollution
      and health hazards. This study aimed to examine the protective effects of sesame
      oil (SO) on the genetic alterations induced by cypermethrin (CYP) in the liver
      and kidney of Wistar rats. Male rats were divided into four groups, each
      containing 10 rats: the control group received vehicle, SO group (5 mL/kg b.w),
      CYP group (12 mg/kg b.w), and protective group received SO (5 mL/kg b.w) plus CYP
      (12 mg/kg b.w). Biochemical analysis showed an increase in albumin, urea,
      creatinine, GPT, GOT, and lipid profiles in the CYP group. Co-administration of
      SO with CYP normalized such biochemical changes. CYP administration decreased
      both the activity and mRNA expression of the examined antioxidants. SO co
      administration recovered CYP, downregulating the expression of glutathione-S
      transferase (GST), catalase, and superoxide dismutase. Additionally, SO co
      administration with CYP counteracted the CYP- altering the expression of renal
      interleukins (IL-1 and IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), heme
      oxygenase-1 (HO-1), anigotensinogen (AGT), AGT receptors (AT1), and genes of
      hepatic glucose and fatty acids metabolism. CYP induced degenerative changes in
      the kidney and liver histology which are ameliorated by SO. In conclusion, SO has
      a protective effect against alterations and pathological changes induced by CYP
      in the liver and kidney at genetic and histological levels. 

PMID- 25816393
TI  - Vulvar sarcomas: Short guideline for histopathological recognition and clinical
      management. Part 2.
AB  - Malignant tumors of the female reproductive system are a serious health and
      social problem, as they are the second most common cause of death among women,
      after breast cancer. Vulvar tumors represent only 4% of all gynecological
      neoplasms, and they are fourth in frequency after tumors of the cervix, uterus,
      and ovary. Ninety-eight percent of all vulvar tumors are benign and only 2% are
      malignant. Sarcomas of the vulva comprise approximately 1-3% of all vulvar
      cancers. They are characterized by rapid growth, high metastatic potential,
      frequent recurrences, aggressive behavior, and high mortality rate. In Part 1 of
      this paper, we presented the most common forms of sarcoma of the vulva:
      leiomyosarcoma, epithelioid sarcoma, malignant rhabdoid tumor, and
      rhabdomyosarcoma. The second part of this review will focus mainly on the rarest
      variants of vulvar sarcoma: low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma, synovial sarcoma,
      monophasic synovial sarcoma, carcinosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, myeloid sarcoma,
      dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, malignant fibrous histiocytoma, angiomatoid
      fibrous histiocytoma, liposarcoma, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor, and
      malignant mesothelioma. 

PMID- 25816394
TI  - Vulvar sarcomas: Short guideline for histopathological recognition and clinical
      management. Part 1.
AB  - Malignant tumors of the female reproductive system are a serious health and
      social problem, as they are the second most common cause of death among women,
      after breast cancer. Their incidence has increased dramatically during recent
      years, probably due to the different sexual habits and changes in the prevalence
      of HIV/ AIDS and HPV virus carriers, among other factors. Vulvar tumors represent
      only 4% of all gynecological neoplasms, and they are fourth in frequency after
      tumors of the cervix, uterus, and ovary. Ninety eight percent of all vulvar
      tumors are benign and only 2% are malignant. The overall incidence of tumors with
      vulvar location is between two and seven cases per 100,000 women, and it
      increases with age, while the death rate is estimated at 0.7 per 100,000 women.
      Sarcomas of the vulva comprise approximately 1-3% of all vulvar cancers, with
      leiomyosarcomas, epithelioid sarcomas, and rhabdomyosarcomas being the most
      common among them. They are characterized by rapid growth, high metastatic
      potential, frequent recurrences, aggressive behavior, and high mortality rate. In
      this paper, we present the most common forms of sarcomas of the vulva
      (leiomyosarcoma, epithelioid sarcoma, malignant rhabdoid tumor, rhabdomyosarcoma)
      in order to emphasize the broad differential diagnosis, rare appearance, non
      specific clinical picture, aggressive course, and high mortality. 

PMID- 25816395
TI  - Synthesis, characterization, and efficacy evaluation of a new anti-diabetic
      vanadyl(II) thiamine hydrochloride complex in streptozotocin-induced diabetic
      rats.
AB  - Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by
      hyperglycemia due to abnormalities in either insulin secretion or action. A range
      of vanadium complexes have been synthesized and demonstrated to be effective in
      lowering hyperglycemia. Thiamine administration was also reported to prevent
      deterioration in fasting glucose and insulin levels, and to improve glucose
      tolerance in hyperglycemic patients. This study has been conducted to evaluate
      the ionic vanadyl(II) thiamine hydrochloride complex (VC) as a new anti-diabetic
      candidate. The new complex was characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR),
      electronic spectra, magnetic susceptibility, electron spin resonance (ESR),
      scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The
      anti-diabetic effect of VC was investigated in comparison to vanadium sulfate in
      streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Treatment of diabetic rats with VC
      versus vanadyl sulfate showed a more potent effect on reducing serum glucose and
      cholesterol close to normal levels. VC suppressed the diabetes-induced
      upregulation of hepatic glucose transporter (GLUT)-2, Phosphoenol pyruvate
      carboxykinase (PEPCK), and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) more significantly than
      vanadyl sulfate. Either vanadyl sulfate or VC restored hepatic sterol regulatory
      element-binding protein transcription factor-1c (SREBP-1c) and muscle hexokinase
      (HK) mRNA expression that was downregulated in diabetic group. Pyruvate kinase
      (PK) mRNA expression was restored more significantly in VC-treated than vanadyl
      sulfate-treated diabetic rats. These results indicate that the newly synthesized
      VC could be an effective anti-diabetic candidate as the anti-diabetic activity of
      the ionic vanadium was enhanced after being modified with the organic ligand,
      thiamin. The results also suggest that VC achieves its effect most likely through
      modulating the transcription of energy metabolizing enzymes. 

PMID- 25816396
TI  - Penile length is a very important factor for cosmesis, function and psychosexual
      development in patients affected by hypospadias: Results from a long-term
      longitudinal cohort study.
AB  - Few studies of long-term outcome of hypospadias treatment in terms of voiding,
      surgical complications, sexual functioning, intimate relationships and cosmetic
      results have been investigated and contrasting results have been obtained so far.
      The aim of our study is to investigate the long-term outcome of urinary and
      sexual function, cosmesis and the quality of intimate relationships in a series
      of hypospadias. In this study, 42 patients who underwent surgery for hypospadias
      were prospectively followed for 15 years. Medical records provided the
      hypospadias data, the number of reconstructive operations and the reconstruction
      technique that was used. Patients underwent physical examination, including
      penile length measurement and completed International Prostatic Symptoms Score (I
      PSS), International Index Of Erectile Function (IIEF 15) and the Penile
      Perception Score questionnaire (PPPS). Twenty patients agreed to participate in
      the study. At the enrolment, the median value of HOSE was 13, as regards PPPS,
      18/20 (90%) were satisfied, while in 1998 only 80% were satisfied. No significant
      statistical difference has been reported from the results obtained at enrolment
      and those obtained at follow-up, in terms of PPPS (P = 0.81), IPSS and IIEF-15.
      Penile length was 6.5 cm flaccid and 10.5 cm stretched. Our data show how
      cosmesis, function and psychosexual development for these patients are highly
      connected to surgical outcome, which is understood to be a decrease in penile
      size. 

PMID- 25816397
TI  - Should an increase in cerebral neurochemicals following head kicks in full
      contact karate influence return to play?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cerebral neurochemicals are markers of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
      OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to determine whether kicks to the head (KTH)
      in full contact karate significantly increased serum concentrations of protein S
      100B, and neurone specific enolase (NSE). Kicks to the body (KTB) were also
      quantified to asses muscle tissue injury. Muscle damage was assessed by analysis
      of serum total creatine kinase (CK). METHODS: Twenty-four full contact karate
      practitioners were observed and filmed during actual competition and divided into
      two main groups post event: (1) Kicks to the head and body group (KTH): n = 12;
      mean +/- SD; age, 30.4 +/- 6.7 years; height, 1.74 +/- 0.1 m; weight, 79.1 +/-
      2.1 kg; and (2): Kicks to the body group (KTB): n = 12; mean +/- SD; age, 28.2 +/
      6.5 years; height, 1.75 +/- 0.1 m; weight, 79.2 +/- 1.7 kg. The KTH group
      received direct kicks to the head, while group KTB received kicks and punches to
      the body. Blood samples were taken before and immediately post-combat for
      analysis of serum S-100B, NSE, CK and cardiac troponin. RESULTS: Significant
      increases in serum concentrations of S-100B (0.12 +/- 0.17 vs. 0.37 +/- 0.26,
      ug.L(-1)) and NSE (11.8 +/- 4.1 vs. 20.2 +/- 9.1 ng.mL(-1)) were encountered
      after combat in the KTH group and CK (123 +/- 53 vs. 184 +/- 103 U.L(-1)) in the
      KTB group (all P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Head kicks in full contact karate cause
      elevation of neurochemical markers associated with damaged brain tissue. The
      severity of injury is related to the early post-traumatic release of protein S
      100B and NSE. The early kinetics and appearance post injury can reflect
      intracranial pathology, and suggest S-100B and NSE are extremely sensitive
      prognostic markers of TBI.

PMID- 25816398
TI  - Oxymatrine suppresses proliferation and induces apoptosis of hemangioma cells
      through inhibition of HIF-1a signaling.
AB  - Oxymatrine (OMT), a natural quinolizidine alkaloid, has been known to have anti
      inflammation, anti-anaphylaxis, and chemopreventive effects on various cancer
      cells. To clarify the underlying role and molecular mechanisms of OMT in human
      hemangioma (HA), in the present study, we examined the expression of hypoxia
      inducible factor-1a (HIF-1a) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in
      different phases of human HA. After HA derived endothelial cells (HDEC) were
      pretreated with different concentrations of OMT, cell proliferation, apoptosis,
      and cycle distribution were evaluated by MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis,
      respectively. The effects of OMT on expression of HIF-1a signaling were
      determined by real-time PCR and western blot assays. Our results showed that, the
      expression of HIF-1a and VEGF was significantly increased in proliferating phase
      HA, but decreased in involuting phase HA. Moreover, OMT in vitro inhibited
      proliferative activities and induced cell apoptosis and cycle arrest in G0/G1
      phase in HA cells with decreased expression of HIF-1a, VEGF, Bcl-2, and CyclinD1,
      and increased expression of p53. Taken together, our findings suggest that, the
      expression of HIF-1a and VEGF is increased in proliferating phase HA, and OMT
      suppresses cell proliferation and induces cell apoptosis and cycle arrest in
      proliferative phase HA through inhibition of the HIF-1a signaling pathway,
      suggesting OMT may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of HA. 

PMID- 25816400
TI  - Carbon nanotubes: Properties, biomedical applications, advantages and risks in
      patients and occupationally-exposed workers.
AB  - Since the beginning of the 21st century, carbon-based nanomaterials (CNTs) have
      been introduced in pharmacy and medicine for drug delivery system in
      therapeutics. CNTs have proved able to transport a wide range of molecules across
      membranes and into living cells; therefore, they have attracted great interest in
      biomedical applications such as advanced imaging, tissue regeneration, and drug
      or gene delivery. Although there are many data on the advantages in terms of
      higher efficacy and less adverse effects, several recent findings have reported
      unexpected toxicities induced by CNTs. The dose, shape, surface chemistry,
      exposure route, and purity play important roles in these differential toxicities.
      Mapping these risks as well as understanding their molecular mechanisms is a
      crucial step in the development of any CNT-containing nanopharmaceuticals. This
      paper seeks to provide a comprehensive review of all articles published on
      cellular response to CNTs, underlining their therapeutic applications and
      possible toxicity in patients and occupationally exposed workers. 

PMID- 25816399
TI  - Low prevalence of metallo-beta-lactamase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from
      a tertiary burn care center in Tehran.
AB  - Production of metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) is one of the main mechanisms for
      resistance in carbapenem antibiotics. Detection of MBL-producer Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa is crucial in preventing its spread to other gram-negative bacteria.
      The aim of this study was to evaluate combination disc (CD) for identification of
      MBL-producer P. aeruginosa by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A total of 255
      imipenem resistant P. aeruginosa were collected from burn patients. Antibiotic
      susceptibility testing was conducted after purification and identification.
      Double-disc synergy test (DDST) with EDTA and combination disc test (CDT) with
      dipicolinic acid were performed for phenotypic detection of MBL and the PCR was
      carried out for blaVIM, blaIMP, blaNDM-1, blaSPM-1 genes. DDST with EDTA was
      negative in all cases, but 161 isolates were positive in CDT with dipicolinic
      acid. Further, blaVIM and blaIMP were detected in five and four strains,
      respectively. None of the isolates were positive for BlaNDM-1 and blaSPM-1 . The
      results of this study showed that the prevalence of MBL is low in imipenem
      resistance P. aeruginosa and that other mechanisms could be involved in
      resistance to imipenem in this bacterium. 

PMID- 25816401
TI  - Evolution and functions of stanniocalcins in cancer.
AB  - Stanniocalcin (STC), first isolated from the corpuscles of stannius of teleost
      fishes, was originally known for its regulation on calcium/phosphate transport.
      Increasing evidence demonstrates that STCs display the important function in some
      physiological and pathological behaviors such as calcium regulation, oxidative
      stress, anti-inflammation, angiogenesis, ischemia reperfusion, nerve diseases,
      etc. Moreover, STCs are implicated in the development and progression of multiple
      malignancies through promoting cell growth, proliferation, invasion, metastasis,
      and apoptotic escape. Some studies have shown that NF-kappaB upregulates STC
      expression, thereby activating the downstream HIF-1/ERK1/2 signaling pathway,
      enhancing the transcriptional activity of tumor-related factors (MMP-2/9,
      cyclinD1, Bcl-2, N-cadherin, etc) and contributing to tumorigenesis. Here, this
      brief review describes recent progress of STCs in mammalians, focused mainly on
      their critical functions in cancer. 

PMID- 25816402
TI  - Impact of smoking on guided tissue regeneration using a biocomposite poly (lactic
      co-glycolic) acid/sub-micron size hydroxyapatite with a rubber dam as an
      alternative barrier.
AB  - The purpose of our study was to critically evaluate the results obtained from a
      guided tissue regeneration technique after 12 months using a bocomposite poly
      (lactic-co-glycolic) acid/sub-micron size hydroxyapatite (PLGA/HA) with a rubber
      dam as a barrier in smoking and non-smoking patients. We selected 36 patients (18
      current smokers and 18 non-smokers) diagnosed with chronic advanced periodontitis
      with a periodontal site (probing depth [PD] >5) amenable to regenerative surgery.
      Twelve months after surgery, the periodontal parameters were found to have
      statistically improved, when non-smokers were compared with smokers, in: PD
      reduction (6.3 +/- 2.1 mm vs. 3.6 +/- 1.9 mm); CAL gain (4.4 +/- 1.1 vs. 2.8 +/-
      2.2 mm); recession (1.8 +/- 1.4 mm vs. 0.8 +/- 0.9 mm); and hard tissue fill (4.7
      +/- 0.8 mm vs. 2.8 +/- 2.1 mm). Furthermore, since we found PD baseline
      differences between groups, smoking seemed not to influence the outcomes achieved
      (CAL gain and DeltaREC) 12 months post surgery with respect to PD baseline. The
      use of PLGA/HA with a rubber dam significantly improved the periodontal
      parameters in both smoking and non-smoking subjects. This improvement was
      nevertheless lower in smokers than the non-smokers, confirming the negative
      impact of smoking on periodontal regeneration. 

PMID- 25816403
TI  - Genetics of presbycusis and presbystasis.
AB  - Presbycusis and presbystasis represent relevant problems of aging, caused by the
      increase in life expectancy in developed countries. As such, it is advantageous
      to better understand the physiopathological mechanisms of these age-related inner
      ear diseases. The hypothesis that presbycusis and presbystasis have a genetic
      background was proposed some years ago. Several studies (in humans and animals)
      are available in the literature, and possible genes involved in the
      physiopathology of both diseases have been identified. The aim of this paper is
      to present an overview of the information available in the current medical
      literature on presbycusis and presbystasis. 

PMID- 25816404
TI  - BRD4 promotes tumor growth and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in
      hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) proteins are epigenetic readers that
      play an important role in chromatin remodeling and transcriptional regulation. In
      this study, we found that BRD4, a BET family member, is significantly upregulated
      in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues.
      Furthermore, the overexpression of BRD4 in cancer tissues was correlated with
      poor prognosis in HCC patients. Using shRNA-mediated knockdown of BRD4 or
      lentivirus-mediated overexpression of BRD4 in HCC cells, we further showed that
      BRD4 was involved in HCC cell growth and invasion in vitro. Forced expression of
      BRD4 was sufficient to induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotypes
      in HCC cells. Additionally, BRD4 shRNA significantly inhibited HCC cell
      proliferation in vivo. Collectively, our study confirmed that BRD4 expression is
      a valuable predictor of recurrence and survival in patients with HCC. BRD4 can be
      further used as a potential therapeutic target of HCC. 

PMID- 25816405
TI  - Knockdown of PTTG1 inhibits the growth and invasion of lung adenocarcinoma cells
      through regulation of TGFB1/SMAD3 signaling.
AB  - Increased expression of pituitary tumor-transforming gene 1 (PTTG1) is expressed
      in many tumors and regulates tumor growth and progression. However, the precise
      function of PTTG1 in the tumorigenesis of lung adenocarcinoma (LAC) is not
      defined yet. Here, we examined the expression of PTTG1 in human LAC tissues by
      immunohistochemical assay using a tissue microarray procedure. A loss-of-function
      experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of lentiviral vector
      mediated PTTG1 shRNA (shPTTG1) on cell growth and invasive potential in LAC cell
      lines (A549 and LETPalpha-2), assessed by MTT and Transwell assays. As a
      consequence, we found that the expression of PTTG1 protein was markedly
      upregulated in LAC tissues compared with the adjacent non-cancerous tissues
      (ANCT) (54.0% vs. 28.0%, P = 0.008), and was positively associated with the
      lymphatic invasion of the tumor (P = 0.01). Moreover, knockdown of PTTG1
      expression inhibited tumor proliferation and invasion of LAC cells, companied by
      the decreased expression of CyclinD1 and MMP-2 and increased expression of p
      TGFbeta1 and p-SMAD3. Collectively, our findings indicate that high expression of
      PTTG1 is correlated with the tumor metastasis of LAC patients, and knockdown of
      PTTG1 suppresses the growth and invasion of LAC cells through upregulation of the
      TGFbeta1/SMAD3 signaling, suggesting that PTTG1 may be a potential target for
      developing an effective immunotherapeutic strategy for LAC. 

PMID- 25816406
TI  - Chronic fatigue syndrome: Features of a population of patients from northern
      Italy.
AB  - In this study we analyzed the clinical features of a population of Italian
      patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) diagnosed according to the CDC-1994
      criteria. The aim was to investigate CFS patients and their relatives, in order
      to search for events related to the onset of the disease and to identify
      correlations with other diseases. The analysis was carried out by examining
      medical records belonging to 82 patients suffering from the syndrome. The
      documentation was collected between 2008 and 2011 and provided by the non-profit
      Italian organization AMCFS (Associazione Malati di CFS). The influence of gender
      on the age of onset and association with potential risk factors were investigated
      in patients and in their relatives. From the results a significant correlation
      between the age of onset and autoimmunity was observed. 

PMID- 25816407
TI  - Effect of clove and cinnamon extracts on experimental model of acute hematogenous
      pyelonephritis in albino rats: Immunopathological and antimicrobial study.
AB  - Recent studies showed prominent antimicrobial activity of some plant extracts on
      some pathogenic microorganisms so we evaluated antimicrobial activity of aqueous
      extracts of clove and cinnamon using the agar well diffusion method. An in vivo
      study was carried out on 40 adult healthy male albino rats divided into four
      groups: Group 1: negative control group (received intragastric saline solution
      daily); Group 2: injected with mixed bacterial suspension of S. aureus and E.coli
      as a model of pyelonephritis then received intragastric saline solution daily;
      Group 3: injected with the same dose of mixed bacterial suspension then received
      intragastric clove extract 500 mg/kg/day; and Group (4): injected with mixed
      bacterial suspension then received intragastric cinnamon 500 mg/kg/day. Five rats
      from each group were sacrificed after 1 and 4 weeks. Serum and blood samples were
      collected for lysozymes activity and nitric oxide production, lymphocyte
      transformation test, as well as counting of both total and differential
      leukocytes and erythrocytes. Kidney samples were tested histopathologically. Both
      in vivo and in vitro results confirmed the efficacy of clove extract as natural
      antimicrobials and suggested the possibility of its use in treatment of such
      bacterial infections. 

PMID- 25816409
TI  - Knockdown of MMP12 inhibits the growth and invasion of lung adenocarcinoma cells.
AB  - Matrix metalloproteinase-12 (MMP12) is involved in many pathological processes
      including cancer. The expression and function of MMP12 in lung adenocarcinoma
      (LAC) remain unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation of
      MMP12 expression with LAC patients and clarify its role in growth and invasion of
      LAC cells. The expression of MMP12 in human LAC was examined by
      immunohistochemical assay using a tissue microarray procedure. A loss-of-function
      experiment was used for observing the effects of lentiviral vector-mediated MMP12
      shRNA (shMMP12) on cell growth and invasion in LAC cell lines (A549), indicated
      by MTT and Transwell assays. We found that the expression of MMP12 protein was
      significantly increased in LAC tissues compared with that in adjacent non
      cancerous tissues (ANCT) (57.69% vs. 32.69%, P = 0.019), and was closely
      correlated with the pathological stage and lymph node metastasis of LAC patients
      (P = 0.01; P = 0.003). Knockdown of MMP12 inhibited proliferation and invasion of
      LAC cells followed by the downregulation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen
      (PCNA) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In conclusion, our findings
      show that high expression of MMP12 is correlated with the pathological stage and
      tumor metastasis of LAC patients, and knockdown of MMP12 suppresses the
      development of LAC cells, suggesting that MMP12 may be a promising therapeutic
      target for the treatment of LAC. 

PMID- 25816408
TI  - The protective effects of melatonin against cryopreservation-induced oxidative
      stress in human sperm.
AB  - Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and lipid peroxidation during
      cryopreservation harm sperm membrane and as a result reduce the recovery of
      motile sperm. The antioxidant effects of melatonin on different cells have been
      widely reported. This study was aimed to evaluate changes in post-thaw motility,
      viability, and intracellular ROS and malondialdehyde (MDA) in response to the
      addition of melatonin to human sperm freezing extender. Semen of 43 fertile men
      was collected and each sample was divided into eight equal aliquots. An aliquot
      was analyzed freshly for viability, motility, and intracellular ROS and MDA.
      Melatonin was added to the recommended human freezing extender to yield six
      different final concentrations: 0.001, 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, and 1 mM. A
      control group without melatonin was also included. Two weeks after
      cryopreservation, samples were thawed and pre-freeze analyses repeated. Obtained
      results showed that cryopreservation significantly (P <0.05) reduces viability
      and motility, but increases intracellular ROS and MDA of human sperm. The semen
      extender supplemented with various doses of melatonin (except for 0.001 mM)
      significantly (P <0.05) increased motility and viability, but decreased
      intracellular ROS and MDA levels of cryopreserved sperm after the thawing
      process, as compared with the control group. We also found that the most
      effective concentration of melatonin in protecting human spermatozoa from
      cryopreservation injuries was 0.01 mM. These findings suggest that melatonin
      exerts its cryoprotective effects on spermatozoa possibly by counteracting
      intracellular ROS, and thereby reduces MDA generation. This finally leads to
      increase of post-thaw viability and motility of cryopreserved spermatozoa. 

PMID- 25816410
TI  - Different levels of Cd45pos leukocytes in the semen of patients with low
      testicular volume.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentrations of CD45pos leukocytes in
      the semen samples of infertile patients with low testicular volume (TV) compared
      to subjects with normal TV. The testis was considered normal in size when it had
      a volume between 15 and 25 cm(3), low-normal with a volume between 10 and 12
      cm(3) and hypotrophic when the volume was <10 cm(3). The patients with low
      testicular volume (<10 cm(3)) showed significantly higher concentrations of
      CD45pos leukocytes compared to other groups (P <0.05). The correlation analysis
      showed the presence of a positive linear relationship between CD45pos leukocytes
      and the percentage of immature germ elements (r = 0.88; P <0.05) and between
      CD45pos leukocytes and the percentage of spermatozoa with phosphatidylserine
      externalisation (r = 0.90; P <0.05) as well as a negative linear relationship
      between the percentage of spermatozoa with normal morphology and the seminal
      CD45pos leukocyte concentrations ( r = -0.75; P <0.05). The results of this study
      showed that patients with low testicular volume (<10 cm(3)) have significantly
      increased CD45pos leukocyte concentrations associated with increased percentages
      of immature germ elements, spermatozoa with signs of early apoptosis and
      spermatozoa with abnormal morphology. 

PMID- 25816411
TI  - From microvasculature to fibroblasts: Contribution of anti-endothelial cell
      antibodies in systemic sclerosis.
AB  - Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by skin and
      internal organ fibrosis, caused by microvascular dysfunction. In recent years,
      the hypothesis that anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECA) play a key role in
      microvascular damage seems to be increasingly convincing. In fact, AECA can
      induce antibody-dependent cellular apoptosis and stimulate the microvasculature
      to release pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic cytokines. Human-microvascular
      endothelial-cells (MVECs) were stimulated with SSc sera (with and without AECA)
      and with sera from healthy donors. The conditioned MVEC culture media were then
      added to fibroblast cultures obtained from control skin (CTR), non-affected skin
      of SSc patients (NA), and affected skin of the same sclerodermic (SSc) patients,
      respectively. AECA contributed to the MVEC increased release of endothelin-1 (ET
      1) in the culture medium and to MVEC apoptosis. Fibroblast (CTR, NA, and SSc)
      proliferation was increased after treatment with AECA-positive conditioned media,
      compared to AECA-negative and control conditioned media. Furthermore, both AECA
      positive (in major contribution) and AECA-negative conditioned media were
      responsible for alpha-smooth-muscle-actin (alphaSMA) over-expression in all
      fibroblast cultures, compared to control conditioned media. Fibroblast type I
      collagen synthesis was upregulated by both SSc conditioned media (with and
      without AECA). Finally, the synthesis of fibroblast transforming-growth-factor
      beta (TGF-beta) was statistically higher in AECA-positive conditioned media,
      compared to AECA-negative and control conditioned media. These findings support
      the concept that AECA may mediate the crosstalk between endothelial damage and
      dermal-fibroblast activation in SSc. 

PMID- 25816412
TI  - Anti-biofilm activity of pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis tac125 against
      staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm: Evidence of a signal molecule involvement?
AB  - Staphylococcus epidermidis is recognized as cause of biofilm-associated
      infections and interest in the development of new approaches for S. epidermidis
      biofilm treatment has increased. In a previous paper we reported that the
      supernatant of Antarctic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 presents
      an anti-biofilm activity against S. epidermidis and preliminary physico-chemical
      characterization of the supernatant suggested that this activity is due to a
      polysaccharide. In this work we further investigated the chemical nature of the
      anti-biofilm P. haloplanktis TAC125 molecule. The production of the molecule was
      evaluated in different conditions, and reported data demonstrated that it is
      produced in all P. haloplanktis TAC125 biofilm growth stages, also in minimal
      medium and at different temperatures. By using a surface coating assay, the
      surfactant nature of the anti-biofilm compound was excluded. Moreover, a
      purification procedure was set up and the analysis of an enriched fraction
      demonstrated that the anti-biofilm activity is not due to a polysaccharide
      molecule but that it is due to small hydrophobic molecules that likely work as
      signal. The enriched fraction was also used to evaluate the effect on S.
      epidermidis biofilm formation in dynamic condition by BioFlux system. 

PMID- 25816413
TI  - TENS effects on salivary stress markers: A pilot study.
AB  - Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is extensively used as pain
      relief through endorphins release. Moreover, recent findings showed a role in the
      activation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS); it was evidenced by
      modification in the heart rate variability and ANS-related marker. The objective
      of this pilot study is to evaluate salivary alpha amylase (sAA) as a marker of
      stress in two groups of healthy subjects, one receiving ultra-low frequency
      transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (ULF-TENS) and one without
      stimulation. Sixty healthy people were enrolled. The test group consisted of 30
      participants (15 men, 15 women). The control group consisted of 30 participants
      (15 men, 15 women). Statistical analysis showed that sAA levels were
      statistically different between men and women independently from TENS; we
      hypothesize that treatment could influence sAA levels because it is thought to
      activate MU opioid receptors. The results of this study seem to indicate that the
      analysis of sAA, through a non-invasive saliva sample, could be an efficient aid
      for understanding the functions of the autonomic nervous system. 

PMID- 25816414
TI  - Snake (Vipera berus) bite: The cause of severe anaphylactic shock and
      hepatocellular injury.
AB  - Vipera berus bites lead to a variety of clinical manifestations. Local swelling,
      coagulopathy, nephrotoxicity, cardiac effects and myotoxicity are known to be
      associated with envenoming by a viper bite. Although a variety of clinical
      manifestations have been reported in viper bite cases, anaphylactic reactions and
      liver injury events have not been described. We report a unique case of an
      anaphylaxis and transitional liver cell injury due to a Vipera berus bite in the
      case of a 58-year-old man with no past history suggestive of allergy and liver
      disease. These observations need to be further explored with laboratory studies
      to identify the venom components which could have pre-disposed the patient to the
      development of these complications. 

PMID- 25816415
TI  - Protective effect of ginger and zinc chloride mixture on the liver and kidney
      alterations induced by malathion toxicity.
AB  - This study was carried out on four groups of male Wistar rats, 10 rats per group.
      Group I got open access to food intake and water with normal balanced diet. Group
      II was administered 400 mg ginger per kg body weight (BW) and zinc chloride
      (ZnCl2) (300 mg/L) diluted in tap water for 4 months. Group III was administered
      malathion at a dose of 50 mg/kg BW/day in 0.2 mL corn oil via gavages for 4
      months. This dose equal to 1/50 of the LD50. Group IV was given a mixture of 400
      mg ginger per kg BW and ZnCl2 (300 mg/L) diluted in tap water in addition to 100
      mg malathion/kg BW for 4 months. The liver showed histopathological changes
      include congestion, edema, and leucocytic infiltrations which were ameliorated by
      the addition of ginger and ZnCl2 mixture. The kidney showed cloudy swelling and
      hydropic degeneration of the renal tubules. These changes were ameliorated by the
      addition of ginger and ZnCl2 mixture. Ki67 immunoreactivity was localized in the
      cytoplasm and nuclear membrane. Its expression was estimated as the percentage of
      cells positively stained by the antibody in the different groups. In conclusion,
      malathion was toxic to the liver and kidney and must be avoided and protected by
      the addition of ginger and zinc mixture. 

PMID- 25816416
TI  - The possible role of glutathione-S-transferase activity in diabetic nephropathy.
AB  - The most common cause of end stage renal disease is diabetic nephropathy. An
      early diagnosis may allow an intervention to slow down disease progression.
      Recently, it has been hypothesized that glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity
      may be a marker of severity of chronic kidney disease. In particular, a lower GST
      activity is present in healthy subjects compared to patients with nephropathy. In
      the present review we illustrate the scientific evidence underlying the possible
      role of GST activity in the development of diabetic nephropathy and we analyze
      its usefulness as a possible early biomarker of this diabetic complication. 

PMID- 25816417
TI  - Development of eosinophilic granulomatosis with poliangiitis (Churg-Strauss
      syndrome) and brain tumor in a patient after more than 7 years of omalizumab use:
      A case report.
AB  - Omalizumab is a monoclonal anti-immunoglobulin E antibody used for the treatment
      of severe perennial allergic asthma. Previous reports have suggested that
      omalizumab treatment can be associated with the development of eosinophilic
      granulomatosis with poliangiitis (EGPA) (formerly known as Churg-Strauss
      syndrome) and an increased risk of malignancy. Long-term risks of omalizumab
      treatment are not very well defined. Here, we report the case of a 75-year-old
      woman with concurrent occurrence of EGPA and brain tumor after more than 7 years
      of omalizumab treatment. The possibility of EGPA should be borne in mind during
      long-term treatment with omalizumab. Despite the absence of definitive data, an
      association may also exist between the development of malignancy and omalizumab
      use. 

PMID- 25816418
TI  - Bilateral Warthin tumor in psoriatic patients in therapy with multiple
      immunosuppressive therapy.
AB  - Anti-TNFalpha drugs have strongly changed the way in which we deal with moderate
      and severe psoriasis. However, it is debatable whether biological drugs could
      increase the risk of developing cancer. The correlation between anti-TNFalpha
      drugs and lymphomas is well-known and is reported in all the technical details of
      biologic drugs. However, the association between anti-TNFalpha agents and solid
      tumors is still controversial. The authors report a case of bilateral salivary
      gland tumor in a psoriatic patient treated with several immunosuppressive
      therapies including anti-TNFalpha inhibitors. 

PMID- 25816420
TI  - Corrigendum.
AB  - Acosta YY, Montes-Casado M, Aragoneses L et al. (2014) Suppression of CD4(+) T
      lymphocyte activation "in vitro" and experimental encephalomyelitis "in vivo" by
      the phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase inhibitor PIK-75. International Journal of
      Immunopathology and Pharmacology 27(1): 53-67. In the Acknowledgements section of
      this article on page 65, the grant numbers should be as follows: Grants
      PI10/00650, PI10/00648. 

PMID- 25816419
TI  - Dimerisation increases the immunogenicity of recombinant Parj1/Parj2 allergens.
AB  - Purified recombinant Parj1 and Parj2 allergens bind an IgE repertoire common to
      the Parietaria species, allowing their use as marker molecules for diagnosis and
      therapy of allergic disease induced by the Urticaceae family. Preclinical studies
      on the in vivo immunogenicity of recombinant Parj1, Parj2 and their isoforms
      indicated differential capacity to induce IgG1 antibody responses, as indication
      of potential clinical use. A recombinant hetero-dimeric hybrid derivative (PjED),
      encompassing the shorter Parj1 isoform (Parj1.0201) and Parj2 allergen, was
      characterised. In vivo immunisation with PjED induces IgG1 antibodies capable of
      binding all the isoforms of Parietaria major allergens, overcoming the poor
      immunogenicity of single monomeric allergens. This feature makes PjED a promising
      candidate molecule to be further characterised for clinical applications in the
      treatment of Parietaria allergy. 

PMID- 25816421
TI  - Procedure for the Disposal of Controlled Medication in the School Setting.
AB  - The disposal of controlled medication left in the school nurse office is
      problematic for school nurses. Medications are left for a variety of reasons:
      students transfer out of the district, state, or country; parents and guardians
      lack transportation to pick up their child's medication; and some families simply
      forget. The medications of concern are controlled substances, primarily Schedule
      II medications including Adderall, Concerta, and methylphenidate. Over time,
      these medications begin to accumulate in a school nurse's office. Schools should
      establish procedures that address safe disposal of controlled medications as well
      as liability protection for the school nursing staff. This article will discuss a
      procedure created for the Christina School District in conjunction with a state
      board of pharmacy and subsequently shared with other school nurses in the State
      of Delaware. 

PMID- 25816422
TI  - School Refusal Behavior.
AB  - School refusal behaviors go beyond a child's dislike or disinterest in school.
      This article investigates the underlying anxiety, depression, and social phobias
      that often accompany these behaviors and the importance of early recognition and
      treatment. Successful treatment and resolution of school refusal behaviors need
      to be a multidisciplinary approach. Teachers, administrators, guidance
      counselors, school nurses, and parents need to be involved in the diagnostic,
      treatment, and readmission processes. School nurses are in a unique position to
      be able to help identify and provide support for students exhibiting school
      refusal behaviors. 

PMID- 25816423
TI  - Identifying the Signs of Self-Harm in Students.
AB  - Self-harm in adolescents is not a new phenomenon. However, the number of
      adolescents who participate in self-harming behaviors is growing. It can be
      difficult to detect those who self-harm due to the secrecy that surrounds the act
      of self-harm itself. This article focuses on providing assistance to school
      professionals in the identification of signs of self-harm in adolescents and how
      to deal with this growing epidemic. 

PMID- 25816424
TI  - Recognizing diabetes in children: what does it look like?
AB  - Both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes are on the rise in children. School
      nurses should be familiar with these conditions and have an understanding of who
      is more likely to be affected, what the presenting symptoms are, and how to
      support the student, family, and school personnel when a diagnosis is made. This
      article serves as a reference for school nurses and highlights key resources
      freely available for their use. 

PMID- 25816425
TI  - Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome, and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in Obese
      Youth.
AB  - School nurses are well aware of the childhood obesity epidemic in the United
      States, as one in three youth are overweight or obese. Co-morbidities found in
      overweight or obese adults were not commonly found in youth three decades ago but
      are now increasingly "normal" as the obesity epidemic continues to evolve. This
      article is the second of six related articles discussing the co-morbidities of
      childhood obesity and discusses the complex association between obesity and
      insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and polycystic ovary syndrome. Insulin
      resistance increases up to 50% during puberty, which may help to explain why
      youth are more likely to develop co-morbidities as teens. Treatment of these
      disorders is focused on changing lifestyle habits, as a child cannot change his
      or her pubertal progression, ethnicity, or family history. School nurses and
      other personnel can assist youth with insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and
      polycystic ovary syndrome by supporting their efforts to make changes,
      reinforcing that insulin resistance is not necessarily type 2 diabetes even if
      the child is taking medication, and intervening with negative peer pressure. 

PMID- 25816426
TI  - School-based blood drive: successful nurse collaboration with parents, students,
      and the community.
AB  - The nurses at an independent Pre-K through 12 educational institution in Houston,
      Texas (The Kinkaid School), expanded the blood drive program to include
      innovative collaboration with high school student leaders, parents, and school
      faculty. Methods implemented in this endeavor included technology utilization,
      science education, and an enhanced parent workforce. By focusing on community
      involvement and an altruistic reason for donating, the Kinkaid school nurses
      helped their community break school donation records 2 years in a row. 

PMID- 25816427
TI  - Best Practice at Your Fingertips: The WISHeS School Nurse Procedure Website.
AB  - School nurses are responsible for providing and supervising school nursing
      services for children with complex health concerns. Given that school nurses
      frequently practice in isolation and may have limited access to clinical practice
      changes, they can benefit from up-to-date, evidence-based resources.
      Additionally, the resources must account for the fact that the nursing procedures
      will be performed in the unique setting of a school building and, in many cases,
      will be performed by school personnel who have limited formal education in health
      care. This article provides an overview of a newly developed, easy to use, online
      school nursing procedures website for school nurses and other school personnel. 

PMID- 25816428
TI  - Sailing the "Seven C's" of Leadership.
AB  - Nurses are increasingly being called upon to lead changes within health care. How
      do nurses and, in particular, school nurses become leaders? School nurses lead
      daily in their work but often do not recognize themselves as leaders. The "Five
      C's of Leadership"-character, commitment, connectedness, compassion, and
      confidence-identified by Kowalski and Yoder-Wise are foundational to the
      development of leadership and are particularly relevant to school nurses and
      their role. Two additional attributes found in the literature-courage and
      capacity-also undergird school nursing practice. In this article, we describe how
      school nurses already embody these leadership qualities. Each leadership
      attribute is reviewed in light of the literature, followed by specific examples
      to demonstrate how school nurses provide leadership. Through these illustrations,
      school nurses can recognize and embrace their present leadership abilities. In
      addition, by using the "Seven C's" of leadership, school nurses can enhance their
      inherent leadership abilities. 

PMID- 25816429
TI  - Social media for school nurses: promoting school health in the 21st century.
AB  - People across the globe use social media to connect with one another, stay in
      touch with friends and family, and exchange information. Health care has embraced
      social media, and nursing organizations such as the American Nurses Association
      (ANA) and NASN have a presence in the social media landscape. The students in our
      schools today are digital natives who grew up with and are at home in the world
      of technology. With so many options in the digital world, the question is how can
      school nurses harness this technology to connect with their students and
      families? More importantly, how can school nurses use social media in a
      professional and responsible manner and help to enhance the profession of school
      nursing overall? This article will outline the planning and implementation of an
      ongoing social media campaign on wellness and healthy behaviors by one Texas
      suburban school district. 

PMID- 25816430
TI  - School Nurses, Raise Awareness on the Importance for Every Student to Establish a
      Dental Home.

PMID- 25816431
TI  - Reducing Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Among Students: School-Based Programs
      and Policies That Work.
AB  - The amount of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) consumed by U.S. youth has nearly
      doubled since the 1970s. The majority of children between 2 and 19 years drink
      SSBs on any given day. Many serious health problems such as childhood overweight
      and obesity, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular problems have
      been linked to SSBs. This article provides an overview of school-based
      interventions and policies that have successfully contributed to a reduction in
      sugar-sweetened intake among children. School nurses and nurses in other
      community-based settings are well positioned to promote intake of more healthful
      beverages among children using strategies recommended in this article. 

PMID- 25816432
TI  - School nursing and the digital age.

PMID- 25816435
TI  - School nurses-continuous support for education and health.

PMID- 25816436
TI  - Students requiring personal nursing care in school: nursing care models and a
      checklist for school nurses.
AB  - Unprecedented numbers of children in the United States are now surviving extreme
      conditions and complications of prematurity, severe congenital anomalies, and
      significant birth trauma. Advances in medical science and technology have given
      rise to a marked increase in the population of children with special health care
      needs who require continuous nursing care, including at school. Students who are
      considered medically complex and/or are health technology-dependent present many
      rewards and challenges for families, educational staff, district administrators,
      and school nurses who may not feel prepared to integrate involved health care for
      students into the school setting. The purpose of this article is to describe care
      delivery models for success in providing for the health and safety needs of
      students who require continuous or personal nursing care at school. 

PMID- 25816437
TI  - Understanding type 2 diabetes in students with obesity and the role of the school
      nurse.
AB  - Co-morbidities of obesity in children mirror those seen in adults. Virtually any
      body system can be affected. The January 2015 issue of the NASN School Nurse
      featured an introductory article on childhood obesity. This article is the first
      of six related articles focusing on co-morbidities of childhood obesity and
      focuses on type 2 diabetes (T2D). School nurses can play an integral role in the
      identification, prevention, and treatment of childhood obesity. With one in three
      of our nation's school-age children diagnosed as overweight or obese, it is
      imperative that school nurses join families, public health agencies, and medical
      communities in mounting a coordinated attack against this threat. 

PMID- 25816438
TI  - IEP, IHP, and Section 504 Primer for New School Nurses.
AB  - Three types of documents and their frequently used acronyms play a vital role in
      ensuring that students with disabilities have the planning, services, and
      accommodations necessary to facilitate attendance and success in the school
      setting. Federal and state laws, as well as state nurse practice acts, govern the
      process and eligibility of students for these services. School nurses play a
      vital role in these processes, and new school nurses benefit from a comparison of
      the terms along with a historical explanation of the acronyms. 

PMID- 25816439
TI  - Emergency first aid oxygen response in schools: O2 administration in schools by
      nurses and lay responders.

PMID- 25816440
TI  - Is It PANS, CANS, or PANDAS? Neuropsychiatric Pediatric Disorders That Are Not
      Black and White--Implications for the School Nurse.
AB  - The terms pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with
      streptococcal infections (PANDAS), pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric
      syndrome (PANS), and childhood acute neuropsychiatric symptoms (CANS) have all
      been used to describe certain acute onset neuropsychiatric pediatric disorders.
      Additionally, controversy is ongoing concerning the diagnosis and etiology of the
      disorders. The school nurse, as a member of a multidisciplinary team, benefits
      from an awareness of these disorders, the resulting impact on school performance,
      and the recommended treatment. The school nurse assists the team through the
      development of an Individualized Healthcare Plan to help the student to achieve
      success in school. 

PMID- 25816441
TI  - "Doesn't Anyone Believe How I Feel?": Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome
      (POTS).
AB  - The school nurse is often the first person with whom a student may discuss
      untoward health symptoms and concerns. Being cognizant of the clinical features
      of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) will help the nurse alleviate
      some of the student's anxiety. Due to misunderstandings and misconceptions about
      POTS, family and peers may disbelieve a student who is experiencing symptoms.
      Displaying compassion and support will help the student understand that someone
      does believe his or her symptoms. As the student's advocate, the school nurse
      will champion a plan for the student's health and safety in the academic
      environment. 

PMID- 25816442
TI  - Leukemia in children: getting back to school-part 1.
AB  - Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease past infancy. In 2014, nearly
      16,000 children and adolescents 0 to 19 years of age will be diagnosed with
      cancer in the United States. More than 80% of those children will survive at
      least 5 years after their diagnosis. Much of the increase in survival has been
      seen in children diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Once cancer
      treatment ends, the real battle begins. Getting back to school helps cancer
      patients return to normal. Part 1 is a brief review of the diagnosis, prognosis,
      and treatment of ALL in children and adolescents with an introduction to
      Philadelphia chromosome positive ALL and is written in language that makes it
      ideal for use in teaching school personnel and other parents about ALL. Part 2 is
      a reflection of Abby Furco's transition to school after being diagnosed with this
      type of leukemia at 4 1/2 years of age. The accommodations and strategies
      employed for this student are likely to be useful and adaptable to assist other
      families and school communities as they work with children entering school with
      physical challenges. 

PMID- 25816443
TI  - Leukemia in children: getting back to school, part 2.

PMID- 25816444
TI  - Transition planning for students with chronic health conditions.
AB  - It is the position of the National Association of School Nurses that all children
      with chronic health conditions should receive coordinated and deliberate
      transition planning to maximize lifelong functioning and wellbeing. Transition
      planning refers to a coordinated set of activities to assist students with
      chronic health conditions to begin in school, and then move from one school to
      another, from hospitalization back to school, and from the secondary school
      system into the next stage of life (Selekman, Bocheneck, & Lukens, 2013). The
      registered professional school nurse (hereinafter referred to as school nurse)
      has the perspective and skills to provide care coordination and lead the planning
      team to address transitions for students with chronic health conditions.

PMID- 25816445
TI  - The use of restraints or seclusion in the school setting.
AB  - It is the position of National Association of School Nurses (NASN) that the
      registered professional school nurse (hereinafter referred to as school nurse) is
      an essential advocate for the health and well-being of all students. Promoting a
      safe and secure environment is vital to the educational success and emotional
      development of children. The use of restraints or seclusion can potentially cause
      injury or death and therefore should be used only as a brief intervention where
      there is the risk of imminent danger to the child, staff, or classmates (Mohr,
      LeBel, O'Halloran, & Preustch, 2010; United States Department of Education
      [USDE], 2012).

PMID- 25816447
TI  - Reducing mortality from  emerging diseases.

PMID- 25816446
TI  - Changing the tide: stigma, school youth, and mental illness.
AB  - Schools are in a key position not only to identify mental health concerns early
      but to address issues of stigma that prevent both children and their parents from
      seeking help with mental illness. Stigma associated with mental illness
      perpetuates isolative behavior and poor engagement within the academic community.
      Programs within schools that address mental health issues and support open
      communication with families can reduce the pain and isolation that is often the
      experience of youth with undiagnosed and untreated mental and emotional
      disorders. 

PMID- 25816448
TI  - Meningococcal disease control  in countries of the African meningitis  belt,
      2014.

PMID- 25816450
TI  - AVMA mission expanded to include member advocacy.

PMID- 25816449
TI  - Tribute: Dr. Sambhu Nath De: one of the greatest Indian scientists.

PMID- 25816451
TI  - AVMA had an active 2014, more in store for 2015.

PMID- 25816453
TI  - Cohn: AVMA leaders  must repair trust  with members.

PMID- 25816452
TI  - HOD acts on resolutions.

PMID- 25816454
TI  - Biologic therapies research  gets a boost with $42.5 million donation.

PMID- 25816455
TI  - AVMA board  laying groundwork  for future endeavors.

PMID- 25816456
TI  - Mindfulness for  veterinarians.

PMID- 25816457
TI  - Age-related changes of the  eye in dogs.

PMID- 25816458
TI  - The authors respond.

PMID- 25816459
TI  - Approach to treatment  of aural hematomas.

PMID- 25816460
TI  - The author respond.

PMID- 25816461
TI  - The vaccine crisis. New outbreaks underscore old risks.

PMID- 25816462
TI  - The next best thing to a cure.

PMID- 25816463
TI  - A different prescription. The pharmacist running CVS wants his drugstores to
      become your doctor's office.

PMID- 25816464
TI  - Immune deficiency. Why a measles vaccine has presidential wannabes talking in
      code.

PMID- 25816465
TI  - Paying to play. As U.S. spending on medical research lags, a new crowdfunding
      model emerges.

PMID- 25816466
TI  - Actual to expected studies--Part 1.
AB  - In this Part 1 of a two-part series, pivot tables are used to analyze mortality
      and then a step-by-step process is demonstrated of converting seriatim data that
      is suitable for pivot table analysis.

PMID- 25816467
TI  - Serum globulin predicts all-cause mortality for life insurance applicants.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Determine the relative mortality in apparently healthy adults with
      various levels of serum globulin. METHOD: By use of the Social Security Death
      Master File, mortality in 2010 was determined for 7.7 million life insurance
      applicants age 20 to 89 providing blood samples with valid globulin results
      between 1992 and 2006. Relative mortality by Cox regression for bands of globulin
      values was determined by age-sex group, with age split into 20 to 59 and 60 to
      89, with each grouping also including age as a covariate. Further analysis was
      conducted by excluding applicants with elevations of other test values associated
      with increased globulin levels and mortality risk. RESULTS: After accounting for
      the mortality impact of frequently associated laboratory test abnormalities
      including BMI, alkaline phosphatase and albumin, relative mortality was found to
      increase gradually for globulin values > 3.2 g/dL. Values > 4.0 were associated
      with a mortality risk that was approximately doubled. There is also a small
      increased risk for globulin values < 1.9 g/dL. CONCLUSION: The highest 20% of
      globulin levels were associated with steadily increasing mortality in life
      insurance applicants. In many cases, other laboratory findings were not
      informative of the risk.

PMID- 25816468
TI  - Long-term mortality after VATS lobectomy for early stage non-small cell lung
      cancer: a brief review of VATS and estimation of excess risks.
AB  - A brief description of current developments involving video assisted thoracic
      surgery (VATS) and calculations of the excess risk of survivors who underwent
      VATS lobectomy for early stage, non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The source
      article was produced by a Korean university hospital.

PMID- 25816469
TI  - Prevalence and implications of vitamin D deficiency in applicants for insurance.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Ascertain the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in applicants for
      insurance and participants in health and wellness activities. BACKGROUND: Vitamin
      D deficiency is widespread in people seeking healthcare. Deficiency of vitamin D
      is strongly associated with the incidence of rickets in children and osteomalacia
      in adults. All-cause mortality is elevated in people with vitamin D deficiency.
      Other pathologies strongly associated with sub-optimal levels of vitamin D
      include: falls in elderly, muscle weakness and pain, and psoriasis. A number of
      other disorders have a weaker association with deficiency of vitamin D. METHODS:
      Identified specimens received for testing for various laboratory parameters, as
      part of application for insurance and from participants in health and wellness
      activities, were tested for vitamin D levels using Siemens ADVIA Centaur
      analyzer. The results were analyzed for the prevalence of: (a) low vitamin D, (b)
      insufficiency of vitamin D, and (c) deficiency of vitamin D. RESULTS: Nearly 90%
      of the samples tested revealed levels < 30 ng/mL indicating a sub-optimal vitamin
      D nutritional status and susceptibility to disorders associated with vitamin D
      deficiency, including an increase in all-cause mortality. Samples with levels <
      20 ng/mL and 12 ng/mL were 60% and 19%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The findings
      demonstrate that applicants for insurance, like the general population in the
      United States, have a high incidence of vitamin D deficiency. The insurance
      companies may wish to test all applicants and mitigate part of the risk of
      disease and early death by recommending/requiring readily available and
      inexpensive replacement therapy.

PMID- 25816470
TI  - Demographic predictors of false negative self-reported tobacco use status in an
      insurance applicant population.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To identify and quantify demographic correlates of false-negative
      self-reporting of tobacco use in life insurance applicants. BACKGROUND: Several
      studies have assessed the sensitivity of self-reporting for tobacco use in
      various populations, but statistical examination of the causes of misreporting
      has been rarer. The very large (488,000 confirmed tobacco users) sample size, US
      wide geographic scope, and unique incentive structure of the life insurance
      application process permit more robust and insurance industry-specific results in
      this study. METHODS: Approximately 6.2 million life insurance applicants for whom
      both tobacco-use interview questions and a confirmatory urine cotinine test were
      completed between 1999 and 2012 were evaluated for consistency between self
      reported and laboratory-confirmed tobacco-use status. The data set was subjected
      to logistic regression to identify predictors of false negative self-reports
      (FNSR). RESULTS: False-negative self-reporting was found to be strongly
      associated with male gender, applicant ages of less than 30 or greater than 60,
      and low cotinine positivity rates in the applicant's state of residence. Policy
      face value was also moderately predictive, values above $500,000 associated with
      moderately higher FNSR. CONCLUSIONS: The findings imply that FNSR in life
      insurance applicants may be the result of complex interactions among financial
      incentives, geography and presumptive peer groups, and gender.

PMID- 25816472
TI  - Isolated T-wave inversion in the right precordial leads.

PMID- 25816471
TI  - Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy--a benign condition?
AB  - Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (ApHCM) is a less common type of hypertrophic
      cardiomyopathy (HCM) and is often characterized as benign. However, more recent
      publications indicate that there is significant heterogeneity among individuals
      with ApHCM and that for many the condition is less than benign. This review will
      discuss the most recent understanding of ApHCM in the context of a case
      presentation and will provide a basic framework for risk stratification.

PMID- 25816473
TI  - CADASIL syndrome.
AB  - A rare hereditary disorder characterized by migraine headaches, transient
      ischemic attacks, strokes, cognitive decline, and dementia.

PMID- 25816474
TI  - Farewell from the York Isis Office.

PMID- 25816475
TI  - Race and laboratory norms. The critical insights of Julian Herman Lewis (1891
      1989).
AB  - The work of Julian Herman Lewis helps to expose the underlying racial
      organization of laboratory normality in early twentieth-century medicine. In the
      1920s and 1930s, Lewis launched a critique of prevailing racial theory, as he
      established an academic career in pathology at the University of Chicago. As one
      of the small number of black research physicians at the time, Lewis met barriers
      to his work that eventually derailed his career. Although his research fell short
      of its goals, his work continues to provide a key insight into medical laboratory
      standards as they became institutionalized in Lewis's field of clinical
      pathology. By avoiding attributions of race and following prevailing practices of
      racial exclusion, medical laboratories quietly reasserted social norms in the
      formation of laboratory normality. An examination of Lewis's critiques and his
      research sharpens questions about the development of the concept of "normal" in
      the human sciences and a related tendency in twentieth-century medicine to
      conflate difference with pathology.

PMID- 25816476
TI  - Benjamin Delessert's collections between travelers and Candolle's natural method
      (1803-1847).
AB  - During the first half of the nineteenth century, while Georges Cuvier ruled over
      natural history and the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle (MHN) was at its
      institutional acme, a French banker and industrialist with a Swiss family
      background, Benjamin Delessert, was developing an important botanical museum in
      Paris. His private collection included both a rich botanical library and a
      massive herbarium: the close integration of these two dimensions, together with
      the magnanimity of Delessert's patronage, contributed to making this private
      institution a worthy rival to the powerful and state-funded MHN. Delessert's
      museum had the favor of both professional and amateur naturalists. Knowledgeable
      and dedicated assistants (Antoine Guillemin and Antoine Lasegue) curated the
      collections. Moreover, Delessert was an intimate friend of the Genevan botanist
      Augustin- Pyramus de Candolle. Although Delessert's herbarium followed the
      Linnaean order, the Delessert Botanical Museum (DBM) contributed to the
      development of Candolle's natural system, especially through the publication of
      costly volumes of engravings, the Icones selectae plantarum rariorum. This essay
      draws together the main steps in the evolution of Delessert's collections,
      stressing the interdependency between books and dried plants. It focuses on the
      DBM as a case of cooperation between institutional and amateur expertise, private
      and public collections, and field collectors and cabinet naturalists.

PMID- 25816477
TI  - In accordance with a "more majestic order". The new math and the nature of
      mathematics at midcentury.
AB  - The "new math" curriculum, one version of which was developed in the 1950s and
      1960s by the School Mathematics Study Group under the auspices of the National
      Science Foundation, occasioned a great deal of controversy among mathematicians.
      Well before its rejection by parents and teachers, some mathematicians were vocal
      critics, decrying the new curriculum because of the way it described the practice
      and history of the discipline. The nature of mathematics, despite the field's
      triumphs in helping to win World War II and its midcentury promotion as the key
      to a modern technological society, was surprisingly contested in this period.
      Supporters of the School Mathematics Study Group, like its director, Edward
      Begle, emphasized the importance of portraying mathematics as a system of
      abstract structures, while opponents like Morris Kline argued that math was
      essentially a tool for understanding the natural world. The debate about the
      curriculum--and the role of mathematicians in its design--was also a debate about
      the underlying identity of the subject itself.

PMID- 25816478
TI  - Focus: the peculiar persistence of the naturalistic fallacy. Introduction.
AB  - Although "naturalistic fallacy" is a term coined in the twentieth century,
      scholars have long voiced myriad anxieties over the mechanisms by which their
      contemporaries have derived moral, social, and political lessons from natural
      phenomena--often as gambits for advancing their own alternative explanations. The
      essays in this Focus section explore five episodes in the history of such
      concerns with naturalistic reasoning in order to shed new light on the
      persistence of naturalism itself.

PMID- 25816479
TI  - Greco-Roman ethics and the naturalistic fantasy.
AB  - To modern scholars, the naturalistic fallacy looks out of place in Greco-Roman
      antiquity owing to the robust associations between nature, especially human
      nature, and moral norms. Yet nature was understood by ancient authors not only as
      a norm but also as a form of necessity. The Greco-Roman philosophical schools
      grappled with how to reconcile the idea that human nature is given with the idea
      that it is a goal to be reached. This essay looks at the Stoic concept of
      oikeiosis as one strategy for effecting such a reconciliation. Drawing on natural
      history, these Stoic sources used examples of animal behavior to illustrate a
      process whereby nature "entrusts" all animals, including humans, with the care of
      their own survival. Nature is thus both what is given to the animal and what the
      animal achieves in a powerful but also problematic synthesis here called the
      "naturalistic fantasy".

PMID- 25816480
TI  - The naturalistic fallacy is modern.
AB  - The naturalistic fallacy appears to be ubiquitous and irresistible. The avant
      garde and the rearguard, the devout and the secular, the learned elite and the
      lay public all seem to want to enlist nature on their side, everywhere and
      always. Yet a closer look at the history of the term "naturalistic fallacy" and
      its associated arguments suggests that this way of understanding (and
      criticizing) appeals to nature's authority in human affairs is of relatively
      modern origin. To apply this category cross-historically masks considerable
      variability and naturalizes our own assumptions about the natural and the human.

PMID- 25816481
TI  - From ought to is physics and the naturalistic fallacy.
AB  - In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there were many attempts to justify
      political and social systems on the basis of physics and astronomy. By the early
      twentieth century such moves increasingly also integrated the life and social
      sciences. The physical sciences gradually became less appealing as a sole source
      for sociopolitical thought. The details of this transition help explain the
      contemporary reluctance to capitalize on an ostensibly rich opportunity for
      naturalistic social reasoning: the anthropic principle in cosmology, which deals
      with the apparent "fine-tuning" of the universe for life.

PMID- 25816483
TI  - Getting ahead of one's self? The common culture of immunology and philosophy.
AB  - During the past thirty years, immunological metaphors, motifs, and models have
      come to shape much social theory and philosophy. Immunology, so it seems, often
      has served to naturalize claims about self, identity, and sovereignty--perhaps
      most prominently in Jacques Derrida's later studies. Yet the immunological
      science that functions as "nature" in these social and philosophical arguments is
      derived from interwar and Cold War social theory and philosophy. Theoretical
      immunologists and social theorists knowingly participated in a common culture.
      Thus the "naturalistic fallacy" in this case might be reframed as an error of
      categorization: its conditions of possibility would require ceaseless effort to
      purify and separate out the categories of nature and culture. The problem-
      inasmuch as there is a problem-therefore is not so much the making of an appeal
      to nature as assuming privileged access to an independent, sovereign category
      called "nature".

PMID- 25816482
TI  - A field study of con games.
AB  - In 1978, the evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers and Huey P. Newton, cofounder
      of the Black Panthers, began a collaboration exploring the evolution of self
      deception. Together they published a brief paper that used their ideas about the
      naturalistic basis of deceit and self-deception to explain the crash of Air
      Florida Flight 90 in Washington, D.C. Given the continued power of the
      naturalistic fallacy in the modern life sciences, historical attention typically
      focuses on highly visible controversies with great popular traction. This essay
      instead mobilizes the muted legacy of Trivers and Newton's publication to
      underscore the inherent difficulties scientists face in finding a receptive
      audience for their theories, even naturalistic ones.

PMID- 25816484
TI  - Mark Russell Finlay (15 September 1960-6 October 2013).

PMID- 25816485
TI  - One shot to cure them all.

PMID- 25816486
TI  - Managing end-of-life care revenue cycle processes.

PMID- 25816487
TI  - Physician practice helps patients tackle high drug costs.

PMID- 25816488
TI  - 5 strategies for preauthorization success. Specific staff should manage the
      process.

PMID- 25816489
TI  - Most cancer is out of our control random. DNA changes are usually to blame.

PMID- 25816490
TI  - What I learned from my $190,000 surgery.

PMID- 25816491
TI  - Unscrambling the egg. How to decode confusing label claims.

PMID- 25816492
TI  - The new way to prevent nut allergies? It's with nuts.

PMID- 25816493
TI  - The IUD rises.

PMID- 25816494
TI  - Medical and research ethics in Ethiopia.

PMID- 25816495
TI  - Analysis of medical malpractice clams and measures proposed by the Health
      Professionals Ethics Federal Committee of Ethiopia: review of the three years
      proceedings.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mediccil malpractice is professional negligence by a healthcare
      provider in which the treatment provided falls below the starndard and causes
      injury or death to the patient. OBJECTIVE: To describe the adverse medical
      events, claims and decisions taken by the Ethiopian Health Professionals Ethics
      Committee at the Federal level. METHODS: A three-year report of the Ethics
      Committee and relevant documents of proclamations and regulations were reviewed.
      RESULTS: Between January 2011 and December 2013, the committee reviewed 60
      complaints against health professionals. About one third of the complaints were
      filed by the patients and/or their families, about 32% by the police or court and
      the rest were filed by Addis Ababa health bureau, health professionals and other
      unrelateed observers. Thirty-nine complaints were related to death of the patient
      and 15 complaints were about disability. Twenty-five of the claims were against
      Obstetric and Gynecology specialists and 9 were against general surgeons. The
      committee verified that 14 of the 60 claims hadethical breach and/or negligence
      (incompetence). The committee took reasonable time to review complaints and
      respond the concerned authorities. CONCLUSION: The study showed that of the total
      claims lower than a quarter (23.3%) were proven beyond the benefit ofdoubt. More
      than 3/4 (76.7) of the complaints were wrong. Hospitals should lead in preventing
      patient injury. Creation of more awareness among Obstetrics and Gynecology
      specialists, General and Orthopaedic Surgeons about medical errors is needed and
      special training should be given.to those joining these specialities.

PMID- 25816496
TI  - Review paper on research ethics in Ethiopia: experiences and lessons learnt from
      Addis Ababa University College of Health Sciences 2007-2012.
AB  - Health research in Ethiopia is increasing both in volume and type, accompanied
      with expansion of higher education and research since the past few years. This
      calls for a proportional competence in the governance of medical research ethics
      in Ethiopia in the respective research and higher learning institutes. The paper
      highlights the evolution and progress ofthe ethics review at Addis Ababa
      University - College of Health Sciences (AAU-CHS) in the given context of health
      research review system in Ethiopia. Reflections are made on the key lessons to be
      drawnfrom the formative experiences of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and
      their implications to the Ethiopian health research review system. This article
      is a review paper based on review of published and un published documents on
      research ethics in Ethiopia and the AAU-CHS (2007-2012). Thematic summaries of
      review findings are presented in thematic areas - formation of ethics review and
      key factors in the evolution of ethics review and implications. The IRB at AAU
      CHS has been pivotal in providing review and follow-up for important clinical
      studies in Ethiopia. It has been one of the first IRBs to get WHO/SIDCER
      recognition from Africa and Ethiopia. Important factors in the successes of the
      IRB among others included leadership commitment, its placement in institutional
      structure, and continued capacity building. Financial challenges and
      sustainability issues need to be addressed for the sustained gains registered so
      far. Similar factors are considered important for the new and younger IRBs within
      the emergent Universities and research centers in the country.

PMID- 25816497
TI  - Research ethics review practices: experiences of the Armauer Hansen Research
      Institute/All Africa Leprosy and Tuberculosis Rehabilitation and Training Center
      Ethics Review Committee, Ethiopia.
AB  - The need for ethics review committees (ERCs) is imperative in the conduct of
      research to ensure the protection of the rights, safety and well-being of
      research participants. However, the capacities of most ERCs in Africa are limited
      in terms of trained experts, competence, resources as well as standard operating
      procedures. The aim of this report is to share experiences of one of the local
      institutional ERCs, the Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI)/All Africa
      Leprosy and Tuberculosis Rehabilitation and Training Center (ALERT) Ethics Review
      Committee (AAERC), to other ERCs found in academic and research institutions in
      the Country. In this report, we used an empirical approach to review archived
      documents of the AAERC Secretariat to assess the Committee's strengths and
      weaknesses. The experiences of the AAERC in terms of its composition, routine
      work activities, learning practices and pitfalls that require general attention
      are summarized. In spite of this summary, the Committee strongly acknowledges the
      functions and roles of other ERCs in the Country. In addition, an independent
      assessment of the Committee's activity in general is warranted to evaluate its
      performance and further assess the level of awareness or oversights among
      researchers about the roles of ERCs.

PMID- 25816498
TI  - Feasibility of rapid ethical assessment for the Ethiopian health research ethics
      review system.
AB  - One of the challenges in the process of ethical medical research in developing
      countries, including Ethiopia, is translating universal principles of medical
      ethics into appropriate informed consent documents and their implementation.
      Rapid Ethical Assessment (REA) has been suggested as a feasible approach to meet
      this application gap. In the past few years REA has been employed in few research
      project in Ethiopia and have been found to be a useful and practical approach.
      Feasibility assessment of REA for the Ethiopian research setting was conducted
      between 2012-2013 in order to inform the subsequent introduction of REA into
      research ethics review and governance system in the country. REA was found to be
      an appropriate, relevant and feasible venture. We argue that REA can be
      integrated as part of the ethics review and governance system in Ethiopia. REA
      tools and techniques are considered relevant and acceptable to the Ethiopian
      research community, with few practical challenges anticipated in their
      implementation. REA are considered feasible for integration in the Ethiopian
      ethics review system.

PMID- 25816499
TI  - Antipsychotics still prescribed inappropriately in primary care.

PMID- 25816500
TI  - Timely diagnosis and treatment essential in glomerulonephritis.
AB  - Glomerulonephritis is an important cause of kidney disease and, in the UK, the
      most common diagnosis in patients receiving chronic dialysis or waiting for
      kidney transplantation. A key feature is the presence of urinary abnormalities
      (proteinuria +/- haematuria). Patients with nephrotic syndrome typically present
      with peripheral oedema, massive urinary protein loss and associated low serum
      albumin levels. Blood pressure and renal function, as measured by eGFR, are
      usually normal initially. Patients presenting with nephritic syndrome tend to be
      hypertensive with dipstick-positive or visible haematuria. There may be rapidly
      progressive renal dysfunction and fall in eGFR. Many patients will have a
      background genetic susceptibility to glomerulonephritis which may be triggered by
      environmental, infective or autoimmune factors. Autoimmunity, in combination with
      genetic factors, is responsible for a significant proportion of cases of
      glomerulonephritis. Infective agents such as viruses can precipitate minimal
      change disease. NSAIDs, lithium, penicillamine and heroin can cause nephrotic
      syndrome. Timely diagnosis and treatment of glomerulonephritis can help to
      minimise both the occurrence and severity of complications. All patients with
      glomerulonephritis should be managed according to CKD guidelines with CKD stage
      appropriate measurement of renal function, blood pressure, and proteinuria.

PMID- 25816501
TI  - Improving early detection of chronic kidney disease.
AB  - Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is defined as either a reduction in measured kidney
      function (eGFR) or urinary abnormalities (haematuria/proteinuria) or a
      combination of both, present for more than 3 months. In the most recent NICE
      guidelines the various CKD stages 1-5 are now represented by G (for GFR)
      categories (G1-5) which have the same eGFR thresholds as previous CKD guidelines.
      The urinary albumin:creatinine ratio (ACR) category is denoted as A (for
      albuminuria) with three categories: A1, A2 or A3. The ACR category has been
      introduced to emphasise that patients with higher levels of albuminuria have an
      increased risk of progression to end-stage renal disease. Individuals with newly
      identified reduced eGFR should have acute kidney injury excluded. All newly
      identified CKD patients should have blood pressure, dipstick urinalysis, random
      urine ACR or urine protein:creatinine ratio (PCR), glucose, cholesterol and full
      blood count checked at the earliest opportunity. An ultrasound scan should be
      offered to patients at increased risk. Cardiovascular events and progression of
      CKD are more common if albuminuria or proteinuria is present. Urine ACR has a
      greater sensitivity for low levels of proteinuria in comparison with PCR.
      Referral for patients with CKD should be based on assessment of kidney function
      (eGFR), the severity of proteinuria (urine ACR), concerns about poorly controlled
      BP, or suspected inherited renal disease. Most cases of CKD in the elderly are
      caused by the cumulative effect of other disease states, especially hypertension
      and atherosclerosis. The CKD classification system will identify many elderly
      patients with a low eGFR but without progressive kidney failure.

PMID- 25816502
TI  - Managing urticaria in primary care.
AB  - Urticaria is characterised by transient wheals that consist of a swollen palpable
      centre often surrounded by an erythematous flare, associated with itching or,
      less commonly, a burning sensation. Individual wheals usually disappear within 1
      to 24 hours leaving normal skin. Wheals may be accompanied by angioedema, a more
      deep-seated flesh-coloured or erythematous swelling of skin or mucous membrane,
      which may last longer than 24 hours. Urticaria is classified as acute when it
      resolves within six weeks and chronic when its duration exceeds six weeks.
      Chronic urticaria is now sub-classified into chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU)
      and chronic inducible urticaria. The prognosis for eventual recovery from
      spontaneous and inducible urticaria is excellent. However, the time course is
      unpredictable and may extend to years, often following a relapsing and remitting
      course. Urticaria results from the release of inflammatory mediators from dermal
      mast cells, resulting in vasodilatation, plasma extravasation, recruitment of
      immunologically active cells and sensory nerve stimulation. The cause of
      urticaria cannot usually be precisely identified for most affected individuals.
      IgE-mediated food allergy is rarely the cause of CSU in patients with the daily
      appearance of urticarial lesions, although it should be considered in CSU
      patients with intermittent symptoms. For patients with CSU a differential full
      blood count and inflammatory markers are all that are routinely recommended. It
      is also reasonable to test thyroid function and check for circulating thyroid
      autoantibodies as there is an association between CSU and thyroid autoimmunity.

PMID- 25816504
TI  - Eczema.

PMID- 25816503
TI  - Medical women and the war. 1915.

PMID- 25816505
TI  - Whose body is it, anyway?

PMID- 25816506
TI  - [Collection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus species members: phenotypic and genotypic
      characteristics].
AB  - AIM: Formation of Vibrio parahaemolyticus collection according to modern
      methodical opportunities and understanding of causative agent biology. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Traditional biochemical tests and PCR-testing of species-specific
      genes were used to confirm species membership. Catalase, DNAse, proteolytic and
      tweenase activity was determined by common methods. Virulence was evaluated by a
      complex method: hemolytic activity was determined in Kanagawa test (KT), urease-
      in Christensen medium, PRC-testing of tdh and-trh genes. Serotyping was carried
      out with a commercial O/K-sera kit. PCR-genotyping was carried out by marker
      genes of 7 pathogenicity islands (VPaI-1-7). RESULTS: Species membership was
      confirmed for the studied strains. Serologic typing allowed to detect members of
      18 serologic groups among the collection strains. All the collection cultures
      were divided into 4 groups based on KT-Ure-tdh-trh features recombination. A
      number of genetic variants were detected, strains belonging to a pandemic group
      and O3:K6 serogroup were determined. CONCLUSION: A collection of V.
      parahaemolyticus cultures was formed and characterized by a large set of pheno-
      and genotypic features. A database was developed including information on strain
      origins, pheno- and genetic features, with genetic variants given, for ease of
      use of the collection.

PMID- 25816507
TI  - [Prevalence of cytotoxicity effectors in nosocomial Pseudomonas Aeruginosa
      strains].
AB  - AIM: Analysis of occurrence of the third type secretory system (TTSS) effectors
      in clinical P. aeruginosa strains. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Intra-hospital (n =
      164) and extra-hospital (n = 30) strains of P. aeruginosa were studied. Detection
      of exoS and exoU genes was carried out by PCR in DNA Engine Dyad Thermal Cycler
      ("Bio-Rad", USA). Metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) producers were detected by the
      presence of blaVIM-2 gene. RESULTS: Screening of intra- and extra-hospital
      strains for the presence of genes coding ExoS and ExoU showed, that exoS is
      detected in genome of clinical isolates in 59.8% and exoU--31.1% of cases. At the
      same time, strains with exoS-/exoU+ genotype predominated in lCU (Phi = 0.466; p
      = 0.0000). A significant association between the presence of the respective
      effectors and material of strain isolation was not detected. exoU gene was more
      frequently detected in genome of MBL producers (Phi = 0.784; p = 0.0004).
      CONCLUSION: A significant association between exoU and blaVIM-2 could be
      explained by clonal prevalence of P. aeruginosa ST235 VIM-2, circulation of those
      is noted on all the territory of Russia. As a rule, ExoU is produced by highly
      virulent poly-antibiotic resistant hospital isolates that determine unfavorable
      outcomes of pseudomonas infection.

PMID- 25816508
TI  - [Role of phage LO7 lysogeny in genetic variability of Escherichia coli].
AB  - AIM: Determine the possibility of Iysogenization of Escherichia coli single
      strain DNA (ssDNA) by 1o7 bacteriophage from the Microviridae family and
      determine the role of phage lo7 lysogeny in genetic variability of these
      bacteria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A method of E. coli K12 lysogenization by phage
      lo7 was developed. A spot-test for the control of resistance of the obtained
      lysogens against phage lo7 and determination of lysogen lo7 spontaneous
      production was worked out. Criteria for phage lo7 identification, that is
      spontaneously produced by E. coli K12 lysogens, were proposed. A kit of isogenic
      E. coli strains, that vary by mutations in ptsI, ptsH and fruA genes, that code
      phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP): carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) proteins,
      was constructed. RESULTS: The ability of highly virulent bacteriophage lo7 to
      lysogenize E. coli was shown. A reduction of lo7 titers in ptsI, ptsH and fruA E.
      coli K12 mutants was demonstrated compared with titers in wild-type bacteria.
      Lytic bacteriophage lo7 was also able to lysogenize ptsI, ptsH and fruA mutants
      at a high frequency. Lysogens are resistant to phages lo7, phiX174 of Microvirus
      genus and spontaneously produce lo7. CONCLUSION: Bacteriophage lo7 of the
      Microviridae family is able to lysogenize E. coli K12 and vertically transfer
      genome of this lytic phage. As a result, lytic phage lo7 takes part in bacterial
      variability as a factor of lysogen selection in bacteria population corresponding
      to PTS mutants by phenotype.

PMID- 25816509
TI  - [Features of adhesion of anaerobic periodontopathogenic bacteria and Candida
      albicans fungi to experimental samples of basis dental plastic depending on
      surface roughness and polishing method].
AB  - AIM: Study the main surface parameters of milled polyacrylic materials using
      atomic force microscopy and primary microbial adhesion of periodontopathogenic
      group bacteria and Candida albicans fungi taking into consideration the method of
      sample polishing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Studied samples: mill-treated without
      polishing (control); ergobox polished; polished in dental laboratory conditions;
      polished by a rubber brush in dentists' office. Microbial strains belonging to
      periodontopathogenic species (clinical isolates) that had been isolated from
      periodontal pockets of periodontitis patients: Porphyromonas gingivalis,
      Fusobacterium nucleatum, Streptococcus sanguis, C. albicans fungi were used for
      modelling experiments of primary adhesion of microbes to the material samples.
      RESULTS: S. sanguis had the highest degree of adhesion to polymer after milling,
      P. gingivalis, C. albicans--medium, F. nucleatum--low. A significant reduction of
      adhesion is observed during polishing in dental laboratory conditions or ergobox,
      less significant--during polishing in dental office. CONCLUSION: The data
      obtained allow to make a conclusion that the samples from polymer materials for
      preparation of prosthesis basis have varying degree of intensity of microbial
      adhesion of members of periodontopathogenic microflora and C. albicans fungi that
      depends on the polishing method, that accordingly determined the differences in
      colonization resistance against formation of microbial biofilm during polymer use
      in clinical conditions. . ,

PMID- 25816510
TI  - [Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis C in centers of hemodialysis in St.
      Petersburg].
AB  - AIM: Study molecular epidemiology of hepatitis C (HC) in 5 departments of
      hemodialysis (DH) in St. Petersburg. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sequences of
      nucleotides of 93 isolates including 67 isolates from patents of 5 DH and 26
      isolates from patients, who never had hemodialysis in anamnesis, were obtained in
      2010 by a method of limited sequencing of NS5B region of HC virus genome.
      Phyologenetic analysis was carried out by using PHYLIP veision 3.69 program
      package. Evolution differences were evaluated in DNADIST program using F84
      algorithm. Phylogenetic trees were constructed by using nearest neighbor and
      UOGMA methods in PHYLIP program package. RESULTS: Subtype 1b was established to
      dominate in all the DH (69.2 - 92.9%) and the same isolates of HC virus were
      detected in DH, that were isolated for the first time in 1999. Comparatively
      higher proportion of isolates of HC subgenotype 3a (26.7 - 30.8%) was detected in
      2 of 5 DH in 2010. The same proportion of 3a isolates was detected in the control
      group. CONCLUSION: The fact that HC 3a virus isolates were detected in DH in a
      higher proportion is proof that they have successfully integrated into
      circulation among dialysis patients over the last decade. ,

PMID- 25816511
TI  - [A method for determination of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A, B, C and W by
      real-time PCR].
AB  - AIM: Development and testing of a real-time PCR method for detection of Neisseria
      meningitiis serogroup A, B, C and W DNA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Reference strains
      and 187 samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from meningocci meningitis patients
      were used in the study. Multiplex PCR was carried out in an instrument with 5
      channels of fluorescent detection: RESULTS: Analysis of specific serogroup loci
      of the genome and design of oligonucleotides for the detection of DNA of all the
      capsule meningococci and 4 serogroups in particular was carried out. PCR
      conditions were optimized; specificity was shown and analytical sensitivity was
      evaluated using reference strains. DNA of the following serogroups was detected
      during study of clinical CSF samples: A--in 103 samples (55%), B--in 45 (24%), C-
      in 30 (16%), W--in 5 (3%). Only DNA of meningococci capstle gene ctrA was found
      in 4 samples; presumably, they contained DNA of other serogroups. Multilocus
      sequence-typing and detection of antigenic determinants of PorA and FetA genes
      for 27 DNA samples of group A menincococci as well as DNA of 5 group W
      meningococci and 4 ungroupable was carried out. CONCLUSION: The method proposed
      allows to carry out serogrouping of no less than 95% of strains or DNA samples
      isolated from CSF of meningococci infection patients. Combined with other
      recommended non-cultural methods of genotyping, it may be useful for complex
      characteristics of pathogenic meningococci.

PMID- 25816512
TI  - [Genetic characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus No 6. strain--producer of
      secreted protein-containing compounds possessing protective properties].
AB  - AIM: Genotype characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus No 6: strain that is a
      producer of a protective protein complex. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Features of
      structure of 9 genes, that code synthesis of pathogenicity factors, of S. aureus-
      spa, coa, sea, seB, sec, pvl, tst-h, mecA and scc-mecA, that are responsible for
      synthesis of protein A, coagulase, enterotoxins A, B and C, Panton-Valentine
      toxin (PVL), heat shock syndrome protein, resistance to methicillin and
      staphylococci chromosomal cassette, respectively, were studied by amplification
      in PCR of the respective gene fragments with subsequent conduction of direct
      sequencing. RESULTS: The S. aureus No 6 strain under study possesses pvl gene
      fragments, as well as Spa and coagenes, detected in all the studied strains, that
      belong to t12507 and EMRSA-16 types, respectively. Sea, seb, sec genes
      responsible for.the synthesis of enterotoxins A, B and C were not detected in it,
      tst-h, mecA and scc-mecA gene fragments were not present. CONCLUSION: The
      detection of pvl gene fragment in the strain under study, on the one hand, and
      protective properties of the secreted protein-containing compound, on the other
      hand, give evidence in favor of the necessity of further analysis of
      extracellular proteome of S. aureus No 6.

PMID- 25816513
TI  - [Influence of Staphylococcus vaccine on functional activity of antigen-presenting
      cells].
AB  - AIM: Study the influence of staphylococcus vaccine on functional activity of
      antigen-presenting cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mice intraperitoneally received
      500 MUg of "Staphylovac" vaccine. Phagocytic activity of peritoneal macrophages
      against Staphylococcus aureus 1991 was determined in animals at various time
      intervals. Phagocytic index (PI) and phagocytic number (PN) in smears made at 30
      and 60 minutes of incubation were calculated. Dendritic cells (DC) were obtained
      from bone marrow precursors during cultivation with 20 ng/ml GM-CSF and 20 ng/ml
      IL-4 (BioSource International Inc., Belgium). At day 6 of incubation
      staphylococcus vaccine (50 MUg/ml) was added to immature cells for induction pf
      DC maturation. DC phenotype evaluation was carried out by flow cytometry using
      monoclonal antibodies against cell antigens (Beckman Culter, USA). RESULTS: PI at
      30 and 60 minutes of incubation increased by 0.12 - 1.4 times and 1.11 - 1.52
      times, respectively, compared with control. PN at 30 minutes of incubation of
      cells with microbial suspension increased from 8.6 to 11.4% against 5.9% in
      control, at 60 minutes of incubation--from 7.7 to 8.1% against 5.1% in control.
      In DC culture during their incubation with the vaccine, content of cells with
      expression of intercellular adhesion marker CD38, antigen presenting marker MHCII
      and DC terminal differentiation marker CD83 increased. Expression of CD34 and
      CD14 was also noted, that may give evidence on partial direction of cell
      differentiation to macrophages. CONCLUSION: "Staphylovac" vaccine during
      intraperitoneal administrationt to mice had activating influence on functional
      activity of antigen-presenting cells and peritoneal macrophages.

PMID- 25816514
TI  - [Study of protective activivty of "Staphylovac-2" vaccine].
AB  - AIM: Study the protective properties of "Staphylovac-2" vaccinie. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Samples of the vaccine manufactured by SPA "Microgen" based on the
      developed technology were studied in balb/c mice during 3- and 6-fold
      immunization schemes. Protective activity of the preparation was determined in
      experiments with active and passive protection during intraperitoneal infection,
      seeding of the causative agent from spleen and kidneys during intravenous
      infection, of animals. RESULTS: In experiments with active protection of mice for
      both 3- and 6-fold immunization schemes, a significant protective activity of the
      studied series was determined, compared with the control group of mice. Sera
      obtained after animal immunization (rabbits, mice) by staphylococcus vaccine had
      protective properties. A reduction of spleen and kidneys seeding by
      Staphylococcus aureus in immunized mice compared with the control group was
      detected in the model of generalized staphylococci infection. CONCLUSION: The
      preclinical studies carried out with the "Staphylovac-2" vaccine, developed baed
      on the complex of protective staplylococci antigens, have confirmed the high
      protective activity of the preparation.

PMID- 25816515
TI  - [Effect of aluminium hydroxide on innate immunity and immunogenicity of bacterial
      and synthetic antigens of Streptococcus pneumoniae].
AB  - AIM: Study the effect of aluminium hydroxide on molecular-cell mechanisms of
      innate immunity activation and its adjuvant effect on immunogenicity of natural
      bacterial and synthetic pneumococci antigens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Surface
      markers of dendritic cells (DC), mononuclear leukocytes (ML) and cytokine levels
      were determined by flow cytometry; IgG titers--by EIA. Protective activity was
      evaluated in experiments with active protection of mice from infection with
      virulent pneumococci strains. RESULTS: Aluminium hydroxide increased the ML
      content of mice spleen expressing TLR2 and TLR4. Its addition into the culture of
      immature DC induced the appearance of a population of cells with mature DC
      markers--CD83, CD80, CD86, however, the level of undifferentiated cells (CD34)
      and cells with adhesion molecules (CD11c, CD38) did not change. DC produced IL
      1beta, IL-5, IL-10, IFNgamma into the cultivation medium. An increase of cytokine
      production took place 2 hours after the administration into mice and was retained
      for the observation period (24 hours). Th1 (IFNgamma, TNFalpha) and Th2 (IL-5, IL
      10, GM-CSF) cytokine production gave evidence on immune response polarization by
      Th1/Th2, type. After 2 administrations of aluminium hydroxide into mice the
      number of ML with CD19+, CD5+, NK1.1+, CD25+, MHCII+ markers increased during
      decrease of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes. Adaptive immunity activation was
      characterized by high IgG titers to pneumococci capsule polysaccharide and
      protection of 90 - 100% of the mice against infection with lethal doses of S.
      pneumoniae strains, was detected during 2-fold immunization of mice with
      conjugates of synthetic pneumococci oligosaccharides with BSA,sorbed onto
      aluminium hydroxide, whereas natural bacterial antigens provided 90 - 100%
      survival of animals during immunization without the adjuvant. CONCLUSION: Data
      are provided on the effect of aluminium hydroxide on key effectors of innate
      immunity: DC, ML, TLRs and cytokine production. A reasonable administration of
      this adjuvant was shown to be in association with conjugates of pneumococci
      synthetic oligosaccharides with a carrier protein.

PMID- 25816516
TI  - [The role of fibronectin in adhesion of corynebacteria to vaginal
      epitheliocytes].
AB  - AIM: Determination of the role of fibronectin in adhesion of corynebacteria to
      vaginal epitheliocytes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Corynebacterium genus
      microorganisms and primary epitheliocytes isolated from the lower reproductive
      tract of women were used. Adhesive ability of corynebacteria was studied in
      polystyrene plates against fixed fibronectin and on the model of vaginal
      epitheliocytes. Changes in adhesion of corynebacteria to vaginal epitheliocytes
      was evaluated after treatment of the latter with fibronectin. RESULTS: All the
      studied strains had the adhesion ability to fibronectin and vaginal
      epitheliocytes. The same strains were attributed to groups of high, moderate or
      low adhesive using both plate method and method utilizing vaginal epitheliocytes
      model, that tells of their comparability. During the addition of fibronectin to
      epitheliocytes, an enhancement of adhesion of all the studied corynebacteria
      strains took place. Adhesion index in strains isolated from healthy women
      increased by an average of 46.6%, adhesion index by 10.5 bact. cells/epith. In
      strains isolated from women with micro-ecologic disruption, adhesion increase was
      by 15.3% and 4.9 bact. cells/epith., respectively. CONCLUSION: Fibronectin is a
      factor that determines adhesion of corynebacteria to vaginal epitheliocytes and
      thus is important for formation of associative symbiosis of reproductive tract of
      women. The data obtained open perspective of use of fibronectin with the aim of
      colonizing ability increase of probiotics.

PMID- 25816518
TI  - [Morphologic changes in listeria cells under the effect of metabolites of human
      intestinal microflora enterococci].
AB  - AIM: Characterization of morphologic changes in listeria cells under the effect
      of metabolites of human intestine microflora enterococci. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Culture of Listeria monocytogenes 88-BK cells was cultivated in the presence of
      enterococci waste products (experiment) or without them (control). The samples
      obtained were studied by atomic-force microscopy (AFM) in contact mode using
      scanning probe microscope SMM-2000. RESULTS: The character of morpho-functional
      reaction of indicator culture bacterial cells allows to assume the presence of
      cationic anti-microbial peptides with membrane-lytic mechanism of action in 30%
      of the studied enterococci strains. CONCLUSION: The use of atomic-force
      microscopy allows to detail the mechanisms of anti-microbial activity of
      bacteriocins of intestine microflora microorganisms against target bacteria under
      close to native conditions.

PMID- 25816517
TI  - [Indexes of local cytokine status in individuals with intestine dysbacteriosis].
AB  - AIM: Determination of the content of various cytokines in coprofiltrates of
      individuals with bacteriologically confirmed intestine dysbacteriosis. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Qualitative and quantitative content of large intestine
      microbiocenosis was studied; IFNgamma, pro-inflammatory (IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL
      1beta) and anti-inflammatory (IL-4, IL-10) content was determined using EIA in
      coprofiltrates of 139 individuals aged 18 - 60 years. All the indexes were
      juxtaposed with the cytokine index (CI): RESULTS. A high content of IL-2, IL-4
      and IL-10 with normal levels of IL-1beta, IL-6 and IL-8 was established. A
      comparable content of bifidobacteria, lactobacilli and escherichia was detected
      in individuals with various CI index; in individuals with CI above 1 c.u. and
      above 10 c.u., against the background of proportionally intensifying IFNgamma
      induction, an increase of quantity of escherichia with decreased enzymatic
      activity and frequent detection of opportunistic enterobacteria, staphylococci
      and Candida genus fungi is noted. CONCLUSION: The presence of opportunistic
      microflora at low content of IFNgamma with CI of less than 1 c.u. could be
      evaluated as a dysbiotic reaction, and the presence of opportunistic microflora
      against the background of high IFNgamma content with CI of above 10 c.u.--as a
      development of systemic inflammation due to translocation of dysbiotic microflora
      into the bloodflow.

PMID- 25816519
TI  - [Apoptogenic activity of microbes-associants during Epstein-Barr virus
      infection].
AB  - AIM: Study apoptogenic activity of-microbes-associants during Epstein-Barr virus
      infection (EBVI) on the model of mice peritoneal macrophages in vitro. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Evaluation of apoptosis induced by bacteria isolated from EBVI
      patients was carried out by characteristic morphological changes of macrophages
      in smears stained by May-Grunwald with additional staining by Romanowsky-Giemsa.
      RESULTS: All the EBVI microbes-associants were established to have apoptogenic
      activity, however, the highest pathogenic potential was noted in Streptococcus
      pyogenes. CONCLUSION: The presence of apoptogenic activity in bacterial
      microflora accompanying EBVI against immune system cells could serve as means of
      their survival and be the pathogenetic basis for prolonged persistence in the
      organism.

PMID- 25816520
TI  - [Persistence of antibodies specific to West Nile virus in blood of
      reconvalescents of Volgograd region].
AB  - AIM: Determine the duration of persistence of IgM and IgG in reconvalescents of
      West Nile fever (WNF) 1 year after the disease in southern regions of Russia and
      evaluate effectiveness of PCR method for acute infection diagnostics. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Blood sera of 87 patients with WNF diagnosis was studied for the
      presence of West Nile virus (WNV) RNA and IgM and IgG by PCR and EIA. Samples of
      the first sera were collected in 2010 at days 2 - 30 after the onset of the
      disease, samples of the second sera--at days 5 - 23 and third--264 - 385 days
      later. RESULTS: During the first 2 weeks of the disease WNV RNA was detected in
      more than 50% of patients. In all the first sera IgM at titers of >= 1:800 were
      detected. Seroconversion of IgG titers of 4 and more times was observedin 83%
      (30/36) of patients. In 2011 IgG were detected in 91% of reconvalescents (79/87),
      IgM--in 57% (50/87), and in 25% (22/87) IgM titers were >= 1:800. CONCLUSION: The
      results obtained give evidence on the necessity of using several diagnostic
      criteria simultaneously for the confirmation of WNF clinical diagnosis.

PMID- 25816521
TI  - [Risk of introduction and spread of polioviruses in closed-type child-care
      facilities].
AB  - AIM: Compare frequency of isolation of polioviruses in children living in closed
      type facilities (orphanages) before and after the change in poliomyelitis
      vaccination scheme. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Feces samples of 207 children from 5
      orphanages during immunization with oral poliomyelitis vaccine (OPV) and of 259
      children from 4 orphanages during vaccination with inactivated poliomyelitis
      vaccine (IPV) were studied. Isolation and identification of polioviruses was
      carried out according to WHO recommendations. RESULTS: In orphanages, where
      children were immunized with the oral vaccines, 21 polioviruses were isolated. In
      orphanages, where only inactivated vaccine was used, 10 polioviruses were
      isolated, the presence of polioviruses in these facilities is associated with
      their introduction from the outside. The percentage of poliovirus detection in
      children immunized with OPV was shown to be 16.9 +/- 3.4% and was significantly
      higher than in children vaccinated with IPV (6.1 +/- 1.9%). Polioviruses isolated
      from children immunized with OPV belonged to serotypes 1, 2 and 3 in 19.0, 14.3
      and 66.7% of cases, respectively. Polioviruses detected in children immunized
      with IPV belonged to serotypes 1, 2 and 3 in 30, 40 and 30% of cases,
      respectively. All the isolated polioviruses turned out to be Sabin vaccine
      strains. CONCLUSION: Implementation of strict prophylaxis measures in orphanages
      is necessary in order to prevent the possibility of introduction, transmission
      and circulation of polioviruses. Improvement of control in children from closed
      type facilities will ensure maintenance of Russian Federation status as the
      country free of poliomyelitis.

PMID- 25816522
TI  - [Effect of Corynebacterium non diphtheriae on functional activity and apoptosis
      of macrophages].
AB  - AIM: Determine the ability of Corynebacterium non diphtheriae to induce
      phagocytosis and apoptosis of macrophages and evaluate regulatory effect of
      nuetrophilokines (NPK) induced by Corynebacterium non diphtheriae on these
      processes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The ability of Corynebacterium non diphtheriae,
      isolated from upper respiratory tract, skin and urogenital tract (UGT) were
      studied for the ability to induce phagocytosis and apoptosis of mice macrophages
      (MP; in vitro during staining by May-Grunwald with additional staining by
      Romanowsky-Giemsa) before and after the addition of NPK induced by
      Corynebacterium non diphtheriae. RESULTS: Phagocytic index (PI) was the same for
      all the Corynebacterium non diphtheriae species, phagocytic number (PN) and index
      of phagocytosis completion (IPC)--were minimal relative to corynebacteria
      isolated from UGT. All the studied corynebacteria species induced MP apoptosis;
      the most pronounced apoptogenic effect was detected in Corynebacterium
      pseudotuberculosis isolated from UGT. NPK increased PN against corynebacteria
      isolated from the studied biotopes, IPC--only during studies of corynebacteria
      isolated from skin. The effect of NPK resulted in a reduction of apoptogenic
      effect for almost all the Corynebacterium non diphtheriae, regardless of the
      isolation location. CONCLUSION: A pronounced apoptogenic effect and insufficiency
      of phagocytosis processes induced by corynebacteria are the means of realization
      of Corynebacterium non diphtheriae pathogenic effect. NPK use is possible for
      immune correction of immune deficiency conditions developing against the
      background of diseases determined by Corynebacterium non diphtheriae.

PMID- 25816524
TI  - [Effect of thrombodefensins on the course of chronic staphylococci dermatitis on
      in vivo model].
AB  - AIM: Evaluate therapeutic effect of thrombodefensins (TD) on the course of
      chronic staphylococci dermatitis (CSD) in mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: TD was
      obtained from human thrombocytes. 24 CBRB-Rb(8.17)1Iem line female mice were used
      in the experiment, that were divided into 2 equal groups. Staphylococcus aureus
      strain producing exfoliative exotoxin was isolated from withers of each mouse
      with signs of affection. Mice of the experiment group subcutaneously around the
      locus of affection, received for 4 weeks daily a composition in the volume of 0.2
      ml, that contains 1 g of dry lyophilized TD diluted in 10 ml of 0.9% NaCl (final
      concentration of the preparation--15 MUg/ml). Control group animals similarly
      received 0.9% solution of NaCl without TD. Area and degree of the affected zone
      on the back was evaluated in all the mice. Statistical significance of
      differences in the values of parameters was determined by t-criteria. RESULTS: At
      the start of the experiment the average area of the affected zone in mice of both
      groups was 167 +/- 17 mm2. From day 8 to 23 the expansion of the affection zone
      was observed, however in the experiment group of mice these negative tendencies
      were less pronounced. At the end of the experiment on day 50 the area of
      affection was significantly smaller (2.3 times) in the experiment group of mice
      compared with the control (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The anti-staphylococci effect
      of TD, demonstrated in the study, opens perspective of their clinical use in CSD
      therapy.

PMID- 25816523
TI  - [Cross-immunogenicity of various bacterial L-asparaginases].
AB  - AIM: Evaluate immune response in mice against various L-asparaginases and
      determine their cross-immunogenicity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The studies were
      carried out in C57Bl(6j) line mice. Immunogenicity of L-asparaginases was
      studied: Escherichia coli type II (recombinant) (Medak, Germany) (EcA); Erwinia
      carotovora type II (ErA); Yersinia pseudotuberculosis type II (YpA);
      Rhodospirillum rubrum type I (RrA); Wollinella succinogenes type II (WsA). Immune
      response against the administered antigens was determined in EIA. RESULTS: Y.
      pseudotuberculosis L-asparaginase was the most immunogenic, E. coli--the least
      immunogenic. E. carotovora, R. rubrum, W. succinogenes asparaginases displayed
      intermediate immunogenicity. The results of cross-immunogenicity evaluation have
      established, that blood sera of mice, that had received YpA, showed cross
      immunogenicity against all the other L-asparaginase preparations except E.
      carotovora. During immunization with E. coli L-asparaginase the developed
      antibodies also bound preparation from E. carotovora. Sera from mice immunized
      with W. succinogenes, E. carotovora and R. rubrum L-asparaginases had cross
      reaction only with EcA and did not react with other preparations. CONCLUSION:
      Cross-immunogenicity of the studied L-asparaginases was determined. A sequence of
      administration of the studied preparation is proposed that allows to minimize L
      asparaginase neutralization by cross-reacting antibodies.

PMID- 25816525
TI  - [Effect of immune modulation on immunogenic and protective activity of a live
      plague vaccine].
AB  - AIM: Comparative evaluation of the effect of polyoxidonium and betaleukin on
      immunogenic and protective activity of a live plague vaccine in model animal
      experiments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Plague vaccine EV, polyoxidonium, betaleukin,
      erythrocytic antigenic diagnosticum for determination of F1 antibodies and immune
      reagents for detection of lymphocytes with F1 receptors (LFR) in adhesive test
      developed by the authors were used. The experiments were carried out in 12
      rabbits and 169 guinea pigs. RESULTS: Immune modulation accelerated the
      appearance and disappearance of LFR (early phase) and ensured a more rapid and
      intensive antibody formation (effector phase). Activation by betaleukin is more
      pronounced than by polyoxidonium. The more rapid and intensive was the
      development of early phase, the more effective was antibody response to the
      vaccine. Immune modulation in the experiment with guinea pigs significantly
      increased protective activity of the vaccine. CONCLUSION: The use of immune
      modulators increased immunogenic (in both early and effector phases of antigen
      specific response) and protective activity of the EV vaccine. A connection
      between the acceleration of the first phase of antigen-specific response and
      general intensity of effector phase of immune response to the EV vaccine was
      detected. ,

PMID- 25816527
TI  - [Etiologic deciphering of community-acquired pneumonia caused by mycoplasma
      pneumoniae].
AB  - AIM: Use of a complex of methods for etiologic deciphering of an acute
      respiratory infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical samples of blood sera,
      nasopharynx washes and sputum were obtained from 35 patients with acute
      respiratory disease (ARD). "Difco PPLO Broth" was used for M. pneumoniae
      cultivation. AHR, IFR, PCR, IFA were used in the study. RESULTS: Results of the
      study have shown that M. pneumoniae antigens in blood, sera samples were detected
      in AHR in 32 patients, and specific G and M class antibodies--in 21 and 18 cases,
      respectively. Simultaneous detection of IgG and IgM was registered in 14
      patients. M. pneumoniae cell DNA was detected in 10 of 20 blood sera samples.
      Circulating immune complexes were isolated from blood sera of 8 patients (4 with
      pneumonia, 4 with ARD) and M. pneumoniae antigens were detected in them by using
      direct-IFR. IFR study of sputum and nasopharynx smears has shown that M.
      pneumoniae antigens were detected in 29 of 35 samples. In 12 of 15 smear samples
      M. pneumoniae. DNA was detected by PCR. In 10 cases results of antigen detection
      by IFR as well as DNA in PCR coincided. Results of analysis of all the clinical
      material have shown that in 33 of 35 patients positive results coincided for 2 or
      3 and in some cases 4 of the laboratory study methods used. CONCLUSION: The use
      of diagnostic test complex significantly increases the accuracy of the study
      results, and detection of specific antibodies allows to determine disease period.

PMID- 25816526
TI  - [Skin and mucous membrane microbiocenosis during atopic dermatitis in children].
AB  - AIM: Study the microbial landscape and determine the interaction between
      biocenoses of skin, oropharynx and intestine mucous membranes during atopic
      dermatitis in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 60 children with atopic dermatitis
      were examined, bacteriologic study of skin, oropharynx, intestine was carried
      out. RESULTS: Significant changes were detected in both quantitative and
      qualitative composition of microbiocenosis of skin, oropharynx and intestine
      mucous membranes. Skin of patients is more frequently colonized by Staphylococcus
      aureus. Gram-positive bacteria dominated in oropharynx microflora. Comparative
      characteristics of microflora of skin and oropharynx mucous membrane revealed a
      direct of correlation. During microbiological study of intestine microflora, all
      the examined had microbial landscape disruptions of varying severity degree.
      CONCLUSION: Taking into consideration the direct correlation of microflora of
      skin and oropharynx mucous membrane during atopic dermatitis, seeding of
      oropharynx washes are recommended to be included into the examination complex of
      patients with subsequent correction of microbiocenosis. Examination of all the
      children with atopic dermatitis for the presence of intestine dysbiosis is
      advisable.

PMID- 25816529
TI  - Center of cleft lip-cleft palate and craniofacial deformities, Khon Kaen
      University in association with "Tawanchai Project" and Faculty of Medicine, Khon
      Kaen University.

PMID- 25816528
TI  - [Analysis of population immunity of residents of Russian Federation regions
      against seasonal and highly pathogenic strains of influenza virus].
AB  - AIM: Determine the level of antibodies against socially significant
      types/serotypes of influenza virus in sera of individuals residing in various
      regions of Russia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 1525 samples of blood sera collected in
      August-December 2013 in 8 regions of Russian Federation were studied in
      hemagglutination inhibition reaction (HAI) with antigens obtained from
      A/California/07/09, (H1N1)pdm09, A/Victoria/361/2011(H3N2), B/Brisbane/60/2008
      (Victoria line), B/Massachusetts/2/2012 (Yamagata line), A/Commongull/Chany/2006
      (H5N1), A/Anhui/01/2013 (H7N9) influenza virus strains. RESULTS: None of the
      blood sera samples had significant HAI titers against A/H5 and A/H7 antigens. Of
      all the 1525 samples, 788 (52%) were positive with A(H1N1)pdm09 antigen; 734
      (48%) reacted with A(H3N2) antigen; 1010 (66%) samples were positive with
      B/Victoria antigen and 602 (39%) samples were positive with B/Yamagata antigen.
      CONCLUSION: Healthcare institutions should pay attention to the correction of
      population immunity profile in regions for the reduction of social-economic
      losses from seasonal influenza epidemics.

PMID- 25816530
TI  - Center of cleft lip-cleft palate and craniofacial deformities, Khon Kaen
      University in association with "Tawanchai Project" and Faculty of Medicine, Khon
      Kaen University.

PMID- 25816531
TI  - Treatment of 4-5 year old patients with cleft lip and cleft palate in Tawanchai
      Center: prevalence and type of associated malformations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with cleft lip/palate may have other associated
      malformations but the reported prevalence and type of associated malformations
      varied between different studies. OBJECTIVE: To report the prevalence and the
      type of associated malformations in Northeastern Thai patients with cleft
      lip/palate. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A retrospective study of 123 cleft lip/palate
      patients aged 4-5 years was carried out at the Tawanchai Cleft Center, Khon Kaen
      University during the periodfrom October to December 2011. Data were collected by
      reviewing the patients medical records. RESULTS: Seventeen (14%) of the
      123patients had associated malformations. Four (21%) of the 19patients with cleft
      palate, eleven (15%) of the 74 patients with clefts lip and palate, and two (7%)
      of the 30 patients with cleft lip had associated malformations. The organ systems
      affected by associated malformations were cardiovascular system (41%),
      craniofacial anomaly (23%), skeletal system (12%), urogenital system (12%) and
      central nervous systemn (12%). Atrial septal defect and tetralogy ofFallot were
      most common associated cardiovascular malformation found. CONCLUSION: The high
      prevalence of associated malformationsfound in patients with cleft lip/palate
      emphasizes the needfor a thorough screening of associated malformations and
      congenital heart disease ofall cleft lip/palatepatients.

PMID- 25816532
TI  - Oral health status and oral impacts on quality of life in early adolescent cleft
      patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the levels of dental caries, periodontal disease and oral
      health-related quality of life in children with cleft lip and/or cleft palate
      compared to non-cleft controls. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This cross-sectional study
      was conducted in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Subjects included 68 oral cleft and 118 non
      cleft individuals aged 10-14 years, who were interviewed using the Child-Oral
      Impacts on Daily Pemformance (Child-OIDP) index and received oral examinations.
      RESULTS: Decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) index in permanent teeth,
      plaque index (PI), and gingival index (GI) scores were significantly higher in
      the children with cleft than in the controls. However, there was no significant
      difference in caries prevalence and decayed, missing and filled teeth (dmnft)
      index inprimaly teeth between comparison groups. The prevalence of oral impacts
      on Speaking and Smiling was significantly higher in the cleft children than non
      cleft controls. The mean impact score between both groups were not significantly
      different, but the cleft children with impacts had a significantly higher mean
      impact score (11.9) than did the controls (8.6). The impact score in the cleft
      children was high for speaking (4.5), emotion control (4.2), eating (3.4) and
      relaxing (3.4) activities. The main causes of these impacts included having oro
      nasalftstula, having orthodontics appliance, position of teeth and deformity of
      mouth or face. CONCLUSION: The cleft children had higher levels ofdental caries
      and gingivitis, and poorer oral hygiene than the controls. They also had lower
      quality of life than the controls in most pelformances with different perceived
      causes.

PMID- 25816533
TI  - Pre-surgical nasoalveolar molding technique: a literature review.
AB  - Cleft lip and palate patients have many defects particularly nasal deformities.
      The nasoalveolar molding (NAM) technique is an adjunctive treatment, which not
      only corrects deviated alveolar segments but also addresses nasal deformity
      before cheiloplasty. NAM technique is claimed to facilitate primary surgical
      correction and to provide favorable esthetic outcomes. However, there is limited
      evidence to confirm the special benefits ofNAM technique since so far there have
      been no truly long term controlled clinical trials to evaluate outcomes of
      treatment based on pre-surgical NAM technique. NAM technique can aid surgeons in
      their primary repairs ofnasal deformities but there should be concern about cost
      risk benefits and ability ofparents to manage home care. Further studies based on
      properly designed and managed long-term clinical trials are still neededfor
      reaching consensus on special benefits ofNAM technique compared with other
      treatment protocols.

PMID- 25816534
TI  - Clinical outcomes of primary palatoplasty in pre-school-aged cleft palate
      children in Srinagarind hospital: quality of life.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cleft lips and cleft palates are common congenital anomalies, which
      affects facial appearance, speech, hearing, teeth alignment and other structures.
      Craniofacial anomalies and speech disorders are crucial problems in the preschool
      aged children (5-6 years old), when they start attending school and become more
      engaged in the community. This condition, which differentiates them from other
      students, can lead to teasing or mocking which can cause low-self esteem, an
      inferiority complex, andfoster bad relationships with friends. Missing class in
      order to receive treatment and other additional care can affect a student's
      learning, development and overall-quality of life. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this
      research was to study the quality of life in preschool-aged cleftpalate children
      and satisfaction with their level of speech. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This was a
      retrospective, descriptive study. The data were collected by reviewing medical
      records of patients with cleft lip and cleft palate aged 5-6 years old who
      underwent operation and treatment with the Tawanchai Center at Srinagarind
      Hospital. There were 39patients in this study. Data collection was conducted for
      5 months (June to October 2013). The research instruments were: (1) General
      Demographic Questionnaire, (2) Quality of Life Questionnaire with 5 Domains, and
      (3) the Satisfaction of Speech Questionnaire. The descriptive statistics,
      percentages and the standard deviation were analyzed in the present study.
      RESULTS: The findings revealedfamily information pertaining to CLP treatment and
      the impact it has on consumption, speech training, hearing test, development,
      dental treatment, communication skills, participation, referral treatment as well
      as the quality ofcoordinationfor advanced treatment. The present study revealed
      that all ofthe aforementioned criteria were met at a high level. Moreover the
      child's sickness had only a moderate impact on family life. In conclusion, the
      overall satisfaction was at a very high level. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that
      the collaboration of the Tawanchai Cleft Center and the government, as well as
      with private and non-governmental organizations was exceptional, particularly in
      regard to providing proper and continuous treatment for patients with cleft lips
      and/or cleft palate. The findings reflect a good quality of life in the pre
      schooled children with cleft lip and cleft palate that received treatment from
      the Tawanchai Cleft Center at Srinagarind Hospital. Furthermore, the study showed
      that the problems associated with the condition, only affected the family's lives
      at a minimal level.

PMID- 25816535
TI  - Enhancing accessibility of patients with cleft lip/palate to healthcare services
      via a cleft birth registration system.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cleft lip/palate is a critical health problem in Thailand; with an
      incidence rate of 2.49/1,000 live births. To insure the best outcomes, surgery
      should be performed near the age of three months. However; during the years 1993
      2007, only 39.7% of children with a cleft lip/palate underwent an operation by
      the age of 3-4 months and only 58.18% by the age of 9-12 months. OBJECTIVE: The
      purpose of the study is to determine if a cleft birth registry might facilitate
      timely and proper treatment for children with a cleft lip/palate. MATERIAL AND
      METHOD: A pilot cleft birth registry, developed by the Tawanchai Cleft Center,
      was made available to hospitals in Khon Kaen, Roi-et, Kalasin, and Mahasarakam
      provinces, Thailand. Ninety-eight personnel involved in the care of children with
      a cleft lip/palate were recruited from the participating hospitals to evaluate
      the system. Assigned to one offour focus groups, participants were asked to
      evaluate the pilot system in terms of satisfaction and benefit. Following the
      focus groups, those participants that were traditionally responsible for
      registration were asked to use the cleft birth registry to register any newborns
      with a cleft lip/palate that were encountered in the course of their duties.
      Records were examined to determine how many newborns were properly registered and
      for those registered, whether proper care was received in a timely manner
      RESULTS: With 78 focus group participants responding to the satisfaction survey,
      results indicated mostly high levels of satisfaction with 26 (33%) participants
      rating satisfaction as very good, 49 (63%) as good and 3 (4%) as fair No
      participant rated satisfaction below fair. Furthermore, a majority stated that
      the cleft birth registy would benefit patients and contribute to timely
      treatment. During two years of active use, one hundred and thirty-seven newborns
      with a cleft lip/palate were registered into this cleft birth registry.
      Subsequent examination showed that eighty-eight percent ofregistered cases
      received proper management in tertiary healthcare settings. CONCLUSION: The fact
      that most of registered cases received proper care suggests that a cleft birth
      registry has the potential to facilitate timely and proper care. Howeve,;
      declining rates of registration over time is cause for concern. One opportunity
      for improvement in this regard might come from the establishment of an in-service
      trainingprogram to update knowledge pertaining to current standards of care and
      effective case management. Further improvements could also be made through better
      integration with existing referral systems. The researchers also noted that the
      existing electronic patient records (EPRs) in use by participating hospitals
      often lacked data structures suitable for effective care of patients with a cleft
      lip/palate. Thus, to foster useful integration, existing EPRs must also be
      extended to include data specific to cleft care/management.

PMID- 25816536
TI  - Clinical outcomes of primary palatoplasty in preschool-aged cleft palate children
      in Srinagarind Hospital and comparison with other standard cleft centers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes
      regarding the rate of hypernasality and oronasal fistula formation in patients
      with cleft palate who underwvent primaly palatoplasty at our center and under our
      management protocol. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A Cross-sectional study of 40
      consecutive non-syndromnic cleft palates with/or without cleft lips, born between
      February 2007 and December 2008, who underwent primaty palatoplasty at
      Srinagarind Hospital, Thailand. Demographic data that were recorded inclutdes:
      patients with cleft types, age atpalatoplasty, operating surgeons and surgical
      techniques. RESULTS: 40 consecutive patients. There were 23 boys and 17 girls.
      Three patients had associated disease; one patient had amniotic band syndrome and
      clubfeet, two patients had G-6-PD deficiency. Mean age at time of evaluation was
      5.7 years (5.0-6.9 years). Mean age atpalatoplasty was 14.1 months (9-64 months).
      There were three plastic surgeons and plastic surreiy residents. The predominiant
      cleft lip type was Veau 3 (52.5%) followed by Veau 4 (27.5%) and Veau 1 (20%).
      Twvo-flap palatoplasty was used in all patients. The rate of hypernasality was
      37.5% (15 out of 40 patients). Mild hypernasality was 25% and moderate
      hypernasality was 12.5%. Oronasalfistula occurred in 10 patients, fistula rate
      was 25%. Oronasal fistula closure was relformed on nine patients (90%). Two
      patients (5%) had residual oronasal fistula at the time of the study. There were
      no statistically significant differences in the cleft types, age at palatoplasty
      and operating surgeons in hypernality rates and oronas alfistula fomation.
      CONCLUSION: The rate of hypernasality and oronas alfistu laformation was
      comparable to resultsfirom other standard cleft.

PMID- 25816537
TI  - A Relationship between nasolabial appearance and self-esteem in adolescent with
      repaired cleft lip and cleft palate at Khon Kaen University Cleft Center.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine levels of self-esteem of adolescents with repaired cleft
      lip and cleft palate at Khon Kaen University Cleft Center and its correlation
      with nasolabial appearance. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Across-sectional survey of 93
      adolescents with repaired cleft lip and palate. RESULTS: A total nasolabial
      appearance score was 2.8 +/- 0.36 (fair to good). The mean of the total self
      esteem score for all respondents was 20.11 +/- 3.27 (maximum 30). There was no
      significant correlation between nasolabial appearance and self esteem (Pearson
      product-moment correlation coefficiency (r) = 0.18, p = 0.08. The self-esteem
      scores of good, fair and poor appearance were 20.5 +/- 0.98, 19.8 +/- 0.32, 19 +/
      2.09 respectively. CONCLUSION: The nasolabial appearance of repaired cleft lip
      and palate not be the only factor but other psychosocialfactors also may play a
      role in their self-esteem. The analysis of this study found no relationship
      between self-esteem and appearance.

PMID- 25816538
TI  - Cost management of cleft lips under the Universal Health Coverage Program of the
      Tawanchai Cleft Center, Srinagarind Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen
      University.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The study ofcost management with regard to cleft lip patients under
      the Universal Health Coverage Program at Tawanchai Cleft Center Srinagarind
      Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, was conducted in order to
      provide fundamental information for the administrative team on how best to
      administrate and manage the organization. OBJECTIVE: To study the cost management
      of cleft lip patients under the Universal Health Coverage Program. To compare
      individual patient management costs and costs from the National Health Security
      Office (NHSO), and to offer proper guidelines for cost management to the
      organization. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The study was performed retrospectively. The
      data were collected by reviewing secondary sources of information from patients
      with cleft lips who consistently underwent treatment at Tawanchai Cleft Center.
      As for the provider prospects, the cost management did not address the other
      expenses. The study analyzed the comparison between cost management and income
      from the Universal Health Coverage Program, which it receivedfrom the National
      Health Security Office (NHSO). The study was conducted over 2 years (October 1,
      2010 to 30 September, 2013). There were 21patients in this study. Microsoft excel
      was the instrument used to calculate the cost ofmanagement. RESULTS: (1) Total
      costs were lower than real payments because this cost did not take into account
      the total cost of the operation room, patient room, common bed, and costs of the
      medical equipment. Moreover the information regarding the building's price and
      the facility were not clear enough. The database of materials and equipment was
      also not yet complete. (2) The average cost ofpatient management was 12,025.14
      Bahtperperson, but the compensation receivedfrom the National Health Security
      Office (NHSO) averaged 10,527.63 Bahtperperson, which was 87.55% ofthe total cost
      management. The department with the largest expenses was Anesthesia (36.42%).
      CONCLUSION: This study indicated that the cost of patient management is lower
      than usual due to the lack of clear cost information. The cost of medical care,
      which was received from the National Health Security Office (NHSO), was only
      87.55%; the department with the highest costs was Anesthesia (36.42%).

PMID- 25816539
TI  - Difference of clinical phenotypes and immunological features of 22q11.2 deletion
      syndrome in north-eastern Thai children compare to western countries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: 22q11.2 deletion syndrome is a common microdeletion syndrome that
      affected various systems. OBJECTIVE: To determine clinical phenotypes and
      immunologicalfeatures of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome in north-eastern Thai children
      compare to western countries. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The authors described the
      clinical and immunological features in 20 north-eastern Thai children with
      22q11.2 deletion syndrome that were followed-up at Srinagarind Hospital. RESULT:
      Clinical phenotypes were facial dysmorphism (100%), congenital heart disease
      (80%) and cleft palate (30%). Prevalence of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) in this
      syndrome was higher than in western. Serious infections were found including
      pneumonia, septicemia and brain abscess. Only a patient had
      panhypogammaglobulinemia and subsequently died. Selective IgA deficiency was not
      found. There was a twin patient conceivedfrom intracytoplasmic sperm injection
      (ICSI). CONCLUSION: TOF is more common in Asian patients than in western which
      different to selective IgA deficiency. The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome could be
      consequence from ICSI.

PMID- 25816540
TI  - Effect of knowledge and perception on adherence to iron and folate
      supplementation during pregnancy in Kathmandu, Nepal.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adherence to iron and folate supplementation during pregnancy is
      considered key to prevention and control of iron deficiency anemia. Nepal-like
      other developing countries-faces problems with adherence vis-a-vis iron/folate
      supplementation. OBJECTIVE: This descriptive survey aimed to assess the effect
      ofknowledge and perception ofpregnant women on adherence to iron/folate
      supplementation in Kathmandu, Nepal. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The present study was
      conducted in Paropakar Maternity and Womens' Hospital in Kathmandu. Systematic
      random sampling was used to select 406 persons who were either given a self
      administered questionnaire or interviewed. RESULTS: 73.2% of the respondents
      showed good adherence. Bivariate analysis revealed significant associations
      between adherence and both knowledge and perception (p<0.05), but through
      multiple linear regression analysis only perception was found to be statistically
      associated with adherence (p<0.05). Further multivariate analysis demonstrated
      that the most important predictors of adherence were: perception of side effects,
      availability, forgetfulness and reminders from family. CONCLUSION: Adherence to
      iron/folate supplementation among women during pregnancy needs continuous
      improvement by minimizing the perception of constraints (viz., side-effects and
      forgetfulness) and, enhancing availability andfamily support.

PMID- 25816542
TI  - Vitamin A supplementation for prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in very
      low-birth-weight premature Thai infants: a randomized trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is one ofthe most significant
      complications among very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) premature infants. Vitamin A
      deficiency increases the risk of BPD in VLBWinfants. OBJECTIVE: To assess the
      effect of vitamin A supplementation for prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia
      in VLBW premature Thai infants. STUDY DESIGN: Randomized control trial. MATERIAL
      AND METHOD: Eighty premature infants weighing <1,500 g who received mechanical
      ventilation or oxygen supplementation at 24 hours ofage-admitted to Neonatal
      units ofSrinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand-were
      assigned to receive either intramuscular vitaminA 5, 000 IU3 times/week
      (treatment group) or sham procedure (control group) for four weeks. Serum vitamin
      A levels were measured before and after administration of the vitamin A. RESULTS:
      The baseline of mean serum vitamin A levels were similar in both groups. The mean
      serum level of vitamin A was significantly higher in the vitamin A supplemented
      infants than in the control infants on day 7 (1.41 +/- 0.48 vs. 0.92+0.38 pmol/
      L, p<0.001), day 14 (1.48 +/- 0.90 vs. 0.96 +/- 0.36 micromol/L, p = 0.001) and
      day 28 (1.42 +/- 0.63 vs. 0.76 +/- 0.30 micromol/L, p<0.001) after vitamin A
      supplementation. None of the infants in the vitamin A supplemented group,
      compared to 5% of the infants in the control group, had vitamin A level <0.35
      micromol/L, (indicating severe vitamin A deficiency) at 28 days. Fewer of the
      premature infants in the vitamin A supplemented group required oxygen
      supplementation at 36 weeks postmenstrual age than in the control group albeit
      not statistically significant (22.5 vs. 35% relative risk 0.71; 95% CI 0.40 +/-
      1.26; p = 0.21). Supplementation with vitamin A was also associated with a
      significant reduction in the duration ofintubation (10.8 +/- 3.1 days vitamin A
      supplemented group vs. 26.1 +/- 6.4 days control group, p = 0.03), days on oxygen
      therapy (29.8 +/- 5.1 days vitamin A supplemented group vs. 58.2 +/- 9.1 days
      control group, p = 0.01) and length of hospital stay (61.9 +/- 4.2 days vitamin A
      supplemented group vs. 88.3 +/- 7.2 days control group, p = 0.002). CONCLUSION:
      The dose of vitamin A used in this study reduced biochemical evidence of vitamin
      A deficiency and, without complications, resulted in reducing duration of
      intubation, days of oxygen therapy, and length of hospital stay in premature
      infants suffering VLBW

PMID- 25816541
TI  - Enamel defect and gingival enlargement in pediatric patients with kidney disease
      at Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen University, Thailand.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although many complications from kidney disease therapy can be
      prevented or effectively treated, oral health problems are nevertheless a
      consequence. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore the prevalence
      of enamel defect and gingival enlargement in pediatric patients with kidney
      disease at Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. MATERIAL AND
      METHOD: This cross-sectional study was conducted between January and August 2013,
      at SrinagarindHospital, Khon Kaen University. Ninety-seven pediatric patients
      with kidney disease were allowed by their parents to participate in this study.
      Data were collected from medical records, questionnaires and oral examination
      records. The enamel defect was recorded using the Developmental Defects of Enamel
      Index. Gingival enlargement was recorded using the GingivalEnlargement Index. An
      oral examination was conducted using a mouth mirror, explorer and periodontal
      probe. RESULTS: The average age of the pediatric patients with kidney disease was
      11.53+3.7years (range, 4-17). The majority of subjects were able to (a) come for
      an appointment (97.9%), (b) take medication according to the medical directions
      (93.8%) and (c) avoid inappropriatefoodsfor those suffering kidney disease
      (84.5%). The prevalence of enamel defect was 27.8%. The most common enamel
      defects were demarcated opacities (13.4%) or diffuse opacities (9.3%). The
      prevalence ofgingival enlargement was 16.5%. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that
      the prevalence ofenamel defect was 27.8% and the prevalence ofgingival
      enlargement was 16.5%.

PMID- 25816543
TI  - Second trimester genetic ultrasound for Down syndrome screening at Srinagarind
      Hospital.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the value of second trimester genetic ultrasound for
      screening of Down syndrome conducted at Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen,
      Thailand. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The present study sample comprised of 4,033
      pregnant women at high risk forfetal chromosomal abnormality, from 17th to 23th
      week, who had performed second trimester genetic ultrasound before genetic
      amniocentesis between September 1996 and December 2011. Archived medical records
      relating to results ofgenetic ultrasound and genetic amniocentesis were extracted
      and studied. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Sensitivity ofgenetic ultrasound in the
      detection of fetal Down syndrome. Results: There were 3,966 chromosomally normal
      pregnancies (98.3%), 43 fetuses with Down syndrome (1.1%), and 24 fetuses with
      other chromosomal abnormality (0.6%). 30 of 43 (69.8%) fetuses with Down syndrome
      had abnormal genetic ultrasound. The overall sensitivity of second trimester
      genetic ultrasound for detecting Down syndrome was 69.8% with a false-positive
      rate of 50.4% and likelihood ratio of 1.38. Of all the sonographic markers, short
      femur, and short humerus indicated the highest sensitivity at 65.1% and 44.2%.
      According to likelihood ratio (LR+), chest abnormality, 2 vessel umbilical cord,
      andfacial abnormality including cleft lip and palate, have highest likelihood
      ratio (LR+) of 61.49, 46.12, and 46.10, and had sensitivity at 4.7%, 2.3%, and
      2.3% respectively. CONCLUSION: The sensitivity of second trimester genetic
      ultrasound for detection offetal Down syndrome at Srinagarind Hospital was rather
      high, and probably is an alternative method ofprenatalprediction for high risk
      pregnant women who refused genetic amniocentesis.

PMID- 25816544
TI  - The posterior pericardiotomy. Does it reduce the incidence of postoperative
      atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting?
AB  - Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia after coronary artery
      bypass graft surgery (CABG). Posterior pericardiotomy (PP) has been reported
      toreduce pericardial effusion, AF triggel; and reduce the length of hospital stay
      and hospital costs without significant complications. A total of 20 patients,
      diagnosed with coronary artery diseases to be treated by an elective or urgent
      CABG between August and December 2013, were randomly divided into two groups; 10
      patients received PP (PP group) and 10 patients did not receive PP (control
      group). The incidence ofAF was equal (40% in both groups). Early pericardial
      effusion was slightly higher in the PP group (PP 70%, control 60%; p = 1.00). The
      incidence of left pleural effusion and pneumonia were higher in the PP group than
      in the control. Moreover, one patient in the PP group developed perioperative
      myocardial infarction (MI) that required intensive care with medication. The
      duration of ICU stay of the PP group was significantly longer than that of the
      control group. In conclusion, PP did not reduce the incidence of postoperative AF
      nor did early pericardial effusion. Rather, PP increased post-operative
      complications such asperioperative MI, left pleural effusion, and pneumonia
      resulting in the prolonged ICU stay.

PMID- 25816545
TI  - Prevalence and type of associated syndromes in patients with cleft lip and cleft
      palate who received the treatment in Tawanchai Center until 4-5 years of age.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Understanding the genetic etiologies of cleft lip and palate (CLP) is
      important for improved prevention, treatment, and prognosis for patients affected
      by CLP. OBJECTIVE: To report the prevalence and the type of associated syndromes
      in Northeastern Thai patients with CLP. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A retrospective
      study of123 cleft lip/palate children aged 4-5 years was carried out at the
      Tawanchai Cleft Centel; Khon Kaen University during the period from October to
      December 2011. Data were collected by reviewing the patient 's medical records.
      RESULTS: Seventeen (14%) of the 123 children had multiple malformations and five
      (4%) of these children had associated syndromes. Syndromes were identified in 5
      (29%) of the 17 children who had associated malformations. The syndromes were
      Apert, Cleft lip/palate-ectodermal dysplasia, Kabuki, Oculo-Auriculo-Vertebral
      Spectrum, and Velocardiofacial syndrome. CONCLUSION: Recognition of the
      associated syndrome in a patient with CLP is essential to assess the problem of
      the patient, provide necessaty treatment and the appropriate methodology of
      prevention.

PMID- 25816546
TI  - Advanced exudative retinopathy with neovascular glaucoma as the clinical
      presentation of diabetes mellitus and severe combined hyperlipidemia: a case
      report.
AB  - A 50-year-old man presented with bilateralprogressive visual loss for 5 months.
      Visual acuity was reduced to countingfingers in the right eye and light
      perception in the left. Although neovascularizations were detected in the angles
      of the eyes, neovascular glaucoma and rubeosis iridis were demonstrated only in
      the left. Fundus examination showed bilateral advanced exudative retinopathy in
      both eyes. Severe attenuated retinal arteries and enlarged cupping with disc
      pallor were observed in the left eye. Generalized eruptive xanthomas were found
      on the back and extremities. Extreme dyslipidemia (serum cholesterol 1311 mg/dl
      and triglycerides 6356 mg/dl) and diabetes mellitus (fasting plasma glucose 325
      mg/dl and HbA1 c 12.1%) were first diagnosed. The serum lipid profiles and
      glucose levels were dramatically decreased within a month after treatment with
      subcutaneous insulin injections and oral hypolipidemic agents; notwithstanding,
      his vision was not significantly improved, even after treatment with intravitreal
      anti-VEGF injection, intravitreal steroid injection and panretinal
      photocoagulation. CONCLUSION: The principle causes of advanced exudative
      retinopathy are severe breakdown of the blood-retinal barrier due to diabetes
      mellitus and altered retinal pigment epithelium lipid metabolism. In ourpatient,
      central retinal vascular occlusion was also the suspected cause ofneovascular
      glaucoma.

PMID- 25816547
TI  - Spontaneous bilateral retinal pigment epithelium rips with good visual acuity.
AB  - Retinalpigment epithelium (RPE) rips commonly occur in retinochoroidal disorders
      including age-related macular degeneration, idiopathic polypoid alchoroidal
      vasculopathy, central serous chorioretinopathy, high myopia andchoroidal
      neovascularization. Most patients have unilateral involvement and poor visual
      prognosis. A 55-year-old female presented with decreased vision in her right eye
      for one week. Her best-corrected visual acuity was 6/12 in the right eye and 6/6
      2 in the left. Fundus examination revealed a large juxtafoveal RPE rip in the
      right eye and multiple small pigment epithelium detachments in the left. No
      abnormal hyperfluorescent lesions were detected byfundus angiography. High
      doseoral antioxidant was prescribed. A pigment epithelium detachment (PED) in the
      left eye grew larger over the follow-up period. Ultimately, a RPE rip also
      occurred in the left eye in the 17th week offollow-up. Her best-corrected visual
      acuity was 6/9. Although reinvestigation was done, no other choroidal
      abnormalities were demonstrated by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fundus
      angiography. During the observation, RPE tears were reattached spontaneously in
      both eyes. A considerable amount of RPE proliferation, migration, and
      repopulation was also demonstrated by OCT and fundus autofluorescence. After 2.5
      years of follow-ups, her best-corrected visual acuity was 6/9 in the right eye
      and 6/6 in the left. We hypothesize that the increased surface tension of RPE is
      the etiology of RPE rips in this case. Furthermore, the underlying chorioretinal
      abnormality directly affects the visual prognosis and further studies are needed
      in prevention, pathogenesis and treatment.

PMID- 25816548
TI  - Officer Down. EMS operations at an active shooter incident require careful
      coordination with law enforcement.

PMID- 25816549
TI  - The benefits of TXA. Implementing tranexamic acid for trauma patients will result
      in decreased mortality.

PMID- 25816550
TI  - Evidence-based EMS: needle decompression. Recent data may cause us to reconsider
      our preferred thoracostomy location.

PMID- 25816551
TI  - Health care innovation grant recipients making progress. Agencies seeing results
      already from their grant programs.

PMID- 25816553
TI  - Certification experimentation. With EMT-P being phased out, what's a non
      nationally registered medic to do?

PMID- 25816552
TI  - Advances in military medic training. How civilian paramedics helped upgrade
      training for U.S Army flight medics.

PMID- 25816554
TI  - Arms and 'The Man'. The role of law enforcement in securing violent patients.

PMID- 25816555
TI  - The seven windows counseling process. A technique for engaging employees to
      improve performance.

PMID- 25816556
TI  - The five phases of preceptorship. It takes a unique individual to simultaneously
      care for a patient while educating and evaluating a student.
AB  - Clinical teaching has been one of the most important but problematic areas of
      professional education.10 Clinical knowledge rarely corresponds with the
      theoretical knowledge that students acquire in the classroom and lab setting,
      contributing to a theory-practice gap for the patient care provider. This gap
      leads to the difficulty and disillusionment experienced by students during their
      field internship. To assist students with transitioning to the prehospital
      environment, paramedic preceptors are a necessity. However, regardlessof
      theirprehospitalexperience, paramedic preceptors may not have had proper
      education in the teaching-learning process and may not have been provided a
      quality preceptor training program. At present, there isno nationally sponsored
      preceptor program that effectively prepares field internship preceptors as
      clinical instructors even though accreditation now requires education for all
      paramedic preceptors. It is my hope that this article may be useful in the,
      development of quality preceptor work- shops, which will enhance the overall
      field internship experience to better prepare future paramedics.

PMID- 25816557
TI  - Common STEMI imitators: Part 1. There are other causes of ST-segment elevation
      besides myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25816558
TI  - Angel Thunder: the largest SAR exercise in the world.

PMID- 25816559
TI  - Strong Work. It's OK not to be good at everything--and to lean on a crewmate.

PMID- 25816560
TI  - [Early achievements of the Danish pharmaceutical industry-6 Pharmacia].
AB  - The article series provides a written and pictorial account of the Danish
      pharmaceutical industry's products from their introduction until about 1950. Part
      6 deals with products from A/S Pharmacia. A/S Pharmacia was established in
      Copenhagen in 1922 as a Danish limited company by the enterprising pharmacist
      Edward Jacobsen. Pharmacia was not Jacobsen's first pharmaceutical company as
      previously he had established a pharmaceutical agency already in 1913 which in
      1919 was reorganized to a limited company by the name of A/S Edward Jacobsen.
      This agency was later extended to include a production of generics. Jacobsen
      remained the co-owner and manager of Pharmacia until 1934 where he resigned and
      established another company, A/S Ejco, for the manufacture of generics. It is
      worth mentioning that already in 1911 a Swedish pharmaceutical company was
      established named AB Pharmacia. Today we do not know whether Edward Jacobsen knew
      about this Swedish company. Later on in 1936 AB Pharmacia and A/S Pharmacia made
      a contract concerning mutual market sharing, and a research cooperation was
      brought about between the two companies which resulted in an increase of turnover
      for A/S Pharmacia. In 1955 the cooperation between the two companies was
      increased as the Swedish company joined as principal shareholder with the purpose
      of continuing and developing the Danish company as an independent pharmaceutical
      company with its own research and development as well as manufacture, control and
      marketing. Therefore Pharmacia in Denmark was able to establish a synthesis
      factory in Koge and move the domicile to new premises in Hillered. In 1993
      Pharmacia was presented in a printed matter as "The largest Nordic pharmaceutical
      company" as a result of the merger between the Swedish Kabi Pharmacia, formerly
      established by a merger between Kabi Vitrum and AB Pharmacia, and the Italian
      Farmitalia Carlo Erba. Only two years later in 1995 Pharmacia merged with the
      American pharmaceutical company The Upjohn Company under the name of Pharmacia &
      Upjohn. In 2000 this company was merged with the chemical group Monsanto under a
      new name, Pharmacia Corporation. Pharmacia Corporation was taken over by Pfizer
      in 2003. The early activities of A/S Pharmacia included not only the import of
      raw materials and ready-made articles, such as medicinal products, but also the
      manufacture of own medicinal products. This is not surprising considering the
      founder Edward Jacobsen's pharmaceutical career. Pharmacia's early manufacture of
      own medicinal products consisted mainly of generics, however, not only the
      expensive foreign medicinal products, but also any available Danish generics such
      as easily manufactured pharmacopeia products. It is thus worth mentioning that
      Pharmacia's own technological production capacity at that time was limited and
      required a cooperation with other (Danish) pharmaceutical companies. Pharmacia
      was able to produce tablet cores, but the sugarcoating had to be made by external
      business partners. Pharmacia was able to produce digitalis preparations, but the
      standardization of these had to be effected elsewhere. The total production of
      one of Pharmacia's products took place at an external business partner. Pharmacia
      was established at a time where the increasing use of industrially manufactured
      medicinal products, both Danish and foreign ones, had resulted in a considerable
      decrease in sales of pharmacy produced medicinal products. This had for a long
      time worried The Danish Association of Pharmacies, and this resulted in a
      reaction from the association, namely the DAK-products which by nature were
      produced in Denmark and thus became the most essential element in the fight
      against the industrially manufactured products--a fight which according to the
      association had to be fought with all legal means. Therefore The Danish
      Association of Pharmacies obviously reacted precipitated when in 1926 the
      association in writing stated that Pharmacia's products were not manufactured in
      Denmark in spite of the fact that they were labelled as such according to
      agreement with Landsforeningen Dansk Arbejde, i.e., The National Association
      Danish Work, which in 1925 allowed Pharmacia to use the labels of the
      association. The unemployment was high in the 1920'ies and increasing so when
      Pharmacia subsequently took legal action against the Association of Pharmacies
      and claimed that the statement was unjustified and might harm Pharmacia, it may
      indicate that the public of that time looked positively upon the manufacture and
      the use of Danish manufactured products. The Danish Association of Pharmacies
      lost the case as the claim according to the court was unjustified and thus
      unlawful. The suspicions of the association were not supported by facts, however,
      they were not either completely groundless. Following this The National
      Association Danish Work gave notice to terminate the contract with Pharmacia
      concerning the right to use the labels of the association. By expanding the
      cooperation and later on by merging with the Swedish Pharmacia AB the Danish A/S
      Pharmacia succeeded in continuing and developing a company where research,
      development and production of innovative medicinal products as well as of
      generics could take place in Denmark.

PMID- 25816561
TI  - [Early achievements of the Danish pharmaceutical industry-7].
AB  - A/S GEA Farmaceutisk Fabrik was established as a family business in 1927 by the
      pharmacist Knud L. Gad Andresen who until then had been employed in the
      pharmaceutical industry. Gad Andresen wanted to run a company focusing on the
      development of generics, and he wanted this development to take place in a close
      cooperation with Danish physicians. This has indeed been achieved with success.
      In 1995 GEA was purchase'd by the American pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers
      Squibb who in a press release characterized GEA as Denmark's second largest
      manufacturer of generics. Immediately after this takeover GEA's R&D department
      ceased the research in innovative products and from now on exclusively focused on
      the development of generics. Three years later GEA was sold to the German generic
      company Hexal who later on resold GEA to the Swiss generic company Sandoz. GEA
      changed ownership another couple of times until the last owner went bankrupt in
      2011. GEA is yet again a model example of an early Danish pharmaceutical company
      which was established as an individual company, and which had a long commercial
      success with the production and marketing of generics. GEA's earliest products,
      the organotherapeutics, were not innovations. The innovative products were
      developed already in the 1890s in Denmark by Alfred Benzon, and later on copies
      followed a.o. from Medicinalco and from foreign companies before GEA marketed
      their generics. Therefore GEA had to promote their preparations as especially
      qualified medicinal products and to intimate that the products of the competitors
      were less "active'". At the end of the 1920s the Ministry of Health became aware
      of the fact that there might be health problems related to the none-existing
      control of both the or- ganotherapeutic preparations and actually also the other
      medicinal products of the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore the Ministry had
      requested the National Board of Health for a statement regarding this problem.
      The National Board of Health was, however, at that time of the opinion that there
      were no serious problems with organotherapeutics from those companies marketing
      such products. It requires studies in the unprinted journals of the Ministry of
      Health and the National Board of Health to find the background for and the causes
      of the request from the Ministry at this point concerning the control of the
      organotherapeutic products of the pharmaceutical industry. Neither were GEA's
      barbiturates innovative products. The "Gad Andresen Case" is interesting for two
      reasons. Firstly, it illustrates that the development of generics at this stage
      could not always take place exclusively in a pharmaceutical-chemical laboratory,
      but also required a certain minimum of clinical trials including human beings.
      Secondly, it shows that the industrial products had now slowly, but surely gained
      market shares and displaced the pharmacy-produced medicinal products to such an
      extent that it did not only worry the pharmacy owners and their trade orga-
      nization. Now this concern had also resulted in a counteract so that the
      pharmacies in the manufacture of their products had to copy the industrial
      products, however, in certain cases with a dubious result. Gealgica tablets and
      especially their content of fenacetine is not only a model example of how the
      opinion of the positive and negative properties of a medicinal product changes
      over time. It also shows how long time could pass before the health authorities
      took measures against a substance with problematic side effects in spite of the
      fact that less damaging substances had been available for a long time, in this
      case paracetamol. Medicinal products containing fenacetine were on the market for
      almost 100 years. On the contrary meprobamat is a model example of a drug
      substance where the opinion of its positive and negative properties changed
      essentially over a relatively short period. In spite of this it remained on the
      market for a little less than 40 years. Restenil and Trihistan are mentioned on
      Knud & Dagny Gad Andresen's homepage (in 2014) as new medicinal products
      developed by GEA. This is not quite correct. Both drug substances in these
      preparations had been developed in the USA. In Denmark GEA had the possibility to
      market these substances under GEA's own brand names along with corresponding
      foreign brand names. It can be concluded that GEA's own research on the whole was
      confined to the development of own patentable syntheses of already known drug
      substances. During the later marketing of generics GEA appealed to the national
      feeling of the Danish population in the same way as a.o. Pharmacia did in the
      1920s. From the very start GEA specialized in the manufacture of generics, and
      GEA was able to follow this way with commercial success--as a Danish alternative-
      for almost 90 years.

PMID- 25816562
TI  - [The factory Ferraton from idea to realization].

PMID- 25816563
TI  - [Do you want to know more?].

PMID- 25816564
TI  - Antioxidant Houttuynia cordata extract upregulates filaggrin expression in an
      aryl hydrocarbon-dependent manner.
AB  - The plant Houttuynia cordata, which is called "dokudami" in Japanese, is known as
      a potent antioxidant herb that has been traditionally consumed as a folk medicine
      for various ailments, such as diabetes, obesity, cough, fever and skin diseases,
      in Asia. However, its antioxidant mechanism remains largely unknown. In the
      present study, we investigated the effects of Houttuynia cordata extract (HCE) on
      human keratinocytes. HCE activated aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and nuclear
      factor E2-related factor 2, with subsequent induction of the antioxidative enzyme
      NAD (P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 gene. HCE inhibited the generation of reactive
      oxygen species (ROS) in keratinocytes stimulated with tumor necrosis factor alpha
      or benzo(alpha)pyrene. Moreover, HCE upregulated the gene expression of
      filaggrin, an essential skin barrier protein, in an AHR-dependent manner. HCE may
      be beneficial for treating ROS-related photoaging and barrier-disrupted skin
      conditions.

PMID- 25816565
TI  - Late type III endoleak of a Powerlink stent graft: report of a case.
AB  - We herein report a case of a late type III endoleak caused by disconnection of
      the aorta extension and main body of a Powerlink four years after implantation.
      Migration of the main body caused a disconnection of the main body and extension
      despite the fact that the size of the aneurysm had been decreasing. The endoleak
      was successfully repaired using the interpolation of an Endurant aortic extender.
      In case of necessity of implantation of the extension, first implantation of
      extension before deploying the main body may help to prevent type III endoleaks
      caused by disconnection of the stentgraft in patients treated with the Powerlink
      system. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a late type III
      endoleak caused by a Powerlink device.

PMID- 25816566
TI  - Is Jonathan Bush in a bubble?

PMID- 25816567
TI  - [Expression of EIIIA+ fibronectin in incised wound of rat's skin].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between the expression of EIIIA+
      fibronectin in incised wound of rat's skin and injury time. METHODS: The wounding
      model was established by cutting the dorsal skin of 48 adult SD rats. The rats
      were sacrificed at the pre-set injury time as immediately, 0.5 h, 1 h, 2 h, 3 h,
      4 h, 6 h, and 8 h. The skin samples were taken at the margin of wound. The
      expression of the EIIIA? fibronectin was detected by immunohistochemistry and
      Western blotting and the relationship be- tween its expression and injury time
      was observed. Results The expression of EIIIA+ fibronectin was not observed
      immediately. The basal cell of skin began to show positive expression 0.5 h after
      injury. With the extension of injury time, positive staining became stronger. The
      value of relative optical density was gradually increased with prolonged injury
      time by the Western blotting analysis. CONCLUSION: The expression of EIIIA+
      fibronectin could be used for estimation of injury time in the early stage of
      skin injury.

PMID- 25816568
TI  - [Expression of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and its receptor in sudden coronary
      death].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP
      1) and its receptor CC chemokine receptor-2 (CCR-2) in coronary atherosclerosis
      plaques between sidden coronary death (SCD) and non-SCD. Methods The expression
      levels of MCP-1 and CCR-2 in SCD group, coronary atherosclerosis group (non-SCD),
      control group (normal coronary artery) were detected by immunohistochemistry.
      RESULTS: Positive rates of MCP-1 among the three groups were 78%, 47%, and 0%,
      respectively, with significant expressing differences between each two groups
      (P<0.05). Positive rates of CCR-2 among three groups were 72%, 47%, and 0%,
      respectively, with significant expressing differences between the SCD group and
      coronary atherosclerosis group as well as between the SCD group and control group
      (P<0.05), but with no significant expressing difference between coronary
      atherosclerosis group and control group (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Overexpression of
      MCP-1 and CCR-2 in coronary atherosclerotic plaques is closely correlated with
      SCD.

PMID- 25816569
TI  - [Diagnosis of amniotic fluid embolism with blood samples by liquid-based cytology
      technique].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To establish the diagnosis of amniotic fluid embolism with blood
      samples by liquid-based cytology technique and to study the validity of method.
      METHODS: The blood samples were collected from patients who suffered from
      amniotic fluid embolism. The components of amniotic fluid in blood samples were
      examined with blood smear by two direct smear methods (supernatant smear,
      sediment smear) and two liquid-based cytology methods (automatic smear, manual
      smear). The positive detection rate of each method was calculated. RESULTS: The
      positive detection rates of two liquid-based cytology methods (84.6% and 92.3%,
      respectively) were much higher than those of two direct methods (53.8% and 61.5%,
      respectively). CONCLUSION: The liquid-based cytology technique could improve the
      positive detection rate of amniotic fluid embolism.

PMID- 25816570
TI  - [Correlation between age and general morphology of transverse section of
      cartilago costalis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation between age and general morphology of
      transverse section of cartilago costalis and its forensic significance. METHODS:
      Eighty-six corpses' cartilago costalis from the routine postmortem examination
      were collected and the morphological features of their transverse section were
      observed. RESULTS: With the increased age, there were regular changes in the
      color, structure, and material of the general morphology of transverse section of
      cartilago costalis. But the changes were not affected by gender. CONCLUSION: The
      good correlation between general morphology of transverse section of cartilago
      costalis and age can be used to estimate age of the deceased rapidly.

PMID- 25816571
TI  - [Automated assessment of developmental levels of epiphysis by support vector
      machine].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To realize the automated assessment of the levels of epiphysis of
      distal radius and ulna by support vector machine (SVM). METHODS: The X-ray films
      of the left wrist joints were taken from 140 teenagers aged from 11 to 19 years
      old as training samples. The levels of epiphysis of distal radius and ulna were
      divided into five developmental levels. Each level contained 28 samples. Another
      35 cases were selected as independent verifying samples. SVM classification
      models of the five developmental levels of epiphysis of distal radius and ulna
      were established. The internal cross validation was made by leave one out cross
      validation (LOOCV), while the external validation was made by histogram of
      oriented gradient (HOG), and then the accuracy (PA) of testing results was
      calculated, respectively. RESULTS: The PA of SVM, LOOCV and HOG of distal radius
      epiphyseal level were 100%, 78.6%, and 82.8%, respectively; whereas the PA of
      SVM, LOOCV and HOG of distal ulna epiphyseal level were 100.0%, 80.0% and 88.6%,
      respectively. CONCLUSION: The SVM-based automatic models of the growth stage of
      distal ra- dius and ulna appear to have certain feasibility, and may provide a
      foundation for software development of bone age assessment by forensic medicine.

PMID- 25816572
TI  - [Application of isokinetic muscle testing in identification of the faked
      paralysis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the application of isokinetic muscle testing in
      identification of the faked paralysis to provide scientific data for establishing
      a standard system of muscle strength in forensic medicine identification.
      METHODS: Fifty-seven patients with bone fracture or nerve damage as damaged group
      and 128 normal subjects pretended paralysis as faked paralyzed group were
      included in this study. Isokinetic muscle testing was performed on bilateral
      knees of all subjects in the two groups. The peak torque (PT) and peak torque
      angle (PTA) were compared between both sides in each group. The features of
      torque-time graph of two groups were classified. RESULTS: In the damaged group,
      the differences of PT between two sides of flexors and extensors were
      statistically significant (P<0.05), while the dif- ferences of PTA were not
      statistically significant (P>0.05). In faked paralyzed group, the differences of
      PT and PTA between two sides of flexors and extensors were both statistically
      significant (P<0.05). The torque-time graph of damaged knee presented mostly as
      single lead peak, while torque-time graph of the faked paralyzed knee presented
      mostly as multiple peaks. CONCLUSION: The feature of torque-time graph could be
      useful to identify the faked paralyzed extremities in forensic authentication.

PMID- 25816573
TI  - [Assessment on the criminal responsibility of drug-induced mental disorders: a
      questionnaire survey].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To understand the assessment on the criminal responsibility of drug
      induced mental disorders and judicial experts' opinions. METHODS: The judicial
      experts from institutes of forensic psychiatry in Shanghai were selected. They
      were asked to finish a self-made questionnaire of assessment on the criminal
      responsibility of drug-induced mental disorders by letters and visits. RESULTS:
      Most of experts knew the special regulation, "not suitable for evaluation"
      towards the criminal responsibility of drug-induced mental disorders of the
      guideline promulgated by Ministry of Justice. Before and after the guideline was
      issued, no expert made a no-responsibility opinion in such cases. After the
      guideline was issued, some experts made a full-responsibility or limited
      responsibility opinion in such cases. There was a little disagreement among the
      experts in the case that the crime was unrelated with mental symptoms or the
      criminals used drugs even though he knew it could induced insanity. But there
      were still many obvious disagreements among experts in the case that crime was
      related to such symptoms and person was no ability to debate. Most experts agreed
      to settle the disagreements with improved legislative perfection. CONCLUSION:
      Most experts are not strictly complying with the assessment guidelines during
      their practice, and there is still an obvious disagreement towards the criminal
      responsibility of drug-induced mental disorders.

PMID- 25816574
TI  - [Correlation of daily living activities with location and severity of traumatic
      brain injury].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation of daily living activities with location and
      severity of trau- matic brain injury (TBI) and to provide a theoretical basis for
      improving the accuracy of expert opinion. METHODS: Five hundred and one cases of
      patients with TBI were selected. Detailed records included following: pre-injury
      situation, location and severity of injury, treatment and education. Daily living
      activi- ties scale (Barthel index) was applied to test the subjects' daily living
      activities. The relevance among location and severity of TBI and Barthel index
      was statistically analyzed. RESULTS: In mild TBI group, there was no significant
      difference in Barthel index among each location (P>0.05). In moderate TBI group,
      there were significant differences in Barthel index between subarachnoid
      hemorrhage and cerebral lobe injury, also between parietal, occipital lobes
      injury and frontal lobe injury, parietal, occipital lobes injury and temporal
      lobe (P<0.05), respectively, whereas no significant difference in Barthel index
      between frontal lobe injury and temporal lobe injury (P>0.05). In severe TBI,
      there were significant differences in Barthel index between every two different
      locations (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: There is some correlation between the location of
      TBI and Barthel index, which provides an important reference value for analyzing
      and determining daily living activities after TBI.

PMID- 25816575
TI  - [Linkage disequilibrium and mutation rate analysis of sixteen X-STR loci].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD) of 16 STR loci
      on X chromo- some and investigate the genetic stability. METHODS: Genomic DNA
      samples extracted from blood stains from 500 unrelated individuals and 885
      lineage members from Eastern Chinese Han population were genotyped through
      multiplex amplification using IDtyperX-16 kit by our independent research
      followed by capillary electrophoresis. LD was assessed by PowerMarker v3.25
      software and mutation rate of every locus was analyzed. RESULTS: LD were not
      found at the 16 X-STR loci. Allele mutations were observed at 10 loci. Among
      them, mutation rates of DXS6809 and DXS7132 were both up to 0.0048. CONCLUSION:
      When the 16 X-STR loci included in IDtyperX-16 kit were used for parentage
      testing, product princi- ples can be applied to calculate the likelihood, but
      mutation should be taken into consideration in the case that the genotypes do not
      meet the genetic law (especially at DXS6809 and DXS7132).

PMID- 25816576
TI  - Genetic polymorphism of nine non-CODIS STR loci in Hunan Province-based Chinese
      Han population.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the allelic frequency distribution and genetic parameters
      of nine non-CODIS DNA index systems of the short tandem repeat (STR) loci
      (D2S1772, D6S1043, D7S3048, D8S1132, D11S2368, D12S391, D13S325, D18S1364, and
      GATA198B05). METHODS: A total of 353 blood samples were collected, extracted,
      amplified, and analyzed from unrelated healthy individuals of Han nationality in
      Hunan Province, China. RESULTS: One hundred and fourteen alleles were observed in
      the population with corresponding allelic frequencies ranged from 0.001 0 to
      0.323 0. For all the nine non-CODIS STR loci, the observed genotypic data showed
      no significant deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The Ho, He, PIC,
      DP, and PE of the studied non-CODIS STR loci ranged from 0.1080 to 0.1950, 0.8050
      to 0.8920, 0.7700 to 0.8600, 0.9250 to 0.9660 and 0.6070 to 0.7800, respectively.
      CONCLUSION: Nine non-CODIS STR loci have high degrees of polymorphisms, which may
      be useful in individual forensic identification and parentage testing in forensic
      practice.

PMID- 25816577
TI  - [Forensic validation of goldeneye? DNA ID 26Y system].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To perform the validation and analysis of forensic parameters of
      Goldeneye DNA ID 26Y system. METHODS: Based on the validation rules of Scientific
      Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM), the kit was assessed from several
      parts, as test of PCR system, reproducibility, accuracy, and sensitivity, etc.
      And Y-STR loci of 517 unrelated healthy individuals from Eastern China were
      genotypes by this kit. The distribution and frequency of haplotype were
      calculated and forensic parameters of the kit were assessed. RESULTS: The
      complete profiles can be obtained even when the PCR reaction volume with 6.25
      microL. And correct profile was obtained with DNA down to 125 pg. No reproducible
      peaks were detected with the DNA of common animals and microorganism with the
      kit. For the male-male mixture testing, average 70% of the minor alleles were
      obtained when the ratios of 1:19 and 19:1. For the male-female mixture testing,
      results showed that the sensitivity of the kit was no compromised with the
      addition of female samples. CONCLUSION: The validation studies demonstrated that
      Goldeneye DNA ID 26Y system has good sensitivity and specificity, and suitable
      for mixture testing. The polymorphism of 26 Y-STR loci included in this kit are
      good for forensic application.

PMID- 25816578
TI  - [Effects of additives in blood collection tubes on testing the alcohol
      concentration in blood samples].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To discuss blood collection tubes with different additives and their
      effects on the testing results of alcohol concentration in blood samples.
      METHODS: Blood samples from 10 volunteers were collected 2 hours after drinking
      with seven different types of disposable vacuum blood collection tubes, including
      ordinary tube without anticoagulant, coagulant tube, separating gel-coagulant
      tube, sodium citrate (1:4) tube, sodium citrate (1:9) tube, sodium citrate (9:1)
      tube and EDTA-K2 tube. The alcohol concentrations in these blood samples were
      analyzed by headspace gas chromatography. RESULTS: The concentration testing
      results of the same blood samples in different types of tubes were different from
      one to another. The sequence was as follows: separating gel-coagulant tube >
      coagulant tube > ordi- nary tube without anticoagulant > EDTA-K2 tube> sodium
      citrate (1:9) tube> sodium citrate (1:4) tube, whereas the results of the same
      blood sample in sodium citrate (1:9) tube and sodium citrate (9:1) tube showed no
      obvious difference. CONCLUSION: It is better to collect a suspicious drunk
      driver's blood sam- ple using a disposable vacuum blood collection tube, with the
      EDTA-K2 tube being preferred.

PMID- 25816579
TI  - [A retrospective analysis of 105 drowning victims with psychiatric disorders].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the features of drowning victims with psychiatric disorders
      to support further investigation on such cases. METHODS: One hundred and five
      archives of drowning victims with psychiatric disorders from January 2010 to June
      2014 in Harbor Public Security Subbureau, Shanghai Public Security Bureau were
      reviewed. The decedents' general information, autopsy findings, case
      investigation data and disease histories were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: Of
      the 105 cases, 104 were suicides. Most decedents were poorly educated. Most
      suicides occurred in warm climate, and the corpses were usually found within 2
      days. Most decedents had no suicide history and notes, but had abnormal mental or
      behavior changes before suicide. Depression, depression status and schizophrenia
      were the main types of psychiatric disorders, and only 9 decedents had received
      regular therapies before their deaths. CONCLUSION: Mental disorder is a high risk
      factor in the drowning victims. Guardians should be aware of psychotic abnormal
      behaviors, especially during warm climate seasons.

PMID- 25816580
TI  - [Analysis of 163 rib fractures by imaging examination].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the applications of imaging examination on rib fracture
      sites in forensic identification. METHODS: Features including the sites, numbers
      of the processed imaging examination and the first radiological technology at
      diagnosis in 56 cases of rib fractures from 163 injuries were retrospectively
      analyzed. RESULTS: The detection rate of the rib fractures within 14 days was
      65.6%. The initial detection rate of anterior rib fracture proceeded by X-ray was
      76.2%, then 90.5% detected at a second time X-ray, while the detection rate of CT
      was 66.7% and 80.0%, respectively. The initial detec- tion rate of rib fracture
      in axillary section proceeded by X-ray was 27.6%, then 58.6% detected at a second
      time X-ray, while the detection rate of CT was 54.3% and 80.4%, respectively. The
      initial detection rate of posterior rib fracture proceeded by X-ray was 63.6%,
      then 81.8% detected at a second time X-ray, while the detection rate of CT was
      50.0% and 70.0%, respectively. CONCLUSION: It is important to pay attention to
      the use of combined imaging examinations and the follow-up results. In the cases
      of suspicious for rib fracture in axillary section, CT examination is suggested
      in such false X-ray negative cases.

PMID- 25816581
TI  - [Analysis of pesticides in blood specimen by GC/MS with accelerated solvent
      extraction].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To develop the accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) for determining
      pesticides present in blood samples. METHODS: Pesticides were extracted by ASE
      with optimized parameters to study recovery rate affected by extraction
      temperature, time and agent. GC/MS was used to perform quantitative analysis.
      RESULTS: The recovery rates of eight pesticides were 70.6%-92.4%. The coefficient
      of variation was less than 5.0%. A good linear relationship was obtained at the
      concentration range of 0.5-5.0 microg/mL. CONCLUSION: The method was fast and
      simple with high recovery rate and good repeatability. It can be applied to
      analyze pesticides present in the blood specimen.

PMID- 25816582
TI  - [Progress of the recovery mechanism of brain injury associated with the gene
      polymorphism of apolipoproteins E].
AB  - Brain injury is a kind of wound by violence on head, which is a mechanical
      distortion of skull, meninx, cerebral vascular and brain tissue due to outside
      force acting on head. Apolipoproteins E (ApoE) is a major kind of
      apolipoproteins, participating in the metabolism of lipid and regulating balance
      of cholesterol. Some recent investigations show that gene polymorphism of ApoE is
      associated with various kinds of diseases. Also its immunoreactivity is changed
      regularly with brain injury. In addition, ApoE has remarkable effect in
      neurological normal growth and reparative process after brain injury. This
      article reviews the biological characteristics and mechanism of ApoE in the
      repair of brain injury and application prospect in forensic medicine, which may
      be able to provide new ideas for estimation of the brain injury time and related
      experimental research.

PMID- 25816583
TI  - [Expression and mechanism of alphaB-crystallin in retina and extraocular tissues
      and organs].
AB  - alphaB-crystallin is the structural protein of vertebrate lens, which is widely
      expressed in non-lens tissue. As one of the heat shock protein family members,
      alphaB-crystallin possesses biological properties of molecular chaperones and
      anti-apoptotic effects. Multi-factor injuries, such as retinopathy, inflammation
      and nervous system diseases, have a closely relationship with alphaB-crystallin.
      This paper reviews the research progress of the expression and mechanism of
      alphaB-crystallin in retina and extraocular tissues and organs.

PMID- 25816584
TI  - Hydrogen sulfide: metabolism, biological and medical role.
AB  - Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a signaling molecule that is actively synthesized in
      the tissues and is involved in the regulation of vascular tone, neuromodulation,
      cytoprotection, inflammation and apoptosis. In recent years, new data on animal
      and human H2S metabolism and function under the effect of various endogenous and
      exogenous factors, including drugs were collected. This review is provided to
      introduce generalized information about the main and alternative H2S metabolism
      and regulation, peculiarities of transport, signaling, biological role and
      participation in pathogenesis. Submitted data describe H2S content and activity
      of H2S-synthesizing enzymes in different organs, H2S effect on blood coagulation
      and platelet aggregation based on our research results. The working
      classification of H2S metabolism modulators, which are used in biology and
      medicine, is proposed: 1) agents that increase H2S content in tissues (inorganic
      and organic H2S donors; H2S-synthesizing enzymes substrates and their
      derivatives, H2S-releasing drugs; agents that contain H2S-synthesizing enzymes
      cofactors and activators, agents that inhibit H2S utilization); 2) agents that
      reduce H2S content in tissues (specific and nonspecific inhibitors of H2S
      synthesizing enzymes), 3) agents with uncertain impact on H2S metabolism (some
      medicines). It was demonstrated that vitamin-microelement and microelement
      complexes with H2S-synthesizing enzymes cofactors and activators represent a
      promising approach for H2S content correction in tissues.

PMID- 25816585
TI  - Functions of tocopherols in the cells of plants and other photosynthetic
      organisms.
AB  - Tocopherol synthesis has only been observed in photosynthetic organisms (plants,
      algae and some cyanobacteria). Tocopherol is synthesized in the inner membrane of
      chloroplasts and distributed between chloroplast membranes, thylakoids and
      plastoglobules. Physiological significance of tocopherols for human and animal is
      well-studied, but relatively little is known about their function in plant
      organisms. Among the best characterized functions oftocopherols in cells is their
      ability to scavenge and quench reactive oxygen species and fat-soluble by
      products of oxidative stress. There are the data on the participation of
      different mechanisms of alpha-tocopherol action in protecting photosystem II (PS
      II) from photoinhibition both by deactivation of singlet oxygen produced by PSII
      and by reduction of proton permeability of thylakoid membranes, leading to
      acidification of lumen under high light conditions and activation of violaxanthin
      de-epoxidase. Additional biological activity of tocopherols, independent of its
      antioxidant functions have been demonstrated. Basic mechanisms for these effects
      are connected with the modulation of signal transduction pathways by specific
      tocopherols and, in some instances, by transcriptional activation of gene
      expression.

PMID- 25816586
TI  - [Kinetics of inhibitory effect of calix[4]arene C-90 on activity of transporting
      plasma membrane Ca2+, Mg2+-ATPase of smooth muscle cells].
AB  - In experiments on the suspension of myometrium cell plasma membrane, processed by
      0.1% digitonin, the inhibitory action of calix[4]arene C-90 (5,11,17,23
      tetra(threeftor)methyl(phenilsulphonilimino)-methylamino-25,26,27,28-tetrapropoxy
      calix[4]arene) on the activity of Ca2+,Mg2+-ATPase was investigated. The authors
      also examined the influence of calix[4]arene in different concentration on
      affinity of enzyme (Ca2,Mg2+-ATPase) for the ATP and ions of Mg and Ca, and its
      influence on cooperative effect and maximum velocity of ATP hydrolysis. It is
      shown that calix[4]arene does not influence the affinity of Ca2+,Mg2+-ATPase for
      the ATP, which means that these two compounds have different binding centers.
      Also calix[4]arene has no influence on affinity and cooperative effect of Ca
      ions, if it is used in concentration lower than 50 MUM. Calix[4]arene slightly
      increases coefficient of Ca2+,Mg2+-ATPase activation by magnesium chloride. In
      all three cases, where ATP, Mg and Ca ions are used to test the impact of
      calix[4]arene, maximum velocity of ATP hydrolysis significantly decreases. All
      these results clarify that calix[4]arene implements its inhibitory action through
      mechanism of uncompetitive inhibition of Ca2+,Mg2+-ATPase activity.

PMID- 25816587
TI  - [Inhibitory effect of benzimidazole derivatives on cholinesterases of animals in
      the presence of different substrates].
AB  - Specifically synthesized group of benzimidazole derivatives possessing varying
      degrees of delocalization of the positive charge in the cation group of the
      molecule has been studied in order to search for potential cholinergically active
      compounds and to study the role of the Coulomb interaction in cholinesterase
      catalysis. These compounds were reversible inhibitors of cholinesterase (ChE) of
      human erythrocytes, horse serum, brain of the frog Rana temporaria and visual
      ganglia of the Pacific squid Todarodes pacificus in the presence of
      acetylthiocholine iodide and propionylthiocholine iodide as substrates. The
      differences in the nature of reversible inhibitory effect were observed. The
      effect of the inhibitor structure and substrate nature, specific for each of the
      studied inhibitors, on the character of the process of reversible inhibition was
      found.

PMID- 25816588
TI  - [Actomyosin ATPase activity of skeletal muscles and the markers of tissue damage
      in the blood of rats under prolonged chronic alcoholization].
AB  - The activity of creatine kinase and indices of lipid metabolism in the blood and
      also actomyosin ATPase activity of skeletal muscles of rats under chronic 8-month
      alcohol abuse were investigated. It is shown that actomyosin K+-ATPase activity
      of skeletal muscles increases from two months of ethanol use, but actomyosin Mg2+
      ATPase activity decreases during 6-8 months of alcoholization. From two months of
      ethanol use the creatine kinase activity, as an enzyme marker of muscle tissue
      damage, statistically significantly increases during all the period of the
      animals alcoholization. The level of total lipid increases after two months of
      alcohol consumption (in blood plasma by 30% and in erythrocyte mass by 65%). For
      longer periods of alcoholization (4-8 months) the level of lipids remains almost
      the same, whereas in erythrocyte mass it does not differ from control values. The
      level of diene conjugates in the blood plasma reduces and the amount of ketone
      derivatives of fatty acid residues increases that points to the inhibition of
      some components of the antioxidant system that control detoxification of
      hydroperoxides of fatty acids and also to activation of free radical damage of
      tissues. There were no significant changes of lipid peroxidation level in
      erythrocyte mass at any stage of alcoholization.

PMID- 25816589
TI  - NAADP-sensitive Ca2+ stores in permeabilized rat hepatocytes.
AB  - Nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP) is a nucleotide that is
      potent to release calcium from intracellular stores in different cell types.
      NAADP was shown to target specific type of intracellular store namely
      endolysosomal system or acidic store. Despite intense studies, its effect on
      endoplasmatic reticulum (ER) still remains to be elucidated. The main aim of our
      work was to investigate NAADP-sensitive store in permeabilized rat hepatocytes
      monitoring the level of Ca2+ inside intracellular organelles using
      chlorotetracycline (CTC). We have shown that NAADP triggered changes of stored
      Ca2+ in rat hepatocytes are dependent on concentration of EGTA-Ca2+-buffer in
      cell incubation medium, i.e. the higher is the EGTA concentration in incubation
      medium the smaller or absent is the effect of NAADP. Besides, the effect of NAADP
      was more pronounced upon cells pretreatment with the inhibitory concentration of
      ryanodine (100 MUM). This might suggest that the effect of NAADP is dependent on
      ER luminal calcium. We have also found that NAADP-evoked Ca2+ release in
      permeabilized hepatocytes is sensitive to nigericin, bafilomycin A and
      thapsigargin. Additionally, NAADP triggered changes in stored Ca2+ were
      completely abolished by NED-19 as antagonist of NAADP.

PMID- 25816590
TI  - Dynamics of thrombin-induced exposition of actin on the platelet surface.
AB  - Platelets play the key role in thrombosis and are also involved in angiogenesis
      as well as immune and reparative responses. In the function cascade, platelets
      undergo a complex cell processing, and subcellular fragments, not detectable in
      the resting state, are exposed on platelet surface after stimulation with
      agonists. This study has been performed to evaluate dynamic characteristics of
      actin exposition on the surface of plasma membrane of thrombin-activated
      platelets. Using flow-cytometric assay, it has been observed that the level of
      actin presented on activated platelets directly depends on agonist concentration.
      In the case of platelet stimulation with thrombin in the highest concentration
      (1.0 U/ml) taken for this study, the level of actin exposed on activated
      platelets was up to 4.4 times higher as compared with resting cells. Confirmation
      of the flow cytometry data for cell-surface actin on thrombin-activated platelets
      was achieved by direct visualization using a confocal laser scanning microscopy.
      Period of actin exposition appeared to be longer than the time phase
      corresponding to platelet secretion stage. Functional role of platelet surface
      actin has required further detailed studying, however, it is thought that
      superficial actin could interact with various blood plasma proteins, including
      plasminogen and its activators, serving as a binding site and/or center for their
      pericellular processing.

PMID- 25816591
TI  - Study of the sites of plasminogen molecule which are responsible for inhibitory
      effect of Lys-plasminogen on platelet aggregation.
AB  - Plasminogen/plasmin system is involved in such important processes as thrombosis,
      inflammation and cancer. Plasmin and plasminogen mediate their action through
      plasminogen-binding proteins on the cell surface. Lys-plasminogen, but not Glu
      plasminogen, shows inhibitory effect on platelet aggregation induced by ADP,
      collagen and thrombin in preparations of both: platelet-rich plasma and washed
      platelets. We have shown that the kringle domains of Lys-plasminogen mediate
      interaction of this proenzyme with platelet- surface proteins. The aim of the
      work is to study the role of certain kringle domains in the inhibitory effect of
      Lys-plasminogen and to determine possible plasminogen-binding proteins on the
      platelet surface. All studied plasminogen fragments (K1-3, K4 and K5) abolished
      the inhibitory effect of Lys-plasminogen on platelet aggregation. We observed
      that K5 was more effective than K1-3 and K4. Biotin-labeled Lys-plasminogen, Glu
      plasminogen and plasminogen fragment K1-3 possessed the highest affinity for
      actin, whereas the binding of biotin-labeled mini-plasminogen and K4 to actin was
      negligible. We have suggested that inhibitory effect of Lys-plasminogen is due to
      the interaction of kringle domains of this proenzyme with membrane-bound proteins
      which are exposed on the platelet surface during activation and are involved in
      thrombus formation.

PMID- 25816593
TI  - Proteolytic activity of IgGs from blood serum of Wistar rats at experimental
      rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - The aim of this work was to study the proteolytic activity of IgGs purified from
      blood serum of Wistar rats at experimental rheumatoid arthritis (ERA) induced by
      an injection of bovine collagen of type II. Twenty rats were immunized with a
      preparation of bovine collagen II (Sigma-Aldrich, USA) in the presence of
      complete Freund's adjuvant. ERA development was determined by inflammation in
      limbs of treated animals. IgG preparations were isolated from blood serum of
      immunized and non-immunized animals by precipitation of antibodies with 33%
      ammonium sulfate followed by chromatography on the Protein G-Sepharose column.
      Human histone H1, bovine collagen II, calf thymus histones, myelin basic protein
      (MBP), bovine serum albumin (BSA), and bovine casein were used as substrates of
      the proteolytic activity of IgGs. It was found that IgG preparations from blood
      serum of rats with ERA were capable of cleaving histone H1 and MBP, however, they
      were catalytically inactive towards collagen II, casein, BSA, and core histones.
      IgGs from blood serum of non-immunized rats were proteolytically inactive towards
      all used protein substrates. Thus, we demonstrated that immunization of rats with
      bovine collagen II induced IgG-antibodies possessing the proteolytic activity
      towards histone H1 and MBP. This activity might be associated with the
      development of inflammatory processes in the immunized rats.

PMID- 25816592
TI  - Relationship between RNA/DNA ratio, growth rate and accumulation of selenium in
      the cells of wheat leaves under the influence of minerals analcime and trepel.
AB  - We studied specific effects of different doses of natural minerals--analcime (An)
      and trepel (Tr)--on the growth rate, selenium (Se) content and functional
      activity of the genome of wheat leaves measured by the RNA/DNA ratio. Our results
      show that under the influence of An and Tr, especially at low doses (25 mg/100 g
      sand), there is a significant increase in the content of Se, increased growth
      rate of leaves of wheat seedlings and decreased RNA/DNA ratio. We have found
      significant correlations between studied parameters. Our findings suggest that
      the RNA/DNA ratio can be used as a convenient, reliable indicator of the
      biological activity of minerals An and Tr, and for quantitative express
      estimation of their impact on plant organisms.

PMID- 25816594
TI  - Multiple molecular forms of adaptor protein Ruk/CIN85 specifically associate with
      different subcellular compartments in human breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells.
AB  - Ruk/CIN85 is a receptor-proximal 'signalling' adaptor that possesses three SH3
      domains, Pro- and Ser-rich regions and C-terminal coiled-coil domain. It employs
      distinct domains and motifs to act as a transducer platform in intracellular
      signaling. Based on cDNA analysis, various isoforms of Ruk/CIN85 with different
      combination of protein-protein interaction domains as well as additional
      Ruk/CIN85 forms that are the products of post-translational modifications have
      been demonstrated. Nevertheless, there is no precise information regarding both
      the subcellular distribution and the role of Ruk/CIN85 multiple molecular forms
      in cellular responses. Using MCF-7 human breast adenocarcinoma cells and cell
      fractionation technique, specific association of Ruk/CIN85 molecular forms with
      different subcellular compartments was demonstrated. Induction of apoptosis of
      MCF-7 cells by doxorubicin treatment or by serum deprivation resulted in the
      system changes of Ruk/CIN85 molecular forms intracellular localization as well as
      their ratio. The data obtained provide a new insight into potential physiological
      significance of Ruk/CIN85 molecular forms in the regulation of various cellular
      functions.

PMID- 25816595
TI  - [The ROS-generating and antioxidant systems in the liver of rats treated with
      prednisolone and vitamin D3].
AB  - The mechanisms of glucocorticoid-induced disturbances of liver function is
      currently not fully clarified. Vitamin D3 was previously shown to play an
      important role in the regulation of impaired oxidative metabolism and
      detoxification function of the liver associated with the effects of hepatotoxic
      compounds. The study was undertaken to define the intensity of oxidative
      metabolism in the rat liver and survival of hepatocytes after prolonged
      prednisolone administration and to assess whether vitamin D3 is capable to
      counter glucocorticoid-induced changes. It has been shown that prednisolone (0.5
      mg per animal for 30 days) leads to 1.6-fold increase in the percentage of
      necrotic cells among isolated hepatocytes as compared with the control. The
      glucocorticoid-induced impairment of hepatocellular function was accompanied by
      enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), accumulation of TBA-active
      products and carbonylated proteins but reduced levels of free SH-groups of low
      molecular weight compounds. It was demonstrated a decrease in the activities of
      key enzymes of antioxidant system (SOD, catalase, glutathione peroxidase),
      whereas the activities of pro-oxidant enzymes NAD(P)H-quinone oxidoreductase and
      semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase were shown to be increased. Vitamin D3 (and
      to greater extent in combination with alpha-tocopherol) administration (100 IU)
      on the background of glucocorticoid therapy caused normalizing effects on the
      level of ROS formation, oxidative modification of biomolecules and activity of
      antioxidant enzymes resulting in better survival of hepatocytes. These data
      suggest a potential role of vitamin D3 in the regulation of oxidative metabolism
      alterations related to hepatotoxic action of glucocorticoids.

PMID- 25816597
TI  - [Effect of adaptogenic preparations on Na+/H+-antiporter function in plasma
      membrane of corn root cells under salinity conditions].
AB  - Salinity is a hard stress factor for plant organisms which negative effect is
      caused chiefly by sodium toxic for plants. Plant cells try to remove Na+ from
      their cytoplasm outside and to vacuolar space by secondary active Na+/H+
      antiporters. Their functions can be intensified by gene engineering methods
      however we try do it with the help of non-toxic bioactive preparations. A
      comparison of their effect on the plasma membrane of Na+/H+-antiporters was
      carried out on corn seedling roots of Zea mays L. exposed at 0.1 M NaCl. Before
      we have established that Methyure used by seed pretreating possesses a high salt
      protective ability as against Ivine. It was found that without NaCl exposition
      Na+/H+-antiporter activity in root plasma membrane was nearly unnoticeable but
      increased slightly with seedling age. Methyure and Ivine did not influence its
      activity in control root seedling. One day 0.1 M NaCl exposition evoked a
      considerable increasing of Na+/H+-antiporter activity and its gene expression but
      these effects disappeared at 10 day NaCl exposition. Methyure use reinforced
      Na+/H+-antiporter activity and prolonged it at NaCl exposition without effect on
      its gene expression whereas Ivine effects on these indexes were insignificant.
      Obtained results showed that the salt protective capability of Methyure is
      connected with plasma membrane Na+/H+-antiporter activation which is realized on
      molecular level.

PMID- 25816596
TI  - [Influence of heavy metal salts on the activity of trypsin-like hydrolases from
      Drosophila melanogaster].
AB  - The influence of salts of heavy metals on trypsin-like peptide hydrolase of
      drosophila larvae partly refined by methods of salting-out, gel chromatography
      and electrophoresis has been researched. It is established that cadmium chloride
      is characterized by the greatest inhibitory effect, while zinc chloride by the
      lowest one. Since metal chlorides were used in all cases, it is the
      differentiated effect of metal ions on manifestations of amidase activity of
      trypsin-like peptide hydrolase of drosophila larvae, which rather may be
      considered as proved than the effect of chlorine ions. This, as a whole, agrees
      with the effect of these ions on proteolytic digestion system at the level of
      live organisms.

PMID- 25816598
TI  - [The activity of prooxidant-antioxidant system in loach embryos under the action
      of microwave radiation].
AB  - Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) affects biological organisms, primarily on the
      cellular level. However, the effects of EMR at low-intensity exposure on animals
      and state of metabolic systems are not fully defined yet. Thus, research of
      microwave radiation influence on the processes of lipid peroxidation and
      antioxidant protection system is important for understanding the mechanisms of
      EMR action on the cell, in particular, and organism development on the whole. The
      content of lipid peroxidation products--lipid hydroperoxides, thiobarbituric acid
      reactive substances and the activity of antioxidant enzymes--superoxide
      dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase in loach embryos under the action
      of microwave radiation (GSM-900 MHz, SAR = 1.1 Vt/kg) lasting 1; 5; 10 and 20 min
      during early embryogenesis were studied. It has been found that content of lipid
      peroxidation products in germ cells undergoes significant changes under the
      action of low-intensity EMR. The effect of microwave radiation (1, 5, 10 min)
      leads to the increase of superoxide dismutase activity, nevertheless, 20 min
      exposure decreased this index to the level of control values as it is shown. It
      has been established that EMR at frequencies used for mobile communications
      reduce the activity of antioxidant protection system components, especially
      catalase and glutathione peroxidase. The growth of catalase activity at the 10
      cell stage of blastomere division (P < 0.05) is an exception. The results of two
      way analysis of variance attest that microwave radiation factor causes the large
      part of all observable modifications.

PMID- 25816599
TI  - Age changes of human serum polyreactive immunoglobulins (PRIG) activity.
AB  - It has been determined that activity of serum polyreactive immunoglobulins (PRIG)
      changes with age in practically healthy people at the age from twenty five to
      seventy. Therewith, the activity of serum IgG PRIG increases most of all (about 3
      4 times), while IgM PRIG activity, on the contrary, does not increase, but
      sometimes even decreases with age. IgA PRIG activity varies significantly more
      than IgG PRIG activity and, besides, IgA PRIG significantly less depends on age
      than IgG PRIG. The age changes in the activity of human serum PRIG, belonging to
      different types of immunoglobulins, may evidence for the important functional
      role of these immunoglobulins that has to be clarified.

PMID- 25816600
TI  - [Exchange of bile pigments under the action of ecopathogenic factors on
      organism].

PMID- 25816601
TI  - "Three sources and three component parts" of free oligosaccharides.
AB  - Metabolism of glycoproteins and glycolipids is accompanied by the appearance of
      unbound structural analogues of the carbohydrate portion of glycoconjugates or so
      called free oligosaccharides. There are their several sources inside the cell: 1)
      multistep pathways of N-glycosylation, 2) the cell quality control and ER
      associated degradation of misglycosylated and/or misfolded glycoproteins, 3)
      lysosomal degradation of mature glycoconjugates. In this review the information
      about the ways of free oligosaccharides appearance in different cell compartments
      and details of their structures depending on the source is summarized. In
      addition, extracellular free oligosaccharides, their structures and changes under
      normal and pathological conditions are discussed.

PMID- 25816602
TI  - [Ca ion transport in smooth muscle mitochondria].
AB  - Review focuses on the analysis of literature data and own results concerning
      properties of mitochondria Ca2+ transporting systems and their regulation. Three
      mechanisms for mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake are described: the electrogenic
      mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter, a rapid mode of Ca2+ uptake (RaM) and ryanodine
      sensitive Ca2+ channels (RyR). Two mechanisms of Ca2+ efflux from the
      mitochondrial matrix have been proposed: Na+-dependent and Na+-independent Ca2+
      exchange. The mitochondrial permeability transition pore can also function as a
      Ca2+ efflux mechanism. Ca2+ accumulation in mitochondria resulted in an increase
      of mitochondrial membrane potential, ATP synthesis and activation of metabolites
      transport. The dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential should prevent
      mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake. Our data concerning depolarizing effect of calmodulin
      antagonists and hyperpolarizing effect of calix[4]arenes C-136 and C-137 on the
      myometrium mitochondria can be applied on the demand of mitochondria membrane
      potential correction.

PMID- 25816603
TI  - Role of glycosylation in secretion and stability of micromycetes alpha
      galactosidase.
AB  - The effect of the glycosylation inhibitors (tunicamycin and 2-deoxy-D-glucose) on
      the activity, stability and production of fungal glycosidases has been studied.
      It was shown that inhibition of N-glycosylation sites did not affect the
      secretion of Aspergillus niger alpha-galactosidase, however reduced yield of
      Cladosporium cladosporioides and Penicillium canescens alpha-galactosidases.
      Changes in the level of O-glycosylation resulted in a significant reduction in
      the activity and stability of alpha-galactosidases of all three producers tested.
      Activity of the modified enzymes was significantly lower than that of the native
      ones, and was 2.6 and 0.33 U/mg for A. niger alpha-galactosidase, 3.3 and 32.5
      U/mg for C. cladosporioides alpha-galactosidase, 11.66 and 31.1 U/mg for P.
      canescens alpha-galactosidase, respectively. A. niger alpha-galactosidase
      completely lost activity during purification and storage. The decrease of thermal
      stability at 55  degrees C by 20% was shown for C. cladosporioides and P.
      canescens alpha-galactosidases. It was also noted that O-deglycosylation led to a
      decrease in resistance of these enzymes to the action of proteases.

PMID- 25816604
TI  - [Identification of thiamine monophosphate hydrolyzing enzymes in chicken liver].
AB  - In animals, thiamine monophosphate (TMP) is an intermediate on the path of
      thiamine diphosphate, the coenzyme form of vitamin B1, degradation. The enzymes
      involved in TMP metabolism in animal tissues are not identified hitherto. The aim
      of this work was to study TMP hydrolysis in chicken liver. Two phosphatases have
      been found to contribute to TMP hydrolysis in liver homogenate. The first one,
      possessing a maximal activity at pH 6.0, is soluble, whereas the second one
      represents a membrane-bound enzyme with a pH optimum of 9.0. Membrane-bound
      TMPase activity was enhanced 1.7-fold by 5 mM Mg2+ ions and strongly inhibited by
      levamisole in uncompetitive manner with K1 of 53 MUM, indicating the involvement
      of alkaline phosphatase. An apparent Km of alkaline phosphatase for TMP was
      calculated from the Hanes plot to be 0.6 mM. The soluble TMPase has an apparent
      Km of 0.7 mM; this enzyme is Mg2+ independent and insensitive to levamisole. As
      estimated by gel filtration on a Toyopearl HW-55 column, the soluble enzyme has a
      molecular mass of 17.8 kDa, TMPase activity being eluted simultaneously with
      peaks of flavinmononucleotide and p-nitrophenyl phosphatase activity. Thus, TMP
      appears to be a physiological substrate for a low-molecular weight acid
      phosphatase, also known as low-molecular-weight protein phosphotyrosine
      phosphatase.

PMID- 25816605
TI  - Oxidative stress and the enzyme system of aldehyde catabolism in the muscle
      mitochondria of immobilized pubertal rats.
AB  - The aim of the work is to find out peculiarities in manifestation of oxidative
      stress and to determine activity of enzymes, responsible for utilization of
      endogenous aldehydes in the mitochondrial fraction of the skeletal (femoral)
      muscle in pubertal rats during immobilization stress. Our study has shown that
      differently directed changes in the activity of mitochondrial aldehyde
      dehydrogenases and aldehyde reductases occur in the pubertal immobilized rats,
      that limits the catabolism effectiveness as regards carbonyl products offree
      radical oxidation in the muscle cells. Corroboration of the effect under
      consideration is an increased level of protein free radical oxidation products in
      the mitochondria of the skeletal muscle. On the basis of the obtained data the
      authors draw a conclusion about an increased sensitivity of the skeletal muscle
      to the oxidative stress impact due to modulation in the state of enzyme system,
      responsible for utilization of endogenous aldehydes in the mitochondria.

PMID- 25816606
TI  - [Antioxidant defense system state in blood plasma and heart muscle of rats under
      the influence of histamine and sodium hypochlorite].
AB  - There is a wide spectrum of antihistamine drugs in the pharmaceutical market,
      however all these chemical preparations cause side effects. Therefore, new
      alternative ways for histamine detoxication are to be found. For this aim in our
      experiment sodium hypochlorite was used because its solution possesses strong
      oxidizing properties. The influence of histamine and sodium hypochlorite on the
      antioxidant defence system state of blood plasma and cardiac muscle in rats has
      been researched. It was shown, that the investigated factors result in the
      disruption of the antioxidant system. It was found that histamine injection in
      concentration of 1 and 8 MUg/kg in plasma leads to the increase of superoxide
      dismutase activity during all the experiment. When studying enzymes, that
      catalyze hydroperoxides and H2O2 decomposition it was shown that under the
      influence of histamine in a dose 1 MUg/kg, the glutathione peroxidase activity
      increased on the 1st day of the experiment. However, on the 7th day of the
      experiment the increase of both glutathione peroxidase and catalase activity was
      fixed. The deviation in superoxide dismutase function in rats plasma under the
      action of sodium hypochlorite has been established. The activity of enzymes that
      decompose H2O2 and hydroperoxides were inhibited. Under the influence of
      histamine in the heart tissues we have stated the disturbance of superoxide
      dismutase work and increase ofcatalase activity and decrease of glutathione
      peroxidase activity. The influence of sodium hypochlorite on the myocardium of
      intact animals as well as joint influence of sodium hypochlorite and histamine
      result in the increase of superoxide dismutase and catalase activity and lead to
      the considerable decline of activity of glutathione peroxidase.

PMID- 25816607
TI  - [Signal function of cytokinin 6-benzylaminopurine in the reaction of Triticum
      aestivum L. mesophyll cells to hyperthermia].
AB  - The signaling effect of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) on leaf mesophyll cells of
      Triticum aestivum L. under hyperthermic conditions was studied. It was found that
      BAP regulated photosynthetic pigment, hydrogen peroxide content and activity of
      antioxidant enzymes, namely superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase and
      catalase under high-temperature conditions. The additive effect of BAP and high
      temperature on the activation of cell antioxidant systems was demonstrated. BAP
      regulated reducing processes in mesophyll leaf cells under high-temperature
      conditions.

PMID- 25816608
TI  - Expression of phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate synthetase genes in U87 glioma cells
      with ERN1 knockdown: effect of hypoxia and endoplasmic reticulum stress.
AB  - Activation of pentose phosphate pathway is an important factor of enhanced cell
      proliferation and tumor growth. Phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate synthetase (PRPS) is
      a key enzyme of this pathway and plays a central role in the synthesis of purines
      and pyrimidines. Hypoxia as well as ERN1 (from endoplasmic reticulum to nuclei-1)
      mediated endoplasmic reticulum stress response-signalling pathway is linked to
      the proliferation because the blockade of ERN1 suppresses tumor growth, including
      glioma. We studied the expression of different PRPS genes in glioma cells with
      ERN1 knockdown under hypoxic condition. It was shown that hypoxia decreases the
      expression of PRPS1 and PRPS2 genes in both types of glioma cells, being more
      pronounced in cells without ERN1 function, but PRPSAP1 and PRPSAP2 gene
      expressions are suppressed by hypoxia only in glioma cells with blockade of ERN1.
      Moreover, the blockade of endoribonuclease activity of ERN1 does not affect the
      expression of PRPS1 and PRPS2 as well as PPRS-associated protein genes in U87
      glioma cells. At the same time, the induction of endoplasmic reticulum stress by
      tunicamycin in glioma cells with suppressed activity of ERN1 endoribonuclease
      decreases the expression level of PRPS1 and PRPS2 genes only. Results of this
      investigation clearly demonstrated that the expression of different genes
      encoding subunits of PRPS enzyme is affected by hypoxia in U87 glioma cells, but
      the effect of hypoxia is modified by suppression of endoplasmic reticulum stress
      signaling enzyme ERN1.

PMID- 25816610
TI  - Study of antineoplastic action of novel isomeric derivatives of 4-thiazolidinone.
AB  - Pyrazole- and aryl-substituted derivatives of 4-thiazolidinone belong to a
      perspective group of compounds with potential antitumor action. Earlier, we have
      demonstrated high toxicity in vitro of several 4-thiazolidinones derivatives
      towards tumor cell lines. To further enhance the antitumor activity of novel 4
      thiazolidinones, their chemical scaffold was optimized, and new pyrazole
      thiazolidinones were synthesized. That allowed us to combine in one molecule the
      potential pharmacophore centres of previously tested compounds. As a result,
      "hybrid" 4-thiazolidinones exhibit higher toxicity in vitro toward tumor cells of
      various origin. The molecular mechanisms of antineoplastic activity of these
      compounds and intensity of induction of apoptosis strongly depended on the
      position of the substituent in the thiazolidinone cycle. In particular, Les-3661
      compound, containing pyrazoline fragment in the 4th position of thiazolidinone
      core, exhibits 14 times higher cytotoxic activity towards tumor cells (LC50 = 3
      MUM) in comparison to its 2-substituted isomer Les-3713 (LC50 = 42 MUM). It is
      demonstrated that in terms of underlying molecular mechanisms for cytotoxic
      effect the Les-3661 compound induced caspase-8 and caspase-9 dependent mixed-type
      of apoptosis, while Les-3713 induced apoptosis mediated only by the caspase-8.

PMID- 25816609
TI  - [Study of rat blood serum biochemical indicators of cardiotoxic action of novel
      antitumor 4-thiazolidinone derivatives and doxorubicin in complexes with
      polyethylene glycol-containing polymeric carrier in the rat blood serum].
AB  - The aim of this study was to measure the activity of enzymes which reflect
      cardiotoxic action in rats of novel synthetic 4-thiazolidone derivatives--3882,
      3288 and 3833 that demonstrated antineoplastic effect in vitro towards 60 lines
      of human tumor cells tested in the framework of the program of screening new
      anticancer drugs at the National Cancer Institute (USA). Such action of these
      compounds was compared with the effect of well known anticancer agent doxorubicin
      and after conjugation of all above mentioned substances with new
      polyethylenglycol-containing polymeric comb-like carrier that was synthesized by
      the authors. Among the biochemical indicators of cardiotoxic action of anticancer
      agents, activity of the following enzymes in rat blood serum showed to be the
      most informative: creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate
      aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransterase. Tenfold injection of doxorubicin
      in a dose of 5.5 mg/kg of weight caused rats' death, while 3882, 3288 and 3833
      preparations had not such action. Application of the doxorubicin in combination
      with polymeric carrier prolonged the survival time to 20 days. Thus, the
      injection of anticancer agents in a complex with polymeric carrier provides a
      significant decrease in their cardiotoxicity that was confirmed by the
      corresponding changes in the activity of marker enzymes: creatine kinase, lactate
      dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase in blood
      serum of treated rats.

PMID- 25816611
TI  - Functional and dynamic state of inner mitochondrial membrane of sarcoma 37 in
      mice under administration of sodium dichloroacetate.
AB  - The activity of enzymes of the respiratory chain and structural-dynamic
      properties of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) of sarcoma 37 (S37) in mice
      under sodium dichloroacetate (SDA) administration in a daily dose of 86 mg/kg of
      body weight starting from the 2nd day after tumor transplantation were
      investigated. The dynamic and structural state of the IMM components was
      determined using the fluorescent probes. With S37 growth the intensification of
      glycolytic metabolism occurred on the background of suppressed functional
      capacity of mitochondrial respiratory chain enzymes. The changes of
      conformational properties of protein molecules and the increase of IMM lipid
      phase microviscosity were shown. The administration of SDA promotes the decrease
      of lactate content and the increase of pyruvate dehydrogenase activity in S37.
      This was accompanied by further suppression of the functional activity of the
      respiratory chain complexes and H+-ATPase coupled with conformational
      modification ofprotein molecules and changes of the structural orderliness of the
      IMM lipid phase, possibly due to intensification of reactive oxygen species
      generation.

PMID- 25816612
TI  - The effect of N-stearoylethanolamine on cholesterol content, fatty acid
      composition and protein carbonylation level in rats with alimentary obesity
      induced insulin resistance.
AB  - The effect of N-stearoylethanolamine (NSE) on liver free fatty acid composition,
      cholesterol content and carbonylated protein level in rats with obesity-induced
      insulin resistance (IR) was studied in the work. The experimental insulin
      resistance was induced by prolonged high fat diet (58% of energy derived from
      fat) for 6 months combined with one injection of low-dose (15 mg/kg) of
      streptozotocin. The lipid assay showed a rise in liver free cholesterol content
      anda significant reduction in cholesterol esters level. Analyzing liver fatty
      acid composition, a decrease in polyunsaturated of fatty acid (PUFA) level and an
      increase in monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content was found. Fatty acid
      imbalance with high content of MUFA was associated with elevated level ofprotein
      carbonylation. The NSE administration (50 mg/kg of body weight) for 2 weeks
      decreased free cholesterol content, increased cholesterol esters level and
      reduced free oleic fatty acid content in the liver of rats with IR. The effect of
      NSE on lipid imbalance led to a decrease in protein carbonylation level that may
      result in improvement of transmembrane protein function under obesity-induced
      insulin resistance state.

PMID- 25816613
TI  - Kinetic properties of adenosine triphosphate sulfurylase of intestinal sulfate
      reducing bacteria.
AB  - The investigation of specific activity of ATP sulfurylase and kinetic properties
      of the enzyme in cell-free extracts of intestinal bacterial strains Desulfovibrio
      piger Vib-7 and Desulfomicrobium sp. Rod-9 is presented. The microbiological,
      biochemical, biophysical and statistical methods were used in the work. The
      optimal temperature (35 degrees C) and pH 8.0-8.5 for enzyme reaction were
      determined. An analysis of kinetic properties of ATP sulfurylase has been carried
      out. Initial (instantaneous) reaction velocity (V0), maximum amount of the
      product of reaction (Pmax), the reaction time (half saturation period, tau) and
      maximum velocity of the ATP sulfurylase reaction (Vmax) have been defined.
      Michaelis constants (Km(Sulfate), Km(ATP), Km(APS), and Km(Pyrophosphate)) of the
      enzyme reaction were demonstrated for both D. piger Vib-7 and Desulfomicrobium
      sp. Rod-9 intestinal bacterial strains.

PMID- 25816614
TI  - Activity of trypsin-like enzymes and gelatinases in rats with doxorubicin
      cardiomyopathy.
AB  - Activity of trypsin-like enzymes (ATLE) and gelatinases A and B were studied in
      the blood plasma and extracts from cardiac muscle, cerebral cortex and cerebellum
      of rats with cardiomyopathy caused by anthracycline antibiotic doxorubicin
      against the background of preventive application of corvitin and alpha
      ketoglutarate. ATLE significantly increased in blood plasma and extracts from
      cerebral cortex but decreased in extracts from cardiac muscle and cerebellum in
      doxorubicin cardiomyopathy (DCMP). In addition, a significant increase of
      activity of both gelatinases in plasma and tissue extracts was observed.
      Preventive administration of corvitin and alpha-ketoglutarate resulted in
      differently directed changes of activity of the above mentioned enzymes in heart
      and brain tissues. Obtained data confirm the hypothesis about activation of
      proteolysis under the influence of anthracycline antibiotics and testify to
      selective effect of corvitin and alpha-ketoglutarate on ATLE and gelatinases.

PMID- 25816615
TI  - [Correlations of bile acids in the bile of rats in conditions of alloxan induced
      diabetes melitus].
AB  - The ratio of bile acids in the bile of rats with alloxan diabetes was
      investigated using the method of thin-layer chromatography. Changes of
      coefficients of conjugation and hydroxylation of bile acids were calculated and
      analyzed in half-hour samples of bile obtained during the 3-hour experiment. It
      has been found that the processes of conjugation of cholic acid with glycine and
      taurine are inhibited in alloxan diabetes. At the same time a significant
      increase of free threehydroxycholic and dixydroxycholic bile acids and conjugates
      of the latter ones with taurine has been registered. Coefficients of
      hydroxylation in alloxan diabetes show the domination of "acidic" pathway in bile
      acid biosynthesis that is tightly connected with the activity of mitochondrial
      enzymes.

PMID- 25816616
TI  - [Protective effect of tiacalix[4]arene-tetrasulphonate on heavy metal inhibition
      of myometrium myosin subfragment-1 ATP-hydrolase activity].
AB  - Heavy metals have a negative effect on the contractility of uterine smooth
      muscles (myometrium), these effects can lead to various pathologies of a women
      reproductive system. To overcome these effects the methods for correcting the
      myometrium contractile activity are to be developed. Catalyzed by myosin ATPase
      ATP hydrolysis is the most important reaction in the molecular mechanism of
      myometrium contraction. We have found an inhibitory effect of 0.03-0.3 mM Ni2+,
      Pb2+ and Cd2+ on enzymatic hydrolysis of ATP by myosin subfragment-1 obtained
      from swine uterine smooth muscles. We have demonstrated that 100 MUM
      thiacalix[4]arene-tetrasulphonate (C-798) recovered to the control level of
      ATPase activity of myosin subfragment-1 in the presence of heavy metal cations.
      One of the most probable mechanisms of C-798 corrective activity is based on its
      ability to chelate heavy metals, thus cations Pb, Cd and Ni can be removed from
      the incubation medium. Computer simulation has demonstrated that the protective
      effect of C-798 may also be the result of weakening the interaction of heavy
      metal ions with amino acid residues of the myosin molecule near the active site
      of ATP hydrolase. The obtained results can be used for further research aimed at
      assessing the prospects of thiacalix[4]arene-tetrasulfonate as pharmacological
      compounds.

PMID- 25816617
TI  - The influence of low-molecular fraction from cord blood (below 5 kDa) on
      functional and biochemical parameters of cells in vitro.
AB  - The influence of a low-molecular fraction (below 5 kDa) from the cattle cord
      blood (CBF) on functional activity of phagocytes, human embryonic fibroblasts,
      mesenchymal stromal cells and BHK-21 clone 13/04 and PK-15 cells was studied. The
      low-molecular fraction added to culture medium increases the growth rate of cell
      cultures. The incubation of leukoconcentrate in the CBF-containing medium results
      in an increase in phagocytic indices ofneutrophils in the presence of a
      phagocytosis inhibitor--sodium iodoacetate, leading to a significant increase in
      intracellular glucose content and alkaline phosphatase activity as compared to
      the control and the reference drug Actovegin(r).

PMID- 25816618
TI  - [Sec-butyl ester of dodecenoate: synthesis and attractive properties].
AB  - 2-Butyl 2-dodecenoate has been synthesized from lauric acid and sec-butanol. The
      study of the biological activity of this substance has demonstrated its property
      as a sex attractant for males of Jordanita graeca, Jordanita globulariae and
      Theresimima ampellophaga (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae, Procridinae). The latter
      species is the grape pest in southern Europe. The attractant obtained can be used
      for the detection of species, for monitoring their numbers in nature and for the
      elaboration of ecological methods of pest control.

PMID- 25816619
TI  - [Avidity of polyreactive immunoglobulins].
AB  - An analysis of the mechanism of interaction between polyreactive immunoglobulins
      (PRIG) and antigen was conducted and it was shown that most of the traditional
      methods of antibody affinity evaluation are not applicable for PRIG affinity. The
      comparative assessment of the mouse and human PRIG avidity against ovalbumin and
      horse myoglobin and the avidity of specific monoclonal antibodies against
      ovalbumin have shown that the avidity of PRIG not only is much less than the
      avidity of monoclonal antibodies but even exceeds it.

PMID- 25816620
TI  - [Effects of rutin on the activity of antioxidant enzymes and xenobiotic
      metabolizing enzymes in liver of rats fed diets with different level of fat].
AB  - The study has been carried out on 6 groups of male Wistar rats, which received
      semi-synthetic diets within 28 days. Rats of 1st and 4th group received fat-free
      diet, 2nid.and 5th - diet containing standard amount of fat (10% by weight, 26%
      by caloric content; lard/sunflower oil - 1/1); 3rd and 6th group - a high-fat
      diet (30% by weight, 56% by caloric content). During the last 14 days of the
      experiment rats received rutin in the dose of 40 mg/kg b.w. AOA, MDA level and
      the activity of paraoxonase I have been evaluated in blood serum. In rat liver
      along with the parameters of the antioxidant status (MDA level, activity of
      paraoxonase 1, quinone reductase, heme oxygenase-1) the activity of xenobiotic
      metabolizing enzymes (XME) (CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP3A1, CYP2B1, UDP-glucuronosyl
      transferase and glutathione transferase) and the activity of lysosomal enzymes
      (arylsulfatase A and B, beta-galactosidase and beta-glucuronidase) have been
      investigated. Elevation of the activity of antioxidant enzymes and XME in liver
      with the increase of diet fat content has been-noted. Rutin admihistration had no
      effect onparamete6rs of antioxidant status and decreased unsedimentable activity
      of lysosomal enzymes that did not depend on fat content in the diet. Rutin
      receiving increased the activity of all studied XME in rats fed standard diet,
      but practically did not effect on their activity in rats fed by fat-free and high
      fat diets. Thus, rutin in pharmacological dose has no effect on the activity of
      antioxidant enzymes that doesn't depend on the level of fat in the diet, while
      the decrease or increase of diet fat content modulates (weakens) the influence of
      rutin on the XME activity.

PMID- 25816621
TI  - [Isomeric specific analysis of hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid in blood samples from
      obese patients with non-alcoholic and alcoholic steatohepatitis].
AB  - The aim of the study was to perform isomeric analysis of hydroxyeicosatetraenoic
      acid (HETE) in blood samples from obese patients with non-alcoholic (NASH) and
      alcoholic (ASH) steatohepatitis. Sixty nine obese patients with liver steatosis
      according to abdominal US data and chronic ALT elevation were assign into two
      groups aecoriing to the evaluation of alcohol consumption by GAGE and AUDIT
      questionnaires: NASH - 39 patients and ASH - 30 patients. The identification and
      quantification of 5(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE), 15-HETE and also
      non-enzymatic oxidation product 11-HETE in blood plasma were carried out by HPLC
      MS-TOF with using 2-hydroxyoctanoic acid as internal standard. The position of
      hydroxyl group in HETE was elucidated by HPLC-MS/MS. The MS/MS transitions were
      for 15-HETE m/z 319 ---> m/z 219; for 11-HETE m/z 319 --> m/z 167; for5-HETE m/z
      319 --> m/z 115. Patients' body composition was evaluated by bioelectrical
      impedance, resting energy expenditures (REE) were assessed by indirect
      calorimetry and nutrition pattern was examined by foodfrequency questionnaire.
      Mean age, BMI and ALT serum level were similar in patients from ASH and NASH
      groups. Blood plasma 8+12-HETE concentration was also similar in both groups of
      patients, but concentration of 15-HETE (21,6+/-20,2 vs 11,9+/-13,7ug/ml, p =0,02)
      and 11-HETE (20,8+/-21,3 vs 11,2+12,9 ug/ml, p =0,03) was significantly higher in
      NASH patients. ASHpatients demonstrated higher lean body mass (68,1+/-10,6 vs
      57,9+/-9,8 kg, p<0,001) and muscle mass (39,3+/-6,1 vs 33,2+/-6,8 kg, p<0,04) and
      higher rate of protein oxidation (98,5+/-3 1 vs 76,2+/-21,1 g/day, p= 0,02)
      recalculated from REE. There were no differences found in blood lipids content as
      well as in consumption of total dietary fat, however, there was a trend to
      difference in saturated/unsaturated fatty acids ratio between groups (2,3+/
      0,2.in NASH and 1,4+/-0,3 in ASH patients). In conclusion, the rate of production
      of eicosatetraenoic acid metabolites by lipoxygenase pathway is different in NASH
      and ASH overweight patients. It means that possibly different mechanisms are
      responsible for formation of potentially toxic fatty acids metabolites in these
      two types of patients. It seems likely that differences in fatty acids
      consumption pattern are related to this metabolic pathway.

PMID- 25816622
TI  - [Effect of vitamin sufficiency on adaptation syndrome in growing rats].
AB  - The influence of vitamin supply of growing male -Wistar rats (n=21) with an
      initial body weight 53,5+/-0,9 g on their resistance to a single distress induced
      by the electric shock has been investigated. Control rats within 21 days received
      a complete semisynthetic diet,providingadequate amounts of vitamins. Combined
      vitamin deficiency in experimental rats was caused by 5-fold decrease of vitamin
      mixture amount in the feed and the total vitamin E exclusion from the mixture. On
      the 21st day, one day before the end of the experiment, both groups of rats were
      subjected to stress impact (electrocutaneous irritation on paws, 0,4 mA for 8
      sec) and then animals were placed in metabolic cages to collect urine. By the end
      of the experiment, the animals with the combined vitamin deficiency lag behind in
      growth. Vitamin B2, A, B1 and E liver content decreased in experimental rats by
      1,6, 2,3, 4,4 and 15 fold accordingly. Retinol plasma concentration was
      significantly reduced by 18%, alpha-tocopherol level - by 5 fold, urinary
      excretionof riboflavin and 4-pyridoxic acid (vitamin B6 metabolite) was
      significantly reduced by 6,5 and 2,46 times accordingly. MDA blood plasma
      concentration and the urinary ratio of oxidized and not oxidized form of 8
      hydroxy-2'-deoxy-guanosine did not differ in both groups of rats. Urinary
      excretion of stress biomarker corticosterone in rats with combined vitamin
      deficit was 2,5-fold higher than in control rats. Thus, reducing of vitamins
      supply resulted in an increase of urine corticosterone in stressed rats, that
      characterized the intensity of general adaptation syndrome. This fact shows the
      importance of optimal sufficiency with vitamins in nonspecific (general)
      resistance to stress.

PMID- 25816623
TI  - [Effect of polypeptides isolated from cattle abomasum on stomach regenerative
      processes in rats].
AB  - The effect of polypeptides isolated from cattle abomasum on regenerative
      processes of rat stomach upon simulating stomach mucosal damage caused by aspirin
      was studied. Experimental research was carried out on male Wistar rats with
      initial body weight of 230+/-20 g. The duration of the experiment was 22 days.
      The rats were divided into 4 equal groups (n=11). The first (control) group
      consisted of the intact animals; animals from experimental groups 2-4 were
      intragastrically administered acetylsalicylic acid from the 1st to the 7th day
      for simulating stomach mucosal damage caused by aspirin (300 mg/100 g body
      weight). From day 8 to day 22, the animals were intragastrically adminitered the
      tested samples in the quantity of 2 ml per animal according tothe scheme: the 2nd
      group - distilled water, the 3d group - native abomasum extract; the 4 th group -
      thermally treated abomasum extract. Abomasum extract was obtained by extraction
      with 0,87% aqueous sodium chloride crushed abomasum and represented a liquid of
      cream color with protein mass content of 1,3 g/100 g of the product with high
      content of glutamic acid (15,5 g/100 g protein) and B-group vitamins.
      Electrophoretic analysis of the extract revealed several high molecular weight
      fractions in the range of 72 to 55 kDa. The bands with molecular masses 52, 43,
      40, 37, 34, 26, 17 kDa were most pronounced; the intensive bands in the area 12
      kDa and in the range lower than 10 kDa were revealed. The results of the
      conducted study show that the abomasum extracts both in the native and thermally
      treated form exert therapeutic action on animal with stomach mucosal damage
      caused by aspirin, have good antiulcer and gastroprotective activities upon
      stomach mucosa exposure to chemical damaging agents. The analysis of the
      hematological indices of the animals from the 3rd and 4th groups, which received
      the test samples after simulation, revealed the normalization of leukocyte,
      lymphocyte, granulocyte and monocyte content. This suggests the recovery of the
      animals after the disease. In the blood serum of these animals concentration of
      total bilirubin, cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose and the activity of gamma
      glutamine transferase, ASAT and alkaline phosphatase decreased compared with
      those in animals with the model of stomach mucosal injury; while the total
      protein content, including the albumin fraction increased. The examination of the
      internal organs of the animals from the 3rd and 4th groups showed that the
      mucosal and submucosal membrane of the stomach were plicate, the signs of edema
      were absent, the hyperemia, any changes in mucosa, surface and glandular
      epithelium were not observed.

PMID- 25816624
TI  - [Study of microbial contamination of processed fresh vegetables and lettuce].
AB  - Investigations of microbial contamination and species composition of the
      Enterobacteriaceae family in fresh vegetables and lettuce has been conducted. The
      objects of study were new types of fresh ready-to-eat vegetable foods - salads,
      sliced vegetables and mixtures thereof, sampled at the main stages of production,
      including washing, antimicrobial treatment with sodium hypochlorite, and
      packaging in the film under vacuum. Quantitative analysis of Enterobacteriaceae
      levels in fresh and packaged vegetables and salads showed that their part in the
      total amount of microbial contaminants is large enough. Average
      Enterobacteriaceae content ranged from 2,14 to 3,34 lg cfu/g, reaching in some
      samples values 4,38-4,74 lg, comparable with the levels of total bacteria.
      Considerable species diversity of microflora contaminating ready-to-eat vegetable
      products has been found. Bacteria of the genera Enterobactel; Pantoea,
      Citrobacter, Serratia, Pseudomonas, Kluyvera, Klebsiella, Escherichia, Rahnella,
      Acinetobacter were found in the salads and sliced vegetables. In the tested
      samples most frequently detected Enterobacter spp. - 37% of identified strains
      and Pantoea spp - 25% of strains. The data on the composition and levels of
      microbial contaminants in vegetable and salad products highlight not only the
      need to monitor coliform bacteria - traditional indicators of faecal
      contamination of raw materials, but also the need to introduce criteria for the
      amount of Enterobacteriaceae.

PMID- 25816625
TI  - [Determination of deuterium concentration in foods and influence of water with
      modified isotopic composition on oxidation parameters and heavy hydrogen isotopes
      content in experimental animals].
AB  - The article presents the results of the study of the deuterium (D) content in
      food products as well as the influence of deuterium depleted water (DDW) on the
      concentration of heavy hydrogen isotopes in the blood and lyophilized tissues of
      rats. The most significant difference in the content of D was found between
      potato and pork fat, which indexes the standard delta notation (delta) D in
      promille, related to the international standard SMOW (Standard Mean Ocean of
      Water) amounted to -83,2 per thousand and -250,7 per thousand, respectively
      (p<0,05). Among the investigated samples of water deuterium concentration ranged
      from -75,5 per thousand (Narzan) to +72,1 per thousand (Kubai), that indicates
      the ability of some food products to increase the concentration of heavy hydrogen
      atoms in the body. The data obtained in the experimental modeling of the diet of
      male Wistar rats in the age of 5-6 mo (weight 235 +/- 16 g) using DDW (deltaD = 
      743,2 per thousand) instead of drinking water (deltaD = -37,0 per thousand) with
      identical mineral composition showed that after 2 weeks significant (p <0,05)
      formation of isotopic (deuterium-protium, D/H) gradient in the body is possible.
      Changing the direction of isotopic D/H gradient in laboratory animals in
      comparison with its physiological indicators (72-127 per thousand,
      "plasma>>tissue") is due to different rates ofisotopic exchange reactions in
      plasma and tissues (liver, kidney, heart), which can be explained by entering
      into the composition of a modified diet of organic substrates with more than DDW
      concentration D, which are involved in the construction of cellular structures
      and eventually lead to a redistribution of D and change direction of D/H gradient
      "plasma<<tissue" from 87,29 per thousand (plasma-kidney) to 188,72 per thousand
      (plasma-heart), which can be explained by a change in the adaptation of the body.
      This use of nutrients with modified isotopic composition, aimed at reducing the
      level of heavy non-radioactive atoms will allow the targeted nutritional
      correction of prooxidant-antioxidant status of the population in areas with
      adverse environmental conditions, stimulating by created isotopic D/H gradient
      cytoprotective mechanisms influencing the various components of nonspecific
      protection, including free radical oxidation processes. And then again, periodic
      assessment of the isotopic composition of nutrients will monitor the quality of
      food consumed by the population, and if necessary, to the definition of the
      geographical location of their origin.

PMID- 25816626
TI  - [Contribution of fish consumption to human iodine and selenium status in Moscow
      and Moscow Region].
AB  - Fish is known to-be a significant source of iodine and selenium for human beings.
      The aim of the present work was evaluation of iodine and selenium consumption
      levels with fish by residents of Moscow Region and Moscow. 400 Residents of
      Moscow and Moscow Region (100 children of 2-6 years age, 100 adults of 20-35
      years age, 100 students of 18-22 years age and 100 elderly persons of 50-75 years
      age were inspected using values of ioduria and Se status determination. I
      concentration was determined by voltamperometric method, Se - via
      semiquantitative peroxide test. The values of ioduria for the inhabitants
      corresponded to moderate (Moscow Region, ioduria median 52,5 ug/l) and light
      (Moscow, ioduria mediane 67 ug/l) I deficiency with marginal Se deficiency in
      both cases (79-90% of persons had a negative peroxide test parameters,
      corresponding to serum Se level >90 ug/l). Though main fish species used by the
      population (humpback, trout, steelhead) contain relatively high levels of Se
      (505+/-46, 376+/-32, 413+/-22 ug/kg) and I (187+/-66, 290+/-102, 330+/-116
      ug/kg), they are not able to maintain high I and Se status of the inhabitants due
      to low consumption level. I consumption with fish, being used once per week,
      reached 21 ug, Se - 35 ug per week. Up to 40% of students and 28% of elderly do
      not eat fish at all. Children of 2-6 years old residing in Moscow Region compose
      a specialgroup of ecological risk of I deficiencypossessing significant I
      deficiency 3 times more frequently than children from Moscow.

PMID- 25816627
TI  - [Complex of zinc with enzymatic hydrolysate of pigspleen protein - in vivo
      investigation].
AB  - Experimental sample of complex zinc with enzymatic hydrolysate of pigspleen
      protein (Zn-EHPS) was produced in laboratory with ultra- and nanofiltration
      technologies; its composition was analyzed; male rats Wister (initial body weight
      132+/-2,4 g) were under observation in vivo: rats weregiven zinc-deficient ration
      (ZDR) "Zinc Deficient Diet, Egg White Base", containing not more than 1,3 mg
      zinc/kg, and water ad libitum during 18 days. Animals were divided into 3 groups
      (10 in each): group I was given ZDR and distilled water; group 2 - ZDR and water
      zinc sulphate solution (ZnSO4) with zinc concentration of 16,3 mcg/ml; group 3 -
      ZDR and water Zn-EHPS solution with zinc concentration of 16,3 mcg/ml. All rats
      were daily observed with registration of water consumption. Unconditioned reflex
      (photophobia) or crossing time from light to darkness on special system before
      the beginning of experiment was tested out. An increase of body weight (DeltaW)
      during the experiment, unconditioned reflex stability and training to conditioned
      passive avoidance reflex (CPAR) after paw painful electric stimulation were
      studied. On 18 day in 16 hours after paw painful electric stimulation alkaline
      phosphatase activity (AP) and corticosterone concentration in rat blood serum
      were examined. Insignificant changes in distribution of peptide fractions
      according its molecular mass and practical complete remove of free metal ions
      from final product were observed when Zn-EHPS-technology were used. During
      experiment in all groups correspondently DeltaW was 23,87 and 82% (p<0,05); AP
      activity - 1,70+/-0,06; 3,10+/-0,25; 4,19+/- 0,26 mcmol/l/s (p<0,01);
      corticosterone concentration - 20,7+/-7,2; 21,5+/-6,3; 22,1+/-16,5 ng/ml (p>0,1)
      were observed. Significant (p<0,05) worse change of unconditioned reflex
      (photophobia) in group 1 (ZDR) in comparison with group 2 and group 3 (latent
      period - LP, s: 50,9+/-12,0; 18,2+/-16,0; 16,0+/-4,2) as well as to initial test
      (LP, s - 16,8+/-8,0) was found on the 14th day of the experiment. According to LP
      test CPAR in all groups in 24 and in 96 hours after paw painful electric
      stimulation was found to be maintained. Data obtained let to suggest high
      bioavailability of new zinc organic form - Zn-EHPS and its usage possibility in
      fortification of special foods.

PMID- 25816628
TI  - [Effeciency of usage of natural low caloric protein-vegetable product by patients
      with excess body weight and hypertension].
AB  - The efficiency of the usage of natural low caloric concentrated protein-vegetable
      food product (LCCF) by 23 persons with excess body weight at the age of 30-44
      years (the 1st group) and 30 hypertensive patients at remission stage and
      overweight at age 45-59 years old (the 2nd group) has been assessed. According to
      energy expenditure, all examined male persons were classified to II group of
      physical activity: PhysicalActivity Coefficient (PAC) was 1,35+/-0,14 and 1,34+/
      0,22 respectively. As for dietary intake, authors revealed an excess of protein
      (up to 20,1%), fat (up to 17,2%) and daily caloric content over daily energy
      expenditure that led to an increase of body weight along with metabolic and liver
      function disorders. Initially, body mass index (BMI) was 29,9+/-0,6 kg/m2 in the
      1st group and 36,2+/-0,4 kg/m2 in the 2nd group. LCCFP was administrated to
      persons in studied groups and consisted of fat-free curd, egg white, rye bran,
      dried apricots, laminaria, leaves of green tea and cowberry. The product was made
      by cryogenic technology. LCCFP (35 g) was administrated two times per day instead
      of breakfast and supper during 15 days. Protein content in 1 portion of LCCFP was
      5.2 g, fats -3.8 g, carbohydrates - 16.8 g; energy value - 122 kcal. The decrease
      of daily caloric content was 1225,5 kilocalories (kcal) in the 1st group and
      1071,3 kcal in the 2nd group duringperiod of LCCFP administration; the energy
      value of the diet amounted to an average of 1420 and 1560 kcal per day. During
      the study, authors found serum protein indices were constant, but revealed the
      decrease of the level of glucose (by 15,3-18%), cholesterol (18,8-19%), low
      density lipoprotein cholesterol (13,9-15,8%), triglycerides (20-26,3%) and
      alanine aminotransferase (39,7-41,4%) and asparagine aminotransferase (40,6
      40,7%) activity. This provided evidence of positive influence of the natural
      protein-vegetable LCCFP on fat and carbohydrate metabolisms as well as liver
      function. Also, the decrease of atherogenicity index (1,45-1,5 units) gave
      evidence of effectiveness of used method. The decrease of systolic arterial
      pressure (by 12,9%) and diastolic arterialpressure (by 20,7%) in patients with
      hypertension at remission stage and body weightprovided evidence of positive
      influence of caloric content decrease due to LCCFP administration on function of
      cardiovascular system in this category of examined persons.

PMID- 25816629
TI  - [An analysis of the efficacy of low-calorie and isocaloric diets in obese
      patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis].
AB  - Diet modification is widely used for the treatment of non.alcoholic
      steatohepatitis (NASH). Caloric restriction was shown to be effective in
      normalizing bldod lipid profile, increasing insulin sensitivity and subsequent
      normalization of aminotrasferases blood level. The aim of the study was to
      compare low-calorie diet (LCD) with isocaloric diet (ICD) in patients w,ith NASH.
      174 NASH patients [86 females (39,43+/-1,53 years old) and 88 males (41,7+/-2,0),
      BMI 36,8+/-0,8 kg/m2] were randomly assigned (as 1:2) for LCD (1600-1700
      kcal/day) or ICD (2500-2700 kcal/day) calculated according to patients'sex, age,
      resting energy expenditures and daily physical activity. Caloric restriction was
      achieved by decreasing consumption of carbohydrates and fat in LCD, whereas for
      ICD the caloric consumption was established according to the recommended daily
      values for proteins, fat and carbohydrates for ideal BMI for every patient. Blood
      chemistry and body composition were assessed at baseline and after 1 mo of
      prescribed diets. Compliance for the diet was also evaluated using previously
      validated questionnaire. After 1 mo of dietetic interventions total body mass and
      lean mass significantly decreased in both groups, but in LCD group it was
      significantly more prominent decrease in compare to ICD group (9,3+/-1,8 vs 6,2+/
      1,7 kg and 6,6+/-0,4 vs 1,4+/-0,6 kg, p<0,05), whereas fat mass decreased better
      in ICD group (4,8+/-0,7 vs 2, 7+/-0,8kg, p<0,05). Mean ALT level was decreased in
      ICD group (77,5+/-41,7 vs 98,8+/-45,7, p<0,01), but not in LCD group (81,2+/-50,6
      vs 77,2+/-31,8, p=NS) whereas blood cholesterol, triglycerides, high density
      lipoprotein woere significantly decreased in both groups. Moreover during the
      diet intervention in 72% of patients from LCD group ALT increased. Compliance
      index was much higher in ICD group, than in LCD group (85% vs 54%). Thus, one
      month of lCD leads to decrease in ALT activity in majority of NASH patients,
      higher loss of fat mass, lower loss of lean mass and associated with better
      compliance in compare to LCD.

PMID- 25816630
TI  - [Clinical efficacy instant goat milk in the complex therapy and prevention of
      osteoporosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis].
AB  - Osteoporosis (OP) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) refers to a secondary immune
      mediated metabolic osteopathy characterized by periarticular and systemic
      decreased bone mass, impaired bone strength and increased risk of fractures.
      According to some studies, adding milk in the diet helps to increase bone mineral
      density and to reduce the risk of osteoporosis and maintain normal levels of
      vitamin D. To study the state of mineral and bone metabolism in RA patients zeith
      osteopenic syndrome and to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment and prevention
      of OP by adding dry goat milk "Amalteya" in the diet. The study included 42
      patients with a documented diagnosis of RA (ACR, 1987) - 23 men (mean age 59
      years) and 19 postmenopausal women (mean age 62 years) with the presence of
      osteoporosis and osteopenia according to the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. 21
      (50%) RA patients (main group) received standard antiosteoporotichesky
      (alendronate 70 mg/week + calcium 1000 mg/day + Vitamin D3 800 IU/day) therapy
      and milk powder Amalteya(r) (400 ml/day). The control group (21 patients with RA)
      received only standard antiosteoporotic therapy. Follow-up lasted for 6 months.
      The concentration of total calcium in the blood of RA patients was on average
      2.33 mmol/l, ionized Ca - 1,18 mmol/l and inorganic P - 1,09 mmol/l, which
      corresponds to normal values. Vitamin D deficiency was found in 17,5% of
      patients, and failure - in 32,5% of patients with RA. After 6 months of the
      treatment it was found that b-CrossLaps levels tend to be reducing in both of the
      groups and with reduction of bone formation marker osteocalcin in the group not
      receiving goat milk. Also, due to the background of ongoing combinative therapy
      it was clear that concentrations of 1,25(OH)2D and 25(OH)D in the blood serum are
      increasing (by 18,5-28,2% at the main group and by 8,0-17,9% at the control
      group), however, inter-group differences was below the level of the reliable
      importance. It was strongly marked in the group who received goat's milk
      "Amalteya(r)". Reduced levels of vitamin D in the blood is typical for 50% of RA
      patients with osteopenic syndrome with normal values of calcium-phosphorus
      metabolism. Combination therapy and prevention of osteoporosis in patients with
      RA with an additional inclusion in the diet of the daily administration of 400 ml
      of goat's milk Amalthea(r) has a positive impact on bone metabolism.

PMID- 25816631
TI  - [Biologically active substances of cornelian cherry fruits (Cornus mas L.)].
AB  - 10 samples of fresh-frozen cornelian cherry fruits (Cornus mas L.), collected in
      the Tambov and the Caucasus regions, were investigated for the total amount and
      composition of the main biologically active substances (BAS): anthocyanins (AC),
      proanthocyanidins (OPC), dihydroxycinnamic acids (DHCA), iridoids, organic acids,
      mono- and disaccharides and antiradical activity in the DPPH-test in vitro. Total
      phenolics content determined by Folin-Ciocalteu method, was 150-400 mg/100 g
      fresh fruit weight. The OPC content, estimated by Bate-Smith method, varied from
      20-25 mg/100 g of unripe cornelian cherries to 80-430 mg/100 g of mature
      cornelian cherries. Total AC amount evaluated by pH-differential
      spectrophotometry was minimal in unripe fruits (11,2 mg/100 g), and maximal in
      mature fruits (92,2 mg/100 g). Profile of individual AC was determined by HPLC
      with UV/Vis and ESI-TOF-MS detections. 3-galactosides of cyanidin (19,0-80,3%)
      and pelargonidin (15,1-75,6%) were found as main anthocyanins. An original
      methodology for iridoid determination based on HPLC with UV and ESI-TOF-MS
      detection was developed. The main iridoids were identified as loganic acid,
      loganin, sweroside and cornuside. Total iridoids content was 130-400 mg/100 g,
      and loganic acid was predominant in all samples (87,6-94,8%). Only minor amount
      of the DHCA derivatives (<10 mg/100 g) were found. The malic acid was predominant
      among organic acids, the total content of which varied from 0,4 to 2,8%.
      Relatively high amount of ascorbic acid (35-60 mg/100 g) was found. The
      carbohydrates profile of cornielian cherries was represented by fructose (2,2
      3,8%) and glucose (2,5-7,0%). 70% water-ethanol extracts of Cornus mas fruits
      have showed pronounced antiradical activity in DPPH-test (470,5-932,0 mg TE/100
      g). The data on specific minor BAS can be used in the standardization and
      evaluation of potential biological activity of extracts and dietary supplements
      based on the cornelian cherry fruits.

PMID- 25816632
TI  - [Catering services bases in the Russian army under military regulation of Peter
      the Great].
AB  - At Peter I the regular army was organized and the system of target state
      deliveries to troops of the food is created. Provisioning and fodder was
      normalized as portion and ration. Portion was contained the products
      forpeoplefood, and ration - fodder for horses food who were used by the
      serviceman. Portion and ration unit was identical to all categories of the
      military personnel. Difference in food level consisted in that, how many portions
      and rations serviceman received. Up to the end of existence of Russian army in
      1918 in each rota there were contractor and the cook who were engaged in
      foodstuff and cooking under sergeant-major and one of rota officers supervision.
      According to the Charter it was necessary to carry with respect and attention to
      officers and soldiers, their needs, including in the field of supply and catering
      services and providing with the food: Despite the lack of scientific
      justification, soldiers' nutrition was sufficient to provide fighting capacity of
      the Russian army.

PMID- 25816633
TI  - [Mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of neuropathic pain revealing by the role
      of glial cells].
AB  - Injury to the nervous system results in debilitating chronic pain states (called
      neuropathic pain) whose mechanisms remain unclear. Emerging lines of evidence
      indicate the pivotal role of spinal glial cells in neuropathic pain. Spinal
      microglia rapidly respond to peripheral nerve injury (PNI) and become activated
      with changing expression of a variety of genes. The best known example is
      purinergic P2X4 receptors, an ATP-gated cation channel. The expression of P2X4
      receptors is upregulated in spinal microglia after PNI, and inhibition of P2X4
      activity suppresses neuropathic pain. Furthermore, interferon regulatory factor-8
      (IRF8) and IRF5 are identified as microglial transcription factors whose
      expression is upregulated in spinal microglia after PNI, and the IRF8-IRF5
      transcriptional cascade is the core process for shifting spinal microglia toward
      a state with high expression of P2X4 receptors. Astrocytes in the spinal cord
      show a delayed onset of activation and play an important role in the maintenance
      of neuropathic pain via the transcription factor STAT3 and the intracellular
      kinase JNK. These results obtained from glial cell research will advance our
      understanding of the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain and provide
      a new target for treating this pain.

PMID- 25816634
TI  - [Gliaotransmission and brain functions].
AB  - Glial cells receive neurotransmitters, respond to them, and then release so
      called gliotransmitters such as ATP, glutamate or D-serine. Astrocytes in
      particular have received much attention because synaptic structures are
      surrounded by astrocytic fine processes, by which astrocytes communicate with
      neurons via gliotransmitters. Here, we introduce recent progress concerning glia
      neuron interaction, especially focusing on the major gliotransmitter ATP and
      astrocytes in parallel with the latest progress in glia-imaging techniques.

PMID- 25816635
TI  - [Interoception and decision-making].
AB  - We sometimes make decisions relying not necessarily on deliberative thoughts but
      on intuitive and emotional processes in uncertain situations. The somatic marker
      hypothesis proposed by Damasio argued that interoception, which means bodily
      responses such as sympathetic activity, can be represented in the insula and
      anterior cingulate cortex and can play critical roles in decision-making. Though
      this hypothesis has been criticized in its theoretical and empirical aspects,
      recent studies are expanding the hypothesis to elucidate multiple bodily
      responses including autonomic, endocrine, and immune activities that affect
      decision-making. In addition, cumulative findings suggest that the anterior
      insula where the inner model of interoception is represented can act as an
      interface between the brain and body in decision-making. This article aims to
      survey recent findings on the brain-body interplays underlying decision-making,
      and to propose hypotheses on the significance of the body in decision-making.

PMID- 25816636
TI  - [Autonomic nervous status and bioelectric brain activity in adolescents
      inhabitants of the Polar north].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Northern European areas are differing in degree of extreme climatic
      conditions in the Polar and Subpolar latitudes. Formation of the nervous system
      in adolescents most of all is affected by these adverse climatic factors.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim was to study of the autonomic regulation of cardiac activity
      and brain bioelectric activity in adolescents-inhabitants of the North depending
      on these autonomic nervous tones. METHODS: 300 adolescents (male and female) aged
      15-16 years living in the Polar (67 degrees 40' N) and Subpolar (64 degrees 30'
      N) northern regions of Russia are examined. Assessment of autonomic nervous tone
      was determined by the heart rate variability (HRV) and blood pressure parameters.
      After the initial analysis of these indicators, all subjects in both areas were
      further divided into groups with vagotonic, normotonic and sympathotonic types.
      Electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded in the state of quiet wakefulness with
      closed eyes (16 standard monopolar leads). EEG characteristic were performed on
      the values of the amplitude and the index in each frequency band. All described
      changes were statistically significant atp < 0.05-0.001. RESULTS: According HRV
      and central hemodynamics among adolescents of the Polar North revealed an
      increase the proportion of individuals with a predominance ofsympathetic
      influences on cardiac activity (37.3%) and significant decrease the proportion
      ofpersons with a predominance of vagal influences (10%). A high activity of
      diencephalic subcortical brain structures in groups of normotonic and
      sympathotinic persons in the Polar region was revealed, which manifests itself in
      the form of increased levels of theta and alpha EEG-activity, as well as
      increased occurrence hypersynchronous EEG-types (50%). In adolescents-inhabitants
      of the Subpolar region occurs more intensive age optimization of neural processes
      then in adolescents- inhabitants of the Polar region. CONCLUSION: The
      predominance of sympathetic effects on the cardiac activity and higher activity
      of diencephalic subcortical brain structures in adolescents of the Polar region
      were revealed.

PMID- 25816637
TI  - [Calf blood hemodializate reduces neurotoxic effect of hydrogen peroxide on human
      neuroblastoma cells].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to study the effect of calf blood gemodializat on
      apoptosis and intracellular signaling pathways of neuroblastoma cells SK-N-SH
      human. METHODS: Apoptosis was recorded by fluorescent microscopy using Hoechst
      33342. Necrosis cells was monitored by propidium iodide. The fluorescence of the
      cells was recorded on a fluorescence inverted microscope Keyence BZ8100 (Japan).
      Formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cells of SK-N-SH was determined
      using nitroblue tetrazolium by absorbance at 620 nm on a plate reader "Uniplan".
      RESULTS: When adding hydrogen peroxide to the background of the calf blood
      gemodializat been decreasing apoptosis of these cells with 43 to 17% relative to
      apoptosis in the presence of a hydrogen peroxide. Under these conditions, the
      calf blood gemodializat significantly reduced ROS formation in human
      neuroblastoma cells SK-N-SH by the action of hydrogen peroxide. In these cells,
      we investigated the influence of calf blood gemodializat on apoptosis and
      intracellular signaling pathway involving mitogen-activated protein kinase
      (p38MAPK), extracellular regulatory kinase (ERK), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase
      (PI-3K) and-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) using their selective inhibitors.
      CONCLUSION: It was shown that the mechanism of the protective effect of calf
      blood gemodializat against peroxide-induced apoptosis in SK-N-SH dominant role is
      played by p38 MAPK and PI-3K.

PMID- 25816638
TI  - [Diastolic dysfunction in hypertrophic nonobstructive cardiomyopathy].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of research was to assess the availability and prevalence
      of types of diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle (LV) in hypertrophic
      nonobstructive cardiomyopathy (NHCM). METHODS: 97 NHCM patients. Mean age 42.5 +/
      14.9 years. Diastolic dysfunction assessed by Doppler echocardiography. RESULTS:
      Signs of chronic heart failure NYHA class I observed in 44 (45%) patients, class
      II--in 40 (41%), class II--in 13 (13%) patients. 83% patients had LVdiastolic
      dysfunction, mainly on the hypertrophic type. One third of the patients had
      pseudonormal type with uncertain interpretation. Diastolic dysfunction in terms
      of clinical manifestations determined mainly NYHA class III and syncope. Severity
      of LV diastolic dysfunction in NHCM depended on the severity of hypertrophy not
      only left, but the right ventricle too. In 94% of cases we observed not only
      diastolic dysfunction, but also reduction ofsecondary fibers shortening fraction-
      as sign of contractile dysfunction. CONCLUSION: Thus, in NHCM dominated diastolic
      dysfunction of hypertrophic type. Such dysfunction defining a clinic cardiac
      deficiency or syncope. One third of the patients had pseudonormal transmitral
      flow type, difficult to assess diastolic function. Diastolic dysfunction in NHCM
      was combined with impaired contractility of the walls of ventricle.

PMID- 25816639
TI  - [Depression and cardiovascular diseases].
AB  - Depression is considered to be an independent cardiovascular risk factor and it
      may worsen the symptoms of already established cardiovascular pathology such as
      coronary heart disease, chronic heart failure, stroke and hypertension. 3 key
      psychobiological mechanisms by means of which depression influences
      cardiovascular system: disbalance in stress response of endocrine system,
      hyperregulation of autonomic nervous system and immune disorders leading to
      dysregulation of acute phase proteins and proinflammatory cytokines release. In
      majority of studies in patients with depression and cardiovascular diseases it
      was shown that antidepressants improve the symptoms. By the way, in some studies
      controversial results were obtained. Future studies in this direction with
      involvement of cardiologists and psychiatrists should be held.

PMID- 25816640
TI  - [Reciprocal formation of mucosal microflora of open cavities of different
      habitats in women as an important factor of their reproductive health].
AB  - This review presents the current data on the human microbiome. In recent increase
      of erased and primary chronic forms of inflammatory diseases of the female
      genital organs is observed, in which the clinical manifestations are varied, but
      the symptoms are not so much related with the changes in the pelvic organs, but
      with abnormalities in other body systems, secondarily involved in the
      pathological process. Recent research proved mutual influence of intestinal,
      vaginal and nasopharyngeal biocenosis. Women with vaginal microbiota disorders
      often revealed intestinal dysbiosis and chronic diseases of ENT (Ear Nose Throat)
      organs, which in turn contributes to chronic inflammatory process of pelvic
      organs, failure of therapeutic interventions, reduced quality of life and
      increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

PMID- 25816641
TI  - [Molecular genetic identification of Staphylococcus aureus strain, caused a
      foodborne illness outbreak in St. Petersburg in 2013].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most important human pathogens
      and causes over 100 nosologicalforms of diseases. The lack of data on the spread
      of S. aureus genetic types specific for different forms of staphylococcal
      infections in Russia makes it difficult to timely identify and control strains of
      this epidemiologically dangerous bacterial pathogen. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the
      study was to carry out a molecular genetic research of S. aureus isolates
      obtained during a widespread foodborne illness outbreak among builders at the
      Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg in 2013. METHODS: The ability of the isolates
      to produce staphylococcal enterotoxins was studied by immunoenzyme techniques.
      Gene typing was carried out by sequence-specific primer-based PCR, as well as by
      sequencing genomic nucleotide sequences of two independent isolates of the
      pathogen. RESULTS: An enterotoxin A gene in genomes of S. aureus isolates
      etiologically associated with the outbreak was identified. The production of
      enterotoxin A by the isolates was shown. According to the complex analysis all
      isolates producing staphylococcal enterotoxins were identical and constituted the
      S. aureus strain, sequence-type ST30 and spa-type t2509. The genome of the
      identified S. aureus strain carried a set of various staphylococcal toxins. The
      full genome sequence among other techniques revealed high levels of similarity
      between genomes of the strain under study and well-known reference strain S
      aureus MRSA 252. CONCLUSION: The complete molecular genetic study of the S.
      aureus strain involved into the widespread foodborne illness outbreak was first
      carried out in Russia, allowing of further using the strain as a Russian
      reference strain to study potential epidemic outbreaks in the Russian Federation.

PMID- 25816642
TI  - [Acinetobacter: microbiological, pathogenetic and resistant properties].
AB  - Species of the genus Acinetobacter represent opportunistic bacteria with a
      growing clinical significance. In this literature review, we focus on the current
      role of Acinetobacter in infectious pathology and describe physiology, taxonomy,
      ecology, pathogenicity, and antibiotic resistance of these bacteria. Molecular
      pathogenesis and regulation of virulence factors in Acinetobacter spp. are
      described in detail. The majority of acinetobacterial infections are associated
      with A. baumannii and occur predominantly in an immunocompromised host. Usually,
      acinetobacterial infections are characterized by local purulent inflammation; in
      severe cases, meningitis and sepsis may develop. Antibiotic resistance
      ofAcinetobacter is a major clinical problem; therefore we give special attention
      to laboratory testing of resistance as well as identification of Acinetobacter.
      In addition, treatment and prophylaxis of acinetobacterial infections are
      discussed.

PMID- 25816643
TI  - [Features of mucosal lesions of stomach and duodenum in children with chronic
      gastroduodenitis with different microflora content].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to reveale the features of histological mucosa with
      different composition of the microflora of stomach and duodenum in children with
      chronic gastroduodenitis. METHODS: The study included 122 children with chronic
      gastroduodenitis from 5 to 17 years old. All patients underwent endoscopy with
      histology of biopsy specimens of gastric and duodenal mucosa in 94 patients and
      in 48 patients among them with morphometry of biological material. Identification
      of herpes simplex virus 1, 2 types, cytomegalovirus, human papilloma virus 16, 18
      types, Helicobacterpylori was carried out using polymerase chain reaction in
      biopsies of gastroduodenal mucosa and gastric juice. RESULTS: Children with
      chronic gastroduodenitis depending on the identified microorganisms were divided
      into groups: 1st (n = 51)--without detectable microorganisms, 2nd (n = 28)--with
      associations of H. pylori and viruses, 3rd (n = 15)--only with viruses, 4th (n =
      28)--with H. pylori. Thus, in patients with H. pylori inflammation was noted
      mainly in the antral mucosa and dystrophic changes--in the duodenal mucosa. In
      the presence of viruses the inflammation was expressed more in the fundal stomach
      and duodenum. When viral-bacterial associations were observed most pronounced
      inflammatory-dystrophic process was localized throughout the gastroduodenal
      mucosa. CONCLUSION: In children with chronic gastroduodenitis in the presence of
      bacterial, viral and mixed microflora in the stomach and duodenum identified
      characteristic histological features of the mucosa, manifested in a different
      localization and severity of inflammatory and dystrophic changes.

PMID- 25816644
TI  - [Clinical experience of the repeated multilevel injections of the botulinum toxin
      type A (abobotulinum toxin A) in the spastic forms of cerebral palsy].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to analyze the dosages of Abobotulinum toxin A used for
      each muscle in the clinically effective and safe repeated multilevel injections
      in CP children, and the intervals between injections. METHODS: Retrospective
      analysis of 229 injection sessions into 359 muscles of the upper and 361 muscles
      of the lower extremities in 133 children (2-18 years) with spastic CP. Analysis
      included only patients who were injected for the first time and demonstrated
      decrease of spasticity in injected muscles according to modified Ashworth and/or
      Tardieu scales without significant side effects 2-4 weeks after injections. Motor
      deficit according to GMFCS was: GMFCS I--16(12%) children, GMFCS II--26 (19.6%),
      GMFCS III--43 (32.3%), GMFCS IV--30 (22.6%), GMFCS V--18 (13.5%). Repeated
      injections (up to 5 sessions) were done in 59 children. Maximum follow-up perion
      was 22 months. 40 patients (30.1%) had one-sided injections, 93 (69.9%)--two
      sided, 125 (94%)--multilevel injections. RESULTS: We presented minimal and
      maximal dosages, interquartile ranges for each injected muscle, also "off-label"
      and our proposition of per-segment calculation of dosages in multilevel
      injections in CR. We also demonstrated the stability of intervals between
      repeated injections and dosages per kg in a patient. These results are compared
      with the official Russian and international recommendations of BTX-A treatment
      for children. CONCLUSION: We presented our experience of BTX-A dosages
      calculation for the spastic CP treatment which could be used as a recommendation
      and guide for the multilevel injections treatment according to the aims of
      rehabilitation, spasticity level, muscle size and motor deficit of a concrete
      patient.

PMID- 25816646
TI  - [Assessment of motor and sensory pathways of the brain using diffusion-tensor
      tractography in children with cerebral palsy].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diffusion tensor tractography--a new method of magnetic resonance
      imaging, that allows to visualize the pathways of the brain and to study their
      structural-functional state. OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated the changes in
      motor and sensory pathways of brain in children with cerebral palsy using routine
      magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion-tensor tractography. METHODS: The main
      group consisted of 26 patients with various forms of cerebral palsy and the
      comparison group was 25 people with normal psychomotor development (aged 2 to 6
      years) and MR-picture of the brain. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed on
      the scanner with the induction of a magnetic field of 1,5 Tesla. Coefficients of
      fractional anisotropy and average diffusion coefficient estimated in regions of
      the brain containing the motor and sensory pathways: precentral gyrus, posterior
      limb of the internal capsule, thalamus, posterior thalamic radiation and corpus
      callosum. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) values of
      fractional anisotropy and average diffusion coefficient in patients with cerebral
      palsy in relation to the comparison group. All investigated regions, the
      coefficients of fractional anisotropy in children with cerebral palsy were
      significantly lower, and the average diffusion coefficient, respectively, higher.
      CONCLUSION: These changes indicate a lower degree of ordering of the white matter
      tracts associated with damage and subsequent development of gliosis of varying
      severity in children with cerebral palsy. It is shown that microstructural damage
      localized in both motor and sensory tracts that plays a leading role in the
      development of the clinical picture of cerebral palsy.

PMID- 25816645
TI  - [Case of combination of Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome with West syndrome].
AB  - Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is etiologically connected with
      genetic/epigenetic growth dysregulation. The supposed localization of this
      disorder is a short arm of chromosome 11 (11p 15.5). Its prevalence is 1:13 per
      700 newborns. West syndrome is an age-dependent epileptic syndrome related to a
      group of infantile epileptic encephalopathies and characterized by a triad of
      basic symptoms: series of infantile spasms, psychomotor retardation and severe
      paroxysmal EEG changes. The incidence of West syndrome is estimated at 1 case per
      2,000-4,000 newborns. The article describes a rare clinical case: a combination
      of BWS with one of the types of infantile epileptic encephalopathies--West
      syndrome. A detailed analysis of the West syndrome progression in a female
      patient with BWS is given, the tactics of antiepileptic therapy is analyzed, and
      its complexity in terms of metabolic disorders caused by the presence of a
      genetic syndrome in a patient is shown. The results of a long catamnesis are
      described. The figures are the fragments of native electroencephalograms at the
      eruptive phase of West syndrome and against the background of a long-term
      remission. When describing the clinical case in detail, the authors actively
      discuss the obtained information and available literature data. The article also
      presents practical guidelines for the early detection of metabolic disorders in
      patients with infantile epileptic encephalopathies. In addition to anti-epileptic
      drugs, the authors propose to include a mandatory metabolic correction in the
      therapy complex for these patients.

PMID- 25816647
TI  - [Peculiarities of functional hemispheric asymmetry formation in children and
      adolescents with hypertension].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Peculiarities and age dynamics of hemispheric asymmetry investigation
      in children and adolescents with hypertension. METHODS: 196 children and
      adolescents aged 10 to 17 years (15.0-1.4), including 98 patients with arterial
      hypertension (AH) (15.1 +/- 1.5) and 98 healthy children of the control group
      (14.9 +/- 1.3). The number of boys in the comparison group and the main group of
      patients with AH was 60 (61.2%) and 59 (60.2%), girls--38 (38.8%) and 39 (39.8%),
      respectively. RESULTS: The majority of children and adolescents with hypertension
      sensorimotor asymmetry differed by low intensity, indicating a decline in the
      dominance of the left hemisphere. Accumulation of ambi- and left lateral features
      traced mainly in motor (53.6%) and auditory (60.2%) system, while asymmetry in
      the visual analyzer did not differ from the control group. Differences in the
      degree of hemispheric asymmetry increases in the ontogeny compared to control
      group. CONCLUSION: Identification of specificity hemispheric interaction in
      patients with hypertension (low asymmetry and its weak performance in ontogeny)
      can be considered not only as a pathological consequence of hypertension, but
      also as a compensatory mechanism for the redistribution of loads to the right
      hemisphere in terms of the functional deficit of the left hemisphere. It can be
      assumed that the rearparts of the brain may play a significant role in the
      processes of adaptation and compensation of occurring disorders in hypertension.

PMID- 25816648
TI  - [Contribution of non-HLA genes to juvenile idiopathic arthritis susceptibility].
AB  - Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JAL4) is the most common chronic rheumatologic
      disease in children. JIA is a group of disorders that share the clinical
      manifestation of chronic joint inflammation. The Human Leukocyte Antigen region
      (HLA) seems to be a major susceptibility locus for JIA that is estimated to
      account for 17% of familial segregation of the disease. Genome-wide association
      studies (GWAS), case-control studies and meta-analyses of the post-GWAS era
      revealed over 20 non-HLA loci conferring susceptibility to JIA. At least a half
      of those are shared between JIA and rheumatoid arthritis, an adult rheumatic
      disease, thereby suggesting for similarity of pathogenic mechanisms of both
      diseases. New findings also suggest for a likely role of epigenetic alterations
      in the pathogenesis of JIA that should be investigated in the future.

PMID- 25816649
TI  - [The morphofunctional condition of structures of the hip in experimental
      treatment of its dysplasia].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to determine the dynamics ofreparative tissue changes in
      the surgical treatment of hip dysplasia it using autograft in conditions of use
      externalfixation. METHODS: The experiment was performed on 12 mongrel dogs of
      both sexes between the ages of 7 to 15 months. Preliminary data of the animals
      (before the closure of the growth zones of the acetabulum) was performed surgery
      to obtain acetabular dysplasia. After the formation of the standard pattern of
      dysplastic 2 degree (subluxation) was performed according to the animal
      treatment, which combined the use of a semicircular incomplete osteotomy in the
      supra-acetabular area, an autologous bone graft and the Ilizarov external
      fixation. The conditions of external fixation provided autograft stability,
      simultaneous uniloading of the articular surfaces and allowed for dosed joint
      motion during the treatment by releasing the hinge units thus contributing to the
      prevention of cartilage degeneration. The external apparatuses were dismounted on
      day 21 after the operation. The animals for histological study were euthanized on
      day 14, 21, 51 and 111 after the operation. We used clinical and experimental,
      radiographic and histological methods. RESULTS: It is found that after 90 days
      after the frame removal there is a complete replacement of the newly formed bone
      graft. This maintains a full cartilaginous acetabular coverage presented hyaline
      cartilage, which revealed minor structural and functional changes in reactive and
      reparative nature. CONCLUSION: The hip joint has a high adaptive potential. There
      is a strong trend towards the restoration ofhip joint in new conditions created
      by an external fixation device. Nevertheless, given the suppression of its own
      regenerative capabilities of the articular cartilage at the dysplastic process,
      its maximum possible recovery in the treatment is impossible without the
      participation of external stimulants chondrogenesis.

PMID- 25816650
TI  - [Hormonal changes in response to extreme environment factors].
AB  - In this paper presented current state about hormonal changes in sympathetic
      adrenal, hypophysis-adrenal, hypophysis-gonads and thyroid levels from extreme
      environment factors. It's shown that hypophysis gonads and thyroid endocrine
      links along with sympathetic adrenal, hypophysis adrenal axes are very important
      relevance in response to extreme environment factors and organism adaptation. In
      this time a hormonal secretion changes corresponds as interrelated reactions
      cascade in mechanisms of homeostasis maintenance. A studying of this mechanisms
      and revealing of its role in stress pathogenesis is fundamental biomedical
      investigation task. A problem solving allow to perfect prophylactic and treatment
      methods against stress diseases.

PMID- 25816651
TI  - [Mechanisms of immune and cytokine regulation in pathogenesis of ixodes tick
      borne borreliosis].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Our aim was to identify the mechanisms of immune and cytokine
      regulation in different clinical forms of Ixodes tick-borne borreliosis. METHODS:
      The clinical observations performed on 581 patients with erythemic (113
      patients), non-eritemic (242 patients) forms of Ixodes tick- borne borreliosis
      and Borrelia co-infection tick-borne encephalitis (226 patients) in the
      manifestation of the disease. The examination included the determination of the
      levels of cytokines (interleukin 1beta, 4, 8, and tumor necrosis factor alpha),
      indicators of cell immunity (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+) and phagocytosis (phagocytic
      index, the number of phagocytic neutrophils) during the height of the disease and
      during convalescence. RESULTS: We established the correlations of cytokine
      production, lymphocyte subpopulations and phagocytosis. Revealed divergent immune
      mediated mechanisms of pathogenesis, depending on the clinical forms of Ixodes
      tick-borne borreliosis and period of the disease, indicating the complexity and
      diversity of the immune system rearrangements. Cytokine regulation of immune
      response, mainly consists in the synthesis of the chemoattractant interleukin 8
      production which is inversely correlated with the number of phagocytic
      neutrophils (r = -0.440, p < 0.001) with erythemic form of the disease, is
      directly correlated with the level of interleukin 4 (r = 0.313, p < 0.001) at non
      eritemic form borreliosis, with the production of interleukin 1beta (r = 0.367, p
      < 0.001) and interleukin 4 (r = 0.348, p < 0.001) in Borrelia co-infection tick
      borne encephalitis. CONCLUSION: In the manifestation of acute Borrelia infection,
      regardless of the clinicalform was typical Th1/Th2 type of immune response and
      then switches to the period of convalescence for Th1 (cellular) immune response
      in the form of erythemic Ixodes tick-borne borreliosis and Borrelia co
      encephalitic tick-borne infection, and Th2 (humoral) immune response when non
      eritemic form of the disease.

PMID- 25816652
TI  - [Application of risk-based approach for determination of critical factors in
      technology transfer of production of medicinal products].
AB  - Risk-based approach is used for examination of impact of different factors on
      quality of medicinal products in technology transfer. A general diagram is
      offered for risk analysis execution in technology transfer from pharmaceutical
      development to production. When transferring technology to full- scale commercial
      production it is necessary to investigate and simulate production process
      application beforehand in new real conditions. The manufacturing process is the
      core factorfor risk analysis having the most impact on quality attributes of a
      medicinal product. Further importantfactors are linked to materials and products
      to be handled and manufacturing environmental conditions such as premises,
      equipment and personnel. Usage of risk-based approach in designing of
      multipurpose production facility of medicinal products is shown where
      quantitative risk analysis tool RAMM (Risk Analysis and Mitigation Matrix) was
      applied.

PMID- 25816653
TI  - [Comparative study of the effects of new neuroactive amino acid derivatives on
      the postnatal development of the rat's offspring with experimental preeclampsia].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Our aim was to investigate the effect of derivatives of GABA and
      glutamate on the postnatal development of the offspring of rats with experimental
      preeclampsia. METHODS: The experiments were performed on 35 albino female rats
      aged 5-7 months, weighing 220-240 g, and their offspring in the amount of 284
      individuals. Experimental preeclampsia was modeled by replacing the drinking
      water by 1.8% NaCl solution to pregnant females from 7 to 21 days ofgestation.
      Glutamic acid--compound RSPU-135 at a dose of26mg/kg, GABA derivative - compound
      RSPU-242 at a dose of 23 mg/kg and the reference drug sulodexide in a dose of 30
      mg/kg administered to female orally daily, since the 7th day of gestation prior
      to delivery. Evaluated the physical development of offspring, sensory-motor
      reflexes, mental functions. RESULTS: It was found that the experimental
      preeclampsia causes a delay in physical development and maturation of sensory
      motor reflexes in the offspring, as indicated by the later periods of eruption of
      the incisors and eye opening, response to the emergence of audio and olfactory
      stimuli, forming vestibular stability and coordination of movements compared to
      pups from females with physiological pregnancy. Offspring from females with
      experimental preeclampsia were noted for lagging behind in mental development, as
      evidenced by the decline of the orienting-exploratory activity, learning and
      memory, increase of anxiety level. Compound RSPU-135, to a greater extent,
      improves physical development, increases the rate of maturation of sensory-motor
      reflexes, RSPU-242--stimulation of cognitive functions, keeping the memory trace,
      orienting-exploratory, spontaneous locomotor activity, and reduce of anxiety
      level. CONCLUSION: The neuroactive amino acid derivatives limit the negative
      effects of experimental preeclampsia on the offspring.

PMID- 25816654
TI  - [Monoclonal antibodies in high-grade gliomas].
AB  - The review is devoted to a relatively young direction in therapy of malignant
      gliomas, which is based on applying monoclonal antibodies against tumour
      associated antigens. The current data on efficacy of main therapeutic agents in
      clinical practice or clinical trials concerning high-grade gliomas, especially
      glioblastoma multiforme, is summarized. Of particular interest is bevacizumab, a
      humanized monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor (anti
      VEGF), which is widely used in glioblastoma. Major clinical trials devoted to
      bevacizumab monotherapy and combinations of bevacizumab with other therapeutic
      modalities in primary and recurrent glioblastoma conducted since 2006 till now
      are reviewed. The results ofexperimental and clinical application ofmonoclonal
      antibodies against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and its mutant variant
      EGFRvIII are analyzed, showing the most significant clinical effectiveness of
      nimotuzumab--a humanized monoclonal antibody. Significant part of the review is
      devoted to discussion of experimental and clinical data concerning efficacy of
      antibodies against VEGF receptor 2, platelet-derived growth factor receptor
      alpha, hepatocyte growth factor and its receptor c-Met. Unbiassed analysis of
      clinical trials on monoclonal antibodies does not allow us to conclude that
      passive immunotherapy directed against antigens listed above can significantly
      improve the overall survival of patients suffering from glioblastoma multiforme.
      This finding has encouraged us to mention several alternative approaches to
      passive immunotherapy and to list several prospective antigens for developing
      monoclonal antibodies.

PMID- 25816655
TI  - [Minimization of approach at laparoscopic cholecystectomy].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to estimate the influence of the amount of
      endoscopic approaches on effectiveness of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. METHODS:
      For the purpose of comparative evaluation of the results of surgical treatment of
      a three- and fourport laparoscopic approach was a retrospective analysis of case
      histories of 118 patients. Patients were divided into two groups: operated by
      using three laparoscopic approaches (60 patients) and unused optional fourth
      trocar (58 patients). One of the important stages of scientific research was
      histological morphology characteristic of the removed gallbladder, which was
      performed in 118 patients who underwent minimally invasive operations. For
      subjective assessment of the manifestations of pain syndrome used the
      conventional visual analog scale of pain (VAS). RESULTS: 60 patients underwent
      three-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy (the main group) and 58 patients
      underwent four-port LC (group of comparison). In the main group 53 (88.3%)
      patients showed absence of any pain, and only 3 from them complained of existence
      easy and 4--moderate pain respectively for the 7th day after surgical
      intervention. In group of comparison these indicators made: respectively 50
      (86.2%), 2 and 6 people. Terms of hospitalization and disability were relatively
      lower at the minimum number of ports: respectively 3.2 and 4.4 days. In the main
      group duration of disability made 8.5 days against 10.6 days in group of
      comparison. CONCLUSION: Reducing the number of laparoscopic approach
      significantly reduced the frequency of clinical manifestations of pain, achieved
      maximum cosmetic effect, significantly shortens postoperative rehabilitation
      period, and comes earlier activation and rehabilitation of patients.

PMID- 25816656
TI  - [Means and methods of alternative therapy for cancer: acupuncture--the effects
      and mechanisms of action].
AB  - Among means of alternative and complementary therapy for cancer, acupuncture
      holds a special place. This is because, unlike the most other methods of
      alternative and complementary therapy for cancer, efficacy and safety of
      acupuncture in the symptomatic treatment for cancer patients is considered as
      proven. Not accidentally such leading cancer centers in the USA as the Dana
      Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in
      New York, the M.D.Anderson Cancer Center in Houston integrated acupuncture in
      accepted in these centers treatment standards and are staffed by licensed
      professionals on acupuncture. Particular attention is drawn to the use of
      acupuncture in hospices. It is stressed that it is the most effective and safe in
      the performance by qualified licensed professionals

PMID- 25816657
TI  - [Isolation of circulating tumor cells in blood by means of "Isolation by SizE of
      Tumor cells (ISET)"].
AB  - There is evidence of the importance of circulating tumor cells in bloodstream as
      a factor of poor prognosis of cancer. The optimum method for isolating and
      studying of these cells is not defined. The most common methods are either based
      on the isolation of tumor genetic material from blood or on immune-mediated
      isolation of epithelial tumor cells. The first group of methods is characterized
      by a lack of specificity, while the latter do not allow identifying a pool of
      cells undergone in bloodstream epithelial-mesenchymal transformation. There is
      presented an overview of results of clinical trials of a new technique of
      isolation of tumor cells from bloodstream based on the patients' blood filtration
      through a membrane with defined pore sizes (ISET-Isolation by SizE of Tumor
      cells).

PMID- 25816658
TI  - [The current state of radiologic diagnosis in pancreatic cancer].
AB  - The article discusses the role of modalities of radiation imaging in the
      detection and differential diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. There is presented the
      problem of diagnosis of pancreatic cancer at the early stages and possible ways
      of its solving. Analysis of literature finds out that the detection and
      differential diagnosis of small formations of the pancreas are difficult and
      require a multimodal approach. None of the modern methods could be considered as
      the "gold standard" for detection and differential diagnosis of pancreatic
      cancer.

PMID- 25816659
TI  - [The observed and relative survival of prostate cancer patients].
AB  - Prostate cancer refers to tumor sites with the most favorable prognosis. Prostate
      cancer is a tumor that affects mainly elderly and senile age groups. For the
      first time in Russia there were performed estimations of the observed and
      relative survival of patients with prostate cancer according to the age and stage
      of disease. Presented calculations could be used as reference material on
      survival of prostate cancer patients.

PMID- 25816660
TI  - [Risk assessment of cancer incidence and mortality according to age and gender of
      the population].
AB  - The paper discusses the approaches and methods to obtain comparable estimates of
      cancer incidence and mortality in the regions of the country based on adjustments
      of official data as well as on the average age of the population of each region.
      There are offered procedures of such adjustment per the linear dependence of
      cancer incidence and mortality on middle-aged population. There are provided
      modifications of the linear models on 20 malignant tumor sites, reflecting these
      dependences, on the basis of information from regions of the Russian Federation
      for 2007-2011. An example of the calculation of the average age-adjusted cancer
      incidence rate of female population of the Belgorod region is considered. By
      using the proposed methods there were received the comparative assessments of
      cancer incidence and mortality in men and women in eighty-three regions of the
      Russian Federation. Based on these indicators there are defined the rates of
      variation of the levels of these phenomena on the majority of considered regions
      and also determined the most advantaged and disadvantaged regions of the country
      in accordance with these indicators.

PMID- 25816661
TI  - [Options for pelvic floor reconstruction after extralevatory abdomino-perineal
      resection of the rectum].
AB  - Extralevatory surgery requires a use of additional techniques for closure of
      extensive defects of the pelvic floor. This study analyzed the results of 55
      extralevatory abdomino-perineal extirpations of the rectum using a variety of
      methods of plastic of defects of the pelvic floor. There were performed 20 simple
      plastics, 13 alloplastics and 22 myoplastics. Complications in the perineal wound
      were observed in 10 (50%) cases after a simple plastic, 4 (32%) after plastic
      using mesh endoprosthesis and 5 (23%) after myoplastic. It is showed that the
      highest rate of postoperative complications in the perineal wound (up to 50%)
      occurs in a case of "simple" plastic. Complication rate reduces to 23-32% when
      alloplastic and myoplastic are used. It is concluded that alloplastic and
      myoplastic have significant advantages over the simple plastic.

PMID- 25816662
TI  - [Cytokine status and neutrophil phenotype in the progression of cervical cancer].
AB  - There were assessed morphofunctional state of peripheral blood neutrophils and
      cytokine status in the serum of primary patients with progression of cervical
      cancer in the dynamics. Against the background of increasing the total number of
      neutrophils, a significant reduction occurred in the phagocytic activity, aerobic
      and anaerobic bactericidal activity, an increase of the rigidity of the membrane
      and the change of cell cytoarchitectonics at Ib-IIa stage of the disease. At the
      same stage, in neutrophils there were reduced the level of IL-1beta and its
      receptor IL-1Ra as well as the number of IFN-gamma. Wherein there was increased
      the level of pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha. Cytokine status of the serum,
      characterized by sig- nificant boosting of IL-1Ra and IL-18 while lowering TNF
      alpha, IFN-gamma and IL-2, was advantageous for tumor progression and was
      detected at Ib-IIa stage of cervical cancer. The observed changes of cytokine
      status in the serum and morphofunctional state of neutrophils were discussed in
      the light of connection with the possibility of potential pro-tumor effect of the
      latter.

PMID- 25816663
TI  - [Assessment of the proliferative activity of tumor cells based on long-term phase
      contrast microscopy CELL-IQ].
AB  - This work presents results of long-term phase-contrast microscopy research of
      proliferative potential of tumor cell lines utilizing live-cell imaging
      technology Cell-IQ (Chip-Man Technologies Ltd, Finland). It was found that the
      machine vision technology allowed to obtain sufficient body of evidence about
      high-quality and quantitative changes of proliferative activity of the tumor
      cells cultivated in static conditions. The present study demonstrates that
      modeling of time interval of maximum proliferative activity of tumors cells
      increases information efficacy and reliability of the analysis of dividing cell
      patterns using Cell-IQ technology. The models of exponential growth of various
      tumor cell lines, describing their quantitative and dynamic changes of expansion
      potential have been received. Modeling of maximum tumor cells proliferative
      activity can be applied for development of test-system of individual cell
      sensitivity to anticancer drugs in vitro.

PMID- 25816664
TI  - [Heterogeneity of chromosomal abnormalities in cultured melanoma cells of human
      skin].
AB  - Karyotypes of 9 malignant melanoma patients has been described. It is ascertained
      that most often the damage is observed in chromosomes 1, 6, 7, 9 and 17, which is
      consistent with the data in the literature. Besides chromosomes 5 and 13 are also
      often involved in different rearrangements. Recurring aberrations are not
      discovered. Any correlation between survival and non-recurrent chromosomal
      aberrations is not discovered.

PMID- 25816665
TI  - [Comparative results of conservative chemoradiotherapy and
      thermochemoradiotherapy for locally advanced laryngeal cancer].
AB  - There were analyzed results of treatment of 58 patients with laryngeal cancer T3
      4N0-3M0. Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) was carried out in 27 patients,
      thermochemoradiotherapy (TCRT)-in 31 patients. Radiotherapy (RT) was performed in
      hyperfractionated mode (1 Gy + 1 Gy with an interval of 4-5 hours) 5 times a week
      to CTD 52-60 Gy with a 2-week break after CTD 30-40 Gy. Local hyperthermia (LHT)
      was carried out 2 times a week before the second fraction of RT in an amount of 3
      6 sessions. The first cycle of polychemotherapy was administered at the beginning
      of RT and the second one-after the break. The local control under the primary
      tumor category T3 after CRT was equal to 58% and after TCRT--88%, at T4--72% and
      25%, respectively. Late radiation damage of the larynx in the form of mucosal
      edema and perichondritis after CRT was in 2 patients (7%) and after TCRT--in 3
      patients (10%). Thus, TCRT for locally advanced laryngeal cancer allows obtaining
      a higher overall survival and a local control as compared to CRT and does not
      lead to a significant increase of frequency of perichondritis.

PMID- 25816666
TI  - [Ultrasonography in the diagnosis and treatment for kidney cancer].
AB  - In the structure of all malignant tumors cancer of the kidney takes more than 3%.
      Among malignancies of the urogenital system, kidney cancer inferiors by frequency
      just to cancer of the prostate and bladder. The incidence of kidney cancer ranges
      from 2.0 to 12.0 per 100,000 of the population. The degree of the local spread of
      tumor process as well as the presence of regional and distant metastases cause a
      different approach to treatment of these patients.

PMID- 25816667
TI  - [The distal resection margin in rectal cancer surgery].
AB  - Spread of the tumor in the distal direction is an important factor that must be
      considered when performing organ-serving surgery for rectal cancer. Particular
      relevance it has acquired in recent years due to the general tendency to expand
      the indications for the preservation of natural reflex-apparatus in patients with
      medium- and lower-ampullar part of the rectum.

PMID- 25816668
TI  - [Morphological assessment of predictive factors in adenocarcinoma of the colon].
AB  - Immunohistochemical investigation of 15 different markers in colon adenocarcinoma
      was carried out. Prognostic significance showed chemokine receptor CXCR4 and Ki
      67. Predictive significance was revealed for thymidylate synthase (TS) and
      thymidine phosphorylase (TP).

PMID- 25816669
TI  - [Immunohistochemical prognostic factors of primary refractory Hodgkin's
      lymphoma].
AB  - In order to identify immunohistochemical markers associated with primary
      refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma, 20 patients with primary refractory form at stage
      IIAB in complete remission underwent histological examination and
      immunohistochemical determination of Bcl-6, Bcl-2, c-kit (CD117), CD15, CD30, P
      53, Ki-67. In the group with primary refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma at stage IIAB
      Bcl-6 expression was found in 2 patients (10%), Bcl-2 in 14 patients (70%), c-kit
      (CD117) in 16 patients (80%), CD15 in 9 patients (45%). The expression of CD30
      and P-53 was observed in all patients in this group (100%). The expression of Ki
      67 ranged from 20% to 100%, 80-100% in 16 patients (80%). As a result,
      multivariate analysis revealed no immunohistochemical markers of primary
      refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma. In univariate and multivariate analyzes in a group
      of primary refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma a high level P-53 expression (80-100%)
      was significantly associated with decreased overall survival. A 5-year overall
      survival in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma with the expression level of P-53 <
      80% was 78%, with the expression level of P-53 80-100%-22%. A 5-year overall
      survival of Hodgkin's lymphoma primary patients in complete remission
      significantly exceeded the rates of patients with primary refractory Hodgkin's
      lymphoma--100% vs. 52%.

PMID- 25816670
TI  - [Associating of polymorphism in the promoter regions of genes of
      metalloproteinase (MMP2, MMP3, MMP9) with options of the clinical course of
      breast cancer in Russian women].
AB  - There were analyzed associating of functional polymorphism of the promoter
      regions of genes MMP2 C--1306T, MMP 9 C--1562 T, MMP3 5A--1171 6A in a group of
      healthy women and breast cancer patients in order to identify informative markers
      associated with the risk of developing the disease. The study included 395 DNA
      samples from women with breast cancer and 329 healthy women. Genotyping of
      polymorphisms was carried out by restriction analysis of amplification products
      (RFLP-analysis). Among female patients there was revealed significantly seldom a
      carrier of 6A6A MMP3-1117 and MMP 9-1562TT genotypes and also significantly
      increased the frequency of MMP3 5A6A genotype. The risk of lymph node metastasis
      reduced in patients with MMP9-1562CC genotype. Conversely heterozygosis at this
      position could be regarded as risk factor for metastasis. It was revealed
      associating of MMP3 5A6A genotype with the degree of malignancy.

PMID- 25816671
TI  - [Spontaneous tumors in the Campbell hamster: a possible new model of experimental
      oncology].
AB  - The spectrum of spontaneous tumors in the Campbell hamsters has not been
      described yet. 152 Campbell hamsters (110 females and 42 males), spontaneously
      died by ordinary death, underwent the necropsy and the histopathological
      examination. Tumors were found in 50% of males and in 48% of females dead after
      the achievement of the first tumor development age (430 and 260 days
      respectively). The main type of tumors in Campbell hamsters was thymoma of B1
      type which is known in human, but unusual in laboratory animals. The thymomas had
      low grade of malignancy, did not induce the wasting syndrome and did not
      metastasize. It is probable that thymoma B1 kills the animals by the dislocation
      of mediastinal organs. Frequency of this tumor was 40% in males and 40% in
      females dead after the achievement of the first tumor development age. Any sex
      differences were not found although males dead with thymoma had significantly
      more evident reproductive success in comparison with animals without this tumor.
      Besides, thymomas, squamous carcinomas of forestomach (in males and females),
      skin carcinomas (in males and females), adenocarcinomas of reproductive system,
      kidney and lung (in females only) and small-cell lymphomas (in males only) were
      found. Hence, spontaneous tumors in Campbell hamsters could be useful as a model
      for research in the experimental oncology, especially as unique model of human
      thymoma of B1 type which has not been observed in laboratory mice and rats yet.

PMID- 25816672
TI  - [A case of successful use of triple approach in a kidney cancer patient with
      metastatic lesion to the lung and pleural cavity].
AB  - Metastasis to the lung is the most common place connected with kidney cancer
      progression. Wherein metastasectomy is accompanied by satisfactory 5- and 10-year
      survival achieving 49% and 21% respectively. Pleural lesion due to this tumor
      develops as a part of systemic metastasis and, as a rule, is a consequence of
      neoplastic spread from lung parenchyma, which indicates a poor prognosis and is
      an indication for palliative care.

PMID- 25816673
TI  - [Communication skills in oncologist's work].
AB  - During the process of own professional activities any oncologist has to interact
      with a patient who experiences severe psycho-emotional stress, accompanied by
      painful sufferings. Successful communication between a doctor and a patient
      influences on patient's attitude to treatment. An oncologist should be able to
      possess professional communication skills, which allow interacting more
      effectively with patients. Among communication skills the authors consider the
      following items: presence, empathy, sharing of feelings, active listening,
      marking the temporal and spatial boundaries.

PMID- 25816675
TI  - [Ebola virus disease: clinical and diagnostic aspects and organization of
      treatment-and-prophylactic measures].
AB  - The article presents data about world spread of Ebola virus disease, biological
      characteristics of the pathogen, the laws of the epidemic process in this
      disease, its pathogenesis, clinical manifestations and diagnosis. Pointed out
      that the current anti-viral agents, effective for the Ebola virus, have not been
      developed. Timely performed pathogenetic therapy improves the prognosis of the
      disease. The basis of this therapy is infusion-detoxification activities and
      replenishment of losses, of electrolytes, as well as anti-inflammatory and anti
      emetic drugs. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation received the guidelines
      for preventive measure that can reduce Ebola virus disease transmission.
      Recommendations for emergency anti-epidemic commission consisted of
      representatives of the command, specialists and medical services and logistics,
      are given. Fundamentally important condition for the effective anti-epidemic
      measures is not only the constant readiness of medical personnel in the detection
      of disease EVD, but also the appropriate level of equipment of medical
      institutions of medical supplies and equipment.

PMID- 25816674
TI  - [In memory of A.O. Vereshchinskii--a great colleague with a tragic fate at the N.
      N. Petrov Oncology Research Institute--at the 120th anniversary of his birth].
AB  - The most tragic for the history of any community is a loss of memory or its
      distortion. Unfortunately we often forget that we grow on the shoulders of
      previous generations, on their achievements and mistakes. In this regard it would
      be good to remember our friend, colleague A.O.Vereshchynsky who would have been
      120 this year.

PMID- 25816677
TI  - [The basic directions and experience of use of telemedical technologies in
      military-medical service].
AB  - The authors showed that a promising solution for emergency telemedicine advisory
      assistance issues in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is the
      implementation of technical opportunity of direct advisory support to any
      functional unit and specialists from main and central military hospitals. But at
      the present stage, the current task of the military telemedicine should be
      regarded as the implementation of several advisory centres focused on the
      implementation of a separate topic of telemedicine cooperation. In this regard, a
      complex of activities carried out by establishing a network of tele-consulting
      centres at the Kirov Military Medical Academy in one of the admission
      departments, in the department of military surgery and in the hall of the
      Academic Council of the Academy.

PMID- 25816676
TI  - [The role of cooperation between the command and district medical service in
      prophylaxis of acute respiratory diseases].
AB  - The problem of increased incidence of respiratory diseases in troops is
      significant due to reorganization of military staff and redeployment of military
      units, which led to the deterioration of the terms of accommodation and living
      conditions of personnel. Significant contribution to the growth of this disease
      has brought an increase in the number of young recruits after the transition to a
      one-year compulsory military service, as well as reducing the number of doctors
      in the military echelon. In the Central Military District has developed a unified
      system of sanitary and anti-epidemic and preventive measures, an understanding
      commanders associations, military units and formations of the order and timing of
      their implementation, establish a uniform procedure for reporting on the sanitary
      and epidemiological situation in the garrisons as in operational duty, and on
      medical service. All this allows us time to carry out or correct preventive
      measures, to achieve a positive result of work on the health of military
      personnel. Due to the close interaction between the command and the medical
      service in the district after 2012 reduced the number of cases with respiratory
      diseases.

PMID- 25816678
TI  - [Modern approaches to the formation of antidote stocks at medical institutions in
      Russia and foreign countries].
AB  - This article analyses the approaches to the formation of specific treatment of
      acute poisoning in the various countries. The authors present a systematic review
      of scientific publications about the formation of reserves of antidote agents at
      medical institutions of the Russian Federation, the US, Canada, France, Spain,
      Greece, Norway, Czech Republic, Taiwan and Poland. A search for a variety of
      databases, as well as by reviewing reference lists of publications on the subject
      of "stockpiling antidote means". It is concluded that the antidote provision at
      health care institutions in different countries is insufficient. State of affairs
      with the formation of antidote stocks is better at hospitals of Czech Republic,
      France and Spain. To determine the range and volume of the stock of fixed assets
      necessary antidote coordination and approval of the list and the number of
      mandatory for every medical institution antidotes.

PMID- 25816679
TI  - [The use of new sets and medical kits by the medical service of the Armed
      Forces].
AB  - Taken to supply in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and included in the
      modern regulating documents new sets and medical kits are a crucial element of
      the complete-standard-issue equipment. For the military unit of medical service
      provided 12 sets and medical kits united into 2 classification groups. They allow
      medical service to perform any surgical interventions and medical procedures in
      the military echelon in accordance with modern approaches to health care and
      treatment of the wounded in wartime, in armed conflict and the elimination of the
      health consequences of emergencies in peacetime.

PMID- 25816680
TI  - [Clinical diagnostic and organizational aspects of providing care to patients
      with pulmonary sarcoidosis in the Armed Forces].
AB  - The data on the epidemiology and aetiology of sarcoidosis, the current
      classifications are presented. The basic provisions of the legal framework of
      medical management of patients suffering from sarcoidosis are given. The authors
      provided an analysis of the characteristics of diagnosis and treatment of
      sarcoidosis in the military, based on which we propose an algorithm of
      examination of patients with respiratory sarcoidosis in military health care
      facilities the Russian Defence Ministry, the recommended treatment regimens and
      order dynamic observation of patients. Invited to provide skilled care to
      patients with respiratory sarcoidosis selection based on the Main Military
      Clinical Burdenko Hospital specialized centre (department with bunks for the
      treatment of patients with sarcoidosis).

PMID- 25816681
TI  - [Innovative methods of ventricular arrhythmia treatment].
AB  - The authors summarized the experience of the use of the stimulus and the
      activation mapping under fluoroscopic control to search for sources of
      ventricular ectopic followed by radio-frequency effects on the vulnerable zone
      arrhythmias. The authors presented an algorithm for finding a pathological focus
      on the basis of an evaluation of the surface electrocardiogram, followed by
      sequential endocardial mapping. The results of radiofrequency ablation of
      ventricular arrhythmia in different localization of the source are presented. The
      authors generalized and systematized the experience detection and cure of
      ventricular ectopy in 65 patients. The regularities of changes in the ventricular
      complex according to surface electrocardiogram in certain localizations of
      ectopic focus are revealed. Effectiveness of the operation of radiofrequency
      ablation with ventricular arrhythmias was about 90%, which is generally
      consistent with data from other clinics. Complications requiring additional
      interventions were not. Highlight the work areas of the endocardium, analysed the
      causes of inefficient operations and poor results. Alternative methods of
      destruction of the endocardium in complex localization of ectopic focus are
      suggested.

PMID- 25816683
TI  - [Prospective methods of combat burn injury treatment].
AB  - The current article briefly reviews the projects of development of combat burn
      injury treatment as they have been presented in the US Armed Forces Institute of
      Regenerative Medicine 2013 annual report. Eleven projects have been reviewed, in
      particular: P12 polypeptide for limiting burn injury progression, gamma keratose
      gelfor enhancement skin cell survival, starch-polyurethane iodophor dressing
      effective against the most common burn infection, microorganisms, autologous stem
      and progenitor cells for single cell cytotransplantation by "skin gun" spray
      device or 3D skin bioprinting, a bioreactor for skin autotransplant expansion.

PMID- 25816682
TI  - [Opportunities for diagnosis and treatment of nocturnal hypoxia in outpatient
      clinic].
AB  - Sleep disordered breathing is an important medical and socio-economic issue. A
      lot of evidence exists for the impact of sleep apnea on the pathogenesis of
      cardiovascular diseases, occupational injuries, as well as all-cause mortality.
      Detection of this type of pathology is challenging due to the complexity and high
      cost of the procedures. The nocturnal polysomnography was considered as a "gold
      standard" in the management of any sleep disorders for a long time. However, the
      development of technology simplified diagnostic equipment and make it possible to
      diagnose sleep disordered breathing in outpatient department. In this article we
      reviewed 3-phase approach to the diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea. Also we
      describe our own cost-effective experience of implementing of screening
      examination for sleep apnea in outpatient clinic, using the continuous pulse
      oximetry monitoring.

PMID- 25816684
TI  - [Nikolai Illarionovich Kozlov--a scientist, a doctor, an outstanding organizer of
      Military Medicine (To the 200th anniversary of the birth)].
AB  - To Kozlov N.I. (1814-1889) belong numerous achievements in the organization of
      military medical unit during the Crimean (1853-1856) and the Russian-Turkish
      (1877-1878) wars, the introduction of women's medical education in Russia,
      establishment of an improvement system for the military doctors, edition for
      their medical guidelines, the organization of military health care in Russia.

PMID- 25816685
TI  - [Shestov V I--the founder of the Department of Organisation and tactics of the
      naval medical services].
AB  - Vasilii Ivanovich Shestov during the Great Patriotic War performed various tasks
      concerning the organization of medical support in the Leningrad naval base,
      consulted on an issue of production and use of hospital and medical transport
      ships, worked on the organization of medical support in Schliessburg and etc.
      Shestov performed a considerable amount of research and methodological works
      concerning the establishment of the discipline "Organisation of naval medical
      support". He is considered as one of the founders of the theory of naval medical
      evacuation support.

PMID- 25816686
TI  - [New in the biography of a military doctor A. G. Peredelsky].
AB  - The history of activity of the Orenburg department of the Kazan society of
      adherents of military and sanitary knowledge is shown in article. The department
      existed in 1912-1914 and united officers and medical officers of the Orenburg
      garrison and military educational institutions. Members of Department tried to
      resolve the vital issues of a sanitary condition of Totsky military camp,
      regiments of the Orenburg military of the garrison. The department managed to
      publish two releases of the works. On these materials we can judge its activity.
      In article new data from A.G.Peredelsky's biography (1876-1940) in the period of
      his life in Orenburg are reported.

PMID- 25816688
TI  - The influence of two reciprocating single-file and two rotary-file systems on the
      apical extrusion of debris and its biological relationship with symptomatic
      apical periodontitis. A systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the influence of the number
      of files (full-sequence rotary-file versus reciprocating single-file systems)
      used during root canal preparation on the apical extrusion of debris and its
      biological relationship with the occurrence of symptomatic apical periodontitis.
      An extensive literature research was carried out in the Medline, ISI Web of
      Science and Cochrane databases, for relevant articles with the keyword search
      strategy. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, two reviewers independently
      rated the quality of each study determining the level of evidence of the articles
      selected. The primary outcome for the meta-analysis was determined by the amount
      of debris extruded into the periapical tissue during root canal preparation with
      multiple- or single-file systems in four laboratory studies. Analysis of in vivo
      release of neuropeptides (SP and CGRP) after root canal preparation with single-
      or multiple-file systems was also carried out. Amongst the 128 articles initially
      found, 113 were excluded for being nonrelevant or not fulfilling the selection
      criteria. Another four articles were excluded after methodology evaluation.
      Finally, nine laboratory studies and two in vivo studies were included in the
      systematic review. Four of the laboratory studies were further included for meta
      analysis that revealed greater debris extrusion after the use of single-file
      techniques when compared to multiple-file systems. Analysis of in vivo
      neuropeptide expression in the periodontal ligament suggests that the design of
      the instrument is more important than the number of files used. Both rotary and
      reciprocating single-file systems generate apical extrusion of debris in
      laboratory studies, or expression of neuropeptides in vivo. Available evidence is
      limited, but supports the fact that this inflammatory reaction is not influenced
      by the number of files but the type of movement and the instrument design.

PMID- 25816687
TI  - Taurine Chloramine Stimulates Efferocytosis Through Upregulation of Nrf2-Mediated
      Heme Oxygenase-1 Expression in Murine Macrophages: Possible Involvement of Carbon
      Monoxide.
AB  - AIMS: To examine the pro-resolving effects of taurine chloramine (TauCl).
      RESULTS: TauCl injected into the peritoneum of mice enhanced the resolution of
      zymosan A-induced peritonitis. Furthermore, when the macrophages obtained from
      peritoneal exudates were treated with TauCl, their efferocytic ability was
      elevated. In the murine macrophage-like RAW264.7 cells exposed to TauCl, the
      proportion of macrophages engulfing the apoptotic neutrophils was also increased.
      In these macrophages treated with TauCl, expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1)
      was elevated along with increased nuclear translocation of the nuclear factor E2
      related factor 2 (Nrf2). TauCl binds directly to Kelch-like ECH association
      protein 1 (Keap1), which appears to retard the Keap1-driven degradation of Nrf2.
      This results in stabilization and enhanced nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and
      upregulation of HO-1 expression. TauCl, when treated to peritoneal macrophages
      isolated from either Nrf2 or HO-1 wild-type mice, stimulated efferocytosis
      (phagocytic engulfment of apoptotic neutrophils by macrophages), but not in the
      macrophages from Nrf2 or HO-1 knockout mice. Furthermore, transcriptional
      expression of some scavenger receptors recognizing the phosphatidylserines
      exposed on the surface of apoptotic cells was increased in RAW264.7 cells treated
      with TauCl. Pharmacologic inhibition of HO-1 activity or knockdown of HO-1 gene
      in RAW264.7 cells abolished the TauCl-induced efferocytosis, whereas both
      overexpression of HO-1 and treatment with carbon monoxide (CO), the product of
      HO, potentiated the efferocytic activity of macrophages. INNOVATION: This work
      provides the first evidence that TauCl stimulates efferocytosis by macrophages.
      The results of this study suggest the therapeutic potential of TauCl in the
      management of inflammatory disorders. CONCLUSION: TauCl can facilitate resolution
      of inflammation by increasing the efferocytic activity of macrophages through
      Nrf2-mediated HO-1 upregulation and subsequent production of CO.

PMID- 25816689
TI  - Simple gene silencing using the trans-acting siRNA pathway.
AB  - In plants, particular micro-RNAs (miRNAs) induce the production of a class of
      small interfering RNAs (siRNA) called trans-acting siRNA (ta-siRNA) that lead to
      gene silencing. A single miRNA target is sufficient for the production of ta
      siRNAs, which target can be incorporated into a vector to induce the production
      of siRNAs, and ultimately gene silencing. The term miRNA-induced gene silencing
      (MIGS) has been used to describe such vector systems in Arabidopsis. Several ta
      siRNA loci have been identified in soybean, but, prior to this work, few of the
      inducing miRNAs have been experimentally validated, much less used to silence
      genes. Nine ta-siRNA loci and their respective miRNA targets were identified, and
      the abundance of the inducing miRNAs varies dramatically in different tissues.
      The miRNA targets were experimentally verified by silencing a transgenic GFP gene
      and two endogenous genes in hairy roots and transgenic plants. Small RNAs were
      produced in patterns consistent with the utilization of the ta-siRNA pathway. A
      side-by-side experiment demonstrated that MIGS is as effective at inducing gene
      silencing as traditional hairpin vectors in soybean hairy roots. Soybean plants
      transformed with MIGS vectors produced siRNAs and silencing was observed in the
      T1 generation. These results complement previous reports in Arabidopsis by
      demonstrating that MIGS is an efficient way to produce siRNAs and induce gene
      silencing in other species, as shown with soybean. The miRNA targets identified
      here are simple to incorporate into silencing vectors and offer an effective and
      efficient alternative to other gene silencing strategies. 

PMID- 25816690
TI  - Referral patterns for oral squamous cell carcinoma in Australia: 20 years
      progress.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to identify changes in referral patterns
      and delays in diagnosis and treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC),
      managed at a tertiary institution in Victoria, Australia. METHODS: The hospital
      records of all patients with newly diagnosed OSCC, managed by The Royal Melbourne
      Hospital (RMH) Head and Neck Tumour Stream between January 2008 and December
      2010, were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Of the 101 patients, 52% first
      sought help from general medical practitioners (GMP) while 43% initially attended
      a general dental practitioner (GDP). The most common site of OSCC was oral tongue
      (42%). The most common presentation was ulceration (31%). Seventy per cent of
      patients presented with T1 (39%) or T2 (31%) tumours. The diagnostic delay ranged
      from 0 to 8 years with an average of 4.5 months. Patient delay ranged from 0 to
      1.4 years with an average of 1.8 months. Professional delay ranged from 0 to 8
      years with an average of 2 months. CONCLUSIONS: Delays in patients seeking advice
      have decreased compared to previous studies, while delays in professionals making
      a diagnosis have not improved considerably. There has been a significant shift
      towards initial presentation to GMP rather than GDP. Further decrease in delays
      is possible by improving both population awareness and clinician education.

PMID- 25816691
TI  - Comparative accessory gene fingerprinting of surface water Escherichia coli
      reveals genetically diverse naturalized population.
AB  - AIMS: To utilize comparative accessory gene fingerprinting to discriminate
      between naturalized and faecal Escherichia coli, with particular emphasis on
      strains from phylogroup B1. METHODS AND RESULTS: Fourteen accessory genes that
      were potentially ecotype-specific were selected on the basis of comparative
      genomic DNA sequence analysis between faecal and environmental strains and also
      using a literature-based strategy. PCR assays were designed for each gene, and
      used to screen 107 faecal strains from various hosts and 106 environmental
      strains from surface water and sediment. While none of the 14 accessory genes
      were ecotype-specific, six of the genes were ecotype-enriched. Specifically,
      toxin-antitoxin system genes were more abundant among faecal strains, whereas
      genes involved in iron acquisition, complement resistance/surface exclusion, and
      biofilm formation were more abundant among environmental strains. These six genes
      were used to form composite fingerprints which revealed the presence of several
      ecotype-specific and -enriched fingerprints. Notably, some of the environmental
      strain-specific or -enriched fingerprints consisted of strains putatively
      belonging to clade ET-1, which has been previously recognized as a naturalized
      subpopulation. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike single genes which did not reliably
      distinguish between faecal and naturalized phylogroup B1 E. coli strains,
      composite fingerprints of ecotype-enriched accessory genes may offer a novel
      method for distinguishing between these two populations. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT
      OF THE STUDY: Accessory gene fingerprinting may have important practical
      implications for improving the specificity of methods that are widely used for
      quantifying and identifying the sources of faecal contamination in surface water.

PMID- 25816692
TI  - Disinfection of reusable elastomeric respirators by health care workers: a
      feasibility study and development of standard operating procedures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This was a feasibility study in a Department of Veterans Affairs
      Medical Center to develop a standard operating procedure (SOP) to be used by
      health care workers to disinfect reusable elastomeric respirators under pandemic
      conditions. Registered and licensed practical nurses, nurse practitioners, aides,
      clinical technicians, and physicians took part in the study. METHODS: Health care
      worker volunteers were provided with manufacturers' cleaning and disinfection
      instructions and all necessary supplies. They were observed and filmed. SOPs were
      developed, based on these observations, and tested on naive volunteer health care
      workers. Error rates using manufacturers' instructions and SOPs were compared.
      RESULTS: When using respirator manufacturers' cleaning and disinfection
      instructions, without specific training or supervision, all subjects made
      multiple errors. When using the SOPs developed in the study, without specific
      training or guidance, naive health care workers disinfected respirators with zero
      errors. CONCLUSION: Reusable facial protective equipment may be disinfected by
      health care workers with minimal training using SOPs.

PMID- 25816693
TI  - Journal metrics and other measures.

PMID- 25816694
TI  - Retroperitoneal Robot-Assisted Partial Nephrectomy for Posterior Renal Masses Is
      Associated with Earlier Hospital Discharge: A Single-Institution Retrospective
      Comparison.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare perioperative outcomes, specifically hospital length of stay
      (LOS), after retroperitoneal and conventional transperitoneal robot-assisted
      partial nephrectomy (RAPN). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively compared
      consecutive patients with a posterior renal mass undergoing retroperitoneal RAPN
      (n=116) versus transperitoneal RAPN (n=97) at our institution between July 2007
      and March 2014. The surgical approach was based on patient and tumor
      characteristics, history of abdominal surgery, and surgeon preference. The
      primary outcome was postoperative LOS, and secondary outcomes included
      complication rate, inpatient narcotic pain medication use, and inpatient
      antiemetic use. RESULTS: Baseline patient and tumor characteristics were similar
      between groups. A significantly great proportion of patients undergoing
      retroperitoneal RAPN had LOS equal to 1 day (57% vs 10%, P<0.01). Complication
      rates were similar between groups (P=0.37). Median pain medication use was also
      similar between groups (P=0.85). A significantly greater proportion of
      retroperitoneal RAPN patients, however, needed no antiemetics postoperatively
      (59% vs 43%, P=0.02). On multivariate analysis, transperitoneal RAPN was a
      significant predictor of LOS greater than 1 day (odds ratio=7.4, P<0.01), when
      controlling for age, sex, body mass index, patient comorbidity, previous
      abdominal surgery, baseline kidney function, nephrometry score, and tumor size.
      CONCLUSIONS: For patients with posterior renal masses, retroperitoneal RAPN
      significantly reduces their hospital LOS when compared with transperitoneal RAPN.

PMID- 25816696
TI  - Nigel Gray MBBS, AO (1928-2014).

PMID- 25816698
TI  - Metformin and breast cancer: basic knowledge in clinical context.
AB  - Although preclinical work is vital in unraveling the molecular tenets which apply
      to metformin action in breast cancer, it is by nature unable to capture the
      host's response to metformin in terms of insulin-mediated effects and related
      changes in the hormonal and metabolic asset at the systemic level. The latter
      might sound seemingly paradoxical when considering the inveterate use of
      metformin in dysmetabolisms and pathologic conditions with underlying hormonal
      disruption. Bridging the gap between the molecular target and characteristics of
      breast cancer patients may help lab-based experiments and clinical work converge
      into one or more well characterized sub-populations instead of a sub optimally
      selected one. An appropriate patient selection is the main key to the most
      suitable outcome interpretation and amelioration, in an attempt to meet our
      patients needs midway between overestimation of benefits and efficacy dilution
      for any given intervention and/or co-intervention.

PMID- 25816700
TI  - Stringent adherence to a cytomegalovirus-prevention protocol is associated with
      reduced overall costs in the first 6 months after kidney transplantation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We previously documented that a stringent implementation of a
      preemptive cytomegalovirus (CMV) prevention protocol reduced the number of CMV
      disease episodes after kidney transplantation, when compared with a routine
      preemptive protocol. The impact on overall costs was assessed. METHODS: Cost
      comparisons were made for inpatient and outpatient costs and overall costs, using
      costs provided by the financial department. Variables were analyzed using the
      Wilcoxon rank-sum test. A multivariable global linear model evaluated the effect
      of all co-variables on cost differences. In Cohort 1 (n = 84), 74% were followed
      with a standard CMV preemptive protocol, and 26% received prophylaxis. In Cohort
      2 (n = 74), an intensified CMV surveillance protocol was applied in 74% of
      patients, and 26% were given prophylaxis. RESULTS: Overall, Cohort 1 had
      significantly higher treatment costs as compared with Cohort 2 (mean Swiss francs
      [CHF] 104,548 and CHF 76,983, respectively, P = 0.0005). Excluding patients who
      received prophylaxis reduced these costs to CHF 89,318 in Cohort 1 and CHF 73,652
      in Cohort 2. Outcome between Cohort 1 and 2 was comparable. CONCLUSION: A
      stringent adherence to the CMV prevention protocol was associated with a
      significant reduction in overall costs. Whether this benefit is because of the
      demonstrated reduction in the rate of CMV disease needs to be assessed in a
      randomized trial.

PMID- 25816699
TI  - Sex-specific predictors of hearing-aid use in older persons: The age,
      gene/environment susceptibility - Reykjavik study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We estimate the prevalence of hearing-aid use in Iceland and identify
      sex-specific factors associated with use. DESIGN: Population-based cohort study.
      STUDY SAMPLE: A total of 5172 age, gene/environment susceptibility - Reykjavik
      study (AGES-RS) participants, aged 67 to 96 years (mean age 76.5 years), who
      completed air-conduction and pure-tone audiometry. RESULTS: Hearing-aid use was
      reported by 23.0% of men and 15.9% of women in the cohort, although among
      participants with at least moderate hearing loss in the better ear (pure-tone
      average [PTA] of thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz >= 35 dB hearing level [HL])
      it was 49.9% and did not differ by sex. Self-reported hearing loss was the
      strongest predictor of hearing-aid use in men [OR: 2.68 (95% CI: 1.77, 4.08)] and
      women [OR: 3.07 (95% CI: 1.94, 4.86)], followed by hearing loss severity based on
      audiometry. Having diabetes or osteoarthritis were significant positive
      predictors of use in men, whereas greater physical activity and unimpaired
      cognitive status were important in women. CONCLUSIONS: Hearing-aid use was
      comparable in Icelandic men and women with moderate or greater hearing loss. Self
      recognition of hearing loss was the factor most predictive of hearing-aid use;
      other influential factors differed for men and women.

PMID- 25816702
TI  - Postpartum SMS reminders to women who have experienced gestational diabetes to
      test for Type 2 diabetes: the DIAMIND randomized trial.
AB  - AIMS: This parallel group randomized controlled trial assessed whether an SMS
      reminder system for women, after gestational diabetes, would increase their
      attendance for an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) by six months postpartum.
      METHODS: Women were eligible for inclusion if they were diagnosed with
      gestational diabetes in their recent pregnancy, had a mobile phone and normal
      blood glucose profile prior to postnatal discharge from the Women's and
      Children's Hospital, Adelaide. A computer-generated random number sequence and
      telephone randomization were used. Two hundred and seventy-six women were
      randomized. Women in the six-week group (n = 140) were sent a text reminder to
      attend for an OGTT at six weeks postpartum, with further reminders at three and
      six months if required. Women in the control group (n = 136) received one text
      reminder at six months postpartum. Blinding was not feasible. The primary outcome
      was OGTT attendance within six months postpartum. RESULTS: Women in the six-week
      group did not increase their attendance for an OGTT within six months postpartum
      compared with women in the control group, 104 (77.6% of 134) versus 103 (76.8% of
      134), relative risk (RR) 1.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.89-1.15.
      CONCLUSIONS: The SMS reminder system did not increase postpartum OGTT, fasting
      plasma glucose or HbA1c completion, although high rates of test completion were
      measured in both groups. Further research is required into factors influencing
      attendance for postpartum testing from the perspective of women, and into optimal
      counselling relating to Type 2 diabetes risk in the postpartum period for
      increasing postpartum glucose testing rates.

PMID- 25816701
TI  - Prevalence of Regulatory T-Cell Subtypes in Preeclampsia.
AB  - PROBLEM: The prevalence of regulatory T cells (Tregs) is lower in preeclampsia
      (PE) compared with healthy pregnancy (HP). However, the proportion of recently
      described Treg subtypes has not been investigated. METHOD: Peripheral blood
      samples of 19 PE and 21 HP women in the third trimester were evaluated using flow
      cytometry for the prevalence of activated T cells and naive, effector, thymic,
      extrathymic, and exhausted Tregs. RESULTS: The prevalence of activated T cells
      and exhausted Tregs was higher in PE than in HP. The prevalence of the
      functionally most active effector Tregs is decreased, while naive Tregs appear to
      be unaffected in PE compared with HP. No difference was detected between Tregs
      according to their origin (thymic or extrathymic). CONCLUSION: The combination of
      lower effector Treg and higher exhausted Treg prevalence may account for the
      decrease in the functionality of Tregs in PE.

PMID- 25816703
TI  - A pseudoaneurysm of the corpus spongiosum from straddle injury: A rare cause of
      massive urethral bleeding only during erections.

PMID- 25816704
TI  - Peripartum pubic symphysis separation--Current strategies in diagnosis and
      therapy and presentation of two cases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: During spontaneous vaginal delivery, pubic symphyseal widening is
      normal. Common changes are reversible after complication-free birth. However,
      cases of peripartum symphysis separation are rare. There is no consensus in the
      literature on how to treat pregnancy-related pubic symphysis separation. METHODS:
      This review used a literature-based search (PubMed, 1900-2013) and analysis of 2
      own case reports. Studies with conclusions regarding management were particularly
      considered. RESULTS: Characteristic symptoms, suprapubic pain and tenderness
      radiating to the posterior pelvic girdle or lower back, may be noted 48 h after
      delivery. Pain on movement, especially walking or climbing stairs, is often
      present. Conservative treatments, such as a pelvic brace with physiotherapy and
      local interventions such as infiltration, are successful in most cases. Symptom
      reduction within 6 weeks is the most common outcome, but can take up to 6 months
      in some cases. Surgical intervention is needed in cases of persistent separation.
      Anterior plate fixation is offered as a well-known and safe procedure. Minimally
      invasive SI joint screw fixation is required in cases of combined posterior
      pelvic girdle lesions. SUMMARY: Postpartum symphyseal rupture can be indicated
      with the rare occurrence of pelvic pain post-delivery, with sciatica or lumbago
      and decreased mobility. The diagnosis is made on clinical findings, as well as
      radiographs of the pelvic girdle. Conservative treatment with a pelvic brace is
      the gold standard in pre- and postpartum cases of symphysis dysfunction.

PMID- 25816705
TI  - What is the effect of the weather on trauma workload? A systematic review of the
      literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hospital admission rates for a number of conditions have been linked
      to variations in the weather. It is well established that trauma workload
      displays significant seasonal variation. A reliable predictive model might enable
      targeting of high-risk groups for intervention and planning of hospital staff
      levels. To our knowledge there have been no systematic reviews of the literature
      on the relationship between weather and trauma workload, and predictive models
      have thus far been informed by the results of single studies. METHODS: We
      conducted a systematic review of bibliographic databases and reference lists up
      to June 2014 to identify primary research papers assessing the effect of
      specified weather conditions including temperature, rainfall, snow, fog, hail,
      humidity and wind speed on trauma workload, defined as admission to hospital,
      fracture or a Road Traffic Accident (RTA) resulting in a seriously injured
      casualty or fatality. RESULTS: 11,083 papers were found through electronic and
      reference search. 83 full papers were assessed for eligibility. 28 met inclusion
      criteria and were included in the final review; 6 of these related to the effect
      of the weather on trauma admissions, one to ambulance call out for trauma, 13 to
      fracture rate and 8 to RTAs. Increased temperature is positively correlated with
      trauma admissions. The rate of distal radius fractures is more sensitive to
      adverse weather than the rate of hip fractures. Paediatric trauma, both in
      respect of trauma admissions and fracture rate, is more sensitive to the weather
      than adult trauma. Adverse weather influences both RTA frequency and severity,
      but the nature of the relationship is dependent upon the timecourse of the
      weather event and the population studied. Important methodological differences
      between studies limit the value of the existing literature in building consensus
      for a generalisable predictive model. CONCLUSIONS: Weather conditions may have a
      substantial effect on trauma workload independent of the effects of seasonal
      variation; the population studied and timecourse of weather events appear
      critical in determining this relationship. Methodological differences between
      studies limit the validity of conclusions drawn from analysis of the literature,
      and we identify a number of areas that future research might address.

PMID- 25816706
TI  - Selective non-operative management of stab wounds to the posterior abdomen is
      safe: the Pietermaritzburg experience.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The selective non-operative management (SNOM) of stab injuries of
      the anterior abdomen is well established, but its application to the posterior
      abdomen remains controversial. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of
      1013 patients was undertaken at a major trauma service in South Africa over a
      five-year period. RESULTS: Ninety per cent of patients were males, and the mean
      age was 25 years. The mean time from injury to presentation was 4h and 73% of all
      injuries were inflicted by knives. A total of 9% (93) of patients required a
      laparotomy [Group A] and 82% (833) were successfully observed without the need
      for operative intervention [Group B]. CT imaging was performed on 52 patients
      (5%) who had haematuria [Group C], 25 (3%) who had neurological deficits [Group
      D], and 10 (1%) with retained weapon injuries [Group E]. The accuracy of physical
      examination for identifying the presence of organ injury was 88%. All observed
      patients who required laparotomy declared themselves within 24h. There were no
      mortalities as direct result of our current management protocol. CONCLUSIONS:
      Selective management based on active clinical observation and serial physical
      examination is safe, and when coupled with the judicious use of advanced imaging,
      is a prudent and reliable approach in a resource constrained environment.

PMID- 25816707
TI  - Femoral head reduction osteoplasty for fracture dislocation: A surgical
      technique.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Femoral head fractures with subchondral impaction and cartilage loss
      are difficult to treat successfully. Although multiple surgical management
      options have been described, no one technique has proven superior, particularly
      in the young high-demand population. TECHNIQUE: A femoral head reduction
      osteoplasty was performed following a surgical dislocation of the hip. A
      peripherally based wedge of bone was resected off the damaged central third of
      the head followed by reduction and fixation of the remaining fragments. This
      technique resulted in a smaller yet congruent femoral head. METHODS: A healthy 40
      year old labourer sustained a traumatic crush injury while at work, resulting in
      a left femoral head fracture dislocation with an associated posterior wall
      acetabular fracture. Significant femoral head impaction and cartilage loss
      limited the treatment options. RESULTS: Intraoperative reduction and
      postoperative imaging demonstrated near anatomic reconstruction of femoral head
      with a congruent hip joint. Superiorly at the level of resection, the medial
      lateral diameter was reduced by 5-6mm (approximately 12-15% the diameter of the
      original head) by the osteoplasty. At five years, Harris Hip Score was 86, Oxford
      Hip Score 36, and UCLA score 89. Hip abductor strength was full, range of motion
      near normal, and the patient ambulated without antalgia. Radiographs demonstrate
      a congruent joint and patchy avascular necrosis without collapse. The patient
      maintained full employment as a labourer. CONCLUSIONS: Femoral head reduction
      osteoplasty is a viable option that may produce durable intermediate-term results
      for complex femoral head fracture with superior impaction and chondral damage.
      LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level V.

PMID- 25816708
TI  - How long should patients be kept non-weight bearing after ankle fracture
      fixation? A survey of OTA and AOFAS members.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ankle fractures are common injuries treated routinely by orthopaedic
      surgeons. A variety of different post-operative protocols have been described
      with differing periods of non-weight bearing after surgery. The aim of this study
      was to identify how patient injury characteristics and medical comorbidities
      contribute to the period of non-weight bearing chosen by orthopaedic surgeons
      after open reduction and internal fixation of rotational ankle fractures.
      METHODS: A cross sectional expert opinion survey was administered to members of
      the AOFAS as well as OTA to determine how long they would instruct patients to be
      non-weight bearing after open reduction and internal fixation of ankle fractures.
      Three different injury characteristics were described: supination external
      rotation type 4 equivalents, bimalleolar, and trimalleolar patterns. These
      patterns were combined with three different medical statuses: young and healthy,
      older and healthy, and older with significant medical comorbidity. Respondents
      selected how long they would keep the patient non-weight bearing after surgery
      for each of the potential scenarios. Finally, they were directly asked which
      factors they felt affected their decision about length of time to keep patients
      non-weight bearing. RESULTS: Seven hundred and two surgeons (31%) responded to
      the survey. The average time of non-weight bearing selected varied from 4.9 (+/-
      3.1) weeks for in young, healthy patients with SER4 equivalent injuries to 7.6
      (+/- 6.0) weeks for older patients with medical comorbidities with trimalleolar
      fractures. Responses had a high degree of heterogeneity, but both injury pattern
      and medical status were significant predictors of non-weight bearing period
      (p<0.01), with medical status the stronger determinant. CONCLUSIONS: There is
      significant variation among orthopaedic surgeons when selecting period of non
      weight bearing after fixation of ankle fractures, with both injury pattern and
      medical comorbidity playing a role in decision of time to keep patient non-weight
      bearing. Further research further evaluating the relationship between these
      factors and safe periods of non-weight bearing could help identify patients that
      may benefit from earlier mobilization, and improve surgeon's comfort with early
      mobilization. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level V.

PMID- 25816709
TI  - Multicentered patient-based evidence of the role of free light chain ratio
      normalization in multiple myeloma disease relapse.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The normalization of free light chain ratio (FLCr) has been
      introduced as a marker of stringent complete remission (CR) of multiple myeloma
      (MM). There is currently a lack of literature assessing the role of FLCr on MM
      disease progression and remission status. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A multicentered
      retrospective review of 125 patients with MM in CR and various FLCr values was
      completed. Parameters of interest included patient demographics, FLCr values,
      complete remission (CR)/relapse status, and time to progression (TTP). The FLCr
      values were recorded to provide time-dependent findings on the role of FLCr on
      progression-free survival and overall survival (OS). RESULTS: The mean follow-up
      time of 125 patients from five hospitals in the Czech Republic was 31 months. A
      total of 47.2% of patients relapsed (54 of 125) during the follow-up period. The
      median TTP of patients with normal FLCr (n = 66) was 54.4 and 40.2 months for
      patients with abnormal FLCr (n = 59) (P = 0.217). None of the patients reached
      median overall survival regardless of FLCr values (P = 0.821). In the subgroup of
      newly diagnosed patients after upfront autologous stem cell transplantation
      (ASCT), there were 55.6% of patients (35 of 63) with normal FLCr and 44.4% (28 of
      64) with abnormal FLCr. A total of 34.9% of patients (22 of 63) relapsed in this
      subgroup. Within the abnormal FLCr patients, a median TTP was 56.3 months, but no
      median TTP was reached among the normal FLCr patients (P = 0.746). Median OS in
      patients with normal (nFLCr) and abnormal FLCr (aFLCr) was not reached (P =
      0.787). CONCLUSION: We did not observe any benefit from FLCr normalization in CR
      in myeloma patients in terms of progression-free survival or overall survival.

PMID- 25816710
TI  - Purification and Characterization of a Novel Hemagglutinin with Inhibitory
      Activity toward Osteocarcinoma Cells from Northeast China Black Beans.
AB  - In the present study, we isolated a novel hemagglutinin from an edible legume and
      explored its growth-inhibitory effect on osteocarcinoma and liver cancer cells.
      The protein was purified by liquid chromatography techniques which entailed
      affinity chromatography on Affi-gel blue gel, ion-exchange chromatography on Mono
      Q, and gel filtration on Superdex 75 with an FPLC system. The hemagglutinating
      activity of this hemagglutinin was demonstrated to be ion dependent and stable
      over a wide range of temperature and pH values. Antiproliferative activity was
      observed in the tumor cell lines MG-63 and HepG2 but not in the normal cell line
      WRL 68. Osteocarcinoma cells treated with the hemagglutinin underwent obvious
      cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation, mitochondrial membrane depolarization,
      and apoptosis. The mRNA expression level of interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-6
      (IL-6), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1beta), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), and tumor
      necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) were found to be up-regulated to different
      extents after treatment of this hemagglutinin. 

PMID- 25816711
TI  - Focal hyperhidrosis secondary to eccrine naevus successfully treated with
      botulinum toxin type A.
AB  - Eccrine naevus (EN) is a rare skin hamartoma included in the organoid group of
      epidermal naevi, histologically defined as focal hyperplasia and/or hypertrophy
      of eccrine glands. Clinically, EN usually presents as hyperhidrotic patches with
      no visible skin changes, frequently located on the forearms. The decision to
      treat EN or not usually depends on the grade of hyperhidrosis, but there is no
      therapeutic consensus because of the rarity of this condition. We present a case
      diagnosed as EN in an adult patient with severe localized hyperhidrosis, which
      was successfully treated with botulinum toxin. 

PMID- 25816712
TI  - Detecting initial orthostatic hypotension: a novel approach.
AB  - Our purpose, by modification of standard bedside tilt-testing, was to search for
      lesser known but important initial orthostatic hypotension (IOH), occurring
      transiently within the first 30 seconds of standing, heretofore only detectable
      with sophisticated continuous photoplethysmographic monitoring systems, not
      readily available in most medical facilities. In screened outpatients over 60
      years of age, supine blood pressure (BP) parameters were recorded. To achieve
      readiness for immediate BP after standing, the cuff was re-inflated prior to
      standing, rather than after. Immediate, 1-, and 3-minute standing BPs were
      recorded. One hundred fifteen patients were studied (mean age, 71.1 years; 50.5%
      male). Eighteen (15.6%) had OH, of whom 14 (12.1%) had classical OH, and four
      (3.5%) had IOH. Early standing BP detection time was 20.1 +/- 5.3 seconds.
      Immediate transient physiologic systolic BP decline was detected in non-OH (-8.8
      +/- 9.9 mm Hg; P < .0001). In contrast to classical OH (with lesser but
      persistent orthostatic BP decrements), IOH patients had immediate mean
      orthostatic systolic/diastolic BP change of -32.8 (+/-13.8) mm Hg/-14.0 (+/-8.5)
      mm Hg (P < .02), with recovery back to baseline by 1 minute. Two of the four IOH
      patients had pre-syncopal symptoms. For the first time, using standard inflation
      deflation BP equipment, immediate transient standing physiologic BP decrement and
      IOH were demonstrated. This preliminary study confirms proof of principle that
      manual BP cuff inflation prior to standing may be useful and practical in
      diagnosing IOH, and may stimulate direct comparative studies with continuous
      monitoring systems.

PMID- 25816713
TI  - Comparison of atenolol versus bisoprolol with noninvasive hemodynamic and pulse
      wave assessment.
AB  - We aimed to compare atenolol versus bisoprolol regarding general hemodynamics,
      central-peripheral blood pressure (BP), pulse wave parameters, and arterial
      stiffness. In this open-label, crossover study, we recruited 19 hypertensives,
      untreated or with stable monotherapy. Patients were randomized to receive
      atenolol (25-50 mg) or bisoprolol (2.5-5 mg), and then switched medications after
      4 weeks. Studies were performed at baseline and after each drug period. In pulse
      wave analyses, both drugs significantly increased augmentation index (P < .01)
      and ejection duration (P < .02), and reduced heart rate (P < .001), brachial
      systolic BP (P <= .01), brachial diastolic BP (P <= .001), and central diastolic
      BP (P <= .001), but not central systolic BP (P >= .06). Impedance cardiographic
      assessment showed a significantly increased stroke volume (P <= .02). There were
      no significant differences in the effects between drugs. In conclusion, atenolol
      and bisoprolol show similar hemodynamic characteristics. Failure to decrease
      central systolic BP results from bradycardia with increased stroke volume and an
      earlier reflected aortic wave.

PMID- 25816714
TI  - A pilot study comparison of a new method for aortic pulse wave velocity
      measurements using transthoracic bioimpedance and thigh cuff oscillometry with
      the standard tonometric method.
AB  - Aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) can be measured with different methodologies,
      including applanation tonometry. These pilot study findings suggest that
      impedance cardiography combined with thigh oscillometry provides comparable
      results. Intra- and inter-observer variability was tested by two observers in two
      subjects. We instrumented 41 patients and 12 healthy normotensive controls for
      impedance cardiography and consecutive applanation tonometry and compared methods
      using the Bland-Altman method. Observer variability for the impedance-thigh cuff
      method (range, 3.61%-7.77%) was comparable with the tonometric method (range,
      2.93%-7.37%). Comparison of the two methods based on the Bland-Altman plot
      revealed a good agreement between methods. The bias between impedance and
      tonometric measurements was -0.28 +/- 0.37 m/s. Both measurements were
      significantly correlated (r(2) = 0.94; P < .0001; slope = 1.038).Impedance
      cardiography combined with thigh oscillometry is an easy to use approach which,
      in addition to providing hemodynamic information, yields aPWV measurements
      comparable to applanation tonometry. Following full validation according to
      current guidelines, the methodology could prove useful in cardiovascular risk
      stratification.

PMID- 25816715
TI  - The Nuclear Factor kappaB Inhibitor Pyrrolidine Dithiocarbamate Prevents Cardiac
      Remodelling and Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 Up-Regulation in Renovascular
      Hypertension.
AB  - Imbalanced matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity is involved in hypertensive
      cardiac hypertrophy. Pharmacological inhibition of nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kB)
      with pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) can prevent MMP up-regulation. We
      suggested that treatment with PDTC could prevent 2-kidney, 1-clip (2K1C)
      hypertension-induced left ventricular remodelling. Sham-operated controls or 2K1C
      rats with hypertension received either vehicle or PDTC (100 mg/kg/day) by gavage
      for 8 weeks. Systolic blood pressure was monitored every week. Histological
      assessment of left ventricles was carried out with haematoxylin/eosin sections,
      and fibrosis was quantified in picrosirius red-stained sections. Oxidative stress
      was evaluated in heart samples with the dihydroethidium probe. Cardiac MMP
      activity was determined by in situ zymography, and cardiac MMP-2 was assessed by
      immunofluorescence. 2K1C surgery significantly increased systolic blood pressure
      in the 2K1C vehicle. PDTC exerted antihypertensive effects after 2 weeks of
      treatment. Histology revealed increased left ventricular and septum wall
      thickness associated with augmented myocyte diameter in hypertensive rats, which
      were reversed by treatment with PDTC. Hypertensive rats developed pronounced
      cardiac fibrosis with increased interstitial collagen area, increased cardiac
      reactive oxygen species levels, gelatinase activity and MMP-2 expression. PDTC
      treatment decreased these alterations. These findings show that PDTC modulates
      myocardial MMP-2 expression and ameliorates cardiac remodelling in renovascular
      hypertension. These results suggest that interfering with MMP expression at
      transcriptional level may be an interesting strategy in the therapy of organ
      damage associated with hypertension. 

PMID- 25816716
TI  - What role for cities in food policy?

PMID- 25816717
TI  - Dysfibrinogenemia: from molecular anomalies to clinical manifestations and
      management.
AB  - Congenital dysfibrinogenemia is a qualitative congenital fibrinogen disorder
      characterized by normal antigen levels of a dysfunctional fibrinogen. The
      diagnosis is usually based on discrepancies between fibrinogen activity and
      antigen levels, but could require more specialized techniques for the assessment
      of fibrinogen function, owing to some limitations in routine assays. Molecular
      abnormalities, which are frequently heterozygous missense mutations localized in
      exon 2 of FGA and exon 8 of FGG, lead to defects in one or more phases of
      fibrinogen to fibrin conversion, fibrin network formation, and other important
      functions of fibrinogen. The clinical phenotype is highly heterogeneous, from no
      manifestations to bleeding and/or thrombotic events. Asymptomatic propositi and
      relatives with the predisposing genotype are at risk of developing adverse
      outcomes during the natural course of the disease. Correlations between genotype
      and phenotype have not yet been clearly established, with the exception of some
      abnormal fibrinogens that severely increase the risk of thrombosis. Functional
      analysis of polymerization and fibrinolysis, structural studies of the fibrin
      network and the viscoelastic properties of fibrin clot could help to predict the
      phenotype of congenital dysfibrinogenemia, but have not yet been evaluated in
      detail. The management is essentially based on personal and family history;
      however, even individuals who are still asymptomatic and without a family history
      should be carefully assessed and monitored. Particular situations, such as
      pregnancy, delivery, and surgery, require a multidisciplinary approach. 

PMID- 25816718
TI  - Early feeding after total laryngectomy results in shorter hospital stay without
      increased risk of complications: a retrospective case-control study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of a reduced nil per os (NPO) period after
      total laryngectomy (TLE) on general and wound-related post-operative
      complications, swallowing function and duration of hospital stay. DESIGN, SETTING
      AND PARTICIPANTS: In a retrospective case-control study in 71 patients after TLE
      with primary closure (i e. without reconstruction with tissue transfer),
      complications and hospitalisation in 36 patients who started oral feeding on days
      3-5 (early feeding) were compared with 30 patients who started oral feeding on
      days 7-10 (late feeding). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incidence of complications,
      swallowing function and duration of hospitalisation. RESULTS: There were no
      significant differences between the early- and late-feeding groups in the
      occurrence of pharyngocutaneous fistulae, neopharyngeal stenosis or wound
      complications in general. Swallowing function was comparable for both groups.
      Mean overall hospitalisation was 2 days shorter in the early-feeding group (mean:
      17.4 days) as compared to the late-feeding group (mean: 19.4 days) (P < 0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: Early feeding after TLE without flap reconstruction did not
      contribute to an increase in complications and led to a shorter hospital stay.

PMID- 25816719
TI  - How many Epley manoeuvres are required to treat benign paroxysmal positional
      vertigo?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the total number of Epley manoeuvres required to provide
      symptomatic relief to patients newly diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional
      vertigo. METHODS: This retrospective audit assessed every patient referred to the
      audiology department for investigations of their symptoms over a period of one
      year. Only patients diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo confirmed
      via a positive Dix-Hallpike test result, with no suggestion of dual pathology,
      were included. RESULTS: Seventy patients with a positive Dix-Hallpike test result
      were identified. The total number of Epley manoeuvres required ranged from one to
      five. Thirty-three patients (47 per cent) were asymptomatic following one Epley
      manoeuvre. Eleven patients (16 per cent) needed 2 manoeuvres and 15 patients (21
      per cent) required 3 manoeuvres for symptomatic control. CONCLUSION: Symptomatic
      control of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo was obtained following a single
      Epley manoeuvre for 47 per cent of patients. The majority of patients (84 per
      cent) experienced symptomatic improvement following three Epley manoeuvres.

PMID- 25816720
TI  - Genotype Correlations With Blood Pressure and Efficacy From a Randomized Phase
      III Trial of Second-Line Axitinib Versus Sorafenib in Metastatic Renal Cell
      Carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the phase III axitinib second-line (AXIS) trial, axitinib
      significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) versus sorafenib in
      patients with previously treated metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Analyses
      of associations between germline single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and
      outcomes are reported. PATIENTS AND METHODS: DNA samples from blood were
      genotyped using TaqMan allelic discrimination. Logistic/Cox regression analyses
      were used to evaluate association of 15 SNPs in vascular endothelial growth
      factor (VEGF)-A, VEGF receptor (VEGFR)1, VEGFR2, or hypoxia-inducible factor
      (HIF)-1alpha with outcomes for blood pressure (BP; Grade >= 3 hypertension,
      diastolic BP > 90 mm Hg, and increase >= 15 mm Hg from baseline) and efficacy
      (independent review committee-assessed objective response rate and PFS, and
      overall survival [OS]). Multivariate analyses assessed SNPs and baseline
      characteristics as potential predictors of PFS and OS. RESULTS: Genotype data
      were available for 305 (42.7%) of 714 patients; 159 received axitinib and 146
      sorafenib. After Bonferroni adjustment, no SNP was associated with BP outcomes.
      In axitinib-treated patients, VEGF-A rs699947 (A/A vs. C/C) and rs833061 (C/C vs.
      T/T) were associated with longer OS (27.0 vs. 13.4 months; hazard ratio [HR],
      0.39; Padjusted = .015). In sorafenib-treated patients, VEGFR2 rs2071559 (G/G vs.
      A/A) was associated with longer OS (26.8 vs. 13.8 months; HR, 0.41; Padjusted =
      .030). In multivariate analyses, no SNP predicted axitinib efficacy; VEGFR2
      rs2071559 predicted PFS (P = .0053) and OS (P = .0027) for sorafenib.
      Sensitivity/specificity of VEGFR2 rs2071559 for OS was < 80%. CONCLUSION: No SNP
      predicted axitinib outcomes. Although VEGFR2 rs2071559 predicted sorafenib
      efficacy in patients with mRCC, sensitivity/specificity limitations preclude its
      use for selecting individual patients for sorafenib treatment.

PMID- 25816721
TI  - A novel mechanism for improvement of dry skin by dietary milk phospholipids:
      Effect on epidermal covalently bound ceramides and skin inflammation in hairless
      mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dietary milk phospholipids (MPLs) increase hydration of the stratum
      corneum and reduced transepidermal water loss (TEWL) in hairless mice fed a
      standard diet. However, the mechanism by which MPLs improve skin barrier
      functions has yet to be established. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to
      examine the mechanism by which MPLs may affect covalently bound ceramides and
      markers of skin inflammation and improve the skin barrier defect in hairless mice
      fed a magnesium-deficient (HR-AD) diet. METHODS: Four-week-old female hairless
      mice were randomized into four groups (n=10/group), and fed a standard (control)
      diet, the HR-AD diet, the HR-AD diet supplemented with either 7.0 g/kg MPLs (low
      [L]-MPL) or 41.0 g/kg MPLs (high [H]-MPL). RESULTS: Dietary MPLs improved the dry
      skin condition of hairless mice fed the HR-AD diet. MPLs significantly increased
      the percentage of covalently bound omega-hydroxy ceramides in the epidermis, and
      significantly decreased both thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC)
      mRNA and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) mRNA levels in skin, compared with
      the HR-AD diet. Furthermore, the MPL diets significantly decreased serum
      concentrations of immunoglobulin-E, TARC, TSLP, and soluble P-selectin versus the
      HR-AD diet. CONCLUSION: Our study showed for the first time that dietary MPLs may
      modulate epidermal covalently bound ceramides associated with formation of
      lamellar structures and suppress skin inflammation, resulting in improved skin
      barrier function.

PMID- 25816722
TI  - LED 590 nm photomodulation reduces UVA-induced metalloproteinase-1 expression via
      upregulation of antioxidant enzyme catalase.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Light at visible spectrum has been associated with anti-inflammatory
      and anti-aging effects. Ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation is the most important
      environmental factor associated with exogenous aging via induction of reactive
      oxygen species (ROS). OBJECTIVE: In this study, we focused on elucidating the
      molecular mechanisms involved in biological effects associated with 590 nm light
      delivered from light emitting diode (LED). METHODS: UVA-induced metalloproteinase
      1 (MMP-1) expression in dermal fibroblast was used as a model system for
      investigation. RESULTS: Pretreating cultured human fibroblasts with 590 nm light
      attenuated UVA-induced ROS, phosphorylated Jun N-terminal kinases, and MMP-1
      expressions in a sequential manner. Pretreatment with potent antioxidant N
      acetylcysteine produced similar effect, suggesting enhanced antioxidant capacity
      induced by 590 nm photomodulation. Further experiments demonstrated that 590 nm
      photomodulation attenuated UVA-induced ROS and MMP-1 expressions via
      mitochondrial retrograde signaling that augments the antioxidant enzyme
      expression in a peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor gamma coactivator
      1alpha-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: Our results provided possible mechanistic
      insights explaining the effect of visible light on treating clinical conditions
      associated with ROS-mediated dysfunctions.

PMID- 25816723
TI  - Forward-viewing versus oblique-viewing echoendoscopes in the diagnosis of upper
      GI subepithelial lesions with EUS-guided FNA: a prospective, randomized,
      crossover study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The role of the forward-viewing echoendoscope compared with the
      oblique-viewing echoendoscope for EUS-guided FNA (EUS-FNA) of upper GI
      subepithelial lesions has not been defined. OBJECTIVE: To compare the diagnostic
      yield and clinical efficacy of EUS-FNA by using the 2 echoendoscopes in the same
      upper GI subepithelial lesion. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, crossover study.
      SETTING: Tertiary-care medical center. PATIENTS: Forty-one patients with an upper
      GI subepithelial lesion. INTERVENTIONS: All patients first underwent EUS-FNA with
      a 19-gauge needle by using both echoendoscopes, based on random selection. When
      required, 22-gauge or 25-gauge needles were used additionally. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASUREMENTS: Comparison of diagnostic yield, tissue sample area, puncture
      success rates, procedure time, and adverse events. RESULTS: Forty-one patients
      (median lesion size 22 mm, range 15-63 mm) were enrolled. Rates of histologic
      diagnosis were 80.5% (33/41) and 73.2% (30/41) (P=.453) by using forward-viewing
      and oblique-viewing echoendoscopes, respectively. Median tissue sample area in GI
      stromal tumors (n=22) obtained with the forward-viewing echoendoscope was larger
      than with the oblique-viewing echoendoscope (2.46 mm2 vs 1.00 mm2; P=.046).
      Puncture success rates were 39 of 41 (95.1%) and 35 of 41 (85.4%; P=.289) with
      forward-viewing and oblique-viewing echoendoscopes, respectively. Median
      procedure time was 21 minutes with the forward-viewing echoendoscope and 27
      minutes with the oblique-viewing echoendoscope (P=.009). An infectious adverse
      event occurred in a patient and was treated with antibiotics. LIMITATIONS: Small
      sample size. CONCLUSION: Diagnostic yield did not differ between the 2
      echoendoscopes. However, tissue sample area and procedure time were superior with
      the forward-viewing echoendoscope.

PMID- 25816725
TI  - Inter-rater Reliability and Misclassification of the ABCD(2) Score after
      Transient Ischemic Attack.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The ABCD(2) score was initially developed as a simple tool to help
      first-line clinicians identify patients at highest short-term risk for stroke
      after transient ischemic attack (TIA). The score is increasingly used for risk
      stratification of TIA patients, but little is known about its inter-rater
      reliability. The aim of the present study was to prospectively assess the inter
      rater reliability of the ABCD(2) score in patients with TIA, including a
      comparison among raters of different specialties. METHODS: Patients presenting to
      the emergency department with TIA within 48 hours of onset were prospectively
      evaluated. TIA was defined as acute onset of focal cerebral or monocular symptoms
      lasting less than 24 hours and presumed because of a vascular cause. Only
      patients who were asymptomatic at the time of enrollment were eligible. ABCD(2)
      scores determined by raters of different specialties were compared with those of
      a vascular neurology attending. Estimated component and total scores and ABCD(2)
      risk category were compared between raters. Reliability was assessed using
      unweighted kappa statistics. RESULTS: A total of 362 evaluations resulting in
      ABCD(2) scores were performed. In addition to the vascular neurology attending,
      scores were generated by internal medicine (n = 72), emergency medicine (n = 37),
      and neurology junior (n = 92) and senior (n = 57) residents. Based on attending
      scores, 35% of patients were categorized as low risk (ABCD(2) score, 0-3), 50% as
      moderate risk (ABCD(2) score, 4-5), and 16% as high risk (ABCD(2) score, 6-7).
      Inter-rater reliability was fair for ABCD(2) total score (kappa = .26) and
      category (kappa = .29). Raters agreed with the vascular neurology attending 67%
      (95% confidence interval [CI], 61%-73%) of the time for ABCD(2) category and 52%
      (95% CI, 46%-58%) of the time for ABCD(2) total score. Disagreement more often
      resulted in a lower score by the raters as compared with the vascular neurology
      attending for both ABCD(2) total score and category. Inter-rater reliability of
      component scores was near perfect for age (kappa = .95) and diabetes (kappa =
      .81) and substantial for blood pressure (kappa = .67), but only moderate for
      clinical features (kappa = .55) and duration (kappa = .48). CONCLUSIONS: The
      inter-rater reliability of the ABCD(2) score is only fair, with rater
      disagreement of ABCD(2) risk category in nearly one third of patients.

PMID- 25816724
TI  - Predictors of anxiety after stroke: a systematic review of observational studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anxiety disorders or symptoms are relatively common after stroke. A
      better understanding of the predictors of anxiety in stroke patients may improve
      the management of these disorders. The current review was conducted to determine
      the predictors of anxiety after stroke. METHODS: Relevant articles concerning
      population, hospital, or rehabilitation-based studies were identified by
      searching 10 electronic databases up to May 2014. Methodological quality
      appraisal, including the validity of prognostic models and data extraction were
      conducted by 3 reviewers. RESULTS: A total of 18 studies were identified. Data
      from 3 population-based studies including 8130 patients, 8 hospital-based studies
      including 1199 patients, and 7 rehabilitation-based studies including 1103
      patients were evaluated. Prestroke depression, stroke severity, early anxiety,
      and dementia or cognitive impairment after stroke were the main predictors of
      poststroke anxiety. Older age, physical disability or impairment, and use of
      antidepressant drugs were not associated with the presence of anxiety.
      Limitations of studies included wide variation in screening tools and cutoff
      scores, variability in the time frame of screening for anxiety, use of extensive
      exclusion criteria, and questionable statistical internal and external validity
      of the models. CONCLUSIONS: Lack of methodological and statistical rigor affects
      the validity of proposed models to predict anxiety after stroke. Future research
      should focus on testing proposed models on both internal and external samples to
      ultimately inform future clinical practice.

PMID- 25816726
TI  - Nanostructured Amphiphilic Star-Hyperbranched Block Copolymers for Drug Delivery.
AB  - A robust drug delivery system based on nanosized amphiphilic star-hyperbranched
      block copolymer, namely, poly(methyl methacrylate-block-poly(hydroxylethyl
      methacrylate) (PMMA-b-PHEMA) is described. PMMA-b-PHEMA was prepared by
      sequential visible light induced self-condensing vinyl polymerization (SCVP) and
      conventional vinyl polymerization. All of the synthesis and characterization
      details of the conjugates are reported. To accomplish tumor cell targeting
      property, initially cell-targeting (arginylglycylaspactic acid; RGD) and
      penetrating peptides (Cys-TAT) were binding to each other via the well-known
      EDC/NHS chemistry. Then, the resulting peptide was further incorporated to the
      surface of the amphiphilic hyperbranched copolymer via a coupling reaction
      between the thiol (-SH) group of the peptide and the hydroxyl group of copolymer
      by using N-(p-maleinimidophenyl) isocyanate as a heterolinker. The drug release
      property and targeting effect of the anticancer drug (doxorobucin; DOX) loaded
      nanostructures to two different cell lines were evaluated in vitro. U87 and MCF-7
      were chosen as integrin alphavbeta3 receptor positive and negative cells for the
      comparison of the targeting efficiency, respectively. The data showed that drug
      loaded copolymers exhibited enhanced cell inhibition toward U87 cells in compared
      to MCF-7 cells because targeting increased the cytotoxicity of drug-loaded
      copolymers against integrin alphavbeta3 receptor expressing tumor cells. 

PMID- 25816728
TI  - The new dyslipidemia guidelines: what is the debate?
AB  - Dyslipidemia is a major risk factor for the development of atherosclerotic
      disease. Therefore, lifestyle interventions and pharmacological approaches to
      decrease cholesterol are widely used in cardiovascular disease prevention. The
      introduction and widespread use of 3-hydroxy-3 methylglutaryl coenzyme A
      inhibitors (statins) for individuals at risk of atherosclerotic disease has been
      an important advance in cardiovascular care. There can be no doubt that better
      control of dyslipidemia, even in subjects whose low-density lipoprotein
      cholesterol level is not particularly high, has reduced overall event rates. On a
      background of lifestyle interventions, statins are routinely used to decrease
      risk along with aspirin and interventions to control hypertension and diabetes.
      More than other risk factors, the approach to the identification and treatment of
      dyslipidemia has been heterogeneous and widely debated. The recent release of the
      2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association dyslipidemia
      guidelines has reignited the controversy over the best approach for risk
      stratification and treatment. In this article we review the importance of statin
      therapy for global cardiovascular risk reduction, compare the Canadian
      Cardiovascular Society dyslipidemia guidelines with other standards, and discuss
      the points of debate. Despite the seeming variety of recommendations, their
      common link is a systematic approach to risk stratification and treatment, which
      will continue to benefit our patients at risk. 

PMID- 25816729
TI  - Whatever will be, will be: spontaneous chest wall hematoma with regular use of
      low-dose acetylsalicylic Acid.

PMID- 25816730
TI  - Eosinophilic annular erythema limited on the palms and the soles and possibly
      associated with thymoma.

PMID- 25816731
TI  - Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D is associated with major cardiovascular risk factors
      and cardiac structure and function in patients with coronary artery disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with increased risk
      for cardiovascular (CV) disease, but the possible effects of Vitamin D on cardiac
      structure and function are not well characterized. METHODS AND RESULTS: The
      correlation between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and metabolic and cardiac
      echocardiographic parameters was studied in ARTEMIS study population including
      831diabetic and 659 non-diabetic patients with stable coronary artery disease
      (CAD). Low levels of Vitamin D were associated with high BMI (p < 0.001), high
      total and LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels (p < 0.001 for all) in both
      diabetics and non-diabetics. Among non-diabetic patients, low Vitamin D was also
      associated independently with elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p <
      0.005). Low Vitamin D levels were independently associated with reduced left
      ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (p < 0.005) and increased left atrial diameter
      (p < 0.03) measured by cardiac ultrasound by 2-dimensional echo. In the non
      diabetic group, low Vitamin D levels were associated with impaired LV filling
      (high E/E') (p < 0.03) and low E/A mitral flow pattern measured by Doppler
      echocardiography (p < 0.05). Among diabetics, low Vitamin D levels were also
      related to increased LV end-systolic diameter (p < 0.05) and right ventricular
      diameter (p < 0.005). The association between LV diastolic filling (E/E') and
      Vitamin D levels was significant (p < 0.01) after adjustment for the commonly
      recognized risk factors of diastolic dysfunction in linear regression analysis.
      CONCLUSIONS: Low Vitamin D is associated with several major cardiovascular risk
      factors and cardiac structural changes including impaired systolic and diastolic
      function, which together may explain the association of low Vitamin D to worse
      cardiovascular outcome.

PMID- 25816733
TI  - Energy expenditure and heart rate response to breaking up sedentary time with
      three different physical activity interventions.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Prolonged sedentary behaviour is associated with increased
      cardiovascular disease risk and decreased energy expenditure (EE). Workplace
      interventions breaking up sedentary time have increased EE but the cardiovascular
      responses are unknown. The practicalities of these interventions, such as
      required costs and workplace adaptations, are questioned. Calisthenics exercises
      overcome such limitations, but have not been assessed. The aim of this study was
      to assess the EE and heart rate (HR) response when breaking up sedentary time
      with a short bout of standing, walking or calisthenics. METHODS AND RESULTS:
      Twenty healthy participants (15 male) completed four 30 min conditions: a) 30 min
      sitting, or breaking up this period with two minutes of b) standing, c) treadmill
      walking (4 km.h(-1)) or d) a set of calisthenics exercises (including squats and
      lunges). HR and EE (indirect calorimetry) were assessed throughout. During the
      activity break, calisthenics caused the highest HR (90 +/- 12 bpm) compared to
      all other conditions (Sit: 70 +/- 12 bpm; Stand:72 +/- 13 bpm; Walk:84 +/- 10
      bpm; p < 0.001) and EE was the highest with calisthenics (13 +/- 5 kcal) compared
      to all conditions except walking (Sit:3 +/- 1 kcal; Stand:5 +/- 1 kcal; p <
      0.001). The recovery following calisthenics had highest total EE (27 +/- 7 kcal)
      compared to walking (23 +/- 6 kcal) and standing (22 +/- 6 kcal) and also the
      longest elevation of HR (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Calisthenics led to a greater
      total EE and HR response compared to standing or walking interventions.
      Calisthenics may be a time efficient method to break up sedentary time without
      individuals leaving their work environment. Hence calisthenics could be utilised
      to disrupt workplace sedentary time and improve cardiovascular health and assist
      in weight management.

PMID- 25816732
TI  - The lipid theory in the pathogenesis of calcific aortic stenosis.
AB  - AIMS: Biologically active phenomena, triggered by atherogenesis and inflammation,
      lead to aortic valve (AV) calcification. Lipids play an important role in
      activating the cell signaling leading to AV bone deposition. This review, based
      on evidence from animal and human studies, mainly focused on the involvement of
      lipids and atherogenic phenomena in the pathogenesis of calcific aortic stenosis
      (AS). DATA SYNTHESIS: The role of elevated low density lipoproteins for the risk
      of both vascular atherosclerosis and AS has been elucidated. Lipid disorders act
      synergistically with other risk factors to increase prevalence of calcific AS.
      Atherosclerosis is also involved in the pathogenesis of bone demineralization, a
      typical hallmark of aging, which is associated with ectopic calcification at
      vascular and valvular levels. Animal studies have recently contributed to
      demonstrate that lipids play an important role in AS pathogenesis through the
      activation of molecular cell signalings, such as Wnt/Lrp5 and
      RANK/RANKL/Osteprotegerin, which induce the transition of valvular myofibroblasts
      toward an osteogenic phenotype with consequent valvular bone deposition. Although
      all these evidence strongly support the lipid theory in AS pathogenesis, lipids
      lowering therapies failed to demonstrate in controlled trials a significant
      efficacy to slow AS progression. Encouraging results from animal studies indicate
      that physical activity may counteract the biological processes inducing AV
      degeneration. CONCLUSIONS: This review indicates a robust interplay between
      lipids, inflammation, and calcific AS. This new pathophysiological scenario of
      such an emerging valvular disease paves the way to the next challenge of
      cardiovascular research: "prevent and care aortic valve stenosis".

PMID- 25816735
TI  - Corrigendum.

PMID- 25816734
TI  - Lower bone turnover markers in metabolic syndrome and diabetes: the population
      based Study of Health in Pomerania.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Accumulating evidence demonstrates an important interaction
      between bone and energy metabolism. We aimed to study the associations of three
      bone turnover markers (BTM: osteocalcin, beta-crosslaps, procollagen type 1 N
      terminal propeptide) as well as of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone
      with metabolic syndrome (MetS) or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in a large
      population-based cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS: This cross-sectional study
      comprised 2671 adult men and women participating in the first follow-up of the
      population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP-1). Multivariable logistic
      regression analyses were performed to assess sex-specific associations between
      the BTMs, 25-hydroxyvitamin D or parathyroid hormone and metabolic disease. All
      models were adjusted for age, body mass index, smoking status, physical activity,
      estimated glomerular filtration rate and month of blood sampling. The models for
      women were further adjusted for menopausal status. Higher BTM or 25
      hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were associated with significantly lower odds for
      metabolic disease, while there was no association between parathyroid hormone and
      MetS or T2DM. CONCLUSION: Our results contribute to the accumulating evidence of
      a cross-sectional association between high BTM or 25-hydroxyvitamin D
      concentrations and a lower prevalence of MetS or T2DM. Further research is
      necessary to evaluate the mechanisms underlying these results.

PMID- 25816737
TI  - The role of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation in community-acquired
      pneumonia: Author's response.

PMID- 25816738
TI  - SSCP is not suitable as screening technique to detect mutations in ERG11 gene
      from Candida species.

PMID- 25816736
TI  - Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor activates JAK2/PI3K/PDE3B pathway to
      inhibit corticosterone synthesis in a neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury rat
      model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our previous study demonstrated that granulocyte-colony stimulating
      factor (G-CSF)-induced neuroprotection is accompanied by an inhibition of
      corticosterone production in a neonatal hypoxic-ischemic (HI) rat model. The
      present study investigates how G-CSF inhibits corticosterone production, using
      adrenal cortical cells and HI rat pups. METHODS: Cholera toxin was used to induce
      corticosterone synthesis in a rodent Y1 adrenal cortical cell line by increasing
      cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). Both corticosterone and cAMP were
      quantitatively measured using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
      (ELISA). The downstream signaling components of the G-CSF receptor, including
      Janus Kinase 2 (JAK2)/Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Protein kinase B (Akt)
      and Phosphodiesterase 3B (PDE3B), were detected by western blot. Sprague-Dawley
      rat pups at the age of 10days (P10) were subjected to unilateral carotid artery
      ligation followed by hypoxia for 2.5hours. Brain infarction volumes were
      determined using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride monohydrate (TTC) staining.
      RESULTS: G-CSF at 30ng/ml inhibited corticosterone synthesis but lost its
      inhibitory effect at higher doses. The inhibitory effect of G-CSF was conferred
      by interfering with cAMP signaling via the activation of the JAK2/PI3K/PDE3B
      signaling pathway. The degradation of cAMP by G-CSF signaling reduced
      corticosterone production. This mechanism was further verified in the neonatal HI
      brain injury rat model, in which inhibition of PDE3B reversed the protective
      effects of G-CSF. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the neuroprotective G-CSF
      reduces corticosterone synthesis at the adrenal level by degrading intracellular
      cAMP via activation of the JAK2/PI3K/PDE3B pathway.

PMID- 25816739
TI  - To facilitate the advance of hydrology, water resources and environmental
      research in China.

PMID- 25816740
TI  - 4q12 translocations with GSX2 expression identify a CD7(+) acute myeloid
      leukaemia subset.

PMID- 25816741
TI  - Continuous models for cell-cell adhesion.
AB  - Cell adhesion is the binding of a cell to another cell or to an extracellular
      matrix component. This process is essential in organ formation during embryonic
      development and in maintaining multicellular structure. Armstrong et al. (2006)
      [J. Theor. Biol. 243, pp. 98-113] proposed a nonlocal advection-diffusion system
      as a possible continuous mathematical model for cell-cell adhesion. Although the
      system is attractive and challenging, it gives biologically unrealistic numerical
      solutions under certain situations. We identify the problems and change
      underlying idea of cell movement from "cells move randomly" to "cells move from
      high to low pressure regions". Then we provide a modified continuous model for
      cell-cell adhesion. Numerical experiments illustrate that the modified model is
      able to replicate not only Steinberg's cell sorting experiments but also some
      phenomena which cannot be captured at all by Armstrong-Painter-Sherratt model. 

PMID- 25816742
TI  - A sampling formula for ecological communities with multiple dispersal syndromes.
AB  - Over the past decade, the neutral theory of biodiversity has stirred up community
      assembly theory considerably by suggesting that stochasticity in the form of
      ecological drift is an important factor determining community composition and
      community turnover. The neutral theory assumes that all species within a
      community are functionally equivalent (the neutrality assumption), and therefore
      applies best to communities of trophically similar species. Evidently,
      trophically similar species may still differ in dispersal ability, and therefore
      may not be completely functionally equivalent. Here we present a new sampling
      formula that takes into account the partitioning of a community into two guilds
      that differ in immigration rate. We show that, using this sampling formula, we
      can accurately detect a subdivision into guilds from species abundance
      distributions, given ecological data about dispersal ability. We apply our
      sampling formula to tropical tree data from Barro Colorado Island, Panama.
      Tropical trees are divided depending on their dispersal mode, where biotically
      dispersed trees are grouped as one guild, and abiotically dispersed trees
      represent another guild. We find that breaking neutrality by adding guild
      structure to the neutral model significantly improves the fit to data and
      provides a better understanding of community assembly on BCI. Our findings are
      thus an important step towards an integration of neutral and niche theory. 

PMID- 25816743
TI  - A stochastic model of eye lens growth.
AB  - The size and shape of the ocular lens must be controlled with precision if light
      is to be focused sharply on the retina. The lifelong growth of the lens depends
      on the production of cells in the anterior epithelium. At the lens equator,
      epithelial cells differentiate into fiber cells, which are added to the surface
      of the existing fiber cell mass, increasing its volume and area. We developed a
      stochastic model relating the rates of cell proliferation and death in various
      regions of the lens epithelium to deposition of fiber cells and radial lens
      growth. Epithelial population dynamics were modeled as a branching process with
      emigration and immigration between proliferative zones. Numerical simulations
      were in agreement with empirical measurements and demonstrated that, operating
      within the strict confines of lens geometry, a stochastic growth engine can
      produce the smooth and precise growth necessary for lens function. 

PMID- 25816744
TI  - Factors impact the adherence rate of prophylaxis for deep venous thrombosis in
      acute ischaemic stroke patients: an analysis of the China National Stroke
      Registry.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Little is known about the clinical practice of deep venous thrombosis
      (DVT) prophylaxis in patients with acute ischaemic stroke in China. We examined
      the factors that impact the adherence rate of DVT prophylaxis in stroke patients
      from the China National Stroke Registry (CNSR). METHODS: Records of 12 173 acute
      ischaemic stroke patients with follow-up admitted to 132 hospitals in CNSR from
      September 1, 2007 to August 30, 2008 were reviewed. Data from 4643 patients
      eligible for DVT prophylaxis were analysed. Generalised estimating equations were
      used to identify the patient's and hospital's factors that impact the practice of
      DVT prophylaxis. RESULTS: Among 4643 acute ischaemic stroke patients eligible for
      DVT prophylaxis, the overall adherence rate of DVT prophylaxis was 59.6%. The
      median hospital prophylaxis rate was 57.8% (inter quartile range: 33.3(70.2%).
      Venous thromboembolism was found in 1.6% of patients. Factors associated with
      increased likelihood of practicing DVT prophylaxis in the multivariable model
      included history of atrial fibrillation (AF) (P = 0.04), receiving rehabilitation
      evaluation (P < 0.001), receiving care in the East (P < 0.001) or Central (P =
      0.001) regions compared to west regions of China. Increasing age (P = 0.014),
      NIHSS score on admission (P < 0.001), annual stroke discharges (P = 0.001), and
      the hospital size (P = 0.003) were associated with lower likelihood of DVT
      prophylaxis. DISCUSSION: The adherence rate of DVT prophylaxis among non
      ambulance patients with acute ischaemic stroke was suboptimal in China. It varied
      among patients by age, stroke severity, and history of AF, and among hospitals by
      different locations, number of beds and annual stroke discharges.

PMID- 25816745
TI  - First report of a FXII gene mutation in a Brazilian family with hereditary angio
      oedema with normal C1 inhibitor.

PMID- 25816746
TI  - Does training frequency and supervision affect compliance, performance and
      muscular health? A cluster randomized controlled trial.
AB  - The aim was to determine the effect of one weekly hour of specific strength
      training within working hours, performed with the same total training volume but
      with different training frequencies and durations, or with different levels of
      supervision, on compliance, muscle health and performance, behavior and work
      performance. In total, 573 office workers were cluster-randomized to: 1 WS: one
      60-min supervised session/week, 3 WS: three 20-min supervised sessions/week, 9
      WS: nine 7-min supervised sessions/week, 3 MS: three 20-min sessions/week with
      minimal supervision, or REF: a reference group without training. Outcomes were
      diary-based compliance, total training volume, muscle performance and
      questionnaire-based health, behavior and work performance. Comparisons were made
      among the WS training groups and between 3 WS and 3 MS. If no difference,
      training groups were collapsed (TG) and compared with REF. Results demonstrated
      similar degrees of compliance, mean(range) of 39(33-44)%, and total training
      volume, 13.266(11.977-15.096)kg. Musculoskeletal pain in neck and shoulders were
      reduced with approx. 50% in TG, which was significant compared with REF. Only the
      training groups improved significantly their muscle strength 8(4-13)% and
      endurance 27(12-37)%, both being significant compared with REF. No change in
      workability, productivity or self-rated health was demonstrated. Secondary
      analysis showed exercise self-efficacy to be a significant predictor of
      compliance. Regardless of training schedule and supervision, similar degrees of
      compliance were shown together with reduced musculoskeletal pain and improved
      muscle performance. These findings provide evidence that a great degree of
      flexibility is legitimate for companies in planning future implementation of
      physical exercise programs at the workplace. ClinicalTrials.gov, number
      NCT01027390.

PMID- 25816747
TI  - Age- and location-related changes in microglial function.
AB  - Inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS) is primarily regulated by
      microglia. No longer considered a homogenous population, microglia display a high
      degree of heterogeneity, immunological diversity and regional variability in
      function. Given their low rate of self-renewal, the microenvironment in which
      microglia reside may play an important role in microglial senescence. This study
      examines age-related changes in microglia in the brain and spinal cord. Using ex
      vivo flow cytometry analyses, functional assays were performed to assess changes
      in microglial morphology, oxidative stress, cytokine production, and phagocytic
      activity with age in both the brain and spinal cord. The regional CNS environment
      had a significant effect on microglial activity with age. Blood-CNS barrier
      permeability was greater in the aging spinal cord compared with aging brain; this
      was associated with increased tissue cytokine levels. Aged microglia had deficits
      in phagocytosis at baseline and after stimulus-induced activation. The
      identification of age-specific, high scatter microglia together with the use of
      ex-vivo functional analyses provides the first functional characterization of
      senescent microglia. Age and regional-specificity of CNS disease should be taken
      into consideration when developing immune-modulatory treatments.

PMID- 25816748
TI  - Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-2 is involved in prion-induced
      microglial activation but does not contribute to prion pathogenesis in mouse
      brains.
AB  - Dysfunctional variants of the innate immune cell surface receptor TREM2
      (triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-2) were identified as major
      genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative
      conditions. Here we assessed a possible involvement of TREM2 in prion disease. We
      report that TREM2 expression by microglia is significantly up-regulated upon
      prion infection. However, depletion of TREM2 did not affect disease incubation
      time and survival after intracerebral prion infection. Interestingly, markers of
      microglial activation were attenuated in prion-infected TREM2(-/-) mice,
      suggesting an involvement of TREM2 in prion-induced microglial activation.
      Further phenotype profiling of microglia revealed that TREM2 deficiency did not
      change microglial phenotypes. We conclude that TREM2 is involved in prion-induced
      microglial activation but does not noticeably modulate the pathogenesis of
      experimental prion infections. 

PMID- 25816749
TI  - Maintaining gut ecosystems for health: Are transitory food bugs stowaways or part
      of the crew?
AB  - Do food ecosystems feed gut ecosystems? And if so... fuel the immune system?
      Recent developments in metagenomics have provided researchers tools to open the
      "black box" of microbiome science. These novel technologies have enabled the
      establishment of correlations between dysbiotic microbial communities and many
      diseases. The complex interaction of the commensal microbiota with the immune
      system is a topic of substantial interest due to its relevance to health. The
      human gastrointestinal tract is composed of an immense number of resident and
      transient microorganisms. Both may play a direct and vital role in the
      maintenance of human health and well-being. An understanding of the interactions
      and mechanisms through which commensal and food-derived microbes shape host
      immunity and metabolism may yield new insights into the pathogenesis of many
      immune-mediated diseases. Consequently, by manipulating the contribution of food
      microbiota to the functionality of the gut ecosystem, there is great hope for
      development of new prophylactic and therapeutic interventions. This paper
      presents some insights and comments on the possible impact of exogenous fermented
      food microbes on the gut homeostasis. We shed light on the similar features
      shared by both fermented food microbes and probiotics. In particular, the key
      role of microbial strains as part of food ecosystems for health and diseases is
      discussed through the prism of fermented dairy products and gut inflammation. 

PMID- 25816751
TI  - HSF1 transcriptional activity is modulated by IER5 and PP2A/B55.
AB  - Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) is the master transcriptional regulator of chaperone
      genes. HSF1 regulates the expression of the immediate-early response gene IER5,
      which encodes a protein that has roles in the stress response and cell
      proliferation. Here, we have shown that IER5 interacts with protein phosphatase
      2A (PP2A) and its B55 regulatory subunits. Expression of IER5 and B55 in cells
      leads to HSF1 dephosphorylation and activation of HSF1 target genes. The B55
      subunits directly bind to HSF1. These results suggest that IER5 functions as a
      positive feedback regulator of HSF1 and that this process involves PP2A/B55 and
      HSF1 dephosphorylation. 

PMID- 25816752
TI  - DAMPs activating innate immune responses in sepsis.
AB  - Sepsis refers to the deleterious and non-resolving systemic inflammatory response
      of the host to microbial infection and is the leading cause of death in intensive
      care units. The pathogenesis of sepsis is highly complex. It is principally
      attributable to dysregulation of the innate immune system. Damage-associated
      molecular patterns (DAMPs) are actively secreted by innate immune cells and/or
      released passively by injured or damaged cells in response to infection or
      injury. In the present review, we highlight emerging evidence that supports the
      notion that extracellular DAMPs act as crucial proinflammatory danger signals.
      Furthermore, we discuss the potential of a wide array of DAMPs as therapeutic
      targets in sepsis. 

PMID- 25816750
TI  - Promiscuous actions of small molecule inhibitors of the protein kinase D-class
      IIa HDAC axis in striated muscle.
AB  - PKD-mediated phosphorylation of class IIa HDACs frees the MEF2 transcription
      factor to activate genes that govern muscle differentiation and growth. Studies
      of the regulation and function of this signaling axis have involved MC1568 and Go
      6976, which are small molecule inhibitors of class IIa HDAC and PKD catalytic
      activity, respectively. We describe unanticipated effects of these compounds.
      MC1568 failed to inhibit class IIa HDAC catalytic activity in vitro, and exerted
      divergent effects on skeletal muscle differentiation compared to a bona fide
      inhibitor of these HDACs. In cardiomyocytes, Go-6976 triggered calcium signaling
      and activated stress-inducible kinases. Based on these findings, caution is
      warranted when employing MC1568 and Go-6976 as pharmacological tool compounds to
      assess functions of class IIa HDACs and PKD. 

PMID- 25816753
TI  - An SCD gene from the Mollusca and its upregulation in carotenoid-enriched
      scallops.
AB  - Carotenoids are a diverse group of red, orange, and yellow pigments that act as
      vitamin A precursors and antioxidants. Animals can only obtain carotenoids
      through their diets. Amongst the carotenoids identified in nature, over one third
      are of marine origin, but current research on carotenoid absorption in marine
      species is limited. Bivalves possess an adductor muscle, which is normally white
      in scallops. However, a new variety of Yesso scallop (Patinopecten yessoensis),
      the 'Haida golden scallop', can be distinguished by its adductor muscle's orange
      colour, which is caused by carotenoid accumulation. Studying the genes related to
      carotenoid accumulation in this scallop could benefit our understanding of the
      mechanisms underlying carotenoid absorption in marine organisms, and it could
      further improve scallop breeding for carotenoid content. Stearoyl-CoA desaturase
      (SCD) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the production of monounsaturated fatty
      acids, which enhance carotenoid absorption. Here, the full-length cDNA and
      genomic DNA sequences of the SCD gene from the Yesso scallop (PySCD) were
      obtained. The PySCD gene consisted of four exons and three introns, and it
      contained a 990-bp open reading frame encoding 329 amino acids. It was
      ubiquitously expressed in adult tissues, embryos and larvae of both white Yesso
      scallops and 'Haida golden' scallops. Although the expression pattern of PySCD in
      both types of scallops was similar, significantly more PySCD transcripts were
      detected in the 'Haida golden' scallops than in the white scallops. Elevated
      PySCD expression was found in tissues including the adductor muscle, digestive
      gland, and gonad, as well as in veliger larvae. This study represents the first
      characterisation of an SCD gene from the Mollusca. Our data imply that PySCD
      functions in multiple biological processes, and it might be involved in
      carotenoid accumulation.

PMID- 25816754
TI  - Peripheral expression of hepcidin gene in Egyptian beta-thalassemia major.
AB  - Iron overload is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in transfusion
      dependent beta-thalassemia major patients. There is a sophisticated balance of
      body iron metabolism of storage and transport which is regulated by several
      factors including the peptide hepcidin. Hepcidin is the main iron regulatory
      molecule; it is secreted mainly by the liver and other tissues including
      monocytes and lymphocytes. Expression of hepcidin in such cells is unclear and
      has been studied in few reports with controverted result. Peripheral expression
      of hepcidin was measured using quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) in 50 beta
      thalassemia major patients, in addition to 20 healthy volunteers as a control
      group. Hepcidin levels in beta-thalassemia major patients showed statistically
      significant decrease in comparison to the control group, and was correlated to
      cardiac iron stores (T2*). However, hepcidin level was not different among the
      patients according to the HCV status or whether splenectomized or not. In
      conclusion; peripheral expression of hepcidin, in iron overloaded beta
      thalassemia major patients, is a reflection of hepatic expression. It can be used
      as a molecular predictor for the severity of cardiac iron overload and can be
      used as a future target for therapy in beta-thalassemia major patients. 

PMID- 25816755
TI  - Impact of interviewers' supportive comments and children's reluctance to
      cooperate during sexual abuse disclosure.
AB  - In the field of child sexual abuse (CSA) disclosure, many studies have been
      conducted on the impact of interviewers' questioning style, but few have examined
      the impact of interviewers' supportive comments on children's cooperative and
      reluctant disclosure of substantive details. This field study used a sample of
      children ranging from 4 to 13 years of age who have all disclosed CSA. The first
      objective was to examine if the interviewer's and the child's comments during CSA
      interviews would vary as a function of the use of the National Institute of Child
      Health and Human Development (NICHD) Protocol. The second objective was to
      identify the strongest correlates of the proportion of details disclosed by the
      children during forensic interviews. A total of 90 matched NICHD Protocol and non
      Protocol interviews done by the same interviewers were audio-taped, transcribed,
      and coded using verbal subscales. The goal was to explore if differences exist
      between the interviewers' supportive and non-supportive comments as well as
      children's cooperative and reluctant statements during investigative interviews
      conducted prior to or after the NICHD Protocol training. Results of a MANCOVA
      showed that the use of the NICHD Protocol had no influence on interviewers' and
      children's demeanors. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis controlling for
      relevant variables (e.g., child's age and NICHD Protocol) showed that children's
      reluctance and interviewers' non-support were associated with a lesser proportion
      of details. Overall, these results indicate that in order to promote detailed
      disclosure of CSA, interviewers should decrease their non-supportive comments and
      learn to deal more effectively with children's reluctance during forensic
      interviews. As such, protocols and training should encourage investigative
      interviewers to devote more time identifying early signs of children's verbal
      reluctance and to understand the negative impact of non-supportive comments on
      the disclosure of substantive details. 

PMID- 25816757
TI  - Improving in vitro maturation and pregnancy outcome in cattle using a novel
      oocyte shipping and maturation system not requiring a CO2 gas phase.
AB  - The present work evaluated the benefit of a novel shipping and maturation medium
      (SMM) not requiring a CO2 gas for maturation and subsequent embryonic development
      of slaughterhouse and ovum pickup (OPU) bovine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs).
      Four experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, COCs were maturated for 18
      hours in SMM and then incubated for 6 hours in, or 24 hours in a conventional
      system (control). Experiment 2 compared maturation for 24 hours in SMM versus 24
      hours in the control. Experiment 3 compared three different incubation
      temperatures (37  degrees C, 38  degrees C, and 38.5  degrees C) for COCs
      maturation in SMM. In experiment 4, COCs obtained from 166 OPU sessions
      (representing two dairy and two beef breeds) in two locations (Wisconsin and
      California) were matured in SMM or control and evaluated relative to embryo
      production and pregnancy rates. Frozen semen was used for all experiments. The
      results for experiment 1 showed that the blastocyst rate and total embryo
      production rate (TE, Day-7 morulae plus all blastocysts) were higher for SMM than
      those in the control. However, no differences were observed for cleavage rate or
      blastocyst stage. In experiment 2, the blastocyst rate and TE were higher for SMM
      than those in the control; however, there was no difference for cleavage rate,
      total cell number, blastocyst stage. In experiment 3, the cleavage rate was
      similar, but the blastocyst rate and TE were greater for 38.5  degrees C than
      those for 38.0  degrees C and 37.5  degrees C. For experiment 4, Wisconsin OPU
      derived COCs had a greater cleavage rate, blastocyst rate, TE, and blastocyst
      stage for SMM versus control. There were no breed effects. For the California
      trial, OPU-derived COCs matured in SMM had similar cleavage and pregnancy rates
      at Day 35 but greater blastocyst rates and transferred embryos per session than
      the control, which resulted in 2.2 more pregnancies per OPU session. Holstein
      COCs had superior embryonic development but similar pregnancy compared with
      Jersey. We conclude that COCs matured in SMM had greater oocyte competence than
      the control. Also, maturation at 38.5  degrees C in SMM was optimal for embryonic
      development. In summary, SMM resulted in greater embryonic development, similar
      pregnancy rates, but higher pregnancies per OPU session than the conventional
      maturation system.

PMID- 25816756
TI  - Sexual abuse, residential schooling and probable pathological gambling among
      Indigenous Peoples.
AB  - Sexual abuse leads to short-term and long-lasting pervasive outcomes, including
      addictions. Among Indigenous Peoples, sexual abuse experienced in the context of
      residential schooling may have led to unresolved grief that is contributing to
      social problems, such as pathological (disordered) gambling. The aim of this
      study is to investigate the link between child sexual abuse, residential
      schooling and probable pathological gambling. The participants were 358
      Indigenous persons (54.2% women) aged between 18 and 87 years, from two
      communities and two semi-urban centers in Quebec (Canada). Probable pathological
      gambling was evaluated using the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), and sexual
      abuse and residential schooling were assessed with dichotomous questions
      (yes/no). The results indicate an 8.7% past-year prevalence rate of pathological
      gambling problems among participants, which is high compared with the general
      Canadian population. Moreover, 35.4% were sexually abused, while 28.1% reported
      having been schooled in a residential setting. The results of a logistic
      regression also indicate that experiences of child sexual abuse and residential
      schooling are associated with probable pathological gambling among Indigenous
      Peoples. These findings underscore the importance of using an ecological approach
      when treating gambling, to address childhood traumas alongside current addiction
      problems. 

PMID- 25816758
TI  - Electride support boosts nitrogen dissociation over ruthenium catalyst and shifts
      the bottleneck in ammonia synthesis.
AB  - Novel approaches to efficient ammonia synthesis at an ambient pressure are
      actively sought out so as to reduce the cost of ammonia production and to allow
      for compact production facilities. It is accepted that the key is the development
      of a high-performance catalyst that significantly enhances dissociation of the
      nitrogen-nitrogen triple bond, which is generally considered a rate-determining
      step. Here we examine kinetics of nitrogen and hydrogen isotope exchange and
      hydrogen adsorption/desorption reactions for a recently discovered efficient
      catalyst for ammonia synthesis--ruthenium-loaded 12CaO.7Al2O3 electride
      (Ru/C12A7:e(-))--and find that the rate controlling step of ammonia synthesis
      over Ru/C12A7:e(-) is not dissociation of the nitrogen-nitrogen triple bond but
      the subsequent formation of N-Hn species. A mechanism of ammonia synthesis
      involving reversible storage and release of hydrogen atoms on the Ru/C12A7:e(-)
      surface is proposed on the basis of observed hydrogen absorption/desorption
      kinetics.

PMID- 25816759
TI  - Depressive and anxiety symptoms and social support are independently associated
      with disease-specific quality of life in Colombian patients with rheumatoid
      arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between disease-specific Quality of Life
      (QOL) and socio-demographic, medical, and psychosocial factors in Colombian
      patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). METHODS: One hundred and three RA
      patients recruited from ambulatory centers in Neiva, Colombia were administered
      the Disease Activity Scale 28 (DAS-28), QOL-RA, Zung Self-Rating Depression
      Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Interpersonal Support Evaluation
      List-12 (ISEL-12), and Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90R). RESULTS: Lower QOL
      RA was associated with lower socio-economic status (SES; r=0.26, p<0.01), higher
      likelihood of using opioids (t=-2.51, p<0.05), higher likelihood of comorbid
      pulmonary disease (t=-2.22, p<0.05), and lower ISEL-12 sub-scales (r's=0.41-0.31,
      p's<0.001). Lower QOL-RA was associated with higher DAS-28 (r=-0.28, p<0.01),
      Visual Analog Scale (VAS; r=-0.35, p<0.001), Zung Depression (r=-0.72, p <0.001),
      STAI-State (r=-0.66, p<0.001), STAI-Trait (r=-0.70, p<0.001), SCL-90R Global
      Severity Index (r=-0.50, p<0.001), SCL-90R Positive Symptom Total (r=-0.57,
      p<0.001), and all SCL-90R sub-scales (r's=-0.54--0.21, p's<0.01). A multivariate
      linear regression model indicated that SES (B=2.77, p<0.05), Zung Depression (B=
      0.53, p<0.001), STAI-State (B=-0.26, p<0.05), and ISEL-12 Belonging (B=1.15,
      p<0.01) were independently associated with QOL-RA, controlling for significant
      associations. CONCLUSIONS: More depressive and anxiety symptoms were
      independently associated with lower disease-specific QOL, while higher
      perceptions of having people to do activities with (belonging social support) and
      higher SES were independently associated with higher disease-specific QOL.
      Psychosocial factors impact QOL in RA above and beyond disease activity.
      Additional research into the benefits of psychosocial assessment of RA patients
      and provision of comprehensive care to improve QOL is warranted.

PMID- 25816760
TI  - The bacteriocin AS-48 requires dimer dissociation followed by hydrophobic
      interactions with the membrane for antibacterial activity.
AB  - The molecular mechanism underlining the antibacterial activity of the bacteriocin
      AS-48 is not known, and two different and opposite alternatives have been
      proposed. Available data suggested that the interaction of positively charged
      amino acids of AS-48 with the membrane would produce membrane destabilization and
      disruption. Alternatively, it has been proposed that AS-48 activity could rely on
      the effective insertion of the bacteriocin into the membrane. The biological and
      structural properties of the AS-48G13K/L40K double mutant were investigated to
      shed light on this subject. Compared with the wild type, the mutant protein
      suffered an important reduction in the antibacterial activity. Biochemical and
      structural studies of AS-48G13K/L40K mutant suggest the basis of its decreased
      antimicrobial activity. Lipid cosedimentation assays showed that the membrane
      affinity of AS-48G13K/L40K is 12-fold lower than that observed for the wild type.
      L40K mutation is responsible for this reduced membrane affinity and thus,
      hydrophobic interactions are involved in membrane association. Furthermore, the
      high-resolution crystal structure of AS-48G13K/L40K, together with the study of
      its dimeric character in solution showed that G13K stabilizes the inactive water
      soluble dimer, which displays a reduced dipole moment. Our data suggest that the
      cumulative effect of these three affected properties reduces AS-48 activity, and
      point out that the bactericidal effect is achieved by the electrostatically
      driven approach of the inactive water-soluble dimer towards the membrane,
      followed by the dissociation and insertion of the protein into the lipid bilayer.

PMID- 25816761
TI  - Retroviral proteases and their roles in virion maturation.
AB  - Proteolytic processing of viral polyproteins is essential for retrovirus
      infectivity. Retroviral proteases (PR) become activated during or after assembly
      of the immature, non-infectious virion. They cleave viral polyproteins at
      specific sites, inducing major structural rearrangements termed maturation.
      Maturation converts retroviral enzymes into their functional form, transforms the
      immature shell into a metastable state primed for early replication events, and
      enhances viral entry competence. Not only cleavage at all PR recognition sites,
      but also an ordered sequence of cleavages is crucial. Proteolysis is tightly
      regulated, but the triggering mechanisms and kinetics and pathway of
      morphological transitions remain enigmatic. Here, we outline PR structures and
      substrate specificities focusing on HIV PR as a therapeutic target. We discuss
      design and clinical success of HIV PR inhibitors, as well as resistance
      development towards these drugs. Finally, we summarize data elucidating the role
      of proteolysis in maturation and highlight unsolved questions regarding
      retroviral maturation. 

PMID- 25816763
TI  - Plant virus directed fabrication of nanoscale materials and devices.
AB  - Bottom-up self-assembly methods in which individual molecular components self
      organize to form functional nanoscale patterns are of long-standing interest in
      the field of materials sciences. Such self-assembly processes are the hallmark of
      biology where complex macromolecules with defined functions assemble from smaller
      molecular components. In particular, plant virus-derived nanoparticles (PVNs)
      have drawn considerable attention for their unique self-assembly architectures
      and functionalities that can be harnessed to produce new materials for industrial
      and biomedical applications. In particular, PVNs provide simple systems to model
      and assemble nanoscale particles of uniform size and shape that can be modified
      through molecularly defined chemical and genetic alterations. Furthermore, PVNs
      bring the added potential to "farm" such bio-nanomaterials on an industrial
      scale, providing a renewable and environmentally sustainable means for the
      production of nano-materials. This review outlines the fabrication and
      application of several PVNs for a range of uses that include energy storage,
      catalysis, and threat detection. 

PMID- 25816762
TI  - Innate immune recognition of DNA: A recent history.
AB  - Innate immune DNA sensing underpins many physiological and pathological responses
      to DNA, including anti-viral immunity to DNA viruses. Although it has been
      appreciated for many years that cytosolic DNA can evoke a type I interferon
      response, it is only within the past decade that the cellular mechanisms
      responsible for such a response have been defined. Here we review the discoveries
      that led to an appreciation of the existence of cytosolic DNA sensor proteins,
      and discuss two key such sensors, cGAS and IFI16, in detail. DNA sensors operate
      via STING, a protein shown to have a central role in controlling altered gene
      induction in response to DNA in vivo, and as such to be central to a rapidly
      expanding list of both protective and harmful responses to DNA. We also discuss
      recent insights into how and when DNA stimulates innate immunity, and highlight
      current outstanding questions in the DNA sensing field. 

PMID- 25816764
TI  - Ferret models of viral pathogenesis.
AB  - Emerging and well-known viral diseases remain one the most important global
      public health threats. A better understanding of their pathogenesis and
      mechanisms of transmission requires animal models that accurately reproduce these
      aspects of the disease. Here we review the role of ferrets as an animal model for
      the pathogenesis of different respiratory viruses with an emphasis on influenza
      and paramyxoviruses. We will describe the anatomic and physiologic
      characteristics that contribute to the natural susceptibility of ferrets to these
      viruses, and provide an overview of the approaches available to analyze their
      immune responses. Recent insights gained using this model will be highlighted,
      including the development of new prophylactic and therapeutic approaches. To
      provide decision criteria for the use of this animal model, its strengths and
      limitations will be discussed. 

PMID- 25816765
TI  - Insulin use and risk of diabetic macular edema in diabetes mellitus: a systemic
      review and meta-analysis of observational studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is a common and serious disorder. A search of the
      literature reveals no comprehensive quantitative assessment of the association
      between insulin use and incidence of diabetic macular edema. Therefore, we
      performed a meta-analysis of observational studies to evaluate the effect of
      insulin use on the risk of developing macular edema. MATERIAL/METHODS:
      Comparative studies published until May 2014 were searched through a
      comprehensive search of the Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library electronic
      databases. A systematic review and quantitative analysis of comparative studies
      reporting the effect of insulin use on the incidence of macular edema was
      performed. All analyses were performed using the Review Manager (RevMan) v.5
      (Nordic Cochrane Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark). RESULTS: A total of 202 905
      individuals were included in the present meta-analysis. In a random-effects meta
      analysis, the use of insulin was found to be associated with increased risk of
      macular edema (RR, 3.416; 95% CI, 2.417-4.829; I2, 86.6%). Analysis that just
      included high-quality studies showed that insulin use increased the risk of
      macular edema (RR, 2.728; 95% CI, 1.881-3.955; I2=77.7%). In cohort studies (RR,
      4.509; 95% CI, 3.100-6.559; I2, 77.7%) but not in case-control studies (RR,
      1.455; 95% CI, 0.520 to 4.066; I2, 95.9%), increased incidence of macular edema
      was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this meta-analysis of observational
      studies demonstrate that insulin use is a risk factor for diabetic macular edema.
      However, available data are still sparse, and in-depth analyses of the assessed
      associations in the context of additional longitudinal studies are highly
      desirable to enable more precise estimates and a better understanding of the role
      of insulin use in incidence of diabetic macular edema.

PMID- 25816766
TI  - Cognitive-behavioural therapy for outpatients with eating disorders:
      effectiveness for a transdiagnostic group in a routine clinical setting.
AB  - Whilst there is a growing evidence to support the impact of cognitive-behavioural
      therapy (CBT) in the treatment of adults with eating disorders, much of this
      evidence comes from tightly controlled efficacy trials. This study aimed to add
      to the evidence regarding the effectiveness of CBT when delivered in a routine
      clinical setting. The participants were 203 adults presenting with a range of
      eating disorder diagnoses, who were offered CBT in an out-patient community
      eating disorders service in the UK. Patients completed measures of eating
      disorder pathology at the start of treatment, following the sixth session, and at
      the end of treatment. Symptoms of anxiety, depression, and psychosocial
      functioning were measured pre- and post-treatment. Approximately 55% of patients
      completed treatment, and there were no factors that predicted attrition. There
      were significant improvements in eating disorder psychopathology, anxiety,
      depression and general functioning, with particular changes in eating attitudes
      in the early part of therapy. Effect sizes were medium to large for both
      completer and intention to treat analyses. These findings confirm that evidence
      based forms of CBT can be delivered with strong outcomes in routine clinical
      settings. Clinicians should be encouraged to deliver evidence-based treatments
      when working in these settings.

PMID- 25816767
TI  - Differentiation of a free-living alga into forms with ecto- and endosymbiotic
      associations with heterotrophic organisms in a 5-year microcosm culture.
AB  - The ecological mechanisms underlying the diversification of autotrophic species
      into endosymbiotic lifestyles and the ways in which the evolution of
      endosymbiotic species is ecologically and evolutionarily affected by sister
      lineages/lines that are adapted to extra-host environments remain unclear. In
      this paper, we investigated a differentiation process of algal species in which
      an endosymbiotic type was differentiated phenotypically from a free-living
      ancestral clone, by using an experimental model called the CET microcosm, which
      contains a green alga (Micractinium sp.), a bacterium (Escherichia coli), and a
      ciliate (Tetrahymena thermophila) cultured together without an external resource
      supply for over 5 years. We then analyzed the algal diversification process by
      comparing algal phenotypic properties regarding cell-aggregate formation and
      their effects on the survival of Tetrahymena (using a clone isolated on day 2668)
      in the absence of bacteria. We examined 13 Micractinium clones, including both
      ancestral and derived clones isolated from long-term (day 1819-1847) CET
      microcosm cultures. The results revealed that the free-living ancestral algal
      strain diversified in sympatry into an aggregate-forming type that associates
      with E. coli, and a non-aggregate-forming type that associates with Tetrahymena.
      Furthermore, a competition experiment revealed that the endosymbiotic (non
      aggregate-forming) type was less adapted to the extracellular environment than
      the aggregate-forming type. This result suggests that severe competition with a
      nonendosymbiotic sister line in the extra-host environment favors the host
      benefiting phenotype in an endosymbiotic line, because such symbionts can enhance
      the longevity of the host, thereby enabling the survival and reproduction of the
      symbiont within the host. 

PMID- 25816768
TI  - Eco-friendly copper recovery process from waste printed circuit boards using
      Fe3+/Fe2+ redox system.
AB  - The present study aimed at developing an original and environmentally friendly
      process for the recovery of copper from waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) by
      chemical dissolution with Fe(3+) combined with the simultaneous electrowinning of
      copper and oxidant regeneration. The recovery of copper was achieved in an
      original set-up consisting of a three chamber electrochemical reactor (ER)
      connected in series with a chemical reactor (CR) equipped with a perforated
      rotating drum. Several experiments were performed in order to identify the
      optimal flow rate for the dissolution of copper in the CR and to ensure the
      lowest energy consumption for copper electrodeposition in the ER. The optimal
      hydrodynamic conditions were provided at 400 mL/min, leading to the 75%
      dissolution of metals and to a low specific energy consumption of 1.59 kW h/kg Cu
      for the electrodeposition process. In most experiments, the copper content of the
      obtained cathodic deposits was over 99.9%.

PMID- 25816769
TI  - Solar assisted alkali pretreatment of garden biomass: Effects on lignocellulose
      degradation, enzymatic hydrolysis, crystallinity and ultra-structural changes in
      lignocellulose.
AB  - A comprehensive study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of solar
      assisted alkali pretreatment (SAAP) on garden biomass (GB). The pretreatment
      efficiency was assessed based on lignocellulose degradation, conversion of
      cellulose into reducing sugars, changes in the ultra-structure and functional
      groups of lignocellulose and impact on the crystallinity of cellulose, etc. SAAP
      was found to be efficient for the removal of lignin and hemicellulose that
      facilitated enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose. FTIR and XRD studies provided
      details on the effectiveness of SAAP on lignocellulosic moiety and crystallinity
      of cellulose. Scanning electron microscopic analysis showed ultra-structural
      disturbances in the microfibrils of GB as a result of pretreatment. The mass
      balance closer of 97.87% after pretreatment confirmed the reliability of SAAP
      pretreatment. Based on the results, it is concluded that SAAP is not only an
      efficient means of pretreatment but also economical as it involved no energy
      expenditure for heat generation during pretreatment. 

PMID- 25816770
TI  - Carbon pools and flows during lab-scale degradation of old landfilled waste under
      different oxygen and water regimes.
AB  - Landfill aeration has been proven to accelerate the degradation of organic matter
      in landfills in comparison to anaerobic decomposition. The present study aims to
      evaluate pools of organic matter decomposing under aerobic and anaerobic
      conditions using landfill simulation reactors (LSR) filled with 40 year old waste
      from a former MSW landfill. The LSR were operated for 27 months, whereby the
      waste in one pair was kept under anaerobic conditions and the four other LSRs
      were aerated. Two of the aerated LSR were run with leachate recirculation and
      water addition and two without. The organic carbon in the solid waste was
      characterized at the beginning and at the end of the experiments and major carbon
      flows (e.g. TOC in leachate, gaseous CO2 and CH4) were monitored during
      operation. After the termination of the experiments, the waste from the anaerobic
      LSRs exhibited a long-term gas production potential of more than 20 NL kg(-1) dry
      waste, which corresponded to the mineralization of around 12% of the initial TOC
      (67 g kg(-1) dry waste). Compared to that, aeration led to threefold decrease in
      TOC (32-36% of the initial TOC were mineralized), without apparent differences in
      carbon discharge between the aerobic set ups with and without water addition.
      Based on the investigation of the carbon pools it could be demonstrated that a
      bit more than 10% of the initially present organic carbon was transformed into
      more recalcitrant forms, presumably due to the formation of humic substances. The
      source of anaerobic degradation could be identified mainly as cellulose which
      played a minor role during aerobic degradation in the experiment.

PMID- 25816771
TI  - Thermodynamic analysis of the disorder-to-alpha-helical transition of 18.5-kDa
      myelin basic protein reveals an equilibrium intermediate representing the most
      compact conformation.
AB  - The intrinsically disordered, 18.5-kDa isoform of myelin basic protein (MBP) is a
      peripheral membrane protein that is essential to proper myelin formation in the
      central nervous system. MBP acts in oligodendrocytes both to adjoin membrane
      leaflets to each other in forming myelin and as a hub in numerous protein-protein
      and protein-membrane interaction networks. Like many intrinsically disordered
      proteins (IDPs), MBP multifunctionality arises from its high conformational
      plasticity and its ability to undergo reversible disorder-to-order transitions.
      One such transition is the disorder-to-alpha-helical conformational change that
      is induced upon MBP-membrane binding. Here, we have investigated the disorder-to
      alpha-helical transition of MBP-derived alpha-peptides and the full-length 18.5
      kDa protein. This transition was induced through titration of the membrane
      mimetic solvent trifluoroethanol into both protein and peptide solutions, and
      conformational change was monitored using circular dichroism spectroscopy, 1
      anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonic acid binding, tryptophan fluorescence quenching,
      and Forster (fluorescence) resonance energy transfer measurements. The data
      suggest that the disorder-to-alpha-helical transition of MBP follows a 3-state
      model: disordered<->intermediate<->alpha-helical, with each of the identified
      equilibrium states likely representing a conformational ensemble. The disordered
      state is characterized by slight compaction with little regular secondary
      structure, whereas the intermediate is also disordered but globally more compact.
      Surprisingly, the alpha-helical conformation is less compact than the
      intermediate. This study suggests that multifunctionality in MBP could arise from
      differences in the population of energetically distinct ensembles under different
      conditions and also provides an example of an IDP that undergoes cooperative
      global conformation change.

PMID- 25816772
TI  - A combined NMR and computational approach to investigate peptide binding to a
      designed Armadillo repeat protein.
AB  - The specific recognition of peptide sequences by proteins plays an important role
      both in biology and in diagnostic applications. Here we characterize the
      relatively weak binding of the peptide neurotensin (NT) to the previously
      developed Armadillo repeat protein VG_328 by a multidisciplinary approach based
      on solution NMR spectroscopy, mutational studies, and molecular dynamics (MD)
      simulations, totaling 20MUs for all MD runs. We describe assignment challenges
      arising from the repetitive nature of the protein sequence, and we present novel
      approaches to address them. Partial assignments obtained for VG_328 in
      combination with chemical shift perturbations allowed us to identify the repeats
      not involved in binding. Their subsequent elimination resulted in a reduced-size
      binder with very similar affinity for NT, for which near-complete backbone
      assignments were achieved. A binding mode suggested by automatic docking and
      further validated by explicit solvent MD simulations is consistent with
      paramagnetic relaxation enhancement data collected using spin-labeled NT.
      Favorable intermolecular interactions are observed in the MD simulations for the
      residues that were previously shown to contribute to binding in an Ala scan of
      NT. We further characterized the role of residues within the N-cap for protein
      stability and peptide binding. Our multidisciplinary approach demonstrates that
      an initial low-resolution picture for a low-micromolar-peptide binder can be
      refined through the combination of NMR, protein design, docking, and MD
      simulations to establish its binding mode, even in the absence of
      crystallographic data, thereby providing valuable information for further design.

PMID- 25816773
TI  - Key residues of S. flexneri OmpA mediate infection by bacteriophage Sf6.
AB  - Many viruses, including bacteriophage, have the inherent ability to utilize
      several types of proteinaceous receptors as an attachment mechanism to infect
      cells, yet the molecular mechanisms that drive receptor binding have not been
      elucidated. Using bacteriophage Sf6 and its host, Shigella flexneri, we
      investigated how Sf6 utilizes outer membrane protein A (OmpA) for infection.
      Specifically, we identified that surface loops of OmpA mediate Shigella
      infection. We further characterized which residues in the surface loops are
      responsible for Sf6 binding and productive infection using a combination of in
      vivo and in vitro approaches including site-directed mutagenesis, phage plaque
      assays, circular dichroism spectroscopy, and in vitro genome ejection assays. Our
      data indicate that Sf6 can productively interact with other bacterial OmpAs as
      long as they share homology in loops 2 and 4, suggesting that these loops may
      determine host specificity. Our data provide a model in which Sf6 interacts with
      OmpA using the surface of the protein and new insights into viral attachment
      through binding to membrane protein receptors. 

PMID- 25816774
TI  - Nucleic acid recognition orchestrates the anti-viral response to retroviruses.
AB  - Intrinsic restriction factors and viral nucleic acid sensors are important for
      the anti-viral response. Here, we show how upstream sensing of retroviral reverse
      transcripts integrates with the downstream effector APOBEC3, an IFN-induced
      cytidine deaminase that introduces lethal mutations during retroviral reverse
      transcription. Using a murine leukemia virus (MLV) variant with an unstable
      capsid that induces a strong IFNbeta antiviral response, we identify three
      sensors, IFI203, DDX41, and cGAS, required for MLV nucleic acid recognition.
      These sensors then signal using the adaptor STING, leading to increased
      production of IFNbeta and other targets downstream of the transcription factor
      IRF3. Using knockout and mutant mice, we show that APOBEC3 limits the levels of
      reverse transcripts that trigger cytosolic sensing, and that nucleic acid sensing
      in vivo increases expression of IFN-regulated restriction factors like APOBEC3
      that in turn reduce viral load. These studies underscore the importance of the
      multiple layers of protection afforded by host factors.

PMID- 25816775
TI  - Autophagy mediates tolerance to Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin.
AB  - Resistance and tolerance are two defense strategies employed by the host against
      microbial threats. Autophagy-mediated degradation of bacteria has been
      extensively described as a major resistance mechanism. Here we find that the
      dominant function of autophagy proteins during infections with the epidemic
      community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300 is to
      mediate tolerance rather than resistance. Atg16L1 hypomorphic mice (Atg16L1(HM)),
      which have reduced autophagy, were highly susceptible to lethality in both sepsis
      and pneumonia models of USA300 infection. Autophagy confers protection by
      limiting the damage caused by alpha-toxin, particularly to endothelial cells.
      Remarkably, Atg16L1(HM) mice display enhanced survival rather than susceptibility
      upon infection with alpha-toxin-deficient S. aureus. These results identify an
      essential role for autophagy in tolerance to Staphylococcal disease and highlight
      how a single virulence factor encoded by a pathogen can determine whether a given
      host factor promotes tolerance or resistance.

PMID- 25816776
TI  - RNase L activates the NLRP3 inflammasome during viral infections.
AB  - The NLRP3 inflammasome assembles in response to danger signals, triggering self
      cleavage of procaspase-1 and production of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1beta.
      Although virus infection activates the NLRP3 inflammasome, the underlying events
      remain incompletely understood. We report that virus activation of the NLRP3
      inflammasome involves the 2',5'-oligoadenylate (2-5A) synthetase(OAS)/RNase L
      system, a component of the interferon-induced antiviral response that senses
      double-stranded RNA and activates endoribonuclease RNase L to cleave viral and
      cellular RNAs. The absence of RNase L reduces IL-1beta production in influenza A
      virus-infected mice. RNA cleavage products generated by RNase L enhance IL-1beta
      production but require the presence of 2',3'-cyclic phosphorylated termini
      characteristic of RNase L activity. Additionally, these cleavage products
      stimulate NLRP3 complex formation with the DExD/H-box helicase, DHX33, and
      mitochondrial adaptor protein, MAVS, which are each required for effective NLRP3
      inflammasome activation. Thus, RNA cleavage events catalyzed by RNase L are
      required for optimal inflammasome activation during viral infections.

PMID- 25816777
TI  - E2F1 enhances glycolysis through suppressing Sirt6 transcription in cancer cells.
AB  - The fast proliferation of cancer cells requires reprogramming of its energy
      metabolism with aerobic glycolysis as a major energy source. Sirt6, a class III
      histone deacetylase, has been shown to down regulate glycolysis by inhibiting the
      expression of several key glycolytic genes. Based on the published study on the
      metabolic phenotype of E2F1 -/- mice and SIRT6 -/- mice, we hypothesize that E2F1
      enhances glycolysis and inhibits the expression of Sirt6. Indeed, over-expressing
      of E2F1, but not its DNA binding deficient mutant, significantly enhanced glucose
      uptake and lactate production in bladder and prostate cancer cell lines. E2F1
      over-expression also suppressed Sirt6 expression and function. Moreover, E2F1
      directly bound to Sirt6 promoter and suppressed Sirt6 promoter activity under
      both normoxic and hypoxic culture conditions. E2F1 siRNA blocked the up
      regulation of E2F1 under hypoxia, increased Sirt6 expression and decreased
      glycolysis compared to those of scrambled siRNA transected cells. Furthermore,
      HDAC1 deacetylated E2F1 and diminished its transcription suppression of Sirt6
      promoter. Treatment with the HDAC inhibitor, trichostatin A (TSA), suppressed
      Sirt6 promoter activity with increased binding of acetylated E2F1 to Sirt6
      promoter. Mutating the E2F1 binding site on the proximal Sirt6 promoter abolished
      the suppression of Sirt6 transcription by TSA. These data indicate a novel
      oncogenic role of E2F1, i.e. enhancing glycolysis by suppressing Sirt6
      transcription. 

PMID- 25816779
TI  - Proteinase K and the structure of PrPSc: The good, the bad and the ugly.
AB  - Infectious proteins (prions) are, ironically, defined by their resistance to
      proteolytic digestion. A defining characteristic of the transmissible isoform of
      the prion protein (PrP(Sc)) is its partial resistance to proteinase K (PK)
      digestion. Diagnosis of prion disease typically relies upon immunodetection of PK
      digested PrP(Sc) by Western blot, ELISA or immunohistochemical detection. PK
      digestion has also been used to detect differences in prion strains. Thus, PK has
      been a crucial tool to detect and, thereby, control the spread of prions. PK has
      also been used as a tool to probe the structure of PrP(Sc). Mass spectrometry and
      antibodies have been used to identify PK cleavage sites in PrP(Sc). These results
      have been used to identify the more accessible, flexible stretches connecting the
      beta-strand components in PrP(Sc). These data, combined with physical constraints
      imposed by spectroscopic results, were used to propose a qualitative model for
      the structure of PrP(Sc). Assuming that PrP(Sc) is a four rung beta-solenoid, we
      have threaded the PrP sequence to satisfy the PK proteolysis data and other
      experimental constraints. 

PMID- 25816780
TI  - Using bioluminescence imaging in glioma research.
AB  - Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumour and has
      the worst prognosis. Over the last decade, the use of bioluminescence imaging
      technology has rapidly become widespread to further understand the mechanisms
      that drive GBM development and progression. Pre-clinical evaluation and
      optimisation of therapeutic efficacy in GBM research has also utilised this
      simple non-invasive technology. Here we summarise recent advances made in glioma
      biology and therapeutic intervention using bioluminescence imaging. This review
      also describes the current knowledge regarding the use of luciferase-based
      reporters in examining the role of specific cancer signalling cascades that
      promote glioma progression.

PMID- 25816778
TI  - Usefulness of N-terminal Pro-brain Natriuretic Peptide and Myocardial Perfusion
      in Asymptomatic Adults (from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis).
AB  - This study sought to investigate the relation between myocardial perfusion and N
      terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in asymptomatic adults without
      overt coronary artery disease. NT-proBNP is a cardiac neurohormone secreted from
      the ventricles in response to ventricular volume expansion and pressure overload
      and may also be elevated in the setting of reduced myocardial perfusion. We
      hypothesized that reduced myocardial perfusion reserve (MPR) would be associated
      with elevated NT-proBNP in participants free of overt cardiovascular disease. MPR
      was measured by cardiac magnetic resonance, before and after adenosine infusion,
      in 184 MESA participants (mean age 60 +/- 10.4, 58% white, 42% Hispanic, 44%
      women) without overt cardiovascular disease. MPR was modeled as hyperemic
      myocardial blood flow (MBF) adjusted for MBF at rest. A linear regression
      analysis, adjusted for demographics, established cardiovascular risk factors,
      left ventricular mass, coronary calcium score, body mass index, and medications,
      was used to determine the association between MPR and NT-proBNP. Participants
      with low hyperemic MBF were more likely to be older, male, diabetic, and have
      higher blood pressure and higher coronary artery calcium score. Mean hyperemic
      MBF was 3.04 +/- 0.829 ml/min/g. MPR was inversely associated with NT-proBNP
      levels. In a fully adjusted model, every 1-SD decrement in MPR was associated
      with a 21% increment in NT-proBNP (p = 0.04). In conclusion, MPR is inversely
      associated with NT-proBNP level in this cross-sectional study of asymptomatic
      adults free of overt coronary artery disease, suggesting that higher NT-proBNP
      levels may reflect subclinical myocardial microvascular dysfunction.

PMID- 25816781
TI  - Three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy for inoperable massive
      hepatocellular carcinoma in six dogs.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the activity and tolerability of three-dimensional
      conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) in dogs with massive hepatocellular
      carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six dogs with massive hepatocellular carcinoma
      that were ineligible for surgical resection or with owners who declined surgical
      resection, and underwent 3D-CRT were retrospectively reviewed. 6 to 10 Gy per
      fraction was prescribed at isocentre of planning target volume to a total dose of
      18 to 42 Gy with 1 to 2 fractions per week for a total of 3 to 7 fractions.
      Follow-up examinations included physical examination, contrast-enhanced CT scan
      and blood analysis (complete blood count, electrolytes and serum biochemical
      panel). RESULTS: The median follow-up time after 3D-CRT was 534 (range, 281 to
      1057) days. An objective response was observed in five of six cases. Radiation
      induced liver disease developed in one dog but was asymptomatic and reversible.
      Toxicity was not noted in any other dog. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: 3D-CRT appears to
      be a viable treatment option for dogs with inoperable massive hepatocellular
      carcinoma.

PMID- 25816782
TI  - Structural orientation dependent sub-lamellar bone mechanics.
AB  - The lamellar unit is a critical component in defining the overall mechanical
      properties of bone. In this paper, micro-beams of bone with dimensions comparable
      to the lamellar unit were fabricated using focused ion beam (FIB) microscopy and
      mechanically tested in bending to failure using atomic force microscopy (AFM). A
      variation in the mechanical properties, including elastic modulus, strength and
      work to fracture of the micro-beams was observed and related to the collagen
      fibril orientation inferred from back-scattered scanning electron microscopy
      (SEM) imaging. Established mechanical models were further applied to describe the
      relationship between collagen fibril orientation and mechanical behaviour of the
      lamellar unit. Our results highlight the ability to measure mechanical properties
      of discrete bone volumes directly and correlate with structural orientation of
      collagen fibrils. 

PMID- 25816783
TI  - Calculation and comparison of xenon and samarium reactivities of the HEU, LEU
      core in the low power research reactor.
AB  - Comparative studies for the conversion of the fuel from HEU to LEU in the
      Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) have been performed using the MCNP4C and
      GETERA codes. The precise calculations of (135)Xe and (149)Sm concentrations and
      reactivities were carried out and compared during the MNSR operation time and
      after shutdown for the existing HEU fuel (UAl4-Al, 90% enriched) and the
      potential LEU fuels (U3Si2-Al, U3Si-Al, U9Mo-Al, 19.75% enriched and UO2, 12.6%
      enriched) in this paper using the MCNP4C and GETERA codes. It was found that the
      (135)Xe and (149)Sm reactivities did not reach their equilibrium reactivities
      during the daily operating time of the reactor. The (149)Sm reactivities could be
      neglected compared to (135)Xe reactivities during the reactor operating time and
      after shutdown. The calculations for the UAl4-Al produced the highest (135)Xe
      reactivity in all the studied fuel group during the reactor operation (0.39 mk)
      and after the reactor shutdown (0.735 mk), It followed by U3Si-Al (0.34 mk, 0.653
      mk), U3Si2-Al (0.33 mk, 0.634 mk), U9Mo-Al (0.3 mk, 0.568 mk) and UO2 (0.24 mk,
      0.448 mk) fuels, respectively. Finally, the results showed that the UO2 was the
      best candidate for fuel conversion to LEU in the MNSR since it gave the lowest
      (135)Xe reactivity during the reactor operation and after shutdown.

PMID- 25816784
TI  - Kamakahi vs ASRM and the future of compensation for human eggs.
AB  - A recent lawsuit that alleges that the American Society for Reproductive Medicine
      (ASRM) engages in price-fixing by capping the amount of compensation paid for
      human oocytes has several critical ethical and policy implications that have
      received relatively little attention. ASRM has argued that ceilings on donor
      compensation prevent enticement, exploitation, and oocyte commodification.
      Critics counter that low donor compensation decreases supply, because fewer women
      are then interested in donating, which then increases prices for the service that
      physicians, not donors, accrue, and that ethical goals can be better achieved
      through enhanced informed consent, hiring egg donor advocates, and better
      counseling and screening. Yet, if compensation caps are removed, questions emerge
      concerning what the oocyte market would then look like. Informed consent is an
      imperfect process. Beyond the legal and economic questions of whether ASRM
      violates the Sherman Anti-trust Act also lie crucial questions of whether human
      eggs should be viewed as other products. We argue that human eggs differ from
      other factory-produced goods and should command moral respect. Although eggs (or
      embryos) are not equivalent to human beings, they deserve special consideration,
      because of their potential for human life, and thus have a different moral
      status. ASRM's current guidelines appear to address, even if imperfectly, ethical
      challenges that are related to egg procurement for infertility treatment. Given
      public concerns about oocyte commodification and ASRM's wariness of government
      regulations, existing guidelines may represent a compromise by aiding patients
      who seek eggs, while simultaneously trying to avoid undue influence,
      exploitation, and eugenics. Although the ultimate outcome of this lawsuit remains
      unclear, policy makers, providers, lawyers, judges, and others should attend
      seriously to these issues. Alternatives to current ASRM guidelines may be
      possible (eg, raising the current caps to, say, $12,000 or $15,000, potentially
      increasing donation, while still avoiding certain ethical difficulties) and
      warrant close consideration. These complex conflicting ethical issues deserve
      more attention than they have received because they affect key aspects of
      clinical practice and the lives of countless patients. 

PMID- 25816785
TI  - Which twin is which? A proposed solution for the labeling of twins at birth.

PMID- 25816786
TI  - US health care system: we can do better.
AB  - In this review, South Atlantic Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
      President N. Donald Diebel examines a brief history of health care in the United
      States and shares his thoughts about questions raised in his 2015 presidential
      address: How can the enormous advances in medical science be extended to everyone
      and not just some? What are the obstacles or impediments to this task? How can
      they be overcome? 

PMID- 25816787
TI  - Survey of American obstetricians regarding group B streptococcus: opinions and
      practice patterns.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to evaluate attitudes and practice
      patterns of obstetricians related to screening for group B streptococcal
      colonization and providing intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis against early-onset
      neonatal infections with group B streptococcus. STUDY DESIGN: We mailed a survey
      to 546 members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,
      including members of the Collaborative Ambulatory Research Network and non
      Collaborative Ambulatory Research Network members. Stratified random selection
      was used to generate samples from both of these groups. RESULTS: The survey
      response rate was 60% for Collaborative Ambulatory Research Network members and
      42% for non-Collaborative Ambulatory Research Network members. Of the 206
      respondents who reported providing prenatal care, 97% collect screening samples
      at 35-37 weeks' gestational age. Anatomic sites used to collect samples were more
      variable: 62% include lower vagina and rectum, 26% include lower vagina and
      perianal skin but not rectum, and 5% include neither the perianal skin nor the
      rectum. First-line agents for intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis were penicillin
      (71%), ampicillin (27%), and cefazolin (2%). For patients reporting a
      nonanaphylactic penicillin allergy, drugs used for intrapartum antibiotic
      prophylaxis were more varied: cefazolin (51%), clindamycin (36%), vancomycin
      (8%), and erythromycin (5%). For patients undergoing a labor induction starting
      with a cervical ripening agent, less than 40% typically give the first dose of
      intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis before or at the time of cervical ripening
      agent administration, and 15% wait until the patient reaches the active phase of
      labor. CONCLUSION: Gaps in knowledge and reported practice related to the
      prevention of early-onset neonatal group B streptococcus infections were similar
      to gaps in implementation of guidelines demonstrated in past studies. New
      approaches to improve implementation are warranted.

PMID- 25816788
TI  - Role of Endoplasmic reticulum apoptotic pathway in testicular Sertoli cells
      injury induced by Carbon disulfide.
AB  - The exposure of Carbon disulfide (CS2) is associated with germ cell injury and
      male infertility in animals and humans. However, the molecular mechanism is
      currently unknown. This study show here that CS2-induced Sertoli cells injury via
      Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) apoptotic pathway. SD male rats were exposed to doses
      of CS2 (0, 50, 250, 1250mgm(-3)) for 4weeks. After treatment, loose structures of
      seminiferous tubules and disordered cell arrangements were observed by light
      microscopy. Ultrastructural lesions, deformed chromatins and vacuoles formed from
      swollen ER were observed by electron microscopy. After primary culture of Sertoli
      cells, a dose-dependent increased apoptosis were found. The increased activity of
      Caspase 3, accumulation of intracellular Ca(2+), up-regulation of mRNA and
      protein expressions of ER apoptotic relative molecules (Calpain 2, Cleaved
      Caspase 12, GRP78 and CHOP) were also found in this study. Altogether, our
      findings indicated that ER apoptotic pathway played an important role in CS2
      induced Sertoli cell impairment. 

PMID- 25816789
TI  - A response strategy predicts acquisition of schedule-induced polydipsia in rats.
AB  - Schedule-induced polydipsia (SIP) is excessive, non-regulatory drinking. We aimed
      to identify phenotypic learning traits representative of neural circuitry that
      underlies SIP and hypothesized that rats that are response-learners will be more
      susceptible in developing compulsive water drinking. Using the Y-maze, the rats
      were characterized as either place- or response-learners. They were exposed to
      the SIP protocol for a period of 21days. Subsequent histological staining for
      FosB/DeltaFosB examined neuronal activation associated with SIP in several brain
      regions. The rats with a preference for a response-learning strategy were more
      likely to develop SIP than the rats using a place-learning strategy. Furthermore
      amphetamine sensitization, observed to increase SIP, also shifted learning
      strategy to a response-learning strategy. No differences were observed in
      FosB/DeltaFosB expression between SIP and non-SIP rats in the dorsolateral
      striatum (DLS) and CA1 region of the hippocampus. However, SIP rats had greater
      FosB/DeltaFosB expression in prefrontal cortex regions. The rats that develop SIP
      have a preference for response-learning strategies and increased neuronal
      activation in frontal cortical regions associated with habit formation and
      compulsion. 

PMID- 25816790
TI  - Drugs of abuse and Parkinson's disease.
AB  - The term "drug of abuse" is highly contextual. What constitutes a drug of abuse
      for one population of patients does not for another. It is therefore important to
      examine the needs of the patient population to properly assess the status of
      drugs of abuse. The focus of this article is on the bidirectional relationship
      between patients and drug abuse. In this paper we will introduce the dopaminergic
      systems of the brain in Parkinson's and the influence of antiparkinsonian drugs
      upon them before discussing this synergy of condition and medication as fertile
      ground for drug abuse. We will then examine the relationship between drugs of
      abuse and Parkinson's, both beneficial and deleterious. In summary we will draw
      the different strands together and speculate on the future merit of current drugs
      of abuse as treatments for Parkinson's disease. 

PMID- 25816791
TI  - Serotonin transporter availability may moderate the association between
      perceiving stress and depressive tendencies - A SPECT with 5-HTTLPR genotyping
      study.
AB  - It was found that serotonin transporter (SERT) gene (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism may
      moderate the association between perceiving stress and depressive tendency.
      Although SERT availability in the central nervous system could be associated with
      5-HTTLPR polymorphism, whether SERT availability moderates the association
      between stress and depressive tendency is unclear. This study aimed to
      investigate whether there is a SERT availability*environmental stress interaction
      effect, as well as a gene-by-environmental (G*E) interaction effect, using single
      photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with a serotonin transporter
      radiotracer, [(123)I]ADAM. 87 healthy volunteers were enrolled. The SERT
      availability was approximated using SPECT with [(123)I]ADAM. Stress and
      depressive tendencies were measured by the Recent Life Change Questionnaire
      (RLCQ) and the Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire (TDQ), respectively. A
      significant interaction of sex*RLCQ*thalamic SERT availability on the TDQ was
      found, and this effect was robust after controlling for the effect of the SS
      genotype. The interaction of RLCQ*thalamic SERT availability on the TDQ was
      significant among males. In particular, a significant association between RLCQ
      and TDQ (Spearman correlation, rho=0.64, p<0.01) was found among male subjects
      with a lower level of thalamic SERT availability. SERT availability may play a
      role in depressive tendency when under perceived stress among healthy
      individuals, independent of G*E. This finding provides new evidence that confirms
      the role of the serotonergic system in the association between stress and
      depression. Males with lower levels of SERT availability may be more vulnerable
      to the effects of negative life events. 

PMID- 25816792
TI  - The changing donor landscape of health sector aid to Vietnam: a qualitative case
      study.
AB  - The study objective was to identify how donors and government agencies in Vietnam
      responded to donor proliferation in health sector aid between 1995 and 2012.
      Interviews were conducted with key informants from donor agencies, central
      government, and civil society in Hanoi in 2012 (n = 34 interviews), identified
      through OECD Creditor Reporting System data, internet research, and snowball
      sampling. Interview transcripts were coded for key themes using the constant
      comparative method. Documentary materials were used in triangulation and
      validation of key informant accounts. The study identified a timeline of key
      events and key themes. The number of donors providing health sector aid to
      Vietnam increased sharply during the late 1990s and early 2000s, then leveled off
      and declined between 2008 and 2012. Reasons for donor entry included Vietnam's
      health needs, perceptions of health as less politically sensitive, and donor
      interests in facilitating market access. Reasons for donor withdrawal included
      Vietnam's achievement of middle-income status, the global financial crisis, and
      donors' shifting global priorities. Key themes included high competition among
      donors, strategic actions by government to increase its control over aid, and the
      multiplicity of government units involved with health sector aid. The study
      concludes that central government and donor agencies in Vietnam responded to
      donor proliferation in health sector aid by endorsing aid effectiveness policies
      but implementing these policies inconsistently in practice. Whereas previous
      literature has emphasized donor proliferation's transaction costs, this study
      finds that the benefits of a large number of less coordinated donors may outweigh
      the increased administrative costs under certain conditions. In Vietnam, these
      conditions included relatively high capacity within government, low government
      dependence on aid, and government interest in receiving diverse donor
      recommendations. Vietnam's experience of donor proliferation followed by donor
      withdrawal illustrates a trajectory that other countries may experience as they
      transition from low-to middle-income status. 

PMID- 25816793
TI  - Recovery performance and factors that classify young fallers and non-fallers in
      Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Postural instability is a major problem for Parkinson's disease patients (PDs).
      Identifying the causes of postural instability at a young age would contribute to
      the development of adequate training interventions aiming to reduce falls. The
      purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of muscle strength and
      balance ability on dynamic stability control after simulated disturbances and to
      develop an applicable tool able to classify young PDs into fallers and non
      fallers. Twenty-five young PDs (12 fallers, 13 non-fallers, 48+/-5 yrs.) and 14
      healthy controls participated in the study. Dynamic stability was examined during
      simulated forward falls. Muscle strength was assessed by isometric maximal
      plantarflexion and knee extension contractions. Balance ability was evaluated by
      measuring the anterior and posterior limits of stability (LoS). The fallers
      showed lower recovery performance in forward falls and lower muscle strength
      compared to controls. Muscle strength and anterior LoS were significantly
      associated to stability performance. These two factors could correctly classify
      90% of PD fallers, establishing an accurate assessment tool to predict the
      falling risk in young PDs. Furthermore, muscle strength partly explained recovery
      performance; therefore, we can argue that young PDs with an increased falling
      risk may benefit from leg-extensors strengthening and stability training. 

PMID- 25816795
TI  - Team activity recognition in Association Football using a Bag-of-Words-based
      method.
AB  - In this paper, a new methodology is used to perform team activity recognition and
      analysis in Association Football. It is based on pattern recognition and machine
      learning techniques. In particular, a strategy based on the Bag-of-Words (BoW)
      technique is used to characterize short Football video clips that are used to
      explain the team's performance and to train advanced classifiers in automatic
      recognition of team activities. In addition to the neural network-based
      classifier, three more classifier families are tested: the k-Nearest Neighbor,
      the Support Vector Machine and the Random Forest. The results obtained show that
      the proposed methodology is able to explain the most common movements of a team
      and to perform the team activity recognition task with high accuracy when
      classifying three Football actions: Ball Possession, Quick Attack and Set Piece.
      Random Forest is the classifier obtaining the best classification results. 

PMID- 25816794
TI  - Visual contribution to human standing balance during support surface tilts.
AB  - Visual position and velocity cues improve human standing balance, reducing sway
      responses to external disturbances and sway variability. Previous work suggested
      that human balancing is based on sensory estimates of external disturbances and
      their compensation using feedback mechanisms (Disturbance Estimation and
      Compensation, DEC model). This study investigates the visual effects on sway
      responses to pseudo-random support surface tilts, assuming that improvements
      result from lowering the velocity threshold in a tilt estimate and the position
      threshold in an estimate of the gravity disturbance. Center of mass (COM) sway
      was measured with four different tilt amplitudes, separating the effect of visual
      cues across the conditions 'Eyes closed' (no visual cues), '4Hz stroboscopic
      illumination' (visual position cues), and 'continuous illumination' (visual
      position and velocity cues). In a model based approach, parameters of disturbance
      estimators were identified. The model reproduced experimental results and showed
      a specific reduction of the position and velocity threshold when adding visual
      position and velocity cues, respectively. Sway variability was analyzed to
      explore a hypothesized relation between estimator thresholds and internal noise.
      Results suggest that adding the visual cues reduces the contribution of
      vestibular noise, thereby reducing sway variability and allowing for lower
      thresholds, which improves the disturbance compensation. 

PMID- 25816796
TI  - Abdominal compartment syndrome and open abdomen management with negative pressure
      devices.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) is defined as an increase of
      intra-abdominal pressure (IAH) to values higher than 20 mmHg, associated with
      reduced perfusion and organ dysfunction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: There is a
      classification of open abdomen which stratifies patients according to the natural
      history of improvement or clinical deterioration. The aim of treatment is to
      maintain the open abdomen at the lowest level and to prevent progression to a
      more complex level. DISCUSSION: Surgical treatment essentially consists in
      abdominal decompression by leaving the abdomen open. Analysis of the literature
      shows that negative pressure increases the rate of primary fascial closure;
      entero-cutaneous fistulas are seen in a minority of cases, without seeming
      consequence of the application of the dressing. Open abdomen management consists
      of three treatment stages: acute (24-48 hours), intermediate (from 48 hours to 10
      days) and late or reconstruction (from 10 days to the final closure). CONCLUSION:
      It's important to recognize patients at risk of IAH and the first signs of ACS
      and intervene early with abdominal decompression if this will establish itself.
      Management of the open abdomen is now facilitated by negative pressure devices,
      which positively affect the morbidity and mortality of patients with ACS.

PMID- 25816797
TI  - Aggression proneness: Transdiagnostic processes involving negative valence and
      cognitive systems.
AB  - Aggressive behavior is observed in persons with various mental health problems
      and has been studied from the perspectives of neuroscience and psychophysiology.
      The present research reviews some of the extant experimental literature to help
      clarify the interplay between domains of functioning implicated in aggression
      proneness. We then convey a process-oriented model that elucidates how the
      interplay of the Negative Valence and Cognitive System domains of NIMH's Research
      Domain Criteria (RDoC) helps explain aggression proneness, particularly reactive
      aggression. Finally, we report on a study involving event-related potential (ERP)
      indices of emotional and inhibitory control processing during an emotional
      linguistic go/no-go task among 67 individuals with histories of violence and
      criminal offending (30% female, 44% African-American) who reported on their
      aggressive tendencies using the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire. Results
      provide evidence that tendencies toward angry and aggressive behavior relate to
      reduced inhibitory control processing (no-go P3) specifically during relevant
      threat-word blocks, suggesting deterioration of cognitive control by acute or
      sustained threat sensitivity. These findings highlight the value of ERP
      methodologies for clarifying the interplay of Negative Valence and Cognitive
      System processes in aggression proneness. 

PMID- 25816798
TI  - Autophagy in axonal degeneration in glaucomatous optic neuropathy.
AB  - The role of autophagy in retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death is still
      controversial. Several studies focused on RGC body death, although the axonal
      degeneration pathway in the optic nerve has not been well documented in spite of
      evidence that the mechanisms of degeneration of neuronal cell bodies and their
      axons differ. Axonal degeneration of RGCs is a hallmark of glaucoma, and a
      pattern of localized retinal nerve fiber layer defects in glaucoma patients
      indicates that axonal degeneration may precede RGC body death in this condition.
      As models of preceding axonal degeneration, both the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)
      injection model and hypertensive glaucoma model may be useful in understanding
      the mechanism of axonal degeneration of RGCs, and the concept of axonal
      protection can be an attractive approach to the prevention of neurodegenerative
      optic nerve disease. Since mitochondria play crucial roles in glaucomatous optic
      neuropathy and can themselves serve as a part of the autophagosome, it seems that
      mitochondrial function may alter autophagy machinery. Like other
      neurodegenerative diseases, optic nerve degeneration may exhibit autophagic flux
      impairment resulting from elevated intraocular pressure, TNF, traumatic injury,
      ischemia, oxidative stress, and aging. As a model of aging, we used senescence
      accelerated mice to provide new insights. In this review, we attempt to describe
      the relationship between autophagy and recently reported noteworthy factors
      including Nmnat, ROCK, and SIRT1 in the degeneration of RGCs and their axons and
      propose possible mechanisms of axonal protection via modulation of autophagy
      machinery. 

PMID- 25816801
TI  - Do hypnozoites cause relapse in malaria?
AB  - The concept that hypnozoites give rise to relapses in Plasmodium vivax and
      Plasmodium ovale malaria has become dogma. However, it is evident from particular
      contemporary research findings that hypnozoites are not necessarily the origin of
      all relapse-like recurrences of malaria caused by these parasites. This is the
      core opinion presented, and I discuss it fully. The hypnozoite theory of relapse
      needs to be re-evaluated in view of the recent, increased focus on P. vivax and
      liver stages of Plasmodium. Hypnozoites have also assumed a new significance
      because they might, by facilitating ongoing transmission, be a threat to the
      current (post-2007) goal of eliminating malaria globally. I have suggested some
      new research directions for finding putative nonhypnozoite sources of recurrent
      malaria. 

PMID- 25816800
TI  - Stress sounds the alarmin: The role of the danger-associated molecular pattern
      HMGB1 in stress-induced neuroinflammatory priming.
AB  - High mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) is an endogenous danger signal or alarmin that
      mediates activation of the innate immune response including chemotaxis and pro
      inflammatory cytokine release. HMGB1 has been implicated in the pathophysiology
      of several neuroinflammatory conditions including ischemia, traumatic brain
      injury, seizure and chronic ethanol use. In the present review, the unique
      structural and functional properties of HMGB1 will be explored including its
      affinity for multiple pattern recognition receptors (TLR2/TLR4), redox
      sensitivity and adjuvant-like properties. In light of recent evidence suggesting
      that HMGB1 may also mediate stress-induced sensitization of neuroinflammatory
      responses, mechanisms of HMGB1 action in neuroinflammatory priming are explored.
      A model of neuroinflammatory priming is developed wherein glucocorticoids induce
      synthesis and release of HMGB1 from microglia, which signals through TLR2/TLR4,
      thereby priming the NLRP3 inflammasome. We propose that if GCs reach a critical
      threshold as during a fight/flight response, they may thus function as an alarmin
      by inducing HMGB1, thereby preparing an organism's innate immune system (NLRP3
      inflammasome priming) for subsequent immune challenges such as injury, trauma or
      infection, which are more likely to occur during a fight/flight response. In
      doing so, GCs may confer a significant survival advantage by enhancing the
      central innate immune and sickness response to immune challenges. 

PMID- 25816799
TI  - Preliminary evidence of neuropathology in nonhuman primates prenatally exposed to
      maternal immune activation.
AB  - Maternal infection during pregnancy increases the risk for neurodevelopmental
      disorders in offspring. Rodent models have played a critical role in establishing
      maternal immune activation (MIA) as a causal factor for altered brain and
      behavioral development in offspring. We recently extended these findings to a
      species more closely related to humans by demonstrating that rhesus monkeys
      (Macaca mulatta) prenatally exposed to MIA also develop abnormal behaviors. Here,
      for the first time, we present initial evidence of underlying brain pathology in
      this novel nonhuman primate MIA model. Pregnant rhesus monkeys were injected with
      a modified form of the viral mimic polyI:C (poly ICLC) or saline at the end of
      the first trimester. Brain tissue was collected from the offspring at 3.5 years
      and blocks of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA46) were used to analyze neuronal
      dendritic morphology and spine density using the Golgi-Cox impregnation method.
      For each case, 10 layer III pyramidal cells were traced in their entirety,
      including all apical, oblique and basal dendrites, and their spines. We further
      analyzed somal size and apical dendrite trunk morphology in 30 cells per case
      over a 30 MUm section located 100+/-10 MUm from the soma. Compared to controls,
      apical dendrites of MIA-treated offspring were smaller in diameter and exhibited
      a greater number of oblique dendrites. These data provide the first evidence that
      prenatal exposure to MIA alters dendritic morphology in a nonhuman primate MIA
      model, which may have profound implications for revealing the underlying
      neuropathology of neurodevelopmental disorders related to maternal infection.

PMID- 25816802
TI  - Gabapentin as an adjuvant for postoperative pain management in dogs undergoing
      mastectomy.
AB  - This study aimed to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of gabapentin as an adjuvant
      for postoperative pain management in dogs. Twenty dogs undergoing mastectomy were
      randomized to receive perioperative oral placebo or gabapentin (10 mg/kg). All
      dogs were premedicated with intramuscular acepromazine (0.03 mg/kg) and morphine
      (0.3 mg/ kg). Anesthesia was induced with propofol (4 mg/kg) intravenously and
      maintained with isoflurane. Intravenous meloxicam (0.2 mg/kg) was administered
      preoperatively. Postoperative analgesia was evaluated for 72 hr. Rescue analgesia
      was provided with intramuscular morphine (0.5 mg/kg). Dogs in the Placebo group
      received significantly more morphine doses than the Gabapentin group (P=0.021),
      despite no significant differences in pain scores. Perioperative gabapentin
      reduced the postoperative morphine requirements in dogs after mastectomy. 

PMID- 25816803
TI  - Immunohistochemistry and molecular epidemiology of avian paramyxovirus 1 from
      formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded sections of Japanese doves (Columba livia)
      affected with neurological signs.
AB  - Four doves (Nos. 1-4 birds) affected with neurological signs (ataxia, circling
      and torticollis) were investigated pathologically and microbiologically. Viral
      isolation was tried from the tracheal and cloacal swabs of all 4 birds and from
      liver, spleen, kidney, heart, lung and brain of Nos. 1 and 2 birds. No viruses
      were isolated from 4 birds, but they had high serum antibody titers against avian
      paramyxovirus 1 (APMV-1). Histologically, they had the characteristic
      histological changes of pigeon APMV-1 infection; nonpurulent encephalitis and
      interstitial nephritis. Immununohistochemically, APMV-1 antigens were detected in
      the necrotic renal tubular epithelial cells of 1 bird of them (No. 3 bird).
      Detection of APMV-1 ribonucleic acid (RNA) from formalin-fixed and paraffin
      embedded (FFPE) sections was attempted by reverse transcription-polymerase chain
      reaction (RT-PCR). Sequencing the RT-PCR product showed the virus RNA belonged to
      the same APMV-1 genotype (VI) as the strains isolated from the world previous
      cases of pigeon APMV-1 infection. The RT-PCR of FFPE sections and sequencing of
      RT-PCR products are useful for molecular epidemiology of the virus when viral
      isolation from fresh samples is unsuccessful. 

PMID- 25816804
TI  - Pediatric dermatology training during residency: a survey of the 2014 graduating
      residents.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Knowledge of pediatric dermatology is considered a core competency of
      dermatology training and should be expected of all practicing dermatologists.
      While the numbers of both pediatric dermatology fellowships and board certified
      pediatric dermatologists in the workforce have increased over the years, recent
      reports suggest that there is a gap in pediatric dermatology education during
      dermatology residency. The goal of this study is to assess the current state of
      pediatric education during residency, as well as the clinical experience,
      satisfaction and expectations of graduating dermatology residents. METHODS: A 31
      question self-report survey was distributed electronically to 294 third-year
      dermatology residents with questions pertaining to demographics, didactic
      education, resident experience in pediatric dermatology training, satisfaction
      with pediatric training and future plans. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-three
      residents responded (41.8% response rate) representing approximately 29.1% of the
      total number of graduating residents. 69 (56.1%) residents reported academic time
      specifically devoted to pediatric dermatology, the majority (79.7%) of which was
      led by pediatric dermatologists. 82% of residents reported dedicated pediatric
      dermatology clinics at their program. 86.8% of respondents felt that their
      training in pediatric dermatology will allow them to confidently see pediatric
      dermatology patients in practice. CONCLUSIONS: This survey highlights a promising
      state of pediatric dermatology training among current graduating dermatology
      residents. The majority of current graduating dermatology residents are satisfied
      with their pediatric dermatology education, feel confident treating pediatric
      patients, and plan to see pediatric patients in clinical practice.

PMID- 25816805
TI  - n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and adiponectin in patients with end-stage renal
      disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: In subjects without kidney disease, adiponectin appears to
      have anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and anti-atherogenic effects. n-3
      polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) from seafood have several beneficial effects
      in patients with endstage renal disease (ESRD) and the aim of the present study
      was to assess the effect of n-3 PUFA supplementation on plasma adiponectin levels
      in ESRD patients. METHODS: In a double blinded intervention trial, 162 ESRD
      patients (mean age 67 years A +/- 13, 56 women and 106 men) undergoing chronic
      hemodialysis were randomized to 1.7 g n-3 PUFA daily or placebo for 3 months.
      Adiponectin, plasma lipids and lipoproteins were measured at baseline and after
      the intervention period. RESULTS: At baseline, adiponectin was positively
      correlated to HDL-cholesterol (r = 0.55, p < 0.001) and inversely correlated to
      plasma triglycerides, body mass index (BMI) and high sensitive C-reactive protein
      (Hs-CRP) (r = -0.32, p < 0.01, r = -0.43, p < 0.01, and r = -0.21, p < 0.01,
      respectively). Furthermore, adiponectin was inversely correlated to the plasma
      levels of the two major n-3 PUFA docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic
      acid (EPA) (r = -0.19, p < 0.001, and r = -0.30, p < 0.001, respectively).
      Baseline plasma adiponectin levels were high in both groups but after 3 months of
      supplementation no significant change was observed in the groups. Thus, n-3 PUFA
      supplementation did not change adiponectin levels. CONCLUSION: We found an
      elevated plasma adiponectin level, which was inversely associated with plasma
      levels of DHA and EPA at baseline. Supplementation with n-3 PUFAs for 3 months
      did not change adiponectin levels. The negative result in this study may be
      related to a relatively low dose and future studies with higher dose and longer
      duration are needed to explore this mechanism.

PMID- 25816806
TI  - Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of pegloticase in patients with end-stage
      renal failure receiving hemodialysis.
AB  - AIMS: Phase 3 trial data indicate that treatment of chronic tophaceous gout with
      pegloticase, a recombinant uricase conjugated to polyethylene glycol, does not
      reduce estimated glomerular filtration rate in chronic kidney disease (CKD)
      patients and that pegloticase therapeutics are independent of CKD stages 1 - 4.
      We determined the pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of pegloticase after a single
      dose in non-gout subjects with stage 5 CKD receiving hemodialysis. METHODS: In
      this open-label phase 1 study, 12 subjects received a single intravenous dose of
      pegloticase 8 mg 3 hours prior to hemodialysis. Blood samples for determination
      of serum pegloticase concentrations and serum uric acid (SUA) levels were
      collected immediately predose and at regular intervals before, during, and after
      hemodialysis. RESULTS: Mean serum pegloticase concentrations remained stable and
      were unaffected by dialysis sessions. Mean SUA fell to undetectable levels within
      3 hours and remained undetected for up to 72 hours postdose. CONCLUSION: Our
      findings indicate no significant effect of hemodialysis on either the stability
      of serum pegloticase concentrations after a single dose or the capacity of
      pegloticase to lower SUA. No new safety signals were detected. Administration of
      pegloticase in patients with comorbid chronic tophaceous gout and endstage renal
      failure requiring hemodialysis appears feasible.

PMID- 25816807
TI  - Risk factors associated with efficacy outcomes in kidney transplantation:
      analysis of a contemporary cohort of patients from the A2309 trial.
AB  - A multivariate analysis of risk factors for a composite endpoint of treated
      biopsy proven acute rejection (BPAR), graft loss, death, or loss to follow-up was
      undertaken in a cohort of 833 de novo kidney transplants from an international
      trial (A2309). Patients were randomized to everolimus (trough concentration 3-8
      ng/mL or 6-12 ng/mL) with reduced cyclosporine or to mycophenolic acid (MPA) with
      standard cyclosporine. Cox proportional hazard modeling, incorporating a range of
      recipient, donor, and transplant variables, showed that treatment group (i.e.,
      randomization to either everolimus 3-8 ng/mL or 6-12 ng/mL vs. MPA) showed no
      significant association with risk of the composite efficacy endpoint at either
      month 12 or month 24 (significance level 0.05). At month 12, Cox proportional
      hazard modeling showed that black race (hazard ratio (HR) 1.68; 95% confidence
      interval (CI) 1.08, 2.60; p=0.021), increasing donor age in years (HR 1.01; 95%
      CI 1.00, 1.03; p=0.022), and delayed graft function (DGF; yes vs. no, HR 2.75;
      95% CI 1.82, 4.16; p< 0.001) predicted higher risk of the composite endpoint;
      female gender (female vs. male HR 0.67; 95% CI 0.48, 0.93; p=0.017), and < 3 HLA
      mismatches (HR 0.70; 95% CI 0.50, 0.99; p=0.049) were associated with reduced
      risk. At month 24, increasing recipient age in years (HR 0.99; 95% CI 0.98, 0.99;
      p=0.028), black recipient race (HR 1.62; 95% CI 1.09, 2.42; p=0.018), increasing
      donor age in years (HR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00, 1.02; p=0.008) and delayed graft
      function (DGF) (HR 2.60; 95% CI 1.78, 3.82; p<0.001) were predictive of risk.
      These findings show that, independently from type of immunosuppression, organ
      quality (expressed by DGF), donor age and recipient age, race and gender appear
      to be the main determinants of efficacy within 2 years after kidney
      transplantation.

PMID- 25816809
TI  - Neonatal atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome from a factor H mutation treated with
      eculizumab.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) results from an inherited
      dysregulation of the alternative complement pathway leading to thrombotic
      microangiopathy consisting of hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and renal
      injury. The complement inhibitor eculizumab is an approved treatment, but its
      reported use in neonates - who have an inherently high risk of infection - is
      limited. CASE DIAGNOSIS/TREATMENT: A 28-day-old female presented with gross
      hematuria and hypertension. aHUS was suspected based on anemia with schistocytes,
      thrombocytopenia, low C3, and acute kidney injury requiring peritoneal dialysis.
      A septic work-up initiated on day 2 for hypothermia and respiratory failure was
      negative. There was no improvement after 6 days of plasma therapy. Despite being
      < 6 weeks old she was vaccinated with pneumococcal-13 conjugate, meningococcal
      (groups C and Y) polysaccharide, and Haemophilus b tetanus toxoid conjugate
      vaccines and started on penicillin prophylaxis. After 1 dose of eculizumab 300
      mg, dialysis was discontinued and her hematological parameters improved. Genetic
      testing revealed a complement factor H mutation. After 11 months of follow-up,
      she remains on eculizumab and penicillin without recurrence of aHUS or any
      infectious complications. CONCLUSIONS: Eculizumab is a safe and effective
      treatment option for aHUS even in neonates at high risk for infection.

PMID- 25816808
TI  - Prevalence and predictors of aortic dilation as a novel cardiovascular
      complication in children with end-stage renal disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in children with
      end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Isolated aortic dilation (AD) is rare in
      children. We aimed to determine the prevalence and the risk factors for AD in
      children with ESRD. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: We reviewed records of all ESRD
      patients followed mat our institution from January 2007 to October 2012. AD was
      defined as Z-score > 2 in the dimension of at least one of the following
      echocardiographic aortic parameters: annulus, root at the sinus, sino-tubular
      junction, or ascending aorta. RESULTS: The records of 78 patients on dialysis and
      19 kidney transplant recipients were available. 30 patients (30.9%) had AD.
      Multivariate analysis revealed independent associations of AD with body mass
      index (BMI) Z-score (OR = 0.52, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.35 - 0.78) and
      ESRD secondary to glomerular disease (OR = 4.58, 95% CI: 1.45 - 14.46). We
      developed a classification and regression tree (CART) model to identify patients
      at low vs. high AD risk. Our model classified 62 patients of the cohort (64%) to
      be high- or lowrisk, with a positive predictive value of 89% and a negative
      predictive value of 100%. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that AD, as a possible
      marker of aortopathy and early aneurysm formation, is a novel and prevalent
      cardiovascular complication in ESRD children. Glomerular disease and low BMI
      Zscore appear to be potent predictors. CART modeling helps identify high-risk
      children, potentially guiding decisions regarding targeted echocardiographic
      evaluations.

PMID- 25816810
TI  - Description of Octadecabacter temperatus sp. nov., isolated from the southern
      North Sea, emended descriptions of the genus Octadecabacter and its species and
      reclassification of Octadecabacter jejudonensisPark and Yoon 2014 as
      Pseudooctadecabacter jejudonensis gen. nov., comb. nov.
AB  - A heterotrophic, Gram-negative, aerobic bacterium, designated strain SB1T, was
      isolated from surface water of the southern North Sea. Comparison of 16S rRNA
      gene sequences revealed that strain SB1T is affiliated to the genus
      Octadecabacter within the marine Roseobacter clade (family Rhodobacteraceae),
      with Octadecabacter antarcticus as the closest described species (98.2 % sequence
      similarity to the type strain). DNA-DNA hybridization indicated that SB1T
      represents a distinct species within this genus. On marine agar, strain SB1T
      formed beige, circular and convex colonies. Cells were irregular, motile rods.
      Growth occurred between 4 and 25  degrees C and was optimal at 20  degrees C, and
      at pH 7-9 (optimum pH 7.5-8.5) and NaCl concentrations between 1 and 6 % (optimum
      2-4 %). The DNA G+C content of SB1T was 54.7 mol%. The fatty acids (>1 %)
      comprised 10 : 0 3-OH, 12 : 1 3-OH, 16 : 1omega7c, 16 : 0, 18 : 2omega7,12, 18 :
      1omega7c, 18 : 0 and 11-methyl 18 : 1omega7c. The sole respiratory lipoquinone
      was ubiquinone Q-10 and the polar lipid pattern indicated the presence of the
      phospholipids phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine, as well as
      unidentified aminolipid AL1, phospholipids PL1 and PL3 and lipids L1, L2 and L4.
      On the basis of phylogenetic and phenotypic differences, strain SB1T represents a
      novel species in the genus Octadecabacter, for which we propose the name
      Octadecabacter temperatus sp. nov. The type strain is SB1T ( = DSM 26878T = LMG
      27946T). Furthermore, our results suggest the reclassification of Octadecabacter
      jejudonensis as the type species of a new genus, Pseudooctadecabacter gen. nov.,
      as Pseudooctadecabacter jejudonensis comb. nov. (type strain SSK2-1T = KCTC
      32535T = CECT 8397T). Finally, emended descriptions of the genus Octadecabacter
      and its species Octadecabacter antarcticus and Octadecabacter arcticus are also
      provided.

PMID- 25816811
TI  - Anticoagulation reversal in the era of the non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants.
AB  - In recent years, non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) have emerged as an
      alternative to warfarin for the prevention and treatment of thrombo-embolic
      disease. Large randomized trials have demonstrated that these agents, which act
      by directly targeting thrombin (dabigatran) and factor Xa (rivaroxaban, apixaban,
      and edoxaban), are at least as effective as warfarin, with lower rates of
      bleeding and fewer interactions with food and drugs. In addition, NOACs have a
      more predictable anticoagulant effect, allowing a fixed dose regimen and
      obviating the need for routine anticoagulation monitoring. Since the introduction
      of NOACs, one of the major concerns for clinicians has been the lack of specific
      agents to reverse their anticoagulant effect in case of life-threatening
      haemorrhagic complications or emergency surgery, which have limited their use in
      patients deemed at a higher risk of bleeding. New specific antidotes (e.g.
      idarucizumab, andexanet alfa, and ciraparantag) show promising data, and may soon
      become available for clinical use. In this article, we review the pharmacology of
      these agents, the incidence and outcomes of haemorrhagic complications, the
      available strategies for anticoagulation reversal, and the more recent advances
      for the development of specific antidotes. 

PMID- 25816812
TI  - Standardizing the D-dimer Assay: Proposing the D-dimer International Managed
      Ratio.

PMID- 25816813
TI  - Indiana declares health emergency in response to HIV outbreak.

PMID- 25816814
TI  - Measuring Public Support for Prisoner Reentry Options.
AB  - Few topics have been discussed more extensively or feverishly within correctional
      academic and professional circles in the past few decades than prisoner reentry.
      Although program and policy evaluations have been conducted, a lack of public
      support for prisoner reentry initiatives could undermine the sustainability of
      prisoner reentry as a large-scale movement. Interestingly, no multivariate,
      explanatory analyses of the correlates of support for prisoner reentry policies
      could be found in the literature. This omission is due in part to the absence of
      clear psychometric measures to assess support. The current study examines the
      data obtained from a sample of residents in a Midwestern state to determine the
      dimensionality of support for prisoner reentry interventions using both
      exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression.
      Specifically, our expectation is that the following three-factor structure will
      be identified: (a) support for transitional programs aimed at building skills and
      knowledge to handle the obstacles of the prison-to-community transitional
      process, (b) support for post-release transitional housing units, and (c)
      opposition to denying offenders housing opportunities. Our results support a
      three-factor model. The implications of these findings for future research are
      discussed. 

PMID- 25816816
TI  - Higher incentives can impair performance: neural evidence on reinforcement and
      rationality.
AB  - Standard economic thinking postulates that increased monetary incentives should
      increase performance. Human decision makers, however, frequently focus on past
      performance, a form of reinforcement learning occasionally at odds with rational
      decision making. We used an incentivized belief-updating task from economics to
      investigate this conflict through measurements of neural correlates of reward
      processing. We found that higher incentives fail to improve performance when
      immediate feedback on decision outcomes is provided. Subsequent analysis of the
      feedback-related negativity, an early event-related potential following feedback,
      revealed the mechanism behind this paradoxical effect. As incentives increase,
      the win/lose feedback becomes more prominent, leading to an increased reliance on
      reinforcement and more errors. This mechanism is relevant for economic decision
      making and the debate on performance-based payment. 

PMID- 25816815
TI  - Susceptibility to social pressure following ventromedial prefrontal cortex
      damage.
AB  - Social pressure influences human behavior including risk taking, but the
      psychological and neural underpinnings of this process are not well understood.
      We used the human lesion method to probe the role of ventromedial prefrontal
      cortex (vmPFC) in resisting adverse social pressure in the presence of risk.
      Thirty-seven participants (11 with vmPFC damage, 12 with brain damage outside the
      vmPFC and 14 without brain damage) were tested in driving simulator scenarios
      requiring left-turn decisions across oncoming traffic with varying time gaps
      between the oncoming vehicles. Social pressure was applied by a virtual driver
      who honked aggressively from behind. Participants with vmPFC damage were more
      likely to select smaller and potentially unsafe gaps under social pressure, while
      gap selection by the comparison groups did not change under social pressure.
      Participants with vmPFC damage also showed prolonged elevated skin conductance
      responses (SCR) under social pressure. Comparison groups showed similar initial
      elevated SCR, which then declined prior to making left-turn decisions. The
      findings suggest that the vmPFC plays an important role in resisting explicit and
      immediately present social pressure with potentially negative consequences. The
      vmPFC appears to contribute to the regulation of emotional responses and the
      modulation of decision making to optimize long-term outcomes. 

PMID- 25816817
TI  - Spirometer Replacement and Serial Lung Function Measurements in Population
      Studies: Results From the SAPALDIA Study.
AB  - The Swiss Cohort Study on Air Pollution and Lung and Heart Disease in Adults
      (SAPALDIA), a population cohort study, used heated-wire spirometers in 1991 and
      2002 and then ultrasonic spirometers in 2010 revealing measurement bias in
      healthy never smokers. To provide a practical method to control for measurement
      bias given the replacement of spirometer in long-term population studies, we
      built spirometer-specific reference equations from healthy never smokers
      participating in 1991, 2002, and 2010 to derive individualized corrections terms.
      We compared yearly lung function decline without corrections terms with fixed
      terms that were obtained from a quasi-experimental study and individualized
      terms. Compared with baseline reference equations, spirometer-specific reference
      equations predicted lower lung function. The mean measurement bias increased with
      age and height. The decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 second during the
      reference period of 1991-2002 was 31.5 (standard deviation (SD), 28.7) mL/year
      while, after spirometer replacement, uncorrected, corrected by fixed term, and
      individualized term, the declines were 47.0 (SD, 30.1), 40.4 (SD, 30.1), and 30.4
      (SD, 29.9) mL/year, respectively. In healthy never smokers, ultrasonic
      spirometers record lower lung function values than heated-wire spirometers. This
      measurement bias is sizeable enough to be relevant for researchers and
      clinicians. Future reference equations should account for not only anthropometric
      variables but also spirometer type. We provide a novel method to address
      spirometer replacement in cohort studies. 

PMID- 25816818
TI  - Hypothetical exposure limits for oil-based metalworking fluids and cardiovascular
      mortality in a cohort of autoworkers: structural accelerated failure time models
      in a public health framework.
AB  - Occupational exposure to aerosolized particles of oil-based metalworking fluid
      was recently linked to deaths from ischemic heart disease. The current
      recommended exposure limits might be insufficient. Studying cardiovascular
      mortality is challenging because symptoms can induce sicker workers to reduce
      their exposure, causing healthy-worker survivor bias. G-estimation of accelerated
      failure time models reduces this bias and permits comparison of multiple exposure
      interventions. Michigan autoworkers from the United AutoWorkers-General Motors
      cohort (n = 38,666) were followed from 1941 through 1994. Separate binary
      variables indicated whether annual exposure exceeded a series of potential
      limits. Separate g-estimation analyses for each limit yielded the total number of
      life-years that could have been saved among persons who died from specific
      cardiovascular causes by enforcing that exposure limit. Banning oil-based fluids
      would have saved an estimated 4,003 (95% confidence interval: 2,200, 5,807) life
      years among those who died of ischemic heart disease. Estimates for
      cardiovascular disease overall, acute myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular
      disease were 3,500 (95% confidence interval: 1,350, 5,651), 2,932 (95% confidence
      interval: 1,587, 4,277), and 917 (95% confidence interval: -80, 1,913) life
      years, respectively. A limit of 0.01 mg/m(3) would have had a similar impact on
      cerebrovascular disease but one only half as great on ischemic heart disease.
      Analyses suggest that limiting exposure to metalworking fluids could have saved
      many life-years lost to cardiovascular diseases in this cohort.

PMID- 25816820
TI  - Environmental factors that affect the Fukuda stepping test in normal
      participants.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Fukuda stepping test is commonly used to assess peripheral
      vestibular function. It has, however, been suggested that its maximal sensitivity
      and specificity are 70 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively. This study was
      undertaken to evaluate environmental factors that may influence the reliability
      of this assessment and hence to 'sharpen' its use in a clinical setting. METHODS:
      Forty-four participants aged between 20 and 43 years were asked to perform the
      Fukuda stepping test in both a standard clinic room and a soundproofed room under
      the following conditions in a randomised order: on the floor versus on foam; with
      and without a sound-localising source; and with and without ear defenders.
      RESULTS: Significant differences in the extent of rotation were found when
      comparing the results obtained in several settings, including standing on the
      floor in a standard room versus a soundproofed room (p = 0.036), and standing on
      foam in a standard room versus a soundproofed room (p = 0.015). CONCLUSION: Our
      results suggest that certain alterations to the test environment may improve the
      sensitivity of this clinical examination.

PMID- 25816821
TI  - Use of value of information in UK health technology assessments.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify and critically appraise the use
      of Value of Information (VOI) analyses undertaken as part of health technology
      assessment (HTA) reports in England and Wales. METHODS: A systematic review of
      National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded HTA reports published
      between 2004 and 2013 identified the use of VOI methods and key analytical
      details in terms of: (i) types of VOI methodology used; (ii) parameters and key
      assumptions; and (iii) conclusions drawn in terms of the need for further
      research. RESULTS: A total of 512 HTA reports were published during the relevant
      timeframe. Of these, 203 reported systematic review and economic modeling studies
      and 25 of these had used VOI method(s). Over half of the twenty-five studies (n =
      13) conducted both EVPI (Expected Value of Perfect Information) and EVPPI
      (Expected Value of Partial Perfect Information) analyses. Eight studies conducted
      EVPI analysis, three studies conducted EVPI, EVPPI, and EVSI (Expected Value of
      Sampling Information) analyses and one study conducted EVSI analysis only. The
      level of detail reporting the methods used to conduct the VOI analyses varied.
      CONCLUSIONS: This review has shown that the frequency of the use of VOI methods
      is increasing at a slower pace compared with the published volume of HTA reports.
      This review also suggests that analysts reporting VOI method(s) in HTA reports
      should aim to describe the method(s) in sufficient detail to enable and encourage
      decision-makers guiding research prioritization decisions to use the potentially
      valuable outputs from quantitative VOI analyses.

PMID- 25816819
TI  - Invited commentary: Estimating population impact in the presence of competing
      events.
AB  - The formal approach in the field of causal inference has enabled epidemiologists
      to clarify several complications that arise when estimating the effect of an
      intervention on a health outcome of interest. When the outcome is a failure time
      or longitudinal process, researchers must often deal with competing events. In
      this issue of the Journal, Picciotto et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2015;181(8):563-570)
      use structural nested failure time models to assess potential population effects
      of hypothetical interventions and censor competing events. In the present
      commentary, we discuss 2 interpretations that result from treating competing
      events as censored observations and how they relate to measures of public health
      impact. We also comment on 2 alternative approaches for handling competing
      events: an inverse probability weighting estimator of the survivor average causal
      effect and the parametric g-formula, which can be used to estimate a functional
      of the subdistribution of the event of interest. We argue that careful
      consideration of the tradeoff between the interpretation of the parameters from
      each approach and the assumptions required to estimate these parameters should
      guide researchers on the various ways to handle competing events in epidemiologic
      research.

PMID- 25816822
TI  - Early dialogue with health technology assessment bodies: a European perspective.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Evidence requirements may differ across HTA bodies, and so
      pharmaceutical companies must plan to synergize their evidence generation
      strategy, across global regulatory and HTA bodies. Until recently, companies had
      no official platform to discuss the clinical development of a drug with HTA
      bodies; however, this is changing. OBJECTIVES: To achieve broad usage in the EU,
      products must achieve both regulatory and reimbursement approval, the latter of
      which is based on HTA appraisal in many markets. The objective of this study is
      to present and evaluate the different options available for early HTA
      consultation (during drug development/Phase III) in the major European markets
      from the industry perspective. METHODS: An exploratory (nonsystematic) literature
      review was performed to identify the European markets offering early HTA
      consultations, and each process was analyzed using a set of predefined metrics
      that are relevant to industry (the ability to consult with the regulatory body in
      parallel, consultation fees, length of consultation meeting, language of
      consultation meeting, maximum number of pharmaceutical company employees
      attending, procedural timelines, nature of data for which consultative advice can
      be sought, the output of the process, and the ability to involve external
      experts). RESULTS: Four different types of early HTA consultation processes were
      identified across the major European HTA markets. The nature of these processes
      varied in terms of the types and number of questions that can be addressed, the
      length of the meeting, the reporting output, and the ability to involve external
      experts. CONCLUSIONS: The availability of various options for early HTA
      consultation may help to avoid a mismatch between the evidence generated by means
      of a product's clinical development program, and the evidence expected by HTA
      bodies and payers, which can facilitate the pricing and reimbursement process
      upon a product's market authorization.

PMID- 25816823
TI  - Revealing and acknowledging value judgments in health technology assessment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although value issues are increasingly addressed in health technology
      assessment (HTA) reports, HTA is still seen as a scientific endeavor and
      sometimes contrasted with value judgments, which are considered arbitrary and
      unscientific. This article aims at illustrating how numerous value judgments are
      at play in the HTA process, and why it is important to acknowledge and address
      value judgments. METHODS: A panel of experts involved in HTA, including
      ethicists, scrutinized the HTA process with regard to implicit value judgments.
      It was analyzed whether these value judgments undermine the accountability of HTA
      results. The final results were obtained after several rounds of deliberation.
      RESULTS: Value judgments are identified before the assessment when identifying
      and selecting health technologies to assess, and as part of assessment. They are
      at play in the processes of deciding on how to select, frame, present, summarize
      or synthesize information in systematic reviews. Also, in economic analysis,
      value judgments are ubiquitous. Addressing the ethical, legal, and social issues
      of a given health technology involves moral, legal, and social value judgments by
      definition. So do the appraisal and the decision-making process. CONCLUSIONS: HTA
      by and large is a process of value judgments. However, the preponderance of value
      judgments does not render HTA biased or flawed. On the contrary they are basic
      elements of the HTA process. Acknowledging and explicitly addressing value
      judgments may improve the accountability of HTA.

PMID- 25816824
TI  - HTA and its legal issues: a framework for identifying legal issues in health
      technology assessment.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Legal analysis can highlight important issues that are relevant when
      deciding whether a medical technology should be implemented or reimbursed.
      Literature and studies show that even though the law is an acknowledged part of
      health technology assessment (HTA), legal issues are rarely considered in
      practice. One reason for this may be the lack of knowledge about the diversity of
      legal issues that are relevant for HTA. Therefore, this contribution aims
      primarily to identify and then explain the relevant legal issues in HTA. This
      study offers a framework for identifying the legal issues in HTAs in different
      jurisdictions and provides a basis for further research. METHODS: After extensive
      literature search, the authors review Swiss health law to identify legal issues
      that are relevant to HTA. The authors then categorize these legal issues using a
      framework with an inside and outside perspective. Finally, they explain a
      selection of these legal issues with several examples. RESULTS: This study
      reveals numerous legal issues that are relevant for HTA and underlines the
      necessity of incorporating legal analysis in HTAs. The suggested perspectival
      framework in this study provides a basis to structure the legal analysis. The
      identified legal issues are relevant in other countries and the perspectival
      framework is transferable to other jurisdictions. CONCLUSIONS: The article
      underlines the importance of in-depth discussion about the role of law in HTA. It
      provides a structured overview of the legal issues in HTA and suggests a
      development of more concrete instruments toward a standardized legal technology
      assessment.

PMID- 25816825
TI  - Health technology assessment and evidence-based policy making: Queensland
      Department of Health experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Evidence-based policy making is increasingly used for better resource
      allocation. Queensland Department of Health has developed a new model to
      introduce innovative health technologies through a health technology assessment
      (HTA) program. STRUCTURE: A state-wide committee and several sub-committees at
      health service district level were established to oversee the HTA program and to
      monitor the uptake of technologies. The committees are supported by a
      multidisciplinary secretariat comprising staff with key HTA skills. PROCESS: The
      process starts with HTA applications, which are then shortlisted according to
      prespecified criteria. A due diligence process adopting a rapid evidence
      assessment approach is used to evaluate the applications. Based on the
      assessment, recommendations are made using a deliberative decision-making process
      guided by well-recognized tools. With positive recommendation, a technology is
      piloted in constrained local setting before its system-wide diffusion. OUTCOME:
      The HTA program has assisted health administrators in prioritizing their health
      technology agendas. It has gained trust and wide support from policy makers and
      is increasingly used to support funding allocations, indicating the increasing
      awareness of and confidence in the program. CONCLUSIONS: The HTA program is a
      valuable process to assist evidence-based policy development and to guide better
      resource allocation.

PMID- 25816826
TI  - Belgian guidelines for economic evaluations: second edition.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to present the updated methodological
      guidelines for economic evaluations of healthcare interventions (drugs, medical
      devices, and other interventions) in Belgium. METHODS: The update of the
      guidelines was performed by three Belgian health economists following feedback
      from users of the former guidelines and personal experience. The updated
      guidelines were discussed with a multidisciplinary team consisting of other
      health economists, assessors of reimbursement request files, representatives of
      Belgian databases and representatives of the drugs and medical devices industry.
      The final document was validated by three external validators that were not
      involved in the previous discussions. RESULTS: The guidelines give methodological
      guidance for the following components of an economic evaluation: literature
      review, perspective of the evaluation, definition of the target population,
      choice of the comparator, analytic technique and study design, calculation of
      costs, valuation of outcomes, definition of the time horizon, modeling, handling
      uncertainty and discounting. We present a reference case that can be considered
      as the minimal requirement for Belgian economic evaluations of health
      interventions. CONCLUSIONS: These guidelines will improve the methodological
      quality, transparency and uniformity of the economic evaluations performed in
      Belgium. The guidelines will also provide support to the researchers and
      assessors performing or evaluating economic evaluations.

PMID- 25816827
TI  - Understanding and anticipating lag-time bias in cost-effectiveness studies: the
      role of time in cost-effectiveness analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Timely provision of information on the cost-effectiveness of
      innovations in health care becomes more and more important, resulting in
      increasing pressure on researchers to provide proof of cost-effectiveness in a
      short time frame. However, most of these innovations require considerable time
      and effort to optimally implement leading to a biased "steady state" cost
      effectiveness outcome. As decision makers in health care predominantly have a
      short-term focus, the discrepancy between short-term study outcomes and long-term
      cost-effectiveness may very well lead to misguided decisions about the adoption
      of innovations in health care. METHODS: Factors such as learning effects,
      capacity constraints, and delayed time to benefit are all related to a short-run
      timeframe and result in inefficiencies during the implementation of an
      innovation. These factors and the mechanisms by which they influence the cost
      effectiveness outcome are explained for three different types of healthcare
      innovations. RESULTS: As standard cost-effectiveness analysis assumes costs and
      effects to behave constant and representative for an innovation's entire economic
      lifetime, resulting cost-effectiveness outcomes might give a biased, and often
      overly pessimistic, reflection of the actual cost-effectiveness of an innovation.
      This is further amplified by the fact that short-run inefficiencies are most
      prevalent and impactful during an innovation's earliest stage of operation.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study advocates to carefully take into account the different
      factors contributing to lag-time bias in the design and analysis of cost
      effectiveness studies, and to communicate potential biases due to short-run
      inefficiencies to all stakeholders involved in the decision making process.

PMID- 25816828
TI  - Differences in evaluating health technology assessment knowledge translation by
      researchers and policy makers in China.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the gaps between researchers and
      policy makers in perceptions and influencing factors of knowledge translation
      (KT) of health technology assessment (HTA) in China. METHODS: A sample of 382 HTA
      researchers and 112 policy makers in China were surveyed using structured
      questionnaires. The questionnaires contained two sections: perceptions of HTA
      research and assessments of six-stage KT activities. Wilcoxon rank sum test was
      applied to compare the differences in these two sections between HTA researchers
      and policy makers. Multivariate linear regression was performed to explore KT
      determinants of HTA for researchers and policy makers separately. RESULTS: Policy
      makers and researchers differed in their perceptions of HTA research in all items
      except collaboration in research development and presentation of evidence in easy
      to-understand language. Significant differences in KT activities existed in all
      the six stages except academic translation. Regarding KT determinants, close
      contact between research unit and policy-making department, relevance of HTA to
      policy making, and importance of HTA on policy making were considered
      facilitators by both groups. For researchers, practicality of HTA report and
      presentation of evidence in easy-to-understand language can facilitate KT. Policy
      makers, on the other hand, considered an overly pedantic nature of HTA research
      as an obstacle to effective KT. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial gaps existed between HTA
      researchers and policy makers regarding the perceptions of HTA research and KT
      activities. There are also some differences in KT determinants by these two
      groups. Enhancing collaboration, promoting practicality and policy relevance of
      HTA research, and making HTA findings easily understood are likely to further the
      KT of HTA evidence.

PMID- 25816829
TI  - Advancing palliative care in the Uganda health system: an evidence-based policy
      brief.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This paper describes the development and findings for a policy brief
      on "Advancing the Integration of Palliative Care into the National Health System"
      and the subsequent use of this report. METHODS: Key stakeholders involved with
      palliative care helped identify the problem and potential policy solutions to
      scale up these services within the health system. A working group of national
      stakeholder representatives and external reviewers commented on and contributed
      to successive drafts of the report. Research describing the problem, policy
      options and implementation considerations was identified by reviewing government
      documents, routinely collected data, electronic literature searches, contact with
      key informants, and reviewing the reference lists of relevant documents that were
      retrieved. RESULTS: The palliative burden is not only high but increasing due to
      the rise in population and life expectancy. A few options for holistic,
      supportive care include: Home-based care increases chances of a peaceful death
      for the terminally ill surrounded by their loved ones; supporting informal
      caregivers improves their quality of life and discharge planning reduces
      unscheduled admissions and has the potential to free up capacity for acute care
      services. A combination of strategies is needed to effectively implement the
      proposed options as discussed further in this article. CONCLUSIONS: The policy
      brief report was used as a background document for two stakeholder dialogues
      whose main outcome was that a comprehensive national palliative care policy
      should be instituted to include all the options, which need to be integrated
      within the public health system. A draft policy is now in process.

PMID- 25816830
TI  - Developing a prioritized list of innovative technologies: the Spanish experience.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Selecting technologies for formal assessment poses a great challenge
      to health technology assessment agencies. This study aims to contribute to the
      creation of a reference framework for the identification, filtering, and
      prioritization of new and emerging technologies which could be demanded in
      clinical practice within the next 1-2 years. METHODS: Technologies were
      identified using a prevalidated systematic Medline strategy. They were classified
      by medical specialty and then sent to selected professionals belonging to the
      medical units or areas responsible for their application, until there was a
      minimum of three participants per health care setting. A self-administered
      questionnaire was drawn up and health professionals were asked to: (1) assess the
      degree of innovation of the technologies, and (11) score their foreseeable
      clinical impact on the basis of predefined prioritization criteria (n = 4). Intra
      rater reliability was analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient
      (ICC). RESULTS: The Medline search yielded 246 potentially relevant technologies.
      When analyzed by health care area or unit, sixty-eight were deemed to be high
      impact innovative technologies (median score >6), with ICCs ranging from 0.03 to
      0.83. The final list resulting from the aggregate analysis comprised fifty-one
      technologies. CONCLUSIONS: This study constitutes an innovative contribution to
      horizon scanning, providing a systematic and reproducible basis for the
      identification and selection of relevant new and emerging technologies based on
      the views and values of health professionals involved in their use. In our
      opinion, the current proposal could be helpful and useful to many other
      organizations worldwide, serving to complement already existing strategies.

PMID- 25816831
TI  - Can L-Cysteine and Vitamin D Rescue Vitamin D and Vitamin D Binding Protein
      Levels in Blood Plasma of African American Type 2 Diabetic Patients?
AB  - AIMS: Vitamin D (VD) deficiency has become a worldwide epidemic, particularly
      affecting African Americans (AA). VD deficiency has been implicated in the
      excessive rate of complications associated with diabetes in AA. Blood levels of
      VD binding protein (VDBP) and glutathione (GSH) are lower in AA compared with
      those in Caucasians. This study tested the hypothesis that lower GSH levels are
      linked to VDBP and VD deficiency in AA-type 2 diabetic (AA-T2D) patients. Blood
      was analyzed from T2D and nondiabetic subjects (N). Experiments examining GSH
      deficiency and l-cysteine (LC) supplementation were performed using THP-1
      monocytes. RESULTS: Plasma levels of LC, GSH, VDBP, and VD were significantly
      lower in AA-T2D compared with age-matched AA-N or Caucasian-T2D. Lower levels of
      LC and GSH showed a significant positive correlation with lower VDBP and VD
      levels in AA-T2D. GSH deficiency investigated using an antisense approach
      depleted VDBP/vitamin D receptor (VDR); LC supplementation caused significant
      upregulation of GSH and of VDBP/VDR, while supplementation with VD+LC caused a
      significantly greater GSH and VDBP/VDR upregulation compared with that of VD
      alone in monocytes. INNOVATION AND CONCLUSION: The reported observations suggest
      that VD deficiency may be linked to GSH and LC status and lead to a novel
      hypothesis that supplementation with LC in combination with VD will be effective
      in increasing VD levels and reducing health disparities in AA.

PMID- 25816832
TI  - Calibration and standardisation of graded optic nerve injuries in rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To calibrate and standardise an animal model of graded optic nerve
      injury (ONI) in rats to facilitate future inter-laboratory data comparisons,
      focussing on quantification of injury intensity, injury severity, and the
      correlation between them. METHODS: A pair of cross-action forceps or a pair of
      artery clips was used to induce optic nerve (ON) crush injuries. A lever
      principle and a simplified method were used to measure the crushing force. The
      simplified method directly measured weights as an external force exerted on the
      tip of the forceps or clips, which was just sufficient to maintain a gap and was
      equivalent to the closing (crush) force. The impulse and averaged impulse were
      explored as physical quantities to compare injury intensities. Graded ONIs were
      made by crushing the ON for 3, 6, 12, 30 or 60 seconds by the cross-action
      forceps, or 5, 10 or 15 seconds by the artery clips. The injury severity was
      evaluated by counting surviving retinal ganglion cell (RGC) through applied
      FluoroGold to the superior colliculus and lateral geniculate body before ON
      crush, intact RGC counting by applied FluoroGold after ON crush, and ON axon
      counting. RESULTS: Similar results were obtained by the lever principle method
      and the simplified method. The crushing force of the cross-action forceps and the
      artery clips was 148.0 gram force (gf) and 32.4 gf, respectively. The graded ONI
      animal models were successfully created in rats without retinal ischaemia post
      trauma. The averaged impulse produced by the artery clips for 15 seconds was
      equal to that produced by a 3-second crush of the cross-action forceps. The
      correlation between injury intensity and injury severity was fitted for a power
      function. DISCUSSION: Our results provide a simplified and effective means to
      quantify and analyse data from ON crush studies compared with previously reported
      animal models.

PMID- 25816833
TI  - Imaging of perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease.
AB  - Perianal fistula is a complication of Crohn's disease that carries a high
      morbidity. It is a channel that develops between the lower rectum, anal canal and
      perianal or perineal skin. The development of perianal fistulas typically
      connotes a more aggressive disease phenotype and may warrant escalation of
      treatment to prevent poor outcomes over time. Based on fistula anatomy, debris
      can form inside these tracts and cause occlusion, which subsequently leads to
      abscess formation, fever and malaise. The clinical presentation is often with
      complaints of pain, continuous rectal drainage of fecal matter as well as
      malodorous discharge. Considering that the presence of fistulas often indicates
      refractory and aggressive disease, early identification of its presence is
      important. Some patients may not have the classic symptoms of fistulizing disease
      at presentation and others may have significant scarring and/or pain from
      previous fistulizing episodes, which can make an accurate assessment on physical
      exam alone problematic. As a result, utilizing diagnostic imaging is the best
      means of identifying the early signs of perianal fistulas or abscess formation in
      these patients. Several imaging modalities exist which can be used for diagnosis
      and management. Endoscopic ultrasound and pelvic MRI are considered the most
      useful in establishing the diagnosis. However, a combination of multiple imaging
      modalities and/or examination under anesthesia is probably the most ideal.
      Incomplete characterization of the fistula tract(s) extent or the presence of
      abscess carries a high morbidity and far-reaching personal expense for the
      patient - promoting worsening of the disease. 

PMID- 25816834
TI  - Effect of movement kinematics on the cyclic fatigue resistance of nickel-titanium
      instruments.
AB  - AIM: To compare the cyclic fatigue resistance of new generation OneShape and
      WaveOne instruments when used with different kinematics. METHODOLOGY: An
      artificial canal, made of stainless steel with an inner diameter of 1.5 mm, a 60
      degrees  angle of curvature and a curvature radius of 3 mm, was used for cyclic
      fatigue test of new generation OneShape and WaveOne instruments. Groups were as
      follows (n = 20): 150 degrees -30 degrees , 210 degrees -30 degrees , 360 degrees
      -30 degrees  and continuous rotation. The time to fracture was recorded in
      seconds, and the data were analysed statistically using a two-way anova and LSD
      tests (P = 0.05). RESULTS: Cyclic fatigue resistance was significantly affected
      by the movement kinematics (P < 0.001). The cyclic fatigue resistance of the new
      generation OneShape instruments increased significantly when operated in various
      reciprocation motions (150 degrees  CW-30 degrees  CCW, 210 degrees  CW-30
      degrees  CCW and 360 degrees  CW-30 degrees  CCW) compared with the continuous
      rotation mode. New generation OneShape instruments had significantly more
      resistance to fracture under cyclic loading than WaveOne instruments (P < 0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: When using new generation OneShape and WaveOne instruments, all the
      reciprocating motions (150 degrees  CW-30 degrees  CCW, 210 degrees  CW-30
      degrees  CCW and 360 degrees  CW-30 degrees  CCW) resulted in extended fatigue
      life when compared with continuous rotation.

PMID- 25816835
TI  - Mucosal leishmaniasis mimicking squamous cell carcinoma in a liver transplant
      recipient.
AB  - Organ transplant recipients living in endemic regions are at increased risk of
      Leishmania infections. Visceral leishmaniasis is the most common kind of
      presentation in the Mediterranean basin. Rarely, Leishmania infantum may cause
      localized mucosal disease. We present the first case, to our knowledge, of a
      liver transplant recipient with localized mucosal leishmaniasis. Twenty-two years
      after transplantation, a painless, very slow growing ulcer appeared on the inner
      side of the patient's upper lip. A biopsy performed in the community hospital
      showed non-specific chronic inflammation without neoplastic signs. Because of a
      high suspicion of malignancy, the patient was transferred to the referral
      hospital to consider complete excision. The excisional biopsy revealed a
      granulomatous inflammatory reaction together with intracellular Leishmania
      amastigotes within macrophages. Leishmaniasis was confirmed by the nested
      polymerase chain reaction assay. The clinical and laboratory findings did not
      suggest visceral involvement. The patient received meglumine antimoniate for 21
      days without relevant adverse effects.

PMID- 25816836
TI  - Rapid enzyme analysis as a diagnostic tool for wound infection: Comparison
      between clinical judgment, microbiological analysis, and enzyme analysis.
AB  - In clinical practice, diagnosis of wound infection is based on the classical
      clinical signs of infection. When infection is suspected, wounds are often
      swabbed for microbiological culturing. These methods are not accurate (clinical
      judgment in chronic wounds) or provide results after several days (wound swab).
      Therefore, there is an urgent need for an easy-to-use diagnostic tool for fast
      detection of wound infection, especially in chronic wounds. This study determined
      the diagnostic properties of the enzymes myeloperoxidase, human neutrophil
      elastase (HNE), lysozyme and cathepsin-G in detecting wound infection when
      compared to wound swabs. Both chronic and acute wounds of 81 patients were
      assessed through clinical judgment, enzyme analysis and wound swab. Three
      promising enzyme models for detecting wound infection were identified. A positive
      test was defined as: at least one enzyme positive after 30 minutes (model 1),
      lysozyme and HNE positive after 30 minutes (model 2), myeloperoxidase positive
      after 5 minutes, and HNE or lysozyme positive after 30 minutes (model 3). All
      models were significant (p<=0.001). There was no correlation between clinical
      judgment and wound swab, indicating the need for novel diagnostic systems. Enzyme
      analysis is fast, easy to use and superior to clinical judgment when compared to
      wound swabs. 

PMID- 25816837
TI  - Fall in population-based mortality from coronary heart disease negated in people
      with diabetes mellitus: data from England.
AB  - AIMS: Mortality rates for coronary heart disease (CHD) have declined
      substantially in developed countries. Diabetes mellitus is an important risk
      factor for CHD; its prevalence is increasing. We aimed to compare trends in
      population-based mortality for CHD without diabetes on the death certificate with
      trends for CHD with diabetes on the same certificate. METHODS: Analysis of an all
      England dataset with multiple-cause coded mortality records from 1995 to 2010.
      Analysis of a similar dataset for Oxford, because it has the longest run of
      multiple-cause coded mortality in England, from 1979. Age-specific and age
      standardized mortality rates were calculated. RESULTS: In the all-England
      dataset, there were 1 772 760 deaths with CHD and no mention of diabetes; and 173
      184 deaths with CHD and diabetes on the same death certificate. Of deaths with
      CHD without a mention of diabetes, rates per million men fell by more than half
      from 2843 (95% confidence interval: 2822-2862) in 1995 to 1379 (1366-1391) in
      2010; and those in women halved from 1324 (1314-1336) to 628 (621-635). Of deaths
      with CHD and diabetes, rates per million men increased from 194 (188-200) to 215
      (210-220); and those for women fell, but only very slightly, from 114 (111-118)
      to 101 (98-104). The longer run in Oxford, from 1979, showed that rates in men
      and women without diabetes had fallen by two-thirds; but that rates for CHD with
      diabetes had not fallen. CONCLUSIONS: The fall in mortality from CHD without
      diabetes has been spectacular. There has been no comparable fall in mortality
      from CHD with diabetes.

PMID- 25816838
TI  - Testing the interactive effects of carotenoids and polyunsaturated fatty acids on
      ejaculate traits in the guppy Poecilia reticulata (Pisces: Poeciliidae).
AB  - Using the polyandrous livebearing guppy Poecilia reticulata, this study revealed
      no main effects of carotenoids in the diet on ejaculate traits, but significant
      main effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on sperm viability and weak
      but significant interacting effects of both nutrients on sperm length.
      Collectively, these findings not only add evidence that PUFAs are critical
      determinants of sperm quality, but also provide tentative evidence that for some
      traits these effects may be moderated by carotenoid intake. 

PMID- 25816839
TI  - Effects of feeding fatty acid calcium and the interaction of forage quality on
      production performance and biochemical indexes in early lactation cow.
AB  - Multiparous early lactation Holstein cows (n = 16) were used in a randomized
      complete block design to determine the effects of feeding fatty acid calcium and
      the interaction of forage quality on production performance and biochemical
      indexes in early lactation cow. Treatments were as follows: (i) feeding low
      quality forage without supplying fatty acid calcium (Diet A), (ii) feeding low
      quality forage with supplying 400 g fatty acid calcium (Diet B), (iii) feeding
      high-quality forage without supplying fatty acid calcium (Diet C) and (iv)
      feeding high-quality forage with supplying 400 g fatty acid calcium. This
      experiment consisted 30 days. The milk and blood samples were collected in the
      last day of the trail. Intakes were recorded in the last 2 days of the trail.
      Supplementation of fatty acid calcium decreased significantly dry matter intake
      (DMI) (p < 0.01). Addition fatty acid calcium decreased milk protein percentage
      (p < 0.01) and milk SNF percentage (p < 0.01), but increased MUN (p < 0.05).
      Supplemented fatty acid decreased concentration of blood BHBA (p < 0.05), but
      increased TG, NEFA, glucagon, GLP-1, CCK, leptin, ApoA-IV, serotonin and MSH
      concentration in blood, the CCK concentration and feed intake showed a
      significant negative correlation (p < 0.05).

PMID- 25816840
TI  - Allele-specific PCR is a powerful tool for the detection of the MYD88 L265P
      mutation in diffuse large B cell lymphoma and decalcified bone marrow samples.

PMID- 25816841
TI  - Prognostic implications of pathologically determined tumour volume in glottic
      carcinomas treated by transoral laser microsurgery.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The TNM classification system for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of
      the head and neck neglects to incorporate volumetric analysis of the primary
      tumour. Tumour volume (TV) has been implicated prognostically in laryngeal SCC
      treated by primary radiotherapy (RT), but data for patients treated surgically
      are lacking. We evaluated such for glottic SCCs resected by transoral laser
      microsurgery (TLM). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study utilising TVs calculated
      as the product of tumour resection dimensions and time-to-event analyses using
      the Kaplan-Meier method. The prognostic ability of variables was estimated using
      log-rank statistics, univariate Cox regression and receiver-operating
      characteristics analysis where appropriate. SETTING: Tertiary referral head and
      neck cancer centre. PARTICIPANTS: Patients undergoing primary TLM for glottic SCC
      with curative intent (2007-2011) with at least 12 months follow-up data. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASURES: Prognostic impact of TV on local control (LC), overall survival
      (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS). RESULTS: Eligible patients (n = 129)
      had a median follow-up of 40 months (range 14-79 months). Median TV for all cases
      was 300 mm(3) (range 2-19800 mm(3)). Three-year LC, OS and DSS were 92%, 92% and
      98%, respectively. Tumour volume was not a significant predictor of any
      oncological outcome measure. Otherwise, a significant influence of pT stage on
      DSS was observed and of age on OS. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to laryngeal SCC
      treated by RT, TV does not appear to portend oncological outcome in glottic SCC
      managed specifically by TLM and consequently does not warrant incorporation into
      current prognostic models for such patients.

PMID- 25816843
TI  - Treating substance use disorders in patients with hepatitis C.

PMID- 25816844
TI  - Optimization of low-temperature blanching combined with calcium treatment to
      inactivate Escherichia coli O157:H7 on fresh-cut spinach.
AB  - AIMS: To develop a mild blanching method with calcium salts to ensure
      microbiological safety and quality of fresh-cut spinach. METHODS AND RESULTS: The
      antimicrobial efficacy of eight calcium salts was evaluated on Escherichia coli
      O157:H7 at 45-65 degrees C and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2 ) showed the greatest
      synergistic antimicrobial effect with heat. Combinations of low temperature
      treatments (45, 55, 65 degrees C), time (20, 40, 60 s) and Ca(OH)2 (0.25, 0.50,
      0.75%) were applied for E. coli O157:H7 disinfection on fresh-cut spinach to
      develop a predictive model using a Box-Behnken experimental design. A suitable
      quadratic model was produced (R(2) = 0.98, P < 0.001) and the optimum condition
      (64.9 degrees C with 0.52% Ca(OH)2 for 42.4 s) was drawn by reducing 6.6 log CFU
      g(-1) of E. coli O157:H7 on fresh-cut spinach. Blanching at 61.9 degrees C with
      0.52% Ca(OH)2 for 41.7 s can inactivate E. coli O157:H7 on spinach by 5.4 log CFU
      g(-1) . The new method was comparable to the CDC recommendation for safe spinach
      cooking (71.1 degrees C, 15 s; 5.0 log CFU g(-1) reduction) with lower levels of
      weight loss of the spinach (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests an
      efficient spinach blanching method for E. coli O157:H7 disinfection. SIGNIFICANCE
      AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This blanching method will enhance microbiological
      safety of fresh-cut produce while minimizing the use of energy and chemicals.

PMID- 25816842
TI  - Shank1 regulates excitatory synaptic transmission in mouse hippocampal
      parvalbumin-expressing inhibitory interneurons.
AB  - The Shank genes (SHANK1, 2, 3) encode scaffold proteins highly enriched in
      postsynaptic densities where they regulate synaptic structure in spiny neurons.
      Mutations in human Shank genes are linked to autism spectrum disorder and
      schizophrenia. Shank1 mutant mice exhibit intriguing cognitive phenotypes
      reminiscent of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. However, the molecular
      mechanisms leading to the human pathophysiological phenotypes and mouse behaviors
      have not been elucidated. In this study it is shown that Shank1 protein is highly
      localized in parvalbumin-expressing (PV+) fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons in
      the hippocampus. Importantly, a lack of Shank1 in hippocampal CA1 PV+ neurons
      reduced excitatory synaptic inputs and inhibitory synaptic outputs to pyramidal
      neurons. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons
      in Shank1 mutant mice exhibit a shift in the excitatory and inhibitory balance (E
      I balance), a pathophysiological hallmark of autism spectrum disorder. The mutant
      mice also exhibit lower expression of gephyrin (a scaffold component of
      inhibitory synapses), supporting the dysregulation of E-I balance in the
      hippocampus. These results suggest that Shank1 scaffold in PV+ interneurons
      regulates excitatory synaptic strength and participates in the maintenance of E-I
      balance in excitatory neurons. 

PMID- 25816846
TI  - Levothyroxine Poisoning - Symptoms and Clinical Outcome.
AB  - Levothyroxine (LT), T4, poisoning is rarely associated with a severe outcome.
      However, cases with significant complications have been reported. The aim of this
      study was to identify factors associated with symptoms of poisoning including
      late-onset symptoms. All enquiries to the Danish Poison Information Centre (DPIC)
      concerning LT poisoning between March 2007 and September 2012 were reviewed and
      the following parameters were recorded: age, dose, time from ingestion, multiple
      drug intake and symptoms. To evaluate the frequency of late-onset symptoms, a
      subgroup of patients without initial symptoms were contacted. A total of 181
      patients were registered (112 children). Ingested LT dose ranged from 10 to 9000
      mcg (median 275 mcg). A total of 29 of 181 (16%) patients were symptomatic at the
      time of enquiry, and there was no difference in ingested LT dose between
      asymptomatic and symptomatic patients, neither in children nor in adults (age 16
      92 years) (p < 0.68 and p < 0.47, respectively). In total, 153 of 181 (85%)
      patients did not have symptoms of poisoning at the time of enquiry; however, in 9
      of 21 (43%) patients, we were able to contact, late-onset symptoms existed. In
      none of the cases, hospital contact was needed and there were no reports of long
      term sequelae. Acute LT poisoning often follows a benign course. The occurrence
      of symptoms appears not to be dose dependent. Late-onset symptoms seem to be
      common. However, all symptoms resolved spontaneously without need of medical
      care. 

PMID- 25816847
TI  - Does lower lifetime fluoridation exposure explain why people outside capital
      cities have poor clinical oral health?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Australians outside state capital cities have greater caries
      experience than their counterparts in capital cities. We hypothesized that
      differing water fluoridation exposure was associated with this disparity.
      METHODS: Data were the 2004-06 Australian National Survey of Adult Oral Health.
      Examiners measured participant decayed, missing and filled teeth and DMFT Index,
      and lifetime fluoridation exposure was quantified. Multivariable linear
      regression models estimated differences in caries experience between capital city
      residents and others, with and without adjustment for fluoridation exposure.
      RESULTS: There was greater mean lifetime fluoridation exposure in state capital
      cities (59.1%, 95% confidence interval = 56.9, 61.4) than outside capital cities
      (42.3, confidence interval = 36.9, 47.6). People located outside capital city
      areas had differing sociodemographic characteristics and dental visiting
      patterns, and a higher mean DMFT (capital cities = 12.9, non-capital cities =
      14.3, p = 0.02), than people from capital cities. After adjustment for
      sociodemographic characteristics and dental visits, DMFT of people living in
      capital cities was less than non-capital city residents (regression coefficient =
      0.8, p = 0.01). The disparity was no longer statistically significant (regression
      coefficient = 0.6, p = 0.09) after additional adjustment for fluoridation
      exposure.

PMID- 25816845
TI  - Early hemostatic responses to trauma identified with hierarchical clustering
      analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Trauma-induced coagulopathy is a complex multifactorial hemostatic
      response that is poorly understood. OBJECTIVES: To identify distinct hemostatic
      responses to trauma and identify key components of the hemostatic system that
      vary between responses. PATIENTS/METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study
      of adult trauma patients at an urban level I trauma center emergency department
      was performed. Hierarchical clustering analysis was used to identify distinct
      clusters of similar subjects according to vital signs, injury/shock severity, and
      comprehensive assessment of coagulation, clot formation, platelet function, and
      thrombin generation. RESULTS: Among 84 total trauma patients included in the
      model, three distinct trauma clusters were identified. Cluster 1 (N = 57) showed
      platelet activation, preserved peak thrombin generation, plasma coagulation
      dysfunction, a moderately decreased fibrinogen concentration and normal clot
      formation relative to healthy controls. Cluster 2 (N = 18) showed platelet
      activation, preserved peak thrombin generation, and a preserved fibrinogen
      concentration with normal clot formation. Cluster 3 (N = 9) was the most severely
      injured and shocked, and showed a strong inflammatory and bleeding phenotype.
      Platelet dysfunction, thrombin inhibition, plasma coagulation dysfunction and a
      decreased fibrinogen concentration were present in this cluster. Fibrinolytic
      activation was present in all clusters, but was particularly increased in cluster
      3. Trauma clusters were most noticeably different in their relative fibrinogen
      concentration, peak thrombin generation, and platelet-induced clot contraction.
      CONCLUSIONS: Hierarchical clustering analysis identified three distinct
      hemostatic responses to trauma. Further insights into the underlying hemostatic
      mechanisms responsible for these responses are needed.

PMID- 25816848
TI  - Successful stem cell transplantation in a patient with primary cutaneous
      aggressive cytotoxic epidermotropic CD8+ T-cell lymphoma.

PMID- 25816849
TI  - Epidural analgesia with amide local anesthetics, bupivacaine, and ropivacaine in
      combination with fentanyl for labor pain relief: a meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The study compares the effectiveness of bupivacaine and fentanyl
      (BUPI-FEN) and ropivacaine and fentanyl (ROPI-EFN) in epidural analgesia for
      labor pain through a meta-analysis of relevant randomized clinical trials.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: Multiple electronic databases were searched using
      appropriate MeSH terms and keywords for original English language research papers
      published between 1990 and March 2014. Meta-analyses results were based on the
      mean differences between the groups as well as odds ratios where appropriate.
      Statistical heterogeneity amongst the included studies was tested by I^2 index.
      RESULTS: Nine studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected for analysis
      which consisted of 556 parturient patients. The duration of the second stage of
      labor was significantly shorter in the BUPI-FEN group by a mean of -6.87 (-10.98,
      -2.77; P<0.002). On the other hand, the ROPI-FEN group had a significantly lower
      incidence of motor blockade by a mean of 0.31 (0.18, 0.51; P<0.00001). A positive
      relationship between the amide local anesthetic concentration and the number of
      women having motor blockade was observed, but a negative relationship between
      fentanyl concentration and the number of women experiencing a motor block.
      Moreover, a positive correlation was found between the concentration of
      ropivacaine and the incidence of instrumental delivery and between the
      concentration of bupivacaine and the incidence of cesarean delivery. CONCLUSIONS:
      In combination with fentanyl, bupivacaine and ropivacaine exhibit comparable
      efficacy and safety. However, BUP-FEN analgesia led to a shortened second-stage
      labor and ROPI-FEN resulted in a significantly lower incidence of motor block.

PMID- 25816850
TI  - Genetic diversity and QTL mapping of thermostability of limit dextrinase in
      barley.
AB  - Limit dextrinase (LD) is an essential amylolytic enzyme for the complete
      degradation of starch, and it is closely associated with malt quality. A survey
      of 51 cultivated barley and 40 Tibetan wild barley genotypes showed a wide
      genetic diversity of LD activity and LD thermostability. Compared with cultivated
      barley, Tibetan wild barley showed lower LD activity and higher LD
      thermostability. A doubled haploid population composed of 496 DArT and 28
      microsatellite markers was used for mapping Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs).
      Parental line Yerong showed low LD activity and high LD thermostability, but
      Franklin exhibited high LD activity and low LD thermostability. Three QTLs
      associated with thermostable LD were identified. The major QTL is close to the LD
      gene on chromosome 7H. The two minor QTLs colocalized with previously reported
      QTLs determining malt-extract and diastatic power on chromosomes 1H and 2H,
      respectively. These QTLs may be useful for a better understanding of the genetic
      control of LD activity and LD thermostability in barley. 

PMID- 25816852
TI  - Drought-related tree mortality: addressing the gaps in understanding and
      prediction.
AB  - Increased tree mortality during and after drought has become a research focus in
      recent years. This focus has been driven by: the realisation that drought-related
      tree mortality is more widespread than previously thought; the predicted increase
      in the frequency of climate extremes this century; and the recognition that
      current vegetation models do not predict drought-related tree mortality and
      forest dieback well despite the large potential effects of these processes on
      species composition and biogeochemical cycling. To date, the emphasis has been on
      understanding the causal mechanisms of drought-related tree mortality, and on
      mechanistic models of plant function and vegetation dynamics, but a consensus on
      those mechanisms has yet to emerge. In order to generate new hypotheses and to
      help advance the modelling of vegetation dynamics in the face of incomplete
      mechanistic understanding, we suggest that general patterns should be distilled
      from the diverse and as-yet inconclusive results of existing studies, and more
      use should be made of optimisation and probabilistic modelling approaches that
      have been successfully applied elsewhere in plant ecology. The outcome should
      inform new empirical studies of tree mortality, help improve its prediction and
      reduce model complexity.

PMID- 25816851
TI  - Predicting the extent of metabolism using in vitro permeability rate measurements
      and in silico permeability rate predictions.
AB  - The Biopharmaceutics Drug Disposition Classification System (BDDCS) can be
      utilized to predict drug disposition, including interactions with other drugs and
      transporter or metabolizing enzyme effects based on the extent of metabolism and
      solubility of a drug. However, defining the extent of metabolism relies upon
      clinical data. Drugs exhibiting high passive intestinal permeability rates are
      extensively metabolized. Therefore, we aimed to determine if in vitro measures of
      permeability rate or in silico permeability rate predictions could predict the
      extent of metabolism, to determine a reference compound representing the
      permeability rate above which compounds would be expected to be extensively
      metabolized, and to predict the major route of elimination of compounds in a two
      tier approach utilizing permeability rate and a previously published model
      predicting the major route of elimination of parent drug. Twenty-two in vitro
      permeability rate measurement data sets in Caco-2 and MDCK cell lines and PAMPA
      were collected from the literature, while in silico permeability rate predictions
      were calculated using ADMET Predictor or VolSurf+. The potential for permeability
      rate to differentiate between extensively and poorly metabolized compounds was
      analyzed with receiver operating characteristic curves. Compounds that yielded
      the highest sensitivity-specificity average were selected as permeability rate
      reference standards. The major route of elimination of poorly permeable drugs was
      predicted by our previously published model, and the accuracies and predictive
      values were calculated. The areas under the receiver operating curves were >0.90
      for in vitro measures of permeability rate and >0.80 for the VolSurf+ model of
      permeability rate, indicating they were able to predict the extent of metabolism
      of compounds. Labetalol and zidovudine predicted greater than 80% of extensively
      metabolized drugs correctly and greater than 80% of poorly metabolized drugs
      correctly in Caco-2 and MDCK, respectively, while theophylline predicted greater
      than 80% of extensively and poorly metabolized drugs correctly in PAMPA. A two
      tier approach predicting elimination route predicts 72 +/- 9%, 49 +/- 10%, and 66
      +/- 7% of extensively metabolized, biliarily eliminated, and renally eliminated
      parent drugs correctly when the permeability rate is predicted in silico and 74
      +/- 7%, 85 +/- 2%, and 73 +/- 8% of extensively metabolized, biliarily
      eliminated, and renally eliminated parent drugs correctly when the permeability
      rate is determined in vitro. 

PMID- 25816853
TI  - New insights into the phase diagram of a magnetic perovskite, LaCo1/3Mn2/3O3.
AB  - We report the crystal structure of the orthorhombic perovskite LaCo1/3Mn2/3O3 as
      determined by neutron diffraction from 5-300 K. A high-temperature x-ray
      diffraction study is also reported from 290-900 K. At temperatures above 570 K,
      LaCo1/3Mn2/3O3 transforms to a rhombohedral structure with space group R3c. This
      rhombohedral phase is also observed in the material at high pressure and the
      crystal structure has been determined by in situ neutron diffraction at 4.7 GPa.
      Finally, the ferromagnetic behaviour has been determined by magnetometry and the
      magnetic structure has been determined using low temperature neutron diffraction
      at ambient pressure.

PMID- 25816854
TI  - Is it possible to limit the use of CT scanning in acute diverticular disease
      without compromising outcomes? A preliminary experience.
AB  - The aim of our study was to determine whether the use of CT scanning in the
      assessment of acute diverticulitis can be reduced without a negative effect on
      outcome. Our series consisted of 93 out of 100 patients with acute diverticulitis
      admitted to the Emergency Room of our institution in the period from February
      2012 to March 2013.The Hinchey classification system was used to stage disease
      based on findings on ultrasound (US) examination and/or computed tomography (CT)
      scanning. We compared the patients' Hinchey stage (HS) on admission and 72 hours
      later. Types of treatment were defined as emergency or delayed intervention
      (operative approaches (OA); ultrasound-guided percutaneous drainage (UPD), and
      surgery. The borderline between conservative and surgical management was
      identified. In patients with a HS </= 1b surgical intervention was never required
      and therefore we believe that US imaging is sufficient and they can be spared the
      exposure to ionizing radiation associated with CT scans. The skill of the
      individual operator in US examination was found to be of key importance. As
      regards CT scanning, we found, in agreement with the literature, that it has
      greater specificity and sensitivity than US, and is therefore indicated if the
      patient's condition has deteriorated.

PMID- 25816857
TI  - Directional Superficial Photofluidization for Deterministic Shaping of Complex 3D
      Architectures.
AB  - The fabrication of micro- and nanostructures is one of the cornerstones of
      current materials science and technology. There is a strong interest in
      processing methods capable of manufacturing engineered complex structures on a
      large area. A method that is gaining a growing attention in this context is based
      on surface reshaping of photosensitive materials, such as certain azobenzene
      derivatives by way of a process of light-induced mass migration, also described
      as "athermal photofluidization". Here, we apply this method to prestructured
      substrate, converting simple periodic structures initially patterned only in two
      dimensions into complex-shaped three-dimensional (3D) structures by a single
      processing step over a large area. The optical variables of the irradiating beam
      are used to gain unprecedented deterministic control on the resulting 3D
      architectures. We also provide some initial demonstrations of the potential
      application of this novel shaping method, including unidirectional wetting
      surfaces and micro- and nanoscaled fluidic channel manufactured with it. 

PMID- 25816855
TI  - Pityriasis Lichenoides in Childhood: Review of Clinical Presentation and
      Treatment Options.
AB  - Pityriasis lichenoides (PL) is a skin condition of unclear etiology that occurs
      not uncommonly in childhood. It is often classified into the acute form,
      pityriasis lichenoides et varioliformis acuta (PLEVA), and the chronic form,
      pityriasis lichenoides chronica (PLC). We performed a comprehensive review of the
      English-language literature using the PubMed database of all cases of childhood
      PL reported from 1962 to 2014 and summarized the epidemiology, clinical features,
      treatment options, and prognosis of this condition in children. The proposed
      etiologies are discussed, including its association with infectious agents,
      medications, and immunizations and evidence for PL as a lymphoproliferative
      disorder. We found an average age of PL onset of 6.5 years, with a slight (61%)
      male predominance. We also found that PLEVA and PLC tend to occur with equal
      frequency and that, in many cases, there is clinical and histopathologic overlap
      between the two phenotypes. When systemic therapy is indicated, we propose that
      oral erythromycin and narrowband ultraviolet B phototherapy should be first-line
      treatment options for children with PL since they have been shown to be effective
      and well tolerated. In most cases, PL follows a benign course with no greater
      risk of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, although given the rare case reports of
      transformation, long-term follow-up of these patients is recommended.

PMID- 25816856
TI  - Ontogenetic changes of trunk muscle structure in the Japanese black salamander
      (Hynobius nigrescens).
AB  - We investigated ontogenetic changes in the trunk muscles of the Japanese black
      salamander (Hynobius nigrescens) before, during and after metamorphosis. Given
      that amphibians change their locomotive patterns with metamorphosis, we
      hypothesized that they may also change the structure of their trunk muscles. The
      trunk muscles were macroscopically observed, and the weight ratios of each trunk
      muscle group were quantified at six different developmental stages. Immediately
      after hatching, we found that the lateral hypaxial muscle was composed of one
      thick M. ventralis, from ventral edge of which M. transversus abdominis arose
      later, followed by M. obliquus externus and M. rectus abdominis. The weight
      ratios of the dorsal and abdominal muscles to the trunk muscles increased with
      growth. We suggest that a single thick and large lateral hypaxial muscle
      facilitates swimming during early developmental stages. The increase in the
      weight ratios of the dorsal and abdominal muscles with growth possibly assists
      with gravity resistance necessary for terrestrial life. 

PMID- 25816858
TI  - Which substance is most dangerous? Perceived harm ratings among students in urban
      and rural Norway.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent studies have challenged the idea that illegal substances are
      necessarily associated with more harm than those that are legal. This study
      investigates perceived drug harm among students at the University of Oslo (UO)
      and at a smaller university located on Norway's coast in a more conservative and
      religious region, called 'Coastal University' (CU). METHODS: This study consisted
      of surveys (n=458) about perceived physical harm, mental health conditions,
      dependence, injuries and social consequences that may be associated with the use
      of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis. Information about substance use was also
      collected. Analyses of variance and multiple regression analyses were used to
      examine whether harm ratings differed for different drugs, whether drug type,
      gender and university site interacted in predicting harm ratings, and what role
      the participants' own substance use played in their harm ratings. RESULTS: UO
      students rated cannabis as overall less harmful than alcohol, while the opposite
      was true for CU students. Tobacco received the highest physical harm score.
      Alcohol was rated as most harmful with regard to injuries; cannabis was rated as
      most harmful with regard to mental health consequences. Use of the substance in
      question was associated with a reduced harm rating. This was particularly true
      for cannabis. CONCLUSIONS: Norwegian students rate the harm of substances
      differently from previous reports from the Norwegian general population. Most
      importantly, their relative ratings of cannabis harm were lower. However, the
      pattern was most evident among students from the urban Oslo area.

PMID- 25816859
TI  - Outcome after red trauma alarm at an urban Swedish hospital: implications for
      prevention.
AB  - AIMS: We applied the new injury severity scoring system and studied mechanisms of
      injury and risk factors for mortality, in order to find potential preventive
      measures, in the present Scandinavian trauma cohort triaged through red trauma
      alarm according to the Medical Emergency Triage and Treatment System. METHODS:
      Individuals were identified in hospital and forensic records. New injury severity
      scoring system >15 was defined as major trauma. Inter-rater reliability of new
      injury severity scoring system was expressed as intra-class correlation
      coefficient with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: There were 125 major and 303
      minor traumas. The intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.83 (95% confidence
      intervals 0.58-0.94) for major trauma and intra-class correlation coefficient was
      0.96 (95% confidence intervals 0.89-0.98) for minor trauma. Traffic (37%) and
      fall (31%) accidents were the leading mechanisms of injury. Elderly (aged ?65
      years) were at an increased risk of fall accidents (p<0.001). The overall 3 month
      mortality rate was 10.3% (2% for new injury severity scoring system 16-24, 39%
      for new injury severity scoring system 25-40 and 68% for new injury severity
      scoring system >40). A higher new injury severity scoring system score (p<0.001),
      higher age (p<0.001), shock at admission (p<0.001), intensive care unit stay
      (p<0.004) and administration of massive red blood cell transfusion (p<0.048) were
      associated with mortality. Thirty-three patients underwent forensic autopsy and
      were tested positive for one or multiple drugs in 52% and 33%, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of detected drugs among those undergoing
      forensic toxicological examination suggests that toxicology screening should be
      integrated into all red trauma alarm admissions, which may have implications on
      prevention of future trauma morbidity and mortality.

PMID- 25816860
TI  - Reduction in pedometer-determined physical activity in the adult Danish
      population from 2007 to 2012.
AB  - AIMS: To examine the development in pedometer-determined physical activity from
      2007-2008 to 2011-2012 in the adult Danish population. METHODS: The study
      population comprised two random samples of 18-75-year-old individuals who took
      part in cross-sectional studies in 2007-2008 (n=224) and 2011-2012 (n=1515).
      Pedometer data (sealed Yamax SW 200) were obtained for seven consecutive days.
      Data for 1624 participants (48.2% men) were included in the analysis. An overall
      step-defined activity level was examined based on a graduated step index
      (sedentary, low active, somewhat active, active, highly active). The pedometer
      determined outcomes were analysed using regression models. RESULTS: A borderline
      significant decline (p=0.077) from 8788 to 8341 steps/day (-446 (95% confidence
      intervals -50, 943)) was found between 2007-2008 and 2011-2012. Furthermore, a
      23.7% (95% confidence intervals -41.7%, -0.1%) lower overall step-defined
      activity level was observed in 2011-2012 compared to 2007-2008. These changes
      were primarily due to a reduced level of activity among women. The proportion of
      individuals taking ?10,000 steps/day decreased non-significantly from 34.8% to
      29.3%, whereas the proportion taking <5000 steps/day did not differ between
      survey periods. CONCLUSIONS: This nationally representative survey suggests an
      overall reduction in the physical activity level among Danish adults. The
      reduction was due to a shift in the population distribution from higher to lower
      levels of activity. If this shift is true, it is worrying from a public health
      perspective. Our study result needs, however, to be confirmed by other population
      studies.

PMID- 25816861
TI  - Sickness absence and subsequent disposable income: A population-based cohort
      study.
AB  - AIMS: Studies show a negative association between an absence from work due to
      disease of injury (sickness absence (SA)) and subsequent earnings; however,
      little is known about the association between SA and an individuals' subsequent
      overall economic welfare. Our primary objective was to evaluate individuals'
      disposable income (DI) following a spell of SA. Our secondary objective was to
      examine if the potential association between SA and DI differs, depending on the
      diagnosis given to that sickness or the duration of the SA spell. METHODS: We
      used a cohort based on a linked individual register database that includes all
      individuals living in Sweden from 2001 to 2005, aged 30-54. DI was measured 2-6
      years after a spell of SA and compared with a propensity score-matched reference
      group (individuals without SA in 2005). Each year of follow-up during 2007-2011
      was estimated by linear regression for three different forms of exposure: SA
      (yes/no), diagnosis specific (cancer, circulatory, injuries, musculoskeletal or
      mental illnesses), and by duration of the SA spell (15-29, 30-89, 90-179 or > 179
      days). RESULTS: Individuals with SA during 2005 had 4% lower disposable income in
      subsequent years than the reference group. Our results were similar across
      diagnoses, except for mental diagnoses, where disposable income was 7-10% lower
      than the reference group; and for cancer, where we found only a marginal
      difference among those with SA and the reference group. Furthermore, DI was
      negatively associated with the SA spell duration. CONCLUSIONS: SA was associated
      with lower subsequent DI, 2-6 years after a SA spell, especially after a mental
      illness diagnosis and if the SA was for longer spells.

PMID- 25816863
TI  - How well do parental and peer relationships in adolescence predict health in
      adulthood?
AB  - AIM: Although health effects of social relationships are well-researched, long
      term health consequences of adolescent family as well as peer relationships are
      poorly understood. The aim of the study was to explore the prospective importance
      of parental and peer social relationships in adolescence on internalising and
      functional somatic symptoms in adulthood. METHODS: Data were drawn from four
      waves of the Northern Swedish Cohort Study, response rate 94.3%, N=1001. Outcome
      variables were internalising and functional somatic symptoms at the ages of 21,
      30 and 42. Relationship variables at age 16 were poor parental contact and three
      indicators of poor peer relationships. Associations were assessed in multivariate
      ordinal logistic regressions with adjustment for confounders and baseline health.
      RESULTS: Results show that the main relationships-related predictors of adult
      internalising symptoms were self-rated poor peer relationships in terms of
      spending time alone during after-school hours and poor parental relationship.
      Functional somatic symptoms on the other hand were most strongly associated with
      poor parental contact and not being happy with classmates at age 16. CONCLUSIONS:
      The quality of parental and peer relationships in adolescence predicts adult
      mental and functional somatic health as much as 26 years later, even when
      accounting for confounders and adolescent symptomatology. This study extends past
      research by exploring how both adolescent parental and peer relationships (self
      reported as well as teacher reported) predict adult self-reported health.

PMID- 25816862
TI  - Barriers and facilitators for implementation of a return-to-work intervention for
      sickness absence beneficiaries with mental health problems: Results from three
      Danish municipalities.
AB  - AIMS: Evidence for the effectiveness of return-to-work (RTW) interventions aimed
      at sickness absence beneficiaries with mental health problems (MHPs) is still
      relatively sparse and mostly inconclusive. This may in part reflect the varying
      settings and inconsistent implementations associated with the interventions. The
      aim of this paper is to identify barriers and facilitators for the implementation
      of a coordinated and tailored RTW-intervention implemented at three different
      sites. METHODS: We used qualitative and quantitative data to assess the
      implementation according to process evaluation guidelines. Data sources were
      individual and group interviews, observations, national registers, and documents
      used in the intervention. RESULTS: The quality of the implementation varied
      greatly across the three settings. Barriers included lack of skills to assess
      MHPs according to the inclusion criteria, different interpretations of sickness
      absence legislation among stakeholders, competing rehabilitation alternatives,
      and lack of managerial support for the intervention. An important facilitator was
      the motivation and availability of resources to solve disagreements through
      extensive communication. CONCLUSIONS: The different settings presented various
      barriers and facilitators, which resulted in different versions of the
      intervention. A higher degree of user involvement in the design and development
      phase is likely to improve the implementation quality of future interventions.

PMID- 25816864
TI  - Functional performance in older adults with hearing loss: Application of the
      International Classification of Functioning brief core set for hearing loss: A
      pilot study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The beta version of the International Classification of Functioning,
      Disability, and Health (ICF) brief core set for hearing loss in adults was
      developed and recommended to be validated through the audiologic rehabilitation
      clinical practice. The aims of this pilot study were to validate the ICF brief
      core set by examining the dimensions of hearing performance measures used in a
      standard care university clinic specializing in amplification, and seeing if
      those dimensions support the structure provided by the core set. DESIGN: ICF
      linking, classification, and qualifier coding procedures were applied on a data
      set identified from clinical records and two paper-pencil questionnaires; and
      completed by consensus of two experienced audiologists. STUDY SAMPLE: Forty-nine
      participants were recruited from an out-patient population at an audiology
      clinic. RESULTS: Eighteen of 27 items from the brief core set were able to be
      linked and validated. Four factors were identified, and confirmed the structure
      of ICF concept: Auditory function, Other functions, Activities/contextual
      interaction, and Third-party disability. Further, three predictors significantly
      discriminated performance in 28 participants: the use of hearing assistive
      devices, speech-reading, and active social life. CONCLUSIONS: The ICF brief core
      set is a valuable tool for use in audiologic rehabilitation clinical practice and
      research design.

PMID- 25816865
TI  - A process evaluation of implementing a vocational enablement protocol for
      employees with hearing difficulties in clinical practice.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A multidisciplinary vocational rehabilitation programme, the
      Vocational Enablement Protocol (VEP) was developed to address the specific needs
      of employees with hearing difficulties. In the current study we evaluated the
      process of implementing the VEP in audiologic care among employees with hearing
      impairment. DESIGN: In conjunction with a randomized controlled trial, we
      collected and analysed data on seven process parameters: recruitment, reach,
      fidelity, dose delivered, dose received and implemented, satisfaction, and
      perceived benefit. STUDY SAMPLE: Sixty-six employees with hearing impairment
      participated in the VEP. The multidisciplinary team providing the VEP comprised
      six professionals. RESULTS: The professionals performed the VEP according to the
      protocol. Of the recommendations delivered by the professionals, 31% were
      perceived as implemented by the employees. Compliance rate was highest for
      hearing-aid uptake (51%). Both employees and professionals were highly satisfied
      with the VEP. Participants rated good perceived benefit from it. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      results indicate that the VEP could be a useful treatment for employees with
      hearing difficulties from a process evaluation perspective. Implementation
      research in the audiological setting should be encouraged in order to further
      provide insight into parameters facilitating or hindering successful
      implementation of an intervention and to improve its quality and efficacy.

PMID- 25816866
TI  - Hearing aid and cochlear implant use in children with hearing loss at three years
      of age: Predictors of use and predictors of changes in use.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine usage patterns of hearing aids and cochlear implants in
      children up to three years of age, how usage changes longitudinally, and factors
      associated with device usage. DESIGN: Parent report and Parent's Evaluation of
      Aural/oral Performance of Children (PEACH) data were obtained at six and twelve
      months after hearing-aid fitting or cochlear implant switch-on, and again at
      three years of age. The effect of device use on auditory functional performance
      was investigated using the PEACH questionnaire. STUDY SAMPLE: Four hundred and
      thirteen participants from the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing
      Impairment (LOCHI) study were included for analysis. RESULTS: For users of
      hearing aids, higher usage at three years was associated with higher maternal
      education, and more severe hearing loss. For users of cochlear implants, higher
      usage was associated with higher maternal education and the absence of additional
      disabilities. Higher PEACH scores were associated with higher usage scores. After
      allowing for the effects of demographic characteristics, device use was not a
      significant predictor of functional performance. CONCLUSIONS: Sixty-two percent
      of children achieved consistent use (> 75% of waking hours) within the first year
      of receiving a hearing aid or a cochlear implant, and 71% by three years of age.

PMID- 25816867
TI  - Do family-oriented interventions reduce poststroke depression? A systematic
      review and recommendations for practice.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Up to half of all stroke survivors become depressed. Poststroke
      depression (PSD) negatively impacts on quality of life and rehabilitation
      outcomes and increases risk of mortality. Depression is also common in carers,
      leading to poorer outcomes in survivors. Few stroke patients receive adequate
      care to support prevention and management of PSD. We aimed to systematically
      review the evidence regarding the effectiveness of family-oriented interventions
      to prevent and manage depression after stroke and identify components of
      effective interventions. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted, adhering to
      Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA)
      guidelines. Eight databases were searched, and relevant journals and reference
      lists were hand searched. Abstracts were screened for relevance and two authors
      independently assessed selected full texts against inclusion criteria. Studies
      were included if they (1) engaged stroke patients and their informal/family
      caregivers; (2) measured changes in depression due to an intervention; and (3)
      were available in English. RESULTS: Twenty-five of 2741 identified citations met
      the inclusion criteria. Five studies demonstrated significant reductions in
      depression. Commonalities across effective studies included the delivery of
      interventions that were structured and multicomponent, actively engaged patients
      and families, coordinated care, and were initiated soon after a stroke.
      CONCLUSION: Family-oriented stroke rehabilitation may reduce depression in stroke
      survivors and their family caregivers. More research is required to clarify the
      effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of working with families and
      patients living with or who may be at risk of PSD.

PMID- 25816869
TI  - Relationship between social interaction bids and language in late talking
      children.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between language
      development and the frequency of social interaction (SI) behaviours during
      language acquisition in late-talking (LT) children who exhibit delays in
      expressive vocabulary development but have age-appropriate cognitive skills.
      METHOD: The research consists of a longitudinal study with a first test followed
      by two re-tests 5 months apart, in which LT children were compared to 5-months
      younger typically-developing (TD) children. RESULT: Data showed that LT children
      performed significantly fewer initiation of SI behaviours, but no differences
      between groups in responding to SI behaviours were observed. Furthermore, LT
      children who have lower language comprehension scores initiate social interaction
      more frequently. CONCLUSION: The results showed that LT children seem to be less
      active in starting social interaction and participation, but, once they get
      involved, they respond similarly to TD children of comparable expressive language
      competence. Additionally, the correlation pattern between the frequency of SI
      behaviours and language functions showed that LT toddlers with more prominent
      receptive language delay are more interested in initiating interaction with their
      partner, thus suggesting that they need a partner's "scaffolding" to overcome
      this lack.

PMID- 25816870
TI  - Special focus on nanoscale regeneration.

PMID- 25816868
TI  - A multi-centre audit of epistaxis management in England: is there a case for a
      national review of practice?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The ENT-UK Clinical Audit and Practice Advisory Group initiated a
      pilot audit to investigate variance in epistaxis management between six units
      nationwide. METHOD: All patients with a diagnosis of epistaxis who were admitted
      for in-patient care at six ENT departments between November 2011 and February
      2012 were prospectively enrolled. RESULTS: A total of 166 patients were included
      in the study. Variance was demonstrated between the six units in a number of the
      key outcome areas. Twenty-eight per cent of patients were identified as eligible
      for operative intervention for epistaxis in one unit, compared with only 12.5 per
      cent in another. CONCLUSION: There are measurable, patient-relevant outcomes to
      assess epistaxis management and these can highlight areas of potential
      improvement. This pilot audit gives a snapshot of modern practice, which shows
      variance between the six units assessed. A national audit may allow us to improve
      patient experience and maximise efficiency in delivering emergency care in our
      most common patient encounter.

PMID- 25816871
TI  - Receptor clustering control and associated force sensing by surface patterning:
      when force matters.

PMID- 25816872
TI  - Seeking the right context for evaluating nanomedicine: from tissue models in
      petri dishes to microfluidic organs-on-a-chip.

PMID- 25816873
TI  - Multiple facets for extracellular matrix mimicking in regenerative medicine.

PMID- 25816874
TI  - The influence of anisotropic nano- to micro-topography on in vitro and in vivo
      osteogenesis.
AB  - AIM: Topographically modified substrates are increasingly used in tissue
      engineering to enhance biomimicry. The overarching hypothesis is that
      topographical cues will control cellular response at the cell-substrate
      interface. MATERIALS & METHODS: The influence of anisotropically ordered
      poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) substrates (constant groove width of ~1860 nm;
      constant line width of ~2220 nm; variable groove depth of ~35, 306 and 2046 nm)
      on in vitro and in vivo osteogenesis were assessed. RESULTS & DISCUSSION: We
      demonstrate that substrates with groove depths of approximately 306 and 2046 nm
      promote osteoblast alignment parallel to underlined topography in vitro. However,
      none of the topographies assessed promoted directional osteogenesis in vivo.
      CONCLUSION: 2D imprinting technologies are useful tools for in vitro cell
      phenotype maintenance.

PMID- 25816876
TI  - Human mesenchymal stem cell behavior on femtosecond laser-textured Ti-6Al-4V
      surfaces.
AB  - AIM: The aim of the present work was to investigate ultrafast laser surface
      texturing as a surface treatment of Ti-6Al-4V alloy dental and orthopedic
      implants to improve osteoblastic commitment of human mesenchymal stem cells
      (hMSCs). MATERIALS & METHODS: Surface texturing was carried out by direct writing
      with an Yb:KYW chirped-pulse regenerative amplification laser system with a
      central wavelength of 1030 nm and a pulse duration of 500 fs. The surface
      topography and chemical composition were investigated by scanning electron
      microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. Three types of
      surface textures with potential interest to improve implant osseointegration can
      be produced by this method: laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSSs);
      nanopillars (NPs); and microcolumns covered with LIPSSs, forming a bimodal
      roughness distribution. The potential of the laser treatment in improving hMSC
      differentiation was assessed by in vitro study of hMSCs spreading, adhesion,
      elongation and differentiation using epifluorescence microscopy at different
      times after cell seeding, after specific stainings and immunostainings. RESULTS:
      Cell area and focal adhesion area were lower on the laser-textured surfaces than
      on a polished reference surface. Obviously, the laser-textured surfaces have an
      impact on cell shape. Osteoblastic commitment was observed independently of the
      surface topography after 2 weeks of cell seeding. When the cells were cultured
      (after 4 weeks of seeding) in osteogenic medium, LIPSS- and NP- textured surfaces
      enhanced matrix mineralization and bone-like nodule formation as compared with
      polished and microcolumn-textured surfaces. CONCLUSION: The present work shows
      that surface nanotextures consisting of LIPSSs and NPs can, potentially, improve
      hMSC differentiation into an osteoblastic lineage.

PMID- 25816875
TI  - Antibacterial and osteogenic stem cell differentiation properties of photoinduced
      TiO2 nanoparticle-decorated TiO2 nanotubes.
AB  - AIM: To improve the antibacterial and mammalian cell compatibility properties of
      titania nanotubes (TNTs) anodized into titanium (Ti). MATERIALS & METHODS: 3-8-nm
      TiO2 nanoparticles were decorated on the surface and inside TNT (TNT-TiO2)
      through a hydrothermal method. After UV light treatment, two types of oral
      bacteria and stem cells were cultured on the samples to determine antibacterial
      and compatibility properties. RESULTS: TiO2 nanoparticles increased the surface
      area and photocatalysis of TNTs. Based on the photocatalysis effect and prolonged
      photo-induced wettability, the numbers of Streptococcus mutans and Porphyromonas
      gingivalis were lower on the surface of TNT-TiO2 than pure Ti and TNTs after the
      first 7 days. Specifically, for S. mutans, the glycosytransferase (gtf) genes
      were downregulated 0.1-0.2-fold on TNT-TiO2. Due to the different topography and
      high surface energy of TNT-TiO2, stem cells also showed improved osteogenic
      functions on TNT-TiO2. CONCLUSION: In this study, we demonstrated for the first
      time improved antibacterial properties and, at the same time, greater stem cell
      osteogenic capacity when decorating TNTs with nanosized TiO2 particles, which may
      significantly improve orthopedic and dental implant efficacy.

PMID- 25816877
TI  - Comparative bone tissue integration of nanostructured and microroughened dental
      implants.
AB  - AIM: The aim was to compare osteointegration of nanostructured implants to a
      microsurface widely used for titanium dental implants. MATERIALS & METHODS:
      Commercial titanium dental implants with smooth or microroughened surfaces were
      nanostructured. Implants were inserted into the femoral condyles of rabbits.
      After 2 and 4 weeks, histomorphometry calculation was performed. RESULTS:
      Nanotubes measuring 60 nm in diameter were observed on both S-NANO (roughness:
      0.05 MUm) and R-NANO (roughness: 0.40 MUm) surfaces. The MICRO surface exhibited
      typical random cavities (roughness: 2.09 MUm). At 4 weeks, bone-to-implant
      contact values were significantly higher for the R-NANO than for the MICRO
      surface while no differences were observed at 2 weeks. CONCLUSION: Overall, this
      study shows that the nanostructured surfaces improved osteointegration similar or
      higher than the MICRO.

PMID- 25816878
TI  - Active implant combining human stem cell microtissues and growth factors for bone
      regenerative nanomedicine.
AB  - AIMS: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from adult bone marrow provide an exciting
      and promising stem cell population for the repair of bone in skeletal diseases.
      Here, we describe a new generation of collagen nanofiber implant functionalized
      with growth factor BMP-7 nanoreservoirs and equipped with human MSC microtissues
      (MTs) for regenerative nanomedicine. MATERIALS & METHODS: By using a 3D
      nanofibrous collagen membrane and by adding MTs rather than single cells, we
      optimize the microenvironment for cell colonization, differentiation and growth.
      RESULTS & CONCLUSION: Furthermore, in this study, we have shown that by combining
      BMP-7 with these MSC MTs in this double 3D environment, we further accelerate
      bone growth in vivo. The strategy described here should enhance the efficiency of
      therapeutic implants compared with current simplistic approaches used in the
      clinic today based on collagen implants soaked in bone morphogenic proteins.

PMID- 25816879
TI  - Fibrin-based microsphere reservoirs for delivery of neurotrophic factors to the
      brain.
AB  - AIM: The in vivo therapeutic potential of neurotrophic factors to modify neuronal
      dysfunctions is limited by their short half-life. A biomaterials-based
      intervention, which protects these factors and allows a controlled release, is
      required. MATERIALS & METHODS: Hollow fibrin microspheres were fabricated by
      charge manipulation using polystyrene templates and were loaded with NGF.
      Bioactivity of released NGF was demonstrated by neuronal outgrowth assay in PC-12
      cells followed by in vivo assessment for NGF release and host response. RESULTS:
      Fibrin-based hollow spheres showed high loading efficiency (>80%). Neurotrophin
      encapsulation into the microspheres did not alter its bioactivity and controlled
      release of NGF was observed in the in vivo study. CONCLUSION: Fibrin hollow
      microspheres act as a suitable delivery platform for neurotrophic factors with
      tunable loading efficiency and maintaining their bioactive form after release in
      vivo.

PMID- 25816880
TI  - In vitro and in vivo evaluation of the inflammatory potential of various
      nanoporous hydroxyapatite biomaterials.
AB  - AIM: To discriminate the most important physicochemical parameters for bone
      reconstruction, the inflammatory potential of seven nanoporous hydroxyapatite
      powders synthesized by hard or soft templating was evaluated both in vitro and in
      vivo. MATERIALS & METHODS: After physical and chemical characterization of the
      powders, we studied the production of inflammatory mediators by human primary
      monocytes after 4 and 24 h in contact with powders, and the host response after 2
      weeks implantation in a mouse critical size defect model. RESULTS: In vitro
      results highlighted increases in the secretion of TNF-alpha, IL-1, -8, -10 and
      proMMP-2 and -9 and decreases in the secretion of IL-6 only for powders prepared
      by hard templating. In vivo observations confirmed an extensive inflammatory
      tissue reaction and a strong resorption for the most inflammatory powder in
      vitro. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight that the most critical
      physicochemical parameters for these nanoporous hydroxyapatite are, the
      crystallinity that controls dissolution potential, the specific surface area and
      the size and shape of crystallites.

PMID- 25816882
TI  - Cell migration within confined sandwich-like nanoenvironments.
AB  - AIM: We introduced sandwich-like culture as a tool to engineer the cellular
      nanoenvironment by tuning protein presentation and activation of dorsal and
      ventral receptors. We aim at studying cell migration under more similar
      conditions to the 3D physiological one. MATERIALS & METHODS: We have investigated
      different nanoenvironments by changing the protein coating and using materials
      that adsorb proteins in different conformation, seeking to show their specific
      role in cell migration. RESULTS: Cell migration within sandwich cultures greatly
      differs from 2D cultures, shares some similarities with migration within 3D
      environments and is highly dependent on the protein nanoenvironment. Beyond
      differences in cell morphology and migration, dorsal stimulation promotes cell
      remodeling of the extracellular matrix over simple ventral receptor activation in
      traditional 2D cultures. CONCLUSION: Local(nano) stimulation of dorsal and
      ventral receptors within sandwich cultures alter cell migration in comparison to
      standard 2D environments.

PMID- 25816881
TI  - Electrodeposited gels prepared from protein alloys.
AB  - AIM: Silk-tropoelastin alloys, composed of recombinant human tropoelastin and
      regenerated Bombyx mori silk fibroin, are an emerging, versatile class of
      biomaterials endowed with tunable combinations of physical and biological
      properties. Electrodeposition of these alloys provides a programmable means to
      assemble functional gels with both spatial and temporal controllability.
      MATERIALS & METHODS: Tropoelastin-modified silk was prepared by enzymatic
      coupling between tyrosine residues. Hydrogel coatings were electrodeposited using
      two wire electrodes. RESULTS & DISCUSSION: Mechanical characterization and in
      vitro cell culture revealed enhanced adhesive capability and cellular response of
      these alloy gels as compared with electrogelled silk alone. CONCLUSION: These
      electro-depositable silk-tropoelastin alloys constitute a suitable coating
      material for nanoparticle-based drug carriers and offer a novel opportunity for
      on-demand encapsulation/release of nanomedicine.

PMID- 25816883
TI  - Regulation of stem cell fate by nanomaterial substrates.
AB  - Stem cells are increasingly studied because of their potential to underpin a
      range of novel therapies, including regenerative strategies, cell type-specific
      therapy and tissue repair, among others. Bionanomaterials can mimic the stem cell
      environment and modulate stem cell differentiation and proliferation. New
      advances in these fields are presented in this review. This work highlights the
      importance of topography and elasticity of the nano-/micro-environment, or niche,
      for the initiation and induction of stem cell differentiation and proliferation. 

PMID- 25816884
TI  - Responsive cell-material interfaces.
AB  - Major design aspects for novel biomaterials are driven by the desire to mimic
      more varied and complex properties of a natural cellular environment with man
      made materials. The development of stimulus responsive materials makes
      considerable contributions to the effort to incorporate dynamic and reversible
      elements into a biomaterial. This is particularly challenging for cell-material
      interactions that occur at an interface (biointerfaces); however, the design of
      responsive biointerfaces also presents opportunities in a variety of applications
      in biomedical research and regenerative medicine. This review will identify the
      requirements imposed on a responsive biointerface and use recent examples to
      demonstrate how some of these requirements have been met. Finally, the next steps
      in the development of more complex biomaterial interfaces, including multiple
      stimuli-responsive surfaces, surfaces of 3D objects and interactive biointerfaces
      will be discussed. 

PMID- 25816885
TI  - Integrating mechanical and biological control of cell proliferation through
      bioinspired multieffector materials.
AB  - In nature, cells respond to complex mechanical and biological stimuli whose
      understanding is required for tissue construction in regenerative medicine.
      However, the full replication of such bimodal effector networks is far to be
      reached. Engineering substrate roughness and architecture allows regulating cell
      adhesion, positioning, proliferation, differentiation and survival, and the
      external supply of soluble protein factors (mainly growth factors and hormones)
      has been long applied to promote growth and differentiation. Further, bioinspired
      scaffolds are progressively engineered as reservoirs for the in situ sustained
      release of soluble protein factors from functional topographies. We review here
      how research progresses toward the design of integrative, holistic scaffold
      platforms based on the exploration of individual mechanical and biological
      effectors and their further combination. 

PMID- 25816886
TI  - Chemotherapy with or without plasmapheresis in acute renal failure due to
      multiple myeloma: a meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIM: The clinical benefits of plasmapheresis in the management of
      multiple myeloma-induced acute renal failure remain controversial. In this study,
      we conducted a meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate the clinical efficacy of
      chemotherapy with or without plasmapheresis in the treatment of multiple myeloma
      patients with renal failure. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials evaluating
      clinical efficacy of plasmapheresis were identified by searching PubMed (from
      1980 to November 2013) and EMBASE (from 1980 to November 2013). Outcomes
      subjected to meta-analysis were 6-month survival and dialysis-dependent rate.
      RESULTS: Three randomized controlled studies were selected for meta-analysis. A
      total of 63 patients received chemotherapy only and 84 patients were given both
      chemotherapy and plasmapheresis. No difference was observed in 6-month survival
      rate between plasmapheresis and control group (75% vs. 66.7%; risk ratio, 0.92;
      95% CI, 0.76 - 1.11; p = 0.39). 6-month dialysis-dependent ratio was
      significantly lower in patients treated with both chemotherapy and plasmapheresis
      than chemotherapy only (15.6% vs. 37.2%; risk ratio, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.03 - 3.96; p
      = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Our meta-analysis results showed that plasmapheresis used as
      an adjunct to chemotherapy had a benefit in the management of dialysisdependent
      multiple myeloma patients with renal failure.

PMID- 25816887
TI  - Appraisals to affect: Testing the integrative cognitive model of bipolar
      disorder.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Cognitive models have suggested that extreme appraisals of affective
      states and maladaptive affect regulation strategies are important in the
      development of bipolar symptomatology. Little is known about the pathway by which
      these appraisals and behaviours interact in the formation of activated and
      depressed affective states. This study tested the predictions that (1) ascent
      behaviours mediate the relationship between positive appraisals of activated mood
      and activation; and (2) descent behaviours mediate the relationship between
      negative appraisals of activated mood and depression. METHOD: A total of 52
      individuals with a DSM-IV diagnosis of bipolar I or II disorder (confirmed by
      structured interview) completed biweekly assessments of affect regulation
      behaviours and mood for 4 weeks. Positive and negative appraisals of affective
      states were assessed at baseline through the Hypomanic Attitudes and Positive
      Prediction Inventory. Multilevel mediation analysis was used to explore the data.
      RESULTS: Ascent behaviours partially mediated the relationship between positive
      appraisals of activated mood and activation. Descent behaviours, but not negative
      appraisals of activated mood, predicted levels of depression indicating the
      absence of a mediation effect. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that positive
      appraisals of activated mood can escalate activation in individuals with bipolar
      disorder. Such appraisals may be inherently rewarding and reinforcing directly
      elevating levels of activation, whilst increasing individuals' use of ascent
      behaviours. The results are consistent with the view that appraisals and
      behaviours should be targeted during cognitive behavioural therapy for bipolar
      disorder. PRACTITIONER POINTS: It may be beneficial to target positive appraisals
      of activated mood in cognitive behavioural therapy for mania. Cognitive
      behavioural therapists may also wish to focus on identifying and targeting
      individuals' use of ascent behaviours to reduce highly activated states.

PMID- 25816888
TI  - Fixed combination of insulin and a glucagon-like peptide-1 analog for the
      treatment of type 2 diabetes, exemplified by insulin degludec and liraglutide.
AB  - Insulin therapy in the management of Type 2 diabetes is often postponed and/or
      not adequately intensified to maintain glycemic control because of the risk of
      weight gain and hypoglycemia. A fixed combination of the long-acting insulin
      degludec and liraglutide has recently been accepted by the EMA for the management
      of Type 2 diabetes. The incentive for this combination is to exploit the
      advantages of each of the drugs while counterbalancing the side effects. Insulin
      degludec effectively reduces fasting plasma glucose, but carries the risk of
      hypoglycemia and body weight gain. Liraglutide, on the other hand, exerts
      glycemic control with a minimal risk of hypoglycemia and, at the same time,
      reduces appetite and body weight. 

PMID- 25816889
TI  - Mycobacterium abscessus pulmonary infection complicated with vertebral
      osteomyelitis in a heart transplant recipient: case report and literature review.
AB  - Infections produced by Mycobacterium abscessus are emerging in immunosuppressed
      patients, such as solid organ transplant recipients. We report the first case, to
      our knowledge, of a vertebral osteomyelitis caused by M. abscessus in a heart
      transplant recipient, and review the risk factors, manifestations, and
      therapeutic approaches to this uncommon disease. 

PMID- 25816890
TI  - SENP1 regulates cell migration and invasion in neuroblastoma.
AB  - Neuroblastoma (NB) is an embryonic solid tumor derived from precursor cells of
      the sympathetic nervous system, and accounts for 11% of childhood cancers and
      around 15% of cancer deaths in children. SUMOylation and deSUMOylation are
      dynamic mechanisms regulating a spectrum of protein activities. The SUMO
      proteases (SENP) remove SUMO conjugate from proteins, and their expression is
      deregulated in diverse cancers. However, nothing is known about the role of SENPs
      in NBL. In the present study, we found that SENP1 expression was significantly
      high in metastatic NB tissues compared with primary NB tissues. Overexpression of
      SENP1 promoted NB cells migration and invasion. Inhibition of SENP1 could
      significantly suppress NB cell migration and invasion. Moreover, we found that
      SENP1 could regulate the expression of CDH1, MMP9, and MMP2. In summary, the data
      presented here indicate a significant role of SENP1 in the regulation of cell
      migration and invasion in NB and suppress SENP1 expression as promising
      candidates for novel treatment strategies of NB. 

PMID- 25816891
TI  - Approach to assessing the economic impact of insulin-related hypoglycaemia using
      the novel Local Impact of Hypoglycaemia Tool.
AB  - AIM: To provide estimates of the costs of severe and non-severe insulin-related
      hypoglycaemia in the UK using the Local Impact of Hypoglycaemia Tool. METHODS:
      Rates of hypoglycaemia were extracted from the UK Hypoglycaemia Study Group
      observational study. The costs of severe and non-severe hypoglycaemic episodes in
      insulin-treated adults with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes were estimated from UK
      data sources. The rates and costs were then applied to specific populations to
      give an estimate of the cost of insulin-related hypoglycaemia for the UK, a
      specific locality, or a user-defined population. User-specific rates and costs
      could also be applied. RESULTS: The estimated cost of a hypoglycaemic episode can
      range from as much as L2,152 for severe episodes (for which the patient is
      admitted to hospital) to as little as L1.67 for non-severe episodes. With a UK
      population of 64.1 million, the total estimated cost of managing insulin-related
      hypoglycaemia is L468.0 m per year (L295.9 m for severe episodes, L172.1 m for
      non-severe episodes). On a local health economy level, using a hypothetical
      general population of 100 000, the total cost of managing insulin-related
      hypoglycaemia is estimated to be L730,052 per year (L461,658 for severe and
      L268,394 for non-severe episodes). CONCLUSIONS: The Local Impact of Hypoglycaemia
      Tool highlights the economic burden of insulin-related hypoglycaemia. Non-severe
      episodes are often overlooked because of their low individual cost, but their
      high frequency makes the cumulative cost substantial. The Local Impact of
      Hypoglycaemia Tool also shows clinicians and budget-holders the economic impact
      of lower rates of hypoglycaemia.

PMID- 25816893
TI  - Treatment of venous leg ulcers with ultrasound-guided foam sclerotherapy:
      Healing, long-term recurrence and quality of life evaluation.
AB  - Venous leg ulcers (VLU) generally have slow healing rates (HR) and frequent
      recurrence rates (RR). The underlying etiology is venous hypertension. The
      present observational cohort study was to determine healing and RR in VLU treated
      with ultrasound-guided foam sclerotherapy (UGFS). One hundred and eighty VLU were
      treated with polidocanol microfoam monthly under ultrasound control. Median
      follow-up was 30 months (range: 17-40). One hundred seventy-two (95.6%) ulcers
      healed during the study. The overall twenty-four week HR was 79.4% and was
      significantly higher (95.1%) in patients with isolated great saphenous vein
      incompetence than in those with great saphenous vein plus perforator (91.7%) or
      exclusive perforator incompetence (78.9%) (p < 0.01). Patients without deep vein
      incompetence had a significantly higher 6-month HR (89.8%) than those with
      (67.4%) (p < 0.01). Multivariate analysis identified the following independent
      risk factors: chronicity > 12 months (OR 7.69), area > 6 cm(2) (OR 4.24),
      lipodermatoesclerosis (OR 12.22), history of > 3 previous ulcers (OR 5.57) and
      history of deep vein thrombosis (OR 6.18). One, two and three year ulcer RR were
      8.1%, 14.9%, and 20.8%, respectively. Isolated perforator incompetence and
      previous history of venous surgery were significantly (p = 0.03) associated with
      a higher RR. VLU treated with microfoam sclerotherapy are associated with high HR
      and low mid-term RR. 

PMID- 25816892
TI  - Adaptor protein CRK induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis of
      bladder cancer cells through HGF/c-Met feedback loop.
AB  - We have previously reported that an adaptor protein CRK, including CRK-I and CRK
      II, plays essential roles in the malignant potential of various aggressive human
      cancers, suggesting the validity of targeting CRK in molecular targeted therapy
      of a wide range of cancers. Nevertheless, the role of CRK in human bladder cancer
      with marked invasion, characterized by distant metastasis and poor prognosis,
      remains obscure. In the present study, immunohistochemistry indicated a striking
      enhancement of CRK-I/-II, but not CRK-like, in human bladder cancer tissues
      compared to normal urothelium. We established CRK-knockdown bladder cancer cells
      using 5637 and UM-UC-3, which showed a significant decline in cell migration,
      invasion, and proliferation. It is noteworthy that an elimination of CRK
      conferred suppressed phosphorylation of c-Met and the downstream scaffold protein
      Gab1 in a hepatocyte growth factor-dependent and -independent manner. In
      epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related molecules, E-cadherin was upregulated
      by CRK elimination, whereas N-cadherin, vimentin, and Zeb1 were downregulated. A
      similar effect was observed following treatment with c-Met inhibitor SU11274.
      Depletion of CRK significantly decreased cell proliferation of 5637 and UM-UC-3,
      consistent with reduced activity of ERK. An orthotopic xenograft model with
      bioluminescent imaging revealed that CRK knockdown significantly attenuated not
      only tumor volume but also the number of circulating tumor cells, resulted in a
      complete abrogation of metastasis. Taken together, this evidence uncovered
      essential roles of CRK in invasive bladder cancer through the hepatocyte growth
      factor/c-Met/CRK feedback loop for epithelial-mesenchymal transition induction.
      Thus, CRK might be a potent molecular target in bladder cancer, particularly for
      preventing metastasis, leading to the resolution of clinically longstanding
      critical issues. 

PMID- 25816895
TI  - Conservative management of a traumatic superficial temporal artery aneurysm.

PMID- 25816894
TI  - (1)H-NMR screening for the high-throughput determination of genotype and
      environmental effects on the content of asparagine in wheat grain.
AB  - Free asparagine in cereals is known to be the precursor of acrylamide, a
      neurotoxic and carcinogenic product formed during cooking processes. Thus, the
      development of crops with lower asparagine is of considerable interest to growers
      and the food industry. In this study, we describe the development and application
      of a rapid (1)H-NMR-based analysis of cereal flour, that is, suitable for
      quantifying asparagine levels, and hence acrylamide-forming potential, across
      large numbers of samples. The screen was applied to flour samples from 150 bread
      wheats grown at a single site in 2005, providing the largest sample set to date.
      Additionally, screening of 26 selected cultivars grown for two further years in
      the same location and in three additional European locations in the third year
      (2007) provided six widely different environments to allow estimation of the
      environmental (E) and G x E effects on asparagine levels. Asparagine
      concentrations in the 150 genotypes ranged from 0.32 to 1.56 mg/g dry matter in
      wholemeal wheat flours. Asparagine levels were correlated with plant height and
      therefore, due to recent breeding activities to produce semi-dwarf varieties, a
      negative relationship with the year of registration of the cultivar was also
      observed. The multisite study indicated that only 13% of the observed variation
      in asparagine levels was heritable, whilst the environmental contribution was 36%
      and the GxE component was 43%. Thus, compared to some other phenotypic traits,
      breeding for low asparagine wheats presents a difficult challenge.

PMID- 25816896
TI  - Correlation between salivary and serum oxidized LDL levels: a pilot study on
      overweight/obese subjects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Saliva contains a variety of substances and could be functionally
      equivalent to serum in reflecting the physiological state of the body, including
      metabolic variations. Salivary samples are non-invasive, safe, and easier to
      handle than serum. Oxidized LDL cholesterol (oxLDL) is an additional
      cardiovascular risk factor playing an important role in atheromatous plaque
      formation; overweight/obese subjects present an increase in oxLDL concentrations.
      The aims of the study were to assess oxLDL salivary levels, if detectable, and to
      verify their possible correlation with serum in overweight/obese subjects.
      METHODS: Thirty-five consecutive overweight/obese subjects and 10 normal weight
      controls were enrolled. Serum and salivary oxLDL levels were measured by a
      commercial enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA method). RESULTS: oxLDL
      levels were detectable in salivary samples and correlated (P = 0.001) with serum
      levels. Overweight/obese subjects showed serum and salivary oxLDL levels higher
      than controls (P = 0.000 and P = 0.022, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our study
      showed the presence of oxLDL in salivary samples and highlighted a correlation
      between salivary oxLDL levels and their counterpart in serum. Moreover, salivary
      oxLDL levels were higher in overweight/obese subjects than in controls.
      Therefore, a salivary sample could be functionally equivalent to serum in
      monitoring cardiovascular risk in overweight/obese subjects.

PMID- 25816898
TI  - Flavor of fresh blueberry juice and the comparison to amount of sugars, acids,
      anthocyanidins, and physicochemical measurements.
AB  - Six cultivars of southern highbush (SHB) and rabbiteye (RE) blueberry samples
      were harvested on 2 different dates. Each treatment combination was pressed 2
      times for repeated measures. Fresh juice was characterized for 18
      flavor/taste/feeling factor attributes by a descriptive flavor panel. Each sample
      was measured for sugars, acids, anthocyanidins, Folin-Ciocalteu, soluble solids
      (BRIX), titratable acidity (TA), and antioxidant capacity (ORACFL ). Flavors were
      correlated with the composition and physicochemical data. Blueberry flavor
      correlated with 3 parameters, and negatively correlated with 2. Strawberry
      correlated with oxalic acid and negatively correlated with sucrose and quinic
      acid. Sweet aroma correlated with oxalic and citric acid, but negatively
      correlated with sucrose, quinic, and total acids. Sweet taste correlated with 11
      parameters, including the anthocyanidins; and negatively correlated with 3
      parameters. Neither bitter nor astringent correlated with any of the antioxidant
      parameters, but both correlated with total acids. Sour correlated with total
      acids and TA, while negatively correlating with pH and BRIX:TA. Throat burn
      correlated with total acids and TA. Principal component analysis negatively
      related blueberry, sweet aroma, and sweet to sour, bitter, astringent, tongue
      tingle, and tongue numbness. The information in this component was related to pH,
      TA, and BRIX:TA ratio. Another principal component related the nonblueberry fruit
      flavors to BRIX. This PC, also divided the SHB berries from the RE. This work
      shows that the impact of juice composition on flavor is very complicated and that
      estimating flavor with physicochemical parameters is complicated by the
      composition of the juice. 

PMID- 25816897
TI  - Identification and optimization of 2-aminobenzimidazole derivatives as novel
      inhibitors of TRPC4 and TRPC5 channels.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC) channels
      play important roles in a broad array of physiological functions and are involved
      in various diseases. However, due to a lack of potent subtype-specific inhibitors
      the exact roles of TRPC channels in physiological and pathophysiological
      conditions have not been elucidated. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Using fluorescence
      membrane potential and Ca(2+) assays and electrophysiological recordings, we
      characterized new 2-aminobenzimidazole-based small molecule inhibitors of TRPC4
      and TRPC5 channels identified from cell-based fluorescence high-throughput
      screening. KEY RESULTS: The original compound, M084, was a potent inhibitor of
      both TRPC4 and TRPC5, but was also a weak inhibitor of TRPC3. Structural
      modifications of the lead compound resulted in the identification of analogues
      with improved potency and selectivity for TRPC4 and TRPC5 channels. The
      aminobenzimidazole derivatives rapidly inhibited the TRPC4- and TRPC5-mediated
      currents when applied from the extracellular side and this inhibition was
      independent of the mode of activation of these channels. The compounds
      effectively blocked the plateau potential mediated by TRPC4-containing channels
      in mouse lateral septal neurons, but did not affect the activity of
      heterologously expressed TRPA1, TRPM8, TRPV1 or TRPV3 channels or that of the
      native voltage-gated Na(+) , K(+) and Ca(2) (+) channels in dissociated neurons.
      CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The TRPC4/C5-selective inhibitors developed here
      represent novel and useful pharmaceutical tools for investigation of
      physiological and pathophysiological functions of TRPC4/C5 channels.

PMID- 25816899
TI  - Effects of partial replacement of barley grain with beet pulp on performance,
      ruminal fermentation and plasma concentration of metabolites in transition dairy
      cows.
AB  - The objective of this study was to determine the effect of partial replacement of
      barley grain with beet pulp (BP) on dry matter intake (DMI), ruminal
      fermentation, plasma concentration of metabolites and milk yield of transition
      dairy cows. Twenty-four multiparous Holstein cows [735 +/- 26 kg of body weights
      and 3.5 +/- 0.05 of body condition score (BCS)] were used in a randomized
      complete block design. Cows were assigned randomly on day 28 relative to expected
      parturition date to one of three treatments containing (i) 0% BP, (ii) 25% BP or
      (iii) 50% BP substituted for barley grain on a DM basis. During the pre-partum
      period, DMI and energy intake were greater (P < 0.01) in cows fed the BP diet
      compared with cows fed the barley grain diet. During the post-partum period,
      substituting BP for barley grain caused a response in DMI and energy intake, with
      the highest amount for the 25% BP diet and lowest for the 50% BP diet (P < 0.01).
      Milk yield was lowest (P < 0.01) for 50% BP diet than the other treatments.
      During the post-partum period, cows fed the 50% BP diets had greater rumen pH,
      molar proportion of butyrate and acetate: propionate ratio (P < 0.01) in the
      rumen compared with cows fed the 0% BP diets. In addition, cows fed the BP diets
      had greater (P < 0.01) plasma beta-hydroxybutyrate and lower plasma glucose (P <
      0.05) and blood urinary nitrogen (BUN) (P < 0.01) concentrations than cows fed
      the barley grain diets. Results showed that substituting BP for barley grain was
      effective in increasing DMI, but it did not have a significant effect on net
      energy balance during the post-partum period. However, replacing BP for barley
      grain at 50% had adverse effects on DMI, milk yield and metabolic status, as
      indicated by key blood metabolite concentrations.

PMID- 25816900
TI  - Treatment of Langerhans cell histiocytosis: it is time to learn from the past.

PMID- 25816901
TI  - Providing an extended use of an otological-specific outcome instrument to derive
      cost-effectiveness estimates of treatment.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Although quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) are increasingly being
      used by decision-makers to make comparisons of cost-effectiveness, there are no
      otological-specific outcome measures that fit within this QALY framework. This
      study had two main objectives. The first was to provide a means to derive QALYs
      from a condition-specific otological instrument (Cambridge Otology Quality of
      Life, COQOL), and the second was to assess the convergent validity, or degree of
      correlation, between the COQOL and SF-6D, an established QALY instrument. DESIGN:
      Longitudinal cohort study designed to assess the convergent validity between SF
      6D and COQOL and to generate a mapping function to enable SF-6D values to be
      predicted from the COQOL responses. SETTING: Cambridge University Hospital, UK.
      PARTICIPANTS: A total of 207 patients attending a routine outpatient general
      otology clinic. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: SF-6D and the COQOL instrument completed
      at baseline and again 3 months later. RESULTS: Convergent validity was
      demonstrated with mean SF-6D values decreasing linearly with increasing severity
      on the COQOL instrument. Overall, the correlation between the COQOL scores and
      the SF-6D values was moderate and statistically significant (r = 0.490, P =
      <0.001). A simple mapping model based on an ordinary least squares (OLS)
      regression function predicted SF-6D values from the COQOL data with a reasonable
      degree of accuracy. Further validation using the follow-up 3-month data confirmed
      the prediction power of this mapping model. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a
      method for estimating QALYs from condition-specific COQOL data and provides the
      opportunity for the cost-effectiveness of otological treatment to be measured and
      placed within the national QALY framework.

PMID- 25816903
TI  - Men living with long-term conditions: exploring gender and improving social care.
AB  - Disabled men have traditionally been seen as incomplete men or as entirely gender
      less. Research which has looked at the intersection of disability and male gender
      has largely treated disabled men as a homogeneous group with little reference to,
      for example, impairment-related differences. The ongoing move towards self
      directed, personalised social care in England suggests that support needs
      relating to gender may be taken more seriously. A qualitative study with 20 men
      with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in England in 2013 explored the men's
      experiences of the organisation and delivery of social care as it pertained to
      their sense of being men. Our main finding was that social care in its broadest
      sense did little to support a positive sense of masculinity or male gender. More
      often than not the organisation and delivery of social care people de-gendered or
      emasculated many of the men who took part in the study. Our paper speaks to the
      need to explore impairment-specific issues for disabled men; to deliver a more
      person-centred approach to social care which recognises the importance of the
      social and sexual lives of disabled men; and to create ways in which men can
      support and empower each other to assert essential human rights relating to
      independence, dignity and liberty.

PMID- 25816904
TI  - Is Pornography Use Associated with Sexual Difficulties and Dysfunctions among
      Younger Heterosexual Men?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Recent epidemiological studies reported high prevalence rates of
      erectile dysfunction (ED) among younger heterosexual men (<=40). It has been
      suggested that this "epidemic" of ED is related to increased pornography use.
      However, empirical evidence for such association is currently lacking. AIM: This
      study analyzes associations between pornography use and sexual health
      disturbances among younger heterosexual men using four large-scale online samples
      from three European countries. METHODS: The analyses were carried out using a
      2011 cross-sectional online study of Croatian, Norwegian, and Portuguese men
      (Study 1; N = 2,737) and a 2014 cross-sectional online study of Croatian men
      (Study 2; N = 1,211). Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression were
      used to explore the associations between pornography use and sexual difficulties.
      MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: In Study 1, erectile difficulties, inability to reach
      orgasm, and a lack of sexual desire were measured using the Global Study of
      Sexual Attitudes and Behavior indicators. In Study 2, ED was measured with the
      abridged International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5). Delayed ejaculation
      and a decrease of sexual desire were assessed with one-item indicators. RESULTS:
      In Study 1, only the relationship between pornography use and ED among Croatian
      men was statistically significant (chi(2) [2] = 18.76, P < 0.01). The association
      was small and inconsistent. Compared with infrequent use of pornography, moderate
      but not high frequency of pornography use increased the odds of reporting ED
      (adjusted odds ratio = 0.53, P < 0.01). In Study 2, no significant associations
      both between either the frequency or the recent dynamics of pornography use and
      male sexual dysfunctions were observed. CONCLUSION: We found little evidence of
      the association between pornography use and male sexual health disturbances.
      Contrary to raising public concerns, pornography does not seem to be a
      significant risk factor for younger men's desire, erectile, or orgasmic
      difficulties.

PMID- 25816905
TI  - Medical photography: it has never been so easy and yet so complex.

PMID- 25816906
TI  - Constipation during acute hospitalisation: vigilance critical for all patients at
      high risk.

PMID- 25816907
TI  - Women's toileting behaviours: an online survey of female advanced practice
      providers.

PMID- 25816902
TI  - d-amino acid oxidase knockout (Dao(-/-) ) mice show enhanced short-term memory
      performance and heightened anxiety, but no sleep or circadian rhythm disruption.
AB  - d-amino acid oxidase (DAO, DAAO) is an enzyme that degrades d-serine, the primary
      endogenous co-agonist of the synaptic N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor. Convergent
      evidence implicates DAO in the pathophysiology and potential treatment of
      schizophrenia. To better understand the functional role of DAO, we characterized
      the behaviour of the first genetically engineered Dao knockout (Dao(-/-) ) mouse.
      Our primary objective was to assess both spatial and non-spatial short-term
      memory performance. Relative to wildtype (Dao(+/+) ) littermate controls, Dao(-/
      ) mice demonstrated enhanced spatial recognition memory performance, improved
      odour recognition memory performance, and enhanced spontaneous alternation in the
      T-maze. In addition, Dao(-/-) mice displayed increased anxiety-like behaviour in
      five tests of approach/avoidance conflict: the open field test, elevated plus
      maze, successive alleys, light/dark box and novelty-suppressed feeding. Despite
      evidence of a reciprocal relationship between anxiety and sleep and circadian
      function in rodents, we found no evidence of sleep or circadian rhythm disruption
      in Dao(-/-) mice. Overall, our observations are consistent with, and extend,
      findings in the natural mutant ddY/Dao(-) line. These data add to a growing body
      of preclinical evidence linking the inhibition, inactivation or deletion of DAO
      with enhanced cognitive performance. Our results have implications for the
      development of DAO inhibitors as therapeutic agents. 

PMID- 25816908
TI  - Improving the odds: ezetimibe and cardiovascular disease.
AB  - The beauty of science is that well-conducted experiments provide answers to
      questions which were posed in times of greater ignorance. Cardiovascular disease
      (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide and will be for some time.
      Cholesterol is a critical player which drives the underlying pathophysiological
      process of atherosclerosis. Statins are the first line treatment for lipids in
      CVD given their ability to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) by up to
      50%, and their proven benefits in both primary and secondary intervention .
      Despite the unprecedented efficacy of statins, additional treatments are sought
      to potentially reduce the residual risk that remains despite statin treatment
      such as that associated with reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels
      (HDL-C) or triglycerides . In the last 5 years, several trials have reported on
      their potential additional benefit beyond statin therapy. These include omega-3
      fatty acids in patients with prediabetes or diabetes , fibrates in diabetes ,
      nicotinic acid/niacin in cardiovascular disease and cholesterol ester transfer
      protein inhibitors in cardiovascular disease . Despite their promise, none of
      these treatments were able to demonstrate benefit beyond baseline statin therapy
      when compared with placebo . The idea that benefit beyond statin treatment may be
      an unachievable goal has dogged the medical community working on CVD prevention.
      The phrase, 'Statins for atherosclerosis - as good as it gets?' was coined in
      2005 and has rung true up until now .

PMID- 25816909
TI  - Complex clinical reasoning in the critical care unit - difficulties, pitfalls and
      adaptive strategies.
AB  - Diagnostic error has implications for both clinical outcome and resource
      utilisation, and may often be traced to impaired data gathering, processing or
      synthesis because of the influence of cognitive bias. Factors inherent to the
      intensive/acute care environment afford multiple additional opportunities for
      such errors to occur. This article illustrates many of these with reference to a
      case encountered on our intensive care unit. Strategies to improve completeness
      of data gathering, processing and synthesis in the acute care environment are
      critically appraised in the context of early detection and amelioration of
      cognitive bias. These include reflection, targeted simulation training and the
      integration of social media and IT based aids in complex diagnostic processes. A
      framework which can be quickly and easily employed in a variety of clinical
      environments is then presented. 

PMID- 25816910
TI  - Hispanic parents' experiences of the process of caring for a child undergoing
      routine surgery: a focus on pain and pain management.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose was to understand the processes Hispanic parents undergo in
      managing postoperative care of children after routine surgical procedures. DESIGN
      AND METHODS: Sixty parents of children undergoing outpatient surgery were
      interviewed. Data were analyzed using grounded theory methodology. RESULTS:
      Parents experienced five subprocesses that comprised the overall process of
      caring for a child after routine surgery: (a) becoming informed; (b) preparing;
      (c) seeking reassurance; (d) communicating with one's child; and (e) making pain
      management decisions. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Addressing cultural factors related
      to pain management in underserved families may instill greater confidence in
      managing pain.

PMID- 25816911
TI  - Testing cognitive predictors of individual differences in the sexual
      psychophysiological responses of sexually functional women.
AB  - The literature on sexual responses shows a large and not fully understood between
      women variance in sexual responses and in strength of coherence between
      physiological and subjective sexual responses. This study investigated cognitive
      factors theorized to be associated with sexual responses that could explain such
      variance. Specifically, we investigated the predictive value of sexual
      excitation/inhibition and sexual schemas on sexual response and coherence.
      Vaginal photoplethysmography and continuous subjective sexual arousal were
      collected from 29 young women while they watched a control/erotic video sequence.
      Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that high sexual excitation and schemas
      related to passion and romance were related to higher coherence. These findings
      support the notion that cognitive factors that enhance sexual arousal contribute
      to the large variation seen in the coherence of sexual response as measured in
      the laboratory. 

PMID- 25816913
TI  - Dietary phenolic compounds selectively inhibit the individual subunits of maltase
      glucoamylase and sucrase-isomaltase with the potential of modulating glucose
      release.
AB  - In this study, it was hypothesized that dietary phenolic compounds selectively
      inhibit the individual C- and N-terminal (Ct, Nt) subunits of the two small
      intestinal alpha-glucosidases, maltase-glucoamylase (MGAM) and sucrase-isomaltase
      (SI), for a modulated glycemic carbohydrate digestion. The inhibition by
      chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, gallic acid, (+)-catechin, and (-)
      epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) on individual recombinant human Nt-MGAM and Nt-SI
      and on mouse Ct-MGAM and Ct-SI was assayed using maltose as the substrate.
      Inhibition constants, inhibition mechanisms, and IC50 values for each combination
      of phenolic compound and enzymatic subunit were determined. EGCG and chlorogenic
      acid were found to be more potent inhibitors for selectively inhibiting the two
      subunits with highest activity, Ct-MGAM and Ct-SI. All compounds displayed
      noncompetitive type inhibition. Inhibition of fast-digesting Ct-MGAM and Ct-SI by
      EGCG and chlorogenic acid could lead to a slow, but complete, digestion of starch
      for improved glycemic response of starchy foods with potential health benefit. 

PMID- 25816912
TI  - Novel kappa-opioid receptor agonist MB-1C-OH produces potent analgesia with less
      depression and sedation.
AB  - AIM: To characterize the pharmacological profiles of a novel kappa-opioid
      receptor agonist MB-1C-OH. METHODS: [(3)H]diprenorphine binding and
      [(35)S]GTPgammaS binding assays were performed to determine the agonistic
      properties of MB-1C-OH. Hot plate, tail flick, acetic acid-induced writhing, and
      formalin tests were conducted in mice to evaluate the antinociceptive actions.
      Forced swimming and rotarod tests of mice were used to assess the sedation and
      depression actions. RESULTS: In [(3)H]diprenorphine binding assay, MB-1C-OH did
      not bind to MU- and delta-opioid receptors at the concentration of 100 MUmol/L,
      but showed a high affinity for kappa-opioid receptor (Ki=35 nmol/L). In
      [(35)S]GTPgammaS binding assay, the compound had an Emax of 98% and an EC50 of
      16.7 nmol/L for kappa-opioid receptor. Subcutaneous injection of MB-1C-OH had no
      effects in both hot plate and tail flick tests, but produced potent
      antinociception in the acetic acid-induced writhing test (ED50=0.39 mg/kg), which
      was antagonized by pretreatment with a selective kappa-opioid receptor antagonist
      Nor-BNI. In the formalin test, subcutaneous injection of MB-1C-OH did not affect
      the flinching behavior in the first phase, but significantly inhibited that in
      the second phase (ED50=0.87 mg/kg). In addition, the sedation or depression
      actions of MB-1C-OH were about 3-fold weaker than those of the classical kappa
      agonist (-)U50,488H. CONCLUSION: MB-1C-OH is a novel kappa-opioid receptor
      agonist that produces potent antinociception causing less sedation and
      depression.

PMID- 25816914
TI  - PEGylated Fmoc-Amino Acid Conjugates as Effective Nanocarriers for Improved Drug
      Delivery.
AB  - A structure-activity relationship (SAR) study was conducted using a series of
      PEGylated Fmoc-amino acid conjugates (PFA) as a simple model to gain more insight
      into carrier-drug interaction. Among the eight PEG2000-Fmoc conjugates with
      different neighboring structures of Fmoc motif, PEG2000-Fmoc-Lys (Cbz) (PFA2)
      based nanomicelles exhibited the smallest particle size distribution, lowest
      critical micelle concentration (CMC) value, and highest loading capacity with
      paclitaxel (PTX). These biophysical properties were largely attributed to the
      strengthened carrier-carrier and carrier-drug interaction, including pi-pi
      stacking, hydrophobic, and hydrogen bonding interaction, as confirmed by
      fluorescence quenching and (13)C NMR study. In vitro and in vivo evaluation
      further demonstrated the effectiveness of PFA2 as a nanocarrier for efficient
      delivery of PTX to achieve improved antitumor activity. Importantly, PFA2 was
      also effective in formulating eight other model drugs of diverse structures,
      indicating a broad application potential. This work may shed insights into the
      molecular basis for the structural optimization of nanocarriers for improved
      delivery efficacy. 

PMID- 25816915
TI  - Plastic expression of heterochrony quantitative trait loci (hQTLs) for leaf
      growth in the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).
AB  - Heterochrony, that is, evolutionary changes in the relative timing of
      developmental events and processes, has emerged as a key concept that links
      evolution and development. Genes associated with heterochrony encode molecular
      components of developmental timing mechanisms. However, our understanding of how
      heterochrony genes alter the expression of heterochrony in response to
      environmental changes remains very limited. We applied functional mapping to find
      quantitative trait loci (QTLs) responsible for growth trajectories of leaf area
      and leaf mass in the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) grown in two contrasting
      environments. We identified three major QTLs pleiotropically expressed under the
      two environments. Further characterization of the temporal pattern of these QTLs
      indicates that they are heterochrony QTLs (hQTLs) in terms of their role in
      influencing four heterochronic parameters: the timing of the inflection point,
      the timing of maximum acceleration and deceleration, and the duration of linear
      growth. The pattern of gene action by the hQTLs on each parameter was unique,
      being environmentally dependent and varying between two allometrically related
      leaf growth traits. These results provide new insights into the complexity of
      genetic mechanisms that control trait formation in plants and provide novel
      findings that will be of use in studying the evolutionary trends. 

PMID- 25816917
TI  - Clinical Evaluation of Coronary In-Stent Restenosis Using Dual-Source Computed
      Tomography.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the feasibility of dual-source computed tomography (DSCT)
      in the evaluation of coronary in-stent restenosis (ISR) by comparing the results
      of DSCT and selective coronary angiography (CAG). METHODS: In-stent restenosis
      examination results from DSCT were compared with those obtained using CAG.
      RESULTS: Among 173 stents studied, 156 yielded good quality images when evaluated
      with DSCT. CAG identified 38 ISR cases, while DSCT found 40. Among the 112 stents
      in the study with an inner diameter >=3.0 mm, CAG identified 29 as having ISR,
      while DSCT reported the same finding in 30; among the 44 stents with inner
      diameter <3.0 mm, CAG identified ISR in 9, while DSCT found ISR in 10.
      CONCLUSIONS: Stent inner diameter is a key factor influencing the imaging of the
      stent lumen. DSCT demonstrated a higher negative predictive value in ISR
      assessment, suggesting that it could replace CAG for assessing the patency of
      stents with a larger inner diameter (>=3 mm).

PMID- 25816918
TI  - Quality of Life after Endoluminal Loco-Regional Resection (ELRR) by Transanal
      Endoscopic Microsurgery (TEM).
AB  - AIM: Endoluminal Loco-Regional Resection (ELRR) by Transanal Endoscopic
      Microsurgery (TEM) may be considered a valid alternative surgical treatment in
      patients with rectal cancer. Aim of this study is to evaluate the short and
      medium term Quality of Life (QoL) from prospectively collected data in patients
      who underwent ELRR by TEM. MATERIAL OF STUDY: From May 2010 to June 2013, 31
      patients with iT1-iT2-iT3N0 rectal cancer were enrolled in this study. Patients
      with T1 rectal cancer underwent ELRR by TEM. Patients with iT2-iT3 rectal cancer
      underwent neoadjuvant radio-chemoterapy (n-RCT) before surgery. QoL was evaluated
      by EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CR38 questionnaires before surgery and 1, 6, and 12
      months after surgery. RESULTS: Mean distance from the anal verge was 5.4 cm
      (range 1-10). Mean operative time was 145.8 minutes (range 60-300). Pathological
      staging was as follows: pT0N0 (6), pT1N0 (18), pT2N0 (7). At 1 month after
      surgery, in QLQC30 questionnaire, significant worsening was observed in Global
      Health Status (p=0.0028), Physical Functioning (p=0.0016), Role Functioning
      (p=0.0004), Fatigue (p=0.0024), Pain (p=0.0003) and Dyspnoea (p=0.0192). In
      QLQCR38 questionnaire significant worsening at 1 month was observed in Defecation
      Problems (p=0.0005) and Weight Loss (p=0.0008). At six and twelve months after
      surgery, no significant differences were observed in QLQ-C30 and in QLQCR38
      questionnaires. DISCUSSION: QoL evaluation showed worsening results at 1 month
      after ELRR by TEM, in QLQ-C30 and in QLQCR38 questionnaires. CONCLUSIONS: At 6
      and 12 months after surgery, no significant differences in QoL as compared to
      preoperative status were observed.

PMID- 25816920
TI  - Effect of the variation of the electronic density of states of zirconium and
      tungsten on their respective thermal conductivity evolution with temperature.
AB  - The thermal conductivity of zirconium and tungsten above 500 K is calculated with
      atomistic simulations using a combination of empirical potentials molecular
      dynamics and density functional theory calculations. The thermal conductivity is
      calculated in the framework of Kubo-Greenwood theory. The obtained values are in
      quantitative agreement with experiments. The fact that the conductivity of Zr
      increases with temperature while that of tungsten is essentially constant is
      reproduced by the calculations. The evolution with temperature of the electronic
      density of states of these two pseudo-gap metals proves to explain the observed
      variations of the conductivity.

PMID- 25816919
TI  - Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma with coexisting plasma cell myeloma: a case
      report and review of the literature.
AB  - Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) is recognized as a distinct
      clinicopathological subtype of peripheral T-cell lymphomas. Its clinical features
      include generalized lymphadenopathy, constitutional symptoms, and autoimmune
      related findings, such as hemolytic anemia. Pathologically, AITL is characterized
      by a polymorphous infiltrate in lymph nodes with prominent proliferation of high
      endothelial venules and follicular dendritic cells. We present an 80-year-old
      Chinese man with generalized lymphadenopathy and pulmonary infection, diagnosed
      as AITL based on the distinctive pathological findings and T-cell receptor gamma
      (TCR-gamma) gene rearrangement analysis of lymph nodes. Importantly, the patient
      suffered from a coexisting plasma cell myeloma, as judged by monoclonal
      immunoglobulin in the serum, immature plasma cells, and rearrangement of the
      immunoglobulin heavy-chain (IgH) gene in the bone marrow. The patient received
      two courses of the chemotherapy but died of pneumonia 6 months after diagnosis.
      AITL can be accompanied by polyclonal or clonal proliferation of B lymphocytes;
      however, AITL are rarely associated with plasma cell proliferation. In fact, 14
      AITL cases with plasma cell proliferation have been reported in the literature,
      but none of them manifested the infiltration of monoclonal immature plasma cells
      in the bone marrow. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of
      newly diagnosed, concurrent AITL and plasma cell myeloma, providing the evidence
      for the interplay between malignant T cells and plasma cell proliferation. A
      review of the literature has also supported a relationship between AITL and
      plasma cell proliferation. Awareness of this relationship is important for
      correct diagnosis and appropriate treatment of AITL. 

PMID- 25816921
TI  - Using a personalized DVD to prescribe an exercise program to older people post
      hip fracture enhances adherence to the exercises - A feasibility study.
AB  - Optimum recovery from hip fracture has been linked to the provision of effective
      rehabilitation, but levels of adherence vary among older patients. In this
      feasibility study a novel personalized DVD was designed for four participants,
      which delivered a 5 week tailored home exercise program (HEP), with the
      participant being videoed completing their exercises. Treatment fidelity of the
      DVD HEP was evaluated, including participants' perceptions of and response to the
      DVD-HEP, which was explored using diaries and interviews and analyzed
      thematically. Secondary outcome measures including exercise adherence and self
      efficacy for exercise were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Levels of
      adherence to the HEP were 1.2-3.5 times more than the minimum prescribed dose and
      participants demonstrated higher levels of self-efficacy for exercise. Adherence
      was found to be enhanced by physical improvement, positive self-reflection about
      engagement in the DVD-HEP, the format of the DVD, and increased self-efficacy.
      Personalized DVDs may be a feasible method of promoting adherence to home
      exercise programs among older patients. 

PMID- 25816922
TI  - An original case of Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica bacteremia after a
      near-drowning accident.
AB  - We report the first case of Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica bacteremia
      after water contamination in France. A 75-year-old man developed septic pneumonic
      tularemia after a near-drowning accident. We highlight the need for a longer
      incubation time for isolation of F. tularensis from blood cultures. 

PMID- 25816924
TI  - New reports from the NIOSH health hazard evaluation program.

PMID- 25816923
TI  - Occupational and non-occupational factors associated with work-related injuries
      among construction workers in the USA.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Many factors contribute to occupational injuries. However, these
      factors have been compartmentalized and isolated in most studies. OBJECTIVE: To
      examine the relationship between work-related injuries and multiple occupational
      and non-occupational factors among construction workers in the USA. METHODS: Data
      from the 1988-2000 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 cohort (N =
      12,686) were analyzed. Job exposures and health behaviors were examined and used
      as independent variables in four multivariate logistic regression models to
      identify associations with occupational injuries. RESULTS: After controlling for
      demographic variables, occupational injuries were 18% (95% CI: 1.04-1.34) more
      likely in construction than in non-construction. Blue-collar occupations, job
      physical efforts, multiple jobs, and long working hours accounted for the
      escalated risk in construction. Smoking, obesity/overweight, and cocaine use
      significantly increased the risk of work-related injury when demographics and
      occupational factors were held constant. CONCLUSIONS: Workplace injuries are
      better explained by simultaneously examining occupational and non-occupational
      characteristics.

PMID- 25816925
TI  - Haemodynamic and electrophysiological markers of pragmatic language comprehension
      in schizophrenia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed at investigating neurophysiological markers
      of language perception in schizophrenia using simultaneous near-infrared
      spectroscopy (NIRS) and event-related potentials (ERPs), which have been proven
      to be useful for studying language processing abilities in psychiatric patients.
      The study shall help to integrate previous findings from ERP and fMRI studies on
      figurative language comprehension in schizophrenia and elucidate how
      electrophysiological and haemodynamic markers of language processing are related.
      METHODS: Twenty-two healthy subjects and 22 schizophrenia patients judged 120
      sentences regarding their meaningfulness. Phrases were literal, metaphoric, or
      meaningless. EEG-fNIRS signals were recorded throughout the entire experiment.
      RESULTS: Schizophrenia patients showed deficient and delayed sentence
      comprehension. Both the early N400 and left-hemispheric activation during
      language comprehension were altered in patients. Correlation analyses showed that
      metaphor-related ERPs were strongly linked to haemodynamic cortical activity in
      healthy subjects, but not in patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate group
      differences in cortical electrophysiological and haemodynamic activation that
      represent rather general impairments in the processing of complex language.
      Simultaneous EEG/NIRS applications are useful to depict these neural markers and
      to investigate their relationship. Future studies are needed to clarify the
      nature of respective anomalies and their potential as putative neural markers in
      schizophrenia research.

PMID- 25816926
TI  - Far-lateral approach assisted by multimodal neuronavigation and
      electrophysiological monitoring technique for complex clival tumor.
AB  - Large clival meningiomas are a major surgical challenge with risks to life and
      permanent deficit. A 65-year-old man with a meningioma anterior to the medulla
      oblongata with brain stem compression was operated with far-lateral approach
      assisted by multimodal neuronavigation and neurophysiological monitoring
      techniques. Total resection of the tumor was achieved with no intra- or post
      operative complications. This case illustrates the benefits obtained by a
      multimodal approach. 

PMID- 25816927
TI  - Atomic Resolution of Calcium and Oxygen Sublattices of Calcite in Ambient
      Conditions by Atomic Force Microscopy Using qPlus Sensors with Sapphire Tips.
AB  - Characterization and imaging at the atomic scale with atomic force microscopy in
      biocompatible environments is an ongoing challenge. We demonstrate atomically
      resolved imaging of the calcite (1014) surface plane using stiff quartz
      cantilevers ("qPlus sensors", stiffness k = 1280 N/m) equipped with sapphire tips
      in ambient conditions without any surface preparation. With 10 atoms in one
      surface unit cell, calcite has a highly complex surface structure comprising
      three different chemical elements (Ca, C, and O). We obtain true atomic
      resolution of calcite in air at relative humidity ranging from 20% to 40%,
      imaging atomic steps and single atomic defects. We observe a great durability of
      sapphire tips with their Mohs hardness of 9, only one step below diamond.
      Depending on the state of the sapphire tip, we resolve either the calcium or the
      oxygen sublattice. We determine the tip termination by comparing the experimental
      images with simulations and discuss the possibility of chemical tip
      identification in air. The main challenges for imaging arise from the presence of
      water layers, which form on almost all surfaces and have the potential to
      dissolve the crystal surface. Frequency shift versus distance spectra show the
      presence of at least three ordered hydration layers. The measured height of the
      first hydration layer corresponds well to X-ray diffraction data and molecular
      dynamic simulations, namely, ~220 pm. For the following hydration layers we
      measure ~380 pm for the second and third layer, ending up in a total hydration
      layer thickness of at least 1 nm. Understanding the influence of water layers and
      their structure is important for surface segregation, surface reactions including
      reconstructions, healing of defects, and corrosion. 

PMID- 25816928
TI  - Sphenopalatine foramen: endoscopic approach with bony landmarks.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To establish whether nasal bony landmarks on computed tomography could
      be utilised reliably in endoscopic approaches to the sphenopalatine foramen.
      METHODS: A prospective analysis of 102 consecutive helical computed tomography
      scans of the paranasal sinuses was carried out by 2 senior ENT surgeons.
      Distances from the sphenopalatine foramen to endoscopically palpable bony
      landmarks were measured. RESULTS: There were a total of 102 patients (45 females
      and 57 males), with a mean age of 62 years. The mean distance from the posterior
      fontanelle to the sphenopalatine foramen was 14.1 mm (standard deviation = 2.13).
      The average vertical distance of the sphenopalatine foramen opening from the bony
      attachment of the inferior turbinate was 14.13 mm. There were no statistically
      significant differences between any of these measurements (foramen width p-value
      = 0.714, distance from fontanelle p-value = 0.43 and distance from inferior
      turbinate p-value = 0.48). CONCLUSION: Determination of reliable bony landmarks
      is clinically useful in endoscopic surgery and can aid identification of the
      sphenopalatine foramen. The inferior turbinate concha and posterior fontanelle
      may be used as reliable computed tomography landmarks for endoscopic approaches
      to the sphenopalatine foramen.

PMID- 25816929
TI  - Expression of endothelin-1 and endothelin-1 receptor A in canine mammary tumours.
AB  - Endothelins and their receptors have been implicated in numerous diseases and
      have recently emerged as relevant players in a variety of malignancies. Tumours
      overexpress the Endothelin-1 (ET-1) and the Endothelin-A receptors (ETAR) and
      their interaction enhances tumour growth and metastasis by promoting tumour cell
      survival, proliferation and angiogenesis. In this study we have evaluated the
      expression of ET-1 and ETAR in 50 canine mammary tumours, compared to normal
      controls. Results demonstrated a progressive increase in ET-1 and ETAR expression
      from benign tumour to grade 1 and to grade 2 malignant mammary tumours with a
      decrease of expression in grade 3 carcinomas. Co-localization of ET-1 and ETAR
      was observed in benign mammary tumours and in G1 and G2 carcinomas, while absent
      in G3 carcinomas. Concluding, ET-1/ETAR can be considered reliable markers for
      evaluating malignancy of canine mammary tumours and could have importance for the
      development of specific anticancer therapies. 

PMID- 25816930
TI  - Characterization of GM-CSF-inhibitory factor and Uracil DNA glycosylase encoding
      genes from camel pseudocowpoxvirus.
AB  - The present study describes the PCR amplification of GM-CSF-inhibitory factor
      (GIF) and Uracil DNA glycosylase (UDG) encoding genes of pseudocowpoxvirus (PCPV)
      from the Indian Dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius) infected with contagious
      ecthyma using the primers based on the corresponding gene sequences of human PCPV
      and reindeer PCPV, respectively. The length of GIF gene of PCPV obtained from
      camel is 795 bp and due to the addition of one cytosine residue at position 374
      and one adenine residue at position 516, the open reading frame (ORF) got
      altered, resulting in the production of truncated polypeptide. The ORF of UDG
      encoding gene of camel PCPV is 696 bp encoding a polypeptide of 26.0 kDa.
      Comparison of amino acid sequence homologies of GIF and UDG of camel PCPV
      revealed that the camel PCPV is closer to ORFV and PCPV (reference stains of both
      human and reindeer), respectively. 

PMID- 25816931
TI  - Preoperative ultra-rapid opiate detoxification for the treatment of post
      operative surgical pain.
AB  - Over the past two decades, the prescription of high dose opiate therapy has
      continued to accelerate in an attempt to treat patients with chronic pain. This
      presents a substantial challenge when patients on high dose opiate therapy
      require surgery, as opiate pain relief is a cornerstone of postoperative pain
      management. These patients have exceptionally challenging pain to control. This
      is likely due to downregulation of existing opiate receptors and the reluctance
      of clinicians to increase doses of opiates to exceptionally high levels to
      facilitate pain relief. We hypothesize that using the method of ultra-rapid
      opiate detoxification (UROD), it would be possible to rapidly increase the number
      of opiate receptors and return patients to a more naive state, which would be
      susceptible to exogenous opiate administration. Validation of this hypothesis is
      supported by two mechanisms, the first of which are reports of patients that
      underwent UROD for opiate addition that subsequently suffer respiratory arrests
      when beginning to rapidly abuse opiates shortly after treatment. Additionally
      there are data demonstrating the tapering of opiate therapy prior to elective
      surgery results in better pain control. In conclusion, we hypothesize that
      patients on chronic high dose opiates could obtain substantially better pain
      relief if they underwent UROD prior to surgery. This technique could be
      administered shortly before surgery and may dramatically improve the patients'
      recoveries. 

PMID- 25816932
TI  - Mortality patterns among recipients of autologous hematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation for lymphoma and myeloma in the past three decades.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Understanding the mortality patterns of patients with lymphoma and
      myeloma, who have undergone autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
      (ASCT) might identify improvement opportunities. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The
      present retrospective study included patients with lymphoma and myeloma, aged >=
      18 years, who had undergone ASCT from 1983 to 2010 at the University of Nebraska
      Medical Center. Of the 2284 patients, 972 had died within first 5 years after
      ASCT. The patients were divided into 3 cohorts according to the time of
      transplantation: 1983 to 1990 (cohort I), 1991 to 2000 (cohort II), and 2001 to
      2010 (cohort III). Using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, the risk
      of cause-specific mortality was compared across the 3 cohorts. RESULTS: Of a
      total of 1215 deaths, 972 (80%) occurred within the first 5 years after ASCT.
      Disease relapse (73.4%), organ failure (7.8%), infection (4.7%), and secondary
      malignancy (4.2%) accounted for most of the deaths. The risk of death from
      infection (P < .0001), but not from relapse (P = .26), organ failure (P = .68),
      or secondary malignancy (P = .15), had declined in the more recent cohorts.
      CONCLUSION: The 5-year overall survival of patients undergoing ASCT has improved
      significantly owing to a decline in infectious mortality. Our results highlight
      that the mortality from relapse remains the most common cause of death,
      warranting investigation of different strategies to reduce the incidence of
      relapse and improve the therapy for relapse after ASCT.

PMID- 25816933
TI  - Influence of Rituximab on Central Nervous System Relapse in Diffuse Large B-Cell
      Lymphoma and Role of Prophylaxis--A Systematic Review of Prospective Studies.
AB  - Despite the improvement in overall survival in patients with diffuse large B-cell
      lymphoma (DLBCL) in the rituximab era, the occurrence of central nervous system
      (CNS) relapse heralds a very poor prognosis. The evidence is conflicting on the
      incidence and pattern of CNS relapse in the rituximab era compared with before
      the rituximab era and on the role of CNS prophylaxis. We conducted a systematic
      analysis of the data from 7 prospective studies, studying the incidence and type
      of CNS relapse, the role of prophylaxis, and survival after CNS relapse, with and
      without rituximab-based chemotherapy. No statistically significant difference was
      found in the incidence of CNS relapse with the use of rituximab-based
      chemotherapy compared with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine
      [Oncovin], prednisone) chemotherapy. Leptomeningeal disease was more common and
      the survival after CNS disease was better in the rituximab era. No difference was
      found in the incidence of isolated CNS relapse. Chemoprophylaxis significantly
      decreased the incidence of CNS recurrence. The use of rituximab has not
      influenced the incidence of CNS relapse compared with the use of CHOP.
      Chemoprophylaxis plays a significant role in high-risk patients with DLBCL in
      decreasing CNS recurrence. Large randomized clinical trials are warranted to
      differentiate between intrathecal and systemic chemoprophylaxis. 

PMID- 25816934
TI  - A phase II, single-arm, open-label, multicenter study to evaluate the efficacy
      and safety of P276-00, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, in patients with
      relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Overexpression of cyclin D1 is a hallmark feature of mantle cell
      lymphoma (MCL). Many of the oncogenic effects of cyclin D1 are mediated through
      cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). P276-00 is a potent small molecule inhibitor of
      CDK4-D1, CDK1-B, and CDK9-T, with promising activity in preclinical models. In
      phase I studies of P276-00 in patients with refractory solid neoplasms, it was
      well-tolerated with a mild trend toward single-agent efficacy. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: A phase II study of P276-00 was conducted in patients with relapsed or
      refractory MCL at the recommended dose of 185 mg/m(2)/day from days 1 to 5 of a
      21-day cycle. Thirteen patients were enrolled in the present study. RESULTS: Of
      the 13 patients, 11 experienced disease progression, 1 patient was withdrawn
      because of an adverse event (AE), and 1 patient died. Also, 11 patients (84.6%)
      experienced a treatment-emergent AE deemed related to P276-00. Of the 13
      patients, 9 (69.2%) received >= 2 cycles of treatment, which was the predefined
      threshold to be evaluable for efficacy. Treatment was discontinued early in 2
      patients because of AEs (1 of which was attributed to P276-00 administration) and
      in 2 patients because of disease progression. Finally, 2 patients experienced
      stable disease for an estimated median duration of 60.5 days (range, 58-63 days).
      The estimated median time to progression for the predefined efficacy population
      was 43 days (range, 38-58 days). CONCLUSION: Given the results observed in the
      present study, if evaluation of CDK inhibition in MCL continues, it should be
      considered earlier in the disease course or as a part of combination strategies
      for relapsed or refractory disease.

PMID- 25816948
TI  - Lessons learned from a thorny case.

PMID- 25816944
TI  - Changes in research on language barriers in health care since 2003: A cross
      sectional review study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Understanding how to mitigate language barriers is becoming
      increasingly important for health care providers around the world. Language
      barriers adversely affect patients in their access to health services;
      comprehension and adherence; quality of care; and patient and provider
      satisfaction. In 2003, the United States (US) government made a major change in
      national policy guidance that significantly affected limited English proficient
      patients' ability to access language services. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this
      paper are to describe the state of the language barriers literature inside and
      outside the US since 2003 and to compare the research that was conducted before
      and after a national policy change occurred in the US. We hypothesize that
      language barrier research would increase inside and outside the US but that the
      increase in research would be larger inside the US in response to this national
      policy change. METHODS: We reviewed the research literature on language barriers
      in health care and conducted a cross sectional analysis by tabulating frequencies
      for geographic location, language group, methodology, research focus and
      specialty and compared the literature before and after 2003. RESULTS: Our sample
      included 136 studies prior to 2003 and 426 studies from 2003 to 2010. In the 2003
      2010 time period there was a new interest in studying the providers' perspective
      instead of or in addition to the patients' perspective. The methods remained
      similar between periods with greater than 60% of studies being descriptive and
      12% being interventions. CONCLUSIONS: There was an increase in research on
      language barriers inside and outside the US and we believe this was larger due to
      the change in the national policy. We suggest that researchers worldwide should
      move away from simply documenting the existence of language barriers and should
      begin to focus their research on documenting how language concordant care
      influences patient outcomes, providing evidence for interventions that mitigate
      language barriers, and evaluating the cost effectiveness of providing language
      concordant care to patients with language barriers. We think this is possible if
      funding agencies around the world begin to request proposals for these types of
      research studies. Together, we can begin document meaningful ways to provide high
      quality health care to patients with language barriers.

PMID- 25816949
TI  - Memorial for Michael Davidson, MD.

PMID- 25816950
TI  - Is open surgery for iatrogenic esophageal perforation now a surgical relic, like
      bloodletting and trepanation?

PMID- 25816951
TI  - Perioperative endothelin-1 levels: Searching for the hidden fingerprint of
      nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia.

PMID- 25816952
TI  - Off-pump hepatic to azygos connection via thoracotomy for relief of fistulas
      after a Kawashima procedure: Ten-year results.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: An almost universal incidence of developing pulmonary arteriovenous
      fistulas after the Kawashima operation has been reported. Exclusion of the
      hepatic venous flow from the pulmonary circulation causes the development of
      these malformations. Redirection of hepatic venous flow to the pulmonary
      circulation mostly leads to the regression of the arteriovenous fistulas.
      METHODS: We analyzed 11 patients with arteriovenous fistulas that developed after
      the Kawashima operation. The hepatic-to-azygos shunts were performed with an off
      pump technique through a lateral thoracotomy in all but one. Operative and
      postoperative data were retrospectively collected. RESULTS: No intraoperative
      complications occurred, and no patient died in the hospital. Up to 10-year follow
      up showed a significant postoperative improvement of patients' oxygen saturation
      and New York Heart Association class. Apart from 2 re-thoracotomies for bleeding
      in 1 patient, no complications occurred and no patient died during follow-up. Two
      other patients underwent reoperation for an undiagnosed additional hepatic vein.
      The improvement of patients' oxygen saturation and New York Heart Association
      class persisted during the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: The surgical connection
      can be performed safely with an off-pump technique that avoids the risks related
      to extracorporeal circulation and circulatory arrest. The results at 10 years
      follow-up confirmed the efficacy and safety of the surgical technique described.

PMID- 25816953
TI  - Now that reimbursement for readmission to the hospital is threatened, we are
      finally focused on readmissions after esophagectomy.

PMID- 25816954
TI  - Does preoperative carotid stenosis screening reduce perioperative stroke in
      patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting?
AB  - A number of institutions routinely perform carotid artery ultrasound screening
      before coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) to identify carotid artery disease
      requiring revascularization before or during CABG, with the expectation of
      reducing perioperative neurologic events. The assumptions are that carotid
      disease is causally related to perioperative stroke and that prophylactic carotid
      revascularization decreases the risk of post-CABG neurologic events. Although
      carotid artery stenosis is a known risk factor for perioperative stroke in
      patients undergoing CABG, it might be a surrogate marker for diffuse
      atherosclerotic disease rather than a direct etiologic factor. Moreover, the
      benefit of prophylactic carotid revascularization in patients with asymptomatic
      unilateral carotid disease is uncertain. Therefore, we have reviewed the
      literature for evidence that preoperative carotid artery screening, by
      identifying patients with significant carotid artery stenosis and altering their
      management, reduces perioperative neurologic events in those undergoing CABG. 

PMID- 25816955
TI  - Aortic cannulation system for minimally invasive mitral valve surgery.

PMID- 25816956
TI  - The elephant trunk is freezing: The Hannover experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The "elephant trunk" (ET) technique traditionally has been performed
      to treat complex aortic diseases involving the aortic arch and the descending
      aorta. Despite the fact that, in recent years, the "frozen elephant trunk" (FET)
      technique has been used increasingly for such pathologies, discussion is still
      ongoing in the surgical community regarding which of the 2 techniques is better.
      We compared our results using the classic ET versus the FET technique. METHODS:
      From August 2001 to March 2013, a total of 277 patients underwent total aortic
      arch replacement and either ET (group A) or FET (group B) implantation. In group
      A, 97 patients (59 men; age 59.7 +/- 12.7 years; 44.3% with aneurysm; 55.6% with
      dissection [48.45% acute]) underwent an ET procedure; 21.64% were reoperations.
      In group B, 180 patients underwent an FET procedure (126 men; age 59.8 +/- 13.2
      years; 34.4% with aneurysm; 63.3% with dissection [35% acute]); 30% were
      reoperations. RESULTS: In group A, in-hospital mortality was 24.7%; postoperative
      stroke rate was 12.4%. During follow-up, 27.8% underwent a second-stage
      procedure. In group B, in-hospital mortality was 12.2%; postoperative stroke rate
      was 13.3%. During follow-up, 27.7% patients underwent further interventions in
      the downstream aorta. CONCLUSIONS: In selected patients with combined aortic arch
      and descending aortic aneurysms limited to the proximal descending aorta, the FET
      approach potentially allows for single-stage therapy, whereas a second-stage
      operation is inevitable with the classic ET approach. Moreover, owing to the
      availability of prefabricated, easy-to-use, FET, hybrid prostheses that result in
      significantly better outcomes in patients who have acute aortic dissection, type
      A, and if necessary, and provide an ideal "landing zone" for future endovascular
      completion, the classic ET procedure is "freezing," in the sense that it is being
      replaced by the FET approach.

PMID- 25816957
TI  - SCAI/AATS/ACC/STS operator and institutional requirements for transcatheter valve
      repair and replacement, part III: Pulmonic valve.

PMID- 25816958
TI  - The mesothelioma enigma.

PMID- 25816959
TI  - An unusual presentation of esophageal metastasis from breast cancer.

PMID- 25816960
TI  - Conventional versus frozen elephant trunk for complex aortic arch pathology: What
      should we be doing now?

PMID- 25816961
TI  - Early stenosis of an aortic porcine bioprosthesis due to thrombosis: Case report
      and literature review.

PMID- 25816962
TI  - Squeezing into a narrow market.

PMID- 25816963
TI  - Conventional bronchoscopy for evaluation of the solitary pulmonary nodule:
      Beneficial for a select few patients, or are we still "looking for a needle in a
      haystack"?

PMID- 25816964
TI  - Considering what we know, diagnostic yield and postoperative mortality associated
      with surgical lung biopsy for evaluation of interstitial lung diseases are good
      ... we think ....

PMID- 25816965
TI  - Does chance truly favor the prepared mind?

PMID- 25816966
TI  - Prediction methods of skin burn for performance evaluation of thermal protective
      clothing.
AB  - Most test methods use skin burn prediction to evaluate the thermal protective
      performance of clothing. In this paper, we reviewed different burn prediction
      methods used in clothing evaluation. The empirical criterion and the mathematical
      model were analyzed in detail as well as their relationship and limitations.
      Using an empirical criterion, the onset of skin burn is determined by the
      accumulated skin surface energy in certain periods. On the other hand, the
      mathematical model, which indicates denatured collagen, is more complex, which
      involves a heat transfer model and a burn model. Further studies should be
      conducted to examine the situations where the prediction methods are derived. New
      technologies may be used in the future to explore precise or suitable prediction
      methods for both flash fire tests and increasingly lower-intensity tests. 

PMID- 25816968
TI  - Fractional order fuzzy control of hybrid power system with renewable generation
      using chaotic PSO.
AB  - This paper investigates the operation of a hybrid power system through a novel
      fuzzy control scheme. The hybrid power system employs various autonomous
      generation systems like wind turbine, solar photovoltaic, diesel engine, fuel
      cell, aqua electrolyzer etc. Other energy storage devices like the battery,
      flywheel and ultra-capacitor are also present in the network. A novel fractional
      order (FO) fuzzy control scheme is employed and its parameters are tuned with a
      particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm augmented with two chaotic maps for
      achieving an improved performance. This FO fuzzy controller shows better
      performance over the classical PID, and the integer order fuzzy PID controller in
      both linear and nonlinear operating regimes. The FO fuzzy controller also shows
      stronger robustness properties against system parameter variation and rate
      constraint nonlinearity, than that with the other controller structures. The
      robustness is a highly desirable property in such a scenario since many
      components of the hybrid power system may be switched on/off or may run at
      lower/higher power output, at different time instants. 

PMID- 25816967
TI  - Home fire safety education for parents of newborns.
AB  - In children under 1 year of age, the proportion of unintentional burns increases
      with infant age and mobility. Infants are not able to avoid burns and are
      dependent on parental or adult help. Treatment of burns in young children is
      expensive in terms of the life-long costs. The purpose of this study was to
      examine changes in home fire safety (HFS) knowledge and practices over time for
      parents of newborn children and expecting parents. HFS knowledge of 103 parents
      was assessed at baseline, immediately after watching a DVD on HFS (recall), and
      at 2-week follow-up (retention). In addition, the United States Fire
      Administration (USFA)/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Home Safety
      Checklist which examines HFS practices in the homes was administered. Seventy
      percent of the participants were Caucasian, 65% were married, and 81% were first
      time parents. HFS knowledge increased significantly from baseline to recall (45+/
      12% vs. 87+/-17% correct responses, p<0.0001), but declined to 75+/-18% correct
      at retention. That is, an individual's baseline scores nearly doubled at recall
      (42+/-11% change in baseline score), but only increased by 67% at retention (30+/
      15% change in baseline score). For a subsample of parents who completed the USFA
      Checklist (n=22), the mean percentage of advocated practices followed was 71+/
      11% (range: 40-89%). Using DVDs was an effective educational modality for
      increasing HFS knowledge. This addressed an important problem of decreasing burns
      in infants through increasing parent knowledge and HFS practices using a short,
      inexpensive DVD.

PMID- 25816969
TI  - Reduced HLA Class II antibody response to proteasome inhibition in heart
      transplantation.

PMID- 25816970
TI  - Differential kinetics at PK/PEPCK branch point in the cestode, Raillietina
      echinobothrida.
AB  - Pyruvate kinase (PK; EC 2.7.1.40) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK;
      EC 4.1.1.32) are essential regulatory enzymes of glucose oxidation in helminths,
      the PK/PEPCK branch point being the first divergent step between carbohydrate
      catabolism of the parasites and their hosts. Recently, PEPCK from the cestode
      parasite, Raillietina echinobothrida, has been purified and characterized. In
      order to find out the differential kinetics, if any, at PK/PEPCK branch point in
      the parasite, in this study, we purified and characterized the parasite PK and
      compared it with the parasite PEPCK. The purified PK displayed standard Michaelis
      Menten kinetics with Kmapp of 77.8 uM for its substrate PEP, whereas the Kmapp
      was 46.9 uM for PEPCK. PEP exhibited differential kinetics at PK/PEPCK branch
      point of the parasite and behaved as a homotropic effector for PEPCK, but not for
      PK. The inhibitory constant (Ki) for genistein and daidzein (phytochemicals from
      Flemingia vestita) was determined and discussed. From these results, we
      hypothesize that PK/PEPCK branch point is a probable site for anthelmintic
      action. 

PMID- 25816971
TI  - In vivo viability of Echinococcus multilocularis eggs in a rodent model after
      different thermo-treatments.
AB  - Echinococcus multilocularis is the causative agent of alveolar echinococcosis, a
      serious and emerging zoonotic disease in many parts of the northern hemisphere.
      Humans but also primates and other accidental hosts can acquire the infection by
      the ingestion of eggs excreted by the carnivore definitive hosts, e.g. after hand
      contact with egg-contaminated environments or by consumption of contaminated food
      or beverages. The goal of this study was to develop a sensitive in vivo method to
      determine the viability of E. multilocularis eggs and to establish suitable
      conditions (optimal temperature, exposure time and humidity) for their
      (prophylactic) inactivation. The sensitivity of a rodent model was evaluated and,
      conclusively, C57Bl/6 mice were most susceptible to subcutaneous inoculation of
      small numbers of sodium hypochlorite-resistant oncospheres, even more than to
      oral inoculation of mature eggs. In the second part of the study, various
      combinations of exposure temperature (between 45  degrees C and 80  degrees C),
      times (between 30 min and 180 min) and relative humidity (70% vs. suspended in
      water) were tested. After heat treatment in an incubator, the sodium hypochlorite
      resistance test was used to assess in vitro egg viability at the time of
      inoculation. Subsequently, the infectivity of the oncospheres was evaluated by
      subcutaneous inoculation in mice. Eggs exposed to increasing temperatures were
      more resistant to heat if suspended in water as compared to eggs exposed on a
      filter paper at 70% relative humidity. As survival of eggs in water droplets on
      the vegetables cannot be excluded, further experiments were performed with eggs
      suspended in water only. Eggs were infectious after heat exposure at 65  degrees
      C for up to 120 min, however, no echinococcosis developed after treatment of the
      eggs at 65  degrees C for 180 min or at 70, 75 and 80  degrees C for 7.5, 15 or
      30 min.

PMID- 25816972
TI  - Identification of putative genes involved in parasitism in the anchor worm,
      Lernaea cyprinacea by de novo transcriptome analysis.
AB  - There is little information on the genome sequence of Lernaea cyprinacea a major
      ectoparasite of freshwater fish throughout the world. We subjected the L.
      cyprinacea transcriptome (adult and free living stages) to Illumina HiSeq 2000
      sequencing. We obtained a total of 31,671,751 (31.67 millions) reads for the
      adult parasitic stage and 33,840,446 (33.84 millions) for the free living stage.
      The reads were assembled into 50,792 contigs for the adult stage and 69,378 for
      the free living stage. Using the pfam database, 41.91% of the transcriptome was
      annotated. The transcriptome was mined for genes associated with parasitism. To
      examine gene expression changes associated with the parasitism of L. cyprinacea
      during the transit from the free living to parasitic stage, we studied the
      differentially expressed transcripts between the two stages. The microsatellite
      markers were also identified (9,843 for adult stage; 16,813 for free living
      stages) and this would facilitate population genetic studies in various
      geographical isolates of Lernaea. Our data provides the most comprehensive
      sequence resource available for L. cyprinacea and demonstrates that Illumina
      sequencing allows de novo transcriptome assembly and gene expression analysis in
      a species lacking genome information. The data could open new avenues for a wide
      array of genetic, evolutionary, biological, ecological, epidemiological studies,
      and a solid foundation for the development of novel interventions against L.
      cyprinacea. 

PMID- 25816974
TI  - The laminated layer: Recent advances and insights into Echinococcus biology and
      evolution.
AB  - The laminated layer is the unique mucin-based extracellular matrix that protects
      Echinococcus larvae, and thus to an important extent, shapes host-parasite
      relationships in the larval echinococcoses. In 2011, we published twin reviews
      summarizing what was known about this structure. Since then, important advances
      have been made. Complete genomes and some RNAseq data are now available for E.
      multilocularis and E. granulosus, leading to the inference that the E.
      multilocularis LL is probably formed by a single type of mucin backbone, while a
      second apomucin subfamily additionally contributes to the E. granulosus LL.
      Previously suspected differences between E. granulosus and E. multilocularis in
      mucin glycan size have been confirmed and pinned down to the virtual absence of
      Galbeta1-3 chains in E. multilocularis. The LL carbohydrates from both species
      have been found to interact selectively with the Kupffer cell receptor expressed
      in rodent liver macrophages, highlighting the ancestral adaptations to rodents as
      intermediate hosts and to the liver as infection site. Finally, LL particles have
      been shown to possess carbohydrate-independent mechanisms profoundly conditioning
      non-liver-specific dendritic cells and macrophages. These advances are discussed
      in an integrated way, and in the context of the newly determined phylogeny of
      Echinococcus and its taenid relatives.

PMID- 25816973
TI  - A protein extract and a cysteine protease inhibitor enriched fraction from
      Jatropha curcas seed cake have in vitro anti-Toxoplasma gondii activity.
AB  - Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite of great medical and veterinary importance that
      has worldwide distribution and causes toxoplasmosis. There are few treatments
      available for toxoplasmosis and the search for plant extracts and compounds with
      anti-Toxoplasma activity is of utmost importance for the discovery of new active
      drugs. The objective of this study was to investigate the action of a protein
      extract and a protease inhibitor enriched fraction from J. curcas seed cake on
      developing tachyzoites of T. gondii-infected Vero cells. The protein extract
      (JcCE) was obtained after solubilization of the J. curcas seed cake with 100 mM
      sodium borate buffer, pH 10, centrifugation and dialysis of the resulting
      supernatant with the extracting buffer. JcCE was used for the in vitro assays of
      anti-Toxoplasma activity at 0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 1.5, 3.0 and 5.0 mg/ml concentration
      for 24 h. The results showed that JcCE reduced the percentage of infection and
      the number of intracellular parasites, but had no effect on the morphology of
      Vero cells up to 3.0 mg/mL. The cysteine protease inhibitor enriched fraction,
      which was obtained after chromatography of JcCE on Sephadex G-75 and presented a
      unique protein band following SDS-PAGE, reduced both the number of T. gondii
      infected cells and intracellular parasites. These results suggest that both JcCE
      and the cysteine protease inhibitor enriched fraction interfere with the
      intracellular growth of T. gondii. 

PMID- 25816975
TI  - The innate resistance of Trypanosoma copemani to human serum.
AB  - Trypanosoma copemani is known to be infective to a variety of Australian
      marsupials. Characterisation of this parasite revealed the presence of
      stercorarian-like life-cycle stages in culture, which are similar to T. rangeli
      and T. cruzi. The blood incubation infectivity test (BIIT) was adapted and used
      to determine if T. copemani, like T. cruzi and T. rangeli, has the potential to
      grow in the presence of human serum. To eliminate any effects of anticoagulants
      on the complement system and on human high density lipoprotein (HDL), only fresh
      whole human blood was used. Trypanosoma copemani was observed by microscopy in
      all human blood cultures from day 5 to day 19 post inoculation (PI). The
      mechanism for normal human serum (NHS) resistance in T. copemani is not known.
      The results of this study show that at least one native Australian trypanosome
      species may have the potential to be infective for humans. 

PMID- 25816976
TI  - Development of novel valerolactam-benzimidazole hybrids anthelmintic derivatives:
      Diffusion and biotransformation studies in helminth parasites.
AB  - In the search for new anthelmintics able to overcome the resistance problem
      against all available drugs in livestock, the synthesis of novel valerolactam
      benzimidazole hybrid compounds was reported. This allowed us to obtain these in
      vitro and in vivo bioactive compounds using Nippostrongylus brasiliensis rat
      model by integrating physiology-based assays and ex vivo diffusion studies. In
      order to further study those novel hybrid molecules, Haemonchus contortus (a
      sheep gastrointestinal nematode of interest) and Mesocestoides vogae
      tetrathyridia (a useful system to study the efficacy of anthelmintic drugs
      against cestoda) were used as parasite models to compare the ex vivo patterns of
      diffusion and biotransformation of benzimidazoles and their valerolactam
      benzimidazole hybrid derivatives. On average, a nine-fold higher intraparasitic
      concentration of compounds was found in M. vogae compared with H.contortus, with
      similarities regarding the order of entry of compounds, highlighting febendazole
      (FEB) and its hybrid compound 10, while valerolactam compound 2 practically did
      not penetrate the parasites. Interestingly, sulphoxidation drug metabolism was
      observed and measured, revealing percentages of oxidation of 8.2% and 14.5% for
      albendazole (ABZ) and febendazole respectively in M. vogae, while this effect was
      more relevant in H. contortus parasite. More importantly, significant differences
      were observed between anthelmintic-susceptible adult parasites (Hc S) and those
      from sheep farms (Hc U). In fact, the percentages of oxidation of FEB and the
      hybrid compound 8 were higher in Hc U (25.5%, 54.1%, respectively) than in Hc S
      (8.8%, 38.2%). Interestingly, sulphoxidation of hybrid compound 10 was neither
      observed in M. vogae nor in H. contortus parasites, suggesting that increased
      drug metabolism (oxidation reactions) could not be used by these parasites as a
      defense mechanism against this novel drug. 

PMID- 25816977
TI  - Rhombencephalosynapsis.

PMID- 25816978
TI  - Metal tolerance in emerging clinically relevant multidrug-resistant Salmonella
      enterica serotype 4,[5],12:i:- clones circulating in Europe.
AB  - The occurrence of acquired metal tolerance genes in emerging MDR Salmonella
      enterica serotype 4,[5],12:i:- clones was assessed and their associated platforms
      and tolerance phenotype were characterised. Salmonella 4,[5],12:i:- from
      different sources belonging to European, Spanish and Southern European clones
      were studied. Screening for copper (pcoA-pcoD/tcrB), silver/copper (silA-silE),
      mercury (merA), arsenic (arsB) and tellurite (terF) tolerance genes was performed
      by PCR/sequencing. CuSO(4)/AgNO(3) MICs were determined in aerobic/anaerobic
      atmospheres by agar dilution. Conjugation assays, genomic location and plasmid
      analysis were performed by standard procedures. Most isolates from European (98%)
      and Spanish (74%) clones carried silA-silE, contrasting with the Southern
      European clone (26%). merA/62% (European and Spanish clones) and pcoA-pcoD/50%
      (European clone) were also detected. merA+/-pco+sil were chromosomally located in
      the European clone, whereas in Spanish and Southern European clones sil+/-merA
      were within plasmids, both with antibiotic resistance genes. The pcoA-pcoD/silA
      silE(+) isolates showed higher MICCuSO(4) in anaerobiosis than those without
      these genes (MIC(50)=24-28 vs. 2 mM). Different MICAgNO(3) of silA-silE(+)
      (MIC(50)=0.25 mM) and silA-silE(-)(MIC(50)=0.16 mM) isolates were observed in
      both atmospheres, with an MIC increment after prior exposure to silver (>3 vs.
      0.08-0.125 mM) in aerobiosis. A high frequency of copper and silver tolerance,
      particularly among the two major Salmonella 4,[5],12:i:- MDR clones
      (European/Spanish) circulating in Europe and causing human infections, might
      facilitate adaptation/expansion of these strains in metal-contaminated
      environments, particularly copper in anaerobiosis. Furthermore, metal toxic
      concentrations in food-animal environments can contribute to persistence of
      genetic platforms carrying metal/antibiotic resistance genes in this foodborne
      zoonotic pathogen.

PMID- 25816979
TI  - Nanotechnology approaches for antibacterial drug delivery: Preparation and
      microbiological evaluation of fusogenic liposomes carrying fusidic acid.
AB  - Many antibacterial drugs have some difficulty passing through the bacterial cell
      membrane, especially if they have a high molecular weight or large spatial
      structure. Consequently, intrinsic resistance is shown by some bacterial strains.
      Reduced cell membrane permeability is one of the mechanisms of resistance known
      for fusidic acid (FUS), a bacteriostatic steroidal compound with activity limited
      to Gram-positive bacteria. Moreover, the lipophilic character of FUS has been
      shown to cause drug retention inside the bilayers of cell membranes, preventing
      its diffusion towards target sites inside the cytoplasm. Targeting antimicrobial
      agents by means of liposomes may be a valid strategy in the treatment of
      infections refractory to conventional routes of antimicrobial treatment. On this
      basis, loading of FUS in fusogenic liposomes (FLs) was planned in this study.
      Fusogenic small unilamellar vesicles loaded with FUS were produced to evaluate
      their influence on improving the cell penetration and antibacterial activity of
      the antibiotic. The produced carriers were technologically characterised and were
      subjected to an in vitro microbiological assay against several strains of Gram
      negative and Gram-positive bacteria. The experimental results showed that
      encapsulating FUS in a liposomal carrier can improve antimicrobial efficacy and
      reduce the effective concentration required, probably through putative mechanisms
      of increased diffusion through the bacterial cell membrane. In fact, whilst free
      FUS was active only on the tested Gram-positive strains, incubation of FUS-loaded
      FLs exhibited growth inhibitory activity both against Gram-positive and Gram
      negative strains. The lowest MICs were obtained against Staphylococcus
      epidermidis (<=0.15 MUg/mL) and Acinetobacter baumannii (37.5 MUg/mL) clinical
      strains.

PMID- 25816980
TI  - [Blood glucose control and mortality in type 1 diabetes].

PMID- 25816981
TI  - Hodgkin's lymphoma of the thyroid in a woman with autoimmune thyroiditis.

PMID- 25816982
TI  - Randomized clinical trial of nutritional counseling for malnourished hospital
      patients.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Malnutrition is associated with an increased risk of mortality and
      morbidity, longer hospital stays and general loss of quality of life. The aim of
      this study is to assess the impact of dietary counseling for malnourished
      hospital patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Prospective, randomized, open-label
      study of 106 hospital patients with malnutrition (54 in the control group and 52
      in the intervention group). The intervention group received dietary counseling,
      and the control group underwent standard treatment. We determined the patients'
      nutritional state (body mass index, laboratory parameters, malnutrition universal
      screening tool), degree of dependence (Barthel index), quality of life (SF-12),
      degree of satisfaction (CSQ-8), the number and length of readmissions and
      mortality. RESULTS: The patients who underwent the "intervention" increased their
      weight at 6 months, while the controls lost weight (difference in body mass
      index, 2.14kg/m(2); p<.001). The intervention group had better results when
      compared with the control group in the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool
      scores (difference, -1.29; p<.001), Barthel index (difference, 7.49; p=.025), SF
      12 (difference, 13.72; p<.001) and CSQ-8 (difference, 4.34, p<.001) and required
      fewer readmissions (difference, -0.37; p=.04) and shorter stays for readmissions
      (difference, -6.75; p=.035). Mortality and laboratory parameters were similar for
      the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: Nutritional counseling improved the patients'
      nutritional state, quality of life and degree of dependence and decreased the
      number of hospital readmissions.

PMID- 25816983
TI  - Telmisartan attenuated LPS-induced neuroinflammation in human IMR-32 neuronal
      cell line via SARM in AT1R independent mechanism.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to find the protective role of Telmisartan (TS) in
      LPS intoxicated neuronal cells and elucidate the possible neuroprotective
      mechanism of action. MAIN METHODS: TLR4 and AT1R specific primers were designed
      and used in rtPCR to confirm the receptor expression in IMR-32 and Neuro2A cell
      lines. The protective effect of TS was assayed by MTT assay. The mechanism of
      action of TS was elucidated by assessing the expression and activation of TLR4
      specific adaptor proteins SARM and MyD88, phosphorylated NFkappaB, PPARgamma,
      MAPK p38, c-JNK, ERK by Western blotting. Selective PPARgamma antagonist GW9662
      was used to confirm the link between PPARgamma activation and TLR4 mediated
      NFkappaB inflammatory mechanisms. The pro-inflammatory cytokines TNFalpha,
      IL1beta, and IL-6 and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL10 release were measured by
      ELISA. KEY FINDINGS: IMR-32 cells expressed TLR4 receptor and Neuro2A cells
      expressed both AT1R and TLR4 receptors. TS significantly protected both the cell
      lines from LPS intoxication. TS significantly suppressed the TLR4 mediated
      inflammatory response by PPARgamma and SARM protein activation and the effect was
      reversed significantly by selective PPARgamma antagonist GW9662, confirming the
      existence of link between PPARgamma activation and TLR4 mediated inflammation via
      SARM. SIGNIFICANCE: LPS intoxicated human neuronal IMR-32 cells can be a good in
      vitro model to study inflammatory mediated neurodegeneration due to TLR4 receptor
      expression. Our study strongly recommends that the PPARgamma activating
      pleiotropic effect of TS is responsible for the protective effect in LPS induced
      TLR4 mediated inflammation via SARM adaptor protein in the IMR-32 cell line.

PMID- 25816984
TI  - Interaction of oridonin with human serum albumin by isothermal titration
      calorimetry and spectroscopic techniques.
AB  - Oridonin has been traditionally and widely used for treatment of various human
      diseases due to its uniquely biological, pharmacological and physiological
      functions. In this study, the interaction between oridonin and human serum
      albumin (HSA) was investigated using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), in
      combination with fluorescence spectroscopy and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. We
      found that the hydrogen bond and van der Waals force are the major binding forces
      in the binding of oridonin to HSA. The binding of oridonin to HSA is driven by
      favorable enthalpy and unfavorable entropy. Oridonin can quench the fluorescence
      of HSA through a static quenching mechanism. The binding constant between
      oridonin and HSA is moderate and the equilibrium fraction of unbound oridonin
      f(u) > 60%. Binding site I is found to be the primary binding site for oridonin.
      Additionally, oridonin may induce conformational changes of HSA and affect its
      biological function as the carrier protein. The results of the current study
      suggest that oridonin can be stored and transported from the circulatory system
      to reach its target organ to provide its therapeutic effects. But its side-effect
      in the clinics cannot be overlook. The study provides an accurate and full basic
      data for clarifying the binding mechanism of oridonin with HSA and is helpful for
      understanding its effect on protein function during the blood transportation
      process and its biological activity in vivo.

PMID- 25816985
TI  - The traditional use of plants to manage candidiasis and related infections in
      Venda, South Africa.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: This paper presents results of an ethnobotanical
      survey of medicinal plants used for the management of candidiasis and related
      fungal infections in the Venda area, South Africa. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Ethnobotanical data about the uses of plants were gathered from eleven rural
      traditional healers using semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: A total of 45
      species belonging to 24 different families were identified, of which the dominant
      family was the Fabaceae with 13 species (28.9%) followed by the Asteraceae and
      Solanaceae with 3 species each (6.7 %). A total of 28 of these plant species
      (62.2%) have been shown to have anticandidal activity and 14 species (31%) have
      been recorded for antifungal uses in the literature. Amongst the 45 species
      recorded, 51% were trees, 33% were shrubs, and 16% were herbs. The most widely
      used plant species were Acacia caffra, Clerodendrum glabrum, Croton gratissimus,
      Elaeodendron transvaalense, Faurea saligna, Hippocratea longipetiolata, Osyris
      lanceolata, Richardia brasiliensis, Schkuhria pinnata, Schotia brachypetala,
      Spilanthes acmella, Strychnos potatorum, Vangueria infausta subsp. infausta and
      Withania somnifera. The plant parts mostly used in the therapeutic preparations
      were roots (27.7%), bark (23.2%), and a combination of roots, bark (18.7%) and
      leaves (14.3%). Decoctions (44.4%), infusions (20%), macerations (17.7%), burning
      (11.4%) and paste (6.5%) were used. Most of the herbal remedies were administered
      orally. The main factors threatening the conservation status of these plants are
      unsustainable methods of harvesting, logging for firewood, building materials and
      crafts. CONCLUSION: The Venda area is rich in plant diversity and local
      indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants can play an important role as a model
      for low cost primary health care. Further studies are in progress to validate the
      indigenous plants recorded as traditional remedies in this area.

PMID- 25816986
TI  - More than just immune evasion: Hijacking complement by Plasmodium falciparum.
AB  - Malaria remains one of the world's deadliest diseases. Plasmodium falciparum is
      responsible for the most severe and lethal form of human malaria. P. falciparum's
      life cycle involves two obligate hosts: human and mosquito. From initial entry
      into these hosts, malaria parasites face the onslaught of the first line of host
      defence, the complement system. In this review, we discuss the complex
      interaction between complement and malaria infection in terms of hosts immune
      responses, parasite survival and pathogenesis of severe forms of malaria. We will
      focus on the role of complement receptor 1 and its associated polymorphisms in
      malaria immune complex clearance, as a mediator of parasite rosetting and as an
      entry receptor for P. falciparum invasion. Complement evasion strategies of P.
      falciparum parasites will also be highlighted. The sexual forms of the malaria
      parasites recruit the soluble human complement regulator Factor H to evade
      complement-mediated killing within the mosquito host. A novel evasion strategy is
      the deployment of parasite organelles to divert complement attack from infective
      blood stage parasites. Finally we outline the future challenge to understand the
      implications of these exploitation mechanisms in the interplay between successful
      infection of the host and pathogenesis observed in severe malaria. 

PMID- 25816989
TI  - Comment on "Biodegradation of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) as an emerging
      contaminant".

PMID- 25816988
TI  - MCRS1 binds and couples Rheb to amino acid-dependent mTORC1 activation.
AB  - Ras homolog enriched in brain (Rheb) is critical for mechanistic target of
      rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) activation in response to growth factors and amino
      acids (AAs). Whereas growth factors inhibit the tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC1
      TSC2), a negative Rheb regulator, the role of AAs in Rheb activation remains
      unknown. Here, we identify microspherule protein 1 (MCRS1) as the essential link
      between Rheb and mTORC1 activation. MCRS1, in an AA-dependent manner, maintains
      Rheb at lysosome surfaces, connecting Rheb to mTORC1. MCRS1 suppression in human
      cancer cells using small interference RNA or mouse embryonic fibroblasts using an
      inducible-Cre/Lox system reduces mTORC1 activity. MCRS1 depletion promotes
      Rheb/TSC2 interaction, rendering Rheb inactive and delocalizing it from lysosomes
      to recycling endocytic vesicles, leading to mTORC1 inactivation. These findings
      have important implications for signaling mechanisms in various pathologies,
      including diabetes mellitus and cancer.

PMID- 25816990
TI  - Impact of full field digital mammography on the classification and mammographic
      characteristics of interval breast cancers.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Full field digital mammography (FFDM) is increasingly replacing screen
      film mammography (SFM) in breast screening programs. Interval breast cancers are
      an issue in all screening programs and the purpose of our study is to assess the
      impact of FFDM on the classification of interval breast cancers at independent
      blind review and to compare the mammographic features of interval cancers at FFDM
      and SFM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 138 cases of interval breast
      cancer, 76 following an FFDM screening examination and 62 following screening
      with SFM. The prior screening mammogram was assessed by each of five consultant
      breast radiologists who were blinded to the site of subsequent cancer. Subsequent
      review of the diagnostic mammogram was performed and cases were classified as
      missed, minimal signs, occult or true interval. Mammographic features of the
      interval cancer at diagnosis and any abnormality identified on the prior
      screening mammogram were recorded. RESULTS: The percentages of cancers classified
      as missed at FFDM and SFM did not differ significantly, 10.5% (8 of 76) at FFDM
      and 8.1% (5 of 62) at SFM (p=.77). There were significantly less interval cancers
      presenting as microcalcifications (alone or in association with another
      abnormality) following screening with FFDM, 16% (12 of 76) than following a SFM
      examination, 32% (20 of 62) (p=.02). CONCLUSION: Interval breast cancers continue
      to pose a problem at FFDM. The switch to FFDM has changed the mammographic
      presentation of interval breast cancer, with less interval cancers presenting in
      association with microcalcifications.

PMID- 25816987
TI  - The Eya1 phosphatase promotes Shh signaling during hindbrain development and
      oncogenesis.
AB  - Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling is critical in development and oncogenesis, but
      the mechanisms regulating this pathway remain unclear. Although protein
      phosphorylation clearly affects Shh signaling, little is known about phosphatases
      governing the pathway. Here, we conducted a small hairpin RNA (shRNA) screen of
      the phosphatome and identified Eya1 as a positive regulator of Shh signaling. We
      find that the catalytically active phosphatase Eya1 cooperates with the DNA
      binding protein Six1 to promote gene induction in response to Shh and that
      Eya1/Six1 together regulate Gli transcriptional activators. We show that Eya1,
      which is mutated in a human deafness disorder, branchio-oto-renal syndrome, is
      critical for Shh-dependent hindbrain growth and development. Moreover, Eya1
      drives the growth of medulloblastoma, a Shh-dependent hindbrain tumor. Together,
      these results identify Eya1 and Six1 as key components of the Shh transcriptional
      network in normal development and in oncogenesis. 

PMID- 25816991
TI  - Noninvasive method for mapping CVR in moyamoya disease using ASL-MRI.
AB  - PURPOSE: To project a noninvasive method for mapping cerebrovascular reserve
      (CVR) in moyamoya disease (MMD) using ASL-MRI. METHODS: 16 MMD patients underwent
      cerebral blood flow (CBF) examinations by standard ASL-MRI, pulse-wave
      synchronized ASL-MRI (pulsy ASL-MRI) which tagged the arterial blood coincident
      with a peak of a pulse wave, and single photon emission computed tomography
      (SPECT) imagings with iodine-123-N-isopropyl-p-iodoamphetamine in the resting
      (rest-IMP) and after acetazolamide challenge (ACZ-IMP). Hemispheric 32-sided
      cerebral blood flow (CBF) values were measured with normalized CBF maps created
      from standard ASL-MRI (standard-ASL value), pulsy ASL-MRI (pulsy-ASL value), rest
      IMP (rest-IMP value), and ACZ-IMP (ACZ-IMP value). CVR based on rest-IMP and ACZ
      IMP values (IMP-CVR) was calculated. ASL-CVR was also calculated on the basis of
      corrected standard-ASL values and pulsy-ASL values, which were adjusted to the
      ACZ-IMP values and rest-IMP values, respectively, by the least-squares method. We
      assessed the relationships between rest-IMP values and pulsy-ASL values, ACZ-IMP
      values and standard-ASL values, and IMP-CVR and ASL-CVR. RESULTS: Significant
      relationships were observed between rest-IMP values and pulsy-ASL values
      (correlation coefficient (r=0.557, p<0.01)), ACZ-IMP values and standard-ASL
      values (r=0.825, p<0.01), and IMP-CVR and ASL-CVR (r=0.736, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS:
      ASL-MRI is equivalent to SPECT and that it might serve as a noninvasive method
      for mapping CVR in MMD.

PMID- 25816992
TI  - Good interrater reliability of a new grading system in detecting traumatic bone
      marrow lesions in the knee by dual energy CT virtual non-calcium images.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the capacity of dual-energy computed tomography (DECT)
      virtual non-calcium (VNCa) images in detecting post-traumatic bone marrow lesions
      (BMLs) in the knee with a new grading system. METHODS: DECT and magnetic
      resonance (MR) imaging were used to examine acute trauma of the knee in 32
      patients. VNCa images were generated by dual-energy subtraction of calcium, and
      the lower end of the femur and upper end of the tibia each were divided into six
      regions for grading of bone marrow by two musculoskeletal radiologists using a
      four-grading system (Grade 4, very obvious lesions; Grade 3, relatively obvious
      lesions; Grade 2, slight or suspicious lesion on VNCa image and mild lesion on MR
      image; Grade 1, normal bone marrow). CT values were obtained in the BMLs. MR
      images were used as the reference standard. Grade 3-4 bone marrow was regarded as
      a positive result to evaluate the performance of VNCa images in detecting
      traumatic BMLs in the knee, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve
      analysis of VNCa images for detection of knee BMLs was performed based on CT
      value of the bone marrow. RESULTS: Bone marrow rating by the two radiologists
      showed very good consistency (kappa=0.850 and 0.869 for VNCa and MR images,
      respectively). VNCa and MR images had good consistency (kappa=0.799 for lower end
      of the femur; kappa=0.659 for upper end of the tibia). When Grade 3-4 bone marrow
      was regarded as a positive result, the sensitivity, specificity, positive
      predictive value, and negative predictive value of VNCa images for detection of
      BMLs in the lower end of the femur were 73.5%, 98.6%, 94.7%, and 91.6%,
      respectively, and the values in the upper end of the tibia were 91.0%, 100.0%,
      100.0%, and 95.4%, respectively. The CT values of bone marrow were (-52.5 +/-
      31.3) HU in positive area and (-91.2 +/- 16.9) HU in negative area for the lower
      end of the femur, and those were (-51.3 +/- 30.2) HU in positive area and (-104.7
      +/- 17.5) HU in negative area for the upper end of the tibia (all p
      values<0.0001). The areas under the ROC curve of VNCa images for detection of
      BMLs were 0.875 for the lower end of the femur and 0.939 for the upper end of the
      tibia. CONCLUSION: Good interrater reliability of this new grading system in
      detecting traumatic BMLs in the knee by VNCa images of DECT can be obtained with
      good diagnostic predictive values.

PMID- 25816994
TI  - Characterization of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) lesions using a novel CT-based
      volume perfusion (VPCT) technique.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To characterize hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in terms of perfusion
      parameters using volume perfusion CT (VPCT) and two different calculation
      methods, compare their results, look for interobserver agreement of measurements
      and correlation between tumor arterialization and lesion size. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: This study was part of a prospective monitoring study in patients with
      HCC undergoing TACE, which was approved by the local Institutional Review Board.
      79 HCC-patients (mean age, 64.7) with liver cirrhosis were enrolled. VPCT was
      performed for 40s covering the involved liver (80 kV, 100/120 mAs) using 64 mm *
      0.6 mm collimation, 26 consecutive volume measurements, 50 mL iodinated contrast
      IV and 5 mL/s flow rate. Mean/maximum blood flow (BF; ml/100mL/min), blood volume
      (BV) and k-trans were determined both with the maximum slope+Patlak vs.
      deconvolution method. Additionally, the portal venous liver perfusion (PVP), the
      arterial liver perfusion (ALP) and the hepatic perfusion index (HPI) were
      determined for each tumor including size measurements. Interobserver agreement
      for all perfusion parameters was calculated using intraclass correlation
      coefficients (ICC). RESULTS: The max. slope+Patlak method yielded:
      BFmean/max=37.8/57 mL/100g-tissue/', BVmean/max=9.8/11.1 mL/100g-tissue, k-trans
      mean/max=34.4/44.5 mL/100g-tissue/'. For the deconvolution method BFmean/max,
      BVmean/max and, k-trans-mean/max were 68.3/106.1 mL/100g-tissue/', 12.6/15.5
      mL/100g-tissue and 24/33.8 mL/100g-tissue/'. Mean ALP, PVP, HPI and size were
      53.7 mL/100g-tissue/', 2.4 mL/100g-tissue/', 96.4 and 3.5 cm, respectively.
      Interobserver agreement measured with intraclass coefficient correlation (ICC)
      was very good for all perfusion parameters (>= 0.99). Best correlation between
      calculation methods was achieved for measurements of BF, while BV and k-trans
      values were less correlated. There was no relationship between HPI and lesion
      size. CONCLUSION: VPCT can measure tumor volume perfusion non-invasively and
      enables quantification of the degree of HCC arterialization. Results are
      dependent on the technique used with best inter-method correlation for BF. Tumor
      HPI did not proved size-dependent.

PMID- 25816993
TI  - 18F-FDG-PET/CT parameters as imaging biomarkers in oral cavity squamous cell
      carcinoma, is visual analysis of PET and contrast enhanced CT better than the
      numbers?
AB  - PURPOSE: This study was designed to seek associations between positron emission
      tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) parameters, contrast enhanced neck
      computed tomography (CECT) and pathological findings, and to determine the
      potential prognostic value of PET/CT and CECT parameters in oral cavity squamous
      cell carcinoma (OCSCC). MATERIALS AND METHOD: 36 OCSCC patients underwent staging
      PET/CT and 30/36 of patients had CECT. PET/CT parameters were measured for the
      primary tumor and the hottest involved node, including maximum, mean, and peak
      standardized uptake values (SUV max, SUV mean, and SUV peak), metabolic tumor
      volume (MTV), total lesion glycolysis (TLG), standardized added metabolic
      activity (SAM), and normalized standardized added metabolic activity (N SAM).
      Qualitative assessment of PET/CT and CECT were also performed. Pathological
      outcomes included: perineural invasion, lymphovascular invasion, nodal
      extracapsular spread, grade, pathologic T and N stages. Multivariable logistic
      regression models were fit for each parameter and outcome adjusting for
      potentially confounding variables. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models
      were used for progression free survival (PFS), locoregional recurrence free
      survival (LRFS), overall survival (OS) and distant metastasis free survival
      (DMFS). RESULTS: In multivariable analysis, patients with high (>= median) tumor
      SUV max (OR 6.3), SUV mean (OR 6.3), MTV (OR 19.0), TLG (OR 19.0), SAM (OR 11.7)
      and N SAM (OR 19.0) had high pathological T-stage (T3/T4) (p<0.05).
      Ring/heterogeneous pattern on CECT qualitative assessment was associated with
      worse DMFS and OS. CONCLUSION: High PET/CT parameters were associated with
      pathologically advanced T stage (T3/T4). Qualitative assessment of CECT has
      prognostic value. PET/CT parameters did not predict clinical outcome.

PMID- 25816995
TI  - Granulomatosis with polyangiitis and intravenous immunoglobulins: a case series
      and review of the literature.
AB  - Granulomatosis with polyangiitis, formerly known as Wegener's granulomatosis or
      disease, is a systemic, necrotizing small-vessel vasculitis, belonging to the
      group of anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibody vasculitis. The therapeutic strategy
      includes, in most cases, corticosteroids associated, at least in severe forms of
      the disease, with immunosuppressive agents: cyclophosphamide and rituximab to
      induce remission, methotrexate, azathioprine and mycophenolate mofetil to prevent
      relapses. Intravenous immunoglobulins represent an alternative adjuvant therapy.
      We described 5 cases of patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis treated
      with monthly high-dose intravenous immunoglobulins (500mg/kg/daily for 3
      consecutive days for 9months). No patients experienced adverse reactions, and 4
      patients (80%) achieved a complete remission after 9 courses of this therapy,
      which was maintained also 3months later, although we are unable to determine
      whether improvement in outcomes was a direct result of the IVIG. We also
      discussed the beneficial effects of intravenous immunoglobulins in patients
      suffering from granulomatosis with polyangiitis, reporting the previously
      published data. 

PMID- 25816996
TI  - Molecular simulations of hevein/(GlcNAc)3 complex with weakened OH/O and CH/pi
      hydrogen bonds: implications for their role in complex stabilization.
AB  - Carbohydrate-protein complexes are often characterized by interactions via
      aromatic amino acid residues. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain
      these stacking-like interactions between pyranose sugars and aromatic moieties.
      The physical basis of these interactions is being explained as either dispersion
      CH/pi or hydrophobic. In order to elucidate the nature of these interactions, we
      performed a series of molecular dynamics simulation of hevein domain (HEV32) in
      complex with (beta-D-GlcNAc)3. Selected OH/O and CH/pi hydrogen bonds involved in
      carbohydrate recognition were artificially weakened in 100 ns molecular dynamics
      simulations. Separate weakening of either OH/O or CH/pi hydrogen bonds was not
      sufficient to destabilize the complex. This indicates that other effects, not
      solely CH/pi dispersion interactions, contribute significantly to the stability
      of the complex. Significant destabilization of complexes was reached only by
      simultaneous weakening of OH/O and CH/pi hydrogen bonds. This also shows that
      classical hydrogen bonds and CH/pi interactions are working in concert to
      stabilize this carbohydrate-protein test case.

PMID- 25816997
TI  - Structure elucidation of the capsular polysaccharide of Acinetobacter baumannii
      AB5075 having the KL25 capsule biosynthesis locus.
AB  - Capsular polysaccharide was isolated by the phenol-water extraction of
      Acinetobacter baumannii AB5075 and studied by 1D and 2D (1)H and (13)C NMR
      spectroscopy. The following structure of the linear trisaccharide repeating unit
      was established: -> 3)-beta-D-ManpNAcA-(1 -> 4)-beta-D-ManpNAcA-(1 -> 3)-alpha-D
      QuipNAc4NR-(1 -> where R indicates (S)-3-hydroxybutanoyl or acetyl in the ratio ~
      2.5:1. The genes in the polysaccharide biosynthesis locus designated KL25 are
      appropriate to the established CPS structure.

PMID- 25816998
TI  - Trancriptomic approach reveals the molecular diversity of Hottentotta conspersus
      (Buthidae) venom.
AB  - Scorpion venom consists of a complex mixture of molecules including biologically
      active compounds. Because of their high potency and selectivity, toxins have
      medical applicability. In the last decades, scorpion toxins have thus gained
      considerable interest among scientist in the fields of pharmacology, biophysics
      and neurobiology. Identification of scorpion venom peptides and toxins can be
      achieved based on transcriptome approaches. We constructed the first cDNA library
      and Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) study to explore the transcriptomic composition
      of the telson from the southern African scorpion Hottentotta conspersus,
      belonging to the family Buthidae. We obtained 21 new venom-related sequences (8
      contigs and 16 singlets) from a total of 98 ESTs analyzed, including putative
      neurotoxins (chloride, potassium, sodium and calcium channel toxins), bradykinin
      potentiating peptides and other venom peptides without established function.
      These novel toxin-related sequences might serve as basis for further research
      both of pharmaceutical and phylogenetic nature. 

PMID- 25816999
TI  - Heat treatment and the use of additives to improve the stability of paralytic
      shellfish poisoning toxins in shellfish tissue reference materials for internal
      quality control and proficiency testing.
AB  - The need for homogenous reference materials stable for paralytic shellfish toxins
      is vital for the monitoring and quality assurance of these potent neurotoxins in
      shellfish. Two stabilisation techniques were investigated, heat treatment through
      autoclaving and the addition of preserving additives into the tissue matrix.
      Short and long-term stability experiments as well as homogeneity determination
      were conducted on materials prepared by both techniques in comparison with an
      untreated control using two LC-FLD methods. Both techniques improved the
      stability of the matrix and the PSP toxins present compared to the controls. A
      material was prepared using the combined techniques of heat treatment followed by
      spiking with additives and data is presented from this optimised reference
      material as used over a two year period in the Irish national monitoring program
      and in a development exercise as part of a proficiency testing scheme operated by
      QUASIMEME (Quality Assurance of Information for Marine Environmental Monitoring
      in Europe) since 2011. The results were indicative of the long-term stability of
      the material as evidenced through consistent assigned values in the case of the
      proficiency testing scheme and a low relative standard deviation of 10.5% for
      total toxicity data generated over 24 months. 

PMID- 25817000
TI  - General characterization of Tityus fasciolatus scorpion venom. Molecular
      identification of toxins and localization of linear B-cell epitopes.
AB  - This communication describes the general characteristics of the venom from the
      Brazilian scorpion Tityus fasciolatus, which is an endemic species found in the
      central Brazil (States of Goias and Minas Gerais), being responsible for sting
      accidents in this area. The soluble venom obtained from this scorpion is toxic to
      mice being the LD50 is 2.984 mg/kg (subcutaneally). SDS-PAGE of the soluble venom
      resulted in 10 fractions ranged in size from 6 to 10-80 kDa. Sheep were employed
      for anti-T. fasciolatus venom serum production. Western blotting analysis showed
      that most of these venom proteins are immunogenic. T. fasciolatus anti-venom
      revealed consistent cross-reactivity with venom antigens from Tityus serrulatus.
      Using known primers for T. serrulatus toxins, we have identified three toxins
      sequences from T. fasciolatus venom. Linear epitopes of these toxins were
      localized and fifty-five overlapping pentadecapeptides covering complete amino
      acid sequence of the three toxins were synthesized in cellulose membrane (spot
      synthesis technique). The epitopes were located on the 3D structures and some
      important residues for structure/function were identified. 

PMID- 25817001
TI  - Elucidation of procoagulant mechanism and pathophysiological significance of a
      new prothrombin activating metalloprotease purified from Daboia russelii russelii
      venom.
AB  - The procoagulant proteases present in Russell's Viper venom (RVV) are responsible
      for promoting consumption coagulopathy in victims. In this study, a procoagulant
      metalloprotease (Rusviprotease) possessing prothrombin activating and alpha
      fibrinogenase properties has been purified and characterized from RVV.
      Rusviprotease is a 26.8 kDa glycoprotein which also exists in other multimeric
      forms. The peptide mass fingerprinting and secondary structure analyses of
      Rusviprotease revealed its similarity with snake venom prothrombin activators and
      metalloproteases. Similar to group A prothrombin activators, Rusviprotease
      cleaved prothrombin independent of any co-factor requirement generating
      meizothrombin which is further cleaved to form thrombin. The Km and Vmax values
      of Rusviprotease towards prothrombin were determined to be 1.73 MUM, and 153.5 nM
      thrombin generated/min/MUmoles of Rusviprotease, respectively. The Km and Vmax
      values of Rusviprotease towards fibrinogen were calculated to be 3.14 MUM and
      78.7 nmol/min, respectively. Spectrofluorometric study provided the evidence of
      interaction between Rusviprotease and factor Xa with a Kd value of 6.64 nM. This
      interaction augmented the prothrombin activating property of the factor Xa
      prothrombinase-Rusviprotease complex by 2.5 fold. Intravenous injection of
      Rusviprotease to BALB/c mice (0.1 mg/kg) resulted in in vivo defibrinogenation
      rendering the blood incoagulable. In conclusion, Rusviprotease is the first
      example of a prothrombin activator with fibrinogenolytic property purified from
      Daboia russelii russelii venom. 

PMID- 25817002
TI  - Toxalbumin exposures: 12 years' experience of U.S. poison centers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Toxalbumins are natural plant toxins purported to be highly toxic.
      The purpose was to evaluate toxalbumin exposures reported to U.S. poison centers
      to determine plants involved and their toxicities. METHODS: A retrospective
      review of National Poison Data System data on acute toxalbumin exposures with
      known outcomes from 2000 through 2011 was performed. RESULTS: There were 1164
      exposures. The majority involved one route (1135; 97.5%), mostly ingestions (904;
      79.7%) or dermal (166; 14.3%). Most patients developed no effects (694; 59.6%) or
      minor effects (374; 32.1%). Moderate or major effects occurred in 8.3% with 66.6%
      ingestions and 23.9% dermal. There were no deaths. Exposures to the plants
      Ricinus communis and Robinia pseudoacacia were most common (33.8% and 32.9%,
      respectively), with gastrointestinal effects from R. communis (vomiting 19.6%,
      diarrhea 8.9%, nausea 7.9%) and dermal effects from R. pseudoacacia (puncture
      28.7%, dermal irritation/pain 27.9%, and edema 13.3%). CONCLUSIONS: While
      toxalbumin plant exposures were generally well-tolerated, continued evaluation of
      risk is warranted since plants were primarily identified by the public. Major
      effects occurred in under 1% of cases overall, and not at all following
      unintentional ingestions. These findings should help allay concerns that
      unintentional ingestions of toxalbumin plants by young children will cause
      serious toxicity and possibly death.

PMID- 25817003
TI  - Detection of human exposure to saxitoxin and neosaxitoxin in urine by online
      solid phase extraction-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
AB  - Saxitoxin (STX) and neosaxitoxin (NEO) are potent neurotoxins that cause
      paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). PSP typically occurs through the ingestion
      of bivalve shellfish that have consumed toxin producing dinoflagellates. Due to
      initial presentation of symptoms being nonspecific, a clinical measurement is
      needed to confirm exposure to these toxins. Our group has developed an online
      solid phase extraction hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC)
      method for the analysis of STX and NEO in human urine with tandem mass
      spectrometry. A unique feature of this online method is the incorporation of a
      new synthetic (15)N4-STX labeled internal standard used for quantitation. Manual
      sample preparation time was reduced by approximately 70% for 98 urine samples as
      compared to a previously reported method. The lowest reportable limit for STX was
      improved from 5.0 ng/mL to 1.01 ng/mL and from 10.0 ng/mL to 2.62 ng/mL for NEO.
      Three analysts validated the method with 20 calibration curves total over 30 days
      with precision and accuracy within +/-15% for all QCs. This new online method
      rapidly identifies STX and NEO exposure with improved sensitivity, which can
      facilitate the work of public health authorities to confirm the cases of PSP,
      complementing the many shellfish monitoring programs worldwide. 

PMID- 25817004
TI  - A tyrosine-containing analog of mu-conotoxin GIIIA as ligand in the receptor
      binding assay for paralytic shellfish poisons.
AB  - Development of novel analytical tools to detect marine biotoxins has been
      warranted in view of the apparent global pervasiveness of algal-derived shellfish
      poisoning, and the limitations of existing methods. Here, we describe the initial
      phase in the development and evaluation of a tyrosine-containing analog of MU
      conotoxin (MU-CTX) GIIIA as an alternative to saxitoxin (STX) in a receptor
      binding assay (RBA) for paralytic shellfish poisons. The peptide analog was
      synthesized and characterized for structure and bioactivity. The major product of
      oxidation elicited paralytic symptoms in mice at a minimum dose of 1.31 mg kg(-1)
      (i.p.). Mass spectrometry analysis of the bioactive peptide gave a molecular mass
      of 2637.52 Da that was close to the predicted value. Iodination via chloramine-T
      produced non-, mono- and di-iodinated peptides (respectively, NIP, MIP and DIP).
      Competition assays against (3)H-STX revealed higher Ki and EC50 (P < 0.0001,
      ANOVA) indicating reduced affinity for the receptor, and limited displacement of
      receptor-bound STX. However, subsequent use of MIP may extend the application of
      RBA to detect small changes in toxin levels owing to its likely enhanced
      displacement by STX. This may be useful in analyzing samples with toxicities near
      the regulatory limit, or in establishing baseline values in high risk
      environments.

PMID- 25817005
TI  - Insight into alteration of gut microbiota in Clostridium difficile infection and
      asymptomatic C. difficile colonization.
AB  - Clostridium difficile is well recognized as the common pathogen of nosocomial
      diarrhea, meanwhile, asymptomatic colonization with C. difficile in part of the
      population has also drawn public attention. Although gut microbiota is known to
      play an important role in the pathogenesis of C. difficile infection (CDI),
      whether there is any alteration of gut microbial composition in asymptomatic C.
      difficile carriers hasn't been clearly described. The purpose of this study was
      to explore the differences in gut microbiome among CDI patients, asymptomatic C.
      difficile carriers and healthy individuals. We performed fecal microbiota
      analysis on the samples of eight CDI patients, eight asymptomatic C. difficile
      carriers and nine healthy subjects using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. CDI
      patients and asymptomatic carriers showed reduced microbial richness and
      diversity compared with healthy subjects, accompanied with a paucity of phylum
      Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes as well as an overabundance of Proteobacteria. Some
      normally commensal bacteria, especially butyrate producers, were significantly
      depleted in CDI patients and asymptomatic carriers. Furthermore, the differences
      observed in microbial community structure between CDI patients and asymptomatic
      carriers suggested that the gut microbiota may be a potential factor of disease
      state for CDI. Our study demonstrates the characterization and diversity of gut
      microbiota in CDI and asymptomatic C. difficile colonization, which will provide
      new ideas for surveillance of the disease state and development of microbiota
      targeted agents for CDI prevention and treatment. 

PMID- 25817006
TI  - Literature Synthesis: Patient Aggression Risk Assessment Tools in the Emergency
      Department.

PMID- 25817007
TI  - The Portuguese emergency medical system.

PMID- 25817008
TI  - Combinatorial gene construct and non-viral delivery for anti-obesity in diet
      induced obese mice.
AB  - The combinatorial peptidergic therapy of islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) and
      leptin (LEP) analogues was once an optimistic option in treating obese animals
      and patients. However, the need for frequent administrations and its negative
      side effects prevent it from being a viable choice. Here, we developed a
      combinatorial gene therapy of IAPP and LEP, where two genes are inserted into a
      single plasmid with self-cleaving furin and 2A sites to treat diet-induced obese
      (DIO) mice. The developed plasmid DNA (pDNA) individually produced both IAPP and
      LEP peptides in vitro and in vivo. The pDNA was delivered with a non-viral
      polymeric carrier, and its once-a-week administrations demonstrated a synergistic
      loss of body weight and significant reductions of fat mass, blood glucose, and
      lipid levels in DIO mice. The results suggest that the combinatorial gene therapy
      would have higher potential than the peptidergic approach for future translation
      due to its improved practicability. 

PMID- 25817009
TI  - Correlation Between the Dynamic Postoperative Visual Outcome and the Restoration
      of Foveal Microstructures After Macular Hole Surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: To analyze the long-term dynamic healing process of outer retinal
      changes for 1 year in patients who underwent a standard vitrectomy procedure for
      idiopathic macular hole (MH) repair. DESIGN: Retrospective, consecutive,
      observational case series. METHODS: Data were collected on 60 eyes of 56 patients
      (30 women, 26 men) that underwent successful pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) and
      internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling for idiopathic MH from January 2011 to
      December 2012. The age distribution ranged from 56 to 85 years (mean: 64 years).
      Forty eyes underwent combined phacoemulsification, PPV, ILM peeling, and
      intraocular lens implantation; 20 preoperative pseudophakic eyes underwent PPV
      and ILM peeling only. The main outcome measures included logMAR best-corrected
      visual acuity (BCVA) and macular microstructures determined by spectral-domain
      optical coherence tomography performed pre- and postoperatively during follow-up
      visits at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. RESULTS: One month after surgery, 24 eyes
      (40%) showed normal external limiting membrane (ELM), 36 eyes (60%) showed normal
      ELM at 3 months, and 54 eyes (90%) showed normal ELM 12 months after surgery. Six
      eyes (10%) revealed a continuous ellipsoid zone (EZ) at 1 month, 18 eyes (30%) at
      3 months, and 48 eyes (80%) at 12 months postoperatively. There were no eyes with
      a disrupted ELM in the presence of an intact EZ line. The eyes with intact ELM
      and/or intact EZ line showed better BCVA than eyes with defects in ELM or EZ
      line. On the contrary, glial cell presentation is significantly associated with
      worse postoperative BCVA. However, the presence of foveal cystoid change is not
      significantly associated with postoperative BCVA. CONCLUSIONS: The ELM and EZ
      line at the fovea recovered and the presence of glial cells and cystoid space
      resolved gradually after surgery. The postoperative visual acuity was correlated
      with resolved glial cells and a restored ELM and EZ line.

PMID- 25817011
TI  - Mentor-guided self-directed learning affects resident practice.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Self-directed learning (SDL) can be as effective as instructor-led
      training. It employs less instructional resources and is potentially a more
      efficient educational approach. Although SDL is encouraged among residents in our
      surgical training program via 24-hour access to surgical task trainers and online
      modules, residents report that they seldom practice. We hypothesized that a
      mentor-guided SDL approach would improve practice habits among our residents.
      DESIGN: From 2011 to 2013, 12 postgraduate year (PGY)-2 general surgery residents
      participated in a 6-week minimally invasive surgery (MIS) rotation. At the start
      of the rotation, residents were asked to practice laparoscopic skills until they
      reached peak performance in at least 3 consecutive attempts at a task (individual
      proficiency). SETTING: Trainees met with the staff surgeon at weeks 3 and 6 to
      evaluate progress and review a graph of their individual learning curve. All
      trainees subsequently completed a survey addressing their practice habits and
      suggestions for improvement of the curriculum. RESULTS: By the end of the
      rotation, 100% of participants improved in all practiced tasks (p < 0.05), and
      each reported that they practiced more in this rotation than during rotations
      without mentor-guided SDL. Additionally, 6 (50%) residents reported that their
      skill level had improved relative to their peers. Some residents (n = 3) felt
      that the curriculum could be improved by including task-specific goals and
      additional practice sessions with the staff surgeon. CONCLUSIONS: Mentor-guided
      SDL stimulated surgical residents to practice with greater frequency. This
      repeated deliberate practice led to significantly improved MIS skills without
      significantly increasing the need for faculty-led instruction. Some residents
      preferred more discrete goal setting and increased mentor guidance.

PMID- 25817010
TI  - Cervical cancer screening in Europe: Quality assurance and organisation of
      programmes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cervical screening programmes have reduced cervical cancer incidence
      and mortality but the level of success is highly variable between countries.
      Organisation of programmes is essential for equity and cost-effectiveness.
      However, there are differences in effectiveness, also among organised programmes.
      In order to identify the key organisational components that determine
      effectiveness, we performed a Europe-wide survey on the current status of
      organisation and organised quality assurance (QA) measures in cervical cancer
      prevention programmes, as well as organisation-associated costs. METHODS: A
      comprehensive questionnaire was developed through systematic review of literature
      and existing guidelines. The survey was sent to programme organisers, Ministries
      of Health and experts in 34 European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Agreement
      (EFTA) countries. Detailed aspects of programme organisation, quality assurance,
      monitoring, evaluation and corresponding line-item costs were recorded.
      Documentation of programme guidelines, protocols and publications was requested.
      RESULTS: Twenty-nine of 34 countries responded. The results showed that organised
      efforts for QA, monitoring and evaluation were carried out to a differing extent
      and were not standardised, making it difficult to compare the cost-effectiveness
      of organisation and QA strategies. Most countries found it hard to estimate the
      costs associated with launching and operating the organised programme.
      CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first questionnaire to request
      detailed information on the actual organisation and QA of programmes. The results
      of this survey can be used as a basis for further development of standardised
      guidelines on organisation and QA of cervical cancer screening programmes in
      Europe.

PMID- 25817012
TI  - The role of nontechnical skills in simulated trauma resuscitation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Trauma team training provides instruction on crisis management through
      debriefing and discussion of teamwork and leadership skills during simulated
      trauma scenarios. The effects of team leader's nontechnical skills (NTSs) on
      technical performance have not been thoroughly studied. We hypothesized that
      team's and team leader's NTSs correlate with technical performance of clinical
      tasks. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Brigham and Women's Hospital,
      STRATUS Center for Surgical Simulation PARTICIPANTS: A total of 20 teams composed
      of surgical residents, emergency medicine residents, emergency department nurses,
      and emergency services assistants underwent 2 separate, high-fidelity, simulated
      trauma scenarios. Each trauma scenario was recorded on video for analysis and
      divided into 4 consecutive sections. For each section, 2 raters used the Non
      Technical Skills for Surgeons framework to assess NTSs of the team. To evaluate
      the entire team's NTS, 2 additional raters used the Modified Non-Technical Skills
      Scale for Trauma system. Clinical performance measures including adherence to
      guidelines and time to perform critical tasks were measured independently.
      RESULTS: NTSs performance by both teams and team leaders in all NTS categories
      decreased from the beginning to the end of the scenario (all p < 0.05). There was
      significant correlation between team's and team leader's cognitive skills and
      critical task performance, with correlation coefficients between 0.351 and 0.478
      (p < 0.05). The NTS performance of the team leader highly correlated with that of
      the entire team, with correlation coefficients between 0.602 and 0.785 (p <
      0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The NTSs of trauma teams and team leaders deteriorate as
      clinical scenarios progress, and the performance of team leaders and teams is
      highly correlated. Cognitive NTS scores correlate with critical task performance.
      Increased attention to NTSs during trauma team training may lead to sustained
      performance throughout trauma scenarios. Decision making and situation awareness
      skills are critical for both team leaders and teams and should be specifically
      addressed to improve performance.

PMID- 25817013
TI  - A systematic approach to developing a global surgery elective.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Interest in global health has been increasing for years among
      American residents and medical students. Many residency programs have developed
      global health tracks or electives in response to this need. OBJECTIVES: Our goal
      was to create a global surgery elective based on a synergistic partnership
      between our institution and a hospital in the developing world. DESIGN: We
      created a business plan and 1-year schedule for researching potential sites and
      completing a pilot rotation at our selected hospital. SETTING: We administered a
      survey to general surgery residents at the University of Cincinnati and visited
      medical facilities in Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and Malawi. PARTICIPANTS: The
      survey was given to all general surgery residents. A resident and a faculty
      member executed the fact-finding trip as well as the pilot rotation. RESULTS: Our
      general surgery residents view an international elective as integral to residency
      training and would participate in such an elective. After investigating 6
      hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa, we conducted a pilot rotation at our selected
      hospital and gained the necessary information to organize a curriculum. We will
      begin sending senior residents for 8-week rotations in the coming academic year.
      CONCLUSIONS: By systematically approaching the process of creating a global
      surgery elective, we were able to gain considerable insight into choosing a
      location and organizing the elective.

PMID- 25817014
TI  - Mutations in DVL1 cause an osteosclerotic form of Robinow syndrome.
AB  - Robinow syndrome (RS) is a phenotypically and genetically heterogeneous condition
      that can be caused by mutations in genes encoding components of the non-canonical
      Wnt signaling pathway. In contrast, germline mutations that act to increase
      canonical Wnt signaling lead to distinctive osteosclerotic phenotypes. Here, we
      identified de novo frameshift mutations in DVL1, a mediator of both canonical and
      non-canonical Wnt signaling, as the cause of RS-OS, an RS subtype involving
      osteosclerosis, in three unrelated individuals. The mutations all delete the DVL1
      C terminus and replace it, in each instance, with a novel, highly basic sequence.
      We showed the presence of mutant transcript in fibroblasts from one individual
      with RS-OS and demonstrated unimpaired protein stability with transfected GFP
      tagged constructs bearing a frameshift mutation. In vitro TOPFlash assays, in
      apparent contradiction to the osteosclerotic phenotype, revealed that the mutant
      allele was less active than the wild-type allele in the canonical Wnt signaling
      pathway. However, when the mutant and wild-type alleles were co-expressed,
      canonical Wnt activity was 2-fold higher than that in the wild-type construct
      alone. This work establishes that DVL1 mutations cause a specific RS subtype, RS
      OS, and that the osteosclerosis associated with this subtype might be the result
      of an interaction between the wild-type and mutant alleles and thus lead to
      elevated canonical Wnt signaling. 

PMID- 25817015
TI  - Loss-of-function alanyl-tRNA synthetase mutations cause an autosomal-recessive
      early-onset epileptic encephalopathy with persistent myelination defect.
AB  - Mutations in genes encoding aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are known to cause
      leukodystrophies and genetic leukoencephalopathies-heritable disorders that
      result in white matter abnormalities in the central nervous system. Here we
      report three individuals (two siblings and an unrelated individual) with severe
      infantile epileptic encephalopathy, clubfoot, absent deep tendon reflexes,
      extrapyramidal symptoms, and persistently deficient myelination on MRI. Analysis
      by whole exome sequencing identified mutations in the nuclear-encoded alanyl-tRNA
      synthetase (AARS) in these two unrelated families: the two affected siblings are
      compound heterozygous for p.Lys81Thr and p.Arg751Gly AARS, and the single
      affected child is homozygous for p.Arg751Gly AARS. The two identified mutations
      were found to result in a significant reduction in function. Mutations in AARS
      were previously associated with an autosomal-dominant inherited form of axonal
      neuropathy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2N (CMT2N). The autosomal-recessive
      AARS mutations identified in the individuals described here, however, cause a
      severe infantile epileptic encephalopathy with a central myelin defect and
      peripheral neuropathy, demonstrating that defects of alanyl-tRNA charging can
      result in a wide spectrum of disease manifestations. 

PMID- 25817016
TI  - DVL1 frameshift mutations clustering in the penultimate exon cause autosomal
      dominant Robinow syndrome.
AB  - Robinow syndrome is a genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by
      mesomelic limb shortening, genital hypoplasia, and distinctive facial features
      and for which both autosomal-recessive and autosomal-dominant inheritance
      patterns have been described. Causative variants in the non-canonical signaling
      gene WNT5A underlie a subset of autosomal-dominant Robinow syndrome (DRS) cases,
      but most individuals with DRS remain without a molecular diagnosis. We performed
      whole-exome sequencing in four unrelated DRS-affected individuals without coding
      mutations in WNT5A and found heterozygous DVL1 exon 14 mutations in three of
      them. Targeted Sanger sequencing in additional subjects with DRS uncovered DVL1
      exon 14 mutations in five individuals, including a pair of monozygotic twins. In
      total, six distinct frameshift mutations were found in eight subjects, and all
      were heterozygous truncating variants within the penultimate exon of DVL1. In
      five families in which samples from unaffected parents were available, the
      variants were demonstrated to represent de novo mutations. All variant alleles
      are predicted to result in a premature termination codon within the last exon,
      escape nonsense-mediated decay (NMD), and most likely generate a C-terminally
      truncated protein with a distinct -1 reading-frame terminus. Study of the
      transcripts extracted from affected subjects' leukocytes confirmed expression of
      both wild-type and variant alleles, supporting the hypothesis that mutant mRNA
      escapes NMD. Genomic variants identified in our study suggest that truncation of
      the C-terminal domain of DVL1, a protein hypothesized to have a downstream role
      in the Wnt-5a non-canonical pathway, is a common cause of DRS. 

PMID- 25817019
TI  - Carbohydrate catabolic diversity of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli of human
      origin.
AB  - Because increased proportions of particular commensal bacteria such as
      bifidobacteria and lactobacilli have been linked to human health through a
      variety of mechanisms, there is corresponding interest in identifying
      carbohydrates that promote growth and metabolic activity of these bacteria. We
      evaluated the ability of 20 carbohydrates, including several commercially
      available carbohydrates that are sold as prebiotic ingredients, to support growth
      of 32 human-derived isolates belonging to the genera Bifidobacterium and
      Lactobacillus, including those isolated from healthy elderly subjects. In
      general, bifidobacterial strains were shown to display more diverse carbohydrate
      utilization profiles compared to the tested Lactobacillus species, with several
      bifidobacterial strains capable of metabolizing xylo-oligosaccharide (XOS),
      arabinoxylan, maltodextrin, galactan and carbohydrates containing fructo
      oligosaccharide (FOS) components. In contrast, maltodextrin, galactan,
      arabinogalactan and galactomannan did not support robust growth (>=0.8 OD600 nm)
      of any of the Lactobacillus strains assessed. Carbohydrate fermentation was
      variable among strains tested of the same species for both genera. This study
      advances our knowledge of polysaccharide utilization by human gut commensals, and
      provides information for the rational design of selective prebiotic food
      ingredients.

PMID- 25817018
TI  - Mutations in TUBGCP4 alter microtubule organization via the gamma-tubulin ring
      complex in autosomal-recessive microcephaly with chorioretinopathy.
AB  - We have identified TUBGCP4 variants in individuals with autosomal-recessive
      microcephaly and chorioretinopathy. Whole-exome sequencing performed on one
      family with two affected siblings and independently on another family with one
      affected child revealed compound-heterozygous mutations in TUBGCP4. Subsequent
      Sanger sequencing was performed on a panel of individuals from 12 French families
      affected by microcephaly and ophthalmic manifestations, and one other individual
      was identified with compound-heterozygous mutations in TUBGCP4. One synonymous
      variant was common to all three families and was shown to induce exon skipping;
      the other mutations were frameshift mutations and a deletion. TUBGCP4 encodes
      gamma-tubulin complex protein 4, a component belonging to the gamma-tubulin ring
      complex (gamma-TuRC) and known to regulate the nucleation and organization of
      microtubules. Functional analysis of individual fibroblasts disclosed reduced
      levels of the gamma-TuRC, altered nucleation and organization of microtubules,
      abnormal nuclear shape, and aneuploidy. Moreover, zebrafish treated with
      morpholinos against tubgcp4 were found to have reduced head volume and eye
      developmental anomalies with chorioretinal dysplasia. In summary, the
      identification of TUBGCP4 mutations in individuals with microcephaly and a
      spectrum of anomalies in eye development, particularly photoreceptor anomalies,
      provides evidence of an important role for the gamma-TuRC in brain and eye
      development.

PMID- 25817020
TI  - Acute and sub-chronic toxicity of glucose-cysteine Maillard reaction products in
      Sprague-Dawley rats.
AB  - Maillard reaction products (MRPs) derived from glucose-cysteine reactions have
      excellent anti-browning ability. However, there is a lack of information about
      their acute and sub-chronic toxicities. To our knowledge, the present study is
      the first to evaluate the acute and sub-chronic toxicities of MRPs in
      experimental animals. Acute toxicity testing and analysis by Horn's method showed
      that the median lethal oral dose (LD50) of MRPs in rats was 6.81 g/kg body
      weight. The sub-chronic toxicity test involved feeding rats with diet containing
      0, 0.43, 0.85, or 1.70% (w/w) MRPs for 90 days. These treatments did not affect
      mortality, gross pathology, histology, hematology, or blood chemistry, and there
      were no dose-dependent changes in feed consumption. Based on these results, the
      dietary no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for 90-day exposure was 1.29 and
      1.51 g MRPs/kg body weight/day for male and female rats, respectively. 

PMID- 25817021
TI  - RIFM fragrance ingredient safety assessment, alpha-Irone, CAS registry number 79
      69-6.

PMID- 25817023
TI  - Current models of the marmoset brain.
AB  - Since the availability of the common marmoset monkey as a primate model in
      neuroscience research has recently increased, much effort has been made to
      develop a reliable guide of the brain structures of this species. In this
      article, we review the development of the marmoset brain atlas and discuss a
      newly developed brain model, which was reconstructed from histological sections
      under volume-rendering technology. This kind of brain model allows virtual
      sections to be constructed on any axis, with nomenclatural annotations to
      structures in situ. This model is also applicable for the identification of
      structures revealed in magnetic resonance imaging studies. The brain model is
      accessible at the following web address:
      http://brainatlas.brain.riken.jp/marmoset/modules/xoonips/listitem.php?index_id=6
      . 

PMID- 25817022
TI  - RIFM fragrance ingredient safety assessment, allyl (cyclohexyloxy)acetate, CAS
      registry number 68901-15-5.

PMID- 25817017
TI  - A large-scale genetic analysis reveals a strong contribution of the HLA class II
      region to giant cell arteritis susceptibility.
AB  - We conducted a large-scale genetic analysis on giant cell arteritis (GCA), a
      polygenic immune-mediated vasculitis. A case-control cohort, comprising 1,651
      case subjects with GCA and 15,306 unrelated control subjects from six different
      countries of European ancestry, was genotyped by the Immunochip array. We also
      imputed HLA data with a previously validated imputation method to perform a more
      comprehensive analysis of this genomic region. The strongest association signals
      were observed in the HLA region, with rs477515 representing the highest peak (p =
      4.05 * 10(-40), OR = 1.73). A multivariate model including class II amino acids
      of HLA-DRbeta1 and HLA-DQalpha1 and one class I amino acid of HLA-B explained
      most of the HLA association with GCA, consistent with previously reported
      associations of classical HLA alleles like HLA-DRB1(*)04. An omnibus test on
      polymorphic amino acid positions highlighted DRbeta1 13 (p = 4.08 * 10(-43)) and
      HLA-DQalpha1 47 (p = 4.02 * 10(-46)), 56, and 76 (both p = 1.84 * 10(-45)) as
      relevant positions for disease susceptibility. Outside the HLA region, the most
      significant loci included PTPN22 (rs2476601, p = 1.73 * 10(-6), OR = 1.38),
      LRRC32 (rs10160518, p = 4.39 * 10(-6), OR = 1.20), and REL (rs115674477, p = 1.10
      * 10(-5), OR = 1.63). Our study provides evidence of a strong contribution of HLA
      class I and II molecules to susceptibility to GCA. In the non-HLA region, we
      confirmed a key role for the functional PTPN22 rs2476601 variant and proposed
      other putative risk loci for GCA involved in Th1, Th17, and Treg cell function. 

PMID- 25817025
TI  - Thermogravimetric analysis of the behavior of sub-bituminous coal and cellulosic
      ethanol residue during co-combustion.
AB  - The influence of the addition of cellulosic ethanol residue (CER) on the
      combustion of Indonesian sub-bituminous coal was analyzed by non isothermal
      thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA). The effect of blends ratio (5%, 10%, 15% and
      20%), interaction mechanism, and heating rate (5 degrees C/min, 10 degrees C/min,
      15 degrees C/min, 20 degrees C/min) on the combustion process was studied. The
      results show that the increase of the blending ratio allows to achieve the
      increase of the combustibility index from 7.49E-08 to 5.26E-07 at the blending
      ratio of 20%. Two types of non-isothermal kinetic analysis methods (Ozawa-Flynn
      Wall and Vyazovkin) were also applied. Results indicate that the activation
      energy of the blends decreases with increasing the conversion rate. In
      particular, the blending ratio of 20% confirms to have the better combustion
      performance, with the average value of the activation energy equal to 41.10
      kJ/mol obtained by Ozawa-Flynn-Wall model and 31.17 kJ/mol obtained by Vyazovkin
      model.

PMID- 25817024
TI  - Urinary bromophenol glucuronide and sulfate conjugates: Potential human exposure
      molecular markers for polybrominated diphenyl ethers.
AB  - One possible source of urinary bromophenol (BP) glucuronide and sulfate
      conjugates in mammalian animal models and humans is polybromodiphenyl ethers
      (PBDEs), a group of additive flame-retardants found ubiquitously in the
      environment. In order to study the correlation between levels of PBDEs in human
      blood plasma and those of the corresponding BP-conjugates in human urine,
      concentrations of 17 BDE congeners, 22 OH-BDE and 13 MeO-BDE metabolites, and 3
      BPs in plasma collected from 100 voluntary donors in Hong Kong were measured by
      gas chromatograph tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Geometric mean concentration
      of SigmaPBDEs, SigmaOH-BDEs, SigmaMeO-BDEs and SigmaBPs in human plasma were 4.45
      ng g(-1) lw, 1.88 ng g(-1) lw, 0.42 ng g(-1) lw and 1.59 ng g(-1) lw
      respectively. Concentrations of glucuronide and sulfate conjugates of 2,4
      dibromophenol (2,4-DBP) and 2,4,6-tribromophenol (2,4,6-TBP) in paired samples of
      urine were determined by liquid chromatography tandem triple quadrupole mass
      spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). BP-conjugates were found in all of the parallel urine
      samples, in the range of 0.08-106.49 MUg g(-1)-creatinine. Correlations among
      plasma concentrations of SigmaPBDEs/SigmaOH-BDEs/SigmaMeO-BDEs/SigmaBPs and BP
      conjugates in urine were evaluated by multivariate regression and Pearson product
      correlation analyses. These urinary BP-conjugates were positively correlated with
      SigmaPBDEs in blood plasma, but were either not or negatively correlated with
      other organobromine compounds in blood plasma. Stronger correlations (Pearson's r
      as great as 0.881) were observed between concentrations of BDE congeners having
      the same number and pattern of bromine substitution on their phenyl rings in
      blood plasma and their corresponding BP-conjugates in urine.

PMID- 25817026
TI  - Microbial structures and community functions of anaerobic sludge in six full
      scale wastewater treatment plants as revealed by 454 high-throughput
      pyrosequencing.
AB  - The microbial communities and abundance in anaerobic sludge from 4 industrial and
      2 municipal wastewater treatment plants were investigated using 454
      pyrosequencing technology in this study. A total of 5482-8692 high-quality reads
      of 16S rRNA V3-V5 regions were obtained. Taxonomic analysis using QIIME and RDP
      classifier found that Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi and Firmicutes
      were the most abundant phyla in these samples. Furthermore, real-time PCR was
      used to validate the absolute abundance of these 16S rRNAs and some functional
      genes, including total bacteria, anammox bacteria, NOB (Nitrobacter, Nitrospira),
      AOA amoA, AOB amoA, nosZ, nirS, nirK, narG, napA, nrfA, mcrA and dsrA.
      Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that AOA might be mixotrophic.
      Finally, redundancy analysis was used to reveal the relationships between
      operation parameters and microbial communities. Results showed that the
      coexistence of anammox, denitrification and DNRA could be useful for the
      simultaneous removal of nitrogen and organic matter. 

PMID- 25817027
TI  - Influence of headspace flushing on methane production in Biochemical Methane
      Potential (BMP) tests.
AB  - The influence of headspace flushing on the specific methane (CH4) production of
      blank samples with just inoculum in Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) tests was
      studied. The three most common ways were applied: flushing with nitrogen (N2)
      gas, flushing with a mixture of N2 and CO2 (80/20 v/v), and no flushing. The
      results revealed that removing the oxygen is crucial to avoid aerobic
      respiration, which caused both hindered activity of methanogens and loss of
      methane potential. Furthermore it was demonstrated that 20% of CO2 in the flush
      gas increased significantly the methane production by over 20% compared to the
      flushing with pure N2. In order to mimic the same headspace conditions as in full
      scale treatment plants, using a flush gas with a similar CO2 concentration as the
      expected biogas is suggested.

PMID- 25817028
TI  - Microbial-chemical indicator for anaerobic digester performance assessment in
      full-scale wastewater treatment plants for biogas production.
AB  - Anaerobic digestion was introduced into wastewater treatment plants several years
      ago, but anaerobic digestion performance has not yet been achieved. The
      variability of the microbial community in digesters is poorly understood, and
      despite the crucial role of anaerobic digestion reactors, the microbial
      equilibrium that yields the best performance in these reactors has only recently
      been hypothesised. In this study, two full-scale continuous anaerobic reactors,
      placed in Torino's main wastewater treatment plant in northern Italy, were
      followed to develop a summary indicator for measuring anaerobic digestion
      performance. A total of 100 sludge samples were collected. The samples were
      characterised chemically and physically, and microbial groups were quantified by
      qRT-PCR. A chemical biological performance index strictly correlated to specific
      biogas production (rho=0.739, p<0.01) is proposed. This approach will produce new
      management tools for anaerobic digestion in wastewater treatment plants. 

PMID- 25817029
TI  - Survival and activity of individual bioaugmentation strains.
AB  - Successful application of bioaugmentation for enhanced degradation of
      environmental pollutants is often limited by the lack of methods to monitor the
      survival and activity of individual bioaugmentation strains. However, recent
      advancements in sequencing technologies and molecular techniques now allow us to
      address these limitations. Here a complementing set of general applicable
      molecular methods are presented that provides detailed information on the
      performance of individual bioaugmentation strains under in situ conditions. The
      approach involves genome sequencing to establish highly specific qPCR and RT-qPCR
      tools for cell enumerations and expression of involved genes, stable isotope
      probing to follow growth on the target compounds and GFP-tagging to visualize the
      bioaugmentation strains directly in samples, all in combination with removal
      studies of the target compounds. The concept of the approach is demonstrated
      through a case study involving degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons in activated
      sludge augmented with the bioaugmentation strain Pseudomonas monteilii SB3078. 

PMID- 25817030
TI  - Blending municipal solid waste with corn stover for sugar production using ionic
      liquid process.
AB  - Municipal solid waste (MSW) represents an attractive cellulosic resource for
      sustainable fuel production. However, its heterogeneity is the major barrier to
      efficient conversion to biofuels. MSW paper mix was generated and blended with
      corn stover (CS). It has been shown that both of them can be efficiently
      pretreated in certain ionic liquids (ILs) with high yields of fermentable sugars.
      After pretreatment in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C2C1Im][OAc]), over
      80% glucose has been released with enzymatic saccharification. We have also
      applied an enzyme-free process by adding mineral acid and water directly into the
      IL/biomass slurry to induce hydrolysis. With the acidolysis process in 1-ethyl-3
      methylimidazolium chloride ([C2C1Im]Cl), up to 80% glucose and 90% xylose are
      released. There is a correlation between the viscosity profile and hydrolysis
      efficiency; low viscosity of the hydrolysate generally corresponds to high sugar
      yields. Overall, the results indicate the feasibility of incorporating MSW as a
      robust blending agent for biorefineries. 

PMID- 25817032
TI  - Hydrogen fermentation of food waste by alkali-shock pretreatment: microbial
      community analysis and limitation of continuous operation.
AB  - In the study, at first, batch tests were performed to investigate the effect of
      alkali-shock on H2 production from food waste (FW). After alkali-pretreatment of
      FW at pH 9.0-13.0, the FW was cultivated under mesophilic condition at pH 6.0 for
      30 h without external inoculum addition. The amount of H2 production from FW
      pretreated at pH 11.0 and 12.0 was higher than that achieved in other
      pretreatment pH. The main metabolite was butyrate, and Clostridium were dominant
      at pH 11.0 and 12.0. Meanwhile, lactate was the main metabolite with Enterococcus
      and Streptococcus being the dominant genus at other pretreatment pH. When the
      batch process was switched to a continuous mode, H2 production was significantly
      dropped due to the increased activity of H2-consumers. The reliability of alkali
      pretreatment at pH 11.0 was proven by repeating the scale-up batch process,
      recording 1.57+/-0.11 mol H2/mol hexose(added) (17+/-2LH2/kg FW) and 4.39+/
      0.32LH2/L/d.

PMID- 25817031
TI  - Combined effect of erythromycin, tetracycline and sulfamethoxazole on performance
      of anaerobic sequencing batch reactors.
AB  - The combined effects of erythromycin-tetracycline-sulfamethoxazole (ETS) and
      sulfamethoxazole-tetracycline (ST) antibiotics on the performance of anaerobic
      sequencing batch reactors were studied. A control reactor was fed with wastewater
      that was free of antibiotics, while two additional reactors were fed with ETS and
      ST. The way in which the ETS and ST mixtures impact COD removal, VFA production,
      antibiotic degradation, biogas production and composition were investigated. The
      effects of the ETS mixtures were different from the ST mixtures, erythromycin can
      have an antagonistic effect on sulfamethoxazole and tetracycline. The anaerobic
      pre-treatment of these antibiotics can represent a suitable alternative to the
      use of chemical treatments for concentrations at 10 mg/L of S and 1 mg/L of T; 2
      mg/L of E, 2 mg/L of T and 20 mg/L of S for the ST and ETS reactors respectively,
      which corresponds to min 70% COD removal efficiency.

PMID- 25817033
TI  - Using a combined hydrolysis factor to optimize high titer ethanol production from
      sulfite-pretreated poplar without detoxification.
AB  - Sulfite pretreatment to overcome the recalcitrance of lignocelluloses (SPORL) was
      applied to poplar NE222 chips in a range of chemical loadings, temperatures, and
      times. The combined hydrolysis factor (CHF) as a pretreatment severity accurately
      predicted xylan dissolution by SPORL. Good correlations between CHF and
      pretreated solids enzymatic digestibility, sugar yield, and the formations of
      furfural and acetic acid were obtained. Therefore, CHF was used to balance sugar
      yield with the formation of fermentation inhibitors for high titer ethanol
      production without detoxification. The results indicated that optimal sugar yield
      can be achieved at CHF=3.1, however, fermentation using un-detoxified whole
      slurries of NE222 pretreated at different severities by SPORL indicated CHF~2
      produced best results. An ethanol titer of 41 g/L was achieved at total solids of
      approximately 20 wt% without detoxification with a low cellulase loading of 15
      FPU/g glucan (27 mL/kg untreated wood).

PMID- 25817034
TI  - Application of acid mine drainage for coagulation/flocculation of microalgal
      biomass.
AB  - A novel application of acid mine drainage (AMD) for biomass recovery of two
      morphologically different microalgae species with respect to AMD dosage,
      microalgal cell density and pH of medium was investigated. Optimal flocculation
      of Scenedesmus obliquus and Chlorella vulgaris occurred with 10% dosage of AMD at
      an initial pH 9 for both 0.5 and 1.0 g/L cell density. The flocculation
      efficiency was 89% for S. obliquus and 93% for C. vulgaris. Zeta potential (ZP)
      was increased from -10.66 to 1.77 and -13.19 to 1.33 for S. obliquus and C.
      vulgaris, respectively. Scanning electron microscope with energy-dispersive X-ray
      of the microalgae floc confirmed the sweeping floc formation mechanism upon the
      addition of AMD. Application of AMD for the recovery of microalgae biomass is a
      cost-effective method, which might further allow reuse of flocculated medium for
      algal cultivation, thereby contributing to the economic production of biofuel
      from microalgal biomass.

PMID- 25817036
TI  - Simultaneous treatment (cell disruption and lipid extraction) of wet microalgae
      using hydrodynamic cavitation for enhancing the lipid yield.
AB  - Simultaneous treatment (combining with cell disruption and lipid extraction)
      using hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) was applied to Nannochloropsis salina to
      demonstrate a simple and integrated way to produce oil from wet microalgae. A
      high lipid yield from the HC (25.9-99.0%) was observed compared with autoclave
      (16.2-66.5%) and ultrasonication (5.4-26.9%) in terms of the specific energy
      input (500-10,000 kJ/kg). The optimal conditions for the simultaneous treatment
      were established using a statistical approach. The efficiency of the simultaneous
      method was also demonstrated by comparing each separate treatment. The maximum
      lipid yield (predicted: 45.9% and experimental: 45.5%) was obtained using 0.89%
      sulfuric acid with a cavitation number of 1.17 for a reaction time of 25.05 min
      via response surface methodology. Considering its comparable extractability,
      energy-efficiency, and potential for scale-up, HC may be a promising method to
      achieve industrial-scale microalgae operation.

PMID- 25817035
TI  - Control of CO2 input conditions during outdoor culture of Chlorella vulgaris in
      bubble column photobioreactors.
AB  - A study on the optimization of CO2 usage during outdoor microalgae cultivation in
      order to further maximize the CO2 to biomass conversion efficiency is presented.
      A constant supply of CO2 was found to be non-essential for culturing microalgae
      outdoors in 80 L (8 L*10 sets) bubble columns. Among the different CO2 input
      conditions that were studied, 2% CO2 with intermittent supply and 2%+4% CO2
      alternation did not affect the algal growth as compared to having a constant
      supply of 2% CO2. However, during both input conditions, the CO2 to biomass
      conversion efficiency was doubled while the amount of CO2 used was reduced by
      50%. The algal biomass obtained was found to have a higher carbohydrate yield but
      a lower protein yield as compared to previously published studies. The findings
      from this study could be applied for large-scale microalgae production so as to
      minimize cultivation and energy costs.

PMID- 25817037
TI  - An agent-based model of dialect evolution in killer whales.
AB  - The killer whale is one of the few animal species with vocal dialects that arise
      from socially learned group-specific call repertoires. We describe a new agent
      based model of killer whale populations and test a set of vocal-learning rules to
      assess which mechanisms may lead to the formation of dialect groupings observed
      in the wild. We tested a null model with genetic transmission and no learning,
      and ten models with learning rules that differ by template source (mother or
      matriline), variation type (random errors or innovations) and type of call change
      (no divergence from kin vs. divergence from kin). The null model without vocal
      learning did not produce the pattern of group-specific call repertoires we
      observe in nature. Learning from either mother alone or the entire matriline with
      calls changing by random errors produced a graded distribution of the call
      phenotype, without the discrete call types observed in nature. Introducing
      occasional innovation or random error proportional to matriline variance yielded
      more or less discrete and stable call types. A tendency to diverge from the calls
      of related matrilines provided fast divergence of loose call clusters. A pattern
      resembling the dialect diversity observed in the wild arose only when rules were
      applied in combinations and similar outputs could arise from different learning
      rules and their combinations. Our results emphasize the lack of information on
      quantitative features of wild killer whale dialects and reveal a set of testable
      questions that can draw insights into the cultural evolution of killer whale
      dialects. 

PMID- 25817038
TI  - Spatial sorting and range shifts: consequences for evolutionary potential and
      genetic signature of a dispersal trait.
AB  - Species are shifting their ranges under climate change, with genetic and
      evolutionary consequences. As a result, the spatial distribution of genetic
      diversity in a species' range can show a signature of range expansion. This
      genetic signature takes time to decay after the range stops expanding and it is
      important to take that lag time into account when interpreting contemporary
      spatial patterns of genetic diversity. In addition, the return to spatial
      equilibrium on an ecologically relevant timescale will depend on migration of
      genetic diversity across the species' range. However, during a range shift
      alleles may go extinct at the retracting range margin due to spatial sorting.
      Here we studied the spatial pattern of genotypes that differ in dispersal rate
      across the species range before, during and after a range shift, assessed the
      effect of range retraction on this pattern, and quantified the duration of the
      ephemeral genetic signature of range expansion for this trait. We performed
      simulation experiments with an individual-based metapopulation model under
      several contemporary climate change scenarios. The results show an increase of
      the number of individuals with high dispersal rate. If the temperature increased
      long enough the allele coding for low dispersal rate would go extinct. The
      duration of the genetic signature of range expansion after stabilisation of the
      species' distribution lasted up to 1200 generations after a temperature increase
      for 60 years at the contemporary rate. This depended on the total displacement of
      the climate optimum, as the product of the rate of temperature increase and its
      duration. So genetic data collected in the field do not necessarily reflect
      current selection pressures but can be affected by historic changes in species
      distribution, long after the establishment of the current species' range. Return
      to equilibrium patterns may be hampered by loss of evolutionary potential during
      range shift. 

PMID- 25817039
TI  - Expression of human and mouse adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT) isoform genes
      in adipogenesis.
AB  - Adenine nucleotide translocases (ANTs) are mitochondrial proteins encoded by
      nuclear DNA that catalyze the exchange of ATP generated in the mitochondria for
      ADP produced in cytosol. There are four ANT isoforms in humans (hANT1-4) and
      three in mice (mANT1, mANT2 and mANT4), all encoded by distinct genes. The aim of
      this study was to quantify expression of ANT isoform genes during the
      adipogenesis of mouse 3T3-L1 and human Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome (SGBS)
      derived preadipocytes. We also studied the effects of the adipogenesis
      regulators, insulin and rosiglitazone, on ANT isoform expression in
      differentiated adipocytes and examined the expression of ANT isoforms in
      subcutaneous and visceral white adipose tissue (WAT) from mice and humans. We
      found that adipogenesis was associated with an increase in the expression of ANT
      isoforms, specifically mANT2 in mouse 3T3-L1 cells and hANT3 in human SGBS cells.
      These changes could be involved in the increases in oxidative metabolism and
      decreases in lactate production observed during differentiation. Insulin and
      rosiglitazone induced mANT2 gene expression in mature 3T3-L1 cells and hANT2 and
      hANT3 gene expression in SGBS adipocytes. Furthermore, human WAT expressed
      greater amounts of hANT3 than hANT2, and the expression of both of these isoforms
      was greater in subcutaneous WAT than in visceral WAT. Finally, inhibition of ANT
      activity by atractyloside or bongkrekic acid impaired proper adipocyte
      differentiation. These results suggest that changes in the expression of ANT
      isoforms may be involved in adipogenesis in both human and mouse WAT. 

PMID- 25817040
TI  - Human enhancer of filamentation 1-induced colorectal cancer cell migration: Role
      of serine phosphorylation and interaction with the breast cancer anti-estrogen
      resistance 3 protein.
AB  - Human enhancer of filamentation 1 (HEF1) is a member of the p130Cas family of
      docking proteins involved in integrin-mediated cytoskeleton reorganization
      associated with cell migration. Elevated expression of HEF1 promotes invasion and
      metastasis in multiple cancer cell types. To date, little is known on its role in
      CRC tumor progression. HEF1 is phosphorylated on several Ser/Thr residues but the
      effects of these post-translational modifications on the functions of HEF1 are
      poorly understood. In this manuscript, we investigated the role of HEF1 in
      migration of colorectal adeno-carcinoma cells. First, we showed that
      overexpression of HEF1 in colo-carcinoma cell line HCT116 increases cell
      migration. Moreover, in these cells, HEF1 increases Src-mediated phosphorylation
      of FAK on Tyr-861 and 925. We then showed that HEF1 mutation on Ser-369 enhances
      HEF1-induced migration and FAK phosphorylation as a result of protein
      stabilization. We also, for the first time characterized a functional mutation of
      HEF1 on Arg-367 which mimics the effect of Ser-369 to Ala mutation. Finally
      through mass spectrometry experiments, we identified BCAR3 as an essential
      interactor and mediator of HEF1-induced migration. We demonstrated that single
      amino acid mutations that prevent formation of the HEF1-BCAR3 complex impair HEF1
      mediated migration. Therefore, amino-acid substitutions that impede Ser-369
      phosphorylation stabilize HEF1 which increases the migration of CRC cells and
      this latter effect requires the interaction of HEF1 with the NSP family adaptor
      protein BCAR3. Collectively, these data reveal the importance of HEF1 expression
      level in cancer cell motility and then support the utilization of HEF1 as a
      biomarker of tumor progression. 

PMID- 25817041
TI  - Activation of OR1A1 suppresses PPAR-gamma expression by inducing HES-1 in
      cultured hepatocytes.
AB  - Olfactory receptors (ORs) comprise the largest G protein-coupled receptor gene
      superfamily. Recent studies indicate that ORs are also expressed in non-olfactory
      organs, including metabolically active tissues, although their biological
      functions in these tissues are largely unknown. In this study, OR1A1 expression
      was detected in HepG2 liver cells. OR1A1 activation by (-)-carvone, a known OR1A1
      ligand, increased the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), but not
      intracellular Ca(2+) concentration, thereby inducing protein kinase A (PKA)
      activity with subsequent phosphorylation of cAMP response element-binding protein
      (CREB) and upregulation of the CREB-responsive gene hairy and enhancer of split
      (HES)-1, a corepressor of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR
      gamma) in hepatocytes. In (-)-carvone-stimulated cells, the repression of PPAR
      gamma reduced the expression of the target gene, mitochondrial glycerol-3
      phosphate acyltransferase, which encodes a key enzyme involved in triglyceride
      synthesis. Intracellular triglyceride level and lipid accumulation were reduced
      in cells stimulated with (-)-carvone, effects that were diminished following the
      loss of OR1A1 function. These results indicate that OR1A1 may function as a non
      redundant receptor in hepatocytes that regulates the PKA-CREB-HES-1 signaling
      axis and thereby modulates hepatic triglyceride metabolism. 

PMID- 25817042
TI  - Prevalence and characterization of Salmonella isolated from chicken meat in
      Turkey.
AB  - This study was conducted in a Turkish province to investigate the presence of
      Salmonella spp. in 150 chicken meat samples using 2 phenotyping techniques:
      classic culture technique (CCT) and immunomagnetic separation (IMS). For the
      confirmation of the isolates at molecular levels, invA gene was detected in these
      isolates. The presence of invA, class 1 (Cls1) integrons, and integrase (Int1)
      genes was demonstrated by PCR assay; and the resistance of the isolated
      Salmonella spp. strains to antibiotics was determined by disk diffusion test. All
      the cultural and PCR results were evaluated together; Salmonella spp. were
      detected in a total of 64 (42.66%) chicken meat samples. Contamination rate was
      higher in carcasses (53.33%, n = 75) than in meat pieces (32%, n = 75). When
      results of standard culture were compared with IMS technique, IMS (n = 54) showed
      a clear superiority over the CCT (n = 38). A very high resistance rate (>=
      89.28%) to vancomycin, tetracycline, streptomycin, or nalidixic acid was found.
      Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole resistance was present in 32.14%. Relatively lower
      incidence of resistance (<= 8.33%) to gentamicin, chloramphenicol, ampicillin,
      and ceftriaxone was observed. Concurrent resistance to at least 4 antibiotics was
      detected in 92.85% of the isolates. Cls1 integrons and Int1 were positive in
      80.95% and 95.23% of the isolates, respectively. However, Int1 alone was detected
      in 15.47% (n = 13). In conclusion, the high prevalence of Salmonella spp. in
      chicken meat may pose a potential public health risk, and the presence of
      antibiotic-resistant Salmonella spp. isolate together with Cls1 integron and/or
      integrase might play an important role in horizontal antibiotic gene transfer.

PMID- 25817043
TI  - Meta-chlorophenylpiperazine enhances leptin sensitivity in diet-induced obese
      mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Most forms of human obesity are characterized by impaired
      leptin sensitivity and, therefore, the effectiveness of anti-obesity leptin
      therapy in these leptin-resistant obese patients is marginal. Hence, the
      development of strategies to increase leptin sensitivity is of high priority in
      the field of obesity research. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: We first examined the
      effects of co-administration of leptin and meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP), an
      agonist of 5-HT2C and 5-HT1B receptors, on energy balance in leptin-resistant
      diet-induced obese (DIO) mice. We further assessed leptin-induced phosphorylation
      of the STAT-3 (pSTAT3) in various brain regions of DIO mice pretreated with mCPP
      or in mice genetically lacking 5-HT2C receptors. RESULTS: Co-administration of
      mCPP with leptin had an additive effect on reducing body weight in DIO mice.
      Furthermore, mCPP pretreatment in DIO mice enhanced leptin-induced pSTAT3 in the
      arcuate nucleus, the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, and the ventral
      premammillary nucleus. Finally, deletion of 5-HT2C receptors significantly
      blunted leptin-induced pSTAT3 in these same hypothalamic regions. CONCLUSIONS AND
      IMPLICATIONS: Our study provides evidence that drugs, which activate 5-HT2C
      receptors, could function as leptin sensitizers and be used in combination with
      leptin to provide additional weight loss in DIO.

PMID- 25817044
TI  - Immunogenicity of virosomal adjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccination in
      allogeneic stem cell transplant recipients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Influenza vaccination is generally recommended to hematopoietic stem
      cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. However, the seasonal subunit vaccination
      response is frequently suboptimal, and alternate more efficient vaccination
      systems must be examined. We compared the immunogenicity of an adjuvanted
      virosomal influenza and subunit vaccine in HSCT recipients. METHODS: The
      immunogenicity after a single dose (0.5 mL) of adjuvanted trivalent virosomal
      vaccination was evaluated in a study cohort of 21 HSCT recipients and compared to
      a control cohort of 30 HSCT recipients who received a single dose (0.5 mL) of non
      adjuvanted seasonal trivalent subunit vaccination over 4 seasons from 2010 to
      2014. Whole blood interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) release assays were tested, both
      before and 30 days after vaccination, in response to influenza pandemic (pdm)
      H1N1, H3N2, and B antigens. HLA-A*02 dextramers, to gauge for the absolute number
      of antigen-specific CD8(+) T-cells, and pdm 2009 hemagglutinin inhibition (HI)
      assays, to test for neutralizing antibodies, were used as immunological readouts.
      RESULTS: The pdm HI titers were poor in both cohorts with only 23% (5/21) after
      virosomal vaccination and 13.3% (4/30) in the seasonal vaccine cohort having
      protective titers (>=40). The delta change of IFN-gamma production in response to
      influenza pdm H1N1 (P = 0.005) and influenza B antigens (P = 0.01) were
      significantly elevated in blood from individuals who received the virosomal as
      compared to the seasonal vaccine. The IFN-gamma response to pdm H1N1 was stronger
      (P < 0.001), as compared to seasonal vaccination, in patients vaccinated >6 month
      post HSCT. We detected a significant increase in the frequency of matrix 1
      (GILGFVTL) dextramer-specific CD8(+) T-cells after the virosomal vaccine (P =
      0.01). No differences were seen in the hemagglutinin-specific CD8(+) T-cells
      between the 2 cohorts. CONCLUSION: Vaccination using a virosomal delivery system
      is beneficial in eliciting robust cellular immune responses to pdm H1N1 influenza
      in SCT recipients.

PMID- 25817045
TI  - Nulliparous pregnant women's narratives of imminent childbirth before and after
      internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy for severe fear of childbirth: a
      qualitative study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the expectations concerning imminent childbirth before and
      after 8 weeks of internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) among
      nulliparous pregnant women with severe fear of childbirth. DESIGN: Qualitative
      study of nulliparous pregnant women's narratives before and after CBT. SETTING:
      The first ICBT programme for treating severe fear of childbirth. SAMPLE: Fifteen
      nulliparous pregnant Swedish women with severe fear of childbirth participating
      in an ICBT self-help programme. METHODS: Semi-structured open-ended questions
      over the internet before and after 8 weeks of ICBT. The data were analysed using
      thematic analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The participants' narratives pertaining
      to five different situations during labour and delivery before and after ICBT.
      RESULTS: After therapy, participants described a more realistic attitude towards
      imminent childbirth, more self-confidence and more active coping strategies. They
      perceived their partners and the staff as more supportive. They were more aware
      of the approaching meeting with their baby when giving birth. CONCLUSIONS:
      Following the ICBT programme, participants changed their attitude towards
      imminent childbirth from negative to more positive. This was manifested in
      positive and more realistic expectations regarding themselves, their partner and
      the staff that would look after them.

PMID- 25817046
TI  - Pazopanib can preserve cosmetic quality of life even in end-stage angiosarcoma.

PMID- 25817047
TI  - Comparison of two classification systems in predicting the outcome of diabetic
      foot ulcers: the Wagner grade and the Saint Elian Wound score systems.
AB  - The aim of the study was to compare two systems of classification in a
      consecutive population with diabetic foot ulcers: the Wagner grade and the Saint
      Elian Wound Score System (SEWSS). Sociodemographic information, patient-related
      and ulcer-related data at first presentation was recorded, and the patients were
      followed up until wound healing or accepting major amputation or for 24 weeks.
      One hundred eighty-six patients were included in the study, of which 172 patients
      were completely followed up. Among the remaining 172 patients, 53.5% (n = 92)
      were healed without minor amputation, 32% (n = 55) were healed with minor
      amputation, 9.3% (n = 16) were not healed at study termination, 3.5% (n = 6) died
      and 1.7% (n = 3) underwent major amputation. The median healing time for Wagner
      1, Wagner 2, Wagner 3, and Wagner 4 were 23, 50, 54, 119 days, respectively. The
      log-rank test showed significant differences in healing time for Wagner 1, Wagner
      2, Wagner 3, and Wagner 4; The median healing time for SEWSS I, SEWSS II and
      SEWSS III were 12, 51, and 150 days, respectively. The log-rank test showed
      significant differences in healing time for SEWSS I, SEWSS II and SEWSS III. Cox
      regression analysis showed a decreasing probability of healing with or without
      minor amputation with a higher SEWSS value, an increase in the SEWSS by one score
      reduced the probability for healing by 24%. ROC analysis showed Wagner 3 and a
      cut-point 17 of SEWSS had the highest Youden's index. Both the Wagner grade and
      SEWSS system were associated with the ulcer healing time for the patients with
      active DFUs. The SEWSS score makes it a better prediction tool of DFU outcome
      synthetically.

PMID- 25817048
TI  - Evolving minimum standards in responsible international sperm donor offspring
      quota.
AB  - An international working group was established with the aim of making
      recommendations on the number of offspring for a sperm donor that should be
      allowable in cases of international use of his sperm. Considerations from
      genetic, psychosocial, operational and ethical points of view were debated. For
      these considerations, it was assumed that current developments in genetic testing
      and Internet possibilities mean that, now, all donors are potentially
      identifiable by their offspring, so no distinction was made between anonymous and
      non-anonymous donation. Genetic considerations did not lead to restrictive limits
      (indicating that up to 200 offspring or more per donor may be acceptable except
      in isolated social-minority situations). Psychosocial considerations on the other
      hand led to proposals of rather restrictive limits (10 families per donor or
      less). Operational and ethical considerations did not lead to more or less
      concrete limits per donor, but seemed to lie in-between those resulting from the
      aforementioned ways of viewing the issue. In the end, no unifying agreed figure
      could be reached; however the consensus was that the number should never exceed
      100 families. The conclusions of the group are summarized in three
      recommendations. 

PMID- 25817049
TI  - Treatment of Langerhans cell histiocytosis: it is time to learn from the past:
      response to Minkov and Rodriguez-Galindo.

PMID- 25817050
TI  - The cost-effectiveness of dapagliflozin versus sulfonylurea as an add-on to
      metformin in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
AB  - AIMS: To assess the cost-effectiveness of dapagliflozin, a sodium-glucose co
      transporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor, compared with a sulfonylurea, when added to
      metformin for treatment of UK people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus inadequately
      controlled on metformin alone. METHODS: Clinical inputs sourced from a head-to
      head randomized controlled trial (RCT) informed the Cardiff diabetes decision
      model. Risk equations developed from the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes
      Study (UKPDS) were used in conjunction with the clinical inputs to predict
      disease progression and the incidence of micro- and macrovascular complications
      over a lifetime horizon. Cost and utility data were generated to present the
      incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for both treatment arms, and
      sensitivity and scenario analyses were conducted to assess the impact of
      uncertainty on the final model results. RESULTS: The dapagliflozin treatment arm
      was associated with a mean incremental benefit of 0.467 quality-adjusted life
      years (QALYs) [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.420; 0.665], with an incremental
      cost of L1246 (95% CI: L613; L1637). This resulted in an ICER point estimate of
      L2671 per QALY gained. Incremental costs were shown to be insensitive to
      parameter variation, with only treatment-related weight change having a
      significant impact on the incremental QALYs. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis
      determined that dapagliflozin had a 100% probability of being cost-effective at a
      willingness-to-pay threshold of L20,000 per QALY. CONCLUSIONS: Dapagliflozin in
      combination with metformin was shown to be a cost-effective treatment option
      compared with sulfonylurea from a UK healthcare perspective for people with Type
      2 diabetes mellitus who are inadequately controlled on metformin monotherapy.

PMID- 25817051
TI  - Acrylamide induces mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis in BV-2 microglial
      cells.
AB  - Acrylamide (ACR), a potent neurotoxin, can be produced during food processing at
      high temperature. This study examined the redox-dependent apoptotic and
      inflammatory responses of ACR in an immortalized mouse microglia cell line BV2.
      The exposure of BV2 cells to ACR reduced cell viability and induced apoptosis in
      a concentration-dependent manner. ACR impaired cell energy metabolism by
      decreasing mitochondrial respiration, anaerobic glycolysis, and lowering
      expression of the complex I, III, and IV subunits. Mitochondrial dysfunction was
      associated with a decrease of the mitochondrial membrane potential and the Bcl
      2/Bax ratio, thus resulting in activation of the mitochondrion-driven apoptotic
      signaling. This was accompanied by (a) the modulation of redox-sensitive
      signaling, suppressed Akt activation and increased JNK and p38 activation, and
      (b) increased expression of NFkappaB and downstream inducible nitric oxide
      synthase (iNOS) and nitric oxide generation, thus supporting indirectly a
      proinflammatory effect of ACR. Nrf2 expression was also increased but not its
      translocation to the nucleus. Expectedly, the electrophilic attack of ACR on GSH
      resulted in substantial loss of GSH with a minor GSSG formation. These changes in
      the cell's redox status elicited by ACR resulted in increased H2O2 formation. The
      changes in mitochondrial functionality and complex subunit expression caused by
      ACR were reversed by N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC). Likewise, NAC restored the cell's
      redox status by increasing GSH levels with concomitant attenuation of H2O2
      generation; these effects resulted in decreased apoptotic cell death and
      inflammatory responses. ACR-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction along with a more
      oxidized redox status seems to be critical events leading to activation of the
      intrinsic apoptotic pathway and inflammatory responses. 

PMID- 25817052
TI  - Efficacy of immunotherapy with mesenchymal stem cells in man: a systematic
      review.
AB  - Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are widely studied for their immunomodulatory
      properties. Data from in vitro and pre-clinical models demonstrate that MSC
      suppress activated immune cells and ameliorate the severity of experimental
      immune disease. In complex human studies, the immunomodulatory efficacy of MSC
      therapy is not well established. We conducted a systematic review of clinical
      studies which used MSC with the purpose of immunomodulation and included at least
      10 patients to investigate the efficacy of MSC therapy. Sixty-two studies
      comprising 10 different immune disorders were included in the analysis, of which
      18 studies represented controlled trials. Although several of the studies
      reported an amelioration of disease severity, other studies failed to observe a
      beneficial effect of MSC. The low number of randomized controlled trials, small
      number of studies per disease category and limited immunological readout
      parameters made it difficult to draw a definitive conclusion on the efficacy of
      MSC immune therapy. 

PMID- 25817053
TI  - Humanitarian obstetric care for refugees of the Syrian war. The first 6 months of
      experience of Gynecologie Sans Frontieres in Zaatari Refugee Camp (Jordan).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To report the first 6 months of experience of a nongovernmental
      organization-managed obstetric care unit in a war refugee camp, with problems
      encountered and solutions implemented. DESIGN: Prospective observational study of
      the maternity activity of Gynecologie Sans Frontieres (GSF). SETTING: GSF's
      maternity unit, in Zaatari camp (Jordan). POPULATION: All pregnant women among
      Syrian refugees who came to the unit for delivery. METHODS: The GSF's maternity
      unit is a light structure built with three tents, permitting low-risk pregnancy
      care and childbirth. Emergency cesarean deliveries were performed in the Moroccan
      army field hospital. High-risk pregnancies were transferred to Al Mafraq or Amman
      Hospital (Jordan) after assessment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Delivery
      characteristics, indications for referral. RESULTS: From September 2012 to
      February 2013, 371 women attended the unit and 299 delivered in it. Delivery
      rates increased from 5/month to 112/month over the period. Mean gestational age
      at birth was 39(+3) gestational weeks (SD = 1.9). Median birthweight was 3100 g
      (25-75% interquartile range 2840-3430 g). Spontaneous vaginal deliveries were
      dominant and the major maternal complication was postpartum hemorrhage (n = 13).
      Eighty-two women were referred to Al Mafraq or Amman hospitals, mainly for
      preterm labor (32%) and congenital malformations (11%). We managed one case of
      stillbirth. Maternal mortality did not occur. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the
      difficulties of war, high-risk pregnant women were properly identified,
      permitting referrals when required. Cooperation with other nongovernmental
      organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, was
      essential for the management of situations at risk of complications and to
      contain perinatal and maternal mortality.

PMID- 25817055
TI  - A cross-cultural investigation of attachment style, catastrophizing, negative
      pain beliefs, and symptom severity in irritable bowel syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Little information exists regarding whether psychosocial variables in
      irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) vary by geographic location. Adult attachment is
      an important psychological concept rooted in childhood relationship experience
      that has not been previously studied in IBS. Catastrophizing and negative pain
      beliefs have been described in IBS and may be affected by attachment. AIMS: In
      this cross-cultural study, we determined: (i) whether attachment differs between
      IBS patients and controls, (ii) whether geographic location has a significant
      effect on attachment style, catastrophizing and negative pain beliefs, and (iii)
      how all three variables correlate with IBS symptom severity. METHODS: 463 IBS
      patients, with moderate to severe symptom scores, and 192 healthy controls
      completed validated questionnaires about attachment, catastrophizing, negative
      pain beliefs and IBS-SSS in nine locations, USA (New York, Los Angeles), Mexico,
      Italy (Rome, Bari), Romania, Iran, India, and China. KEY RESULTS: Attachment
      anxiety and avoidance scores were significantly higher in IBS patients than in
      controls (p < 0.001). This was particularly true for the fearful-avoidant
      attachment category, especially in China and Romania. Path analysis showed that
      attachment anxiety and avoidance had indirect effects on IBS-SSS through
      catastrophizing (p < 0.0001) and negative pain beliefs (p = 0.005). All three
      psychosocial measures varied significantly depending on location. CONCLUSIONS &
      INFERENCES: In the IBS population studied, attachment style was significantly
      different in IBS compared to a control population. Geographic differences in
      attachment, catastrophizing and negative pain beliefs were documented and their
      correlation with symptom severity and thus, research of psychosocial variables in
      IBS should take into account the location of the population studied.

PMID- 25817054
TI  - HIV, opiates, and enteric neuron dysfunction.
AB  - Human immune deficient virus (HIV) is an immunosuppressive virus that targets
      CD4(+) T-lymphocytes. HIV infections cause increased susceptibility to
      opportunistic infections and cancer. HIV infection can also alter central nervous
      system (CNS) function causing cognitive impairment. HIV does not infect neurons
      but it does infect astrocytes and microglia in the CNS. HIV can also infect
      enteric glia initiating an intestinal inflammatory response which causes enteric
      neural injury and gut dysfunction. Part of the inflammatory response is HIV
      induced production of proteins including, Transactivator of transcription (Tat)
      which contribute to neuronal injury after release from HIV infected glial cells.
      A risk factor for HIV infection is intravenous drug use with contaminated needles
      and chronic opiate use can exacerbate neural injury in the nervous system. While
      most research focuses on the actions of Tat and other HIV related proteins and
      opiates on the brain, recent data indicate that Tat can cause intestinal
      inflammation and disruption of enteric neuron function, including alteration of
      Na(+) channel activity and action potential generation. A paper published in this
      issue of Neurogastroenterology and Motility extends these findings by identifying
      an interaction between Tat and morphine on enteric neuron Na(+) channels and on
      intestinal motility in vivo using a Tat expressing transgenic mouse model. These
      new data show that Tat protein can enhance the inhibitory actions of morphine on
      action potential generation and propulsive motility. These findings are important
      to our understanding of how HIV causes diarrhea in infected patients and for the
      use of opioid drugs to treat HIV-induced diarrhea.

PMID- 25817056
TI  - Modulation of intestinal afferent nerve sensitivity to inflammatory mediators
      following systemic endotoxin in mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Endotoxin exposure may be followed by visceral hypersensitvity but
      potential mechanisms are not fully explored. We aimed to test the hypothesis that
      mast cells and the cyclooxygenase pathway (COX) mediate modulation of afferent
      nerve sensitivity following systemic endotoxin. METHODS: C57Bl6 mice received
      endotoxin injection i.p. to induce systemic inflammation. Control animals
      received normal saline. Extracellular multi-unit afferent nerve discharge was
      recorded from jejunal mesenteric nerves in vitro. Afferent nerve response to 5
      hydroxytryptamine (5-HT, 250 MUmol/L), bradykinin (BK, 0.5 MUmol/L), and to
      mechanical ramp distension of the intestinal lumen from 0 to 60 cmH2O were
      recorded 2 h following endotoxin administration. KEY RESULTS: Following endotoxin
      administration peak afferent discharge to 5-HT and BK was increased compared to
      controls (p < 0.05). Pre-perfusion with the mast cell stabilizer Doxantrazole
      (10(-4) M), or the cyclooxygenase inhibitor Naproxen inhibited the increased
      response to 5-HT and BK (p < 0.05 vs endotoxin pretreatment). Mechanosensitivity
      during luminal ramp distension from 10 to 60 cmH2O was increased following
      endotoxin pretreatment compared to controls (p < 0.05). This increase in
      sensitivity following endotoxin was no longer observed after Doxantrazole or
      Naproxen administration for pressures from 10 to 30 cmH2O (p < 0.05). Selective
      COX-2 inhibition by NS398 (10 MUM) but not COX-1 inhibition by SC560 (300 MUM)
      reduced increased afferent discharge in endotoxin pretreated animals to 5-HT, BK
      and mechanical ramp distension from 10 to 40 cmH2O (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS &
      INFERENCES: Systemic endotoxin sensitizes mesenteric afferent nerve fibers to 5
      HT, BK and mechanical stimuli. The underlying mechanism responsible for this
      sensitization seems to involve mast cells and the COX-2 pathway.

PMID- 25817057
TI  - Functional gastrointestinal disorders are associated with the joint hypermobility
      syndrome in secondary care: a case-control study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The overlap of unexplained gastrointestinal (GI) and somatic symptoms
      is well established in patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders
      (FGID). Joint hypermobility syndrome (JHS) is a non-inflammatory connective
      tissue disorder associated with GI and somatic symptoms. We aimed to determine
      whether there is an association between diagnosis of JHS and FGID and the impact
      of this association on comorbidities and quality of life (QOL). METHODS:
      Prospective case-control study in secondary care GI clinics over 2 years. JHS was
      assessed by the first author prior to consultation in 641 consecutive new
      patients. Diagnosis of FGID (cases, n = 336) or organic disorders (controls, n =
      305) was established blind to JHS status. JHS prevalence was compared in cases
      (FGID patients) and controls (organic disorders patients). Extra-intestinal
      comorbidity and QOL were compared in FGID patients with and without JHS. KEY
      RESULTS: JHS prevalence was higher in FGID compared to organic GI disorders
      (39.0% vs 27.5%, ORadj: 1.51, CI: 1.07-2.12, p = 0.02), and particularly
      associated with functional gastroduodenal disorders (44.1%, ORadj: 2.08, CI: 1.25
      3.46, p = 0.005), specifically postprandial distress syndrome (51%, ORadj: 1.99,
      CI: 1.06-3.76, p = 0.03). FGID patients with JHS had increased chronic pain
      (23.2% vs 11.9%, p = 0.01), fibromyalgia (10.5% vs 3.1%, p = 0.01), somatization
      scores (13 vs 10, p < 0.001), urinary autonomic scores (30.5 vs 20.7, p = 0.03),
      and worse pain-related QOL scores (45.0 vs 63.5, p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS &
      INFERENCES: JHS is significantly associated with FGID, and this subgroup of
      patients have increased comorbidity and decreased QOL. Further research is
      required to understand the pathophysiological basis of this association.

PMID- 25817058
TI  - Obituary: Lionel Bueno: 1945-2015.

PMID- 25817059
TI  - Corrigendum: OM14 is a mitochondrial receptor for cytosolic ribosomes that
      supports co-translational import into mitochondria.

PMID- 25817060
TI  - Molecular cloning and transgenic characterization of the genes encoding chalcone
      synthase and chalcone isomerase from the Tibetan herbal plant Mirabilis
      himalaica.
AB  - Mirabilis himalaica is an endangered medicinal plant species in the Tibetan
      Plateau. The two genes respectively encoding chalcone synthase (MhCHS) and
      chalcone isomerase (MhCHI) were isolated and characterized from M. himalaica. The
      sequence analysis revealed that the two genes were similar with their
      corresponding homologous genes in other plants. The tissue profiles showed that
      both MhCHS and MhCHI had higher expression levels in roots than in stems and
      leaves. Transgenic hairy root cultures respectively with overexpressing MhCHS and
      MhCHI were established. The genomic PCR detection confirmed the authority of
      transgenic hairy root lines, in which either MhCHS or MhCHI expression levels
      were much higher than that in non-transgenic hairy root line. Finally, the HPLC
      detection results demonstrated that the rotenoid contents in MhCHS/MhCHI
      transformed hairy root lines were enhanced. This study provided two candidate
      genes that could be used to genetic engineering rotenoid biosynthesis in M.
      himalaica and an alternative method to produce rotenoid using transgenic hairy
      root cultures. 

PMID- 25817061
TI  - Clinical presentation in insulinoma predicts histopathological tumour
      characteristics.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Insulinomas are rare neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) of the pancreas,
      characterized clinically by neuroglycopenic symptoms during periods of substrate
      deficiency. The gold standard test for diagnosing an insulinoma is a 72-h fast.
      However, the prognostic value of parameters in the standardized 72-h fast on
      histopathological tumour criteria and clinical presentation has not been
      examined. METHODS: In thirty-three patients diagnosed with an insulinoma records,
      and data were investigated retrospectively. Histopathological tumour
      characteristics, including staging, grading and size, were reviewed. Grading was
      performed using Ki-67 index. Cut-off values for classical grading (G(clas)) were
      set at G1(clas) <= 2%, G2(clas) 3-20% & G3(clas) >20% and for modified grading
      (G(mod)) at G1(mod) <5%, G2(mod) 5-20% & G3(mod) >20%. RESULTS: When G(mod)
      criteria were applied, the initial blood glucose was lower in GII/III(mod)
      patients compared to GI(mod) (2.8 +/- 0.8 vs 3.8 +/- 1.3 mmol/l; P = 0.046).
      Basal and end of fast levels of insulin (basal insulin 71 +/- 61 vs 20 +/- 16
      mU/l; P < 0.001; end of fast insulin 77 +/- 51 vs 21 +/- 20 mU/l; P < 0.001) and
      c-peptide (basal c-peptide 5.4 +/- 2.4 vs 2.7 +/- 1.6 MUg/l; P = 0.004; end of
      fast c-peptide 5.3 +/- 2.4 vs 2.5 +/- 1.4 MUg/l; P = 0.001) were significantly
      higher in GII/III(mod) than in GI(mod). No differences between the groups were
      observed when G(clas) criteria were applied. Additionally, close correlations
      were observed between insulin concentration, Ki-67 index and tumour size.
      CONCLUSION: This study shows an impact of histopathological tumour
      characteristics in patients suffering from an insulinoma on clinical presentation
      during a standardized 72-h fast. Lower initial blood glucose levels and higher
      concentrations of insulin and c-peptide are associated with worse tumour grading
      and larger tumour size.

PMID- 25817062
TI  - Effects of balloon inflation and cough trick methods on easing pain in children
      during the drawing of venous blood samples: a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose was to determine the effects of the balloon inflation and
      cough trick methods on easing pain in children during the drawing of venous blood
      samples. DESIGN AND METHODS: In this prospective randomized controlled study, 9-
      to 12-year-old children in the intervention groups were asked to cough or inflate
      balloons during the venipuncture procedure. The Faces Pain Scale-Revised was used
      to assess pain intensity. RESULTS: Pain intensity significantly differed between
      the control (n = 44) and intervention groups (balloon inflation [n = 44] and
      cough trick [n = 44], p < .001). PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Coughing and inflating
      balloons during venipuncture do not require preparation and are time saving,
      easy, accessible, and effective in reducing pain.

PMID- 25817063
TI  - Effect of Megasphaera elsdenii NCIMB 41125 dosing on rumen development, volatile
      fatty acid production and blood beta-hydroxybutyrate in neonatal dairy calves.
AB  - Thirty calves were randomly assigned to two treatments and fed until weaning [42
      days (d) of age]. Treatments were a control group (n = 15), which did not receive
      Megasphaera elsdenii (Me0) and a M. elsdenii group, which received a 50-ml oral
      dose of M. elsdenii NCIMB 41125 (10(8) CFU/ml) at day 14 day of age (Me14).
      Calves were given colostrum for the first 3 day followed by limited whole milk
      feeding. A commercial calf starter was offered ad libitum starting at day 4 until
      the end of the study. Fresh water was available throughout the study. Feed intake
      and growth were measured. Blood samples were collected via jugular venipuncture
      to determine beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) concentrations. Fourteen male calves
      (seven per group) were euthanised on day 42 and digestive tracts harvested.
      Reticulo-rumen weight was determined and rumen tissue samples collected from the
      cranial and caudal sacs of the ventral and dorsal portions of the rumen for
      measurements of papillae length, papillae width and rumen wall thickness. Dosing
      with M. elsdenii NCIMB 41125 improved starter dry matter intake (DMI), weaning
      body weight (BW) and tended to improve average daily gain. Calves in Me14 group
      had greater plasma BHBA concentration than Me0-calves during the last 3 weeks of
      the trial and had at day 42 greater reticulo-rumen weight, papillae width and
      papillae density compared to Me0. No differences in rumen wall thickness or
      papillae length were observed between the two groups. Total volatile fatty acids,
      acetate and propionate production did not differ between treatments, but butyrate
      production was greater in Me14 than Me0. Dosing M. elsdenii NCIMB 41125 showed
      benefit for calves with improved feed intake and rumen development suggesting
      increased epithelium metabolism and improved absorption of digestive end
      products.

PMID- 25817064
TI  - Pupil size reveals preparatory processes in the generation of pro-saccades and
      anti-saccades.
AB  - The ability to generate flexible behaviors to accommodate changing goals in
      response to identical sensory stimuli is a signature that is inherited in humans
      and higher-level animals. In the oculomotor system, this function has often been
      examined with the anti-saccade task, in which subjects are instructed, prior to
      stimulus appearance, to either automatically look at the peripheral stimulus (pro
      saccade) or to suppress the automatic response and voluntarily look in the
      opposite direction from the stimulus (anti-saccade). Distinct neural preparatory
      activity between the pro-saccade and anti-saccade conditions has been well
      documented, particularly in the superior colliculus (SC) and the frontal eye
      field (FEF), and this has shown higher inhibition-related fixation activity in
      preparation for anti-saccades than in preparation for pro-saccades. Moreover, the
      level of preparatory activity related to motor preparation is negatively
      correlated with reaction times. We hypothesised that preparatory signals may be
      reflected in pupil size through a link between the SC and the pupil control
      circuitry. Here, we examined human pupil dynamics during saccade preparation
      prior to the execution of pro-saccades and anti-saccades. Pupil size was larger
      in preparation for correct anti-saccades than in preparation for correct pro
      saccades and erroneous pro-saccades made in the anti-saccade condition.
      Furthermore, larger pupil dilation prior to stimulus appearance accompanied
      saccades with faster reaction times, with a trial-by-trial correlation between
      dilation size and anti-saccade reaction times. Overall, our results demonstrate
      that pupil size is modulated by saccade preparation, and neural activity in the
      SC, together with the FEF, supports these findings, providing unique insights
      into the neural substrate coordinating cognitive processing and pupil diameter. 

PMID- 25817065
TI  - Supporting people with dementia to walkabout safely outdoors: development of a
      structured model of assessment.
AB  - People with dementia while missing are at risk of harm including death. Yet,
      welfare concerns arise when freedom to walkabout outdoors is restricted and in
      particular, getting lost is a risk factor for admission to long-term care.
      Accurate methods of assessing the risks posed to community-dwelling people with
      dementia from getting lost are needed to ensure intervention is proportionate.
      Currently available assessment tools focus upon the identification of dementia
      related changes in a person's walking behaviour, traditionally referred to as
      'wandering'. 'Wandering' and getting lost are conceptually distinct; measures of
      'wandering' are not sufficient to support the assessment of risk while walking
      outdoors. The objective of this study was to develop an assessment schedule that
      can evaluate safety in community-dwelling people with dementia who walkabout
      outdoors. A structured assessment schedule was generated from research on the
      aetiology of getting lost, a review of existing assessment tools, an
      observational study of incidents of getting lost and qualitative data from
      families experiencing this issue. A content validity study was then undertaken
      with a panel of 17 health and social care practitioners and researchers in the
      field. A schedule of 7 domains and 38 items was generated, 33 of which were
      deemed valid by the expert panel. Panel feedback suggests the schedule needs to
      be used flexibly to reflect an individual's unique living circumstances.
      Reflecting the complex aetiology of getting lost, considerable challenges exist
      when assessing risk in this field. The implications of this study for
      practitioners are discussed with reference to the merits of narrative and
      structured models of assessment, and the balance between objective safety and
      subjective well-being that is required when making decisions about intervention.
      The direction of further research is examined as a means of supporting
      professional assessment of this complex issue.

PMID- 25817066
TI  - Outcome of Vaginoplasty in Male-to-Female Transgenders: A Systematic Review of
      Surgical Techniques.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Gender reassignment surgery is the keystone of the treatment of
      transgender patients. For male-to-female transgenders, this involves the creation
      of a neovagina. Many surgical methods for vaginoplasty have been opted. The
      penile skin inversion technique is the method of choice for most gender surgeons.
      However, the optimal surgical technique for vaginoplasty in transgender women has
      not yet been identified, as outcomes of the different techniques have never been
      compared. AIM: With this systematic review, we aim to give a detailed overview of
      the published outcomes of all currently available techniques for vaginoplasty in
      male-to-female transgenders. METHODS: A PubMed and EMBASE search for relevant
      publications (1995-present), which provided data on the outcome of techniques for
      vaginoplasty in male-to-female transgender patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Main
      outcome measures are complications, neovaginal depth and width, sexual function,
      patient satisfaction, and improvement in quality of life (QoL). RESULTS: Twenty
      six studies satisfied the inclusion criteria. The majority of these studies were
      retrospective case series of low to intermediate quality. Outcome of the penile
      skin inversion technique was reported in 1,461 patients, bowel vaginoplasty in
      102 patients. Neovaginal stenosis was the most frequent complication in both
      techniques. Sexual function and patient satisfaction were overall acceptable, but
      many different outcome measures were used. QoL was only reported in one study.
      Comparison between techniques was difficult due to the lack of standardization.
      CONCLUSIONS: The penile skin inversion technique is the most researched surgical
      procedure. Outcome of bowel vaginoplasty has been reported less frequently but
      does not seem to be inferior. The available literature is heterogeneous in
      patient groups, surgical procedure, outcome measurement tools, and follow-up.
      Standardized protocols and prospective study designs are mandatory for correct
      interpretation and comparability of data.

PMID- 25817067
TI  - Aversive event unpredictability causes stress-induced hypoalgesia.
AB  - Temporal predictability, or knowing when a noxious stimulus will occur, has been
      implicated in stress-induced hypoalgesia, but the contribution of event
      predictability, or knowing what the stimulus will be, remains poorly understood.
      To address this issue, we examined the effects of event predictability on pain
      intensity ratings and nociceptive flexion reflex responses. Participants
      repeatedly experienced five intensities of electrocutaneous stimulation, ranging
      from nonpainful to extremely painful, delivered either randomly (unpredictability
      group) or blocked (predictability group) with no cues provided. Unpredictable
      shocks produced the lowest pain ratings while evoking the highest flexion reflex
      responses. Moreover, anticipatory heart rate data indicated that unpredictable
      trials were the most physiologically arousing. Our findings show that uncertainty
      about the upcoming stimulus intensity is stressful and unpleasant, thereby
      causing hypoalgesia and reflex potentiation. 

PMID- 25817068
TI  - Degradation of Curcumin: From Mechanism to Biological Implications.
AB  - Curcumin is the main bioactive ingredient in turmeric extract and widely consumed
      as part of the spice mix curry or as a dietary supplement. Turmeric has a long
      history of therapeutic application in traditional Asian medicine. Biomedical
      studies conducted in the past two decades have identified a large number of
      cellular targets and effects of curcumin. In vitro curcumin rapidly degrades in
      an autoxidative transformation to diverse chemical species, the formation of
      which has only recently been appreciated. This paper discusses how the
      degradation and metabolism of curcumin, through products and their mechanism of
      formation, provide a basis for the interpretation of preclinical data and
      clinical studies. It is suggested that the previously unrecognized diversity of
      its degradation products could be an important factor in explaining the
      polypharmacology of curcumin. 

PMID- 25817069
TI  - The combined effects of maternal depression and excess weight on neonatal
      outcomes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Maternal overweight/obesity and depression are among the most
      prevalent pregnancy complications, and although individually they are associated
      with poor pregnancy outcomes, their combined effects are unknown. Owing to this,
      the objective of this study was to determine the prevalences and the individual
      and combined effects of depression and overweight/obesity on neonatal outcomes.
      METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of all singleton hospital births at >20
      weeks gestation in Ontario, Canada (April 2007 to March 2010) was conducted. The
      primary outcome measure was a composite neonatal outcome, which included:
      stillbirth, neonatal death, preterm birth, birth weight <2500 g, <5% or >95%,
      admission to a neonatal special care unit, or a 5-min Apgar score <7. RESULTS:
      Among the 70,605 included women, 49.7% had a healthy pre-pregnancy BMI, whereas
      50.3% were overweight/obese; depression was reported in 5.0% and 6.2%,
      respectively. Individually, depression and excess pre-pregnancy weight were
      associated with an increased risk of adverse neonatal outcomes, but the highest
      risk was seen when they were both present (16% of non-depressed healthy weight
      pregnant women, 19% of depressed healthy weight women, 20% of non-depressed
      overweight/obese women and 24% of depressed overweight/obese women). These higher
      risks of adverse neonatal outcomes persisted after accounting for potential
      confounding variables, such as maternal age, education and pre-existing health
      problems (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.13-1.33,
      adjusted OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.18-1.28 and adjusted OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.31-1.54, in the
      last three groups above, respectively, relative to non-depressed healthy weight
      women). There was no significant interaction between weight category and
      depression (P=0.2956). CONCLUSIONS: When dually present, maternal
      overweight/obesity and depression combined have the greatest impact on the risk
      of adverse neonatal outcomes. Our findings have important public health
      implications given the exorbitant proportions of both of these risk factors.

PMID- 25817070
TI  - miR-20a regulates adipocyte differentiation by targeting lysine-specific
      demethylase 6b and transforming growth factor-beta signaling.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several types of microRNAs (miRNAs) have recently been defined as
      important regulators in adipocyte differentiation, the role of other miRNAs in
      the processes and the mechanisms involved remain to be explored. METHODS: miR-20a
      expression was quantified in primary cultured marrow stromal cells and adipogenic
      cell lines after adipogenic treatment. Effects of miR-20a on adipocyte
      differentiation were studied following supplementing or depleting miR-20a in
      murine 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, ST2 stromal cells and C3H10T1/2 mesenchymal cells.
      Bioinformatics prediction of miRNA targets was performed, and potential targets
      of miR-20a were verified by using dual luciferase activity assays. Gain-of
      function and loss-of-function studies were performed to examine the effects of
      the target genes on adipocyte differentiation. RESULTS: miR-20a was induced in
      primary cultured marrow stromal cells and established adipogenic lines after
      adipogenic treatment. Supplementing miR-20a activity suppressed the growth of 3T3
      L1 preadipocytes and induced 3T3-L1, ST2 and C3H10T1/2 cells to differentiate
      into mature adipocytes, along with the induction of adipocyte-specific
      transcription factors peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma
      (PPARgamma), CCAAT/enhancer binding protein-alpha (C/EBPalpha), C/EBPbeta and the
      marker gene adipocyte protein 2 (aP2). Conversely, inhibition of the endogenous
      miR-20a repressed 3T3-L1, ST2 and C3H10T1/2 cells to fully differentiate.
      Transforming growth factor-beta receptor II (Tgfbr2) and lysine-specific
      demethylase 6b (Kdm6b) were shown to be direct targets of miR-20a. Supplementing
      miR-20a activity in ST2 reduced levels of KDM6B and TGFBR2 proteins, while
      suppression of endogenous miR-20a increased KDM6B and TGFBR2. While TGF-beta
      signaling is a well-documented inhibitor of adipogenesis, the effects of Kdm6b on
      adipocyte formation need to be clarified. We demonstrated that overexpression of
      Kdm6b inhibited, while knockdown of Kdm6b promoted the differentiation of the ST2
      cells into mature adipocytes. CONCLUSION: The present work provides evidence that
      mouse miR-20a promotes adipocyte progenitor cells to differentiate and this
      function may depend upon its inhibitory effects on Kdm6b and TGF-beta signaling.

PMID- 25817071
TI  - Sex-biased gene expression in dioecious garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis).
AB  - Sex chromosomes have evolved independently in phylogenetically diverse flowering
      plant lineages. The genes governing sex determination in dioecious species remain
      unknown, but theory predicts that the linkage of genes influencing male and
      female function will spur the origin and early evolution of sex chromosomes. For
      example, in an XY system, the origin of an active Y may be spurred by the linkage
      of female suppressing and male promoting genes. Garden asparagus (Asparagus
      officinalis) serves as a model for plant sex chromosome evolution, given that it
      has recently evolved an XX/XY sex chromosome system. In order to elucidate the
      molecular basis of gender differences and sex determination, we used RNA
      sequencing (RNA-Seq) to identify differentially expressed genes between female
      (XX), male (XY) and supermale (YY) individuals. We identified 570 differentially
      expressed genes, and showed that significantly more genes exhibited male-biased
      than female-biased expression in garden asparagus. In the context of anther
      development, we identified genes involved in pollen microspore and tapetum
      development that were specifically expressed in males and supermales. Comparative
      analysis of genes in the Arabidopsis thaliana, Zea mays and Oryza sativa anther
      development pathways shows that anther sterility in females probably occurs
      through interruption of tapetum development before microspore meiosis. 

PMID- 25817072
TI  - Rapid and Persistent Delivery of Antigen by Lymph Node Targeting PRINT
      Nanoparticle Vaccine Carrier To Promote Humoral Immunity.
AB  - Nanoparticle delivery of subunit vaccines may increase vaccine efficacy, leading
      to a wide variety of safe and effective vaccines beyond those available through
      dosing inactivated or live, attenuated whole pathogens. Here we present a
      versatile vaccine delivery platform based on PRINT hydrogels made of
      biocompatible hydroxy-poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) that is able to activate the
      complement system by the alternative pathway. These lymph node targeting
      nanoparticles (NPs) promote the immunogenicity of a model antigen, ovalbumin,
      showing comparable adjuvant effect to alum. We demonstrate that an antigen
      specific humoral response is correlated with antigen delivery to the draining
      lymph nodes, in particular, B cell rich regions of the lymph nodes. 80 * 180 nm
      cylindrical NPs were able to sustain prolonged antigen presentation to antigen
      presenting cells (APCs) and elicit a stronger immune response than nondraining 1
      * 1 MUm NPs or rapidly clearing soluble antigen. The 80 * 180 nm NPs also show
      high levels of uptake by key APCs and efficiently stimulate CD4(+) helper T cell
      proliferation in vivo, further promoting antibody production. These features
      together produce a significant humoral immune response, superior to that produced
      by free antigen alone. The simplicity of the chemistries used in antigen
      conjugation to PRINT NPs confers versatility to this antigen delivery platform,
      allowing for potential application to many infectious diseases. 

PMID- 25817073
TI  - BRAF V600 point mutation is not present in relapsing meningioma.

PMID- 25817074
TI  - Evolution to malignancy: A genetic stepwise study of tumor suppressor genes loss
      in a recurrent meningioma.

PMID- 25817075
TI  - Multinucleated giant cell granulomatous reaction to psammomatous calcifications
      in inflammatory (calcified fibrous) pseudotumor of CNS.

PMID- 25817076
TI  - Myopathic changes in patients with elastofibroma dorsi.

PMID- 25817077
TI  - The Effect of Habitual Physical Training on Left Ventricular Function During
      Exercise Assessed by Three-Dimensional Echocardiography.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Stroke volume (SV) in trained athletes continuously increases with
      progressive exercise intensity. We studied whether physical training affected
      left ventricle (LV) function response to exercise using 3D echocardiography and
      tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). METHODS: Eleven male university athletes and 12
      male university nonathletes were enrolled in this study. After baseline data were
      collected, subjects performed a symptom-limited supine bicycle ergometer exercise
      test. Initial workload was 25 Watts (W) and increased 25 W every 3 minutes. At
      rest and every exercise stage, LV end-systolic and diastolic volume index (LVEDVI
      and LVESVI), SV index (SVI), cardiac index (CI), LV ejection fraction (LVEF), and
      early lateral mitral flow velocity (Ea) were evaluated. Heart rate (HR), and
      systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) were continuously recorded.
      RESULTS: Nonathletes showed a slow increase in CI, and SVI reached a plateau
      value at a HR of 90 beats per minute (bpm). In contrast, CI and SVI increased
      progressively and continuously in athletes. Both CI and SVI were significantly
      higher in athletes than in nonathletes at HRs of 100, 110, and 120 bpm. LVEDVI
      kept increasing in athletes while it plateaued in nonathletes. In contrast, LVESV
      decreased continuously during exercise in both groups. There was no significant
      difference in LVEF, Ea, SBP, or DBP at rest and during exercise between the two
      groups. CONCLUSION: LV responses to exercise in athletes were different from
      those of in nonathletes; thus, habitual physical training may play an important
      role in the increase in both SVI and CI in young individuals.

PMID- 25817078
TI  - Perception of students' intelligence malleability and potential for future
      success: Unfavourable beliefs towards girls.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Endorsing an entity theory of intelligence has negative effects on
      students' academic trajectories. Research focused on students' personal theories
      of intelligence has shown that girls are more likely than boys to hold an entity
      theory of intelligence. However, no study has examined the possibility of a
      gender stereotype basis for this belief. AIMS: We examined whether secondary
      school students are knowledgeable about others' beliefs describing female
      students' intelligence as less malleable than male students' intelligence. SAMPLE
      AND METHOD: A sample of 85 French ninth graders were asked to rate to what extent
      others perceived: (1) female or male students' intelligence as malleable and
      fixed; (2) female or male students as making efforts for their current
      achievement; and (3) female or male students as having potential for future
      success. RESULTS: Participants reported that others perceived girls' intelligence
      as less malleable than boys' intelligence. Moreover, the relationship between
      current efforts and potential for future achievement depended on the target's
      gender. The more hardworking a female student was perceived to be in school, the
      less she was considered to have potential to succeed in the future, whereas such
      a link was not observed for a male student. CONCLUSIONS: Secondary school
      students seem to be knowledgeable about a gender stereotype regarding
      intelligence and potential for academic success which is unfavourable for female
      students. Implications for students' academic trajectories are discussed.

PMID- 25817079
TI  - A modified pathway of perineal packing in patients requiring surgery for perineal
      fistulas with extensive perineal involvement.
AB  - AIM: To describe a method to manage complex perianal fistulas with extensive
      perineal involvement, allowing avoidance of exposure of wide wounds and repeated
      procedures. MATERIAL OF STUDY: All patients presenting with perianal fistulas
      extensively spreading to the perineum requiring surgery between January 2010 and
      December 2012 were enrolled in the present study. Diabetic patients and those
      with active abdominal Crohn's disease (CD) were ruled out from evaluation. After
      clinical and radiological assessment, patients underwent exploration under
      anaesthesia, and the conventional procedures were completed with at least one
      wide perineal fistulotomy, managed with "perineal packing" with gauzes. Patients
      were followed-up for complications and healing of fistulas. RESULTS: Eight
      patients (3 males, mean age 38 +/- 5.1 years) were enrolled in the present study.
      Four patients had CD, two had Hidradenitis suppurativa, and two had idiopathic
      fistula-in-ano. All but two patients were not required to stay overnight. Gauzes
      were removed in outpatient settings. One patient had bleeding requiring
      coagulation with electroscalpel. One patient needed to receive analgesics and
      four wore pads in the maturation period. No sepsis was observed. Mean time to
      healing was 21.5 +/- 3.2 days; mean time off-work was 2 +/- 1.3 days. Patients
      reported no significant impairment of leisure activities. No recurrences were
      observed at a mean follow-up of 16.4 +/- 2.1 months. Major complications were not
      observed. DISCUSSION: All patients achieved complete healing of the perineal
      tracks, without significant impairment of social function and need for further
      surgical treatments. Patients were safely discharged and promptly returned to
      work or leisure activities. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the procedure is
      safe and effective in selected patients with extensive perineal involvement.

PMID- 25817080
TI  - Magnetostriction and ferroelectric state in AgCrS2.
AB  - The band structure calculations in the GGA+U approximation show the presence of
      additional lattice distortions in the magnetically ordered phase of AgCrS2. The
      magnetostriction leads to the formation of long and short Cr-Cr bonds in the case
      when the respective Cr ions have the same or opposite spin projections. These
      changes in the Cr lattice are accompanied by distortions of the CrS6 octahedra,
      which in turn lead to the development of spontaneous electric polarization. 

PMID- 25817081
TI  - Chronic lupus peritonitis is characterized by the ascites with a large content of
      interleukin-6.
AB  - Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease and can cause multi
      organ damage. Peritoneal involvement, also called lupus peritonitis, is a rare
      but sometimes fatal manifestation. Deposition of immune complexes consisting of
      immunoglobulin G and complement is considered to be involved in the pathogenesis
      of lupus peritonitis; however, it remains unknown whether inflammatory cytokines
      contribute to the pathology of this manifestation. Here we present two patients
      with treatment-resistant lupus peritonitis: a 37-year-old woman with a 26-year
      history of SLE who had been treated with prednisolone and cyclophosphamide
      followed by azathioprine and a 65-year-old woman with a 33-year history of SLE
      who had been treated with prednisolone alone. Both patients were admitted to our
      department because of abdominal distention. Computed tomography scans showed
      massive ascites. Ascitic fluid examinations of both patients showed leukocytosis
      with no evidence of malignancy or infection. After eliminating other causes for
      ascites, they were diagnosed with lupus peritonitis. Despite the intensified
      immunosuppressive therapy, they died of uncontrolled peritonitis several months
      after admission. Examinations of the ascites at admission also revealed a large
      content of interleukin (IL)-6, compared with other inflammatory cytokines, IL
      1beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. In fact, the ascitic IL-6 levels of these
      two patients were 12,389 pg/mL and 5,486 pg/mL, much higher than their serum IL-6
      levels of 36 pg/mL and 140 pg/mL, respectively. We therefore suggest that IL-6
      may contribute to the pathogenesis of lupus peritonitis and that the inhibition
      of IL-6 signaling may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for lupus peritonitis.

PMID- 25817082
TI  - Diabetic pregnancy outcomes in mothers treated with basal insulin lispro
      protamine suspension or NPH insulin: a multicenter retrospective Italian study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to study the efficacy and safety of long
      acting insulin analog insulin lispro protamine suspension (ILPS) in diabetic
      pregnant women. METHODS: In a multicenter observational retrospective study, we
      evaluated pregnancy outcome in 119 women affected by type 1 diabetes and 814 with
      gestational diabetes (GDM) treated during pregnancy with ILPS, compared with a
      control group treated with neutral protamine hagedorn (NPH) insulin. RESULTS:
      Among type 1 diabetic patients, fasting blood glucose at the end of pregnancy was
      significantly lower in ILPS-treated than in NPH-treated patients. HbA1c levels
      across pregnancy did not differ between groups. Caesarean section and preterm
      delivery rates were significantly lower in the ILPS-women. Fetal outcomes were
      similar in the ILPS and NPH groups. Among GDM women, fasting blood glucose at the
      end of pregnancy was significantly lower in ILPS-treated than in NPH-treated
      patients. Duration of gestation was significantly longer, caesarian section and
      preterm delivery rates were lower in the ILPS-treated group. In addition, there
      were significantly fewer babies with an excessive ponderal index or neonatal
      hypoglycemic episodes in the ILPS group than in the NPH group. CONCLUSIONS:
      Association of ILPS with rapid-acting analogs in pregnancy is safe in terms of
      maternal and fetal outcomes.

PMID- 25817083
TI  - Age-related dysfunctions of the autophagy lysosomal pathway in hippocampal
      pyramidal neurons under proteasome stress.
AB  - Autophagy plays a key role in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis, and
      autophagy deregulation gives rise to severe disorders. Many of the signaling
      pathways regulating autophagy under stress conditions are still poorly
      understood. Using a model of proteasome stress in rat hippocampus, we have
      characterized the functional crosstalk between the ubiquitin proteasome system
      and the autophagy-lysosome pathway, identifying also age-related modifications in
      the crosstalk between both proteolytic systems. Under proteasome inhibition, both
      autophagy activation and resolution were efficiently induced in young but not in
      aged rats, leading to restoration of protein homeostasis only in young pyramidal
      neurons. Importantly, proteasome stress inhibited glycogen synthase kinase-3beta
      in young but activated in aged rats. This age-related difference could be because
      of a dysfunction in the signaling pathway of the insulin growth factor-1 under
      stress situations. Present data highlight the potential role of glycogen synthase
      kinase-3beta in the coordination of both proteolytic systems under stress
      situation, representing a key molecular target to sort out this deleterious
      effect. 

PMID- 25817084
TI  - Sporadically second localization of cerebellar hemangioblastoma in sella turcica
      mimicking a meningioma with no associated von Hippel-Lindau disease.
AB  - A 72-year-old man presented with a gradual bilateral decrease in visual acuity.
      Imaging showed lesion in the sella turcica diagnosed as meningioma but proving
      secondarily to be a hemangioblastoma. His neurosurgical history included a
      resection of a cerebellar hemangioblastoma 30 years ago. To our knowledge, such a
      hemangioblastoma second localization from the infratentorial to supratentorial
      has not been reported in the literature for patients not presenting with von
      Hippel-Lindau disease. 

PMID- 25817085
TI  - ["Big data"; application and use for the health system].

PMID- 25817086
TI  - [Subcutaneous drug administration in palliative care].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Develop a guide that compiles all the information available in the
      literature for healthcare staff on the administration of drugs subcutaneously in
      palliative care patients of the Hospital Unit of home. METHOD: It is designed a
      summary table of drugs likely to be administered subcutaneously in palliative
      care patients through the revision of the technical reports of the manufacturers
      and other literature published by scientific organizations, in addition to the
      literature search on Pubmed(r) and Micromedex(r). RESULTS: We have reviewed 65
      drugs and a guide has been developed of recommendations depending on whether
      there is information of his administration by subcutaneous or, if on the
      contrary, its use is contraindicated. CONCLUSIONS: Although mainly manufacturers
      laboratories do not have data, information collected in this guide will allow the
      management of the subcutaneous route of some of the most commonly used
      medications in palliative care.

PMID- 25817087
TI  - Indirect comparison for Anti-TNF drugs in moderate to severe ulcerative colitis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the relative efficacy of infliximab, adalimumab and
      golimumab through adjusted indirect treatment comparisons (ITCs). METHODS: An
      exhaustive search was performed until October 2013. Databases consulted were
      MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
      and the Web of Science. Randomized control trials (RCTs) comparing the efficacy
      of infliximab, adalimumab or golimumab versus placebo, in terms of clinical
      remission, clinical response and mucosal healing, were included. In the case that
      more than one RCT fulfilled the inclusion criteria for the same drug, a
      metanalysis was undertaken using a fixed effects model. ITCs were carried out
      using the method proposed by Bucher et al. RESULTS: 6 RCTs published in 5 papers
      were included: 2 for infliximab (ACT 1 and ACT 2), 2 for adalimumab (ULTRA 1 y
      ULTRA 2) and 2 for golimumab (PURSUIT-SC y PURSUIT-M).In these RTCs, each
      biological agent was superior in efficacy to placebo. The results of the adjusted
      ITC are the following. In relation to the clinical remission, in the induction
      and maintenance period, there are no statistically significant differences
      between the three anti-TNF drugs. In relation to the clinical response and
      mucosal healing, in the induction period, there are statistically significant
      differences between infliximab and adalimumab. CONCLUSION: In view of the results
      obtained, infliximab, adalimumab and golimumab appear to be similarly effective
      therapeutic alternatives. Therefore, other considerations such as safety,
      tolerance and cost-effectiveness should be taken into account in order to select
      the most appropriate treatment.

PMID- 25817088
TI  - [Use of valproic acid in long stay units of psychiatry].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Valproic acid is often used in psychiatry to treat schizophrenia and
      other conditions outside of indication ("off-label"). However, its effectiveness
      has not been sufficiently demonstrated and its use is not exempt of adverse
      effects. This study's main objective is to determine the frequency of use of
      valproic acid in approved indications and the "off-label" use in psychiatric
      patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study on July 7, 2014 with a sample of 167
      patients residents in a psychiatric center was designed. Demographics, valproic
      acid treatment, posology and associated drug treatment, monitoring safety
      parameters, interactions and valproic acid concentrations. RESULTS: Valproic acid
      is prescribed in 1 of 3 patients of the center. It was used in the approved
      indications in 8 (15%) of the 53 patients analyzed: 5 (9%) of them with bipolar
      disorder and 3 (6%) diagnosed with epilepsy. Other 5 patients (9%) were included
      in the extended schizoaffective disorder indication. 76% (40) of the evaluated
      patients were prescribed valproic acid off-label. The mean dose of valproic acid
      was 1.26 Defined Daily Dose / patient / day. An average of 6 drugs associated
      with valproic acid was found. 18% of patients had thrombocytopenia. CONCLUSIONS:
      Valproic acid is often used off-label in psychiatric patients. It should be
      assessed the benefit-risk in this population.

PMID- 25817089
TI  - [Designing a software for drug management in special situations at a hospital's
      drug administration service].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: to describe the features of a computer program for management of drugs
      in special situations (off-label and compassionate use) in a Department of
      Hospital Pharmacy (PD). To describe the methodology followed for its
      implementation in the Medical Services. To evaluate their use after 2 years of
      practice. METHOD: the design was carried out by pharmacists of the PD. The stages
      of the process were: selection of a software development company, establishment
      of a working group, selection of a development platform, design of an interactive
      Viewer, definition of functionality and data processing, creation of databases,
      connection, installation and configuration, application testing and improvements
      development. A directed sequential strategy was used for implementation in the
      Medical Services. The program's utility and experience of use were evaluated
      after 2 years. RESULTS: a multidisciplinary working group was formed and
      developed Pk_Usos(r). The program works in web environment with a common viewer
      for all users enabling real time checking of the request files' status and that
      adapts to the management of medications in special situations procedure.
      Pk_Usos(r) was introduced first in the Oncology Department, with 15 oncologists
      as users of the program. 343 patients had 384 treatment requests managed, of
      which 363 are authorized throughout two years. CONCLUSIONS: PK_Usos(r) is the
      first software designed for the management of drugs in special situations in the
      PD. It is a dynamic and efficient tool for all professionals involved in the
      process by optimization of times.

PMID- 25817090
TI  - [Adherence in patients with chronic treatment: data of "adherence day 2013"].
AB  - OBJETIVE: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the adherence level
      in chronic conditions patients during "The Adherence Day" celebrated on November
      15, 2013. METHODS: We performed a transversal, observational and multicenter
      study at 43 Spanish hospitals, in order to estimate adherence in chronic
      treatments. We used the validated questionnaires Haynes- Sackett and Morisky-
      Green to measure medication adherence; but also a visual analogue scale and
      questions related with treatment complexity and selective adherence were applied.
      We performed a descriptive analysis and the closeness of agreement between
      questionnaires results. RESULTS: A total of 723 surveys were collected especially
      among outpatients. 43% of the participants were women, with a median age of 51
      and taking 3 drugs per day. 10.8% of the patients reported to have difficulty
      taking their pills according to Haynes- Sackett test. However, depending on
      Morisky- Green questionnaire, 56.4% of the participants were totally compliant;
      but considering only the question about forgetfulness, more were adherents (77%).
      71% of the patients considered their compliance level as good (more than 8)
      according to visual analogue scale. And 11% presented a selective adherence, no
      taking equally well all the medications. The closeness of agreement between
      questionnaires and Morisky- Green test, as gold standard, was poor for Haynes-
      Sackett and weak for visual analogue scale. CONCLUSIONS: In our study only 56% of
      the patients with chronic treatment had a perfect adherence.

PMID- 25817091
TI  - [Biosimilars, the journey has begun].
AB  - According to the European Medicine Agency, a "biosimilar" is a biological
      medicinal product that contains a version of the active substance of an original
      biological medicinal product (reference or innovative medicinal product) that has
      been authorized in the European Economic Area. The similarity to the reference
      medicinal product in terms of quality, biological activity, safety and efficacy
      needs to be set on a comprehensive comparability basis. The generic standard
      approach (demonstration of bioequivalence with a reference medicinal product by
      appropriate bioavailability studies), which is applicable to a wide range of
      chemically derived medicinal products, is not sufficient to prove the similarity
      of biotechnology derived products due to their structural complexity.
      Furthermore, these biopharmaceuticals products, in comparison with the
      conventional ones, show a greater ability to activate the immune response. The
      evaluation of biosimilar medicines for authorisation purposes by the European
      Medicine Agency does not include recommendations on whether a biosimilar should
      be used interchangeably with its reference medicine. Substitution policies are,
      therefore, within the remit of the EU member states. In order to support
      pharmacovigilance monitoring, all appropriate measures should be taken to clearly
      identify any biological medicinal product with due regard to its brand name and
      batch number. The situation of the European Community and the regulatory
      framework have been developed since the first applications (growth hormone),
      almost a decade ago, until the recent advent (monoclonal antibodies). The
      introduction to the market of biosimilars have positive effects on competition by
      improving access to biological therapies. 

PMID- 25817092
TI  - [Interstitial lung disease induced by raltitrexed-oxaliplatin based chemotherapy
      for colorectal cancer: a case report].

PMID- 25817093
TI  - [Some questions about abiraterone, breakfast and public funding].

PMID- 25817094
TI  - [Drug use in off-label dosage regimes].

PMID- 25817095
TI  - Internal and external atomic steps in graphite exhibit dramatically different
      physical and chemical properties.
AB  - We report on the physical and chemical properties of atomic steps on the surface
      of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) investigated using atomic force
      microscopy. Two types of step edges are identified: internal (formed during
      crystal growth) and external (formed by mechanical cleavage of bulk HOPG). The
      external steps exhibit higher friction than the internal steps due to the broken
      bonds of the exposed edge C atoms, while carbon atoms in the internal steps are
      not exposed. The reactivity of the atomic steps is manifested in a variety of
      ways, including the preferential attachment of Pt nanoparticles deposited on HOPG
      when using atomic layer deposition and KOH clusters formed during drop casting
      from aqueous solutions. These phenomena imply that only external atomic steps can
      be used for selective electrodeposition for nanoscale electronic devices. 

PMID- 25817096
TI  - Apelin inhibits the activation of the nucleotide-binding domain and the leucine
      rich, repeat-containing family, pyrin-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and
      ameliorates insulin resistance in severely burned rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hyperglycemia with insulin resistance remains a challenging problem
      in severely burned patients. Recent studies indicated the involvement of the
      nucleotide-binding domain and the leucine-rich, repeat-containing family, pyrin
      containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in insulin resistance and a beneficial role of
      apelin in insulin resistance. Our aim was to investigate whether apelin inhibits
      the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and ameliorates insulin resistance in
      severely burned rats. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were subjected to a full
      thickness burn injury comprising 40% of the total body surface area and were
      randomized to receive apelin, N(G)-methyl-L-arginine acetate salt (L-NMMA), and
      apelin plus treatments with L-NMMA. The following outcome measurements were
      assessed: apelin/APJ mRNA expression in white adipose tissue (WAT) and muscles,
      plasma apelin level, and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in WAT, Interleukin
      1 beta, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and monocyte chemoattractant
      protein-1 levels in plasma, insulin resistance, survival rates, and endothelial
      nitric oxide synthase phosphorylation in soleus muscles. RESULTS: Severe burn
      induced a decreased expression of apelin/APJ mRNA in soleus muscles and a
      decrease in plasma apelin levels. Burn injury with apelin treatment restored
      plasma apelin level, inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome activity in WAT, and decreased
      inflammatory cytokine levels in plasma. Rats treated with apelin also showed
      improved insulin sensitivity and decreased mortality, accompanied by a remarkable
      induction of endothelial nitric oxide synthase phosphorylation in soleus muscle.
      Furthermore, the aforementioned effects of apelin were inhibited in part by
      treatment with L-NMMA. CONCLUSION: Apelin inhibits the activation of NLRP3
      inflammasome, attenuates systemic inflammatory response, ameliorates insulin
      resistance, and promotes survival after severe burn, in part through an
      endothelial nitric oxide synthase-dependent pathway.

PMID- 25817097
TI  - Contraction of abdominal wall muscles influences size and occurrence of
      incisional hernia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Incisional hernias are a complication in 10% of all open abdominal
      operations and can result in substantial morbidity. The purpose of this study was
      to determine whether inhibiting abdominal muscle contraction influences
      incisional hernia formation during the fascial healing after laparotomy. We
      hypothesized that decreasing the deformation of the abdominal musculature would
      decrease the size or occurrence of an incisional hernia. METHODS: Using an
      established rat model for incisional hernia, a laparotomy through the linea alba
      was closed with 1 mid-incision, fast-absorbing suture. Three groups were
      compared: a sham group (sham; n = 6) received no laparotomy, and the saline
      hernia (SH; n = 6) and Botox hernia (BH; n = 6) groups were treated once with
      equal volumes of saline or botulinum toxin (Botox, Allergan) before the
      incomplete laparotomy closure. On postoperative day 14, the abdominal wall was
      examined for herniation and adhesions, and contractile forces were measured for
      abdominal wall muscles. RESULTS: No hernias developed in the sham rats. Rostral
      hernias developed in all SH and BH rats. Caudal hernias developed in all SH rats,
      but in only 50% of the BH rats. Rostral hernias in the BH group were 35% shorter
      and 43% narrower compared with those in the SH group (P < .05). The BH group had
      weaker abdominal muscles compared with the sham and SH groups (P < .05).
      CONCLUSION: In our rat model, partial paralysis of abdominal muscles decreases
      the number and size of incisional hernias. These results suggest that
      contractions of the abdominal wall muscle play a role in the pathophysiology of
      the formation of incisional hernias.

PMID- 25817098
TI  - Program directors' criteria for selection into urology residency.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate urology residency program directors' criteria for
      resident selection. METHODS: In 2014, the urology residency program directors
      were surveyed using an email questionnaire. The generated questionnaire included
      the following 3 components: (1) assessing the factors used in selecting
      applicants for interviewing and matching, (2) rating the factors resulting in a
      negative decision for applicants for interviewing and matching, and (3)
      investigating the factors that gave applicants special attention or consideration
      from program directors. Analysis of variance testing and post hoc Student t tests
      were used to assess for differences in the mean importance score of the factors.
      RESULTS: Urology reference letters and United States Medical Licensing
      Examination (USMLE) scores were ranked as the most important factors for
      applicant selection. A USMLE Step 1 score <=220 and a USMLE Step 2 score <=220
      were the most deleterious factors to applicants, with a previous match failure
      being no less deleterious to an applicant than a USMLE Step 1 or 2 score <=220.
      Program directors gave special attention or consideration to gender (25%),
      minority status (36.8%), being from the same medical school as the program
      director (61.8%), completing an away rotation at the program director's
      institution (86.8%), being a child of an academic urologist (47.4%), and being a
      child of an academic nonurologic physician (15.8%). CONCLUSION: Although program
      directors consider a variety of factors during the residency selection process,
      USMLE performance, urology references, and completing an away rotation at the
      program directors' institution appear to be the most important factors to program
      directors during the residency selection process.

PMID- 25817099
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817100
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25817098.

PMID- 25817101
TI  - Prospective multi-institutional study analyzing pain perception of flexible and
      rigid cystoscopy in men.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate pain perception in men undergoing flexible or rigid
      diagnostic cystoscopy. METHODS: This is a prospective multi-institutional
      analysis of men undergoing cystoscopy in 4 European departments of urology. Pain
      perception was assessed with an 11-point numeric rating scale. Pain categories
      were as follows: no (0 points), mild (1-3), moderate (4-6), and severe pain (7
      10). Assessment of pain was before, during cystoscopy, and at days 1, 4, and 7 of
      follow-up. RESULTS: A total of 300 cystoscopies were analyzed (150 rigid and 150
      flexible). Men undergoing flexible cystoscopy were more frequently free of pain
      (58.7% vs 24%; P <.0001). Mild pain (54% vs 30.7%; P <.0001) and moderate pain
      (18.7% vs 9.3%; P = .02) were more common with rigid devices. No significant
      differences were prevalent in severe pain perception (3.3% vs 1.3%; P = .25).
      Patients, who had previous experience with cystoscopy reported similar pain
      levels as patients naive to cystoscopy, regardless if rigid (P = .92) or flexible
      (P = .26) devices were used. Pain decreased to the baseline during the 1-week
      follow-up after both, flexible and rigid cystoscopy. In multivariate regression
      analyses, rigid cystoscopy was an independent predictor for not being pain free
      (odds ratio [OR] = 0.15; confidence interval [CI] = 0.08-0.28; P <.0001), for
      experiencing mild pain (OR = 2.57; CI = 1.57-4.19; P <.0001), and for moderate
      pain (OR = 2.39; CI = 1.13-5.07; P = .02). Severe pain was seldom with both
      devices, and thus, no statistical difference was found. CONCLUSION: Flexible
      diagnostic cystoscopy caused less pain than rigid cystoscopy in men. Patient's
      previous experience with cystoscopy did not influence pain sensation. The type of
      cystoscope itself was identified as an independent risk factor of pain
      perception.

PMID- 25817103
TI  - Testosterone replacement therapy and the internet: an assessment of providers'
      health-related web site information content.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare how providers of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in
      large metropolitan cities promote androgen replacement on their patient-oriented
      Web sites. MATERIALS AND METHODS: TRT provider Web sites were identified using
      Google search and the terms "Testosterone replacement" and the name of the 5 most
      populous US cities. These Web sites were assessed for (1) type or specialty of
      medical provider, (2) discussion of the benefits and risks of TRT, and (3)
      industry affiliations. RESULTS: In total, 75 Web sites were evaluated. Twenty
      seven of the 75 clinics (36%) were directed by nonphysicians, 35 (47%) were
      overseen by nonurology or nonendocrine physicians, and only 13 (17%) were
      specialist managed. Fourteen of 75 (18.6%) Web sites disclosed industry
      relationships. Ninety-five percent of Web sites promoted the benefits of TRT
      including improved sex drive, cognitive improvement, increased muscle strength,
      and/or improved energy. Only 20 of 75 Web sites (26.6%) described any side effect
      of TRT. Web sites directed by specialists were twice as likely to discuss risks
      of TRT compared with nonspecialist providers (41% vs 20%; odds ratio = 2.77; P
      <.01). Nine of 75 (12%) of all Web sites actually refuted that TRT was associated
      with significant side effects. CONCLUSION: Urologists and endocrinologists are in
      the minority of providers promoting TRT on the Internet. Specialists are more
      likely to discuss risks associated with TRT although the majority of surveyed Web
      sites that promote TRT do not mention treatment risks. There is substantial
      variability in quality and quantity of information on provider Web sites, which
      may contribute to misinformation regarding this prevalent health issue.

PMID- 25817104
TI  - Outcomes of microsurgical vasovasostomy for vasectomy reversal: a meta-analysis
      and systematic review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published
      literature evaluating vasovasostomy for vasectomy reversal outcomes. METHODS: We
      conducted a review of English language articles describing results of microscopic
      vasovasostomy for vasectomy reversal. Two reviewers independently examined the
      studies for eligibility and evaluated data from each study. Meta-analysis was
      performed using a random effects model. RESULTS: Thirty-one studies with 6633
      patients met inclusion criteria. Mean patient age at time of vasectomy reversal
      was 38.9 years with a mean obstructive interval of 7.2 years. The mean
      postprocedure patency and pregnancy rates weighted by sample size were 89.4% and
      73.0%, respectively. A meta-analysis comparing an obstructive interval (OI) of
      <10 years to an OI of at least 10 years duration produced a pooled incidence
      ratios (IR; meta-IR) of 1.17 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09-1.25) for
      patency and 1.24 (95% CI, 1.12-1.38) for pregnancy. Incidence of patency for
      modified 1-layer technique was similar to that after a 2-layer procedure with a
      meta-IR of 1.04 (95% CI, 1.00-1.08). Because of a small number of relevant
      studies, a meta-analysis for other predictors of success such as sperm granuloma,
      quality of vasal fluid, and female factors was not feasible. CONCLUSION: We found
      no statistically significant difference in vasovasostomy outcomes when comparing
      the impact of single vs multilayer anastomoses. Patients with an OI <10 years
      showed higher patency and pregnancy rates compared with those with an OI >=10
      years. Uniform definitions of patency are necessary to characterize success and
      standardize outcome reporting.

PMID- 25817102
TI  - Retrospective review of serum and urinary lithogenic risk factors in patients
      with osteoporosis and osteopenia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze differences in bone remodeling markers, lithogenic factors
      and bone densitometry among the 3 groups of patients (controls, patients with
      relapsing calcium renal lithiasis, and patients with loss of bone mineral density
      without lithiasis). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study
      including 203 patients who were divided in 3 groups: group 1 (controls), group 2
      (patients with relapsing calcium renal lithiasis), and group 3 (patients with
      osteopenia and/or osteoporosis in the lumbar spine or hip). Bone densitometry,
      calcium-phosphorous and bone metabolism analysis, and analysis of lithogenic risk
      factors in fasting urine samples and 24-hour urine samples were performed.
      Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 17.0. A P <=.05 was considered
      statistically significant. RESULTS: Patients in group 2 presented greater calcium
      excretion and a lower citrate excretion in 24-hour urine samples as compared with
      the other 2 groups. The proportion of hypercalciuria and hypocitraturia was
      higher in group 2. In addition, patients in group 2 presented a lower loss of
      bone mineral density as well as altered bone remodeling markers as compared with
      those in group 1. Patients in group 3 also presented alterations in urine calcium
      and citrate excretion with respect to the control group, with elevated fasting
      calcium and citrate levels and calcium-to-citrateratio. CONCLUSION: Lithogenic
      risk factors are altered in patients with osteopenia and/or osteoporosis without
      renal lithiasis although to a lesser extent than patients with calcium renal
      lithiasis.

PMID- 25817105
TI  - Reassessing the role of subclinical varicocele in infertile men with impaired
      semen quality: a prospective study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the seminal, hormonal, and spontaneous pregnancy outcome
      after percutaneous embolization of the internal spermatic vein in infertile men
      with left-sided subclinical varicocele and one or more abnormal semen parameters.
      METHODS: A total of 218 patients underwent percutaneous embolization, and 119
      patients were included as the observation group. All patients were followed up
      prospectively for 39.4 +/- 6.5 months. Semen parameters and hormonal levels were
      evaluated before any procedure and 6 months after. RESULTS: Significant
      improvement in the mean sperm concentration, total motility, and lower follicle
      stimulating hormone levels was noted in those who underwent varicocele
      embolization as compared with those not treated. After 39.4 +/- 6.5 months,
      pregnancy rates were 46.3% for the treated group and 11.8% for the control group
      (P = .011). CONCLUSION: In infertile men, small varicoceles, even subclinical
      ones, should be identified and treated.

PMID- 25817106
TI  - Usefulness of 2010 world health organization reference values for determining
      indications for varicocelectomy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of 2010 World Health Organization (WHO)
      reference values in patients who underwent microsurgical varicocelectomy.
      METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included 206 men who underwent
      microsurgical varicocelectomy for a clinical varicocele with at least 1 abnormal
      semen parameter according to the 1999 WHO criteria. The preoperative semen
      analysis findings were reclassified according to the 2010 WHO criteria, and an
      improved seminal result after varicocelectomy was defined as a >=20% increase in
      sperm count or motility. RESULTS: Semen results of 114 men (55.3%) were
      reclassified as being above the reference values according to the 2010 WHO
      criteria. Among those with below reference values, 79.3% and 34.8% showed
      improved sperm counts and motility, respectively. However, in patients whose
      semen results converted to normal, 47.4% and 20.2% showed improved sperm counts
      and motility, respectively. Among those whose semen results were normal on the
      2010 criteria, 58.8% showed improved sperm count or motility after microsurgical
      varicocelectomy. CONCLUSION: More than half of the patients whose semen results
      converted to normal on the 2010 WHO criteria showed improved seminal results
      after microsurgical varicocelectomy. It is necessary to reconsider the 2010 WHO
      criteria when determining the surgical indication for microsurgical
      varicocelectomy.

PMID- 25817107
TI  - Efficacy of Dapoxetine for the treatment of premature ejaculation: a meta
      analysis of randomized clinical trials on intravaginal ejaculatory latency time,
      patient-reported outcomes, and adverse events.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of dapoxetine in the treatment of premature
      ejaculation (PE) with a meta-analysis method. METHOD: We looked for randomized
      controlled trials (RCTs) from MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane library, "International
      Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number Register," and "ClinicalTrials.gov,"
      which reported efficacy of dapoxetine for PE. Two reviewers searched and examined
      the RCTs independently. The meta-analysis was performed by RevMan5.0 software.
      RESULTS: We included 5 RCTs comparing dapoxetine with placebo. Dapoxetine was
      more effective than placebo for intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (weighted
      mean difference = 1.47; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.22-1.71; P <.00001). For
      the 4 patient-reported outcomes, dapoxetine was also more effective (for clinical
      global impression of change, odds ratio [OR] = 3.19; 95% CI, 2.47-4.11; P
      <.00001; for composite patient-reported outcomes criteria for clinical benefit,
      OR = 2.29; 95% CI, 1.74-3.00; P <.00001; for satisfaction with sexual
      intercourse, OR = 1.89; 95% CI, 1.68-2.12; P <.00001; for decrease in personal
      distress related to ejaculation, OR = 0.72; 95% CI, 0.57-0.90; P <.00001).
      CONCLUSION: Dapoxetine is effective and well tolerated for either lifelong or
      acquired PE. But the long-term benefits and safety remain to be investigated.

PMID- 25817108
TI  - Prospective randomized comparison between cold and warm ischemia in patients with
      renal insufficiency undergoing partial nephrectomy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare between the effects of cold and warm ischemia on the risk
      of deterioration of renal insufficiency in patients with T1 renal tumor managed
      by partial nephrectomy. METHODS: This prospective randomized study was performed
      on 120 patients with chronic kidney disease, all having T1 renal tumors. Renal
      function was estimated by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), using the
      Modification of Diet in Renal Disease formula. Patients were randomly divided
      into 2 groups: in group A, warm ischemia was used, and in group B, cold ischemia
      was used. All patients were treated by open partial nephrectomy. Patients were
      followed up for 2 years. The primary outcome of the study was eGFR at 2 years.
      Secondary outcomes were tumor recurrence, loss of follow-up, or patient death.
      RESULTS: Mean age of patients was 60.7 +/- 5.3 years. Associated chronic disease
      (diabetes and/or hypertension) was present in 93 patients. Worsening of renal
      insufficiency occurred within 1 month of surgery in 38 patients (27 in group A
      and 11 in group B). At 3 months follow-up, 21 of these 38 patients returned to
      their baseline eGFR. Warm ischemia rendered patients more prone to a decrease in
      eGFR after partial nephrectomy, with relative risk of 1.34 and 2 times at 3
      months and 2 years of follow-up, respectively. CONCLUSION: Warm ischemia
      increases the risk of deterioration of renal functions in patients with renal
      insufficiency undergoing open partial nephrectomy for renal tumors.

PMID- 25817109
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817110
TI  - Association of distance to treatment facility on quality and survival outcomes
      after radical cystectomy for bladder cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of travel distance on quality and survival
      outcome measures for bladder cancer patients undergoing radical cystectomy for
      urothelial carcinoma. METHODS: Four hundred eight patients who underwent radical
      cystectomy for bladder cancer at a single institution from 2007 to 2013 were
      included. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the association
      of distance from treatment facility with 90-day mortality and quality-of-care
      endpoints including neoadjuvant chemotherapy use and time to cystectomy. Survival
      was assessed by multivariate Cox regression. RESULTS: Fifty-seven percent of
      patients lived within 50 miles of the treatment facility. There was no difference
      in time to cystectomy or the utilization of neoadjuvant chemotherapy between
      patients in different distance groups. On multivariate analysis, distance to
      treatment facility was the only predictor of 90-day mortality (odds ratio, 11.20;
      95% confidence interval, 2.27-55.43; P = .003, for patients traveling >150 vs <50
      miles). Although there was no difference in recurrence and cancer-specific
      survival between distance groups, greater distance was associated with worse
      overall survival on multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 1.59; 95% confidence
      interval, 0.99-2.56; P = .05, for patients traveling >150 vs <50 miles).
      CONCLUSION: Distance to treatment facility did not impact quality measures
      including time to cystectomy or use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and there was no
      difference in cancer-specific mortality between distance groups. There was a
      detrimental association of increased travel distance with 90-day mortality, which
      could reflect disparities in access to care after cystectomy.

PMID- 25817112
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817111
TI  - Videourodynamic evaluation of intracorporeally reconstructed orthotopic U-shaped
      ileal neobladders.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the functional outcomes of 30 patients who had previously
      undergone laparoscopic radical cystectomy with intracorporeal orthotopic ileal
      neobladder reconstruction using videourodynamic (VUDM) assessment 180 days
      postoperatively. METHODS: Between November 2010 and December 2013, 30 male
      patients had undergone laparoscopic radical cystectomy with bilateral standard
      pelvic lymphadenectomy and pure laparoscopic orthotopic ileal U-shaped neobladder
      diversion. The demographic data were as follows: median age, 67 years (range, 62
      79); body mass index, 22.3 kg/m(2) (range, 16-26.1 kg/m(2)); and mean American
      Society of Anesthesiologists score 2.2 (range, 1-3). Functional outcomes were
      assessed performing a standard VUDM study combined with perineal floor
      electromyography 180 days postoperatively. RESULTS: VUDM evaluations showed good
      functional outcomes of the reservoirs. Mean maximal neobladder capacity was 287
      mL (range, 210-335 mL). Residual peristaltic activity was observed in all the
      individuals evaluated; however, only 9 of 30 individuals (30%) displayed severe
      peristaltic activity. Six of these 9 individuals (66.6%) experienced urinary
      leakage during these contractions. Mean postvoid residual volume was 44 mL
      (range, 0-105 mL), and peak flow rate was 13.9 mL/s (range, 9.7-29.2 mL/s). The
      Valsalva maneuver was positive in 5 of 30 subjects (17%). Bladder morphology
      assessed during contrast cystography showed the desired U-shape in all cases.
      Ureteral reflux was observed in 7 of 30 individuals (23.3%). CONCLUSION: Based on
      VUDM, our study shows that U-shaped ileal neobladders achieved by a totally
      laparoscopic approach obtained good functional outcomes. These findings support
      the evidence that a minimally invasive approach does not impose technical
      limitations that negatively impact the surgical results.

PMID- 25817113
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25817111.

PMID- 25817114
TI  - Association between surgeon and hospital characteristics and lymph node counts
      from radical prostatectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess whether surgical approach and hospital characteristics
      independently determine the number of lymph nodes (LNs) removed from prostate
      cancer patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) and pelvic LN dissection
      (PLND). METHODS: Using the National Cancer Database, we identified all surgically
      treated patients diagnosed with pretreatment intermediate- or high-risk prostate
      cancer from 2010 to 2011. The primary outcome was the number of LNs retrieved at
      the time of RP. Generalized estimating equations were used to assess for
      differences in the adjusted number of LNs retrieved after accounting for patient
      and hospital characteristics and surgical approach. RESULTS: Overall, 35,876
      patients were diagnosed with intermediate-risk (61.2%) and high-risk (38.8%)
      prostate cancer and underwent RP and PLND.On multivariate analysis, open RP and
      high-volume and academic hospitals were independently associated with greater LN
      counts compared with robotic-assisted RP and medium or low and community
      hospitals, respectively (all P <.001). After adjusting for patient and hospital
      variables, higher adjusted LN counts were observed for open RP compared with
      robotic-assisted RP (7.1 vs 6.1; P <.001). Adjusted counts were also higher for
      high-volume hospitals compared with medium- or low-volume hospitals (7.8 vs 5.9;
      P <.001), and academic compared with community hospitals (7.3 vs 5.6; P <.001).
      CONCLUSION: Among patients with aggressive prostate cancer treated with RP and
      PLND, retrieval of LN counts varied by surgical approach and hospital
      characteristics.

PMID- 25817115
TI  - Metabolic disorders in Turkish children with urolithiasis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To review metabolic disorders in Turkish children with urinary tract
      stone disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of 308 pediatric
      patients with the diagnosis of urolithiasis between 1996 and 2008, whose disease
      progression was followed in a single tertiary-care center, were reviewed
      retrospectively. Two hundred forty-eight patients whose metabolic analyses were
      performed were included in the study. RESULTS: Of the 248 patients participating
      in the study, 142 (57%) were men and 106 (43%) were women. The median age of the
      patients was 48 months (minimum-maximum, 2-180 months). Seventy-six percent of
      the patients had metabolic disorders. Of all patients, 44% had 1, 23% had 2, and
      7% had 3 metabolic disorders. Hypercalciuria, hypocitraturia, hyperoxaluria,
      hyperuricosuria, and cystinuria were detected in 41%, 39%, 22%, 9%, and 4% of the
      patients, respectively. The rate of multiple stone formation, infection, and
      recurrence was significantly higher in the 0-2 years age group (P = .030, P =
      .001, P = .019, respectively). The median age of patients was greater (P = .001)
      in patients with hyperoxaluria in comparison with other metabolic disorders.
      Compared with other metabolic disorders, multiple stones and recurrence were more
      frequent in patients with cystinuria (P = .022 and P = .008, respectively). The
      size of the stones was greater in patients with hyperuricosuria in comparison
      with other metabolic disorders (P = .009). CONCLUSION: The majority of children
      with urinary tract stone disease exhibited >=1 metabolic risk factors. Metabolic
      risk factors should be evaluated in all children with urinary stone disease to
      provide appropriate treatment.

PMID- 25817116
TI  - Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the bladder masquerading as eosinophilic
      cystitis: case report and review of the literature.
AB  - A 9-year-old boy presented with gross hematuria of 2 days duration. Cystoscopic
      evaluation revealed an anterior bladder mass. Pathology was consistent with
      eosinophilic cystitis, and a steroid regimen was initiated accordingly, but no
      improvement ensued. Concern for alternate malignant pathology led to open
      resection and the ultimate diagnosis of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the
      bladder. Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor is a rare tumor of the bladder in
      children and to our knowledge has not previously been associated with a
      misleading eosinophil-rich mucosal inflammatory response. 

PMID- 25817117
TI  - Novel use of an osmotic self-inflating tissue expander for hypospadias revision
      surgery.
AB  - We describe the successful use of an osmotic self-inflating tissue expander for
      complex pediatric hypospadias repair. A 5-year-old boy, who had undergone
      previous hypospadias repair and subsequent fistula repair, presented with
      significant rotation of the penile shaft, with extensive scar tissue but
      insufficient native penile shaft skin for redo surgery. A 15 * 6 mm Osmed self
      inflating cylindrical expander was used to allow excision of scar tissue and
      cover with expanded native skin. An excellent cosmetic and functional outcome was
      achieved at clinic review, 18 months postoperatively. The use of self-inflating
      tissue expanders offers a novel technique to achieve adequate native skin in the
      management of complex pediatric hypospadias. 

PMID- 25817118
TI  - Pelvic radiation is associated with urinary fistulae repair failure and need for
      permanent urinary diversion.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To review our experience with nonmuscle flap repairs of enterourinary
      fistulae (EUF) and urinary cutaneous fistulae (UCF). EUF and UCF can be treated
      either with temporary urinary diversion allowing for healing by secondary
      intention or primary closure of the defect using an interposing omental, sliding,
      or muscle flap. Even after successful fistula repair, permanent urinary diversion
      can be required because of persistent urinary incontinence. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: We reviewed 86 patients who underwent treatment of EUF or UCF at
      Washington University between the years 1998 and 2013. Of these, 39 patients
      underwent fistula repair, whereas 47 patients underwent either surgical or
      nonsurgical urinary diversion. Outcomes measured included postoperative fistula
      closure, need for permanent urinary diversion, and urinary incontinence. RESULTS:
      The mean age in our series was 59 years (21-87 years) at the time of surgery,
      with median follow-up of 20 months (1-137 months). Among patients who underwent
      surgical repair, radiation was associated with higher rates of repair failure (P
      = .0002), postsurgical incontinence (P <.0001), and the need for permanent
      urinary diversion (P = .0076). At the time of final follow-up, 32 of the 44
      radiated patients had required permanent diversion (72%) compared with 3 of the
      42 nonradiated patients (7%; P <.0001). CONCLUSION: Patients who undergo pelvic
      radiation before EUF and UCF repairs are at higher risk for developing repair
      failure and postsurgical incontinence. Many patients eventually require permanent
      urinary diversion. Therefore, EUF and UCF repairs in radiated patients should be
      undertaken with caution, and patients should be counseled about the possibility
      of urinary diversion as primary therapy.

PMID- 25817119
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817120
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25817118.

PMID- 25817121
TI  - The impact of resident involvement in male one-stage anterior urethroplasties.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of resident involvement in male anterior
      urethroplasties with regard to perioperative and postoperative outcomes using a
      large multi-institutional prospectively collected database. METHODS: Relying on
      the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program
      Participant User Files (2005-2012), we extracted all entries with Current
      Procedural Terminology coding for male one-stage anterior urethroplasty in men
      (54,310). Cases with missing entries on resident involvement were excluded.
      Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were constructed to assess the
      impact of trainee involvement (attending only vs resident) on perioperative and
      postoperative outcomes. Prolonged operative time (pOT) was defined as operative
      time >75th percentile (>204 minutes). RESULTS: A total of 235 one-stage
      urethroplasties were performed during the study period, for which resident
      involvement was available. Resident involvement was significantly associated with
      younger patient age (P = .011) and patients with a pre-existing diabetic
      condition (P = .047). In univariate analyses, the rate of pOT was significantly
      higher in the resident involvement group (P = .027). In multivariate models,
      resident involvement was an independent predictor of pOT (odds ratio, 2.4; 95%
      confidence interval, 1.3-9.7; P = .035). There were no differences in 30-day
      postoperative complications, length of hospital stay, or readmissions.
      Limitations of the study include inability to adjust for case complexity and type
      of reconstruction. CONCLUSION: Resident involvement is associated with pOT for
      anterior urethral strictures. However, it does not adversely affect complication
      rates or the length of hospital stay.

PMID- 25817122
TI  - Two-sided dorsal plus ventral oral graft bulbar urethroplasty: long-term results
      and predictive factors.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate long-term outcomes of the 2-sided dorsal plus ventral oral
      graft (DVOG) urethroplasty by preserving the narrow urethral plate in tight
      bulbar strictures and investigate which factors might influence long-term
      outcomes. METHODS: This is a single-center retrospective study of 166 patients
      who underwent DVOG urethroplasty for tight bulbar strictures by a single surgeon
      (E.P.) between 2002 and 2013. The strictured urethra was opened ventrally; the
      exposed urethral plate was incised in the midline and augmented dorsally and
      ventrally using 2 oral grafts. Outcome was considered a failure when any
      postoperative instrumentation was needed. According to stricture length, patients
      were classified in 3 groups as follows: <=1.5 cm (group 1), >1.5 and <=3.9 cm
      (group 2), and >=4 cm (group 3). Time to failure was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier
      estimates and Cox regression. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 47 months
      (interquartile range, 33-95.5 months). Of the 166 patients, 149 (89.8%) were
      successful and 17 (10.2%) were failures. Most of the failures (90%) were observed
      during the first 5 years of follow-up; afterward, the success rate remained
      stable. The stricture length was a significant predictor of surgical outcome
      (odds ratio, 1.743 per cm; confidence interval, 1.2-2.5; P <.001); patients with
      a urethral stricture >=4 cm presented a higher risk of late failure. Age,
      stricture etiology, and previous treatment were not significant predictors of
      surgical outcome. CONCLUSION: With long-term follow-up, the treatment of tight
      bulbar strictures using a 2-sided DVOG urethroplasty showed a high success rate.
      The stricture length is an independent predictor of failure.

PMID- 25817123
TI  - Calibration of a novel, laparoscopic, 12-mm, ultrasound, image-guided, high
      intensity focused ultrasound probe for ablation of renal neoplasms.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To calibrate a 12-mm high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) probe to
      produce histologically verifiable complete tissue necrosis through thermal energy
      delivery while maintaining safety in ablation of porcine renal tissue. METHODS:
      The study was approved by the animal research committee at our institution. A
      HIFU probe on a fixed arm was introduced, and ablation was subsequently carried
      out robotically (under computer control) at 2 planned locations within each
      kidney at varying energy levels. After 4 days of survival, kidneys were retrieved
      and pathologic analysis of the lesions was carried out for necrotic volume.
      Planned volume was compared with pathologic necrotic volume. RESULTS: A series of
      optimizations were carried out as the experiment progressed. Near optimal
      ablation zone dimensions with complete cell death were achieved when the energy
      density was between 400 and 460 calories/cm(3). Pathologic analysis demonstrated
      the average ratio of necrotic zone volume to planned zone volume was 1.0
      (standard deviation, 0.18) in the 7 lesions with energy density between 400 and
      460 calories/cm(3). All animals survived the surgeries, and no device-related
      complications were identified during the study. No acute renal failure was
      identified in analysis of the blood work. CONCLUSION: A novel 12-mm laparoscopic
      HIFU probe was successfully calibrated for the ablation of porcine renal tissue.
      The safety profile of the Sonatherm probe was found to be excellent with no
      complications identified.

PMID- 25817124
TI  - Transition of urologic patients from pediatric to adult care: a preliminary
      assessment of readiness in spina bifida patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the awareness and readiness of both spina bifida patients
      and parents regarding the transition process before transitioning, with a
      secondary aim that included identifying potential factors associated with
      successful transition. METHODS: All children aged >=14 years requiring long-term
      care were prospectively enrolled. Questions designed by pediatric and adult
      urologists and an adolescent health specialist addressing the awareness of long
      term follow-up and the desire to learn more about transitioning were administered
      by nursing staff at regularly scheduled clinic appointments. All spina bifida
      patients evaluated in the past 5 years were identified, and clinical factors
      associated with transitioning were compared. Statistical analysis using the
      Fisher exact test and the chi-square test were used to compare patients' and
      parents' responses and categorical variables between patients transitioned and
      those eligible. P <.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: A total of 33 surveys
      were prospectively collected. Twenty-two percent of parents and 40% of patients
      said they never wanted to transition (P = .28). Parents had thought about
      transitioning more than the patients (88.9% and 40%, respectively; P = .002). Of
      the 97 patients eligible for transition, 34% had a transition plan. The only
      significant predictor of transitioning to adult care was a previous history of
      stones (P = .03). CONCLUSION: Transitioning to adult urologic care is a necessity
      for many, and parents are significantly more aware of transitioning than the
      patient. Acknowledging and understanding the concerns of patients and families
      will help optimize the transition to adult urologic care.

PMID- 25817125
TI  - Re: Stewart et al.: stone size limits the use of hounsfield units for prediction
      of calcium oxalate stone composition (Urology 2015;85:292-295).

PMID- 25817126
TI  - Penile cancer in a man with netherton syndrome.
AB  - Netherton syndrome (NS) is a rare autosomal recessive skin disease with severe
      skin inflammation and scaling, a specific hair shaft defect (trichorrhexis
      invaginata or bamboo hair), and severe atopic manifestations including atopic
      dermatitis and hay fever with high serum immunoglobulin E levels and
      hypereosinophilia. NS is caused by loss-of-function mutations in serine protease
      inhibitor of Kazal-type 5 (SPINK5) encoding lympho-epithelial Kazal-type-related
      inhibitor (LEKTI) expressed in the stratified epithelia. We report the first case
      of penile squamous cell carcinoma in a patient with NS. 

PMID- 25817127
TI  - Cavernosal hematoma mimicking priapism.
AB  - We present a case of corpus cavernosum hematoma mimicking priapism. A 42-year-old
      man presented to the emergency room with penile pain and partial erection.
      Examination revealed partial erection and palpable space-occupying lesion of the
      corpus cavernosum without lymphadenopathy. Malignant workup was negative. Imaging
      assisted in diagnosis of unilateral hematoma of the corpus cavernosum. The lesion
      spontaneously resolved without the need for intervention. 

PMID- 25817128
TI  - Acute Fibrinous Organizing Pneumonia: A Case Report and Literature Review.
AB  - Acute fibrinous organizing pneumonia (AFOP) is a distinct histopathologic pattern
      of lung injury with the hallmark feature of intra-alveolar fibrin deposits with
      associated organizing pneumonia, type II pneumocyte hyperplasia, and a patchy
      lymphohistiocytic proliferation. We describe the case of a previously healthy 47
      year-old man who presented with a 4-day history of worsening dyspnea, cough, and
      nocturnal fevers and miliary nodules on chest imaging. Subsequently, there was an
      indication of AFOP when he underwent open lung biopsy. AFOP has been associated
      with a variety of underlying conditions including rheumatologic diseases,
      medications, and infections, and several cases were idiopathic. This case
      highlights the importance for radiologists to be aware of this uncommon pattern
      of lung injury and to consider it in the differential when encountering bilateral
      miliary infiltrates on chest imaging. 

PMID- 25817129
TI  - The effectiveness of a new method using an extra-alveolar hemostatic agent after
      dental extractions in older patients on oral anticoagulation treatment: an
      intrapatient study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a new
      adhesive agent, HemCon Dental Dressing (HDD), in patients receiving oral
      anticoagulant treatment (OAT), who were undergoing nonsurgical tooth extractions
      without interruption or reduction of OAT, compared with that of a common local
      hemostatic agent. STUDY DESIGN: Twenty patients on OAT with an international
      normalized ratio (INR) ranging between 1.6 and 3.5 were recruited. In the same
      session, each patient was subjected to the extraction of two teeth: In the test
      site the HDD was applied, and in the control site, a common hemostatic sponge
      (CollaPlug, Zimmer Dental) was used. RESULTS: The mean application time was
      significantly lower in the test group than in the control group, and this
      difference is statistically significant. The mean postoperative pain was
      significantly lower in the test group than in the control group the morning after
      surgery and at the time of suture removal. Post-extraction socket healing was
      significantly better in the test group than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS:
      Tooth extraction in patients receiving OAT and have an INR lower than 3.5 is a
      safe procedure without discontinuation of the OA regimen. The HDD seems to reduce
      postoperative side effects and obtain rapid soft tissue healing.

PMID- 25817130
TI  - Site-specific acetaldehyde production and microbial colonization in relation to
      oral squamous cell carcinoma and oral lichenoid disease.

PMID- 25817131
TI  - Treating maxillofacial trauma for over half a century: how can we interpret the
      changing patterns in etiology and management?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to reveal the changes in the etiology and
      treatment of maxillofacial fractures in Greece over the period of the last 53
      years. STUDY DESIGN: A patient-oriented retrospective review of clinical and
      epidemiologic data was performed to include all patients with maxillofacial
      fractures treated in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department of KAT General
      Hospital of Athens. We reviewed the causes of these injuries, their sites, and
      treatments (outcome variables) over the last 28 years and compared the results
      with those of a similar study from the same Department from 1960 to 1984
      (predictor variable). RESULTS: The zygomatic complex was the most frequent
      fracture site in the recent years, whereas the condyle and symphysis were the
      most common ones in the early period. We observed a remarkable increase of
      injuries from interpersonal violence (P < .0001) and a divergence from
      conservative treatment (P < .001) with time. CONCLUSIONS: Universal agreement
      exists on the rapidly rising prevalence of facial fractures in the developed
      countries as a result of physical violence, and the present study confirmed this
      conclusion. Throughout the last 50 years, there has been a constant tendency of
      surgeons to adopt the concept of open reduction and internal fixation.

PMID- 25817133
TI  - Adaptive immunity to suffering.

PMID- 25817132
TI  - Iron, inflammation and atherosclerosis risk in men vs. perimenopausal women.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Age at first atherosclerotic event is typically older for women vs.
      men; monthly iron loss has been postulated to contribute to this advantage. We
      investigated the relationship between an MRI-based arterial wall biomarker and
      the serum inflammatory biomarker high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) in
      perimenopausal women vs. men. METHODS AND RESULTS: Women without evident
      atherosclerotic disease were prospectively enrolled and observed over 24 months
      of menopause transition, indicated by hormone levels and reduction in median
      number of menstrual cycles from 4 [3-6] per year to 0 [0-1] per year (P < 0.01).
      Higher hsCRP predicted shorter carotid artery wall T2* in women entering the
      menopause transition (r = -0.3139, P = 0.0014); this relationship weakened after
      24 months of perimenopause in women (r = -0.1718, P = 0.0859) and was not
      significant in a cohort of men matched for age and cardiovascular risk category
      (r = -0.0310, P = 0.8362). Serum ferritin increased from baseline to 24-month
      follow-up during women's menopause transition (37 [20-79] to 67 [36-97] ng/mL, P
      < 0.01), but still remained lower compared to men (111 [45-220] ng/mL, P < 0.01).
      Circulating ferritin levels correlated with arterial wall T2* values in women at
      baseline (r = -0.3163, P = 0.0013) but not in women after 24 months (r = -0.0730,
      P = 0.4684) of menopause transition nor in men (r = 0.0862, P = 0.5644).
      CONCLUSIONS: An arterial wall iron-based imaging biomarker reflects degree of
      systemic inflammation in younger women, whereas this relationship is lost as
      women transition through menopause to become more similar to men. Iron
      homeostasis and inflammation in the arterial wall microenvironment warrants
      further investigation as a potential early target for interventions that mitigate
      atherosclerosis risk.

PMID- 25817134
TI  - A mimic of anterior wall myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25817135
TI  - Elevated Excitatory Input to the Nucleus Accumbens in Schizophrenia: A Postmortem
      Ultrastructural Study.
AB  - The cause of schizophrenia (SZ) is unknown and no single region of the brain can
      be pinpointed as an area of primary pathology. Rather, SZ results from
      dysfunction of multiple neurotransmitter systems and miswiring between brain
      regions. It is necessary to elucidate how communication between regions is
      disrupted to advance our understanding of SZ pathology. The nucleus accumbens
      (NAcc) is a prime region of interest, where inputs from numerous brain areas
      altered in SZ are integrated. Aberrant signaling in the NAcc is hypothesized to
      cause symptoms of SZ, but it is unknown if these abnormalities are actually
      present. Electron microscopy was used to study the morphology of synaptic
      connections in SZ. The NAcc core and shell of 6 SZ subjects and 8 matched
      controls were compared in this pilot study. SZ subjects had a 19% increase in the
      density of asymmetric axospinous synapses (characteristic of excitatory inputs)
      in the core, but not the shell. Both groups had similar densities of symmetric
      synapses (characteristic of inhibitory inputs). The postsynaptic densities of
      asymmetric synapses had 22% smaller areas in the core, but not the shell. These
      results indicate that the core receives increased excitatory input in SZ,
      potentially leading to dysfunctional dopamine neurotransmission and cortico
      striatal-thalamic stimulus processing. The reduced postsynaptic density size of
      asymmetric synapses suggests impaired signaling at these synapses. These findings
      enhance our understanding of the role the NAcc might play in SZ and the
      interaction of glutamatergic and dopaminergic abnormalities in SZ. 

PMID- 25817136
TI  - Multi-state modelling of repeated hospitalisation and death in patients with
      heart failure: The use of large administrative databases in clinical
      epidemiology.
AB  - In chronic diseases like heart failure (HF), the disease course and associated
      clinical event histories for the patient population vary widely. To improve
      understanding of the prognosis of patients and enable health care providers to
      assess and manage resources, we wish to jointly model disease progression,
      mortality and their relation with patient characteristics. We show how episodes
      of hospitalisation for disease-related events, obtained from administrative data,
      can be used as a surrogate for disease status. We propose flexible multi-state
      models for serial hospital admissions and death in HF patients, that are able to
      accommodate important features of disease progression, such as multiple ordered
      events and competing risks. Fully parametric and semi-parametric semi-Markov
      models are implemented using freely available software in R. The models were
      applied to a dataset from the administrative data bank of the Lombardia region in
      Northern Italy, which included 15,298 patients who had a first hospitalisation
      ending in 2006 and 4 years of follow-up thereafter. This provided estimates of
      the associations of age and gender with rates of hospital admission and length of
      stay in hospital, and estimates of the expected total time spent in hospital over
      five years. For example, older patients and men were readmitted more frequently,
      though the total time in hospital was roughly constant with age. We also discuss
      the relative merits of parametric and semi-parametric multi-state models, and
      model assessment and comparison.

PMID- 25817137
TI  - The health coaches from Dunkin' Donuts.

PMID- 25817138
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817139
TI  - Long-term bladder function after ureterocele decompression in children.
AB  - PURPOSE: There is limited knowledge of long-term bladder function after
      ureterocele decompression. We studied bladder function in patients who underwent
      surgery in childhood for duplex system ureteroceles. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Toilet trained children treated for duplex system ureteroceles between 1990 and
      2010 were included in study. We evaluated voiding dysfunction by the valid DVSS
      questionnaire and noninvasive studies, including uroflowmetry, electromyogram and
      post-void residual urine measurement. Urodynamics were done only in patients with
      abnormal DVSS or abnormal noninvasive studies. Patients were divided into group 1
      ureterocele decompression (endoscopic incision), upper pole partial nephrectomy
      and ureteropelvic anastomosis, and group 2-primary or secondary bladder surgery
      (ureterocelectomy, ureterovesical reimplantation and bladder floor
      reconstruction). RESULTS: Of 62 operated patients 17 were lost to followup and 45
      were fully studied at a mean followup of 9.5 years (range 3 to 20). Initial
      surgery was done at mean age of 5.1 months (range 6 days to 48 months). In the 33
      group 1 patients, of whom 70% underwent endoscopic incision, the mean DVSS score
      was 1.5 (range 0 to 6), 7 patients (22%) had abnormal uroflowmetry or significant
      post-void residual urine and none had abnormal DVSS results. In the 12 patients
      in group 2 the mean DVSS score was 4 (range 0 to 11), 8 patients (66%) had
      abnormal uroflowmetry and significant post-void residual urine, and 3 had
      abnormal DVSS findings (p = 0.036). All group 2 patients underwent bladder
      surgery after decompression, including endoscopic incision in 2 and upper pole
      partial nephrectomy in 1. Only 1 child needed clean intermittent catheterization
      at age 3 years for hypocontractile megacystis and repeat febrile urinary tract
      infections. CONCLUSIONS: Ureterocele decompression alone in early childhood does
      not lead to major bladder dysfunction at long-term evaluation. Even if secondary
      bladder surgery is needed, significant bladder dysfunction is rare.

PMID- 25817140
TI  - National practice patterns and outcomes of pediatric nephrectomy: comparison
      between urology and general surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: In adults nephrectomy is under the purview of urologists, but pediatric
      urologists and pediatric general surgeons perform extirpative renal surgery in
      children. We compared the contemporary performance and outcome of all-cause
      nephrectomy at pediatric hospitals as performed by pediatric urologists and
      pediatric general surgeons. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We queried the Pediatric
      Health Information System to identify patients 0 to 18 years old who were treated
      with nephrectomy between 2004 and 2013 by pediatric urologists and pediatric
      general surgeons. Data points included age, gender, severity level, mortality
      risk, complications and length of stay. Patients were compared by APR DRG codes
      442 (kidney and urinary tract procedures for malignancy) and 443 (kidney and
      urinary tract procedures for nonmalignancy). RESULTS: Pediatric urologists
      performed more all-cause nephrectomies. While pediatric urologists were more
      likely to operate on patients with benign renal disease, pediatric general
      surgeons were more likely to operate on children with malignancy. Patients on
      whom pediatric general surgeons operated had a higher average severity level and
      were at greater risk for mortality. After controlling for differences patients
      without malignancy operated on by pediatric urologists had a shorter length of
      stay, and fewer medical and surgical complications. There was no difference in
      length of stay, or medical or surgical complications in patients with malignancy.
      CONCLUSIONS: Overall compared to pediatric general surgeons more nephrectomies
      are performed by pediatric urologists. Short-term outcomes, including length of
      stay and complication rates, appear better in this data set in patients without
      malignancy who undergo nephrectomy by pediatric urologists but there is no
      difference in outcomes when nephrectomy is performed for malignancy.

PMID- 25817141
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817143
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817142
TI  - Antibiotic prophylaxis for prevention of febrile urinary tract infections in
      children with vesicoureteral reflux: a meta-analysis of randomized, controlled
      trials comparing dilated to nondilated vesicoureteral reflux.
AB  - PURPOSE: The followup and treatment of children with vesicoureteral reflux has
      been debated for many years. Antibiotic prophylaxis has a role for preventing
      urinary tract infection in these children. Recent studies and guidelines
      suggested that prophylaxis has little or no role in preventing urinary tract
      infection in those children, especially those with low grades (I and II) of
      reflux. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed all published randomized, controlled
      trials comparing antibiotic prophylaxis vs no prophylaxis or placebo in children
      with vesicoureteral reflux. The children were divided into those with nondilated
      (grades I and II) and dilated (grades III and IV) vesicoureteral reflux. After
      data were analyzed the RIVUR study was published and, therefore, it was added to
      the analyzed data. RESULTS: After analyzing the first published studies we found
      that antibiotic prophylaxis would be beneficial only in children with high grade
      vesicoureteral reflux. With the addition of the data in the RIVUR study these
      results changed. The new pooled data support antibiotic prophylaxis in all
      children with vesicoureteral reflux. CONCLUSIONS: Vesicoureteral reflux
      management is still controversial. In contrast to recently published studies and
      guidelines, this meta-analysis supports antibiotic prophylaxis in all children
      with vesicoureteral reflux regardless of reflux grade. More studies are needed to
      support this finding.

PMID- 25817144
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817145
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817147
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817149
TI  - Categorization of bladder dynamics and treatment after fetal myelomeningocele
      repair: first 50 cases prospectively assessed.
AB  - PURPOSE: We categorized bladder patterns and principles of treatment applied to
      patients who underwent myelomeningocele repair during gestation in a prospective
      urological assessment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed urinary tract
      ultrasound, voiding cystourethrogram and urodynamic evaluation. We then
      categorized patients into 4 patterns, including normal, high risk (overactive
      bladder with detrusor leak point pressure greater than 40 cm H2O and high filling
      pressure also greater than 40 cm H2O), incontinent and underactive bladder.
      RESULTS: A total of 51 patients were enrolled in study at the first medical
      appointment. Urodynamic evaluation was done in 48 of these patients as the
      initial investigation, enabling attribution of a bladder pattern. The high risk
      pattern was found in 27 patients (56.2%), 18 were incontinent and 1 had an
      underactive bladder. Only 2 patients (4.2%) in this series had a normal bladder.
      CONCLUSIONS: Of patients who underwent myelomeningocele closure during gestation
      93.7% had significant lower urinary tract dysfunction consisting of high bladder
      pressure or incontinence. These data reinforce the absolute need to follow these
      patients closely. The potential benefits of fetal surgery in the urinary tract
      remain to be proved.

PMID- 25817150
TI  - Tunneled buccal mucosa tube grafts for repair of proximal hypospadias.
AB  - PURPOSE: Buccal mucosa is the favored graft material for patients with long
      urethral defects and a paucity of skin. Since 2007, we have used the novel
      tunneled buccal mucosa tube graft urethroplasty technique in these patients. We
      describe this operative technique and report our surgical and functional
      outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 2007 and 2013, 37 males with proximal
      hypospadias underwent tunneled buccal mucosa tube graft urethroplasty. After the
      penile shaft was optimized at a prior stage a free buccal graft was tubularized
      and tunneled under the intact ventral shaft skin and into the glans. We
      retrospectively reviewed all charts to report our results. We assessed
      uroflowmetry and bladder ultrasound for post-void residual urine. RESULTS: The
      overall complications rate in 34 patients with more than 1-year followup was 32%
      (11), including fistula in 5, proximal stricture in 4 and meatal stenosis in 2.
      In the first 10 patients a total of 7 complications (70%) developed but there
      were only 4 complications in the next 24 (16%). Surgeon experience was the only
      significant predictor of complications (p = 0.003). We obtained uroflow and post
      void residual urine data on 13 of 37 patients, of whom 9 achieved a normal flow
      pattern and post-void residual urine, and 4 had a blunted flow pattern.
      CONCLUSIONS: The novel technique of the tunneled buccal mucosa tube graft in
      patients with proximal hypospadias represents a good alternative for a long
      urethroplasty in patients with a paucity of skin. After the learning curve
      plateaus the rate and degree of complications decrease. Furthermore, voiding
      function is adequate, as assessed by uroflow studies and post-void residual urine
      measurement.

PMID- 25817151
TI  - Objective long-term evaluation after bladder autoaugmentation with rectus muscle
      backing.
AB  - PURPOSE: Bladder autoaugmentation with rectus muscle backing is an efficient
      surgical technique for bladder augmentation. We evaluated long-term outcomes to
      determine the value of this procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between August 1999
      and June 2004 autoaugmentation was performed in 16 girls and 7 boys 4 to 13 years
      old (median age 8). The indication was neurogenic bladder with small capacity and
      poor compliance due to myelomeningocele in 18 patients, tethered cord in 3 and
      sacral agenesis in 2. Detrusorectomy usually involved the whole upper half of the
      bladder. The prolapsed bladder urothelium was hitched to the 2 rectus muscles to
      prevent retraction and provide easier bladder emptying with voluntary muscle
      contractions. RESULTS: At the median early followup of 27 months (range 9 to 49)
      bladder volume had increased significantly in all 23 patients (median 338 ml,
      range 190 to 462). At the current median long-term followup of 134 months (range
      94 to 159) bladder volume continued to be significant compared to median bladder
      capacity preoperatively (median 419 ml, range 296 to 552). Voluntary voiding was
      achieved in 14 patients without post-void residual urine. Nine patients used
      clean intermittent catheterization, of whom only 4 could not empty the bladder
      voluntarily and relied only on clean intermittent catheterization. CONCLUSIONS:
      Detrusorectomy with a rectus muscle hitch and backing is a minimally invasive,
      completely extraperitoneal, simple and safe procedure. However, the technique is
      indicated only in select cases without anterior abdominal wall anomalies.

PMID- 25817152
TI  - Adolescent and adult outcomes in women following childhood vaginal reconstruction
      for cloacal anomaly.
AB  - PURPOSE: We examined outcomes in female adolescents and women who underwent
      vaginoplasty in childhood during genitourinary reconstruction for cloacal
      anomalies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical notes
      on girls and women attending an adult specialist center for genitourinary
      anomalies. Data were collected on vaginal reconstruction, menstruation, sexual
      and reproductive function, and urological and gastroenterological outcomes.
      RESULTS: We identified 19 patients with a mean age of 22 years (range 13 to 35),
      of whom 16 (84%) underwent vaginoplasty in the first year of life. Nine of these
      16 patients (56%) had required 1 (7) or 2 (2) further vaginal reconstructions to
      facilitate menstruation or sexual activity. The remaining 7 patients (44%)
      required no further vaginal reconstruction. Nine of the 19 patients (47%) had
      associated mullerian anomalies, obstructed menstruation developed in 5 (26%) and
      1 required hemihysterectomy. Eight patients were sexually active, of whom 1
      experienced difficult penetration. Three patients attempted to conceive,
      including 1 with a complex preterm delivery and 2 undergoing fertility treatment.
      Of the patients 74% underwent further reconstruction of the renal tract and 36%
      had an enteric stoma. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the complexity of vaginal
      reconstruction in this group with a notable vaginoplasty revision rate. Mullerian
      anomalies were identified in almost half of the patients, a higher incidence than
      previously reported, and in a quarter obstructed menstruation developed in
      puberty. A specialist team with gynecologic input should treat patients with
      cloacal anomalies. Outcome data are sparse. There remains a need for well
      planned, prospective cohort studies that include assessments of psychological,
      sexual and reproductive outcomes.

PMID- 25817153
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817154
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817155
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817156
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817157
TI  - Imaging after urinary tract infection in older children and adolescents.
AB  - PURPOSE: There are few guidelines and little data on imaging after urinary tract
      infections in older children. We determined the clinical yield of renal and
      bladder ultrasound, and voiding cystourethrogram in older children and
      adolescents after urinary tract infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed
      findings on voiding cystourethrogram, and renal and bladder ultrasound as well as
      the clinical history of patients who underwent the 2 studies on the same day
      between January 2006 and December 2010. We selected for study patients 5 to 18
      years old who underwent imaging for urinary tract infection. Those with prior
      postnatal genitourinary imaging or prenatal hydronephrosis were excluded from
      analysis. RESULTS: We identified a cohort of 153 patients, of whom 74% were 5 to
      8 years old, 21% were 8 to 12 years old and 5% were 12 to 18 years old. Of the
      patients 77% were female, 78% had a febrile urinary tract infection history and
      55% had a history of recurrent urinary tract infections. Renal and bladder
      ultrasound findings revealed hydronephrosis in 7.8% of patients, ureteral
      dilatation in 3.9%, renal parenchymal findings in 20% and bladder findings in
      12%. No patient had moderate or greater hydronephrosis. Voiding cystourethrogram
      showed vesicoureteral reflux in 34% of cases and bladder or urethral anomalies in
      12%. Reflux was grade I, II-III and greater than III in 5.9%, 26% and 2% of
      patients, respectively. For any voiding cystourethrogram abnormality the
      sensitivity and specificity of any renal and bladder ultrasound abnormality were
      0.49 (95% CI 0.37-0.62) and 0.76 (95% CI 0.66-0.84), respectively. Positive and
      negative predictive values were 0.58 (95% CI 0.44-0.71) and 0.69 (0.59-0.77),
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In older children with a history of urinary tract
      infection the imaging yield is significant. However, imaging revealed high grade
      hydronephrosis or high grade vesicoureteral reflux in few patients. Renal
      ultrasound is not reliable for predicting voiding cystourethrogram findings such
      as vesicoureteral reflux.

PMID- 25817158
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817160
TI  - Congenital adrenal hyperplasia: current surgical management at academic medical
      centers in the United States.
AB  - PURPOSE: Controversy exists on the necessity for and timing of genitoplasty in
      girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Our knowledge of surgical preferences
      is limited to retrospective series from single institutions and physician
      surveys, which suggest a high rate of early reconstruction. We evaluated current
      surgical treatment for congenital adrenal hyperplasia at academic centers.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: We queried the Faculty Practice Solutions Center database
      to identify all female patients younger than 18 years with a diagnosis of
      congenital adrenal hyperplasia between 2009 and 2012. Procedures were identified
      by CPT codes for vaginoplasty, clitoroplasty and other genital procedures.
      Reconstruction type, age at surgery and surgeon volume were analyzed. RESULTS: We
      identified 2,614 females in the database with a diagnosis of congenital adrenal
      hyperplasia who were seen at a total of 60 institutions. Of infants younger than
      12 months between 2009 and 2011 as few as 18% proceeded to surgery within a 1 to
      4-year followup. Of those referred to a pediatric urologist 46% proceeded to
      surgery. Of patients who underwent surgery before age 2 years clitoroplasty and
      vaginoplasty were performed in 73% and 89%, respectively, while 68% were treated
      with a combined procedure. A medium or high volume surgeon was involved in 63% of
      cases. CONCLUSIONS: Many patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia in the
      database did not proceed to early reconstructive surgery. Of those referred to
      surgeons, who were possibly the most virilized patients, about half proceeded to
      early surgery and almost all underwent vaginoplasty as a component of surgery.
      About two-thirds of the procedures were performed by medium or high volume
      surgeons, indicative of the surgical centralization of disorders of sexual
      development.

PMID- 25817161
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25817162
TI  - Development and evaluation of a palliative care curriculum for cystic fibrosis
      healthcare providers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Primary palliative care refers to basic skills that all healthcare
      providers can employ to improve quality of life for patients at any stage of
      disease. Training in these core skills is not commonly provided to clinicians
      caring for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. The objective of this study was to
      assess change in comfort with core skills among care team members after
      participation in CF-specific palliative care training focused on management of
      burdensome symptoms and difficult conversations. METHODS: A qualitative needs
      assessment was performed to inform the development of an 18-hour curriculum
      tailored to the chronicity and complexity of CF care. A 32-question pre- and post
      course survey assessed CF provider comfort with the targeted palliative care
      skills in 5 domains using a 5-point Likert scale (1=very uncomfortable,
      3=neutral, 5=very comfortable). RESULTS: Among course participants (n=16), mean
      overall comfort score increased by 0.9, from 3 (neutral) to 3.9 (comfortable)
      (p<0.001). Mean comfort level increased significantly (range 0.8 to 1.4) in each
      skill domain: use of supportive care resources, pain management, non-pain symptom
      management, communication, and psychosocial skills. CONCLUSIONS: CF-specific
      palliative care training was well received by participants and significantly
      improved self-assessed comfort with core skills.

PMID- 25817163
TI  - N-Formyl peptides drive mitochondrial damage associated molecular pattern induced
      neutrophil activation through ERK1/2 and P38 MAP kinase signalling pathways.
AB  - Traumatic injury results in a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), a
      phenomenon characterised by the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines into the
      circulation and immune cell activation. Released from necrotic cells as a result
      of tissue damage, damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) are thought to
      initiate the SIRS response by activating circulating immune cells through surface
      expressed pathogen recognition receptors. Neutrophils, the most abundant
      leucocyte in human circulation, are heavily implicated in the initial immune
      response to traumatic injury and have been shown to elicit a robust functional
      response to DAMP stimulation. Here, we confirm that mitochondrial DAMPs (mtDAMPs)
      are potent activators of human neutrophils and show for the first time that
      signalling through the mitogen-activated-protein-kinases p38 and extracellular
      signal-related-kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) is essential for this response. At 40 and/or
      100 MUg/ml, mtDAMPs activated human neutrophils, indicated by a significant
      reduction in the surface expression of L-selectin, and triggered a number of
      functional responses from both resting and tumour necrosis factor-alpha primed
      neutrophils, which included reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation,
      degranulation, secretion of interleukin-8 and activation of p38 and ERK1/2 MAPKs.
      Pre-treatment of neutrophils with Cyclosporin H, a selective inhibitor of formyl
      peptide receptor-1 (FPR-1), significantly inhibited mtDAMP-induced L-selectin
      shedding as well as p38 and ERK1/2 activation, suggesting that N-formyl peptides
      are the main constituents driving mtDAMP-induced neutrophil activation. Indeed,
      no evidence of L-selectin shedding or p38 and ERK1/2 activation was observed in
      neutrophils challenged with mitochondrial DNA alone. Interestingly,
      pharmacological inhibition of p38 or ERK1/2 either alone or in combination
      significantly inhibited L-selectin shedding and IL-8 secretion by mtDAMP
      challenged neutrophils, revealing for the first time that MAPK activation is
      required for mtDAMP-induced neutrophil activation and function. Our findings
      demonstrate that signalling through FPR-1 and activation of p38 and ERK1/2 MAPKs
      are key events in mtDAMP-induced neutrophil activation. Gaining an understanding
      of the signalling pathways involved in mtDAMP-induced neutrophil activation may
      assist in the development of future therapeutic strategies aimed at targeting the
      SIRS response to improve the outcome of the hospitalised trauma patient. Reducing
      the severity of the inflammatory response may realise substantial benefits for
      the severely injured trauma patient.

PMID- 25817164
TI  - Family members' experience of providing support for young people with traumatic
      physical injury during the acute hospital phase of care: A qualitative study.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to explore how family members perceive and
      support young people with traumatic physical injury during the acute phase of
      hospital care. METHODS: This study forms part of the qualitative explanatory
      follow-up phase of a mixed methods study. The paper reports on family members'
      experiences of providing support to young people 16-24 years admitted with major
      traumatic injury to an Australian Level 1 Trauma Centre. Semi-structured in-depth
      interviews with family members were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Data were
      managed using NVivo software, and thematically analysed. FINDINGS: Family support
      was determined by how family members perceived the injury. Driven by a need to
      protect the injured young person, family members sought to control potential
      emotional impacts of injury, creating a buffer between the young person and other
      people including healthcare professionals. Family members safeguarded the
      psychological well-being of the young person, in an attempt to facilitate their
      transition back to independence. CONCLUSION: This study identifies iterative
      changes in family relationships and emotional and practical support provided by
      family members during the initial injury trajectory, extending understandings of
      the broader burden of injury. Key elements of family stress theory offer a useful
      framework for the development of anticipatory guidance for clinicians that are
      responsive to the emotional needs of patients and families, supporting the need
      for a family-centred care approach to managing major traumatic injury in young
      people.

PMID- 25817165
TI  - Penetrating cardiac injury: consider direct exploration and "finger haemostasis",
      and remember to screen for intra-cardiac injury after a successful repair.

PMID- 25817166
TI  - Prolonged dysphonia as a complication of interscalene block.
AB  - The interscalene block (ISB) of the brachial plexus is a common technique for
      anaesthesia and the treatment of postoperative pain in shoulder surgery. Despite
      the well-known advantages of this technique, it is not without risks that need to
      be identified and taken into account. The most frequent complications associated
      with it are of a neurological nature and most are transient. It has been shown
      that the use of nerve stimulation does not guarantee a safe block. Ultrasound
      guidance now makes it possible to visualise potentially dangerous structures,
      thus allowing us to reduce the risk of associated complications. We present the
      case of a patient with transient dysphonia secondary to recurrent laryngeal nerve
      palsy. We also discuss briefly the most common complications associated with the
      technique. 

PMID- 25817168
TI  - Commentary: Tobacco consumption and body weight: Mendelian randomization across a
      range of exposure.

PMID- 25817167
TI  - Sternal fracture in the age of pan-scan.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVE: Widespread chest CT use in trauma evaluation may increase the
      diagnosis of minor sternal fracture (SF), making former teaching about SF
      obsolete. We sought to determine: (1) the frequency with which SF patients are
      diagnosed by CXR versus chest CT under current imaging protocols, (2) the
      frequency of surgical procedures related to SF diagnosis, (3) SF patient
      mortality and hospital length of stay comparing patients with isolated sternal
      fracture (ISF) and sternal fracture with other thoracic injury (SFOTI), and (4)
      the frequency and yield of cardiac contusion (CC) workups in SF patients.
      METHODS: We analyzed charts and data of all SF patients enrolled from January
      2009 to May 2013 in the NEXUS Chest and NEXUS Chest CT studies, two multi-centre
      observational cohorts of blunt trauma patients who received chest imaging for
      trauma evaluation. RESULTS: Of the 14,553 patients in the NEXUS Chest and Chest
      CT cohorts, 292 (2.0%) were diagnosed with SF, and 94% of SF were visible on
      chest CT only. Only one patient (0.4%) had a surgical procedure related to SF
      diagnosis. Cardiac contusion was diagnosed in 7 (2.4%) of SF patients. SF patient
      mortality was low (3.8%) and not significantly different than the mortality of
      patients without SF (3.1%) [mean difference 0.7%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 
      1.0 to 3.5%]. Only 2 SF patient deaths (0.7%) were attributed to a cardiac cause.
      SFOTI patients had longer hospital stays but similar mortality to patients with
      ISF (mean difference 0.8%; 95% CI -4.7% to 12.0). CONCLUSIONS: Most SF are seen
      on CT only and the vast majority are clinically insignificant with no change in
      treatment and low associated mortality. Workup for CC in SF patients is a low
      yield practice. SF diagnostic and management guidelines should be updated to
      reflect modern CT-driven trauma evaluation protocols.

PMID- 25817169
TI  - Hypertrichosis pinnae auris may enhance the hearing power of an individual.
AB  - In this correspondence, we hypothesize that the hypertrichosis pinnae auris might
      influence the hearing power of an individual. It is a well established fact that
      the inner cells of the ears acts as sensory cells which respond to the incoming
      sound vibrations. The occurrence and degree of hairiness have been reported to
      increase with advancing age; therefore, we theorize that there might be the
      presence of the sensory activity in the hairs present on the outer area of the
      ear, which would enhance the hearing ability of the individuals. 

PMID- 25817170
TI  - Osmolyte mixtures have different effects than individual osmolytes on protein
      folding and functional activity.
AB  - Osmolytes are small organic molecules accumulated by organisms under stress
      conditions to protect macromolecular structure and function. In the present
      study, we have investigated the effect of several binary osmolyte mixtures on the
      protein folding/stability and function of RNase-A. For this, we have measured
      DeltaGD(o) (Gibbs free energy change at 25 degrees C) and specific activity of
      RNase-A mediated hydrolysis of cytidine 2'-3' cyclic monophosphate in the
      presence and absence of individual and osmolyte mixtures. It was found that the
      osmolyte mixtures have different effect on protein stability and function than
      that of individual osmolytes. Refolding studies of RNase-A in the presence of
      osmolyte mixtures and individual osmolytes also revealed that osmolyte mixtures
      have a poor refolding efficiency relative to the individual osmolytes.

PMID- 25817171
TI  - Effects of exercise on the nephron of Goto-Kakizaki rats: morphological, and
      advanced glycation end-products and inducible nitric oxide synthase
      immunohistochemical analyses.
AB  - The current study aimed to examine how exercise affects morphology of the
      nephron, and localization of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and inducible
      nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) immunoreactivity in diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats.
      Four groups of male rats were studied. WIS SED (Wistar rats; sedentary) group
      served as a control. Other groups were WIS EX (Wistar rats; exercise), GK SED
      (Goto-Kakizaki diabetic rats; sedentary) and GK EX (Goto-Kakizaki diabetic rats;
      exercise) groups. The rats in EX groups were subjected to 15weeks of treadmill
      running at a speed of 15m/min for a total of 30minutes, three times a week.
      Changes in the structure of renal corpuscles and in the distribution of AGEs- and
      iNOS-immunoreactive cells of the uriniferous tubules were evaluated. Every
      parameter of GK EX was significantly different from that of GK SED (area of
      Bowman's capsules: p<0.001, area of glomeruli: p<0.05 and the occupancy of a
      glomerulus: p<0.05). These findings suggest that exercise may ameliorate
      glomerular filtration rate (GFR). The localizations of AGEs and iNOS
      immunostaining in the uriniferous tubules were similar in each group.
      Immunohistochemical assays revealed that the number of the AGEs and iNOS
      immunopositive cells of the proximal tubule of cortico-deep layer in EX groups
      were markedly greater than those in SED groups and that iNOS expression in GK EX
      was significantly higher than GK SED (p<0.05). Exercise seems to normalize the
      GFR and glomerular filtrate absorption from the uriniferous tubules in Goto
      Kakizaki diabetic rats with the recovered shape of renal corpuscles and may be
      involved in the absorption and catabolization of AGEs with iNOS-related reactions
      for reabsorption.

PMID- 25817172
TI  - Changes in vision related quality of life in patients with diabetic macular
      edema: ranibizumab or laser treatment?
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the changes in vision related quality of life (VR-QoL) in
      patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) undergoing intravitreal ranibizumab
      (IVR) injection or focal/grid laser. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this prospective
      study, 70 patients with clinically significant macular edema (CSME) were
      randomized to undergo IVR injection (n=35) and focal/grid laser (n=35). If
      necessary, the laser or ranibizumab injections were repeated. Distance and near
      visual acuities, central retinal thickness (CRT) and The 25-item Visual Function
      Questionnaire (VFQ-25) were used to measure the effectiveness of treatments and
      VR-QoL before and after 6 months following IVR or laser treatment. RESULTS: The
      demographic and clinical findings before the treatments were similar in both main
      groups. The improvements in distance and near visual acuities were higher in IVR
      group than the laser group (p<0.01). The reduction in CRT in IVR group was higher
      than that in laser treatment group (p<0.01). In both groups, the VFQ-25 composite
      score tended to improve from baseline to 6 months. And at 6th month, the changes
      in composite score were significantly higher in IVR group than in laser group
      (p<0.05). The improvements in overall composite scores were 6.3 points for the
      IVR group compared with 3.0 points in the laser group. Patients treated with IVR
      and laser had large improvements in composite scores, general vision, near and
      distance visual acuities in VFQ-25 at 6 months, in comparison with baseline
      scores, and also mental health subscale in IVR group. CONCLUSION: Our study
      revealed that IVR improved not only visual acuity or CRT, but also vision related
      quality of life more than laser treatment in DME. And these patient-reported
      outcomes may play an important role in the treatment choice in DME for
      clinicians.

PMID- 25817173
TI  - Soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products and insulin resistance
      during development of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

PMID- 25817174
TI  - Protuberance or fossa on the lateral surface of the mandible in primates.
AB  - In order to clarify the morphological characteristics and function of the
      protuberance and/or fossa on the lateral surface of the mandible, we examined 778
      mandibles of 9 genera, 19 species of non-human primates. Both protuberance and
      fossa were found in Macaca, Chlorocebus, and Cercocebus at frequencies ranging
      from 0% to 60%. The protuberance was composed of compact bone and was similar to
      the mandibular torus in humans. A well-developed protuberance extended from the
      fourth premolar to third molar region, and was situated at the central part of
      the mandibular body, or continued on the oblique line. Sometimes the protuberance
      localized on the mandibular base. A deep and large fossa was found in all
      individuals of Papio, Theropithecus, and Mandrillus, and the bone width was thin
      in the center of the fossa. The fossa extended from the third premolar to the
      second molar region, and the deepest area was the first molar region. In Macaca,
      Chlorocebus, and Cercocebus, the curvature of the external table of the mandible
      created a fossa. In Colobus, and Hylobates, the external surface of the mandible
      looked concave because of the thickened mandibular base. These concavo-convex
      structures have some biological functions and represent an adaptive change for
      mastication. 

PMID- 25817175
TI  - [Idiopathic facial paralysis in children].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Idiopathic facial palsy is the most common cause of facial nerve
      palsy in children. Controversy exists regarding treatment options. The objectives
      of this study were to review the epidemiological and clinical characteristics as
      well as the outcome of idiopathic facial palsy in children to suggest appropriate
      treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on children
      with a diagnosis of idiopathic facial palsy from 2007 to 2012. RESULTS: A total
      of 37 cases (13 males, 24 females) with a mean age of 13.9 years were included in
      this analysis. The mean duration between onset of Bell's palsy and consultation
      was 3 days. Of these patients, 78.3% had moderately severe (grade IV) or severe
      paralysis (grade V on the House and Brackmann grading). Twenty-seven patients
      were treated in an outpatient context, three patients were hospitalized, and
      seven patients were treated as outpatients and subsequently hospitalized. All
      patients received corticosteroids. Eight of them also received antiviral
      treatment. The complete recovery rate was 94.6% (35/37). The duration of complete
      recovery was 7.4 weeks. DISCUSSION: Children with idiopathic facial palsy have a
      very good prognosis. The complete recovery rate exceeds 90%. However, controversy
      exists regarding treatment options. High-quality studies have been conducted on
      adult populations. Medical treatment based on corticosteroids alone or combined
      with antiviral treatment is certainly effective in improving facial function
      outcomes in adults. In children, the recommendation for prescription of steroids
      and antiviral drugs based on adult treatment appears to be justified. CONCLUSION:
      Randomized controlled trials in the pediatric population are recommended to
      define a strategy for management of idiopathic facial paralysis.

PMID- 25817176
TI  - [Classic Kaposi sarcoma].

PMID- 25817177
TI  - Resilience and corpus callosum microstructure in adolescence.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Resilience is the capacity of individuals to resist mental disorders
      despite exposure to stress. Little is known about its neural underpinnings. The
      putative variation of white-matter microstructure with resilience in adolescence,
      a critical period for brain maturation and onset of high-prevalence mental
      disorders, has not been assessed by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Lower
      fractional anisotropy (FA) though, has been reported in the corpus callosum (CC),
      the brain's largest white-matter structure, in psychiatric and stress-related
      conditions. We hypothesized that higher FA in the CC would characterize stress
      resilient adolescents. METHOD: Three groups of adolescents recruited from the
      community were compared: resilient with low risk of mental disorder despite high
      exposure to lifetime stress (n = 55), at-risk of mental disorder exposed to the
      same level of stress (n = 68), and controls (n = 123). Personality was assessed
      by the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Voxelwise statistics of DTI values in
      CC were obtained using tract-based spatial statistics. Regional projections were
      identified by probabilistic tractography. RESULTS: Higher FA values were detected
      in the anterior CC of resilient compared to both non-resilient and control
      adolescents. FA values varied according to resilience capacity. Seed regional
      changes in anterior CC projected onto anterior cingulate and frontal cortex.
      Neuroticism and three other NEO-FFI factor scores differentiated non-resilient
      participants from the other two groups. CONCLUSION: High FA was detected in
      resilient adolescents in an anterior CC region projecting to frontal areas
      subserving cognitive resources. Psychiatric risk was associated with personality
      characteristics. Resilience in adolescence may be related to white-matter
      microstructure.

PMID- 25817178
TI  - Irbesartan attenuates production of high-mobility group box 1 in response to
      lipopolysaccharide via downregulation of interferon-beta production.
AB  - High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is suggested to participate in development of
      local and systemic inflammatory disorders. Irbesartan (IRB), an angiotensin II
      type1 receptor blocker, is widely used for treatment of hypertension, especially
      in patients with diabetic nephropathy. The effect of IRB on lipopolysaccharide
      (LPS)-induced HMGB1 and nitric oxide (NO) production was examined using RAW 264.7
      macrophage-like cells. IRB inhibited LPS-induced HMGB1 production. IRB also
      reduced LPS-induced expression of an inducible NO synthase, and inhibited LPS
      induced NO production. The expression levels of IFN-beta protein and mRNA, which
      is a key molecule in MyD88-independent pathway of LPS signaling, were exclusively
      inhibited by IRB. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma and
      angiotensin II type 1 receptor were not involved in the inhibitory action of IRB
      on LPS-induced HMGB1 and NO production. Collectively, IRB was suggested to
      inhibit LPS-induced HMGB1 production via downregulation of IFN-beta production in
      the MyD88-independent pathway.

PMID- 25817179
TI  - [Feedback of ultrasound and RMI in the staging of endometrial carcinoma in early
      stage].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological cancer in France.
      The therapeutic management is based on preoperative staging. The recommended
      imaging examination remains the MRI. This is to evaluate ultrasound and MRI in
      the staging for localized cancers. METHODS: This is a retrospective observational
      study, conducted from July 2012 to July 2014, at the University Hospital of
      Nancy, on all patients care for endometrial cancer stage I, who underwent a
      pelvic ultrasound and MRI for the assessment of myometrial infiltration. RESULTS:
      Twenty-nine patients were included with a mean age of 69 years and a BMI of 30
      kg/m(2). Using ultrasound, we have a sensitivity of 58%, a specificity of 100%, a
      positive predictive value (PPV) of 100%, a negative predictive value (NPV) of 70%
      and an accuracy of 75%. Using MRI, we have a sensitivity of 83%, a specificity of
      100%, a PPV of 83%, a VPN of 88%, and an accuracy of 86%. CONCLUSION:
      Transvaginal sonography should be performed before post-menopausal bleeding. It
      remains possible in the staging of localized cancers.

PMID- 25817180
TI  - [Labor duration: from normality to dystocia].
AB  - "Normal" labor has been surprisingly little studied in the past 60 years even
      though it is a central axis in obstetrics. Standards were proposed 60 years ago
      by Emmanuel Friedman and adopted by many countries to become then, driven from
      Dublin school, the conditions allowing the management of labor: rupture of
      membranes and oxytocin with, in case of failure for dynamic dystocia, cesarean.
      Recent data have suggested that labor duration had changed since the 1960s.
      Changes in women's characteristics and in obstetric practice especially with the
      widespread use of oxytocin and realization of epidural may have an impact on
      labor duration. Current studies suggest that it may be possible to authorize
      longer labor duration without significant increase in maternal or neonatal
      morbidity. However, it is premature to change practices following the latest
      American recommendations without prior studies. 

PMID- 25817181
TI  - [Elective single embryo transfer policy at 48/72 h: which results after fresh
      transfers and frozen/thawed transfers?].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate our elective single embryo transfer policy performed at
      48/72h and define predictive factors of pregnancy after frozen/thawed embryo
      transfer. METHODS: Analysis of 289 elective single embryo transfers (eSET)
      performed in a selected population in the ART center of Marseille University
      Hospital from January 2005 to December 2011, as well as the 325 following
      frozen/thawed embryo transfers performed in this population between May 2005 and
      December 2012. RESULTS: Cumulative pregnancy rate/oocyte retrieval was of 62.6%;
      45% of the couples obtained the birth of at least one child. During this studied
      period, cumulative pregnancy and delivery rates in the whole population remained
      stable while multiple delivery rate/delivery clearly decreased. Elective single
      embryo after frozen/thawed transfer gave satisfying results (24.6%
      pregnancy/transfer) only in the lack of lysis or in case of mild lysis (1-25%) of
      the transferred embryo. CONCLUSION: The implementation of an eSET policy gives
      satisfying results, depending largely on embryo quality. By proposing eSET to a
      well-targeted population, chosen both on clinical and biological criteria, a
      clear reduction of cumulative multiple delivery rate/delivery was obtained in our
      center over this period, without any global decrease of cumulative pregnancy
      rate/attempt. Embryo quality is a major factor of success, especially in
      frozen/thawed cycles. The elective single embryo frozen/thawed transfer should be
      carried out only if embryo lysis after thawing does not exceed 25%.

PMID- 25817182
TI  - Oral health of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review.
AB  - AIM: This systematic review investigated the oral health status of children with
      type 1 diabetes. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted using PubMed/Medline,
      Web of Knowledge, SCOPUS and EMBASE. The search included all studies published
      from inception of database to January 2014. A total of 1179 abstracts were
      analyzed for selection in 2 phases. The first phase selection was based on the
      title and abstracts alone. The selected abstracts were then included for second
      phase, where full articles were obtained. The selection was carried out by 2
      independent reviewers (Kappa value=0.809). Only 37 articles were included for
      final analysis in this review. RESULTS: There is conflicting evidence in the
      caries experience between children with type 1 diabetes and healthy children. For
      periodontal health, most studies reported significantly greater plaque
      accumulation and higher gingival index in children with type 1 diabetes. Cohort
      studies reported no significant differences in perioodontal parameters over time.
      CONCLUSIONS: There is conflicting evidence regarding the caries experience of
      children with type 1 diabetes, but they exhibit poorer periodontal health status
      with greater plaque accumulation compared to healthy children. Further studies
      are warranted to assess the oral health status of children with type 1 diabetes.

PMID- 25817183
TI  - Topical Administration of Tranexamic Acid Plus Diluted-Epinephrine in Primary
      Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Randomized Double-Blinded Controlled Trial.
AB  - The aim of this trial was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intra-articular
      administration of tranexamic acid (TXA) plus diluted-epinephrine (DEP) on
      perioperative blood loss and transfusion in primary unilateral total knee
      arthroplasty (TKA) without drainage. One hundred patients scheduled to undergo
      TKA were randomized into two groups: 50 patients received intra-articular 3g TXA
      plus 0.25mg DEP (1:200,000), and 50 patients received 3g topical TXA alone. The
      results showed that topical combined administration significantly reduced total
      blood loss (P=0.006), hidden blood loss (P=0.000) and transfusion rate (0% vs.
      4%), without increasing the risk of thromboembolic and hemodynamic complications
      (P>0.05). Therefore, topical TXA plus DEP was effective and safe in reducing
      blood loss and transfusion following TKA, without substantial complications. 

PMID- 25817184
TI  - Intraoperative Purulence Is Not Reliable for Diagnosing Periprosthetic Joint
      Infection.
AB  - Purulence, defined as presence of pus, is based on subjective interpretation yet
      has been considered a definite sign of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). 583
      patients undergoing revision arthroplasty due to presumed PJI were
      retrospectively studied. PJI definition was independent of purulence, based on
      the definition of Musculoskeletal Infection Society recently modified by
      International Consensus Group on PJI. 498 patients fulfilled the criteria for
      definite PJI and 59 patients were deemed as aseptic. Purulence had sensitivity,
      specificity, positive and negative predictive values of 0.82, 0.32, 0.91, and
      0.17, respectively. Purulence was not correlated with higher culture positivity
      yet was associated with higher synovial WBC counts (mean of 34.8 versus
      5.2*10(3)/MUL in patients without purulence [P<0.001]). In the absence of
      objective definition for purulence and in light of its inadequate test
      characteristics compared to a multi-criteria definition, purulence cannot serve
      as a single absolute diagnostic criterion for PJI. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level I,
      Diagnostic Studies.

PMID- 25817185
TI  - Postoperative Coronal Alignment After Total Knee Arthroplasty: Does Tailoring the
      Femoral Valgus Cut Angle Really Matter?
AB  - Postoperative alignment was measured in 80 TKA divided into 2 groups. Knees in
      the tailored group (n=40) were performed with a personalized valgus cut angle
      (VCA) based on preoperative hip-to-ankle (HTA) radiographs. The fixed group knees
      (n=40) were performed utilizing a 4 degrees  VCA in valgus knees and obese
      patients, and 5 degrees  in neutral and varus knees. There was no significant
      difference between groups in average preoperative mechanical alignment or average
      severity of preoperative deformity. There was no statistically significant
      difference between groups in postoperative mechanical alignment (tailored: 2.6
      degrees ; fixed: 1.3 degrees ; P=0.08) or severity of residual deformity
      (tailored: 3.5 degrees ; fixed: 2.6 degrees ; P=0.10). Accuracy of the tibial cut
      angle (TCA) and severity of the preoperative deformity were strong independent
      predictors of postoperative alignment (R(2)=58% and R(2)=33%, respectively).

PMID- 25817186
TI  - Bacterial Contamination in Tips of Electrocautery Devices During Total Hip
      Arthroplasty.
AB  - Surgical equipment can become contaminated during surgery. It is unknown if
      electrocautery tips can become contaminated in clean orthopedic procedures
      despite the produced heat. Therefore, we conducted a prospective study to address
      this concern. The tips from 25 primary and 25 aseptic revision THAs were
      collected and an additional 5 sterile tips served as negative controls. Aerobic
      and anaerobic cultures were incubated for a minimum of 3 days. There were 3
      positive cultures (6%); one in primary THA (4%) with Lactobacillus and
      Enterococcus faecalis; two among revisions (8%), one with E. faecalis and another
      one with alpha hemolytic streptococci and coagulase negative Staphylococcus. The
      mean exposure time of the contaminated tips was 132.3 minutes. Patients were
      followed for 90 days postoperatively and none of them developed surgical site
      infection. This is the first study to demonstrate that electrosurgical devices
      can become contaminated during THA in laminar flow equipped operating rooms.

PMID- 25817187
TI  - Corrosion and Fretting of a Modular Hip System: A Retrieval Analysis of 60
      Rejuvenate Stems.
AB  - Femoral stems with dual-taper modularity were introduced to allow independent
      control of length, offset, and version. Corrosion and fretting related to
      micromotion at the neck-stem junction are thought to stimulate an adverse local
      tissue reaction (ALTR). Analysis of 60 consecutively retrieved modular-neck stem
      implants (Rejuvenate, Stryker) revised primarily for ALTR was done to determine
      the variables influencing corrosion and fretting patterns at the neck-stem
      interface. Taper damage evaluation was performed with stereomicrocopic analysis
      with two observers. Evidence of fretting and corrosion was seen at the neck-stem
      taper in all implants, including three implants revised for periprosthetic
      fractures within four weeks of the index surgery indicating that this process
      starts early. Femoral stems paired with the long overall neck lengths had
      significantly higher corrosion scores. Correlation of the corrosion severity at
      particular locations with the length of implantation suggests that the neck-stem
      junction experiences cyclic cantilever bending in vivo. The positive correlation
      between the length of implantation and fretting/corrosion scores bodes poorly for
      patients who still have this implant. Scanning electron microscopy on a subset of
      specimens was also performed to evaluate the black corrosion material. We
      strongly urge frequent follow-up exams for every patient with this particular
      modular hip stem. 

PMID- 25817188
TI  - Variations In Good Patient Reported Outcomes After Total Knee Arthroplasty.
AB  - This study identifies optimal OKS values that discriminate post-operative (TKA)
      patient satisfaction and determines the variation in threshold values by patient
      characteristics and expectations. It is the first to identify patient improvement
      using measures (PoPC) that account for patient's pre-operative symptom severity.
      Of 365 primary TKA patients from a London district general hospital 84% were
      satisfied at 12 and 24 months. Whilst the overall OKS thresholds (follow-up,
      change, PoPC) were stable at 12 months (31, 11, 39.7%) and 24 months (35, 12,
      38.9%), patients who were older (>=75years), were underweight/normal (BMI<25),
      had pre-operative symptom severity (OKS<=15) and expected no pain post-surgery,
      required a greater (potential) improvement to be classed as satisfied. When
      reporting good patient outcomes, cohorts should be stratified accordingly.

PMID- 25817189
TI  - All-arthroscopic suprapectoral versus open subpectoral tenodesis of the long head
      of the biceps brachii.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pathologic changes of the long head of the biceps tendon are a
      recognized source of shoulder pain in adults that can be treated with tenotomy or
      tenodesis when nonoperative measures are not effective. It is not clear whether
      arthroscopic or open biceps tenodesis has a clinical advantage. HYPOTHESIS: Pain
      relief and shoulder function after all-arthroscopic suprapectoral biceps
      tenodesis are similar to outcomes after an open subpectoral tenodesis. STUDY
      DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. METHODS: A prospective database was
      reviewed for patients undergoing an all-arthroscopic suprapectoral or open
      subpectoral biceps tenodesis. Adult patients with a minimum 18-month follow-up
      were included. Patients undergoing a concomitant rotator cuff or labral repair
      were excluded. The groups were matched to age within 3 years, sex, and time to
      follow-up within 3 months. Pain improvement, development of a "Popeye" deformity,
      muscle cramping, postoperative American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons scores,
      satisfaction scores, and complications were evaluated. RESULTS: Forty-six
      patients (23 all-arthroscopic, 23 open) with an average age of 57.2 years (range,
      45-70 years) were evaluated at a mean follow-up of 30.1 months (range, 21.1-44.9
      months). No patients in either group developed a Popeye deformity or complained
      of arm cramping. There was no significant difference in mean American Shoulder
      and Elbow Surgeons scores between the open and all-arthroscopic groups (92.3 vs
      88.9; P=.42); similarly, there was no significant difference in patient
      satisfaction scores between the groups (8.9 vs 9.1; P=.73). Eighteen patients
      (78.3%) in the arthroscopic cohort and 16 (69.6%) in the open cohort fully
      returned to athletic activity (P=.50). Eight patients (34.8%) in the arthroscopic
      group and 10 (39.1%) in the open group reported pain at night or with heavy
      activities. There were no complications in the all-arthroscopic group. There were
      2 complications in the open group that resolved by final follow-up. CONCLUSION:
      Biceps tenodesis remains a reliable treatment for pathologic abnormality of the
      long head of the biceps. Patients undergoing an all-arthroscopic suprapectoral
      tenodesis in the distal aspect or distal to the bicipital groove showed similar
      pain relief and clinical outcomes as compared with patients undergoing open
      subpectoral tenodesis. Open subpectoral biceps tenodesis may carry a higher
      complication risk secondary to a more invasive technique.

PMID- 25817190
TI  - Fresh osteochondral allografts in the knee: comparison of primary transplantation
      versus transplantation after failure of previous subchondral marrow stimulation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In most treatment algorithms, osteochondral allograft (OCA)
      transplantation is regarded as an alternative salvage procedure when other,
      previous reparative treatments have failed. PURPOSE: To compare the outcomes of a
      retrospective matched-pair cohort of (1) primary OCA transplantation and (2) OCA
      transplantation after failure of previous subchondral marrow stimulation. STUDY
      DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. METHODS: An OCA database was used to
      identify 46 knees that had OCA transplantation performed as a primary treatment
      (group 1) and 46 knees that underwent OCA transplantation after failure of
      previous subchondral marrow stimulation (group 2). All patients had a minimum of
      2 years' follow-up. Patients in each group were matched for age (+/-5 years),
      diagnosis (osteochondral lesion, degenerative chondral lesion, traumatic chondral
      injury), and graft size (small, <5 cm2; medium, 5-10 cm2; large, >10 cm2). The
      groups had similar body mass indexes, sex distributions, and graft locations
      (femoral condyle, patella, and trochlea. The number and type of further surgeries
      after the OCA transplantation were assessed; failure was defined as any
      reoperation resulting in removal of the graft. Functional outcomes were evaluated
      by use of the modified Merle d'Aubigne-Postel (18-point) scale, International
      Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) subjective knee evaluation form, Knee injury
      and Osteoarthritis Outcomes Score (KOOS), and the Knee Society function (KS-F)
      scale. Patient satisfaction, according to a 5-point scale from "extremely
      satisfied" to "dissatisfied," was recorded at the latest follow-up. RESULTS:
      Eleven of 46 knees (24%) in group 1 had reoperations, compared with 20 of 46
      knees (44%) in group 2 (P = .04). The OCA was classified as a failure in 5 knees
      (11%) in group 1 and 7 knees (15%) in group 2 (P = .53). At 10 years of follow
      up, survivorship of the graft was 87.4% and 86% in groups 1 and 2, respectively.
      Both groups showed improvement in pain and function on all subjective scores from
      preoperatively to the latest follow-up (all P < .001). Results showed that 87% of
      patients in group 1 and 97% in group 2 were "satisfied" or "extremely satisfied"
      with the OCA transplantation. CONCLUSION: Favorable results were shown in both
      groups with significant improvement of functional scores and excellent
      survivorship. Despite the higher reoperation rate in the previously treated
      group, previous subchondral marrow stimulation did not adversely affect the
      survivorship and functional outcome of OCA transplantation.

PMID- 25817191
TI  - The adventures of a rogue cell.

PMID- 25817192
TI  - The curious incident of the translational dog that didn't bark.
AB  - There is a general assumption that it is now time for more translational research
      and less basic research. Science policy leaders have sent mixed signals and the
      community has responded by submitting more grant applications focused on
      translational or applied research. Nothing could be more treacherous, because to
      develop innovative therapies we must more fully understand the complexities of
      biology, a goal requiring more, not less, basic science. 

PMID- 25817194
TI  - Breast cancer, heart disease, and whispering "fire" in a public theater.

PMID- 25817193
TI  - Serum lipids, lipoproteins, and risk of breast cancer: a nested case-control
      study using multiple time points.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is strong evidence that breast cancer risk is influenced by
      environmental factors. Blood lipid and lipoprotein levels are also influenced by
      environmental factors and are associated with some breast cancer risk factors. We
      examined whether serial measures of serum lipids and lipoproteins were associated
      with breast cancer risk. METHODS: We carried out a nested case-control study
      within a randomized long-term dietary intervention trial with 4690 women with
      extensive mammographic density followed for an average of 10 years for breast
      cancer incidence. We measured lipids in an average of 4.2 blood samples for 279
      invasive breast cancer case subjects and 558 matched control subjects. We
      calculated subaverages of lipids for each subject based on menopausal status and
      use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) at blood collection and analyzed their
      association with breast cancer using generalized estimating equations. All
      statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS: High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol
      (HDL-C) (P = .05) and apoA1 (P = .02) levels were positively associated with
      breast cancer risk (75(th) vs 25(th) percentile: HDL-C, 23% higher; apoA1, 28%
      higher) and non-HDL-C (P = .03) and apoB (P = .01) levels were negatively
      associated (75(th) vs 25(th) percentile: non-HDL-C, 19% lower; apoB, 22% lower).
      These associations were observed only when lipids were measured when HRT was not
      used. Total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were not statistically
      significantly associated with breast cancer risk. CONCLUSIONS: These results
      demonstrate that serum lipids are associated with breast cancer risk in women
      with extensive mammographic density. The possibility that interventions for heart
      disease prevention, which aim to reduce non-HDL-C or raise HDL-C, may have
      effects on breast cancer risk merits examination.

PMID- 25817195
TI  - Induction of apoptosis by parthenolide in human oral cancer cell lines and tumor
      xenografts.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Parthenolide (PTL), a representative sesquiterpene lactone that is
      responsible for medicinal properties of the feverfew, is known to modulate
      diverse intracellular signaling pathways, thereby exerting the tumor growth
      inhibitory effects. In this study, authors attempted to examine the pro-apoptotic
      effects and possible biochemical mechanisms of PTL in human oral cancer cell
      lines and tumor xenografts. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The apoptotic effects and
      related molecular mechanisms of PTL on oral cancer were evaluated using cell
      viability assay, MTS assay, DAPI staining, western blot analysis, reverse
      transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, small interfering RNA transfection and
      nude mouse xenograft assay. RESULTS: PTL treatment increased the cleavage of
      caspase-3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), and the nuclear fragmentation
      in a concentration- or time-dependent manner. PTL treatment increased Bim protein
      expression by enhancing the Bim mRNA expression as well as stabilizing Bim
      protein level. PTL treatment also induced the translocation of cytosolic Bim into
      the mitochondria and, more importantly, PTL-induced apoptosis was significantly
      attenuated, when the Bim expression was knockdown by siRNA transfection. PTL
      treatment also induced death receptor 5 (DR5) protein expression and this event
      was closely correlated with an increase in the cleavage of caspase-8 and
      formation of truncation of Bid (t-Bid). Finally, PTL shrunk tumor size and volume
      resulting from apoptotic cell death by increasing Bim and DR5 whereas there were
      no abnormal histopathological findings in normal organs. CONCLUSION: This study
      proposes that PTL is a strong apoptotic inducer that deserves the further
      investigations for potential chemotherapeutic agent of human oral cancers.

PMID- 25817196
TI  - Effects of dispersal on total biomass in a patchy, heterogeneous system: Analysis
      and experiment.
AB  - An intriguing recent result from mathematics is that a population diffusing at an
      intermediate rate in an environment in which resources vary spatially will reach
      a higher total equilibrium biomass than the population in an environment in which
      the same total resources are distributed homogeneously. We extended the current
      mathematical theory to apply to logistic growth and also showed that the result
      applies to patchy systems with dispersal among patches, both for continuous and
      discrete time. This allowed us to make specific predictions, through simulations,
      concerning the biomass dynamics, which were verified by a laboratory experiment.
      The experiment was a study of biomass growth of duckweed (Lemna minor Linn.),
      where the resources (nutrients added to water) were distributed homogeneously
      among a discrete series of water-filled containers in one treatment, and
      distributed heterogeneously in another treatment. The experimental results showed
      that total biomass peaked at an intermediate, relatively low, diffusion rate,
      higher than the total carrying capacity of the system and agreeing with the
      simulation model. The implications of the experiment to dynamics of source, sink,
      and pseudo-sink dynamics are discussed. 

PMID- 25817197
TI  - Genomic architecture of asthma differs by sex.
AB  - Asthma comprised of highly heterogeneous subphenotypes resulting from complex
      interplay between genetic and environmental stimuli. While much focus has been
      placed on extrinsic environmental stimuli, intrinsic environment such as sex can
      interact with genes to influence asthma risk. However, few studies have examined
      sex-specific genetic effects. The overall objective of this study was to evaluate
      if sex-based differences exist in genomic associations with asthma. We tested 411
      asthmatics and 297 controls for presence of interactions and sex-stratified
      effects in 51 genes using both SNP and gene expression data. Logistic regression
      was used to test for association. Over half (55%) of the genetic variants
      identified in sex-specific analyses were not identified in the sex-combined
      analysis. Further, sex-stratified genetic analyses identified associations with
      significantly higher median effect sizes than sex-combined analysis for girls (p
      value=6.5E-15) and for boys (p-value=1.0E-7). When gene expression data were
      analyzed to identify genes that were differentially expressed in asthma versus
      non-asthma, nearly one third (31%) of the probes identified in the sex-specific
      analyses were not identified in the sex-combined analysis. Both genetic and gene
      expression data suggest that the biologic underpinnings for asthma may differ by
      sex. Failure to recognize sex interactions in asthma greatly decreases the
      ability to detect significant genomic variation and may result in significant
      misrepresentation of genes and pathways important in asthma in different
      environments. 

PMID- 25817198
TI  - Properties of the indole ring in metal complexes. A comparison with the phenol
      ring.
AB  - Tryptophan (Trp), an essential amino acid, has an indole ring with a high
      electron density and is frequently seen at the proximal position of the metal
      site in metalloproteins. For example, the indole ring of Trp has been reported to
      interact weakly with Cu(I) in a Cu chaperone CusF. Another aromatic amino acid,
      tyrosine (Tyr), has a phenol ring, which is an important metal binding site in
      various metalloproteins. Although the structures of the aromatic rings are
      different, they both have a weakly acidic moiety and perform some similar roles
      in biological systems, such as radical formation and electron transfer. In this
      review, we focus on these and other properties of the indole and phenol rings in
      metal-containing systems. 

PMID- 25817199
TI  - Expression and regulation of scavenger receptor class B type 1 in the rat ovary
      and uterus during the estrous cycle.
AB  - Scavenger receptor class B type 1 (SR-B1) preferentially mediates the selective
      uptake of high density lipoprotein-cholesterol ester and the delivery of
      cholesterol for steroidogenesis. Although multiple analyses have investigated the
      function of SR-B1 in the liver, adrenal and ovary, its expression in rat ovary
      and uterus during the estrous cycle is lacking. In the present study, real-time
      PCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to investigate SR-B1
      expression in the rat ovary and uterus during the estrous cycle. The results
      demonstrated that ovarian SR-B1 expression was in a stage-dependent manner,
      continuously increased from proestrus and kept elevated during metoestrus, while
      uterine SR-B1 expression decreased from proestrus to diestrus. To determine
      whether ovarian and uterine SR-B1 expression were affected by sex steroid
      hormones, immature rats were treated with 17 beta-estradiol (E2), progesterone
      (P4), or their antagonists from postnatal days 24-26. Results showed that the
      levels of SR-B1 mRNA and protein were significantly up-regulated by E2 in both
      the ovary and uterus. IHC results showed that SR-B1 was primarily localized in
      the oocytes, theca internal cells (T-I) of follicles, interstitial cells (IC) as
      well as corpus luteum (CL), but not granulosa cells (GC) in the ovary during the
      estrous cycle. Uterine SR-B1 was highly expressed in the endometrial luminal
      epithelial cells (LEC) and glandular epithelial cells (GEC) as well as in the
      circular muscle (CM) cells, and weak staining in stromal cells (SC) through
      estrous cycle. Taken together, SR-B1 expression in the ovary and uterus across
      the estrous cycle demonstrate that SR-B1 may be involved in uterine function,
      follicular development as well as luteal function. 

PMID- 25817200
TI  - Comparison of airway intubation devices when using a biohazard suit: a
      feasibility study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We set out to compare emergency medicine residents' intubating times
      and success rates for direct laryngoscopy (DL), GlideScope-assisted intubation
      (GS), and the Supraglottic Airway Laryngopharyngeal Tube (SALT) airway with and
      without biohazard gear. METHODS: Each resident passed through 2 sets of 3 testing
      stations (DL, GS, SALT) in succession, intubating Laerdal mannequin heads with
      the 3 modalities after randomization to start with or without biohazard gear.
      RESULTS: Thirty-seven residents participated, and 27 were male (73%); 14 (37.8%)
      had prior experience intubating in biohazard suits. There was a statistically
      significant difference in those who had prior intubation experience between DL
      (37, 100%), GS (32, 86.5%), and SALT (12, 32.4%) (P < .001) and in median time to
      intubation (48 seconds, no suit; 57 seconds, with suits) (P = .03). There was no
      statistically significant difference between the overall times to intubate for
      the 3 devices. First-pass success was highest for DL (91.2%, no suit; 83.7%,
      suit) followed by GS (89%, no suit; 78.3%, suit) and SALT (51%, no suit; 67.6%,
      suit). CONCLUSION: A minority of participants had prior experience intubating in
      biohazard suits. Use of biohazard suits extends time to successful intubation.
      There was no difference in time to intubation for the 3 devices, but first-pass
      success was highest for DL (with or without biohazard gear).

PMID- 25817201
TI  - Intracranial hematoma and midline shift detected by transcranial color-coded
      duplex sonography.

PMID- 25817202
TI  - The utility of transvaginal ultrasound in the ED evaluation of complications of
      first trimester pregnancy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For patients with early intrauterine pregnancy (IUP), the sonographic
      signs of the gestation may be below the resolution of transabdominal ultrasound
      (TAU); however, it may be identified by transvaginal ultrasound (TVU). We sought
      to determine how often TVU performed in the emergency department (ED) reveals a
      viable IUP after a nondiagnostic ED TAU and the impact of ED TVU on patient
      length of stay (LOS). METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of women
      presenting to our ED with complications of early pregnancy from January 1, 2007
      to February 28, 2009 in a single urban adult ED. Abstractors recorded clinical
      and imaging data in a database. Patient imaging modality and results were
      recorded and compared with respect to ultrasound (US) findings and LOS. RESULTS:
      Of 2429 subjects identified, 795 required TVU as part of their care. Emergency
      department TVU was performed in 528 patients, and 267 went to radiology (RAD).
      Emergency department TVU identified a viable IUP in 261 patients (49.6%).
      Patients having initial ED US had shorter LOS than patients with initial RAD US
      (median 4.0 vs 6.0 hours; P < .001). Emergency department LOS was shorter for
      women who had ED TVU performed compared with those sent for RAD TVU regardless of
      the findings of the US (median 4.9 vs 6.7 hours; P < .001). There was no
      increased LOS for patients who needed further RAD US after an indeterminate ED
      TVU (7.0 vs 7.1 hours; P = .43). There was no difference in LOS for those who had
      a viable IUP confirmed on ED TAU vs ED (median 3.1 vs 3.2 hours, respectively; P
      < .32). CONCLUSION: When an ED TVU was performed, a viable IUP was detected 49.6%
      of the time. Emergency department LOS was significantly shorter for women who
      received ED TVU after indeterminate ED TAU compared with those sent to RAD for
      TVU, with more marked time savings among those with live IUP diagnosed on ED TVU.
      For patients who do not receive a definitive diagnosis of IUP on ED TVU, this
      approach does not result in increased LOS.

PMID- 25817204
TI  - Lipoprotein-induced phenoloxidase-activity in tarantula hemocyanin.
AB  - Phenoloxidases play vital roles in invertebrate innate immune reactions, wound
      closure and sclerotization processes in arthropods. In chelicerates, where
      phenoloxidases are lacking, phenoloxidase-activity can be induced in the oxygen
      carrier hemocyanin in vitro by proteolytic cleavage, incubation with the
      artificial inducer SDS, or lipids. The role of protein-protein interaction has up
      to now received little attention. This is remarkable, as lipoproteins - complexes
      of proteins and lipids - are present at high concentrations in arthropod
      hemolymph. We characterized the three lipoproteins present in tarantula
      hemolymph, two high-density lipoproteins and one very high-density lipoprotein,
      and show that the two high-density lipoproteins have distinct structures: the
      more abundant high-density lipoprotein is an ellipsoid particle with axes of
      ~22.5 nm and ~16.8 nm, respectively. The second high-density lipoprotein, present
      only in trace amount, is a large discoidal lipoprotein with a diameter of ~38.4
      nm and an on-edge thickness of ~7.1 nm. We further demonstrate that the
      interaction between lipoproteins and hemocyanin induces phenoloxidase activity in
      hemocyanin, and propose that this activation is due to protein-protein
      interaction rather than protein-lipid interaction, as neither lipid micelles nor
      lipid monomers were found to be activating. Activation was strongest in the
      presence of high-density lipoproteins; very high-density lipoproteins were found
      to be non-activating. This is the first time that the ability of lipoproteins to
      induce phenoloxidase activity of hemocyanin has been demonstrated, thus adding
      novel aspects to the function of lipoproteins apart from their known role in
      nutrient supply.

PMID- 25817203
TI  - Pharmacologic inhibition of the Menin-MLL interaction blocks progression of MLL
      leukemia in vivo.
AB  - Chromosomal translocations affecting mixed lineage leukemia gene (MLL) result in
      acute leukemias resistant to therapy. The leukemogenic activity of MLL fusion
      proteins is dependent on their interaction with menin, providing basis for
      therapeutic intervention. Here we report the development of highly potent and
      orally bioavailable small-molecule inhibitors of the menin-MLL interaction, MI
      463 and MI-503, and show their profound effects in MLL leukemia cells and
      substantial survival benefit in mouse models of MLL leukemia. Finally, we
      demonstrate the efficacy of these compounds in primary samples derived from MLL
      leukemia patients. Overall, we demonstrate that pharmacologic inhibition of the
      menin-MLL interaction represents an effective treatment for MLL leukemias in vivo
      and provide advanced molecular scaffold for clinical lead identification. 

PMID- 25817205
TI  - The MARK-AGE phenotypic database: Structure and strategy.
AB  - In the context of the MARK-AGE study, anthropometric, clinical and social data as
      well as samples of venous blood, buccal mucosal cells and urine were
      systematically collected from 3337 volunteers. Information from about 500
      standardised questions and about 500 analysed biomarkers needed to be documented
      per individual. On the one hand handling with such a vast amount of data
      necessitates the use of appropriate informatics tools and the establishment of a
      database. On the other hand personal information on subjects obtained as a result
      of such studies has, of course, to be kept confidential, and therefore the
      investigators must ensure that the subjects' anonymity will be maintained. Such
      secrecy obligation implies a well-designed and secure system for data storage. In
      order to fulfil the demands of the MARK-AGE study we established a phenotypic
      database for storing information on the study subjects by using a doubly coded
      system. 

PMID- 25817206
TI  - MARK-AGE standard operating procedures (SOPs): A successful effort.
AB  - Within the MARK-AGE project, a population study (3337 subjects) was conducted to
      identify a set of biomarkers of ageing which, as a combination of parameters with
      appropriate weighting, would measure biological age better than any single
      marker. The MARK-AGE project involves 14 European countries and a total of 26
      research centres. In such a study, standard operating procedures (SOPs) are an
      essential task, which are binding for all MARK-AGE Beneficiaries. The SOPs cover
      all aspects of subject's recruitment, collection, shipment and distribution of
      biological samples (blood and its components, buccal mucosa cells or BMC and
      urine) as well as the anthropometric measurements and questionnaires. 

PMID- 25817207
TI  - Physical activity and subjective well-being: the role of time.
AB  - This study examines the role of time in explaining the effect of physical
      activity on subjective well-being. Specifically, it looks at the composite
      structure of time needed for participation in a time-efficient fitness programme
      and how different time components affect satisfaction with health, leisure time,
      fitness, body and look. This quasi-experimental study consisted of three stages:
      (i) physical entry test and pre-survey, (ii) training intervention (30 min;
      performed twice a week over a 4-week period) and (iii) exit test and post-survey.
      A total of N = 10 481 individuals participated across 316 German fitness centres.
      Regression results show that total time spent significantly increases
      satisfaction with health and fitness. Time spent on approach and parking reduces
      satisfaction with leisure time, while time spent on wellness and showering
      increases it. Spending time in the bistro increases satisfaction with health and
      fitness. Time spent on the actual fitness training has no significant effect on
      either satisfaction measure. The findings indicate that it is important to
      consider the composite structure of time needed for physical activity because
      other activities matter more than the actual time spent on exercising. Public
      health policies and policy makers should therefore support such time-efficient
      programmes. 

PMID- 25817208
TI  - Multiple anthropometric measures in relation to incidence of diabetes: a Swedish
      population-based cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obesity is the major modifiable risk factor for diabetes. This study
      investigated the incidence of diabetes in relation to multiple anthropometric
      measures. METHODS: Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-height
      ratio (WHtR), waist-hip ratio (WHR) and body fat percentage (BF %) were measured
      among 26,604 subjects (aged 45-73 years) without history of diabetes from the
      Malmo Diet and Cancer cohort. RESULTS: During 14 years of follow-up, 2935
      subjects (1519 men, 1416 women) were diagnosed with diabetes. In men, incidence
      of diabetes was 24.1 and 4.0 per 1000 person-years comparing the fourth vs. first
      quartile of WHtR. The multivariate adjusted hazard ratios (HR; fourth vs first
      quartile) were 6.00 [95% confidence interval (CI): 5.02-7.16) for WHtR, 5.95 (CI:
      4.96-7.14) for WC, 5.19 (CI: 4.38-6.15) for BMI, 4.71 (CI: 3.96-5.60) for WHR and
      3.21 (CI: 2.75-3.76] for BF%. For women, incidence of diabetes was 15.1 and 1.4
      per 1000 person-years for fourth vs first quartile of WHtR (HR: 10.19, CI: 8.10
      12.82). HR was 9.16 (CI: 7.40-11.33) for WC, 6.42 (CI: 5.27-7.81) for BMI, 6.75
      (CI: 5.52-8.25) for WHR and 5.39 (CI: 4.42-6.57) for BF%. Model discrimination
      was marginally increased when WC, WHtR or WHR was used in combination with BMI.
      CONCLUSION: All measures of obesity were associated with substantially increased
      incidence of diabetes. Abdominal obesity was associated with higher incidence
      rates in men than in women, but in terms of relative risks the relationships were
      stronger in women. The combination of BMI and abdominal obesity measures had
      stronger association with diabetes than BMI alone.

PMID- 25817209
TI  - Impact of living alone on institutionalization and mortality: a population-based
      longitudinal study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Living alone is common among elderly people in Western countries, and
      studies on its relationship with institutionalization and all-cause mortality
      have shown inconsistent results. We investigated that the impact of living alone
      on institutionalization and mortality in a population-based cohort of elderly
      people. METHODS: Data originate from the Swedish National study on Aging and Care
      Kungsholmen. Participants aged >=66 years and living at home (n = 2404) at
      baseline underwent interviews and clinical examination. Data on living
      arrangements were collected in interviews. All participants were followed for 6
      years; survival status and admission into institutions were tracked continuously
      through administrative registers from 2001 to 2007. Data were analysed using Cox
      proportional hazard models, competing risk regressions and Laplace regressions
      with adjustment for potential confounders. RESULTS: Of the 2404 participants,
      1464 (60.9%) lived alone at baseline. During the follow-up, 711 (29.6%)
      participants died, and 185 (15.0%) were institutionalized. In the multi-adjusted
      Cox model, the hazard ratio (HR) of mortality in those living alone was 1.35 (95%
      confidence interval [CI] 1.18 to 1.54), especially among men (HR = 1.44, 95% CI
      1.18 to 1.76). Living alone shortened survival by 0.6 years and was associated
      with the risk of institutionalization (HR = 1.74, 95% CI 1.10 to 2.77) after
      taking death into account as a competing risk. CONCLUSIONS: Living alone is
      associated with elevated mortality, especially among men and an increased risk of
      institutionalization. Over a 6-year period, living alone was related to a half
      year reduction in survival among elderly people in Sweden.

PMID- 25817210
TI  - Identification and elimination of metabolic bottlenecks in the quinone
      modification pathway for enhanced coenzyme Q10 production in Rhodobacter
      sphaeroides.
AB  - In this report, UbiE and UbiH in the quinone modification pathway (QMP) were
      identified in addition to UbiG as bottleneck enzymes in the CoQ10 biosynthesis by
      Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The CoQ10 content was enhanced after co-overexpression
      of UbiE and UbiG, however, accompanied by the accumulation of the intermediate
      10P-MMBQ. UbiH was then co-overexpressed to pull the metabolic flux towards
      downstream, resulting in an elevated CoQ10 productivity and decreased biomass. On
      the other hand, the expression levels of UbiE and UbiG were tuned to eliminate
      the intermediate accumulation, however at the sacrifice of productivity. To
      alleviate the detrimental effect on either productivity or cell growth, we tried
      to fuse UbiG with UbiE and localize them onto the membrane to elevate
      intermediate conversion. By fusing UbiE and UbiG to pufX, CoQ10 was accumulated
      to 108.51+/-2.76mg/L with a biomass of 12.2+/-0.9g/L. At last, we combined the
      optimized QMP and the previously engineered 2-methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate
      pathway (MEP) to further boost CoQ10 biosynthesis, resulting in a strain with
      138+/-2.64mg/L CoQ10 production. 

PMID- 25817211
TI  - Review: Properties of sperm and seminal fluid, informed by research on
      reproduction and contraception.
AB  - Forensic DNA testing is grounded in molecular biology and population genetics.
      The technologies that were the basis of restriction length polymorphism testing
      (RFLP) have given way to PCR based technologies. While PCR has been the pillar of
      short tandem repeat (STR) methods and will continue to be used as DNA sequencing
      and analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are introduced into human
      identification, the molecular biology techniques in use today represent
      significant advances since the introduction of STR testing. Large forensic
      laboratories with dedicated research teams and forensic laboratories which are
      part of academic institutions have the resources to keep track of advances which
      can then be considered for further research or incorporated into current testing
      methods. However, many laboratories have limited ability to keep up with research
      advances outside of the immediate area of forensic science and may not have
      access to a large university library systems. This review focuses on filling this
      gap with respect to areas of research that intersect with selected methods used
      in forensic biology. The review summarizes information collected from several
      areas of the scientific literature where advances in molecular biology have
      produced information relevant to DNA analysis of sexual assault evidence and
      methods used in presumptive and confirmatory identification of semen. Older
      information from the literature is also included where this information may not
      be commonly known and is relevant to current methods. The topics selected
      highlight (1) information from applications of proteomics to sperm biology and
      human reproduction, (2) seminal fluid proteins and prostate cancer diagnostics,
      (3) developmental biology of sperm from the fertility literature and (4) areas
      where methods are common to forensic analysis and research in contraceptive use
      and monitoring. Information and progress made in these areas coincide with the
      research interests of forensic biology and cross-talk between these disciplines
      may benefit both. 

PMID- 25817212
TI  - Micro-computed Tomographic Assessment on the Effect of ProTaper Next and Twisted
      File Adaptive Systems on Dentinal Cracks.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the frequency of
      dentinal microcracks observed after root canal preparation with ProTaper Next
      (PTN; Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland) and Twisted File Adaptive
      (TFA; SybronEndo, Orange, CA) systems through micro-computed tomographic
      analysis. METHODS: Twenty moderately curved mesial roots of mandibular molars
      presenting a type II Vertucci canal configuration were randomly assigned to 2
      experimental groups (n = 10) according to the system used for the root canal
      preparation: PTN or TFA systems. The specimens were scanned through high
      resolution micro-computed tomographic imaging before and after root canal
      preparation. Afterward, pre- and postoperative cross-sectional images of the
      mesial roots (N = 25,820) were screened to identify the presence of dentinal
      defects. RESULTS: Dentinal microcracks were observed in 38.72% (n = 5150) and
      30.27% (n = 3790) of the cross-sectional images in the PTN and TFA groups,
      respectively. All dentinal defects identified in the postoperative scans were
      already present in the corresponding preoperative images. CONCLUSIONS: Root canal
      preparation with PTN and TFA systems did not induce the formation of new dentinal
      microcracks.

PMID- 25817213
TI  - Effect of Time Lapse between Endodontic and Periodontal Therapies on the Healing
      of Concurrent Endodontic-Periodontal Lesions without Communication: A Prospective
      Randomized Clinical Trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this prospective randomized clinical trial was to
      evaluate the effect of a time lapse between endodontic treatment and nonsurgical
      periodontal treatment on periodontal healing of concurrent endodontic-periodontal
      lesions without communication. METHODS: Thirty-one patients were randomly divided
      into 2 groups: group 1: endodontic treatment and scaling and root planning (SRP)
      were performed simultaneously and group 2: SRP was performed 3 months after
      endodontic treatment. Both groups were followed for 3 and 6 months after SRP.
      Primary outcome variables were the probing depth, clinical attachment level, and
      periapical index score. RESULTS: Both the groups showed a significant improvement
      in all the clinical parameters evaluated after the completion of endodontic and
      periodontal treatment (P < .05). No statistically significant difference in
      improvement was observed between the 2 groups at 3 and 6 months after SRP (P >
      .05). Periodontal healing responses were comparable in the 2 groups, with no
      apparent detriment resulting from simultaneous treatment. Improvements in
      periodontal parameters that were achieved in 6 months in group 2 were achieved
      only in 3 months in group 1 (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS: Nonsurgical periodontal
      treatment may be performed simultaneously with endodontic treatment in the
      management of concurrent endodontic-periodontal lesions without communication,
      and an observation period after endodontic treatment may not be required.

PMID- 25817214
TI  - PEP-1-FK506BP inhibits alkali burn-induced corneal inflammation on the rat model
      of corneal alkali injury.
AB  - FK506 binding protein 12 (FK506BP) is a small peptide with a single FK506BP
      domain that is involved in suppression of immune response and reactive oxygen
      species. FK506BP has emerged as a potential drug target for several inflammatory
      diseases. Here, we examined the protective effects of directly applied cell
      permeable FK506BP (PEP-1-FK506BP) on corneal alkali burn injury (CAI). In the
      cornea, there was a significant decrease in the number of cells expressing pro
      inflammation, apoptotic, and angiogenic factors such as TNF-alpha, COX-2, and
      VEGF. Both corneal opacity and corneal neovascularization (CNV) were
      significantly decreased in the PEP-1-FK506BP treated group. Our results showed
      that PEP-1-FK506BP can significantly inhibit alkali burn-induced corneal
      inflammation in rats, possibly by accelerating corneal wound healing and by
      reducing the production of angiogenic factors and inflammatory cytokines. These
      results suggest that PEP-1-FK506BP may be a potential therapeutic agent for CAI.

PMID- 25817215
TI  - Fluorescent and Bioluminescent Nanoprobes for In Vitro and In Vivo Detection of
      Matrix Metalloproteinase Activity.
AB  - Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent endopeptidases that degrade
      the extracellular matrix (ECM) and regulate the extracellular microenvironment.
      Despite the significant role that MMP activity plays in cell-cell and cell-ECM
      interactions, migration, and differentiation, analyses of MMPs in vitro and in
      vivo have relied upon their abundance using conventional immunoassays, rather
      than their enzymatic activities. To resolve this issue, diverse nanoprobes have
      emerged and proven useful as effective activity-based detection tools. Here, we
      review the recent advances in luminescent nanoprobes and their applications in in
      vitro diagnosis and in vivo imaging of MMP activity. Nanoprobes with the purpose
      of sensing MMP activity consist of recognition and detection units, which include
      MMP-specific substrates and luminescent (fluorescent or bioluminescent)
      nanoparticles, respectively. With further research into improvement of the
      optical performance, it is anticipated that luminescent nanoprobes will have
      great potential for the study of the functional roles of proteases in cancer
      biology and nanomedicine.

PMID- 25817216
TI  - Treatment: special conditions: co-existing vascular disease: stroke.

PMID- 25817217
TI  - Rationale for a single-pill combination of perindopril arginine and amlodipine
      besylate.
AB  - A systematic review identified 86 outcome-based clinical trials involving
      perindopril, amlodipine, or other antihypertensive drugs. In fixed-effects meta
      analyses of 11 clinical trials (90,208 subjects), amlodipine was associated with
      a significant 24% increase in heart failure, but a significant decrease in death,
      cardiovascular death, stroke, coronary heart disease, and first major
      cardiovascular adverse event. In five clinical trials (52,565 subjects),
      perindopril was associated with a significant reduction in all six cardiovascular
      endpoints. Network and Bayesian meta-analyses suggested that (with the exception
      of amlodipine and heart failure), each agent was at least as effective as an
      initial diuretic to prevent these events. Short-term trials have demonstrated
      that the combination of perindopril and amlodipine is safe and effective, with
      statistically greater lowering of blood pressure than either agent alone and a
      potential synergistic effect on pedal edema. The single-pill combination of
      perindopril and amlodipine may be a useful addition to the antihypertensive
      armamentarium. 

PMID- 25817218
TI  - Antibacterial behaviour of Vitex negundo extract assisted ZnO nanoparticles
      against pathogenic bacteria.
AB  - The biological routes are advantageous over the chemical and physical ones as
      unlike. These, the biological synthesis protocol occurs at ambient conditions,
      are cheap, non-toxic and eco-friendly. This research describes the synthesis of
      zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using Vitex negundo plant extract with zinc
      nitrate hexahydrate as precursor. Biomolecules present in plant extract can be
      used to hydrolyze metal ions into metal oxide NPs in a single-step green
      synthesis. The hydrolyzing agents involved the various water soluble plant
      metabolites such as flavonoid, alkaloids, flavone, phenolic compounds, terpenoids
      and co-enzymes. Presence of isoorientin (flavone) in V. negundo plant extract is
      mainly responsible for the formation of ZnO NPs. The prepared ZnO NPs were
      calcinated at 450 degrees C and were confirmed by XRD, FT-IR, UV-visible, SEM
      with EDX and DLS analysis. The biological application of antibacterial activity
      was done by gram positive and gram negative bacteria.

PMID- 25817219
TI  - Characterization of novel entecavir resistance mutations.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Entecavir (ETV) is approved for the treatment of chronic
      hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections, but the virus can acquire resistance to the
      drug. This requires lamivudine resistance mutations (LAMr) and at least one
      additional mutation. Here, we characterized two novel mutations, rtI163V and
      rtA186T, associated with viral breakthrough (VBT) in an ETV-refractory patient.
      METHODS: HBV from an ETV-refractory patient was sequenced, and newly identified
      mutations were inserted into a replication-competent clone by mutagenesis. Clones
      were analyzed for replication efficacy and susceptibility to ETV in vitro.
      Chimeric mice with human hepatocytes were inoculated with the patient's serum at
      VBT, and monitored for viral mutation pattern using a next-generation sequencing
      approach. RESULTS: RtI163V and rtA186T mutations were detected together with LAMr
      (rtL180M and rtM204V) at VBT. RtA186T plus LAMr reduced susceptibility to ETV
      more than 111.1-fold compared with the wild-type clone, while rtI163V plus LAMr
      resulted in a 20.4-fold reduction. RtA186T significantly reduced viral
      replication efficacy, while the rtI163V mutation rescued it. Interestingly, the
      viral mutation pattern in the chimeric mice indicated dominant (or selective)
      proliferation of a clone containing rtI163V and rtA186T mutations plus LAMr under
      ETV treatment. Three-dimensional docking simulation indicated that rtA186T
      reduced the binding affinity of the HBV polymerase to ETV. CONCLUSIONS: VBT in
      this ETV-refractory patient is attributable to the novel ETV resistance mutations
      rtI163V and rtA186T. RtA186T was apparently responsible for ETV resistance but
      the selection of a clone with the double mutation plus LAMr suggests that rtI163V
      is required to sustain viral fitness.

PMID- 25817220
TI  - Combining qualitative and quantitative imaging evaluation for the assessment of
      genomic DNA integrity: The SPIDIA experience.
AB  - In this note, we present an ad hoc procedure that combines qualitative (visual
      evaluation) and quantitative (ImageJ software) evaluations of Pulsed-Field Gel
      Electrophoresis (PFGE) images to assess the genomic DNA (gDNA) integrity of
      analyzed samples. This procedure could be suitable for the analysis of a large
      number of images by taking into consideration both the expertise of researchers
      and the objectiveness of the software. We applied this procedure on the first
      SPIDIA DNA External Quality Assessment (EQA) samples. Results show that the
      classification obtained by this ad hoc procedure allows a more accurate
      evaluation of gDNA integrity with respect to a single approach. 

PMID- 25817221
TI  - Apportioning sources of organic matter in streambed sediments: an integrated
      molecular and compound-specific stable isotope approach.
AB  - We present a novel application for quantitatively apportioning sources of organic
      matter in streambed sediments via a coupled molecular and compound-specific
      isotope analysis (CSIA) of long-chain leaf wax n-alkane biomarkers using a
      Bayesian mixing model. Leaf wax extracts of 13 plant species were collected from
      across two environments (aquatic and terrestrial) and four plant functional types
      (trees, herbaceous perennials, and C3 and C4 graminoids) from the agricultural
      River Wensum catchment, UK. Seven isotopic (delta13C27, delta13C29, delta13C31,
      delta13C27-31, delta2H27, delta2H29, and delta2H27-29) and two n-alkane ratio
      (average chain length (ACL), carbon preference index (CPI)) fingerprints were
      derived, which successfully differentiated 93% of individual plant specimens by
      plant functional type. The delta2H values were the strongest discriminators of
      plants originating from different functional groups, with trees (delta2H27-29=
      2080/00 to -1640/00) and C3 graminoids (delta2H27-29=-2590/00 to -2210/00)
      providing the largest contrasts. The delta13C values provided strong
      discrimination between C3 (delta13C27-31=-37.50/00 to -33.80/00) and C4
      (delta13C27-31=-23.50/00 to -23.10/00) plants, but neither delta13C nor delta2H
      values could uniquely differentiate aquatic and terrestrial species, emphasizing
      a stronger plant physiological/biochemical rather than environmental control over
      isotopic differences. ACL and CPI complemented isotopic discrimination, with
      significantly longer chain lengths recorded for trees and terrestrial plants
      compared with herbaceous perennials and aquatic species, respectively.
      Application of a comprehensive Bayesian mixing model for 18 streambed sediments
      collected between September 2013 and March 2014 revealed considerable temporal
      variability in the apportionment of organic matter sources. Median organic matter
      contributions ranged from 22% to 52% for trees, 29% to 50% for herbaceous
      perennials, 17% to 34% for C3 graminoids and 3% to 7% for C4 graminoids. The
      results presented here clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of an integrated
      molecular and stable isotope analysis for quantitatively apportioning, with
      uncertainty, plant-specific organic matter contributions to streambed sediments
      via a Bayesian mixing model approach.

PMID- 25817222
TI  - Kidney biopsy findings in primary Sjogren syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Renal involvement is rare in primary Sjogren syndrome (PSS). In this
      study, we examined renal biopsy findings in patients with PSS and correlated them
      with their clinical and renal findings. METHODS: Twenty-five patients with PSS
      who underwent renal biopsies from two renal units in Scotland between 1978 and
      2013 were identified from renal biopsy database. We examined the renal
      morphologic, clinical and renal findings at the time of renal biopsy, renal and
      patient outcomes. RESULTS: The diagnosis of PSS preceded renal biopsy in 18/25
      patients. In this group, the median duration of the disease was 5.5 years.
      Significant proteinuria, combined microscopic haematuria and proteinuria and
      reduced renal excretory function were found in 76, 56 and 84% of patients,
      respectively. The 3-year actuarial patient survival was significantly lower in
      patients with glomerulonephritis as compared with tubulointerstitial nephritis
      (66 versus 100%, P = 0.02). There was no difference in 3-year actuarial renal
      survival between these two groups (92 versus 92%, P = 1.0). CONCLUSIONS: Renal
      biopsy is rare in PSS and often reveals diverse pathological findings.
      Glomerulonephritis, as compared with tubulointerstitial nephritis, is associated
      with higher early mortality. Further studies are needed to evaluate the utility
      of renal biopsy and its impact on disease management.

PMID- 25817223
TI  - Circulating Wnt/beta-catenin signalling inhibitors and uraemic vascular
      calcifications.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The process of vascular calcification has been associated with the
      canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signalling pathway in cell cultures and animal
      studies. The relationship between circulating Wnt/beta-catenin inhibitors and
      vascular calcification in dialysis patients is unknown. The aim of this study was
      to investigate the associations between serum dickkopf-1 (Dkk-1) and sclerostin,
      two circulating inhibitors of the Wnt/beta-catenin signalling pathway, and the
      severity of aortic calcification (AoC) and cardiovascular outcomes in dialysis
      patients. METHODS: This was a prospective observational cohort study. One hundred
      and twenty-five patients on maintenance haemodialysis participated in the study.
      Serum levels of Dkk-1 and sclerostin were measured. AoC scores were calculated
      from plain films of both posterior-anterior and lateral views. The patients were
      followed up for 2 years or until death or withdrawal. RESULTS: The circulating
      sclerostin level was inversely associated with the severity of AoC (P = 0.035)
      and indicators of the bone turnover rate including serum alkaline phosphatase
      (ALP) (r = -0.235, P = 0.008) and intact parathyroid hormone (r = -0.523, P <
      0.001). Furthermore, Cox regression analysis indicated that the patients with
      high circulating sclerostin levels were less likely to experience future
      cardiovascular events [1 pmol/L sclerostin increase, hazard ratio 0.982 (95% CI,
      0.967-0.996), P = 0.015] after adjusting for a propensity score. In contrast,
      serum Dkk-1 was not associated with AoC and clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: In
      long-term haemodialysis patients, circulating sclerostin but not Dkk-1 is
      inversely associated with AoCs and future cardiovascular events. Our findings
      suggest that sclerostin, as a bone-related protein, might act as a communicator
      between uraemic bone and vasculature.

PMID- 25817224
TI  - Refining the definition of clinically important mineral and bone disorder in
      hemodialysis patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is important to identify an easily defined subset of patients at
      increased risk of adverse clinical outcomes associated with mineral and bone
      disorder (MBD) biomarkers (parathyroid hormone, calcium and phosphate). METHODS:
      Observational cohort study of 26 221 prevalent hemodialysis patients in Davita
      clinics as of 31 August 2005 and followed up until 31 December 2006 (16 months).
      Predictors were 12 possible definitions of 'clinically important' MBD based on
      all 3 biomarkers, and 18 alternative definitions based on only 1 or 2 biomarkers.
      Events were death alone and a composite of cardiovascular hospitalization or
      death. Excess events were calculated based on a multivariate Cox model using 5224
      patients in target for all MBD biomarkers and applied to 20 997 patients out of
      target for at least one biomarker. Excess events attributable to MBD were
      estimated by subtracting the multivariate model-derived predicted number from the
      actual number. Outcomes were the proportion of excess events attributable to MBD
      captured by each definition (threshold >=70%) and the reduction in the population
      size considered to have clinically important MBD (threshold >=30%). The excess
      fraction was excess events divided by actual events. RESULTS: Patients with more
      biochemical markers out of target tended to be younger, black and have longer
      times since starting dialysis. The excess fraction associated with MBD ranged
      from ~10 to 26% depending on the clinical endpoint and definition. The only
      definition to meet the thresholds required at least two of the three MBD
      biomarkers to be out of target (high or low). It captured 82% of excess composite
      endpoints and 74% of excess deaths and reduced the at-risk population by 46%.
      CONCLUSIONS: Patients with at least two of three MBD biomarkers out of target
      represent a subgroup of patients at elevated risk of adverse clinical events.

PMID- 25817225
TI  - Urinary creatinine excretion, measured glomerular filtration rate and CKD
      outcomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Muscle wasting predicts mortality in patients with end-stage renal
      disease (ESRD), but its role in the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD)
      is uncertain. We studied CKD outcomes associated with low muscle mass, assessed
      by urinary creatinine excretion (UCr). METHODS: The NephroTest cohort included
      1429 patients with CKD stages 1-4 and both measured glomerular filtration rate
      (mGFR) (by (51)Cr-EDTA) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (by CKD
      Epidemiology Collaboration equation). We used cause-specific Cox models to
      estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for the competing risks of ESRD and death associated
      with gender-specific UCr quartiles. RESULTS: UCr was 13.6 +/- 3.2 mmol/24 h (0.17
      +/- 0.05 mmol/kg/24 h) in men and 9.2 +/- 2.1 (0.14 +/- 0.05) in women. It was
      positively associated with mGFR, but not with eGFR. Over a median follow-up of
      3.6 (2.1-5.8) years, 229 patients developed ESRD and 113 patients died before
      ESRD. Compared with patients in the highest UCr quartile, those in the lowest
      quartile had a higher crude HR (95% confidence interval) for pre-ESRD death: 4.3
      (2.4-7.7), which was weakened, but remained statistically significant,
      independent of demographics, mGFR and several other factors: 2.1 (1.04-4.3).
      Their crude ESRD risk was not higher: HR: 0.95 (0.65-1.4), and even tended to be
      lower after adjusting for mGFR and log-proteinuria: HR: 0.70 (0.45-1.1).
      Adjustment for eGFR instead of mGFR reversed this relationship: HR: 1.7 (1.1
      2.7). CONCLUSIONS: In early stage CKD, low UCr is associated with higher risk for
      mortality, but not for ESRD. Using creatinine-based equation to adjust for GFR
      may bias the relationship of UCr with ESRD risk.

PMID- 25817227
TI  - Should age be a factor for initiating post-cardiac arrest care or for temperature
      management strategies?

PMID- 25817228
TI  - Electric foot shock stress adaptation: Does it exist or not?
AB  - Stress adaptation is a protective phenomenon against repeated stress exposure and
      is characterized by a decreased responsiveness to a repeated stress stimulus. The
      adaptation is associated with a complex cascade of events, including the changes
      in behavior, neurotransmitter and gene expression levels. The non-adaptation or
      maladaptation to stress may underlie the affective disorders, such as anxiety,
      depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Electric foot shock is a
      complex stressor, which includes both physical and emotional components. Unlike
      immobilization, restraint and cold immersion stress, the phenomenon of stress
      adaptation is not very well defined in response to electric foot shock. A number
      of preclinical studies have reported the development of adaptation to electric
      foot shock stress. However, evidence also reveals the non-adaptive behavior in
      response to foot shocks. The distinct adaptive/non-adaptive responses may be
      possibly influenced by the type, intensity, and duration of the stress. The
      present review discusses the existence or non-existence of adaptation to electric
      foot shock stress along with possible mechanism. 

PMID- 25817226
TI  - Longitudinal changes in hematocrit in hypertensive chronic kidney disease:
      results from the African-American Study of Kidney Disease and Hypertension
      (AASK).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anemia is common in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and associated with
      poor outcomes. In cross-sectional studies, lower estimated glomerular filtration
      rate (eGFR) has been associated with increased risk for anemia. The aim of this
      study was to determine how hematocrit changes as eGFR declines and what factors
      impact this longitudinal association. METHODS: We followed 1094 African-Americans
      with hypertensive nephropathy who participated in the African-American Study of
      Kidney Disease and Hypertension. Mixed effects models were used to determine
      longitudinal change in hematocrit as a function of eGFR. Interaction terms were
      used to assess for differential effects of age, gender, baseline eGFR, baseline
      proteinuria, malnutrition and inflammation on eGFR-associated declines in
      hematocrit. In sensitivity analyses, models were run using iGFR (by renal
      clearance of I(125) iothalamate) in place of eGFR. RESULTS: At baseline, mean
      hematocrit was 39% and 441 (40%) individuals had anemia. The longitudinal
      relationship between eGFR and hematocrit differed by baseline eGFR and was
      steeper when baseline eGFR was <45 mL/min/1.73 m(2). For example, the absolute
      decline in hematocrit per 10 mL/min/1.73 m(2) decline in longitudinal eGFR was 
      3.7, -1.3 and -0.5% for baseline eGFR values of 20, 40 and 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2),
      respectively (P < 0.001 comparing the longitudinal association between baseline
      eGFR = 40 or 60 versus baseline eGFR = 20 mL/min/1.73 m(2)). Similarly, male sex,
      younger age (<65 years) and higher baseline proteinuria (protein-to-creatinine
      ratio >0.22) were associated with greater hematocrit declines per unit decrease
      in longitudinal eGFR compared with female sex, older age and low baseline
      proteinuria, respectively (P-interaction <0.05 for each comparison). The
      longitudinal eGFR-hematocrit association did not differ by body mass index, serum
      albumin or C-reactive protein. CONCLUSIONS: Men, younger individuals and those
      with low baseline eGFR (<45 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) or baseline proteinuria are
      particularly at risk for eGFR-related declines in hematocrit.

PMID- 25817229
TI  - Epigenetic regulation of protein tyrosine phosphatase PTPN12 in triple-negative
      breast cancer.
AB  - AIMS: The present study showed that the expression of PTPN12 is epigenetically
      regulated. 5-Azacytidine (5-Azac), a DNA hypomethylating agent, significantly
      increased the expression of PTPN12 at low concentrations (1MUM and 2.5MUM) and
      decreased the expression of PTPN12 at 5MUM in the MDA-MB-231 and BT-549 triple
      negative breast cancer cell lines. MAIN METHODS: Human MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 and BT
      549 cells were exposed to different concentrations of 5-Azac for 24 and 48h. RT
      PCR was performed to determine the mRNA expression of PTPN12, E-cadherin and
      miRNA-124. Western blotting was performed to assess the protein expression of
      various proteins, including PTPN12, E-cadherin, DNMT and PARP. KEY FINDINGS: 5
      Azac, a DNA hypomethylating agent, significantly increased the expression of
      PTPN12 at low concentrations (1MUM and 2.5MUM) and decreased PTPN12 expression at
      5MUM. We provide the first evidence that PTPN12 expression is epigenetically
      regulated and that it is up-regulated at a lower dose of a DNMT1 inhibitor in MDA
      MB-231 and BT-549 cells. Interestingly, the levels of miRNA-124 were increased
      only at 5MUM, the concentration at which PTPN12 expression was suppressed.
      SIGNIFICANCE: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that
      highlights the therapeutic potential of low-dose 5-Azac for the treatment of
      TNBC. Therefore, 5-Azac, an agent that has already been tested in acute myeloid
      leukemia, may be more effective at lower doses for the treatment of triple
      negative breast cancer.

PMID- 25817230
TI  - High-dose pentazocine antagonizes the antinociception induced by high-dose
      morphine.
AB  - AIMS: To investigate the effects of high doses of pentazocine on antinociception
      induced by a high dose of morphine and the role of the kappa-opioid receptors
      (KORs) in these effects in mice. MAIN METHODS: Sixty-six C57BL/6J mice were
      pretreated with a KOR antagonist, nor-binaltorphimine (nor-BNI) (10mg.kg(-1)), or
      a normal saline placebo. All the mice received a subcutaneous injection of
      morphine (10mg.kg(-1)) 120min later and different doses of pentazocine (3, 10,
      30, 56, 100mg.kg(-1)) or a normal saline placebo. A tail pressure test, hot plate
      test and tail flick test were performed before and at 30, 60, 90 and 120min after
      the injection of morphine. KEY FINDINGS: The tail pressure test, hot plate test
      and tail flick test showed that pentazocine at doses of 10 to 100mg.kg(-1), but
      not at 3mg.kg(-1), had significant antagonizing effects on the antinociception
      induced by high-dose morphine to mechanical and thermal pain, and nor-BNI did not
      affect antinociception in combination with pentazocine at 10 to 100mg.kg(-1) and
      morphine at 10mg.kg(-1). SIGNIFICANCE: High-doses of pentazocine antagonize the
      antinociception induced by a high-dose of morphine in a dose-dependent manner,
      and this antagonistic effect is not associated with the activation of KORs.

PMID- 25817231
TI  - Evaluation of serum midkine as a biomarker in differentiated thyroid cancer.
AB  - AIMS: Midkine is a multifunctional cytokine identified to be a promising cancer
      biomarker. We aimed to prospectively investigate serum midkine as a diagnostic
      and prognostic biomarker in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). MAIN METHODS:
      162 patients with thyroid nodules participated in the surgical cohort (post
      surgical pathology proved 70 cases with DTC and 92 cases with benign thyroid
      nodules), 75 healthy subjects served as control. Diagnostic values of pre
      surgical midkine and thyroglobulin for DTC were conducted by receiver operating
      characteristic (ROC) curves. 214 DTC patients participated in the (131)I
      treatment cohort. Prognostic values of pre-(131)I-ablative midkine and
      thyroglobulin to predict (131)I-avid metastases were performed by ROC curves.
      Metastasis-free survival was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method. KEY FINDINGS:
      Much better diagnostic capability of midkine than thyroglobulin was shown to
      differentiate DTC from benign thyroid nodules, with cut-off midkine value of
      323.12pg/ml and diagnostic accuracy of 75.31%. Nearly similar diagnostic
      capabilities of midkine and thyroglobulin were shown to distinguish DTC from
      normal participants. Pre-(131)I-ablative thyroglobulin demonstrated perfect
      ability to predict metastases, with cut-off value and diagnostic accuracy of
      19.50ng/ml and 96.73%. Midkine also performed well with a cut-off value and
      diagnostic accuracy of 504.71pg/ml and 89.25%. DTC patients with midkine or
      thyroglobulin levels higher than those of thresholds (500pg/ml or 20ng/ml) showed
      a significantly worse (131)I-avid metastasis-free survival by the Kaplan-Meier
      method (P<0.01). SIGNIFICANCE: Our results show that midkine is as good as or
      even better than thyroglobulin to screen patients with thyroid nodules for DTC
      before surgery, and to predict whether metastases exist before the first (131)I
      ablative therapy.

PMID- 25817232
TI  - Protective effects of phosphatidylcholine on oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy in
      rats.
AB  - AIMS: The present study was designed to investigate the therapeutic potential of
      phosphatidylcholine (PC) on oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy. MAIN
      METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: the
      control group, the oxaliplatin group (4mg/kg, twice per week for 4weeks) and the
      oxaliplatin+PC (300mg/kg) group. To evaluate the effect of PC, we examined the
      thermal nociceptive threshold changes in oxaliplatin-induced peripheral
      neuropathy by conducting paw pressure, hot-plate and tail-flick tests. Additional
      experiments on the degree of oxidative stress in the sciatic nerves were
      performed by measuring the level of MDA, total glutathione (GSH), glutathione
      peroxidase (GPx) activity and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. We also used
      histopathological and immunohistochemical methods to observe neuronal damage and
      glial activation. KEY FINDINGS: PC attenuated oxidative stress by increasing
      antioxidant levels. In histopathological evaluation, the PC administrated group
      maintained normal morphologic appearance of sciatic nerves, similar to the
      control group. In spinal cords, however, no significant difference between the
      oxaliplatin-alone group and the oxaliplatin+PC group was observed. In the
      immunohistochemical evaluation, PC administration ameliorated oxaliplatin-induced
      microglial activation. SIGNIFICANCE: It is suggested that PC has a therapeutic
      potential against oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy due to its
      antioxidant property and modulation of microglial activities.

PMID- 25817233
TI  - AMP-kinase pathway is involved in tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced lipid
      accumulation in human hepatoma cells.
AB  - AIM: It is well known that lipid accumulation and inflammation are two important
      steps in pathogenesis and progress of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
      However, fewer studies have explored the direct relationship between lipid
      accumulation and inflammation in early NAFLD. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF
      alpha) is one of the classical inflammatory cytokines. AMP-activated protein
      kinase (AMPK) is known as a critical regulator of energy homeostasis in metabolic
      processes. This study aims to investigate the role of TNF-alpha on lipid
      deposition of HepG2 cells and examine the modification of AMPK pathway. MAIN
      METHODS: TNF-alpha was added in HepG2 cells and lipid accumulation was analyzed
      by Oil Red O staining and quantitative test of triglyceride (TG). The expressions
      of phosphorylated AMPK and its pathway (including mTOR and SREBP-1) were
      determined. Furthermore, an AMPK agonist (metformin or AICAR) or antagonist
      (compound C) was co-administrated with TNF-alpha in HepG2 cells to investigate
      its effect on TNF-alpha induced lipid deposition. KEY FINDINGS: A significant
      increment of TG content in HepG2 cells was observed after TNF-alpha treatment.
      Meanwhile, substantially suppressed AMPK and ACC phosphorylation, enhanced mTOR
      and p70S6K phosphorylation, and increased protein expression of FAS and SREBP-1
      were found. Co-treatment with metformin or AICAR decreased the TNF-alpha-induced
      intracellular TG, accompanied by significantly enhanced AMPK and ACC
      phosphorylation, suppressed mTOR and p70S6K phosphorylation, and reduced SREBP-1
      and FAS expressions. On the contrary, while co-incubated with compound C, AMPK
      and ACC phosphorylation were suppressed and the inhibitory effect of metformin on
      HepG2 cell lipid deposition was also attenuated. SIGNIFICANCE: Our results
      suggest that TNF-alpha directly induces lipid accumulation in HepG2 cells, at
      least in part, through the inhibition of AMPK/mTOR/SREBP-1 pathway.

PMID- 25817234
TI  - Puerarin suppresses high glucose-induced MCP-1 expression via modulating histone
      methylation in cultured endothelial cells.
AB  - AIMS: Hyperglycemia is commonly associated with microcirculation dysfunction. The
      purpose of the present study was to investigate the epigenetic mechanism involved
      in the repression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) expression by
      puerarin under high glucose (25mM) condition. MAIN METHODS: MCP-1 gene expression
      was measured by Real-Time quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR), the
      histone 3 lysine 4 methylation (H3K4me) and lysine 9 methylation (H3K9me) were
      evaluated using chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. KEY FINDINGS: Puerarin
      significantly inhibited high glucose-induced upregulation of H3K4 di- and tri
      methylation (H3K4me2/3) on the MCP-1 gene promotor. Additionally, the enrichment
      of H3K4 histone methyltransferases including MLL, menin and SET7 on the MCP-1
      promotor was increased, while the demethylase LSD1 was decreased in EA.hy926
      cells following exposure to high glucose. The changes of the above enzymes were
      reversed by puerarin treatment. The mRNA expression of MCP-1 was increased by
      LSD1 blockage, while was decreased by MLL3 blockage. SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings
      suggested that puerarin plays a critical role in transcriptional repression of
      high glucose-induced MCP-1 gene expression, at least in part due to alteration of
      H3K4me2/3 methylation, thus possesses a therapeutic potential in diabetes-induced
      vascular injuries.

PMID- 25817235
TI  - Prenatal zinc prevents communication impairments and BDNF disturbance in a rat
      model of autism induced by prenatal lipopolysaccharide exposure.
AB  - Aims: Previous investigations by our group have shown that prenatal exposure to
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS),which mimics infections by Gram-negative bacteria,
      induced autistic-like behavior. No effective treatment yet exists for autism.
      Therefore, we used our rat model to test a possible treatment for autism.We
      selected zinc as the prenatal treatment to prevent or ease the impairments
      induced by LPS because LPS induces hypozincaemia.Materials and methods:We
      evaluated the effects of LPS and zinc on female reproductive performance.
      Communication,which is impaired in autism,was tested in pups by ultrasonic
      vocalizations. Plasma levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were
      determined because it has been considered an autism important biomarker.Key
      findings: Prenatal LPS exposure reduced offspring number and treatment with zinc
      prevented this reduction.Moreover, pups that were prenatally exposed to LPS spent
      longer periods without calling their mothers, and posttreatment with zinc
      prevented this impairment induced by LPS to the same levels as controls. Prenatal
      LPS also increased BDNF levels in adult offspring, and posttreatment with zinc
      reduced the elevation of BDNF to the same levels as controls.Significance: BDNF
      hyperactivity was also found in several studies of autistic patients. Together
      with our previous studies, our model of prenatal LPS induced autistic-like
      behavioral, brain, and immune disturbances. This suggests that it is a valid rat
      model of autism. Prenatal zinc prevented reproductive, communication, and BDNF
      impairments.The present study revealed a potential beneficial effect of prenatal
      zinc administration for the prevention of autism with regard to the BDNF pathway.

PMID- 25817236
TI  - Feasibility of including green tea products for an analytically verified dietary
      supplement database.
AB  - The Dietary Supplement Ingredient Database (DSID) is a federally funded, publicly
      accessible dietary supplement database that currently contains analytically
      derived information on micronutrients in selected adult and children's
      multivitamin and mineral (MVM) supplements. Other constituents in dietary
      supplement products such as botanicals are also of interest and thus are being
      considered for inclusion in the DSID. Thirty-eight constituents, mainly
      botanicals were identified and prioritized by a federal interagency committee.
      Green tea was selected from this list as the botanical for expansion of the DSID.
      This article describes the process for prioritizing dietary ingredients in the
      DSID. It also discusses the criteria for inclusion of these ingredients, and the
      approach for selecting and testing products for the green tea pilot study. 

PMID- 25817237
TI  - Detection and preliminary physico-chemical properties of antimicrobial components
      in the native excretions/secretions of three species of Chrysomya (Diptera,
      Calliphoridae) in Brazil.
AB  - Antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals and communities increasingly threaten
      public health in Brazil and the rest of the World. There is an urgent need for
      additional antimicrobial drugs. Calliphorid blowfly larvae are a rich source of
      antimicrobial factors but the potential of Neotropical species has been
      neglected. This preliminary study evaluates the antimicrobial activity of the
      native excretions/secretions of larvae of three species of Brazilian
      calliphorids, Chrysomya megacephala, Chrysomya albiceps and Chrysomya putoria.
      Native excretions/secretions were collected from third instar larvae, sterile
      filtered and tested for antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus
      9518, Escherichia coli K12 4401 and Serratia marcescens 365. Turbidometric assays
      were made in micro-plates, using an ELISA reader, with readings taken up to 22 h.
      Bacterial suspensions at the start and end of each experiment were also serially
      diluted, spread on nutrient agar plates and then colony forming units counted.
      The physico-chemical characteristics of the native excretions/secretions were
      also tested by freezing/thawing, boiling, and protease digestion. The native
      excretions/secretions of larvae from these three Chrysomya species significantly
      inhibited bacterial growth. Therefore, Brazilian calliphorid flies could
      potentially provide new classes of antibiotics.

PMID- 25817238
TI  - Detection of Mayaro virus infections during a dengue outbreak in Mato Grosso,
      Brazil.
AB  - Arboviruses are common agents of human febrile illness worldwide. In dengue
      endemic areas illness due to other arboviruses have been misdiagnosed as dengue
      based only on clinical-epidemiological data. In this study we investigated the
      presence of Brazilian arboviruses in sera of 200 patients presenting acute
      febrile illness, during a dengue outbreak in Sinop, MT, Brazil. The results
      showed that 38 samples were positive to Dengue virus (DENV) type 1, two samples
      to DENV type 4, and six to Mayaro virus. These results indicate that arboviruses
      others than DENV are circulating in Sinop and the surrounding region, which are
      going undiagnosed. In addition, molecular and evolutionary analyses indicate that
      two MAYV genotypes are co-circulating in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Thus, a strong
      surveillance program must be implemented to evaluate and monitor the distribution
      and the true importance of non-dengue arboviruses in the etiology of acute
      febrile illnesses.

PMID- 25817239
TI  - Desymmetrization of myo-inositol derivatives by lanthanide catalyzed
      phosphitylation with C2-symmetric phosphites.
AB  - Desymmetrization by phosphorylation represents a promising method with potential
      impact in many different areas of research. C2-Symmetric phosphoramidites have
      been used to desymmetrize myo-inositol derivatives by functionalization at
      different positions. With this method, 1:1 mixtures of diastereomers are obtained
      that can be separated subsequently. In this work, activation of a C2-symmetric
      phosphoramidite is achieved by addition of pentafluorophenol (PFP) and leads to a
      reactive PFP phosphite, which can then be coupled to protected myo-inositol
      derivatives with reactive OH groups at the 1, 3, 4 and 6 positions. This strategy
      enhances the diastereoselectivity of the coupling reaction with a preference
      towards phosphitylation at position 6 (up to 3:1) or position 3 (up to 2:1). The
      concept of attenuative activation of phosphoramidites via in situ generated
      pentafluorophenol phosphite triesters is thus proven in these studies. It is
      further shown that Lewis-Acid catalysis enhances the rate of phosphite triester
      coupling without affecting the diastereoselectivity. This novel strategy improves
      access to different phosphorylated myo-inositol derivatives and will thus enable
      further studies into the function of these important intracellular second
      messengers. 

PMID- 25817240
TI  - Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of N-phenylthieno[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4
      amines as inhibitors of FGFR1.
AB  - Fibroblast grow factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) is an important anti-cancer target that
      plays crucial role in oncogenesis and oncogenic angiogenesis. The structure
      activity relationship (SAR) of N-phenylthieno[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-amines was
      investigated. Binding of active compounds with FGFR1 kinase was analyzed by
      molecular modeling studies. Selected active thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidines were tested
      for selectivity and antiproliferative activity. The most active compounds, 3-({6
      phenylthieno[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-yl}amino)phenol and 3-({5-phenylthieno[2,3
      d]pyrimidin-4-yl}amino)phenol have IC50 0.16 and 0.18 MUM, respectively. The
      results presented here may help to identify new thienopyrimidines with optimized
      cell growth inhibitory activity which may be further used as anticancer agents.

PMID- 25817241
TI  - Updating the emotional content of working memory in social anxiety.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cognitive accounts suggest that information processing
      biases have an important role in the etiology and maintenance of social anxiety
      (SA). Empirical evidence support this notion has been established in variety of
      cognitive domains. Yet, it is still not known how social anxious individuals
      process emotional content in working memory (WM). Maladaptive WM updating may
      influence emotion regulation and anxiety during social situations in SA. Thus,
      the aim of the present study was to explore biases when updating emotional
      content in SA. METHODS: 31 participants with high SA and 34 control participants
      performed an emotional 2-back task. Biases were assessed by intrusion cost in
      reaction times, which reflects the conflict between the inhibition of irrelevant
      content and the activation of relevant content. RESULTS: Results revealed a
      diminished intrusion cost in reaction times for irrelevant positive content in
      the high, but not in the low SA group. No differences were found for negative or
      neutral content. LIMITATIONS: In the present study we used an analogue sample of
      students with high SA rather than a true clinical sample. Further research is
      needed to examine WM updating in clinical population. CONCLUSIONS: These findings
      suggest that individuals with SA are better at inhibiting irrelevant positive
      information, a maladaptive cognitive bias that may prevent positive feedback from
      entering the cognitive system. This cognitive bias in WM may play a role in the
      etiology and maintenance of SA.

PMID- 25817242
TI  - Subjective competence breeds overconfidence in errors in psychosis. A hubris
      account of paranoia.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Overconfidence in errors is a well-replicated
      cognitive bias in psychosis. However, prior studies have sometimes failed to find
      differences between patients and controls for more difficult tasks. We pursued
      the hypothesis that overconfidence in errors is exaggerated in participants with
      a liability to psychosis relative to controls only when they feel competent in
      the respective topic and/or deem the question easy. Whereas subjective competence
      likely enhances confidence in those with low psychosis liability as well, we
      still expected to find more 'residual' caution in the latter group. METHODS: We
      adopted a psychometric high-risk approach to circumvent the confounding influence
      of treatment. A total of 2321 individuals from the general population were
      administered a task modeled after the "Who wants to be a millionaire" quiz.
      Participants were requested to endorse one out of four response options, graded
      for confidence, and were asked to provide ratings regarding subjective competence
      for the knowledge domain as well as the subjective difficulty of each item.
      RESULTS: In line with our assumption, overconfidence in errors was increased
      overall in participants scoring high on the Paranoia Checklist core paranoia
      subscale (2 SD above the mean). This pattern of results was particularly
      prominent for items for which participants considered themselves competent and
      which they rated as easy. LIMITATIONS: Results need to be replicated in a
      clinical sample. DISCUSSION: In support of our hypothesis, subjective competence
      and task difficulty moderate overconfidence in errors in psychosis. Trainings
      that teach patients the fallibility of human cognition may help reduce delusional
      ideation.

PMID- 25817243
TI  - Multilevel multidimensional item response model with a multilevel latent
      covariate.
AB  - In a pre-test-post-test cluster randomized trial, one of the methods commonly
      used to detect an intervention effect involves controlling pre-test scores and
      other related covariates while estimating an intervention effect at post-test. In
      many applications in education, the total post-test and pre-test scores, ignoring
      measurement error, are used as response variable and covariate, respectively, to
      estimate the intervention effect. However, these test scores are frequently
      subject to measurement error, and statistical inferences based on the model
      ignoring measurement error can yield a biased estimate of the intervention
      effect. When multiple domains exist in test data, it is sometimes more
      informative to detect the intervention effect for each domain than for the entire
      test. This paper presents applications of the multilevel multidimensional item
      response model with measurement error adjustments in a response variable and a
      covariate to estimate the intervention effect for each domain. 

PMID- 25817244
TI  - Interaction effect of whole wheat feeding and mannanoligosaccharides
      supplementation on growth performance, haematological indices and caecal
      microbiota of cockerel chicks.
AB  - The interaction effect of whole wheat feeding and mannanoligosaccharides
      supplementation on growth performance, haematological indices and caecal
      microbiota of cockerel chicks were investigated using 250-day-old cockerel chicks
      previously reared for 7 days pre-experimental period. Birds were fed with
      commercial chick mash during the pre-experimental period. At the expiration of
      this period, 192 chicks were selected on weight equalization basis and assigned
      into 24 pens. Each treatment consisted of six pens, while each pen housed eight
      birds. Four wheat-soya bean-based experimental diets were formulated in a 2 * 2
      factorial arrangement of diets having two wheat forms (ground and whole wheat
      grain) each supplemented or not with 1 g/kg MOS/kg feed. Whole wheat feeding
      (irrespective of MOS supplementation) showed reduced (p < 0.05) feed intake.
      Birds fed whole wheat diet supplemented with MOS recorded the highest (p < 0.01)
      final live weight, weight gain and the best (p < 0.05) feed conversion ratio.
      Haemoglobin concentration, packed cell volume and red blood cell count of the
      chicks were not affected (p > 0.05) by dietary treatment. However, dietary
      supplementation with MOS resulted in increased (p < 0.05) WBC counts. The caecum
      content of chicks fed with MOS-supplemented whole wheat diets recorded the least
      (p < 0.01) salmonella counts. In conclusion, combination of whole wheat feeding
      and MOS supplementation showed improved growth performance, gut microbiota and
      indications of improved health status of cockerel chicks.

PMID- 25817245
TI  - Serodiagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection in farm animals (horses, swine, and
      sheep) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using chimeric antigens.
AB  - Toxoplasma gondii infects all warm-blooded animals including humans, causing
      serious public health problems and great economic loss in the animal husbandry.
      Commonly used serological tests for diagnosis of toxoplasmosis involve
      preparation of whole Toxoplasma lysate antigen (TLA) from tachyzoites. The
      production of this antigen is associated with high costs and lengthy preparation
      and the possibility of staff infection. There are also some difficulties in the
      standardization of such tests. One approach in order to improve the diagnosis of
      T. gondii infection is to use recombinant chimeric antigens in place of the TLA,
      which was confirmed by studies in the serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis in humans.
      In this paper, we assess, for the first time, the diagnostic utility of five T.
      gondii recombinant chimeric antigens (MIC1-MAG1-SAG1S, SAG1L-MIC1-MAG1, SAG2-GRA1
      ROP1S, SAG2-GRA1-ROP1L, and GRA1-GRA2-GRA6) in immunoglobulin G (IgG) enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assays (IgG ELISAs) with sera from three different groups of
      livestock animals (horses, pigs, and sheep). The reactivity of individual
      chimeric antigens was analyzed in relation to the results obtained in IgG ELISAs
      based on a mixture of three antigens (M1: rSAG1+rMIC1+rMAG1, M2:
      rSAG2+rGRA1+rROP1, and M3: rGRA1+rGRA2+rGRA6) and referenced to TLA. All chimeric
      antigens were characterized by high specificity (100%), and the sensitivity of
      the IgG ELISAs based on chimeric antigens was variable (between 28.4% and 100%)
      and mainly dependent on the animal species. The chimeric antigens were generally
      more reactive than mixtures of three antigens. The most effective for the
      diagnosis of toxoplasmosis was SAG2-GRA1-ROP1L, which can detect specific anti-T.
      gondii antibodies in 100%, 93.8%, and 100% of positive serum samples from horses,
      pigs, and sheep, respectively. The present study shows that recombinant chimeric
      antigens can be successfully used to diagnose T. gondii infection in farm
      animals, and can replace the commonly used TLA. 

PMID- 25817246
TI  - Cutaneous wound healing in aging small mammals: a systematic review.
AB  - As the elderly population grows, so do the clinical and socioeconomic burdens of
      nonhealing cutaneous wounds, the majority of which are seen among persons over 60
      years of age. Human studies on how aging effects wound healing will always be the
      gold standard, but studies have ethical and practical hurdles. Choosing an animal
      model is dictated by costs and animal lifespan that preclude large animal use.
      Here, we review the current literature on how aging effects cutaneous wound
      healing in small animal models and, when possible, compare healing across
      studies. Using a literature search of MEDLINE/PubMed databases, studies were
      limited to those that utilized full-thickness wounds and compared the wound
      healing parameters of wound closure, reepithelialization, granulation tissue
      fill, and tensile strength between young and aged cohorts. Overall, wound
      closure, reepithelialization, and granulation tissue fill were delayed or
      decreased with aging across different strains of mice and rats. Aging in mice was
      associated with lower tensile strength early in the wound healing process, but
      greater tensile strength later in the wound healing process. Similarly, aging in
      rats was associated with lower tensile strength early in the wound healing
      process, but no significant tensile strength difference between young and old
      rats later in healing wounds. From studies in New Zealand White rabbits, we found
      that reepithelialization and granulation tissue fill were delayed or decreased
      overall with aging. While similarities and differences in key wound healing
      parameters were noted between different strains and species, the comparability
      across the studies was highly questionable, highlighted by wide variability in
      experimental design and reporting. In future studies, standardized experimental
      design and reporting would help to establish comparable study groups, and advance
      the overall knowledge base, facilitating the translatability of animal data to
      the human clinical condition. 

PMID- 25817247
TI  - Effective biosynthesis of ethyl (R)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutanoate by
      supplementation of l-glutamine, d-xylose and beta-cyclodextrin in n-butyl acetate
      water media.
AB  - To avoid adding NAD(+) and effectively transform ethyl 4-chloro-3-oxobutanoate,
      the mixture of l-glutamine (200mM) and d-xylose (250mM) was added into in n-butyl
      acetate-water (10:90, v/v) biphasic system instead of NAD(+) for increasing the
      biocatalytic efficiency. To further improve the synthesis of optically pure ethyl
      (R)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutanoate (>99% ee), beta-cyclodextrin was also added into
      this reaction media, and ethyl (R)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutanoate (>99% ee) could be
      effectively synthesized from 800mM ethyl 4-chloro-3-oxobutanoate in the yield of
      100% by whole-cells of recombinant E. coli CCZU-A13. Finally, the possible
      mechanism for improving the reductase activity by supplementation of l-glutamine,
      d-xylose and beta-CD was proposed. In conclusion, this strategy has high
      potential for the effective biosynthesis of ethyl (R)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutanoate
      (>99% ee). 

PMID- 25817249
TI  - Can FreeSurfer Compete with Manual Volumetric Measurements in Alzheimer's
      Disease?
AB  - Alzheimer's disease-related pathology results in tremendous structural and
      functional changes in the brain. These morphological changes might lead to a less
      precise performance of automated brain segmentation techniques in AD-patients,
      which in turn could possibly lead to false allocations of gray matter, white
      matter or cerebrospinal fluid. FreeSurfer has been shown to operate as an
      accurate and reliable instrument to measure cortical thickness and volume of
      neuroanatomical structures. Considering the principal role of FreeSurfer in the
      imaging field of AD, the present study aims to investigate the robustness of
      FreeSurfer to capture morphological changes in the brain against varying
      processing variables in comparison to manual measurements (the gold standard). T1
      weighted MRI scan data were used pertaining to a sample of 53 individuals (18
      healthy participants, 18 patients with mild cognitive impairment, and 18 patients
      with mild AD). Data were analyzed with different FreeSurfer versions (v4.3.1,
      v4.5.0, v5.0.0, v5.1.0), on a custom-built cluster (LINUX) and a Macintosh (UNIX)
      workstation. Group differences across versions and workstations were most
      consistent for both the hippocampus and posterior cingulate, regions known to be
      affected in the earliest stages of the disease. The results showed that later
      versions of FreeSurfer were more sensitive to identify group differences and
      corresponded best with the results of gold standard manual volumetric methods. In
      conclusion, later versions of FreeSurfer were more accurate than earlier
      versions, especially in medial temporal and posterior parietal regions. This
      development is very promising for future applications of FreeSurfer in research
      studies and encourages the future role of FreeSurfer output as a candidate marker
      in clinical practice.

PMID- 25817248
TI  - Lyophilization conditions for the storage of monooxygenases.
AB  - Cyclohexanone monooxygenase (CHMO) was used as a model enzyme to find suitable
      freeze-drying conditions for long-term storage of an isolated monooxygenase. CHMO
      is a Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase (BVMO) known for its ability to catalyze a
      large number of oxidation reactions. With a focus on establishing the optimal
      formulation, additives were tested for enzyme stabilization during and after
      lyophilization. The results were successfully transferred to two other
      monooxygenases, namely the BVMO cyclopentadecanone monooxygenase (CPDMO) and a
      cytochrome P450 monooxygenase, P450 BM3. In the absence of a lyoprotectant,
      lyophilized P450 BM3 is almost completely inactivated, while the lyophilized
      BVMOs quickly lost activity when stored at 50 degrees C. Lyophilization in the
      presence of 2% (w/v) sucrose was found to be the best formulation to preserve
      activity and protect against inactivation when stored as lyophilizate at 50
      degrees C. 

PMID- 25817250
TI  - Therapeutic Approaches to ModulatingGlutathione Levels as a Pharmacological
      strategy in Alzheimer's Disease.
AB  - Accumulating evidence has suggested the involvement of oxidative stress in the
      pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD).The main
      endogenousantioxidant,glutathione (GSH),has been shown to decline with ageing and
      in several age-related degenerative diseases, including AD. Potential options for
      replenishing GSH levels as a therapeutic target to treat these conditions include
      the administration of GSH itself, and low toxicity forms of the limiting amino
      acid for GSH synthesis; cysteineHowever, passive GSH uptake is limited due to an
      unfavourable concentration gradient between the plasma and cytosol. Similarly,
      cysteine prodrugs have demonstrated limited efficacyto elevatedepleted GSH levels
      in several in vivo and in vitro models of disease.It has beensuggestedthat the
      decline in GSH levels in AD, may be associated with down regulation ofGSH
      homeostasis rather than substrate limitation. Cellular GSH homeostasis is
      regulatedby non-allosteric feedback inhibition exerted by GSH on glutamate
      cysteine ligase (GCL), which is responsible for the synthesis of the GSH
      precursor gamma-glutamylcysteine (GGC). In conditions involving down regulated
      GSH homeostasis, GGC serves asa crucialrate-limiting substrate for GSH
      synthetase, the main enzyme responsible for condensing glycine with GGC to form
      the final thiol tripeptide, GSH. In this review, we focus on the therapeutic
      potential of GGC to elevate cellular GSH levels. We also discuss the efficacy of
      GGC prodrugs which would be taken up and converted by the unregulated GS to
      GSH,andthe administration of modified GSH compounds, such as GSH esters that
      could potentially overcome the concentration gradient that prohibits passive GSH
      uptake, in AD.

PMID- 25817251
TI  - Childhood and Adulthood Rural Residence Increases the Risk of Dementia: NEDICES
      Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This research aims to determine whether residence (rural vs. urban) at
      different life stages (childhood, adulthood, and late life) is associated with
      increased risk of incident dementia in a population-based cohort of older
      Spaniards. METHODS: In this prospective study, 2,711 participants aged 65 years
      and older were assessed at baseline and 3 years later. All cases of incident
      dementia were diagnosed using DSM-IV criteria. The relationship between residence
      and the relative risk of dementia was analysed using Cox's regression models.
      Demographics, comorbidity index, consumption (tobacco / alcohol) and doubtful
      dementia diagnosis were considered as possible confounders. RESULTS: At the three
      year follow-up, 91 cases of dementia were detected. Lower education and
      occupational attainment were associated with a higher incidence of dementia three
      years later. Rural residence in adulthood was associated with a significantly
      higher risk of dementia at the follow-up. Childhood rural residence revealed a
      marked trend for risk of dementia (p = 0.08), but it was nonsignificant in later
      life. The risk of dementia was considerably higher for the rural/low-education
      group than for the urban/high-education group, for both childhood and adulthood
      residence. Finally, people from areas with the lowest socio- economic status
      Arevalo (rural, blue-collar) and Margaritas (urban, blue-collar) showed higher
      risk of dementia than people from Lista (urban, mixed white/blue collar).
      CONCLUSION: In this cohort, early and mid-life stages rural residence was a risk
      factor for dementia, but not later-life rural residence. The rural residence
      effect was noticeably higher in people with a lower educational level.

PMID- 25817252
TI  - Natural AD-Like Neuropathology in Octodon degus: Impaired Burrowing and
      Neuroinflammation.
AB  - Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, affecting more
      than 36 million people worldwide. Octodon degus, a South American rodent, has
      been found to spontaneously develop neuropathological signs of AD, including
      amyloid-beta (Abeta) and tau deposits, as well as a decline in cognition with
      age. Firstly, the present work introduces a novel behavioral assessment for O.
      degus - the burrowing test - which appears to be a useful tool for detecting
      neurodegeneration in the O. degus model for AD. Such characterization has
      potentially wide-ranging implications, because many of these changes in species
      typical behaviors are reminiscent of the impairments in activities of daily
      living (ADL), so characteristic of human AD. Furthermore, the present work
      characterizes the AD-like neuropathology in O. degus from a gene expression point
      of view, revealing a number of previously unreported AD biomarkers, which are
      found in human AD: amyloid precursor protein (APP), apolipoprotein E (ApoE),
      oxidative stress-related genes from the NFE2L2 and PPAR pathway, as well as pro
      inflammatory cytokines and complement proteins, in agreement with the known link
      between neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation. In summary, the present results
      confirm a natural neuropathology in O. degus with similar characteristics to AD
      at behavioral, cellular and molecular levels. These characteristics put O. degus
      in a singular position as a natural rodent model for research into AD
      pathogenesis and therapeutics against AD.

PMID- 25817253
TI  - VEGF Mediates ApoE4-Induced Neovascularization and Synaptic Pathology in the
      Choroid and Retina.
AB  - Apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4), the most prevalent genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's
      disease (AD), is associated with neuronal and vascular impairments. Recent
      findings suggest that retina of apoE4 mice have synaptic and functional
      impairments. We presently investigated the effects of apoE4 on retinal and
      choroidal vasculature and the possible role of VEGF in these effects. There were
      no histological differences between the retinal and choroidal vasculatures of
      naive apoE3 and apoE4 mice. In contrast, laserdriven choroidal injury induced
      higher levels of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in apoE4 than in apoE3 mice.
      These effects were associated with an inflammatory response and with activation
      of the Muller cells and asrocytic markers gluthatione synthetase and GFAP, all of
      which were more pronounced in the apoE4 mice. CNV also induced a transient
      increase in the levels of the synaptic markers synaptophysin and PSD95 which were
      however similar in the apoE4 and apoE3 naive mice. Retinal and choroidal VEGF and
      apoE levels were lower in naive apoE4 than in corresponding apoE3 mice. In
      contrast, VEGF and apoE levels rose more pronouncedly following laser injury in
      the apoE4 than in apoE3 mice. Taken together, these findings suggest that the
      apoE4-induced retinal impairments, under basal conditions, may be related to
      reduced VEGF levels in the eyes of these mice. The hyper-neovascularization in
      the apoE4 mice might be driven by increased inflammation and the associated surge
      in VEGF following injury. Retinal and choroidal VEGF and apoE levels were lower
      in naive apoE4 than in corresponding apoE3 mice. In contrast, VEGF and apoE
      levels rose more pronouncedly following laser injury in the apoE4 than in apoE3
      mice. Taken together, these findings suggest that the apoE4-induced retinal
      impairments, under basal conditions, may be related to reduced VEGF levels in the
      eyes of these mice. The hyper-neovascularization in the apoE4 mice might be
      driven by increased inflammation and the associated surge in VEGF following
      injury. 

PMID- 25817255
TI  - Running Exercise Reduces Myelinated Fiber Loss in the Dentate Gyrus of the
      Hippocampus in APP/PS1 Transgenic Mice.
AB  - To investigate the effect of running exercise on myelinated fibers in the dentate
      gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus during Alzheimer's disease (AD), 6-month-old male
      APP/PS1 transgenic mice were randomly assigned to control or running groups. The
      running group mice were subjected to a running protocol for four months. The
      behaviors of the mice from both group mice were then assessed using the Morris
      water maze, and the total volume of the DG and the related quantitative
      parameters with characteristics of the myelinated nerve fiber and the myelin
      sheath in the DG were investigated using unbiased stereological techniques and
      electron microscopy. Learning and spatial memory performances were both
      significantly increased in the running group compared with the control group.
      There was no significant difference in the gratio of the myelinated axons between
      the two groups. However, the DG volume, the myelinated fiber length and volume in
      the DG, and the myelin sheath volume and thickness in the DG were all
      significantly increased in the running group mice compared with the control group
      mice. These results indicated that running exercise was able to prevent DG
      atrophy and delay the progression of the myelinated fiber loss and the
      demyelination of the myelin sheaths in the DG in an AD mouse model, which may
      underlie the running-induced improvement in learning and spatial memory. Taken
      together, these results demonstrated that running exercise could delay the
      progression of AD.

PMID- 25817256
TI  - 4Abeta1-15-Derived Monoclonal Antibody Reduces More Abeta Burdens and
      Neuroinflammation than Homologous Vaccine in APP/PS1 Mice.
AB  - The common pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is beta-amyloid
      plaque deposition. The ideal therapy would reduce the Abeta burden with a low
      inflammatory immune response. Passive immunotherapy is an advanced treatment that
      dramatically reduces brain Abeta pathologies in AD animal models. The objective
      of our study was to observe the effects of 5C8H5, a novel monoclonal antibody
      derived from 4Abeta1-15, on brain Abeta pathology in an APP/PS1 mouse model of
      AD. Six-month-old transgenic mice were administered 5C8H5, 4Abeta1-15 or IgG, and
      same-aged wild-type untreated C57Bl/6J mice were employed as controls.
      Inflammatory factors and Abeta40/42 levels were detected by ELISA, while Abeta
      plaques, microglial cell activation, microhemorrhages and neurogenesis were
      evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. Compared with 4Abeta1-15-treated mice,
      the mice in the 5C8H5 group induced more Abeta clearance with less microglial
      cell activation in a niche of Th2-polarized immune response. The levels of
      proinflammatory factors, including IL-1beta, IL-6, TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma, were
      significantly decreased in the CNS, while the level of antiinflammatory IL-4 was
      increased. Moreover, the mice in the 5C8H5 group induced more neurogenesis
      without microhemorrhage exacerbation and thereby performed better in behavioral
      assays than did the 4Abeta1-15 group. In conclusion, the novel monoclonal
      antibody induces more Abeta clearance and less microglial cell activation in the
      absence of inflammation, accompanied by an increased Th2-polarized immune
      response, which makes it a more promising therapeutic strategy. These data
      provide evidence that passive immunity could alleviate pathologic Abeta
      alterations by modulating inflammation and should be pursued further for the
      treatment of AD.

PMID- 25817254
TI  - Oxidant/Antioxidant imbalance and the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia characterized by
      progressive loss of memory and other cognitive functions among older people.
      Senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are the most hallmarks lesions in the
      brain of AD in addition to neurons loss. Accumulating evidence has shown that
      oxidative stress-induced damage may play an important role in the initiation and
      progression of AD pathogenesis. Redox impairment occurs when there is an
      imbalance between the production and quenching of free radicals from oxygen
      species. These reactive oxygen species augment the formation and aggregation of
      amyloid-beta and tau protein hyperphosphorylation and vice versa. Currently,
      there is no available treatments can modify the disease. However, wide varieties
      of antioxidants show promise to delay or prevent the symptoms of AD and may help
      in treating the disease. In this review, the role of oxidative stress in AD
      pathogenesis and the common used antioxidant therapies for AD will summarize.

PMID- 25817257
TI  - Carotid and vertebral arterial variations in Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - The effects of carotid and vertebral arterial morphological variations on
      cognitive function impairment remain unclear. We investigated the association
      between extracranial carotid and vertebral arterial variations and the risk of
      Alzheimer's disease (AD). A prospective study with a 5-year followup was
      conducted from July 2008 to June 2013. A total of 1741 subjects (50 years of age
      and older) were examined for carotid and vertebral arterial variations using
      computed tomography angiography (CTA) and completed the study follow-up.
      Variations of the carotid and vertebral arteries were classified as tortuosity,
      kinking and coiling, according to the Weibel and Fields criteria. Cognitive
      function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Activities
      of Daily Living scale. We analyzed the association between arterial variations
      and the risk of AD by using multivariate Cox proportional-hazards models. The
      prevalence of carotid arterial variations was 38.4%, and the prevalence of
      vertebral arterial variations was 86.6%. Among the 1741 subjects who completed
      the study follow-up, 134 AD cases were detected. The subjects diagnosed with AD
      displayed greater kinking and coiling in the carotid artery (P<0.01) and
      vertebral artery (P<0.05) than the subjects without AD. After adjusting for
      potential confounders, kinking and coiling (hazard ratio [HR]=1.93, 95%
      confidence interval [CI], 1.37 to 2.86, P<0.01) in the carotid artery were
      significantly associated with AD. Additionally, after adjusting for potential
      confounders, kinking and coiling (HR=1.73, 95% CI, 1.25 to 2.31, P<0.01) in the
      vertebral artery were significantly associated with the risk of AD. We determined
      that age, hypertension and smoking status were significant predictors of AD in
      the multivariable models with carotid and vertebral arterial variation. The
      results of the current study indicate that severe carotid and vertebral arterial
      variations are associated with a significantly increased risk of AD. Further
      investigation into the association between these variations and AD would be
      useful for preventing AD.

PMID- 25817258
TI  - Generic immunosuppression in transplantation: current evidence and controversial
      issues.
AB  - The overall success of organ transplantation in the 21st century has been
      predicated, in part, on the use of newer, more potent, and selective
      immunosuppressive agents. However, the high cost of lifelong immunosuppression
      represents a financial burden for many patients. In the past 15 years, regulatory
      agencies in Europe and America have approved several generic immunosuppressants.
      One concern is whether the conversion between innovator and generic
      immunosuppressants will prove to be problematic. This manuscript aims to compare
      and contrast the bioequivalence requirements among regulatory authorities in the
      USA, Europe, and Canada, evaluate published studies of generic immunosuppressants
      in transplant recipients, summarize consensus statements made by transplant
      organizations and discuss how to engage patients in discussion regarding the
      choice between innovator and generic immunosuppressants. 

PMID- 25817259
TI  - Differential cytokine expression detected by protein microarray screening in
      peripheral blood of patients with refractory Graves' disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The prognosis of Graves' disease (GD) varies among patients. However,
      the immune pathogenesis of refractory GD is still unknown. The aim of this study
      was to explore the cytokine expression profile associated with refractory GD.
      METHODS: Preliminary cytokine protein microarray screening was performed to
      detect differentially expressed cytokines in the plasma of four patients with
      refractory GD and four patients with stable GD. Some differentially expressed
      cytokines were then validated in plasma by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
      (ELISA) and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) by quantitative real
      time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) on another independent set of samples.
      RESULTS: We found that 21 cytokines were differentially expressed between
      patients with intractable GD and those in remission, including 18 upregulated and
      3 downregulated cytokines with a fold change >1.30 and <0.77, respectively.
      Intractability-related elevation of three cytokines (IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10) was
      validated by ELISA in plasma on another GD cohort with 30 patients in recurrence
      and 14 in remission (t-test, P = 0.035, 0.033 and 0.041, respectively).
      Furthermore, mRNA expression of IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10 in PBMCs, detected by qRT
      PCR, was significantly elevated in patients with refractory GD compared with
      those in remission (P = 0.039, 0.047 and 0.042, respectively). CONCLUSION: The
      severity of GD is associated with the aberrant expression and secretion of
      several cytokines that may serve as potential biomarkers and predictors for
      disease prognosis. Targeting these cytokines or their receptors may also lead to
      a novel therapeutic intervention for GD.

PMID- 25817261
TI  - Preparative separation and purification of fumigaclavine C from fermented mycelia
      of Aspergillus fumigatus CY018 by macroporous adsorption resin.
AB  - In this work, the separation and purification of fumigaclavine C (FC), an ergot
      alkaloid with strong anti-inflammatory activity from fermented mycelia of
      Aspergillus fumigatus was systematically evaluated. Among the eight tested
      resins, the non-polar resin D101 displayed the best adsorption and desorption
      based on of static adsorption and desorption tests. Adsorption isotherms were
      constructed on D101 resin and fitted well to the Freundlich model. Dynamic
      adsorption and desorption tests on a column packed with D101 resin have been
      investigated for optimization of chromatographic parameters. Under optimized
      conditions, the contents of FC increased from 7.32% (w/w) in the crude extract to
      67.54% in the final product with a recovery yield of 90.35% (w/w) via one run.
      Furthermore, a lab scale-up separation was carried out, in which the FC content
      and recovery yield were 65.83% and 90.13%, respectively. These results
      demonstrated that this adsorption-desorption strategy by using D101 resin was
      simple and efficient, thus showing potential for large scale purification and
      preparation of FC in the future. 

PMID- 25817262
TI  - Selective microemulsion liquid chromatography analysis of dopamine receptor
      antagonist LE300 and its N-methyl metabolite in mouse sera by using a monolithic
      silica column.
AB  - A highly selective, sensitive, and rapid microemulsion liquid chromatography
      (MELC) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of a
      novel type of dopamine receptor antagonist LE300 and its N-methyl metabolite in
      mouse sera. LE300, its N-methyl metabolite, and pindolol (an internal standard)
      were detected using excitation and emission wavelengths of 275 and 340 nm,
      respectively. HPLC analysis by using a monolithic column was performed by
      directly injecting the sample after appropriate dilution with the microemulsion
      mobile phase. The chromatographic behaviour of these compounds was studied to
      demonstrate their chromatographic efficiency, retention, and peak symmetry. The
      MELC method was validated for its specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision,
      robustness and stability. An experimental design was used during validation to
      evaluate method robustness. The calibration curves in serum showed excellent
      linearity (r=0.997) over concentrations ranging from 10 to 400 ngmL(-1) for LE300
      and 15 to 500 ngmL(-1) for its N-methyl metabolite. The mean relative standard
      deviation (RSD) of the results of inter- and intra-day precision and accuracy of
      LE300 and its N-methyl metabolite were <=5%. The overall recoveries of LE300 and
      its N-methyl metabolite from mouse sera were in the range 97.9-101.5% with %RSD
      ranging from 0.98% to 3.63%, which were in line with ICH guidelines. The assay
      was successfully applied in a pharmacokinetic study.

PMID- 25817260
TI  - The C-terminal peptide plays a role in the formation of an intermediate form
      during the transition between xanthine dehydrogenase and xanthine oxidase.
AB  - Mammalian xanthine oxidoreductase can exist in both dehydrogenase and oxidase
      forms. Conversion between the two is implicated in such diverse processes as
      lactation, anti-bacterial activity, reperfusion injury and a growing number of
      diseases. We have constructed a variant of the rat liver enzyme that lacks the
      carboxy-terminal amino acids 1316-1331; it appears to assume an intermediate
      form, exhibiting a mixture of dehydrogenase and oxidase activities. The purified
      variant protein retained ~ 50-70% of oxidase activity even after prolonged
      dithiothreitol treatment, supporting a previous prediction that the C-terminal
      region plays a role in the dehydrogenase to oxidase conversion. In the crystal
      structure of the protein variant, most of the enzyme stays in an oxidase
      conformation. After 15 min of incubation with a high concentration of NADH,
      however, the corresponding X-ray structures showed a dehydrogenase-type
      conformation. On the other hand, disulfide formation between Cys535 and Cys992,
      which can clearly be seen in the electron density map of the crystal structure of
      the variant after removal of dithiothreitol, goes in parallel with the complete
      conversion to oxidase, resulting in structural changes identical to those
      observed upon proteolytic cleavage of the linker peptide. These results indicate
      that the dehydrogenase-oxidase transformation occurs rather readily and the
      insertion of the C-terminal peptide into the active site cavity of its subunit
      stabilizes the dehydrogenase form. We propose that the intermediate form can be
      generated (e.g. in endothelial cells) upon interaction of the C-terminal peptide
      portion of the enzyme with other proteins or the cell membrane. DATABASE:
      Coordinate sets and structure factors for the four crystal structures reported in
      the present study have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank under the
      identification numbers 4YRW, 4YTZ, 4YSW, and 4YTY.

PMID- 25817264
TI  - Evaluation of dermal extracellular matrix and epidermal-dermal junction
      modifications using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass
      spectrometric imaging, in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy, echography, and
      histology: effect of age and peptide applications.
AB  - This study was conducted to establish a new methodology for evaluating elements
      of dermal extracellular matrix (ECM), of epidermal-dermal junction (EDJ), and
      effects of molecules which can modulate their synthesis. This methodology is
      based on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric imaging
      (MALDI-MSI). In vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (in vivo RCM) and echography
      were also used. Using immunohistochemistry methods on explants, age-related
      modification data were obtained for selected dermal ECM and EDJ proteins
      (collagen I, collagen IV, collagen VII, collagen XVII, nidogen I,
      decorin/decorunt) and used as reference for MALDI-MSI studies. A methodology was
      developed with MALDI-MSI to map epidermis and dermis proteins. Then MALDI-MSI was
      used to study age modifications. In vivo RCM and high-frequency ultrasounds were
      used to evaluate ECM and EDJ undulation modifications caused by aging. Anti-aging
      molecule evaluations were performed with a blend of palmitoyl oligopeptide and
      palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7. Immunohistochemistry studies demonstrated that the
      selected proteins were found to be less abundant in aged group explants vs. young
      group except for decorin. MALDI-MSI studies correlated the results obtained for
      decorin. In vivo RCM measurements indicated a decrease of EDJ undulation depth
      with age and ECM modifications in the upper part of dermis. Echography
      demonstrated that the peptide blend reduced subepidermal low-echogenic band
      thickness and improved its density. In vivo RCM studies indicated that the
      peptides improved the ECM structure vs. placebo. This preliminary MALDI-MSI study
      raised some technical difficulties that were overcome. Further studies will be
      conducted to identify more proteins and to demonstrate the interest of this
      method for cosmetic evaluations. 

PMID- 25817265
TI  - Practical experience of biologics for treatment of very severe psoriasis: a
      retrospective case cohort study of patients with a baseline Psoriasis Area and
      Severity Index greater than 20.

PMID- 25817263
TI  - Capturing and identification of differentially expressed fucome by a gel free and
      label free approach.
AB  - This research reports a proof-of-concept that describes an instrumental approach
      that is gel free and label free at both the separation and mass spectrometry ends
      for the capturing and identification of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs)
      in diseases, e.g., cancers. The research consists of subjecting/processing
      equalized and non-equalized (i.e., untreated) disease-free and hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC) human sera via a multicolumn platform for capturing/fractionating
      human serum fucome. The equalization was performed via the combinatorial peptide
      ligand library (CPLL) beads technology that ensured narrowing the protein
      concentration range, thus allowing the detection of low abundance proteins. The
      equalized and non-equalized disease-free and HCC sera were first fractionated
      online onto two lectin columns specific to fucose, namely Aleuria aurantia lectin
      (AAL) and Lotus tetragonolobus agglutinin (LTA) followed by the online
      fractionation of the lectin captured fucome by reversed phase chromatography. The
      online desalted fractions were first subjected to trypsinolysis and then to
      liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis. In comparison with
      untreated serum, the CPLL treated serum is superior in terms of the total number
      of identified DEPs, which reflected an increased number of DEPs in a wide
      abundance range. The DEPs in HCC serum were found to be 70 and 40 in both LTA and
      AAL fractions for the serum treated by CPLL and untreated serum, respectively. In
      addition, the platform combined with the CPLL treatment was accomplished with
      virtually no sample loss and dilution as well as with no experimental biases and
      sample labeling when comparing the diseased-free and cancer sera using LC-MS/MS. 

PMID- 25817266
TI  - Regulation of the endothelial apelin/APJ system by hemodynamic fluid flow.
AB  - Although the apelin/APJ system is abundantly expressed in vascular endothelial
      cells (EC), it has not yet been considered to be regulated by fluid flow. The aim
      of this study was to explore the influence of shear stress on the expression of
      apelin/APJ in human EC. Therefore, gene and protein expression were assessed
      after flow exposure; cell supernatants were collected for measurements of NO and
      apelin; APJ or apelin knockdown were performed using siRNA. Our data show that
      gene and protein expression of apelin and APJ are modulated by fluid flow
      depending on the magnitude of shear stress. Moreover, apelin-12 activated NO
      production via PI3K/Akt signaling in human EC. In contrast, apelin-13
      additionally activated Erk1/2 phosphorylation and enhanced EC proliferation.
      Knockdown of APJ inhibited phosphorylation of PI3K and impaired flow-induced eNOS
      and PECAM-1 expression. Knockdown of apelin had no influence on flow-induced APJ
      and PECAM-1 expression, but derogated eNOS expression under static and flow
      conditions. The present study reveals a flow-mediated adjustment of the
      apelin/APJ system in human EC in which APJ expression is induced by shear stress
      independently of its ligand. Furthermore, apelin-12 signaling is an essential
      regulatory element in endothelial NO synthesis. 

PMID- 25817267
TI  - Red blood cells alloimmunization and autoimmunization among transfusion-dependent
      beta-thalassemia patients in Alexandria province, Egypt.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Beta thalassemia is considered a severe, progressive anemia, which
      needs regular transfusions for life expectancy. One of the most important
      complications of regular blood transfusions is autoimmunization and
      alloimmunization, which increases the need for transfusion. This study was
      performed to investigate the frequency of auto- and allo-antibodies in beta
      thalassemia patients in Alexandria, Egypt. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Blood samples
      of fourteen beta thalassemia patients were collected and tested for
      autosensitization with direct antiglobulin test (DAT). The positive DAT blood
      sample undergone antibody elution then identification. Plasma of the patients
      were also investigated for allosensitization by testing against cell panel
      reagents. RESULTS: DAT was positive in 45% of the patients. Eluted antibodies
      were identified in 6 cases of 10, they were Kp(b) and Lu(b), and one positive
      test was unidentified. Alloantibodies were detected in 42.5% of the cases. The
      identified antibodies were anti-D (4.76%), anti-c (4.76%), anti-K (4.76%), anti
      Kp(a) (9.52%), anti-Kp(b) (19.05%), anti-Lu(a) (9.52%), anti-Lu(b) (19.05%), and
      anti-Bg(a) (4.76%). A total 23.81% of the alloantibodies were unidentified.
      DISCUSSION: This study observes that autoimmunization and alloimmunization were
      more frequent among poly transfused beta thalassemia Egyptian patients. The
      presence of these clinically significant alloantibodies is a bad indicator for
      situation of blood transfusion. There is need for use an effective strategies to
      provide a safe blood for those patients by using leukodepleted blood and more
      compatible blood with extended phenotyping.

PMID- 25817268
TI  - Extended platelet concentrate storage/practice - A model based on the
      rationalized microbial monitoring.

PMID- 25817269
TI  - The effect of health education on Taiwanese hypertensive patients' knowledge and
      cognition of stroke.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a risk factor for stroke. Increasing patient
      knowledge and cognition about stroke among hypertensive patients is essential.
      AIMS: To explore the effect of a health education intervention on the knowledge
      and cognition of stroke in hypertensive patients. METHODS: A quasi-experimental
      design was used with 103 patients with hypertension. The sample was recruited
      from a cardiologist's outpatient office at a medical center in Kaohsiung city,
      southern Taiwan. Half the patients (experimental group, n = 52) received health
      education, whereas the others received only conventional general outpatient care
      (control group, n = 51). All patients underwent a pretest followed by posttests
      at 4 and 8 weeks after the intervention. A stroke knowledge scale and stroke
      cognition scale were used for data collection. RESULTS: The experimental group
      scored significantly higher than the control group in level of knowledge and
      cognition of stroke. DISCUSSION: This study supports that a health education CD
      ROM and printed information provided in the outpatient clinical improves
      knowledge of and cognition of stroke among hypertensive patients. IMPLICATIONS
      FOR PRACTICE: In outpatient clinical practice, nurses can help improve patients'
      knowledge and cognition of the risks of stroke by playing the health education CD
      ROM and providing printed information during the patients' wait time before
      appointments. CONCLUSIONS: Further studies with a longer follow-up (6 months or 1
      year) are needed to evaluate the long-term effects of health education on stroke
      knowledge and cognition among patients with hypertension. LINKING EVIDENCE TO
      ACTION: An outpatient health education program using a CD-ROM and printed
      information for hypertensive patients can improve the patients' knowledge and
      cognition of stroke.

PMID- 25817270
TI  - Corrigendum: Annexin A2 promotes phagophore assembly by enhancing Atg16+ vesicle
      biogenesis and homotypic fusion.

PMID- 25817271
TI  - In silico analysis of human Toll-like receptor 7 ligand binding domain.
AB  - Toll-like receptors recognizing pathogen-associated molecular patterns are
      preface actors for innate immunity. Among them TLR7 is a transmembrane protein
      playing very crucial role in the signaling pathways involved in innate immunity
      by recognizing viral ssRNA and specific small molecule agonists. The
      unavailability of experimental 3D structure of this receptor till date hampers
      the focused exploration of TLR7 interaction with its ligands. However, several
      proteins possessing high homology domain enabled us to construct a reliable 3D
      model of hTLR7 ECD, which was employed to generate the homodimer model using
      protein-protein docking strategy. Further molecular docking studies between
      developed homodimer model and ligands were performed to explore the most
      preferred site of hTLR7 ECD interacting with ligands. The comparative analysis of
      docking energies and protein-ligand interactions of all the ligands revealed
      resiquimod as the prominent agonist. Furthermore, molecular interactions between
      protein-ligand complexes suggested LRR15 and LRR16 region of hTLR7 ECD as the
      most preferential site for ligand binding. The Ser434 and Gly437 of LRR15 region
      of hTLR7 were found to be conserved with Drosophila Toll protein. The obtained
      complex model may lead to a better understanding of TLR7 functioning along with
      its inheritance from invertebrates to mammals. 

PMID- 25817272
TI  - Biomass allocation and long-term growth patterns of temperate lianas in
      comparison with trees.
AB  - The host-dependent support habit of lianas is generally interpreted as a strategy
      designed to reduce resource investment in mechanical tissues; this allows
      preferential allocation to leaf and stem extension, thereby enhancing
      productivity and competitive abilities. However, this hypothesis has not been
      rigorously tested. We examined the aboveground allometries regarding biomass
      allocation (leaf mass and current-year stem mass (approximated as biomass
      allocated to extension growth) vs total aboveground mass) and long-term apparent
      growth patterns (height and aboveground mass vs age, i.e. numbers of growth
      rings) for nine deciduous liana species in Japan. Lianas had, on average, three-
      and five-fold greater leaf and current-year stem mass, respectively, than trees
      for a given aboveground mass, whereas the time course to reach the forest canopy
      was comparable and biomass accumulation during that period was only one-tenth
      that of co-occurring canopy trees. The balance between the lengths of yearly stem
      extension and existing older stems indicated that lianas lost c. 75% of stem
      length during growth to the canopy, which is probably a consequence of the host
      dependent growth. Our observations suggest that, although lianas rely on hosts
      mechanically, allowing for short-term vigorous growth, this habit requires a
      large cost and could limit plant growth over protracted periods. 

PMID- 25817273
TI  - Quantum phase transitions and string orders in the spin-1/2 Heisenberg-Ising
      alternating chain with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.
AB  - Quantum phase transitions (QPTs) and the ground-state phase diagram of the spin
      1/2 Heisenberg-Ising alternating chain (HIAC) with uniform Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya
      (DM) interaction are investigated by a matrix-product-state (MPS) method. By
      calculating the odd- and even-string order parameters, we recognize two kinds of
      Haldane phases, i.e. the odd- and even-Haldane phases. Furthermore, doubly
      degenerate entanglement spectra on odd and even bonds are observed in odd- and
      even-Haldane phases, respectively. A rich phase diagram including four different
      phases, i.e. an antiferromagnetic (AF), AF stripe, odd- and even-Haldane phases,
      is obtained. These phases are found to be separated by continuous QPTs: the
      topological QPT between the odd- and even-Haldane phases is verified to be
      continuous and corresponds to conformal field theory with central charge c = 1;
      while the rest of the phase transitions in the phase diagram are found to be c =
      1/2. We also revisit, with our MPS method, the exactly solvable case of HIAC
      model with DM interactions only on odd bonds and find that the even-Haldane phase
      disappears, but the other three phases, i.e. the AF, AF stripe and odd-Haldane
      phases, still remain in the phase diagram. We exhibit the evolution of the even
      Haldane phase by tuning the DM interactions on the even bonds gradually.

PMID- 25817274
TI  - Investigation of Recessive Effects in Schizophrenia Using Next-Generation Exome
      Sequence Data.
AB  - A number of gene-wise approaches to analysis were applied to whole exome sequence
      data from 2545 Swedish schizophrenia cases with 2545 matched controls. A weighted
      burden test was used to detect dominant and additive effects. Recessive effects
      were investigated by testing whether there was an excess of cases bearing two or
      more rare, functional variants or whether there was an excess of cases in which
      both phased haplotypes carried at least one rare, functional variant. Counts for
      cases were compared with controls and also with the expectation under Hardy
      Weinberg equilibrium. Analyses were performed using the SCOREASSOC program. No
      gene produced statistically significant results although COMT was highly ranked
      by the weighted burden test and within it the Ala72Ser polymorphism rs6267 had an
      uncorrected p value of 0.00003. A number of spurious results were generated, some
      apparently due to miscalling of homozygotes and others due to a failure to
      eradicate the effects of linkage disequilibrium between variants. These problems
      were not marked when using phased haplotypes but this method failed to produce
      any significant or suggestive findings. If there are exonic variants with
      recessive effects on the risk of schizophrenia, then the methods used were unable
      to detect them.

PMID- 25817276
TI  - Verification of glycemic profiles using continuous glucose monitoring: cases with
      steroid use, liver cirrhosis, enteral nutrition, or late dumping syndrome.
AB  - Glycemic control is often difficult to achieve in patients with diabetes,
      especially in the presence of comorbid diseases or conditions such as steroid-use
      or liver cirrhosis, or in patients receiving enteral nutrition. Moreover,
      reactive hypoglycemia due to late dumping syndrome in people having undergone
      gastrectomy is also a matter of concern. Empirically and theoretically, the
      typical glycemic profiles associated with these conditions have been determined;
      however, what actually happens during a 24-h span is still somewhat obscure. In
      order to verify and provide information about the 24-h glycemic profiles
      associated with these conditions, 8 patients with the 4 above-mentioned
      conditions were monitored using a continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS).
      For all 8 patients, CGMS provided detailed information regarding the 24-h
      glycemic profiles. The CGM results showed typical glycemic patterns for each
      condition, and we were moreover able to observe the effects of various practical
      treatments. Based on these cases, we conclude that the CGMS is highly useful for
      determining the glycemic patterns of patients with the aforementioned conditions
      in a practical setting; and this system may be used to monitor the treatment
      success of such cases.

PMID- 25817275
TI  - Microtubule disruption synergizes with oncolytic virotherapy by inhibiting
      interferon translation and potentiating bystander killing.
AB  - In this study, we show that several microtubule-destabilizing agents used for
      decades for treatment of cancer and other diseases also sensitize cancer cells to
      oncolytic rhabdoviruses and improve therapeutic outcomes in resistant murine
      cancer models. Drug-induced microtubule destabilization leads to superior viral
      spread in cancer cells by disrupting type I IFN mRNA translation, leading to
      decreased IFN protein expression and secretion. Furthermore, microtubule
      destabilizing agents specifically promote cancer cell death following stimulation
      by a subset of infection-induced cytokines, thereby increasing viral bystander
      effects. This study reveals a previously unappreciated role for microtubule
      structures in the regulation of the innate cellular antiviral response and
      demonstrates that unexpected combinations of approved chemotherapeutics and
      biological agents can lead to improved therapeutic outcomes. 

PMID- 25817277
TI  - A review of the pathomechanism of forward slippage in pediatric spondylolysis:
      the Tokushima theory of growth plate slippage.
AB  - Spondylolysis is a stress fracture of the pars interarticularis, which in some
      cases progresses to spondylolisthesis (forward slippage of the vertebral body).
      This slip progression is prevalent in children and occurs very rarely after
      spinal maturation. The pathomechanism and predilection for children remains
      controversial despite considerable clinical and basic research into the disorder
      over the last three decades. Here we review the pathomechanism of spondylolytic
      spondylolisthesis in children and adolescents, and specifically the Tokushima
      theory of growth plate slippage developed from our extensive research findings.
      Clinically, we have observed the slippage site near the growth plate on MRI;
      then, using fresh cadaveric spines, we found the weakest link against forward
      shear loading was the growth plate. We subsequently developed an immature rat
      model showing forward slippage after growth plate injury. Moreover, finite
      element analysis of the pediatric spine clearly showed increased mechanical
      stress at the growth plate in the spondylolytic pediatric spine model compared
      with the intact pediatric spine. Thus, spondylolysis progresses to
      spondylolisthesis (forward slippage) in children and adolescents with the growth
      plate as the site of the slippage. Repetitive mechanical loading on to the growth
      plate may serve to separate the growth plate and subsequently progress to
      spondylolisthesis.

PMID- 25817278
TI  - Epigenetic regulation of mammalian sex determination.
AB  - Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene function that cannot be explained by
      changes in DNA sequence. A mammalian body contains more than two-hundred
      different types of cells, all derived from a single fertilized egg. Epigenetic
      gene regulation mechanisms essentially contribute to various processes of
      mammalian development. The essence of epigenetic regulation is the modulation of
      gene activity through changes in chromatin structure. DNA methylation and histone
      modifications are the major epigenetic mechanisms. Sex determination is the
      process of establishing a gender. Sry, the sex-determining gene in therian
      mammals, initiates testis differentiation. Recent studies have provided evidence
      that epigenetic mechanisms contribute to Sry regulation.

PMID- 25817279
TI  - Recent progress in the development of genetically encoded Ca2+ indicators.
AB  - Genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) are powerful tools to monitor the
      dynamics of calcium ion (Ca(2+)) in living cells and organisms. With the help of
      GFP technology and DNA engineering, a dozen sets of GECIs have been developed so
      far. Their application has been widely extended into the analysis at the
      subcellular local, single and population of cell. In the past decades, GECIs have
      been dramatically improved in their performance and are becoming more and more
      useful for live imaging. In this review, the progress in the development of GECIs
      is discussed by introducing the history and emerging GECIs, which would help the
      selection of the appropriate GECI for a given application.

PMID- 25817280
TI  - Neuroimaging in autism spectrum disorders: 1H-MRS and NIRS study.
AB  - Using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS), we measured chemical
      metabolites in the left amygdala and the bilateral orbito-frontal cortex (OFC) in
      children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The concentrations of N
      acetylaspartate (NAA) in these regions of ASD were significantly decreased
      compared to those in the control group. In the autistic patients, the NAA
      concentrations in these regions correlated with their social quotient. These
      findings suggest the presence of neuronal dysfunction in the amygdala and OFC in
      ASD. Dysfunction in the amygdala and OFC may contribute to the pathogenesis of
      ASD. We performed a near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) study to evaluate the
      mirror neuron system in children with ASD. The concentrations of oxygenated
      hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) were measured with frontal probes using a 34-channel NIRS
      machine while the subjects imitated emotional facial expressions. The increments
      in the concentration of oxy-Hb in the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal
      gyrus in autistic subjects were significantly lower than those in the controls.
      However, the concentrations of oxy-Hb in this area were significantly elevated in
      autistic subjects after they were trained to imitate emotional facial
      expressions. The results suggest that mirror neurons could be activated by
      repeated imitation in children with ASD.

PMID- 25817281
TI  - Clinical role of Foxp3+ regulatory T cell in Living donor related liver
      transplantation for prediction of life-threatening complications.
AB  - PURPOSES: It is no doubt that regulatory T cells (Foxp3(+)CD4(+)CD25(+)T cells:
      Treg) play important roles in transplant immunity. We investigated the
      significance of Treg expression in acute stage of living donorrelated liver
      transplantation (LDLT) for the possibility of the sensitive marker for
      immunological state and homeostatic stress after liver transplantation. METHODS:
      Peripheral blood was drawn from 5 recipients of LDLT preoperatively and on post
      operative 1, 4, 7, and 14 days. The peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)
      were stained with CD4, CD25, Foxp3, and were analyzed with FACScan. This data was
      compared with clinical output of LDLT. RESULT: The populations of Treg were
      significantly decreased in all patients on day 1 after LDLT and significantly
      increased in patients who had early postoperative complications compared with
      patients who had no complications. CONCLUSIONS: The population of Treg in
      peripheral blood may reflect the surgical stress such as life-threatening
      complications after LDLT.

PMID- 25817282
TI  - Impact of newly developed, next-generation artificial endocrine pancreas.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown that strict perioperative blood glucose
      management may reduce mortality and morbidity in critically ill adult patients.
      The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy and efficacy of the
      intraoperative application of a newly developed, next-generation artificial
      endocrine pancreas (STG-55, Nikkiso Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). METHODS: Twenty
      patients scheduled to undergo surgery were enrolled in this study. The STG-55 is
      designed to be more user-friendly than its conventional counterpart (STG-22)
      while maintaining the latter's fundamental functions, such as a closed-loop
      system using algorithms for insulin and glucose infusion. After anesthetic
      induction, a 20G intravenous catheter was inserted into a peripheral forearm vein
      and connected to a continuous blood glucose monitor. The resultant 105 scores for
      paired blood glucose values were compared by Bland-Altman analysis. RESULTS:
      Stable blood glucose values were maintained automatically, and there were no
      complications related to use of the STG-55. A close correlation (r=0.96) was
      observed between continuous glucose measurements using the STG-55 and
      conventional intermittent glucose measurements. The difficulty of manipulation
      using this system was decreased by improved preparation procedures. CONCLUSION:
      The glycemic control system using the STG-55 could provide an alternative way to
      achieve effective and safe perioperative glycemic control.

PMID- 25817283
TI  - Distribution and toxicity evaluation of ZnO dispersion nanoparticles in single
      intravenously exposed mice.
AB  - ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely used in various commercial products.
      Application of ZnO NPs is expected to apply to cancer diagnosis and therapy, used
      as drug delivery carriers. In the present study, the lethal dose 50 (LD50) of
      intravenously administered ZnO NPs (0.3 mg/kg) was calculated in mice. Blood
      kinetics and tissue distribution of a toxic dose of ZnO NPs (0.2 mg/kg, 0.05
      mg/kg) were investigated after intravenous exposure. In addition, 8-hydroxy-2'
      deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) was evaluated. Following the injection, ZnO NPs were
      rapidly removed from the blood and distributed to organs. Pulmonary emphysema was
      observed pathologically study in mice at 3 days after the 0.2 mg/kg dose and at 6
      days after the 0.05 mg/kg dose. ZnO NPs were mainly accumulated in the lung and
      spleen within 60 min. From the long-term tissue distribution study, the liver
      showed peak concentration at 6 days, and spleen peaked at 1 day. The lungs kept
      high levels until 6 days. Tissue distribution and pathological study showed that
      the spleen, liver, and lungs are target organs for ZnO NPs. Accumulation in the
      liver and spleen may be due to the phagocytosis by macrophages. A dose-dependent
      increase in 8-OHdG was observed in mice treated with ZnO NPs. This study is the
      first to show information on kinetics and target organs following intravenous ZnO
      injection.

PMID- 25817284
TI  - Prefrontal activation during two Japanese Stroop tasks revealed with multi
      channel near-infrared spectroscopy.
AB  - The Stroop task is sometimes used in psychiatric research to elicit prefrontal
      activity, which presumably reflects cognitive functioning. Although there are two
      Stroop tasks (Kana script and Kanji script) in Japan, it is unclear whether these
      tasks elicit the same hemoglobin changes. Moreover, it is unclear whether
      psychological conditions or characteristics influence hemoglobin changes in the
      Japanese Stroop task. The aim of this study was to clarify whether hemoglobin
      changes elicited by the two Japanese Stroop tasks accurately reflected cognitive
      functioning. Hemoglobin changes were measured with multi-channel near-infrared
      spectroscopy (NIRS) in 100 healthy Japanese participants performing two Japanese
      Stroop tasks. The Beck-Depression Inventory (BDI), State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory
      (STAI), and Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) were administered to
      participants to identify psychological conditions or personality characteristics.
      Compared with the Kanji task, the Kana task produced a greater Stroop effect and
      a larger increase in oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentration. Moreover there were no
      significant correlations between oxy-Hb concentration and BDI, STAI-trait, STAI
      state, or MOCI scores. Therefore we found that a participant's psychological
      conditions or characteristics did not influence the hemodynamic changes during
      either task. These data suggest the Kana Stroop task is more useful than the
      Kanji Stroop task for NIRS studies in psychiatric research.

PMID- 25817285
TI  - Gender differences of the influential factors on the mental health condition of
      teachers in the A university.
AB  - The purpose of this research was to investigate the gender differences of the
      influential factors on the mental health condition among university teachers in
      the A university in Japan. A questionnaire survey was mailed to 924 university
      teachers in Japan, with a survey return rate of 43.8% (N=405). The General Health
      Questionnaire 28 (GHQ-28), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
      (MSPSS), the Japanese version of the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems
      Experienced (COPE) and the Work Situation Questionnaire (WSQ) developed by the
      authors were administered to subjects. The GHQ-28 total score and all of sub
      score of the woman was significantly higher than men. In the correlated factor of
      mental health, level of job satisfaction and job control, social support of
      significant others was observed in the both sexes. However, gender differences
      was observed in the coping style. Some copings including self-distraction and
      self-blame were related to the men, but the woman was related to the substance
      use. University teachers had some gender differences in the factors affecting
      their mental health condition. In order to improve university teacher's mental
      health condition, it is necessary to increase their level of job satisfaction and
      feeling of job control in the workplace. Especially, it was considered women's
      coping using substance use was important.

PMID- 25817286
TI  - Relationship between physique and food avoidance in infants: a study conducted in
      a community setting in Japan.
AB  - The relationship between food avoidance during infancy and the growth of Japanese
      infants in a community health setting has not been well evaluated. In order to
      assess the growth of infants who avoided either of the three major allergen foods
      in Japan, eggs, milk or wheat, we employed the results of 4 physical checkups
      recorded in maternity passbooks and administrated a questionnaire on allergic
      diseases, height and weight at birth to the guardians of 1,132 infants at the age
      of 3.5 years. Data was obtained from 890 subjects (78.6%) and 662 subjects
      (58.5%) who met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. The height, weight and body
      mass index percentile scores of each subject were calculated. Subjects who
      avoided either of the three foods at 3.5 years had lower weight percentile scores
      at 1.5 years, lower height and weight percentile scores at 3.5 years, and lower
      weight growth rates, compared with the subjects who did not avoid any of the
      three foods at 3.5 years (P=0.02, 0.03, 0.03, 0.01). The results suggested that
      there was a negative relationship between physique and food avoidance in infants,
      and that physical and nutritional assessments are important for food avoiders.

PMID- 25817287
TI  - Wakame (Undaria pinnatifida ) modulates hyperphosphatemia in a rat model of
      chronic renal failure.
AB  - In chronic renal failure, inorganic phosphate (Pi) retention speeds up the
      progression to end-stage renal disease. The current therapy for hyperphosphatemia
      in patients with chronic renal failure consists of dietary Pi restriction
      combined with administration of Pi binders, but each therapy has practical
      problems. Thus, the discovery of foods or nutrients that inhibit Pi absorption
      may be useful for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia. In the present study, we
      investigated whether wakame (Undaria pinnatifida) is a useful food for the
      prevention of hyperphosphatemia in a rat model of renal failure. Feeding a diet
      containing 5% wakame significantly decreased plasma and urinary Pi levels and
      increased the amount of fecal Pi. In addition, wakame significantly reduced
      plasma blood urea nitrogen and plasma Pi levels in 5/6 nephrectomized rats fed a
      high-Pi diet. Biochemical analyses showed that the reduction of intestinal Pi
      absorption is the main reason for the decrease in plasma Pi levels in rats fed a
      diet containing wakame. In addition, feeding alginic acid and fucoidan, major
      components of wakame fiber, was effective in reducing plasma Pi levels in normal
      rats. Finally, we concluded that wakame may be a useful food for the prevention
      of hyperphosphatemia in rodents.

PMID- 25817289
TI  - Rice bran extract containing acylated steryl glucoside fraction decreases
      elevated blood LDL cholesterol level in obese Japanese men.
AB  - People who frequently consume whole grains show a lower incidence of
      arteriosclerotic disease than people who consume primarily refined grains. We
      examined whether or not rice bran extract containing the acylated steryl
      glucosides (ASG) fraction decreases blood LDL cholesterol levels in obese
      Japanese men with high blood levels of LDL cholesterol. The study utilized a
      randomized, double-blind design. A total of 51 subjects were randomly allocated
      to either a rice bran extract containing ASG fraction (RB-ASG) group or a placebo
      group. Subjects in the RB-ASG group received 30-50 mg/day of RB-ASG, and the
      placebo group took 9 capsules/day for 12 weeks. Before and after intake, height,
      weight, body fat percentage, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured,
      blood was collected, and visceral fat area, subcutaneous fat area, and abdominal
      circumference were determined based on umbilical computed tomography. Percentage
      decreases in blood LDL cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, LDL/HDL ratio, abdominal
      circumference and subcutaneous fat area were significantly better in the RB-ASG
      group than in the placebo group. These findings suggest that RB-ASG fraction may
      reduce blood LDL cholesterol levels and the risk of arteriosclerosis in obese
      Japanese men with high LDL cholesterol levels.

PMID- 25817288
TI  - Chronic exposure of VEGF inhibitors promotes the malignant phenotype of
      colorectal cancer cells.
AB  - VEGF-targeting anti-angiogenic drugs have enabled significant advances in cancer
      therapy. However, acquired resistance to VEGF-targeting drugs occurs, leading to
      disease progression. How tumors become the resistance remains fully uncertain.
      One of possible mechanisms for the resistance may be the direct effect of VEGF
      inhibitors on tumor cells expressing VEGF receptors (VEGF-R). We investigated
      here the direct effect of chronic VEGF inhibition on phenotype changes in cancer
      cells. To chronically inhibit cancer cell-derived VEGF, human colon cancer HCT116
      cells were chronically exposed (3 months) to anti-VEGF neutralizing monoclonal
      antibody (HCT/mAb cells, blockade of VEGF alone) or VEGF-R tyrosine kinase
      inhibitor foretinib (HCT/fore cells, blockade of all VEGF family). HCT/mAb cells
      redundantly increased VEGF family member (VEGF, PlGF, VEGF-B, VEGF-R1 and VEGF
      R2) and induced a resistance to hypoxia-induced apoptosis. By contrast, HCT/fore
      cells did not show the redundant increase in VEGF family member, but
      significantly increased a VEGF-independent pro-angiogenic factor FGF-2. HCT/fore
      cells showed increased migration and invasion activities in addition to a
      resistance to hypoxia-induced apoptosis. The resistance to apoptosis was
      significantly suppressed by inhibition of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha in
      HCT/mAb cells, but not in HCT/fore cells. These findings suggest that chronic
      inhibition of VEGF/VEGF-R accelerates malignant phenotypes of colon cancer cells.
      J. Med. Invest. 62: 75-79, February, 2015. 

PMID- 25817290
TI  - Case of adult-onset Coats' disease with epiretinal membrane treated with 25-gauge
      pars plana vitrectomy.
AB  - We describe a case of untreated adult-onset Coats' disease with a proliferative
      epiretinal membrane (ERM) treated successfully with 25-gauge pars plana
      vitrectomy (25GPPV). A 26-year-old man presented with a 3-week history of
      decreased vision in his left eye. At the initial examination, the decimal best
      corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.7 in the left eye. Ophthalmoscopy revealed
      the typical appearance of Stage 2A Coats' disease but with a proliferative ERM in
      the posterior pole. The patient received 2 monthly intravitreal injections of 2.5
      mg bevacizumab, 5 laser photocoagulations to the area of telangiectasia, and 1
      session of cryoretinopexy. Nine months after the initial visit, a traction by the
      ERM on the parafoveal area developed causing macular edema which reduced the BCVA
      to 0.3. He underwent 25GPPV with the removal of the ERM. In addition, the
      peripheral telangiectasia was treated intraoperatively with both laser
      photocoagulation and cryoretinopexy. Postoperatively, the traction to the
      parafoveal area was released and the BCVA improved to 0.6 which remained stable
      during the follow-up period of 13 months. We conclude that 25GPPV combined with
      ERM peeling, laser photocoagulation, and cryoretinopexy can be effective for
      adult-onset Coats' disease associated with an ERM.

PMID- 25817291
TI  - Huge splenic epidermoid cyst with elevation of serum CA19-9 level.
AB  - A 30-year-old female was referred to our hospital for further examination of
      liver dysfunction. A huge, soft mass was noted in her left upper quadrant on
      physical examination. Abdominal ultrasonography and computed tomography revealed
      a huge cystic tumor of 20 cm in the hilus of the spleen. Serum CA19-9 was 491
      U/ml, and splenectomy was performed under suspicion of a malignant cystic tumor.
      The inner surface of the cyst was lined by squamous epithelial cells that were
      immunohistochemically positive for CA19-9. Serum CA19-9 level was normalized
      after the surgery. Our case of a very rare, huge epidermoid cyst of the spleen
      suggests that measurement of the serum CA19-9 level is useful for evaluating
      therapeutic efficacy of a splenic epidermoid cyst.

PMID- 25817292
TI  - Transient severe hypotension with once-weekly subcutaneous injection of
      teriparatide in osteoporotic patient: a case report and insight for the drug
      interaction between hypotensive agents and teriparatide.
AB  - Teriparatide, a recombinant form of parathyroid hormone, were well recognized as
      a useful option for the treatment of the osteoporosis. Although some side effects
      of teriparatide include headache, nausea, dizziness, and limb pain were reported.
      Here we present a 80-year-old woman of transient asymptomatic hypotension with
      once-weekly subcutaneous injection of teriparatide for the treatment of
      osteoporosis with hypertension disease as acute-phase reactions. Systolic blood
      pressure decreased in both 30 min and 60 min after injection compared with before
      injection. Heart rate increased with passage of time. Statistically significant
      were observed among before, 30 min, 60 min after injection of teriparatide.
      Slight nausea was seen as subjective symptoms with the first and second injection
      after 30 min. This case indicates careful attention, at least 1 hr, was
      recommended with weekly subcutaneous injections of teriparatide in the treatment
      for osoteoproteic patient with hypertension decreases. This is a first report, to
      the best of our knowledge, to demonstrate the transient asymptomatic hypotension
      after once-weekly injection of teriparatide with hypertension disease. Transient
      hypotension occurred after injection of teriparatide during the treatment period
      and was asymptomatic except for the first 2 injections.

PMID- 25817293
TI  - Salmonella osteomyelitis of the distal radius in a healthy young adult patient:
      report of a rare case and literature review.
AB  - Salmonella osteomyelitis of the radius in a healthy individual is very rare. We
      present such a case involving the distal radius of a healthy 23-year-old man
      without underlying disease or possible episode. He had right wrist pain for
      approximately 3 years, and osteolytic lesion was seen in the right distal radius.
      He underwent surgical treatment, and salmonella was isolated from pus in the
      lesion. Postoperative antibiotics successfully treated his infection. He had no
      sign of recurrence, but the point of entry for infection remains unknown.

PMID- 25817294
TI  - Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy for a huge herniated disc causing acute
      cauda equina syndrome: a case report.
AB  - Microsurgery for lumbar disc herniation that requires surgical intervention has
      been well described. The methods vary from traditional open discectomy to
      minimally invasive techniques. All need adequate preanesthetic preparation of
      patients as general anesthesia is required for the procedure, and nerve
      monitoring is necessary to prevent iatrogenic nerve injury. Conventional surgical
      techniques sometimes require the removal of the corresponding lamina to assess
      the nerve root and herniated disc, and this may increase the risk for posterior
      instability of the vertebral body. Should this occur, fusion surgery may be
      needed, further increasing morbidity and cost. We present here a case of lumbar
      herniated disc fragments causing acute cauda equina syndrome that were
      endoscopically resected through a transforaminal approach in an awake patient
      under local anesthesia. Percutaneous endoscopic discectomy under local anesthesia
      proved to be a better alternative to open back surgery as it made immediate
      intervention possible, was associated with fewer perioperative complications and
      morbidity, minimized soft tissue damage, and allowed early rehabilitation with a
      better outcome and greater patient satisfaction. In addition to these advantages,
      percutaneous endoscopic discectomy protects other approaches that may be needed
      in subsequent surgeries, whether open or minimally invasive.

PMID- 25817295
TI  - Household endotoxin exposure and increased risk of diabetes in older adults.

PMID- 25817296
TI  - Prognostic roles of absolute monocyte and absolute lymphocyte counts in patients
      with advanced-stage follicular lymphoma in the rituximab era: an analysis from
      the FOLL05 trial of the Fondazione Italiana Linfomi.
AB  - Recently, in an attempt to improve the discrimination power of the international
      prognostic index (IPI), patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma were
      evaluated to determine the prognostic roles of peripheral blood absolute monocyte
      count (AMC) and absolute lymphocyte count (ALC). Here, we analysed data of 428
      patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) enrolled in a prospective, randomized
      trial (FOLL05 study) conducted by Fondazione Italiana Linfomi, to assess the
      impact of AMC and ALC on progression-free survival (PFS). All patients had been
      treated with one of three treatment combinations: (i) rituximab (R) plus
      cyclophosphamide, vincristine and prednisone; (ii) R plus cyclophosphamide,
      doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone or (iii) R plus mitoxantrone and
      fludarabine. We showed that only AMC was a powerful predictor of PFS, and
      possibly overall survival, in patients with FL treated with combination
      chemotherapy regimens that contained R. The AMC can be used alone as a novel,
      simple factor that can predict survival outcome in patients with FL, independent
      of the immunochemotherapy regimen. It may therefore be widely used by clinicians,
      due to its simplicity and broad applicability. Additionally, it can be combined
      with other factors that determine the IPI or FLIPI, to increase the
      discriminating ability of these indices. 

PMID- 25817297
TI  - From admission to discharge in mental health services: a qualitative analysis of
      service user involvement.
AB  - BACKGROUND: User involvement and recovery are now widely used terms within the
      mental health policy, research and practice discourse. However, there is a
      question mark about the impact these ideas have in everyday practice. Of interest
      is the degree of involvement in key transitions of care. In particular, admission
      to and discharge from acute inpatient mental health wards. OBJECTIVE: To explore
      the nature of service user involvement in the admission and discharge process
      into and out of acute inpatient mental health care. DESIGN: A qualitative study
      using focus groups. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: One acute, inpatient mental health
      ward was the focus of the study. Seven uniprofessional focus group interviews
      were conducted with ward staff, community staff and service users (total number
      of participants = 52). Conventional, thematic qualitative techniques were used to
      analyse the data. RESULTS: The data analysed and presented in this article relate
      to the loss of the service user voice at the key transition points into and out
      of acute inpatient care. Due to the lack of resources (inpatient beds and
      community care follow-up), the role service users could play was diminished. In
      their narratives, clinical staff associated the person with the process and used
      language which dehumanized the individual. CONCLUSION: Service users experience
      numerous care transitions into and out of hospital. As there is the potential for
      these encounters to have a lasting negative effect, the importance of ensuring
      service users have a voice in what is happening to them is crucial.

PMID- 25817298
TI  - GBD-2010 overestimates deaths from road injuries in OECD countries: new methods
      perform poorly.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We assessed the quality of Global Burden of Disease-2010 (GBD-2010)
      estimates of road injury deaths by comparing with government statistics for
      Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries that
      report to the International Road Traffic Accident Database (IRTAD). METHODS: We
      obtained tabulated data for 25 OECD countries that report to IRTAD and also
      report vital registration (VR) data to WHO. We collated VR deaths corresponding
      to the GBD-2010 road injury definition and estimated 'traffic', 'non-traffic' and
      'unspecified whether traffic or non-traffic' components. We estimated national
      road injury deaths by redistributing partially specified causes of death, as was
      done by GBD until this was replaced by more complex methods in GBD-2010. RESULTS:
      GBD-2010 estimates of road injury deaths exceeded IRTAD by 45% overall. IRTAD
      values fell below the GBD-2010 95% uncertainty interval in all but three
      countries. Mismatch of conceptual scope accounted for about 8% of this
      discrepancy, 5% was because GBD-2010 included cases other than road traffic and
      3% because GBD-2010 (unlike IRTAD) includes deaths >30 days after injury. Pro
      rata distribution of partially specified causes in VR data gave estimates that
      were 18% higher than IRTAD but closer than GBD-2010 estimates for all but two
      countries. Cases in VR data specified as road injury gave estimates closer to
      IRTAD. CONCLUSIONS: GBD-2010 road injury mortality estimates are substantially
      higher than the road death toll in OECD countries. The discrepancy is not
      explained by wider scope of the GBD road injury construct nor by undercounting by
      IRTAD. GBD-2010 likely attributed substantially more deaths with partially
      specified causes to road injuries than is appropriate.

PMID- 25817299
TI  - Use of perioperative hydroxyethyl starch 6% and albumin 5% in elective joint
      arthroplasty and association with adverse outcomes: a retrospective population
      based analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the perioperative use of hydroxyethyl starch 6%
      and albumin 5% in elective joint arthroplasties are associated with an increased
      risk for perioperative complications. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study of
      population based data between 2006 and 2013. SETTING: Data from 510 different
      hospitals across the United States participating in the Premier Perspective
      database. PARTICIPANTS: 1,051,441 patients undergoing elective total hip and knee
      arthroplasties. EXPOSURES: Perioperative fluid resuscitation with hydroxyethyl
      starch 6% or albumin 5%, or neither. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Acute renal failure
      and thromboembolic, cardiac, and pulmonary complications. RESULTS: Compared with
      patients who received neither colloid, perioperative fluid resuscitation with
      hydroxyethyl starch 6% or albumin 5% was associated with an increased risk of
      acute renal failure (odds ratios 1.23 (95% confidence interval 1.13 to 1.34) and
      1.56 (1.36 to 1.78), respectively) and most other complications. A recent
      decrease in hydroxyethyl starch 6% use was noted, whereas that of albumin 5%
      increased. CONCLUSIONS: Similar to studies in critically ill patients, we showed
      that use of hydroxyethyl starch 6% was associated with an increased risk of acute
      renal failure and other complications in the elective perioperative orthopedic
      setting. This increased risk also applied to albumin 5%. These findings raise
      questions regarding the widespread use of these colloids in elective joint
      arthroplasty procedures.

PMID- 25817300
TI  - Genetic association of interleukin-2, interleukin-4, interleukin-6, transforming
      growth factor-beta, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and blood concentrations of
      calcineurin inhibitors in Turkish renal transplant patients.
AB  - Cytokines are essential for the control of the immune response as most of the
      immunosuppressive drugs target cytokine production or their action. The
      calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) cyclosporine (CsA) and tacrolimus are
      immunosuppressive drugs widely used after renal transplantation to prevent
      allograft rejection. They are characterized by large interindividual variability
      in their pharmacokinetics; therefore, monitoring their blood concentrations is
      important to predict their optimal dosage following transplantation. Calcineurin
      inhibitors inhibit the phosphatase activity of calcineurin, thereby suppressing
      the production of other cytokines such as transforming growth factor (TGF-beta),
      tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-2, and IL-4. The
      aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between polymorphisms of
      cytokines and blood concentrations of CNIs in renal transplant patients. The
      study included 53 CsA-treated renal transplant patients and 37 tacrolimus-treated
      renal transplant patients. Cytokine polymorphisms were analysed using polymerase
      chain reaction (PCR) sequence-specific primers with the cytokine CTS-PCR-sequence
      specific primers Tray Kit; University of Heidelberg. Blood concentrations of CNIs
      were determined with Cloned Enzyme Donor Immunoassay (CEDIA) method. Patients
      with TC genotype of TGF-beta at codon 10 had lower CsA blood concentrations than
      the TT and CC genotypes (P = 0.005) at 1 month in CsA treatment group. The ratio
      of blood concentration/dose of CsA for patients with TGF-beta1-codon 10 TC
      genotype was lower than for patients with TT, CC genotypes, and the dose given to
      these patients was higher in the first month (P = 0.046). The ratio of blood
      concentration/dose of CsA for patients with IL-2-330 GG genotype was higher than
      for patients with GT, TT genotypes, and the dose given to these patients was
      lower at first month and sixth months (P = 0.043, P = 0.035 respectively). The
      tacrolimus blood concentrations were significantly higher in patients with the
      genotype GG of IL-2-330 (P = 0.012) at the third month. Patients who had the TC
      genotype TGF-beta codon 10 had lower CsA blood concentrations and this group had
      higher acute rejection (P = 0.033). These results suggest that the genotyping for
      TGF-beta-codon 10, IL-2-330 and IL-6-174 polymorphisms may help individualized
      immunosuppressive dosage regiments.

PMID- 25817301
TI  - More similarities than differences between men and women with irritable bowel
      syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Differences regarding symptoms, coping abilities, and quality of life
      (QOL) between men and women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have been
      reported but data are sparse and sometimes conflicting. The aim of present study
      was to investigate gender differences in gastrointestinal, extra-intestinal, and
      psychological symptoms, and sense of coherence (SOC) and QOL in a large group of
      patients diagnosed with IBS. METHODS: We analyzed questionnaire data from 557
      patients (152 men) diagnosed with IBS consecutively included in studies at an
      outpatient clinic for functional bowel disorders between 2002 and 2010. Following
      questionnaires were included: IBS severity scoring system (IBS-SSS), Hospital
      Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), IBSQOL Scale, Visceral Sensitivity Index
      (VSI), SOC Scale, Bristol Stool Form Scale (BSFS), and Patient Health
      Questionnaire (PHQ-15). KEY RESULTS: Women had harder stools (FDR-adjusted p
      value: q = 0.033), more severe bloating (q = 0.020), higher symptom severity (q =
      0.042), higher total somatic symptom burden (q = 0.035), lower SOC (q = 0.042),
      and lower QOL. Women rated more general anxiety (q = 0.017) and gastrointestinal
      specific anxiety (q = 0.042), but there were no group differences in depression,
      pain, stool frequency, impact on daily life, dissatisfaction with bowel habit, or
      extra-colonic symptoms. The differences found were small (effect sizes: r < 0.3).
      CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES: In this study, we demonstrated more similarities than
      differences between men and women with IBS. The largest difference were seen for
      QOL which might reflect certain structural stressors to which women in general
      are more exposed than men.

PMID- 25817302
TI  - Expression of genes of the cardiac and renal renin-angiotensin systems in preterm
      piglets: is this system a suitable target for therapeutic intervention?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The newborn circulating, cardiac and renal renin-angiotensin systems
      (RASs) are essential for blood pressure control, and for cardiac and renal
      development. If cardiac and renal RASs are immature this may contribute to
      cardiovascular compromise in preterm infants. This study measured mRNA expression
      of cardiac and renal RAS components in preterm, glucocorticoid (GC) exposed
      preterm, and term piglets. METHODS: Renal and cardiac RAS mRNA levels were
      measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Genes studied were:
      (pro)renin receptor, renin, angiotensinogen, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE),
      ACE2, angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT1R) and angiotensin type 2 receptor (AT2R).
      RESULTS: All the genes studied were expressed in the kidney; neither renin nor
      AT2R mRNA were detected in the heart. There were no gestational changes in
      (pro)renin receptor, renin, ACE or AT1R mRNA levels. Right ventricular
      angiotensinogen mRNA levels in females were lower in preterm animals than at
      term, and GC exposure increased levels in male piglets. Renal angiotensinogen
      mRNA levels in female term piglets were lower than females from both preterm
      groups, and lower than male term piglets. Left ventricular ACE2 mRNA expression
      was lower in GC treated preterm piglets. Renal AT2R mRNA abundance was highest in
      GC treated preterm piglets, and the AT1R/AT2R ratio was increased at term.
      CONCLUSIONS: Preterm cardiac and renal RAS mRNA levels were similar to term
      piglets, suggesting that immaturity of these RASs does not contribute to preterm
      cardiovascular compromise. Since preterm expression of both renal and cardiac
      angiotensin II-AT1R is similar to term animals, cardiovascular dysfunction in the
      sick preterm human neonate might be effectively treated by agents acting on their
      RASs.

PMID- 25817303
TI  - Electrophilic Aromatic Deuteration of Lignans: Mostly Reliable but Occasionally
      Aberrant Selectivities.
AB  - Lignans are a ubiquitous group of natural products of plant or mammalian origin.
      In the human diet, especially in fiber-rich foods, there are measurable amounts
      of lignans. Lignan intake is associated with a reduced risk of a range of chronic
      Western diseases, and in studying these compounds and their biological activity,
      authentic stable isotope labeled analogues are needed. This review summarizes the
      reported labeling methods and discusses the selectivity and reactivity in the
      electrophilic aromatic deuteration of lignans where recently a number of
      unexpected selectivities or nonselectivities have been encountered. 

PMID- 25817304
TI  - Infiltrating hybrid mesenchymal tumor of skeletal muscle showing lipomatous,
      hemangiomatous, leiomyomatous and osseous features - An unusual soft tissue tumor
      providing insight into the pathogenesis of lipoma variants.
AB  - Infiltrating angiolipoma and osteolipoma of the hand are rare. A 40-year-old man
      presented with slowly enlarging swelling of his right hand for two and half years
      without functional deficit but it became painful with slight limitation of
      movement for the past few months. Plain radiograph showed a large soft tissue
      swelling with specks of calcifications. Ultrasonography and magnetic resonance
      imaging revealed an infiltrative mass in the right palm deep to the flexor
      tendons. As biopsy suggested infiltrative angiolipoma of skeletal muscle,
      debulking of the tumor was performed. The tumor showed coexistence of all four
      mesenchymal elements, fat, blood vessel, smooth muscle and bone in various
      combinations in the form of angiolipomatous, osteolipomatous, ossified
      intramuscular hemangiomatous, myolipomatous and angiomyolipomatous patterns
      throughout the entire tumor. Small meningothelial-like whorls of spindle cells
      were focally seen, some showed intramembranous ossification forming small woven
      bony spicules in their centers. There were no atypical cells or lipoblasts.
      Staining for CDK4, MDM2, p16, HMB45 and Melan A was negative. The diagnosis was
      "infiltrating hybrid mesenchymal tumor of skeletal muscle showing lipomatous,
      hemangiomatous, leiomyomatous and osseous features". The fairly even admixture of
      the various components supports the neoplastic participation of each individual
      element. Hybrid mesenchymal tumor most probably originates from multipotent
      neoplastic cells showing multidirectional differentiation. 

PMID- 25817305
TI  - Bisphosphonate-associated peri-implant fractures: a new clinical entity? A series
      of 10 patients with 11 fractures.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The current definition of atypical femoral fractures
      (AFFs) associated with bisphosphonate use includes only de novo fractures.
      However, in recent years reports of bisphosphonate-associated periprosthetic
      fractures involving stemmed arthroplasty implants have emerged. In a case series
      of peri-implant fractures in femurs with plate/screw constructs, we aimed to
      assess similarities with classical AFFs and how their location may have
      implications for the pathogenesis and management of AFFs. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      We retrospectively identified 10 patients with 11 peri-implant fractures.
      RESULTS: The patients were ambulant women, mean age 80 (70-92) years. Mean
      duration of bisphosphonate use was 5 (1-10) years. The peri-implant fractures
      were sustained an average of 4 years (6 months to 9 years) from the time of index
      surgery. They were all associated with low-energy mechanisms. 8 fractures
      occurred near the tip of a plate, while 3 traversed the penultimate screwhole of
      a plate. The peri-implant fractures showed clinical and radiological features of
      atypicality such as lateral cortical thickening, simple fracture pattern, and
      lack of comminution. The patients underwent revision surgery, with bone grafting
      used in all but 1 case. Radiological union was evident after 2-4 months.
      INTERPRETATION: Atypical peri-implant fractures of the femur associated with
      bisphosphonate use may be a new entity. Stress lesions and atypical fractures may
      tend to develop over stress risers along the operated femur. This finding has
      implications for the pathogenesis and clinical management of AFFs.

PMID- 25817306
TI  - Significant Reduction in Mitral Regurgitation Volume Is the Main Contributor for
      Increase in Systolic Forward Flow in Patients with Functional Mitral
      Regurgitation after Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: Hemodynamic Analysis
      Using Echocardiography.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Reduction in mitral regurgitation (MR) after transcatheter aortic
      valve replacement (TAVR) has previously been reported. However, the hemodynamic
      effects of TAVR in patients with MR have not been previously evaluated. METHODS:
      We analyzed 571 patients who underwent TAVR from December 2010 to December 2013.
      We studied 20 patients with moderate or severe preprocedural functional mitral
      regurgitation (FMR) who also had a follow-up transthoracic echocardiography (TTE)
      examination between 90 and 360 days (median 213 days) after TAVR (Significant FMR
      Group). We also studied age- and gender-matched 20 patients with mild or lesser
      MR (Nonsignificant MR Group). Left ventricular functional measurements were
      assessed using echocardiography before and after TAVR. Left ventricular outflow
      tract stroke volume measurements using pulsed-wave Doppler (SVLVOT ) were
      calculated as a representative of systolic forward flow, and stroke volume by the
      Simpson's method (SVSimpson ) was calculated as a parameter of degree of LV
      contraction. RESULTS: MR grade improved in 22 of 40 patients after TAVR. In both
      groups, BNP level decreased, left ventricular ejection fraction increased, and
      SVLVOT increased after TAVR. SVSimpson increased in the Nonsignificant MR Group
      and remained unchanged in the Significant FMR Group. Vena contracta width of MR
      (MRVC) decreased in the Significant FMR Group. Using multivariable analysis in
      the Significant FMR Group, the increase in SVLVOT significantly correlated with
      the decrease in MRVC (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: SVLVOT increased significantly
      after TAVR in patients with FMR. In these patients, increase in SVLVOT after TAVR
      was associated with decrease in severity of MR.

PMID- 25817307
TI  - Corrigendum.

PMID- 25817308
TI  - [Benefits of using the cutometer to evaluate the effectiveness of skin treatments
      in plastic and maxillofacial surgery].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Evaluating skin properties is often too subjective. Using the
      cutometer allows one to take objective measures of certain mechanic properties of
      the skin such as visco-elasticity. The aim of this article is to evaluate through
      a review of existing literature the advantages and the limits of the cutometer
      and to propose an improvement. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The selection of articles
      has been conducted with the PubMed database in order to identify all publications
      concerning the cutometer up until September 2013. The analysis criteria were: (1)
      quantitative distribution of articles from the first publication until today; (2)
      qualitative distribution over the various medical fields. The articles have been
      organized in 3 groups: medical, surgical and burns; (3) list of biases in the
      interpretation of results and limits of this measuring tool. RESULTS: One hundred
      and twenty-nine publications have been included. The first article regarding the
      cutometer was published in 1994. We observe an increase in the number of
      publications after 2005. Most of the articles were published in medical journals
      of dermatology or cosmetology (83%), only 9% of articles have been published in
      burn study journals and 8% in surgical journals. The pressure applied by the
      experimenter constitutes the main measure bias. DISCUSSION: The use of an
      external device maintaining the probe with an invariable pressure corresponding
      to its own weight enables more reliable results all the while limiting the inter-
      and intra-individual variability.

PMID- 25817309
TI  - Contamination of the southern Baltic Sea waters by the residues of selected
      pharmaceuticals: Method development and field studies.
AB  - In this study the occurrence of thirteen pharmaceuticals in seawaters collected
      from southern Baltic Sea was evaluated for the first time. It was performed by
      applying newly developed analytical procedure. The method was characterized in
      terms of its basic validation parameters as well as matrix effects, extraction
      efficiency and absolute recovery. The results were expressed as result +/-
      expanded uncertainty, which was estimated according to the Guide to the
      Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement. Additionally, in order to verify the
      influence of variable parameters of the analyzed samples on method performance
      parameters, chemometric analysis was carried out. The obtained results revealed
      that residues of pharmaceuticals were present in seawaters at a concentration
      level of ng L(-1). Trimethoprim, sulfamethoxazole and enrofloxacin were most
      frequently detected compounds. The highest concentration was determined for
      ketoprofen (135.0 +/- 10.9 ng L(-1)). Marine pollution potential hotspots were
      found in enclosed or semi-enclosed bodies of water.

PMID- 25817310
TI  - Applications of biological tools or biomarkers in aquatic biota: A case study of
      the Tamar estuary, South West England.
AB  - Biological systems are the ultimate recipients of pollutant-induced damage.
      Consequently, our traditional reliance on analytical tools is not enough to
      assess ecosystem health. Biological responses or biomarkers are therefore also
      considered to be important tools for environmental hazard and risk assessments.
      Due to historical mining, other anthropogenic activities, and its conservational
      importance (e.g. NATURA sites, SACs), the Tamar estuary in South West England is
      an ideal environment in which to examine applications of such biological tools.
      This review presents a thorough and critical evaluation of the different
      biological tools used in the Tamar estuary thus far, while also discussing future
      perspectives for biomarker studies from a global perspective. In particular, we
      focus on the challenges which hinder applications of biological tools from being
      more readily incorporated into regulatory frameworks, with the aim of enabling
      both policymakers and primary stakeholders to maximise the environmental
      relevance and regulatory usefulness of such tools. 

PMID- 25817311
TI  - Effects of light pollution on the emergent fauna of shallow marine ecosystems:
      Amphipods as a case study.
AB  - Light pollution from coastal urban development is a widespread and increasing
      threat to biodiversity. Many amphipod species migrate between the benthos and the
      pelagic environment and light seems is a main ecological factor which regulates
      migration. We explore the effect of artificial lighting on amphipod assemblages
      using two kind of lights, LED and halogen, and control traps in shallow waters of
      the Great Barrier Reef. Both types of artificial light traps showed a
      significantly higher abundance of individuals for all species in comparison to
      control traps. LED lights showed a stronger effect over the amphipod assemblages,
      with these traps collecting a higher number of individuals and differing species
      composition, with some species showing a specific attraction to LED light. As
      emergent amphipods are a key ecological group in the shallow water environment,
      the impact of artificial light can affect the broader functioning of the
      ecosystem. 

PMID- 25817312
TI  - Impact of industrial pollution on recent dinoflagellate cysts in Izmir Bay
      (Eastern Aegean).
AB  - The spatial distribution of dinoflagellate cysts was studied to understand the
      impact of industrial pollution on the surface sediment of Izmir Bay, Turkey.
      Forty two dinoflagellate cyst morphotypes belonging to 12 genera were identified
      and qualified at 12 sampling points. The cyst of Gymnodinium nolleri dominated
      the bay and had the highest abundance in most of the stations, following
      Spiniferites bulloideus and Lingulodinium machaerophorum. The highest cyst
      concentration was recorded in the inner part of the bay. Cyst concentration
      ranged between 384 and 9944 cyst g(-1) dry weight of sediment in the sampling
      area. Sediment metal concentrations were determined. Heavy metal levels in Izmir
      Inner Bay were higher than the Middle and Outer Bay. L. machaerophorum,
      Dubridinium caperatum and Polykrikos kofoidii showed significant positive
      correlation with some metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn) and organic carbon content.
      However, there was no significant correlation between dinoflagellate cyst
      abundance and sediment type.

PMID- 25817314
TI  - Development of bioelectrocatalytic activity stimulates mixed-culture reduction of
      glycerol in a bioelectrochemical system.
AB  - In a microbial bioelectrochemical system (BES), organic substrate such as
      glycerol can be reductively converted to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) by a mixed
      population biofilm growing on the cathode. Here, we show that 1,3-PDO yields
      positively correlated to the electrons supplied, increasing from 0.27 +/- 0.13 to
      0.57 +/- 0.09 mol PDO mol(-1) glycerol when the cathodic current switched from 1
      A m(-2) to 10 A m(-2) . Electrochemical measurements with linear sweep
      voltammetry (LSV) demonstrated that the biofilm was bioelectrocatalytically
      active and that the cathodic current was greatly enhanced only in the presence of
      both biofilm and glycerol, with an onset potential of -0.46 V. This indicates
      that glycerol or its degradation products effectively served as cathodic electron
      acceptor. During long-term operation (> 150 days), however, the yield decreased
      gradually to 0.13 +/- 0.02 mol PDO mol(-1) glycerol, and the current-product
      correlation disappeared. The onset potentials for cathodic current decreased to 
      0.58 V in the LSV tests at this stage, irrespective of the presence or absence of
      glycerol, with electrons from the cathode almost exclusively used for hydrogen
      evolution (accounted for 99.9% and 89.5% of the electrons transferred at glycerol
      and glycerol-free conditions respectively). Community analysis evidenced a
      decreasing relative abundance of Citrobacter in the biofilm, indicating a
      community succession leading to cathode independent processes relative to the
      glycerol. It is thus shown here that in processes where substrate conversion can
      occur independently of the electrode, electroactive microorganisms can be
      outcompeted and effectively disconnected from the substrate.

PMID- 25817313
TI  - Fast growth involves high dependence on stored resources in seedlings of
      Mediterranean evergreen trees.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) needed for plant growth can
      come either from soil N and current photosynthesis or through remobilization of
      stored resources. The contribution of remobilization to new organ growth on a
      whole-plant basis is quite well known in deciduous woody plants and evergreen
      conifers, but this information is very limited in broadleaf evergreen trees. This
      study compares the contribution of remobilized C and N to the construction of new
      organs in spring, and assesses the importance of different organs as C and N
      sources in 1-year-old potted seedlings of four ecologically distinct evergreen
      Mediterranean trees, namely Quercus ilex, Q. coccifera, Olea europaea and Pinus
      hapelensis. METHODS: Dual (13)C and (15)N isotope labelling was used to unravel
      the contribution of currently taken up and stored C and N to new growth. Stored C
      was labelled under simulated winter conditions. Soil N was labelled with the
      fertilization during the spring growth. KEY RESULTS: Oaks allocated most C
      assimilated under simulated winter conditions to coarse roots, while O. europaea
      and P. halepensis allocated it to the leaves. Remobilization was the main N
      source (>74 %) for new fine-root growth in early spring, but by mid-spring soil
      supplied most of the N required for new growth (>64 %). Current photosynthesis
      supplied >60 % of the C in new fine roots by mid-spring in most species. Across
      species, the proportion of remobilized C and N in new shoots increased with the
      relative growth rate. Quercus species, the slowest growing trees, primarily used
      currently acquired resources, while P. halepensis, the fastest growing species,
      mainly used reserves. Increases in the amount of stored N increased N
      remobilization, which fostered absolute growth both within and across species.
      Old leaves were major sources of remobilized C and N, but stems and roots also
      supplied considerable amounts of both in all species except in P. halepensis,
      which mainly relied on foliage formed in the previous growing season to supply
      stored resources. CONCLUSIONS: Seedlings of Mediterranean evergreen trees have
      distinct C and N storage physiologies, with relative growth rate driving the
      contribution of remobilized resources to new growth. These differences may reduce
      competition and facilitate species coexistence.

PMID- 25817315
TI  - Is the noun ending a cue to grammatical gender processing? An ERP study on
      sentences in Italian.
AB  - Gender-to-ending consistency has been shown to influence grammatical gender
      retrieval in isolated word presentation. Notwithstanding the wealth of evidence,
      the exact role and the time course of processing of this distributional
      information remain unclear. This ERP study investigated if and when the brain
      detects gender-to-ending consistency in sentences containing Italian determiner
      noun pairs. Determiners either agreed or disagreed in gender with the nouns whose
      endings were reliable or misleading cues to gender (transparent and irregular
      nouns). Transparent nouns elicited an increased frontal negativity and a late
      posterior positivity compared to irregular nouns (350-950 ms), suggesting that
      the system is sensitive to gender-to-ending consistency from relatively early
      stages of processing. Gender agreement violations evoked a similar LAN-P600
      pattern for both types of nouns. The present findings provide evidence for an
      early detection of reliable gender-related endings during sentence reading. 

PMID- 25817316
TI  - Stretch-induced changes in tension generation process and stiffness are not
      accompanied by alterations in muscle architecture of the middle and distal
      portions of the two gastrocnemii.
AB  - The study aimed to evaluate the stretch-induced changes in muscle architecture in
      different portions of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and lateralis (GL) muscles.
      The reliability and sensitivity of the measurements were also assessed. Fascicle
      length (FL) and pennation angle (PA) were calculated in the middle and distal
      portions of GM and GL at 0 degrees , 10 degrees  and 20 degrees  of ankle
      dorsiflexion. At the same angles, passive torque (Tpass), peak torque (pT) and
      myotendinous junction displacement of GM were determined. Stiffness was
      calculated at muscle-tendon unit (MTU), muscle and tendon level. After static
      stretching administration, Tpass, pT and MTU stiffness decreased by 22%, 12% and
      16%, respectively (p<0.05). Muscle and tendon stiffness decreased by 15% and 16%
      (p<0.05). Nevertheless, no changes in FL and PA occurred. The reliability of the
      approach was always very high (intraclass correlation coefficient>0.90), with an
      adequate level of sensitivity. pT after static stretching was related to
      decreases in MTU, muscle and tendon stiffness, but not to alterations in muscle
      architecture. 

PMID- 25817317
TI  - Regular theta-firing neurons in the nucleus incertus during sustained hippocampal
      activation.
AB  - This paper describes the existence of theta-coupled neuronal activity in the
      nucleus incertus (NI). Theta rhythm is relevant for cognitive processes such as
      spatial navigation and memory processing, and can be recorded in a number of
      structures related to the hippocampal activation including the NI. Strong
      evidence supports the role of this tegmental nucleus in neural circuits
      integrating behavioural activation with the hippocampal theta rhythm. Theta
      oscillations have been recorded in the local field potential of the NI, highly
      coupled to the hippocampal waves, although no rhythmical activity has been
      reported in neurons of this nucleus. The present work analyses the neuronal
      activity in the NI in conditions leading to sustained hippocampal theta in the
      urethane-anaesthetised rat, in order to test whether such activation elicits a
      differential firing pattern. Wavelet analysis has been used to better define the
      neuronal activity already described in the nucleus, i.e., non-rhythmical neurons
      firing at theta frequency (type I neurons) and fast-firing rhythmical neurons
      (type II). However, the most remarkable finding was that sustained stimulation
      activated regular-theta neurons (type III), which were almost silent in baseline
      conditions and have not previously been reported. Thus, we describe the
      electrophysiological properties of type III neurons, focusing on their coupling
      to the hippocampal theta. Their spike rate, regularity and phase locking to the
      oscillations increased at the beginning of the stimulation, suggesting a role in
      the activation or reset of the oscillation. Further research is needed to address
      the specific contribution of these neurons to the entire circuit. 

PMID- 25817318
TI  - A window into new drug development for urologic oncology. Part II: Bench-to
      bedside research improves survival in urologic cancer, and the discovery of
      better biomarkers can help predict patient response, toxicity, and resistance to
      therapy.

PMID- 25817319
TI  - Live surgical demonstrations: An endangered species.
AB  - Despite the increasing controversy surrounding live surgical demonstrations, they
      remain an incredibly valuable tool for urologic education. Live surgery is the
      most effective means to demonstrate certain surgical techniques and
      intraoperative decision making. The many potential benefits far outweigh the
      potential concerns when live surgical events are performed in a thoughtful
      regulatory framework. Appropriate patient and surgeon selection is integral to
      successful live surgical events. Under these circumstances, live surgery should
      remain safe for the patient and instructive for the urologist. 

PMID- 25817320
TI  - Zolpidem and eszopiclone prime alpha1beta2gamma2 GABAA receptors for longer
      duration of activity.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: GABAA receptors mediate neuronal inhibition in the brain.
      They are the primary targets for benzodiazepines, which are widely used to treat
      neurological disorders including anxiety, epilepsy and insomnia. The mechanism by
      which benzodiazepines enhance GABAA receptor activity has been extensively
      studied, but there is little mechanistic information on how non-benzodiazepine
      drugs that bind to the same site exert their effects. Eszopiclone and zolpidem
      are two non-benzodiazepine drugs for which no mechanism of action has yet been
      proposed, despite their clinical importance as sleeping aids. Here we investigate
      how both drugs enhance the activity of alpha1beta2gamma2 GABAA receptors.
      EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: We used rapid ligand application onto macropatches and
      single-channel kinetic analysis to assess rates of current deactivation. We also
      studied synaptic currents in primary neuronal cultures and in heterosynapses,
      whereby native GABAergic nerve terminals form synapses with HEK293 cells
      expressing alpha1beta2gamma2 GABAA receptors. Drug binding and modulation was
      quantified with the aid of an activation mechanism. KEY RESULTS: At the single
      channel level, the drugs prolonged the duration of receptor activation, with
      similar KD values of ~80 nM. Channel activation was prolonged primarily by
      increasing the equilibrium constant between two connected shut states that
      precede channel opening. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: As the derived mechanism
      successfully simulated the effects of eszopiclone and zolpidem on ensemble
      currents, we propose it as the definitive mechanism accounting for the effects of
      both drugs. Importantly, eszopiclone and zolpidem enhanced GABAA receptor
      currents via a mechanism that differs from that proposed for benzodiazepines.

PMID- 25817321
TI  - Lionel Bueno, PhD, July 9, 1945-January 24, 2015.

PMID- 25817322
TI  - The association between the severity of poststroke depression and clinical
      outcomes after first-onset stroke in Korean patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the association
      between poststroke depression (PSD) and clinical outcomes in first-onset stroke
      patients who are undergoing a rehabilitation program. METHODS: The present study
      included 180 inpatients that were recruited consecutively and followed up over a
      6-month observational period. Poststroke depression was diagnosed using the
      criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth
      Edition. Symptoms of depression and clinical outcomes were assessed using the
      Beck Depression Inventory, the modified Barthel Index (MBI) and the Mini Mental
      State Examination (MMSE). All patients were assessed at baseline and at the end
      of the 6-month observational period. RESULTS: Of the 180 patients, 127 (70.6%)
      were diagnosed with minimal-to-mild depression (MMD), and 53 (29.4%) were
      diagnosed with moderate-to-severe depression (MSD). The mean change in MBI scores
      from baseline to 6 months was significantly higher (P=.029) in the MMD group
      (23.8) than in the MSD group (8.6). The odds ratio for an unfavorable outcome
      (MBI score <60) in patients with MSD was approximately 3.5 in relation to
      patients with MMD. The mean change in MMSE score (4.4 versus 7.4) was not
      significantly different between the MMD and MSD groups. CONCLUSION: The present
      findings suggest that the severity of PSD may be associated with clinical
      outcomes in Korean patients 6 months after a first-onset stroke. Our data agree
      with previous findings, which indicate that clinicians should carefully evaluate
      symptoms of depression in stroke patients during routine clinical practice. The
      methodological shortcomings of the present study may require further studies with
      adequate power and improved design to clarify the association between PSD and
      clinical outcomes following stroke.

PMID- 25817323
TI  - Therapist-supervised hand therapy versus home therapy with therapist instruction
      following distal radius fracture.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate whether there was a difference in Patient-Rated Wrist
      Hand Evaluation (PRWHE) scores between patients with and without comorbidities
      who receive regular supervised therapy provided by a certified hand therapist
      (CHT) compared with patients who were provided with a home exercise program and
      were regularly monitored. METHODS: Fifty patients with a diagnosis of distal
      radius fractures and volar plate fixation were enrolled in a prospective,
      randomized clinical trial comparing those who received therapy under the
      supervision of a CHT with those enrolled in a home exercise program that was
      instructed and monitored by a CHT. The primary outcome measure (PRWHE) and
      secondary outcome measures, total arc of motion for wrist flexion and extension,
      supination and pronation, and grip strength, were assessed at 12 weeks. The
      primary outcome measure for both groups was also gathered at 6 months. RESULTS:
      There were no statistically significant differences between the final scores of
      the PRWHE, wrist or forearm motion, pain, or grip strength between groups. Effect
      size calculations revealed that both groups experienced a large effect size for
      all outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Supervised clinic-based therapy is equally beneficial
      for patients without complications. Clinic-based therapy may be preferable for
      patients with noteworthy complications after a distal radius fracture with volar
      plate fixation. Patients with decreased finger motion and various comorbidities
      may benefit from therapy provided in a clinic under the supervision of a
      certified hand therapist. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic II.

PMID- 25817324
TI  - Editorial overview: genome studies and molecular genetics: data-driven approaches
      to genotype-to-phenotype studies in crops.

PMID- 25817325
TI  - Fetal growth trajectory and risk for eczema in a Saudi population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent studies in Western cohorts have identified associations
      between increasing fetal abdominal circumference (AC) during mid-pregnancy and
      increased risk for eczema and atopy. We sought to replicate these findings in a
      Saudi population where antenatal environmental exposures are different compared
      with Western countries. METHODS: A Saudi birth cohort was recruited to relate
      maternal dietary intake and fetal growth to wheeze, eczema, and rhinitis in the
      first 2 yrs. Fetal size was determined from routine ultrasound scan measurements
      in the second and third trimesters and birthweight was noted. Parent-reported
      outcomes during the first 2 yrs were acquired by telephone-administered
      questionnaire. RESULTS: There were 1076 mothers recruited. AC was determined in
      562 for the second, in 632 for the third, and in 281 for both second and third
      trimesters. A history of eczema was determined in 814 children at 2 yrs of age.
      There was an inverse relationship between change in abdominal circumference
      between the second and third trimesters for eczema (OR 0.66 per z score increase
      in AC [95% CI 0.49, 0.89]), and the quartile with the greatest faltering growth
      were at increased risk compared with other groups (p <= 0.045). Change in fetal
      size between the third trimester and birth was not associated with altered eczema
      risk. There were no associations between fetal growth and wheeze at the age of 2
      yrs. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings contrast observations made in Western populations
      but nonetheless suggest that factors associated with changing fetal growth
      trajectory in the second half of pregnancy are also relevant to atopy development
      on the global setting.

PMID- 25817326
TI  - Basal functional status predicts functional recovery in critically ill patients
      with multiple-organ failure.
AB  - PURPOSE: We aimed to investigate the effect of baseline demographic, clinical,
      and functional characteristics of intensive care unit (ICU) patients with
      multiple-organ failure (MOF) on their functional recovery at 6 and 12 months
      posthospitalization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 545 consecutively admitted
      adult patients with MOF during on admission were included in the study. Patients'
      functional status was prospectively assessed and compared with the baseline
      status and at 6 and 12 months postdischarge, using the Modified Rankin Scale and
      the Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended. Severity of disease on admission was assessed
      using the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II and the Simplified
      Acute Physiology Score II. RESULTS: A total of 266 patients were followed up.
      Functional status among MOF survivors improved between the 6th and 12th month
      postdischarge from the ICU. Higher functional status before admission, lower
      severity scores on admission, and younger age positively affected the improvement
      in functional status after ICU discharge. CONCLUSIONS: The level of functional
      status befre ICU admission should be considered not only in research studies
      looking a long-term outcomes from ICU but also in the clinical care planning of
      critically ill patients during and after their ICU admission.

PMID- 25817327
TI  - Biocalorimetry.

PMID- 25817328
TI  - Prognostic impact of B-cell lymphoma 6 in primary CNS lymphoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We investigated the prognostic significance of B-cell differentiation
      status and common B-cell differentiation markers in a post hoc analysis of 119
      patients with primary CNS lymphoma (PCNSL) homogeneously receiving high-dose
      methotrexate (HDMTX)-based chemotherapy within the prospective G-PCNSL-SG1 trial.
      METHODS: We evaluated protein expression of B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2), BCL6, CD10,
      and multiple myeloma oncogene 1/interferon regulatory factor 4 (MUM1/IRF4) by
      immunohistochemistry and analyzed the association with survival. RESULTS: The
      median follow-up of all patients was 67.5 months. Median progression-free
      survival (PFS) was 10.61 months (95% CI: 4.23-17.00). Median overall survival
      (OS) was 28.85 months (95% CI: 17.96-39.73). Eighty-nine tumors expressed BCL2
      (92.7%), 24 (20.5%) expressed CD10, 60 (54.1%) expressed BCL6, and 87 (79.0%)
      expressed MUM1/IRF4. On the basis of the Hans algorithm, 80 tumors (73.4%) were
      classified to the non-germinal center B group, suggesting a post-germinal center
      origin of PCNSL. Expression of BCL6 (cutoff point 30%), but none of the other
      markers, was associated with shorter PFS (P = .047) and OS (P = .035). On
      multivariate analysis, BCL6 expression was associated with shorter PFS (hazard
      ratio: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.22-3.12, P = .005) but not OS (hazard ratio: 1.85, 95% CI:
      0.71-4.80, P = .21). Classification according to Hans algorithm and expression
      status of the single B-cell markers BCL2, CD10, and MUM1/IRF4 did not correlate
      with prognosis. CONCLUSION: The findings are limited by the fact that only 23% of
      all G-PCNSL-SG1 patients could be included in the analysis. If validated in an
      independent cohort, BCL6 may assume clinical relevance as an unfavorable
      prognostic biomarker in PCNSL.

PMID- 25817329
TI  - Rivaroxaban, a novel oral anticoagulant, attenuates atherosclerotic plaque
      progression and destabilization in ApoE-deficient mice.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Activated factor X (FXa) plays a key role in the coagulation cascade,
      whereas accumulating evidence suggests that it also contributes to the
      pathophysiology of chronic inflammation on the vasculature. In this study, we
      assessed the hypothesis that rivaroxaban (Riv), a direct FXa inhibitor, inhibits
      atherogenesis by reducing macrophage activation. METHODS AND RESULTS: Expression
      levels of PAR-1 and PAR-2, receptors for FXa, increased in the aorta of
      apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE(-/-)) mice compared with wild-type mice (P <
      0.01, P < 0.05, respectively). Administration of Riv (5 mg/kg/day) for 20 weeks
      to 8-week-old ApoE(-/-) mice reduced atherosclerotic lesion progression in the
      aortic arch as determined by en-face Sudan IV staining compared with the non
      treated group (P < 0.05) without alteration of plasma lipid levels and blood
      pressure. Histological analyses demonstrated that Riv significantly decreased
      lipid deposition, collagen loss, macrophage accumulation and matrix
      metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9) expression in atherosclerotic plaques in the aortic
      root. Quantitative RT-PCR analyses using abdominal aorta revealed that Riv
      significantly reduced mRNA expression of inflammatory molecules, such as MMP-9,
      tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). In vitro experiments using mouse
      peritoneal macrophages or murine macrophage cell line RAW264.7 demonstrated that
      FXa increased mRNA expression of inflammatory molecules (e.g., interleukin (IL)
      1beta and TNF-alpha), which was blocked in the presence of Riv. CONCLUSIONS: Riv
      attenuates atherosclerotic plaque progression and destabilization in ApoE(-/-)
      mice, at least in part by inhibiting pro-inflammatory activation of macrophages.
      These results indicate that Riv may be particularly beneficial for the management
      of atherosclerotic diseases, in addition to its antithrombotic activity.

PMID- 25817331
TI  - Enhancing bull sexual behavior using estrus-specific molecules identified in cow
      urine.
AB  - Deficiencies in bull mating behavior have implications for bovine artificial
      insemination activities. The aim of this study was to identify the compounds
      present in fluids emitted by cows during estrus, which could enhance bull libido.
      Chemical analysis of urine samples from cows led to the characterization of
      molecules varying specifically at the preestrous and estrous stages. The
      synthetic counterpart molecules (1,2-dichloroethylene, squalene, coumarin, 2
      butanone, oleic acid) were used to investigate the biological effects on male
      sexual behavior and sperm production. When presented to males, 2-butanone and
      oleic acid synthetic molecules significantly lowered mounting reaction time and
      ejaculation time (-33% and 21% after 2-butanone inhalation, respectively, P <
      0.05). The "squalene +1,2-dichloroethylene" combination induced a 9% increase of
      sperm quantity (P < 0.05). This study suggests that the identified estrous
      specific molecules could be part of the chemical signals involved in male and
      female mating behavior and may be used for a wide range of applications. The
      identification of these molecules may have implications for the cattle breeding
      industry. 

PMID- 25817330
TI  - Genetics of cardiovascular disease: Importance of sex and ethnicity.
AB  - Sex differences in incidence and prevalence of and morbidity and mortality from
      cardiovascular disease are well documented. However, many studies examining the
      genetic basis for cardiovascular disease fail to consider sex as a variable in
      the study design, in part, because there is an inherent difficulty in studying
      the contribution of the sex chromosomes in women due to X chromosome
      inactivation. This paper will provide general background on the X and Y
      chromosomes (including gene content, the pseudoautosomal regions, and X
      chromosome inactivation), discuss how sex chromosomes have been ignored in Genome
      wide Association Studies (GWAS) of cardiovascular diseases, and discuss genetics
      influencing development of cardiovascular risk factors and atherosclerosis with
      particular attention to carotid intima-medial thickness, and coronary arterial
      calcification based on sex-specific studies. In addition, a brief discussion of
      how ethnicity and hormonal status act as confounding variables in sex-based
      analysis will be considered along with methods for statistical analysis to
      account for sex in cardiovascular disease. 

PMID- 25817332
TI  - Biomechanical properties of murine meniscus surface via AFM-based
      nanoindentation.
AB  - This study aimed to quantify the biomechanical properties of murine meniscus
      surface. Atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based nanoindentation was performed on the
      central region, proximal side of menisci from 6- to 24-week old male C57BL/6 mice
      using microspherical tips (Rtip~5um) in PBS. A unique, linear correlation between
      indentation depth, D, and response force, F, was found on menisci from all age
      groups. This non-Hertzian behavior is likely due to the dominance of tensile
      resistance by the collagen fibril bundles on meniscus surface that are mostly
      aligned along the circumferential direction. The indentation resistance was
      calculated as both the effective modulus, Eind, via the isotropic Hertz model,
      and the effective stiffness, Sind = dF/dD. Values of Sind and Eind were found to
      depend on indentation rate, suggesting the existence of poro-viscoelasticity.
      These values do not significantly vary with anatomical sites, lateral versus
      medial compartments, or mouse age. In addition, Eind of meniscus surface (e.g.,
      6.1+/-0.8MPa for 12 weeks of age, mean+/-SEM, n=13) was found to be significantly
      higher than those of meniscus surfaces in other species, and of murine articular
      cartilage surface (1.4+/-0.1MPa, n=6). In summary, these results provided the
      first direct mechanical knowledge of murine knee meniscus tissues. We expect this
      understanding to serve as a mechanics-based benchmark for further probing the
      developmental biology and osteoarthritis symptoms of meniscus in various murine
      models. 

PMID- 25817333
TI  - Engineering meniscus structure and function via multi-layered mesenchymal stem
      cell-seeded nanofibrous scaffolds.
AB  - Despite advances in tissue engineering for the knee meniscus, it remains a
      challenge to match the complex macroscopic and microscopic structural features of
      native tissue, including the circumferentially and radially aligned collagen
      bundles essential for mechanical function. To mimic this structural hierarchy,
      this study developed multi-lamellar mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-seeded
      nanofibrous constructs. Bovine MSCs were seeded onto nanofibrous scaffolds
      comprised of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) with fibers aligned in a single direction
      (0 degrees  or 90 degrees  to the scaffold long axis) or circumferentially
      aligned (C). Multi-layer groups (0 degrees /0 degrees /0 degrees , 90 degrees /90
      degrees /90 degrees , 0 degrees /90 degrees /0 degrees , 90 degrees /0 degrees
      /90 degrees , and C/C/C) were created and cultured for a total of 6 weeks under
      conditions favoring fibrocartilaginous tissue formation. Tensile testing showed
      that 0 degrees  and C single layer constructs had stiffness values several fold
      higher than 90 degrees  constructs. For multi-layer groups, the stiffness of 0
      degrees /0 degrees /0 degrees  constructs was higher than all other groups, while
      90 degrees /90 degrees /90 degrees  constructs had the lowest values. Data for
      collagen content showed a general positive interactive effect for multi-layers
      relative to single layer constructs, while a positive interaction for stiffness
      was found only for the C/C/C group. Collagen content and cell infiltration
      occurred independent of scaffold alignment, and newly formed collagenous matrix
      followed the scaffold fiber direction. Structural hierarchies within multi
      lamellar constructs dictated biomechanical properties, and only the C/C/C
      constructs with non-orthogonal alignment within layers featured positive
      mechanical reinforcement as a consequence of the layered construction. These
      multi-layer constructs may serve as functional substitutes for the meniscus as
      well as test beds to understand the complex mechanical principles that enable
      meniscus function. 

PMID- 25817334
TI  - A model of Stokesian peristalsis and vesicle transport in a three-dimensional
      closed cavity.
AB  - The complexity of the mechanics involved in the mammalian reproductive process is
      evident. Neither an ovum nor an embryo is self-propelled, but move through the
      oviduct or uterus due to the peristaltic action of the tube walls, imposed
      pressure gradients, and perhaps ciliary motion. Here we use the method of
      regularized Stokeslets to model the transport of an ovum or an embryo within a
      peristaltic tube. We represent the ovum or the embryo as a spherical vesicle of
      finite volume - not a massless point particle. The outer membrane of the
      neutrally buoyant vesicle is discretized by nodes that are joined by a network of
      springs. The elastic moduli of these springs are chosen large enough so that a
      spherical shape is maintained. For simplicity, here we choose an axisymmetric
      tube where the geometry of the two-dimensional cross-section along the tube axis
      reflects that of the sagittal cross-section of the uterine cavity. Although the
      tube motion is axisymmetric, the presence of the vesicle within the tube requires
      a fully three-dimensional model. As was found in Yaniv et al. (2009, 2012) for a
      2D closed channel, we find that the flow dynamics in a 3D peristaltic tube are
      strongly influenced by the closed end and the manner in which the peristaltic
      wave damps out towards the closure. In addition, we demonstrate that the
      trajectory of a vesicle of finite volume can greatly differ from the trajectory
      of a massless fluid particle initially placed at the vesicle's centroid.

PMID- 25817335
TI  - Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-2 (NOD2) regulates type-1 cytokine
      responses to Mycobacterium avium but is not required for host control of
      infection.
AB  - Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-2 (NOD2) is an innate immune receptor
      that recognizes peptidoglycan-derived muramyl dipeptide from intracellular
      bacteria and triggers proinflammatory signals. In this study, we sought to
      evaluate the role played by this receptor during early and late stages of
      infection with Mycobacterium avium in mice. We demonstrated that NOD2 knockout
      (KO) animals were able to control M. avium infection similarly to wild-type mice
      at all time points studied, even though IL-12 and TNF-alpha production was
      impaired in NOD2-deficient macrophages. At 100 days following infection with this
      bacterium, but not at 30 days post-infection, NOD2-deficient mice showed
      significantly diminished production of IFN-gamma, as confirmed by reduced
      accumulation of IFN-gamma and IL-12 mRNA in the spleens of KO mice. Additionally,
      a reduction in the size and in the number of lymphocytes/granulocytes of hepatic
      granulomas from NOD2 KO animals was observed only during late time points of M.
      avium infection. Taken together, these data demonstrate that NOD2 regulates type
      1 cytokine responses to M. avium but is not required for the control of infection
      with this bacterium in vivo.

PMID- 25817336
TI  - Sensing with Advanced Computing Technology: Fin Field-Effect Transistors with
      High-k Gate Stack on Bulk Silicon.
AB  - Field-effect transistors (FETs) form an established technology for sensing
      applications. However, recent advancements and use of high-performance multigate
      metal-oxide semiconductor FETs (double-gate, FinFET, trigate, gate-all-around) in
      computing technology, instead of bulk MOSFETs, raise new opportunities and
      questions about the most suitable device architectures for sensing integrated
      circuits. In this work, we propose pH and ion sensors exploiting FinFETs
      fabricated on bulk silicon by a fully CMOS compatible approach, as an alternative
      to the widely investigated silicon nanowires on silicon-on-insulator substrates.
      We also provide an analytical insight of the concept of sensitivity for the
      electronic integration of sensors. N-channel fully depleted FinFETs with critical
      dimensions on the order of 20 nm and HfO2 as a high-k gate insulator have been
      developed and characterized, showing excellent electrical properties,
      subthreshold swing, SS ~ 70 mV/dec, and on-to-off current ratio, Ion/Ioff ~
      10(6), at room temperature. The same FinFET architecture is validated as a highly
      sensitive, stable, and reproducible pH sensor. An intrinsic sensitivity close to
      the Nernst limit, S = 57 mV/pH, is achieved. The pH response in terms of output
      current reaches Sout = 60%. Long-term measurements have been performed over 4.5
      days with a resulting drift in time deltaVth/deltat = 0.10 mV/h. Finally, we show
      the capability to reproduce experimental data with an extended three-dimensional
      commercial finite element analysis simulator, in both dry and wet environments,
      which is useful for future advanced sensor design and optimization. 

PMID- 25817337
TI  - Delivery strategies to enhance oral vaccination against enteric infections.
AB  - While the majority of human pathogens infect the body through mucosal sites, most
      licensed vaccines are injectable. In fact the only mucosal vaccine that has been
      widely used globally for infant and childhood vaccination programs is the oral
      polio vaccine (OPV) developed by Albert Sabin in the 1950s. While oral vaccines
      against Cholera, rotavirus and Salmonella typhi have also been licensed, the
      development of additional non-living oral vaccines against these and other
      enteric pathogens has been slow and challenging. Mucosal vaccines can elicit
      protective immunity at the gut mucosa, in part via antigen-specific secretory
      immunoglobulin A (SIgA). However, despite their advantages over the injectable
      route, oral vaccines face many hurdles. A key challenge lies in design of
      delivery strategies that can protect antigens from degradation in the stomach and
      intestine, incorporate appropriate immune-stimulatory adjuvants and control
      release at the appropriate gastrointestinal site. A number of systems including
      micro and nanoparticles, lipid-based strategies and enteric capsules have
      significant potential either alone or in advanced combined formulations to
      enhance intestinal immune responses. In this review we will outline the
      opportunities, challenges and potential delivery solutions to facilitate the
      development of improved oral vaccines for infectious enteric diseases. 

PMID- 25817338
TI  - Use of the new Airtraq "Airtraq AVANT" in clinical settings.

PMID- 25817339
TI  - rPSGL-1-Ig, a recombinant PSGL-1-Ig fusion protein, ameliorates LPS-induced acute
      lung injury in mice by inhibiting neutrophil migration.
AB  - The binding of selectin to P&mdash;selectin glycoprotein ligand&mdash;1
      (PSGL&mdash;1) mediates the tethering and rolling of leukocytes on the
      endothelium during leukocyte migration and inflammation. Recombinant human
      PSGL&mdash;1&mdash;Ig fusion protein (rPSGL&mdash;1&mdash;Ig) is a widely used
      selectin inhibitor that prevents neutrophil entry into inflamed or reperfused
      tissues. We hypothesized that rPSGL&mdash;1&mdash;Ig could be used to as a drug
      for the treatment of acute lung injury (ALI). We induced murine ALI by injecting
      mice with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and then treated the mice with
      rPSGL&mdash;1&mdash;Ig. We determined the lung injury index, wet/dry ratio, and
      inflammatory cytokine level in differentially treated mice. The symptoms of
      LPS&mdash;induced lung injury were alleviated by rPSGL&mdash;1&mdash;Ig
      treatment. The histopathological index of LPS&mdash;induced lung injury improved
      after rPSGL&mdash;1&mdash;Ig treatment. rPSGL&mdash;1&mdash;Ig treatment also
      reduced the recruitment of inflammatory cells, including neutrophils, into the
      lung, as well as reducing the level of inflammatory cytokines. These data suggest
      that rPSGL&mdash;1&mdash;Ig protein has a therapeutic effect on LPS&mdash;induced
      lung injury. 

PMID- 25817340
TI  - RANKL inhibits cell proliferation by regulating MALAT1 expression in a human
      osteoblastic cell line hFOB 1.19.
AB  - Receptor activator of NF&mdash;&#954;B ligand (RANKL), a TNF&mdash;related
      protein, is a key factor regulating bone metabolism. It has been well known that
      RANKL&mdash;mediated signaling regulates the formation, activation and survival
      of osteoclast in normal bone modeling and remodeling, and also plays an important
      role in a variety of pathologic conditions. However, there is no direct evidence
      about the effect of RANKL on osteoblast. Herein, we investigated whether RANKL
      had effect on cell proliferation in a normal human fetal osteoblastic cell line
      hFOB 1.19. MTT assay showed that RANKL inhibited hFOB 1.19 cells growth in a
      dose&mdash;dependent and time&mdash;dependent manner. Importantly, we found that
      RANKL induced the expression of a lncRNA, MALAT1, for the first time. Knockdown
      of RANK by siRNA blocked the induction of MALAT1 by RANKL. By infection with
      MALAT1 siRNA, MALAT1 knockdown reversed RANKL&mdash;induced cells growth
      inhibition and cell cycle arrest. In addition, MALAT1 also regulated OPG
      expression in hFOB 1.19 cells. In conclusion, RANKL, binding to its receptor
      RANK, inhibited cell proliferation via MALAT1 upregulation in osteoblast cells in
      vitro. 

PMID- 25817341
TI  - The cultivation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells derived from patients with
      high altitude polycythemia.
AB  - The aim of this study was to isolate and culture bone marrow mesenchymal stem
      cells (MSCs) from patients with high altitude polycythemia (HAPC) in order to
      provide a foundation for further exploration of their biological characteristics.
      MSCs were isolated and cultured from 10 HAPC patients and 10 healthy controls by
      using a density gradient centrifugation and an adherent screening method. The
      morphous of MSCs were observed under an inverted microscope, and its surface
      antigens were determined using flow cytometry. The growth of the MSCs was also
      detected to evaluate its proliferation. Bone marrow mononuclear cells were
      isolated from the bone marrow using a density gradient centrifugation, and they
      were cultured in vitro. The bone marrow MSCs were successfully isolated and
      cultured, which presented as fusiform and adherent cells. The MSCs in both groups
      expressed CD90,CD44,CD29,CD105, CD106, CD146, CD166,Stro&mdash;1 and CD13, but
      they did not express CD45, CD4,CD8,CD19,CD20,CD80,CD14,CD3,CD34 or HLA&mdash;DR
      (P>0.05). The bone marrow MSCs from HAPC patients had a higher proliferation than
      the bone marrow MSCs from the healthy controls (P<0.01). The bone marrow MSCs
      from HAPC patients can be effectively cultured in vitro. 

PMID- 25817342
TI  - Forced expression of PDX-1 gene makes hepatoma cells to acquire glucose
      responsive insulin secretion while maintaining hepatic characteristic.
AB  - Evidence shows that forced expression of the PDX1 gene converts hepatoma cells,
      mouse liver epithelial cells (MLECs) and HepaRG cells, into
      insulin&mdash;producing cells, &#946;&mdash;cells, or islets of Langerhans.
      However, no reports have investigated the characteristics of mouse or human
      hepatocytes introduced with the PDX1 gene over prolonged observation periods. In
      this study, we immunohistologically and molecularly investigated the alternative
      processes induced by PDX1 gene introduction in mouse and human hepatocytes over
      prolonged observation periods using immunocytochemistry, immunofluorescence,
      polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Western blotting, and flow cytometry (FCM)
      analysis. Immunocytochemical and immunofluorescent observations showed that MLECs
      and HepaRG cells on 2 and 21 days after introduction of the PDX1 gene comprised
      cells double&mdash;positive for insulin and albumin. Additionally, they showed
      MAFA expression and glucose&mdash;responsive insulin secretion with glucokinase
      expression. However mouse embryonic fibroblasts introduced with PDX1&mdash;GFP
      could not acquire glucose&mdash;responsive insulin secretion and glucokinase
      expression. Subsequently, we hypothesized that the number of
      albumin&mdash;positive MLECs and HepaRG cells would decrease after introduction
      of PDX1 due to the conversion of MLECs and HepaRG cells into
      insulin&mdash;producing cells. However, FCM analysis indicated that the number of
      albumin&mdash;positive MLECs and HepaRG cells was not altered by the introduction
      of PDX1. We thought that MLECs and HepaRG cells introduced with the PDX1 gene
      could acquire a functional insulin secretory capacity without conversion to
      &#946;&mdash;cells, or islets of Langerhans, and the acquisition could need
      glucokinase expression. 

PMID- 25817343
TI  - Insulin over expression induces heart abnormalities via reactive oxygen species
      regulation, might be step towards cardiac hypertrophy.
AB  - Insulin is known to regulate blood&mdash;glucose level and promote its
      utilization as an energy source in cardiac tissues under normal physiological
      conditions as well as stimulates signaling pathways that involved cell growth and
      proliferation. Although recently insulin generated free radicals via NAD(P)H has
      been documented but the molecular mechanism is still under investigation. The aim
      of present study is to elucidate the reactive oxygen species (ROS) dependent
      possible role of insulin in cardiac abnormalities, including hypertrophy by
      regulation of antioxidants enzyme (SOD) activity. In the current study, 60
      cardiac patients and 50 healthy individuals as well as the rat model with insulin
      administration were under investigation. Oxidant, anti&mdash;oxidant biochemical
      assays, hypertrophic marker expression via immunobloting and histopathology were
      performed. We observed statistically significant elevation of the reactive oxygen
      species level in the serum of patients as well as in the insulin administrated
      rat model, a mild expression of cardiac marker in experimental models along with
      abnormal histopathology of hearts. However, super oxide dismutase free radical
      scavenger activity was down regulated upon insulin treatment compared to control
      rats. Conclusively, the present study showed that over expression of insulin
      might stimulate cardiac hypertrophic signal via up regulation of free radicals
      and down regulation of antioxidants enzymes including SOD activity. 

PMID- 25817344
TI  - Enhanced growth and osteogenic differentiation of Induced Pluripotent Stem cells
      by Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Field.
AB  - It is accepted that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have a great
      osteogenic potential differentiation, in the present study, we tried to improve
      this potentials using mechanical and biological stimulation. To achieve this
      goal, the influence of prolonged pulsed extremely low frequency electromagnetic
      field (ELF&mdash;EMF) (50 Hz and 1.5 mT) was investigated on cultured iPSCs.
      After evaluation of iPSCs biological behavior under radiation using MTT assay,
      osteogenic differentiation of stem cells was investigated via common important
      osteogenic markers such as alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, calcium mineral
      deposition and important bone&mdash;related genes. MTT result showed that
      proliferation rate of iPSCs significantly increased followed by stimulate with
      ELF&mdash;EMF. Osteogenic differentiation characterization demonstrated that
      potential of stem cells also was significantly increased while these cells
      cultured under both ELF&mdash;EMF and osteogenic medium (OM) in comparison to
      cultured under ELF&mdash;EMF or OM alone. According to the results, concluded
      that combination of OM and ELF&mdash;EMF can be a great supplement for bone
      differentiation of stem cells and appropriate candidate for use in the treatment
      of bone defects and osteoporosis patients by accelerating healing process. 

PMID- 25817345
TI  - Knockdown of Pim-3 suppresses the tumorigenicity of glioblastoma by regulating
      cell cycle and apoptosis.
AB  - Products of the Pim (the proviral integration site for the Moloney murine
      leukemia virus) family of proto&mdash;oncogenes possess serine/threonine kinase
      activity and belong to the Ca2+/calmodulin&mdash;dependent protein kinase group.
      Pim&mdash;3, a member of the Pim family is closely linked to the development of a
      variety of tumors. However, the role of Pim&mdash;3 in human glioblastoma remains
      unknown. In this study, we elucidated the role of Pim&mdash;3 in the growth and
      apoptosis of glioblastoma cells. Western blotting was used for determination of
      protein levels, and shRNA was used for Pim&mdash;3 knockdown. The MTT assay was
      used to evaluate cell proliferation and flow cytometry was used to determine cell
      cycle status and the number of apoptotic cells. A mouse xenograft model was
      established by injecting nude mice with Pim&mdash;3&mdash;depleted glioblastoma
      cells in order to determine tumor growth in vivo. We demonstrated that
      Pim&mdash;3 was highly expressed in human glioblastoma cell lines. We also found
      that knockdown of Pim&mdash;3 by specific shRNA slowed decreased proliferation,
      induced cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase, and increased apoptosis in
      glioblastoma cells. Pim&mdash;3 knockdown potently inhibited the growth of
      subcutaneously implanted glioblastoma cells in vivo. We further revealed that
      Pim&mdash;3 knockdown induced growth inhibition by reducing the levels of the
      anti&mdash;apoptotic protein Bcl&mdash;xl and cell cycle regulatory proteins,
      including cyclin D1 and Cdc25C, and increasing the levels of the
      pro&mdash;apoptotic protein Bax. 

PMID- 25817346
TI  - Effects of down-regulated steroidogenic factor-1 on ACTH and potassium chloride
      induced steroid synthesis in H295R cells.
AB  - The prevalence of adrenal diseases in the cortex is more common than that in the
      medulla in the form of hormone disorder or neoplasm. Steroidogenic factor&mdash;1
      (SF&mdash;1) is important in regulating aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) and
      cortisol synthase (CYP11B1). SF&mdash;1 is increased in
      aldosterone&mdash;producing adenoma (APA) and cortisol&mdash;producing adenoma
      (CPA). Overexpression of SF&mdash;1 has been extensively studied, but the
      available in&mdash;depth information regarding the effects of downregulated
      SF&mdash;1 on CYP11B2/CYP11B1 and their regulators is limited. In this paper, we
      attempted to investigate the effects of downregulated SF&mdash;1 on aldosterone
      to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and potassium chloride (KCl) stimulation
      and those on cortisol to ACTH stimulation through RNA interference in acute and
      chronic phases. Downregulated SF&mdash;1 decreased the sensitivity of aldosterone
      to ACTH/KCl and that of cortisol to ACTH stimulation. This study provides new
      insights into the influence of SF&mdash;1 on adrenocortical diseases by
      considering the effects of SF&mdash;1 on regulation. 

PMID- 25817347
TI  - Polymorphism of the LIG3 gene in keratoconus and Fuchs endothelial corneal
      dystrophy.
AB  - The product of the LIG3 gene encodes DNA ligase III, which is involved in the
      repair of oxidatively damaged DNA in the base excision repair pathway. We
      hypothesized that polymorphism in this gene may change susceptibility to
      oxidative stress and predispose individuals to the development of keratoconus
      (KC) and Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD). Therefore, we investigated
      the association between genotypes and haplotypes of the g.29661G>A polymorphism
      (rs1003918) and the g.29059C>T polymorphism (rs1052536) of the LIG3 gene and the
      occurrence of KC and FECD in patients with FECD (258 individuals) or KC (283) and
      ethnically matched controls (300). The A/A genotype and the A allele of the
      g.29661G>A polymorphism were associated with increased occurrence of KC, while
      the G allele of this polymorphism was positively correlated with a decreased
      occurrence of this disease. The T/C genotype of the g.29059C>T polymorphism was
      associated with decreased FECD occurrence. In addition, the AT haplotype was
      associated with increased occurrence of KC and FECD, while the GT haplotype was
      associated with decreased occurrence of these diseases. The g.29661G>A and
      g.29059C>T polymorphisms may play a role in the KC and FECD pathogenesis and can
      be considered as markers in these diseases. 

PMID- 25817348
TI  - The relationship between MMP-9 promoterpolymorphism and IVF outcome.
AB  - Angiogenesis, invasion and decidualization play an important role in implantation
      and embryo development. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are crucial for the
      degradation/remodeling of the extracellular matrix, and are involved in spiral
      artery formation and invasion of endometrium during implantation. A functional
      single&mdash;nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the MMP9 promoter, &mdash;1562C/T,
      is known to influence gene expression in allele&mdash;specific manner. The
      present study evaluated the association between maternal genotype of SNP
      &mdash;1562C/T of MMP9 and in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer
      (IVF&mdash;ET) outcome in infertile women. This case-control study was comprised
      of infertile patients (n= 123) and women having one healthy child as controls (n=
      147). Genotyping for SNP&mdash;1562C/T was performed by PCR/RFLP. Allele and
      genotype distribution did not differ significantly between patients and controls
      (P>0.05). The MMP9 genotype frequencies amongst the 123 cases were C/C=73.17%,
      C/T=24.40% and T/T=2.43%; the C and T allele frequencies were 85.36% and 14.63%,
      respectively. The MMP9 genotype frequencies amongst the 147 controls were
      C/C=73.46%, C/T=20.40% and T/T=6.12%; the C and T allele frequencies were 83.67%
      and 16.32%, respectively. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that
      SNP &mdash;1562C/T of MMP9 may not be associated with IVF&mdash;ET outcome in
      this population. 

PMID- 25817349
TI  - In vitro protective effect of atorvastatin against ionizing radiation induced
      genotoxicity in human lymphocytes.
AB  - Atorvastatin (AT) is widely used as a medication for treatment of
      hypercholesterolemia. Recent studies showed that AT enhanced cell toxicity
      induced by ionizing radiation in cancerous cells. In this study, the
      radioprotective effect of AT was investigated against genotoxicity induced by
      ionizing radiation in human blood lymphocytes. Peripheral blood samples were
      collected from human volunteers and incubated with AT at different concentrations
      (0.05, 0.1, 1, or 10 MUM) for two hours. The whole blood was exposed to X-ray at
      dose 1.5 Gy. Lymphocytes were cultured with mitogenic stimulation to determine
      the micronuclei in cytokinesis blocked binucleated lymphocyte. AT exhibited a
      significant decreasing in the frequency of micronuclei in human lymphocytes
      exposed to ionizing radiation, as compared to with similarly irradiated
      lymphocytes without AT treatment. The maximum protection and higher decreasing in
      frequency of micronuclei was observed at 10 MUM of AT (68% decrease), providing
      maximal protection against ionizing radiation. This data is promising for
      protection human normal cells from the genetic damage induced by ionizing
      irradiation.

PMID- 25817350
TI  - Effects of periodontal therapy on white blood cell count and levels of
      transforming growth factor beta in serum of subjects with severe periodontitis.
AB  - This study aimed to investigate the effects of nonsurgical periodontal therapy on
      white blood cell (WBC) count and levels of transforming growth factor beta
      (TGF&mdash;&#946;) in serum from subjects with severe periodontitis. Serum from
      28 subjects with periodontitis (mean age: 34.36+/-6.24; 32% men) and 27 healthy
      controls (mean age: 33.18+/-6.42; 33% men) were collected prior to therapy. Blood
      samples were obtained from 23 subjects who completed therapy (9&mdash;12 months).
      A well&mdash;controlled periodontal treatment protocol was established in three
      stages: mechanical periodontal therapy (scaling and root planning),
      reinstrumentation of dental sites, and supportive periodontal therapy.
      Periodontal and systemic parameters such as the total number of WBCs and
      TGF&mdash;&#946; levels, accessed by enzyme&mdash;linked immunosorbent assay
      (ELISA), were included. After therapy, all clinical periodontal parameters
      decreased (p<0.0001). There were no statistical differences in WBC count between
      experimental and control groups before or after therapy. However, after therapy,
      the mean value of lymphocytes in patients with localized aggressive periodontitis
      (LAgP) was statistically higher than that of patients with generalized chronic
      periodontitis (GCP) (p<0.0357). Additionally, TGF&mdash;&#946; levels in LAgP and
      GCP patients were higher compared to controls before therapy (p<0.05 and p<0.01,
      respectively). In LAgP patients, periodontal therapy was associated with
      increased number of lymphocytes. 

PMID- 25817351
TI  - Correlations between extent of X-ray infiltration and levels of serum C-reactive
      protein in adult non-severe community-acquired pneumonia.
AB  - Pneumonia cases can vary in both severity and chest X-ray findings. Elevated C
      reactive protein (CRP) levels may be an indicator of disease severity. We
      retrospectively evaluated factors correlated with the extent of chest X-ray
      infiltration both in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and a subgroup of cases
      with pneumococcal pneumonia. In a clinical study that evaluated the efficacy of
      sitafloxacin, 137 patients with CAP had been previously enrolled. In our study,
      75 patients with pneumococcal pneumonia were identified among these 137 CAP
      patients. The extent of chest X-ray infiltration was scored and correlations with
      age, sex, body temperature, white blood cell (WBC) count, and CRP levels were
      analyzed using multivariate analysis with logistic regression. Significant
      correlations were observed between the extent of chest X-ray infiltration and CRP
      levels in both CAP and pneumococcal pneumonia. Our data indicates that CRP is a
      valuable and informative resource that could reflect the severity of pneumonia in
      cases of both CAP and pneumococcal pneumonia. 

PMID- 25817353
TI  - Serum antimicrobial concentrations for surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis in
      radical nephrectomy and radical prostatectomy.
AB  - To evaluate the current methods of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis from the
      viewpoint of pharmacokinetics for patients undergo urologic surgery, this study
      was designed to measure the serum concentrations of two different prophylactic
      antimicrobial agents in different types of urologic surgery. This prospective
      study included 39 patients with prostate cancer, renal pelvic cancer, ureteral
      cancer or renal cancer treated by radical surgery from August 2005 to March 2006.
      Blood samples were taken intraoperatively at 30 min and 180 min after the
      beginning of the first administration. The half-life of the beta phase of
      cefazolin is 2.46 h and that of piperacillin is 0.7 h according to their
      manufacturers. The average serum concentration of cefazolin at 30 min was 144
      MUg/mL in the prostatectomy group and 175 MUg/mL in the nephrectomy group. At 180
      min, the average concentration of cefazolin was 37 MUg/mL in prostatectomy group
      and 59 MUg/mL in the nephrectomy group. The average concentration of piperacillin
      at 30 min was 134 MUg/mL in the prostatectomy group and 137 MUg/mL in the
      nephrectomy group. At 180 min, the average concentration of piperacillin was 10
      MUg/mL in the prostatectomy group and 22 MUg/mL in the nephrectomy group. Thus,
      the concentration at 180 min after the beginning of infusion was different
      according to the half-life of each antimicrobial agent. Therefore, up-to-date
      guidelines for surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis that deal with additional types
      of intraoperative prophylaxis should be consulted if the operation exceeds two
      half-lives of the prophylactic antimicrobial agents used in real-life clinical
      practice.

PMID- 25817352
TI  - Nationwide surveillance of bacterial respiratory pathogens conducted by the
      surveillance committee of Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese
      Association for Infectious Diseases, and the Japanese Society for Clinical
      Microbiology in 2010: General view of the pathogens' antibacterial
      susceptibility.
AB  - The nationwide surveillance on antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial
      respiratory pathogens from patients in Japan, was conducted by Japanese Society
      of Chemotherapy, Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases and Japanese
      Society for Clinical Microbiology in 2010. The isolates were collected from
      clinical specimens obtained from well-diagnosed adult patients with respiratory
      tract infections during the period from January and April 2010 by three
      societies. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted at the central
      reference laboratory according to the method recommended by Clinical and
      Laboratory Standard Institutes using maximum 45 antibacterial agents.
      Susceptibility testing was evaluable with 954 strains (206 Staphylococcus aureus,
      189 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 4 Streptococcus pyogenes, 182 Haemophilus
      influenzae, 74 Moraxella catarrhalis, 139 Klebsiella pneumoniae and 160
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Ratio of methicillin-resistant S. aureus was as high as
      50.5%, and those of penicillin-intermediate and -resistant S. pneumoniae were
      1.1% and 0.0%, respectively. Among H. influenzae, 17.6% of them were found to be
      beta-lactamase-non-producing ampicillin (ABPC)-intermediately resistant, 33.5% to
      be beta-lactamase-non-producing ABPC-resistant and 11.0% to be beta-lactamase
      producing ABPC-resistant strains. Extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing K.
      pneumoniae and multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa with metallo beta-lactamase
      were 2.9% and 0.6%, respectively. Continuous national surveillance of
      antimicrobial susceptibility of respiratory pathogens is crucial in order to
      monitor changing patterns of susceptibility and to be able to update treatment
      recommendations on a regular basis. 

PMID- 25817354
TI  - A Transcriptional Map of the Renal Tubule: Linking Structure to Function.

PMID- 25817356
TI  - Co-occurrence of anxiety and depressive-like behaviors following adolescent
      social isolation in male mice; possible role of nitrergic system.
AB  - Approximately more than 50% of patients with depression have the co-occurrence of
      anxiety, which complicates the treatment of disease. Recently, social isolation
      stress (SIS) paradigm has been suggested as an animal model to investigate the
      underlying mechanism involved in depression-anxiety co-occurrence. In this study,
      applying six weeks of SIS to adolescent mice, we tested whether nitrergic system
      plays a role in co-occurrence of depression and anxiety. In this study,
      comparisons between socially and isolated conditioned (SC and IC) animals showed
      that SIS induces behaviors relevant to depression and anxiety in IC mice and in
      addition, nitrergic system is involved in mediating the negative outcomes of SIS.
      Administration of subeffective doses of aminoguanidine (a specific inducible
      nitric oxide synthase inhibitor or iNOS, 50mg/kg) and L-NAME (non-specific
      inhibitor of NOS, 10mg/kg) significantly reversed the negative effects of SIS on
      behavioral profile as well as nitrite levels in the cortex of IC mice, Although
      administration of subeffective dose of 7-nitroindazole (a specific neuronal NOS
      inhibitor, 25mg/kg) decreased the nitrite levels in the hippocampus, but had no
      effect on depressant and anxiogenic effects of SIS. Results of this study
      confirmed that SIS is an appropriate animal model to investigate the potential
      mechanisms in depression-anxiety co-occurrence. We also showed that nitrergic
      system has contributed to co-occurrence of depression and anxiety in IC mice as
      an underlying mechanism. 

PMID- 25817355
TI  - Deep Sequencing in Microdissected Renal Tubules Identifies Nephron Segment
      Specific Transcriptomes.
AB  - The function of each renal tubule segment depends on the genes expressed therein.
      High-throughput methods used for global profiling of gene expression in unique
      cell types have shown low sensitivity and high false positivity, thereby limiting
      the usefulness of these methods in transcriptomic research. However, deep
      sequencing of RNA species (RNA-seq) achieves highly sensitive and quantitative
      transcriptomic profiling by sequencing RNAs in a massive, parallel manner. Here,
      we used RNA-seq coupled with classic renal tubule microdissection to
      comprehensively profile gene expression in each of 14 renal tubule segments from
      the proximal tubule through the inner medullary collecting duct of rat kidneys.
      Polyadenylated mRNAs were captured by oligo-dT primers and processed into adapter
      ligated cDNA libraries that were sequenced using an Illumina platform.
      Transcriptomes were identified to a median depth of 8261 genes in microdissected
      renal tubule samples (105 replicates in total) and glomeruli (5 replicates).
      Manual microdissection allowed a high degree of sample purity, which was
      evidenced by the observed distributions of well established cell-specific
      markers. The main product of this work is an extensive database of gene
      expression along the nephron provided as a publicly accessible webpage
      (https://helixweb.nih.gov/ESBL/Database/NephronRNAseq/index.html). The data also
      provide genome-wide maps of alternative exon usage and polyadenylation sites in
      the kidney. We illustrate the use of the data by profiling transcription factor
      expression along the renal tubule and mapping metabolic pathways. 

PMID- 25817357
TI  - The influence of the new enkephalin derivative, cyclo[N(epsilon),N(beta)-carbonyl
      d-Lys(2),Dap(5)] enkephalinamide (cUENK6), on reinstatement of ethanol-induced
      conditioned place preference in rats.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to determine whether a new cyclic analog of
      enkephalin, cyclo[N(epsilon),N(beta)-carbonyl-d-Lys(2),Dap(5)] enkephalinamide
      (cUENK6), a preferential MU-(MORs), and, to a lower extent, a delta-opioid
      receptor (DORs) agonist in vitro, could reinstate ethanol-induced conditioned
      place preference (CPP). In our work, male Wistar rats were first conditioned
      either with ethanol (10% w/v, 0.5g/kg, intraperitoneally (i.p.)) or 0.9% NaCl in
      a biased CPP procedure. The intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of
      DORs antagonist (naltrindole, 2.5 and 5nmol) or MORs antagonist (beta
      funaltrexamine, 5 and 10nmol), but not the kappa opioid receptor (KORs)
      antagonist (norbinaltorphimine, 5 and 10nmol) was then administered and inhibited
      the expression of ethanol-induced CPP. After the extinction session, i.c.v.
      administration of cUENK6 at the dose of 0.125, 0.25 and 0.5nmol occurred, and was
      found to reinstate the ethanol-induced CPP similar to that of the priming
      injection of ethanol. However, the reinstated effect of cUENK6 (0.25nmol) was
      strongly abolished by administration of naltrindole and, to lesser extent, by
      beta-funaltrexamine. Furthermore, the preferential MORs agonist-morphine (13nmol,
      i.c.v.) and the DORs agonist-[Leu(5)]-enkephalin (2.7 and 5.4nmol, i.c.v.) also
      reinstated the ethanol-induced CPP. cUENK6 given alone at the dose of 0.25nmol
      before the testing phase had no effect in animals that received 0.9% NaCl during
      the conditioning phase and also did not influence their locomotor activity. These
      data suggest that the effects of cUENK6 did not have an impact on the results
      obtained in the reinstatement procedure of CPP. Overall, the data support the
      idea that both MORs and DORs are normally involved in the expression and
      reinstatement of ethanol conditioned seeking behavior - as indexed by CPP in
      rats. 

PMID- 25817358
TI  - Variation in complement protein C1q is not a major contributor to cognitive
      impairment in Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Traditional dogma regarding the brain as an immune exempt organ has changed in
      recent years. New research has highlighted the role of the classical complement
      cascade in both synaptic elimination and function, driven largely by the role of
      the pathway initiating protein C1q. Given the links between C1q and cognitive
      function we assessed the genetic variability of the C1q encoding genes: C1QA,
      C1QB and C1QC between PD patients and matched controls. Despite a strong link
      between C1Q/cognitive decline and PD/cognitive decline we were unable to find a
      link between common C1Q variation and PD. We conclude that common C1Q-A/B/C
      genetic variation is unlikely to contribute to cognitive decline or the missing
      heritability in PD. 

PMID- 25817359
TI  - Effects of task repetition on event-related potentials in somatosensory Go/No-go
      paradigm.
AB  - We investigated the effects of task repetition on the N140 and P300 components of
      event-related potentials (ERPs) in somatosensory Go/No-go paradigms. A Go or No
      go stimulus was presented to the second or fifth digit of the left hand,
      respectively, at the same probability, and subjects had to respond by pushing a
      button with their right thumb as quickly as possible only after the presentation
      of a Go stimulus. The condition comprised seven sessions of recordings, and
      subjects were allowed to relax for five minutes after one session. The behavioral
      data for the reaction time (RT), standard deviation of RT, and error rates showed
      the absence of an effect by task repetition. In ERP waveforms, the amplitudes of
      N140 and P300 decreased with task repetition, and the latency of P300 was delayed
      by task repetition. There was no significant effect of task repetition on the
      peak latency of N140. Changes in amplitude and latency values in N140 and P300
      during Go/No-go paradigms reflected changes in the neural activation of response
      execution and inhibition processing with task repetition. 

PMID- 25817360
TI  - Decreased resting-state connections within the visuospatial attention-related
      network in advanced aging.
AB  - Advanced aging is accompanied by a decline in visuospatial attention. Previous
      neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies have demonstrated dysfunction in
      specific brain areas related to visuospatial attention. However, it is still
      unclear how the functional connectivity between brain regions causes the decline
      of visuospatial attention. Here, we combined task and rest functional magnetic
      resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the age-dependent alterations of resting
      state functional connectivity within the task-related network. Twenty-three young
      subjects and nineteen elderly subjects participated in this study, and a modified
      Posner paradigm was used to define the region of interest (ROI). Our results
      showed that a marked reduction in the number of connections occurred with age,
      but this effect was not uniform throughout the brain: while there was a
      significant loss of communication in the anterior portion of the brain and
      between the anterior and posterior cerebral cortices, communication in the
      posterior portion of the brain was preserved. Moreover, the older adults
      exhibited weakened resting-state functional connectivity between the
      supplementary motor area and left anterior insular cortex. These findings suggest
      that, the disrupted functional connectivity of the brain network for visuospatial
      attention that occurs during normal aging may underlie the decline in cognitive
      performance. 

PMID- 25817361
TI  - BDNF genotype influence the efficacy of rTMS in stroke patients.
AB  - Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) genotype can influence neural response
      to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in normal individuals. In
      this study we established personalized stimulus intensity of facilitatory rTMS
      according to BDNF genotype in stroke patients. Twenty-two chronic stroke patients
      were enrolled. All patients underwent three different sessions of rTMS over the
      ipsilesional M1 in randomized order with a washout period exceeding 24h: first
      condition, high-frequency rTMS with sub-threshold intensity; second condition,
      high-frequency rTMS with supra-threshold intensity; third condition, sham rTMS.
      Cortical excitability in the affected hemisphere was assessed with motor evoked
      potentials (MEPs) before and after stimulation. Data were analyzed according to
      BDNF genotype. Six [27.3%] and 16 [72.7%] participants were classified in the
      Val/Val group and Met allele group, respectively. In each group, significant
      increases were observed in the amplitude of MEPs after the stimulation in the
      first and second conditions (p<0.05), but not in the third condition. However, a
      significantly higher increase of amplitude of MEPs was observed between the first
      and second conditions in only the Val/Val group (p<0.05). BDNF genotype and
      stimulus intensity should be considered when high-frequency rTMS is used for the
      modulation of cortical excitability in patients with chronic stroke. 

PMID- 25817362
TI  - Molecular composition and expression pattern of the extracellular matrix in a
      mossy fiber-generating precerebellar nucleus of rat, the prepositus hypoglossi.
AB  - The prepositus hypoglossi nucleus (PHN) is a mossy fiber-generating precerebellar
      nucleus of the brainstem, regarded as one of the neural integrators of the
      vestibulo-ocular reflex. The aim of the present work is to reveal the
      distribution of various molecular components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in
      the prepositus hypoglossi nucleus by using histochemical and immunohistochemical
      methods. Our most characteristic finding was the accumulation of the ECM as
      perineuronal net (PNN) and axonal coat and we detected conspicuous differences
      between the magnocellular (PHNm) and parvocellular (PHNp) divisions of the PHN.
      PNNs were well developed in the PHNm, whereas the pericellular positivity was
      almost absent in the PHNp, here a diffuse ECM was observed. In the PHNm the
      perineuronal net explored the most intense staining with the aggrecan, and
      tenascin-R antibodies followed by the hyaluronan, then least with reactions for
      chondroitin sulfate-based proteoglycan components and HAPLN1 link protein
      reactions, but PNNs were not observed with the versican, neurocan, and brevican
      staining. We hypothesized that the difference in the ECM organization of the two
      subnuclei is associated with their different connections, cytoarchitecture,
      physiological properties and with their different functions in the vestibular
      system. 

PMID- 25817363
TI  - Optoactivation of parvalbumin neurons in the spinal dorsal horn evokes GABA
      release that is regulated by presynaptic GABAB receptors.
AB  - Among heterogeneous neural cells in the spinal dorsal horn, parvalbumin (PV)
      positive neurons are one subtype of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)-containing
      interneurons. Using an optogenetic approach, we expressed blue light-sensitive
      cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) via a viral vector on PV neurons in the
      spinal dorsal horn. Combined with in vitro whole-cell recordings, we activated
      ChR2 expressed on PV neurons by blue light and recorded GABAA receptor-mediated
      light-evoked inhibitory postsynaptic currents (L-IPSCs). The L-IPSCs were action
      potential-dependent and abolished by the GABAA receptor antagonist picrotoxin,
      indicating a synchronic GABA release from presynaptic terminals. Activation of
      GABAB receptors (the metabotropic receptors of GABA) on presynaptic terminals by
      a putative agonist, baclofen, depressed the amplitude of L-IPSCs. This depression
      was largely occluded by pretreatment with the highly selective Cav2.1 (P/Q-type)
      Ca(2+) channel blocker omega-agatoxin IVA. N-type Ca(2+) channel blocker omega
      conotoxin GVIA showed less effects on either L-IPSCs or baclofen depression. We
      conclude that optoactivation of PV-ChR2 neurons in the spinal dorsal horn induces
      GABA release from presynaptic terminals, which is modulated by presynaptic GABAB
      receptors that are coupled to P/Q-type Ca(2+) channels. Importantly, our studies
      provide a simple and reliable optogenetic approach to study dorsal horn neural
      circuits. 

PMID- 25817364
TI  - Is the 1254T>C polymorphism in the DMT1 gene associated with Parkinson's disease?
AB  - Parkinson's disease (PD) is a late-onset neurodegenerative disorder with both
      familial and sporadic presentation. The main pathological characteristic of PD is
      the death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) pars compacta. PD
      is the second most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide, after Alzheimer's
      disease. Recent studies have suggested increased levels of iron and iron-binding
      proteins in the brains of patients with PD. Divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1)
      is one protein responsible for iron transport. Postmortem studies have shown an
      important increase in DMT1 levels in the SN of patients with PD. Our aim is to
      determine whether there is an association between DMT1 polymorphisms and PD. We
      analyzed two single nucleotide polymorphisms (1254T>C and IVS4+44C>A) in the DMT1
      gene in patients with 97 Parkinson's disease and in 100 healthy controls using
      polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). No
      association was found between the IVS4+44C>A polymorphism and PD, but the TT
      genotype and T allele of the 1254T>C polymorphism in the DMT1 gene were
      associated with PD (P=0.002 and P=0.012, respectively). In contrast to a previous
      study, our results suggest that the TT genotype and T allele of the 1254T>C
      polymorphism may be a risk factor for PD. 

PMID- 25817365
TI  - NMR metabonomics of cerebrospinal fluid distinguishes between Parkinson's disease
      and controls.
AB  - This study assesses if nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabonomics can
      discriminate between Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and control subjects, and
      consequently identify metabolic markers for the disease. One-dimensional (1)H NMR
      spectroscopy was used for quantitative analysis of metabolites in the
      cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 10 PD patients and 10 control individuals,
      together with uni- and multivariate statistical analysis to discriminate between
      the groups and to identify significantly altered metabolite concentrations. In
      total 60 metabolites were identified and of those 38 were quantified in all CSF
      samples. An overall lowering of metabolite content was observed in PD patients
      compared to control subjects (fold change of 0.85+/-0.30). Multivariate
      statistics reveal significant changes (|w*|>0.2) among nine metabolites (alanine,
      creatinine, dimethylamine, glucose, lactate, mannose, phenylalanine, 3
      hydroxyisobutyric acid and 3-hydroxyisovaleric acid). Three of these (alanine,
      creatinine and mannose) are identified as significantly changed also by
      univariate statistics (p<0.00132, Bonferroni corrected). Panels with all or a
      selected set of these metabolites were successfully used for discriminating
      between the two groups. In conclusion, NMR metabonomics can readily determine
      metabolite concentrations in CSF, identify putative biomarkers that distinguish
      between the PD patients and control subjects, and thus potentially become a tool
      for diagnostic purposes. 

PMID- 25817366
TI  - Excitability changes in the left primary motor cortex innervating the hand
      muscles induced during speech about hand or leg movements.
AB  - In the present study, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to
      investigate the changes in the excitability of the left primary motor cortex (M1)
      innervating the hand muscles and in short-interval intracortical inhibition
      (SICI) during speech describing hand or leg movements. In experiment 1, we
      investigated the effects of the contents of speech on the amplitude of the motor
      evoked potentials (MEPs) induced during reading aloud and silent reading. In
      experiment 2, we repeated experiment 1 with an additional condition, the non
      vocal oral movement (No-Voc OM) condition, and investigated the change in SICI
      induced in each condition using the paired TMS paradigm. The MEP observed in the
      reading aloud and No-Voc OM conditions exhibited significantly greater amplitudes
      than those seen in the silent reading conditions, irrespective of the content of
      the sentences spoken by the subjects or the timing of the TMS. There were no
      significant differences in SICI between the experimental conditions. Our findings
      suggest that the increased excitability of the left M1 hand area detected during
      speech was mainly caused by speech-related oral movements and the activation of
      language processing-related brain functions. The increased left M1 excitability
      was probably also mediated by neural mechanisms other than reduced SICI; i.e.,
      disinhibition. 

PMID- 25817367
TI  - Ameliorative effect of gastrodin on 3,3'-iminodipropionitrile-induced memory
      impairment in rats.
AB  - 3,3'-Iminodipropionitrile (IDPN), one of the nitrile derivatives inducing
      neurotoxicity, causes the dyskinetic syndrome and cognitive impairment. Gastrodin
      is widely used to treat neurological disorders and showed to improve cognitive
      functions. The present study aimed to determine whether treatment with gastrodin
      can attenuate IDPN-induced impairment of memory consolidation in the passive
      avoidance (PA) task, and to explore the possible neural mechanisms. Our results
      showed that intragastric administration of gastrodin (200mg/kg) reversed the IDPN
      induced impairment of memory consolidation as indicated by the prolonged
      retention latency in the PA task. Furthermore, gastrodin reverted IDPN-induced
      reduction of serotonin (5-HT) and elevation of serotonin turnover ratio.
      Gastrodin treatment prevented the increase of serotonin transporter (SERT) and
      the decrease of serotonin 1A (5-HT1A) receptor expression in the hippocampus of
      IDPN-treated rats. These results suggest that long-term gastrodin treatment could
      represent a novel pharmacological strategy for IDPN-induced memory impairment, as
      well that its protective effect is mediated through normalization of the
      serotoninergic system. 

PMID- 25817368
TI  - Reinvestigation of cochlear pathology in circling mice.
AB  - The main causes of early hearing deficit in circling mice have been reported to
      be early degeneration of the organ of Corti and deterioration of spiral ganglion
      neurons. As an exact cochlear pathology is essential to explain our previous
      results regarding the auditory brainstem circuits of developing circling mice, we
      reinvestigated the cochlear pathology in developing circling mice (14, 22, and 38
      days old). It has been reported that the organ of Corti in circling mice
      completely degenerates as early as postnatal day (P) 21 and that circling mice
      are deaf by P18. Although we confirmed that circling mice were deaf at P15 and
      that hair bundles of outer hair cells were defective at P18, complete
      degeneration of the organ of Corti was not observed by P38 in circling mice. At
      P22, the type I cell-like spiral ganglion cell density in circling mice was
      reduced to 78% of that of control mice (ICR mice), but it was not significantly
      different from that of other control mice (heterozygous (+/cir) mice, littermates
      of circling mice) that could hear at P22. Our data suggest that other factors,
      such as absence of neurotransmitter release from inner hair cells, should be
      considered to explain the early hearing deficit observed at P15 in circling mice.

PMID- 25817369
TI  - The risk of osteoporosis in patients with liver cirrhosis: a meta-analysis of
      literature studies.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Data about the association between cirrhosis and osteoporosis are
      contrasting. Thus, we have performed a meta-analysis of literature studies on
      this topic. DESIGN: MEDLINE, Cochrane library, EMBASE, Scopus and Web of Science
      databases have been searched to retrieve all articles of interest. Data on
      prevalence of osteoporosis, bone mineral density (BMD) and bone turnover
      laboratory parameters were compared among cirrhotic patients and control subjects
      without cirrhosis. PATIENTS: Studies on patients with liver cirrhosis screened
      for the presence of osteoporosis were included. RESULTS: Six case-control studies
      (372 cirrhotic patients and 1579 controls) were included. The prevalence of
      osteoporosis was higher in cirrhotic patients than in controls (34.7% vs 12.8%,
      OR: 2.52, 95%CI: 1.11, 5.69; P = 0.03, I(2) = 81%; P = 0.005). Accordingly, a
      reduced lumbar spine BMD (MD: -0.13, 95%CI: -0.24, -0.02; P = 0.02, I(2) = 93%; P
      < 0.00001) and z-score (MD: -1.06, 95%CI: -1.79, -0.34; P = 0.004, I(2) = 95%; P
      < 0.00001) were found in cirrhotic patients as compared with controls. In
      contrast, no significant differences were reported in femoral neck BMD and z
      score. Interestingly, bone turnover laboratory parameters widely confirmed these
      results showing higher levels of ALP and D-Pyr, accompanied by reduced levels of
      IGF-1, PTH and 25-OH-D in cirrhotic patients as compared with controls.
      CONCLUSIONS: Despite the high heterogeneity among studies, data showed an
      increased prevalence of osteoporosis in patients with cirrhosis. This information
      suggests the need of an accurate screening of bone mineral density in patients
      with liver cirrhosis to plan an adequate osteoporosis management.

PMID- 25817370
TI  - Categorization training increases the perceptual separability of novel
      dimensions.
AB  - Perceptual separability is a foundational concept in cognitive psychology. A
      variety of research questions in perception - particularly those dealing with
      notions such as "independence," "invariance," "holism," and "configurality" - can
      be characterized as special cases of the problem of perceptual separability.
      Furthermore, many cognitive mechanisms are applied differently to perceptually
      separable dimensions than to non-separable dimensions. Despite the importance of
      dimensional separability, surprisingly little is known about its origins.
      Previous research suggests that categorization training can lead to learning of
      novel dimensions, but it is not known whether the separability of such dimensions
      also increases with training. Here, we report evidence that training in a
      categorization task increases perceptual separability of the category-relevant
      dimension according to a variety of tests from general recognition theory (GRT).
      In Experiment 1, participants who received pre-training in a categorization task
      showed reduced Garner interference effects and reduced violations of marginal
      invariance, compared to participants who did not receive such pre-training. Both
      of these tests are theoretically related to violations of perceptual
      separability. In Experiment 2, participants who received pre-training in a
      categorization task showed reduced violations of perceptual separability
      according to a model-based analysis of data using GRT. These results are at odds
      with the common assumption that separability and independence are fixed,
      hardwired characteristics of features and dimensions. 

PMID- 25817371
TI  - The role of YY1 in oncogenesis and its potential as a drug target in cancer
      therapies.
AB  - Yin Yang 1 (YY1) is a multifunctional protein regulating both gene transcription
      and protein modifications. Recent studies reveal a proliferative role of YY1 in
      oncogenesis. Consistently, YY1 overexpression has been observed in various human
      malignancies and its levels correlate with poor prognoses of many types of
      cancers. In this review, we focus on the signaling pathways and regulatory
      proteins that YY1 modulates to promote tumor cell growth, proliferation,
      migration and metastasis. We also discuss the signals and molecules that regulate
      YY1 expression and function in cancer-related context. Based on the expression
      feature and regulatory activities in tumor cells, YY1 possesses a great potential
      as a biomarker for many cancers and can serve as a therapeutic target clinically
      to impede cancer development and progression or sensitize cancer cells to
      anticancer drugs. 

PMID- 25817372
TI  - Identification of VEGFR2-binding peptides using high throughput bacterial display
      methods and functional assessment.
AB  - The signal transduction pathway initiated by vascular endothelial growth factor
      vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGF-VEGFR2) plays an important
      role in the angiogenesis of tumors. The effective antagonists of VEGFR2 would
      behave as potent drugs for the treatment of malignant cancers. In our study,
      specific binding peptides with high affinity to VEGFR2 were obtained through
      bacterial display technology. Conserved motif (FF/YEXWGVK) among those peptide
      sequences was discovered. One of the selected peptides, VRBP1
      (YDGNSFYEMWGVKPASES) was identified by screening the biased bacterial peptide
      library and its physiochemical feature was further characterized. The results of
      surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay indicated that the dissociation constant
      (KD) value of VRBP1 was 228.3 nM and this peptide competed with VEGF binding to
      VEGFR2. Particles conjugated with VRBP1 could recognize the human umbilical vein
      endothelial cells (HUVEC) which express VEGFR2 on the surface. Further
      therapeutic effect of VRBP1 was examined by in vivo experiments. VRBP1 could
      result in a significant decrease in tumor size of H460 xenografts. The results
      from the immunohistochemical assay showed that CD31 positive signals in VRBP1
      treated group were fewer than those in the control ones. These data highlighted
      the potential of VEGFR2-binding peptides as effective molecules for cancer
      diagnosis and therapy. 

PMID- 25817373
TI  - Safety and immunogenicity of a novel recombinant adenovirus type-5 vector-based
      Ebola vaccine in healthy adults in China: preliminary report of a randomised,
      double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1 trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Up to now, all tested Ebola virus vaccines have been based on the
      virus strain from the Zaire outbreak in 1976. We aimed to assess the safety and
      immunogenicity of a novel recombinant adenovirus type-5 vector-based Ebola
      vaccine expressing the glycoprotein of the 2014 epidemic strain. METHODS: We did
      this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1 clinical trial at one
      site in Taizhou County, Jiangsu Province, China. Healthy adults (aged 18-60
      years) were sequentially enrolled and randomly assigned (2:1), by computer
      generated block randomisation (block size of six), to receive placebo, low-dose
      adenovirus type-5 vector-based Ebola vaccine, or high-dose vaccine. Randomisation
      was pre-stratified by dose group. All participants, investigators, and laboratory
      staff were masked to treatment allocation. The primary safety endpoint was
      occurrence of solicited adverse reactions within 7 days of vaccination. The
      primary immunogenicity endpoints were glycoprotein-specific antibody titres and T
      cell responses at day 28 after the vaccination. Analysis was by intention to
      treat. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02326194.
      FINDINGS: Between Dec 28, 2014, and Jan 9, 2015, 120 participants were enrolled
      and randomly assigned to receive placebo (n=40), low-dose vaccine (n=40), or high
      dose vaccine. Participants were followed up for 28 days. Overall, 82 (68%)
      participants reported at least one solicited adverse reaction within 7 days of
      vaccination (n=19 in the placebo group vs n=27 in the low-dose group vs n=36 in
      the high-dose group; p=0.0002). The most common reaction was mild pain at the
      injection site, which was reported in eight (20%) participants in the placebo
      group, 14 (35%) participants in the low-dose group, and 29 (73%) participants in
      the high-dose vaccine group (p<0.0001). We recorded no statistical differences in
      other adverse reactions and laboratory tests across groups. Glycoprotein-specific
      antibody titres were significantly increased in participants in the low-dose and
      high-dose vaccine groups at both day 14 (geometric mean titre 421.4 [95% CI 249.7
      711.3] and 820.5 [598.9-1124.0], respectively; p<0.0001) and day 28 (682.7 [424.3
      1098.5] and 1305.7 [970.1-1757.2], respectively; p<0.0001). T-cell responses
      peaked at day 14 at a median of 465.0 spot-forming cells (IQR 180.0-1202.5) in
      participants in the low-dose group and 765.0 cells (400.0-1460.0) in those in the
      high-dose group. 21 (18%) participants had mild fever (n=9 in the placebo group,
      n=6 in the low-dose group, and n=6 in the high-dose group). No serious adverse
      events were recorded. INTERPRETATION: Our findings show that the high-dose
      vaccine is safe and robustly immunogenic. One shot of the high-dose vaccine could
      mount glycoprotein-specific humoral and T-cell response against Ebola virus in 14
      days. FUNDING: China National Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of
      Biotechnology, and Tianjin CanSino Biotechnology.

PMID- 25817375
TI  - An updated Ebola vaccine: immunogenic, but will it protect?

PMID- 25817376
TI  - Gestational hypertension before term: observe or deliver?

PMID- 25817374
TI  - Immediate delivery versus expectant monitoring for hypertensive disorders of
      pregnancy between 34 and 37 weeks of gestation (HYPITAT-II): an open-label,
      randomised controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is little evidence to guide the management of women with
      hypertensive disorders in late preterm pregnancy. We investigated the effect of
      immediate delivery versus expectant monitoring on maternal and neonatal outcomes
      in such women. METHODS: We did an open-label, randomised controlled trial, in
      seven academic hospitals and 44 non-academic hospitals in the Netherlands. Women
      with non-severe hypertensive disorders of pregnancy between 34 and 37 weeks of
      gestation were randomly allocated to either induction of labour or caesarean
      section within 24 h (immediate delivery) or a strategy aimed at prolonging
      pregnancy until 37 weeks of gestation (expectant monitoring). The primary
      outcomes were a composite of adverse maternal outcomes (thromboembolic disease,
      pulmonary oedema, eclampsia, HELLP syndrome, placental abruption, or maternal
      death), and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, both analysed by intention-to
      treat. This study is registered with the Netherlands Trial Register (NTR1792).
      FINDINGS: Between March 1, 2009, and Feb 21, 2013, 897 women were invited to
      participate, of whom 703 were enrolled and randomly assigned to immediate
      delivery (n=352) or expectant monitoring (n=351). The composite adverse maternal
      outcome occurred in four (1.1%) of 352 women allocated to immediate delivery
      versus 11 (3.1%) of 351 women allocated to expectant monitoring (relative risk
      [RR] 0.36, 95% CI 0.12-1.11; p=0.069). Respiratory distress syndrome was
      diagnosed in 20 (5.7%) of 352 neonates in the immediate delivery group versus six
      (1.7%) of 351 neonates in the expectant monitoring group (RR 3.3, 95% CI 1.4-8.2;
      p=0.005). No maternal or perinatal deaths occurred. INTERPRETATION: For women
      with non-severe hypertensive disorders at 34-37 weeks of gestation, immediate
      delivery might reduce the already small risk of adverse maternal outcomes.
      However, it significantly increases the risk of neonatal respiratory distress
      syndrome, therefore, routine immediate delivery does not seem justified and a
      strategy of expectant monitoring until the clinical situation deteriorates can be
      considered. FUNDING: ZonMw.

PMID- 25817377
TI  - Highlights of carotenoid research from the 17th International Carotenoid
      Symposium.

PMID- 25817379
TI  - How the ACR Works-The Chapters' Vital Role.

PMID- 25817378
TI  - Tolerance of human embryonic stem cell derived islet progenitor cells to
      vitrification-relevant solutions.
AB  - We have previously shown that human embryonic stem cell derived islet progenitors
      (hESC-IPs), encapsulated inside an immunoprotective device, mature in vivo and
      ameliorate diabetes in mice. The ability to cryopreserve hESC-IPs preloaded in
      these devices would enhance consistency and portability, but traditional 'slow
      freezing' methods did not work well for cells encapsulated in the device.
      Vitrification is an attractive alternative cryopreservation approach. To assess
      the tolerance of hESC-IPs to vitrification relevant conditions, we here are
      reporting cell survival following excursions in tonicity, exposure to fifteen 40%
      v/v combinations of 4 cryoprotectants, and varied methods for addition and
      elution. We find that 78% survival is achieved using a protocol in which cells
      are abruptly (in one step) exposed to a solution containing 10% v/v each dimethyl
      sulfoxide, propylene glycol, ethylene glycol, and glycerol on ice, and eluted
      step-wise with DPBS+0.5M sucrose at 37 degrees C. Importantly, the hESC-IPs also
      maintain expression of the critical islet progenitor markers PDX-1, NKX6.1, NGN3
      and NEURO-D1. Thus, hESC-IPs exhibit robust tolerance to exposure to
      vitrification solutions in relevant conditions.

PMID- 25817380
TI  - The 2014 Moreton Lecture: A Rebuttal.

PMID- 25817381
TI  - Radiology Is a Team Sport.

PMID- 25817382
TI  - Best practices for evaluating and tracking protective garments.

PMID- 25817383
TI  - X-ray computed tomography system for laboratory small-object imaging: Enhanced
      tomography solutions.
AB  - A portable X-ray tomography system has been installed and actually being tested
      at our medical imaging laboratory. This tomography system employs a combination
      of scintillator screen and CCD camera as image detector. The limit of spatial
      resolution of 290 MUm of this imaging system is determined by the establishment
      of its modulation transfer function (MTF). In this work, we present attempts to
      address some issues such as limited resolution and low contrast through the
      development of affordable post-acquisition solutions based on the application of
      super-resolution method (projection onto convex sets, POCS) to create new
      projections set enabling the reconstruction of an improved 3D image in terms of
      contrast, resolution and noise. In addition to small-object examination, this
      tomography system is used for hands-on training activities involving students and
      scientists.

PMID- 25817384
TI  - A novel data-driven algorithm to reveal and track the ribosome heterogeneity in
      single molecule studies.
AB  - The unique advantage of the single molecule approach is to reveal the
      inhomogeneous subpopulations in an ensemble. For example, smFRET (single molecule
      fluorescence resonance energy transfer) can identify multiple subpopulations
      based on the FRET efficiency histograms. However, identifying multiple FRET
      states with overlapping average values remains challenging. Here, we report a new
      concept and method to analyze the single molecule FRET data of a ribosome system.
      The main results are as follows: 1. based on a hierarchic concept, multiple
      ribosome subpopulations are identified. 2. The subpopulations are self-identified
      via the cross-correlation analysis of the FRET histogram profiles. The dynamic
      heterogeneity is tracked after 2 min intervals on the same ribosomes
      individually. 3. The major ribosome subpopulations exchange with each other with
      a certain pattern, indicating some correlations among the motions of the tRNAs
      and the ribosomal components. Experiments under the conditions of 20% glycerol or
      1mM viomycin supported this conclusion.

PMID- 25817385
TI  - A prospective study comparing ultrapulse CO2 laser and trichloroacetic acid in
      treatment of Xanthelasma palpebrarum.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Xanthelasma Palpebrarum is a type of xanthoma which presents as
      cosmetic concern. OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of 30% TCA and UpCO2 laser
      in XP. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Fifty patients with XP were categorized clinically
      into three groups. Patients in each group were alternately allocated to 30% TCA
      (Group A) and laser (Group B). TCA was applied weekly (maximum: 12 sessions), and
      laser sessions were given monthly (maximum: three sessions). The primary outcome
      measures were total patients cured, the number of sessions, and mean VAS at the
      end of treatment. The secondary outcome measures were total duration of
      treatment, side effects, and recurrence in follow-up (6 months) (P < 0.05
      significant). RESULTS: In Group A, 14 of 25 and in Group B, 25 of 25 patients
      achieved complete cure (P < 0.05). The mean VAS was lower for Group A (patient:
      4.56 vs. 5.36; physician: 4.64 vs. 5.44) [P < 0.05] with significant difference
      only for group III patients. Mean number of sessions was less with laser group
      (1.56 vs. 9.74), except in group I. There was no significant difference in
      pigmentary changes and recurrence. CONCLUSION: For clinically mild lesions, both
      TCA and laser are good options, but laser is a better option for severe lesions.
      Recurrence is a concern with both modalities.

PMID- 25817386
TI  - Solution structure of the Atg1 complex: implications for the architecture of the
      phagophore assembly site.
AB  - The biogenesis of autophagosomes commences at the phagophore assembly site (PAS),
      a protein-vesicle ultrastructure that is organized by the Atg1 complex. The Atg1
      complex consists of the Atg1 protein kinase, the intrinsically disordered region
      rich Atg13, and the dimeric double crescent-shaped Atg17-Atg31-Atg29 subcomplex.
      We show that the PAS contains a relatively uniform ~28 copies of Atg17, and upon
      autophagy induction, similar numbers of Atg1 and Atg13 molecules. We then apply
      ensemble refinement of small-angle X-ray scattering to determine the solution
      structures of the Atg1-Atg13 and Atg17-Atg31-Atg29 subcomplexes and the Atg1
      complex, using a trimmed minipentamer tractable to biophysical studies. We
      observe tetramers of Atg1 pentamers that assemble via Atg17-Atg31-Atg29. This
      leads to a model for the higher organization of the Atg1 complex in PAS
      scaffolding. 

PMID- 25817387
TI  - Structure of Prolyl-tRNA Synthetase-Halofuginone Complex Provides Basis for
      Development of Drugs against Malaria and Toxoplasmosis.
AB  - The Chinese herb Dichroa febrifuga has traditionally treated malaria-associated
      fever. Its active component febrifugine (FF) and derivatives such as halofuginone
      (HF) are potent anti-malarials. Here, we show that FF-based derivatives arrest
      parasite growth by direct interaction with and inhibition of the protein
      translation enzyme prolyl-tRNA synthetase (PRS). Dual administration of
      inhibitors that target different tRNA synthetases suggests high utility of these
      drug targets. We reveal the ternary complex structure of PRS-HF and adenosine 5'
      (beta,gamma-imido)triphosphate where the latter facilitates HF integration into
      the PRS active site. Structural analyses also highlight spaces within the PRS
      architecture for HF derivatization of its quinazolinone, but not piperidine,
      moiety. We also show a remarkable ability of HF to kill the related human
      parasite Toxoplasma gondii, suggesting wider HF efficacy against parasitic PRSs.
      Hence, our cell-, enzyme-, and structure-based data on FF-based inhibitors
      strengthen the case for their inclusion in anti-malarial and anti-toxoplasmosis
      drug development efforts. 

PMID- 25817389
TI  - Prostate carcinoma in liver transplant recipients: Think about it!
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To analyze retrospectively our series of prostate cancer (PC) in
      liver transplant recipients (LTRs) given an increase in frequency in an aging
      recipient population when no studies were reported in literature. METHODS: We
      conducted a retrospective analysis of LTRs in a single institution. After liver
      transplantation, all patients were followed up in our institution with an annual
      digital rectal examination by a urologist and prostate-specific antigen
      measurement after the age of 50 years. RESULTS: Between 1995 and 2013, among 361
      male LTRs, 12 (3.3%) had PC. The mean age at diagnosis was 62.8 years, and the
      time lapse between liver transplantation and diagnosis was 55.7 months. The
      median initial prostate-specific antigen level was 7.4ng/ml. In total, 9 patients
      underwent radical prostatectomy. Histological findings showed 5 pT2 and 4 pT3
      cancers. A patient showed invasion in the lymph nodes and was treated with
      hormonotherapy. Another patient had a biochemical recurrence at 10 months and
      underwent salvage radiotherapy. After 32.9 months of follow-up, no other patients
      showed any recurrence. Moreover, 1 patient was treated by radiohormonotherapy for
      high-risk PC with no recurrence at 65 months, and 1 patient was treated with high
      intensity focal ultrasound. There was 1 patient with metastatic disease who
      received hormonotherapy and died 5 months after diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Our
      incidence of intermediate- and high-risk PCs in LTRs was slightly higher than in
      the general population. In the absence of any recommendations, individual
      screening should be proposed to LTRs. The treatment of choice remains surgery or
      radiotherapy to ensure a good carcinologic control.

PMID- 25817388
TI  - Modulation of L-DOPA's antiparkinsonian and dyskinetic effects by alpha2
      noradrenergic receptors within the locus coeruleus.
AB  - Long-term l-DOPA use for Parkinson's disease (PD) is frequently complicated by
      the emergence of a debilitating motor side effect known as l-DOPA-induced
      dyskinesia (LID). Accumulating evidence has implicated the norepinephrine (NE)
      system in the pathogenesis of LID. Here we used the unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine
      rat model of PD to determine the role of the alpha2-adrenoceptors (alpha2R) in l
      DOPA's therapeutic and detrimental motor-inducing effects. First, we
      characterized the effects of systemic alpha2R stimulation with clonidine, or
      blockade with atipamezole, on LID using the rodent abnormal involuntary movements
      scale, and l-DOPA's therapeutic effects using the forepaw adjusting steps test
      and locomotor activity chambers. The anatomical locus of action of alpha2R in LID
      was investigated by directly infusing clonidine or atipamezole into the locus
      coeruleus prior to systemic l-DOPA administration. Results showed systemic
      clonidine treatment reduced LID and locomotor activity but did not interfere with
      l-DOPA's antiparkinsonian benefits. Conversely, systemic atipamezole pretreatment
      prolonged LID and locomotor activity but did not modulate l-DOPA's
      antiparkinsonian benefits. Intra-LC infusions of clonidine and atipamezole
      mirrored systemic effects where clonidine reduced, and atipamezole increased,
      LID. Collectively, these results demonstrate that alpha2R play an important
      modulatory role in l-DOPA-mediated behaviors and should be further investigated
      as a potential therapeutic target. 

PMID- 25817390
TI  - Rebamipide suppresses TNF-alpha mediated inflammation in vitro and attenuates the
      severity of dermatitis in mice.
AB  - Rebamipide is a routine drug for the treatment of gastritis in a clinical
      setting. Recently, it has been shown to protect against various inflammatory
      diseases, and has provided a potential therapy for these diseases. However,
      whether rebamipide has a role in dermatitis remains to be elucidated. Here, we
      found that rebamipide alleviated the inflammatory reaction induced by tumor
      necrosis factor-alpha in RAW264.7, a stable macrophage cell line. Furthermore,
      rebamipide treatment repressed activation of nuclear factor-kappaB signaling, a
      well-established inflammatory signaling pathway. Moreover, an oxazolone-induced
      dermatitis mouse model was established to investigate the role of rebamipide in
      vivo. PBS control group exhibited typical skin inflammation, whereas treatment
      with rebamipide remarkably attenuated a dermatitis phenotype in this mouse model.
      The protective role of rebamipide in dermatitis in vivo was probably due to its
      inhibition of nuclear factor-kappaB signaling. Collectively, rebamipide may
      represent a promising molecular target for the prevention and treatment of
      inflammatory skin diseases.

PMID- 25817391
TI  - Impact of Incremental Perfusion Loss on Oxygen Transport in a Capillary Network
      Mathematical Model.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To quantify how incremental capillary PL, such as that seen in
      experimental models of sepsis, affects tissue oxygenation using a computation
      model of oxygen transport. METHODS: A computational model was applied to
      capillary networks with dimensions 84 * 168 * 342 (NI) and 70 * 157 * 268 (NII)
      MUm, reconstructed in vivo from rat skeletal muscle. FCD loss was applied
      incrementally up to ~40% and combined with high tissue oxygen consumption to
      simulate severe sepsis. RESULTS: A loss of ~40% FCD loss decreased median tissue
      PO2 to 22.9 and 20.1 mmHg in NI and NII compared to 28.1 and 27.5 mmHg under
      resting conditions. Increasing RBC SR to baseline levels returned tissue PO2 to
      within 5% of baseline. HC combined with a 40% FCD loss, resulted in tissue anoxia
      in both network volumes and median tissue PO2 of 11.5 and 8.9 mmHg in NI and NII
      respectively; median tissue PO2 was recovered to baseline levels by increasing
      total SR 3-4 fold. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest a substantial increase in
      total SR is required in order to compensate for impaired oxygen delivery as a
      result of loss of capillary perfusion and increased oxygen consumption during
      sepsis.

PMID- 25817392
TI  - ABCA3 protects alveolar epithelial cells against free cholesterol induced cell
      death.
AB  - Diffuse parenchymal lung diseases (DPLDs) are characterized by chronic
      inflammation and fibrotic remodeling of the interstitial tissue. A small fraction
      of DPLD cases can be genetically defined by mutations in certain genes, with
      ABCA3 being the gene most commonly affected. However, the pathomechanisms
      underlying ABCA3-induced DPLD are far from clear. To investigate whether ABCA3
      plays a role in cellular cholesterol homeostasis, phospholipids, free
      cholesterol, and cholesteryl esters were quantified in cells stably expressing
      ABCA3 using mass spectrometry. Cellular free cholesterol and lipid droplets were
      visualized by filipin or oil red staining, respectively. Expression of SREBP
      regulated genes was measured using qPCR. Cell viability was assessed using the
      XTT assay. We found that wild type ABCA3 reduces cellular free cholesterol
      levels, induces the SREBP pathway, and renders cells more resistant to loading
      with exogenous cholesterol. Moreover, ABCA3 mutations found in patients with DPLD
      interfere with this protective effect of ABCA3, resulting in free cholesterol
      induced cell death. We conclude that ABCA3 plays a previously unrecognized role
      in the regulation of cellular cholesterol levels. Accumulation of free
      cholesterol as a result of a loss of ABCA3 export function represents a novel
      pathomechanism in ABCA3-induced DPLD. 

PMID- 25817393
TI  - [Approach to a respiratory syncytial virus outbreak related to medical care in
      hematology].

PMID- 25817394
TI  - Long-term controlled delivery of rhBMP-2 from collagen-hydroxyapatite scaffolds
      for superior bone tissue regeneration.
AB  - The clinical utilization of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP
      2) delivery systems for bone regeneration has been associated with very severe
      side effects, which are due to the non-controlled and non-targeted delivery of
      the growth factor from its collagen sponge carrier post-implantation which
      necessitates supraphysiological doses. However, rhBMP-2 presents outstanding
      regenerative properties and thus there is an unmet need for a biocompatible,
      fully resorbable delivery system for the controlled, targeted release of this
      protein. With this in mind, the purpose of this work was to design and develop a
      delivery system to release low rhBMP-2 doses from a collagen-hydroxyapatite (CHA)
      scaffold which had previously been optimized for bone regeneration and recently
      demonstrated significant healing in vivo. In order to enhance the potential for
      clinical translation by minimizing the design complexity and thus upscaling and
      regulatory hurdles of the device, a microparticle and chemical functionalization
      free approach was chosen to fulfill this aim. RhBMP-2 was combined with a CHA
      scaffold using a lyophilization fabrication process to produce a highly porous
      CHA scaffold supporting the controlled release of the protein over the course of
      21days while maintaining in vitro bioactivity as demonstrated by enhanced
      alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium production by preosteoblasts cultured
      on the scaffold. When implanted in vivo, these materials demonstrated increased
      levels of healing of critical-sized rat calvarial defects 8weeks post
      implantation compared to an empty defect and unloaded CHA scaffold, without
      eliciting bone anomalies or adjacent bone resorption. These results demonstrate
      that it is possible to achieve bone regeneration using 30 times less rhBMP-2 than
      INFUSE(r), the current clinical gold standard; thus, this work represents the
      first step of the development of a rhBMP-2 eluting material with immense clinical
      potential. 

PMID- 25817395
TI  - Subtelomeric 6p25 deletion/duplication: Report of a patient with new clinical
      findings and genotype-phenotype correlations.
AB  - The 6p terminal deletions are rare and present variability of clinical features,
      which increases the importance of reporting additional cases in order to better
      characterize genotype-phenotype correlations. We report a 12-year-old girl with a
      de novo deletion in 6p25.1-pter characterized by high-resolution karyotyping and
      FISH. Further analysis using oligonucleotide array-CGH revealed a 5.06 Mb 6p25.1
      pter deletion associated with a contiguous 1 Mb 6p25.1 duplication. The patient
      presented normal growth, developmental delay, frontal bossing, severe
      hypertelorism, corectopia, wide and depressed nasal bridge, mild learning
      disability, hearing loss and diffuse leukopathy. Additionaly, she presented
      peculiar phenotypic features reported herein for the first time in 6p25 deletion
      syndrome: cerebrospinal fluid fistula and bones resembling those seen in 3-M
      syndrome. The distinctive phenotype of the 6p25 deletion syndrome has been mainly
      correlated with the FOXC1 and FOXF2 genes deletions, both related mainly to eye
      development. We also consider the SERPINB6 as a candidate for sensorineural
      hearing loss and TUBB2A as a candidate for our patient's skeletal features. In
      addition, as our patient had a duplication including NRN1, a gene related with
      neurodevelopment, synaptic plasticity and cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia,
      we suggest that this gene could be associated with her white matter abnormalities
      and neurocognitive phenotype. 

PMID- 25817396
TI  - A surgeon's reflections on love.

PMID- 25817397
TI  - Does surgery residency prepare residents to work at critical access hospitals?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Operations performed by surgeons working at Critical Access Hospitals
      (CAHs) and surgery residents have not been compared. METHODS: Procedure codes
      logged by general surgery residents graduating from our institution in 2013 and
      2014 were obtained. Procedure codes were obtained for all CAHs in our state for
      2012 to 2013. Clinically relevant categories were compared among residents and
      general surgeons at CAHs. RESULTS: A total of 34,246 procedures logged by general
      surgeons at CAHs were compared with 31,977 procedures logged by surgery
      residents. Endoscopy comprised 56.1% of cases done by general surgeons versus
      9.1% of cases by residents (P < .001). Excluding endoscopy, rural surgeons had
      higher percentages in hernia, skin/soft tissue, cholecystectomy/common bile duct,
      rectal/anal, and breast cases. Residents who completed a rural surgery rotation
      had higher numbers in small/large bowel, hernia, breast, and endoscopy.
      CONCLUSIONS: Surgery residency provides less exposure to endoscopy compared with
      a general surgery practice at CAHs. A rural rotation increases endoscopic
      exposure.

PMID- 25817398
TI  - Mannoproteins from yeast and hyphal form of Candida albicans considerably differ
      in mannan and protein content.
AB  - Significant differences in carbohydrate composition of mannoproteins obtained
      from yeast and hyphal cell walls of Candida albicans (serotypes A and B) were
      found. Yeast mannoproteins from both serotypes consisted up to 46% of mannan
      while the same parts from hyphal cells contained only about 14% of mannan.
      Another difference was in protein content, 47-53% for yeasts, 3-4.5% for hyphae,
      respectively. Moreover, HPLC profiles of yeast mannoproteins were more complex
      compared to those of hyphal form. Subsequently, mannans were prepared from yeast
      and hyphal mannoproteins using cetavlon fractionation. Mannans from both yeast
      serotypes contained higher amounts of mannose (91.4% serotype A; 92.8% serotype
      B) than mannans from hyphae (66.4% serotype A; 76.3% serotype B). Unlike mannans
      from serotype B, mannans from serotype A contained beta-(1 -> 2)-linked
      mannopyranosyl units in acid-stable moiety. Further, hyphal mannans were less
      branched than yeast mannans. The shift from yeast to hyphal form probably led to
      simplification of mannan structure.

PMID- 25817399
TI  - Decellularization technology in CNS tissue repair.
AB  - Decellularization methodologies have been successfully used in a variety of
      tissue engineering and regenerative technologies and methods of decellularization
      have been developed for target tissues and organs of interest. The technology to
      promote regeneration and functional recovery in the CNS, including brain and
      spinal cord, has, however, made slow progress mainly because the intrinsic
      regenerative potential of the CNS is regarded as low. To date, currently
      available therapies have been unable to provide significant functional recovery
      and successful therapies, which could provide functional restoration to the
      injured brain and spinal cord are controversial. In this review, the authors
      provide a critical analysis, comparing the advantages and limitations of the
      major decellularization methods and considering the effects of these methods upon
      the biologic scaffold material. The authors also review studies that supplement
      decellularized grafts with exogenous factors, such as stem cells and growth
      factors, to both promote and enhance regeneration through decellularized
      allografts. 

PMID- 25817400
TI  - Protective effects of resveratrol on the inhibition of hippocampal neurogenesis
      induced by ethanol during early postnatal life.
AB  - Ethanol (EtOH) exposure during early postnatal life triggers obvious neurotoxic
      effects on the developing hippocampus and results in long-term effects on
      hippocampal neurogenesis. Resveratrol (RSV) has been demonstrated to exert
      potential neuroprotective effects by promoting hippocampal neurogenesis. However,
      the effects of RSV on the EtOH-mediated impairment of hippocampal neurogenesis
      remain undetermined. Thus, mice were pretreated with RSV and were later exposed
      to EtOH to evaluate its protective effects on EtOH-mediated toxicity during
      hippocampal development. The results indicated that a brief exposure of EtOH on
      postnatal day 7 resulted in a significant impairment in hippocampal neurogenesis
      and a depletion of hippocampal neural precursor cells (NPCs). This effect was
      attenuated by pretreatment with RSV. Furthermore, EtOH exposure resulted in a
      reduction in spine density on the granular neurons of the dentate gyrus (DG), and
      the spines exhibited a less mature morphological phenotype characterized by a
      higher proportion of stubby spines and a lower proportion of mushroom spines.
      However, RSV treatment effectively reversed these responses. We further confirmed
      that RSV treatment reversed the EtOH-induced down-regulation of hippocampal pERK
      and Hes1 protein levels, which may be related to the proliferation and
      maintenance of NPCs. Furthermore, EtOH exposure in the C17.2 NPCs also diminished
      cell proliferation and activated apoptosis, which could be reversed by
      pretreatment of RSV. Overall, our results suggest that RSV pretreatment protects
      against EtOH-induced defects in neurogenesis in postnatal mice and may thus play
      a critical role in preventing EtOH-mediated toxicity in the developing
      hippocampus. 

PMID- 25817401
TI  - Therapeutic effect of post-exposure treatment with antiserum on severe fever with
      thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) in a mouse model of SFTS virus infection.
AB  - Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging viral disease
      that is endemic in China, Korea and Japan. No effective vaccine or specific
      treatment for SFTS is currently available. Here, we used a mouse model to examine
      the effects of ribavirin, site-1 protease inhibitor PF-429242, steroids, and
      combination of minocycline and ciprofloxacin (MC) on SFTS infection. The
      antiserum from a patient who recovered from SFTS was also examined for its effect
      on mice. Administration of antiserum completely protected mice against lethal
      infection with SFTSV. It could also protect mice from showing clinical signs of
      the disease due to non-lethal infection. MC-treatment resulted in prolonged
      survival times during lethal infection. Although other agents had no significant
      protective effects, they did not provide detrimental effects that could lead to
      progression of the disease in mice. Our results suggest that antiserum treatment
      may be clinically useful for post-exposure prophylaxis against SFTSV infection. 

PMID- 25817402
TI  - Effect of time at temperature on wild poliovirus titers in stool specimens.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The effect of transport temperature on the viability of poliovirus in
      stool specimens from paralyzed cases has not been tested. Quality assurance of
      programmatic indicators will be necessary in the final phase of polio
      eradication. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the effect of time at elevated temperatures
      on wild poliovirus titers in stool specimens. METHODS: We exposed aliquots of
      pooled wild poliovirus type 1 specimens to elevated temperatures (27  degrees C,
      31  degrees C, and 35  degrees C) for varying time periods up to 14 days. We
      determined the virus titer of these aliquots and created decay curves at each
      temperature to estimate the relationship between time at temperature and virus
      titer. RESULTS: We found significantly different slopes of decay at each
      temperature. The negative slopes increased as the temperature increased.
      CONCLUSIONS: While poliovirus in stool remains relatively stable at moderately
      elevated temperature, transport at higher temperatures could impact sample
      integrity and virus isolation results.

PMID- 25817403
TI  - A single NS2 mutation of K86R promotes PR8 vaccine donor virus growth in Vero
      cells.
AB  - Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent and control infection by
      influenza viruses, and a cell-culture-based vaccine production system is
      preferred as the future choice for the large-scale production of influenza
      vaccines. As one of the WHO-recommended cell lines for producing influenza
      vaccines, Vero cells do not efficiently support the growth of the current
      influenza A virus vaccine donor strain, the A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (PR8) virus. In
      this study, a single mutation of K86R in the NS2 protein can sufficiently render
      the high-yielding property to the PR8 virus in Vero cells. Further analysis
      showed that the later steps in the virus replication cycle were accelerated by
      NS2(K86R) mutation, which may relate to an enhanced interaction between NS2(K86R)
      and the components of host factor F1Fo-ATPase, FoB and F1beta. Because the
      NS2(K86R) mutation does not increase PR8 virulence in either mice or embryonated
      eggs, the PR8-NS2(K86R) virus could serve as a promising vaccine donor strain in
      Vero cells.

PMID- 25817404
TI  - Potential linkage between compound microsatellites and recombination in
      geminiviruses: Evidence from comparative analysis.
AB  - The compound microsatellites consist of two or more individual microsatellites,
      originate from mutation or imperfection in simple repeat sequences. The reports
      on systematic analysis of the occurrence, size and density of compound
      microsatellite (cSSR) types are very rare. Our study indicates that cSSRs are
      clustered at specific regions in the begomovirus genomes. cSSRs were
      overrepresented in majority of begomovirus genomes indicating that they might
      have some functional significance. Further, non-random distribution pattern of
      cSSR in begomovirus genomes was significantly correlated with the recombination
      breakpoint positions in the genome. The analysis of cSSR regions in the viral
      genome indicates the presence of stem loop (hairpin) secondary structure. The
      significance of these findings in biology of geminiviruses is discussed based on
      our present understanding of recombination and repetitive DNA. To our knowledge,
      this is the first analysis suggesting the possible association between
      recombination and microsatellites in any viral genome. 

PMID- 25817406
TI  - Circadian cortisol and fatigue severity in relapsing-remitting multiple
      sclerosis.
AB  - Cortisol is a key regulator of the immune system, energy metabolism, and stress,
      yet its relevance to fatigue experienced by people with relapsing-remitting
      multiple sclerosis (RRMS) remains uncertain. We examined cortisol secretory
      activity in RRMS and its association with fatigue severity between-individuals
      and within-individuals (day-to-day) using a case-control ecological momentary
      assessment design. While undergoing usual daily routines, 38 people with RRMS and
      38 healthy control participants provided saliva samples at strategic time-points
      over 4 consecutive weekdays to measure the cortisol awakening response (CAR; 0,
      30, and 45 min after awakening) and the diurnal cortisol slope (DCS; 6 quasi
      random samples provided between 1000 h and 2000 h). Recalled fatigue was measured
      at baseline, and daily fatigue was measured as the mean average of momentary
      fatigue ratings provided alongside each DCS sample. Multilevel modeling found CAR
      output was greater in RRMS than controls, and recalled fatigue in RRMS was
      associated with both lower waking cortisol level and larger awakening response.
      Day-to-day, the CAR was not associated with same-day fatigue levels in RRMS.
      Cortisol appears to have a role in fatigue experienced in RRMS, but whether it is
      a causal factor remains unclear.

PMID- 25817405
TI  - Pathogenicity and pathogenesis of a United States porcine deltacoronavirus cell
      culture isolate in 5-day-old neonatal piglets.
AB  - Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) was first identified in Hong Kong in 2009-2010
      and reported in United States swine for the first time in February 2014. However,
      diagnostic tools other than polymerase chain reaction for PDCoV detection were
      lacking and Koch's postulates had not been fulfilled to confirm the pathogenic
      potential of PDCoV. In the present study, PDCoV peptide-specific rabbit antisera
      were developed and used in immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry assays to
      assist PDCoV diagnostics. The pathogenicity and pathogenesis of PDCoV was
      investigated following orogastric inoculation of 5-day-old piglets with a plaque
      purified PDCoV cell culture isolate (3 * 10(4) TCID50 per pig). The PDCoV
      inoculated piglets developed mild to moderate diarrhea, shed increasing amount of
      virus in rectal swabs from 2 to 7 days post inoculation, and developed
      macroscopic and microscopic lesions in small intestines with viral antigen
      confirmed by immunohistochemistry staining. This study experimentally confirmed
      PDCoV pathogenicity and characterized PDCoV pathogenesis in neonatal piglets.

PMID- 25817408
TI  - Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae meningitis: A case report.

PMID- 25817407
TI  - Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) in microRNA genes are enriched for
      schizophrenia and bipolar disorder association signals.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) have substantial
      negative impact on the quality of human life. Both, microRNA (miRNA) expression
      profiling in SZ and BD postmortem brains [and genome-wide association studies
      (GWAS)] have implicated miRNAs in disease etiology. Here, we aim to determine
      whether significant GWAS signals observed in the Psychiatric Genetic Consortium
      (PGC) are enriched for miRNAs. METHOD: A two-stage approach was used to determine
      whether association signals from PGC affect miRNAs: (i) statistical assessment of
      enrichment using a Simes test and sum of squares test (SST) and (ii) biological
      evidence that quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping to known miRNA genes affect
      their expression in an independent sample of 78 postmortem brains from the
      Stanley Medical Research Institute. RESULTS: A total of 2567 independent single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (R2 > 0.8) were mapped locally, within 1 Mb, to
      all known miRNAs (miRBase v. 21). We show robust enrichment for SZ- and BD
      related SNPs with miRNAs using Simes (SZ: p <= 0.0023, BD: p <= 0.038), which
      remained significant after adjusting for background inflation in SZ (empirical p
      = 0.018) and approached significance in BD (empirical p = 0.07). At a false
      discovery rate of 10%, we identified a total of 32 eQTLs to influence miRNA
      expression; 11 of these overlapped with BD. CONCLUSIONS: Our approach of
      integrating PGC findings with eQTL results can be used to generate specific
      hypotheses regarding the role of miRNAs in SZ and BD.

PMID- 25817410
TI  - A parallel algorithm for solving the n-queens problem based on inspired
      computational model.
AB  - DNA computing provides a promising method to solve the computationally
      intractable problems. The n-queens problem is a well-known NP-hard problem, which
      arranges n queens on an n * n board in different rows, columns and diagonals in
      order to avoid queens attack each other. In this paper, we present a novel
      parallel DNA algorithm for solving the n-queens problem using DNA molecular
      operations based on a biologically inspired computational model. For the n-queens
      problem, we reasonably design flexible length DNA strands representing elements
      of the allocation matrix, take appropriate biologic manipulations and get the
      solutions of the n-queens problem in proper length and O(n(2)) time complexity.
      We extend the application of DNA molecular operations, simultaneity simplify the
      complexity of the computation and simulate to verify the feasibility of the DNA
      algorithm.

PMID- 25817409
TI  - Oral two-generation reproduction toxicity study with NM-200 synthetic amorphous
      silica in Wistar rats.
AB  - Synthetic amorphous silica (SAS) like NM-200 is used in a wide variety of
      technological applications and consumer products. Although SAS has been widely
      investigated the available reproductive toxicity studies are old and do not cover
      all requirements of current OECD Guidelines. As part of a CEFIC-LRI project, NM
      200 was tested in a two-generation reproduction toxicity study according to OECD
      guideline 416. Male and female rats were treated by oral gavage with NM-200 at
      dose levels of 0, 100, 300 and 1000mg/kg bw/day for two generations. Body weight
      and food consumption were measured throughout the study. Reproductive and
      developmental parameters were measured and at sacrifice (reproductive) organs and
      tissues were sampled for histopathological analysis. Oral administration of NM
      200 up to 1000mg/kg bw/day had no adverse effects on the reproductive performance
      of rats or on the growth and development of the offspring into adulthood for two
      consecutive generations. The NOAEL was 1000mg/kg body weight per day. 

PMID- 25817411
TI  - Free and bound volatile chemicals in mulberry (Morus atropurpurea Roxb.).
AB  - Mulberry (Morus atropurpurea Roxb.) is a popular and desirable fruit that is
      widely cultivated in China. Despite its popularity, the free volatile chemicals
      and glycosidically bound volatiles (GBVs) of mulberry have been minimally
      studied. To this end, we have investigated these compounds in 4 mulberry
      cultivars via solid phase extraction (SPE) and headspace solid phase
      microextraction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS). A
      total of 55 free volatile chemicals and 57 GBVs were identified and quantified.
      In 3 of the cultivars ("YFS," "T10," and "D10"), the GBVs were found in higher
      amounts than their free counterparts, corresponding to a ratio of 1.2 to 1.8. The
      characteristic aromas were determined by their odor activity values (OAVs) and by
      generating an aroma series (AS). A total of 20 volatile compounds had OAVs >=
      1.0. In particular, ethyl butanoate, hexanal, (Z)-3-hexenal (E)-2-hexenal, (E)-2
      nonenal, and eugenol had relatively high OAVs and were considered to be the key
      aromas contributing to the mulberry flavor. Consequently, mulberry was
      characterized by a variety of herbaceous scents having a background of sweet,
      spicy, fruity, and floral notes. The free volatiles exhibited strong herbaceous
      notes, whereas the GBVs were responsible for the sweet and spicy qualities of the
      fruit. Based on our results, 2 cultivars ("YFS" and "D10") are proposed to be
      good candidates suitable for the further development of mulberry-based food
      products due to their complex and desirable aromas. 

PMID- 25817412
TI  - Differential regulation of dehydrin expression and trehalose levels in Cardinal
      table grape skin by low temperature and high CO2.
AB  - Dehydrins and trehalose are multifunctional protective biomolecules that play a
      role in counteracting cellular damage during dehydrative stresses. In this paper,
      we studied dehydrin isoform patterns, dehydrin gene expression and trehalose
      levels in the skin of Cardinal (Vitis vinifera L.) table grapes, along with their
      regulation by different cold postharvest storage conditions. Immunoanalysis with
      K-segment antibody recognizes four constitutive dehydrins (from 17 to 44 kDa)
      that are tightly regulated by low temperature and high CO2. Phosphatase treatment
      showed that DHN44 and DHN22 isoforms are phosphorylated polypeptides, while MALDI
      TOF MS and MS/MS analysis suggested that 44 kDa polypeptide may be a dehydrin
      homodimer. At the transcriptional level, dehydrins are also regulated by low
      temperature and high CO2, showing a fairly good correlation with their mRNA
      levels. Trehalose was quantified by high performance anion-exchange
      chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD), revealing a
      progressive increase of this metabolite throughout storage at 0  degrees C and
      the sudden transitory increases in short-term high CO2-treated fruit. We propose
      that the constitutive presence and up-regulation of dehydrins and trehalose
      during low temperature postharvest storage could be positively correlated with
      the relative chilling tolerance of table grapes and the adaptive responses
      activated by high CO2 levels to preserve cell water status and to counteract the
      disruption of physiological processes during cold storage.

PMID- 25817413
TI  - MAP kinase phosphatase 1 harbors a novel PTS1 and is targeted to peroxisomes
      following stress treatments.
AB  - In Arabidopsis thaliana, twenty mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs/MPKs)
      are regulated by five MAP kinase phosphatases (MKPs). Arabidopsis MKP1 has an
      important role in biotic, abiotic and genotoxic stresses and has been shown to
      interact with and negatively regulate specifically MPK3 and MPK6. MKP1 has been
      reported to have a role in negative regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS)
      and salicylic acid (SA) production. As essential organelles involved in
      production of ROS and SA, peroxisomes could possibly be an important compartment
      for MKP1 activity, however MKP1 was previously reported to be cytosolic. By
      screening Arabidopsis protein phosphatases for peroxisomal targeting signal 1
      (PTS1), we identified MKP1 as a putative peroxisomal protein. Arabidopsis MKP1
      was found to harbor a non-canonical PTS1-like tripeptide (Ser-Ala-Leu>) that is
      conserved in MKP1 orthologs. We show experimentally that the C-terminal Ser-Ala
      Leu> can function as a novel PTS1, and alanine in position -2, adds more
      relaxation to the plant PTS1 motif. The full-length MKP1 remained in the cytosol
      when transiently expressed in Arabidopsis mesophyll protoplasts under standard
      conditions. When different biotic and abiotic stresses were applied to mesophyll
      protoplasts, the full length protein changed its targeting to unidentified
      organelle-like structures that subsequently fused with peroxisomes. Our results
      identify MKP1 as a protein dually targeted to cytosol and peroxisomes. The
      finding that MKP1 targets peroxisomes by a non-canonical PTS1 under stressful
      conditions highlights the complexity of peroxisomal targeting mechanism. 

PMID- 25817414
TI  - Spikelet-specific variation in ethylene production and constitutive expression of
      ethylene receptors and signal transducers during grain filling of compact- and
      lax-panicle rice (Oryza sativa) cultivars.
AB  - Grain yields in modern super rice cultivars do not always meet the expectations
      because many spikelets are located on secondary branches in closely packed
      homogeneous distribution in these plants, and they do not fill properly. The
      factors limiting grain filling of such spikelets, especially in the lower panicle
      branches, are elusive. Two long-duration rice cultivars differing in panicle
      density, Mahalaxmi (compact) and Upahar (lax), were cultivated in an open field
      plot. Grain filling, ethylene production and constitutive expression of ethylene
      receptors and ethylene signal transducers in apical and basal spikelets of the
      panicle were compared during the early post-anthesis stage, which is the most
      critical period for grain development. In another experiment, a similar
      assessment was made for the medium-duration cultivars compact-panicle OR-1918 and
      lax-panicle Lalat. Grain weight of the apical spikelets was always higher than
      that of the basal spikelets. This gradient of grain weight was wide in the
      compact-panicle cultivars and narrow in the lax-panicle cultivars. Compared to
      apical spikelets, the basal spikelets produced more ethylene at anthesis and
      retained the capacity for post-anthesis expression of ethylene receptors and
      ethylene signal transducers longer. High ethylene production enhanced the
      expression of the RSR1 gene, but reduced expression of the GBSS1 gene. Ethylene
      inhibited the partitioning of assimilates of developing grains resulting in low
      starch biosynthesis and high accumulation of soluble carbohydrates. It is
      concluded that an increase in grain/spikelet density in rice panicles reduces
      apical dominance to the detriment of grain filling by production of ethylene
      and/or enhanced perception of the ethylene signal. Ethylene could be a second
      messenger for apical dominance in grain filling. The manipulation of the ethylene
      signal would possibly improve rice grain yield. 

PMID- 25817415
TI  - Molecular cloning of the BLADE-ON-PETIOLE gene and expression analyses during
      nodule development in Lupinus luteus.
AB  - The BLADE-ON-PETIOLE (BOP) genes have been recently shown to play an essential
      role in many physiological processes, including embryogenesis, meristem
      determinacy, leaf patterning and nodule development. In our research we used
      Lupinus luteus, a plant with great agronomic potential due to its high protein
      content and nitrogen fixation ability. In this work, LlBOP in L. luteus was
      identified for the first time and its expression during nodule development was
      analyzed. The high expression levels of LlBOP and LlLbI (LEGHEMOGLOBIN),
      essential to nitrogen-fixing symbiosis, were noted in the developing root nodules
      and were correlated with the occurrence of leghemoglobin. All of these data
      indicate that LlBOP is an important regulator of root nodule formation and
      functioning in L. luteus. 

PMID- 25817416
TI  - Pre-implementation studies of a workforce planning tool for nurse staffing and
      human resource management in university hospitals.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the reliability, validity and feasibility of the RAFAELA
      workforce planning system (including the Oulu patient classification system -
      OPCq), before deciding on implementation in Dutch hospitals. BACKGROUND: The
      complexity of care, budgetary restraints and demand for high-quality patient care
      have ignited the need for transparent hospital workforce planning. METHODS:
      Nurses from 12 wards of two university hospitals were trained to test the
      reliability of the OPCq by investigating the absolute agreement of nursing care
      intensity (NCI) measurements among nurses. Validity was tested by assessing
      whether optimal NCI/nurse ratio, as calculated by a regression analysis in
      RAFAELA, was realistic. System feasibility was investigated through a
      questionnaire among all nurses involved. RESULTS: Almost 67 000 NCI measurements
      were performed between December 2013 and June 2014. Agreement using the OPCq
      varied between 38% and 91%. For only 1 in 12 wards was the optimal NCI area
      calculated judged as valid. Although the majority of respondents was positive
      about the applicability and user-friendliness, RAFAELA was not accepted as useful
      workforce planning system. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT:
      Nurses' performance using the RAFAELA system did not warrant its implementation.
      Hospital managers should first focus on enlarging the readiness of nurses
      regarding the implementation of a workforce planning system.

PMID- 25817417
TI  - Nutritional approaches to ameliorate pulmonary hypertension in broiler chickens.
AB  - This article reviews recent nutritional approaches for counteracting the
      development of pulmonary hypertension syndrome (PHS; ascites) in broiler chickens
      especially when they are reared at high altitudes. High altitudes impose the
      sustained stress of hypobaric hypoxia, which reduces the availability of
      atmospheric oxygen to red blood cells passing through the lungs, thereby causing
      systemic arterial hypoxaemia (undersaturation of haemoglobin with oxygen),
      pulmonary arterial hypertension and PHS/ascites in susceptible broilers. Proper
      nutritional strategies are needed to reduce metabolic activity and prevent the
      development of ascites especially when modern broilers are reared in regions
      where the existing altitudes limit the availability of atmospheric oxygen. This
      article also addresses controversies with regard to broiler nutrition in relation
      to PHS. For example, the catabolism of protein from feed ingredients incurs
      increased oxygen consumption, suggesting that feeding reduced-protein diets to
      broiler chickens may result in reduced PHS incidences. However, experimental and
      field data indicate that feeding reduced-protein diets to broilers subjected to
      hypobaric hypoxia increases the development of PHS. Controversies on the
      nutrition of unsaturated fat in relation to PHS are also discussed. In
      conclusion, hypoxia, acidosis, vasoconstriction and enhanced metabolic rate are
      triggers of PHS. Feeding reduced-protein diets might promote the susceptibility
      of broilers to PHS by decreased dietary intake of arginine, decreased uric acid
      production and increased lipogenesis. Feeding high-protein diets, dietary
      arginine supplementation, partial substitution of sodium bicarbonate for sodium
      chloride, feeding low-fat diets and effective feed restriction programmes can be
      considered as nutritional approaches to prevent PHS. 

PMID- 25817418
TI  - A 13-year retrospective study evaluating the efficacy of using air-fluidised beds
      for toxic epidermal necrolysis patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a potentially life-threatening
      dermatological disease involving large areas of skin loss with systemic symptoms.
      This study evaluated the efficacy of air-fluidised bed therapy for TEN patients.
      METHODS: Of 27 people with TEN, 11 used air-fluidised beds (the air-fluidised
      group) and 16 used standard beds (the control group). Days to complete re
      epithelialisation, re-epithelialisation rate, incidence of complications,
      mortality, pain measured by visual analogue score and the incidence of cutaneous
      infection were compared in these groups. RESULTS: The mean body surface area of
      involvement was 77.0 +/- 11.8% and baseline mean severity-of-illness score for
      TEN (SCORTEN) was 2.81 +/- 1.08. The re-epithelialisation rate in the air
      fluidised group was 100% but was only 56.3% in the control group (P < 0.05).
      There was a significant difference in the time taken to complete re
      epithelialisation between the air-fluidised group (13 days [95% CI: 9.0-17.0])
      and the control group (21 days [16.5-25.5], P < 0.05). Furthermore, the incidence
      of complications was 18% in the air-fluidised group versus 75% in the control
      group, including fewer cutaneous infections (P < 0.05). There was a significant
      reduction in pain among the air-fluidised group compared with the control group
      (P < 0.05). There were no deaths in the air-fluidised group while 19% of the
      control group died. CONCLUSION: Air-fluidised beds can reduce the time to
      complete re-epithelialisation, relieve pain and increase the re-epithelialisation
      rate of TEN patients, but there was no significant difference between them in
      mortality rate in our study.

PMID- 25817419
TI  - Improving Chronic Diseases Management Through the Development of an Evidence
      Based Resource.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: There is a large gap between evidence and practice within health care,
      particularly within the field of chronic disease. To reduce this gap and improve
      the management of chronic disease, a collaborative partnership between two
      schools within a large university and two industry partners (a large regional
      rural hospital and a rural community health center) in rural Victoria, Australia,
      was developed. The aim of the collaboration was to promote the development of
      translation science and the implementation of evidence-based health care in
      chronic disease with a specific focus on developing evidence-based resources that
      are easily accessed by clinicians. METHODS: A working group consisting of members
      of the collaborating organizations and an internationally renowned expert
      reference group was formed. The group acted as a steering committee and was
      tasked with developing a taxonomy of the resources. In addition, a peer review
      process of all resources was established. A corresponding reference group
      consisting of researchers and clinicians who are clinical experts in various
      fields was involved in the review process. The resources developed by the group
      include evidence summaries and recommended practices made available on a web
      based database, which can be accessed via subscription by clinicians and
      researchers worldwide. RESULTS: As of mid-2014, there were 109 new evidence
      summaries and 25 recommended practices detailing the best available evidence on
      topics related to chronic disease management including asthma, diabetes, heart
      failure, dementia, and others. Training sessions and a newsletter were developed
      for clinicians within the node to enable them to use the content effectively.
      LINKING EVIDENCE TO ACTION: This paper describes the processes involved in the
      successful development of the collaborative partnership and its evolution into
      producing a valuable resource for the translation of evidence into practice in
      the areas of chronic disease management. The resource developed is being used by
      clinicians to inform practice and support their clinical decision making.

PMID- 25817420
TI  - Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, Interleukins-12(p40), 6, and 10 levels in
      cerebrospinal fluid and outcome prediction in Ossimi sheep with encephalitic
      listeriosis.
AB  - Encephalitic listeriosis in sheep is a life-threatening disease. However, little
      is known about the cytokine response and their predictive value in this disease.
      The aim of present study was to assess the prognostic significance of Tumor
      Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), Interleukin-12(p40) (IL-12 p40), Interleukin-6
      (IL-6), and Interleukin 10 (IL-10) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in sheep
      with encephalitic listeriosis. Fifty-nine ewes in 14 flocks were diagnosed
      clinically as having listeriosis. CSF was collected and subjected to
      bacteriological examination and estimation of selected cytokines. Twenty-eight
      ewes were confirmed to be infected with Listeria monocytogenes. Based on
      antimicrobial sensitivity test, sheep were treated and the outcome was recorded
      as survivors (n=10) and non-survivors (n=18). Cutoff points for CSF cytokines
      were determined by Receiver operating characteristic analysis (ROC). Association
      between levels of CSF cytokines and outcome of listeriosis was assessed by
      logistic regression. TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-12(p40) levels as well as TNF
      alpha/IL-10 ratio were significantly higher in non-survivors than survivors
      (p=0.002, 0.0021, 0.0033, and 0.001, respectively). However, IL-10 level was
      significantly lower in non-survivors than survivors (p=0.0058). ROC analysis
      revealed that IL-6 and TNF-alpha/IL-10 ratio had the highest AUC values (0.98,
      0.984, respectively). Final multivariate logistic regression model showed that
      TNF-alpha/IL-10 ratio was the only variable that has predictive value for
      mortality in diseased sheep (p: 0.001; OR: 7.2; 95% CI: 5.7-9.8). TNF-alpha
      showed a positive correlation with IL-12beta (r=0.917) and IL-6 (r=0.965). IL-12
      (p40) showed also a positive correlation with IL-6 (r=0.906). However, IL-10
      showed a negative correlation with TNF-alpha (r=-0.915), IL-12(p40) (r=-0.790),
      and IL-6 (r=-0.902). In conclusion, TNF-alpha/IL-10 ratio may provide predictive
      information about outcome of encephalitic listeriosis in sheep. 

PMID- 25817421
TI  - Catalytic gasification of oil-extracted residue biomass of Botryococcus braunii.
AB  - Catalytic gasification of the oil-extracted residue biomass of Botryococcus
      braunii was demonstrated in a laboratory-scale continuous feeding dual bed
      reactor. Steam gasification at 1023 K over Ni-Fe/Mg/Al catalyst can completely
      reform tar derived from pyrolysis of the residue biomass into C1 gases and
      hydrogen, and has achieved 91%-C conversion to gaseous product (CO+CO2+CH4).
      Composition of product gas has higher contents of CO and H2 with their ratio
      (H2/CO) of around 2.4 which is slightly H2-rich syngas. Maximum hydrogen yield of
      74.7 mmol g-biomass(-1) obtained in this work is much higher than that from
      gasification of other algal biomass reported in literature. The residue biomass
      of B. braunii can be a superior renewable source of syngas or hydrogen.

PMID- 25817422
TI  - An integrated process for microalgae harvesting and cell disruption by the use of
      ferric ions.
AB  - In this study, a simultaneous process of harvesting biomass and extracting crude
      bio-oil was attempted from wet microalgae biomass using FeCl3 and Fe2(SO4)3 as
      both coagulant and cell-disrupting agent. A culture solution of Chlorella sp. KR
      1 was firstly concentrated to 20 g/L and then proceeded for cell disruption with
      the addition of H2O2. Optimal dosage were 560 and 1060 mg/L for FeCl3 and
      Fe2(SO4)3, showing harvesting efficiencies of more than 99%. Optimal extraction
      conditions were identified via the response surface method (RSM), and the
      extraction yield was almost the same at 120  degrees C for both iron salts but
      FAME compositions after transesterification was found to be quite different.
      Given iron salts were a reference coagulant in water treatment in general and
      microalgae harvesting in particular, the present approach of using it for
      harvesting and oil-extraction in a simultaneous manner can serve as a practical
      route for the microalgae-derived biodiesel production.

PMID- 25817423
TI  - How does a physician's accurate understanding of a cancer patient's unmet needs
      contribute to patient perception of physician empathy?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Unmet supportive care needs of patients decrease patient perception of
      physician empathy (PE). We explored whether the accurate physician understanding
      of a given patient's unmet needs (AU), could buffer the adverse effect of these
      unmet needs on PE. METHODS: In a cross-sectional design, 28 physicians and 201
      metastatic cancer patients independently assessed the unmet supportive care needs
      of patients. AU was calculated as the sum of items for which physicians correctly
      rated the level of patient needs. PE and covariates were assessed using self
      reported questionnaires. Multilevel analyses were carried out. RESULTS: AU did
      not directly affect PE but acted as a moderator. When patients were highly
      expressive and when physicians perceived poor rapport with the patient, a high AU
      moderated the adverse effect of patient unmet needs on PE. CONCLUSION: Physician
      AU has the power to protect the doctor-patient relationship in spite of high
      patient unmet needs, but only in certain conditions. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS:
      Physicians should be encouraged toward AU but warned that high rapport and
      patient low emotional expression may impede an accurate reading of patients. In
      this latter case, they should request a formal assessment of their patients'
      needs.

PMID- 25817424
TI  - Using the Patient Centered Observation Form: Evaluation of an online training
      program.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The Patient Centered Observation Form (PCOF) helps trainees identify
      and describe specific communication skills and enhance self-awareness about skill
      use. We studied the effectiveness and ease of use of the Improving Communication
      Assessment Program (ICAP), an online module that prepares trainees to use the
      PCOF. METHODS: Students, residents and medical educators viewed two videos
      (common and better skill use) of the same interaction and rated each video using
      the PCOF. Video sequence was randomized. We assessed agreement with experts, ease
      of use, concepts learned, and areas of confusion. RESULTS: Trainees (211)
      achieved strong agreement (.83) with experts and were highly satisfied (mean 4.18
      out of 5). Viewing the common video first produced higher agreement (.87 vs .79;
      ES=.4) with experts and greater satisfaction (4.36 vs 4.02, ES .4) than viewing
      the better video first. Trainees reported diverse areas of learning and minimal
      confusion. CONCLUSION: ICAP training to use the PCOF may facilitate teaching and
      assessment of communication skills and enrich training through peer observation
      and feedback. We offer several educational strategies. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS:
      Learning to use the PCOF via the ICAP module may accelerate communication
      training for medical students, residents, medical educators and practicing
      clinicians.

PMID- 25817426
TI  - Optimization of medium components and physicochemical parameters to
      simultaneously enhance microbial growth and production of lypolitic enzymes by
      Stenotrophomonas sp.
AB  - The optimization of lipase and esterase production (LP and EP) and bacterial
      growth (BG) of a Stenotrophomonas sp. strain was developed. For this purpose, the
      effect of five different medium components and three physicochemical parameters
      were evaluated using a Plackett-Burman statistical design. Among eight variables,
      stirring speed, pH, and peptone concentration were found to be the most effective
      factors on the three responses under evaluation. An optimization study applying
      Box-Behnken response surface methodology was used to study the interactive
      effects of the three selected variables on LP/EP and microorganism growth.
      Predicted models were found to be significant with high regression coefficients
      (90%-99%). By using the desirability function approach, the optimum condition
      applying simultaneous optimization of the three responses under study resulted to
      be: stirring speed of 100 rpm, pH of 7.5, and a peptone concentration of 10 g/L,
      with a desirability value of 0.977. Under these optimal conditions, it is
      possible to achieve in the optimized medium a 15-fold increase in esterase
      productivity, a 117-fold increase in lipase production, and a 9-log CFU/mL
      increase in BG, compared with the basal medium without agitation. 

PMID- 25817425
TI  - Validation of the short-form Health Literacy Scale in patients with stroke.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We aimed to validate a Mandarin version of the short-form Health
      Literacy Scale (SHEAL) in patients with stroke. METHODS: Each patient with stroke
      was interviewed with the SHEAL. The Public Stroke Knowledge Quiz (PSKQ) was
      administered as a criterion for examining the convergent validity of the SHEAL.
      The discriminative validity of the SHEAL was determined with age and education
      level as independent grouping variables. RESULTS: A total of 87 patients with
      stroke volunteered to participate in this prospective study. The SHEAL
      demonstrated sufficient internal consistency reliability (alpha=0.82) and high
      correlation with the PSKQ (r=0.62). The SHEAL scores between different age groups
      and education level groups were significantly different. The SHEAL, however,
      showed a notable ceiling effect (24.1% of the participants), indicating that the
      SHEAL cannot differentiate level of health literacy between individuals with high
      health literacy. CONCLUSION: The internal consistency reliability, convergent
      validity, and discriminative validity of the SHEAL were adequate. However, the
      internal consistency reliability and ceiling effect of the SHEAL need to be
      improved. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The SHEAL has shown its potential for assessing
      the health literacy of patients with stroke for research purposes. For clinical
      usage, however, the SHEAL should be used with caution.

PMID- 25817427
TI  - Environmental metabolomics reveal geographic variation in aerobic metabolism and
      metabolic substrates in Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus).
AB  - Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) have a large-scale distribution in
      northern China. Geographic physiological variations which related to energy and
      water metabolism are critical to animals' local adaptation and distribution.
      However, the underlying biochemical mechanism of such variation and its role in
      adaptation remains largely unknown. We used GC-MS metabolomics approach to
      investigate the biochemical adaptation of Mongolian gerbils from xeric (desert),
      transition (desert steppe) and mesic (typical steppe) environments. Gerbils in
      desert population had lower resting metabolic rate (RMR) and total evaporative
      water loss (TEWL) than mesic population. Serum metabolomics revealed that
      concentrations of five tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates (citrate, cis
      aconitate, alpha-ketoglutarate, fumarate and malate) were lower in desert
      population than mesic population. Gastrocnemius metabolomics and citrate synthase
      activity analysis showed a lower concentration of citrate and lower citrate
      synthase activity in desert population. These findings suggest that desert
      dwelling gerbils decrease RMR and TEWL via down-regulation of aerobic
      respiration. Gastrocnemius metabolomics also revealed that there were higher
      concentrations of glucose and glycolytic intermediates, but lower concentrations
      of lipids, amino acids and urea in desert population than mesic population. This
      geographic variation in metabolic substrates may enhance metabolic water
      production per oxygen molecule for desert population while constraining aerobic
      respiration to reduce RMR and TEWL.

PMID- 25817428
TI  - Social media in travel medicine: a review.
AB  - The use of social media is widespread and provides new opportunities for
      healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations to interact with patients,
      the public, policy makers, and each other. Social media offers the possibility of
      providing users with up-to-date information when, where, and how they want it,
      but it also brings with it some challenges. With increasing use of social media,
      there is potential to change the way travel medicine is delivered; practitioners
      should consider how to exploit the benefits in their practice, and not be afraid
      to experiment. However they need to be cognizant of the potential pitfalls. The
      information exchanged requires careful application as it may not always achieve
      the desired outcome, it needs to be monitored for quality, accuracy, and
      reliability, and confidentiality and privacy must be maintained. Most
      importantly, as social media becomes more sophisticated and widely adopted in the
      healthcare arena, further evaluation and research is required to understand its
      impact and its application to travel medicine. 

PMID- 25817429
TI  - Vector-borne infections in the Caribbean - exceptional Haiti.

PMID- 25817430
TI  - Apropos - the efficacy of repellents against Aedes, Anopheles, Culex and Ixodes
      spp. A literature review.

PMID- 25817431
TI  - Editorial Comment.

PMID- 25817433
TI  - Genome-wide patterns of differentiation and spatially varying selection between
      postglacial recolonization lineages of Populus alba (Salicaceae), a widespread
      forest tree.
AB  - Studying the divergence continuum in plants is relevant to fundamental and
      applied biology because of the potential to reveal functionally important genetic
      variation. In this context, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) provides the necessary
      rigour for uncovering footprints of selection. We resequenced populations of two
      divergent phylogeographic lineages of Populus alba (n = 48), thoroughly
      characterized by microsatellites (n = 317), and scanned their genomes for regions
      of unusually high allelic differentiation and reduced diversity using > 1.7
      million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from WGS. Results were confirmed
      by Sanger sequencing. On average, 9134 high-differentiation (>= 4 standard
      deviations) outlier SNPs were uncovered between populations, 848 of which were
      shared by >= three replicate comparisons. Annotation revealed that 545 of these
      were located in 437 predicted genes. Twelve percent of differentiation outlier
      genome regions exhibited significantly reduced genetic diversity. Gene ontology
      (GO) searches were successful for 327 high-differentiation genes, and these were
      enriched for 63 GO terms. Our results provide a snapshot of the roles of 'hard
      selective sweeps' vs divergent selection of standing genetic variation in
      distinct postglacial recolonization lineages of P. alba. Thus, this study adds to
      our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the origin of functionally
      relevant variation in temperate trees.

PMID- 25817434
TI  - On the nature of magnetic state in the spinel Co2SnO4.
AB  - In the spinel Co2SnO4, coexistence of ferrimagnetic ordering below T(N) ? 41 K
      followed by a spin glass state below T(SG) ? 39 K was proposed recently based on
      the temperature dependence of magnetization M(T) data. Here new measurements of
      the temperature dependence of the specific heat C(P)(T), ac-susceptibilities
      chi'(T) and chi"(T) measured at frequencies between 0.51 and 1.2 kHz, and the
      hysteresis loop parameters (coercivity H(C)(T) and remanence M(R)(T)) in two
      differently prepared samples of Co2SnO4 are reported. The presence of the Co(2+)
      and Sn(4+) states is confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) yielding
      the structure: Co2SnO4 = [Co(2+)][Co(2+)Sn(4+)]O4. The data of C(P) versus T
      shows only an inflection near 39 K characteristic of spin-glass ordering. The
      analysis of the frequency dependence of ac-magnetic susceptibility data near 39 K
      using the Vogel-Fulcher law and the power-law of the critical slowing-down
      suggests the presence of spin clusters in the system which is close to a spin
      glass state. With a decrease in temperature below 39 K, the temperature
      dependence of the coercivity H(C) and remanence M(R) for the zero-field cooled
      samples show both H(C) and M(R) reaching their peak magnitudes near 25 K, then
      decreasing with decreasing T and becoming negligible below 15 K. The plot of
      C(P)/T versus T also yields a weak inflection near 15 K. This temperature
      dependence of H(C) and remanence M(R) is likely associated with the different
      magnitudes of the magnetic moments of Co(2+) ions on the 'A' and 'B' sites and
      their different temperature dependence.

PMID- 25817432
TI  - Cmr1/WDR76 defines a nuclear genotoxic stress body linking genome integrity and
      protein quality control.
AB  - DNA replication stress is a source of genomic instability. Here we identify
      changed mutation rate 1 (Cmr1) as a factor involved in the response to DNA
      replication stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and show that Cmr1--together with
      Mrc1/Claspin, Pph3, the chaperonin containing TCP1 (CCT) and 25 other proteins-
      define a novel intranuclear quality control compartment (INQ) that sequesters
      misfolded, ubiquitylated and sumoylated proteins in response to genotoxic stress.
      The diversity of proteins that localize to INQ indicates that other biological
      processes such as cell cycle progression, chromatin and mitotic spindle
      organization may also be regulated through INQ. Similar to Cmr1, its human
      orthologue WDR76 responds to proteasome inhibition and DNA damage by relocalizing
      to nuclear foci and physically associating with CCT, suggesting an evolutionarily
      conserved biological function. We propose that Cmr1/WDR76 plays a role in the
      recovery from genotoxic stress through regulation of the turnover of sumoylated
      and phosphorylated proteins.

PMID- 25817435
TI  - Corrigendum: New loci and coding variants confer risk for age-related macular
      degeneration in East Asians.

PMID- 25817436
TI  - Incidence and risk factors for life-threatening bleeding after allogeneic stem
      cell transplant.
AB  - Bleeding is a frequent complication after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation (HSCT) and may affect survival. The purpose of this study was to
      determine the incidence and risk factors for life-threatening bleeding after HSCT
      by retrospective evaluation of 491 allogeneic HSCT recipients. With a median
      follow-up of 33 months, 126 out of 491 allogeneic HSCT recipients experienced a
      haemorrhagic event (25.7%) and 46 patients developed a life-threatening bleeding
      episode (9.4%). Pulmonary and gastrointestinal bleeding were the most common
      sites for life-threatening bleeding, followed by central nervous system. In
      multivariate analyses, the presence of severe thrombocytopenia after day +28 and
      the development of grade III-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) or
      thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) retained their association with life-threatening
      bleeding events. The overall survival at 3 years among patients without bleeding
      was 67.1% for only 17.1% for patients with life-threatening bleeding (P < 0.001).
      In conclusion, life-threatening bleeding is a common complication after
      allogeneic HSCT. Prolonged severe thrombocytopenia, acute grade III-IV GVHD and
      TMA were associated with its development. 

PMID- 25817437
TI  - ERAP1 variants are associated with ankylosing spondylitis in East Asian
      population: a new Chinese case-control study and meta-analysis of published
      series.
AB  - Endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 1 (ERAP1) has been confirmed to be
      associated with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in Caucasian. However, whether they
      are associated with AS in East Asian population remains unidentified. We
      investigated this relationship by a new Chinese case-control study and a meta
      analysis of published series. 368 cases and 460 controls were recruited in the
      Chinese case-control study. Genotyping was completed using the chip-based matrix
      assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Allelic
      associations were analysed using contingency tables. In the meta-analysis, up to
      2748 cases and 2774 controls from seven different studies and the new Chinese
      study were combined using Review Manager software version 5.1.1. Mantel-Haenszel
      or Inverse Variance test was used to calculate fixed or random-effects pooled
      ORs. In the new Chinese study, strong association with AS was observed for marker
      rs10050860, rs27434 and rs1065407 at P value of <0.001. Moderate association was
      observed for rs30187 at P value of <0.01, while no association was observed for
      rs27044 (P = 0.37) and rs2287987 (P = 0.23). The meta-analysis showed that
      rs27037 and rs30187 were strongly associated with AS (P < 0.00001). Significant
      association was also observed for rs27434 (P = 0.001). No association was shown
      for rs27044 (P = 0.70). We concluded that ERAP1 variants are associated with AS
      in East Asian population, indicating a common pathogenic mechanism for AS in East
      Asians and Caucasians.

PMID- 25817438
TI  - Prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome in caregivers of patients with chronic
      diseases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Caregivers are an at-risk population for psychic and physical
      diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, it is not known whether
      providing care for the chronically ill patient can be considered a risk factor
      for developing IBS. In this study, our aim was to evaluate the prevalence of IBS
      according to the Rome II criteria in a group of caregivers. METHODS: A cross
      sectional study was conducted through an evaluation of caregivers of chronically
      ill patients. Subjects completed questionnaires including the Rome II Modular
      Questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Zarit Caregiver
      Burden Interview (ZCBI) (an instrument for evaluating the burden experienced by
      caregivers), and the irritable bowel syndrome quality of life (IBS-QoL)
      questionnaire. KEY RESULTS: Ninety-six primary caregivers (mean age was 43.6 +/-
      13.7 years and 87% were women) were evaluated. The mean length of time providing
      care was 37.6 months (3-288 months). Forty-seven caregivers (49%) presented with
      IBS. The caregivers with IBS had higher scores in the global ZCBI score (47 +/- 8
      vs 28 +/- 8, p = 0.001) and on the anxiety and depression scale (p = 0.001) than
      those that did not have IBS. A total of 72% were diagnosed with caregiver stress
      syndrome; 42 of them had IBS according to the Rome II questionnaire (60% vs 18%,
      p = 0.001, relative risk 3.28, 95% CI: 1.4-7.4). CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES:
      Caregivers of chronically ill patients have a high prevalence of IBS, which is
      associated with depression, anxiety, and poor QoL.

PMID- 25817440
TI  - [Psoriasis: treatment in special circumstances and biosimilars].

PMID- 25817439
TI  - Trichoharzianol, a new antifungal from Trichoderma harzianum F031.
AB  - A new decalin derivative, trichoharzianol (1), together with three known
      compounds, eujavanicol A (2), 5-hydroxy-3-hydroxymethyl-2-methyl-7
      methoxychromone (3), and 4,6-dihydroxy-5-methylphthalide (4), were isolated from
      Trichoderma harzianum F031. For the first time, compounds 2-4 were reported from
      the Trichoderma species. Their structures were characterized by spectroscopic
      methods. Trichoharzianol (1) showed the highest antifungal activity against
      Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of
      128 MUg/mL. 

PMID- 25817441
TI  - The emotional body and time perception.
AB  - We examined the effects of emotional bodily expressions on the perception of
      time. Participants were shown bodily expressions of fear, happiness and sadness
      in a temporal bisection task featuring different stimulus duration ranges.
      Stimulus durations were judged to be longer for bodily expressions of fear than
      for those of sadness, whereas no significant difference was observed between sad
      and happy postures. In addition, the magnitude of the lengthening effect of
      fearful versus sad postures increased with duration range. These results suggest
      that the perception of fearful bodily expressions increases the level of arousal
      which, in turn, speeds up the internal clock system underlying the representation
      of time. The effect of bodily expressions on time perception is thus consistent
      with findings for other highly arousing emotional stimuli, such as emotional
      facial expressions. 

PMID- 25817442
TI  - Loperamide toxicokinetics: serum concentrations in the overdose setting.

PMID- 25817443
TI  - Instability of a dinucleotide repeat in the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of the
      microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) gene in microsatellite
      instability-high (MSI-H) colorectal carcinoma.
AB  - DNA mismatch-repair gene mutations, with consequent loss of functional protein
      expression, result in microsatellite instability (MSI). Microsatellite sequences
      are found in coding regions and in regulatory regions of genes (i.e., 5'-UTRs and
      3'-UTRs). In addition to being a surrogate marker of defective mismatch repair,
      deletion or insertion microsatellite sequences can dysregulate gene expression in
      MSI-H (microsatellite instability-high) tumors. The microsomal prostaglandin E
      synthase-1 (mPGES-1) gene product, mPGES-1, participates in prostaglandin E2
      (PGE2) production. Moreover, mPGES-1 is often overexpressed in human colorectal
      tumors, and is thought to contribute to progression of these tumors. Here we
      identified a dinucleotide repeat, (GT)24, in the mPGES-1 gene 3' untranslated
      region (3'-UTR), and analyzed its mutation frequencies in MSI-H and
      microsatellite stable (MSS) tumors. The (GT)24 repeat exhibited instability in
      all MSI-H tumors examined (14), but not in any of the MSS tumors (13). In most
      cases, (GT)24 repeat instability resulted in insertion of additional GT units. We
      also determined mPGES-1 mRNA levels in MSI-H and MSS colorectal cancer cell
      lines. Three of four previously designated "MSI-H" cell lines showed higher mPGES
      1 mRNA levels compared to MSS cell lines; correlations between elevated mPGES-1
      mRNA levels and microsatellite (GT)24 repeat characteristics are present for all
      six cell lines. Our results demonstrate that mPGES-1 is a target gene of
      defective mismatch repair in human colorectal cancer, with functional
      consequence. 

PMID- 25817445
TI  - Renal function and dapagliflozin in routine clinical practice.

PMID- 25817446
TI  - [Molecular diagnosis of Parapoxvirus infection].

PMID- 25817444
TI  - Anti-androgen enzalutamide enhances prostate cancer neuroendocrine (NE)
      differentiation via altering the infiltrated mast cells -> androgen receptor (AR)
      -> miRNA32 signals.
AB  - The recently developed anti-androgen enzalutamide also known as (MDV3100) has the
      advantage to prolong by 4.8 months the survival of castration resistant prostate
      cancer (CRPC) patients. However, the mechanisms behind the potential side effects
      involving the induction of the prostate cancer (PCa) neuroendocrine (NE)
      differentiation remain unclear. Here we found PCa cells could recruit more mast
      cells than normal prostate epithelial cells, and enzalutamide (or casodex)
      treatment could further increase such recruitment that resulted in promoting the
      PCa NE differentiation. Mechanism dissection found infiltrated mast cells could
      function through positive feedback to enhance PCa to recruit more mast cells via
      modulation of the androgen receptor (AR) -> cytokines IL8 signals, and
      interruption by AR-siRNA or neutralizing anti-IL8 antibody could partially
      reverse the recruitment of mast cells. Importantly, targeting the PCa
      androgens/AR signals with AR-siRNA or enzalutamide (or casodex) also increased
      PCa NE differentiation via modulation of the miRNA32 expression, and adding
      miRNA32 inhibitor reversed the AR-siRNA- or enzalutamide-enhanced NE
      differentiation. Together, these results not only identified a new signal via
      infiltrated mast cells -> PCa AR -> miRNA32 to increase PCa NE differentiation,
      it also pointed out the potential unwanted side effects of enzalutamide (or
      casodex) to increase PCa NE differentiation. Targeting these newly identified
      signals, including AR, IL8, or miRNA32, may help us to better suppress PCa NE
      differentiation that is induced during ADT with anti-androgen enzalutamide (or
      casodex) treatment. 

PMID- 25817447
TI  - [Recommendations regarding diagnosis and treatment of transthyretin familial
      amyloid polyneuropathy.Grupo de Estudio y Tratamiento de la Polineuropatia
      Amiloidotica Familiar por Transtiretina (GETPAF-TTR)].

PMID- 25817448
TI  - [Fever induced by hydroxycarbamide].

PMID- 25817449
TI  - [New agents for hypercholesterolemia].
AB  - An elevated proportion of high cardiovascular risk patients do not achieve the
      therapeutic c-LDL goals. This owes to physicians' inappropriate or insufficient
      use of cholesterol lowering medications or to patients' bad tolerance or
      therapeutic compliance. Another cause is an insufficient efficacy of current
      cholesterol lowering drugs including statins and ezetimibe. In addition,
      proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 inhibitors are a new cholesterol
      lowering medications showing safety and high efficacy to reduce c-LDL in numerous
      already performed or underway clinical trials, potentially allowing an optimal
      control of hypercholesterolemia in most patients. Agents inhibiting
      apolipoprotein B synthesis and microsomal transfer protein are also providing a
      new potential to decrease cholesterol in patients with severe
      hypercholesterolemia and in particular in homozygote familial
      hypercholesterolemia. Last, cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitors have
      shown powerful effects on c-HDL and c-LDL, although their efficacy in
      cardiovascular prevention and safety has not been demonstrated yet. We provide in
      this article an overview of the main characteristics of therapeutic agents for
      hypercholesterolemia, which have been recently approved or in an advanced
      research stage. 

PMID- 25817450
TI  - [Pellagra].

PMID- 25817452
TI  - [Neuralgic amyotrophy associated to hepatitis E virus infection].

PMID- 25817451
TI  - [Central nervous system relapse in diffuse large B cell lymphoma: Risk factors].
AB  - Central nervous system (CNS) involvement by lymphoma is a complication
      associated, almost invariably, with a poor prognosis. The knowledge of the risk
      factors for CNS relapse is important to determine which patients could benefit
      from prophylaxis. Thus, patients with very aggressive lymphomas (such as
      lymphoblastic lymphoma or Burkitt's lymphoma) must systematically receive CNS
      prophylaxis due to a high CNS relapse rate (25-30%), while in patients with
      indolent lymphoma (such as follicular lymphoma or marginal lymphoma) prophylaxis
      is unnecessary. However, the question about CNS prophylaxis in patients with
      diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most common type of lymphoma, remains
      controversial. The information available is extensive, mainly based on
      retrospective and heterogeneous studies. There seems that immunochemotherapy
      based on rituximab reduces the CNS relapse rate. On the other hand, patients with
      increased serum lactate dehydrogenase plus more than one extranodal involvement
      seem to have a higher risk of CNS relapse, but a prophylaxis strategy based only
      on the presence of these 2 factors does not prevent all CNS relapses. Patients
      with involvement of testes or breast have high risk of CNS relapse and
      prophylaxis is mandatory. Finally, CNS prophylaxis could be considered in
      patients with DLBCL and renal or epidural space involvement, as well as in those
      cases with MYC rearrangements, although additional studies are necessary. 

PMID- 25817453
TI  - [Methoxetamine-associated emergencies. First Spanish descriptions of this new
      drug].

PMID- 25817454
TI  - [PAPRICA-2 study: Role of precipitating factor of an acute heart failure episode
      on intermediate term prognosis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the precipitating factors (PF) associated with acute heart
      failure and their association with medium-term prognosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      Multipurpose prospective study from the EAHFE Registry. We included as PF:
      infection, rapid atrial fibrillation (RAF), anaemia, hypertensive crisis, non
      adherence to diet or drug therapy and non-ST-segment-elevation acute coronary
      syndrome (NSTEACS). Patients without PF were control group. Hazard ratios (HR)
      crudes and adjusted for reconsultations and mortality at 90 days were calculated.
      RESULTS: 3535 patients were included: 28% without and 72% with PF. Patients with
      RAF (HR 0.67; 95%CI 0.50-0.89) and hypertensive crisis (HR 0.45; 95%CI 0.28-0.72)
      had less mortality and patients with NSTEACS (HR 1.79; 95%CI 1.19-2.70) had more
      mortality. Reconsultation was fewer in patients with infection (HR 0.74; 95%CI
      0.64-0.85), RAF (HR 0.69; 95%CI 0.58-0.83) and hypertensive crisis (HR 0.71;
      95%CI 0.55-0.91). These differences were maintained in all the adjusted models
      except for hypertensive crisis. CONCLUSIONS: One PF is identified in 3 out of 4
      patients and it may influence medium-term prognosis. At 90 days, NSTEACS and RAF
      were associated with more and less mortality respectively, and RAF and infection
      with less probability of reconsultation.

PMID- 25817455
TI  - Clinical impact of model-based type iterative reconstruction with fast
      reconstruction time on image quality of low-dose screening chest CT.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Model-based type iterative reconstruction algorithms with fast
      reconstruction times are now available. The clinical feasibility of their
      reconstruction has not been evaluated adequately. PURPOSE: To investigate the
      effects of model-based type iterative reconstruction, i.e. iterative model
      reconstruction (IMR), with fast reconstruction time on the qualitative and
      quantitative image quality at low-dose chest computed tomography (CT). MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: Thirty-one patients undergoing low-dose screening chest CT were
      enrolled. Images were reconstructed using filtered back projection (FBP), hybrid
      iterative reconstruction (HIR), and IMR algorithms. The CT attenuation and image
      noise for all reconstructions were calculated at the lung apex, middle, and base.
      Using a 4-point scale, two reviewers visually evaluated the image quality with
      respect to vessel sharpness, streak artifact, the mediastinum, and the overall
      image quality of each reconstruction method. RESULTS: The mean estimated
      effective dose was 1.0 +/- 0.3 mSv. There was no significant difference in the CT
      attenuation among the three reconstructions. The mean image noise of FBP, HIR,
      and IMR images was 124.3 +/- 57.3, 34.8 +/- 10.2, and 22.9 +/- 5.8 HU,
      respectively. There were significant differences for all comparison combinations
      among the three methods (P < 0.01). The best subjective overall image quality for
      the lung and mediastinum was obtained with IMR (P < 0.01). The reconstruction
      time for IMR was within 3 min in all cases. CONCLUSION: At low-dose chest CT, IMR
      can improve the qualitative and quantitative visualization of both lung and
      mediastinal structures especially in the lung apex at a clinically acceptable
      reconstruction time. Its application may improve diagnostic performance.

PMID- 25817456
TI  - Carbon stable-isotope tracking in breath for comparative studies of fuel use.
AB  - Almost half a century ago, researchers demonstrated that the ratio of stable
      carbon isotopes in exhaled breath of rats and humans could reveal the oxidation
      of labeled substrates in vivo, opening a new chapter in the study of fuel use,
      the fate of ingested substrates, and aerobic metabolism. Until recently, the
      combined use of respirometry and stable-isotope tracer techniques had not been
      broadly employed to study fuel use in other animal groups. In this review, we
      summarize the history of this approach in human and animal research and define
      best practices that maximize its utility. We also summarize several case studies
      that use stable-isotope measurements of breath to explore the limits of aerobic
      metabolism and substrate turnover among several species and various physiological
      states. We highlight the importance of a comparative approach in revealing the
      profound effects that phylogeny, ecology, and behavior can have in shaping
      aerobic metabolism and energetics as well as the fundamental biological
      principles that underlie fuel use and metabolic function across taxa. New
      analytical equipment and refinement of methodology make the combined use of
      respirometry and stable-isotope tracer techniques simpler to perform, less
      costly, and more field ready than ever before. 

PMID- 25817457
TI  - Colloid solutions in the perioperative setting.

PMID- 25817458
TI  - Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography and intraductal radiofrequency ablation
      combined with biliary stent placement for malignant biliary obstruction.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the safety and feasibility of percutaneous transhepatic
      cholangiography (PTC) and intraductal radiofrequency (RF) ablation combined with
      biliary stent placement for malignant biliary obstruction. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Data from patients with unresectable malignant biliary obstruction who underwent
      PTC, intraductal RF ablation, and biliary stent placement (n = 12) or PTC and
      biliary stent placement only (control group; n = 14) were reviewed. Postoperative
      complications, jaundice remission, and stent patency were assessed. RESULTS: All
      procedures were successful. No severe complications (eg, biliary bleeding,
      perforation) occurred. Two experimental group patients developed cholangitis,
      which resolved with conservative treatment. The 1-week jaundice remission and 3
      month stent patency rates were similar in both groups, but the 6-month stent
      patency rate was higher in the experimental group (P < .05). In the experimental
      group, one death occurred as a result of gastrointestinal hemorrhage (unrelated
      to stent placement) by 3 months, and there were two cases of recurrent jaundice
      by 6 months. The latter two patients underwent repeat PTC, ablation, and stent
      placement. In the control group, one death occurred as a result of hepatic
      failure caused by progressive jaundice at 3 months, and another death resulted
      from disseminated intravascular coagulation caused by jaundice recurrence at 138
      days after stent placement. In addition, seven patients developed jaundice
      recurrence (50-151 d after stent placement). PTC and repeat stent placement were
      performed in these patients. CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous transhepatic
      cholangiography and intraductal RF ablation combined with biliary stent placement
      for malignant biliary obstruction is safe and feasible and effectively prolongs
      stent patency time.

PMID- 25817459
TI  - Selection and molecular characterization of cellulolytic-xylanolytic fungi from
      surface soil-biomass mixtures from Black Belt sites.
AB  - Plant biomass is an abundant renewable natural resource that can be transformed
      into chemical feedstocks. Enzymes used in saccharification of lignocellulosic
      biomass are a major part of biofuel production costs. A cocktail of cellulolytic
      and xylanolytic enzymes are required for optimal saccharification of biomass.
      Accordingly, thirty-two fungal pure cultures were obtained from surface soil
      biomass mixtures collected from Black Belt sites in Alabama by culturing on
      lignocellulosic biomass medium. The fungal strains were screened for the
      coproduction of cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes. Strains that displayed
      promising levels of cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes were characterized by
      molecular analysis of DNA sequences from the large subunit and internal
      transcribed spacer (ITS) of their ribosomal RNA gene. Nucleotide sequence
      analysis revealed that two most promising isolates FS22A and FS5A were most
      similar to Penicillium janthinellum and Trichoderma virens. Production dynamics
      of cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes from these two strains were explored in
      submerged fermentation. Volumetric productivity after 120 h incubation was 121.08
      units/L/h and 348 units/L/h for the filter paper cellulase and xylanase of strain
      FS22A, and 90.83 units/L/h and 359 units/L/h, respectively for strain FS5A.
      Assays with 10 times dilution of enzymes revealed that the activities were much
      higher than that observed in the crude culture supernatant. Additionally, both
      FS22A and FS5A also produced amylase in lignocellulose medium. The enzyme
      profiles of these strains and their activities suggest potential applications in
      cost effective biomass conversion and biodegradation.

PMID- 25817460
TI  - Effect of asthma on falling into poverty: the overlooked costs of illness.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies on the indirect costs of asthma have taken a narrow view of
      how the condition affects the living standards of patients by examining only the
      association with employment and income. OBJECTIVE: To build on the current cost
      of-illness literature and identify whether having asthma is associated with an
      increased risk of poverty, thus giving a more complete picture of the costs of
      asthma to individuals and society. METHODS: Longitudinal analysis of the
      nationally representative Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australian
      survey to estimate the relative risk of income poverty, multidimensional poverty,
      and long-term multidimensional poverty between 2007 and 2012 and population
      attributable risk method to estimate the proportion of poverty between 2007 and
      2012 directly attributable to asthma. RESULTS: No significant difference was
      found in the risk of falling into income poverty between those with and without
      asthma (P = .07). Having asthma increased the risk of falling into
      multidimensional poverty by 1.35 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.83) and
      the risk of falling into chronic multidimensional poverty by 2.22 (95% CI, 1.20
      4.10). Between 2007 and 2012, a total of 5.2% of income poverty cases (95% CI,
      5.1%-5.4%), 7.8% of multidimensional poverty cases (95% CI, 7.7%-8.0%), and 19.6%
      of chronic multidimensional poverty cases (95% CI, 19.2%-20.0%) can be attributed
      to asthma. CONCLUSION: Asthma is associated with an increased risk of falling
      into poverty. This should be taken into consideration when considering the
      suitability of different treatment options for patients with asthma.

PMID- 25817461
TI  - Phytobezoar-induced small bowel obstruction associated with a concomitant gastric
      phytobezoar and ulcer in an elderly woman.
AB  - Bezoars are aggregates of indigested foreign material that accumulate in the
      gastroenteric tract, expecially in the stomach and in the narrowest points of the
      small bowel. They often occur in subjects who follow a diet rich in fruit and
      vegetables and in those one who previously underwent gastric resective surgery
      for peptic ulcer. Bezoar formation has even been observed in case of reduced
      gastric motility and secretion due to diabetes, hypothyroidism, pernicious
      anemia, myotonic syndromes, and Guillain-Barre syndrome. As they are an uncommon
      cause of small bowel obstruction, phytobezoars are often not considered in the
      differential diagnosis of occlusive intestinal syndromes and so frequently come
      as an intraoperative finding. A consequence of this missed diagnosis in the
      preoperative period is an unnecessary diagnostic delay that can significantly
      increase morbidity and mortality. This case report illustrates the need to
      include phytobezoars in the preoperative diagnostic workout of intestinal
      obstruction in order to rule out the presence of multiple bezoars and prevent
      recurrent obstruction. Now that phytobezoars are becoming a less infrequent cause
      of small bowel obstruction than previously thought, such a diagnostic possibility
      should always be considered.

PMID- 25817462
TI  - Dimorphism in genes encoding sexual-stage proteins of Plasmodium ovale curtisi
      and Plasmodium ovale wallikeri.
AB  - Plasmodium ovale curtisi and Plasmodium ovale wallikeri are distinct species of
      malaria parasite which are sympatric throughout the tropics, except for the
      Americas. Despite this complete overlap in geographic range, these two species do
      not recombine. Although morphologically very similar, the two taxa must possess
      distinct characters which prevent recombination between them. We hypothesised
      that proteins required for sexual reproduction have sufficiently diverged between
      the two species to prevent recombination in any mosquito blood meal in which
      gametocytes of both species are ingested. In order to investigate possible
      barriers to inter-species mating between P. ovale curtisi and P. ovale wallikeri,
      homologues of genes encoding sexual stage proteins in other plasmodia were
      identified and compared between the two species. Database searches with motifs
      for 6-cysteine, Limulus Coagulation factor C domain-containing proteins and other
      relevant sexual stage proteins in the genus Plasmodium were performed in the
      available P. ovale curtisi partial genome database (Wellcome Trust Sanger
      Institute, UK). Sequence fragments obtained were used as the basis for PCR
      walking along each gene of interest in reference isolates of both P. ovale
      curtisi and P. ovale wallikeri. Sequence alignment of the homologues of each gene
      in each species showed complete dimorphism across all isolates. In conclusion,
      substantial divergence between sexual stage proteins in the two P. ovale spp. was
      observed, providing further evidence that these do not recombine in nature.
      Incompatibility of proteins involved in sexual development and fertilisation thus
      remains a plausible explanation for the observed lack of natural recombination
      between P. ovale curtisi and P. ovale wallikeri. 

PMID- 25817463
TI  - Paternal antigen-specific proliferating regulatory T cells are increased in
      uterine-draining lymph nodes just before implantation and in pregnant uterus just
      after implantation by seminal plasma-priming in allogeneic mouse pregnancy.
AB  - Paternal antigen-specific regulatory T (PA-specific Treg) cells play an important
      role in feto-maternal tolerance. To detect the PA-specific Tregs, female BALB/c
      mice were mated with male DBA/2 mice. Mls Ia antigen on DBA/2 mice is recognized
      by the T-cell receptor Vbeta6; thus, CD4(+)Foxp3(+)Vbeta6(+) cells are recognized
      as PA-specific Treg cells. CD4(+)CD25(+)Vbeta6(+) cells effectively suppressed
      the allo-reactive proliferation of lymphocytes compared with that of
      CD4(+)CD25(+)Vbeta6(-) cells. Vbeta6(+) PA-specific Treg cells expressed CCR4 and
      CCR5 on their surface. The frequency of Ki67(+) PA-specific Treg cells among Treg
      cells was significantly increased in draining lymph nodes on day 3.5 post-coitus
      (pc; 6.8+/-1.1%, p<0.05) and day 5.5 pc (7.2+/-1.1%, p<0.05) in allogeneic
      pregnant mice compared with that in nonpregnant mice (2.7+/-0.2%). The frequency
      of Ki67(+) PA-specific Treg cells in the uterus increased significantly after day
      5.5 pc in allogeneic pregnant mice compared with that in nonpregnant mice (8.8+/
      2.8% vs. 1.2+/-1.3%, p<0.05). However, Ki67(-)PA-specific Tregs did not change
      during pregnancy. To analyze the role of seminal fluid or sperm in Treg
      expansion, female BALB/c mice were mated with vasectomized DBA/2 male mice (VAS)
      or seminal vesicle-excised DBA/2 male mice (SVX). The frequency of Ki67(+) PA
      specific Treg cells did not increase in draining lymph nodes or uterus in
      BALB/c*DBA/2 (SVX) allogeneic mating mice. These findings suggest that the
      priming by seminal fluid is important for the induction of proliferating PA
      specific Tregs in uterine-draining lymph nodes just before implantation and
      pregnant uterus after implantation, resulting in successful implantation and the
      maintenance of allogeneic pregnancy. 

PMID- 25817465
TI  - Only humans have human placentas: molecular differences between mice and humans.
AB  - The placenta is one of the organs with the highest evolutionary diversity among
      animal species. In consequence, an animal model that reflects human placentation
      exactly does not exist. However, the mouse is the most frequently used animal
      model for placenta and pregnancy research. It possesses a hemochorial placenta,
      which is similar, but also different from the human placenta. The question
      whether the similarities are sufficient for the achievement of useful results
      with regard to human pregnancy was debated recently at the 11th Congress of the
      European Society for Reproductive Immunology (Budapest, Hungary). Here, we
      discuss the molecular features of the human placenta that are restricted to
      primates or even to humans. Many of the primate-specific genetic novelties, e.g.,
      the large microRNA cluster on chromosome 19, have been detected during the last
      10-15 years and could not be referred to in earlier discussions. Now, in the
      light of recent findings and a better understanding of interspecies differences,
      we conclude that the mouse model is often overvalued. Owing to the increasing
      number of known human-specific factors in human placentation we consider that
      many aspects of human placentation can only be understood on the basis of
      experiments on human cells and tissues in combination with data collections from
      human subject studies. 

PMID- 25817464
TI  - Stimulation of the JAK/STAT pathway by LIF and OSM in the human granulosa cell
      line COV434.
AB  - The development of the follicle and competent oocyte is highly coordinated,
      requiring interplay among several systems. These implicate endocrine, immune, and
      metabolic signals, intrafollicular paracrine factors from theca, mural, and
      cumulus granulosa cells, and the oocyte itself. Granulosa cells play a key role
      in their interaction. COV434 is one of the few human granulosa cell lines that
      can be used as an in vitro model for ovarian research. We aimed to evaluate the
      possible activation of the Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of
      transcription (JAK/STAT) signaling pathway by IL-6-type cytokines leukemia
      inhibitory factor (LIF) and oncostatin M (OSM) in COV434 cells. Expression of
      GP130 (glycoprotein 130), STAT3 (signal transducer and activators of
      transcription 3), PIAS3 (protein inhibitor of activated STAT 3), and SOCS3
      (suppressor of cytokine signaling 3) genes after stimulation with LIF or OSM was
      assessed using RT-qPCR (real-time PCR). GP130 transcripts were significantly
      upregulated after incubation with LIF or OSM for 24h. Expression of the STAT3
      gene was stimulated only after incubation with LIF, but not OSM. SOCS3 showed
      significant upregulation for all time periods and the levels of PIAS3 were
      initially down- and after 24h upregulated. Furthermore, the major signaling
      components of the JAK/STAT pathway, GP130 and STAT3, and the kinase activation
      patterns of STAT3, were examined at protein level. We found constitutive protein
      expression for GP130, STAT3, pSTAT3(ser727) and upregulation of pSTAT3(tyr705) by
      LIF and OSM. Our results demonstrate the activation of the JAK/STAT pathway by
      LIF and OSM in human granulosa cells. 

PMID- 25817466
TI  - The relationship between seizure onset zone and ictal tachycardia: An
      intracranial EEG study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Seizures are often accompanied by ictal tachycardia, which, when
      pronounced, is one of the cardiac arrhythmias associated with sudden unexpected
      death in epilepsy (SUDEP). We examined the relationship between the
      lateralization and localization of seizure onset and development of ictal
      tachycardia. METHODS: We identified patients who underwent bi-hemispheric
      intracranial EEG recording over a period of 18 months. Two to four consecutive
      seizures were reviewed for each patient. RESULTS: Fifty-seizures from 19
      consecutive patients were analyzed. Forty seizures (80%) developed tachycardia
      (>20% increase from baseline), but laterality at seizure onset did not predict
      its occurrence (p=0.168). Bi-laterality at ictal onset was associated with early
      ictal tachycardia (<10s) (p=0.0208). Seizures out of sleep developed tachycardia
      faster (mean 19.7s vs. 68.2s, p=0.0067), but the state of alertness was not
      predictive of the development of tachycardia within 10s of seizure onset.
      Temporal and/or orbito-frontal lobe involvement was associated with tachycardia
      when compared to any other lobar combinations at ictal onset (p=0.0073).
      CONCLUSION: Laterality at seizure onset does not predict the occurrence of ictal
      tachycardia. Involvement of the temporal and orbito-frontal cortex, spread to the
      contralateral hemisphere and state of alertness, may define the degree and rate
      of autonomic changes. SIGNIFICANCE: Our results help clarify the autonomic
      control during seizures and offer potential use for future studies in SUDEP risk
      and automatic seizure detection.

PMID- 25817467
TI  - Angle closure secondary to the use of lorazepam in patient with myopia magna.
AB  - CASE REPORT: Myopic magna with narrow anterior chamber that presented with a
      secondary angle closure due to lorazepam. DISCUSSION: Angle closure usually
      occurs in predisposed patients and is triggered by precipitating factors. Many
      drugs routinely used in clinical practice could act as a factor responsible for
      the secondary angle closure.

PMID- 25817468
TI  - [Genetic analysis results of patients with a retinoblastoma refractory to
      systemic chemotherapy].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the genetic alterations identified in the RB1 gene in
      retinoblastoma patients who do not respond to systemic chemotherapy. METHODS: A
      genetic analysis was performed on 115 patients with retinoblastoma, 40 of whom
      had received systemic chemotherapy, and 29 of them had bilateral disease.
      Descriptive and retrospective study. Non-responders were considered as patients
      who are finally enucleated. RESULTS: Patients with deletion type mutations are
      those with less preservation of the eyeball (Pearson Chi-square, P=.055).
      Patients with an impaired nonsense-frameshift type are more likely to preserve
      the eyeball. Of the 3 patients who had undergone bilateral enucleation, 2 of them
      had deletions and one missense alteration. Survival analysis (Kaplan-Meier curve)
      shows that patients with deletion type mutations are more resistance to
      chemotherapy, are suffering higher rates of enucleation, and for a shorter period
      of time (log rank [Mantel-Cox] with a significance level of P=.053), which are
      also associated with increased rate of being bilateral. CONCLUSIONS: Patients
      with a genotype show increased resistance to chemotherapy should be evaluated
      more closely and treated with various therapeutic weapons early. Patients that
      have deletions in the RB1 gene are at increased risk of chemoresistance. It is
      likely that other genetic alterations other than RB1 gene may be related to tumor
      aggressiveness and treatment resistance.

PMID- 25817469
TI  - Mean platelet volume increased in children with asthma.

PMID- 25817471
TI  - Treatment with misoprostol by midwives is safe and effective.

PMID- 25817470
TI  - Interleukin-2 treatment reverses effects of cAMP-responsive element modulator
      alpha-over-expressing T cells in autoimmune-prone mice.
AB  - Systemic autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), are
      often characterized by a failure of self-tolerance and result in an uncontrolled
      activation of B cells and effector T cells. Interleukin (IL)-2 critically
      maintains homeostasis of regulatory T cells (T(reg)) and effector T cells in the
      periphery. Previously, we identified the cAMP-responsive element modulator alpha
      (CREMalpha) as a major factor responsible for decreased IL-2 production in T
      cells from SLE patients. Additionally, using a transgenic mouse that specifically
      over-expresses CREMalpha in T cells (CD2CREMalphatg), we provided in-vivo
      evidence that CREMalpha indeed suppresses IL-2 production. To analyse the effects
      of CREMalpha in an autoimmune prone mouse model we introduced a Fas mutation in
      the CD2CREMalphatg mice (FVB/Fas(-/-) CD2CREMalphatg). Overexpression of
      CREMalpha strongly accelerated the lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly in the
      FVB/Fas(-/-) mice. This was accompanied by a massive expansion of double-negative
      (DN) T cells, enhanced numbers of interferon (IFN)-gamma-producing T cells and
      reduced percentages of T(regs). Treatment of FVB/Fas(-/-) CD2CREMalphatg mice
      with IL-2 restored the percentage of T(regs) and reversed increased IFN-gamma
      production, but did not affect the number of DNTs. Our data indicate that
      CREMalpha contributes to the failure of tolerance in SLE by favouring effector T
      cells and decreasing regulatory T cells, partially mediated by repression of IL-2
      in vivo.

PMID- 25817472
TI  - Comparison of treatment of incomplete abortion with misoprostol by physicians and
      midwives at district level in Uganda: a randomised controlled equivalence trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Misoprostol is established for the treatment of incomplete abortion
      but has not been systematically assessed when provided by midwives at district
      level in a low-resource setting. We investigated the effectiveness and safety of
      midwives diagnosing and treating incomplete abortion with misoprostol, compared
      with physicians. METHODS: We did a multicentre randomised controlled equivalence
      trial at district level at six facilities in Uganda. Eligibility criteria were
      women with signs of incomplete abortion. We randomly allocated women with first
      trimester incomplete abortion to clinical assessment and treatment with
      misoprostol either by a physician or a midwife. The randomisation (1:1) was done
      in blocks of 12 and was stratified for study site. Primary outcome was complete
      abortion not needing surgical intervention within 14-28 days after initial
      treatment. The study was not masked. Analysis of the primary outcome was done on
      the per-protocol population with a generalised linear-mixed effects model. The
      predefined equivalence range was -4% to 4%. The trial was registered at
      ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01844024. FINDINGS: From April 30, 2013, to July
      21, 2014, 1108 women were assessed for eligibility. 1010 women were randomly
      assigned to each group (506 to midwife group and 504 to physician group). 955
      women (472 in the midwife group and 483 in the physician group) were included in
      the per-protocol analysis. 452 (95.8%) of women in the midwife group had complete
      abortion and 467 (96.7%) in the physician group. The model-based risk difference
      for midwife versus physician group was -0.8% (95% CI -2.9 to 1.4), falling within
      the predefined equivalence range (-4% to 4%). The overall proportion of women
      with incomplete abortion was 3.8% (36/955), similarly distributed between the two
      groups (4.2% [20/472] in the midwife group, 3.3% [16/483] in the physician
      group). No serious adverse events were recorded. INTERPRETATION: Diagnosis and
      treatment of incomplete abortion with misoprostol by midwives is equally safe and
      effective as when provided by physicians, in a low-resource setting. Scaling up
      midwives' involvement in treatment of incomplete abortion with misoprostol at
      district level would increase access to safe post-abortion care. FUNDING: The
      Swedish Research Council, Karolinska Institutet, and Dalarna University.

PMID- 25817473
TI  - Correlation between injury pattern and Finite Element analysis in biomechanical
      reconstructions of Traumatic Brain Injuries.
AB  - At present, Finite Element (FE) analyses are often used as a tool to better
      understand the mechanisms of head injury. Previously, these models have been
      compared to cadaver experiments, with the next step under development being
      accident reconstructions. Thus far, the main focus has been on deriving an injury
      threshold and little effort has been put into correlating the documented injury
      location with the response displayed by the FE model. Therefore, the purpose of
      this study was to introduce a novel image correlation method that compares the
      response of the FE model with medical images. The injuries shown on the medical
      images were compared to the strain pattern in the FE model and evaluated by two
      indices; the Overlap Index (OI) and the Location Index (LI). As the name
      suggests, OI measures the area which indicates both injury in the medical images
      and high strain values in the FE images. LI evaluates the difference in center of
      mass in the medical and FE images. A perfect match would give an OI and LI equal
      to 1. This method was applied to three bicycle accident reconstructions. The
      reconstructions gave an average OI between 0.01 and 0.19 for the three cases and
      between 0.39 and 0.88 for LI. Performing injury reconstructions are a challenge
      as the information from the accidents often is uncertain. The suggested method
      evaluates the response in an objective way which can be used in future injury
      reconstruction studies. 

PMID- 25817474
TI  - A continuous fiber distribution material model for human cervical tissue.
AB  - The uterine cervix during pregnancy is the vital mechanical barrier which resists
      compressive and tensile loads generated from a growing fetus. Premature cervical
      remodeling and softening is hypothesized to result in the shortening of the
      cervix, which is known to increase a woman's risk of preterm birth. To understand
      the role of cervical material properties in preventing preterm birth, we derive a
      cervical material model based on previous mechanical, biochemical and
      histological experiments conducted on nonpregnant and pregnant human hysterectomy
      cervical tissue samples. In this study we present a three-dimensional fiber
      composite model that captures the equilibrium material behavior of the tissue in
      tension and compression. Cervical tissue is modeled as a fibrous composite
      material, where a single family of preferentially aligned and continuously
      distributed collagen fibers are embedded in a compressible neo-Hookean ground
      substance. The total stress in the collagen solid network is calculated by
      integrating the fiber stresses. The shape of the fiber distribution is described
      by an ellipsoid where semi-principal axis lengths are fit to optical coherence
      tomography measurements. The composite material model is fit to averaged
      mechanical testing data from uni-axial compression and tension experiments, and
      averaged material parameters are reported for nonpregnant and term pregnant human
      cervical tissue. The model is then evaluated by investigating the stress and
      strain state of a uniform thick-walled cylinder under a compressive stress with
      collagen fibers preferentially aligned in the circumferential direction. This
      material modeling framework for the equilibrium behavior of human cervical tissue
      serves as a basis to determine the role of preferentially-aligned cervical
      collagen fibers in preventing cervical deformation during pregnancy.

PMID- 25817475
TI  - Zero- vs. one-dimensional, parametric vs. non-parametric, and confidence interval
      vs. hypothesis testing procedures in one-dimensional biomechanical trajectory
      analysis.
AB  - Biomechanical processes are often manifested as one-dimensional (1D)
      trajectories. It has been shown that 1D confidence intervals (CIs) are biased
      when based on 0D statistical procedures, and the non-parametric 1D bootstrap CI
      has emerged in the Biomechanics literature as a viable solution. The primary
      purpose of this paper was to clarify that, for 1D biomechanics datasets, the
      distinction between 0D and 1D methods is much more important than the distinction
      between parametric and non-parametric procedures. A secondary purpose was to
      demonstrate that a parametric equivalent to the 1D bootstrap exists in the form
      of a random field theory (RFT) correction for multiple comparisons. To emphasize
      these points we analyzed six datasets consisting of force and kinematic
      trajectories in one-sample, paired, two-sample and regression designs. Results
      showed, first, that the 1D bootstrap and other 1D non-parametric CIs were
      qualitatively identical to RFT CIs, and all were very different from 0D CIs.
      Second, 1D parametric and 1D non-parametric hypothesis testing results were
      qualitatively identical for all six datasets. Last, we highlight the limitations
      of 1D CIs by demonstrating that they are complex, design-dependent, and thus non
      generalizable. These results suggest that (i) analyses of 1D data based on 0D
      models of randomness are generally biased unless one explicitly identifies 0D
      variables before the experiment, and (ii) parametric and non-parametric 1D
      hypothesis testing provide an unambiguous framework for analysis when one's
      hypothesis explicitly or implicitly pertains to whole 1D trajectories. 

PMID- 25817476
TI  - Patterns of frequency distribution of woody plant heights: a response to Scheffer
      et al.

PMID- 25817477
TI  - Development of a sensitive, accurate and robust liquid chromatography/mass
      spectrometric method for profiling of angiotensin peptides in plasma and its
      application for atherosclerotic mice.
AB  - Quantification of angiotensin (Ang) peptides in biological matrices is a
      challenge due to their low picomolar (pM) concentration and poor analytical
      performance of current methods. This work aimed to select an optimal strategy for
      liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) quantification of major
      angiotensins in plasma of wild type and atherosclerotic mice. Optimal LC/MS set
      up for Ang quantification was chosen, based on analytical performance, from:
      nanoflow/orbitrap, nanoflow/triple quadrupole and preconcentration
      nanoflow/triple quadrupole. The best LC/MS configuration (preconcentration
      nanoflow/triple quadrupole) was validated and used for measurement of
      angiotensins (Ang I, II, III, IV and (1-7)) in plasma of 6-month-old
      atherosclerotic apolipoprotein E/LDL receptor double knock-outs (ApoE/LDLR (--/-
      )) and wild type C57BL/6J (WT) mice. The method established for Ang
      quantification was selective, accurate and highly sensitive with LLOQ of 5pgmL(
      1). The peak area intra-day precisions for Ang II and Ang-(1-7) were in the range
      3.0-5.1 and 3.5-5.8, respectively, with corresponding accuracy of 95.4-103.5% and
      95.6-106.3%. Plasma angiotensin profile was substantially modified in ApoE/LDLR
      knock-out mice with increase in concentration of Ang II from 37.6+/-21.3pgmL(-1)
      in WT to 200.2+/-47.6pgmL(-1). Concentrations of Ang I, III and IV were also
      increased 3-10 fold in ApoE/LDLR (--/--) mice while that of Ang-(1-7) was
      unchanged. We conclude that the method developed could be effectively used for
      accurate, comprehensive profiling of angiotensin peptides in mouse plasma. We
      identified substantial changes in renin-angiotensin system in a genetic mouse
      model of atherosclerosis consistent with the overactivation of angiotensin
      converting enzyme (ACE) and the impairment of ACE2. 

PMID- 25817478
TI  - Selective removal of carbon dioxide contained in the effluent from ion
      chromatography suppressors using a new non-vacuum device.
AB  - In this paper, a new CO2 gas removal device optimized to selectively remove CO2
      gas contained in the effluent from suppressors used in ion chromatography (IC)
      under non-vacuum conditions is described. This device consists of a closed vessel
      equipped with gas permeable tubing (GPT) and a CO2 adsorbent. During operation,
      the CO2 adsorbent adsorbs CO2 gas in the vessel, creating CO2 partial pressure
      difference between the inside of the GPT and the vessel. The CO2 gas contained in
      the effluent being pumped into the GPT is selectively removed from the effluent
      based on the diffusion of the CO2 associated with the CO2 partial pressure
      difference. The purpose of this study is to optimize the IC operating conditions
      with the aim of selectively removing HCO3(-) (CO3(2-)) contained in the effluent
      and reducing the electrical conductivity of the effluent under non-vacuum
      conditions. The electrical conductivity of the effluent and the signal intensity
      of the water dip is decreased by approximately 25 MUS/cm (from 30 to 5 MUS/cm)
      and by approximately twentieth, respectively, using the optimized CO2 remover. In
      addition, the anion detection limit achieved in IC instruments with a CO2 remover
      is on the order of a few ppb.

PMID- 25817481
TI  - On-demand doping of graphene by stamping with a chemically functionalized rubber
      lens.
AB  - A customized graphene doping method was developed involving stamping using a
      chemically functionalized rubber lens as a novel design strategy for fabricating
      advanced two-dimensional (2D) materials-based electronic devices. Our stamping
      strategy enables deterministic control over the doping level and the spatial
      pattern of the doping on graphene. The dopants introduced onto graphene were
      locally and continuously controlled by directly stamping dopants using a
      chemically functionalized hemispherical rubber lens onto the graphene. The rubber
      lens was functionalized using two different dopants: poly(ethylene imine) to
      achieve n-type doping and bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amine to achieve p-type
      doping. The graphene doping was systematically controlled by varying both the
      contact area (between the rubber lens and the graphene) and the contact time.
      Graphene doping using a stamp with a chemically functionalized rubber lens was
      confirmed by both Raman spectroscopy and charge transport measurements. We
      theoretically modeled the conductance properties of the spatially doped graphene
      using the effective medium theory and found excellent agreement with the
      experimental results. Finally, complementary inverters were successfully
      demonstrated by connecting n-type and p-type graphene transistors fabricated
      using the stamping doping method. We believe that this versatile doping method
      for controlling charge transport in graphene will further promote graphene
      electronic device applications. The doping method introduced in this paper may
      also be applied to other emergent 2D materials to tightly modulate the electrical
      properties in advanced electronic devices. 

PMID- 25817480
TI  - Analysis of tandem E-box motifs within human Complement receptor 2 (CR2/CD21)
      promoter reveals cell specific roles for RP58, E2A, USF and localized chromatin
      accessibility.
AB  - Complement receptor 2 (CR2/CD21) plays an important role in the generation of
      normal B cell immune responses. As transcription appears to be the prime
      mechanism via which surface CR2/CD21 expression is controlled, understanding
      transcriptional regulation of this gene will have broader implications to B cell
      biology. Here we report opposing, cell-context specific control of CR2/CD21
      promoter activity by tandem E-box elements, spaced 22 bp apart and within 70 bp
      of the transcription initiation site. We have identified E2A and USF
      transcription factors as binding to the distal and proximal E-box sites
      respectively in CR2-positive B-cells, at a site that is hypersensitive to
      restriction enzyme digestion compared to non-expressing K562 cells. However,
      additional unidentified proteins have also been found to bind these functionally
      important elements. By utilizing a proteomics approach we have identified a
      repressor protein, RP58, binding the distal E-box motif. Co-transfection
      experiments using RP58 overexpression constructs demonstrated a specific 10-fold
      repression of CR2/CD21 transcriptional activity mediated through the distal E-box
      repressor element. Taken together, our results indicate that repression of the
      CR2/CD21 promoter can occur through one of the E-box motifs via recruitment of
      RP58 and other factors to bring about a silenced chromatin context within
      CR2/CD21 non-expressing cells.

PMID- 25817482
TI  - See it, grab it, or STOP! Relationships between trait impulsivity, attentional
      bias for pictorial food cues and associated response inhibition following in-vivo
      food cue exposure.
AB  - Impulsivity is associated with appetitive behaviour such as heightened
      sensitivity to cues of reward. Impulsivity may thus confer a vulnerability to
      weight gain by virtue of over-responsiveness to rewarding appetitive cues. This
      vulnerability should be detectable as heightened cognitive and behavioural
      responsiveness to food cues, namely, an attentional bias to food-stimuli,
      subjective wanting, and loss of inhibitory control. We examined this proposition
      by measuring reactions to acute, in-vivo, food-cue exposure in low-impulsive and
      high-impulsive individuals. We expected that high-impulsive individuals would:
      (1) show a greater attentional bias towards pictorial food cues presented after
      in-vivo food cue exposure; (2) show a greater appetitive reaction to high-calorie
      snack foods; and (3) show poorer inhibitory control after in vivo exposure
      compared to control. Fifty female participants (25 yr +/- 1.1; 24 kg/m2 +/- 0.6)
      randomly allocated to either a high-calorie food-cue exposure or food-neutral
      control condition subsequently completed a food-cue visual probe reaction time
      task, subjective ratings of appetitive state and the Stop-Signal task. A
      significant Group-by-Duration interaction indicated that high-impulsives show
      slowed disengagement (longer RTs for 2000 ms duration) of pictorial food stimuli
      compared to their low-impulsive counterparts. Conversely, the low impulsive group
      show greater attentional bias than the high impulsive group (faster RTs) at the
      500 ms duration, indicating speeded detection of pictorial food cues. High
      impulsives showed poorer response inhibition compared to low-impulsives following
      in-vivo food-cue exposure. Impulsivity did not significantly moderate the effect
      of in-vivo cue-exposure on desire-to-eat ratings. The evidence we obtained
      regarding inhibitory control following in vivo food cue exposure suggests that
      high-impulsive individuals may be prone to overeat when their reward systems are
      activated, a hypothesis that requires further confirmation.

PMID- 25817483
TI  - Automatic approach/avoidance tendencies towards food and the course of anorexia
      nervosa.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of automatic
      approach/avoidance tendencies for food in Anorexia Nervosa (AN). We used a
      longitudinal approach and tested whether a reduction in eating disorder symptoms
      is associated with enhanced approach tendencies towards food and whether approach
      tendencies towards food at baseline are predictive for treatment outcome after
      one year follow up. METHOD: The Affective Simon Task-manikin version (AST
      manikin) was administered to measure automatic approach/avoidance tendencies
      towards high-caloric and low-caloric food in young AN patients. Percentage
      underweight and eating disorder symptoms as indexed by the EDE-Q were determined
      both during baseline and at one year follow up. RESULTS: At baseline anorexia
      patients showed an approach tendency for low caloric food, but not for high
      caloric food, whereas at 1 year follow up, they have an approach tendency for
      both high and low caloric food. Change in approach bias was neither associated
      with change in underweight nor with change in eating disorder symptoms. Strength
      of approach/avoidance tendencies was not predictive for percentage underweight.
      DISCUSSION: Although approach tendencies increased after one year, approach
      tendencies were neither associated with concurrent change in eating disorder
      symptoms nor predictive for treatment success as indexed by EDE-Q. This
      implicates that, so far, there is no reason to add a method designed to directly
      target approach/avoidance tendencies to the conventional approach to treat
      patients with a method designed to influence the more deliberate processes in AN.

PMID- 25817484
TI  - A licence to vape: Is it time to trial of a nicotine licensing scheme to allow
      Australian adults controlled access to electronic cigarettes devices and refill
      solutions containing nicotine?
AB  - Australia has some of the most restrictive laws concerning use of nicotine in e
      cigarettes. The only current legal option for Australians to legally possess and
      use nicotine for vaping is with a medical prescription and domestic supply is
      limited to compounding pharmacies that prepare medicines for specific patients.
      An alternative regulatory option that could be implemented under current drugs
      and poisons regulations is a 'nicotine licensing' scheme utilising current
      provisions for 'dangerous poisons'. This commentary discusses how such a scheme
      could be used to trial access to nicotine solutions for vaping outside of a
      'medicines framework' in Australia. 

PMID- 25817485
TI  - [The tip of the iceberg: cutaneous manifestations of paediatric diseases with
      neurological involvement].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Some cutaneous lesions might be the first clinical manifestation of
      diseases with systemic involvement. This article aims to review the relevant
      dermatological semiology for the concerning diseases with neurological
      involvement in childhood. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Review of the related literature
      indexed to MedLine published in the last twelve years. RESULTS: The main relevant
      nosologic groups include the genodermatosis (namely neurocutaneous syndromes),
      pigmentary, vascular and endocrine disorders, congenital enzymatic deficiencies
      and occult spinal dysraphisms. DISCUSSION: The recognition of specific cutaneous
      signs is important once may enable a much earlier diagnosis.

PMID- 25817486
TI  - Osteoarthritis.
AB  - Osteoarthritis is nowadays one of the most frequent chronic diseases and, with
      the increase in life expectancy, both its prevalence and incidence is expected to
      rise. This condition is progressive and leads to functional decline and loss in
      quality of life, with important health care and society costs. A review of
      relevant and recent literature on osteoarthritis was performed in PubMed. The
      purpose of this study is to understand important aspects about osteoarthritis
      estimates, burden of disease, pathophysiology, risk factors, diagnosis and
      treatment.

PMID- 25817479
TI  - Decoding mechanisms by which silent codon changes influence protein biogenesis
      and function.
AB  - SCOPE: Synonymous codon usage has been a focus of investigation since the
      discovery of the genetic code and its redundancy. The occurrences of synonymous
      codons vary between species and within genes of the same genome, known as codon
      usage bias. Today, bioinformatics and experimental data allow us to compose a
      global view of the mechanisms by which the redundancy of the genetic code
      contributes to the complexity of biological systems from affecting survival in
      prokaryotes, to fine tuning the structure and function of proteins in higher
      eukaryotes. Studies analyzing the consequences of synonymous codon changes in
      different organisms have revealed that they impact nucleic acid stability,
      protein levels, structure and function without altering amino acid sequence. As
      such, synonymous mutations inevitably contribute to the pathogenesis of complex
      human diseases. Yet, fundamental questions remain unresolved regarding the impact
      of silent mutations in human disorders. In the present review we describe
      developments in this area concentrating on mechanisms by which synonymous
      mutations may affect protein function and human health. PURPOSE: This synopsis
      illustrates the significance of synonymous mutations in disease pathogenesis. We
      review the different steps of gene expression affected by silent mutations, and
      assess the benefits and possible harmful effects of codon optimization applied in
      the development of therapeutic biologics. PHYSIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL RELEVANCE:
      Understanding mechanisms by which synonymous mutations contribute to complex
      diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration and genetic disorders, including the
      limitations of codon-optimized biologics, provides insight concerning
      interpretation of silent variants and future molecular therapies.

PMID- 25817487
TI  - [Nephrocalcinosis and subcutaneous fat necrosis].
AB  - Subcutaneous fat necrosis of the newborn is an uncommon, transient and self
      healing panniculits. This entity generally follows an uncomplicated course,
      however there are rare and important complications. The authors present a case of
      a newborn with subcutaneous fat necrosis complicated by hypercalcemia and
      nephrocalcinosis. The pathogenesis of hypercalcemia is not fully understood and
      the nephrocalcinosis can evolve to chronic kidney disease. Clinicians should be
      aware of subcutaneous fat necrosis as a possible risk factor for hypercalcemia
      and patients should have serial serum and urinary calcium determinations for up
      to 6 months after the appearance of the skin lesions. The early diagnosis and
      prompt treatment of hypercalcemia are essential to prevent severe complications.

PMID- 25817488
TI  - Thank you, reviewers of Acta Medica Portuguesa.

PMID- 25817489
TI  - [The national health service: dream and reality].

PMID- 25817490
TI  - [Clinical semiology at the technology age: the new cardiology].

PMID- 25817491
TI  - Cure of hepatitis C.

PMID- 25817492
TI  - [Analysis of the Cochrane Review: thrombolysis for acute deep vein thrombosis.
      Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014,1: CD002783].
AB  - The standard treatment for acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) targets to reduce
      immediate complications, however thrombolysis could reduce the long-term
      complications of post-thrombotic syndrome in the affected limb. This systematic
      review aimed to assess the effects of thrombolytic therapy and anticoagulation
      versus anticoagulation in people with deep vein thrombosis of the lower limb
      through the effects on pulmonary embolism, recurrent deep vein thrombosis, major
      bleeding, post-thrombotic complications, venous patency and venous function. The
      Cochrane Peripheral Vascular Diseases Group Trials Search Co-ordinator searched
      the Specialised Register (last search in April 2013) and CENTRAL (2013, Issue 4).
      A total of 17 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and 1103 participants were
      included. In the experimental group receiving thrombolysis, complete clot lysis
      occurred more frequently and there was greater improvement in venous patency. The
      incidence of post-thrombotic syndrome decreased by a 1/3 and venous ulcers were
      less frequent. There were more bleeding complications and 3 strokes occurred in
      less recent studies, yet there seemed to be no significant effect on mortality.
      Data on the occurrence of pulmonary embolism and recurrent deep vein thrombosis
      were inconclusive. There are advantages to thrombolysis, yet the application of
      rigorous criteria is warranted to reduce bleeding complications. Catheter
      directed thrombolysis is the current preferred method, as opposed to systemic
      thrombolysis in the past, and other studies comparing these procedures show that
      results are similar. 

PMID- 25817493
TI  - Etiological agents and antimicrobial susceptibility in hospitalized children with
      acute pyelonephritis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Antibiotic resistance driven by antibiotic use remains a major
      public health and professional concern. Our aim was to know the local prevalence
      of uropathogens and their antimicrobial susceptibility profile in acute
      pyelonephritis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective study of patients admitted in
      a level III Pediatric Department ward with acute pyelonephritis from 1994 to 2012
      was performed in Northern Portugal. Etiological agents and their antimicrobial
      sensitivity profile were evaluated in four timed periods (G1: 1994-97; G2: 2002;
      G3: 2007; G4: 2012). RESULTS: We evaluated 581 patients, 66% female with median
      age 22 months. Escherichia coli was the leading uropathogen and its prevalence
      remained stable during the last 18 years. It showed an increased sensitivity to
      amoxicillin-clavulanate from 71% in G1 to 81.5% in G4 (p = 0.001) and a decreased
      resistance rate from 8.7% in G1 to 2.8% in G4 (p = 0.008). Its sensitivity to 2nd
      and 3rd generation cephalosporin was more than 90% (p = ns) and more than 95% to
      nitrofurantoin (p = ns). Resistance rate of cotrimoxazole increased from 22% to
      26% (p = 0.008). DISCUSSION: Escherichia coli remains the main uropathogen
      responsible for acute pyelonephritis, reason why its antimicrobial sensitivity
      profile will determine the empirical therapeutic choice. CONCLUSIONS: Amoxicillin
      clavulanate remains a good first-line choice for empirical treatment of acute
      pyelonephritis in our inpatient health care.

PMID- 25817494
TI  - [Problems identified in the package leaflets of the Portuguese non-generic
      medicines].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: All medicines for human use are marketed with a package leaflet.
      Every package leaflet must contain an initial list mentioning all sections of the
      document in accordance to the European template Quality Review of Documents,
      being not to extensive, i.e. comprising approximately 1500 words. The so-called
      mixed leaflets contain information about medicines with more than one strength/
      pharmaceutical form, and only exceptionally are authorized. In this context, the
      objectives of the present study comprised the identification of issues in all
      package leaflets of Portuguese non-generic medicines: 1. to confirm the presence
      of an initial list, 2. to quantify the number of mixed leaflets, and 3. to
      evaluate their length (in number of pages). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Consultation of
      the leaflets, in a public database (Infomed), according to the classification of
      the National Prescribing Guide (1st trimester 2012). The data collected was
      subject to quality control and statistical analysis. RESULTS: Identification of
      2729 package leaflets, representing 3080 medicines. A total of 2042 leaflets were
      evaluated, with 181 (8.9%) missing the initial list and 351 (17.2%) being mixed.
      The average number of pages was 6.9 (SD=2.6), the minimum = 2 and the maximum =
      26. DISCUSSION: In some cases, readability and comprehension of some Portuguese
      leaflets might be compromised since: 1) some leaflets did not contain an initial
      list, 2) were classified as mixed leaflets, and/or 3) were classified as too
      extensive. CONCLUSION: Regulatory authorities and marketing authorization holders
      might need to take into consideration these issues during the development and
      approval of package leaflets.

PMID- 25817495
TI  - [Gestational diabetes and the new screening test's impact].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In 2011, a new screening test for gestational diabetes was
      introduced which allowed an earlier and larger diagnosis with the goal of
      reducing maternal and perinatal complications. The aim of our study was to
      evaluate the prevalence of gestational diabetes, compare maternal and perinatal
      outcomes with the previous and present screening tests and analyze postpartum
      screening results. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective study of women with
      singletons and gestational diabetes diagnosed during 2009 (n = 223) and 2012 (n =
      237), at Maternidade Dr. Alfredo da Costa, Portugal. Analysis of clinical charts
      and assessment of demographic data, medical and obstetric history, weight gain
      during pregnancy, gestational age at diagnosis, treatment regimens, neonatal
      outcomes and postpartum screening results, followed by comparison of these
      variables between the years of 2009 and 2012. RESULTS: In 2012, there was an
      increased gestational diabetes prevalence, lower weight gain during pregnancy (p
      < 0.001), more frequent use of pharmacological therapy (p < 0.001) and more
      diagnosed cases during first and second trimester (p < 0.001). As for neonatal
      outcomes, in this group, the medium weight at birth was significantly lower (p =
      0.001) with a decrease of newborns great for gestational age (p = 0.002).
      Postpartum screening rate was similar among both groups but in 2012 there was an
      increase of normal results and a decrease of impaired fasting glucose.
      DISCUSSION: Tighter criteria of the current screening test resulted in reduction
      of the majority of gestational diabetes complications but raised new questions.
      CONCLUSION: The introduction of the current screening test resulted in an
      increased prevalence, earlier diagnosis and reduction of macrosomia.

PMID- 25817496
TI  - [FATA Study: prevalence of atrial fibrillation and antithrombotic therapy in
      primary health care in a northern city of Portugal].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Atrial fibrillation is the most prevalent sustained arrhythmia. The
      efficacy of oral anticoagulation has been proved in prevention stroke in these
      patients. However, this seems to be an underutilized treatment. OBJECTIVES: to
      determine the prevalence of known atrial fibrillation in a Primary Health Care
      population; to identify major comorbidities, current antithrombotic therapy and
      evaluate their suitability according to the European Society of Cardiology
      guidelines. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Observational cross-sectional analytical study.
      POPULATION: all patients aged 30 or above, enrolled in eight Family Health Units
      of Vila Nova de Gaia and diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. RESULTS: Prevalence
      of atrial fibrillation was 1.29% (n = 940), being higher in males (p = 0.01) and
      increasing with age (p < 0.001). The most common comorbidities were hypertension
      (76.4%), heart failure (32.0%) and diabetes mellitus (28.2%). A total of 52% was
      performing anticoagulant therapy, 29% antiplatelet agents and 4% both therapies.
      Of those with low thrombotic risk, 63.6% was wrongly performing some kind of
      antithrombotic therapy; among patients with high risk or valvular disease 56.8%
      was properly undergoing anticoagulant therapy. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of
      atrial fibrillation as well as the frequency of the main comorbidities associated
      with it are in line with the majority of studies. Although most patients are
      undergoing oral anticoagulation, only 56.8% of those with atrial fibrillation was
      performing adequate antithrombotic therapy as recommended by the European Society
      of Cardiology guidelines, which denote a marked underutilization of this
      treatment.

PMID- 25817497
TI  - [Psychiatric comorbidities associated with headaches: the experience of the
      liaison consultation].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The comorbidity between headaches and psychiatric disorders is
      common and may be explained by different mechanisms in terms of uni or bi
      directional models, or sharing of genetic and environmental risk factors relating
      to development of both clinical conditions. The presence of this comorbidity has
      important implications for patients with headaches and for patients with
      psychiatric disorders, worsens the clinical situation, increases the risk of
      chronicity, the pain intensity and the rate of treatment failure. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: The authors performed a descriptive, retrospective study of prevalence,
      involving 250 patients seen in Psychiatry - Headaches liaison consultation, over
      a period of 3 years, from July 1, 2011 to July 1, 2013. The authors undertook the
      analysis of the clinical records, in respect to sociodemographic and clinical
      data, neurological and psychiatric diagnosis and prescribed therapy. RESULTS AND
      DISCUSSION: During this period were made 689 liaison consultations, with a
      prevalence of female patients (84%) and a mean age of 47 years. The tension type
      headache (60.8%), migraine (24.8%) and headache attributed to psychiatric
      disorders (7.2%) were the most prevalent types of headaches. Mood disorders (62%)
      and neurotic stress related disorders (39.2%) were the most frequent psychiatric
      diagnoses. The therapeutic intervention in these cases emphasizes the
      multidisciplinary approach with the collaboration of Neurologist and
      Psychiatrist, based in psychoeducation, cognitive-behavioral intervention and
      psychopharmacological treatment. CONCLUSION: Given the complexity of the clinical
      picture in cases of comorbidity, the experience of psychiatry liaison
      consultation and multidisciplinary intervention has proved particularly valuable
      in treating these patients, configuring itself as the proper treatment of this
      comorbidity.

PMID- 25817498
TI  - Prevalence of autonomic dysfunction in patients with multiple sclerosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Autonomic nervous system dysfunction is commonly seen in multiple
      sclerosis patients and should be explored in the routine evaluation. Composite
      Autonomic Symptom Score questionnaire was validated as a self-assessment
      instrument of autonomic symptoms. OBJECTIVES: Determine the frequency of
      autonomic symptoms in multiple sclerosis patients through a Portuguese version of
      Composite Autonomic Symptom Score; compare questionnaire results between patients
      and a control group; assess the feasibility of this questionnaire application in
      multiple sclerosis Portuguese patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This case-control
      study used a Portuguese translated version of Composite Autonomic Symptom Score
      to determine the frequency of autonomic symptoms in multiple sclerosis patients.
      RESULTS: One-hundred and three relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients -
      median age 41 years, median disease duration 6 years, median EDSS score 1 - and
      80 healthy subjects were included. Alterations in autonomic function were
      reported in 97.1% of the cases, with statistical significance in orthostatic
      intolerance and gastrointestinal domain scores. Nevertheless, the difference
      between multiple sclerosis patients (41.7%) without confounding factors that
      could interfere with autonomic dysfunction (i.e. comorbidities or medications)
      and controls showed no statistical significance. DISCUSSION: Our results may be
      related to the short disease duration, young age and lowdisability status of our
      patients unaffected by confounding factors. The questionnaire was not designed
      specifically for multiple sclerosis and it may not be as sensible to early
      autonomic symptoms as to more severe manifestations. CONCLUSIONS: Further studies
      are needed to achieve more robust results, validate this questionnaire and assess
      its application in multiple sclerosis patients in Portugal.

PMID- 25817499
TI  - [Congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency: genotype
      phenotype correlation].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency is
      one of the most frequent inborn conditions. It is caused by distinct mutations in
      the CYP21A2 gene and in the majority of cases the disease's severity correlates
      with CYP21A2 allelic variation Our aim was to describe the mutational spectrum of
      CYP21A2 and evaluate genotype-phenotype correlation in a cohort of portuguese
      patients with 21-hydroxylase deficiency. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective
      study of 22 patients with clinical diagnosis of 21-hydroxylase deficiency.
      Molecular analysis of CYP21A2 was performed and genotype-phenotype correlation
      was then established. RESULTS: Genotyping was performed in 22 unrelated patients:
      5 with classic salt-wasting (average age of diagnosis 10,2 days; minimum 1,
      maximum 20 days), 7 with classic simple virilizing (average age of diagnosis 3,5
      years; minimum 0 days, maximum 7 years) and 10 with nonclassical form (average
      age of diagnosis 5,7 years; minimum 4 years, maximum 8 years). The most frequent
      genetic defects in the classic forms were I2 splice (24%) and I172N (24%),
      followed by Q318X (16%) and gene deletions (16%) and in the nonclassical form,
      the V281L (80%). The overall concordance between genotype and phenotype was
      81,8%. Genotype accurately predicted phenotype in 83,3%, 100% and 90% of patients
      with classic salt-wasting, classic simple virilizing and nonclassical mutations,
      respectively. DISCUSSION: The frequency of genetic defects in our patients was
      comparable to similar studies. In most cases there was a good correlation between
      genotype and phenotype. CONCLUSIONS: Molecular analysis of CYP21A2 provides
      useful information in terms of prediction of disease severity, genetic and
      prenatal counseling.

PMID- 25817500
TI  - Efficacy and safety of percutaneous radiofrequency thermal ablation in the
      treatment of lung cancer lesions.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In this study, we reviewed a clinical series composed by all
      malignant lung lesions submitted to computed tomography-guided percutaneous
      thermal radiofrequency ablation, in our hospital, a rather recent technique that
      has been gaining scientific recognition. MATERIAL AND METHODS: For data purposes,
      all radiofrequency ablation and corresponding clinical records were
      retrospectively analysed. A computed tomography scan was performed before and
      after each procedure to evaluate the tumour's features, and at a second step to
      assess results and complications. The frequency of local recurrence and disease
      progression were determined based on imaging follow-up. Kaplan-Meier analysis was
      used to estimate survival. Univariate analysis recognized clinical and
      pathological factors affecting survival. These were also tested by multivariate
      analysis. RESULTS: A total of 28 malignant lung lesions, 20 primary and 8
      metastatic, from 28 patients (78.6% male; mean age 62 +/- 17 years old), were
      submitted to computed tomography-guided radiofrequency ablation between January
      2004 and July 2010. Total necrosis was achieved in 74.1% of the lesions.
      Immediate radiofrequency ablation-related complications were observed in half of
      the procedures. Among major complications, death occurred in one patient only.
      Median overall survival was 43.0 months for a mean 2-years follow-up.Median
      progression-free survival was 31.6 months. Lesion's size smaller than 35 mm,
      stage III disease by the TNM classification and previous treatment attempts were
      significantly associated with better outcomes. Disease-related mortality was
      46.4%. DISCUSSION: This procedure proved to be efficient to treat lung cancerous
      lesions, with a low-rate of major complications. CONCLUSIONS: Computed tomography
      guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation is a minimally invasive procedure
      that appears to be valuable in the treatment of lung cancer lesions.

PMID- 25817501
TI  - Effects of local anesthetic on the time between analgesic boluses and the
      duration of labor in patient-controlled epidural analgesia: prospective study of
      two ultra-low dose regimens of ropivacaine and sufentanil.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patient-controlled epidural analgesia with low concentrations of
      anesthetics is effective in reducing labor pain. The aim of this study was to
      assess and compare two ultra-low dose regimens of ropivacaine and sufentanil
      (0.1% ropivacaine plus 0.5 MUg.ml-1 sufentanil vs. 0.06% ropivacaine plus 0.5
      MUg.ml-1 sufentanil) on the intervals between boluses and the duration of labor.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this non-randomized prospective study, conducted between
      January and July 2010, two groups of parturients received patient-controlled
      epidural analgesia: Group I (n = 58; 1 mg.ml-1 ropivacaine + 0.5 MUg.ml-1
      sufentanil) and Group II (n = 57; 0.6 mg.ml-1 ropivacaine + 0.5 MUg.ml-1
      sufentanil). Rescue doses of ropivacaine at the concentration of the assigned
      group without sufentanil were administered as necessary. Pain, local anesthetic
      requirements, neuraxial blockade characteristics, labor and neonatal outcomes,
      and maternal satisfaction were recorded. RESULTS: The ropivacaine dose was
      greater in Group I (9.5 [7.7-12.7] mg.h-1 vs. 6.1 [5.1-9.8 mg.h-1], p < 0.001). A
      time increase between each bolus was observed in Group I (beta = 32.61 min, 95%
      CI [25.39; 39.82], p < 0.001), whereas a time decrease was observed in Group II
      (beta = -1.40 min, 95% CI [-2.44; -0.36], p = 0.009). The duration of the second
      stage of labor in Group I was significantly longer than that in Group II (78 min
      vs. 65 min, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Parturients receiving 0.06% ropivacaine
      exhibited less evidence of cumulative effects and exhibited faster second stage
      progression than those who received 0.1% ropivacaine.

PMID- 25817502
TI  - [Weight control attempts among Portuguese adults: prevalence, motives and
      behavioral strategies].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In Portugal, there are no representative data on how many people
      are actively trying to control their weight and which strategies and motives
      underlie those attempts. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of
      weight loss/maintenance attempts and to identify the associated behavioral
      strategies and motives, in a representative sample of Portuguese adults. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study with a sample of 1098 Portuguese adults.
      Sociodemographic information, anthropometric data and weight loss/maintenance
      strategies and motives were assessed by telephone interview. RESULTS: About 44%
      of Portuguese adults (53% women and 35% men) are actively trying to control their
      weight. About 22% of women with normal weight are trying to lose weight while 53%
      of men and 34% of women with excess weight are not trying to manage their weight.
      About 49% of men with higher educational level are trying to control their
      weight, which compares to 32% among the least educated men. The most frequently
      used strategy to manage weight is regular vegetable consumption and the motives
      most frequently reported were improving health/preventing diseases and improving
      wellbeing. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: More than half of Portuguese women and
      about one-third of men are actively trying to control their weight, using
      behavioral strategies which are generally consistent with public health
      recommendations. The predominant motives are related to improving health and
      wellbeing. This study contributes to understanding weight management in Portugal,
      and could be useful in the development of obesity prevention strategies that
      match the population profile.

PMID- 25817504
TI  - [Diabetic eye disease].
AB  - Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by sustained
      hyperglycemia leading to macro and microvascular complications. The eye is one of
      the main organs affected by this disease, being diabetic retinopathy the most
      well-known microvascular complication and the leading cause of blindness in the
      working age population. However, diabetic ocular disease is not only
      characterized by diabetic retinopathy. Other important ocular manifestations of
      diabetes mellitus include cataract, glaucoma, ischemic optic neuropathy, cranial
      nerve palsies and recurrent corneal erosion syndrome. Here, we emphasize diabetic
      retinopathy as the most important and characteristic complication of diabetes
      mellitus, but also review less well-known complications with the aim to alert and
      sensitize non-ophthalmologist clinicians that treat diabetic individuals, in
      order to promote an early diagnosis and treatment of the sight-threatening
      complications of diabetes. 

PMID- 25817503
TI  - [Evaluation of hearing in patients with multiresistant tuberculosis].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and extensively drug-resistant
      tuberculosis constitute a major threat to worldwide tuberculosis control. The
      treatment demands the use of a therapeutic regimen in second-line drugs for a
      minimum period of 20 months, which includes aminoglycosides over a period of
      about eight months. These are associated with permanent cochleovestibular
      changes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study aims to evaluate the
      auditory function in individuals who completed treatment for multidrug-resistant
      tuberculosis (with scheme that included aminoglycosides) at the Center of
      Regional Reference for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis located in the North of
      Portugal, between the years 2009 and 2012. Patients who met the inclusion
      criteria were submitted to tonal and vocal audiograms, otoacoustic emissions at
      2000-5000 Hz frequencies, and a tympanogram. RESULTS: Between 2009 and 2012, 27
      patients were referred to the Centre of Regional Reference for multidrug
      resistant tuberculosis, in the North Region of Portugal, resulting in five
      deaths. Of the 22 individuals invited, 11 attended. These were aged between 31
      and 59 years (41 +/- 10). Amikacin was used in 80% of patients. Six patients
      (60%) had sensorineural hearing loss. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: The results of this
      study suggest the need for a more frequent audiological monitoring in patients
      with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treated with aminoglycosides allowing early
      detect hearing loss.

PMID- 25817505
TI  - A rare abdomino-pelvic tumor: paraganglioma.
AB  - Paragangliomas are rare tumors, with a reported incidence of 2-8 per million.
      They are chromaffin cell tumors that develop from the neural crest cells and may
      be divided in tumors derived from the parasympathetic or sympathetic ganglia. We
      report a case a of a 32-year-old nulliparous woman, referred to our Infertility
      Clinic. Abdomino-pelvic ultrasound identified a large abdominopelvic tumor,
      without ovarian origin (both ovaries were identified and had normal morphology).
      Magnetic Resonance Imaging suggested a right adnexal multicystic, vascularized
      mass close to iliac vessels and questioning an ovarian origin. At exploratory
      laparotomy, a 10 cm encapsulated and vascularized mass was found beginning just
      below right renal artery and extending to the level of the broad ligament. This
      mass was totally excised and histopathology was consistent with Paraganglioma. 

PMID- 25817506
TI  - [Primary meningococcal septic arthritis in a two month old infant].
AB  - Meningococcal septic arthritis, ocurring without signs of sepsis, is rare,
      including at pediatric age. The confinement of infection to a single articulation
      (monoarticular form) is even rarer in infections by Neisseria spp. We discuss the
      case of a two month-old caucasian girl, presenting with fever and persistent
      crying during nappy change. Absence of clinical sepsis was notable. She had had
      no previous anti-meningococcal immunizations. The ultrasound of the left hip
      revealed the presence of intra-articular fluid. Culture of the purulent sample
      after drainage by arthrotomy produced Neisseria meningitidis. She had a good
      clinical response to the antibiotics. Follow-up showed no sequels. Albeit a rare
      entity, primary meningococcal arthritis is a mandatory differential diagnosis
      concerning a feverish child with articular complaints.

PMID- 25817507
TI  - Secondary rhinoplasty using the technique of Turkish Delight: a case report and a
      brief review of the literature.
AB  - Rhinoplasty is a demanding task, especially when augmentation of the nasal
      contour is required. Autologous cartilage grafts are challenging. Contour and
      alignment of the graft are difficult goals. It is presented a case of a
      successfully nasal dorsum augmentation in a secondary rhinoplasty with the
      Turkish Delight technique and a brief review of literature. A 33-years-old
      female, with history of complete unilateral cleft nasal deformity on the right,
      and severe nasal deformity, previously submitted to other procedures, was
      referred to our Center. As she presented a visible cartilage graft, it was
      decided to perform the Turkish Delight technique. The autograft was effective for
      increasing of the nasal dorsum, at four years post-operative. There was no
      evidence of extrusion. The patient is satisfied with the result. The technique is
      effective in the reconstruction of complex dimorphism of the nasal dorsum,
      particularly in secondary rhinoplasty. 

PMID- 25817508
TI  - [Oral lipoma].

PMID- 25817509
TI  - Pneumoperitoneum, pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema following
      diagnostic colonoscopy.

PMID- 25817510
TI  - [Bacteriuria and leukocyturia in pediatric urinary tract infections: a comment on
      the national guideline].

PMID- 25817511
TI  - [Loneliness and mental health].

PMID- 25817512
TI  - A Peruvian family with a novel PARK2 mutation: Clinical and pathological
      characteristics.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mutations in PARK2 result in autosomal recessive young onset
      Parkinson's disease (YOPD). Although there have been a number of reports on the
      clinical characteristics of PARK2-related PD, there is limited information
      available on the associated neuropathologic changes. DESIGN: We describe the
      clinical and pathological characteristics of a Peruvian family with YOPD. The
      proband and one unaffected sibling were screened for PARK2 dosage and point
      mutations. One affected sibling had detailed neuropathologic examination.
      SETTING: Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Neurologicas (INCN) in Lima, Peru.
      RESULTS: The proband and two of her four siblings developed YOPD and both parents
      were unaffected. The clinical course has been characterized by akinetic-rigid
      parkinsonism predominantly affecting the lower limbs and dyskinesias. Analysis of
      PARK2 showed that the proband is compound heterozygous for a novel acceptor
      splice site mutation in intron 5 (IVS5-1G>A) and an exon 7 deletion.
      Neuropathologic assessment of an affected sibling revealed severe neuronal loss
      in the substantia nigra (SN) and loss of tyrosine hydroxylase immunopositive
      fibers in the striatum. No Lewy body pathology was observed using standard
      histology or immunohistochemistry for alpha-synuclein. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent
      with most neuropathologic reports of patients with PARK2 mutations, we did not
      observe Lewy body inclusions, despite marked SN degeneration and severe
      dopaminergic denervation of the striatum. These data describe a novel splice site
      mutation and further extend the clinicopathological characterization of PARK2
      associated PD.

PMID- 25817513
TI  - Genetic markers of Restless Legs Syndrome in Parkinson disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Several studies proposed that Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) and
      Parkinson disease (PD) may be clinically and/or etiologically related. To examine
      this hypothesis, we aimed to determine whether the known RLS genetic markers may
      be associated with PD risk, as well as with PD subtype. METHODS: Two case-control
      cohorts from Tel-Aviv and New-York, including 1133 PD patients and 867 controls
      were genotyped for four RLS-related SNPs in the genes MEIS1, BTBD9, PTPRD and
      MAP2K5/SKOR1. The association between genotype, PD risk and phenotype was tested
      using multivariate regression models. RESULTS: None of the tested SNPs was
      significantly associated with PD risk, neither in any individual cohort nor in
      the combined analysis after correction for multiple comparisons. The MAP2K5/SKOR1
      marker rs12593813 was associated with higher frequency of tremor in the Tel-Aviv
      cohort (61.0% vs. 46.5%, p = 0.001, dominant model). However, the risk allele for
      tremor in this gene has been associated with reduced RLS risk. Moreover, this
      association did not replicate in Tremor-dominant PD patients from New-York.
      CONCLUSION: RLS genetic risk markers are not associated with increased PD risk or
      subtype in the current study. Together with previous genetic, neuropathological
      and epidemiologic studies, our results further strengthen the notion that RLS and
      PD are likely to be distinct entities.

PMID- 25817515
TI  - Parkinson disease: alpha-synuclein mutational screening and new clinical insight
      into the p.E46K mutation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Amongst Parkinson's disease-causing genetic factors, missense
      mutations and genomic multiplications in the gene encoding alpha-synuclein are
      well established causes of the disease, although genetic data in populations with
      a high degree of admixture, such as the Brazilian one, are still scarce. METHODS:
      In this study, we conducted a molecular screening of alpha-synuclein point
      mutations and copy number variation in the largest cohort of Brazilian patients
      with Parkinson's disease (n = 549) and also in twelve Portuguese and one Bolivian
      immigrants. Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood leukocytes or saliva,
      and the mutational screening was performed by quantitative and qualitative real
      time PCR. RESULTS: The only alteration identified was the p.E46K mutation in a 60
      year-old man, born in Bolivia, with a familial history of autosomal dominant
      Parkinson's disease. This is the second family ever reported, in which this rare
      pathogenic mutation is segregating. The same mutation was firstly described ten
      years ago in a Spanish family with a neurodegenerative syndrome combining
      parkinsonism, dementia and visual hallucinations. The clinical condition of our
      proband reveals a less aggressive phenotype than previously described and
      reinforces that marked phenotypic heterogeneity is common among patients with
      Parkinson's disease, even among those carriers sharing the same mutation.
      CONCLUSION: Our findings add new insight into the preexisting information about
      alpha-synuclein p.E46K, improving our understanding about the endophenotypes
      associated to this mutation and corroborate that missense alterations and
      multiplications in alpha-synuclein are uncommon among Brazilian patients with
      Parkinson's disease.

PMID- 25817514
TI  - Morphologic changes in the mesolimbic pathway in Parkinson's disease motor
      subtypes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder
      associated with gray matter atrophy. Cortical atrophy patterns may further help
      distinguish between PD motor subtypes. Comparable differences in subcortical
      volumes have not been found. METHODS: Twenty-one cognitively intact and treated
      PD patients, including 12 tremor dominant (TD) subtype, Nine postural instability
      gait dominant (PIGD) subtype, and 20 matched healthy control subjects underwent
      3.0 T high-resolution structural MRI scanning. Subcortical volumetric analysis
      was performed using FreeSurfer and shape analysis was performed with FIRST to
      assess for differences between PD patients and controls and between PD subtypes.
      RESULTS: No significant differences in subcortical volumes were found between
      motor PD subtypes, but comparing grouped PD patients with controls revealed a
      significant increase in hippocampal volume in PD patients (p = 0.03). A
      significant shape difference was detected in the right nucleus accumbens (NAcc)
      between PD and controls and between motor subtypes. Shape differences were driven
      by positive deviations in the TD subtype. Correlation analysis revealed a trend
      between hippocampal volume and decreasing MDS-UPDRS (p = 0.06). CONCLUSION: While
      no significant differences in subcortical volumes between PD motor subtypes were
      found, increased hippocampal volumes were observed in PD patients compared to
      controls. Right NAcc shape differences in PD patients were driven by changes in
      the TD subtype. These unexpected findings may be related to the effects of
      chronic dopaminergic replacement on the mesolimbic pathway. Further studies are
      needed to replicate and determine the clinical significance of such morphologic
      changes.

PMID- 25817516
TI  - Conservative management of a post-traumatic pseudoaneurysm of the artery of
      cervical enlargement-anterior spinal artery junction.
AB  - A 22-year-old man suffered severe sudden onset head and neck pain after being
      pushed from behind during an assault. Physical examination was normal. Cervical
      MRI demonstrated an intradural hematoma, anterior to the cord, between C2-4.
      Subsequent contrast enhanced MR angiography and digital subtraction vertebral
      angiography confirmed that the cause of the hemorrhage was a fusiform (presumed
      dissecting) pseudoaneurysm of the artery of the cervical enlargement at its
      junction with the anterior spinal artery. The aneurysm was managed
      conservatively. Follow-up angiography demonstrated that the aneurysm had
      spontaneously thrombosed within 10 days and remained occluded at 2 months. The
      patient remained occluded at 6 months following the initial injury. Anterior
      spinal aneurysms represent a management dilemma and options are discussed. 

PMID- 25817517
TI  - Exercise stress testing after stroke or transient ischemic attack: a scoping
      review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To provide insight into exercise stress testing after stroke or
      transient ischemic attack (TIA) in terms of feasibility, safety, and protocols
      used. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Web of Science were searched for
      relevant studies published from inception to March 2014, and reference lists were
      hand searched. STUDY SELECTION: To be included in the review, the articles needed
      to include participants diagnosed with stroke or TIA and have any form of test to
      assess exercise capacity. DATA EXTRACTION: The scoping review methodology does
      not include critical appraisal of the literature but was chosen to reflect all
      aspects of exercise stress testing after stroke or TIA. Two reviewers performed
      screening for eligible studies independently, and 1 reviewer extracted the data.
      DATA SYNTHESIS: We found a total of 112 studies involving 5008 participants
      describing symptom-limited (n=103), submaximal (n=9), and field (n=6) exercise
      stress test protocols. Some of the studies reported on data from >1 protocol.
      Metabolic analysis was included in 87% of the studies involving symptom-limited
      tests, 40% of submaximal studies, and 29% of field tests. Monitoring of blood
      pressure, perceived exertion, and electrocardiographic responses was done in 54%,
      42%, and 95% of all studies, respectively. A mere 10% of all studies reported on
      electrocardiographic abnormalities detected during testing. No serious adverse
      events were reported. CONCLUSIONS: Symptom-limited exercise stress testing
      appears to be safe in patients with stroke or TIA and provides a more valid
      measure of exercise capacity than submaximal and field tests. The level of
      disability may compromise feasibility, and test modality should be chosen
      carefully to optimize test results.

PMID- 25817518
TI  - Laparoscopic hysterectomy with morcellation vs abdominal hysterectomy for
      presumed fibroid tumors in premenopausal women: a decision analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to model outcomes in laparoscopic
      hysterectomy with morcellation compared with abdominal hysterectomy for the
      presumed fibroid uterus and to examine short- and long-term complications and
      death. STUDY DESIGN: A decision tree was constructed to compare outcomes for a
      hypothetical cohort of 100,000 premenopausal women who underwent hysterectomy for
      presumed fibroid tumors over a 5-year time horizon. Parameter and quality-of-life
      utility estimates were determined from published literature for postoperative
      complications, leiomyosarcoma incidence, death related to leiomyosarcoma, and
      procedure-related death. RESULTS: The decision-tree analysis predicted fewer
      overall deaths with laparoscopic hysterectomy compared with abdominal
      hysterectomy (98 vs 103 per 100,000). Although there were more deaths from
      leiomyosarcoma after laparoscopic hysterectomy (86 vs 71 per 100,000), there were
      more hysterectomy-related deaths with abdominal hysterectomy (32 vs 12 per
      100,000). The laparoscopic group had lower rates of transfusion (2400 vs 4700 per
      100,000), wound infection (1500 vs 6300 per 100,000), venous thromboembolism (690
      vs 840 per 100,000) and incisional hernia (710 vs 8800 per 100,000), but a higher
      rate of vaginal cuff dehiscence (640 vs 290 per 100,000). Laparoscopic
      hysterectomy resulted in more quality-adjusted life years (499,171 vs 490,711
      over 5 years). CONCLUSION: The risk of leiomyosarcoma morcellation is balanced by
      procedure-related complications that are associated with laparotomy, including
      death. This analysis provides patients and surgeons with estimates of risk and
      benefit on which patient-centered decisions can be made.

PMID- 25817519
TI  - A prediction model for periodontal disease: modelling and validation from a
      National Survey of 4061 Taiwanese adults.
AB  - AIMS: The aim of this study was to predict periodontal disease (PD) with
      demographical features, oral health behaviour, and clinical correlates based on a
      national survey of periodontal disease in Taiwan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total
      of 4061 subjects who were enrolled in a cross-sectional nationwide survey on
      periodontal conditions of residents aged 18 years or older in Taiwan between 2007
      and 2008 were included. The community periodontal index (CPI) was used to measure
      the periodontal status at the subject and sextant levels. Information on
      demographical features and other relevant predictive factors for PD was collected
      using a questionnaire. RESULTS: In our study population, 56.2% of subjects had
      CPI grades >=3. Periodontitis, as defined by CPI >=3, was best predicted by a
      model including age, gender, education, brushing frequency, mobile teeth,
      gingival bleeding, smoking, and BMI. The area under the curve (AUC) for the final
      prediction model was 0.712 (0.690-0.734). The AUC was 0.702 (0.665-0.740)
      according to cross-validation. CONCLUSIONS: A prediction model for PD using
      information obtained from questionnaires was developed. The feasibility of its
      application to risk stratification of PD should be considered with regard to
      community-based screening for asymptomatic PD.

PMID- 25817520
TI  - Frequency and profile of Parkinson's disease prodromi in patients with malignant
      melanoma.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The results of register studies suggest an association between
      Parkinson's disease (PD) and melanoma. We studied the frequency and profile of
      early markers of PD in patients with malignant melanoma. METHODS: 100
      participants were enrolled in a prospective observational study, of whom 65 had a
      history of high-risk cutaneous (n=53) or uveal (n=12) melanoma (31 women; age,
      61.2+/-14.9 years) and another 35 served as control participants (19 women;
      54.6+/-20.5 years). Participants underwent assessments of motor function (Unified
      PD Rating Scale; keyboard tapping test), olfactory function, colour vision,
      depressive symptoms, the Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire, and transcranial brain
      sonography. Raters were blinded to the diagnosis and clinical data of study
      participants. RESULTS: Patients with melanoma showed increased frequency of
      substantia nigra hyperechogenicity and prodromal motor and non-motor features of
      PD, especially asymmetric motor slowing and apathy. Hyposmia and colour vision
      disturbance were, however, infrequent. Larger echogenicity of substantia nigra
      correlated with lower serum iron in patients with melanoma, similar to previously
      reported findings in PD, and independently from the earlier findings, with
      lighter skin pigmentation. Substantia nigra hyperechogenicity, combined with
      motor asymmetry or hyposmia, was present at baseline in all participants with
      mild or definite parkinsonism diagnosed after 1 year. Parkinsonism was
      specifically related to melanoma location at the sun-exposed skin of the head or
      neck. CONCLUSIONS: History of melanoma was associated with increased prevalence
      of prodromal markers of PD. Their predictive value needs to be established in
      long-term investigations. The similarity of serum iron characteristics found in
      patients with melanoma and PD deserves further research.

PMID- 25817521
TI  - Psychosocial correlates, psychological distress, and quality of life in patients
      with medically unexplained symptoms: a primary care study in Karachi, Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the psychosocial correlates and association of
      psychological distress and quality of life (QOL) in patients with medically
      unexplained symptoms (MUS) compared to those with medically explained symptoms
      (MES) in a primary care setting in Karachi, Pakistan. METHODS: A cross-sectional
      study of 472 patients attending GP clinics between March and August 2009 in
      Karachi. Participants completed questionnaires to assess demographic details,
      somatic symptoms, anxiety, depression, and QOL. The patients' GP recorded whether
      the presenting complaint was medically unexplained or medically explained.
      RESULTS: MUS subjects in our study were more educated, had better social support
      and fewer financial problems, were less depressed and had a better QOL than
      subjects who had medically explained symptoms (non-MUS). Both groups (MUS and non
      MUS) were comparable in terms of anxiety and number of somatic symptoms, but non
      MUS subjects were more depressed than the MUS group. In a regression analysis,
      the number of somatic symptoms and lower levels of anxiety predicted poorer QOL
      in this sample. Whether these symptoms were medically explained (or not) did not
      seem to contribute significantly to the QOL. CONCLUSION: Our findings confirm
      that even in the developing world, patients with MUS are common among primary
      care attendees. However, patients with MUS in urban Karachi, Pakistan may differ
      from Western MUS subjects in the role of stress, support, and anxiety in their
      presentation, and may be reflective of a conceptually different group of
      difficulties.

PMID- 25817522
TI  - Depression and CD4 cell count among patients with HIV in a Nigerian University
      Teaching Hospital.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Depression is common in people living with HIV/AIDS and there is some
      evidence that depressive symptoms may have adverse effects on immune functioning.
      The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of current depressive
      disorder in patients with HIV/AIDS and its association with CD4 cell count.
      METHODS: A consecutive sample of 310 patients with HIV/AIDS attending Out-patient
      clinic in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (A.B.U.T.H.), Zaria, Nigeria
      was assessed. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was
      used to screen for depressive symptoms, and the Schedule for Clinical Assessment
      in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) was used to confirm the diagnosis of current depressive
      disorder. The CD4 cell counts of participants with depressive disorder were
      compared with those of participants without depressive disorder. Multiple
      regression analysis was conducted to identify socio-demographic and disease
      related factors associated with depression. RESULTS: Among the 310 HIV-infected
      participants assessed for depression, 14.2% had current depressive disorder.
      Adjusting for age, gender, education, occupation, and marital status, patients
      with CD4 counts < 150 cells/MUl were more likely to be depressed. CONCLUSION:
      Depression is common among HIV-infected persons in Nigeria and is associated with
      low CD4 cell counts. The screening and treatment of mental health problems such
      as depression should be considered an integral component of HIV care and support.

PMID- 25817523
TI  - Depressive symptoms and type 2 diabetes mellitus in rural appalachia: an 18-month
      follow-up study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Despite high rates of diabetes and depression in rural areas, limited
      data exists to document patterns and predictors of depressive symptoms in rural
      patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The purpose of this study was to assess the
      rates and predictors of co-morbid depressive symptoms over an 18-month period in
      a cohort of rural Appalachian adults with T2DM. METHODS: N = 100 adult T2DM
      patients were recruited from family medicine and endocrinology practices located
      in the rural Appalachian counties of southeastern Ohio and West Virginia. Data
      were collected using a longitudinal observational survey design. RESULTS: The
      sample consisted of predominantly White (93%) females (62%) who were married
      (71%), completed high school or less (48%), and had a mean age of 60 years (SD
      11). Mean BDI score was 14.0 (SD 12) with 27% scoring in the moderate/severe
      range for depressive symptoms. A majority of patients (77%) reported depressive
      symptoms, at both time points, with 88% of these reporting consistent depressive
      symptoms in the year prior to study follow-up. Patients with depressive symptoms
      at Time 1 and Time 2 did not differ from other groups in the number of treatment
      strategies or medications used. Predictors of depressive symptoms in this group
      were increased diabetes treatment complexity (OR = 2.3), lack of home ownership
      (OR = 11.4), and decreased satisfaction with antidepressant medications (OR =
      2.0; chi(2) = 28.9, p < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Rural T2DM patients reported high
      rates of repeated depressive symptoms without corresponding rates of depression
      treatment. These patients may benefit from close monitoring and ongoing
      adjustment of their treatment for depression and diabetes by primary care
      providers.

PMID- 25817524
TI  - Understanding preventive health screening services use in persons with serious
      mental illness: how does integrated behavioral health primary care compare?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: People with serious mental illness have reduced life expectancy, in
      large part due to reduced access to medical services and underutilization of
      preventive health services. This is a cross-sectional study that compared
      preventive services use in an integrated behavioral health primary care clinic
      (IBHPC) with two existing community mental health programs. METHODS: Participants
      completed questionnaires about preventive health services use that contained 33
      questions about demographic clinical information, and use of preventive health
      services, from October 2010 to December 2012. Services examined included
      mammogram, Papanicolaou Test, prostate specific antigen, digital rectal exam,
      fecal occult blood test, and flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy; blood
      pressure, height and weight, cholesterol, and blood sugar for diabetes; and
      influenza immunization, Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), and Human Immunodeficiency Virus
      (HIV) antibodies. A health service utilization score was developed and used as
      primary outcome for data analyses. RESULTS: In the multivariate analyses female
      gender (p < 0.05), race/ethnicity (p = 0.01 for Asian, p = 0.04 for
      Hispanic/Latino, both compared to White), program type (p < 0.001), and having a
      primary care provider (p < 0.001) were significant predictors of higher services
      use. IBHPC was associated with higher overall service utilization compared to one
      community mental health program (p < 0.001) but was similar when compared another
      (p = 0.34). There was high variability in use of individual services among the
      clinical programs. CONCLUSION: More studies are needed to examine the
      effectiveness of integrated care in improving use of health screening services.
      Characteristics of the clinic in relation to use of preventive services deserve
      further study.

PMID- 25817525
TI  - Religious involvement, suicidal ideation and behavior in mainland China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Little is known about relations between religious involvement and
      suicidal behaviors in mainland China. This study aims to examine the association
      between religious involvement and suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts
      within a general community population controlling for socio-demographic,
      physical, and mental health factors. METHOD: Data were examined from a population
      based sample of 2,769 community-dwelling adults in the province of Ningxia China,
      where nearly 40% are Muslim, 11% other religious affiliations, and 49% no
      religion. Four separate logistic regression models examined correlations between
      religious involvement and self-reported suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts.
      Analyses were also stratified by Muslim affiliation (n = 1103) and no religion (n
      = 1,366). RESULTS: Bivariate analyses in the overall sample demonstrated that
      higher personal religiosity scores (chi(2) = 6.8, p < 0.01) and total religiosity
      scores (chi(2) = 5.1, p < 0.05) were positively correlated with developing a
      suicidal plan, which disappeared after controlling for demographic
      characteristics. Otherwise, no significant correlations were found between any
      religious characteristic and suicidal ideation, plan, or attempt in either
      Muslims or those with no religion. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to most previous
      studies, religious involvement plays less of a role in suicidal behaviors in at
      least one province of mainland China.

PMID- 25817526
TI  - Neurochemical alterations associated with borderline personality disorder.
AB  - In neuroimaging on borderline personality disorder, prior studies focused on the
      hippocampus and amygdala, as mentioned above. However, no study investigated
      whether there were neurochemical changes in the patients with borderline
      personality disorder. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to investigate
      neurochemical change of patients diagnosed with borderline disorder and
      hypothesized that neurochemicals would change in the hippocampus region of these
      patients. Seventeen patients and the same number of healthy control subjects were
      analyzed by using a 1.5 Tesla GE Signa Imaging System. N-acetylaspartate (NAA),
      choline compounds (CHO), and creatine (CRE) values of hippocampal region were
      measured. The mean NAA/CRE ratio in the hippocampus region was significantly
      reduced in the patients with borderline personality disorder compared to that of
      healthy control subjects, In addition, NAA/CHO ratio of the patients with
      borderline personality disorder was also significantly reduced when compared to
      that of healthy subjects. There was no difference in the ratio of CHO/CRE. In
      summary, we present evidence for reduced NAA in the patients with borderline
      personality disorder. 

PMID- 25817527
TI  - Current and future trends in electronic cigarette use.
AB  - The controversy regarding the use of electronic cigarettes as a possible modality
      for smoking cessation has grown in recent years. Epidemiologic surveys indicate
      that usage rates in both adults and adolescents have increased substantially as
      the popularity of these devices continues to rise. At present, there is a small
      but growing body of evidence studying the possible role that these "e-cigarettes"
      may have as a nicotine replacement tool. Much of the existing data are from
      observational studies and surveys which track the epidemiologic and demographic
      trends of e-cigarette users. More recently-published articles have begun to
      utilize randomized, experimental designs to directly compare the efficacy of e
      cigarettes to active and passive controls in outcome measures such as
      conventional cigarette quit rates and time to relapse. Barriers to widespread
      adoption of e-cigarette use as a smoking cessation modality include a lack of
      long-term safety and toxicology data, a lack of standardization of devices, and a
      debate regarding whether devices can be marketed for both social nicotine use, as
      well as nicotine replacement. A possible role of e-cigarettes that has not yet
      been explored is in the primary prevention of conventional cigarette use among
      young adults that are smoking-naive. 

PMID- 25817529
TI  - Quantitative Ultrasonic Nakagami Imaging of Neck Fibrosis After Head and Neck
      Radiation Therapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the feasibility of ultrasound Nakagami imaging to
      quantitatively assess radiation-induced neck fibrosis, a common sequela of
      radiation therapy (RT) to the head and neck. METHODS AND MATERIALS: In a pilot
      study, 40 study participants were enrolled and classified into 3 subgroups: (1) a
      control group of 12 healthy volunteers; (2) an asymptomatic group of 11 patients
      who had received intensity modulated RT for head and neck cancer and had
      experienced no neck fibrosis; and (3) a symptomatic group of 17 post-RT patients
      with neck fibrosis. Each study participant underwent 1 ultrasound study in which
      scans were performed in the longitudinal orientation of the bilateral neck. Three
      Nakagami parameters were calculated to quantify radiation-induced tissue injury:
      Nakagami probability distribution function, shape, and scaling parameters.
      Physician-based assessments of the neck fibrosis were performed according to the
      Radiation Therapy Oncology Group late morbidity scoring scheme, and patient-based
      fibrosis assessments were rated based on symptoms such as pain and stiffness.
      RESULTS: Major discrepancies existed between physician-based and patient-based
      assessments of radiation-induced fibrosis. Significant differences in all
      Nakagami parameters were observed between the control group and 2 post-RT groups.
      Moreover, significant differences in Nakagami shape and scaling parameters were
      observed among asymptomatic and symptomatic groups. Compared with the control
      group, the average Nakagami shape parameter value increased by 32.1% (P<.001),
      and the average Nakagami scaling parameter increased by 55.7% (P<.001) for the
      asymptomatic group, whereas the Nakagami shape parameter increased by 74.1%
      (P<.001) and the Nakagami scaling parameter increased by 83.5% (P<.001) for the
      symptomatic group. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasonic Nakagami imaging is a potential
      quantitative tool to characterize radiation-induced asymptomatic and symptomatic
      neck fibrosis.

PMID- 25817530
TI  - Mapping (15)O production rate for proton therapy verification.
AB  - PURPOSE: This work was a proof-of-principle study for the evaluation of oxygen-15
      ((15)O) production as an imaging target through the use of positron emission
      tomography (PET), to improve verification of proton treatment plans and to study
      the effects of perfusion. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Dynamic PET measurements of
      irradiation-produced isotopes were made for a phantom and rabbit thigh muscles.
      The rabbit muscle was irradiated and imaged under both live and dead conditions.
      A differential equation was fitted to phantom and in vivo data, yielding
      estimates of (15)O production and clearance rates, which were compared to live
      versus dead rates for the rabbit and to Monte Carlo predictions. RESULTS: PET
      clearance rates agreed with decay constants of the dominant radionuclide species
      in 3 different phantom materials. In 2 oxygen-rich materials, the ratio of (15)O
      production rates agreed with the expected ratio. In the dead rabbit thighs, the
      dynamic PET concentration histories were accurately described using (15)O decay
      constant, whereas the live thigh activity decayed faster. Most importantly, the
      (15)O production rates agreed within 2% (P>.5) between conditions. CONCLUSIONS:
      We developed a new method for quantitative measurement of (15)O production and
      clearance rates in the period immediately following proton therapy. Measurements
      in the phantom and rabbits were well described in terms of (15)O production and
      clearance rates, plus a correction for other isotopes. These proof-of-principle
      results support the feasibility of detailed verification of proton therapy
      treatment delivery. In addition, (15)O clearance rates may be useful in
      monitoring permeability changes due to therapy.

PMID- 25817532
TI  - A systematic study of temperature sensitive liposomal delivery of doxorubicin
      using a mathematical model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Temperature-sensitive liposomes (TSL) in combination with
      hyperthermia (HT) exposure have emerged as a potentially attractive option to
      achieve therapeutic drug concentration at targeted tumour site while reducing
      adverse side effects associated with systemic administration of anticancer drugs.
      The aim of this study is to elucidate the interplay among different kinetic steps
      by means of computational modelling. METHODS: A multi-compartment model for TSL
      mediated delivery of doxorubicin (DOX) is developed, which incorporates
      descriptions of the pharmacokinetics of TSL and DOX, and their accumulation in
      tumour tissue following intravascular triggered release. By examining dynamic
      interactions among TSL properties, tumour physiological properties and treatment
      regimen, peak intracellular DOX concentration is predicted for continuous and
      pulse HT exposures. RESULTS: Drug release rate from TSL has a saturable effect on
      peak intracellular drug concentration, and no further gain could be achieved for
      release rates greater than 0.1018 s(-1). A similar effect has also been found for
      heating duration, such that for a given bolus injection, peak intracellular drug
      concentration reaches its maximum and then levels off after HT duration of 2h.
      These results suggest that both TSL release rate and HT duration can be optimised
      in accordance with other parameters, e.g. clearance rate of TSL and
      administration mode, in order to achieve a desirable level of intracellular drug
      concentration. However, prolonged heating is not effective for resistant tumour
      cells with overexpression of ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporter proteins.
      CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained in this study can be used to guide the design
      and optimisation of TSL parameters and treatment regimens.

PMID- 25817531
TI  - Clinical validation of 4-dimensional computed tomography ventilation with
      pulmonary function test data.
AB  - PURPOSE: A new form of functional imaging has been proposed in the form of 4
      dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) ventilation. Because 4DCTs are acquired as
      part of routine care for lung cancer patients, calculating ventilation maps from
      4DCTs provides spatial lung function information without added dosimetric or
      monetary cost to the patient. Before 4DCT-ventilation is implemented it needs to
      be clinically validated. Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) provide a clinically
      established way of evaluating lung function. The purpose of our work was to
      perform a clinical validation by comparing 4DCT-ventilation metrics with PFT
      data. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Ninety-eight lung cancer patients with pretreatment
      4DCT and PFT data were included in the study. Pulmonary function test metrics
      used to diagnose obstructive lung disease were recorded: forced expiratory volume
      in 1 second (FEV1) and FEV1/forced vital capacity. Four-dimensional CT data sets
      and spatial registration were used to compute 4DCT-ventilation images using a
      density change-based and a Jacobian-based model. The ventilation maps were
      reduced to single metrics intended to reflect the degree of ventilation
      obstruction. Specifically, we computed the coefficient of variation (SD/mean),
      ventilation V20 (volume of lung <=20% ventilation), and correlated the
      ventilation metrics with PFT data. Regression analysis was used to determine
      whether 4DCT ventilation data could predict for normal versus abnormal lung
      function using PFT thresholds. RESULTS: Correlation coefficients comparing 4DCT
      ventilation with PFT data ranged from 0.63 to 0.72, with the best agreement
      between FEV1 and coefficient of variation. Four-dimensional CT ventilation
      metrics were able to significantly delineate between clinically normal versus
      abnormal PFT results. CONCLUSIONS: Validation of 4DCT ventilation with clinically
      relevant metrics is essential. We demonstrate good global agreement between PFTs
      and 4DCT-ventilation, indicating that 4DCT-ventilation provides a reliable
      assessment of lung function. Four-dimensional CT ventilation enables exciting
      opportunities to assess lung function and create functional avoidance radiation
      therapy plans. The present work provides supporting evidence for the integration
      of 4DCT-ventilation into clinical trials.

PMID- 25817533
TI  - Median prior constrained TV algorithm for sparse view low-dose CT reconstruction.
AB  - It is known that lowering the X-ray tube current (mAs) or tube voltage (kVp) and
      simultaneously reducing the total number of X-ray views (sparse view) is an
      effective means to achieve low-dose in computed tomography (CT) scan. However,
      the associated image quality by the conventional filtered back-projection (FBP)
      usually degrades due to the excessive quantum noise. Although sparse-view CT
      reconstruction algorithm via total variation (TV), in the scanning protocol of
      reducing X-ray tube current, has been demonstrated to be able to result in
      significant radiation dose reduction while maintain image quality, noticeable
      patchy artifacts still exist in reconstructed images. In this study, to address
      the problem of patchy artifacts, we proposed a median prior constrained TV
      regularization to retain the image quality by introducing an auxiliary vector m
      in register with the object. Specifically, the approximate action of m is to
      draw, in each iteration, an object voxel toward its own local median, aiming to
      improve low-dose image quality with sparse-view projection measurements.
      Subsequently, an alternating optimization algorithm is adopted to optimize the
      associative objective function. We refer to the median prior constrained TV
      regularization as "TV_MP" for simplicity. Experimental results on digital
      phantoms and clinical phantom demonstrated that the proposed TV_MP with
      appropriate control parameters can not only ensure a higher signal to noise ratio
      (SNR) of the reconstructed image, but also its resolution compared with the
      original TV method. 

PMID- 25817534
TI  - Automatic detection of atrial fibrillation using stationary wavelet transform and
      support vector machine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, and a
      major public health burden associated with significant morbidity and mortality.
      Automatic detection of AF could substantially help in early diagnosis, management
      and consequently prevention of the complications associated with chronic AF. In
      this paper, we propose a novel method for automatic AF detection. METHOD:
      Stationary wavelet transform and support vector machine have been employed to
      detect AF episodes. The proposed method eliminates the need for P-peak or R-Peak
      detection (a pre-processing step required by many existing algorithms), and hence
      its performance (sensitivity, specificity) does not depend on the performance of
      beat detection. The proposed method has been compared with those of the existing
      methods in terms of various measures including performance, transition time
      (detection delay associated with transitioning from a non-AF to AF episode), and
      computation time (using MIT-BIH Atrial Fibrillation database). RESULTS: Results
      of a stratified 2-fold cross-validation reveals that the area under the Receiver
      Operative Characteristics (ROC) curve of the proposed method is 99.5%. Moreover,
      the method maintains its high accuracy regardless of the choice of the
      parameters' values and even for data segments as short as 10s. Using the optimal
      values of the parameters, the method achieves sensitivity and specificity of
      97.0% and 97.1%, respectively. DISCUSSION: The proposed AF detection method has
      high sensitivity and specificity, and holds several interesting properties which
      make it a suitable choice for practical applications.

PMID- 25817535
TI  - Pharmacological inhibition of PI3K reduces adiposity and metabolic syndrome in
      obese mice and rhesus monkeys.
AB  - Genetic inhibition of PI3K signaling increases energy expenditure, protects from
      obesity and metabolic syndrome, and extends longevity. Here, we show that two
      pharmacological inhibitors of PI3K, CNIO-PI3Ki and GDC-0941, decrease the
      adiposity of obese mice without affecting their lean mass. Long-term treatment of
      obese mice with low doses of CNIO-PI3Ki reduces body weight until reaching a
      balance that is stable for months as long as the treatment continues. CNIO-PI3Ki
      treatment also ameliorates liver steatosis and decreases glucose serum levels.
      The above observations have been recapitulated in independent laboratories and
      using different oral formulations of CNIO-PI3Ki. Finally, daily oral treatment of
      obese rhesus monkeys for 3 months with low doses of CNIO-PI3Ki decreased their
      adiposity and lowered their serum glucose levels, in the absence of detectable
      toxicities. Therefore, pharmacological inhibition of PI3K is an effective and
      safe anti-obesity intervention that could reverse the negative effects of
      metabolic syndrome in humans.

PMID- 25817536
TI  - Lack of sterol regulatory element binding factor-1c imposes glial Fatty Acid
      utilization leading to peripheral neuropathy.
AB  - Myelin is a membrane characterized by high lipid content to facilitate impulse
      propagation. Changes in myelin fatty acid (FA) composition have been associated
      with peripheral neuropathy, but the specific role of peripheral nerve FA
      synthesis in myelin formation and function is poorly understood. We have found
      that mice lacking sterol regulatory element-binding factor-1c (Srebf1c) have
      blunted peripheral nerve FA synthesis that results in development of peripheral
      neuropathy. Srebf1c-null mice develop Remak bundle alterations and
      hypermyelination of small-caliber fibers that impair nerve function. Peripheral
      nerves lacking Srebf1c show decreased FA synthesis and glycolytic flux, but
      increased FA catabolism and mitochondrial function. These metabolic alterations
      are the result of local accumulation of two endogenous peroxisome proliferator
      activated receptor-alpha (Pparalpha) ligands, 1-palmitoyl-2-oleyl-sn-glycerol-3
      phosphatidylcholine and 1-stearoyl-2-oleyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphatidylcholine.
      Treatment with a Pparalpha antagonist rescues the neuropathy of Srebf1c-null
      mice. These findings reveal the importance of peripheral nerve FA synthesis to
      sustain myelin structure and function.

PMID- 25817538
TI  - Factors influencing individual variability in high fat diet-induced weight gain
      in out-bred MF1 mice.
AB  - Easy access to high-energy palatable foods has been suggested to have contributed
      to the world-wide obesity epidemic. However, within these 'obesogenic'
      environments many people manage to remain lean. Mice also show variability in
      their weight gain responses to high-fat diet (HFD) feeding and their weight loss
      responses to calorically restricted (CR) feeding. In this study we investigated
      which factors contribute to determining susceptibility to HFD-induced obesity in
      mice, and whether the responses in weight gain on HFD are correlated with the
      responses to CR. One-hundred twenty four mice were exposed to 30% CR for 28days
      followed by a 14day recovery period, and subsequent exposure to 60% HFD for
      28days. Responses in various metabolic factors were measured before and after
      each exposure (body mass; BM, body composition, food intake; FI, resting
      metabolic rate; RMR, physical activity, body temperature and glucose tolerance;
      GT). Weight changes on HFD ranged from -1 to 26%, equivalent to -0.2g to 10.5g in
      absolute mass. Multiple regression models showed that fat free mass (FFM) of the
      mice before exposure to HFD predicted 12% of the variability in weight gain on
      HFD (p<0.001). Also, FI during the first week of HFD feeding predicted 20% of the
      variability in BM and fat mass (FM) gain 4weeks later. These data may point to a
      role for the reward system in driving individual differences in FI and weight
      gain. Weight gain on the HFD was significantly negatively correlated to weight
      loss on CR, indicating that animals that are poor at defending against weight
      gain on HFD, were also poor at defending against CR-induced weight loss. Changes
      in FM and FFM in response to HFD or CR were not correlated however. 

PMID- 25817537
TI  - Bone marrow-specific caspase-1/11 deficiency inhibits atherosclerosis development
      in Ldlr(-/-) mice.
AB  - Recent investigations have suggested that inflammasome activation plays an
      important role during atherosclerosis. Upon activation, the inflammasome induces
      processing and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta)
      and interleukin 18 (IL-18) via activation of caspase-1/11. Previously, it was
      shown that complete caspase-1 deficiency is protective against atherosclerosis
      development. However, while macrophages are the main inflammatory cells involved
      in atherosclerosis, the exact role of macrophage-specific caspase-1/11 activation
      during development of cardiovascular disease has never been investigated. We
      hypothesized that hematopoietic caspase-1/11 deficiency leads to reduced
      atherosclerosis development. To investigate the specific contribution of
      hematopoietic caspase-1/11 activation to atherosclerosis development, Ldlr(-/-)
      mice received a transplant (tp) of wild-type (WT) or caspase-1/11(-/-) bone
      marrow, to create WT-tp mice and caspase-1/11(-/-) -tp mice, and fed a high-fat,
      high-cholesterol diet for 12 weeks. Our results showed an increase in anti
      inflammatory blood leukocytes in caspase-1/11(-/-) -tp mice compared with WT-tp
      mice, as indicated by a decreased level of Ly6C(high) monocytes and an increased
      level of Ly6C(low) monocytes. In line with our hypothesis, hematopoietic deletion
      of caspase-1/11 resulted in a strong reduction in atherosclerotic plaque size.
      Furthermore, necrotic core content was dramatically decreased in caspase-1/11(-/
      ) -tp mice. Our data indicate that hematopoietic caspase-1/11 activation is
      involved in vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis, and plays an important
      role in cardiovascular disease progression.

PMID- 25817539
TI  - Stereotaxic atlas of the goat brain for an accurate approach to the hypothalamic
      nuclei.
AB  - While the external acoustic meatus of mice, rats and cats are at right angles to
      the side of the head, they are angled forward in ruminants. Because of this, the
      coordinates of stereotaxic atlases created using the same methods as for small
      animals were not suitable for practical use and made it very difficult to place
      electrodes in hypothalamic nuclei. The aim of this study was to produce a highly
      accurate stereotaxic atlas for goats that enables precise placement of electrodes
      in the hypothalamic nuclei. A method of fixing the head in place so as to
      maintain the basis cranii interna in a horizontal position was established
      allowing right angled three dimensional axes to be superimposed in the brains of
      Japanese Saanen goats. This research attempted to establish a new landmark
      alternative to the external acoustic meatus. The new landmark is the extremitas
      posterior clivus presphenoidale (EPCP) at the base of cranial bone. This landmark
      can easily be visualized through lateral radiography. This enabled the AP
      (anterior-posterior) and H (height) coordinates of the position to be fixed at 30
      and 5, respectively. The A30 and H5 coordinates of the serial frontal, sagittal,
      and horizontal stereotaxic atlases in the present experiment were set to coincide
      with the position of the EPCP. In order to clarify whether the deviation of the
      stereotaxic brain coordinates due to inconsistent immobilization the goat's head
      was eliminated, the AP and H coordinates of the extremitas anterior fossa
      hypophysialis and the extremitas posterior fossa hypophysialis were measured
      using the corrected axes. In the three dimensional stereotaxic atlas created
      using the new landmark, it became possible to approach the hypothalamic nuclei of
      goats accurately. This method significantly differentiates the stereotaxic atlas
      from its predecessors. 

PMID- 25817540
TI  - The clinical characteristics and prognosis of IGH deletion in multiple myeloma.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the frequency, clinical characteristics, and prognosis of
      IGH deletion in multiple myeloma (MM). METHODS: A total of 310 consecutive
      patients with multiple myeloma were analyzed. Among them 251 patients were newly
      diagnosed and 59 patients were previously treated, fluorescence in situ
      hybridization (FISH) with IGH break apart probes were done for each case.
      Patterns of IGH deletion, response rate, overall survival, and progression free
      survival were analyzed. RESULTS: Several patterns of IGH deletion were
      identified, including monoallelic deletion of whole locus of IGH, monoallelic
      deletion of 3' IGH, monoallelic deletion of 5' IGH, biallelic deletion of 3' IGH
      deletion, and complicated deletions with various types. The incidence rate of IGH
      deletion was 22.7% (57/251) in newly diagnosed patients and 27.2% (16/59) in
      previously treated patients, no significant difference was found between the two
      groups (p=0.375). IGH deletion was associated with kappa light chain M component
      (p<0.001), 13q deletion (p=0.006), and absence of t(4; 14)(p=0.033). In the cases
      with 13q deletion, the frequency of IGH deletion is 3.5% (1/28) in patients with
      t(4;14) and 40.5% (32/79) in patients without t(4;14), significant difference was
      found (p=0.006). We further analyzed the response rates of patients with IGH
      deletion who received a uniform induction regimen of PAD composing of bortezomib,
      epirubicin, and dexamethasone. Overall response rate (ORR) in patients with IGH
      deletion was better than that in patients without IGH deletion (87.5 vs. 73.6%,
      p<0.001), while no significant difference was found in survival analysis, either
      OS or PFS (p=0.158 and p=0.177, respectively). CONCLUSION: IGH deletion is
      frequent in multiple myeloma, the incidence rate was higher in patients with 13q
      deletion and without t(4;14). Patients with IGH deletion had better ORR to PAD
      induction therapy, while it has no influence on the prognosis of multiple
      myeloma.

PMID- 25817541
TI  - The Validation and Reliability of the Chinese Version of the Speech Handicap
      Index for Patients With Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity and
      reliability of the translated Chinese version of the Speech Handicap Index (SHI)
      questionnaire for Chinese-speaking patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer.
      METHODS: The original English version of the SHI was translated into Chinese.
      Forty-two consecutive patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer were included
      in the study. All subjects were asked to complete the Chinese version of the SHI
      and the University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire (UWQOL V.04).
      Fifteen patients were randomly retested on both questionnaires 2 weeks later. The
      internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity, and group
      validity of the Chinese version of the SHI were tested using Cronbach alpha,
      Spearman correlation coefficient (r), and Mann-Whitney U tests. Descriptive and
      bivariate statistics were computed, and the P value was set to 0.05. RESULTS: The
      Cronbach alpha for the total SHI, the speech domain, and the psychosocial domain
      were 0.96, 0.90, and 0.92, respectively. The test-retest reliability scores for
      the total SHI, the speech domain, the psychosocial domain, and the overall
      question were 0.94, 0.97, 0.90, and 0.83, respectively. To measure construct
      validity, Spearman correlation coefficients between different items of the SHI
      and the UWQOL were all >0.4, which signified a moderate to significant
      correlation. There were significant differences between patient groups when
      divided by age, clinical stage, educational level, radiotherapy, and
      reconstruction, on all or on parts of the various SHI domains. CONCLUSIONS: The
      Chinese version of the SHI is a valid and reliable tool for the speech assessment
      of patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer.

PMID- 25817543
TI  - The let-7g microRNA promotes follicular granulosa cell apoptosis by targeting
      transforming growth factor-beta type 1 receptor.
AB  - The intronic microRNA let-7g controls cell differentiation and proliferation
      during angiogenesis and oncogenesis. Here, we demonstrate that let-7g regulates
      granulosa cell (GC) apoptosis and follicular atresia in the pig ovary.
      Bioinformatics analyses and luciferase reporter assays showed that transforming
      growth factor-beta type 1 receptor (TGFBR1) is a let-7g target. Overexpression of
      let-7g induced apoptosis of porcine GCs in vitro and repressed the mRNA and
      protein levels of TGFBR1, as well as the level of phosphorylated SMAD3 (p-SMAD3)
      protein. RNA interference-mediated knockdown of TGFBR1 and inhibitor LY2157299
      mediated blocking of TGFBR1 significantly increased the rate of apoptosis of GCs
      and Caspase-3 activity. In addition, treatment of porcine GCs with TGF-beta1
      reduced the level of let-7g and increased the levels of the TGFBR1 mRNA and
      proteins significantly. Overall, these results demonstrate that let-7g regulates
      the apoptosis of GCs in the pig ovary by targeting TGFBR1 and down-regulating the
      TGF-beta signaling pathway. 

PMID- 25817544
TI  - Sixteenth conference on the adrenal cortex (Adrenal 2014), Chicago, Illinois,
      June 17-20, 2014.

PMID- 25817542
TI  - Childhood obesity, bone development, and cardiometabolic risk factors.
AB  - Osteoporosis and obesity are both major public health concerns. It has long been
      considered that these are distinct disorders rarely found in the same individual;
      however, emerging evidence supports an important interaction between adipose
      tissue and the skeleton. Whereas overweight per se may augment bone strength,
      animal studies suggest that the metabolic impairment that accompanies obesity is
      detrimental to bone. Obesity during childhood, a critical time for bone
      development, likely has profound and lasting effects on bone strength and
      fracture risk. This notion has received little attention in children and results
      are mixed, with studies reporting that bone strength development is enhanced or
      impaired by obesity. Whether obesity is a risk factor for osteoporosis or
      childhood bone health, in general, remains an important clinical question. Here,
      we will focus on clarifying the controversial relationships between childhood
      obesity and bone strength development, and provide insights into potential
      mechanisms that may regulate the effect of excess adiposity on bone. 

PMID- 25817545
TI  - A brief glimpse over the horizon for type 1 diabetes nanotherapeutics.
AB  - The pace at which nanotherapeutic technology for human disease is evolving has
      accelerated exponentially over the past five years. Most of the technology is
      centered on drug delivery which, in some instances, offers tunable control of
      drug release. Emerging technologies have resulted in improvements in tissue and
      cell targeting while others are at the initial stages of pairing drug release and
      drug release kinetics with microenvironmental stimuli or changes in homeostasis.
      Nanotherapeutics has only recently been adopted for consideration as a
      prophylaxis/treatment approach in autoimmunity. Herein, we summarize the current
      state-of-the art of nanotherapeutics specifically for type 1 diabetes mellitus
      and offer our view over the horizon of where we envisage this modality evolving
      towards. 

PMID- 25817546
TI  - UV-B induction of the E3 ligase ARIADNE12 depends on CONSTITUTIVELY
      PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1.
AB  - The UV-B inducible ARIADNE12 (ARI12) gene of Arabidopsis thaliana is a member of
      the RING-between-RING (RBR) family of E3 ubiquitin ligases for which a novel
      ubiquitination mechanism was identified in mammalian homologs. This RING-HECT
      hybrid mechanism needs a conserved cysteine which is replaced by serine in ARI12
      and might affect the E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. We have shown that under
      photomorphogenic UV-B, ARI12 is a downstream target of the classical ultraviolet
      B (UV-B) UV Resistance Locus 8 (UVR8) pathway. However, under high fluence rate
      of UV-B ARI12 was induced independently of UVR8 and the UV-A/blue light and
      red/far-red photoreceptors. A key component of several light signaling pathways
      is Constitutively Photomorphogenic 1 (COP1). Upon UV-B COP1 is trapped in the
      nucleus through interaction with UVR8 permitting the activation of genes that
      regulate the biosynthesis of UV-B protective metabolites and growth adaptations.
      To clarify the role of COP1 in the regulation of ARI12 mRNA expression and ARI12
      protein stability, localization and interaction with COP1 was assessed with and
      without UV-B. We found that COP1 controls ARI12 in white light, low and high
      fluence rate of UV-B. Furthermore we show that ARI12 is indeed an E3 ubiquitin
      ligase which is mono-ubiquitinated, a prerequisite for the RING-HECT hybrid
      mechanism. Finally, genetic analyses with transgenes expressing a genomic
      pmARI12:ARI12-GFP construct confirm the epistatic interaction between COP1 and
      ARI12 in growth responses to high fluence rate UV-B.

PMID- 25817547
TI  - A Hybrid PSO-DEFS Based Feature Selection for the Identification of Diabetic
      Retinopathy.
AB  - Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is an eye disease, which may cause blindness by the
      upsurge of insulin in blood. The major cause of visual loss in diabetic patient
      is macular edema. To diagnose and follow up Diabetic Macular Edema (DME), a
      powerful Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) technique is used for the clinical
      assessment. Many existing methods found out the DME affected patients by
      estimating the fovea thickness. These methods have the issues of lower accuracy
      and higher time complexity. In order to overwhelm the above limitations, a hybrid
      approaches based DR detection is introduced in the proposed work. At first, the
      input image is preprocessed using green channel extraction and median filter.
      Subsequently, the features are extracted by gradient-based features like
      Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) with Complete Local Binary Pattern (CLBP).
      The texture features are concentrated with various rotations to calculate the
      edges. We present a hybrid feature selection that combines the Particle Swarm
      Optimization (PSO) and Differential Evolution Feature Selection (DEFS) for
      minimizing the time complexity. A binary Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier
      categorizes the 13 normal and 75 abnormal images from 60 patients. Finally, the
      patients affected by DR are further classified by Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP).
      The experimental results exhibit better performance of accuracy, sensitivity, and
      specificity than the existing methods. 

PMID- 25817548
TI  - The electrical interplay between proteins and lipids in membranes.
AB  - All molecular interactions that are relevant to cellular and molecular structures
      are electrical in nature but manifest in a rich variety of forms that each has
      its own range and influences on the net effect of how molecular species interact.
      This article outlines how electrical interactions between the protein and lipid
      membrane components underlie many of the activities of membrane function.
      Particular emphasis is placed on spatially localised behaviour in membranes
      involving modulation of protein activity and microdomain structure. The
      interactions between membrane lipids and membrane proteins together with their
      role within cell biology represent an enormous body of work. Broad conclusions
      are not easy given the complexities of the various systems and even consensus
      with model membrane systems containing two or three lipid types is difficult. By
      defining two types of broad lipid-protein interaction, respectively Type I as
      specific and Type II as more non-specific and focussing on the electrical
      interactions mostly in the extra-membrane regions it is possible to assemble
      broad rules or a consensus of the dominant features of the interplay between
      these two fundamentally important classes of membrane component. This article is
      part of a special issue entitled: Lipid-protein interactions. 

PMID- 25817549
TI  - Molecular dynamics simulations of GPCR-cholesterol interaction: An emerging
      paradigm.
AB  - G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest class of molecules involved
      in signal transduction across cell membranes and represent major targets in the
      development of novel drug candidates. Membrane cholesterol plays an important
      role in GPCR structure and function. Molecular dynamics simulations have been
      successful in exploring the effect of cholesterol on the receptor and a general
      consensus molecular view is emerging. We review here recent molecular dynamics
      studies at multiple resolutions highlighting the main features of cholesterol
      GPCR interaction. Several cholesterol interaction sites have been identified on
      the receptor that are reminiscent of nonannular sites. These cholesterol hot
      spots are highly dynamic and have a microsecond time scale of exchange with the
      bulk lipids. A few consensus sites (such as the CRAC site) have been identified
      that correspond to higher cholesterol interaction. Interestingly, high plasticity
      is observed in the modes of cholesterol interaction and several sites have been
      suggested to have high cholesterol occupancy. We therefore believe that these
      cholesterol hot-spots are indicative of 'high occupancy sites' rather than
      'binding sites'. The results suggest that the energy landscape of cholesterol
      association with GPCRs corresponds to a series of shallow minima interconnected
      by low barriers. These specific interactions, along with general membrane
      effects, have been observed to modulate GPCR organization. Membrane cholesterol
      effects on receptor structure and organization, that in turn influences receptor
      cross-talk and drug efficacy, represent a new frontier in GPCR research. This
      article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Lipid-protein interactions. Guest
      Editors: Amitabha Chattopadhyay and Jean-Marie Ruysschaert. 

PMID- 25817550
TI  - Dose-response curve of a microfluidic magnetic bead-based surface coverage
      sandwich assay.
AB  - Magnetic micro- and nanoparticles ('magnetic beads') have been used to advantage
      in many microfluidic devices for sensitive antigen (Ag) detection. Today, assays
      that use as read-out of the signal the number count of immobilized beads on a
      surface for quantification of a sample's analyte concentration have been among
      the most sensitive and have allowed protein detection lower than the fgmL(-1)
      concentration range. Recently, we have proposed in this category a magnetic bead
      surface coverage assay (Tekin et al., 2013 [1]), in which 'large' (2.8MUm)
      antibody (Ab)-functionalized magnetic beads captured their Ag from a serum and
      these Ag-carrying beads were subsequently exposed to a surface pattern of fixed
      'small' (1.0MUm) Ab-coated magnetic beads. When the system was exposed to a
      magnetic induction field, the magnet dipole attractive interactions between the
      two bead types were used as a handle to approach both bead surfaces and assist
      with Ag-Ab immunocomplex formation, while unspecific binding (in absence of an
      Ag) of a large bead was reduced by exploiting viscous drag flow. The dose
      response curve of this type of assay had two remarkable features: (i) its ability
      to detect an output signal (i.e. bead number count) for very low Ag
      concentrations, and (ii) an output signal of the assay that was non-linear with
      respect to Ag concentration. We explain here the observed dose-response curves
      and show that the type of interactions and the concept of our assay are in favour
      of detecting the lowest analyte concentrations (where typically either zero or
      one Ag is carried per large bead), while higher concentrations are less
      efficiently detected. We propose a random walk process for the Ag-carrying bead
      over the magnetic landscape of small beads and this model description explains
      the enhanced overall capture probability of this assay and its particular non
      linear dose response curves. 

PMID- 25817551
TI  - [The Ebola virus and nursing student safety: experience of institutional
      cooperation in simulation training].

PMID- 25817552
TI  - Hospital costs associated with nosocomial infections in a pediatric intensive
      care unit.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To estimate the additional cost attributable to nosocomial infection
      (NI) in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and related factors. METHODS: A
      prospective cohort study was conducted in all children admitted to the PICU of a
      tertiary-care pediatric hospital between 2008 and 2009. Descriptive and bivariate
      analyses were conducted of total direct costs due to PICU stay and medical
      procedures in patients with and without NI. A log-linear regression model was
      performed to determine the factors associated with higher total cost. RESULTS: A
      total of 443 patients were studied and the prevalence of NI was 11.3%. The
      difference in the median total cost was ?30,791.4 per patient between groups with
      and without NI. The median cost of PICU length of stay in patients with NI was
      almost eight times higher than the median cost of patients without NI. In
      patients with NI, the highest costs related to medical procedures were associated
      with antibiotics, enteral and parenteral feeding, and imaging tests. In the
      multivariate model, the factors associated with higher cost were infection, the
      performance of cardiovascular surgery, urgent admission, a higher pediatric risk
      mortality score, and the presence of immunosuppression. By contrast, older
      children and those with surgical admission generated lower cost. CONCLUSIONS: NI
      was associated with an increase in total cost, which implies that the prevention
      of these infections through specific interventions could be cost-effective and
      would help to increase the safety of healthcare systems.

PMID- 25817553
TI  - Coronary CT angiography for chest pain in pseudoxanthoma elasticum and cardiac
      intervention management.
AB  - We describe the case of a rare cause of severe coronary artery disease in a young
      woman without cardiovascular risk factors. Cardiac CT played an important role in
      diagnosis and cardiac management including coronary intervention. 

PMID- 25817554
TI  - Phosphate and arsenate removal efficiency by thermostable ferritin enzyme from
      Pyrococcus furiosus using radioisotopes.
AB  - Oxo-anion binding properties of the thermostable enzyme ferritin from Pyrococcus
      furiosus were characterized with radiography. Radioisotopes (32)P and (76)As
      present as oxoanions were used to measure the extent and the rate of their
      absorption by the ferritin. Thermostable ferritin proved to be an excellent
      system for rapid phosphate and arsenate removal from aqueous solutions down to
      residual concentrations at the picomolar level. These very low concentrations
      make thermostable ferritin a potential tool to considerably mitigate industrial
      biofouling by phosphate limitation or to remove arsenate from drinking water. 

PMID- 25817555
TI  - UGT1A1 genotype and irinotecan therapy: general review and implementation in
      routine practice.
AB  - Irinotecan is a major drug in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer. Its
      active form is the SN38 metabolite, which is cleared by the biliary route after
      glucuronidation by uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 (UGT1A1).
      UGT1A1 activity exhibits a wide intersubject variability, in part related to
      UGT1A1 gene polymorphisms. The present review on the impact of the deficient
      UGT1A1*28 variant on irinotecan efficacy and toxicity was produced by a French
      joint workgroup comprising the Group of Clinical Onco-pharmacology (GPCO
      Unicancer) and the National Pharmacogenetics Network (RNPGx). It clearly emerges
      that for irinotecan doses at least equal to 180 mg/m(2) , patients homozygous for
      the UGT1A1*28 allele are at increased risk of developing hematological and/or
      digestive toxicities. Irinotecan dose reduction is thus recommended in homozygous
      *28/*28 patients. In addition, this personalized medicine strategy aims to secure
      high-dose irinotecan administration (>=240 mg/m(2) ) that have proven to be safe
      in homozygous *1/*1 patients only. The clinical relevance of this test is
      discussed in terms of treatment efficacy improvement, as increasing the
      irinotecan dose appears to be safe in patients not bearing a deficient allele.
      Best execution practices, cost-effectiveness, and result interpretation are
      discussed with the aim of facilitating the implementation of this analysis in
      clinical practice. The existence of networks of laboratories performing this test
      in routine hospital treatment, as in France, offers the prospect of widespread
      screening, thus guaranteeing equal access to safe treatment and optimized therapy
      for patients receiving irinotecan-based therapy in advanced colorectal cancer. 

PMID- 25817556
TI  - Factor XI replacement for inherited factor XI deficiency in routine clinical
      practice: results of the HEMOLEVEN prospective 3-year postmarketing study.
AB  - Factor XI (FXI)-deficient patients may develop excessive bleeding after trauma or
      surgery. Replacement therapy should be considered in high-risk situations,
      especially when FXI levels are below 20 IU dL(-1) . HEMOLEVEN is a human plasma
      derived factor XI concentrate available in France since 1992, but there are few
      data regarding its use by physicians. This prospective study assessed the use,
      efficacy and safety of HEMOLEVEN in common clinical practice. HEMOLEVEN was
      evaluated in FXI-deficient patients in 13 French centres in a 3-year
      postmarketing study. Forty-four patients (30 females, 14 males) received 67
      treatments. The median age was 37 years (8 months-91 years). Basal FXI levels
      were <1 to 51 IU dL(-1) (median: 5.5); 29 patients were severely FXI-deficient
      (<20 IU dL(-1) ). FXI was administered prophylactically before 43 surgical
      procedures, 10 invasive procedures, 8 vaginal deliveries, or as curative
      treatment for six bleeds. The efficacy was assessed as excellent/good in 63,
      moderate in two and undetermined in two treatments. Seven patients experienced
      seven adverse effects, including two rated as serious: one sudden massive
      pulmonary embolism with fatal outcome and one case of inhibitor to FXI. HEMOLEVEN
      is effective for bleeding prevention in FXI deficiency. However, considering the
      benefit/risk ratio observed in relation to dosage in this study; firstly, it
      should be used sparingly due to its potential prothrombotic effect; secondly, new
      prescription procedures should be defined to adapt the dosage, especially in
      patients with intrinsic and/or acquired risk factors for thrombosis. 

PMID- 25817557
TI  - Pivotal preclinical trial of the spheroid reservoir bioartificial liver.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: The neuroprotective effect of the spheroid reservoir
      bioartificial liver (SRBAL) was evaluated in a porcine model of drug-overdose
      acute liver failure (ALF). METHODS: Healthy pigs were randomized into three
      groups (standard therapy (ST) alone, ST+No-cell device, ST+SRBAL device) before
      placement of an implantable intracranial pressure (ICP) monitor and a tunneled
      central venous catheter. One week later, pigs received bolus infusion of the
      hepatotoxin D-galactosamine and were followed for up to 90h. RESULTS: At 48h, all
      animals had developed encephalopathy and biochemical changes confirming ALF;
      extracorporeal treatment was initiated and pigs were observed up to 90h after
      drug infusion. Pigs treated with the SRBAL, loaded with porcine hepatocyte
      spheroids, had improved survival (83%, n=6) compared to ST alone (0%, n=6,
      p=0.003) and No-cell device therapy (17%, n=6, p=0.02). Ammonia detoxification,
      peak levels of serum ammonia and peak ICP, and pig survival were influenced by
      hepatocyte cell dose, membrane pore size and duration of SRBAL treatment.
      Hepatocyte spheroids remained highly functional with no decline in mean oxygen
      consumption from initiation to completion of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The SRBAL
      improved survival in an allogeneic model of drug-overdose ALF. Survival
      correlated with ammonia detoxification and ICP lowering indicating that
      hepatocyte spheroids prevented the cerebral manifestations of ALF (brain
      swelling, herniation, death). Further investigation of SRBAL therapy in a
      clinical setting is warranted.

PMID- 25817558
TI  - MicroRNA-221 governs tumor suppressor HDAC6 to potentiate malignant progression
      of liver cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Most common reason behind changes in histone deacetylase
      (HDAC) function is its overexpression in cancer. However, among HDACs in liver
      cancer, HDAC6 is uniquely endowed with a tumor suppressor, but the mechanism
      underlying HDAC6 inactivation has yet to be uncovered. METHODS: Microarray
      profiling and target prediction programs were used to identify miRNAs targeting
      HDAC6. A series of inhibitors, activators and siRNAs was introduced to validate
      regulatory mechanisms for microRNA-221-3p (miR-221) governing HDAC6 in
      hepatocarcinogenesis. RESULTS: Comprehensive miRNA profiling analysis identified
      seven putative endogenous miRNAs that are significantly upregulated in
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). While miR-221 was identified as a suppressor of
      HDAC6 by ectopic expression of miRNA mimics in Dicer knockdown cells, targeted
      disruption of miR-221 repressed cancer cell growth through derepressing HDAC6
      expression. Suppression of HDAC6 via miR-221 was induced by JNK/c-Jun signaling
      in liver cancer cells but not in normal hepatic cells. Additionally, cytokine
      induced NF-kappaBp65 independently regulated miR-221, thereby suppressing HDAC6
      expression in HCC cells. HCC tissues derived from chemical-induced rat and H
      ras12V transgenic mice liver cancer models validated that JNK/c-Jun activation
      and NF-kappaBp65 nuclear translocation are essential for the transcription of miR
      221 leading to repression of HDAC6 in HCC. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that
      the functional loss or suppression of the tumor suppressor HDAC6 is caused by
      induction of miR-221 through coordinated JNK/c-Jun- and NF-kappaB-signaling
      pathways during liver tumorigenesis, providing a novel target for the molecular
      treatment of liver malignancies.

PMID- 25817559
TI  - Racial variation in the clinical and economic burden of skeletal-related events
      among elderly men with stage IV metastatic prostate cancer.
AB  - Prostate cancer (PCa) outcomes vary widely among African American (AA) and non
      Hispanic White (NHW) men. The authors investigated racial variation in the
      incidence of skeletal-related events (SREs) and SRE-related healthcare costs
      among AA and NHW men, a topic that has received limited attention in the
      literature. AA and NHW men diagnosed with metastatic PCa were identified from the
      linked Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare dataset. The sample
      included 6455 men with metastatic PCa, including 5420 NHW men and 1035 AA men.
      Approximately 16% experienced SREs during follow-up. AA men were less likely to
      experience SREs compared with NHW men, controlling for individual characteristics
      (adjusted odds ratio: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.66- 0.94). The SRE-specific costs were
      US$35,725 (US$22,190-US$49,260) among AA men and US$25,896 (US$21,669-US$30,123)
      among NHW men. Although AA men were less likely to experience SREs, there were
      substantial costs attributable to the treatment of SREs among AA men. 

PMID- 25817560
TI  - Late open conversion after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study determined the incidence, the surgical details, and the
      outcome of late open conversion after failed endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR)
      for abdominal aortic aneurysm. METHODS: A review of English-language medical
      literature from 1991 to 2014 was conducted using the PubMed and EMBASE databases
      to find all studies involving late conversion after EVAR for abdominal aortic
      aneurysm. The search identified 26 articles encompassing 641 patients (84% men;
      median age, 73.5 years). RESULTS: Mean interval from the initial implantation was
      38.5 +/- 10.7 months. The cumulative single-center open conversion rate was 3.7%.
      The indications for late open conversion included endoleak in 62.4%, infection in
      9.5%, migration in 5.5%, and thrombosis in 6.7%. Operations were urgent in 22.5%
      of the patients. The 30-day mortality was 9.1%. Mortality rates were different
      between elective (3.2%) and nonelective patients (29.2%). Five aneurysm-related
      deaths (1.5%) and two graft infections (0.6%) occurred during a median follow-up
      of 26.4 months (range, 5-50.2 months). CONCLUSIONS: The number of patients with
      failed EVAR and without further options for endovascular salvage is growing.
      Endoleak remains the most important weakness of EVAR as the leading cause of late
      open conversion. Such procedures, although technically demanding, are associated
      with relatively low mortality rates when performed electively. Open repair still
      represents a valuable solution for many patients with failed EVAR.

PMID- 25817561
TI  - Endovascular longitudinal fenestration and stent graft placement for treatment of
      aneurysms developing after chronic type B aortic dissection.
AB  - The thickened intimal flap present in cases of chronic aortic dissection can
      present a challenge to attempts at endovascular stent graft treatment performed
      for subsequent aneurysmal degeneration by precluding adequate landing zones for
      the endograft and by constraining the endograft from full expansion. In this
      report we describe our technique and outcome for longitudinal endovascular
      fenestration of chronic aortic dissection flaps to facilitate endovascular stent
      graft treatment for thoracic aortic aneurysms developing after aortic dissection.

PMID- 25817563
TI  - Total and inorganic arsenic in Iranian rice.
AB  - It is well known that arsenic (As) exposure, particularly to inorganic species (i
      As), has adverse effects on humans. Nowadays, the European Union (EU) has still
      not regulated the maximum residue limit of As in commercial samples of rice and
      rice-based products, although it is actively working on the topic. The European
      Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is collecting data on total arsenic (t-As) and i-As
      from different rice-producing regions not only from EU countries but also from
      other parts of the world to finally set up this maximum threshold. As Iran is a
      rice-producing country, the aim of this work was to evaluate the contents of t-As
      and i-As in 15 samples of Iranian white, nonorganic, and aromatic rice collected
      from the most important rice-producing regions of the country. The means of t-As
      and i-As were 120 and 82 MUg/kg, respectively. The experimental i-As mean in
      Iranian rice was below the Chinese standard for the i-As in rice, 150 MUg/kg, and
      the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) limit, 200
      MUg/kg. Therefore, Iranian rice seems to have reasonable low i-As content and it
      is safe to be marketed in any market, including China and the EU.

PMID- 25817562
TI  - Symptomatic Renal Artery Stenosis and Infra-renal AAA.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To identify evidence to guide the vascular surgeon as to the
      relevance of renal artery stenting in a patient with symptomatic renal artery
      stenosis undergoing elective endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR). METHODS:
      A comprehensive literature search of MEDLINE was performed without time limits.
      The following terms were used in the first instance: renal artery stenting and
      renal artery stenosis, and any other analogous terms identified during the
      search. Selection criteria were set to randomised control trials. RESULTS:
      Despite several large, randomised controlled trials investigating renal artery
      stenting against medical treatment alone in symptomatic renal artery stenosis,
      there has been no significant benefit identified in terms of improvement in renal
      function, control of blood pressure, or need for dialysis. The stented
      populations were also more likely to suffer from complications caused by the
      procedure such as bleeding, cholesterol embolisation and flash pulmonary oedema.
      CONCLUSION: There is no evidence for the use of renal artery stenting over
      optimal medical management in the treatment of patients with symptomatic
      atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis, irrelevant of the degree of stenosis. In
      the setting of EVAR, prevention of deterioration of renal function should be with
      involvement of the renal physicians, adequate hydration, and use of minimal
      contrast agent. Repair should be undertaken in centres with access to 24-hour
      haemofiltration services.

PMID- 25817564
TI  - Total Masquerading Bundle Branch Block.
AB  - We report a case of 82-year-old female with total masquerading bundle branch
      block. We discuss the problems with ECG analysis. 

PMID- 25817565
TI  - Change of a conserved amino acid in the MYC2 and MYC3 transcription factors leads
      to release of JAZ repression and increased activity.
AB  - The bHLH transcription factor MYC2, together with its paralogues MYC3 and MYC4,
      is a master regulator of the response to the jasmonate (JA) hormone in
      Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). In the absence of JA, JASMONATE ZIM (JAZ)
      proteins interact with the MYC proteins to block their activity. Understanding of
      the mechanism and specificity of this interaction is key to unravel JA
      signalling. We generated mutant MYC proteins and assessed their activity and the
      specificity of their interaction with the 12 Arabidopsis JAZ proteins. We show
      that the D94N mutation present in the atr2D allele of MYC3 abolishes the
      interaction between MYC3 and most JAZ proteins. The same effect is observed when
      the corresponding conserved Asp (D105) was mutated in MYC2. Accordingly,
      MYC2(D105N) activated target genes in the presence of JAZ proteins, in contrast
      to wild-type MYC2. JAZ1 and JAZ10 were the only JAZ proteins still showing
      interaction with the mutant MYC proteins, due to a second MYC interaction domain,
      besides the classical Jas domain. Our results visualize the divergence among JAZ
      proteins in their interaction with MYC proteins. Ultimately, the transferability
      of the Asp-to-Asn amino acid change might facilitate the design of hyperactive
      transcription factors for plant engineering.

PMID- 25817566
TI  - Accounting for biodiversity in the dairy industry.
AB  - Biodiversity is an essential part of properly functioning ecosystems, yet the
      loss of biodiversity currently occurs at rates unparalleled in the modern era.
      One of the major causes of this phenomenon is habitat loss and modification as a
      result of intensified agricultural practices. This paper provides a starting
      point for considering biodiversity within dairy production, and, although
      focusing primarily on the United States, findings are applicable broadly.
      Biodiversity definitions and assessments (e.g., indicators, tools) are proposed
      and reviewed. Although no single indicator or tool currently meets all the needs
      of comprehensive assessment, many sustainable practices are readily adoptable as
      ways to conserve and promote biodiversity. These practices, as well as potential
      funding opportunities are identified. Given the state of uncertainty in
      addressing the complex nature of biodiversity assessments, the adoption of
      generally sustainable environmental practices may be the best currently available
      option for protecting biodiversity on dairy lands. 

PMID- 25817567
TI  - The future of diabetes.

PMID- 25817568
TI  - Clinical and image improvement of Raynaud's phenomenon after botulinum toxin type
      A treatment.
AB  - Raynaud's phenomenon is often accompanied by pain, digital ulceration and
      compromised daily activities. Pharmacological therapy or sympathectomies have
      been administered to diminish these symptoms but existing treatments are not
      invariably efficacious. A recent case series has described the use of botulinum
      toxin type A in the treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon. We report two patients
      with severe or mild Raynaud's phenomenon who were injected with BTX-A; both of
      whom experienced clinical and image improvement after treatment. 

PMID- 25817569
TI  - Teaching Systematic Searching in a Baccalaureate Nursing Research Course.
AB  - This column shares the best evidence-based strategies and innovative ideas on how
      to facilitate the learning of EBP principles and processes by clinicians as well
      as nursing and interprofessional students. Guidelines for submission are
      available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1741-6787. 

PMID- 25817570
TI  - Primary decompressive craniectomy for poor-grade middle cerebral artery aneurysms
      with associated intracerebral hemorrhage.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Aggressive surgery seems mandatory for poor-grade middle cerebral
      artery (MCA) aneurysm with associated intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). However,
      primary decompressive craniectomy (DC) is controversial. We performed a case
      control study to define the role of primary DC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      analyzed data from the two cohorts: a multicenter prospective poor-grade aSAH
      registry study (AMPAS); and the National Clinical Research Center for
      Neurological Diseases (NCRC-ND) database of poor-grade patients. Outcome was
      assessed by modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and was dichotomized into favorable (mRS
      0-3) and unfavorable outcome (mRS 4-6). We compared major complication rates,
      mortality and outcomes between primary DC and control groups. RESULTS: Twenty
      four patients with primary DC were included in the study group. Fourteen patients
      without DC were included in the control group. Patients with younger age and
      lower Glasgow coma score (GCS) more often underwent primary DC. Major
      complications did not differ between the two groups. Fourteen (58%) patients had
      a favorable outcome, and the mortality was 29%. Primary DC appeared to have lower
      in-hospital mortality and have better outcome. Adjusting for age and admission
      GCS, primary DC was not significantly associated with decreased mortality and
      improved outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Although primary DC does not increase
      postoperative complication and mortality risk, current results showed primary DC
      does not seem to be significantly associated with improved outcomes. However,
      more than one half of patients most benefit from primary DC. Further prospective
      controlled studies are warranted to clarify the issue.

PMID- 25817571
TI  - Sinking skin flap syndrome and paradoxical herniation secondary to lumbar
      drainage.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Decompressive craniectomy (DC) has been regaining popularity in the
      field of neurosurgery because it can alleviate intracranial hypertension and
      brain swelling. Lumbar drainage (LD) is affective in managing numerous
      neurosurgical circumstances such as aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage,
      refractory intracranial hypertension, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage and
      intraoperative brain relaxation. Sinking skin flap syndrome (SSFS) or paradoxical
      herniation (PH) is a rare complication and sporadically occurs in patients after
      DC. Hereby, we report for the first time that DC patients with LD can progress to
      SSFS or PH. We also evaluated the risk factors for the incidence of SSFS in DC
      patients with LD. METHODS: We retrospectively assessed 37 patients who underwent
      DC and LD for cerebrovascular diseases from the First Hospital of Jilin
      University between January, 2007 and December, 2012. RESULTS: Nine (4 male and 5
      female) of 37 patients experienced SSFS or PH following LD. At the last follow-up
      (mean 9 months, range 6-12 months), eight patients recovered completely due to
      timely conservative management and one patient died from PH. The mortality rate
      was 11% (1/9) from the complications of PH or SSFS. Further statistical analysis
      revealed that mean daily CSF volume was a risk factor for the incidence of SSFS
      in DC patients with LD. CONCLUSIONS: SSFS or PH can be identified in DC patients
      following LD. Patients that undergo DC and LD should be monitored more
      intensively. Most patients can completely recover with timely conservative
      management, bed rest, Trendelenburg position, sufficient intravenous fluid, and
      temporary clipping of the catheter.

PMID- 25817572
TI  - Differential regulation of TROP2 release by PKC isoforms through vesicles and
      ADAM17.
AB  - TROP2, a cancer cell surface protein with both pro-oncogenic and anti-oncogenic
      properties is cleaved by ADAM17. ADAM17 dependent cleavage requires novel PKC
      activity which is blocked by the ADAM10/ADAM17 inhibitor GW64 as well as by the
      PKC inhibitor Bim-1. Full length TROP2 release is induced by classical PKC
      activation and blocked by Go6979, without affecting ADAM17 dependent TROP2
      cleavage. Full length TROP2 is released in ectosomes, as inhibition of
      endocytosis did not prevent release. Inhibition of the atypical PKC isoform
      PKCzeta stimulated metalloproteinase dependent N-terminal alternative TROP2
      cleavage. The resulting alternative TROP2 cleavage product remains membrane
      associated via a disulphide bond, but is released in microvesicles with an
      average size of 107nm. Inhibition of endocytosis following PKCzeta inhibition
      prevented alternative cleavage and release of TROP2, suggesting that these events
      require endocytic uptake and exosomal release of the corresponding microvesicles.
      The alternative TROP2 cleavage product was also found in PC3 cell lysates
      following deglycosylation, and may represent a novel biomarker in prostate
      cancer. 

PMID- 25817573
TI  - Neuropeptide Y receptor mediates activation of ERK1/2 via transactivation of the
      IGF receptor.
AB  - Neuropeptide Y binds to G-protein coupled receptors whose action results in
      inhibition of adenylyl cyclase activity. Using HEK293 cells stably expressing the
      native neuropeptide Y Y1 receptors, we found that the NPY agonist elicits a
      transient phosphorylation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2).
      We first show that ERK1/2 activation following Y1 receptor stimulation is
      dependent on heterotrimeric Gi/o since it is completely inhibited by pre
      treatment with pertussis toxin. In addition, ERK1/2 activation is internalization
      independent since mutant Y1 receptors unable to recruit beta-arrestins, can still
      activate ERK signaling to the same extent as wild-type receptors. We next show
      that this activation of the MAPK pathway is inhibited by the MEK inhibitor U0126,
      is not dependent on calcium signaling at the Y1 receptor (no effect upon
      inhibition of phospholipase C, protein kinase C or protein kinase D) but instead
      dependent on Gbeta/gamma and associated signaling pathways that activate PI3
      kinase. Although inhibition of the epidermal-growth factor receptor tyrosine
      kinase did not influence NPY-induced ERK1/2 activation, we show that the
      inhibition of insulin growth factor receptor IGFR by AG1024 completely blocks
      activation of ERK1/2 by the Y1 receptor. This Gbeta/gamma-PI3K-AG1024-sensitive
      pathway does not involve activation of IGFR through the release of a soluble
      ligand by metalloproteinases since it is not affected by the metalloproteinase
      inhibitor marimastat. Finally, we found that a similar pathway, sensitive to
      wortmannin-AG1024 but insensitive to marimastat, is implicated in activation of
      ERK signaling in HEK293 cells by endogenously expressed GPCRs coupled to Gq
      protein (muscarinic M3 receptors) or coupled to Gs-protein (endothelin ETB
      receptors). Our analysis is the first to show that beta-arrestin recruitment to
      the NPY Y1 receptor is not necessary for MAPK activation by this receptor but
      that transactivation of the IGFR receptor is required. 

PMID- 25817574
TI  - GW5074 and PP2 kinase inhibitors implicate nontraditional c-Raf and Lyn function
      as drivers of retinoic acid-induced maturation.
AB  - The multivariate nature of cancer necessitates multi-targeted therapy, and kinase
      inhibitors account for a vast majority of approved cancer therapeutics. While
      acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients are highly responsive to retinoic
      acid (RA) therapy, kinase inhibitors have been gaining momentum as co-treatments
      with RA for non-APL acute myeloid leukemia (AML) differentiation therapies,
      especially as a means to treat relapsed or refractory AML patients. In this study
      GW5074 (a c-Raf inhibitor) and PP2 (a Src-family kinase inhibitor) enhanced RA
      induced maturation of t(15;17)-negative myeloblastic leukemia cells and rescued
      response in RA-resistant cells. PD98059 (a MEK inhibitor) and Akti-1/2 (an Akt
      inhibitor) were less effective, but did tend to promote maturation-uncoupled
      G1/G0 arrest, while wortmannin (a PI3K inhibitor) did not enhance differentiation
      surface marker expression or growth arrest. PD98059 and Akti-1/2 did not enhance
      differentiation markers and have potential, antagonistic off-targets effects on
      the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), but neither could the AhR agonist 6
      formylindolo(3,2-b)carbazole (FICZ) rescue differentiation events in the RA
      resistant cells. GW5074 rescued early CD38 expression in RA-resistant cells
      exhibiting an early block in differentiation before CD38 expression, while for RA
      resistant cells with differentiation blocked later, PP2 rescued the later
      differentiation marker CD11b; but surprisingly, the combination of the two was
      not synergistic. Kinases c-Raf, Src-family kinases Lyn and Fgr, and PI3K display
      highly correlated signaling changes during RA treatment, while activation of
      traditional downstream targets (Akt, MEK/ERK), and even the surface marker CD38,
      were poorly correlated with c-Raf or Lyn during differentiation. This suggests
      that an interrelated kinase module involving c-Raf, PI3K, Lyn and perhaps Fgr
      functions in a nontraditional way during RA-induced maturation or during rescue
      of RA induction therapy using inhibitor co-treatment in RA-resistant leukemia
      cells. 

PMID- 25817575
TI  - Neurokinin-1 activation affects EGFR related signal transduction in triple
      negative breast cancer.
AB  - Breast cancers bear overexpression of neurokinin-1 (NK-1). The aim of this study
      was to investigate the relationship between NK-1 and EGFR in triple negative
      breast cancers (TNBCs). Immunohistochemistry was performed to investigate NK-1
      and EGFR expressions in TNBCs. [Sar(9), ?Met(O2)(11)] substance P (SMSP) was used
      to activate NK-1 in two TNBC cell lines, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468. L-733060 and
      siRNA against NK-1 were used to inhibit NK-1. The in vitro regulatory effect of
      NK-1 was determined using CCK-8 proliferation assay. The effects of NK-1
      activation and inhibition on EGFR and its downstreaming pathway were analyzed
      using western blot and real-time quantitative PCR. We found that the proportion
      of EGFR positive cases was increased with the increasement of NK-1 levels. SMSP
      could promote the proliferation of TNBC cells, while L-733060 and siRNA could
      inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis. Moreover, SMSP could enhance
      expressions of phosphorylation (p)-EGFR and EGFR, and activate p-Akt and p-Erk.
      NK1-siRNA could decrease p-EGFR, p-Akt and p-Erk. In the presence of cetuximab
      (0.2mg/mL), SMSP still could stimulate cell proliferation, and activate p-EGFR.
      However, in the presence of erlotinib (10MUM), SMSP could not stimulate cell
      proliferation and could not activate p-EGFR. Our study showed the interaction
      between NK-1 and EGFR in TNBCs. These results suggested that NK-1 may regulate
      TNBC proliferation through EGFR phosphorylation, and the curative effect of EGFR
      monoclonal antibodies may be affected by NK-1 activation. 

PMID- 25817576
TI  - Temporal Influence of Heart Failure Hospitalizations Prior to Implantable
      Cardioverter Defibrillator or Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy With
      Defibrillator on Subsequent Outcome in Mild Heart Failure Patients (from MADIT
      CRT).
AB  - The temporal effect of heart failure (HF) hospitalization occurring at different
      time periods before implantation has not yet been studied in detail. The aim of
      the present study was to investigate the potential association between time from
      last HF hospitalization to device implantation and effects on subsequent outcomes
      and benefit from cardiac resynchronization therapy with a defibrillator (CRT-D).
      Multivariate Cox models were used to determine the temporal influence of previous
      HF hospitalization on the end point of HF or death within all left bundle branch
      block implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and CRT-D patients enrolled in
      the Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial-Cardiac
      Resynchronization Therapy (MADIT-CRT) trial (n = 1,250) and to evaluate the
      clinical benefit of CRT-D implantation, comparing CRT-D patients with ICD
      patients within each previous HF hospitalization group. The patients with
      previous HF hospitalization <=12 months before device implantation had the
      greatest incidence of HF or death during 4-year follow-up (31%), while those with
      previous HF hospitalization >12 months and those with no previous HF
      hospitalization had similar lower rates of HF or death (22% and 24%,
      respectively). All patients treated with CRT-D derived significant clinical
      benefit compared with their ICD counterparts, regardless of time of previous
      hospitalization (hazard ratios 0.38 [no previous hospitalization], 0.49 (<=12
      months), and 0.45 (>12 months); p for interaction = 0.67). In conclusion, in the
      present study of patients with mild HF with prolonged QRS intervals and LBBB, a
      previous HF hospitalization <=12 months was associated with increased risk for HF
      or death compared with >12 months and no previous HF hospitalizations. The
      clinical benefit of CRT-D was evident in all patients regardless of time from
      last HF hospitalization to implantation compared with ICD only.

PMID- 25817577
TI  - Assessment of antimicrobial utilization metrics: days of therapy versus defined
      daily doses and pharmacy dispensing records versus nursing administration data.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare antimicrobial utilization data derived from pharmacy
      dispensing records and nursing administration record data by 2 commonly used
      units of measure. DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS, AND METHODS: Data from nursing
      administration records and pharmacy dispensing records were obtained for 32
      medical wards. From nursing and pharmacy data, defined daily doses (DDD) were
      calculated, and from the nursing data, days of therapy were derived. Direct
      comparison of total antimicrobial use was performed by graphical analysis and
      linear regression. Slope of trend line was used to quantify the difference
      between pairs of measures. Bland-Altman plots were constructed to determine
      constant and proportional bias. At the level of individual agents, difference
      between pairs of measures was calculated and presented graphically and the
      average (95% CI) for the difference between measures was determined. RESULTS:
      Nursing administration record-derived DDD were on average 23% lower than
      corresponding rates of pharmacy dispensing record-derived DDD. The difference
      between rates of utilization by days of therapy vs DDD from the same source
      (nursing) was relatively small. Results from analysis of different individual
      agents were highly variable with wide 95% CIs. CONCLUSIONS: In our setting, we
      found clinically relevant differences in antimicrobial utilization associated
      with data from different sources. This outweighed the importance of the metric
      (DDD or days of therapy). However, measurement of use of individual agents was
      highly variable and sensitive to both metric unit and data sources.

PMID- 25817578
TI  - Effects of different forms and origins of oilseeds on dynamics of ruminal
      biohydrogenation of long-chain fatty acids in vitro.
AB  - Dietary unsaturated fatty acids (FA) are intensively hydrogenated in the rumen,
      resulting in reduced amount of poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and
      accumulation of several biohydrogenation (BH) products. In this study, BH of PUFA
      originating from different oilseeds (linseed, soya beans, sunflower seed and
      rapeseed) present in crushed oilseeds or their free oils were assessed in vitro.
      The assay substrates were incubated in buffered rumen fluid for 0, 6, 12 and 24
      h. After incubation, the FA pattern of the incubated samples was analysed using
      gas chromatography. Biohydrogenation is defined as disappearance of double bonds
      (DB) calculated from the contents of unsaturated FA. After 24-h incubation, the
      DB contents of all oilseeds were reduced (p < 0.001) by 40-60%. The reduction was
      higher (p < 0.001) for the crushed form compared with the oil form. In addition,
      linseed and sunflower seed known as oilseeds with high contents of linolenic acid
      C18:3 c9,12,15 (LNA) and linoleic acid C18:2 c9,12 (LA), respectively, showed a
      higher (p < 0.001) accumulation of the BH intermediates conjugated linoleic acid
      (CLA, isomer C18:2 c9t11) and vaccenic acid (C18:1 t11) for the crushed form,
      when compared with the oil. These results suggest an inherent effect of the
      physical form of the assay oilseeds on in vitro BH. Changes in FA pattern during
      BH in vitro can be attributed to both source and physical form of the assay
      oilseeds. However, further investigations are warranted to ensure whether the
      observed in vitro effects on ruminal BH can be confirmed in vivo.

PMID- 25817579
TI  - Ceftaroline fosamil as first-line versus second-line treatment for acute
      bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI) or community-acquired
      bacterial pneumonia (CABP).
AB  - The Clinical Assessment Program and Teflaro((r)) Utilization Registry (CAPTURE)
      is a multicenter registry study of acute bacterial skin and skin structure
      infection (ABSSSI) and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) patients
      treated with ceftaroline fosamil in the US. Data for this analysis were collected
      between August 2011 and February 2013 at US study centres by randomly ordered
      chart review. Clinical success rates among ABSSSI patients were >81% when
      ceftaroline fosamil was used as first- or second-line therapy, including
      monotherapy and concurrent therapy. Among CABP patients, clinical success rates
      were >77% among first-line and second-line patients and patients who received
      first-line concurrent therapy or second line monotherapy or concurrent therapy.
      For CABP patients treated with ceftaroline fosamil as first-line monotherapy, the
      clinical success rate was 70%. Ceftaroline fosamil is an effective treatment
      option for patients with ABSSSI or CABP with similar clinical success rates when
      used as first-line or second-line treatment. 

PMID- 25817584
TI  - Phylogenetic Characterization of Phosphatase-Expressing Bacterial Communities in
      Baltic Sea Sediments.
AB  - Phosphate release from sediments hampers the remediation of aquatic systems from
      a eutrophic state. Microbial phosphatases in sediments release phosphorus during
      organic matter degradation. Despite the important role of phosphatase-expressing
      bacteria, the identity of these bacteria in sediments is largely unknown. We
      herein presented a culture-independent method to phylogenetically characterize
      phosphatase-expressing bacteria in sediments. We labeled whole-cell extracts of
      Baltic Sea sediments with an artificial phosphatase substrate and sorted
      phosphatase-expressing cells with a flow cytometer. Their phylogenetic
      affiliation was determined by Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis. The
      phosphatase-expressing bacterial community coarsely reflected the whole-cell
      bacterial community, with a similar dominance of Alphaproteobacteria. 

PMID- 25817583
TI  - Tackling antibiotic resistance: the environmental framework.
AB  - Antibiotic resistance is a threat to human and animal health worldwide, and key
      measures are required to reduce the risks posed by antibiotic resistance genes
      that occur in the environment. These measures include the identification of
      critical points of control, the development of reliable surveillance and risk
      assessment procedures, and the implementation of technological solutions that can
      prevent environmental contamination with antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes.
      In this Opinion article, we discuss the main knowledge gaps, the future research
      needs and the policy and management options that should be prioritized to tackle
      antibiotic resistance in the environment.

PMID- 25817585
TI  - Diversity Profile of Microbes Associated with Anaerobic Sulfur Oxidation in an
      Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor Treating Municipal Sewage.
AB  - We herein analyzed the diversity of microbes involved in anaerobic sulfur
      oxidation in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor used for treating
      municipal sewage under low-temperature conditions. Anaerobic sulfur oxidation
      occurred in the absence of oxygen, with nitrite and nitrate as electron
      acceptors; however, reactor performance parameters demonstrated that anaerobic
      conditions were maintained. In order to gain insights into the underlying basis
      of anaerobic sulfur oxidation, the microbial diversity that exists in the UASB
      sludge was analyzed comprehensively to determine their identities and
      contribution to sulfur oxidation. Sludge samples were collected from the UASB
      reactor over a period of 2 years and used for bacterial 16S rRNA gene-based
      terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and next-generation
      sequencing analyses. T-RFLP and sequencing results both showed that microbial
      community patterns changed markedly from day 537 onwards. Bacteria belonging to
      the genus Desulforhabdus within the phylum Proteobacteria and uncultured bacteria
      within the phylum Fusobacteria were the main groups observed during the period of
      anaerobic sulfur oxidation. Their abundance correlated with temperature,
      suggesting that these bacterial groups played roles in anaerobic sulfur oxidation
      in UASB reactors. 

PMID- 25817586
TI  - An allosteric photoredox catalyst inspired by photosynthetic machinery.
AB  - Biological photosynthetic machinery allosterically regulate light harvesting via
      conformational and electronic changes at the antenna protein complexes as a
      response to specific chemical inputs. Fundamental limitations in current
      approaches to regulating inorganic light-harvesting mimics prevent their use in
      catalysis. Here we show that a light-harvesting antenna/reaction centre mimic can
      be regulated by utilizing a coordination framework incorporating antenna
      hemilabile ligands and assembled via a high-yielding, modular approach. As in
      nature, allosteric regulation is afforded by coupling the conformational changes
      to the disruptions in the electrochemical landscape of the framework upon
      recognition of specific coordinating analytes. The hemilabile ligands enable
      switching using remarkably mild and redox-inactive inputs, allowing one to
      regulate the photoredox catalytic activity of the photosynthetic mimic reversibly
      and in situ. Thus, we demonstrate that bioinspired regulatory mechanisms can be
      applied to inorganic light-harvesting arrays displaying switchable catalytic
      properties and with potential uses in solar energy conversion and photonic
      devices. 

PMID- 25817587
TI  - Correlation between 'ACKR1/DARC null' polymorphism and benign neutropenia in
      Yemenite Jews.

PMID- 25817588
TI  - Novel hybrid nocodazole analogues as tubulin polymerization inhibitors and their
      antiproliferative activity.
AB  - We describe the design, synthesis and SAR profiling of a series of novel
      combretastatin-nocodazole conjugates as potential anticancer agents. The
      thiophene ring in the nocodazole moiety was replaced by a substituted phenyl ring
      from the combretastatin moiety to design novel hybrid analogues. The hydroxyl
      group at the ortho position in compounds 2, 3 and 4 was used as the
      conformationally locking tool by anticipated six-membered hydrogen bonding. The
      bioactivity profiles of all compounds as tubulin polymerization inhibitors and as
      antiproliferative agents against the A-549 human lung cancer cell line were
      investigated Compounds 1 and 4 showed MUM IC50 values in both assays. 

PMID- 25817589
TI  - Rho-associated kinase signaling is required for osteopontin-induced cell invasion
      through inactivating cofilin in human non-small cell lung cancer cell lines.
AB  - Osteopontin (OPN) is involved in tumor progression such as invasion and
      metastasis, and poor prognosis of lung cancer. However, how OPN affects the
      invasive behavior of lung cancer is not well defined. Here, we examined the
      underlying molecular mechanism of OPN-induced invasion in human non-small cell
      lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines including A549 cells. OPN markedly increased the
      phosphorylation of LIM kinase 1 and 2 (LIMK1/2), and cofilin without affecting
      their total forms. The expression of Rho-associated kinase 1 (ROCK1), but not p21
      activated kinase 1 and 2 (PAK1/2), was increased by OPN treatment as an upstream
      effector of LIMK/cofilin. The phosphorylation of cofilin by OPN was suppressed
      when cells were pretreated with ROCK inhibitor Y27632 by Western blot. Moreover,
      it verified that OPN inactivated cofilin through ROCK signaling in other NSCLC
      cell lines. OPN induced the phosphorylation of FAK and AKT. FAK inhibitor FAKi-14
      and PI3K inhibitor wortmannin decreased the expressions of ROCK1, and
      phosphorylation of LIMK1/2 and cofilin. OPN caused a significant increase in the
      lamellipodia formation and cell invasion, and these are suppressed by FAK
      inhibitor FAKi-14, PI3K inhibitor wortmannin and ROCK inhibitor Y27632. Taken
      together, these results suggest that OPN triggers ROCK signaling mediated by
      FAK/PI3K/AKT pathway, which in turn induces the lamellipodia formation to allow
      the invasion of lung cancer cells through inactivating cofilin. 

PMID- 25817590
TI  - Crystal structure of the most catalytically effective carbonic anhydrase enzyme
      known, SazCA from the thermophilic bacterium Sulfurihydrogenibium azorense.
AB  - Two thermostable alpha-carbonic anhydrases (alpha-CAs) isolated from thermophilic
      Sulfurihydrogenibium spp., namely SspCA (from S. yellowstonensis) and SazCA (from
      S. azorense), were shown in a previous work to possess interesting complementary
      properties. SspCA was shown to have an exceptional thermal stability, whereas
      SazCA demonstrated to be the most active alpha-CA known to date for the CO2
      hydration reaction. Here we report the crystallographic structure of SazCA and
      the identification of the structural features responsible for its high catalytic
      activity, by comparing it with SspCA structure. These data are of relevance for
      the design of engineered proteins showing higher stability and catalytic activity
      than other alpha-CAs known to date. 

PMID- 25817591
TI  - (+)- and (-)-liriodenol, a pair of novel enantiomeric lignans from Liriodendron
      hybrid.
AB  - (+)- and (-)-liriodenol, a pair of unprecedented enantiomeric lignans bearing a
      1,1-disubstituted olefinic group, were isolated from the barks of Liriodendron
      hybrid. The structure and relative configurations were determined by
      comprehensive analysis of MS and NMR spectroscopy. The cytotoxicity of these
      three lignans ((+/-)-, (+)-, and (-)-liriodenol) was evaluated in vitro against
      four selected human tumor cell lines, where (+)-liriodenol showed more
      significant cytotoxic effects than the (+/-)- and (-)-liriodenol enantiomers. 

PMID- 25817593
TI  - Memorial for Michael Davidson, MD.

PMID- 25817592
TI  - Molecular characterization of epithelioid haemangioendotheliomas identifies novel
      WWTR1-CAMTA1 fusion variants.
AB  - AIMS: Epithelioid haemangioendothelioma (EHE) is a malignant vascular neoplasm.
      Subsets have been characterized previously by translocations resulting in either
      WWTR1-CAMTA1 or YAP1-TFE3 fusion. We sought to develop molecular and
      immunohistochemical (IHC) assays to aid in the diagnosis and characterization of
      EHE. METHODS AND RESULTS: Fifty-two formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE)
      cases diagnosed between 2002 and 2014 were retrieved from the pathology files of
      our institutions. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays
      were optimized to detect WWTR1-CAMTA1 and YAP1-TFE3 fusion transcripts in FFPE
      tissue and transcription factor E3 (TFE3) protein accumulation was examined by
      immunohistochemistry (IHC). RNA was extracted from 33 adequate samples, with more
      recent cases providing a greater yield of high quality RNA. Fourteen of 18
      informative cases were positive for WWTR1-CAMTA1 fusion transcripts, four of
      which showed higher-grade cytological features termed by some as 'malignant EHE'.
      Novel in-frame fusion transcripts were identified in four cases by direct
      sequencing. IHC revealed variable nuclear TFE3 staining in six of 17 cases; three
      with patchy staining showed WWTR1-CAMTA1 fusion. One of 18 informative cases was
      positive for YAP1-TFE3 fusion and showed strong nuclear TFE3 staining by IHC.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the high incidence of WWTR1-CAMTA1 and YAP1-TFE3
      rearrangements in EHE and indicates that the staining pattern for TFE3 IHC is
      critical for specificity.

PMID- 25817594
TI  - Linear spin wave theory for single-Q incommensurate magnetic structures.
AB  - Linear spin wave theory provides the leading term in the calculation of the
      excitation spectra of long-range ordered magnetic systems as a function of 1/?S.
      This term is acquired using the Holstein-Primakoff approximation of the spin
      operator and valid for small deltaS fluctuations of the ordered moment. We
      propose an algorithm that allows magnetic ground states with general moment
      directions and single-Q incommensurate ordering wave vector using a local
      coordinate transformation for every spin and a rotating coordinate transformation
      for the incommensurability. Finally we show, how our model can determine the spin
      wave spectrum of the magnetic C-site langasites with incommensurate order.

PMID- 25817595
TI  - Efficacy of topical 0.1% adapalene gel for use in the treatment of childhood
      acanthosis nigricans: a pilot study.

PMID- 25817596
TI  - The effect of CO2 laser treatment on skin tissue.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of
      multiple pulses on the depth of injury caused by CO2 laser in an in vivo rat
      model. METHODS: A 10 600-nm CO2 laser was applied to rat skin, with one side of
      the rat dorsal skin being exposed, leaving the other side as a control. RESULTS:
      All of the various laser pulses tested led to gradual loss of epidermal thickness
      as well as a dramatic increase in thermal damage depth. Collagen coagulation was
      most effective with ten pulses of CO2 laser, while the strength of irradiated
      skin tissue increased as the influence of the laser increased. CONCLUSION:
      Fundamental laser-skin interaction effects were studied using a CO2 laser. The
      photodamaged areas obtained from laser interaction were recorded via couple
      charge device video camera and analyzed via ImageJ software. Photodamage induced
      by CO2 laser is due to photothermal effects, which involve burning and vaporizing
      mechanisms to ablate the epidermis layer. The burning area literally expands and
      penetrates deep into the dermis layer, subsequently causing collagen coagulation.
      This fundamental study shows in detail the effect of CO2 laser interaction with
      skin. The CO2 attributed severe burning, producing deep coagulation, and induced
      strength to treated skin.

PMID- 25817597
TI  - Cognition and Emotion to respond.

PMID- 25817598
TI  - Application of Differential Colorimetry To Evaluate Anthocyanin-Flavonol-Flavanol
      Ternary Copigmentation Interactions in Model Solutions.
AB  - The combined effect of anthocyanin-flavanol-flavonol ternary interactions on the
      colorimetric and chemical stability of malvidin-3-glucoside has been studied.
      Model solutions with fixed malvidin-3-glucoside/(+)-catechin ratio (MC) and
      variable quercetin-3-beta-d-glucoside concentration (MC+Q) and solutions with
      fixed malvidin-3-glucoside/quercetin-3-beta-d-glucoside ratio (MQ) and variable
      (+)-catechin concentration (MQ+C) were tested at levels closer to those existing
      in wines. Color variations during storage were evaluated by differential
      colorimetry. Changes in the anthocyanin concentration were monitored by HPLC-DAD.
      CIELAB color-difference formulas were demonstrated to be of practical interest to
      assess the stronger and more stable interaction of quercetin-3-beta-d-glucoside
      with MC binary mixture than (+)-catechin with MQ mixture. The results imply that
      MC+Q ternary solutions kept their intensity and bluish tonalities for a longer
      time in comparison to MQ+C solutions. The stability of malvidin-3-glucoside
      improves when the concentration of quercetin-3-beta-d-glucoside increases in MC+Q
      mixtures, whereas the addition of (+)-catechin in MQ+C mixtures resulted in an
      opposite effect. 

PMID- 25817599
TI  - Identification of reference microRNAs for quantitative expression analysis in
      porcine peripheral blood mononuclear cells treated with polyinosinic
      polycytidylic acid.
AB  - Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are clinically important cells.
      Detection of microRNAs (miRNAs) expression in PBMCs can be useful for miRNA
      biomarker discovery for various diseases. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR)
      has become an important method used for measuring miRNAs expression. However, the
      reliability of qRT-PCR data critically depends on proper selection of reference
      genes. Here, we performed qRT-PCR to quantify the expression levels of nine
      miRNAs (Ssc-miR-16, Hsa-miR-25, Ssc-miR-34a, Hsa-miR-93, Bta-miR-92b, Ssc-miR
      103, Ssc-miR-106a, Ssc-miR-128 and Ssc-miR-107) and one small nuclear RNA (U6) in
      PBMCs treated with polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid [poly (I:C)] that widely used
      for simulating viral infection. We used the four statistical algorithms (GeNorm
      3.5, NormFinder, BestKeeper and comparative ? Ct method) to evaluate gene
      expression stability and observed that Ssc-miR-34a was the best single reference
      gene and the pair of Ssc-miR-107 and Ssc-miR-103 was the best combination of
      reference miRNAs for porcine PBMCs treated with poly (I:C). Our study shows the
      first evidence of careful selection of reference miRNAs in porcine PBMCs and
      maybe helpful for discovering miRNA biomarkers for double-stranded RNA-induced
      disease. 

PMID- 25817600
TI  - Graphene oxide stabilized by PLA-PEG copolymers for the controlled delivery of
      paclitaxel.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the application of water-dispersible poly(lactide)
      poly(ethylene glycol) (PLA-PEG) copolymers for the stabilization of graphene
      oxide (GO) aqueous dispersions and the feasibility of using the PLA-PEG
      stabilized GO as a delivery system for the potent anticancer agent paclitaxel.
      METHODS: A modified Staudenmaier method was applied to synthesize graphene oxide
      (GO). Diblock PLA-PEG copolymers were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization
      of dl-lactide in the presence of monomethoxy-poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG). Probe
      sonication in the presence of PLA-PEG copolymers was applied in order to reduce
      the hydrodynamic diameter of GO to the nano-size range according to dynamic light
      scattering (DLS) and obtain nano-graphene oxide (NGO) composites with PLA-PEG.
      The composites were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM),
      thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and DLS. The colloidal stability of the
      composites was evaluated by recording the size of the composite particles with
      time and the resistance of composites to aggregation induced by increasing
      concentrations of NaCl. The composites were loaded with paclitaxel and the in
      vitro release profile was determined. The cytotoxicity of composites against A549
      human lung cancer cells in culture was evaluated by flow cytometry. The uptake of
      FITC-labeled NGO/PLA-PEG by A549 cells was also estimated with flow cytometry and
      visualized with fluorescence microscopy. RESULTS: The average hydrodynamic
      diameter of NGO/PLA-PEG according to DLS ranged between 455 and 534 nm, depending
      on the molecular weight and proportion of PLA-PEG in the composites. NGO/PLA-PEG
      exhibited high colloidal stability on storage and in the presence of high
      concentrations of NaCl (far exceeding physiological concentrations). Paclitaxel
      was effectively loaded in the composites and released by a highly sustained
      fashion. Drug release could be regulated by the molecular weight of the PLA-PEG
      copolymer and its proportion in the composite. The paclitaxel-loaded composites
      exhibited cytotoxicity against A549 cancer cells which increased with incubation
      time, in conjunction with the increasing with time uptake of composites by the
      cancer cells. CONCLUSION: Graphene oxide aqueous dispersions were effectively
      stabilized by water-dispersible, biocompatible and biodegradable PLA-PEG
      copolymers. The graphene oxide/PLA-PEG composites exhibited satisfactory
      paclitaxel loading capacity and sustained in vitro drug release. The paclitaxel
      loaded composites could enter the A549 cancer cells and exert cytotoxicity. The
      results justify further investigation of the suitability of PLA-PEG stabilized
      graphene oxide for the controlled delivery of paclitaxel.

PMID- 25817601
TI  - Does increased adherence to medications change health care financial burdens for
      adults with diabetes?
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to investigate increased out-of
      pocket drug costs and financial burdens of achieving adherence to oral
      antidiabetic medications and medications for prevalent comorbidities. METHODS:
      Concurrent adherence to medications, out-of-pocket drug costs, and financial
      burdens were measured among non-elderly adults with diabetes in the Medical
      Expenditure Panel Survey. "Financial burden" was defined as spending on health
      care exceeding 10% of family income. This study simulated the increased out-of
      pocket drug costs and financial burdens that would result if non-adherent adults
      in our sample had obtained sufficient medications to be adherent. For each adult,
      for all therapeutic classes in which they were non-adherent, we calculated the
      additional days supplied required to become adherent, as well as out-of-pocket
      spending on these additional days supplied. RESULTS: Approximately one-quarter
      adhered to all required medications. Among non-adherent adults with employer
      sponsored insurance and public insurance, the mean annual out-of-pocket drug
      costs of achieving adherence were US$171 and US$68, respectively, which was
      generally affordable. However, 35.6% of the uninsured lived in families that
      spent 10% or more of their income on health care. Mean simulated additional out
      of-pocket drug costs of achieving adherence were US$310 for the uninsured. These
      additional drug costs would increase those spending 10% or more of income to
      39.6% of the uninsured. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts to reduce the costs faced by the
      uninsured and insured will make adherence more affordable and, therefore, more
      attainable for some adults with diabetes.

PMID- 25817604
TI  - ABCB1 genetic variant and its associated tacrolimus pharmacokinetics affect renal
      function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aimed to evaluate the blood exposure of and clinical
      responses to tacrolimus based on genetic variants of CYP3A5 and ABCB1 in patients
      with rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: Seventy rheumatoid arthritis patients treated
      with oral tacrolimus once daily were enrolled. Blood concentrations of tacrolimus
      and its major metabolite 13-O-demethylate at 12h after dosing were determined.
      The relationships between the tacrolimus pharmacokinetics and efficacy, renal
      function, and CYP3A5 and ABCB1 genotypes were evaluated. RESULTS: Dose-normalized
      blood concentration of tacrolimus was significantly higher in the CYP3A5*3/*3
      group than in the *1 allele carrier group. A lower metabolic ratio of 13-O
      demethylate to tacrolimus was observed in the CYP3A5*3/*3 group. The ABCB1 3435TT
      group had higher dose-normalized blood concentrations of tacrolimus and 13-O
      demethylate. The blood tacrolimus concentration was inversely correlated with the
      estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). ABCB1 C3435T but not CYP3A5 genotype
      had decreased eGFR. Patients lacking the CYP3A5*3 allele had a higher incidence
      of tacrolimus withdrawal. CONCLUSION: CYP3A5*3 increased the blood exposure of
      tacrolimus through its metabolic reduction. ABCB1 C3435T led to a higher blood
      exposure of tacrolimus and its major metabolite. The ABCB1 genetic variant and
      its associated tacrolimus pharmacokinetics affected renal function in rheumatoid
      arthritis patients.

PMID- 25817605
TI  - Glycated albumin as a diagnostic tool for diabetes in a general Japanese
      population.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Diabetes mellitus is a major cause of cardiovascular, kidney,
      neurologic, and eye diseases, and may be preventable in some cases by lifestyle
      modification. Screening tests for diabetes mellitus include fasting plasma
      glucose (FPG) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Our objective was to evaluate the
      utility of plasma glycated albumin (GA) in the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus.
      DESIGN AND METHODS: A cross-sectional, community-based population study of 908
      non-diabetic Japanese residents was conducted. Of these subjects, 176 with FPG
      value between 5.5 and 6.9mmol/l, and an HbA1c level of <6.5% received an oral
      glucose tolerance test (OGTT). RESULTS: The OGTT results were used for the
      diagnosis of diabetes mellitus using World Health Organization criteria. Receiver
      operating characteristic (ROC) analyses demonstrated that optimal threshold
      values for the diagnosis of diabetes in this population were 15.2% for GA and
      5.9% for HbA1c, respectively. Using these cutoff levels, the sensitivity of GA at
      62.1% for detecting diabetes was the same as that of HbA1c. However the
      specificity for GA for detecting diabetes was 61.9%, while for HbA1c it was
      higher at 66.7%. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the measurement of
      glycated albumin may serve as a useful screening test for diabetes in a general
      Japanese population.

PMID- 25817606
TI  - Glove use among hairdressers: difficulties in the correct use of gloves among
      hairdressers and the effect of education.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hand eczema is frequent among Danish hairdressers, and they are
      advised to use gloves as protection. However, studies indicate that a significant
      proportion use gloves inappropriately. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether
      hairdressers and apprentices use protective gloves in the correct way, and to
      determine whether a demonstration of correct use could cause an improvement.
      METHODS: Forty-three hairdressers and apprentices were asked to perform a hair
      wash while wearing gloves. The shampoo used was contaminated with an ultraviolet
      (UV) trace material. Two rounds of hair washing were carried out by each person,
      interrupted by a demonstration of how to use gloves correctly. Photographs were
      taken to compare UV contamination before and after the demonstration. RESULTS:
      All of the participants (100%) had their hands contaminated during the first
      round; the area ranged between 0.02 and 101.37 cm(2) (median 3.62 cm(2)). In the
      second round, 55.8% were contaminated (range 0.00-3.08 cm(2) ; median 0.01
      cm(2)). The reduction in contaminated skin areas was statistically significant (p
      < 0.001), proving an effect of the glove demonstration. There were no significant
      differences between hairdressers and apprentices. CONCLUSIONS: Hairdressers and
      apprentices lack knowledge on how to handle gloves correctly. A short
      demonstration of correct glove use made a significant difference in the skin
      protection provided by gloves.

PMID- 25817607
TI  - Oral microbiota change, tooth decay and hemorrhoidal disease.

PMID- 25817608
TI  - Fabrication of TiO2-SiO2 bioceramic coatings on Ti alloy and its synergetic
      effect on biocompatibility and corrosion resistance.
AB  - Most of the research work focussed on fabricating an implant material with an
      ideal combination of potential bioactivity on the surface and striking mechanical
      property of bulk in one elementary operation. Interwoven with above concept, SiO2
      incorporated nanostructured titania coatings were fabricated on Ti alloy by
      anodization using sodium silico fluoride electrolyte (SSF). The coatings were
      characterized by SEM, EDS, AFM, XRD and AT-FTIR techniques. The bioactivity and
      biocompatibility of the anodic coatings were also investigated. The AT-FTIR, EDS
      and XRD studies confirm the incorporation of SiO2 into TiO2 coating was confirmed
      by EDS, XRD and AT-FTIR techniques. The coating formed at the optimum conditions
      displays a dome like structure with nano flake morphology with maximum mechanical
      and anticorrosion properties. AFM analysis inferred that the surface roughness of
      the ceramic coating is higher compared to the pure titania. The SBF test and cell
      adhesion results predicted that SiO2 incorporated TiO2 coating is superior in
      their bioactivity compared to TiO2 coating. 

PMID- 25817609
TI  - Micro-scale testing and micromechanical modelling for high cycle fatigue of CoCr
      stent material.
AB  - This paper presents a framework of experimental testing and crystal plasticity
      micromechanics for high cycle fatigue (HCF) of micro-scale L605 CoCr stent
      material. Micro-scale specimens, representative of stent struts, are manufactured
      via laser micro-machining and electro-polishing from biomedical grade CoCr alloy
      foil. Crystal plasticity models of the micro-specimens are developed using a
      length scale-dependent, strain-gradient constitutive model and a phenomenological
      (power-law) constitutive model, calibrated from monotonic and cyclic plasticity
      test data. Experimental microstructural characterisation of the grain morphology
      and precipitate distributions is used as input for the polycrystalline finite
      element (FE) morphologies. Two microstructure-sensitive fatigue indicator
      parameters are applied, using local and non-local (grain-averaged)
      implementations, for the phenomenological and length scale-dependent models,
      respectively, to predict fatigue crack initiation (FCI) in the HCF experiments. 

PMID- 25817611
TI  - Erratum.

PMID- 25817610
TI  - Outcome of renal transplantation in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy: a
      single-center experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Renal transplantation has been established as a treatment for end
      stage renal disease (ESRD) due to diabetic nephropathy. However, few studies have
      focused on the outcome after renal transplantation in patients with ESRD and type
      2 diabetic nephropathy. To investigate the effect of renal transplantation on
      ESRD with type 2 diabetic nephropathy, we retrospectively analyzed patients who
      received renal transplantation at our facility. This study aimed to compare the
      outcome of renal transplantation for type 2 diabetic nephropathy with that for
      nondiabetic nephropathy. METHODS: We studied 290 adult patients, including 65
      with type 2 diabetic nephropathy (DM group) and 225 with nondiabetic nephropathy
      (NDM group), who underwent living-donor renal transplantation at our facility
      from February 2008 to March 2013. We compared the 2 groups retrospectively.
      RESULTS: In the DM and NDM groups, the 5-year patient survival rates were 96.6%
      and 98.7%, and the 5-year graft survival rates were 96.8% and 98.0%,
      respectively, with no significant differences between the groups. There were no
      significant differences in the rates of surgical complications, rejection, and
      infection. The cumulative incidence of postoperative cardiovascular events was
      higher in the DM group than in the NDM group (8.5% vs 0.49% at 5 years; P =
      .002). CONCLUSIONS: Patient and graft survival rates after renal transplantation
      for type 2 diabetic nephropathy are not inferior to those for recipients without
      diabetic nephropathy. Considering the poor prognosis of patients with diabetic
      nephropathy on dialysis, renal transplantation can provide significant benefits
      for these patients.

PMID- 25817615
TI  - Correlation between Sleep Duration and Risk of Stroke.
AB  - Modern lifestyle and job requirements have changed the sleep habits of most of
      the adult population. Various population-based studies have associated an
      increase in mortality with either shortened sleep or long sleep duration. Thus a
      U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and all-cause mortality in both men
      and women has been suggested. Several studies have found an association between
      sleep duration and risk of cardiovascular diseases also. Efforts to understand
      the etiology of stroke have indicated an association between sleep and stroke
      too. Obstructive sleep apnea, a sleep-related disorder, has been reported to
      significantly increase the risk of stroke. Moreover, many studies have shown that
      both short and long sleep durations are related to increased likelihood of
      diabetes and hypertension, which themselves are risk factors for stroke.
      Therefore, this review focuses on the correlation between sleep duration and risk
      of stroke based on the experimental and epidemiologic studies. Although a few
      experimental studies have reported that partial sleep deprivation may reduce
      stroke incidence and severity, yet, most experimental and observational studies
      have indicated a strong association between short/long sleep durations and higher
      risk of stroke. 

PMID- 25817614
TI  - Vertebrobasilar ectasia in patients with lacunar stroke: the secondary prevention
      of small subcortical strokes trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The clinical implications of vertebrobasilar ectasia (VBE) in
      patients with cerebral small-artery disease are not well defined. We investigated
      whether VBE is associated with recurrent stroke, major hemorrhage, and death in a
      large cohort of patients with recent lacunar stroke. METHODS: Maximum diameters
      of the vertebral and basilar arteries were measured by magnetic resonance
      angiography and computed tomographic angiography in 2621 participants in the
      Secondary Prevention of Small Subcortical Strokes trial. VBE was defined a priori
      as basilar artery greater than 4.5 mm and/or vertebral artery greater than 4.0
      mm. Patient characteristics and risks of stroke recurrence and mortality during
      follow-up (median, 3.5 years) were compared between patients with and without
      VBE. RESULTS: VBE affecting 1 or more arteries was present in 200 (7.6%)
      patients. Patient features independently associated with VBE were increasing age,
      male sex, white race ethnicity, hypertension, and higher baseline diastolic blood
      pressure. Baseline systolic blood pressure was inversely associated with VBE.
      After adjustment for other risk factors, VBE was not predictive of recurrent
      stroke (hazard ratio [HR], 1.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], .85-1.9) or major
      hemorrhage (HR, 1.5; CI, .94-2.6), but was of death (HR, 1.7; CI, 1.1-2.7).
      CONCLUSIONS: In this large well-characterized cohort of patients with recent
      lacunar stroke, VBE was predictive of death but not of recurrent stroke or major
      hemorrhage. In these exploratory analyses, the frequency of VBE was directly
      related to diastolic blood pressure but inversely related to systolic blood
      pressure.

PMID- 25817616
TI  - Clinical study of 46 patients with lateral medullary infarction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lateral medullary infarction (LMI) exhibits a variety of clinical
      features. Various bulbar symptoms can occur in LMI. METHODS: Neuroradiologic
      findings of 46 LMI patients were examined. Their infarcts were categorized into
      the rostral, middle, and caudal groups and were further subdivided into the
      anteromedial, anterolateral, lateral (L), and posterior regions. RESULTS: The
      middle medulla was the most common site (27 patients). Most lesions affected the
      L region alone (25 patients). Dysarthria and facial palsy occurred significantly
      more frequently in the rostral group than those in the caudal group. Severe
      truncal ataxia was significantly more common in the caudal group than that in the
      rostral group. Twenty-five of the 28 patients with severe truncal ataxia
      displayed vestibular symptoms; otherwise, the other 3 patients showed absence of
      vestibular symptoms. Soft palate paralysis occurred at a significantly high
      frequency in the patients with dysphagia and hoarseness compared with the
      patients without these 2 symptoms. Segmental sensory disturbance occurred in 5
      patients, 4 of whom exhibited atypical patterns. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our
      comparisons between the rostral and caudal groups were consistent with those of
      previous studies. The presence of severe truncal ataxia without vestibular
      symptoms in LMI was atypical. An analysis of the bulbar symptoms indicated that
      the extent to which soft palate paralysis contributed to dysphagia was associated
      with the severity of ischemia in the nucleus ambiguus. The present study showed
      variability in clinical features of LMI, which was related to differences in the
      severity and the extent of ischemia in the lateral medulla.

PMID- 25817617
TI  - Neurologic symptom severity after a recent noncardioembolic stroke and recurrent
      vascular risk.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is a well-established relation of symptom severity with
      functional status and mortality after an index stroke. However, little is known
      about the impact of symptom severity of a recent index stroke on risk of
      recurrent vascular events. METHODS: We reviewed the data set of a multicenter
      trial involving 3680 recent noncardioembolic stroke patients aged 35 years or
      older and followed for 2 years. Independent associations of stroke severity (as
      measured by National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] score) with
      recurrent stroke (primary outcome) and stroke/coronary heart disease
      (CHD)/vascular death (secondary outcome) were analyzed. NIHSS score was analyzed
      as a dichotomous (<4 versus >=4) and a continuous variable. RESULTS: Among study
      subjects, 550 (15%) had NIHSS scores of 4 or more (overall scores ranged from 0
      to 18, median score was 1 [25th-75th percentile 0-2]). NIHSS was measured at a
      median of 35 days after the index stroke. After adjusting for multiple
      covariates, NIHSS of 4 or more was independently linked to a higher risk of
      recurrent stroke (hazard ratio [HR], 1.37; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01
      1.84) and risk of stroke/CHD/vascular death (HR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.07-1.64).
      Analysis of NIHSS score as a continuous variable also showed a higher risk of
      recurrent stroke (HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.00-1.12) and stroke/CHD/vascular death (HR,
      1.05; 95% CI, 1.01-1.09) with increasing index stroke symptom severity.
      CONCLUSIONS: Greater residual symptom severity after a recent stroke is
      associated with higher risk of recurrent vascular events. Future studies are
      needed to confirm this relationship and to clarify its underlying mechanisms.

PMID- 25817618
TI  - Frequency of new pulmonary neoplasm incidentally detected by computed tomography
      angiography in acute stroke patients-a single-center study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Incidental findings of suspect lung opacities are common in computed
      tomography (CT)-based thorax examinations, especially in high-risk patients, such
      as stroke patients. Screening with CT of the thorax has detected lung cancer in
      approximately .31%-1.20% of high-risk populations. The aim of the present study
      was to report the frequency of suspect lung opacities on routine acute stroke
      imaging. METHODS: Seven hundred and fifty-seven consecutive stroke patients
      evaluated for intravenous thrombolysis treatment within 4.5 hours of symptom
      debut, from June 2009 to December 2011, were included in a prospective registry
      on which this analysis was based. On admission, CT angiography from the aortic
      arch to vertex was performed, including the lung apices, corresponding to 1/3 of
      the total lung volume. A senior neuroradiologist reviewed all scans registering
      suspect lung opacities, which subsequently were characterized as either
      malignant, presumed malignant, presumed benign or benign, based on radiologic
      parameters of malignancy, positron emission tomography scan, histology, and
      clinical features. RESULTS: Suspect lung opacities appeared on the CT angiography
      in 20 patients (2.6%). Five suspect lung opacities were categorized as malignant
      and 3 suspect lung opacities were categorized as presumed malignant. This
      corresponds to an incidence of 1.1% (8 of 750). CONCLUSIONS: Malignant lung
      opacities were found in approximately 1% of this high-risk population, whereas
      our findings do not support full CT of the thorax as routine on stroke patients.

PMID- 25817619
TI  - Can the Montreal Cognitive Assessment predict discharge destination in a stroke
      population in the hospital?
AB  - BACKGROUND: To decide on an appropriate discharge destination for stroke
      survivors from hospital, factors such as activities of daily living and age are
      often taken into account as predictors. Cognition has been found to support the
      decision whether to send a patient home or to a dependent living situation. The
      Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) has been proven to be a suitable cognitive
      screening instrument in the acute phase after stroke. However, its predictive
      value in the determination of discharge destination is unknown. The aim of the
      present study was to examine whether cognitive functioning, as measured with the
      MOCA, in the acute phase after stroke could predict discharge destination.
      METHODS: The study involved 211 patients with a first-ever cerebral stroke within
      the first week after stroke. Demographic and stroke-specific data, cognitive
      functioning (MOCA), and level of functional disability (Barthel Index [BI]) were
      collected. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to predict
      discharge destination (dependent versus independent living situation). RESULTS:
      Both age (B = -.05; P < .01) and BI score (B = .33; P < .001) were found to be
      significantly related to discharge destination with explained variance of 43%.
      Adding MOCA score as a predictor variable to the model resulted in a
      nonsignificant improvement of the model, explaining 44% of the variance.
      CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive functioning, as measured by a single screening instrument
      such as the MOCA, in the acute phase after stroke is not predictive for discharge
      destination.

PMID- 25817620
TI  - Significant Association between Carotid Artery Kinking and Leukoaraiosis in
      Middle-Aged and Elderly Chinese Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Leukoaraiosis (LA) and carotid artery morphologic variations are 2
      common imaging manifestations. The purpose of this study was to determine whether
      carotid artery morphologic variations are correlated with LA. METHODS: A total of
      702 patients, aged 50 years or older, admitted to our hospital from November 1,
      2013, to January 30, 2014, were prospectively enrolled in this study. All
      participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging to assess the presence and
      severity of LA. Carotid artery morphologic variations were classified into
      tortuosity, kinking, and coiling by computed tomography angiography. Logistic
      regression analyses were performed to examine the relationship between carotid
      artery morphologic variations, its components, and LA. RESULTS: The frequency of
      hemisphere with LA and carotid artery with carotid artery morphologic variations
      was 49.9% and 70.3% in the cohort, respectively. Carotid kinking was associated
      with an increased risk of ipsilateral LA after multivariable adjustment (odds
      ratio [OR], 2.29; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.57-3.36 for left side; OR,
      2.51; 95% CI: 1.68-3.74 for right side), whereas carotid tortuosity and coiling
      were not related to LA. Moreover, the prevalence of carotid kinking gradually
      increased with advancing grades of ipsilateral LA. CONCLUSIONS: The present study
      demonstrated that carotid artery kinking may be associated with an increased risk
      of LA in middle-aged and elderly Chinese patients. Further prospective studies
      are needed to confirm these findings.

PMID- 25817621
TI  - Isolated Unilateral Ptosis due to Paramedian Midbrain Infarction.
AB  - A 59-year-old man who had hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and left
      eye glaucoma developed sudden vertigo and left ptosis; he did not notice
      diplopia. He visited our hospital on day 3 after onset and neurologic examination
      showed left ptosis. His left visual acuity was counting fingers, and the light
      reflex was sluggish owing to glaucoma. Pupil sizes were equal, and eye movements
      and the lower lid were unremarkable. Magnetic resonance images revealed an acute
      infarction of the left paramedian midbrain. We considered that selective damage
      to the oculomotor fascicles innervating the left levator palpebrae superioris
      caused ipsilateral ptosis. As the fascicles for this ocular muscle run in the
      small area adjacent to those for the medial rectus, inferior rectus and superior
      rectus muscles, this is an extremely rare case of midbrain infarction presenting
      with isolated unilateral ptosis. 

PMID- 25817622
TI  - Prediction of cerebrovascular reserve capacity by computed tomography perfusion
      using 320-row computed tomography.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acetazolamide loading has been the "gold standard" for evaluating
      cerebrovascular reserve capacity (CVRC). However, life-threatening side effects
      of acetazolamide have recently been reported. The aim of the study was to
      identify alternative methods for evaluating CVRC. METHODS: We reviewed 6 patients
      who underwent both computed tomography perfusion (CTP) imaging and xenon CT
      (XeCT) imaging with and without acetazolamide loading during the same periods.
      The data were obtained as volume data using 320-row CT and applied to the
      automated region of interest-determining software and converted to standardized
      images. Correlations between CVRC and CTP parameters were analyzed by Pearson
      correlation coefficient analysis, and simple regression was used to assess the
      relationship between the data. When statistically significant, correlation
      between CVRC and any CTP data is identified, and cutoff points for CVRC 30% and
      10% were calculated with receiver operating characteristic curves. RESULTS: Of 4
      CTP parameters evaluated, statistically significant correlations were observed
      between time to peak (TTP) by CTP and CVRC (P < .0001, r = -.7228) calculated
      from XeCT. The regression line using CVRC as outcome variable (y) and using TTP
      as predictor variable (x) was y = -9.062x + 140.1. The cutoff value for the TTP
      for CVRC less than 10% was 12.56 seconds (sensitivity of 86% and specificity of
      85%) and that for CVRC less than 30% was 9.34 seconds (sensitivity of 77% and
      specificity of 96%). CONCLUSIONS: TTP calculated from CTP data correlated well
      with the CVRC calculated from XeCT data. These results suggest that TTP
      calculated from CTP could be used to estimate CVRC in patients with occlusive
      cardiovascular disease.

PMID- 25817623
TI  - Genetic Analysis of RNF213 c.14576G>A Variant in Nonatherosclerotic Quasi
      Moyamoya Disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Quasi-moyamoya disease (MMD) and MMD (definite MMD) have similar
      cerebral angiographic features, but whether these related diseases have similar
      etiology or genetic background remains unclear. Recently, we have reported that
      the recently identified MMD susceptibility gene variant RNF213 c.14576G>A
      (rs112735431) was associated with atherosclerotic intracranial major artery
      stenosis/occlusion. The present study investigated the occurrence of RNF213
      c.14576G>A in patients with nonatherosclerotic quasi-MMD. METHODS: This study was
      a 2-hospital-based case-control study conducted at the Department of
      Neurosurgery, The University of Tokyo Hospital and Kanto Neurosurgical Hospital.
      A total of 87 Japanese patients who agreed to participate in this study were
      enrolled among both new and revisiting outpatients from October 2011 to December
      2013 as follows: 78 patients with definite MMD and 9 patients with
      nonatherosclerotic quasi-MMD. RESULTS: The 9 patients with nonatherosclerotic
      quasi-MMD included 3 patients with previous irradiation, 2 with hyperthyroidism,
      1 with Turner syndrome, 1 with meningitis, 1 with Behcet disease, and 1 with
      idiopathic pachymeningitis. The 78 patients with definite MMD included 66
      patients (84.6%) with the c.14576G>A variant (64 heterozygotes and 2 homozygous).
      In contrast, no patients with nonatherosclerotic quasi-MMD had the variant.
      CONCLUSIONS: Nonatherosclerotic quasi-MMD did not have RNF213 c.14576G>A variant.
      Moyamoya disease and related diseases might be classified by genetic analysis of
      the RNF213 c.14576G>A genotype. Further larger studies are required to confirm
      the present findings.

PMID- 25817624
TI  - Early relapsing calcified cerebral embolism.
AB  - Calcified cerebral emboli are rarely reported, but may be recurrent and
      devastating. Misdiagnosis at interpretation of initial brain computed tomography
      (CT) scan may occur in up to 27% of cases. The purpose of this case report was to
      describe clinical, CT, and CT angiography findings in a 79-year-old woman
      undergoing early recurrent stroke from calcified cerebral embolism.
      Neuroradiology should not overlook calcified cerebral embolism, and this confirms
      the role of CT in the assessment of stroke.

PMID- 25817625
TI  - Serum uric acid is neuroprotective in Chinese patients with acute ischemic stroke
      treated with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Exogenous uric acid (UA) is a neuroprotective antioxidant that
      reinforces the benefits of intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator
      thrombolysis in animal thromboembolic stroke. However, whether serum uric acid
      (SUA) also increases the benefits of thrombolysis in Chinese patients with acute
      ischemic stroke (AIS) has yet to be fully defined. METHODS: A total of 216
      consecutive AIS patients of Chinese origin treated with intravenous thrombolysis
      were enrolled in a prospective stroke registry. Demographic and clinical
      characteristics, conventional risk factors, important laboratory data, and
      neurologic course were prospectively recorded. Functional outcomes were assessed
      with the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score on day 90 by telephone calls. Receiver
      operating characteristic curves and binary logistic regression models were used
      to examine the performance of SUA in predicting excellent outcomes (mRS, 0-1).
      RESULTS: SUA levels were significantly higher in patients with excellent outcomes
      than those in patients with poor outcomes (331.46 +/- 103.39 versus 277.69 +/-
      105.62, P = .008). SUA had a modest power for predicting excellent outcomes as
      suggested by area under the curve of .665 +/- .052, P = .003. In multivariate
      models, increased SUA levels (adjusted odds ratio, 1.005; 95% confidence
      interval, 1.002-1.009; P = .033) were associated with excellent outcomes
      independently of the effect of possible confounders. Spearman correlation tests
      indicated that there was an inverse correlation between SUA levels and stroke
      severity. CONCLUSIONS: Increased SUA levels are associated with excellent
      outcomes in Chinese patients with AIS treated with intravenous thrombolysis,
      giving additional support to administration of exogenous UA as an adjuvant to
      thrombolysis.

PMID- 25817627
TI  - Transient Neurologic Deficits: Can Transient Ischemic Attacks Be Discriminated
      from Migraine Aura without Headache?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transient neurologic deficits (TNDs) are often considered first to be
      transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) but TND with normal brain imaging is also
      characteristic of other prevalent conditions like migraine aura leading to
      potential confusion. We aimed to determine if migraine aura with headache (MA)
      and migraine aura without headache (MAWH) can be distinguished from TIA on
      clinical or paraclinical ground using validated international criteria. METHODS:
      Clinical and paraclinical data from 32 patients with TIA were compared with 32
      patients with MAWH and 32 with MA. Participants underwent a thorough evaluation
      including standardized clinical examination, laboratory testing, magnetic
      resonance imaging of the brain, cardiovascular work-up, and electroencephalogram.
      RESULTS: Patient with TIA were significantly older (65.41 +/- 16.93 years) than
      patients with MAWH (50.41 +/- 19.69, P = .002) or MA (40.56 +/- 11.72, P =
      .00001), and were mostly male (male:female = .82) compared with the 2 other
      groups. History of stroke, high blood pressure, and dyslipidemia were
      significantly more frequent in patients with TIA. Visual deficits occurred in 63%
      of patients with MAWH, 41% for patients with MA, and 10% for patients with TIA.
      In patients with TIA, the TND was inaugural in 94% of cases, conversely to MAWH
      and MA in which TND was inaugural in only 19% and 38%, respectively (P <= .0001).
      CONCLUSIONS: Despite some sociodemographic, clinical, and paraclinical
      differences in the presentation of these TND, there is no feature accurately
      distinguishing between TIA and TND associated with migrainous phenomena when
      validated actual criteria are used, leading to probable confusion in most
      studies. There is a need to develop reliable criteria and/or tests for this
      purpose.

PMID- 25817626
TI  - Stroke Awareness Is Worse among the Old and Poorly Educated: A Population-Based
      Survey.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This article surveys a representative sample of adults to assess
      their knowledge of stroke, its vascular risk factors and warning symptoms,
      illness perception, and attitude toward strokes. METHODS: A representative sample
      of the region population was selected using a double randomization design.
      Previously trained medical students carried out face-to-face interviews using a
      structured questionnaire with open- and closed-ended questions. RESULTS: In all,
      2411 subjects were interviewed. Seventy-three percent reported at least 1 correct
      warning sign of stroke, whereas only 12.2% reported 3. The most frequently
      mentioned were sudden weakness, dizziness, and headache. Only 59.2% named at
      least 1 correct risk factor for stroke. Smoking and hypertension were mainly
      named. Forty percent of the respondents demonstrated adequate knowledge of
      stroke. Tellingly, prevalence of adequate knowledge was significantly lower in
      subjects with previous stroke (29.3% [95% confidence interval {CI}, 19.7-40.3], P
      = .049), hypertension (35.0% [95% CI, 31.1-39.1], P = .009), diabetes (31.9% [95%
      CI, 25.9-38.3], P = .011), hypercholesterolemia (35.8% [95% CI, 31.8-39.9], P =
      .03), and obesity (28.2% [95% CI, 23.8-33.0], P < .001). Illness perception was
      generally correct. In the final logistic regression model, younger age, urban
      area of residence, higher educational level, higher family income, normal
      pressure, normal weight, and family history of stroke were associated with
      adequate knowledge of stroke. CONCLUSIONS: Basic knowledge of stroke is
      insufficient among the general population of Extremadura. There is a discrepancy
      between theoretical stroke knowledge and illness perception. These findings have
      implications for public health initiatives for stroke.

PMID- 25817628
TI  - Detection of basilar artery dissection by ultrasound.
AB  - We report a case of a 45-year-old woman with unusual headache 1 week before
      admission. After cerebrovascular ultrasound, a basilar artery dissection was
      supposed despite the normal neurologic, cerebrospinal fluid, and computed
      tomography findings. On a follow-up color-coded duplex sonography (1 month after
      the onset), reperfusion was detected in the vertebral and basilar arteries, but
      residual high-grade stenosis of the basilar artery was also present. 

PMID- 25817629
TI  - Detectability of ischemic lesions on diffusion-weighted imaging is biphasic after
      transient ischemic attack.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Experimental studies of transient focal ischemia indicate biphasic
      detectability of lesions by diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI); poorly detectable
      phase exists at 1-12 hours after reperfusion. The present study aimed to clarify
      whether poorly detectable phase also exists in DWI of transient ischemic attack
      (TIA) patients. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted in 144 consecutive
      TIA patients who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 2 weeks after
      carotid TIA. Patients were classified into 9 groups according to time from
      disappearance of TIA symptoms to DWI: intraischemic period, 0-1 hour, 1-12 hours,
      12-24 hours, 1-2 days, 2-3 days, 3-7 days, 7-10 days, and 10-14 days after the
      end of TIA. RESULTS: Lesions were detected in 33 of 144 patients (22.9%). The
      frequency of positive lesions was 20% in the intraischemic period and 30.8% at 0
      1 hour after the end of TIA; it markedly decreased to 8.7% at 1-12 hours after
      end of TIA. Thereafter, it increased to 21.7%, 30.8%, 36.4%, 37.0%, 38.5%, and
      30% at 12-24 hours, 1-2 days, 2-3 days, 3-7 days, 7-10 days, and 10-14 days after
      the end of TIA, respectively. In 7 patients, MRI was repeated twice, at 1-12
      hours and then at 5-13 days after the end of TIA. Lesions were never detected on
      the first MRI but were clearly demonstrated in 4 of 7 patients on the second MRI.
      CONCLUSIONS: The detectability of ischemic lesions may be biphasic after TIA as
      indicated by experimental studies.

PMID- 25817630
TI  - Does airway hyperresponsiveness monitoring lead to improved asthma control?
AB  - The current guidelines recommend an approach to asthma management based on asthma
      control, rather than asthma severity. Although several specific questionnaires
      have been developed and control criteria have been established based on clinical
      guidelines, the evaluation of asthma control is still not optimal. In general,
      these indicators provide adequate assessment of current control, but they are
      more limited when estimating future risk. There is much evidence demonstrating
      the persistence of airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in
      patients with total control. Therefore, the objective of this review was to
      analyse the possible role of AHR monitoring as an instrument for assessing asthma
      control. We will evaluate its capacity as an indicator for future risk, both for
      estimating the possibility of clinical deterioration and loss of lung function or
      exacerbations. Furthermore, its relationship with inhaled corticosteroid
      treatment will be analysed, while emphasizing its capacity for predicting
      response and adjusting dosage, as well as information about the capability of AHR
      for monitoring treatment. Last of all, we will discuss the main limitations and
      emerging opportunities of AHR as an assessment instrument for asthma control. 

PMID- 25817631
TI  - Concordance between 11C-PIB-PET and clinical diagnosis in a memory clinic.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Today, ligands that bind to fibrillar beta-amyloid are detectable
      by Positron Emission Tomography (PET) allowing for in vivo visualization for
      Abeta burden. However, amyloid plaques detection per se does not establish
      Alzheimer's Disease diagnosis. In this sense, the utility of amyloid imaging to
      improve clinical diagnosis was settled only for specific clinical scenarios and
      few studies have assessed amyloid molecular neuroimaging in a broader clinical
      setting. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of PiB amyloid
      findings in different diagnostic syndromes grouped into high and low probability
      pre- test categories, taking into account pre-test clinical assumption of the
      presence of AD related pathology. METHODS: 144 patients were assigned into
      categories of high or low pretest probability according to clinical suspicion of
      AD pathology. The high probability group included: amnestic Mild Cognitive
      Impairment (MCI), amnestic and other domains MCI, Dementia of Alzheimer's Type
      (DAT), Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA), logopenic Primary Progressive Aphasia
      (PPA), Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy and mixed dementia. The low assumption group
      included: normal controls, non-amnestic MCI, non-logopenic PPA and Frontotemporal
      Dementia (FTD). RESULTS: Only normal controls and DAT patients (typical and
      atypical presentation) were the most consistent across clinical and molecular
      diagnostics. MCI, non-logopenic PPA and FTD were the syndromic diagnoses that
      most discrepancies were found. DISCUSSION: This study demonstrates that detecting
      in vivo amyloid plaques by molecular imaging is considerably frequent in most of
      the dementia syndromes and shows that there are frequent discordance between
      molecular diagnosis and clinical assumption.

PMID- 25817632
TI  - Abdominal desmoid tumors. A new reconstructive approach.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Desmoid tumors are rare soft tissue tumors derived from
      musculoaponeurotic structures of the abdominal wall musculature. Although they
      are considered benign tumors because they don't metastasize to other parts of the
      body, they are clinically considered as malignant for their high tendency on
      infiltrative growth with local invasion and trend to recurrence after local
      excision. Several reconstructive techniques are proposed in the literature.
      METHODS: Nine female patients with abdominal desmoid tumors underwent the removal
      of a mass of tissue running from the skin to peritoneum near the tumor with a
      safety margin in macroscopically normal tissue at least of 5 centimeters from the
      edge of the tumor. After wide excision, a polypropylene mesh was placed in the
      rear muscular pocket without anchoring suture (sliding mesh sutureless
      hernioplasty) RESULTS: No patients had perioperative complications or abdominal
      wall weakness or an incisional hernia in the following 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: We
      consider this technique of abdominal wall reconstruction after desmoid tumor
      removal a simple procedure that reduces relapsing events and recurrences of
      abdominal hernia, reducing tension and pain caused by the traditional suture
      repair technique. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV.

PMID- 25817633
TI  - Confusion surrounds UK policy on open access publishing, review finds.

PMID- 25817635
TI  - Preparation of zwitterionically charged nanocrystals by surface TEMPO-mediated
      oxidation and partial deacetylation of alpha-chitin.
AB  - Zwitterionic nanocrystals were prepared by TEMPO-mediated oxidation, partial
      deacetylation, and subsequent mechanical disintegration of alpha-chitin. The pH
      dependence of the morphology, transparency, and viscosity of the nanocrystals
      were evaluated. After those reactions, the carboxylate and amino group contents
      of the chitin derivative were 0.45 and 1.26 mmol/g, respectively. After
      mechanical treatment, the water dispersion consisted of nanocrystals
      approximately 250 nm long and 10nm thick. Under acidic and basic conditions, the
      water dispersions were highly transparent. On the other hand, under neutral
      conditions, the dispersion was turbid due to the ionic interaction between the
      cationic and anionic groups on the nanocrystal surface. Although the surface
      zwitterionic nanocrystals collected from acidic and basic dispersion were
      randomly oriented due to electrostatic repulsions, nanocrystals formed aggregates
      in neutral water due to the cationic and anionic interaction between them.
      Nanocrystals in neutral water had higher viscosity than those in acidic and basic
      water, since ionic interaction caused nanocrystal networks to form in water.

PMID- 25817634
TI  - Use of synchrotron medical microbeam irradiation to investigate radiation-induced
      bystander and abscopal effects in vivo.
AB  - The question of whether bystander and abscopal effects are the same is unclear.
      Our experimental system enables us to address this question by allowing
      irradiated organisms to partner with unexposed individuals. Organs from both
      animals and appropriate sham and scatter dose controls are tested for expression
      of several endpoints such as calcium flux, role of 5HT, reporter assay cell death
      and proteomic profile. The results show that membrane related functions of
      calcium and 5HT are critical for true bystander effect expression. Our original
      inter-animal experiments used fish species whole body irradiated with low doses
      of X-rays, which prevented us from addressing the abscopal effect question. Data
      which are much more relevant in radiotherapy are now available for rats which
      received high dose local irradiation to the implanted right brain glioma. The
      data were generated using quasi-parallel microbeams at the biomedical beamline at
      the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble France. This means we can
      directly compare abscopal and "true" bystander effects in a rodent tumour model.
      Analysis of right brain hemisphere, left brain and urinary bladder in the
      directly irradiated animals and their unirradiated partners strongly suggests
      that bystander effects (in partner animals) are not the same as abscopal effects
      (in the irradiated animal). Furthermore, the presence of a tumour in the right
      brain alters the magnitude of both abscopal and bystander effects in the tissues
      from the directly irradiated animal and in the unirradiated partners which did
      not contain tumours, meaning the type of signal was different. 

PMID- 25817636
TI  - The stability and degradation kinetics of Sulforaphene in microcapsules based on
      several biopolymers via spray drying.
AB  - Sulforaphene (SFE) was extracted from the radish seeds and the purity of SFE
      extracted by our laboratory was 95%. It is well known that SFE can prevent
      cancers. It is also known that SFE is unstable to heat. To overcome the problem,
      SFE microcapsules using natural biopolymers were prepared by spray drying. The
      results indicated that SFE microcapsules using hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin
      (HP-beta-CD), maltodextrin (MD) and isolated soybean protein (SPI) as wall
      materials could effectively improve its stability against heat, especially SFE
      loaded HP-beta-CD and MD microcapsules. The amount of SFE in the microcapsules
      was found 20% higher than that of the non-encapsulated SFE under 90  degrees C in
      168 h. Our finding suggested that the rate of degradation of the non-encapsulated
      and encapsulated SFE with HP-beta-CD, MD and SPI followed the first-order
      kinetics. The speed of the degradation of the encapsulated SFE in biopolymers
      increased from SFE with HP-beta-CD, to SFE with MD, and to SFE-SPI. The non
      encapsulated SFE degrades fastest.

PMID- 25817637
TI  - Glow discharge electrolysis plasma initiated preparation of temperature/pH dual
      sensitivity reed hemicellulose-based hydrogels.
AB  - The temperature/pH dual sensitivity reed hemicellulose-based hydrogels have been
      prepared through glow discharge electrolysis plasma (GDEP). The effect of
      different discharge voltages on the temperature and pH response performance of
      reed hemicellulose-based hydrogels was inspected, and the formation mechanism,
      deswelling behaviors of reed hemicellulose-based hydrogels were also discussed.
      At the same time, infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning differential thermal
      analysis (DSC) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were adopted to
      characterize the structure, phase transformation behaviors and microstructure of
      hydrogels. It turned out to be that all reed hemicellulose-based hydrogels had a
      double sensitivity to temperature and pH, and their phase transition temperatures
      were all approximately 33  degrees C, as well as the deswelling dynamics met the
      first model. In addition, the hydrogel (TPRH-3), under discharge voltage 600 V,
      was more sensitive to temperature and pH and had higher deswelling ratio.

PMID- 25817638
TI  - Chitosan nanofibers fabricated by combined ultrasonic atomization and freeze
      casting.
AB  - Aligned chitosan nanofibers exhibiting diameters smaller than 100 nm were easily
      prepared by combining ultrasonic atomization with freeze casting. A major
      advantage of this approach is the use of distilled water as main solvent.
      Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that fiber diameter and morphology
      mainly depended on the atomizing tools, freezing temperature, and chitosan
      solution viscosity. Minimum diameter and uniform orientation were achieved using
      an electric flosser as an atomizing tool, liquid nitrogen as a coolant, 0.4 wt%
      aqueous chitosan solution (molecular weight = 22 kDa), and a small amount of
      lactic acid as solvent at 0  degrees C. The resulting chitosan nanofibers may
      find application in biomedical and food engineering. Moreover, this new
      technology may be applicable to other natural and synthetic water-soluble
      polymers.

PMID- 25817639
TI  - Low molecular weight heparin mediating targeting of lymph node metastasis based
      on nanoliposome and enzyme-substrate interaction.
AB  - The aim of our study is to develop a new function of low molecular weight heparin
      (LMWHEP) for targeting tumor metastatic lymph node based on LMWHEP-modified
      nanoliposome and LMWHEP-heparanase (HPA) interaction (LMWHEP-HPA). At First,
      LMWHEP-modified nanoliposomes (LMWHEP-LPs) were prepared by the electrostatic
      attraction and the physiochemical properties were evaluated. Then the effects of
      LMWHEP-HPA on the stability and drug release were investigated. In addition, the
      cellular uptake of LMWHEP-LPs was studied by using Hela, MCF-7, L929 and RAW264.7
      cells. Finally, the targeting ability as well as the tissue distribution was
      examined in the mice model bearing Hela tumor lymph node metastasis. LMWHEP-LPs
      prepared had suitable physicochemical properties. The effect results of LMWHEP
      HPA showed that LMWHEP coated on the surface of nanoliposome could be degraded by
      HPA. Compared with the unmodified-nanoliposome, the LMWHEP modification could
      improve the cellular uptake and increase the targeting ability to the metastatic
      lymph nodes according to LMWHEP-HPA. This study demonstrates LMWHEP is a highly
      promising polymer material for the targeting of tumor lymph node metastasis. 

PMID- 25817640
TI  - Extraction of a soluble polysaccharide from Auricularia polytricha and evaluation
      of its anti-hypercholesterolemic effect in rats.
AB  - Mushroom extracts are a new source of supplements for health and pharmaceutical
      due to their bioactivities. This study was to optimize the extraction parameters
      of a soluble polysaccharide from Auricularia polytricha (SPAP) by response
      surface methodology. The practical optimum parameters were an extraction time of
      4h, an extraction temperature of 95  degrees C and a ratio of water to fruiting
      bodies of 28 mL/g, and the highest extraction rate was 19.77%. In vivo, male
      Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were diet-induced hypercholesterolemic models and oral
      administration of SPAP to evaluate anti-hypercholesterolemic effects. The results
      showed that SPAP decreased the serum concentrations of blood lipid, made them
      close to the normal level. The total cholesterol in the SPAP consumption groups
      was significantly decreased 34.6 +/- 7.6% and 33.3 +/- 7.9% with dose of 4.5 and
      9.0mg/kg BW in the 29th day. This study suggested that SPAP was a suitable
      natural agent and may be applied in therapy.

PMID- 25817641
TI  - Optimized synthesis of O-carboxymethyl-N,N,N-trimethyl chitosan.
AB  - We present here the synthesis of a highly O-carboxymethylated chitosan
      derivative. First, an improved protocol for the two-step synthesis of N-trimethyl
      chitosan (TMC) from chitosan was developed, yielding a maximum degree of
      quaternization (DQ) of up to 46.6%. Successively, the chitosan derivative O
      carboxymethyl-N-trimethyl chitosan (CMTMC) was synthesized from the TMC obtained
      by applying an optimized synthesis pathway. In contrast to previous reports, the
      optimized protocol was shown to yield very high rates (>85%) of O
      carboxymethylation of CMTMC, as shown by (1)H NMR and heteronuclear single
      quantum correlation ((1)H-(13)C HSQC). Finally, in vitro cytocompatibility
      (viability >80%) of the polymer was demonstrated using human fibroblasts. 

PMID- 25817642
TI  - Preparation of arginine modified PEI-conjugated chitosan copolymer for DNA
      delivery.
AB  - Polyethylenimine-conjugated chitosan (CS-PEI) and arginine modified
      polyethylenimine-conjugated chitosan (CS-PEI-Arg) were prepared, and the
      copolymers were characterized by FTIR, (1)H NMR, and XRD. The properties of these
      copolymers like plasmid DNA (pDNA) binding capacity, complexes' size and zeta
      potential, cytotoxicity and transfection efficiency were also evaluated. The
      results show that CS-PEI-Arg derivatives can bind pDNA thoroughly, and form
      complexes with sizes about 170 nm. Cytotoxicity assay in HepG2 and 293T cells
      show that CS-PEI-Arg has lower cytotoxicity compared with CS-PEI, which is
      similar to CS and far below that of PEI. In vitro luciferase assay show that CS
      PEI-Arg has better transfection efficiency than CS-PEI, which is superior to that
      of PEI. The best transfection efficiency of CS-PEI-Arg (N/P = 50) is 2.3-fold,
      4.2-fold of those of CS-PEI (N/P = 20) and PEI's (N/P = 10) efficiency
      respectively. These results display that CS-PEI-Arg is a promising candidate as
      an efficient gene vector.

PMID- 25817643
TI  - Cellulose nanocrystal isolation from tomato peels and assembled nanofibers.
AB  - Pure cellulose has been successfully isolated from tomato peels by either
      acidified sodium chlorite or chlorine-free alkaline peroxide routes, at 10.2
      13.1% yields. Negatively charged (zeta = -52.4 mV, 0.48 at% S content) and flat
      spindle shaped (41:2:1 length:width:thickness) cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were
      isolated at a 15.7% yield via sulfuric acid hydrolysis (64% H2SO4, 8.75 mL/g, 45 
      degrees C, 30 min). CNCs could be facilely assembled from dilute aqueous
      suspensions into highly crystalline (80.8%) cellulose Ibeta fibrous mass
      containing mostly sub-micron fibers (phi = 260 nm) and few interconnected
      nanofibers (phi = 38 nm), with 21.7 m(2)/g specific surface and 0.049 m(3)/g pore
      volume. More uniformly nanofibers with average 42 nm width and significantly
      improved specific surface area (101.8m(2)/g), mesoporosity and pore volume
      (0.4m(3)/g) could be assembled from CNCs in 1:1 v/v tert-butanol/water mixture.

PMID- 25817645
TI  - Impact of single and dual modifications on physicochemical properties of japonica
      and indica rice starches.
AB  - The japonica (JR) and indica (IR) rice starches were modified by acetylation,
      hydroxypropylation, cross-linking, and dual modification (cross-linked
      acetylation and cross-linked hydroxypropylation) and the effects of single and
      dual chemical modifications of JR and WR on the physicochemical properties were
      investigated. The JR had a greater substitution degree of acetyl or hydroxypropyl
      groups than IR. The dual-modified JR showed broader gelatinization temperature
      range than corresponding single-modified starches, but narrower it in IR. The
      dual-modified JR and IR showed higher pasting temperature and lower breakdown
      than their corresponding single-modified starches. The dual modification with JR
      and IR induced significant increase in gel hardness as compared to the
      corresponding unmodified and single-modified starches. The dual-modified JR had a
      greater hardness, gumminess, and chewiness than the dual-modified IR. The
      different impact of single and dual modification with JR and IR on the
      physicochemical properties could be due to the differences in the location and
      distribution of substituent groups on the starch molecules. 

PMID- 25817644
TI  - A bioactive film based on cashew gum polysaccharide for wound dressing
      applications.
AB  - This work presents the development of a new bioactive material for wound
      therapeutics which may play a dual role of modulate metallo proteinases activity
      while prevents infection blocking out pathogenic microorganisms and foreign
      materials. A CGP/PVA film was activated by covalent immobilization of trypsin.
      Results from biocompatibility test revealed that PDL fibroblasts grown on the
      surface of CGP/PVA and the high amount of viable cells proved absence of
      cytotoxicity. Trypsin immobilized onto CGP/PVA film remained 100% active after 28
      days stored dried at room temperature. In addition, CGP/PVA-trypsin film could be
      used for 9 cycles of storage/use without loss of activity. After immobilization,
      trypsin retained its collagenolytic activity, indicating this material as a
      promising material for wound dressing applications. 

PMID- 25817646
TI  - Water-soluble aminocurdlan derivatives by chemoselective azide reduction using
      NaBH4.
AB  - Water-solubility can often enhance the utility of polysaccharide derivatives, for
      example in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. Synthesis of water-soluble
      aminopolysaccharides, particularly those bearing other sensitive functional
      groups, can be a challenging endeavor. Curdlan is a bioactive beta-1,3-glucan
      with considerable promise for biomedical applications. Aminocurdlans are
      intriguing target molecules for study of, for example, their interactions with
      the proteins that form tight junctions between enterocytes. Herein we report the
      preparation of two water-soluble 6-aminocurdlans starting from 6-bromo-6
      deoxycurdlan. The 6-bromide was first displaced by nucleophilic substitution with
      sodium azide in dimethyl sulfoxide. The O-2 groups were acylated with hydrophilic
      oligo (ethylene oxide) esters, so as to enhance aqueous solubility. The resultant
      6-azido-6-deoxy-2,4-di-O-trioxadecanoylcurdlan was then treated with excess
      sodium borohydride to reduce the azide; unexpectedly, the water-soluble product
      proved to be the amide, 6-trioxadecanamido-6-deoxycurdlan. Regioselectivity and
      degree of substitution (DS) of those derivatives were characterized by means of
      (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR and FTIR-spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and titration.
      Alternatively, direct borohydride reduction of the parent 6-azido-6-deoxycurdlan
      afforded 6-amino-6-deoxycurdlan that was also water-soluble. 

PMID- 25817647
TI  - Purification, characterization and neuroprotective effects of a polysaccharide
      from Gynostemma pentaphyllum.
AB  - In the present study, we investigated the neuroprotective effects of GPP1, a
      purified polysaccharide from Gynostemma pentaphyllum, on Abeta (25-35)-induced
      neuronal toxicity and explore its potential mechanisms in PC12 cells. The results
      showed pretreatment with GPP1 prior to Abeta (25-35) exposure significantly
      protected PC12 cells from Abeta (25-35)-induced cell death, lactate dehydrogenase
      (LDH) release, DNA damage, intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)]i)
      influx, mitochondrial dysfunction and mitochondrial cytochrome c (Cyt-C) release.
      In addition, pretreatment with GPP1 also protected PC12 cells against Abeta (25
      35)-induced the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid
      peroxidation product MDA, the reduction in glutathione (GSH) level and superoxide
      dismutase (SOD) activity, the increased Bax/Bcl-2 protein expression ratio and
      caspase-3 activation. Our findings suggest that GPP1 exerts a neuroprotective
      effect against Abeta (25-35)-induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells, at least in
      part, via inhibiting oxidative stress and suppressing the mitochondrial apoptotic
      pathway. 

PMID- 25817648
TI  - Structural modification and characterisation of a sugary maize soluble starch
      particle after double enzyme treatment.
AB  - Sugary maize soluble starch particles were modified by using a combined beta
      amylase and transglucosidase reaction, and their molecular fine structure and
      susceptibility to digestive enzymes were investigated. After the dual enzyme
      treatment, the molecular weight of starch particle decreased from 2.08 * 10(7) to
      0.96 * 10(7)g/mol accompanied by the appearance of DP 2-5 chains and the
      degradation of DP > 12 chains, and the percentage of alpha-1,6 linkages increased
      from 8.1 to 21.7%. The digestion behaviour of enzyme-treated starch was
      correlated with the quantity of shorter chains and increased alpha-1,6 linkages.
      The data revealed that maize soluble starches subjected to a combined beta
      amylase and transglucosidase treatment for 60 min or greater, produced novel,
      highly branched nano-particles with slow digestion and resistance
      characteristics, which could be used as a potential delivery carrier for
      functional food components.

PMID- 25817649
TI  - Crystallization and chain reorganization of debranched rice starches in relation
      to resistant starch formation.
AB  - The effects of chain distribution, concentration, temperature and hydrothermal
      treatments on the recrystallization behavior and formation of resistant starch
      (RS) were investigated. Waxy and normal rice starches were debranched at 10 and
      21% w/w solid concentrations, incubated at 25 or 50  degrees C, and further
      subjected to annealing or heat moisture treatment (HMT) to enhance RS formation.
      The crystallization at 25  degrees C favored the formation of the B-type
      structure, whereas crystallization at 50  degrees C led to the A-type structure
      with a higher melting temperature (100-120  degrees C) and a higher RS content
      (52%). All incubated samples showed an increase in RS content after subsequent
      hydrothermal treatments. The sample incubated at a high temperature contained the
      highest RS content (74.5%) after HMT with larger/perfect crystallites. These
      results suggested that the RS formation could be manipulated by crystallization
      conditions and improved by hydrothermal treatments which are dependent on the
      initial crystalline perfection.

PMID- 25817650
TI  - Biodegradation of starch films: the roles of molecular and crystalline structure.
AB  - The influences of molecular, crystalline and granular structures on the
      biodegradability of compression-molded starch films were investigated. Fungal
      alpha-amylase was used as model degradation agent. The substrates comprised
      varied starch structures obtained by different degrees of acid hydrolysis,
      different granular sizes using size fractionation, and different degrees of
      crystallinity by aging for different times (up to 14 days). Two stages are
      identified for unretrograded films by fitting degradation data using first-order
      kinetics. Starch films containing larger molecules were degraded faster, but the
      rate coefficient was independent of the granule size. Retrograded films were
      degraded much slower than unretrograded ones, with a similar rate coefficient to
      that in the second stage of unretrograded films. Although initially the smaller
      molecules or the easily accessible starch chains on the amorphous film surface
      were degraded faster, the more ordered structure (resistant starch) formed from
      retrogradation, either before or during enzymatic degradation, strongly inhibits
      film biodegradation. 

PMID- 25817651
TI  - Fabrication of cyclodextrins-procainamide supramolecular self-assembly: shape
      shifting of nanosheet into microtubular structure.
AB  - Encapsulation behavior of alpha- and beta-cyclodextrins (alpha-CD, beta-CD) with
      procainamide hydrochloride (PCA) has been investigated by absorption,
      fluorescence, time-resolved fluorescence, proton nuclear magnetic resonance
      spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform-infrared
      spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and powder X-ray diffraction
      techniques. Spectral results revealed that PCA forms 1:2 drug-CD2 inclusion
      complexes with CDs. Novel supramolecular self-assemblies have been fabricated by
      inclusion complexation of PCA with alpha-CD/beta-CD and characterized by
      transmission electron microscope and micro-Raman imaging. The obtained results
      from transmission electron microscope indicated that PCA/alpha-CD complex could
      form nano-sized particles. However, when the macrocyclic ring with six glucose
      units was switched into seven glucose units, the resultant PCA/beta-CD complex
      could be self-assembled to micro-sized tubular structures. Shape-shifting of 2D
      nanosheet into 1D microtube by simple rolling mechanism was analyzed.
      Thermodynamic parameters of inclusion process were determined by Parameter Method
      3 calculations. 

PMID- 25817652
TI  - High concentration honey chitosan electrospun nanofibers: biocompatibility and
      antibacterial effects.
AB  - Honey nanofibers represent an attractive formulation with unique medicinal and
      wound healing advantages. Nanofibers with honey concentrations of <10% were
      prepared, however, there is a need to prepare nanofibers with higher honey
      concentrations to increase the antibacterial and wound healing effects. In this
      work, chitosan and honey (H) were cospun with polyvinyl alcohol (P) allowing the
      fabrication of nanofibers with high honey concentrations up to 40% and high
      chitosan concentrations up to 5.5% of the total weight of the fibers using
      biocompatible solvents (1% acetic acid). The fabricated nanofibers were further
      chemically crosslinked, by exposure to glutaraldehyde vapor, and physically
      crosslinked by heating and freezing/thawing. The new HP-chitosan nanofibers
      showed pronounced antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus but weak
      antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. The developed HP-chitosan
      nanofibers revealed no cytotoxicity effects on cultured fibroblasts. In
      conclusion, biocompatible, antimicrobial crosslinked honey/polyvinyl
      alcohol/chitosan nanofibers were developed which hold potential as effective
      wound dressing. 

PMID- 25817653
TI  - Coating cortical bone allografts with periosteum-mimetic scaffolds made of
      chitosan, trimethyl chitosan, and heparin.
AB  - Bone allografts have very limited healing leading to high rates of failure from
      non-union, fracture, and infection. The limited healing of bone allografts is due
      in large part to devitalization and removal of the periosteum, which removes
      osteogenic cells and osteoinductive signals. Here we report techniques for
      directly coating cortical bone with tissue scaffolds, and evaluate the scaffolds'
      capacity to support osteoprogenitor cells. Three types of coatings are
      investigated: N,N,N-trimethyl chitosan-heparin polyelectrolyte multilayers,
      freeze-dried porous chitosan foam coatings, and electrospun chitosan nanofibers.
      The freeze-dried and electrospun scaffolds are also further modified with
      polyelectrolyte multilayers. All of the scaffolds are durable to subsequent
      aqueous processing, and are cytocompatible with adipose-derived stem cells.
      Alkaline phosphatase and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand
      expression at days 7 and 21 suggest that these scaffolds support an
      osteoprogenitor phenotype. These scaffolds could serve as periosteum mimics,
      deliver osteoprogenitor cells, and improve bone allograft healing. 

PMID- 25817654
TI  - Pasting properties of heat-moisture treated canna starches using different
      plasticizers during treatment.
AB  - Different plasticizers (propanol, propylene glycol, glycerol, erythritol, xylitol
      and sorbitol) were used for plasticizing canna starch during heat-moisture
      treatment (HMT). Pasting properties of the modified starches were determined and
      compared with those of native starch and of HMT starch using water as a
      plasticizer. Canna starch was soaked in 5% (w/w) plasticizer solutions and
      adjusted to 25% moisture content before heating at 100  degrees C for 1h. The
      least change in paste viscosity was found when water was used as a plasticizer.
      Viscosity of the modified starches decreased as the molecular weight of
      plasticizers decreased. Plasticizer content in starch granules increased with
      decreasing molecular weight of the plasticizer, as well as with increased soaking
      time (from 10 min to 4 and 24h). However, pasting profiles of HMT starches
      prepared by soaking for 4h were comparable to those soaked for 24h, indicating
      that there was an effective limit of plasticizers. The plasticizer content in
      starch granules played a greater role in HMT than the number of hydroxyl groups.

PMID- 25817655
TI  - Characteristics of starch-based films with different amylose contents plasticised
      by 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate.
AB  - Starch-based films plasticised by an ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium
      acetate ([Emim][OAc]), were prepared by a simple compression moulding process,
      facilitated by the strong plasticisation effect of [Emim][OAc]. The effects of
      amylose content of starch (regular vs. high-amylose maize) and relative humidity
      (RH) during ageing of the samples on a range of structural and material
      characteristics were investigated. Surprisingly, plasticisation by [Emim][OAc]
      made the effect of amylose content insignificant, contrary to most previous
      studies when other plasticisers were used. In other words, [Emim][OAc] changed
      the underlying mechanism responsible for mechanical properties from the
      entanglement of starch macromolecules (mainly amylose), which has been reported
      as a main responsible factor previously. The crystallinity of the plasticised
      starch samples was low and thus was unlikely to have a major contribution to the
      material characteristics, although the amylose content impacted on the
      crystalline structure and the mobility of amorphous parts in the samples to some
      extent. Therefore, RH conditioning and thus the sample water content was the
      major factor influencing the mechanical properties, glass transition temperature,
      and electrical conductivity of the starch films. This suggests the potential
      application of ionic liquid-plasticised starch materials in areas where the
      control of properties by environmental RH is desired. 

PMID- 25817656
TI  - Significance of thermal transitions on starch digestibility and firming kinetics
      of restricted water mixed flour bread matrices.
AB  - The impact of wheat (WT) flour replacement up to 45% (weight basis) by
      incorporation of ternary blends of teff (T), green pea (GP) and buckwheat (BW)
      flours on the thermal profiles of quaternary blended dough matrices have been
      investigated by simulating baking, cooling, and storage in differential scanning
      calorimeter (DSC) pans. Endothermal transitions related to suitable patterns for
      low and slow starch hydrolysis, softer crumb and retarded firming kinetics in
      blended breads include delayed temperatures for starch gelatinization, and for
      the dissociation of amylose-lipid complex. In addition, (a) higher stability for
      the amylose-lipid inclusion complex, (b) lower energy for starch gelatinization,
      (c) lower limiting melting enthalpy and (d) slower rate for amylopectin
      retrogradation meet thermal requirements for achieving suitable textural and
      starch digestibility features in blended breads, fulfilled by adding T/GP/BW to
      replace 45% of WT flour in blended dough formulations. 

PMID- 25817657
TI  - Impact of hydrolysis conditions on the detection of mannuronic to guluronic acid
      ratio in alginate and its derivatives.
AB  - Alginate is a linear and acidic polysaccharide, composed of (1 -> 4) linked beta
      D-mannuronic acid (ManA) and alpha-L-guluronic acid (GulA). The ratio of ManA to
      GulA (M/G) is one of the most important factors for the application of alginate
      and its derivatives in various areas. In this work, a robust and accurate method
      was developed to analyze M/G using high-performance anion-exchange chromatography
      with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD). The impact of hydrolysis
      conditions on the release patterns of ManA and GulA from alginate and its
      derivatives was investigated. The release patterns of ManA and GulA need to be
      considered separately to obtain an accurate M/G. Several hydrolysis conditions
      were established that released ManA and GulA completely and maintained these
      saccharide residues intact. The proper M/G of alginates from different sources
      and its derivatives could then be calculated by integration of the corresponding
      ManA and GulA peaks.

PMID- 25817659
TI  - Rheological properties of wheat starch influenced by amylose
      lysophosphatidylcholine complexation at different gelation phases.
AB  - Amylose is able to form helical inclusion complexes with lysophosphatidylcholine
      (LPC). This complexation influences the functional and rheological properties of
      wheat starch; however it is well known that the formation of these complexes lead
      the starchy systems to a slower enzymatic hydrolysis. Based on this, to benefit
      from both the structuring properties of starch and also lower digestibility of
      the inclusion complexes, the objective of this study is the formation of amylose
      LPC inclusion complexes while developing a firm network providing the desired
      functional properties in a starchy system. To investigate the influence of
      amylose-LPC complex formation at different stages of starch gelation on the
      viscosity behavior of wheat starch, 3% (w/w) LPC was added at three different
      points of the viscosity profile, obtained by rapid visco analyzer (RVA). LPC
      addition at all points affected the gelation behavior of wheat starch as compared
      with the reference. LPC addition at half-peak and peak of the viscosity profile
      resulted in a viscosity increase during cooling. Measuring the dynamic
      rheological properties of the freshly prepared gelatinized samples showed a
      decrease of storage modulus (G') and loss modulus (G") in the presence of LPC.
      During storage, in the presence of LPC, a lower elasticity was observed which
      indicates a lower rate of amylose retrogradation due to complexation with LPC.

PMID- 25817658
TI  - Immunomodulating and antioxidant effects of polysaccharide conjugates from the
      fruits of Ziziphus Jujube on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome rats.
AB  - To detect the treatment effect of the fruits of Ziziphus Jujube in Chronic
      Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Jujube polysaccharide conjugates (JPC) were isolated from
      the fruits of Z. Jujube. General physicochemical properties of JPC were analyzed.
      A four-week rats CFS model was established and JPC were orally administrated, the
      behavior experiments were conducted after CFS. The activities of superoxide
      dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and the levels of
      malondialdehyde (MDA) in serum were elevated and T lymphocyte proliferation,
      CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio and natural killer (NK) cells activity were analyzed. JPC
      markedly improved behaviors of CFS rats, also decreased MDA levels in serum, and
      elevated T lymphocyte proliferation, CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio and natural killer (NK)
      cells activities. This suggests that JPC can improve the immune system and
      antioxidant activity of CFS rats and might be regarded as a biological response
      modifier. 

PMID- 25817660
TI  - Bio-based polyurethane reinforced with cellulose nanofibers: a comprehensive
      investigation on the effect of interface.
AB  - Novel bio-based polyurethane (PU) nanocomposites composed of cellulose nanofiller
      extracted from the rachis of date palm tree and polycaprolactone (PCL) diol based
      PU were prepared by casting/evaporation. Two types of nanofiber were used:
      cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). The mechanical
      and thermal properties of the nanocomposite films were studied by DMA, DSC, and
      tensile tests and the morphology was investigated by SEM. Bionanocomposites
      presented good mechanical properties in comparison to neat PU. While comparing
      both nanofillers, the improvement in mechanical and thermal properties was more
      pronounced for the nanocomposites based on CNF which could be explained, not only
      by the higher aspect ratio of CNF, but also by their better dispersion in the PU
      matrix. Calculation of the solubility parameters of the nanofiller surface
      polymers and of the PU segments portend a better interfacial adhesion for CNF
      based nanocomposites compared to CNC. 

PMID- 25817661
TI  - High throughput exopolysaccharide screening platform: from strain cultivation to
      monosaccharide composition and carbohydrate fingerprinting in one day.
AB  - Microbial exopolysaccharides (EPS) are multifunctional biogenic polymers, which
      exist in highly diverse chemical structures. To facilitate a fast determination
      of the carbohydrate composition of novel isolated strains or modified EPS
      variants a fast screening and analytical method is required. The platform as
      realized and described in this article is based on the fast carbohydrate analysis
      via liquid chromatography coupled with ultra violet and electrospray ionization
      ion trap detection in 96-well format to detect different sugars, sugar
      derivatives and substituents such as pyruvate. Monosaccharide analysis from
      hydrolyzed polysaccharides was validated successfully by 16 commercially
      available polymers with known structure. The method is sensitive enough to
      distinguish various types of sphingans which solely differ in small alterations
      in the monomer composition. Even a quantitative detection of single monomers as
      present in complex plant polysaccharides like karaya gum, with the lowest
      recovery, was in accordance with literature. Furthermore, 94 bacterial strains
      for the validation of the screening platform were completely analyzed and 41 EPS
      producing strains were efficiently identified. Using the method a carbohydrate
      fingerprint of the strains was obtained even allowing a very fast differentiation
      between strains belonging to the same species. This method can become a valuable
      tool not only in the fast analysis of strain isolates but also in the targeted
      screening for polysaccharides containing special rare sugars as well in the
      screening of strain libraries from genetic engineering for altered structures. 

PMID- 25817662
TI  - Solid lipid nanoparticles for oral drug delivery: chitosan coating improves
      stability, controlled delivery, mucoadhesion and cellular uptake.
AB  - The poor stability of solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) under acidic condition
      resulted in large aggregation in gastric environment, limiting their application
      as oral delivery systems. In this study, a series of SLN was prepared to
      investigate the effects of surfactant/cosurfactant and chitosan coating on their
      physicochemical properties as well as cellular uptake. SLN was prepared from
      Compritol 888 ATO using a low-energy method combining the solvent-diffusion and
      hot homogenization technique. Poloxamer 188 and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were
      effective emulsifiers to produce SLN with better physicochemical properties than
      SLN control. Chitosan-coated SLN exhibited the best stability under acidic
      condition by forming a thick layer around the lipid core, as clearly observed by
      transmission electron microscope. The intermolecular interactions in different
      formulations were monitored by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Chitosan
      coating also significantly improved the mucoadhesive property of SLN as
      determined by Quartz Crystal Microbalance. In vitro drug delivery assays,
      cytotoxicity, and cellular uptake of SLN were studied by incorporating coumarin 6
      as a fluorescence probe. Overall, chitosan-coated SLN was superior to other
      formulations and held promising features for its application as a potential oral
      drug delivery system for hydrophobic drugs. 

PMID- 25817663
TI  - Influence of alkali metal cations on the thermal, mechanical and morphological
      properties of rectorite/chitosan bio-nanocomposite films.
AB  - The main theme of this work is to study the influence of ion-exchangeable alkali
      metal cations, such as: Li(+), Na(+), K(+), and Cs(+) on the thermal, mechanical
      and morphological properties. In this regard, a set of rectorite/chitosan (REC
      CS) bio-nanocomposite films (BNCFs) was prepared by facile reaction of chitosan
      with ion-exchanged REC clay. The microstructure and morphology of BNCFs were
      investigated with XRD, TEM, SEM and AFM. Thermal and tensile properties of BNCFs
      were also investigated. As revealed from TEM and XRD results, the BNCFs featured
      a mixed morphology. Some intercalated clay sheets, together with nano-sized clay
      tactoids were obtained in LiREC/CS, NaREC/CS and KREC/CS of the BNCFs. From
      fractured surface study, via SEM, it was observed that the dispersion of chitosan
      polymer attaches to (and covers) the clay platelets. FTIR confirmed strong
      hydrogen bonds between clay and chitosan polymer. In addition, the thermal
      stabilities significantly varied when alkali metal cations varied from Li(+) to
      Cs(+). The BNCFs featured high tensile strengths (up to 84 MPa) and tensile
      moduli (up to 45 GPa). After evaluating these properties of BNCFs, we came to
      conclusion that these bio-nano composites can be used for packaging applications.

PMID- 25817664
TI  - Liquid phase adsorption behavior of inulin-type fructan onto activated charcoal.
AB  - This study describes liquid phase adsorption characteristics of inulin-type
      fructan onto activated charcoal. Batch mode experiments were conducted to study
      the effects of pH, contact time, temperature and initial concentration of inulin.
      Nearly neutral solution (pH 6-8) was favorable to the adsorption and the
      equilibrium was attained after 40 min with the maximum adsorption Qmax 0.182 g/g
      (adsorbate/adsorbent) at 298 K. The experimental data analysis indicated that the
      adsorption process fitted well with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R(2) =
      1) and Langmuir isotherms model (R(2) > 0.99). Thermodynamic parameters revealed
      that the adsorption process was spontaneous and exothermic with a physical
      nature. Inulin desorption could reach 95.9% using 50% ethanol solution and
      activated charcoal could be reused without significant losses in adsorption
      capacity. These results are of practical significance for the application of
      activated charcoal in the production and purification of inulin-type fructan.

PMID- 25817665
TI  - Development and evaluation of gel-forming ocular films based on xyloglucan.
AB  - This study aims at application of xyloglucan, polysaccharide polymer as novel
      film forming agent for ocular delivery of ciprofloxacin. Ciprofloxacin ocular
      films were prepared by the solvent casting method using xuloglucan (2%). The
      prepared formulations were evaluated for thickness, percentage drug content,
      surface pH, swelling, mechanical strength and in vitro drug release. The films
      were found to be of uniform thickness (0.20 +/- 0.07 MUm). The % drug content in
      the films was found to be 95.45 +/- 0.25%. The cumulative % drug releases from
      the formulation was 98.85 at the end of 24h. The formulations followed the
      anomalous transport release mechanism. Ocular irritancy study reveals safety of
      formulation to ocular mucosa. Thus, this study suggests that xyloglucan can act
      as a potential film forming polymer for ocular delivery of a ciprofloxacin.

PMID- 25817666
TI  - Multiscale characterization of arabinoxylan and beta-glucan composite films.
AB  - Composite films made with Arabinoxylans (AXs) (with high, middle and low level of
      substitution by arabinose) and (1 -> 3)(1 -> 4)-beta-D-glucans (BGs) extracted
      from cereal cell walls have been prepared and analyzed using microscopy (SEM and
      LSCFM), DSC, mechanical tests and TD-NMR spectroscopy. The objectives were to
      correlate molecular and physico-chemical properties of films with mechanical and
      hydration properties of wheat cell walls. A phase separation phenomenon was
      observed for films made with highly substituted AXs and BGs at a ratio AX/BG of
      60/40. This phase separation was correlated with lower dipolar interactions
      between polysaccharide chains and a decrease of ultimate strain and stress of
      films. Highly substituted AX and BG composite films exhibited very weak
      mechanical properties in agreement with weaker interactions between the polymer
      chains. This effect was supported by NMR results showing that interactions
      between AXs and BGs decreased with increased substitution of AXs in composite
      films. Lower dipolar interactions between polysaccharides favored the water
      mobility in relation with a higher specific surface area of polysaccharides in
      films but also higher distances between polysaccharide chains so larger nanopores
      in composite films made within highly substituted AXs. These multiscale
      characterizations agreed with the structural changes observed in wheat grain
      during its development.

PMID- 25817668
TI  - Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) formed nanogels with branched poly(ethyleneimine)
      (bPEI) for inhibition of cytotoxicity in human MSCs as a gene delivery vehicles.
AB  - Specific vehicles are necessary for safe and efficient gene transfection into
      cells. Nano-type hydrogels (nanogel) comprising carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)
      complexed with branched type cationic poly(ethleneimine) (bPEI) were used as gene
      delivery vehicles. When complexes of CMC and bPEI were used in vitro, CMC showed
      nano-gel type properties, as shown by the results of a viscosity test, and bPEI
      showed low cytotoxicity comparing to bPEI alone. Together, these properties are
      shown to maintain high gene transfection efficiency. In viability experiments
      using three types of adult stem cells, cell viability varied depending on the
      branch form of PEI and whether or not it is in a complex with CMC. The gene
      delivery efficacy showed that the CMC nanogel complexed with bPEI (CMC-bPEI)
      showed more uptaking and gene transfection ability in hMSCs comparing to bPEI
      alone. In osteogenesis, the CMC-bPEI complexed with OSX pDNA showed more easy
      internalization than bPEI alone complexed with OSX pDNA in hMSCs. Specific genes
      and proteins related in osteogenic differentiation were expressed in hMSCs when
      the CMC-bPEI complexed with OSX pDNA was used. 

PMID- 25817667
TI  - Removal of cadmium from aqueous solution using low molecular weight chitosan
      derivative.
AB  - A 2(3) factorial design was used to examine the sorption of Cd(2+) onto cross
      linked low molecular weight chitosan pyruvic acid derivative. Three factors and
      two levels of solution pH (A) (6.0 or 10.0), temperature (B) (45 or 70  degrees
      C) and Cd(II) concentration (C) (1 or 3 mg/L) were considered. Batch mode system
      was employed with 0.05 g of the sorbent and 25 mL of Cd(II) solution. The
      efficiency of cadmium removal during an exposition time of 4h was then evaluated.
      The factors and their interaction effect on the cadmium removal efficiency
      followed the order: Cd(II) concentration > solution pH > interaction between
      solution pH and Cd(II) concentration>interaction between solution pH, temperature
      and Cd(II) concentration. Langmuir isotherm model was the best isotherm model.
      The Pseudo second order fitted well the kinetic data. The thermodynamic studies
      revealed the nature of the cadmium sorption.

PMID- 25817670
TI  - Morphological, physicochemical, and viscoelastic properties of sonicated corn
      starch.
AB  - In the present work, different parameters of ultrasound treatment were studied
      for physical modification of corn starch. The results revealed that the influence
      of sonication strongly depends on temperature (25-65  degrees C) and exposure
      time (5-15 min), while concentration (10-20% w/w) and ultrasound amplitude (50
      and 100%) have little influence on functional and rheological properties. SEM
      micrographs demonstrated the damage induced by ultrasound on starch granules'
      surface. The solubility, swelling power, and gel clarity were increased.
      Ultrasonication decreased the gelatinisation enthalpy and temperature range while
      the X-ray pattern and crystallinity remained almost unchanged, except for samples
      treated at onset temperature as measured by DSC. The pseudoplasticity and
      consistency coefficient decreased; also, apparent viscosity diminished
      prominently. The pasting behaviour of samples was altered without any clear
      change in gel strength characterised by loss factor. The results of the present
      work provide further insight into the mode of action of ultrasound on modifying
      corn starch granules.

PMID- 25817669
TI  - Arabinan-rich pectic polysaccharides from buriti (Mauritia flexuosa): an
      Amazonian edible palm fruit.
AB  - Primary cell wall polysaccharides from aqueous extract of buriti fruit pulp
      (Mauritia flexuosa, an exotic tropical palm) were isolated and characterized.
      After freeze-thaw and alpha-amylase treatments, extracted polysaccharides were
      purified by sequential ultrafiltration through membranes. Two homogeneous
      fractions were obtained, SBW-100R and SBW-30R (Mw of 126 kDa and 20 kDa,
      respectively). Monosaccharide composition, methylation and (13)C NMR analysis
      showed that fraction SBW-100R contained a (1 -> 5)-linked arabinan, branched at O
      3 and O-2 positions, linked to a type I rhamnogalacturonan. Low amounts of these
      polymers were also present in fraction SBW-30R according to (13)C NMR analysis
      and monosaccharide composition. However, a high methyl esterified
      homogalacturonan (HG) was present in higher proportions. These results reinforce
      previous findings present in literature data which indicate that pectic
      polysaccharides are found in high amounts in primary cell walls of palms, which
      are commelinid monocotyledons.

PMID- 25817671
TI  - Cellulose-silica aerogels.
AB  - Aerogels based on interpenetrated cellulose-silica networks were prepared and
      characterised. Wet coagulated cellulose was impregnated with silica phase,
      polyethoxydisiloxane, using two methods: (i) molecular diffusion and (ii) forced
      flow induced by pressure difference. The latter allowed an enormous decrease in
      the impregnation times, by almost three orders of magnitude, for a sample with
      the same geometry. In both cases, nanostructured silica gel was in situ formed
      inside cellulose matrix. Nitrogen adsorption analysis revealed an almost
      threefold increase in pores specific surface area, from cellulose aerogel alone
      to organic-inorganic composite. Morphology, thermal conductivity and mechanical
      properties under uniaxial compression were investigated. Thermal conductivity of
      composite aerogels was lower than that of cellulose aerogel due to the formation
      of superinsulating mesoporous silica inside cellulose pores. Furthermore,
      composite aerogels were stiffer than each of reference aerogels. 

PMID- 25817672
TI  - Preparation and properties of a hydrogel of maleated poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVAM)
      grafted with cassava starch.
AB  - A novel pH-sensitive graft copolymer (PVAM-g-CSt) was synthesized from maleated
      poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVAM) and cassava starch (CSt) through a grafting reaction
      using potassium persulfate as a thermal initiator. The chemical structure of the
      PVAM-g-CSt was revealed by FTIR and ether linkage of the graft copolymer was
      observed at 1089 cm(-1). The degree of grafting of the copolymer was found to
      range between 40 and 82%, depending on the PVAM/CSt ratio. The highest tensile
      strength was found at a ratio of 9:1 PVAM/CSt. In addition, the swelling ratio in
      water increased with increasing proportions of CSt in the PVAM-g-CSt due to the
      decrease in the degree of grafting. The resulting hydrogel exhibits good pH
      sensitivity in different pH mediums. The graft copolymer easily degraded in
      natural soil, especially at high proportions of CSt in the blend.

PMID- 25817673
TI  - High quality fluorescent cellulose nanofibers from endemic rice husk: isolation
      and characterization.
AB  - Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) with high crystallinity and purity were isolated from
      two endemic rice husk varieties using a hydrothermal approach followed by acid
      alkali treatments and mechanical disruption. The CNFs isolated had a mean
      diameter of ~ 35 nm. The TGA and DTG profiles showed good thermostability of the
      CNFs. The CNFs also showed a prominent photoluminescence peak at 404 nm with high
      quantum yield (~ 58%). This is the first report on the native fluorescence
      property of nanocellulose in absence of any conjugated fluorescence molecule/dye.
      The CNFs further demonstrated appreciable hemocompatibility in the hemolysis
      test, exhibiting its potential for biomedical applications.

PMID- 25817674
TI  - Preparation of agar nanospheres: comparison of response surface and artificial
      neural network modeling by a genetic algorithm approach.
AB  - Multivariate nature of drug loaded nanospheres manufacturing in term of
      multiplicity of involved factors makes it a time consuming and expensive process.
      In this study genetic algorithm (GA) and artificial neural network (ANN), two
      tools inspired by natural process, were employed to optimize and simulate the
      manufacturing process of agar nanospheres. The efficiency of GA was evaluated
      against the response surface methodology (RSM). The studied responses included
      particle size, poly dispersity index, zeta potential, drug loading and release
      efficiency. GA predicted greater extremum values for response factors compared to
      RSM. However, real values showed some deviations from predicted data. Appropriate
      agreement was found between ANN model predicted and real values for all five
      response factors with high correlation coefficients. GA was more successful than
      RSM in optimization and along with ANN were efficient tools in optimizing and
      modeling the fabrication process of drug loaded in agar nanospheres. 

PMID- 25817675
TI  - Structural alterations, pore generation, and deacetylation of alpha- and beta
      chitin submitted to steam explosion.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to use an environmentally friendly steam explosion
      method to achieve alpha- and beta-chitin structural alterations, pore generation,
      and deacetylation, enhancing the degree of deacetylation (DD) in chitin and
      extending its applications. The samples of alpha- and beta-chitin possessing
      various moisture contents that were exploded at 9 kg/cm(2) exhibited higher DDs,
      lower densities, lower crystallinity and more porous structures compared to
      unexploded chitin. After explosion, beta-chitin exhibited a larger expansion
      ratio, lower crystallinity and contained a larger proportion of small-sized
      particles compared to alpha-chitin. The highest DD values of exploded alpha- and
      beta-chitin with 75% moisture content were 42.9% and 43.7%, respectively. The
      exploded chitin samples with lower moisture content exhibited lower DDs,
      densities, crystallinity indices, smaller particle sizes, and higher expansion
      ratios than the chitin samples with higher moisture content. The chitin samples
      with lower moisture content also contained larger and more numerous pores.

PMID- 25817676
TI  - Multi-wavelength colorimetric determination of large-ring cyclodextrin content
      for the cyclization activity of 4-alpha-glucanotransferase.
AB  - Large-ring cyclodextrins (LR-CDs) have a number of intriguing properties for
      potential use in pharmaceutical and food industry. To date, no colorimetric
      method has been reported for LR-CD content quantification. In this study, triple
      wavelength colorimetry (TWC) and orthogonal-function spectrophotometry (OFS) have
      been successfully applied to determine ingredient concentrations in a mixture of
      amylose and LR-CDs. Both TWC and OFS yielded precise amylose content data in good
      agreement with expected values. For quantification of LR-CD content, OFS provided
      a higher accuracy than TWC, which resulted in a slight over-determination. As a
      comparison, single-wavelength colorimetry performed at the corresponding
      absorption maximum led to a significant over-determination of both amylose and LR
      CD contents. The validity of TWC and OFS allowed their application for
      discriminative detection of the cyclization and total activity of a 4-alpha
      glucanotransferase (4 alphaGTase) from Thermus aquaticus regarding the synthesis
      of LR-CDs and the conversion of amylose to small molecules, respectively. High
      pressure size exclusion chromatography analysis of the post-reaction mixtures
      following 4 alphaGTase-catalyzed conversion of amylose revealed the presence of
      linear malto-oligosaccharides in the LR-CD fraction. By introduction of a
      correction factor, the interference caused by linear malto-oligosaccharides was
      eliminated for a more accurate determination of LR-CD cyclization activity.

PMID- 25817677
TI  - Self-healable hydrogel on tumor cell as drug delivery system for localized and
      effective therapy.
AB  - A self-healable chitosan(CS)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel as an injectable
      drug carrier was first prepared in situ on tumor cells for effective and
      localized therapy. PVA molecules have a synergistic effect on the formation and
      maintenance of 3D network conformation of hydrogel. The hydrogel shows good
      biocompatibility and could be easily and rapidly formed. When loaded with
      fluorouracil (5-FU), the hydrogel possessed good drug retention ability at pH
      7.4, which can prevent the loss of drug to normal cells and reduce the side
      effect. As well, the hydrogel shows continuous and controllable drug release,
      with the final cumulative releasing amount of 84.8% at pH 5.0. Therefore, the
      hydrogel not only could maintain a higher 5-FU concentration around tumor cells
      to enhance the antitumor effect, but also can achieve pH sensitive controllable
      drug release at the lesion site. Meantime, the attractive self-healing ability of
      the CS/PVA hydrogel is first revealed in this study, which contributes to the
      regeneration of its integral network from the broken fragments. The CS/PVA
      hydrogel may hold promise for better applications in anti-tumor therapy. 

PMID- 25817678
TI  - Impregnation of silver nanoparticles into polysaccharide substrates and their
      properties.
AB  - A method to impregnate silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) into different
      polysaccharides substrates (cellulose powder (CP), microcrystalline cellulose
      (MCC), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and chitosan (Chit)) by using glucose as
      reducing agent, is presented. X-ray diffraction analyses of polysaccharides
      coated with AgNPs showed the formation of silver particle sizes in the range of
      3.7-5.6 nm and have almost spherical shape. The entire prepared composite shows
      antimicrobial effect. The antibacterial activity of polysaccharides loaded with
      silver nanoparticles was evaluated against Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E.
      coli) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria. The results
      suggest excellent antibacterial activity.

PMID- 25817679
TI  - Monitoring and preparation of neoagaro- and agaro-oligosaccharide products by
      high performance anion exchange chromatography systems.
AB  - A series of neoagaro-oligosaccharides (NAOS) were prepared by beta-agarase
      digestion and agaro-oligosaccharides (AOS) by HCl hydrolysis from agarose with
      defined quantity and degree of polymerization (DP). Chain-length distribution in
      the crude product mixtures were monitored by two high performance anion exchange
      chromatography systems coupled with a pulsed amperometric detector. Method 1
      utilized two separation columns: a CarboPac(TM) PA1 and a CarboPac(TM) PA100
      connected in series and method 2 used the PA100 alone. Method 1 resolved the
      product in size ranges consisting of DP 1-46 for NAOS and DP 1-32 for AOS. Method
      2 clearly resolved saccharide product sizes within DP 26. The optimized system
      utilizing a semi-preparative CarboPac(TM) PA100 column was connected with a
      fraction collector to isolate and quantify individually separated products. This
      study established systems for the preparation and qualitative and quantitative
      measurements as well as for the isolation of various sizes of oligomers generated
      from agarose.

PMID- 25817680
TI  - Hydrodynamic characterisation of chitosan and its interaction with two
      polyanions: DNA and xanthan.
AB  - Chitosan, a soluble polycationic derivative of insoluble chitin, has been widely
      considered for use in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.
      Commercial ("C") and in-house laboratory ("L") prepared chitosan samples
      extracted from crustaceous shells with different molecular weight and degrees of
      acetylation (25% and 15%) were compared with regards to (i) weight-average
      molecular weight (Mw); (ii) sedimentation coefficient (s(o)(20,w)) distribution,
      and (iii) intrinsic viscosity ([eta]). These parameters were estimated using a
      combination of analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC), size exclusion
      chromatography coupled to multi-angle laser light scattering (SEC-MALS) and
      differential pressure viscometry. Polydisperse distributions were seen from
      sedimentation coefficient distributions and elution profiles from SEC-MALS. Mw
      values obtained for each sample by sedimentation equilibrium measurements were in
      excellent agreement with those obtained from SEC-MALS. Mark-Houwink-Kuhn-Sakurada
      (MHKS) and Wales van Holde analyses of the data all suggest a semi-flexible
      conformation. The principle of co-sedimentation was then used to monitor the
      interactions of the two different molecular weights of L chitosans with two
      polyanions, DNA and xanthan (another double helical high molecular weight
      molecule). Interactions were clearly observed and then quantified from the
      changes in the sedimentation coefficient distribution of the mixture compared to
      unmixed controls using sedimentation velocity. The interactions appeared to show
      a strong dependence on molecular weight. The relevance of this for DNA
      condensation applications is indicated.

PMID- 25817681
TI  - Engineered pigments based on iridescent cellulose nanocrystal films.
AB  - A simple method to produce biobased iridescent pigments from cellulose
      nanocrystal (CNC) films is reported. The process consists of forming
      nanostructured films from a CNC liquid-crystalline suspension and an appropriate
      dry grinding. The features of the iridescent pigments are described; they have a
      flake-like morphology with a thickness of 25 MUm. However, because of the
      presence of sulfate groups, thermal degradation and high redispersion in water
      occur, which affect the iridescent property of these biobased pigments. To
      overcome such limitations, two post-treatments are proposed. The sulfate ester
      groups are removed from the iridescent pigments with vacuum overdrying. The mass
      loss of iridescent pigment in water is reduced with an increase of the ionic
      strength in the aqueous medium by NaCl addition. These post-treatments have
      proven to be efficient and engineered pigments based on CNC films can be used to
      add anticounterfeiting features to packaging manufactured by classical paper
      techniques or extrusion.

PMID- 25817682
TI  - Chemical structure and anticoagulant activity of highly pyruvylated sulfated
      galactans from tropical green seaweeds of the order Bryopsidales.
AB  - Sulfated and pyruvylated galactans were isolated from three tropical species of
      the Bryopsidales, Penicillus capitatus, Udotea flabellum, and Halimeda opuntia.
      They represent the only important sulfated polysaccharides present in the cell
      walls of these highly calcified seaweeds of the suborder Halimedineae. Their
      structural features were studied by chemical analyses and NMR spectroscopy. Their
      backbone comprises 3-, 6-, and 3,6-linkages, constituted by major amounts of 3
      linked 4,6-O-(1'-carboxy)ethylidene-d-galactopyranose units in part sulfated on C
      2. Sulfation on C-2 was not found in galactans from other seaweeds of this order.
      In addition, a complex sulfation pattern, comprising also 4-, 6-, and 4,6
      disulfated galactose units was found. A fraction from P. capitatus, F1, showed a
      moderate anticoagulant activity, evaluated by general coagulation tests and also
      kinetics of fibrin formation was assayed. Besides, preliminary results suggest
      that one of the possible mechanisms involved is direct thrombin inhibition. 

PMID- 25817683
TI  - Bacterial cellulose membrane produced by Acetobacter sp. A10 for burn wound
      dressing applications.
AB  - Bacteria cellulose membranes (BCM) are used for wound dressings, bone grafts,
      tissue engineering, artificial vessels, and dental implants because of their high
      tensile strength, crystallinity and water holding ability. In this study, the
      effects of BCM application for 15 days on healing of burn wounds were
      investigated based on evaluation of skin regeneration and angiogenesis in burn
      injury skin of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. BCM showed a randomly organized fibrils
      network, 12.13 MPa tensile strength, 12.53% strain, 17.63% crystallinity, 90.2%
      gel fraction and 112.14 g * m(2)/h highest water vapor transmission rate (WVTR)
      although their swelling ratio was enhanced to 350% within 24h. In SD rats with
      burned skin, the skin severity score was lower in the BCM treated group than the
      gauze (GZ) group at all time points, while the epidermis and dermis thickness and
      number of blood vessels was greater in the BCM treated group. Furthermore, a
      significant decrease in the number of infiltrated mast cells and in vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) expression was
      observed in the BCM treated group at day 10 and 15. Moreover, a significant high
      level in collagen expression was observed in the BCM treated group at day 5
      compared with GZ treated group, while low level was detected in the same group at
      day 10 and 15. However, the level of metabolic enzymes representing liver and
      kidney toxicity in the serum of BCM treated rats was maintained at levels
      consistent with GZ treated rats. Overall, BCM may accelerate the process of wound
      healing in burn injury skin of SD rats through regulation of angiogenesis and
      connective tissue formation as well as not induce any specific toxicity against
      the liver and kidney.

PMID- 25817685
TI  - In situ forming hydrogels of hyaluronic acid and inulin derivatives for cartilage
      regeneration.
AB  - An in situ forming hydrogel obtained by crosslinking of amino functionalized
      hyaluronic acid derivatives with divinylsulfone functionalized inulin (INU-DV)
      has been here designed and characterized. In particular two hyaluronic acid
      derivatives bearing respectively a pendant ethylenediamino (EDA) portion (HA-EDA)
      and both EDA and octadecyl pendant groups (HA-EDA-C18) were crosslinked through
      an azo-Michael reaction with INU-DV. Gelation time and consumption of DV portions
      have been evaluated on hydrogel obtained using HA-EDA and HA-EDA-C18 derivatives
      with a concentration of 3% w/v and a ratio 80/20 w/w respect to the crosslinker
      INU-DV. The presence of pendant C18 chains improves mechanical performances of
      hydrogels and decreases the susceptibility to hyaluronidase hydrolysis. Bovine
      chondrocytes, encapsulated during crosslinking, sufficiently survive and
      efficiently proliferate until 28 days of analysis. 

PMID- 25817684
TI  - Combinatorial one-pot chemoenzymatic synthesis of heparin.
AB  - Contamination in heparin batches during early 2008 has resulted in a significant
      effort to develop a safer bioengineered heparin using bacterial capsular
      polysaccharide heparosan and recombinant enzymes derived from the heparin/heparan
      sulfate biosynthetic pathway. This requires controlled chemical N-deacetylation/N
      sulfonation of heparosan followed by epimerization of most of its glucuronic acid
      residues to iduronic acid and O-sulfation of the C2 position of iduronic acid and
      the C3 and C6 positions of the glucosamine residues. A combinatorial study of
      multi-enzyme, one-pot, in vitro biocatalytic synthesis, carried out in tandem
      with sensitive analytical techniques, reveals controlled structural changes
      leading to heparin products similar to animal-derived heparin active
      pharmaceutical ingredients. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and nuclear
      magnetic resonance spectroscopy analysis confirms an abundance of heparin's
      characteristic trisulfated disaccharide, as well as 3-O-sulfo containing residues
      critical for heparin binding to antithrombin III and its anticoagulant activity.
      The bioengineered heparins prepared using this simplified one-pot chemoenzymatic
      synthesis also show in vitro anticoagulant activity. 

PMID- 25817686
TI  - Impact of amylose content on starch physicochemical properties in transgenic
      sweet potato.
AB  - The intrinsic relationship between amylose content and starch physicochemical
      properties was studied using six representative starch samples (amylose content 0
      65%) produced from transgenic sweet potato (cultivar Xushu22). The transgenic
      lines (waxy and high-amylose) and wild-type (WT) sweet potatoes were analyzed for
      amylose content, particle size and chain length distribution, X-ray diffraction
      analysis, thermal characteristics, pasting and rheological property. Compared to
      the WT starch, the waxy and high-amylose starches showed larger average granule
      sizes and had fewer short chains and more medium and long chains. X-ray
      diffractogram analysis revealed that high-amylose starches show a type-B crystal
      form with a markedly decreased degree of crystallinity in contrast to the type-A
      crystal form of the WT and waxy starches. In the high-amylose sweet potato
      starches, the rise of setback value and the reduction of breakdown value led to
      the high shear resistance as indicated by the higher G', G", and tandelta from
      the oscillation test. DeltaH was not found to be decreased with the reduction of
      crystallinity. The shear stress resistance of starch gel after gelatinization was
      also enhanced as amylose content increased. Principal component analysis also
      confirmed that the amylose content greatly influenced the starch structure and
      properties, e.g., storage modulus, setback value, and average chain length. Thus,
      our study not only shed light on how amylose content affects starch properties
      but also identified novel starches that are available for various applications.

PMID- 25817687
TI  - Polysaccharides from Smilax glabra inhibit the pro-inflammatory mediators via
      ERK1/2 and JNK pathways in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells.
AB  - The rhizomes of Smilax glabra have been used as both food and folk medicine in
      many countries for a long time. However, little research has been reported on
      polysaccharides of S. glabra. In the present study, two polysaccharide fractions,
      SGP-1 and SGP-2, were isolated from the rhizomes of S. glabra with the number
      average molecular weights of 1.72 * 10(2)kDa and 1.31 * 10(2)kDa, and the weight
      average molecular weights of 1.31 * 10(5)kDa and 1.18 * 10(5)kDa, respectively,
      and their mainly monosaccharide compositions were both galactose and rhamnose
      (2.5:1). Both SGP-1 and SGP-2 significantly suppressed the release of nitric
      oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) from
      LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells, as well as the mRNA expression of inducible nitric
      oxide synthase (iNOS), TNF-alpha and IL-6. Additionally, SGP-1 and SGP-2
      repressed the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and c-Jun NH2-terminal
      kinase (JNK). These findings strongly suggested polysaccharides were also the
      anti-inflammatory active ingredient for S. glabra, and the potential of SGP-1 and
      SGP-2 as the anti-inflammatory agents.

PMID- 25817688
TI  - Amylose and amylopectin branch chain reactivity in a model derivatization system.
AB  - The impact of starch granule structure on amylose (AM) and amylopectin (AP) chain
      reactivities was investigated over a 24h period in a model reaction system
      utilizing a fluorescent probe [DTAF, 5-(4,6-dichlorotriazinyl)aminofluorescein]
      as a reagent. For various reaction time intervals (0.5, 4, 12, or 24h), molecular
      reactivities of debranched starch derivatives were assessed via size-exclusion
      chromatography equipped with refractive index and fluorescence detection. For all
      starch chain fractions, the initial rate of derivatization (0-0.5h) was rapid,
      but decreased thereafter. Starch chain reactivities followed the general order:
      AP long chains ? AM, AP medium chains>AP short chains, though both AM and AP long
      chain reactivities were somewhat impacted by the high relative reactivity of
      starch chains eluting in the AM/AP long chain boundary region. Varied starch
      chain reactivities were attributed to their relative locale within the granule,
      corroborating the impact of granule architecture on molecular-level reaction
      patterns of starch chains.

PMID- 25817689
TI  - Derivatization patterns among starch chain populations assessed by ion-exchange
      chromatography: a model system approach.
AB  - Reaction patterns of wheat starch derivatized with a fluorescent probe (model
      reaction system) were investigated over the course of a reaction period (0.5, 4,
      12, or 24h). Debranched derivatives were fractionated into three populations
      (Unbound, Bound-1, Bound-2) based on charge density via anion-exchange
      chromatography, with each ion-exchanged fraction further analyzed by size
      exclusion chromatography (refractive index [RI] and fluorescence [FL] detection)
      to assess proportions and patterns of reaction on amylose (AM) and amylopectin
      (AP) long (LC), medium (MC), and short (SC) branch chains. Approximately 11-12%
      of the total chains accounted for 63-75% of the FL recovered in the two bound
      fractions. FL peaks representing AM, AP-LC, AP-MC, AP-SC, and intermediate
      material (eluted with AM based on molecular size, but reacted more akin to AP-LC)
      were monitored over the reaction period. Fractionation behaviors varied amongst
      starch chains, attributable to the impact of the granule structure on molecular
      reaction patterns. 

PMID- 25817690
TI  - Composition, structure, physicochemical properties, and modifications of cassava
      starch.
AB  - Cassava is highly tolerant to harsh climatic conditions and has great
      productivity on marginal lands. The supply of cassava starch, the major component
      of the root, is thus sustainable and cheap. This review summarizes the current
      knowledge of the composition, physical and chemical structures, physicochemical
      properties, nutritional quality, and modifications of cassava starch. Research
      opportunities to better understand this starch are provided. 

PMID- 25817695
TI  - Peroxiredoxin 1 protects the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum from oxidative stress
      induced by Micrococcus luteus infection.
AB  - Reactive oxygen species (ROSs) are generated in organisms in response to
      infections caused by invading microbes. However, excessive ROSs will inflict
      oxidative damage on the host. Peroxiredoxins (Prxs) are antioxidative enzymes
      that may eliminate ROSs efficiently. In this study, ApPrx1 from the pea aphid
      Acyrthosiphon pisum was cloned, and its function was investigated in vitro and in
      vivo. In the presence of DTT, recombinant ApPrx1 protein from Escherichia coli
      showed antioxidative activity by eliminating H2O2 effectively. The H2O2 levels
      were significantly higher in Micrococcus luteus-infected aphids than in
      uninfected aphids, and ApPrx1 expression was remarkably up-regulated when the
      aphids were infected with M. luteus or injected with H2O2. When ApPrx1 expression
      was reduced by dsRNA injection, the survival of the aphids decreased
      significantly after M. luteus infection. Knockdown of ApPrx1 decreased M. luteus
      loads inside the aphids 48h post-infection. While under infection conditions, the
      H2O2 levels were much higher in ApPrx1 knockdown aphids than in dsGFP-injected
      aphids, indicating that the decreased survival of the aphids was caused by
      increased oxidative stress. Taken together, our results reveal that ApPrx1 plays
      a protective role in oxidative stress caused by bacterial infection. 

PMID- 25817696
TI  - Molecular cloning and characterization of l-methionine gamma-lyase from
      Streptomyces avermitilis.
AB  - A pyridoxal 5'-phosphate-dependent methionine gamma-lyase (MGL) was cloned from
      Streptomyces avermitilis catalyzed the degradation of methionine to alpha
      ketobutyrate, methanethiol, and ammonia. The sav7062 gene (1,242 bp) was
      corresponded to 413 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 42,994 Da. The
      deduced amino acid sequence showed a high degree of similarity to those of other
      MGL enzymes. The sav7062 gene was overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The enzyme
      was purified to homogeneity and exhibited the MGL catalytic activities. We cloned
      the enzyme that has the MGL activity in Streptomyces for the first time. 

PMID- 25817697
TI  - Partial inhibition of differentiation associated with elevated protein levels of
      pluripotency factors in mouse embryonic stem cells expressing exogenous EGAM1N
      homeoprotein.
AB  - We previously reported that transcripts encoding the homeoprotein EGAM1N are
      expressed in preimplantation mouse embryos and embryonic stem (ES) cells, and the
      exogenous expression of EGAM1N inhibits the differentiation of ES cells. In order
      to clarify the relationship between the inhibition of differentiation and EGAM1N,
      we generated mouse MG1.19 ES cells stably expressing EGAM1N. Control
      transfectants with an empty vector formed relatively flattened cell colonies
      similar to those observed in parental MG1.19 cells. In contrast, Egam1n
      transfectants formed tightly aggregated cell colonies with increased localization
      of CDH1 at cell-to-cell interfaces. The protein levels of pluripotency factors,
      including TBX3 and SOX2, were also increased. The expression of Tbx3 transcripts
      was induced, although the level of Sox2 transcripts was almost unchanged. The
      expression of EGAM1N resulted in no obvious changes in the expression of genes
      encoding receptors, protein kinases, transcription factors, and their encoded
      proteins involved in the LIF-STAT3 signaling pathway. Alkaline phosphatase
      activity, a marker for the undifferentiated state, in Egam1n transfectants was
      exhibited in a clonal proliferation assay. When differentiation of Egam1n
      transfectants was induced, progression was prevented with increases in transcript
      levels of Pou5f1, Sox2, Nanog, Klf4, Tbx3, and their encoded proteins. However,
      Egam1n transfectants formed relatively flattened-cell layers as observed in the
      control, indicating that the expression of EGAM1N could not maintain LIF
      independent self-renewal of ES cells. Overall, we suggest that expression of
      EGAM1N could inhibit differentiation, at least in part, by elevating the protein
      levels of pluripotency factors in MG1.19 ES cells. 

PMID- 25817698
TI  - Endoscopic resection of giant esophageal leiomyoma through the submucosal tunnel
      technique.

PMID- 25817699
TI  - Positive association between serum thymic stromal lymphopoietin and anti
      citrullinated peptide antibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) has been suggested recently to play an
      important role in the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However,
      there is little information on serum TSLP concentrations in RA and its clinical
      significance. The present study investigated whether serum TSLP concentrations
      were affected in patients with RA. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
      (ELISA), we measured TSLP concentrations in the serum obtained from 100 patients
      with RA, 60 patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and 34 healthy volunteers. We also
      investigated the correlation between serum TSLP concentrations and clinical
      parameters of disease activity in RA [disease activity score using 28 joint
      counts (DAS28)-C-reactive protein (CRP), DAS28-erythrocyte sedimentation rate
      (ESR), Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI]), patient's/-physician's Visual
      Analogue Scale (VAS), swollen joints count, tender joints count, CRP, ESR and
      matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) concentrations]. In addition, we investigated
      the correlation between serum TSLP concentrations and anti-citrullinated peptide
      antibody (ACPA) and serum tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. Serum TSLP levels
      in patients with RA were significantly higher than those in patients with OA and
      in healthy volunteers. Interestingly, serum TSLP concentrations were correlated
      significantly with ACPA titres, but not with other clinical parameters. There was
      a significant increase in serum TSLP concentrations in patients with RA, which
      was correlated positively with serum ACPA titres. These findings suggest that in
      patients with RA, TSLP may play a role in ACPA production by B cells. 

PMID- 25817700
TI  - Role of atopy patch test for diagnosis of food allergy-related gastrointestinal
      symptoms in children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge is the gold standard
      for diagnosing food allergy. However, it is a time-consuming procedure and
      requires onsite medical supervision and resuscitating medicines and devices on
      hand. The objective of this study was to compare the atopy patch test (APT) with
      the oral food challenge test (OFC) in children with suspected food allergy
      related gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. METHODS: A prospective self-controlled
      study enrolled children with a history of suspected food allergy-related GI
      symptoms. Skin prick test (SPT) and APT using lyophilized and commercial allergen
      extracts for cow's milk, egg, wheat, soy, and shrimp were evaluated, and OFC was
      performed. RESULTS: Thirty-nine patients (25 boys, median age 2.4 yrs) with 76
      events of suspected food allergy-related GI symptoms were enrolled. SPT was
      positive in 11/76 events (14.5%). Sensitivity, specificity, predictive values,
      and likelihood ratio were calculated related to the food challenge outcome. Of 41
      OFC, 30 (73.2%) were positive. APT using lyophilized allergen extracts yielded
      high sensitivity (80%) and high positive predictive value (85.7%). APT using
      commercial allergen extracts yielded low sensitivity (30%) but high specificity
      (90%). The negative predictive value of APT using lyophilized and commercial
      allergen extracts was 53.8% and 32.2%, respectively. All cases with positive APT
      using lyophilized allergen extracts together with positive SPT also had positive
      OFC. CONCLUSION: In contrast to commercial extracts, APT with lyophilized
      allergen extracts is reliable, safe, and maybe useful for the diagnosis of
      suspected food allergy-related GI symptoms in children. OFC is still needed in
      most of the cases.

PMID- 25817701
TI  - The impact of ACE gene I/D polymorphism on plasma glucose and lipid
      concentrations in schizophrenia patients.

PMID- 25817703
TI  - Molecular diagnostic testing for common stool pathogens.

PMID- 25817704
TI  - Highly stable and luminescent layered hybrid materials for sensitive detection of
      TNT explosives.
AB  - Self-assembly is an effective way to fabricate optical molecular materials.
      However, this strategy usually changes the nanoenvironment surrounding
      fluorescence molecules, yielding low luminescence efficiency. Herein, we report
      the intercalation of a ruthenium polypyridine (Ru) complex into the interlayer
      galleries of layered double hydroxides (LDHs), forming a Ru/LDH hybrid. The Ru
      complex exists as an ordered monolayer state, and the hybrid exhibits high
      thermal and photo stability. Its luminescence efficiency and lifetime are
      increased by ~1.7 and ~1 times, respectively, compared to those of free
      molecules. We constructed a Ru/LDH sensing platform based on a fluorescence
      quenching effect for highly sensitive detection of TNT with a detection limit of
      4.4 MUM. 

PMID- 25817702
TI  - Longitudinal changes in diffusion properties in white matter pathways of children
      with tuberous sclerosis complex.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Abnormal white matter development in patients with tuberous sclerosis
      complex, a multisystem hamartomatous disorder caused by aberrant neural
      proliferation and axonal maturation, may be associated with poorer neurocognitive
      outcomes. The purpose of this study is to identify predictors of longitudinal
      changes in diffusion properties of white matter tracts in patients with tuberous
      sclerosis complex. METHODS: Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging was carried out
      in 17 subjects with tuberous sclerosis complex (mean age, 7.2 +/- 4.4 years) with
      at least two magnetic resonance imaging scans (mean number of days between scans,
      419.4 +/- 105.4). There were 10 males; 5 of 17 had autism spectrum disorder and
      10 of 17 had epilepsy. Regions of interest were placed to delineate the internal
      capsule/corona radiata, cingulum, and corpus callosum. The outcomes were mean
      change in apparent diffusion coefficient and fractional anisotropy. Data were
      analyzed using Pearson's correlation and multiple linear regression analyses.
      RESULTS: Gender was a significant predictor of mean change in apparent diffusion
      coefficient in the left internal capsule, right and left cingulum bundles, and
      corpus callosum and a significant predictor of mean change in fractional
      anisotropy in the corpus callosum. Epilepsy was a significant predictor of mean
      change in apparent diffusion coefficient in the left internal capsule. Autism
      spectrum disorder was not predictive of diffusion changes in any of the studied
      pathways. CONCLUSION: Clinical variables, including gender and epilepsy, have an
      effect on the development of white matter pathways. These variables should be
      taken into consideration when counseling tuberous sclerosis complex patients and
      in future imaging studies in this population.

PMID- 25817705
TI  - Surface molecularly imprinted silica for selective solid-phase extraction of
      biochanin A, daidzein and genistein from urine samples.
AB  - Selective molecularly imprinted silica polymer (SiO2MIP) for extraction of
      biochanin A, daidzein and genistein was synthesized using the surface molecular
      imprinting technique with the silica gel as a support. Biochanin A (BCA) was used
      as a template, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) as a functional monomer, and
      tetraethoxysilicane (TEOS) as a cross-linker. Non-imprinted polymer with the sol
      gel process (SiO2NIP) was also prepared for comparison. The synthesized polymers
      were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), scanning
      electron microscopy (SEM) and a standard Brunauer-Emett-Teller (BET) and Barret
      Joyner-Halenda (BJH) analysis. The obtained results indicated the structural
      differences between imprinted and non-imprinted polymers. Finally, the SiO2MIP
      and SiO2NIP were adopted as the adsorbents of solid phase extraction for
      isolation and preconcentration of biochanin A and its structural analogues
      daidzein and genistein from aqueous and urine samples. The performance analysis
      revealed that SiO2MIP displayed better affinity to the three investigated
      isoflavones compared with SiO2NIP. The recoveries of spiked samples for studied
      analytes ranged from 65.7% to 102.6% for molecularly imprinted silica polymer and
      8.9-16.0% for non-imprinted sorbents. 

PMID- 25817706
TI  - Evaluation and characterization of axial distribution in expanded bed: II. Liquid
      mixing and local effective axial dispersion.
AB  - Expanded bed adsorption (EBA) is a promising technology to capture proteins
      directly from unclarified feedstock. In order to better understand liquid mixing
      along the bed height in expanded beds, an in-bed sampling method was used to
      measure residence time distribution at different bed heights. A 2cm diameter
      nozzle column was tested with agarose raw beads (3% crosslinked agarose
      containing tungsten carbide). Two settled bed heights (11.5 and 23.1cm) with
      different expansion factors (1.4-2.6) were investigated and the number of
      theoretical plates (N), the height equivalent of theoretical plate (HETP) and the
      local effective axial dispersion coefficient (Dax) were calculated for each bed
      height-defined zone. The effects of expansion factor, settled bed height and
      mobile phase were evaluated. The results showed that N increased with the
      increase of expansion factors, but Dax was unaffected under fixed bed heights.
      Dax and HETP were found similar as a function of relative bed height for two
      settled bed heights tested. Higher mobile phase viscosity resulted in stronger
      axial dispersion. In addition, the local effective Dax under the expansion factor
      near 2.0 had a different profile which showed minimum values at 0.6-0.8 relative
      bed height, and the potential mechanism was discussed. These results would be
      useful for the characterization of axial dispersion and modeling protein
      adsorption in expanded beds under varying operation conditions. 

PMID- 25817707
TI  - Effects of substitution groups of glutamide-derived molecular gels on molecular
      shape recognition.
AB  - We have reported that self-assembling glutamide lipid-grafted porous silica
      particles show high selectivity towards polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
      and bio-molecules. This enhancement of molecular recognition is brought about by
      the formation of a highly ordered structure in the glutamide lipid through
      intermolecular hydrogen bonding. To utilise, for selective separations, the
      highly oriented structure of glutamide lipids on the silica surface, in this
      study, we synthesised four glutamide lipids with different substitution groups
      and studied the separation behaviours of the glutamide lipid-grafted porous
      silica particles as reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP
      HPLC) stationary phases. According to the HPLC studies, the functional group
      substitutions and the spacer group connecting the glutamide moiety and silica
      surface had a noticeable effect on the retention behaviours. Particularly,
      glutamide lipids with a long spacer group (C10) showed a higher selectivity
      towards positional (o-/m-/p-terphenyl) and geometrical (cis-/trans-stilbene)
      isomers. Differential scanning calorimetric and Fourier transform infrared
      spectroscopic studies suggested that the long spacer group induced the assembled
      structure of the glutamide lipid on the silica surface. Interestingly, the
      glutamide lipids with dodecyl groups and benzyl groups showed reverse elution
      orders towards the length to breadth ratio of PAHs. 

PMID- 25817708
TI  - Factors affecting measurement of channel thickness in asymmetrical flow field
      flow fractionation.
AB  - Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) has been considered to be a
      useful tool for simultaneous separation and characterization of polydisperse
      macromolecules or colloidal nanoparticles. AF4 analysis requires the knowledge of
      the channel thickness (w), which is usually measured by injecting a standard with
      known diffusion coefficient (D) or hydrodynamic diameter (dh). An accurate w
      determination is a challenge due to its uncertainties arising from the membrane's
      compressibility, which may vary with experimental condition. In the present
      study, influence of factors including the size and type of the standard on the
      measurement of w was systematically investigated. The results revealed that
      steric effect and the particles-membrane interaction by van der Waals or
      electrostatic force may result in an error in w measurement. 

PMID- 25817709
TI  - A new anion-exchange/hydrophobic monolith as stationary phase for nano liquid
      chromatography of small organic molecules and inorganic anions.
AB  - In this study, an anion-exchange/hydrophobic polymethacrylate-based stationary
      phase was prepared for nano-liquid chromatography of small organic molecules and
      inorganic anions. The stationary phase was synthesized by in situ polymerization
      of 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropylmethacrylate and ethylene dimethacrylate inside
      silanized 100 MUm i.d. fused silica capillary. The porogen mixture consisted of
      toluene and dodecanol. The pore size distrubution profiles of the resulting
      monolith were determined by mercury intrusion porosimetry and the morphology of
      the prepared monolith was investigated by scanning electron microscope. Good
      permeability, stability and column efficiency were observed on the monolithic
      column with nano flow. The produced monolithic column, which contains reactive
      chloro groups, was then modified by reaction with N,N-dimethyl-N-dodecylamine to
      obtain an anion-exchange/hydrophobic monolithic stationary phase. The
      functionalized monolith contained ionizable amine groups and hydrophobic groups
      that are useful of anion-exchange/hydrophobic mixed-mode chromatography. The
      final monolithic column performance with respect to anion-exchange and
      hydrophobic interactions was assesed by the separation of alkylbenzene
      derivatives, phenolic compounds and inorganic anions, respectively. Theoretical
      plate numbers up to 23,000 plates/m were successfully achieved in the separation
      of inorganic anions.

PMID- 25817710
TI  - Amygdala signals subjective appetitiveness and aversiveness of mixed gambles.
AB  - People are more sensitive to losses than to equivalent gains when making
      financial decisions. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to
      illuminate how the amygdala contributes to loss aversion. The blood oxygen level
      dependent (BOLD) response of the amygdala was mapped while healthy individuals
      were responding to 50/50 gambles with varying potential gain and loss amounts.
      Overall, subjects demanded twice as high potential gain as loss to accept a
      gamble. The individual level of loss aversion was expressed by the decision
      boundary, i.e., the gain-loss ratio at which subjects accepted and rejected
      gambles with equal probability. Amygdala activity increased the more the gain
      loss ratio deviated from the individual decision boundary showing that the
      amygdala codes action value. This response pattern was more strongly expressed in
      loss aversive individuals, linking amygdala activity with individual differences
      in loss aversion. Together, the results show that the amygdala signals subjective
      appetitiveness or aversiveness of gain-loss ratios at the time of choice. 

PMID- 25817712
TI  - Pseudogenization of CCL14 in the Ochotonidae (pika) family.
AB  - The interaction between chemokines and their receptors is crucial for
      inflammatory cell trafficking. CCL14 binds with high affinity to CCR5. In
      leporids, CCR5 underwent gene conversion with CCR2. The study of CCR5 ligands in
      leporid species showed that CCL8 is pseudogenized, while CCL3, CCL4 and CCL5 are
      functional. Here, we study the evolution of CCL14 in mammals with emphasis in the
      order Lagomorpha. By employing maximum likelihood methods we detected six sites
      under positive selection. Some of these sites are located in regions crucial for
      CCL14 activation and binding to receptors. Sequencing of CCL14 in Ochotona
      species showed that O. princeps, O. pallasi, O. alpina and O. turuchanensis have
      a mutation at the start codon (Met > Thr), while O. hoffmanni, O. mantchurica, O.
      dauurica and O. rufescens present the mammalian conserved Met. Ochotona
      hyperborea has the two alleles. In O. pusilla, CCL14 is a pseudogene due to a
      seven base pair insertion. Like CCL3, CCL4 and CCL5, CCL14 is functional in all
      leporids but in the Ochotonidae family it underwent a pseudogenization process.
      This suggests that CCL14 has an important biological role in other mammals by
      evolving under positive selection that has been lost in Ochotonidae (subgenera
      Pika and Lagotona). 

PMID- 25817711
TI  - Type 2 diabetes alters bone and marrow blood flow and vascular control mechanisms
      in the ZDF rat.
AB  - Bone health and cardiovascular function are compromised in individuals with type
      2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The purpose of this study was to determine whether
      skeletal vascular control mechanisms are altered during the progression of T2DM
      in Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats. Responses of the principal nutrient artery
      (PNA) of the femur from obese ZDF rats with prediabetes, short-term diabetes, and
      long-term diabetes to endothelium-dependent (acetylcholine) and -independent
      (sodium nitroprusside) vasodilation and potassium chloride, norepinephrine (NE),
      and a myogenic vasoconstrictor were determined in vitro. Few changes in the PNA
      vasomotor responses occurred for the prediabetic and short-term diabetic
      conditions. Endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilation were reduced, and
      NE and myogenic vasoconstriction were increased in obese ZDF rats with long-term
      diabetes relative to lean age-matched controls. Differences in endothelium
      dependent vasodilation of the femoral PNA between ZDF rats and controls were
      abolished by the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N(G)-nitro-l-arginine methyl
      ester. The passive pressure-diameter response of the femoral PNA was also lower
      across a range of intraluminal pressures with long-term T2DM. Regional bone and
      marrow perfusion and vascular conductance, measured in vivo using radiolabeled
      microspheres, were lower in obese ZDF rats with long-term diabetes. These
      findings indicate that the profound impairment of the bone circulation may
      contribute to the osteopenia found to occur in long bones during chronic T2DM. 

PMID- 25817713
TI  - Evaluation of Demons- and FEM-Based Registration Algorithms for Lung Cancer.
AB  - We evaluated and compared the accuracy of 2 deformable image registration
      algorithms in 4-dimensional computed tomography images for patients with lung
      cancer. Ten patients with non-small cell lung cancer or small cell lung cancer
      were enrolled in this institutional review board-approved study. The displacement
      vector fields relative to a specific reference image were calculated by using the
      diffeomorphic demons (DD) algorithm and the finite element method (FEM)-based
      algorithm. The registration accuracy was evaluated by using normalized mutual
      information (NMI), the sum of squared intensity difference (SSD), modified
      Hausdorff distance (dH_M), and ratio of gross tumor volume (rGTV) difference
      between reference image and deformed phase image. We also compared the
      registration speed of the 2 algorithms. Of all patients, the FEM-based algorithm
      showed stronger ability in aligning 2 images than the DD algorithm. The means (+/
      standard deviation) of NMI were 0.86 (+/-0.05) and 0.90 (+/-0.05) using the DD
      algorithm and the FEM-based algorithm, respectively. The means of SSD were 0.006
      (+/-0.003) and 0.003 (+/-0.002) using the DD algorithm and the FEM-based
      algorithm, respectively. The means of dH_M were 0.04 (+/-0.02) and 0.03 (+/-0.03)
      using the DD algorithm and the FEM-based algorithm, respectively. The means of
      rGTV were 3.9% (+/-1.01%) and 2.9% (+/-1.1%) using the DD algorithm and the FEM
      based algorithm, respectively. However, the FEM-based algorithm costs a longer
      time than the DD algorithm, with the average running time of 31.4 minutes
      compared to 21.9 minutes for all patients. The preliminary results showed that
      the FEM-based algorithm was more accurate than the DD algorithm while compromised
      with the registration speed. 

PMID- 25817714
TI  - Acute retinal injury and the relationship between nerve growth factor, Notch1
      transcription and short-lived dedifferentiation transient changes of mammalian
      Muller cells.
AB  - Our aim is to define related molecular events on how dormant Muller glia cells re
      enter the cell cycle, proliferate and produce new retinal neurons from initial
      injury to glial scar formation. Sodium iodate (NaIO3) was used to induce acute
      retinal injury. Long-Evans rats were administered with NaIO3 or phosphate
      buffered saline by intraperitoneal injection. The proliferation,
      dedifferentiation and neurogenesis of Muller cells were analyzed by double
      labeled fluorescence immunohistochemistry with primary antibodies - against
      Muller cells and specific cell markers. Possible molecules that limit the
      regenerative potential of Muller cells were also determined by immunofluorescence
      staining, quantitative RT-PCR, protein array, ELISA and Western blot. In the
      first 3-7days after NaIO3 administration, Muller cells were activated and
      underwent a fate switch, including transient proliferation, dedifferentiation and
      neurogenesis. Nerve growth factor (NGF) signaling concomitantly increased with
      the downregulation of p27(Kip1) in Muller cells, which may promote Muller cells
      to re-enter the cell cycle. The transient increase of NGF signaling and the
      transient decrease of Notch signaling inhibited Hes1, which might enhance the
      neuronal differentiation of dedifferentiated Muller cells and suppress gliosis.
      Upregulated Notch and decreased NGF expressions limit dedifferentiation and
      neurogenesis, but induces retinal Muller cell gliosis at a later stage. We
      conclude that transient NGF upregulation and Notch1 downregulation may activate
      the transient proliferation, dedifferentiation and neurogenesis of Muller cells
      during NaIO3-induced acute retinal injury; which could be a therapeutic target
      for overcoming Muller cell gliosis. Such therapy could be potentially used for
      treating retinal-related diseases.

PMID- 25817715
TI  - On-Off asymmetry in the perception of blur.
AB  - Natural images appear blurred when imperfect lens focus reduces contrast energy
      at higher spatial frequencies. Here, we present evidence that perceived blur also
      depends on asymmetries between On (positive contrast polarities) and Off
      (negative contrast polarities) image signals. Psychophysical matching experiments
      involving natural and artificial stimuli suggest that attenuating Off signals at
      high spatial frequencies results in increased perceptual blur relative to similar
      attenuations of On signals. Results support the notion that Off image signals
      play an important role in blur perception. 

PMID- 25817716
TI  - Blur adaptation: contrast sensitivity changes and stimulus extent.
AB  - A prolonged exposure to foveal defocus is well known to affect the visual
      functions in the fovea. However, the effects of peripheral blur adaptation on
      foveal vision, or vice versa, are still unclear. In this study, we therefore
      examined the changes in contrast sensitivity function from baseline, following
      blur adaptation to small as well as laterally extended stimuli in four subjects.
      The small field stimulus (7.5 degrees  visual field) was a 30min video of forest
      scenery projected on a screen and the large field stimulus consisted of 7-tiles
      of the 7.5 degrees  stimulus stacked horizontally. Both stimuli were used for
      adaptation with optical blur (+2.00D trial lens) as well as for clear control
      conditions. After small field blur adaptation foveal contrast sensitivity
      improved in the mid spatial frequency region. However, these changes neither
      spread to the periphery nor occurred for the large field blur adaptation. To
      conclude, visual performance after adaptation is dependent on the lateral extent
      of the adaptation stimulus.

PMID- 25817718
TI  - Contribution of HIV-Tat protein to HIV-sequelae.

PMID- 25817717
TI  - Stimulators of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) inhibit experimental skin fibrosis
      of different aetiologies.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Stimulators of the soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) have recently been
      shown to inhibit transforming growth factor-beta signalling. Here, we aimed to
      demonstrate that riociguat, the drug candidate for clinical trials in systemic
      sclerosis (SSc), is effective in experimental fibrosis and to compare its
      efficacy to that of phosphodiesterase V inhibitors that also increase the
      intracellular levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate. METHODS: The antifibrotic
      effects of riociguat and sildenafil were compared in the tight-skin 1 model, in
      bleomycin-induced fibrosis and in a model of sclerodermatous chronic graft-versus
      host-disease (cGvHD). Doses of 0.1-3 mg/kg twice a day for riociguat and of 3-10
      mg/kg twice a day for sildenafil were used. RESULT: Riociguat dose-dependently
      reduced skin thickening, myofibroblast differentiation and accumulation of
      collagen with potent antifibrotic effects at 1 and 3 mg/kg. Riociguat also
      ameliorated fibrosis of the gastrointestinal tract in the cGvHD model. The
      antifibrotic effects were associated with reduced phosphorylation of
      extracellular signal-regulated kinases. Sildenafil at doses of 3 and 10 mg/kg
      exerted mild antifibrotic effects that were significantly less pronounced
      compared with 1 and 3 mg/kg riociguat. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrated
      potent antifibrotic effects of riociguat on experimental skin and organ fibrosis.
      These findings suggest a role for riociguat for the treatment of fibrotic
      diseases, especially for the treatment of SSc. A phase II study with riociguat in
      patients with SSc is currently starting.

PMID- 25817719
TI  - Placental deposition of C-reactive protein is a common feature of human
      pregnancy.
AB  - This study examined the occurrence of placental C-reactive protein (CRP) in
      normal pregnancy with term delivery, spontaneous preterm delivery (sPTD),
      preeclampsia, and miscarriage. CRP immunoreactivity was detected in the
      syncytiotrophoblast. The immunopositive rate was significantly higher in sPTD
      than preeclampsia. The CRP immunopositive rate was also higher in acute
      chorioamnionitis than those without and showed a good correlation with the
      maternal serum CRP concentration. CRP mRNA expression was not detected in human
      and mouse placentas or choriocarcinoma cells. CRP may play a role in the
      pathological and physiological states of pregnancy. 

PMID- 25817720
TI  - [Arrhythomgenic right ventricular dysplasia and sudden death: An autopsy and
      histological study].
AB  - Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) is cardiomyopathy where normal
      myocardial tissue is replaced with fibrofatty tissue. Histological examination
      performed on myocardial biopsy or on autopsy samples are used to confirm the
      diagnosis. However, in many cases, the diagnosis cannot be made on a simple
      macroscopic and histological study and requires genetic analysis and molecular
      biology. In this work, we propose to describe the main macroscopic and
      histological findings of ARVD through the study of an autopsy series. We report
      12 autopsy cases of sudden death in ARVD collected in the Department of Forensic
      Medicine of the University Hospital Fattouma Bourguiba Monastir (Tunisia) during
      a period of 20years. Microscopic examination was performed on 5microns thick
      histological sections. All slides were reviewed by two operators in a double
      blind (physician pathologist, pathologist) and in each, the percentage of adipose
      tissue, fibrosis and infarction in the right ventricle, left ventricle and
      interventricular septum, the presence or absence of inflammatory infiltrate, the
      presence or absence of signs of degeneration of myocytes were noticed. ARVD was
      found in 12 cases (1.8% of sudden cardiac death). The age ranged between 13 and
      67years (mean age: 45.3years). The death occurred in half of the cases during
      exercise. Macroscopic examination of the RV showed the presence of a wall
      thinning (thickness<3mm) in 9 cases. Histological study highlight RV adipose
      infiltration in all cases with a percentage between 15% and 60%, fibrotic lesions
      were observed in only 9 cases with an average percentage of 10.25% and signs of
      degeneration of myocytes were noted in 10 cases. In concordance with what has
      been reported in the literature, there is still no consensus regarding the
      criteria to be adopted to pose with certainty the diagnosis of ARVD and the
      presence of adipose tissue remains the criterion more suggestive. 

PMID- 25817721
TI  - Quantitative assessment of distance to collection point and improved sorting
      information on source separation of household waste.
AB  - The present study measures the participation of households in a source separation
      scheme and, in particular, if the household's application of the scheme improved
      after two interventions: (a) shorter distance to the drop-off point and (b) easy
      access to correct sorting information. The effect of these interventions was
      quantified and, as far as possible, isolated from other factors that can
      influence the recycling behaviour. The study was based on households located in
      an urban residential area in Sweden, where waste composition studies were
      performed before and after the interventions by manual sorting (pick analysis).
      Statistical analyses of the results indicated a significant decrease (28%) of
      packaging and newsprint in the residual waste after establishing a property close
      collection system (intervention (a)), as well as significant decrease (70%) of
      the miss-sorted fraction in bags intended for food waste after new information
      stickers were introduced (intervention (b)). Providing a property close
      collection system to collect more waste fractions as well as finding new
      communication channels for information about sorting can be used as tools to
      increase the source separation ratio. This contribution also highlights the need
      to evaluate the effects of different types of information and communication
      concerning sorting instructions in a property close collection system. 

PMID- 25817723
TI  - Reviewers: the ultimate resource for scientific publishing.

PMID- 25817722
TI  - Characterization of fine fraction mined from two Finnish landfills.
AB  - A fine fraction (FF) was mined from two Finnish municipal solid waste (MSW)
      landfills in Kuopio (1- to 10-year-old, referred as new landfill) and Lohja (24-
      to 40-year-old, referred as old landfill) in order to characterize FF. In Kuopio
      the FF (<20mm) was on average 45+/-7% of the content of landfill and in Lohja
      58+/-11%. Sieving showed that 86.5+/-5.7% of the FF was smaller than 11.2mm and
      the fraction resembled soil. The total solids (TS) content was 46-82%, being
      lower in the bottom layers compared to the middle layers. The organic matter
      content (measured as volatile solids, VS) and the biochemical methane potential
      (BMP) of FF were lower in the old landfill (VS/TS 12.8+/-7.1% and BMP 5.8+/-3.4
      m(3)CH4/t TS) than in the new landfill (VS/TS 21.3+/-4.3% and BMP 14.4+/-9.9
      m(3)CH4/t TS), and both were lower compared with fresh MSW. In the Kuopio
      landfill materials were also mechanically sieved in the full scale plant in two
      size fraction <30 mm (VS/TS 31.1% and 32.9 m(3)CH4/t TS) and 30-70 mm (VS/TS
      50.8% and BMP 78.5m(3)CH4/t TS). The nitrogen (3.5+/-2.0 g/kg TS), phosphorus
      (<1.0-1.5 g/kg TS) and soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) (2.77+/-1.77 kg/t TS)
      contents were low in all samples. Since FF is major fraction of the content of
      landfill, the characterization of FF is important to find possible methods for
      using or disposing FF mined from landfills.

PMID- 25817726
TI  - Zoledronic acid therapy for recurrent giant cell tumor of the C2 vertebra in an
      adolescent.

PMID- 25817727
TI  - Aneurysmal bone cyst of the cervical spine.

PMID- 25817725
TI  - Hepatitis C virus core protein induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human
      hepatocytes by upregulating E12/E47 levels.
AB  - Downregulation of E-cadherin is a hallmark of epithelial-mesenchymal transition
      (EMT), an essential component of cancer progression to more aggressive phenotypes
      characterized by tumor dedifferentiation, infiltration, and metastasis. However,
      the underlying mechanism for E-cadherin downregulation in hepatitis C virus (HCV)
      associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unclear. In this study, we
      found that ectopic expression of HCV core protein or infection with HCV in human
      hepatocytes upregulated the levels of the transcriptional repressors, E12 and
      E47, resulting in inactivation of the E-cadherin promoter, containing E-box
      motifs, and subsequent repression of its expression. E12/E47 knock-down almost
      completely abolished the potential of HCV core protein to repress E-cadherin
      expression. HCV core protein inhibited ubiquitin-dependent proteasomal
      degradation of E12/E47 without affecting their expression at the transcriptional
      level. E12/E47 upregulation ultimately led to EMT in human hepatocytes, as
      demonstrated by morphological changes, altered expression levels of EMT markers,
      including E-cadherin, plakoglobin, and fibronectin, and increased capacity for
      cell detachment and migration. In conclusion, HCV core protein represses E
      cadherin expression by upregulating E12/E47 levels to induce EMT in HCV
      associated HCC.

PMID- 25817724
TI  - Centromere pairing--tethering partner chromosomes in meiosis I.
AB  - In meiosis, homologous chromosomes face the obstacle of finding, holding onto and
      segregating away from their partner chromosome. There is increasing evidence, in
      a diverse range of organisms, that centromere-centromere interactions that occur
      in late prophase are an important mechanism in ensuring segregation fidelity.
      Centromere pairing appears to initiate when homologous chromosomes synapse in
      meiotic prophase. Structural proteins of the synaptonemal complex have been shown
      to help mediate centromere pairing, but how the structure that maintains
      centromere pairing differs from the structure of the synaptonemal complex along
      the chromosomal arms remains unknown. When the synaptonemal complex proteins
      disassemble from the chromosome arms in late prophase, some of these synaptonemal
      complex components persist at the centromeres. In yeast and Drosophila these
      centromere-pairing behaviors promote the proper segregation of chromosome
      partners that have failed to become linked by chiasmata. Recent studies of mouse
      spermatocytes have described centromere pairing behaviors that are similar in
      several respects to what has been described in the fly and yeast systems. In
      humans, chromosomes that fail to experience crossovers in meiosis are error-prone
      and are a major source of aneuploidy. The finding that centromere pairing is a
      conserved phenomenon raises the possibility that it may play a role in promoting
      the segregation fidelity of non-exchange chromosome pairs in humans. 

PMID- 25817728
TI  - Cone-beam computed tomography evaluation of the soft tissue thickness and greater
      palatine foramen location in the palate.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the palatal mucosa thickness and
      greater palatine foramen location using cone-beam computerized tomography (CBCT).
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cone-beam computerized tomography images of 345 patients
      were measured. The relationship between palate vault depth and angle between the
      alveolar bone and palatal plane (PA) was evaluated. Differences in the palatal
      mucosal thickness according to age, gender and tooth site were evaluated.
      RESULTS: The mean palatal mucosal thickness from the second molar to the canine
      teeth were 3.7, 3.3, 3.7, 3 and 3 mm, respectively. The palatal mucosal thickness
      at the second molar and second premolar was statistically different from those at
      other zones. There was no correlation between the palatal junction angle and the
      palatal depth. Greater palatine foramen was observed at the level of third molar
      tooth, between third and second molar, second molar 63%, 31% and 6% in men and
      56%, 36% and 8% in women respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The second premolar to second
      molar zone was considered a suitable graft site based on the mean palatal mucosal
      thickness.

PMID- 25817730
TI  - Adenosine induces apoptosis through TNFR1/RIPK1/P38 axis in colon cancer cells.
AB  - Adenosine, a metabolite of ATP, ubiquitously exists in a wide range of organs and
      tissues. We previously reported that adenosine was implicated in apoptosis in
      many cancer cells by extrinsic and/or intrinsic pathways. Here, we found that
      adenosine suppresses the cell growth by induction of apoptosis of human colonic
      cancer cells through a novel mechanism. Adenosine suppresses the cell growth of
      human SW620 and SW480 colon cells in an adenosine transporter and adenosine
      kinase dependent manner. Moreover, the cell growth suppression is induced by
      apoptosis through activation of caspase-3 and PARP, and accumulation of ROS in
      cells. Importantly, we found that adenosine increases the expression of TNFR1 and
      RIPK1 and the phosphorylation of p38. Knockdown of TNFR1 or RIPK1 impairs the
      activation of p38, blocks the cleavage of PARP, and provides partially, yet
      significantly protection from cell death, including reducing the ROS generation
      in the colon cancer cells. These results indicate that a TNFR1/RIPK1/P38 axis is
      present in adenosine-induced apoptosis of colonic cancer cells. This axis
      triggers apoptosis and plays crucial roles in relay of the death signaling. Our
      study also provides additional experimental evidence for adenosine as a potent
      therapeutic drug in cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25817729
TI  - Dry eye modulates the expression of toll-like receptors on the ocular surface.
AB  - We aimed to determine if toll-like receptor (TLR) expression is modulated in
      response to dry eye-associated conditions and in dry eye syndrome (DES). Primary
      human corneal epithelial cells (HCEC), an SV40 HCEC cell line or a normal human
      conjunctival epithelial cell line (IOBA-NHC) were cultured under hyperosmolar
      stress (HOS) (400-500 mOsm/kg) or with DES associated cytokines (IL-1alpha/beta,
      TNFalpha or TGFbeta) at concentrations ranging from 1 to 1000 ng/ml for up to 24
      h. Epithelial cells were harvested from a human cornea organ culture model
      following 24 h of desiccation. Conjunctival impression cytology samples were
      harvested from subjects with DES and age and gender-matched normal subjects.
      TLR4, TLR5 or TLR9 mRNA or protein was examined by quantitative RT-PCR, western
      blotting or flow cytometry. TLR functionality was evaluated in terms of addition
      of TLR agonists and quantitation of secreted inflammatory cytokines by the use of
      ELISA and Luminex assays. In SV40 HCEC, HOS significantly increased TLR4 by 8.18
      fold, decreased TLR9 by 0.58 fold, but had no effect on TLR5 mRNA expression.
      TLR4 and TLR9 protein were decreased by 67.7% and 72% respectively. TLR4 mRNA was
      also significantly up-regulated by up to 9.70 and 3.36 fold in primary HCEC and
      IOBA-NHC respectively. DES associated cytokines had no effect on TLR4, TLR5 and
      TLR9 expression. In response to desiccation, TLR4 and TLR5 mRNA were
      significantly up-regulated by 4.81 and 2.51 fold respectively, while TLR9 mRNA
      was down-regulated by 0.86 fold in HCEC. A similar trend for TLR4 and TLR9
      protein was observed. TLR9 mRNA was significantly down-regulated by almost 59.5%
      in DES subjects. In conclusion, changes in TLR expression occur in dry eye and
      could have an important role in ocular surface susceptibility to inflammation and
      infection. 

PMID- 25817731
TI  - In-vitro and in-vivo imaging of MMP activity in cartilage and joint injury.
AB  - Non-destructive detection of cartilage-degrading activities represents an advance
      in osteoarthritis (OA) research, with implications in studies of OA pathogenesis,
      progression, and intervention strategies. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are
      principal cartilage degrading enzymes that contribute to OA pathogenesis.
      MMPSense750 is an in-vivo fluorimetric imaging probe with the potential to
      continuously and non-invasively trace real-time MMP activities, but its use in OA
      related research has not been reported. Our objective is to detect and
      characterize the early degradation activities shortly after cartilage or joint
      injury with MMPSense750. We determined the appropriate concentration, assay time,
      and linear range using various concentrations of recombinant MMPs as standards.
      We then quantified MMP activity from cartilage explants subjected to either
      mechanical injury or inflammatory cytokine treatment in-vitro. Finally, we
      performed in-vivo MMP imaging of a mouse model of post-traumatic OA. Our in-vitro
      results showed that the optimal assay time was highly dependent on the MMP
      enzyme. In cartilage explant culture media, mechanical impact or cytokine
      treatment increased MMP activity. Injured knees of mice showed significantly
      higher fluorescent signal than uninjured knees. We conclude that MMPSense750
      detects human MMP activities and can be used for in-vitro study with cartilage,
      as well as in-vivo studies of knee injury, and can offering real-time insight
      into the degradative processes that occurring within the joint before structural
      changes become evident radiographically. 

PMID- 25817732
TI  - Improving vascularization of engineered bone through the generation of pro
      angiogenic effects in co-culture systems.
AB  - One of the major problems with bone tissue engineering is the development of a
      rapid vascularization after implantation to supply the growing osteoblast cells
      with the nutrients to grow and survive as well as to remove waste products. It
      has been demonstrated that capillary-like structures produced in vitro will
      anastomose rapidly after implantation and become functioning blood vessels. For
      this reason, in recent years many studies have examined a variety of human
      osteoblast and endothelial cell co-culture systems in order to distribute
      osteoblasts on all parts of the bone scaffold and at the same time provide
      conditions for the endothelial cells to migrate to form a network of capillary
      like structures throughout the osteoblast-colonized scaffold. The movement and
      proliferation of endothelial cells to form capillary-like structures is known as
      angiogenesis and is dependent on a variety of pro-angiogenic factors. This review
      summarizes human 2- and 3-D co-culture models to date, the types and origins of
      cells used in the co-cultures and the proangiogenic factors that have been
      identified in the co-culture models. 

PMID- 25817733
TI  - Healthcare resource use in patients of the Australian Transition Care Program.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to describe, from the perspective of
      the healthcare funder, the cost components of the Australian Transition Care
      Program (TCP) and the healthcare resource use and costs for a group of transition
      care clients over a 6-month period following admission to the program. METHODS: A
      prospective cohort observational study of 351 consenting patients entering
      community-based transition care at six sites in two states in Australia from
      November 2009 to September 2010 was performed. Patients were followed up 6 months
      after admission to the TCP to ascertain current living status and hospital re
      admissions over the follow-up period. Cost data were collected by transition care
      teams and from administrative data (hospital and Medicare records). RESULTS: The
      TCP provides a range of services with most costs attributed to provision of
      personal care support, case management, physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
      Most healthcare costs up to 6 months after transition care admission were
      incurred from the hospital admission leading to transition care and from re
      admissions. Orthopaedic conditions incurred the highest costs, with many of these
      for elective procedures and others resulting from falls. Hospital re-admission
      rates in the present study were 10% lower than in a previous evaluation ofthe
      TCP. Over 6 months, approximately 40% of patients in the study were re-admitted
      to hospital at an average cost of A$7038. CONCLUSIONS: Although the cost of the
      TCP is relatively high, it may have some impact on reducing hospital re
      admissions and preventing or delaying residential care admissions.

PMID- 25817734
TI  - Estimating kidney function and use of oral antidiabetic drugs in elderly.
AB  - The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and renal impairment rises with age
      making regular estimation of glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in older diabetics
      necessary. This study investigated the differences among available estimating
      equations in assessing eGFR in older diabetics and examined the use of oral
      antidiabetic drugs (OADs) in relation to renal function. Patients with DM were
      participants of the Berlin Initiative Study (BIS), a population-based cohort
      study initiated in 2009 in Berlin, Germany, to evaluate kidney function in people
      >=70 years. GFR was estimated with the creatinine-based CKD-EPICREA (Chronic
      Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration), the MDRD (Modification of Diet in
      Renal Diseases) and the BIS1 equation and was directly measured (mGFR) with
      iohexol clearance as a gold standard in a subgroup (n = 137). Creatinine
      clearance was estimated with the Cockcroft-Gault equation (CrCl). DM prevalence
      was 26% (539 of 2070 overall participants). The antidiabetic drugs most commonly
      used among OAD patients were metformin (67%), glimepiride (27%) and glibenclamide
      (14%). Three of ten metformin patients had a CrCl <60 mL/min. Compared to mGFR,
      the mean differences of filtration rates calculated by MDRD, CKD-EPICREA and BIS1
      were +8.9, +6.7 and -1.8 mL/min/1.73 m(2) , respectively. Summing up, many
      patients with a CrCl <60 mL/min received metformin, although this represents a
      contraindication in Germany. Glibenclamide was commonly used despite its
      classification as potentially inappropriate medication in older adults. Finally,
      BIS1 performed better in estimating GFR in older diabetics than MDRD or CKD
      EPICREA .

PMID- 25817736
TI  - Providing perspective for interpreting cardiovascular mortality risks associated
      with ozone exposures.
AB  - When identifying standards for air pollutants based on uncertain evidence, both
      science and policy judgments play critical roles. Consequently, critical
      contextual factors are important for understanding the strengths, limitations,
      and appropriate interpretation of available science, and potential benefits of
      risk mitigation alternatives. These factors include the relative magnitude and
      certainty of the risks posed by various factors and the impacts of other risk
      factors on air pollutant epidemiology study findings. This commentary explores
      ozone's status as a risk factor for cardiovascular mortality in contrast with
      decades of strong and consistent evidence for other established risk factors. By
      comparison, the ozone evidence is less conclusive, more heterogeneous, and
      subject to substantial uncertainty; ozone's potential effects, if any, are small
      and challenging to discern. Moreover, the absence of a demonstrated causal
      relationship calls into question efforts to quantify cardiovascular mortality
      risks attributed to ozone exposures on a population level and highlights the need
      to explicitly acknowledge this uncertainty if such calculations are performed.
      These concerns are relevant for other similar policy contexts - where multiple
      established risk factors contribute to the health impact of interest; exposure
      effect associations are relatively small, weak, and uncertain; and a causal
      relationship has not been clearly established. 

PMID- 25817735
TI  - Opinion on environmental risks and indirect health effects of mercury from dental
      amalgam.

PMID- 25817737
TI  - The surgical management of metastatic spinal tumors based on an Epidural Spinal
      Cord Compression (ESCC) scale.
AB  - BACKGROUND CONTEXT: There have been no previous studies looking at the outcome of
      surgical decompression (+/-stabilization) for various grades of epidural spinal
      cord compression (ESCC) due to spinal metastases. PURPOSE: The aim of this study
      was to determine the outcome of surgical treatment in patients with ESCC using
      the Bilsky six-point scale. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: This was a retrospective cohort
      review of prospectively collected data. PATIENT SAMPLE: A consecutive series of
      101 patients managed over the period of 3 years for ESCC due to spinal metastases
      in a tertiary spine surgery referral unit were included. METHODS: Data on age,
      gender, revised Tokuhashi score, preoperative Frankel grade, tumor histology,
      magnetic resonance imaging scan-based Bilsky cord compression grade,
      postoperative Frankel grade at last follow-up, complications, and survivorship
      were collected. OUTCOME MEASURES: Frankel grading system for function was used to
      evaluate the patient's preoperative and postoperative neurologic status. Patient
      survival and postoperative complications were also collected. RESULTS: Average
      patient age was 64.7 years (13-88 years): 62 males and 39 females. Mean follow-up
      was 7.3 months (3-23.3 months). Most primary tumors were in prostate, breast,
      renal, lung, and the blood dyscrasias. Within the lower grade of compression
      (Group 1; Bilsky Grades 0,1a, 1b, and 1c; n=40), 29 patients (72.5%) had no
      improvement in Frankel grade, seven patients (17.5%) improved, whereas four
      patients (10%) deteriorated neurologically after surgery. Within the higher
      compression grade (Group 2; Bilsky Grades 2 and 3; n=61), 37 patients (60%) did
      not experience neurologic change, 20 (33%) improved, whereas neurology worsened
      in four patients (7%). When compared with Group 2 patients, Group 1 patients had
      better preoperative Frankel scores but a greater number of patients in Group 2
      improved their Frankel scores significantly postoperatively. The mean revised
      Tokuhashi score for Groups 1 and 2 was 10 and 9.1, respectively (p=.1). The
      complication rate for Groups 1 and 2 was 25% and 42.6%, respectively (p=.052).
      Survival analysis showed no difference between the groups (Group 1: median 376
      days [12-1052]; Group 2: median 326 days [12-979]; p=.62). CONCLUSIONS: Surgery
      can achieve improvements in neurology even in higher grades of cord compression.
      There is a trend toward more complications and worse survival with spinal surgery
      in patients with higher grades of compression.

PMID- 25817738
TI  - Unusual metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma: lumbar vertebrae.

PMID- 25817739
TI  - The influence of facet joint orientation and tropism on the stress at the
      adjacent segment after lumbar fusion surgery: a biomechanical analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Facet joint orientation and tropism influence the
      biomechanics of the corresponding segment. Therefore, the sagittal orientation or
      tropism of the facet joint adjacent to the fusion segment seems a potential risk
      factor for adjacent segment degeneration. However, there have been no
      biomechanical studies regarding this issue. PURPOSE: To investigate the
      association between adjacent facet orientation and facet tropism and stress in
      adjacent disc/facet joints using finite element (FE) analysis. STUDY DESIGN: An
      FE analysis. METHODS: Four intact (F50, F55, F60, and FT [facet tropism]) and
      matched L3-L4 fusion (F50, F55, F60, and FT fusion) models with different facet
      joint orientation (50 degrees , 55 degrees , 60 degrees  relative to the coronal
      plane, and facet tropism, respectively) at both L2-L3 facet joints were
      simulated. In each model, intradiscal pressures and facet contact force at the L2
      L3 segment were investigated under pure moments and anterior shear force.
      RESULTS: Compared with the matched-intact model, the F60 fusion model yielded the
      highest and largest percentage increase of intradiscal pressure at the L2-L3
      segment under flexion, torsion moment, and anterior shear force among the F50,
      F55, and F60 fusion models. F60 fusion model also demonstrated the largest facet
      contact force under torsion moment among the F50, F55, and F60 fusion models. In
      all conditions tested, the FT fusion model demonstrated the highest intradiscal
      pressure and facet contact force of all the models. CONCLUSIONS: Facet joint
      orientation and tropism at the adjacent segment influences the overstress of the
      adjacent segment, especially under the clinical circumstance of increased
      anterior shear force.

PMID- 25817740
TI  - Myocardial perfusion imaging using contrast echocardiography.
AB  - Microbubbles are an excellent intravascular tracer, and both the rate of
      myocardial opacification (analogous to coronary microvascular perfusion) and
      contrast intensity (analogous to myocardial blood volume) provide unique insights
      into myocardial perfusion. A strong evidence base has been accumulated to show
      comparability with nuclear perfusion imaging and incremental diagnostic and
      prognostic value relative to wall motion analysis. This technique also provides
      the possibility to measure myocardial perfusion at the bedside. Despite all of
      these advantages, the technique is complicated, technically challenging, and has
      failed to scale legislative and financial hurdles. The development of targeted
      imaging and therapeutic interventions will hopefully rekindle interest in this
      interesting modality. 

PMID- 25817741
TI  - High-Frequency Anterior Thalamus Stimulation Interrupts Cortical Midline Theta
      Rhythm During Drowsiness in an Epileptic Patient.

PMID- 25817742
TI  - Paul Tessier facial reconstruction in 1970 Iran, a series of post-noma defects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Paul Tessier was a pioneering plastic surgeon who founded
      craniofacial surgery and had an international influence in the field of
      reconstructive surgery. We reviewed his techniques in the reconstruction of post
      noma defects in Iran in the late 1970s. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied a series
      of 23 patients operated on by Tessier from 1974 to 1978 in Iran (property of
      Association Francaise des Chirurgiens de la Face). They all suffered from noma in
      childhood with major facial defects. RESULTS: Ten suffered from simple lip and
      cheek defects, nine also from nose defects and four from extensive facial
      defects. Abbe flaps were used in 15 patients to reconstruct the lips completed by
      commissuroplasty in six patients. Nose defects were reconstructed with
      nasofrontal flaps (ten cases). The outer cheek was reconstructed with a rotation
      flap (four cases), or with a frontotemporal flap (six cases). The inner cheek was
      reconstructed using a Barron-Tessier myocutaneous flap (ten cases). Of the 23
      patients, partial flap necrosis occurred in five cases. CONCLUSIONS: Tessier was
      a pioneering plastic surgeon who used local flaps to reconstruct these important
      facial defects. He had a high rate of success, although nowadays local flaps are
      commonly replaced by free flaps.

PMID- 25817743
TI  - Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography-associated AmpC Escherichia coli
      outbreak.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We identified an outbreak of AmpC-producing Escherichia coli
      infections resistant to third-generation cephalosporins and carbapenems (CR)
      among 7 patients who had undergone endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography
      at hospital A during November 2012-August 2013. Gene sequencing revealed a shared
      novel mutation in a bla CMY gene and a distinctive fumC/ fimH typing profile.
      OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent and epidemiologic characteristics of the
      outbreak, identify potential sources of transmission, design and implement
      infection control measures, and determine the association between the CR E. coli
      and AmpC E. coli circulating at hospital A. METHODS: We reviewed laboratory,
      medical, and endoscopy reports, and endoscope reprocessing procedures. We
      obtained cultures from endoscopes after reprocessing as well as environmental
      samples and conducted pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and gene sequencing on
      phenotypic AmpC isolates from patients and endoscopes. Cases were those infected
      with phenotypic AmpC isolates (both carbapenem-susceptible and CR) and identical
      bla CMY-2, fumC, and fimH alleles or related pulsed-field gel electrophoresis
      patterns. RESULTS: Thirty-five of 49 AmpC E. coli tested met the case definition,
      including all CR isolates. All cases had complicated biliary disease and had
      undergone at least 1 endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography at hospital
      A. Mortality at 30 days was 16% for all patients and 56% for CR patients. Two of
      8 reprocessed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography scopes harbored AmpC
      that matched case isolates by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Environmental
      cultures were negative. No breaches in infection control were identified.
      Endoscopic reprocessing exceeded manufacturer's recommended cleaning guidelines.
      CONCLUSION: Recommended reprocessing guidelines are not sufficient.

PMID- 25817744
TI  - Group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety Disorders With Personality
      Disorders in Day Clinic Setting.
AB  - PURPOSE: Short-term group cognitive-behavioral therapy (GCBT) with weekly
      homogeneous group sessions for treating specific anxiety disorders is relatively
      well developed and recognized. However, 12 weeks of intensive daily therapy for
      mixed anxiety and personality disorders is not. The current article aims to fill
      this gap by presenting the method of intensive transdiagnostic GCBT for anxiety
      disorders with comorbid personality disorders in a day hospital setting.
      Preliminary studies showed that participants exhibited significant improvement
      during this type of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This article reviews the advantages
      of group therapy that is transdiagnostic over the homogeneous group and
      individual therapy formats. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The detailed description of
      the current therapeutical program may facilitate the development of similar
      programs in day clinic settings.

PMID- 25817745
TI  - Staging for endometrial cancer: The controversy around lymphadenectomy - Can this
      be resolved?
AB  - Endometrial cancer remains the most common malignancy of the female genital
      tract. Lymph node metastasis is one of the most important prognostic factors, and
      stratification into pelvic lymph node invasion (stage IIIC1) and para-aortic
      lymph node invasion (stage IIIC2) improved the predictive value of the 2009
      International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) classification.
      Radiological examination methods such as magnetic resonance imaging and positron
      emission tomography-computed tomography do not have good-enough sensitivity to
      avoid lymphadenectomy for the assessment of lymph node invasion. Prediction
      scores are becoming increasingly valuable to exclude lymph node metastasis in low
      risk groups, and biomarkers could help to identify patients with high-risk lymph
      node metastatic probability. The therapeutic role of lymph node dissection
      remains a matter of debate. Several end points can be considered to evaluate the
      opportunity of lymphadenectomy in endometrial cancer. First, we compare survival
      according to the realization, the extent, and the numbers of nodes removed during
      lymphadenectomy. Second, we assess the opportunity of lymphadenectomy in order to
      tailor adjuvant treatment modalities. Third, we analyze the surgical complication
      rate after pelvic lymphadenectomy. 

PMID- 25817746
TI  - Severe camptodactyly: A systematic surgeon and therapist collaboration.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Although common, the treatment of camptodactyly is controversial.
      PURPOSE: Our purpose is to delineate a logical stepwise treatment plan based on
      corresponding components of the pre-operative and intraoperative evaluation of
      camptodactyly. In addition, describe structure rehabilitation plan utilizing the
      same stepwise evaluation. METHODS: With the use of a retrospective cohort study
      design, we reviewed 18 consecutively operated digits in twelve patients with
      camptodactyly affecting the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint. There were five
      girls and eight boys, averaging eight years of age (range: 9 months to 15 years)
      at surgery. RESULTS: Surgery corrected flexion contractures with mean post
      operative flexion contracture of 3 degrees  (range 0-25 degrees ) at mean follow
      up of 11 months (range 3-32 months). 15 of 18 digits achieved full active PIP
      extension. DISCUSSION: By employing a detailed clinical assessment to guide
      surgical treatment followed by focused therapy, we have markedly improved flexion
      contractures in digits with moderate to severe camptodactyly. CONCLUSIONS: Hand
      therapy is essential to maintain and further surgical improvement of passive
      extension and to regain active extension following surgery. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL
      OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic IV.

PMID- 25817747
TI  - Bariatric surgery for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in adolescents with severe
      obesity.

PMID- 25817748
TI  - Polyester tape scapulopexy for chronic upper extremity brachial plexus injury.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report the results of scapular stabilization for winging in patients
      with chronic upper brachial plexus injury. METHODS: Eight patients, mean age 36
      years, who had a winged scapula after successful restoration of major shoulder
      function by nerve transfer underwent scapular stabilization to the ribcage using
      polyester tape. The follow-up period ranged from 24 to 40 months (mean, 38 mo).
      Data collection included radiographic analysis, active range of motion
      measurement, University of California Los Angeles shoulder score, and visual
      analog scale pain score. RESULTS: All patients had clinical improvement with
      resolution of scapular winging. Five patients had no winging and 3 had mild
      winging after the surgery. Mean active forward flexion increased from 101 degrees
      preoperatively to 127 degrees  postoperatively. Mean active shoulder abduction
      increased from 91 degrees  preoperatively to 121 degrees  postoperatively. Mean
      University of California Los Angeles shoulder score improved from 17 to 27 and
      mean visual analog scale pain score improved from 6.1 to 0.7. In addition, mean
      lateral deviated angle increased from 4 degrees  from neutral preoperatively to 9
      degrees  at the last follow-up. All patients reported satisfaction with
      postoperative appearance. CONCLUSIONS: Outcomes of polyester tape scapulopexy in
      the short to intermediate term were favorable in terms of improved appearance,
      upper extremity function, and pain reduction in patients with winged scapula
      resulting from chronic upper brachial plexus injury, and with successful
      restoration of shoulder motion by previous nerve transfers. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL
      OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic IV.

PMID- 25817749
TI  - Flexor digitorum profundus laceration in association with closed middle
      phalangeal fracture: case report.
AB  - We report a patient with a flexor digitorum profundus laceration caused by the
      volarly displaced proximal fragment of a middle phalangeal fracture. Awareness of
      this association may allow timely recognition and appropriate treatment. 

PMID- 25817750
TI  - Anteriorly positioned ulnar nerve at the elbow: a rare anatomical event: case
      report.
AB  - Two patients with an anteriorly positioned ulnar nerve at the elbow, identified
      during cubital tunnel release, are presented. Upon encountering an empty cubital
      tunnel, additional dissection found the ulnar nerve to course posterior to and to
      penetrate through the intermuscular septum 3 to 5 cm proximal to the medial
      epicondyle. It then ran anterior to the pronator-flexor mass before entering the
      forearm between the ulnar and the humeral heads of the flexor carpi ulnaris.
      Although a rare anatomical anomaly, an anteriorly positioned ulnar nerve is
      potentially an underreported finding. In individuals with cubital tunnel
      syndrome, diagnosis and surgical treatment may be negatively affected if the
      surgeon fails to recognize the aberrant anatomy. Upper extremity surgeons should
      also be mindful of this rare anomaly when performing elbow arthroscopy or medial
      epicondyle release to prevent inadvertent injury to the nerve. 

PMID- 25817751
TI  - Within-session reliability and smallest real difference of muscle strength
      following nerve transfers in patients with brachial plexus injuries.
AB  - PURPOSE: To quantify the smallest real difference (SRD) of muscle strength in
      patients with brachial plexus injuries (BPI) after nerve transfer. METHODS: This
      study enrolled 16 patients with BPI who had C5-C6 and C5-C7 root injuries and who
      received nerve transfer of the spinal accessory nerve to the suprascapular nerve
      and fascicles of the ulnar nerve to the branch of the musculocutaneous nerve that
      innervates the biceps muscle. The quantitative peak strength of the shoulder
      abductor, external rotator, and elbow flexor in both arms were measured by the
      hand-held dynamometer. The SRD of each muscle was determined from the values of
      the intraclass correlation coefficient and standard error of measurement.
      RESULTS: In the involved arm, peak strength ranged from 18% of the noninvolved
      (shoulder external rotator) to 40% of the noninvolved (shoulder abductor). The
      intraclass coefficient for within-session reliability revealed good to excellent
      reliability for muscles, ranging from 0.86 to 0.99 and 0.87 to 0.91 in the
      involved and noninvolved arms, respectively. The SRD values were low for the
      shoulder external rotator (2.6 kg) and high for the elbow flexor (3.3 kg).
      CONCLUSIONS: The hand-held dynamometer is a device with good to excellent
      reliability for measuring the objective strength of patients with BPI in a single
      session. The SRD values established in the current study are more applicable for
      patients achieving a Medical Research Council grading of 3 or higher and can be
      used to detect real changes occurring after intervention, which can thereby
      differentiate real changes from changes that could be attributed to random
      variation in the measurements. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Diagnosis II.

PMID- 25817752
TI  - Sildenafil as a therapeutic option for digital ischemic ulceration: case report.
AB  - We report the case of a 37-year-old woman who developed critical upper limb
      ischemia caused by a cervical rib. Because the malformation was initially
      undiagnosed, a vascular bypass was performed, and failure occurred. Following a 6
      month therapy with sildenafil, revascularization of the arm was successful and
      amputation was avoided. A 6-year follow-up shows a rich collateral network at the
      compression site and normal values of digital plethysmography. Because hand
      surgeons often see patients with digital ulcerations and other manifestations of
      peripheral vascular pathology, therapy of ischemia with sildenafil could be an
      effective treatment option in patients not responding to classic drugs. 

PMID- 25817753
TI  - The effect of barbed suture tendon repair on work of flexion.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the work of flexion, ultimate strength, and gap resistance of
      a conventional 4-strand tendon repair to a knotless barbed-suture 4-strand tendon
      repair. METHODS: Tendon repairs were performed on 16 cadaver flexor digitorum
      profundus tendons using either a 4-strand double Kessler repair or a similar but
      knotless 4-strand repair with a unidirectional barbed suture. Work of flexion,
      gap resistance during cyclical loading, and ultimate strength of both techniques
      were determined and their means compared. RESULTS: There was no difference in
      mean maximum load and gap formation between the 2 techniques. Work of flexion was
      higher for the barbed-suture repair group compared with the traditional repair
      group (39 N.mm vs 31 N.mm). CONCLUSIONS: The higher work of flexion in the barbed
      suture group suggests that barbed suture may negatively affect tendon gliding
      within the flexor tendon sheath. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Knotless barbed-suture
      tendon repair leads to increased work of flexion compared with traditional flexor
      tendon repairs, which may result in an increased rupture incidence.

PMID- 25817754
TI  - Pain in children following microsurgical reconstruction for obstetrical brachial
      plexus palsy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence and characteristics of pain experienced by
      children who have had microsurgical reconstruction for obstetrical brachial
      plexus palsy (OBPP). METHODS: A prospective case series study was conducted of 65
      children aged 6 to 18 years with a diagnosis of OBPP and who had microsurgery at
      less than 12 months of age with nerve grafting or transfer. A total of 28
      patients (43%) had upper OBPP and 37 (57%) had total OBPP. We evaluated pain
      using the Faces Pain Scale-Revised and the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool.
      Sensory symptoms in the affected limb were also collected. Mean age was 11.0 +/-
      3.3 years. RESULTS: We evaluated 65 children. The point prevalence of pain (pain
      at the time of assessment) was 25%. The reported lifetime prevalence of pain
      (experienced anytime during life) was 66%. A total of 71% reported that the
      affected extremity felt different at least once in their lifetime. Average
      intensity of those with pain (n = 43) was 40 +/- 19 mm on a 100-mm visual analog
      scale. Seventy percent of children reported that symptoms occurred every day or
      at least once a week. Anatomical distribution of pain was throughout the affected
      upper extremity irrespective of the severity of injury, with the exception of
      children with upper plexus injuries who did not report pain in their hand. Words
      typically used to describe neuropathic or musculoskeletal symptoms were chosen by
      the children to represent their pain. CONCLUSIONS: Children with OBPP who had
      microsurgical reconstruction commonly reported pain. These symptoms were
      typically frequent but were episodic and low in intensity. The descriptions of
      the type of pain include terms typical of both neuropathic and musculoskeletal
      origins. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic IV.

PMID- 25817755
TI  - Increased pain catastrophizing associated with lower pain relief during spinal
      cord stimulation: results from a large post-market study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pain catastrophizing is a negative cognitive distortion to actual or
      anticipated pain. Our aim was to determine if greater catastrophizing has a
      deleterious relationship with pain intensity and efficacy outcomes in patients
      receiving SCS. METHODS: As part of an ongoing Institutional Review Board
      approved, multi-site, single arm post-market study, 386 patients were implanted
      with an Eon MiniTM SCS system and had follow-up visits at 3, 6, and 12 months
      post-implant. Outcomes collected during the study included, but were not limited
      to pain intensity using the numeric rating scale (NRS), patient reported pain
      relief (PRP), satisfaction with their SCS system, quality of life (QOL), pain
      catastrophizing scale (PCS) and state-trait anxiety index (STAI). RESULTS: NRS
      scores were associated with higher PCS scores at six months (r = 0.50, p <
      0.001). The PCS was a strong predictor of the NRS when controlled for known
      confounders. Patients with PCS >=30 at 6-months post-implant had a lower six
      month PRP (p < 0.001) and were five times more likely to report dissatisfaction
      with their SCS device (p < 0.001, OR = 5.46, 95% CI: 2.51-6.35). Additionally, at
      six months, those who were clinically catastrophizing were three times more
      likely to report deterioration in QOL (p < 0.002, OR = 3.12, 95% CI: 1.62-5.51).
      These findings were similar at the 12 months follow visit. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      results indicate that patients with greater catastrophizing, post-implant, were
      more likely to report higher pain intensity and lower pain relief, quality of
      life and satisfaction with SCS. These results indicate that associations between
      pain intensity and pain-related mental health may contribute to influence the
      overall efficacy of SCS.

PMID- 25817756
TI  - Elimination of drugs of abuse and their toxicity from natural waters by photo
      Fenton treatment.
AB  - This paper investigates the elimination of drugs of abuse from six different
      chemical classes and their metabolites in natural fluvial waters (nearby the
      output of a sewage system). Mineralization of these substances and toxicological
      characterization before and after treatment by a heterogeneous photo-Fenton
      system has been evaluated. This advanced oxidation technology was able to
      significantly reduce the concentration of the drugs of abuse in all the tested
      conditions (different hydrogen peroxide and catalyst loadings). However,
      toxicological analyses measured as inhibition of fern spore mitochondrial
      activity, showed only a complete elimination of acute and chronic toxicity when a
      higher solid catalyst loading was used (0.6 g/L). A lower catalyst loading of 0.2
      g/L was not enough for toxicity elimination. These results evidence the need for
      combining toxicological tests and chemical analyses in order to establish the
      effectiveness of the water treatment technologies based on advanced oxidation
      processes.

PMID- 25817757
TI  - Developmental effects of parental exposure to soil contaminated with urban
      metals.
AB  - Soil is a highly complex material, and because of rapid population growth,
      intense industrial activity and petrochemical development, it has suffered from
      contamination with substances of various origins. These environmental
      contaminants may have detrimental effects on human health, particularly during
      development. Due to the ability to transmit contaminants to the fetus, evaluating
      the effects of exposure of pregnant women on the psychomotor development of their
      offspring is of particular interest. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate
      the effects of exposure of female rats to an urban soil influenced by the
      dispersion of air contaminants during periods of pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and
      lactation on offspring development. Using physiological, behavioral and
      hematological parameters, deleterious effects on offspring were assessed. In
      behavioral parameters, parental exposure during pregnancy and lactation resulted
      in no significant differences in the evaluated parameters when compared to the
      control group. In contrast, pups from the pre-pregnancy group displayed decreased
      locomotor and exploratory activity in addition to increased levels of anxiety.
      Furthermore, offspring of rats exposed to contaminated urban soil during pre
      pregnancy demonstrated significant changes in weight gain and development length
      and a reduction in the number of platelets compared to controls. Significantly,
      pups born to mothers exposed to contaminated urban soil during the pregnancy
      displayed changes in birth weight, weight gain during the growth, development
      length, incisor eruption and opening of the ears in addition to a reduction in
      their physical performance and a change in the number of lymphocytes. These
      results clearly show the negative influence of parental exposure to contaminated
      urban soil on the general development of the rats during the periods studied.
      These data indicate that developing organisms are highly sensitive to external
      factors. Further, they demonstrate the utility of these various biomarkers for
      identifying and displaying toxic effects of exposure to contaminated soils. 

PMID- 25817758
TI  - Inactivation of adenovirus, reovirus and bacteriophages in fecal sludge by pH and
      ammonia.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the inactivation of adenovirus, reovirus
      and bacteriophages (MS2, PhiX174, 28B) in a fecal sludge. We conducted two
      experiments. In the first, we tested different compositions of the fecal sludge
      by mixing different amounts of water, feces and urine, totaling nine combinations
      which were kept at temperatures between 10 and 28 degrees C. In the second study,
      urea was added to the mixtures, which were kept at temperatures from 5 to 33
      degrees C. The inactivation was based on a combination of temperature, pH and
      uncharged ammonia concentration. The increase in pH and ammonia was provided
      mainly by urine content (Experiment 1) and by urine and added urea (Experiment
      2). The inactivation of bacteriophages was slower than the AdV and ReV. At 23
      degrees C and 28 degrees , reasonable treatment times were obtained when pH was
      higher than 8.9 and NH3 concentrations were higher than 35 and 55 mM
      respectively. With those conditions, the maximum time for a 3 log reduction in
      viruses, according to this study, would be 35 days (23 degrees C) and 21 days (28
      degrees C). However, in most applications where helminth eggs are present, the
      treatment time and NH3 for sanitization will be the scaling criteria, as they are
      more persistent. Concerning the sanitization of effluents from latrines, vacuum
      toilets or dry toilets in developing countries with tropical and sub-tropical
      climates, the use of intrinsic ammonia combined with high pH can be effective in
      producing a safe and highly valuable liquid that can be used as a fertilizer. In
      the case of the fecal sludge with very intrinsic ammonia concentration (<20 mM),
      sanitization could still be achieved by the addition of urea.

PMID- 25817759
TI  - Degradation of chloroacetanilide herbicides and bacterial community composition
      in lab-scale wetlands.
AB  - Degradation of chloroacetanilide herbicides rac-metolachlor, acetochlor, and
      alachlor, as well as associated bacterial populations, were evaluated in vertical
      upflow wetland columns using a combination of hydrochemical and herbicide
      analyses, and DNA-based approaches. Mass dissipation of chloroacetanilides,
      continuously supplied at 1.8-1.9 MUM for 112 days, mainly occurred in the
      rhizosphere zone under nitrate and sulphate-reducing conditions, and averaged
      61+/-14%, 52+/-12% and 29+/-19% for acetochlor, alachlor and rac-metolachlor,
      respectively. Metolachlor enantiomer fractions of 0.494+/-0.009 in the oxic zone
      and 0.480+/-0.005 in the rhizosphere zone indicated preferential biodegradation
      of the S-enantiomer. Chloroacetanilide ethane sulfonic acid and oxanilic acid
      degradates were detected at low concentrations only (0.5 nM), suggesting
      extensive degradation and the operation of yet unknown pathways for
      chloroacetanilide degradation. Hydrochemical parameters and oxygen concentration
      were major drivers of bacterial composition, whereas exposure to
      chloroacetanilides had no detectable impact. Taken together, the results
      underline the importance of anaerobic degradation of chloroacetanilides in
      wetlands, and highlight the potential of complementary chemical and biological
      approaches to characterise processes involved in the environmental dissipation of
      chloroacetanilides.

PMID- 25817760
TI  - The anticancer drug metabolites endoxifen and 4-hydroxy-tamoxifen induce toxic
      effects on Daphnia pulex in a two-generation study.
AB  - Although pharmaceutical metabolites are found in the aquatic environment, their
      toxicity on living organisms is poorly studied in general. Endoxifen and 4
      hydroxy-tamoxifen (4OHTam) are two metabolites of the widely used anticancer drug
      tamoxifen for the prevention and treatment of breast cancers. Both metabolites
      have a high pharmacological potency in vertebrates, attributing prodrug
      characteristics to tamoxifen. Tamoxifen and its metabolites are body-excreted by
      patients, and the parent compound is found in sewage treatment plan effluents and
      natural waters. The toxicity of these potent metabolites on non-target aquatic
      species is unknown, which forces environmental risk assessors to predict their
      toxicity on aquatic species using knowledge on the parent compounds. Therefore,
      the aim of this study was to assess the sensitivity of two generations of the
      freshwater microcrustacean Daphnia pulex towards 4OHTam and endoxifen. Two
      chronic tests of 4OHTam and endoxifen were run in parallel and several endpoints
      were assessed. The results show that the metabolites 4OHTam and endoxifen induced
      reproductive and survival effects. For both metabolites, the sensitivity of D.
      pulex increased in the second generation. The intrinsic rate of natural increase
      (r) decreased with increasing 4OHTam and endoxifen concentrations. The No
      Observed Effect Concentrations (NOECs) calculated for the reproduction of the
      second generation exposed to 4OHTam and endoxifen were <1.8 and 4.3 MUg/L,
      respectively, whereas the NOECs that were calculated for the intrinsic rate of
      natural increase were <1.8 and 0.4 MUg/L, respectively. Our study raises
      questions about prodrug and active metabolites in environmental toxicology
      assessments of pharmaceuticals. Our findings also emphasize the importance of
      performing long-term experiments and considering multi-endpoints instead of the
      standard reproduction outcome.

PMID- 25817761
TI  - Emission factor estimation of ca. 160 emerging organic microcontaminants by
      inverse modeling in a Mediterranean river basin (Llobregat, NE Spain).
AB  - Starting from measured river concentrations, emission factors of 158 organic
      compounds out of 199 analyzed belonging to different groups of priority and
      emerging contaminants [pesticides (25), pharmaceuticals and hormones (81),
      perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) (18), industrial compounds (12), drugs of abuse
      (8) and personal care products (14)] have been estimated by inverse modeling. The
      Llobregat river was taken as case study representative of Mediterranean rivers.
      Industrial compounds and pharmaceuticals are the dominant groups (range of 10(4)
      mg.1000 inhab(-1).d(-1)). Personal care products, pesticides, PFASs and illegal
      drugs showed a load approximately one order of magnitude smaller. Considered on a
      single compound basis industrial compounds still dominate (range of ca. 10(3)
      mg.1000 inhab(-1).d(-1)) over other classes. Generally, the results are within
      the range when compared to previously published estimations for other river
      basins. River attenuation expressed as the percentage fraction of
      microcontaminants eliminated was quantified. On average they were around 60-70%
      of the amount discharged for all classes, except for PFASs, that are poorly
      eliminated (ca. 20% on average). Uncertainties associated with the calculated
      emissions have been estimated by Monte-Carlo methods (15,000 runs) and typically
      show coefficients of variation of ca. 120%. Sensitivities associated with the
      various variables involved in the calculations (river discharge, river length,
      concentration, elimination constant, hydraulic travel time and river velocity)
      have been assessed as well. For the intervals chosen for the different variables,
      all show sensitivities exceeding unity (1.14 to 3.43), tending to amplify the
      variation of the emission. River velocity and basin length showed the highest
      sensitivity value. Even considering the limitations of the approach used, inverse
      modeling can provide a useful tool for management purposes facilitating the
      quantification of release rates of chemicals into the aquatic environment.

PMID- 25817762
TI  - Arsenic speciation driving risk based corrective action.
AB  - The toxicity of arsenic depends on a number of factors including its valence
      state. The more potent trivalent arsenic [arsenite (As3+)] inhibits a large
      number of cellular enzymatic pathways involved in energy production, while the
      less toxic pentavalent arsenic [arsenate (As5+)] interferes with phosphate
      metabolism, phosphoproteins and ATP formation (uncoupling of oxidative
      phosphorylation). Environmental risk based corrective action for arsenic
      contamination utilizes data derived from arsenite studies of toxicity to be
      conservative. However, depending upon environmental conditions, the arsenate
      species may predominate substantially, especially in well aerated surface soils.
      Analyses of soil concentrations of arsenic species at two sites in northeastern
      Texas historically contaminated with arsenical pesticides yielded mean arsenate
      concentrations above 90% of total arsenic with the majority of the remainder
      being the trivalent arsenite species. Ecological risk assessments based on the
      concentration of the trivalent arsenite species will lead to restrictive
      remediation requirements that do not adequately reflect the level of risk
      associated with the predominate species of arsenic found in the soil. The greater
      concentration of the pentavalent arsenate species in soils would be the more
      appropriate species to monitor remediation at sites that contain high arsenate to
      arsenite ratios.

PMID- 25817763
TI  - Patterns and predictability in the intra-annual organic carbon variability across
      the boreal and hemiboreal landscape.
AB  - Factors affecting total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations in 215 watercourses
      across Sweden were investigated using parameter parsimonious regression
      approaches to explain spatial and temporal variabilities of the TOC water quality
      responses. We systematically quantified the effects of discharge, seasonality,
      and long-term trend as factors controlling intra-annual (among year) and inter
      annual (within year) variabilities of TOC by evaluating the spatial variability
      in model coefficients and catchment characteristics (e.g. land cover, retention
      time, soil type). Catchment area (0.18-47,000 km2) and land cover types (forests,
      agriculture and alpine terrain) are typical for the boreal and hemiboreal zones
      across Fennoscandia. Watercourses had at least 6 years of monthly water quality
      observations between 1990 and 2010. Statistically significant models (p<0.05)
      describing variation of TOC in streamflow were identified in 209 of 215
      watercourses with a mean Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency index of 0.44. Increasing long
      term trends were observed in 149 (70%) of the watercourses, and intra-annual
      variation in TOC far exceeded inter-annual variation. The average influences of
      the discharge and seasonality terms on intra-annual variations in daily TOC
      concentration were 1.4 and 1.3 mg l(-1) (13 and 12% of the mean annual TOC),
      respectively. The average increase in TOC was 0.17 mg l(-1)year(-1) (1.6% year(
      1)). Multivariate regression with over 90 different catchment characteristics
      explained 21% of the spatial variation in the linear trend coefficient, less than
      20% of the variation in the discharge coefficient and 73% of the spatial
      variation in mean TOC. Specific discharge, water residence time, the variance of
      daily precipitation, and lake area, explained 45% of the spatial variation in the
      amplitude of the TOC seasonality. Because the main drivers of temporal
      variability in TOC are seasonality and discharge, first-order estimates of the
      influences of climatic variability and change on TOC concentration should be
      predictable if the studied catchments continue to respond similarly.

PMID- 25817764
TI  - Legacy and emerging organic pollutants in liver and plasma of long-finned pilot
      whales (Globicephala melas) from waters surrounding the Faroe Islands.
AB  - Concentrations of PCBs, organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), brominated flame
      retardants and a suite of relevant metabolites of these POPs, in all 175
      different compounds, were determined in liver and plasma of traditionally hunted
      pilot whales (n=14 males and n=13 females of different age groups) from the Faroe
      Islands. The main objectives of this study were to determine differences in the
      presence and concentrations of the compounds in the liver and plasma, how they
      depend on developmental stage (calves, sub adults, and adult females), and to
      assess maternal transfer of the compounds to suckling calves. Generally, the
      lipid weight (lw) concentrations of quantified POPs in the liver and plasma of
      pilot whales were positively correlated, and lw concentrations of most POPs did
      not differ between these matrices. However, concentrations of some individual
      POPs differed significantly (p<0.05) between plasma and liver; CB-153 (p=0.044),
      CB-174 (p=0.027) and BDE-47 (p=0.017) were higher in plasma than in liver,
      whereas p,p'-DDE (p=0.004) and HCB (p<0.001) were higher in liver than in plasma.
      POP concentrations differed between age/gender groups with lower levels in adult
      females than in juveniles. The relative distribution of compounds also differed
      between the age groups, due to the influence of the maternal transfer of the
      compounds. The results indicated that larger, more hydrophobic POPs were
      transferred to the offspring less efficiently than smaller or less lipid soluble
      compounds. Very low levels of both OH- and/or MeSO2-PCB and PBDE metabolites were
      found in all age groups, with no significant (p>0.05) differences between the
      groups, strongly suggesting a very low metabolic capacity for their formation in
      pilot whales. The lack of difference in the metabolite concentrations between the
      age groups also indicates less maternal transfer of these contaminant groups
      compared to the precursor compounds. 

PMID- 25817765
TI  - Vaginal Burn from Alkaline Battery in an 8-Year-Old.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Life-threatening injury from battery ingestion has mandated changes
      in the manufacture of battery-operated devices. Whilst esophageal burns are
      commonly publicized, there is scarce literature on vaginal burns and their
      potential morbidity. CASE: An 8-year-old girl presented with self-report of a
      "fluffy toy" per vagina. Under general anesthesia, her vagina was examined and
      the mucosa appeared coated in a "blue fur." It was soon identified as corrosive
      damage from an alkaline button battery. Fistula and rectal injury were excluded.
      Symptomatic relief was achieved with the use of estradiol lidocaine intravaginal
      concoction following removal. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: Optimal management of a
      vaginal foreign body relies upon clinical suspicion, familiarity with prepubertal
      vaginal instrumentation, and expeditious removal of inserted batteries to avoid
      serious morbidity.

PMID- 25817766
TI  - Nearly Normal Congenital Cervical Fragmentation: A Hard-To-Diagnose and
      Successful End-To-End Anastomosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Congenital cervical fragmentation is a very rare genital tract
      malformation that usually presents in adolescence with primary amenorrhea and
      cyclic, monthly, lower abdominal pain. We report a nearly normal case of
      congenital cervical fragmentation and successful end-to-end anastomosis. CASE: A
      15-year-old girl presented with primary amenorrhea with cyclic, monthly lower
      abdominal pain lasting for 15 months without any abnormal imaging findings
      (pelvic CT scan, ultrasonography, and hysteroscopy). Misdiagnosis and
      appendectomy was performed at the time of the initial lower abdominal pain.
      Diagnostic combined hysteroscopy and laparoscopy were performed in our hospital,
      and cervical fragmentation was diagnosed. A converted laparotomy end-to-end
      anastomosis was performed successfully, and regular menstruation was restored
      after the operation. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION: The malformation of nearly normal
      congenital cervical fragmentation is existent and hard to diagnose. As long as
      the patient has persistent primary amenorrhea with cyclic, monthly lower
      abdominal pain, even if no abnormal findings on imaging, obstructive malformation
      of the reproductive duct should be the primary suspicion. Diagnosis and treatment
      should occur as early as possible to preserve the patient's fertility. End-to-end
      anastomosis is the best method for this type of patient.

PMID- 25817767
TI  - Asymmetrical Ovarian Enlargement: Caught Timely Before the Cut!
AB  - BACKGROUND: Van Wyk-Grumbach syndrome is a rare complication of prolonged
      untreated primary hypothyroidism characterized by precocious puberty and enlarged
      multicystic ovaries. High index of suspicion and timely diagnosis can prevent
      unnecessary surgical procedures because this condition can be reversed with
      thyroid hormone supplementation. CASE: A 12-year-old girl underwent abdominal
      ultrasonography for recurrent abdominal pain, which showed bilateral asymmetrical
      enlargement of ovaries. Ovarian tumor markers were negative. Subsequent
      evaluation revealed severe hypothyroidism. Patient was started on levothyroxine
      and both ovaries showed regression to normal volume within 1 year of normalizing
      thyroid function tests. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION: Prompt and adequate medical
      management with levothyroxine can completely reverse ovarian enlargement
      associated with hypothyroidism.

PMID- 25817769
TI  - Boronic species as promising inhibitors of the Staphylococcus aureus NorA efflux
      pump: study of 6-substituted pyridine-3-boronic acid derivatives.
AB  - In response to the extensive use of antibiotics, bacteria have evolved numerous
      mechanisms of defense against antimicrobial agents. Among them, extrusion of the
      antimicrobial agents outside the bacterial cell through efflux pumps is a major
      cause of concern. At first limited to one or few structurally-related
      antibiotics, bacterial resistance have then progressed towards cross-resistance
      between different classes of antibiotics, leading to multidrug-resistant
      microorganisms. Emergence of these pathogens requires development of novel
      therapeutic strategies and inhibition of efflux pumps appears to be a promising
      strategy that could restore the potency of existing antibiotics. NorA is the most
      studied chromosomal efflux pump of Staphylococcus aureus; it is known to be
      implied in resistance of Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains against a
      wide range of unrelated substrates, including hydrophilic fluoroquinolones.
      Starting from 6-benzyloxypyridine-3-boronic acid I that we previously identified
      as a potential inhibitor of the NorA efflux pump against the NorA-overexpressing
      S. aureus 1199B strain (SA1199B), we describe here the synthesis and biological
      evaluation of a series of 6-(aryl)alkoxypyridine-3-boronic acids. 6-(3
      Phenylpropoxy)pyridine-3-boronic acid 3i and 6-(4-phenylbutoxy)pyridine-3-boronic
      acid 3j were found to potentiate ciprofloxacin activity by a 4-fold increase
      compared to the parent compound I. In addition, it has been shown that both
      compounds promote Ethidium Bromide (EtBr) accumulation in SA1199B, thus
      corroborating their potential mode of action as NorA inhibitors. 

PMID- 25817768
TI  - [Identification of variants in LMF1 gene associated with primary
      hypertriglyceridemia].
AB  - The majority of severe primary hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) are diagnosed in
      adults, and their molecular bases have not yet been fully defined. The promoter,
      coding regions and intron-exon boundaries of LMF1 were sequenced in 112 patients
      with severe primary hipertrigliceridemia (defined as TG above 500mg/dl). Five
      patients (4.46%) were carriers of four rare variants in the LMF1 gene associated
      with HTG, which participate in lipoprotein lipase (LpL) function. Also, we have
      identified two common variants, c.194-28 T>G and c.729+18C>G that were associated
      with HTG, with a different allelic frequency to that observed in the general
      population. A bioinformatic analysis of all found variants was conducted,
      defining the following as potentially harmful: p.Arg364Gln, p.Arg451Trp,
      p.Pro562Arg and p.Leu85Leu. Our results suggest that LMF1 mutations are involved
      in a substantial proportion of cases with severe HTG, putting together the
      moderate-aggressive effect of rare mutations with polymorphisms classically
      associated with this disease. 

PMID- 25817771
TI  - PEGylation of the peptide Bac7(1-35) reduces renal clearance while retaining
      antibacterial activity and bacterial cell penetration capacity.
AB  - The proline-rich antibacterial peptide Bac7(1-35) protects mice against
      Salmonella typhimurium infection, despite its rapid clearance. To overcome this
      problem the peptide was linked to a polyethylene glycol (PEG) molecule either via
      a cleavable ester bond or via a non-hydrolysable amide bond. Both the PEGylated
      conjugates retained most of the in vitro activity against S. typhimurium. In
      addition, the ester bond was cleaved in human serum or plasma, releasing a
      carboxymethyl derivative of Bac7(1-35) which accounts for a higher activity of
      this peptide with relative to the other, non-hydrolysable form. Both PEGylated
      peptides maintained the capacity of the unconjugated form to kill bacteria
      without permeabilizing the bacterial membranes, by penetrating into cells. They
      exploited the same transporter as unmodified Bac7(1-35), suggesting it has the
      capacity to internalize quite sizeable cargo if this is linked to Bac7 fragment.
      PEGylation allows the peptide to have a wide distribution in mice, and a slow
      renal clearance, indicating that this strategy would improve the bioavailability
      of Bac7, and in principle of other antimicrobial peptides. This can be an equally
      important issue to reducing cytotoxicity for therapeutic use of these
      antibacterials. 

PMID- 25817770
TI  - Synthesis of diethyl 4-substituted-2,6-dimethyl-1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5
      dicarboxylates as a new series of inhibitors against yeast alpha-glucosidase.
AB  - 1,4-Dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate derivatives (1-25) were synthesized in high
      yields via Hantzsch reaction and evaluated for their alpha-glucosidase inhibitory
      activity. Compounds 1, 2, 6-8, 11, 13-15, and 23-25 showed a potent inhibitory
      activity against yeast alpha-glucosidase with IC50 values in the range of 35.0
      273.7 MUM, when compared with the standard drug acarbose (IC50 = 937 +/- 1.60
      MUM). Their structures were characterized by different spectroscopic techniques.
      The kinetics, selectivity, and toxicity studies on these compounds were also
      carried out. The kinetic studies on most active compounds 14 and 25 determined
      their modes of inhibition and dissociation constants Ki. Compound 14 was found to
      be a non-competitive inhibitor with Ki = 25.0 +/- 0.06, while compound 25 was
      identified as a competitive inhibitor with Ki = 66.0 +/- 0.07 MUM. 

PMID- 25817772
TI  - Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of benzoselenazole-stilbene hybrids
      as multi-target-directed anti-cancer agents.
AB  - To identify novel multi-target-directed drug candidates for the treatment of
      cancer, a series of benzoselenazole-stilbene hybrids were synthesised by
      combining the pharmacophores of resveratrol and ebselen. The biological assay
      indicated that all of the hybrids exhibited antiproliferative activities against
      four human cancer cell lines and demonstrated good TrxR inhibitory activities.
      The mechanism of cell apoptosis was investigated in G2/M cell cycle arrest
      induced by compound 6e and the apoptosis of the human liver carcinoma Bel-7402
      cell line. The significant increase in intracellular ROS confirmed that compound
      6e was capable of causing oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in cancer cells. Our
      results support the potential of compound 6e as a candidate for further studies
      examining the development of novel drugs for cancer treatment. 

PMID- 25817773
TI  - Synthesis and in vitro antiplasmodial evaluation of 7-chloroquinoline-chalcone
      and 7-chloroquinoline-ferrocenylchalcone conjugates.
AB  - The manuscript describes the synthesis of novel amide tethered 7-chloroquinoline
      chalcone and 7-chloroquinoline-ferrocenylchalcone bifunctional hybrids and their
      evaluation as antimalarial agents against W2 resistant strain of Plasmodium
      falciparum. The antiplasmodial activity of 7-chloroquinoline-ferrocenylchalcones
      was found to be less than their corresponding simple chalcone conjugates. The
      presence of a methoxy substituent at para position of ring B on chalcones and
      longer alkyl chain length markedly improved the antiplasmodial profiles of the
      synthesized scaffolds with the most potent of the test compound exhibiting an
      IC50 value of 17.8 nM. 

PMID- 25817774
TI  - Synthesis of heterocycle-modified betulinic acid derivatives as antitumor agents.
AB  - A series of novel heterocycle-modified betulinic acid (BA) derivatives were
      synthesized and investigated for their activity against the growth of eight non
      drug resistant and one multidrug-resistant tumor cell line using a sulforhodamine
      B (SRB) assay. The most active compound 17 showed an average IC50 1.19 MUM, which
      was about 20 times more potent than the lead compound BA. It is amazing that for
      most synthetic saturated N-heterocycle derivatives, MCF-7/ADR was the most
      sensitive tumor cells, especially 17 showed the most potent antitumor activity
      (IC50 = 0.33 MUM) on this multidrug-resistant tumor cell line, that was 117 times
      more potent than BA. Most of the tested compounds displayed less toxic on human
      fibroblasts (HAF) in comparison with the tumor cell lines. The cytometry and
      transwell migration assays were used to test the ability of 17 to induce
      apoptosis and inhibit metastasis on tumor cell lines respectively. 

PMID- 25817775
TI  - Design, synthesis and 3D-QSAR studies of novel 1,4-dihydropyridines as
      TGFbeta/Smad inhibitors.
AB  - Targeting TGFbeta/Smad signaling is an attractive strategy for several
      therapeutic applications given its role as a key player in many pathologies,
      including cancer, autoimmune diseases and fibrosis. The class of b-annelated 1,4
      dihydropyridines (DHPs) represents promising novel pharmacological tools as they
      interfere with this pathway in a novel fashion, i.e. through induction of TGFbeta
      receptor type II degradation. In the present work, >40 rationally designed, novel
      DHPs were synthesized and evaluated for TGFbeta inhibition, substantially
      expanding the current understanding of the SAR profile. Key findings include that
      the 2-position tolerates a wide variety of polar functionalities, suggesting that
      this region could possibly be solvent-exposed within the (thus far) unknown
      cellular target. A structural explanation for pathway selectivity is provided
      based on a diverse series of 4"-substituted DHPs, including molecular
      electrostatic potential (MEP) calculations. Moreover, the absolute configuration
      for the chiral 4-position was determined by X-ray crystal analysis and revealed
      that the bioactive (+)-enantiomers are (R)-configured. Another key objective was
      to establish a 3D-QSAR model which turned out to be robust (r(2) = 0.93) with a
      good predictive power (r(2)pred = 0.69). This data further reinforces the
      hypothesis that this type of DHPs exerts its novel TGFbeta inhibitory mode of
      action through binding a distinct target and that unspecific activities that
      would derive from intrinsic properties of the ligands (e.g., lipophilicity) play
      a negligible role. Therefore, the present study provides a solid basis for
      further ligand-based design of additional analogs or DHP scaffold-derived
      compounds for hit-to-lead optimization, required for more comprehensive
      pharmacological studies in vivo. 

PMID- 25817776
TI  - The economics of adalimumab for ulcerative colitis.
AB  - Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory disease, characterized by diffuse
      mucosal inflammation in the colon. Adalimumab, as a TNF-alpha blocker, offers a
      safe and efficacious treatment option for patients with moderate to severe
      ulcerative colitis and refractory or intolerant to conventional medications;
      however, its cost-effectiveness profile has not yet been well established. Future
      economic evaluations should choose appropriate comparators in the context of
      target-reimbursement decision making and focus on cost-effectiveness over a long
      time horizon. 

PMID- 25817778
TI  - Assessment of protein modifications in liver of rats under chronic treatment with
      paracetamol (acetaminophen) using two complementary mass spectrometry-based
      metabolomic approaches.
AB  - Liver protein can be altered under paracetamol (APAP) treatment. APAP-protein
      adducts and other protein modifications (oxidation/nitration, expression) play a
      role in hepatotoxicity induced by acute overdoses, but it is unknown whether
      liver protein modifications occur during long-term treatment with non-toxic doses
      of APAP. We quantified APAP-protein adducts and assessed other protein
      modifications in the liver from rats under chronic (17 days) treatment with two
      APAP doses (0.5% or 1% of APAP in the diet w/w). A targeted metabolomic method
      was validated and used to quantify APAP-protein adducts as APAP-cysteine adducts
      following proteolytic hydrolysis. The limit of detection was found to be 7ng APAP
      cysteine/mL hydrolysate i.e. an APAP-Cys to tyrosine ratio of 0.0160/00. Other
      protein modifications were assessed on the same protein hydrolysate by untargeted
      metabolomics including a new strategy to process the data and identify
      discriminant molecules. These two complementary mass spectrometry (MS)-based
      metabolic approaches enabled the assessment of a wide range of protein
      modifications induced by chronic treatment with APAP. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
      APAP-protein adducts were detected even in the absence of glutathione depletion
      and hepatotoxicity, i.e. in the 0.5% APAP group, and increased by 218% in the 1%
      APAP group compared to the 0.5% APAP group. At the same time, the untargeted
      metabolomic method revealed a decrease in the binding of cysteine, cysteinyl
      glycine and GSH to thiol groups of protein cysteine residues, an increase in the
      oxidation of tryptophan and proline residues and a modification in protein
      expression. This wide range of modifications in liver proteins occurred in rats
      under chronic treatment with APAP that did not induce hepatotoxicity.

PMID- 25817777
TI  - Assessment of affective and somatic signs of ethanol withdrawal in C57BL/6J mice
      using a short-term ethanol treatment.
AB  - Alcohol is one of the most prevalent addictive substances in the world.
      Withdrawal symptoms result from abrupt cessation of alcohol consumption in
      habitual drinkers. The emergence of both affective and physical symptoms produces
      a state that promotes relapse. Mice provide a preclinical model that could be
      used to study alcohol dependence and withdrawal while controlling for both
      genetic and environmental variables. The use of a liquid ethanol diet offers a
      reliable method for the induction of alcohol dependence in mice, but this
      approach is impractical when conducting high-throughput pharmacological screens
      or when comparing multiple strains of genetically engineered mice. The goal of
      this study was to compare withdrawal-associated behaviors in mice chronically
      treated with a liquid ethanol diet vs. mice treated with a short-term ethanol
      treatment that consisted of daily ethanol injections containing the alcohol
      dehydrogenase inhibitor, 4-methylpyrazole. Twenty-four hours after ethanol
      treatment, mice were tested in the open field arena, the elevated plus maze, the
      marble burying test, or for changes in somatic signs during spontaneous ethanol
      withdrawal. Anxiety-like and compulsive-like behaviors, as well as physical
      signs, were all significantly elevated in mice undergoing withdrawal, regardless
      of the route of ethanol administration. Therefore, a short-term ethanol treatment
      can be utilized as a screening tool for testing genetic and pharmacological
      agents before investing in a more time-consuming ethanol treatment.

PMID- 25817779
TI  - Interleukin-8 -251A/T gene polymorphism and lung cancer susceptibility: a meta
      analysis.
AB  - Many studies have examined the association between the interleukin-8 -251T/A
      (rs4073) gene polymorphism and lung cancer risk in various populations, but the
      results have been inconsistent. In this meta-analysis, PubMed was searched for
      case-control studies published through 01 December 2013. The data were extracted,
      and pooled odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated.
      We assessed six published studies on the association between the interleukin-8 
      251T/A polymorphism and lung cancer risk. The included studies yielded a total of
      3265 lung cancer cases and 3607 controls. For the homozygous A/A and A allele
      carriers (T/A + A/A), the pooled ORs for all studies combining 3265 cases and
      3607 controls were 1.03 (95% CI = 0.92-1.14; P = 0.235 for heterogeneity) and
      1.07 (95% CI = 0.96-1.19; P = 0.245 for heterogeneity) when compared with the
      homozygous wild-type genotype (T/T). When the analysis was stratified by
      ethnicity, significant risks were found among Asians for both the A allele
      carriers and the homozygous A/A individuals. However, no significant associations
      were found in non-Asian populations using any of the genetic models. This meta
      analysis suggests that the interleukin-8 -251A allele confer an increased risk
      for the development of lung cancer among Asians. 

PMID- 25817780
TI  - Factors contributing to poor treatment outcomes in childhood atopic dermatitis.
AB  - Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic relapsing inflammatory disease of the skin
      and is the most common paediatric dermatological condition. While no cure is
      available, it can be treated effectively if adherence to a therapeutic plan is
      maintained. Poor adherence to treatment is common in AD and can lead to treatment
      failure, which has significant impacts on the patient, family and society. A
      comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify factors that contribute
      to poor treatment adherence in childhood AD and to identify possible strategies
      to remedy these. Identified factors leading to poor treatment adherence include:
      complexity of treatment regimen, lack of knowledge, impaired quality of life,
      dissatisfaction with treatment strategies, infrequent follow up, corticosteroid
      phobia and the use of complementary and alternative medicine. Effective
      strategies to increase treatment adherence include: caregiver education and
      utilisation of education adjuncts, optimisation of the patient/caregiver
      clinician relationship, early and frequent follow up and improvement of patient
      and caregiver quality of life. 

PMID- 25817781
TI  - Using Ultrasonic Transient Elastometry (FibroScan) to Predict Esophageal Varices
      in Patients with Viral Liver Cirrhosis.
AB  - The correlation between liver stiffness (LS), measured by ultrasonic transient
      elastometry (FibroScan), and the presence and severity of esophageal varices (EV)
      in patients with viral cirrhosis of the liver has not been well documented to
      date. The study described here investigated the value of using FibroScan to
      predict EV. Patients with cirrhosis (200 patients: 167 cases caused by hepatitis
      B virus and 33 cases caused by hepatitis C virus) underwent both upper
      gastrointestinal endoscopy and FibroScan. Demographic, clinical, biochemical and
      endoscopic data and FibroScan-obtained LS parameters were collected. The mean LS
      value in patients with EV (33.2 kPa) was significantly higher than the mean LS
      value in patients without EV (18.6 kPa) (p < 0.05). The mean LS value in patients
      with grade 2 and 3 EV (38.3 kPa) was significantly higher than that in patients
      with grade 1 EV (24.8 kPa) (p < 0.05). Overall, FibroScan was 86.4% sensitive and
      72.2% specific in predicting the presence of EV, with an area under the receiver
      operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.84. The sensitivity and specificity
      for the patients with grade 2 or 3 EV were 84% and 73% (AUROC = 0.86). When
      FibroScan was combined with platelet count, the overall sensitivity and
      specificity of prediction increased to 84% and 80% (AUROC = 0.88), respectively,
      and 84% and 75% (AUROC = 0.89), respectively, in patients with grade 2 and 3 EV.
      FibroScan alone or combined with platelet count might predict the presence and
      severity of EV in patients with hepatitis B or C-related viral cirrhosis.

PMID- 25817782
TI  - Temporal compounding: a novel implementation and its impact on quality and
      diagnostic value in echocardiography.
AB  - Temporal compounding can be used to suppress acoustic noise in transthoracic
      cardiac ultrasound by spatially averaging partially decorrelated images acquired
      over consecutive cardiac cycles. However, the reliable spatial and temporal
      alignment of the corresponding frames in consecutive cardiac cycles is vital for
      effective implementation of temporal compounding. This study introduces a novel,
      efficient, accurate and robust technique for the spatiotemporal alignment of
      consecutive cardiac cycles with variable temporal characteristics. Furthermore,
      optimal acquisition parameters, such as the number of consecutive cardiac cycles
      used, are derived. The effect of the proposed implementation of temporal
      compounding on cardiac ultrasound images is quantitatively assessed (32 clinical
      data sets providing a representative range of image qualities and diagnostic
      values) using measures such as tissue signal-to-noise ratio, chamber signal-to
      noise ratio, tissue/chamber contrast and detectability index, as well as a range
      of clinical measurements, such as chamber diameter and wall thickness, performed
      during routine echocardiographic examinations. Temporal compounding (as
      implemented) consistently improved the image quality and diagnostic value of the
      processed images, when compared with the original data by: (i) increasing tissue
      and cavity signal-to-noise ratios as well as tissue/cavity detectability index,
      (ii) improving the corresponding clinical measurement repeatability and inter
      operator measurement agreement, while (iii) reducing the number of omitted
      measurements caused by data corruption. 

PMID- 25817783
TI  - The longevity in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae: A comparison of two
      approaches for assessment the lifespan.
AB  - Longevity of the selected "longevity mutants" of yeast was studied using two
      methods. The standard method was based on counting the number of daughter cells
      produced. Modification of that method allowed for establishing the length of life
      expressed in units of time. It appeared that all the studied "deletion longevity
      mutants" showed a statistically meaningful increase in the number of daughters
      produced (replicative lifespan), whereas only one of the mutants, previously
      regarded as "short lived", showed a meaningful increase in the time of life. The
      analysis of the available data shows that the time of life of most yeast strains
      is similar irrespective of their genetic background and mutations, which suggests
      a quasi-programmed nature of yeast death. 

PMID- 25817784
TI  - Carnitine protects the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans from glucose-induced
      reduction of survival depending on the nuclear hormone receptor DAF-12.
AB  - Besides its function in transport of fatty acids into mitochondria in order to
      provide substrates for beta-oxidation, carnitine has been shown to affect also
      glucose metabolism and to inhibit several mechanisms associated with diabetic
      complications. In the present study we used the mev-1 mutant of the nematode
      Caenorhabditis elegans fed on a high glucose concentration in liquid media as a
      diabetes model and tested the effects of carnitine supplementation on their
      survival under heat-stress. Carnitine at 100 MUM completely prevented the
      survival reduction that was caused by the application of 10 mM glucose. RNA
      interference for sir-2.1, a candidate genes mediating the effects of carnitine
      revealed no contribution of the sirtuin for the rescue of survival. Under daf-12
      RNAi rescue of survival by carnitine was abolished. RNA-interference for gamma
      butyrobetaine hydroxylase 2, encoding the key enzyme for carnitine biosynthesis
      did neither increase glucose toxicity nor prevent the rescue of survival by
      carnitine, suggesting that the effects of carnitine supplementation on carnitine
      levels were significant. Finally, it was demonstrated that neither the amount of
      lysosomes nor the proteasomal activity were increased by carnitine, excluding
      that protein degradation pathways, such as autophagy or proteasomal degradation,
      are involved in the protective carnitine effects. In conclusion, carnitine
      supplementation prevents the reduction of survival caused by glucose in C.
      elegans in dependence on a nuclear hormone receptor which displays high
      homologies to the vertebrate peroxisomal proliferator activated receptors.

PMID- 25817785
TI  - LPS-miR-34a-CCL22 axis contributes to regulatory T cell recruitment in periapical
      lesions.
AB  - Regulatory T cells (Tregs) have been shown to regulate the immune response and to
      control the defense against infection in periapical lesions, but the underlying
      mechanisms by which Tregs are recruited to these lesions remain unknown. Here we
      demonstrate that expression of the gene encoding CCL22 (also known as macrophage
      derived chemokine), the major chemoattractant that recruits Tregs, is upregulated
      in periapical tissue during the progression of experimental periapical lesions;
      this upregulation positively correlated with the number of Tregs that accumulated
      in the lesions. In terms of mechanism, we determined that lipopolysaccharide
      (LPS) up-regulates Ccl22 expression in macrophages by suppressing miR-34a. These
      findings suggest that the LPS-miR-34a-CCL22 axis may contribute to the
      recruitment of Tregs in periapical lesions, providing a potential therapeutic
      target for controlling this disease. 

PMID- 25817786
TI  - Slp2-a inactivates ezrin by recruiting protein phosphatase 1 to the plasma
      membrane.
AB  - Synaptotagmin-like protein 2-a (Slp2-a) was originally described as a membrane
      trafficking protein that consists of a Slp homology domain (SHD), a linker
      domain, and tandem C2 domains (named the C2A domain and C2B domain). Slp2-a
      mediates docking of Rab27-bearing vesicles to the plasma membrane through
      simultaneous interaction with Rab27 and phospholipids in the plasma membrane. We
      have recently reported that Slp2-a regulates renal epithelial cell size through
      interaction with Rap1GAP2 via the C2B domain independently of Rab27 and
      demonstrated the presence of excess activation of ezrin, a membrane-cytoskeleton
      linker and signal transducer, in Slp2-a-knockdown Madin-Darby canine kidney II
      (MDCK II) cells. However, the precise mechanism of ezrin inactivation by Slp2-a
      in cell size control has remained largely unknown. In this study, we investigated
      the functional relationship between Slp2-a and ezrin in MDCK II cells. The
      results showed that activation of ezrin in control MDCK II cells either
      pharmacologically or by overexpression of a constitutively active ezrin mutant
      caused an increase in cell size, whereas inactivation of ezrin in Slp2-a
      knockdown cells by a specific ezrin inhibitor restored them to their normal cell
      size. We also found that Slp2-a interacts via its previously uncharacterized
      linker domain with protein phosphatase 1beta (PP1beta), which inactivates ezrin,
      and that the interaction is required for the plasma membrane localization of
      PP1beta. These results indicate that Slp2-a inactivates ezrin by recruiting PP1
      to the plasma membrane. 

PMID- 25817787
TI  - USP22 acts as an oncogene by regulating the stability of cyclooxygenase-2 in non
      small cell lung cancer.
AB  - The histone ubiquitin hydrolase ubiquitin-specific protease 22 (USP22) is an
      epigenetic modifier and an oncogene that is upregulated in many types of cancer.
      In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), aberrant expression of USP22 is a
      predictor of poor survival, as is high expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2).
      Despite its oncogenic role, few substrates of USP22 have been identified and its
      mechanism of action in cancer remains unclear. Here, we identified COX-2 as a
      direct substrate of USP22 and showed that its levels are modulated by USP22
      mediated deubiquitination. Silencing of USP22 downregulated COX-2, decreased its
      half-life, and inhibited lung carcinoma cell proliferation by directly
      interacting with and modulating the stability and activity of COX-2 through the
      regulation of its ubiquitination status. The findings of the present study
      suggest a potential mechanism underlying the oncogenic role of USP22 mediated by
      the modulation of the stability and activity of COX-2. 

PMID- 25817788
TI  - Functional magnetic resonance imaging reveals abnormal brain connectivity in EGR3
      gene transfected rat model of schizophrenia.
AB  - Schizophrenia is characterized by the disorder of "social brain". However, the
      alternation of connectivity density in brain areas of schizophrenia patients
      remains largely unknown. In this study, we successfully created a rat model of
      schizophrenia by the transfection of EGR3 gene into rat brain. We then
      investigated the connectivity density of schizophrenia susceptible regions in rat
      brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in combination with
      multivariate Granger causality (GC) model. We found that the average signal
      strength in prefrontal lobe and hippocampus of schizophrenia model group was
      significantly higher than the control group. Bidirectional Granger causality
      connection was observed between hippocampus and thalamic in schizophrenia model
      group. Both connectivity density and Granger causality connection were changed in
      prefrontal lobe, hippocampus and thalamus after risperidone treatment. Our
      results indicated that fMRI in combination with GC connection analysis may be
      used as an important method in diagnosis of schizophrenia and evaluation the
      effect of antipsychotic treatment. These findings support the connectivity
      disorder hypothesis of schizophrenia and increase our understanding of the neural
      mechanisms of schizophrenia. 

PMID- 25817789
TI  - A novel major facilitator transporter TrSTR1 is essential for pentose utilization
      and involved in xylanase induction in Trichoderma reesei.
AB  - Trichoderma reesei (teleomorph Hypocrea jecorina) is an industrially important
      filamentous fungus for glycoside hydrolases production, with its xylanolytic
      enzymes widely applied in many areas. However, the molecular mechanisms
      underlying xylanase expression are still insufficiently understood. In
      particular, the effect of sugar transporter on the induction of xylanase
      expression is unclear. In this work, we identified a novel major facilitator
      transporter TrSTR1 that is capable of transporting xylose by using a xylose
      utilization system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In T. reesei, TrSTR1 is essential
      for the utilization of d-xylose, l-arabinose, and even their downstream
      metabolites D-xylitol and L-arabitol. TrSTR1 is also involved in the induction of
      xylanase expression since both the xylanase activity and extracellular protein
      concentration in the Tu6?str1 strain were decreased, which further confirmed by a
      qRT-PCR analysis of the transcript levels of the key transcriptional regulators.
      Our observations provide new insights into connections between pentose
      utilization and xylanase production in T. reesei. 

PMID- 25817790
TI  - Microvesicles released constitutively from prostate cancer cells differ
      biochemically and functionally to stimulated microvesicles released through
      sublytic C5b-9.
AB  - We have classified microvesicles into two subtypes: larger MVs released upon
      stimulation of prostate cancer cells, sMVs, and smaller cMVs, released
      constitutively. cMVs are released as part of cell metabolism and sMVs, released
      at 10-fold higher levels, produced upon activation, including sublytic C5b-9.
      From electron microscopy, nanosight tracking analysis, dynamic light scattering
      and flow cytometry, cMVs (194-210 nm in diameter) are smaller than sMVs (333-385
      nm). Furthermore, using a Quartz Crystal Microbalance measuring changes in
      resonant frequency (Deltaf) that equate to mass deposited on a sensor, an sMV and
      a cMV are estimated at 0.267 and 0.241 pg, respectively. sMVs carry more calcium
      and protein, express higher levels of lipid rafts, GPI-anchored CD55 and
      phosphatidylserine including deposited C5b-9 compared to cMVs. This may allude to
      biological differences such as increased bound C4BP on sMVs inhibiting complement
      more effectively.

PMID- 25817791
TI  - Dihydrolipoic but not alpha-lipoic acid affects susceptibility of eukaryotic
      cells to bacterial invasion.
AB  - Sensitivity of eukaryotic cells to facultative pathogens can depend on
      physiological state of host cells. Previously we have shown that pretreatment of
      HeLa cells with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) makes the cells 2-3-fold more sensitive to
      invasion by the wild-type Serratia grimesii and recombinant Escherichia coli
      expressing gene of actin-specific metalloprotease grimelysin [1]. To evaluate the
      impact of chemically different antioxidants, in the present work we studied the
      effects of alpha-Lipoic acid (LA) and dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA) on efficiency of
      S. grimesii and recombinant E. coli expressing grimelysin gene to penetrate into
      HeLa and CaCo cells. Similarly to the effect of NAC, pretreatment of HeLa and
      CaCo cells with 0.6 or 1.25 mM DHLA increased the entry of grimelysin producing
      bacteria by a factor of 2.5 and 3 for the wild-type S. grimesii and recombinant
      E. coli, respectively. In contrast, pretreatment of the cells with 0.6 or 1.25 mM
      LA did not affect the bacteria uptake. The increased invasion of HeLa and CaCo
      cells correlated with the enhanced expression of E-cadherin and beta-catenin
      genes, whereas expression of these genes in the LA-treated cells was not changed.
      Comparison of these results suggests that it is sulfhydryl group of DHLA that
      promotes efficient modification of cell properties assisting bacterial uptake. We
      assume that the NAC- and DHLA-induced stimulation of the E-cadherin-catenin
      pathway contributes to the increased internalization of the grimelysin producing
      bacteria within transformed cells.

PMID- 25817792
TI  - Lack of non-hematopoietic SIRPalpha signaling disturbs the splenic marginal zone
      architecture resulting in accumulation and displacement of marginal zone B cells.
AB  - Signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPalpha) is an immunoglobulin super family
      protein predominantly expressed by myeloid but not lymphoid cells, and its role
      in lymphocyte homeostasis and function is still to be revealed. We demonstrate
      that mice bearing a mutant SIRPalpha lacking the cytoplasmic signaling domain
      (SIRPalpha MT) had an increased amount of splenic marginal zone (MZ) B cells
      compared to wild-type controls. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed an
      increased localization of MZB cells into B cell follicular areas of the white
      pulp in SIRPalpha MT spleens. However, we found no signs of an increased MZB cell
      activation level in MT mice. The immune response to T-independent antigens in
      vivo was slightly increased in SIRPalpha MT mice while sorted MZB from these mice
      responded normally to LPS in vitro. Bone marrow reconstitution experiments
      demonstrated that the MZB cell phenotype of SIRPalpha MT mice was due to lack of
      SIRPalpha signaling in non-hematopoietic cells. In contrast, MZ retention of MZ
      macrophages required hematopoietic SIRPalpha, while normal distribution of
      metallophilic macrophages required non-hematopoietic SIRPalpha signaling. In
      summary, these data identified SIRPalpha signaling in non-hematopoietic cells to
      play an important role in regulating the numbers and positioning MZB cell in the
      spleen.

PMID- 25817793
TI  - Roles of hepatic glucokinase in intertissue metabolic communication: Examination
      of novel liver-specific glucokinase knockout mice.
AB  - Glucokinase is expressed principally in pancreatic beta-cells and hepatocytes,
      and catalyzes the phosphorylation of glucose to glucose-6-phosphate, a rate
      limiting step of glycolysis. To better understand the roles of hepatic
      glucokinase, we generated Gck knockout mice by ablating liver-specific exon 1b.
      The knockout mice exhibited impaired glucose tolerance, decreased hepatic
      glycogen content, and reduced Pklr and Fas gene expression in the liver,
      indicating that hepatic glucokinase plays important roles in glucose metabolism.
      It has also been reported that hepatic glucokinase regulates the expression of
      thermogenesis-related genes in brown adipose tissue (BAT) and insulin secretion
      in response to glucose. However, the liver-specific Gck knockout mice displayed
      neither altered expression of thermogenesis-related genes in BAT nor impaired
      insulin secretion by beta-cells under a normal chow diet. These results suggest
      that chronic suppression of hepatic glucokinase has a small influence on
      intertissue (liver-to-BAT as well as liver-to-beta-cell) metabolic communication.

PMID- 25817794
TI  - miR-340 inhibits glioblastoma cell proliferation by suppressing CDK6, cyclin-D1
      and cyclin-D2.
AB  - Glioblastoma development is often associated with alteration in the activity and
      expression of cell cycle regulators, such as cyclin-dependent kinases (CKDs) and
      cyclins, resulting in aberrant cell proliferation. Recent studies have
      highlighted the pivotal roles of miRNAs in controlling the development and growth
      of glioblastoma. Here, we provide evidence for a function of miR-340 in the
      inhibition of glioblastoma cell proliferation. We found that miR-340 is
      downregulated in human glioblastoma tissue samples and several established
      glioblastoma cell lines. Proliferation and neurosphere formation assays revealed
      that miR-340 plays an oncosuppressive role in glioblastoma, and that its ectopic
      expression causes significant defect in glioblastoma cell growth. Further, using
      bioinformatics, luciferase assay and western blot, we found that miR-340
      specifically targets the 3'UTRs of CDK6, cyclin-D1 and cyclin-D2, leading to the
      arrest of glioblastoma cells in the G0/G1 cell cycle phase. Confirming these
      results, we found that re-introducing CDK6, cyclin-D1 or cyclin-D2 expression
      partially, but significantly, rescues cells from the suppression of cell
      proliferation and cell cycle arrest mediated by miR-340. Collectively, our
      results demonstrate that miR-340 plays a tumor-suppressive role in glioblastoma
      and may be useful as a diagnostic biomarker and/or a therapeutic avenue for
      glioblastoma. 

PMID- 25817796
TI  - Geographic bias in citation rates of conservation research.
AB  - We investigated whether the impact of conservation science is greater for
      research conducted in countries with more pressing conservation problems. We
      quantified research impact for 231 countries based on 2 citation metrics (mean
      cites per paper and h index) and fitted models predicting research impact based
      on number of threatened bird and mammal species (as a measure of conservation
      importance of a country) and a range of demographic variables. Citation rates of
      conservation research increased as a country's conservation need increased and as
      human population, quality of governance, and wealth increased. Even after
      accounting for these factors, citation rates among regions and countries within
      regions varied significantly. The conservation research community needs to
      consider ways to begin addressing the entrenched disadvantages some countries
      have when it comes to initiating projects and producing high-quality research. 

PMID- 25817797
TI  - Genetic heteroscedasticity of teat count in pigs.
AB  - The genetic improvement in pig litter size has been substantial. The number of
      teats on the sow must thus increase as well to meet the needs of the piglets,
      because each piglet needs access to its own teat. We applied a genetic
      heterogeneity model to teat counts in pigs, and estimated a medium heritability
      for teat counts (0.35), but found a low heritability for residual variance
      (0.06), indicating that selection for reduced residual variance might have a
      limited effect. A numerically positive correlation (0.8) was estimated between
      the breeding values for the mean and the residual variance. However, because of
      the low heritability of the residual variance, the residual variance will
      probably increase very slowly with the mean. 

PMID- 25817795
TI  - Identification of Helicobacter pylori VacA in human lung and its effects on lung
      cells.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Prior reports suggested that infection with Helicobacter pylori was
      associated with respiratory diseases; pathogenetic mechanisms however, were not
      defined. We tested the hypothesis that VacA, an exotoxin of H. pylori, a gastric
      pathogen, was aspirated into the lung and could stimulate secretion of
      inflammatory cytokines by lung epithelial cells. METHODS: The presence of VacA
      was determined by immunohistochemistry in surgical lung biopsy tissue samples
      from 72 patients with interstitial pneumonia. The effects of VacA on A549 human
      alveolar epithelial adenocarcinoma cells and normal human bronchial epithelial
      cells were determined. After incubation with VacA, the secretions of cytokines
      were measured by Multiplex Luminex((r)) Assays. RESULTS: VacA was detected with
      anti-VacA antibodies in bronchial epithelial cells and alveolar epithelial cells
      from 10 of 72 patients with interstitial pneumonia. VacA was more prevalent in
      lungs of patients with collagen vascular disease-associated interstitial
      pneumonia than in those of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis,
      nonspecific interstitial pneumonia and cryptogenic organizing pneumonia.
      Incubation of A549 cells and normal human bronchial epithelial cells with VacA
      for 24 h was cytotoxic, and resulted in vacuolation. VacA induced interleukin-8
      production by A549 cells and normal human bronchial epithelial cells and
      interleukin-6 production by A549 cells. Based on multiplex screening, interleukin
      8 and interleukin-6 were the primary secretory products induced by VacA.
      CONCLUSIONS: H. pylori VacA is present in human lung and can induce interleukin-8
      and interleukin-6 production by human lung cells. VacA could have a role in the
      pathogenesis of respiratory diseases by its cytotoxic effects and by inducing the
      secretion of interleukin-8 and interleukin-6 by targeted airway epithelial cells.

PMID- 25817798
TI  - Geographic Variation in Zygomaxillary Suture Morphology and its Use in Ancestry
      Estimation.
AB  - Angled/curved zygomaxillary suture coding is widely employed in cranial
      assessments of ancestry. However, the efficacy of this method has not been
      extensively evaluated across diverse populations. In this study, zygomaxillary
      suture morphology was assessed on a total of 411 human crania from six
      populations (European, Native American, African, Asian, Arctic Circle, and
      Aboriginal Australian) using a novel 3D coordinate landmark method. Our results
      indicate a predominance of angled sutures among native peoples of the Arctic and
      North America (85-86%), a prevalence of curved sutures among Africans and
      Aboriginal Australians (77-81%), and essentially equal proportions of both
      configurations in Asians and Europeans (50-56%). Statistically, angled/curved
      coding generally discriminates poorly between groups, except when populations
      with antithetically high frequencies of the two configurations (e.g., African vs.
      Native American) are compared. Moreover, comparisons across previous studies
      reveal conflicting frequencies for many populations, further suggesting limited
      utility of this trait in ancestry estimation. 

PMID- 25817799
TI  - Second malignancies following treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia in the
      tyrosine kinase inhibitor era.
AB  - Given that tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have dramatically improved the
      survival of patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), we were interested in
      examining the possible risk of long-term adverse events, such as the emergence of
      other neoplasms. Therefore, we studied the development of second malignancies in
      868 patients diagnosed with CML between 2002 and 2011 using the Swedish CML
      register, cross-linked to the Swedish Cancer register. With a median follow-up of
      3.7 (range 0-9.9) years, 65 (7.5%) patients developed 75 second malignancies (non
      haematological), 52 of which were of the invasive type. Compared to expected
      rates in the background population, the risk of second malignancies was higher in
      the CML cohort, with a standardized incidence ratio (SIR) of 1.52 (95% CI 1.13
      1.99). The SIR before and after the second year following diagnosis of CML was
      1.58 and 1.47, respectively. Among specific cancer types, gastrointestinal and
      nose and throat cancer were significantly increased. Founded on a population
      based material, our results indicate that CML patients treated in the TKI era are
      at an increased risk of developing a second malignancy, with indications that
      this risk may more likely be linked to CML itself rather than to the TKI
      treatment. 

PMID- 25817800
TI  - Association between FokI, ApaI and TaqI RFLP polymorphisms in VDR gene and
      Hashimoto's thyroiditis: preliminary data from female patients in Serbia.
AB  - Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is the most prevalent autoimmune thyroid disorder
      caused by an interaction between genes and environmental triggers. Intrathyroid
      lymphocytic infiltration may lead to progressive destruction of thyroid tissue
      and consequently to hypothyroidism. Many studies in different populations have
      shown association between vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms and various
      autoimmune diseases, including HT. The study included 44 female patients (mean
      age +/- standard deviation 38 +/- 5.4) with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and 32
      healthy age-matched, sex-matched and geographically matched controls without
      personal history of autoimmune and endocrine diseases. Genomic DNA was isolated
      from peripheral blood-EDTA, and the target VDR gene was genotyped by PCR-RFLP
      technique after VDR-FokI (rs2228570), VDR-ApaI (rs7975232) and VDR-TaqI
      (rs731236) restriction enzymes digestion. We used spss 20.0 integrated software
      for data analysis and found a significant difference in the genotype distribution
      of VDR-FokI polymorphism between patients with HT and controls (P = 0.009). For
      ApaI and TaqI, we observed a higher frequency of variant allele in patients with
      HT, which was not significantly different compared to control women (P > 0.05).
      The current first and preliminary results identified the association between VDR
      FokI gene polymorphism and Hashimoto's thyroiditis in Serbian population. Results
      need to be supported by further investigations that define haplotype patterns for
      VDR gene polymorphisms in a larger group of HT patients of both sexes.

PMID- 25817801
TI  - Effects of genetic variants in the promoter region of the bovine adiponectin
      (ADIPOQ) gene on marbling of Hanwoo beef cattle.
AB  - This study aimed to verify genetic effects of the bovine adiponectin (ADIPOQ)
      gene on carcass traits of Hanwoo cattle. The measured carcass traits were
      marbling score (MAR), backfat thickness (BFT), loineye area (LEA), and carcass
      weight (CAW). Selection of primers was based on the bovine ADIPOQ sequence, and
      the analysis amplified approximately 267 and 333 bp genomic segments, including
      67 bp of insertions in the promoter region. Sequencing analysis confirmed genetic
      variants (g.81966235C>T, g.81966377T>C, and g.81966364D>I) that showed
      significant effects on MAR. The present results suggest that the identified SNPs
      are useful genetic markers for the improvement of carcass traits in Hanwoo
      cattle.

PMID- 25817802
TI  - Effect of an allostatic modulator on stress blood indicators and meat quality of
      commercial young bulls in Mexico.
AB  - To assess the effect of an allostatic modulator (AM) on stress blood indicators
      and meat quality traits, the feed of 80 non-castrated 18-20 month-old bulls was
      supplemented with 10 g/day of an AM for 30 days before slaughter. Another 80
      bulls served as control animals. The AM was comprised of ascorbic acid,
      acetoxybenzoic acid and sodium and potassium chloride. Blood samples were taken
      at slaughter for analyses of hematocrit value, erythrocyte and leukocyte counts,
      and glucose, lactate and cortisol concentrations. Post-mortem measures of meat
      color and pH were made at 24h and color, shear force and cooking loss on meat
      from 20 animals at 28 days. The AM supplementation resulted in lower hematocrit
      value, erythrocyte count and glucose level (P<0.05), higher a* (P<0.0001) and b*
      (P<0.0001) at 24h and lower b* (P<0.05) at 28 days. Thus AM treatment improved
      some stress blood indicators and meat color and therefore merits further
      investigation.

PMID- 25817803
TI  - Carcass parameters and meat quality in meat-goat kids finished on chicory,
      birdsfoot trefoil, or red clover pastures.
AB  - This study was conducted during the 2009 and 2010 grazing seasons to assess
      carcass parameters and chevon (goat meat) quality when meat-goat kids (n=72) were
      finished on pastures of red clover (Trifolium pratense L.; RCL), birdsfoot
      trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.; BFT), or chicory (Cichorium intybus L.; CHIC).
      Final live weight (P<0.05) and carcass weight (P=0.10) were greater when goats
      were finished on RCL compared to CHIC with BFT being intermediate. Ribeye area,
      backfat thickness, body wall thickness, internal fat score, and leg score were
      not different (P>0.10) among treatments when adjusted for the covariate of
      carcass weight. Finishing meat-goat kids on RCL, BFT, or CHIC impacted
      concentrations of fatty acids (FAs) 18:1 trans-10, 18:1 cis-11, 18:2, 18:3
      polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), omega-6, omega-3, and PUFA:saturated fatty
      acid ratio in longissimus lumborum samples. Finishing meat-goat kids on CHIC,
      RCL, or BFT pastures produced carcass weights acceptable for most ethnic markets
      in the USA.

PMID- 25817804
TI  - Improvement of dissolution rate of indomethacin by inkjet printing.
AB  - The aim of this study was to prepare printable inks of the poorly water soluble
      drug indomethacin (IMC), fabricate printed systems with flexible doses and
      investigate the effect of ink excipients on the printability, dissolution rate
      and the solid state properties of the drug. A piezoelectric inkjet printer was
      used to print 1*1cm(2) squares onto a paper substrate and an impermeable
      transparency film. l-arginine (ARG) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were used as
      additional formulation excipients. Accurately dosed samples were generated as a
      result of the ink and droplet formation optimization. Increased dissolution rate
      was obtained for all formulations. The formulation with IMC and ARG printed on
      transparency film resulted in a co-amorphous system. The solid state
      characteristics of the printed drug on porous paper substrates were not possible
      to determine due to strong interference from the spectra of the carrier
      substrate. Yet, the samples retained their yellow color after 6months of storage
      at room temperature and after drying at elevated temperature in a vacuum oven.
      This suggests that the samples remained either in a dissolved or an amorphous
      form. Based on the results from this study a formulation guidance for inkjet
      printing of poorly soluble drugs is also proposed. 

PMID- 25817806
TI  - Synergistic mosquito-repellent activity of Curcuma longa, Pogostemon heyneanus
      and Zanthoxylum limonella essential oils.
AB  - Mosquito repellents play an important role in preventing man-mosquito contact. In
      the present study, we evaluated the synergistic mosquito-repellent activity of
      Curcuma longa, Pogostemon heyneanus and Zanthoxylum limonella essential oils. The
      mosquito repellent efficacies of three essential oils were evaluated separately
      and in combination under laboratory and field conditions. N,N
      Diethylphenylacetamide (DEPA) and dimethylphthalate (DMP) were used for
      comparison of the protection time of the mixture of essential oils. At an optimum
      concentration of 20%, the essential oils of C. longa, Z. limonella and P.
      heyneanus provided complete protection times (CPTs) of 96.2, 91.4 and 123.4 min,
      respectively, against Aedes albopictus mosquitoes in the laboratory. The 1:1:2
      mixture of the essential oils provided 329.4 and 391.0 min of CPT in the
      laboratory and field trials, respectively. The percent increases in CPTs for the
      essential oil mixture were 30 for DMP and 55 for N,N-diethylphenylacetamide
      (DEPA). The synergistic repellent activity of the essential oils used in the
      present study might be useful for developing safer alternatives to synthetic
      repellents for personal protection against mosquitoes.

PMID- 25817807
TI  - Validation study on how to avoid microbial contamination during pharmaceutical
      production.
AB  - Every person involved in pharmaceutical product manufacturing has the
      responsibility to assure the quality of the product being produced. The aim of
      this paper is to validate quality assurance throughout the process of
      manufacturing pharmaceutical products. Additionally, within aseptic
      manufacturing, certain monitoring and information needs to be collected on a
      routine basis to continually assess the state of control of the complete
      operation. The basis for assessing the state of control is to have rigorous and
      defined information flow processes. Once the information is collected, quality
      assurance involves the ability to assess, evaluate, and make appropriate
      decisions to ensure the product has the required safety, identity, strength,
      quality, and purity. Quality assurance study is the process of bringing all of
      the information together, evaluating the information, making decisions, refining
      systems, and applying process knowledge. This process begins in the early stages
      of drug development when not a lot of specific process information about the
      process is known, but it is important to allow for development to progress,
      building knowledge about process. However, even in early development, sterility
      assurance requirements should be largely the same at all stages of development
      and routine commercial manufacturing. 

PMID- 25817805
TI  - Prevalence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin-positive methicillin-susceptible
      Staphylococcus aureus infections in a Saudi Arabian hospital.
AB  - Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) is a two-component toxin associated with the
      toxicity and virulence of Staphylococcus aureus. The presence of PVL is well
      documented in community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) and is
      observed in methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) with variable prevalence. We
      assessed the prevalence of PVL in a sample of 93 MSSA patients in a healthcare
      facility in Eastern Saudi Arabia using real-time PCR for lukSF-PV genes. The
      presence or absence of PVL was correlated with age, gender, hospitalization
      status, infection site and antibiotic resistance. PVL was detected in 28 (30%)
      patient samples. PVL was associated with a greater likelihood of resistance to
      trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (a resistance of 39.2% of PVL-positive isolates
      compared to 6.1% of PVL-negative isolates) (p < 0.0007). These results suggest a
      significant prevalence of PVL expression in MSSA strains in the study population
      and call for monitoring of and surveillance programs for PVL status and the
      selection of appropriate antibiotic treatments.

PMID- 25817808
TI  - Investigation of a sterilization system using active oxygen species generated by
      ultraviolet irradiation.
AB  - We have been investigating an advanced sterilization system that employs active
      oxygen species (AOS). We designed the sterilization equipment, including an
      evacuation system, which generates AOS from pure oxygen gas using ultraviolet
      irradiation, in order to study the conditions necessary for sterilization in the
      system's chamber. Using Geobachillus stearothermophilus spores (10(6) CFU) in a
      sterile bag as a biological indicator (BI) in the chamber of the AOS
      sterilization apparatus, we examined the viability of the BI as a function of
      exposure time, assessing the role of the decompression level in the sterilization
      performance. We found that the survival curves showed exponential reduction, and
      that the decompression level did not exert a significant influence on the
      survival curve. Subsequently, we investigated the sterilization effect as
      influenced by the spatial and environmental temperature variation throughout the
      chamber, and found that the sterilization effect varied with position, due to the
      varying environmental temperature in the respective areas. We confirmed that
      temperature is one of the most important factors influencing sterilization in the
      chamber, and estimated the temperature effect on the distribution of atomic
      oxygen concentration, using the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) method with
      fluorocarbon thin film prepared by radio frequency sputtering.

PMID- 25817809
TI  - Antibacterial susceptibility of enterobacteriaceae isolated from raw horsemeat
      isolated for human consumption (basashi).
AB  - Drug susceptibility testing was carried out using 14 antibiotics in order to
      identify trends in the antibiotic tolerance of 142 strains of Enterobacteriaceae
      isolated from horsemeat commercially available for raw consumption (basashi). A
      comparison of the sensitivity to the 14 antibiotics using the 90% MIC (minimum
      inhibitory concentration) values (MIC90) showed the strongest tolerance to
      ampicillin (ABPC) at a concentration of > 128 MUg/mL, followed by that to
      fosfomycin (FOM) at a concentration of 128 MUg/mL. When the sensitivity to these
      antibiotics was examined for each individual genus of tested bacteria, Hafnia
      spp. exhibited relative tolerance to ceftazidime (CAZ) and ceftriaxone (CTRX) at
      a concentration of 4 MUg/mL and 2 MUg/mL, respectively, which was high in
      comparison to that observed for the other strains. Furthermore, Raoultella spp.
      and Serratia spp. were found to be highly resistant to tetracycline (TC) at a
      concentration of 128 MUg/mL and 64 MUg/mL, respectively. Of the 142 strains of
      test bacteria, 140 (98.6%) demonstrated resistance to ABPC, with the exception of
      Hafnia alvei and Klebsiella pneumonia. In addition, a total of eight strains
      (5.6%), seven Serratia marcescens strains and one Raoultella terrigena strain,
      were found to be resistant to TC. Furthermore, one strain of Citrobacter freundii
      exhibited resistance to nalidixic acid (NA), while another displayed resistance
      to ofloxacin (OFLX) (0.7% each), and one strain (0.7%) each of Enterobacter
      cloacae, Serratia marcescens and Citrobacter youngae demonstrated resistance to
      fosfomycin (FOM), streptomycin (SM) and kanamycin (KM), respectively. A single
      strain of C. freundii was found to be resistant to three antibiotics, ABPC, NA
      and OFLX. Resistance to two antibiotics was confirmed in 11 strains, including
      seven strains of S. marcescens and one strain of R. terrigena (a total of eight
      strains) resistant to ABPC and TC, and one strain each of C. youngae, S.
      marcescens and E. cloacae resistant to ABPC and KM, ABPC and SM, and ABPC and
      FOM, respectively. In addition, 128 strains were resistant to the single
      antibiotic of ABPC alone. Of the 140 strains demonstrating antibiotic resistance,
      137 (97.9%) retained the conjugative R-plasmid transfer factor, excluding three
      strains of S. marcescens. All transfer factors were ABPC and retained by a high
      proportion of the bacterial groups, with one strain (100%) being resistant to
      three antibiotics, nine (81.8%) of the 11 strains being resistant to two
      antibiotics, and 127 (99.2%) of the 128 strains being resistant to a single
      antibiotic. In addition, we examined ESBL productivity in the 140 strains of
      bacteria demonstrating drug tolerance; however, no strains exhibited this
      characteristic. Therefore, further observation is required to ascertain trends in
      antibiotic-tolerant bacteria. 

PMID- 25817810
TI  - Effect of polyphenols on reactive oxygen species production and cell growth of
      human dermal fibroblasts after irradiation with ultraviolet-A light.
AB  - Ultraviolet-A (UV-A) can damage microbes by generating reactive oxygen species
      (ROS), singlet oxygen, superoxides, hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals.
      These species readily react with lipids, proteins, DNA and other constituents of
      cells, leading to oxidative deterioration and the eventual death of the microbe.
      However, the oxidative ability of these reactive species also harms the viability
      of mammalian cells such as fibroblasts and keratinocytes, as they cause both
      acute and chronic damage, photo-aging, and photo-carcinogenesis. This study
      describes a UV-A treatment that does not affect the viability or growth of human
      neonate dermal fibroblasts, as determined by examining the post-irradiation cell
      density after the addition of polyphenols as antioxidants. The results
      demonstrate the possible wide applicability of UV-A sterilization. The potency of
      polyphenols for attenuating UV-A-induced ROS generation in cells was tested using
      (+)-catechin hydrate, (-)- epigallocatechin gallate hydrate, morin hydrate,
      quercetin hydrate and resveratrol. The lowest concentration of polyphenols
      required to reduce ROS by 50% in cells upon exposure to a dose of 15 J cm(-2) was
      determined and defined as its IC50. Pre-treatment with morin hydrate at its IC50
      allowed cells irradiated with 5.0 J cm(-2) UV-A to recover to the level of the
      specific growth rate of cells incubated without UV-A irradiation. However, the
      growth rate of cells exposed to 15 J cm(-2) UV-A irradiation was scarcely
      influenced by co-incubation with morin hydrate; this dose of UV-A also suppressed
      cell growth completely in the absence of morin hydrate, although co-incubation
      resulted in no decrease in cell viability. This study demonstrates the potential
      of polyphenols for protecting both the viability of cells and their ability to
      proliferate from damage caused by UV-A-irradiation.

PMID- 25817811
TI  - Bioremediation of bisphenol-A polluted soil by Sphingomonas bisphenolicum AO1 and
      the microbial community existing in the soil.
AB  - Bisphenol A (BPA, 2,2'-Bis (4-hydroxyphenyl) propane) is an artificial pollutant
      that is easily detected in soil and water environments. BPA decomposition and
      removal from the environment is relatively difficult due to its stability. This
      study evaluated the BPA decomposition and removal activities of the microbial
      community existing in the soil with or without Sphingomonas bisphenolicum AO1,
      and revealed the toxic effects of BPA towards the microbial community. The
      microbial community in soil was able to degrade BPA at 1.0 mg.g(-1) soil or
      lower, although its degradation was slow. On the other hand, BPA at more than 10
      mg.g(-1) soil was not only degraded by the microbial community but also decreased
      its diversity, suggesting that BPA is harmful to many microorganisms. PCR-TTGE
      analysis and the cloned 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that
      Sphingomonadales, Xanthomonadales, Burkholderiales and Pseudomonadales in the
      microbial community might independently or cooperatively degrade BPA. On the
      other hand, supplementation with strain AO1 was able to significantly improve the
      BPA decomposition activity of the microbial community in soil even at 10 mg
      BPA.g(-1) soil, although BPA at 100 mg.g(-1) soil overwhelmed the BPA
      decomposition activity of strain AO1. Furthermore, it was also concluded that
      strain AO1 could not inhabit BPA purified soil after decomposition of BPA by
      strain AO1 and the soil microbial community, suggesting that the application of
      strain AO1 could be a low-burden method for the decomposition and removal of BPA
      from the natural environment. 

PMID- 25817812
TI  - Antimicrobial activity and stability of weakly acidified chlorous acid water.
AB  - The antimicrobial activity of weakly acidified chlorous acid water (WACAW)
      against Staphylococcus aureus, non-pathogenic Escherichia coli, enterohemorrhagic
      E. coli (EHEC O157:H7), Candida albicans, and spore-forming Bacillus and
      Paenibacillus species was evaluated in vitro. The antiviral activity was also
      examined using feline calicivirus (FCV). Diluted WACAW (>100 ppm) effectively
      reduced the number of non-spore-forming bacteria (>4 log10 CFU reductions) within
      5 min. Treatment with this sanitizer at 400 ppm for 30 min achieved>5 log10 CFU
      reductions in spore-forming Bacillus and Paenibacillus species while an
      equivalent concentration of sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) resulted in only a 0.98
      and 2.72 log10 CFU reduction, respectively. The effect of this sanitizer against
      FCV was equivalent to that of NaClO. Immersion in WACAW (400 ppm) achieved >4 and
      2.26 log10 CFU reductions in Campylobacter jejuni and EHEC, respectively, on
      artificially contaminated broiler carcass pieces. Finally, theantimicrobial
      activity of this sanitizer was shown to be maintained for at least 28 d when in
      contact with nonwoven fabric (100% cotton). This study showed that pH control of
      chlorous acid is expected to modify its antimicrobial activity and stability.
      WACAW is expected to have applications in various settings such as the food
      processing and healthcare industries. 

PMID- 25817813
TI  - Development of a new technique using glass beads for dry dispersion of airborne
      fungal spores.
AB  - To evaluate the removal of airborne microbes by air cleaners, a technique for
      generating airborne fungal spores in the dry state in a test chamber (dry
      dispersion) become necessary. The Society of Indoor Environment Japan (SIEJ)
      published SIEJ Standard Method No. 20110001 (SIEJ standard),in which an aerial
      ultrasonic oscillator was used as the device for dry dispersion. However, a more
      versatile apparatus is also necessary from a practical point of view. Therefore,
      we developed a new device using glass beads for the dispersion. Glass beads and a
      fungal sheet containing spores of Wallemia sebi were set in a midget impinger,
      which was connected to a compressor and a compact test chamber (1 m(3)). Air was
      blown into the impinger from the compressor. The spores on the fungal sheet were
      released by impingement of the glass beads when the beads were induced to float
      by the air blown into the impinger, and the spores were introduced to the chamber
      by the airflow. This newly developed technique can be used in a compact chamber
      system and could be applicable as an improved method for generating airborne
      fungal spores in the dry state in the SIEJ standard. 

PMID- 25817815
TI  - Expression of gyrB and 16S ribosomal RNA genes as indicators of growth and
      physiological activities of Legionella pneumophila.
AB  - To determine whether the DNA gyrase (gyrB) and 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) genes
      can be used as indicators of the biological activities of Legionella pneumophila,
      the expression levels were estimated. The ratio of mRNA/DNA in gyrB was 0.7 in
      mid log phase and decreased drastically after the log phase. For 16S rRNA, the
      ratio was highest in mid log phase (7.0*10(3)), and the value that was about 10%
      of that in the log phase was maintained for six days. The rRNA may be vital in
      the resting or active but nonculturable cells that are not growing but
      physiologically active. The expression levels of gyrB mRNA and 16S rRNA can be
      used as indicators of the growth activity and the physiological activity of L.
      pneumophila, respectively. Therefore, by measurement of these indicators, we can
      evaluate the activities of Legionella cells in various environments. 

PMID- 25817814
TI  - Effects of oakmoss and its components on Acanthamoeba castellanii ATCC 30234 and
      the uptake of Legionella pneumophila JCM 7571 (ATCC 33152) into A. castellanii.
AB  - Acanthamoeba castellanii, a ubiquitous organism in water environments, is
      pathogenic toward humans and also is a host for bacteria of the genus Legionella,
      a causative agent of legionellosis. Oakmoss, a natural fragrance ingredient, and
      its components are antibacterial agents specifically against the genus
      Legionella. In the present study, oakmoss and its components were investigated
      for their amoebicidal activity against A. castellanii ATCC 30234 and the
      inhibitory effect on the uptake of L. pneumophila JCM 7571 (ATCC 33152) into A.
      castellanii. The oakmoss and its components 3-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl 2,4
      dihydroxy-6-methylbenzoate(5), and 6,8-dihydroxy-3-pentyl-1H-isochromen-1-one
      (12) exhibited high amoebicidal activity (IC50 values; 10.5 +/- 2.3, 16.3 +/- 4.0
      and 17.5 +/- 2.8 MUg/mL, respectively) after 48 h of treatment, which were
      equivalent to that of the reference compound, chlorhexidine gluconate.
      Pretreatment of L. pneumophila with sub-minimal inhibitory concentration of
      oakmoss, compound 5, 3-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-6
      methylbenzoate (10) and 8-(2,4-dihydroxy-6-pentylphenoxy)-6-hydroxy-3-pentyl-1H
      isochromen-1-one (14) obviously reduced the uptake of L. pneumophila into
      A.castellanii (p < 0.05).The inhibitory effect of compound 5 on the uptake of L.
      pneumophila was almost equivalent to that of ampicillin used as a reference.
      Thus, the oakmoss and its components were considered to be good candidates for
      disinfectants against not only genus Legionella but also A. castellanii. 

PMID- 25817816
TI  - Detection of Legionella species in environmental water by the quantitative PCR
      method in combination with ethidium monoazide treatment.
AB  - We detected Legionella species in 111 bath water samples and 95 cooling tower
      water samples by using a combination of conventional plate culture, quantitative
      polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and qPCR combined with ethidium monoazide
      treatment (EMA-qPCR) methods. In the case of bath water samples, Legionella spp.
      were detected in 30 samples by plate culture, in 85 samples by qPCR, and in 49
      samples by EMA-qPCR. Of 81 samples determined to be Legionella-negative by plate
      culture, 56 and 23 samples were positive by qPCR and EMA-qPCR, respectively.
      Therefore, EMA treatment decreased the number of Legionella-positive bath water
      samples detected by qPCR. In contrast, EMA treatment had no effect on cooling
      tower water samples. We therefore expect that EMA-qPCR is a useful method for the
      rapid detection of viable Legionella spp. from bath water samples. 

PMID- 25817818
TI  - Magnon Hall effect on the Lieb lattice.
AB  - Ferromagnetic insulators without inversion symmetry may show magnon Hall effect
      (MHE) in the presence of a temperature gradient due to the existence of
      Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). In this theoretical study, we
      investigate MHE on a lattice with inversion symmetry, namely the Lieb lattice,
      where the DMI is introduced by adding an external electric field. We show the
      nontrivial topology of this model by examining the existence of edge states and
      computing the topological phase diagram characterized by the Chern numbers of
      different bands. Together with the topological phase diagram, we can further
      determine the sign and magnitude of the transverse thermal conductivity. The
      impact of the flat band possessed by this model on the thermal conductivity is
      discussed by computing the Berry curvature analytically. 

PMID- 25817817
TI  - Reference values of spirometry for Finnish adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diagnostic assessment of lung function necessitates up-to-date
      reference values. The aim of this study was to estimate reference values for
      spirometry for the Finnish population between 18 and 80 years and to compare them
      with the existing Finnish, European and the recently published global GLI2012
      reference values. METHODS: Spirometry was performed for 1380 adults in the
      population-based FinEsS studies and for 662 healthy non-smoking volunteer adults.
      Detailed predefined questionnaire screening of diseases and symptoms, and quality
      control of spirometry yielded a sample of 1000 native Finns (387 men) healthy non
      smokers aged 18-83 years. Sex-specific reference values, which are estimated
      using the GAMLSS method and adjusted for age and height, are provided. RESULTS:
      The predicted values for lung volumes are larger than those obtained by GLI2012
      prediction for the Caucasian subgroup for forced vital capacity (FVC) by an
      average 6.2% and 5.1% and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) by an average
      4.2% and 3.0% in men and women, respectively. GLI2012 slightly overestimated the
      ratio FEV1/FVC with an age-dependent trend. Most reference equations from other
      European countries, with the exception of the Swiss SAPALDIA study, showed an
      underestimation of FVC and FEV1 to varying degrees, and a slight overestimation
      of FEV1/FVC. CONCLUSION: This study offers up-to-date reference values of
      spirometry for native Finns with a wide age range. The GLI2012 predictions seem
      not to be suitable for clinical use for native Finns due to underestimation of
      lung volumes.

PMID- 25817819
TI  - Rabbit syndrome because of topical minoxidil foam.

PMID- 25817820
TI  - "Fury, us": Anger as a basis for new group self-categories.
AB  - We tested the hypothesis that shared emotions, notably anger, influence the
      formation of new self-categories. We first measured participants' (N = 89)
      emotional reactions to a proposal to make university assessment tougher before
      providing feedback about the reactions of eight other co-present individuals.
      This feedback always contained information about the other individuals' attitudes
      to the proposals (four opposed and four not opposed) and in the experimental
      condition emotion information (of those opposed, two were angry, two were sad).
      Participants self-categorised more with, and preferred to work with, angry rather
      than sad targets, but only when participants' own anger was high. These findings
      support the idea that emotions are a potent determinant of self-categorisation,
      even in the absence of existing, available self-categories. 

PMID- 25817821
TI  - An outbreak of hepatitis E in an urban area of Bangladesh.
AB  - We investigated an outbreak of jaundice in urban Bangladesh in 2010 to examine
      the cause and risk factors and assess the diagnostic utility of commercial
      assays. We classified municipal residents reporting jaundice during the preceding
      4 weeks as probable hepatitis E cases and their neighbours without jaundice in
      the previous 6 months as probable controls. We tested the sera collected from
      probable cases and probable controls for IgM anti-hepatitis E virus (HEV), and
      the IgM-negative sera for IgG anti-HEV using a commercial assay locally. We
      retested the IgM-positive sera for both IgM and IgG anti-HEV using another assay
      at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Probable cases
      positive for IgM anti-HEV were confirmed cases; probable controls negative for
      both IgM and IgG anti-HEV were confirmed controls. We explored the local water
      supply and sanitation infrastructure and tested for bacterial concentration of
      water samples. Probable cases were more likely than probable controls to drink
      tap water (adjusted odds ratio: 3.4; 95% CI: 1.2-9.2). Fifty-eight percentage
      (36/62) of the case sera were IgM anti-HEV positive; and 75% of the IgM-positive
      samples were confirmed positive on retesting with another assay at CDC. Compared
      to confirmed controls, cases confirmed using either or both assays also
      identified drinking tap water as the risk factor. Two tap water samples had
      detectable thermotolerant coliforms. Research exploring decentralized water
      treatment technologies for sustainable safe water might prevent HEV transmission
      in resource-poor cities. Detection of serological markers in a majority of
      probable cases implied that available diagnostic assays could adequately identify
      HEV infection during outbreaks.

PMID- 25817822
TI  - Clinicopathological significance of ARID1B in breast invasive ductal carcinoma.
AB  - AIMS: Identification of prognostic and predictive biomarkers for breast cancer is
      essential to better stratify patients for treatment and evaluate patient outcome.
      AT-rich interactive domain-containing protein 1B (ARID1B) is implicated in cell
      proliferation, but its role in tumorigenesis remains unclear. METHODS AND
      RESULTS: Immunohistochemical analysis of ARID1B expression using breast cancer
      tissue microarrays containing 156 breast invasive ductal carcinoma patient
      samples and subsequent statistical data analysis based on ARID1B immunoreactivity
      score were performed to examine the correlation between clinicopathological
      parameters in breast cancer and ARID1B expression. In-vitro assays were also
      performed to study the role of ARID1B in cell cycle progression. Univariate
      analysis revealed that high ARID1B expression is correlated closely with
      histological grade (P = 0.045) and size (P = 0.043) of invasive breast cancer.
      These findings were confirmed by multivariate analysis. Notably, increased ARID1B
      expression was frequently detected in the aggressive triple-negative breast
      cancer subtypes (P = 0.039) and associated with decreased 5-year disease-free
      survival rate. Lastly, MDA-MB-231 cells with reduced ARID1B activity displayed a
      delay in G1 to S phase cell cycle transition and consequently showed a decrease
      in cell proliferation compared with controls (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: ARID1B
      potentially serves as a valuable prognostic and predictive biomarker as well as a
      therapeutic target in breast cancer.

PMID- 25817823
TI  - Ability of Kocuria varians LTH 1540 To Degrade Putrescine: Identification and
      Characterization of a Novel Amine Oxidase.
AB  - This work describes the identification and characterization of an amine oxidase
      from Kocuria varians LTH 1540 (syn. Micrococcus varians) primarily acting on
      putrescine. Data from MALDI-TOF MS/MS and the identification of Delta(1)
      pyrroline as degradation product from putrescine indicate that the enzyme is a
      flavin-dependent putrescine oxidase (PuO). Properties of partially purified
      enzyme have been determined. The enzyme oxidizes diamines, putrescine and
      cadaverine, and, to a lesser extent, polyamines, such as spermidine, but not
      monoamines. The kinetic constants (Km and Vmax) for the two major substrates were
      94 +/- 10 MUM and 2.3 +/- 0.1 MUmol/min.mg for putrescine and 75 +/- 5 MUM and
      0.15 +/- 0.02 MUmol/min.mg for cadaverine. Optimal temperature and pH were 45 
      degrees C and 8.5, respectively. Enzyme was stable until 50  degrees C. K.
      varians PuO is sensitive to human flavin-dependent amine oxidase inhibitors and
      carboxyl-modifying compounds. The new enzyme has been isolated from a bacterial
      starter used in the manufacture of fermented meat. One of the problems of
      fermented foods or beverages is the presence of toxic biogenic amines produced by
      bacteria. The importance of this works lies in the description of a new enzyme
      able to degrade two of the most abundant biogenic amines (putrescine and
      cadaverine), the use of which could be envisaged to diminish biogenic amines
      content in foods in the future. 

PMID- 25817824
TI  - beta2-Glycoprotein I-Dependent Anti-Cardiolipin Antibodies Associated With
      Periodontitis in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It was reported that patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
      exhibited increased levels of anticardiolipin (anti-CL) antibodies, a class of
      antiphospholipid antibodies associated with thrombosis. beta2-glycoprotein I
      (beta2GPI) has been considered as the actual target antigen for anti-CL
      antibodies. This study investigates the association of periodontal infection with
      anti-CL antibodies in patients with SLE. METHODS: Fifty-three SLE female patients
      and 56 healthy female volunteers were recruited in this case-control study. All
      participants received periodontal examinations. The presence of Porphyromonas
      gingivalis and Treponema denticola in saliva and plaque samples was detected by
      polymerase chain reaction. Levels of serum anti-CL and anti-beta2GPI antibodies
      were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Patients with SLE
      exhibited more periodontal attachment loss and increased titers of serum anti-CL
      and anti-beta2GPI antibodies compared with healthy controls. Patients with active
      SLE who harbored P. gingivalis or P. gingivalis together with T. denticola
      intraorally exhibited significantly higher anti-CL and anti-beta2GPI antibodies
      than those without these bacteria. Anti-CL and anti-beta2GPI antibody levels
      correlated positively with clinical attachment level. Furthermore, increased anti
      beta2GPI antibody levels were significantly associated with C-reactive protein
      and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated anti-CL and anti
      beta2GPI antibody levels were associated with periodontopathic bacteria and
      periodontal breakdown in patients with SLE. Periodontitis might be a modifiable
      risk factor for SLE.

PMID- 25817826
TI  - Acute pancreatitis and aseptic meningitis: Rare complications of Salmonella
      paratyphi infection.

PMID- 25817825
TI  - Nanoemulsion-based mucosal adjuvant induces apoptosis in human epithelial cells.
AB  - Nanoemulsions (NEs) are adjuvants that enhance antigen penetration of the nasal
      mucosa, increase cellular uptake of antigens by both epithelial and dendritic
      cells, and promote the migration of antigen-loaded dendritic cells to regional
      lymph nodes within 24-h of vaccine administration. The objective of this study
      was to elucidate cell death caused by W805EC NE and identify caspases and genes
      associated with death pathways. Consistent with this aim, we show that exposure
      of human epithelial cells (EC), both RPMI 2650 and FaDu, to NE results in the
      activation of caspases (1, 3/7, 6, 8, and 9) and the expression of genes involved
      in apoptotic as well as authophagy and necrosis pathways. Interestingly, the NE
      activates caspase 8 which promotes "immunogenic apoptosis". The rescue assay was
      employed to investigate the fate of RPMI 2650 cells treated with W805EC NE. After
      four-hour treatment with as little as 0.03% of NE no cells were rescued at 72h.
      Remarkably, immediately after four-hour treatment, the cells morphologically
      resembled untreated cells and most of the cells were alive. Altogether, these
      results suggest that NE induces death of human ECs through multiple pathways.
      Epithelial cell death caused by W805EC may have further implications on antigen
      uptake, processing, and presentation by DC's. 

PMID- 25817827
TI  - Correlation between peritoneal lavage cytology and tumour stage in patients with
      colorectal cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Complete surgical removal of the involved bowel
      segment in colorectal cancer is the most effective primary treatment. The main
      prognostic factors for colorectal cancer are penetration of the tumour into
      different layers of the bowel wall and regional lymph node involvement. Positive
      lavage cytology has been used to predict peritoneal recurrence, but its
      effectiveness remains controversial. This study was conducted to assess the
      prevalence of positive peritoneal lavage cytology in correlation with the tumour
      stage in patients with colorectal cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective
      cross-sectional study was performed on 20 patients with different cases of
      colorectal cancer attending the colorectal unit and emergency department of the
      Kasr Al Ainy Hospital, Cairo University Hospitals, from March 2012 to March 2013.
      RESULTS: The patients' gender did not influence the peritoneal lavage cytology
      results (p = 0.062); there is no significant correlation between the TNM staging
      system and cytology in patients with colorectal cancer (p = 0.253). CONCLUSION:
      Although there is a positive linear correlation between the tumour stage and
      positive peritoneal lavage cytology, it did not reach a statistically significant
      level. In addition, the greater the depth of invasion, the higher the lavage
      cytology rate. However, this trend was not statistically significant.

PMID- 25817830
TI  - New approaches to wound healing for diabetes.

PMID- 25817829
TI  - Corrigendum: Novel loci affecting iron homeostasis and their effects in
      individuals at risk for hemochromatosis.

PMID- 25817828
TI  - Local estrogen metabolism in epithelial ovarian cancer suggests novel targets for
      therapy.
AB  - Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) accounts for about 90% of malignant ovarian
      tumors, and estrogen is often implicated in disease progression. We therefore
      compared the potential for gating of estrogen action via pre-receptor metabolism
      in normal human ovarian surface epithelium (OSE), EOC and selected EOC cell lines
      (SKOV3 and PEO1). Steroid sulphatase (STS), estrogen sulfotransferase (EST),
      17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases 2 (17BHSD2) and 5 (17BHSD5) mRNAs, proteins
      and enzymatic activities were all detectable in primary cell cultures of OSE and
      EOC, whereas aromatase and 17BHSD1 expression was negligible. qRT-PCR assay on
      total mRNA revealed significantly higher EST mRNA expression in OSE compared to
      EOC (P<0.05). Radioenzymatic measurements confirmed reduced sulfoconjugation
      (neutralization) of free estrogen in EOC relative to OSE. OSE cells were more
      effective at converting free [(3)H]-E1 to [(3)H]-E1S or [(3)H]-E2S, while EOC
      cell lines mainly converted [(3)H]-E1 to [(3)H]-E2 with minimal formation of
      [(3)H]-E1S or [(3)H]-E2S. IL1alpha treatment suppressed EST (P<0.01) and 17BHSD2
      (P<0.001) mRNA levels in OSE and stimulated STS mRNA levels (P<0.001) in cancer
      (SKOV3) cells. These results show that estrogen is differentially metabolized in
      OSE and EOC cells, with E2 'activation' from conjugated estrogen predominating in
      EOC. Inflammatory cytokines may further augment the local production of E2 by
      stimulating STS and suppressing EST. We conclude that local estrogen metabolism
      may be a target for EOC treatment. 

PMID- 25817831
TI  - Decrease in the rate of sensitization and clinical allergy to natural rubber
      latex.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the 1980s, a striking increase in natural rubber latex (NRL)
      allergy was seen. Since then, many measures have been taken to prevent NRL
      allergy. OBJECTIVES: To investigate changes in the prevalence of NRL
      sensitization/clinical NRL allergy over time from 2002 to 2013. METHODS: All
      patients prick tested for NRL at the Department of Dermatology and Allergy
      Centre, Odense University Hospital were included in this study (n = 8580). In NRL
      sensitized patients, the clinical relevance was evaluated for NRL. Furthermore,
      concomitant positive prick test results for birch pollen were recorded, together
      with food-related symptoms and sensitization in a subgroup of patients. RESULTS:
      The prevalence of NRL sensitization declined from 6.1% in 2002-2005 to 1.9% in
      2006-2009, and then to 1.2% in 2010-2013 (p < 0.0001). The prevalence of clinical
      NRL allergy declined from 1.3% in 2002-2005 to 0.5-0.6% in 2006-2013 (p < 0.004).
      Among the NRL-sensitized patients, 64% had a concomitant positive prick test
      reaction to birch pollen, and 52% had a history of reaction to oral intake of
      related fruits or vegetables. CONCLUSION: Our study showed a statistically
      significant decline in the number of patients sensitized/clinically allergic to
      NRL. Many of the NRL-sensitized patients without clinical allergy to NRL had
      concomitant birch pollen sensitization, and reported food-related symptoms.

PMID- 25817832
TI  - Monomethyl ethers of 4,5-dihydroxypipecolic acid from Petaladenium urceoliferum:
      Enigmatic chemistry of an enigmatic legume.
AB  - Leaves of Petaladenium (Leguminosae), an Amazonian monospecific genus recently
      revealed as a member of the Amburaneae clade among the earliest-diverging
      papilionoid legumes, were found to accumulate three monomethyl ethers of 4,5
      dihydroxypipecolic acids. These were characterised by spectroscopic means as the
      (2S,4S,5R) and (2S,4R,5S) epimers of 5-hydroxy-4-methoxypipecolic acid and
      (2S,4R,5R)-4-hydroxy-5-methoxypipecolic acid. These compounds were not detected
      in any other genera in the Amburaneae clade or the wider Angylocalyceae
      Dipterygeae-Amburaneae (ADA) clade of papilionoid legumes. Hydroxypipecolic
      acids, however, were detected in leaves of Myrocarpus and Myroxylon (sister
      genera in the Amburaneae clade), Angylocalyx and Xanthocercis (sister genera in
      the Angylocalyceae clade) and Monopteryx (Dipterygeae clade), and were also
      present in Petaladenium. Iminosugars, known to be accumulated by all four genera
      in the Angylocalyceae clade (Alexa, Angylocalyx, Castanospermum and
      Xanthocercis), were found to be characteristic of this group within the ADA
      clade. 

PMID- 25817833
TI  - Cytotoxic indole alkaloids from the fruits of Melodinus cochinchinensis.
AB  - Eight indole alkaloids, melosines A-H, together with 13 known alkaloids, were
      isolated from the fruits of Melodinus cochinchinensis. The structure elucidation
      of isolated secondary metabolites was based on comprehensive spectroscopic data
      analysis. Melosine B showed moderate cytotoxic activity against five human cancer
      cell lines, HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7, and SW480 with IC50 values ranging
      from 1.6 to 8.1MUM. 

PMID- 25817834
TI  - Ganoderma pfeifferi--A European relative of Ganoderma lucidum.
AB  - In contrast to well-studied and broadly used Ganoderma species, such as Ganoderma
      lucidum and Ganoderma applanatum, knowledge regarding Ganoderma pfeifferi is very
      limited. Herein is an overview of the phytochemistry, biological activities and
      possible applications of this mushroom species. In addition to triterpenoids and
      polysaccharides, G. pfeifferi contains unique sesquiterpenoids and other small
      molecular weight compounds. Some of these compounds exhibit remarkable
      antimicrobial activities in vitro and in vivo against multi-resistant bacteria,
      such as MRSA. Antiviral properties, UV-protection abilities and other activities
      are also known. Potential issues arising from the conversion of research results
      into practical applications are discussed. 

PMID- 25817835
TI  - Absolute configurations of phytotoxins seiricardine A and inuloxin A obtained by
      chiroptical studies.
AB  - The absolute configuration (AC) of the plant phytotoxin inuloxin A, produced by
      Inula viscosa, and of the fungal phytotoxin seiricardine A, obtained from
      Seiridium fungi, pathogen for cypress, has been determined by experimental
      measurements and theoretical simulations of chiroptical properties of three
      related methods, namely, Optical Rotatory Dispersion (ORD), Electronic Circular
      Dichroism (ECD), and Vibrational Circular Dichroism (VCD). Computational
      prediction by Density Functional Theory (DFT) of VCD spectra and by Time
      dependent DFT (TDDFT) of ORD and ECD spectra allowed to assign (7R,8R,10S) AC to
      naturally occurring (+)-inuloxin A. In the case of compound (-)-seiricardine A,
      which lacks useful for the analysis UV-Vis absorption, and thus provides a hardly
      detectable ECD spectrum and quite low ORD values, an introduction of a suitable
      chromophore by chemical derivatization was performed. The corresponding
      derivative, 2-O-p-bromobenzoate ester, gave rise to an intense ECD spectrum and
      higher ORD and VCD values. The comparison of computed spectra with the
      experimental ones allowed to assign (1S,2R,3aS,4S,5R,7aS) AC to (-)-2-O-p
      bromobenzoate ester of seiricardine A and then to (-)-seiricardine A. This study
      further supports a recent trend of concerted application of more than a single
      chiroptical technique toward an unambiguous assignment of AC of flexible and
      complex natural products. Moreover, the use of chemical derivatization, with
      insertion of suitable chromophoric moieties has allowed to treat also UV-Vis
      transparent molecules by ECD and ORD spectroscopies. 

PMID- 25817836
TI  - Bioactive maca (Lepidium meyenii) alkamides are a result of traditional Andean
      postharvest drying practices.
AB  - Maca, Lepidium meyenii Walpers (Brassicaceae), is an annual herbaceous plant
      native to the high plateaus of the Peruvian central Andes. Its underground
      storage hypocotyls have been a traditional medicinal agent and dietary staple
      since pre-Columbian times. Reported properties include energizing and fertility
      enhancing effects. Published reports have focused on the benzylalkamides
      (macamides) present in dry hypocotyls as one of the main bioactive components.
      Macamides are secondary amides formed by benzylamine and a fatty acid moiety,
      with varying hydrocarbon chain lengths and degree of unsaturation. Although it
      has been assumed that they are usually present in fresh undamaged tissues,
      analyses show them to be essentially absent from them. However, hypocotyls dried
      by traditional Andean postharvest practices or industrial oven drying contain up
      to 800MUgg(-1) dry wt (2.3MUmolg(-1) dry wt) of macamides. In this study, the
      generation of macamides and their putative precursors were studied during nine
      week traditional drying trials at 4200m altitude and in ovens under laboratory
      conditions. Freeze-thaw cycles in the open field during drying result in tissue
      maceration and release of free fatty acids from storage and membrane lipids up to
      levels of 1200MUgg(-1) dry wt (4.3MUmolg(-1) dry wt). Endogenous metabolism of
      the isothiocyanates generated from glucosinolate hydrolysis during drying results
      in maximal benzylamine values of 4300MUgg(-1) dry wt (40.2MUmolg(-1) dry wt).
      Pearson correlation coefficients of the accumulation profiles of benzylamine and
      free fatty acid to that of macamides showed good values of 0.898 and 0.934,
      respectively, suggesting that both provide sufficient substrate for amide
      synthesis during the drying process. 

PMID- 25817837
TI  - Myositis with endomysial cell invasion indicates inclusion body myositis even if
      other criteria are not fulfilled.
AB  - The objective of this study was to investigate if patients with endomysial
      mononuclear cell infiltrates invading non-necrotic fibers have a disease course
      consistent with inclusion body myositis (IBM), irrespective of other
      histopathological and clinical characteristics. All patients with a muscle biopsy
      showing endomysial inflammation with invasion of non-necrotic muscle fibers
      during the period 1979-2006 in two tertiary neuromuscular referral centers were
      classified into three groups: 1) patients whose biopsies also showed rimmed
      vacuoles; 2) patients whose biopsies showed no vacuoles but fulfilled clinical
      criteria for IBM, and 3) patients whose biopsies showed no vacuoles, and also did
      not fulfill clinical criteria for IBM (unclassified patients). These groups were
      compared with regard to age, gender, clinical features, and disease course
      including response to immunosuppressive treatment. Eighty-one individuals (41
      men) were included. Rimmed vacuoles were found in 49 patients (60.5%). Fourteen
      patients (17.3%) fulfilled clinical criteria for IBM and 18 patients (22.2%) were
      unclassified at presentation. At follow up (mean duration 9 years) three women
      remained unclassified (4%). There were no differences in disease course or effect
      of treatment between the three groups. Men had more often rimmed vacuoles than
      women (73% vs 48%; p = 0.018), and women more often than men were unclassified.
      Women tended to show more often temporary improvement if treated (p = 0.07), but
      none had sustained improvement. In conclusion, patients with a muscle biopsy
      showing endomysial cell infiltration with invasion of non-necrotic muscle fibers
      most probably have IBM, regardless of clinical and other pathological features.
      Women lack typical features more often than men. 

PMID- 25817838
TI  - A critical and previously unsuspected role for doublecortin at the neuromuscular
      junction in mouse and human.
AB  - Mutations in the microtubule-associated protein doublecortin (DCX) cause type I
      (X-linked or XLIS) lissencephaly in hemizygous males and subcortical band
      heterotopia (SBH) in females, with defects in neuron migration during development
      affecting cortical lamination. We found that besides its well-established
      expression in migrating neurons of the brain, doublecortin (Dcx in mice) is also
      expressed in motor neurons and skeletal muscle in embryonic neuromuscular
      junctions (NMJs), raising the possibility of a role in synaptogenesis. Studies
      with whole-mount preparations of embryonic mouse diaphragm revealed that loss of
      Dcx leads to abnormal presynaptic arborization and a significantly increased
      incidence of short axonal extensions beyond innervated acetylcholine receptor
      (AChR) clusters in the developing NMJ. This phenotype, albeit relatively mild,
      suggests that Dcx contributes to a stop/stabilizing signal at the synapse, which
      normally limits further axonal growth following establishment of synaptic contact
      with the postsynaptic element. Importantly, we also identified abnormal and
      denervated NMJs in a muscle biopsy from a 16-year-old female patient with SBH,
      showing both profound presynaptic and postsynaptic morphological defects.
      Overall, these combined results point to a critical role of doublecortin in the
      formation of the NMJ. 

PMID- 25817839
TI  - Congenital autophagic vacuolar myopathy is allelic to X-linked myopathy with
      excessive autophagy.

PMID- 25817841
TI  - Brain-derived neurotrophic factor: Regulation, effects, and potential clinical
      relevance.

PMID- 25817840
TI  - Why acute unilateral vestibular cortex lesions mostly manifest without vertigo.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of the current study was, first, to determine the critical
      causative vestibular areas that in exceptional cases manifest with transient
      vertigo or dizziness in acute strokes of the middle cerebral artery, and second,
      to try to explain why in most cases unilateral lesions of these areas manifest
      without vertigo. METHODS: We determined the ischemic areas of the 10 published
      cases by overlapping the CT/MRI lesions and attributed them to the
      temporoparietal vestibular network. RESULTS: These overlap areas were located
      either in the posterior retroinsular cortex (n = 8), i.e., the parieto-insular
      vestibular cortex, or the separate parietal vestibular cortex (n = 2).
      CONCLUSION: Thus, rare vestibular cortical vertigo is mostly elicited by acute
      lesions of the core region of the retroinsular vestibular network. However, the
      more interesting question is related to the lack of cortical vertigo when this
      area is affected. We propose a concept to explain how the unaffected opposite
      hemisphere can suppress vertigo. This is based on visual-vestibular interaction
      for motion perception and orientation. It is the hemisphere in which vestibular
      and visual inputs are in agreement, which is the more reliable and determines the
      global perception of body orientation and motion.

PMID- 25817842
TI  - Full medical support for intracerebral hemorrhage.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study tested the hypothesis that patients without placement of
      new do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders during the first 5 days after intracerebral
      hemorrhage (ICH) have lower 30-day mortality than predicted by the ICH Score
      without an increase in severe disability at 90 days. METHODS: This was a
      prospective, multicenter, observational cohort study at 4 academic medical
      centers and one community hospital. Adults (18 years or older) with nontraumatic
      spontaneous ICH, Glasgow Coma Scale score of 12 or less, who did not have
      preexisting DNR orders were included. RESULTS: One hundred nine subjects were
      enrolled. Mean age was 62 years; median Glasgow Coma Scale score was 7, and mean
      hematoma volume was 39 cm(3). Based on ICH Score prediction, the expected overall
      30-day mortality rate was 50%. Observed mortality was substantially lower at
      20.2%, absolute average difference 29.8% (95% confidence interval: 21.5%-37.7%).
      At 90 days, 27.1% had died, 21.5% had a modified Rankin Scale score = 5 (severe
      disability). A good outcome (modified Rankin Scale score 0-3) was achieved by
      29.9% and an additional 21.5% fell into the moderately severe disability range
      (modified Rankin Scale score = 4). CONCLUSIONS: Avoidance of early DNR orders
      along with guideline concordant ICH care results in substantially lower mortality
      than predicted. The observed functional outcomes in this study provide clinicians
      and families with data to determine the appropriate goals of treatment based on
      patients' wishes.

PMID- 25817843
TI  - Copy number variations in cryptogenic cerebral palsy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and characteristics of copy number
      variations (CNVs) in children with cerebral palsy (CP) of unknown etiology,
      comprising approximately 20% of the CP population. METHODS: Fifty-two
      participants (age 10.5 +/- 7.8 years; Gross Motor Function Classification System
      scale 2.8 +/- 1.3) with nonprogressive pyramidal and/or extrapyramidal signs
      since infancy and no identified etiology were enrolled. Individuals with evidence
      of acquired causes were excluded. Participants underwent neurologic and clinical
      genetic examinations before the genomic testing. Chromosomal microarray analysis
      to detect CNVs was performed using the Affymetrix platform. CNVs identified were
      classified as pathogenic, likely pathogenic, likely benign, or benign. Only
      pathogenic and likely pathogenic CNVs were defined as clinically significant.
      RESULTS: Thirty-nine CNVs were found in 25 of 52 participants (48%). Sixteen
      participants (31%) had clinically significant CNVs: 10 pathogenic and 6 likely
      pathogenic, of which 7 were not previously associated with motor disability. Nine
      participants had likely benign CNVs. Clinically significant CNVs were more
      frequently de novo (12/16; p < 0.001) including in 5 of 8 individuals who had a
      first- or second-degree relative with a major neurologic disorder. Dysmorphic
      features and nonmotor comorbidities were more prevalent in individuals with
      clinically significant CNVs (p < 0.05 for both). CONCLUSION: CNVs, most
      frequently de novo, are common in individuals with cryptogenic CP. We recommend
      CNV testing in individuals with CP of unknown etiology.

PMID- 25817844
TI  - Polymorphisms at 17 Y-STR loci in Botswana populations.
AB  - Seventeen Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (YSTRs)-DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II,
      DYS385a/b, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448,
      DYS456, DYS458, DYS635, and Y-GATA-H4-were analyzed in 252 unrelated male
      individuals from Botswana. A total of 238 unique haplotypes were identified. The
      discrimination capacity (DC) was 0.9444 whereas the haplotype diversity (HD) was
      0.9990. A database search of the 238 unique haplotypes in the Y chromosome
      haplogroup database (YHRD) yielded three African American, six Sub-Saharan
      African, and two admixed South American matches. Five additional African-American
      matches were detected in the Applied Biosystems Y-STR database. RST, multi
      dimensional scaling (MDS) and AMOVA were used to investigate population
      differentiation in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Botswana. The populations in Sub
      Saharan Africa were found to be heterogeneous, with Botswana showing significant
      differences from its neighbors. No geographic regional or ethnic differentiation
      was observed within Botswana. Regional and ethnic variation can be useful in
      forensic working hypotheses. 

PMID- 25817845
TI  - Coupled numerical analysis to investigate the heating mechanism of ultrasonic
      imprint lithography.
AB  - Ultrasonic imprint lithography (UIL) is a micropattern replication technology on
      thermoplastic polymers using ultrasonic vibration energy. The UIL process
      involves three steps: (i) microscale vibration from an ultrasonic horn causes
      repetitive deformation of a polymer surface, (ii) the polymer surface is locally
      softened by repetitive deformation and friction, and (iii) micro/nanoscale
      patterns engraved on the horn or the mold are replicated on the softened
      substrate. To replicate micro/nano patterns with high accuracy, the effects of
      various processing conditions should be investigated, and so far, these have been
      studied experimentally. In this study, coupled numerical analysis was performed
      using finite element simulation to investigate the heating mechanism of the UIL
      process, by joining transient structural analysis and heat transfer analysis. The
      effect of imprinting conditions on the heating capability was investigated using
      the proposed coupled simulation. The differences between direct and indirect
      imprinting are also discussed in terms of heating mechanism, and compared with
      experiments. 

PMID- 25817846
TI  - "Brain Death" and dead donor rule. Discussion and proposals on the thesis of
      Truog.
AB  - The introduction in 1968 by the "ad hoc" Harvard committee of the concept of
      "Brain Death" gave birth to the worldwide diffusion of organ transplantation.
      Recently "Total Brain Failure" has been proposed as preferred term, instead of
      "Brain Death", by the President's Council on Bioethics. The concepts of "brain
      death" and of "dead donor rule" remain the ethical and moral support of organ
      transplantation. However both criteria has been questioned , either separately or
      all together , by many authors and particularly by Dr. Robert D. Truog.

PMID- 25817848
TI  - Markers of automaticity in sleep-associated consolidation of novel words.
AB  - Two experiments investigated effects of sleep on consolidation and integration of
      novel form-meaning mappings using size congruity and semantic distance paradigms.
      Both paradigms have been used in previous studies to measure automatic access to
      word meanings. When participants compare semantic or physical font size of
      written word-pairs (e.g. BEE-COW), judgments are typically faster if relative
      sizes are congruent across both dimensions. Semantic distance effects are also
      found for wellestablished words, with semantic size judgements faster for pairs
      that differ substantially on this dimension. English-speaking participants
      learned novel form-meaning mappings with Mandarin (Experiment 1) or Malay
      (Experiment 2) words and were tested following overnight sleep or a similar
      duration awake. Judgements on English words controlled for circadian effects. The
      sleep group demonstrated selective stronger size congruity and semantic distance
      effects for novel word-pairs. This benefit occurred in Experiment 1 for semantic
      size comparisons of novel words, and in Experiment 2 on comparisons where novel
      pairs had large distances and font differences (for congruity effects) or in
      congruent trials (for semantic distance effects). Conversely, these effects were
      equivalent across sleep and wake for English words. Experiment 2 included
      polysomnography data and revealed that changes in the strength of semantic
      distance and congruity effects were positively correlated with slow-wave sleep
      and sleep spindles respectively. These findings support systems consolidation
      accounts of declarative learning and suggest that sleep plays an active role in
      integrating new words with existing knowledge, resulting in increased automatic
      access of the acquired knowledge. 

PMID- 25817847
TI  - Perceptual and motor laterality effects in pianists during music sight-reading.
AB  - Forty-six right-handed pianists were tested in a music sight-reading task in
      which they had to perform on a keyboard. Stimuli were single notes or single
      triads (chords) presented tachistoscopically in the left or right visual field in
      form of musical notation or verbal labels. Left-hand, right-hand or two-hands
      performance was required. Results showed, besides the expected Simon effect
      producing faster responses for stimuli to be performed with the hand ipsilateral
      to the side of presentation, a complex pattern of laterality which depended
      primarily upon the requested motor output. A tendency in favor of the left
      hemisphere (right visual field, RVF) was observed, this asymmetry being
      significant only in the single-hand tasks. On the contrary, in the two-hands task
      an opposite asymmetry was observed with musical notation. Moreover, a strong
      unexpected role of the bass clef was observed, which penalized left hand
      performance in particular with LVF stimuli. This effect even overcame the Simon
      effect, suggesting the presence of a bias in favor of the left hemisphere in
      musical transposition. Results point to a variegated pattern of hemispheric
      asymmetries in music sight-reading which depend on both stimulus coding and motor
      output type (e.g. two- or single-hand performance). A RH asymmetry was observed
      during two-hands playing with musical notation. Conversely, playing with one hand
      seems more leftward lateralized. This pattern of asymmetry would reflect a LH
      ability in simple "core" music reading together with a RH ability in the
      coordination of simultaneous responses by the two hands. 

PMID- 25817849
TI  - Low incidence of early postoperative cerebral edema after coronary artery bypass
      grafting.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Using magnetic resonance imaging, the authors studied the influence of
      a single high dose of intraoperative dexamethasone on the severity of cerebral
      edema that can occur early after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). It was
      hypothesized that high-dose intraoperative dexamethasone reduces cerebral edema
      after CABG. DESIGN: Secondary analysis in a subset of participants of the
      Dexamethasone for Cardiac Surgery (DECS) trial. The DECS trial was a multicenter,
      randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 4,494 cardiac surgery
      patients, which studied the effect of high-dose dexamethasone on mortality and
      major complications after cardiac surgery. SETTING: A large university hospital
      in The Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty adult patients who underwent CABG with
      cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) between March and November 2011. INTERVENTIONS:
      Participants received a single intravenous dose of dexamethasone, 1 mg/kg, or
      placebo, at induction of anesthesia. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Patients
      underwent magnetic resonance imaging scanning immediately after surgery. The
      primary outcome was the severity of cerebral edema. Data from 18 patients (9 in
      each group, median age 69 years in both groups) could be analyzed. Patients in
      the dexamethasone group were (median, interquartile range 66 (53-99) minutes on
      cardiopulmonary bypass v 95 (81-105) minutes in the placebo group (p = 0.11).
      Only 1 patient in the dexamethasone group had slight cerebral edema (0% v 11%, p
      = 1.00), and edema severity did not differ between groups (p = 1.00).
      CONCLUSIONS: Relevant degrees of early postoperative cerebral edema were not
      observed. The present study findings strongly contrasted with older studies
      showing cerebral edema early after CABG in most patients.

PMID- 25817851
TI  - [Cannabis-induced pancreatitis].

PMID- 25817850
TI  - Synovial fluid and plasma n3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in patients
      with inflammatory arthritis.
AB  - Relationships between n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) in
      plasma and synovial fluid (SF) were examined in 36 patients with knee effusion
      within the context of a variety of rheumatic diagnoses and various stated fish
      oil (FO) intakes (from 0 to 30mL of standard FO daily) of variable duration. In a
      sub-group of patients, correlations between PUFA in SF mononuclear cells (MNC)
      and cell-free supernatants of SF and between SF MNC and peripheral blood (PB) MNC
      were examined. Correlations were also sought between clinical data (stated FO
      intake, pain score) and n-3 LC-PUFA. Correlations between plasma n-3 LC-PUFA and
      SF n-3 LC-PUFA were very strong (r(2)>0.9, p<0.001). The LC-PUFA profiles of SF
      supernatants differed from those of MNC. PUFA profiles in PB MNC and SF MNC were
      similar, except for a higher proportion of DHA in the latter. Positive
      correlations were observed between stated intakes of FO and EPA in plasma and SF
      (for both r=0.37, p=0.02) and DHA in plasma (r=0.37, p=0.02) and SF (r=0.36,
      p=0.03). n-3 LC-PUFA in plasma and SF correlated inversely with pain score
      (plasma r(2)=0.16, p<0.02; SF r(2) 0.32, p=0.001). In conclusion, plasma n-3 LC
      PUFA is a strong indicator of SF n-3 LC-PUFA status across a broad range of
      rheumatic diagnoses and FO intakes. Higher n-3 LC-PUFA in plasma and SF were
      associated with lesser pain experience. 

PMID- 25817852
TI  - [Eczematous lesions and acquired ichthyosis as a presenting finding of CD30+
      anaplastic large cell lymphoma].

PMID- 25817853
TI  - [Use of COPD-6 Vitalograph in Primary Care as tool for smoking cessation].
AB  - OBJECTIVES:  PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To assess the evolution of smoking cessation
      process after using a COPD-6 Vitalograph in smokers that came to a primary care
      practice (PCP) during a three year period (March 2011- February 2013). SECONDARY
      OBJECTIVES: To assess if there are any new COPD diagnoses and to compare the
      smoking cessation outcomes to those of a specific smoking cessation practice
      (SSCP) from another healthcare centre. METHODOLOGY: Two devices were used:
      Vitalograph (electronic device measuring the lung function) and the CO-oximeter,
      in 176 patients (active search of smokers). VARIABLES: tobacco pack-years,
      tobacco dependence (shortened Fagerstrom test), CO in exhaled breath (in parts
      per million-ppm), personal history of COPD or cardiovascular disease (CVD). The
      patients performed three forced exhalations and the Vitalograph registered the
      lung function (FEV1, FEV6, FEV1/FEV6) and the estimated lung age (ELA). Patient
      attitude was assessed (phases: pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation)
      before and after the test, informing them of the outcomes. Patient progress in
      the smoking cessation process was also recorded. RESULTS: A total of 176 smokers
      were studied in PCP and 33 in SSCP. PCP/SSCP: age: 45.9/51.6 years old (p=042);
      pack-years 25.5/39.3 (p=0001); patients who quit smoking and used medicines for
      it 2/9. In PCP: age-ELA 45.9/57.4 (p=0.000). In SSCP: age-ELA 51.6/74.3 (p=000).
      Smoking habit evolution PCP/SSCP: cessation 24.5%/48.5% (p=004). Difference 24%.
      CI difference (6.4-42.8%). In PCP new COPD diagnosis in 6 smokers. CONCLUSIONS:
      COPD-6 Vitalograph is a fast and easy to use tool in day-to-day practice. The
      percentage of smoking cessation is better in SSCP, although a high smoking
      cessation rate was obtained in PCP (active search).

PMID- 25817854
TI  - [A way of helping "Mr. Minotaur" and "Ms. Ariadne" to exit from the multiple
      morbidity labyrinth: the "master problems"].
AB  - Multiple morbidity seems to be "infinite" and so is not easy to make useful
      decisions. A new concept is introduced: the "master problems", as a qualitative
      method to facilitate the exit from this maze of multiple morbidity. Metaphors
      from the art world have been used to teach this concept. These "master problems"
      generally remain hidden and can only "unravel" between the interstices of
      multiple morbidity, when the details of the system that defines the problem are
      explained. A problem with "energy" or a "master problem" is complex, multiple and
      dramatic or theatrical--everything in the clinical history history make us look
      into that particular question. It is what gives us a blow to the stomach, which
      causes our hearts to beat faster, that moves us on many levels, which has a high
      "density of emotions", human elements, social symbols, and opens solutions in a
      patient.

PMID- 25817855
TI  - Glutamate Signaling in Synaptogenesis and NMDA Receptors as Potential Therapeutic
      Targets for Psychiatric Disorders.
AB  - Glutamate, a major excitatory neurotransmitter, plays important roles in synaptic
      plasticity, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) and new synapse formation.
      Growing evidence suggests that glutamate signaling is involved in the
      neurobiology of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, major depressive
      disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BP). Postmortem brain studies demonstrated
      altered spine density in brains from patients with these psychiatric disorders,
      indicating that remodeled neuronal circuits may contribute to the pathobiology of
      these psychiatric diseases. Drugs targeting the glutamate system have typically
      attracted attention as they show efficacy in animal studies and potential
      therapeutic effects in the clinical setting. In particular, the Nmethyl- D
      aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, ketamine exerts a rapid and robust
      antidepressant effect in treatment-resistant patients with MDD and BP, whereas
      conventional antidepressants require several weeks for therapeutic onset. Animal
      studies showed that ketamine induced rapid synaptogenesis, suggestive of synaptic
      plasticity via NMDA receptor signaling being an essential event in the treatment
      of depression. Therefore, drugs modulating glutamate signaling could also be
      potential therapeutic drugs for psychiatric disorders. First, we summarize the
      role of glutamate signaling on dendritic spine formation, maintenance and
      remodeling. Then, we discuss the abnormalities identified in dendritic spine and
      glutamate signaling from postmortem brain studies and animal models of
      psychiatric disorders. Finally, we review the potential benefits of drugs acting
      on the NMDA receptor in clinical and animal models of psychiatric disorders. 

PMID- 25817856
TI  - Improvement of learning and increase in dopamine level in the frontal cortex by
      methylphenidate in mice lacking dopamine transporter.
AB  - The symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are characterized
      by inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. It is a common childhood
      neurodevelopmental disorder that often persists into adulthood. Improvements in
      ADHD symptoms using psychostimulants have been recognized as a paradoxical
      calming effect. The psychostimulant methylphenidate (MPH) is currently used as
      the first-line medication for the management of ADHD. Recent studies have drawn
      attention to altered dopamine-mediated neurotransmission in ADHD, particularly
      reuptake by the dopamine transporter (DAT). This hypothesis is supported by the
      observation that DAT knockout mice exhibit marked hyperactivity that is
      responsive to acute MPH treatment. However, other behaviors relevant to ADHD have
      not been fully clarified. In the present study, we observed learning impairment
      in shuttle-box avoidance behavior together with hyperactivity in a novel
      environment in DAT knockout mice. Methylphenidate normalized these behaviors and
      enhanced escape activity in the tail suspension test. Interestingly, the
      effective dose of MPH increased extracellular dopamine in the prefrontal cortex
      but not striatum, suggesting an important role for changes in prefrontal dopamine
      in ADHD. Research that uses rodent models such as DAT knockout mice may be useful
      for elucidating the pathophysiology of ADHD. 

PMID- 25817858
TI  - Possible involvement of muscarinic receptors in psychiatric disorders: a focus on
      schizophrenia and mood disorders.
AB  - A considerable body of data supports a role for the central cholinergic system in
      the aetiologies of schizophrenia and mood disorders. There have been
      breakthroughs in gaining structural data on muscarinic receptors (CHRMs),
      understanding their role in CNS functioning and in synthesising drugs that can
      specifically target each of the 5 CHRMs. This means it is opportune to consider
      the role of specific CHRMs in the pathophysiologies of schizophrenia and mood
      disorders. This review will focus on data suggesting changes in levels of CHRM1
      and CHRM4 implicate these receptors in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia
      whereas data suggest a role for CHRM2 in mood disorders. There will be a selected
      reference to recent developments in understanding the roles of CHRM1, 2 and 4 in
      CNS function and how these predict mechanisms by which these receptors could
      induce the symptoms prevalent in schizophrenia and mood disorders. Finally, there
      will be comments on the potential advantages and problems in targeting CHRM1 and
      CHRM4 to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia and CHRM2 to treat the symptom of
      depression.

PMID- 25817857
TI  - Neurobehavioral Differences Between Mice Receiving Distinct Neuregulin Variants
      as Neonates; Impact on Sensitivity to MK-801.
AB  - Neuregulin-1 (NRG1) is a well-recognized risk gene for schizophrenia and is often
      implicated in the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of this illness. Alternative
      splicing and proteolytic processing of the NRG1 gene produce more than 30
      structural variants; however, the neuropathological roles of individual variants
      remain to be characterized. On the basis of the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of
      schizophrenia, we administered eNRG1 (0.1~1.0 MUg/g), a core epidermal growth
      factor-like (EGF) domain common for all splicing NRG1 variants, to neonatal mice
      and compared their behavioral performance with mice challenged with a full mature
      form of type 1 NRG1 variant. During the neonatal stage, recombinant eNRG1 protein
      administrated from the periphery passed the blood-brain barrier and activated its
      receptor (ErbB4) in the brain. In adults, the mice receiving the highest dose
      exhibited lower locomotor activity and deficits in prepulse inhibition and
      tonedependent fear learning, although the hearing reduction of the eNRG1-treated
      mice may explain these behavioral deficits. Neonatal eNRG1 treatment also
      significantly potentiated MK-801-driven locomotor activity in an eNRG1 dose
      dependent manner. In parallel eNRG1 treatment enhanced MK-801-driven c-Fos
      induction and decreased immunoreactivity for NMDA receptor subunits in adult
      brain. In contrast, mice that had been treated with the same molar dose of a full
      mature form of type 1 NRG1 as neonates did not exhibit hypersensitivity to MK
      801. However, both animal models exhibited similar hypersensitivity to
      methamphetamine. Collectively, our findings suggest that aberrant peripheral NRG1
      signals during neurodevelopment alter later behavioral traits and auditory
      functions in the NRG1 subtype-dependent manner. 

PMID- 25817859
TI  - Region-specific dendritic spine loss of pyramidal neurons in dopamine transporter
      knockout mice.
AB  - Dopamine transporter (DAT) knockout (KO) mice show numerous behavioral
      alterations, including hyperlocomotion, cognitive deficits, impulsivity and
      impairment of prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex (PPI), phenotypes that
      may be relevant to frontostriatal disorders such as schizophrenia. Dendritic
      spine changes of pyramidal neurons in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)
      are among the most replicated of findings in postmortem studies of schizophrenia.
      The mechanisms that account for dendritic changes in the DLPFC in schizophrenia
      are unclear. Here, we report basal spine density of pyramidal neurons in the
      medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the motor cortex, the CA1 region of the
      hippocampus, and the basolateral amygdala in DAT KO mice. Pyramidal neurons were
      visualized using DAT KO mice crossbred with a Thy1-GFP transgenic mouse line. We
      observed a significant decrease in spine density of pyramidal neurons in the mPFC
      and the CA1 region of the hippocampus in DAT KO mice compared to that in WT mice.
      On the other hand, no difference was observed in spine density of pyramidal
      neurons in the motor cortex or the basolateral amygdala between DAT genotypes.
      These results suggest that decreased spine density could cause hypofunction of
      the mPFC and the hippocampus, and contribute to the behavioral abnormalities
      observed in DAT KO mice, including cognitive deficits. This might suggest that
      aberrant dopaminergic signaling may trigger dystrophic changes in dendrites of
      hippocampal and prefrontocortical pyramidal neurons in schizophrenia. 

PMID- 25817861
TI  - The Piccolo Intronic Single Nucleotide Polymorphism rs13438494 Regulates Dopamine
      and Serotonin Uptake and Shows Associations with Dependence-Like Behavior in
      Genomic Association Study.
AB  - Piccolo (PCLO) inhibits methamphetamine-induced neuropharmacological effects via
      modulation of dopamine (DA) uptake and regulation of the transport of synaptic
      vesicles in neuronal cells. Clinical studies have recently suggested that the
      single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs13438494 in the intron 24 of the PCLO gene
      is associated with psychiatric disorder, in the meta-analysis of GWAS. Therefore,
      in this study, we attempted to evaluate the possible role of the PCLO SNP in the
      mechanisms of uptake of monoamines. To characterize rs13438494 in the PCLO gene,
      we constructed plasmids carrying either the C or A allele of the SNP and
      transiently transfected them into SH-SY5Y cells to analyze genetic effects on the
      splicing of PCLO mRNA. The C and A allele constructs produced different
      composition of the transcripts, indicating that the intronic SNP does affect the
      splicing pattern. We also transfected DA and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-
      HT) transporters into cells and analyzed their uptakes to elucidate the
      association to psychiatric disorders. In the cells transfected with the C allele,
      both the DA and 5-HT uptake were enhanced compared to the A allele. We also
      conducted a clinical study, in order to clarify the genetic associations. PCLO
      rs13438494 exhibits a relationship with the symptoms of drug dependence or
      related parameters, such as the age of first exposure to methamphetamine, eating
      disorders, tobacco dependence and fentanyl requirement. Our findings suggest that
      rs13438494 is associated with drug abuse and contributes to the pathogenesis of
      psychiatric disorders via modulation of neurotransmitter turnover.

PMID- 25817862
TI  - IL-5 production by resident mucosal allergen-specific T cells in an explant model
      of allergic rhinitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Seasonal allergic rhinitis is a chronic inflammation in the nasal
      mucosa triggered by inhaled aeroallergens. The inflammatory reaction is
      controlled by allergen-specific T cells, but where and how these T cells become
      activated is not fully understood. OBJECTIVES: We wanted to determine whether
      allergen-specific T-helper (Th) 2 cells are residing in the nasal mucosa under
      steady-state conditions outside of the pollen season and, if so, whether these
      cells are activated locally in response to allergen challenge. METHODS: Mucosal
      biopsies from the lower turbinate were obtained out of season from patients with
      either birch- or grass-pollen-allergic rhinitis and from healthy controls.
      Cultured explant samples were challenged with relevant pollen extract or with a
      mix of overlapping 20-mer peptides derived from the sequence of the major birch
      allergen, Betula verrucosa (Bet v) 1. After 24 h, culture medium was harvested
      for multiplex cytokine and tryptase analysis. RESULTS: Significant amounts of
      interleukin (IL)-5 were secreted from resident cells in response to ex vivo
      allergen challenge in the allergic group only. No increase was observed for the
      other cytokines measured. Production of IL-5 in response to both extract and the
      Bet v1-derived peptide mix strongly suggested that T cells were a major source of
      IL-5. CONCLUSION: Our explant model indicated that local presentation of antigen
      to resident allergen-specific Th2 cells is the early event in the pathogenesis of
      allergic rhinitis. These findings identify possible cellular targets for anti
      inflammatory treatment.

PMID- 25817860
TI  - Specific Roles of NMDA Receptor Subunits in Mental Disorders.
AB  - N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor plays important roles in learning and
      memory. NMDA receptors are a tetramer that consists of two glycine-binding
      subunits GluN1, two glutamate-binding subunits (i.e., GluN2A, GluN2B, GluN2C, and
      GluN2D), a combination of a GluN2 subunit and glycine-binding GluN3 subunit
      (i.e., GluN3A or GluN3B), or two GluN3 subunits. Recent studies revealed that the
      specific expression and distribution of each subunit are deeply involved in
      neural excitability, plasticity, and synaptic deficits. The present article
      summarizes reports on the dysfunction of NMDA receptors and responsible subunits
      in various neurological and psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia,
      autoimmune-induced glutamatergic receptor dysfunction, mood disorders, and
      autism. A key role for the GluN2D subunit in NMDA receptor antagonist-induced
      psychosis has been recently revealed. 

PMID- 25817864
TI  - Dietary I(-) absorption: expression and regulation of the Na(+)/I(-) symporter in
      the intestine.
AB  - Thyroid hormones are critical for the normal development, growth, and functional
      maturation of several tissues, including the central nervous system. Iodine is an
      essential constituent of the thyroid hormones, the only iodine-containing
      molecules in vertebrates. Dietary iodide (I(-)) absorption in the
      gastrointestinal tract is the first step in I(-) metabolism, as the diet is the
      only source of I(-) for land-dwelling vertebrates. The Na(+)/I(-) symporter
      (NIS), an integral plasma membrane glycoprotein located in the brush border of
      enterocytes, constitutes a central component of the I(-) absorption system in the
      small intestine. In this chapter, we review the most recent research on
      structure/function relations in NIS and the protein's I(-) transport mechanism
      and stoichiometry, with a special focus on the tissue distribution and hormonal
      regulation of NIS, as well as the role of NIS in mediating I(-) homeostasis. We
      further discuss recent findings concerning the autoregulatory effect of I(-) on
      I(-) metabolism in enterocytes: high intracellular I(-) concentrations in
      enterocytes decrease NIS-mediated uptake of I(-) through a complex array of
      posttranscriptional mechanisms, e.g., downregulation of NIS expression at the
      plasma membrane, increased NIS protein degradation, and reduction of NIS mRNA
      stability leading to decreased NIS mRNA levels. Since the molecular
      identification of NIS, great progress has been made not only in understanding the
      role of NIS in I(-) homeostasis but also in developing protocols for NIS-mediated
      imaging and treatment of various diseases. 

PMID- 25817863
TI  - Dying With Carolyn: Using Simulation to Improve Communication Skills of
      Unregulated Care Providers Working in Long-Term Care.
AB  - This article examines the development, implementation, and evaluation of a pilot
      project utilizing high-fidelity simulation (HFS) to improve frontline staff
      members' confidence and skills to communicate about death and dying in long-term
      care homes. The target group was unregulated care providers who provide
      palliative care for residents and their families. Eighteen participants engaged
      in the educational intervention and evaluation. Results supported the
      effectiveness of HFS as an educational tool for unregulated health care
      providers. Quantitative data showed statistically significant improvements in
      participants' self-efficacy scores related to communicating about death and dying
      and end-of-life care. Qualitative data indicated that the experience was a
      valuable learning opportunity and helped participants develop insights into their
      own values, beliefs, and fears providing end-of-life care. HFS is therefore
      recommended as an innovative training strategy to improve palliative care
      communication in long-term care homes.

PMID- 25817865
TI  - Apical iodide efflux in thyroid.
AB  - Thyroid follicular epithelial cells produce thyroxine (T4) and its
      physiologically active derivative, 3,3',5-triiodothyronine (T3), hormones that
      regulate critical developmental and metabolic functions. In order for the thyroid
      to form hormone precursor, iodide, the defining element in thyroid hormone, must
      cross both blood-facing and luminal sides of the follicular epithelium. The
      pathway for uptake from blood is well understood, but the mechanism(s) that
      enable iodide to cross the luminally facing apical membrane remain obscure. This
      chapter considers the physiological properties of several molecularly
      characterized anion transport proteins, all of which potentially contribute to
      the overall mechanism of apical iodide efflux. 

PMID- 25817868
TI  - Control of ENaC-mediated sodium reabsorption in the distal nephron by Bradykinin.
AB  - Kinins, such as Bradykinin (BK), are peptide hormones of the kallikrein-kinin
      system. Apart from being a vasodilator, BK also increases urinary sodium
      excretion to reduce systemic blood pressure. It is becoming appreciated that BK
      modulates function of the epithelial Na(+) channel in the distal part of the
      renal nephron to affect tubular sodium reabsorption. In this chapter, we outline
      the molecular details, as well as discuss the physiological relevance of this
      regulation for the whole organism sodium homeostasis and setting chronic blood
      pressure. 

PMID- 25817866
TI  - The sodium/multivitamin transporter: a multipotent system with therapeutic
      implications.
AB  - The Na(+)/multivitamin transporter (SMVT) is a member of the solute:sodium
      symporter family that catalyzes the Na(+)-dependent uptake of the structurally
      diverse water-soluble vitamins pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) and biotin (vitamin
      H), alpha-lipoic acid-a vitamin-like substance with strong antioxidant properties
      and iodide. The organic substrates of SMVT play central roles in the cellular
      metabolism and are, therefore, essential for normal human health and development.
      For example, biotin deficiency leads to growth retardation, dermatological
      disorders, and neurological disorders. Animal studies have shown that biotin
      deficiency during pregnancy is directly correlated to embryonic growth
      retardation, congenital malformation, and death of the embryo. This chapter
      focuses on the structural and functional features of the human isoform of SMVT
      (hSMVT); the discovery of which was greatly facilitated by the cloning and
      expression of hSMVT in tractable expression systems. Special emphasis will be
      given to mechanistic implications of the transport process of hSMVT that will
      inform our understanding of the molecular determinants of hSMVT-mediated
      transport in dynamic context to alleviate the development and optimization of
      hSMVT as a multipotent platform for drug delivery. 

PMID- 25817867
TI  - Regulation of alphaENaC transcription.
AB  - Aldosterone is a major regulator of Na(+) absorption and acts primarily by
      controlling the epithelial Na(+) channel (ENaC) function at multiple levels
      including transcription. ENaC consists of alpha, beta, and gamma subunits. In the
      classical model, aldosterone enhances transcription primarily by activating
      mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). However, how aldosterone induces chromatin
      alternation and thus leads to gene activation or repression remains largely
      unknown. Emerging evidence suggests that Dot1a-Af9 complex plays an important
      role in repression of alphaENaC by directly binding and modulating targeted
      histone H3 K79 hypermethylation at the specific subregions of alphaENaC promoter.
      Aldosterone impairs Dot1a-Af9 formation by decreasing expression of Dot1a and Af9
      and by inducing Sgk1, which, in turn, phosphorylates Af9 at S435 to weaken Dot1a
      Af9 interaction. MR counterbalances Dot1a-Af9 action by competing with Dot1a for
      binding Af9. Af17 derepresses alphaENaC by competitively interacting with Dot1a
      and facilitating Dot1a nuclear export. Consistently, MR(-/-) mice have impaired
      ENaC expression at day 5 after birth, which may contribute to progressive
      development of pseudohypoaldosteronism type 1 in a later stage. Af17(-/-) mice
      have decreased ENaC expression, renal Na(+) retention, and blood pressure. In
      contrast, Dot1l(AC) mice have increased alphaENaC expression, despite a 20%
      reduction of the principal cells. This chapter reviews these findings linking
      aldosterone action to ENaC transcription through chromatin modification. Future
      direction toward the understanding the role of Dot1a-Af9 complex beyond ENaC
      regulation, in particular, in renal fibrosis is also briefly discussed. 

PMID- 25817870
TI  - Pharmacological regulation of the cholesterol transport machinery in
      steroidogenic cells of the testis.
AB  - Reduced serum testosterone (T), or hypogonadism, is estimated to affect about 5
      million American men, including both aging and young men. Low serum T has been
      linked to mood changes, worsening cognition, fatigue, depression, decreased lean
      body mass and bone mineral density, increased visceral fat, metabolic syndrome,
      decreased libido, and sexual dysfunction. Administering exogenous T, known as T
      replacement therapy (TRT), reverses many of the symptoms of low T levels.
      However, this treatment can result in luteinizing hormone suppression which, in
      turn, can lead to reduced sperm numbers and infertility, making TRT inappropriate
      for men who wish to father children. Additionally, TRT may result in
      supraphysiologic T levels, skin irritation, and T transfer to others upon
      contact; and there may be increased risk of prostate cancer and cardiovascular
      disease, particularly in aging men. Therefore, the development of alternate
      therapies for treating hypogonadism would be highly desirable. To do so requires
      greater understanding of the series of steps leading to T formation and how they
      are regulated, and the identification of key steps that are amenable to
      pharmacological modulation so as to induce T production. We review herein our
      current understanding of mechanisms underlying the pharmacological induction of T
      formation in hypogonadal testis. 

PMID- 25817871
TI  - Insulin transport into the brain and cerebrospinal fluid.
AB  - The pancreatic hormone insulin plays a well-described role in the periphery,
      based principally on its ability to lower circulating glucose levels via
      activation of glucose transporters. However, insulin also acts within the central
      nervous system (CNS) to alter a number of physiological outcomes ranging from
      energy balance and glucose homeostasis to cognitive performance. Insulin is
      transported into the CNS by a saturable receptor-mediated process that is
      proposed to be dependent on the insulin receptor. Transport of insulin into the
      brain is dependent on numerous factors including diet, glycemia, a diabetic state
      and notably, obesity. Obesity leads to a marked decrease in insulin transport
      from the periphery into the CNS and the biological basis of this reduction of
      transport remains unresolved. Despite decades of research into the effects of
      central insulin on a wide range of physiological functions and its transport from
      the periphery to the CNS, numerous questions remain unanswered including which
      receptor is responsible for transport and the precise mechanisms of action of
      insulin within the brain. 

PMID- 25817872
TI  - Regulation of hormone-sensitive renal phosphate transport.
AB  - Phosphate is essential for growth and maintenance of the skeleton and for
      generating high-energy phosphate compounds. Evolutionary adaptation to high
      dietary phosphorous in humans and other terrestrial vertebrates involves
      regulated mechanisms assuring the efficient renal elimination of excess
      phosphate. These mechanisms prominently include PTH, FGF23, and Vitamin D, which
      directly and indirectly regulate phosphate transport. Disordered phosphate
      homeostasis is associated with pathologies ranging from kidney stones to kidney
      failure. Chronic kidney disease results in hyperphosphatemia, an elevated
      calcium*phosphate product with considerable morbidity and mortality, mostly
      associated with adverse cardiovascular events. This chapter highlights recent
      findings and insights regarding the hormonal regulation of renal phosphate
      transport along with imbalances of phosphate balance due to acquired or inherited
      diseases states. 

PMID- 25817873
TI  - Regulation of aquaporins by vasopressin in the kidney.
AB  - Vasopressin is the main hormone that regulates water conservation in mammals and
      one of its major targets is the principal cells in the renal collecting duct.
      Vasopressin increases the apical water permeability of principal cells, mediated
      by apical accumulation of aquaporin-2 (AQP2), a water channel protein, thus
      facilitating water reabsorption by the kidney. The mechanisms underlying the
      accumulation of AQP2 in response to vasopressin include vesicular trafficking
      from intracellular storage vesicles expressing AQP2 within several tens of
      minutes (short-term regulation) and protein expression of AQP2 over a period of
      hours to days (long-term regulation). This chapter reviews vasopressin signaling
      in the kidney, focusing on the molecular mechanisms of short- and long-term
      regulations of AQP2 expression. 

PMID- 25817874
TI  - The structure and function of the dopamine transporter and its role in CNS
      diseases.
AB  - In this chapter, we explore the basic science of the dopamine transporter (DAT),
      an integral component of a system that regulates dopamine homeostasis. Dopamine
      is a key neurotransmitter for several brain functions including locomotor control
      and reward systems. The transporter structure, function, mechanism of action,
      localization, and distribution, in addition to gene regulation, are discussed.
      Over many years, a wealth of information concerning the DAT has been accrued and
      has led to increased interest in the role of the DAT in a plethora of central
      nervous system diseases. These DAT characteristics are explored in relation to a
      range of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases, with a particular focus on
      the genetics of the DAT. In addition, we discuss the pharmacology of the DAT and
      how this relates to disease and addiction. 

PMID- 25817869
TI  - Inhibition of ENaC by endothelin-1.
AB  - The amiloride-sensitive epithelial Na(+) channel (ENaC) is a key player in the
      regulation of Na(+) homeostasis. Its functional activity is under continuous
      control by a variety of signaling molecules, including bioactive peptides of
      endothelin family. Since ENaC dysfunction is causative for disturbances in total
      body Na(+) levels associated with the abnormal regulation of blood volume, blood
      pressure, and lung fluid balance, uncovering the molecular mechanisms of
      inhibitory modulation or inappropriate activation of ENaC is crucial for the
      successful treatment of a variety of human diseases including hypertension. The
      precise regulation of ENaC is particularly important for normal Na(+) and fluid
      homeostasis in organs where endothelins are known to act: the kidneys, lung, and
      colon. Inhibition of ENaC by endothelin-1 (ET-1) has been established in renal
      cells, and several molecular mechanisms of inhibition of ENaC by ET-1 are
      proposed and will be reviewed in this chapter. 

PMID- 25817875
TI  - Regulation of the norepinephrine transporter by endothelins: a potential
      therapeutic target.
AB  - Neuronal norepinephrine (NE) uptake is a crucial step in noradrenergic
      neurotransmission that regulates NE concentration in the synaptic cleft. It is a
      key mechanism mediated by the NE transporter (NET) which takes the
      neurotransmitter into the presynaptic neuron terminal or the adrenal medulla
      chromaffin cell. The activity of NET is short and long terms modulated by
      phosphorylation mediated by protein kinases A, C, and G and calcium-calmodulin
      dependent protein kinase, whereas the transporter availability at the cell
      surface is regulated by glycosylation. Several neuropeptides like angiotensins
      II, III, and 1-7, bradykinin, natriuretic peptides, as well as endothelins (ETs)
      regulate a wide variety of biological effects, including noradrenergic
      transmission and in particular neuronal NE uptake. Diverse reports, including
      studies from our laboratory, show that ETs differentially modulate the activity
      and expression of NET not only in normal conditions but also in diverse
      cardiovascular diseases such as congestive heart failure and hypertension.
      Current literature supports a key role for the interaction between ETs and NE in
      maintaining neurotransmission homeostasis and further suggests that this
      interaction may represent a potential therapeutic target for various diseases,
      particularly hypertension. 

PMID- 25817876
TI  - Vitamin D-enhanced duodenal calcium transport.
AB  - For humans and rodents, duodenum is a very important site of calcium absorption
      since it is exposed to ionized calcium released from dietary complexes by gastric
      acid. Calcium traverses the duodenal epithelium via both transcellular and
      paracellular pathways in a vitamin D-dependent manner. After binding to the
      nuclear vitamin D receptor, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] upregulates
      the expression of several calcium transporter genes, e.g., TRPV5/6, calbindin
      D9k, plasma membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase1b, and NCX1, thereby enhancing the
      transcellular calcium transport. This action has been reported to be under the
      regulation of parathyroid-kidney-intestinal and bone-kidney-intestinal axes, in
      which the plasma calcium and fibroblast growth factor-23 act as negative feedback
      regulators, respectively. 1,25(OH)2D3 also modulates the expression of tight
      junction-related genes and convective water flow, presumably to increase the
      paracellular calcium permeability and solvent drag-induced calcium transport.
      However, vitamin D-independent calcium absorption does exist and plays an
      important role in calcium homeostasis under certain conditions, particularly in
      neonatal period, pregnancy, and lactation as well as in naturally vitamin D
      impoverished subterranean mammals. 

PMID- 25817877
TI  - Endocannabinoid transport revisited.
AB  - Endocannabinoids are arachidonic acid-derived endogenous lipids that activate the
      endocannabinoid system which plays a major role in health and disease. The
      primary endocannabinoids are anandamide (AEA, N-arachidonoylethanolamine) and 2
      arachidonoyl glycerol. While their biosynthesis and metabolism have been studied
      in detail, it remains unclear how endocannabinoids are transported across the
      cell membrane. In this review, we critically discuss the different models of
      endocannabinoid trafficking, focusing on AEA cellular uptake which is best
      studied. The evolution of the current knowledge obtained with different AEA
      transport inhibitors is reviewed and the confusions caused by the lack of their
      specificity discussed. A comparative summary of the most important AEA uptake
      inhibitors and the studies involving their use is provided. Based on a
      comprehensive literature analysis, we propose a model of facilitated AEA membrane
      transport followed by intracellular shuttling and sequestration. We conclude that
      novel and more specific probes will be essential to identify the missing targets
      involved in endocannabinoid membrane transport. 

PMID- 25817878
TI  - Adenosine transporters and receptors: key elements for retinal function and
      neuroprotection.
AB  - Adenosine is an important neuroactive substance in the central nervous system,
      including in the retina where subclasses of adenosine receptors and transporters
      are expressed since early stages of development. Here, we review some evidence
      showing that adenosine plays important functions in the mature as well as in the
      developing tissue. Adenosine transporters are divided into equilibrative and
      concentrative, and the major transporter subtype present in the retina is the
      ENT1. This transporter is responsible for a bidirectional transport of adenosine
      and the uptake or release of this nucleoside appears to be regulated by different
      signaling pathways that are also controlled by activation of adenosine receptors.
      Adenosine receptors are also key players in retina physiology regulating a
      variety of functions in the mature and developing tissue. Regulation of
      excitatory neurotransmitter release and neuroprotection are the main functions
      played be adenosine in the mature tissue, while regulation of cell survival and
      neurogenesis are some of the functions played by adenosine in developing retina.
      Since adenosine is neuroprotective against excitotoxic and metabolic dysfunctions
      observed in neurological and ocular diseases, the search for adenosine-related
      drugs regulating adenosine transporters and receptors can be important for
      advancement of therapeutic strategies against these diseases. 

PMID- 25817879
TI  - Hormones and transport systems. Preface.

PMID- 25817880
TI  - Emotional Experiences Among Siblings of Children With Rare Disorders.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This research aimed to provide new knowledge about the emotional
      experiences of siblings of children with rare disorders. METHODS: Qualitative
      thematic analysis was conducted based on videotapes of 11 support groups for 58
      siblings aged 7-17 years (Mage = 11.4 years, SD = 2.4) of children with rare
      disorders. RESULTS: Participants described contradictory emotions in three main
      contexts: (1) implications of the disorder (knowledge, medical issues,
      prognosis); (2) consequences for family life (practical implications, limitations
      of the child with disorder, perspectives on the sibling relationship); and (3)
      consequences for social life (reflections about (ab)normality, reactions from
      others). Passive coping strategies were frequently described relative to active
      coping strategies. An emerging dilemma for participants was hiding versus sharing
      emotional experiences. CONCLUSIONS: Siblings' emotional experiences are
      characterized by diverse and contradictory feelings. Interventions to promote
      emotional health in siblings of children with rare disorder should address this
      complexity.

PMID- 25817881
TI  - Topical Review: Theoretical Frameworks in Pediatric Adherence-Promotion
      Interventions: Research Findings and Methodological Implications.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To summarize the guiding theoretical frameworks included in pediatric
      adherence-promotion interventions and characterize targeted domains using the
      theoretical domains framework (TDF), a standardized system developed by adult
      behavior change researchers. METHODS: A systematic review of PubMed, PsycINFO,
      and CINAHL databases identified 47 articles describing pediatric adherence
      promotion interventions. Data extraction was completed independently by two
      authors. Targeted intervention domains were classified using the TDF. RESULTS:
      The majority of interventions did not cite a guiding theoretical framework or
      cited multiple theories with overlapping domains. The TDF was a reliable
      categorization system and suggested that pediatric adherence-promotion
      interventions most commonly target knowledge, skills, and social influences.
      CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric adherence-promotion interventions draw from a variety of
      theories and lack a consistent language for describing targeted domains. The
      adapted TDF proposed here is one method of reducing variability in intervention
      development and reporting and may facilitate efforts to identify the processes
      that improve adherence.

PMID- 25817882
TI  - Changes in hippocampal orexin 1 receptor expression involved in tooth pain
      induced learning and memory impairment in rats.
AB  - Orexin 1 receptor signaling plays a significant role in pain as well as learning
      and memory processes. This study was conducted to assess the changes in orexin 1
      receptor expression levels in hippocampus following learning and memory
      impairment induced by tooth inflammatory pulpal pain. Adult male Wistar rats
      received intradental injection of 100 ug capsaicin to induce pulpal pain. After
      recording the pain scores, spatial learning and memory were assessed using Morris
      Water Maze test. The hippocampal levels of orexin 1 receptor mRNA and protein
      were determined by semiquantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain
      reaction (RT-PCR) and immunoblotting respectively. The data showed that capsaicin
      induced tooth inflammatory pulpal pain was correlated with learning and memory
      impairment. Intra-hippocampal injection of orexin A inhibited pain-induced
      learning and memory impairment. However, orexin 1 receptor antagonist, SB-334867,
      had no effect on learning and memory impairment. Moreover, capsaicin-induced pain
      significantly decreased hippocampal orexin 1 receptor mRNA and protein levels.
      Meanwhile, reversed changes took place in the ibuprofen-pretreated group (p <
      0.05). It seems that decrease in orexin 1 receptor density and signaling could be
      involved in tooth pain-induced learning and memory impairment.

PMID- 25817883
TI  - Accuracy and patient-centered outcome variables in guided implant surgery: a RCT
      comparing immediate with delayed loading.
AB  - AIM: To assess the accuracy and patient-centered outcome of a novel guided
      surgery system for placing implants in an edentulous maxilla. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: Fifteen consecutive patients with sufficient bone to place six implants
      in the maxilla were randomly assigned to the immediate loading (with delivery of
      the final prosthesis within 24 h) or the delayed loading treatment group.
      Accuracy was assessed by matching the planning CT with a postoperative CBCT.
      Patient-centered outcome measures were the Dutch version of the McGill Pain
      Questionnaire (MPQ-DLV), the health-related quality of life instrument (HRQOL),
      visual analog scales (VAS), the duration of the procedure, and the analgesic
      doses taken each day. RESULTS: A mean deviation was found at the entry point of
      0.9 mm (range: 0.1-4.5, median 0.8) and of 1.2 mm (range: 0.2-4.9, median 1.1) at
      the apex, and an angular deviation of 2.7 degrees  (range: 0.0-6.6 degrees ,
      median 2.3) was observed. The mean vertical deviation was 0.5 mm (range: 0.0-3.2,
      median 0.4), and in a horizontal direction, this was 0.7 mm (range: 0.1-3.1,
      median 0.6). The mean deviation in mesio-distal direction was 0.5 mm (range: 0.0
      2.3, median 0.4) and in bucco-lingual direction 0.5 mm +/- 0.4 (range: 0.0-2.2,
      median 0.3). No statistical differences could be shown between treatment groups
      on pain response (MPQ-DLV), treatment perception (VAS), number or kind of pain
      killers, or for the HRQOLI instrument. CONCLUSION: The accuracy of a novel CT
      based guide is comparable to the accuracy data of other systems. Within the
      limitations of this study, no difference could be found in patient-centered
      outcome variables after immediate or delayed loading.

PMID- 25817884
TI  - Intravenous Subdissociative-Dose Ketamine Versus Morphine for Analgesia in the
      Emergency Department: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVE: We assess and compare the analgesic efficacy and safety of
      subdissociative intravenous-dose ketamine with morphine in emergency department
      (ED) patients. METHODS: This was a prospective, randomized, double-blind trial
      evaluating ED patients aged 18 to 55 years and experiencing moderate to severe
      acute abdominal, flank, or musculoskeletal pain, defined as a numeric rating
      scale score greater than or equal to 5. Patients were randomized to receive
      ketamine at 0.3 mg/kg or morphine at 0.1 mg/kg by intravenous push during 3 to 5
      minutes. Evaluations occurred at 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. Primary outcome
      was reduction in pain at 30 minutes. Secondary outcome was the incidence of
      rescue analgesia at 30 and 60 minutes. RESULTS: Forty-five patients per group
      were enrolled in the study. The primary change in mean pain scores was not
      significantly different in the ketamine and morphine groups: 8.6 versus 8.5 at
      baseline (mean difference 0.1; 95% confidence interval -0.46 to 0.77) and 4.1
      versus 3.9 at 30 minutes (mean difference 0.2; 95% confidence interval -1.19 to
      1.46; P=.97). There was no difference in the incidence of rescue fentanyl
      analgesia at 30 or 60 minutes. No statistically significant or clinically
      concerning changes in vital signs were observed. No serious adverse events
      occurred in either group. Patients in the ketamine group reported increased minor
      adverse effects at 15 minutes post-drug administration. CONCLUSION:
      Subdissociative intravenous ketamine administered at 0.3 mg/kg provides analgesic
      effectiveness and apparent safety comparable to that of intravenous morphine for
      short-term treatment of acute pain in the ED.

PMID- 25817885
TI  - ANO1 taking center stage: blood pressure regulation in SHRs.

PMID- 25817886
TI  - Screening breeding sites of the common toad (Bufo bufo) in England and Wales for
      evidence of endocrine disrupting activity.
AB  - Anuran amphibians are often present in agricultural landscapes and may therefore
      be exposed to chemicals in surface waters used for breeding. We used passive
      accumulation devices (SPMD and POCIS) to sample contaminants from nine breeding
      sites of the Common toad (Bufo bufo) across England and Wales, measuring
      endocrine activity of the extracts in a recombinant yeast androgen screen (YAS)
      and yeast estrogen screen (YES) and an in vitro vitellogenin induction screen in
      primary culture of Xenopus laevis hepatocytes. We also assessed hatching, growth,
      survival, and development in caged larvae in situ, and sampled metamorphs for
      gonadal histopathology. None of the SPMD extracts exhibited estrogen receptor or
      androgen receptor agonist activity, while POCIS extracts from two sites in west
      central England exhibited concentration-dependent androgenic activity in the YAS.
      Three sites exhibited significant estrogenic activity in both the YES and the
      Xenopus hepatocyte. Hatching rates varied widely among sites, but there was no
      consistent correlation between hatching rate and intensity of agricultural
      activity, predicted concentrations of agrochemicals, or endocrine activity
      measured in YES/YAS assays. While a small number of intersex individuals were
      observed, their incidence could not be associated with predicted pesticide
      exposure or endocrine activitity measured in the in vitro screens. There were no
      significant differences in sex ratio, as determined by gonadal histomorphology
      among the study sites, and no significant correlation was observed between
      proportion of males and predicted exposure to agrochemicals. However, a negative
      correlation did become apparent in later sampling periods between proportion of
      males and estrogenic activity of the POCIS sample, as measured in the YES. Our
      results suggest that larval and adult amphibians may be exposed to endocrine
      disrupting chemicals in breeding ponds, albeit at low concentrations, and that
      chemical contaminants other than plant protection products may contribute to
      endocrine activity of surface waters in the agricultural landscape. 

PMID- 25817887
TI  - Left Ventricular Retraining and Late Arterial Switch for D-Transposition of the
      Great Arteries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For many decades, patients with d-transposition of the great arteries
      underwent an atrial switch procedure. Although many of these patients have
      continued to do well, a subset experience profound right ventricular failure.
      Some may be candidates for left ventricular (LV) retraining and late arterial
      switch. The purpose of this study was to review our experience with LV retraining
      and late arterial switch. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of 32 patients
      with d-transposition. Thirty patients underwent a previous atrial switch and
      subsequently experienced right ventricular failure, whereas 2 presented late (8
      months and 6 years) without previous intervention. The median age at the time of
      enrollment in this program was 15 years. Seven patients proceeded directly to
      late arterial switch owing to systemic LV pressures. The remaining 25 underwent a
      pulmonary artery band for LV retraining. RESULTS: Twenty of the 32 (63%) patients
      enrolled in this program were able to undergo a late arterial switch. There were
      2 operative mortalities (10%). Two additional patients survived surgery but died
      in the early outpatient time period. There has been no late mortality after the
      arterial switch with a median follow-up of 5 years. Twelve patients underwent one
      or more pulmonary artery band procedures without evidence of effective LV
      retraining. There have been 2 early and 3 late (42%) deaths in this subgroup.
      CONCLUSIONS: The outcomes after arterial switch are encouraging and suggest that
      LV retraining and late arterial switch provide a viable option for this complex
      group of patients.

PMID- 25817888
TI  - SCAI/AATS/ACC/STS Operator and Institutional Requirements for Transcatheter Valve
      Repair and Replacement, Part III: Pulmonic Valve.

PMID- 25817889
TI  - Antioxidants and NOS inhibitors selectively targets manganese-induced cell volume
      via Na-K-Cl cotransporter-1 in astrocytes.
AB  - Manganese has shown to be involved in astrocyte swelling. Several factors such as
      transporters, exchangers and ion channels are attributed to astrocyte swelling as
      a result in the deregulation of cell volume. Products of oxidation and nitration
      have been implied to be involved in the pathophysiology of swelling; however, the
      direct link and mechanism of manganese induced astrocyte swelling has not been
      fully elucidated. In the current study, we used rat primary astrocyte cultures to
      investigate the activation of Na-K-Cl cotransporter-1 (NKCC1) a downstream
      mechanism for free radical induced astrocyte swelling as a result of manganese
      toxicity. Our results showed manganese, oxidants and NO donors as potent inducer
      of oxidation and nitration of NKCC1. Our results further confirmed that manganese
      (50 MUM) increased the total protein, phosphorylation and activity of NKCC1 as
      well as cell volume (p < 0.05 vs. control). NKCC1 inhibitor (bumetanide), NKCC1
      siRNA, antioxidants; DMTU, MnTBAP, tempol, catalase and Vit-E, NOS inhibitor; L
      NAME, peroxinitrite scavenger; uric acid all significantly reversed the effects
      of NKCC1 activation (p < 0.05). From the current investigation we infer that
      manganese or oxidants and NO induced activation, oxidation/nitration of NKCC1
      play an important role in the astrocyte swelling.

PMID- 25817890
TI  - Fabry disease and enzyme replacement therapy in classic patients with same
      mutation: different formulations--different outcome?
AB  - We describe the results of the multidisciplinary evaluation in patients with
      Fabry disease and the same genetic mutation and their outcomes using different
      approved enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). We measured baseline data and serial
      results of neuropathic pain assessment and renal, cardiac and cerebrovascular
      functioning. Pain scale showed improvement in all male cases treated with
      agalsidasa beta. A mild improvement was detected in agalsidasa alfa-treated
      patients after 1 year with posterior increase. During the agalsidase beta
      shortage, two male patients were switched to agalsidasa alfa, after 1 year both
      cases presented an increase in scale values. Renal evolution showed a tendency
      toward a decrease in proteinuria in patients using agalsidase beta and worsening
      with agalsidase alfa. We found improvement in two females using agalsidase beta
      and no changes in the other cases regarding cardiac functioning. Brain magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI) showed increase of white matter lesions in four patients.
      Improvement and stabilization in neuropathic pain, renal and cardiac functioning
      and brain MRI were found mainly in patients treated with agalsidase beta.
      Following the reported recommendations on reintroduction of agalsidase beta after
      the enzyme shortage, we decided to switch all patients to agalsidase beta. 

PMID- 25817891
TI  - Voltage-gated calcium channels: Determinants of channel function and modulation
      by inorganic cations.
AB  - Voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) represent a key link between electrical
      signals and non-electrical processes, such as contraction, secretion and
      transcription. Evolved to achieve high rates of Ca(2+)-selective flux, they
      possess an elaborate mechanism for selection of Ca(2+) over foreign ions. It has
      been convincingly linked to competitive binding in the pore, but the fundamental
      question of how this is reconcilable with high rates of Ca(2+) transfer remains
      unanswered. By virtue of their similarity to Ca(2+), polyvalent cations can
      interfere with the function of VGCCs and have proven instrumental in probing the
      mechanisms underlying selective permeation. Recent emergence of crystallographic
      data on a set of Ca(2+)-selective model channels provides a structural framework
      for permeation in VGCCs, and warrants a reconsideration of their diverse
      modulation by polyvalent cations, which can be roughly separated into three
      general mechanisms: (I) long-range interactions with charged regions on the
      surface, affecting the local potential sensed by the channel or influencing
      voltage-sensor movement by repulsive forces (electrostatic effects), (II) short
      range interactions with sites in the ion-conducting pathway, leading to physical
      obstruction of the channel (pore block), and in some cases (III) short-range
      interactions with extracellular binding sites, leading to non-electrostatic
      modifications of channel gating (allosteric effects). These effects, together
      with the underlying molecular modifications, provide valuable insights into the
      function of VGCCs, and have important physiological and pathophysiological
      implications. Allosteric suppression of some of the pore-forming Cavalpha1
      subunits (Cav2.3, Cav3.2) by Zn(2+) and Cu(2+) may play a major role for the
      regulation of excitability by endogenous transition metal ions. The fact that
      these ions can often traverse VGCCs can contribute to the detrimental
      intracellular accumulation of metal ions following excessive release of
      endogenous Cu(2+) and Zn(2+) or exposure to non-physiological toxic metal ions. 

PMID- 25817892
TI  - Proteasome activity is important for replication recovery, CHK1 phosphorylation
      and prevention of G2 arrest after low-dose formaldehyde.
AB  - Formaldehyde (FA) is a human carcinogen with numerous sources of environmental
      and occupational exposures. This reactive aldehyde is also produced endogenously
      during metabolism of drugs and other processes. DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) are
      considered to be the main genotoxic lesions for FA. Accumulating evidence
      suggests that DPC repair in high eukaryotes involves proteolysis of crosslinked
      proteins. Here, we examined a role of the main cellular proteolytic machinery
      proteasomes in toxic responses of human lung cells to low FA doses. We found that
      transient inhibition of proteasome activity increased cytotoxicity and diminished
      clonogenic viability of FA-treated cells. Proteasome inactivation exacerbated
      suppressive effects of FA on DNA replication and increased the levels of the
      genotoxic stress marker gamma-H2AX in normal human cells. A transient loss of
      proteasome activity in FA-exposed cells also caused delayed perturbations of cell
      cycle, which included G2 arrest and a depletion of S-phase populations at FA
      doses that had no effects in control cells. Proteasome activity diminished p53
      Ser15 phosphorylation but was important for FA-induced CHK1 phosphorylation,
      which is a biochemical marker of DPC proteolysis in replicating cells. Unlike FA,
      proteasome inhibition had no effect on cell survival and CHK1 phosphorylation by
      the non-DPC replication stressor hydroxyurea. Overall, we obtained evidence for
      the importance of proteasomes in protection of human cells against biologically
      relevant doses of FA. Biochemically, our findings indicate the involvement of
      proteasomes in proteolytic repair of DPC, which removes replication blockage by
      these highly bulky lesions. 

PMID- 25817893
TI  - Genotoxic effect of ethacrynic acid and impact of antioxidants.
AB  - It is known that ethacrynic acid (EA) decreases the intracellular levels of
      glutathione. Whether the anticipated oxidative stress affects the structural
      integrity of DNA is unknown. Therefore, DNA damage was assessed in EA-treated
      HCT116 cells, and the impact of several antioxidants was also determined. EA
      caused both concentration-dependent and time-dependent DNA damage that eventually
      resulted in cell death. Unexpectedly, the DNA damage caused by EA was intensified
      by either ascorbic acid or trolox. In contrast, EA-induced DNA damage was reduced
      by N-acetylcysteine and by the iron chelator, deferoxamine. In elucidating the
      DNA damage, it was determined that EA increased the production of reactive oxygen
      species, which was inhibited by N-acetylcysteine and deferoxamine but not by
      ascorbic acid and trolox. Also, EA decreased glutathione levels, which were
      inhibited by N-acetylcysteine. But, ascorbic acid, trolox, and deferoxamine
      neither inhibited nor enhanced the capacity of EA to decrease glutathione.
      Interestingly, the glutathione synthesis inhibitor, buthionine sulfoxime, lowered
      glutathione to a similar degree as EA, but no noticeable DNA damage was found.
      Nevertheless, buthionine sulfoxime potentiated the glutathione-lowering effect of
      EA and intensified the DNA damage caused by EA. Additionally, in examining redox
      sensitive stress gene expression, it was found that EA increased HO-1, GADD153,
      and p21mRNA expression, in association with increased nuclear localization of Nrf
      2 and p53 proteins. In contrast to ascorbic acid, trolox, and deferoxamine, N
      acetylcysteine suppressed the EA-induced upregulation of GADD153, although not of
      HO-1. Overall, it is concluded that EA has genotoxic properties that can be
      amplified by certain antioxidants. 

PMID- 25817894
TI  - Neuronal changes and oxidative stress in adolescent rats after repeated exposure
      to mephedrone.
AB  - Mephedrone is a new designer drug of abuse. We have investigated the
      neurochemical/enzymatic changes after mephedrone administration to adolescent
      rats (3*25 mg/kg, s.c. in a day, with a 2 h interval between doses, for two days)
      at high ambient temperature (26+/-2  degrees C), a schedule that intends to model
      human recreational abuse. In addition, we have studied the effect of mephedrone
      in spatial learning and memory. The drug caused a transient decrease in weight
      gain. After the first dose, animals showed hypothermia but, after the subsequent
      doses, temperature raised over the values of saline-treated group. We observed
      the development of tolerance to these thermoregulatory effects of mephedrone.
      Mephedrone induced a reduction of the densities of dopamine (30% in the frontal
      cortex) and serotonin (40% in the frontal cortex and the hippocampus and 48% in
      the striatum) transporters without microgliosis. These deficits were also
      accompanied by a parallel decrease in the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase and
      tryptophan hydroxylase 2. These changes matched with a down-regulation of D2
      dopamine receptors in the striatum. Mephedrone also induced an oxidative stress
      evidenced by an increase of lipid peroxidation in the frontal cortex, and
      accompanied by a rise in glutathione peroxidase levels in all studied brain
      areas. Drug-treated animals displayed an impairment of the reference memory in
      the Morris water maze one week beyond the cessation of drug exposure, while the
      spatial learning process seems to be preserved. These findings raise concerns
      about the neuronal long-term effects of mephedrone.

PMID- 25817895
TI  - Percutaneous endoscopic debridement and washout of a bilateral, loculated,
      hepatic abscess: a minimally invasive approach to a high-risk surgical situation.

PMID- 25817896
TI  - Adenoma detection rate varies greatly during colonoscopy training.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The adenoma detection rate (ADR) is considered the most important
      quality indicator for colonoscopy and varies widely among colonoscopists. It is
      unknown whether the ADR of gastroenterology consultants can already be predicted
      during their colonoscopy training. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the ADR of fellows in
      gastroenterology and evaluate whether this predicts their ADR as gastroenterology
      consultants. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study. SETTING: Academic and
      regional centers. PATIENTS: Symptomatic patients undergoing colonoscopy. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: The variance in ADR among 7 gastroenterology fellows during
      their training (between May 2004 and March 2012) and of the same fellows after
      they registered as consultants (between October 2011 and April 2014) was
      evaluated. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to compare the highest
      detector (endoscopist with highest ADR) with the individual fellows and to
      evaluate whether an ADR of 20% or higher during the training was predictive of a
      high ADR as a consultant. RESULTS: During training, ADRs ranged from 14% to 36%
      (P < .001). Compared with the highest detector, the OR for detecting an adenoma
      ranged from 0.64 (95% CI, 0.40-1.03) to 0.29 (95% CI, 0.17-0.48). After
      registration, ADR ranged from 19.8% to 40.2% (P = .066). Compared with the
      highest detector during consultancy, the OR ranged from 0.64 (95% CI, 0.34-1.21)
      to 0.26 (95% CI, 0.13-0.52). Only 2 fellows significantly improved their ADR
      after completing their training. An ADR lower than 20% during training was
      associated with a lower ADR as a consultant (OR 0.51; 95% CI, 0.30-0.87).
      LIMITATIONS: Retrospective study. CONCLUSIONS: Variance in ADR is already present
      during the endoscopy training of gastroenterology fellows. Most fellows do not
      improve their ADR after completing their training. These findings suggest that
      the ADR can be predicted during colonoscopy training, and we suggest that
      feedback and benchmarking should be implemented early during training of fellows
      in an effort to improve ADR in future daily practice as a consultant.

PMID- 25817897
TI  - Recurrent intestinal metaplasia after radiofrequency ablation for Barrett's
      esophagus: endoscopic findings and anatomic location.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a safe and effective treatment for
      Barrett's esophagus (BE) that results in high rates of complete eradication of
      intestinal metaplasia (CEIM). However, recurrence is common after CEIM, and
      surveillance endoscopy is recommended. Neither the anatomic location nor the
      endoscopic appearance of these recurrences is well-described. OBJECTIVE: Describe
      the location of histologic specimens positive for recurrence after CEIM and the
      testing performance of endoscopic findings for the histopathologic detection of
      recurrence. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort. SETTING: Single referral center.
      PATIENTS: A total of 198 patients with BE with at least 2 surveillance
      endoscopies after CEIM. INTERVENTIONS: RFA, EMR, surveillance endoscopy. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: The anatomic location and histologic grade of recurrence.
      RESULTS: In a mean 3.0 years of follow-up, 32 (16.2%; 95% confidence interval
      [CI], 11.0%-22.0%) patients had recurrence of disease, 5 (2.5%; 95% CI, 0.3%
      4.7%) of whom progressed beyond their worst before-treatment histology.
      Recurrence was most common at or near the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ).
      Recurrence>1 cm proximal to the GEJ always was accompanied by endoscopic
      findings, and random biopsies in these areas detected no additional cases. The
      sensitivity of any esophageal sign under high-definition white light or narrow
      band imaging for recurrence was 59.4% (42.4%, 76.4%), and the specificity was
      80.6% (77.2%, 84.0%). LIMITATIONS: Single-center study. CONCLUSION: Recurrent
      intestinal metaplasia often is not visible to the endoscopist and is most common
      near the GEJ. Random biopsies>1 cm above the GEJ had no yield for recurrence. In
      addition to biopsy of prior EMR sites and of suspicious lesions, random biopsies
      oversampling the GEJ are recommended.

PMID- 25817899
TI  - Nano-sized Mn3O4 and beta-MnOOH from the decomposition of beta-cyclodextrin-Mn:
      1. Synthesis and characterization.
AB  - Nano-sized Mn oxides contain Mn3O4 and beta-MnOOH have been prepared by a simple
      and high-yield method using beta-cyclodextrin as a ligand for Mn ions, and
      decomposition of this Mn complex. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission
      electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared
      spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy have been used to characterize
      morphologies and the phases of these prepared nano-sized Mn oxides. 

PMID- 25817898
TI  - Steap4 attenuates high glucose and S100B-induced effects in mesangial cells.
AB  - Six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of prostate 4 (Steap4)-knockout mice develop
      hyperglycaemia and inflammation whereas Steap4 overexpression attenuates
      atherosclerosis in diabetic mice. Thus, we studied the roles of Steap4 in high
      glucose (HG, 27.5 mM) or S100B (1 MUM, a ligand for the receptor for advanced
      glycation end-product or RAGE)-induced effects in mouse mesangial (MES13) cells.
      We found that HG-induced Steap4 protein expression was dependent on S100B. HG
      increased cell membrane, but not cytosolic, Steap4 protein expression. HG
      increased protein-protein interaction between Steap4 and S100B, which was
      confirmed by mass spectrometry of immunoprecipitated S100B. SP600125, LY294002
      and AG490 attenuated S100B-induced Steap4 protein expression or gene
      transcriptional activity. A mutation in signal transducer and activator of
      transcription 3 (Stat3) site 2 of the Steap4 promoter constructs resulted in a
      marked decrease in HG or S100B-induced activation of Steap4 gene transcription.
      Overexpression of Steap4 attenuates HG or S100B-induced collagen IV, fibronectin
      and cyclooxygenase 2 protein expression. Overexpression of Steap4 attenuates HG
      or S100B-induced transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). Moreover,
      overexpression of Steap4 attenuates S100B-induced signalling. Finally,
      overexpressing Steap4 attenuated renal expression of fibronectin, S100B, TGF
      beta, type IV collagen, p-Akt, p-extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 and p
      Stat3 in streptozotocin-diabetic mice. Thus, overexpression of Steap4 attenuated
      HG or S100B-induced effects in MES13 cells and attenuated some of S100B-induced
      effects in diabetic mouse kidneys. 

PMID- 25817900
TI  - Genetic counseling for a three-generation Chinese family with Waardenburg
      syndrome type II associated with a rare SOX10 mutation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Waardenburg syndrome is clinically and genetically heterogeneous. The
      SOX10 mutation related with Waardenburg syndrome type II is rare in Chinese. This
      study aimed to uncover the genetic causes of Waardenburg syndrome type II in a
      three-generation family to improve genetic counseling. METHODS: Complete clinical
      and molecular evaluations were conducted in a three-generation Han Chinese family
      with Waardenburg syndrome type II. Targeted genetic counseling was provided to
      this family. RESULTS: We identified a rare heterozygous dominant mutation
      c.621C>A (p.Y207X) in SOX10 gene in this family. The premature termination codon
      occurs in exon 4, 27 residues downstream of the carboxyl end of the high mobility
      group box. Bioinformatics prediction suggested this variant to be disease
      causing, probably due to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Useful genetic counseling
      was given to the family for prenatal guidance. CONCLUSION: Identification of a
      rare dominant heterozygous SOX10 mutation c.621C>A in this family provided an
      efficient way to understand the causes of Waardenburg syndrome type II and
      improved genetic counseling.

PMID- 25817901
TI  - Arterial flow waveforms, vascular tone, and chronic fatigue: a case report.
AB  - We present the case of a patient with chronic fatigue secondary to Postural
      Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) who had distinctive abnormalities in his
      arterial waveform morphology as assessed by pulse oximetry. Moreover, the
      patient's arterial waveform changed markedly from being supine to upright,
      suggesting that arterial flow patterns may be abnormal in our patient. Analysis
      of the waveform suggested a positional hypovolemia as the cause of his
      orthostatic intolerance. We review general aspects of arterial flow waveform
      analysis pertinent to health care providers and discuss the pathophysiology of
      POTS. 

PMID- 25817902
TI  - Volume of carotid bodies and cardiac autonomic function in patients with
      essential hypertension.
AB  - PURPOSE: Determination of the relationship between the estimated total volume of
      the carotid bodies (VrCB+lCB), assessed by computed tomography angiography (CTA),
      and the autonomic cardiac function in patients with essential hypertension (EH).
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 69 patients with diagnosed and
      pharmacologically treated EH. The estimated volume of each carotid body (CB) was
      evaluated on the basis of scans obtained in the CTA of carotid arteries, using
      the following formula: 4/3*pi*half of transverse dimension of CB in axial
      projection*half of longitudinal dimension of CB in the axial projection*half of
      craniocaudal dimension of CB in the sagittal/coronal projection. Cardiac
      autonomic function was assessed using time domain analysis of heart rate
      variability (HRV). RESULTS: The mean values of SDNNi, rMSSD and pNN50 at 24-h
      monitoring, during daily activity and during night rest, were significantly lower
      in patients with hypertension with the values of VrCB+lCB>=median compared to the
      group of hypertensive patients with the values of VrCB+lCB<median. Moreover, in
      patients with EH with the values of VrCB+lCB>=median, the mean values of SDNN
      were lower during daily activity. Based on the regression analysis, it was found
      out that the higher values of VrCB+lCB are an independent risk factor in HRV
      reduction (expressed as a reduction in the rMSSD). CONCLUSION: In patients with
      EH, a relationship between the volume of CB, assessed by CTA of carotid arteries,
      and autonomic cardiac function seems to be probable.

PMID- 25817903
TI  - Treatment of type B periprosthetic femur fractures with curved non-locking plate
      with eccentric holes: Retrospective study of 43 patients with minimum 1-year
      follow-up.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Periprosthetic femur fracture (PFF) is a serious complication after
      total hip arthroplasty that can be treated using different internal fixation
      devices. However, the outcomes with curved non-locking plates with eccentric
      holes in this indication have not been reported previously. The objectives of
      this study were to determine: (1) the union rate; (2) the complication rate; (3)
      autonomy in a group of patients with a Vancouver type B PFF who were treated with
      this plate. HYPOTHESIS: Use of this plate results in a high union rate with
      minimal mechanical complications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-three patients
      with a mean age of 79 years +/- 13 (41-98) who had undergone fixation of
      Vancouver type B PFF with this plate between 2002 and 2007 were included in the
      study. The time to union and Parker Mobility Score were evaluated. The revision
      free survival (all causes) was calculated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. The
      average follow-up was 42 months +/- 20 (16-90). RESULTS: Union was obtained in
      all patients in a mean of 2.4 months +/- 0.6 (2-4). One patient had varus
      malunion of the femur. The Parker Mobility Score decreased from 5.93 +/- 1.94 (2
      9) to 4.93 +/- 1.8 (1-9) (P = 0.01). Two patients required a surgical revision:
      one for an infection after 4.5 years and one for stem loosening. The survival of
      the femoral stem 5 years after fracture fixation was 83.3% +/- 12.6%. CONCLUSION:
      Use of a curved plate with eccentric holes for treating type B PFF led to a high
      union rate and a low number of fixation-related complications. However, PFF
      remains a serious complication of hip arthroplasty that is accompanied by high
      morbidity and mortality rates.

PMID- 25817904
TI  - Degenerative facet joint changes in lumbar percutaneous pedicle screw fixation
      without fusion.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Aim of the study was to evaluate degenerative lumbar facet-joints
      changes after percutaneous pedicle screw fixation (PPSF) in the treatment of
      lumbar fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients underwent short PPSF
      without fusion. CT-scan was performed in the pre- and post-operative time at
      four, eight and 12 months. The six zygapophyseal joints adjacent the fracture's
      level were evaluated. RESULTS: At four months patients showed no differences
      between pre- and post-operative joint radiographic aspect. At eight and 12
      months, CT-scan demonstrated a progressive degeneration only in the middle joints
      respectively in 21.42% and in 76.92% of the cases. All 10 disrupted facet joints
      showed progressive degenerative changes at eight and 12 months. CONCLUSION:
      Lumbar percutaneous fixation without fusion induces little degenerations
      essentially collocated in the middle joints close to fracture level at eight and
      12 months. In the proximal and distal joints adjacent the screws degenerative
      changes can be seen only when associated to pedicle-screw encroachment.

PMID- 25817905
TI  - Interest of including trauma photography in the picture archiving and
      communication system of a teaching hospital.
AB  - Digital imaging is a daily practice in traumatology. Such photographs should
      remain confidential. However, there is a need for objectivity concerning the
      circumstances and clinical follow-up for trauma patients. This paper describes
      how to conserve these photographs within the picture archiving and communication
      system (PACS) safely as regards identity and confidentiality. A computer converts
      the photographs into DICOM files. The DICOM image is associated to a
      reconciliation layer, validated by the physician in charge, and then included in
      the hospital PACS. This improves transmission from one medical team to another,
      both initially and after the accident if an expert medical opinion is required.
      The literature has demonstrated the value of photographs in modern medicine, but
      the technical and legal challenges are many. They enhance the computerized
      medical records. Identification, confidentiality and integration in the PACS are
      obstacles that we have now overcome. 

PMID- 25817906
TI  - Bilateral internal hemipelvectomy for osteosarcoma in a pediatric patient
      previously treated for rhabdomyosarcoma.
AB  - The surgical treatment of malignant bone tumors involving the pelvis represents a
      great challenge in terms of local control. Internal hemipelvectomy is a major
      surgical procedure that involves the resection of the entire hemipelvis or of a
      portion of the hemipelvis with preservation of the ipsilateral extremity. The
      need for a bilateral internal hemipelvectomy is an extraordinary situation. We
      describe the case of an 11-year-old girl with a primary diagnosis of
      rhabdomyosarcoma of the bladder at the age of two years who subsequently
      developed a right pelvis osteosarcoma at the age of six years and a left pelvis
      osteosarcoma at the age of nine years. She ultimately underwent sequential
      bilateral internal hemipelvectomies and she postoperatively ambulates without an
      assist device. 

PMID- 25817907
TI  - The influence of obesity on primary total hip arthroplasty outcomes: A meta
      analysis of prospective cohort studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Whether or not, obesity negatively influencing the outcomes of
      primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) remains a controversial issue. Though
      observational studies focused on this topic, the reported conclusions remain
      inconsistent. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis of prospective cohort
      studies to evaluate if obesity negatively affects: (1) the overall complication
      rate (incidence of dislocation, deep infection and osteolysis); (2) functional
      outcome; (3) operative time and stay duration in hospital for the primary THA.
      METHODS: We searched the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library
      until July 2014 to identify the eligible prospective studies. The Newcastle
      Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used for quality assessment of the included studies. We
      extracted and pooled the data. As for continuous data, mean difference (MD) was
      calculated; for dichotomous variables, we calculated a weighted relative risk
      (RR) with its 95% confidence interval. Heterogeneity was evaluated using I(2)
      statistics. P <= 0.05 was thought to be significant. RESULTS: Fifteen studies
      were eligible for data extraction, which involved 11,271 total hip
      arthroplasties. The pooled data of complication rate demonstrated that obese
      patients suffered higher rates of complication (RR: 1.68, 95% CI 1.23 to 2.30, P
      = 0.0004), dislocation (RR: 2.08, 95% CI 1.54 to 2.81, P < 0.0001) and deep
      infection (RR: 2.92, 95% CI 0.74 to 11.49, P = 0.13). For the functional result,
      obese patients acquired relatively lower Harris Hip Score than non-obese patients
      (MD: -2.75, 95% CI -4.77 to -0.6), no difference was found regarding Oxford Hip
      Score (MD: -0.46, 95% CI -2.18 to 1.26, P = 0.60). Obese patients compared to non
      obese patients showed an increase duration of operation (MD: 10.67, 95% CI 3.00
      to 18.35, P = 0.006). However, no significant difference was found in the length
      of stay in hospital between obese and non-obese patients (MD: -0.16, 95% CI -0.34
      to 0.02, P = 0.08). CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
      demonstrates that obesity negatively influences the overall complication rate,
      dislocation rate, functional outcome and operative time of primary total hip
      arthroplasty.

PMID- 25817908
TI  - Return to sports after autogenous osteochondral mosaicplasty of the femoral
      condyles: 25 cases at a mean follow-up of 9 years.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Autogenous osteochondral mosaicplasty is the most common cartilage
      restoration technique in standard clinical practice. The purpose of this study
      was to evaluate the return to sports 9 years after mosaicplasty of the femoral
      condyles. HYPOTHESIS: The long-term results of an osteochondral autograft show
      that patients can regain their pre-injury activity level. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      This study is based on a series of 25 patients with a mean age of 28.9 years
      (range, 16-44 years) who had stage 3 or 4 chondral lesions of the femoral
      condyles (according to the ICRS or ICRS-OCD scores). The origin of the lesion was
      osteochondritis dissecans (13 knees), osteochondral fracture sequelae (ten
      knees), or aseptic osteonecrosis (two knees). The average size of the lesion was
      2.11 +/- 0.9 cm(2). Ten patients (40%) had an associated procedure during the
      osteochondral autograft. The patients were assessed clinically (IKDC and Lysholm
      Tegner scores) and radiographically by a reviewer independent of the team of
      operators. RESULTS: All patients were re-examined at a mean follow-up of 9 years
      (range, 6-15 years), with 84% satisfied or very satisfied with the procedure. The
      average IKDC was 74.5 +/- 18.5 points. The average Lysholm score was 87.3 +/-
      11.6 points. The average Tegner score ranged from 6.35 +/- 1.53 points prior to
      surgery to 5.60 +/- 1.64 points after surgery (P = 0.001). The average loss was
      0.64 points for patients whose presurgery Tegner score was greater than or equal
      to 7 (P = 0.019) and 0.3 points if lower than 7. The radiologic evaluation of 21
      patients showed complete osteointegration of the grafts in 90% of cases.
      CONCLUSION: The results of the femoral condyle mosaic autografts are
      satisfactory, a mean of 9 years after surgery. The most active patients lowered
      their activity level while the more sedentary did not have to adapt their
      lifestyle.

PMID- 25817909
TI  - Can the simple clinical score usefully predict the mortality risk and length of
      stay for a recently admitted patient?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to determine whether an aggregate
      simple clinical score (SCS) has a role in predicting the imminent mortality and
      in-hospital length of stay (LOS) of newly admitted, acutely unwell General
      Medical in-patients. METHODS: Data were collected prospectively from adult
      patients admitted through an Acute Medical Unit between February and August 2013.
      Using logistic regression analysis before and after adjustment for age, the SCS
      was assessed for its association with LOS and mortality, including 30-day
      mortality, just for those patients for full resuscitation. Changes in sensitivity
      and specificity after adding SCS to age as a predictor, as well as the change in
      the net reclassification index, were determined using the predicted probabilities
      from the logistic regression models. RESULTS: The SCS was superior to age in
      predicting mortality of any patient within 30 days. It did not assist in
      predicting 30-day mortality for those patients who were for full resuscitation.
      The ability of the SCS to predict long stay (> 72h) remained relatively low (64%)
      and was inferior to published rates achieved by bedside clinician assessment (74%
      82%). CONCLUSION: There was no useful prospective role for the SCS in predicting
      LOS and mortality of in-patients newly admitted to a General Medicine service.

PMID- 25817910
TI  - Molecular basis of the inhibition of the fast inactivation of voltage-gated
      sodium channel Nav1.5 by tarantula toxin Jingzhaotoxin-II.
AB  - Jingzhaotoxin-II (JZTX-II) is a 32-residue peptide from the Chinese tarantula
      Chilobrachys jingzhao venom, and preferentially inhibits the fast inactivation of
      the voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) in rat cardiac myocytes. In the present
      study, we elucidated the action mechanism of JZTX-II inhibiting hNav1.5, a VGSC
      subtype mainly distributed in human cardiac myocytes. Among the four VGSC
      subtypes tested, hNav1.5 was the most sensitive to JZTX-II (EC50=125+/-4nM).
      Although JZTX-II had little or no effect on steady-state inactivation of the
      residual currents conducted by hNav1.5, it caused a 10mV hyperpolarized shift of
      activation. Moreover, JZTX-II increased the recovery rate of hNav1.5 channels,
      which should lead to a shorter transition from the inactivation to closed state.
      JZTX-II dissociated from toxin-channel complex via extreme depolarization and
      subsequently rebound to the channel upon repolarization. Mutagenesis analyses
      showed that the domain IV (DIV) voltage-sensor domain (VSD) was critical for JZTX
      II binding to hNav1.5 and some mutations located in S1-S2 and S3-S4 extracellular
      loops of hNav1.5 DIV additively reduced the toxin sensitivity of hNav1.5. Our
      data identified the mechanism underlying JZTX-II inhibiting hNav1.5, similar to
      scorpion alpha-toxins, involving binding to neurotoxin receptor site 3. 

PMID- 25817911
TI  - An extraordinary relationship involving MIF-1 and other peptides.
AB  - In commemoration of Abba J. Kastin's exceptional service as the founding editor
      for the international journal Peptides, I review our collaborative work on how
      neuropeptides are involved in depression and other neuropsychiatric behavior. A
      special focus is on MIF-1 (prolyl-leucyl-glycinamide) that was discovered in the
      Kastin laboratory and shown effective to treat human depression with greater
      efficacy and faster onset of action than traditional antidepressants at the time
      of clinical trial. My personal reflection of the evolving changes of
      translational research on neuropeptides will hopefully provide some insight to
      young investigators. 

PMID- 25817912
TI  - Serial 3D imaging mass spectrometry at its tipping point.
AB  - Since biology is by and large a 3-dimensional phenomenon, it is hardly surprising
      that 3D imaging has had a significant impact on many challenges in the life
      sciences. Imaging mass spectrometry (MS) is a spatially resolved label-free
      analytical technique that recently maturated into a powerful tool for in situ
      localization of hundreds of molecular species. Serial 3D imaging MS reconstructs
      3D molecular images from serial sections imaged with mass spectrometry. As such,
      it provides a novel 3D imaging modality inheriting the advantages of imaging MS.
      Serial 3D imaging MS has been steadily developing over the past decade, and many
      of the technical challenges have been met. Essential tools and protocols were
      developed, in particular to improve the reproducibility of sample preparation,
      speed up data acquisition, and enable computationally intensive analysis of the
      big data generated. As a result, experimental data is starting to emerge that
      takes advantage of the extra spatial dimension that 3D imaging MS offers. Most
      studies still focus on method development rather than on exploring specific
      biological problems. The future success of 3D imaging MS requires it to find its
      own niche alongside existing 3D imaging modalities through finding applications
      that benefit from 3D imaging and at the same time utilize the unique chemical
      sensitivity of imaging mass spectrometry. This perspective critically reviews the
      challenges encountered during the development of serial-sectioning 3D imaging MS
      and discusses the steps needed to tip it from being an academic curiosity into a
      tool of choice for answering biological and medical questions. 

PMID- 25817913
TI  - "ORIF" for displaced intra-articular calcaneal fractures in children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Calcaneal fractures in children are rare injuries, and those with
      displaced intra-articular fracture patterns are found even less frequently.
      Recent data in the adult literature have suggested operative treatment of
      displaced intra-articular calcaneal fractures leads to a more favorable outcome.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to analyze the outcomes of displaced intra
      articular calcaneal fractures in children treated by open reduction and internal
      fixation. METHODS: Ten displaced intra-articular calcaneal fractures in 10
      patients were treated by open reduction and internal fixation. Mean age was 10.2
      (6-12 years). According to Sanders' classification, there were 8 patients who had
      Sanders' Type II fractures, and 2 children sustained Type III fracture. All
      patients were followed up with a mean 20.3 months (range 6-30). Clinical score
      according to the (AOFAS) was 95.8 (range 78-100). CONCLUSION: The characteristics
      of intra-articular calcaneal fractures in children are similar to those in adults
      and, from our experience, operative treatment of these fractures, to restore
      calcaneal anatomical alignment yields good short-term results.

PMID- 25817914
TI  - Microbial and sponge loops modify fish production in phase-shifting coral reefs.
AB  - Shifts from coral to algae dominance of corals reefs have been correlated to fish
      biomass loss and increased microbial metabolism. Here we investigated reef
      benthic and planktonic primary production, benthic dissolved organic carbon (DOC)
      release and bacterial growth efficiency in the Abrolhos Bank, South Atlantic.
      Benthic DOC release rates are higher while water column bacterial growth
      efficiency is lower at impacted reefs. A trophic model based on the benthic and
      planktonic primary production was able to predict the observed relative fish
      biomass in healthy reefs. In contrast, in impacted reefs, the observed omnivorous
      fish biomass is higher, while that of the herbivorous/coralivorous fish is lower
      than predicted by the primary production-based model. Incorporating recycling of
      benthic-derived carbon in the model through microbial and sponge loops explains
      the difference and predicts the relative fish biomass in both reef types.
      Increased benthic carbon release rates and bacterial carbon metabolism, but
      decreased bacterial growth efficiency could lead to carbon losses through
      respiration and account for the uncoupling of benthic and fish production in
      phase-shifting reefs. Carbon recycling by microbial and sponge loops seems to
      promote an increase of small-bodied fish productivity in phase-shifting coral
      reefs. 

PMID- 25817916
TI  - Phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors for the treatment of erectile dysfunction: a trade
      off network meta-analysis.
AB  - CONTEXT: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a major health care problem worldwide and
      phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors (PDE5Is) are the pharmacological treatment of
      choice. However, the optimal PDE5I for ED treatment is not known. OBJECTIVE: To
      investigate trade-offs between efficacy and adverse events for various PDE5Is in
      treating ED. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A review was performed according to the
      Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Statement.
      Medline, Scopus, reference lists of relevant articles, and systematic reviews
      were searched. Eligible studies were randomized controlled trials comparing at
      least one PDE5I for treating ED with placebo or another PDE5I. EVIDENCE
      SYNTHESIS: We included 82 trials (47 626 patients) for efficacy analysis and 72
      trials (20 325 patients) for adverse event analysis. In the trade-off analysis of
      starting dosages, sildenafil 50mg had the greatest efficacy but also had the
      highest rate of overall adverse events. Tadalafil 10mg had intermediate efficacy
      but had the lowest overall rate of all adverse events. Vardenafil 10mg and
      avanafil 100mg had similar overall adverse events than sildenafil 50mg but a
      markedly lower global efficacy. Udenafil 100mg had similar global efficacy to
      that of tadalafil 10mg but its overall adverse event rates were higher.
      CONCLUSIONS: This is the first trade-off analysis of the different PDE5Is
      currently available. For individuals who prioritize high efficacy, sildenafil
      50mg appears to be the treatment of choice. Men wishing to optimize tolerability
      should take tadalafil 10mg or switch to udenafil 100mg in the case of
      insufficient efficacy. PATIENT SUMMARY: For patients with erectile dysfunction
      who wish to prioritize high efficacy, sildenafil 50mg appears to be the treatment
      of choice. Men who wish to optimize tolerability should take tadalafil 10mg or
      switch to udenafil 100mg in the case of insufficient efficacy.

PMID- 25817917
TI  - Centralization and Quality Control of Elective Surgery Improve Outcome: Aren't We
      Ethically Obliged to Force the Pace of Creating High-volume Centers?

PMID- 25817915
TI  - Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for refractory Langerhans cell
      histiocytosis: outcome by intensity of conditioning.
AB  - Patients with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) refractory to conventional
      chemotherapy have a poor outcome. There are currently two promising treatment
      strategies for high-risk patients: the first involves the combination of 2
      chlorodeoxyadenosine and cytarabine; the other approach is allogeneic
      haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Here we evaluated 87 patients
      with high-risk LCH who were transplanted between 1990 and 2013. Prior to the year
      2000, most patients underwent HSCT following myeloablative conditioning (MAC):
      only 5 of 20 patients (25%) survived with a high rate (55%) of transplant-related
      mortality (TRM). After the year 2000 an increasing number of patients underwent
      HSCT with reduced intensity conditioning (RIC): 49/67 (73%) patients survived,
      however, the improved survival was not overtly achieved by the introduction of
      RIC regimens with similar 3-year probability of survival after MAC (77%) and RIC
      transplantation (71%). There was no significant difference in TRM by conditioning
      regimen intensity but relapse rates were higher after RIC compared to MAC
      regimens (28% vs. 8%, P = 0.02), although most patients relapsing after RIC
      transplantation could be salvaged with further chemotherapy. HSCT may be a
      curative approach in 3 out of 4 patients with high risk LCH refractory to
      chemotherapy: the optimal choice of HSCT conditioning remains uncertain. 

PMID- 25817918
TI  - Usability flaws of medication-related alerting functions: A systematic
      qualitative review.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Medication-related alerting functions may include usability flaws
      that limit their optimal use. A first step on the way to preventing usability
      flaws is to understand the characteristics of these usability flaws. This
      systematic qualitative review aims to analyze the type of usability flaws found
      in medication-related alerting functions. METHOD: Papers were searched via
      PubMed, Scopus and Ergonomics Abstracts databases, along with references lists.
      Paper selection, data extraction and data analysis was performed by two to three
      Human Factors experts. Meaningful semantic units representing instances of
      usability flaws were the main data extracted. They were analyzed through
      qualitative methods: categorization following general usability heuristics and
      through an inductive process for the flaws specific to medication-related
      alerting functions. MAIN RESULTS: From the 6380 papers initially identified, 26
      met all eligibility criteria. The analysis of the papers identified a total of
      168 instances of usability flaws that could be classified into 13 categories of
      usability flaws representing either violations of general usability principles
      (i.e. they could be found in any system, e.g. guidance and workload issues) or
      infractions specific to medication-related alerting functions. The latter refer
      to issues of low signal-to-noise ratio, incomplete content of alerts,
      transparency, presentation mode and timing, missing alert features, tasks and
      control distribution. MAIN CONCLUSION: The list of 168 instances of usability
      flaws of medication-related alerting functions provides a source of knowledge for
      checking the usability of medication-related alerting functions during their
      design and evaluation process and ultimately constructs evidence-based usability
      design principles for these functions.

PMID- 25817920
TI  - MorphoCol: An ontology-based knowledgebase for the characterisation of clinically
      significant bacterial colony morphologies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: One of the major concerns of the biomedical community is the
      increasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistant microorganisms. Recent findings
      show that the diversification of colony morphology may be indicative of the
      expression of virulence factors and increased resistance to antibiotic
      therapeutics. To transform these findings, and upcoming results, into a valuable
      clinical decision making tool, colony morphology characterisation should be
      standardised. Notably, it is important to establish the minimum experimental
      information necessary to contextualise the environment that originated the colony
      morphology, and describe the main morphological features associated
      unambiguously. RESULTS: This paper presents MorphoCol, a new ontology-based tool
      for the standardised, consistent and machine-interpretable description of the
      morphology of colonies formed by human pathogenic bacteria. The Colony Morphology
      Ontology (CMO) is the first controlled vocabulary addressing the specificities of
      the morphology of clinically significant bacteria, whereas the MorphoCol publicly
      Web-accessible knowledgebase is an end-user means to search and compare CMO
      annotated colony morphotypes. Its ultimate aim is to help correlate the
      morphological alterations manifested by colony-forming bacteria during infection
      with their response to the antimicrobial treatments administered. CONCLUSIONS:
      MorphoCol is the first tool to address bacterial colony morphotyping
      systematically and deliver a free of charge resource to the community. Hopefully,
      it may introduce interesting features of analysis on pathogenic behaviour and
      play a significant role in clinical decision making. DATABASE URL:
      http://morphocol.org.

PMID- 25817919
TI  - An integrated, ontology-driven approach to constructing observational databases
      for research.
AB  - The electronic health record (EHR) contains a diverse set of clinical
      observations that are captured as part of routine care, but the incomplete,
      inconsistent, and sometimes incorrect nature of clinical data poses significant
      impediments for its secondary use in retrospective studies or comparative
      effectiveness research. In this work, we describe an ontology-driven approach for
      extracting and analyzing data from the patient record in a longitudinal and
      continuous manner. We demonstrate how the ontology helps enforce consistent data
      representation, integrates phenotypes generated through analyses of available
      clinical data sources, and facilitates subsequent studies to identify clinical
      predictors for an outcome of interest. Development and evaluation of our approach
      are described in the context of studying factors that influence intracranial
      aneurysm (ICA) growth and rupture. We report our experiences in capturing
      information on 78 individuals with a total of 120 aneurysms. Two example
      applications related to assessing the relationship between aneurysm size, growth,
      gene expression modules, and rupture are described. Our work highlights the
      challenges with respect to data quality, workflow, and analysis of data and its
      implications toward a learning health system paradigm. 

PMID- 25817921
TI  - Improving diagnostic accuracy using EHR in emergency departments: A simulation
      based study.
AB  - It is widely believed that Electronic Health Records (EHR) improve medical
      decision-making by enabling medical staff to access medical information stored in
      the system. It remains unclear, however, whether EHR indeed fulfills this claim
      under the severe time constraints of Emergency Departments (EDs). We assessed
      whether accessing EHR in an ED actually improves decision-making by clinicians. A
      simulated ED environment was created at the Israel Center for Medical Simulation
      (MSR). Four different actors were trained to simulate four specific complaints
      and behavior and 'consulted' 26 volunteer ED physicians. Each physician treated
      half of the cases (randomly) with access to EHR, and their medical decisions were
      compared to those where the physicians had no access to EHR. Comparison of
      diagnostic accuracy with and without access showed that accessing the EHR led to
      an increase in the quality of the clinical decisions. Physicians accessing EHR
      were more highly informed and thus made more accurate decisions. The percentage
      of correct diagnoses was higher and these physicians were more confident in their
      diagnoses and made their decisions faster. 

PMID- 25817922
TI  - A computational strategy for altering an enzyme in its cofactor preference to
      NAD(H) and/or NADP(H).
AB  - Coenzyme engineering, especially for altered coenzyme specificity, has been a
      research hotspot for more than a decade. In the present study, a novel
      computational strategy that enhances the hydrogen-bond interaction between an
      enzyme and a coenzyme was developed and utilized to alter the coenzyme
      preference. This novel computational strategy only required the structure of the
      target enzyme. No other homologous enzymes were needed to achieve alteration in
      the coenzyme preference of a certain enzyme. Using our novel strategy, Gox2181
      was reconstructed from exhibiting complete NADPH preference to exhibiting dual
      cofactor specificity for NADH and NADPH. Structure-guided Gox2181 mutants were
      designed in silico and molecular dynamics simulations were performed to evaluate
      the strength of hydrogen-bond interactions between the enzyme and the coenzyme
      NADPH. Three Gox2181 mutants displaying high structure stability and structural
      compatibility to NADH/NADPH were chosen for experimental confirmation. Among the
      three Gox2181 mutants, Gox2181-Q20R&D43S showed the highest enzymatic activity by
      utilizing NADPH as its coenzyme, which was even better than the wild-type enzyme.
      In addition, isothermal titration calorimetry analysis further verified that
      Gox2181-Q20R&D43S was able to interact with NADPH but the wild-type enzyme could
      not. This novel computational strategy represents an insightful approach for
      altering the cofactor preference of target enzymes.

PMID- 25817923
TI  - Review of STAT3 (Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription) in head and
      neck cancer.
AB  - STATs can be activated independently of JAKs, most notably by c-Src kinases. In
      cancer cells, STAT3 and STAT5 activation leads to the increased expression of
      downstream target genes, leading to increased cell proliferation, cell survival,
      angiogenesis, and immune system evasion. STAT3 and STAT5 are expressed and
      activated in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma where they contribute to cell
      survival and proliferation. STATs can be activated by a number of signal
      transduction pathways, including the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR),
      nicotinic receptor, interleukin (IL) receptor, and erythropoietin receptor
      pathways. Identifying agents that inhibit STAT-3, a cytosolic transcription
      factor involved in the activation of various genes implicated in tumor
      progression is a promising strategy for cancer chemoprevention. Several
      approaches have been used to inhibit STAT3 in the hope of developing an antitumor
      agent. Although several STAT3-specific agents are promising, none are in clinical
      development, mostly because of drug delivery and stability issues.

PMID- 25817924
TI  - The impact of obesity on pediatric procedural sedation-related outcomes: results
      from the Pediatric Sedation Research Consortium.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of obesity on adverse events and required
      interventions during pediatric procedural sedation. METHODS: The Pediatric
      Sedation Research Consortium database of prospectively collected procedural
      sedation encounters was queried to identify patients for whom body mass index
      (BMI) could be calculated. Obesity was defined as BMI >=95th percentile for age
      and gender. Sedation-related outcomes, adverse events, and therapeutic
      interventions were compared between obese and nonobese patients. RESULTS: For
      analysis, 28,792 records were eligible. A total of 5,153 patients (17.9%) were
      obese; they were predominantly male and older and had a higher median American
      Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status classification (P < 0.001). Total
      adverse events were more common in obese patients (odds ratio [OR] 1.49, 95%
      confidence interval [1.31, 1.70]). Respiratory events (airway obstruction OR 1.94
      [1.54, 2.44], oxygen desaturation OR 1.99 [1.50, 2.63], secretions OR 1.48 [1.01,
      2.15], laryngospasm OR 2.30 [1.30, 4.05]), inability to complete the associated
      procedure (OR 1.96 [1.16, 3.30]), and prolonged recovery (OR 2.66 [1.26, 5.59])
      were increased in obese patients. Obese patients more frequently required airway
      intervention including repositioning, suctioning, jaw thrust, airway adjuncts,
      and bag-valve-mask ventilation. Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated
      obesity to be independently associated with minor and moderate but not major
      adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity is an independent risk factor for adverse
      respiratory events during procedural sedation and is associated with an increased
      frequency of airway interventions, suggesting that additional vigilance and
      expertise are required when sedating these patients.

PMID- 25817925
TI  - Active-passive measurements and CFD based modelling for indoor radon dispersion
      study.
AB  - Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) play a significant role in indoor pollutant
      dispersion study. Radon is an indoor pollutant which is radioactive and inert gas
      in nature. The concentration level and spatial distribution of radon may be
      affected by the dwelling's ventilation conditions. Present work focus at the
      study of indoor radon gas distribution via measurement and CFD modeling in
      naturally ventilated living room. The need of the study is the prediction of
      activity level and to study the effect of natural ventilation on indoor radon.
      Two measurement techniques (Passive measurement using pin-hole dosimeters and
      active measurement using continuous radon monitor (SRM)) were used for the
      validation purpose of CFD results. The CFD simulation results were compared with
      the measurement results at 15 points, 3 XY planes at different heights along with
      the volumetric average concentration. The simulation results found to be
      comparable with the measurement results. The future scope of these CFD codes is
      to study the effect of varying inflow rate of air on the radon concentration
      level and dispersion pattern. 

PMID- 25817926
TI  - Temporal evolution of (36)Cl abundances in the Great Lakes.
AB  - The observed (36)Cl isotopic abundance in Great Lakes water decreases from west
      to east, with the highest (36)Cl/Cl ratio of 1332 * 10(-15) in Lake Superior and
      the lowest (36)Cl/Cl ratio of 151 * 10(-15) in Lake Erie, whereas the (36)Cl
      concentration ((36)Cl atoms/L) is lowest in Lake Superior and higher in the other
      Great Lakes. The (36)Cl concentration in Lake Superior is much higher than
      expected from normal atmospheric deposition over the basin, consistent with
      deposition of nuclear bomb-produced (36)Cl during 1952-1964. A conservative mass
      balance model constrained by hydrological parameters and available (36)Cl fluence
      measurements predicts the (36)Cl abundances in the Great Lakes from 1945 to 2015,
      in excellent agreement with available data for Lakes Superior, Michigan, and
      Huron, but the model underestimates (36)Cl abundances for Lakes Erie and Ontario.
      However, assuming that (36)Cl demonstrates non-conservative behavior and is
      significantly retained in the drainage basins, a model incorporating a delayed
      input parameter successfully predicts observed (36)Cl concentrations in all of
      the Great Lakes. 

PMID- 25817927
TI  - Illustrative cases to support the Cal-VAT guidelines.
AB  - There is increasing interest in developing more nuanced methods for managing
      aggression and violence in long-term psychiatric inpatient settings. However, the
      dearth of controlled studies has, at times, hampered presentation of viable
      options. Following the publication of guidelines developed in the California
      State Hospital forensic system, the authors present a group of 7 cases
      illustrating different approaches to violence management, including
      pharmacological, psychotherapeutic, and environmental interventions. 

PMID- 25817928
TI  - Quality of life among parents of children with epilepsy: A preliminary research
      study.
AB  - PURPOSE: The current preliminary study was based on the principles of positive
      psychology orientation when examining the multidimensional construct of quality
      of life (QOL): the physical functioning, psychological functioning, functional
      state, and social functioning among parents of children with epilepsy. We
      assessed the contribution of loneliness and personal resources, namely optimism
      and flexibility, to parents' QOL. METHOD: The study was conducted at a
      multidisciplinary center for epilepsy in a central hospital in Israel. Forty
      eight parents agreed to participate in a preliminary research study and completed
      a battery of self-report questionnaires. RESULTS: Significant negative
      correlations were found between flexibility and the scores on the four components
      of QOL (higher scores on the QOL scales indicated lower QOL). Optimism was not
      found to be associated with the scores on QOL. High levels of loneliness were
      found to be associated with higher scores on the four components of parents' QOL.
      Among sociodemographic variables, only the economic situation (due to illness)
      was linked negatively to the scores on QOL components. Flexibility and economic
      situation were the significant variables that accounted for the explained
      variance of total QOL. CONCLUSION: The results of this study highlight the
      importance of flexibility in effectively managing the stressors that might be
      associated with childhood epilepsy. These results suggest that psychosocial
      intervention providing coping strategies for the family might improve QOL.
      Moreover, a parent's economic situation seems to be an essential part of the
      psychosocial assessment, and assurance of the optimal utilization of financial
      rights and facilities may improve their QOL.

PMID- 25817929
TI  - Nonintravenous midazolam versus intravenous or rectal diazepam for the treatment
      of early status epilepticus: A systematic review with meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prompt treatment of status epilepticus (SE) is associated with better
      outcomes. Rectal diazepam (DZP) and nonintravenous (non-IV) midazolam (MDZ) are
      often used in the treatment of early SE instead of intravenous applications. The
      aim of this review was to determine if nonintravenous MDZ is as effective and
      safe as intravenous or rectal DZP in terminating early SE seizures in children
      and adults. METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled
      Trials (CENTRAL), ClinicalTrials.gov, and MEDLINE for randomized controlled
      trials comparing non-IV MDZ with DZP (by any route) in patients (all ages) with
      early SE defined either as seizures lasting >5 min or as seizures at arrival in
      the emergency department. The following outcomes were assessed: clinical seizure
      cessation within 15 min of drug administration, serious adverse effects, time
      interval to drug administration, and time from arrival in the emergency
      department to seizure cessation. Outcomes were assessed using a random-effects
      Mantel-Haenszel meta-analysis to calculate risk ratio (RR), odds ratio (OR) and
      mean difference with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). RESULTS: Nineteen
      studies with 1933 seizures in 1602 patients (some trials included patients with
      more than one seizure) were included. One thousand five hundred seventy-three
      patients were younger than 16 years. For seizure cessation, non-IV MDZ was as
      effective as DZP (any route) (1933 seizures; RR: 1.03; 95% CIs: 0.98 to 1.08). No
      difference in adverse effects was found between non-IM MDZ and DZP by any route
      (1933 seizures; RR: 0.87; 95% CIs: 0.50 to 1.50). Time interval between arrival
      and seizure cessation was significantly shorter with non-IV MDZ by any route than
      with DZP by any route (338 seizures; mean difference: -3.67 min; 95% CIs: -5.98
      to -1.36); a similar result was found for time from arrival to drug
      administration (348 seizures; mean difference: -3.56 min; 95% CIs: -5.00 to 
      2.11). A minimal difference was found for time interval from drug administration
      to clinical seizure cessation, which was shorter for DZP by any route than for
      non-IV MDZ by any route (812 seizures; mean difference: 0.56 min; 95% CIs: 0.15
      to 0.98 min). Not all studies reported information on time intervals. Comparison
      by each way of administration failed to find a significant difference in terms of
      clinical seizure cessation and occurrence of adverse effects. The only exception
      was the comparison between buccal MDZ and rectal DZP, where MDZ was more
      effective than rectal DZP in terminating SE but only when results were expressed
      as OR (769 seizures; OR: 1.78; 95% CIs: 1.11 to 2.85; RR: 1.15; 95% CIs: 0.85 to
      1.54). Only one study was entirely conducted in an adult population (21 patients,
      aged 31 to 69 years), showing no difference in efficacy or time to seizure
      cessation after drug administration between intranasal MDZ and rectal DZP.
      CONCLUSIONS: Non-IV MDZ is as effective and safe as intravenous or rectal DZP in
      terminating early SE in children and probably also in adults. Times from arrival
      in the emergency department to drug administration and to seizure cessation are
      shorter with non-IV MDZ than with intravenous or rectal DZP, but this does not
      necessarily result in higher seizure control. An exception may be the buccal MDZ,
      which, besides being socially more acceptable and easier to administer, might
      also have a higher efficacy than rectal DZP in seizure control. This article is
      part of a Special Issue entitled Status Epilepticus.

PMID- 25817930
TI  - Optical microscopy with flexible axial capabilities using a vari-focus liquid
      lens.
AB  - The axial imaging range of optical microscopy is restricted by its fixed working
      plane and limited depth of field. In this paper, the axial capabilities of an off
      the-shelf microscope is improved by inserting a liquid lens, which can be
      controlled by a driving electrical voltage, into the optical path of the
      microscope. First, the numerical formulas of the working distance and the
      magnification with the variation of the focus of the liquid lens are inferred
      using a ray tracing method and conclusion is obtained that the best position for
      inserting a liquid lens with consistent magnification is the aperture plane and
      the rear focal plane of the objective lens. Second, with the liquid lens embedded
      in the microscope, the numerical relationship between the magnification and the
      working distance of the proposed flexible-axial-capability microscope and the
      liquid lens driving voltage is calibrated and fitted using the inferred numerical
      formulas. Third, techniques including autofocus, extending depth of field and
      three-dimensional imaging are researched and applied, improving the designed
      microscope to not only flexibly control its working distance, but also to extend
      the depth of field near the variable working plane. Experiments show that the
      presented flexible-axial-capability microscope has a long working distance range
      of 8 mm, and by calibrating the magnification curve within the working distance
      range, samples can be observed and measured precisely. The depth of field can be
      extended to 400 MUm from the variable working plane and is 20 times that of the
      off-the-shelf microscope. 

PMID- 25817931
TI  - 2011 update Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy Guidelines of Vascular Access
      Construction and Repair for Chronic Hemodialysis.

PMID- 25817932
TI  - Best practice for diabetic patients on hemodialysis 2012.

PMID- 25817933
TI  - Japanese society for dialysis therapy clinical guideline for "Maintenance
      hemodialysis: hemodialysis prescriptions".

PMID- 25817934
TI  - Japanese society for dialysis therapy clinical guideline for "hemodialysis
      initiation for maintenance hemodialysis".

PMID- 25817935
TI  - Proposal for the shared decision-making process regarding initiation and
      continuation of maintenance hemodialysis.

PMID- 25817936
TI  - Three newly approved drugs for chronic lymphocytic leukemia: incorporating
      ibrutinib, idelalisib, and obinutuzumab into clinical practice.
AB  - Three agents have received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for
      treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) within the past year. Ibrutinib
      and idelalisib block B-cell receptor signaling through inhibition of Bruton
      tyrosine kinase and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase delta molecules respectively,
      interfering with several pathways required for leukemia cell survival. Idelalisib
      has shown efficacy in the relapsed setting and is currently approved by the FDA
      for use in combination with rituximab. Ibrutinib has been studied in patients
      with relapsed CLL and as frontline therapy. In the relapsed setting, these agents
      produce durable remissions, and might be preferable to re-treatment with
      chemoimmunotherapy for many patients. Ibrutinib is also effective treatment for
      patients with deletion 17p and is approved by the FDA as frontline therapy in
      this patient group, although it does not appear to completely abrogate this
      adverse prognostic factor. These agents have a unique side effect profile and
      longer follow-up is required to further understand tolerability and rare adverse
      effects. Obinutuzumab is a type-2 monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody which results in
      direct and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity of leukemia cells. It is
      approved by the FDA for use in combination with chlorambucil, and has shown
      efficacy in the frontline setting in patients unfit for more intensive
      chemoimmunotherapy. It produces increased response rates and minimal residual
      disease negativity compared with chlorambucil/rituximab and is associated with an
      advantage in progression-free survival but not yet overall survival. These agents
      underscore our advancement in the understanding of the biology of CLL and will
      improve outcomes for many patients with CLL. 

PMID- 25817937
TI  - Advanced-stage mycosis fungoides and Sezary syndrome: survival and response to
      treatment.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common variant of cutaneous T
      cell lymphomas. Although MF often has an indolent course, patients can progress
      to, or present with, advanced stage (stage IIB-IVB) MF or with the leukemic
      variant, Sezary syndrome (SS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We prospectively evaluated
      multiple prognostic variables, including demographics, age, TNMB (blood) stage,
      histologic features, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), white blood cell counts, and
      response to treatment, in 168 patients with advanced-stage MF and SS from 2007 to
      June 2014. Kaplan-Meier estimates were used to determine the median overall
      survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS). A Cox proportional hazards
      regression model was used to assess the prognostic factors with univariate and
      multivariate analyses. RESULTS: We analyzed 140 patients with MF and 28 with SS,
      whose median survival was 2.47 years. A total of 79 patients (47%) died of any
      cause. On univariate analysis, age, lymph node stage, and serum LDH level were
      significant for prognosis. On multivariate analysis, skin and node stage, age,
      large cell transformation, and LDH level were significantly associated with worse
      OS. Only N stage and LDH were significant for DSS. Patients who had received
      biologic response modifiers and histone deacetylase inhibitors first had better
      survival (2.5 years) than the patients initially treated with multiagent
      chemotherapy (9 months). CONCLUSION: We found that only a few factors can predict
      OS and DSS for patients with advanced MF/SS. Also, nonchemotherapy options should
      be preferred for front-line therapy to improve survival, outcomes, and side
      effects, including immunosuppression.

PMID- 25817939
TI  - Rebuilding lives and identities: The role of place in recovery among persons with
      complex needs.
AB  - Photo-elicitation interviews (PEIs) were conducted to explore the role of place
      in recovery - specifically, narrative identity reconstruction - among persons
      with complex needs. PEIs with 17 formerly homeless adults with co-occurring
      disorders in New York City produced 243 photos. Content analysis of photos
      revealed three categories - apartment, neighborhood and people. Two narrative
      themes - having my own and civic identity - were mapped onto the apartment and
      neighborhood categories, respectively. Three additional cross-categorical
      narrative themes were identified: (re)negotiating relationships and boundaries,
      moving beyond old identities and future possibilities. Housing was central across
      themes. Understanding of recovery is enhanced when viewed through participant
      controlled visual methods. 

PMID- 25817938
TI  - Inhibition of cytochrome P450 2B4 by environmentally persistent free radical
      containing particulate matter.
AB  - Combustion processes generate particulate matter (PM) that can affect human
      health. The presence of redox-active metals and aromatic hydrocarbons in the post
      combustion regions results in the formation of air-stable, environmentally
      persistent free radicals (EPFRs) on entrained particles. Exposure to EPFRs has
      been shown to negatively influence pulmonary and cardiovascular functions.
      Cytochromes P450 (P450/CYP) are endoplasmic reticulum resident proteins that are
      responsible for the metabolism of foreign compounds. Previously, it was shown
      that model EPFRs, generated by exposure of silica containing 5% copper oxide (CuO
      Si) to either dicholorobenzene (DCB230) or 2-monochlorophenol (MCP230) at >= 230 
      degrees C, inhibited six forms of P450 in rat liver microsomes (Toxicol. Appl.
      Pharmacol. (2014) 277:200-209). In this study, the inhibition of P450 by MCP230
      was examined in more detail by measuring its effect on the rate of metabolism of
      7-ethoxy-4-trifluoromethylcoumarin (7EFC) and 7-benzyloxyresorufin (7BRF) by the
      purified, reconstituted CYP2B4 system. MCP230 inhibited the CYP2B4-mediated
      metabolism of 7EFC at least 10-fold more potently than non-EPFR controls (CuO-Si,
      silica, and silica generated from heating silica and MCP at 50  degrees C, so
      that EPFRs were not formed (MCP50)). The inhibition by EPFRs was specific for the
      P450 and did not affect the ability of the redox partner, P450 reductase (CPR)
      from reducing cytochrome c. All of the PM inhibited CYP2B4-mediated metabolism
      noncompetitively with respect to substrate. When CYP2B4-mediated metabolism of
      7EFC was measured as a function of the CPR concentration, the mechanism of
      inhibition was competitive. EPFRs likely inhibit CYP2B4-mediated substrate
      metabolism by physically disrupting the CPR.P450 complex.

PMID- 25817940
TI  - "This place has given me a reason to care": Understanding 'managed alcohol
      programs' as enabling places in Canada.
AB  - For several decades, the emphasis on abstinence within homeless support systems
      has presented significant barriers to care for those who continue to use alcohol
      or drugs further marginalizing them in terms of housing and health/social
      services. In response, health care specialists and policymakers have recommended
      the integration of harm reduction philosophies and interventions into system
      level responses to end homelessness. Managed alcohol programs (MAPs) have been
      developed to this end and have demonstrated positive results. While recent
      studies of MAPs have focused attention on reductions in alcohol related harms few
      have examined their meaning from the perspective of clients or considered the
      role of place. In this paper, we utilize the 'enabling places' frameworks to
      identify the place-bound properties that make a difference in the recovery
      journeys of clients. Drawing on in-depth interviews with clients from one program
      we develop a description of MAPs as enabling places that afford the elemental
      resources for personal recovery. 

PMID- 25817941
TI  - Correction to: 30 years of rabies vaccination with Rabipur: a summary of clinical
      data and global experience.

PMID- 25817942
TI  - A simulation study of sample size demonstrated the importance of the number of
      events per variable to develop prediction models in clustered data.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate the influence of the amount of
      clustering [intraclass correlation (ICC) = 0%, 5%, or 20%], the number of events
      per variable (EPV) or candidate predictor (EPV = 5, 10, 20, or 50), and backward
      variable selection on the performance of prediction models. STUDY DESIGN AND
      SETTING: Researchers frequently combine data from several centers to develop
      clinical prediction models. In our simulation study, we developed models from
      clustered training data using multilevel logistic regression and validated them
      in external data. RESULTS: The amount of clustering was not meaningfully
      associated with the models' predictive performance. The median calibration slope
      of models built in samples with EPV = 5 and strong clustering (ICC = 20%) was
      0.71. With EPV = 5 and ICC = 0%, it was 0.72. A higher EPV related to an
      increased performance: the calibration slope was 0.85 at EPV = 10 and ICC = 20%
      and 0.96 at EPV = 50 and ICC = 20%. Variable selection sometimes led to a
      substantial relative bias in the estimated predictor effects (up to 118% at EPV =
      5), but this had little influence on the model's performance in our simulations.
      CONCLUSION: We recommend at least 10 EPV to fit prediction models in clustered
      data using logistic regression. Up to 50 EPV may be needed when variable
      selection is performed.

PMID- 25817943
TI  - In a clinimetric analysis, 3D stereophotogrammetry was found to be reliable and
      valid for measuring scar volume in clinical research.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Volume is an important feature in the evaluation of hypertrophic
      scars and keloids. Three-dimensional (3D) stereophotogrammetry is a noninvasive
      technique for the measurement of scar volume. This study evaluated the
      reliability and validity of 3D stereophotogrammetry for measuring scar volume.
      STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: To evaluate reliability, 51 scars were photographed by
      two observers. Interobserver reliability was assessed by the intraclass
      correlation coefficient (ICC), and the measurement error was expressed as limits
      of agreement (LoA). To assess validity, 60 simulated (clay) scars were measured
      by 3D stereophotogrammetry and subsequently weighed (gold standard). The
      correlation of volumes obtained by both measures was calculated by a concordance
      correlation coefficient (CCC), and the measurement error was expressed as a 95%
      prediction interval. RESULTS: The ICC was 0.99, corresponding to a high
      correlation of measurements between two observers, although the LoA were
      relatively wide. The correlation between 3D stereophotogrammetry and the gold
      standard was also high, with a CCC of 0.97. Again, the plot of the differences
      and LoA showed moderate agreement for the validity. CONCLUSION: Three-dimensional
      stereophotogrammetry is suitable for the use in clinical research but not for the
      follow-up of the individual patient.

PMID- 25817944
TI  - Directed transport by surface chemical potential gradients for enhancing analyte
      collection in nanoscale sensors.
AB  - Nanoscale detectors hold great promise for single molecule detection and the
      analysis of small volumes of dilute samples. However, the probability of an
      analyte reaching the nanosensor in a dilute solution is extremely low due to the
      sensor's small size. Here, we examine the use of a chemical potential gradient
      along a surface to accelerate analyte capture by nanoscale sensors. Utilizing a
      simple model for transport induced by surface binding energy gradients, we study
      the effect of the gradient on the efficiency of collecting nanoparticles and
      single and double stranded DNA. The results indicate that chemical potential
      gradients along a surface can lead to an acceleration of analyte capture by
      several orders of magnitude compared to direct collection from the solution. The
      improvement in collection is limited to a relatively narrow window of gradient
      slopes, and its extent strongly depends on the size of the gradient patch. Our
      model allows the optimization of gradient layouts and sheds light on the
      fundamental characteristics of chemical potential gradient induced transport. 

PMID- 25817945
TI  - Free dissociable IGF-I: Association with changes in IGFBP-3 proteolysis and
      insulin sensitivity after surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients receiving a carbohydrate drink (CHO) before major abdominal
      surgery display improved insulin sensitivity postoperatively and increased
      proteolysis of IGFBP-3 (IGFBP-3-PA) compared to patients undergoing similar
      surgery after overnight fasting. AIMS: We hypothesized that serum IGFBP-3-PA
      increases bioavailability of circulating IGF-I and preserves insulin sensitivity
      in patients given CHO. DESIGN: Matched control study. METHODS: At Karolinska
      University Hospital, patients given CHO before major elective abdominal surgery
      (CHO,n = 8) were compared to patients undergoing similar surgical procedures
      after overnight fasting (FAST,n = 10). Results from two different techniques for
      determination of free-dissociable IGF-I (fdIGF-I) were compared with changes in
      IGFBP-3-PA and insulin sensitivity. RESULTS: Postoperatively, CHO displayed 18%
      improvement in insulin sensitivity (hyperinsulinemic clamp) and increased IGFBP-3
      PA vs. FAST. As determined by IRMA, fdIGF-I increased by 48 +/- 25% in CHO while
      fdIGF-I decreased by 13 +/- 18% in FAST (p < 0.01 vs. CHO, when corrected for
      duration of surgery). However, fdIGF-I determined by ultra-filtration decreased
      similarly in both groups (-22 +/- 8% vs. -25 +/- 8%, p = 0.8) and IGFBP-1
      increased similarly in both groups. Patients with less insulin resistance after
      surgery demonstrated larger increases in fdIGF-I by IRMA (r = 0.58, p < 0.05).
      Fifty-three % of the variability of the changes in fdIGF-I by IRMA could be
      explained by changes in IGFBP-3-PA and total IGF-I levels (p < 0.05), while IGFBP
      1 did not contribute significantly. CONCLUSION: During conditions when serum IGF
      I bioavailability is regulated by IGFBP-3 proteolysis, measurements of fdIGF-I by
      IRMA is of physiological relevance as it correlates with the associated changes
      in insulin sensitivity.

PMID- 25817946
TI  - [Blind to reign. The history of Saint Irene: The empress who deprived her own
      child of sight in order to gain power].

PMID- 25817947
TI  - [Descriptive study on basal cell eyelid carcinoma].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe a series of cases of basal cell carcinomas of the eyelid.
      METHODS: A descriptive and retrospective study was conducted by reviewing the
      medical outcome, histopathological history, and photographic images of 200
      patients with basal cell eyelid carcinomas. All were treated in the Herzog Carl
      Theodor Eye Hospital in Munich, Germany, between 2000 and 2013. RESULTS: In the
      present study, it was found that females are more affected than males. The mean
      age of presentation of the tumor occurred at the age of 70 years. In 50% of the
      cases the tumor was found on the lower lid, especially medially from the center
      of the lid. The lid margin was involved in 47% of all tumors. The mean diameter
      was 9.2mm. The recurrence rate after surgery with histologically clear resection
      margins was 5%. There was a significant relationship between tumor diameter and
      age. As tumors where located farther away from medial and closer to the lid
      margin, they became larger. CONCLUSIONS: There is a predominance of women
      affected by this tumor. This may be related to the fact that the sample was taken
      from those attending an oculoplastic surgery clinic, where there are generally
      more women than men attending. The formation of basal cell carcinomas increases
      with age. The infrequent involvement of the upper lid could be explained by the
      protection of the the eyebrow. The frequent involvement of the lower lid may be
      due to the light reflection (total reflection) by the cornea on the lower lid
      margin. Also chemical and physical effects of the tears may be more harmful on
      the lower lid. Patients tend to ask for medical help when they are females,
      younger, when the tumor is closer to the medial canthus or when the tumor is away
      from the lid margin.

PMID- 25817948
TI  - [Long-term results of lasik refractive error correction after penetrating
      keratoplasty in patients with keratoconus].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the long term results of Lasik for residual refractive
      errors (RE) after penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) for keratoconus (KC). DESIGN:
      Retrospective cohort. METHOD: Records of 14 consecutive patients (19 eyes) who
      had Lasik after PKP for KC were retrospectively reviewed. In all eyes with
      refractive stability and suture removed before Lasik, far distance Visual Acuity
      with (AVCC) and without correction (AVSC), spherical equivalent (EE), refractive
      (Ast) and keratometric (dK) astigmatism were analyzed pre- and post-operatively
      before and after one year of follow up. Data were analyzed using Shapiro-Wilk
      normality test, Student t test and Mann-Whitney test. A P-value of <0,05 was
      considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean follow-up time was 3.16
      months for the follow-up before one year postoperative and 5.8 years for the
      follow-up after one year postoperative. The best spectacle corrected visual
      acuity of 0,11 LogMAR (DE 0,07) before Lasik remained stable throughout the
      study. The SE decreased from -2.6 (DE 3.53) to -0,36 D (DE 1.33) (P<.05) for the
      follow-up before one year postoperative and -1.28 D (DE 1.63) (P=.07) for the
      follow-up after one year postop. The refractive cylinder was reduced from -3.43
      (DE 1.35) preoperative to -1.37 D (DE 1.24) (P<.05) and -3.21 D (DE 2.29) (P=.36)
      in the long term after one year of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Lasik refractive
      results regress one year after the operation; therefore it is not an effective
      long-term surgical refractive procedure for residual refractive errors after PKP
      for KC.

PMID- 25817949
TI  - Effect of co-management with Internal Medicine on hospital stay in Ophthalmology.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Patients admitted to the Department of Ophthalmology (OPH) are of
      increasing age, comorbidity and complexity, leading to increased
      consultations/referrals to Internal Medicine (IM). An alternative to
      consultations/referrals is co-management. The effect of co-management on length
      of hospital stay was studied in patients admitted to OPH. METHODS: Retrospective
      observational study was performed that included patients >=14 years old
      discharged from OPH between 1 January 2009 and 30 June 2013, who were co-managed
      from May 2011. An analysis was made including age, sex, type of admission,
      whether it was operated on, administrative weight associated with GRD, total
      number of discharge diagnoses, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), mortality,
      readmissions, and LoS. RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences
      between the groups in operated patients (odds ratio [OR] 2.3, 95% confidence
      interval [95% CI] 1.5 to 3.6), administrative weight (0.1160; 95% CI 0.0738 to
      0.1583), and number of diagnoses (0.9, 95% CI 0.5 to 1.3). On adjustment, co
      management reduced LoS in OPH by 27.8%, 0.5 days (95% CI 0.1 to 1). CONCLUSIONS:
      Patients admitted to OPH have increasing comorbidity and complexity. Co
      management is associated with a reduced LoS and costs in OPH, similar to that
      observed in other surgical services.

PMID- 25817951
TI  - Intravitreal inyections: What do patients prefer? Analysis of patient's
      satisfaction and preferences about where to perform intravitreal injection.
      Author's reply.

PMID- 25817950
TI  - [Effects of ozurdex on intraocular pressure. A real life clinical practice
      study].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The dexamethasone biodegradable implant, ozurdex, is approved by the
      US Food and Drug Administration and by the European Medical Agency for the
      treatment of intermediate and posterior uveitis, and for the treatment of macular
      edema following retinal vein occlusion and diabetic macular edema. The aim of
      this study was to assess the effects of intraocular pressure in a cohort of
      patients from a real-life clinical practice. METHODS: Retrospective review was
      performed on the clinical records of patients treated with Ozurdex in Hospital
      Universitario Cruces in a 6 month period. The following variables were recorded:
      age, gender, diagnosis and history of glaucoma; intraocular pressure,
      antihypertensive treatment and macular thickness were recorded before the
      injection, and in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th months after the injection.
      STATISTICAL TESTS: Mann-Whitney U test, Chi square test (with Fisher correction
      when needed) and Wilcoxon test. The level of statistical significance was set at
      P<.05. RESULTS: The effects of 75 injections given to 67 patients (35 women: 52%;
      mean age: 62) were evaluated. Mean intraocular pressure before the injection was
      15.9 mmHg and at 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th months after de injection it was 18.80
      (P=.627), 18.84 (P=.494), 17.02 (P=.796) and 15.5 (P=.829), respectively. No
      statistically significant differences were observed in intraocular pressure
      measurements at the mentioned follow-up visits between patients with and without
      a history of glaucoma. CONCLUSIONS: In real-life clinical practice, ozurdex shows
      an excellent safety profile in terms of intraocular hypertension. Patients with a
      history of glaucoma may also show this profile, with ozurdex being a good option
      to treat retinal diseases in these patients.

PMID- 25817952
TI  - Retinal detachment caused by Arruga suture scleral intrusion. Treatment.
AB  - CASE REPORT: We present the case of an 81-year-old man with retinal detachment
      caused by intrusion of an Arruga suture. The encircling buckle was located in the
      sub-retinal space and caused retinal breaks with retinal detachment DISCUSSION: A
      pars plana vitrectomy was performed along with intraocular cutting of the Arruga
      suture with retinal re-attachment.

PMID- 25817953
TI  - Diagnosis of acute follicular conjunctivitis: A 5-year retrospective analysis in
      a referral center.
AB  - OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed using the medical
      records in a referral center in Mexico over a period of 5 years, in order to
      determine the frequency of acute follicular conjunctivitis. RESULTS AND
      CONCLUSIONS: A total of 859,986 ophthalmology consultations were given, from
      which 8,930 were diagnosed with acute follicular conjunctivitis (1.03% of the
      total). The number of patients diagnosed range between 100 and 200 in the
      majority of months. In August 2012 an increase was observed with 308 cases, and
      then decreasing after two months. This study did not demonstrate a highest
      frequency by month, with exception of year 2012 that showed a peak incidence in
      the third trimester.

PMID- 25817954
TI  - Chronic antithrombotic therapy in cataract surgery: How much evidence do we have?

PMID- 25817955
TI  - Comparative study of keratoconus between Anwar's deep anterior lamellar
      keratoplasty versus converted penetrating keratoplasty.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare outcomes between penetrating keratoplasty (PK) and deep
      anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) in patients with keratoconus. DESIGN:
      Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: Data of 90 DALK and 49 procedures from
      conversion to PK, performed by a single surgeon (R.D.) from 2006 to 2011 were
      analysed. Outcomes on corrected distance visual acuity (BCVA), astigmatism, time
      to first refraction, pachymetry, endothelial count cell, and postoperative
      complications were compared between these groups. RESULTS: The mean age of the
      patients who underwent DALK and PK was 28.2 and 31.7 years, respectively (P=.17).
      The mean follow up for DALK and for the PK group was 14.7 and 19.4 months,
      respectively (P=.13). There was no significant difference between PK and DALK
      groups in the mean postoperative for: BCVA (LogMAR) (0.17 vs. 0.17; P=.59);
      refractive astigmatism (-3.19 vs.-3.01 diopters; P=.65), and time for the first
      subjective refraction (60.5 versus 68 days; P=.50). Main postoperative
      complications were 8% of endothelial rejection in PK group and 10% of deep
      stromal vascularization in DALK group. CONCLUSIONS: The only differences in
      postoperative results between groups were stromal neovascularization in DALK
      group and endothelial rejection in PK group. DALK should be considered as the
      first option when keratoplasty is indicated in keratoconus.

PMID- 25817956
TI  - [Malyugin ring for intraoperative miosis in femtosecond laser phacovitrectomy].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the usefulness of the Malyugin ring in poor pupil dilation
      during phacoemulsification assisted with femtosecond laser with 23 gauge pars
      plana vitrectomy. METHOD: A 57-year-old female with cataract and vitreous
      hemorrhage, and poor pupil dilation (5.5mm). The phacoemulsification assisted
      with femtosecond laser, using Malyugin ring after capsulorrhexis, followed by
      pars plana vitrectomy, and removing at the end without complications. RESULTS: A
      successfull intraoperative pupil dilation was achieved without complications,
      with a final BCVA of 20/40. CONCLUSIONS: The Malyugin ring is an effective
      alternative in cases with poor pupil dilation in femtophacovitrectomy, preserving
      the anatomical and functional integrity.

PMID- 25817957
TI  - Anterior tuberculous scleritis: A diagnostic challenge.
AB  - CASE REPORT: We present the case of a 26 year-old Pakistani male, who after the
      presumptive diagnosis of anterior tuberculous scleritis (by an atypical clinical
      appearance and positive epidemiological link), was diagnosed with pulmonary
      tuberculosis. DISCUSSION: Nodular anterior scleritis is an uncommon presentation
      of tuberculosis (TB). It is considered a diagnostic challenge because of the
      difficulty to extract bacilli from the ocular tissue. However, a detailed medical
      history and eye examination can be the key to an accurate diagnosis and
      appropriate treatment of the TB.

PMID- 25817958
TI  - Comparative study of RetCamRetCam II vs. binocular ophthalmoscopy in a screening
      program for retinopathy of prematurity.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the performance of RetCam vs. binocular ophthalmoscopy
      (BIO) in a screening program for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). METHODS:
      Observational comparative study with prospective data collection. Examinations
      with RetCam (n=169) were performed on 83 infants included in a screening program
      for ROP and stored for analysis at a later stage. An experienced ophthalmologist
      examined the ocular fundus with binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy (BIO). The
      RetCam images were assessed for the presence of ROP, zone, grade, and presence of
      plus disease. RetCam and BIO data were compared by visually to estimate
      sensitivity, specificity, positive (VPP) and negative (VPN) predictive values.
      RESULTS: ROP disease was detected in 108 eyes with BIO, and in 74 with RetCam.
      Out of 306 eyes examined with RetCam, false negative results were found in 34
      eyes, with no false positives. Sensitivity of RetCam exam vs. BIO was 0.68, and
      specificity was 0.99. Positive predictive value was 0.93 and negative predictive
      value was 0.85. All 34 ROP cases not detected with RetCam were in zone III or
      outer zone II. They were all mild and regressed spontaneously. No threshold ROP
      was missed with RetCam. CONCLUSION: Binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy is the
      reference method for the diagnosis of ROP. RetCam may be used as an alternative
      for ROP screening.

PMID- 25817959
TI  - [Uveal effusion induced by escitalopram].
AB  - CASE REPORT: A 73 year-old woman with depression treated with escitalopram
      developed acute secondary angle closure glaucoma related to uveal effusion after
      duplicating the drug dose 3 days before. She evolved favorably once the
      antidepressant treatment was suspended and a new treatment with topical
      hypotensive therapy and oral prednisone was used. DISCUSSION: The uveal effusion
      syndrome associated to medicines is rare; it may be associated with acute myopic
      shift and acute angle closure glaucoma. The correct diagnosis and discontinuation
      of the drug lead to the resolution of this nosology.

PMID- 25817960
TI  - Standardization of the Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty technique:
      Outcomes of the first 450 consecutive cases.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the clinical outcome of the first 450 consecutive cases
      after Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK), as well as the effect of
      standardization of the technique. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Comparison between 3
      groups: Group I: (cases 1-125), as the extended learning curve; Group II: (cases
      126-250), transition to technique standardization; Group III: (cases 251-450),
      surgery with standardized technique. Best corrected visual acuity, endothelial
      cell density, pachymetry and intra- and postoperative complications were
      evaluated before, and 1, 3 and 6 months after DMEK. RESULTS: At 6 months after
      surgery, 79% of eyes reached a best corrected visual acuity of>=0.8 and 43%>=1.0.
      Mean preoperative endothelial cell density was 2,530+/-220 cells/mm2 and 1,613+/
      495 at 6 months after surgery. Mean pachymetry measured 668+/-92 MUm and 526+/-46
      MUm pre- and (6 months) postoperatively, respectively. There were no significant
      differences in best corrected visual acuity, endothelial cell density and
      pachymetry between the 3 groups (P > .05). Graft detachment presented in 17.3% of
      the eyes. The detachment rate declined from 24% to 12%, and the rate of secondary
      surgeries from 9.6% to 3.5%, from group I to III respectively. CONCLUSIONS:
      Visual outcomes and endothelial cell density after DMEK are independent of the
      technique standardization. However, technique standardization may have
      contributed to a lower graft detachment rate and a relatively low number of
      secondary interventions required. As such, DMEK may become the first choice of
      treatment in corneal endothelial disease.

PMID- 25817961
TI  - Stickler syndrome. Epidemiology of retinal detachment.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A review was performed on all patients with Stickler syndrome that had
      been treated in our Centre since it was diagnosed, in order to evaluate the risk
      of suffering a retinal detachment (RD). METHODS: A total of 14 patients,
      diagnosed by clinical criteria, were included. The following variables were
      evaluated: age, gender, ocular background, follow-up, initial and final visual
      acuity (VA), optical prescription, prophylactic treatment, surgery and techniques
      performed. The risk age to suffer a RD, as well as cataracts, was determined by
      using the Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis. RESULTS: From a total of 5 men
      and 9 women, the median initial VA was 0.35, which was the same as the final VA.
      The median optical prescription was -9.5 D myopia. The median of follow-up was 7
      years. Ocular background was 4 RD cases and 2 Lasik surgeries. The operations
      performed were 8 RD, 12 cataract, 2 glaucoma, 2 macular hole, and one endotropia.
      The median age of RD was 20 years and cataract 34 years. As regards surgical
      tecnique, 4 scleral buckle cases, and 4 scleral buckle+pars plana vitrectomy
      cases were formed. The prophylactic treatments performed were: one scleral buckle
      case, 4 endolaser photocoagulation, and one cryotherapy. Two of which presented
      with RD. CONCLUSION: In the series presented, retinal detachment in Stickler
      syndrome mainly occurs in the second decade of life, with cataracts mainly
      developing in the fourth decade.

PMID- 25817962
TI  - [Strabology in the 21st century].

PMID- 25817964
TI  - Comparative study of modification of the osmolarity in graft versus host disease.

PMID- 25817963
TI  - Bilateral acute retinal necrosis due to varicella zoster virus in an elderly
      patient.
AB  - CASE REPORT: The case is reported of acute retinal necrosis with bilateral
      involvement due to Varicella Zoster virus in a 77 year-old man. Polymerase chain
      reaction (PCR) of aqueous humor was positive for Varicella Zoster virus (VZV). He
      developed a Kyrieleis' vasculitis a month after the starting treatment, when the
      PCR analysis was negative. DISCUSSION: PCR is a quick and safe technique, with a
      high sensitivity and specificity of 97%, useful to diagnose and monitor the viral
      activity. The intervention must be urgent, due to the dramatically rapid
      evolution. Oral famciclovir oral is good alternative owing to its
      bioavailability.

PMID- 25817965
TI  - [Study of the effect of intravitreal dexamethasone implant in pseudophakic
      macular edema. Preliminary].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal dexamethasone implant on the
      treatment of pseudophakic macular edema (PME). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A
      retrospective, observational, descriptive study was conducted on 4 patients who
      received an intravitreal injection of dexamethasone implant due to PME in the
      period from 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013 in the Hospital Universitario
      de La Ribera (Alzira, Valencia, Spain). A complete ophthalmic examination was
      performed on these patients. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), macular
      thickness), and duration of the effect of the treatment were studied. RESULTS: At
      baseline, the mean MT was 414MUm. After dexamethasone implant, mean values of MT
      decreased to 330.25MUm at month one. The mean change from baseline MT was
      83.75MUm. The baseline mean BCVA was 0.3 and improved to 0.575 at month one and
      3. The mean duration of the effect of the treatment was 3.5 months. CONCLUSIONS:
      Intravitreal dexamethasone implant is a possible treatment for Irvine-Gass
      syndrome as it improved visual acuity and reduced the macular thickness of these
      patients.

PMID- 25817966
TI  - Uveitis-glaucoma-hyphema syndrome associated with recurrent vitreous hemorrhage.
AB  - CASE REPORT: A 61-year-old pseudophakic male with recurrent blurred vision
      episodes associated with uveitis, hyphema, glaucoma and vitreous hemorrhage. Iris
      transillumination defects and apposition of the optic and iris were found. The
      patient was diagnosed with Uveitis-Glaucoma-Hyphema (UGH) Syndrome. DISCUSSION:
      Mechanical irritation of the iris is a consequence of intraocular lens
      malposition and causes UGH Syndrome. Occasionally it is associated with vitreous
      hemorrhage. Lens malposition is detected by optical coherence tomography and/or
      ultrasound biomicroscopy.

PMID- 25817967
TI  - Study of the relationship between myopia and personality.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation between the myopic refractive error and
      certain personality traits, and to determine whether there is a correlation
      between the degree of myopia and an increased frequency in personality disorders.
      METHODS: Cross-sectional observational multicenter study conducted on 82 subjects
      (26 men, 56 women) age over 18 years with myopia (spherical defect <= -0.5 D),
      with 30 subjects having high myopia (<-6 D). DATA COLLECTED: age and gender,
      academic level, result in the Neo PI-R personality test, autorefractometry,
      myopic pathology, and ophthalmological treatment. RESULTS: Correlation
      (Spearman's) between the magnitude of the spherical defect and the 5 personality
      traits studied in the total sample was not statistically significant: neuroticism
      (-0.057; P=.610), extroversion (-0.020; P=.857), openness (-0.032; P=.774),
      kindness (-0.060; P=.592), and responsibility (-0.034; P=.765). By dividing them
      into subgroups of low and high significance (t-test), a significant (P=.002)
      upward trend of the myopic defect with increasing scores on extraversion was
      found. When comparing high myopic subjects to the non-high myopic ones, there
      were significant differences between the 2 groups in terms of the associated
      pathology (P=.001), received treatment (P=.001) and the level of studies
      (P=.013). There were no differences in the variables of personality: neuroticism
      (P=.852), extroversion (P=.199), openness (P=.560), kindness (P=.584), and
      responsibility (P=.722). CONCLUSIONS: A low correlation was found between myopia
      and personality. There was no difference in the degree of myopia between the
      groups with different education levels. Subjects with more severe ocular
      pathology associated with myopia had higher scores in neuroticism, without
      finding any significant association.

PMID- 25817968
TI  - [Posterior polymorphous dystrophy, case report and literature review].
AB  - CASE REPORT: Posterior Polymorphous Dystrophy (DPP) is a rare posterior corneal
      dystrophy that is genetically transmitted as autosomal dominant. Corneal
      structures affected in this dystrophy are Descemet membrane and the endothelium.
      A case is presented on a 47 years old woman with no relevant history, with
      typical findings of DPP (vesicular and band lesions at the endothelium and
      posterior Descemet). DISCUSSION: To our knowledge there are no reported cases of
      DPP in Latin-American patients in the literature. The clinical manifestations in
      our patient were found to be very similar to the cases reported in other
      populations.

PMID- 25817969
TI  - Large-scale automatic extraction of side effects associated with targeted
      anticancer drugs from full-text oncological articles.
AB  - Targeted anticancer drugs such as imatinib, trastuzumab and erlotinib
      dramatically improved treatment outcomes in cancer patients, however, these
      innovative agents are often associated with unexpected side effects. The
      pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these side effects are not well
      understood. The availability of a comprehensive knowledge base of side effects
      associated with targeted anticancer drugs has the potential to illuminate complex
      pathways underlying toxicities induced by these innovative drugs. While side
      effect association knowledge for targeted drugs exists in multiple heterogeneous
      data sources, published full-text oncological articles represent an important
      source of pivotal, investigational, and even failed trials in a variety of
      patient populations. In this study, we present an automatic process to extract
      targeted anticancer drug-associated side effects (drug-SE pairs) from a large
      number of high profile full-text oncological articles. We downloaded 13,855 full
      text articles from the Journal of Oncology (JCO) published between 1983 and 2013.
      We developed text classification, relationship extraction, signaling filtering,
      and signal prioritization algorithms to extract drug-SE pairs from downloaded
      articles. We extracted a total of 26,264 drug-SE pairs with an average precision
      of 0.405, a recall of 0.899, and an F1 score of 0.465. We show that side effect
      knowledge from JCO articles is largely complementary to that from the US Food and
      Drug Administration (FDA) drug labels. Through integrative correlation analysis,
      we show that targeted drug-associated side effects positively correlate with
      their gene targets and disease indications. In conclusion, this unique database
      that we built from a large number of high-profile oncological articles could
      facilitate the development of computational models to understand toxic effects
      associated with targeted anticancer drugs. 

PMID- 25817970
TI  - Cadec: A corpus of adverse drug event annotations.
AB  - CSIRO Adverse Drug Event Corpus (Cadec) is a new rich annotated corpus of medical
      forum posts on patient-reported Adverse Drug Events (ADEs). The corpus is sourced
      from posts on social media, and contains text that is largely written in
      colloquial language and often deviates from formal English grammar and
      punctuation rules. Annotations contain mentions of concepts such as drugs,
      adverse effects, symptoms, and diseases linked to their corresponding concepts in
      controlled vocabularies, i.e., SNOMED Clinical Terms and MedDRA. The quality of
      the annotations is ensured by annotation guidelines, multi-stage annotations,
      measuring inter-annotator agreement, and final review of the annotations by a
      clinical terminologist. This corpus is useful for studies in the area of
      information extraction, or more generally text mining, from social media to
      detect possible adverse drug reactions from direct patient reports. The corpus is
      publicly available at https://data.csiro.au.(1). 

PMID- 25817972
TI  - Re: dingoes are a major causal factor for the decline and distribution of sheep
      in Australia.

PMID- 25817973
TI  - Evaluation of prognostic indicators for canine primary immune-mediated haemolytic
      anaemia and application of a scoring system for the determination of prognosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Apply a previously described scoring system retrospectively to cases
      of canine primary immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (pIMHA) to determine its
      accuracy and reliability for the determination of prognosis in Victoria,
      Australia. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study of 41 dogs diagnosed with pIMHA at
      the University of Melbourne Veterinary Hospital (UMVH) between August 2006 to
      December 2012. RESULTS: Of the 41 dogs included, 70.7% were female while 29.3%
      were male. The overall mortality in this study was 43.9%. The previously
      described prognostic scoring system when applied to cases of pIMHA in Victoria,
      Australia, was not found to show statistical significance for prognostification.
      None of the five prognostic factors were found to be independently significant
      for prognostification. CONCLUSION: Application of the previously described
      prognostic scoring system indicated that it may not be reliable for predicting
      prognoses of dogs with pIMHA in Victoria, Australia.

PMID- 25817974
TI  - Preoperative factors associated with hypotension in young anaesthetised dogs
      undergoing elective desexing.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Document the proportion of dogs with perioperative hypotension and
      explore the association of sex, age and body mass and indices of hydration with
      mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) in two cohorts of young, healthy anaesthetised
      dogs. METHODS: Dogs were anaesthetised with a standardised protocol. The
      proportion of dogs with invasively measured MAP <60 mmHg for >=10 min was
      recorded. The area under the MAP*time curve (MAP-AUC) was calculated for a
      standard perioperative period. The association of explanatory variables,
      including sex, age, body mass and indices of hydration (urine specific gravity
      (USG), packed cell volume and total solids) measured prior to surgery, with the
      MAP-AUC was explored using regression analysis in the first cohort (n = 71) and
      externally validated in the second cohort (n = 24). RESULTS: In cohort 1, 35 of
      71 dogs (0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.37-0.61) dogs and 17/24 dogs in
      cohort 2 (0.71, 95% CI 0.53-0.89) developed hypotension. Regression analysis
      showed that age and USG were significantly associated with MAP-AUC for cohort 1
      (P = 0.0138). There was a positive association of MAP-AUC with age and a negative
      association with USG. The association of MAP-AUC with USG was supported in cohort
      2, with a significant negative association (P = 0.014, r = -0.54) CONCLUSION: The
      high frequency of hypotension in both cohorts supports blood pressure monitoring
      during anaesthesia of young, healthy dogs. USG, an index of hydration, appears
      negatively associated with MAP during anaesthesia, suggesting that subclinical
      dehydration may contribute to lower MAP during surgical anaesthesia.

PMID- 25817975
TI  - Addisonian crisis in a dog treated with phenobarbitone.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A 2-year-old intact female Irish Setter was presented with a 1-week
      history of anorexia, lethargy, vomiting and diarrhoea. Previous medical therapy
      included a 3-week treatment with phenobarbitone for suspected idiopathic
      epilepsy. In humans, phenobarbitone accelerates metabolism of both exogenous and
      endogenous steroids. CASE REPORT: Based on history, the physical examination
      showing abnormal mentation and laboratory abnormalities including azotaemia,
      hyponatraemia and hyperkalaemia, Addisonian crisis was suspected. An
      adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation test was performed and confirmed the
      diagnosis. Treatment with intravenous fluid therapy, glucocorticoids and
      mineralocorticoids led to a resolution of clinical signs in 3 days. CONCLUSION:
      To the authors' current knowledge, this is the first reported case of Addisonian
      crisis in a dog most probably related to phenobarbitone administration. As
      Addisonian crisis can be life-threatening, clinicians should be aware of this
      adverse effect of phenobarbitone and use it cautiously in dogs with borderline
      hypoadrenocorticism.

PMID- 25817976
TI  - Agreement among three different equine venipuncture sites with regard to
      measurement of packed cell volume and total solids.
AB  - The primary objective of this study was to determine the agreement between the
      packed cell volume (PCV) and total solids (TS) values in blood collected from the
      jugular vein (JV) in comparison with the cephalic vein (CV) and the transverse
      facial venous sinus (TFVS) in healthy adult horses. A total of 72 samples were
      taken from 24 horses. We found high agreement that reflects no clinically
      relevant differences between the PCV and TS values obtained from the CV or the
      TFVS in comparison with the JV in standing healthy adult horses. 

PMID- 25817977
TI  - Effect of an anti-gonadotropin-releasing factor vaccine on sexual and aggressive
      behaviour in male pigs during the finishing period under Australian field
      conditions.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an
      anti-gonadotropin-releasing factor vaccine in controlling sexual and aggressive
      behaviour of male pigs in the late finishing period under Australian field
      conditions. METHODS: Male pigs from four consecutive batches over a 4-month
      period were randomly assigned to two groups: an untreated control group (n = 434)
      or a group treated with Improvac(r) (n = 433). The vaccine was administered at 10
      and 16 weeks of age. Pigs were housed under commercial conditions in ecoshelters,
      a commonly used housing system in Australia in which pigs are kept in large pens
      often containing >100 animals. The occurrence of sexual and aggressive behaviours
      was recorded and evaluated after second vaccination until slaughter at 22 weeks
      of age. RESULTS: Male pigs treated with Improvac demonstrated significant
      reductions in mounting, fighting, pushing, head butting and tail manipulation
      when compared with control animals. CONCLUSION: This study confirms that
      vaccination with Improvac can improve the welfare of entire male pigs by
      inhibiting sexual and aggressive behaviour.

PMID- 25817978
TI  - Effect of the route of administration on the mucosal and systemic immune
      responses to Lawsonia intracellularis vaccine in pigs.
AB  - In an on-farm study, 40 weaned piglets aged 3 weeks were vaccinated with Lawsonia
      intracellularis vaccine orally, IM or IP while a fourth group remained
      unvaccinated. All vaccinated animals showed increased serum levels of L.
      intracellularis-specific IgG antibodies, but significantly elevated
      concentrations of specific IgG, IgA and cytokines were generated in ileal mucosal
      secretions from the orally and IP vaccinated pigs when examined at 17 days after
      vaccination.

PMID- 25817981
TI  - Handling the hot potatoes - issues and advocacy update.

PMID- 25817982
TI  - Evaluation of perioperative complications in open and laparoscopic surgery for
      renal cell cancer with tumor thrombus involvement using the Clavien-Dindo
      classification.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify risk factors for perioperative complications and morbidity
      in renal cell cancer (RCC) surgery with tumor thrombus invasion (TTI). PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: Retrospective single-center analysis of 128 patients who underwent
      open (n = 97) or laparoscopic (n = 31) radical nephrectomy (NT) for RCC between
      1999 and 2010. TTI was at Mayo-Level 0, I, II, III, IV in 88, 7, 10, 4, and 19
      cases, respectively. Cavotomy was performed in 27, liver mobilisation in 20, and
      cardiovascular bypass in 17 patients. RESULTS: The rate of any early
      postoperative complication (PC) by Clavien-Dindo classification was 58.6%, while
      the severe early PC rate was 29.7%. There was a statistically significant
      difference in multivariate analysis in the incidence of any early PC and of
      severe early PC by Charlson score (OR:1.584 (95%CI:1.141-2.199), p = 0.006;
      OR:3.065 (95%CI:1.218-7.714), p = 0.017) and by tumor thrombus level TNM-UICC
      2010 T3a/T3c (OR:10.668 (95%CI:1.266-89.871), p = 0.029; OR:10.502 (95%CI:2.981
      36.992), p < 0.001). In pT3a cases open NT was associated with a higher early
      (57.9% vs. 25.8%) and severe (24.6% vs. 9.7%) PC rate compared to laparoscopic
      NT. The 30-day mortality rate was 0%. The 90-day mortality rate was 6.3% but 100%
      cancer-related. In Cox regression analysis tumor thrombus level was not
      predictive for overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: The strongest risk factor for early
      and severe PC in patients with TTI is a supradiaphragmatic tumor thrombus. In
      cases with severe PC, this fact persists when comparing Mayo-Levels II-III and
      Level IV. In pT3a cases open NT shows a 2-fold higher early PC rate compared to
      laparoscopic NT.

PMID- 25817983
TI  - Surgically treated patients with axial and peripheral Ewing's sarcoma family of
      tumours: A population based study in Finland during 1990-2009.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The surgical treatment of Ewing's sarcoma family tumours (ESFTs) is
      challenging especially with axial tumours. The aim of the study was to analyse
      surgical treatment and outcome in a nationwide, population-based material
      consisting of surgically treated axial and peripheral ESFTs of bone and soft
      tissue. METHODS: The data were collected from the Finnish National Cancer
      Registry and the medical records of patients diagnosed during 1990-2009. Fifty
      seven patients with surgically treated ESFTs were included, 22 with an axial and
      35 with a peripheral primary tumours. The surgical treatment, its complications,
      survival and prognostic factors were analysed. RESULTS: Fifty-four patients
      underwent surgery with a curative intent and three underwent de-bulking
      operations. Bone reconstruction was performed in six patients with an axial and
      15 with a peripheral tumour. Positive resection margins were associated with a
      worse five-year local relapse-free survival (33% vs. 84% for those with resection
      margins free of tumour cells, p = 0.003). The five-year sarcoma-specific survival
      was affected only by an axial location of the primary (61% vs. 89% for those with
      a peripheral tumour, p = 0.031). The late complications were mainly associated
      with bone reconstruction and more frequent among patients with a peripheral
      compared to an axial tumour (p = 0.031). CONCLUSIONS: In the treatment of ESFTs,
      achieving adequate resection margins is crucial to avoid local relapses. Surgical
      complications are common particularly with bone reconstruction.

PMID- 25817984
TI  - Plague bacterium as a transformer species in prairie dogs and the grasslands of
      western North America.
AB  - Invasive transformer species change the character, condition, form, or nature of
      ecosystems and deserve considerable attention from conservation scientists. We
      applied the transformer species concept to the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis
      in western North America, where the pathogen was introduced around 1900. Y.
      pestis transforms grassland ecosystems by severely depleting the abundance of
      prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) and thereby causing declines in native species
      abundance and diversity, including threatened and endangered species; altering
      food web connections; altering the import and export of nutrients; causing a loss
      of ecosystem resilience to encroaching invasive plants; and modifying prairie dog
      burrows. Y. pestis poses an important challenge to conservation biologists
      because it causes trophic-level perturbations that affect the stability of
      ecosystems. Unfortunately, understanding of the effects of Y. pestis on
      ecosystems is rudimentary, highlighting an acute need for continued research. 

PMID- 25817985
TI  - How Kinesthetic Motor Imagery works: a predictive-processing theory of
      visualization in sports and motor expertise.
AB  - Kinesthetic Motor Imagery (KMI) is an important technique to acquire and refine
      motor skills. KMI is widely used by professional athletes as an effective way to
      improve motor performance without overt motor output. Despite this obvious
      relevance, the functional mechanisms and neural circuits involved in KMI in
      sports are still poorly understood. In the present article, which aims at
      bridging the sport sciences and cognitive neurophysiology literatures, we give a
      brief overview of relevant research in the field of KMI. Furthermore, we develop
      a theoretical account that relates KMI to predictive motor control theories
      assuming that it is based on internal activation of anticipatory images of action
      effects. This mechanism allows improving motor performance solely based on
      internal emulation of action. In accordance with previous literature, we propose
      that this emulation mechanism is implemented in brain regions that partially
      overlap with brain areas involved in overt motor performance including the
      posterior parietal cortex, the cerebellum, the basal ganglia and the premotor
      cortex. Finally, we outline one way to test the heuristic value of our
      theoretical framework for KMI; we suggest that experience with motor performance
      improves the ability to correctly infer the goals of others, in particular in
      penalty blocking in soccer.

PMID- 25817987
TI  - Evaluation of tools used to measure critical thinking development in nursing and
      midwifery undergraduate students: a systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Well developed critical thinking skills are essential for nursing and
      midwifery practices. The development of students' higher-order cognitive
      abilities, such as critical thinking, is also well recognised in nursing and
      midwifery education. Measurement of critical thinking development is important to
      demonstrate change over time and effectiveness of teaching strategies. OBJECTIVE:
      To evaluate tools designed to measure critical thinking in nursing and midwifery
      undergraduate students. DATA SOURCES: The following six databases were searched
      and resulted in the retrieval of 1191 papers: CINAHL, Ovid Medline, ERIC,
      Informit, PsycINFO and Scopus. REVIEW METHODS: After screening for inclusion,
      each paper was evaluated using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Tool.
      Thirty-four studies met the inclusion criteria and quality appraisal. Sixteen
      different tools that measure critical thinking were reviewed for reliability and
      validity and extent to which the domains of critical thinking were evident.
      RESULTS: Sixty percent of studies utilised one of four standardised commercially
      available measures of critical thinking. Reliability and validity were not
      consistently reported and there was a variation in reliability across studies
      that used the same measure. Of the remaining studies using different tools, there
      was also limited reporting of reliability making it difficult to assess internal
      consistency and potential applicability of measures across settings. CONCLUSIONS:
      Discipline specific instruments to measure critical thinking in nursing and
      midwifery are required, specifically tools that measure the application of
      critical thinking to practise. Given that critical thinking development occurs
      over an extended period, measurement needs to be repeated and multiple methods of
      measurement used over time.

PMID- 25817988
TI  - The ECG and the pre-participation examination of young athletes.

PMID- 25817986
TI  - Correlation between pediatrician supply and public health in Japan as evidenced
      by vaccination coverage in 2010: secondary data analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In industrialized countries, assessment of the causal effect of
      physician supply on population health has yielded mixed results. Since the scope
      of child vaccination is an indicator of preventive health service utilization,
      this study investigates the correlation between vaccination coverage and
      pediatrician supply as a reflection of overall pediatric health during a time of
      increasing pediatrician numbers in Japan. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were
      collected from publicly available sources for 2010. Dependent variables were
      vaccination coverage for measles and diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT) by
      region. The primary predictor of interest was number of pediatricians per 10,000
      child population (pediatrician density) at the municipality level. Multivariate
      logistic regression models were used to estimate associations of interest,
      conditional on a large range of demographic and infrastructure-related factors as
      covariates, including non-pediatric physician density, total population, per
      capita income, occupation, unemployment rate, prevalence of single motherhood,
      number of hospital beds per capita, length of roads, crime rate, accident rate,
      and metropolitan area code as urban/rural status. The percentage of the
      population who completed college-level education or higher in 2010 was included
      in the model as a proxy for education level. RESULTS: Pediatrician density was
      positively and significantly associated with vaccination coverage for both
      vaccine series. On average, each unit of pediatrician density increased odds by
      1.012 for measles (95% confidence interval, 1.010-1.015) and 1.019 for DPT (95%
      confidence interval, 1.016-1.022). CONCLUSIONS: Policies increasing pediatrician
      supply contribute to improved preventive healthcare services utilization, such as
      immunizations, and presumably improved child health status in Japan.

PMID- 25817989
TI  - Pulmonary Cryptococcosis in HIV- sero-negative patients: case series from India.
AB  - Pulmonary cryptococcosis is likely to be misdiagnosed due to relatively non
      specific clinical and radiological features. It is more frequently associated
      with immuno-suppressed conditions especially acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome
      (AIDS) and pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). Four cases of pulmonary cryptococcosis
      were diagnosed over a period of eleven years. All patients in this case series
      were human immune-deficiency virus (HIV)-negative. The predisposing factors in
      these patients were diabetes mellitus (DM), acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL),
      post-partum and pregnancy in one each of the patients. Relapse was seen in two
      cases. All the patients survived due to strict follow-up. Pulmonary
      cryptococcosis is common in non-AIDS patients and it warrants rapid diagnosis,
      treatment and follow-up to prevent relapse. 

PMID- 25817990
TI  - Efficacy of squaric acid dibutyl ester in treatment of recalcitrant warts in
      children.

PMID- 25817991
TI  - Transforming growth factor-beta3 regulates cell junction restructuring via MAPK
      mediated mRNA destabilization and Smad-dependent protein degradation of
      junctional adhesion molecule B (JAM-B).
AB  - Junctional adhesion molecule-B (JAM-B) is found between Sertoli cells at the
      blood-testis barrier (BTB) as well as between Sertoli and germ cells at the
      apical ectoplasmic specializations (ES) in the testis. The expression of JAM-B is
      tightly regulated to modulate the passage of spermatocytes across the BTB as well
      as the release of mature spermatozoa from the seminiferous epithelium.
      Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) family is implicated in the regulation
      of testicular cell junction dynamics during spermatogenesis. This study aims to
      investigate the effects of TGF-beta3 on the expression of JAM-B as well as the
      underlying mechanisms on how TGF-beta3 regulates JAM-B expression to facilitate
      the disassembly of the BTB and apical ES. Our results revealed that TGF-beta3
      suppresses JAM-B at post-transcriptional and post-translational levels.
      Inhibitor, siRNA knockdown and co-immunoprecipitation have shown that TGF-beta3
      induces JAM-B protein degradation via ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.
      Immunofluorescence staining further confirmed that blockage of ubiquitin
      proteasome pathway could abrogate TGF-beta3-induced loss of JAM-B at the cell
      cell interface. siRNA knockdown and immunofluorescence staining also demonstrated
      that activation of Smad signaling is required for TGF-beta3-induced JAM-B protein
      degradation. In addition, TGF-beta3 reduces JAM-B mRNA levels, at least in part,
      via post-transcriptional regulation. mRNA stability assay has confirmed that TGF
      beta3 promotes the degradation of JAM-B transcript and TGF-beta3-mediated mRNA
      destabilization requires the activation of ERK1/2 and p54 JNK signal cascades.
      Taken together, TGF-beta3 significantly downregulates JAM-B expression via post
      transcriptional and post-translational modulation and results in the disruption
      of BTB and apical ES. 

PMID- 25817992
TI  - Interactions between Bcl-xl and its inhibitors: Insights into ligand design from
      molecular dynamics simulation.
AB  - The Bcl-xl protein is a potential drug target for cancer, and it has a relatively
      flat and flexible binding pocket. ABT263 is one of the most promising molecules
      that inhibit Bcl-xl, and it was developed from its precursor ABT737 with suitable
      substitutions. However, the structural and mechanistic implications of those
      changes have not yet been reported. Molecular dynamics simulation has revealed
      that the conformational microstates of the complex of Bcl-xl and ABT263 shows
      heterogeneity at the binding interface with Bcl-xl in contrast to the precise
      interactions witnessed in case of ABT737. This occurs because not all the
      functional groups of ABT263 are able to anchor into the binding pocket
      simultaneously at the time of complexation; leaving at least one group weakly
      associated every time. The insight into the mechanism shows that, in spite of
      such mutual exclusivity, the resultant effect becomes beneficial, i.e., becomes
      more effective than ABT737. Going against the traditional belief, the
      calculations also confirm that there is no benefit of reshaping the highly
      flexible binding pocket to allow the ligand to be comfortably accommodated and
      avoid conflicting orientations of the functional groups, as the destabilization
      becomes active from other sources. These structural clues and in-silico tests
      suggest possible avenues for improving the binding affinity of ABT263 through
      further in-vitro and in-vivo tests. 

PMID- 25817993
TI  - Phenotypic malignant changes and untargeted lipidomic analysis of long-term
      exposed prostate cancer cells to endocrine disruptors.
AB  - Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are a class of environmental toxic molecules able to
      interfere with the normal hormone metabolism. Numerous studies involve EDs
      exposure to initiation and development of cancers, including prostate cancer. In
      this work, three different EDs (aldrin, aroclor 1254 and chlorpyrifos (CPF)) were
      investigated as potential inducers of a malignant phenotype in DU145 prostate
      cancer cells after a chronic exposure. Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT)
      induction, proliferation, migration, colony formation and release of
      metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) were analyzed in 50-day exposed cells to the selected
      EDs. As a result, aldrin and CPF exposure led to an EMT induction (loss of 16%
      and 14% of E-cadherin levels, respectively, compared to the unexposed cells).
      Aroclor and CPF presented an increased migration (134% and 126%, respectively),
      colony formation (204% and 144%, respectively) and MMP-2 release (137% in both
      cases) compared to the unexposed cells. An untargeted lipidomic analysis was
      performed to decipher the lipids involved in the observed transformations. As
      general results, aldrin exposure showed a global decrease in phospholipids and
      sphingolipids, and aroclor and CPF showed an increase of certain phospholipids,
      glycosphingolipids as well as a remarkable increase of some cardiolipin species.
      Furthermore, the three exposures resulted in an increase of some triglyceride
      species. In conclusion, some significant changes in lipids were identified and
      thus we postulate that some lipid compounds and lipid metabolic pathways could be
      involved in the acquisition of the malignant phenotype in exposed prostate cancer
      cells to the selected EDs. 

PMID- 25817994
TI  - PqqD is a novel peptide chaperone that forms a ternary complex with the radical S
      adenosylmethionine protein PqqE in the pyrroloquinoline quinone biosynthetic
      pathway.
AB  - Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) is a product of a ribosomally synthesized and post
      translationally modified pathway consisting of five conserved genes, pqqA-E. PqqE
      is a radical S-adenosylmethionine (RS) protein with a C-terminal SPASM domain,
      and is proposed to catalyze the formation of a carbon-carbon bond between the
      glutamate and tyrosine side chains of the peptide substrate PqqA. PqqD is a 10
      kDa protein with an unknown function, but is essential for PQQ production.
      Recently, in Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp), PqqD and PqqE were shown to interact;
      however, the stoichiometry and KD were not obtained. Here, we show that the PqqE
      and PqqD interaction transcends species, also occurring in Methylobacterium
      extorquens AM1 (Me). The stoichiometry of the MePqqD and MePqqE interaction is
      1:1 and the KD, determined by surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy (SPR), was
      found to be ~12 MUm. Moreover, using SPR and isothermal calorimetry techniques,
      we establish for the first time that MePqqD binds MePqqA tightly (KD ~200 nm).
      The formation of a ternary MePqqA-D-E complex was captured by native mass
      spectrometry and the KD for the MePqqAD-MePqqE interaction was found to be ~5
      MUm. Finally, using a bioinformatic analysis, we found that PqqD orthologues are
      associated with the RS-SPASM family of proteins (subtilosin, pyrroloquinoline
      quinone, anaerobic sulfatase maturating enzyme, and mycofactocin), all of which
      modify either peptides or proteins. In conclusion, we propose that PqqD is a
      novel peptide chaperone and that PqqD orthologues may play a similar role in
      peptide modification pathways that use an RS-SPASM protein. 

PMID- 25817995
TI  - Modulation of Aminoacylation and Editing Properties of Leucyl-tRNA Synthetase by
      a Conserved Structural Module.
AB  - A conserved structural module following the KMSKS catalytic loop exhibits alpha
      alpha-beta-alpha topology in class Ia and Ib aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. However,
      the function of this domain has received little attention. Here, we describe the
      effect this module has on the aminoacylation and editing capacities of leucyl
      tRNA synthetases (LeuRSs) by characterizing the key residues from various
      species. Mutation of highly conserved basic residues on the third alpha-helix of
      this domain impairs the affinity of LeuRS for the anticodon stem of tRNA(Leu),
      which decreases both aminoacylation and editing activities. Two glycine residues
      on this alpha-helix contribute to flexibility, leucine activation, and editing of
      LeuRS from Escherichia coli (EcLeuRS). Acidic residues on the beta-strand enhance
      the editing activity of EcLeuRS and sense the size of the tRNA(Leu) D-loop.
      Incorporation of these residues stimulates the tRNA-dependent editing activity of
      the chimeric minimalist enzyme Mycoplasma mobile LeuRS fused to the connective
      polypeptide 1 editing domain and leucine-specific domain from EcLeuRS. Together,
      these results reveal the stem contact-fold to be a functional as well as a
      structural linker between the catalytic site and the tRNA binding domain.
      Sequence comparison of the EcLeuRS stem contact-fold domain with editing
      deficient enzymes suggests that key residues of this module have evolved an
      adaptive strategy to follow the editing functions of LeuRS. 

PMID- 25817996
TI  - Dimeric c-di-GMP is required for post-translational regulation of alginate
      production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
AB  - Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic human pathogen that secretes the
      exopolysaccharide alginate during infection of the respiratory tract of
      individuals afflicted with cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary
      disease. Among the proteins required for alginate production, Alg44 has been
      identified as an inner membrane protein whose bis-(3',5')-cyclic dimeric
      guanosine monophosphate (c-di-GMP) binding activity post-translationally
      regulates alginate secretion. In this study, we report the 1.8 A crystal
      structure of the cytoplasmic region of Alg44 in complex with dimeric self
      intercalated c-di-GMP and characterize its dinucleotide-binding site using
      mutational analysis. The structure shows that the c-di-GMP binding region of
      Alg44 adopts a PilZ domain fold with a dimerization mode not previously observed
      for this family of proteins. Calorimetric binding analysis of residues in the c
      di-GMP binding site demonstrate that mutation of Arg-17 and Arg-95 alters the
      binding stoichiometry between c-di-GMP and Alg44 from 2:1 to 1:1. Introduction of
      these mutant alleles on the P. aeruginosa chromosome show that the residues
      required for binding of dimeric c-di-GMP in vitro are also required for efficient
      alginate production in vivo. These results suggest that the dimeric form of c-di
      GMP represents the biologically active signaling molecule needed for the
      secretion of an important virulence factor produced by P. aeruginosa. 

PMID- 25817997
TI  - Vacuolar SNARE protein transmembrane domains serve as nonspecific membrane
      anchors with unequal roles in lipid mixing.
AB  - Membrane fusion is induced by SNARE complexes that are anchored in both fusion
      partners. SNAREs zipper up from the N to C terminus bringing the two membranes
      into close apposition. Their transmembrane domains (TMDs) might be mere anchoring
      devices, deforming bilayers by mechanical force. Structural studies suggested
      that TMDs might also perturb lipid structure by undergoing conformational
      transitions or by zipping up into the bilayer. Here, we tested this latter
      hypothesis, which predicts that the activity of SNAREs should depend on the
      primary sequence of their TMDs. We replaced the TMDs of all vacuolar SNAREs
      (Nyv1, Vam3, and Vti1) by a lipid anchor, by a TMD from a protein unrelated to
      the membrane fusion machinery, or by artificial leucine-valine sequences.
      Individual exchange of the native SNARE TMDs against an unrelated transmembrane
      anchor or an artificial leucine-valine sequence yielded normal fusion activities.
      Fusion activity was also preserved upon pairwise exchange of the TMDs against
      unrelated peptides, which eliminates the possibility for specific TMD-TMD
      interactions. Thus, a specific primary sequence or zippering beyond the SNARE
      domains is not a prerequisite for fusion. Lipid-anchored Vti1 was fully active,
      and lipid-anchored Nyv1 permitted the reaction to proceed up to hemifusion, and
      lipid-anchored Vam3 interfered already before hemifusion. The unequal
      contribution of proteinaceous TMDs on Vam3 and Nyv1 suggests that Q- and R-SNAREs
      might make different contributions to the hemifusion intermediate and the opening
      of the fusion pore. Furthermore, our data support the view that SNARE TMDs serve
      as nonspecific membrane anchors in vacuole fusion. 

PMID- 25817998
TI  - Mechanistic Studies Reveal Similar Catalytic Strategies for Phosphodiester Bond
      Hydrolysis by Protein-only and RNA-dependent Ribonuclease P.
AB  - Ribonuclease P (RNase P) is an endonuclease that catalyzes the essential removal
      of the 5' end of tRNA precursors. Until recently, all identified RNase P enzymes
      were a ribonucleoprotein with a conserved catalytic RNA component. However, the
      discovery of protein-only RNase P (PRORP) shifted this paradigm, affording a
      unique opportunity to compare mechanistic strategies used by naturally evolved
      protein and RNA-based enzymes that catalyze the same reaction. Here we
      investigate the enzymatic mechanism of pre-tRNA hydrolysis catalyzed by the NYN
      (Nedd4-BP1, YacP nuclease) metallonuclease of Arabidopsis thaliana, PRORP1.
      Multiple and single turnover kinetic data support a mechanism where a step at or
      before chemistry is rate-limiting and provide a kinetic framework to interpret
      the results of metal alteration, mutations, and pH dependence. Catalytic activity
      has a cooperative dependence on the magnesium concentration (nH = 2) under
      kcat/Km conditions, suggesting that PRORP1 catalysis is optimal with at least two
      active site metal ions, consistent with the crystal structure. Metal rescue of
      Asp-to-Ala mutations identified two aspartates important for enhancing metal ion
      affinity. The single turnover pH dependence of pre-tRNA cleavage revealed a
      single ionization (pKa ~ 8.7) important for catalysis, consistent with
      deprotonation of a metal-bound water nucleophile. The pH and metal dependence
      mirrors that observed for the RNA-based RNase P, suggesting similar catalytic
      mechanisms. Thus, despite different macromolecular composition, the RNA and
      protein-based RNase P act as dynamic scaffolds for the binding and positioning of
      magnesium ions to catalyze phosphodiester bond hydrolysis. 

PMID- 25817999
TI  - Redox Signal-mediated Enhancement of the Temperature Sensitivity of Transient
      Receptor Potential Melastatin 2 (TRPM2) Elevates Glucose-induced Insulin
      Secretion from Pancreatic Islets.
AB  - Transient receptor potential melastatin 2 (TRPM2) is a thermosensitive Ca(2+)
      permeable cation channel expressed by pancreatic beta cells where channel
      function is constantly affected by body temperature. We focused on the
      physiological functions of redox signal-mediated TRPM2 activity at body
      temperature. H2O2, an important molecule in redox signaling, reduced the
      temperature threshold for TRPM2 activation in pancreatic beta cells of WT mice
      but not in TRPM2KO cells. TRPM2-mediated [Ca(2+)]i increases were likely caused
      by Ca(2+) influx through the plasma membrane because the responses were abolished
      in the absence of extracellular Ca(2+). In addition, TRPM2 activation downstream
      from the redox signal plus glucose stimulation enhanced glucose-induced insulin
      secretion. H2O2 application at 37  degrees C induced [Ca(2+)]i increases not only
      in WT but also in TRPM2KO beta cells. This was likely due to the effect of H2O2
      on KATP channel activity. However, the N-acetylcysteine-sensitive fraction of
      insulin secretion by WT islets was increased by temperature elevation, and this
      temperature-dependent enhancement was diminished significantly in TRPM2KO islets.
      These data suggest that endogenous redox signals in pancreatic beta cells elevate
      insulin secretion via TRPM2 sensitization and activity at body temperature. The
      results in this study could provide new therapeutic approaches for the regulation
      of diabetic conditions by focusing on the physiological function of TRPM2 and
      redox signals. 

PMID- 25818000
TI  - Effects of concentration and structure on proteoglycan 4 rheology and interaction
      with hyaluronan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The contribution of proteoglycan 4 (PRG4) to synovial fluid and
      hyaluronan (HA) solution rheology are poorly understood. The effects of PRG4
      disulfide-bonded structure on viscosity and viscosity of newly available full
      length recombinant human PRG4 (rhPRG4) have not previously been reported.
      OBJECTIVE: This study determined the viscosity of PRG4 and rhPRG4, R/A (reduced
      and alkylated) PRG4 and rhPRG4, and PRG4 and rhPRG4+HA solutions. METHODS: Steady
      shear viscosities of 1.5 MDa HA, PRG4 from bovine cartilage explant culture,
      rhPRG4 and (rh)PRG4+HA solutions were measured with 40 mm parallel plate
      fixtures. RESULTS: PRG4 demonstrated shear-dependent viscosity at high
      concentrations, but Newtonian behaviour at low concentrations and when disulfide
      bonded/multimeric structure was disrupted by R/A. rhPRG4 demonstrated Newtonian
      behaviour over all concentrations tested and upon R/A. At high HA concentrations,
      rhPRG4 reduced solution viscosity, suggesting a binding interaction. At low HA
      concentrations, solution viscosity was increased relative to HA alone, possibly
      due to self-association of rhPRG4. Effects of PRG4 on HA solution viscosity were
      dependent on PRG4's disulfide-bonded structure. CONCLUSIONS: The finding that
      rhPRG4 can increase the viscosity of low concentration HA solutions suggests that
      supplementation with rhPRG4 may help mitigate the loss in synovial fluid
      viscosity experienced with decreased HA concentration in osteoarthritis.

PMID- 25818001
TI  - The manipulation of alcohol-related interpretation biases by means of Cognitive
      Bias Modification--Interpretation (CBM-I).
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There is a large body of evidence demonstrating that
      alcohol abuse and misuse is characterized by alcohol-related interpretation
      biases (IBs). The present study tested whether alcohol-related IBs can be
      trained, and whether this has an effect on alcohol-related associations and
      drinking behavior. A newly developed alcohol Cognitive Bias Modification -
      Interpretation (CBM-I) training was employed. The potential moderating effect of
      executive control on CBM-I training effects was tested. METHOD: Participants were
      hazardously male drinking students. A classical Stroop was used to assess levels
      of executive control. Half of the sample was trained to interpret ambiguous
      alcohol-related scenarios in an alcohol-related manner (alcohol training group),
      whereas the other half was trained to interpret ambiguous alcohol-related
      scenarios in a neutral manner (neutral training group). A Single Target Implicit
      Association Test (STIAT) was used to test whether the training would generalize
      to implicit alcohol-related associations (target words: alcohol, attributes:
      positive vs. neutral). To test the training's effect on drinking behavior, a
      bogus taste test and a one week follow-up measure assessing participant's real
      life drinking behavior were used. RESULTS: The CBM-I training was partly
      successful: When presented with novel ambiguous alcohol-related scenarios,
      participants of the alcohol training group interpreted these scenarios as more
      alcohol-related after the training. However, there was no reduction in alcohol
      related IBs in the neutral training group. Results of the STIAT demonstrated that
      both training groups showed stronger positive than neutral alcohol-related
      associations. However, there were no between-group differences in alcohol-related
      associations. Moreover, the CBM-I training's effect was not moderated by levels
      of executive control. Finally, no group differences were found on levels of
      alcohol consumption (bogus taste test and at one week follow-up). LIMITATIONS:
      The neutral training might have been operationalized sub-optimally. A multi
      session training might have resulted in stronger effects. CONCLUSIONS: These
      findings are the first to show that alcohol-related IBs can be trained. However,
      the training effect only partly generalized so more research is needed to advance
      our understanding of alcohol CBM-I effects.

PMID- 25818002
TI  - Association between IL28B polymorphism, TNFalpha and biomarkers of insulin
      resistance in chronic hepatitis C-related insulin resistance.
AB  - TNFalpha has been shown to play a role in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced insulin
      resistance (IR). Polymorphism of the IL28B gene that encodes IFN-lambda 3 may be
      associated with IR through modulation of TNFalpha. The aim of this study was to
      investigate the relationship between IL28B rs12979860 genotype, the level of
      TNFalpha activation and the degree of IR in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
      One hundred and thirty-three nondiabetic genotype 1 HCV-infected patients with
      biopsy proven noncirrhotic hepatitis C were investigated for IR (using HOMA
      index), IL28B rs12979860 genotype and fasting circulating levels of soluble
      receptor 1 of TNFalpha (sTNFR1) and adipokines: leptin, adiponectin and IL-6. The
      HOMA-IR was positively correlated with serum levels of leptin (r = 0.35, P <
      0.0001) and sTNFR1 (r = 0.35, P < 0.0001) but not with IL-6 or adiponectin. IL28B
      rs12979860 CC genotype was observed in 35% patients. Genotype CC and nongenotype
      CC patients were similar in terms of HOMA-IR (means 1.6 +/- 0.9 vs 1.7 +/- 1.4)
      and had similar circulating levels of sTNFR1 and adipokines. Independent factors
      associated with IR were ferritin (OR = 1.002, P = 0.02), leptin (OR = 1.06, P =
      0.02) and sTNFR1 (OR = 7.9, P = 0.04). This study suggests that in nondiabetic,
      noncirrhotic, HCV genotype 1-infected patients, there is no relationship between
      IL28B rs12979860 genotype and HOMA-IR or sTNFR1 level. HCV-related IR may be
      mediated through TNFalpha independent of IL28B genotype. 

PMID- 25818004
TI  - Are nematodes a missing link in the confounded ecology of the entomopathogen
      Bacillus thuringiensis?
AB  - Bacillus thuringiensis, which is well known as an entomopathogen, has been
      accepted by the public as a safe bioinsecticide. The natural ecology of this
      bacterium has never been particularly clear, with views ranging from it being an
      obligate pathogen to an opportunist pathogen that can otherwise exist as a soil
      saprophyte or a plant endophyte. This confusion has recently led to it being
      considered as an environmental pathogen that has evolved to occupy a diverse set
      of environmental niches in which it can thrive without needing a host. A
      significant driving force behind this classification is the fact that B.
      thuringiensis is found in high numbers in environments that are not occupied by
      the insect hosts to which it is pathogenic. It is our opinion that the ubiquitous
      presence of this bacterium in the environment is the result of a variety of
      vectoring systems, particularly those that include nematodes. 

PMID- 25818005
TI  - Is disgust sensitive to classical conditioning as indexed by facial
      electromyography and behavioural responses?
AB  - Earlier studies provided preliminary support for the role of classical
      conditioning as a pathway of disgust learning, yet this evidence has been limited
      to self-report. This study included facial electromyographical (EMG) measurements
      (corrugator and levator muscles) and a behavioural approach task to assess
      participants' motivation-to-eat the actual food items (conditioned stimuli, CS).
      Food items served as CS and film excerpts of a woman vomiting served as
      unconditioned stimuli (US). Following acquisition the CS+ (neutral CS paired with
      US disgust) was rated as more disgusting and less positive. Notably, the
      conditioned response was transferred to the actual food items as evidenced by
      participants' reported lowered willingness-to-eat. Participants also showed
      heightened EMG activity in response to the CS+ which seemed driven by the
      corrugator indexing a global negative affect. These findings suggest that
      classical conditioning as a pathway of disgust learning can be reliably observed
      in subjective but not in disgust-specific physiological responding. 

PMID- 25818003
TI  - Identification of proteins responsible for adriamycin resistance in breast cancer
      cells using proteomics analysis.
AB  - Chemoresistance is a poor prognostic factor in breast cancer and is a major
      obstacle to the successful treatment of patients receiving chemotherapy. However,
      the precise mechanism of resistance remains unclear. In this study, a pair of
      breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 and its adriamycin-resistant counterpart MCF
      7/ADR was used to examine resistance-dependent cellular responses and to identify
      potential therapeutic targets. We applied nanoflow liquid chromatography (nLC)
      and tandem mass tags (TmT) quantitative mass spectrometry to distinguish the
      differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) between the two cell lines.
      Bioinformatics analyses were used to identify functionally active proteins and
      networks. 80 DEPs were identified with either up- or down-regulation. Basing on
      the human protein-protein interactions (PPI), we have retrieved the associated
      functional interaction networks for the DEPs and analyzed the biological
      functions. Six different signaling pathways and most of the DEPs strongly linked
      to chemoresistance, invasion, metastasis development, proliferation, and
      apoptosis. The identified proteins in biological networks served to resistant
      drug and to select critical candidates for validation analyses by western blot.
      The glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), gamma-glutamyl cyclotransferase
      (GGCT), isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (NADP+,soluble)(IDH1), isocitrate
      dehydrogenase 2 (NADP+,mitochondrial) (IDH2) and glutathione S-transferase pi
      1(GSTP1), five of the critical components of GSH pathway, contribute to
      chemoresistance. 

PMID- 25818006
TI  - Differential proteomic and behavioral effects of long-term voluntary exercise in
      wild-type and APP-overexpressing transgenics.
AB  - Physical exercise may provide protection against the cognitive decline and
      neuropathology associated with Alzheimer's disease, although the mechanisms are
      not clear. In the present study, APP/PSEN1 double-transgenic and wild-type mice
      were allowed unlimited voluntary exercise for 7months. Consistent with previous
      reports, wheel-running improved cognition in the double-transgenic mice.
      Interestingly, the average daily distance run was strongly correlated with
      spatial memory in the water maze in wild-type mice (r(2)=.959), but uncorrelated
      in transgenics (r(2)=.013). Proteomics analysis showed that sedentary transgenic
      mice differed significantly from sedentary wild-types with respect to proteins
      involved in synaptic transmission, cytoskeletal regulation, and neurogenesis.
      When given an opportunity to exercise, the transgenics' deficiencies in
      cytoskeletal regulation and neurogenesis largely normalized, but abnormal
      synaptic proteins did not change. In contrast, exercise enhanced proteins
      associated with cytoskeletal regulation, oxidative phosphorylation, and synaptic
      transmission in wild-type mice. Soluble and insoluble Abeta40 and Abeta42 levels
      were significantly decreased in both cortex and hippocampus of active
      transgenics, suggesting that this may have played a role in the cognitive
      improvement in APP/PSEN1 mice. beta-secretase was significantly reduced in active
      APP/PSEN1 mice compared to sedentary controls, suggesting a mechanism for reduced
      Abeta. Taken together, these data illustrate that exercise improves memory in
      wild-type and APP-overexpressing mice in fundamentally different ways. 

PMID- 25818007
TI  - Molecular alterations in areas generating fast ripples in an animal model of
      temporal lobe epilepsy.
AB  - The molecular basis of epileptogenesis is poorly characterized. Studies in humans
      and animal models have identified an electrophysiological signature that precedes
      the onset of epilepsy, which has been termed fast ripples (FRs) based on its
      frequency. Multiple lines of evidence implicate regions generating FRs in
      epileptogenesis, and FRs appear to demarcate the seizure onset zone, suggesting a
      role in ictogenesis as well. We performed gene expression analysis comparing
      areas of the dentate gyrus that generate FRs to those that do not generate FRs in
      a well-characterized rat model of epilepsy. We identified a small cohort of genes
      that are differentially expressed in FR versus non-FR brain tissue and used
      quantitative PCR to validate some of those that modulate neuronal excitability.
      Gene expression network analysis demonstrated conservation of gene co-expression
      between non-FR and FR samples, but examination of gene connectivity revealed
      changes that were most pronounced in the cm-40 module, which contains several
      genes associated with synaptic function and the differentially expressed genes
      Kcna4, Kcnv1, and Npy1r that are down-regulated in FRs. We then demonstrate that
      the genes within the cm-40 module are regulated by seizure activity and enriched
      for the targets of the RNA binding protein Elavl4. Our data suggest that seizure
      activity induces co-expression of genes associated with synaptic transmission and
      that this pattern is attenuated in areas displaying FRs, implicating the failure
      of this mechanism in the generation of FRs. 

PMID- 25818008
TI  - GLT1 overexpression in SOD1(G93A) mouse cervical spinal cord does not preserve
      diaphragm function or extend disease.
AB  - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by relatively rapid
      degeneration of both upper and lower motor neurons, with death normally occurring
      2-5years following diagnosis primarily due to respiratory paralysis resulting
      from phrenic motor neuron (PhMN) loss and consequent diaphragm denervation. In
      ALS, cellular abnormalities are not limited to MNs. For example, decreased levels
      and aberrant functioning of the major central nervous system (CNS) glutamate
      transporter, GLT1, occur in spinal cord and motor cortex astrocytes of both
      humans with ALS and in SOD1(G93A) rodents, a widely studied ALS animal model.
      This results in dysregulation of extracellular glutamate homeostasis and
      consequent glutamate excitotoxicity, a primary mechanism responsible for MN loss
      in ALS animal models and in the human disease. Given these observations of GLT1
      dysfunction in areas of MN loss, as well as the importance of testing therapeutic
      strategies for preserving PhMNs in ALS, we evaluated intraspinal delivery of an
      adeno-associated virus type 8 (AAV8)-Gfa2 vector to the cervical spinal cord
      ventral horn of SOD1(G93A) ALS mice for focally restoring intraspinal GLT1
      expression. AAV8 was specifically injected into the ventral horn bilaterally
      throughout the cervical enlargement at 110days of age, a clinically-relevant time
      point coinciding with phenotypic/symptomatic disease onset. Intraspinal delivery
      of AAV8-Gfa2-GLT1 resulted in robust transduction primarily of GFAP(+) astrocytes
      that persisted until disease endstage, as well as a 2-3-fold increase in total
      intraspinal GLT1 protein expression in the ventral horn. Despite this robust
      level of astrocyte transduction and GLT1 elevation, GLT1 overexpression did not
      protect PhMNs, preserve histological PhMN innervation of the diaphragm NMJ, or
      prevent decline in diaphragmatic respiratory function as assessed by phrenic
      nerve-diaphragm compound muscle action potential (CMAP) recordings compared to
      control AAV8-Gfa2-eGFP injected mice. In addition, AAV-Gfa2-GLT1 did not delay
      forelimb disease onset, extend disease duration (i.e. time from either forelimb
      or hindlimb disease onsets to endstage) or prolong overall animal survival. These
      findings suggest that focal restoration of GLT1 expression in astrocytes of the
      cervical spinal cord using AAV delivery is not an effective therapy for ALS. 

PMID- 25818009
TI  - Ser129 phosphorylation of endogenous alpha-synuclein induced by overexpression of
      polo-like kinases 2 and 3 in nigral dopamine neurons is not detrimental to their
      survival and function.
AB  - Phosphorylation of the alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn) protein at Ser129 [P(S129)
      alpha-syn] was found to be the most abundant form in intracellular inclusions in
      brains from Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. This finding suggests that P(S129)
      alpha-syn plays a central role in the pathogenesis of PD. However, it is at
      present unclear whether P(S129)-alpha-syn is pathogenic driving the
      neurodegenerative process. Rodent studies using neither the phosphomimics of
      human alpha-syn nor co-expression of human wild-type alpha-syn and kinases
      phosphorylating alpha-syn at Ser129 gave consistent results. One major concern in
      interpreting these findings is that human alpha-syn was expressed above
      physiological levels inducing neurodegeneration in rat nigral neurons. In order
      to exclude this confounding factor, we took a different approach and increased
      the phosphorylation level of endogenous alpha-syn. For this purpose, we took
      advantage of recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors to deliver polo
      like kinase (PLK) 2 or PLK3 in the substantia nigra and investigated whether
      increased levels of P(S129)-alpha-syn compromised the function and survival of
      nigral dopaminergic neurons. Interestingly, we observed that hyperphosphorylated
      alpha-syn did not induce nigral dopaminergic cell death, as assessed at 1 and
      4months. Furthermore, histological analysis did not show any accumulation of
      alpha-syn protein or formation of inclusions. Using in vivo microdialysis, we
      found that the only measurable functional alteration was the depolarisation
      induced release of dopamine, while the in vivo synthesis rate of DOPA and
      dopamine baseline release remained unaltered. Taken together, our results suggest
      that phosphorylation of alpha-syn at Ser129 does not confer a toxic gain of
      function per se. 

PMID- 25818013
TI  - Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of arterial hypertension in Astana,
      Kazakhstan. A cross-sectional study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Very little is known about prevalence of common cardiovascular risk
      factors in Central Asia. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence,
      awareness, treatment and control of arterial hypertension, and factors associated
      with these indices in a population sample of Astana, the new capital city of
      Kazakhstan. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of subjects registered in eight
      outpatient policlinics in Astana. METHODS: A total of 497 adults (response rate
      56%) aged 50-75 years randomly selected from registers of the policlinics were
      examined. Hypertension was defined as a mean systolic and/or diastolic blood
      pressure of >=140/90 mm Hg and/or antihypertensive medication use during the last
      two weeks. Awareness and treatment were based on self-report. Hypertension
      control was defined as blood pressure <140/90 mm Hg among hypertensive subjects.
      RESULTS: The overall prevalence of hypertension was 70%. Among hypertensive
      subjects, 91% were aware of their condition, 77% took antihypertensive
      medications, and 34% had blood pressure controlled (<140/90 mm Hg). The
      prevalence of hypertension and its awareness, treatment and control was more
      common in women, among persons aged 60 years or more and (except control) among
      those with high body mass index. None of several available socio-economic or
      lifestyle measures was associated with any of hypertension indices. CONCLUSIONS:
      The levels of awareness, treatment and control of hypertension were higher than
      in most Eastern European and Central Asian populations with available data, most
      likely reflecting high education and large proportion of civil servants in the
      new capital city. However, even in this privileged population the rates of
      successful control of hypertension were modest.

PMID- 25818015
TI  - Impact of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC)
      Multidimensional Hand Hygiene Approach in five intensive care units in three
      cities of China.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of the International Nosocomial Infection
      Control Consortium (INICC) Multidimensional Hand Hygiene (HH) Approach in three
      hospitals in three cities of China, and analyze predictors of poor hand hygiene
      compliance. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective before-after study from May 2009 to
      December 2010 in five intensive care units members of the INICC in China.
      METHODS: The study was divided into two periods: a 3-month baseline period and a
      follow-up period. A Multidimensional HH Approach was implemented, which included
      the following elements: 1- administrative support, 2- supplies availability, 3-
      education and training, 4- reminders in the workplace, 5- process surveillance
      and 6- performance feedback. Observations were done for HH compliance in each
      ICU, during randomly selected 30-min periods. RESULTS: A total of 2079
      opportunities for HH were recorded. Overall HH compliance increased from 51.5% to
      80.1% (95% CI 73.2-87.8; P = 0.004). Multivariate analysis indicated that several
      variables were significantly associated with poor HH compliance: females vs males
      (64% vs 55%; 95% CI 0.81-0.94; P = 0.0005), nurses vs physicians (64% vs 57%, P =
      0.004), among others. CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to HH was increased significantly
      with the INICC multidimensional approach. Specific programs directed to improve
      HH in variables found to be predictors of poor HH compliance should be
      implemented.

PMID- 25818014
TI  - Social disparities in access to breast and cervical cancer screening by women
      living in Spain.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To describe uptake of breast and cervical cancer screening by women
      living in Spain, analyse the possible associated social and health factors, and
      compare uptake rates with those obtained in previous surveys. STUDY DESIGN: Cross
      sectional study using data from the 2011 Spanish national health survey. METHODS:
      Uptake of breast cancer screening was analysed by asking women aged 40-69 years
      whether they had undergone mammography in the previous two years. Uptake of
      cervical cancer screening was analysed by asking women aged 25-65 years whether
      they had undergone cervical cytology in the previous three years. Independent
      variables included sociodemographic characteristics, and variables related to
      health status and lifestyle. RESULTS: Seventy-two percent of women had undergone
      mammography in the previous two years. Having private health insurance increased
      the probability of breast screening uptake four-fold [odds ratio (OR) 3.96, 95%
      confidence interval (CI) 2.71-5.79], and being an immigrant was a negative
      predictor for breast screening uptake. Seventy percent of women had undergone
      cervical cytology in the previous three years. Higher-educated women were more
      likely to have undergone cervical cancer screening (OR 2.59, 95% CI 1.97-3.40),
      and obese women and women living in rural areas were less likely to have
      undergone cervical cancer screening. There have been no relevant improvements in
      uptake rates of either breast or cervical cancer screening since 2006.
      CONCLUSION: Uptake of breast and cervical cancer screening could be improved in
      Spain, and uptake rates have stagnated over recent years. Social disparities have
      been detected with regard to access to these screening tests, indicating that it
      is necessary to continue researching and optimizing prevention programmes in
      order to improve uptake and reduce these disparities.

PMID- 25818016
TI  - Prevalence and influencing factors of depressive symptoms among women of
      reproductive age in the rural areas of Hubei, China.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Depression is one of the most common mental disorders and a major
      public health problem in the Chinese population, especially among women. The
      current study aims to understand prevalence of depression symptoms and provide
      detailed epidemiological factors associated with depression among reproductive
      women in rural areas which was paid less attention in previous surveys. STUDY
      DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: Face-to-face household interviews were
      conducted on 1058 women (age: 15-49 years) in rural areas from July 2012 to
      August 2012. Questionnaires were used to investigate the influencing factors of
      depression among women. Pearson's chi(2), logistic regression analysis and
      structural equation modelling (SEM) were applied to analyze the related factors.
      RESULTS: The prevalence of depression among women was 30.7% [95% confidence
      interval (CI): 27.9%-33.5%]. Compared with non-depressed individuals, those with
      depression were more likely to be short of social support [odd ratio (OR): 0.940,
      P < 0.001) and have no one to talk with (OR: 0.366, P < 0.001), to be
      dissatisfied with the house (OR: 2.673, P < 0.001) and economy (OR: 2.268, P <
      0.01) of their family, and to have great pressure (OR: 2.099, P < 0.01), negative
      life events (OR: 1.485, P < 0.05) and physical diseases (OR: 1.364, P < 0.05).
      Pressure status, social support assessment, and socio-economic status were
      negatively related to depression (correlation coefficient: -0.57, -0.27 and
      0.17). CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of depression among reproductive women in
      rural areas is of particular concern. Factors associated with depression may
      assist health care administrations to identify and assess high-risk women and
      target strategies accordingly.

PMID- 25818017
TI  - Bidecadal North Atlantic ocean circulation variability controlled by timing of
      volcanic eruptions.
AB  - While bidecadal climate variability has been evidenced in several North Atlantic
      paleoclimate records, its drivers remain poorly understood. Here we show that the
      subset of CMIP5 historical climate simulations that produce such bidecadal
      variability exhibits a robust synchronization, with a maximum in Atlantic
      Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) 15 years after the 1963 Agung eruption.
      The mechanisms at play involve salinity advection from the Arctic and explain the
      timing of Great Salinity Anomalies observed in the 1970s and the 1990s.
      Simulations, as well as Greenland and Iceland paleoclimate records, indicate that
      coherent bidecadal cycles were excited following five Agung-like volcanic
      eruptions of the last millennium. Climate simulations and a conceptual model
      reveal that destructive interference caused by the Pinatubo 1991 eruption may
      have damped the observed decreasing trend of the AMOC in the 2000s. Our results
      imply a long-lasting climatic impact and predictability following the next Agung
      like eruption. 

PMID- 25818018
TI  - [Development And Validation Of A Breastfeeding Knowledge And Skills
      Questionnaire].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Pediatricians play a key role in the onset and duration of
      breastfeeding. Although it is known that they lack formal education on this
      subject, there are currently no validated tools available to assess pediatrician
      knowledge regarding breastfeeding. OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a
      Breastfeeding Knowledge and Skills Questionnaire for Pediatricians. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: Once the knowledge areas were defined, a representative sample of
      pediatricians was chosen to carry out the survey. After pilot testing, non
      discriminating questions were removed. Content validity was assessed by 14
      breastfeeding experts, who examined the test, yielding 22 scorable items (maximum
      score: 26 points). To approach criterion validity, it was hypothesized that a
      group of pediatricians with a special interest in breastfeeding (1) would obtain
      better results than pediatricians from a hospital without a maternity ward (2),
      and the latter would obtain a higher score than the medical residents of
      Pediatrics training in the same hospital (3). The questionnaire was also
      evaluated before and after a basic course in breastfeeding. RESULTS:
      Breastfeeding experts have an index of agreement of >.90 for each item. The 3
      groups (n=82) were compared, finding significant differences between group (1)
      and the rest. Moreover, an improvement was observed in the participants who
      attended the breastfeeding course (n=31), especially among those with less
      initial knowledge. Regarding reliability, internal consistency (KR-20=.87),
      interobserver agreement, and temporal stability were examined, with satisfactory
      results. CONCLUSIONS: A practical and self-administered tool is presented to
      assess pediatrician knowledge regarding breastfeeding, with a documented validity
      and reliability.

PMID- 25818019
TI  - Genotype-by-environment interactions underlie the expression of pre- and post
      copulatory sexually selected traits in guppies.
AB  - The role that genotype-by-environment interactions (GEIs) play in sexual
      selection has only recently attracted the attention of evolutionary biologists.
      Yet GEIs can have profound evolutionary implications by compromising the honesty
      of sexual signals, maintaining high levels of genetic variance underlying their
      expression and altering the patterns of genetic covariance among fitness traits.
      In this study, we test for GEIs in a highly sexually dimorphic freshwater fish,
      the guppy Poecilia reticulata. We conducted an experimental quantitative genetic
      study in which male offspring arising from a paternal half-sibling breeding
      design were assigned to differing nutritional 'environments' (either high or low
      feed levels). We then determined whether the manipulation of diet quantity
      influenced levels of additive genetic variance and covariance for several highly
      variable and condition-dependent pre- and post-copulatory sexual traits. In
      accordance with previous work, we found that dietary limitation had strong
      phenotypic effects on numerous pre- and post-copulatory sexual traits. We also
      report evidence for significant GEI for several of these traits, which in some
      cases (area of iridescence and sperm velocity) reflected a change in the rank
      order of genotypes across different nutritional environments (i.e. ecological
      crossover). Furthermore, we show that genetic correlations vary significantly
      between nutritional environments. Notably, a highly significant negative genetic
      correlation between iridescent coloration and sperm viability in the high food
      treatment broke down under dietary restriction. Taken together, these findings
      are likely to have important evolutionary implications for guppies; ecological
      crossover may influence sexual signal reliability in unstable (nutritional)
      environments and contribute towards the extreme levels of polymorphism in sexual
      traits typically reported for this species. Furthermore, the presence of
      environment-specific genetic covariance suggests that trade-offs measured in one
      environment may not be indicative of genetic constraints in others.

PMID- 25818020
TI  - Progressive Pearling of Barley Kernel: Chemical Characterization of Pearling
      Fractions and Effect of Their Inclusion on the Nutritional and Technological
      Properties of Wheat Bread.
AB  - Two hulled barley varieties have been sequentially pearled for one to eight
      cycles, each with 5% removal. The derived fractions were analyzed for their
      bioactive compound content. The dietary fiber (DF) decreased from the external to
      the internal layers, whereas beta-glucans showed an inverse trend. Deoxynivalenol
      contamination was concentrated in the outer layers. The total antioxidant
      activity (TAA) was higher in the 15-25% fractions, which were used to prepare
      bread. Five mixtures of refined wheat flour, with an increasing replacement of
      this pearled barley fraction, were compared with a control for the bioactive
      compound content, as well as for the rheological and physical bread properties.
      The inclusion of pearled fractions with up to a 10% substitution leads to a clear
      enhancement of the DF and TAA, with only minor detrimental effects on the
      physical parameters. Selected byproducts of barley pearling could be proposed as
      functional ingredients for bakery products rich in DF and TAA. 

PMID- 25818021
TI  - 'Mislabelled' make-up remover wet wipes as a cause of severe, recalcitrant facial
      eczema.

PMID- 25818022
TI  - Reduction in the prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa in New York City.
AB  - We compared susceptibilities of Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa collected during surveillance studies conducted during 2009 and 2013
      2014 involving hospitals in New York City. There were significant decreases in
      the number of carbapenem-resistant A baumannii and P aeruginosa cases during 2013
      2014; it appears the institution of effective infection control measures has
      contributed to this decline. However the number of isolates of A baumannii with
      OXA-23-type beta-lactamase increased during 2013-2014. 

PMID- 25818023
TI  - Biochemical and microbial contamination of surgical devices: a quantitative
      analysis.
AB  - Reusable devices are required to be safety processed prior to patient use,
      including cleaning and disinfection and sterilization. In developing and testing
      cleaning processes, it is important to understand the levels of soils typically
      present on devices after surgical use. Previous soil investigations have focused
      on microbial contamination levels; less is known about biochemical contamination.
      In this study, microbial and biochemical contamination on a range of surgical
      instrumentation after patient use were investigated. Analysis included bacteria
      levels, total organic carbon, protein, and hemoglobin. The highest levels of soil
      contamination were caused by protein, in contrast with bacteria levels being a
      minor component of instrument soiling. This study provides a better understanding
      of the microbial and biochemical levels of soils that are typically present in
      used surgical devices. These levels can be used to develop artificial test soils
      for testing cleaning efficacy under laboratory conditions and to further evaluate
      patient risks from inadequate cleaning. 

PMID- 25818025
TI  - The two-visual-systems hypothesis and the perspectival features of visual
      experience.
AB  - Some critics of the two-visual-systems hypothesis (TVSH) argue that it is
      incompatible with the fundamentally egocentric nature of visual experience (what
      we call the 'perspectival account'). The TVSH proposes that the ventral stream,
      which delivers up our visual experience of the world, works in an allocentric
      frame of reference, whereas the dorsal stream, which mediates the visual control
      of action, uses egocentric frames of reference. Given that the TVSH is also
      committed to the claim that dorsal-stream processing does not contribute to the
      contents of visual experience, it has been argued that the TVSH cannot account
      for the egocentric features of our visual experience. This argument, however,
      rests on a misunderstanding about how the operations mediating action and the
      operations mediating perception are specified in the TVSH. In this article, we
      emphasize the importance of the 'outputs' of the two-systems to the specification
      of their respective operations. We argue that once this point is appreciated, it
      becomes evident that the TVSH is entirely compatible with a perspectival account
      of visual experience. 

PMID- 25818024
TI  - Procedure-specific surgical site infection incidence varies widely within certain
      National Healthcare Safety Network surgery groups.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) classifies surgical
      procedures into 40 categories. The objective of this study was to determine
      surgical site infection (SSI) incidence for clinically defined subgroups within 5
      heterogeneous NHSN surgery categories. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort
      study using the longitudinal State Inpatient Database. We identified 5 groups of
      surgical procedures (amputation; bile duct, liver or pancreas [BILI]; breast;
      colon; and hernia) using ICD-9-CM procedure codes in community hospitals in
      California, Florida, and New York from January 2009-September 2011 in persons
      aged >=18 years. Each of these 5 categories was classified to more specific
      surgical procedures within the group. The 90-day SSI rates were calculated using
      ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes. RESULTS: There were 62,901 amputation surgeries, 33,358
      BILI surgeries, 72,058 breast surgeries, 125,689 colon surgeries, and 85,745
      hernia surgeries in 349,298 people. The 90-day SSI rates varied significantly
      within each of the 5 subgroups. Within the BILI category, bile duct, pancreas,
      and laparoscopic liver procedures had SSI rates of 7.2%, 17.2%, and 2.2%,
      respectively (P < .0001 for each) compared with open liver procedures (11.1%
      SSI). CONCLUSION: The 90-day SSI rates varied widely within certain NHSN
      categories. Risk adjustment for specific surgery type is needed to make valid
      comparisons between hospitals.

PMID- 25818026
TI  - The experience and perceptions of men with prostate cancer and their partners of
      the CONNECT psychosocial intervention: a qualitative exploration.
AB  - AIM: To explore the experience of prostate cancer survivors and their partners of
      the CONNECT psychosocial intervention. BACKGROUND: There is a scarcity of
      evidence relating to interventions to help men and their partners cope with the
      after affects of prostate cancer treatment. DESIGN: This study employed a
      qualitative design for in depth exploration through couple interviews. The
      addition of a short process evaluation questionnaire was used to supplement the
      qualitative data. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted between
      January 2012-October 2012 with a purposive sample of 11 couple dyads who had
      participated in the CONNECT intervention. Data were analysed using inductive
      content analysis. Simple descriptive statistics were used to analyse the findings
      from the questionnaire data. RESULTS: Couples perceived benefits of participating
      in the intervention to include: opportunities to share experiences, gain
      validation, obtain information and engage in couple care. The expertise of the
      professional facilitator and group dynamics were highlighted as factors
      influencing the success of the intervention. Potential areas for improvement of
      the intervention were identified as being: further development of the sexual
      dysfunction component; incorporation of a partner specific session to better
      address their needs; determination of optimal delivery format and timing; and
      further tailoring of the components of the intervention. CONCLUSION: Although
      there were areas that could be further improved, this psychosocial intervention
      was valued by the participants. The insight gained from this qualitative
      exploration can be used to make the necessary changes before the intervention can
      be tested in a large randomised controlled trial.

PMID- 25818027
TI  - Single-nucleotide polymorphism discovery and validation in high-density SNP array
      for genetic analysis in European white oaks.
AB  - An Illumina Infinium SNP genotyping array was constructed for European white
      oaks. Six individuals of Quercus petraea and Q. robur were considered for SNP
      discovery using both previously obtained Sanger sequences across 676 gene regions
      (1371 in vitro SNPs) and Roche 454 technology sequences from 5112 contigs (6542
      putative in silico SNPs). The 7913 SNPs were genotyped across the six parental
      individuals, full-sib progenies (one within each species and two interspecific
      crosses between Q. petraea and Q. robur) and three natural populations from south
      western France that included two additional interfertile white oak species (Q.
      pubescens and Q. pyrenaica). The genotyping success rate in mapping populations
      was 80.4% overall and 72.4% for polymorphic SNPs. In natural populations, these
      figures were lower (54.8% and 51.9%, respectively). Illumina genotype clusters
      with compression (shift of clusters on the normalized x-axis) were detected in
      ~25% of the successfully genotyped SNPs and may be due to the presence of
      paralogues. Compressed clusters were significantly more frequent for SNPs showing
      a priori incorrect Illumina genotypes, suggesting that they should be considered
      with caution or discarded. Altogether, these results show a high experimental
      error rate for the Infinium array (between 15% and 20% of SNPs potentially
      unreliable and 10% when excluding all compressed clusters), and recommendations
      are proposed when applying this type of high-throughput technique. Finally,
      results on diversity levels and shared polymorphisms across targeted white oaks
      and more distant species of the Quercus genus are discussed, and perspectives for
      future comparative studies are proposed.

PMID- 25818030
TI  - Predicting Renal Parenchymal Loss after Nephron Sparing Surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: We analyze the relationship among various patient, operative and tumor
      characteristics to determine which factors correlate with renal parenchymal
      volume loss after nephron sparing surgery using a novel 3-dimensional volume
      assessment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of an
      institutional database of patients who underwent nephron sparing surgery from
      1992 to 2014 for a localized renal mass. Tumors were classified according to the
      R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry system. Using 3-dimensional reconstruction imaging
      software, preoperative and postoperative renal parenchymal volume was calculated
      for the ipsilateral and contralateral kidney. RESULTS: A total of 158 patients
      were analyzed. Mean patient age was 58.7 years and mean followup was 40.1 months.
      Mean preoperative tumor volume was 34.0 cc and mean tumor dimension was 3.4 cm.
      Mean R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry score was 6.2, with 60.1%, 34.2% and 5.7% of tumors
      classified as low, medium and high complexity, respectively. Mean change in renal
      parenchymal volume after nephron sparing surgery was -15.3% for the ipsilateral
      kidney and -6.8% for total kidney volume. On univariate analysis ischemia time,
      tumor size, R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry score, complexity grouping and the individual
      nephrometry components of tumor size, percent exophytic, anterior/posterior,
      depth and tumor proximity to the renal artery or vein were associated with
      greater renal parenchymal volume loss. On multivariate analysis only ischemia
      time, tumor size, posterior location and percent exophytic were independently
      associated with more renal parenchymal volume loss. CONCLUSIONS: Using precise 3
      dimensional volumetric analysis we found that ischemia time, tumor size and
      endophytic/exophytic properties of a localized renal mass are the most important
      determinants of renal parenchymal volume loss.

PMID- 25818031
TI  - Efficacy of Mixtures of Magnesium, Citrate and Phytate as Calcium Oxalate
      Crystallization Inhibitors in Urine.
AB  - PURPOSE: The main aim of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of
      mixtures of magnesium, citrate and phytate as calcium oxalate crystallization
      inhibitors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A turbidimetric assay in synthetic urine was
      performed to obtain induction times for calcium oxalate crystallization in the
      absence and presence of different mixtures of inhibitors. The morphology of
      calcium oxalate crystals in the absence or presence of inhibitors and mixtures of
      the inhibitors was evaluated in 2 crystallization experiments at low and high
      calcium oxalate supersaturation. The crystals formed were examined using scanning
      electron microscopy. RESULTS: Examination of crystallization induction times
      revealed clear inhibitory effects of magnesium, citrate and phytate on calcium
      oxalate crystallization, supporting usefulness in the treatment and prevention of
      calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis. Significant synergistic effects between
      magnesium and phytate were observed. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed
      that phytate is a powerful crystal growth inhibitor of calcium oxalate, totally
      preventing the formation of trihydrate and monohydrate. In addition to
      crystallization inhibition capacity, citrate and magnesium avoided calcium
      oxalate crystallization by decreasing its supersaturation. CONCLUSIONS: The
      synergistic effect between magnesium and phytate on calcium oxalate
      crystallization suggests that a combination of these 2 compounds may be highly
      useful as antilithiasis therapy.

PMID- 25818028
TI  - Nuclear proteins hijacked by mammalian cytoplasmic plus strand RNA viruses.
AB  - Plus strand RNA viruses that replicate in the cytoplasm face challenges in
      supporting the numerous biosynthetic functions required for replication and
      propagation. Most of these viruses are genetically simple and rely heavily on co
      opting cellular proteins, particularly cellular RNA-binding proteins, into new
      roles for support of virus infection at the level of virus-specific translation,
      and building RNA replication complexes. In the course of infectious cycles many
      nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling proteins of mostly nuclear distribution are
      detained in the cytoplasm by viruses and re-purposed for their own gain. Many
      mammalian viruses hijack a common group of the same factors. This review
      summarizes recent gains in our knowledge of how cytoplasmic RNA viruses use these
      co-opted host nuclear factors in new functional roles supporting virus
      translation and virus RNA replication and common themes employed between
      different virus groups. 

PMID- 25818032
TI  - Pain during Female Urethral Catheterization: Intraurethral Lubricant Injection
      versus Catheter Tip Lubrication--A Prospective Randomized Trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: Urethral lubrication during catheterization can be performed by
      instilling the gel directly in the urethra or by pouring the gel on the catheter
      tip. In this study we compared the pain level associated with each technique
      during female urethral catheterization in the setup of a multichannel urodynamic
      study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 94 women with a mean +/- SD age of 55 +/
      14 years who were referred for a multichannel urodynamic study were
      prospectively randomized into 2 groups according to lubrication technique,
      including 1) instillation of 5 ml 2% lidocaine gel in the urethra 5 minutes
      before catheterization or 2) lubrication of the distal part of the catheter with
      5 ml 2% lidocaine gel. A visual analog pain scale of 0 to 10 was completed at
      different time points, including prior to gel instillation (baseline), during gel
      instillation (group 1), during catheterization, and 5 and 30 minutes after the
      procedure ended. RESULTS: The study groups did not differ in demographic,
      clinical or urodynamic parameters. The mean visual analog scale score during
      catheterization was 2.3 +/- 1.4 and 2.4 +/- 1.6 in groups 1 and 2, respectively
      (p = 0.71). There was no difference in the reported visual analog scale score at
      the other checkpoints. The mean recorded visual analog scale score during
      instillation of the lubricant in the urethra in group 1 was 1.9 +/- 0.9.
      CONCLUSIONS: The actual act of lubricant instillation in the urethra during
      catheterization in women causes additional and unnecessary pain. Therefore, it is
      not recommended. Other than that there is no difference in the urethral pain
      level between the 2 lubrication techniques.

PMID- 25818033
TI  - [Male breast cancer: prognostic factors, diagnosis and treatment: a multi
      institutional survey of 95 cases].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The optimal treatment for male breast cancer is not known because
      male breast cancer is a rare disease. It represents as little as 0.6% of all
      breast cancers and less than 1% of human cancers. The aim was to analyze the
      clinical, histological and therapeutic characteristics of 95 men cared for breast
      cancer between 2000 and 2010 in four hospitals, and determine predictors of poor
      prognosis to improve care of male breast cancer. METHODS: This study is a multi
      institutional survey, retrospective, involving four French institutions: Cancer
      Institute of the West (ICO), Reunion Island South hospital group, the hospital
      group of Dax, and the Bergonie Institute. All carcinomas in situ or invasive
      breast occurred in male patients were included. An analysis of clinical,
      histological and therapeutic features was performed. Statistical analysis of our
      study focused on the overall survival of patients and specific method of Kaplan
      Meier, enabling search for predictors of poor prognosis. RESULTS: The mean age
      was 65 years. Thirty-seven percent of patients were overweight or obese. It was
      in 88% of cases of palpable tumor whose average size was 26.29mm. Ninety
      patients, none had a lesion palpable T0, 44% T1 tumors, 38% T2 tumors, 3% had a
      T3 tumors, and finally 10% T4 tumors. The histological type was the most common
      invasive ductal carcinoma (87%). He found a similar proportion of patients with
      or without lymph node involvement. N+ patients, capsular rupture was observed in
      29% of cases. Receptor positivity was found, estrogen in 95% of cases and
      progesterone in 83% of cases. Additional irradiation was performed in 75% of
      patients and chemotherapy in 37% of patients. Overall survival was 79.2% at five
      years and 70.8% at ten years. Age, tumor size and histological capsular rupture
      are factors that significantly influence the overall survival and specific.
      CONCLUSION: Male breast cancer is a different pathology of breast cancer in
      women. The majority of recommendations suggest treating men who are diagnosed
      with breast cancer, using the guidelines applied to postmenopausal women
      treatments. There is no study based on male population that has evaluated these
      treatment modalities in terms of impact on survival. The diagnosis is usually
      made at later stages, and tumor size is often greater. Histological
      characteristics also differ. However, the treatment is almost identical.

PMID- 25818034
TI  - Perioperative care of elderly outpatients. A review.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Epidemiological data show a continuous expansion of elderly
      population in Europe. Older individuals require more medical services relative to
      their younger counterparts. The aim of this review was to summarize the most
      recent considerations in regards to preoperative assessment, postoperative
      outcomes, patient satisfaction and cost-effectiveness analysis of day surgery in
      the elderly. METHODS: This review considered studies that included older patients
      who were undergoing day surgery general procedures (such as inguinal hernia
      repair, excision of breast lump, haemorrhoidectomy). The interventions of
      interest to this review included selection criteria, perioperative care,
      management of postoperative pain. RESULTS: According to a large number of
      studies, old age does not constitute a contraindication for elderly to undergo
      ambulatory surgery but this population may require more careful intraoperative
      cardiovascular management. Hospitalization of older patients is frequently
      associated with postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). Management of
      postoperative pain in older patients may be complicated by a number of factors,
      including a higher risk of age- and disease-related changes in physiology and
      disease-drug and drug-drug interactions. Early studies evaluating approaches to
      facilitating the recovery process have demonstrated the benefits of multimodal
      analgesic techniques. CONCLUSIONS: A lot of studies show that even elderly
      patients can successfully undergo day surgery procedures by implementing evidence
      based perioperative care programs, minimizing operative duration and tissue
      trauma and providing a comfortable setting.

PMID- 25818035
TI  - [Hypereosinophilic syndrome with cardiogenic shock: First Mexican case].

PMID- 25818029
TI  - APOBECs and virus restriction.
AB  - The APOBEC family of single-stranded DNA cytosine deaminases comprises a
      formidable arm of the vertebrate innate immune system. Pre-vertebrates express a
      single APOBEC, whereas some mammals produce as many as 11 enzymes. The APOBEC3
      subfamily displays both copy number variation and polymorphisms, consistent with
      ongoing pathogenic pressures. These enzymes restrict the replication of many DNA
      based parasites, such as exogenous viruses and endogenous transposable elements.
      APOBEC1 and activation-induced cytosine deaminase (AID) have specialized
      functions in RNA editing and antibody gene diversification, respectively, whereas
      APOBEC2 and APOBEC4 appear to have different functions. Nevertheless, the APOBEC
      family protects against both periodic viral zoonoses as well as exogenous and
      endogenous parasite replication. This review highlights viral pathogens that are
      restricted by APOBEC enzymes, but manage to escape through unique mechanisms. The
      sensitivity of viruses that lack counterdefense measures highlights the need to
      develop APOBEC-enabling small molecules as a new class of anti-viral drugs. 

PMID- 25818036
TI  - The added value of long-lasting preparedness for the management of a patient with
      Ebola.

PMID- 25818039
TI  - One size may not fit all: the debate of universal tumor testing for Lynch
      syndrome.

PMID- 25818037
TI  - Dietary patterns and asthma prevalence, incidence and control.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The increased asthma prevalence in westernized societies has been
      suggested to be related to environment exposures and lifestyle changes,
      particularly diet. We aimed to explore the association between dietary patterns
      and asthma prevalence, incidence and control in a nationally representative
      population. METHODS: Data from 32,644 adults, 53% female, from the 4th Portuguese
      National Health Survey were analysed. Prevalence of asthma was 5.3%; 'current
      asthma', defined by asthma symptoms within previous year, 3.5%; 'current
      medicated asthma' defined by use of asthma medication within previous year, 3.0%;
      'current severe asthma' defined by emergency visit because of asthma within
      previous year, 1.4%; and 'incident asthma', 0.2%. Dietary patterns (DP) were
      identified by latent trait models based on dietary intake. Unconditional logistic
      regression models were performed to analyse association between DP and asthma.
      Age, gender, education, family income, proxy reporting information, smoking, body
      mass index and physical activity level were analysed as confounders. RESULTS: Two
      of the five identified DP were associated with asthma: 'high fat, sugar and salt'
      DP (positively correlated with pastry, chocolate and sweet desserts, candies,
      salty snacks, chips, fruit juices, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages
      consumption at snacks) was associated with asthma prevalence (OR = 1.13, 95% CI =
      1.03, 1.24) and current severe asthma (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.48), while
      'fish, fruit and vegetables' DP (positively correlated with fish, vegetables and
      fruit intake at meals) was negatively associated with current (OR = 0.84, 95% CI
      = 0.73, 0.98), and current medicated asthma (OR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.72, 0.98),
      after adjustment for confounders. CONCLUSION & CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Our results
      suggest a protective association between 'fish, vegetables and fruit' DP and
      current asthma and current medicated asthma, and a detrimental association
      between 'high fat, sugar and salt' DP and severe asthma prevalence, further
      supporting the rational for diet and lifestyle intervention studies in asthma
      based on whole dietary patterns and physical activity.

PMID- 25818040
TI  - Post-training corticosterone inhibits the return of fear evoked by platform
      stress and a subthreshold conditioning procedure in Sprague-Dawley rats.
AB  - The return of fear is an important issue in anxiety disorder research. Each time
      a fear memory is reactivated, it may further strengthen overactivation of the
      fear circuit, which may contribute to long-term maintenance of the fear memory.
      Recent evidence indicates that glucocorticoids may help attenuate pathological
      fear, but its role in the return of fear is unclear. In the present study,
      systemic corticosterone (CORT; 25mg/kg) administration 1h after fear conditioning
      did not impair the consolidation process but significantly suppressed the return
      of fear evoked by a subthreshold conditioning (SC) procedure and elevated
      platform (EP) stress. Compared with the SC-induced return of fear, acute stress
      induced return was state-dependent. In addition, post-training CORT treatment
      increased the adrenocorticotropic response after EP stress, which indicates that
      the drug-induced suppression of the return of fear may possibly derive from its
      regulation effect of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity to
      stress. These results suggest that post-training CORT administration may help
      inhibit the return of fear evoked by EP or SC stress. The possible mechanisms
      involved in the high-dose CORT-induced suppression of the SC- and EP-induced
      return of fear are discussed. 

PMID- 25818042
TI  - Prognostic indicators for surgical peri-implantitis treatment.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Objective of this study was to identify prognostic indicators for the
      outcome of resective peri-implantitis treatment, by an analysis of the pooled
      data of two previously conducted randomized controlled trials. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: Data of 74 patients with peri-implantitis (187 implants) who had
      received resective surgical treatment were available. Primary outcome variable
      was failure of peri-implantitis treatment after 12 months. Multilevel univariable
      and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the effect
      of various potentially prognostic indicators on the primary outcome. RESULTS:
      Peri-implantitis treatment was unsuccessful in 106 implants (57%) and 48 patients
      (67%) after 12 months. In the multiple regression analysis, the variables "order
      of inclusion" (P = 0.016) and mean bone loss at baseline (P = 0.030) were
      significant prognostic indicators for treatment failure. To eliminate the effect
      of "order of inclusion," post hoc analyses were carried out in a subgroup of
      patients. The univariable post hoc analysis showed a significant association for
      smoking (P = 0.015), maximum pocket depth at baseline (P = 0.073), mean bone loss
      at baseline (P = 0.003), and presence of plaque (P = 0.100). In the multiple
      regression post hoc analysis, only the variables smoking (P = 0.044) and mean
      bone loss (P = 0.043) remained statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The
      outcome of surgical peri-implantitis treatment is influenced by the experience of
      the surgical team with the surgical procedure. The observed learning effect has
      consequences for clinical practice and for conducting and interpreting clinical
      trials on peri-implantitis treatment. Other prognostic indicators are amount of
      peri-implant bone loss at baseline and smoking, and to a lesser extent, probing
      pocket depth at baseline and presence of plaque during follow-up. Early diagnosis
      of peri-implantitis and control of behavioral factors are crucial in achieving
      peri-implantitis treatment success.

PMID- 25818043
TI  - Evaluating training context competence of use: productive and unproductive models
      of use.
AB  - This study discusses an evaluation model carried out in vocational training
      contexts and draws from a line of studies that have analyzed the processes of
      meaning construction according to a semiotic and contextual perspective (Freda,
      2011; Freda & De Luca Picione, 2014; Salvatore & Freda, 2011; Salvatore &
      Venuleo, 2008; Valsiner, 2007). The study aims to identify models of use of
      training contexts (thought of as different ways to give meaning to the
      relationship between the trainee and the training context), as well as to analyze
      their relationship with social-demographic variables and course type. An
      additional aim is to investigate training outcomes to discern any connection
      existing between models of use and competence of use (e.g. the ability of
      trainees to participate and benefit from the training setting for their
      professional development aims). An especially designed ad hoc open-answer
      questionnaire was administered to 76 trainees in the ex-post impact training
      phase. We adopted a multi-method analysis methodology (Bolasco, 1999). Data
      analysis pointed to three models of use: Opaque, Learning, Development. The last
      one showed a significant association with training outcomes which were effective
      and useful to hypothesize the development of a competence of use. The results
      have interesting implications for the design of evaluation programs directed to
      the sensemaking processes that organize the relationship between the formative
      self and the training context. 

PMID- 25818041
TI  - Diagnostic yield of genetic testing in epileptic encephalopathy in childhood.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Epilepsy is a common neurologic disorder of childhood. To determine
      the genetic diagnostic yield in epileptic encephalopathy, we performed a
      retrospective cohort study in a single epilepsy genetics clinic. METHODS: We
      included all patients with intractable epilepsy, global developmental delay, and
      cognitive dysfunction seen between January 2012 and June 2014 in the Epilepsy
      Genetics Clinic. Electronic patient charts were reviewed for clinical features,
      neuroimaging, biochemical investigations, and molecular genetic investigations
      including targeted next-generation sequencing of epileptic encephalopathy genes.
      RESULTS: Genetic causes were identified in 28% of the 110 patients: 7% had
      inherited metabolic disorders including pyridoxine dependent epilepsy caused by
      ALDH7A1 mutation, Menkes disease, pyridox(am)ine-5-phosphate oxidase deficiency,
      cobalamin G deficiency, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase deficiency, glucose
      transporter 1 deficiency, glycine encephalopathy, and pyruvate dehydrogenase
      complex deficiency; 21% had other genetic causes including genetic syndromes,
      pathogenic copy number variants on array comparative genomic hybridization, and
      epileptic encephalopathy related to mutations in the SCN1A, SCN2A, SCN8A, KCNQ2,
      STXBP1, PCDH19, and SLC9A6 genes. Forty-five percent of patients obtained a
      genetic diagnosis by targeted next-generation sequencing epileptic encephalopathy
      panels. It is notable that 4.5% of patients had a treatable inherited metabolic
      disease. SIGNIFICANCE: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to
      combine inherited metabolic disorders and other genetic causes of epileptic
      encephalopathy. Targeted next-generation sequencing panels increased the genetic
      diagnostic yield from <10% to >25% in patients with epileptic encephalopathy.

PMID- 25818044
TI  - Attention to pleasant stimuli in early adolescence predicts alcohol-related
      problems in mid-adolescence.
AB  - Attenuated responses to natural rewards have been found to predict subsequent
      substance use among dependent populations, suggesting that this may be a
      premorbid risk factor for later problematic substance use. However, research on
      adolescent risk-taking suggests that exaggerated, rather than blunted, reward
      responsiveness predicts later substance abuse. Acoustic startle-induced event
      related potentials (ERP) were recorded in a sample of 11-13 year-olds while they
      viewed affective pictures, and participants were reassessed four years later
      regarding alcohol use and experience of alcohol-related problems. Increased
      attenuation of the amplitude of the P300 component of the ERP during viewing of
      pleasant pictures, relative to amplitude during neutral pictures (an indicator of
      increased attention to pleasant pictures), predicted increased likelihood of
      alcohol-related problems at follow-up. These findings further support research
      indicating that increased reward responsiveness predicts risky behaviours in
      adolescence, with anhedonia primarily a consequence of substance dependence. 

PMID- 25818045
TI  - Brightness masking is modulated by disparity structure.
AB  - The luminance contrast at the borders of a surface strongly influences surface's
      apparent brightness, as demonstrated by a number of classic visual illusions.
      Such phenomena are compatible with a propagation mechanism believed to spread
      contrast information from borders to the interior. This process is disrupted by
      masking, where the perceived brightness of a target is reduced by the brief
      presentation of a mask (Paradiso & Nakayama, 1991), but the exact visual stage
      that this happens remains unclear. In the present study, we examined whether
      brightness masking occurs at a monocular-, or a binocular-level of the visual
      hierarchy. We used backward masking, whereby a briefly presented target stimulus
      is disrupted by a mask coming soon afterwards, to show that brightness masking is
      affected by binocular stages of the visual processing. We manipulated the 3-D
      configurations (slant direction) of the target and mask and measured the
      differential disruption that masking causes on brightness estimation. We found
      that the masking effect was weaker when stimuli had a different slant. We suggest
      that brightness masking is partly mediated by mid-level neuronal mechanisms, at a
      stage where binocular disparity edge structure has been extracted. 

PMID- 25818046
TI  - Sex differences in hepatic and intestinal contributions to nevirapine
      biotransformation in rats.
AB  - The understanding of the intestine contribution to drug biotransformation
      improved significantly in recent years. However, the sources of inter-individual
      variability in intestinal drug biotransformation, namely sex-differences, are
      still elusive. Nevirapine (NVP) is an orally taken anti-HIV drug associated with
      severe idiosyncratic reactions elicited by toxic metabolites, with women at
      increased risk. As such, NVP is a good model to assess sex-dimorphic metabolism.
      The aim of this study was to perform a comparative profiling of NVP
      biotransformation in rat intestine and liver and evaluate whether or not it is
      organ- and sex-dependent. Therefore, nevirapine-containing solutions were
      perfused through the intestine, in a specially designed chamber, or incubated
      with liver slices, from male and female Wistar rats. The levels of NVP and its
      Phase I metabolites were quantified by HPLC-UV. Liver incubation experiments
      yielded the metabolites 2-, 3-, 8-, and 12-OH-NVP, being 12-OH-NVP and 2-OH-NVP
      the major metabolites in males and females, respectively. Inter-sex differences
      in the metabolic profile were also detected in the intestine perfusion
      experiments. Herein, the metabolites 3- and 12-OH-NVP were only found in male
      rats, whereas 2-OH-NVP levels were higher in females, both in extraluminal
      (p<0.01) and intraluminal media. The metabolite 8-OH-NVP was not detected in the
      intraluminal media from either males or females. In this study, important inter
      sex differences were detected in both organs, providing further clues to the sex
      dimorphic profile of NVP toxicity. Moreover, an extra-hepatic contribution to NVP
      biotransformation was observed, strengthening the relevance of the intestinal
      contribution in the biotransformation of orally taken-drugs. 

PMID- 25818047
TI  - In silico and biological analysis of anti-androgen activity of the brominated
      flame retardants ATE, BATE and DPTE in zebrafish.
AB  - The brominated flame retardants (BFRs) 1,2-dibromo-4-(1,2
      dibromoethyl)cyclohexane (TBECH or DBE-DCBH) and allyl 2,4,6-tribromophenyl ether
      (ATE or TBP-AE) are alternative BFRs that have been introduced to replace banned
      BFRs. TBECH is a potential endocrine disrupter in human, chicken and zebrafish
      and in a recent study we showed that ATE, along with the structurally similar BFR
      2,3-dibromopropyl 2,4,6-tribromophenyl ether (DPTE or TBP-DBPE) and its
      metabolite 2-bromoallyl 2,4,6-tribromophenyl ether (BATE or TBP-BAE) are
      potential endocrine and neuronal disrupters in human. In this study we analyzed
      ATE, BATE and DPTE for zebrafish androgen receptor (zAR) modulating properties.
      In silico analysis with two softwares, Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) and
      Internal Coordinate Mechanics (ICM), showed that ATE, BATE and DPTE bind to zAR.
      In vitro AR activation assay revealed that these three BFRs down-regulate 11
      ketotestosterone (KT) mediated zAR activation. Exposure to 10 MUM DPTE resulted
      in reduced hatching success and like TBECH, BATE and DPTE at 10 MUM also had
      teratogenic properties with 20% and 50% back-bone curvature respectively. Gene
      transcription analysis in zebrafish embryos as well as in juveniles showed down
      regulation of the androgen receptor and androgen response genes, which further
      support that these BFRs are androgen antagonists and potential endocrine
      disrupting compounds. Genes involved in steroidogenesis were also down-regulated
      by these BFRs. In view of this, the impact of these BFRs on humans and wildlife
      needs further analysis.

PMID- 25818048
TI  - Bis(phenylimidazoselenazolyl) diselenide as an antioxidant compound: An in vitro
      and in vivo study.
AB  - The organoselenium compounds have been reported for many biological properties,
      especially as potent antioxidants. The compound bis(phenylimidazoselenazolyl)
      diselenide (BPIS) is a novel diaryl diselenide derivative, which shows
      antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory properties in mice, but whose antioxidant
      activity has not been studied. The present study aimed to investigate the
      antioxidant and toxicological potential of BPIS in brain of rats in vitro, and
      the effect of BPIS against the oxidative damage induced by sodium nitroprusside
      (SNP) in mouse brain. BPIS, at low molecular range, reduced lipid peroxidation
      (LP) and protein carbonyl (PC) content in rat brain homogenates (IC50 values of
      1.35 and 0.74 MUM, respectively). BPIS also presented dehydroascorbate reductase
      like and glutathione-S-transferase-like, as well as DPPH and NO-scavenging
      activities. Related to togicological assays, BPIS inhibited delta-ALA-D and
      Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activities in rat brain homogenates and [(3)H]glutamate uptake
      in synaptosomes in vitro, but these effects were observed at higher
      concentrations than it had antioxidant effect (IC50 values of 16.41, 26.44 and
      3.29 MUM, respectively). In vivo, brains of mice treated with SNP (0.335 MUmol
      per site; i.c.v.) showed an increase in LP and PC and a reduction in non protein
      thiol content, however, it was not observed significant alterations in
      antioxidant enzyme activities. BPIS (10 mg/kg; p.o.) protected against these
      alterations caused by SNP. In conclusion, the results demonstrated the
      antioxidant action of BPIS in in vitro assays. Furthermore, BPIS protected
      against oxidative damage caused by SNP in mouse brain, strengthening the
      potential antioxidant effect of this compound.

PMID- 25818049
TI  - No role of beta receptors in cognitive flexibility: Evidence from a task
      switching paradigm in a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - There is evidence that noradrenergic coeruleo-cortical projections are involved
      in different forms of cognitive flexibility. So far, no studies in humans have
      investigated the involvement of beta receptors on task-switching performance, a
      well-established measure of cognitive flexibility. The present study investigated
      whether the administration of propranolol (a central and peripheral beta
      adrenergic antagonist) affected switching costs (i.e., the increase of reaction
      time in task-switching trials relative to task-repetition trials). Sixteen
      healthy adult human subjects performed a global-local task-switching paradigm in
      a double-blind, within-subjects design study investigating the effects of 80mg of
      propranolol hydrochloride (a beta1 and beta2 adrenergic receptor antagonist) vs.
      an oral dose of microcrystalline cellulose (placebo pill). The acute
      administration of propranolol did not affect the size of switching costs compared
      to the intake of the neutral placebo. Our results, corroborated by Bayesian
      inference, suggest that beta receptors do not modulate cognitive flexibility as
      measured by task-switching performance. 

PMID- 25818053
TI  - Possible predictors for difficult removal of locking plates: A case-control
      study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Difficult removal of locking plates including less invasive
      stabilisation systems (LISSs) and locking compression plates (LCPs) sometimes
      occur. However, investigations of the mechanisms and correlated factors of
      complicated removal remain scant. This study aims to identify correlated factors
      for the difficult removal of locking plates and to propose suggestions for
      decision making regarding implant removal and the prevention of complicated
      removal. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 308 consecutive patients who underwent
      LCP/LISS removal from Sep. 2004 to Nov. 2013 were assessed. Using the Mann
      Whitney U test, we analysed the correlation between difficult removal and the
      duration between open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) and implant removal
      as well as the correlation between difficult removal and the patients' age. Using
      Chi Square test, we assessed the correlations between complicated removal and the
      size, location, insertion technique and cortical purchase of the locking head
      screw (LHS). Correlated factors were separately determined in upper and lower
      extremities. Rates of difficult removal in different fracture locations were
      evaluated, and postoperative complications were documented. RESULTS: Of the total
      308 patients, thirty-seven had intra-operative difficulties, and six patients
      experienced postoperative complications. Six out of fifteen patients with peri
      elbow fractures and five out of seventeen patients with femur fractures suffered
      difficult removal, while four out of one hundred patients with malleolar
      fractures had intra-operative difficulties. Difficulties were experienced with 30
      of 338 LCPs, 7 of 32 LISSs, 67 of 1533 small-diameter (<= 3.5-mm) LHSs, and 12 of
      442 large-diameter (>= 4.5-mm) LHSs. Three LCPs and seventeen small-diameter LHSs
      were retained. A longer interval between ORIF and removal, younger age and
      bicortical screws correlated with difficult removal in the upper extremities, and
      a longer duration before removal, small-diameter LHS and minimally invasive
      insertion of LHS were predictors in the lower extremities. CONCLUSIONS:
      Complications occur with LCP/LISS removal, and it should not be a routine
      procedure. If removal is indicated, performing surgery as soon as radiographs
      show fracture healing is recommended. Different considerations should apply when
      making decisions and removing implants from patients with different fracture
      sites.

PMID- 25818051
TI  - Trigeminal Inflammatory Compression (TIC) injury induces chronic facial pain and
      susceptibility to anxiety-related behaviors.
AB  - Our laboratory previously developed a novel neuropathic and inflammatory facial
      pain model for mice referred to as the Trigeminal Inflammatory Compression (TIC)
      model. Rather than inducing whole nerve ischemia and neuronal loss, this injury
      induces only slight peripheral nerve demyelination triggering long-term
      mechanical allodynia and cold hypersensitivity on the ipsilateral whisker pad.
      The aim of the present study is to further characterize the phenotype of the TIC
      injury model using specific behavioral assays (i.e. light-dark box, open field
      exploratory activity, and elevated plus maze) to explore pain- and anxiety-like
      behaviors associated with this model. Our findings determined that the TIC injury
      produces hypersensitivity 100% of the time after surgery that persists at least
      21 weeks post injury (until the animals are euthanized). Three receptive field
      sensitivity pattern variations in mice with TIC injury are specified. Animals
      with TIC injury begin displaying anxiety-like behavior in the light-dark box
      preference and open field exploratory tests at week eight post injury as compared
      to sham and naive animals. Panic anxiety-like behavior was shown in the elevated
      plus maze in mice with TIC injury if the test was preceded with acoustic startle.
      Thus, in addition to mechanical and cold hypersensitivity, the present study
      identified significant anxiety-like behaviors in mice with TIC injury resembling
      the clinical symptomatology and psychosocial impairments of patients with chronic
      facial pain. Overall, the TIC injury model's chronicity, reproducibility, and
      reliability in producing pain- and anxiety-like behaviors demonstrate its
      usefulness as a chronic neuropathic facial pain model.

PMID- 25818050
TI  - Serotonin-2C and -2a receptor co-expression on cells in the rat medial prefrontal
      cortex.
AB  - Neural function within the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) regulates normal
      cognition, attention and impulse control, implicating neuroregulatory
      abnormalities within this region in mental dysfunction related to schizophrenia,
      depression and drug abuse. Both serotonin-2A (5-HT2A) and -2C (5-HT2C) receptors
      are known to be important in neuropsychiatric drug action and are distributed
      throughout the mPFC. However, their interactive role in serotonergic cortical
      regulation is poorly understood. While the main signal transduction mechanism for
      both receptors is stimulation of phosphoinositide production, they can have
      opposite effects downstream. 5-HT2A versus 5-HT2C receptor activation oppositely
      regulates behavior and can oppositely affect neurochemical release within the
      mPFC. These distinct receptor effects could be caused by their differential
      cellular distribution within the cortex and/or other areas. It is known that both
      receptors are located on GABAergic and pyramidal cells within the mPFC, but it is
      not clear whether they are expressed on the same or different cells. The present
      work employed immunofluorescence with confocal microscopy to examine this in
      layers V-VI of the prelimbic mPFC. The majority of GABA cells in the deep
      prelimbic mPFC expressed 5-HT2C receptor immunoreactivity. Furthermore, most
      cells expressing 5-HT2C receptor immunoreactivity notably co-expressed 5-HT2A
      receptors. However, 27% of 5-HT2C receptor immunoreactive cells were not
      GABAergic, indicating that a population of prelimbic pyramidal projection cells
      could express the 5-HT2C receptor. Indeed, some cells with 5-HT2C and 5-HT2A
      receptor co-labeling had a pyramidal shape and were expressed in the typical
      layered fashion of pyramidal cells. This indirectly demonstrates that 5-HT2C and
      5-HT2A receptors may be commonly co-expressed on GABAergic cells within the deep
      layers of the prelimbic mPFC and perhaps co-localized on a small population of
      local pyramidal projection cells. Thus a complex interplay of cortical 5-HT2A and
      5-HT2C receptor mechanisms exists, which if altered, could modulate efferent
      brain systems implicated in mental illness. 

PMID- 25818054
TI  - Is early hip fracture surgery safe for patients on clopidogrel? Systematic
      review, meta-analysis and meta-regression.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Hip fracture is a common presentation in the elderly population,
      many of whom will be taking the antiplatelet clopidogrel, which has the potential
      to increase perioperative bleeding. The aim of this systematic review and meta
      analysis was to answer the questions: (1) is early hip fracture surgery for
      patients on clopidogrel associated with worse postoperative outcomes compared to
      patients not on clopidogrel? (2) is early versus delayed surgery for these
      patients associated with worse postoperative outcomes? METHODS: A systematic
      search was conducted of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cinahl and AMED databases. Results from
      patients undergoing early surgery on clopidogrel were compared to a control group
      not taking clopidogrel. In addition, patients taking clopidogrel undergoing early
      and delayed surgery were compared. RESULTS: For patients taking clopidogrel
      undergoing early surgery, there was no associated increase in overall mortality
      (OR 0.89; 95% CI: 0.58-1.38) or 30-day mortality (OR 1.10 95% CI: 0.48-2.54).
      However, there was an associated increase in blood transfusion (OR 1.41 95% CI:
      1.00-1.99). There was an associated decreased length of stay in the early surgery
      versus delayed surgery group (weighted mean difference -7.09 days (95% CI: -10.14
      to -4.04). DISCUSSION: Early surgery appears safe for patients with hip fracture
      though there may be a small increase in the rate of blood transfusion. However,
      larger prospective trials are required to confirm these findings.

PMID- 25818055
TI  - Acute traumatic coagulopathy - Query regarding previous article.

PMID- 25818052
TI  - Osteoarthritis-dependent changes in antinociceptive action of Nav1.7 and Nav1.8
      sodium channel blockers: An in vivo electrophysiological study in the rat.
AB  - Voltage-gated sodium channel blockers are not traditionally recommended for
      osteoarthritis (OA) pain therapy, but given the large peripheral drive that
      follows OA development there is a rationale for their use. Using a rat model of
      monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced OA we used in vivo electrophysiology to
      assess the effects of the Nav1.7- and Nav1.8-selective antagonists, ProTxII and A
      803467 respectively, on the evoked activity of spinal dorsal horn neurons in
      response to electrical, mechanical and thermal stimuli applied to the peripheral
      receptive field. These studies allow examination of the roles of these channels
      in suprathreshold stimuli, not amenable to behavioral threshold measures. Spinal
      administration of ProTxII significantly reduced neuronal responses evoked by
      mechanical punctate (von Frey (vF) 8-60g) and noxious thermal (45 and 48 degrees
      C) stimuli in MIA rats only. A-803467 significantly inhibited neuronal responses
      evoked by vF 8-60g and 48 degrees C heat after spinal administration;
      significantly inhibited responses evoked by brush, vFs 26-60g and 40-48 degrees C
      stimuli after systemic administration; significantly inhibited the electrically
      evoked Adelta-, C-fiber, post-discharge, Input and wind-up responses and the
      brush, vFs 8-60g and 45-48 degrees C evoked neuronal responses after intra
      plantar injection in the MIA group. In comparison A-803467 effects in the sham
      group were minimal and included a reduction of the neuronal response evoked by vF
      60g and 45 degrees C heat stimulation after spinal administration, no effect
      after systemic administration and an inhibition of the evoked response to 45
      degrees C heat after intra plantar injection only. The observed selective
      inhibitory effect of ProTxII and A-803467 for the MIA-treated group suggests an
      increased role of Nav1.7 and 1.8 within nociceptive pathways in the arthritic
      condition, located at peripheral and central sites. These findings demonstrate
      the importance of, and add to, the mechanistic understanding of these channels in
      osteoarthritic pain. 

PMID- 25818056
TI  - Effect of weather and time on trauma events determined using emergency medical
      service registry data.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Trauma admissions are associated with weather and temporal factors;
      however, previous study results regarding these factors are contradictory. We
      hypothesised that weather and temporal factors have different effects on specific
      trauma events in an emergency medical service (EMS) system. METHODS: EMS data
      from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2010, were obtained from the fire
      department of Taipei City and associated with the local weather data. EMS trauma
      events were categorised into total trauma, traffic accidents (TAs), motorbike
      accidents (MBAs), and falls. Hourly data on trauma patients were analysed using
      the zero-inflated Poisson model. RESULTS: The hourly incidence of total trauma
      increased with the magnitude of precipitation (incidence rate ratio [IRR]=1.06,
      1.09, and 1.11 in light, moderate, and heavy rain, respectively), and this effect
      was more prominent in fall patients than in patients with other injuries
      (IRR=1.07, 1.21, and 1.32). However, the hourly incidence of TAs and MBAs was
      associated only with light rain (IRR=1.11 and 1.06, respectively). An hour of
      sunshine exposure was associated with an increase in the hourly incidence of all
      groups, and higher temperatures were associated with an increased hourly
      incidence of total trauma, TAs, and MBAs, but not falls. The hourly incidence of
      falls increased only in late fall and winter. Compared with the hourly incidence
      between 3 am and 7 am, the hourly incidence of all groups plateaued between 7 am
      and 11 pm and declined from 11 pm to 3 am. During the plateau period, 2 peaks in
      the incidence of TAs (IRR=5.03 and 5.07, respectively) and MBAs (IRR=5.81 and
      5.51, respectively) were observed during 7-11 am and 3-7 pm. The hourly incidence
      of total trauma, TAs, and MBAs plateaued during workdays, peaked on Fridays,
      declined on Saturdays, and troughed on Sundays. The incidence of falls increased
      only on Mondays (IRR=1.09). CONCLUSIONS: Weather and temporal factors had
      different impacts on the incidence of traffic-related accidents and falls.
      Therefore, EMS data may have implications in preventing injuries and planning
      resource use for prehospital trauma rescue.

PMID- 25818057
TI  - Inter and intra-observer agreement evaluation of the AO and the Tronzo
      classification systems of fractures of the trochanteric area.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: We performed an agreement study of the AO and the Tronzo
      classifications of fractures of the trochanteric area to determine if they allow
      communication among practitioners with different levels of expertise. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: Complete radiographs of 70 patients with trochanteric fractures were
      classified by nine evaluators (three hip sub-specialists, three orthopaedic
      surgery residents and three medical interns) using the AO and the Tronzo
      classifications. After a six-week interval, all cases were presented in a random
      sequence for repeat evaluation. The Kappa coefficient (k) was used to determine
      inter- and intra-observer agreement. RESULTS: Inter-observer: considering the
      main AO fracture types, the agreement was moderate for sub-specialists (k = 0.60
      [0.50-0.70]), residents (k = 0.58 [0.48-0.69]) and medical interns (k = 0.56
      [0.45-0.69]). Using AO sub-types, all groups achieved fair agreement (sub
      specialists: k = 0.31 [0.25-0.38]; residents: k = 0.32 [0.26-0.38]; medical
      interns: k = 0.30 [0.24-0.36]). For the Tronzo classification, sub-specialists (k
      = 0.56 [0.48-0.65]) and residents (k = 0.47 [0.39-0.55]) obtained moderate
      agreement; medical interns reached fair agreement (k = 0.33 [0.25-0.41]). Intra
      observer: considering the main AO fracture types, sub-specialists (k = 0.79 [0.69
      0.89]), residents (k = 0.71 [0.60-0.81]) and medical interns (k = 0.70 [0.59
      0.82]) obtained substantial agreement. Considering AO sub-types, sub-specialists
      (k = 0.50 [0.45-0.56]) and medical interns (k = 0.54 [0.48-0.69]) achieved
      moderate agreement; residents (k = 0.39 [0.33-0.45]) achieved fair agreement.
      Using the Tronzo classification, all groups obtained substantial agreement (sub
      specialists: k = 0.66 [0.58-0.74]; residents: k = 0.63 [0.55-0.71]; medical
      interns: k = 0.68 [0.60-0.76]). CONCLUSION: The AO classification allows an
      adequate communication when considering the main fracture types; the agreement
      within sub-types is not satisfactory. The Tronzo classification does not allow
      reliable communication between medical professionals.

PMID- 25818058
TI  - Biomechanical comparison of long, short, and extended-short nail construct for
      femoral intertrochanteric fractures.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Short and long cephalomedullary (CM) nails are commonly used
      construct for fixation of intertrochanteric (IT) fractures. Each of these
      constructs has its advantages and its shortcomings. The extended-short (ES) CM
      nail offers a hybrid between long and short nail design that aims to combine
      their respective benefits. The goals of this study were to (1) biomechanically
      evaluate and compare construct stiffness for the long, short and ES constructs in
      the fixation of IT fractures, and to (2) investigate the nature of periprosthetic
      fractures of constructs implanted with these various designs. METHODS: Eighteen
      synthetic femora were used to evaluate three types of fracture fixation
      constructs. Axial compression, bending, and torsional stiffness were reported for
      both stable and comminuted IT fracture models. All comminuted fracture constructs
      were loaded to failure in axial compression to measure failure loads and evaluate
      periprosthetic fracture patterns. RESULTS: Stiffness were similar among
      constructs with few exceptions. Axial stiffness was significantly higher for the
      short nail compared to the long nail for the comminuted model (p= 0.020). ES nail
      constructs exhibited a significantly higher failure load than short nail
      constructs (p = 0.039). Periprosthetic fractures occurred around the distal
      interlocking screw in all constructs. CONCLUSIONS: Nail length and position of
      interlocking screw did not alter the biomechanical properties of the fixation
      construct in the presented IT fracture model. Periprosthetic fractures generated
      in this study had similar patterns to those seen clinically. This study also
      suggests that if a periprosthetic fracture is to occur, there is an increased
      probability of it happening around the site of the interlocking screw, regardless
      of nail design.

PMID- 25818059
TI  - Characterization of patients with cystic fibrosis presenting an indeterminate
      glucose tolerance (INDET).
AB  - BACKGROUND: CFRD is preceded and associated with a significantly increased
      morbidity and mortality. We aimed to characterize a large newly established
      glucose tolerance subgroup named INDET (indeterminate; 1-h oral glucose tolerance
      test (OGTT)>11.0 but 2h-OGTT<7.8 mmol/L) in adult patients with cystic fibrosis
      (CF). METHODS: All CF participants (n=252, >=18 yrs without CFRD) underwent a 2h
      OGTT with glucose and insulin sample measurements every 30 min. They were then
      classified as having either normal, impaired, or INDET glucose tolerance, or de
      novo CFRD. Other clinical characteristics were collected such as the BMI and
      pulmonary function. RESULTS: All groups were of similar age (P=0.629) and BMI
      (P=0.813). We found that the INDETs displayed decreased lung function comparable
      to de novo CFRD. OGTT-derived glucose or insulin secretion/sensitivity parameters
      cannot fully explain this observation. CONCLUSIONS: Prospective studies are
      required to establish if the INDET-CF group can identify clinically relevant
      outcomes.

PMID- 25818060
TI  - Long-term outcomes from the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network
      Prescription Opioid Addiction Treatment Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the growing prevalence of prescription opioid dependence,
      longitudinal studies have not examined long-term treatment response. The current
      study examined outcomes over 42 months in the Prescription Opioid Addiction
      Treatment Study (POATS). METHODS: POATS was a multi-site clinical trial lasting
      up to 9 months, examining different durations of buprenorphine-naloxone plus
      standard medical management for prescription opioid dependence, with participants
      randomized to receive or not receive additional opioid drug counseling. A subset
      of participants (N=375 of 653) enrolled in a follow-up study. Telephone
      interviews were administered approximately 18, 30, and 42 months after main-trial
      enrollment. Comparison of baseline characteristics by follow-up participation
      suggested few differences. RESULTS: At Month 42, much improvement was seen: 31.7%
      were abstinent from opioids and not on agonist therapy; 29.4% were receiving
      opioid agonist therapy, but met no symptom criteria for current opioid
      dependence; 7.5% were using illicit opioids while on agonist therapy; and the
      remaining 31.4% were using opioids without agonist therapy. Participants
      reporting a lifetime history of heroin use at baseline were more likely to meet
      DSM-IV criteria for opioid dependence at Month 42 (OR=4.56, 95% CI=1.29-16.04,
      p<.05). Engagement in agonist therapy was associated with a greater likelihood of
      illicit-opioid abstinence. Eight percent (n=27/338) used heroin for the first
      time during follow-up; 10.1% reported first-time injection heroin use.
      CONCLUSIONS: Long-term outcomes for those dependent on prescription opioids
      demonstrated clear improvement from baseline. However, a subset exhibited a
      worsening course, by initiating heroin use and/or injection opioid use.

PMID- 25818061
TI  - Bupropion for the treatment of methamphetamine dependence in non-daily users: a
      randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
AB  - AIM: Bupropion was tested for efficacy to achieve methamphetamine (MA) abstinence
      in dependent, non-daily users. METHODS: A randomized, double-blind, placebo
      controlled trial, with 12-week treatment and 4-week follow-up, was conducted with
      204 treatment-seeking participants having MA dependence per DSM-IV, who used MA
      on a less-than-daily basis. 104 were randomized to matched placebo and 100 to
      bupropion, sustained-release 150mg, twice daily. Participants were seen three
      times weekly to obtain urine for MA and bupropion assays, study assessments, and
      thrice weekly, 90-min, group psychotherapy. There was no biomarker for placebo
      adherence. The primary outcome was achievement of abstinence throughout the last
      two weeks of treatment; 'success' requiring at least two urine samples during
      each of Weeks 11 and 12, and all samples MA-negative (<300ng/mL). RESULTS:
      Bupropion and placebo groups did not differ significantly in the percentage
      achieving abstinence for the last 2 weeks of treatment (chi-square, p=0.32).
      Subgroup analysis of participants with lower baseline MA use (<=18 of last 30
      days before consent) also revealed no difference in success between groups
      (p=0.73). Medication adherence per protocol (detectable bupropion, >5ng/mL, in
      >=50% of urine samples from Study Weeks 1-10 and >=66% of urine samples from
      Weeks 11 to 12) was achieved by 47% of participants taking bupropion.
      CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that bupropion did not increase abstinence in
      dependent participants who were using MA less-than-daily. Medication non
      adherence was a limitation in this trial. Psychosocial therapy remains the
      mainstay of treatment for MA dependence. Further research on subgroups who may
      respond to bupropion may be warranted.

PMID- 25818062
TI  - Solid state formulations composed by amphiphilic polymers for delivery of
      proteins: characterization and stability.
AB  - Nanocomposite powders composed by polymeric micelles as vehicles for delivery
      proteins were developed in this work, using insulin as model protein. Results
      showed that size and polydispersity of micelles were dependent on the amphiphilic
      polymer used, being all lower than 300 nm, while all the formulations displayed
      spherical shape and surface charge close to neutrality. Percentages of
      association efficiency and loading capacity up to 94.15 +/- 3.92 and 8.56 +/-
      0.36, respectively, were obtained. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
      measurements confirmed that insulin was partially present at the hydrophilic
      shell of the micelles. Lyophilization did not significantly change the physical
      characteristics of micelles, further providing easily dispersion when in contact
      to aqueous medium. The native-like conformation of insulin was maintained at high
      percentages (around 80%) after lyophilization as indicated by Fourier transform
      infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and far-UV circular dichroism (CD). Moreover, Raman
      spectroscopy did not evidenced significant interactions among the formulation
      components. The formulations shown to be physically stable upon storage up to 6
      months both at room-temperature (20  degrees C) and fridge (4  degrees C), with
      only a slight loss (maximum of 15%) of the secondary structure of the protein.
      Among the polymers tested, Pluronic((r)) F127 produced the carrier formulations
      more promising for delivery of proteins.

PMID- 25818063
TI  - Novel curcumin-loaded gel-core hyaluosomes with promising burn-wound healing
      potential: Development, in-vitro appraisal and in-vivo studies.
AB  - Despite its effectiveness, curcumin (Curc) dermal delivery is handicapped by
      hydrophobicity, high metabolism and poor skin permeation. In this work, the
      potential of novel self-assembled nanogels, namely gel-core hyaluosome (GC-HS) to
      enhance Curc delivery to wound sites, enhance healing rate and decrease scar
      formation was evaluated. Curc-GC-HS were prepared using film hydration technique
      and evaluated regarding size, zeta potential (ZP), entrapment efficiency (% EE),
      and in vitro release. Structure elucidation was performed using light, polarizing
      and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In-vivo burn-wound healing potential,
      skin deposition ability and histological study were evaluated using female
      Sprague Dawley rats. Curc-GC-HS were compared to conventional transfersomal gel
      (Curc-T-Pl gel), and other conventional gels. Curc-GC-HS showed nanosize (202.7
      +/- 0.66 nm), negative ZP (-33 +/- 2.6 mV) and % EE (96.44 +/- 1.29%). TEM
      revealed discrete vesicles with characteristic bilayer structure. Polarizing
      microscopy proposed liquid crystalline consistency. Burn-wound healing study
      showed that Curc-GC-HS was the only system exhibiting marked improvement at day 7
      of treatment. At 11th day, Curc-GC-HS treated wounds showed almost normal skin
      with no scar confirmed by histological analysis. Curc-GC-HS showed five folds
      higher skin deposition compared to conventional Curc-T-Pl gel. To conclude, novel
      gel-core hyaluosomes elaborated are promising nanogels able to increase Curc skin
      penetration and dermal localization while protecting it against degradation.
      Future perspective encompasses assessing potential of novel nanocarrier for skin
      cancer therapy.

PMID- 25818064
TI  - Controlling protein stability: Mechanisms revealed using formulations of
      arginine, glycine and guanidinium HCl with three globular proteins.
AB  - Three distinct interactions between the amino acid arginine and a protein explain
      arginine's ability to modulate the thermal stability of proteins. Arginine's
      effect on the protein unfolding behaves like the sum of its constituent parts,
      glycine and the guanidinium ion. The authors propose that glycine can affect the
      thermal stability of a protein in two ways: (1) direct interaction with the
      charged side chains and/or the peptide backbone of the protein which is observed
      at low concentrations and (2) competition for water between the unfolding protein
      and the cosolute increasing the energy required to hydrate the unfolding protein.
      The guanidinium ion acts by (3) direct interaction with apolar regions exposed
      during unfolding reducing the energy required to hydrate the unfolding protein. 

PMID- 25818065
TI  - Patient-directed music therapy reduces anxiety and sedation exposure in
      mechanically-ventilated patients: a research critique.
AB  - This research appraisal, guided by the CASP Randomised Controlled Trial
      Checklist, critiques a randomised, controlled trial of patient-directed music
      therapy compared to either noise-cancelling headphones or usual care. This study
      recruited 373 alert, mechanically-ventilated patients across five intensive care
      units in the United States. The Music Assessment Tool, administered by a music
      therapist, facilitated music selection by participants in the intervention group.
      Anxiety was measured using the VAS-A scale. Sedation exposure was measured by
      both sedation frequency and by sedation intensity using a daily sedation
      intensity score. Context for the data was supported by an environmental scan form
      recording unit activity and by written comments from nurses about the patient's
      responses to the protocol. Patient-directed music therapy allowed a significant
      reduction in sedation frequency compared to noise-cancelling headphones and usual
      care participants. Patient-directed music therapy led to significantly lower
      anxiety and sedation intensity compared to usual care, but not compared to noise
      cancelling headphones. This is a robust study with clear aims and a detailed
      description of research methods and follow-up. While no participants were lost to
      follow-up, not all were included in the analysis: 37% did not have the minimum of
      two anxiety assessments for comparison and 23% were not included in sedation
      analysis. While some participants utilised the intervention or active control for
      many hours-per-day, half the music therapy participants listened for 12min or
      less per day and half of the noise-cancelling headphone participants did not
      appear to use them. While the results suggest that patient-directed music therapy
      and noise-cancelling headphones may be useful and cost-effective interventions
      that lead to an overall improvement in anxiety and sedation exposure, these may
      appeal to a subset of ICU patients. The self-directed use of music therapy and
      noise-cancelling headphones means these findings may not transfer to sedated or
      cognitively-impaired patients.

PMID- 25818066
TI  - Development, diet and dynamism: longitudinal and cross-sectional predictors of
      gut microbial communities in wild baboons.
AB  - Gut bacterial communities play essential roles in host biology, but to date we
      lack information on the forces that shape gut microbiota between hosts and over
      time in natural populations. Understanding these forces in wild primates provides
      a valuable comparative context that enriches scientific perspectives on human gut
      microbiota. To this end, we tested predictors of gut microbial composition in a
      well-studied population of wild baboons. Using cross-sectional and longitudinal
      samples collected over 13 years, we found that baboons harbour gut microbiota
      typical of other omnivorous primates, albeit with an especially high abundance of
      Bifidobacterium. Similar to previous work in humans and other primates, we found
      strong effects of both developmental transitions and diet on gut microbial
      composition. Strikingly, baboon gut microbiota appeared to be highly dynamic such
      that samples collected from the same individual only a few days apart were as
      different from each other as samples collected over 10 years apart. Despite the
      dynamic nature of baboon gut microbiota, we identified a set of core taxa that is
      common among primates, supporting the hypothesis that microbiota codiversify with
      their host species. Our analysis identified two tentative enterotypes in adult
      baboons that differ from those of humans and chimpanzees.

PMID- 25818067
TI  - Detection of classical Hodgkin lymphoma specific sequence in peripheral blood
      using a next-generation sequencing approach.
AB  - We applied a highly sensitive next-generation sequencing method to identify
      lymphoma-specific immunoglobulin gene segments in classical Hodgkin lymphoma
      (CHL) at initial diagnosis or recurrence, and assessed the ability of detecting
      such lymphoma-specific sequences in peripheral blood (PB). Seventeen CHL cases
      were tested and lymphoma-specific sequences were identified in 12 of the primary
      tumour biopsies. In 11 of these patients whose paired PB samples were available,
      tumour-specific clonotypes were detected in PB in eight patients. This data
      demonstrates the feasibility of detecting circulating tumour-specific sequences,
      creating an unprecedented opportunity to optimize the future treatment and
      monitoring strategies for patients with CHL. 

PMID- 25818068
TI  - A decision-making framework for the grouping and testing of nanomaterials
      (DF4nanoGrouping).
AB  - The European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC) 'Nano
      Task Force' proposes a Decision-making framework for the grouping and testing of
      nanomaterials (DF4nanoGrouping) that consists of 3 tiers to assign nanomaterials
      to 4 main groups, to perform sub-grouping within the main groups and to determine
      and refine specific information needs. The DF4nanoGrouping covers all relevant
      aspects of a nanomaterial's life cycle and biological pathways, i.e. intrinsic
      material and system-dependent properties, biopersistence, uptake and
      biodistribution, cellular and apical toxic effects. Use (including manufacture),
      release and route of exposure are applied as 'qualifiers' within the
      DF4nanoGrouping to determine if, e.g. nanomaterials cannot be released from a
      product matrix, which may justify the waiving of testing. The four main groups
      encompass (1) soluble nanomaterials, (2) biopersistent high aspect ratio
      nanomaterials, (3) passive nanomaterials, and (4) active nanomaterials. The
      DF4nanoGrouping aims to group nanomaterials by their specific mode-of-action that
      results in an apical toxic effect. This is eventually directed by a
      nanomaterial's intrinsic properties. However, since the exact correlation of
      intrinsic material properties and apical toxic effect is not yet established, the
      DF4nanoGrouping uses the 'functionality' of nanomaterials for grouping rather
      than relying on intrinsic material properties alone. Such functionalities include
      system-dependent material properties (such as dissolution rate in biologically
      relevant media), bio-physical interactions, in vitro effects and release and
      exposure. The DF4nanoGrouping is a hazard and risk assessment tool that applies
      modern toxicology and contributes to the sustainable development of
      nanotechnological products. It ensures that no studies are performed that do not
      provide crucial data and therefore saves animals and resources. 

PMID- 25818069
TI  - Care related pain in rehabilitation after orthopedic trauma: An exploratory study
      with qualitative data.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Care related pain (CRP) is generally under-estimated and rarely
      studied in rehabilitation as well as in general medecine. Beliefs about pain
      influence psychological distress, adjustment to pain and physical disability. In
      this sense, perceptions of CRP could limit recovery. This exploratory study aims
      to understand patients' and caregivers' subjective perceptions and beliefs about
      CRP. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Questionnaires about CRP were submitted to members of
      the interdisciplinary team of a rehabilitation hospital and to patients with
      musculoskeletal complaints (cross-sectional design). Twenty patients were also
      individually interviewed (qualitative data). Four topics were addressed:
      frequency of CRP, situations and procedures causing CRP, beliefs about CRP and
      means used to deal with CRP. RESULTS: Seventy-five caregivers and 50 patients
      replied to the questionnaire. CRP is a very common experience in rehabilitation
      and it is recognized by both groups. Generally, the situations causing CRP
      reflect the specificity of rehabilitation (mobilization...) and are similarly
      perceived by patients and caregivers, with patients considering them as more
      painful. Beliefs about CRP are clearly different from those usually associated
      with pain. Both groups point out the utilitarian and the inevitable character of
      CRP. They differ on that, that patients had a more positive view about CRP. They
      associate it more often with progress and see it as acceptable at least until a
      certain limit. They are also able to perceive the richness of means used by
      physiotherapists to help them coping with CRP. CONCLUSION: Our data may suggest
      new keys to motivate patient to be active in rehabilitation for example in
      choosing carefully arguments or words which may fit theirs' beliefs about CRP, or
      in using various means to manage CRP. Promoting the use of relational competences
      with chronic pain patients and of a patient-centred approach may also be a
      concern in training caregivers.

PMID- 25818070
TI  - Targeted high-resolution ion mobility separation coupled to ultrahigh-resolution
      mass spectrometry of endocrine disruptors in complex mixtures.
AB  - Traditional separation and detection of targeted compounds from complex mixtures
      from environmental matrices requires the use of lengthy prefractionation steps
      and high-resolution mass analyzers due to the large number of chemical components
      and their large structural diversity (highly isomeric). In the present work,
      selected accumulation trapped ion mobility spectrometry (SA-TIMS) is coupled to
      Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) for
      direct separation and characterization of targeted endocrine-disrupting compounds
      (EDC) from a complex environmental matrix in a single analysis. In particular,
      targeted identification based on high-resolution mobility (R ~ 70-120) and
      ultrahigh-resolution mass measurements (R > 400 000) of seven commonly targeted
      EDC and their isobars (e.g., bisphenol A, (Z)- and (E)-diethylstilbestrol,
      hexestrol, estrone, alpha-estradiol, and 17-ethynylestradiol) is shown from a
      complex mixture of water-soluble organic matter (e.g., Suwannee River Fulvic Acid
      Standard II) complemented with reference standard measurements and theoretical
      calculations (<3% error). 

PMID- 25818071
TI  - Phenotypic plasticity to light and nutrient availability alters functional trait
      ranking across eight perennial grassland species.
AB  - Functional traits are often used as species-specific mean trait values in
      comparative plant ecology or trait-based predictions of ecosystem processes,
      assuming that interspecific differences are greater than intraspecific trait
      variation and that trait-based ranking of species is consistent across
      environments. Although this assumption is increasingly challenged, there is a
      lack of knowledge regarding to what degree the extent of intraspecific trait
      variation in response to varying environmental conditions depends on the
      considered traits and the characteristics of the studied species to evaluate the
      consequences for trait-based species ranking. We studied functional traits of
      eight perennial grassland species classified into different functional groups
      (forbs vs. grasses) and varying in their inherent growth stature (tall vs. small)
      in a common garden experiment with different environments crossing three levels
      of nutrient availability and three levels of light availability over 4 months of
      treatment applications. Grasses and forbs differed in almost all above- and
      belowground traits, while trait differences related to growth stature were
      generally small. The traits showing the strongest responses to resource
      availability were similarly for grasses and forbs those associated with
      allocation and resource uptake. The strength of trait variation in response to
      varying resource availability differed among functional groups (grasses > forbs)
      and species of varying growth stature (small-statured > tall-statured species) in
      many aboveground traits, but only to a lower extent in belowground traits. These
      differential responses altered trait-based species ranking in many aboveground
      traits, such as specific leaf area, tissue nitrogen and carbon concentrations and
      above-belowground allocation (leaf area ratio and root : shoot ratio) at varying
      resource supply, while trait-based species ranking was more consistent in
      belowground traits. Our study shows that species grouping according to functional
      traits is valid, but trait-based species ranking depends on environmental
      conditions, thus limiting the applicability of species-specific mean trait values
      in ecological studies. 

PMID- 25818072
TI  - Physiological, anatomical and transcriptional alterations in a rice mutant
      leading to enhanced water stress tolerance.
AB  - Water stress is one of the most severe constraints to crop productivity. Plants
      display a variety of physiological and biochemical responses both at the cellular
      and whole organism level upon sensing water stress. Leaf rolling, stomatal
      closure, deeper root penetration, higher relative water content (RWC) and better
      osmotic adjustment are some of the mechanisms that plants employ to overcome
      water stress. In the current study, we report a mutant, enhanced water stress
      tolerant1 (ewst1) with enhanced water stress tolerance, identified from the ethyl
      methanesulfonate-induced mutant population of rice variety Nagina22 by field
      screening followed by withdrawal of irrigation in pots and hydroponics (PEG
      6000). Though ewst1 was morphologically similar to the wild type (WT) for 35 of
      the 38 morphological descriptors (except chalky endosperm/expression of white
      core, decorticated grain colour and grain weight), it showed enhanced germination
      in polyethylene glycol-infused medium. It exhibited increase in maximum root
      length without any significant changes in its root weight, root volume and total
      root number on crown when compared with the WT under stress in PVC tube
      experiment. It also showed better performance for various physiological
      parameters such as RWC, cell membrane stability and chlorophyll concentration
      upon water stress in a pot experiment. Root anatomy and stomatal microscopic
      studies revealed changes in the number of xylem and phloem cells, size of central
      meta-xylem and number of closed stomata in ewst1. Comparative genome-wide
      transcriptome analysis identified genes related to exocytosis, secondary
      metabolites, tryptophan biosynthesis, protein phosphorylation and other
      signalling pathways to be playing a role in enhanced response to water stress in
      ewst1. The possible involvement of a candidate gene with respect to the observed
      morpho-physiological and transcriptional changes and its role in stress tolerance
      are discussed. The mutant identified and characterized in this study will be
      useful for further dissection of water stress tolerance in rice. 

PMID- 25818073
TI  - Soil microbial community variation correlates most strongly with plant species
      identity, followed by soil chemistry, spatial location and plant genus.
AB  - Soil ecologists have debated the relative importance of dispersal limitation and
      ecological factors in determining the structure of soil microbial communities.
      Recent evidence suggests that 'everything is not everywhere', and that microbial
      communities are influenced by both dispersal limitation and ecological factors.
      However, we still do not understand the relative explanatory power of spatial and
      ecological factors, including plant species identity and even plant relatedness,
      for different fractions of the soil microbial community (i.e. bacterial and
      fungal communities). To ask whether factors such as plant species, soil
      chemistry, spatial location and plant relatedness influence rhizosphere community
      composition, we examined field-collected rhizosphere soil of seven congener pairs
      that occur at Bodega Bay Marine Reserve, CA, USA. We characterized differences in
      bacterial and fungal communities using terminal-restriction fragment length
      polymorphism. Plant species identity was the single best statistical predictor of
      both bacterial and fungal community composition in the root zone. Soil microbial
      community structure was also correlated with soil chemistry. The third best
      predictor of bacterial and fungal communities was spatial location, confirming
      that everything is not everywhere. Variation in microbial community composition
      was also related to combinations of spatial location, soil chemistry and plant
      relatedness, suggesting that these factors do not act independently. Plant
      relatedness explained less of the variation than plant species, soil chemistry,
      or spatial location. Despite some congeners occupying different habitats and
      being spatially distant, rhizosphere fungal communities of plant congeners were
      more similar than expected by chance. Bacterial communities from the same samples
      were only weakly similar between plant congeners. Thus, plant relatedness might
      influence soil fungal, more than soil bacterial, community composition. 

PMID- 25818074
TI  - Analysis of population genetic structure and gene flow in an annual plant before
      and after a rapid evolutionary response to drought.
AB  - The impact of environmental change on population structure is not well
      understood. This study aimed to examine the effect of a climate change event on
      gene flow over space and time in two populations of Brassica rapa that evolved
      more synchronous flowering times over 5 years of drought in southern California.
      Using plants grown from seeds collected before and after the drought, we
      estimated genetic parameters within and between populations and across
      generations. We expected that with greater temporal opportunity to cross
      pollinate, due to reduced phenological isolation, these populations would exhibit
      an increase in gene flow following the drought. We found low but significant FST,
      but no change in FST or Nm across the drought, in contrast to predictions.
      Bayesian analysis of these data indicates minor differentiation between the two
      populations but no noticeable change in structure before and after the shift in
      flowering times. However, we found high and significant levels of FIS, indicating
      that inbreeding likely occurred in these populations despite self-incompatibility
      in B. rapa. In this system, we did not find an impact of climate change on gene
      flow or population structuring. The contribution of gene flow to adaptive
      evolution may vary by system, however, and is thus an important parameter to
      consider in further studies of natural responses to environmental change. 

PMID- 25818075
TI  - Ventricular conduction defects after transcatheter aortic valve implantation: a
      single-institute analysis.
AB  - Patients with aortic stenosis tend to develop ventricular conduction problems,
      which are known adverse events following transcatheter aortic valve implantation
      (TAVI). Changes in ventricular conduction status after TAVI were analyzed in 195
      consecutive patients from a single institute registered in FRANCE2 between
      February 2010 and June 2012. Among the 195 patients, 29 had a prior pacemaker
      implantation (+PM) and 6 had acute catastrophic hemodynamics that made a full
      electrocardiogram (ECG) unavailable. Among the remaining 160, PM was newly
      required in 28 (17.5%, PM+) but not in 132 (PM-), which included 21 (13.1%) who
      developed new left bundle branch block (BBB), 12 (7.5%) had right BBB, and 99
      (61.9%) had no change. While PM requirement had no correlation with preoperative
      factors, there was significant association with the development of right BBB with
      Edwards Sapien/XT (P = 0.003), and new left BBB (P = 0.012) and complete heart
      block requiring PM with CoreValve (22.6% vs. Edwards Sapien/XT, 7.4%, P = 0.016).
      Whereas postoperative survival regarding PM status (+PM, PM+, PM-), vascular
      access, valve size or type showed no difference, delayed heart block (n = 12, Day
      2 or later) was associated with poor survival (P = 0.038) compared with the
      remaining PM+ patients with earlier onset (n = 16, Day 0 or 1). As a result, PM+
      patients (n = 28) had significantly longer intensive care unit (ICU) stay and
      hospitalization than PM- or +PM patients. The results suggest that ventricular
      conduction problems requiring PM occurred more frequently after TAVI (17.5%) than
      with usual surgical replacement. Nonetheless, conduction problems failed to
      influence postoperative survival for up to 3 years on average with use of PM, but
      therefore did increase medical costs. 

PMID- 25818076
TI  - Cost Effectiveness of Routine Duodenal Biopsy Analysis for Celiac Disease During
      Endoscopy for Gastroesophageal Reflux.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Some patients with refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease
      (GERD) actually have undiagnosed celiac disease. These patients often undergo an
      esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) to determine the etiology and severity of GERD.
      Performing routine duodenal biopsy analysis during an EGD could identify patients
      with celiac disease. We evaluated the cost effectiveness of this approach.
      METHODS: We performed a systematic search of the MEDLINE database to identify
      publications through March 2014 on patients who underwent a duodenal biopsy
      analysis during an EGD for GERD. Data collected were used to construct a decision
      tree to calculate the cost effectiveness of an EGD with and without celiac
      disease tests. RESULTS: Among 10,000 patients with refractory GERD who underwent
      an EGD, we predicted a biopsy strategy would detect 70% of patients with celiac
      disease if the prevalence of celiac disease was 1% in this cohort. Biopsy
      analysis at the start of the EGD procedure would increase the remaining quality
      adjusted life years (QALYs) by 0.0032, and increase the lifetime cost by
      $389/patient. Compared with no biopsy, the biopsy strategy cost $55,692.86/case
      of celiac disease detected, and $121,875/QALY gained. The incremental cost
      effectiveness ratio for the biopsy strategy met the threshold of less than
      $50,000/QALY when 1 of the following parameters was met: when the utility of
      living with GERD was less than 0.88, when the prevalence of celiac disease in
      patients with refractory GERD was greater than 1.8%, when biopsy analysis
      detected celiac disease with more than 98.1% specificity, when the cost of a
      gluten-free diet was less than $645.85/y, or if the cost of proton pump inhibitor
      therapy was more than $5874.01/y. CONCLUSIONS: Based on base-case values, it is
      not cost effective to perform a biopsy analysis to detect celiac disease in
      patients undergoing an EGD for refractory GERD. However, the approach becomes
      cost effective when the prevalence of celiac disease in this population is 1.8%
      or greater.

PMID- 25818077
TI  - Sendai and Fukuoka Consensus Guidelines Identify Advanced Neoplasia in Patients
      With Suspected Mucinous Cystic Neoplasms of the Pancreas.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Little is known about whether the 2006 Sendai guidelines or
      2012 Fukuoka guidelines are being used to determine the level of risk posed by
      suspected pancreatic mucinous cystic neoplasms (PCNs). We evaluated whether the
      guidelines accurately predicted which patients with suspected PCNs, which was
      based on cross-sectional imaging findings, would be found to have advanced
      neoplasia in surgery. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of data
      collected from 194 patients with cystic lesions of the pancreas, which were
      assessed by cross-sectional imaging analyses, who underwent surgery for suspected
      PCNs at the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania from 2000 through 2008.
      Imaging data were used to classify patients according to the Sendai guidelines as
      high risk or low risk and according to the Fukuoka guidelines as high risk,
      worrisome, or low risk. Pathology analyses of samples collected during surgery
      were used as the reference. A logistic regression model was created to identify
      factors associated with advanced neoplasia. The Sendai and Fukuoka guideline
      criteria were analyzed by univariate and multivariable logistic regression
      analyses. RESULTS: Advanced neoplasias were found in 36 patients (18.5%; 22
      invasive cancers and 14 high-grade dysplasias). The median size of cysts was 33
      mm. All patients found to have invasive cancers were accurately assigned to the
      Sendai guidelines high risk or Fukuoka guidelines high risk groups. However, 3
      patients in the Sendai guidelines low risk and 2 patients in the Fukuoka
      guidelines low risk groups were found to have high-grade dysplasia. The Sendai
      guidelines identified patients with advanced neoplasia with 91.7% sensitivity,
      21.5% specificity, 21% positive predictive value, and 91.9% negative predictive
      value. A designation of Fukuoka guidelines high risk identified patients with
      advanced neoplasia with 55.6% sensitivity, 73% specificity, 32% positive
      predictive value, and 87.9% negative predictive value. Overall, there was no
      statistically significant difference between the guidelines in predicting which
      patients had advanced neoplasia. On multivariate analysis, the presence of a
      mural nodule (odds ratio [OR], 2.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-6.27; P =
      .008), dilated main pancreatic duct >10 mm (OR, 7.44; 95% CI, 2.36-23.52; P =
      .001), or enhancing solid component (OR, 2.92; 95% CI, 1.16-7.64; P = .02) were
      associated with detection of advanced neoplasia in pancreatic cysts. CONCLUSION:
      On the basis of a retrospective analysis, the Sendai and Fukuoka guidelines
      accurately determine which patients with pancreatic cysts have advanced
      neoplasia. The guidelines accurately recommended surgical resection for all
      patients found to have invasive cancer, although some patients with high-grade
      dysplasia were missed. The updated Fukuoka guidelines are not superior to the
      Sendai guidelines in identifying neoplasias. Cyst size was not associated with
      advanced neoplasia.

PMID- 25818078
TI  - Psychoactive Medications Increase the Risk of Falls and Fall-related Injuries in
      Hospitalized Patients With Cirrhosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Reducing or eliminating falls is a focus of patient safety
      programs as well as health policy. Falls are tied to hospital reimbursement.
      However, little is known about the risk of falls among hospitalized patients with
      cirrhosis or factors that affect risk of falling. METHODS: We conducted a
      retrospective cohort study of inpatients with cirrhosis from 2010 to 2013 at a
      liver transplant center. Our primary aim was to determine the clinical factors
      associated with falls and fall-related injuries for patients with cirrhosis. Our
      secondary aim was to describe the rate ratio of falls and fall-related injuries
      among patients with cirrhosis compared with general medical inpatients. RESULTS:
      During the study period, there were 1749 admissions to the liver service; 55
      (3.1%) resulted in falls. Patients who fell were more likely to have received
      benzodiazepines (50.9% vs 16.7%, P < .0001) and antipsychotic agents (30.9% vs
      7.3%, P < .0001). After adjusting for hepatic encephalopathy, the respective odds
      of a fall after benzodiazepine or antipsychotic exposure were 6.59 (95%
      confidence interval [CI], 3.76-11.59) and 3.72 (95% CI, 1.90-7.06). The adjusted
      risk of a fall-related injury was also significantly associated with
      benzodiazepine and antipsychotic agents, with respective odds ratios of 3.45 (95%
      CI, 1.39-8.23) and 3.42 (95% CI, 1.09-8.99). Fall-related injuries occurred at a
      rate of 1.70/1000 patient-days for patients with cirrhosis vs 0.5/1000 patient
      days for patients in the general medical service. Accordingly, the rate ratio for
      a fall-related injury among patients with cirrhosis was 3.37 (95% CI, 1.99-5.72;
      P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Psychoactive medications are associated with an
      increased adjusted risk of falls and fall-related injuries in hospitalized
      patients with cirrhosis.

PMID- 25818079
TI  - Pancreatic Duct Drainage for the Treatment of a Huge Pancreatic Cyst Associated
      With Autoimmune Pancreatitis.

PMID- 25818080
TI  - A Model to Predict the Severity of Acute Pancreatitis Based on Serum Level of
      Amylase and Body Mass Index.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Most patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) develop mild
      disease, but up to 20% develop severe disease. Many clinicians monitor serum
      levels of amylase and lipase in an attempt to predict the disease course, but
      this strategy has not been recommended by practice guidelines. We performed a
      retrospective analysis to determine whether the percentage changes in amylase and
      lipase were associated with the severity of disease that developed in patients
      with AP. METHODS: We analyzed data collected from 182 consecutive patients with
      AP (21 with severe AP) admitted to the Cleveland Clinic from January 2008 through
      May 2010 (discover cohort). The association between 11 different factors and the
      severity of AP were assessed by univariable analysis; multivariable models were
      explored through stepwise selection regression. The percentage change in the
      serum level of amylase was calculated as follows: ([amylase day 1 - amylase day
      2]/amylase day 1) * 100. The percentage change in amylase and body mass index
      (BMI) were combined to generate a z-score (z = -5.9 + [0.14 * BMI] + [0.01 *
      percentage change in amylase]), which was converted into a probability
      distribution called the change in amylase and BMI (CAB) score. The CAB score was
      validated using the AP database at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
      (140 patients, 35 with severe AP); we calculated p-scores for each patient and
      estimated the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve values.
      RESULTS: Univariable analysis identified the percentage change in the serum level
      of amylase and other factors to be associated significantly with the severity of
      AP (P = .017). The CAB score was best at identifying patients who developed
      severe AP, with an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve value
      of 0.79 in the discovery cohort (95% confidence interval, 0.71-0.87) and 0.731 in
      the validation cohort (95% confidence interval, 0.61-0.84). CONCLUSIONS: We
      developed a model to identify patients most likely to develop severe AP based on
      the percentage changes in serum level of amylase during the first 2 days after
      admission to the hospital and BMI.

PMID- 25818081
TI  - In Vitro Fertilization in Women With Inflammatory Bowel Disease Is as Successful
      as in Women From the General Infertility Population.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects women of reproductive
      age, so there are concerns about its effects on fertility. We investigated the
      success of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in patients with IBD compared with the
      general (non-IBD) IVF population. METHODS: We conducted a matched retrospective
      cohort study of female patients with IBD who underwent IVF from 1998 through 2011
      at 2 tertiary care centers. Patients were matched 4:1 to those without IBD
      (controls). The primary outcome was the cumulative rate of live births after up
      to 6 cycles of IVF. Secondary outcomes included the proportion of patients who
      became pregnant and the rate of live births for each cycle. RESULTS: Forty-nine
      patients with Crohn's disease (CD), 71 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), 1
      patient with IBD-unclassified, and 470 controls underwent IVF during the study
      period. The cumulative rate of live births was 53% for controls, 69% for patients
      with UC (P = .08 compared with controls), and 57% for patients with CD (P = .87
      compared with controls). The incidence of pregnancy after the first cycle of IVF
      was similar among controls (40.9%), patients with UC (49.3%; P = .18), and
      patients with CD (42.9%; P = .79). Similarly, the incidence of live births after
      the first cycle of IVF was similar among controls (30.2%), patients with UC
      (33.8%; P = .54), and patients with CD (30.6%; P = .95). CONCLUSIONS: Based on a
      matched cohort study, infertile women with IBD achieve a rate of live births
      after IVF that is comparable with those of infertile women without IBD.

PMID- 25818082
TI  - Elongated Uvula After Esophagogastroduodenoscopy.

PMID- 25818083
TI  - Severe postoperative wound healing disturbance in a patient with alpha-1
      antitrypsin deficiency: the impact of augmentation therapy.
AB  - Wound healing disturbance is a common complication following surgery, but the
      underlying cause sometimes remains elusive. A 50-year-old Caucasian male
      developed an initially misunderstood severe wound healing disturbance following
      colon and abdominal wall surgery. An untreated alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT)
      deficiency in the patient's medical history, known since 20 years and clinically
      apparent as a mild to moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, was
      eventually found to be at its origin. Further clinical work-up showed AAT serum
      levels below 30% of the lower reference value; phenotype testing showed a ZZ
      phenotype and a biopsy taken from the wound area showed the characteristic,
      disease-related histological pattern of necrotising panniculitits. Augmentation
      therapy with plasma AAT was initiated and within a few weeks, rapid and adequate
      would healing was observed. AAT deficiency is an uncommon but clinically
      significant, possible cause of wound healing disturbances. An augmentation
      therapy ought to be considered in affected patients during the perioperative
      period. 

PMID- 25818084
TI  - Regorafenib plus modified FOLFOX6 as first-line treatment of metastatic
      colorectal cancer: A phase II trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The oral multikinase inhibitor regorafenib improves overall survival
      (OS) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) for which all standard
      treatments have failed. This study investigated regorafenib plus modified FOLFOX
      (mFOLFOX6) as first-line treatment of metastatic CRC. METHODS: In this single
      arm, open-label, multicentre, phase II study, patients received mFOLFOX6 on days
      1 and 15, and regorafenib 160 mg orally once daily on days 4-10 and 18-24 of each
      28-day cycle. The primary end-point was centrally assessed objective response
      rate (ORR). Secondary end-points included disease control rate (DCR), OS,
      progression-free survival (PFS) and safety. RESULTS: Median overall treatment
      duration with any study drug was 9.9 months (range 0.6-19.6); median treatment
      duration with regorafenib was 7.7 months (range 0.1-19.5); six patients remained
      on regorafenib for more than 1 year. Fifty-three patients received at least one
      dose of regorafenib. ORR was 43.9% (all partial responses); DCR was 85.4%; median
      OS was not reached; median PFS was 8.5months. Treatment-emergent adverse events
      were experienced by all patients but were manageable with dose modifications.
      CONCLUSION: Regorafenib+mFOLFOX6 as first-line treatment in patients with
      metastatic CRC did not improve ORR over historical controls. Regorafenib plus
      mFOLFOX6 did not appear to be associated with a markedly worse tolerability
      profile versus mFOLFOX6 alone.

PMID- 25818085
TI  - Psychosis in primary angiitis of the central nervous system involving bilateral
      thalami: a case report.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To report a case of primary angiitis of the central nervous system
      (PACNS), a rare inflammatory disease restricted to the central nervous system
      (CNS), with unusual clinical presentation mimicking schizophrenia. METHOD: Case
      report. RESULTS: A 45-year-old male presented with alteration of consciousness
      and confusion. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan showed a mass-like
      enhancing lesion involving bilateral thalami, and biopsy revealed findings
      compatible with PACNS. The patient was treated with corticosteroids. Psychotic
      symptoms crystallized over the initial 2 months after the diagnosis and persisted
      for over a year. Severity of his symptoms improved with gradual normalization of
      the radiologic findings and antipsychotic medication. CONCLUSION: Our case
      highlights the importance of considering PACNS as a differential diagnosis of a
      tumor-like mass lesion in the CNS and the significance of thalamic involvement in
      the pathogenesis of psychotic symptoms including delusions and hallucinations.

PMID- 25818086
TI  - Contrasts in spatial and temporal variability of oxidative capacity and elemental
      composition in moxibustion, indoor and outdoor environments in Beijing.
AB  - Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese medicine therapy that burns moxa floss which
      produces a substantial amount of PM10 into the environment, thus spawning safety
      concerns about health impacts of the smoke. We compared the oxidative capacity
      and elemental composition of moxibustion-derived and ambient PM10 in summer and
      winter to provide a source-, spatial- and temporal-comparison of PM10 biological
      responses. The PM10 oxidative capacity was 2.04 and 1.45 fold lower, and dose
      dependent slope gradient was 2.36 and 1.76 fold lower in moxibustion environment
      than indoor or outdoor. Oxidative damage was highly correlated with iron, cesium,
      aluminum and cobalt in indoor, but moxibustion environment displayed low
      associations. The total elemental concentration was also lower in moxibustion
      environment than indoor (2.28 fold) or outdoor (2.79 fold). The source-to-dose
      modeling and slope gradient analysis in this study can be used as a model for
      future source-, spatial- and temporal-related moxibustion safety evaluation
      studies. 

PMID- 25818087
TI  - Searching for native tree species and respective potential biomarkers for future
      assessment of pollution effects on the highly diverse Atlantic Forest in SE
      Brazil.
AB  - This study summarizes the first effort to search for bioindicator tree species
      and respective potential biomarkers for future assessment of potential mixed
      pollution effects on the highly diverse Atlantic Forest in SE-Brazil. Leaves of
      the three most abundant species inventoried in a phytosociological survey (Croton
      floribundus, Piptadenia gonoacantha and Astronium graveolens) were collected in
      four forest remnants during winter and summer (2012). Their potential
      bioindicator attributes were highlighted using a screening of morphological,
      chemical and biochemical markers. The leaf surface structure and/or epicuticular
      wax composition pointed the accumulator properties of C. floribundus and P.
      gonoacantha. C. floribundus is a candidate for assessing potential accumulation
      of Cu, Cd, Mn, Ni, S and Zn. P. gonoacantha is a candidate to monitor polycyclic
      aromatic hydrocarbons. Increased levels of secondary metabolites and decreased
      antioxidant capacity in leaves of A. graveolens may support its value as a
      bioindicator for oxidative pollutants by visible dark stipplings. 

PMID- 25818088
TI  - Establishing geochemical background levels of selected trace elements in areas
      having geochemical anomalies: The case study of the Orbetello lagoon (Tuscany,
      Italy).
AB  - The determination of background concentration values (BGVs) in areas,
      characterised by the presence of natural geochemical anomalies and anthropogenic
      impact, appears essential for a correct pollution assessment. For this purpose,
      it is necessary to establish a reliable method for determination of local BGVs.
      The case of the Orbetello lagoon, a geologically complex area characterized by
      Tertiary volcanism, is illustrated. The vertical concentration profiles of As,
      Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn were studied in four sediment cores. Local BGVs
      were determined considering exclusively samples not affected by anthropogenic
      influence, recognized by means of multivariate statistics and radiochronological
      dating ((137)Cs and (210)Pb). Results showed BGVs well-comparable with mean
      crustal or shale values for most of the considered elements except for Hg (0.87
      mg/kg d.w.) and As (16.87 mg/kg d.w.), due to mineralization present in the
      catchment basin draining into the lagoon. 

PMID- 25818089
TI  - Estimating evaporative vapor generation from automobiles based on parking
      activities.
AB  - A new approach is proposed to quantify the evaporative vapor generation based on
      real parking activity data. As compared to the existing methods, two improvements
      are applied in this new approach to reduce the uncertainties: First, evaporative
      vapor generation from diurnal parking events is usually calculated based on
      estimated average parking duration for the whole fleet, while in this study,
      vapor generation rate is calculated based on parking activities distribution.
      Second, rather than using the daily temperature gradient, this study uses hourly
      temperature observations to derive the hourly incremental vapor generation rates.
      The parking distribution and hourly incremental vapor generation rates are then
      adopted with Wade-Reddy's equation to estimate the weighted average evaporative
      generation. We find that hourly incremental rates can better describe the
      temporal variations of vapor generation, and the weighted vapor generation rate
      is 5-8% less than calculation without considering parking activity. 

PMID- 25818090
TI  - Evaluating the efficacy of playground washing to reduce environmental metal
      exposures.
AB  - Washing and wet mopping is often advocated as a remedial treatment to limit
      exposure to lead dust. Here, surface and pre- and post-play wipes were measured
      to ascertain dust metal exposures (arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead and zinc)
      following play routines at four playgrounds in the smelter city of Port Pirie,
      South Australia, which are washed regularly. Although post-play hand wipe metals
      were 55.9% (95% CI: -0.78, -0.34) lower on wash days, loadings increased ~5.1%
      (95% CI: 1.2, 11.7) per hour after washing. Despite washing, post-play hand lead
      exceeded a conservative value of 800 MUg/m(2) within 24 h or sooner, with
      loadings increasing in proximity to the smelter. Post-play lead loadings were
      always >1000 MUg/m(2) at the playground closest to smelter. Playground washing
      results in short-lived exposure reduction and effective treatment requires
      elimination of smelter emissions. 

PMID- 25818091
TI  - Estimating dry deposition and gas/particle partition coefficients of neutral poly
      /perfluoroalkyl substances in northern German coast.
AB  - Dry deposition fluxes of 12 neutral poly-/perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) were
      estimated at Busum located in northern German coast, and their gas/particle
      partition coefficients were predicted by employing the polyparameter linear free
      energy relationships (PP-LFERs). The gas deposition flux, particle deposition
      flux and total (gas + particle) flux of the 12 PFASs during sampling periods were
      1088 +/- 611, 189 +/- 75 and 1277 +/- 627 pg/(m(2) d), respectively. The gas
      deposition of PFASs played a key role during deposition to marine ecosystem.
      Sensitivity analysis showed that wind speed was the most sensitive parameter for
      gas deposition fluxes. Good agreements (within 1 log unit) were observed between
      the measured gas/particle partitioning data of PFASs and the predicted partition
      coefficients using PP-LFERs, indicating the model can reliably predict the
      gas/particle partitioning behaviors of atmospheric neutral PFASs. 

PMID- 25818092
TI  - Using foliar and forest floor mercury concentrations to assess spatial patterns
      of mercury deposition.
AB  - We evaluated spatial patterns of mercury (Hg) deposition through analysis of
      foliage and forest floor samples from 45 sites across Adirondack Park, NY.
      Species-specific differences in foliar Hg were evident with the lowest
      concentrations found in first-year conifer needles and highest concentrations
      found in black cherry (Prunus serotina). For foliage and forest floor samples,
      latitude and longitude were negatively correlated with Hg concentrations, likely
      because of proximity to emission sources, while elevation was positively
      correlated with Hg concentrations. Elemental analysis showed moderately strong,
      positive correlations between Hg and nitrogen concentrations. The spatial pattern
      of Hg deposition across the Adirondacks is similar to patterns of other
      contaminants that originate largely from combustion sources such as nitrogen and
      sulfur. The results of this study suggest foliage can be used to assess spatial
      patterns of Hg deposition in small regions or areas of varied topography where
      current Hg deposition models are too coarse to predict deposition accurately. 

PMID- 25818093
TI  - Day-to-day variability of toxic events induced by organic compounds bound to size
      segregated atmospheric aerosol.
AB  - This study quantified the temporal variability of concentration of carcinogenic
      polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (c-PAHs), genotoxicity, oxidative DNA damage and
      dioxin-like activity of the extractable organic matter (EOM) of atmospheric
      aerosol particles of aerodynamic diameter (dae, MUm) coarse (1 < dae < 10), upper
      (0.5 < dae < 1) and lower-accumulation (0.17 < dae < 0.5) and ultrafine (<0.17)
      fractions. The upper accumulation fraction formed most of the aerosol mass for 22
      of the 26 study days and contained ~44% of total c-PAHs, while the ultrafine
      fraction contained only ~11%. DNA adduct levels suggested a crucial contribution
      of c-PAHs bound to the upper accumulation fraction. The dioxin-like activity was
      also driven primarily by c-PAH concentrations. In contrast, oxidative DNA damage
      was not related to c-PAHs, as a negative correlation with c-PAHs was observed.
      These results suggest that genotoxicity and dioxin-like activity are the major
      toxic effects of organic compounds bound to size segregated aerosol, while
      oxidative DNA damage is not induced by EOM. 

PMID- 25818094
TI  - Anesthesia and the developing brain: a way forward for clinical research.
AB  - It is now well established that many general anesthetics have a variety of
      effects on the developing brain in animal models. In contrast, human cohort
      studies show mixed evidence for any association between neurobehavioural outcome
      and anesthesia exposure in early childhood. In spite of large volumes of
      research, it remains very unclear if the animal studies have any clinical
      relevance; or indeed how, or if, clinical practice needs to be altered. Answering
      these questions is of great importance given the huge numbers of young children
      exposed to general anesthetics. A recent meeting in Genoa brought together
      researchers and clinicians to map a path forward for future clinical studies.
      This paper describes these discussions and conclusions. It was agreed that there
      is a need for large, detailed, prospective, observational studies, and for
      carefully designed trials. It may be impossible to design or conduct a single
      study to completely exclude the possibility that anesthetics can, under certain
      circumstances, produce long-term neurobehavioural changes in humans; however ,
      observational studies will improve our understanding of which children are at
      greatest risk, and may also suggest potential underlying etiologies, and clinical
      trials will provide the strongest evidence to test the effectiveness of different
      strategies or anesthetic regimens with respect to better neurobehavioral outcome.

PMID- 25818095
TI  - Genetic Variants of the MDM2 Gene Are Predictive of Treatment-Related Toxicities
      and Overall Survival in Patients With Advanced NSCLC.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Platinum agents can cause the formation of DNA adducts and induce
      apoptosis to eliminate tumor cells. The aim of the present study was to
      investigate the influence of genetic variants of MDM2 on chemotherapy-related
      toxicities and clinical outcomes in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung
      cancer (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We recruited 663 patients with advanced
      NSCLC who had been treated with first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. Five
      tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in MDM2 were genotyped in these
      patients. The associations of these SNPs with clinical toxicities and outcomes
      were evaluated using logistic regression and Cox regression analyses. RESULTS:
      Two SNPs (rs1470383 and rs1690924) showed significant associations with
      chemotherapy-related toxicities (ie, overall, hematologic, and gastrointestinal
      toxicity). Compared with the wild genotype AA carriers, patients with the GG
      genotype of rs1470383 had an increased risk of overall toxicity (odds ratio [OR],
      3.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.34-8.02; P = .009) and hematologic toxicity
      (OR, 4.10; 95% CI, 1.73-9.71; P = .001). Likewise, patients with the AG genotype
      of rs1690924 showed more sensitivity to gastrointestinal toxicity than did those
      with the wild-type homozygote GG (OR, 2.32; 95% CI, 1.30-4.14; P = .004).
      Stratified survival analysis revealed significant associations between rs1470383
      genotypes and overall survival in patients without overall or hematologic
      toxicity (P = .007 and P = .0009, respectively). CONCLUSION: The results of our
      study suggest that SNPs in MDM2 might be used to predict the toxicities of
      platinum-based chemotherapy and overall survival in patients with advanced NSCLC.
      Additional validations of the association are warranted.

PMID- 25818096
TI  - A fast experimental beam hardening correction method for accurate bone mineral
      measurements in 3D MUCT imaging system.
AB  - Bone mineral density plays an important role in the determination of bone
      strength and fracture risks. Consequently, it is very important to obtain
      accurate bone mineral density measurements. The microcomputerized tomography
      system provides 3D information about the architectural properties of bone.
      Quantitative analysis accuracy is decreased by the presence of artefacts in the
      reconstructed images, mainly due to beam hardening artefacts (such as cupping
      artefacts). In this paper, we introduced a new beam hardening correction method
      based on a postreconstruction technique performed with the use of off-line water
      and bone linearization curves experimentally calculated aiming to take into
      account the nonhomogeneity in the scanned animal. In order to evaluate the mass
      correction rate, calibration line has been carried out to convert the
      reconstructed linear attenuation coefficient into bone masses. The presented
      correction method was then applied on a multimaterial cylindrical phantom and on
      mouse skeleton images. Mass correction rate up to 18% between uncorrected and
      corrected images were obtained as well as a remarkable improvement of a
      calculated mouse femur mass has been noticed. Results were also compared to those
      obtained when using the simple water linearization technique which does not take
      into account the nonhomogeneity in the object. 

PMID- 25818097
TI  - Insulinaemic and glycaemic responses to a second meal of a fibre- or starch
      enriched compound feed in healthy horses.
AB  - This study aimed to investigate the effect of a second meal of a fibre- or starch
      enriched compound feed on glycaemic and insulinaemic responses in healthy horses.
      In a cross-over design, horses were fed either a starch-enriched compound feed
      (SCF) or a fibre-enriched compound feed (FCF). On days of blood collection, test
      diets were fed in the morning (0800 h, first meal) and a second meal was fed 510
      min after the first meal was finished (second meal). Significantly higher
      glycaemic and insulinaemic responses were associated with SCF compared with FCF.
      Feeding FCF for the second meal yielded similar moderate glycaemic and
      insulinaemic responses compared with the first meal. Feeding SCF as a second meal
      yielded significantly reduced glycaemic and insulinaemic responses from the first
      meal. In practice, evaluating glycaemic and insulinaemic responses of a single
      meal may not sufficiently describe the overall impact if more than one meal is
      fed per day. 

PMID- 25818098
TI  - Control of macaw palm seed germination by the gibberellin/abscisic acid balance.
AB  - The hormonal mechanisms involved in palm seed germination are not fully
      understood. To better understand how germination is regulated in Arecaceae, we
      used macaw palm (Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. Ex Mart.) seed as a model.
      Endogenous hormone concentrations, tocopherol and tocotrienol and lipid
      peroxidation during germination were studied separately in the embryo and
      endosperm. Evaluations were performed in dry (D), imbibed (I), germinated (G) and
      non-germinated (NG) seeds treated (+GA3 ) or not treated (control) with
      gibberellins (GA). With GA3 treatment, seeds germinated faster and to a higher
      percentage than control seeds. The +GA3 treatment increased total bioactive GA in
      the embryo during germination relative to the control. Abscisic acid (ABA)
      concentrations decreased gradually from D to G in both tissues. Embryos of G
      seeds had a lower ABA content than NG seeds in both treatments. The GA/ABA ratio
      in the embryo was significantly higher in G than NG seeds. The +GA3 treatment did
      not significantly affect the GA/ABA ratio in either treatment. Cytokinin content
      increased from dry to germinated seeds. Jasmonic acid (JA) increased and 1
      aminocyclopropane-1-carboylic acid (ACC) decreased after imbibition. In addition,
      alpha-tocopherol and alpha-tocotrienol decreased, while lipid peroxidation
      increased in the embryo during germination. We conclude that germination in macaw
      palm seed involves reductions in ABA content and, consequently, increased GA/ABA
      in the embryo. Furthermore, the imbibition process generates oxidative stress (as
      observed by changes in vitamin E and MDA). 

PMID- 25818099
TI  - Rasch modeling and confirmatory factor analysis of the systemizing quotient
      revised (SQ-R) scale.
AB  - This study assessed the dimensionality of the Systemizing Quotient-Revised (SQ
      R), a measure of how strong a person's interest is in systems, using two
      statistical approaches: Rasch modeling and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).
      Participants included N = 675 with an autism spectrum condition (ASC), N = 1369
      family members of people with ASC, and N = 2014 typical controls. Data were
      applied to the Rasch model (Rating Scale) using WINSTEPS. The data fit the Rasch
      model quite well lending support to the idea that systemizing could be seen as
      unidimensional. Reliability estimates were .99 for items and .92 for persons. A
      CFA parceling approach confirmed that a unidimensional model fit the data. There
      was, however, differential functioning by sex in some of these items. An
      abbreviated 44-item version of the scale, consisting of items without
      differential item functioning by sex was developed. This shorter scale also was
      tested from a Rasch perspective and confirmed through CFA. All measures showed
      differences on total scale scores between those participants with and without ASC
      (d = 0.71, p < .005), and between sexes (d = 0.53, p < .005). We conclude that
      the SQ-R is an appropriate measure of systemizing which can be measured along a
      single dimension. 

PMID- 25818100
TI  - The mitochondrial division inhibitor mdivi-1 attenuates spinal cord ischemia
      reperfusion injury both in vitro and in vivo: Involvement of BK channels.
AB  - Mitochondrial division inhibitor (mdivi-1), a selective inhibitor of a
      mitochondrial fission protein dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), has been shown to
      exert protective effects in heart and cerebral ischemia-reperfusion models. The
      present study was designed to investigate the beneficial effects of mdivi-1
      against spinal cord ischemia-reperfusion (SCIR) injury and its associated
      mechanisms. SCIR injury was induced by glutamate treatment in cultured spinal
      cord neurons and by descending thoracic aorta occlusion for 20 min in rats. We
      found that mdivi-1 (10 MUM) significantly attenuated glutamate induced neuronal
      injury and apoptosis in spinal cord neurons. This neuroprotective effect was
      accompanied by decreased expression of oxidative stress markers, inhibited
      mitochondrial dysfunction and preserved activities of antioxidant enzymes. In
      addition, mdivi-1 significantly increased the expression of the large-conductance
      Ca(2+)- and voltage-activated K(+) (BK) channels, and blocking BK channels by
      paxilline partly ablated mdivi-1 induced protection. The in vivo experiments
      showed that mdivi-1 treatment (1 mg/kg) overtly mitigated SCIR injury induced
      spinal cord edema and neurological dysfunction with no organ-related toxicity in
      rats. Moreover, mdivi-1 increased the expression of BK channels in spinal cord
      tissues, and paxilline pretreatment nullified mdivi-1 induced protection after
      SCIR injury in rats. Thus, mdivi-1 may be an effective therapeutic agent for SCIR
      injury via activation of BK channels as well as reduction of oxidative stress,
      mitochondrial dysfunction and neuronal apoptosis. This article is part of a
      Special Issue entitled SI: Spinal cord injury.

PMID- 25818101
TI  - Epicardial Fat in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Properties and Relationships
      With Metabolic Factors, Cardiac Structure, and Cardiac Function.
AB  - Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is closely related to insulin resistance
      and the metabolic syndrome and might be an important cardiovascular (CV) risk
      factor. Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has been implicated in the pathogenesis
      of obesity-related CV disease. In an NAFLD population, we investigated EAT
      thickness and its possible relations to NAFLD and cardiac structure and function.
      This was an observational study of 57 patients with NAFLD and 48 age-matched
      controls. Patients with NAFLD had significantly higher body mass index (P <
      .0001), waist circumference (P < .0001), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein
      (P = .005), whereas high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = .01) and
      adiponectin (P = .005) levels were significantly lower. The EAT was not thicker
      in NAFLD but was positively related to indices of impaired glucose tolerance and
      inflammation, with diabetes being an independent predictor of EAT thickness (b* =
      0.29, P = .04). No relations were found between EAT and cardiac structure and
      function. In conclusion, this study confirms a pathologic phenotype of NAFLD.
      Epicardial fat was not significantly related to NAFLD per se, but diabetes,
      glucose metabolism, and inflammation were closely related to its thickness. 

PMID- 25818102
TI  - Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio and the Extent of Coronary Artery Disease: Results
      From a Large Cohort Study.
AB  - The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), an inflammatory biomarker, may be of
      predictive and prognostic value for cardiovascular (CV) events. We evaluated the
      relationship of NLR with the prevalence and extent of coronary artery disease
      (CAD) in consecutive patients undergoing elective or urgent coronary angiography.
      Our population (n = 3738 patients) was divided into NLR quartiles. Higher NLR was
      associated with aging and established CV risk factors, previous percutaneous
      coronary revascularization, acute presentation, and more complex pharmacological
      therapy. The NLR was related to platelet count, white blood cell count,
      creatinine, glycemia, uric acid, and C-reactive protein (all P = .001) levels but
      inversely related to hemoglobin (P < .001), total cholesterol (P = .005), and
      triglycerides (P < .001) levels. The NLR was associated with multivessel disease
      (P < .001), anterior descending, right coronary arteries (P < .001) or circumflex
      branch lesions (P = .01), percentage of stenosis (P < .001), coronary
      calcification (P < .001), and intracoronary thrombus (P < .001) but inversely
      with in-stent restenosis (P < .001) and thrombolysis in myocardial infarction
      flow (P = .04). The NLR was directly related to the prevalence of CAD (P = .001)
      and severe CAD (P < .001). In patients undergoing coronary angiography, the NLR
      is independently associated with the prevalence and severity of CAD. 

PMID- 25818103
TI  - Gender Analysis in the Outcomes of a Lifestyle Intervention Among Patients Who
      Had an Open Heart Surgery.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the gender-oriented differences in the
      outcomes of a lifestyle intervention trial (diet, smoking cessation, and
      exercise) among patients who had open heart surgery. A randomized, nonblind
      intervention study was performed on 500 patients who had open heart surgery.
      Immediately after hospital discharge, 250 patients were randomly allocated
      lifestyle intervention by receiving oral and written information in the form of a
      booklet with specific educational information for postoperative rehabilitation.
      The remaining 250 patients received the regular oral instructions. The applied
      lifestyle intervention proved to be beneficial only in men as far as quitting
      smoking (relative risk [RR]: 0.36, confidence interval [CI]: 0.16-0.80; P = .01)
      and returning to work (RR: 0.35, CI: 0.13-0.92; P = .03) are concerned. For both
      genders, no significant associations between dietary and physical activity
      recommendations were observed. CONCLUSION: Lifestyle nursing intervention
      immediately after open heart surgery had a beneficial effect on men 1 year after
      the surgery but not on women. Thus, there is a need for gender-specific studies
      among women.

PMID- 25818104
TI  - Association Between Platelet to Lymphocyte Ratio and Saphenous Vein Graft
      Disease.
AB  - Atherosclerosis plays an important role in saphenous vein graft disease (SVGD).
      Previous trials showed that inflammatory blood cells play a role in this process.
      The platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) has been proposed as a novel predictor for
      cardiovascular risk and indicator of atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was
      to assess the relationship between SVGD and PLR. A total of 220 patients with SVG
      were enrolled (n = 87 with SVGD and n = 133 with patent SVG). A >= 50% stenosis
      within the SVG was defined as clinically significant. Median PLR (P < .001) and
      mean platelet volume (MPV; P = .043) were significantly higher in patients with
      SVGD. Also, PLR showed significantly positive correlation with age of SVG (P <
      .05). Median age of SVGs was also higher in the SVGD group (P = .025). In
      multivariate logistic regression analyses, the PLR and MPV were independent
      predictors of SVGD. Using a cutoff level of 106.3, the PLR predicted SVGD with a
      sensitivity of 87.4% and a specificity of 80.3%. To the best of our knowledge,
      this study showed, for the first time, that PLR was independently associated with
      SVGD. Both PLR and MPV might predict SVGD.

PMID- 25818105
TI  - Transradial Coronary Intervention Versus Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting for
      Unprotected Left Main and/or Multivessel Disease in Patients With Acute Coronary
      Syndrome.
AB  - The overall safety and efficacy of transradial coronary intervention (TRI) versus
      coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for patients with unprotected left main
      (UPLM) disease and/or multivessel coronary disease (MVD) presenting with acute
      coronary syndrome (ACS) have not been established. Consecutive patients with ACS
      undergoing TRI with drug-eluting stent (n = 1431) or CABG (n = 651) for UPLM
      and/or MVD were included. A propensity-score matching was performed to adjust for
      differences in baseline characteristics between the 2 cohorts, yielding 524 pairs
      of matched patients. Median clinical follow-up was 32 months. After propensity
      score adjustment, no significant difference was observed between the TRI and CABG
      groups in all-cause mortality (4.0% vs 5.2%; P = .375). Transradial coronary
      intervention was favored by a significant increase in the incidence of stroke in
      the CABG group (0.4% vs 1.9%; P = .020), whereas a significantly increased target
      vessel revascularization rate (16.8% vs 6.3%; P < .0001) observed in the TRI
      group favored CABG. Composite outcome (death/myocardial infarction/stroke) was
      comparable between the TRI and the CABG groups (8.0% vs 11.5%; P = .061).
      Clinical outcomes of TRI on UPLM and/or MVD for patients with ACS are comparable
      to CABG in composite safety outcomes with the advantage to TRI for avoiding a
      stroke. 

PMID- 25818106
TI  - Preconditioning With Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid Protects Against Contrast-Induced
      HK-2 Cell Apoptosis by Inhibiting Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress.
AB  - To investigate whether tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) could attenuate contrast
      media (CM)-induced renal tubular cell apoptosis by inhibiting endoplasmic
      reticulum stress (ERS), we exposed HK-2 cells to increasing doses of meglumine
      diatrizoate (20, 40, and 80 mg I/mL) for 2 to 16 hours, with/without TUDCA
      preconditioning for 24 hours. Cell viability test, Hoechst 33258 staining, and
      flow cytometry were used to detect meglumine diatrizoate-induced cell apoptosis,
      while real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis were used to
      measure the expressions of ERS markers of glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78),
      activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4), and the apoptosis-related marker of
      caspase 12. Cell apoptosis and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of GRP78 (P =
      .005), ATF4 (P = .01), and caspase 12 (P = .001) were significantly higher in the
      CM 4 hours group than the control as well as the protein expressions. The TUDCA
      preconditioning reduced the mRNA expression of GRP78, ATF4, and caspase 12 in the
      CM 4 hours groups (P = .009, .019, and .003, respectively) as well as the protein
      expression. In conclusion, TUDCA could protect renal tubular cells from meglumine
      diatrizoate-induced apoptosis by inhibiting ERS. 

PMID- 25818107
TI  - Efficient vaccine against pandemic influenza: combining DNA vaccination and
      targeted delivery to MHC class II molecules.
AB  - There are two major limitations to vaccine preparedness in the event of
      devastating influenza pandemics: the time needed to generate a vaccine and rapid
      generation of sufficient amounts. DNA vaccination could represent a solution to
      these problems, but efficacy needs to be enhanced. In a separate line of
      research, it has been established that targeting of vaccine molecules to antigen
      presenting cells enhances immune responses. We have combined the two principles
      by constructing DNA vaccines that encode bivalent fusion proteins; these target
      hemagglutinin to MHC class II molecules on antigen-presenting cells. Such DNA
      vaccines rapidly induce hemagglutinin-specific antibodies and T cell responses in
      immunized mice. Responses are long-lasting and protect mice against challenge
      with influenza virus. In a pandemic situation, targeted DNA vaccines could be
      produced and tested within a month. The novel DNA vaccines could represent a
      solution to pandemic preparedness in the advent of novel influenza pandemics. 

PMID- 25818108
TI  - Assessing estrogenic activity and reproductive toxicity of organic extracts in
      WWTP effluents.
AB  - Trace level organic contaminants might not be completely removed from the
      municipal wastewater and the safety incurred by them had become a concern. These
      organic pollutants were extracted from water samples and detected by GC-MS. The
      estrogenic activity of the organic was tested using Yeast Estrogen Screen to
      detect the transcriptional activation of the estrogen receptor (ER) and immature
      mouse uterotrophic bioassays to study reproductive toxicity. The results of GC-MS
      demonstrated the organic extracts in the municipal wastewater and the WWTP
      effluents Included two major categories, benzenes and Phthalates. The estrogenic
      activity of organic extracts from the secondary effluent (SE) and tertiary
      effluent (TE) was below that of the raw wastewater (RW). Results of uterotrophic
      bioassay demonstrated that SE would bring some potential hazards on animals while
      TE was relatively safe. 

PMID- 25818109
TI  - Exposure to bisphenol-A and reproductive hormones among male adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bisphenol A (BPA) is a suspected human endocrine disruptor which is
      widely used. METHODS: In order to determine whether urine BPA level is associated
      with serum reproductive hormone levels among male adults, we carried out a cross
      sectional study in China. We recruited 592 male workers and collected their urine
      samples for BPA measurement. We also collected blood samples and examined serum
      reproductive hormones. We used multiple linear regression and log-binomial model
      to examine associations between urine BPA level and hormone levels after
      controlling for age and smoking status. RESULTS: An increased urine BPA level was
      associated with increased prolactin (p<0.001), estradiol (p<0.001), sex hormone
      binding globulin level (p=0.001), and a reduced androstenedione (p<0.001) and
      free androgen index level (p=0.021). Males, whose urine BPA level was in the 2nd,
      3rd and highest quartiles, had respectively 1.58, 1.33 and 3.09-fold increased
      prevalence of having a high prolactin level (>P75 level). The highest quartile of
      BPA level was associated with 1.63 and 1.50-fold increased prevalence of having a
      high estradiol and elevated sex hormone-binding globulin level. Males with higher
      quartile of BPA level had a lower inhibin B level. CONCLUSION: High BPA exposure
      is associated with increased prolactin, estradiol and sex hormone-binding
      globulin level in males, and may contribute to male infertility.

PMID- 25818110
TI  - Fate of psychoactive compounds in wastewater treatment plant and the possibility
      of their degradation using aquatic plants.
AB  - In this study we analyzed and characterized 29 psychoactive remedies, illicit
      drugs and their metabolites in single stages of wastewater treatment plants in
      the capital city of Slovakia. Psychoactive compounds were present within all
      stages, and tramadol was detected at a very high concentration (706 ng/L).
      Significant decreases of codeine, THC-COOH, cocaine and buprenorphine
      concentration were observed in the biological stage. Consequently, we were
      interested in the possibility of alternative tertiary post-treatment of effluent
      water with the following aquatic plants: Cabomba caroliniana, Limnophila
      sessiliflora, Egeria najas and Iris pseudacorus. The most effective plant for
      tertiary cleansing was I. pseudacorus which demonstrated the best pharmaceutical
      removal capacity. After 48 h codeine and citalopram was removed with 87%
      efficiency. After 96 h were all analyzed compounds were eliminated with
      efficiencies above 58%.

PMID- 25818111
TI  - Depressive Symptoms Delayed Quit Attempts and Shortened Abstinence in Young
      Smokers of the Hong Kong Youth Quitline.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Young smokers often report depressive symptoms while receiving
      smoking cessation counseling. This study examines time patterns in the quitting
      process among young smokers with or without notable depressive symptoms. METHODS:
      The quitting trajectories of young smokers aged 12 to 25 (n = 578) who called the
      Youth Quitline in Hong Kong between March 2006 and May 2011 were recorded and
      analyzed through multiple telephone sessions over periods of up to 6 months. The
      time patterns of young smokers who had or did not have notable depressive
      symptoms were compared using nonparametric Kaplan-Meier methods with log-rank
      tests. RESULTS: Among young smokers with low levels of nicotine dependence, those
      who had notable depressive symptoms were less likely to initiate a quit attempt
      within 28 days after their baseline telephone intervention (probability = .38 vs.
      .60; P value = .04). Furthermore, young smokers who had notable depressive
      symptoms were less likely to remain abstinent from smoking for 2 days after
      starting a quit attempt (probability = .50 vs. .64; P value = .012). Young adults
      aged 18 or above were more likely to relapse into smoking (adjusted HR = 1.50,
      95% CI = 1.01, 2.22). CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms may delay young smokers
      from initiating quit attempts and shorten their abstinence. A baseline screening
      process is suggested for identifying youths with co-occurring depressive disorder
      and nicotine dependence. Further studies should examine a collaborative model of
      smoking cessation that involves both counselors and physicians in preventing
      young smokers from rapid relapses after they make quit attempts.

PMID- 25818112
TI  - [Operative technique: The clitoral transposition].
AB  - Female sexual mutilations result in an important physical and mental suffering. A
      large number of women have been affected and require a global management,
      including surgical clitoral transposition. This surgical technique is allowing a
      rapid improvement of clinical symptoms. In this article, we will describe the
      indications and operative technique of the clitoral transposition. 

PMID- 25818113
TI  - [Maternal and neonatal outcomes of unplanned deliveries].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Know the impact of the unplanned deliveries in a town of medium size,
      the characteristics of these women and maternal and neonatal risks. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: This was a retrospective study conducted between January 2002 and
      December 2009. Unexpected delivery was defined as any delivery taking place
      outside of a non-elective way maternity. Each unexpected delivery was matched at
      nearest delivery of equivalent term, at the CHU maternity, with an onset of
      spontaneous labour. RESULTS: Ninety-four women gave birth unexpectedly for a
      total of 48,721 births (incidence of 0.19%). There was a significant difference
      between cases and controls for parity (1.8 versus 0.9), the lack of follow-up of
      pregnancy (21.3% versus 1.1%), tobacco (57.4% versus 25.5%), the socio-economic
      level, the type of feeding (artificial: 61.7% versus 30.6%), the home-hospital
      distance and obstetric follow-up. We found a significant increase in perinatal
      mortality (6.4% versus 1%) and stay in Neonatal ICU (19.1% versus 9.2%). The main
      neonatal morbidity was hypothermia. CONCLUSION: It is difficult to target a
      population at risk because the type of these women is non-specific. Prevention of
      unplanned deliveries and their morbidities through information of patients on the
      grounds of urgent consultation and support of the newborn to limit hypothermia.

PMID- 25818114
TI  - [Current situation of the education in gynaecology-obstetrics in France].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To get an overview of the education offer for obstetrics trainees in
      France and to assess their satisfaction and requests regarding these classes and
      their access. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Two questionnaires were sent over the country
      between September 2013 and July 2014. The first one was intended to the person in
      charge of teaching in each university hospital. We asked about the organization
      of teaching classes and access to simulation workshops. The second one was
      intended to the local representative of interns of the French association of
      gynaecology and obstetrics trainees (AGOF). We searched for overall satisfaction
      and requests concerning these learning classes. RESULTS: Over 28 university
      hospitals, 19 teachers (67.9 %) and 25 students (89.3 %) responded. Various ways
      and means of teaching are used throughout the country. Use of simulation workshop
      has spread in many university hospitals but their types and numbers are still
      very different among the organizations. Students are globally satisfied by the
      type, volume and content of their teaching classes. Simulation workshops are
      really appreciated by trainees and they wish more of them were organized.
      CONCLUSION: There is a great disparity in the ways of teaching in France.
      Gathering resources between the different centres may allow trainees to access to
      the same theoretical education and simulation workshops all over the country.

PMID- 25818115
TI  - Malakoplakia of the Appendiceal Orifice Mimicking Adenomatous Epithelium.

PMID- 25818116
TI  - Longitudinal clinical trials with adaptive choice of follow-up time.
AB  - In longitudinal studies comparing two treatments with a maximum follow-up time
      there may be interest in examining treatment effects for intermediate follow-up
      times. One motivation may be to identify the time period with greatest treatment
      difference when there is a non-monotone treatment effect over time; another
      motivation may be to make the trial more efficient in terms of time to reach a
      decision on whether a new treatment is efficacious or not. Here, we test the
      composite null hypothesis of no difference at any follow-up time versus the
      alternative that there is a difference at at least one follow-up time. The
      methods are applicable when a few measurements are taken over time, such as in
      early longitudinal trials or in ancillary studies. Suppose the test statistic
      Z(t(k)) will be used to test the hypothesis of no treatment effect at a fixed
      follow-up time t(k). In this context a common approach is to perform a pilot
      study on N1 subjects, and evaluate the treatment effect at the fixed time points
      t1,...,t(K) and choose t* as the value of t(k) for which Z(t(k)) is maximized.
      Having chosen t* a second trial can be designed. In a setting with group
      sequential testing we consider several adaptive alternatives to this approach
      that treat the pilot and second trial as a seamless, combined entity and evaluate
      Type I error and power characteristics. The adaptive designs we consider
      typically have improved power over the common, separate trial approach.

PMID- 25818117
TI  - Programs to increase high school completion: a community guide systematic health
      equity review.
AB  - CONTEXT: High school completion (HSC) is an established predictor of long-term
      morbidity and mortality. U.S. rates of HSC are substantially lower among students
      from low-income families and most racial/ethnic minority populations than
      students from high-income families and the non-Hispanic white population. This
      systematic review assesses the effectiveness of programs to increase HSC and the
      potential of these programs to improve lifelong health among at-risk students.
      EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A search located a meta-analysis (search period 1985
      2010/2011) on the effects of programs to increase HSC or General Educational
      Development (GED) diploma receipt; the meta-analysis was concordant with
      Community Guide definitions and methodologic standards. Programs were assessed
      separately for the general student population (152 studies) and students who were
      parents or pregnant (15 studies). A search for studies published between 2010 and
      August 2012 located ten more recent studies, which were assessed for consistency
      with the meta-analysis. Analyses were conducted in 2013. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: The
      review focused on the meta-analysis. Program effectiveness was measured as the
      increased rate of HSC (or GED receipt) by the intervention group compared with
      controls. All assessed program types were effective in increasing HSC in the
      general student population: vocational training, alternative schooling, social
      emotional skills training, college-oriented programming, mentoring and
      counseling, supplemental academic services, school and class restructuring,
      multiservice packages, attendance monitoring and contingencies, community
      service, and case management. For students who had children or were pregnant,
      attendance monitoring and multiservice packages were effective. Ten studies
      published after the search period for the meta-analysis were consistent with its
      findings. CONCLUSIONS: There is strong evidence that a variety of HSC programs
      can improve high school or GED completion rates. Because many programs are
      targeted to high-risk students and communities, they are likely to advance health
      equity.

PMID- 25818118
TI  - Associations Between Sildenafil Use and Changes in Days of Hospitalization in a
      Population With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Associated With Connective Tissue
      Disease.
AB  - PURPOSE: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) can be a complication in patients
      with connective tissue disease (CTD). Although the phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor
      sildenafil shows evidence of efficacy and tolerability among patients with PAH
      associated with CTD in clinical trials, no studies have examined the association
      between its use and health care resource utilization in clinical practice. The
      objective of this study was to assess the associations between the use of
      sildenafil and health care resource utilization, specifically days of
      hospitalization, in a population with PAH associated with CTD. METHODS: A
      retrospective, matched, case-control analysis was conducted using data from a
      commercial claims database. Patients with a claim dated between 2003 and 2009
      were selected. Cases and controls were matched on age, sex, and baseline total
      days of hospitalization. A longitudinal, zero-inflated, negative binomial model
      was used for analyzing the data after control for age, sex, region, Charlson
      comorbidity score, and use of PAH-specific medication other than sildenafil.
      FINDINGS: A total of 420 individuals, 210 cases and 210 controls, were included
      in the sample. The sample was 85.71% women, and the mean age was 57.6 years.
      Estimates for variances of an intercept random effect (5.08 * 10(-13)) and for a
      time-variable random effect (2.84 * 10(-16)) were both essentially zero. Thus a
      zero-inflated negative binomial model without random effects was used. When
      individuals were not using sildenafil, each 1-month interval was associated with
      a 2.8% increase in the mean number of days of hospitalization. In contrast, when
      individuals were using sildenafil, each 1-month interval was associated with a
      decrease of 3.3% in days of hospitalization. IMPLICATIONS: In this data analysis
      of the association between sildenafil use and days of hospitalization among
      individuals with PAH associated with CTD in a large-scale population, sildenafil
      use in the treatment of PAH associated with CTD was associated with reduced days
      of hospitalization during the year after the initiation of treatment.

PMID- 25818119
TI  - Development of a novel adjuvanted nasal vaccine: C48/80 associated with chitosan
      nanoparticles as a path to enhance mucosal immunity.
AB  - In a time in which mucosal vaccines development has been delayed by the lack of
      safe and effective mucosal adjuvants, the combination of adjuvants has started to
      be explored as a strategy to obtain potent vaccine formulations. This study
      describes a novel adjuvant combination as an effective approach for a nasal
      vaccine - the association of the mast cell activator compound 48/80 with chitosan
      based nanoparticles. It was hypothesized that mucoadhesive nanoparticles would
      promote the cellular uptake and prolong the antigen residence time on nasal
      cavity. Simultaneously, mast cell activation would promote a local
      microenvironment favorable to the development of an immune response. To test this
      hypothesis, two different C48/80 loaded nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared:
      Chitosan-C48/80 NP (Chi-C48/80 NP) and Chitosan/Alginate-C48/80 NP (Chi/Alg
      C48/80 NP). The potential as a vaccine adjuvant of the two delivery systems was
      evaluated and directly compared. Both formulations had a mean size near 500nm and
      a positive charge; however, Chi-C48/80 NP was a more effective adjuvant delivery
      system when compared with Chi/Alg-C48/80 NP or C48/80 alone. Chi-C48/80 NP
      activated mast cells at a greater extent, were better internalized by antigen
      presenting cells than Chi/Alg-C48/80 NP and successfully enhanced the nasal
      residence time of a model antigen. Superiority of Chi-C48/80 NP as adjuvant was
      also observed in vivo. Therefore, nasal immunization of mice with Bacillus
      anthracis protective antigen (PA) adsorbed on Chi-C48/80 NP elicited high levels
      of serum anti-PA neutralizing antibodies and a more balanced Th1/Th2 profile than
      C48/80 in solution or Chi/Alg-C48/80 NP. The incorporation of C48/80 within Chi
      NP also promoted a mucosal immunity greater than all the other adjuvanted groups
      tested, showing that the combination of a mast cell activator and chitosan NP
      could be a promising strategy for nasal immunization. 

PMID- 25818120
TI  - Nanoencapsulation of rice bran oil increases its protective effects against UVB
      radiation-induced skin injury in mice.
AB  - Excessive UV-B radiation by sunlight produces inflammatory and oxidative damage
      of skin, which can lead to sunburn, photoaging, and cancer. This study evaluated
      whether nanoencapsulation improves the protective effects of rice bran oil
      against UVB radiation-induced skin damage in mice. Lipid-core nanocapsules
      containing rice bran oil were prepared, and had mean size around 200 nm, negative
      zeta potential (~-9 mV), and low polydispersity index (<0.20). In order to allow
      application on the skin, a hydrogel containing the nanoencapsulated rice bran oil
      was prepared. This formulation was able to prevent ear edema induced by UVB
      irradiation by 60 +/- 9%, when compared with a hydrogel containing LNC prepared
      with a mixture of medium chain triglycerides instead of rice bran oil. Protein
      carbonylation levels (biomarker of oxidative stress) and NF-kappaB nuclear
      translocation (biomarker of pro-inflammatory and carcinogenesis response) were
      reduced (81% and 87%, respectively) in animals treated with the hydrogel
      containing the nanoencapsulated rice bran oil. These in vivo results demonstrate
      the beneficial effects of nanoencapsulation to improve the protective properties
      of rice bran oil on skin damage caused by UVB exposure.

PMID- 25818121
TI  - Outcomes of Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgical Decortication in 274 Patients with
      Tuberculous Empyema.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The present work aimed to retrospectively assess the outcomes
      associated with decortication by video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) in
      patients with tuberculous empyema. METHODS: Patients (n = 274) who underwent
      decortication by VATS for surgical management of pleural empyema between January
      2000 to 2010 were included. Pre-, intra-, and postoperative characteristics were
      observed for all patients, which were followed up for 12 months to evaluate
      surgical outcomes such as postoperative complications and disease recurrence.
      RESULTS: No patients required conversion to thoracotomy, and no death or
      postoperative bleeding was reported. The mean operation time was 104.5 +/- 20.4
      min, with 271.5 +/- 41.3 ml intraoperative blood loss and median length of
      hospital stay of 7.2 +/- 3 .4 days. Of the 274 patients, 262 were followed up for
      12 months; 26 (9.9%) patients showed complications, including incomplete lung re
      expansion (11 patients) and persistent air leak (6 patients). While early disease
      recurrence was observed in 3 (1.1%) patients after surgery, late recurrence was
      reported for 6 (2.3%) individuals. Interestingly, the complication rate was much
      higher in patients with chronic empyema (15/34, 44.1%) than in subjects with
      acute empyema (11/228, 4.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Decortication by VATS decreases
      postsurgical complications, and results in decreased disease recurrence. This
      study demonstrated improved outcomes by decortication by VATS, even in patients
      with stage III tuberculous empyema.

PMID- 25818122
TI  - Parameterization of an interfacial force field for accurate representation of
      peptide adsorption free energy on high-density polyethylene.
AB  - Interfacial force field (IFF) parameters for use with the CHARMM force field have
      been developed for interactions between peptides and high-density polyethylene
      (HDPE). Parameterization of the IFF was performed to achieve agreement between
      experimental and calculated adsorption free energies of small TGTG-X-GTGT host
      guest peptides (T = threonine, G = glycine, and X = variable amino-acid residue)
      on HDPE, with +/-0.5 kcal/mol agreement. This IFF parameter set consists of tuned
      nonbonded parameters (i.e., partial charges and Lennard-Jones parameters) for use
      with an in-house-modified CHARMM molecular dynamic program that enables the use
      of an independent set of force field parameters to control molecular behavior at
      a solid-liquid interface. The R correlation coefficient between the simulated and
      experimental peptide adsorption free energies increased from 0.00 for the
      standard CHARMM force field parameters to 0.88 for the tuned IFF parameters.
      Subsequent studies are planned to apply the tuned IFF parameter set for the
      simulation of protein adsorption behavior on an HDPE surface for comparison with
      experimental values of adsorbed protein orientation and conformation. 

PMID- 25818123
TI  - The effects of lycopene on DNA damage and oxidative stress on indomethacin
      induced gastric ulcer in rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Lycopene, the main antioxidant compound present in tomatoes,
      has high singlet oxygen- and peroxyl radicals-quenching ability, resulting in
      protection against oxidative damage in aerobic cell. Indomethacin is a
      nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, and can promote oxidative damage in gastric
      tissue. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effects of
      lycopene on an indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer model. METHODS: A total of 42
      adult male Wistar rats were divided into six groups of seven animals as follows:
      control, indomethacin, lansoprazole, lycopene 10 mg/kg, lycopene 50 mg/kg and
      lycopene 100 mg/kg. Gastric ulcers were induced by oral administration of
      indomethacin, after which the differing doses of lycopene were administered by
      oral gavage. The efficacy of lycopene was compared with lansoprazole. DNA damage
      of lymphocytes was measured by comet assay. Activities of superoxide dismutase,
      catalase and myeloperoxidase, as well as malondialdehyde and glutathione levels
      were determined in stomach tissue. This tissue was also taken for pathological
      investigations. The TUNEL method was used to detect apoptotic cells in paraffin
      sections. RESULTS: The results showed that 100 mg/kg lycopene administration
      significantly decreased % Tail DNA and Mean Tail Moment in the gastric ulcer
      group, compared with the other treatment groups. This same dose of lycopene also
      significantly decreased high malondialdehyde level and myeloperoxidase activity,
      and increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes (with the exception of
      catalase) in tissue. Apoptosis rates in the stomachs of the rats correlated with
      the biochemical and histopathological findings. CONCLUSIONS: These results
      indicated that lycopene might have a protective effect against indomethacin
      induced gastric ulcer and oxidative stress in rats.

PMID- 25818124
TI  - Role of tea tree oil in treatment of acne.

PMID- 25818125
TI  - David Bruns.

PMID- 25818126
TI  - A 78-year-old woman with brain metastases.

PMID- 25818127
TI  - Commentary.

PMID- 25818128
TI  - Commentary.

PMID- 25818129
TI  - Have you ever seen a 21-mmol/L serum K+ concentration?

PMID- 25818130
TI  - A Fatty blood sample.

PMID- 25818131
TI  - Extreme PCR: a breakthrough innovation for outbreaks?

PMID- 25818132
TI  - Hemoglobin S.

PMID- 25818133
TI  - Artist's method: James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

PMID- 25818134
TI  - Quantitative analysis of phosphoric acid esters in aqueous samples by isotope
      dilution stir-bar sorptive extraction combined with direct analysis in real time
      (DART)-Orbitrap mass spectrometry.
AB  - A novel hyphenated technique, namely the combination of stir bar sorptive
      extraction (SBSE) with isotope dilution direct analysis in real time (DART)
      OrbitrapTM mass spectrometry (OT-MS) is presented for the extraction of
      phosphoric acid alkyl esters (tri- (TnBP), di- (HDBP), and mono-butyl phosphate
      (H2MBP)) from aqueous samples. First, SBSE of phosphate esters was performed
      using a TwisterTM coated with 24 MUL of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as the
      extracting phase. SBSE was optimized for extraction pH, phase ratio (PDMS
      volume/aqueous phase volume), stirring speed, extraction time and temperature.
      Then, coupling of SBSE to DART/Orbitrap-MS was achieved by placing the TwisterTM
      in the middle of an open-ended glass tube between the DART and the OrbitrapTM.
      The DART mass spectrometric response of phosphate esters was probed using
      commercially available and synthesized alkyl phosphate ester standards. The
      positive ion full scan spectra of alkyl phosphate triesters (TnBP) was
      characterized by the product of self-protonation [M+H](+) and, during collision
      induced dissociation (CID), the major fragmentation ions corresponded to
      consecutive loss of alkyl chains. Negative ionization gave abundant [M-H](-) ions
      for both HDnBP and H2MnBP. TwistersTM coated with PDMS successfully extracted
      phosphate acid esters (tri-, di- and mono-esters) granted that the analytes are
      present in the aqueous solution in the neutral form. SBSE/DART/Orbitrap-MS
      results show a good linearity between the concentrations and relative peak areas
      for the analytes in the concentration range studied (0.1-750 ng mL(-1)).
      Reproducibility of this SBSE/DART/Orbitrap-MS method was evaluated in terms of
      %RSD by extracting a sample of water fortified with the analytes. The %RSDs for
      TnBP, HDnBP and H2MnBP were 4, 3 and 3% (n=5) using the respective perdeuterated
      internal standards. Matrix effects were investigated by matrix matched
      calibration standards using underground water samples (UWS) and river water
      samples (RWS). Matrix effects were effectively compensated by the addition of the
      perdeuterated internal standards. The application of this new SBSE/DART/Orbitrap
      MS method should be very valuable for on-site sampling/monitoring, limiting the
      transport of large volumes of water samples from the sampling site to the
      laboratory.

PMID- 25818135
TI  - Efficient generation of volatile species for cadmium analysis in seafood and rice
      samples by a modified chemical vapor generation system coupled with atomic
      fluorescence spectrometry.
AB  - A vapor generation procedure to determine Cd by atomic fluorescence spectrometry
      (AFS) has been established. Volatile species of Cd are generated by following
      reaction of acidified sample containing Fe(II) and L-cysteine (Cys) with sodium
      tetrahydroborate (NaBH4). The presence of 5 mg L(-1) Fe(II) and 0.05% m/v Cys
      improves the efficiency of Cd vapor generation substantially about four-fold
      compared with conventional thiourea and Co(II) system. Three experiments with
      different mixing sequences and reaction times are designed to study the reaction
      mechanism. The results document that the stability of Cd(II)-Cys complexes is
      better than Cys-THB complexes (THB means NaBH4) while the Cys-THB complexes have
      more contribution to improve the Cd vapor generation efficiency than Cd(II)-Cys
      complexes. Meanwhile, the adding of Fe(II) can catalyze the Cd vapor generation.
      Under the optimized conditions, the detection limit of Cd is 0.012 MUg L(-1);
      relative standard deviations vary between 0.8% and 5.5% for replicate
      measurements of the standard solution. In the presence of 0.01% DDTC, Cu(II),
      Pb(II) and Zn(II) have no significant influence up to 5 mg L(-1), 10 mg L(-1)and
      10 mg L(-1), respectively. The accuracy of the method is verified through
      analysis of the certificated reference materials and the proposed method has been
      applied in the determination of Cd in seafood and rice samples.

PMID- 25818136
TI  - Sum of ranking differences (SRD) to ensemble multivariate calibration model
      merits for tuning parameter selection and comparing calibration methods.
AB  - Most multivariate calibration methods require selection of tuning parameters,
      such as partial least squares (PLS) or the Tikhonov regularization variant ridge
      regression (RR). Tuning parameter values determine the direction and magnitude of
      respective model vectors thereby setting the resultant predication abilities of
      the model vectors. Simultaneously, tuning parameter values establish the
      corresponding bias/variance and the underlying selectivity/sensitivity tradeoffs.
      Selection of the final tuning parameter is often accomplished through some form
      of cross-validation and the resultant root mean square error of cross-validation
      (RMSECV) values are evaluated. However, selection of a "good" tuning parameter
      with this one model evaluation merit is almost impossible. Including additional
      model merits assists tuning parameter selection to provide better balanced models
      as well as allowing for a reasonable comparison between calibration methods.
      Using multiple merits requires decisions to be made on how to combine and weight
      the merits into an information criterion. An abundance of options are possible.
      Presented in this paper is the sum of ranking differences (SRD) to ensemble a
      collection of model evaluation merits varying across tuning parameters. It is
      shown that the SRD consensus ranking of model tuning parameters allows automatic
      selection of the final model, or a collection of models if so desired.
      Essentially, the user's preference for the degree of balance between bias and
      variance ultimately decides the merits used in SRD and hence, the tuning
      parameter values ranked lowest by SRD for automatic selection. The SRD process is
      also shown to allow simultaneous comparison of different calibration methods for
      a particular data set in conjunction with tuning parameter selection. Because SRD
      evaluates consistency across multiple merits, decisions on how to combine and
      weight merits are avoided. To demonstrate the utility of SRD, a near infrared
      spectral data set and a quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) data
      set are evaluated using PLS and RR. 

PMID- 25818137
TI  - Semiconductor sensor embedded microfluidic chip for protein biomarker detection
      using a bead-based immunoassay combined with deoxyribonucleic acid strand
      labeling.
AB  - Two major issues need to be addressed in applying semiconductor biosensors to
      detecting proteins in immunoassays. First, the length of the antibody on the
      sensor surface surpasses the Debye lengths (approximately 1 nm, in normal ionic
      strength solution), preventing certain specifically bound proteins from being
      tightly attached to the sensor surface. Therefore, these proteins do not
      contribute to the sensor's surface potential change. Second, these proteins carry
      a small charge and can be easily affected by the pH of the surrounding solution.
      This study proposes a magnetic bead-based immunoassay using a secondary antibody
      to label negatively charged DNA fragments for signal amplification. An externally
      imposed magnetic force attaches the analyte tightly to the sensor surface,
      thereby effectively solving the problem of the analyte protein's distance to the
      sensor surface surpassing the Debye lengths. In addition, a normal ion intensity
      buffer can be used without dilution for the proposed method. Experiments revealed
      that the sensitivity can be improved by using a longer DNA fragment for labeling
      and smaller magnetic beads as solid support for the antibody. By using a 90 base
      pair DNA label, the signal was 15 times greater than that without labeling. In
      addition, by using a 120 nm magnetic bead, a minimum detection limit of 12.5 ng
      mL(-1) apolipoprotein A1 can be measured. Furthermore, this study integrates a
      semiconductor sensor with a microfluidic chip. With the help of microvalves and
      micromixers in the chip, the length of the mixing step for each immunoassay has
      been reduced from 1h to 20 min, and the sample volume has been reduced from 80
      MUL to 10 MUL. In practice, a protein biomarker in a urinary bladder cancer
      patient's urine was successfully measured using this technique. This study
      provides a convenient and effective method to measure protein using a
      semiconductor sensor.

PMID- 25818138
TI  - Graphene-modified TiO2 nanotube arrays as an adsorbent in micro-solid phase
      extraction for determination of carbamate pesticides in water samples.
AB  - Graphene is a good adsorbent for organic pollutants, especially for compounds
      containing benzene rings. When used in TiO2 nanotube arrays for micro-solid phase
      extraction (MU-SPE), the combination of graphene's strong adsorptive properties
      with its good separation capabilities results in excellent sample
      preconcentration performance. In the present study, graphene-modified TiO2
      nanotube arrays were prepared by electrodeposition using a cyclic voltammetric
      reduction method. Four carbamate pesticides, including metolcarb, carbaryl,
      isoprocarb, and diethofencarb, were used as model analytes to validate the
      enrichment properties of the prepared adsorbent in MU-SPE. Factors affecting the
      enrichment efficiency of the MU-SPE procedure were optimized and included sample
      pH, elution solvents, salting-out effect, adsorption time and desorption time.
      Under optimal conditions, graphene-modified TiO2 nanotube arrays exhibited
      excellent enrichment efficiency for carbamate pesticides. The detection limits of
      these carbamate pesticides ranged from 2.27 to 3.26 MUg L(-1). The proposed
      method was validated using four environmental water samples, and yields of
      pesticides recovered from spiked test samples of the four analytes were in the
      range of 83.9-108.8%. These results indicate that graphene-modified TiO2 nanotube
      arrays exhibit good adsorption to the target pollutants, and the method described
      in this work could be used as a faster and easier alternative procedure for
      routine analysis of carbamate pesticides in real water samples.

PMID- 25818139
TI  - Rapid liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of 4-hydroxynonenal
      for the assessment of oxidative degradation and safety of vegetable oils.
AB  - A novel method for the UHPLC-MS/MS analysis of (E)-4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) is
      described. The method is based on derivatization of 4-HNE with
      pentafluorophenylhydrazine (1) or 4-trifluoromethylphenylhydrazine (2) in
      acetonitrile in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid as catalyst at room
      temperature and allows complete analysis of one sample of vegetable oil in only
      21 min, including sample preparation and chromatography. The method involving
      hydrazine 1, implemented in an ion trap instrument with analysis of the
      transition m/z 337->154 showed LOD=10.9 nM, average accuracy of 101% and
      precision ranging 2.5-4.0% RSD intra-day (2.7-4.1% RSD inter-day), with 4-HNE
      standard solutions. Average recovery from lipid matrices was 96.3% from vaseline
      oil, 91.3% from sweet almond oil and 105.3% from olive oil. The method was tested
      on the assessment of safety and oxidative degradation of seven samples of dietary
      oil (soybean, mixed seeds, corn, peanut, sunflower, olive) and six cosmetic-grade
      oils (avocado, blackcurrant, apricot kernel, echium, sesame, wheat germ) and
      effectively detected increased 4-HNE levels in response to chemical (Fenton
      reaction), photochemical, or thermal stress and aging, aimed at mimicking typical
      oxidation associated with storage or industrial processing. The method is a
      convenient, cost-effective and reliable tool to assess quality and safety of
      vegetable oils.

PMID- 25818140
TI  - Spectrophotometric determination of Rare Earth Elements in aqueous nitric acid
      solutions for process control.
AB  - Noninvasive analytical control is of special interest for the complicated and
      hazardous production processes. On-line monitoring provides a unique opportunity
      to determine critical concentrations rapidly and without serious risks to
      operating personnel and the environment. Models for quantitative determination of
      concentrations of Rare Earth Elements in complex mixtures in nitric acid serve
      for these purposes. Here, the feasibility of simultaneous determination of
      cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium using the whole UV-vis spectroscopic range,
      together with chemometric data processing, is studied. The predictability of two
      chemometric techniques, partial least squares regression and correlation
      constrained multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares are compared.
      Models' performances are analyzed in out-of-control cases. 

PMID- 25818141
TI  - Single-walled carbon nanotube based transparent immunosensor for detection of a
      prostate cancer biomarker osteopontin.
AB  - Osteopontin (OPN) is involved in almost all steps of cancer development, and it
      is being investigated as a potential biomarker for a diagnosis and prognosis of
      prostate cancer. Here, we report a label-free, highly sensitive and transparent
      immunosensor based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) for detection of
      OPN. A high density of COOH functionalized SWCNTs was deposited between two
      gold/indium tin oxide electrodes on a glass substrate by dielectrophoresis.
      Monoclonal antibodies specific to OPN were covalently immobilized on the SWCNTs.
      Relative resistance change of the immunosensors was measured as the concentration
      of OPN in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) and human serum was varied from 1 pg mL(
      1) to 1 MUg mL(-1) for different channel lengths of 2, 5, and 10 MUm, showing a
      highly linear and reproducible behavior (R(2)>97%). These immunosensors were also
      specific to OPN against another test protein, bovine serum albumin, PBS and human
      serum, showing that a limit of detection for OPN was 0.3 pg mL(-1). This highly
      sensitive and transparent immunosensor has a great potential as a simple point-of
      care test kit for various protein biomarkers.

PMID- 25818142
TI  - Fluorescence quenching of graphene oxide combined with the site-specific cleavage
      of restriction endonuclease for deoxyribonucleic acid demethylase activity assay.
AB  - We report on the development of a sensitive and selective deoxyribonucleic acid
      (DNA) demethylase (using MBD2 as an example) activity assay by coupling the
      fluorescence quenching of graphene oxide (GO) with the site-specific cleavage of
      HpaII endonuclease to improve the selectivity. This approach was developed by
      designing a single-stranded probe (P1) that carries a binding region to
      facilitate the interaction with GO, which induces fluorescence quenching of the
      labeled fluorophore (FAM, 6-carboxyfluorescein), and a sensing region, which
      contains a hemi-methylated site of 5'-CmCGG-3', to specifically recognize the
      target (T1, a 32-mer DNA from the promoter region of p53 gene) and hybridize with
      it to form a P1/T1 duplex. After demethylation with MBD2, the duplex can be
      specifically cleaved using HpaII, which releases the labeled FAM from the GO
      surface and results in the recovery of fluorescence. However, this cleavage is
      blocked by the hemi-methylation of this site. Thus, the magnitude of the
      recovered fluorescence signal is related to the MBD2 activity, which establishes
      the basis of the DNA demethylase activity assay. This assay can determine as low
      as ~(0.05+/-0.01) ng mL(-1) (at a signal/noise of 3) of MBD2 with a linear range
      of 0.2-300 ng mL(-1) and recognize MBD2 from other possibly coexisting proteins
      and cancer cell extracts. The advantage of this assay is its ability to avoid
      false signals and no requirement of bisulfite conversion, PCR amplification,
      radioisotope labeling, or separation.

PMID- 25818143
TI  - Sensing for intracellular thiols by water-insoluble two-photon fluorescent probe
      incorporating nanogel.
AB  - A novel "turn-on" two-photon fluorescent probe containing a pi-conjugated
      triarylboron luminogen and a maleimide moiety DMDP-M based on the photo-induced
      electron transfer (PET) mechanism for biothiol detection was designed and
      synthesized. By simply loading the hydrophobic DMDP-M on a cross-linked
      Pluronic((r)) F127 nanogel (CL-F127), a probing system DMDP-M/CL-F127 was
      established, which shows quick response, high selectivity and sensitivity to
      cysteine (Cys), homocysteine (Hcy) and glutathione (GSH) in aqueous phase. The
      DMDP-M/CL-F127 system presented the fastest response to Cys with a rate constant
      of 0.56 min(-1), and the detection limit to Cys was calculated to be as low as
      0.18 MUM. The DMDP-M/CL-F127 system has been successfully applied to the
      fluorescence imaging of biothiols in NIH/3T3 fibroblasts either with single
      photon or two-photon excitation because of its high biocompatibility and cell
      membrane permeability. The present work provides a general, simple and efficient
      strategy for the application of hydrophobic molecules to sensing biothiols in
      aqueous phase, and a novel sensing system for intracellular biothiols fitted for
      both single-photon and two-photon fluorescence imaging.

PMID- 25818144
TI  - Intrinsic peroxidase-like catalytic activity of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum
      dots and their application in the colorimetric detection of H2O2 and glucose.
AB  - In this paper, the highly intrinsic peroxidase-like catalytic activity of
      nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) is revealed. This activity was
      greatly dependent on pH, temperature and H2O2 concentration. The experimental
      results showed that the stable N-GQDs could be used for the detection of H2O2 and
      glucose over a wide range of pH and temperature, offering a simple, highly
      selective and sensitive approach for their colorimetric sensing. The linearity
      between the analyte concentration and absorption ranged from 20 to 1170 MUM for
      H2O2 and 25 to 375 MUM for glucose with a detection limit of 5.3 MUM for H2O2 and
      16 MUM for glucose. This assay was also successfully applied to the detection of
      glucose concentrations in diluted serum and fruit juice samples.

PMID- 25818145
TI  - Education and Psychological Distress of Older Chinese: Exploring the Longitudinal
      Relationship and Its Subgroup Variations.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study is to examine whether and how education
      predicts distress for older Chinese and whether this association varies by age,
      gender, and rural/urban residence. METHOD: The random-effect panel model and
      Heckman selection model were used to analyze four waves of data with a total
      sample size of 54,405 from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey.
      RESULTS: We found the following: (a) There is a persistent and negative
      association between education and distress among older Chinese; (b) education
      predicts lower levels of distress over time and this is particularly true for
      males, urban residents, and the young-old; and (c) the effect of education on
      distress is largely explained by physical health, economic conditions, and a
      three-dimensional framework of leisure-time activities. DISCUSSION: Our findings
      strengthen the external validity of the relationship between education and health
      and suggest the dynamic patterns on the subgroup variations within the
      association in China.

PMID- 25818146
TI  - Examining the Risk Factors Associated With Hypertension Among the Elderly in
      Ghana.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study sought to examine the risk factors associated with
      hypertension among the elderly in Ghana. We focused on the association between
      chronic diseases, socioeconomic factors, and being hypertensive. METHOD: Data for
      the study were drawn from Wave 1 of the 2007/2008 Ghana Study on Global Ageing
      and Adult Health (SAGE). A binary logit model was used to estimate the effect of
      other noncommunicable diseases, psychosocial factors, lifestyle factors, and
      sociocultural and biosocial factors on the elderly being hypertensive. RESULTS:
      Elderly Ghanaians who had been diagnosed with arthritis, angina, diabetes, and
      asthma were significantly more likely to be hypertensive. Additionally, those
      depressed were found to be 1.22 times more likely to be hypertensive. DISCUSSION:
      Prevention and control of hypertension are complex and demand multistakeholder
      collaboration including governments, educational institutions, media, food and
      beverage industry, and a conscious focus on personal lifestyle factors.

PMID- 25818147
TI  - The Impact of Genetics on Physical Resilience and Successful Aging.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To better understand the impact of genetics on resilience and
      successful aging, we tested a model of successful aging. METHOD: This was a
      descriptive study with a single interview and blood draw done with residents in a
      continuing care retirement community. Five genes associated with resilience were
      included in the model. The hypothesis was tested using structural equation
      modeling. RESULTS: A total of 116 participants completed the survey. Two SNPs
      from SLC6A4 (rs25533 and rs1042173) and age were the only variables associated
      with physical resilience and explained 9% of the variance. Cognitive status, age,
      and depression were directly associated with successful aging; variance in
      rs25532 or rs1042173, resilience, and pain were indirectly associated with
      successful aging through depression. DISCUSSION: Continued research to replicate
      these findings is needed so as to be able to recognize older adults at risk of
      low physical resilience and implement appropriate interventions.

PMID- 25818148
TI  - Endoscopic and Microsurgical Treatment of Sylvian Fissure Arachnoid Cysts
      Clinical and Radiological Outcome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A Sylvian fissure arachnoid cyst (SAC) is a well-recognized location
      for an intracranial arachnoid cyst in the pediatric population. For those cysts,
      which can rupture and be accompanied by a subdural hygroma or hematoma, several
      treatment modalities have been reported. We report clinical and radiological
      outcome of fenestration of these cysts by either endoscopy or microsurgery.
      METHODS: A retrospective review of the database of operative procedures revealed
      24 procedures (20 endoscopic and 4 microsurgical procedures) to fenestrate a SAC
      at university hospitals in Berlin, Germany and Tokyo, Japan. RESULTS: With the
      applied technique, a reduction of SAC volume of more than 10% was achieved in
      83.3% of all patients. The median volume of SACs (n = 24) was significantly
      reduced from 83.5 mL (range 21-509 mL) preoperatively to 45.5 mL (range 8.4-261
      mL; P < 0.01) after 3.5 months and to 29.0 mL (range 0-266 mL; P < 0.01) after 15
      months. In children (n = 8) with a ruptured SAC the combined extraaxial volume of
      a SAC and accompanying hygroma/hematoma was reduced from 166 mL (range 111-291
      mL) before surgery to 127 mL (range 87-329 mL) after 2 months and to 77 mL (range
      25-140 mL; P < 0.05) after 11 months. Acute clinical symptoms were generally
      resolved postoperatively; headaches were resolved or improved in 75%. A
      significant association of resolution or improvement of headaches and volume
      reduction was demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated efficacy in a
      predominantly endoscopically treated patient cohort with Sylvian fissure
      arachnoid cysts, as indicated by improvement of clinical symptoms and diminished
      radiological SAC volume after treatment.

PMID- 25818149
TI  - Preparation and characterizations of EGDE crosslinked chitosan electrospun
      membranes.
AB  - Composite Crosslinked nanofibrous membranes of chitosan, ethylene glycol
      diglycidyl ether (EGDE) and polyethylene oxide was successfully prepared with
      bead free morphology via electrospinning technique followed by heat mediated
      chemical crosslinking. Architectural stability of nanofiber mat in aqueous medium
      was achieved by chemical crosslinking of only 1% EGDE, and tensile strength tests
      revealed that increasing EGDE content has considerably enhance the elastic
      modulus of nanofibers. The structure, morphology and mechanical properties of
      nanofibers were characterized by Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform
      Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Instron
      machine, respectively. Skin fibroblasts and endothelial cells showed good
      attachment, proliferation and viability on crosslinked electrospun membranes. The
      results indicate a good biocompatibility and non-toxic nature of the resulted
      membrane.

PMID- 25818150
TI  - MUCT based assessment of mechanical deformation of designed PTMC scaffolds.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Advances in rapid-prototyping and 3D printing technologies have
      enhanced the possibilities in preparing designed architectures for tissue
      engineering applications. A major advantage in custom designing is the ability to
      create structures with desired mechanical properties. While the behaviour of a
      designed scaffold can be simulated using bulk material properties, it is
      important to verify the behaviour of a printed scaffold at the microstructure
      level. OBJECTIVE: In this study we present an effective method in validating the
      mechanical behaviour of designed scaffolds using a MUCT with an in-situ
      mechanical deformation device. METHODS: The scaffolds were prepared from
      biodegradable poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) by stereolithography and images
      obtained using a high-resolution MUCT with 12.25MUm isometric voxels. The data
      was processed (filtering, segmentation) and analysed (surface generation,
      registration) to extract relevant deformation features. RESULTS: The computed
      local deformation fields, calculated at sub-pore resolutions, displayed expected
      linear behaviour within the scaffold along the compressions axis. On planes
      perpendicular to this axis, the deformations varied by 150- 200MUm. CONCLUSIONS:
      MUCT based imaging with in-situ deformation provides a vital tool in validating
      the design parameters of printed scaffolds. Deformation fields obtained from
      micro-tomographic image volumes can serve to corroborate the simulated ideal
      design with the realized product.

PMID- 25818151
TI  - Poly(ethylene glycol) grafted polylactide based copolymers for the preparation of
      PLA-based nanocarriers and hybrid hydrogels.
AB  - In previous works, poly(D,L-lactide-co-ECL-poly(ethylene glycol) (poly(D,L-La-co
      alphaPEGECL) amphiphilic graft-copolymers were successfully synthesized according
      to a copper azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) strategy. This paper aims at
      reporting on the behavior of this amphiphilic copolymer in water, which was not
      studied in the previous paper. Moreover, the ability of the copolymer to
      stabilize a PLA nanoparticles aqueous suspension is presented. For this purpose,
      dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are
      proposed to characterize the nanoparticles in solution. Otherwise, the strategy
      developed for the synthesis of the amphiphilic copolymers was adapted and
      extended to the synthesis of PLA-based degradable hydrogel, potentially
      applicable as drug-loaded degradable polymer implant.

PMID- 25818152
TI  - Influence of film thickness on the crystalline morphology of a
      copolyesterurethane comprising crystallizable poly(E-caprolactone) soft segments.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In this work, a model approach to investigate changes in crystalline
      morphology during heating/cooling procedures in the context of programming and
      induction of the shape-memory effect is presented. OBJECTIVE AND METHOD: Atomic
      force microscopy (AFM) was performed to investigate the variations in poly(E
      caprolactone) (PCL) crystalline morphology in nm thin films on a silicon
      substrate and a film with 20 MUm thickness, prepared from a copolyesterurethane
      (named PDLCL) consisting of crystallizable poly(omega-pentadecalactone) (PPDL)
      hard segments and crystallizable PCL segments forming switching domains. RESULTS:
      PCL crystals in switching domains melted/recrystallized repeatedly during
      heating/cooling cycles between 20 and 70  degrees C, while no evident variation
      in PPDL crystals forming hard domains was observed. When film thickness was 20
      nm, PCL edge-on lamellae were observed, confined in the phase-separated
      morphology. Flat-on PCL lamellae, which broke out from the previous phase
      separated morphology, were obtained at a film thickness of 170 nm. In contrast,
      large PCL spherulites were observed in the 20 MUm thick film. CONCLUSION: PCL
      crystalline morphology in PDLCL as well as the competition between
      crystallization and phase separation can be tailored by the film thickness and
      the substrate. Such AFM investigations on thin films can be a helpful approach
      for predicting the crystal morphology in micro-/nanoscaled objects.

PMID- 25818153
TI  - Copper catalyst efficiency for the CuAAC synthesis of a poly(N
      isopropylacrylamide) conjugated hyaluronan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) conjugated hyaluronan (HA-pN), a brush
      like copolymer system which serves as a polymer vehicle for cellular and drug
      delivery, has been previously synthesized via the copper catalyzed azide-alkyne
      reaction (CuAAC) using a combination of copper sulfate and ascorbic acid (CuAsc)
      as the catalytic system of choice. Bromotris(triphenylphosphine) copper(I)
      (CuBr(PPh3)3) is an alternative catalytic compound containing a phosphorous
      ligand which stabilizes copper in the +1 oxidative state in aqueous solvents and
      can be employed at true catalyst concentrations. OBJECTIVE: CuAsc and CuBr(PPh3)3
      were compared for their efficiency; 1) in the synthesis of HA-pN via CuAAC; 2) in
      producing thermoresponsive compositions and 3) in being extracted from the
      polymeric compositions. METHODS: The synthesis of the brush copolymer was carried
      out under strict Schlenk conditions, then characterized by ATR-FTIR, 1H NMR, ICP
      SFMS, and rheological measurements. RESULTS: CuBr(PPh3)3 catalyzed CuAAC leads to
      better grafting in water, at a true catalyst concentration, compared to CuAsc.
      Polymeric solutions exhibited similar traits of increasing mechanical stiffness
      with rising temperature. Despite purification via chelation and/or dialysis,
      residual copper was present in similar concentrations in the final polymers.
      CONCLUSIONS: In the CuAAC driven copolymer synthesis of the HA-pN, CuBr(PPh3)3 is
      a better catalyst than CuAsc.

PMID- 25818154
TI  - Preparation of gentamicin dioctyl sulfosuccinate loaded poly(trimethylene
      carbonate) matrices intended for the treatment of orthopaedic infections.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Infection is a common problem in trauma and orthopaedic surgery.
      Antibiotic-loaded biomaterials are used locally to clear infections as an adjunct
      to systemic antibiotics. Gentamicin-sulphate (GEN-SULPH) is commonly used in
      antibiotic-loaded biomaterials, although it displays high water solubility
      resulting in quick diffusion from the carrier. OBJECTIVE: Preparation of a
      lipophilic derivative of gentamicin to reduce solubility and obtain a slower
      release. Subsequently, entrapment of this lipophilic gentamicin within
      poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) matrices. METHODS: Hydrophobic ion-pairing
      was used to prepare lipophilic gentamicin (GEN-AOT). The susceptibility of
      Staphylococcus aureus NCTC 12973 and Staphylococcus epidermidis 103.1 for GEN-AOT
      was tested and the viability of fibroblasts upon exposure to GEN-AOT was
      assessed. GEN-AOT was then loaded into PTMC films. RESULTS: GEN-AOT was
      successfully prepared as confirmed by FTIR-spectroscopy. GEN-AOT was bactericidal
      for S. epidermidis and S. aureus at 0.5 MUM and 8.5 MUM, respectively. At 1.1 MUM
      GEN-AOT no reduction in fibroblast viability was observed. At 11 MUM the
      reduction was ~50% . PTMC discs loaded with GEN-AOT were prepared by compression
      molding. CONCLUSIONS: Lipophilic GEN-AOT was at least as potent as GEN-SULPH. For
      S. epidermidis it was even more potent than GEN-SULPH. More than 50% fibroblast
      cell viability was maintained at bactericidal concentration for both bacterial
      strains.

PMID- 25818155
TI  - Preparation and mechanical properties of photo-crosslinked poly(trimethylene
      carbonate) and nano-hydroxyapatite composites.
AB  - Composite materials of photo-crosslinked poly(trimethylene carbonate) and
      nanoscale hydroxyapatite were prepared and their mechanical characteristics for
      application as orbital floor implants were assessed. The composites were prepared
      by solvent casting poly(trimethylene carbonate) macromers with varying amounts of
      nano-hydroxyapatite and subsequent photo-crosslinking. The incorporation of the
      nano-hydroxyapatite into the composites was examined by thermogravimetric
      analysis, scanning electron microscopy and gel content measurements. The
      mechanical properties were investigated by tensile testing and trouser tearing
      experiments. Our results show that nano-hydroxyapatite particles can readily be
      incorporated into photo-crosslinked poly(trimethylene carbonate) networks.
      Compared to the networks without nano-hydroxyapatite, incorporation of 36.3 wt.%
      of the apatite resulted in an increase of the E modulus, yield strength and
      tensile strength from 2.2 MPa to 51 MPa, 0.5 to 1.4 N/mm2 and from 1.3 to 3.9
      N/mm2, respectively. We found that composites containing 12.4 wt.% nano
      hydroxyapatite had the highest values of strain at break, toughness and average
      tear propagation strength (376% , 777 N/mm2 and 3.1 N/mm2, respectively).

PMID- 25818156
TI  - Rheological, hemostaseological changes during immunetherapy for prevention of
      HELLP-syndrome in a patient with elevated phospholipid antibodies.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Patients with a history of severe obstetric complications in the
      presence of elevated phospholipid antibodies are at high risk for recurrent
      obstetric debacle. We report a successful immunologic treatment for prevention of
      HELLP-Syndrome in subsequent pregnancy in a patient with elevated Phospholipid
      antibodies, while under rheological and hemostaseological monitoring. METHODS:
      The patient with prior severe HELLP-Syndrome at term in the presence of
      reconfirmed elevated phospholipid antibodies in her first pregnancy received
      pooled immunoglobulins (Sandoglobulin 3 g - Novartis) intravenously for
      immunological treatment every three weeks in addition to low molecular weight
      heparin (Clexane 40 mg/d s.c.) and Aspirin (100 mg/d from 2nd trimester) during
      her subsequent pregnancy. Before each of 10 treatment cycles blood rheological
      parameters (Red Blood cell {RBC} aggregation stasis E0, low shear E1, RBC -
      deformability low-, moderate-, and high shear force, plasma viscosity {Pv}), as
      well as thrombelastometry (ROTEM) and in vitro platelet function (PFA-100) for
      hemostaseological evaluation was performed. At the same times non-invasive,
      physical thrombosis screening took place using impedance plethysmography
      (Filtrass) RESULTS: During pregnancy a constant increase in PV and E1 (>45 S -1)
      was accompanied by a delayed but continuous increase in RBC deformability
      beginning at the end of the 2nd trimester. Thrombelastometry revealed a
      continuous reduction of clot formation time (CFT; extem: 84 to 38 sec) and an
      increase in maximal clot firmness (MCF; extem: 64 to 78 sec) after TF-induced
      coagulation activation while MCF and CFT after contact activation (intem) was
      barely unchanged. Platelet bleeding-time after EPI/Coll stimulation was temporary
      prolonged by the onset of Aspirin intake (>300 sec) but normalized soon after
      20th gestational week, while ADP/Coll stimulation revealed a trend towards
      prolonged bleeding times at the same time. There was a strong and statistically
      significant inverse correlation between E1 and TF induced CFT (r =-0.82; p =
      0.002) and a positive correlation between E1 and TF induced MCF (r = 0.89; p < 
      0.001), while the correlation between E1 and contact activated CFT and MCF was
      weak or absent, respectively. Until GW 38th routine laboratory- (Platelet-count,
      Haptoglobin, liver enzymes) and clinical findings remained normal, without
      evidence of HELLP-Syndrome reoccurrence or development of thrombosis.
      CONCLUSIONS: During immunotherapy in this high risk patient HELLP-Syndrome did
      not reoccur. The aggregability of RBC was closely related with the formation
      speed and firmness of clot after TF activated coagulation but not after contact
      activated coagulation. At the beginning of 3rd trimester RBC aggregation remained
      dramatically higher as compared to the normal value range of pregnant women found
      in a large recent trial which may have been an early indicator of imminent HELLP
      Syndrome.

PMID- 25818157
TI  - Advanced Functional Polymers in Medicine (AFPM).

PMID- 25818158
TI  - Cell-based detection of microbial biomaterial contaminations.
AB  - A major challenge in biomaterial synthesis and functionalization is the
      prevention of microbial contaminations such as endotoxins (lipopolysaccharides
      (LPS)). In addition to LPS, which are exclusively expressed by Gram negative
      bacteria, also other microbial products derived from fungi or Gram positive
      bacteria can be found as contaminations in research laboratories. Typically, the
      Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL)-test is used to determine the endotoxin levels of
      medical devices. However, this test fails to detect material-bound LPS and other
      microbial contaminations and, as demonstrated in this study, detects LPS from
      various bacterial species with different sensitivities.In this work, a cell-based
      assay using genetically engineered RAW macrophages, which detect not only soluble
      but also material-bound microbial contaminations is introduced.The sensitivity of
      this cell-line towards different LPS species and different heat-inactivated
      microbes was investigated. As proof of principle a soft hydrophobic poly(n-butyl
      acrylate) network (cPnBA), which may due to adhesive properties strongly bind
      microbes, was deliberately contaminated with heat-inactivated bacteria. While the
      LAL-test failed to detect the microbial contamination, the cell-based assay
      clearly detected material-bound microbial contaminations. Our data demonstrate
      that a cell-based detection system should routinely be used as supplement to the
      LAL-test to determine microbial contaminations of biomaterials.

PMID- 25818159
TI  - Synthesis and characterization of star-shaped oligo(ethylene glycol) with
      tyrosine derived moieties under variation of their molecular weight.
AB  - Desamino tyrosine (DAT) and desamino tyrosyl tyrosine (DATT) can be used to
      functionalize the end groups of water soluble polymers. The phenolic groups may
      enable physical interactions by pi- pi interaction and hydrogen bonds, which
      might lead to the formation of a hydrogel by physical crosslinking. However,
      using star-shaped oligo(ethylene glycols) (sOEG) with a molecular weight of 5 kDa
      for functionalization with DAT or DATT resulted in the formation of surfactants
      and not in hydrogels.As the molecular weight of the sOEG polymer chain can have
      an influence on forming physical cross links, DAT(T)-fuctionalization of sOEGs
      with higher molecular weight was investigated, the polymers were structurally
      characterized and for their mechanical properties were evaluated by rheological
      measurements.Aqueous solutions of DAT(T)-sOEGs with 10 and 20 kDa showed lower
      storage and loss moduli compared to unfunctionalized sOEGs indicating also the
      formation of surfactants. Cell-based assays showed that all sOEG solutions did
      not impair cell viability and were free of endotoxins, which could otherwise
      induce uncontrolled immune responses.Conclusively, our data suggested that the
      sOEG solutions have surface active properties without inducing unwanted cellular
      responses, which is required e.g. in pharmaceutical applications to solubilize
      hydophobic substances.

PMID- 25818160
TI  - Modeling of stress relaxation of a semi-crystalline multiblock copolymer and its
      deformation behavior.
AB  - Stress relaxation can strongly influence the shape-memory capability of polymers.
      Recently a modified Maxwell-Wiechert model comprising two Maxwell units and a
      single spring unit in parallel has been introduced to successfully describe the
      shape recovery characteristics of amorphous polyether urethanes. In this work we
      explored whether such a modified Maxwell-Wiechert model is capable to describe
      the stress relaxation behavior of a semi-crystalline multiblock copolymer named
      PCL-PIBMD, which consists of crystallizable poly(E-caprolactone) (PCL) segments
      and crystallizable poly(3S-isobutylmorpholine-2,5-dione) (PIBMD) segments. The
      stress relaxation behavior of PCL-PIBMD was explored after uniaxial deformation
      to different strains ranging from 50 to 900% with various strain rates of 1 or 10
      or 50 mm.min -1. The modeling results indicated that under the assumption that in
      PCL-PIBMD both PCL and PIBMD blocks have narrow molecular weight distributions
      and are arranged in sequence, the two relaxation processes can be related to the
      amorphous PCL and PIBMD domains and the spring element can be associated to the
      PIBMD crystalline domains. The first Maxwell unit representing the faster
      relaxation process characterized by the modulus E1 and the relaxation time tau1
      is related to the amorphous PCL domains (which are in the rubbery state), while
      the second Maxwell unit (E2 ; tau2) represents the behavior of the amorphous
      PIBMD domains, which are in the glassy state at 50  degrees C. Increasing strain
      rates resulted in an increase of E1 and a significant reduction in tau1, whereas
      the elastic modulus as well as the relaxation time related to the amorphous PIBMD
      domains remained almost constant. When a higher deformation was applied (E >=
      200% ) lower values for the elastic moduli of the three model elements were
      obtained. In general the applied model was also capable to describe the
      relaxation behavior of PCL-PIBMD at a deformation temperature of 20  degrees C,
      where additional crystalline PCL domains are existent. The presented approach
      using a modified Maxwell-Wiechert model to analyze the stress relaxation behavior
      can be useful to understand the changes in structure-function relation of
      amorphous as well as semi-crystalline polymers occurring during its uniaxial
      deformation.

PMID- 25818161
TI  - Effect of dehydroepiandrosterone add-on therapy on mood, decision making and
      subsequent relapse of polydrug users.
AB  - A major problem in the treatment of addiction is predicting and preventing
      relapse following a rehabilitation program. Recently, in preclinical rodent
      studies dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) was found to markedly improve the
      resistance to drug reuse. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, we
      examined the effect of DHEA on relapse rates in adult polydrug users taking part
      in a detoxification program enriched with intensive psychosocial interventions
      and aftercare. During treatment, participants (79 percent males, mean age 28)
      consumed DHEA (100 mg/day) or placebo daily for at least 30 days. Of the 121
      initial volunteers, 64 participated for at least 1 month. While in treatment,
      DHEA reduced negative affect on the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (F = 4.25,
      P = 0.04). Furthermore, in a 16-month follow-up, we found that reuse rates in the
      DHEA condition were about a third compared with placebo (12 versus 38 percent;
      chi(2)  = 5.03, P = 0.02). DHEA treatment also resulted in an increase in DHEA
      sulfate (DHEA-S) 1 month following treatment, and the level of DHEA-S predicted
      relapse in the follow-up assessment.

PMID- 25818162
TI  - Spinal cord detethering procedures in children: a 5 year retrospective cohort
      study of the early post-operative course.
AB  - Tethered spinal cord can cause neurological, orthopaedic and sphincteric problems
      in children and detethering surgery may prevent or reverse these problems. This 5
      year retrospective cohort study aimed to review our experience of detethering
      surgery at The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia, particularly
      examining the early post-operative complications of this procedure. Between 2007
      and 2012, 61 children underwent 63 detethering procedures. The median age at
      detethering surgery was 1.4 years old (interquartile range: 0.7-5.6 years). Fifty
      five children (90.1%) had lumbosacral procedures, 31 (50.8%) were asymptomatic
      from tethering, 11 (18.0%) had motor or gait disturbance, 11 (18.0%) sphincteric
      disturbance, eight (13.1%) lower limb orthopaedic deformities, eight (13.1%)
      scoliosis, six (9.8%) back or leg pain and two (3.3%) sensory disturbance. The
      most common tethering pathologies were spinal lipomas in 32 children (52.5%),
      filum abnormalities in 23 (37.7%), dorsal sinus tracts in eight (13.1%) and
      diastematomyelia in seven (11.5%). Twenty-six children (42.6%) had either a
      syrinx or central canal dilatation preoperatively. The most common complications
      were wound infection and cerebrospinal fluid leak. Six children (9.8%) required
      reoperation for wound issues and two patients (3.3%) required subsequent
      reoperation for cord retethering during the study period. There were no deaths
      and no new neurological deficits. Of the children with the above preoperative
      deficits, 26.7% were documented to have improvement or resolution of their
      symptoms post-operatively. The highest rate of improvement occurred in children
      with motor or gait disturbance (36.4%) or sphincteric disturbance (27.3%).

PMID- 25818163
TI  - The single nucleotide polymorphism Rs12817488 is associated with Parkinson's
      disease in the Chinese population.
AB  - A recent meta-analysis of datasets from five of the published Parkinson's disease
      (PD) genome-wide association studies implicated the single nucleotide
      polymorphism (SNP) rs12817488 in coiled-coil domain containing 62
      (CCDC62)/huntingtin interacting protein 1 related (HIP1R) as a risk factor for
      PD. We conducted a case-control study to evaluate the possible association
      between rs12817488 and PD in Chinese people. All patients (515 PD patients and
      518 age and sex-matched controls) were successfully genotyped using polymerase
      chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. We observed
      that the rs12817488 polymorphism is associated with PD (p=0.003) and that the
      genotype and allele frequencies showed a difference between late-onset PD
      patients and male controls (p=0.025 and p=0.007, respectively). However, there
      was no difference in the early-onset PD patients and controls. We found a
      difference in the genotype and allele frequencies between the male PD patients
      and the male controls (p=0.034 and p=0.017, respectively). However, there was no
      difference in females. Patients with the A allele were susceptible to PD in both
      dominant (GA+AA versus GG; odds ratio [OR] 1.365, 95% confidence interval [CI]
      1.041-1.788) and recessive (AA versus GG+GA; OR 1.606, 95% CI 1.194-2.158)
      models. Therefore, our findings support the conclusion that the rs12817488 in
      CCDC62/HIP1R polymorphism may increase the risk of PD in the Chinese Han
      population. 

PMID- 25818164
TI  - Pre-existing structural abnormalities of the limbic system in transient global
      amnesia.
AB  - This study aimed to investigate the clinical and radiological findings in
      patients with transient global amnesia and to evaluate structural abnormalities
      using voxel-based morphometry. The subjects were diagnosed with transient global
      amnesia. For the voxel-based morphometry analyses, Statistical Parametric
      Mapping, running on the MATLAB platform (MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA), was
      employed to analyze the structural differences between patients with transient
      global amnesia and control subjects. Eighty patients met the inclusion criteria.
      Twenty-three patients (29%) were men, and 57 patients (71%) were women. There
      were significantly more women among the transient global amnesia patients
      compared with the general Korean population. MRI revealed hippocampal cavities in
      41 patients (51%), and the incidence of such cavities was significantly different
      from that of the control subjects (24%). There were no differences in the
      clinical factors between the patients with and without hippocampal cavities.
      Diffusion-weighted imaging was performed in 54 patients, and 13 patients (24%)
      exhibited high signal intensity in the hippocampus. There were also no
      differences in the clinical factors between the patients with and without high
      signal intensities in the hippocampus on diffusion-weighted imaging. Twenty-six
      patients underwent three-dimensional volumetric T1-weighted imaging that produced
      results suitable for voxel-based morphometry, and these patients presented with
      gray matter volume reductions in the hippocampus, cingulum, and cerebellum. There
      were significant structural differences in the limbic structures between patients
      with transient global amnesia and the control subjects that might have
      contributed to vulnerability of the memory pathways of the patients with
      transient global amnesia.

PMID- 25818165
TI  - Anticancer effect of celastrol on human triple negative breast cancer: possible
      involvement of oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, apoptosis and
      PI3K/Akt pathways.
AB  - Signaling via the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K)/Akt/mammalian target of
      rapamycin (mTOR) is crucial for divergent physiological processes including
      transcription, translation, cell-cycle progression and apoptosis. The aim of work
      was to elucidate the anti-cancer effect of celastrol and the signal transduction
      pathways involved. Cytotoxic effect of celastrol was assessed by MTT assay on
      human triple negative breast cancer cells (TNBCs) and compared with that of MCF
      7. Apoptosis induction was determined by AO/EtBr staining, mitochondrial membrane
      potential by JC-1, Annexin binding assays and modulation of apoptotic proteins
      and its effect on PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway by western blotting. Celastrol induced
      apoptosis in TNBC cells, were supported by DNA fragmentation, caspase-3
      activation and PARP cleavage. Meanwhile, celastrol triggered reactive oxygen
      species production with collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential, down
      regulation of Bcl-2 and up-regulation of Bax expression. Celastrol effectively
      decreased PI3K 110alpha/85alpha enzyme activity, phosphorylation of Akt(ser473)
      and p70S6K1 and 4E-BP1. Although insulin treatment increased the phosphorylation
      of Akt(ser473), p70S6K1, 4E-BP1, celastrol abolished the insulin mediated
      phosphorylation. It clearly indicates that celastrol acts through PI3k/Akt/mTOR
      axis. We also found that celastrol inhibited the Akt/GSK3beta and Akt/NFkB
      survival pathway. PI3K/Akt/mTOR inhibitor, PF-04691502 and mTOR inhibitor
      rapamycin enhanced the apoptosis-inducing effect of celastrol. These data
      demonstrated that celastrol induces apoptosis in TNBC cells and indicated that
      apoptosis might be mediated through mitochondrial dysfunction and PI3K/Akt
      signaling pathway. 

PMID- 25818166
TI  - ZEB2 promotes vasculogenic mimicry by TGF-beta1 induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal
      transition in hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - AIMS: Zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 2 (ZEB2), an epithelial-mesenchymal
      transition (EMT) regulator, has been involved in invasion and metastasis of human
      tumor. Although EMT may be involved in vasculogenic mimicry (VM) formation, no
      reports describing the relation between ZEB2 and VM are available. We hypothesize
      that ZEB2 may promote VM formation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS AND
      RESULTS: Paraffin-embedded tumor tissue samples from 92 patients were
      immunostained with anti-ZEB2 antibody. We found that the ZEB2 nuclear expression
      was significantly associated with VM formation and metastasis. Patients with VM
      and ZEB2 nuclear expression had a shorter survival period than those without
      expression. In vitro, ZEB2 overexpression significantly enhanced cell motility,
      invasiveness, and VM formation of HepG2 cells. ZEB2 upregulation also increased
      VE-cadherin, Flt-1, and Flk-1 expression and activated MMPs. ZEB2 knockdown
      inhibited cell motility, invasiveness, and VM formation in Bel7402 cells. ZEB2
      knockdown also decreased VE-cadherin, Flt-1, and Flk-1 expression and MMP
      activity. In addition, EMT in HepG2 cells was induced by TGF-beta1 treatment, and
      the kinetics of expression of EMT markers and regulators were assessed by Western
      blot analysis. The expression of ZEB2 increased significantly, and VM formation
      was promoted. CONCLUSION: ZEB2 can promote VM formation through the EMT pathway.
      Our findings may represent a novel therapeutic target in HCC.

PMID- 25818167
TI  - The multifaceted mitochondrion: An attractive candidate for therapeutic
      strategies.
AB  - Mitochondria are considered the powerhouse of the cell and disturbances in
      mitochondrial functions are involved in several disorders such as
      neurodegeneration and mitochondrial diseases. This review summarizes
      pharmacological strategies that aim at modifying the number of mitochondria,
      their dynamics or the mitochondrial quality-control mechanisms, in several
      pathological instances in which any of these mechanisms are impaired or abnormal.
      The interplay between different cellular pathways that involve mitochondria in
      order to respond to stress is highlighted. Such a high mitochondrial plasticity
      could be exploited for new treatments. 

PMID- 25818169
TI  - Pre-entry student clinical placement demand: can it be met?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The Clinical Education Workload Management Initiative (the
      Initiative) is a unique, multiprofessional, jurisdiction-wide approach and reform
      process enshrined within an industrial agreement. The Initiative enabled
      significant investment in allied health clinical education across Queensland
      public health services to address the workload associated with providing pre
      entry clinical placements. This paper describes the outcomes of a quality review
      activity to measure the impact of the Initiative on placement capacity and
      workload management for five allied health professions. Data related to several
      key factors impacting on placement supply and demand in addition to qualitative
      perspectives from workforce surveys are reported. METHODS: Data from a range of
      quality review actions including collated placement activity data, and workforce
      and student cohort statistics were appraised. Stakeholder perspectives reported
      in surveys were analysed for emerging themes. RESULTS: Placement offers showed an
      upward trend in the context of increased university program and student numbers
      and in contrast with a downward trend in full-time equivalent (FTE) staffnumbers.
      Initiative-funded positions were identified as a major factor in individual
      practitioners taking more students, and staff and managers valued the Initiative
      funded positions' support before and during placements, in the coordination of
      placements, and in building partnerships with universities. CONCLUSIONS: The
      Initiative enabled a co-ordinated response to meeting placement demand and
      enhanced collaborations between the health and education sectors. Sustaining pre
      entry student placement provision remains a challenge for the future.

PMID- 25818168
TI  - GLTSCR2 is an upstream negative regulator of nucleophosmin in cervical cancer.
AB  - Nucleophosmin (NPM)/B23, a multifunctional nucleolar phosphoprotein, plays an
      important role in ribosome biogenesis, cell cycle regulation, apoptosis and
      cancer pathogenesis. The role of NPM in cells is determined by several factors,
      including total expression level, oligomerization or phosphorylation status, and
      subcellular localization. In the nucleolus, NPM participates in rRNA maturation
      to enhance ribosomal biogenesis. Consistent with this finding, NPM expression is
      increased in rapidly proliferating cells and many types of human cancers. In
      response to ribosomal stress, NPM is redistributed to the nucleoplasm, where it
      inactivates mouse double minute 2 homologue to stabilize p53 and inhibit cell
      cycle progression. These observations indicate that nucleolus-nucleoplasmic
      mobilization of NPM is one of the key molecular mechanisms that determine the
      role of NPM within the cell. However, the regulatory molecule(s) that control(s)
      NPM stability and subcellular localization, crucial to the pluripotency of
      intercellular NPM, remain(s) unidentified. In this study, we showed that
      nucleolar protein GLTSCR2/Pict-1 induced nucleoplasmic translocation and enhanced
      the degradation of NPM via the proteasomal polyubiquitination pathway. In
      addition, we showed that GLTSCR2 expression decreased the transforming activity
      of cells mediated by NPM and that the expression of NPM is reciprocally related
      to that of GLTSCR2 in cervical cancer tissue. In this study, we demonstrated that
      GLTSCR2 is an upstream negative regulator of NPM. 

PMID- 25818170
TI  - Prevalence of exposure to bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) and bovine
      herpesvirus-1 (BoHV-1) in Irish dairy herds.
AB  - Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) and bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) are
      contagious bovine viral agents. The objectives of this study were to use
      quarterly bulk milk and 'spot' testing of unvaccinated youngstock to establish
      the national prevalence of exposure to BVDV and/or BoHV-1 in Irish dairy herds.
      Seasonality of bulk milk ELISA results was also examined. From a geographically
      representative population of 305 dairy herds, 88% and 80% of herds yielded mean
      annual positive bulk milk readings for BVDV and BoHV-1, respectively. Of these,
      61% were vaccinated against BVDV and 12% against BoHV-1. A total of 2171 serum
      samples from weanlings having a mean age of 291 days yielded 543 (25%)
      seropositive for BVDV, and 117 (5.4%) seropositive for BoHV-1. A significant
      seasonal trend in bulk milk antibody ELISA readings and herd status was recorded
      for BVDV, with more herds categorised as positive in the latter half of the year.

PMID- 25818171
TI  - In vivo antitrypanosomal activity of Garcinia hombroniana aqueous extract.
AB  - The anti-Trypanosoma evansi activity of Garcinia hombroniana (seashore
      mangosteen) leaves aqueous extract was tested on experimentally infected Sprague
      Dawley rats. Treatment of infected rats with G. hombroniana extract resulted in a
      significantly extended post-infection longevity (p < 0.05), compared to the
      untreated control group. The possible mode of antitrypanosomal effect of the
      plant extract was also investigated on cultured T. evansi in HMI-9 medium with
      the addition of 25 ug/ml G. hombroniana aqueous extract. It was observed that the
      addition of G. hombroniana extract resulted in the inhibition of trypanosomal
      kinetoplast division, with no significant inhibitory effect on nuclear division.
      It is concluded from the current study that the aqueous extract of G. hombroniana
      has a potential antitrypanosomal activity through the inhibition of kinetoplast
      division, as one of the possible mechanisms of its antitrypanosomal effect. This
      plant could serve as a possible source of new antitrypanosomal compounds. 

PMID- 25818172
TI  - Enriched environment reduces glioma growth through immune and non-immune
      mechanisms in mice.
AB  - Mice exposed to standard (SE) or enriched environment (EE) were transplanted with
      murine or human glioma cells and differences in tumour development were
      evaluated. We report that EE exposure affects: (i) tumour size, increasing mice
      survival; (ii) glioma establishment, proliferation and invasion; (iii)
      microglia/macrophage (M/Mphi) activation; (iv) natural killer (NK) cell
      infiltration and activation; and (v) cerebral levels of IL-15 and BDNF. Direct
      infusion of IL-15 or BDNF in the brain of mice transplanted with glioma
      significantly reduces tumour growth. We demonstrate that brain infusion of IL-15
      increases the frequency of NK cell infiltrating the tumour and that NK cell
      depletion reduces the efficacy of EE and IL-15 on tumour size and of EE on mice
      survival. BDNF infusion reduces M/Mphi infiltration and CD68 immunoreactivity in
      tumour mass and reduces glioma migration inhibiting the small G protein RhoA
      through the truncated TrkB.T1 receptor. These results suggest alternative
      approaches for glioma treatment. 

PMID- 25818173
TI  - Rate of evolutionary change in cranial morphology of the marsupial genus
      Monodelphis is constrained by the availability of additive genetic variation.
AB  - We tested the hypothesis that the rate of marsupial cranial evolution is
      dependent on the distribution of genetic variation in multivariate space. To do
      so, we carried out a genetic analysis of cranial morphological variation in
      laboratory strains of Monodelphis domestica and used estimates of genetic
      covariation to analyse the morphological diversification of the Monodelphis
      brevicaudata species group. We found that within-species genetic variation is
      concentrated in only a few axes of the morphospace and that this strong genetic
      covariation influenced the rate of morphological diversification of the
      brevicaudata group, with between-species divergence occurring fastest when
      occurring along the genetic line of least resistance. Accounting for the
      geometric distribution of genetic variation also increased our ability to detect
      the selective regimen underlying species diversification, with several instances
      of selection only being detected when genetic covariances were taken into
      account. Therefore, this work directly links patterns of genetic covariation
      among traits to macroevolutionary patterns of morphological divergence. Our
      findings also suggest that the limited distribution of Monodelphis species in
      morphospace is the result of a complex interplay between the limited
      dimensionality of available genetic variation and strong stabilizing selection
      along two major axes of genetic variation.

PMID- 25818174
TI  - Carotene reactivity in pink grapefruit juice elucidated from model systems and
      multiresponse modeling.
AB  - This study was carried out to assess the impact of pink grapefruit juice
      composition and structure on the degradation kinetics of lycopene and beta
      carotene using model systems and multiresponse modeling. Carotenes were heated at
      four temperatures in their native matrix (juice) or were extracted and
      incorporated in water/ethanol emulsion systems formulated with or without
      ascorbic acid or naringin. Kinetic analysis showed that the rate constants and
      activation energy were lower for lycopene than for beta-carotene in the juice,
      while this trend was inversed in the model system. Multiresponse modeling was
      used to analyze the role of ascorbic acid and naringin in carotene degradation.
      Ascorbic acid had a very low impact, while naringin significantly increased the
      carotene degradation and isomerization rates. We concluded that lycopene was more
      sensitive to thermal degradation and phytochemical interactions than beta
      carotene, but this behavior was masked in the fruit juice matrix by better
      structural protection. 

PMID- 25818175
TI  - Effects of intermittent fasting on age-related changes on Na,K-ATPase activity
      and oxidative status induced by lipopolysaccharide in rat hippocampus.
AB  - Chronic neuroinflammation is a common characteristic of neurodegenerative
      diseases, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) signaling is linked to glutamate-nitric
      oxide-Na,K-ATPase isoforms pathway in central nervous system (CNS) and also
      causes neuroinflammation. Intermittent fasting (IF) induces adaptive responses in
      the brain that can suppress inflammation, but the age-related effect of IF on LPS
      modulatory influence on nitric oxide-Na,K-ATPase isoforms is unknown. This work
      compared the effects of LPS on the activity of alpha1,alpha2,3 Na,K-ATPase,
      nitric oxide synthase gene expression and/or activity, cyclic guanosine
      monophosphate, 3-nitrotyrosine-containing proteins, and levels of thiobarbituric
      acid-reactive substances in CNS of young and older rats submitted to the IF
      protocol for 30 days. LPS induced an age-related effect in neuronal nitric oxide
      synthase activity, cyclic guanosine monophosphate, and levels of thiobarbituric
      acid-reactive substances in rat hippocampus that was linked to changes in
      alpha2,3-Na,K-ATPase activity, 3-nitrotyrosine proteins, and inducible nitric
      oxide synthase gene expression. IF induced adaptative cellular stress-response
      signaling pathways reverting LPS effects in rat hippocampus of young and older
      rats. The results suggest that IF in both ages would reduce the risk for deficits
      on brain function and neurodegenerative disorders linked to inflammatory response
      in the CNS. 

PMID- 25818176
TI  - Visual impairment in an optineurin mouse model of primary open-angle glaucoma.
AB  - Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is characterized by progressive
      neurodegeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Why RGCs degenerate in low
      pressure POAG remains poorly understood. To gain mechanistic insights, we
      developed a novel mouse model based on a mutation in human optineurin associated
      with hereditary, low-pressure POAG. This mouse improves the design and phenotype
      of currently available optineurin mice, which showed high global overexpression.
      Although both 18-month-old optineurin and nontransgenic control mice showed an
      age-related decrease in healthy axons and RGCs, the expression of mutant
      optineurin enhanced axonal degeneration and decreased RGC survival. Mouse visual
      function was determined using visual evoked potentials, which revealed specific
      visual impairment in contrast sensitivity. The E50K optineurin transgenic mouse
      described here exhibited clinical features of POAG and may be useful for
      mechanistic dissection of POAG and therapeutic development.

PMID- 25818177
TI  - Characterizing human vestibular sensory epithelia for experimental studies: new
      hair bundles on old tissue and implications for therapeutic interventions in
      ageing.
AB  - Balance disequilibrium is a significant contributor to falls in the elderly. The
      most common cause of balance dysfunction is loss of sensory cells from the
      vestibular sensory epithelia of the inner ear. However, inaccessibility of inner
      ear tissue in humans severely restricts possibilities for experimental
      manipulation to develop therapies to ameliorate this loss. We provide a
      structural and functional analysis of human vestibular sensory epithelia
      harvested at trans-labyrinthine surgery. We demonstrate the viability of the
      tissue and labeling with specific markers of hair cell function and of ion
      homeostasis in the epithelium. Samples obtained from the oldest patients revealed
      a significant loss of hair cells across the tissue surface, but we found immature
      hair bundles present in epithelia harvested from patients >60 years of age. These
      results suggest that the environment of the human vestibular sensory epithelium
      could be responsive to stimulation of developmental pathways to enhance hair cell
      regeneration, as has been demonstrated successfully in the vestibular organs of
      adult mice.

PMID- 25818180
TI  - Spatial and temporal variation of body size among early Homo.
AB  - The estimation of body size among the earliest members of the genus Homo (2.4
      1.5Myr [millions of years ago]) is central to interpretations of their biology.
      It is widely accepted that Homo ergaster possessed increased body size compared
      with Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis, and that this may have been a factor
      involved with the dispersal of Homo out of Africa. The study of taxonomic
      differences in body size, however, is problematic. Postcranial remains are rarely
      associated with craniodental fossils, and taxonomic attributions frequently rest
      upon the size of skeletal elements. Previous body size estimates have been based
      upon well-preserved specimens with a more reliable species assessment. Since
      these samples are small (n < 5) and disparate in space and time, little is known
      about geographical and chronological variation in body size within early Homo. We
      investigate temporal and spatial variation in body size among fossils of early
      Homo using a 'taxon-free' approach, considering evidence for size variation from
      isolated and fragmentary postcranial remains (n = 39). To render the size of
      disparate fossil elements comparable, we derived new regression equations for
      common parameters of body size from a globally representative sample of hunter
      gatherers and applied them to available postcranial measurements from the
      fossils. The results demonstrate chronological and spatial variation but no
      simple temporal or geographical trends for the evolution of body size among early
      Homo. Pronounced body size increases within Africa take place only after hominin
      populations were established at Dmanisi, suggesting that migrations into Eurasia
      were not contingent on larger body sizes. The primary evidence for these marked
      changes among early Homo is based upon material from Koobi Fora after 1.7Myr,
      indicating regional size variation. The significant body size differences between
      specimens from Koobi Fora and Olduvai support the cranial evidence for at least
      two co-existing morphotypes in the Early Pleistocene of eastern Africa. 

PMID- 25818181
TI  - Social anxiety disorder in adolescence: How developmental cognitive neuroscience
      findings may shape understanding and interventions for psychopathology.
AB  - Social anxiety disorder represents a debilitating condition that has large
      adverse effects on the quality of social connections, educational achievement and
      wellbeing. Age-of-onset data suggests that early adolescence is a developmentally
      sensitive juncture for the onset of social anxiety. In this review, we highlight
      the potential of using a developmental cognitive neuroscience approach to
      understand (i) why there are normative increases in social worries in adolescence
      and (ii) how adolescence-associated changes may 'bring out' neuro-cognitive risk
      factors for social anxiety in a subset of individuals during this developmental
      period. We also speculate on how changes that occur in learning and plasticity
      may allow for optimal acquisition of more adaptive neurocognitive strategies
      through external interventions. Hence, for the minority of individuals who
      require external interventions to target their social fears, this enhanced
      flexibility could result in more powerful and longer-lasting therapeutic effects.
      We will review two novel interventions that target information-processing biases
      and their neural substrates via cognitive training and visual feedback of neural
      activity measured through functional magnetic resonance imaging. 

PMID- 25818179
TI  - A psychometric systematic review of self-report instruments to identify anxiety
      in pregnancy.
AB  - AIMS: To report a systematic review of the psychometric properties of self-report
      instruments to identify the symptoms of anxiety in pregnancy to help clinicians
      and researchers select the most suitable instrument. BACKGROUND: Excessive
      anxiety in pregnancy is associated with adverse birth outcomes, developmental and
      behavioural problems in infants and postnatal depression. Despite recommendations
      for routine psychological assessment in pregnancy, the optimal methods to
      identify anxiety in pregnancy have not been confirmed. DESIGN: Psychometric
      systematic review. DATA SOURCES: A systematic literature search of the multiple
      databases (1990-September 2014). REVIEW METHODS: Identification of self-report
      instruments to measure anxiety in pregnancy using COSMIN guidelines to assess
      studies reporting a psychometric evaluation of validity and reliability. RESULTS:
      Thirty-two studies were included. Studies took place in the UK, Australia,
      Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain and the Netherlands.
      Seventeen different instruments were identified. Measures of validity were
      reported in 19 papers and reliability in 16. The overall quality of the papers
      was rated as fair to excellent using the COSMIN checklist. Only one paper scored
      excellent in more than one category. CONCLUSION: Many instruments have been
      adapted for use in different populations to those for which they were designed.
      The State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the
      Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale have been tested more frequently than other
      instruments, yet require further assessment to confirm their value for use in
      pregnancy.

PMID- 25818182
TI  - Neonatal androgenization-induced early endocrine-metabolic and ovary
      misprogramming in the female rat.
AB  - AIM: Androgen excess predisposes the organism to develop metabolic-endocrine and
      reproductive dysfunctions, among them the development of a phenotype resembling
      that of human Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). METHODS: We analyzed the impact
      of a single neonatal (5day-old) testosterone propionate (TP; s.c. 1.25mg/female
      pup) dose on: a) several metabolic-endocrine activities and b) ovarian
      steroidogenic and granulosa cell (GC) functions and also follicular population in
      juvenile and adult TP and control (CT) rats. KEY FINDINGS: Compared to CT rats,
      TP animals were characterized by: a) accelerated growth, hyperadiposity and
      hyperleptinemia, b) very early (pre-weaning age) vaginal opening, c)
      hyperinsulinemia in adult life, d) dysfunctional ovarian steroidogenesis, e)
      conserved GC functionality in both juveniles (in vitro) and adults (in vivo), and
      f) estrous cycles arrested at estrus. Finally, histological studies of the
      ovaries indicated that in TP (vs. CT) rats: i) primary and antral follicle
      frequencies were 3- and 15-fold higher and lower, respectively, in juveniles and
      ii) secondary and atretic follicle frequencies were 3- and 5-fold lower and
      higher, respectively, in adults. Large cystic images without corpus luteum were
      observed in the ovaries from adult TP rats only. SIGNIFICANCE: Our results
      strongly suggest that transient neonatal hyperandrogenemia induced early
      misprogramming of metabolic-endocrine and ovarian
      (steroidogenesis/folliculogenesis) functions. Conversely, TP rats preserved their
      ovary GC endocrine function. Our results further support the high risk of
      developing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome for infertile women with
      transient/chronic hyperandrogenemia (PCOS) subjected to assisted reproductive
      technologies.

PMID- 25818183
TI  - Sensitizing osteosarcoma stem cells to doxorubicin-induced apoptosis through
      retention of doxorubicin and modulation of apoptotic-related proteins.
AB  - AIMS: Osteosarcoma is the most common pediatric bone malignancy with high
      propensity to metastasize and relapse. Emerging evidence suggest that
      osteosarcoma is sustained by a subset of self-renewing cancer stem like cells
      (CSCs) relying on mechanisms to evade apoptosis and survive in response to drugs
      induced DNA damage. We proposed to decipher the mechanisms underlying the
      resistance of CSCs to doxorubicin-induced apoptosis. MAIN METHODS: CSCs were
      isolated using a sphere-forming assay and tested for sensitivity to doxorubicin
      induced apoptosis, using MTT cell viability and BrdU proliferation assays, TUNEL
      staining and caspases 3/7 activity. Bcl-2 family proteins were analyzed by
      Western blot. Doxorubicin uptake was determined by confocal microscopy and
      bioluminescence imaging. KEY FINDINGS: We showed that osteosarcoma sphere stem
      like cells expressed the multidrug-related efflux transporters P-glycoprotein and
      BCRP and are highly resistant to doxorubicin-induced apoptosis. Conversely after
      exposure to doxorubicin, these cells displayed an up-regulation of the anti
      apoptotic proteins Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL with concomitant down-regulation of Bak and
      decreased caspase 3/7 activity. Inhibition of drug efflux transporters enhanced
      the cellular uptake of doxorubicin, being encompassed by an up-regulation the pro
      apoptotic protein Bak and suppression of Bcl-2, favoring the commitment of CSCs
      towards apoptosis. SIGNIFICANCE: These results seemingly suggest that the high
      apoptotic threshold of CSCs to doxorubicin-induced cell dead stimuli is mainly
      dependent on the drug concentration reaching tumor cells that are governed by
      efflux transporter activity. Therefore, modulation of these transporters may be
      effective in potentiating the proapoptotic effects of doxorubicin, and emerges as
      an attractive strategy to sensitize osteosarcoma CSCs to chemotherapy.

PMID- 25818184
TI  - The role of 17beta-estradiol in the regulation of antioxidant enzymes via the
      Nrf2-Keap1 pathway in the livers of CBA/H mice.
AB  - AIMS: We aimed to explore the impact of surgical 17beta-estradiol (E2)
      deprivation/administration on the expression of antioxidant enzymes with an
      emphasis on the alteration of the NF-E2-related factor 2/Kelch-like ECH
      associated protein 1 (Nrf2/Keap1) pathway under physiological conditions in the
      livers of CBA/H mice of both sexes. MAIN METHODS: Hepatic oxidative stress
      markers were determined by measuring lipid peroxidation and DNA damage using the
      comet assay. The expression and activities of two isoforms of superoxide
      dismutase (Sod-1, Sod-2) and catalase (Cat) were studied using real-time PCR,
      Western blot and spectrophotometrical analyses. The effect of E2 on Nrf2/Keap1
      protein levels and localization was assessed using cytosolic and nuclear
      fractions. KEY FINDINGS: We demonstrate the E2-mediated repression of the
      antioxidant enzymes Sod-1, Sod-2 and Cat in the livers of ovariectomized mice
      treated with E2 and its association with a decreased level of Nrf2/Keap1 proteins
      in the nucleus. We observed beneficial effects of long-term E2 administration on
      lipid peroxidation but not on DNA damage in the livers of ovariectomized mice.
      SIGNIFICANCE: The results of this study may additionally confirm the protective
      ability of E2 in prolonging the onset of age-related disease in females that
      ultimately contributes to their longer lifespan.

PMID- 25818185
TI  - Dihydromyricetin protects endothelial cells from hydrogen peroxide-induced
      oxidative stress damage by regulating mitochondrial pathways.
AB  - HEADING AIMS: Dihydromyricetin (DMY) is the most abundant ingredient in vine tea.
      Here, we investigated the cytoprotective effects and possible mechanisms of DMY
      on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative stress damage in human umbilical
      vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The percentage of cell
      viability was evaluated using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5
      diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. We determined the antioxidant properties
      of DMY by measuring the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and
      malondialdehyde (MDA). Flow cytometry was used to measure apoptosis in HUVECs
      that were double stained with Hoechst 33342 and propidium iodide (PI). The
      generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was measured in 2',7'
      dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA)-loaded HUVECs using a fluorescent
      microscope. Moreover, the expression of apoptosis-related proteins was determined
      by Western blotting. In addition, the release of nitric oxide (NO) was analyzed
      using a commercial kit. KEY FINDINGS: HUVECs treated with H2O2 had a notable
      decrease in cell viability that was attenuated when cells were pretreated with
      DMY (37.5-300MUM). DMY pretreatment significantly attenuated H2O2-induced
      apoptosis in HUVECs and inhibited intracellular ROS overproduction. Finally,
      pretreatment of cells with DMY prior to H2O2 exposure resulted in the inhibition
      of p53 activation, followed by the regulation of the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax,
      the release of cytochrome c, the cleavage (activation) of caspase-9 and caspase
      3, and then the suppression of PARP cleavage in H2O2-induced HUVECs.
      SIGNIFICANCE: Our study is the first to report that DMY can protect HUVECs from
      oxidative stress damage, an effect that is mediated by the mitochondrial
      apoptotic pathways.

PMID- 25818186
TI  - NSAIDs induce peripheral antinociception by interaction with the adrenergic
      system.
AB  - AIMS: We evaluated the role of adrenergic systems on the peripheral
      antinociception induced by dipyrone and diclofenac. Mainmethods: The rat
      pawpressure test, inwhich sensitivity is increased by intraplantar injection of
      prostaglandin E2, was used to examine the peripheral effects of locally
      administered drugs. KEY FINDINGS: Dipyrone (10, 20 and 40 MUg) and diclofenac (5,
      10 and 20 MUg) administered locally into the right paw elicited a dose-dependent
      antinociceptive effect, which was demonstrated to be local; the injection of
      drugs into the ipsilateral and contralateral hindpaws demonstrated an effect only
      in the ipsilateral paw because only the treated paw produced an antinociceptive
      effect. To test the adrenergic system, we used guanethidine (30 mg/kg) to deplete
      noradrenalin from noradrenergic vesicles. Guanethidine antagonized the peripheral
      antinociception induced by diclofenac and dipyrone. Yohimbine (2.5, 5, 10, or 20
      MUg/paw) a nonselective alpha2-adrenergic receptor antagonist antagonized the
      peripheral antinociception induced by diclofenac (20 MUg/paw) and dipyrone (40
      MUg/paw). Rauwolscine (Rau; 10, 15, 20 MUg), a selective alpha2C-adrenoreceptor,
      was able to block the peripheral antinociception induced by NSAIDs. The other
      specific alpha2A,B and D-adrenoreceptor antagonists (BRL 44480, imiloxan and RX
      821002, respectively) did not modify the peripheral antinociception. However,
      prazosin (0.5, 1, and 2 MUg/paw), an alpha1 receptor antagonist, and propranolol
      (0.3, 0.6 or 1.2 MUg/paw), a beta-adrenoreceptor antagonist, antagonized the
      antinociception induced by diclofenac (20 MUg/paw) and dipyrone (40 MUg/paw).
      SIGNIFICANCE: Dipyrone and diclofenac produce peripheral antinociception, which
      involves the release of NA and interaction with alpha1, alpha2C and beta
      adrenoreceptors.

PMID- 25818187
TI  - The S6K protein family in health and disease.
AB  - The S6K proteins are mTOR pathway effectors and accumulative evidence suggest
      that mTOR/S6K signaling contributes to several pathological conditions, such as
      diabetes, cancer and obesity. The activation of the mTOR/S6K axis stimulates
      protein synthesis and cell growth. S6K1 has two well-known isoforms, p70-S6K1 and
      p85-S6K1, generated by alternative translation initiation sites. A third isoform,
      named p31-S6K1, has been characterized as a truncated type of the protein due to
      alternative splicing, and reports have shown its important role in cancer.
      Studies involving S6K2 are scarce. This article aims to review what is new in the
      literature about these kinases and establish differences regarding their
      interacting proteins, activation and function, connecting their roles in the
      homeostasis of the cell and in pathological conditions. 

PMID- 25818189
TI  - Monoacylglycerol lipase inhibitor protects primary cultured neurons against
      homocysteine-induced impairments in rat caudate nucleus through COX-2 signaling.
AB  - AIMS: URB602 is a selective inhibitor of monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL), a serine
      hydrolase involved in the biological deactivation of the endocannabinoid 2
      arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG). It has been described that URB602 significantly
      enhances depolarization-induced increases in 2-AG. A high level of homocysteine
      (Hcy) is a modifiable risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). The
      aim of this study was to investigate the protective effects of URB602 on Hcy
      induced impairments underlying its cellular and molecular mechanism in primary
      cultured caudate nucleus (CN) neurons. MAIN METHODS: The expressions of
      cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), ERK1/2, NF-kappaB and IkappaB-alpha as well as cleaved
      caspase-3 and p-Bcl-2 in Hcy-, URB602 or SR1 (a selective inhibitor of CB1
      receptor)-treated primary cultured neurons in CN were measured by immunoblotting
      technique and neurotoxicity assays were performed by using Hoechst staining. KEY
      FINDINGS: The MAGL inhibitor URB602 exerted a neuroprotective effect on Hcy
      induced impairment through suppression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) elevation and
      ERK1/2 and NF-kappaB phosphorylation as well as suppressions of IkappaB-alpha
      degradation in a CB1 receptor-dependent way. Moreover, anti-neuronal impairments
      of URB602 were mediated by modulating down-regulation of cleaved caspase-3
      expression and up-regulation of p-Bcl-2 expression in a CB1 receptor-dependent
      manner in primary cultured CN neurons. SIGNIFICANCE: These data suggest that the
      MAGL inhibitor is a promising therapeutic target for some neurodegenerative
      disorders, such as AD, via the COX-2 signaling pathway.

PMID- 25818188
TI  - Heterotrimeric G protein-mediated signaling and its non-canonical regulation in
      the heart.
AB  - Heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins) regulate a
      multitude of signaling pathways in mammalian cells by transducing signals from G
      protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to effectors, which in turn regulate cellular
      function. In the myocardium, G protein signaling occurs in all cardiac cell types
      and is centrally involved in the regulation of heart rate, pump function, and
      vascular tone and in the response to hemodynamic stress and injury. Perturbations
      in G protein-mediated signaling are well known to contribute to cardiac
      hypertrophy, failure, and arrhythmias. Most of the currently used drugs for
      cardiac and other diseases target GPCR signaling. In the canonical G protein
      signaling paradigm, G proteins that are located at the cytoplasmic surface of the
      plasma membrane become activated after an agonist-induced conformational change
      of GPCRs, which then allows GTP-bound Galpha and free Gbetagamma subunits to
      activate or inhibit effector proteins. Research over the past two decades has
      markedly broadened the original paradigm with a GPCR-G protein-effector at the
      cell surface at its core by revealing novel binding partners and additional
      subcellular localizations for heterotrimeric G proteins that facilitate many
      previously unrecognized functional effects. In this review, we focus on non
      canonical and epigenetic-related mechanisms that regulate heterotrimeric G
      protein expression, activation, and localization and discuss functional
      consequences using cardiac examples where possible. Mechanisms reviewed involve
      microRNAs, histone deacetylases, chaperones, alternative modes of G protein
      activation, and posttranslational modifications. Some of these newly
      characterized mechanisms may be further developed into novel strategies for the
      treatment of cardiac disease and beyond. 

PMID- 25818190
TI  - Chondroprotective effects of a new glucosamine combination in rats: Gene
      expression, biochemical and histopathological evaluation.
AB  - AIMS: This study investigates the effect of a new combination of glucosamine
      hydrochloride, chondroitin sulfate, methylsulfonylmethane, Harpagophytum
      procumbens root extract (standardized to 3% harpagoside) and bromelain extract
      (GCMHB) on formalin-induced damage to cartilage tissue in the rat knee joint and
      evaluates this combination in comparison with another combination of glucosamine
      hydrochloride, chondroitin sulfate and methylsulfonylmethane (GKM). MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Animals in the control group were injected with formalin into the knee
      joint (FCG). Animals in the GCMHB-500 group were given 500mg/kg GCMHB+formalin,
      and those in the GKM-500 group were given 500mg/kg GKM+formalin. Finally, a
      healthy group (HG) was also used. GCMHB and GKM were administered to rats orally
      once a day for 30days. At the end of this period, the rats were sacrificed and
      the levels of MDA, NO, 8-OH/Gua, and tGSH in the knee joint tissue were measured.
      Analysis of IL-1beta and TNF-alpha gene expression was done and the tissue was
      evaluated histopathologically. KEY FINDINGS: MDA, NO and 8-OH/Gua levels and IL
      1beta and TNF-alpha gene expression were significantly lower in the GCMHB-500
      group compared to the FCG group, whereas tGSH was significantly higher in the
      GCMHB-500 group than in the FCG group. No significant difference was found for
      the IL-1beta, TNF-alpha and oxidant/antioxidant parameters between the GKM and
      FCG groups. The histopathological analysis showed that GCMHB could prevent damage
      to the cartilage joint, whereas GKM could not. SIGNIFICANCE: GCMHB may be used
      clinically by comparing with GKM in the treatment of osteoarthritis.

PMID- 25818191
TI  - Neuroprotection against 6-OHDA-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in SH-SY5Y
      cells by 5,7-Dihydroxychromone: Activation of the Nrf2/ARE pathway.
AB  - AIMS: The aim of this study was to prove the neuroprotective effect of 5,7
      Dihydroxychromone (DHC) through the Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway. To elucidate the
      mechanism, we investigated whether 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced
      neurotoxicity in SH-SY5Y cells could be attenuated by DHC via activating the
      Nrf2/ARE signal and whether DHC could down-regulate 6-OHDA-induced excessive ROS
      generation MAIN METHODS: To evaluate the neuroprotective effect of DHC against 6
      OHDA-induced apoptosis, FACS analysis was performed using PI staining. The
      inhibitory effect of DHC against 6-OHDA-induced ROS generation was evaluated by
      DCFH-DA staining assay. Additionally, translocation of Nrf2 to the nucleus and
      increased Nrf2/ARE binding activity, which subsequently resulted in the up
      regulation of the Nrf2-dependent antioxidant gene expressions including HO-1,
      NQO1, and GCLc, were evaluated by Western blotting and EMSA. KEY FINDINGS: Pre
      treatment of DHC, one of the constituents of Cudrania tricuspidata, significantly
      protects 6-OHDA-induced neuronal cell death and ROS generation. Also, DHC
      inhibited the expression of activated caspase-3 and caspase-9 and cleaved PARP in
      6-OHDA-induced SH-SY5Y cells. DHC induced the translocation of Nrf2 to the
      nucleus and increased Nrf2/ARE binding activity which results in the up
      regulation of the expression of Nrf2-dependent antioxidant genes, including HO-1,
      NQO1, and GCLc. The addition of Nrf2 siRNA abolished the neuroprotective effect
      of DHC against 6-OHDA-induced neurotoxicity and the expression of Nrf2-mediated
      antioxidant genes. SIGNIFICANCE: Activation of Nrf2/ARE signal by DHC exerted
      neuroprotective effects against 6-OHDA-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis.
      This finding will give an insight that activating Nrf2/ARE signal could be a new
      potential therapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative disease.

PMID- 25818192
TI  - The prevention and treatment of hypoadiponectinemia-associated human diseases by
      up-regulation of plasma adiponectin.
AB  - Hypoadiponectinemia is characterized by low plasma adiponectin levels that can be
      caused by genetic factors, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and
      mutations in the adiponectin gene or by visceral fat deposition/obesity. Reports
      have suggested that hypoadiponectinemia is associated with dyslipidemia,
      hypertension, hyperuricemia, metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes
      mellitus and various cardiovascular diseases. Previous studies have highlighted
      several potential strategies to up-regulate adiponectin secretion and function,
      including visceral fat reduction through diet therapy and exercise,
      administration of exogenous adiponectin, treatment with peroxisome proliferator
      activating receptor gamma (PPARgamma) agonists (e.g., thiazolidinediones (TZDs))
      and ligands (e.g., bezafibrate and fenofibrate) or the blocking of the renin
      angiotensin system. Likewise, the up-regulation of the expression and stimulation
      of adiponectin receptors by using adiponectin receptor agonists would be an
      effective method to treat obesity-related conditions. Notably, adiponectin is an
      abundantly expressed bioactive protein that also exhibits a wide spectrum of
      biological properties, such as insulin-sensitizing, anti-diabetic, anti
      inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic activities. Although targeting adiponectin
      and its receptors has been useful for treating diabetes and other metabolic
      related diseases in experimental studies, current drug development based on
      adiponectin/adiponectin receptors for clinical applications is scarce, and there
      is a lack of available clinical trial data. This comprehensive review discusses
      the strategies that are presently being pursued to harness the potential of
      adiponectin up-regulation. In addition, we examined the current status of drug
      development and its potential for clinical applications. 

PMID- 25818193
TI  - Malignant rectal melanoma. Case report.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to report a case concerning diagnostic and
      management of Anorectal melanoma. MATERIAL: A 71 years old white man presented in
      our Institute with anal pain, tenesmus, blooding rectal during the last five
      months. The ano-rectal examination showed a brownish painful mass in the anal
      canal. The colonscopy and endoscopy showed a big stenotic mass from anal canal to
      medium rectum with a diameter of approximately 90 mm. RESULTS: Biopsy of the
      rectal mass was performed and the histopatological examination showed malignant
      ephitelioid cells, pigmented melanoma. The patient was treated by
      abdominoperineal resection with dissection of lymph nodes. Result of
      histopatological examination was ulcerated Malignant melanoma of the anal canal,
      growing polypoid with spindle cells and epithelioid infiltrating the mucosa,
      submucosa and the internal sphincter muscle. Vascular invasion. Subtotal lymph
      node metastasis in 3 of 17. DISCUSSION: Anorectal melanoma is an uncommon and
      aggressive disease. The anorectum is the third most common location of malignant
      melanoma after the skin and retina. Lesions are difficult to diagnose because
      many are amelanotic and patients present with nonspecific complaints such as anal
      discomfort or rectal bleeding. After diagnosis, the main treatment available is
      surgical resection. Sentinel lymph node mapping has an unclear role in its
      management. Adjuvant therapy has long been recommended; however, there are no
      strong data to support its use. CONCLUSIONS: There is no convincing evidence to
      indicate that abdominoperineal resection did not improve the survival rate of
      patients with malignant rectal melanoma as compared to the wide local excision,
      while the wide local excision had advantages in lower surgical risk and allowing
      patients to avoid permanent colostomy.

PMID- 25818194
TI  - Case report of fatal Mycobacterium tilburgii infection.
AB  - There are few reports concerning Mycobacterium tilburgii infection in humans
      because this bacterium is non-cultivatable. Herein, using new molecular
      techniques, we report the case of an immunocompromised patient with fatal
      disseminated lymphadenitis that was caused by M. tilburgii.26 years old Caucasian
      HIV negative female patient presented with abdominal pain. Her clinical
      assessment revealed disseminated lymphadenitis, that was acid fast bacilli
      positive. Further molecular evaluation showed the causative agent as M.
      tilburgii. Despite anti mycobacterial therapy and careful management of
      intervening complications patient died because of an intraabdominal sepsis. This
      is the first fatal M. tilburgii infection in the literature. This case points the
      importance of careful management of patient's immune status and intervening
      infections besides implementation of effective drug treatment. 

PMID- 25818195
TI  - Diagnostic sensitivity of a rapid antigen test for the detection of Mycoplasma
      pneumoniae: Comparison with real-time PCR.
AB  - A rapid antigen kit for the detection of the Mycoplasma pneumoniae ribosomal
      protein L7/L12 using an immunochromatographic assay, Ribotest Mycoplasma, became
      available in Japan in 2013. To determine the sensitivity of Ribotest compared
      with real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we prospectively performed these
      two tests simultaneously in adolescent and adult patients with community-acquired
      pneumonia (CAP). In addition, we retrospectively analyzed the theoretical
      sensitivity of Ribotest using M. pneumoniae PCR-positive specimens from previous
      studies. In prospective study, 118 CAP cases were enrolled, and 16 cases were
      diagnosed as M. pneumoniae pneumonia; eight cases were PCR-positive, one case was
      culture positive, and all cases demonstrated a four-fold increase in antibody
      titer. Ribotest was positive in 15 cases; five cases were PCR positive and 10
      cases were PCR negative. For the PCR was control test, the sensitivity,
      specificity, and overall agreement with Ribotest were 62.5%, 90.9%, and 88.9%,
      respectively. In the retrospective study, we used 1110 M. pneumoniae PCR-positive
      specimens, which are collected from pediatric patients with respiratory tract
      infection who visited 65 institutions throughout Japan. Using a cut-off level for
      the Ribotest of 8.3 * 10(4) copy/mL in transport medium, 667 (60.0%) specimens
      were theoretically positive. In conclusion, our prospective and retrospective
      results demonstrated that the diagnostic sensitivity of Ribotest compared with
      PCR was not high, at approximately 60%. Thus, treatment decisions about M.
      pneumoniae pneumonia should be based on clinical findings such as Japanese
      Respiratory Society scoring system and not on Ribotest results alone.

PMID- 25818196
TI  - Comparison of neutrophil infiltration between type 1 and type 2 autoimmune
      pancreatitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Characteristics of type 2 autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is
      granulocyte epithelial lesions, called idiopathic duct-centric pancreatitis
      (IDCP). To clarify pathogenesis of IDCP, we investigated mechanism of neutrophil
      infiltration in type 1 AIP, called lymphoplasmacytic sclerosing pancreatitis
      (LPSP) and IDCP. METHOD: This study was performed on resected pancreata from
      patients with alcoholic chronic pancreatitis (ACP, n = 10), LPSP (n = 10) and
      IDCP (n = 12). The number of neutrophils around the pancreatic ducts was counted.
      The expression of neutrophils chemoattractants granulocyte chemotactic protein-2
      (GCP-2) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in the pancreatic duct epithelia was examined
      using immunohistochemistry. The cell staining intensity is scored as negative
      (0), weak (1), moderate (2) or strong (3). RESULTS: The median number of
      neutrophils around the interlobular pancreatic ducts was significantly higher in
      IDCP (15.16; interquartile range [IQR]: 9.74-18.41) than in ACP (2.66; IQR: 1.33
      4.33) (P < 0.05) and LPSP (3.16; IQR: 2.74-4.57) (P < 0.01). There was no
      significant difference in the median number of neutrophils around the
      intralobular pancreatic ducts among ACP (1.16; IQR: 0.33-3.41), LPSP (3.16; IQR:
      0.74-5.5) and IDCP (3.00; IQR: 1.08-7.91). The median score of GCP-2 in the
      interlobular pancreatic duct epithelia was significantly higher in IDCP (1.5;
      IQR: 0.25-2) than in ACP (0; IQR: 0-0.75) (P < 0.05) and LPSP (0; IQR: 0-0.75) (P
      < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the median score of IL-8 in the
      interlobular pancreatic duct epithelia among ACP (0; IQR: 0-0.75), LPSP (1; IQR:
      0-1.75) and IDCP (0.5; IQR: 0-1). CONCLUSIONS: Significantly increased neutrophil
      infiltration around the interlobular pancreatic duct in IDCP may depend on GCP-2.

PMID- 25818197
TI  - The relationship between total cellular content of CD203c and cell surface
      expression on human basophils.

PMID- 25818198
TI  - Mapping of Post-translational Modifications of Transition Proteins, TP1 and TP2,
      and Identification of Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 4 and Lysine
      Methyltransferase 7 as Methyltransferase for TP2.
AB  - In a unique global chromatin remodeling process during mammalian spermiogenesis,
      90% of the nucleosomal histones are replaced by testis-specific transition
      proteins, TP1, TP2, and TP4. These proteins are further substituted by sperm
      specific protamines, P1 and P2, to form a highly condensed sperm chromatin. In
      spermatozoa, a small proportion of chromatin, which ranges from 1 to 10% in
      mammals, retains the nucleosomal architecture and is implicated to play a role in
      transgenerational inheritance. However, there is still no mechanistic
      understanding of the interaction of chromatin machinery with histones and
      transition proteins, which facilitate this selective histone replacement from
      chromatin. Here, we report the identification of 16 and 19 novel post
      translational modifications on rat endogenous transition proteins, TP1 and TP2,
      respectively, by mass spectrometry. By in vitro assays and mutational analysis,
      we demonstrate that protein arginine methyltransferase PRMT4 (CARM1) methylates
      TP2 at Arg(71), Arg(75), and Arg(92) residues, and lysine methyltransferase KMT7
      (Set9) methylates TP2 at Lys(88) and Lys(91) residues. Further studies with
      modification-specific antibodies that recognize TP2K88me1 and TP2R92me1
      modifications showed that they appear in elongating to condensing spermatids and
      predominantly associated with the chromatin-bound TP2. This work establishes the
      repertoire of post-translational modifications that occur on TP1 and TP2, which
      may play a significant role in various chromatin-templated events during
      spermiogenesis and in the establishment of the sperm epigenome. 

PMID- 25818199
TI  - Methylxanthines Increase Expression of the Splicing Factor SRSF2 by Regulating
      Multiple Post-transcriptional Mechanisms.
AB  - We have previously reported that the methylxanthine caffeine increases expression
      of the splicing factor SRSF2, the levels of which are normally controlled by a
      negative autoregulatory loop. In the present study we have investigated the
      mechanisms by which methylxanthines induce this aberrant overexpression. RT-PCR
      analyses suggested little impact of caffeine on SRSF2 total mRNA levels. Instead,
      caffeine induced changes in the levels of SRSF2 3' UTR splice variants. Although
      some of these variants were substrates for nonsense-medicated decay (NMD), and
      could potentially have been stabilized by caffeine-mediated inhibition of NMD,
      down-regulation of NMD by a genetic approach was not sufficient to reproduce the
      phenotype. Furthermore, cell-based assays demonstrated that some of the caffeine
      induced variants were intrinsically more efficiently translated than others; the
      addition of caffeine increased the translational efficiency of most SRSF2
      transcripts. MicroRNA array analyses revealed a significant caffeine-mediated
      decrease in the expression of two SRSF2-targeting miRs, both of which were shown
      to repress translation of specific SRSF2 splice variants. These data support a
      complex model whereby caffeine down-regulates SRSF2-targeting microRNAs, leading
      to an increase in SRSF2 translation, which in turn induces SRSF2 splicing. SRSF2
      splice variants are then stabilized by caffeine-mediated NMD inhibition, breaking
      the normal negative feedback loop and allowing the aberrant increase in SRSF2
      protein levels. These findings highlight the complexity of SRSF2 gene regulation,
      and suggest ways in which SRSF2 expression may be dysregulated in disease. 

PMID- 25818200
TI  - Effects of post-weaning diet on metabolic parameters and DNA methylation status
      of the cryptic promoter in the A(vy) allele of viable yellow mice.
AB  - Mice carrying the A(vy) allele are epigenetic mosaics. If the majority of cells
      have an active (demethylated) intracisternal A particle (IAP), mice have a yellow
      coat color and develop adult-onset obesity and diabetes, while mice whose
      mosaicism predominantly reflects an inactive (methylated) IAP are pseudoagouti
      (brown) and less prone to metabolic disease. Brown and yellow coat color A(vy)/a
      post-weaning mice were placed on one of three diets [AIN, and two lower-calorie
      diets National Institutes of Health (NIH) and methyl-supplemented, NIHMe] to
      determine whether coat color, weight gain, blood glucose and methylation of
      hepatic IAP became altered. None of the diets altered A(vy)/a mice coat color.
      NIHMe did not protect against increasing obesity or the usual onset of
      hyperglycemia in males. Nor did it promote increased methylation of A(vy) IAP in
      liver tissue. By contrast, AIN, despite its higher content of fat and
      carbohydrate and ability to promote greater weight gains than the NIH and NIHMe
      diets, protected males better against hyperglycemia than either the NIH or NIHMe
      diets. This diet led to a significantly reduced (~50%; P = .003) average
      methylation state of all CpG sites within the hepatic IAP for the pseudoagouti
      mice. On AIN, but not on the other diets, extent of hepatic IAP methylation was
      negatively correlated (R = 0.97, P <= .001) with body weight of pseudoagouti
      mice. The findings indicate that post-weaning diet might influence interpretation
      of studies with A(vy)/a mice because IAP methylation patterns may be malleable in
      certain organs and influenced by post-weaning diet.

PMID- 25818201
TI  - Draft genome of Bacillus sp. A053 isolated from the Arctic seawater with
      antimicrobial activity.
AB  - Bacillus sp. A053, isolated from the Arctic seawater, shows strong antifungal
      activity against plant pathogenic fungi. Here, we report the draft sequence of
      the approximately 4.1-Mbp genome of this strain. To the best of our knowledge,
      this is the first genome sequence of Bacillus strain isolated from the Arctic
      seawater with antifungal activity. The genome sequence may provide fundamental
      molecular information on elucidating the metabolic pathway of antimicrobial
      compound in this strain. 

PMID- 25818202
TI  - Sepsis in head and neck cancer patients treated with chemotherapy and radiation:
      Literature review and consensus.
AB  - The reporting of infection/sepsis in chemo/radiation-treated head and neck cancer
      patients is sparse and the problem is underestimated. A multidisciplinary group
      of head and neck cancer specialists from Italy met with the aim of reaching a
      consensus on a clinical definition and management of infections and sepsis. The
      Delphi appropriateness method was used for this consensus. External expert
      reviewers then evaluated the conclusions carefully according to their area of
      expertise. The paper contains seven clusters of statements about the clinical
      definition and management of infections and sepsis in head and neck cancer
      patients, which had a consensus. Furthermore, it offers a review of recent
      literature in these topics. 

PMID- 25818203
TI  - Establishment of a new anal sphincter injury model in rats based on cardiotoxin.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Mainstream models for anal sphincter injury use large
      animals. We developed a simple and stable anal sphincter injury model in a small
      animal (i.e., rats) to obtain manometry measurements by using a miniaturized
      probe and applying cardiotoxin. METHODS: The histological structure of the anal
      canal was evaluated by using manometry in normal rats (n=40). We damaged the
      internal and external anal sphincters by locally administering snake poison
      (cardiotoxin; 20 uM, 100MUL 8 points). We evaluated the anal canal function
      through manometry measurements (n=5) and examined the histology using hematoxylin
      eosin staining (at each time point, n=3; total n=15). RESULTS: The manometry
      parameters and structure of the anal canal of normal rats were similar to those
      of humans, because rats have resting pressure, rectoanal reflex in the manometry,
      and an external and internal anal sphincter. After inducing injury, the following
      findings were observed: rhythmic wave loss and a remarkable reduction in the anal
      sphincter resting pressure; and local bleeding and advanced infiltration of the
      inflammatory cells (day 1) and the loss of muscle fibers (day 3). CONCLUSION:
      This new rat model will contribute to increasing the knowledge on the anal canal.

PMID- 25818204
TI  - Neurodevelopmental outcome at one year of age in congenital diaphragmatic hernia
      infants not treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We evaluated the neurodevelopmental (ND) outcome at one year of age
      for congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) children who have not undergone
      extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment during the neonatal period.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between 01/2005 and 06/2012, 63 consecutive CDH patients
      underwent ND assessment using the BSID-III at a median age of 12 months. ND delay
      was defined by a score of <= 85 in any of the composite scales. Severe impairment
      was defined as a score of <= 69 in at least one domain. RESULTS: Mean +/- SD
      cognitive, language, and motor functions were 94 +/- 14, 86 +/- 14, 90 +/- 15,
      respectively (normal 100 +/- 15, P<0.01 for each). Forty-three-percent scored
      within the average range for all scales. Forty-four-percent had mild, and 13% had
      severe delays in at least one domain. Prolonged NICU stay, intubation and O2
      requirement, fundoplication, abnormal BAERs, and tracheostomy were associated
      with lower scores in all domains. Right-sided CDH, male gender, lower 5 min
      APGAR, pulmonary hypertension, and delayed start of enteral feeding were
      predictive of lower cognitive and/or language scores. CONCLUSION: At one year of
      age, a high percentage of CDH children whose illness did not necessitate ECMO
      have below normal ND scores. Modifiable and non-modifiable factors are
      significant determinants of adverse outcomes.

PMID- 25818205
TI  - Pediatric surgical critical care fellowship experience and career paths: Results
      of a survey of program graduates.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine motivations, fellowship
      experiences, and careers of graduates of the 10 accredited pediatric surgical
      critical care fellowships (PSCCF). METHODS: Queries to PSCCF directors yielded a
      list of 86 graduates (2003-2013), each of whom received a 23-question survey.
      RESULTS: Of the 86 graduates contacted, 82 (95.3%) replied. Among graduates who
      applied, 62 of 74 (83.8%) matched into pediatric surgery (PS) fellowships. On
      average, the respondents were 33 years old and PGY6 when beginning PSCCF. Half
      had failed initial attempts to match into PS fellowship. Of the matched
      respondents, 39 are pediatric surgeons and 21 PS fellows or residents awaiting
      fellowship. Two additional respondents did not complete fellowship. Among the
      pediatric surgeons, 13 identified their positions as heavily involved with
      critical care. The critical care boards pass rate was 94.4% (67/71). Rotations
      during fellowships were varied, with 74 fellows (90.2%) rotating in the pediatric
      intensive care unit (ICU), 71 (86.6%) in the neonatal ICU, 54 (65.9%) in the
      adult surgical ICU, and 36 (43.9%) on the pediatric surgical ward service.
      CONCLUSIONS: Completion of a PSCCF is highly predictive of a successful PS match.
      Only a third of PSCCF graduates continue critical care work in a formal fashion
      after PS fellowship.

PMID- 25818206
TI  - Hypercoagulability in dogs with blastomycosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Blastomycosis is a potentially fatal fungal disease that most
      commonly affects humans and dogs. The organism causes systemic inflammation and
      has a predilection for the lungs. The inflammation might lead to a
      hypercoagulable state with microemboli in the pulmonary circulation which could
      contribute to inadequate oxygen exchange in infected dogs. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES:
      Dogs with blastomycosis will be hypercoagulable compared with healthy case
      matched controls. ANIMALS: Client-owned dogs with a diagnosis of blastomycosis (n
      = 23) and healthy case-matched controls (n = 23). METHODS: Prospective case
      controlled study of client-owned dogs presented to a veterinary teaching hospital
      with clinical signs compatible with blastomycosis. Complete blood counts,
      fibrinogen, PT, aPTT, thromboelastometry (TE), thrombin antithrombin complexes
      (TAT), and thrombin generation were evaluated. RESULTS: Cases had a leukocytosis
      compared with controls [mean (SD) 16.6 (7.6) * 10(3)/MUL versus 8.2 (1.8) *
      10(3)/MUL, P < .001], hyperfibrinogenemia [median 784 mg/dL, range 329-1,443
      versus median 178 mg/dL, range 82-257, P < .001], and increased TAT
      concentrations [mean (SD) 9.0 (5.7) MUg/L versus 2.0 (2.8) MUg/L, P < .001]. As
      compared to controls, cases were also hypercoagulable as evaluated by
      thromboelastometry and had increased in vitro thrombin generation on calibrated
      automated thrombography. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Hypercoagulability
      occurs in dogs with systemic blastomycosis. Additional studies are needed to
      explore a possible contribution of thrombogenicity to the clinical manifestations
      of systemic blastomycosis.

PMID- 25818207
TI  - Plasma vitamin D metabolites and C-reactive protein in stage-stop racing
      endurance sled dogs.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dogs are a unique model for examining the effects of exercise on
      vitamin D status because of their lack of vitamin D synthesis by UV exposure. In
      addition, the inflammatory response may be associated with hypovitaminosis D.
      OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of several days of endurance exercise on
      plasma vitamin D (25-(OH)D3, 24,25-(OH)D3 and 1,25(OH)D3) and serum C-reactive
      protein (CRP) concentrations in stage-stop racing sled dogs. ANIMALS: 12 racing
      sled dogs and 8 control dogs. METHODS: Blood was collected before the race and
      immediately after racing on days 2 and 8. Plasma vitamin D metabolites and serum
      CRP concentrations were measured. RESULTS: Racing dogs showed a significant
      increase in 25(OH)D3 on day 2 (P = .027) and day 8 of the race (P < .001),
      whereas no increases were observed in control dogs. The plasma concentration of
      24,25(OH)D3 showed a significant increase by day 8 (P < .001). There were no
      significant changes in 1,25(OH) D3 concentrations across all time points and
      groups. Racing dogs had significantly increased CRP concentrations by day 2 (39.3
      +/- 30.1 MUg/mL; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Increases in
      vitamin D metabolites as well as increases in CRP concentrations were observed in
      racing sled dogs. This finding was contrary to the hypothesis that decreases in
      vitamin D status in athletes may be related to the acute phase inflammatory
      response during exercise. In addition, the increased 24,25(OH)D3 concentrations
      compared to what is observed in other species suggests metabolic variations in
      dogs that lead to enhanced disposal of vitamin D.

PMID- 25818208
TI  - Tracheobronchial brush cytology and bronchoalveolar lavage in dogs and cats with
      chronic cough: 45 cases (2012-2014).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Animals with chronic cough can have normal bronchoalveolar lavage
      fluid cytology when small airway disease is absent. Cytology of a
      tracheobronchial brushing can detect inflammation in larger airways; however,
      evaluation of this technique has been limited in veterinary medicine. OBJECTIVE:
      To compare airway brush cytology to bronchoalveolar lavage fluid analysis in dogs
      and cats with chronic cough. ANIMALS: Forty dogs and five cats undergoing
      bronchoscopic investigation of chronic cough. METHODS: Prospective study.
      Bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage were performed followed by
      tracheobronchial brushing of central airways. Results of cytologic assessment of
      BAL fluid and brush cytology were compared for the presence or absence of
      inflammation and concordance of inflammatory cell type. RESULTS: Brush cytology
      detected central airway inflammation in 34 of 40 (85%) dogs with inflammatory BAL
      fluid. However, the type of inflammation reported differed in 23 of 34 dogs. In
      five cats with inflammation in BAL fluid, brush cytology detected inflammation in
      four; the type of inflammation was discordant in all cats. CONCLUSIONS AND
      CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Brush cytology has good agreement with BAL regarding the
      presence of inflammation, although the type of inflammation detected with the
      different sampling techniques commonly varies. Brush cytology can provide
      supplementary information to BAL, and additional studies will provide further
      information on the role of tracheobronchial brush cytology in the diagnosis and
      management of respiratory conditions.

PMID- 25818209
TI  - Co-infections with respiratory viruses in dogs with bacterial pneumonia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bacterial pneumonia (BP) is an inflammation of the lower airways and
      lung parenchyma secondary to bacterial infection. The pathogenesis of BP in dogs
      is complex and the role of canine respiratory viruses has not been fully
      evaluated. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of
      viral co-infections in dogs with BP and to assess demographic or clinical
      variables as well as disease severity associated with viral co-infections.
      ANIMALS: Twenty household dogs with BP caused by opportunistic bacteria and 13
      dogs with chronic (>30 days) tracheobronchitis caused by Bordetella
      bronchiseptica (BBTB). METHODS: Prospective cross-sectional observational study.
      Diagnosis was confirmed by clinical and laboratory findings, diagnostic imaging,
      and cytologic and microbiologic analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage or
      transtracheal wash fluid. Canine parainfluenza virus (CPIV), canine adenovirus,
      canine herpes virus, canine influenzavirus, canine distemper virus, canine
      respiratory coronavirus (CRCoV) and canine pneumovirus, as well as B.
      bronchiseptica and Mycoplasma spp. were analyzed in respiratory samples using PCR
      assays. RESULTS: CPIV was detected in 7/20 and CRCoV in 1/20 dogs with BP.
      Respiratory viruses were not detected in dogs with BBTB. There were no
      significant differences in clinical variables between BP dogs with and without a
      viral co-infection. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Respiratory viruses were
      found frequently in dogs with BP and may therefore play an important role in the
      etiology and pathogenesis of BP. Clinical variables and disease severity did not
      differ between BP dogs with and without viral co-infection.

PMID- 25818210
TI  - Prevalence and prognostic importance of pulmonary hypertension in dogs with
      myxomatous mitral valve disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is common in dogs with myxomatous mitral
      valve disease (MMVD) but its effect on clinical outcome has not been
      investigated. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: The presence of PH worsens the outcome in
      dogs with MMVD. To compare survival times of dogs with MMVD and PH to those
      without PH. ANIMALS: Two hundred and twelve client-owned dogs. METHODS: Case
      review study. Medical records of dogs diagnosed with ACVIM stage B2 and C MMVD
      between January 2010 and December 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. Long-term
      outcome was determined by telephone interview or from the medical record. End of
      the observation period was March 2013. PH was identified if tricuspid
      regurgitation peak velocity was >3 m/s. RESULTS: Two hundred and twelve were
      identified. Eighty-three dogs (39%) had PH. PH was more commonly identified in
      stage C compared to B2 (P < .0001). One hundred and five (49.5%) dogs died during
      the observation period. Median survival time for the entire study population was
      567 days (95% CI 512-743). Stage C (P = .003), the presence of PH (P = .009),
      left atrial to aortic root ratio (LA/Ao) >1.7 (P = .0002), normalized left
      ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDn) >1.73 (P = .048), and tricuspid
      regurgitation pressure gradient (TRPG) >55 mmHg (P = .009) were associated with
      worse outcomes in the univariate analyses. The presence of TRPG >55 mmHg (HR 1.8
      95% CI 1-2.9; P = .05) and LA/Ao > 1.7 (HR 2 95% CI 1.2-3.4; P = .01) remained
      significant predictors of worse outcome in the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS
      AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: In dogs with MMVD, moderate to severe PH worsens
      outcome.

PMID- 25818211
TI  - Clinical severity score system in dogs with degenerative mitral valve disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several risk factors already have been determined for dogs with
      degenerative mitral valve disease (DMVD). Risk factors often have been considered
      in isolation and have not always taken into account additional information
      provided by the history and physical examination (PE). HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES:
      Data obtained from history and PE of dogs with DMVD provide prognostic
      information and can be used for risk stratification. ANIMALS: Client-owned dogs
      (n = 244) with DMVD recruited from first opinion practice. METHODS: Prospective
      longitudinal follow-up of dogs with DMVD. History and PE data were obtained at 6
      month intervals and analyzed with time-dependent Cox models to derive relative
      risk of cardiac death. Independent hazard ratios were used to derive a clinical
      severity score (CSS), the prognostic value of which was evaluated by analyzing
      the median survival times for different risk groups and ROC analysis. Analysis of
      the progression of CSS over time also was undertaken. RESULTS: History of cough,
      exercise intolerance, decreased appetite, breathlessness (difficulty breathing)
      and syncope with PE findings of heart murmur intensity louder than III/VI and
      absence of respiratory sinus arrhythmia were independently associated with
      outcome and allowed development of the CSS. Clinical severity score distinguished
      groups of dogs with significantly different outcomes. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL
      IMPORTANCE: Routinely obtained clinical findings allow risk stratification of
      dogs with DMVD. Results of ancillary diagnostic tests may be complementary to
      history and PE findings and always should be interpreted in conjunction with
      these findings.

PMID- 25818212
TI  - Association of tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion with survival time in
      Boxer dogs with ventricular arrhythmias.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) is a useful
      estimate of right ventricular function in humans. Reference intervals for dogs
      have been generated, but the value of measuring TAPSE in other diseases, or
      investigating the association between TAPSE and outcome, is unknown. HYPOTHESIS:
      TAPSE is lower in Boxer dogs with >=50 VPCs/24 h on Holter than in dogs with
      fewer ventricular ectopics, and lower TAPSE is associated with a shorter survival
      time. ANIMALS: Fifty Boxer dogs that presented for investigation of syncope or
      suspected arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) at a veterinary
      teaching hospital (2004-2011). METHODS: Retrospective study. Clinical records,
      Holter, and echocardiographic data were reviewed. TAPSE was measured in a blinded
      manner on stored echocardiographic cine-loops using anatomic M-mode. Outcome
      information was obtained and death was classified as cardiac or noncardiac.
      Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional
      hazards models. RESULTS: TAPSE was lower in Boxers with >=50 VPCs/24 h (13.9 +/-
      4.04 mm) than Boxers with <50 VPCs/24 h (16.8 +/- 3.21 mm; P < .001). TAPSE <15.1
      mm was associated with shorter cardiac survival time in all dogs (P = .004) and
      also in dogs without left ventricular dysfunction (P = .035). When controlling
      for other variables, including ventricular tachycardia on Holter and left
      ventricular systolic dysfunction, multivariable analysis showed that TAPSE
      remained an independent predictor of time to cardiac death (HR >4.09, 95%CI 1.15
      16.9, P < .029). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: TAPSE offers prognostic
      value for Boxer dogs, including those with apparently normal systolic function
      and >=50 VPCs/24 h on Holter analysis.

PMID- 25818213
TI  - Longitudinal evaluation of serum pancreatic enzymes and ultrasonographic findings
      in diabetic cats without clinically relevant pancreatitis at diagnosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cats with diabetes mellitus can have subclinical pancreatitis but
      prospective studies to confirm this are lacking. Metabolic control of diabetic
      cats with pancreatitis is difficult. HYPOTHESIS: Subclinical pancreatitis occurs
      in diabetic cats at the time diabetes is diagnosed or might develop during the
      follow-up period, hampering diabetic remission. ANIMALS: Thirty cats with newly
      diagnosed diabetes without clinical signs of pancreatitis on admission. METHODS:
      Prospective study. On admission and 2 and 6 months later, serum Spec fPL and DGGR
      lipase were measured and the pancreas underwent ultrasonographic examination.
      Pancreatitis was suspected if serum markers were increased or >=2
      ultrasonographic abnormalities were detected. Cats were treated with insulin
      glargine and diabetic remission was defined as euglycemia >=4 weeks after
      discontinuation of insulin. Nonparametric statistical tests were used for
      analysis. RESULTS: Subclinical pancreatitis at the time of diagnosis was
      suspected in 33, 50, and 31% of cats based on Spec fPL, DGGR-lipase and
      ultrasonography, respectively; and in 60% when diagnostic criteria were combined.
      During the follow-up period, suspected pancreatitis developed in additional 17
      30% cats. Only 1 cat had transient clinical signs compatible with pancreatitis.
      Seventeen of the 30 cats (57%) achieved remission. Frequency of abnormal Spec fPL
      and DGGR-lipase and abnormal ultrasonographic findings did not differ in cats
      achieving remission and those who did not. Cats achieving remission had
      significantly lower Spec fPL at 2 months (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL
      IMPORTANCE: Based on laboratory and ultrasonographic measurements, many cats with
      diabetes might have pancreatitis, although without clinical signs. Cats with high
      Spec fPL might have a reduced chance of diabetic remission; however, this topic
      needs further studies in large cohorts of diabetic cats.

PMID- 25818214
TI  - Urinary and plasma catecholamines and metanephrines in dogs with
      pheochromocytoma, hypercortisolism, nonadrenal disease and in healthy dogs.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of pheochromocytoma (PC) is based on a combination of
      clinical suspicion, finding an adrenal mass, increased plasma, and urine
      concentrations of catecholamine metabolites and is finally confirmed with
      histopathology. In human medicine, it is controversial whether biochemically
      testing plasma is superior to testing urine. OBJECTIVES: To measure urinary and
      plasma catecholamines and metanephrines in healthy dogs, dogs with PC,
      hypercortisolism (HC), and nonadrenal diseases (NAD) and to determine the test
      with the best diagnostic performance for dogs with PC. ANIMALS: Seven PC dogs, 10
      dogs with HC, 14 dogs with NAD, 10 healthy dogs. METHODS: Prospective diagnostic
      clinical study. Urine and heparin plasma samples were collected and stored at -80
      degrees C before analysis using high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)
      coupled to electrochemical detection or tandem mass spectrometry were performed.
      Urinary variables were expressed as ratios to urinary creatinine concentration.
      RESULTS: Dogs with PC had significantly higher urinary normetanephrine and
      metanephrine:creatinine ratios and significantly higher plasma-total and free
      normetanephrine and plasma-free metanephrine concentrations compared to the 3
      other groups. There were no overlapping results of urinary normetanephrine
      concentrations between PC and all other groups, and only one PC dog with a plasma
      normetanephrine concentration in the range of the dogs with HC and NAD disease.
      Performances of total and free plasma variables were similar. Overlap of
      epinephrine and norepinephrine results between the groups was large with both
      urine and plasma. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Measurement of
      normetanephrine is the preferred biochemical test for PC and urine was superior
      to plasma.

PMID- 25818215
TI  - Pharmacokinetics of single-dose rectal zonisamide administration in normal dogs.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Few medications are available for parental administration to animals
      with seizures. Rectal administration of medications is often used if the animal
      cannot be administered oral medications. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: To determine the
      pharmacokinetic differences in zonisamide when administered rectally in either of
      2 vehicles and p.o. to dogs. ANIMALS: Eight healthy research dogs. METHODS:
      Randomized cross-over design. Zonisamide, 10 mg/kg, was administered rectally in
      polyethylene glycol (PEG-R), rectally in water (H2O-R), and as an oral capsule.
      Plasma zonisamide concentrations were measured until 72 hours after
      administration. Zonisamide was quantitated by HPLC and plasma concentration
      versus time curve data was analyzed by using noncompartmental modeling. RESULTS:
      Mean maximum plasma zonisamide concentrations (MUg/mL) were significantly higher
      after oral administration (11.56 +/- 4.04) compared to H2O-R (5.00 +/- 1.83) (P =
      .004). Disappearance half-life (hours) and mean time to maximum concentration
      (hours) were not significantly different between methods of administration. Mean
      relative bioavailability of PEG-R (85 +/- 69%) was significantly higher than that
      of H2O-R (53 +/- 37%) (P = .039). Dogs tolerated all dosing forms with no
      evidence of adverse effects. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: The vehicle in
      which zonisamide is dissolved influences rectal bioavailability, with PEG
      preferred to H2O-R. Because of the prolonged time to maximum concentration,
      rectal administration of zonisamide should not be used to treat status
      epilepticus in dogs. A dose higher than what was used in this study might be
      necessary, if currently recommended minimum therapeutic concentrations (10
      MUg/mL) are to be achieved with a single-dose administration.

PMID- 25818216
TI  - An open-label phase 1 dose-escalation clinical trial of a single intravenous
      administration of gemcitabine in dogs with advanced solid tumors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A broad range of gemcitabine dosages have been used in dogs.
      HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: To determine maximally tolerated dose (MTD), dose-limiting
      toxicity (DLT), and preliminary antitumor activity of intravenous administration
      of gemcitabine in dogs with advanced solid tumors. ANIMALS: Twenty-two client
      owned dogs. METHODS: Dogs with advanced cancer were prospectively enrolled in an
      open-label Phase 1 study of gemcitabine. Gemcitabine was administered as a 30
      minute intravenous bolus starting at 800 mg/m(2), using escalation of 50 mg/m(2)
      increments with 3 dogs per dose level. MTD was established based on the number of
      dogs experiencing DLT assessed after 1 cycle. Treatment continued until disease
      progression or unacceptable toxicosis. Additional dogs were enrolled at MTD to
      better characterize tolerability, and to assess the extent and duration of
      gemcitabine excretion. RESULTS: Twenty-two dogs were treated at 4 dose levels,
      ranging from 800 to 950 mg/m(2). Neutropenia was identified as DLT. MTD was 900
      mg/m(2). DLT consisting of grade 4 febrile neutropenia was observed at 950
      mg/m(2) in 2 dogs. There were no nonhematologic DLTs. Twenty dogs received
      multiple doses, and none had evidence of severe toxicosis from any of their
      subsequent treatments. At 900 mg/m(2), 2 complete and 5 partial responses were
      observed in dogs with measurable tumors. The amount of gemcitabine excreted in
      urine decreased over time, and was undetectable after the first 24 hours.
      CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: The recommended dose of gemcitabine for
      future Phase 2 studies is weekly 900 mg/m(2). In chemotherapy-naive dogs with
      advanced solid tumor this dose level merits further evaluation.

PMID- 25818217
TI  - Glucocorticoid receptor density and binding affinity in healthy horses and horses
      with systemic inflammatory response syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis occurs
      in horses with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Peripheral
      resistance to glucocorticoids has not been investigated in horses. OBJECTIVE: To
      determine if glucocorticoid receptor (GR) function in horses can be measured
      using flow cytometry, and to use this information to evaluate HPA axis dynamics.
      ANIMALS: Eleven healthy adult horses in parts 1 and 2. Ten horses with SIRS and
      10 age and sex matched controls in part 3. METHODS: Flow cytometry was used to
      evaluate GR density and binding affinity (BA) in 3 healthy horses in part 1. In
      part 2, exogenous ACTH was administered to eight healthy horses. Their cortisol
      response and GR properties were measured. In part 3, CBC, serum biochemistry,
      cortisol and ACTH, and GR properties were compared between controls without SIRS
      (n = 10) and horses with SIRS (n = 10), and between survivors and nonsurvivors (n
      = 4 and n = 6 respectively). RESULTS: Flow cytometry can be used to measure GR
      properties in equine PBMCs. No correlation was observed between plasma cortisol
      concentration and GR density or BA in healthy horses (r = -0.145, P = .428 and r
      = 0.046, P = .802 respectively). Nonsurvivors with SIRS had significantly
      decreased GR BA (P = .008). Horses with triglyceride concentration > 28.5 mg/dL
      had increased odds of nonsurvival (OR=117; 95% CI, 1.94-7,060). GR BA <35.79% was
      associated with nonsurvival (OR = 30.33; 95% CI, 0.96-960.5). CONCLUSIONS AND
      CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Tissue resistance to glucocorticoids contributes to HPA axis
      dysfunction in adult horses with SIRS. These horses might benefit from treatment
      with exogenous glucocorticoids.

PMID- 25818218
TI  - Experimental transmission of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis biovar equi in
      horses by house flies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The route of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection in horses
      remains undetermined, but transmission by insects is suspected. OBJECTIVES: To
      investigate house flies (Musca domestica L.) as vectors of C. pseudotuberculosis
      transmission in horses. ANIMALS: Eight healthy, adult ponies. METHODS:
      Randomized, controlled, blinded prospective study. Ten wounds were created in the
      pectoral region where cages for flies were attached. Three ponies were directly
      inoculated with C. pseudotuberculosis. Four ponies were exposed for 24 hours to
      20 hours C. pseudotuberculosis-inoculated flies. One negative control pony was
      exposed to noninoculated flies. Ponies were examined daily for swelling, heat,
      pain, and drainage at the inoculation site. Blood was collected weekly for CBC
      and biochemical analysis, and twice weekly for synergistic hemolysis inhibition
      titers. RESULTS: Clinical signs of local infection and positive cultures were
      observed in 7/7 exposed ponies and were absent in the negative control. In
      exposed ponies, peak serologic titers (1:512 to 1:2,048) were obtained between
      days 17 and 21. Seroconversion was not observed in the negative control.
      Neutrophil counts were higher in the positive and fly-exposed groups than in the
      negative control (P = .002 and P = .005) on day 3 postinoculation. Serum amyloid
      A concentrations were higher in the positive control than in the negative control
      and fly-exposed ponies on days 3 (P < .0001) and 7 (P = .0004 and P = .0001). No
      differences were detected for other biochemical variables. CONCLUSIONS AND
      CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: House flies can serve as mechanical vectors of C.
      pseudotuberculosis and can transmit the bacterium to ponies.

PMID- 25818219
TI  - Serum bile acid concentrations, histopathological features, and short-, and long
      term survival in horses with hepatic disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Serum bile acid concentrations (SBA) and a histopathological biopsy
      score [Equine Vet J 35 (2003) 534] are used prognostically in equine hepatic
      disease. HYPOTHESIS: Histopathologic features and scores, but not SBA, differ
      between survivors and nonsurvivors and correlate with histopathologic evidence of
      hepatic inflammation and fibrosis. ANIMALS: Retrospective study. Records (1999
      2011) of horses with hepatic disease diagnosed by biopsy and with concurrent
      measurements of SBA. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study. Biopsies were examined
      for inflammatory cell infiltration including type and distribution, fibrosis,
      irreversible cytopathology affecting hepatocytes, hemosiderin, or other pigment
      deposition and bile duct proliferation. SBA, histopathological findings and a
      histological score [Equine Vet J 35 (2003) 534] were compared between short-
      (survival to discharge) and long-term (>6 months) survivors and correlations
      between SBA and histopathological findings investigated. RESULTS: Of 81 cases 90%
      survived short-term and 83% long-term. Short-term and long-term nonsurvival were
      associated with SBA (P = .009; P = .006), overall (P = .001; P = .002) and
      parenchymal (short-term only; P = .01) inflammation, portal and bridging fibrosis
      (all P < .001), apoptosis or single cell necrosis (P < .001; P = .008),
      hemosiderin deposition in hepatocytes (P = .011; P = .028), biliary (both P <
      .001), vascular (P = .003; P = .045) and endothelial (P < .001; P = .02)
      hyperplasia, nucleic changes (P = .004; P < .001) and the histopathological score
      (both P < .001). SBA were significantly and positively correlated with overall (P
      = .001), parenchymal (P < .001) and portal (P = .004) inflammation and portal (P
      = .036) and bridging (P = .002) fibrosis. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE:
      SBA, histopathological findings and scores differ between survivors and
      nonsurvivors. SBA concentrations are associated with inflammation and fibrosis
      suggesting interference with hepatic function. A histopathological score >2 and,
      less so, SBA >20 MUmol/L are specific but not sensitive indicators of
      nonsurvival.

PMID- 25818220
TI  - Preliminary investigation of the area under the L-lactate concentration-time
      curve (LACArea) in critically ill equine neonates.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A variety of measures of L-lactate concentration ([LAC]) in the blood
      of critically ill neonatal foals have shown utility as prognostic indicators.
      These measures, evaluating either the severity of hyperlactatemia or the duration
      of exposure to hyperlactatemia, perform fairly well and have correctly classified
      75-80% of foals examined in several studies. The area under the L-lactate
      concentration versus time curve (LACArea) encompasses both severity and duration
      of hyperlactatemia and should improve correct classification of patient survival.
      HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: LACArea is larger in nonsurviving critically ill neonatal
      foals. ANIMALS: Forty-nine foals admitted for critical illness to 1 of 4 referral
      hospitals. METHODS: Whole blood was obtained at admission and 6, 12, 18, and 24
      hours after admission for measurement of L-lactate using a handheld lactate
      meter. LACArea was calculated for: admission-6, 6-12, 12-18, 18-24 hours, and
      admission-24 hours using the trapezoidal method and summing the 6-hours interval
      areas to determine total 24 hours area. Differences between survivors and
      nonsurvivors were determined using robust regression and Kruskal-Wallis testing,
      P < .05. RESULTS: LACArea was significantly larger in nonsurviving foals (n = 9)
      than in surviving foals (n = 40) at all time periods examined. CONCLUSIONS AND
      CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Differences in LACArea between surviving and nonsurviving
      critically ill neonatal foals are large and support further investigation of this
      method as an improved biomarker for survival in critically ill neonatal foals is
      indicated.

PMID- 25818221
TI  - Plasma C-reactive protein and haptoglobin concentrations in critically ill
      neonatal foals.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Accurate diagnostic markers for sepsis in neonatal foals are needed.
      Plasma C-reactive protein concentration (p[CRP]) and haptoglobin concentration
      (p[Hp]) are well-established biomarkers of infection in humans, but studies are
      lacking in foals. HYPOTHESES: p[CRP]) and p[Hp] are increased in septic foals
      compared to sick nonseptic and healthy control foals, and are predictive of
      survival. ANIMALS: Eighty critically ill foals (40 septic, 40 sick nonseptic) and
      39 healthy control foals <1 week of age. METHODS: Multicenter, prospective
      observational clinical study. Venous blood was collected at admission from septic
      and sick nonseptic foals and from clinically healthy foals at 24 h of age. A
      diagnosis of sepsis was made based on positive blood culture or a sepsis score
      >11, and p[CRP] and p[Hp] were measured by using ELISA tests. Data were analyzed
      by using the Mann-Whitney U-test and forward stepwise multivariable linear
      regression. P < .05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Plasma [CRP] was
      positively associated with age, serum globulin, adrenomedullin, and bilirubin
      concentrations, aspartate aminotransferase activity, glutamyl-transferase
      activity, band neutrophil count, and rectal temperature, and was increased in
      foals with toxic neutrophils, enterocolitis, colic, rib fractures and septic
      arthritis. Surprisingly, p[Hp] was lower in septic foals than in sick nonseptic
      foals. Neither p[CRP] or p[Hp] was predictive of survival in critically ill
      foals. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Plasma [CRP] increases with
      inflammation in neonatal foals but is not indicative of sepsis. Single time
      point, admission sampling of p[CRP] and p[Hp] do not appear to be useful
      biomarkers for sepsis in foals.

PMID- 25818222
TI  - Quantitative physicochemical analysis of acid-base balance and clinical utility
      of anion gap and strong ion gap in 806 neonatal calves with diarrhea.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acid-base abnormalities in neonatal diarrheic calves can be assessed
      by using the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation or the simplified strong ion approach
      which use the anion gap (AG) or the strong ion gap (SIG) to quantify the
      concentration of unmeasured strong anions such as D-lactate.
      HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: To determine and compare the clinical utility of AG and
      SIG in quantifying the unmeasured strong anion charge in neonatal diarrheic
      calves, and to examine the associations between biochemical findings and acid
      base variables by using the simplified strong ion approach. We hypothesized that
      the SIG provides a more accurate prediction of unmeasured strong anions than the
      AG. ANIMALS: Eight hundred and six neonatal diarrheic calves admitted to a
      veterinary teaching hospital. METHODS: Retrospective study utilizing
      clinicopathologic findings extracted from medical records. RESULTS:
      Hyperphosphatemia was an important predictor of venous blood pH. Serum inorganic
      phosphorus and plasma D-lactate concentrations accounted for 58% of the variation
      in venous blood pH and 77% of the variation in AG and SIG. Plasma D- and total
      lactate concentrations were slightly better correlated with SIG (rs = -0.69; 
      0.78) than to AG (rs = 0.63; 0.74). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Strong
      ion gap is slightly better at quantifying the unmeasured strong anion
      concentration in neonatal diarrheic calves than AG. Phosphorus concentrations
      should be included as part of the calculation of Atot when applying the
      simplified strong ion approach to acid-base balance to critically ill animals
      with hyperphosphatemia.

PMID- 25818223
TI  - Risk factors for the development of hypokalemia in neonatal diarrheic calves.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neonatal diarrheic calves have a clear negative potassium balance
      because of intestinal losses and decreased milk intake but in the presence of
      acidemia, they usually show normokalemic or hyperkalemic plasma concentrations.
      OBJECTIVES: To assess whether marked hypokalemia occurs in response to the
      correction of acidemia and dehydration and to identify factors that are
      associated with this condition. ANIMALS: Eighty-three calves with a clinical
      diagnosis of neonatal diarrhea. METHODS: Prospective cohort study. Calves were
      treated according to a clinical protocol using an oral electrolyte solution and
      commercially available packages of 8.4% sodium bicarbonate, 0.9% saline and 40%
      dextrose infusion solutions. RESULTS: The proportion of hypokalemic calves after
      24 hours of treatment (19.3%) was twice as great as it was on admission to the
      hospital. Plasma K(+) after 24 hours of treatment was not significantly
      correlated to venous blood pH values at the same time but positively correlated
      to venous blood pH values on admission (r = 0.51, P < .001). Base excess on
      admission (Odds ratio [OR] = 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.70-0.94),
      duration of diarrhea (OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.05-1.80), milk intake during
      hospitalization (OR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.37-0.79) and plasma sodium concentrations
      after 24 hours (OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.01-1.25) were identified to be
      independently associated (P < .05) with a hypokalemic state after 24 hours of
      treatment. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Findings of this study suggest
      that marked depletion of body potassium stores is evident in diarrheic calves
      that suffered from marked metabolic acidosis, have a low milk intake and a long
      history of diarrhea.

PMID- 25818224
TI  - Mannheimia haemolytica in feedlot cattle: prevalence of recovery and associations
      with antimicrobial use, resistance, and health outcomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mannheimia haemolytica is an important etiological agent in bovine
      respiratory disease. OBJECTIVES: Explore risk factors for recovery of susceptible
      and resistant M. haemolytica in feedlot cattle and explore associations with
      health outcomes. ANIMALS: Cattle (n = 5,498) from 4 feedlots sampled at arrival
      and later in feeding period. METHODS: Susceptibility of M. haemolytica isolates
      tested for 21 antimicrobials. Records of antimicrobial use and health events
      analyzed using multivariable regression. RESULTS: M. haemolytica recovered from
      29% of cattle (1,596/5,498), 13.1% at arrival (95% CI, 12.3-14.1%), and 19.8% at
      second sampling (95% CI, 18.7-20.9%). Nearly half of study cattle received
      antimicrobial drugs (AMDs) parenterally, mostly as metaphylactic treatment at
      arrival. Individual parenteral AMD exposures were associated with decreased
      recovery of M. haemolytica (OR, 0.2; 95% CI, 0.02-1.2), whereas exposure in
      penmates was associated with increased recovery (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.05-2.2). Most
      isolates were pan-susceptible (87.8%; 95% CI, 87.0-89.4%). AMD exposures were not
      associated with resistance to any single drug. Multiply-resistant isolates were
      rare (5.9%; 95% CI, 5.1-6.9%), but AMD exposures in pen mates were associated
      with increased odds of recovering multiply-resistant M. haemolytica (OR, 23.9;
      95% CI, 8.4-68.3). Cattle positive for M. haemolytica on arrival were more likely
      to become ill within 10 days (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1-2.4). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL
      IMPORTANCE: Resistance generally was rare in M. haemolytica. Antimicrobial drug
      exposures in penmates increased the risk of isolating susceptible and multiply
      resistant M. haemolytica, a finding that could be explained by contagious spread.

PMID- 25818225
TI  - Evaluation of digital and optical refractometers for assessing failure of
      transfer of passive immunity in dairy calves.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Failure of transfer of passive immunity (FTPI) is the underlying
      predisposing risk factor for most early losses in dairy calves. Refractometers,
      either optical or digital, can be used to assess FTPI as a part of calf health
      monitoring program on dairy operations. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the performance
      of and differences between digital Brix and optical refractometers for assessing
      FTPI in dairy calves. ANIMALS: Two hundred Holstein calves from 1 to 11 days of
      age. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was designed to measure serum IgG
      concentration by radial immunodiffusion (RID) assay, digital Brix and optical
      refractometers. The correlation coefficients (r) between the 2 refractometers
      were plotted against each other and against the measured IgG concentration from
      RID. The Se, Sp, and accuracy of digital Brix and optical refractometers for
      assessing FTPI using previously recommended cut-offs were calculated. A receiver
      operating characteristic curve was created and used to identify the optimal cut
      off for this dataset. RESULTS: The RID IgG concentration was positively
      correlated with digital Brix (r = 0.79) and optical (r = 0.74) refractometers.
      The best combination of Se (85.5%), Sp (82.8%), and accuracy (83.5%) of digital
      Brix refractometer was at 8.3%Brix. For optical refractometer, the best
      combination of Se (80%), Sp (80.7%), and accuracy (80.5%) was at 5.5 g/dL.
      CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Both refractometers exhibited utility in
      assessing FTPI in dairy calves.

PMID- 25818226
TI  - Plasma exchange as a treatment for hyperbilirubinemia in 2 foals with neonatal
      isoerythrolysis.

PMID- 25818228
TI  - Four new tetramic acid and one new furanone derivatives from the plant endophytic
      fungus Neopestalotiopsis sp.
AB  - Four new tetramic acid analogues neopestalotins A-D (1-4), one new furanone
      derivative neopestalotin E (6), and the known compound hymenosetin have been
      isolated from the solid cultures of the plant endophytic fungus Neopestalotiopsis
      sp. The structures of the new compounds were determined mainly by nuclear
      magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. The absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were
      assigned by circular dichroism (CD) data, whereas those of 3 and 4 were deduced
      by a combination of CD and heteronuclear long range coupling (HETLOC) data.
      Compound 2 showed modest antimicrobial activity against the Gram-positive
      bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus col, and Streptococcus
      pneumoniae. 

PMID- 25818229
TI  - Lignans from the root of Paeonia lactiflora and their anti-beta-amyloid
      aggregation activities.
AB  - Four new neolignans (1-4), together with two known lignans (5 and 6), were
      isolated from the root of Paeonia lactiflora. Compounds 1 and 2 were two
      racemates and were separated by chiral high performance liquid chromatography
      (HPLC) to give all of the four stereoisomeric forms sharing a common planar
      structure. Compounds 3 and 4 were two neolignan glycoside diastereomers but
      interestingly appeared to be enantiomers: they had the extremely similar (1)H and
      (13)C NMR spectra and had to be solved only by chiral HPLC. Their structures were
      determined by spectroscopic analysis, including 1D and 2D NMR, HRESIMS and
      electronic circular dichroism experiments. All compounds were evaluated for their
      inhibitory effects on beta-amyloid aggregation, and the optical pure compound 2b
      was found to show the optimal Abeta(1-42) aggregation inhibition potency (81.1%
      at 20 MUM). In addition, despite large amount of chemical studies performed on
      genus Paeonia, the lignans were reported for the first time.

PMID- 25818230
TI  - Sesquiterpene coumarins from seeds of Ferula sinkiangensis.
AB  - A new sesquiterpene coumarin with a novel sesquiterpene carbon framework,
      Sinkiangenorin D, and ten known sesquiterpene coumarins were isolated from the
      seeds of Ferula sinkiangensis. The structures of these compounds, including the
      relative stereochemistry, were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data. All
      of the isolated compounds were tested against the AGS, HeLa, and K562 human
      cancer cell lines and showed cytotoxic activities with 50% inhibitory
      concentration values between 12.7 and 226.6 MUM.

PMID- 25818231
TI  - Red macroalgae as a sustainable resource for bio-based products.
AB  - Red macroalgae are being actively investigated as a renewable biomass source
      because of their advantageous characteristics such as abundant carbohydrate
      contents, low lignin contents, and the absence of conflicts with food production.
      With recent technological advances, the efficient utilization of red macroalgae
      for biofuel and chemical production is now possible. 

PMID- 25818233
TI  - The scope and impact of obesity in Vermont - Strategies for change.
AB  - Obesity is a complex, multi-faceted condition amplified by a confluence of socio
      economic and environmental forces. Even in Vermont, a state long ranked as one of
      the healthiest, 25% of adults are obese, a rate better than 44 other states, but
      more than double that in 1990. Obesity puts people at greater risk for a number
      of serious health conditions, and may soon overtake tobacco as the #1 real killer
      if the current trend is not reversed. Beyond the cost to an individual's health,
      the projected financial impacts of an increasingly obese population are great.
      Nationally, the estimated direct and indirect costs of obesity add up to more
      than $190 billion each year. In public health terms, the challenge we are facing
      with obesity can well be compared to our experience with tobacco. We can easily
      track advances in policy, counter-marketing and other changes that together have
      created an environment in which smoking is no longer the norm. The Vermont
      Department of Health is beginning to apply strategies similar to those used to
      successfully cut smoking rates. This commentary describes Vermont's efforts to
      increase physical activity, decrease caloric intake, and enlist partners to help
      make healthy choices easier and more accessible for everyone. 

PMID- 25818232
TI  - Changes in cervical cancer incidence following the introduction of organized
      screening in Italy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To quantify the impact of organized cervical screening programs
      (OCSPs) on the incidence of invasive cervical cancer (ICC), comparing rates
      before and after activation of OCSPs. METHODS: This population-based
      investigation, using individual data from cancer registries and OCSPs, included
      3557 women diagnosed with ICC at age 25-74years in 1995-2008. The year of full
      activation of each OCSP was defined as the year when at least 40% of target women
      had been invited. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%
      CIs) were calculated as the ratios between age-standardized incidence rates
      observed in periods after full-activation of OCSPs vs those observed in the
      preceding quinquennium. RESULTS: ICC incidence rates diminished with time since
      OCSPs full-activation: after 6-8years, the IRR was 0.75 (95% CI: 0.67-0.85). The
      reduction was higher for stages IB-IV (IRR=0.68, 95% CI: 0.58-0.80), squamous
      cell ICCs (IRR=0.74, 95% CI: 0.64-0.84), and particularly evident among women
      aged 45-74years. Conversely, incidence rates of micro-invasive (stage IA) ICCs
      increased, though not significantly, among women aged 25-44years (IRR=1.34, 95%
      CI: 0.91-1.96). Following full-activation of OCSPs, micro-invasive ICCs were
      mainly and increasingly diagnosed within OCSPs (up to 72%). CONCLUSION(S): Within
      few years from activation, organized screening positively impacted the already
      low ICC incidence in Italy and favored down-staging.

PMID- 25818234
TI  - Sequential healing events of osseointegration at UnicCa((r)) and SLActive((r))
      implant surfaces: an experimental study in the dog.
AB  - AIM: To study the sequential events in osseointegration at implants with highly
      hydrophilic surfaces. MATERIAL AND METHODS: All premolars and the first molars
      were bilaterally extracted in 12 Beagle dogs. After 3 months, full-thickness
      flaps were elevated and two different implants systems with various surfaces were
      randomly installed in the edentulous premolar region in one side of the mandible.
      One surface was acid etched and further modified with calcium ions (UnicCa((r))),
      while the other was sandblasted with large grits and acid etched (SLActive((r))).
      The flaps were sutured to allow a fully submerged healing. The surgery on the
      other side of the mandible and the sacrifices were planned in such a way to
      obtain biopsies representing the healing after 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks (n = 6 per
      period). RESULTS: After one week of healing, new bone apposition was found at
      both surfaces with percentages of 6.9 +/- 3.3% and 6.1 +/- 4.6% at UnicCa((r))
      and SLActive((r)), respectively. After 2 weeks, the percentages had increased to
      29.1 +/- 11.9% and 21.6 +/- 14.3%, respectively. After 4 and 8 weeks of healing,
      mean values of 46.3 +/- 7.3% and 58.7 +/- 15.1% at UnicCa((r)) and 51.2 +/- 16.1%
      and 68.9 +/- 15.4% at SLActive((r)) surfaces were found, respectively. None of
      the differences in percentages were statistically significant. Concomitantly, the
      old bone was resorbed at both surfaces from about 21-22% after 1 week to about 4
      6% after 8 weeks of healing. CONCLUSIONS: The osseointegration process onto
      moderately rough titanium implant surfaces of high hydrophilicity was very
      similar for two implant systems that were both nanotechnologically modified.

PMID- 25818236
TI  - Emotional functioning: Long-term outcomes after pediatric epilepsy surgery.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Children with epilepsy are at a high risk for developing symptoms of
      anxiety and depression. By improving seizure control, epilepsy surgery has the
      potential to improve patients' anxiety and depression symptoms. Few studies have
      assessed the long-term outcomes of anxiety and depressive symptoms after
      pediatric epilepsy surgery while using an appropriate control group. This study
      examined anxiety and depressive symptoms 4-11 years after surgery in surgical
      patients and in a control group of nonsurgical patients with pediatric-onset
      epilepsy. METHODS: Seventy-three surgical patients with a mean age of 19.87
      (standard deviation [SD] 4.46, range 10.08-28.50) and 40 nonsurgical controls
      with a mean age of 20.31 (SD 4.01, range 12.08-27.25) completed the study
      measures. Patients completed the Child Depression Inventory II/Beck Depression
      Inventory II and State Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children/State Trait Anxiety
      Inventory and parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist/Adult Behavior
      Checklist to assess the patients' anxiety and depressive symptoms. Baseline
      measurements of affective symptoms (Child Behavior Checklist) were retrieved from
      the patients' medical records. RESULTS: Patient-reported affective functioning
      was obtained at the follow-up visit only. Patient-reported depressive symptoms
      and state and trait anxiety were similar for both groups. Based on parent reports
      at follow-up, patients with seizures were found to have significantly more
      depressive problems and anxious/depressed symptoms, and marginally more withdrawn
      symptoms relative to patients without seizures. SIGNIFICANCE: Seizure status was
      related to the presence of affective symptoms, irrespective of whether the
      patient had undergone surgery. In addition, parents and not patients reported the
      presence of anxiety and depressive symptoms, which indicates the importance of
      obtaining multiple informants to assess affective symptomatology.

PMID- 25818235
TI  - MARK-AGE biomarkers of ageing.
AB  - Many candidate biomarkers of human ageing have been proposed in the scientific
      literature but in all cases their variability in cross-sectional studies is
      considerable, and therefore no single measurement has proven to serve a useful
      marker to determine, on its own, biological age. A plausible reason for this is
      the intrinsic multi-causal and multi-system nature of the ageing process. The
      recently completed MARK-AGE study was a large-scale integrated project supported
      by the European Commission. The major aim of this project was to conduct a
      population study comprising about 3200 subjects in order to identify a set of
      biomarkers of ageing which, as a combination of parameters with appropriate
      weighting, would measure biological age better than any marker in isolation. 

PMID- 25818237
TI  - Archaeal enrichment in the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
AB  - Areas of low oxygen have spread exponentially over the past 40 years, and are
      cited as a key stressor on coastal ecosystems. The world's second largest coastal
      hypoxic (<= 2 mg of O2 l(-1)) zone occurs annually in the northern Gulf of
      Mexico. The net effect of hypoxia is the diversion of energy flow away from
      higher trophic levels to microorganisms. This energy shunt is consequential to
      the overall productivity of hypoxic water masses and the ecosystem as a whole. In
      this study, water column samples were collected at 39 sites in the nGOM, 21 of
      which were hypoxic. Analysis of the microbial community along a hypoxic to oxic
      dissolved oxygen gradient revealed that the relative abundance (iTag) of
      Thaumarchaeota species 16S rRNA genes (> 40% of the microbial community in some
      hypoxic samples), the absolute abundance (quantitative polymerase chain reaction;
      qPCR) of Thaumarchaeota 16S rRNA genes and archaeal ammonia-monooxygenase gene
      copy number (qPCR) were significantly higher in hypoxic samples. Spatial
      interpolation of the microbial and chemical data revealed a continuous, shelfwide
      band of low dissolved oxygen waters that were dominated by Thaumarchaeota (and
      Euryarchaeota), amoA genes and high concentrations of phosphate in the nGOM, thus
      implicating physicochemical forcing on microbial abundance.

PMID- 25818238
TI  - MicroRNA-124 inhibits cancer cell growth through PTB1/PKM1/PKM2 feedback cascade
      in colorectal cancer.
AB  - Altered levels and functions of microRNAs (miRs) have been associated with
      carcinogenesis. In this study, we investigated the role of miR-124 in colorectal
      adenoma (CRA) and cancer (CRC). The expression levels of miR-124 were decreased
      in CRA (81.8%) and CRC (57.6%) in 55 clinical samples. The ectopic expression of
      miR-124 induced apoptosis and autophagy in colon cancer cells. Also, miR-124
      targeted polypyrimidine tract-binding protein 1 (PTB1), which is a splicer of
      pyruvate kinase muscles 1 and 2 (PKM1 and PKM2) and induced the switching of PKM
      isoform expression from PKM2 to PKM1. Also, siR-PTB1 induced drastic apoptosis in
      colon cancer cells. Furthermore, we found that the ectopic expression of miR-124
      enhanced oxidative stress and the miR-124/PTB1/PKM1/PKM2 axis constituted a
      feedback cascade. Finally, we showed that intratumor injection of miR-124 and siR
      PTB1 induced a tumor-suppressive effect in xenografted mice. The axis was
      established by both in vitro and in vivo experiments to function in human
      colorectal cancer cells. These findings suggest that miR-124 acts as a tumor
      suppressor and a modulator of energy metabolism through a PTB1/PKM1/PKM2 feedback
      cascade in human colorectal tumor cells. 

PMID- 25818239
TI  - Total cholesterol performance of Abell-Levy-Brodie-Kendall reference measurement
      procedure: Certification of Japanese in-vitro diagnostic assay manufacturers
      through CDC's Cholesterol Reference Method Laboratory Network.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Accurate measurement of total cholesterol (TC) is important for
      cardiovascular disease risk management. The US Centers for Disease Control and
      Prevention (CDC) and Cholesterol Reference Method Laboratory Network (CRMLN)
      perform Abell-Levy-Brodie-Kendall (AK) reference measurement procedure (RMP) for
      TC as a secondary reference method, and implement Certification Protocol for
      Manufacturers. Japanese CRMLN laboratory at Osaka performed the AK RMP for 22
      years, and conducted TC certification for reagent/calibrator/instrument systems
      of six Japanese manufacturers every 2 years for 16 years. Osaka TC performance
      was examined and compared to CDC's reference values. METHODS: AK RMP involved
      sample hydrolysis, cholesterol extraction, and determination of cholesterol
      levels by spectrophotometry. The Certification Protocol for Manufacturers
      includes comparison with AK RMP using at least 40 fresh specimens. Demonstration
      of average bias <=3% and total coefficient of variation <=3% qualified an
      analytical system for certification. RESULTS: In the AK RMP used in the Osaka
      CRMLN laboratory, the regression equation for measuring TC was y (Osaka)=1.000x
      (CDC)+0.032 (n=619, R(2)=1.000). Six Japanese manufacturers had allowable
      performance for certification. CONCLUSIONS: The AK RMP for TC measurement was
      accurate, precise, and stable for 22 years. Six Japanese manufacturers were
      certified for 16 years.

PMID- 25818240
TI  - Error rates during blood collection in emergency departments and outpatient
      clinics: Results of a prospective multicenter study.

PMID- 25818241
TI  - Gasomediators (.NO, CO, and H2S) and their role in hemostasis and thrombosis.
AB  - Hemostasis is a group of mechanisms used to prevent the outflow of blood from its
      vessels, and to ensure its liquidity and flow within them. The system
      incorporates aspects of the blood vessel wall (mainly the intima), the clotting
      process, together with its factors (i.e. fibrinogen) and coagulation inhibitors,
      as well as fibrinolysis, blood platelets and the phagocyte system. The modulation
      of hemostasis is associated with the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases,
      such as thrombosis. The study examines the action of three selected
      gasomediators, nitric oxide ((*)NO), carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen sulfide
      (H2S), on hemostasis and thrombosis, although these gasses are also involved in a
      multitude of other physiological functions. (*)NO inhibits blood platelet
      activation, relaxes blood vessels and, as a free radical chain, may rapidly react
      with superoxide anion (O2(-*)) in blood platelets to form peroxynitrite (ONOO(
      )). ONOO(-) is a reactive nitrating and nitrosating agent which induces
      oxidative/nitrative stress in blood platelets and plasma. Moreover, ONOO(-)
      changes the structure and function of fibrinogen and proteins associated with
      fibrinolysis. Recently, proteomic studies have provided unequivocal evidence that
      human platelets lack any expression of nitric oxide synthase isoforms. Other
      studies have demonstrated that CO and H2S, reduce blood platelet reactivity.
      Moreover, H2S has been reported to demonstrate anticoagulatory activity, and CO
      may act not only as an anticoagulant, but also aprocoagulant. This review article
      summarizes current knowledge of the biological roles of gasomediators (NO, CO,
      H2S) in hemostasis and in cardiovascular diseases. 

PMID- 25818242
TI  - Collection and laboratory methods for dried blood spots for hemoglobin A1c and
      total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in population-based surveys.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Health Measures at Home Study was a study designed to evaluate
      the feasibility of incorporating dried blood spots (DBS) collection into the
      National Health Interview Survey and to compare the proficiencies between field
      interviewers and health technicians in obtaining DBS. METHODS: DBS collection and
      venipuncture were attempted on 125 participants. The DBS were collected in the
      participant's home and venous blood was collected in the National Health and
      Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) mobile examination center. The DBS results
      were compared to venous results in the NHANES for the measurements of hemoglobin
      A1c (HbA1c) and total and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. RESULTS:
      Field interviewers and health technicians were able to collect the DBS for
      greater than 95% of participants. For DBS, health technicians and field
      interviewers were highly correlated for HbA1c (r=0.92) and total cholesterol
      (r=0.89), but not for HDL cholesterol (r=0.72). The DBS results of interviewers
      and health technicians compared to the venous method for HbA1c (r=0.90), but did
      not compare well for HDL cholesterol (r=0.64-0.66) and total cholesterol (r=0.65
      0.67). CONCLUSION: DBS was comparable to venous HbA1c, but not for total and HDL
      cholesterol. Health technicians and field interviewers had similar performance
      for DBS methods, except HDL cholesterol.

PMID- 25818243
TI  - Coronary severity score and C-reactive protein predict major adverse
      cardiovascular events in patients with stable coronary artery disease (from the
      Taichung CAD study).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Whether angiographic coronary severity really predicts future major
      adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in patients with coronary artery disease
      (CAD) is uncertain. Few studies have compared the efficacy of SYNTAX, Gensini and
      Jeopardy scores in predicting MACE in stable CAD. METHODS: We collected data of
      MACE, including all-cause mortality, all strokes, new myocardial infarction and
      unplanned repeat revascularization, in subjects with stable CAD from our
      catheterization databank. Coronary severity was graded with SYNTAX, Gensini and
      Jeopardy scoring systems. RESULTS: During a median follow-up period of 42months,
      39 out of the 181 subjects developed at least 1 MACE. Those with MACE had a
      significantly higher baseline high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP)
      (p=0.025). Multivariate analysis showed that coronary severity score, hs-CRP and
      diabetes mellitus were significant predictors for MACE. Kaplan-Meier estimates
      showed a significant difference in MACE-free rates between SYNTAX binary scores
      (>=15 vs. <15, p=0.043), Gensini binary scores (>=36 vs. <36, p=0.048) and
      Jeopardy binary scores (>=4 vs. <4, p=0.001). CONCLUSION: Coronary severity
      score, hs-CRP and diabetes mellitus independently predicted MACE in patients with
      stable CAD. The Jeopardy score is simple to calculate and as effective for
      predicting MACE in stable CAD as the complex SYNTAX score.

PMID- 25818244
TI  - Factors affecting A1C in non-diabetic individuals: Review and meta-analysis.
AB  - We carried out a systematic review and meta-analyses of studies that evaluated
      the possible effects of anemia, variant hemoglobin, and uremia on A1C levels in
      individuals without diabetes (DM). Medline and Embase were searched for studies
      that measured A1C values in groups with and without iron deficiency anemia (IDA)
      and/or iron deficiency (ID), variant hemoglobin and/or uremia by standardized
      methods. The difference between A1C levels in the groups with and without
      interferences was obtained by using random-effects meta-analysis and the effect
      size was presented as absolute difference of means (95% CI). Ten studies
      fulfilled the inclusion criteria, providing data from 11,176 participants without
      DM. There were no statistically significant differences in A1C in the presence of
      IDA/ID, HbS, and uremia by HPLC and uremia by immunoassay [0.79% (95% IC -0.39;
      1.97), -0.13% (95% IC -0.51; 0.26), 0.15% (95% CI -0.58; 0.88) and -0.19% (95% CI
      -0.78; 0.40), respectively]. The effects of HbAS and uremia on A1C levels are
      within the expected individual variation and should not affect A1C results to
      diagnose DM. However, the effects of IDA/ID remain inconclusive and further
      studies are needed to clarify the glycation mechanisms in individuals with IDA/ID
      without diabetes. 

PMID- 25818245
TI  - Collision cross section measurements for biomolecules within a high-resolution
      Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance cell.
AB  - To understand the role and function of a biomolecule in a biosystem, it is
      important to know both its composition and structure. Here, a mass spectrometric
      based approach has been proposed and applied to demonstrate that collision cross
      sections and high-resolution mass spectra of biomolecule ions may be obtained
      simultaneously by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry.
      With this method, the unfolding phenomena for ubiquitin ions that possess
      different number of charges have been investigated, and results agree well with
      ion mobility measurements. In the present approach, we extend ion collision cross
      section measurements to lower pressures than in prior ion cyclotron resonance
      (ICR)-based experiments, thereby maintaining the potentially high resolution of
      Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR MS), and
      enabling collision cross section (CCS) measurements for high-mass biomolecules. 

PMID- 25818246
TI  - MDMA-assisted therapy: A new treatment model for social anxiety in autistic
      adults.
AB  - The first study of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted therapy for
      the treatment of social anxiety in autistic adults commenced in the spring of
      2014. The search for psychotherapeutic options for autistic individuals is
      imperative considering the lack of effective conventional treatments for mental
      health diagnoses that are common in this population. Serious Adverse Events
      (SAEs) involving the administration of MDMA in clinical trials have been rare and
      non-life threatening. To date, MDMA has been administered to over 1133
      individuals for research purposes without the occurrence of unexpected drug
      related SAEs that require expedited reporting per FDA regulations. Now that
      safety parameters for limited use of MDMA in clinical settings have been
      established, a case can be made to further develop MDMA-assisted therapeutic
      interventions that could support autistic adults in increasing social
      adaptability among the typically developing population. As in the case with
      classic hallucinogens and other psychedelic drugs, MDMA catalyzes shifts toward
      openness and introspection that do not require ongoing administration to achieve
      lasting benefits. This infrequent dosing mitigates adverse event frequency and
      improves the risk/benefit ratio of MDMA, which may provide a significant
      advantage over medications that require daily dosing. Consequently, clinicians
      could employ new treatment models for social anxiety or similar types of distress
      administering MDMA on one to several occasions within the context of a supportive
      and integrative psychotherapy protocol. 

PMID- 25818247
TI  - The potential use of histone deacetylase inhibitors in the treatment of
      depression.
AB  - Numerous preclinical studies demonstrate that changes in gene expression in the
      brain occur in animal models of depression using exposure to stress, such as
      social defeat and leaned helplessness, and that repeated administration of
      antidepressants ameliorates these stress-induced changes in gene expression.
      These findings suggest that alteration in gene transcription in the central
      nervous system in response to stress plays an important role in the
      pathophysiology of depression. Recent advances in epigenetics have led to the
      realization that chromatin remodeling mediated by histone deacetylase (HDAC) is
      closely involved in the regulation of gene transcription. In this context, we
      first review several preclinical studies demonstrating the antidepressant-like
      efficacy of HDAC inhibitors. We then suggest the efficacy of HDAC inhibitors in
      treatment-resistant depression based on the mechanism of action of HDAC. Finally,
      we discuss the possibility of using HDAC inhibitors in patients with treatment
      resistant depression. 

PMID- 25818248
TI  - Treosulfan-based conditioning regimen for allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation in children with sickle cell disease.
AB  - Although allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) still
      represents the only consolidated possibility of cure for sickle cell disease
      (SCD) patients, its use has been limited by the risk of morbidity and mortality
      associated with conventional myeloablative therapy. The introduction of
      treosulfan to replace busulfan in conditioning regimens has recently been
      explored by virtue of its lower toxicity profile. We report our experience with a
      treosulfan/thiotepa/fludarabine conditioning for human leucocyte antigen (HLA)
      matched sibling or unrelated donor-HSCT in 15 children with SCD, and compare
      patient outcomes with those of a historical cohort (15 patients) given a busulfan
      based regimen. Engraftment was achieved in 28 out of 30 patients (93%), with one
      case of graft failure in either group. The conditioning regimen was well
      tolerated in both groups, with no cases of grade III-IV regimen-related toxicity.
      The 7-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) for the whole
      cohort were 100% and 93%, respectively, with a 93% DFS in both busulfan and
      treosulfan groups. No SCD-related adverse events occurred after engraftment in
      patients with complete or mixed donor chimerism. This retrospective analysis
      suggests that a treosulfan-based conditioning regimen is able to ensure
      engraftment with excellent OS/DFS and low regimen-related toxicity in patients
      with SCD. 

PMID- 25818249
TI  - The nitroxide radical TEMPOL prevents obesity, hyperlipidaemia, elevation of
      inflammatory cytokines, and modulates atherosclerotic plaque composition in apoE
      /- mice.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The nitroxide compound TEMPOL (4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine
      N-oxyl radical) has been shown to prevent obesity-induced changes in adipokines
      in cell and animal systems. In this study we investigated whether supplementation
      with TEMPOL inhibits inflammation and atherosclerosis in apoE-/- mice fed a high
      fat diet (HFD). METHODS: ApoE-/- mice were fed for 12 weeks on standard chow diet
      or a high-fat diet. Half the mice were supplemented with 10 mg/g TEMPOL in their
      food. Plasma samples were analysed for triglycerides, cholesterol, low- and high
      density lipoprotein cholesterol, inflammatory cytokines and markers (interleukin
      6, IL-6; monocyte-chemotactic protein, MCP-1; myeloperoxidase, MPO; serum amyloid
      A, SAA; adiponectin; leptin). Plaques in the aortic sinus were analysed for area,
      and content of collagen, lipid, macrophages and smooth muscle cells. RESULTS:
      High fat feeding resulted in marked increases in body mass and plasma lipid
      levels. Dietary TEMPOL decreased both parameters. In the high-fat-fed mice
      significant elevations in plasma lipid levels and the inflammatory markers IL-6,
      MCP-1, MPO, SAA were detected, along with an increase in leptin and a decrease in
      adiponectin. TEMPOL supplementation reversed these effects. When compared to HFD
      fed mice, TEMPOL supplementation increased plaque collagen content, decreased
      lipid content and increased macrophage numbers. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate
      that in a well-established model of obesity-associated hyperlipidaemia and
      atherosclerosis, TEMPOL had a significant impact on body mass, atherosclerosis,
      hyperlipidaemia and inflammation. TEMPOL may therefore be of value in suppressing
      obesity, metabolic disorders and increasing atherosclerotic plaque stability.

PMID- 25818250
TI  - Statin eligibility and cardiovascular risk burden assessed by coronary artery
      calcium score: comparing the two guidelines in a large Korean cohort.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the statin eligibility and the predictabilities for
      cardiovascular disease between AHA/ACC and ATPIII guidelines, comparing those
      results to concomitant coronary artery calcium scores (CACS) in a large cohort of
      Korean individuals who met statin-eligibility criteria. METHODS: Among 19,920
      participants in a health screening program, eligibility for statin treatment was
      assessed by the two guidelines. The presence and extent of coronary artery
      calcification (CAC) was measured by multi-detector computed tomography and
      compared among the various groups defined by the two guidelines. RESULTS:
      Applying the new ACC/AHA guideline to the health screening cohort increased the
      statin-eligible population from 18.7% (as defined by ATP III) to 21.7%. Statin
      eligible subjects as defined only by ACC/AHA guideline manifested a higher
      proportion of subjects with CAC compared with those meeting only ATP-III criteria
      even after adjustment for age and sex (47.1 vs. 33.8%, p<0.01). Statin-eligible
      subjects as defined by ACC/AHA guideline showed higher odds ratio for the
      presence of CACS>0 compared with those meeting ATP-III criteria {3.493
      (3.245~3.759) vs. 2.865 (2.653~3.094)}, which was attenuated after adjusted for
      age and sex. CONCLUSIONS: In this large Korean cohort, more subjects would have
      qualified for statin initiation under the new ACC/AHA guideline as compared with
      the proportion recommended for statin treatment by ATP III guideline. Among
      statin-eligible Korean health screening subjects, the new ACC/AHA guideline
      identified a greater extent of atherosclerosis as assessed by CACS as compared to
      ATP III guideline assessment.

PMID- 25818251
TI  - GLP-1 analog liraglutide protects against cardiac steatosis, oxidative stress and
      apoptosis in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Accumulating evidence has implicated that GLP-1 may have a beneficial
      effect on cardiovascular but the mechanism is not fully understood. Here we show
      that GLP-1 analog, liraglutide, inhibits cardiac steatosis, oxidative stress and
      apoptosis in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetic rats, via activation of
      AMPK-Sirt1 pathway. METHODS: Diabetic rats were treated with subcutaneous
      injections of liraglutide (0.3 mg/kg/12 h) for 4 weeks. Myocardial steatosis
      (detected by oil red O staining and myocardial triglyceride and diacylglycerol
      (DAG) contents assay), expression of protein kinase C (PKC), heart NAD(P)H
      oxidase activity, oxidative stress markers (8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine
      staining), apoptosis (TUNEL analysis) and genes that affect apoptosis and lipid
      metabolism were evaluated. RESULTS: Administration of liraglutide did not affect
      plasma glucose and insulin levels or body weights in STZ-induced diabetic rats,
      but normalized myocardial steatosis, expression of PKC, NAD(P)H oxidase activity,
      oxidative stress markers and apoptosis, all of which were significantly increased
      in diabetic hearts. Additionally, expression of genes mediating lipid uptake,
      synthesis and oxidation were increased in the diabetic hearts, and these
      increases were all reduced by liraglutide. In addition, liraglutide increased
      expression of Sirt1 and phosphorylated AMPK in the diabetic hearts. CONCLUSIONS:
      Liraglutide may have a beneficial effect on cardiac steatosis, DAG-PKC-NAD(P)H
      pathway, oxidative stress and apoptosis via activation of AMPK-Sirt1 pathway,
      independently of a glucose-lowering effect.

PMID- 25818252
TI  - An unusual cause of massive gastrointestinal bleeding.

PMID- 25818253
TI  - Helicobacter pylori and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth affect
      gastrointestinal symptoms in Fabry's disease.

PMID- 25818254
TI  - Importance of sentinel node mapping in Merkel cell carcinoma: important new
      evidence by Tseng et al.

PMID- 25818255
TI  - Social anxiety disorder in recent onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders: The
      relation with symptomatology, anxiety, and social rank.
AB  - Social anxiety disorder (SAD) represents a common comorbidity in schizophrenia,
      but questions remain regarding how this comorbidity is related to symptomatology
      and self-perceptions. Forty-two patients with recent-onset schizophrenia were
      evaluated for SAD, and assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale
      (PANSS), as well as the Social Comparison Scale (SCS), which assessed how
      participants perceived themselves in relation with others (i.e., social rank).
      Eighteen patients met criteria for SAD (SZ+) while 24 patients did not (SZ-).
      Analysis of symptoms using a five-factor model of the PANSS revealed that the SZ-
      group had more severe symptoms than SZ+ on the Cognitive/Disorganization factor.
      Further analyses of individual symptoms demonstrated that the SZ- group was more
      affected in attention, abstract thinking, and cognitive disorganization
      (Cognitive/Disorganization symptoms), while the SZ+ group was more severely
      affected in anxiety, suspiciousness/persecution, and active social avoidance.
      Interestingly, severity of social anxiety symptom ratings correlated with certain
      PANSS symptoms only in the SZ- group. Perception of social rank, which was
      reduced in SZ+, displayed a trend level correlation with the positive symptoms in
      SZ-. Overall, the results suggest that SZ+ and SZ- may have different clinical
      profiles that could be important to consider when tailoring treatments for these
      patients.

PMID- 25818256
TI  - Atrial electrogram discordance during baseline vs reinduced atrial fibrillation:
      Potential ramifications for ablation procedures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There are scant data comparing the electrogram (EGM) signal
      characteristics of atrial fibrillation (AF) at baseline vs electrically induced
      states during ablation procedures. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to
      use novel intracardiac signal analysis techniques to gain insights into the
      effects of catheter ablation and AF reinduction on AF EGMs in patients with
      persistent AF. METHODS: We collected left atrial EGMs in patients undergoing
      first ablation for persistent AF at 3 time intervals: (1) AF at baseline; (2) AF
      after pulmonary vein isolation (PVI); and (3) AF after post-PVI cardioversion and
      subsequent reinduction. We analyzed 2 EGM spectral characteristics: (1) dominant
      frequency and (2) spectral complexity; and 2 EGM morphologic characteristics: (1)
      morphology variation and (2) pattern repetitiveness. RESULTS: There were no
      differences in AF dominant frequency, dominant amplitude, spectral complexity, or
      metrics of EGM morphology or repetitiveness at baseline vs after PVI. However,
      dominant frequency, dominant amplitude, and spectral complexity differed
      significantly after direct current cardioversion and reinduction of AF.
      CONCLUSION: The frequency, spectral complexity, and local EGM morphologies of AF
      do not significantly change over the course of a PVI procedure in patients with
      persistent AF. However, reinduction of AF after direct current cardioversion
      results in different dominant frequency and spectral complexity, consistent with
      a change in the characteristics of the perpetuating source(s) of the newly
      induced AF. These data suggest that AF properties can vary significantly between
      baseline and reinduced AF, with potential clinical ramifications for outcomes of
      catheter ablation procedures.

PMID- 25818257
TI  - Secondary thermophilic microaerobic treatment in the anaerobic digestion of corn
      straw.
AB  - Thermophilic microaerobic pretreatment (TMP) has been proved to be an alternative
      pretreatment method during anaerobic digestion (AD) of corn straw. In this study,
      in order to improve the fermentation efficiency during late AD stage, improve the
      methane yield and volatile solid (VS) removal efficiency, a secondary
      thermophilic microaerobic treatment (STMT) was applied in the late AD stage of
      corn straw. Results showed STMT obviously improved the fermentation efficiency,
      methane yield and VS removal efficiency. The maximum methane yield and maximum VS
      removal efficiency were simultaneously obtained when the oxygen loads during STMT
      was 10 ml/g VS (VS of residual substrate). The maximum methane yield was 380.6
      ml/g VS(substrate), which was 28.45% and 10.61% higher than those of untreated
      and once thermophilic microaerobic pretreated samples, respectively. The maximum
      VS removal efficiency was 81.85%, which was 29.43% and 17.23% higher than those
      of untreated and once thermophilic microaerobic pretreated samples, respectively.

PMID- 25818258
TI  - Butanol production from alkali-pretreated rice straw by co-culture of Clostridium
      thermocellum and Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum.
AB  - The co-culture of cellulolytic Clostridium thermocellum NBRC 103400 and butanol
      producing Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum strain N1-4 produced 5.5 g/L of
      butanol from 40 g/L of delignified rice straw pretreated with 1% (wt/vol) NaOH.
      The addition of cellulase (100 U/g biomass) in a co-culture system significantly
      increased butanol production to 6.9 g/L using 40 g/L of delignified rice straw.
      Compared to the control, this increase in butanol production was attributed to
      the enhancement of exoglucanase activity on lignocellulose degradation in
      experimental samples. The results showed that the co-culture system in
      conjunction with enhanced exoglucanase activity resulted in cost-effective
      butanol production from delignified rice straw.

PMID- 25818259
TI  - Identification and metabolomic analysis of chemical modulators for lipid
      accumulation in Crypthecodinium cohnii.
AB  - In the study, fourteen chemical modulators from five groups (i.e., auxin,
      gibberellin, cytokinin, signal transducer and amine) were evaluated for their
      effects on lipid accumulation in Crypthecodinium cohnii. The results showed that
      naphthoxyacetic acid (BNOA), 2-chlorodracylicacid, salicylic acid (SA), abscisic
      acid (ABA) and ethanolamine (ETA), increased lipid accumulation in C. cohnii by
      10.00-18.78%. In addition, the combined uses of the above chemicals showed that
      two combinations, 1.0mg/L SA & 152.7 mg/L ETA and 4.0mg/L BNOA & 152.7 mg/L ETA,
      increased lipid accumulation by 22.45% and 20.54%, respectively. Moreover, a
      targeted metabolomic approach was employed to decipher the possible mechanisms
      responsible for the increased lipid accumulation, and the results showed that the
      enhanced metabolism in glycolysis and TCA cycle as well as the decreased
      metabolism in PPP pathway could be important for the stimulatory roles of BNOA &
      ETA and SA & ETA on lipid accumulation in C. cohnii.

PMID- 25818260
TI  - Effect of additives on adsorption and desorption behavior of xylanase on acid
      insoluble lignin from corn stover and wheat straw.
AB  - The competitive adsorption between cellulases and additives on lignin in the
      hydrolysis of lignocelluloses has been confirmed, whereas the effect of additives
      on the interaction between xylanase and lignin is not clear. In this work, the
      effects of additives, poly(ethylene glycol) 2000, poly(ethylene glycol) 6000,
      Tween 20, and Tween 80, on the xylanase adsorption/desorption onto/from acid
      insoluble lignin from corn stover (CS-lignin) and wheat straw (WS-lignin) were
      investigated. The results indicated that the additives could adsorb onto isolated
      lignin and reduce the xylanase adsorption onto lignin. Compared to CS-lignin,
      more additives could adsorb onto WS-lignin, making less xylanase adsorbed onto WS
      lignin. In addition, the additives could enhance desorption of xylanase from
      lignin, which might be due to the competitive adsorption between xylanase and
      additives on lignin. The released xylanase from lignin still exhibited hydrolytic
      capacity in the hydrolysis of isolated xylan and xylan in corn stover. 

PMID- 25818261
TI  - Response to the letter to the editor from Dr. Kawada, "Characteristics of
      patients with hypersomnia by actigraphy".

PMID- 25818262
TI  - Characteristics of patients with hypersomnia by actigraphy.

PMID- 25818263
TI  - A rheumatology perspective on cutaneous vasculitis: assessment and investigation
      for the non-rheumatologist.
AB  - Vasculitis, by definition, is inflammation of the vasculature. This inflammation
      can result in either vessel wall destruction causing aneurysm or rupture, or
      stenosis causing ischaemia or necrosis. This autoimmune response does not always
      have a clear cause. Vasculitis is a heterogeneous group of disorders that has
      been categorised not only by primary and secondary causes, but also by the size
      of the affected vessel. The secondary causes that can trigger vasculitis include
      infection (particularly hepatitis B and C and haemorrhagic fever);cancer,
      autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus
      erythematosus (SLE) and Sjogren's; drugs or allergic reactions. As vasculitis can
      affect any part of the vasculature, it can result in a wide range of signs and
      symptoms. However, one of the most common presentations of vasculitis is a rash,
      due to small vessel vasculitis, which is most common. A vasculitic rash has
      certain characteristics that are easily identifiable and differentiate it from
      other rashes. This is a review from a rheumatologist's perspective of how to
      identify vasculitis skin changes. If cutaneous vasculitis is suspected, this
      article identifies other areas of skin that can be affected that need
      identification, in addition to what to screen for in the history and other
      differential diagnoses to consider. Subsequently, the article addresses the key
      investigations to request and a brief overview of the treatment principles for
      primary vasculitis. 

PMID- 25818264
TI  - Analysis of the clinical safety of intralesional injection of collagenase
      Clostridium histolyticum (CCH) for adults with Peyronie's disease (PD).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the safety of intralesional injection of collagenase
      Clostridium histolyticum (CCH) for the treatment of Peyronie's disease (PD),
      using a pooled safety analysis of patients who received at least one dose of CCH
      in any of six clinical studies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients from six clinical
      studies, including three randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies and
      three open-label safety and efficacy studies, were included if they had received
      at least one dose of 0.58 mg CCH. Adverse events (AEs), including treatment
      emergent AEs, treatment-related AEs, and serious AEs (SAEs), were characterised.
      Potential immunogenicity-related AEs were evaluated through examination of
      increased anti-AUX-I and anti-AUX-II antibody levels, AEs, and reported terms
      possibly associated with immunological or hypersensitivity events. RESULTS:
      Overall, 85.8% of 1 044 pooled patients reported at least one treatment-related
      AE. The most frequently reported (>=25.0% of patients) treatment-related AEs
      included penile haematoma (82.7% had the verbatim 'penile bruising'), penile
      pain, and penile swelling. Most patients (75.2%) had mild- or moderate-severity
      treatment-related AEs, and 14.2% had no treatment-related AEs. Nine patients
      (0.9%) had treatment-related SAEs: five with penile haematoma and four with
      corporal rupture. There was no association between AEs and anti-AUX-I or anti-AUX
      II antibody levels across treatment cycles, and no systemic hypersensitivity
      reactions occurred. CONCLUSIONS: This pooled safety analysis shows that although
      non-serious and serious treatment-related AEs can occur after CCH treatment for
      PD, most were non-serious and the SAEs were manageable. Providers should be
      prepared to manage possible SAEs.

PMID- 25818265
TI  - New cellular mechanisms of gap junction degradation and recycling.
AB  - BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Connexins (Cxs), the constitutive proteins of gap
      junctions, are key actors of many physiological processes. Therefore, alterations
      of Cx expression and degradation lead to the development of physiopathological
      disorders. Because of the formation of a double membrane vesicle termed annular
      gap junction (AGJ), gap junction degradation is a unique physiological process
      for which many cellular aspects remain unclear. RESULTS: By using a combination
      of time-lapse fluorescence microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron
      microscopy, we evidenced new specific cellular events concerning gap junction
      degradation and recycling. Indeed, by time lapse video microscopy we
      demonstrated, for the first time to our knowledge, that an entire AGJ can be
      fully recycled back to the plasma membrane. Moreover, we dissected the
      degradative processes of gap junction by electron microscopy approaches.
      Interestingly, in addition to canonical autophagy and heterophagy pathways,
      previously described, we discovered that both pathways could sometimes
      intermingle. Strikingly, our results also highlighted a new lysosome-based
      autophagy pathway that could play a pivotal role in common autophagy degradation.
      CONCLUSIONS: The present investigation reveals that AGJ degradation is a more
      complex process that it was previously thought. First, a complete recycling of
      the gap junction plaque after its internalisation could occur. Second, the
      degradation of this peculiar double membrane structure is possible through
      autophagy, heterophagy, hetero-autophagy or by lysosomal-based autophagy.
      Altogether, this work underlines novel aspects of gap junction degradation that
      could be extended to other cell biology processes.

PMID- 25818266
TI  - Management of resistant hypertension: aldosterone antagonists or intensification
      of diuretic therapy?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: No consensus has been established as to which is the best fourth-line
      agent in patients with resistant hypertension (RHT). The aim of the present study
      was to assess the effect of intensifying diuretic treatment with loop diuretic
      (furosemide) or aldosterone antagonist (spironolactone) on blood pressure (BP)
      control in RHT. METHODS: The study population comprised 30 patients with RHT who
      were divided into two treatment arms. Fifteen patients received furosemide 40
      mg/day and 15 patients received spironolactone 25 mg/day. Ambulatory BP
      monitoring was performed baseline, 3 and 6 months. RESULTS: Baseline BP was 162
      +/- 8/90 +/- 6 mmHg, 70% men, mean age 63.3 +/- 9.1 years 56.1% diabetic and
      estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 55.8 +/- 16.5 mL/min per 1.73 m(2) .
      There were no significant differences between groups at baseline in age, gender,
      percentage diabetics, eGFR, BP, number of antihypertensive drugs, or aldosterone
      levels. At 6 months, systolic BP decreased by 24 +/- 9.2 mmHg (from 163.6 +/- 8.6
      to 139.6 +/- 8.1 mmHg) in the spironolactone group, compared with 13.8 +/- 2.8
      mmHg (from 162 +/- 7.9 to 148 +/- 6.4 mmHg) in the furosemide group (P < 0.01).
      Diastolic BP fell 11 +/- 8.1 mmHg in the spironolactone group compared with 5.2
      +/- 2.2 mmHg in the furosemide group (P < 0.01). Significant reduction in urinary
      albumin creatinine ratio (from 173 +/- 268 to 14 +/- 24 mg/g, P < 0.01) was
      observed in the spironolactone group at 6 months. Multiple regression analysis
      showed that only treatment with spironolactone was associated with control of BP
      < 140/90 mmHg at 6 months. No severe adverse events were recorded. CONCLUSION:
      Spironolactone is more effective than furosemide for control of BP in RHT
      patients, with a positive added effect on albuminuria. Spironolactone is safe in
      patients with mild kidney impairment, although serum potassium should be closely
      monitored, especially in diabetics.

PMID- 25818267
TI  - The effect of occupational noise exposure on tinnitus and sound-induced auditory
      fatigue among obstetrics personnel: a cross-sectional study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: There is a lack of research on effects of occupational noise exposure
      in traditionally female-dominated workplaces. Therefore, the aim of this study
      was to assess risk of noise-induced hearing-related symptoms among obstetrics
      personnel. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was performed at an obstetric ward in
      Sweden including a questionnaire among all employees and sound level measurements
      in 61 work shifts at the same ward. PARTICIPANTS: 115 female employees responded
      to a questionnaire (72% of all 160 employees invited). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
      Self-reported hearing-related symptoms in relation to calculated occupational
      noise exposure dose and measured sound levels. RESULTS: Sound levels exceeded the
      80 dB LAeq limit for protection of hearing in 46% of the measured work shifts.
      One or more hearing-related symptoms were reported by 55% of the personnel. In
      logistic regression models, a significant association was found between
      occupational noise exposure dose and tinnitus (OR=1.04, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.09) and
      sound-induced auditory fatigue (OR=1.04, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.07). Work-related
      stress and noise annoyance at work were reported by almost half of the personnel.
      Sound-induced auditory fatigue was associated with work-related stress and noise
      annoyance at work, although stress slightly missed significance in a
      multivariable model. No significant interactions were found. CONCLUSIONS: This
      study presents new results showing that obstetrics personnel are at risk of noise
      induced hearing-related symptoms. Current exposure levels at the workplace are
      high and occupational noise exposure dose has significant effects on tinnitus and
      sound-induced auditory fatigue among the personnel. These results indicate that
      preventative action regarding noise exposure is required in obstetrics care and
      that risk assessments may be needed in previously unstudied non-industrial
      communication-intense sound environments.

PMID- 25818268
TI  - The difficulty of professional continuation among female doctors in Japan: a
      qualitative study of alumnae of 13 medical schools in Japan.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the difficulties Japanese female doctors face in
      continuing professional practice. DESIGN: A qualitative study using the Kawakita
      Jiro method. SETTING: A survey conducted in 2011 of 13 private Japanese medical
      school alumni associations. PARTICIPANTS: 359 female doctors. PRIMARY OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Barriers of balancing work and gender role. RESULTS: The female doctors
      reported that professional practice was a struggle with long working hours due to
      a current shortage of doctors in Japan. There was also a severe shortage of
      childcare facilities in the workplace. Some women appeared to have low confidence
      in balancing the physician's job and personal life, resulting in low levels of
      professional pursuit. There appeared to be two types of stereotypical gender
      roles, including one expected from society, stating that "child rearing is a
      woman's job", and the other perceived by the women themselves, that some women
      had a very strong desire to raise their own children. Male doctors and some
      female doctors who were single or older were perceived to be less enthusiastic
      about supporting women who worked while raising children because these coworkers
      feared that they would have to perform additional work as a result of the women
      taking long periods of leave. CONCLUSIONS: Important factors identified for
      promoting the continuation of professional practice among female doctors in Japan
      were the need to improve working conditions, including cutting back on long
      working hours, a solution to the shortage of nurseries, a need for the
      introduction of educational interventions to clarify professional
      responsibilities, and redefinition of the gender division of labour for male and
      female doctors. In addition, we identified a need to modernise current employment
      practices by introducing temporary posts to cover maternity leave and introducing
      flexible working hours during specialist training, thus supporting and
      encouraging more women to continue their medical careers.

PMID- 25818269
TI  - Neuropsychiatric and cardiometabolic comorbidities in patients with previously
      diagnosed Cushing's disease: a longitudinal observational study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Only few studies have systematically investigated neuropsychiatric
      aspects in patients with Cushing's disease (CD). Pain syndromes have been
      described in patients with pituitary adenomas, but so far no systematical
      investigation has been conducted in patients with CD. Additionally, CD has an
      association with cardiometabolic comorbidities which ultimately leads to
      increased morbidity and mortality. Long-term treatment of the hypercortisolic
      state cannot prevent the persistence of an unfavourable cardiometabolic risk
      profile. Finally, chronic hypercortisolism is known to impact the health-related
      quality of life (HRQoL). We aim to systematically investigate the
      neuropsychiatric and cardiometabolic comorbidities, as well as assess the HRQoL,
      in patients with previously diagnosed CD in a longitudinal fashion. METHODS AND
      ANALYSIS: In this longitudinal study, we will assess 20 patients with CD
      displaying biochemical control 24 months after recruitment in the initial cross
      sectional study (n=80). This will be a mixed cohort including patients after
      surgical, after radiation therapy and/or under current medical treatment for CD.
      Primary outcomes include changes in mean urinary free cortisol and changes in
      specific pain patterns. Secondary/exploratory neuropsychiatric domains include
      depression, anxiety, personality, sleep, body image and quality of life.
      Secondary/exploratory cardiometabolic domains include anthropometric parameters,
      cardiometabolic risk biomarkers and insulin resistance. Additional domains will
      be investigated if warranted by clinical indication. Safety assessment under
      medical therapy will include liver enzymes, ECG abnormalities and hyperglycaemia.
      ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Risk of damage from study-conditioned measures is very
      small and considered ethically justified. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry may
      call for detailed fracture risk assessment. However, the radiation dose is very
      small and only administered on clinical indication; therefore, it is considered
      ethically justified. This protocol has been approved by the local medical ethics
      committee.

PMID- 25818270
TI  - The AIDS epidemic and economic input impact factors in Chongqing, China, from
      2006 to 2012: a spatial-temporal analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyse the spatial-temporal clustering of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in
      Chongqing and to explore its association with the economic indices of AIDS
      prevention and treatment. METHODS: Data on the HIV/AIDS epidemic and economic
      indices of AIDS prevention and treatment were obtained from the annual reports of
      the Chongqing Municipal Center for Disease Control for 2006-2012. Spatial
      clustering analysis, temporal-spatial clustering analysis, and spatial regression
      were used to conduct statistical analysis. RESULTS: The annual average new HIV
      infection rate, incidence rate for new AIDS cases, and rate of people living with
      HIV in Chongqing were 5.97, 2.42 and 28.12 per 100,000, respectively, for 2006
      2012. The HIV/AIDS epidemic showed a non-random spatial distribution (Moran's
      I>=0.310; p<0.05). The epidemic hotspots were distributed in the 15 mid-western
      counties. The most likely clusters were primarily located in the central region
      and southwest of Chongqing and occurred in 2010-2012. The regression coefficients
      of the total amount of special funds allocated to AIDS and to the public
      awareness unit for the numbers of new HIV cases, new AIDS cases, and people
      living with HIV were 0.775, 0.976 and 0.816, and -0.188, -0.259 and -0.215
      (p<0.002), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The Chongqing HIV/AIDS epidemic showed
      temporal-spatial clustering and was mainly clustered in the mid-western and south
      western counties, showing an upward trend over time. The amount of special funds
      dedicated to AIDS and to the public awareness unit showed positive and negative
      relationships with HIV/AIDS spatial clustering, respectively.

PMID- 25818271
TI  - Risk factors for postneonatal, infant, child and under-5 mortality in Nigeria: a
      pooled cross-sectional analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To identify common factors associated with post-neonatal, infant,
      child and under-5 mortality in Nigeria. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A cross
      sectional data of three Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS) for the
      years 2003, 2008 and 2013 were used. A multistage, stratified, cluster random
      sampling method was used to gather information on 63,844 singleton live-born
      infants of the most recent birth of a mother within a 5-year period before each
      survey was examined using cox regression models. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
      Postneonatal mortality (death between 1 and 11 months), infant mortality (death
      between birth and 11 months), child mortality (death between 12 and 59 months)
      and under-5 mortality (death between birth and 59 months). RESULTS: Multivariable
      analyses indicated that children born to mothers with no formal education was
      significantly associated with mortality across all four age ranges (adjusted
      HR=1.30, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.66 for postneonatal; HR=1.38, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.84 for
      infant; HR=2.13, 95% CI 1.56 to 2.89 for child; HR=1.19, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.41 for
      under-5). Other significant factors included living in rural areas (HR=1.48, 95%
      CI 1.16 to 1.89 for postneonatal; HR=1.23, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.47 for infant;
      HR=1.52, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.99 for child; HR=1.29, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.50 for under
      5), and poor households (HR=2.47, 95% CI 1.76 to 3.47 for postneonatal; HR=1.40,
      95% CI 1.10 to 1.78 for infant; HR=1.72, 95% CI 1.19 to 2.49 for child; HR=1.43,
      95% CI 1.17 to 1.76 for under-5). CONCLUSIONS: This study found that no formal
      education, poor households and living in rural areas increased the risk of
      postneonatal, infant, child and under-5 mortality among Nigerian children.
      Community-based interventions for reducing under-5 deaths are needed and should
      target children born to mothers of low socioeconomic status.

PMID- 25818273
TI  - Health technology assessment in Switzerland: a descriptive analysis of "Coverage
      with Evidence Development" decisions from 1996 to 2013.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To identify factors associated with the decisions of the Federal
      Department of Home Affairs concerning coverage with evidence development (CED)
      for contested novel medical technologies in Switzerland. DESIGN: Quantitative,
      retrospective, descriptive analysis of publicly available material and
      prospective, structured, qualitative interviews with key stakeholders. SETTING:
      All 152 controversial medical services decided on by the Federal Commission on
      Health Insurance Benefits within the framework of the new federal law on health
      insurance in Switzerland from 1997 to 2013, with focus on 33 technologies
      assigned initially to CED and 33 to evidence development without coverage. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASURES: Factors associated with numbers and type of contested services
      assigned to CED per year, the duration and final outcome of the evaluations and
      perceptions of key stakeholders. RESULTS: The rate of CED decisions (82 total;
      median 1.5/year; range 0-9/year), the time to final decision (4.5 years median;
      0.75 to +11 years) and the probability of a final 'yes' varied over time. In
      logistic regression models, the change of office of the commission provided the
      best explanation for the observed outcomes. Good intentions but absence of
      scientific criteria for decisions were reported as major comments by the
      stakeholders. CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of CED enabled access to some
      promising technologies early in their life cycle, and might have triggered
      establishment of registries and research. Impact on patients' outcome and costs
      remain unknown. The primary association of institutional changes with measured
      end points illustrates the need for evaluation of the current health technology
      assessment (HTA) system.

PMID- 25818272
TI  - Assessment of PaO2/FiO2 for stratification of patients with moderate and severe
      acute respiratory distress syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A recent update of the definition of acute respiratory distress
      syndrome (ARDS) proposed an empirical classification based on ratio of arterial
      partial pressure of oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) at ARDS
      onset. Since the proposal did not mandate PaO2/FiO2 calculation under
      standardised ventilator settings (SVS), we hypothesised that a stratification
      based on baseline PaO2/FiOv would not provide accurate assessment of lung injury
      severity. DESIGN: A prospective, multicentre, observational study. SETTING: A
      network of teaching hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: 478 patients with eligible criteria
      for moderate (100<PaO2/FiO2<=200) and severe (PaO2/FiO2<=100) ARDS and followed
      until hospital discharge. INTERVENTIONS: We examined physiological and ventilator
      parameters in association with the PaO2/FiO2 at ARDS onset, after 24 h of usual
      care and at 24 h under a SVS. At 24 h, patients were reclassified as severe,
      moderate, mild (200<PaO2/FiO2<=300) ARDS and non-ARDS (PaO2/FiO2>300). PRIMARY
      AND SECONDARY OUTCOMES: Group severity and hospital mortality. RESULTS: At ARDS
      onset, 173 patients had a PaO2/FiO2<=100 but only 38.7% met criteria for severe
      ARDS at 24 h under SVS. When assessed under SVS, 61.3% of patients with severe
      ARDS were reclassified as moderate, mild and non-ARDS, while lung severity and
      hospital mortality changed markedly with every PaO2/FiO2 category (p<0.000001).
      Our model of risk stratification outperformed the stratification using baseline
      PaO2/FiO2 and non-standardised PaO2/FiO2 at 24 h, when analysed by the predictive
      receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve: area under the ROC curve for
      stratification at baseline was 0.583 (95% CI 0.525 to 0.636), 0.605 (95% CI 0.552
      to 0.658) at 24 h without SVS and 0.693 (95% CI 0.645 to 0.742) at 24 h under SVS
      (p<0.000001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the need for patient assessment
      under SVS at 24 h after ARDS onset to assess disease severity, and have
      implications for the diagnosis and management of ARDS patients. TRIAL
      REGISTRATION NUMBERS: NCT00435110 and NCT00736892.

PMID- 25818274
TI  - Body mass, cardiovascular risk and metabolic characteristics of young persons
      presenting for mental healthcare in Sydney, Australia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the body mass, cardiovascular and metabolic
      characteristics of young people presenting for mental healthcare. DESIGN: Cross
      sectional assessments of body mass, cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors.
      SETTING: Two primary-care based sites in Sydney, Australia for young people in
      the early stages of mental disorders. PARTICIPANTS: A clinical sample of young
      people (12-30 years) with mental health problems. OUTCOME MEASURES: Daily smoking
      rates, body mass index (BMI), blood glucose and lipids, blood pressure (BP) and
      pulse rate. RESULTS: Of 1005 young people who had their BMI determined (62%
      female; 19.0+/-3.5 years), three quarters (739/1005) also had BP recordings and
      one-third (298/1005) had blood sampling. Clinically, 775 were assigned to one of
      three diagnostic categories (anxious-depression: n=541; mania-fatigue, n=104;
      developmental-psychotic n=130). The profile of BMI categories approximated that
      of the comparable segments of the Australian population. Older age, lower levels
      of social functioning and higher systolic BP were all associated with high BMI.
      In a subset (n=129), current use of any psychotropic medication was associated
      (p<0.05) with increased BMI. Almost one-third of cases were current daily smokers
      (compared to population rate of 11%). Males had a higher proportion of raised
      glucose and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) compared to females (9.3% and 34.1% vs
      2.1% and 5.9%, respectively). Overall, there was no relationship between BMI and
      fasting glucose but significant relationships with triglycerides and HDL were
      noted. Furthermore, there were no significant relationships between diagnostic
      subgroup and metabolic profiles. CONCLUSIONS: Daily smoking rates are increased
      among young people presenting for mental healthcare. However, these young people
      do not demonstrate adverse cardiometabolic profiles. The high levels of smoking,
      and association of BMI with adverse social circumstances, suggest that risk
      factors for chronic disease are already present and likely to be compounded by
      medication and social disadvantage.

PMID- 25818275
TI  - Changes in HIV and syphilis prevalence among female sex workers from three serial
      cross-sectional surveys in Karnataka state, South India.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This paper examined trends over time in condom use, and the
      prevalences of HIV and syphilis, among female sex workers (FSWs) in South India.
      DESIGN: Data from three rounds of cross-sectional surveys were analysed, with HIV
      and high-titre syphilis prevalence as outcome variables. Multivariable analysis
      was applied to examine changes in prevalence over time. SETTING: Five districts
      in Karnataka state, India. PARTICIPANTS: 7015 FSWs were interviewed over three
      rounds of surveys (round 1=2277; round 2=2387 and round 3=2351). Women who
      reported selling sex in exchange for money or gifts in the past month, and aged
      between 18 and 49 years, were included. INTERVENTIONS: The surveys were conducted
      to monitor a targeted HIV prevention programme during 2004-2012. The main
      interventions included peer-led community outreach, services for the treatment
      and prevention of sexually transmitted infections, and empowering FSWs through
      community mobilisation. RESULTS: HIV prevalence declined significantly from
      rounds 1 to 3, from 19.6% to 10.8% (adjusted OR (AOR)=0.48, p<0.001); high-titre
      syphilis prevalence declined from 5.9% to 2.4% (AOR=0.50, p<0.001). Reductions
      were observed in most substrata of FSWs, although reductions among new sex
      workers, and those soliciting clients using mobile phones or from home, were not
      statistically significant. Condom use 'always' with occasional clients increased
      from 73% to 91% (AOR=1.9, p<0.001), with repeat clients from 52% to 86% (AOR=5.0,
      p<0.001) and with regular partners from 12% to 30% (AOR=4.2, p<0.001). Increased
      condom use was associated with exposure to the programme. However, condom use
      with regular partners remained low. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalences of HIV infection
      and high-titre syphilis among FSWs have steadily declined with increased condom
      use. Further reductions in prevalence will require intensification of prevention
      efforts for new FSWs and those soliciting clients using mobile phones or from
      home, as well as increasing condom use in the context of regular partnerships.

PMID- 25818276
TI  - The Australian primary healthcare experiment: a national survey of Medicare
      Locals.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study are to evaluate the development and
      implementation of Medicare Locals as new primary care organisations and consider
      the implications of these findings for the wider challenge of strengthening
      primary healthcare in Australia and internationally. DESIGN: National survey of
      Medicare Locals which involved the use of content analysis and a descriptive
      survey tool. SETTING: 61 Medicare Locals in Australia. PARTICIPANTS: The survey
      was distributed electronically to all 61 Medicare Local Chief Executive Officers
      (CEOs) between October and December 2013. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The research was
      interested in exploring the following areas; the form and function of Medicare
      Locals; the confidence and capacity of Medicare Locals to perform against their
      objectives around population planning and system integration; their ability to
      engage relevant stakeholder groups; and the barriers and facilitators to reform.
      RESULTS: A total of 43 (70%) of Medicare Locals completed the survey with
      representation from six of the eight Australian states and Territories. Results
      suggest differences in the form and function of the Medicare Local organisations
      and considerable diversity in the implementation of Medicare Local organisations
      across Australia. This diversity and lack of guidance from government impacted on
      the overall success of the reform. Other barriers to reform included difficulties
      in stakeholder relationships and limited incentives (financial and other) to
      drive and influence change. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study produce
      important insights for primary care reform in Australia; and internationally it
      adds to the growing body of knowledge around primary care reform.

PMID- 25818277
TI  - An investigation into the therapeutic effects of statins with metformin on
      polycystic ovary syndrome: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the therapeutic effects of statins with metformin on
      polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). SETTINGS: Endocrinology department.
      PARTICIPANTS: MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials
      were searched until October 2014. Studies comparing statins and placebo, as well
      as the combination of statins and metformin and metformin alone, were included in
      the analysis. INTERVENTIONS: Data were independently extracted by two
      researchers; any convergence was resolved by a third reviewer. PRIMARY AND
      SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The following properties were extracted from the
      qualified trials to identify the effects of statins: clinical variables,
      metabolic characteristics, hormone outcomes, sign of inflammation, glucose
      parameters and insulin outcomes. RESULTS: Data from four trials comparing statin
      and metformin with metformin alone were analysed. The combination of statins and
      metformin decreases the levels of C reactive protein (standardised mean
      difference (SMD) -0.91; 95% CI -1.81 to -0.02; p=0.046), triglyceride (SMD -1.37;
      95% CI -2.46 to -0.28; p=0.014), total cholesterol (SMD -1.28; 95% CI -1.59 to 
      0.97; p=0.000) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (SMD -0.74; 95% CI 
      1.03 to -0.44; p=0.000). However, the combined therapy fails to reduce fasting
      insulin (SMD -0.92; 95% CI -2.07 to 0.24; p=0.120), homeostasis model assessment
      of insulin resistance (SMD -1.15; 95% CI -3.36 to 1.06; p=0.309) and total
      testosterone (SMD -1.12; 95% CI -2.29 to 0.05; p=0.061). Analysis of the five
      trials comparing statin with placebo shows that statin monotherapy reduces LDL
      cholesterol, triglyceride and total cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS: Combined statin and
      metformin therapy can improve lipid and inflammation parameters, but cannot
      effectively improve insulin sensitivity and reduce hyperandrogenism in women with
      PCOS. A large-scale randomised controlled study must be conducted to ascertain
      the long-term effects of the therapy.

PMID- 25818278
TI  - Exploring the effect of space and place on response to exercise therapy for knee
      and hip pain--a protocol for a double-blind randomised controlled clinical trial:
      the CONEX trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Context effects are described as effects of a given treatment, not
      directly caused by the treatment itself, but rather caused by the context in
      which treatment is delivered. Exercise is a recommended core treatment in
      clinical guidelines for musculoskeletal disorders. Although moderately effective
      overall, variation is seen in size of response to exercise across randomised
      controlled trial (RCT) studies. Part of this variation may be related to the fact
      that exercise interventions are performed in different physical environments,
      which may affect participants differently. The study aims to investigate the
      effect of exercising in a contextually enhanced physical environment for 8 weeks
      in people with knee or hip pain. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study is a double
      blind RCT. Eligible participants are 35 years or older with persisting knee
      and/or hip pain for 3 months. Participants are randomised to one of three groups:
      (1) exercise in a contextually enhanced environment, (2) exercise in a standard
      environment and (3) waiting list. The contextually enhanced environment is
      located in a newly built facility, has large windows providing abundant daylight
      and overlooks a recreational park. The standard environment is in a basement, has
      artificial lighting and is marked by years of use; that is, resembling many
      clinical environments. The primary outcome is the participant's global perceived
      effect rated on a seven-point Likert scale after 8 weeks exercise. Patient
      reported and objective secondary outcomes are included. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION:
      The Regional Scientific Ethical Committee for Southern Denmark has approved the
      study. Study findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications and
      presented at national and international conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:
      NCT02043613.

PMID- 25818279
TI  - Cryogenic-temperature electron microscopy direct imaging of carbon nanotubes and
      graphene solutions in superacids.
AB  - Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a powerful tool for imaging liquid and
      semiliquid systems. While cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM)
      is a standard technique in many fields, cryogenic scanning electron microscopy
      (cryo-SEM) is still not that widely used and is far less developed. The vast
      majority of systems under investigation by cryo-EM involve either water or
      organic components. In this paper, we introduce the use of novel cryo-TEM and
      cryo-SEM specimen preparation and imaging methodologies, suitable for highly
      acidic and very reactive systems. Both preserve the native nanostructure in the
      system, while not harming the expensive equipment or the user. We present
      examples of direct imaging of single-walled, multiwalled carbon nanotubes and
      graphene, dissolved in chlorosulfonic acid and oleum. Moreover, we demonstrate
      the ability of these new cryo-TEM and cryo-SEM methodologies to follow phase
      transitions in carbon nanotube (CNT)/superacid systems, starting from dilute
      solutions up to the concentrated nematic liquid-crystalline CNT phases, used as
      the 'dope' for all-carbon-fibre spinning. Originally developed for direct imaging
      of CNTs and graphene dissolution and self-assembly in superacids, these
      methodologies can be implemented for a variety of highly acidic systems, paving a
      way for a new field of nonaqueous cryogenic electron microscopy. 

PMID- 25818280
TI  - Fighting fire with fire: a patent for the combined application of oncolytic
      herpes viruses and antiangiogenic agents in the battle against human cancers.
AB  - Specific elimination of tumor cells by replication-competent viral vectors is
      mediated through active viral replication, spread in tumor tissue and direct
      cytopathic effects. In addition, immune responses are induced against virally
      infected tumor cells. Recently, oncolytic vectors were constructed with mutations
      in neurovirulence genes or DNA synthesis genes. Viral replication should only be
      restricted to malignant cells to prevent severe viral disease. These constructed
      vectors terminate cells by mechanisms different from standard anti-cancer
      therapies; they offer another treatment modality which can be used in combination
      with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and gene therapies with additive or synergistic
      effects. Combination therapies are usually necessary to control tumorigenic
      diseases. Inhibiting angiogenesis represents another new field in current
      anticancer treatment development. Combining an oncolytic virus with
      antiangiogenesis is able to potentiate both treatment effects compared to each
      treatment modality alone in both primary and advanced disease. This combination
      might be beneficial for cancer patients in the future. We have also outlined some
      relevant patents. 

PMID- 25818281
TI  - Cervical lymphadenopathy secondary to rhabdomyosarcoma presenting as Horner
      syndrome in an infant.
AB  - A 4-week-old boy with left ptosis, anisocoria, and a mass on his left hand was
      diagnosed with Horner syndrome. The diagnosis precipitated a work-up for a
      possible malignant etiology. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated enlarged
      left cervical and axillary lymph nodes. A biopsy of the hand lesion confirmed
      embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, but a biopsy of the axillary lymph node was negative.
      Mechanical pressure by noncancerous enlarged lymph nodes is hypothesized to cause
      the Horner syndrome. 

PMID- 25818282
TI  - Intraocular pressure control with echothiophate iodide in children's eyes with
      glaucoma after cataract extraction.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report the intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering ability and side
      effect profile of echothiophate iodide (EI) in the control of glaucoma in aphakic
      and pseudophakic eyes of children. METHODS: The medical records of all aphakic
      and pseudophakic children treated with EI for IOP lowering after developing
      glaucoma were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 32 eyes of 21
      children were included. Mean age at cataract removal was 3.9 months (range, 5
      days-2.7 years). Mean age of glaucoma diagnosis was 3.2 years (range, 40 days-12
      years). Mean duration from cataract removal and diagnosis of glaucoma was 2.9
      years (range, 16 days-12 years). EI reduced IOP in 31 of 32 eyes. Mean baseline
      IOP (29.1 +/- 5.3 mm Hg) dropped to 19.6 +/- 6.7 mm Hg. Six eyes had IOP spikes
      that could not be controlled with other medications when commercial
      unavailability led to discontinuation of EI. Average duration of use was 3.5
      years. Mean final IOP on an average of 2.2 medications was 16.9 +/- 5.1 mm Hg 7.9
      years following initial glaucoma diagnosis. Four eyes required surgery for
      uncontrolled IOP. Side-effects included transient redness (3/32 eyes), not
      necessitating discontinuation of EI. CONCLUSIONS: EI lowered IOP to within an
      acceptable range with no significant adverse events. In several patients it was
      the only pharmacologic agent that was successful.

PMID- 25818283
TI  - Pediatric eye injuries due to nonpowder guns in the United States, 2002-2012.
AB  - PURPOSE: To identify epidemiologic trends in nonpowder gun-related pediatric eye
      injuries and to determine factors associated with severe injury requiring
      hospital admission. METHODS: US emergency department data on pediatric eye
      injuries between 2002 and 2012 were reviewed using the National Electronic Injury
      Surveillance System. Literature review was conducted to determine trends in
      visual outcomes after treatment and use of eye protection. RESULTS: In 2012
      roughly 3,161 children were treated in US emergency departments for nonpowder gun
      related eye injuries. Since 2010 rates of severe nonpowder gun pediatric eye
      injury have increased by over 500% (P = 0.039). Specifically, while rates of
      hospital admission due to paintball gun eye injury have dropped precipitously (P
      = 0.0077), rates of admissions for air gun eye injuries have increased by over
      600% since 2010 (P = 0.033). Children sustaining eye injury due to air guns are
      more likely to be diagnosed and admitted with foreign body or ocular puncture
      injury. Roughly 28% of documented cases of airsoft or BB gun-related injury had
      visual acuity worse than 20/50 after initial treatment. Over 98% of injuries
      occurred without eye protection. CONCLUSIONS: Air guns are rising in popularity
      and now account for the majority of pediatric eye injuries requiring hospital
      admissions. These eye injuries occur without ocular protection and may lead to
      permanent eye injury. Increasing regulations for eye protection, sales, and usage
      of air guns are needed to prevent serious pediatric eye injuries.

PMID- 25818284
TI  - Permanent tonic pupil following inferior oblique myectomy.
AB  - The postoperative dilation of the pupil following an inferior oblique weakening
      procedure is a disconcerting event. Previous studies have reported nearly full
      recovery of the pupil within a few months. We report the case of a patient with
      who experienced permanent tonic pupil following inferior oblique myectomy. 

PMID- 25818285
TI  - Ocular abnormalities in patients treated with a novel anti-GD2 monoclonal
      antibody, hu14.18K322A.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the incidence of and factors associated with the
      development of mydriasis and impaired accommodation in patients with refractory
      or recurrent neuroblastoma receiving the anti-GD2 antibody hu14.18K322A. METHODS:
      The medical records of eligible patients with refractory or recurrent
      neuroblastoma who received escalating doses of hu14.18K322A, ranging from 2 to 70
      mg/m(2)/dose for 4 consecutive days every 28 days, were retrospectively reviewed
      to identify ocular abnormalities arising during the treatment period. RESULTS: A
      total of 38 patients (median age, 7 years; 23 males) were included. All patients
      underwent comprehensive eye examinations prior to each course of therapy.
      Mydriasis was seen in 13 patients (34%), and impaired accommodation was seen in 9
      (24%), indicating a dose-related effect between hu14.18K322A and both mydriasis
      (P = 0.021) and impaired accommodation (P = 0.029). Age and sex were not
      associated with ocular abnormalities. Ocular symptoms resolved in the majority of
      patients after the drug was discontinued. CONCLUSIONS: Side effects of mydriasis
      and impaired accommodation have a dose-dependent relationship with hu14.18K322A.
      These side effects do not warrant discontinuation of treatment, as they usually
      resolve after completion of therapy. Management of ocular side effects should
      focus on treating symptoms with manifest refraction, bifocals, or tinted
      spectacles.

PMID- 25818286
TI  - Inverted mucoepidermoid papilloma of conjunctiva in a child.
AB  - Inverted papillomas are benign epithelial tumors usually arising from the mucous
      membrane of the sinonasal cavity and the urinary tract. Similar tumors of the
      conjunctiva are much rarer. We describe a case of juxtalimbal inverted papilloma
      in an 11-year-old boy who presented with a pigmented lesion that simulated a
      conjunctival nevus. Excisional biopsy established the diagnosis of inverted
      papilloma. The patient was carefully followed for 2 years, because the tumor's
      behavior in the conjunctiva is unknown. There was no recurrence of the lesion. 

PMID- 25818287
TI  - Examination about the effects of future career choice on time perspective in
      Japanese high school students.
AB  - This study investigated types of career choice in high school students and
      examined the effects of career paths on time perspective development. The
      participants were 4,756 third grade students from nine public high schools in
      Tokyo. The high school questionnaire survey was conducted throughout autumn of
      2008, 2009, and 2010. One year later, 962 graduates participated in the follow-up
      questionnaire survey by post. Distinguishing gender difference among career paths
      was found. Girls tend to choose significantly shorter learning careers (p < .01),
      for example junior college or vocational school in comparison to boys. Career
      indecision, i.e., students who could not set a concrete future career in high
      school, had significantly more negative time perspective than other groups (p <
      .05), which was caused by a deficiency of their basic cognitive ability.
      Longitudinal data showed different patterns of fluctuation in time perspective
      between "school to school transition" and "school to work transition". It is
      suggested that the "school to work transition" tends to be more critical for
      adolescents and has negative effects on time perspective. These results suggest
      that the goal content in careers may promote or inhibit the formation of time
      perspectives during the graduation transition.

PMID- 25818288
TI  - UHRF1 contributes to DNA damage repair as a lesion recognition factor and
      nuclease scaffold.
AB  - We identified ubiquitin-like with PHD and RING finger domain 1 (UHRF1) as a
      binding factor for DNA interstrand crosslink (ICL) lesions through affinity
      purification of ICL-recognition activities. UHRF1 is recruited to DNA lesions in
      vivo and binds directly to ICL-containing DNA. UHRF1-deficient cells display
      increased sensitivity to a variety of DNA damages. We found that loss of UHRF1
      led to retarded lesion processing and reduced recruitment of ICL repair nucleases
      to the site of DNA damage. UHRF1 interacts physically with both ERCC1 and MUS81,
      two nucleases involved in the repair of ICL lesions. Depletion of both UHRF1 and
      components of the Fanconi anemia (FA) pathway resulted in increased DNA damage
      sensitivity compared to defect of each mechanism alone. These results suggest
      that UHRF1 promotes recruitment of lesion-processing activities via its affinity
      to recognize DNA damage and functions as a nuclease recruitment scaffold in
      parallel to the FA pathway. 

PMID- 25818289
TI  - Kinesin's front head is gated by the backward orientation of its neck linker.
AB  - Kinesin-1 is a two-headed motor that takes processive 8-nm hand-over-hand steps
      and transports intracellular cargos toward the plus-end of microtubules.
      Processive motility requires a gating mechanism to coordinate the mechanochemical
      cycles of the two heads. Kinesin gating involves neck linker (NL), a short
      peptide that interconnects the heads, but it remains unclear whether gating is
      facilitated by the NL orientation or tension. Using optical trapping, we measured
      the force-dependent microtubule release rate of kinesin monomers under different
      nucleotide conditions and pulling geometries. We find that pulling NL in the
      backward direction inhibits nucleotide binding and subsequent release from the
      microtubule. This inhibition is independent of the magnitude of tension (2-8 pN)
      exerted on NL. Our results provide evidence that the front head of a kinesin
      dimer is gated by the backward orientation of its NL until the rear head releases
      from the microtubule. 

PMID- 25818290
TI  - Absence of SARM1 rescues development and survival of NMNAT2-deficient axons.
AB  - SARM1 function and nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyltransferase 2 (NMNAT2)
      loss both promote axon degeneration, but their relative relationship in the
      process is unknown. Here, we show that NMNAT2 loss and resultant changes to NMNAT
      metabolites occur in injured SARM1-deficient axons despite their delayed
      degeneration and that axon degeneration specifically induced by NMNAT2 depletion
      requires SARM1. Strikingly, SARM1 deficiency also corrects axon outgrowth in mice
      lacking NMNAT2, independently of NMNAT metabolites, preventing perinatal
      lethality. Furthermore, NAMPT inhibition partially restores outgrowth of NMNAT2
      deficient axons, suggesting that the NMNAT substrate, NMN, contributes to this
      phenotype. NMNAT2-depletion-dependent degeneration of established axons and
      restricted extension of developing axons are thus both SARM1 dependent, and SARM1
      acts either downstream of NMNAT2 loss and NMN accumulation in a linear pathway or
      in a parallel branch of a convergent pathway. Understanding the pathway will help
      establish relationships with other modulators of axon survival and facilitate the
      development of effective therapies for axonopathies. 

PMID- 25818291
TI  - Prostate tumorigenesis induced by PTEN deletion involves estrogen receptor beta
      repression.
AB  - The role of ERbeta in prostate cancer is unclear, although loss of ERbeta is
      associated with aggressive disease. Given that mice deficient in ERbeta do not
      develop prostate cancer, we hypothesized that ERbeta loss occurs as a consequence
      of tumorigenesis caused by other oncogenic mechanisms and that its loss is
      necessary for tumorigenesis. In support of this hypothesis, we found that ERbeta
      is targeted for repression in prostate cancer caused by PTEN deletion and that
      loss of ERbeta is important for tumor formation. ERbeta transcription is
      repressed by BMI-1, which is induced by PTEN deletion and important for prostate
      tumorigenesis. This finding provides a mechanism for how ERbeta expression is
      regulated in prostate cancer. Repression of ERbeta contributes to tumorigenesis
      because it enables HIF-1/VEGF signaling that sustains BMI-1 expression. These
      data reveal a positive feedback loop that is activated in response to PTEN loss
      and sustains BMI-1. 

PMID- 25818292
TI  - Direct involvement of retinoblastoma family proteins in DNA repair by non
      homologous end-joining.
AB  - Deficiencies in DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair lead to genetic instability,
      a recognized cause of cancer initiation and evolution. We report that the
      retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (RB1) is required for DNA DSB repair by
      canonical non-homologous end-joining (cNHEJ). Support of cNHEJ involves a
      mechanism independent of RB1's cell-cycle function and depends on its amino
      terminal domain with which it binds to NHEJ components XRCC5 and XRCC6. Cells
      with engineered loss of RB family function as well as cancer-derived cells with
      mutational RB1 loss show substantially reduced levels of cNHEJ. RB1 variants
      disabled for the interaction with XRCC5 and XRCC6, including a cancer-associated
      variant, are unable to support cNHEJ despite being able to confer cell-cycle
      control. Our data identify RB1 loss as a candidate driver of structural genomic
      instability and a causative factor for cancer somatic heterogeneity and
      evolution. 

PMID- 25818293
TI  - Differential association of chromatin proteins identifies BAF60a/SMARCD1 as a
      regulator of embryonic stem cell differentiation.
AB  - Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) possess a distinct chromatin conformation maintained
      by specialized chromatin proteins. To identify chromatin regulators in ESCs, we
      developed a simple biochemical assay named D-CAP (differential chromatin
      associated proteins), using brief micrococcal nuclease digestion of chromatin,
      followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Using D
      CAP, we identified several differentially chromatin-associated proteins between
      undifferentiated and differentiated ESCs, including the chromatin remodeling
      protein SMARCD1. SMARCD1 depletion in ESCs led to altered chromatin and enhanced
      endodermal differentiation. Gene expression and chromatin immunoprecipitation
      sequencing (ChIP-seq) analyses suggested that SMARCD1 is both an activator and a
      repressor and is enriched at developmental regulators and that its chromatin
      binding coincides with H3K27me3. SMARCD1 knockdown caused H3K27me3 redistribution
      and increased H3K4me3 around the transcription start site (TSS). One of the
      identified SMARCD1 targets was Klf4. In SMARCD1-knockdown clones, KLF4, as well
      as H3K4me3 at the Klf4 locus, remained high and H3K27me3 was abolished. These
      results propose a role for SMARCD1 in restricting pluripotency and activating
      lineage pathways by regulating H3K27 methylation. 

PMID- 25818294
TI  - Piwi proteins and piRNAs in mammalian oocytes and early embryos.
AB  - Germ cells of most animals critically depend on piRNAs and Piwi proteins.
      Surprisingly, piRNAs in mouse oocytes are relatively rare and dispensable. We
      present compelling evidence for strong Piwi and piRNA expression in oocytes of
      other mammals. Human fetal oocytes express PIWIL2 and transposon-enriched piRNAs.
      Oocytes in adult human ovary express PIWIL1 and PIWIL2, whereas those in bovine
      ovary only express PIWIL1. In human, macaque, and bovine ovaries, we find piRNAs
      that resemble testis-borne pachytene piRNAs. Isolated bovine follicular oocytes
      were shown to contain abundant, relatively short piRNAs that preferentially
      target transposable elements. Using label-free quantitative proteome analysis, we
      show that these maturing oocytes strongly and specifically express the PIWIL3
      protein, alongside other, known piRNA-pathway components. A piRNA pool is still
      present in early bovine embryos, revealing a potential impact of piRNAs on
      mammalian embryogenesis. Our results reveal that there are highly dynamic piRNA
      pathways in mammalian oocytes and early embryos. 

PMID- 25818295
TI  - Optical dissection of experience-dependent pre- and postsynaptic plasticity in
      the Drosophila brain.
AB  - Drosophila represents a key model organism for dissecting neuronal circuits that
      underlie innate and adaptive behavior. However, this task is limited by a lack of
      tools to monitor physiological parameters of spatially distributed, central
      synapses in identified neurons. We generated transgenic fly strains that express
      functional fluorescent reporters targeted to either pre- or postsynaptic
      compartments. Presynaptic Ca(2+) dynamics are monitored using synaptophysin
      coupled GCaMP3, synaptic transmission is monitored using red fluorescent
      synaptophysin-pHTomato, and postsynaptic Ca(2+) dynamics are visualized using
      GCaMP3 fused with the postsynaptic matrix protein, dHomer. Using two-photon in
      vivo imaging of olfactory projection neurons, odor-evoked activity across
      populations of synapses is visualized in the antennal lobe and the mushroom body
      calyx. Prolonged odor exposure causes odor-specific and differential experience
      dependent changes in pre- and postsynaptic activity at both levels of olfactory
      processing. The approach advances the physiological analysis of synaptic
      connections across defined groups of neurons in intact Drosophila. 

PMID- 25818296
TI  - The nuclear oncogene SET controls DNA repair by KAP1 and HP1 retention to
      chromatin.
AB  - Cells experience damage from exogenous and endogenous sources that endanger
      genome stability. Several cellular pathways have evolved to detect DNA damage and
      mediate its repair. Although many proteins have been implicated in these
      processes, only recent studies have revealed how they operate in the context of
      high-ordered chromatin structure. Here, we identify the nuclear oncogene SET
      (I2PP2A) as a modulator of DNA damage response (DDR) and repair in chromatin
      surrounding double-strand breaks (DSBs). We demonstrate that depletion of SET
      increases DDR and survival in the presence of radiomimetic drugs, while
      overexpression of SET impairs DDR and homologous recombination (HR)-mediated DNA
      repair. SET interacts with the Kruppel-associated box (KRAB)-associated co
      repressor KAP1, and its overexpression results in the sustained retention of KAP1
      and Heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) on chromatin. Our results are consistent with
      a model in which SET-mediated chromatin compaction triggers an inhibition of DNA
      end resection and HR. 

PMID- 25818297
TI  - The Rab2A GTPase promotes breast cancer stem cells and tumorigenesis via Erk
      signaling activation.
AB  - Proline-directed phosphorylation is regulated by the prolyl isomerase Pin1, which
      plays a fundamental role in driving breast cancer stem-like cells (BCSCs). Rab2A
      is a small GTPase critical for vesicle trafficking. Here, we show that Pin1
      increases Rab2A transcription to promote BCSC expansion and tumorigenesis in
      vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, Rab2A directly interacts with and prevents
      dephosphorylation/inactivation of Erk1/2 by the MKP3 phosphatase, resulting in
      Zeb1 upregulation and beta-catenin nuclear translocation. In cancer cells, Rab2A
      is activated via gene amplification, mutation or Pin1 overexpression. Rab2A
      overexpression or mutation endows BCSC traits to primary normal human breast
      epithelial cells, whereas silencing Rab2A potently inhibits the expansion and
      tumorigenesis of freshly isolated BCSCs. Finally, Rab2A overexpression correlates
      with poor clinical outcome in breast cancer patients. Thus, Pin1/Rab2A/Erk drives
      BCSC expansion and tumorigenicity, suggesting potential drug targets. 

PMID- 25818298
TI  - Structural basis for molecular discrimination by a 3',3'-cGAMP sensing
      riboswitch.
AB  - Cyclic dinucleotides are second messengers that target the adaptor STING and
      stimulate the innate immune response in mammals. Besides protein receptors, there
      are bacterial riboswitches that selectively recognize cyclic dinucleotides. We
      recently discovered a natural riboswitch that targets 3',3'-cGAMP, which is
      distinguished from the endogenous mammalian signal 2',3'-cGAMP by its backbone
      connectivity. Here, we report on structures of the aptamer domain of the 3',3'
      cGAMP riboswitch from Geobacter in the 3',3'-cGAMP and c-di-GMP bound states. The
      riboswitch adopts a tuning fork-like architecture with a junctional ligand
      binding pocket and different orientations of the arms are correlated with the
      identity of the bound cyclic dinucleotide. Subsequent biochemical experiments
      revealed that specificity of ligand recognition can be affected by point
      mutations outside of the binding pocket, which has implications for both the
      assignment and reengineering of riboswitches in this structural class. 

PMID- 25818299
TI  - Structure and function of Neisseria gonorrhoeae MtrF illuminates a class of
      antimetabolite efflux pumps.
AB  - Neisseria gonorrhoeae is an obligate human pathogen and the causative agent of
      the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea. The control of this disease has been
      compromised by the increasing proportion of infections due to antibiotic
      resistant strains, which are growing at an alarming rate. N. gonorrhoeae MtrF is
      an integral membrane protein that belongs to the AbgT family of transporters for
      which no structural information is available. Here, we describe the crystal
      structure of MtrF, revealing a dimeric molecule with architecture distinct from
      all other families of transporters. MtrF is a bowl-shaped dimer with a solvent
      filled basin extending from the cytoplasm to halfway across the membrane bilayer.
      Each subunit of the transporter contains nine transmembrane helices and two
      hairpins, posing a plausible pathway for substrate transport. A combination of
      the crystal structure and biochemical functional assays suggests that MtrF is an
      antibiotic efflux pump mediating bacterial resistance to sulfonamide
      antimetabolite drugs. 

PMID- 25818300
TI  - An in vivo chemical genetic screen identifies phosphodiesterase 4 as a
      pharmacological target for hedgehog signaling inhibition.
AB  - Hedgehog (Hh) signaling plays an integral role in vertebrate development, and its
      dysregulation has been accepted widely as a driver of numerous malignancies.
      While a variety of small molecules target Smoothened (Smo) as a strategy for Hh
      inhibition, Smo gain-of-function mutations have limited their clinical
      implementation. Modulation of targets downstream of Smo could define a paradigm
      for treatment of Hh-dependent cancers. Here, we describe eggmanone, a small
      molecule identified from a chemical genetic zebrafish screen, which induced an Hh
      null phenotype. Eggmanone exerts its Hh-inhibitory effects through selective
      antagonism of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4), leading to protein kinase A activation
      and subsequent Hh blockade. Our study implicates PDE4 as a target for Hh
      inhibition, suggests an improved strategy for Hh-dependent cancer therapy, and
      identifies a unique probe of downstream-of-Smo Hh modulation. 

PMID- 25818301
TI  - DNAM-1 expression marks an alternative program of NK cell maturation.
AB  - Natural killer (NK) cells comprise a heterogeneous population of cells important
      for pathogen defense and cancer surveillance. However, the functional
      significance of this diversity is not fully understood. Here, we demonstrate
      through transcriptional profiling and functional studies that the activating
      receptor DNAM-1 (CD226) identifies two distinct NK cell functional subsets: DNAM
      1(+) and DNAM-1(-) NK cells. DNAM-1(+) NK cells produce high levels of
      inflammatory cytokines, have enhanced interleukin 15 signaling, and proliferate
      vigorously. By contrast, DNAM-1(-) NK cells that differentiate from DNAM-1(+) NK
      cells have greater expression of NK-cell-receptor-related genes and are higher
      producers of MIP1 chemokines. Collectively, our data reveal the existence of a
      functional program of NK cell maturation marked by DNAM-1 expression. 

PMID- 25818303
TI  - Genome engineering with CRISPR-Cas9 in the mosquito Aedes aegypti.
AB  - The mosquito Aedes aegypti is a potent vector of the chikungunya, yellow fever,
      and dengue viruses, responsible for hundreds of millions of infections and over
      50,000 human deaths per year. Mutagenesis in Ae. aegypti has been established
      with TALENs, ZFNs, and homing endonucleases, which require the engineering of DNA
      binding protein domains to provide genomic target sequence specificity. Here, we
      describe the use of the CRISPR-Cas9 system to generate site-specific mutations in
      Ae. aegypti. This system relies on RNA-DNA base-pairing to generate targeting
      specificity, resulting in efficient and flexible genome-editing reagents. We
      investigate the efficiency of injection mix compositions, demonstrate the ability
      of CRISPR-Cas9 to generate different types of mutations via disparate repair
      mechanisms, and report stable germline mutations in several genomic loci. This
      work offers a detailed exploration into the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in Ae. aegypti
      that should be applicable to non-model organisms previously out of reach of
      genetic modification. 

PMID- 25818302
TI  - Opposing activities of Notch and Wnt signaling regulate intestinal stem cells and
      gut homeostasis.
AB  - Proper organ homeostasis requires tight control of adult stem cells and
      differentiation through the integration of multiple inputs. In the mouse small
      intestine, Notch and Wnt signaling are required both for stem cell maintenance
      and for a proper balance of differentiation between secretory and absorptive cell
      lineages. In the absence of Notch signaling, stem cells preferentially generate
      secretory cells at the expense of absorptive cells. Here, we use function
      blocking antibodies against Notch receptors to demonstrate that Notch blockade
      perturbs intestinal stem cell function by causing a derepression of the Wnt
      signaling pathway, leading to misexpression of prosecretory genes. Importantly,
      attenuation of the Wnt pathway rescued the phenotype associated with Notch
      blockade. These studies bring to light a negative regulatory mechanism that
      maintains stem cell activity and balanced differentiation, and we propose that
      the interaction between Wnt and Notch signaling described here represents a
      common theme in adult stem cell biology. 

PMID- 25818304
TI  - Factors associated with nutritional status in children aged 5-24 months in the
      Republic of Cameroon.
AB  - This study was conducted to clarify nutritional status and associated factors in
      5-24 month old children in the district of Batouri, Republic of Cameroon. Mothers
      were interviewed using a semistructured questionnaire, and the child's weight,
      length, head circumference, and mid-upper arm circumference was collected. The
      data were compared with child growth standards proposed by the World Health
      Organization using Z-scores; chi(2) -test, Fisher's exact test, and Wilcoxon rank
      sum test were used to determine variables associated with malnutrition. A total
      of 100 mother-child pairs participated in this study; valid data from 100 pairs
      were subjected to analysis. The percentages of children with malnutrition
      indicators were wasting (6%), stunting (31%), underweight (14%), and low mid
      upper arm circumference (16%). Five factors were found to be statistically
      significant in their association with the children's malnutrition: mother's age,
      child's age, mother's educational level, mothers who had family planning
      information, and the source of tap water. A high percentage of stunting was
      positively associated with a high percentage of chronic malnutrition. We
      speculate that insufficient nutrition was more likely to begin after weaning. 

PMID- 25818305
TI  - The Development of Assessment Tools for Plastic Surgery Competencies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Objective tools to assess procedural skills in plastic surgery
      residency training are currently lacking. There is an increasing need to address
      this deficit in order to meet today's training standards in North America.
      OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this pilot study was to establish a methodology for
      determining the essential procedural steps for two plastic surgery procedures to
      assist resident training and assessment. METHODS: Following a literature review
      and needs assessment of resident training, the authors purposefully selected two
      procedures lacking robust assessment metrics (breast augmentation and facelift)
      and used a consensus process to complete a list of procedural steps for each.
      Using an online survey, plastic surgery Program Directors, Division Chiefs, and
      the Royal College Specialty Training Committee members in Canada were asked to
      indicate whether each step was considered essential or non-essential when
      assessing competence among graduating plastic surgery trainees. The Delphi
      methodology was used to obtain consensus among the panel. Panelist reliability
      was measured using Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: A total of 17 steps for breast
      augmentation and 24 steps for facelift were deemed essential by consensus
      (Cronbach's alpha 0.87 and 0.85, respectively). CONCLUSION: Using the
      aforementioned technique, the essential procedural steps for two plastic surgery
      procedures were determined. Further work is required to develop assessment
      instruments based on these steps and to gather validity evidence in support of
      their use in surgical education.

PMID- 25818306
TI  - Fluorescence quenching study of 2,6-bis(5-(4-methylphenyl)-1-H-pyrazol-3
      yl)pyridine with metal ions.
AB  - A novel bispyrazole derivative 2,6-bis(5-(4-methylphenyl)-1-H-pyrazol-3
      yl)pyridine was synthesized and its structure was confirmed by (1)H NMR, FTIR, MS
      techniques and elemental analysis. The binding interactions of BMPP with Cd(2+),
      Co(2+), Pb(2+) and Cu(2+) ions were investigated in MeOH-H2O solution by
      fluorescence quenching technique at two temperatures (25 and 35 degrees C). Their
      quenching constants KSV, binding constants K, binding sites n and thermodynamic
      parameters (DeltaH, DeltaG and DeltaS) were determined. The results indicated
      that the metal ions quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of the bispyrazole by
      forming the bispyrazole-metal complexes and their quenching process was a static
      quenching mechanism. In addition, the process of interaction was spontaneous and
      mainly DeltaS-driven. 

PMID- 25818307
TI  - FT-IR and micro-Raman spectroscopic studies of archaeological potteries recently
      excavated in Poompuhar, Tamilnadu, India.
AB  - Ancient ceramics are the abundant artifacts that give the knowledge of the past
      societies. Therefore it is of great importance to acquire knowledge about the
      chemical composition of the clay in archaeological artifacts. The spectroscopic
      techniques represent one of the most powerful tools to investigate the structure
      of all the materials and chemical composition of the cultural object like
      potteries. An attempt has been made in the present work to estimate the firing
      temperature of the archaeological pottery shreds excavated from the
      archaeological site Poompuhar in the state of Tamilnadu in India. The firing
      temperature of the archaeological pottery shreds were estimated by recording the
      corresponding FT-IR spectra in the range 4000-450 cm(-1) and Micro Raman spectra
      in the range 1800-400 cm(-1). The clay mineral present in the pottery samples are
      identified through FT-IR method and was confirmed with Micro Raman spectroscopy
      as both are complement to each other. The major primary mineral present in the
      samples is Kaolinite and the secondary mineral present is quartz and the
      accessory minerals present in the samples are hematite, magnetite and feldspar.
      The results of Raman spectra showed that the potters of this site used a mixture
      of clays as raw materials. The firing temperature for some of the samples did not
      exceed 800 degrees C which suggests the use of open fire.

PMID- 25818308
TI  - Biosimilar monoclonal antibodies in lymphoma: a critical appraisal.
AB  - Rituximab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, revolutionized the treatment of
      lymphoma. Although newer generation anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies are being
      examined, patent expiries and patient demand have fueled the development of
      rituximab biosimilars. The development of such agents is both an important and
      difficult undertaking. By definition, although they aim to have safety and
      efficacy comparable with their reference agents, biosimilars are not exact
      replicas of those agents, and small changes in nonclinical and preclinical
      properties may ultimately affect in vivo activity. Consideration must be given to
      the complex mechanisms of action, sensitive patient populations that may be
      treated, and appropriate clinical trial endpoints. Furthermore, extrapolation of
      indications is multifaceted, deserving close examination. This review represents
      a critical look at biosimilars in lymphoma and their safety, efficacy and long
      term effects on patient outcomes. 

PMID- 25818309
TI  - Anillin localization suggests distinct mechanisms of division plane specification
      in mouse oogenic meiosis I and II.
AB  - Anillin is a conserved cytokinetic ring protein implicated in actomyosin
      cytoskeletal organization and cytoskeletal-membrane linkage. Here we explored
      anillin localization in the highly asymmetric divisions of the mouse oocyte that
      lead to the extrusion of two polar bodies. The purposes of polar body extrusion
      are to reduce the chromosome complement within the egg to haploid, and to retain
      the majority of the egg cytoplasm for embryonic development. Anillin's proposed
      roles in cytokinetic ring organization suggest that it plays important roles in
      achieving this asymmetric division. We report that during meiotic maturation,
      anillin mRNA is expressed and protein levels steadily rise. In meiosis I, anillin
      localizes to a cortical cap overlying metaphase I spindles, and a broad ring over
      anaphase spindles that are perpendicular to the cortex. Anillin is excluded from
      the cortex of the prospective first polar body, and highly enriched in the
      cytokinetic ring that severs the polar body from the oocyte. In meiosis II,
      anillin is enriched in a cortical stripe precisely coincident with and overlying
      the meiotic spindle midzone. These results suggest a model in which this cortical
      structure contributes to spindle re-alignment in meiosis II. Thus, localization
      of anillin as a conserved cytokinetic ring marker illustrates that the geometry
      of the cytokinetic ring is distinct between the two oogenic meiotic cytokineses
      in mammals. 

PMID- 25818310
TI  - Effects of inter-implant distance and implant length on the response to frontal
      traumatic force of two anterior implants in an atrophic mandible: three
      dimensional finite element analysis.
AB  - The aim of this three-dimensional finite element analysis study was to examine
      the biomechanical behaviour of dental implants and the surrounding bone under
      traumatic frontal force. Models were created of an edentulous atrophic mandible
      using cone beam computed tomography data from a patient; two titanium alloy
      implants (Ti-6Al-4V) were virtually inserted into the anterior of the mandible.
      Six different variations were modelled to represent differences in implant
      location (lateral incisor vs. canine placement) and implant length (monocortical,
      bicortical, and long-bicortical). A static force of 10 MPa was applied frontally
      to the symphysis region of each model, and the maximum equivalent von Mises
      strain of bone, maximum von Mises stress of implants, and chromatic force
      distributions in bone and implants were recorded. In general, when compared to
      lateral incisor placement, canine placement of implants resulted in greater von
      Mises stress on implants and greater equivalent von Mises strain on bone. The
      findings of the present study showed the distribution of traumatic force to be
      affected more by inter-implant distance than by implant length. The insertion of
      implants in the lateral incisor area was found to be a better solution than
      canine area placement in terms of frontal plane trauma and fracture risk.

PMID- 25818311
TI  - Cellular and molecular mechanisms in the pathophysiology of systemic sclerosis.
AB  - Fibrosis is characterized by disproportionate accumulation of collagens and other
      extracellular matrix substances, resulting in organ dysfunction and failure. In
      systemic sclerosis, cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the
      pathophysiology of fibrosis are highly complex and yet barely understood.
      Anatomopathological findings showed the coexistence of patchy inflammatory cell
      infiltration, microvascular injuries, and fibrotic foci. One of the most commonly
      accepted hypotheses considers endothelial activation as the triggering phenomenon
      inducing inflammatory and autoimmunity activation. The resulting cytokines and
      autoantibodies production accelerates the proliferating rate of normal
      fibroblasts and their transformation into myofibroblasts, leading to diffuse
      fibrosis. This review aims to focus on cellular and molecular mechanisms
      implicated in the fibrogenesis of systemic sclerosis. 

PMID- 25818312
TI  - Advanced imaging tools to investigate multiple sclerosis pathology.
AB  - Conventional MR imaging techniques still lack specificity for the underlying
      central nervous system tissue damage in multiple sclerosis (MS), impeding a
      comprehensive investigation of the key mechanisms responsible for neurological
      disability such as myelin damage and repair, neurodegeneration and
      neuroinflammation. A range of novel and advanced imaging tools, using
      quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) or positron emission tomography (PET)
      technologies are now emerging and open the perspective to obtain unique insights
      into the disease mechanisms. Both can be employed either in experimental models
      or in patients with MS, and they have already allowed to obtain imaging metrics
      that significantly correlate with clinical scores. In this review, we summarize
      the main evidence supporting the use of quantitative MR and PET as essential
      investigation tools to explore myelin changes, neuronal damage and
      compartmentalized inflammation in MS. The clinical translation of these imaging
      techniques has the potential to improve the design of future clinical trials and
      to allow the measurement of the effects of new drugs aimed at enhancing myelin
      repair and reducing neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation. 

PMID- 25818313
TI  - Plasticity of empty major histocompatibility complex class I molecules determines
      peptide-selector function.
AB  - Major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) proteins provide protection from
      intracellular pathogens and cancer via each of a cell's MHC I molecules binding
      and presenting a peptide to cytotoxic T lymphocytes. MHC I genes are highly
      polymorphic and can have significant diversity, with polymorphisms predominantly
      localised in the peptide-binding groove where they can change peptide-binding
      specificity. However, polymorphic residues may also determine other functional
      properties, such as how dependent MHC I alleles are on the peptide-loading
      complex for optimal acquisition of peptide cargo. We describe how differences in
      the peptide-binding properties of two MHC I alleles correlates with altered
      conformational flexibility in the peptide-empty state. We hypothesise that
      plasticity is an intrinsic property encoded by the protein sequence, and that co
      ordinated movements of the membrane-proximal and membrane-distal domains
      collectively determines how dependent MHC I are on the peptide-loading complex
      for efficient assembly with high affinity peptides. 

PMID- 25818314
TI  - Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and primary p.Cys89Tyr mutation in
      CD59: Differences and similarities.
AB  - CD59 encodes a 77 amino acid glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored cell
      surface glycoprotein that inhibits the final step of membrane attack complex
      (MAC) formation. CD59 deficiency is a common finding in adult patients with
      paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). In this condition, there is a clonal
      expansion of hematopoietic stem cells that have acquired a mutation in the PIGA
      gene (phosphatidylinositol glycan anchor biosynthesis, class A). PIGA encodes a
      GPI biosynthesis protein, phosphatidylinositol N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase
      subunit A, and erythrocytes deficient in GPI-anchored membrane proteins,
      including CD59, undergo complement-mediated hemolysis. We have recently described
      a primary homozygous Cys89Tyr CD59 deficiency in humans that resulted in the
      amino acid substitution p.Cys89Tyr with resulting failure of proper localization
      of the CD59 protein to the cell surface. The Cys89Tyr mutation in CD59 was
      clinically manifested in infancy, and associated with chronic hemolysis and
      relapsing peripheral demyelinating disease resembling recurrent Guillain-Barre
      syndrome (GBS) or chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). In
      this review we describe differences and similarities in the pathogenesis and
      clinical manifestations of PNH and primary CD59 Cys89Tyr mutation with the aim of
      tracking the contribution of CD59 deficiency to the pathophysiology and perhaps
      deepening our understanding of both diseases. 

PMID- 25818315
TI  - ADAMTS proteases in fertility.
AB  - The reproductive organs are unique among adult organs in that they must undergo
      continual tissue remodelling as a key aspect of their normal function. The
      processes for persistent maturation and release of new gametes, as well as
      fertilisation, implantation, placentation, gestation and parturition involve
      cyclic development and regression of tissues that must continually regenerate to
      support fertility. The ADAMTS family of proteases has been shown to contribute to
      many aspects of the tissue morphogenesis required for development and function of
      each of the reproductive organs. Dysregulation or functional changes in ADAMTS
      family proteases have been associated with reproductive disorders such as
      polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and premature ovarian failure (POF). Likewise,
      proteolytic substrates of ADAMTS enzymes have also been linked to reproductive
      function. New insight into the roles of ADAMTS proteases has yielded a deeper
      understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind fertility with clinical
      potential to generate therapeutic targets to resolve infertility, develop
      biomarkers that predict dysfunction of the reproductive organs and potentially
      offer targets for development of non-hormonal male and female contraceptives. 

PMID- 25818316
TI  - Anesthetic and pathological changes following high doses of ketamine and xylazine
      in Sprague Dawley rats.
AB  - The main objective of this study was to compare the effects of ketamine and
      xylazine in aging rats when coadministered intraperitoneally at high anesthetic
      doses. Three groups (n=6 rats/group) consisting of rats at 3, 6 and 12 months of
      age were used. During anesthesia, animals were monitored for heart rate,
      respiratory frequency, blood oxygen saturation, and rectal temperature. The
      corneal and paw withdrawal reflex were also examined during anesthesia. During
      anesthesia, withdrawal and corneal reflexes were absent for progressively longer
      durations with increasing age. Significant decreases in cardiac and respiratory
      frequency and, blood oxygen saturation occurred for the 6- and 12-month-old
      animals. Respiratory frequency and blood oxygen saturation returned to normal at
      the end of the anesthesia; however, the significant decrease in cardiac frequency
      persisted in the 6- and 12-month-old animals. Rectal temperature was decreased
      significantly only in the 3-month-old animals. Pulmonary edema and effusion
      occurred in 50% of the 12-month-old animals. In conclusion, if ketamine-xylazine
      are used for anesthesia, the doses should be optimized for the age of the
      subjects prior to initiation of the research project. 

PMID- 25818317
TI  - The effect of impaired angiogenesis on intestinal function following massive
      small bowel resection.
AB  - PURPOSE: Intestinal adaptation involves villus lengthening, crypt deepening, and
      increased capillary density following small bowel resection (SBR). Mice lacking
      the proangiogenic chemokine CXCL5 have normal structural adaptation but impaired
      angiogenesis. This work evaluates the impact of incomplete adaptive angiogenesis
      on the functional capacity of the intestine after SBR. METHODS: CXCL5 knockout
      (KO) and C57BL/6 wild-type (WT) mice underwent 50% SBR. Magnetic resonance
      imaging measured weekly body composition. Intestinal absorptive capacity was
      evaluated through fecal fat analysis. Gene expression profiles for select
      macronutrient transporters were measured via RT-PCR. Postoperative crypt and
      villus measurements were assessed for structural adaptation. Submucosal capillary
      density was measured through CD31 immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Comparable
      postoperative weight gain occurred initially. Diminished weight gain, impaired
      fat absorption, and elevated steatorrhea occurred in KO mice after instituting
      high-fat diet. Greater postoperative upregulation of ABCA1 fat transporter
      occurred in WT mice, while PEPT1 protein transporter was significantly
      downregulated in KO mice. KO mice had impaired angiogenesis but intact structural
      adaptation. CONCLUSION: After SBR, KO mice display an inefficient intestinal
      absorption profile with perturbed macronutrient transporter expression, impaired
      fat absorption, and slower postoperative weight gain. In addition to longer villi
      and deeper crypts, an intact angiogenic response may be required to achieve
      functional adaptation to SBR.

PMID- 25818318
TI  - Both epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor receptors are
      dispensable for structural intestinal adaptation.
AB  - PURPOSE: Intestinal adaptation structurally represents increases in crypt depth
      and villus height in response to small bowel resection (SBR). Previously, we
      found that neither epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) nor insulin-like
      growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) function was individually required for normal
      adaptation. In this study, we sought to determine the effect of disrupting both
      EGFR and IGF1R expression on resection-induced adaptation. METHODS: Intestinal
      specific EGFR and IGF1R double knockout mice (EGFR/IGF1R-IKO) (n=6) and wild-type
      (WT) control mice (n=7) underwent 50% proximal SBR. On postoperative day (POD) 7,
      structural adaptation was scored by measuring crypt depth and villus height.
      Rates of crypt cell proliferation, apoptosis, and submucosal capillary density
      were also compared. RESULTS: After 50% SBR, normal adaptation occurred in both WT
      and EGFR/IGF1R-IKO. Rates of proliferation and apoptosis were no different
      between the two groups. The angiogenic response was less in the EGFR/IGF1R-IKO
      compared to WT mice. CONCLUSION: Disrupted expression of EGFR and IGF1R in the
      intestinal epithelial cells does not affect resection-induced structural
      adaptation but attenuates angiogenesis after SBR. These findings suggest that
      villus growth is driven by receptors and pathways that occur outside the
      epithelial cell component, while angiogenic responses may be influenced by
      epithelial-endothelial crosstalk.

PMID- 25818319
TI  - Utility of onsite interviews in the pediatric surgery match.
AB  - PURPOSE: The value of onsite interviews for the pediatric surgery match remains
      undefined despite substantial cost to applicants. This study assesses the impact
      of onsite interviews on the rank order lists submitted to the match by pediatric
      surgery residency training program directors (PDs). METHODS: PDs were asked
      prospectively to evaluate pediatric surgery residency candidates based solely on
      their ERAS application and generate a "pre-interview rank list." Interviews were
      then held based on the usual practice of each program. PDs then submitted de
      identified pre-interview and final rank lists. The impact of the interview
      process upon rank list movement of candidates was assessed. RESULTS: Of 44
      programs, 16 (36%) provided data for analysis. Onsite interviews resulted in
      candidates moving a mean of 5.2 +/- 1.2 rank positions, whereas candidates ranked
      in the first 5 positions moved an average of 4 +/- 2 places, 81% of the initial
      top-ranked candidates moved out of this position, and 36% of top 10 candidates
      moved out of the top 10. CONCLUSIONS: Onsite interviews are high-stakes events
      which substantially affect the final rank order list in the pediatric surgery
      match. Programs should take these data into account when determining the number
      of interview invitations.

PMID- 25818320
TI  - Repeated mechanical lengthening of intestinal segments in a novel model.
AB  - PURPOSE: Currently, animal models used for mechanical intestinal lengthening
      utilize a single lengthening procedure prior to analysis or restoration back into
      continuity. Here we developed a novel surgical model to examine the feasibility
      of repeated lengthening of intestinal segments. METHODS: A Roux-en-Y
      jejunojejunostomy with a blind Roux limb was created in rats. An encapsulated
      polycaprolactone spring was placed into a 1cm segment of the Roux limb. After 4
      weeks, a second encapsulated PCL spring was inserted into a 1cm portion of the
      lengthened segment. After another 4 weeks, the repeatedly lengthened segments
      were retrieved for histological analyses. RESULTS: Jejunal segments of the Roux
      limb were successfully lengthened from 1.0 cm to 2.6 +/- 0.7 cm. Four weeks after
      the second PCL spring placement, 1.0 cm of the previously lengthened segment
      increased to 2.7 +/- 0.8 cm. Stronger mechanical force was required to achieve
      subsequent re-lengthening. Lengthened and re-lengthened segments had increased
      smooth muscle thickness and crypt depth when compared to normal jejunal mucosa.
      CONCLUSION: Using the Roux-en-Y model, previously lengthened segments of
      intestine can be successfully re-lengthened. Intestinal segments may be subjected
      to multiple lengthening procedures to achieve clinically significant length for
      the treatment of short bowel syndrome.

PMID- 25818321
TI  - Variation in bowel preparation among pediatric surgeons for elective colorectal
      surgery: A problem of equipoise or a knowledge gap of the available clinical
      evidence?
AB  - PURPOSE: Despite rigorous data from adult literature demonstrating that oral
      antibiotics (OA) reduce infectious complications and mechanical bowel preparation
      (MBP) alone does not, MBP alone remains the preferred approach among pediatric
      surgeons. We aimed to explore the nature of this discrepancy through a survey of
      the American Pediatric Surgical Association membership. METHODS: Surgeons were
      queried for their choice of bowel preparation, factors influencing their
      practice, and their impression of the strength and relevance of the adult
      literature to pediatric practice. RESULTS: Surgeons who used MBP alone (31%)
      cited a reduction in stool burden and infectious complications as important
      factors, whereas surgeons choosing not to use OA (70%) reported a lack of benefit
      in reducing infectious complications as the primary reason. Although 53% of
      surgeons reported that evidence from adult literature was the most important
      influence, 73% of surgeons reported there was poor evidence supporting the use of
      OA (+/-MBP), and only 25% used a preparation supported by adult randomized data.
      CONCLUSIONS: Wide variation exists among pediatric surgeons in the perceived
      utility of MBP and OA. Although the majority of pediatric surgeons cited the
      adult literature as the strongest influence on their practice, this is not
      consistent with stated perceptions or practice.

PMID- 25818322
TI  - Commentary regarding: A randomized trial of icatibant in ACE-inhibitor-induced
      angioedema.

PMID- 25818323
TI  - Biochemical and molecular characterization of the calcineurin in Echinococcus
      granulosus larval stages.
AB  - Calcineurin (CaN) is a Ca(2+)-calmodulin activated serine-threonine protein
      phosphatase that couples the local or global calcium signals, thus controlling
      important cellular functions in physiological and developmental processes. The
      aim of this study was to characterize CaN in Echinococcus granulosus (Eg-CaN), a
      human cestode parasite of clinical importance, both functionally and molecularly.
      We found that the catalytic subunit isoforms have predicted sequences of 613 and
      557 amino acids and are substantially similar to those of the human counterpart,
      except for the C-terminal end. We also found that the regulatory subunit consists
      of 169 amino acids which are 87% identical to the human ortholog. We cloned a
      cDNA encoding for one of the two catalytic subunit isoforms of CaN (Eg-can-A1) as
      well as the only copy of the Eg-can-B gene, both constitutively transcribed in
      all Echinococcus larval stages and responsible for generating a functionally
      active heterodimer. Eg-CaN native enzyme has phosphatase activity, which is
      enhanced by Ca(2+)/Ni(2+) and reduced by cyclosporine A and Ca(2+) chelators.
      Participation of Eg-CaN in exocytosis was demonstrated using the FM4-64 probe and
      Eg-CaN-A was immunolocalized in the cytoplasm of tegumental cells, suckers and
      excretory bladder of protoscoleces. We also showed that the Eg-can-B transcripts
      were down-regulated in response to low Ca(2+) intracellular level, in agreement
      with decreased enzyme activity. Confocal microscopy revealed a striking pattern
      of Eg-CaN-A in discrete fluorescent spots in the protoscolex posterior bladder
      and vesicularized protoscoleces beginning the vesicular differentiation. In
      contrast, Eg-CaN-A was undetectable during the pre-microcyst closing stage while
      a high DDX-like RNA helicase expression was evidenced. Finally, we identified and
      analyzed the expression of CaN-related endogenous regulators. 

PMID- 25818324
TI  - Conventional parasitology and DNA-based diagnostic methods for onchocerciasis
      elimination programmes.
AB  - Commonly used methods for diagnosing Onchocerca volvulus infections (microscopic
      detection of microfilariae in skin snips and nodule palpation) are insensitive.
      Improved methods are needed for monitoring and evaluation of onchocerciasis
      elimination programmes and for clinical diagnosis of individual patients. A
      sensitive probe-based qPCR assay was developed for detecting O. volvulus DNA, and
      this was tested with samples collected from an endemic area in eastern Cote
      d'Ivoire. The new test was evaluated with dried skin snip pairs from 369 subjects
      and compared to routine skin snip microscopy and nodule palpation results from
      the same individuals. Onchocerciasis prevalence for these samples by qPCR, skin
      snip microscopy, and nodule palpation were 56.9%, 26.0%, and 37.9%, respectively.
      Furthermore, the combination of all three tests produced an infection prevalence
      of 72.9%, which was significantly higher than 53.1% detected by microscopy plus
      nodule palpation without qPCR. However, the qPCR assay was negative for 54 of 229
      individuals with palpable nodules. qPCR could be a useful tool for detecting
      residual O. volvulus infections in human populations as prevalence decreases in
      areas following community-directed treatment with ivermectin. 

PMID- 25818325
TI  - Increased corticolimbic connectivity in cocaine dependence versus pathological
      gambling is associated with drug severity and emotion-related impulsivity.
AB  - Neural biomarkers for the active detrimental effects of cocaine dependence (CD)
      are lacking. Direct comparisons of brain connectivity in cocaine-targeted
      networks between CD and behavioural addictions (i.e. pathological gambling, PG)
      may be informative. This study therefore contrasted the resting-state functional
      connectivity networks of 20 individuals with CD, 19 individuals with PG and 21
      healthy individuals (controls). Study groups were assessed to rule out
      psychiatric co-morbidities (except alcohol abuse and nicotine dependence) and
      current substance use or gambling (except PG). We first examined global
      connectivity differences in the corticolimbic reward network and then utilized
      seed-based analyses to characterize the connectivity of regions displaying
      between-group differences. We examined the relationships between seed-based
      connectivity and trait impulsivity and cocaine severity. CD compared with PG
      displayed increased global functional connectivity in a large-scale ventral
      corticostriatal network involving the orbitofrontal cortex, caudate, thalamus and
      amygdala. Seed-based analyses showed that CD compared with PG exhibited enhanced
      connectivity between the orbitofrontal and subgenual cingulate cortices and
      between caudate and lateral prefrontal cortex, which are involved in representing
      the value of decision-making feedback. CD and PG compared with controls showed
      overlapping connectivity changes between the orbitofrontal and dorsomedial
      prefrontal cortices and between amygdala and insula, which are involved in
      stimulus-outcome learning. Orbitofrontal-subgenual cingulate cortical
      connectivity correlated with impulsivity and caudate/amygdala connectivity
      correlated with cocaine severity. We conclude that CD is linked to enhanced
      connectivity in a large-scale ventral corticostriatal-amygdala network that is
      relevant to decision making and likely to reflect an active cocaine detrimental
      effect. 

PMID- 25818326
TI  - RNA-RNA interactions in gene regulation: the coding and noncoding players.
AB  - The past few years have witnessed an exciting increase in the richness and
      complexity of RNA-mediated regulatory circuitries, including new types of RNA-RNA
      interaction that underlie key steps in gene expression control in an organized
      and probably hierarchic system to dictate final protein output. Both small
      (especially miRNAs) and long coding (lc) and noncoding (nc) RNAs contain
      structural domains that can sense and bind other RNAs via complementary base
      pairing. The versatility of the interaction confers multiple roles to RNA-RNA
      hybrids, from control of RNA biogenesis to competition for common targets. Here,
      we focus on the emerging evidence around RNA networks and their impact on gene
      expression regulation in light of recent breakthroughs around the crosstalk
      between coding RNAs and ncRNAs. 

PMID- 25818327
TI  - Superoxide Dismutase and Catalase Genotypes in Pediatric Migraine Patients.
AB  - This study compared superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) alleles in 97
      consecutive children and adolescents with migraine to 96 healthy children and
      adolescents. Isolated genomic DNA was used as a template for SOD1 (35 A/C), SOD2
      16 C/T, and CAT2 [(-262 C/T) and (-21 A/T)] allele genotyping. The SOD2 16 C/T
      genotype and C allele frequency differed significantly between controls and
      migraine (P = .047; P = .038). CAT -21 AA genotype and A allele frequency were
      significantly higher in both migraine with aura patients (P = .013; P = .004) and
      migraine without aura patients (P = .003; P = .001) compared to controls. To our
      knowledge, this is the first demonstration of differences in SOD and CAT
      genotypes between pediatric migraine patients and age-matched controls. Further
      studies on the functional implications of these genetic variants on neural
      antioxidant capacity and the use of antioxidant modulators for migraine treatment
      are warranted.

PMID- 25818328
TI  - Maternal Postsecondary Education Associated With Improved Cerebellar Growth After
      Preterm Birth.
AB  - The preterm cerebellum is vulnerable to impaired development impacting long-term
      outcome. Preterm newborns (<32 weeks) underwent serial magnetic resonance imaging
      (MRI) scans. The association between parental education and cerebellar volume at
      each time point was assessed, adjusting for age at scan. In 26 infants,
      cerebellar volumes at term (P = .001), but not birth (P = .4), were associated
      with 2-year volumes. For 1 cm(3) smaller cerebellar volume (4% total volume) at
      term, the cerebellum was 3.18 cm(3) smaller (3% total volume) by 2 years.
      Maternal postsecondary education was not associated with cerebellar volume at
      term (P = .16). Maternal postsecondary education was a significant confounder in
      the relationship between term and 2-year cerebellar volumes (P = .016), with
      higher education associated with improved volumes by 2 years. Although preterm
      birth has been found to be associated with smaller cerebellar volumes at term,
      maternal postsecondary education is associated with improved growth detectable by
      2 years. 

PMID- 25818329
TI  - Suppressed expression of mitogen-activated protein kinases in hyperthermia
      induced defective neural tube.
AB  - Neural tube defects (NTDs) are common congenital malformations. Mitogen-activated
      protein kinases (MAPKs) pathway is involved in many physiological processes.
      HMGB1 has been showed closely associated with neurulation and NTDs induced by
      hyperthermia and could activate MAPKs pathway. Since hyperthermia caused
      increased activation of MAPKs in many systems, the present study aims to
      investigate whether HMGB1 contributes to hyperthermia induced NTDs through MAPKs
      pathway. The mRNA levels of MAPKs and HMGB1 between embryonic day 8.5 and 10
      (E8.5-10) in hyperthermia induced defective neural tube were detected by real
      time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). By immunofluorescence and
      western blotting, the expressions of HMGB1 and phosphorylated MAPKs (ERK1/2, JNK
      and p38) in neural tubes after hyperthermia were studied. The mRNA levels of
      MAPKs and HMGB1, as well as the expressions of HMGB1 along with phosphorylated
      JNK, p38 and ERK, were downregulated in NTDs groups induced by hyperthermia
      compared with control. The findings suggested that HMGB1 may contribute to
      hyperthermia induced NTDs formation through decreased cell proliferation due to
      inhibited phosphorylated ERK1/2 MAPK. 

PMID- 25818330
TI  - Brain activities of visual thinkers and verbal thinkers: A MEG study.
AB  - In this study we measured activation patterns in the primary visual cortex and
      the frontal language areas and compared them in individuals with strong and weak
      capacities to mentally visualize information during spontaneous thinking.
      Subjects were first administered a 5-item questionnaire to assess their ability
      to create mental pictures, and were divided into two groups (strong and weak
      visualizers) on this basis. They then performed tasks requiring visual imagery
      and verbal recollection, and their local neural activities were measured, using
      magnetoencephalography (MEG). Notably in the high beta-band (25Hz), the visual
      area (BA 17) was more strongly activated in strong visualizers, whereas, the
      frontal language areas were more strongly activated in weak visualizers. Strong
      visualizers are considered to be visual thinkers, and weak visualizers are verbal
      thinkers. 

PMID- 25818331
TI  - The role of the frontopolar cortex in manipulation of integrated information in
      working memory.
AB  - Cognitive operations often require integration of information. Previous studies
      have shown that, integration of information in working memory recruits
      frontopolar cortex (FPC). In this fMRI study, we sought to reveal neural
      mechanisms of FPC underlying the integration of information during arithmetic
      tasks. We compared a condition requiring manipulation of two features of an item
      held in working memory with manipulation of one feature. The results showed that,
      FPC was equally recruited in both conditions, while dorsolateral prefrontal
      cortex (DLPFC) tended to be more activated when manipulating two features. We
      suggest that, FPC plays an integrative role and is recruited by the production of
      representations in accordance with task constraints, whereas DLPFC appears to be
      sensitive to processing demands induced by the manipulation of information. 

PMID- 25818332
TI  - Curcumin inhibits Abeta-induced microglial inflammatory responses in vitro:
      Involvement of ERK1/2 and p38 signaling pathways.
AB  - Amyloid beta (Abeta) plays an important role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) by
      inducing microglia activation. Once activated, microglial cells promote the
      release of reactive species and cytokines that are known to enhance immune
      responses in AD brain. Thus, negative regulators of microglia activation are
      considered as potential therapeutic candidates for AD. Curcumin, the major yellow
      pigment in turmeric (Curcuma longa), is proposed for its anti-inflammatory
      properties. Several studies have indicated the suppressive effects of curcumin on
      LPS-induced microglia activation and MAPK activities. However, the effects of
      curcumin on Abeta-treated microglia and the possible mechanisms are still not
      fully understood. In the present study, we found that curcumin improved
      microglial viability against Abeta42 in a time- and dose-dependent manner and
      remarkably suppressed Abeta42-induced CD68 expression. Moreover, curcumin
      concentration-dependently abolished Abeta42-induced interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta),
      interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) production in
      mRNA and protein levels in microglia. Besides, curcumin exerted an inhibitory
      effect on phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and p38 in Abeta42-activated microglia.
      Further experiments indicated that blockage of ERK1/2 and p38 pathways reduced
      inflammatory cytokines production from microglia. These results show that
      curcumin suppresses ERK1/2 and p38 signaling, thus, attenuating inflammatory
      responses of brain microglia. 

PMID- 25818333
TI  - The future healthcare?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Healthcare systems in Australia and around the world are failing to
      address the challenges ofthe modern world. Healthcare leaders are calling for
      radical, transformational change and entirely new systems of care. However it is
      unclear what a future, sustainable healthcare system would look like. METHODS: A
      narrative review to examine emerging trends in health and social care was
      conducted. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Six key trends were identified. Collectively,
      they suggest that future systems are likely to be characterised by increasingly
      sophisticated technology, but at the same time greater personal and community
      responsibility for health and well being, innovative use of social capital, and a
      new approach to ageing and end-of-life care.

PMID- 25818335
TI  - An unusual presentation of dose dependent SIADH secondary to mirtazapine therapy.

PMID- 25818334
TI  - Males' mental health disadvantage: An estimation of gender-specific changes in
      service utilisation for mental and substance use disorders in Australia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Concerns about low levels of service utilisation for mental and
      substance use disorders in Australia - especially among males - have prompted
      targeted help-seeking and stigma-reduction initiatives. Resulting changes in
      service utilisation according to gender are unknown. We modelled the percentage
      of Australian males with a mental or substance use disorder who used services
      each year between 2006-2007 and 2011-2012, and the types of services they used,
      relative to females. METHODS: Twelve-month prevalence of mental and substance use
      disorders, stratified by gender, was synthesised from existing estimates. The
      percentage of males and females with these disorders who used mental health
      services in each year from 2006-2007 to 2011-2012 was modelled from published
      programme activity data, supplemented by analyses of epidemiological survey data.
      Uncertainty analysis quantified the effects of sampling error and assumptions on
      the estimates. RESULTS: Modelling showed a significant increase in the percentage
      of people with mental or substance use disorders who used services for their
      mental health - from 32.0% in 2006-2007 to 40.0% in 2011-2012 in males and from
      45.1% in 2006-2007 to 54.6% in 2011-2012 in females. Growth was driven largely by
      uptake of private specialised services - males' use of these services grew by
      92.7% and females' by 115.4%. There appeared to be a non-significant decrease in
      use of general practitioner-only mental health care for males (-17.9%), and a
      significant decrease in the same for females (-35.1%); however, some assumptions
      made in the modelling of general practitioner-only care require validation. In
      2006-2007, the percentage of females treated was 40.9% higher than for males; in
      2011-2012, it was 36.6% greater. CONCLUSIONS: Recently implemented initiatives
      have improved males' likelihood of service utilisation, particularly their use of
      specialised mental health services. Although the gender gap may have narrowed,
      improving males' access to services should remain a policy priority.

PMID- 25818336
TI  - Outcomes of Infection-Related Hospitalization according to Dialysis Modality.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is associated with an
      increased risk of infection-related hospitalization (IRH) compared with
      hemodialysis. The objective of this study was to compare mortality and overall
      readmission after an IRH between PD and hemodialysis. DESIGN, SETTING,
      PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: This propensity score-matched retrospective cohort
      study assessed patients undergoing long-term dialysis patients, derived from the
      Canadian Organ Replacement Register and Regie de l'assurance maladie du Quebec,
      who had at least one IRH between January 2001 and December 2007. Patients were
      followed until death, kidney transplantation, or end of the study period. To
      estimate the probability of receiving PD versus hemodialysis, propensity scores
      were obtained using multivariable logistic regression. Mortality and overall
      readmission risks after the initial IRH were compared using a Cox survival model.
      RESULTS: A total of 354 pairs of patients who had at least one IRH were matched
      for propensity score. During follow-up (median, 1.25 years), 138 hemodialysis
      patients (24.7/100 patient-years; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 20.7 to 29.1)
      and 130 PD patients (21.2/100 patient-years; 95% CI, 17.7 to 25.1) died; 265
      hemodialysis patients (144.6/100 patient-years; 95% CI, 127.7 to 163.1) and 299
      PD patients (173.2/100 patient-years; 95% CI, 154.1 to 194.0) were readmitted for
      any cause; and 121 hemodialysis patients (29.7/100 patient-years; 95% CI, 24.7 to
      35.5) and 168 PD patients (44.7/100 patient-years; 95% CI, 38.2 to 52.0) were
      readmitted for an infection. Compared with hemodialysis, PD was not associated
      with a different mortality risk after an IRH (hazard ratio [HR], 0.87; 95% CI,
      0.69 to 1.11). PD was associated with a higher risk of infection-related overall
      readmission compared with hemodialysis (HR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.81), but not
      with the risk of all-cause overall readmission (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.36).
      CONCLUSIONS: PD was not associated with higher mortality or all-cause overall
      readmission following an IRH compared with hemodialysis, but PD patients were at
      higher risk of infection-related overall readmission after IRH. IRHs are
      associated with significant mortality and overall readmissions. Evaluation of
      strategies to reduce infections in both hemodialysis and PD recipients are needed
      to improve patient care and outcomes.

PMID- 25818338
TI  - Dirac surface states and nature of superconductivity in Noncentrosymmetric BiPd.
AB  - In non-magnetic bulk materials, inversion symmetry protects the spin degeneracy.
      If the bulk crystal structure lacks a centre of inversion, however, spin-orbit
      interactions lift the spin degeneracy, leading to a Rashba metal whose Fermi
      surfaces exhibit an intricate spin texture. In superconducting Rashba metals a
      pairing wavefunction constructed from these complex spin structures will
      generally contain both singlet and triplet character. Here we examine the
      possible triplet components of the order parameter in noncentrosymmetric BiPd,
      combining for the first time in a noncentrosymmetric superconductor macroscopic
      characterization, atomic-scale ultra-low-temperature scanning tunnelling
      spectroscopy, and relativistic first-principles calculations. While the
      superconducting state of BiPd appears topologically trivial, consistent with
      Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory with an order parameter governed by a single
      isotropic s-wave gap, we show that the material exhibits Dirac-cone surface
      states with a helical spin polarization. 

PMID- 25818337
TI  - Clinical and molecular characterization of patients with heterozygous mutations
      in wilms tumor suppressor gene 1.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Wilms tumor suppressor gene 1 (WT1) plays an
      essential role in urogenital and kidney development. Genotype/phenotype
      correlations of WT1 mutations with renal function and proteinuria have been
      observed in world-wide cohorts with nephrotic syndrome or Wilms tumor (WT). This
      study analyzed mid-European patients with known constitutional heterozygous
      mutations in WT1, including patients without proteinuria or WT. DESIGN, SETTING,
      PARTICIPANTS & MEASUREMENTS: Retrospective analysis of genotype, phenotype, and
      treatment of 53 patients with WT1 mutation from all pediatric nephrology centers
      in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland performed from 2010 to 2012. RESULTS: Median
      age was 12.4 (interquartile range [IQR], 6-19) years. Forty-four of 53 (83%)
      patients had an exon mutation (36 missense, eight truncating), and nine of 53
      (17%) had an intronic lysine-threonine-serine (KTS) splice site mutation. Fifty
      of 53 patients (94%) had proteinuria, which occurred at an earlier age in
      patients with missense mutations (0.6 [IQR, 0.1-1.5] years) than in those with
      truncating (9.7 [IQR, 5.7-11.9]; P<0.001) and splice site (4.0 [IQR, 2.6-6.6];
      P=0.004) mutations. Thirteen of 50 (26%) were treated with steroids and remained
      irresponsive, while three of five partially responded to cyclosporine A. Seventy
      three percent of all patients required RRT, those with missense mutations
      significantly earlier (at 1.1 [IQR, 0.01-9.3] years) than those with truncating
      mutations (16.5 [IQR, 16.5-16.8]; P<0.001) and splice site mutations (12.3 [IQR,
      7.9-18.2]; P=0.002). Diffuse mesangial sclerosis was restricted to patients with
      missense mutations, while focal segmental sclerosis occurred in all groups. WT
      occurred only in patients with exon mutations (n=19). Fifty of 53 (94%) patients
      were karyotyped: Thirty-one (62%) had XY and 19 (38%) had XX chromosomes, and 96%
      of male karyotypes had urogenital malformations. CONCLUSIONS: Type and location
      of WT1 mutations have predictive value for the development of proteinuria, renal
      insufficiency, and WT. XY karyotype was more frequent and associated with
      urogenital malformations in most cases.

PMID- 25818340
TI  - Tuberculosis in South Asian communities in the UK: a systematic review of the
      literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rates of tuberculosis (TB) in UK South Asian communities are up to 17
      times higher than in white British groups. Latent infection in new migrants
      provides only a partial explanation. We undertook a systematic review of the
      literature to establish existing knowledge about TB in South Asian communities.
      METHODS: We undertook a search for literature relating to TB and its management
      in South Asian communities in the UK. Articles initially identified were screened
      for relevance. A narrative review of relevant articles was then conducted.
      RESULTS: We found 18 relevant articles. Associated risk factors for TB included
      poverty, deprivation, return visits to the Indian subcontinent, history of close
      contact with a case, gender, religion, possible dietary factors such as Vitamin D
      deficiency, duration of stay in the UK and country of birth. However, the
      evidence for these factors was often conflicting or weak, and suggests that
      commonly proposed hypotheses may not provide robust explanations for the higher
      rates of diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Migration patterns and the demographic profile
      of the South Asian communities are constantly changing. Further research into the
      determinants of TB infection in these communities in the UK is urgently needed to
      inform the commissioning of TB health services.

PMID- 25818339
TI  - Immune evasion in cancer: Mechanistic basis and therapeutic strategies.
AB  - Cancer immune evasion is a major stumbling block in designing effective
      anticancer therapeutic strategies. Although considerable progress has been made
      in understanding how cancers evade destructive immunity, measures to counteract
      tumor escape have not kept pace. There are a number of factors that contribute to
      tumor persistence despite having a normal host immune system. Immune editing is
      one of the key aspects why tumors evade surveillance causing the tumors to lie
      dormant in patients for years through "equilibrium" and "senescence" before re
      emerging. In addition, tumors exploit several immunological processes such as
      targeting the regulatory T cell function or their secretions, antigen
      presentation, modifying the production of immune suppressive mediators, tolerance
      and immune deviation. Besides these, tumor heterogeneity and metastasis also play
      a critical role in tumor growth. A number of potential targets like promoting
      Th1, NK cell, gammadelta T cell responses, inhibiting Treg functionality,
      induction of IL-12, use of drugs including phytochemicals have been designed to
      counter tumor progression with much success. Some natural agents and
      phytochemicals merit further study. For example, use of certain key
      polysaccharide components from mushrooms and plants have shown to possess
      therapeutic impact on tumor-imposed genetic instability, anti-growth signaling,
      replicative immortality, dysregulated metabolism etc. In this review, we will
      discuss the advances made toward understanding the basis of cancer immune evasion
      and summarize the efficacy of various therapeutic measures and targets that have
      been developed or are being investigated to enhance tumor rejection. 

PMID- 25818341
TI  - [Colonoscopy sedation: clinical trial comparing propofol and fentanyl with or
      without midazolam].
AB  - Colonoscopy is one of the most common procedures. Sedation and analgesia decrease
      anxiety and discomfort and minimize risks. Therefore, patients prefer to be
      sedated when undergoing examination, although the best combination of drugs has
      not been determined. The combination of opioids and benzodiazepines is used to
      relieve the patient's pain and discomfort. More recently, propofol has assumed a
      prominent position. This randomized prospective study is unique in medical
      literature that specifically compared the use of propofol and fentanyl with or
      without midazolam for colonoscopy sedation performed by anesthesiologists. The
      aim of this study was to evaluate the side effects of sedation, discharge
      conditions, quality of sedation, and propofol consumption during colonoscopy,
      with or without midazolam as preanesthetic. The study involved 140 patients who
      underwent colonoscopy at the University Hospital of the Federal University of
      Juiz de Fora. Patients were divided into two groups: Group I received intravenous
      midazolam as preanesthetic five minutes before sedation, followed by fentanyl and
      propofol; Group II received intravenous anesthesia with fentanyl and propofol.
      Patients in Group II had a higher incidence of reaction (motor or verbal) to the
      colonoscope introduction, bradycardia, hypotension, and increased propofol
      consumption. Patient satisfaction was higher in Group I. According to the
      methodology used, the combination of midazolam, fentanyl, and propofol for
      colonoscopy sedation reduces propofol consumption and provides greater patient
      satisfaction. 

PMID- 25818342
TI  - A general strategy for nanohybrids synthesis via coupled competitive reactions
      controlled in a hybrid process.
AB  - A new methodology based on core alloying and shell gradient-doping are developed
      for the synthesis of nanohybrids, realized by coupled competitive reactions, or
      sequenced reducing-nucleation and co-precipitation reaction of mixed metal salts
      in a microfluidic and batch-cooling process. The latent time of nucleation and
      the growth of nanohybrids can be well controlled due to the formation of
      controllable intermediates in the coupled competitive reactions. Thus,
      spatiotemporal-resolved synthesis can be realized by the hybrid process, which
      enables us to investigate nanohybrid formation at each stage through their
      solution color changes and TEM images. By adjusting the bi-channel solvents and
      kinetic parameters of each stage, the primary components of alloyed cores and the
      second components of transition metal doping ZnO or Al2O3 as surface coatings can
      be successively formed. The core alloying and shell gradient-doping strategy can
      efficiently eliminate the crystal lattice mismatch in different components.
      Consequently, varieties of gradient core-shell nanohybrids can be synthesized
      using CoM, FeM, AuM, AgM (M = Zn or Al) alloys as cores and transition metal
      gradient-doping ZnO or Al2O3 as shells, endowing these nanohybrids with unique
      magnetic and optical properties (e.g., high temperature ferromagnetic property
      and enhanced blue emission). 

PMID- 25818343
TI  - A meta-synthesis of factors influencing nursing home staff decisions to transfer
      residents to hospital.
AB  - AIM: To report a meta-synthesis of qualitative research studies exploring the
      role of nursing home staff in decisions to transfer residents to hospital.
      BACKGROUND: Nurses and nurse assistants provide the majority of care to residents
      living in nursing homes and may be the only health workers present when a
      resident deteriorates. To inform future strategies, it is vital to understand the
      role of nursing home staff in decisions to transfer to hospital. DESIGN AND
      REVIEW METHODS: A systematic review identified 17 studies to be included. The
      process of meta-synthesis was undertaken using the Joanna Briggs Institute's
      guidelines. DATA SOURCES: Qualitative research papers published between January
      1989-October 2012 were identified in key databases including Cinahl, Embase,
      Medline and PsycInfo. RESULTS: Nursing home staff members play a key role in
      decision-making at the time of a resident's deterioration. Multiple factors
      influence decisions to transfer to hospital including an unclear expectation of
      the nursing home role; limited staffing capacity; fear of working outside their
      scope of practice; poor access to multidisciplinary support and difficulties
      communicating with other decision-makers. CONCLUSIONS: There is a lack of
      consensus regarding the role of the nursing home when a resident's health
      deteriorates. Nursing home staff would benefit from a clear prescription of their
      expected minimum clinical skill set; a staffing capacity that allows for the
      increased requirements to manage residents on-site, greater consistency in access
      to outside resources and further confidence and skills to optimize their role in
      resident advocacy.

PMID- 25818344
TI  - ADRA2A is involved in neuro-endocrine regulation of bone resorption.
AB  - Adrenergic stimulation is important for osteoclast differentiation and bone
      resorption. Previous research shows that this happens through beta2-adrenergic
      receptor (AR), but there are conflicting evidence on presence and role of alpha2A
      AR in bone. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of alpha2A-AR
      and its involvement in neuro-endocrine signalling of bone remodelling in humans.
      Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemistry were used to
      investigate alpha2A-AR receptor presence and localization in bone cells.
      Functionality of rs553668 and rs1800544 single nucleotide polymorphism SNPs
      located in alpha2A-AR gene was analysed by qPCR expression on bone samples and
      luciferase reporter assay in human osteosarcoma HOS cells. Using real-time PCR,
      genetic association study between rs553668 A>G and rs1800544 C>G SNPs and major
      bone markers was performed on 661 Slovenian patients with osteoporosis. alpha2A
      AR is expressed in osteoblasts and lining cells but not in osteocytes. SNP
      rs553668 has a significant influence on alpha2A-AR mRNA level in human bone
      samples through the stability of mRNA. alpha2A-AR gene locus associates with
      important bone remodelling markers (BMD, CTX, Cathepsin K and pOC). The results
      of this study are providing comprehensive new evidence that alpha2A-AR is
      involved in neuro-endocrine signalling of bone turnover and development of
      osteoporosis. As shown by our results the neurological signalling is mediated
      through osteoblasts and result in bone resorption. Genetic study showed
      association of SNPs in alpha2A-AR gene locus with bone remodelling markers,
      identifying the individuals with higher risk of development of osteoporosis. 

PMID- 25818345
TI  - The Japanese version of the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire: Examination of the
      reliability, validity, and scale structure.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to develop the Japanese version of the
      Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ) to gather data on Japanese mothers for
      comparison with other cultures and to examine the scale structure of the PBQ
      among Japanese mothers. METHODS: We administered the PBQ to a cross-section of
      244 mothers 4 weeks after delivery and again 2 weeks later to 199 mothers as a
      retest to examine reliability. We used exploratory factor analysis to evaluate
      the factor structure of the PBQ. Correlations with the Mother-to-Infant Bonding
      Scale (MIBS), the Maternal Attachment Inventory (MAI), Edinburgh Postnatal
      Depression Scale (EPDS), and sociodemographic variables were calculated for
      validation. RESULTS: The 14-item version of the PBQ extracted by exploratory
      analysis consisted of four factors: 'impaired bonding', 'rejection and anger',
      'anxiety about care', and 'lack of affection'. We found significant correlations
      of the total scores of the PBQ and the 14-item version of the PBQ positively with
      the MIBS and negatively with the MAI. Moderate significant correlations with
      total scores were also found with the EPDS. Total scores for primiparous and
      depressed mothers were higher than those for multiparous mothers and mothers
      without depression. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated the
      reliability and validity of the PBQ and the 14-item version of the PBQ in
      Japanese mothers 4 weeks after delivery.

PMID- 25818346
TI  - A new questionnaire to identify bodily distress in primary care: The 'BDS
      checklist'.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Functional symptoms and disorders are common in primary care. Bodily
      distress syndrome (BDS) is a newly proposed clinical diagnosis for functional
      disorders. The BDS diagnosis is based on empirical research, and the symptoms
      stated in the BDS criteria have been translated into a self-report questionnaire
      called the BDS checklist. The aim of the present study was to investigate the
      psychometric properties of the checklist and to test the construct of BDS.
      METHOD: The 30-item BDS checklist was completed by 2480 adult primary care
      patients in a cross-sectional study on contact and disease patterns in Danish
      general practice. We performed (internal) validation analyses of the collected
      checklist data. We also performed factor and latent class analyses to identify
      both BDS symptom groups and BDS patient groups. RESULTS: Internal validation
      analyses revealed acceptable and usable psychometric properties of the BDS
      checklist. The factor analyses identified the four distinct determining factors
      for BDS: cardiopulmonary, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal and general symptoms.
      Results from factor and multi-trait analyses suggested a shortening of the BDS
      checklist (from 30 to 25 items). The latent class analyses resulted in three
      severity levels (no, moderate and severe BDS); the best fit index was found for a
      threshold of >=4 symptoms in a symptom group. CONCLUSION: The results provide
      empirical support for the previously described construct of BDS with four symptom
      groups and three patient groups. The BDS checklist is a self-report instrument
      that may be used for case finding in both clinical practice and in research.

PMID- 25818347
TI  - Airway management considerations in children with I-cell disease.
AB  - Inclusion-cell disease (mucolipidosis II/I-cell disease) is a lysosomal storage
      disease characterized by a constellation of physical findings which complicate
      airway management. There is currently a deficit of published literature
      describing appropriate strategies for acute management of these children's
      airways. This paper details emergency and anesthetic airway management concerns
      and potential solutions in a small series of children with I-cell disease. 

PMID- 25818348
TI  - Pediatric patients with chronic cough and recurrent croup: the case for a
      multidisciplinary approach.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the results of our multidisciplinary approach to recurrent
      croup and chronic cough. METHODS: Retrospective chart review of all patients with
      recurrent croup and chronic cough managed at a tertiary care children's hospital
      by our Comprehensive Airway, Respiratory, and Esophageal (CARE) Team. Charts were
      reviewed for all patients who carried a diagnosis of recurrent croup or chronic
      cough. Patients were excluded if they did not receive a full workup, including
      micro-direct laryngoscopy, flexible and/or rigid bronchoscopy, bronchioalveolar
      lavage (BAL), and upper endoscopy with biopsies. We reviewed the records for the
      presence of gastrointestinal complaints, abdominal pain and failure to thrive
      (FTT) and compared the children with documented esophagitis to the remaining
      children. RESULTS: Forty patients met inclusion criteria. 53% had airway
      abnormalities; the most common was tracheomalacia, followed by enlarged adenoids.
      38% had esophagitis (group 1) while 62% had normal esophageal biopsies (group 2).
      Among the children in group 1, 27% met criteria for eosinophilic esophagitis (>15
      eosinophils per high powered field). There was no significant difference between
      groups 1 and 2 based on the presence of gastrointestinal complaints, abdominal
      pain and/or FTT (p>0.05). There was no significant difference between the groups
      based on the location or presence of an airway abnormality (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS:
      Children with recurrent croup and chronic cough may benefit from a
      multidisciplinary approach to management. Our CARE Team approach led to a
      specific diagnosis in almost 95% of patients.

PMID- 25818349
TI  - A case of HPV and acquired genital lymphangioma: over-lapping clinical features.
AB  - Lymphatic malformation or lymphangioma is a benign proliferation of the
      lymphatics accounting for 4% of all vascular malformations and 26% of all benign
      vascular tumors. There are several reports about genital lymphangiomas mimicking
      venereal lesions, such as genital warts. Hereby we described a case of a 24 year
      old man affected by multiple vesicles and warts in genital area. All
      hematological and biochemical parameters, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and
      Treponema Pallidum tests, C1-Inhibitor and C1-Q values were within limits. An
      accurate fulguration and wide excision of bigger lesions were performed.
      Histological examination showed numerous dilated lymphatic vessels in the
      superficial dermis with infiltration of inflammatory cells, that is a
      histopathological picture compatible with genital lymphangioma. Considering our
      clinical suspicion of condylomatosis, HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) Polimerase
      Chain Reaction (PCR) Genotyping, named INNOLiPA test, was performed, that
      revealed a genital infection by HPV - genotype 6. We think that our case can be
      considered an example of HPV infection and acquired genital lymphangioma overlap
      clinical syndrome. The patient presented any lesions one year after the procedure
      at follow-up examination.

PMID- 25818351
TI  - A retrospective evaluation of aesthetic outcomes for single-tooth implants in the
      anterior maxilla.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate objective and patient-centred aesthetic outcomes for
      single-tooth implants in the anterior maxilla. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety
      eight patients (21 men and 77 women) with a mean age of 51.2 +/- 3.8 years were
      included in this retrospective study. A total of 98 maxillary anterior single
      tooth implant crowns with a mean functional time of 68.1 months (range 12-245)
      were evaluated. Aesthetic outcomes were measured by PES and WES. Statistical
      analysis was performed using the Mood's median and stepwise logistic regression
      with backward elimination to assess the effect of patient demographics, clinical
      parameters and surgical methods on aesthetic outcome (P < 0.05). RESULTS: The
      median PES was 11 and 94% of implants were deemed aesthetically acceptable. The
      median WES was 9 and 98% of implants were deemed aesthetically acceptable. The
      PES was positively influenced by the use of a connective tissue graft (CTG),
      adding 1 to the score (P = 0.002) and negatively influenced by membrane use (P =
      0.026). Flapless techniques employed as part of an immediate implant placement
      protocol yielded better outcomes compared to flapped sites (P = 0.017). Immediate
      implant placement demonstrated greater variability in outcomes compared to early
      implant placement. CONCLUSIONS: Satisfactory objective and patient-reported
      aesthetic outcomes were achieved with dental implants replacing missing single
      teeth in the anterior maxilla. The use of CTG improved the aesthetic outcome
      mainly by increasing the alveolar process contour. Less variation in outcomes was
      observed with early (type 2) placement compared to immediate (type 1 placement).

PMID- 25818350
TI  - The Adh adhesin domain is required for trimeric autotransporter Apa1-mediated
      Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae adhesion, autoaggregation, biofilm formation and
      pathogenicity.
AB  - Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is a causative agent of porcine pleuropneumonia,
      which is a highly contagious endemic disease of pigs. Adhesion is a critical
      first step in the infection process. Trimeric autotransporter adhesions (TAAs)
      have been identified as novel virulence factors; however, little is known on
      their roles in A. pleuropneumoniae pathogenicity. Here, our data show that YadA
      like head region (Adh) of Apa1 was the optimal adhesion functional domain via
      segment expression and adhesion assays in vitro. Additionally, Adh induced
      partial protection against A. pleuropneumoniae 5b L20 and serotypes 1, 3, and 5a
      in mice. The deletion of Adh gene significantly decreased autoaggregation,
      biofilm formation and adherence to host cells in vitro. Furthermore, with
      delaying of clinical symptoms, reducing production of pro-inflammatory cytokines
      and lessening the lung injury after infection, Adh deletion strain (5bphiAdh)
      significantly reduced the pathogenicity to piglets. To elucidate the mechanism of
      lung injury, the differentially expressed genes in the lung tissues of piglets
      infected with the 5b L20 or 5bphiAdh strains were investigated using microarray
      analysis and validated by qRT-PCR. Compared with the 5b L20 infected piglets, 495
      genes were differentially expressed in 5bphiAdh infected lung tissue (221
      upregulated and 274 downregulated). Especially, the antigen processing and
      presentation gene IFI30 was increased following infection with the 5bphiAdh
      strain. Thus, Adh may enhance pathogenicity by depressing host immune
      recognition. We conclude that the head domain of the A. pleuropneumoniae trimeric
      autotransporter Apa1 regulates autoagglutination, biofilm formation, adhesion to
      host cells and pathogenicity. 

PMID- 25818352
TI  - What Should Be Done With Survivors of a Cardiac Arrest? Induce Hypothermia or
      Just Avoid Hyperthermia?

PMID- 25818353
TI  - Quo vadis, troponin?

PMID- 25818354
TI  - Effects of hydrothermal temperature and time on hydrothermal synthesis of
      colloidal hydroxyapatite nanorods in the presence of sodium citrate.
AB  - In this paper, colloidal hydrophilic hydroxyapatite nanorods were synthesized in
      the presence of sodium citrate via thermal-decomplexing method. The influences of
      hydrothermal temperature and time on the synthesis of HA nanorods were
      characterized in terms of structure, size, morphology, and colloidal stability
      through TEM, XRD, zeta potential, DLS and long-term standing test. Results show
      that increasing hydrothermal temperature and prolonging hydrothermal time would
      evidently improve crystallinity and enlarge size of HA nanorods but decrease the
      colloidal stability of nanorods. It is worth noting that the effect of raising
      the hydrothermal temperature and time on diameter increase is far greater than
      that on length increase; meanwhile, the colloidal stability would be seriously
      deteriorated when the hydrothermal temperature is over 180  degrees C for 24 h or
      when the hydrothermal temperature is 150  degrees C for over 48 h, in these
      cases, dispersion of HA nanorods would apparently settle within 2 months. The
      origin responding to the results is that although the charge density of HA
      nanorods is not obviously affected, the dynamic diameters of HA particles
      increase greatly, which reduces colloidal stability of the dispersion. This work
      provides new insights into the role of hydrothermal temperature and time on
      tailoring morphology, crystallinity and colloidal stability of HA nanorods.
      Moreover, it would be helpful to optimize the experimental procedure both on
      scientific and industrial applications related to HA. For example, on the premise
      of satisfying the necessary requirements including crystallinity, size,
      morphology and colloid stability, it is feasible to compress the consumption of
      experimental time through raising the hydrothermal temperature, or vice versa.

PMID- 25818355
TI  - A hybrid PCL/collagen scaffold consisting of solid freeform-fabricated struts and
      EHD-direct-jet-processed fibrous threads for tissue regeneration.
AB  - Hybrid biomedical structures have been used widely in various tissue-regenerating
      materials because they effectively induce exceptional physical and cellular
      responses. In this study, a new hybrid process was used to design a three
      dimensional (3D) biomedical hybrid scaffold with a controlled pore-structure and
      high mechanical strength. A melt-dispensing method was used to obtain mechanical
      properties and electrohydrodynamic direct-jet (EHD-DJ) printing was used to
      provide microsized fibrous structures for the scaffold. Furthermore, the
      poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) hybrid scaffolds were coated biomimetically with
      type-I collagen to increase bioactive interactions between cells and scaffolds.
      The fabricated scaffolds showed similar mechanical properties to the two control
      scaffolds; however, the results of culturing osteoblast-like (MG63) cells showed
      significant increases in in vitro cellular activities (cell viability>twofold and
      calcium deposition>sevenfold). Based on these results, we propose a newly
      designed hybrid scaffold that can support significant in vitro cellular
      activities at the interface between cells and the 3D micro-pore structure for
      soft and hard tissue regeneration. 

PMID- 25818356
TI  - PdCo alloy nanoparticle-embedded carbon nanofiber for ultrasensitive nonenzymatic
      detection of hydrogen peroxide and nitrite.
AB  - PdCo alloy nanoparticle-embedded carbon nanofiber (PdCo/CNF) prepared by
      electrospinning and thermal treatment was employed as a high-performance platform
      for the determination of hydrogen peroxide and nitrite. The as-obtained PdCo/CNF
      were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray
      spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy,
      cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry were employed to
      investigate the electrochemical behaviors of the resultant biosensor. The
      proposed PdCo/CNF-based biosensor showed excellent analytical performances toward
      hydrogen peroxide (detection limit: 0.1 MUM; linear range: 0.2 MUM-23.5 mM) and
      nitrite (detection limit: 0.2 MUM; linear range: 0.4-30 MUM and 30-400 MUM). The
      superior analytical properties could be attributed to the synergic effect and
      firmly embedment of well-dispersed PdCo alloy nanoparticles. These attractive
      electrochemical properties make this robust electrode material promising for the
      development of effective electrochemical sensors.

PMID- 25818357
TI  - Synthesis of fluorinated ceramic Janus particles via a Pickering emulsion method.
AB  - HYPOTHESIS: Dispersion or aggregation of ceramic nanoparticles in suspension is
      mainly influenced by their surface properties. The preparation of
      hydrophobic/hydrophilic nanoparticles was studied by synthesizing for the first
      time fluorinated Janus particles via a Pickering emulsion method. EXPERIMENTS:
      Fluorinated silica Janus particles were synthesized with a "grafting to" method
      using silica/wax emulsions. The parameters investigated to control the emulsion
      were (i) the SiO2 particles/wax ratio, (ii) the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide
      (CTAB)/SiO2 ratio and (iii) the ionic strength, i.e. NaCl concentration. Prior to
      grafting with fluorinated molecules, the partially wax-embedded silica particles
      were functionalized with an aminosilane. Fourier Transformed Infrared and Nuclear
      Magnetic Resonance spectroscopies, thermogravimetric and zeta potential analyzes
      were conducted to characterize the fluorinated Janus particles. FINDINGS: Silica
      quantity has an influence on the silica nanoparticles distribution at the surface
      of the wax solid droplets. CTAB amount controls the size and shape of silica/wax
      solid droplets, whereas the ionic strength in the range 0-6.22 g L(-1) does not
      influence the silica/wax emulsion. Aminosilane functionalization was successfully
      employed on partially wax-embedded silica particles, followed by a grafting step
      with a carboxylic acid fluorinated compound.

PMID- 25818358
TI  - Anti-ictogenic and antiepileptogenic properties of brivaracetam in mature and
      immature rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Brivaracetam (BRV) is a new antiepileptic drug candidate rationally
      designed for high affinity and selectivity for the synaptic vesicle protein 2A.
      This study explored anti-ictogenic and antiepileptogenic effects of BRV in rats
      at different stages of development. METHODS: Using a rapid kindling model in P14,
      P21, P28, and P60 rats, we studied two doses of BRV: 10 and 100 mg/kg injected
      intraperitoneally 30 min before afterdischarge assessment. We also assessed blood
      and brain concentrations of BRV 30 min after the injection. RESULTS: BRV 100
      mg/kg significantly increased the afterdischarge threshold (ADT) at all ages,
      whereas BRV at 10 mg/kg increased ADT in P60, P28, and P21 rats. BRV also
      shortens the afterdischarge duration (ADD), achieving statistical significance
      with 10 and 100 mg/kg at P60 and with 100 mg/kg at P21. At P60, BRV increases the
      number of stimulations required to achieve a stage 4-5 seizure in a dose
      dependent manner. At P28 and P21, BRV increased the number of stimulations
      required to develop a stage 4-5 seizure in a dose-dependent manner with almost
      complete elimination of stage 4-5 seizures. In contrast, at P14, BRV had no
      effect on the number of stage 4-5 seizures. An age-related decrease in blood and
      brain concentrations of BRV was observed 30 min after injection of BRV 10 mg/kg,
      whereas with 100 mg/kg there were no significant age-correlated differences in
      brain and serum BRV concentrations. SIGNIFICANCE: BRV exerted dose-dependent anti
      ictogenic effects from P60 to P14 independent of brain maturation. BRV also
      exhibited antiepileptogenic effects at P60, whereas this effect need to be
      further evaluated at P28 and P21. We did not observe any effect on
      epileptogenesis at P14 at either dose.

PMID- 25818359
TI  - [50th annual meeting of the Societe de Pneumologie de l'Ouest. The journey of
      chest medicine: From past to its future].

PMID- 25818360
TI  - Expanding roles for AMPK in skeletal muscle plasticity.
AB  - Skeletal muscle possesses a remarkable plasticity and responds to environmental
      and physiological challenges by changing its phenotype in terms of size,
      composition, and metabolic properties. Muscle fibers rapidly adapt to drastic
      changes in energy demands during exercise through fine-tuning of the balance
      between catabolic and anabolic processes. One major sensor of energy demand in
      exercising muscle is AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). Recent advances have
      shed new light on the relevance of AMPK both as a multitask gatekeeper and as an
      energy regulator in skeletal muscle. Here we summarize recent findings on the
      function of AMPK in skeletal muscle adaptation to contraction and highlight its
      role in the regulation of energy metabolism and the control of skeletal muscle
      regeneration post-injury. 

PMID- 25818361
TI  - Evaluation of inertial cavitation activity in tissue through measurement of
      oxidative stress.
AB  - Ultrasound cavitation is an essential mechanism involved in the therapeutic local
      enhancement of drug delivery by ultrasound for cancer treatment. Inertial
      cavitation also triggers chemical reactions that generate free radicals and
      subsequent oxidative stress in the tissue. The aim of this study was to measure
      the oxidative stress induced by inertial cavitation in ex vivo tissue and to test
      the association between the exposure conditions and the oxidative stress. A
      confocal ultrasound setup was used to sonicate and create inertial cavitation in
      freshly excised adipose pig tissue. The ex vivo tissue samples were then
      processed to measure the quantity of malondialdehyde (MDA), an end-product of
      polyunsaturated free fatty acid oxidation. The creation of hydroxyterephthalic
      acid (HTA) from the reaction of terephthalic acid (TA) with free radicals in
      water was also quantified in vitro. Samples were sonicated for different
      durations using various amplitudes for the applied pressure. The results showed a
      minimum 2-fold increase in the amount of detected MDA in the sonicated tissue
      samples compared to baseline clearly suggesting the generation of free radicals
      by inertial cavitation. The method exhibited a moderate dependence of MDA
      generated upon the duration of exposure (R(2)=057,p<0.0001). The average increase
      in MDA concentration was approximately 2-fold, 5-fold, 6-fold, and 9-fold for
      exposure durations per unit of volume of 0.13, 0.17, 0.25, and 0.50s/mm(3),
      respectively. The results showed no statistically significant dependence on the
      amplitude of the pressure within the used range. Both pressure amplitude and
      exposure duration, however, influenced the HTA concentration
      (R(2)>0.95,p<0.0001). This biochemical method can be used on ex vivo tissue to
      detect the generation of free radicals induced by inertial cavitation. In large
      enough sample populations, the cavitation activity is linked to the exposure
      conditions of the sonication.

PMID- 25818362
TI  - Ultrasonic cavitation erosion of Ti in 0.35% NaCl solution with bubbling oxygen
      and nitrogen.
AB  - The influences of oxygen and nitrogen on the ultrasonic cavitation erosion of Ti
      in 0.35%NaCl solution at room temperature, were investigated using a
      magnetostrictive-induced ultrasonic cavitation erosion (CE) facility and scanning
      electron microscopy (SEM). The roles of oxygen and nitrogen in the composition
      and the electronic property of the passive film on Ti, were studied by Mott
      Schottky plot and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results showed that
      the mass loss of Ti in 0.35%NaCl solution increased with increasing cavitation
      time. Bubbling oxygen can evidently increase the resistance of ultrasonic
      cavitation erosion comparing with bubbling nitrogen. XPS results showed that the
      thickness of the passive film on Ti in 0.35%NaCl solution in the case of bubbling
      oxygen for 3 weeks, was about 7 nm, and the passive film was mainly composed of
      TiO2 with an anatase structure. While TiO2 with a rutile structure was found to
      be the major component of the passive film on Ti in 0.35%NaCl solution in the
      case of bubbling nitrogen for 3 weeks, and the film thickness was 5 nm. The
      results extracted from Mott-Schottky plot showed that the passive film on Ti in
      the case of bubbling oxygen had more donor density than the passive film on Ti in
      the case of bubbling nitrogen.

PMID- 25818363
TI  - Sulfur removal from bauxite water slurry (BWS) electrolysis intensified by
      ultrasonic.
AB  - Effects of ultrasonic on desulfurization ratio from bauxite water slurry (BWS)
      electrolysis in NaOH solution were examined under constant current. The results
      indicated that ultrasonic improved the desulfurization ratio at high temperatures
      because of the diffusion and transfer of oxygen gas in electrolyte. However, due
      to the increase in oxygen gas emission, ultrasonic could not improve the
      desulfurization ratio obviously at low temperatures. Additionally, the particle
      size of bauxite became fine in the presence of ultrasonic, indicating that the
      mass transfer of FeS2 phase was improved. According to the polarization curves,
      the current density increased in the presence of ultrasonic, indicating that the
      mass transfer of liquid phase was improved. The apparent activation energy (AAE)
      of electrode reaction revealed that ultrasonic did not change the pathway of
      water electrolysis. However, ultrasonic changed the pathway of BWS electrolysis,
      converting indirect oxidation into direct oxidation. The AAE of BWS electrolysis
      in the presence of ultrasonic was higher than that in the absence of ultrasonic.
      And the low AAEs (less than 20 kJ/mol) clearly indicated the diffusion control
      during BWS electrolysis reaction.

PMID- 25818364
TI  - Immunomodulatory effect of cathelicidins in response to a beta-glucan in
      intestinal epithelial cells from rainbow trout.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to characterize intestinal immune mechanisms
      involved in the response to beta-glucans in rainbow trout. Among the immune
      effectors regulated in response to immunostimulants, host defense peptides (HDPs)
      are abundantly expressed in epithelial linings, suggesting their important role
      in the mucosal immune response. Therefore, the immunomodulatory properties of
      expressed HDPs in the epithelial intestinal cells of rainbow trout in response to
      the beta-glucan, zymosan, were assessed. The results showed that zymosan
      increased the production of the HDP, cathelicidin, and the cytokine, IL-1beta, in
      the intestinal epithelial RTgutGC cell line at the transcript and protein levels.
      Thus, cathelicidin-2 variants were produced and were shown to (i) induce the
      production of IL-1beta in RTgutGC cells and (ii) display a synergic effect with
      zymosan in IL-1beta upregulation. Importantly, the colocalization of both rtCATH
      2 and IL-1beta was detected in the intestinal epithelial cells of rainbow trout
      fed with a 0.3% zymosan-supplemented diet. We propose that trout cathelicidins
      are expressed by intestinal epithelial cells and exert immunomodulatory effects
      to improve the local intestinal immune response triggered by immunostimulants. 

PMID- 25818365
TI  - Fighting the force: Potential of homeobox genes for tumor microenvironment
      regulation.
AB  - Tumor cells exist in a constantly evolving stromal microenvironment composed of
      vasculature, immune cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts, all residing within
      a dynamic extracellular matrix. In this review, we examine the biochemical and
      biophysical interactions between these various stromal cells and their matrix
      microenvironment. While the stroma can alter tumor progression via multiple
      mechanisms, we emphasize the role of homeobox genes in detecting and modulating
      the mechanical changes in the microenvironment during tumor progression. 

PMID- 25818366
TI  - An analytical model accounting for tip shape evolution during atom probe analysis
      of heterogeneous materials.
AB  - An analytical model describing the field evaporation dynamics of a tip made of a
      thin layer deposited on a substrate is presented in this paper. The difference in
      evaporation field between the materials is taken into account in this approach in
      which the tip shape is modeled at a mesoscopic scale. It was found that the non
      existence of sharp edge on the surface is a sufficient condition to derive the
      morphological evolution during successive evaporation of the layers. This
      modeling gives an instantaneous and smooth analytical representation of the
      surface that shows good agreement with finite difference simulations results, and
      a specific regime of evaporation was highlighted when the substrate is a low
      evaporation field phase. In addition, the model makes it possible to calculate
      theoretically the tip analyzed volume, potentially opening up new horizons for
      atom probe tomographic reconstruction. 

PMID- 25818367
TI  - Study of frozen low density lipoprotein particles by using nanotechnology.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the impact of freezing in -80 degrees C on the
      structure of isolated low density lipoproteins (LDLs), using nanotechnology, such
      as Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). DESIGN AND METHODS: Blood EDTA plasma was
      obtained from healthy subject and used immediately to isolate LDL by sequential
      ultracentrifugation at 10 degrees C in 55,000 rpm for 3h, using a Beckmann XL-90
      ultracentrifuge (75Ti rotor), in the presence of KBr in PBS. LDLs were then
      diluted with PBS until final concentrations of 5 and 15 mg LDL/dl. After initial
      observation, samples were frozen in -80 degrees C for two weeks and observed
      again after thawing. Experiments were performed in triplicate on two smooth and
      clean substrates of different hydrophobicity, glass (HOPG) and Si (c-Si).
      Statistical significance was set at 0.05. RESULTS: Macroscopically, LDL particles
      formed aggregations in a dendroid layout. There were no differences between
      images taken from both substrates (HOPG and c-Si). Frozen samples presented
      significantly smaller LDL particles, than fresh ones. In specific, mean diameter
      of LDL particle in the fresh LDL sample was 19.77 nm, ranging from 13.34 to 28.76
      nm. The frozen LDL sample had a mean diameter of 5.2 nm, ranging from 2.0 to 8.0
      nm, which was significantly different from the unfrozen. CONCLUSIONS: Atomic
      Force Microscopy showed that freezing of LDL causes alterations in their size.

PMID- 25818368
TI  - Screening for melanoma resistance genes in vivo.

PMID- 25818369
TI  - Splenic infarction - A rare cause of acute abdominal pain following gastric
      surgery: A case series.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The dissection of splenic hilar lymph nodes in gastric cancer
      surgery is indispensable for treating gastric cancers located in the proximal
      third of the stomach. Splenic vascular injury is a matter of debate resulting on
      time or delayed splenectomy. We aimed to share our experience and plausible
      mechanisms causing this complication in two case reports. CASE PRESENTATIONS: Two
      male patients with gastric cancer were diagnosed with acute splenic infarction
      following gastric surgery in the early postoperative period. Both underwent
      emergent exploratory laparotomy. Splenectomy was performed due to splenic
      infarction. DISCUSSION: Because we observed this rare complication in recent
      patients whose surgery was performed using vessel-sealing device for splenic
      hilar dissection, we suggested that extensive mobilization of the surrounding
      tissues of splenic vascular structures hilum using the vessel sealer could be the
      reason. CONCLUSION: In case of acute abdominal pain radiating to left shoulder,
      splenic complications should be taken into consideration in gastric cancer
      patients performed radical gastrectomy. Meticulous dissection of splenic hilar
      lymph nodes should be carried out to avoid any splenic vascular injury.

PMID- 25818370
TI  - Colon cancer metastasis mimicking intraductal papillary neoplasm of the extra
      hepatic bile duct.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: An accurate diagnosis of the primary cancer in cases with
      metastatic lesions is quite important because misdiagnosis may lead to the
      selection of incorrect adjuvant therapy and worse long-term outcomes after
      surgery. The metastatic sites associated with the dissemination of colon cancer
      are well known and normally predictable, which includes the lymphatic,
      haematogenous, or peritoneal regions, while other locations are quite rare.
      PRESENTATION OF CASE: In this report, we present a case of colon cancer with an
      unusual metastatic pattern mimicking an intraductal papillary neoplasm of the
      bile duct (IPNB) present in the extra-hepatic bile duct with a cytokeratin (CK)-7
      negative and CK-20-positive profile (intestinal type). DISCUSSION: In the case of
      this patient who had a history of colon cancer, immunohistochemical staining for
      the CKs was useful for distinguishing between primary IPNB and colon cancer
      metastases. We suspect that the metastatic pattern of this case of colon cancer
      that mimicked IPNB at the extra-hepatic bile duct developed incidentally via the
      bile stream. CONCLUSION: This is a rare case of colon cancer metastasis mimicking
      IPNB at the extra-hepatic bile duct. Our findings also suggest that there may be
      an incidental 4th metastatic route via the bile stream.

PMID- 25818371
TI  - Robotic-assisted surgery for excision of an enlarged prostatic utricle.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Prostatic utricle is a rare malformation arising from incomplete
      regression of the Mullerian ducts. Diagnosis is easily made but management may be
      challenging. The minimally invasive approach has so far been considered the gold
      standard for surgical treatment. Many endoscopic and surgical procedures have
      been described for removal, but to date only few cases of robot-assisted
      procedures have been mentioned in the literature and there are no reports of
      redos. PRESENTATION OF THE CASE: We report the case of a giant prostatic utricle
      cyst successfully treated with robotic-assisted surgery two years after an
      unsuccessful first attempt at laparoscopic excision. No relapse was found at one
      year follow up. DISCUSSION: We were able to excise a retro-vescical structure in
      spite of adhesions caused by the previous surgery and the very large size of the
      diverticulum thanks to the high magnification and 3-D visualization available in
      robotic assisted laparoscopy. CONCLUSION: Robot assisted laparoscopy should be
      considered an advantageous technique for the treatment of prostatic utricle.

PMID- 25818372
TI  - Cecal volvulus caused by a large uterine leiomyoma.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Cecal volvulus is a relatively uncommon encountered clinical
      condition. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 48-year-old patient known with a large uterine
      leiomyoma, presented with progressive abdominal pain since one week. An abdominal
      computed tomography scan revealed a very large leiomyoma of the uterus, severely
      distended loops of the small bowel with a caliber change and a suggested 'whirl
      sign' of the mesenteric vessels. A laparotomy was performed, showing a very large
      uterus as well as torsion of the mesentery of the cecum with a sharp demarcated
      area of necrosis of the right hemicolon. DISCUSSION: Cecal volvulus due to a
      large uterine mass is a rare encountered clinical entity. The suggested mechanism
      might be the same mechanism causing cecal volvulus during pregnancy; the enlarged
      uterus raisingout the mobile cecum out of the pelvis. Obstruction may occur from
      kinking of the colon at a fixed point. CONCLUSION: This case demonstrates that
      uterine leiomyoma can be a cause of a cecal volvulus, leading to severe
      intestinal strangulation.

PMID- 25818373
TI  - Secondary prevention: the Heart Foundation's experience in driving change through
      advocacy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Heart disease is the leading single cause of death for men and
      women in Australia. There are 685,000 people living with heart disease,
      approximately 50% will be experiencing signs and symptoms of heart failure. This
      article aims to articulate the key advocacy activities required to improve the
      provision of evidence-based secondary prevention including cardiac rehabilitation
      and multidisciplinary chronic heart failure management services. METHOD: The
      Heart Foundation undertook an extensive consultation process with many experts,
      policy makers, health and public health professionals through forums, evidence
      reviews and working groups. A range of actions are required to improve access to
      secondary prevention, but only those that the Heart Foundation could drive and
      support have been included. RESULTS: The results identified three synergistic
      advocacy areas between heart failure and cardiac rehabilitation to drive
      secondary prevention advocacy. These were data, policy and people. DISCUSSION:
      The priority actions are discrete and tangible to progress rather than revisit
      established evidence-based recommendations, and to support uptake and
      implementation at a national and state/territory level. We must consider the
      current landscape within which secondary prevention sits and identify the
      intersecting barriers and enablers that can be influenced. There is no single
      solution or lever for change. CONCLUSION: Best-practice management of heart
      disease can be achieved through a co-ordinated effort to implement system change.
      Focus should be paid to a multi-faceted approach in the key advocacy areas
      identified here - data, policy and people - as these will provide benefit across
      the disease continuum, from secondary prevention and cardiac rehabilitation
      through to heart failure management.

PMID- 25818374
TI  - Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) in Patients With Bicuspid Aortic
      Valve Stenosis--Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a feasible
      interventional technique for severe aortic stenosis in patients who are deemed
      inoperable or at high surgical risk. There is limited evidence for the safety and
      efficacy of TAVI in patients with bicuspid aortic valves (BAV), the most common
      congenital valve abnormality. In many TAVI trials, patients with BAV have been
      contraindicated due to concerns surrounding abnormal valve geometry, leading to
      malfunction or malpositioning. A systematic review and meta-analysis was
      conducted in order to assess the current evidence and relative merits of TAVI in
      aortic stenosis patients with BAV. METHOD: From six electronic databases, seven
      articles including 149 BAV and 2096 non-BAV patients undergoing TAVI were
      analysed. RESULTS: Between the BAV and no-BAV cohorts, there was no difference in
      30-day mortality (8.3% vs 9.0%; P=0.68), post-TAVI mean peak gradients (weighted
      mean difference, 0.36 mmHg; P=0.55), moderate or severe paravalvular leak (25.7%
      vs 19.9%; P=0.29), pacemaker implantations (18.5% vs 27.9%; P=0.52), life
      threatening bleeding (8.2% vs 13.9%; P=0.33), major bleeding (20% vs 16.8%;
      P=0.88), conversion to conventional surgery (1.9% vs 1.2%; P=0.18) and vascular
      complications (8.6% vs 10.1%; P=0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary short and mid
      term pooled data from observation studies suggest that TAVI is feasible and safe
      in older patients with BAV. While future randomised trials are not likely, larger
      adequately-powered multi-institutional studies are warranted to assess the long
      term durability and complications associated with TAVI in older BAV patients with
      severe aortic stenosis.

PMID- 25818375
TI  - Protein-losing enteropathy associated with refractory systemic lupus
      erythematosus with a good response to rituximab.
AB  - A case is presented of a protein-losing enteropathy (PLE) as the initial
      manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a 17 year-old female
      patient, who presented with ascites, edema and hypoalbuminemia. The diagnosis of
      SLE was based on the presence of: malar rash, oral ulcers, thrombocytopenia,
      antinuclear antibodies, IgM anticardiolipin antibody, and lupus anticoagulant.
      Renal and liver diseases were ruled out. The PLE diagnosis was confirmed with
      fecal alpha 1-antitrypsin clearance. The PLE was refractory to different lines of
      immunosuppressive agents like glucocorticoids, cyclophosphamide, azathioprine,
      and cyclosporine, showing a satisfactory and sustained response with rituximab,
      allowing steroid sparing and long term remission. 

PMID- 25818376
TI  - Sacroiliitis and gluteal abscess secondary to Staphylococcus aureus infection.

PMID- 25818377
TI  - Is it Time to Take a Second Look at Second-look Laparoscopy?

PMID- 25818378
TI  - Trends and structural shifts in health tourism: evidence from seasonal time
      series data on health-related travel spending by Canada during 1970-2010.
AB  - There has been a growing interest in better understanding the trends and
      determinants of health tourism activities. While much of the expanding literature
      on health tourism offers theoretical or qualitative discussion, empirical
      evidences has been lacking. This study employs Canada's outbound health tourism
      activities as an example to examine the trends in health tourism and its
      association with changing domestic health care market characteristics. A time
      series model that accounts for potential structural changes in the trend is
      employed to analyze the quarterly health-related travel spending series reported
      in the Balance of Payments Statistics (BOPS) during 1970-2010 (n = 156). We
      identified a structural shift point which marks the start of an accelerated
      growth of health tourism and a flattened seasonality in such activities. We found
      that the health tourism activities of Canadian consumers increase when the
      private investment in medical facilities declines or when the private MPI
      increases during the years following the structural-change. We discussed the
      possible linkage of the structural shift to the General Agreement on Trade in
      Services (GATS), which went into effect in January, 1995. 

PMID- 25818379
TI  - The role of perceived impact on relationship quality in pharmacists' willingness
      to influence indication-based off-label prescribing decisions.
AB  - Little is known about factors that affect pharmacists' roles in off-label
      prescribing. This study examined the effect of perceived impact on relationship
      quality (IRQ) on hospital pharmacists' willingness to influence a physician's
      decision regarding an indication-based off-label medication order (WTIP) (i.e.,
      beyond FDA-approved indications) and the moderating roles of the appropriateness
      of the medication order and the relative expert power of the pharmacist.
      Pharmacists practicing in U.S. hospitals, recruited from membership rolls of
      state affiliates of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, were sent
      an electronic link to a questionnaire via their respective affiliates. A cross
      sectional, randomized, 2 * 2 experimental design was used; participants were
      assigned to one of the indication-based off-label medication order scenarios.
      Relative expert power (i.e., power differential between the pharmacist and the
      physician) and appropriateness of the prescription were manipulated. Perceived
      IRQ was measured with multiple items. Pharmacists' WTIP in the scenario was the
      outcome variable. A total of 243 responses were included in multiple linear
      regression analyses. After controlling for dependence power, information power,
      communication effectiveness, perceived responsibility, and attitude, pharmacists'
      WTIP was negatively affected by perceived IRQ (estimate = -0.309, P < 0.05). This
      effect was more pronounced in groups exposed to the scenario where the pharmacist
      had lower relative expert power (estimate = -0.438, P < 0.05) and where the
      medication was less appropriate (estimate = -0.503, P < 0.05). Although willing
      to ensure rationality of off-label prescribing, pharmacists' WTIP was affected by
      a complex array of factors - the perceived impact of influence attempts on
      relationship quality between the pharmacist and the prescriber, the pharmacist's
      relative expert power, and the appropriateness of the off-label prescription.
      Increasing pharmacists' expert power and collaboration with physicians and
      promoting pharmacists' multifaceted contribution, collaborative or independent,
      to patient care may facilitate pharmacist services in off-label pharmaceutical
      care. 

PMID- 25818380
TI  - Social networks and health policy: the case of misoprostol and the WHO model
      essential medicine list.
AB  - The WHO Essential Medicines List (EML) was established to help countries
      prioritise medicines according to their health care needs. Selection for the List
      is based on rigorous scrutiny of public health relevance, evidence on efficacy
      and safety, and comparative cost effectiveness. The WHO ideal is that a medicine
      and its efficacy are based on science, but in reality a medicine has a social
      life and the acceptance of a pharmaceutical intervention involves the interaction
      of a wide array of governmental and civil society organisations, and industry.
      Misoprostol is a medicine widely used for both abortion and prevention of
      postpartum haemorrhage in low income countries. Although the evidence for the
      latter is highly contested it was nevertheless added to the WHO EML in 2011. We
      use social network analysis to examine the social, political and economic field
      surrounding the WHO EML applications and health policy. We describe a chronology
      of the drug's use and of the applications to the WHO EML and carry out a social
      network analysis of the organisations and individuals involved in the
      applications, research and dissemination. The research identified a network of
      238 organisations and individuals involved in the promotion of misoprostol for
      postpartum haemorrhage and present at the time of the WHO EML applications. There
      is a strong interdependency between the funding bodies, civil society
      organisations, researchers and clinician organisations. The research was part of
      an EU FP7 funded project on Accessing Medicines in Africa and South Asia (2010
      2013). 

PMID- 25818381
TI  - Privatization of solid waste collection services: Lessons from Gaborone.
AB  - Formal privatization of solid waste collection activities has often been flagged
      as a suitable intervention for some of the challenges of solid waste management
      experienced by developing countries. Proponents of outsourcing collection to the
      private sector argue that in contrast to the public sector, it is more effective
      and efficient in delivering services. This essay is a comparative case study of
      efficiency and effectiveness attributes between the public and the formal private
      sector, in relation to the collection of commercial waste in Gaborone. The paper
      is based on analysis of secondary data and key informant interviews. It was found
      that while, the private sector performed comparatively well in most of the chosen
      indicators of efficiency and effectiveness, the public sector also had areas
      where it had a competitive advantage. For instance, the private sector used the
      collection crew more efficiently, while the public sector was found to have a
      more reliable workforce. The study recommends that, while formal private sector
      participation in waste collection has some positive effects in terms of quality
      of service rendered, in most developing countries, it has to be enhanced by
      building sufficient capacity within the public sector on information about
      services contracted out and evaluation of performance criteria within the
      contracting process. 

PMID- 25818382
TI  - Recovery of lead from lead paste in spent lead acid battery by hydrometallurgical
      desulfurization and vacuum thermal reduction.
AB  - Lead sulfate, lead oxides and lead metal are the main component of lead paste in
      spent lead acid battery. When lead sulfate was desulfurized and transformed into
      lead carbonate by sodium carbonate, lead metal and lead oxides remained
      unchanged. Lead carbonate is easily decomposed to lead oxide and carbon dioxide
      under high temperature. Namely, vacuum thermal process is the reduction reaction
      of lead oxides. A compatible environmental process consisted of
      hydrometallurgical desulfurization and vacuum thermal reduction to recycle lead
      was investigated in this research. Lead paste was firstly desulfurized with
      sodium carbonate, by which, the content of sulfur declined from 7.87% to 0.26%.
      Then, the desulfurized lead paste was reduced by charcoal under vacuum. Under the
      optimized reaction conditions, i.e., vacuum thermal reduction at temperature 850
      degrees C under 20 Pa for 45 min, a 22.11*10(-2) g cm(-2) min(-1) reduction rate,
      and a 98.13% direct recovery ratio of fine lead (99.77%) had been achieved,
      respectively.

PMID- 25818383
TI  - Costs of food waste in South Africa: Incorporating inedible food waste.
AB  - The economic, social and environmental costs of food waste are being increasingly
      recognised. Food waste consists of both edible and inedible components. Whilst
      wastage of edible food is problematic for obvious reasons, there are also costs
      associated with the disposal of the inedible fraction to landfill. This is the
      third in a series of papers examining the costs of food waste throughout the
      value chain in South Africa. The previous papers focused on the edible portion of
      food waste. In this paper, costs associated with inedible food waste in South
      Africa are estimated, in terms of the value foregone by not recovering this waste
      for use in downstream applications, such as energy generation or composting; as
      well as costs associated with disposal to landfill. Opportunity costs are
      estimated at R6.4 (US$0.64) billion per annum, or R2668 (US$266) per tonne.
      Adding this to the previous estimate for edible food waste of R61.5 billion per
      annum (in 2012 prices; equivalent to R65 billion in 2013 prices) results in a
      total opportunity cost of food waste in South Africa (in terms of loss of a
      potentially valuable food source or resource) of R71.4 (US$7.14) billion per
      annum, or R5667 (US$567) per tonne. Thereafter, estimates of the costs associated
      with disposal of this food waste to landfill, including both financial costs and
      externalities (social and environmental costs), are taken into account. These
      costs amount to R255 (US$25) per tonne, giving rise to a total cost of food waste
      in South Africa of R75 billion (US$7.5 billion) per annum, or R5922 (US$592) per
      tonne. This is equivalent to 2.2% of South Africa's 2013 GDP.

PMID- 25818384
TI  - Model development and evaluation of methane potential from anaerobic co-digestion
      of municipal wastewater sludge and un-dewatered grease trap waste.
AB  - The performance of anaerobic co-digestion of municipal wastewater sludge with un
      dewatered grease trap waste was assessed using modified biochemical methane
      potential tests under mesophilic conditions (35 degrees C). Methane potentials,
      process inhibition and chemical behavior of the process were analyzed at
      different grease trap waste feed ratios on volatile solids basis. Nonlinear
      regression analyses of first order reaction and modified Gompertz equations were
      performed to assist in interpretation of the experimental results. Methane
      potential of un-dewatered grease trap waste was measured as 606 mL CH4/g
      VS(added), while methane potential of municipal wastewater sludge was only 223 mL
      CH4/g VS(added). The results indicated that anaerobic digestion of grease trap
      waste without dewatering yields less methane potential than
      concentrated/dewatered grease trap waste because of high wastewater content of un
      dewatered grease trap waste. However, anaerobic co-digestion of municipal
      wastewater sludge and grease trap waste still yields over two times more methane
      potential and approximately 10% more volatile solids reduction than digestion of
      municipal wastewater sludge alone. The anaerobic co-digestion process inhibitions
      were reported at 70% and greater concentrated/dewatered grease trap waste
      additions on volatile solids basis in previous studies; however, no inhibition
      was observed at 100% un-dewatered grease trap waste digestion in the present
      study. These results indicate that anaerobic co-digestion of un-dewatered grease
      trap waste may reduce the inhibition risk compared to anaerobic co-digestion of
      concentrated/dewatered grease trap waste. In addition, a mathematical model was
      developed in this study for the first time to describe the relationship between
      grease trap waste feed ratio on volatile solids basis and resulting methane
      potential. Experimental data from the current study as well as previous
      biochemical methane potential studies were successfully fit to this relationship
      and allowed estimation of key performance parameters that provide additional
      insight into the factors affecting biochemical methane potential.

PMID- 25818386
TI  - Prospective memory impairment in chronic heart failure.
AB  - Although cognitive deficits are common in patients with chronic heart failure
      (CHF), no study to date has investigated whether these deficits extend to the
      capacity to execute delayed intentions (prospective memory, PM). This is a
      surprising omission given the critical role PM plays in correctly implementing
      many important CHF self-care behaviors. The present study aimed to provide the
      first empirical assessment of PM function in people with CHF. The key dependent
      measure was a laboratory measure of PM that closely simulates PM tasks in daily
      life - Virtual Week. A group comparison design was used, with 30 CHF patients
      compared to 30 demographically matched controls. Background measures assessing
      executive functions, working memory, and verbal memory were also administered.
      The CHF group exhibited significant PM impairment, with difficulties generalizing
      across different types of PM tasks (event, time, regular, irregular). The CHF
      group also had moderate deficits on several of the background cognitive measures.
      Given the level of impairment remained consistent even on tasks that imposed
      minimal demands on memory for task content, CHF-related difficulties most likely
      reflects problems with the prospective component. However, exploratory analyses
      suggest that difficulties with retrospective memory and global cognition (but not
      executive control), also contribute to the PM difficulties seen in this group.
      The implications of these data are discussed, and in particular, it is argued
      that problems with PM may help explain why patient engagement in CHF self-care
      behaviors is often poor.

PMID- 25818385
TI  - Guideline for the prevention of oral and oropharyngeal mucositis in children
      receiving treatment for cancer or undergoing haematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation.
AB  - PURPOSE: To develop an evidence-based clinical practice guideline for the
      prevention of oral mucositis in children (0-18 years) receiving treatment for
      cancer or undergoing haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). METHODS:
      The Mucositis Prevention Guideline Development Group was interdisciplinary and
      included internationally recognised experts in paediatric mucositis. For the
      evidence review, we included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in
      either children or adults evaluating the following interventions selected
      according to prespecified criteria: cryotherapy, low level light therapy (LLLT)
      and keratinocyte growth factor (KGF). We also examined RCTs of any intervention
      conducted in children. For all systematic reviews, we synthesised the occurrence
      of severe oral mucositis. The Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development
      and Evaluation approach was used to describe quality of evidence and strength of
      recommendations. RESULTS: We suggest cryotherapy or LLLT may be offered to
      cooperative children receiving chemotherapy or HSCT conditioning with regimens
      associated with a high rate of mucositis. We also suggest KGF may be offered to
      children receiving HSCT conditioning with regimens associated with a high rate of
      severe mucositis. However, KGF use merits caution as there is a lack of efficacy
      and toxicity data in children, and a lack of long-term follow-up data in
      paediatric cancers. No other interventions were recommended for oral mucositis
      prevention in children. CONCLUSIONS: All three specific interventions evaluated
      in this clinical practice guideline were associated with a weak recommendation
      for use. There may be important organisational and cost barriers to the adoption
      of LLLT and KGF. Considerations for implementation and key research gaps are
      highlighted.

PMID- 25818387
TI  - Impact of sex on uric acid levels and its relationship with the extent of
      coronary artery disease: A single-centre study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Serum uric acid (SUA) elevation has been largely addressed in the
      past as a possible risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, uric acid has
      not clearly emerged as independent risk factor for coronary artery disease.
      Several studies in literature have assessed sex-related differences in the
      association between elevated SUA levels and cardiovascular events with
      conflicting results. Therefore, aim of the current study was to evaluate the
      relationship between uric acid levels and the extent of coronary artery disease
      in male and female patients undergoing coronary angiography. METHODS: Our
      population is represented by 3520 consecutive patients undergoing coronary
      angiography from March 2007 to October 2012. Patients were divided according to
      Tertiles of SUA (Males, Group 1, <=5.5 mg/dL-0.33 mmol/mol, n = 762, Group 2, 5.5
      6.8 mg/dL-0.33-0.40 mmol/mol, n = 829 and Group 3 >=6.8 mg/dL-0.40 mmol/mol, n =
      851), (Females, Group 1, <=4.8 mg/dL-0.28 mmol/mol, n = 349, Group 2, 4.8-6.3
      mg/dL-0.28-0.37 mmol/mol, n = 359 and Group 3 >= 6.3 mg/dL-0.37 mmol/mol, n =
      370). Fasting samples were collected for uric acid levels assessment. Coronary
      disease was defined for at least 1 vessel stenosis >50% as evaluated by QCA.
      Severe coronary disease was defined as three-vessel disease and/or left main
      disease. RESULTS: Among 3520 patients, we identified 2442 men (69.4%) and 1078
      women (30.6%). Males had higher levels of uric acid than women (6.33 +/- 1.7 vs
      5.8 +/- 1.9 - p < 0.001). The association between elevated uric acid (>=7 mg/dl
      or 0.42 mmol/l) and male gender was confirmed after correction for baseline
      confounding factors (Adjusted OR = 1.28 [1.01-1.62], p = 0.004). Males displayed
      a significantly higher prevalence and extent of CAD (p < 0.001) and more complex
      coronary lesions (p < 0.001). However, no significant relationship was observed
      between uric acid and CAD (Adjusted OR [95%CI] = 0.90 [0.76-1.06], p = 0.22) or
      severe CAD (Adjusted OR [95%CI] = 0.89 [0.79-1.01], p = 0.08). Among females,
      higher SUA levels were significantly associated with higher prevalence of severe
      CAD (p < 0.001) (Adjusted OR [95% CI] = 1.29 [1.03-1.62], p = 0.03). CONCLUSION:
      Our study showed that uric acid levels are significantly higher in men. However,
      high uric acid levels are associated with severe CAD only in women. Future large
      studies are certainly needed to confirm our findings and to evaluate the effects
      of SUA lowering therapies on cardiovascular prevention and outcome, especially in
      women.

PMID- 25818388
TI  - Effects of the oriental herbal medicine Bofu-tsusho-san in obesity hypertension:
      a multicenter, randomized, parallel-group controlled trial (ATH-D-14-01021.R2).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: There is no clinical evidence that supports the benefit of integrative
      medicine, defined as combination therapy of oriental and western medicine, on
      obesity-related hypertension. This study evaluates the efficacy of Bofu-tsusho
      san (BOF), an oriental herbal medicine, on the ambulatory blood pressure (BP)
      profile in hypertensive patients with obesity. METHODS: The study design was a
      multicenter, randomized, open-label, parallel-group controlled trial in 107
      hypertensive patients with obesity. Participants were randomly assigned to
      receive either the conventional control therapy or BOF add-on therapy. In both
      groups antihypertensive therapy was aimed at achieving the target clinic BP. The
      primary outcome was change in the ambulatory BP profile from baseline to 24 weeks
      after randomization. RESULTS: Daytime systolic BP variability, an important
      parameter of ambulatory BP profile, was decreased in the BOF group, and the
      difference in the changes in daytime systolic BP variability was significant
      between the BOF and control group (Control vs BOF; the change from baseline in
      daytime systolic BP variability, 1.0+/-3.3 vs -1.0+/-3.3%; p=0.006). CONCLUSION:
      The BOF add-on therapy effectively improved the ambulatory BP variability. This
      is the first report suggesting that an integrative medicine approach may exert
      favorable effects on obesity-related hypertension compared with conventional
      pharmaceutical treatment. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: UMIN000003878.

PMID- 25818389
TI  - Interplay of robustness and plasticity of life-history traits drives ecotypic
      differentiation in thermally distinct habitats.
AB  - Phenotypic plasticity describes the ability of an individual to alter its
      phenotype in response to the environment and is potentially adaptive when dealing
      with environmental variation. However, robustness in the face of a changing
      environment may often be beneficial for traits that are tightly linked to
      fitness. We hypothesized that robustness of some traits may depend on specific
      patterns of plasticity within and among other traits. We used a reaction norm
      approach to study robustness and phenotypic plasticity of three life-history
      traits of the collembolan Orchesella cincta in environments with different
      thermal regimes. We measured adult mass, age at maturity and growth rate of males
      and females from heath and forest habitats at two temperatures (12 and 22 
      degrees C). We found evidence for ecotype-specific robustness of female adult
      mass to temperature, with a higher level of robustness in the heath ecotype. This
      robustness is facilitated by plastic adjustments of growth rate and age at
      maturity. Furthermore, female fecundity is strongly influenced by female adult
      mass, explaining the importance of realizing a high mass across temperatures for
      females. These findings indicate that different predicted outcomes of life
      history theory can be combined within one species' ontogeny and that models
      describing life-history strategies should not assume that traits like growth rate
      are maximized under all conditions. On a methodological note, we report a
      systematic inflation of variation when standard deviations and correlation
      coefficients are calculated from family means as opposed to individual data
      within a family structure.

PMID- 25818390
TI  - Uncertainty and perspectives in studies of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in
      China: A response to Liu et al. (2015).
AB  - In this paper, we have formally responded to the speculation in "Liu et al.
      suspect that Zhu et al. (2015) may have underestimated dissolved organic N but
      overestimated total particulate N in wet deposition in China" by Liu et al.
      (2015). Here, we first discussed the uncertainty and plausible reasons of
      atmospheric deposition in China, which have been reported in different studies.
      We disagree with their interpretation on some points. Firstly, the difficulties
      in quality control from sampling to analyzing are common to all studies regarding
      atmospheric deposition, including the studies cited by Liu et al. (2015). More
      importantly, their discussion did not fully consider the apparent influence of
      different scaling-up methods (from an observation site scale to a national scale)
      on estimations of atmospheric N deposition in China. Furthermore, we provided the
      optimal approaches to resolve these challenges discussed in order to promote the
      related studies of atmospheric N deposition in China in the future. 

PMID- 25818392
TI  - Discovery of C5-C17 poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances in water by in-line SPE
      HPLC-Orbitrap with in-source fragmentation flagging.
AB  - The presence of unknown organofluorine compounds in environmental samples has
      prompted the development of nontargeted analytical methods capable of detecting
      new perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). By combining high
      volume injection with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultrahigh
      resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometry, a sensitive (0.003-0.2 ng F/mL for model
      mass-labeled PFASs) untargeted workflow was developed for discovery and
      characterization of novel PFASs in water. In the first step, up to 5 mL of water
      is injected to in-line solid phase extraction, chromatographed by HPLC, and
      detected by electrospray ionization with mass spectral acquisition in parallel
      modes cycling back and forth: (i) full scan with ultrahigh resolving power (RP =
      120,000, mass accuracy <=3 ppm), and (ii) in-source fragmentation flagging scans
      designed to yield marker fragment ions including [C2F5](-) (m/z 118.992), [C3F7](
      ) (m/z 168.988), [SO4H](-) (m/z 96.959), and [Cl](-) (m/z 34.9). For flagged
      PFASs, plausible empirical formulas were generated from accurate masses, isotopic
      patterns, and fragment ions. In the second step, another injection is made to
      collect high resolution MS/MS spectra of suspect PFAS ions, allowing further
      confirmation of empirical formulas while also enabling preliminary structural
      characterization. The method was validated by applying it to an industrial
      wastewater, and 36 new PFASs were discovered. Of these, 26 were confidently
      assigned to 3 new PFAS classes that have not previously been reported in the
      environment: polyfluorinated sulfates (CnFn+3Hn-2SO4(-); n = 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and
      15), chlorine substituted perfluorocarboxylates (ClCnF2nCO2(-); n = 4-11), and
      hydro substituted perfluorocarboxylates (HCnF2nCO2(-); n = 5-16). Application of
      the technique to environmental water samples is now warranted. 

PMID- 25818391
TI  - Can salinity trigger cascade effects on streams? A mesocosm approach.
AB  - Human activities have greatly increased the salt concentration of the world's
      rivers, and this might be amplified by water scarcity in the future. While the
      lethal effects of salinity have been documented for a wide variety of stream
      invertebrates, the sub-lethal effects (i.e. changes in biological condition
      without mortality) are not deeply understood yet. One important sub-lethal effect
      that has yet to be investigated is changes in predation efficiency, which could
      trigger cascade effects associated to the abundance of herbivorous invertebrates
      that control algae biomass. In this study we combined the use of biomarkers with
      community-level data in a stream mesocosm to evaluate the potential cascade
      effect of increased salinity on the trophic food web. Both predation and salt
      treatments had an effect on the aquatic invertebrate abundance, richness and
      community composition. The presence of predators had a clear cascade effect, it
      reduced herbivorous invertebrate abundance and richness leading to higher
      chlorophyll a concentrations. The salt treatment significantly reduced taxa
      richness, but only in the gravel bed. The predators were significantly stressed
      by salt addition, as shown by the different analyzed biomarkers. Concordantly, in
      the presence of predators, Tanytarsini registered higher abundances and
      chlorophyll a showed a lower concentration when salt was added. However, none of
      these changes was significant. Therefore, although salt addition significantly
      stressed Dina lineata, our results suggest that a longer exposure time is needed
      to fully capture cascading effects (e.g. a decrease in chlorophyll a due to a
      relaxation of predation on herbivorous invertebrates). We suggest that the
      potential cascade effects of salinization need to be evaluated when addressing
      the impacts of water scarcity (as caused by climate change and increasing water
      demand) on river ecosystems, since flow reductions will lead to higher salt
      concentrations. 

PMID- 25818393
TI  - Preterm patent ductus arteriosus: A continuing conundrum for the neonatologist?
AB  - How to manage the preterm patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) remains a conundrum. On
      the one hand, physiology and statistical association with adverse outcomes
      suggest that it is pathological. On the other hand, clinical trials of treatment
      strategies have failed to show any long-term benefit. Ultrasound studies of PDA
      have suggested that the haemodynamic impact may be much earlier after birth than
      previously thought (in the first hours); however, we still do not know when to
      treat PDA. Studies that have tested symptomatic or pre-symptomatic treatment are
      mainly historical and have not tested the effect of no treatment. Prophylactic
      treatment is the best-studied regimen but improvements in some short-term
      outcomes do not translate to any difference in longer-term outcomes.
      Neonatologists have been reluctant to engage in trials that test treatment
      against almost never treating. Observations of very early postnatal haemodynamic
      significance suggest that targeting treatment on the basis of the early postnatal
      constrictive response of the duct may optimize benefits. A pilot trial of this
      strategy showed reduction in the incidence of pulmonary haemorrhage but more
      trials of this strategy are needed. 

PMID- 25818394
TI  - Tumor recurrence and in-field control after multimodality treatment of locally
      advanced esophageal cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy is used prior to surgery in curative
      treatment of esophageal cancer (EC). We evaluated the in-field control of this
      multimodal treatment by extraction of radiation dose parameters and determination
      of the spatial relation between tumor recurrence location(s) and radiation target
      volume (RTV). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Treatment consisted of neoadjuvant
      chemotherapy (5-FU and cisplatin) and radiotherapy (36 Gy) followed by Ivor-Lewis
      esophagectomy. For patients with locoregional recurrence(s), image fusion was
      performed between radiotherapy planning CT and follow-up CT(s). A region-of
      interest was contoured on the planning CT around each locoregional recurrence.
      Mean and maximum radiation doses were then extracted to classify recurrences as
      out-of-field, marginal or in-field. RESULTS: Eighty patients were included. The
      median follow-up duration was 19 months. Fifteen of 95 locoregional recurrences
      were detected in the RTV. These in-field relapses occurred in only 6 patients
      (7.8%) on 12 different anatomical locations. None of the patients with in-field
      failure had a pCR and all had concurrent distant failure on multiple anatomical
      sites. CONCLUSION: Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by Ivor-Lewis
      esophagectomy yields excellent in-field control, as only a clear minority (7.8%)
      of patients developed a relapse in the RTV. In-field recurrence is associated
      with widespread tumor dissemination and poor pathological response to neoadjuvant
      treatment.

PMID- 25818395
TI  - Contrasting analytical and data-driven frameworks for radiogenomic modeling of
      normal tissue toxicities in prostate cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We explore analytical and data-driven approaches to
      investigate the integration of genetic variations (single nucleotide
      polymorphisms [SNPs] and copy number variations [CNVs]) with dosimetric and
      clinical variables in modeling radiation-induced rectal bleeding (RB) and
      erectile dysfunction (ED) in prostate cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Sixty-two patients who underwent curative hypofractionated radiotherapy (66 Gy in
      22 fractions) between 2002 and 2010 were retrospectively genotyped for CNV and
      SNP rs5489 in the xrcc1 DNA repair gene. Fifty-four patients had full dosimetric
      profiles. Two parallel modeling approaches were compared to assess the risk of
      severe RB (Grade?3) and ED (Grade?1); Maximum likelihood estimated generalized
      Lyman-Kutcher-Burman (LKB) and logistic regression. Statistical resampling based
      on cross-validation was used to evaluate model predictive power and
      generalizability to unseen data. RESULTS: Integration of biological variables
      xrcc1 CNV and SNP improved the fit of the RB and ED analytical and data-driven
      models. Cross-validation of the generalized LKB models yielded increases in
      classification performance of 27.4% for RB and 14.6% for ED when xrcc1 CNV and
      SNP were included, respectively. Biological variables added to logistic
      regression modeling improved classification performance over standard dosimetric
      models by 33.5% for RB and 21.2% for ED models. CONCLUSION: As a proof-of
      concept, we demonstrated that the combination of genetic and dosimetric variables
      can provide significant improvement in NTCP prediction using analytical and data
      driven approaches. The improvement in prediction performance was more pronounced
      in the data driven approaches. Moreover, we have shown that CNVs, in addition to
      SNPs, may be useful structural genetic variants in predicting radiation
      toxicities.

PMID- 25818396
TI  - Preliminary clinical evaluation of a 4D-CBCT estimation technique using prior
      information and limited-angle projections.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A technique has been previously reported to estimate high
      quality 4D-CBCT using prior information and limited-angle projections. This study
      is to investigate its clinical feasibility through both phantom and patient
      studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The new technique used to estimate 4D-CBCT is
      called MMFD-NCC. It is based on the previously reported motion modeling and free
      form deformation (MMFD) method, with the introduction of normalized-cross
      correlation (NCC) as a new similarity metric. The clinical feasibility of this
      technique was evaluated by assessing the accuracy of estimated anatomical
      structures in comparison to those in the 'ground-truth' reference 4D-CBCTs, using
      data obtained from a physical phantom and three lung cancer patients. Both volume
      percentage error (VPE) and center-of-mass error (COME) of the estimated tumor
      volume were used as the evaluation metrics. RESULTS: The average VPE/COME of the
      tumor in the prior image was 257.1%/10.1 mm for the phantom study and 55.6%/3.8
      mm for the patient study. Using only orthogonal-view 30 degrees  projections, the
      MMFD-NCC has reduced the corresponding values to 7.7%/1.2 mm and 9.6%/1.1 mm,
      respectively. CONCLUSION: The MMFD-NCC technique is able to estimate 4D-CBCT
      images with geometrical accuracy of the tumor within 10% VPE and 2 mm COME, which
      can be used to improve the localization accuracy of radiotherapy.

PMID- 25818397
TI  - [Comment on: "Survival and neurological outcome in out-of-hospital cardiac
      arrests due to shockable rhythms treated with mild therapeutic hypothermia"].

PMID- 25818398
TI  - Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Presenting as a
      Collision Breast Tumor.

PMID- 25818399
TI  - [Medicinal plants in France, between pharmacy and herb trade: historical and
      legislative aspects].
AB  - Medicinal plants are registered on the French Pharmacopoeia in its successive
      editions, the first dated 1818. The edition which is currently in force, the XIth
      (2012), comprises two plant lists drawn up by a working group of experts
      belonging to the ANSM: List A (medicinal plants traditionally used [365 plants])
      and list B (medicinal plants with the ratio benefit/risk's evaluation negative
      [123 plants]). Moreover, a list of medicinal plants with non exclusive
      therapeutic use has been established. This last list is composed of 147 plants
      which are thus liberated from the pharmaceutical monopoly, in application of
      decrees n(o) 2008-839 and 2008-841 dated August 22nd 2008. Medicinal plants are a
      matter, in France, from pharmaceutical monopoly, which means that they can only
      be dispensed to public in pharmacy, according to article L. 4211-1/5 degrees  of
      the Public Health Code, except however for a certain number of plants "liberated"
      from this monopoly. Nevertheless, besides officinal pharmacists, herbalists who
      obtained their diploma as far as 1941, were habilitated to deliver medicinal
      plants, even non "liberated", on condition that they are not registered on a list
      of venomous substances nor classified among the stupefacients, according to the
      article L. 4211-7 of Public Health Code. Concerning plants for herbal teas, which
      should be differentiated from herbal teas classified among the herbal medicines,
      they can be delivered in mixtures form, which are considered as officinal
      preparations, according to the new French Pharmacopoeia monography of August 1st
      2013. 

PMID- 25818400
TI  - Further circulation of West Nile and Usutu viruses in wild birds in Italy.
AB  - Usutu virus (USUV) and West Nile virus (WNV) are emerging pathogens that can
      cause neurological disease in humans. From March 2012 to June 2013, a sero-survey
      on wild birds was carried out to investigate the circulation of both viruses in
      Northwest (NW) Italy. Samples belonging to 47 different bird species have been
      collected using a volunteer based network and a wildlife rehabilitation center.
      Four of 297 serum samples had neutralizing antibodies against USUV (P=1.34%, IC
      95% 0.36-3.4), while 10 of 233 samples tested positive for WNV (P=4.29%, IC 95%
      2.07-7.75). Neutralizing antibodies for WNV were significantly more prevalent
      (p<0.001) in trans-Saharan migrants (P=21%, IC 95% 9.55-37.3) than in resident
      and short-distance birds, but no migratory habit-related differences were found
      for USUV. Antibodies in resident bird species suggest that both viruses are
      circulating in NW Italy.

PMID- 25818401
TI  - Prevalence of Enterocytozoon bieneusi and genetic diversity of ITS genotypes in
      sheep and goats in China.
AB  - Enterocytozoon bieneusi is the most common microsporidia species, recognized in
      more than 90% cases of human microsporidiosis and has been found in a variety of
      animal hosts. To explore the prevalence of E. bieneusi in sheep and goats in
      China, genetic diversity and zoonotic potential of E. bieneusi, 193 fecal
      specimens from 138 sheep and 55 goats from eight farms in Heilongjiang Province,
      China were analyzed for the occurrence of E. bieneusi by PCR and sequencing of
      the single internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the rRNA gene. The average
      prevalence of E. bieneusi was 22.3% (43/193), with 22.5% (31/138) for sheep
      versus 21.8% (12/55) for goats. Altogether 14 genotypes of E. bieneusi were
      identified, including six known genotypes-BEB6 (n=15), Peru6 (8), D (n=6), O
      (n=3), EbpC (n=2), and EbpA (n=1)-and eight novel genotypes named COS-I to COS
      VII and COG-I (one each). Six of the genotypes were previously detected in
      humans. In phylogenetic analysis, the five novel genotypes COG-I and CCOS-IV to
      COS-VII were clustered into group 1 with zoonotic potential. These results
      indicate that these animals may play a potential role in the transmission of E.
      bieneusi to humans.

PMID- 25818402
TI  - Identification of putative vaccine candidates against Helicobacter pylori
      exploiting exoproteome and secretome: a reverse vaccinology based approach.
AB  - Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is an important pathogen associated with diverse
      gastric disorders ranging from peptic ulcer to malignancy. It has also been
      recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as class I carcinogen.
      Conventional treatment regimens for H. pylori seem to be ineffective, possibly
      due to antibiotic resistance mechanisms acquired by the pathogen. In this study
      we have successfully employed a reverse vaccinology approach to predict the
      potential vaccine candidates against H. pylori. The predicted potential vaccine
      candidates include vacA, babA, sabA, fecA and omp16. Host-pathogen interactions
      analysis elaborated their direct or indirect role in the specific signaling
      pathways including epithelial cell polarity, metabolism, secretion system and
      transport. Furthermore, surface-exposed antigenic epitopes were predicted and
      analyzed for conservation among 39 complete genomes of H. pylori (Genbank) for
      all the candidate proteins. These epitopes may serve as a base for the
      development of broad spectrum peptide or multi-component vaccines against H.
      pylori. We also believe that the proposed pipeline can be extended to other
      pathogens and for the identification of novel candidates for the development of
      effective vaccines.

PMID- 25818404
TI  - Competitive spatially distributed population dynamics models: Does diversity in
      diffusion strategies promote coexistence?
AB  - We study the interaction between different types of dispersal, intrinsic growth
      rates and carrying capacities of two competing species in a heterogeneous
      environment: one of them is subject to a regular diffusion while the other moves
      in the direction of most per capita available resources. If spatially
      heterogeneous carrying capacities coincide, and intrinsic growth rates are
      proportional then competitive exclusion of a regularly diffusing population is
      inevitable. However, the situation may change if intrinsic growth rates for the
      two populations have different spatial forms. We also consider the case when
      carrying capacities are different. If the carrying capacity of a regularly
      diffusing population is higher than for the other species, the two populations
      may coexist; as the difference between the two carrying capacities grows,
      competitive exclusion of the species with a lower carrying capacity occurs. 

PMID- 25818403
TI  - A phase II evaluation of the potent, highly selective PARP inhibitor veliparib in
      the treatment of persistent or recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or
      primary peritoneal cancer in patients who carry a germline BRCA1 or BRCA2
      mutation - An NRG Oncology/Gynecologic Oncology Group study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Veliparib is a potent small molecule inhibitor of PARP-1/2, which is
      cytotoxic in tumor cells with deficiencies in BRCA1 or BRCA2. We studied the
      clinical activity and toxicity of veliparib in ovarian cancer patients carrying a
      germline BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation (gBRCA). METHODS: Eligibility included three or
      fewer prior chemotherapy regimens, measurable disease and no prior use of a PARP
      inhibitor. Veliparib was administered at 400mg orally BID with one cycle being
      28days. The two-stage Simon design was capable of detecting a 25% response
      probability with 90% power while controlling alpha=10% (at a 10% assumed null
      response probability). RESULTS: The median age of the 50 eligible patients was
      57years (range 37-94) and 14, 18, and 18 patients had 1, 2, and 3 prior therapies
      respectively. Thirty patients (60%) were platinum-resistant. The median number of
      cycles administered was 6 (1-27). There was one grade 4 thrombocytopenia. Grade 3
      adverse events were: fatigue (n=3), nausea (2), leukopenia (1), neutropenia (1),
      dehydration (1), and ALT (1). Grade 2 events >10% were: nausea (46%), fatigue
      (26%), vomiting (18%), and anemia (14%). The proportion responding was 26% (90%
      CI: 16%-38%, CR: 2, PR: 11); for platinum-resistant and platinum-sensitive
      patients the proportion responding was 20% and 35%, respectively. The most common
      reason for treatment discontinuation was progression (62%). Twenty-nine patients
      are alive; two with SD remain on veliparib. The median PFS is 8.18months.
      CONCLUSIONS: The single agent efficacy and tolerability of veliparib for BRCA
      mutation-associated recurrent ovarian cancer warrants further investigation.

PMID- 25818405
TI  - Estimating the costs associated with the management of patients with chronic
      wounds using linked routine data.
AB  - Chronic wounds are known to represent a significant burden to patients and
      National Health Service (NHS) alike. However, previous attempts to estimate the
      costs associated with the management of chronic wounds have been based on
      literature studies or broad estimates derived from incidence rates and
      extrapolations from relatively small-scale studies. The aim of this study is
      therefore to determine the extent of resource utilisation by patients classed as
      having chronic wounds within Wales using linked routine data - available through
      the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) database - to estimate the costs
      associated with the management of these patients by the NHS in Wales. The SAIL
      database brings together, and anonymously links, a wide range of person-based
      data from general practitioner (GP) practices within Wales, which includes
      primary and secondary care consultations to create an encrypted anonymised
      linking field for each individual. This linkage allows the patient pathway to be
      tracked through the NHS system both retrospectively and prospectively from a
      specific reference date. The estimated costs were derived by extrapolating to an
      all-Wales level from the results gleaned from the SAIL database using the
      respective READ codes to capture relevant patients with chronic wounds. The
      number of patients identified as having chronic wounds within the SAIL database
      was 78 090, which equates to 190 463 across Wales as a whole and a prevalence of
      6% of the Welsh population. The total cost of managing patients with chronic
      wounds in Wales amounted to L328.8 million - an average cost of L1727 per patient
      and 5.5% of total expenditure on the health service in Wales. A relatively few
      READ codes represented a significant proportion of expenditure, with diabetic
      foot ulcers, leg ulcers, foot ulcers, varicose eczema, bed sores and
      postoperative wound care constituting 93% of total expenditure. When a more
      conservative perspective was used in relation to classification of chronic
      wounds, the total cost amounted to L303 million. However, these are likely to be
      underestimates because of the lack of information for patients with treatments
      lasting over 6 months and not including patients who might have entered the
      health care system of wound management elsewhere - such as patients contracting
      pressure ulcers in hospitals and having surgical wound infections.

PMID- 25818406
TI  - Symptoms, unmet needs, psychological well-being and health status in survivors of
      prostate cancer: implications for redesigning follow-up.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore ongoing symptoms, unmet needs, psychological wellbeing,
      self-efficacy and overall health status in survivors of prostate cancer. PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: An invitation to participate in a postal questionnaire survey was
      sent to 546 men, diagnosed with prostate cancer 9-24 months previously at two UK
      cancer centres. The study group comprised men who had been subject to a range of
      treatments: surgery, radiotherapy, hormone therapy and active surveillance. The
      questionnaire included measures of prostate-related quality of life (Expanded
      Prostate cancer Index Composite 26-item version, EPIC-26); unmet needs
      (Supportive Care Needs Survey 34-item version, SCNS-SF34); anxiety and depression
      (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS), self-efficacy (modified Self
      efficacy Scale), health status (EuroQol 5D, EQ-5D) and satisfaction with care
      (questions developed for this study). A single reminder was sent to non
      responders after 3 weeks. Data were analysed by age, co-morbidities, and
      treatment group. RESULTS: In all, 316 men completed questionnaires (64.1%
      response rate). Overall satisfaction with follow-up care was high, but was lower
      for psychosocial than physical aspects of care. Urinary, bowel, and sexual
      functioning was reported as a moderate/big problem in the last month for 15.2% (n
      = 48), 5.1% (n = 16), and 36.5% (n = 105) men, respectively. The most commonly
      reported moderate/high unmet needs related to changes in sexual
      feelings/relationships, managing fear of recurrence/uncertainty, and concerns
      about the worries of significant others. It was found that 17% of men (51/307)
      reported potentially moderate-to-severe levels of anxiety and 10.2% (32/308)
      reported moderate-to-severe levels of depression. The presence of problematic
      side-effects was associated with higher psychological morbidity, poorer self
      efficacy, greater unmet needs, and poorer overall health status. CONCLUSION:
      While some men report relatively few problems after prostate cancer treatment,
      this study highlights important physical and psycho-social issues for a
      significant minority of survivors of prostate cancer. Strategies for identifying
      those men with on-going problems, alongside new interventions and models of care,
      tailored to individual needs, are needed to improve quality of life.

PMID- 25818407
TI  - A phase I/II study of sunitinib and intensive chemotherapy in patients over 60
      years of age with acute myeloid leukaemia and activating FLT3 mutations.
AB  - Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) with FLT3 mutation has a dismal prognosis in
      elderly patients. Treatment with a combination of FLT3 inhibitors and standard
      chemotherapy has not been extensively studied. Therefore, we instigated a phase
      I/II clinical trial of chemotherapy with cytosine arabinoside (Ara
      C)/daunorubicin induction (7+3) followed by three cycles of intermediate-dose Ara
      C consolidation in 22 AML patients with activating FLT3 mutations. Sunitinib was
      added at predefined dose levels and as maintenance therapy for 2 years. At dose
      level 1, sunitinib 25 mg daily continuously from day 1 onwards resulted in two
      cases with dose-limiting toxicity (DLT), prolonged haemotoxicity and hand-foot
      syndrome. At dose level -1, sunitinib 25 mg was restricted to days 1-7 of each
      chemotherapy cycle. One DLT was observed in six evaluable patients. Six
      additional patients were treated in an extension phase. Thirteen of 22 patients
      (59%; 8/14 with FLT3-internal tandem duplication and 5/8 with FLT3-tyrosine
      kinase domain) achieved a complete remission/complete remission with incomplete
      blood count recovery. For the 17 patients included at the lower dose level,
      median overall, relapse-free and event-free survival were 1.6, 1.0 and 0.4 years,
      respectively. Four out of five analysed patients with relapse during maintenance
      therapy lost their initial FLT3 mutation, suggesting outgrowth of FLT3 wild-type
      subclones. 

PMID- 25818408
TI  - A case of sporadic medullary cystic kidney disease type 1 (MCKD1) with kidney
      enlargement complicated by IgA nephropathy.
AB  - Medullary cystic kidney disease (MCKD) is a progressive tubulointerstitial
      nephropathy, and it leads to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). It is an autosomal
      dominant inherited disease, and is categorized into two types according to the
      localizing chromosome and timing of ESKD onset. Its pathogenesis has not been
      revealed clearly, thus accumulation of the cases is very valuable. We report here
      the first reported case of MCKD with kidney enlargement complicated by IgA
      nephropathy. A 70-year-old male was admitted to our hospital because of renal
      dysfunction and bilateral kidney enlargement. He was diagnosed as having MCKD
      complicated by IgA nephropathy (IgA-N) by renal biopsy. We speculated that he had
      MCKD type 1 on the basis of the late onset of renal failure and no significant
      evidence of mutation in the UMOD gene that is associated with MCKD type 2.
      Thereafter, his kidney function decreased progressively and he started to receive
      hemodialysis. This is an interesting case of MCKD1 in terms of its sporadic
      nature, kidney enlargement, and complication of IgA-N. 

PMID- 25818409
TI  - Gene therapy for nucleus pulposus regeneration by heme oxygenase-1 plasmid DNA
      carried by mixed polyplex micelles with thermo-responsive heterogeneous coronas.
AB  - Safe and high-efficiency gene therapy for nucleus pulposus (NP) regeneration was
      urgently desired to treat disc degeneration-associated diseases. In this work, an
      efficient nonviral cationic block copolymer gene delivery system was used to
      deliver therapeutic plasmid DNA (pDNA), which was prepared via complexation
      between the mixed cationic block copolymers, poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly{N
      [N-(2-aminoethyl)-2-aminoehtyl]aspartamide} [PEG-b-PAsp(DET)] and poly(N
      isopropylacrylamide)-block-PAsp(DET) [PNIPAM-b-PAsp(DET)], and pDNA at 25 
      degrees C. The mixed polyplex micelles (MPMs) containing heterogeneous coronas
      with hydrophobic and hydrophilic microdomains coexisting could be obtained upon
      heating from 25 to 37  degrees C, which showed high tolerability against nuclease
      and strong resistance towards protein adsorption. The gene transfection
      efficiency of MPMs in NP cells was significantly higher than that of regular
      polyplex micelles prepared from sole block copolymer of PEG-b-PAsp(DET) (SPMs) in
      in vitro and in vivo evaluation due to the synergistic effect of improved
      colloidal stability and low cytotoxicity. High expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO
      1) in NP cells transfected by MPMs loading HO-1 pDNA significantly decreased the
      expression activity of matrix metalloproteinases 3 (MMP-3) and cyclo-oxygenase-2
      (COX-2) induced by interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), and simultaneously increased the
      NP phenotype-associated genes such as aggrecan, type II collagen, and SOX-9.
      Moreover, the therapeutic effects of MPMs loading pDNA were tested to treat disc
      degeneration induced by stab injury. The results demonstrated that administration
      of HO-1 pDNA carried by MPMs in rat tail discs apparently reduced inflammatory
      responses induced by need stab and increased glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content,
      finally achieving better therapeutic efficacy as compared with SPMs.
      Consequently, MPMs loading HO-1 pDNA were demonstrated to be potential as a safe
      and high-efficiency nonviral gene delivery system for retarding or regenerating
      the degenerative discs. 

PMID- 25818410
TI  - In vivo selective imaging and inhibition of leukemia stem-like cells using the
      fluorescent carbocyanine derivative, DiOC5(3).
AB  - Elimination of leukemia stem cells (LSCs) is necessary for the destruction of
      malignant cell populations. Owing to the very small number of LSCs in leukemia
      cells, xenotransplantation studies are difficult in terms of functionally and
      pathophysiologically replicating clinical conditions of cell culture experiments.
      There is currently a limited number of lead compounds that target LSCs. Using the
      LSC-xenograft zebrafish screening method we previously developed, we found that
      the fluorescent compound 3,3'-dipentyloxacarbocyanine iodide (DiOC5(3))
      selectively marked LSCs and suppressed their proliferation in vivo and in vitro.
      DiOC5(3) had no obvious toxicity to human umbilical cord blood CD34+ progenitor
      cells and normal zebrafish. It accumulated in mitochondria through organic anion
      transporter polypeptides that are overexpressed in the plasma membrane of LSCs,
      and induced apoptosis via ROS overproduction. DiOC5(3) also inhibited the nuclear
      translocation of NF-kappaB through the downregulation of LSC-selective pathways,
      as indicated from DNA microarray analysis. In summary, DiOC5(3) is a new type of
      anti-LSC compound available for diagnostic imaging and therapeutics that has the
      advantage of being a single fluorescent chemical. 

PMID- 25818412
TI  - Systematic in vitro and in vivo study on porous silicon to improve the oral
      bioavailability of celecoxib.
AB  - Mesoporous materials are promising candidates for improving dissolution rate of
      poorly water-soluble drugs in vitro and their bioavailability in vivo. In the
      present study, sixteen batches of celecoxib-loaded PSi particles with pore sizes
      ranging from 17 to 58 nm and celecoxib content from 5 to 36 w-% were prepared and
      a detailed physicochemical characterization of the drug was performed by several
      methods. Interaction between co-culture of Caco-2/HT29-MTX cells and unloaded PSi
      particles was tested in toxicity assays, and increased toxicity for particles
      with large pore size was observed. Dissolution rate of celecoxib was improved in
      vitro by lowering the drug loading degree which hindered the recrystallization of
      celecoxib on the external surface of the particles. The fastest permeation of
      loaded celecoxib through the co-culture monolayer as well as the highest
      bioavailability in rats was observed with the particles with small pore size and
      low loading degree. New insights were obtained on how various parameters of the
      mesoporous delivery system affect the state of the drug inside the pores and its
      release in vitro and in vivo. 

PMID- 25818413
TI  - Combination of aligned PLGA/Gelatin electrospun sheets, native dental pulp
      extracellular matrix and treated dentin matrix as substrates for tooth root
      regeneration.
AB  - In tissue engineering, scaffold materials provide effective structural support to
      promote the repair of damaged tissues or organs through simulating the
      extracellular matrix (ECM) microenvironments for stem cells. This study
      hypothesized that simulating the ECM microenvironments of periodontium and dental
      pulp/dentin complexes would contribute to the regeneration of tooth root. Here,
      aligned PLGA/Gelatin electrospun sheet (APES), treated dentin matrix (TDM) and
      native dental pulp extracellular matrix (DPEM) were fabricated and combined into
      APES/TDM and DPEM/TDM for periodontium and dental pulp regeneration,
      respectively. This study firstly examined the physicochemical properties and
      biocompatibilities of both APES and DPEM in vitro, and further investigated the
      degradation of APES and revascularization of DPEM in vivo. Then, the potency of
      APES/TDM and DPEM/TDM in odontogenic induction was evaluated via co-culture with
      dental stem cells. Finally, we verified the periodontium and dental pulp/dentin
      complex regeneration in the jaw of miniature swine. Results showed that APES
      possessed aligned fiber orientation which guided cell proliferation while DPEM
      preserved the intrinsic fiber structure and ECM proteins. Importantly, both
      APES/TDM and DPEM/TDM facilitated the odontogenic differentiation of dental stem
      cells in vitro. Seeded with stem cells, the sandwich composites (APES/TDM/DPEM)
      generated tooth root-like tissues after being transplanted in porcine jaws for 12
      w. In dental pulp/dentin complex-like tissues, columnar odontoblasts-like layer
      arranged along the interface between newly-formed predentin matrix and dental
      pulp-like tissues in which blood vessels could be found; in periodontium complex
      like tissues, cellular cementum and periodontal ligament (PDL)-like tissues were
      generated on the TDM surface. Thus, above results suggest that APES and DPEM
      exhibiting appropriate physicochemical properties and well biocompatibilities, in
      accompany with TDM, could make up an ECM microenvironment for tooth root
      regeneration, which also offers a strategy for complex tissue or organ
      regeneration. 

PMID- 25818411
TI  - On human pluripotent stem cell control: The rise of 3D bioengineering and
      mechanobiology.
AB  - Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) provide promising resources for regenerating
      tissues and organs and modeling development and diseases in vitro. To fulfill
      their promise, the fate, function, and organization of hPSCs need to be precisely
      regulated in a three-dimensional (3D) environment to mimic cellular structures
      and functions of native tissues and organs. In the past decade, innovations in 3D
      culture systems with functional biomaterials have enabled efficient and versatile
      control of hPSC fate at the cellular level. However, we are just at the beginning
      of bringing hPSC-based regeneration and development and disease modeling to the
      tissue and organ levels. In this review, we summarize existing bioengineered
      culture platforms for controlling hPSC fate and function by regulating inductive
      mechanical and biochemical cues coexisting in the synthetic cell
      microenvironment. We highlight recent excitements in developing 3D hPSC-based in
      vitro tissue and organ models with in vivo-like cellular structures,
      interactions, and functions. We further discuss an emerging multifaceted
      mechanotransductive signaling network--with transcriptional coactivators YAP and
      TAZ at the center stage--that regulate fates and behaviors of mammalian cells,
      including hPSCs. Future development of 3D biomaterial systems should incorporate
      dynamically modulated mechanical and chemical properties targeting specific
      intracellular signaling events leading to desirable hPSC fate patterning and
      functional tissue formation in 3D.

PMID- 25818414
TI  - Self-assembling multidomain peptides tailor biological responses through biphasic
      release.
AB  - Delivery of small molecules and drugs to tissues is a mainstay of several tissue
      engineering strategies. Next generation treatments focused on localized drug
      delivery offer a more effective means in dealing with refractory healing when
      compared to systemic approaches. Here we describe a novel multidomain peptide
      hydrogel that capitalizes on synthetic peptide chemistry, supramolecular self
      assembly and cytokine delivery to tailor biological responses. This material is
      biomimetic, shows shear stress recovery and offers a nanofibrous matrix that
      sequesters cytokines. The biphasic pattern of cytokine release results in the
      spatio-temporal activation of THP-1 monocytes and macrophages. Furthermore,
      macrophage-material interactions are promoted without generation of a
      proinflammatory environment. Subcutaneous implantation of injectable scaffolds
      showed a marked increase in macrophage infiltration and polarization dictated by
      cytokine loading as early as 3 days, with complete scaffold resorption by day 14.
      Macrophage interaction and response to the peptide composite facilitated the (i)
      recruitment of monocytes/macrophages, (ii) sustained residence of immune cells
      until degradation, and (iii) promotion of a pro-resolution M2 environment. Our
      results suggest the potential use of this injectable cytokine loaded hydrogel
      scaffold in a variety of tissue engineering applications. 

PMID- 25818415
TI  - Design and validation of a clinical-scale bioreactor for long-term isolated lung
      culture.
AB  - The primary treatment for end-stage lung disease is lung transplantation.
      However, donor organ shortage remains a major barrier for many patients. In
      recent years, techniques for maintaining lungs ex vivo for evaluation and short
      term (<12 h) resuscitation have come into more widespread use in an attempt to
      expand the donor pool. In parallel, progress in whole organ engineering has
      provided the potential perspective of patient derived grafts grown on demand. As
      both of these strategies advance to more complex interventions for lung repair
      and regeneration, the need for a long-term organ culture system becomes apparent.
      Herein we describe a novel clinical scale bioreactor capable of maintaining
      functional porcine and human lungs for at least 72 h in isolated lung culture
      (ILC). The fully automated, computer controlled, sterile, closed circuit system
      enables physiologic pulsatile perfusion and negative pressure ventilation, while
      gas exchange function, and metabolism can be evaluated. Creation of this stable,
      biomimetic long-term culture environment will enable advanced interventions in
      both donor lungs and engineered grafts of human scale.

PMID- 25818416
TI  - Development and functional evaluation of biomimetic silicone surfaces with
      hierarchical micro/nano-topographical features demonstrates favourable in vitro
      foreign body response of breast-derived fibroblasts.
AB  - Reproducing extracellular matrix topographical cues, such as those present within
      acellular dermal matrix (ADM), in synthetic implant surfaces, may augment
      cellular responses, independent of surface chemistry. This could lead to enhanced
      implant integration and performance while reducing complications. In this work,
      the hierarchical micro and nanoscale features of ADM were accurately and
      reproducibly replicated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), using an innovative
      maskless 3D grayscale fabrication process not previously reported. Human breast
      derived fibroblasts (n=5) were cultured on PDMS surfaces and compared to
      commercially available smooth and textured silicone implant surfaces, for up to
      one week. Cell attachment, proliferation and cytotoxicity, in addition to
      immunofluorescence staining, SEM imaging, qRT-PCR and cytokine array were
      performed. ADM PDMS surfaces promoted cell adhesion, proliferation and survival
      (p=<0.05), in addition to increased focal contact formation and spread fibroblast
      morphology when compared to commercially available implant surfaces. PCNA,
      vinculin and collagen 1 were up-regulated in fibroblasts on biomimetic surfaces
      while IL8, TNFalpha, TGFbeta1 and HSP60 were down-regulated (p=<0.05). A reduced
      inflammatory cytokine response was also observed (p=<0.05). This study represents
      a novel approach to the development of functionalised biomimetic prosthetic
      implant surfaces which were demonstrated to significantly attenuate the acute in
      vitro foreign body reaction to silicone.

PMID- 25818418
TI  - Antimicrobial delivery systems for local infection prophylaxis in orthopedic- and
      trauma surgery.
AB  - Infectious complications occur in a minor but significant portion of the patients
      undergoing joint replacement surgery or fracture fixation, particularly those
      with severe open fractures, those undergoing revision arthroplasty or those at
      elevated risk because of poor health status. Once established, infections are
      difficult to eradicate, especially in the case of bacterial biofilm formation on
      implanted hardware. Local antibiotic carriers offer the prospect of controlled
      delivery of antibiotics directly in target tissues and implant, without inducing
      toxicity in non-target organs. Polymeric carriers have been developed to optimize
      the release and targeting of antibiotics. Passive polymeric carriers release
      antibiotics by diffusion and/or upon degradation, while active polymeric carriers
      release their antibiotics upon stimuli provided by bacterial pathogens.
      Additionally, some polymeric carriers gelate in-situ in response to physiological
      stimuli to form a depot for antibiotic release. As antibiotic resistance has
      become a major issue, also other anti-infectives such as silver and antimicrobial
      peptides have been incorporated in research. Currently, several antibiotic loaded
      biomaterials for local infection prophylaxis are available for use in the clinic.
      Here we review their advantages and limitations and provide an overview of new
      materials emerging that may overcome these limitations. 

PMID- 25818417
TI  - Ex vivo non-invasive assessment of cell viability and proliferation in bio
      engineered whole organ constructs.
AB  - Decellularized organ scaffolds allow whole organ regeneration and study of cell
      behavior in three-dimensional culture conditions. Cell viability within the bio
      engineered organ constructs is an essential parameter reflecting the performance
      of participating cells during long-term ex vivo culture, and is a prerequisite
      for further functional performance. Resazurin-based redox metabolic assays have
      been used to monitor cell viability in both two- and three-dimensional cell
      cultures. Here we developed a method for monitoring cell viability and
      proliferation in bio-engineered organ constructs using a resazurin perfusion
      assay. This method allows non-invasive, repetitive and rapid estimation of viable
      cell numbers during long-term ex vivo culture. As a proof-of-principle, we
      assessed the performance of two different endothelial sources and the impact of
      different perfusion programs on endothelial viability after re-endothelialization
      of decellularized lung scaffolds. The resazurin-based perfusion assay revealed
      changes in endothelial viability and proliferation during long-term ex vivo
      culture, which was consistent with histological assessment at different time
      points. Finally, we showed that this method could be used for assessment of
      proliferation and cytotoxicity after pharmacological treatment on a three
      dimensional non-small cell lung cancer culture model. 

PMID- 25818419
TI  - Overcoming drug-resistant lung cancer by paclitaxel loaded dual-functional
      liposomes with mitochondria targeting and pH-response.
AB  - Mitochondrion-orientated transportation of smart liposomes has been developed as
      a promising strategy to deliver anticancer drugs directly to tumor sites, and
      these have a tremendous potential for killing cancer cells, especially those with
      multidrug resistance (MDR). Herein we report a novel dual-functional liposome
      system possessing both extracellular pH response and mitochondrial targeting
      properties to enhance drug accumulation in mitochondria and trigger apoptosis of
      drug-resistant cancer cells. Briefly, peptide D[KLAKLAK]2 (KLA) was modified with
      2, 3-dimethylmaleic anhydride (DMA) and combined with 1, 2-distearoyl-sn-glycero
      3-phosphoethanolamine (DSPE) to yield a DSPE-KLA-DMA (DKD) lipid. This dual
      functional DKD was then mixed with other commercially available lipids to
      fabricate liposomes. In vitro anticancer efficacy of this liposome system was
      evaluated in human lung cancer A549 cells and drug-resistant lung cancer
      A549/Taxol cells. At tumor extracellular pH (~6.8), liposomes could reverse their
      surface charge (negative to positive), facilitating liposome internalization.
      After cellular uptake, KLA peptide directed delivery-enabled selective
      accumulation of these liposomes into mitochondria and favored release of their
      cargo paclitaxel (PTX) into desired sites. Specifically, enhanced apoptosis of
      MDR cancer cells through mitochondrial signaling pathways was evidenced by
      release of cytochrome c and increased activity of caspase-9 and -3. These dual
      functional liposomes had the greatest efficacy for treating A549 cells and
      A549/Taxol cells in vitro, and in treating drug-resistant lung cancer A549/Taxol
      cells xenografted onto nude mice (tumor growth inhibition 86.7%). In conclusion,
      dual-functional liposomes provide a novel and versatile approach for overcoming
      MDR in cancer treatment. 

PMID- 25818420
TI  - 3D surface topology guides stem cell adhesion and differentiation.
AB  - Polymerized high internal phase emulsion (polyHIPE) foams are extremely versatile
      materials for investigating cell-substrate interactions in vitro. Foam
      morphologies can be controlled by polymerization conditions to result in either
      open or closed pore structures with different levels of connectivity,
      consequently enabling the comparison between 2D and 3D matrices using the same
      substrate with identical surface chemistry conditions. Additionally, here we
      achieve the control of pore surface topology (i.e. how different ligands are
      clustered together) using amphiphilic block copolymers as emulsion stabilizers.
      We demonstrate that adhesion of human mesenchymal progenitor (hES-MP) cells
      cultured on polyHIPE foams is dependent on foam surface topology and chemistry
      but is independent of porosity and interconnectivity. We also demonstrate that
      the interconnectivity, architecture and surface topology of the foams has an
      effect on the osteogenic differentiation potential of hES-MP cells. Together
      these data demonstrate that the adhesive heterogeneity of a 3D scaffold could
      regulate not only mesenchymal stem cell attachment but also cell behavior in the
      absence of soluble growth factors. 

PMID- 25818421
TI  - A delivery system specifically approaching bone resorption surfaces to facilitate
      therapeutic modulation of microRNAs in osteoclasts.
AB  - Dysregulated microRNAs in osteoclasts could cause many skeletal diseases. The
      therapeutic manipulation of these pathogenic microRNAs necessitates novel,
      efficient delivery systems to facilitate microRNAs modulators targeting
      osteoclasts with minimal off-target effects. Bone resorption surfaces
      characterized by highly crystallized hydroxyapatite are dominantly occupied by
      osteoclasts. Considering that the eight repeating sequences of aspartate (D-Asp8)
      could preferably bind to highly crystallized hydroxyapatite, we developed a
      targeting system by conjugating D-Asp8 peptide with liposome for delivering
      microRNA modulators specifically to bone resorption surfaces and subsequently
      encapsulated antagomir-148a (a microRNA modulator suppressing the
      osteoclastogenic miR-148a), i.e. (D-Asp8)-liposome-antagomir-148a. Our results
      demonstrated that D-Asp8 could facilitate the enrichment of antagomir-148a and
      the subsequent down-regulation of miR-148a in osteoclasts in vivo, resulting in
      reduced bone resorption and attenuated deterioration of trabecular architecture
      in osteoporotic mice. Mechanistically, the osteoclast-targeted delivery depended
      on the interaction between bone resorption surfaces and D-Asp8. No detectable
      liver and kidney toxicity was found in mice after single/multiple dose(s)
      treatment of (D-Asp8)-liposome-antagomir-148a. These results indicated that (D
      Asp8)-liposome as a promising osteoclast-targeting delivery system could
      facilitate clinical translation of microRNA modulators in treating those
      osteoclast-dysfunction-induced skeletal diseases. 

PMID- 25818422
TI  - Chitosan-catechol: a polymer with long-lasting mucoadhesive properties.
AB  - Numerous mucoadhesive polymers have been exploited for prolonging the residence
      time of formulated drugs or pharmaceuticals at specific delivery sites. However,
      it has been difficult to achieve satisfactory mucoadhesive properties. The two
      major modification strategies such as thiolation or lectin functionalization have
      been extensively studied, but disulfide bond reversibility in the case of
      thiolation and the toxicity of lectins have been problems. Thus, approaches for
      further improvement of mucoadhesive properties need to be developed. With an
      overwhelming library of mucoadhesive polymers, one practical way to improve
      mucoadhesion is chemical modification of existing mucoadhesive polymers. In other
      words, the method is based on utilizing the cooperative effect that might be
      achieved by chemical tethering of a small adhesive moiety to an available
      mucoadhesive polymer. Here, we conjugated catechols derived from mussel adhesive
      proteins to chitosan, which is a widely known mucoadhesive polymer. We
      demonstrated that the gastrointestinal (GI) tract retention of chitosan-catechol
      was improved compared to unmodified chitosan, which is due to the formation of
      irreversible catechol mediated-crosslinking with mucin. The results indicate that
      catechol modification of mucoadhesive polymers may possibly lead to a new
      generation of mucoadhesive polymers for mucosal drug delivery. 

PMID- 25818423
TI  - Design strategy of cell-penetrating copolymers for high efficient drug delivery.
AB  - Finding a highly effective drug delivery carrier with low cytotoxicity is
      essential for disease therapy. In this work, we design a cell-penetrating
      copolymer (CPC) carrier, in which the inspiration comes from cell-penetrating
      peptides that have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic residues and are capable of
      penetrating membranes without inducing membrane disruption. Further dissipative
      particle dynamics simulations indicate that the CPCs also have an effective
      penetration capacity. Importantly, we found that the penetration mechanism of the
      CPC is in a zipper way, i.e. the adjacent hydrophobic segments of the CPC could
      cross the membrane in a cooperative way. Moreover, we determine the optimal
      parameters for the CPC crossing lipid membrane, i.e. the hydrophobic segment
      length of the CPC is close to the membrane thickness, and the CPC has more
      segment number. Finally, by grafting the CPC with the optimal structure on the
      hydrophilic drug, we found that the CPCs can definitely help the hydrophilic drug
      penetrate the lipid membrane effectively, which is an excellent prototype of drug
      delivery carriers. It is expected that this work can provide the fundamental for
      further design of drug delivery carriers. 

PMID- 25818424
TI  - Impact of an autologous oxygenating matrix culture system on rat islet
      transplantation outcome.
AB  - Disruption of the pancreatic islet environment combined with the decrease in
      oxygen supply that occurs during isolation leads to poor islet survival. The aim
      of this study was to validate the benefit of using a plasma-based scaffold
      supplemented with perfluorodecalin to improve islet transplantation outcome. Rat
      islets were cultured in three conditions: i) control group, ii) plasma based
      matrix (P-matrix), and iii) P-matrix supplemented with emulsified
      perfluorodecalin. After 24 h culture, matrix/cell contacts (Integrinbeta1, p
      FAK/FAK, p-Akt/Akt), survival (caspase 3, TUNEL, FDA/PI), function, and HIF
      1alpha translocation were assessed. Afterwards, P-matrices were dissolved and the
      islets were intraportally transplanted. Graft function was monitored for 31 days
      with glycaemia and C-peptide follow up. Inflammation was assessed by histology
      (macrophage and granulocyte staining) and thrombin/anti-thrombin complex
      measurement. Islet survival correlated with an increase in integrin, FAK, and Akt
      activation in P-matrices and function was maintained. Perfluorodecalin
      supplementation decreased translocation of HIF-1alpha in the nucleus and post
      transplantation islet structure was better preserved in P-matrices, but a quicker
      activation of IBMIR resulted in early loss of graft function. "Oxygenating" P
      matrices provided a real benefit to islet survival and resistance in vivo.
      However, intraportal transplantation is not suitable for this kind of culture due
      to IBMIR; thus, alternative sites must be explored. 

PMID- 25818425
TI  - Hyaluronic acid controls the uptake pathway and intracellular trafficking of an
      octaarginine-modified gene vector in CD44 positive- and CD44 negative-cells.
AB  - The cellular uptake pathway for a gene vector is an important factor in transgene
      expression. We previously constructed an original gene vector, multifunctional
      envelope-type nano device (MEND). The use of octaarginine (R8), a cell
      penetrating peptide dramatically enhanced the transfection activity of the MEND
      since efficient cellular uptake via macropinocytosis, while the R8 should
      overcome its poor cell selectivity. Here we prepared an R8-MEND equipped with
      GALA (a peptide for endosomal escape) (R8/GALA-MEND) coated with hyaluronic acid
      (HA) (HA-R8/GALA-MEND), a natural ligand for cancer cells overexpressing CD44. We
      investigated the cellular uptake pathway of the HA-R8/GALA-MEND and the R8/GALA
      MEND using HCT116 cells overexpressing CD44. Both carriers were taken up by cells
      mainly via macropinocytosis, whereas only the HA-R8/GALA-MEND was partially
      internalized into cells via a CD44-mediated pathway. Investigation of transgene
      expression showed that the HA-R8/GALA-MEND had a high transfection activity in
      HCT116 cells via both macropinocytotic and CD44-mediated pathways. On the other
      hand, the value for the HA-R8/GALA-MEND was significantly decreased compared with
      the value for the R8/GALA-MEND in NIH3T3 cells (CD44-negative cells). These
      findings indicate that the HA-coating controls the intracellular pathway for R8
      modified nanocarriers, and that a CD44-mediated pathway is an important route for
      transgene expression. 

PMID- 25818426
TI  - Influence of stepwise chondrogenesis-mimicking 3D extracellular matrix on
      chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.
AB  - Extracellular matrix (ECM) has drawn a broad attention for preparation of tissue
      engineering scaffolds and stem cell study. ECM scaffolds stepwise mimicking
      development of tissues can provide useful models to investigate the interactions
      between stem cells and ECM during the process of tissue development. In this
      study, 3D stepwise chondrogenesis-mimicking ECM scaffolds were prepared from
      mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) by controlling the stages of chondrogenic
      differentiation. ECM scaffolds mimicking the early stage and late stage of
      chondrogenesis were obtained when MSCs were cultured in the chondrogenic medium
      for 1 and 3 w, respectively. The ECM scaffolds had different compositions as
      shown by immunohistochemical analysis. Stem cell (SC)-ECM scaffold was rich in
      collagen I and biglycan. Early stage chondrogenesis-mimicking (CE)-ECM scaffold
      had moderate amount of collagen II and aggrecan while late stage chondrogenesis
      mimicking (CL)-ECM scaffold were rich in collagen II and aggrecan. These three
      ECM scaffolds had different effects on chondrogenesis of MSCs. The CE-ECM
      scaffold facilitated chondrogenesis, however the CL-ECM scaffolds remarkably
      inhibited chondrogenesis of MSCs. These ECM scaffolds not only can provide new 3D
      ECM models to investigate the effects of ECM on MSCs functions, but also can be
      used as favorable ECM scaffolds for tissue engineering. 

PMID- 25818427
TI  - Scaffold composition affects cytoskeleton organization, cell-matrix interaction
      and the cellular fate of human mesenchymal stem cells upon chondrogenic
      differentiation.
AB  - The stem cell niche, or microenvironment, consists of soluble, matrix, cell and
      mechanical factors that together determine the cellular fates and/or
      differentiation patterns of stem cells. Collagen and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs)
      are important scaffolding materials that can mimic the natural matrix niche.
      Here, we hypothesize that imposing changes in the scaffold composition or, more
      specifically, incorporating GAGs into the collagen meshwork, will affect the
      morphology, cytoskeletal organization and integrin expression profiles, and hence
      the fate of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) upon the induction of
      differentiation. Using chondrogenesis as an example, we microencapsulated MSCs in
      three scaffold systems that had varying matrix compositions: collagen alone (C),
      aminated collagen (AC) and aminated collagen with GAGs (ACG). We then induced the
      MSCs to differentiate toward a chondrogenic lineage, after which, we
      characterized the cell viability and morphology, as well as the level of
      cytoskeletal organization and the integrin expression profile. We also studied
      the fate of the MSCs by evaluating the major chondrogenic markers at both the
      gene and protein level. In C, MSC chondrogenesis was successfully induced and
      MSCs that spread in the scaffolds had a clear actin cytoskeleton; they expressed
      integrin alpha2beta1, alpha5 and alphav; promoted sox9 nuclear localization
      transcription activation; and upregulated the expression of chondrogenic matrix
      markers. In AC, MSC chondrogenesis was completely inhibited but the scaffold
      still supported cell survival. The MSCs did not spread and they had no actin
      cytoskeleton; did not express integrin alpha2 or alphav; they failed to
      differentiate into chondrogenic lineage cells even on chemical induction; and
      there was little colocalization or functional interaction between integrin alpha5
      and fibronectin. In ACG, although the MSCs did not express integrin alpha2, they
      did express integrin alphav and there was strong co-localization and hence
      functional binding between alphav and fibronectin. In addition, vimentin was the
      dominant cytoskeletal protein in these cells, and the chondrogenic marker genes
      were expressed but at a much lower level than in the MSCs encapsulated in C
      alone. This work suggests the importance of controlling the matrix composition as
      a strategy to manipulate cell-matrix interactions (through changes in the
      integrin expression profile and cytoskeleton organization), and hence stem cell
      fates. 

PMID- 25818428
TI  - Successful matrix guided tissue regeneration of decellularized pulmonary heart
      valve allografts in elderly sheep.
AB  - In vivo repopulation of decellularized allografts with recipient cells leads to a
      positive remodeling of the graft matrix in juvenile sheep. In light of the
      increasing number of heart valve replacements among older patients (>65 years),
      this study focused on the potential for matrix-guided tissue regeneration in
      elderly sheep. Pulmonary valve replacement was performed in seven-year old sheep
      using decellularized (DV), decellularized and CCN1-coated (RV), or decellularized
      and in vitro reendothelialized pulmonary allografts (REV) (n=6, each group). CCN1
      coating was applied to support re-endothelialization. In vitro re
      endothelialization was conducted with endothelial-like cells derived from
      peripheral blood. Echocardiograms of all grafts showed adequate graft function
      after implantation and at explantation 3 or 6 months later. All explants were
      macroscopically free of thrombi at explantation, and revealed repopulation of the
      allografts on the adventitial side of valvular walls and proximal in the cusps.
      Engrafted cells expressed vimentin, sm alpha-actin, and myosin heavy chain 2,
      while luminal cell lining was positive for vWF and eNOS. Cellular repopulation of
      valvular matrix demonstrates the capacity for matrix-guided regeneration even in
      elderly sheep but is not improved by in vitro endothelialization, confirming the
      suitability of decellularized matrix for heart valve replacement in older
      individuals.

PMID- 25818429
TI  - Effects of mannose density on in vitro and in vivo cellular uptake and RNAi
      efficiency of polymeric nanoparticles.
AB  - To evaluate the effects of mannose density on in vitro and in vivo cellular
      uptake and RNA interference (RNAi) efficiency of polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) in
      macrophages, mannose-modified trimethyl chitosan-cysteine (MTC) conjugates with
      mannose densities of 4%, 13%, and 21% (MTC-4, MTC-13, and MTC-21) were
      synthesized. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) siRNA loaded MTC NPs with
      particle sizes of ~150 nm exhibited desired structural stability and effectively
      protected siRNA from enzymatic degradation. Generally, cellular uptake and RNAi
      efficiency were affected by mannose density. As expected, MTC-21 NPs presented
      the maximum in vitro uptake and RNAi efficacy in Raw 264.7 cells among all NPs
      tested. However, MTC-4 NPs exhibited the optimal in vivo uptake by peritoneal
      exudate cell macrophages (PECs). In the inflammation model of acute hepatic
      injury, orally delivered MTC-4 and MTC-13 NPs worked better in silencing TNF
      alpha expression and alleviating liver damage than MTC-21 NPs. As for the
      ulcerative colitis model, MTC-4 NPs outperformed MTC-13 and MTC-21 NPs with
      respect to TNF-alpha knockdown and therapeutic efficacy following oral
      administration. These results highlighted the importance of ligand density in
      cellular uptake and RNAi efficiency, which could serve as a guideline in the
      rational design of targeted nanocarriers for anti-inflammation therapy. 

PMID- 25818430
TI  - Hierarchical targeted hepatocyte mitochondrial multifunctional chitosan
      nanoparticles for anticancer drug delivery.
AB  - The overwhelming majority of drugs exert their pharmacological effects after
      reaching their target sites of action, however, these target sites are mainly
      located in the cytosol or intracellular organelles. Consequently, delivering
      drugs to the specific organelle is the key to achieve maximum therapeutic effects
      and minimum side-effects. In the work reported here, we designed, synthesized,
      and evaluated a novel mitochondrial-targeted multifunctional nanoparticles (MNPs)
      based on chitosan derivatives according to the physiological environment of the
      tumor and the requirement of mitochondrial targeting drug delivery. The
      intelligent chitosan nanoparticles possess various functions such as stealth,
      hepatocyte targeting, multistage pH-response, lysosomal escape and mitochondrial
      targeting, which lead to targeted drug release after the progressively shedding
      of functional groups, thus realize the efficient intracellular delivery and
      mitochondrial localization, inhibit the growth of tumor, elevate the antitumor
      efficacy, and reduce the toxicity of anticancer drugs. It provides a safe and
      efficient nanocarrier platform for mitochondria targeting anticancer drug
      delivery. 

PMID- 25818431
TI  - In vivo multimodal magnetic particle imaging (MPI) with tailored magneto/optical
      contrast agents.
AB  - Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) is a novel non-invasive biomedical imaging
      modality that uses safe magnetite nanoparticles as tracers. Controlled synthesis
      of iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) with tuned size-dependent magnetic relaxation
      properties is critical for the development of MPI. Additional functionalization
      of these NPs for other imaging modalities (e.g. MRI and fluorescent imaging)
      would accelerate screening of the MPI tracers based on their in vitro and in vivo
      performance in pre-clinical trials. Here, we conjugated two different types of
      poly-ethylene-glycols (NH2-PEG-NH2 and NH2-PEG-FMOC) to monodisperse carboxylated
      19.7 nm NPs by amide bonding. Further, we labeled these NPs with Cy5.5 near infra
      red fluorescent (NIRF) molecules. Bi-functional PEG (NH2-PEG-NH2) resulted in
      larger hydrodynamic size (~98 nm vs. ~43 nm) of the tracers, due to inter
      particle crosslinking. Formation of such clusters impacted the multimodal imaging
      performance and pharmacokinetics of these tracers. We found that MPI signal
      intensity of the tracers in blood depends on their plasmatic clearance
      pharmacokinetics. Whole body mice MPI/MRI/NIRF, used to study the biodistribution
      of the injected NPs, showed primary distribution in liver and spleen.
      Biodistribution of tracers and their clearance pathway was further confirmed by
      MPI and NIRF signals from the excised organs where the Cy5.5 labeling enabled
      detailed anatomical mapping of the tracers.in tissue sections. These multimodal
      MPI tracers, combining the strengths of each imaging modality (e.g. resolution,
      tracer sensitivity and clinical use feasibility) pave the way for various in
      vitro and in vivo MPI applications. 

PMID- 25818432
TI  - A paper-based invasion assay: assessing chemotaxis of cancer cells in gradients
      of oxygen.
AB  - This work describes a 3D, paper-based assay that can isolate sub-populations of
      cells based on their invasiveness (i.e., distance migrated in a hydrogel) in a
      gradient of concentration of oxygen (O2). Layers of paper impregnated with a cell
      compatible hydrogel are stacked and placed in a plastic holder to form the
      invasion assay. In most assays, the stack comprises a single layer of paper
      containing mammalian cells suspended in a hydrogel, sandwiched between multiple
      layers of paper containing only hydrogel. Cells in the stack consume and produce
      small molecules; these molecules diffuse throughout the stack to generate
      gradients in the stack, and between the stack and the bulk culture medium.
      Placing the cell-containing layer in different positions of the stack, or
      modifying the permeability of the holder to oxygen or proteins, alters the
      profile of the gradients within the stack. Physically separating the layers after
      culture isolates sub-populations of cells that migrated different distances, and
      enables their subsequent analysis or culture. Using this system, three
      independent cell lines derived from A549 cancer cells are shown to produce
      distinguishable migration behavior in a gradient of oxygen. This result is the
      first experimental demonstration that oxygen acts as a chemoattractant for cancer
      cells. 

PMID- 25818433
TI  - Feasibility of islet magnetic resonance imaging using ferumoxytol in intraportal
      islet transplantation.
AB  - There is a clinical need for an alternative labeling agent for magnetic resonance
      imaging (MRI) in islet transplantation. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility of
      islet MRI using ferumoxytol, which is the only clinically-available ultrasmall
      superparamagnetic iron oxide. We compared islet function and viability of control
      islets and islets labeled with ferumoxytol and/or a heparin-protamine complex
      (HPF). Efficacy of ferumoxytol labeling was assessed in both ex vivo and in vivo
      models. Labeling for 48 h with HPF, but not up to 800 MUg/mL ferumoxytol,
      deranged ex vivo islet viability and function. The T2* relaxation time was
      optimal when islets were labeled with 800 MUg/mL of ferumoxytol for 48 h.
      Prussian blue stain, iron content assay, transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
      supported internalization of ferumoxytol particles. However, the labeling
      intensity in the ex vivo MRI of islets labeled with ferumoxytol was much weaker
      than that of islets labeled with ferucarbotran. In syngeneic intraportal islet
      transplantation, there was a correlation between the total area of visualized
      islets and the transplanted islet mass. In conclusion, islet MRI using
      ferumoxytol was feasible in terms of in vitro and in vivo efficacy and safety.
      However, the weak labeling efficacy is still a hurdle for the clinical
      application.

PMID- 25818434
TI  - Efficient nuclear drug translocation and improved drug efficacy mediated by
      acidity-responsive boronate-linked dextran/cholesterol nanoassembly.
AB  - The present study reported a lysosome-acidity-targeting bio-responsive
      nanovehicle self-assembled from dextran (Dex) and phenylboronic acid modified
      cholesterol (Chol-PBA), aiming at the nucleus-tropic drug delivery. The prominent
      advantage of this assembled nanoconstruction arose from its susceptibility to
      acidity-labile dissociation concurrently accompanied with the fast liberation of
      encapsulated drugs, leading to efficient nuclear drug translocation and
      consequently favorable drug efficacy. By elaborately exploiting NH4Cl
      pretreatment to interfere with the cellular endosomal acidification progression,
      this study clearly evidenced at a cellular level the strong lysosomal-acidity
      dependency of nuclear drug uptake efficiency, which was shown to be the main
      factor influencing the drug efficacy. The boronate-linked nanoassembly displayed
      nearly no cytotoxicity and can remain structural stability under the simulated
      physiological conditions including 10% serum and the normal blood sugar
      concentration. The cellular exposure to cholesterol was found to bate the
      cellular uptake of nanoassembly in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting a
      cholesterol-associated mechanism of the intracellular internalization. The in
      vivo antitumor assessment in xenograft mouse models revealed the significant
      superiority of DOX-loaded Dex/Chol-PBA nanoassembly over the controls including
      free DOX and the DOX-loaded non-sensitive Dex-Chol, as reflected by the more
      effective tumor-growth inhibition and the better systematic safety. In terms of
      the convenient preparation, sensitive response to lysosomal acidity and efficient
      nuclear drug translocation, Dex/Chol-PBA nanoassembly derived from natural
      materials shows promising potentials as the nanovehicle for nucleus-tropic drug
      delivery especially for antitumor agents. More attractively, this study offers a
      deeper insight into the mechanism concerning the contribution of acidity
      responsive delivery to the enhanced chemotherapy performance. 

PMID- 25818435
TI  - Nanostructured medical sutures with antibacterial properties.
AB  - Bacterial repellence in suture materials is a desirable property that can
      potentially improve the healing process by preventing infection. We describe a
      method for generating nanostructures at the surface of commercial sutures of
      different composition, and their potential for preventing biofilm formation. We
      show how bacteria attachment is altered in the presence of nanosized topographies
      and identify optimum designs for preventing it without compromising
      biocompatibility and applicability in terms of nanostructure robustness or tissue
      friction. These studies open new possibilities for flexible and cost-effective
      realization of topography-based antibacterial coatings for absorbable biomedical
      textiles. 

PMID- 25818436
TI  - L-cysteine: a biocompatible, breathable and beneficial coating for graphene
      oxide.
AB  - Graphene oxide (GO) has been employed in various fields, and its ecological and
      health risks have attracted much attention. A small and inexpensive biomolecule,
      L-cysteine, was covalently immobilized onto GO to form L-cysteine-GO (CysGO) as a
      thio-functionalized nanosheet of 1.4 nm in thickness. Both the d-spacing and
      crystallinity of CysGO were observed to be lower than those of GO, whereas the D
      and G peaks remained similar to those of GO. CysGO exhibited remarkable uptake in
      vivo: no tissue defects, malformation, death or significant hatching delay were
      observed in zebrafish embryos. Significant DNA damage, decreased Na+/K+-ATPase
      activity and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential were not observed for
      CysGO. As a nonspecific activity linked to nanotoxicology, the unpaired electron
      spinning intensity of CysGO was approximately two orders of magnitude lower than
      that of GO. Oxygen microsensor analysis showed that the hypoxic and normoxic
      environments resulting from the presence of GO and CysGO envelopment,
      respectively, contributed to the difference in biocompatibility. CysGO also
      protected embryos from arsenic poisoning. Thus, CysGO has the advantageous
      properties of GO, exhibits excellent biocompatibility, acts as a breathable
      coating and antidote, and is suitable for various applications.

PMID- 25818437
TI  - Experimental modulation and computational model of nano-hydrophobicity.
AB  - We demonstrate that nano-hydrophobicity, which governs the biological
      aggressiveness of nanoparticles, is determined by the outermost regions of
      surface ligands. We have also successfully modulated nano-hydrophobicity using
      systematic surface ligand modifications and built the first computational model
      of nano-hydrophobicity. 

PMID- 25818438
TI  - Stem cell impregnated nanofiber stent sleeve for on-stent production and
      intravascular delivery of paracrine factors.
AB  - Stem cell therapies for atherosclerotic diseases are promising, but benefits
      remain modest with present cell delivery devices in part due to cell washout and
      immune attack. Many stem cell effects are believed mediated by paracrine factors
      (PFs) secreted by the stem cells which potentiate tissue repair via activation
      and enhancement of intrinsic host repair mechanisms We therefore sought to create
      an "intravascular paracrine factor factory" by harnessing stem cells on a stent
      using a nanofiber (NF) stent sleeve, and thus providing a sheltered milieu for
      cells to continuously produce PFs on-stent. The NF sleeve acts as a substrate on
      which stem cells grow, and as a semi-permeable barrier that protects cells from
      washout and host immune response while allowing free outward passage of PFs. NF
      stent sleeves were created by covering stents with electrospun poly-lactic-co
      glycolic acid nanofibers and were then uniformly coated with mesenchymal stem
      cells (MSCs). NF sleeves blocked cell passage but did not hamper MSC attachment
      or proliferation, and did not alter MSC morphology or surface markers. NF sleeve
      MSCs continued to secrete PFs that were biologically active and successfully
      induced tubulogenesis in human endothelial cells. NF stent sleeves seeded with
      allogeneic MSCs implanted in pigs remained patent at 7 days without thrombotic
      occlusion or immune rejection. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of
      creating an intravascular PF factory using a stem cell impregnated NF stent
      sleeve, and pave the way for animal studies to assess the efficacy of local PF
      production to treat ischemic artery disease. 

PMID- 25818439
TI  - Cold atmospheric plasma in combination with mechanical treatment improves
      osteoblast growth on biofilm covered titanium discs.
AB  - Treatment of implants with peri-implantitis is often unsuccessful, because an
      instrumented implant surface and residual microbial biofilm impedes re
      osseointegration. The application of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) could be a
      simple and effective strategy to overcome the inherent problems of peri
      implantitis treatment. CAP is able to destroy and eliminate bacterial biofilms.
      Additionally, it increases the wettability of titanium, which supports cellular
      attachment. In this study, the behaviour of osteoblasts on titanium discs was
      analysed after treatment of bacterial biofilms with CAP, brushing, or a
      combination of both. A human plaque biofilm was cultured on titanium discs.
      Treatment with a brush (BR), 1% oxygen/argon CAP (PL), or brushing combined with
      CAP (BR+PL) was used to eliminate the biofilm. Discs without biofilm (C),
      autoclaved biofilm (AUTO) and untreated biofilm (BIO) served as controls.
      Subsequently, human osteoblastic cell growth (MG-63) was observed after 1 and 24
      h. Biofilm remnants on BR and PL impaired osteoblastic cell development, whereas
      the BR+PL provided an increased area of osteoblastic cells. A five-day cell
      growth was only detectable on BR+PL treated discs. The combination of established
      brushing and CAP application may be a promising strategy to treat peri
      implantitis.

PMID- 25818441
TI  - Controlled 3D culture in Matrigel microbeads to analyze clonal acinar
      development.
AB  - 3D culture systems are a valuable tool for modeling morphogenesis and
      carcinogenesis of epithelial tissue in a structurally appropriate context. We
      present a novel approach for 3D cell culture based on a flow-focusing
      microfluidic system that encapsulates epithelial cells in Matrigel beads. As a
      model we use prostatic and breast cells and assay for development of acini,
      polarized cellular spheres enclosing lumen. Each individual bead on average acts
      as a single 3D cell culture compartment generating one acinus per bead. Compared
      to standard protocols microfluidics provides increased control over the
      environment leading to more a uniform acini population. The increased facility of
      bead manipulation allowed us to isolate single cells which are self-sufficient to
      fully develop into acini in presence of Matrigel. Furthermore, combination of our
      microfluidic approach with large particle FACS opens new avenues in high
      throughput screening on single acini or spheroids. 

PMID- 25818440
TI  - A highly tumor-targeted nanoparticle of podophyllotoxin penetrated tumor core and
      regressed multidrug resistant tumors.
AB  - Podophyllotoxin (PPT) exhibited significant activity against P-glycoprotein
      mediated multidrug resistant (MDR) tumor cell lines; however, due to its poor
      solubility and high toxicity, PPT cannot be dosed systemically, preventing its
      clinical use for MDR cancer. We developed a nanoparticle dosage form of PPT by
      covalently conjugating PPT and polyethylene glycol (PEG) with acetylated
      carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Ac) using one-pot esterification chemistry. The
      polymer conjugates self-assembled into nanoparticles (NPs) of variable sizes (20
      120 nm) depending on the PPT-to-PEG molar ratio (2-20). The conjugate with a low
      PPT/PEG molar ratio of 2 yielded NPs with a mean diameter of 20 nm and released
      PPT at ~5%/day in serum, while conjugates with increased PPT/PEG ratios (5 and
      20) produced bigger particles (30 nm and 120 nm respectively) that displayed
      slower drug release (~2.5%/day and ~1%/day respectively). The 20 nm particles
      exhibited 2- to 5-fold enhanced cell killing potency and 5- to 20-fold increased
      tumor delivery compared to the larger NPs. The biodistribution of the 20 nm PPT
      NPs was highly selective to the tumor with 8-fold higher accumulation than all
      other examined tissues, while the larger PPT-NPs (30 and 120 nm) exhibited
      increased liver uptake. Within the tumor, >90% of the 20 nm PPT-NPs penetrated to
      the hypovascular core, while the larger particles were largely restricted in the
      hypervascular periphery. The 20 nm PPT-NPs displayed significantly improved
      efficacy against MDR tumors in mice compared to the larger PPT-NPs, native PPT
      and the standard taxane chemotherapies, with minimal toxicity. 

PMID- 25818442
TI  - Hypoxia-mimicking bioactive glass/collagen glycosaminoglycan composite scaffolds
      to enhance angiogenesis and bone repair.
AB  - One of the biggest challenges in regenerative medicine is promoting sufficient
      vascularisation of tissue-engineered constructs. One approach to overcome this
      challenge is to target the cellular hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1alpha)
      pathway, which responds to low oxygen concentration (hypoxia) and results in the
      activation of numerous pro-angiogenic genes including vascular endothelial growth
      factor (VEGF). Cobalt ions are known to mimic hypoxia by artificially stabilising
      the HIF-1alpha transcription factor. Here, resorbable bioactive glass particles
      (38 MUm and 100 MUm) with cobalt ions incorporated into the glass network were
      used to create bioactive glass/collagen-glycosaminoglycan scaffolds optimised for
      bone tissue engineering. Inclusion of the bioactive glass improved the
      compressive modulus of the resulting composite scaffolds while maintaining high
      degrees of porosity (>97%). Moreover, in vitro analysis demonstrated that the
      incorporation of cobalt bioactive glass with a mean particle size of 100 MUm
      significantly enhanced the production and expression of VEGF in endothelial
      cells, and cobalt bioactive glass/collagen-glycosaminoglycan scaffold conditioned
      media also promoted enhanced tubule formation. Furthermore, our results prove the
      ability of these scaffolds to support osteoblast cell proliferation and
      osteogenesis in all bioactive glass/collagen-glycosaminoglycan scaffolds
      irrespective of the particle size. In summary, we have developed a hypoxia
      mimicking tissue-engineered scaffold with pro-angiogenic and pro-osteogenic
      capabilities that may encourage bone tissue regeneration and overcome the problem
      of inadequate vascularisation of grafts commonly seen in the field of tissue
      engineering. 

PMID- 25818443
TI  - The phenotype of cancer cell invasion controlled by fibril diameter and pore size
      of 3D collagen networks.
AB  - The behavior of cancer cells is strongly influenced by the properties of
      extracellular microenvironments, including topology, mechanics and composition.
      As topological and mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix are hard to
      access and control for in-depth studies of underlying mechanisms in vivo, defined
      biomimetic in vitro models are needed. Herein we show, how pore size and fibril
      diameter of collagen I networks distinctively regulate cancer cell morphology and
      invasion. Three-dimensional collagen I matrices with a tight control of pore
      size, fibril diameter and stiffness were reconstituted by adjustment of
      concentration and pH value during matrix reconstitution. At first, a detailed
      analysis of topology and mechanics of matrices using confocal laser scanning
      microscopy, image analysis tools and force spectroscopy indicate pore size and
      not fibril diameter as the major determinant of matrix elasticity. Secondly, by
      using two different breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7), we
      demonstrate collagen fibril diameter--and not pore size--to primarily regulate
      cell morphology, cluster formation and invasion. Invasiveness increased and
      clustering decreased with increasing fibril diameter for both, the highly
      invasive MDA-MB-231 cells with mesenchymal migratory phenotype and the MCF-7
      cells with amoeboid migratory phenotype. As this behavior was independent of
      overall pore size, matrix elasticity is shown to be not the major determinant of
      the cell characteristics. Our work emphasizes the complex relationship between
      structural-mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix and invasive
      behavior of cancer cells. It suggests a correlation of migratory and invasive
      phenotype of cancer cells in dependence on topological and mechanical features of
      the length scale of single fibrils and not on coarse-grained network properties.

PMID- 25818444
TI  - Oxygen delivery from hyperbarically loaded microtanks extends cell viability in
      anoxic environments.
AB  - Oxygen diffusion limitations within nascent tissue engineered (TE) grafts lead to
      the development of hypoxic regions, cell death, and graft failure. Previous
      efforts have been made to deliver oxygen within TE scaffolds, including peroxide
      doping, perfluorocarbons, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, to mitigate these
      effects and help maintain post transplantation cell viability, but these have
      suffered from significant drawbacks. Here we present a novel approach utilizing
      polymeric hollow-core microspheres that can be hyperbarically loaded with oxygen
      and subsequently provide prolonged oxygen delivery. These oxygen carriers are
      termed, microtanks. With an interest in orthopedic applications, we combined
      microtanks within polycaprolactone to form solid phase constructs with oxygen
      delivery capabilities. The mathematical laws governing oxygen delivery from
      microtank-loaded constructs are developed along with empirical validation.
      Constructs achieved periods of oxygen delivery out to 6 days, which was shown to
      prolong the survival of human adipose derived stem cells (hASCs) and human
      umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) as well as to enhance their cellular
      morphology under anoxic conditions. The results of this study suggest the
      microtank approach may be a feasible means of maintaining cell viability in TE
      scaffolds during the critical period of vascularization in vivo. 

PMID- 25818445
TI  - A gene expression-based comparison of cell adhesion to extracellular matrix and
      RGD-terminated monolayers.
AB  - This work uses global gene expression analysis to compare the extent to which
      model substrates presenting peptide adhesion motifs mimic the use of conventional
      extracellular matrix protein coated substrates for cell culture. We compared the
      transcriptional activities of genes in cells that were cultured on matrix-coated
      substrates with those cultured on self-assembled monolayers presenting either a
      linear or cyclic RGD peptide. Cells adherent to cyclic RGD were most similar to
      those cultured on native ECM, while cells cultured on monolayers presenting the
      linear RGD peptide had transcriptional activities that were more similar to cells
      cultured on the uncoated substrates. This study suggests that biomaterials
      presenting the cyclic RGD peptide are substantially better mimics of
      extracellular matrix than are uncoated materials or materials presenting the
      common linear RGD peptide. 

PMID- 25818447
TI  - Highly efficient ablation of metastatic breast cancer using ammonium-tungsten
      bronze nanocube as a novel 1064 nm-laser-driven photothermal agent.
AB  - Photothermal ablation (PTA) therapy has been viewed as an invasive option for
      cancer therapy with minimal deconstruction of healthy tissues. In this study, a
      potent candidate of (NH4)xWO3 nanocube was developed for PTA treatment of
      metastatic breast cancer in the second near-infrared (NIR) window. It was found
      that the as-synthesized (NH4)xWO3 nanocube had significant photoabsorption across
      the whole NIR window of 780-2500 nm and exhibited considerable photo-heat
      conversion efficiency. Moreover, the as-prepared (NH4)xWO3 nanocube displayed
      good biocompatibility and high cellular uptake efficiency through endocytosis
      pathway without nuclei entry. The PTA study employing 1064 nm laser in the second
      NIR window revealed that (NH4)xWO3 nanocubes induced significant cell necrosis
      and apoptosis by producing obviously hyperthermia effect inside cancer cells.
      Using an orthotopicly implanted breast tumor model, it demonstrated that the
      (NH4)xWO3 nanocube was a promising photothermal agent for effective ablation of
      solid tumors and suppressing their distant metastasis. 

PMID- 25818446
TI  - Actin grips: circular actin-rich cytoskeletal structures that mediate the
      wrapping of polymeric microfibers by endothelial cells.
AB  - Interaction of endothelial-lineage cells with three-dimensional substrates was
      much less studied than that with flat culture surfaces. We investigated the in
      vitro attachment of both mature endothelial cells (ECs) and of less
      differentiated EC colony-forming cells to poly-epsilon-capro-lactone (PCL) fibers
      with diameters in 5-20 MUm range ('scaffold microfibers', SMFs). We found that
      notwithstanding the poor intrinsic adhesiveness to PCL, both cell types
      completely wrapped the SMFs after long-term cultivation, thus attaining a
      cylindrical morphology. In this system, both EC types grew vigorously for more
      than a week and became increasingly more differentiated, as shown by multiplexed
      gene expression. Three-dimensional reconstructions from multiphoton confocal
      microscopy images using custom software showed that the filamentous (F) actin
      bundles took a conspicuous ring-like organization around the SMFs. Unlike the
      classical F-actin-containing stress fibers, these rings were not associated with
      either focal adhesions or intermediate filaments. We also demonstrated that
      plasma membrane boundaries adjacent to these circular cytoskeletal structures
      were tightly yet dynamically apposed to the SMFs, for which reason we suggest to
      call them 'actin grips'. In conclusion, we describe a particular form of F-actin
      assembly with relevance for cytoskeletal organization in response to
      biomaterials, for endothelial-specific cell behavior in vitro and in vivo, and
      for tissue engineering. 

PMID- 25818448
TI  - Isoniazid conjugated poly(lactide-co-glycolide): long-term controlled drug
      release and tissue regeneration for bone tuberculosis therapy.
AB  - Bone tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most common extrapulmonary TB. Effective
      integration of chemotherapy and bone regeneration is an optimal solution for bone
      TB therapy. Herein, we produce a composite scaffold drug delivery system
      fabricated with an isoniazid conjugated star poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA
      INH4) and beta-TCP. The cytological assay indicated the composite system
      possesses good biocompatibility. The in vitro and in vivo drug release
      evaluations showed that the composite system can intactly release the pristine
      INH and maintain effective INH concentration in a controlled manner for more than
      100 days, and achieve high localized drug concentration and low systemic drug
      concentration. The rabbit radius repair experiment testified the scaffold has
      good bone regeneration capacity. Our work demonstrate the composite system can
      simultaneously achieve localized long-term drug controlled release and bone
      regeneration, which provides a promising route for improved bone TB treatment. 

PMID- 25818450
TI  - Dextran-coated fluorapatite crystals doped with Yb3+/Ho3+ for labeling and
      tracking chondrogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in
      vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Upconversion fluorescent nanoparticles are becoming more widely used as imaging
      contrast agents, owing to their high resolution and penetration depth, and
      avoidance of tissue auto-fluorescence and photodamage to cells. Here, we
      synthesized upconversion fluorescent crystals from rare-earth Yb3+ and Ho3+ co
      doped fluorapatite (FA:Yb3+/Ho3+) suitable for long-term tracking and monitoring
      cartilage development (chondrogenesis) in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells
      (BMSCs) in vitro and in vivo. We initially determined the structure, morphology
      and luminescence of the products using X-ray powder diffraction, transmission
      electron microscopy and two-photon confocal microscopy. When excited at 980 nm,
      FA:Yb3+/Ho3+ crystals exhibited distinct upconversion fluorescence peaks at 543
      nm and 654 nm. We then conjugated FA:Yb3+/Ho3+ crystals with dextran to enhance
      hydrophilicity, biocompatibility and cell penetration. Next, we employed the
      dextran-coated FA:Yb3+/Ho3+ crystals in labeling and tracking chondrogenic
      differentiation processes in BMSCs stably expressing green fluorescent protein
      (BMSCsGFP) in vitro and in vivo. Labeled BMSCsGFP were shown to reproducibly
      exhibit chondrogenic differentiation potential in RT-PCR analysis, histological
      assessment and immunohistochemistry. We observed continuous luminescence from the
      FA:Yb3+/Ho3+ upconversion crystals at 4 weeks and 12 weeks post transplantation
      in BMSCsGFP, while GFP fluorescence in both control and crystal-treated groups
      significantly decreased at 12 weeks after BMSCsGFP transplantation. We therefore
      demonstrate the high biocompatibility and stability of FA:Yb3+/Ho3+ crystals in
      tracking and monitoring BMSCs chondrogenesis in vitro and in vivo, highlighting
      their excellent cell labeling potential in cartilage tissue engineering.

PMID- 25818449
TI  - Emulating native periosteum cell population and subsequent paracrine factor
      production to promote tissue engineered periosteum-mediated allograft healing.
AB  - Emulating autograft healing within the context of decellularized bone allografts
      has immediate clinical applications in the treatment of critical-sized bone
      defects. The periosteum, a thin, osteogenic tissue that surrounds bone, houses a
      heterogenous population of stem cells and osteoprogenitors. There is evidence
      that periosteum-cell derived paracrine factors, specifically vascular endothelial
      growth factor (VEGF) and bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2), orchestrate
      autograft healing through host cell recruitment and subsequent tissue
      elaboration. In previous work, we demonstrated that the use of poly(ethylene
      glycol) (PEG) hydrogels as a tissue engineered (T.E.) periosteum to localize
      mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to the surface of decellularized bone enhances
      allograft healing and integration. Herein, we utilize a mixed population of 50:50
      MSCs and osteoprogenitor cells to better mimic native periosteum cell population
      and paracrine factor production to further promote allograft healing. This mixed
      cell population was localized to the surface of decellularized allografts within
      degradable hydrogels and shown to expedite allograft healing. Specifically, bone
      callus formation and biomechanical graft-host integration are increased as
      compared to unmodified allografts. These results demonstrate the dual importance
      of periosteum-mediated paracrine factors orchestrating host cell recruitment as
      well as new bone formation while developing clinically translatable strategies
      for allograft healing and integration. 

PMID- 25818451
TI  - Engineered cartilaginous tubes for tracheal tissue replacement via self-assembly
      and fusion of human mesenchymal stem cell constructs.
AB  - There is a critical need to engineer a neotrachea because currently there are no
      long-term treatments for tracheal stenoses affecting large portions of the
      airway. In this work, a modular tracheal tissue replacement strategy was
      developed. High-cell density, scaffold-free human mesenchymal stem cell-derived
      cartilaginous rings and tubes were successfully generated through employment of
      custom designed culture wells and a ring-to-tube assembly system. Furthermore,
      incorporation of transforming growth factor-beta1-delivering gelatin microspheres
      into the engineered tissues enhanced chondrogenesis with regard to tissue size
      and matrix production and distribution in the ring- and tube-shaped constructs,
      as well as luminal rigidity of the tubes. Importantly, all engineered tissues had
      similar or improved biomechanical properties compared to rat tracheas, which
      suggests they could be transplanted into a small animal model for airway defects.
      The modular, bottom up approach used to grow stem cell-based cartilaginous tubes
      in this report is a promising platform to engineer complex organs (e.g.,
      trachea), with control over tissue size and geometry, and has the potential to be
      used to generate autologous tissue implants for human clinical applications. 

PMID- 25818452
TI  - Mechano growth factor (MGF) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta3
      functionalized silk scaffolds enhance articular hyaline cartilage regeneration in
      rabbit model.
AB  - Damaged cartilage has poor self-healing ability and usually progresses to scar or
      fibrocartilaginous tissue, and finally degenerates to osteoarthritis (OA). Here
      we demonstrated that one of alternative isoforms of IGF-1, mechano growth factor
      (MGF) acted synergistically with transforming growth factor beta3 (TGF-beta3)
      embedded in silk fibroin scaffolds to induce chemotactic homing and chondrogenic
      differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Combination of MGF and TGF
      beta3 significantly increased cell recruitment up to 1.8 times and 2 times higher
      than TGF-beta3 did in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, MGF increased Collagen II and
      aggrecan secretion of TGF-beta3 induced hMSCs chondrogenesis, but decreased
      Collagen I in vitro. Silk fibroin (SF) scaffolds have been widely used for tissue
      engineering, and we showed that methanol treated pured SF scaffolds were porous,
      similar to compressive module of native cartilage, slow degradation rate and
      excellent drug released curves. At 7 days after subcutaneous implantation, TGF
      beta3 and MGF functionalized silk fibroin scaffolds (STM) recruited more
      CD29+/CD44+cells (P<0.05). Similarly, more cartilage-like extracellular matrix
      and less fibrillar collagen were detected in STM scaffolds than that in TGF-beta3
      modified scaffolds (ST) at 2 months after subcutaneous implantation. When
      implanted into articular joints in a rabbit osteochondral defect model, STM
      scaffolds showed the best integration into host tissues, similar architecture and
      collagen organization to native hyaline cartilage, as evidenced by immunostaining
      of aggrecan, collagen II and collagen I, as well as Safranin O and Masson's
      trichrome staining, and histological evalution based on the modified O'Driscoll
      histological scoring system (P<0.05), indicating that MGF and TGF-beta3 might be
      a better candidate for cartilage regeneration. This study demonstrated that TGF
      beta3 and MGF functionalized silk fibroin scaffolds enhanced endogenous stem cell
      recruitment and facilitated in situ articular cartilage regeneration, thus
      providing a novel strategy for cartilage repair.

PMID- 25818453
TI  - Au nanoparticles decorated C60 nanoparticle-based label-free
      electrochemiluminesence aptasensor via a novel "on-off-on" switch system.
AB  - Herein, a label-free electrochemiluminescence (ECL) aptasensor for highly
      sensitive determination of kanamycin was developed based on a novel "on-off-on"
      switch system. The first "switch on" state with remarkably high ECL intensity was
      obtained by the tri-layer composite films modified glassy carbon electrode
      towards the S2O8(2-)-O2 system. To be specific, the first layer was the Au
      nanoparticles decorated C60 nanoparticles (abbreviation as Au@nano-C60) as inner
      layer which was prepared by the in situ generating of Au nanoparticles onto the
      surface of bovine serum albumin decorated nano-C60 nanoparticles. Then poly-L
      histidine was first selected as a novel coreactant of S2O8(2-)-O2 system and it
      was adsorbed on the Au@nano-C60 modified electrode as inter-layer. Finally, a
      self-assembling layer of colloidal Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) was the outer-layer.
      The three layers were interaction by the Au-N covalent bond which could achieve a
      desirable initial amplified ECL signal. Successively, the capture probes (CPs) of
      the aptamer for the target of kanamycin was anchored on the resultant tri-layer
      composite films modified electrode. Later, the "switch off" state was made by the
      quenching effect of hemin/G-quadruplex DNAzymes towards S2O8(2-)-O2 system
      according to the DNA hybridization reaction of an assistant probes (APs, guanine
      rich nucleic acid) with CPs which could generate a large amount of hemin/G
      quadruplex DNAzymes in the presence of hemin with a simple and label-free
      process. As expected, the second "switch on" state was the ECL signal recovery
      when the target of kanamycin was present, it is attributed to that the formation
      of the aptamer-kanamycin complex makes the quencher of hemin/G-quadruplex
      DNAzymes release from the sensing interface. With the association of "on-off-on"
      switch system, a linear response about 9 orders of magnitude for kanamycin
      detection was obtained from 0.15 nM to 170 mm as well as a detection limit down
      to 45 pM.

PMID- 25818454
TI  - Photochemical tissue penetration via photosensitizer for effective drug
      penetration in a non-vascular tumor.
AB  - To improve the tissue penetration efficiency (PE%) of hydrophilic-drugs in non
      vascular drug eluting stents (DES), we designed photochemical tissue penetration
      (PTP) invested DES (PTP-DES). The PTP technology was applied to the stent as a
      covering membrane to generate singlet oxygen. Singlet oxygen damages the
      epithelial layer, so the PE% of released drugs could be improved. To prepare the
      PTP-DES membrane, chlorin e6 (Ce6, photosensitizer) was incorporated in a
      gemcitabine (GEM) eluting polyurethane (PU) membrane (Ce6-GEM-PU). Ce6-GEM-PU has
      smooth surface that is ~40 MUm thick. The photoactivity of Ce6 was maintained for
      2 weeks (in vitro GEM releasing period). In a separate cell culture system, both
      1.5 folds higher PE% and an improved tumor cell growth inhibition effect were
      shown after light exposure. Additionally, in tissue penetration experimental
      system, 2 folds increased in the PE% of GEM was induced by laser exposure at 80
      J/cm2. Additionally, improved PE% of hydrophilic molecules (Fluorescein and GEM)
      was confirmed in colon tumor bearing mice. Consequentially, tumor growth, when
      implanted with Ce6-GEM-PU, was effectively inhibited without significant side
      effects. Based on these results, we believe that the PTP-DES system has great
      potential for improving the therapeutic effect of conventional DES.

PMID- 25818455
TI  - Polyethylenimine-coated SPIONs trigger macrophage activation through TLR-4
      signaling and ROS production and modulate podosome dynamics.
AB  - Polyethylenimine (PEI) is widely used as transfection agent in preclinical
      studies, both in vitro and in vivo. Due to their unique chemical and physical
      properties, SPIONs (superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles) have been
      thoroughly studied as nanocarriers. PEI appears to activate different immune
      cells to an inflammatory response (M1/TH1), whereas the SPION-induced response
      seems to be context-dependent; the immunogenicity of the combination of these
      components has not been studied. Here we show that PEI-coated SPIONs (PMag)
      activate macrophages, as determined by measuring IL-12 secretion into culture
      medium and upregulation of several genes linked to the M1 phenotype. PMag-induced
      phosphorylation of p38 MAPK, p44/p42 MAPK and JNK, and upregulation of CD40,
      CD80, CD86 and I-A/I-E activation markers. PMag-induced macrophage activation
      depended partially on TLR4 (Toll-like receptor 4) and ROS (reactive oxygen
      species) signaling. Comparison of these responses with the LPS
      (lipopolysaccharide)-induced phenotype showed differences in gene expression
      profiling. PMag positively modulated podosome formation in murine macrophages,
      but hampered gelatin degradation by these cells. In conclusion, PMag induced an
      M1-like phenotype that was partially dependent on both TLR4 and ROS. These
      results show the adjuvant potential of PMag and suggest their use in vaccination
      schedules. 

PMID- 25818457
TI  - Characterization of cell selectivity, physiological stability and endotoxin
      neutralization capabilities of alpha-helix-based peptide amphiphiles.
AB  - While naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been of increasing
      interest as alternative antibiotics due to their broad-spectrum antimicrobial
      activity and reduced possibility for the development of bacterial drug
      resistance, some concerns such as potential cytotoxicity, poor antimicrobial
      activity and weak physiological stability may ultimately weaken their development
      as antimicrobial agents. To generate AMPs with enhanced therapeutic potential, we
      designed alpha-helical hybrid peptides based on PRW4, Fowlicidin-2, Protegrin-3
      and Tritrpticin sequences to gain insights into their selectivities,
      physiological stabilities and endotoxin neutralization capabilities. The designed
      hybrid peptides PR-FO, PR-PG and PR-TR exhibited high cell selectivity towards
      bacterial cells over human red blood cells (hRBCs). Their activities were
      maintained in the presence of physiological concentrations of salts or serum,
      indicating a high stability in vitro. The results from fluorescence spectroscopy,
      flow cytometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron
      microscopy (TEM) showed that these designed peptides killed microbial cells by
      increasing membrane permeability and damaging membrane envelope integrity.
      Moreover, the hybrid peptides effectively neutralized endotoxins while causing
      minimal cytotoxicities. Collectively, our results suggest that these hybrid
      peptides, in particular PR-FO, have tremendous potential for use as novel
      antimicrobial and antisepsis agents. 

PMID- 25818456
TI  - Uniform brain tumor distribution and tumor associated macrophage targeting of
      systemically administered dendrimers.
AB  - Effective blood-brain tumor barrier penetration and uniform solid tumor
      distribution can significantly enhance therapeutic delivery to brain tumors.
      Hydroxyl-functionalized, generation-4 poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers, with
      their small size, near-neutral surface charge, and the ability to selectively
      localize in cells associated with neuroinflammation may offer new opportunities
      to address these challenges. In this study we characterized the intracranial
      tumor biodistribution of systemically delivered PAMAM dendrimers in an
      intracranial rodent gliosarcoma model using fluorescence-based quantification
      methods and high resolution confocal microscopy. We observed selective and
      homogeneous distribution of dendrimer throughout the solid tumor (~6 mm) and
      peritumoral area within fifteen minutes after systemic administration, with
      subsequent accumulation and retention in tumor associated microglia/macrophages
      (TAMs). Neuroinflammation and TAMs have important growth promoting and pro
      invasive effects in brain tumors. The rapid clearance of systemically
      administered dendrimers from major organs promises minimal off-target adverse
      effects of conjugated drugs. Therefore, selective delivery of immunomodulatory
      molecules to TAM, using hydroxyl PAMAM dendrimers, may hold promise for therapy
      of glioblastoma. 

PMID- 25818458
TI  - Dhvar5 antimicrobial peptide (AMP) chemoselective covalent immobilization results
      on higher antiadherence effect than simple physical adsorption.
AB  - Bacterial colonization and subsequent biofilm formation is still one of the major
      problems associated with medical devices. Antimicrobial peptides (AMP)
      immobilization onto biomaterials surface is a promising strategy to avoid
      bacterial colonization. However, a correct peptide orientation and exposure from
      the surface is essential to maintain AMP antimicrobial activity. This work aims
      to evaluate the effect of the immobilization on antibacterial activity of Dhvar5
      (LLLFLLKKRKKRKY), an AMP with a head-to-tail amphipathicity. Dhvar5 was linked to
      thin chitosan coatings in i) a controlled orientation and exposure, testing
      covalent immobilization of its N- or C-terminus and using spacers with different
      lengths and flexibilities or in ii) a random orientation by physical adsorption.
      Chitosan coating was chosen due to its antimicrobial properties and readiness to
      be functionalized. Surface characterization demonstrated the chemoselective
      immobilization of the peptide with different spacers in a similar concentration
      (~2 ng/cm2). Efficacy assays demonstrated that covalent immobilization of Dhvar5
      exposing its cationic end, improves the chitosan coating antimicrobial effect by
      decreasing Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization. This
      effect was enhanced when longer spacers were used independently of their
      flexibility. In opposite, immobilized Dhvar5 exposing its hydrophobic end has no
      effect on bacterial adhesion to chitosan, and when adsorbed in a random
      orientation even induces bacterial adhesion to chitosan coating.

PMID- 25818460
TI  - Sustained regeneration of high-volume adipose tissue for breast reconstruction
      using computer aided design and biomanufacturing.
AB  - Adipose tissue engineering offers a promising alternative to the current breast
      reconstruction options. Here we investigated patient-specific breast scaffolds
      fabricated from poly(d,l)-lactide polymer with pore sizes>1 mm for their
      potential in long-term sustained regeneration of high volume adipose tissue. An
      optimised scaffold geometry was modelled in silico via a laser scanning data set
      from a patient who underwent breast reconstruction surgery. After the design
      process scaffolds were fabricated using an additive manufacturing technology
      termed fused deposition modelling. Breast-shaped scaffolds were seeded with human
      umbilical cord perivascular cells and cultured under static conditions for 4
      weeks and subsequently 2 weeks in a biaxial rotating bioreactor. These in vitro
      engineered constructs were then seeded with human umbilical vein endothelial
      cells and implanted subcutaneously into athymic nude rats for 24 weeks.
      Angiogenesis and adipose tissue formation were observed throughout all constructs
      at all timepoints. The percentage of adipose tissue compared to overall tissue
      area increased from 37.17% to 62.30% between week 5 and week 15 (p<0.01), and
      increased to 81.2% at week 24 (p<0.01), while the seeded endothelial cells self
      organised to form a functional capillary network. The presented approach of
      fabricating customised scaffolds using 3D scans represents a facile approach
      towards engineering clinically relevant volumes of adipose tissue for breast
      reconstruction.

PMID- 25818459
TI  - The utilization of decellularized tendon slices to provide an inductive
      microenvironment for the proliferation and tenogenic differentiation of stem
      cells.
AB  - The extracellular matrix (ECM) microenvironment for the stem cell niches,
      including but not limited to the biochemical composition, matrix topography, and
      stiffness, is crucial to stem cell proliferation and differentiation. The purpose
      of this study was to explore the capacity of the decellularized tendon slices
      (DTSs) to induce stem cell proliferation and tenogenic differentiation. Rat adult
      stem cells, including tendon-derived stem cells (TDSCs) and bone marrow-derived
      stem cells (BMSCs), were identified to have universal stem cell characteristics.
      The DTSs were found to retain the native tendon ECM microenvironment cues,
      including the inherent surface topography, well-preserved tendon ECM biochemical
      composition and similar stiffness to native tendon. When the TDSCs and BMSCs were
      cultured on the DTSs respectively, the LIVE/DEAD assay, alamarBlue(r) assay,
      scanning electron microscopy examination and qRT-PCR analysis demonstrated that
      the DTSs have the capacity to support these stem cells homogeneous distribution,
      alignment, significant proliferation and tenogenic differentiation. Taken
      together, the findings of this study indicate that the DTSs can provide a
      naturally inductive microenvironment for the proliferation and tenogenic
      differentiation of TDSCs and BMSCs, supporting the use of decellularized tendon
      ECM as a promising and valuable approach for tendon repair/reconstruction.

PMID- 25818461
TI  - A FRET-based assay for screening SIRT5 specific modulators.
AB  - A fluorogenic assay for SIRT5 has been developed to screen their small molecule
      modulators based on the recent discovery that SIRT5 is a demalonylase and
      desuccinylase. However, this assay uses a fluorogenic peptide containing 7-amino
      4-methylcoumarin (AMC), which becomes the cause of false positive hits from the
      screening. To overcome this, we have developed an alternative method called a
      FRET-based assay, which will be reliable and useful for screening SIRT5
      modulators in a high-throughput format since no AMC group present in this assay. 

PMID- 25818462
TI  - Effects of maternal vitamin B6 deficiency and over-supplementation on DNA damage
      and oxidative stress in rat dams and their offspring.
AB  - Vitamin B6 is a cofactor for more than 140 essential enzymes and plays an
      important role in maternal health and fetal development. The goal of this study
      was to investigate the effects of maternal vitamin B6 on DNA damage and oxidative
      stress status in rat dams and their offspring. Female Wistar rats were randomly
      assigned to three dietary groups fed a standard diet (control diet), a diet
      supplemented with 30 mg/kg of vitamin B6, or a deficient diet (0 mg/kg of vitamin
      B6) for 10 weeks before and during mating, pregnancy and lactation. The dams were
      euthanized at weaning, and their male pups were euthanized either 10 days or 100
      days after birth. We found that maternal vitamin B6 deficiency increased the
      micronucleus frequency in peripheral blood and bone marrow cells and also
      increased the concentration of hepatic TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive
      substances) in newborn pups (10 days old). In conclusion, maternal 5- to 6-fold
      over-supplementation of vitamin B6 had no adverse effects, however its deficiency
      may induce chromosomal damage and hepatic lipid peroxidation in the offspring. 

PMID- 25818463
TI  - Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA): Possible modes of action of toxicity and
      carcinogenicity in rodents.
AB  - Due to potential consumer exposures, the toxicity of tetrabromobisphenol A
      (TBBPA) has been extensively studied. Reviews of TBBPA concluded no concerns
      regarding human health risks. The low toxicity of TBBPA is consistent with low
      bioavailability. However, some oral toxicity studies in rodents with TBBPA
      reported changes in thyroid hormone levels and a carcinogenicity study with TBBPA
      showed increased incidences of uterine tumors in rats. This review analyzes
      several modes of action (MoA) that may account for the observed thyroxine hormone
      changes and the uterine tumors. It concludes that the potential modes of action
      for thyroid changes induced by TBBPA are expected to exhibit a threshold for
      adverse effects due to the ability of the mammalian organism to compensate small
      changes in thyroid hormone levels. Regarding MoAs for the uterine tumors, TBBPA
      does not exert genotoxic or estrogenic effects. Available evidence suggests that
      TBBPA may increase levels of circulating estrogens by a competitive inhibition of
      estrogen conjugation and produce uterine tumors by promoting pre-existing Tp53
      mutations due to increased estrogen levels resulting in increased cell
      proliferation. 

PMID- 25818464
TI  - Sulforaphane protects against acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity.
AB  - Oxidative stress is closely associated with acetaminophen (APAP)-induced
      toxicity. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an antioxidant defense enzyme, has been shown
      to protect against oxidant-induced tissue injury. This study investigated whether
      sulforaphane (SFN), as a HO-1 inducer, plays a protective role against APAP
      hepatotoxicity in vitro and in vivo. Pretreatment of primary hepatocyte with SFN
      induced nuclear factor E2-factor related factor (Nrf2) target gene expression,
      especially HO-1 mRNA and protein expression, and suppressed APAP-induced
      glutathione (GSH) depletion and lipid peroxidation, which eventually leads to
      hepatocyte cell death. A comparable effect was observed in mice treated with
      APAP. Mice were treated with 300 mg/kg APAP 30 min after SFN (5 mg/kg)
      administration and were then sacrificed after 6 h. APAP alone caused severe liver
      injuries as characterized by increased plasma AST and ALT levels, GSH depletion,
      apoptosis, and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) formations. This APAP-induced liver
      damage was significantly attenuated by pretreatment with SFN. Furthermore, while
      hepatic reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were increased by APAP exposure,
      pretreatment with SFN completely blocked ROS formation. These results suggest
      that SFN plays a protective role against APAP-mediated hepatotoxicity through
      antioxidant effects mediated by HO-1 induction. SFN has preventive action in
      oxidative stress-mediated liver injury. 

PMID- 25818465
TI  - Assessing dietary exposure to caffeine from beverages in the U.S. population
      using brand-specific versus category-specific caffeine values.
AB  - Recent reports on caffeine intakes in the United States have highlighted the
      importance of obtaining accurate and valid measures of caffeine exposure. The
      objective of this study is to compare two methods of assigning caffeine values to
      beverages: brand-specific values versus an aggregate single value representing a
      broader range of products within a beverage category (i.e., category-specific).
      The two methods yielded some small, but statistically significant differences in
      the estimation of caffeine intake from coffee, tea, and carbonated soft drinks
      (CSDs) for all ages combined and within several of the adult age groups (i.e., 35
      49, 50-64, and >=65 years). These differences, while small, suggest that detailed
      brand-specific data, particularly for CSDs, commercially pre-packaged or bottled
      teas, coffee, and specialty coffee drinks, provide more accurate estimates of
      caffeine exposure for some age groups. Despite these differences, these data
      provide some assurance that studies using a single aggregate caffeine value
      provide reasonable measures of caffeine exposure, particularly for studies
      conducted over a decade ago when there were fewer caffeinated products and brand
      specific data available. As the caffeinated beverage marketplace continues to
      evolve, the use of more detailed, brand-specific data will likely strengthen the
      assessment of caffeine exposure in the United States. 

PMID- 25818466
TI  - Investigation of melamine and cyanuric acid deposition in pig tissues using LC
      MS/MS methods.
AB  - Four LC-MS/MS methods were developed to quantify melamine (MEL) and cyanuric acid
      (CYA) in various pig tissues at or above the level of concern (2.5 mg/kg). Pigs
      treated with 200 mg/kg bw/day CYA daily for 7 days did not accumulate significant
      residue concentrations in muscle, liver or kidney. Pigs treated with 200 mg/kg bw
      MEL daily for 7 or 28 days had MEL residues in muscles (3-13 ppm), liver (2.8
      14.1 ppm) and kidney (9.4-27.2 ppm). Treatment with MEL and CYA at 100 mg/kg bw
      of each triazine daily for 7 days resulted in MEL (26-59 ppm in muscle, 30-49 ppm
      in liver and 367-6300 ppm in kidney) and CYA (1.8-5.8 ppm in muscle, 2.6-6.5 ppm
      in liver and 303-7100 ppm in kidney). Treatment with MEL and CYA at 1, 3 or 10
      mg/kg bw/day for 7 days did not result in residues greater than the level of
      concern in all tissues tested. Pigs dosed with 33 mg/kg bw/day of MEL + CYA for 7
      days contained residues above the level of concern only in kidney. Deposition of
      MEL and CYA depends on the tissue type (muscles, liver and kidney), dosage and
      whether the triazines are given alone or in combination. 

PMID- 25818467
TI  - RIFM fragrance ingredient safety assessment, ethyl anthranilate, CAS registry
      number 87-25-2.

PMID- 25818468
TI  - The ACROPOLIS project: Its aims, achievements, and way forward.

PMID- 25818469
TI  - RIFM fragrance ingredient safety assessment, allyl phenylacetate, CAS registry
      number 1797-74-6.

PMID- 25818470
TI  - Microbial players involved in the decline of filamentous and colonial
      cyanobacterial blooms with a focus on fungal parasitism.
AB  - In the forthcoming decades, it is widely believed that the dominance of colonial
      and filamentous bloom-forming cyanobacteria (e.g. Microcystis, Planktothrix,
      Anabaena and Cylindrospermopsis) will increase in freshwater systems as a
      combined result of anthropogenic nutrient input into freshwater bodies and
      climate change. While the physicochemical parameters controlling bloom dynamics
      are well known, the role of biotic factors remains comparatively poorly studied.
      Morphology and toxicity often - but not always - limit the availability of
      cyanobacteria to filter feeding zooplankton (e.g. cladocerans). Filamentous and
      colonial cyanobacteria are widely regarded as trophic dead-ends mostly inedible
      for zooplankton, but substantial evidence shows that some grazers (e.g. copepods)
      can bypass this size constraint by breaking down filaments, making the bloom
      biomass available to other zooplankton species. A wide range of algicidal
      bacteria (mostly from the Alcaligenes, Flavobacterium/Cytophaga group and
      Pseudomonas) and viruses (Podoviridae, Siphoviridae and Myoviridae) may also
      contribute to bloom control, via their lytic activity underpinned by a diverse
      array of mechanisms. Fungal parasitism by the Chytridiomycota remains the least
      studied. While each of these biotic factors has traditionally been studied in
      isolation, emerging research consistently point to complex interwoven
      interactions between biotic and environmental factors. 

PMID- 25818471
TI  - Onartuzumab in lung cancer: the fall of Icarus?
AB  - The development of targeted therapies has led to a revolution in non-small-cell
      lung cancer, and opened up possibilities for improved personalized medicine. With
      the constant findings of new targets, a lot of inhibitors are being developed.
      However, reliable biomarkers are urgently needed. The design of clinical trials
      needs to become more flexible in order to obtain the best results and gain the US
      FDA/EMEA approval for the new drugs. A recent example of a failed trial is the
      Phase III MetLung trial that compared the effects of the c-MET monovalent
      antibody onartuzumab with erlotinib versus erlotinib alone in late-stage non
      small-cell lung cancer. Here, we discuss several points as to why this trial
      could have failed. 

PMID- 25818472
TI  - Effectiveness of a self-management support program for Thais with type 2
      diabetes: Evaluation according to the RE-AIM framework.
AB  - Delivering diabetes self-management support is an enormous challenge for
      healthcare providers with limited human resources. We conducted a cluster
      randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of a DSMS program
      incorporating the computer-assisted instruction. The RE-AIM (Reach,
      Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) framework was applied
      to evaluate the DSMS program. Ten Public Health Centers in Bangkok, Thailand were
      randomized into either DSMS program or usual care. Forty eligible patients with
      type 2 diabetes in each Public Health Center were randomly selected. Totally, 403
      patients (200 controls and 203 interventions) participated. About 93.8%
      participants completed the six-month follow-up. Over six months, adjusted mean
      changes of hemoglobin A1c (-0.14%, 95% confidence interval = -0.02 to -0.26,
      fasting plasma glucose (-6.37 mg/dL, -1.95 to -10.78), health behaviors (3.31
      score, 2.27 to 4.34), and quality of life (1.41 score, 0.69 to 2.12) were
      significantly improved in intervention compared to control group. In conclusion,
      the DSMS program facilitates Public Health Centers to accomplish their support
      for people with diabetes. 

PMID- 25818473
TI  - Performance evaluation of SD A1cCare as a HbA1c analyzer for point-of-care
      testing.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Some studies have shown that a rapid feedback of HbA1c results is
      helpful for controlling plasma glucose levels. Point-of-care (POC) instruments
      that are fast, portable, and easy to use are suitable for rapid determination of
      HbA1c levels. Here, we evaluated the analytical performance of a newly developed
      POC HbA1c analyzer, SD A1cCare (SD Biosensor, Inc.). DESIGN AND METHODS: The
      precision, linearity, and correlation with the Variant II Turbo instrument (Bio
      Rad Laboratories, Inc.) were evaluated according to CLSI guidelines for SD
      A1cCare. All tests were performed according to the manufacturer instructions, and
      statistical analyses, including linear regression and Passing-Bablok regression,
      were performed. Bias from the IFCC reference targets was also evaluated with 12
      duplicate specimens (n=24 in total). RESULTS: The coefficients of variation based
      on EP9-A2 protocol were 2.6% in SI unit and 1.8% in NGSP unit. The calibration
      curve was linear, with R(2)=0.9911 in the range of 23.5 to 125.1 mmol/mol in SI
      units (4.3% to 13.6% in NGSP units). The results of the SD A1cCare correlated
      with those of the Variant II Turbo (r=0.986). Deviations from IFCC targets at 30,
      60, and 90 mmol/mol IFCC levels were -1.95, -1.85, and -1.74 mmol/mol,
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The SD A1cCare analyzer showed excellent precision,
      linearity, correlation with the Variant II Turbo analyzer, and accuracy with IFCC
      targets. Therefore, it may be suitable for HbA1c assays in the POC setting and in
      small laboratories.

PMID- 25818475
TI  - How appropriate is therapeutic drug monitoring for lithium? Data from the Belgian
      external quality assessment scheme.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lithium remains a mainstay in the management of mood disorders. As
      with many psychotropic drugs, lithium treatment requires continuous observation
      for adverse effects and strict monitoring of serum concentrations. The present
      study aimed to assess the appropriateness of lithium assays used by Belgian
      laboratories, and to evaluate acceptability of their clinical interpretations.
      METHODS: Nine in-house serum samples spiked with predetermined concentrations of
      lithium were distributed to 114 participants in the Belgian external quality
      assessment scheme. Laboratories were requested to report the assay technique,
      lithium measurements and interpretations with regard to measured concentrations.
      Inter/intramethod imprecision and bias were reported and acceptability of
      clinical interpretations was assessed. The intramethod variability was evaluated
      by selecting methods used by 6 laboratories or more. Flame photometry (IL 943)
      was considered as the reference method. RESULTS: Laboratories returned assay
      results using colorimetry (69.3%), ion selective electrode (15.8%), flame
      photometry (8.8%), atomic absorption spectroscopy (5.2%) or mass spectrometry
      (0.9%). Lithium concentrations were systematically higher when measured with the
      Vitros assay (median bias: 4.0%), and were associated with consecutive biased
      interpretations. In contrast, the Thermo Scientific Infinity assay showed a
      significant negative bias (median bias: 9.4%). 36.0% of laboratories reported
      numerical values below their manufacturer cut-off for the blank sample; 16.6% of
      these laboratories detected residual lithium concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: The
      present study revealed assay-related differences in lithium measurements and
      their interpretations. Overall, there appeared to be a need to continue EQA of
      therapeutic drug monitoring for lithium in Belgium.

PMID- 25818474
TI  - Blood lipid profiles and factors associated with dyslipidemia assessed by a point
      of-care testing device in an outpatient setting: A large-scale cross-sectional
      study in Southern China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To promote the concept of POCT and to investigate dyslipidemia in
      Guangzhou, China, we performed a study examining blood lipids assessed by POCT
      and reported factors associated with dyslipidemia. DESIGN AND METHODS: This
      multicenter, cross-sectional study enrolled outpatients from 9 Guangzhou
      hospitals from May through September 2013. After informed consent was obtained,
      the following information was collected: age; gender; the presence of diabetes
      mellitus, obesity, and hypertension as well as current use of cigarettes or
      alcohol. Patients were asked to fast for 8h before the blood examination
      performed on a POCT device, the CardioChek PA. RESULTS: Of 4012 patients enrolled
      (1544 males, 2468 females; mean age 60.35+/-9.41 years), 1993 (49.7%) patients
      had dyslipidemia, but only 101 (5.1%) took statins. The multivariate tests of
      associations between demographic variables, comorbidities, and the risk of having
      dyslipidemia found that the significant predictors of dyslipidemia were male
      gender, age >=60 years, being a current smoker or alcohol drinker, and
      hypertension. CONCLUSION: Most dyslipidemia patients in Guangzhou remain
      untreated. POCT in China is feasible, and its widespread use might improve
      dyslipidemia awareness, treatment and control.

PMID- 25818476
TI  - Interferon-gamma stimulates human follicular dendritic cell-like cells to produce
      prostaglandins via the JAK-STAT pathway.
AB  - IFN-gamma plays a critical role in the regulation of innate and adaptive
      immunity. Paying attention to the emerging role of prostaglandins (PGs) as immune
      regulators, we attempted to establish the effect of IFN-gamma on PG production in
      human follicular dendritic cell-like HK cells and the underlying signaling
      pathway by using RNA interference technology. IFN-gamma induced COX-2 protein
      expression in HK cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner, which was not
      observed in peripheral blood monocytes. Although IFN-gamma induced
      phosphorylation of STAT1, STAT3, and STAT5, only STAT1 was essential for the COX
      2 augmentation. The JAK kinases responsible for IFN-gamma-triggered STAT1
      phosphorylation were JAK1 and JAK2, which were also required for the COX-2
      induction. The essential requirement of JAK1 and JAK2 was verified by confocal
      microscopic analysis, since STAT1 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation were
      impaired in HK cells with these two kinases knocked down. Finally, we
      demonstrated that JAK1, JAK2, and STAT1 were indispensable for the actual
      enhancement of PG production in response to IFN-gamma stimulation. These results
      provide a novel insight into our understanding of IFN-gamma under inflammatory
      conditions and support the emerging concept of PGs as important immune
      regulators.

PMID- 25818478
TI  - Oral Candida carriage among individuals chewing betel-quid with and without
      tobacco: an observation.

PMID- 25818477
TI  - DEEP Study: does EQ-5D-5L measure the impacts of persistent oro-facial pain?
AB  - The EQ-5D-5L is a generic quality of life (QOL) measure widely used throughout
      the world, which has the advantage that it allows health-state preferences to be
      elicited. The aim of this study was to examine whether: a) variation in the
      standardised reference period for EQ-5D-5L from 'today' to 'the last month' had a
      minimal clinically meaningful difference; (b) EQ-5D-5L had convergent validity
      with a multidimensional pain measure in quantifying the impacts of pain. As part
      of a larger study into the effectiveness and efficiency of care pathways for
      persistent orofacial pain (POFP) (http://research.ncl.ac.uk/deepstudy),
      participants with POFP (n = 100) completed two versions of the EQ-5D-5L at the
      same time with different reference periods ('today' vs. 'last month').
      Participants also completed the first section of the West Haven-Yale
      Multidimensional Pain Inventory (v3) to assess convergent validity. Two-tailed
      nonparametric inferential statistics, intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC),
      and within-subject change scores were used to compare the two EQ-5D-5L versions.
      Convergent validity was assessed using Spearman's rho correlation coefficients.
      Health-state valuations were significantly different (P < 0.01), and there was
      good similarity between the two versions' ICC 0.86 (95% CI 0.79-0.91). The within
      subject mean change was 0.03 (95% CI 0.01-0.06). For convergent validity, all
      relationships were significant (P < 0.05) and in the expected directions. EQ-5D
      5L demonstrates sufficient convergent validity to be used with POFP, and a change
      in the standard reference period may be unnecessary if a multidimensional pain
      measure is also used.

PMID- 25818479
TI  - Gene therapy for heart failure.
AB  - Heart failure is a major public health problem throughout the world and it is
      likely that its prevalence will continue to grow over the next several decades.
      Despite advances in the treatment of heart failure, morbidity and mortality
      remain unacceptably high. Gene transfer therapy provides a novel strategy for
      targeting abnormalities in cardiac cells that adversely affect cardiac function.
      New vectors for gene delivery, mainly adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) that are
      preferentially taken up by cardiomyocytes, can result in sustained transgene
      expression. The cardiac isoform of sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca(2+)ATPase
      (SERCA2a) plays a major role in regulating calcium levels in cardiomyocytes.
      Abnormal calcium handling by the failing heart caused by a reduction in SERCA2a
      activity adversely affects both systolic and diastolic function. The Calcium
      Upregulation by Percutaneous Administration of Gene Therapy in Cardiac Disease
      (CUPID) study was a Phase 2a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, dose
      finding study that was performed in patients with advanced heart failure due to
      systolic dysfunction. Eligible patients received AAV/SERCA2a or placebo by direct
      antegrade infusion into the coronary circulation. At the end of 12 months,
      patients receiving high-dose therapy (i.e. 1*10(13) DNase Resistant Particles)
      had evidence of favorable changes in several clinically relevant domains compared
      to patients treated with placebo. There were no safety concerns at any dose of
      AAV/SERCA2a. Patients treated with AAV/SERCA2a exhibited a striking reduction in
      cardiovascular events that persisted through 36 months of follow-up compared to
      patients who received placebo. Transgene expression was detected in the
      myocardium of patients receiving AAV/SERCA2a gene therapy as long as 31 months
      after delivery. A second Phase 2b study, CUPID 2, designed to confirm this
      favorable effect on heart failure events, is currently underway with the results
      expected to be presented later in 2015. Additional studies using other vectors
      and targets are in planning or underway making gene transfer therapy one of the
      most exciting new approaches under development for treating heart failure. 

PMID- 25818480
TI  - Current and state of the art on the electrophysiologic characteristics and
      catheter ablation of arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy.
AB  - Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) is an
      inherited genetic disease caused by defective desmosomal proteins, and it has
      typical histopathological features characterized by predominantly progressive
      fibro-fatty infiltration of the right ventricle. Clinical presentations of ARVD/C
      vary from syncope, progressive heart failure (HF), ventricular tachyarrhythmias,
      and sudden cardiac death (SCD). The 2010 modified Task Force criteria were
      established to facilitate the recognition and diagnosis of ARVD/C. An implantable
      cardiac defibrillator (ICD) remains to be the cornerstone in prevention of SCD in
      patients fulfilling the diagnosis of definite ARVD/C, especially among ARVD/C
      patients with syncope, hemodynamically unstable ventricular tachycardia (VT),
      ventricular fibrillation, and aborted SCD. Further risk stratification is
      clinically valuable in the management of patients with borderline or possible
      ARVD/C and mutation carriers of family members. However, given the entity of
      heterogeneous penetrance and non-uniform phenotypes, the standardization of
      clinical practice guidelines for at-risk individuals will be the next frontier to
      breakthrough. Antiarrhythmic drugs are prescribed frequently to patients
      experiencing frequent ventricular tachyarrhythmias and/or appropriate ICD shocks.
      Amiodarone is the recommended drug of choice. Radiofrequency catheter ablation
      (RFCA) has been demonstrated to effectively eliminate the drug-refractory VT in
      patients with ARVD/C. However, the efficacy and clinical prognosis of RFCA via
      endocardial approach alone was disappointing prior to the era of epicardial
      approach. In recent years, it has been proven that the integration of endocardial
      and epicardial ablation by targeting the critical isthmus or eliminating abnormal
      electrograms within the diseased substrates could yield higher acute success and
      lower recurrence of ventricular tachyarrhythmias during long-term follow-up.
      Heart transplantation is the final option for patients with extensive disease,
      biventricular HF with uncontrollable hemodynamic compromise, and refractory
      ventricular tachyarrhythmias despite aggressive medical and ablation therapies. 

PMID- 25818481
TI  - Effects of four-week feed restriction on toxicological parameters in beagle dogs.
AB  - This study was conducted to examine any changes caused by feed restriction in
      dogs to contribute to safety evaluation in toxicity studies. Two male 7-month-old
      beagle dogs/group were fed 300 (control), 150 (50% of control), or 70 g/animal of
      diet daily (23% of control) for 4 weeks. Effects of feed restriction, except for
      clinical signs, were noted depending on the feed dosage in almost all
      examinations. The principal outcomes were: decreased body weight and water
      consumption, ECG changes (decreased heart rate and prolonged QTc), and
      hematopoietic and lymphopoietic suppression (decreased reticulocyte ratio or
      white blood cell count in hematology, decreased nucleated cell count in bone
      marrow, decreased erythroid parameters in myelography, and hypocellularity of
      bone marrow and thymic atrophy in histopathology). In addition, some changes were
      noted in urinalysis (decreased urine volume and sodium and potassium excretion),
      blood chemistry (decreased ALP and inorganic phosphorus and increased
      creatinine), organ weights, and gastric histopathology. These results provide
      important reference data for distinguishing the primary effects of test compounds
      from secondary effects of decreased food consumption in toxicity studies in
      beagle dogs. 

PMID- 25818482
TI  - Cysteine cathepsins as digestive enzymes in the spider Nephilengys cruentata.
AB  - Cysteine cathepsins are widely spread on living organisms associated to protein
      degradation in lysosomes, but some groups of Arthropoda (Heteroptera, Coleoptera,
      Crustacea and Acari) present these enzymes related to digestion of the meal
      proteins. Although spiders combine a mechanism of extra-oral with intracellular
      digestion, the sporadic studies on this subject were mainly concerned with the
      digestive fluid (DF) analysis. Thus, a more complete scenario of the digestive
      process in spiders is still lacking in the literature. In this paper we describe
      the identification and characterization of cysteine cathepsins in the midgut
      diverticula (MD) and DF of the spider Nephilengys cruentata by using
      enzymological assays. Furthermore, qualitative and quantitative data from
      transcriptomic followed by proteomic experiments were used together with
      biochemical assays for results interpretation. Five cathepsins L, one cathepsin F
      and one cathepsin B were identified by mass spectrometry, with cathepsins L1
      (NcCTSL1) and 2 (NcCTSL2) as the most abundant enzymes. The native cysteine
      cathepsins presented acidic characteristics such as pH optima of 5.5, pH
      stability in acidic range and zymogen conversion to the mature form after in
      vitro acidification. NcCTSL1 seems to be a lysosomal enzyme with its recombinant
      form displaying acidic characteristics as the native ones and being inhibited by
      pepstatin. Evolutionarily, arachnid cathepsin L may have acquired different roles
      but its use for digestion is a common feature to studied taxa. Now a more
      elucidative picture of the digestive process in spiders can be depicted, with
      trypsins and astacins acting extra-orally under alkaline conditions whereas
      cysteine cathepsins will act in an acidic environment, likely in the digestive
      vacuoles or lysosome-like vesicles. 

PMID- 25818483
TI  - Ostrinia furnacalis serpin-3 regulates melanization cascade by inhibiting a
      prophenoloxidase-activating protease.
AB  - Serine protease cascade-mediated prophenolxidase activation is a prominent innate
      immune response in insect defense against the invading pathogens. Serpins
      regulate this reaction to avoid excessive activation. However, the function of
      serpins in most insect species, especially in some non-model agriculture insect
      pests, is largely unknown. We here cloned a full-length cDNA for a serpin, named
      as serpin-3, from Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenee). The open
      reading frame of serpin-3 encodes 462-amino acid residue protein with a 19
      residue signal peptide. It contains a reactive center loop strikingly similar to
      the proteolytic activation site in prophenoloxidase. Sequence comparison
      indicates that O. furnacalis serpin-3 is an apparent ortholog of Manduca sexta
      serpin-3, a defined negative regulator of melanization reaction. Serpin-3 mRNA
      and protein levels significantly increase after a bacterial or fungal injection.
      Recombinant serpin-3 efficiently blocks prophenoloxidase activation in larval
      plasma in a concentration-dependent manner. It forms SDS-stable complexes with
      serine protease 13 (SP13), and prevents SP13 from cleaving prophenoloxidase.
      Injection of recombinant serpin-3 into larvae results in decreased fungi-induced
      melanin synthesis and reduced the expression of attacin, cecropin, gloverin, and
      peptidoglycan recognition protein-1 genes in the fat body. Altogether, serpin-3
      plays important roles in the regulation of prophenoloxidase activation and
      antimicrobial peptide production in O. furnacalis larvae. 

PMID- 25818484
TI  - Targeting gut microbiota as a possible therapy for diabetes.
AB  - The incidence of diabetes has increased rapidly across the entire world in the
      last 2 decades. Accumulating evidence suggests that gut microbiota contribute to
      the pathogenesis of diabetes. Several studies have demonstrated that patients
      with diabetes are characterized by a moderate degree of gut microbial dysbiosis.
      However, there are still substantial controversies regarding altered composition
      of the gut microbiota and the underlying mechanisms by which gut microbiota
      interact with the body's metabolism. The purpose of this review is to define the
      association between gut microbiota and diabetes. In doing so an electronic search
      of studies published in English from January 2004 to the November 2014 in the
      National Library of Medicine, including the original studies that addressed the
      effects of gut microbiota on diabetes, energy metabolism, inflammation, the
      immune system, gut permeability and insulin resistance, was performed. Herein, we
      discuss the possible mechanisms by which the gut microbiota are involved in the
      development of diabetes, including energy metabolism, inflammation, the innate
      immune system, and the bowel function of the intestinal barrier. The
      compositional changes in the gut microbiota in type 2 and type 1 diabetes are
      also discussed. Moreover, we introduce the new findings of fecal transplantation,
      and use of probiotics and prebiotics as new treatment strategies for diabetes.
      Future research should be focused on defining the primary species of the gut
      microbiota and their exact roles in diabetes, potentially increasing the
      possibility of fecal transplants as a therapeutic strategy for diabetes. 

PMID- 25818485
TI  - The role of methylglyoxal and the glyoxalase system in diabetes and other age
      related diseases.
AB  - The formation and accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) are
      related to diabetes and other age-related diseases. Methylglyoxal (MGO), a highly
      reactive dicarbonyl compound, is the major precursor in the formation of AGEs.
      MGO is mainly formed as a byproduct of glycolysis. Under physiological
      circumstances, MGO is detoxified by the glyoxalase system into D-lactate, with
      glyoxalase I (GLO1) as the key enzyme in the anti-glycation defence. New insights
      indicate that increased levels of MGO and the major MGO-derived AGE,
      methylglyoxal-derived hydroimidazolone 1 (MG-H1), and dysfunctioning of the
      glyoxalase system are linked to several age-related health problems, such as
      diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and disorders of the central nervous
      system. The present review summarizes the mechanisms through which MGO is formed,
      its detoxification by the glyoxalase system and its effect on biochemical
      pathways in relation to the development of age-related diseases. Although several
      scavengers of MGO have been developed over the years, therapies to treat MGO
      associated complications are not yet available for application in clinical
      practice. Small bioactive inducers of GLO1 can potentially form the basis for new
      treatment strategies for age-related disorders in which MGO plays a pivotal role.

PMID- 25818486
TI  - NADPH oxidases and cancer.
AB  - The mechanism by which reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced by tumour cells
      remained incompletely understood until the discovery over the last 15 years of
      the family of NADPH oxidases (NOXs 1-5 and dual oxidases DUOX1/2) which are
      structural homologues of gp91phox, the major membrane-bound component of the
      respiratory burst oxidase of leucocytes. Knowledge of the roles of the NOX
      isoforms in cancer is rapidly expanding. Recent evidence suggests that both NOX1
      and DUOX2 species produce ROS in the gastrointestinal tract as a result of
      chronic inflammatory stress; cytokine induction (by interferon-gamma, tumour
      necrosis factor alpha, and interleukins IL-4 and IL-13) of NOX1 and DUOX2 may
      contribute to the development of colorectal and pancreatic carcinomas in patients
      with inflammatory bowel disease and chronic pancreatitis, respectively. NOX4
      expression is increased in pre-malignant fibrotic states which may lead to
      carcinomas of the lung and liver. NOX5 is highly expressed in malignant
      melanomas, prostate cancer and Barrett's oesophagus-associated adenocarcinomas,
      and in the last it is related to chronic gastro-oesophageal reflux and
      inflammation. Over-expression of functional NOX proteins in many tissues helps to
      explain tissue injury and DNA damage from ROS that accompany pre-malignant
      conditions, as well as elucidating the potential mechanisms of NOX-related damage
      that contribute to both the initiation and the progression of a wide range of
      solid and haematopoietic malignancies.

PMID- 25818489
TI  - Should we aim to reduce relative or absolute inequalities in mortality?

PMID- 25818490
TI  - The politics of tobacco regulation.

PMID- 25818491
TI  - President's column.

PMID- 25818492
TI  - Ropivacaine: a new local anaesthetic agent in maxillofacial surgery.
AB  - We have compared the anaesthetic efficacy, duration of action, pain, pulpal
      anaesthesia, and cardiovascular effects of 0.5% ropivacaine or 2% lignocaine
      hydrochloride in bilateral symmetrical impacted third molars. In a randomised
      single-blind trial we studied 78 healthy patients who required bilateral
      extraction of identical impacted lower third molars. A test dose was given to all
      patients with subdermal infiltration of 0.5% ropivacaine 0.5 ml. A classic
      inferior alveolar and long buccal nerve block was created using 0.5% ropivacaine
      2 ml on one side and 2% lignocaine hydrochloride 2 ml with adrenaline on the
      other. The time to onset and duration of action were noted. Pain, numbness of the
      lip and tip of the tongue, and haemodynamic changes were monitored throughout the
      procedure. The teeth were extracted two weeks apart. The onset of anaesthesia
      ranged between 2 and 3 min after the injection and lasted for more than 5h.
      Ropivacaine alone did not cause appreciable changes in the cardiovascular
      variables, but lignocaine with adrenaline caused a transient increase in arterial
      pressure and heart rate 2 min after injection. We conclude the 0.5% ropivacaine
      alone does not affect the cardiovascular system and has more beneficial effects
      than 2% lignocaine hydrochloride with adrenaline. These findings may be useful
      for oral and maxillofacial surgeons who are looking for a local anaesthetic with
      minimal cardiovascular risk and without a vasoconstrictor to provide regional
      anaesthesia for long procedures.

PMID- 25818494
TI  - Early experience with the medial sural artery perforator flap as an alternative
      to the radial forearm flap for reconstruction in the head and neck.
AB  - The medial sural artery perforator (MSAP) flap has been well-described but has
      yet to find popularity in the United Kingdom. We describe our early experience of
      its use in 6 patients and our simplified method of marking up. Flaps ranged in
      size from 7*4cm to 12*5.5cm, and were thin (between 4 and 10mm). Pedicles were
      between 11 and 14cm long, arterial diameters were 1-2mm, and venous calibres were
      2-6mm. We raised 4 flaps without the use of a tourniquet and found it helpful.
      Straightening the leg as the popliteal fossa was approached also eased
      dissection. There can be 2 separate pedicles. The donor site was closed primarily
      in 5 cases and all flaps survived. The MSAP is easier to do than the radial
      artery forearm free flap (RAFFF) and is a reliable alternative with low
      morbidity. 

PMID- 25818493
TI  - Medium-term outcomes and complications after total replacement of the
      temporomandibular joint. Prospective outcome analysis after 3 and 5 years.
AB  - In this prospective analysis, we assess the medium-term benefits, efficacy, and
      safety of the TMJ Concepts joint replacement system in the United Kingdom.
      Outcome measures of pain, maximum mouth opening, and diet were recorded
      preoperatively and at intervals up to 3 and 5 years. All patients who had
      replacement temporomandibular joints (TMJ) within a 6-year period were included.
      A total of 58 patients (84 joints) were followed up for 3 years (mean age 47,
      range 19-72) and 26 (42 joints) for 5 years (mean age 46, range 27-70). The
      female to male ratio was 52:6 at 3 years and 23:3 at 5 years. The most common
      diagnosis was degenerative disease, and the mean number of previous TMJ
      procedures was 2.4 (range 0-14). There were significant improvements in pain
      scores (7.4 reduced to 0.6 at 3 years and 0.8 at 5 years), maximum mouth opening
      (21.0-35.5mm at 3 years and 23.8-33.7mm at 5 years), and dietary scores (4.1-9.7
      at 3 years and 3.7-9.6 at 5 years). Revision operations were required in 2
      patients (not included in the outcome data) for biofilm infection of the
      prosthesis secondary to local infection in the head and neck. One patient had
      weakness of the temporal branch of the facial nerve that needed correction. TMJ
      replacement is an effective form of management for an irreparably damaged joint,
      particularly in cases of ankylosis. It lessens pain and improves function with
      minimal long-term morbidity. 

PMID- 25818495
TI  - Baseline Q waves and time from symptom onset to ST-segment elevation myocardial
      infarction: insights from PLATO on the influence of sex.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prognostic value of time from symptom onset to reperfusion may be
      enhanced by the identification of Q waves on the presenting electrocardiogram
      (ECG) in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). We
      evaluated whether the relative prognostic utility of these 2 metrics was altered
      by sex. METHODS: Q waves in the distribution of the ST-segment elevation on the
      baseline ECG were evaluated by a blinded core laboratory in 2838 STEMI patients
      (2163 men and 675 women) from the PLATelet inhibition and patient Outcomes
      (PLATO) trial who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) within 12
      hours of symptom onset. RESULTS: Women were older (median 63 vs 57 years), more
      likely to be diabetic (24.1% vs 15.5%), hypertensive (69.2% vs 50.9%), and a
      higher Killip class > I (8.6% vs 5.9%), as compared with men. Whereas the Q waves
      frequency rose progressively over time to ECG in men, this relationship was
      attenuated in women (P = .057). Q waves on the baseline ECG were associated with
      a higher excess hazard of 1-year vascular death in men (hazard ratio [HR] 2.03;
      95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-3.72), and a similar trend existed in women
      (HR 1.97; 95% CI, 0.86-4.51). Women with baseline Q waves tended to have higher
      risk of 1-year vascular death than men as continuous time from symptom onset to
      PCI increased (P[interaction] = .182). CONCLUSIONS: These differences in the
      evolution of baseline Q waves and relationship between time from symptom onset
      and vascular death in women and men deserve recognition in future studies of
      STEMI.

PMID- 25818496
TI  - Prevention of knee osteoarthritis in overweight females: the first preventive
      randomized controlled trial in osteoarthritis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With accumulating knowledge on osteoarthritis development, the next
      step is to focus on possibilities for primary prevention. METHODS: In a 2 * 2
      factorial design, the effects of a diet-and-exercise program and of oral
      glucosamine sulfate (double blind and placebo-controlled) on the incidence of
      knee osteoarthritis were evaluated in a high-risk group of 407 middle-aged women
      with a body mass index >= 27 kg/m(2) without clinical signs of knee
      osteoarthritis at baseline (ISRCTN 42823086). Primary outcome was the incidence
      of knee osteoarthritis, defined as Kellgren & Lawrence grade >= 2, joint space
      narrowing of >= 1.0 mm, or clinical knee osteoarthritis (clinical and
      radiographic American College of Rheumatology criteria) after 2.5 years. RESULTS:
      After 2.5 years, only 10% of all subjects were lost to follow-up, and 17% of all
      knees showed incident knee osteoarthritis. Accounting for the significant
      interaction between the interventions, no significant main effect of either
      intervention was found. Independently, both interventions alone showed
      indications of reduced knee osteoarthritis incidence (odds ratio [OR] 0.69; 95%
      CI, 0.39-1.21 for the diet-and-exercise program and OR 0.60; 95% CI, 0.31-1.12
      for the glucosamine intervention). These effects were neutralized in subjects
      receiving both interventions (OR 0.97; 95% CI, 0.55-1.71). CONCLUSIONS: No
      significant main effects of the diet-and-exercise program and of glucosamine
      sulfate were found on incident knee osteoarthritis. Nevertheless, this trial
      provides valuable insights for future trial design for preventive osteoarthritis
      studies.

PMID- 25818497
TI  - Meaningful utilization of after-visit summaries in the ambulatory setting.

PMID- 25818498
TI  - Pyogenic granulomas in childhood: New treatment modalities.

PMID- 25818500
TI  - Antiviral activity of theaflavin digallate against herpes simplex virus type 1.
AB  - Tea is the second most consumed drink in the world. The beneficial effects of tea
      have been mostly attributed to its catechin content. Black tea is derived from
      the leaves of Camellia sinensis plant, and it is rich in theaflavin polyphenols,
      in particular theaflavin (TF1), theaflavin-3-monogallate (TF2A), theaflavin-3'
      monogallate (TF2B), and theaflavin-3,3'-digallate (TF3). Vero and A549 cells were
      used to evaluate the effect of purified individual black tea theaflavins as anti
      herpes simplex virus 1 agents. With the rise of HSV resistant strains, there is a
      critical need to develop novel antiherpesviral treatments. Results of the
      cytotoxicity assay tested by MTS [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3
      carboxymethoxy-phenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium] showed that TF1, TF2,
      and TF3 are not toxic to Vero and A549 cells at a concentration up to 75 MUM. The
      antiviral activity of the individual theaflavins was tested by plaque reduction
      assay, MTS assay, flow cytometric analysis and confocal microscopy observations.
      The results showed that TF1, TF2, and TF3 exhibit potent, dose-dependent anti-HSV
      1 effect, with TF3 being the most efficient in both Vero and A549 cells. A
      concentration of 50 MUM TF3 and above was sufficient to inhibit >99% of the
      production of HSV-1 viral particles. The anti-HSV-1 effect of TF3 is due to a
      direct effect on the virions, and treating Vero or A549 cells with TF3 for 1h
      prior to infection, or treating the cells at different times post infection does
      not inhibit HSV-1 production. TF3 is stable at vaginal pH, indicating its
      potential to be a promising natural and affordable remedy against herpes simplex
      viral infections.

PMID- 25818501
TI  - White spotting phenotype induced by targeted REST disruption during neural crest
      specification to a melanocyte cell lineage.
AB  - Neural crest cells (NCCs) emerge from the dorsal region of the neural tube of
      vertebrate embryos and have the pluripotency to differentiate into both neuronal
      and non-neuronal lineages including melanocytes. Rest, also known as NRSF (neuro
      restrictive silencer factor), is a regulator of neuronal development and function
      and suggested to be involved in the lineage specification of NCCs. However,
      further investigations of Rest gene functions in vivo have been hampered by the
      fact that Rest null mice show early embryonic lethality. To investigate the
      function of Rest in NCC development, we recently established NCC-specific Rest
      conditional knockout (CKO) mice and observed their neonatal death. Here, we have
      established viable heterozygous NCC-specific Rest CKO mice to analyze the
      function of Rest in an NCC-derived melanocyte cell lineage and found that the
      white spotting phenotype was associated with the reduction in the number of
      melanoblasts in the embryonic skin. The Rest deletion induced after the
      specification to melanocytes did not reduce the number of melanoblasts;
      therefore, the expression of REST during the early neural crest specification
      stage was necessary for the normal development of melanoblasts to cover all of
      the skin. 

PMID- 25818499
TI  - Associations between Gut Microbial Colonization in Early Life and Respiratory
      Outcomes in Cystic Fibrosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine patterns of microbial colonization of the respiratory and
      intestinal tracts in early life in infants with cystic fibrosis (CF) and their
      associations with breastfeeding and clinical outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: A
      comprehensive, prospective longitudinal analysis of the upper respiratory and
      intestinal microbiota in a cohort of infants and young children with CF followed
      from birth was performed. Genus-level microbial community composition was
      characterized using 16S-targeted pyrosequencing, and relationships with exposures
      and outcomes were assessed using linear mixed-effects models, time-to-event
      analysis, and principal components analysis. RESULTS: Sequencing of 120 samples
      from 13 subjects collected from birth to 34 months revealed relationships between
      breastfeeding, microbial diversity in the respiratory and intestinal tracts, and
      the timing of onset of respiratory complications, including exacerbations and
      colonization with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Fluctuations in the abundance of
      specific bacterial taxa preceded clinical outcomes, including a significant
      decrease in bacteria of the genus Parabacteroides within the intestinal tract
      prior to the onset of chronic P aeruginosa colonization. Specific assemblages of
      bacteria in intestinal samples, but not respiratory samples, were associated with
      CF exacerbation in early life, indicating that the intestinal microbiome may play
      a role in lung health. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings relating breastfeeding to
      respiratory outcomes, gut diversity to prolonged periods of health, and specific
      bacterial communities in the gut prior to respiratory complications in CF
      highlight a connection between the intestinal microbiome and health and point to
      potential opportunities for antibiotic or probiotic interventions. Further
      studies in larger cohorts validating these findings are needed.

PMID- 25818502
TI  - Long term survivorship following Scorpio Total Knee Replacement.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Scorpio Total Knee Replacement (TKR) is one of the most commonly
      used prosthesis in the United Kingdom. Concerns arose at our institution that
      there was a high revision rate for this prosthesis. No study has assessed
      survivorship of this prosthesis over 10 years. METHODS: Four hundred and fifty
      six consecutive patients, who underwent a primary Scorpio TKR, were clinically
      and radiologically evaluated. WOMAC, Oxford Knee Score and all complications
      including the reason for revision surgery were recorded. The Knee Society
      Roentgenographic Evaluation and Scoring System was used to evaluate all
      radiographs for prosthesis alignment and degree of subsequent lucency. Survival
      analysis for the prosthesis was calculated using Kaplan-Meier curves, with
      revision as an end-point. Patient reported outcome measures were compared against
      radiographic evaluation. RESULTS: At a mean of 12.5 years (range 10-14 years),
      196 (43.0%) patients were available for review; 124 (27.2%) were lost to follow
      up and 136 (29.8%) patients had died of unrelated causes. Seven (3.6%) patients
      required revision surgery at a mean of 5.4 years; five because of aseptic
      loosening and two because of septic loosening. Cumulative survival for the
      prosthesis was 99.5% for any cause at five years and 97.4% at 14 years. The mean
      OKS and WOMAC score at final follow-up was 30.64 (range 12-48) and 74 (18.9-100)
      respectively. CONCLUSION: The Scorpio TKR has good long term survivorship and
      functional outcomes. There is no apparent increased revision rate for this
      prosthesis in our study. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV case series.

PMID- 25818503
TI  - Elevation of Plasma 2-Arachidonoylglycerol Levels in Alzheimer's Disease Patients
      as a Potential Protective Mechanism against Neurodegenerative Decline.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Growing evidence suggests that the endocannabinoid system is involved
      in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and atherosclerosis. OBJECTIVE:
      The purpose of this study was to investigate the activation of the
      endocannabinoid system in AD in vivo and the possible intermediate role of
      atherosclerosis. METHODS: We enrolled 41 patients with probable AD, and 30 age-
      and gender-matched controls. All subjects underwent: ultrasound examination of
      cerebral and neck vessels (including intima-media thickness and plaque stenosis
      evaluation); blood sampling to measure levels of endocannabinoid [anandamide
      (AEA), 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG)] and endogenous AEA analogues [N-palmitoyl
      ethanolamide (PEA); N-oleoyl-ethanolamide]; neuropsychological evaluation and
      brain MRI (atrophy, white matter hyperintensity volume). RESULTS: 2-AG levels
      were higher in AD patients compared to controls (Mann-Whitney test p = 0.021). In
      the AD group, 2-AG correlated to white matter hyperintensity volume (r = 0.415, p
      = 0.015) and was higher in patients with chronic heart ischemic disease (p =
      0.023). In AD patients, 2-AG was also positively related to memory (r = 0.334, p
      = 0.05) and attention (r = 0.423, p = 0.018) performances. Constructional praxia
      test scores were lower in patients with higher levels of PEA (r =-0.389, p =
      0.019). CONCLUSION: AD patients present high plasma 2-AG levels, also in relation
      to heart ischemic disease and cerebral leukoaraiosis. This may be a protective
      mechanism hindering neurodegeneration, but it may also play an ambivalent role on
      cerebrovascular circulation. The increase in 2-AG and PEA levels observed with
      ongoing pathological processes may differently modulate cognitive performances.

PMID- 25818504
TI  - Prevalence of FOB testing in eastern-Australian general practice patients: what
      has a national bowel cancer screening program delivered?
AB  - ISSUES ADDRESSED: The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) was
      introduced in Australia in 2006, offering free immunochemical Faecal Occult Blood
      Test (FOBT) to persons aged 50, 55 or 65. The study aimed to examine the
      prevalence of self-reported screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) using the FOBT
      and factors associated with not having an FOBT. METHODS: A cross-sectional study
      of Australian general practice patients aged 50 and over with no personal history
      of CRC completed a health risk survey while waiting for scheduled appointments
      between November 2010 and November 2011. RESULTS: A total of 5671 patients from
      12 practices were approached to participate. Of the 4707 eligible patients
      (adults attending for care who understood English and were capable of providing
      informed consent), 4062 (86%) consented to participate, with 2269 eligible to
      complete the FOBT items. Approximately half (52%) of participants reported ever
      having an FOBT. More than one-third (39.7%) of the sample reported having an FOBT
      in the prior three years. Those who recalled receiving a mailed kit as part of
      the NBCSP were five times more likely to report being screened. Those less likely
      to report screening were aged 50-59 years, were female and had been diagnosed
      with a form of cancer other than CRC. CONCLUSIONS: There is justification for the
      extension of the NBCSP to ensure a majority of the age-appropriate population is
      screened for CRC. SO WHAT?: Further work is needed to identify whether high rates
      of screening are achievable using the mailed-kit approach, and how to increase
      participation by females, those aged 50-69 years and those diagnosed with other
      cancers.

PMID- 25818505
TI  - Cytomegalovirus induces apoptosis in acute leukemia cells as a virus-versus
      leukemia function.
AB  - Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) reactivation occurs frequently after hematopoietic stem
      cell transplantation and is associated with an increased treatment-related
      mortality. Induction of apoptosis by HCMV is unusual because HCMV utilizes
      various strategies to prevent apoptosis in infected cells in order to delay cell
      death and maintain viral replication. Here we show that HCMV can infect the acute
      leukemia cell lines Kasumi-1 (AML) and SD-1 (BCR-ABL-positive ALL), which
      inhibited their proliferation and induced apoptosis in almost all cells after 14
      days. Although HCMV induced a significant up-regulation of the anti-apoptotic
      gene cFLIP and the anti-stress gene Gadd45a, and simultaneously down-regulated
      the pro-apoptotic genes p53, Gadd45gamma in Kasumi-1 and SD-1 cells, we found
      that these anti-apoptotic mechanisms failed in HCMV-infected acute leukemia cells
      and apoptosis occurred via a caspase-dependent pathway. We conclude that HCMV can
      provide anti-leukemic effects in vitro. To determine if this phenomenon may be
      clinically relevant further investigations will be required. 

PMID- 25818506
TI  - Strain-induced metal-semiconductor transition observed in atomic carbon chains.
AB  - Carbyne, the sp(1)-hybridized phase of carbon, is still a missing link in the
      family of carbon allotropes. While the bulk phases of carbyne remain elusive, the
      elementary constituents, that is, linear chains of carbon atoms, have already
      been observed using the electron microscope. Isolated atomic chains are highly
      interesting one-dimensional conductors that have stimulated considerable
      theoretical work. Experimental information, however, is still very limited. Here
      we show electrical measurements and first-principles transport calculations on
      monoatomic carbon chains. When the 1D system is under strain, the chains are
      semiconducting corresponding to the polyyne structure with alternating bond
      lengths. Conversely, when the chain is unstrained, the ohmic behaviour of
      metallic cumulene with uniform bond lengths is observed. This confirms the recent
      prediction of a metal-insulator transition that is induced by strain. The key
      role of the contacting leads explains the rectifying behaviour measured in
      monoatomic carbon chains in a nonsymmetric contact configuration. 

PMID- 25818509
TI  - Dimeric WH2 repeats of VopF sequester actin monomers into non-nucleating linear
      string conformations: An X-ray scattering study.
AB  - VopF and VopL are highly similar virulence-factors of Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio
      parahaemolyticus respectively that disrupt the host's actin cytoskeleton, using a
      unique organization in dimerized WH2 repeats. Association of dimerized WH2
      domains with the barbed face of actin confers multifunctional activities to VopF
      in vitro, including G-actin sequestration and filament nucleation, barbed end
      tracking and uncapping. Here, small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements of
      complexes of VopF with actin and structural modeling reveal that VopF stabilizes
      linear actin-strings that differ from canonical actin filament architectures but
      represent non-polymerizable sequestered forms of actin. The results exclude that
      VopL binds the pointed end of actin filaments in the template filament nucleation
      mechanism derived from crystallographic studies. 

PMID- 25818510
TI  - Functionalization of biomineral reinforcement in crustacean cuticle: Calcite
      orientation in the partes incisivae of the mandibles of Porcellio scaber and the
      supralittoral species Tylos europaeus (Oniscidea, Isopoda).
AB  - In arthropods the cuticle forms an exoskeleton with its physical and chemical
      properties adapted to functions of distinct skeletal elements. The cuticle of the
      partes incisivae (PI) in mandibles of terrestrial isopods is a composite of
      chitin-protein fibrils/fibres and minerals. It consists of an unmineralized tip,
      a middle region with organic fibrils reinforced mainly with amorphous calcium
      phosphate and a base region mineralized with amorphous calcium carbonate and
      calcite. In this study we extend our work on the structure and material
      properties of the incisive cuticle employing electron backscatter diffraction
      (EBSD), and investigate calcite orientation patterns in the PI of two terrestrial
      isopod species from different habitats. We trace small-scale differences in
      texture sharpness and calcite microstructure, and compare calcite organization
      and orientation patterns in the PI with those in the tergites of the same isopod
      species. We observe that in the PI calcite orientation, the degree of crystal
      alignment, and mode of crystalline domain assemblage is highly varied within
      short length scales. This contrasts to calcite organization in the tergite
      cuticle, where calcite has only one specific texture pattern. Such a large range
      in the variation of calcite organization has not been observed in other carbonate
      biological hard tissues, such as shells and teeth, where one specific texture and
      microstructure prevails. Thus, the investigated isopod species are able to
      control crystallization of the amorphous carbonate precursor in a differential
      way, most probably related to the function of the individual skeletal element and
      the animals' behavior. 

PMID- 25818511
TI  - Imaging of cellular aging in human retinal blood vessels.
AB  - To date two main aging vascular lesions have been reported in elderly human
      retinas: acellular capillaries and microaneurysms. However, their exact mechanism
      of formation remains unclear. Using high resolution microscopy techniques we
      revise cellular alterations observed in aged human retinal vessels, such as
      lipofuscin accumulation, caveolae malfunction, blood basement membrane disruption
      and enhanced apoptosis that could trigger the development of these aging vascular
      lesions. Moreover, we have generated a set of original images comparing retinal
      vasculature between middle and old aged healthy humans to show in a comprehensive
      manner the main structural and ultrastructural alterations occurred during age in
      retinal blood vessels. 

PMID- 25818512
TI  - Influence of nursing interventions on adherence to treatment with
      antituberculosis drugs in children and young people: research protocol.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of nursing interventions on adherence to
      antituberculosis medication in a paediatric cohort (aged 0-18 years) and to
      identify the risk factors for non-compliance. BACKGROUND: After primary
      infection, children have a higher risk of developing tuberculosis and the
      severity of the disease is worse in children. Adherence to treatment is essential
      to control both latent infection and tuberculosis disease. DESIGN: Phase 1:
      retrospective descriptive analysis (n = 270) in children and young people
      receiving antituberculosis treatment. Phase 2: quasi-experimental, longitudinal,
      prospective study (n = 100). The results of the two phases will be compared.
      METHODS: Phase 1: in children followed up during the period 2011-2013 (non
      intervention group), the level of adherence and its associated epidemiological,
      sociocultural and clinical risk factors will be analysed. Phase 2: educational
      (written information in the child's mother tongue and follow-up telephone calls)
      and monitoring (Eidus-Hamilton test and follow-up questionnaire) nursing
      interventions will be implemented. The results of the two phases will be
      compared. The definitive Nurse-led Follow-up Programme will then be designed.
      This project was funded in October 2013. DISCUSSION: The risk factors for poor
      adherence to antituberculosis therapy need to be identified to optimize treatment
      success in latent tuberculosis infection and disease in children and young
      people. Simultaneous application of several educational and monitoring methods in
      nurse-led follow-up shall improve adherence in children and adolescents in our
      setting. These results may also be applicable in other settings, where
      tuberculosis is more prevalent and directly observed treatment strategies are not
      available.

PMID- 25818513
TI  - A large mimotonid from the middle Eocene of China sheds light on the evolution of
      lagomorphs and their kin.
AB  - Mimotonids share their closest affinity with lagomorphs and were a rare and
      endemic faunal element of Paleogene mammal assemblages of central Asia. Here we
      describe a new species, Mimolagus aurorae from the Middle Eocene of Nei Mongol
      (China). This species belongs to one of the most enigmatic genera of fossil
      Glires, previously known only from the type and only specimen from the early
      Oligocene of Gansu (China). Our finding extends the earliest occurrence of the
      genus by at least 10 million years in the Paleogene of Asia, which closes the gap
      between Mimolagus and other mimotonids that are known thus far from middle Eocene
      or older deposits. The new species is one of the largest known pre-Oligocene
      Glires. As regards duplicidentates, Mimolagus is comparable with the largest
      Neogene continental leporids, namely hares of the genus Lepus. Our results
      suggest that ecomorphology of this species was convergent on that of small
      perissodactyls that dominated faunas of the Mongolian Plateau in the Eocene, and
      probably a result of competitive pressure from other Glires, including a co
      occurring mimotonid, Gomphos. 

PMID- 25818514
TI  - Identification of C-terminal Hsp70-interacting protein as a mediator of tumour
      necrosis factor action in osteoblast differentiation by targeting osterix for
      degradation.
AB  - In patients with inflammatory arthritis, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha are
      overproduced in inflamed joints. This leads to local erosion of cartilage and
      bone, periarticular osteopenia, as well as osteoporosis. But less is known
      regarding the molecular mechanisms that mediate the effect of TNF-alpha on
      osteoblast function. The purpose of this study was to test that C terminus of
      Hsc70-interacting protein (CHIP) has a specific role in suppressing the
      osteogenic activity of osteoblasts under inflammatory conditions. C2C12, MC3T3-E1
      and HEK293T cell lines were cultured and cotransfected with related plasmids.
      After transfection, the cells were cultured further in the presence or absence of
      murine TNF-alpha and subjected to real time RT-PCR, Western blot, Ubiquitination
      assay, Co-immunoprecipitation, Luciferase reporter assay, Small interfering RNAs
      and Mineralization assay. The expression levels of TNF-alpha-induced CHIP and Osx
      were examined by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Co-immunoprecipitation and
      ubiquitination assays revealed ubiquitinated Osx, confirmed that CHIP indeed
      interacted with Osx and identified K55 and K386 residues as the ubiquitination
      sites in Osx, Luciferase reporter assay and Small interfering RNAs examined
      whether TNF-alpha target the bone morphogenetic protein signalling through CHIP.
      We established stable cell lines with the overexpression of HA-CHIP,
      Mineralization assay and CHIP siRNA demonstrated the important roles of CHIP on
      osteoblast function in conditions in which TNF-alpha is overexpressed. We found
      that the K55 and K386 residues are ubiquitination site(s) in Osx, and that TNF
      alpha inhibits osteoblast differentiation by promoting Osx degradation through up
      regulation of E3 ubiquitin ligase CHIP in osteoblast. Thus, CHIP targets Osx for
      ubiquitination and degradation in osteoblasts after chronic exposure to TNF
      alpha, and inhibition of CHIP expression in osteoblasts may be a new mechanism to
      limit inflammation-mediated osteoporosis by promoting their differentiation into
      osteoblasts. 

PMID- 25818515
TI  - High quality RNA extraction of the mammalian cochlea for qRT-PCR and
      transcriptome analyses.
AB  - Molecular investigations of the hearing organ, the cochlea, have been hampered
      due to the difficulty of isolating pure RNA and in quantities sufficient enough
      for quantitative real-time RT-PCR or microarray analysis. The complex
      architecture of the cochlea, the presence of liquids, bone and cartilage tissue,
      are a major hurdle in obtaining contamination-free RNA to a level that does not
      affect downstream applications. Here, we present a protocol to extract RNA from
      the mouse cochlea, with yields and quality suitable for real-time RT-PCR or
      Affymetrix labeling. In contrast to current methods, such as TRIZOL or column
      based extraction, this protocol combines the two and, within 4 h, yields a 2 MUg
      of total RNA from a single pair of adult mouse cochleae. This protocol allows the
      isolation of RNA molecules from the mammalian cochlea providing access to whole
      transcript expression analyses. 

PMID- 25818516
TI  - Real-time imaging of in-vitro human middle ear using high frequency ultrasound.
AB  - Imaging techniques currently used in the clinic to inspect ears in patients are
      generally limited to views terminating at the tympanic membrane (TM) surface. For
      imaging past the TM, methods such as computed tomography are typically used, but
      in addition to disadvantages such as being costly, time consuming, and causing
      radiation exposure, these often do not provide sufficient resolution of the
      middle ear structures of interest. This study presents an investigation into the
      capability of high frequency ultrasound to image the middle ear with high
      resolution in real-time, as well as measure vibrations of TM and middle ear
      structures in response to sound stimuli. In unfixed cadaver ears, the TM,
      ossicles, and ossicular support tissues were all readily identifiable, with
      capabilities demonstrated for real-time imaging and video capture, and vibrometry
      of middle ear structures. Based on these results, we conclude that high frequency
      ultrasonography is a relatively simple and minimally invasive technology with
      great potential to provide clinicians with new tools for diagnosing and
      monitoring middle ear pathologies. 

PMID- 25818517
TI  - Population pharmacokinetics of cyclosporine in hematopoietic stem cell transplant
      patients: consideration of genetic polymorphisms.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cyclosporine (CsA), which is used for graft-versus-host disease
      prophylaxis in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT), has a
      narrow therapeutic range and large interindividual and intraindividual
      pharmacokinetic variability. Nevertheless, population pharmacokinetic (PopPK)
      studies of CsA in allo-HSCT are scarce. OBJECTIVE: The goal of our study was to
      build a PopPK model of CsA in allo-HSCT in consideration of demographic,
      clinical, and genetic polymorphisms data. METHODS: A total of 34 adult allo-HSCT
      patients who received CsA were enrolled prospectively. Demographic, clinical, and
      CYP3A5 *1/*3, CYP2C19 *1/*2/*3, ABCB1 3435C>T, 1236C>T, 2677G>T/A, ABCC2 -24C>T,
      1249G>A, VDR Bsml, Apal polymorphisms data were collected. A PopPK modeling was
      conducted with NONMEM program. RESULTS: A 1-compartment model with a 2-transit
      absorption compartment model was developed. After the stepwise covariate model
      building process, weight was incorporated into clearance (CL) as a power function
      model with the exponent value of 0.419. The final typical estimate of CL was 21.2
      L/h; volume of distribution was 430 L; logit-transformed bioavailability was 1.49
      (bioavailability: 81%); and transit compartment rate was 2.87/h. None of the
      genetic polymorphisms in CYP3A5, CYP2C19, ABCB1, ABCC2, and VDR were significant
      covariates in the pharmacokinetics of CsA. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, it was
      observed that weight had a significant effect on CL. Genetic polymorphisms did
      not affect CsA pharmacokinetics. Prospective studies with a larger number of
      participants is needed to validate the results of this study.

PMID- 25818518
TI  - Optimizing intramedullary entry location on the proximal humerus based on
      variations of neck-shaft angle.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to define the relationship between the
      humeral neck-shaft angle (NSA) and variations in the ideal entry portal aligned
      with the long axis of the intramedullary canal of the proximal humerus. METHODS:
      Three-dimensional images of 36 cadaveric humeri with various NSAs were
      reconstructed by a computerized surgical simulation program. The anteroposterior,
      mediolateral, and linear distances between a line from the center of the proximal
      medullary canal to the bicipital groove were measured. Differences among humeri
      with various NSAs were analyzed. RESULTS: The intramedullary axis line was
      located a mean of 9 +/- 2 mm posteriorly and 11 +/- 3 mm medially from the
      bicipital groove. The axis line was 9 +/- 2 mm posterior and 11 +/- 2 mm medial
      with a standard NSA. The axis line in humeri with a varus NSA was 8 +/- 2 mm
      posteriorly and 9 +/- 2 mm medially, whereas the axis line was 10 +/- 3 mm
      posteriorly and 14 +/- 3 mm medially with a valgus NSA. The differences in the
      mediolateral distances between the groups were significant (P < .00009).
      CONCLUSION: Care should be taken in choosing the entry portal position in humeri
      with various NSAs as the entry portal position differs according to the NSA. It
      is recommended that the location of the entry portal be moved toward the center
      of the humeral head to align with the centerline of the intramedullary canal in
      humeri with a valgus NSA in particular.

PMID- 25818519
TI  - Arthrolysis and delayed internal fixation combined with hinged external fixation
      for elbow stiffness associated with malunion or nonunion of capitellum fracture.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study assessed outcomes after treatment of patients with
      capitellum fracture diagnosed >4 weeks after the trauma (delayed) who presented
      with stiff elbow. METHODS: We reviewed 7 patients with stiff elbows after delayed
      diagnosis of capitellum fractures between February 2007 and February 2012. They
      were treated with arthrolysis by twin incisions, late open reduction and internal
      fixation, and a hinged external fixator. According to the Bryan-Morrey-McKee
      classification, 3 patients had type I capitellum fractures and 4 patients had
      type IV. RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 28 months (range, 24-38 months). The mean
      delay from the initial trauma was 3.7 months. The flexion arc improved from a
      preoperative mean of 24 degrees  to a postoperative mean of 122 degrees . The
      Mayo Elbow Performance Score increased from a mean of 56 points to 93 points.
      Anatomic fracture union occurred in all cases, and there was no secondary
      displacement. CONCLUSIONS: Arthrolysis, late internal fixation, and use of a
      hinged external fixator can solve problems associated with stiff elbow after
      delayed diagnosis of capitellum fracture. Combined use of these techniques may be
      a safe and effective treatment option.

PMID- 25818520
TI  - Herd-level risk factors for infection with bovine leukemia virus in Canadian
      dairy herds.
AB  - Enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) is an economically important infection of dairy
      cattle worldwide, which is caused by bovine leukemia virus (BLV). The prevalence
      of infection in Canadian dairy herds is high and continues to increase; however,
      there has not been a national program to control BLV. This cross-sectional study
      was conducted to identify potentially important risk factors for BLV infection on
      Canadian dairy herds, which is a prerequisite to developing an effective control
      program. During 1998-2003, based on a stratified two-stage random sampling
      process, 315 dairy farms from seven provinces of Canada were selected. Within
      each farm, 9-45 cows were bled and tested with a commercial serum ELISA kit for
      BLV antibodies. A comprehensive questionnaire, targeting potentially important
      herd-level management indicators, was successfully administered in 272 herds. A
      zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression model was fit to the resulting
      data to assess the potential associations between BLV seropositivity and a
      variety of herd-level factors. Seventy-eight percent of the herds were identified
      as BLV-positive (had one or more test positive animals). In the negative-binomial
      part of the final ZINB model, herds with clinical cases of leukosis during the 12
      months prior to sampling, as well as herds which purchased animals with unknown
      BLV infection status in the last five years, had a significantly larger
      proportion of BLV positive animals. Based on a significant interaction between
      two of the risk factors, changing gloves between cows during pregnancy
      examination was not statistically associated with lower proportion of infected
      cows compared with not changing gloves, in the western Canadian provinces. In the
      logistic part of the model, herds from eastern Canadian provinces and those not
      purchasing cows in the last five years had increased odds of being free from BLV.
      The high prevalence of infection across Canada should be addressed through the
      development and implementation of a nationwide control program which will address
      the regional and herd-level risk factors for BLV infection identified in this
      study. 

PMID- 25818521
TI  - Ultimobranchial gland respond in a different way in male and female fresh water
      teleost Mastacembelus armatus (Lacepede) during reproductive cycle.
AB  - The present study was carried out to analyze the differences in the activity of
      ultimobranchial gland (UBG) between male and female fresh water teleost
      Mastacembelus armatus during reproductive cycle. Considerable variations in the
      nuclear diameter of UBG cells and plasma calcitonin (CT) levels during different
      reproductive phases of testicular and ovarian cycle suggested that the activity
      of the UBG depends upon the sexual maturity of fishes. A positive correlation was
      observed between plasma CT and sex steroid levels and the gonadosomatic index in
      both sexes which further confirmed the involvement of UBG in the processes
      related to gonadal development in fishes irrespective of the sex. Sudden increase
      in the level of plasma CT and nuclear diameter of UBG cells after administration
      of 17 alpha-methyltestosterone in males and 17 beta-estradiol in females during
      resting phase of the reproductive cycle clearly showed that UBG becomes
      hyperactive with increases in the level of sex steroids. Plasma calcium level was
      also found to be positively correlated with gonadal maturation in females.
      However no such change in plasma calcium level in relation to testicular cycle
      was observed. Thus it can be concluded that UBG becomes hyperactive during
      gonadal maturation but its role differs between male and female fishes. In
      females it may involved in both gonadal maturation and plasma calcium regulation
      while in males its involvement in calcium regulation was not justified.
      Variations in the level of CT during various phases of testicular cycle evidenced
      its involvement in gonadal maturation only. 

PMID- 25818522
TI  - Reproductive hormonal patterns in pregnant, pseudopregnant and acyclic captive
      African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus).
AB  - African wild dogs are one of the most endangered canid species, with free-living
      populations declining as a consequence of habitat loss, disease and human
      conflict. Captive breeding is considered an important conservation strategy, but
      is hampered by a poor overall understanding of the reproductive biology of the
      species. To improve our basic knowledge, we studied hormone patterns in 15 female
      wild dogs using non-invasive faecal collections. By comparing longitudinal
      hormone profiles with behavioural and anatomical changes, females could be
      allocated among three reproductive classes: pregnant (n=1), pseudopregnant (n=9)
      and acyclic (n=4). We also monitored a single female in which contraception was
      induced with a deslorelin implant. Comparison of pseudopregnant and acyclic
      females showed that, in both classes, faecal oestradiol concentrations increased
      from anoestrus to pro-oestrus then declined into the oestrous and dioestrous
      phases. Progestagen concentrations rose steadily from anoestrus to the dioestrous
      phase in both pseudopregnant and acyclic females and, pseudopregnant females had
      significantly higher concentrations of progestagens than acyclic females in all
      phases of the oestrous cycle. Most females classed as pseudopregnant were found
      in female-only groups, suggesting that wild dogs are spontaneous ovulators.
      Furthermore, only one adult female did not ovulate, so suppression of
      reproduction in subordinates is likely to be behavioural rather than
      physiological. 

PMID- 25818523
TI  - Egg laying characteristics, egg weight, embryo development, hatching weight and
      post-hatch growth in relation to oviposition time of broiler breeders.
AB  - Two experiments were conducted to determine egg laying characteristics and the
      effects of oviposition time on egg weight, embryo development and post-hatch
      growth in broiler breeders. In experiment 1, eggs collected for 3 consecutive
      days on hourly basis between 06:30 and 17:30h were categorized to early, middle
      and late oviposition times in the clutch. In experiment 2, eggs were incubated to
      study embryo development, remaining albumen, liver weight, heart weight and the
      tibia length of embryos at 12, 14, 16 and 18 days of incubation as well as the
      body weight of hatchlings and chickens at 7, 21 and 42 days of age in relation to
      oviposition time. About 76% of nest eggs were laid from 06:30 to 11:30h. A
      similar pattern was observed in floor eggs. Egg weight decreased (P<0.01) with
      advanced position in the clutch. Generally, oviposition time had no effect on
      embryo growth parameters. At hatch, body weight of chicks derived from eggs of
      late oviposition times was less (P<0.01) than that of chicks from eggs produced
      earlier in the clutch. From 3-week-old onwards, chickens of early oviposition
      time sustained heavier (P<0.05) weight than chickens of middle oviposition time
      whereas chickens of late oviposition time obtained a middle weight. Differences
      in egg weights, body weight at hatch and post-hatch growth due to time of
      oviposition suggest that oviposition time together with incubation conditions
      should be considered for obtaining greater uniformity and growth of chickens. 

PMID- 25818524
TI  - Formulation and testing of a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor intravaginal
      device for the control of ovarian function in cattle.
AB  - The study was designed to formulate intravaginal devices that provide
      biologically active circulating concentrations of an aromatase inhibitor for a
      minimum of 4 days, and to determine their physiologic effects in cattle. Three
      compounds with estradiol inhibitory capability (letrozole, anastrozole and
      fenbendazole) were tested in vitro using bovine granulosa cell culture. Letrozole
      was found to be the most efficient and potent inhibitor. A wax-based vehicle was
      selected for further development of a letrozole intravaginal device based on its
      steady release rate. Cycling heifers were assigned randomly to be given an
      intravaginal device containing wax plus gel coat (n=4), wax formulation (n=4), no
      formulation (blank device, control, n=4). Intravaginal devices were inserted on
      Day 3 (Day 0=ovulation) and kept in place for 8 days. The addition of a letrozole
      containing gel coating hastened the initial increase on plasma concentrations,
      while the letrozole-containing wax-based vehicle maintained prolonged delivery
      from the intravaginal device. The dominant follicle diameter profile was larger
      in heifers treated with the wax plus gel coat device (P<0.04), and the interwave
      interval was prolonged in heifers in the letrozole-treated groups compared to
      controls (P<0.001). Plasma estradiol concentrations were reduced significantly in
      the letrozole-treated groups. Plasma progesterone concentrations were lower in
      the wax letrozole-treated group (P<0.02). We concluded that wax base plus gel
      coat intravaginal devices are suitable for the development of a letrozole-based
      protocol for the synchronization of ovulation in cattle. It effectively reduced
      estradiol production resulting in prolonged dominant follicle growth and
      lifespan, without adversely affecting progesterone production. 

PMID- 25818525
TI  - Fucosterol attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fucosterol has been reported to have antioxidant, antidiabetic, and
      anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, we investigated the protective effect
      and the possible mechanism of fucosterol on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced
      acute lung injury (ALI) in mice. METHODS: Lung injury was assessed by a
      histologic study, pulmonary edema, and inflammatory cytokines production in
      bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Alveolar macrophages were stimulated with LPS in
      the presence or absence of fucosterol. The expressions of inflammatory cytokines
      were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay. Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF
      kappaB) expression was detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: The results showed
      that fucosterol attenuated lung histopathologic changes, wet-to-dry ratio, and
      tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-1beta production in LPS
      induced ALI in mice. Meanwhile, fucosterol inhibited NF-kappaB activation and
      tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IL-6, and IL-1beta production in LPS-stimulated
      alveolar macrophages. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the present study demonstrated
      that fucosterol exhibited a protective effect on LPS-induced acute lung injury,
      and the possible mechanism is involved in inhibiting NF-kappaB activation,
      thereby inhibiting LPS-induced inflammatory response.

PMID- 25818526
TI  - Spinal muscle activity in simulated rugby union scrummaging is affected by
      different engagement conditions.
AB  - Biomechanical studies of rugby union scrummaging have focused on kinetic and
      kinematic analyses, while muscle activation strategies employed by front-row
      players during scrummaging are still unknown. The aim of the current study was to
      investigate the activity of spinal muscles during machine and live scrums. Nine
      male front-row forwards scrummaged as individuals against a scrum machine under
      "crouch-touch-set" and "crouch-bind-set" conditions, and against a two-player
      opposition in a simulated live condition. Muscle activities of the
      sternocleidomastoid, upper trapezius, and erector spinae were measured over the
      pre-engagement, engagement, and sustained-push phases. The "crouch-bind-set"
      condition increased muscle activity of the upper trapezius and
      sternocleidomastoid before and during the engagement phase in machine
      scrummaging. During the sustained-push phase, live scrummaging generated higher
      activities of the erector spinae than either machine conditions. These results
      suggest that the pre-bind, prior to engagement, may effectively prepare the
      cervical spine by stiffening joints before the impact phase. Additionally,
      machine scrummaging does not replicate the muscular demands of live scrummaging
      for the erector spinae, and for this reason, we advise rugby union forwards to
      ensure scrummaging is practiced in live situations to improve the specificity of
      their neuromuscular activation strategies in relation to resisting external
      loads. 

PMID- 25818528
TI  - Modulation of actin dynamics by Rac1 to target cognitive function.
AB  - The small GTPase Rac1 is well known for regulating actin cytoskeleton
      reorganization in cells. Formation of extensions at the surface of the cell is
      required for migration and even for cell invasion and metastases. Because an
      elevated level and hyperactivation of this protein has been associated with
      metastasis in cancer, direct regulators of Rac1 are currently envisioned as a
      potential strategy to treat certain cancers. Less research, however, has been
      done regarding the role of this small GTP-binding protein in brain development,
      where it has an important role in dendritic spine morphogenesis through the
      regulation of actin. Alteration of dendritic development and spinogenesis has
      been often associated with mental disorders. Rac1 is associated with and required
      for learning and the formation of memories in the brain. Rac1 appears to be
      dysregulated in certain neurodevelopmental disorders that present all these three
      alterations: mental retardation, atypical synaptic plasticity and aberrant spine
      morphology. Thus, to develop novel therapies for rescuing cognitive impairment, a
      reasonable approach might be to target this protein, Rac1, which plays a pivotal
      role in directing signals that regulate actin dynamics, which in turn might have
      an effect in spine cytoarchitecture and synaptic function. It is possible that
      novel drugs that regulate Rac1 activation and function could modulate actin
      cytoskeleton and spine dynamics, representing potential candidates to repair
      intellectual disability in disorders associated with spine abnormalities. Herein,
      we present a list of the current Rac1 inhibitors that might fulfill this role
      together with a summary of the latest findings concerning their function as they
      relate to neuronal studies. While the small GTPase Rac1 is well known for
      regulating actin cytoskeleton reorganization in different type of cells, it
      appears to be also required for learning and the formation of memories in the
      brain. Abnormal regulation of this protein has been associated with cognitive
      disabilities, atypical synaptic plasticity and abnormal morphology of dendritic
      spines in certain neurodevelopmental disorders. Thus, modulation of Rac1 activity
      using novel inhibitors might be a strategy to reestablish cognitive function. 

PMID- 25818527
TI  - Scapula insufficiency fractures after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty in
      rotator cuff arthropathy: What is their functional impact?
AB  - INTRODUCTION-OBJECTIVES: To describe the incidence, etiological factors,
      functional impairment and therapeutic management of scapular fractures after
      reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) in rotator cuff arthropathy. MATERIAL AND
      METHOD: A retrospective study was conducted on 126 RSA between 2009 and 2011, in
      which 4 fractures were identified that were compared with a control group of 40
      patients. An analysis was performed on the variables related to the surgical
      technique, functional results, and quality of life (Constant scale, EQ-5D).
      RESULTS: The fracture incidence was 3.28% with a mean age of 74.7 years. The mean
      time until diagnosis was 11.9 months. The preoperative Constant score in the
      control group was 37.3%, and 34.7% in the fracture group (P>.05); postoperative
      Constant score: 81.2 and 66.5%, respectively (P>.001). Forward elevation and
      abduction in fracture patients decreased by 39 degrees  (P=.02), and 34 degrees 
      (P=.057) respectively. The perceived quality of life (EQ-VAS) was lower in the
      fracture group (60 vs. 76) (P=.002). There were no instability cases, and no
      revision surgery was required. The union rate was 50% after a mean follow-up 39.6
      months. CONCLUSIONS: Scapular fracture after RSA is a rare complication. Despite
      its presence, the functional outcomes and quality of life of these patients are
      higher than preoperatively; however, they are lower than that obtained in
      patients with RSA without this complication. More prospective studies are needed
      to define guidelines for therapeutic action against this complication.

PMID- 25818529
TI  - A rare case of a carcinoid myocardial mass.
AB  - Right-sided valvular disease is characteristic of the carcinoid syndrome. In
      contrast, myocardial involvement is unusual. We present a case of an asymptomatic
      patient who had a myocardial carcinoid tumor discovered during surgery for
      coronary artery disease. The clinical presentation, diagnostic tests and
      modalities, and outcomes after surgery are discussed in this case report. 

PMID- 25818530
TI  - Energy drink overconsumption in adolescents: implications for arrhythmias and
      other cardiovascular events.

PMID- 25818532
TI  - Bacterial co-infection is rare in patients with Ebola virus disease in a military
      Ebola virus disease treatment unit in Sierra Leone.

PMID- 25818531
TI  - Neutrophils and inflammatory resolution in the mucosa.
AB  - Inflammatory diseases in mucosal organs as diverse as the lung, liver and
      intestine inevitably require the intimate interactions between neutrophils and
      epithelia. The physiologic consequences of such interactions often determine
      endpoint organ function, and for this reason, much recent interest has developed
      in identifying mechanisms and novel targets to promote the resolution of mucosal
      inflammation. Physiologically-relevant in vitro and in vivo model systems have
      aided in discovery of novel pathways to define basic inflammatory mechanisms and
      approaches to defining the concepts of inflammatory resolution. Here, we will
      review the recent literature regarding the contribution of neutrophils to
      inflammatory resolution, with an emphasis on the role of the tissue
      microenvironment, endogenous pathways for promoting resolution and the molecular
      determinants of neutrophil-epithelial cell interactions during ongoing
      inflammation. These recent studies highlight the dynamic nature of pro-resolving
      pathways and lend insight into the complexity of treating mucosal inflammation. 

PMID- 25818533
TI  - Factors influencing combination antiretroviral therapy choice: Do doctors really
      know best?

PMID- 25818534
TI  - Functional polymorphisms of the CCL2 and MBL genes cumulatively increase
      susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess associations between the functional polymorphisms G-2518A
      at the chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 gene (CCL2) and mannose binding lectin
      (MBL) codon 54 variant (A/B) and susceptibility to SARS. METHODS: We genotyped
      the CCL2 G-2518A and MBL codon 54 variant (A/B) in 4 case-control populations of
      Chinese descent, totally consisting of 932 patients with SARS and 982 control
      subjects. RESULTS: Both the high-CCL2-producing GG genotype and the low-MBL
      producing B allele were consistently associated with increased risks of SARS-CoV
      infection in all 4 case-control populations (joint P = 1.6 * 10(-4) and 4.9 * 10(
      8), for CCL2 and MBL respectively), with no interaction between polymorphisms
      could be detected. Furthermore, all the 4 case-control studies demonstrated a
      cumulative effect on risk of SARS-CoV infection for the combination of
      polymorphisms (joint P = 1.3 * 10(-10)). However, tests using the area under the
      curve (AUC) indicated that at this stage, the polymorphisms were unlikely to be
      appropriate for risk prediction testing because of low AUC values (all <66%).
      Additionally, no association was observed between the polymorphisms and severity
      of SARS. CONCLUSIONS: The CCL2 G-2518A and MBL codon 54 variant have a
      significantly cumulative effect on increased risk of SARS-CoV infection.

PMID- 25818535
TI  - Why are voluntary head movements in cervical dystonia slow?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Rapid head movements associated with a change in fixation (head
      saccades) have been reported to be slow in cervical dystonia (CD). Such slowing
      is typically measured as an increase in time to complete a movement. The
      mechanisms responsible for this slowing are poorly understood. METHODS: We
      measured head saccades in 11 CD patients and 11 healthy subjects using a magnetic
      search coil technique. RESULTS: Head saccades in CD took longer to reach a
      desired target location. This longer duration was due to multiple pauses in the
      trajectory of the head movement. The head velocity of each segment of the
      (interrupted) head movement was appropriate for the desired total movement
      amplitude. The head velocity was, however, higher for the amplitude of the
      individual interrupted movements. These results suggest that brain programs the
      proper head movement amplitude, but the movement is interrupted by pathological
      pauses. CONCLUSION: Voluntary head saccades have a longer duration in CD due to
      frequent pauses. The frequent pauses reflect pathological interruptions of
      normally programmed intended head movement.

PMID- 25818536
TI  - Health-related quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease: Implications
      for falling.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: It has been demonstrated that various domains of health-related
      quality of life (HRQoL) have predictive value in progression of disability and
      depression in a neurological setting. The aim of this study was to assess
      potential predictive value of domains of HRQoL in occurrence of falls among
      persons with Parkinson's disease (PD) over one year of follow-up. METHODS: The
      study comprised cross-sectional design at baseline and 1-year prospective cohort
      study. Those who denied having fallen in the past 6 months were followed for one
      year, while participants were asked to record falls prospectively in a falls
      diary for a year. A total of 300 consecutive PD outpatients without cognitive
      impairment were recruited from August 15, 2011 to December 15, 2012 in the
      outpatient Department of Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, Clinical
      Center of Serbia in Belgrade. The HRQoL was evaluated using the SF-36
      questionnaire. RESULTS: All domains of the SF-36, except Role Emotional, were
      significantly lower among fallers. After controlling for potential confounding
      factors, the domain of Role Physical (p = 0.027), Physical Composite Score (p =
      0.023) and the total SF-36 score (p = 0.029) were significant predictors of
      occurrence of falls within one year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Assessment of
      quality of life represents an additional tool to the established measures of
      clinical course of the disease and could provide further insight in complex
      distinction of risk factors for falling in PD.

PMID- 25818537
TI  - Early numerical abilities and cognitive skills in kindergarten children.
AB  - In this study, a unitary path analysis model was developed to investigate the
      relationship between cognitive variables (derived from published studies) and
      early numerical abilities in children attending the last year of kindergarten. We
      tested 100 children starting their last year of kindergarten on the following
      cognitive abilities: intelligence, phonological abilities, counting, verbal and
      visuospatial short-term memory and working memory, processing speed, and early
      numerical abilities. The same children were tested again on early numerical
      abilities at the end of the same year. The children's early numerical abilities
      at the beginning of the final year of kindergarten were found to be directly
      related to their verbal intelligence, phonological abilities, processing speed,
      and working memory and to be indirectly related to their nonverbal intelligence.
      Early numerical abilities at the end of the same year are directly related not
      only to early numerical abilities assessed at the beginning of the year but also
      to working memory and phonological abilities as well as have an indirect
      relationship with verbal and nonverbal intelligence. Overall, our results showed
      that both general and specific abilities are related to early mathematic learning
      in kindergarten-age children.

PMID- 25818538
TI  - Repeated syncope caused by intractable vasospastic angina: A case report.

PMID- 25818539
TI  - The relationship between coronary artery calcium score and the long-term
      mortality among patients with minimal or absent coronary artery risk factors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Coronary artery calcium (CAC) is strongly predictive of all-cause
      mortality in intermediate-risk groups, but this relationship is not well defined
      in very low-risk individuals. We investigated the relationship between CAC
      scoring and the long-term all-cause mortality among patients with <= 1
      cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor. METHODS: We analyzed a retrospective
      cohort of 5584 asymptomatic patients with no known CVD (mean 56.6 +/- 11.6 years,
      69%men) and <= 1 risk factor who were physician referred for a CAC scan.
      Mortality was ascertained through linkage with the Social Security Death Index.
      We calculated the prevalence of CAC stratified by age and risk factors. We also
      examined the association between CAC and mortality using multivariable Cox
      Proportional hazards models. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 10.4 +/- 3.1
      years, 168 individuals (3.0%) died. Overall, 54.5% of patients had a CAC >0 and
      9.8% had CAC >= 400. There was a greater risk of mortality with increasing CAC 1
      99 (HR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2-3.1), 100-399 (HR 2.1, 95% CI 1.2-3.6) and >= 400 (HR 2.8,
      95% CI 1.6-4.8) compared to CAC=0 (p<0.0001 for trend). Similar results were
      observed when the population was stratified by zero or one risk factor. Among
      patients < 45 years old, there was a 0.7% incidence of mortality compared to 8.1%
      for individuals >= 65 years old. CONCLUSIONS: During long-term follow-up, an
      increasing CAC was significantly associated with a higher risk of all-cause
      mortality among patients with a very low CVD risk factor profile. CAC scanning
      may be a potentially useful tool for risk stratification among low CVD risk
      individuals who are >= 45 years old.

PMID- 25818540
TI  - Mortality in takotsubo syndrome is similar to mortality in myocardial infarction 
      A report from the SWEDEHEART registry.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Takotsubo syndrome is an acute cardiovascular condition that
      predominantly affects women. In this study, we compared patients with takotsubo
      syndrome and those with acute myocardial infarction with respect to patient
      characteristics, angiographic findings, and short- and long-term mortality.
      METHODS: From the Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry (SCAAR)
      and the Register of Information and Knowledge about Swedish Heart Intensive Care
      Admissions (RIKS-HIA), we obtained and merged data on patients undergoing
      coronary angiography in Vastra Gotaland County in western Sweden between January
      2005 and May 2013. Short- and long-term mortality in patients with takotsubo
      (n=302) and patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI, n=6595) and
      non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI, n=8207) were compared by modeling
      unadjusted and propensity score-adjusted logistic and Cox proportional-hazards
      regression. RESULTS: The proportion of the patients diagnosed with takotsubo
      increased from 0.16% in 2005 to 2.2% in 2012 (P<0.05); 14% of these patients also
      had significant coronary artery disease. Cardiogenic shock developed more
      frequently in patients with takotsubo than NSTEMI (adjusted OR 3.08, 95% CI 1.80
      5.28, P<0.001). Thirty-day mortality was 4.1% and was comparable to STEMI and
      NSTEMI. The long-term risk of dying from takotsubo (median follow-up 25 months)
      was also comparable to NSTEMI (adjusted HR 1.01, 95% CI 0.70-1.46, P=0.955) STEMI
      (adjusted HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.57-1.20, P=0.328). CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of
      acute coronary syndromes attributed to takotsubo syndrome in Western Sweden has
      increased over the last decade. The prognosis of takotsubo syndrome is poor, with
      similar early and late mortality as STEMI and NSTEMI.

PMID- 25818541
TI  - Variability in bioavailability of small molecular tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
AB  - Small molecular tyrosine kinase inhibitors (smTKIs) are in the centre of the very
      quickly expanding area of personalized chemotherapy and oral applicability
      thereof. The number of drugs in this class is rapidly growing, with twenty
      current approvals by both the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Food and
      Drug Administration (FDA). The drugs are, however, generally characterized by a
      poor oral, and thus variable, bioavailability. This results in significant
      variation in plasma levels and exposure. The cause is a complex interplay of
      factors, including poor aqueous solubility, issued permeability, membrane
      transport and enzymatic metabolism. Additionally, food and drug-drug interactions
      can play a significant role. The issues related with an impaired bioavailability
      generally receive little attention. To the best of our knowledge, this article is
      the first to provide an overview of the factors that determine the
      bioavailability of the smTKIs.

PMID- 25818542
TI  - Charcot foot syndrome.
AB  - Charcot foot syndrome is an uncommon complication of diabetes but is potentially
      devastating in its consequences. Outcome is made worse by widespread professional
      ignorance leading to delayed diagnosis, but it is also hampered by lack of
      understanding of its causes and lack of treatments with proven effectiveness,
      other than offloading. There remains a desperate need for studies into its causes
      as well as comparative audit and trials designed to determine the best treatment
      for this difficult condition. Such work can probably only be effectively carried
      out through the establishment of multicentre networks. Nevertheless, improved
      understanding in recent years of the likely role of inflammatory pathways has
      raised awareness of the multiple ways in which the effects of neuropathy may be
      manifest in the development of the Charcot foot. This awareness is also leading
      to the realization that similar processes may conceivably contribute to the
      refractoriness of other foot diseases in diabetes, including both chronic
      unhealing ulcers and osteomyelitis. 

PMID- 25818543
TI  - Ampullectomy versus pancreaticoduodenectomy for ampullary tumors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Considerable controversy surrounds the treatment of ampullary
      neoplasms. This report describes the authors' experiences regarding the choice of
      either ampullectomy or pancreaticoduodenectomy for treatment of ampullary tumors.
      METHODS: Demographics, statistical findings concerning diagnosis, surgical risks
      including morbidity and mortality, and outcomes were evaluated and compared
      between the ampullectomy and pancreaticoduodenectomy groups for ampullary tumors
      retrieved from a prospectively collected computer database of 992 periampullary
      tumors resected during the period from 1965 to 2013. RESULTS: A total of 377
      patients with ampullary tumors were included; 15 underwent ampullectomy and 362
      underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy. The overall false-negative rate for diagnosis
      of ampullary malignancy was 11.2%, specificity was 50.0%, positive predictive
      value was 98.3%, negative predictive value was 12.2%, and the overall accuracy
      was 87.6% (77.5% by preoperative endoscopic biopsy and 83.9% by intraoperative
      frozen-section biopsy). Ampullectomy was associated with shorter postoperative
      stays and lower surgical morbidity. There was no statistical difference observed
      between the two groups regarding surgical mortality, pancreatic leakage, or
      gastric atonia. The tumor recurrence rate was lower after
      pancreaticoduodenectomy, but the difference between the groups was not
      significant. Overall, there was no difference in survival observed between the
      two groups. CONCLUSION: Because biopsy is not routinely reliable,
      pancreaticoduodenectomy is preferable to ampullectomy for an ampullary tumor of
      uncertain diagnosis. Ampullectomy is associated with lower surgical morbidity and
      should therefore remain in the armamentarium of the pancreatic surgeon when
      comorbidity precludes major surgery.

PMID- 25818544
TI  - MicroRNA-93 regulates collagen loss by targeting MMP3 in human nucleus pulposus
      cells.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Degenerated disc disease is one of the most common medical conditions
      in patients suffering from low back pain. Recent studies have shown that
      microRNAs can regulate cell function in many pathological conditions. The aim of
      this study was to investigate expression and role of miR-93 in disc degeneration.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Quantitative RT-PCR was employed to investigate level of
      miR-93 in degenerative nucleus pulposus (NP) tissues. Then, functional analysis
      of miR-93 in regulating collagen II expression was performed. Subsequently,
      western blotting and luciferase reporter assay were used to detect the target
      gene. RESULTS: We showed that miR-93 was significantly down-regulated in
      degenerative NP tissues and its levels were associated with grade of disc
      degeneration. Overexpression of miR-93 stimulated type II collagen expression in
      NP cells. Moreover, MMP3 was identified as a putative target of miR-93. MiR-93
      inhibited MMP3 expression by directly targeting its 3'UTR, and this was abolished
      by miR-93 binding site mutations. Additionally, restoration of MMP3 in miR-93
      overexpressed NP cells reversed effects of type II collagen expression.
      Expression of MMP3 inversely correlated with miR-93 expression in degenerative NP
      tissues. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, we demonstrated that miR-93 contributed to
      abnormal NP cell type II collagen expression by targeting MMP3, involved in
      intervertebral disc degeneration.

PMID- 25818545
TI  - Gold mining for PDT: Great expectations from tiny nanoparticles.
AB  - Among many and various products, born by the modern nanotechnology, gold
      nanoparticles roused a special interest of biomedical researchers. Unique
      features of the nanoparticles allow to use them not only as effective
      transporters for therapeutic agents but also as basic components of nanocomposite
      preparations intended for targeted photodynamic and photothermal therapy of
      tumours. In the review, physical, chemical and biological properties of gold
      nanoparticles which can promote PDT efficiency of a designed nanocomposite, are
      briefly characterized, and promising trends in creation of gold-containing
      composite photosensitizers are analysed. 

PMID- 25818546
TI  - Low dose 5-aminolevulinic acid: Implications in spectroscopic measurements during
      brain tumor surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Using 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) as an intraoperative fluorescence
      contrast has been proven to improve the resection of glioblastoma and contribute
      to prolonged patient survival. ALA accumulates as protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) in the
      tumor cells and is administered in an advised dose of 20 mg/kg body weight (b.w.)
      for brain tumor resection using fluorescence surgical microscopes. PpIX
      fluorescence availability and intensities of a four folds lower ALA dose (5
      mg/kgb.w.) has been investigated in glioblastomas and skin using a spectroscopy
      system adapted for surgical guidance. METHODS: A total of 30 adult patients
      diagnosed with high grade gliomas were included in the analysis. ALA was orally
      administered in doses of 5 mg/kg b.w. (n = 15) dissolved in orange juice or 20
      mg/kgb.w. (n = 15) dissolved in water. A fluorescence spectroscopy system with a
      handheld fiber-optical probe was used for performing the quantitative
      fluorescence measurements. RESULTS: The binominal comparison of the diagnostic
      performance parameters showed no significant statistical difference (p > 0.05).
      The median fluorescence values in tumor were 2-3 times higher for the high ALA
      dose group. No PpIX was detected in the skin of the patients in the low dose
      group (0/4) while PpIX was detected in the skin of the majority of the patients
      in the high ALA dose group (13/14). CONCLUSIONS: Application of 5mg/kg ALA was
      evaluated as equally reliable as the higher dose regarding the diagnostic
      performance when guidance was performed using a spectroscopic system. Moreover,
      no PpIX was detected in the skin of the patients.

PMID- 25818548
TI  - Outcome of localised blastemal-type Wilms tumour patients treated according to
      intensified treatment in the SIOP WT 2001 protocol, a report of the SIOP Renal
      Tumour Study Group (SIOP-RTSG).

PMID- 25818547
TI  - Racial disparities in reaching the renal transplant waitlist: is geography as
      important as race?
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the United States, African Americans and whites differ in access
      to the deceased donor renal transplant waitlist. The extent to which racial
      disparities in waitlisting differ between United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)
      regions is understudied. METHODS: The US Renal Data System (USRDS) was linked
      with US census data to examine time from dialysis initiation to waitlisting for
      whites (n = 188,410) and African Americans (n = 144,335) using Cox proportional
      hazards across 11 UNOS regions, adjusting for potentially confounding individual,
      neighborhood, and state characteristics. RESULTS: Likelihood of waitlisting
      varies significantly by UNOS region, overall and by race. Additionally, African
      Americans face significantly lower likelihood of waitlisting compared to whites
      in all but two regions (1 and 6). Overall, 39% of African Americans with ESRD
      reside in Regions 3 and 4--regions with a large racial disparity and where
      African Americans comprise a large proportion of the ESRD population. In these
      regions, the African American-white disparity is an important contributor to
      their overall regional disparity. CONCLUSIONS: Race remains an important factor
      in time to transplant waitlist in the United States. Race contributes to overall
      regional disparities; however, the importance of race varies by UNOS region.

PMID- 25818549
TI  - Should whole blood replace the shock pack?
AB  - When haemorrhage occurs on the battlefield, the soldier rapidly loses whole
      blood; it therefore stands to reason that the optimum fluid for resuscitation is
      whole blood. Indeed, this was the case for the first 250 years of transfusion
      practice, but since the 1970s component therapy has been used, with little
      evidence for that change. It is hardly surprising that 'balanced' component
      therapy, which seeks to replicate whole blood, has been found to offer the best
      results in resuscitation. This article explores the role of whole blood in
      resuscitation and how it may be useful in the contemporary military environment. 

PMID- 25818550
TI  - Incidence and risk factors for backpack palsy in young Korean soldiers.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Backpack palsy (BPP) is a common aetiology of brachial plexopathy in
      military hospitals. We aimed to determine the incidence and risk factors of BPP
      in young Korean soldiers. METHODS: We identified enlisted patients who were
      diagnosed with BPP from a review of the medical records of all the Korean
      military hospitals in 2011 and 2012 and investigated their clinical findings and
      medical study results. To identify risk factors of BPP, we also surveyed, by
      questionnaire, healthy recruits of a company in a training centre who had just
      finished night marches. We divided them according to whether they had
      paresthaesia and/or weakness in their arm(s) during marching and compared their
      characteristics. RESULTS: The incidence of BPP in Korean soldiers was 29.7 per
      100,000 person-years (95% CI 17.2 to 24.3). Body mass index (BMI) was
      significantly lower in patients with BPP than it was in healthy recruits. Among
      healthy recruits, those who had experienced paresthaesia and/or weakness during
      marching had a significantly lower BMI than did those who had not. CONCLUSIONS:
      We report the incidence of BPP in young Korean soldiers. A low BMI was a risk
      factor for BPP. These results may be helpful in establishing a strategy for the
      prevention of BPP in the setting of military training.

PMID- 25818551
TI  - Pathogenic potential of SLC25A15 mutations assessed by transport assays and
      complementation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ORT1 null mutant.
AB  - HHH syndrome is an autosomal recessive urea cycle disorder caused by alterations
      in the SLC25A15 gene encoding the mitochondrial ornithine carrier 1, which
      catalyzes the transport of cytosolic ornithine into the mitochondria in exchange
      for intramitochondrial citrulline. In this study the functional effects of
      several SLC25A15 missense mutations p.G27R, p.M37R, p.N74A, p.F188L, p.F188Y,
      p.S200K, p.R275Q and p.R275K have been tested by transport assays in
      reconstituted liposomes and complementation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ORT1 null
      mutant in arginine-less synthetic complete medium. The HHH syndrome-causing
      mutations p.G27R, p.M37R, p.F188L and p.R275Q had impaired transport and did not
      complement ORT1? cells (except p.M37R slightly after 5 days in solid medium). The
      experimentally produced mutations p.N74A, p.S200K and p.R275K exhibited normal or
      considerable transport activity and complemented ORT1? cells after 3 days
      (p.N74A, p.S200K) or 5 days (p.R275K) incubation. Furthermore, the experimentally
      produced p.F188Y mutation displayed a substantial transport activity but did not
      complement the ORT1? cells in both liquid and solid media. In view of the
      disagreement in the results obtained between the two methods, it is recommended
      that the method of complementing the S. cerevisiae ORT1 knockout strain is used
      complimentary with the measurement of the catalytic activity, in order to
      distinguish HHH syndrome-causing mutations from isomorphisms.

PMID- 25818552
TI  - Adaptive changes of extracellular amino acid concentrations in mouse dorsal
      striatum by 4-AP-induced cortical seizures.
AB  - The striatum is a major target of cerebral cortical output. The cortico-striatal
      projection has been well described, however, the neurochemical changes that occur
      in the striatum after prolonged cortical hyperactivation remain to be
      investigated. In this study, extracellular levels of glutamate, GABA, and alanine
      levels were measured in the dorsal striatum using microdialysis in anesthetized
      mice at resting condition and during 4-aminopyridine (4-AP)-induced cortical
      seizures. After topical application of 4-AP on the primary motor cortex that
      induced cortical seizures, the extracellular level of striatal GABA increased by
      40% in 60 min. By contrast, the extracellular level of striatal glutamate
      decreased by 20%. Moreover, the surface amounts of striatal glutamate/aspartate
      transporter (GLAST) and glutamate transporter 1 (GLT-1), the major astrocytic
      high-affinity glutamate transporters, tended to increase by cortical seizures in
      60 min, suggesting a recruitment of the glutamate transporters from internal
      stores. 4-AP also resulted in a steady increase of alanine levels which are
      thought to reflect glutamate and pyruvate metabolism in neurons and astrocytes.
      These observations possibly delineate adaptive changes of striatal metabolism by
      severe cortical seizures.

PMID- 25818553
TI  - Behavioral and fMRI evidence of the differing cognitive load of domain-specific
      assessments.
AB  - Standards-referenced educational reform has increased the prevalence of
      standardized testing; however, whether these tests accurately measure students'
      competencies has been questioned. This may be due to domain-specific assessments
      placing a differing domain-general cognitive load on test-takers. To investigate
      this possibility, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to
      identify and quantify the neural correlates of performance on current,
      international standardized methods of spelling assessment. Out-of-scanner testing
      was used to further examine differences in assessment results. Results provide
      converging evidence that: (a) the spelling assessments differed in the cognitive
      load placed on test-takers; (b) performance decreased with increasing cognitive
      load of the assessment; and (c) brain regions associated with working memory were
      more highly activated during performance of assessments that were higher in
      cognitive load. These findings suggest that assessment design should optimize the
      cognitive load placed on test-takers, to ensure students' results are an accurate
      reflection of their true levels of competency. 

PMID- 25818554
TI  - Simulation of the capacity and precision of working memory in the
      hypodopaminergic state: Relevance to schizophrenia.
AB  - Working memory (WM) impairment has received attention as a behavioral
      characteristic of schizophrenia. Neurobiological studies have led to the
      hypothesis that a deficit in dopamine transmission through D1 receptors in the
      prefrontal cortex (PFC) is associated with WM impairment in schizophrenia.
      However, empirical approaches that aim to clarify the nature of the impairment
      and its underlying mechanism are difficult to enact, especially in unmedicated
      patients. By contrast, computational approaches using biologically plausible
      models have formed a powerful theoretical framework for the study of WM
      impairment in schizophrenia. This article attempts to directly connect
      neurobiological findings to the neuropsychological behaviors present in patients
      with schizophrenia. Using a biologically plausible prefrontal cortical circuit
      model, we simulated sustained activity during a simultaneous, multi-target WM
      task. We subsequently analyzed how dopaminergic modulation via D1 receptor
      activation alters the capacity and precision of WM and investigated the
      underlying mechanism. Hypodopaminergic modulation resulted in imprecision and a
      reduced capacity in WM primarily due to decreased N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)
      conductance. Increasing NMDA conductance ameliorated both impairments. These
      results account for the mechanism that underlies WM impairments in schizophrenia
      and provide a theoretical basis for combination therapy with antipsychotic drugs
      and drugs that enhance NMDA receptor function, which is expected to be effective
      for the treatment of WM impairments in these patients. 

PMID- 25818555
TI  - Is the future of meat palatable? Perceptions of in vitro meat as evidenced by
      online news comments.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To understand current public perceptions of in vitro meat (IVM) in
      light of its potential to be a more environmentally sustainable alternative to
      conventional meat. DESIGN: A qualitative content analysis of the comments made on
      online news articles highlighting the development of IVM and the world's first
      IVM hamburger in August 2013. SETTING: News article comment sections across seven
      US-based online news sources (The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The
      Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Cable News Network and
      National Public Radio). SUBJECTS: Four hundred and sixty-two commenters who made
      eight hundred and fourteen publicly available online comments addressing IVM.
      RESULTS: Key themes in commenter perceptions of IVM included environmental and
      public health benefits, but also negative themes such as IVM's status as an
      unnatural and unappealing food. Overall, the tone of comments was more negative
      than positive. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that while the environmental and
      public health motivations for developing and in turn consuming IVM resonate with
      some segments of the population, others find that reasoning both uncompelling and
      problematic. Concerns about IVM as an unnatural and risky product also appear to
      be a significant barrier to public acceptance of IVM. Supporters of IVM may wish
      to begin to develop a regulatory strategy for IVM to build public trust and
      explore messaging strategies that cast IVM as a new technology with benefits to
      individuals rather than primarily a solution to global challenges. Those in the
      public health nutrition field can make an important contribution to the emerging
      public discussion about IVM.

PMID- 25818556
TI  - Scale-up protein separation on stainless steel wide bore toroidal columns in the
      type-J counter-current chromatography.
AB  - Manufacturing high-value added biotech biopharmaceutical products (e.g.
      therapeutic proteins) requires quick-to-develop, GMP-compliant, easy-to-scale and
      cost effective preparatory chromatography technologies. In this work, we describe
      the construction and testing of a set of 5-mm inner diameter stainless steel
      toroidal columns for use on commercially available preparatory scale synchronous
      J-type counter-current chromatography (CCC) machinery. We used a 20.2m long
      column with an aqueous two-phase system containing 14% (w/w) PEG1000 and 14%
      (w/w) potassium phosphate at pH 7, and tested a sample loading of 5% column
      volume and a mobile phase flow rate of 20ml/min. We then satisfactorily
      demonstrated the potential for a weekly protein separation and preparation
      throughput of ca. 11g based on a normal weekly routine for separating a pair of
      model proteins by making five stacked injections on a single portion of
      stationary phase with no stripping. Compared to our previous 1.6mm bore PTFE
      toroidal column, the present columns enlarged the nominal column processing
      throughput by nearly 10. For an ideal model protein injection modality, we
      observed a scaling up factor of at least 21. The 2 scales of protein separation
      and purification steps were realized on the same commercial CCC device.

PMID- 25818557
TI  - Systematic and practical solvent system selection strategy based on the nonrandom
      two-liquid segment activity coefficient model for real-life counter-current
      chromatography separation.
AB  - Solvent system selection is the first step toward a successful counter-current
      chromatography (CCC) separation. This paper introduces a systematic and practical
      solvent system selection strategy based on the nonrandom two-liquid segment
      activity coefficient (NRTL-SAC) model, which is efficient in predicting the
      solute partition coefficient. Firstly, the application of the NRTL-SAC method was
      extended to the ethyl acetate/n-butanol/water and chloroform/methanol/water
      solvent system families. Moreover, the versatility and predictive capability of
      the NRTL-SAC method were investigated. The results indicate that the solute
      molecular parameters identified from hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water solvent
      system family are capable of predicting a large number of partition coefficients
      in several other different solvent system families. The NRTL-SAC strategy was
      further validated by successfully separating five components from Salvia plebeian
      R.Br. We therefore propose that NRTL-SAC is a promising high throughput method
      for rapid solvent system selection and highly adaptable to screen suitable
      solvent system for real-life CCC separation. 

PMID- 25818558
TI  - A size exclusion-reversed phase two dimensional-liquid chromatography methodology
      for stability and small molecule related species in antibody drug conjugates.
AB  - Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) are complex therapeutic agents combining the
      specific targeting properties of antibodies and highly potent cytotoxic small
      molecule drugs to selectively eliminate tumor cells while limiting the toxicity
      to normal healthy tissues. One unique critical quality attribute of ADCs is the
      content of unconjugated small molecule drug present from either incomplete
      conjugation or degradation of the ADC. In this work, size exclusion
      chromatography (SEC) was coupled with reversed-phase (RP) HPLC in an online 2
      dimensional chromatography format for identification and quantitation of
      unconjugated small molecule drugs and related small molecule impurities in ADC
      samples directly without sample preparation. The SEC method in the 1st dimension
      not only separated the small molecule impurities from the intact ADC, but also
      provided information about the size variants (monomer, dimer, aggregates, etc.)
      of the ADC. The small molecule peak from the SEC was trapped and sent to a RP
      HPLC in the 2nd dimension to further separate and quantify the different small
      molecule impurities present in the ADC sample. This SEC-RP 2D-LC method
      demonstrated excellent precision (%RSD<2.0), linearity (r(2)=0.9999), sensitivity
      (LOQ of 0.05MUg/mL of free drug in ADC sample) and accuracy (95-105% recovery of
      spiked samples). The 2D-LC method was further utilized to study the stability of
      an ADC drug product at different temperatures and pHs. Both small molecule
      degradation products and aggregation of the conjugate were observed in the
      stability samples and the degradation pathways of the ADC were investigated. This
      2D-LC method offers a powerful tool for ADC characterization and provides
      valuable information for conjugation and formulation development. 

PMID- 25818560
TI  - Long-term analyses in automated electrophoretic analyzer in hydrodynamically
      closed separation system.
AB  - Some potential problems that can occur during the analyses of complex samples by
      on-line combination of capillary isotachophoresis-capillary zone electrophoresis
      (cITP-CZE) in automated electrophoretic analyzer with the column-coupling
      configuration of the separation unit were studied in this work. The main focus
      was devoted on the reproducibility of important analytes' parameters (migration
      time, peak height and peak area) and also on the stability studies of selected
      low and high molecular mass analytes of inorganic/organic origins (bromate,
      vitamins, proteins) present at low concentration levels in different kinds of
      matrices (mineral water, human urine). Such study was carried out for the first
      time for the electrophoretic analyzer operating in the hydrodynamically closed
      separation system provided with contact-less conductivity detectors and UV
      detector in CZE step. Hydrodynamic and electroosmotic flows of the buffer
      solutions were suppressed and therefore, only the electrophoretic transport of
      ions was significant. Obtained results showed the different stabilities of the
      analytes and samples depending on their origin. The focus in the long-term
      analyses should be paid on the storage of the samples and on the regular changing
      the contents of electrolyte vessels to keep the electrolyte composition and
      separation conditions as constant as possible. 

PMID- 25818559
TI  - Octadecyl functionalized core-shell magnetic silica nanoparticle as a powerful
      nanocomposite sorbent to extract urinary volatile organic metabolites.
AB  - In this present study, magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles (MNPs) functionalized
      with octadecyl groups (Fe3O4@SiO2-C18 NPs) were synthesized, characterized and
      employed, for the first time, as powerful nanosorbent to extract endogenous
      volatile organic metabolites (EVOMs) namely, hexanal, heptanal, decanal,
      benzaldehyde, 4-heptanone, 5-methyl-2-furfural and phenol, described as potential
      biomarkers of cancer, from human urine. By using co-precipitation, surface
      modification methods, the carbon-ferromagnetic nanocomposite was synthesized and
      characterized by infrared spectrum (IR) and transmission electron microscopy
      (TEM). By coupling with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-qMS), a
      reliable, sensitive and cost-effective method was validated. To test the
      extraction efficiency of the carbon-ferromagnetic nanocomposite toward urinary
      EVOMs experimental variables affecting the extraction performance, including
      nanosorbent amount, adsorption time, elution time, and nature of elution solvent,
      were investigated in detail. The extraction process was performed by dispersing
      Fe3O4@SiO2-C18 NPs into working solution containing targeted VOMs, and into urine
      samples, and then eluted with an adequate organic solvent. The eluate was
      collected, concentrated and analyzed by GC-qMS. Under the optimized conditions,
      the LODs and LOQs achieved were in the range of 9.7-57.3 and 32.4-190.9ng/mL,
      respectively. Calibration curves were linear (r(2)>=0. 988) over the
      concentration ranges from 0.25 to 250ng/mL. In addition, a satisfying
      reproducibility was achieved by evaluating the intra- and inter-day precisions
      with relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 3 and 11%, respectively. The
      method also afforded satisfactory results in terms of the matrix effect (72.8
      96.1%) and recoveries (accuracy) higher than 75.1% for most of the studied EVOMs.
      The Fe3O4@SiO2-C18 NPs-based sorbent extraction combined with GC-qMS revealed
      that the new nanosorbent had a strong ability to retain the target metabolites
      providing a new, reliable and high throughput strategy for isolation of targeted
      EVOMs in human urine, suggesting their potential to be applied in other EVOMs. 

PMID- 25818561
TI  - Sex differences in the effects of juvenile and adult diet on age-dependent
      reproductive effort.
AB  - Sexual selection should cause sex differences in patterns of resource allocation.
      When current and future reproductive effort trade off, variation in resource
      acquisition might further cause sex differences in age-dependent investment, or
      in sensitivity to changes in resource availability over time. However, the nature
      and prevalence of sex differences in age-dependent investment remain unclear. We
      manipulated resource acquisition at juvenile and adult stages in decorated
      crickets, Gryllodes sigillatus, and assessed effects on sex-specific allocation
      to age-dependent reproductive effort (calling in males, fecundity in females) and
      longevity. We predicted that the resource and time demands of egg production
      would result in relatively consistent female strategies across treatments,
      whereas male investment should depend sharply on diet. Contrary to expectations,
      female age-dependent reproductive effort diverged substantially across
      treatments, with resource-limited females showing much lower and later investment
      in reproduction; the highest fecundity was associated with intermediate
      lifespans. In contrast, long-lived males always signalled more than short-lived
      males, and male age-dependent reproductive effort did not depend on diet. We
      found consistently positive covariance between male reproductive effort and
      lifespan, whereas diet altered this covariance in females, revealing sex
      differences in the benefits of allocation to longevity. Our results support sex
      specific selection on allocation patterns, but also suggest a simpler
      alternative: males may use social feedback to make allocation decisions and
      preferentially store resources as energetic reserves in its absence. Increased
      calling effort with age therefore could be caused by gradual resource
      accumulation, heightened mortality risk over time, and a lack of feedback from
      available mates.

PMID- 25818562
TI  - Overexpressed Arabidopsis Annexin4 accumulates in inclusion body-like structures.
AB  - Large protein complexes form in the cytosol of prokaryotes and eukaryotes as
      assemblies of functional enzymes or aggregates of misfolded proteins. Their roles
      in the cell range from critical components of metabolism to disease-causing
      agents. We have observed a novel structure in the cells of transgenic Arabidopsis
      thaliana that appears to be a form of inclusion body. These long, spindle-shaped
      structures form when Arabidopsis are transformed to express high levels of the
      protein Annexin4 fused to a fluorescent protein. These structures, previously
      named darts, are visible in all cells of the plant throughout development. Darts
      take on a variety of morphologies including rings and figure-eights. These
      structures are not associated with the endomembrane system and are not membrane
      bounded. Darts appear to be insoluble aggregates of protein analogous to
      bacterial inclusion bodies and eukaryotic aggresomes. Similar structures have not
      been observed in untransformed plants, suggesting darts are artifacts of
      transgenic overexpression. 

PMID- 25818563
TI  - High-resolution twin-ion metabolite extraction (HiTIME) mass spectrometry:
      nontargeted detection of unknown drug metabolites by isotope labeling, liquid
      chromatography mass spectrometry, and automated high-performance computing.
AB  - The metabolic fate of a compound can often determine the success of a new drug
      lead. Thus, significant effort is directed toward identifying the metabolites
      formed from a given molecule. Here, an automated and nontargeted procedure is
      introduced for detecting drug metabolites without authentic metabolite standards
      via the use of stable isotope labeling, liquid chromatography mass spectrometry
      (LC/MS), and high-performance computing. LC/MS of blood plasma extracts from rats
      that were administered a 1:1 mixture of acetaminophen (APAP) and (13)C6-APAP
      resulted in mass spectra that contained "twin" ions for drug metabolites that
      were not detected in control spectra (i.e., no APAP administered). Because of the
      development of a program (high-resolution twin-ion metabolite extraction; HiTIME)
      that can identify twin-ions in high-resolution mass spectra without centroiding
      (i.e., reduction of mass spectral peaks to single data points), 9 doublets
      corresponding to APAP metabolites were identified. This is nearly twice that
      obtained by use of existing programs that make use of centroiding to reduce
      computational cost under these conditions with a quadrupole time-of-flight mass
      spectrometer. By a manual search for all reported APAP metabolite ions, no
      additional twin-ion signals were assigned. These data indicate that all the major
      metabolites of APAP and multiple low-abundance metabolites (e.g., acetaminophen
      hydroxy- and methoxysulfate) that are rarely reported were detected. This
      methodology can be used to detect drug metabolites without prior knowledge of
      their identity. HiTIME is freely available from https://github.com/bjpop/HiTIME .

PMID- 25818564
TI  - Short sprints (30s) attenuate post-prandial blood glucose in young healthy males.
AB  - AIMS: Low-volume, high-intensity exercise is a time-efficient method of inducing
      physiological responses and may also improve glucose homeostasis. Therefore,
      effects of two different volumes of sprint-interval cycling on post-prandial
      blood glucose were assessed. METHODS: Twenty healthy young males undertook two
      Wingate anaerobic tests (2WAT), four Wingate anaerobic (4WAT) and without
      exercise (CON) 90 min after eating a standard meal. Blood glucose was examined at
      60, 90, 105, 120, 135 and 150 min post-prandially. RESULTS: 2WAT and 4WAT both
      accelerated the decrease of blood glucose compared with CON (P<0.05). There were
      significant reductions at 120 (4.45 +/- 0.64 vs. 4.93 +/- 0.9 vs. 5.68 +/- 0.69),
      135 (4.28 +/- 0.50 vs. 4.48 +/- 0.75 vs. 5.54 +/- 0.6) and 150 min (4.64 +/- 0.71
      vs. 4.71 +/- 0.73 vs. 5.36 +/- 0.48, all P<0.05). Blood glucose at 120 min was
      lower after 2WAT than 4WAT (4.45 +/- 0.64 vs. 4.93 +/- 0.9, P<0.05), this
      producing a significant statistical interaction between groups and post-exercise
      time (P<0.005). CONCLUSIONS: 2WAT and 4WAT tests both accelerate the post
      prandial decrease in blood glucose in young healthy males, 2WAT being superior to
      4WAT in producing this response, even though 2WAT is easier to perform and less
      time consuming.

PMID- 25818178
TI  - Pyrosequencing and de novo assembly of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba)
      transcriptome to study the adaptability of krill to climate-induced environmental
      changes.
AB  - The Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, has a key position in the Southern Ocean
      food web by serving as direct link between primary producers and apex predators.
      The south-west Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, where the majority of the
      krill population is located, is experiencing one of the most profound
      environmental changes worldwide. Up to now, we have only cursory information
      about krill's genomic plasticity to cope with the ongoing environmental changes
      induced by anthropogenic CO2 emission. The genome of krill is not yet available
      due to its large size (about 48 Gbp). Here, we present two cDNA normalized
      libraries from whole krill and krill heads sampled in different seasons that were
      combined with two data sets of krill transcriptome projects, already published,
      to produce the first knowledgebase krill 'master' transcriptome. The new library
      produced 25% more E. superba transcripts and now includes nearly all the enzymes
      involved in the primary oxidative metabolism (Glycolysis, Krebs cycle and
      oxidative phosphorylation) as well as all genes involved in glycogenesis,
      glycogen breakdown, gluconeogenesis, fatty acid synthesis and fatty acids beta
      oxidation. With these features, the 'master' transcriptome provides the most
      complete picture of metabolic pathways in Antarctic krill and will provide a
      major resource for future physiological and molecular studies. This will be
      particularly valuable for characterizing the molecular networks that respond to
      stressors caused by the anthropogenic CO2 emissions and krill's capacity to cope
      with the ongoing environmental changes in the Atlantic sector of the Southern
      Ocean. 

PMID- 25818565
TI  - Astrocyte regulation of blood flow in the brain.
AB  - Neuronal activity results in increased blood flow in the brain, a response named
      functional hyperemia. Astrocytes play an important role in mediating this
      response. Neurotransmitters released from active neurons evoke Ca(2+) increases
      in astrocytes, leading to the release of vasoactive metabolites of arachidonic
      acid from astrocyte endfeet onto blood vessels. Synthesis of prostaglandin E2
      (PGE2) and epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) dilate blood vessels, whereas 20
      hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE) constricts vessels. The release of K(+)
      from astrocyte endfeet may also contribute to vasodilation. Oxygen modulates
      astrocyte regulation of blood flow. Under normoxic conditions, astrocytic Ca(2+)
      signaling results in vasodilation, whereas under hyperoxic conditions,
      vasoconstriction is favored. Astrocytes also contribute to the generation of
      vascular tone. Tonic release of both 20-HETE and ATP from astrocytes constricts
      vascular smooth muscle cells, generating vessel tone. Under pathological
      conditions, including Alzheimer's disease and diabetic retinopathy, disruption of
      normal astrocyte physiology can compromise the regulation of blood flow. 

PMID- 25818567
TI  - Malaria in Europe: a rare disease?

PMID- 25818568
TI  - Early outcomes of pulmonary valve replacement with the mitroflow bovine
      pericardial bioprosthesis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bovine pericardial valves are often used for pulmonary valve
      replacement (PVR) in patients with previously repaired congenital heart disease.
      Attention has recently focused on the safety of the Mitroflow (Sorin Group USA,
      Arvada, CO) bovine pericardial valve after a national alert describing several
      cases of sudden valve failure in young patients. In response, we reviewed our
      experience using the Mitroflow bioprosthesis for PVR. METHODS: Medical records
      were reviewed for all patients who underwent PVR using a Mitroflow valve at our
      center (2008-2013). RESULTS: The cohort included 84 patients with a median age of
      18.3 years (range, 0.8-62.1 years) and weight of 48.4 kg (range, 5.7-167.8 kg).
      Indications for surgical intervention included native outflow tract insufficiency
      (59 patients), valved conduit failure (20 patients), and isolated prosthetic
      valve failure (5 patients). Median length of stay was 3 days (range, 2-13 days).
      There were no hospital deaths. Median follow-up was 2.4 years (range, 0.2-5.6
      years). Pulmonary valve insufficiency and peak gradient increased with time. At
      latest follow-up, freedom from insufficiency greater than or equal to a moderate
      degree was 83%, and freedom from a peak gradient greater than or equal to 50 mm
      Hg was 92%. Reintervention was required in 4 patients. One patient experienced
      endocarditis and underwent surgical PVR (0.6 years after initial intervention).
      Three patients underwent transcatheter treatment for valve stenosis including PVR
      (at 4.2 and 4.4 years in 2 patients) and balloon valvuloplasty (at 5.2 years in
      the third patient). Kaplan-Meier freedom from reintervention at 5 years was 81%.
      CONCLUSIONS: Early outcomes using the Mitroflow bovine pericardial valve for PVR
      in children and adults with repaired congenital heart disease appear acceptable
      and similar to reported outcomes for other tissue valve options. Valve failure
      from premature structural deterioration was not observed.

PMID- 25818566
TI  - Perineurial glia.
AB  - Although the ultrastructure of peripheral nerves has been known for nearly 200
      years, the developmental origins and functional roles of all five main components
      of these specialized nervous system conduits are still poorly understood. One of
      these understudied nerve elements, the perineurium, is a component of the blood
      nerve barrier and is essential for protecting axons and their associated Schwann
      cells from ionic flux, toxins, and infection. However, until recently, it was
      thought that this vital nerve tissue was derived from the mesoderm and simply
      served a structural/barrier function with no other influence on the development,
      maintenance, or regeneration of peripheral nerves. Recent work in zebrafish using
      in vivo time-lapse imaging, genetic manipulation, and laser axotomy is shedding
      light on the origin and roles of this previously ignored glial nerve component
      and is changing how we view development of the nervous system. 

PMID- 25818569
TI  - Lung function predicts pulmonary complications regardless of the surgical
      approach.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although postoperative predicted forced expiratory volume in the
      first second and diffusing capacity of lung (ppoFEV1% and ppoDLCO%, respectively)
      have been identified as independent predictors of postoperative pulmonary
      complications after open lobectomy, it has been suggested that their predictive
      abilities may not extend to patients undergoing minimally invasive lobectomy.
      METHODS: We evaluated outcomes in 805 patients undergoing isolated lobectomy
      through open (n = 585) or minimally invasive approaches (n = 220) using a
      prospective database. Demographic and physiologic data were extracted and
      compared with complications classified as pulmonary, cardiac, other, mortality,
      and any. RESULTS: Patients included 428 women and 377 men; mean age was 65.0
      years. Minimally invasive patients were older (66.6 versus 64.3 years, p =
      0.006), had better ppoFEV1% (71.5% versus 65.6%, p < 0.001) and performance
      status (0,1 94.1% versus 88.4%, p = 0.017), and less often underwent induction
      therapy (0.5% versus 4.8%, p = 0.003). Pulmonary and other complications were
      less common after minimally invasive lobectomy (3.6% versus 10.4%, p = 0.0034;
      8.6% versus 15.8%, p = 0.008). Operative mortality occurred in 1.4% of minimally
      invasive patients and 3.9% of open patients (p = 0.075). Pulmonary complication
      incidence was related to predicted postoperative lung function for both minimally
      invasive and open approaches. On multivariate analysis with stratification for
      stage, ppoFEV1% and ppoDLCO% were predictive of pulmonary complications for both
      minimally invasive and open approaches. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the
      predictive abilities of ppoFEV1% and ppoDLCO% are retained for minimally invasive
      lobectomy and can be used to estimate the risk of pulmonary complications.

PMID- 25818570
TI  - Results of palliation with an initial modified Blalock-Taussig shunt in neonates
      with single ventricle anomalies associated with restrictive pulmonary blood flow.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We report our current-era results after placement of a modified
      Blalock-Taussig shunt (mBTS) as the first surgery in the multistage palliation
      strategy of neonates born with single ventricle (SV) anomalies associated with
      restrictive pulmonary blood flow. METHODS: Between 2002 and 2012, 174 neonates
      with SV underwent mBTS. Competing risks analysis modeled events after mBTS (death
      or transplantation, transition to Glenn) and subsequently after Glenn (death or
      transplantation, transition to Fontan) and examined risk factors affecting
      outcomes. RESULTS: Competing risks analysis showed that 2 years after mBTS 27% of
      patients had died or received transplantation and 73% had undergone Glenn. Five
      years after Glenn, 6% had died, 73% had undergone Fontan, and 21% were alive
      awaiting Fontan. Overall survival 8 years after mBTS was 68%. On multivariable
      analysis, risk factors for mortality were increased shunt size to weight ratio
      (hazard ratio [HR]:1.2 per 0.1 ratio increase [1.0 to 1.4], p = 0.015),
      postoperative extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (HR: 4.0 [2.2 to 7.4], p <
      0.001), chromosomal and extracardiac malformations (HR: 2.5 [1.3 to 5.0], p =
      0.008), cardiopulmonary bypass use (HR: 2.5 [1.3 to 4.5], p = 0.004), and
      underlying pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum (PAIVS) or atrial
      isomerism (HR: 2.1 [1.1 to 4.2], p = 0.035). CONCLUSIONS: Palliation outcomes
      with mBTS in SV patients trail behind the generally improved results of
      congenital heart surgery. Several anatomic and patient-related factors continue
      to affect survival. Mortality is high in low weight neonates in whom a balance
      between overcirculation due to large shunt and low pulmonary blood flow and risk
      of occlusion due to small shunt is difficult to attain. Patients with chromosomal
      and extracardiac malformations, atrial isomerism, and PAIVS continue to be the
      most challenging and are associated with higher hospital and interstage
      mortality.

PMID- 25818571
TI  - Bronchoscopic management of patients with symptomatic airway stenosis and
      prognostic factors for survival.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Interventional bronchoscopy is effective in the management of
      patients with symptomatic airway obstruction for both malignant and benign
      conditions. The main aim of this study is to report our experience with emergency
      interventional bronchoscopy in patients with symptomatic airway obstruction and
      identify prognostic factors for survival. METHODS: This is a retrospective
      observational study of patients undergoing emergency interventional bronchoscopy
      over a 4-year period. Survival times were analyzed separately for patients with
      benign and malignant airway obstruction by the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS:
      Between June 2009 and July 2013, 168 emergency interventional bronchoscopies were
      performed in 112 patients for airway obstruction. The median age was 63 years
      (range, 20 to 86), and 91 patients (54%) patients were female. Seventy-two cases
      (43%) had airway obstruction due to malignant disease. There were 3 in-hospital
      deaths (2.7%). Median survival of the study population was 5.6 months (range, 0
      to 51) with a median follow-up of 7.3 months (range, 0 to 51). Median survival
      for patients with malignant airway obstruction was 3.5 months (range, 0 to 21),
      and 9.8 months (range, 0.1 to 51) for those with benign disease. Airway
      intervention facilitated palliative chemotherapy in 32 patients (44%) of those
      with malignant airway obstruction. At multivariate analysis in patients with
      malignant airway obstruction, presence of stridor (hazard ratio 1.919, 95%
      confidence interval: 1.082 to 3.404, p = 0.026) and not receiving postprocedure
      chemotherapy (hazard ratio 2.05, 95% confidence interval: 1.156 to 3.636, p =
      0.014) were independent prognostic factors for death. CONCLUSIONS: Emergency
      interventional bronchoscopy for airway obstruction is safe, relieved symptoms,
      and facilitated palliative chemotherapy, which improved survival.

PMID- 25818572
TI  - Marfan syndrome is associated with recurrent dissection of the dissected aorta.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recurrent dissection of a previously dissected aortic segment has
      been reported as a rare, late complication in single case reports. The
      infrequency of this event makes informed risk assessment in an individual patient
      challenging. METHODS: To investigate this issue we examined the database of the
      Massachusetts General Hospital Thoracic Aortic Center between January 1, 2003 and
      December 31, 2012. A retrospective review was performed to identify patients with
      both (1) an acute aortic dissection after a prior aortic dissection and (2)
      evidence of a new dissection within a previously dissected aortic segment
      creating a triple lumen aorta. Data were reviewed to identify factors
      predisposing to dissection of a previously dissected aortic segment. RESULTS:
      Over a 10-year period we identified 5 cases of aortic dissection within a
      previously dissected aortic segment presenting as a new acute aortic syndrome. On
      average, the recurrent dissection occurred 1 decade after the first aortic
      dissection (mean = 9.8 +/- 1.9 years). Patients identified in this series were
      significantly younger at first dissection and more likely to carry the diagnosis
      of Marfan syndrome. Aortic aneurysm diameter was quantified before and after the
      new dissection event and demonstrated a marked increase in aneurysmal size (mean
      increase = 1.6 +/- 0.3 cm). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that medial degeneration, as
      seen in the Marfan aorta, represents a predisposing factor for recurrent
      dissection of the dissected aorta. Our data indicate that double aortic
      dissections cause significant arterial destabilization and a low threshold for
      surgical intervention is appropriate.

PMID- 25818573
TI  - Heparin reduces overcirculation-induced pulmonary artery remodeling through p38
      MAPK in piglet.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Artery remodeling is the principal change of pulmonary artery
      hypertension. Heparin has been shown to inhibit vascular smooth muscle cell
      proliferation. We hypothesized that heparin may modulate vascular remodeling in
      pulmonary artery hypertension, and explored the mechanism. METHODS: A localized
      overcirculation-induced artery remodeling was created in piglets by anastomosing
      the left lower lobe pulmonary artery (LLLPA) to the thoracic aortic artery.
      Piglets were treated with heparin or saline for 4 weeks. Hemodynamic data were
      collected, and histology of the lung was assessed. We investigated the
      expressions of several candidate genes in lung and further observed the
      involvement of P38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK). The effects of
      heparin on the growth of cultured pulmonary arterial vascular smooth muscle cell
      and P38 MAPK expression were further determined under various conditions.
      RESULTS: Four weeks after the shunt setup, overcirculation caused significant
      LLLPA remodeling, pressure increase, and pulmonary vascular resistance increase,
      and LLLPA flow reduction compared with that immediately after the shunt setup.
      Heparin reduced the LLLPA remodeling, pressure, and pulmonary vascular
      resistance, and increased the LLLPA flow compared with that not heparin treated.
      Shunt and heparin treatment did not change the piglet's systemic hemodynamics.
      Shunt increased the expression of P38 MAPK and heparin decreased its expression
      in the shunted LLLPA. Both heparin and P38 MAPK inhibitor suppressed VSMC growth
      and P38 MAPK expression in the cultured VSMC, but they did not present additive
      effects when the two treatments were combined. CONCLUSIONS: Heparin reduces
      overcirculation-induced pulmonary artery remodeling through a P38 MAPK-dependent
      pathway.

PMID- 25818574
TI  - Reduced transfusion requirement with use of fresh whole blood in pediatric
      cardiac surgical procedures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pediatric patients undergoing cardiac operations are at high risk for
      blood loss and transfusion. A practice intended to reduce transfusion using a
      standard order of 2 units fresh whole blood (< 48 hours from donation) for
      elective cardiac operations in patients younger than 2 years of age was in place
      from 1995 to 2010. The objective of this study was to describe blood use in this
      population and to compare the results with those in published reports describing
      the use of blood components exclusively for transfusion. METHODS: Retrospective
      data from a surgical registry and blood bank records for 15 consecutive years
      were analyzed. Transfusion requirements were identified as donor exposures for
      the day of operation and the next postoperative day. Transfusions were fresh
      whole blood, packed red blood cells, platelets, and cryoprecipitate. Donor
      exposures for subgroups according to procedure and age were compared with those
      in published reports. RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 4,111 patients with a
      median age of 94 days and a median weight of 4.4 kg. The median donor exposure
      was 2 (range, 0 to 28). Younger patients having complex procedures had the most
      donor exposures. Fewer donor exposures were incurred in all subgroups compared
      with reports of component use in the literature. CONCLUSIONS: The use of fresh
      whole blood for cardiac operations in children younger than 2 years old reduces
      donor exposures compared with published reports of component use.

PMID- 25818575
TI  - The discrepancy between central foveal thickness and best corrected visual acuity
      in cystoid macular edema secondary to central retinal vein occlusion after
      intravitreal lucentis(r) injection.
AB  - Cystoid macular edema is a common retinal disorder with the potential for
      significant vision-related morbidity, and intravitreal lucentis((r)) injection is
      confirmed to be an effective therapy approach. In the present study, we
      investigated the discrepancy between central foveal thickness and best corrected
      visual acuity in such lesions and infered that intravitreal lucentis((r))
      injection may help the visual function, related to the renewal of cells. 

PMID- 25818576
TI  - Prophylactic treatment with melatonin before recurrent neonatal seizures: Effects
      on long-term neurobehavioral changes and the underlying expression of metabolism
      related genes in rat hippocampus and cerebral cortex.
AB  - Although it has been suggested that the protective effect of melatonin against
      seizure-induced neurotoxicity involves inhibition of neuronal lipid peroxidation,
      current data concerning the exact molecular mechanism are still limited. This
      study was undertaken to investigate the changes in neurobehavioral, cognitive and
      lipid metabolism-related gene expressions in both hippocampus and cerebral cortex
      of rats subjected to recurrent neonatal seizures, and the effects of melatonin
      treatment before seizure (55mg/kg, 1mg/ml). 6-day-old (P6) SD rats were randomly
      divided into four groups of control (CONT, the same below), melatonin treated
      control (Mel), recurrent neonatal seizure (RS) and melatonin and RS combination
      treatment (Mel+RS). Neurological behavioral parameters of brain damage (plane
      righting reflex, negative geotaxis reaction reflex, Cliff avoidance reflex,
      forelimb suspension reflex) were observed on P31. Morris water maze test was
      performed during P29-P35. Then the protein levels of ACAT1, Cathepsin-E and
      Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CAMK II) in hippocampus and
      cerebral cortex were detected by western blot method. As expected, RS group
      showed a significant delay or reduce of the four reflexes, as well as bad
      performance in the Morris water maze test. Flurothyl-induced neurobehavioral
      toxicology was blocked by pre-treatment with melatonin. In parallel with these
      behavioral changes, gene expression by western blot method demonstrated that rats
      pretreated with melatonin (Mel+RS) showed a significant down-regulated expression
      of ACAT-1, Cathepsin-E and up-regulated CAMK II in hippocampus and cerebral
      cortex when compared with RS group. Our findings provide support for ACAT
      1/Cathepsin-E as well as CaMK II being potential targets for the treatment of
      neonatal seizure-induced brain damage by melatonin. 

PMID- 25818577
TI  - Nasal immunization with M cell-targeting ligand-conjugated ApxIIA toxin fragment
      induces protective immunity against Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae infection in
      a murine model.
AB  - Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is the causative agent of porcine pleuropneumonia
      and severe economic loss in the swine industry has been caused by the infection.
      Therefore, the development of an effective vaccine against the bacteria is
      necessary. ApxII toxin, among several virulence factors expressed by the
      bacteria, is considered to be a promising vaccine candidate because ApxII toxin
      not only accompanies cytotoxic and hemolytic activities, but is also expressed in
      all 15 serotypes of bacteria except serotypes 10 and 14. In this study, we
      identified the peptide ligand capable of targeting the ligand-conjugated ApxIIA
      #5 fragment antigen to nasopharynx-associated lymphoid tissue. It was found that
      nasal immunization with ligand-conjugated ApxIIA #5 induced efficient mucosal and
      systemic immune responses measured at the levels of antigen-specific antibodies,
      cytokine-secreting cells after antigen exposure, and antigen-specific lymphocyte
      proliferation. More importantly, the nasal immunization induced protective
      immunity against nasal challenge infection of the bacteria, which was confirmed
      by histopathological studies and bacterial clearance after challenge infection.
      Collectively, we confirmed that the ligand capable of targeting the ligand
      conjugated antigen to nasopharynx-associated lymphoid tissue can be used as an
      effective nasal vaccine adjuvant to induce protective immunity against A.
      pleuropneumoniae infection. 

PMID- 25818578
TI  - Complete genome sequence of canine astrovirus with molecular and epidemiological
      characterisation of UK strains.
AB  - Astroviruses are a common cause of gastroenteritis in children worldwide. These
      viruses can also cause infection in a range of domestic and wild animal species.
      Canine astrovirus (CaAstV) was first identified in the USA, and has since been
      reported in dogs from Europe, the Far East and South America. We sought to
      determine whether CaAstV is circulating in the UK dog population, and to
      characterise any identified strains. Stool samples were collected from pet dogs
      in the UK with and without gastroenteritis, and samples were screened for CaAstV
      by qPCR. Four CaAstV positive samples were identified from dogs with
      gastroenteritis (4/67, 6.0%), whereas no samples from healthy dogs were positive
      (p<0.001). Sequencing of the capsid sequences from the four CaAstV strains found
      significant genetic heterogeneity, with only 80% amino acid identity between
      strains. The full genome sequence of two UK CaAstV strains was then determined,
      confirming that CaAstV conforms to the classic genome organisation of other
      astroviruses with ORF1a and ORF1b separated by a frameshift and ORF2 encoding the
      capsid protein. This is the first report describing the circulation of CaAstV in
      UK dogs with clinical signs of gastroenteritis, and the first description of the
      full-length genomes of two CaAstV strains. 

PMID- 25818579
TI  - Determination of common genetic variants within the non-structural proteins of
      foot-and-mouth disease viruses isolated in sub-Saharan Africa.
AB  - The non-structural proteins of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) are
      responsible for RNA replication, proteolytic processing of the viral polyprotein
      precursor, folding and assembly of the structural proteins and modification of
      the cellular translation apparatus. Investigation of the amino acid heterogeneity
      of the non-structural proteins of seventy-nine FMDV isolates of SAT1, SAT2, SAT3,
      A and O serotypes revealed between 29 and 62% amino acid variability. The Leader
      protease (L(pro)) and 3A proteins were the most variable whilst the RNA-dependent
      RNA polymerase (3D(pol)) the most conserved. Phylogeny based on the non
      structural protein-coding regions showed separate clusters for southern African
      viruses for both the L(pro) and 3C protease (3C(pro)) and sequences unique to
      this group of viruses, e.g. in the 2C and 3C(pro) proteins. These groupings were
      unlike serotype groupings based on structural protein-coding regions. The amino
      acid substitutions and the nature of the naturally occurring substitutions
      provide insight into the functional domains and regions of the non-structural
      proteins that are critical for structure-function. The L(pro) of southern African
      SAT type isolates differed from A, O and SAT isolates in northern Africa,
      particularly in the auto-processing region. Three-dimensional structures of the
      3C protease (3C(pro)) and 3D(pol) showed that the observed variation does not
      affect the enzymatic active sites or substrate binding sites. Variation in the
      3C(pro) cleavage sites demonstrates broad substrate specificity. 

PMID- 25818580
TI  - Multivariate optimization of the denitration reaction of nitrocelluloses for
      safer determination of their nitrogen content.
AB  - The nitrogen content is of paramount importance to predict the explosive or non
      explosive character of nitrocellulose (NC), and hence its applications. There are
      still quite a few really effective analytical methodologies allowing its
      determination, due to great NC molecular complexity. One of the approaches giving
      access to nitrogen content consists in releasing the nitrogenic moieties through
      alkaline hydrolysis. For the first time, this work reports on the optimization of
      the denitration yield by means of an experimental design within reasonable ranges
      of sodium hydroxide concentration, temperature, and time. The experiments were
      conducted with non-explosive and explosive NC standards. An original capillary
      electrophoresis (CE) method was used to monitor nitrite and nitrate ions released
      during hydrolysis. Because of their very different chemical properties,
      denitration conditions were optimized separately for both sub-classes of NCs to
      maximize their denitration yields, applying desirability analysis on modeled
      denitration yields. Mild, safe, and robust optimized conditions were drawn. The
      denitration yields (95% for non-explosive NCs, 92% for explosive NCs)
      experimentally obtained under these conditions were in good agreement with model
      predictions. For practical purposes, correction factors based on these maximal
      denitration yields are proposed for the first time to correct the determination
      of nitrogen content, based on preliminary alkaline denitration. This new strategy
      was successfully applied to determine nitrogen contents of NCs in real explosive
      samples (smokeless gunpowders). 

PMID- 25818581
TI  - Testing photogrammetry-based techniques for three-dimensional surface
      documentation in forensic pathology.
AB  - Three-dimensional surface technologies particularly close range photogrammetry
      and optical surface scanning have recently advanced into affordable, flexible and
      accurate techniques. Forensic postmortem investigation as performed on a daily
      basis, however, has not yet fully benefited from their potentials. In the present
      paper, we tested two approaches to 3D external body documentation - digital
      camera-based photogrammetry combined with commercial Agisoft PhotoScan((r))
      software and stereophotogrammetry-based Vectra H1((r)), a portable handheld
      surface scanner. In order to conduct the study three human subjects were
      selected, a living person, a 25-year-old female, and two forensic cases admitted
      for postmortem examination at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Hradec
      Kralove, Czech Republic (both 63-year-old males), one dead to traumatic, self
      inflicted, injuries (suicide by hanging), the other diagnosed with the heart
      failure. All three cases were photographed in 360 degrees  manner with a Nikon
      7000 digital camera and simultaneously documented with the handheld scanner. In
      addition to having recorded the pre-autopsy phase of the forensic cases, both
      techniques were employed in various stages of autopsy. The sets of collected
      digital images (approximately 100 per case) were further processed to generate
      point clouds and 3D meshes. Final 3D models (a pair per individual) were counted
      for numbers of points and polygons, then assessed visually and compared
      quantitatively using ICP alignment algorithm and a cloud point comparison
      technique based on closest point to point distances. Both techniques were proven
      to be easy to handle and equally laborious. While collecting the images at
      autopsy took around 20min, the post-processing was much more time-demanding and
      required up to 10h of computation time. Moreover, for the full-body scanning the
      post-processing of the handheld scanner required rather time-consuming manual
      image alignment. In all instances the applied approaches produced high-resolution
      photorealistic, real sized or easy to calibrate 3D surface models. Both methods
      equally failed when the scanned body surface was covered with body hair or
      reflective moist areas. Still, it can be concluded that single camera close range
      photogrammetry and optical surface scanning using Vectra H1 scanner represent
      relatively low-cost solutions which were shown to be beneficial for postmortem
      body documentation in forensic pathology. 

PMID- 25818582
TI  - Advanced magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging techniques applied to brain
      development and animal models of perinatal injury.
AB  - Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are
      widely used in the field of brain development and perinatal brain injury. Due to
      technical progress the magnetic field strength (B0) of MR systems has
      continuously increased, favoring (1)H-MRS with quantification of up to 18
      metabolites in the brain and short echo time (TE) MRI sequences including phase
      and susceptibility imaging. For longer TE techniques including diffusion imaging
      modalities, the benefits of higher B0 have not been clearly established.
      Nevertheless, progress has also been made in new advanced diffusion models that
      have been developed to enhance the accuracy and specificity of the derived
      diffusion parameters. In this review, we will describe the latest developments in
      MRS and MRI techniques, including high-field (1)H-MRS, phase and susceptibility
      imaging, and diffusion imaging, and discuss their application in the study of
      cerebral development and perinatal brain injury. 

PMID- 25818583
TI  - Disruption of Tgfbr2 in odontoblasts leads to aberrant pulp calcification.
AB  - Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) signaling has been implicated in
      dentin formation and repair; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying dentin
      formation remain unclear. To address the role of TGF-beta signaling in dentin
      formation, we analyzed odontoblast-specific Tgfbr2 conditional knockout mice. The
      mutant mice had aberrant teeth with thin dysplastic dentin and pulpal
      obliteration, similar to teeth from human patients with dentinogenesis imperfecta
      type II and dentin dysplasia. In mutant, the odontoblasts lost their cellular
      polarity, and matrix secretion was disrupted after mantle dentin formation. As a
      consequence, the amount of predentin decreased significantly, and an ectopic
      fibrous matrix was formed below the odontoblast layer. This matrix gradually
      calcified and obliterated the pulp chamber with increasing age.
      Immunohistochemistry revealed decreased expression of alkaline phosphatase in
      mutant odontoblasts. In mutant dentin, Dsp expression was reduced, but Dmp1
      expression increased significantly. Collagen type I, biglycan, and Dsp were
      expressed in the ectopic matrix. These results suggest that loss of
      responsiveness to TGF-beta in odontoblasts results in impaired matrix formation
      and pulpal obliteration. Our study indicates that TGF-beta signaling plays an
      important role in dentin formation and pulp protection. Furthermore, our findings
      may provide new insight into possible mechanisms underlying human hereditary
      dentin disorders and reparative dentin formation. 

PMID- 25818584
TI  - Norepinephrine Regulates Condylar Bone Loss via Comorbid Factors.
AB  - Degenerative changes of condylar subchondral bone occur frequently in
      temporomandibular disorders. Although psychologic stresses and occlusal
      abnormalities have been implicated in temporomandibular disorder, it is not known
      if these risks represent synergistic comorbid factors that are involved in
      condylar subchondral bone degradation that is regulated by the sympathetic
      nervous system. In the present study, chronic immobilization stress (CIS),
      chemical sympathectomy, and unilateral anterior crossbite (UAC) were sequentially
      applied in a murine model. Norepinephrine contents in the subjects' serum and
      condylar subchondral bone were detected by ELISA; bone and cartilage remodeling
      parameters and related gene expression in the subchondral bone were examined.
      Subchondral bone loss and increased subchondral bone norepinephrine level were
      observed in the CIS and UAC groups. These groups exhibited decreased bone mineral
      density, volume fraction, and bone formation rate; decreased expressions of
      osterix, collagen I, and osteocalcin; but increased trabecular separation,
      osteoclast number and surface, and RANKL expression. Combined CIS + UAC produced
      more severe subchondral bone loss, higher bone norepinephrine level, and
      decreased chondrocyte density and cartilage thickness when compared to CIS or UAC
      alone. Sympathectomy simultaneously prevented subchondral bone loss and decreased
      bone norepinephrine level in all experimental subgroups when compared to the
      vehicle-treated counterparts. Norepinephrine also decreased mRNA expression of
      osterix, collagen I, and osteocalcin by mesenchymal stem cells at 7 and 14 d of
      stimulation and increased the expression of RANKL and RANKL/OPG ratio by
      mesenchymal stem cells at 2 h. In conclusion, CIS and UAC synergistically promote
      condylar subchondral bone loss and cartilage degradation; such processes are
      partially regulated by norepinephrine within subchondral bone. 

PMID- 25818585
TI  - Dental Follicle Cells Participate in Tooth Eruption via the RUNX2-MiR-31-SATB2
      Loop.
AB  - Cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) is characterized by the runt-related transcription
      factor 2 (RUNX2) mutation, which results in delayed tooth eruption due to
      disturbed functions of dental follicle. Accumulating evidence has revealed a key
      regulatory circuit, including RUNX2, miR-31, and special AT-rich binding protein
      2 (SATB2) acting in concert in mesenchymal stem cell homeostasis and functions.
      However, whether such a regulatory loop works in dental follicle cells (DFCs)
      remains unknown. Herein, we investigated the roles of RUNX2-miR-31-SATB2 in DFCs
      from patients with CCD (DFCs-CCD) to advance our understanding regarding physical
      tooth eruption. We identified a novel mutation on exon 5 (c.634T>G, p.T212P) in
      RUNX2 via exome sequencing in the CCD patient with typical clinical
      presentations. Compared with DFCs from healthy donors, DFCs-CCD displayed
      significantly lower osteogenic, osteoclast-inductive, and matrix-degrading
      capacities and had lower RUNX2 (a transcriptional inhibitor of miR-31), higher
      miR-31, and downregulated SATB2. Lower ratios of RANKL/OPG and RANKL/RANK, as
      well as decreased expression of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) and matrix
      metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2), would lead to inactivation of osteoclasts and
      suppression of bone matrix remodeling in DFCs-CCD. Furthermore, the roles of the
      RUNX2-miR-31-SATB2 loop in DFCs-CCD were revealed by endogenous miR-31 knockdown,
      which resulted in increased SATB2 and RUNX2, as well as osteoclast-inductive and
      matrix degradation capacities. Conversely, SATB2, RUNX2, MMP9, MMP2, and
      osteoclast-inductive factors expression declined upon ectopic miR-31
      overexpression in normal DFCs. Importantly, neonatal mice with in vivo siRUNX2
      delivery exhibited less activated osteoclasts around dental follicles and delayed
      tooth eruption. Together, these results suggest that RUNX2
      mutation/haploinsufficiency disturbs osteoclast-inductive signaling in DFCs,
      which may be responsible for delayed tooth eruption in CCD patients. Manipulation
      of the RUNX2-miR-31-SATB2 loop may be a potential way to facilitate tooth
      eruption in CCD patients. 

PMID- 25818586
TI  - Impact of Patient Compliance on Tooth Loss during Supportive Periodontal Therapy:
      A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
AB  - Periodontal treatment consists of active periodontal therapy (APT) and supportive
      periodontal therapy (SPT). Regular SPT is recommended to prevent and control the
      occurrence of periodontal disease following APT. A patient's compliance with SPT
      is considered one of the most important factors affecting long-term periodontal
      status. Tooth loss is generally considered the final outcome of periodontitis.
      This review aimed to analyze the relationship between patient compliance with
      regular SPT and tooth loss. The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic
      Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guideline for systematic reviews was used. A search of
      articles was conducted using MEDLINE (PubMed) and other databases. Quality
      assessments of selected studies were performed. To assess the effect of
      compliance on tooth loss during SPT, pooled risk ratio of tooth loss (RRTL) was
      used as the primary outcome. Pooled risk difference of tooth loss (RDTL) and
      weighted mean difference of tooth loss rate (WDTLR) were used as secondary
      outcomes. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were conducted to evaluate the
      effects of different variables. In total, 710 articles were screened. Eight
      studies, which had a regular-compliance (RC) group and an erratic-compliance (EC)
      group with at least a 5-y follow-up period, qualified for the meta-analysis. The
      risk of tooth loss in the RC group was significantly lower than that in the EC
      group (pooled RRTL: 0.56 [confidence interval (CI): 0.38, 0.82]; pooled RDTL: 
      0.05 [CI: -0.08, -0.01]). The definition of compliance was a variable
      significantly related to risk ratio of tooth loss. Patients in the RC group had
      significantly lower tooth loss rate during SPT than did patients in the EC group
      (WDTLR: -0.12 [CI: -0.19, -0.05]). Teeth have less risk of being lost if patients
      are more compliant with supportive periodontal therapy. However, unidentified
      variables causing data heterogeneity and affecting the risk of tooth loss may
      have been present. More well-controlled prospective studies are needed in the
      future. 

PMID- 25818587
TI  - NICE guidance on pomalidomide for relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma
      previously treated with lenalidomide and bortezomib.

PMID- 25818588
TI  - Targeting the annexin 1-formyl peptide receptor 2/ALX pathway affords protection
      against bacterial LPS-induced pathologic changes in the murine adrenal cortex.
AB  - Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical dysfunction contributes to morbidity and
      mortality in a high proportion of patients with sepsis. Here, we provide new
      insights into the underlying adrenal pathology. Using a murine model of
      endotoxemia (LPS injection), we demonstrate that adrenal insufficiency is
      triggered early in the disease. LPS induced a local inflammatory response in the
      adrenal gland within 4 hours of administration, coupled with increased expression
      of mRNAs for annexin A1 (AnxA1) and the formyl peptide receptors [(Fprs) 1, 2,
      and 3], a loss of lipid droplets in cortical cells (index of availability of
      cholesterol, the substrate for steroidogenesis), and a failure to mount a
      steroidogenic response to ACTH. Deletion of AnxA1 or Fpr2/3 in mice prevented
      lipid droplet loss, but not leukocyte infiltration. LPS increased adrenal myeloid
      differentiation primary response gene 88 and TLR2 mRNA expression, but not
      lymphocyte antigen 96 or TLR4. By contrast, neutrophil depletion prevented
      leukocyte infiltration and increased AnxA1, Fpr1, and Fpr3 mRNAs but had no
      impact on lipid droplet loss. Our novel data demonstrate that AnxA1 and Fpr2 have
      a critical role in the manifestation of adrenal insufficiency in this model,
      through regulation of cholesterol ester storage, suggesting that pharmacologic
      interventions targeting the AnxA1/FPR/ALX pathway may provide a new approach for
      the maintenance of adrenal steroidogenesis in sepsis.

PMID- 25818590
TI  - The review articles, letters, potpourri and a list of the articles together with
      an extended abstract will be published in hard copy whilst the rest of the
      Journal appears on line.

PMID- 25818591
TI  - Introduction to Computer Enhanced Visual Learning (CEVL).

PMID- 25818592
TI  - CEVL training for coronal/distal shaft hypospadias repair: a guide for
      attendings, residents, and OR staff.

PMID- 25818589
TI  - Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor in melanoma development and MAP
      kinase pathway targeted therapy.
AB  - Malignant melanoma is a neoplasm of melanocytes, and the microphthalmia
      associated transcription factor (MITF) is essential for the existence of
      melanocytes. MITF's relevance for this cell lineage is maintained in melanoma,
      where it is an important regulator of survival and balances melanoma cell
      proliferation with terminal differentiation (pigmentation). The MITF gene is
      amplified in ~20% of melanomas and MITF mutation can predispose to melanoma
      development. Furthermore, the regulation of MITF expression and function is
      strongly linked to the BRAF/MEK/ERK/MAP-kinase (MAPK) pathway, which is
      deregulated in >90% of melanomas and central target of current therapies. MITF
      expression in melanoma is heterogeneous, and recent findings highlight the
      relevance of this heterogeneity for the response of melanoma to MAPK pathway
      targeting drugs, as well as for MITF's role in melanoma progression. This review
      aims to provide an updated overview on the regulation of MITF function and
      plasticity in melanoma with a focus on its link to MAPK signaling. 

PMID- 25818593
TI  - The acceptability of contraception task-sharing among pharmacists in Canada--the
      ACT-Pharm study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Access to prescription contraception is often limited by the
      availability of physicians, particularly in rural areas. Pharmacists are
      available but are not authorized in Canada to prescribe contraceptives, an
      innovation proved successful in the United States. It is unknown whether Canadian
      pharmacists, particularly those in rural areas, are willing to adopt this
      innovation and what barriers and facilitators they predict. We explored the
      acceptability and feasibility for independent provision of contraception at
      pharmacies throughout British Columbia (BC). METHODS: This mixed-methods study
      used validated questionnaires followed by optional structured interviews among
      all rural, and a sample of urban, community pharmacies in BC. Analyses use
      descriptive, logistic regression and qualitative thematic evaluation. RESULTS:
      Responding community pharmacies represent all geographic health regions of BC and
      the range of pharmacy business models. Respondents reported a mean of 17 years in
      practice. Seventy percent of pharmacies reported a private counseling area. Over
      80%, including pharmacies in all regions, indicated willingness to prescribe
      hormonal contraceptives. Factors associated with willingness to prescribe were
      comfort using a protocol to assess sexual history, confidence about staff
      availability and public acceptability, and fewer years in practice. Pharmacists
      requested training in assessment protocols and liability issues prior to
      implementation. INTERPRETATION: Pharmacies from all areas throughout BC,
      responded and report a high degree of acceptability and feasibility for
      independent prescription of hormonal contraceptives. As pharmacists are often the
      most accessible health professional in rural areas, pharmacist provision of
      hormonal contraceptives has potential to improve access to contraception.

PMID- 25818594
TI  - Immediate postabortion initiation of levonorgestrel implants reduces the
      incidence of births and abortions at 2 years and beyond.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to compare immediate postabortion uptake
      of recently subsidized (no-cost) levonorgestrel-releasing implants with already
      available intrauterine and shorter-acting methods and to compare the incidence of
      subsequent pregnancies (ending in birth or abortion) within 2 years. STUDY
      DESIGN: Retrospective chart review of 4698 women attending a New Zealand public
      hospital abortion clinic over 2 years (2010-2012) to describe postabortion
      contraceptive choice, with follow-up via clinic and national births records to
      assess subsequent pregnancies at 12, 24, 36, and 48 months. RESULTS: Twenty
      percent of the cohort (934/4698) received an implant, 26% an intrauterine method
      (927 copper intrauterine device, 301 levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system
      [LNG-IUS]), and 54% chose other shorter-acting methods (2536/4698). Method choice
      was significantly associated with age, ethnicity, and pregnancy history (p <
      .001). At 24 months, the unadjusted incidence of subsequent abortion for implant
      users was 3.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.5-5.0) and 11.6% (95% CI = 10.3
      12.8) for those choosing other short-acting methods. By 48 months, 6.6% of
      implant users had a subsequent abortion (compared with 18.3% for short-acting
      methods). The incidence of continued pregnancy at 24 months was 6.3% (95% CI =
      4.4-8.1) for implant users and 15.7% (95% CI = 14-17.2) for those choosing other
      short-acting methods. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for subsequent abortion were
      lowest for women initiating an implant (HR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.20-0.35) or LNG-IUS
      (HR = 0.26, 0.16-0.44, reference group: short-acting methods). CONCLUSIONS:
      Immediate postabortion insertion of an implant significantly reduced rates of
      subsequent pregnancy for at least 2 years. Abortion service providers should
      ensure women have barrier-free access to all long-acting reversible
      contraceptions to delay or prevent pregnancy. IMPLICATIONS: Initiation of an
      levonorgestrel implant immediately postabortion was associated with a 74%
      reduction in subsequent abortion over the next 4 years compared with use of short
      acting methods. Implants were popular among adolescents-a group at high-risk of
      subsequent pregnancy, and who have not historically been considered appropriate
      candidates for intrauterine contraceptive methods.

PMID- 25818595
TI  - Comparison of the finger counting method, the Broselow tape and common weight
      estimation formulae in Filipino children after Typhoon Haiyan.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We sought to evaluate commonly used paediatric weight estimation
      techniques in a sample of children in the Philippines. METHODS: We prospectively
      collected age, height and weight data for a sample of 207 children aged 1-9 years
      seen during a medical aid trip. Weights were estimated using the finger counting
      method, the Broselow method and four formulae. Bland-Altman analysis was
      performed to evaluate agreement with measured weight. RESULTS: Mean difference
      and range of agreement in kilograms were as follows: 0.6 (95% CI 0.1-1.1) and
      14.9 (95% CI 13.1-16.7) for the Broselow method; 1.1 (95% CI 0.5-1.7) and 17.3
      (95% CI 15.2-19.3) for the traditional APLS formula; 3.1 (95% CI 2.4-3.7) and
      18.6 (95% CI 16.4-20.8) for the finger counting method; 4.0 (95% CI 3.2-4.8) and
      23.1 (95% CI 20.3-25.8) for the updated APLS method; 5.1 (95% CI 4.4-5.8) and
      21.1 (95% CI 18.6-23.6) for the Luscombe formula; and 5.3 (95% CI 4.5-6.1) and
      22.5 (95% CI 20-25.2) for the Best Guess formulae. CONCLUSIONS: The Broselow tape
      and the traditional APLS formula performed best in our sample. The finger
      counting method also outperformed newer weight estimation formulae. 'Updated' age
      based formulae created recently in developed countries should not be used in
      disaster relief efforts in the Philippines. Caution should be used when applying
      these formulae to other developing countries and in disaster response.

PMID- 25818596
TI  - Enzalutamide: targeting the androgen signalling pathway in metastatic castration
      resistant prostate cancer.
AB  - Significant progress has been made in the understanding of the underlying cancer
      biology of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) with the androgen receptor
      (AR) signalling pathway remaining implicated throughout the prostate cancer
      disease continuum. Reactivation of the AR signalling pathway is considered to be
      a key driver of CRPC progression and, as such, the AR is a logical target for
      therapy in CRPC. The objective of this review was to understand the importance of
      AR signalling in the treatment of patients with metastatic CRPC (mCRPC) and to
      discuss the clinical benefits associated with inhibition of the AR signalling
      pathway. A search was conducted to identify articles relating to the role of AR
      signalling in CRPC and therapies that inhibit the AR signalling pathway. Current
      understanding of prostate cancer has identified the AR signalling pathway as a
      logical target for the treatment of CRPC. Available therapies that inhibit the AR
      signalling pathway include AR blockers, androgen biosynthesis inhibitors, and AR
      signalling inhibitors. Enzalutamide, the first approved AR signalling inhibitor,
      has a novel mode of action targeting AR signalling at three key stages. The
      direct mode of action of enzalutamide has been shown to translate into clinical
      responses in patients with mCRPC. In conclusion, the targeting of the AR
      signalling pathway in patients with mCRPC results in numerous clinical benefits.
      As the number of treatment options increase, more trials evaluating the
      sequencing and combination of treatments are required. This review highlights the
      continued importance of targeting a key driver in the progression of CRPC, AR
      signalling, and the clinical benefits associated with inhibition of the AR
      signalling pathway in the treatment of patients with CRPC. 

PMID- 25818597
TI  - An unusual case of diffuse Merkel cell carcinoma successfully treated with low
      dose radiotherapy.
AB  - Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and highly aggressive neuroendocrine
      carcinoma of the skin. MCC should be included in the diagnosis of a rapidly
      growing infiltrating mass and histology as well as laboratory investigations such
      as Merkel cell polyoma virus (MCPyV) detection are valuable in its diagnosis. We
      present an unusual case of giant MCC-positive MCPyV in a Greek woman located on
      the lower leg. Our patient is very unusual in terms of her extensive MCC and her
      rapid and complete response to radiotherapy.

PMID- 25818598
TI  - Tat-CBR1 inhibits inflammatory responses through the suppressions of NF-kappaB
      and MAPK activation in macrophages and TPA-induced ear edema in mice.
AB  - Human carbonyl reductase 1 (CBR1) plays a crucial role in cell survival and
      protects against oxidative stress response. However, its anti-inflammatory
      effects are not yet clearly understood. In this study, we examined whether CBR1
      protects against inflammatory responses in macrophages and mice using a Tat-CBR1
      protein which is able to penetrate into cells. The results revealed that purified
      Tat-CBR1 protein efficiently transduced into Raw 264.7 cells and inhibited
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), nitric oxide (NO) and
      prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) expression levels. In addition, Tat-CBR1 protein leads to
      decreased pro-inflammatory cytokine expression through suppression of nuclear
      transcription factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) and mitogen activated protein kinase
      (MAPK) activation. Furthermore, Tat-CBR1 protein inhibited inflammatory responses
      in 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced skin inflammation when
      applied topically. These findings indicate that Tat-CBR1 protein has anti
      inflammatory properties in vitro and in vivo through inhibition of NF-kappaB and
      MAPK activation, suggesting that Tat-CBR1 protein may have potential as a
      therapeutic agent against inflammatory diseases. 

PMID- 25818599
TI  - Inhibitor of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 protects against acetaminophen
      induced liver injury.
AB  - Metabolic activation and oxidant stress are key events in the pathophysiology of
      acetaminophen (APAP) hepatotoxicity. The initial mitochondrial oxidative stress
      triggered by protein adduct formation is amplified by c-jun-N-terminal kinase
      (JNK), resulting in mitochondrial dysfunction and ultimately cell necrosis.
      Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) is considered the link between
      oxidant stress and JNK activation. The objective of the current study was to
      assess the efficacy and mechanism of action of the small-molecule ASK1 inhibitor
      GS-459679 in a murine model of APAP hepatotoxicity. APAP (300 mg/kg) caused
      extensive glutathione depletion, JNK activation and translocation to the
      mitochondria, oxidant stress and liver injury as indicated by plasma ALT
      activities and area of necrosis over a 24h observation period. Pretreatment with
      30 mg/kg of GS-459679 almost completely prevented JNK activation, oxidant stress
      and injury without affecting the metabolic activation of APAP. To evaluate the
      therapeutic potential of GS-459679, mice were treated with APAP and then with the
      inhibitor. Given 1.5h after APAP, GS-459679 was still protective, which was
      paralleled by reduced JNK activation and p-JNK translocation to mitochondria.
      However, GS-459679 treatment was not more effective than N-acetylcysteine, and
      the combination of GS-459679 and N-acetylcysteine exhibited similar efficacy as N
      acetylcysteine monotherapy, suggesting that GS-459769 and N-acetylcysteine affect
      the same pathway. Importantly, inhibition of ASK1 did not impair liver
      regeneration as indicated by PCNA staining. In conclusion, the ASK1 inhibitor GS
      459679 protected against APAP toxicity by attenuating JNK activation and oxidant
      stress in mice and may have therapeutic potential for APAP overdose patients.

PMID- 25818600
TI  - Dopamine induces growth inhibition and vascular normalization through
      reprogramming M2-polarized macrophages in rat C6 glioma.
AB  - Dopamine (DA), a monoamine catecholamine neurotransmitter with antiangiogenic
      activity, stabilizes tumor vessels in colon, prostate and ovarian cancers, thus
      increases chemotherapeutic efficacy. Here, in the rat C6 glioma models, we
      investigated the vascular normalization effects of DA and its mechanisms of
      action. DA (25, 50mg/kg) inhibited tumor growth, while a precursor of DA
      (levodopa) prolonged the survival time of rats bearing orthotopic C6 glioma. DA
      improved tumor perfusion, with significant effects from day 3, and a higher level
      at days 5 to 7. In addition, DA decreased microvessel density and hypoxia
      inducible factor-1alpha expression in tumor tissues, while increasing the
      coverage of pericyte. Conversely, an antagonist of dopamine receptor 2 (DR2)
      (eticlopride) but not DR1 (butaclamol) abrogated DA-induced tumor regression and
      vascular normalization. Furthermore, DA improved the delivery and efficacy of
      temozolomide therapy. Importantly, DA increased representative M1 markers (iNOS,
      CXCL9, etc.), while decreasing M2 markers (CD206, arginase-1, etc.). Depletion of
      macrophages by clodronate or zoledronic acid attenuated the effects of DA.
      Notably, DA treatment induced M2-to-M1 polarization in RAW264.7 cells and mouse
      peritoneal macrophages, and enhanced the migration of pericyte-like cells
      (10T1/2), which was reversed by eticlopride or DR2-siRNA. Such changes were
      accompanied by the downregulation of VEGF/VEGFR2 signaling. In summary, DA
      induces growth inhibition and vascular normalization through reprogramming M2
      polarized macrophages. Thus, targeting the tumor microvasculature by DA
      represents a promising strategy for human glioma therapy. 

PMID- 25818601
TI  - Polychlorinated biphenyl quinone induces oxidative DNA damage and repair
      responses: The activations of NHEJ, BER and NER via ATM-p53 signaling axis.
AB  - Our previous studies demonstrated that polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) quinone
      induced oxidative DNA damage in HepG2 cells. To promote genomic integrity, DNA
      damage response (DDR) coordinates cell-cycle transitions, DNA repair and
      apoptosis. PCB quinone-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis have been
      documented, however, whether PCB quinone insult induce DNA repair signaling is
      still unknown. In this study, we identified the activation of DDR and
      corresponding signaling events in HepG2 cells upon the exposure to a synthetic
      PCB quinone, PCB29-pQ. Our data illustrated that PCB29-pQ induces the
      phosphorylation of p53, which was mediated by ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM)
      protein kinase. The observed phosphorylated histone H2AX (gamma-H2AX) foci and
      the elevation of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) indicated that DDR was
      stimulated by PCB29-pQ treatment. Additionally, we found PCB29-pQ activates non
      homologous end joining (NHEJ), base excision repair (BER) and nucleotide excision
      repair (NER) signalings. However, these repair pathways are not error-free
      processes and aberrant repair of DNA damage may cause the potential risk of
      carcinogenesis and mutagenesis. 

PMID- 25818602
TI  - A quantitative multiplex nuclease protection assay reveals immunotoxicity gene
      expression profiles in the rabbit model for vaginal drug safety evaluation.
AB  - Any vaginal product that alters the mucosal environment and impairs the immune
      barrier increases the risk of sexually transmitted infections, especially HIV
      infection, which thrives on mucosal damage and inflammation. The FDA-recommended
      rabbit vaginal irritation (RVI) model serves as a first line selection tool for
      vaginal products; however, for decades it has been limited to histopathology
      scoring, insufficient to select safe anti-HIV microbicides. In this study we
      incorporate to the RVI model a novel quantitative nuclease protection assay
      (qNPA) to quantify mRNA levels of 25 genes representing leukocyte differentiation
      markers, toll-like receptors (TLR), cytokines, chemokines, epithelial repair,
      microbicidal and vascular markers, by designing two multiplex arrays. Tissue
      sections were obtained from 36 rabbits (6 per treatment arm) after 14 daily
      applications of a placebo gel, saline, 4% nonoxynol-9 (N-9), and three
      combinations of the anti-HIV microbicides tenofovir (TFV) and UC781 in escalating
      concentrations (highest: 10% TFV+2.5%UC781). Results showed that increased
      expression levels of toll-like receptor (TLR)-4, interleukin (IL)-1beta, CXCL8,
      epithelial membrane protein (EMP)-1 (P<0.05), and decreased levels of TLR2
      (P<0.05), TLR3 and bactericidal permeability increasing protein (BPI) (P<0.001)
      were associated with cervicovaginal mucosal alteration (histopathology). Seven
      markers showed a significant linear trend predicting epithelial damage (up with
      CD4, IL-1beta, CXCL8, CCL2, CCL21, EMP1 and down with BPI). Despite the low
      tissue damage RVI scores, the high-dose microbicide combination gel caused
      activation of HIV host cells (SLC and CD4) while N-9 caused proinflammatory gene
      upregulation (IL-8 and TLR4) suggesting a potential for increasing risk of HIV
      via different mechanisms depending on the chemical nature of the test product. 

PMID- 25818603
TI  - Attitude Toward Ambiguity: Empirically Robust Factors in Self-Report Personality
      Scales.
AB  - Two studies were conducted to examine the factor structure of attitude toward
      ambiguity, a broad personality construct that refers to personal reactions to
      perceived ambiguous stimuli in a variety of context and situations. Using samples
      from two countries, Study 1 mapped the hierarchical structure of 133 items from
      seven tolerance-intolerance of ambiguity scales (N = 360, Italy; N = 306, United
      States). Three major factors-Discomfort with Ambiguity, Moral
      Absolutism/Splitting, and Need for Complexity and Novelty-were recovered in each
      country with high replicability coefficients across samples. In Study 2 (N = 405,
      Italian community sample; N =366, English native speakers sample), we carried out
      a confirmatory analysis on selected factor markers. A bifactor model had an
      acceptable fit for each sample and reached the construct-level invariance for
      general and group factors. Convergent validity with related traits was assessed
      in both studies. We conclude that attitude toward ambiguity can be best
      represented a multidimensional construct involving affective (Discomfort with
      Ambiguity), cognitive (Moral Absolutism/Splitting), and epistemic (Need for
      Complexity and Novelty) components.

PMID- 25818605
TI  - Comment on "Determination of the quaternary phase diagram of the water-ethylene
      glycol-sucrose-NaCl system and a comparison between two theoretical methods for
      synthetic phase diagrams" Cryobiology 61 (2010) 52-57.
AB  - Recently, measurements of a considerable portion of the phase diagram for the
      quaternary system water-ethylene glycol-sucrose-NaCl were published (Han et al.,
      2010). In that article, the data were used to evaluate the accuracy of two non
      ideal multi-solute solution theories: the Elliott et al. form of the multi-solute
      osmotic virial equation and the Kleinhans and Mazur freezing point summation
      model. Based on this evaluation, it was concluded that the freezing point
      summation model provides more accurate predictions for the water-ethylene glycol
      sucrose-NaCl system than the multi-solute osmotic virial equation. However, this
      analysis suffered from a number of issues, notably including the use of
      inconsistent solute-specific coefficients for the multi-solute osmotic virial
      equation. Herein, we reanalyse the data using a recently-updated and consistent
      set of solute-specific coefficients (Zielinski et al., 2014). Our results
      indicate that the two models have very similar performance, and, in fact, the
      multi-solute osmotic virial equation can provide more accurate predictions than
      the freezing point summation model depending on the concentration units used. 

PMID- 25818604
TI  - Effects of trehalose supplementation on cell viability and oxidative stress
      variables in frozen-thawed bovine calf testicular tissue.
AB  - Trehalose is widely used for cryopreservation of various cells and tissues. Until
      now, the effect of trehalose supplementation on cell viability and antioxidant
      enzyme activity in frozen-thawed bovine calf testicular tissue remains
      unexplored. The objective of the present study was to compare the effect of
      varying doses of trehalose in cryomedia on cell viability and key antioxidant
      enzymes activities in frozen-thawed bovine calf testicular tissue. Bovine calf
      testicular tissue samples were collected and cryopreserved in the cryomedias
      containing varying doses (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%; v/v) of trehalose,
      respectively. Cell viability, total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) activity,
      catalase (CAT) activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, glutathione (GSH)
      content and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were measured and analyzed. The results
      showed that cell viability, T-AOC activity, SOD activity, CAT activity and GSH
      content of frozen-thawed bovine calf testicular tissue was decreased compared
      with that of fresh group (P<0.05). MDA content in frozen-thawed bovine calf
      testicular tissue was significantly increased compared with that of fresh group
      (P<0.05). The cryomedia added 15% trehalose exhibited the greatest percentage of
      cell viability and antioxidant enzyme activity (SOD and CAT) among frozen-thawed
      groups (P<0.05). Meanwhile, GSH content was the lowest among frozen-thawed groups
      (P<0.05). However, there were no significance differences in MDA content among
      the groups added 10, 15 and 20% trehalose (P>0.05). In conclusion, the cryomedia
      added 15% trehalose reduced the oxidative stress and improved the cryoprotective
      effect of bovine calf testicular tissue. Further studies are required to obtain
      more concrete results on the determination of antioxidant capacity of trehalose
      in frozen-thawed bovine calf testicular tissue. 

PMID- 25818606
TI  - [Myositis ossificans of the temporal muscle].

PMID- 25818613
TI  - Stem-cell transplantation increases fracture risk.

PMID- 25818614
TI  - Increasing prevalence of euthanasia in Belgium.

PMID- 25818615
TI  - Mogamulizumab benefits seen in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

PMID- 25818616
TI  - BRAF and CDKN2A mutations in secondary high-grade glioma.

PMID- 25818617
TI  - Effects of geniposide on hepatocytes undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal transition
      in hepatic fibrosis by targeting TGFbeta/Smad and ERK-MAPK signaling pathways.
AB  - Liver fibrosis results from increased deposition of type-I collagen within the
      hepatic extracellular space and constitutes a common cardinal signature in all
      forms of liver injury, regardless of etiology. Transforming growth factor beta1
      (TGF-beta1) plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis.
      Geniposide is recognized as being useful against hyperlipidemia and fatty liver.
      However, its cellular mechanism and anti-fibrotic effect in TGF-beta1-induced
      hepatocytes have not been explored. In the present study, we investigated its
      anti-epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) mechanism by examining the effect of
      geniposide on TGF-beta1-induced hepatocytes. The effect of geniposide on TGF
      beta1-induced AML12 cells was assessed using Western blotting, quantitative real
      time PCR, immunofluorescence staining and DNA binding activity. We found that
      geniposide significantly inhibited TGF-beta1-induced mRNA and protein expression
      of type-I collagen. Cells treated concurrently with TGF-beta1 and geniposide
      retained high levels of localized E-cadherin expression with no increase in
      vimentin. Treatment with geniposide almost completely blocked the phosphorylation
      of Smad2/3, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and Akt in AML12 cells.
      Taken together, these results suggest that geniposide may suppress TGF-beta1
      induced EMT in hepatic fibrosis by inhibiting the TGFbeta/Smad and ERK-mitogen
      activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways. Our results may help
      researchers better understand the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis so they can
      develop novel therapeutic strategies for treatment of liver diseases. 

PMID- 25818618
TI  - Unifying ecology and macroevolution with individual-based theory.
AB  - A contemporary goal in both ecology and evolutionary biology is to develop theory
      that transcends the boundary between the two disciplines, to understand phenomena
      that cannot be explained by either field in isolation. This is challenging
      because macroevolution typically uses lineage-based models, whereas ecology often
      focuses on individual organisms. Here, we develop a new parsimonious individual
      based theory by adding mild selection to the neutral theory of biodiversity. We
      show that this model generates realistic phylogenies showing a slowdown in
      diversification and also improves on the ecological predictions of neutral theory
      by explaining the occurrence of very common species. Moreover, we find the
      distribution of individual fitness changes over time, with average fitness
      increasing at a pace that depends positively on community size. Consequently,
      large communities tend to produce fitter species than smaller communities. These
      findings have broad implications beyond biodiversity theory, potentially
      impacting, for example, invasion biology and paleontology. 

PMID- 25818619
TI  - Meningitis in adolescents: the role of commensal microbiota.
AB  - The pathogen Neisseria meningitidis causes disease amongst infants and
      adolescents/young adults. Here we argue that disease amongst adolescents is due
      largely to interaction between N. meningitidis and other members of the upper
      respiratory tract microbiota, through a metabolic interaction involving exchange
      of propionic acid. 

PMID- 25818620
TI  - The Safety and Feasibility of Admitting Patients With Intracerebral Hemorrhage to
      the Step-Down Unit.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a devastating and costly condition.
      Although the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association recommends
      admitting patients with ICH to a neurocritical care unit (NCCU), this strategy
      may accrue unnecessary cost for patients with relatively milder presentation. We
      conducted a prospective observational study to determine the safety and
      feasibility of admitting patients with mild ICH directly to a step-down unit
      (SDU) instead of an NCCU. METHODS: Consecutive patients with "mild presentation,"
      defined as a combination of ICH score <=2, National Institutes of Health Stroke
      Scale (NIHSS) <= 15, and Graeb score <=2 (if intraventricular hemorrhage was
      present), were admitted to the SDU. Data were collected on age, gender as well as
      the initial NIHSS, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), ICH, and Graeb scores. Primary end
      point was any complication or death during hospital stay. RESULTS: Twenty
      patients were admitted to the SDU. No patient was transferred to the NCCU from
      the SDU. One patient, who eventually died, had respiratory insufficiency due to
      hospital-acquired pneumonia. CONCLUSION: Admission of ICH patients with mild
      symptoms to the SDU is safe and feasible. Larger prospective studies are needed
      to define the specific criteria for admission.

PMID- 25818621
TI  - Computerized tomographic pulmonary angiography discriminates invasive mould
      disease of the lung from lymphoma.

PMID- 25818622
TI  - A comparison of 454 sequencing and clonal sequencing for the characterization of
      hepatitis C virus NS3 variants.
AB  - We compared 454 amplicon sequencing with clonal sequencing for the
      characterization of intra-host hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3 variants. Clonal and
      454 sequences were obtained from 12 patients enrolled in a clinical phase I study
      for telaprevir, an NS3-4a protease inhibitor. Thirty-nine datasets were used to
      compare the consensus sequence, average pairwise distance, normalized Shannon
      entropy, phylogenetic tree topology and the number and frequency of variants
      derived from both sequencing techniques. In general, a good concordance was
      observed between both techniques for the majority of datasets. Discordant results
      were observed for 5 out of 39 clonal and 454 datasets, which could be attributed
      to primer-related selective amplification used for clonal sequencing. Both 454
      and clonal datasets consisted of a few major variants and a large number of low
      frequency variants. Telaprevir resistance-associated variants were observed in
      low frequencies and were detected more often by 454. We conclude that performance
      of 454 and clonal sequencing is comparable for the characterization of intra-host
      virus populations. Not surprisingly, 454 is superior for the detection of low
      frequency resistance-associated variants. However, despite the greater coverage,
      454 failed to detect some low frequency variants detected by clonal sequencing. 

PMID- 25818624
TI  - YCF1: A Green TIC?
AB  - A pivotal step in the transformation of an endosymbiotic cyanobacterium to a
      plastid some 1.5 billion years ago was the evolution of a protein import
      apparatus, the TOC/TIC machinery, in the common ancestor of Archaeplastida.
      Recently, a putative new TIC member was identified in Arabidopsis thaliana:
      TIC214. This finding is remarkable for a number of reasons: (1) TIC214 is encoded
      by ycf1, so it would be the first plastid-encoded protein of this apparatus; (2)
      ycf1 is unique to the green lineage (Chloroplastida) but entirely lacking in
      glaucophytes (Glaucophyta) and the red lineage (Rhodophyta) of the
      Archaeplastida; (3) ycf1 has been shown to be one of the few indispensable
      plastid genes (aside from the ribosomal machinery), yet it is missing in the
      grasses; and (4) 30 years of previous TOC/TIC research missed it. These
      observations prompted us to survey the evolution of ycf1. We found that ycf1 is
      not only lacking in grasses and some parasitic plants, but also for instance in
      cranberry (Ericaceae). The encoded YCF proteins are highly variable, both in
      sequence length and in the predicted number of N-terminal transmembrane domains.
      The evolution of the TOC/TIC machinery in the green lineage experienced specific
      modifications, but our analysis does not support YCF1 to be a general green TIC.
      It remains to be explained how the apparent complete loss of YCF1 can be
      tolerated by some embryophytes and whether what is observed for YCF1 function in
      a member of the Brassicaceae is also true for, e.g., algal and noncanonical YCF1
      homologs. 

PMID- 25818625
TI  - Sterols Modulate Cell-to-Cell Connectivity at Plasmodesmata.

PMID- 25818623
TI  - Specific membrane lipid composition is important for plasmodesmata function in
      Arabidopsis.
AB  - Plasmodesmata (PD) are nano-sized membrane-lined channels controlling
      intercellular communication in plants. Although progress has been made in
      identifying PD proteins, the role played by major membrane constituents, such as
      the lipids, in defining specialized membrane domains in PD remains unknown.
      Through a rigorous isolation of "native" PD membrane fractions and comparative
      mass spectrometry-based analysis, we demonstrate that lipids are laterally
      segregated along the plasma membrane (PM) at the PD cell-to-cell junction in
      Arabidopsis thaliana. Remarkably, our results show that PD membranes display
      enrichment in sterols and sphingolipids with very long chain saturated fatty
      acids when compared with the bulk of the PM. Intriguingly, this lipid profile is
      reminiscent of detergent-insoluble membrane microdomains, although our approach
      is valuably detergent-free. Modulation of the overall sterol composition of young
      dividing cells reversibly impaired the PD localization of the
      glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins Plasmodesmata Callose Binding 1
      and the beta-1,3-glucanase PdBG2 and altered callose-mediated PD permeability.
      Altogether, this study not only provides a comprehensive analysis of the lipid
      constituents of PD but also identifies a role for sterols in modulating cell-to
      cell connectivity, possibly by establishing and maintaining the positional
      specificity of callose-modifying glycosylphosphatidylinositol proteins at PD. Our
      work emphasizes the importance of lipids in defining PD membranes. 

PMID- 25818626
TI  - Brain structure abnormalities in first-episode psychosis patients with persistent
      apathy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Apathy is an enduring and debilitating feature related to poor
      outcome in patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP). The biological
      underpinnings of apathy are unknown. We tested if FEP patients with persistent
      apathy (PA) differed from FEP patients without persistent apathy (NPA) in
      specific brain structure measures in the early phase of illness. METHODS: A total
      of 70 Norwegian FEP patients were recruited within 1 year of first adequate
      treatment. They were defined as having PA (N=18) or NPA (N=52) based on Apathy
      Evaluation Scale score at baseline and 1 year later. MRI measures of cortical
      thickness and subcortical structure volumes were compared between the PA and NPA
      groups. RESULTS: The PA group had significantly thinner left orbitofrontal cortex
      and left anterior cingulate cortex. The results remained significant after
      controlling for depressive symptoms and antipsychotic medication. DISCUSSION: FEP
      patients with persistent apathy in the early phase of their illness show brain
      structural changes compared to FEP patients without persistent apathy. The
      changes are confined to regions associated with motivation, occur early in the
      disease course and appear selectively in PA patients when both groups are
      compared to healthy controls.

PMID- 25818627
TI  - Actigraphic-measured sleep disturbance predicts increased positive symptoms in
      adolescents at ultra high-risk for psychosis: A longitudinal study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sleep disturbance is prevalent among patients with psychosis, yet
      little is known about sleep health during the ultra high-risk (UHR) period. This
      study used actigraphy to evaluate sleep in healthy control (HC) and UHR
      adolescents to examine the relationship between sleep disturbance and psychosis
      symptoms at baseline and 12-month follow-up, as well as comparisons between
      objective and subjective measurements of sleep functioning in UHR youth. METHOD:
      Thirty-six UHR and 31 HC youth participated in a baseline evaluation including 5
      nights of actigraphy, subjective measurement of sleep health (Pittsburgh Sleep
      Quality Index; PSQI), and clinical interviews. Clinical measures were repeated
      with UHR youth (N=23) at a 12-month follow-up. RESULTS: The actigraphy data
      indicated that UHR youth displayed increased wake time after onset (WASO),
      increased movements during sleep, and decreased efficiency compared to HC, and
      several markers of sleep disturbance including decreased efficiency, increased
      WASO, number of awakenings, and increased movements were associated with
      symptomatology in the UHR group. Interestingly, there were associations between
      actigraph and self-report indices of sleep duration and efficiency (at the trend
      level) but not awakenings. Several objective measures of sleep disturbance and
      one self-reported measure (disrupted continuity) predicted the longitudinal
      course of symptoms over 12 months in the UHR group. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together,
      the results suggest a potential role for sleep problems in the etiology of
      schizophrenia, and highlight sleep health as a possible target for
      prevention/intervention efforts. Additionally, actigraphy represents an
      inexpensive, sensitive measurement providing unique information not captured by
      self-report, and may be an informative adjunct to UHR assessments.

PMID- 25818628
TI  - Age at onset mixture analysis and systematic comparison in schizophrenia spectrum
      disorders: Is the onset heterogeneity dependent on heterogeneous diagnosis?
AB  - A major obstacle to the identification of the neurobiological correlates of
      schizophrenia is the substantial diagnostic heterogeneity of this disorder.
      Dividing schizophrenia into "early" and "late" subtypes may reduce heterogeneity
      and facilitate identification of biomarkers related to this disease. Our
      objective was to assess the presence of different sub-groups in schizophrenia by
      age at onset analysis. The participants in this study were 612 unrelated patients
      with schizophrenia. Admixture analysis was applied in order to identify a model
      of separate normal distributions of age at onset characterized by different
      means, variances and population proportions to evaluate the effect of winter
      birth and ethnicity on early onset schizophrenia. The best-fitting model
      suggested three subgroups with means and standard deviations of 17.11 +/- 2.09,
      21.96 +/- 3.43 and 30.02 +/- 7.1 years, comprising 34.6%, 42.6% and 22.8% of the
      sample respectively. We considered as predictors of early onset schizophrenia:
      male gender, winter birth, white ethnicity and positive family history for
      psychiatric disorders. Earlier onset was significantly associated with male
      gender. We also compared our age at onset distribution with those published in
      other studies and we found significant differences with several studies
      suggesting heterogeneity in age at onset that is likely influenced by diagnostic
      heterogeneity in applying the DSM-IV criteria. Overall, our study showed that a
      typical early onset schizophrenia patient is more likely to be a white male with
      cannabis abuse and positive family history of psychiatric disorders. The
      heterogeneity in reporting age at onset across different studies suggests the
      application of more stringent criteria in diagnosing schizophrenia.

PMID- 25818629
TI  - The threshold of hypothyroidism after radiation therapy for head and neck cancer:
      a retrospective analysis of 116 cases.
AB  - The purpose of the present study was to determine the risk factors for developing
      thyroid disorders based on a dose-volume histograms (DVHs) analysis. Data from a
      total of 116 consecutive patients undergoing 3D conformal radiation therapy for
      head and neck cancers was retrospectively evaluated. Radiation therapy was
      performed between April 2007 and December 2010. There were 108 males and 8
      females included in the study. The median follow-up term was 24 months (range, 1
      62 months). The thyroid function was evaluated by measuring thyroid-stimulating
      hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) levels. The mean thyroid dose, and the
      volume of thyroid gland spared from doses >=10, 20, 30 and 40 Gy (VS10, VS20,
      VS30 and VS40) were calculated for all patients. The thyroid dose and volume were
      calculated by the radiotherapy planning system (RTPS). The cumulative incidences
      of hypothyroidism were 21.1% and 36.4% at one year and two years, respectively,
      after the end of radiation therapy. In the DVH analyses, the patients who
      received a mean thyroid dose <30 Gy had a significantly lower incidence of
      hypothyroidism. The univariate analyses showed that the VS10, VS20, VS30 and VS40
      were associated with the risk of hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism was a relatively
      common type of late radiation-induced toxicity. A mean thyroid dose of 30 Gy may
      be a useful threshold for predicting the development of hypothyroidism after
      radiation therapy for head and neck cancers. 

PMID- 25818631
TI  - Brain network disturbance related to posttraumatic stress and traumatic brain
      injury in veterans.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Understanding the neural causes and consequences of posttraumatic
      stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a high research
      priority, given the high rates of associated disability and suicide. Despite
      remarkable progress in elucidating the brain mechanisms of PTSD and mTBI, a
      comprehensive understanding of these conditions at the level of brain networks
      has yet to be achieved. The present study sought to identify functional brain
      networks and topological properties (measures of network organization and
      function) related to current PTSD severity and mTBI. METHODS: Graph theoretic
      tools were used to analyze resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging
      data from 208 veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom,
      and Operation New Dawn, all of whom had experienced a traumatic event qualifying
      for PTSD criterion A. Analyses identified brain networks and topological network
      properties linked to current PTSD symptom severity, mTBI, and the interaction
      between PTSD and mTBI. RESULTS: Two brain networks were identified in which
      weaker connectivity was linked to higher PTSD re-experiencing symptoms, one of
      which was present only in veterans with comorbid mTBI. Re-experiencing was also
      linked to worse functional segregation (necessary for specialized processing) and
      diminished influence of key regions on the network, including the hippocampus.
      CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this study demonstrate that PTSD re-experiencing
      symptoms are linked to weakened connectivity in a network involved in providing
      contextual information. A similar relationship was found in a separate network
      typically engaged in the gating of working memory, but only in veterans with
      mTBI.

PMID- 25818632
TI  - New light on old methods.

PMID- 25818630
TI  - Loss of Microtubule-Associated Protein 2 Immunoreactivity Linked to Dendritic
      Spine Loss in Schizophrenia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) is a neuronal protein that
      plays a role in maintaining dendritic structure through its interaction with
      microtubules. In schizophrenia (Sz), numerous studies have revealed that the
      typically robust immunoreactivity (IR) of MAP2 is significantly reduced across
      several cortical regions. The relationship between MAP2-IR reduction and lower
      dendritic spine density, which is frequently reported in Sz, has not been
      explored in previous studies, and MAP2-IR loss has not been investigated in the
      primary auditory cortex (Brodmann area 41), a site of conserved pathology in Sz.
      METHODS: Using quantitative spinning disk confocal microscopy in two cohorts of
      subjects with Sz and matched control subjects (Sz subjects, n = 20; control
      subjects, n = 20), we measured MAP2-IR and dendritic spine density and spine
      number in deep layer 3 of BA41. RESULTS: Subjects with Sz exhibited a significant
      reduction in MAP2-IR. The reductions in MAP2-IR were not associated with neuron
      loss, loss of MAP2 protein, clinical confounders, or technical factors. Dendritic
      spine density and number also were reduced in Sz and correlated with MAP2-IR. In
      12 (60%) subjects with Sz, MAP2-IR values were lower than the lowest values in
      control subjects; only in this group were spine density and number significantly
      reduced. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that MAP2-IR loss is closely
      linked to dendritic spine pathology in Sz. Because MAP2 shares substantial
      sequence, regulatory, and functional homology with MAP tau, the wealth of
      knowledge regarding tau biology and the rapidly expanding field of tau
      therapeutics provide resources for identifying how MAP2 is altered in Sz and
      possible leads to novel therapeutics.

PMID- 25818633
TI  - Symphysiotomy.
AB  - The place of symphysiotomy, as an alternative to Caesarean section (CS), in the
      management of established obstructed labour in low- and middle-income, resource
      poor countries (LMICs), is reviewed. It is suggested that it does have a very
      definite place, especially in mothers of low age and parity, in circumstances
      where medical facilities are limited, where antenatal care and hospital delivery
      are not assured in a future pregnancy, and in cultures where it is important to
      the woman that a vaginal delivery is achieved. 

PMID- 25818635
TI  - Thromboelastography as a Surrogate Marker of Perisurgical Hemostasis in Gaucher
      Disease.
AB  - Thromboelastography (TEG) has long been available for routine monitoring of
      perisurgical and postpartum hemostasis, especially at point of care. The purpose
      of this study is to retrospectively compare TEG parameters to concomitant
      standard clotting test results in an unselected cohort of patients with Gaucher
      disease to ascertain whether TEG values are specific and sensitive enough to
      substitute for classic coagulation tests for decision making. This remains a
      cogent concern because of high incidence of thrombocytopenia in patients with
      Gaucher disease. Thromboelastography values were compared to concomitant platelet
      counts, partial thromboplastin time, international normalization ratio, and
      plasma fibrinogen. Demographic characteristics were collected from patients'
      files. There were 22 patients with Gaucher disease (2 children; 12.5%) for whom
      there were 24 TEG results at the same time as classic coagulation test results
      and 30% performed platelet function tests. The current study shows linear and/or
      monotonic relationships between platelet counts and several TEG values that were
      significant over a range of platelet counts including severe thrombocytopenia.
      The fibrinogen component, correlating only with the rate of clot lysis, played a
      lesser role. Based on these preliminary results albeit in a small cohort with
      only 1 case of hemorrhage, there is putative support for the intention to treat
      patients with Gaucher disease based on TEG results using the same TEG protocol as
      for other patients undergoing comparable procedures in our institution. 

PMID- 25818636
TI  - High Atrial Defibrillation Threshold With Internal Cardioversion Indicates
      Arrhythmogenicity of Superior Vena Cava in Non-Long-Standing Persistent Atrial
      Fibrillation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to clarify the relation between atrial
      defibrillation threshold (ADFT) for internal cardioversion (IC) and
      arrhythmogenicity of the superior vena cava (SVC). METHODS AND RESULTS: A total
      of 159 consecutive patients (139 male, age 59.9+/-10.3 years) who underwent
      radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) were assessed. IC
      was performed in 50 patients with non-long-standing persistent AF (non-LSAF) with
      a purpose-built cardioversion catheter in which direct current is delivered
      between the right atrium and the coronary sinus. SVC arrhythmogenicity was
      defined as SVC firing initiating AF, SVC associated with maintenance of AF, or
      frequent ectopy in the SVC. In all 50 non-LSAF patients, AF termination was
      obtained on IC during the procedure except in 1 patient with SVC AF. In the
      patients with ADFT >10 J (n=10), SVC arrhythmogenicity was observed more often
      than in those with ADFT <=10 J (n=40; 60% vs. 13%; P=0.004). There were no
      significant differences between the 2 groups in left atrial diameter (40.8+/-7.6
      vs. 40.6+/-6.3 mm; P=0.92), persistent AF (33% vs. 50%; P=0.46), or other
      clinical parameters. The patients who underwent SVC isolation, however, had
      higher ADFT before SVC isolation than those who did not (15.5+/-8.8 vs. 9.2+/-4.4
      J; P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: High IC ADFT is associated with SVC arrhythmogenicity in
      non-LSAF patients.

PMID- 25818637
TI  - Assessment of In-Stent Restenosis Using High-Definition Computed Tomography With
      a New Gemstone Detector.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Until now, there have been few reports on the accuracy of in-stent
      restenosis (ISR) detection using high-definition computed tomography (HDCT). The
      purpose of this study was to assess ISR using HDCT with a new gemstone detector
      and to examine the diagnostic accuracy compared with invasive coronary
      angiography. METHODS AND RESULTS: We evaluated 162 consecutive patients with 316
      stents and the image quality (IQ) scores used to assess ISR, and analyzed whether
      stent strut thickness and diameter affected IQ score and assessability. In the
      316 stents, 278 were diagnosed as assessable with HDCT (88.0%). IQ score for
      stent diameter >=3 mm was significantly higher than that for stent diameter <3
      mm, for stents with both thick struts >=140 MUm in thickness (mean IQ: 2.04+/
      0.97 vs. 2.83+/-1.06, P<0.001) and thin struts <140 MUm (mean IQ: 1.92+/-0.87 vs.
      2.64+/-0.96, P=0.01). Assessability for stent diameter >=3 mm was significantly
      higher than that for stent diameter <3 mm only for stents with thick struts
      (92.8% vs. 76.1%, P<0.001). Stent strut thickness, however, was not statistically
      significantly associated with either IQ score or assessability. CONCLUSIONS: In
      stent lumens have high HDCT assessability, and HDCT is useful to evaluate thick
      strut stents with diameter <3 mm.

PMID- 25818638
TI  - Quality of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation - can a smartphone bring about
      a revolution?

PMID- 25818639
TI  - Congenital mesoblastic nephroma with focal anaplastic lesion.

PMID- 25818640
TI  - Mobilization of sca1/flk-1 positive endothelial progenitor cells declines in
      apolipoprotein E-deficient mice with a high-fat diet.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis features a deterioration of the endothelial layer in
      all stages. Restoration of the endothelium is associated with circulating stem
      cell antigen 1 (sca1) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor type 2 (flk
      1) positive endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). We investigated whether EPC
      production and/or a mobilization from bone marrow are reduced in severe
      atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: EPCs in peripheral blood were diminished in
      ApoE-/- mice with high-fat diet (HFD) whereas bone marrow levels of these cells
      were not significantly altered compared to controls. In situ perfusion of the
      hind limbs demonstrated that EPC mobilization was reduced compared to ApoE-/-
      mice with normal chow, although increased plasma stromal cell-derived factor
      (SDF) 1alpha and responsivity suggested a mobilizing stimulus. The proliferation
      of sca1/flk-1 positive cells showed no functional impairment. EPCs could not only
      be significantly mobilized from the bone marrow through the application of
      granulocyte colony stimulating factor (GCSF), but also led by trend to a
      depletion of the bone marrow pool. GCSF levels in plasma were equal in ApoE-/-
      mice with normal chow or HFD, which excluded a decline in GCSF production.
      CONCLUSION: The capability of the bone marrow pool to adapt the proliferation and
      mobilization of sca1/flk-1 positive EPCs seems overstrained in ApoE-/- mice with
      a HFD.

PMID- 25818641
TI  - The expression profile analysis of NKX2-5 knock-out embryonic mice to explore the
      pathogenesis of congenital heart disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mutation of NKX2-5 could lead to the development of congenital heart
      disease (CHD) which is a common inherited disease. This study aimed to
      investigate the pathogenesis of CHD in NKX2-5 knock-out embryonic mice. METHODS:
      The expression profile in the NKX2-5 knock-out embryonic mice (GSE528) was
      downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus. The heart tissues from the
      null/heterozygous embryonic day 12.5 mice were compared with wild-type mice to
      identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and then DEGs corresponding to
      the transcriptional factors were filtered out based on the information in the
      TRANSFAC database. In addition, a transcriptional regulatory network was
      constructed according to transcription factor binding site information from the
      University of California Santa Cruz database. A pathway interaction network was
      constructed by latent pathways identification analysis. RESULTS: The 42 DEGs
      corresponding to transcriptional factors from the null and heterozygous embryos
      were identified. The transcriptional regulatory networks included five down
      regulated DEGs (SP1, SRY, JUND, STAT6, and GATA6), and six up-regulated DEGs
      [POU2F1, NFY (NFYA/NFYB/NFYC), USF2 and MAX]. Latent pathways analysis
      demonstrated that ribosome, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, and dilated
      cardiomyopathy pathways significantly interacted. CONCLUSION: The identified DEGs
      and latent pathways could provide new comprehensive view for understanding the
      pathogenesis of CHD.

PMID- 25818642
TI  - Relationship between CHA2DS2-VASc score and atrial electromechanical function in
      patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: A pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: CHA2DS2-VASc score is the most widely preferred method for prediction
      of stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation. We hypothesized that CHA2DS2
      VASc score may represent atrial remodeling status, and therefore
      echocardiographic evaluation of left atrial electromechanical remodeling can be
      used to identify patients with high risk. METHODS: A total of 65 patients who had
      documented diagnosis of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) were divided into
      three risk groups according to the CHA2DS2-VASc score: patients with low risk
      (score=0, group 1), with moderate risk (score=1, group 2), and with high risk
      score (score >=2, group 3). We compared groups according to atrial
      electromechanical intervals and left atrium mechanical functions. RESULTS: Atrial
      electromechanical intervals including inter-atrial and intra-atrial
      electromechanical delay were not different between groups. However, parameters
      reflecting atrial mechanical functions including LA phasic volumes (Vmax, Vmin
      and Vp) were significantly higher in groups 2 and 3 compared with group 1.
      Likewise, LA passive emptying volume (LATEV) in the groups 2 and 3 was
      significantly higher than low-risk group (14.12+/-8.13ml/m(2), 22.36+/
      8.78ml/m(2), 22.89+/-7.23ml/m(2), p: 0.031). Univariate analysis demonstrated
      that Vmax, Vmin and Vp were significantly correlated with CHA2DS2-VASc score
      (r=0.428, r=0.456, r=0.451 and p<0.001). Also, LATEV (r=0.397, p=0.016) and LA
      active emptying volume (LAAEV) (r=0.281, p=0.023) were positively correlated with
      CHA2DS2-VASc score. In the ROC analysis, Vmin>=11ml/m(2) has the highest
      predictive value for CHA2DS2-VASc score >=2 (88% sensitivity and 89% specificity;
      ROC area 0.88, p<0.001, CI [0.76-0.99]). CONCLUSION: Echocardiographic evaluation
      of left atrial electromechanical function might represent a useful method to
      identify patients with high risk.

PMID- 25818643
TI  - Skp2-macroH2A1-CDK8 axis orchestrates G2/M transition and tumorigenesis.
AB  - Understanding the mechanism by which cell growth, migration, polyploidy, and
      tumorigenesis are regulated may provide important therapeutic strategies for
      cancer therapy. Here we identify the Skp2-macroH2A1 (mH2A1)-cyclin-dependent
      kinase 8 (CDK8) axis as a critical pathway for these processes, and deregulation
      of this pathway is associated with human breast cancer progression and patient
      survival outcome. We showed that mH2A1 is a new substrate of Skp2 SCF complex
      whose degradation by Skp2 promotes CDK8 gene and protein expression. Strikingly,
      breast tumour suppression on Skp2 deficiency can be rescued by mH2A1 knockdown or
      CDK8 restoration using mouse tumour models. We further show that CDK8 regulates
      p27 protein expression by facilitating Skp2-mediated p27 ubiquitination and
      degradation. Our study establishes a critical role of Skp2-mH2A1-CDK8 axis in
      breast cancer development and targeting this pathway offers a promising strategy
      for breast cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25818644
TI  - Widespread rearrangement of 3D chromatin organization underlies polycomb-mediated
      stress-induced silencing.
AB  - Chromosomes of metazoan organisms are partitioned in the interphase nucleus into
      discrete topologically associating domains (TADs). Borders between TADs are
      formed in regions containing active genes and clusters of architectural protein
      binding sites. The transcription of most genes is repressed after temperature
      stress in Drosophila. Here we show that temperature stress induces relocalization
      of architectural proteins from TAD borders to inside TADs, and this is
      accompanied by a dramatic rearrangement in the 3D organization of the nucleus.
      TAD border strength declines, allowing for an increase in long-distance inter-TAD
      interactions. Similar but quantitatively weaker effects are observed upon
      inhibition of transcription or depletion of individual architectural proteins.
      Heat shock-induced inter-TAD interactions result in increased contacts among
      enhancers and promoters of silenced genes, which recruit Pc and form Pc bodies in
      the nucleolus. These results suggest that the TAD organization of metazoan
      genomes is plastic and can be reconfigured quickly. 

PMID- 25818645
TI  - Distinct spatial Ca2+ signatures selectively activate different NFAT
      transcription factor isoforms.
AB  - Protein isoforms are widely expressed in biological systems. How isoforms that co
      exist within the same sub-cellular domain are differentially activated remains
      unclear. Here, we compare the regulatory mechanism of two closely related
      transcription factor isoforms, NFAT1 and NFAT4, that migrate from the cytoplasm
      to the nucleus following the increase in intracellular Ca(2+) that accompanies
      the opening of store-operated Orai1/CRAC channels. We demonstrate that NFAT1 has
      a private line of communication with Orai1, activating in response to Ca(2+)
      microdomains near the open channels. By contrast, NFAT4 stimulation requires both
      local Ca(2+) entry and a nuclear Ca(2+) rise. We mapped differences in nuclear
      location to amino acids within the SP-3 motif of the NFAT regulatory domain. The
      different Ca(2+) dependencies enable agonists to recruit different isoform
      combinations as stimulus strength increases. Our study uncovers a mechanism
      whereby co-existing cytoplasmic transcription factor isoforms are differentially
      activated by distinct sub-cellular Ca(2+) signals. 

PMID- 25818646
TI  - Interaction with WDR5 promotes target gene recognition and tumorigenesis by MYC.
AB  - MYC is an oncoprotein transcription factor that is overexpressed in the majority
      of malignancies. The oncogenic potential of MYC stems from its ability to bind
      regulatory sequences in thousands of target genes, which depends on interaction
      of MYC with its obligate partner, MAX. Here, we show that broad association of
      MYC with chromatin also depends on interaction with the WD40-repeat protein WDR5.
      MYC binds WDR5 via an evolutionarily conserved "MYC box IIIb" motif that engages
      a shallow, hydrophobic cleft on the surface of WDR5. Structure-guided mutations
      in MYC that disrupt interaction with WDR5 attenuate binding of MYC at ~80% of its
      chromosomal locations and disable its ability to promote induced pluripotent stem
      cell formation and drive tumorigenesis. Our data reveal WDR5 as a key determinant
      for MYC recruitment to chromatin and uncover a tractable target for the discovery
      of anticancer therapies against MYC-driven tumors.

PMID- 25818647
TI  - Intracellular crotonyl-CoA stimulates transcription through p300-catalyzed
      histone crotonylation.
AB  - Acetylation of histones at DNA regulatory elements plays a critical role in
      transcriptional activation. Histones are also modified by other acyl moieties,
      including crotonyl, yet the mechanisms that govern acetylation versus
      crotonylation and the functional consequences of this "choice" remain unclear. We
      show that the coactivator p300 has both crotonyltransferase and acetyltransferase
      activities, and that p300-catalyzed histone crotonylation directly stimulates
      transcription to a greater degree than histone acetylation. Levels of histone
      crotonylation are regulated by the cellular concentration of crotonyl-CoA, which
      can be altered through genetic and environmental perturbations. In a cell-based
      model of transcriptional activation, increasing or decreasing the cellular
      concentration of crotonyl-CoA leads to enhanced or diminished gene expression,
      respectively, which correlates with the levels of histone crotonylation flanking
      the regulatory elements of activated genes. Our findings support a general
      principle wherein differential histone acylation (i.e., acetylation versus
      crotonylation) couples cellular metabolism to the regulation of gene expression. 

PMID- 25818649
TI  - Understanding and treating painful diabetic neuropathy: time for a paradigm
      shift.
AB  - The pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy (DN) continues to be unclear and as a
      result, progress in developing effective therapies has been disappointing. In
      particular, there is only limited understanding of why some patients suffer
      severe chronic pain, whilst others have painless symptoms. Assessment of the
      peripheral nerves frequently shows no differences between painful and painless
      DN. There is growing evidence that the nerve damage in DN is more generalized,
      including the central nervous system, and these central changes are key to the
      development and persistence of pain in DN. The advent of new radiological
      techniques provides us with non-invasive modalities to study central
      pathophysiological processes in greater detail. These insights are increasingly
      leading to the recognition that painful DN is a complex and heterogeneous
      disorder, which requires a multimodal approach to treatment. 

PMID- 25818648
TI  - Differential phosphorylation of DNA-PKcs regulates the interplay between end
      processing and end-ligation during nonhomologous end-joining.
AB  - Nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) is a major DNA double-strand break repair
      pathway that is conserved in eukaryotes. In vertebrates, NHEJ further acquires
      end-processing capacities (e.g., hairpin opening) in addition to direct end
      ligation. The catalytic subunit of DNA-PK (DNA-PKcs) is a vertebrate-specific
      NHEJ factor that can be autophosphorylated or transphosphorylated by ATM kinase.
      Using a mouse model expressing a kinase-dead (KD) DNA-PKcs protein, we show that
      ATM-mediated transphosphorylation of DNA-PKcs regulates end-processing at the
      level of Artemis recruitment, while strict autophosphorylation of DNA-PKcs is
      necessary to relieve the physical blockage on end-ligation imposed by the DNA
      PKcs protein itself. Accordingly, DNA-PKcs(KD/KD) mice and cells show severe end
      ligation defects and p53- and Ku-dependent embryonic lethality, but open hairpin
      sealed ends normally in the presence of ATM kinase activity. Together, our
      findings identify DNA-PKcs as the molecular switch that coordinates end
      processing and end-ligation at the DNA ends through differential
      phosphorylations.

PMID- 25818650
TI  - Response to Time to resize the role of liver transplant for Budd-Chiari syndrome.

PMID- 25818651
TI  - Discrepancies between ESMO and NCCN breast cancer guidelines: An appraisal.
AB  - An ever growing number of medical organizations, societies, working groups and
      governmental agencies issue algorithms i.e. guidelines, of decision making
      flowcharts in diagnosis and treatment in a variety of diseases. In the field of
      evidence-based diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, a large number of
      guidelines are available both from medical associations and national health
      departments. Among the most appreciated and utilized comprehensive guides is the
      European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Breast Cancer Guidelines and from
      the other side of the Atlantic the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)
      Guidelines in Breast Cancer. Although there is much concordance between the
      guidelines from these two organizations, it is intriguing to locate their
      discrepancies also. The aim of this report is to present a number of different
      points between ESMO and NCCN in the whole spectrum of breast cancer management,
      from prevention and diagnosis to treatment and follow up. This systematic review
      was performed in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines using a predefined search
      strategy and summarizes in detail, the differences between ESMO and NCCN
      guidelines regarding genetic risk evaluation and screening, surgery,
      chemotherapy, endocrine treatment, targeted biological agents, radiotherapy,
      pregnancy and fertility and follow-up. 

PMID- 25818653
TI  - Postoperative Delirium in Patients Undergoing Total Joint Arthroplasty: A
      Systematic Review.
AB  - We systematically reviewed the English-language literature to assess the
      incidence, risk factors and prevention strategies for postoperative delirium
      following total joint arthroplasty (TJA). A total of 10 studies were included in
      the final review, of which 3 (30%) were Level I studies, 6 were Level II (60%)
      studies and 1 (10%) was a Level III study. Incidence of postoperative delirium
      ranged from 5% to 14.3%. Pre-screening of patients was shown to reduce its
      incidence. Independent predictors include age, history of psychiatric illness,
      decreased functional status and decreased verbal memory. 

PMID- 25818652
TI  - The Streptococcus pyogenes NAD(+) glycohydrolase modulates epithelial cell
      PARylation and HMGB1 release.
AB  - Streptococcus pyogenes uses the cytolysin streptolysin O (SLO) to translocate an
      enzyme, the S. pyogenes NAD(+) glycohydrolase (SPN), into the host cell cytosol.
      However, the function of SPN in this compartment is not known. As a complication,
      many S. pyogenes strains express a SPN variant lacking NAD(+) glycohydrolase
      (NADase) activity. Here, we show that SPN modifies several SLO- and NAD(+) 
      dependent host cell responses in patterns that correlate with NADase activity.
      SLO pore formation results in hyperactivation of the cellular enzyme poly-ADP
      ribose polymerase-1 (PARP-1) and production of polymers of poly-ADP-ribose (PAR).
      However, while SPN NADase activity moderates PARP-1 activation and blocks
      accumulation of PAR, these processes continued unabated in the presence of NADase
      inactive SPN. Temporal analyses revealed that while PAR production is initially
      independent of NADase activity, PAR rapidly disappears in the presence of NADase
      active SPN, host cell ATP is depleted and the pro-inflammatory mediator high
      mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) protein is released from the nucleus by a PARP-1
      dependent mechanism. In contrast, HMGB1 is not released in response to NADase
      inactive SPN and instead the cells release elevated levels of interleukin-8 and
      tumour necrosis factor-alpha. Thus, SPN and SLO combine to induce cellular
      responses subsequently influenced by the presence or absence of NADase activity. 

PMID- 25818654
TI  - Delayed recurrence of renal cell carcinoma presenting as a haemorrhoid.
AB  - Metastatic non-colorectal cancer of the anal canal is a rare entity. To date,
      only four cases have been described in the literature. We present a 76-year-old
      man who was referred with an unusual perianal lesion. He had a history of renal
      cell carcinoma 7 years previously. Histologically, the lesion revealed clear cell
      carcinoma in keeping with metastasis. To our knowledge, this is only the second
      time a renal carcinoma metastasis to the anal canal has been identified. 

PMID- 25818655
TI  - Rhes regulates dopamine D2 receptor transmission in striatal cholinergic
      interneurons.
AB  - Ras homolog enriched in striatum (Rhes) is highly expressed in striatal medium
      spiny neurons (MSNs) of rodents. In the present study, we characterized the
      expression of Rhes mRNA across species, as well as its functional role in other
      striatal neuron subtypes. Double in situ hybridization analysis showed that Rhes
      transcript is selectively localized in striatal cholinergic interneurons (ChIs),
      but not in GABAergic parvalbumin- or in neuropeptide Y-positive cell populations.
      Rhes is closely linked to dopamine-dependent signaling. Therefore, we recorded
      ChIs activity in basal condition and following dopamine receptor activation.
      Surprisingly, instead of an expected dopamine D2 receptor (D2R)-mediated
      inhibition, we observed an aberrant excitatory response in ChIs from Rhes
      knockout mice. Conversely, the effect of D1R agonist on ChIs was less robust in
      Rhes mutants than in controls. Although Rhes deletion in mutants occurs
      throughout the striatum, we demonstrate that the D2R response is altered
      specifically in ChIs, since it was recorded in pharmacological isolation, and
      prevented either by intrapipette BAPTA or by GDP-beta-S. Moreover, we show that
      blockade of Cav2.2 calcium channels prevented the abnormal D2R response. Finally,
      we found that the abnormal D2R activation in ChIs was rescued by selective PI3K
      inhibition thus suggesting that Rhes functionally modulates PI3K/Akt signaling
      pathway in these neurons. Our findings reveal that, besides its expression in
      MSNs, Rhes is localized also in striatal ChIs and, most importantly, lack of this
      G-protein, significantly alters D2R modulation of striatal cholinergic
      excitability. 

PMID- 25818656
TI  - Effect of prosthetic restoration on oral health-related quality of life in
      patients with shortened dental arches: a multicentre study.
AB  - The aim of this multicentre prospective study was to investigate the effect of
      prosthetic restoration for missing posterior teeth in patients with shortened
      dental arches (SDAs). SDA patients with 2-12 missing occlusal units (a pair of
      occluding premolars corresponds to one unit, and a pair of occluding molars
      corresponds to two units) were consecutively recruited from seven university
      based dental hospitals in Japan. Patients chose no replacement of missing teeth
      or prosthetic treatment with removable partial dentures (RPDs) or implant
      supported fixed partial dentures (IFPDs). Oral health-related quality of life
      (OHRQoL) was measured using the oral health impact profile (Japanese version -
      OHIP-J) at baseline and follow-up/post-treatment evaluation. Of the 169 subjects
      who completed baseline evaluation, 125 subjects (mean age; 63.0 years) received
      follow-up/post-treatment evaluation. No-treatment was chosen by 42% (53/125) of
      the subjects, and 58% (72/125) chose treatment with a RPD (n = 53) or an IFPD (n
      = 19). In the no-treatment (NT) group, the mean OHIP summary score at baseline
      was similar to that at follow-up evaluation (P = 0.69). In the treatment (TRT)
      group, the mean OHIP summary score decreased significantly after the RPD
      treatment (P = 0.002), and it tended to decrease, though not statistically
      significant (P = 0.18), after the IFPD treatment. The restoration of one occlusal
      unit was associated with a 1.2-point decrease in OHIP summary score (P = 0.034).
      These results suggest that the replacement of missing posterior teeth with RPDs
      or IFPDs improved OHRQoL. Prosthetic restoration for SDAs may benefit OHRQoL in
      patients needing replacement of missing posterior teeth.

PMID- 25818657
TI  - Genetic polymorphism of KIR2DL4 in the Polish population.
AB  - The KIR2DL4 gene is characterized by alleles with either 9 or 10 consecutive
      adenines in exon 7, which encodes the transmembrane domain. The 9A variant
      produces either a protein with a truncated cytoplasmic tail or one lacking the
      transmembrane region. This causes a lack of KIR2DL4 expression. In contrast, 10A
      alleles encode receptors that may be expressed at the cell surface. We tested 438
      healthy individuals for polymorphism of the KIR2DL4 gene. KIR2DL4 9A/10A alleles
      were distinguished by the high resolution melting (HRM) method, and restriction
      fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was used for genotyping of three other single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning the near vicinity of the poly-adenine
      fragment. We found a weak difference between males and females in 9769 C/A
      genotypes and alleles. In addition, we observed complete linkage disequilibrium
      (LD) between 9A insertion/deletion in the 9620 position and the 9571T/C position
      of the gene (r(2)  = 1) both in females and males and almost complete LD with the
      9797G/A position (r(2)  = 0.963 for females and r(2)  = 0.892 for males). Most
      importantly, we detected, in a group of fertile women, a high frequency (30.2%)
      of homozygosity for the defective 9A variant, which suggests that KIR2DL4 as a
      functional cell surface receptor is not absolutely necessary for reproduction. On
      the other hand, lower representation of 10A/10A homozygotes and high frequency of
      10A/9A heterozygotes indicates a need for both cell membrane-anchored and soluble
      KIR2DL4 molecules. Finally, cost-reducing RFLP instead of HRM is proposed for
      typing 9A and 10A variants. 

PMID- 25818658
TI  - Peritoneal metastases from small bowel cancer: Results of cytoreductive surgery
      and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in The Netherlands.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy
      (CRS + HIPEC) is currently considered the standard of care for pseudomyxoma
      peritonei, mesothelioma and peritoneal metastases (PM) from colorectal cancer.
      CRS + HIPEC has also been suggested as a potential treatment option in PM of the
      much rarer small bowel cancer. Therefore, the current study was undertaken to
      investigate the results of CRS + HIPEC in all HIPEC centers in The Netherlands.
      METHODS: From the 4 tertiary referral centers for peritoneal surface malignancies
      in The Netherlands, data from all patients with peritoneally metastasized small
      bowel carcinoma intended to undergo CRS and HIPEC were collected between January
      2005 and July 2014. Primary tumor characteristics, operative details, and
      survival outcomes were collected. RESULTS: Sixteen of 19 patients (84.2%) who
      underwent explorative laparotomy underwent CRS + HIPEC. Of these patients, 81.3%
      were female, and primary tumors were mainly located in the ileum (50%). A
      complete macroscopic resection was achieved in 93.8%. Serious adverse events
      requiring re-intervention occurred in 25%, and no in-hospital mortality was
      observed. Recurrent disease was observed in 50% of patients and median survival
      after CRS and HIPEC was 31 months. CONCLUSION: In a select group of patients in
      whom a complete macroscopic resection can be achieved, survival rates comparable
      with those in colorectal PM are attainable with acceptable morbidity. The role of
      adjuvant chemotherapy needs further research.

PMID- 25818660
TI  - Treatment of invasive candidiasis: between guidelines and daily clinical
      practice.
AB  - Invasive candidiasis, including candidemia (IC/C), is a major cause of morbidity
      and mortality among hospitalized patients. While incidence is higher in intensive
      care units, the majority of cases of candidemia are documented in medical wards.
      Although Candida albicans is still the most frequently isolated species, IC/C due
      to non-albicans species, usually less susceptible to fluconazole, is increasing.
      Early identification of patients at risk, knowledge of local epidemiology and
      prompt efforts to define etiologic diagnosis play a pivotal role for
      appropriateness. Starting therapy with an echinocandin, switching then to
      fluconazole when possible, seems to represent a potentially useful strategy for
      the management of IC/C. The choice between the three echinocandins should be
      based on the specific indications, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic profile,
      clinical experience and relative cost. 

PMID- 25818659
TI  - Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio is a strong predictor of tumor recurrence in early
      colon cancers: A propensity score-matched analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Systemic inflammation and immune response play a crucial role in
      tumor growth, and the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) may be a simple way to
      assess the host inflammatory response. The NLR has been shown to be a prognostic
      indicator in many human tumors; in early colon cancers, it has been evaluated
      only in a few studies and its role remains controversial. METHODS: We analyzed
      data from 503 colon cancer patients. The best cutoff value for NLR was defined by
      receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. We grouped 276 Dukes A/B colon
      cancers, not receiving adjuvant chemotherapy, into low (<2.36) and high (>2.36)
      NLR and subjected to further analyses related to disease-free survival (DFS). A
      propensity score-matched analysis and the inverse probability of treatment
      weighting (IPTW) were performed to avoid confounding bias. RESULTS: The NLR
      correlated with tumor stage and oncologic outcome. The best NLR cutoff value was
      identical in the whole cohort and in Dukes A/B patients. Low NLR patients had a
      significantly better DFS rate than high NLR patients (hazard ratio [HR], 0.27; P
      = .0001); along with elevated carcinoembryonic antigen levels and Dukes B stage,
      high NLR was an independent prognostic factor of worse prognosis (HR, 2.86; P =
      .0033). Even in Dukes A patients, NLR discriminated between relapsing and
      nonrelapsing patients. Propensity score and IPTW analyses confirmed such results,
      thus excluding possible misinterpretation. CONCLUSION: Preoperative NLR, an
      inexpensive and readily available biomarker, can predict tumor relapse and should
      be assessed for implementation of tailored therapy in early stage colon cancer.

PMID- 25818661
TI  - A Review Study on the Effect of Iranian Herbal Medicines on Opioid Withdrawal
      Syndrome.
AB  - Addiction is a chronic and recurring disease that recurrence phenomenon is the
      most important challenge in treatment of this disease. Recent experiences have
      shown that synthetic drugs have undesirable side effects. Recent studies on
      medicinal plants have shown that they might be effective in treatment of
      different stages of addiction with lower side effects and costs. The aim of this
      study was to review the effects of medicinal plants in the treatment of morphine
      addiction in experimental animals. In this review article, by using keywords of
      morphine, withdrawal, and plants or herbal medicine in databases of indexing
      cites, desired articles were obtained since 1994. Inclusion criteria for
      selecting articles were the articles related to application of medicinal plants
      in decreasing symptoms resulting from morphine withdrawal were selected. Results
      of this study on experimental studies have shown that medicinal plants such as
      Trachyspermum copticum L and Melissa officinalis decrease the symptoms of
      withdrawal syndrome in a dose-dependent. Also, medicinal plants like Avena
      sativa, Hypericum perforatu, Passiflora incarnate, Valeriana officinalis,
      Satureja hortensis L, and Mentha piperita can have effects on behavior, emotions,
      and other problems of addicts, decreasing withdrawal symptoms. Results of this
      study showed that medicinal plants can be effective in controlling deprivation,
      decreasing dependency creation, and possibly DETOXIFICATION: of opioid addicts. 

PMID- 25818662
TI  - Individual and population-level sex-dependent lateralization in yellow-legged
      gull (Larus michahellis) chicks.
AB  - Behavioral lateralization at the population level is widespread across
      vertebrates, with considerable variation among species. However, evidence for
      individual-level and sex-dependent lateralization is sparse and inconsistent in
      fish, reptiles and birds. In addition, covariation of lateralization with
      position in the laying sequence, which is expected because the concentration of
      maternal egg hormones varies with laying order, has never been investigated. We
      analyzed lateralization of yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) chicks in
      reverting from supine to prone posture ('RTP' response) and in pecking at a dummy
      parental bill to solicit food provisioning ('begging' response). Chicks were
      lateralized both at the population and at the individual level in the RTP
      response and at the individual level in begging. Lateralization in the RTP was
      sex-dependent, as females showed a leftward preference. Lateralization in either
      motor task was not correlated within individuals. Lateralization did not differ
      among families, suggesting little additive genetic variation. Lateral preference
      in begging response varied according to laying order and matched variation in egg
      androgens concentration. Our study confirms previous findings on population-level
      lateralization and adds to the scant information on individual-level and
      heritable variation in lateralization in birds. Moreover, it hints at epigenetic
      components in lateralization depending on maternal effects. 

PMID- 25818663
TI  - Human Endometrial Transcriptomics: Implications for Embryonic Implantation.
AB  - Human endometrium has been extensively investigated in the search for markers
      capable of predicting its receptive status. The completion of the Human Genome
      Project has triggered a rapid development of new fields in molecular biology, the
      "transcriptomics" being a major turning point in the knowledge acquisition of
      endometrial receptivity. Based on this, a customized Endometrial Receptivity
      Array (ERA) has been developed, which is capable of identifying the genomic
      signature of receptivity. This diagnostic tool showed that the window of
      implantation (WOI) is displaced in one out of four patients with implantation
      failure, allowing the identification of their personalized WOI. This strategy
      allows performing a personalized embryo transfer (pET) on the day in which the
      endometrium is receptive. The combination of a systems biology approach and next
      generation sequencing will overcome the limitations of microarrays, and will, in
      the future, allow elucidation of the mechanisms involved in embryo implantation. 

PMID- 25818665
TI  - Introduction to Intellectual Property: A U.S. Perspective.
AB  - This review introduces patents and trade secrets, the two mechanisms that U.S.
      law provides inventors to protect their inventions. These mechanisms are mutually
      exclusive: One demands disclosure and the other calls for concealment. Many
      biotechnology innovators opt for patents, which grant legal, time-limited
      monopolies to eligible inventions.To obtain a patent in the United States, an
      invention must be useful to the public and made or altered by the hand of man. It
      must then clear the hurdles of novelty and nonobviousness. If an invention can do
      that, obtaining a patent becomes a matter of form: Who qualifies as an inventor?
      Does the application demonstrate possession, stake a clear claim to the
      protection sought, and enable "ordinary" colleagues to replicate it? Has the
      inventor purposely withheld anything? This review addresses each of these hurdles
      as they apply to biotech inventions. 

PMID- 25818664
TI  - The Mycobacterial Cell Wall--Peptidoglycan and Arabinogalactan.
AB  - The mycobacterial bacillus is encompassed by a remarkably elaborate cell wall
      structure. The mycolyl-arabinogalactan-peptidoglycan (mAGP) complex is essential
      for the viability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and maintains a robust basal
      structure supporting the upper "myco-membrane." M. tuberculosis peptidoglycan,
      although appearing to be unexceptional at first glance, contains a number of
      unique molecular subtleties that become particularly important as the TB-bacilli
      enters into nonreplicative growth during dormancy. Arabinogalactan, a highly
      branched polysaccharide, serves to connect peptidoglycan with the outer mycolic
      acid layer, and a variety of unique glycolsyltransferases are used for its
      assembly. In this review, we shall explore the microbial chemistry of this unique
      heteropolysacchride, examine the molecular genetics that underpins its
      fabrication, and discuss how the essential biosynthetic process might be
      exploited for the development of future anti-TB chemotherapies. 

PMID- 25818666
TI  - miR-709 up-regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma, promotes proliferation and
      invasion by targeting GPC5.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers and
      is a significant leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Emerging
      evidence has shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) are associated with cancer development
      and progression. However, up to now little has been known concerning the role of
      miR-709 in HCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Real-time RT-PCR was performed to detect
      expression of miR-709 in HCC cell lines and tissues. To further understand its
      role in HCC, we restored its expression in HepG2 cell line through transfection
      with miR-709 mimics or inhibitors. CCK-8 proliferation assay, migration assay and
      invasion assay were used to detect functional roles of miR-709. Luciferase assay
      and western blotting were performed to detect the target gene of miR-709.
      RESULTS: We found that miR-709 was highly expressed in HCC tissues and in HCC
      cell lines by qRT-PCR. Re-expression of miR-709 in HCC cells remarkably promoted
      cell migration and invasiveness in vitro. Subsequent investigation revealed that
      glypican-5 (GPC5) was a direct and functional target of miR-709 in HCC cells
      where overexpression of miR-709 impaired GPC5-induced inhibition of proliferation
      and invasion. Finally, analysis of miR-709 and GPC5 levels in human HCC tissues
      revealed that miR-709 inversely correlated with GPC5 expression. CONCLUSIONS:
      These results suggest that miR-709 may positively regulate invasion and
      metastasis of HCC through targeting GPC5.

PMID- 25818667
TI  - A manifesto on the preservation of sexual function in women and girls with
      cancer.
AB  - Malignancies that affect females who survive cancer commonly originate in,
      invade, and/or metastasize to the sexual organs, including the ovaries, uterine
      corpus, uterine cervix, vagina, vulva, fallopian tubes, anus, rectum, breast(s),
      and brain. Females comprise most of the population (in number and proportion)
      with cancers that directly affect the sexual organs. Most females in the age
      groups most commonly affected by cancer are sexually active in the year before
      diagnosis, which includes most menopausal women who have a partner. Among female
      cancer survivors, the vast majority have cancers that are treated with local or
      systemic therapies that result in removal, compromise, or destruction of the
      sexual organs. Additionally, female cancer survivors often experience abrupt or
      premature onset of menopause, either directly with surgery, radiation, or other
      treatments or indirectly through disruption of female sex hormone or other
      neuroendocrine physiology. For many female patients, cancer treatment has short
      term and long-lasting effects on other aspects of physical, psychological, and
      social functioning that can interfere with normal sexual function; these effects
      include pain, depression, and anxiety; fatigue and sleep disruption; changes in
      weight and body image; scars, loss of normal skin sensation, and other skin
      changes; changes in bodily odors; ostomies and loss of normal bowel and bladder
      function; lymphedema, and strained intimate partnerships and other changes in
      social roles. In spite of these facts, female patients who are treated for cancer
      receive insufficient counseling, support, or treatment to preserve or regain
      sexual function after cancer treatment. 

PMID- 25818669
TI  - Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy: maternal and fetal outcomes associated
      with elevated bile acid levels.

PMID- 25818668
TI  - The effect of menopause on the innate antiviral activity of cervicovaginal
      lavage.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Reproductive hormones are known to impact innate mucosal immune
      function of the lower genital tract. Our objectives were to determine the effect
      of hormonal status on intrinsic antiviral (herpes simplex virus [HSV]-1, HSV-2,
      and human immunodeficiency virus [HIV]-1) activity of cervicovaginal lavage
      (CVL). STUDY DESIGN: CVL was collected from 165 asymptomatic women including
      postmenopausal women (n = 29); women not on contraception in days 1-14 (n = 26)
      or days 15-28 (n = 27) of the menstrual cycle; and women using the levonorgestrel
      intrauterine device (n = 28), depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (n = 28), or
      combined oral contraceptives (n = 27). The anti-HSV-1/-2 and the anti-HIV-1
      activity of the CVL were measured using plaque assays and the Jurkat-Tat-CCR5
      assay, respectively. RESULTS: CVL from all of the groups had modest antiviral
      activity. Anti-HIV-1 activity was decreased in CVL from postmenopausal women when
      compared to premenopausal women (11% vs 34%, P = .002). However, there was no
      difference in anti-HIV-1 activity among premenopausal women regardless of phase
      of menstrual cycle or contraceptive use. Anti-HIV-1 activity was associated with
      the protein content of the CVL (r = 0.44, P < .001). There was no difference in
      anti-HSV-1 or -2 activity by hormonal group. CONCLUSION: Menopause is associated
      with decreased innate HIV-1 activity in the lower genital tract, suggesting that
      factors in the vaginal fluid could play a role in increased susceptibility of HIV
      1 infection in postmenopausal women. Hormonal contraceptive use, menopause, and
      phase of menstrual cycle did not have a measurable impact on the intrinsic anti
      HSV-1 or -2 activity.

PMID- 25818670
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25046809.

PMID- 25818671
TI  - New insights in the pathophysiology of ovarian cancer and implications for
      screening and prevention.
AB  - Despite advances in medicine, ovarian cancer remains the deadliest of the
      gynecological malignancies. Herein we present the latest information on the
      pathophysiology of ovarian cancer and its significance for ovarian cancer
      screening and prevention. A new paradigm for ovarian cancer pathogenesis
      presupposes 2 distinct types of ovarian epithelial carcinoma with distinct
      molecular profiles: type I and type II carcinomas. Type I tumors include
      endometrioid, clear-cell carcinoma, and low-grade serous carcinoma and mostly
      arise via defined sequence either from endometriosis or from borderline serous
      tumors, mostly presenting in an early stage. More frequent type II carcinomas are
      usually high-grade serous tumors, and recent evidence suggests that the majority
      arise from the fimbriated end of the fallopian tube. Subsequently, high-grade
      serous carcinomas usually present at advanced stages, likely as a consequence of
      the rapid peritoneal seeding from the open ends of the fallopian tubes. On the
      other hand, careful clinical evaluation should be performed along with risk
      stratification and targeted treatment of women with premalignant conditions
      leading to type I cancers, most notably endometriosis and endometriomas. Although
      the chance of malignant transformation is low, an understanding of this link
      offers a possibility of prevention and early intervention. This new evidence
      explains difficulties in ovarian cancer screening and helps in forming new
      recommendations for ovarian cancer risk evaluation and prophylactic treatments. 

PMID- 25818672
TI  - Diagnostic accuracy of fundal height and handheld ultrasound-measured abdominal
      circumference to screen for fetal growth abnormalities.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We sought to compare fundal height and handheld ultrasound-measured
      fetal abdominal circumference (HHAC) for the prediction of fetal growth
      restriction (FGR) or large for gestational age. STUDY DESIGN: This was a
      diagnostic accuracy study in nonanomalous singleton pregnancies between 24 and 40
      weeks' gestation. Patients underwent HHAC and fundal height measurement prior to
      formal growth ultrasound. FGR was defined as estimated fetal weight less than
      10%, whereas large for gestational age was defined as estimated fetal weight
      greater than 90%. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated and compared using
      methods described elsewhere. RESULTS: There were 251 patients included in this
      study. HHAC had superior sensitivity and specificity for the detection of FGR
      (sensitivity, 100% vs 42.86%) and (specificity, 92.62% vs 85.24%). HHAC had
      higher specificity but lower sensitivity when screening for LGA (specificity,
      85.66% vs 66.39%) and (sensitivity, 57.14% vs 71.43%). CONCLUSION: HHAC could
      prove to be a valuable screening tool in the detection of FGR. Further studies
      are needed in a larger population.

PMID- 25818673
TI  - Placement of a distal implant to convert a mandibular removable Kennedy class I
      to an implant-supported partial removable Class III dental prosthesis: A
      systematic review.
AB  - STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: A number of authors have reported the placement of a distal
      implant associated with a partial removable dental prosthesis (PRDP) to make this
      rehabilitation more stable. This strategy may represent an option for resolving
      the problem of the intrusive movements of the PRDP and for reducing treatment
      costs. PURPOSE: The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the current
      evidence about the placement of a distal implant associated with a mandibular
      PRDP to improve patient satisfaction and the clinical performance of the abutment
      tooth and distal implant. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Two independent prosthetic
      specialist reviewers conducted this systematic review. The search was performed
      using selected clinical studies with PRDP associated with distal implants
      published in English up to May 2014 from the PubMed and Cochrane Library
      databases. A data extraction form was developed to collect general information:
      authors, title, year of publication, aim of study, level of evidence, number of
      participants, number of implants used, implant system, implant length and
      diameter, abutment type, masticatory performance, patient satisfaction, implant
      mean bone loss, abutment tooth mean bone loss, prosthetic complications, follow
      up period, and implant survival rate. The quality of the selected studies and the
      risk of bias were also reported. RESULTS: The initial electronic search
      identified 231 studies, and the manual process identified 15 studies (total of
      246 studies). After the title and abstract reading and the removal of duplicates,
      the full texts of 43 studies were obtained. The articles that did not meet the
      inclusion criteria were excluded (28 studies), and the data from 15 studies were
      extracted. Seven were retrospective studies, 1 a crossover pilot study, 2 case
      series, 2 paired clinical studies, and 3 case reports, demonstrating that a high
      number of the selected studies were of low methodological quality. Nevertheless,
      the high survival rates for PRDP associated with dental implants have been
      described. CONCLUSIONS: The use of a PRDP associated with dental implants to
      convert a Kennedy class I to class III dental prosthesis benefits patients by
      improving their satisfaction and masticatory abilities without decreasing implant
      survival rates. Considering the abutment tooth survival rate, clinical studies
      with comparable methodology are still lacking to define protocols regarding the
      use of distal implants associated with PRDP. Long-term, prospective clinical
      trials are still needed to understand which implant abutments increase abutment
      tooth survival rate.

PMID- 25818674
TI  - The potential use of mesenchymal stem cells in stroke therapy--From bench to
      bedside.
AB  - Stroke is the second main cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The
      rationale for the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in stroke is based on the
      capacity of MSCs to secrete a large variety of bioactive molecules such as growth
      factors, cytokines and chemokines leading to reduction of inflammation, increased
      neurogenesis from the germinative niches of central nervous system, increased
      angiogenesis, effects on astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and axons. This review
      presents the data derived from experimental studies and the evidence available
      from clinical trials about the use of MSCs in stroke therapy. 

PMID- 25818675
TI  - Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with homozygous M232R mutation: A case report.

PMID- 25818676
TI  - Anti-apoptotic, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects of thalidomide on
      cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.
AB  - Thalidomide has shown protective effects in different models of
      ischemia/reperfusion damage. To elucidate the mechanisms of such protection, this
      study assessed the effects of thalidomide on the oxidative stress and
      inflammatory response induced by ischemia/reperfusion episodes in rats. Rats
      underwent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) for 2hours. All animals were
      sacrificed after different reperfusion times. Rats were administered either DMSO
      or thalidomide (20mg/kg (i.p.)) at different times before or during reperfusion:
      1) 1h before reperfusion; the infarct area was measured 2h after reperfusion. 2)
      10min before reperfusion and 80min after reperfusion; the infarct area was
      measured 24h after reperfusion; and 3) 10min before reperfusion and 1h, 24h, 48h,
      and 68h after reperfusion; the infarct area was measured 72h after reperfusion.
      Thalidomide reduced the infarct area 24h and 72h after MCAO, and decreased the
      neurological deficit in all groups with respect to controls. Thalidomide also
      lowered significantly the number of TUNEL-positive cells, levels of Bax, caspase
      3, lipoperoxidation, and pro-inflammatory cytokines, and increased the levels of
      SOD1, Bcl-2 and pAkt. These results show that thalidomide has neuroprotective
      effects, apparently due to its anti-apoptotic, anti-oxidant, and anti
      inflammatory effects. 

PMID- 25818678
TI  - Soluble c5b-9 as a biomarker for complement activation in atypical hemolytic
      uremic syndrome.

PMID- 25818677
TI  - Gout after living kidney donation: a matched cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the general population, high serum uric acid concentration is a
      risk factor for gout. It is unknown whether donating a kidney increases a living
      donor's risk of gout as serum uric acid concentration increases in donors after
      nephrectomy. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective matched cohort study using large health
      care databases. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: We studied living kidney donors who
      donated in 1992 to 2010 in Ontario, Canada. Matched nondonors were selected from
      the healthiest segment of the general population. 1,988 donors and 19,880 matched
      nondonors were followed up for a median of 8.4 (maximum, 20.8) years. PREDICTOR:
      Living kidney donor nephrectomy. OUTCOMES: The primary outcome was time to a
      diagnosis of gout. The secondary outcome in a subpopulation was receipt of
      medications typically used to treat gout (allopurinol or colchicine).
      MEASUREMENTS: We assessed the primary outcome with health care diagnostic codes.
      RESULTS: Donors compared with nondonors were more likely to be given a diagnosis
      of gout (3.4% vs 2.0%; 3.5 vs 2.1 events/1,000 person-years; HR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.2
      2.1; P<0.001). Similarly, donors compared with nondonors were more likely to
      receive a prescription for allopurinol or colchicine (3.8% vs 1.3%; OR, 3.2; 95%
      CI, 1.5-6.7; P=0.002). Results were consistent in multiple additional analyses.
      LIMITATIONS: The primary outcome was assessed using diagnostic codes in health
      care databases. Laboratory values for serum uric acid and creatinine in follow-up
      were not available in our data sources. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that
      donating a kidney modestly increases an individual's absolute long-term incidence
      of gout. This unique observation should be corroborated in future studies.

PMID- 25818679
TI  - Aortic Stiffness, Ambulatory Blood Pressure, and Predictors of Response to
      Antihypertensive Therapy in Hemodialysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Arterial stiffness is associated with elevated blood pressure (BP),
      but it is unclear whether it also makes hypertension more resistant to treatment.
      Among hypertensive dialysis patients, this study investigated whether aortic
      stiffness determines ambulatory BP and predicts its improvement with therapy.
      STUDY DESIGN: Post hoc analysis of the Hypertension in Hemodialysis Patients
      Treated With Atenolol or Lisinopril (HDPAL) trial. SETTINGS & PARTICIPANTS: 179
      hypertensive hemodialysis patients with echocardiographic left ventricular
      hypertrophy. PREDICTOR: Baseline aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV). OUTCOME:
      Baseline and treatment-induced change in 44-hour ambulatory BP at 3, 6, and 12
      months. MEASUREMENTS: Aortic PWV was assessed with an echocardiographic-Doppler
      technique (ACUSON Cypress, Siemens Medical), and 44-hour interdialytic ambulatory
      BP monitoring was performed with a Spacelabs 90207 monitor. RESULTS: Mean
      baseline aortic PWV was 7.6+/-2.7 (SD) m/s. Overall treatment-induced changes in
      ambulatory systolic BP (SBP) were -15.6+/-20.4, -18.9+/-22.5, and -20.0+/-19.7
      mmHg at 3, 6, and 12 months. Changes in SBP were no different among tertiles of
      baseline PWV. Aortic PWV was associated directly with baseline ambulatory SBP and
      pulse pressure (PP) and inversely with diastolic BP (DBP). After adjustment for
      several cardiovascular risk factors, each 1-m/s higher PWV was associated with
      1.34-mm Hg higher baseline SBP (beta=1.34+/-0.46; P=0.004) and 1.02-mm Hg higher
      PP (beta=1.02+/-0.33; P=0.002), whereas the association with DBP was no longer
      significant. Baseline PWV did not predict treatment-induced changes in SBP (Wald
      test, P=0.3) and DBP (Wald test, P=0.7), but was a predictor of an overall
      improvement in PP during follow-up (Wald test, P=0.03). LIMITATIONS:
      Observational design; predominantly black patients were studied. CONCLUSIONS:
      Because aortic PWV is not a predictor of treatment-induced change in ambulatory
      BP among hypertensive dialysis patients, it indicates that among these patients,
      hypertension can be controlled successfully regardless of aortic stiffness.

PMID- 25818680
TI  - Pap smear rates among Australian community-attached lesbian and bisexual women:
      some good news but disparities persist.
AB  - Background Research in the US and UK shows that lesbian women are less likely
      than their heterosexual peers to attend for routine Pap smear tests. This study
      examined Pap smear test rates among community-attached lesbian, bisexual and
      queer (LBQ) women in New South Wales (NSW), to investigate if rates had changed
      between 2002 and 2012, compare rates to the general NSW population and identify
      predictive factors for Pap smear test attendance. METHODS: Data was taken from
      the Sydney Women and Sexual Health (SWASH) survey, a self-completed biennial
      questionnaire of LBQ women's health and wellbeing. RESULTS: Of the 4083
      respondents, 83% had ever had a Pap smear test. Recent attendance rates were
      similar to the general NSW population. Significant predictors for ever having
      attended for a Pap smear test were older age, post Year 12 education, ever having
      had a sexually transmissible infection test, being out about sexuality to a
      regular doctor and ever having had sex with men. CONCLUSIONS: Pap smear rates for
      LBQ women are encouraging when compared with rates from countries such as the US
      or UK. A significant proportion of LBQ women are never receiving Pap smear tests.
      Predictive factors suggest a continued perception that women who have not had sex
      with men are not at risk of human papillomavirus, and highlight the importance of
      health providers providing a safe and welcoming environment for LBQ women to
      openly discuss their health.

PMID- 25818681
TI  - Regulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR) alpha and -gamma
      of rat brain astrocytes in the course of activation by toll-like receptor
      agonists.
AB  - Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR)-alpha and -gamma in astrocytes
      play important roles in inflammatory brain pathologies. Understanding the
      regulation of both activity and expression levels of PPARs is an important
      neuroscience issue. Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists are inflammatory stimuli
      that could modulate PPAR, but the mechanisms of their control in astrocytes are
      poorly understood. In the present study, we report that lipopolysaccharide,
      peptidoglycan, and flagellin, which are agonists of TLR4, TLR1/2, and TLR5,
      respectively, exert time- and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of
      activated B cells-dependent suppression of mRNA, protein and activity of
      PPARalpha and PPARgamma. In naive astrocytes, PPARalpha and PPARgamma mRNA have
      short turnover time (half-life about 30 min for PPARalpha, 75 min for PPARgamma)
      with a nearly two-fold stabilization after TLR-activation. p38 inhibition
      abolished TLR-induced stabilization. The levels of PPARalpha and PPARgamma mRNA,
      and protein and DNA-binding activity could be modified using c-Jun N-terminal
      Kinase and p38 inhibitors. In addition, the expression levels of both PPARalpha
      and PPARgamma isotypes were induced after inhibition of protein synthesis. This
      induction signifies participation of additional regulatory proteins with short
      life-time. They are p38-sensitive for PPARalpha and c-Jun N-terminal Kinase
      sensitive for PPARgamma. Thus, PPARalpha and PPARgamma are regulated in
      astrocytes on mRNA and protein levels, mRNA stability, and DNA-binding activity
      during TLR-mediated responses. Astrocytes have the triad of PPARalpha,
      PPARbeta/delta, and PPARgamma in regulation of proinflammatory responses.
      Activation of Toll-like receptors (TLR) leads to PPARbeta/delta overexpression,
      PPARalpha and PPARgamma suppression via TLR/NF-kappaB pathway on mRNA, protein
      and activity levels. Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) p38 and JNK are
      involved in regulation of PPAR expression. p38 MAPK plays a special role in
      stabilization of PPAR mRNA. 

PMID- 25818682
TI  - Attentional bias to affective faces and complex IAPS images in early visual
      cortex follows emotional cue extraction.
AB  - Emotionally arousing stimuli are known to rapidly draw the brain's processing
      resources, even when they are task-irrelevant. The steady-state visual evoked
      potential (SSVEP) response, a neural response to a flickering stimulus which
      effectively allows measurement of the processing resources devoted to that
      stimulus, has been used to examine this process of attentional shifting. Previous
      studies have used a task in which participants detected periods of coherent
      motion in flickering random dot kinematograms (RDKs) which generate an SSVEP, and
      found that task-irrelevant emotional stimuli withdraw more attentional resources
      from the task-relevant RDKs than task-irrelevant neutral stimuli. However, it is
      not clear whether the emotion-related differences in the SSVEP response are
      conditional on higher-level extraction of emotional cues as indexed by well-known
      event-related potential (ERPs) components (N170, early posterior negativity,
      EPN), or if affective bias in competition for visual attention resources is a
      consequence of a time-invariant shifting process. In the present study, we used
      two different types of emotional distractors - IAPS pictures and facial
      expressions - for which emotional cue extraction occurs at different speeds,
      being typically earlier for faces (at ~170ms, as indexed by the N170) than for
      IAPS images (~220-280ms, EPN). We found that emotional modulation of attentional
      resources as measured by the SSVEP occurred earlier for faces (around 180ms) than
      for IAPS pictures (around 550ms), after the extraction of emotional cues as
      indexed by visual ERP components. This is consistent with emotion related re
      allocation of attentional resources occurring after emotional cue extraction
      rather than being linked to a time-fixed shifting process. 

PMID- 25818683
TI  - Robust MR assessment of cerebral blood volume and mean vessel size using SPION
      enhanced ultrashort echo acquisition.
AB  - Intravascular superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION)-enhanced MR
      transverse relaxation rates (?R2(*) and ?R2) are widely used to investigate in
      vivo vascular parameters, such as the cerebral blood volume (CBV), microvascular
      volume (MVV), and mean vessel size index (mVSI, ?R2(*)/?R2). Although highly
      efficient, regional comparison of vascular parameters acquired using gradient
      echo based ?R2(*) is hampered by its high sensitivity to magnetic field
      perturbations arising from air-tissue interfaces and large vessels. To minimize
      such demerits, we took advantage of the dual contrast property of SPION and both
      theoretically and experimentally verified the direct benefit of replacing
      gradient-echo based ?R2(*) measurement with ultra-short echo time (UTE)-based ?R1
      contrast to generate the robust CBV and mVSI maps. The UTE acquisition minimized
      the local measurement errors from susceptibility perturbations and enabled dose
      independent CBV measurement using the vessel/tissue ?R1 ratio, while independent
      spin-echo acquisition enabled simultaneous ?R2 measurement and mVSI calculation
      of the cortex, cerebellum, and olfactory bulb, which are animal brain regions
      typified by significant susceptibility-associated measurement errors. 

PMID- 25818684
TI  - Putting the brakes on inhibitory models of frontal lobe function.
AB  - There has been much recent debate regarding the neural basis of motor response
      inhibition. An influential hypothesis from the last decade proposes that a module
      within the right inferior frontal cortex (RIFC) of the human brain is dedicated
      to supporting response inhibition. However, there is growing evidence to support
      the alternative view that response inhibition is just one prominent example of
      the many cognitive control processes that are supported by the same set of
      'domain general' functional networks. Here, I test directly between the modular
      and network accounts of motor response inhibition by applying a combination of
      data-driven, event-related and functional connectivity analyses to fMRI data from
      a variety of attention and inhibition tasks. The results demonstrate that there
      is no inhibitory module within the RIFC. Instead, response inhibition recruits a
      functionally heterogeneous ensemble of RIFC networks, which can be dissociated
      from each other in the context of other task demands.

PMID- 25818685
TI  - Multi-vendor reliability of arterial spin labeling perfusion MRI using a near
      identical sequence: implications for multi-center studies.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: A main obstacle that impedes standardized clinical and research
      applications of arterial spin labeling (ASL), is the substantial differences
      between the commercial implementations of ASL from major MRI vendors. In this
      study, we compare a single identical 2D gradient-echo EPI pseudo-continuous ASL
      (PCASL) sequence implemented on 3T scanners from three vendors (General Electric
      Healthcare, Philips Healthcare and Siemens Healthcare) within the same center and
      with the same subjects. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fourteen healthy volunteers (50%
      male, age 26.4+/-4.7years) were scanned twice on each scanner in an interleaved
      manner within 3h. Because of differences in gradient and coil specifications, two
      separate studies were performed with slightly different sequence parameters, with
      one scanner used across both studies for comparison. Reproducibility was
      evaluated by means of quantitative cerebral blood flow (CBF) agreement and inter
      session variation, both on a region-of-interest (ROI) and voxel level. In
      addition, a qualitative similarity comparison of the CBF maps was performed by
      three experienced neuro-radiologists. RESULTS: There were no CBF differences
      between vendors in study 1 (p>0.1), but there were CBF differences of 2-19%
      between vendors in study 2 (p<0.001 in most gray matter ROIs) and 10-22%
      difference in CBF values obtained with the same vendor between studies (p<0.001
      in most gray matter ROIs). The inter-vendor inter-session variation was not
      significantly larger than the intra-vendor variation in all (p>0.1) but one of
      the ROIs (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the possibility to
      acquire comparable cerebral CBF maps on scanners of different vendors. Small
      differences in sequence parameters can have a larger effect on the
      reproducibility of ASL than hardware or software differences between vendors.
      These results suggest that researchers should strive to employ identical labeling
      and readout strategies in multi-center ASL studies.

PMID- 25818686
TI  - Rivalry of homeostatic and sensory-evoked emotions: Dehydration attenuates
      olfactory disgust and its neural correlates.
AB  - Neural correlates have been described for emotions evoked by states of
      homeostatic imbalance (e.g. thirst, hunger, and breathlessness) and for emotions
      induced by external sensory stimulation (such as fear and disgust). However, the
      neurobiological mechanisms of their interaction, when they are experienced
      simultaneously, are still unknown. We investigated the interaction on the
      neurobiological and the perceptional level using subjective ratings, serum
      parameters, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a situation of
      emotional rivalry, when both a homeostatic and a sensory-evoked emotion were
      experienced at the same time. Twenty highly dehydrated male subjects rated a
      disgusting odor as significantly less repulsive when they were thirsty. On the
      neurobiological level, we found that this reduction in subjective disgust during
      thirst was accompanied by a significantly reduced neural activity in the insular
      cortex, a brain area known to be considerably involved in processing of disgust.
      Furthermore, during the experience of disgust in the satiated condition, we
      observed a significant functional connectivity between brain areas responding to
      the disgusting odor, which was absent during the stimulation in the thirsty
      condition. These results suggest interference of conflicting emotions: an acute
      homeostatic imbalance can attenuate the experience of another emotion evoked by
      the sensory perception of a potentially harmful external agent. This finding
      offers novel insights with regard to the behavioral relevance of biologically
      different types of emotions, indicating that some types of emotions are more
      imperative for behavior than others. As a general principle, this modulatory
      effect during the conflict of homeostatic and sensory-evoked emotions may
      function to safeguard survival. 

PMID- 25818687
TI  - High and low gamma EEG oscillations in central sensorimotor areas are conversely
      modulated during the human gait cycle.
AB  - Investigating human brain function is essential to develop models of cortical
      involvement during walking. Such models could advance the analysis of motor
      impairments following brain injuries (e.g., stroke) and may lead to novel
      rehabilitation approaches. In this work, we applied high-density EEG source
      imaging based on individual anatomy to enable neuroimaging during walking. To
      minimize the impact of muscular influence on EEG recordings we introduce a novel
      artifact correction method based on spectral decomposition. High gamma
      oscillations (>60Hz) were previously reported to play an important role in motor
      control. Here, we investigate high gamma amplitudes while focusing on two
      different aspects of a walking experiment, namely the fact that a person walks
      and the rhythmicity of walking. We found that high gamma amplitudes (60-80Hz),
      located focally in central sensorimotor areas, were significantly increased
      during walking compared to standing. Moreover, high gamma (70-90Hz) amplitudes in
      the same areas are modulated in relation to the gait cycle. Since the spectral
      peaks of high gamma amplitude increase and modulation do not match, it is
      plausible that these two high gamma elements represent different frequency
      specific network interactions. Interestingly, we found high gamma (70-90Hz)
      amplitudes to be coupled to low gamma (24-40Hz) amplitudes, which both are
      modulated in relation to the gait cycle but conversely to each other. In summary,
      our work is a further step towards modeling cortical involvement during human
      upright walking. 

PMID- 25818688
TI  - Towards a statistical test for functional connectivity dynamics.
AB  - Sliding-window correlation is an emerging method for mapping time-resolved,
      resting-state functional connectivity. To avoid mapping spurious connectivity
      fluctuations (false positives), Leonardi and Van De Ville recently recommended
      choosing a window length exceeding the longest wavelength composing the BOLD
      signal, usually assumed to be ~100s. Here, we provide further statistical support
      for this rule of thumb. However, we demonstrate that non-stationary fluctuations
      in functional connectivity can in theory be detected with much shorter window
      lengths (e.g. 40s), while maintaining nominal control of false positives. We find
      that statistical power is near-maximal for window lengths chosen according to
      Leonardi and Van De Ville's rule of thumb. Furthermore, we lay some foundations
      for a parametric test to identify non-stationary fluctuations in functional
      connectivity, also noting limitations of the sinusoidal model upon which our
      work, and the work of Leonardi and Van De Ville, is based. Most notably, our
      analytical results pertain to covariances, as does our statistical test, whereas
      functional connectivity is more commonly measured using correlations. 

PMID- 25818689
TI  - Repetition enhancement and memory effects for duration.
AB  - A remarkable aspect of conscious perception is that moments carryover from one to
      the next, also known as temporal continuity. This ability is thus crucial for
      detecting regularities, such as in speech and music, and may rely on an accurate
      perception of time. Investigations of human time perception have detailed two
      electroencephalographic (EEG) components associated with timing, the contingent
      negative variation (CNV) and late positive component of timing (LPCt); however,
      the precise roles of these components in timing remain elusive. Recently, we
      demonstrated that the perception of duration is influenced by durations presented
      on prior trials, which we explained by the creation of an implicit memory
      standard that adapts to local changes in sequence presentation. Here, we turn to
      the neural basis of this effect. Human participants performed a temporal
      bisection task in which they were required to classify the duration of auditory
      stimuli into short and long duration categories; crucially, the presentation
      order was first-order counterbalanced, allowing us to measure the effect of each
      presented duration on the next. EEG recordings revealed that the CNV and LPCt
      signals both covaried with the duration presented on the current trial, with CNV
      predicting reaction time and LPCt predicting choice. Additionally, both signals
      covaried with the duration presented in the prior trial but in different ways,
      with the CNV amplitude reflecting the change in the memory standard and the LPCt
      reflecting decision uncertainty. Furthermore, we observed a repetition
      enhancement effect of duration only for the CNV, suggesting that this signal
      additionally indexes the similarity of successive durations. These findings
      demonstrate dissociable roles for the CNV and LPCt, and demonstrate that both
      signals are continuously updated on a trial-by-trial basis that reflects shifts
      in temporal decisions.

PMID- 25818690
TI  - Oxytocin reduces neural activity in the pain circuitry when seeing pain in
      others.
AB  - Our empathetic abilities allow us to feel the pain of others. This phenomenon of
      vicarious feeling arises because the neural circuitry of feeling pain and seeing
      pain in others is shared. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) is considered a robust
      facilitator of empathy, as intranasal OXT studies have repeatedly been shown to
      improve cognitive empathy (e.g. mind reading and emotion recognition). However,
      OXT has not yet been shown to increase neural empathic responses to pain in
      others, a core aspect of affective empathy. Effects of OXT on empathy for pain
      are difficult to predict, because OXT evidently has pain-reducing properties.
      Accordingly, OXT might paradoxically decrease empathy for pain. Here, using
      functional neuroimaging we show robust activation in the neural circuitry of pain
      (insula and sensorimotor regions) when subjects observe pain in others.
      Crucially, this empathy-related activation in the neural circuitry of pain is
      strongly reduced after intranasal OXT, specifically in the left insula. OXT on
      the basis of our neuroimaging data thus remarkably decreases empathy for pain,
      but further research including behavioral measures is necessary to draw definite
      conclusions.

PMID- 25818691
TI  - Predicting N2pc from anticipatory HbO activity during sustained visuospatial
      attention: a concurrent fNIRS-ERP study.
AB  - Understanding the properties of attentional control, along with the neural
      mechanisms subserving them, has long invited intense scrutiny in research groups.
      However, it has not been demonstrated how the top-down anticipatory hemodynamic
      activation influences the subsequent attentional processing of targets and
      distractors. Here, with concurrent fNIRS-ERP recording, we explored the potential
      contribution of anticipatory oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) based brain activity to
      attentional control by examining how HbO influences the subsequent ERP N2pc
      components assumed to reflect attentional selection. We found that expecting a
      target led to a larger increase of preparatory HbO response over the visual
      cortex contralateral to the upcoming target, which was positively correlated with
      the subsequent target-evoked N2pc amplitude. Further, anticipation concerning the
      presence of a competing distractor resulted in large and prolonged preparatory
      HbO signals in the visual cortex contralateral to the distractor, indicating that
      the salient distractor might be actively suppressed by preparatory top-down
      attentional control. However, the pre-suppressed distractor still captured part
      of the attention in the subsequent visual search as revealed by a decrease in the
      N2pc amplitude, and such a distraction effect on N2pc was negatively correlated
      with preparatory HbO enhancement contralateral to the anticipated distractor.
      Overall, each individuals attentional shift to the target and resistance to the
      distractor measured by ERP is predictable in advance via anticipatory hemodynamic
      activity in the visual cortex measured by fNIRS.

PMID- 25818692
TI  - 90 Days toxicological assessment of hydroethanolic leaf extract of Ipomoea
      asarifolia (Desr.) Roem. and Schult. (Convolvulaceae) in rats.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ipomoea asarifolia (Convolvulacae), commonly
      known as "morning glory" is found across West Africa. Preparations of the plant
      are used traditionally for the treatment of diverse ailments including diabetes,
      neuralgia, arthritic pain and stomach ache. This study was designed to assess the
      safety profile of the hydroethanolic leaf extract of I. asarifolia through a 90
      day subchronic toxicity study in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: I. asarifolia was
      administered p.o. at doses of 40, 200 and 1000mg/kg to separate groups of rats
      for 90 days. Distilled water was given p.o. to rats in the control group. Some
      set of rats in each group were left for additional 30 days without administration
      of the extract for reversibility study. Animals were weighed weekly and relevant
      parameters were assayed at the end of the main and reversibility study periods.
      RESULTS: There was no significant change (p>0.05) in the body weight of rats, and
      food and water intake in I. asarifolia treated groups compared with control. I.
      asarifolia (40-1000 mg/kg) significantly but reversibly reduced (p<0.05, 0.001)
      sperm motility and count. The extract did not generally cause significant change
      (p>0.05) in the weight of vital organs and haematological parameters except in
      the case of reversible reduction in the level of haemoglobin and red blood cell
      count (p<0.01; 40 mg/kg). The level of biochemical parameters and electrolytes
      were not significantly changed (p>0.05) except for the reversible reduction in
      the level of aspartate aminotransferase (AST; p<0.0001; 200 and 1000 mg/kg) and
      increase in the level of Na(+) (p<0.01; 200 mg/kg). The level of kidney reduced
      glutathione (GSH) was reversibly increased (p<0.01; 1000 mg/kg) while the level
      of enzymatic and non-enzymatic in vivo antioxidants was generally comparable and
      not significantly different (p>0.05) from control in respect of all other vital
      organs. Histological presentations were generally normal in respect of the liver,
      kidneys, brain, heart, lungs, pancreas, spleen and testes. CONCLUSIONS: The
      findings in this study suggest that the hydroethanolic leaf extract of I.
      asarifolia is relatively safe administered orally for an extended period with
      potential renal in vivo antioxidant activities. However, the extract may cause
      reversible male sterility, anaemia and hypernatraemia.

PMID- 25818693
TI  - Ethnomedicinal uses of plants for the treatment of snake and scorpion bite in
      Northern Pakistan.
AB  - ETHNO-PHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Medicinal plants represent one of the most
      accessible resources available for snake and scorpion bite among the rural
      communities of Northern Pakistan. This first ethno-botanical study aimed to
      document the indigenous knowledge and practices of using plants for snake and
      scorpion bite disorders in Northern Pakistan. METHODS: Ethno-medicinal data is
      documented from 187 informants using semi-structured interviews. The data is
      analyzed using quantitative ethno-botanical indices of frequency citation (FC)
      and relative Frequency of Citation (RFC). In addition to this, the ethno
      medicinal findings of this survey were compared with 10 previous published
      studies in order to report novel uses of medicinal plants against snake and
      scorpion bite disorders. RESULTS: In total 62 medicinal plants belonging to 40
      families are reported against snake and scorpion bite in this study. Our results
      showed that Asteraceae is the most used family (10 species), dominant life form
      is herb (48.38%), leaves were the most used plants part (18 Use-reports) and the
      paste is most used method of administration (22 reports). The range of RFC was
      0.08-0.27 about the use of documented species. Compared to previous published
      studies, 33.87% similarity index while 66.12% novelty index is reported. About 40
      plant species are first time reported with medicinal uses against snake and
      scorpion bite from Northern Pakistan. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents useful
      traditional knowledge of rural communities for the control of snake and scorpion
      bite using medicinal plants. The study mainly focused on ethno-medicinal
      documentation to preserve the valuable traditional knowledge that can be used in
      future phytochemical and pharmacological studies on medicinal plants of the area.

PMID- 25818694
TI  - Thuja occidentalis L. and its active compound, alpha-thujone: Promising effects
      in the treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome without inducing osteoporosis.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Thuja occidentalis L. (Cupressaceae) has been
      used in folk medicine for the treatment of rheumatism, amenorrhea, cystitis, and
      uterine carcinomas, and as an abortifacient and contraceptive. AIM OF THE STUDY:
      The present study aimed to determine whether T. occidentalis oil and alpha
      thujone could be beneficial in the treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: T. occidentalis oil and alpha-thujone were administered to
      rats with letrozole-induced PCOS for 21 days. At the end of 21 days, the rats
      were sacrificed and blood samples were taken by cardiac puncture. The levels of
      serum gonadotropins, steroids, blood lipid, leptin, and glucose and the values of
      antioxidant parameters were measured. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that
      estradiol and progesterone levels significantly increased, while luteinizing
      hormone (LH) and testosterone levels decreased in the T. occidentalis- and alpha
      thujone-administered groups. The plasma low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL
      C), leptin, and glucose concentrations were also significantly decreased in the
      T. occidentalis and alpha-thujone groups when compared to the control group.
      Histopathological findings demonstrated that the T. occidentalis and alpha
      thujone groups displayed good healing. According to the phytochemical analyses,
      25 compounds were identified in the T. occidentalis oil. The main constituents of
      the oil were the monoterpene ketones alpha- and beta-thujone, fenchone, and
      sabinene, as well as the diterpenes beyerene and rimuene. CONCLUSION: T.
      occidentalis essential oil and its active component, alpha-thujone, can be used
      for the treatment of PCOS without inducing osteoporosis.

PMID- 25818695
TI  - Embelia ribes ameliorates lipopolysaccharide-induced acute respiratory distress
      syndrome.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Embelia ribes Burm. f. (Fam. Myrsinaceae) locally
      known as Vidanga have been used for treating tumors, ascites, bronchitis,
      jaundice, diseases of the heart and brain in traditional Indian medicine.
      However, no scientific studies providing new insights in its pharmacological
      properties with respect to acute respiratory distress syndrome have been
      investigated. AIM: The present investigation aimed to elucidate the effectiveness
      of Embelin isolated from Embelia ribes seeds on attenuation of LPS-induced acute
      respiratory distress syndrome in murine models. METHODS: Embelin (5, 10 and 20
      mg/kg/day, i.p.) and Roflumilast (1 mg/kg/day, p.o.) were administered for four
      days and prior to LPS in rats (i.t.). Four hour after LPS challenge animals were
      anesthesized and bronchoalveolar lavage was done with ice-cold phosphate buffer.
      Assessment of BAL fluid was done for albumin, total protein, total cell and
      neutrophil count, TNF-alpha levels, nitrosoative stress. Superior lobe of right
      lung was used for histopathologic evaluation. Inferior lobe of right lung was
      used to obtain lung edema. Left lung was used for myeloperoxidase estimation.
      Arterial blood was collected immediately and analyzed for pH, pO2 and pCO2 were
      estimated. RESULTS: Pretreatment with embelin (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg, i.p.)
      decreased lung edema, mononucleated cellular infiltration, nitrate/nitrite, total
      protein, albumin concentrations, TNF-alpha in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid
      and myeloperoxidase activity in lung homogenate. Embelin markedly prevented pO2
      down-regulation and pCO2 augmentation. Additionally, it attenuated lung
      histopathological changes in acute respiratory distress syndrome model.
      CONCLUSION: The study demonstrates the effectiveness of Embelia ribes Burm. f.
      (Fam. Myrsinaceae) seeds in acute respiratory distress syndrome possibly related
      to its anti-inflammatory and protective effect against LPS induced airway
      inflammation by reducing nitrosative stress, reducing physiological parameters of
      blood gas change, TNF-alpha and mononucleated cellular infiltration indicating it
      as a potential therapeutic agent for acute respiratory distress syndrome.

PMID- 25818696
TI  - Role of adipose-derived stem cells in chronic cutaneous wound healing.
AB  - AIM: Adipose tissue represent an alternative source of multipotent stem cells
      with characteristics similar to bone marrowderived mesenchymal stem cells
      (BMSCs), easier to isolate and effective in wound healing enhancement. MATERIAL
      OF STUDY: Each patient being considered for stem cells graft was subjected to a
      conventional liposuction procedure (local anaesthesia, aspirated volume about
      80cc), in order to isolate a pellet of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs), which
      was then mixed with the platelet-rich plasma (PRP) previously collected, in order
      to obtain an enhanced-ASCs- PRP (e-PRP), now ready for grafting in the context of
      skin edges as well as at the bottom of the lesion itself. RESULTS: Flow
      cytometric analysis performed on the pellet obtained with our isolation process,
      showed that a mean of 5 x 105 ASCs (range: 4,0-6,0 x 105, SD: +/- 1 x 105) were
      collected from 80 ml of adipose tissue, harvested with standard wet liposuction
      procedure. It represented the 5% of all sample cells (1 x 107), while the others
      95% were mostly being blood-derived and endothelial cells. DISCUSSION: By now,
      the most used isolation protocols take about two hours due to the complex
      isolation procedure, requiring both animal-derived reagents and collagenase. The
      amount of ASCs obtained with our isolation process is sufficient to be directly
      engrafted in the wound without the need of in vitro expansion but, neither serum
      nor animalderived reagents are used, and it takes only 15' minutes. CONCLUSION:
      ASCs application is an innovative, effective approach in the treatment of chronic
      wounds.

PMID- 25818697
TI  - A Mathematical View of Water Table Fluctuations in a Shallow Aquifer in Brazil.
AB  - Detailed monitoring of the groundwater table can provide important data about
      both short- and long-term aquifer processes, including information useful for
      estimating recharge and facilitating groundwater modeling and remediation
      efforts. In this paper, we presents results of 4 years (2002 to 2005) of
      monitoring groundwater water levels in the Rio Claro Aquifer using observation
      wells drilled at the Rio Claro campus of Sao Paulo State University in Brazil.
      The data were used to follow natural periodic fluctuations in the water table,
      specifically those resulting from earth tides and seasonal recharge cycles.
      Statistical analyses included methods of time-series analysis using Fourier
      analysis, cross-correlation, and R/S analysis. Relationships could be established
      between rainfall and well recovery, as well as the persistence and degree of
      autocorrelation of the water table variations. We further used numerical
      solutions of the Richards equation to obtain estimates of the recharge rate and
      seasonable groundwater fluctuations. Seasonable soil moisture transit times
      through the vadose zone obtained with the numerical solution were very close to
      those obtained with the cross-correlation analysis. We also employed a little
      used deep drainage boundary condition to obtain estimates of seasonable water
      table fluctuations, which were found to be consistent with observed transient
      groundwater levels during the period of study. 

PMID- 25818698
TI  - Mechanisms of azole resistance among clinical isolates of Candida glabrata in
      Poland.
AB  - Candida glabrata is currently ranked as the second most frequently isolated
      aetiological agent of human fungal infections, next only to Candida albicans. In
      comparison with C. albicans, C. glabrata shows lower susceptibility to azoles,
      the most common agents used in treatment of fungal infections. Interestingly, the
      mechanisms of resistance to azole agents in C. albicans have been much better
      investigated than those in C. glabrata. The aim of the presented study was to
      determine the mechanisms of resistance to azoles in 81 C. glabrata clinical
      isolates from three different hospitals in Poland. The investigation was carried
      out with a Sensititre Yeast One test and revealed that 18 strains were resistant
      to fluconazole, and 15 were cross-resistant to all other azoles tested
      (voriconazole, posaconazole and itraconazole). One isolate resistant to
      fluconazole was cross-resistant to voriconazole, and resistance to voriconazole
      only was observed in six other isolates. All strains were found to be susceptible
      to echinocandins and amphotericin B, and five were classified as resistant to 5
      fluorocytosine. The sequence of the ERG11 gene encoding lanosterol 14-alpha
      demethylase (the molecular target of azoles) of 41 isolates, including all
      strains resistant to fluconazole and three resistant only to voriconazole, was
      determined, and no amino acid substitutions were found. Real-time PCR studies
      revealed that 13 of 15 azole-resistant strains showed upregulation of the CDR1
      gene encoding the efflux pump. No upregulation of expression of the CDR2 or ERG11
      gene was observed. 

PMID- 25818699
TI  - Calorespirometry, oxygen isotope analysis and functional-marker-assisted
      selection ('CalOxy-FMAS') for genotype screening: A novel concept and tool kit
      for predicting stable plant growth performance and functional marker
      identification.
AB  - We propose a novel concept and tool kit for predictive phenotyping. The proposed
      technology measures respiration properties as functions of growth conditions to
      identify genotypes with higher plasticity via homeostasis and adaptive
      morphophysiology. Combining calorespirometry, oxygen isotope analysis and
      functional-marker-assisted selection ('CalOxy-FMAS') for genotype screening will
      enable predicting the genetic potential for stable plant growth performance.
      Application of this novel tool kit can help identify genotypes with controlled
      homeostasis in changing environments and optimized growth performance.
      Simultaneously, it will allow a better balance in breeding for high yields and
      quality characteristics. Applying 'CalOxy-FMAS' can efficiently narrow the pool
      of genotypes to be screened for final phenotyping in the field. 

PMID- 25818700
TI  - Salt stress reduces root meristem size by nitric oxide-mediated modulation of
      auxin accumulation and signaling in Arabidopsis.
AB  - The development of the plant root system is highly plastic, which allows the
      plant to adapt to various environmental stresses. Salt stress inhibits root
      elongation by reducing the size of the root meristem. However, the mechanism
      underlying this process remains unclear. In this study, we explored whether and
      how auxin and nitric oxide (NO) are involved in salt-mediated inhibition of root
      meristem growth in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) using physiological,
      pharmacological, and genetic approaches. We found that salt stress significantly
      reduced root meristem size by down-regulating the expression of PINFORMED (PIN)
      genes, thereby reducing auxin levels. In addition, salt stress promoted AUXIN
      RESISTANT3 (AXR3)/INDOLE-3-ACETIC ACID17 (IAA17) stabilization, which repressed
      auxin signaling during this process. Furthermore, salt stress stimulated NO
      accumulation, whereas blocking NO production with the inhibitor N(omega)-nitro-l
      arginine-methylester compromised the salt-mediated reduction of root meristem
      size, PIN down-regulation, and stabilization of AXR3/IAA17, indicating that NO is
      involved in salt-mediated inhibition of root meristem growth. Taken together,
      these findings suggest that salt stress inhibits root meristem growth by
      repressing PIN expression (thereby reducing auxin levels) and stabilizing IAA17
      (thereby repressing auxin signaling) via increasing NO levels. 

PMID- 25818701
TI  - Medicago truncatula natural resistance-associated macrophage Protein1 is required
      for iron uptake by rhizobia-infected nodule cells.
AB  - Iron is critical for symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) as a key component of
      multiple ferroproteins involved in this biological process. In the model legume
      Medicago truncatula, iron is delivered by the vasculature to the
      infection/maturation zone (zone II) of the nodule, where it is released to the
      apoplast. From there, plasma membrane iron transporters move it into rhizobia
      containing cells, where iron is used as the cofactor of multiple plant and
      rhizobial proteins (e.g. plant leghemoglobin and bacterial nitrogenase). MtNramp1
      (Medtr3g088460) is the M. truncatula Natural Resistance-Associated Macrophage
      Protein family member, with the highest expression levels in roots and nodules.
      Immunolocalization studies indicate that MtNramp1 is mainly targeted to the
      plasma membrane. A loss-of-function nramp1 mutant exhibited reduced growth
      compared with the wild type under symbiotic conditions, but not when fertilized
      with mineral nitrogen. Nitrogenase activity was low in the mutant, whereas
      exogenous iron and expression of wild-type MtNramp1 in mutant nodules increased
      nitrogen fixation to normal levels. These data are consistent with a model in
      which MtNramp1 is the main transporter responsible for apoplastic iron uptake by
      rhizobia-infected cells in zone II.

PMID- 25818702
TI  - The barley Uniculme4 gene encodes a BLADE-ON-PETIOLE-like protein that controls
      tillering and leaf patterning.
AB  - Tillers are vegetative branches that develop from axillary buds located in the
      leaf axils at the base of many grasses. Genetic manipulation of tillering is a
      major objective in breeding for improved cereal yields and competition with
      weeds. Despite this, very little is known about the molecular genetic bases of
      tiller development in important Triticeae crops such as barley (Hordeum vulgare)
      and wheat (Triticum aestivum). Recessive mutations at the barley Uniculme4 (Cul4)
      locus cause reduced tillering, deregulation of the number of axillary buds in an
      axil, and alterations in leaf proximal-distal patterning. We isolated the Cul4
      gene by positional cloning and showed that it encodes a BROAD-COMPLEX, TRAMTRACK,
      BRIC-A-BRAC-ankyrin protein closely related to Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana)
      BLADE-ON-PETIOLE1 (BOP1) and BOP2. Morphological, histological, and in situ RNA
      expression analyses indicate that Cul4 acts at axil and leaf boundary regions to
      control axillary bud differentiation as well as the development of the ligule,
      which separates the distal blade and proximal sheath of the leaf. As, to our
      knowledge, the first functionally characterized BOP gene in monocots, Cul4
      suggests the partial conservation of BOP gene function between dicots and
      monocots, while phylogenetic analyses highlight distinct evolutionary patterns in
      the two lineages.

PMID- 25818703
TI  - Metabolomics of adherent mammalian cells by capillary electrophoresis-mass
      spectrometry: HT-29 cells as case study.
AB  - In this work, the optimization of an effective protocol for cell metabolomics is
      described with special emphasis in the sample preparation and subsequent analysis
      of intracellular metabolites from adherent mammalian cells by capillary
      electrophoresis-mass spectrometry. As case study, colon cancer HT-29 cells, a
      human cell model to investigate colon cancer, are employed. The feasibility of
      the whole method for cell metabolomics is demonstrated via a fast and sensitive
      profiling of the intracellular metabolites HT-29 cells by capillary
      electrophoresis-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (CE-TOF MS). The suitability of
      this methodology is further corroborated through the examination of the metabolic
      changes in the polyamines pathway produced in colon cancer HT-29 cells by
      difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), a known potent ornithine decarboxylase inhibitor.
      The selection of the optimum extraction conditions allowed a higher sample volume
      injection that led to an increase in CE-TOF MS sensitivity. Following a non
      targeted metabolomics approach, 10 metabolites (namely, putrescine, ornithine,
      gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), oxidized and reduced glutathione, 5'-deoxy-5'
      (methylthio)adenosine, N-acetylputrescine, cysteinyl-glycine, spermidine and an
      unknown compound) were found to be significantly altered by DFMO (p<0.05) in HT
      29 cells. In addition to the effect of DFMO on polyamine metabolism, minor
      modifications of other metabolic pathways (e.g., related to intracellular thiol
      redox state) were observed. 

PMID- 25818704
TI  - Molecular salts and co-crystals of mirtazapine with promising physicochemical
      properties.
AB  - Pharmaceutically suitable non-sublimating salts and molecular salts of anti
      depressant drug R/S-mirtazapine with one of several dicarboxilic acids were
      studied. The salts/salt molecules were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction,
      differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis and crystal
      structure of tartarate and oxalate molecular salt were determined by single
      crystal X-ray diffraction. The salts/salt molecules of mirtazapine do not show
      any sublimation at elevated temperature whereas sublimation of mirtazapine has
      been observed at ambient temperature. The aqueous solubility of the mirtazapine
      molecular salts was significantly improved with a maximum of citrate salt which
      was about 180 times more than the solubility of the parent mirtazapine at 35 
      degrees C.

PMID- 25818705
TI  - The percentage of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) isoform [-2]proPSA and the
      Prostate Health Index improve the diagnostic accuracy for clinically relevant
      prostate cancer at initial and repeat biopsy compared with total PSA and
      percentage free PSA in men aged <=65 years.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To prospectively test the diagnostic accuracy of the percentage of
      prostate specific antigen (PSA) isoform [-2]proPSA (%p2PSA) and the Prostate
      Health Index (PHI), and to determine their role for discrimination between
      significant and insignificant prostate cancer at initial and repeat prostate
      biopsy in men aged <=65 years. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The diagnostic performance
      of %p2PSA and PHI were evaluated in a multicentre study. In all, 769 men aged
      <=65 years scheduled for initial or repeat prostate biopsy were recruited in four
      sites based on a total PSA (t-PSA) level of 1.6-8.0 ng/mL World Health
      Organization (WHO) calibrated (2-10 ng/mL Hybritech-calibrated). Serum samples
      were measured for the concentration of t-PSA, free PSA (f-PSA) and p2PSA with
      Beckman Coulter immunoassays on Access-2 or DxI800 instruments. PHI was
      calculated as (p2PSA/f-PSA * ?t-PSA). Uni- and multivariable logistic regression
      models and an artificial neural network (ANN) were complemented by decision curve
      analysis (DCA). RESULTS: In univariate analysis %p2PSA and PHI were the best
      predictors of prostate cancer detection in all patients (area under the curve
      [AUC] 0.72 and 0.73, respectively), at initial (AUC 0.67 and 0.69) and repeat
      biopsy (AUC 0.74 and 0.74). t-PSA and %f-PSA performed less accurately for all
      patients (AUC 0.54 and 0.62). For detection of significant prostate cancer (based
      on Prostate Cancer Research International Active Surveillance [PRIAS] criteria)
      the %p2PSA and PHI equally demonstrated best performance (AUC 0.70 and 0.73)
      compared with t-PSA and %f-PSA (AUC 0.54 and 0.59). In multivariate analysis PHI
      we added to a base model of age, prostate volume, digital rectal examination, t
      PSA and %f-PSA. PHI was strongest in predicting prostate cancer in all patients,
      at initial and repeat biopsy and for significant prostate cancer (AUC 0.73, 0.68,
      0.78 and 0.72, respectively). In DCA for all patients the ANN showed the broadest
      threshold probability and best net benefit. PHI as single parameter and the base
      model + PHI were equivalent with threshold probability and net benefit nearing
      those of the ANN. For significant cancers the ANN was the strongest parameter in
      DCA. CONCLUSION: The present multicentre study showed that %p2PSA and PHI have a
      superior diagnostic performance for detecting prostate cancer in the PSA range of
      1.6-8.0 ng/mL compared with t-PSA and %f-PSA at initial and repeat biopsy and for
      predicting significant prostate cancer in men aged <=65 years. They are equally
      superior for counselling patients before biopsy.

PMID- 25818706
TI  - Limitation of care orders in patients with a diagnosis of dementia.
AB  - The prevalence of dementia is growing with an ageing population. Most persons
      with dementia die of acute illness and many are hospitalised at the end of life.
      In the acute hospital setting, limitation of care orders (LCOs) such as Do Not
      Attempt CPR and Physician Orders For Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST), appear to
      be underused in patients with dementia. These patients receive the same
      aggressive life-prolonging therapies as any other patient, despite drastically
      higher mortality. However, limitation of care orders in patients with dementia is
      not addressed by current guidelines or policies. Systems and processes for
      obtaining and documenting LCO need improvement at the individual, organisational
      and societal level. The issue is controversial amongst the public and poorly
      understood by clinicians. Balanced and empathetic decision-making requires an
      individualised approach and recognition of the complexities (legal, ethical and
      clinical) of this issue. We examine the domains of: (a) treatment effectiveness,
      (b) burden of care and quality of life and (c) patient autonomy and capacity. 

PMID- 25818707
TI  - Urban and rural differences in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Ireland.
AB  - BACKGROUND: More than a third of Ireland's population lives in a rural area,
      defined as the population residing in all areas outside clusters of 1500 or more
      inhabitants. This presents a challenge for the provision of effective pre
      hospital resuscitation services. In 2012, Ireland became one of three European
      countries with nationwide Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) register
      coverage. An OHCA register provides an ability to monitor quality and equity of
      access to life-saving services in Irish communities. AIM: To use the first year
      of national OHCAR data to assess differences in the occurrence, incidence and
      outcomes of OHCA where resuscitation is attempted and the incident is attended by
      statutory Emergency Medical Services between rural and urban settings. METHODS:
      The geographical coordinates of incident locations were identified and co
      ordinates were then classified as 'urban' or 'rural' according to the Irish
      Central Statistics Office (CSO) definition. RESULTS: 1798 OHCA incidents were
      recorded which were attended by statutory Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and
      where resuscitation was attempted. There was a higher percentage of male patients
      in rural settings (71% vs. 65%; p = 0.009) but the incidence of male patients did
      not differ significantly between urban and rural settings (26 vs. 25
      males/100,000 population/year p = 0.353). A higher proportion of rural patients
      received bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (B-CPR) 70% vs. 55% (p <=
      0.001), and had defibrillation attempted before statutory EMS arrival (7% vs. 4%
      (p = 0.019), respectively). Urban patients were more likely to receive a
      statutory EMS response in 8 min or less (33% vs. 9%; p <= 0.001). Urban patients
      were also more likely to be discharged alive from hospital (6% vs. 3%; p = 0.006)
      (incidence 2.5 vs. 1.1/100,000 population/year; p <= 0.001). Multivariable
      analysis of survival showed that the main variable of interest i.e. urban vs.
      rural setting was also independently associated with discharge from hospital
      alive (OR 3.23 (95% CI 1.43-7.31)). CONCLUSION: There are significant disparities
      in the incidence of resuscitation attempts in urban and rural areas. There are
      challenges in the provision of services and subsequent outcomes from OHCA that
      occur outside of urban areas requiring novel and innovative solutions. An
      integrated community response system is necessary to improve metrics around OHCA
      response and outcomes in rural areas.

PMID- 25818708
TI  - Dendritic cell SIRPalpha regulates homeostasis of dendritic cells in lymphoid
      organs.
AB  - Signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPalpha), an immunoglobulin superfamily
      protein that is expressed predominantly in myeloid lineage cells such as
      dendritic cells (DCs) or macrophages, mediates cell-cell signaling. In the immune
      system, SIRPalpha is thought to be important for homeostasis of DCs, but it
      remains unclear whether SIRPalpha intrinsic to DCs is indeed indispensable for
      such functional role. Thus, we here generated the mice, in which SIRPalpha was
      specifically ablated in CD11c(+) DCs (Sirpa(Delta) (DC) ). Sirpa(Delta) (DC) mice
      manifested a marked reduction of CD4(+) CD8alpha(-) conventional DCs (cDCs) in
      the secondary lymphoid organs, as well as of Langerhans cells in the epidermis.
      Such reduction of cDCs in Sirpa(Delta) (DC) mice was comparable to that apparent
      with the mice, in which SIRPalpha was systemically ablated. Expression of
      SIRPalpha in DCs was well correlated with that of either endothelial cell
      selective adhesion molecule (ESAM) or Epstein-Barr virus-induced molecule 2
      (EBI2), both of which were also implicated in the regulation of DC homeostasis.
      Indeed, ESAM(+) or EBI2(+) cDCs were markedly reduced in the spleen of
      Sirpa(Delta) (DC) mice. Thus, our results suggest that SIRPalpha intrinsic to
      CD11c(+) DCs is essential for homeostasis of cDCs in the secondary lymphoid
      organs and skin. 

PMID- 25818709
TI  - Psychosocial aspects of rehabilitation in sports.
AB  - When an athlete is injured, the primary focus of the sports medicine team is to
      treat the physical effects of the injury. However, many injured athletes
      experience negative psychological responses that should also be addressed
      throughout the rehabilitation process. Sports medicine professions should use
      psychosocial skills to help decrease the negative consequences of the injury,
      such as fear of reinjury, anxiety, depression, and adherence to rehabilitation.
      These psychosocial skills include goal setting, imagery, relaxation techniques,
      motivation, and self-talk. This article addresses the negative consequences of
      injury, psychosocial skills used to aid in the rehabilitation process, and
      clinical implications of the psychological aspects of rehabilitation in sport. 

PMID- 25818711
TI  - Knowing the speed limit: weighing the benefits and risks of rehabilitation
      progression after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.
AB  - Rotator cuff repairs have increased. Although clinical trials have examined the
      effect of immobilization and timing of passive range of motion (ROM) on patient
      outcomes and structural integrity, there is controversy as to the timing and
      progression for therapy. Primary goals are restoring function while maintaining
      the structural integrity of the repair. We advocate for a protocol of 4 to 6
      weeks of immobilization, followed by protected passive ROM, which is followed by
      a gradual progression to active ROM and then appropriate resistance exercise
      program for most all rotator cuff repairs. The rate of progression should be
      adjusted individually. 

PMID- 25818710
TI  - Current and emerging rehabilitation for concussion: a review of the evidence.
AB  - Concussion is one of the most hotly debated topics in sports medicine today.
      Research surrounding concussion has experienced significant growth recently,
      especially in the areas of incidence, assessment, and recovery. However, there is
      limited research on the most effective rehabilitation approaches for this injury.
      This review evaluates the current literature for evidence for and against
      physical and cognitive rest and the emerging areas targeting vestibular,
      oculomotor, and pharmacologic interventions for the rehabilitation of sport
      related concussion. 

PMID- 25818712
TI  - Rehabilitation of the throwing athlete: where we are in 2014.
AB  - The overhead athlete has unique physical traits and adaptive changes as a result
      of the repetitive nature of throwing. An effective rehabilitation program depends
      on an accurate evaluation to determine the causative factors for an athlete's
      pathology. A treatment program is individualized with specific strengthening and
      flexibility exercises to achieve dynamic stability that is required for overhead
      function. In this article the characteristics of the throwing shoulder and
      specific injuries are described. The rehabilitation program is described in a
      multiphased approach that allows for the restoration of strength, mobility,
      endurance, and power to return to sporting activity. 

PMID- 25818713
TI  - Rehabilitation of acute hamstring strain injuries.
AB  - Acute hamstring injuries are responsible for significant time loss for athletes.
      As there are a multitude of injury mechanisms, thorough evaluation is imperative
      for determining the appropriate plan of care and adequate rehabilitation is
      required to reduce the risk of recurrent injuries. 

PMID- 25818714
TI  - Clinical strategies for addressing muscle weakness following knee injury.
AB  - Muscle strength is a determinate of physical function and increasing muscle
      strength is an important clinical goal for patients with knee injury. This
      article discusses the emerging evidence regarding a novel rehabilitation strategy
      that uses disinhibitory modalities to increase neuromuscular activation in
      conjunction with traditional muscle strengthening for the purpose of maximizing
      strength gains following acute knee injury or surgery and in patients with knee
      osteoarthritis. The use of disinhibitory modalities and specific types of
      neuromuscular training for clinically maximizing strength are discussed. 

PMID- 25818716
TI  - Patellofemoral pain: epidemiology, pathophysiology, and treatment options.
AB  - Patients with anterior knee pain present a complex and common problem to health
      care providers. The diagnosis and treatment of these patients often involve a
      comprehensive evaluation that includes assessing the chronicity of the pain, the
      specific location of the complaint, and the previous treatment modalities
      attempted by the patient. This common diagnosis includes a wide variety of
      different pathologic abnormalities that can be present independently or
      concomitantly and cause a spectrum of disabilities for the patient. 

PMID- 25818715
TI  - Controversies in knee rehabilitation: anterior cruciate ligament injury.
AB  - Controversy in management of athletes exists after anterior cruciate ligament
      (ACL) injury and reconstruction. Consensus criteria for evaluating successful
      outcomes following ACL injury include no reinjury or recurrent giving way, no
      joint effusion, quadriceps strength symmetry, restored activity level and
      function, and returning to preinjury sports. Using these criteria, the success
      rates of current management strategies after ACL injury are reviewed and
      recommendations are provided for the counseling of athletes after ACL injury. 

PMID- 25818718
TI  - Freeing the foot: integrating the foot core system into rehabilitation for lower
      extremity injuries.
AB  - The intrinsic muscles of the foot play a critical role in the regulation of
      absorption and propulsion during dynamic activities. Dysfunction of these may
      lead to an increased demand on the remaining components within the foot core
      system to maintain dynamic foot control, leading to a more rapid breakdown of
      these contributors and those proximal to the foot. Training the intrinsic foot
      muscles through a systematic progression of isolation via the short foot exercise
      offers the opportunity to reincorporate their contribution into the foot core
      system. This article discusses the function of the intrinsic foot muscles, their
      contributions to dynamic foot control, and a progressive training paradigm. 

PMID- 25818717
TI  - Supervised rehabilitation versus home exercise in the treatment of acute ankle
      sprains: a systematic review.
AB  - In competitive sports medicine, supervised rehabilitation is the standard of
      care; in the general population, unsupervised home exercise is more common. We
      systematically reviewed randomized, controlled trials comparing outcomes for
      supervised rehabilitation versus home exercise programs. Supervised
      rehabilitation programs resulted in (1) less pain and subjective instability, (2)
      greater gains in ankle strength and joint position sense, and (3) inconclusive
      results regarding prevention of recurrent ankle sprains. We recommend supervised
      rehabilitation over home exercise programs owing to the improved short-term
      patient-recorded evidence with a strength-of-recommendation taxonomy level of
      evidence of 2B. 

PMID- 25818719
TI  - Treating tendinopathy: perspective on anti-inflammatory intervention and
      therapeutic exercise.
AB  - Tendinopathy is a common and complex disorder. Once viewed as an inflammatory
      condition labeled tendinitis, it is now viewed along a continuum that can lead to
      tissue necrosis and risk of tendon rupture. Anti-inflammatory medications can
      alter symptoms but may also promote tissue degeneration. Loading of the tendon
      through exercise, especially exercise involving eccentric muscle contraction, has
      been shown to promote symptom resolution and functional recovery in many
      patients. This article reviews the pathoetiology of tendinopathy and the role
      anti-inflammatory interventions and therapeutic exercise in treatment of active
      patients. 

PMID- 25818720
TI  - Foreword.

PMID- 25818721
TI  - Sports rehabilitation.

PMID- 25818722
TI  - Visual Similarity of Words Alone Can Modulate Hemispheric Lateralization in
      Visual Word Recognition: Evidence From Modeling Chinese Character Recognition.
AB  - In Chinese orthography, the most common character structure consists of a
      semantic radical on the left and a phonetic radical on the right (SP characters);
      the minority, opposite arrangement also exists (PS characters). Recent studies
      showed that SP character processing is more left hemisphere (LH) lateralized than
      PS character processing. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether this is due to
      phonetic radical position or character type frequency. Through computational
      modeling with artificial lexicons, in which we implement a theory of hemispheric
      asymmetry in perception but do not assume phonological processing being LH
      lateralized, we show that the difference in character type frequency alone is
      sufficient to exhibit the effect that the dominant type has a stronger LH
      lateralization than the minority type. This effect is due to higher visual
      similarity among characters in the dominant type than the minority type,
      demonstrating the modulation of visual similarity of words on hemispheric
      lateralization. 

PMID- 25818723
TI  - Indian proteomics efforts and human proteome project.
AB  - The Draft Maps of Human Proteome published in two independent articles provide a
      catalogue of proteins encoded in the human genome including missing proteins,
      based on large scale mass spectrometric analysis. Six months later, a Tissue
      based Human Proteome Map was published which includes a study of expression and
      distribution of human proteins across tissues and cells using specific
      antibodies. Independently, in an ongoing global effort - the Chromosome centric,
      and Biology and Disease centric Human Proteome Project (C-HPP and B/D-HPP)
      initiated by the Human Proteome Organization aims to study in-depth human
      proteins and their variants in terms of biology and disease in a chromosome
      centric manner. Under this initiative, a consortium formed among five Asian
      research teams including India aims to study Chromosome 12 encoded proteins and
      their disease context. Together, the group has recently published the first
      series of 3 papers giving the overall vision and the initial contributions. While
      one of the draft maps of the human proteome is largely contributed by an Indian
      team, Indian researchers have significant role in the other two initiatives as
      well. These efforts will be pursued further as more teams join and more disease
      and biology components get incorporated. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This article
      focuses on the complexity and challenges of deciphering human proteome and
      contribution of Indian researchers in the human proteome projects, including the
      on-going C-HPP. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Proteomics in
      India.

PMID- 25818724
TI  - Proteomic analysis of soybean hypocotyl during recovery after flooding stress.
AB  - Soybean is a nutritionally important crop, but exhibits reduced growth and yields
      under flooding stress. To investigate soybean responses during post-flooding
      recovery, a gel-free proteomic technique was used to examine the protein profile
      in the hypocotyl. Two-day-old soybeans were flooded for 2 days and hypocotyl was
      collected under flooding and during the post-flooding recovery period. A total of
      498 and 70 proteins were significantly changed in control and post-flooding
      recovering soybeans, respectively. Based on proteomic and clustering analyses,
      three proteins were selected for mRNA expression and enzyme activity assays.
      Pyruvate kinase was increased under flooding, but gradually decreased during post
      flooding recovery period at protein abundance, mRNA, and enzyme activity levels.
      Nucleotidylyl transferase was decreased under flooding and increased during post
      flooding recovery at both mRNA expression and enzyme activity levels. Beta
      ketoacyl reductase 1 was increased under flooding and decreased during recovery
      at protein abundance and mRNA expression levels, but its enzyme activity
      gradually increased during the post-flooding recovery period. These results
      suggest that pyruvate kinase, nucleotidylyl transferase, and beta-ketoacyl
      reductase play key roles in post-flooding recovery in soybean hypocotyl by
      promoting glycolysis for the generation of ATP and regulation of secondary
      metabolic pathways. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This study analyzed post-flooding
      recovery response mechanisms in soybean hypocotyl, which is a model organ for
      studying secondary growth, using a gel-free proteomic technique. Mass
      spectrometry analysis of proteins extracted from soybean hypocotyls identified 20
      common proteins between control and flooding-stressed soybeans that changed
      significantly in abundance over time. The hypocotyl proteins that changed during
      post-flooding recovery were assigned to protein, development, secondary
      metabolism, and glycolysis categories. The analysis revealed that three proteins,
      pyruvate kinase, nucleotidylyl transferase, and beta-ketoacyl reductase, were
      increased in hypocotyl under flooding conditions and during post-flooding
      recovery. The proteins are involved in glycolysis, nucleotide synthesis and amino
      acid activation, and complex fatty acid biosynthesis.

PMID- 25818725
TI  - Comparative proteomic analysis of lung tissue from guinea pigs with leptospiral
      pulmonary haemorrhage syndrome (LPHS) reveals a decrease in abundance of host
      proteins involved in cytoskeletal and cellular organization.
AB  - Leptospiral pulmonary haemorrhage syndrome (LPHS) is a particularly severe form
      of leptospirosis. LPHS is increasingly recognized in both humans and animals and
      is characterized by rapidly progressive intra-alveolar haemorrhage leading to
      high mortality. The pathogenic mechanisms of LPHS are poorly understood which
      hampers the application of effective treatment regimes. In this study a 2-D
      guinea pig proteome lung map was created and used to investigate the pathogenic
      mechanisms of LPHS. Comparison of lung proteomes from infected and non-infected
      guinea pigs via differential in-gel electrophoresis revealed highly significant
      differences in abundance of proteins contained in 130 spots. Acute phase proteins
      were the largest functional group amongst proteins with increased abundance in
      LPHS lung tissue, and likely reflect a local and/or systemic host response to
      infection. The observed decrease in abundance of proteins involved in
      cytoskeletal and cellular organization in LPHS lung tissue further suggests that
      infection with pathogenic Leptospira induces changes in the abundance of host
      proteins involved in cellular architecture and adhesion contributing to the
      dramatically increased alveolar septal wall permeability seen in LPHS. BIOLOGICAL
      SIGNIFICANCE: The recent completion of the complete genome sequence of the guinea
      pig (Cavia porcellus) provides innovative opportunities to apply proteomic
      technologies to an important animal model of disease. In this study, the
      comparative proteomic analysis of lung tissue from experimentally infected guinea
      pigs with leptospiral pulmonary haemorrhage syndrome (LPHS) revealed a decrease
      in abundance of proteins involved in cellular architecture and adhesion,
      suggesting that loss or down-regulation of cytoskeletal and adhesion molecules
      plays an important role in the pathogenesis of LPHS. A publically available
      guinea pig lung proteome map was constructed to facilitate future pulmonary
      proteomics in this species.

PMID- 25818726
TI  - Quantitative changes in proteins responsible for flavonoid and anthocyanin
      biosynthesis in strawberry fruit at different ripening stages: A targeted
      quantitative proteomic investigation employing multiple reaction monitoring.
AB  - To better understand the regulation of flavonoid and anthocyanin biosynthesis, a
      targeted quantitative proteomic investigation employing LC-MS with multiple
      reaction monitoring was conducted on two strawberry cultivars at three ripening
      stages. This quantitative proteomic workflow was improved through an OFFGEL
      electrophoresis to fractionate peptides from total protein digests. A total of
      154 peptide transitions from 47 peptides covering 21 proteins and isoforms
      related to anthocyanin biosynthesis were investigated. The normalized protein
      abundance, which was measured using isotopically-labeled standards, was
      significantly changed concurrently with increased anthocyanin content and
      advanced fruit maturity. The protein abundance of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase;
      anthocyanidin synthase, chalcone isomerase; flavanone 3-hydroxylase;
      dihydroflavonol 4-reductase, UDP-glucose:flavonoid-3-O-glucosyltransferase,
      cytochrome c and cytochrome C oxidase subunit 2, was all significantly increased
      in fruit of more advanced ripeness. An interaction between cultivar and maturity
      was also shown with respect to chalcone isomerase. The good correlation between
      protein abundance and anthocyanin content suggested that a metabolic control
      point may exist for anthocyanin biosynthesis. This research provides insights
      into the process of anthocyanin formation in strawberry fruit at the level of
      protein concentration and reveals possible candidates in the regulation of
      anthocyanin formation during fruit ripening. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: To gain
      insight into the molecular mechanisms contributing to flavonoids and anthocyanin
      biosynthesis and regulation of strawberry fruit during ripening is challenging
      due to limited molecular biology tools and established hypothesis. Our targeted
      proteomic approach employing LC-MS/MS analysis and MRM technique to quantify
      proteins in relation to flavonoids and anthocyanin biosynthesis and regulation in
      strawberry fruit during fruit ripening is novel. The identification of peptides
      and proteins provided reliable design and validation of quantitative approaches
      using SRM on targeted proteins proposed involved in strawberry fruit. Our data
      revealed the identifying candidate proteins and their quantitative changes in
      relation to fruit ripening and flavonoids and anthocyanin biosynthesis and
      regulation. More importantly, this quantitative proteomic data is also compared
      with chemical analysis to reveal possible control levels of this important
      quality trait. Although, MRM approach is not new in plant biology research, the
      application has been very rare. This is the first systematic multi-targeted
      interrogation of the possible regulation of entire pathway of flavonoids and
      anthocyanin biosynthesis in strawberry fruit at different ripening stages using
      quantitative MRM technique on mass spectrometry. Our results demonstrate the
      power of targeted quantitative mass spectrometry data for analysis of proteins in
      biological regulation. These results indicate that distinct and diverse control
      of flavonoids and anthocyanin biosynthesis mechanisms at metabolism and proteins
      levels. This important and complementary knowledge will be useful for
      systematically characterizing the flavonoids and anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway
      of any fruit/plant species.

PMID- 25818727
TI  - Stereoselective Synthesis of Arylglycine Derivatives via Palladium-Catalyzed
      alpha-Arylation of a Chiral Nickel(II) Glycinate.
AB  - A practical and efficient stereoselective synthesis of arylglycine derivatives
      was realized via palladium-catalyzed alpha-arylation of a chiral nickel(II)
      glycinate complex with aryl bromides. The structurally diverse arylglycine
      products were obtained in excellent isolated yields and with good
      diastereoselectivity. A simple acidic hydrolysis furnished optically pure
      arylglycines in high yield, and the chiral ligand (S)-BPB could be efficiently
      recovered and reused. 

PMID- 25818728
TI  - Impact of psychiatric comorbidity in individuals at Ultra High Risk of psychosis 
      Findings from the Longitudinal Youth at Risk Study (LYRIKS).
AB  - Recent studies have reported a high prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in
      Ultra High Risk (UHR) for psychosis populations. This study examined the
      prevalence of comorbidity and its impact on symptoms, functioning, cognition and
      transition to psychosis in the Longitudinal Youth at Risk Study (LYRIKS) sample.
      The Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental State (CAARMS) was used to
      identify UHR individuals and 163 participants were included in the study.
      Comorbid disorders were identified using the Structured Clinical Interview for
      DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders. Participants were evaluated on the CAARMS, Positive
      and Negative Syndrome Scale, Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia, Beck
      Anxiety Inventory, Global Assessment of Functioning and Brief Assessment of
      Cognition in Schizophrenia. Clinical, functioning and cognitive characteristics
      by lifetime and current comorbidity groups were compared using multivariate
      tests. Independent predictors of comorbidity were identified through logistic
      regression. Chi-squared tests were used to compare comorbidity rates between
      those who had developed psychosis at one year and those who had not. We found
      that 131 UHR participants (80.4%) had a lifetime comorbidity while 82 (50.3%) had
      a current comorbidity with depressive disorders being the most common. UHR
      individuals with comorbidity had more severe symptoms, higher distress and lower
      functioning with no differences in general cognition. Lower functioning was
      associated with current comorbidity. Eleven participants (6.7%) had developed
      psychosis after one year and there were no differences in the comorbidity rates
      between those who developed psychosis and those who did not. Psychiatric
      comorbidities in the UHR group are associated with adverse clinical outcomes and
      warrant closer attention. 

PMID- 25818729
TI  - Prediction of microvascular invasion of hepatocellular carcinomas with gadoxetic
      acid-enhanced MR imaging: Impact of intra-tumoral fat detected on chemical-shift
      images.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the impact of intra-tumoral fat detected by chemical
      shift MR imaging in predicting the MVI of HCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Gadoxetic
      acid-enhanced MR imaging of 365 surgically proven HCCs from 365 patients (306
      men, 59 women; mean age, 55.6 years) were evaluated. HCCs were classified into
      two groups, fat-containing and non-fat-containing, based on the presence of fat
      on chemical-shift images. Fat-containing HCCs were subdivided into diffuse or
      focal fatty change groups. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify
      clinical and MR findings associated with MVI. RESULTS: Based on MR imaging, 66
      tumors were classified as fat-containing HCCs and 299 as non-fat-containing HCCs.
      Among the 66 fat-containing HCCs, 38 (57.6%) showed diffuse fatty changes and 28
      (42.4%) showed focal fatty changes. MVI was present in 18 (27.3%) fat-containing
      HCCs and in 117 (39.1%) non-fat-containing HCCs (P=0.07). Univariate analysis
      revealed that serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and tumor size were significantly
      associated with MVI (P<0.001). A multiple logistic regression analysis showed
      that log AFP (odds ratio 1.178, P=0.0016), tumor size (odds ratio 1.809,
      P<0.001), and intra-tumoral fat (odds ratio 0.515, P=0.0387) were independent
      variables associated with MVI. CONCLUSION: Intra-tumoral fat detected with MR
      imaging may suggest lower risk for MVI of HCC and, therefore, a possibly more
      favorable prognosis, but the clinical value of this finding is uncertain.

PMID- 25818730
TI  - Four-dimensional computed tomography angiographic evaluation of cranial dural
      arteriovenous fistula before and after embolization.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of four-dimensional CTA
      before and after embolization treatment with ONYX-18 in eleven patients with
      cranial dural arteriovenous fistulas, and to compare the results with those of
      the reference standard DSA. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eleven patients with cranial
      dural arteriovenous fistulas detected on DSA underwent transarterial embolization
      with ONYX-18. Four-dimensional CTA was performed an average of 2 days before and
      4 days after DSA. Four-dimensional CTA and DSA images were reviewed by two
      neuroradiologists for identification of feeding arteries and drainage veins and
      for determining treatment effects. Interobserver and intermodality agreement
      between four-dimensional CTA and DSA were assessed. RESULTS: Forty-two feeding
      arteries were identified for 14 fistulas in the 11 patients. Of these, 36
      (85.71%) were detected on four-dimensional CTA. After transarterial embolization,
      one patient got partly embolized, and the fistulas in the remaining 10 patients
      were completely occluded. The interobserver agreement for four-dimensional CTA
      and intermodality agreement between four-dimensional CTA and DSA were excellent
      (kappa=1) for shunt location, identification of drainage veins, and fistula
      occlusion after treatment. CONCLUSION: Four-dimensional CTA images are highly
      accurate when compared with DSA images both before and after transarterial
      embolization treatment. Four-dimensional CTA can be used for diagnosis as well as
      follow-up of cranial dural arteriovenous fistulas in clinical settings.

PMID- 25818731
TI  - Contrast-enhanced spectral mammography: Impact of the qualitative morphology
      descriptors on the diagnosis of breast lesions.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the morphology and enhancement characteristics of breast
      lesions on contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) and to assess their
      impact on the differentiation between benign and malignant lesions. MATERIALS AND
      METHOD: This ethics committee approved study included 168 consecutive patients
      with 211 breast lesions over 18 months. Lesions classified as non-enhancing and
      enhancing and then the latter group was subdivided into mass and non-mass. Mass
      lesions descriptors included: shape, margins, pattern and degree of internal
      enhancement. Non-mass lesions descriptors included: distribution, pattern and
      degree of internal enhancement. The impact of each descriptor on diagnosis
      individually assessed using Chi test and the validity compared in both benign and
      malignant lesions. The overall performance of CESM were also calculated. RESULTS:
      The study included 102 benign (48.3%) and 109 malignant (51.7%) lesions.
      Enhancement was encountered in 145/211 (68.7%) lesions. They further classified
      into enhancing mass (99/145, 68.3%) and non-mass lesions (46/145, 31.7%).
      Contrast uptake was significantly more frequent in malignant breast lesions (p
      value <= 0.001). Irregular mass lesions with intense and heterogeneous
      enhancement patterns correlated with a malignant pathology (p value <= 0.001).
      CESM showed an overall sensitivity of 88.99% and specificity of 83.33%. The
      positive and negative likelihood ratios were 5.34 and 0.13 respectively.
      CONCLUSION: The assessment of the morphology and enhancement characteristics of
      breast lesions on CESM enhances the performance of digital mammography in the
      differentiation between benign and malignant breast lesions.

PMID- 25818732
TI  - Microwave ablation of focal hepatic malignancies regardless of size: A 9-year
      retrospective study of 64 patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: To retrospectively evaluate the safety and efficacy of microwave
      ablation (MWA) as treatment for single, focal hepatic malignancies. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Institutional review board approval was obtained for this HIPAA
      compliant study. From December 2003 to May 2012, 64 patients were treated with
      MWA for a single hepatic lesion, in 64 sessions. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
      was treated in 25 patients (geometric mean tumor size, 3.33-cm; 95% CI, 2.65-4.18
      cm; range, 1.0-12.0-cm), metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) was treated in 27
      patients (geometric mean tumor size, 2.7-cm; 95% CI, 2.20-3.40-cm; range, 0.8-6.0
      cm), and other histological-types were treated in 12 patients (geometric mean
      tumor size, 3.79-cm; 95% CI, 2.72-5.26-cm; range, 1.7-8.0-cm). Kaplan-Meier (K-M)
      method was used to analyze time event data. Chi-square and correlation evaluated
      the relationship between tumor size and treatment parameters. RESULTS: Technical
      success rate was 95.3% (61/64). Treatment parameters were tailored to tumor size;
      as size increased more antennae were used (p<0.001), treatment with multiple
      activations increased (p<0.028), and treatment time increased (p<0.001). There
      was no statistically significant relationship between time to recurrence and
      tumor size, number of activations, number of antennae, and treatment time. At one
      year, K-M analysis predicted a likelihood of local recurrence of 39.8% in HCC
      patients, 45.7% in CRC metastases patients, and 70.8% in patients with other
      metastases. Median cancer specific survivals for patients were 38.3 months for
      HCC patients, 36.3 months for CRC metastases, and 13.9 months for other
      histological-types. Complications occurred in 23.4% (15/64) of sessions.
      CONCLUSION: In our sample, tumor size did not appear to impact complete ablation
      rates or local recurrence rates for focal hepatic malignancies treated with MWA.

PMID- 25818733
TI  - A retrospective clinical study of bevacizumab combined with gemcibabine or
      paclitaxel in the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bevacizumab, a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody that blocks
      angiogenesis by inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor A, was described to
      be effective in the treatment of recurrent or platinum-resistance ovarian cancer.
      The present retrospective study was performed to further evaluate the clinical
      efficacy and toxicity of bevacizumab in the treatment of Chinese recurrent
      ovarian cancer patients who had been previously treated by platinum-based
      chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the hospital database and
      finally included 26 recurrent ovarian cancer patients who were treated with
      bevacizumab combined with gemcibabine or paclitaxel or single agent. All included
      patients received >3 cycle of bevacizumab treatment. The tumor response, overall
      survival, and toxicities were documented. RESULTS: Under the treatment of
      bevacizumab combined with gemcibabine or paclitaxel, 2 complete response (7.7%),
      8 partial response (30.8%), 7 stable disease (26.9%) and 9 progression disease
      (34.6%) was documented with the objective response rate of 38.5% and disease
      control rate of 65.4%. The median overall survival from the first application of
      bevacizumab was 15.3 months [Figure 1] for all of the 26 patients. The median
      overall survival time was 16.2 and 14.0 months for bevacizumab + gemcitabine and
      bevacizumab + paclitaxel treatment schedule respectively. The overall survival
      was not different between bevacizumab + gemcitabine and bevacizumab + paclitaxel
      treatment regimen hazard ratio = 0.80 (95% confidence interval: 0.32-2, P =
      0.64). The hypertension and proteinuria were the major bevacizumab related
      toxicities. CONCLUSIONS: Bevacizumab combined with gemcibabine or paclitaxel was
      a promising treatment schedule for platinum-resistance recurrent ovarian cancer.

PMID- 25818734
TI  - Endostar combined with chemotherapy compared with chemotherapy alone in the
      treatment of nonsmall lung carcinoma: A meta-analysis based on Chinese patients.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-associated death world
      wide. And the lung cancer is generally divided into small cell lung carcinoma and
      non-small cell lung cancer. For advanced NSCLC, the chemotherapy and target
      therapy were the important treatment modality. This meta-analysis was to evaluate
      the clinical efficacy and toxicity between endostar combined chemotherapy and
      chemotherapy alone in Chinese patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched the
      PubMed, EMBASE, and CNKI databases to find the potential relevant articles
      reporting the endostar combined with chemotherapy regimen in the treatment of
      nonsmall cell lung cancer in Chinese patients. The tumor response and toxicity
      difference between the two groups were demonstrated by odds ratio (OR) and its
      95% confidence interval (95% CI). All the data was pooled by Stata 11.0
      (http://www.stata.com; Stata Corporation, College Station, TX) software. RESULTS:
      We included 14 studies published in Chinese or English studies. The pooled
      results showed adding endostar in the chemotherapy regimen can significant
      increase the objective response rate (OR = 2.42, 95% CI = 1.87-3.12, P = 0.00)
      and disease control rate (OR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.68-2.94, P = 0.00). For
      toxicities, the pooled data showed no statistical difference for grade III-IV
      granulocytopenia risk (OR = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.74-1.44, P = 0.83). Nausea and
      vomiting (OR = 0.93 95% CI: 0.51-1.52, P = 0.78) and grade III-IV alopecia (OR =
      0.99, 95% CI: 0.76-1.29, P = 0.95). The funnel plot showed no statistical
      publications. CONCLUSION: Combined treatment with endostar can improve the
      response rate for NSCLC patients without increasing the risk of developing severe
      adverse event.

PMID- 25818735
TI  - Chemotherapy combined with target drugs in the treatment of advanced colorectal
      cancer: a meta-analysis based on Chinese patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Colorectal carcinoma is one of most diagnosed solid malignant
      carcinoma. The chemotherapy combined with target drugs in the treatment of
      advanced colorectal cancer in not conclusive. METHODS: The clinical studies
      reporting the activity and adverse events between chemotherapy alone versus
      chemotherapy combined with anti-epidermal growth factor receptor drugs were
      screened in the databases of Medline, the Cochrane Library, Wanfang and CNKI and
      included in this meta-analysis. The risk ratio (RR) and its 95% confidence
      interval (CI) for treatment response and adverse events were pooled by random or
      fixed effect model. RESULTS: A total of 10 clinical studies reporting
      chemotherapy combined with the target in the treatment of advanced colorectal
      cancer were included in this study. The pooled RR was 3.26 (95% CI: 1.74-6.11, P
      < 0.05), 1.49 (95% CI: 1.23-1.80) and 1.65 (95% CI: 1.37-1.98) for complete
      response (CR), partial response and objective response rate, respectively. For
      nausea and vomiting events, the RR was 1.62 (95% CI: 1.33-1.97, P < 0.05)
      indicating higher incidence of nausea and vomiting was observed in the combined
      group compared with chemotherapy alone. However, the diarrhea (RR = 1.10, 95% CI:
      0.86-1.42, P > 0.05), liver function damage (RR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.74-1.42),
      myelosuppression (RR = 1.04, 95% CI: 0.83-1.31) and neurotoxicity (RR = 1.12, 95%
      CI: 0.93-1.35) were not different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: For Chinese
      patients with advanced colorectal cancer, chemotherapy combined with target drug
      can improve the response rate, but also increase the risk of nausea and vomiting.

PMID- 25818736
TI  - A meta analysis of cetuximab plus oxaliplatin based chemotherapy regimen for
      metastatic colorectal cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oxaliplatin based chemotherapy regimen was one of the most used
      chemotherapy modality for metastatic colorectal cancer. The purpose of this meta
      analysis was to assess the clinical activity and toxicities of cetuximab plus
      oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy regimen for metastatic colorectal Cancer. METHODS:
      We searched the clinical studies about the cetuximab plus oxaliplatin-based
      chemotherapy regimen versus oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy alone for metastatic
      colorectal cancer in the databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Cochran, and CNKI. The data
      of response and toxicities were extracted and pooled by random or fixed effects
      model. And publication bias was evaluated by begg's funnel plot and egger's
      regression test. RESULTS: Seven papers were included in this study. Adding
      cetuximab to oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy regime can significant increase
      response rate in K-RAS mutation metastatic colorectal patients (odds ratio [OR]:
      1.45, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17-1.80, Z = 3.38, P = 0.001) and
      metastatic colorectal patients without knowing the K-RAS status (OR: 1.36, 95%
      CI: 1.11-1.65, Z = 1.89, P = 0.003). But for patients with mutated K-RAS, the
      improvement for objective response rate was not statistical significant (OR:
      0.70, 95% CI: 0.49-1.01, Z = 3.00, P = 0.058) when adding cetuximab to
      oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy regime. The pooled results indicating the rash and
      diarrhea risk was significantly increased in the combined treatment group (P <
      0.05). The toxicity of peripheral neuritis was decreased by adding the cetuximab
      (P < 0.05). And other toxicities were not statistical different between the two
      groups (P > 0.05). Significant publication bias was found in toxicities
      evaluation. CONCLUSION: Cetuximab plus oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy regimen
      significant increase the response rate for metastatic colorectal cancer. But the
      some toxicities such rash and diarrhea risk was also increased.

PMID- 25818737
TI  - S100 protein in breast tumor.
AB  - S100 protein is the largest subtribe in calcium binding protein family. According
      to recent researches, abnormal expression of S100 protein is often related to
      tumor, including breast tumor. Breast tumor is the most common malignant disease
      in female with high mortality mainly due to metastasis. Estimating early
      diagnostic and prognostic markers are helpful to conduct treatment for patients
      with breast cancer. Accumulating investigations focused on the role of S100
      proteins in breast tumor development and metastasis. This paper summarizes the
      expression situation of S100 proteins in breast tumor as well as its effects on
      metastasis and prognosis of breast tumor. 

PMID- 25818738
TI  - Advances in tumor markers of ovarian cancer for early diagnosis.
AB  - Ovarian cancer often occurs in perimenopausal women. The mortality of ovarian
      cancer is in the first place among gynecological cancers because of no obvious
      early symptoms and the lack of effective diagnostic approach. Gene chips,
      proteomics, immunohistochemistry and other methods have become hot topics for
      early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. However, due to the variety of pathology and
      not clear enough of mechanism and etiology, there is still no ideal tumor markers
      with both high specific and sensitivity, which can be applied into clinical early
      diagnosis for ovarian cancer. Therefore, a new systematic method with high
      sensitivity and specificity for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer and new tumor
      markers need to be identified. We should make an examination of ovarian cancer in
      the early period in the crowd for early diagnosis and early treatment to further
      improve life quality of patients. This paper reviewed the recent advancements of
      tumor markers for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. 

PMID- 25818739
TI  - MicroRNA-449a inhibits cell growth in lung cancer and regulates long noncoding
      RNA nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Lung cancer has become the primary cause of cancer-related death now.
      New therapies targeting the molecular regulatory machinery were required
      imperatively. MicroRNAs and long noncoding RNAs can respectively or cooperatively
      function as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes in human cancers. The present
      study identified that miR-449a was down-regulated in tissue of human lung cancer.
      In this study, we aimed to investigate the function of miR-449a in NL9980 and
      L9981 lung carcinoma cells lines and the relationship with lncRNA nuclear
      enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1). MATERIALS AND METHODS: miR-449a was
      profiled in several lung carcinoma cell lines by quantitative reverse
      transcription-polymerase chain reaction RT-PCR. We analyzed the effects of miR
      449a overexpression on proliferation, apoptosis and cell cycle in L9981 cells.
      The regulatory relationship between miR-449a and NEAT1 was predicted in silico
      and further studied by miR-449a inhibitor and mimics assay. RESULTS: miR-449a was
      expressed in four cell lines, which we selected, however miR-449a was in high
      level in NL9980 and in low level in L9981 (P < 0.05). When the miR-449a was the
      overexpression in L9981 cells, the cell growth was suppressed, and the apoptosis
      cells were promoted compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The G1/G0 became
      longer and S, G2/M became shorter (P < 0.05) by miR-449a overexpression. Further
      study of the interaction between miR-449a and NEAT1 show that NEAT1 was up
      regulated when cells were transfected with miR-449a inhibitor, and NEAT1 was down
      regulated when cells transfected with miR-449a mimics. CONCLUSIONS: Our data
      indicate that miR-449a may function as a suppressor of lung cancer, and affects
      the expression of NEAT1 in lung cancer cells.

PMID- 25818740
TI  - The efficacy of pemetrexed and bevacizumab intrapleural injection for malignant
      pleural mesothelioma-mediated malignant pleural effusion.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety
      of pemetrexed chemotherapy combined with intrapleural injection of pemetrexed and
      bevacizumab in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM)-mediated
      malignant pleural effusion, and analyze the objective response rate (ORR), the
      median progression-free survival (PFS) and the median overall survival (OS).
      METHODS: We analyzed the clinical data of 23 MPM patients with pleural effusion
      who were treated with a combination chemotherapy of pemetrexed at 500 mg/m 2 , on
      day 1 plus cisplatin (DDP) at 20 mg/m 2 on day 1-5 of each 21 days cycle, and
      concurrently, intrapleural injection of pemetrexed 0.5 g and bevacizumab 300 mg
      was administered on day 3 or day 4 after complete effusion drainage. ELISA test
      was applied to detect the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level in the
      pleural effusion and serum, and assess the ORR and survival. RESULTS: In the 23
      evaluable patients, the VEGF level in the pleural effusion and serum was
      significantly decreased, P < 0.01, pleural effusion of 20 patients (86.96%) was
      controlled effectively. There were 8 complete responses, 7 partial responses, 5
      stable disease and 3 progressive disease, the ORR was 65.21%, the disease control
      rate was 86.96%, the median PFS was 6 months, the median OS was 14.5 months, and
      the 1-year survival rate was 41.22%. Toxicities were generally mild and
      manageable; the major toxicities included myelosuppression, fatigue, and anemia,
      mainly were grade 1-2 which could be managed by symptomatic treatments.
      CONCLUSION: The combination of pemetrexed chemotherapy with intrapleural
      injection of pemetrexed and bevacizumab is efficacious and safe for MPM pleural
      effusion, and results of the present study demonstrate some improvement in the
      PFS and OS. The expression of VEGF in the pleural effusion and serum plays a
      guiding role in monitoring the efficacy of bevacizumab in the treatment of
      malignant pleural effusion.

PMID- 25818741
TI  - The comparisons of the efficacy and toxicity between gefitinib and docetaxel for
      patients with advanced nonsmall-cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis from randomized
      controlled clinical trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The extent of the benefit of gefitinib in the treatment of advanced
      nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is till controversial, when compared with
      docetaxel. We performed this meta-analysis to compare the efficacy and toxicity
      of gefitinib with docetaxel for different patients with advanced NSCLC. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, and identified 5 randomized
      controlled clinical trials published within 2000-2013. After further full-text
      screening, 4 clinical trials were included in the final meta-analysis. RESULTS:
      The outcomes of treatment efficacy included progression-free survival (PFS),
      overall survival (OS) and objective response rate (ORR). Comparing gefitinib to
      docetaxel for advanced NSCLC patients, the pooled hazard ratio (HR) of PFS was
      0.91, (95% confidential index [CI] = 0.83-0.99), the pooled HR of OS was 1.02,
      (95% CI = 0.93-1.13), the pooled risk ratio of ORR was 1.57, (95% CI = 1.01
      2.47). CONCLUSIONS: Gefitinib was found to significantly improve patients' PFS
      and response rate compared with docetaxel. There is no difference of OS between
      gefitinib and docetaxel.

PMID- 25818742
TI  - Bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of recurrence or platinum
      refractory ovarian cancer: a retrospective study of 37 cases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer was one of the most diagnostic cancers for women and
      leading cause of death from gynecologic cancer. Most of the cases were at
      advanced stage when diagnosed. Platinum-based regimen was considered as the firs
      line chemotherapy treatment modality. But most of the cases developed recurrence
      or resistance to platinum. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate
      the activity and toxicity of bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy in the
      treatment of recurrence or platinum-refractory ovarian cancer. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Totally, 37 ovarian cancer patients with complete data who treated with
      bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy were reviewed from the databases of
      Beijing Cancer hospital and included in this retrospective study. All included
      patients received >1 cycle of bevacizumab based combination therapy with eligible
      for the efficacy and toxicity assessments. The objective response rate (ORR) and
      toxicity were recorded and evaluated according to the Response Evaluation
      Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) National Cancer Institute's Common Toxicity
      Criteria. RESULTS: The ORR and disease control rate were 32.4% and 54.1%
      respectively by the RECIST criteria and 43.2%, 67.6% by CA125 criteria. The
      median progression-free survival for the 37 cases was 5.4 months with its range
      of 2.3-11.2 months. The two complete response patens had longest disease-free
      survival interval with one for 10.0 months and another for 11.2 months. The total
      grade III-IV hematologic toxicity and nonhematologic toxicity were 8.1% and 21.6%
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: With acceptable toxicity and relative well clinical
      activity, the bevacizumab combined chemotherapy can be a potential treatment
      modality for the recurrent or platinum-refractory ovarian cancer.

PMID- 25818743
TI  - A meta-analysis of bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of
      ovarian cancer.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Angiogenesis plays an important role in the biology of ovarian
      cancer. The clinical efficacy and side effects of bevacizumab, the vascular
      endothelial growth factor inhibitor, on survival and toxicity in women with this
      ovarian cancer, was not conclusive. We performed this systematic review and meta
      analysis in order to clarify the efficacy of bevacizumab combined with
      chemotherapy in the treatment of ovarian cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      searched the electronic database of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of
      Controlled Trials and CNKI for clinical controlled trials of comparing
      bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy and chemotherapy alone in the treatment of
      ovarian cancer. The primary outcomes of eligible studies included median
      progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and toxicities such as
      enterobrosis, hypertension, albuminuria, congestive heart failure (CHF),
      neutrophils, thrombosis, and bleeding. The Hazard ratio (HR) and relative risk
      were used for the meta-analysis and were expressed with 95% confidence intervals
      (CIs). All the statistical analyses were carried out by  Stata 11.0 software
      (http://www.stata.com; Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA). RESULTS: We
      included 5 studies with 1798 cases in the bevacizumab combined with the
      chemotherapy group and 1810 subjects in the chemotherapy alone group. The pooled
      results showed that bevacizumab + chemotherapy compared with chemotherapy alone
      can significant prolong the median PFS (HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.46-0.82; P < 0.05)
      but not the OS (HR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.59-10.9; P > 0.05); the toxicity analysis
      showed that the enterobrosis, hypertension, albuminuria, neutrophils, thrombosis,
      and bleeding were significantly increased in the bevacizumab + chemotherapy group
      compared with chemotherapy alone (Pall < 0.05). But the CHF risk between the two
      groups was not statistical different (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Bevacizumab combined
      with chemotherapy prolonged the median PFS in patients with ovarian cancer but
      also increase the risk of developing enterobrosis, hypertension, albuminuria,
      neutrophils, thrombosis, and bleeding.

PMID- 25818744
TI  - Noncoding RNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 1 promote cell proliferation in
      nonsmall cell lung cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the major cause of cancer death
      worldwide. Increasing evidence shows that noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) are widely
      involved in the development and progression of NSCLC. ncRNA small nucleolar RNA
      host gene 1 (SNHG1) has not been studied in cancer, especially its role in lung
      cancer remains unknown. Our studies were designed to investigate the expression
      and biological significance of SNHG1 in lung cancer. SNHG1 may be a novel ncRNA
      in early diagnosis in lung cancer. METHODS: Noncoding RNA SNHG1 expression in 7
      lung cancer cell lines was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain
      reaction. RNA interference approaches were used to find the biological functions
      of SNHG1. The effect of SNHG1 on proliferation was evaluated by cell count and
      crystal violet stains. RESULTS: Noncoding RNA SNHG1 expression was significantly
      upregulated in lung cancer cells when compared with normal bronchial epithelial
      cells. In addition, in vitro assays our results indicated that knockdown of SNHG1
      inhibited cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicated that ncRNA SNHG1 is
      significantly upregulated in NSCLC cell lines and may represent a new biomarker
      and a potential therapeutic target for NSCLC intervention.

PMID- 25818745
TI  - Action potential duration gradients in the heart ventricles and the cardiac
      electric field during ventricular repolarization (a model study).
AB  - BACKGROUND: We simulated contributions of transmural, apicobasal, anteroposterior
      and interventricular action potential duration (APD) gradients to the body
      surface potential distribution (BSPD) with constant or varied magnitudes of the
      transmural and apicobasal gradients. METHODS: Simulations were done in the
      framework of the discrete computer model of the rabbit heart ventricles on the
      basis of realistic activation sequence and APDs. The APD gradients were set
      constant at 20 ms or varied in the range of +/-80 ms. RESULTS: The apicobasal,
      transmural and interventricular APD gradients of 20 ms produced similar BSPDs,
      whereas the BSPD inversion was caused by the inverted apicobasal or transmural 80
      ms gradients. The transmural APD gradient produced transversal and mainly
      apicobasal T-wave vectors due to wall curvature and cancellation effects. The
      "normal" transversal and apicobasal repolarization gradients were decreased and
      increased by activation sequence, respectively. CONCLUSION: The different APD
      gradients contributed consistently to the development of BSPD.

PMID- 25818746
TI  - Is it possible to differentiate between Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and acute
      anterior ST-elevation myocardial infarction?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Several studies have investigated the ability of the twelve-lead
      electrocardiogram (ECG) to reliably distinguish Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC)
      from an acute anterior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). In
      these studies, only ECG changes were required - ST-segment deviation and/or T
      wave inversion - in TC whereas in acute anterior STEMI, ECGs had to meet STEMI
      criteria. In the majority of these studies, patients of both genders were used
      even though TC predominantly occurs in women. The aim of this study is to see
      whether TC can be distinguished from acute anterior STEMI in a predominantly
      female study population where all patients meet STEMI-criteria. METHODS:
      Retrospective analysis of the ST-segment changes was done on the triage ECGs of
      37 patients with TC (34 female) and was compared to the triage ECGs of 103 female
      patients with acute anterior STEMI. The latter group was divided into the
      following subgroups: 46 patients with proximal, 47 with mid and 10 with distal
      LAD occlusion. Three ST-segment based ECG features were investigated: (1)
      Existing criterion for differentiating anterior STEMI from TC: ST-segment
      depression >0.5mm in lead aVR+ST-segment elevation <=1mm in lead V1, (2) frontal
      plane ST-vector and (3) mean amplitude of ST-segment deviation in each lead.
      RESULTS: The existing ECG criterion was less accurate (76%) than in the original
      study (95%), with a large difference in sensitivity (26% vs. 91%). Only a frontal
      plane ST-vector of 60 degrees  could significantly distinguish TC from all acute
      anterior STEMI subgroups (p<0.01) with an overall diagnostic accuracy of 81%. The
      mean amplitude in inferior leads II and aVF was significantly higher for patients
      with TC compared to all patients with acute anterior STEMI (p<0.01 and p<0.05
      respectively) and the mean amplitude in the precordial leads V1 and V2 was
      significantly lower compared to proximal and mid LAD occlusion (p<0.01).
      CONCLUSIONS: Given the consequences of missing the diagnosis of an acute anterior
      STEMI the diagnostic accuracy of the ECG criteria investigated in this
      retrospective study were insufficient to reliably distinguish patients with TC
      from patients with an acute anterior STEMI. To definitely exclude the diagnosis
      of an acute anterior STEMI coronary angiography, which remains the gold standard,
      will need to be performed.

PMID- 25818748
TI  - From neural to genetic substrates of panic disorder: Insights from human and
      mouse studies.
AB  - Fear is an ancestral emotion, an intrinsic defensive response present in every
      organism. Although fear is an evolutionarily advantageous emotion, under certain
      pathologies such as panic disorder it might become exaggerated and non-adaptive.
      Clinical and preclinical work pinpoints that changes in cognitive processes, such
      as perception and interpretation of environmental stimuli that rely on brain
      regions responsible for high-level function, are essential for the development of
      fear-related disorders. This review focuses on the involvement of cognitive
      function to fear circuitry disorders. Moreover, we address how animal models are
      contributing to understand the involvement of human candidate genes to
      pathological fear and helping achieve progress in this field. Multidisciplinary
      approaches that integrate human genetic findings with state of the art genetic
      mouse models will allow to elucidate the mechanisms underlying pathology and to
      develop new strategies for therapeutic targeting. 

PMID- 25818749
TI  - Estimating vaccine efficacy using animal efficacy data.
AB  - Animal models are used to predict the effect of an intervention in humans. An
      example is the prediction of the efficacy of a vaccine when it is considered
      unethical or infeasible to challenge humans with the target disease to assess the
      effect of the vaccine on the disease in humans directly. In such cases, data from
      animal studies are used to develop models relating antibody level to protection
      probability in the animal, and then data from a study or studies in human
      subjects vaccinated with the proposed vaccine regimen are used in combination
      with the relevant animal models to predict protection in humans, and hence
      estimate vaccine efficacy. We explain the statistical techniques required to
      provide an estimate of vaccine efficacy and its precision. We present simulated
      examples showing that precise estimation of the relationship between antibody
      levels and protection in animals, at levels likely to be induced in humans by the
      vaccine regimen, is key to precise estimation of the vaccine efficacy. Because
      the confidence interval for the estimate of vaccine efficacy cannot be expressed
      in analytical form, but must be estimated from resampling, or bootstrapping, it
      is not possible to design studies with required power analytically. Therefore we
      propose that a simulation-based design of experiments approach using preliminary
      data is used to maximise the power of further studies and thus minimise the human
      and animal experimentation required. 

PMID- 25818751
TI  - Neurobiological studies of chronic pain and analgesia: Rationale and refinements.
AB  - Chronic pain is a complex condition for which the need for specialized research
      and therapies has been recognized internationally. This review summarizes the
      context for the international call for expansion of pain research to improve our
      understanding of the mechanisms underlying pain in order to achieve improvements
      in pain management. The methods for conducting sensory assessment in animal
      models are discussed and the development of animal models of chronic pain is
      specifically reviewed, with an emphasis on ongoing refinements to more closely
      mimic a variety of human pain conditions. Pharmacological correspondences between
      pre-clinical pain models and the human clinical experience are noted. A
      discussion of the 3Rs Framework (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) and how each
      may be considered in pain research is featured. Finally, suggestions are provided
      for engaging principal investigators, IACUC reviewers, and institutions in the
      development of strong partnerships to simultaneously expand our knowledge of the
      mechanisms underlying pain and analgesia while ensuring the humane use of animals
      in research. 

PMID- 25818747
TI  - Paving the path to HIV neurotherapy: Predicting SIV CNS disease.
AB  - HIV-induced damage to the CNS remains a major challenge for over 30 million
      people in the world despite the successes of combined antiretroviral therapy in
      limiting viral replication. Predicting development and progression of HIV
      associated CNS disease is crucial because prevention and early intervention could
      be more effective than attempts to promote repair. The SIV/macaque model is the
      premier platform to study HIV neuropathogenesis, including discovery of
      predictive factors such as neuroprotective host genes and both blood and CSF
      biomarkers that precede and predict development of SIV CNS disease. This report
      details the role of macaque MHC class I genes, longitudinal alterations in
      biomarkers in the circulation, and expression of inflammatory and neuronal damage
      markers in CSF using samples from SIV-inoculated pigtailed macaques collected
      during acute, asymptomatic, and terminal stages of infection. 

PMID- 25818750
TI  - Preclinical murine models of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
AB  - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a major incurable global health
      burden and is the 4th leading cause of death worldwide. It is believed that an
      exaggerated inflammatory response to cigarette smoke causes progressive airflow
      limitation. This inflammation, where macrophages, neutrophils and T lymphocytes
      are prominent, leads to oxidative stress, emphysema, small airway fibrosis and
      mucus hypersecretion. Much of the disease burden and health care utilisation in
      COPD is associated with the management of its comorbidities and infectious (viral
      and bacterial) exacerbations (AECOPD). Comorbidities, defined as other chronic
      medical conditions, in particular skeletal muscle wasting and cardiovascular
      disease markedly impact on disease morbidity, progression and mortality. The
      mechanisms and mediators underlying COPD and its comorbidities are poorly
      understood and current COPD therapy is relatively ineffective. Thus, there is an
      obvious need for new therapies that can prevent the induction and progression of
      COPD and effectively treat AECOPD and comorbidities of COPD. Given that access to
      COPD patients can be difficult and that clinical samples often represent a
      "snapshot" at a particular time in the disease process, many researchers have
      used animal modelling systems to explore the mechanisms underlying COPD, AECOPD
      and comorbidities of COPD with the goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets.
      This review highlights the mouse models used to define the cellular, molecular
      and pathological consequences of cigarette smoke exposure and the recent advances
      in modelling infectious exacerbations and comorbidities of COPD. 

PMID- 25818752
TI  - Modified PAS stain: A new diagnostic method for onychomycosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Onychomycosis is the most common nail disease and represents around
      50% of nail disorders. Accurate diagnosis with adequate evidence is ideal before
      starting any treatment. Current diagnostic methods offer low specificity and
      sensitivity. AIMS: To create a new method for the diagnosis of onychomycosis, and
      to compare its sensitivity and specificity with the existing methods. METHODS:
      One hundred and ninety-two samples with clinical suspicion of onychomycosis were
      included and underwent modified PAS stain (M-PAS), KOH/chlorazol black (KOH/CB)
      and culture testing. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive
      values were calculated. RESULTS: In 152 out of 192 samples (79.2%) fungi
      structures were found in at least one of the three tests performed, and the
      patients were diagnosed with onychomycosis; 40 samples out of 192 (20.8%) were
      negative. Using M-PAS, filaments and/or spores were seen in 143 samples from the
      152 positive (94%); 39 of them were negative to KOH/CB and positive to M-PAS
      (25.6%). With KOH/CB, filaments and/or spores were seen in 113 cases from the 152
      positive samples (73.8% of the onychomycosis cases). Thirty-five cultures were
      positive, of which 77% were identified as Trichophyton rubrum; 117 onychomycosis
      cases were diagnosed despite the negative culture (76.9%). M-PAS showed 92.5%
      sensitivity and 55.55% specificity, a 67.5% positive predictive value and a 81.6%
      negative productive value. CONCLUSIONS: This procedure, a combination of the
      existing methods to diagnose onychomycosis, KOH/CB together with a nail clipping
      biopsy, proved to have high sensitivity, as well as being rapid, easy,
      inexpensive and readily available in most hospital settings. M-PAS allowed us to
      diagnose 39 cases (25.6% of the cases of onychomycosis) that were false negative
      using only KOH/CB and culture.

PMID- 25818753
TI  - Preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by extrapleural pneumonectomy
      for patients with non-small cell lung cancer with malignant pleural effusion
      and/or pleural nodules: Ten-year results of a prematurely terminated single
      institute phase II trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Malignant pleural effusion and/or pleural nodules are a final stage
      of disease extension of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which is currently
      classified as M1a-Stage IV disease. The role of surgery, especially extrapleural
      pneumonectomy (EPP) for local disease control and its impact on the survival of
      patients remains uncertain. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This single institute phase II
      trial was performed from March 1997 to March July 2004 to assess the effects of
      induction concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) using a pro-drug of 5-FU, uracil
      tegafur (UFT((r)), Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Tokyo, Japan), plus cisplatin
      concurrently with 40 Gy hemithorax radiation followed by EPP. Intraoperative
      hypotonic cisplatin treatment in the pleural cavity before resection of the
      pericardium and diaphragm was performed. The primary endpoint of this study was
      the overall survival (OS), and the secondary endpoint was the disease-free
      survival (DFS), safety, response to the induction CRT, local disease control
      period in the affected thorax and the type of disease recurrence. RESULTS: This
      trial was prematurely terminated because of the slow registration pace. During
      the study period, 11 patients were enrolled. There were five males and six
      females, with a median age of 55 (36-64) years. All patients had adenocarcinoma.
      All patients received the planned induction CRT. Five patients achieved a partial
      response and five achieved stable disease, and one patient could not be
      evaluated. One patient underwent exploratory thoracotomy due to unresectable
      chest wall invasion, and nine patients (81.8%) underwent EPP. No perioperative
      deaths were encountered. The median follow-up time was matured at 32.1 (range
      15.0-100) months. The one-, three- and five-year DFS rates were 77.8% (95%CI:
      50.6-100%), 11.1% and 11.1% (95%CI: 95%CI: 0-31.7%), respectively. The one-,
      three- and five-year OS rates were 100.0%, 33.3% (95%CI: 2.5-64.1%) and 22.2%
      (95%CI: 0.0-49.4%), respectively. Recurrence developed in eight of nine patients
      who underwent EPP (88.9%). All first recurrent sites were distant regions, and no
      ipsilateral local recurrence was identified. CONCLUSION: The trimodality
      treatment used in this trial appears to be a choice of treatment for highly
      selected patients. However, the impact on the survival of NSCLC patients with
      malignant pleural effusion and/or pleural nodules still remains uncertain given
      the small number of patients enrolled in the study.

PMID- 25818754
TI  - Comparison of contrast enhancement, image quality and tolerability in Coronary CT
      angiography using 4 contrast agents: A prospective randomized trial.

PMID- 25818755
TI  - Percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation for free pulmonary regurgitation
      following conduit-free surgery of the right ventricular outflow tract.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Pulmonary regurgitation (PR) following surgery of the right
      ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) is not innocent and leads to significant right
      heart dysfunction over time. Recent studies have demonstrated that percutaneous
      valves can be implanted in conduit free outflow tracts with good outcomes.
      OBJECTIVES: To evaluate in patients with severe PR--anticipated to require future
      pulmonary valve replacement--the feasibility and safety of pre-stenting dilated
      non-stenotic patched conduit-free right ventricular outflow tracts before
      excessive dilation occurs, followed by percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation
      (PPVI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty seven patients were evaluated, but only 23
      were deemed suitable based on the presence of an adequate retention zone <= 24 mm
      defined by semi-compliant balloon interrogation of the RVOT. A 2 step procedure
      was performed: first the landing zone was prepared by deploying a bare stent,
      followed 2 months later by valve implantation. RESULTS: RVOT pre-stenting with an
      open cell bare metal stent (Andrastent XXL range) was performed at a median age
      of 13.0 years (range: 6.0-44.9) with a median weight of 44.3 kg (range: 20.0
      88.0). Ninety six percent (22/23) of patients proceeded to PPVI a median of 2.4
      months (range: 1.4-3.4) after initial pre-stent placement. Twenty one Melody
      valves and one 26 mm Edwards SAPIENTM valve were implanted. Complications
      consisted of embolization of prestent (n = 1), scrunching (n = 4) and mild stent
      dislocation (n = 2). During follow-up, no stent fractures were observed and right
      ventricular dimensions decreased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Post-surgical
      conduit-free non-stenotic RVOT with free pulmonary regurgitation can be treated
      percutaneously with a valved stent if anatomical (predominantly size) criteria
      are met. In experienced hands, the technique is feasible with low morbidity.

PMID- 25818756
TI  - Late-acquired scaffold malapposition and discontinuity that may be attributable
      to pathological coronary ectasia: Insights from optical coherence tomography.

PMID- 25818757
TI  - Impact of pericardial injury on inflammatory biomarkers early post myocardial
      infarction: A cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) study.

PMID- 25818758
TI  - Prothrombotic risk of vitamin K antagonists during the first days of treatment:
      One more reason to use new oral anticoagulants.

PMID- 25818759
TI  - Life in the unthinking depths: energetic constraints on encephalization in marine
      fishes.
AB  - Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the limitation of brain size in
      vertebrates. Here, we test three hypotheses of brain size evolution using marine
      teleost fishes: the direct metabolic constraints hypothesis (DMCH), the expensive
      tissue hypothesis and the temperature-dependent hypothesis. Our analyses indicate
      that there is a robust positive correlation between encephalization and basal
      metabolic rate (BMR) that spans the full range of depths occupied by teleosts
      from the epipelagic (< 200 m), mesopelagic (200-1000 m) and bathypelagic (> 4000
      m). Our results disentangle the effects of temperature and metabolic rate on
      teleost brain size evolution, supporting the DMCH. Our results agree with
      previous findings that teleost brain size decreases with depth; however, we also
      recover a negative correlation between trophic level and encephalization within
      the mesopelagic zone, a result that runs counter to the expectations of the
      expensive tissue hypothesis. We hypothesize that mesopelagic fishes at lower
      trophic levels may be investing more in neural tissue related to the detection of
      small prey items in a low-light environment. We recommend that comparative
      encephalization studies control for BMR in addition to controlling for body size
      and phylogeny.

PMID- 25818760
TI  - Comparative evaluation of two matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of
      flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) systems, Vitek MS and Microflex LT, for
      the identification of Gram-positive cocci routinely isolated in clinical
      microbiology laboratories.
AB  - We evaluated the performance of two MALDI-TOF MS systems for the identification
      of clinically important Gram-positive cocci. Vitek MS and Microflex LT correctly
      identified 97.2% and 94.7%, respectively. Both systems offer reliable and rapid
      identification of clinically important Gram-positive cocci isolated in clinical
      laboratories, including staphylococci, streptococci, and enterococci. Expanding
      the databases, especially of coagulase-negative staphylococci and viridans
      streptococci, would enhance performance. 

PMID- 25818761
TI  - [Recommendations guide for diagnosis and treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm].

PMID- 25818762
TI  - Prognostic and predictive significance of immune cells infiltrating cutaneous
      melanoma.
AB  - The tumor microenvironment is shaped by interactions between malignant cells and
      host cells representing an integral component of solid tumors. Host cells,
      including elements of the innate and adaptive immune system, can exert both
      positive and negative effects on the outcome of the disease. In melanoma, studies
      on the prognostic impact of the lymphoid infiltrate in general, and that of T
      cells, yielded controversial results. According to our studies and data in the
      literature, a high peritumoral density of activated T cells, increased amount of
      B lymphocytes and mature dendritic cells (DCs) predicted longer survival, while
      intense infiltration by plasmacytoid DCs or neutrophil granulocytes could be
      associated with poor prognosis. Besides its prognostic value, evaluation of the
      components of immune infiltrate could provide biomarkers for predicting the
      efficacy of the treatment and disease outcome in patients treated with
      immunotherapy or other, non-immune-based modalities as chemo-, radio-, or
      targeted therapy. 

PMID- 25818764
TI  - Increased risk of accidental childhood poisoning and childhood vicarious
      learning: Barbie and supersparkle movie invites copy behaviours.

PMID- 25818763
TI  - Central systolic blood pressure is associated with ethnicity and cardiovascular
      disease risk factors in Chinese middle-aged population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Central systolic blood pressure (CSBP) is a useful prognostic aid in
      the reduction and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. However, data regarding
      the distribution of CSBP in China are not available. The study aimed at assessing
      the distribution of CSBP and examining its relationship with potential
      cardiovascular risk factors in the Chinese middle-aged population. DESIGN: A
      cross-sectional study. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey on cardiovascular risk
      factors across China was conducted in 2009-2010. CSBP levels were estimated using
      the non-invasive BPro device with A-Pulse central aortic systolic pressure
      software. The study population included 9113 individuals (mean age 49.84 years;
      53.37% women). RESULTS: The CSBP levels (mean (standard deviation)) were 119.46
      (17.51) mmHg in men and 119.81 (19.29) mmHg in women. CSBP levels were higher in
      rural than urban and lower in the southern than the northern populations (both P
      < 0.05). The Han ethnic group had higher CSBP levels than the Tibetans (P < 0.05)
      but similar to those in the Mongolian, Uyghur, Kazak and Akha groups.
      Irrespective of gender, the mean CSBP level was higher in individuals with
      diabetes and hypertension than in those without these disorders (P < 0.05). CSBP
      was positively associated with cardiovascular risk factors such as age, female
      gender, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and negatively
      associated with heart rate. CONCLUSIONS: CSBP estimated using the BPro device
      correlates with various cardiovascular risk factors. Our results may help
      establish future reference values in the Chinese middle-aged population.

PMID- 25818765
TI  - The CERT antagonist HPA-12: first practical synthesis and individual binding
      evaluation of the four stereoisomers.
AB  - The first unified synthetic route to the four enantiopure HPA-12 stereoisomers in
      multi-gram scale is reported based on Crystallization-Induced Asymmetric
      Transformation (CIAT) technology. This preparative stereoselective synthesis
      allowed the unprecedented comparative evaluation of HPA-12 stereoisomers
      regarding their interaction with the CERT START domain. In vitro binding assay
      coupled to in silico docking approach indicate a possible interaction for the
      four derivatives. The first TR-FRET homogeneous-phase assay was developed to
      quantify their binding to the START domain, allowing complete determination of
      HPA-12 EC50. Results indicate that not only the (1R,3S) lead to the strongest
      binding, but that both 1R and 3S stereocenters similarly contribute to extent of
      recognition This automated homogenous assay further opens up promising prospect
      for the identification of novel potential CERT antagonist by means of high
      throughput screening.

PMID- 25818766
TI  - Design, synthesis and preliminary bioactivity studies of 2-thioxo-4
      thiazolidinone derivatives as Bcl-2 inhibitors.
AB  - The B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) protein is a promising target for cancer therapy.
      In the present study, a series of 2-thioxo-4-thiazolidinone derivatives were
      designed and synthesized as Bcl-2 inhibitors. Most of them possessed decent
      inhibitory activity for anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins. Among them, compound 31
      has similar growth inhibition towards K562 compared to (R)-Gossypol. In addition,
      it inhibits the myeloid cell leukemia sequence 1 (Mcl-1) protein with a Ki value
      of 74 nM.

PMID- 25818768
TI  - Design and synthesis of novel anti-tuberculosis agents from the celecoxib
      pharmacophore.
AB  - The identification of compounds with anti-mycobacterial activity within classes
      of molecules that have been developed for other purposes is a fruitful approach
      for the development of anti-tuberculosis (TB) agents. In this study we used the
      scaffold of celecoxib which exhibits several activities against different
      pathogens, for the design and focused synthesis of a library of 64 compounds. For
      the primary screen, we used a bioluminescence-based method by constructing a
      luciferase-expressing reporter M.tb strain which contains the entire bacterial
      Lux operon cloned in a mycobacterial integrative expression vector. Through the
      screening of this library, we identified 6 hit compounds with high in vitro anti
      mycobacterial activity (IC50 ~0.18-0.48 MUM). In particular, compounds 41, 51 and
      53 were capable of inhibiting M.tb as effectively as the anti-TB drug isoniazid
      (INH) at 5 MUM over a 72-h period, as analyzed by both bioluminescence- and
      colony forming unit (CFU)-based assays. All hit compounds also showed anti-M.tb
      activities against several multi-drug-resistant (MDR) strains. Most of the hit
      compounds showed no cytotoxicity for human macrophages at concentrations as high
      as 40 MUM, setting the stage for further optimization and development of these
      anti-TB hit compounds both ex vivo and in vivo.

PMID- 25818769
TI  - Selective GPCR ligands.

PMID- 25818767
TI  - Structure-activity relationships of a novel pyranopyridine series of Gram
      negative bacterial efflux pump inhibitors.
AB  - Recently we described a novel pyranopyridine inhibitor (MBX2319) of RND-type
      efflux pumps of the Enterobacteriaceae. MBX2319 (3,3-dimethyl-5-cyano-8
      morpholino-6-(phenethylthio)-3,4-dihydro-1H-pyrano[3,4-c]pyridine) is
      structurally distinct from other known Gram-negative efflux pump inhibitors
      (EPIs), such as 1-(1-naphthylmethyl)-piperazine (NMP), phenylalanylarginine-beta
      naphthylamide (PAbetaN), D13-9001, and the pyridopyrimidine derivatives. Here, we
      report the synthesis and biological evaluation of 60 new analogs of MBX2319 that
      were designed to probe the structure activity relationships (SARs) of the
      pyranopyridine scaffold. The results of these studies produced a molecular
      activity map of the scaffold, which identifies regions that are critical to
      efflux inhibitory activities and those that can be modified to improve potency,
      metabolic stability and solubility. Several compounds, such as 22d-f, 22i and
      22k, are significantly more effective than MBX2319 at potentiating the
      antibacterial activity of levofloxacin and piperacillin against Escherichia coli.

PMID- 25818770
TI  - Investigating how menopausal factors and self-compassion shape well-being: An
      exploratory path analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A large body of work has investigated the relationship between
      menopausal factors and negative well-being (e.g. anxiety and depressive
      symptoms), but less is known about positive well-being and its correlates among
      midlife women. This study tests two models with both positive and negative well
      being indices as outcomes: the first included menopausal factors as predictors;
      the second model expanded the first by adding self-compassion, a protective
      trait, as a predictor and moderator. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study based on
      self-report questionnaires from 206 women aged 40-60, currently experiencing hot
      flushes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hot flush interference ratings, emotional
      balance, satisfaction with life, eudaimonic well-being and depressive symptoms.
      RESULTS: In model one, menopausal stage and hot flush frequency were independent
      of well-being outcomes. Beliefs about perceived control over menopause was the
      strongest predictor of well-being (beta range: .22-.32), followed by hot flush
      interference ratings (beta range: .15-.33). In model two, self-compassion was the
      strongest predictor of well-being indices (beta range: .20-.39), followed by
      beliefs about control (beta range: .16-.20) and interference ratings (beta range:
      .17-.26). CONCLUSIONS: Psychological aspects of the menopause appear more
      strongly linked to well-being than physiological aspects such as menopausal stage
      and hot flush frequency. Specifically, self-compassion, feeling in control of
      menopause and low interference ratings are three factors that are associated with
      well-being among midlife women. These aspects could be considered in tandem, as a
      means to support well-being in the context of menopause.

PMID- 25818771
TI  - Decreasing menopausal symptoms in women undertaking a web-based multi-modal
      lifestyle intervention: The Women's Wellness Program.
AB  - Menopausal transition can be challenging for many women. This study tested the
      effectiveness of an intervention delivered in different modes in decreasing
      menopausal symptoms in midlife women. The Women's Wellness Program (WWP)
      intervention was delivered to 225 Australian women aged between 40 and 65 years
      through three modes (i.e., on-line independent, face-to-face with nurse
      consultations, and on-line with virtual nurse consultations). All women in the
      study were provided with a 12-week Program Book outlining healthy lifestyle
      behaviors while women in the consultation groups were supported by a registered
      nurse who provide tailored health education and assisted with individual goal
      setting for exercise, healthy eating, smoking and alcohol consumption. Pre- and
      post-intervention data were collected on menopausal symptoms (Greene Climacteric
      Scale), health related quality of life (SF12), and modifiable lifestyle factors.
      Linear mixed-effect models showed an average 0.87 and 1.23 point reduction in
      anxiety (p<0.01) and depression scores (p<0.01) over time in all groups. Results
      also demonstrated reduced vasomotor symptoms (beta=-0.19, SE=0.10, p=0.04) and
      sexual dysfunction (beta=-0.17, SE=0.06, p<0.01) in all participants though women
      in the face-to-face group generally reported greater reductions than women in the
      other groups. This lifestyle intervention embedded within a wellness framework
      has the potential to reduce menopausal symptoms and improve quality of life in
      midlife women thus potentially enhancing health and well-being in women as they
      age. Of course, study replication is needed to confirm the intervention effects. 

PMID- 25818772
TI  - [Incidences of C5 nerve palsy after multi-segmental cervical decompression
      through different approaches].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the incidence of C5 nerve root palsy after multi
      segmental cervical decompression through different approaches. METHODS: This
      study was conducted among 375 patients undergoing multi-segmental cervical
      decompression in anterior corpectomy and fusion fixation, anterior cervical
      corpectomy and fusion fixation + posterior decompression and fusion fixation,
      posterior cervical laminectomy decompression, fusion and internal fixation, and
      posterior laminoplasty and fusion groups. The exclusion criteria included lack of
      follow-up data, spinal cord injury preventing preoperative or postoperative motor
      testing, or surgery not involving the C5 level. The incidence of C5 palsy was
      determined and the potential risk factors C5 palsy were analyzed including age,
      sex, revision surgery, preoperative weakness, diabetes, smoking, number of levels
      decompressed, and a history of previous upper extremity surgery. RESULTS: Of the
      375 patients, 60 patients were excluded and the data of 315 patients were
      analyzed, including 146 women and 169 men with a mean age of 57.7 years (range 39
      72 years). The overall incidence of C5 nerve palsy was 6.03% (19/315) in these
      patients; in the subgroups receiving different surgeries, the incidence was 8.62%
      in the cervical road laminectomy and fusion fixation group, 7.79% in the anterior
      cervical corpectomy and fusion fixation + posterior decompression and fusion and
      internal fixation, 4.68% in the anterior corpectomy and fusion fixation group,
      and 3.85% in the posterior laminoplasty and fusion group. No significant
      difference was found in the incidences among the subgroups, but men were more
      likely than women to develop cervical nerve root palsy (8.28% vs 3.42%, P<0.05).
      CONCLUSION: The overall incidence of C5 nerve palsy following postoperative
      cervical spinal decompression was 6.03% in our cohort. The incidence of C5 nerve
      palsy did not differ significantly following different cervical decompression
      surgeries, but the incidence was the highest in the posterior cervical
      laminectomy and fusion and internal fixation group.

PMID- 25818773
TI  - [MicroRNA 144 negatively regulates Toll-like receptor 2 expression in rat
      macrophages].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between miR-144 and Toll-like receptor
      2 (TLR2). METHODS: RT-qPCR was used to determine the expression of TLR2 and its
      downstream inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha in rat macrophage cell line NR8383
      transfected by a mimic miR-144 or miR-144 inhibitor. The fragments of 3'UTR
      region of rat TLR2 mRNA including wild or mutant miR-144 binding site obtained by
      PCR using rat liver cDNA were ligated to pmirGLO report gene vector digested with
      SacI and XbaI to construct the recombinant vectors of pmir-TLR2-3'UTR and pmir
      mutant-TLR2-3'UTR. The miR-144 targeting TLR2 was further determined by dual
      luciferase reporter assay and miR-144 mimics. RESULTS: TLR2 and TNF-alpha in
      NR8383 cells were decreased after transfection with 100 nmol/L mimic miR-144 for
      24 h and increased after transfection with 100 nmol/L miR-144 inhibitor. PCR and
      double-enzyme digestion with SacI and XbaI confirmed successful insertion of the
      target fragments. Dual luciferase reporter assay suggested the binding of miR-144
      to the 3'UTR of rat TLR2 mRNA. CONCLUSION: miR-144 negatively regulates the
      expression of TLR2 and its down-stream cytokine TNF-alpha by targeting TLR2 in
      NR8383 cells.

PMID- 25818774
TI  - [Intragastric administration of interferon-alpha-transformed Bifidobacterium
      promotes lymphocyte proliferation and maturation in mice].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of intragastric administration of human
      interferon-alpha (hIFN-alpha)-transformed Bifidobacterium on immune functions of
      mice. METHODS: The E.coli-Bifidobacterium shuttle expression vector containing
      hIFN-alpha gene was constructed and transformed into Bifidobacterium. The hIFN
      alpha-transformed Bifidobacterium suspension (1010 /ml) was prepared after
      induction with 0.2% L-arabinose for hIFN-alpha expression and administered
      intragastrically in male Balb/C mice at the dose of 0.1 ml every other day for 2
      weeks, with the mice receiving empty vector-transformed Bifidobacteria as the
      negative control and those having an equal volume of saline as the blank control.
      The percentages of mononuclear cell subsets in the thymus, spleen and blood were
      detected in the mice by flow cytometry, and the serum levels of IL-4, IL-12, IFN
      gamma and TNF-alpha were assayed using mouse cytokine FlowCytomix Kit. RESULTS:
      The percentages of CD3+CD8+ and CD4+CD8+ cells in the thymus, CD3+CD4+, CD3+CD8+
      and CD4+CD8+ cells in the spleen, and CD3+CD8+ cells in the blood all increased
      significantly in IFN group as compared with those in the negative and blank
      control groups (P<0.01 or 0.05). The serum level of IFN-gamma also increased
      significantly (P<0.05) while IL-4 level remained unchanged in IFN group compared
      with those in the two groups. CONCLUSION: Intragastric administration of hIFN
      alpha-transformed Bifidobacterium promotes lymphocyte proliferation and
      maturation and increases the serum levels of Th1 cytokines in mice.

PMID- 25818775
TI  - [Clinical evaluation of ultrasound-guided percutaneous microwave ablation of
      splenic tumors].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility, safety and efficacy of ultrasound
      guided percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) of splenic tumors. METHODS: Seven
      patients with 8 pathologically confirmed splenic tumors (including 2 metastases
      from the ovary and 4 from the lung, gastric adenocarcinoma, hepatocellular
      carcinoma, or rectal carcinoma; 1 hemangioma and 1 inflammatory pseudotumor) with
      sizes ranging from 1.3 to 6.2 cm (mean 3.1 +/- 1.9 cm) were treated with MWA. A
      cooled shaft needle antenna was percutaneously inserted into the tumor under
      ultrasound guidance. A thermocouple was placed about 0.5 cm away from the tumor
      to monitor the temperature in real time during the ablation. The microwave
      emitting power was set at 50-60 W. The treatment efficacy was assessed by
      contrast-enhanced imaging at 1, 3 and 6 months following the procedure, and every
      6 months thereafter. RESULTS: All the tumors were completely ablated in a single
      session and no complications occurred. No local tumor progression was observed
      during a median follow up time of 13 months (4 to 92 months). The ablation zone,
      well defined on contrast-enhanced imaging, was gradually reduced with time. A new
      metastatic lesion was detected in the spleen at 11 months after the ablation in a
      ovarian carcinoma patient and was successfully treated by a second MWA. The post
      ablation survival of the patients with splenic metastasis was 13 months (range 4
      to 92 months). No complications other than fever and abdominal pain were observed
      in these patients. CONCLUSION: Ultrasound-guided percutaneous MWA is a safe and
      effective minimally-invasive technique for treatment of splenic tumors in
      selected patients.

PMID- 25818776
TI  - [Expression of miR-223 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma and its significance].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of miR-223 in clear cell renal cell
      carcinoma (ccRcc) and its clinical implications. METHODS: Quantitative real-time
      PCR was employed to detect the levels of miR- 223 expression in ccRcc, pair
      matched adjacent normal tissues and different renal cancer cell lines. Transwell
      migration essay and wound healing essay were used to evaluate the invasion and
      migration of renal cancer 786-O cells transfected with miR-223 mimics. MTT essay
      was used to measure the cell proliferation, and the cell cycle changes following
      the transfection were analyzed with flow cytometry. RESULTS: Compared with the
      normal tissues, the cancer samples showed up-regulated miR-223 expression, which
      was associated with tumor size. In 786-O cell cultures, transfection with miR-223
      mimics significantly enhanced cell migration (P<0.0001) and growth (P=0.006) and
      induced G1 cell cycle arrest. CONCLUSION: miR-223 promotes renal cancer cell
      migration and proliferation and may serve as a potential therapeutic target for
      ccRcc.

PMID- 25818777
TI  - [Effect of Rhizoma Atractylodis extract in protecting gastric mucosa and
      modulating gastrointestinal immune function in a rat model of spleen deficiency].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Rhizoma Atractylodis extract (ERA) in
      protecting gastric mucosa and modulating gastrointestinal immune function of a
      rat model of spleen deficiency syndrome and elucidate the mechanism by which ERA
      improves spleen deficiency syndrome. METHODS: Male rats were fed with Xiaochengqi
      decoction and subjected to irregular feeding to induce spleen deficiency
      syndrome. The established models were randomized into model group, high-,
      moderate- and low-dose ERA groups, and domperidone group. After corresponding
      treatment for 30 days, the content of IgA in the intestinal lavage fluid, serum
      IgG, and the indices of the spleen and thymus were determined. The pathological
      changes in the gastric mucosa was observed with HE staining, gastric mucosal
      blood flow was evaluated with laser Doppler rheometry, and the expression of TFF1
      in the gastric mucosa and TLR4 expression in the colon tissue were detected with
      immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The rat models of spleen deficiency syndrome
      showed obvious abnormalities in gastric mucosal morphology, blood flow and
      immunological indexes. Compared with the model rats, the rats receiving ERA
      treatment as different doses all showed significant improvements in gastric
      mucosal morphology, blood flow volume, gastric mucosa trefoil factor 1 (TFF1)
      expression, intestinal lavage fluid IgA content, serum IgG content, indices of
      the spleen and thymus, and TLR4 expression in the colon TLR4 (P<0.05 or P<0.01).
      CONCLUSION: ERA can inhibit gastric mucosal damage, protect and repair the
      damaged mucosal tissues, and improve the immune function of in rats with spleen
      deficiency.

PMID- 25818778
TI  - [Construction of a recombinant lentiviral vector for VHL and VHL shRNA and its
      effect on proliferation and apoptosis of renal cell carcinoma cells].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To construct a lentiviral expression vector for human VHL and its
      shRNA vector, and study the effect of VHL on proliferation and apoptosis of renal
      cell carcinoma cell lines. METHODS: Lentiviral vectors pZsGreen1-VHL and pLL3.7
      shVHL were constructed and transfected into 293T cells with 3 packaging plasmids
      by Lipofectamine(TM) 2000 reagent. The supernatant was collected to infect A498
      and Caki-1 cells, respectively. VHL mRNA and protein levels were detected by RT
      PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The effect of VHL on the proliferation,
      cell cycle and cell apoptosis were analyzed by MTS and flow cytometry. RESULTS:
      The recombinant lentiviral vectors were successfully constructed. The
      proliferation of A498 cells with reconstituted wild-type VHL was significantly
      inhibited, while the proliferation of Caki-1 cells with VHL knockdown was
      significantly enhanced as compared with the control cells (P<0.05). VHL induced
      G0/G1-S cell cycle arrest. The apoptosis rate of A498 cells with reconstituted
      wild-type VHL was significantly increased while that of Caki-1 cells with VHL
      knockdown was significantly lowered compared with the control cells (P<0.05).
      CONCLUSION: VHL can inhibit the proliferation and induce apoptosis of renal cell
      carcinoma cells.

PMID- 25818779
TI  - [Effect of anacardic acid, a Hsp90 inhibitor, on proliferation, invasion and
      migration of breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of the Hsp90 inhibitor anacardic acid on cell
      proliferation, invasion and migration of breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. METHODS:
      The inhibitory effect of anacardic acid on Hsp90 was assessed with in vitro
      ATPase inhibition assay and ATP-sepharose binding assay. MTT assay was used to
      detect the growth inhibition induced by anacardic acid in MDA-MB-231 cells.
      Transwell assays were used to evaluate MDA-MB-231 cell invasion and migration.
      Western blotting was performed to assess the effect of anacardic acid in
      triggering the degradation of MMP-9, TIMP-1, Hsp90, and Hsp70. RESULTS: Anacardic
      acid exhibited a modest activity of ATPase inhibition with an IC50 value of 82.5
      umol/L. Anacardic acid significantly suppressed the proliferation of MDA-MB-231
      cells in a dose-dependent manner (IC50 value of 29.3 umol/L). Treatment with
      12.5, 25, and 50 umol/L anacardic acid for 36 h caused inhibition of cell
      invasion by 23.6%, 56.6%, and 67.0% in MDA-MB-231 cells, respectively (P<0.05),
      and anacardic acid treatment for 24 h inhibited the cell migration by 30.0%,
      45.5%, and 77.5%, respectively (P<0.05). Anacardic acid dose-dependently induced
      MMP-9 degradation, but did not obviously affect Hsp90 or Hsp70 expressions.
      CONCLUSION: Anacardic acid can significantly inhibit the proliferation, invasion,
      and migration of MDA-MB-231 cells, the mechanism of which may involve the
      inhibition of Hsp90 ATPse activity and down-regulation of MMP-9 expression.

PMID- 25818780
TI  - [Screening and identification of proteins related to gastric cancer metastasis
      with comparative proteomics].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To screen and identify the proteins related with tumor metastasis of
      gastric cancer in a nude mouse model bearing orthotopic transplanted tumor.
      METHODS: Zinc finger protein 139 (ZNF139)-specific siRNA was synthesized and
      transfected into gastric cancer cell line SGC7901, which was then screened by
      G418. ZNF139-siRNA-transfected cells, negative plasmid-transfected cells and
      untreated SGC7901 cells were orthotopically transplanted separately on the
      stomach wall of BALB/c nude mice. The primary tumors and metastatic lymph nodes
      were harvested to separate the proteins by 2-D fluorescence difference gel
      electrophoresis (2-D DIGE); after gel digestion, the differential proteins were
      subjected to liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for identification
      and their functions were analyzed. Western blotting was performed to verify the
      identified proteins. RESULTS: ZNF139 expression was effectively inhibited in
      siRNA-transfected SGC7901 cells. ZNF139-siRNA-transfected cells showed obviously
      suppressed tumor growth with a lowered lymph node metastasis rate in nude mice
      compared with untreated cells and the negative control cells (P<0.05). Proteomic
      study with 2-D DIGE showed that fascin and hnRNPA2/B1 were down-regulated while
      ANXA1 was up-regulated in the primary tumors, and ANXA5 was down-regulated in the
      metastatic lymph nodes in ZNF139-siRNA-transfected group. Western blotting
      confirmed the results of proteomic analysis. CONCLUSION: ZNF139 gene may promote
      lymph node metastasis of gastric cancer by regulating fascin, hnRNPA2/B1, ANXA1,
      and ANXA5.

PMID- 25818781
TI  - [Role of macrophages in mouse uterine during the peri-implantation period].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of macrophages on embryo implantation by
      observing the distribution of macrophages in mouse uterine tissues during the
      peri-implantation period. METHODS: Uterine tissues were collected from pregnant
      (n=30) and pseudopregnant mice (n=30) during the peri-implantation period. The
      distributions of macrophages, iNOS and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) were
      determined by immunohistochemistry and the correlations of macrophages with iNOS
      and LIF were analyzed. RESULTS: Macrophages were located mainly in the
      endometrium before D4.5 in the pregnant rats with D0.5 defined as the morning
      when a vaginal plug was observed. After D4.5, the macrophages was significantly
      reduced in number (P<0.05) in the endometrium and gradually migrated to the
      perimetrium. In the psudopregnant mice, macrophages were located mainly in the
      endometrium. Before D4.5, iNOS-positive cells were detected mainly in the
      endometrium and the myometrium in the pregnant rats and became significantly
      reduced on D4.5 (P<0.05); in the pseudopregnant mice, the positive cells were
      mostly detected in the endometrium. Significant differences were found in the
      distribution of the macrophages and LIF between the implantation and non
      implantation sites (P=0.013). LIF was mostly located in the endometrium in the
      pregnant mice but scarcely detected in the pseudopregnant mice. CONCLUSION:
      Macrophages are located mainly in the endometrium and the implantation site where
      iNOS and LIF are expressed, suggesting the important role of macrophages in the
      determination of implantation.

PMID- 25818782
TI  - [Establishment of a chondrocyte degeneration model by over-expression of human
      Wnt7b gene in 293ft cell line].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of human Wnt7b gene in rat chondrocyte
      degeneration. METHODS: Wnt7b gene obtained by PCR was cloned to PCDH-GFP. 293ft
      cell line was transfected with PCDH-GFP and PCDH-Wnt7b, and the supernatant and
      transfected cells were collected. The expression level of Wnt7b in 293ft cells
      was detected by Western blotting. The first passage of chondrocytes were isolated
      from articular cartilages of newborn born (within 24 h) SD rats were cultured in
      the supernatants from the transfected cells (at 10- and 50-fold dilutions). The
      cell morphology of the rat chondrocytes was observed under inverted microscope,
      and the protein expressions of MMP13, MMP3 and type II collagen and mRNA
      expressions of A-can, ADAMTS5, Col X and Sox9 were examined by Western blotting
      or real-time PCR. RESULTS: Human Wnt7b gene cloned to PCDH-GFP was expressed
      efficiently in 293ft cell line. Rat chndrocytes cultured for 24 h in the
      supernatants from PCDH-Wnt7b-transfected 293ft cells underwent changes from a
      polygonal to a spindle-shaped morphology. The protein expression levels of MMP13
      and MMP3 increased while type II collagen decreased significantly, and the mRNA
      levels of A-can and Sox9 were down-regulated while Col X and ADMATS5 up-regulated
      in ratchondrocytes after incubation in supernatants from PCDH-Wnt7b-transfected
      293ft cells. CONCLUSION: Human Wnt7b gene can be expressed efficiently in 293ft
      cell line and can induce rat chondrocyte degeneration in vitro.

PMID- 25818783
TI  - [Edge-detecting operator-based selection of Huber regularization threshold for
      low-dose computed tomography imaging].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare two methods for threshold selection in Huber regularization
      for low-dose computed tomography imaging. METHODS: Huber regularization-based
      iterative reconstruction (IR) approach was adopted for low-dose CT image
      reconstruction and the threshold of Huber regularization was selected based on
      global versus local edge-detecting operators. RESULTS: The experimental results
      on the simulation data demonstrated that both of the two threshold selection
      methods in Huber regularization could yield remarkable gains in terms of noise
      suppression and artifact removal. CONCLUSION: Both of the two methods for
      threshold selection in Huber regularization can yield high-quality images in low
      dose CT image iterative reconstruction.

PMID- 25818784
TI  - [Investigation of B-cell activating factor in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of
      patients with neuromyelitis optical].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of B-cell activating factor (BAFF) in the
      serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neuromyelitis optical (NMO).
      METHODS: Clinical data were collected from 44 patients with NMO and 38 patients
      with multiple sclerosis (MS). Thirty healthy controls and 15 controls with
      noninflammatory neurological diseases were also recruited. The concentration of
      BAFF in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid were measured by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The mean serum BAFF level was 250.2 +/-
      126.9 pg/ml in NMO patients, 249.6 +/- 130.7 pg/ml in MS patients, and 222.9 +/-
      126.1 pg/ml in the control subjects, showing no significant difference among the
      3 groups (P>0.05). The mean BAFF level in the CSF was significantly higher in NMO
      patients than in MS patients (525.8 +/- 230.0 pg/ml vs 298.4 +/- 141.9 pg/ml,
      P<0.05), and higher in MS patients than in the control subjects (141.4 +/- 76.2
      pg/ml, P<0.05). Both NMO and MS group showed a positive correlation between EDSS
      scores and CSF BAFF level. But in NMO patients, CSF BAFF level was not associated
      with AQP4-antibody titer. CONCLUSION: BAFF in the CSF may be a useful biomarker
      for a differential diagnosis of NMO from MS and has an important value in
      evaluating the disease severity.

PMID- 25818785
TI  - [Value of dual-energy computed tomography in the diagnosis of gouty arthritis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the value of dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) in
      the diagnosis of gouty arthritis. METHODS: Sixty-one patients with gout, 30 with
      ankylosing spondylitis and 30 with rheumatoid arthritis were included in the
      study. DECT scans of the hands, wrists, elbows, feet, ankles, knees, lumbar,
      pelvis and sacroiliac joint were performed. For post-processing, a color-coding
      gout software protocol was used. The demographic data and blood uric acid levels
      were recorded. For 3 gout patients, the findings of puncture biopsy and DECT were
      compared. Ten gout patients with urate crystal deposition upon recruitment
      underwent DECT scans again after a 6-month urate-lowering therapy. RESULTS: The
      positivity rates of DECT scan differed significantly among the patients with
      gout, ankylosing spondylitis and rheumatoid arthritis [98.4% (60/61), 13.3%
      (4/30), and 6.7% (2/30), respectively; chi2 =95.522, P<0.05). Of the 21 patients
      with acute gouty arthritis, 20 (95.2%) showed positive DECT finding, and all the
      40 patients with chronic gouty arthritis showed positive findings. In the
      patients with patients with gout, ankylosing spondylitis and rheumatoid
      arthritis, the positivity rates of hyperuricemia were 97.3% (36/37), 44.4% (4/9),
      and 28.6% (2/7), respectively (chi2 =24.197, P<0.05). A total of 344 urate
      deposition sites were detected in the gout patients, involving most commonly the
      first metatarsophalangeal joint (22.1%), the middle and distal end of the first
      phalanges of the toes (19.8%), the calcaneus (17.4%), and the inferior extremity
      of the tibia (13.4%). Seventeen and 5 urate deposition sites were found in
      ankylosing spondylitis patients and rheumatoid arthritis patients, respecitvely.
      The 10 gout patients receiving a 6-month urate-lowering therapy showed decreased
      urate deposition on DECT scan. CONCLUSIONS: DECT scan can detect urate deposition
      to allow differentiation diagnosis and follow-up in gout patients.

PMID- 25818786
TI  - [Expression of connexin 43 in spinal cord dorsal horn of rats with acute
      incisional pain].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of acute incisional pain on the expression of
      connexin 43 in rat spinal cord dorsal horn. METHODS: Eighty rats were assigned
      into control group without any treatment and incisional pain group with incision
      surgery. For paw incisions, a 1-cm longitudinal incision was made through the
      skin and fascia of the plantar aspect of the right hind paw. After surgery, the
      50% paw withdrawal threshold (PWT) was assessed in response to a tactile stimulus
      with calibrated von Frey monofilaments at 1, 2, 4 and 24 h, respectively. The
      spinal cord dorsal horn of rats was isolated at 1, 2, and 4 h after the surgery
      to assess the expression of connexin 43 using Western blotting and
      immunofluorescence assay. RESULTS: The 50% PWT of the rats was significantly
      decreased after the incision surgery, and this decrement was the most obvious at
      2 and 4 h. Western blotting and immunofluorescence assay showed that the
      expression of connexin 43 in the spinal cord dorsal horn was significantly
      increased in rats receiving the surgery especially at 2 and 4 h after the
      surgery. CONCLUSION: Incision surgery induces an significant increase in connexin
      43 expression in rat spinal cord dorsal horn, suggestting an potential role of
      connexin43 in postoperative incisional pain.

PMID- 25818787
TI  - [Adenovirus vector-mediated short hairpin RNA targeting nuclear factor-kappaB
      suppresses proliferation of endometrial cells of Macaca fascicularis in vitro].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of a high specific adenovirus vector-mediated
      shRNA targeting nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) on cell proliferation of the
      endometrium of Macaca fascicularis. METHODS: The adenoviral vector NF-kappaB-p65
      shRNA and the empty vector were separately trasnfected in cultured endometrial
      cells of Macaca fascicularis. The changes in the expression of the target gene
      protein and apoptotic proteins, cell proliferation, and cell cycle distribution
      were observed after the transfection. RESULTS: Compared with the control cells,
      infection of the endometrial cells with the NF-kappaB-p65-shRNA adenovirus
      significantly increased the expression levels of apoptotic proteins, promoted
      apoptosis of the endometrial cells, and reduced the cells in division?stage.
      CONCLUSIONS: NF-kappaB-p65 shRNA adenovirus can effectively promote apoptosis of
      endometrial cells and inhibit the proliferation of endometrial cells of Macaca
      fascicularis.

PMID- 25818788
TI  - [Effect of IgG gene silencing by RNA interference on radiosensitivity of prostate
      cancer PC3 cells].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of RNA interference of IgG gene on the
      radiosensitivity of the human prostate cancer PC3 cell line. METHODS: PC3 cells
      were trasnfected via lipofectamine by the shRNA vector FCGR1AshRNA targeting the
      Fc segment of IgG, using NCshRNA as the negative control. Q-PCR and Western
      blotting were used to analyze the expression of IgG in the trasnfected cells. The
      cells were then exposed to 60Co gamma ray at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 Gy, and the cell
      proliferation was evaluated by MTS and the cells apoptosis estimated by flow
      cytometry at 12, 24 and 48 h. RESULTS: MTS assay showed that 60Co gamma ray
      significantly inhibited the proliferation of PC3 cells transfected with
      FCGR1AshRNA as compared with NCshRNA-transfected and blank control cells
      (P<0.05). Flow cytometry showed that the cell apoptosis rate was significantly
      higher in FCGR1AshRNA group than in NCshRNA and blank control groups at 48 h
      after gamma ray exposure (P<0.05). At 12, 24 and 48 h after 6 Gy radiation, the
      cells in FCGR1AshRNA group showed a significantly lowered proliferation rate and
      an increased apoptosis rate (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The shRNA targeting IgG gene
      can significantly enhance the sensitivity of PC3 cells to radiation. The
      combination of RNA interference targeting IgG gene with radiotherapy may be more
      effective in the treatment of prostate cancer.

PMID- 25818789
TI  - [Screening of highly efficient small interfering RNAs against bone morphogenetic
      protein-7].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To obtain highly efficient small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) against
      bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) for future functional analysis of BMP-7 in
      bone homeostasis. METHODS: We designed 4 independent siRNA sequences against rat
      BMP-7 and transfected them in rat umbilical vein endothelial cells. After 72 h,
      we examined BMP-7 mRNA and protein level in the transfected cells using real-time
      PCR and Western blotting, respectively. RESULTS: All the 4 siRNAs effectively
      reduced BMP-7 expression in rat umbilical vein endothelial cells, and among them
      BMP-7-3 siRNA showed the highest efficiency. CONCLUSION: We have obtained an
      efficient siRNA to knockdown BMP-7 expression in vitro for further investigation
      of the role of BMP-7 in bone and cartilage formation.

PMID- 25818790
TI  - [Peripheral blood apelin level in patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial
      infarction and its prognostic value].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate peripheral blood apelin levels in patients with acute
      ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and their correlation with the one
      year outcome of the patients. METHODS: A total of 153 consecutive patients,
      including 93 with acute STEMI undergoing primary percutaneous coronary
      intervention (PCI), 30 with acute STEMI and 30 with stable angina all undergoing
      elective PCI, and 10 healthy control subjects were examined for peripheral blood
      apelin levels and clinical parameters. The composite endpoints (CEPs) were
      determined at the one year follow-up. RESULTS: Apelin levels were significantly
      decreased in all the patients at admission, but increased following primary PCI.
      Apelin levels showed a negative correlation with glycosylated hemoglobin levels.
      At one year following PCI, the patients with a lower apelin level showed an
      increased risk for lowered left ventricular ejection fraction ratio, but further
      analysis failed to provide evidence that apelin levels were predictive of the one
      year outcome. CONCLUSION: Peripheral blood apelin levels might be useful for
      predicting the clinical outcomes of patients with acute STEMI.

PMID- 25818791
TI  - [The correlation between platelet parameters and acute rejection after renal
      transplantation].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between acute graft rejection early
      after renal transplantation and the variations of platelet parameters. METHODS:
      We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 167 renal transplant recipients
      before and within 2 months after the surgery. Before and at 1-10 days, 15 days,
      30 days, 45 days and 60 days after the transplantation, 5 platelet parameters,
      including platelet count (PLT), platelet hematocrit (PCT), mean platelet volume
      (MPV), platelet volume distribution width (PDW), and large platelet ratio (P
      LCR), were detected in the 35 patients with acute graft rejection within two
      months (AR group) and in the other 132 recipients with good graft recovery
      (control group). RESULTS: The AR group and control group showed no significant
      difference in PLT, PCT, MPV, or P-LCR before the surgery, but the PDW was
      significantly higher in the AR group (t=2.18, P=0.035). These parameters were
      similar within 5 postoperative days between the two groups (P>0.05), but in
      postoperative days 6-15, the AR group showed significantly increased MPV, PDW and
      P-LCR compared with the control group (P<0.05). In postoperative days 6-9, MPV,
      PDW and P-LCR became stable in AR group but tended to decrease in the control
      group, showing obviously different patterns of variation between the two groups
      (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative PDW may have a positive correlation with
      acute graft rejection after renal transplantation. Monitoring the variations of
      MPV, PDW and P-LCR may help in the diagnosis of acute graft rejection early after
      renal transplantation.

PMID- 25818792
TI  - [Application of 4-wavelength optical intrinsic signal imaging in monitoring peri
      infarct depolarizations in GFAP(+/+)Vim(+/+) mice].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study optical intrinsic signal (OIS) imaging of peri-infarct
      depolarizations (PIDs) in mice and investigate the influence of knockout of glial
      fibrillary acidic protein and vimentin on PIDs. METHODS: GFAP(+/+)Vim(+/+) mice
      and GFAP(+/+)Vim(+/+) mice were subjected to MCAO by standard intraluminal
      filament method. The main characteristics of PIDs in 4 h were studied by 4
      wavelength OIS imaging technique. RESULTS: PIDs were identified as consistent,
      red and blue interaction waves in the cortical reflectance that slowly propagated
      peripherally from the origin site. There were 5 patterns of PID propagation,
      namely rostro-caudal, latero-medial, caudo-rostral, contralateral and medial
      lateral. No significant differences were found in PID frequency, propagation
      patterns, velocity or duration time between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION:
      The 4-wavelength OIS system allows acquisition of high temporal-spatial
      resolution color images for analyzing temporal-spatial characteristics of PIDs in
      detail. Knockout of GFAP and vimentin do not affect PIDs in 4 h following middle
      cerebral artery occlusion.

PMID- 25818793
TI  - [Comparative analysis of integrated (99m)Tc-MIBI-SPECT/localizable CT and
      integrated 18F-FDG-PET/CT for differential diagnosis of solitary pulmonary
      nodules].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the diagnostic value of 99Tc(m)-MIBI SPECT/localizable CT
      and 18FDG-PET/CT in patients with indeterminate solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs)
      and assess the feasibility of using 99Tc(m)-MIBI SPECT/localizable CT as an
      alternative when 18FDG-PET/CT is not available. METHODS: Thirty-nine patients
      with indeterminate SPNs were examined by 99Tc(m)-MIBI SPECT/localizable CT, and
      another 46 patients by 18FDG-PET/CT. The findings of the two modalities were
      analyzed qualitatively and semiquantitatively to assess their efficacy for a
      definitive diagnosis of SNPs. RESULTS: Of the 39 patients examined by 99Tc(m)
      MIBI SPECT/localizable CT, 13 were identified to have malignant SPNs and 26 had
      benign SPNs; the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive
      predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of the examination
      were 92.31% (12/13), 88.46% (23/26), 89.74% (35/39), 80% (12/15) and 95.83%
      (23/24), respectively. Of the 46 patients receiving 18FDG-PET/CT examination, 29
      malignant cases and 17 benign cases were identified with a diagnostic
      sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV and NPV of 96.55% (28/29), 76.47%
      (13/17), 89.13% (41/46), 87.50% (28/32) and 92.86% (13/14), respectively. The two
      modalities showed no significant differences in the diagnostic sensitivity (chi2
      =0.356, P=0.55), specificity (chi2 =1.084, P=0.298), accuracy (chi2 = 0.008,
      P=0.927), PPV (chi2 = 0.453, P=0.501) or NPV (chi2 =0.157, P=0.692). The ROC
      curve showed that with the early uptake ratio (EUR) of 99Tc(m)-MIBI >= 1.474 and
      >= 1.38 as the cutoff values, the sensitivity of 99Tc(m)-MIBI SPECT/localizable
      CT was both 100% and the specificity both 76.90%; with the maximum standard
      uptake value (SUVmax) of 18FDG >= 2.40 as the cutoff value, the sensitivity of
      18FDG-PET/CT was 96.60% and the specificity was 76.50%, showing no significant
      differences between the two modalities in the diagnostic efficacy. CONCLUSION:
      99Tc(m)-MIBI-SPECT/localizable CT may be a useful and practical modality for
      early diagnosis of SNPs for patients with a medium or low income in small and
      medium-sized cities.

PMID- 25818794
TI  - [Evaluation of three methods for forensic diatom test].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of three methods for forensic diatom test,
      namely strong acid digestion-centrifuge enrichment-light microscopy (SD-CE-LM),
      microwave digestion-membrane filtration-automated scanning electron microscopy
      (MD-ME-SEM), and microwave digestion-membrane filtration-light microscopy (MD-MF
      LM). METHODS: Sixty samples were randomly divided into 3 groups for diatom test
      using three methods, and the sample preparation time, degree of digestion and
      recovery rate of diatoms were compared. RESULTS: The sample preparation time was
      the shortest with MD-MF-LM and the longest with SD-CE-LM (P<0.05). MD-ME-SEM and
      MD-MF-LM allowed more thorough tissue digestion than SD-CE-LM. MD-ME-SEM resulted
      in the highest total recovery rate of diatom, followed by MD-MF-LM and then by SD
      CE-LM (P<0.05); the recover rate of different diatom species was the highest with
      MD-ME-SEM, followed by MD-MF-LM and SD-CE-LM (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: SD-CE-LM has a
      low recovery rate of diatoms especially for those with lengths shorter than 40 um
      or densities less than 1/5. With a high recovery rate and accuracy in diatom
      test, MD-ME-SEM is suitable for diagnosis of suspected drowning cases. MD-MF-LM
      is highly efficient, sensitive and convenient for forensic diatom test.

PMID- 25818795
TI  - [Effects of alpha1-PDX, a furin inhibitor, on growth, invasion, and
      tumorigenicity of cervical cancer HeLa cells].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of the furin inhibitor alpha1-PDX on the
      growth, invasion, and tumorigenicity of cervical cancer cells and explore the
      mechanisms. METHODS: The changes in the growth, migration and invasion of alpha1
      PDX-transfected HeLa cells were observed using MTT assay, Boyden migration and
      invasion assay. The protein levels of furin and MT1-MMP were measured using
      Western blotting and furin activity was detected by enzyme activity assay in the
      transfected cells. HeLa cells were seeded subcutaneously in nude mice and the
      tumor volume changes were recorded. RESULTS: Compared with the control cells,
      alpha1-PDX-treated cells showed a significant growth inhibition by 18.4% at 24 h
      (P<0.01) with obviously lowered migration ability and cell invasiveness (P<0.01).
      Treatment with alpha1-PDX significantly reduced furin enzyme activity and MTI-MMP
      protein levels in HeLa cells. In nude mice, alpha1-PDX-treated HeLa cells
      exhibited a delayed and lowered tumorigenicity with reduced size of the tumors.
      CONCLUSION: alpha1-PDX can inhibit the growth, metastasis and tumorigenicity of
      HeLa cells, the mechanism of which may involve a decreased furin activity and MTI
      MMP expression.

PMID- 25818796
TI  - [Tripartite-motif protein 25 and pyruvate kinase M2 protein expression in non
      small cell lung cancer].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of tripartite-motif protein 25 (TRIM25)
      and pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) protein in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and
      explore their role in the occurrence and progression of NSCLC. METHODS: The
      expressions of TRIM25 and PKM2 protein were detected in 60 NSCLC specimens and 20
      adjacent normal lung tissue (>5 cm from the lesions) with immunofluorescence
      histochemical method and in 10 fresh specimens of NSCLC with Western blotting.
      The results were analyzed in relation with the clinicopathological features of
      the patients. RESULTS: The positivity rates of TRIM25 expression was 45% in the
      60 lung carcinoma specimens, significantly higher than that in the 20 normal lung
      tissues (10%, P=0.005). TRIM25 protein was expressed in 28.6% of lung
      adenocarcinoma tissues and in 59.4% of squamous carcinoma tissues (P=0.017).
      TRIM25 protein expression was positively correlated with the TNM stages and lymph
      node metastasis of NSCLC (P<0.05). The expressions of PKM2 protein in 60 cases of
      lung carcinoma was 73.3%,while in 20 cases of normal lung tissues the expressions
      was 30%(P=0.001). The positivity rates of PKM2 expression differed significantly
      between lung adenocarcinoma and squamous carcinoma (57.1% vs 87.5%, P=0.008). An
      inverse correlation was noted between TRIM25 and PKM2 expressions (P=0.026).
      CONCLUSION: TRIM25 and PKM2 protein may participate in the occurrence and
      progression of NSCLC, and their expressions are inversely correlated.

PMID- 25818797
TI  - [Changes in portal vein and hepatic vein blood flow volume and their ratio in SD
      rats during induced carcinogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma].
AB  - OBJEVTIVE: To explore the feasibility and reliability of ultrasonic monitoring of
      portal vein (PV) and hepatic vein (HV) blood flow volume changes in the process
      of induced carcinogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma and the correlation of
      PV/HV blood flow volume ratio (Qpv/Qhv) with the severity of liver cirrhosis.
      METHODS: SD rats with diethylnitrosamine-induced liver carcinogenesis underwent
      regular liver ultrasound examinations including color flow imaging and pulsed
      Doppler examination. The main PV and HV blood flow parameters were measured to
      calculate Qpv/Qhv until successful induction of liver cancer. RESULTS: The PV
      diameter increased significantly with the severity of liver cirrhosis in the rats
      (P<0.05), and the PV blood flow velocity reduced but the blood flow volume
      increased significantly in liver cancer and cirrhosis stages (P<0.05). Normal
      hepatic vein blood flow was significantly greater than that measured in liver
      cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma stages. The Qpv/Qhv measured in normal
      rats was significantly lower than that in liver cirrhosis and liver cancer
      stages, but the ratios were comparable between the latter two stages. CONCLUSION:
      Ultrasonography is reliable to monitor the change of liver hemodynamics in rats
      with induced liver carcinogenesis, in which the changes of Qpv/Qhv are correlated
      with the severity of liver cirrhosis.

PMID- 25818798
TI  - [Gefitinib versus Erlotinib as first-line treatment for patients with advanced
      EGFR mutation-positive non-small-cell lung cancer].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of the erlotinib versus gefitinib in the first
      line treatment of patients with advanced EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC. METHODS:
      Fifty patients with untreated advanced EGFR mutation- positive NSCLC were
      randomly divided into gefitinib group (n=27) and erlotinib group (n=23). The
      progression-free survival, objective response rate and disease control rate were
      evaluated to compare the efficacy of gefitinib and erlotinib. RESULTS: There were
      no significant differences in the objective response rate (P=0.711) and disease
      control rate (P=0.861) between the two groups. The progression-free survival of
      gefitinib group and erlotinib group was 8.0 months and 10.0 months, respectively.
      The efficacy of the two drugs was similar (P=0.293). CONCLUSION: There is no
      significant differences between gefitinib and erlotinib in the first-line
      treatment of patients with advanced EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC.

PMID- 25818799
TI  - [Expression of miR-200a in colorectal carcinoma cell lines and its effect on LoVo
      cells].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To detect miR-200a expression in human colorectal carcinnoma (CRC)
      cell lines and explore the role of miR-200a in regulating the biological behavior
      of CRC cells. METHODS: Real-time quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect
      miR-200a expression levels in 6 CRC cell lines (HCT116, HT29, LS174T, SW480,
      SW620 and LoVo). miR-200a mimics were transiently transfected into LoVo, and the
      changes in cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and cell-cell adhesion were
      assessed using CCK-8 assay, TUNEL assay, transwell migration assay, and
      homogenous adhesion experiment, respectively. RESULTS: The expression of miR-200a
      was down-regulated in the 6 CRC cell lines, among which the highly metastatic
      LoVo cell line showed the lowest expression and the tumorigenic but non
      metastatic CRC cell line HCT116 had the highest expression. Overexpression of miR
      200a depressed cell proliferation and migration but promoted cell apoptosis and
      cell-cell adhesion in LoVo cells. CONCLUSION: miR-200a plays a role in regulating
      the invasiveness and metastasis of CRC, and overexpression of miR-200a causes a
      significant reduction of cell proliferation and migration and promotes apoptosis
      and cell-cell adhesion in LoVo cells.

PMID- 25818800
TI  - [Preliminary experience with endoscopic gastric submucosal tumor resection
      through the submucosal tunnel using double tunnel and double flex endoscope].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the feasibility and safety of gastric submucosal tunnel
      dissection of gastric submucosal tumors (SMTs) by double tunnel and double flex
      endoscope. METHODS: Fifty patients with gastric SMTs detected by gastric
      endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasonography between January, 2012 and August, 2013
      were enrolled in this study. Using carbon dioxide throughout the procedure, the
      mucous in the arc was incised along the margins of the lesion to separate the
      submucosa and create a tunnel. The exposed SMTs were resected completely and the
      mucosa was covered by endoscopic forceps followed by clipping of the incision.
      The complication, clinical outcomes, hospital stays and operation time were
      evaluated. RESULTS: Of the 50 lesions, 50 were located in the gastric fundus, 17
      in the gastric antrum and 5 in the gastric body. The lesions were completely
      resected in all the patients. The diameter of the resected lesions ranged from
      0.5 to 2.5 cm (mean 1.1 +/- 0.6 cm), and the operation lasted for 35.3 +/- 16.2
      min (range 23-76 min). In 5 cases (10%), perforation occurred during the
      operation and was closed by clipping the incision with endoclips after the lesion
      resection; these patients were discharged after conservative management.
      Intraoperative bleeding occurred in 16 cases and was successfully managed through
      endoscopic methods. No delayed postoperative bleeding or perforation occurred in
      these patients. None of the 48 patients followed up showed tumor recurrence at
      one year after the operation, and 2 patients were lost for follow up. CONCLUSION:
      Endoscopic submucosal dissection of gastric SMTs is effective and safe using
      double tunnel and double flex endoscope.

PMID- 25818801
TI  - [Copeptin and ischemia modified albumin in early diagnosis and prognosis of
      myocardial damage in acute organic phosphorus pesticide poisoning].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the value of combined detection of copeptin and ischemia
      modified albumin (IMA) in early diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of myocardial
      damage in patients with acute organic phosphorus pesticide poisoning (AOPP).
      METHODS: A total of 126 AOPP patients were examined for blood copepin and IMA
      levels and myocardial injury markers within 1 h after admission. RESULTS:
      Copeptin and IMA levels significantly increased in patients with AOPP compared
      with those in the control subjects. Copeptin and IMA levels were significantly
      higher in severe AOPP cases than in mild to moderate cases (P<0.05). Logistic
      regression analysis showed that increased copeptin and IMA levels and severe
      complications of AOPP were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular
      events. CONCLUSION: Early detection of copeptin and IMA levels has important
      clinical value in early diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of myocardial damage
      in patients with AOPP, and their levels are positively correlated with the
      severity of the condition.

PMID- 25818802
TI  - Collateral sensitivity of antibiotic-resistant microbes.
AB  - Understanding how evolution of microbial resistance towards a given antibiotic
      influences susceptibility to other drugs is a challenge of profound importance.
      By combining laboratory evolution, genome sequencing, and functional analyses,
      recent works have charted the map of evolutionary trade-offs between antibiotics
      and have explored the underlying molecular mechanisms. Strikingly, mutations that
      caused multidrug resistance in bacteria simultaneously enhanced sensitivity to
      many other unrelated drugs (collateral sensitivity). Here, we explore how this
      emerging research sheds new light on resistance mechanisms and the way it could
      be exploited for the development of alternative antimicrobial strategies. 

PMID- 25818803
TI  - Inducible VEGF expression by human embryonic stem cell-derived mesenchymal
      stromal cells reduces the minimal islet mass required to reverse diabetes.
AB  - Islet transplantation has been hampered by loss of function due to poor
      revascularization. We hypothesize that co-transplantation of islets with human
      embryonic stem cell-derived mesenchymal stromal cells that conditionally
      overexpress VEGF (hESC-MSC:VEGF) may augment islet revascularization and reduce
      the minimal islet mass required to reverse diabetes in mice. HESC-MSCs were
      transduced by recombinant lentiviruses that allowed conditional (Dox-regulated)
      overexpression of VEGF. HESC-MSC: VEGF were characterized by tube formation
      assay. After co-transplantation of hESC-MSC:VEGF with murine islets in collagen
      fibrin hydrogel in the omental pouch of diabetic nude mice, we measured blood
      glucose, body weight, glucose tolerance and serum C-peptide. As control, islets
      were transplanted alone or with non-transduced hESC-MSCs. Next, we compared
      functional parameters of 400 islets alone versus 200 islets co-transplanted with
      hESC-MSC:VEGF. As control, 200 islets were transplanted alone. Metabolic function
      of islets transplanted with hESC-MSC:VEGF significantly improved, accompanied by
      superior graft revascularization, compared with control groups. Transplantation
      of 200 islets with hESC-MSC:VEGF showed superior function over 400 islets alone.
      We conclude that co-transplantation of islets with VEGF-expressing hESC-MSCs
      allowed for at least a 50% reduction in minimal islet mass required to reverse
      diabetes in mice. This approach may contribute to alleviate the need for multiple
      donor organs per patient.

PMID- 25818805
TI  - Polo-like kinase 3 is associated with improved overall survival in
      cholangiocarcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Cholangiocarcinomas (CCA) paradoxically express the death
      ligand TRAIL and thus, are dependent on effective survival signals to circumvent
      apoptosis. Hedgehog signalling exerts major survival signals in CCA by regulating
      serine/threonine kinase polo-like kinase (PLK)2. We here aimed to examine the
      role of PLK1/2/3 expression for CCA tumour biology. METHODS: We employed CCA
      samples from 73 patients and human HUCCT-1/Mz-CHA1/KMCH-1 CCA cells.
      Immunohistochemistry for PLK1/2/3 was performed using tissue microarrays from
      representative tumour areas. RESULTS: PLK1/2/3-immunoreactive cancer cells were
      present in most of the CCA samples. However, only PLK1 and especially PLK3 were
      expressed in higher amounts within CCA cells as compared to normal liver. Given
      that fibroblast growth factor (FGF) can induce PLK3 expression and also is
      present in CCA, we examined the effect of FGF on PLK3 in vitro. Indeed, rhFGF
      rapidly increased PLK3 mRNA expression all three CCA cell lines giving an
      explanation for the abundant PLK3 presence in the tissue samples.
      Clinicopathologically, PLK3 expression was associated with decreased tumour cell
      migration and lymph/blood vessel infiltration whereas higher levels of PLK1 were
      correlated with larger tumour sizes. Moreover, strong PLK3 expression was
      associated with prolonged overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that
      PLK3 predominantly is expressed in CCA cells and that high PLK3 expression
      correlates with prolonged overall survival. These observations might have
      implications for prognosis prediction of human CCA as well as the potential
      therapeutic use of polo-like kinase inhibitors (i.e., PLK1/2 specifity).

PMID- 25818807
TI  - Cross-sectional imaging of the Fontan circuit in adult congenital heart disease.
AB  - The Fontan circuit is the result of a palliative surgical procedure that is
      performed in patients with a functionally single ventricle cardiac anomaly. The
      success of this operation has resulted in an increasing population of adults with
      this anatomy and physiology. The purpose of this article is to familiarize the
      general radiologist with the expected anatomy and cross-sectional imaging
      findings, highlight special imaging considerations, and examine the common
      complications that are encountered in this group of patients. 

PMID- 25818808
TI  - Social media: the next frontier in radiology.

PMID- 25818806
TI  - HIV-1 capsids bind and exploit the kinesin-1 adaptor FEZ1 for inward movement to
      the nucleus.
AB  - Intracellular transport of cargos, including many viruses, involves directed
      movement on microtubules mediated by motor proteins. Although a number of viruses
      bind motors of opposing directionality, how they associate with and control these
      motors to accomplish directed movement remains poorly understood. Here we show
      that human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) associates with the kinesin-1
      adaptor protein, Fasiculation and Elongation Factor zeta 1 (FEZ1). RNAi-mediated
      FEZ1 depletion blocks early infection, with virus particles exhibiting bi
      directional motility but no net movement to the nucleus. Furthermore, both dynein
      and kinesin-1 motors are required for HIV-1 trafficking to the nucleus. Finally,
      the ability of exogenously expressed FEZ1 to promote early HIV-1 infection
      requires binding to kinesin-1. Our findings demonstrate that opposing motors both
      contribute to early HIV-1 movement and identify the kinesin-1 adaptor, FEZ1 as a
      capsid-associated host regulator of this process usurped by HIV-1 to accomplish
      net inward movement towards the nucleus. 

PMID- 25818809
TI  - A new theory on children's drawings: Analyzing the role of emotion and movement
      in graphical development.
AB  - The aim of this paper is to develop a new understanding of children's drawings
      and to provide ideas for future research in early childhood. Starting from
      classic theories on child graphical development, we proceed to analyze them and
      provide our own views on the subject. We will also recount a number of relevant
      empirical studies that appear to validate our theory. Our belief is that emotion
      and self-expression through movement play a key role in the development of child
      art, and that this may be already visible during the scribbling stage of drawing.

PMID- 25818810
TI  - A lifestyle program of exercise and weight loss is effective in preventing and
      treating type 2 diabetes mellitus: Why are programs not more available?
AB  - There is substantial evidence that type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) can be
      prevented in high-risk individuals by a lifestyle program of regular exercise and
      weight reduction. Additionally, there is emerging evidence that new onset T2DM
      (<1year) can go into remission after weight loss and exercise in a majority of
      motivated individuals, obviating a need for glucose lowering medications. Yet,
      lifestyle programs to support such behavior change are not widely available.
      Moreover, health care insurance companies generally do not provide coverage for
      behavioral weight loss programs to prevent or treat T2DM. Consequently,
      physicians caring for individuals with T2DM may find it much easier to start a
      chronic glucose lowering medication rather than attempting to motivate and
      support patients through long-term behavior change. The cardiac rehabilitation
      model of disease management, with a network of over 2000 programs in the U.S., is
      well suited to deliver medically-supervised lifestyle programs. National
      organizations such as the American Diabetes Association and the American
      Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation should support greater
      availability and use of lifestyle programs for T2DM treatment and prevention. 

PMID- 25818811
TI  - A simple and robust method for establishing homogeneous mouse epiblast stem cell
      lines by wnt inhibition.
AB  - Epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from epiblasts of
      postimplantation mouse embryos, and thus provide a useful model for studying
      "primed" pluripotent states. Here, we devised a simple and robust technique to
      derive high-quality EpiSCs using an inhibitor of WNT secretion. Using this
      method, we readily established EpiSC lines with high efficiency and were able to
      use whole embryonic portions without having to separate the epiblast from the
      visceral endoderm (VE). Expression analyses revealed that these EpiSCs maintained
      a homogeneous, undifferentiated status, yet showed high potential for
      differentiation both in vitro and in teratomas. Unlike EpiSCs derived by the
      original protocol, new EpiSC lines required continuous treatment with the Wnt
      inhibitor, suggesting some intrinsic differences from the existing EpiSCs. The
      homogeneous properties of this new version of EpiSCs should facilitate studies on
      the establishment and maintenance of a "primed" pluripotent state, and directed
      differentiation from the primed state. 

PMID- 25818814
TI  - Metaphase cytogenetics and single nucleotide polymorphism arrays in myeloid
      malignancies.

PMID- 25818812
TI  - Long-term expandable SOX9+ chondrogenic ectomesenchymal cells from human
      pluripotent stem cells.
AB  - Here we report the successful generation and long-term expansion of SOX9
      expressing CD271(+)PDGFRalpha(+)CD73(+) chondrogenic ectomesenchymal cells from
      the PAX3/SOX10/FOXD3-expressing MIXL1(-)CD271(hi)PDGFRalpha(lo)CD73(-) neural
      crest-like progeny of human pluripotent stem cells in a chemically defined medium
      supplemented with Nodal/Activin/transforming growth factorbeta (TGFbeta)
      inhibitor and fibroblast growth factor (FGF). When "primed" with TGFbeta, such
      cells efficiently formed translucent cartilage particles, which were completely
      mineralized in 12 weeks in immunocompromized mice. The ectomesenchymal cells were
      expandable without loss of chondrogenic potential for at least 16 passages. They
      maintained normal karyotype for at least 10 passages and expressed genes
      representing embryonic progenitors (SOX4/12, LIN28A/B), cranial mesenchyme
      (ALX1/3/4), and chondroprogenitors (SOX9, COL2A1) of neural crest origin (SOX8/9,
      NGFR, NES). Ectomesenchyme is a source of many craniofacial bone and cartilage
      structures. The method we describe for obtaining a large quantity of human
      ectomesenchymal cells will help to model craniofacial disorders in vitro and
      potentially provide cells for the repair of craniofacial damage. 

PMID- 25818813
TI  - Models of breast morphogenesis based on localization of stem cells in the
      developing mammary lobule.
AB  - Characterization of normal breast stem cells is important for understanding their
      role in breast development and in breast cancer. However, the identity of these
      cells is a subject of controversy and their localization in the breast epithelium
      is not known. In this study, we utilized a novel approach to analyze the
      morphogenesis of mammary lobules, by combining one-dimensional theoretical models
      and computer-generated 3D fractals. Comparing predictions of these models with
      immunohistochemical analysis of tissue sections for candidate stem cell markers,
      we defined distinct areas where stem cells reside in the mammary lobule. An
      increased representation of stem cells was found in smaller, less developed
      lobules compared to larger, more mature lobules, with marked differences in the
      gland of nulliparous versus parous women and that of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers
      versus non-carriers. 

PMID- 25818815
TI  - Comment on: Evaluation of erythrocyte and reticulocyte parameters as indicative
      of iron deficiency in patients with anemia of chronic disease.

PMID- 25818816
TI  - Evaluation of erythrocyte and reticulocyte parameters as indicative of iron
      deficiency in patients with anemia of chronic disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mature red
      cell and reticulocyte parameters to identify three conditions: iron deficiency
      anemia, anemia of chronic disease, and anemia of chronic disease associated with
      absolute iron deficiency. METHODS: Peripheral blood cells from 117 adult patients
      with anemia were classified according to iron status, inflammation, and
      hemoglobinopathies as: iron deficiency anemia (n=42), anemia of chronic disease
      (n=28), anemia of chronic disease associated with iron deficiency anemia (n=22),
      and heterozygous beta-thalassemia (n=25). The percentage of microcytic
      erythrocytes, hypochromic erythrocytes, and the levels of hemoglobin in both
      reticulocytes and mature red cells were determined. Receiver operating
      characteristic analysis was used to evaluate the accuracy of the parameters in
      differentiating anemia. RESULTS: There was no difference between the groups of
      iron deficiency and anemia of chronic disease associated with absolute iron
      deficiency for any of the parameters. The percentage of hypochromic erythrocytes
      was the best parameter to identify absolute iron deficiency in patients with
      anemia of chronic disease (area under curve=0.785; 95% confidence interval: 0.661
      0.909 with sensitivity of 72.7%, and specificity of 70.4%; cut-off value 1.8%).
      The formula microcytic erythrocyte count minus hypochromic erythrocyte count was
      very accurate to differentiate iron deficiency anemia from heterozygous beta
      thalassemia (area under curve=0.977; 95% confidence interval: 0.950-1.005 with a
      sensitivity of 96.2%, and specificity of 92.7%; cut-off value 13.8). CONCLUSION:
      The erythrocyte and reticulocyte indices are moderately good to identify absolute
      iron deficiency in patients with anemia of chronic disease.

PMID- 25818817
TI  - Pilot randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effect of aquatic and land
      physical therapy on musculoskeletal dysfunction of sickle cell disease patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of aquatic and land-based physiotherapy in
      reducing musculoskeletal hip and lower back pain and increasing overall physical
      capabilities of sickle cell disease patients. METHODS: Informed written consent
      was obtained from all volunteers who were submitted to evaluations using
      different functional scales: Lequesne's Algofunctional Questionnaire and Oswestry
      Disability Index, trunk and hip range of motion, goniometry, trunk and hip muscle
      strength assessment using load cell, and surface electromyography of the
      iliocostalis, long dorsal (longissimus), gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and
      tensor fasciae latae muscles. Ten patients were randomized into two groups:
      aquatic physiotherapy with a mean age of 42 years (range: 25-67) and conventional
      physiotherapy with a mean age of 49 years (range: 43-59). Both groups were
      submitted to a twelve-week program of two sessions weekly. RESULTS: After the
      intervention, significant improvements were observed regarding the Lequesne index
      (p-value=0.0217), Oswestry Disability Index (p-value=0.0112), range of motion of
      trunk extension (p-value=0.0320), trunk flexion muscle strength (p-value=0.0459),
      hip extension and abduction muscle strength (p-value=0.0062 and p-value=0.0257,
      respectively). Range of motion of trunk and hip flexion, extension, adduction and
      abduction, trunk extensor muscle strength and all surface electromyography
      variables showed no significant statistical difference. CONCLUSION: Physical
      therapy is efficient to treat musculoskeletal dysfunctions in sickle cell disease
      patients, irrespective of the technique; however, aquatic therapy showed a trend
      toward improvement in muscle strength. Further studies with a larger patient
      sample and longer periods of therapy are necessary to confirm these results.

PMID- 25818818
TI  - Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria clone in 103 Brazilian patients: diagnosis
      and classification.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria is an acquired chronic hemolytic
      anemia, which often manifests as peripheral blood cytopenias and thrombosis.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to describe a Brazilian population of
      paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria patients. METHODS: One hundred and three
      paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria cases were retrospectively reviewed and the
      clinical presentation, thrombosis, survival, and clone size were assessed.
      Diagnosis was established by flow cytometry. RESULTS: Fifty-two male and 51
      female patients with a median age of 24.1 years (5.5-62 years) were studied.
      Clinical symptoms included hemoglobinuria (18.4%), infection (46.6%) and
      thrombosis (16.5%), and 80.6% had pancytopenia. Patients were classified as
      classic paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (10), paroxysmal nocturnal
      hemoglobinuria with aplastic anemia (39), and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
      with subclinical features and aplastic anemia (54). There were significant
      differences in terms of median age, size of clone, clinical symptoms, and
      peripheral blood cell counts between the three subcategories. The clone size in
      erythrocytes and granulocytes were respectively 0.04% (range: 0-18%) and 7.3%
      (range: 0.3-68.7%) in patients with subclinical features and aplastic anemia,
      15.8% (range: 0-99.7%) and 63.0% (range: 1.7-99.8%) in patients with aplastic
      anemia alone, and 82.2% (range: 0-99.85%) and 98.0% (81.3-100.0%) in Classic
      disease. Statistical differences were identified for platelets (p-value=0.001),
      lactate dehydrogenase (p-value=0.002) and the clone size (p-value<0.001) in
      patients who suffered thrombotic events compared to those who did not. Overall
      survival was 81.7%, with patients with subclinical features and aplastic anemia
      having lower overall survival (76.5%). CONCLUSION: This retrospective review of
      103 patients over an 11-year period represents the largest collection of
      paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria cases from a single center in Brazil. Flow
      cytometry showed that a larger clone was associated with classical symptoms and
      increased risk of thrombosis, even in patients with bone marrow failure, whereas
      a smaller clone was associated with bone marrow aplasia.

PMID- 25818820
TI  - Investigating alpha-globin structural variants: a retrospective review of 135,000
      Brazilian individuals.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Brazil has a multiethnic population with a high diversity of
      hemoglobinopathies. While screenings for beta-globin mutations are far more
      common, alterations affecting alpha-globin genes are usually more silent and less
      well known. The aim of this study was to describe the results of a screening
      program for alpha-globin gene mutations in a representative sample of the
      Southeastern Brazilian population. METHODS: A total of 135,000 individuals,
      including patients with clinical suspicion of hemoglobinopathies and their family
      members, randomly chosen individuals submitted to blood tests and blood donors
      who were abnormal hemoglobin carriers were analyzed. The variants were screened
      by alkaline and acid electrophoreses, isoelectric focusing and cation-exchange
      high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the abnormal chains were
      investigated by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC).
      Mutations were identified by molecular analyses, and the oxygen affinity, heme
      heme cooperativity and Bohr effect of the variants were evaluated by functional
      tests. RESULTS: Four new and 22 rare variants were detected in 98 families. Some
      of these variants were found in co-inheritance with other hemoglobinopathies. Of
      the rare hemoglobins, Hasharon, Stanleyville II and J-Rovigo were the most
      common, the first two being S-like and associated with alpha-thalassemia.
      CONCLUSION: The variability of alpha-globin alterations reflects the high degree
      of racial miscegenation and an intense internal migratory flow between different
      Brazilian regions. This diversity highlights the importance of programs for
      diagnosing hemoglobinopathies and preventing combinations that may lead to
      important clinical manifestations in multiethnic populations.

PMID- 25818819
TI  - CD144, CD146 and VEGFR-2 properly identify circulating endothelial cell.
AB  - Studies evaluating circulating endothelial cells by flow cytometry are faced by a
      lack of consensus about the best combination of monoclonal antibodies to be used.
      The rarity of these cells in peripheral blood, which represent 0.01% of
      mononuclear cells, drastically increases this challenge. OBJECTIVE: The aim of
      this study is to suggest some combinations of markers that would safely and
      properly identify these cells. METHODS: Flow cytometry analysis of circulating
      endothelial cells was performed applying three different panels composed of
      different combinations of the CD144, CD146, CD31, CD133, CD45 and anti-Vascular
      endothelial growth factor receptor-2 antibodies. RESULTS: In spite of the rarity
      of the events, they were detectable and presented similar inter-person numbers of
      circulating endothelial cells. CONCLUSION: The combination of markers
      successfully identified the circulating endothelial cells in healthy individuals,
      with the use of three different panels confirming the obtained data as reliable.

PMID- 25818821
TI  - A model for the functional assessment of elderly with myeloid neoplasms.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Myeloid neoplasms are heterogeneous diseases that are more incident in
      the elderly. The goals of this study were to aggregate a geriatric approach to
      the patient assessment, to show the impact of gender, age, hemoglobin
      concentration and comorbidities on the functionality of elderly with myeloid
      neoplasms and to better understand how the instruments of functional assessment
      work according to the aggressiveness of the disease. METHODS: Elderly patients
      (>=60 years old) with myeloid neoplasms were assessed using the Karnofsky scale,
      Eastern Cooperative Oncologic Group scale, and basic and instrumental activities
      of daily living scales. The hematopoietic cell transplantation-comorbidity index
      assessed the comorbidities. A mixed logistical regression model was fitted to
      estimate the impact of gender, age, hemoglobin concentration and the
      hematopoietic cell transplantation-comorbidity index on patients' functionality.
      RESULTS: Eighty-two patients with a mean age of 72.8 years (range: 60-92 years)
      were evaluated. Eighty percent had good Karnofsky and Eastern Cooperative
      Oncologic Group scales and 39% were independent according to the daily living
      activity scales. All of the patients with poor Karnofsky and Eastern Cooperative
      Oncologic Group scales were classified as dependent by the daily living activity
      scales. The mixed logistic regression models showed that age, gender, hemoglobin
      concentration and the comorbidity index impacted on the daily living activity
      scales. Karnofsky and Eastern Cooperative Oncologic Group scales were affected by
      hemoglobin and the comorbidity index. The model hypothesized the hemoglobin
      concentration at which there was a higher risk of poor Karnofsky and Eastern
      Cooperative Oncologic Group scales. This hemoglobin concentration depended on
      comorbidities and on the aggressiveness of the myeloid neoplasm. CONCLUSION: The
      geriatric approach improved the sensitivity and specificity of the patients'
      assessment. Hemoglobin concentration associated to the risk of poor Karnofsky and
      Eastern Cooperative Oncologic Group scales depended on the comorbidity score and
      on the disease aggressiveness. The Karnofsky and Eastern Cooperative Oncologic
      Group scales had higher sensitivity in patients with more aggressive diseases.

PMID- 25818822
TI  - Prevalence of the American College of Rheumatology hematological classification
      criteria and associations with serological and clinical variables in 460 systemic
      lupus erythematosus patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study systemic lupus erythematosus in a Brazilian population using
      the American College of Rheumatology hematological classification criteria and
      report associations of the disease with serological and clinical profiles.
      METHODS: This is a retrospective study of 460 systemic lupus erythematosus
      patients followed in a single rheumatologic center during the last 10 years.
      Hematological manifestations considered for this study were hemolysis,
      leukopenia, lymphocytopenia and thrombocytopenia. RESULTS: The cumulative
      prevalences of leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, lymphocytopenia and hemolytic anemia
      were 29.8%, 21.08%, 17.7% and 8.4%, respectively. A higher percentage of patients
      with hemolysis had anticardiolipin IgM (p-value=0.002). Those with leukopenia had
      more lymphopenia (p-value=0.02), psychosis (p-value=0.01), thrombocytopenia (p
      value <0.0001) and anti-double stranded DNA antibodies (p-value=0.03). Patients
      with lymphopenia had more leukopenia (OR=1.8; 95% CI=1.01-3.29) and lupus
      anticoagulant antibodies (OR=2.2; 95% CI=1.16-4.39) and those with
      thrombocytopenia had more leukopenia (OR=3.1; 95% CI=1.82-5.44) and
      antiphospholipid syndrome (OR=3.1; 95% CI=1.28-7.87). CONCLUSION: The most common
      hematological finding was leukopenia and the least common was hemolysis.
      Associations of low platelet count and hemolysis were found with antiphospholipid
      syndrome and anticardiolipin IgM positivity, respectively. Leukopenia and
      lymphocytopenia are correlated and leukopenia is more common in systemic lupus
      erythematosus patients with psychosis, thrombocytopenia and anti-double stranded
      DNA.

PMID- 25818823
TI  - Hemoglobin D-Punjab: origin, distribution and laboratory diagnosis.
AB  - This review discusses hemoglobin D-Punjab, also known as hemoglobin D-Los
      Angeles, one of the most common hemoglobin variants worldwide. It is derived from
      a point mutation in the beta-globin gene (HBB: c.364G>C; rs33946267) prevalent in
      the Punjab region, Northwestern Indian. Hemoglobin D-Punjab can be inherited in
      heterozygosis with hemoglobin A causing no clinical or hematological alterations,
      or in homozygosis, the rarest form of inheritance, a condition that is commonly
      not related to clinical symptomatology. Moreover, this variant can exist in
      association with other hemoglobinopathies, such as thalassemias; the most
      noticeable clinical alterations occur when hemoglobin D-Punjab is associated to
      hemoglobin S. The clinical manifestations of this association can be similar to
      homozygosis for hemoglobin S. Although hemoglobin D-Punjab is a common variant
      globally with clinical importance especially in cases of double heterozygosis,
      hemoglobin S/D-Punjab is still understudied. In Brazil, for example, hemoglobin D
      Punjab is the third most common hemoglobin variant. Thus, this paper summarizes
      information about the origin, geographic distribution, characterization and
      occurrence of hemoglobin D-Punjab haplotypes to try to improve our knowledge of
      this variant. Moreover, a list of the main techniques used in its identification
      is provided emphasizing the importance of complementary molecular analysis for
      accurate diagnosis. 

PMID- 25818824
TI  - Burkitt's lymphoma successfully treated in pregnancy.

PMID- 25818825
TI  - Endemic transmission of HTLV-2 in blood donors from Sao Luis do Maranhao,
      northeastern Brazil: report of two asymptomatic individuals.

PMID- 25818826
TI  - Hairy cell leukemia variant: the importance of differential diagnosis.

PMID- 25818827
TI  - Remission of refractory Crohn's disease after autologous hematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation.

PMID- 25818828
TI  - Haplotype of the beta(S)-globin cluster in patients with sickle cell anemia at a
      University Hospital in the Triangulo Mineiro, Minas Gerais.

PMID- 25818829
TI  - Is the BCR-ABL/GUSB transcript level at diagnosis an early predictive marker for
      chronic myeloid leukemia patients treated with imatinib?

PMID- 25818830
TI  - Improving paediatric outreach services for urban Aboriginal children through
      partnerships: views of community-based service providers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In Australia, Aboriginal children experience significantly poorer
      health outcomes compared with non-Aboriginal children. Health policies aimed at
      improving Aboriginal health outcomes include interventions in the early childhood
      period. There is a need for government health services to work in partnership
      with Aboriginal people and other services to achieve the highest level of health
      possible for Aboriginal children, who often require a range of services to meet
      complex needs. AIM: This paper describes the views of service providers on how
      paediatric outreach services work in partnership with other services, Aboriginal
      families and the community and how those partnerships could be improved to
      maximize health outcomes for children. METHODS: In-depth, semi-structured
      interviews and focus groups were conducted with managers and service providers
      over a 6-week period in 2010. The views and suggestions of participants were
      documented and a thematic analysis was undertaken. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
      Analysis of two focus groups with seven service providers and five individual
      interviews with service managers resulted in the identification of four themes:
      (i) using informal and formal ways of working; (ii) cultivating effective
      relationships; (iii) demonstrating cultural sensitivity; and (iv) forging strong
      leadership. Use of formal and informal approaches facilitated effective
      relationships between service providers and Aboriginal families and communities.
      Partnerships with the community were founded on a culturally appropriate model of
      care that recognized a holistic approach to health and wellness. Leadership
      emerged as an essential component of effective partnerships, cultivating the
      ethos of the workplace and creating an environment where collaboration is
      supported. CONCLUSION: Culturally appropriate child health services, which
      utilize effective relationships and employ a range of informal and formal
      collaboration with other services and community members, are well positioned to
      implement health policy and improve access to services for Aboriginal children
      with better health outcomes as a result.

PMID- 25818831
TI  - Response of human lymphocytes to proton radiation of 60 MeV compared to 250 kV X
      rays by the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay.
AB  - Particle radiotherapy such as protons provides a new promising treatment modality
      to cancer. However, studies on its efficacy and risks are relatively sparse.
      Using the cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus assay, we characterized response of
      human peripheral blood lymphocytes, obtained from health donors irradiated in
      vitro in the dose range: 0-4. 0 Gy, to therapeutic proton radiation of 60 MeV
      from AIC-144 isochronous cyclotron, by studying nuclear division index and DNA
      damage and compared them with X-rays. Peripheral blood lymphocytes show decreased
      ability to proliferate with increasing radiation doses for both radiation types,
      however, in contrast to X-rays, irradiation with protons resulted in a higher
      proliferation index at lower doses of 0.75 and 1.0 Gy. Protons are more effective
      in producing MN at doses above 1.75 Gy compared to X-rays. Dose-response curves
      for micronucleus incidence can be best described by a cubic model for protons,
      while for X-rays the response was linear. The differences in the energy spectrum
      and intracellular distribution of energy between radiation types are also
      apparent at the intracellular distribution of cytogenetic damage as seen by the
      distribution of various numbers of micronuclei in binucleated cells. Our studies,
      although preliminary, further contribute to the understanding of the mechanistic
      differences in the response of HPBL in terms of cellular proliferation and
      cytogenetic damage induced by protons and X-rays as well as intra-cellular
      distribution of energy and thus radiobiological effectiveness.

PMID- 25818832
TI  - Attitudes and characteristics of health professionals working in Aboriginal
      health.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There is an unacceptable gap in health status between Aboriginal
      and non-Aboriginal people in Australia. Linked to social inequalities in health
      and political and historical marginalisation, this health gap must be urgently
      addressed. It is important that health professionals, the majority of whom in
      Australia are non-Aboriginal, are confident and equipped to work in Aboriginal
      health in order to contribute towards closing the health gap. The purpose of this
      study was to explore the attitudes and characteristics of non-Aboriginal health
      professionals working in Aboriginal health. METHODS: The research was guided and
      informed by a social constructionist epistemology and a critical theoretical
      approach. It was set within a larger healthy eating and physical activity program
      delivered in one rural and one metropolitan community in South Australia from
      2005 to 2010. Non-Aboriginal staff working in the health services where the
      program was delivered and who had some experience or an interest working in
      Aboriginal health were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview.
      Dietitians working across South Australia (rural and metropolitan locations) were
      also invited to participate in an interview. Data were coded into themes that
      recurred throughout the interview and this process was guided by critical social
      research. RESULTS: Thirty-five non-Aboriginal health professionals participated
      in a semi-structured interview about their experiences working in Aboriginal
      health. The general attitudes and characteristics of non-Aboriginal health
      professionals were classified using four main groupings, ranging from a lack of
      practical knowledge ('don't know how'), a fear of practice ('too scared'), the
      area of Aboriginal health perceived as too difficult ('too hard') and learning to
      practice regardless ('barrier breaker'). Workers in each group had different
      characteristics including various levels of willingness to work in the area;
      various understandings of Australia's historical relationship with Aboriginal
      peoples; varying awareness of their own cultural identity and influence on
      working with Aboriginal people; and different levels of (dis)comfort expressed in
      discussions about social, political and intercultural issues that impact on the
      healthcare encounter. CONCLUSIONS: These groupings can be used to assist non
      Aboriginal health professionals to reflect on their own levels of confidence,
      attitudes, characteristics, experiences, approaches and assumptions to Aboriginal
      health, as an important precursor to further practice and development in
      Aboriginal health. By encouraging self-reflection of non-Aboriginal health
      professionals about where their experiences, characteristics and confidence lie,
      the groupings presented in this paper can be used to encourage non-Aboriginal
      health professionals, rather than Aboriginal clients or workers, to be the focus
      for change and deliver health care that is more acceptable to patients and
      clients, hence influencing health service delivery. The groupings presented can
      also begin to enable discussions between all health professionals about working
      together in Aboriginal health.

PMID- 25818833
TI  - Journal paper peer-review: a broken system?

PMID- 25818834
TI  - Tear ferning test in horses and its correlation with ocular surface evaluation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the tear ferning test (TFT) in healthy horses and its
      correlation with other parameters for evaluating the ocular surface. ANIMALS
      STUDIED: Thirty male and female adult healthy horses (60 eyes), of no defined
      breed. PROCEDURES: Tear sample was collected with a microcapillary tube, placed
      on the surface of a glass slide, and allowed to dry at room temperature. The
      crystallization pattern was classified according to Rolando (Chibret
      International Journal Ophthamology, 1984; 2, 32). The program STEPanizer((c))
      stereology tool, version 1.0, was utilized for counting points on the digitally
      captured crystallization image. A conjunctival biopsy was performed. RESULTS:
      Tear ferning test was classified as Type I in 18 eyes (30%), Type II in 31 eyes
      (51.7%), and Type III in 11 eyes (18.3%), at a mean temperature of 27.3 +/- 1.5 
      degrees C and relative humidity of 61.5 +/- 5.7%. In the Type I crystallization,
      the count varied between 27 and 36 points (mean: 33.27 +/- 2.40), in Type II
      between 22 and 31 points (25.42 +/- 1.95), and in Type III between 13 and 25
      points (16.82 +/- 3.76). There was no statistical difference or correlation
      between the right and left eyes, nor was there a statistically significant
      influence (P < 0.05) on TFT by the factors evaluated. The mean goblet cells
      values were 50 +/- 11.4 cells/field. All samples showed the presence of
      lymphocytes, plasmocytes, and eosinophils. CONCLUSION: Tear ferning test is easy
      to perform, without risks to the patient. Once standardized for horses,
      associated or not with the program STEPanizer((c)) stereology tool, it is an
      additional method for evaluating the ocular surface.

PMID- 25818836
TI  - Usefulness of biomarkers as prognostic factors of mortality in elderly patients
      with community-acquired pneumonia.

PMID- 25818837
TI  - Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An increasing number of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)
      studies are being conducted with nonclinical populations, but very little is
      known about their effectiveness. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy, mechanisms
      of actions, and moderators of MBSR for nonclinical populations. DATA SOURCES: A
      systematic review of studies published in English journals in Medline, CINAHL or
      Alt HealthWatch from the first available date until September 19, 2014. STUDY
      SELECTION: Any quantitative study that used MBSR as an intervention, that was
      conducted with healthy adults, and that investigated stress or anxiety. RESULTS:
      A total of 29 studies (n=2668) were included. Effect-size estimates suggested
      that MBSR is moderately effective in pre-post analyses (n=26; Hedge's g=.55; 95%
      CI [.44, .66], p<.00001) and in between group analyses (n=18; Hedge's g=.53; 95%
      CI [.41, .64], p<.00001). The obtained results were maintained at an average of
      19 weeks of follow-up. Results suggested large effects on stress, moderate
      effects on anxiety, depression, distress, and quality of life, and small effects
      on burnout. When combined, changes in mindfulness and compassion measures
      correlated with changes in clinical measures at post-treatment and at follow-up.
      However, heterogeneity was high, probably due to differences in the study design,
      the implemented protocol, and the assessed outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: MBSR is
      moderately effective in reducing stress, depression, anxiety and distress and in
      ameliorating the quality of life of healthy individuals; however, more research
      is warranted to identify the most effective elements of MBSR.

PMID- 25818838
TI  - Physical activity is unrelated to cognitive performance in pre-bariatric surgery
      patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between physical activity (PA) and
      cognitive performance in extreme obesity. METHODS: Seventy-one bariatric surgery
      candidates (77.5% women) with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 46.9 kg/m2 (SD=6.0)
      and a mean age of 41.4 (SD=11.9) years completed SenseWear Pro2 activity
      monitoring for seven days. Cognitive functioning was assessed by a computerized
      test battery including tasks of executive function (Iowa Gambling Task),
      visuospatial short-term memory (Corsi Block Tapping Test) and verbal short-term
      memory (Auditory-Verbal Learning Test). Questionnaires assessing eating
      disturbances and depressive symptoms were administered. Somatic comorbidities
      were assessed by medical chart review. RESULTS: The level of PA was low with mean
      steps per day within wear time being 7140 (SD=3422). Most patients were
      categorized as sedentary (31.0%) or low active (26.8%). No significant
      association between PA estimates and cognitive performance was found. Lower PA
      was modestly correlated with higher BMI but not with age, somatic comorbidity or
      depressive symptoms. Moderated regression analyses suggested a significant
      interaction effect between depression and PA in predicting performance on the
      Corsi Block Tapping Test. Patients with (29.6%) and without (70.4%) regular binge
      eating did not differ with respect to PA or cognitive function. CONCLUSION: The
      findings indicate no association between daily PA and cognitive performance in
      morbidly obese patients. Future studies should explore the relationship between
      the variables with regard to dose-response-questions, a broader BMI range and
      with respect to potential changes after substantial weight loss due to bariatric
      surgery.

PMID- 25818835
TI  - An in vivo screen to identify candidate neurogenic genes in the developing
      Xenopus visual system.
AB  - Neurogenesis in the brain of Xenopus laevis continues throughout larval stages of
      development. We developed a 2-tier screen to identify candidate genes controlling
      neurogenesis in Xenopus optic tectum in vivo. First, microarray and NanoString
      analyses were used to identify candidate genes that were differentially expressed
      in Sox2-expressing neural progenitor cells or their neuronal progeny. Then an in
      vivo, time-lapse imaging-based screen was used to test whether morpholinos
      against 34 candidate genes altered neural progenitor cell proliferation or
      neuronal differentiation over 3 days in the optic tectum of intact Xenopus
      tadpoles. We co-electroporated antisense morpholino oligonucleotides against each
      of the candidate genes with a plasmid that drives GFP expression in Sox2
      expressing neural progenitor cells and quantified the effects of morpholinos on
      neurogenesis. Of the 34 morpholinos tested, 24 altered neural progenitor cell
      proliferation or neuronal differentiation. The candidates which were tagged as
      differentially expressed and validated by the in vivo imaging screen include:
      actn1, arl9, eif3a, elk4, ephb1, fmr1-a, fxr1-1, fbxw7, fgf2, gstp1, hat1, hspa5,
      lsm6, mecp2, mmp9, and prkaca. Several of these candidates, including fgf2 and
      elk4, have known or proposed neurogenic functions, thereby validating our
      strategy to identify candidates. Genes with no previously demonstrated neurogenic
      functions, gstp1, hspa5 and lsm6, were identified from the morpholino
      experiments, suggesting that our screen successfully revealed unknown candidates.
      Genes that are associated with human disease, such as such as mecp2 and fmr1-a,
      were identified by our screen, providing the groundwork for using Xenopus as an
      experimental system to probe conserved disease mechanisms. Together the data
      identify candidate neurogenic regulatory genes and demonstrate that Xenopus is an
      effective experimental animal to identify and characterize genes that regulate
      neural progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation in vivo.

PMID- 25818839
TI  - Supression of sweating in palmar hyperhydrosis with 5% strontium chloride
      hexahydrate.

PMID- 25818841
TI  - DNA methylation in bacteria: from the methyl group to the methylome.
AB  - Formation of C(5)-methyl-cytosine, N(4)-methyl-cytosine, and N(6)-methyl-adenine
      in bacterial genomes is postreplicative, and occurs at specific targets. Base
      methylation can modulate the interaction of DNA-binding proteins with their
      cognate sites, and controls chromosome replication, correction of DNA mismatches,
      cell cycle-coupled transcription, and formation of epigenetic lineages by phase
      variation. During four decades, the roles of DNA methylation in bacterial
      physiology have been investigated by analyzing the contribution of individual
      methyl groups or small methyl group clusters to the control of DNA-protein
      interactions. Nowadays, single-molecule real-time sequencing can analyze the DNA
      methylation of the entire genome (the 'methylome'). Bacterial methylomes provide
      a wealth of information on the methylation marks present in bacterial genomes,
      and may open a new era in bacterial epigenomics. 

PMID- 25818840
TI  - Risk factors for pericardial effusion in adult patients receiving allogeneic
      haematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
AB  - Pericardial effusion (PE) is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication
      for allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients. The
      risk factors, aetiology, incidence and therapy are largely unclear. To
      investigate this issue, we reviewed 391 adult patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT
      between January 2003 and December 2013. Twelve out of 391 patients (3.1%)
      developed PE of moderate to large amounts, including 9 out of 12 patients (75%)
      identified as late-onset PE. Two out of the nine patients with late-onset PE
      experienced recurrent effusion. The median age at HSCT was 44.5 years (range: 22
      63 years) among the 12 patients with PE and 47 years in the late-onset patients.
      Multivariate analysis revealed that multiple transplant procedures was a
      significant risk factor for PE (P = 0.036) and a trend as risk factor in patients
      aged>50 years (P = 0.066). For late-onset PE, pre-transplant age>50 years (P =
      0.032) and extensive chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) (P = 0.006)
      remained statistically significant on multivariate analysis. Currently, there are
      no published data exploring the risk factors for post-transplant PE in adult
      patients of allogeneic HSCT. Our study determined the risk factors and incidence
      for the post-transplant PE, especially in the late-onset group. 

PMID- 25818842
TI  - Long-term mortality and quality of life in intensive care patients treated for
      pneumonia and/or sepsis: Predictors of mortality and quality of life in patients
      with sepsis/pneumonia.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate long-term mortality and quality
      of life (QoL) of intensive care patients with pneumonia and/or sepsis 1 year
      after discharge and to identify potential predictors for these outcome measures.
      METHODS: This retrospective cohort study analyzed all patients admitted to the
      intensive care unit (ICU) of a German university hospital with diagnosis of
      pneumonia and/or sepsis between 2008 and 2009. Quality of life was assessed by
      telephone interview or mail using the standardized EuroQol 5-dimension
      questionaire. RESULTS: Of 1406 patients treated in the ICU within the
      observational period, 217 met the inclusion criteria. Whereas in-hospital
      mortality differed significantly between pneumonia (17%) and sepsis (46%) (P <
      .001), 1-year mortality was not statistically significant (51% and 65%, P =
      .057). A high Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II value was associated
      with high in-hospital mortality but failed to predict 1-year mortality. Quality
      of life, measured 1 year after discharge by visual analog scale (VAS), was 50% +/
      25%, which was significantly lower than in a matched control group (70% +/- 20%;
      P < .001). A high SAPS II score on admission did not correlate with VAS but was
      an independent predictor of a low EuroQol 5-dimension index. CONCLUSIONS: The
      high post-ICU mortality of patients with pneumonia and sepsis emphasizes the need
      to focus on long-term follow-up in ICU studies and demonstrates that even when
      sepsis signs are missing, critically ill patients due to pneumonia have high 1
      year mortality. Simplified Acute Physiology Score II does not predict long-term
      mortality, but a low SAPS II on admission might be useful to identify patients
      with good physical status after 1 year. TAKE HOME MESSAGE: Hospital mortality of
      patients treated for pneumonia and/or sepsis is high and increases significantly
      within the first year after discharge. The SAPS II predicts in-hospital mortality
      and the physical components of QoL but not long-term mortality. TWEET: One-year
      mortality of ICU pneumonia patients is equally high as in sepsis patients.
      Simplified Acute Physiology Score II cannot predict long-term mortality but can
      predict QoL.

PMID- 25818843
TI  - Two variants in the KIT gene as candidate causative mutations for a dominant
      white and a white spotting phenotype in the donkey.
AB  - White spotting phenotypes have been intensively studied in horses, and although
      similar phenotypes occur in the donkey, little is known about the molecular
      genetics underlying these patterns in donkeys. White spotting in donkeys can
      range from only a few white areas to almost complete depigmentation and is
      characterised by a loss of pigmentation usually progressing from a white spot in
      the hip area. Completely white-born donkeys are rare, and the phenotype is
      characterised by the complete absence of pigment resulting in pink skin and a
      white coat. A dominant mode of inheritance has been demonstrated for spotting in
      donkeys. Although the mode of inheritance for the completely white phenotype in
      donkeys is not clear, the phenotype shows similarities to dominant white in
      horses. As variants in the KIT gene are known to cause a range of white
      phenotypes in the horse, we investigated the KIT gene as a potential candidate
      gene for two phenotypes in the donkey, white spotting and white. A mutation
      analysis of all 21 KIT exons identified a missense variant in exon 4 (c.662A>C;
      p.Tyr221Ser) present only in a white-born donkey. A second variant affecting a
      splice donor site (c.1978+2T>A) was found exclusively in donkeys with white
      spotting. Both variants were absent in 24 solid-coloured controls. To the
      authors' knowledge, this is the first study investigating genetic mechanisms
      underlying white phenotypes in donkeys. Our results suggest that two independent
      KIT alleles are probably responsible for white spotting and white in donkeys. 

PMID- 25818844
TI  - Do all components of the metabolic syndrome cluster together in U.S.
      Hispanics/Latinos? Results from the Hispanic Community Health study/Study of
      Latinos.
AB  - PURPOSE: Metabolic syndrome (MetS), the clustering of several risk factors for
      cardiovascular disease, is highly prevalent in Hispanics/Latinos. We tested
      whether all components significantly loaded on the syndrome in Hispanics/Latinos
      and whether their contribution differed by sex and Hispanic ancestry. We also
      examined associations of MetS with prevalent diabetes and coronary heart disease
      in Hispanics/Latinos. METHODS: Data were obtained from a population-based cohort
      of n = 15,823 participants in the HCHS/SOL study who self-identified as being of
      Central American, Cuban, Dominican, Mexican American, Puerto Rican, or South
      American ancestry and were aged 18 to 74 years at screening. RESULTS: A latent
      variable model of waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure,
      triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and fasting glucose
      fit the data in men and women, but the contribution of HDL-C was weak. No
      difference in the latent model of MetS was detected across Hispanic/Latino
      ancestry groups. MetS was significantly associated with diabetes and coronary
      heart disease. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that similar criteria for MetS
      may be applied across Hispanic/Latino ancestry groups but call into question the
      role of HDL-C in classifying the MetS in Hispanics/Latinos.

PMID- 25818845
TI  - Kisspeptin1 modulates odorant-evoked fear response via two serotonin receptor
      subtypes (5-HT1A and 5-HT2) in zebrafish.
AB  - Kiss1, a neuropeptide predominantly expressed in the habenula, modulates the
      serotonin (5-HT) system to decrease odorant cue [alarm substance (AS)]-evoked
      fear behaviour in the zebrafish. The purpose of this study was to assess the
      interaction of Kiss1 with the 5-HT system as well as to determine the involvement
      of the 5-HT receptor subtypes in AS-evoked fear. We utilized 0. 28 mg/kg WAY
      100635 (WAY), a selective 5-HT1A receptor antagonist, to observe the effects of
      Kiss1 administration on AS-evoked fear. We found WAY significantly inhibited the
      anxiolytic effects of Kiss1 (p < 0.001) with an exception of freezing behaviour.
      Based on this, we utilized 92.79 mg/kg methysergide, a 5-HT1 and 5-HT2 receptor
      antagonist, and found that methysergide significantly blocked the anxiolytic
      effects of Kiss1 in the presence of the AS (p < 0.001). From this, we conclude
      that Kiss1 modulates AS-evoked fear responses mediated by the 5-HT1A and 5-HT2
      receptors. Kiss1 peptide intracranially (IC) administrated has been shown to
      decrease olfactory, alarm substance (AS)-evoked fear response. Blockade of the 5
      HT1A receptor utilizing WAY 100635 (0.28 mg/kg) and the 5-HT1 and 5-HT2 receptor
      utilizing methysergide (92.79 mg/kg) produced increased AS-evoked fear responses
      that were unable to be overcome even during the recovery period. Blockade of this
      5-HT system followed by Kiss1 administration showed that the peptide was unable
      to recover the anxiolytic effects upon 5-HT1A blocking using WAY 100635 with the
      exception of freezing behaviour while methysergide significantly blocked all the
      anxiolytic effects of Kiss1. These findings implicate that Kiss1 could modulate
      AS-evoked fear responses mediated by 5-HT1A and 5-HT2 receptors.

PMID- 25818846
TI  - Regulation of extracellular Zn(2+) homeostasis in the hippocampus as a
      therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The hippocampus plays an important role in spatial and declarative
      memory. Zn(2+) is released from glutamatergic (zincergic) neuron terminals in the
      hippocampus and serves as a signal factor. Synaptic Zn(2+) homeostasis is
      critical for cognitive activity in the hippocampus. Amyloid-beta (Abeta) is a
      candidate for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and interacts with
      Zn(2+). AREAS COVERED: This paper gives an overview of the interaction between
      Abeta and Zn(2+) in the extracellular compartment in the pathophysiology of AD.
      Abeta is aggregated with Zn(2+) and the aggregation of Abeta-peptides is widely
      considered to be the critical step in the pathogenesis of AD. The reader will
      gain an understanding of recent studies on the importance of the interaction of
      Abeta with Zn(2+) in the pathophysiology and therapeutic strategy of AD.
      Extracellular Zn(2+) in the hippocampus is a therapeutic target for AD. EXPERT
      OPINION: Recent studies show that the inhibition of the interaction of Abeta with
      extracellular Zn(2+) ameliorates the pathophysiology of AD and that extracellular
      Zn(2+) in the hippocampus is involved in transiently Abeta-induced cognition
      deficits. Zn(2+) may play as a key-mediating factor in pathophysiology in which
      Abeta is involved and is a targeting molecule to prevent the pathogenesis of AD.

PMID- 25818848
TI  - Born to be wild.

PMID- 25818847
TI  - New-onset paresthesias in inflammatory bowel disease.

PMID- 25818849
TI  - Parasites and wildlife in a changing world.
AB  - Wildlife and their parasites are everywhere. Other than those important in human
      or domestic animal health, understanding of these host-parasite systems is
      limited, especially their roles in wildlife population health. Learning more
      provides opportunities to explore infection ecology, and the use of parasites as
      sentinels and probes for environmental change. 

PMID- 25818850
TI  - The buffalo co-infection conundrum.
AB  - Parasitic worms modulate host immunity, affecting co-infection with Mycobacterium
      bovis (BTB). Ezenwa and Jolles suggested that anthelmintic treatment reduced BTB
      induced mortality, but increased BTB spread. Reduced mortality should be weighed
      against the risk of increasing pathogen spread when adopting this strategy for
      human treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, BTB, and HIV. 

PMID- 25818851
TI  - A new classification of the Pied Woodpeckers assemblage (Dendropicini, Picidae)
      based on a comprehensive multi-locus phylogeny.
AB  - The pied woodpecker assemblage historically included the widespread genera
      Picoides and Dendrocopos. The assignment of species to either of these two genera
      has for long puzzled systematists due to their overall plumage similarity. Recent
      molecular studies not only suggested that both of these genera are not
      monophyletic, but also that four other genera, the African Dendropicos the South
      American Veniliornis and two Asian monospecific genera (Hypopicus and Sapheopipo)
      are nested within the Dendrocopos-Picoides clade. Yet, our current understanding
      of the phylogeny and taxonomy of this group is still very partial because several
      distinctive Old World species that have been assigned to different genera
      throughout their taxonomic history have not been sampled yet. Here, using DNA
      sequence data gathered from four loci, we reconstructed a species level phylogeny
      of the Indo-Malayan and Palearctic Pied Woodpeckers to understand the
      phylogenetic relationships and biogeographic history of the Eurasian species with
      respect to African and New World lineages. Our phylogenetic analyses revealed
      nine strongly supported clades within the Dendropicini. Noticeably, two species
      that had disputed affinities at the genus level clustered in clades with species
      from the same biogeographical region: the Brown-backed Woodpecker (D. obsoletus)
      is nested in Dendropicos and the Arabian Woodpecker (D. dorae) is related to two
      Eurasian species, the Brown-fronted (D. auriceps) and Middle-spotted woodpeckers
      (D. medius). The nine clades have a strong biogeographic component and very few
      dispersal event among bioregions occurred. For example, the African species
      formed a clade, suggesting that only one dispersal event is needed to explain the
      presence of Dendropicini in Africa. Based on our phylogenetic results, we propose
      a new classification of the Dendropicini that recognizes nine genera. 

PMID- 25818852
TI  - Genetic and immunologic susceptibility to statin-related myopathy.
AB  - Statin-related myopathy (SRM) undermines drug adherence that is critical for
      achieving the benefits of lipid-lowering therapy. While the exact mechanism of
      SRM remains largely unknown, recent evidence supports specific genetic and
      immunologic influence on the development of intolerance. Genes of interest
      include those involved in the pharmacokinetics of statin response (i.e. drug
      metabolism, uptake transporters, and efflux transporters), pharmacodynamics (i.e.
      drug toxicity and immune-mediated myopathy), and gene expression. We examine the
      influence of genetic and immunologic variation on the pharmacokinetics,
      pharmacodynamics, and gene expression of SRM. 

PMID- 25818853
TI  - Associations of multiple lipoprotein and apolipoprotein measures with worsening
      of glycemia and incident type 2 diabetes in 6607 non-diabetic Finnish men.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We investigated the association of various lipoprotein traits,
      apolipoproteins and their ratios with the deterioration of glycemia, incident
      type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and insulin secretion in a large population
      based Metabolic Syndrome Men (METSIM) Study. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The
      METSIM Study includes 10,197 Finnish men, aged 45-73 years, and examined in 2005
      2010. From 6607 non-diabetic participants without statin treatment at baseline,
      386 developed incident type 2 diabetes during a 5.9-year follow-up. A total of
      3330 non-diabetic participants without statin treatment had both baseline and
      follow-up visit data, and were included in statistical analyses of the worsening
      of glycemia. RESULTS: Compared to single lipid and lipoprotein measurements,
      lipoprotein and apolipoprotein ratios were better predictors of the glucose area
      under the curve and incident type 2 diabetes after adjustment for confounding
      factors. The apolipoprotein B/LDL cholesterol ratio was the strongest predictor
      of the worsening of glycemia, whereas the apolipoprotein A1/HDL cholesterol ratio
      was the strongest predictor of incident type 2 diabetes. The associations of
      lipoprotein traits, apolipoproteins and their ratios with insulin sensitivity
      were stronger than those with insulin secretion. CONCLUSIONS: The apolipoprotein
      B/LDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein A1/HDL cholesterol ratios were the strongest
      predictors of the worsening of glycemia and incident type 2 diabetes,
      respectively.

PMID- 25818854
TI  - Basilar plaque on high-resolution MRI predicts progressive motor deficits after
      pontine infarction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The association between progressive motor deficits (PMD) in acute
      pontine infarction and basilar stenosis is unclear. High resolution MRI (HRMRI)
      is an emerging tool for basilar artery evaluation and might provide more accurate
      information. We aimed to analyze the association between basilar plaque assessed
      by HRMRI and PMD after acute pontine infarction. METHODS: We identified
      consecutive patients with unilateral pontine infarction within 24 h of stroke
      onset. All the patients underwent diffusion weighted MRI, MR angiography and
      HRMRI within 24 h of admission. PMD was defined as an increase in National
      Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score by >=1 during hospitalization. Factors
      potentially associated with PMD were validated by multivariate analyses. RESULTS:
      Of a total of 87 patients, 63 (72%) had paramedian pontine infarction (PPI) and
      PMD was observed in 28 (32%) patients. Apparent basilar plaque assessed by HRMRI
      was more frequent in those with PMD than in those without PMD (52% versus 33%,
      p<0.001). In contrast, the frequency of basilar stenosis (>30%) assessed by MR
      angiography was similar regardless of PMD. In the patients with PPI, PMD was
      associated with hypertension and apparent plaque on HRMRI. After adjusting
      covariates, PMD was independently associated with apparent plaque on HRMRI (OR,
      9.1; 95% CI 1.4-58.9). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that basilar plaque
      assessed by HRMRI is associated with PMD in patients with acute unilateral
      pontine infarction. Since basilar stenosis may be underestimated by MR
      angiography, HRMRI may provide additional information for predicting PMD and
      evaluating basilar artery stenosis.

PMID- 25818855
TI  - Parametric study to determine the effect of temperature on oil solidifier
      performance and the development of a new empirical correlation for predicting
      effectiveness.
AB  - Temperature can play a significant role in the efficacy of solidifiers in
      removing oil slicks on water. We studied and quantified the effect of temperature
      on the performance of several solidifiers using 5 different types of oils under a
      newly developed testing protocol by conducting experiments in constant
      temperature rooms set at 22 degrees C and 5 degrees C. The results indicated that
      solidifier efficiency decreased substantially at the lower temperature,
      especially at lower application rates. The removal efficiency of the solidifier
      was in general directly proportional to temperature, except for the heavier oils,
      where removal by attachment was observed. Solidifier products with lower powder
      bulk density exhibited the best removal effectiveness. Analysis of experimental
      data yielded empirical correlations involving certain operational variables such
      as application rate, temperature, solidifier property (bulk density), and oil
      property (viscosity). Regression analysis was used to fit a mathematical model to
      the experimental solidifier effectiveness data. 

PMID- 25818856
TI  - Changes in bioaccumulation and translocation patterns between root and leafs of
      Avicennia schaueriana as adaptive response to different levels of metals in
      mangrove system.
AB  - Espirito Santo estuaries (Brazil) are impacted by industrial activities,
      resulting in contamination of water and sediments. This raise questions on
      biological uptake, storage and consequences of metal contamination to mangrove
      plants. The goal of this work was evaluating accumulation and translocation of
      metals from sediment to roots and leaves of Avicennia schaueriana, growing in
      areas with different degrees of contamination, correlating bioaccumulation with
      changes in its root anatomy. Highest bioconcentration factors (BCFs) were
      observed in plants growing in less polluted areas. Conversely, highest
      translocation factors were found in plants from highest polluted area, evidencing
      an adaptive response of A. schaueriana to less favourable conditions. Namely, the
      absorption of metals by roots is diminished when facing highest levels of metals
      in the environment; alternatively, plants seem to enhance the translocation to
      diminish the concentration of toxic metals in roots. Root also responded to
      highly polluted scenarios with modifications of its anatomy. 

PMID- 25818857
TI  - Estimation of hydrogen sulfide removal efficiency with granulated coal ash
      applied to eutrophic marine sediment using a simplified simulation model.
AB  - Hydrogen sulfide generated in eutrophic marine sediment is harmful for living
      organisms. It is therefore necessary to remove hydrogen sulfide from the sediment
      to restore benthic ecosystems. Previous studies revealed that granulated coal
      ash, which is a by-product of coal thermal electric power stations, could remove
      and oxidize hydrogen sulfide. In this study, we propose a simplified simulation
      model to estimate the hydrogen sulfide removal efficiency of granulated coal ash.
      Hydrogen sulfide concentrations in eutrophic marine sediment pore water with and
      without the application of granulated coal ash were calculated by the proposed
      model, and the outputs were compared with semi-field or field observation data.
      The model outputs reproduced the observed data well. Using the proposed model
      outputs, we suggest an optimum application dosage of granulated coal ash for
      remediating eutrophic marine sediment. 

PMID- 25818860
TI  - Victimization Profiles, Non-Suicidal Self-Injury, Suicide Attempt, and Post
      Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptomology: Application of Latent Class Analysis.
AB  - Few studies have incorporated multiple dimensions of victimization or examined
      whether victimization profiles differ by gender. Consequently, the present study
      sought to extend prior research by using latent class analysis (LCA) to identify
      naturally occurring subgroups of individuals who have experienced victimization,
      and to test for sex differences. Data from 4,016 females and 3,032 males in the
      Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) were analyzed. Evidence of the
      existence of similar victimization subtypes for both males and females emerged,
      with a three-class solution providing the best fit to the data for both sexes.
      Furthermore, the classes were labeled "low victimization" (the baseline class;
      Class 3), the "high victimization class" (Class 1), and "the bullying and
      domestic violence class" (Class 2) for both males and females. Multinomial
      logistic regression was used to interpret the nature of the latent classes, or
      groups, by estimating the associations with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
      dimensions, suicide attempt, and non-suicidal self-injury. Although different
      constellations of victimization experiences did not emerge through the gender
      specific analyses, the nature of the associations between class membership and
      external variables differed between males and females. Findings highlight the
      heterogeneity of victimization experiences and their relations to functioning,
      and have implications for policy and practice implications.

PMID- 25818859
TI  - Physical activity as a determinant of fasting and 2-h post-challenge glucose: a
      prospective cohort analysis of the NAVIGATOR trial.
AB  - AIM: To investigate whether previous physical activity levels are associated with
      blood glucose levels in individuals with impaired glucose tolerance in the
      context of an international pharmaceutical trial. METHODS: Data were analysed
      from the NAVIGATOR trial, which involved 9306 individuals with impaired glucose
      tolerance and high cardiovascular risk from 40 different countries, recruited in
      the period 2002-2004. Fasting glucose, 2-h post-challenge glucose and physical
      activity (pedometer) were assessed annually. A longitudinal regression analysis
      was used to determine whether physical activity levels 2 years (t-2 ) and 1 year
      (t-1 ) previously were associated with levels of glucose, after adjusting for
      previous glucose levels and other patient characteristics. Those participants
      with four consecutive annual measures of glucose and two consecutive measures of
      physical activity were included in the analysis. RESULTS: The analysis included
      3964 individuals. Change in physical activity from t-2 to t-1 and activity levels
      at t-2 were both associated with 2-h glucose levels after adjustment for previous
      glucose levels and baseline characteristics; however, the associations were weak:
      a 100% increase in physical activity was associated with a 0.9% reduction in 2-h
      glucose levels. In addition, previous physical activity only explained an
      additional 0.05% of the variance in 2-h glucose over the variance explained by
      the history of 2-h glucose alone (R(2)  = 0.3473 vs. 0.3468). There was no
      association with fasting glucose. CONCLUSIONS: In the context of a large
      international clinical trial, previous physical activity levels did not
      meaningfully influence glucose levels in those with a high risk of chronic
      disease, after taking into account participants' previous trajectory of glucose
      control.

PMID- 25818861
TI  - Revisiting the Association Between Television Viewing in Adolescence and Contact
      With the Criminal Justice System in Adulthood.
AB  - A substantial number of previous studies have reported significant associations
      between television viewing habits and a host of detrimental outcomes including
      increased contact with the criminal justice system. However, it remains unclear
      whether the results flowing from this literature are generalizable to other
      samples and whether previously observed associations are confounded due to
      uncontrolled genetic influences. The current study addresses these limitations
      using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health).
      The results of the preliminary models, which do not include controls for genetic
      influences, produced a pattern of results similar to those previously reported in
      the extant literature. The results of the genetically informed models revealed
      that the associations between television viewing and antisocial outcomes are not
      causal, but rather are driven by uncontrolled genetic influences. Further
      replication is required, but these findings suggest that results drawn from the
      extant literature may not be trustworthy.

PMID- 25818858
TI  - Purifying Selection Maintains Dosage-Sensitive Genes during Degeneration of the
      Threespine Stickleback Y Chromosome.
AB  - Sex chromosomes are subject to unique evolutionary forces that cause suppression
      of recombination, leading to sequence degeneration and the formation of
      heteromorphic chromosome pairs (i.e., XY or ZW). Although progress has been made
      in characterizing the outcomes of these evolutionary processes on vertebrate sex
      chromosomes, it is still unclear how recombination suppression and sequence
      divergence typically occur and how gene dosage imbalances are resolved in the
      heterogametic sex. The threespine stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is a
      powerful model system to explore vertebrate sex chromosome evolution, as it
      possesses an XY sex chromosome pair at relatively early stages of
      differentiation. Using a combination of whole-genome and transcriptome
      sequencing, we characterized sequence evolution and gene expression across the
      sex chromosomes. We uncovered two distinct evolutionary strata that correspond
      with known structural rearrangements on the Y chromosome. In the oldest stratum,
      only a handful of genes remain, and these genes are under strong purifying
      selection. By comparing sex-linked gene expression with expression of autosomal
      orthologs in an outgroup, we show that dosage compensation has not evolved in
      threespine sticklebacks through upregulation of the X chromosome in males.
      Instead, in the oldest stratum, the genes that still possess a Y chromosome
      allele are enriched for genes predicted to be dosage sensitive in mammals and
      yeast. Our results suggest that dosage imbalances may have been avoided at
      haploinsufficient genes by retaining function of the Y chromosome allele through
      strong purifying selection. 

PMID- 25818862
TI  - Non-Homicidal and Homicidal Sexual Offenders: Prevalence of Maladaptive
      Personality Traits and Paraphilic Behaviors.
AB  - This study aims to examine the psychopathological profile of non-homicidal sexual
      offenders (NHSOs) and homicidal sexual offenders (HSOs). Using an incarcerated
      sample of 96 NHSOs and 74 HSOs in a federal penitentiary in Canada, these
      offenders are compared in terms of their offending process, maladaptive
      personality traits, and paraphilic behaviors. A number of cross-tabular and
      sequential logistic regression analyses are performed. Relative to their
      counterpart, findings indicate that a higher percentage of HSOs select a victim
      of choice, report deviant sexual fantasies, mutilate their victim, and admit to
      their offense upon apprehension, whereas a higher percentage of NHSOs select
      victims with distinctive characteristics. In addition, a higher percentage of
      HSOs manifest paranoid, schizotypal, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic,
      obsessive-compulsive, and impulsive personality traits, and overall odd and
      eccentric personality traits compared with NHSOs. Similarly, a higher percentage
      of HSOs engage in exhibitionism, fetishism, frotteurism, homosexual pedophilia,
      sexual masochism, and partialism compared with NHSO. These findings are discussed
      with their implications for offender profiling.

PMID- 25818863
TI  - Parameter estimation methods for gene circuit modeling from time-series mRNA
      data: a comparative study.
AB  - Parameter estimation is a challenging computational problem in the reverse
      engineering of biological systems. Because advances in biotechnology have
      facilitated wide availability of time-series gene expression data, systematic
      parameter estimation of gene circuit models from such time-series mRNA data has
      become an important method for quantitatively dissecting the regulation of gene
      expression. By focusing on the modeling of gene circuits, we examine here the
      performance of three types of state-of-the-art parameter estimation methods:
      population-based methods, online methods and model-decomposition-based methods.
      Our results show that certain population-based methods are able to generate high
      quality parameter solutions. The performance of these methods, however, is
      heavily dependent on the size of the parameter search space, and their
      computational requirements substantially increase as the size of the search space
      increases. In comparison, online methods and model decomposition-based methods
      are computationally faster alternatives and are less dependent on the size of the
      search space. Among other things, our results show that a hybrid approach that
      augments computationally fast methods with local search as a subsequent
      refinement procedure can substantially increase the quality of their parameter
      estimates to the level on par with the best solution obtained from the population
      based methods while maintaining high computational speed. These suggest that such
      hybrid methods can be a promising alternative to the more commonly used
      population-based methods for parameter estimation of gene circuit models when
      limited prior knowledge about the underlying regulatory mechanisms makes the size
      of the parameter search space vastly large. 

PMID- 25818865
TI  - Site-specific migration of human fetal melanocytes in volar skin.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Melanocytes originate from the neural crest and migrate ventrally
      from the dorsal neural tube during embryogenesis. How human melanocytes locate at
      their suitable positions during embryogenesis, however, is unclear. Although a
      growing body of evidence indicates that melanocytes, melanoblasts, and melanocyte
      stem cells are closely related to hair follicles, little is known about volar
      skin. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to observe skin development during
      human fetal period and clarify the site-specific migration process of human fetal
      sole melanocytes. METHODS: We obtained 4-mm punch biopsies from the scalp, back,
      abdomen, and right sole of 36 aborted fetuses (gestational age 12-21 weeks). We
      compared the migration process between hairly areas and volar areas by
      immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical examination revealed
      that gp100 (HMB-45) sensitively detects human melanocytes in embryogenesis.
      Melanocytes were present at the epidermal base, where hair placodes/buds form at
      12-15 weeks gestation. Fetal melanocytes in hair follicles are supplied from the
      epidermis. In volar skin, melanocytes originally localize only in the
      acrosyringium, where they migrate deeper into with gland development at 16-18
      weeks gestation. Palmoplantar melanocyte migration and maturation processes
      differ considerably from those of the other hairy skin sites. CONCLUSION: Eccrine
      sweat glands seem to have a central role in the palmoplantar melanocyte migration
      process, similar to the role of hair follicles in hairy sites.

PMID- 25818864
TI  - Codification of bidentate pMHC interaction with TCR and its co-receptor.
AB  - A 1983 Immunology Today rostrum hypothesized that each T cell has two recognition
      units: a T cell receptor (TCR) complex, which binds antigen associated with a
      polymorphic region of a MHC molecule (pMHC), and a CD4 or CD8 molecule that binds
      to a conserved region of that same MHC gene product (class II or I,
      respectively). Structural biology has since precisely revealed those bidentate
      pMHC interactions. TCRalphabeta ligates the membrane-distal antigen-binding MHC
      platform, whereas CD8 clamps a membrane-proximal MHCI alpha3 domain loop and CD4
      docks to a hydrophobic crevice between MHCII alpha2 and beta2 domains. Here, we
      review how MHC class-restricted binding impacts signaling and lineage commitment,
      discussing TCR force-driven conformational transitions that may optimally expose
      the co-receptor docking site on MHC. 

PMID- 25818866
TI  - Evaluation of tissue hemoglobin saturation (StO2) using near-infrared
      spectroscopy during hypoxemia and hyperoxemia in Beagle dogs.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between tissue oxygen saturation (StO2)
      and oxygen delivery (DO2) during hypoxemia and hyperoxemia. STUDY DESIGN:
      Prospective, randomized study. ANIMALS: Eight purpose-bred Beagle dogs. METHODS:
      Dogs were anesthetized with isoflurane, ventilated to eucapnia, and instrumented
      for thermodilution cardiac output, invasive mean arterial pressure (MAP),
      sartorius muscle StO2 and airway gas monitoring. Dogs were administered
      rocuronium to facilitate mechanical ventilation and esmolol to minimize
      anesthetic effects on cardiac output. Instrumentation and baseline data
      collection were at 0.21 fractional inspired oxygen (FIO2). Dogs were evaluated at
      high (0.40 then 0.95) and low (0.15 then 0.10) FIO2 sequences in random order
      with a 60 minute rest period at FIO2 0.21 between sequences. Target FIO2 was
      achieved by manipulating nitrogen and oxygen flow rates. Data collected at each
      FIO2, after a 10 minute period of stabilization, included heart rate (HR), MAP,
      cardiac index (CI) and StO2. Arterial oxygen content (CaO2) and oxygen delivery
      index (DO2I) were calculated at each FIO2. Data analysis included Pearson's
      correlation analysis and mixed-model anova (p < 0.05). RESULTS: There were no
      significant differences in HR, MAP or CI across all FIO2 values. Significant
      decreases occurred in mean +/- standard deviation StO2 (90 +/- 4% to 69 +/- 18%;
      p = 0.0001), DO2I (458 +/- 70 to 281 +/- 100 mL minute(-1) m(-2); p = 0.0008) and
      CaO2 (13.2 +/- 1.53 to 8.4 +/- 2.05 mL dL(-1); p = 0.0001) from FIO2 0.21 to
      0.10, but not at remaining FIO2 values. The correlation between StO2 and DO2I
      across all FIO2 values was strong (r = 0.97; p = 0.0013) and linear. CONCLUSIONS
      AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: In this model of hypoxemia and hyperoxemia, the strong
      correlation between StO2 and DO2I suggests that StO2 can be used to estimate DO2.

PMID- 25818867
TI  - Adult-onset painful axonal polyneuropathy caused by a dominant NAGLU mutation.
AB  - Late-onset painful sensory neuropathies are usually acquired conditions
      associated with common diseases. Adult presentations of known hereditary forms
      are often accompanied by other organ involvement. We recruited a large French
      Canadian family with a dominantly inherited late-onset painful sensory
      neuropathy. The main clinical feature is recurrent leg pain that progresses to
      constant painful paraesthesias in the feet and later the hands. As it evolves,
      some patients develop a mild sensory ataxia. We selected four affected
      individuals for whole exome sequencing. Analysis of rare variants shared by all
      cases led to a list of four candidate variants. Segregation analysis in all 45
      recruited individuals has shown that only the p.Ile403Thr variant in the alpha-N
      acetyl-glucosaminidase (NAGLU) gene segregates with the disease. Recessive NAGLU
      mutations cause the severe childhood lysosomal disease mucopolysacharidosis IIIB.
      Family members carrying the mutation showed a significant decrease of the
      enzymatic function (average 45%). The late-onset and variable severity of the
      symptoms may have precluded the description of such symptoms in parents of
      mucopolysaccharidosis IIIB cases. The identification of a dominant phenotype
      associated with a NAGLU mutation supports that some carriers of lysosomal enzyme
      mutations may develop later in life much milder phenotypes. 

PMID- 25818868
TI  - An ImmunoChip study of multiple sclerosis risk in African Americans.
AB  - The aims of this study were: (i) to determine to what degree multiple sclerosis
      associated loci discovered in European populations also influence susceptibility
      in African Americans; (ii) to assess the extent to which the unique linkage
      disequilibrium patterns in African Americans can contribute to localizing the
      functionally relevant regions or genes; and (iii) to search for novel African
      American multiple sclerosis-associated loci. Using the ImmunoChip custom array we
      genotyped 803 African American cases with multiple sclerosis and 1516 African
      American control subjects at 130 135 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms.
      We conducted association analysis with rigorous adjustments for population
      stratification and admixture. Of the 110 non-major histocompatibility complex
      multiple sclerosis-associated variants identified in Europeans, 96 passed
      stringent quality control in our African American data set and of these, >70%
      (69) showed over-representation of the same allele amongst cases, including 21
      with nominally significant evidence for association (one-tailed test P < 0.05).
      At a further eight loci we found nominally significant association with an
      alternate correlated risk-tagging single nucleotide polymorphism from the same
      region. Outside the regions known to be associated in Europeans, we found seven
      potentially associated novel candidate multiple sclerosis variants (P < 10(-4)),
      one of which (rs2702180) also showed nominally significant evidence for
      association (one-tailed test P = 0.034) in an independent second cohort of 620
      African American cases and 1565 control subjects. However, none of these novel
      associations reached genome-wide significance (combined P = 6.3 * 10(-5)). Our
      data demonstrate substantial overlap between African American and European
      multiple sclerosis variants, indicating common genetic contributions to multiple
      sclerosis risk. 

PMID- 25818869
TI  - Shared dimensions of performance and activation dysfunction in cognitive control
      in females with mood disorders.
AB  - Major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder share symptoms that may reflect
      core mood disorder features. This has led to the pursuit of intermediate
      phenotypes and a dimensional approach to understand neurobiological disruptions
      in mood disorders. Executive dysfunction, including cognitive control, may
      represent a promising intermediate phenotype across major depressive disorder and
      bipolar disorder. This study examined dimensions of cognitive control in women
      with major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder in comparison to healthy
      control subjects using two separate, consecutive experiments. For Experiment 1,
      participants completed a behavioural cognitive control task (healthy controls =
      150, major depressive disorder = 260, bipolar disorder = 202; age range 17-84
      years). A sample of those participants (healthy controls = 17, major depressive
      disorder = 19, and bipolar disorder = 16) completed a similar cognitive control
      task in an event-related design functional magnetic resonance imaging protocol
      for Experiment 2. Results for Experiment 1 showed greater impairments on the
      cognitive control task in patients with mood disorders relative to healthy
      controls (P < 0.001), with more of those in the mood disorder group falling into
      the 'impaired' range when using clinical cut-offs (<5th percentile). Experiment 2
      revealed only a few areas of shared activation differences in mood disorder
      greater than healthy controls. Activation analyses using performance as a
      regressor, irrespective of diagnosis, revealed within and extra-network areas
      that were more active in poor performers. In summary, performance and activation
      during cognitive control tasks may represent an intermediate phenotype for mood
      disorders. However, cognitive control dysfunction is not uniform across women
      with mood disorders, and activation is linked to performance more so than
      disease. These findings support subtype and dimensional approaches to
      understanding risk and expression of mood disorders and are a promising area of
      inquiry, in line with the Research Domain Criteria initiative of NIMH. 

PMID- 25818871
TI  - Asymmetrical dimethylarginine promotes the senescence of human skin fibroblasts
      via the activation of a reactive oxygen species-p38 MAPK-microRNA-138 pathway.

PMID- 25818870
TI  - Structural and functional MRI abnormalities of cerebellar cortex and nuclei in
      SCA3, SCA6 and Friedreich's ataxia.
AB  - Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3, spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 and Friedreich's
      ataxia are common hereditary ataxias. Different patterns of atrophy of the
      cerebellar cortex are well known. Data on cerebellar nuclei are sparse. Whereas
      cerebellar nuclei have long been thought to be preserved in spinocerebellar
      ataxia type 6, histology shows marked atrophy of the nuclei in Friedreich's
      ataxia and spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. In the present study susceptibility
      weighted imaging was used to assess atrophy of the cerebellar nuclei in patients
      with spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (n = 12, age range 41-76 years, five female),
      Friedreich's ataxia (n = 12, age range 21-55 years, seven female),
      spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (n = 10, age range 34-67 years, three female), and
      age- and gender-matched controls (total n = 23, age range 22-75 years, 10
      female). T1-weighted magnetic resonance images were used to calculate the volume
      of the cerebellum. In addition, ultra-high field functional magnetic resonance
      imaging was performed with optimized normalization methods to assess function of
      the cerebellar cortex and nuclei during simple hand movements. As expected, the
      volume of the cerebellum was markedly reduced in spinocerebellar ataxia type 6,
      preserved in Friedreich's ataxia, and mildy reduced in spinocerebellar ataxia
      type 3. The volume of the cerebellar nuclei was reduced in the three patient
      groups compared to matched controls (P-values < 0.05; two-sample t-tests).
      Atrophy of the cerebellar nuclei was most pronounced in spinocerebellar ataxia
      type 6. On a functional level, hand-movement-related cerebellar activation was
      altered in all three disorders. Within the cerebellar cortex, functional magnetic
      resonance imaging signal was significantly reduced in spinocerebellar ataxia type
      6 and Friedreich's ataxia compared to matched controls (P-values < 0.001,
      bootstrap-corrected cluster-size threshold; two-sample t-tests). The difference
      missed significance in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. Within the cerebellar
      nuclei, reductions were significant when comparing spinocerebellar ataxia type 6
      and Friedreich's ataxia to matched controls (P < 0.01, bootstrap-corrected
      cluster-size threshold; two-sample t-tests). Susceptibility weighted imaging
      allowed depiction of atrophy of the cerebellar nuclei in patients with
      Friedreich's ataxia and spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. In spinocerebellar ataxia
      type 6, pathology was not restricted to the cerebellar cortex but also involved
      the cerebellar nuclei. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data, on the other
      hand, revealed that pathology in Friedreich's ataxia and spinocerebellar ataxia
      type 3 is not restricted to the cerebellar nuclei. There was functional
      involvement of the cerebellar cortex despite no or little structural changes. 

PMID- 25818872
TI  - ADAM protease inhibitors reduce melanogenesis by regulating PMEL17 processing in
      human melanocytes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: ADAMs (a disintegrin and metalloprotease) are a family of proteases
      involved in ectodomain shedding that play a role in various biological processes
      such as cell adhesion and migration. ADAM10 and ADAM17 are suggested to be
      involved in pigmentary disorders. OBJECTIVE: We examined the effect of ADAM
      protease inhibitors on the modulation of melanogenesis in normal human epidermal
      melanocytes (NHEM). METHODS: NHEMs and B16F10 treated with ADAM protease
      inhibitors were analyzed. AlamarBlue cell proliferation assay, melanin content
      assay, tyrosinase activity assay, Western blotting analysis, electron microscopic
      analysis, and RNA interference were employed. RESULTS: In NHEMs, melanin content
      was reduced by treatment with ADAM protease inhibitors. The inhibitors did not
      change the protein expression of tyrosinase, TRP-1, and MITF. In B16F10 cells,
      treatment of the cells with ADAM protease inhibitor diminished the alpha-MSH
      induced increase in melanin content. Electron microscopy showed that the number
      of fibrillar and mature melanosomes was significantly reduced and that the
      vacuolar compartments were filled with dense unstructured aggregates after
      treatment with ADAM protease inhibitors. We therefore focused on the processing
      of PMEL17, a melanosomal glycoprotein that forms a fibrillar matrix on which
      melanin gets deposited. Proteolytic processing of PMEL17 is required to form
      functional fibrils during melanogenesis. Recently, gamma-secretase and beta-site
      amyloid precursor protein-cleaving enzyme 2 (BACE2) were found to cleave PMEL17.
      We found that ADAM protease inhibitors exerted effects on the processing of C
      terminal and N-terminal fragments of PMEL17. Using BACE2 siRNA and gamma
      secretase inhibitor, we showed that ADAM protease inhibitor affected PMEL17
      processing in a gamma-secretase and BACE2-independent mechanism. CONCLUSION:
      Several proteases, including ADAM proteases, can contribute to the formation of
      fibrils and their assembly into sheets in melanosomes.

PMID- 25818873
TI  - Comparison of the 2007 and 2013 ASCO/CAP evaluation systems for HER2
      amplification in breast cancer.
AB  - It has been proven that chromosome 17 centromere (CEP17) amplification causes
      misleading human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) gene fluorescence in
      situ hybridization (FISH) results, precluding anti-HER2-based therapy in some
      patients with breast carcinoma. We used the 2013 American Society of Clinical
      Oncology/College of American Pathologists (ASCO/CAP) scoring criteria to evaluate
      HER2 amplification status in 175 cases of breast carcinoma with chromosome 17
      polysomy. We used immunohistochemistry (IHC) to determine the HER2 amplification
      status, and 2-color FISH to detect CEP17, and reviewed the results of initial
      evaluation using the 2007 ASCO/CAP criteria. Of the 175 cases, 17, 95, and 63
      were IHC 0/1+, 2+, and 3+, respectively. Evaluation of IHC HER2 status according
      to the 2013 ASCO/CAP criteria identified significantly more HER2-positive cases
      compared to cases evaluated using the 2007 criteria (p<0.05). When the FISH
      results were evaluated in parallel with the 2013 criteria, we found that 22 cases
      were not HER2-negative despite the presence of polysomy 17, which, according to
      the 2013 criteria, indicates HER2-positive status. Our findings indicate that in
      breast carcinoma, HER2 status in the presence of polysomy 17 may vary with the
      scoring criteria used. In turn, performing FISH and evaluating samples using the
      2013 ASCO/CAP criteria means that more patients with breast cancer may be
      appropriate for targeted treatment with trastuzumab, potentially improving their
      outcome. 

PMID- 25818876
TI  - Sex differences in cognitive training effects of patients with amnestic mild
      cognitive impairment.
AB  - Cognitive training has been shown to be effective in improving cognitive
      functions in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). However, data on
      factors that may influence training gains including sociodemographic variables
      such as sex or age is rare. In this study, the impact of sex on cognitive
      training effects was examined in N = 32 age- and education-matched female (n =
      16) and male (n = 16) amnestic MCI patients (total sample: age M = 74.97, SD =
      5.21; education M = 13.50, SD = 3.11). Patients participated in a six-week
      multidomain cognitive training program including 12 sessions each 90 min twice
      weekly in mixed groups with both women and men. Various cognitive domains were
      assessed before and after the intervention. Despite comparable baseline
      performance in women and men, we found significant interaction effects Time * Sex
      in immediate (p = .04) and delayed verbal episodic memory (p= .045) as well as in
      working memory (p = .042) favoring the female MCI patients. In contrast, the
      overall analyses with the total sample did not reveal any significant within
      subject effects Time. In conclusion, our results give preliminary evidence for
      stronger cognitive training improvements of female compared to male MCI patients.
      More generally, they emphasize the importance of sex-sensitive evaluations of
      cognitive training effects. Possible underlying mechanisms of the found sex
      differences are discussed and directions for future research are given.

PMID- 25818877
TI  - Both sides of the couch: a qualitative exploration of the experiences of female
      healthcare professionals returning to work after treatment for cancer.
AB  - The aim was to explore the experiences of healthcare professionals (HCPs) who had
      treatment for cancer and then returned to work. The intention was to identify how
      HCPs' experiences differed to those of the general public with cancer, and also
      to explore how HCPs were reintegrated into the workplace following treatment. An
      interpretive phenomenological approach was employed and conversational interviews
      were undertaken with 13 women volunteers from a variety of healthcare disciplines
      including nursing, midwifery, social work, physiotherapy, radiography and general
      practice. During analysis 59 categories were constructed which were accommodated
      within 14 themes; six of which are reported here. Participants used knowledge to
      make sense of their diagnosis, severity and extent of cancer. Several
      participants covertly accessed their medical records to find out more about their
      clinical condition. Familiarity with both the environment and oncology personnel
      resulted in benefits and disadvantage in equal measure. Managers responded to
      participants' return to work in a variety of ways, and involvement of
      Occupational Health Departments was inconsistent. Healthcare professionals had
      distinctly unique experiences because of being patient and provider, and each
      made personal decisions about sharing their cancer experiences with patients. 

PMID- 25818878
TI  - Using physiology to guide time to cord clamping.
AB  - Immediate clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord at birth has been the
      accepted standard of care for decades. The physiologic rationale relating
      umbilical cord clamping (UCC) to the events of the circulatory transition is not
      considered in arbitrarily recommended cord clamping times. Systematic review of
      early versus deferred UCC shows significant hemodynamic benefits to the deferred
      group. Mechanisms for this protective effect are considered in this review. The
      original concept of a placental transfusion with a volume load and prevention of
      low cardiac output relies on the physiological end point of the amount of blood
      transfused. The newer concept of an ordered physiological transition is
      increasingly supported. This model places aeration of the lungs and an increase
      in pulmonary blood flow back at the centre of the circulatory transition with
      timing of UCC being related to establishment of respiration. The need for
      "physiologically based" UCC is discussed. 

PMID- 25818879
TI  - Hemodynamic antecedents of peri/intraventricular hemorrhage in very preterm
      neonates.
AB  - Novel hemodynamic monitoring technologies have contributed to the understanding
      of developmental cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology in general, and of
      developmental hemodynamics in particular. Hemodynamic disturbances play a
      significant role in the pathogenesis of peri/intraventricular hemorrhage (P/IVH)
      in preterm infants. Immaturity of the myocardium, delayed and incomplete
      cardiopulmonary transition, sustained patency of the ductus arteriosus, and
      unintended consequences of respiratory and cardiovascular supportive care are all
      likely to be involved in the presentation of low cardiac output syndrome and
      decreased organ blood flow in a large number of very preterm neonates
      (gestational age <=28 weeks). Forebrain vessels in very preterm infants may not
      have achieved a "high-priority vasculature" status at the time of delivery; in
      these patients, forebrain perfusion is not protected during the compensated phase
      of shock. Reperfusion may be attenuated by the careful use of medications
      decreasing cerebrovascular reactivity, thus providing a potential target for the
      development of careful pharmacological support of transitional hemodynamics in
      selected patients at high risk for the development of P/IVH. 

PMID- 25818880
TI  - Synthesis of disubstituted dithioethers: tert-butoxide promoted elimination/ring
      opening of 1,3-dithianes followed by palladium-catalyzed C-S bond formation.
AB  - We report the tandem base-promoted elimination/ring-opening of 2-benzyl-1,3
      dithianes with subsequent cross coupling of the pendent thiol with a range of
      aryl bromides. A simple Pd(OAc)2/Xantphos catalyst system affects this new
      reaction and is compatible with a wide range of functional groups, including
      heteroaromatic coupling partners. The transformation proceeds in good to
      excellent yields (69-99%) and exhibits strong stereoselectivity, forming the E
      alkene as the major diastereomer. This new methodology provides access to
      nonsymmetric propylene styryl/aryl dithioethers, a previously undisclosed motif. 

PMID- 25818882
TI  - Conflicting reports on vitamin D supplementation: Evidence from randomized
      controlled trials.
AB  - A significant number of children and adolescents worldwide have low serum 25(OH)D
      values relative to the 2010 Institute of Medicine criteria. Since approximately
      90% of adult bone mineral content (BMC) is accrued by the end of adolescence, and
      approximately 40% of adult BMC accumulated during the 4 years surrounding peak
      BMC velocity, low circulating 25(OH)D during this time may attenuate gains in
      adolescent bone strength. Reduced bone mineralization and strength during
      pubertal growth tracks into adulthood and could lead to an increased risk of
      skeletal fractures. Observational studies examining the relationships between
      vitamin D and bone are conflicting and few randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
      have been conducted in children and adolescents. Four of these RCTs, however,
      provide moderate support for the role of vitamin D supplementation on BMC accrual
      in adolescent females with baseline serum concentrations <50 nmol/L. Though the
      daily vitamin D doses employed in these trials ranged from 200 to 3000 IU per
      day, it is not clear if a dose-response effect exists. Specific maturational
      stages were associated with optimal bone responses in each of these trials, but
      they were not consistent across studies. Furthermore, data on male children and
      among ethnicities other than white and Asian youth were limited in these studies
      and therefore reduce the generalizability of the findings. Finally, the evidence
      linking vitamin D supplementation to improved muscle gains and function,
      important variables to consider in bone health investigations during growth,
      might imply indirect effects of supplementation on bone. In conclusion, future
      RCTs are warranted that address the mechanisms by which vitamin D improves bone
      mineralization in adolescents, including trials that address the impact of
      vitamin D on muscle function.

PMID- 25818883
TI  - Autophagy in adipose tissue of patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pathophysiology of obesity is closely associated with enhanced
      autophagy in adipose tissue (AT). Autophagic process can promote survival or
      activate cell death. Therefore, we examine the occurrence of autophagy in AT of
      type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients in comparison to obese and lean individuals
      without diabetes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Numerous autophagosomes
      accumulated within adipocytes were visualized by electron transmission microscopy
      and by immunofluorescence staining for autophagy marker LC3 in obese and T2D
      patients. Increased autophagy was demonstrated by higher LC3-II/LC3-I ratio, up
      regulated expression of LC3 and Atg5 mRNA, along with decreased p62 and mTOR
      protein levels. Increased autophagy occurred together with AT inflammation.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest fat depot-related differences in autophagy
      regulation. In subcutaneous AT, increased autophagy is accompanied by increased
      markers of apoptosis in patients with obesity independently of T2D. In contrast,
      in visceral AT only in T2D patients increased autophagy was related to higher
      markers of apoptosis.

PMID- 25818881
TI  - Translocator protein-mediated pharmacology of cholesterol transport and
      steroidogenesis.
AB  - Steroidogenesis begins with cholesterol transfer into mitochondria through the
      transduceosome, a complex composed of cytosolic proteins that include
      steroidogenesis acute regulatory protein (STAR), 14-3-3 adaptor proteins, and the
      outer mitochondrial membrane proteins Translocator Protein (TSPO) and Voltage
      Dependent Anion Channel (VDAC). TSPO is a drug- and cholesterol-binding protein
      found at particularly high levels in steroid synthesizing cells. Its aberrant
      expression has been linked to cancer, neurodegeneration, neuropsychiatric
      disorders and primary hypogonadism. Brain steroids serve as local regulators of
      neural development and excitability. Reduced levels of these steroids have been
      linked to depression, anxiety and neurodegeneration. Reduced serum testosterone
      is common among subfertile young men and aging men, and is associated with
      depression, metabolic syndrome and reduced sexual function. Although testosterone
      replacement therapy is available, there are undesired side-effects. TSPO drug
      ligands have been proposed as therapeutic agents to regulate steroid levels in
      the brain and testis. 

PMID- 25818885
TI  - Predictors of HbA1c over 4 years in people with type 2 diabetes starting insulin
      therapies: The CREDIT study.
AB  - AIMS: To identify factors associated with glucose control, as measured by HbA1c
      over 4 years, in people with type 2 diabetes starting insulin therapy. METHODS:
      CREDIT, an observational cohort study, collected data semi-annually over 4 years,
      on people with type 2 diabetes starting any insulin, in 311 centres in 12
      countries; 2803 people had data on HbA1c during follow-up. Multivariable backward
      regression analysis selected characteristics associated with glycaemic control
      from a limited number of candidate variables. RESULTS: Before starting insulin
      therapy, HbA1c was 9.3% (78 mmol/mol) and decreased to 7.6% (60 mmol/mol) after 1
      year, and changed little after that. Insulin dose increased from 0.21 U/kg to
      0.36 U/kg at 1 year, and then by 0.10 U/kg over the next 3 years. Body weight
      increased by 2.0 kg in the first year and increased little thereafter. Poorer
      glycaemic control over the 4 years was mainly determined by the HbA1c before
      starting therapy, after accounting for the other statistically significant
      associated variables in multivariable analysis: higher BMI, younger age, longer
      diabetes duration, more glucose-lowering drugs, using basal insulin alone, higher
      insulin dose and female sex. At 4 years, a higher current insulin dose was the
      characteristic most strongly associated with a higher concurrent HbA1c.
      CONCLUSIONS: HbA1c at the start of insulin therapy was the characteristic most
      predictive of later HbA1c, after accounting for other variables associated with
      HbA1c. This may provide some justification for earlier insulin introduction to
      improve glucose control to target.

PMID- 25818884
TI  - Knockout of the transcription factor Nrf2: Effects on testosterone production by
      aging mouse Leydig cells.
AB  - Aging in rodents and men is associated with reduced serum levels of testosterone
      and Leydig cell testosterone productions. To further investigate the mechanism by
      which Leydig cell testosterone production declines, the effect of knocking out
      Nrf2, a master regulator of phase 2 antioxidant genes, was examined. In wild-type
      mice, testosterone production and serum testosterone levels remained unchanged
      through middle age (8 months), but then were reduced significantly by old age (21
      24 months). In contrast, serum testosterone levels and Leydig cell testosterone
      production were reduced significantly in the Nrf2-/- mice as early as middle age,
      and were reduced further in the aged mice. Reduced steroidogenesis in the
      knockout mice was associated with reduced antioxidant capacity, and increased
      expression of protein nitrotyrosine residues, a marker of ROS. These results
      support the hypothesis that, over time, increases in oxidative stress contribute
      to or cause the reduced testosterone production that characterizes Leydig cell
      aging. 

PMID- 25818887
TI  - Supercritical fluid chromatography in pharmaceutical analysis.
AB  - In the last few years, there has been a resurgence of supercritical fluid
      chromatography (SFC), which has been stimulated by the introduction of a new
      generation of instruments and columns from the main providers of chromatographic
      instrumentation, that are strongly committed to advancing the technology. The
      known limitations of SFC, such as weak UV sensitivity, limited reliability and
      poor quantitative performance have been mostly tackled with these advanced
      instruments. In addition, due to the obvious benefits of SFC in terms of kinetic
      performance and its complementarity to LC, advanced packed-column SFC represents
      today an additional strategy in the toolbox of the analytical scientist, which
      may be particularly interesting in pharmaceutical analysis. In the present
      review, the instrumentation and experimental conditions (i.e. stationary phase
      chemistry and dimensions, mobile phase nature, pressure and temperature) to
      perform "advanced SFC" are discussed. The applicability of SFC in pharmaceutical
      analysis, including the determination of drugs in formulations and biofluids is
      critically discussed. 

PMID- 25818886
TI  - Association between metabolic syndrome and lung function in middle-aged and
      elderly Chinese individuals.
AB  - Subjects with metabolic syndrome (MetS) had lower FVC and FEV1 than non-MetS
      subjects and decreased gradually with the increasing number of MetS components.
      After adjusting for potential risk factors, the lowest quartile of FVC and FEV1
      was associated with increased risk of MetS. 

PMID- 25818888
TI  - Supplementation with complex milk lipids during brain development promotes
      neuroplasticity without altering myelination or vascular density.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Supplementation with complex milk lipids (CML) during postnatal brain
      development has been shown to improve spatial reference learning in rats.
      OBJECTIVE: The current study examined histo-biological changes in the brain
      following CML supplementation and their relationship to the observed improvements
      in memory. DESIGN: The study used the brain tissues from the rats (male Wistar,
      80 days of age) after supplementing with either CML or vehicle during postnatal
      day 10-80. Immunohistochemical staining of synaptophysin, glutamate receptor-1,
      myelin basic protein, isolectin B-4, and glial fibrillary acidic protein was
      performed. The average area and the density of the staining and the numbers of
      astrocytes and capillaries were assessed and analysed. RESULTS: Compared with
      control rats, CML supplementation increased the average area of synaptophysin
      staining and the number of GFAP astrocytes in the CA3 sub-region of the
      hippocampus (p<0.01), but not in the CA4 sub-region. The supplementation also led
      to an increase in dopamine output in the striatum that was related to nigral
      dopamine expression (p<0.05), but did not alter glutamate receptors, myelination
      or vascular density. CONCLUSION: CML supplementation may enhance neuroplasticity
      in the CA3 sub-regions of the hippocampus. The brain regions-specific increase of
      astrocyte may indicate a supporting role for GFAP in synaptic plasticity. CML
      supplementation did not associate with postnatal white matter development or
      vascular remodelling.

PMID- 25818889
TI  - Nutrition labelling, marketing techniques, nutrition claims and health claims on
      chip and biscuit packages from sixteen countries.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Food packages were objectively assessed to explore differences in
      nutrition labelling, selected promotional marketing techniques and health and
      nutrition claims between countries, in comparison to national regulations.
      DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Chip and sweet biscuit packages were collected
      from sixteen countries at different levels of economic development in the EPOCH
      (Environmental Profile of a Community's Health) study between 2008 and 2010.
      SUBJECTS: Seven hundred and thirty-seven food packages were systematically
      evaluated for nutrition labelling, selected promotional marketing techniques
      relevant to nutrition and health, and health and nutrition claims. We compared
      pack labelling in countries with labelling regulations, with voluntary
      regulations and no regulations. RESULTS: Overall 86 % of the packages had
      nutrition labels, 30 % had health or nutrition claims and 87 % displayed selected
      marketing techniques. On average, each package displayed two marketing techniques
      and one health or nutrition claim. In countries with mandatory nutrition
      labelling a greater proportion of packages displayed nutrition labels, had more
      of the seven required nutrients present, more total nutrients listed and higher
      readability compared with those with voluntary or no regulations. Countries with
      no health or nutrition claim regulations had fewer claims per package compared
      with countries with regulations. CONCLUSIONS: Nutrition label regulations were
      associated with increased prevalence and quality of nutrition labels. Health and
      nutrition claim regulations were unexpectedly associated with increased use of
      claims, suggesting that current regulations may not have the desired effect of
      protecting consumers. Of concern, lack of regulation was associated with
      increased promotional marketing techniques directed at children and misleadingly
      promoting broad concepts of health.

PMID- 25818890
TI  - Radiographic Detectability of Retained Neuropatties in a Cadaver Model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Counts are the commonest method used to ensure that all sponges and
      neuropatties are removed from a surgical site before closure. When the count is
      not reconciled, plain radiographs of the operative site are taken to determine
      whether the missing patty has been left in the wound. The purpose of this study
      was to describe the detectability of commonly used neuropatties in the clinical
      setting using digital technologies. METHODS: Neuropatties were implanted into the
      anterior and posterior cranial fossae and the thoracolumbar extradural space of a
      mature male cadaver. Four neuropatty sizes were used: 3 * 1 in, 2 * 1/2 in, 1/2 *
      1/2 in, and 1/4 * 1/4 in. Neuropatties, with size and location chosen at random,
      were placed in the surgical sites and anteroposterior/posterior-anterior and
      lateral radiographs were taken using standard portable digital radiographic
      equipment. Six clinicians reviewed the digital images for the presence or absence
      of neuropatties. The readers were not aware of the number and size of the patties
      that were included in each image. RESULTS: The detectability of neuropatties is
      dependent on the size of the neuropatty's radiopaque marker and the operative
      site. Neuropatties measuring 2 * 1/2 in and 3 * 1 in were detected reliably
      regardless of the operative site. 1/4 * 1/4 in neuropatties were poorly detected
      by neurosurgeons and radiologists in all three operative sites. Readers of
      various experience and background were similar in their ability to detect
      neuropatties under these conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Under simulated operating room
      conditions and using currently available neuropatties and plain radiograph
      imaging technology, small 1/4-in and 1/2-in neuropatties are poorly
      visible/detectable on digital images.

PMID- 25818891
TI  - Occurrence of Herpes Simplex Virus Reactivation Suggests a Mechanism of
      Trigeminal Neuralgia Surgical Efficacy.
AB  - Common to the types of surgery that are effective for the treatment of trigeminal
      neuralgia (TN) is reactivation of herpes simplex virus (HSV). It is likely that
      such HSV reactivation following surgery indicates altered trigeminal ganglion
      neuron function, which was caused by the surgery. It is not thought that HSV
      infection is related to the cause of TN or that HSV reactivation is important for
      surgical treatment efficacy. Rather, it is thought that HSV reactivation is a
      marker of altered trigeminal ganglion neuron function resulting from the TN
      surgery. It is suggested that HSV reactivation is a surrogate marker of ganglion
      neuron injury. The correlation between effective types of surgery and evidence
      that they alter ganglion neuron function suggests that altered trigeminal
      ganglion neuron function may be the basis of the surgical efficacy.

PMID- 25818892
TI  - Clearing your mind: a glymphatic system?

PMID- 25818894
TI  - Standard development at the Human Variome Project.
AB  - The Human Variome Project (HVP) is a world organization working towards
      facilitating the collection, curation, interpretation and free and open sharing
      of genetic variation information. A key component of HVP activities is the
      development of standards and guidelines. HVP Standards are systems, procedures
      and technologies that the HVP Consortium has determined must be used by HVP
      affiliated data sharing infrastructure and should be used by the broader
      community. HVP guidelines are considered to be beneficial for HVP affiliated data
      sharing infrastructure and the broader community to adopt. The HVP also maintains
      a process for assessing systems, processes and tools that implement HVP Standards
      and Guidelines. Recommended System Status is an accreditation process designed to
      encourage the adoption of HVP Standards and Guidelines. Here, we describe the HVP
      standards development process and discuss the accepted standards, guidelines and
      recommended systems as well as those under acceptance. Certain HVP Standards and
      Guidelines are already widely adopted by the community and there are committed
      users for the others. 

PMID- 25818893
TI  - Colorectal cancer drug target prediction using ontology-based inference and
      network analysis.
AB  - Identification of novel drug targets is a critical step in drug development. Many
      recent studies have produced multiple types of data, which provides an
      opportunity to mine the relationships among them to predict drug targets. In this
      study, we present a novel integrative approach that combines ontology reasoning
      with network-assisted gene ranking to predict new drug targets. We utilized
      colorectal cancer (CRC) as a proof-of-concept use case to illustrate the
      approach. Starting from FDA-approved CRC drugs and the relationships among
      disease, drug, gene, pathway, and SNP in an ontology representing PharmGKB data,
      we inferred 113 potential CRC drug targets. We further prioritized these genes
      based on their relationships with CRC disease genes in the context of human
      protein-protein interaction networks. Thus, among the 113 potential drug targets,
      15 were selected as the promising drug targets, including some genes that are
      supported by previous studies. Among them, EGFR, TOP1 and VEGFA are known targets
      of FDA-approved drugs. Additionally, CCND1 (cyclin D1), and PTGS2 (prostaglandin
      endoperoxide synthase 2) have reported to be relevant to CRC or as potential drug
      targets based on the literature search. These results indicate that our approach
      is promising for drug target prediction for CRC treatment, which might be useful
      for other cancer therapeutics. 

PMID- 25818895
TI  - SCAN database: facilitating integrative analyses of cytosine modification and
      expression QTL.
AB  - Functional annotation of genetic variants including single nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs) and copy number variations (CNV) promises to greatly improve
      our understanding of human complex traits. Previous transcriptomic studies
      involving individuals from different global populations have investigated the
      genetic architecture of gene expression variation by mapping expression
      quantitative trait loci (eQTL). Functional interpretation of genome-wide
      association studies (GWAS) has identified enrichment of eQTL in top signals from
      GWAS of human complex traits. The SCAN (SNP and CNV Annotation) database was
      developed as a web-based resource of genetical genomic studies including eQTL
      detected in the HapMap lymphoblastoid cell line samples derived from apparently
      healthy individuals of European and African ancestry. Considering the critical
      roles of epigenetic gene regulation, cytosine modification quantitative trait
      loci (mQTL) are expected to add a crucial layer of annotation to existing
      functional genomic information. Here, we describe the new features of the SCAN
      database that integrate comprehensive mQTL mapping results generated in the
      HapMap CEU (Caucasian residents from Utah, USA) and YRI (Yoruba people from
      Ibadan, Nigeria) LCL samples and demonstrate the utility of the enhanced
      functional annotation system.

PMID- 25818897
TI  - Age-associated skin changes in innate immunity markers reflect a complex
      interaction between aging mechanisms in the sebaceous gland.
AB  - Skin aging is the most apparent form of senescence and could reflect the aging of
      inner organs. Molecular changes involved in innate immunity signaling,
      tumorigenesis, and inflammation were studied. Protein levels were evaluated based
      on the immunohistochemistry of the skin of 42 young and old individuals. The
      investigated molecules (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors-alpha and 
      gamma, Toll-like receptor 4, and interleukin-6 and 8) were expressed in almost
      all skin compartments and exhibited significant aging-associated downregulation
      in epithelial tissues, mostly in the sebaceous glands, the sweat glands, and the
      epidermis. With the exception of interleukin-6 in the dermal tissue, no
      upregulation was detected in the aged group. The results obtained indicate an
      interesting interaction between different pathways of aging, namely defective
      stress responses, downregulated innate immunity responses, and activation of the
      tumorigenesis pathway, which was especially apparent in the sebaceous glands. 

PMID- 25818896
TI  - Post-transplant survival is improved for hepatitis C recipients who are RNA
      negative at time of liver transplantation.
AB  - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection recurs universally in patients who are viremic
      at liver transplantation and likely accounts for the diminished post-transplant
      graft and patient survival. We evaluated whether undetectable HCV RNA
      pretransplant improves graft and patient survival after transplantation. Cases,
      defined by HCV listing diagnosis and positive HCV antibody, were selected from
      the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients database and further grouped as
      HCV RNA-positive (n = 4978) or negative (n = 445) based upon pretransplant
      testing. Controls were non-HCV recipients (n = 2995). RNA-negative cases had
      significantly better 5-year graft (72% vs. 64%) and patient (79% vs. 69%)
      survival than RNA-positive cases (P < 0.01 for both), and similar survival as
      controls (Graft: 72% vs. 74%, PATIENT: 79% vs. 80%; P > 0.05 for both).
      Nonproportional hazards modeling of RNA-positive cases identified a subgroup with
      rapid progression leading to early graft loss and death. Multivariable analyses
      confirmed that a positive HCV RNA prior to transplantation was a significant
      independent predictor of graft loss and death. In conclusion, HCV patients who
      have undetectable RNA at the time of liver transplantation experience improved
      long-term graft and patient outcomes. We speculate that the post-transplant
      survival of HCV recipients could be improved by safe and tolerable pretransplant
      antiviral strategies.

PMID- 25818898
TI  - [Correlation of authorized prescriptions with increased spending in primary
      care].

PMID- 25818899
TI  - [Acalculous cholecystitis in an intravenous heroin consumer].

PMID- 25818900
TI  - Effect of an intense period of competition on race performance and self-reported
      illness in elite cross-country skiers.
AB  - The aim of this study was to determine whether participating in a cross-country
      skiing stage race (Tour de Ski; TDS) affects subsequent illness incidence,
      training, and race performance. Self-reported training and illness data from 44
      male and female elite cross-country skiers were included. In total, 127 years of
      data were collected (2-3 seasons per athlete). Illness incidence, training load,
      and performance in international competitions were calculated for athletes who
      did and did not participate in TDS. Forty-eight percent of athletes reported
      becoming ill during or in the days immediately after taking part in TDS vs 16% of
      athletes who did not participate. In both groups, illness incidence was somewhat
      lower for female athletes. For male athletes, race performance was significantly
      worse for 6 weeks following TDS vs 6 weeks before TDS. Furthermore, while female
      athletes who participated in TDS performed relatively better than controls in
      Olympics/World Championships, male athletes who participated in TDS typically
      performed worse in subsequent major championships. Participating in TDS appears
      to result in ~ 3-fold increase in risk of illness in this period. Male athletes
      appear more prone to illness and also see a drop in race performance following
      TDS, possibly linked to differences in training load before and after the event.

PMID- 25818901
TI  - Aortic Valve Reconstruction Using Autologous Pericardium for Aortic Stenosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To determine the feasibility of original aortic valve reconstruction
      (AVRec) for patients with aortic stenosis (AS), 416 consecutive cases were
      reviewed. METHODS AND RESULTS: AVRecs for AS were performed for 416 patients from
      April 2007 through April 2013. All 416 patients were retrospectively reviewed.
      One hundred and fourteen patients had bicuspid valves and 16 had unicuspid
      valves. There were 182 men and 234 women. Mean age was 71.2+/-12.0 years old. On
      preoperative echocardiography, peak pressure gradient averaged 79.0+/-33.6 mmHg.
      Surgical annular diameter was 20.1+/-2.8 mm. The procedure is based on
      independent tricuspid replacement by autologous pericardium using original sizing
      apparatus and template. There was no conversion to prosthetic valve replacement.
      There were 8 in-hospital mortalities due to non-cardiac cause. On postoperative
      echocardiography, peak pressure gradient averaged 21.2+/-10.7 mmHg 1 week after
      surgery and 14.3+/-5.0 mmHg 5.5 years after surgery. Four reoperations were done
      for infective endocarditis. The other 412 patients had less than mild
      regurgitation. No thrombo-embolic events were recorded. The mean follow-up period
      was 25.2+/-17.5 months. Freedom from reoperation was 96.7% with 73-month follow
      up. CONCLUSIONS: Medium-term results were excellent. Original AVRec was feasible
      for the patients with AS. Long-term data will be presented in the future.

PMID- 25818902
TI  - Comparison of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Coronary Artery Bypass
      Grafting in Unprotected Left Main Coronary Artery Disease - 5-Year Outcome From
      CREDO-Kyoto PCI/CABG Registry Cohort-2 - .
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies evaluating long-term (>=5 years) outcome of percutaneous
      coronary intervention (PCI) compared with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)
      in patients with unprotected left main coronary artery disease (ULMCAD) are still
      limited, despite concerns for late adverse events after drug-eluting stents
      implantation. METHODS AND RESULTS: We identified 1,004 patients with ULMCAD (PCI:
      n=364, CABG: n=640) among 15,939 patients with first coronary revascularization
      enrolled in the CREDO-Kyoto PCI/CABG registry cohort-2. The primary outcome
      measure in the current analysis was a composite of death, myocardial infarction,
      and stroke (death/MI/stroke). The cumulative 5-year incidence of and the adjusted
      risk for death/MI/stroke were significantly higher in the PCI group than in the
      CABG group (34.5% vs. 24.1%, log-rank P<0.001, adjusted hazard ratio (HR): 1.48
      [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07-2.05, P=0.02]). The adjusted risks for all
      cause death was not significantly different between the 2 groups. Regarding the
      stratified analysis by the SYNTAX score, the adjusted risk for death/MI/stroke
      was not significantly different between the 2 groups in patients with low (<23)
      or intermediate (23-33) SYNTAX score, whereas it was significantly higher in the
      PCI group than in the CABG group in patients with high (<=33) SYNTAX score.
      CONCLUSIONS: CABG as compared with PCI was associated with better long-term
      outcome in patients with ULMCAD, especially those with high anatomical
      complexity.

PMID- 25818903
TI  - Is low body weight a novel risk factor for thromboembolic events in patients with
      non-valvular atrial fibrillation?

PMID- 25818904
TI  - Can a single short-term mechanism account for priming of pop-out?
AB  - Trial-to-trial feature repetition speeds response times in pop-out visual search
      tasks. These priming effects are often ascribed to a short-term memory system.
      Recently, however, it has been reported that a 'build-up' sequence of repetitions
      could facilitate responses over 16 trials later - well beyond twice the typically
      reported time course (Vision Research, 2011, 51, 1972-1978). Here, we first
      report two replication attempts that yielded little to no support for such long
      term priming of pop-out. The results instead fell in line with the predictions of
      a previously proposed computational model that describes priming as short-lived
      facilitation that decays over approximately eight trials (Vision Research, 2010,
      50, 2110-2115). In the second part of this study, we show that these data are
      consistent with a simple formulation of decay with a single timescale, and that
      there is no significant priming beyond eight trials. 

PMID- 25818905
TI  - Discovering hierarchical motion structure.
AB  - Scenes filled with moving objects are often hierarchically organized: the motion
      of a migrating goose is nested within the flight pattern of its flock, the motion
      of a car is nested within the traffic pattern of other cars on the road, the
      motion of body parts are nested in the motion of the body. Humans perceive
      hierarchical structure even in stimuli with two or three moving dots. An
      influential theory of hierarchical motion perception holds that the visual system
      performs a "vector analysis" of moving objects, decomposing them into common and
      relative motions. However, this theory does not specify how to resolve ambiguity
      when a scene admits more than one vector analysis. We describe a Bayesian theory
      of vector analysis and show that it can account for classic results from dot
      motion experiments, as well as new experimental data. Our theory takes a step
      towards understanding how moving scenes are parsed into objects.

PMID- 25818906
TI  - Depression and anxiety in men with sexual dysfunction: a retrospective study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Comorbid anxiety disorders and depression are commonly seen in men
      with sexual disorders such as erectile dysfunction (ED) and premature ejaculation
      (PE). However, they are often undiagnosed and untreated, and their relationship
      to sexual dysfunction is complex. This study examines the frequency and
      correlates of comorbid anxiety and depression in men with ED or PE. METHODS: The
      case records of 64 men with ED or PE attending a clinic for psychosexual
      disorders in a general hospital psychiatry unit during the period 2010-14 were
      reviewed. Information on comorbid anxiety disorders and depression was extracted
      from these records, and their clinical and demographic associations were
      analyzed. RESULTS: Eight (12.5%) men had comorbid depressive disorders, and
      fifteen (23.4%) had anxiety disorders. These disorders predated the onset of
      sexual dysfunction in the majority of patients. Generalized anxiety disorder was
      the commonest anxiety disorder. Men with comorbid depression had significantly
      elevated rates of suicidal ideation or behavior related to their sexual
      dysfunction, and were more likely to report a lack of libido. Men with pre
      existing anxiety disorders were more likely to experience performance anxiety
      related to sex, and to have PE without comorbid ED. CONCLUSIONS: Depression and
      anxiety affect a substantial minority of men with sexual dysfunction. Men
      presenting for the evaluation of ED and PE should be carefully screened for these
      disorders. The links between anxiety disorders and sexual performance anxiety
      merit further investigation in this patient group.

PMID- 25818907
TI  - Multimodal management of a pediatric cervical yolk sac tumor.
AB  - Even though vaginal bleeding is an unusual clinical presentation in infants and
      young children, thorough evaluation by the pediatric urologist requires the
      recognition and knowledge of less-common conditions, including malignancy.
      Extragonadal germ cell tumors are rare in children aged <15 years, representing
      approximately 1% of all cancers. Because of the close collaboration between
      pediatric oncologists and pediatric urologists, a multidisciplinary approach to
      the management and treatment of these tumors includes chemotherapy and surgical
      resection, aiming for fertility preservation when possible. We present a 10-month
      old infant with a cervical or uterine germ cell tumor and the challenges found
      during her treatment.

PMID- 25818908
TI  - A Case of Colon Cancer Metastasis to the Penis.

PMID- 25818909
TI  - Laparoscopic omentoplasty to support anastomotic urethroplasty in complex and
      redo pelvic fracture urethral defects.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that a new surgical technique using elaborated
      perineal anastomotic urethroplasty combined with laparoscopic omentoplasty for
      patients with complex and prior failed pelvic fracture urethral defect repair was
      feasible, safe, and effective. METHODS: We performed a prospective,
      observational, stage 2a study to observe treatment outcomes of combined perineal
      and laparoscopic approach for urethroplasty in patients with pelvic fracture
      urethral defect at a single center in Pune, India, between January 2012 and
      February 2013. Complex and redo patients with pelvic fracture urethral defect
      occurring after pelvic fracture urethral injury were included in the study.
      Anterior urethral strictures were excluded. The primary study outcome was the
      success rate of the surgical technique, and the secondary outcome was to evaluate
      feasibility and safety of the procedure. The clinical outcome was considered a
      failure when any postoperative instrumentation was needed. RESULTS: Fifteen male
      patients with a median age of 19 years were included in the study. Seven patients
      were adolescents (12-18 years) and 8 patients (53.3%) were adults (19-49 years).
      The mean number of prior urethroplasties was 1.8 (range, 1-3). All patients
      underwent elaborated bulbomembranous anastomosis using a perineal approach with
      inferior pubectomy combined with laparoscopic mobilization of the omentum into
      the perineum to envelope the anastomosis and to fill the perineal dead space. Of
      15 patients, 14 (93.3%) were successful and 1 (6.6%) failed. One adolescent boy
      14 years old developed a recurrent stricture 2 months after the procedure and was
      managed using internal urethrotomy. Median follow-up was 18 months (range, 13-24
      months). CONCLUSION: Combining a laparoscopic omentoplasty to a membranobulbar
      anastomosis for complex and redo pelvic fracture urethral injury is successful,
      feasible, safe, and with minimal additional morbidity to the patient. The
      technique has the advantage of a perineal incision and the ability to use the
      omentum to support the anastomosis.

PMID- 25818910
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25818912
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25818910.

PMID- 25818911
TI  - Is periurethral calcification associated with urinary flow rate and symptom
      severity in men with lower urinary tract symptoms-benign prostatic hyperplasia? A
      retrospective review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association of periurethral calcification (PUC) with
      urine flow rate and symptom severity in men with lower urinary tract symptoms
      benign prostatic hyperplasia (LUTS-BPH). METHODS: The records of 1199 LUTS-BPH
      patients were obtained from a prospectively maintained database of men on their
      first visit from April 2010 to April 2013. Patients with incomplete data or
      comorbidities affecting voiding function were excluded. The degree of PUC was
      scored by evaluating the ratio of the calcified urethra to the entire prostatic
      urethra on the midsagittal plane of a transrectal ultrasonogram. The
      relationships between prostate-related parameters, International Prostate Symptom
      Score (IPSS), and uroflowmetric parameters were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of
      1030 patients were eligible for final analysis. There were 654 patients (63.5%)
      with no PUC, 233 (22.6%) with mild PUC, and 143 (13.9%) with moderate to severe
      PUC. The total IPSS was 16.21 +/- 7.29, 17.74 +/- 7.77, and 17.75 +/- 7.60 in no,
      mild, and moderate to severe PUC groups, respectively (P = .007), whereas peak
      urinary flow rate (Qmax) was 15.05 +/- 7.59, 13.62 +/- 6.68, and 12.20 +/- 6.39
      mL/s, respectively (P <.001). In an age-adjusted partial correlation test, PUC
      significantly associated with total IPSS, the storage symptom score, and Qmax (P
      <.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that PUC independently associated with Qmax
      (P = .012), total IPSS (P = .042), and the storage symptom score (P = .018) but
      not with postvoid residue, the voiding symptom score, or the postmicturition
      symptom score. CONCLUSION: PUC is independently associated with Qmax and urinary
      symptoms indirectly advocating for the recent idea that periurethral fibrosis and
      stiffness could cause LUTS-BPH in men.

PMID- 25818913
TI  - Body and Self-image in Individuals With Bladder Exstrophy: What Happens After...
      The Age of 60?
AB  - An unusual case report to stress the complexity of development of identity and
      intimacy in people with bladder exstrophy. The psychosocial support seems to play
      a fundamental role to promote self-esteem of abdominal scarring and altered
      genital appearance. 

PMID- 25818914
TI  - Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infections in Children: Room for Improvement.
      Commentary on: Reducing Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infections: A Quality
      improvement Initiative.

PMID- 25818915
TI  - Small rural emergency services can electronically collect accurate episode-level
      data: A cross-sectional study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: There is little evidence that useful electronic data could be
      collected at Australian small rural emergency services. If in future their
      funding model changed to the Activity-Based Funding model, then they would need
      to collect and submit more data. We determine whether it is possible to collect
      episode-level data at six small rural emergency services and quantify the
      accuracy of eight fields. DESIGN: A prospective cross-sectional study. SETTING:
      South-West Victoria, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Six small rural emergency services.
      INTERVENTION: We collected and audited episode-level emergency data from
      participating services between 1 February 2011 and 31 January 2012. A random
      sample of these data were audited monthly. Research assistants located at each
      service supported data entry and audited data accuracy for four hours per week.
      MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rates for data completeness, accuracy and total accuracy
      were calculated using audit data. RESULTS: Episode-level data were collected for
      20 224 presentations across six facilities. The audit dataset consisted of 8.5%
      (1504/17 627) of presentations from five facilities. For all fields audited, the
      accuracy of entered data was high (>93%).Triage category was deemed appropriate
      for 95.9% (95% confidence interval (CI): 94.9-96.9%) of the patient records
      reviewed. Some procedures were missing (28.7%, 95%CI: 27.2-30.3%). No significant
      improvement in data accuracy over 12 months was observed. CONCLUSION: All six
      services collected useful episode-level data for 12-months with four hours per
      week of assistance. Data entry accuracy was high for all fields audited, and data
      entry completeness was low for procedures.

PMID- 25818917
TI  - Metastases to oro-maxillo-facial region from distant sites: are they so rare? A
      single centre 8-years experience.
AB  - AIM: The goal of our study is investigate the frequency of metastasis to oro
      maxillo-facial region to understand if they are really so rare. MATERIAL OF
      STUDY: In this eight year's retrospective study (2004-2012) we collected 15 cases
      of metastasis localized in the maxilla-facial region from distant primary tumor.
      RESULTS: Our results show breast and kidney as the most frequent primary site
      (40% and 20% respectively), adenocarcinoma as most common histological type
      (60%). Bone involvement has found to be much frequent than the soft tissue one
      (53.3%). The mandible (5/15 cases) is more affected than the maxilla, and most
      common interested subsites are molar and retromolar region. In our study we found
      only one case of unknown primary tumor, it was a mandibular bone metastasis from
      a renal clear cell carcinoma. CONCLUSION: Finally, according to our results and
      considering the increase of survival in cancer disease, even if metastases to oro
      maxilla- facial region from distant sites are not frequent, it is important to
      suspect secondary lesions both in patients that was referred a tumor in their
      medical history and in those that present a head and neck lesion.

PMID- 25818918
TI  - Impact of clinical pharmacists in the emergency department of an Australian
      public hospital: A before and after study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of an ED pharmacy service on ED clinical staff
      and hospital pharmacist activity. METHODS: A prospective study measuring
      pharmacist activities and surveying ED staff attitudes and experience before and
      after commencement of an ED pharmacy service. RESULTS: There were 2275 and 2072
      hospital-wide pharmacist occasions of service recorded over a 1 month period
      before and after implementation of the ED pharmacy service, respectively; 339
      (16.4%) of these occurred in the ED post-implementation. ED pharmacists most
      commonly were involved in obtaining medication histories (74% of ED occasions of
      service); 43% of all pharmacist-performed medication histories occurred in the
      ED. Post-implementation of the service, 26% of medication interventions occurred
      in the ED with the number of medication errors identified by ward pharmacists
      decreasing by 11%; 59% of ED pharmacist medication interventions were clinically
      significant. ED clinicians perceived the greatest impact of the service to be on
      patient education and medication safety. Qualitative feedback was overwhelmingly
      positive. CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacy staff can rapidly become a vital component of
      clinical service provision in the ED, contributing to medication safety from the
      point of patient entry into the hospital and impacting ED clinicians and whole of
      hospital activity for pharmacists.

PMID- 25818916
TI  - Voltage-dependent gating of KCNH potassium channels lacking a covalent link
      between voltage-sensing and pore domains.
AB  - Voltage-gated channels open paths for ion permeation upon changes in membrane
      potential, but how voltage changes are coupled to gating is not entirely
      understood. Two modules can be recognized in voltage-gated potassium channels,
      one responsible for voltage sensing (transmembrane segments S1 to S4), the other
      for permeation (S5 and S6). It is generally assumed that the conversion of a
      conformational change in the voltage sensor into channel gating occurs through
      the intracellular S4-S5 linker that provides physical continuity between the two
      regions. Using the pathophysiologically relevant KCNH family, we show that
      truncated proteins interrupted at, or lacking the S4-S5 linker produce voltage
      gated channels in a heterologous model that recapitulate both the voltage-sensing
      and permeation properties of the complete protein. These observations indicate
      that voltage sensing by the S4 segment is transduced to the channel gate in the
      absence of physical continuity between the modules. 

PMID- 25818920
TI  - Use of a triiodide resin for isolation of axenic cultures of microalgal
      Nannochloropsis gaditana.
AB  - Triiodide resin (TR) was used to generate axenic cultures of microalgae by
      employing the antibacterial capability of triiodide. A Nannochloropsis gaditana
      culture contaminated with bacteria was passed through a column filled with TR
      using the gravity flow. Based on analyses of flow cytometry and vital staining
      using a fluorescent dye SYTOX Green, three cycles of TR treatments remarkably
      reduced the number of viable bacteria but had little effects on the microalgae.
      This novel approach is a simple, rapid, and cost-effective method that can be
      used to isolate axenic cultures of microalgae. 

PMID- 25818919
TI  - [Clinical research outside of teaching hospitals: Current situation in north
      eastern France].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Most clinical research in France takes place in teaching hospitals.
      There are, however, many advantages to developing it in other hospitals: access
      to innovative treatments, improvement in healthcare quality, attractiveness of
      hospitals, increased trial inclusion rates and reduced selection bias. The
      objectives of our study were to report on the current situation of clinical
      research outside teaching hospitals. METHODS: A three-stage survey was conducted
      between January 2012 and May 2013 in non-teaching hospitals of north-eastern
      France. First, questionnaires were sent to administrative and medical boards of
      all hospitals with more than 100 beds, then to head doctors of every department
      in hospitals with more than 300 beds and finally meetings were organized with
      members of 20 selected hospitals. RESULTS: The administrative and medical boards
      of 85 hospitals participated in the first stage of the survey; half of these
      hospitals were engaged in clinical research activities and for 10 the internal
      structuring was cross-disciplinary. Answers from 178 departments were obtained
      during the second stage; 47% reported a clinical research activity. Meetings with
      research teams in 20 hospitals allowed us to identify difficulties concerning
      research funding, transversal organization and sponsoring. CONCLUSION: Clinical
      research existed in more than half of the respondent non-teaching hospitals.
      Obstacles to its development can be grouped in three categories: 1) internal
      structuring of clinical research, 2) access to information and knowledge of how
      clinical research functions and to interlocutors outside the hospital and 3)
      access to skills necessary to sponsor clinical research.

PMID- 25818921
TI  - Microwave-assisted pyrolysis of methyl ricinoleate for continuous production of
      undecylenic acid methyl ester (UAME).
AB  - Undecylenic acid methyl ester (UAME) was continuously produced from methyl
      ricinoleate using a microwave-assisted pyrolysis system with atomization feeding.
      The UAME yield of 77 wt.% was obtained at 500 degrees C using SiC as the
      microwave absorbent and heating medium. The methyl ricinoleate conversion and
      UAME yield from microwave-assisted pyrolysis process were higher than those from
      conventional pyrolysis. The effect of temperature on the pyrolysis process was
      also investigated. The methyl ricinoleate conversion increased but the cracking
      liquid yield decreased when the temperature increased from 460 degrees C to 560
      degrees C. The maximum UAME yield was obtained at the temperature of 500 degrees
      C.

PMID- 25818922
TI  - Effect of mixing ratio of food waste and rice husk co-digestion and substrate to
      inoculum ratio on biogas production.
AB  - Aim of this study was to find out suitable mixing ratio of food waste and rice
      husk for their co-digestion in order to overcome VFA accumulation in digestion of
      food waste alone. Four mixing ratios of food waste and rice husk with C/N ratios
      of 20, 25, 30 and 35 were subjected to a lab scale anaerobic batch experiment
      under mesophilic conditions. Highest specific biogas yield of 584L/kgVS was
      obtained from feedstock with C/N ratio of 20. Biogas yield decreased with
      decrease in food waste proportion. Further, fresh cow dung was used as inoculum
      to investigate optimum S/I ratio with the selected feedstock. In experiment 2,
      feedstock with C/N ratio 20 was subjected to anaerobic digestion at five S/I
      ratios of 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0. Specific biogas yield of 557L/kgVS was
      obtained at S/I ratio of 0.25. However, VFA accumulation occurred at higher S/I
      ratios due to higher organic loadings. 

PMID- 25818923
TI  - Work-related psychosocial stress and glycemic control among working adults with
      diabetes mellitus.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and
      four subscales of work-related psychosocial stress at study baseline and over
      time. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used survey data from a major HMO located in the
      Southeastern part of the US on health and healthy behaviors linked with patients'
      clinical, pharmacy and laboratory records for the period between 2005 and 2009.
      Study participants (n=537) consisted of working adults aged 25-59 years,
      diagnosed with diabetes mellitus (DM) but without advanced micro or macrovascular
      complications at the time of the survey. We estimated the baseline (2005)
      association between HbA1c and work-related psychosocial stress and their
      interactions using linear regression analysis. Using individual growth model
      approach, we estimated the association between HbA1c over time and work-related
      psychosocial stress. Each of the models controlled for socio-demographic
      variables, diet and physical activity factor, laboratory factor, physical
      examinations variables and medication use in a hierarchical fashion. RESULTS:
      After adjusting for all study covariates, we did not find a significant
      association between work-related psychosocial stress and glycemic control either
      at baseline or over time. CONCLUSION: Among fairly healthy middle aged working
      adults with DM, work-related psychosocial stress was not directly associated with
      glycemic control.

PMID- 25818924
TI  - Identification of a novel HLA-A*24 variant allele, A*24:02:60.
AB  - HLA-A*24:02:60 allele differs from A*24:02:01:01 by one nucleotide substitution
      at nt 564 from C to T. 

PMID- 25818925
TI  - Characterization of Anatomic and Visual Function Outcomes in Patients With Full
      Thickness Macular Hole in Ocriplasmin Phase 3 Trials.
AB  - PURPOSE: To characterize anatomic and visual outcomes in patients with full
      thickness macular hole (FTMH) at baseline in ocriplasmin phase 3 clinical trials,
      focusing on the relationship between resolution of vitreomacular adhesion and
      FTMH closure. DESIGN: Two multicenter, randomized, double-masked clinical trials.
      METHODS: Pharmacologic FTMH closure was one of multiple secondary endpoints. OCT
      scans were obtained at baseline and at all postinjection visits, and for patients
      with baseline FTMH, evaluated for FTMH width, vitreomacular adhesion, and
      epiretinal membrane. RESULTS: FTMH closure was observed in a greater proportion
      of ocriplasmin- vs vehicle-injected patients with baseline FTMH width <=250 MUm
      (58.3% vs 16.0%, P < .001) and >250 to <=400 MUm (36.8% vs 5.3%, P = .009). Among
      FTMH patients in the ocriplasmin group, >=2-line visual acuity gains at month 6
      were achieved by a greater percentage of those who achieved hole closure at day
      28 vs those who did not achieve this outcome (72.1% vs 25.4%). CONCLUSIONS:
      Ocriplasmin demonstrated efficacy in closure of small and medium FTMH, and in
      FTMH without epiretinal membrane at baseline. Visual acuity gains occurred more
      frequently when hole closure was achieved after ocriplasmin treatment compared to
      when this outcome did not occur. Ocriplasmin treatment is an additional option
      for the management of patients with FTMH and vitreomacular adhesion.

PMID- 25818926
TI  - [An unusual retropharyngeal lipoma].

PMID- 25818927
TI  - Osteoporosis: new treatments.

PMID- 25818928
TI  - [Preservation of fertility in children with cancer].
AB  - Preserving fertility is a requisite for any child undergoing gonadotoxic
      treatment for cancer. Techniques vary depending on the age, sex of the patient
      and nature of the treatment. Boys undergoing irradiation have testicular
      protection or transposition. Post-pubertal boys undergoing chemotherapy can have
      semen cryopreservation like adults. However, fertility preservation for pre
      pubertal boys undergoing chemotherapy implies testicular tissue cryopreservation.
      Research concentrates on germ cell transplantation, autotransplantation of
      testicular tissue or in vitro spermatogonial maturation in order to later restore
      spermatogenesis. Ovarian transposition can be undergone in case of brachytherapy
      or external beam radiotherapy in girls and has published success rates of 80%.
      Ovarian cryopreservation has been developed since 1995 for pre-pubertal and post
      pubertal girls undergoing chemotherapy. The ovary is retrieved surgically and
      ovarian cortical segments are frozen. Thawing and transplantation of gonadal
      tissue are the next steps to restoring fertility. However, immature oocytes will
      have to be matured either in vivo or in vitro in order to restore fertility.
      Fertility preservation must be offered to children with cancer even if maturation
      of immature germ cells is uncertain for research 20 to 30 years from now will
      probably enable fertility restoration.

PMID- 25818929
TI  - [Satisfaction of Breast Cancer patients treated by chemotherapy outpatient
      clinics: Results of the TemporELLES survey].
AB  - Three thousand eight hundred and twelve patients participated in the TemporELLES
      survey; these patients were treated for breast cancer with intravenous
      chemotherapy in 105 different outpatient clinics in France. The survey shows that
      patients spend on average 3hours in the outpatient clinic per chemotherapy
      session, which includes on average 50minutes of waiting time. Forty percent of
      patients would like to reduce this waiting time. Availability of new dosage forms
      and ready to use medications will address the need for reduced waiting time while
      freeing up time for providing support to the patients. 

PMID- 25818930
TI  - Valsartan Promoting Atherosclerotic Plaque Stabilization by Upregulating
      Renalase: A Potential-Related Gene of Atherosclerosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Renalase is a protein that can regulate sympathetic nerve activity by
      metabolizing catecholamines, while redundant catecholamines are thought to
      contribute to atherosclerosis (As). Catecholamine release can be facilitated by
      angiotensin (Ang) II by binding to Ang II type 1 (AT1) receptors. Valsartan, a
      special AT1 antagonist, can dilate blood vessels and reduce blood pressure, but
      it remained unclear whether valsartan can promote the stability of
      atherosclerotic plaque by affecting renalase. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the
      tissue distribution of renalase in ApoE(-/-) mice fed with a high-fat diet and
      the effect of valsartan on expression of renalase. METHODS: ApoE(-/-) mice were
      fed with a high-fat diet for 13 or 26 weeks. As a control, 10 C57BL mice were fed
      with a standard chow diet. After 13 weeks on the high-fat diet, the ApoE(-/-)
      mice were randomized (10 mice/group) and treated with valsartan, simvastatin, or
      distilled water (control group) for an additional 13 weeks accompanied by a high
      fat diet. RESULTS: Knockout of ApoE caused a dramatic increase in expression of
      renalase in mice adipose tissue. With the disturbance of lipid metabolism induced
      by a high-fat diet, renalase expression decreased in the liver. Renalase can be
      expressed in smooth muscle cells and M2 macrophages in atherosclerotic plaque,
      and its expression gradually decreases in the fibrous cap during the transition
      from stable to vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque. Valsartan, an AT1 receptor
      antagonist, promotes the stabilization of atherosclerotic plaque by increasing
      the levels of renalase in serum and the expression of renalase in the fibrous cap
      of atherosclerotic plaque. It also reduces triglyceride levels in serum and
      increases the expression of renalase in the liver. CONCLUSIONS: Renalase may be a
      potential-related gene of lipid metabolism and As, and it may be the possible
      molecular target of valsartan to help stabilize atherosclerotic plaque.

PMID- 25818931
TI  - Lack of Benefit of Ischemic Postconditioning After Routine Thrombus Aspiration
      During Reperfusion: Immediate and Midterm Results.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The underutilization of manual thrombus aspiration (MTA) may have
      reduced the benefits of ischemic postconditioning (PostCon), as it reduces
      thrombus embolization. We aimed to assess the benefits of PostCon in patients
      with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) after the systematic
      utilization of MTA. METHODS: A total of 87 patients were enrolled in a
      prospective, randomized trial (43 PostCon and 44 controls). After MTA, PostCon
      was performed on the treatment group by applying 4 cycles of alternate
      reperfusion and reocclusion (60 seconds each) using the angioplasty balloon. The
      primary end point was infarct size assessed by the area under the curve (AUC) of
      troponin T (TnT) activity. The secondary end points were left ventricle ejection
      fraction (LVEF) and major cardiac events (new myocardial infarction or cardiac
      death) both at discharge and at follow-up. RESULTS: The AUC for TnT was no
      different with respect to study arms (median [interquartile range]): PostCon =
      8.9 (10.6) versus control = 8.2 (10.6), P = .68. Left ventricle ejection fraction
      improved from in-hospital to follow-up (9 +/- 3 months) for the entire cohort
      (46.3% +/- 7.3% vs 52.2% +/- 10.7%, P < .001), with no differences between
      PostCon and controls (51.6% +/- 9.5% vs 52.7% +/- 11.9%, P = .89); major cardiac
      events at 14 +/- 4 months of follow-up were also no different (PostCon = 1.0
      (2.3%) vs control = 0, P = .49). CONCLUSION: In patients with STEMI treated with
      MTA, PostCon offered no benefits to infarct size, LVEF, or major cardiac events.

PMID- 25818932
TI  - Using FTIR spectra and pattern recognition for discrimination of tea varieties.
AB  - In order to classify typical Chinese tea varieties, Fourier transform infrared
      spectroscopy (FTIR) of tea polysaccharides (TPS) was used as an accurate and
      economical method. Partial least squares (PLS) modeling method along with a self
      organizing map (SOM) neural network method was utilized due to the diversity and
      heterozygosis between teas. FTIR spectra results of tea extracts after spectra
      preprocessing were used as input data for PLS and SOM multivariate statistical
      analyses respectively. The predicted correlation coefficient of optimization PLS
      model was 0.9994, and root mean square error of calibration and cross-validation
      (RMSECV) was 0.03285. The features of PLS can be visualized in principal
      component (PC) space, contributing to discover correlation between different
      classes of spectra samples. After that, a data matrix consisted of the scores on
      the selected 3PCs computed by principle component analysis (PCA) and the
      characteristic spectrum data was used as inputs for training of SOM neural
      network. Compared with the PLS linear technique's recognition rate of 67% only,
      the correct recognition rate of the PLS-SOM as a non-linear classification
      algorithm to differentiate types of tea reaches up to 100%. And the models become
      reliable and provide a reasonable clustering of tea varieties. 

PMID- 25818933
TI  - Purification, cDNA cloning, and characterization of LysM-containing plant
      chitinase from horsetail (Equisetum arvense).
AB  - Chitinase-A (EaChiA), molecular mass 36 kDa, was purified from the vegetative
      stems of a horsetail (Equisetum arvense) using a series of column chromatography.
      The N-terminal amino acid sequence of EaChiA was similar to the lysin motif
      (LysM). A cDNA encoding EaChiA was cloned by rapid amplification of cDNA ends and
      polymerase chain reaction. It consisted of 1320 nucleotides and encoded an open
      reading frame of 361 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence
      indicated that EaChiA is composed of a N-terminal LysM domain and a C-terminal
      plant class IIIb chitinase catalytic domain, belonging to the glycoside hydrolase
      family 18, linked by proline-rich regions. EaChiA has strong chitin-binding
      activity, however, no antifungal activity. This is the first report of a
      chitinase from Equisetopsida, a class of fern plants, and the second report of a
      LysM-containing chitinase from a plant.

PMID- 25818939
TI  - Closed-loop cognition: the next frontier arrives.
AB  - A new study trains attention by implementing a closed-loop neurofeedback approach
      that monitors attention status in the whole brain using real-time fMRI. Offline
      analyses underscore information carried by the frontoparietal attention network
      as most relevant for the training-driven behavioral improvements. 

PMID- 25818940
TI  - Dressings and drains in posterior spine surgery and their effect on wound
      complications.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to systematically search, critically appraise and
      summarize published randomized control trials (RCT) and non-RCT examining the
      effect of drains and dressings on wound healing rates and complications in
      posterior spine surgery. The use of post-operative drains and the type of post
      operative dressing is at the discretion of the treating surgeon with no available
      clinical guidelines. Drains will theoretically decrease incidence of post
      operative hematoma and therefore, potentially decrease the risk of neurologic
      compromise when the neural elements have been exposed. Occlusive dressings have
      more recently been advocated, potentially maintaining a sterile barrier for
      longer time periods post-operatively. A systematic review of databases from 1969
      2013 was undertaken. All papers examining drains in spine surgery and dressings
      in primary healing of surgical wounds were included. Revman (version 5.2; The
      Nordic Cochrane Centre, The Cochrane Collaboration, Oxford, UK) was used to test
      for overall treatment effect, clinical heterogeneity and risk of bias. Of the
      papers identified, 1348 examined post-operative drains in spine surgery and 979
      wound dressings for primary wound healing of all surgical wounds. Seven studies
      were included for analysis for post-operative drains and 10 studies were analyzed
      for primary wound healing. The use of a post-operative drain did not influence
      healing rates and had no effect secondarily on infection (odds ratio [OR] 1.33;
      95% confidence interval [CI] 0.76-2.30). We were not able to establish whether
      surgical drains prevent hematomas causing neurologic compromise. There was a
      slight advantage to using occlusive dressings versus non-occlusive dressings in
      wound healing (OR 2.09; 95% CI 1.44-3.02). Incisional vacuum dressings as both an
      occlusive barrier and superficial drainage system have shown promise for wounds
      at risk of dehiscence. There is a relatively high risk of bias in the methodology
      of many of the studies reviewed. We recommend favoring of occlusive dressings
      based on heterogeneous and potentially biased evidence. Drain use does not affect
      wound healing based on similar evidence. Incisional vacuum dressings have shown
      promise in managing potentially vulnerable wounds. 

PMID- 25818941
TI  - Intraventricular granulomatous mass associated with Mycobacterium haemophilum: A
      rare central nervous system manifestation in a patient with human
      immunodeficiency virus infection.
AB  - We report a rare case of Mycobacterium haemophilum presenting as an
      intraventricular granulomatous mass with loculated hydrocephalus and seizures in
      a patient with human immunodeficiency virus. M. haemophilum, a slow-growing
      mycobacteria, causes localized and disseminated disease among immunocompromised
      hosts. Central nervous system infection with M. haemophilum is extremely rare.
      Preoperative laboratory testing of our patient for tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis,
      sarcoidosis and histoplasmosis were negative. Surgical resection of the mass
      revealed a caseating granuloma that stained positive for acid-fast bacillus
      suggesting possible tuberculoma. Despite negative testing for tuberculosis, a
      polymerase chain reaction analysis was ultimately performed from the resected
      mass which revealed M. haemophilum. To our knowledge, this is the first case of
      M. haemophilum presenting as an intraventricular mass. We review the clinical
      manifestations of this pathogen and discuss the medical and surgical management. 

PMID- 25818942
TI  - High mortality in cirrhotic patients following hemorrhagic stroke.
AB  - The impact of hemorrhagic stroke (HS) on the mortality of cirrhotic patients is
      unknown. To evaluate the morality risk of HS in cirrhotic patients, we used the
      Taiwan National Health Insurance Database to evaluate cirrhotic patients with HS
      who were discharged between 1 January and 31 December 2007. In total, there were
      321 cirrhotic patients with HS. We randomly selected 3210 cirrhotic patients
      without HS as a comparison group. The 30 and 90 day mortality rates were 29.6%
      and 43.0% in the HS group, and 9.1% and 17.7% in the comparison group,
      respectively (p<0.001). After Cox proportional hazard regression model adjustment
      of patients' sex, age, and other comorbid disorders, the hazard ratio (HR) for 90
      day mortality in the HS group was 3.89 (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.20-4.71,
      p<0.001), compared to the comparison group. In the subgroup analysis, the HR for
      90 day mortality in the subarachnoid hemorrhage and other HS groups were 7.93
      (95% CI 5.23-12.0, p<0.001) and 3.51 (95% CI 2.85-4.32, p<0.001), respectively,
      compared to the comparison group. In conclusion, HS is associated with a very
      high 90 day mortality risk in cirrhotic patients, in whom subarachnoid hemorrhage
      can also increase the risk of mortality eight-fold.

PMID- 25818943
TI  - The safety, efficacy and regulatory triangle in drug development: Impact for
      animal models and the use of animals.
AB  - Nonclinical studies in animals are conducted to demonstrate proof-of-concept,
      mechanism of action and safety of new drugs. For a large part, in particular
      safety assessment, studies are done in compliance with international regulatory
      guidance. However, animal models supporting the initiation of clinical trials
      have their limitations, related to uncertainty regarding the predictive value for
      a clinical condition. The 3Rs principles (refinement, reduction and replacement)
      are better applied nowadays, with a more comprehensive application with respect
      to the original definition. This regards also regulatory guidance, so that
      opportunities exist to revise or reduce regulatory guidance with the perspective
      that the optimal balance between scientifically relevant data and animal
      wellbeing or a reduction in animal use can be achieved. In this manuscript we
      review the connections in the triangle between nonclinical efficacy/safety
      studies and regulatory aspects, with focus on in vivo testing of drugs. These
      connections differ for different drugs (chemistry-based low molecular weight
      compounds, recombinant proteins, cell therapy or gene therapy products).
      Regarding animal models and their translational value we focus on regulatory
      aspects and indications where scientific outcomes warrant changes, reduction or
      replacement, like for, e.g., biosimilar evaluation and safety testing of
      monoclonal antibodies. On the other hand, we present applications where
      translational value has been clearly demonstrated, e.g., immunosuppressives in
      transplantation. Especially for drugs of more recent date like recombinant
      proteins, cell therapy products and gene therapy products, a regulatory approach
      that allows the possibility to conduct combined efficacy/safety testing in
      validated animal models should strengthen scientific outcomes and improve
      translational value, while reducing the numbers of animals necessary. 

PMID- 25818944
TI  - European Journal of Pharmacology, Special issue on translational value of animal
      models: Introduction.

PMID- 25818945
TI  - Non-invasive deep tissue imaging of iodine modified poly(caprolactone-co-1-4
      oxepan-1,5-dione) using X-ray.
AB  - When biodegradable polyester devices, like sutures and screws, are implanted into
      the body, it is very challenging to image them in deep tissue, monitor their
      degradation, and detect defects. We report our recent findings on non-invasive
      deep tissue imaging of polyester degradation, stability and integrity using an
      iodinated-polycaprolactone (i-P(CLcoOPD)) X-ray imaging contrast agent. The
      results of experiments performed with i-P(CLcoOPD) demonstrate the feasibility to
      quantify in-situ polyester degradation in vitro and in vivo using rats. We also
      demonstrate that X-ray imaging could be used to identify and quantify physical
      defects, such as cracks, in polymeric implants using rabbit animal models. This
      approach enables non-invasive monitoring of polyester materials and is expected
      to become an important technology for improving the imaging of polymers at
      clinically relevant depths. 

PMID- 25818946
TI  - Relevance of glycosylation of S-layer proteins for cell surface properties.
AB  - Elucidating the building principles and intrinsic features modulating certain
      water-associated processes (e.g., surface roughness in the nanometer scale,
      surface hydration and accompanied antifouling property, etc.) of surface
      structures from (micro)organisms is nowadays a highly challenging task in fields
      like microbiology, biomimetic engineering and (bio)material sciences. Here, we
      show for the first time the recrystallization of the wild-type S-layer
      glycoprotein wtSgsE from Geobacillus stearothermophilus NRS 2004/3a and its
      recombinantly produced non-glycosylated form, rSgsE, on gold sensor surfaces.
      Whereas the proteinaceous lattice of the S-layer proteins is forming a rigid
      layer on the sensor surface, the glycan chains are developing an overall soft,
      highly dissipative film. Interestingly, to the wtSgsE lattice almost twice the
      amount of water is bound and/or coupled in comparison with the non-glycosylated
      rSgsE with the preferred region being the extending glycan residues. The present
      results are discussed in terms of the effect of the glycan residues on the
      recrystallization, the adjoining hydration layer, and the nanoscale roughness and
      fluidic behavior. The latter features may turn out to be one of the most general
      ones among bacterial and archaeal S-layer lattices. 

PMID- 25818947
TI  - Covalently-crosslinked mucin biopolymer hydrogels for sustained drug delivery.
AB  - The sustained delivery of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs from hydrogels
      has remained a challenge requiring the design and scalable production of complex
      multifunctional synthetic polymers. Here, we demonstrate that mucin
      glycoproteins, the gel-forming constituents of native mucus, are suitable for
      assembly into robust hydrogels capable of facilitating the sustained release of
      hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs. Covalently-crosslinked mucin hydrogels were
      generated via exposure of methacrylated mucin to ultraviolet light in the
      presence of a free radical photoinitiator. The hydrogels exhibited an elastic
      modulus similar to that of soft mammalian tissue and were sensitive to
      proteolytic degradation by pronase. Paclitaxel, a hydrophobic anti-cancer drug,
      and polymyxin B, a positively-charged hydrophilic antibacterial drug, were
      retained in the hydrogels and released linearly with time over seven days. After
      four weeks of drug release, the hydrogels continued to release sufficient amounts
      of active paclitaxel to reduce HeLa cell viability and sufficient amounts of
      active polymyxin B to prevent bacterial proliferation. Along with previously
      established anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and hydrocarbon-solubilizing
      properties of mucin, the results of this study establish mucin as a readily
      available, chemically-versatile, naturally-biocompatible alternative to complex
      multifunctional synthetic polymers as building blocks in the design of
      biomaterials for sustained drug delivery.

PMID- 25818948
TI  - Enhanced differentiation of human osteoblasts on Ti surfaces pre-treated with
      human whole blood.
AB  - Early and effective integration of a metal implant into bone tissue is of crucial
      importance for its long-term stability. While different material properties
      including surface roughness and wettability but also initial blood-implant
      surface interaction are known to influence this osseointegration, implications of
      the latter process are still poorly understood. In this study, early interaction
      between blood and the implant surface and how this affects the mechanism of
      osseointegration were investigated. For this, blood coagulation on a micro
      roughened hydrophobic titanium (Ti) surface (SLA-H(phob)) and on a hydrophilic
      micro-roughened Ti surface with nanostructures (SLActive-H(phil)NS), as well as
      the effects of whole human blood pre-incubation of these two surfaces on the
      differentiation potential of primary human bone cells (HBC) was assessed.
      Interestingly, pre-incubation with blood resulted in a dense fibrin network over
      the entire surface on SLActive-H(phil)NS but only in single patches of fibrin and
      small isolated fibre complexes on SLA-H(phob). On SLActive-H(phil)NS, the number
      of HBCs attaching to the fibrin network was greatly increased and the cells
      displayed enhanced cell contact to the fibrin network. Notably, HBCs displayed
      increased expression of the osteogenic marker proteins alkaline phosphatase and
      collagen-I when cultivated on both surfaces upon blood pre-incubation.
      Additionally, blood pre-treatment promoted an earlier and enhanced mineralization
      of HBCs cultivated on SLActive-H(phil)NS compared to SLA-H(phob). The results
      presented in this study therefore suggest that blood pre-incubation of implant
      surfaces mimics a more physiological situation, eventually providing a more
      predictive in vitro model for the evaluation of novel bone implant surfaces.

PMID- 25818949
TI  - Hyaluronic acid decreases IL-6 and IL-8 secretion and permeability in an
      inflammatory model of interstitial cystitis.
AB  - Hyaluronic acid (HA) has received a lot of attention recently as a biomaterial
      with applications in wound healing, drug delivery, vascular repair and cell
      and/or gene delivery. Interstitial cystitis (IC) is characterised by an increase
      in the permeability of the bladder wall urothelium due to loss of the
      glycosaminoglycan (GAG) layer. The degradation of the urothelium leads to chronic
      pain and urinary dysfunction. The aetiology of the degradation of the GAG layer
      in this instance is currently unknown. At a clinical level, GAG replacement
      therapy using a HA solution is currently utilised as a treatment for IC. However,
      there is a significant lack of data on the mechanism of action of HA in IC. The
      current study investigates the mechanistic effect of clinically relevant HA
      treatment on an in vitro model of IC using urothelial cells, examining cytokine
      secretion, GAG secretion and trans-epithelial permeability. This study
      demonstrates that HA can significantly decrease induced cytokine secretion (4-5
      fold increase), increase sulphated GAG production (2-fold increase) and without
      altering tight junction expression, decrease trans-epithelial permeability,
      suggesting that the HA pathway is a clinical target and potential treatment
      vector. 

PMID- 25818950
TI  - Development of Ti-Nb-Zr alloys with high elastic admissible strain for temporary
      orthopedic devices.
AB  - A new series of beta Ti-Nb-Zr (TNZ) alloys with considerable plastic deformation
      ability during compression test, high elastic admissible strain, and excellent
      cytocompatibility have been developed for removable bone tissue implant
      applications. TNZ alloys with nominal compositions of Ti-34Nb-25Zr, Ti-30Nb-32Zr,
      Ti-28Nb-35.4Zr and Ti-24.8Nb-40.7Zr (wt.% hereafter) were fabricated using the
      cold-crucible levitation technique, and the effects of alloying element content
      on their microstructures, mechanical properties (tensile strength, yield
      strength, compressive yield strength, Young's modulus, elastic energy, toughness,
      and micro-hardness), and cytocompatibilities were investigated and compared.
      Microstructural examinations revealed that the TNZ alloys consisted of beta
      phase. The alloy samples displayed excellent ductility with no cracking, or
      fracturing during compression tests. Their tensile strength, Young's modulus,
      elongation at rupture, and elastic admissible strain were measured in the ranges
      of 704-839 MPa, 62-65 GPa, 9.9-14.8% and 1.08-1.31%, respectively. The tensile
      strength, Young's modulus and elongation at rupture of the Ti-34Nb-25Zr alloy
      were measured as 839 +/- 31.8 MPa, 62 +/- 3.6 GPa, and 14.8 +/- 1.6%,
      respectively; this alloy exhibited the elastic admissible strain of approximately
      1.31%. Cytocompatibility tests indicated that the cell viability ratios (CVR) of
      the alloys are greater than those of the control group; thus the TNZ alloys
      possess excellent cytocompatibility.

PMID- 25818951
TI  - A systematic review of nutrition-based practices in prevention of hypertension
      among healthy youth.
AB  - The aim of this systematic review was to analyze the results of observational and
      interventional research/studies on nutrition-based practices in the prevention of
      hypertension among healthy youth. The MEDLINE/PubMed database was searched using
      the key words, "hypertension," "nutrition/diet," "prevention" and "youth."
      Inclusion criteria were: 1) sample with a majority of adolescents, defined as 10
      24 years of age, or findings for adolescents reported separately from other age
      groups; 2) primary research reports; 3) studies with normotensive participants;
      and 4) studies that focused on preventing hypertension/lowering blood pressure
      through at least one nutritional practice. Results of the analysis indicated that
      increased consumption of unsaturated fats, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dietary
      products, decreased consumption of dietary sodium and beverages containing
      caffeine, and breastfeeding were found to have preventive effects against high
      blood pressure in later years of life. The effects of training given during youth
      to encourage a healthy lifestyle and behavior changes based on diet and physical
      activity were also noted. 

PMID- 25818952
TI  - Accuracy of HLA-DQ genotyping in combination with IgA anti-tissue
      transglutaminase serology and a "scoring system" for the diagnosis of celiac
      disease in Turkish children.
AB  - The aim of the study was to analyze the accuracy of (i) HLA-DQ typing and anti
      tissue transglutaminase antibodies immunoglobulin A (tTG-IgA) serology and (ii) a
      "simple scoring system" (SSS) for the diagnosis of celiac disease (CD). The study
      included 91 patients with positive tTG-IgA, who had been tested for HLA-DQ.
      Patients were divided into 3 groups: typical CD, atypical CD, and non-CD. The
      sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV),
      positive (PLR) and negative likelihood ratio (NLR) and accuracy of the test
      combining genotyping and tTG-IgA positivity and the simple scoring system for the
      diagnosis of CD were evaluated. The combination of genotyping and strong tTG-IgA
      positivity had a sensitivity of 93.5%, specificity of 61.5%, PPV of 93.5%, NPV of
      61.5%, PLR of 2.4, NLR of 0.1 and accuracy of 89% for "CD." SSS had a higher
      specificity (84.6%), higher PPV (97.3%), higher NPV (68.7%), higher PLR and
      higher accuracy (92.3%). The combination of genotyping and strong tTG-IgA
      positivity missed two patients with typical CD (4%) and three patients with
      atypical CD (10.7%). Two cases with malabsorptive symptoms (33.3%) and three
      patients without malabsorptive symptoms (42.8%) would have been misdiagnosed as
      CD if these tests were used. Intestinal biopsy is still mandatory for diagnosis
      of CD in Turkish children. 

PMID- 25818953
TI  - Viral etiology of acute lower respiratory tract infections in hospitalized young
      children in a children's referral hospital in Iran.
AB  - Viruses are considered major causes of acute respiratory tract infections among
      children under 5 years old. In this study we investigated the prevalence of three
      respiratory viruses--respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza virus (INF) and
      adenovirus (ADV)--among hospitalized children with acute viral lower respiratory
      tract infections (LRTIs). Nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from children
      under five who had been hospitalized for LRTIs. The clinical data, including
      demographic data (age and sex), vital symptoms and signs at admission, duration
      of fever, duration of hospitalization, chest X-ray findings and outcome were
      considered. All inpatient specimens were tested by reverse transcriptase
      polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for RSV and the INF-A, INF-B and parainfluenza
      viruses and by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for ADV. Out of those from 232
      patients, 58 (25%) specimens were positive for either RSV, INF or ADV. The most
      predominant pathogens were RSV (40 cases, 17.2%), followed by INF (10 cases, 4%;
      including 8 type A and 2 type B) and ADV (8 cases, 3.4%). A total of 32 (55.1%)
      viral cases were identified in the spring, followed by 19 (32.7%) in the autumn
      and 7 (12%) in the winter. There was no significant correlation between clinical
      symptoms and the individual virus detected. In our study, RSV and INF were the
      two most common causes of LRTIs. These data are helpful for guiding the
      development of further vaccines as well as the use of antiviral drugs. Further
      studies will be needed to investigate other respiratory viruses such as
      parainfluenza, human metapneumovirus and rhinovirus.

PMID- 25818954
TI  - Molecular epidemiology and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Acinetobacter
      baumannii isolated from children in a Turkish university hospital.
AB  - The aim of the present study is to investigate the types of healthcare-associated
      infections (HC-AIs) caused by Acinetobacter baumannii and the related antibiotic
      susceptibility patterns as well as the genotypic characteristics of the
      Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from our center. Sixty-nine Acinetobacter
      baumannii isolates originating from various samples collected from 69 pediatric
      patients during their hospital stays were included in the study. The types of
      healthcare-associated infections caused by these isolates were evaluated, and the
      antibiotic susceptibility pattern and the genotypic characteristics of the
      isolates were determined using the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE)
      method. Fifty of the 69 children were observed to have HC-AIs, and 19 children
      had Acinetobacter baumannii colonization. Healthcare-associated pneumonia (58%)
      was the most common type of these infections. The rate of carbapenem resistance
      was found as 91.3%, while tigecycline resistance was found as 18.84%. No colistin
      resistance was observed in any of the isolates. A total of 10 groups, comprising
      eight major and two minor groups, were determined using the pulsed-field gel
      electrophoresis method. Acinetobacter baumannii isolates are the leading cause of
      healthcare-associated infections, and they show high rates of multidrug
      antibiotic resistance. Molecular epidemiological evaluation using PFGE plays an
      important role in preventing healthcare-associated infections.

PMID- 25818955
TI  - Placental findings of IUGR and non-IUGR.
AB  - This study aims to define the placental findings in intrauterine growth
      restriction (IUGR). The study group consisted of 40 neonates without IUGR and 24
      neonates with IUGR, including their placentas. The cases were separated into
      three groups according to gestational age. Group A (n=21): 37 <= weeks, Group B
      (n=27): 32<= - <37 weeks, Group C (n=16): < 32 weeks. Each group had two
      subgroups, IUGR and non-IUGR. The placentas from the non-IUGR subgroup were
      heavier than the IUGR subgroup placentas in the term group (p<0.05). Infarct
      (over 5%), increased syncytial knots and histiocytic intervillositis were more
      common in the IUGR cases (p<0.05). This study shows that chronic patterns of
      injury are significantly increased in placentas from pregnancies complicated by
      IUGR. If the injury in the placenta is acute or mild, fetal adaptation can
      compensate and prevent fetal growth restriction. 

PMID- 25818956
TI  - Development of a screening tool for children prior to school entrance.
AB  - The present study describes the development, application and validation of the
      Alpha' TEST, a screening tool administered individually to kindergarten children
      to determine their school preparedness. The A' TEST evaluates six cognitive
      domains (abstract thinking, critical reasoning, language skills, visual
      perception, visual motor skills and organizational skills). It was administered
      to 2002 preschool children, and validated through comparison with well
      established classification systems. Also, in order to examine the predictive
      value of the A' TEST, 201 of the examined children were reevaluated by their
      teachers two years after initial assessment. Analysis provided evidence of
      structure, convergent, concurrent and discriminant validity and reliability, as
      well as predictive validity. Overall, the Alpha' TEST predicted that 9.1% of the
      children were not school-ready, giving a 98.5% correct prediction when compared
      with the teachers' evaluations two years later. In conclusion, the Alpha' TEST is
      a valid and appropriate screening tool for school readiness.

PMID- 25818957
TI  - Safety assessment of essential and toxic metals in infant formulas.
AB  - The aim of this study was to assess toxic metal (Cd, Pb and Al) contamination and
      levels of three essential trace elements (Mn, Cr and Co) in 63 infant formulas.
      In addition, the levels of these metals in the study samples were compared with
      the acceptable limits of toxic heavy metals and the recommended daily allowances
      (RDAs) of essential trace elements. According to our results, the toxic metal
      levels measured in the formulas were within the acceptable limits, with the
      exception of Al levels in 8 of the 63 samples. In 16 samples, Mn levels exceeded
      600 MUg/day, and the Cr content in 7 samples was higher than 5.5 MUg/day, these
      amounts being the adequate intake levels for infants. Cobalt levels in 10
      formulas were higher than the RDA. In view of these findings, which indicate that
      metal levels in infant formulas are generally much higher than those found in
      breast milk, breast milk should be preferred for infant feeding. Moreover, since
      infants are potentially more susceptible to metals, infant foods should be
      monitored regularly and checked for contamination by toxic metals as well as for
      levels of essential trace elements. 

PMID- 25818958
TI  - Another face of Kawasaki disease.
AB  - We aimed both to define the characteristics of patients with Kawasaki Disease
      (KD), and to highlight infrequent and unusual findings of the disease by
      presenting selected cases. We retrospectively evaluated 35 patients diagnosed
      with KD in our clinic between January 1994 and January 2013. The male to female
      ratio was 1.33 and the median age at admission was 22 months (1.5-132 months).
      Fourteen patients (40%) had coronary artery lesions (CAL). Twenty-five cases
      (72%) had complete and 10 cases (28%) had incomplete KD; the incidence of CAL in
      these groups was 36% and 50%, respectively. Two patients had giant coronary
      aneurysms. Six cases received a second dose of intravenous immunoglobulin, and
      one patient received pulse methylprednisolone. Seven cases had unusual and/or
      infrequent presentation patterns and/or follow-up. Physicians should be aware of
      all symptoms and laboratory findings of KD in order to avoid any delays in
      diagnosis and decrease the risk of life-threatening complications. 

PMID- 25818959
TI  - Development of fatty liver in children with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
AB  - The aim of this study is to investigate the development of hepatosteatosis in
      children with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Twenty-eight patients were evaluated
      retrospectively for hepatosteatosis by computed tomography. Mild, moderate and
      severe hepatosteatosis were defined as the difference between the average liver
      attenuation and the average spleen attenuation, equaling (-10)-(-19); (-20)-(
      29); and >=30 HU, respectively. "Vaguely" and "obvious" hepatosteatosis were
      defined as none or mild hepatosteatosis, and moderate and severe hepatosteatosis,
      respectively. In T-cell lymphoma, obvious hepatosteatosis was determined in 1 of
      12 patients (8.3%) at the first evaluation, 8 of 12 patients (66.7%) at the
      second evaluation and 4 of 12 patients (33.3%) at the third evaluation. In B-cell
      lymphoma, obvious hepatosteatosis was determined in none of 16 patients at the
      first evaluation, 2 of 16 patients (12%) at the second evaluation and none of the
      patients at the third evaluation. In the second evaluation, severe high serum
      total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were determined in 4 of 5 patients. We
      observed higher fatty liver ratios, and high triglyceride and cholesterol levels,
      although the data were obtained from a small number of patients.

PMID- 25818960
TI  - Hearing stimulation of the pediatric patient with congenital aural atresia:
      surgical and audiological evaluation of 38 patients.
AB  - The aim of this work is to stress the importance of and discuss the timing and
      options for the treatment of congenital aural atresia (CAA), including non
      surgical alternative treatment modalities and amplification, and to report the
      audiological and surgical results of a series of patients. Thirty-eight children
      with CAA were evaluated with regard to hearing and anatomical anomalies
      accompanying CAA: the state of the ossicles and the facial nerve, postoperative
      complications and audiological results. The ages of the patients ranged between 4
      and 18 years, with a mean of 10 years. All underwent surgical treatment; 32 had
      unilateral atresia, while 6 had bilateral atresia. The mean follow-up duration
      was 7 months. The facial canal was dehiscent in 36.8% of cases. In 70.2% cases,
      the malleus and incus were present as an ossicular mass, fixed and attached to
      the atretic bone. The stapes was normal in 97.3% of the patients; in 2.7% the
      suprastructure was deformed. The success rate, defined as an air-bone gap of 20
      dB or less, was 63.1% in this series of patients. If atresia is bilateral, very
      early hearing stimulation to prevent the maldevelopment of children's speech and
      cognitive skills is of the utmost importance. In unilateral cases, surgery may be
      postponed until early adulthood, when the patient is able to make his/her own
      decision and cooperate in the treatment and postoperative aspects. 

PMID- 25818961
TI  - Efficacy of topical 0.05% cyclosporine treatment in children with severe vernal
      keratoconjunctivitis.
AB  - We aimed to determine the efficacy of topical cyclosporine in children with
      vernal keratoconjunctivitis refractory to topical mast cell stabilizer and
      antihistamine therapy. Thirty-one patients, 24 boys and 7 girls younger than 16
      years of age, were included in the study. All patients were scored on a four
      point scale from 0 to 3 for symptoms and signs. Each patient received topical
      cyclosporine 0.05% emulsion (Restasis, Allergan Inc., Irvine, CA, USA) four times
      daily in addition to preservative-free artificial tears and was followed for 6
      months. The data was recorded before the initiation of treatment (day 0) and at
      the 1st, 3rd, and 6th months following treatment. After six months of treatment,
      severity of all symptoms and signs showed a statistically significant decrease
      (p<0.05). Patients did not report any serious adverse effects. Topical
      cyclosporine 0.05% emulsion treatment is a safe and effective treatment option
      for controlling the symptoms and signs of vernal keratoconjunctivitis in
      children. 

PMID- 25818962
TI  - Neonatal multiple sulfatase deficiency with a novel mutation and review of the
      literature.
AB  - Multiple sulfatase deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disorder in which
      affected individuals present a complex phenotype due to the impaired activity of
      all sulfatases. There are different types of multiple sulfatase deficiency; among
      them, the neonatal form is the most severe, with a broad range of
      mucopolysaccharidosis-like symptoms and death within the first year of life. The
      disorder is caused by homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in the
      sulfatase-modifying factor-1 (SUMF1) gene. In this article, we describe a non
      ichthyotic neonatal multiple sulfatase deficiency patient with a novel mutation
      in the SUMF1 gene. The missense mutation c.777C>G, for which the patient was
      homozygous, had been caused by a p.N259K amino acid substitution. We evaluated
      the patient using clinical findings, neuroimaging studies and molecular analysis
      via the literature; we also wanted to note the difficulties in the diagnosis of
      this rare disease. 

PMID- 25818963
TI  - Diverse phenotypic expression of NPHP4 mutations in four siblings.
AB  - Nephronophthisis (NPHP) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by renal
      tubular basement membrane disruption, interstitial fibrosis and tubular cysts
      that progresses to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). There are also characteristic
      extrarenal manifestations. Mutations of more than thirteen genes that can cause
      NPHP have been identified. We herein report four siblings from a consanguineous
      family, who carried the same NPHP4 mutations but presented with different disease
      phenotypes ranging from enuresis nocturna to ESKD. Diluted urine and echogenic
      kidneys in ultrasound examination were consistent, which is typical for 100% of
      the NPHP cases that have been described. Chronic kidney disease developed in the
      older two brothers. The observed phenotypic differences are likely to be related
      to environmental and epigenetic factors, oligogenic inheritance and modifier
      genes affecting the age of presentation of signs and symptoms. NPHP should be
      considered as an important cause of CKD in children, which insidiously progresses
      to ESKD, with no specific therapy available. 

PMID- 25818964
TI  - Hypotonic hyporesponsive episode and the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine.
AB  - Hypotensive-hyporesponsive episodes are rare events after immunizations performed
      for diphtheria, tetanus, Haemophilus influenzae type b and hepatitis B virus
      vaccines, but most of the reported episodes have been associated with pertussis
      containing vaccines. We report the case of a 3-month-old girl, previously healthy
      otherwise, presenting with the unusual event of a hypotonic-hyporesponsive
      episode after vaccination with the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine. Diagnosis was
      established after a thorough evaluation of the patient and by exclusion of other
      clinical conditions.

PMID- 25818965
TI  - A case of fucosidosis type II: diagnosed with dysmorphological and radiological
      findings.
AB  - Fucosidosis is a rare autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disorder in which
      fucose-containing glycolipids, glycoproteins and oligosaccharides accumulate in
      tissues, as a result of a deficiency of alpha-L-fucosidase. In this report we
      describe clinical, dysmorphological and radiological findings of a boy with this
      disorder. Developmental delay, skeletal deformities and mild coarsening of the
      face began at two years of age. Clinical signs typical for fucosidosis evolved
      over time. Psychomotor deterioration progressed slowly. At age 12, he could not
      walk without help; he was admitted to the hospital with intellectual disability,
      short stature and coarse facial features. A skeletal survey showed dysostosis
      multiplex. Cranial MRI demonstrated high intensities on the periventricular white
      matter and low intensities on the basal ganglia on T2-weighted images. Despite
      the absence of angiokeratoma on the skin, type II fucosidosis with clinical,
      dysmorphological and radiological signs was suspected. The diagnosis was
      established on the basis of severely decreased activity of alpha-L-fucosidase in
      the leukocytes. The natural history and specific dysmorphic and radiological
      findings should, even in the absence of angiokeratoma, assist in the differential
      diagnosis of this rare condition when lysosomal storage disorders are suspected,
      particularly in populations in which consanguineous marriages are common.

PMID- 25818966
TI  - An uncommon disorder with multiple skeletal anomalies: Gorlin-Goltz syndrome.
AB  - Gorlin-Goltz syndrome is an uncommon disorder transmitted through autosomal
      dominant inheritance. This syndrome is characterized by multiple odontogenic
      keratocysts, along with congenital skeletal anomalies and basal cell carcinomas.
      A 16-year-old girl was admitted with a complaint of swelling on the lower jaw.
      She had multiple basal cell nevi on both hands. Multiple lytic bone lesions on
      radiographs were defined as odontogenic keratocysts following the biopsy. The
      patient was referred to the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
      for detailed musculoskeletal evaluation. Adam's forward bend test revealed a hump
      on the right side representing right thoracic scoliosis. Cervical kyphosis,
      thoracic lordosis and scoliosis, bifid rib and sacral and lumbar spina bifida on
      plain radiographs led to the diagnosis of Gorlin-Goltz syndrome. Since early
      diagnosis may provide optimum surveillance for related neoplasms, it is of
      paramount importance for pediatricians as well as physicians dealing with the
      musculoskeletal system to be aware of this rare condition. 

PMID- 25818967
TI  - A rare cause of aeroallergen-induced anaphylaxis: horse allergy.
AB  - Animal epithelia and saliva contain a substantial amount of aeroallergen
      material, causing both acute onset of symptoms related to hypersensitivity, and
      chronic inflammation of the airways leading to allergic rhinitis or asthma.
      Although allergy to horses is generally considered to be more prevalent in rural
      areas, sensitization to horse allergens is more frequent than might be expected
      in urban residents without any direct or occupational exposure to horses.
      However, horse allergy is seldom mentioned among animal-induced allergic
      reactions. Anaphylaxis due to horse exposure is reported even more rarely. Here,
      a pediatric patient with a hypersensitivity reaction after horse allergen
      exposure is reported, and the definition of the type of reaction is discussed, as
      it may be the whole set of locally induced multisystemic reactions that resembles
      anaphylaxis. 

PMID- 25818968
TI  - A rare cause of congenital diarrhea in a Turkish newborn: tufting enteropathy.
AB  - Tufting enteropathy is an autosomal recessive congenital enteropathy presenting
      with early-onset severe intractable diarrhea. It presents with watery diarrhea
      that develops in the first days after birth and persists despite bowel rest.
      Growth is impaired, and most patients require total parenteral nutrition. The
      histological characteristic of tufting enteropathy is the presence of epithelial
      tufts. We hereby present a patient who was referred to our neonatal intensive
      care unit because of chronic diarrhea and diagnosed with tufting enteropathy
      according to histological examination. To the best of our knowledge, the newborn
      case presented here is the first one reported from Turkey. As TE is a very rare
      disease, it should be considered in patients with continuing diarrhea beginning
      in the first days of life. 

PMID- 25818969
TI  - Chronic eosinophilic leukemia with monosomy 8 in a five-year-old girl: a rare
      case.
AB  - A 5-year-old girl was admitted to our hospital due to fatigue and fever lasting
      for six months. She had systolic murmur in the mesocardiac and apex regions and
      hepatosplenomegaly. Laboratory evaluation revealed leukocyte and eosinophil
      counts of 176 and 144.32 x 10(9)/L, 3.4% blasts in bone marrow and monosomy 8.
      She developed pulmonary, cardiac, nervous system, ocular and bone involvement.
      Upon diagnosis of "chronic eosinophilic leukemia, not otherwise specified" (WHO
      2008 classification), she received methylprednisolone, vincristine, cytarabine
      and 6-thioguanine. After hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from a full
      matched sibling was performed, the patient expired due to graft failure and
      septicemia.

PMID- 25818970
TI  - Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis arising in a child with Langerhans cell
      histiocytosis.
AB  - Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is characterized by the proliferation of
      clonal dendritic cells, while hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an
      extreme inflammatory process sustained by the uncontrolled activation of
      macrophages. HLH can be primary or secondary, the latter arising in infectious,
      autoimmune or neoplastic disorders. We hereby present a young girl who developed
      secondary HLH while being treated for relapsed multisystem LCH under the LCH III
      Protocol. She fulfilled 5 of 8 HLH-2004 criteria (fever, splenomegaly,
      pancytopenia, ferritin level >500 MU/l and sIL-2R >2400 IU/ml) and was
      successfully treated by the HLH-2004 Protocol for secondary HLH. She remains in
      good health, apart from insipid diabetes she developed as a complication of LCH.
      Considering that the occurrence of HLH in LCH patients has been reported before,
      the case history presented here yields additional support for the hypothesis that
      the pathogenesis of the two histiocytoses--LCH and HLH--may indeed overlap to a
      considerable extent.

PMID- 25818971
TI  - Development of end-stage renal disease at a young age in two cases with Joubert
      syndrome.
AB  - Joubert syndrome (JS) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder. To date,
      mutations in 20 genes of the genetically heterogeneous JS and JS-related
      disorders (JSRD) have been reported. Renal involvement occurs in 2-20% of JS
      cases. Identified renal abnormalities are cystic dysplasia and nephronophthisis.
      Here we report the clinical course and management of renal failure in early
      childhood. We present two cases diagnosed with JS that developed end-stage renal
      disease at young ages. In the genetic studies, a c.5668G>T (p.G1890*) homozygous
      stop mutation was identified in the CEP290 gene of one of the patients and a
      c.1303C>G (p.R435G) homozygous mutation in the INPP5E gene of the other. It has
      been emphasized that it is important to evaluate patients in terms of renal
      disease when monitoring the progress of Joubert syndrome, a condition that
      predominantly causes mental and motor development retardation. 

PMID- 25818972
TI  - Neonate born to hepatitis B carrier mother presenting with congenital
      onychodysplasia of the index finger (Iso-Kikuchi syndrome).

PMID- 25818973
TI  - Controversy regarding paracetamol- and codeine phosphate-induced acute
      tubulointerstitial nephritis-uveitis (TINU) syndrome.

PMID- 25818974
TI  - Reply: To PMID 24827955.

PMID- 25818975
TI  - Ultrasonographic measurement of the subclavian vein diameter for assessment of
      intravascular volume status in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery:
      comparison with central venous pressure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous studies have demonstrated that ultrasonographic measurement
      of the inferior vena cava diameter is a useful tool for the evaluation of
      intravascular volume status in preoperative patients. However, ultrasonographic
      measurement of inferior vena cava diameter could be limited by factors including
      obesity, bowel gas, or complex abdominal wounds. Our study sought to determine
      whether subclavian vein (SCV) diameter measured by ultrasound correlate with
      central venous pressure (CVP), as another indicator of intravascular volume
      status in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery. METHODS: Forty patients
      (American Society of Anesthesiologists I-II) who underwent elective
      gastrointestinal surgery and 40 healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. In
      the patient group, SCV diameters, during both expiration (dSCVe) and inspiration
      (dSCVi), were measured with ultrasonography before and after fluid resuscitation.
      Volunteer baseline measurements were conducted without liquid therapy and the
      subsequent measurement. RESULTS: Forty patients (mean age 46 y; 40% female) and
      40 volunteers (mean age 43 y; 45% female) underwent SCV sonographic measurements.
      The average diameters of the SCVe and SCVi in hypovolemic patients (0.68, 0.48
      cm) were significantly lower as compared with the SCVe and SCVi diameters of
      healthy volunteers (0.92, 0.73 cm), whereas the SCV-collapsibility index (0.35)
      was higher in the hypovolemic patients as compared with the healthy volunteers
      (0.20). After fluid resuscitation, the SCVe and SCVi diameters in hypovolemic
      patients (0.88, 0.67 cm) significantly increased, whereas the SCV-collapsibility
      index decreased (0.23). The pre-SCVe and the post-SCVe were closely correlated to
      the CVP (R = 0.612 and R = 0.547, respectively). Similarly, the pre-SCVi and the
      post-SCVi were correlated to the CVP (R = 0.452 and R = 0.507, respectively).
      CONCLUSIONS: SCV diameter is consistently low in patients undergoing
      gastrointestinal surgery as compared with healthy subjects. Measuring the SCV
      diameter maybe an important addition to the ultrasonographic evaluation of
      hypovolemia and other potentially volume-depleted patients.

PMID- 25818976
TI  - Isoperistaltic versus antiperistaltic stapled side-to-side anastomosis for colon
      cancer surgery: a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Isoperistaltic stapled side-to-side anastomosis (SSSA), which is a
      modified technique from conventional antiperistaltic SSSA, has the benefits of
      antiperistaltic SSSA but requires less intestinal mobility. The aim of this
      randomized controlled trial was to evaluate short-term outcomes of isoperistaltic
      SSSA comparing them with antiperistaltic SSSA during colon cancer surgery.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a randomized controlled trial of patients
      with colon cancer who underwent elective curative resection and had enough
      intestinal mobility at anastomosis. The primary outcome was the presence of
      anastomotic failure, including leakage, hemorrhage, and stenosis. RESULTS:
      Between July 2012 and January 2014, forty patients were enrolled (20 patients in
      each group). The study was suspended on detecting excess morbidity in the
      isoperistaltic SSSA group. No significant differences were observed in all
      preoperative backgrounds between the two groups. Anastomotic leakage was seen in
      two patients in the isoperistaltic SSSA group, compared with none in the
      antiperistaltic SSSA group, although the difference was not statistically
      significant (P = 0.487). One patient in the antiperistaltic SSSA group had
      anastomotic stenosis, which improved conservatively, compared with none in the
      isoperistaltic SSSA group (P = 1.000). No anastomotic hemorrhage was seen in
      either group. There was no significant difference in the median postoperative
      hospital stay (P = 0.313). CONCLUSIONS: This study did not show any short-term
      advantage or disadvantage of isoperistaltic SSSA compared with that of
      antiperistaltic SSSA. However, considering that anastomotic leakage occurred only
      in the isoperistaltic SSSA group, additional modifications are recommended to
      perform safe isoperistaltic SSSA for colon surgery.

PMID- 25818977
TI  - Recombinant human augmenter of liver regeneration protects hepatocyte
      mitochondrial DNA in rats with obstructive jaundice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hepatocyte mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage is an important cause of
      mitochondrial and hepatic function impairment in obstructive jaundice (OJ). This
      study investigated the protective effect of recombinant human augmenter of liver
      regeneration (rhALR) on hepatocyte mtDNA in rats with OJ. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups as follows: sham-operation,
      biliary obstruction and recanalization with rhALR treatment (BDO-RBF-rhALR), and
      BDO-RBF-Vehicle (n = 48 per group). After biliary obstruction, rats were
      intraperitoneally injected with 40 MUg/kg rhALR in BDO-RBF-rhALR group and same
      volume of normal saline in other two groups once every 12 h, until sacrifice.
      Mitochondrial transcription factor A (mtTFA) and nuclear respiratory factor-1
      (NRF-1) expression in hepatocytes were detected by real-time reverse
      transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. Hepatocyte mtDNA damage
      was evaluated by real-time-polymerase chain reaction. Mitochondrial and hepatic
      functions were also assessed. RESULTS: After biliary obstruction, hepatic
      function was clearly impaired, as shown by the increases in serum alanine
      aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and total bilirubin levels, and the
      decrease in albumin level. Mitochondrial respiratory control ratio, phosphorus
      oxygen ratio, and ATP levels (all indicators of mitochondrial function) were
      decreased. The relative amount of total mtDNA, mtTFA, and NRF-1 expression in rat
      liver tissues were decreased, whereas the relative amount of deleted mtDNA was
      increased. However, the damage was significantly improved in the BDO-RBF-rhALR
      group. After recanalization, these changes were gradually restored, but the
      recovery was faster in the BDO-RBF-rhALR group than in BDO-RBF-Vehicle group.
      CONCLUSIONS: rhALR may protect and improve mitochondrial and hepatic functions in
      rats with OJ by promoting the expression of mtTFA and NRF-1 and by protecting and
      repairing damaged mtDNA.

PMID- 25818978
TI  - Hydrogen gas inhibits high-mobility group box 1 release in septic mice by
      upregulation of heme oxygenase 1.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a potentially fatal whole-body inflammation caused by
      severe infection. Hydrogen gas (H2) is effective for treating sepsis. In this
      study, we hypothesized that the protective function of H2 in mice with septic
      lung injury occurred through the activation of heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) and its
      upstream regulator nuclear factor-erythroid 2 p45-related factor 2 (Nrf2).
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male institute of cancer research mice were subjected to
      sepsis by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) with the presence or absence of H2.
      Beginning at 1 and 6 h after CLP or sham operation, respectively, 2% H2 was
      inhaled for 1 h. We intraperitoneally injected the HO-1 inhibitor zinc
      protoporphyrin IX (40 mg/kg) 1 h before CLP. To assess the severity of septic
      lung injury, we observed the 7-d survival rate, wet/dry weight ratio of lung,
      lung histopathologic score, oxygenation index, and so forth. Serum and
      homogenates from the lung, liver, and kidney were acquired for measuring the
      levels of high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) at 6, 12, and 24 h after CLP or sham
      operation. Furthermore, the protein and messenger RNA expression of Nrf2, HO-1,
      and HMGB1 was measured at 6, 12, and 24 h. RESULTS: Septic mice had a lower
      survival rate and more severe lung injury compared with the sham group. However,
      therapy with H2 increased the survival rate and alleviated the severity of lung
      injury, reduced the HMGB1 level, and increased the HO-1 and Nrf2 levels in septic
      mice. Moreover, the HO-1 inhibitor zinc protoporphyrin IX significantly
      eliminated the protective effect of H2 on septic lung injury. CONCLUSIONS: H2
      plays a significant role in regulating the release of the inflammatory cytokine
      HMGB1 in septic mice, which is partially mediated through the activation of HO-1
      as a downstream molecule of Nrf2.

PMID- 25818979
TI  - Epidermal growth factor mediated healing in stem cell-derived vocal fold mucosa.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The goal of vocal fold wound healing is the reconstitution of
      functional tissue, including a structurally and functionally intact epithelium.
      Mechanisms underlying reepithelialization in vocal folds are not known, although
      it is suspected that healing involves the interplay between several growth
      factors. We used a three-dimensional human embryonic stem cell-derived model of
      vocal fold mucosa to examine the effects of one growth factor, exogenous
      epidermal growth factor (EGF), on wound healing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A scratch
      wound was created in the in vitro model. Rate of wound healing, epidermal growth
      factor receptor (EGFR) activation, and cell proliferation after injury were
      analyzed with and without application of both exogenous EGF and an EGFR
      inhibitor, gefitinib. RESULTS: Wound repair after injury was significantly
      hastened by application of exogenous EGF (13.3 MUm/h, +/- 2.63) compared with
      absence of exogenous EGF (7.1 MUm/h +/- 2.84), but inhibited with concurrent
      addition of Gefitinib (5.2 MUm/h, +/- 2.23), indicating that EGF mediates wound
      healing in an EGFR-dependent manner. Immunohistochemistry revealed that EGFR
      activation occurred only in the presence of exogenous EGF. Although not
      statistically significant, increased density of Ki67 staining in the epithelium
      adjacent to the scratch wound was observed after treatment with EGF, suggesting a
      tendency for exogenous EGF to increase epithelial cell proliferation.
      CONCLUSIONS: Exogenous EGF increases the rate of wound healing in an EGFR
      dependent manner in a three-dimensional stem cell-derived model of vocal fold
      mucosa. This model of wound healing can be used to gain insight into the
      mechanisms that regulate vocal fold epithelial repair after injury.

PMID- 25818980
TI  - Surgeon and nonsurgeon personalities at different career points.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous studies have demonstrated correlations between personality
      traits and job performance and satisfaction. Evidence suggests that personality
      differences exist between surgeons and nonsurgeons, some of which may develop
      during medical training. Understanding these personality differences may help
      optimize job performance and satisfaction among surgical trainees and be used to
      identify individuals at risk of burnout. This study aims to identify personality
      traits of surgeons and nonsurgeons at different career points. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: We used The Big Five Inventory, a 44-item measure of the five factor
      model. Personality data and demographics were collected from responses to an
      electronic survey sent to all faculty and house staff in the Departments of
      Surgery, Medicine, and Family Medicine at The Ohio State University College of
      Medicine. Data were analyzed to identify differences in personality traits
      between surgical and nonsurgical specialties according to level of training and
      to compare surgeons to the general population. RESULTS: One hundred ninety-two
      house staff and faculty in surgery and medicine completed the survey. Surgeons
      scored significantly higher on conscientiousness and extraversion but lower on
      agreeableness compared to nonsurgeons (all P < 0.05). Surgery faculty scored
      lower in agreeableness compared with that of surgery house staff (P = 0.001),
      whereas nonsurgeon faculty scored higher on extraversion compared with that of
      nonsurgeon house staff (P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: There appears to be inherent
      personality differences between surgical and nonsurgical specialties. The use of
      personality testing may be a useful adjunct in the residency selection process
      for applicants deciding between surgical and nonsurgical specialties. It may also
      facilitate early intervention for individuals at high risk for burnout and job
      dissatisfaction.

PMID- 25818981
TI  - Protective effect of oroxylin A against lipopolysaccharide and/or D-galactosamine
      induced acute liver injury in mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oroxylin A, a natural flavonoid isolated from Scutellariae
      baicalensis, has been reported to possess a wide spectrum of pharmacologic
      activities. However, the effects of oroxylin A on liver injury are poor
      understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of oroxylin
      A on acute liver injury in mice induced by lipopolysaccharide and/or D
      galactosamine (LPS and/or D-GalN). METHODS: Mice acute liver injury model was
      induced by LPS (50 MUg/kg) and/or GalN (800 mg/kg). Serum alanine
      aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha
      levels, hepatic tissue histology, malondialdehyde content, and myeloperoxidase
      activity were analyzed. Meanwhile, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB), heme
      oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and nuclear factor erythroid2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)
      expression were detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: The results showed that
      oroxylin A dose-dependently inhibited LPS and/or GalN-induced serum alanine
      aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha
      levels. Hepatic malondialdehyde content and myeloperoxidase activity were also
      suppressed by oroxylin A. We also found that oroxylin A inhibited LPS and/or GalN
      induced toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression and NF-kappaB activation. In
      addition, oroxylin A upregulated the expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 in a dose
      dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, oroxylin A protected against LPS
      and/or GalN-induced liver injury through activating Nrf2 and inhibiting TLR4
      signaling pathway.

PMID- 25818982
TI  - Editor's Choice - Minimizing Radiation Exposure During Endovascular Procedures:
      Basic Knowledge, Literature Review, and Reporting Standards.
AB  - CONTEXT: Endovascular procedures, requiring X-ray guidance, are commonly
      performed in vascular surgery. X-ray exposure is associated with biological risks
      for both patients and physicians. Medical X-ray use must follow "as low as
      reasonably achievable" (ALARA) principles, which aim at using the lowest
      radiation exposure to achieve a procedure safely. This is underlined by European
      and international recommendations that also suggest that adequate theoretical and
      practical training is mandatory during the initial education of physicians.
      However, the content of this education and professional practices vary widely
      from one country to another. OBJECTIVE: This review aims to summarize the basic
      knowledge required for vascular surgeons on X-ray physics and image production.
      METHODS: A panel of endovascular therapists (vascular surgeons and radiologists)
      and physicists dedicated to X-rays was gathered. International recommendations
      were summarized. A literature review was performed via MEDLINE to identify
      studies reporting dosages of common endovascular procedures. RESULTS: The
      different mechanisms inducing biological risks, and the associated potential
      effects on health, are described. Details on dose metrics are provided and a
      common nomenclature to measure, estimate, and report dose is proposed in order to
      perform accurate comparisons between publications and practices. Key points of
      the European and international legislation regarding medical X-ray use are
      summarized, and radiation protection basics for patients and staff, are detailed.
      Finally, a literature review is proposed for physicians to evaluate their
      practice. CONCLUSIONS: Today's trainees will be highly exposed to radiation
      throughout their practice. It is thus compulsory that they undergo dedicated
      radiation education during their initial training, and regular refresher sessions
      later. In daily practice, focus on dose reduction and monitoring of patient and
      staff exposure are mandatory.

PMID- 25818983
TI  - Conducting Slug Tests in Mini-Piezometers.
AB  - Slug tests performed using mini-piezometers with internal diameters as small as
      0.43 cm can provide a cost effective tool for hydraulic characterization. We
      evaluated the hydraulic properties of the apparatus in a laboratory environment
      and compared those results with field tests of mini-piezometers installed into
      locations with varying hydraulic properties. Based on our evaluation, slug tests
      conducted in mini-piezometers using the fabrication and installation approach
      described here are effective within formations where the hydraulic conductivity
      is less than 1 * 10(-3) cm/s. While these constraints limit the potential
      application of this method, the benefits to this approach are that the
      installation, measurement, and analysis is cost effective, and the installation
      can be completed in areas where other (larger diameter) methods might not be
      possible. Additionally, this methodology could be applied to existing mini
      piezometers previously installed for other purposes. Such analysis of existing
      installations could be beneficial in interpreting previously collected data
      (e.g., water-quality data or hydraulic head data). 

PMID- 25818984
TI  - The arsenic accumulation and its effect on oxidative stress responses in juvenile
      rockfish, Sebastes schlegelii, exposed to waterborne arsenic (As3+).
AB  - Juvenile rockfish (mean length 16.4 +/- 1.9 cm, and mean weight 71.6 +/- 6.4 g)
      were exposed for 20 days with the different levels of waterborne arsenic
      concentration (0, 50, 100, 200 and 400 MUg/L). The profile of As accumulation
      among tissue of rockfish is dependent on the exposure periods and As
      concentration. After 4 weeks, the highest accumulation of As was observed in the
      kidney, and the order of As accumulation in tissues was liver > kidney > spleen >
      gill > intestine > muscle. Generally, significant As accumulation increase in
      most tissues was observed at the higher concentration of 200 MUg/L waterborne As
      exposure, whereas there was no considerable increase in muscle except the
      concentration of 400 MUg/L at 20 days. In oxidative stress indicators, liver and
      gill superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and glutathione-S-transferase (GST)
      activity were considerably increased after the 20 days exposure. Glutathione
      (GSH) level in liver and gill was also notably increased in response to the
      waterborne As exposure after 20 days. The results demonstrated that waterborne As
      exposure can induce considerable As accumulation in major tissues and alterations
      in antioxidant enzyme parameters of experimental fish, rockfish.

PMID- 25818985
TI  - Naringin attenuates the cytotoxicity of hepatotoxin microcystin-LR by the curious
      mechanisms to OATP1B1- and OATP1B3-expressing cells.
AB  - Microcystin-LR, which is an inhibitor of serine/threonine protein phosphatase
      (PP)1 and PP2A, induces liver injury by its selective uptake system into the
      hepatocyte. It is also thought that microcystin-LR induces reactive oxygen
      species (ROS). We tried to establish the chemical prevention of microcystin-LR
      poisoning. We investigated the effect of grapefruit flavanone glycoside naringin
      on cytotoxicity of microcystin-LR using human hepatocyte uptake transporter
      OATP1B3-expressing HEK293-OATP1B3 cells. We found cytotoxicity of microcystin-LR
      was attenuated by naringin in a dose dependent manner. The inhibition magnitude
      of total cellular serine/threonine protein phosphatase activity induced by
      microcystin-LR was suppressed by naringin. In addition, uptake of microcystin-LR
      into HEK293-OATP1B3 cells was inhibited by naringin. Furthermore, microcystin-LR
      induced phosphorylation of p53 was inhibited by naringin. Regardless of the
      difference in the exposure pattern of pre-processing and post-processing of
      naringin, the toxicity of microcystin-LR was comparable. These results suggested
      that naringin is promising remedy as well as preventive medicine for liver damage
      with microcystin-LR. In addition, involvement of ROS production after exposure to
      the sublethal concentrations of microcystin-LR in the onset of cytotoxicity was
      negligible. Therefore, inhibition of microcystin-LR uptake and the pathway other
      than ROS production would be involved in the effect of naringin on the
      attenuation of microcystin-LR toxicity. 

PMID- 25818986
TI  - Esculetin induces death of human colon cancer cells via the reactive oxygen
      species-mediated mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.
AB  - The present study investigated the apoptotic effects of esculetin, a coumarin
      derivative, on the human colon cancer cell line HT-29. Esculetin had cytotoxic
      effects on HT-29 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner; treatment with 55
      MUg/mL esculetin reduced cell viability by 50%. Esculetin induced apoptosis, as
      evidenced by apoptotic body formation, an increased percentage of cells in sub-G1
      phase, and DNA fragmentation. Moreover, esculetin increased mitochondrial
      membrane depolarization, released cytochrome c into cytosol, and modulated the
      expression of apoptosis-associated proteins, resulting in reduced expression of B
      cell lymphoma-2, increased expression of Bcl-2-associated X protein, and
      activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3. Esculetin induced the formation of
      reactive oxygen species; however, treatment with an antioxidant reduced the
      apoptotic cell death induced by esculetin treatment. In addition, esculetin
      activated mitogen-activated protein kinases and specific inhibitors of these
      kinases abrogated the reduction in cell viability induced by esculetin treatment.

PMID- 25818987
TI  - A persistently high body mass index increases the risk of atopic asthma at school
      age.
AB  - AIM: Being overweight has been associated with the risk of developing childhood
      asthma, but studies have produced conflicting results, for example with regard to
      possible links to allergic diseases. This study aimed to explore the relationship
      between body mass index (BMI) and school-age asthma. METHODS: Data were obtained
      from a prospective, longitudinal study of 5044 children born in western Sweden.
      The parents answered questionnaires at six months and one, four-and-a-half and
      eight years of age. The response rate to the final questionnaire at the age of
      eight was just over 80%. BMI was adjusted for age and gender, and a high BMI was
      defined as the 85th percentile and above. RESULTS: A multivariate analysis showed
      an independently increased risk of doctor-diagnosed asthma among children with a
      persistently high BMI, both in infancy and at school age, with an adjusted odds
      ratio (aOR) of 2.9 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.3-6.4. In addition,
      persistently high BMI was associated with an increased risk of atopic asthma (aOR
      4.7, 95% CI 2.0-11.0). CONCLUSION: A persistently high BMI during childhood
      increased the risk of doctor-diagnosed asthma at school age. The increased risk
      of atopic asthma suggests an effect mediated via the immune system.

PMID- 25818988
TI  - Clinical features, therapy, and outcome of calciphylaxis in patients with end
      stage renal disease on renal replacement therapy: Case series.

PMID- 25818989
TI  - In-line phase-contrast and grating-based phase-contrast synchrotron imaging study
      of brain micrometastasis of breast cancer.
AB  - Current bio-medical imaging researches aim to detect brain micrometastasis in
      early stage for its increasing incidence and high mortality rates. Synchrotron
      phase-contrast imaging techniques, such as in-line phase-contrast (IPC) and
      grating-based phase-contrast (GPC) imaging, could provide a high spatial and
      density imaging study of biological specimens' 3D structures. In this study, we
      demonstrated the detection efficiencies of these two imaging tools on breast
      cancer micrometastasis in an ex vivo mouse brain. We found that both IPC and GPC
      can differentiate abnormal brain structures induced by micrometastasis from the
      surrounding normal tissues. We also found that GPC was more sensitive in
      detecting the small metastasis as compared to IPC. 

PMID- 25818990
TI  - Conjunctival habronemiasis in a square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum).
AB  - A captive female square-lipped rhinoceros born in 1993 had been showing
      intermittent signs of bilateral conjunctivitis and conjunctival proliferation
      since 1998. Periodic improvement was noted, especially in winter, but overall the
      condition had deteriorated over the years. Treatment with various topical,
      intralesional, and systemic antibiotics and glucocorticosteroids was largely
      ineffective, as were repeated dewormings. No primary cause for these lesions was
      found in biopsies taken in 2000 and 2006, although a severe infiltrate of
      numerous eosinophils was observed in the latter. As the condition worsened,
      secondary corneal changes were noted, and eventually vision was lost due to
      proliferative conjunctival tissue. Aggressive resection of the proliferating
      tissue in 2013 restored vision and submitted biopsies yielded a diagnosis of
      severe allergic conjunctivitis, eosinophilic granuloma, and habronematid
      (Habronema or Draschia) larval infection. As no other rhinoceros in the herd was
      affected, including two calves born to the patient who were in close contact with
      their mother, it was concluded the presentation was most likely due to a
      hypersensitivity reaction to the dead or dying larvae. Fly repellent is now
      regularly applied around the eye of this rhinoceros, and a protective face mask
      has been fitted. Ongoing periodic relapses are treated with oral ivermectin,
      topical antibiotics, and steroids. 

PMID- 25818991
TI  - Maternal serum progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF) in the prediction of
      preterm birth.
AB  - The objective of this study was to analyze the maternal serum concentration of
      progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF) with regard to the prediction and the
      interval between sampling and the onset of preterm birth. A prospective study was
      conducted on a sample of 37 women with threatened pre-term birth and 41 healthy
      pregnant women between the 24th and 28th gestational weeks. Out of 37 patients
      with threatened preterm birth 11 delivered pre-term and three groups of patients
      were formed: the preterm delivery group, patients with threatened preterm
      delivery, and healthy pregnant women. In samples that were taken within 5 days
      before labor started (6/11, 54.5%), PIBF concentrations were significantly lower
      than in those obtained more than 5 days before labor (5/11, 45.5%; the mean
      interval between sampling and the onset of labor was 4.1 +/- 1.8 days). Multiple
      regression analysis of the individual contributions of each observed parameter
      for preterm delivery demonstrated the significant contribution of a lack of PIBF
      to preterm birth (p = 0.002). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis
      was performed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of PIBF for the prediction of
      preterm birth of women with symptoms of pre-term delivery. The PIBF demonstrated
      an excellent diagnostic value in the prediction of preterm birth with an area
      under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.956 (95% CI = 0.884-0.989; p < 0.0001). Our data
      suggest that pregnancy termination can be predicted by lower than normal
      pregnancy PIBF values within 5 days before labor and can contribute to the
      diagnosis of preterm birth.

PMID- 25818992
TI  - Immunology in reproduction.

PMID- 25818993
TI  - Blood alcohol concentration in drivers of Liege area (Belgium): a 5-year
      analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective of the study was to describe 'the results of the blood
      alcohol determinations made on drivers from the Liege area between 2007 and 2012.
      METHODS: The results were interpreted according to the sex, to the age, to the
      circumstances and temporal variation of the test. Statistical analysis was
      performed using R(r) software. RESULTS: 2725 determinations were done, mainly
      after crashes. The mean blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was 1.69 g/L, and 2132
      drivers were above the legal threshold. A majority of offenders were men, but the
      mean BAC did not differ significantly between men and women. A correlation
      between age and mean BAC can be observed on the positive cases. Lowest and
      highest mean BACs are observed during the daytime and during the night,
      respectively, but no significant difference can be observed between the week and
      the weekend. Finally, no significant difference in BAC was observed over years.

PMID- 25818994
TI  - The use of renal replacement therapy in critically ill pediatric small bowel
      transplantation candidates and recipients: Experience from one center.
AB  - Outcomes for pediatric SBT patients requiring perioperative RRT in the PICU
      remain unknown. The objectives were to document our center's experience with PICU
      SBT patients receiving perioperative RRT and to identify variables predictive of
      survival to discharge. A retrospective chart review of patients (ages, 0-18 yr)
      between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2011 that received RRT within a SBT
      perioperative period and were transplanted at our university-affiliated, tertiary
      care children's hospital was performed. Six SBT patients received perioperative
      RRT (ages, 5-12 yr). Three patients (50%) survived to hospital discharge. Among
      survivors, RRT was required for a total of 1-112 days (mean, 49.7 days). All
      three survivors survived to hospital discharge without renal transplantation and
      free of RRT. There was a trend toward increased survival among older patients
      receiving RRT (p = 0.05). Survivors had a higher I-125 GFR prior to PICU
      admission (p = 0.045). A higher I-125 GFR prior to PICU admission among survivors
      may support this test's utility during SBT evaluation. In our experience, a high
      survival rate and freedom from RRT at the time of discharge support RRT use in
      the SBT population.

PMID- 25818995
TI  - The utility of thromboelastometry in prophylactic platelet transfusion for
      hematological malignancies.
AB  - There is still debate on how platelet transfusions should be used to prevent
      severe bleeding. The aim of our study is to assess the clinical efficacy of
      thromboelastometry in reducing number of prophylactic platelet transfusions in
      patients with hematological malignancies. One hundred hematological malignancy
      patients were included in the study. Six units random donor platelets (RDPs) was
      given to the first group, three units RDPs was given to the second group, one
      unit single donor platelets (SDPs) was given to the third group, and 1/2 unit
      SDPs was given to the fourth group. Before and 15 minutes after transfusion,
      rotation thromboelastometry (ROTEM) was performed (Pentapharm GmbH, Munich,
      Germany). ROTEM((r)) parameters did not show any statistical difference between
      'low dose' and 'high dose' random or single donor platelet transfusions.
      Therefore, low dose platelet transfusion can be considered because of its reduced
      adverse transfusion reactions and economic burden. 

PMID- 25818996
TI  - Red cell alloimmunisation in oncology patients: A study from eastern India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Red cell alloimmunisation is an important complication in multi
      transfused patients with haematologic and surgical malignancies. Antibody
      screening with identification is necessary to ensure transfusion safety. Data on
      the prevalence of alloimmunisation in oncology patients is limited. In this study
      we assessed multitransfused haematology-oncology patients for red cell
      alloimmunisation. This was a retrospective analysis undertaken to assess the
      alloantibody prevalence and determine the antibody specificity. MATERIALS AND
      METHOD: Retrospective analysis of antibody screening data was done for
      haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients as well as surgical oncology
      patients, from April 2013 to May 2014. This included the antibody screening done
      prior to surgery, antibody screening prior to HSCT and any antibody screening
      performed for these patients at cross match. Antibody screening was done using
      the three cell panel (surgiscreen) and if positive, further identification
      performed using the 11 cell panel (Resolve Panel A). If the antibody screen
      (three cell panel) was positive, an autocontrol was performed using reverse
      diluent (Ortho Biovue System) card. Patients with autoantibodies were excluded
      from this study. RESULT AND DISCUSSION: Our overall red cell alloimmunisation
      rate was 2.5%. Alloimmunisation rate among HSCT transplant patients was 1.6% as
      compared to the 2.4% in patients with solid organ malignancies. Keeping in view
      the low alloimmunisation rate, the justification of repeating antibody screening
      72 hours post transfusion in this category of patients needs to be re-assessed.

PMID- 25818997
TI  - Frequency of DEL phenotype in RhD negative donor population of north India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of data for DEL phenotype in the Indian
      population. Ours is a tertiary care Regional Blood Transfusion Centre in north
      India collecting more than 50,000 blood units out of which 8-9% are RhD negative
      donors. AIM: To determine the frequency of DEL phenotype in RhD negative blood
      donor population at our centre. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 200 RhD-negative
      blood donor samples were included in this study which was conducted over a period
      of 4 months (October 2013 to January 2014). All these blood samples were tested
      for extended Rh typing including C, E, c and e antigens and also for adsorption
      elution testing. The heat elution method at 56  degrees C in water bath for 10
      minutes was utilized. The eluate and the last wash supernatant were used for
      indirect antiglobulin test against O RhD positive and O RhD negative cells by gel
      technique using the LISS Coombs' AHG gel cards (Biorad, Morat, Switzerland).
      Those donor samples which were found positive on adsorption elution testing were
      also further investigated by gel technique for Direct Antiglobulin test (DAT),
      Weak D testing and Auto Control test. RESULTS: Out of the total 200 Rh D negative
      donor samples tested, 3 (1.5%) samples were found to give positive result and,
      thus, were the DEL phenotypes. It was found that 20 (10%) donor samples were
      positive for C antigen, 5 (2.5%) for E antigen, 200 (100%) for c antigen and 200
      (100%) for e antigen. Among the DEL negative (= 197), 193 (98%) were E antigen
      negative and only 4 (2%) were E antigen positive, whereas among the DEL positive
      samples (= 3), 2 (66.6%) were E antigen negative and 1 (33.3%) was E antigen
      positive. The C antigen positivity was only in 2 (66.6%) individuals in the DEL
      positive group and 178 (90.3%) in the DEL negative samples. All the three samples
      which were found to be positive as DEL phenotype also gave negative result for
      DAT, Weak D testing and Auto Control. CONCLUSION: The frequency of DEL phenotype
      in north Indian RhD negative donor population is 1.5%.

PMID- 25818998
TI  - Association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the microRNA miR-1596 locus
      with residual feed intake in chickens.
AB  - MicroRNAs are an abundant class of small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene
      expression. Genetic variations in microRNA sequences may be associated with
      phenotype differences by influencing the expression of microRNAs and/or their
      targets. This study identified two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the
      genomic region of the microRNA miR-1596 locus of chicken. Of the two SNPs, one
      was 95 bp upstream of miR-1596 (g.5678784A>T) and the other was in the middle of
      the sequence producing the mature microRNA gga-miR-1596-3p (g.5678944A>G).
      Genotypic distribution of the two SNPs had large differences among 12 chicken
      breeds (lines), especially between the fast-growing commercial lines and the slow
      growing Chinese indigenous breeds for the g.5678784A>T SNP. Only the g.5678784A>T
      SNP was significantly associated with residual feed intake (RFI) in the F2
      population derived from a fast-growing and a slow-growing broiler as well as in
      the pure Huiyang bearded chicken. The birds with the AA genotype of the
      g.5678784A>T SNP had lower RFI and higher expression of the mature gga-miR-1596
      3p microRNA of miR-1596 than did those with the other genotypes of the same SNP.
      We also found that the expression of the mature gga-miR-1596-3p microRNA of miR
      1596 was significantly associated with RFI. These findings suggest that miR-1596
      can become a candidate gene related to RFI, and its genetic variation may
      contribute to changes in RFI by altering expression levels of the mature gga-miR
      1596-3p microRNA in chicken. 

PMID- 25818999
TI  - Expression, purification and characterization of inactive and active forms of
      ERK2 from insect expression system.
AB  - Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) is a serine/threonine protein
      kinase involved in many cellular programs, such as cell proliferation,
      differentiation, motility and programed cell-death. It is therefore considered an
      important target in the treatment of cancer. In an effort to support biochemical
      screening and small molecule drug discovery, we established a robust system to
      generate both inactive and active forms of ERK2 using insect expression system.
      We report here, for the first time, that inactive ERK2 can be expressed and
      purified with 100% homogeneity in the unphosphorylated form using insect system.
      This resulted in a significant 20-fold yield improvement compared to that
      previously reported using bacterial expression system. We also report a newly
      developed system to generate active ERK2 in insect cells through in vivo co
      expression with a constitutively active MEK1 (S218D S222D). Isolated active ERK2
      was confirmed to be doubly phosphorylated at the correct sites, T185 and Y187, in
      the activation loop of ERK2. Both ERK2 forms, inactive and active, were well
      characterized by biochemical activity assay for their kinase function. Inactive
      and active ERK2 were the two key reagents that enabled successful high through
      put biochemical assay screen and structural drug discovery studies. 

PMID- 25819000
TI  - Distribution and content of ellagitannins in Finnish plant species.
AB  - The results of a screening study, in which a total of 82 Finnish plant species
      were studied for their ellagitannin composition and content, are presented. The
      total ellagitannin content was determined by HPLC-DAD, the detected ellagitannins
      were further characterized by HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS and divided into four structurally
      different sub-groups. Thirty plant species were found to contain ellagitannins
      and the ellagitannin content in the crude extracts varied from few mgg(-1) to
      over a hundred mgg(-1). Plant families that were rich in ellagitannins (>90mgg(
      1) of the crude extract) were Onagraceae, Lyhtraceae, Geraniaceae, Elaeagnaceae,
      Fagaceae and some species from Rosaceae. Plant species that contained moderate
      amounts of ellagitannins (31-89mgg(-1) of the crude extract) were representatives
      of the family Rosaceae. Plant species that contained low amounts of ellagitannins
      (1-30mgg(-1) of the crude extract) were representatives of the families
      Betulaceae and Myricaceae. The specific ellagitannin composition of the species
      allowed their chemotaxonomic classification and the comparison between the older
      Cronquist's classification and the nowadays preferred Angiosperm Phylogeny Group
      classification. 

PMID- 25819001
TI  - Allium sativum produces terpenes with fungistatic properties in response to
      infection with Sclerotium cepivorum.
AB  - This study investigated terpene biosynthesis in different tissues (root,
      protobulb, leaf sheath and blade) of in vitro-grown garlic plants either infected
      or not (control) with Sclerotium cepivorum, the causative agent of Allium White
      Rot disease. The terpenes identified by gas chromatography-electron impact mass
      spectrometry (GC-EIMS) in infected plants were nerolidol, phytol, squalene, alpha
      pinene, terpinolene, limonene, 1,8-cineole and gamma-terpinene, whose levels
      significantly increased when exposed to the fungus. Consistent with this, an
      increase in terpene synthase (TPS) activity was measured in infected plants.
      Among the terpenes identified, nerolidol, alpha-pinene and terpinolene were the
      most abundant with antifungal activity against S. cepivorum being assessed in
      vitro by mycelium growth inhibition. Nerolidol and terpinolene significantly
      reduced sclerotia production, while alpha-pinene stimulated it in a concentration
      dependent manner. Parallel to fungal growth inhibition, electron microscopy
      observations established morphological alterations in the hyphae exposed to
      terpinolene and nerolidol. Differences in hyphal EtBr uptake suggested that one
      of the antifungal mechanisms of nerolidol and terpinolene might be disruption of
      fungal membrane integrity. 

PMID- 25819002
TI  - Barrier properties of heat treated starch Pickering emulsions.
AB  - HYPOTHESIS: There is a recognized technological need for delivery systems
      encapsulating lipophilic substances in food and pharmaceutical products.
      Pickering emulsions can provide well-defined and highly stable systems, but may
      not provide good enough barrier properties. Starch granules, recently being used
      for Pickering stabilization, have the advantage of the ability to swell during
      gelatinization. Hence, this property could be used to tune and control barrier
      properties. EXPERIMENTS: Oil-in-water Pickering emulsions stabilized by starch
      were subject to heat treatment at different conditions. The influence of
      temperature, time, and storage on emulsion drop characteristics was evaluated. In
      order to further evaluate the barrier properties, lipolysis using the pH-stat
      method was applied and the effect of starch concentration, treatment temperature,
      and preliminary oral conditions were also investigated. FINDINGS: A better
      encapsulating barrier was obtained by starch swelling at the oil drop interface.
      This was seen as reduced lipase activity. The internal oil drop size remained
      intact and the starch was kept at the interface during heat treatment. The extent
      of swelling could be controlled by the heating conditions and had impact on the
      ability to prevent lipase transport through the starch barrier layer. Addition of
      alpha-amylase simulating oral digestion only had minor impact on the barrier
      effect.

PMID- 25819003
TI  - Hierarchical MWCNTs/Fe3O4/PANI magnetic composite as adsorbent for methyl orange
      removal.
AB  - Multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) decorated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles
      (MWCNTs/Fe3O4) were modified by polyaniline (PANI). The adsorption kinetics of
      methyl orange (MO) on MWCNTs/Fe3O4/PANI could be fitted well by the pseudo-second
      order model. The adsorption of MO on MWCNTs/Fe3O4/PANI was strongly dependent on
      pH values. The Langmuir isotherm model fitted MO adsorption isotherm better than
      the Freundlich model. The hierarchical MWCNTs/Fe3O4/PANI showed high adsorption
      capacity toward ionic dyes (446.25 mg g(-1) for MO and 417.38 mg g(-1) for Congo
      red (CR)). The nitrogen-containing functional groups of PANI decorated on
      MWCNTs/Fe3O4/PANI contributed to many effective adsorption sites and thus
      increased the adsorption capacity toward MO and CR. Moreover, PANI prevented
      Fe3O4 nanoparticles from dissolution, and hence improved the stability of
      MWCNTs/Fe3O4/PANI in solution. The experimental results showed that the
      MWCNTs/Fe3O4/PANI composite was a promising magnetic material for the
      preconcentration and separation of ionic dye pollutants from aqueous solutions in
      environmental pollution cleanup.

PMID- 25819004
TI  - Structure-function relationships affecting the sensing mechanism of monolayer
      protected cluster doped xerogel amperometric glucose biosensors.
AB  - A systematic study of the structure-function relationships critical to
      understanding the sensing mechanism of 1st generation amperometric glucose
      biosensors with an embedded nanoparticle (NP) network is presented. Xerogel-based
      films featuring embedded glucose oxidase enzyme and doped with alkanethiolate
      protected gold NPs, known as monolayer protected clusters (MPCs), exhibit
      significantly enhanced performance compared to analogous systems without NPs
      including higher sensitivity, faster response time, and extended linear/dynamic
      ranges. The proposed mechanism involves diffusion of the glucose to glucose
      oxidase within the xerogel, enzymatic reaction production of H2O2 with subsequent
      diffusion to the embedded network of MPCs where it is oxidized, an event
      immediately reported via fast electron transfer (ET) through the MPC system to
      the working electrode. Various aspects of the film construct and strategy are
      systematically probed using amperometry, voltammetry, and solid-state electronic
      conductivity measurements, including the effects of MPC peripheral chain length,
      MPC functionalization via place-exchange reaction, MPC core size, and the MPC
      density or concentration within the xerogel composite films. The collective
      results of these experiments support the proposed mechanism and identify
      interparticle spacing and the electronic communication through the MPC network is
      the most significant factor in the sensing scheme with the diffusional aspects of
      the mechanism that may be affected by film/MPC hydrophobicity and functionality
      (i.e., glucose and H2O2 diffusion) shown to be less substantial contributors to
      the overall enhanced performance. Understanding the structure-function
      relationships of effective sensing schemes allows for the employment of the
      strategy for future biosensor design toward clinically relevant targets. 

PMID- 25819005
TI  - Suppression of inflammatory response by chrysin, a flavone isolated from
      Potentilla evestita Th. Wolf. In silico predictive study on its mechanistic
      effect.
AB  - Flavonoids are the most abundant natural polyphenols widely distributed in
      plants. Among them, chrysin has recently attracted the attention for its anti
      tumor and anti-oxidant activities and also for its protective effects on allergic
      inflammation. Therefore, in this study, we set out to investigate and
      characterize the effects of chrysin in classical models of inflammation reasoning
      that this would expand our knowledge on the pharmacological properties of this
      flavone. To this aim we have firstly isolated chrysin from Potentilla evestita
      Th. Wolf. and successively evaluated its anti-inflammatory and analgesic
      potential on writhing and formalin test and also on carrageenan-induced paw
      oedema. Finally, the present study was planned to investigate, by the aim of
      docking analysis, the molecular interaction of this compound on the binding site
      of COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes. On writhing test, we observed a significant
      inhibition of writhings after the administration of chrysin at 5.0 and 10.0 mg/kg
      i.p. (25.00+/-9.22% and 55.67+/-7.62% respectively). On formalin test, the
      flavone at dose of 10.0 mg/kg i.p. displayed its maximum analgesic and anti
      inflammatory effect on both early (35.67+/-7.88%) and late phase (50.57+/-5.36%)
      and similarly displayed at 4h a significant anti-inflammatory effect in
      carrageenan-induced paw oedema. Moreover, in silico analysis of receptor ligand
      complex shows that chrysin interacts weakly with COX-1 binding site whereas
      displayed a remarkable interaction with COX-2. These findings suggest that the
      flavone chrysin isolated from P. evestita Th. Wolf. possesses in vivo anti
      inflammatory and anti-nociceptive potential, which are supported in silico by an
      interaction with COX-2 binding site.

PMID- 25819006
TI  - Cadinane sesquiterpenes from Curcuma phaeocaulis with their inhibitory activities
      on nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 cells.
AB  - Four new cadinane-type sesquiterpenes named phacadinanes A-D (1-4) were isolated
      from the rhizomes of Curcuma phaeocaulis. Their structures were elucidated by 1D
      and 2D NMR, as well as accurate mass measurements. Compound 4 was the first
      example of a rare 4,5-seco-cadinane sesquiterpene isolated from the Zingiberaceae
      family. Furthermore, inhibitory effects of the isolated compounds on nitric oxide
      production in LPS-activated macrophages were evaluated. Compounds 1 and 2 showed
      strong inhibitory activities on NO production with IC50 values of 3.88+/-0.58 and
      2.25+/-0.71 MUM, respectively. A possible biogenetic pathway for 4,5-seco
      cadinane sesquiterpene (4) was postulated.

PMID- 25819007
TI  - Four doses of unpegylated versus one dose of pegylated filgrastim as supportive
      therapy in R-CHOP-14 for elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
AB  - The primary objective of this prospective, randomized study was to compare the
      efficacy of a reduced regimen of only four doses of unpegylated filgrastim from
      day +8 to +11 per cycle with a standard once per cycle administration of
      pegylated filgrastim to maintain dose-intensity of R-CHOP-14 (rituximab,
      cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone given every 14 d) in
      previously untreated elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).
      We included 51 patients (median age 66 years, range 60-76). Median dose intensity
      did not differ between the group of 24 patients receiving four doses of
      unpegylated filgrastim of each cycle (87.5%) and the group of 27 patients
      receiving pegylated filgrastim once per cycle on day 2 (89.4%) (P = 0.9). There
      was also no difference in the frequency of adverse events, such as episodes of
      neutropenic fever and unplanned hospitalizations. Patient characteristics that
      negatively influenced dose intensity were reduced performance status, advanced
      stage disease and poor-risk International Prognostic Index, with Eastern
      Cooperative Oncology Group performance status >=2 being the most significant
      factor. In conclusion, a limited support with 4 d of filgrastim appears to be
      equivalent to pegylated filgrastim administered once per cycle, and appears to be
      sufficient to maintain dose-intensity of the R-CHOP-14 regimen in elderly
      patients with DLBCL without risk factors. 

PMID- 25819008
TI  - Effect of preservation method on spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) fecal
      microbiota over 8 weeks.
AB  - Studies of the gut microbiome have become increasingly common with recent
      technological advances. Gut microbes play an important role in human and animal
      health, and gut microbiome analysis holds great potential for evaluating health
      in wildlife, as microbiota can be assessed from non-invasively collected fecal
      samples. However, many common fecal preservation protocols (e.g. freezing at -80 
      degrees C) are not suitable for field conditions, or have not been tested for
      long-term (greater than 2 weeks) storage. In this study, we collected fresh fecal
      samples from captive spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) at the Columbian Park Zoo
      (Lafayette, IN, USA). The samples were pooled, homogenized, and preserved for up
      to 8 weeks prior to DNA extraction and sequencing. Preservation methods included:
      freezing at -20  degrees C, freezing at -80  degrees C, immersion in 100%
      ethanol, application to FTA cards, and immersion in RNAlater. At 0 (fresh), 1, 2,
      4, and 8 weeks from fecal collection, DNA was extracted and microbial DNA was
      amplified and sequenced. DNA concentration, purity, microbial diversity, and
      microbial composition were compared across all methods and time points. DNA
      concentration and purity did not correlate with microbial diversity or
      composition. Microbial composition of frozen and ethanol samples were most
      similar to fresh samples. FTA card and RNAlater-preserved samples had the least
      similar microbial composition and abundance compared to fresh samples. Microbial
      composition and diversity were relatively stable over time within each
      preservation method. Based on these results, if freezers are not available, we
      recommend preserving fecal samples in ethanol (for up to 8weeks) prior to
      microbial extraction and analysis.

PMID- 25819009
TI  - Characterization of the Carbohydrate Binding Module 18 gene family in the
      amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
AB  - Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is the causative agent of chytridiomycosis
      responsible for worldwide decline in amphibian populations. Previous analysis of
      the Bd genome revealed a unique expansion of the carbohydrate-binding module
      family 18 (CBM18) predicted to be a sub-class of chitin recognition domains. CBM
      expansions have been linked to the evolution of pathogenicity in a variety of
      fungal species by protecting the fungus from the host. Based on phylogenetic
      analysis and presence of additional protein domains, the gene family can be
      classified into 3 classes: Tyrosinase-, Deacetylase-, and Lectin-like.
      Examination of the mRNA expression levels from sporangia and zoospores of nine of
      the cbm18 genes found that the Lectin-like genes had the highest expression while
      the Tyrosinase-like genes showed little expression, especially in zoospores.
      Heterologous expression of GFP-tagged copies of four CBM18 genes in Saccharomyces
      cerevisiae demonstrated that two copies containing secretion signal peptides are
      trafficked to the cell boundary. The Lectin-like genes cbm18-ll1 and cbm18-ll2 co
      localized with the chitinous cell boundaries visualized by staining with
      calcofluor white. In vitro assays of the full length and single domain copies
      from CBM18-LL1 demonstrated chitin binding and no binding to cellulose or xylan.
      Expressed CBM18 domain proteins were demonstrated to protect the fungus,
      Trichoderma reeseii, in vitro against hydrolysis from exogenously added
      chitinase, likely by binding and limiting exposure of fungal chitin. These
      results demonstrate that cbm18 genes can play a role in fungal defense and
      expansion of their copy number may be an important pathogenicity factor of this
      emerging infectious disease of amphibians. 

PMID- 25819010
TI  - Genetic risk factors affecting mitochondrial function are associated with kidney
      disease in people with Type 1 diabetes.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the association with diabetic kidney disease of single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that may contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction.
      METHODS: The mitochondrial genome and 1039 nuclear genes that are integral to
      mitochondrial function were investigated using a case (n = 823 individuals with
      diabetic kidney disease) vs. control (n = 903 individuals with diabetes and no
      renal disease) approach. All people included in the analysis were of white
      European origin and were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes before the age of 31
      years. Replication was conducted in 5093 people with similar phenotypes to those
      of the discovery collection. Association analyses were performed using the plink
      genetic analysis toolset, with adjustment for relevant covariates. RESULTS: A
      total of 25 SNPs were evaluated in the mitochondrial genome, but none were
      significantly associated with diabetic kidney disease or end-stage renal disease.
      A total of 38 SNPs in nuclear genes influencing mitochondrial function were
      nominally associated with diabetic kidney disease and 16 SNPS were associated
      with end-stage renal disease, secondary to diabetic kidney disease, with meta
      analyses confirming the same direction of effect. Three independent signals
      (seven SNPs) were common to the replication data for both phenotypes with Type 1
      diabetes and persistent proteinuria or end-stage renal disease. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      results suggest that SNPs in nuclear genes that influence mitochondrial function
      are significantly associated with diabetic kidney disease in a white European
      population.

PMID- 25819011
TI  - Mutations conferring resistance to first- and second-line drugs in multidrug
      resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates in southeast Mexico.

PMID- 25819012
TI  - Prior ultrasound-indicated cerclage: how should we manage the next pregnancy?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the subsequent need for cerclage and pregnancy outcome,
      in women with a prior ultrasound-indicated cerclage. STUDY DESIGN: Analysis of a
      prospectively collected database from November 2010 to July 2014 from 15 Preterm
      Surveillance clinics across the UK was performed. Women with an index and
      previous singleton pregnancy with an ultrasound-indicated cerclage were eligible
      for inclusion (n=55). Previous ultrasound-indicated cerclage was defined as
      cerclage inserted prior to 24 weeks' for cervical length <25 mm as detected by
      transvaginal ultrasound. Women were managed in their subsequent pregnancy with
      either history-indicated cerclage, transvaginal ultrasound surveillance of
      cervical length with cerclage if <25 mm or transabdominal cerclage at the
      discretion of the physician. Exact logistic regression was used to estimate the
      odds ratio on the chance of delivery before 34 weeks'. Adjustments were made for
      major risk factors for prematurity: previous spontaneous preterm birth, previous
      late miscarriage (16+0 to 23+6 weeks') and previous cervical surgery; both
      individually and in combination. RESULTS: Of the 55 eligible women, 23 underwent
      history-indicated cerclage, 23 underwent transvaginal ultrasound cervical length
      surveillance and 8 underwent abdominal cerclage in the index pregnancy. Of those
      that had ultrasound surveillance, 13 (57%) did not require cerclage and all
      delivered after 34 weeks'. Of those that had a history-indicated cerclage, six
      delivered before 34 weeks'. Therefore, women that received a history-indicated
      cerclage had greater risk of preterm birth compared to women that underwent
      ultrasound surveillance with cerclage insertion only if cervical shortening was
      detected (OR 0.09 95% CI 0.00-0.74, p=0.02). Adjustments for risk factors for
      preterm birth did not significantly affect this risk. CONCLUSION: In women with
      prior ultrasound-indicated cerclage, who undergo cervical surveillance in the
      next pregnancy, the majority will not require intervention for a short cervix.
      Those women receiving a history-indicated vaginal cerclage were more likely to
      deliver preterm; this cannot be explained by their risk status. All women
      receiving an abdominal elective cerclage had good outcomes. Ultrasound
      surveillance is appropriate in women with a prior ultrasound-indicated cerclage
      who do not require an abdominal cerclage.

PMID- 25819013
TI  - Two myostatin genes exhibit divergent and conserved functions in grass carp
      (Ctenopharyngodon idellus).
AB  - Myostatin (MSTN) is an important negative regulator of myogenesis, which inhibits
      myoblast proliferation and differentiation. Here, we report the isolation and
      characterization of two mstn genes in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus).
      Grass carp mstn-1 and mstn-2 cDNAs are highly divergent, sharing a relatively low
      amino acid sequence identity of 66%. In adult fish, both orthologs are expressed
      in numerous tissues and they are differentially regulated during a
      fasting/refeeding treatments. During embryogenesis, the mRNA levels of both mstn
      1 and -2 were upregulated significantly at the beginning of somitogenesis, and
      maintained at high levels until hatching. Using in situ hybridization, grass carp
      mstn-1 mRNA was found to ubiquitously express at 12hpf, with strong signals in
      the notochord, and in the eyes, brain and tailbud at 24hpf, and in brain and
      notochord at 36hpf. In comparison, the mstn-2 mRNA can be detected in the eyes,
      brain and notochord at 24hpf, and in the notochord and hindbrain at 36hpf.
      Further overexpression of mstn-1 mRNA caused a strongly ventralized phenotype by
      inhibiting dorsal tissue development, while injection of mstn-2 mRNA resulted in
      obvious embryonic abnormalities in grass carp. These results provide some new
      insights into the functional conservation and divergence of mstn genes in teleost
      species. 

PMID- 25819014
TI  - Spiritual care competence for contemporary nursing practice: A quantitative
      exploration of the guidance provided by fundamental nursing textbooks.
AB  - Spirituality is receiving unprecedented attention in the nursing literature. Both
      the volume and scope of literature on the topic is expanding, and it is clear
      that this topic is of interest to nurses. There is consensus that the spiritual
      required by clients receiving health ought to be an integrated effort across the
      health care team. Although undergraduate nurses receive some education on the
      topic, this is ad hoc and inconsistent across universities. Textbooks are clearly
      a key resource in this area however the extent to which they form a comprehensive
      guide for nursing students and nurses is unclear. This study provides a hitherto
      unperformed analysis of core nursing textbooks to ascertain spirituality related
      content. 543 books were examined and this provides a range of useful information
      about inclusions and omissions in this field. Findings revealed that spirituality
      is not strongly portrayed as a component of holistic care and specific direction
      for the provision of spiritual care is lacking. Fundamental textbooks used by
      nurses and nursing students ought to inform and guide integrated spiritual care
      and reflect a more holistic approach to nursing care. The religious and/or
      spiritual needs of an increasingly diverse community need to be taken seriously
      within scholarly texts so that this commitment to individual clients' needs can
      be mirrored in practice. 

PMID- 25819015
TI  - Blood transfusion and the World Wars.
AB  - This article summarizes the remarkable development in the science and practice of
      blood transfusion during the 20 years either side of 1900, progressing through
      the challenges of surgical vascular access, the propensity of shed blood to clot
      and the more mysterious apparently arbitrary acute reactions (later revealed as
      due to blood group incompatibility), to describe in more detail, the developments
      at the Western Front, then giving a precis of the advances in the interwar years
      through to the mid-twentieth-century 'blood-banking'. 

PMID- 25819016
TI  - Solamargine inhibits migration and invasion of human hepatocellular carcinoma
      cells through down-regulation of matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 expression and
      activity.
AB  - Solamargine is a steroidal alkaloid glycoside isolated from Solanum nigrum. The
      aim of this study was to investigate the effects of solamargine on tumor
      migration and invasion in aggressive human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. The
      MTT assay was used to assess the effects of solamargine on the viability of HepG2
      cells. Migration and invasion ability of HepG2 cells under solamargine treatment
      were examined by a wound healing migration assay and Boyden chamber assay,
      respectively. Western blotting assays were used to detect the expression of MMP-2
      and MMP-9 proteins and MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity were analyzed by gelatin
      zymography assay. Solamargine reduced HepG2 cell viability in a concentration
      dependent manner. At 7.5MUM solamargine decreased cell viability by less than 20%
      in HepG2 cells. A wound healing migration assay and Boyden chamber invasion assay
      showed that solamargine significantly inhibited in vitro migration and invasion
      of HepG2 cells. At the highest dose, solamargine decreased cell migration and
      invasion by more than 70% and 72% in HepG2 cells, respectively. Western blotting
      and gelatin zymography results showed that solamargine reduced expression and
      function of MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins. In conclusion, the results showed that
      solamargine significantly inhibits migration and invasion of HepG2 cells by down
      regulating MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression and activity. 

PMID- 25819017
TI  - Effects of intramuscular dexmedetomidine in combination with ketamine or
      alfaxalone in swine.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare the use of intramuscular (IM) premedication
      with dexmedetomidine in combination with ketamine or alfaxalone in pigs. STUDY
      DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, 'blinded' trial. ANIMALS: Fourteen healthy 2
      month-old Landrace * Large White pigs weighing 21.5 +/- 0.6 kg. METHODS: Animals
      were distributed randomly into two groups: group KD (n = 7) was given 10 mg kg(
      1) IM ketamine + 10 MUg kg(-1) IM dexmedetomidine; and group AD (n = 7) was given
      5 mg kg(-1) IM alfaxalone + 10 MUg kg(-1) IM dexmedetomidine mixed in the same
      syringe. Pain on injection, degree of sedation and quality of induction were
      scored. The time from induction of anaesthesia to recumbency was recorded. Once
      pigs were recumbent, reflexes were evaluated. Pulse and respiratory rates, end
      tidal carbon dioxide and arterial oxygen saturation were recorded at 5 and 10
      minutes after drug administration. Data were compared using a two-way anova or a
      t-test for unpaired data as relevant. Data are presented as the mean +/- standard
      deviation (range). RESULTS: Two animals in both groups showed slight pain on drug
      injection. The time to lateral recumbency in group KD [187 +/- 34 seconds (153
      230)] was similar to group AD [206 +/- 36 seconds (150-248)]. In group AD,
      sedation was deeper, and the quality of anaesthetic induction was smoother. When
      moved for anaesthesia, five pigs in group KD vocalized. There were no differences
      between groups in pulse rates, arterial oxygen saturation and end-tidal carbon
      dioxide; however, the respiratory rate at 10 minutes was significantly higher in
      group KD than in group AD. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: IM dexmedetomidine
      in combination with ketamine in pigs induced moderate to deep sedation and fair
      to smooth induction of anaesthesia. When dexmedetomidine was combined with
      alfaxalone, sedation was deeper, and induction was of a better quality.

PMID- 25819018
TI  - EAACI IG Biologicals task force paper on the use of biologic agents in allergic
      disorders.
AB  - Biologic agents (also termed biologicals or biologics) are therapeutics that are
      synthesized by living organisms and directed against a specific determinant, for
      example, a cytokine or receptor. In inflammatory and autoimmune diseases,
      biologicals have revolutionized the treatment of several immune-mediated
      disorders. Biologicals have also been tested in allergic disorders. These include
      agents targeting IgE; T helper 2 (Th2)-type and Th2-promoting cytokines,
      including interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-5, IL-9, IL-13, IL-31, and thymic stromal
      lymphopoietin (TSLP); pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1beta, IL-12, IL
      17A, IL-17F, IL-23, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF); chemokine receptor CCR4; and
      lymphocyte surface and adhesion molecules, including CD2, CD11a, CD20, CD25,
      CD52, and OX40 ligand. In this task force paper of the Interest Group on
      Biologicals of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, we review
      biologicals that are currently available or tested for the use in various
      allergic and urticarial pathologies, by providing an overview on their state of
      development, area of use, adverse events, and future research directions. 

PMID- 25819019
TI  - Early-stage non-Spitzoid cutaneous melanoma in patients younger than 22 years of
      age at diagnosis: long-term follow-up and survival analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: We evaluated prognostic factors among young patients with early stage
      melanoma, with particular attention to survival, recurrence, and development of a
      second primary melanoma. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed patients (age <22
      years) with pathologically confirmed in-situ and stage 1 non-Spitzoid melanoma
      treated at our institution from 1980-2010, assessing demographics, clinical
      presentation, treatment, disease-specific survival, recurrence-free survival, and
      probability of developing a second primary melanoma. RESULTS: One hundred
      patients with in-situ melanoma (n=16) or stage 1A (n=48) or 1B (n=36) melanoma
      were identified. Median age was 19.4 years (range, 11.2-21.9), and median follow
      up was 7.6 years (range, 0.1-31.7). Median tumor thickness was 0.76 mm (range,
      0.23-2.0). No lesions were ulcerated. All patients underwent wide local excision
      with negative margins, and 21 had a concomitant negative sentinel lymph node
      biopsy (SLNB). Sixteen patients developed recurrences, and 8 subsequently died of
      progressive melanoma. There were 2 non-melanoma-related deaths. Endpoints were 20
      year overall survival (77.4%), melanoma-specific mortality (20.1%), recurrence
      rate (34.0%), and probability of developing a second primary melanoma (24.7%).
      Greater tumor depth and Clark level were associated with worse prognosis, but
      age, sex, and tumor mitotic rate were not correlated with recurrence or survival.
      CONCLUSION: Among younger early-stage melanoma patients, greater lesion depth
      conferred higher recurrence risk and mortality. Our data did not define the role
      of sentinel lymph node biopsy in this group.

PMID- 25819020
TI  - Pediatric papillary thyroid cancer >1 cm: is total thyroidectomy necessary?
AB  - PURPOSE: Treatment of pediatric papillary thyroid cancer (p-PTC) often follows
      adult guidelines, including total thyroidectomy for tumors >1cm. This study
      examined the association between operation type and overall survival (OS) for
      tumors >1cm in size in the pediatric population. METHODS: Patients <= 21 years of
      age with primary papillary thyroid cancer >1cm were reviewed from the National
      Cancer Data Base (NCDB) from 1998 to 2011. Kaplan-Meier analysis followed by Cox
      proportional hazard models estimated the impact of total thyroidectomy (TT) vs.
      partial thyroidectomy (PT) on overall survival. Models were adjusted for patient,
      tumor, and treatment factors. RESULTS: 3,861 cases (3474 TT, 387 PT) were
      included. Estimated 15-year overall survival was 96.10% after TT and 96.18% after
      PT (p=0.0855). In multivariate analysis of 3173 patients, only lowest
      socioeconomic level (HR 4.93, p=0.001) and unfavorable histology (HR 6.11,
      p=0.016) were associated with worse OS. Survival for patients undergoing TT was
      not statistically improved over those undergoing PT (HR 0.81, p=0.694).
      CONCLUSION: p-PTC >1cm has an excellent 15-year overall survival. Treatment with
      TT did not have an improved OS compared to PT. Lower socioeconomic status and
      unfavorable histology were associated with decreased OS.

PMID- 25819024
TI  - Medial Forebrain Bundle Deep Brain Stimulation has Symptom-specific Anti
      depressant Effects in Rats and as Opposed to Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex
      Stimulation Interacts With the Reward System.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In recent years, deep brain stimulation (DBS) has emerged as a
      promising treatment option for patients suffering from treatment-resistant
      depression (TRD). Several stimulation targets have successfully been tested in
      clinical settings, including the subgenual cingulum (Cg25) and the medial
      forebrain bundle (MFB). MFB-DBS has led to remarkable results, surpassing the
      effect of previous targets in terms of response latency and number of responders.
      However, the question remains as to which mechanisms underlie this difference.
      OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS: The aim of the present study was to thoroughly study the
      anti-depressant effect of MFB-DBS in the Flinders sensitive line (FSL) rat model
      of depression as well as to investigate whether MFB-DBS and Cg25-DBS operate
      through the same neurobiological circuits. METHODS: FSL and control rats received
      bilateral high-frequency stimulation to the MFB at the level of the lateral
      hypothalamus, while being subjected to a variety of depression- and anxiety
      related behavioral paradigms. To further compare the effects of MFB-DBS and Cg25
      DBS on reward-related behavior, animals were stimulated in either the MFB or
      ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC, rodent analog to Cg25), while being tested
      in the intra-cranial self-stimulation paradigm. RESULTS: A marked symptom
      specific anti-depressant effect of MFB-DBS was demonstrated. The ICSS-paradigm
      revealed that MFB-DBS, as opposed to vmPFC-DBS interacts with the reward system.
      CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that MFB-DBS and Cg25-DBS do not operate via the
      same neurobiological circuits. This differentiation might be of interest when
      selecting patients for either Cg25- or MFB-DBS.

PMID- 25819025
TI  - Enhancer-associated RNAs as therapeutic targets.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Regulation of gene expression involves a variety of mechanisms
      driven by a complex regulatory network of factors. Control of transcription is an
      important step in gene expression regulation, which integrates the function of
      cis-acting and trans-acting elements. Among cis-regulatory elements, enhancer RNA
      (eRNA)-producing domains recently emerged as widespread and potent regulators of
      transcription and cell fate decision. Thus, manipulation of eRNA levels becomes a
      novel and appealing avenue for the design of new therapeutic treatments. AREAS
      COVERED: In this review, we focus on eRNA-producing domains. We describe
      mechanisms involved in their cell-type specific selection and activation as well
      as their epigenetic features. In addition, we present their function and the
      growing evidences of their deregulation in human diseases. Finally, we discuss
      eRNAs as potential therapeutic targets. EXPERT OPINION: As key factors in the
      control of transcription, eRNAs appear to possess a great potential for the
      establishment of new therapy options. However, thorough testing as well as
      providing the genetic toolbox to target eRNAs will be needed to fully assess the
      practical and clinical possibilities.

PMID- 25819021
TI  - A review of pharmacogenetic studies of substance-related disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Substance-related disorders (SRDs) are a major cause of morbidity and
      mortality worldwide. Family, twin, and adoption studies have demonstrated the
      substantial heritability of SRDs. To determine the impact of genetic variation on
      risk for SRD and the response to treatment, researchers have conducted a number
      of secondary data analyses and quasi-experimental studies that target one or more
      candidate gene variants. METHODS: This review examines studies in which candidate
      polymorphisms were examined as mediator variables to identify pharmacogenetic
      effects on subjective responses to drug administration or cues or outcomes of
      medication trials for SRDs. Efforts to use a meta-analytic approach to quantify
      these effects are premature because the number of available studies using similar
      methods and outcomes is limited, so the present review is qualitative. RESULTS:
      Findings from these studies provide preliminary evidence of clinically relevant
      pharmacogenetic effects. However, independent replication of these findings has
      been sparse. CONCLUSIONS: Although this growing body of literature has produced
      conflicting results, improved statistical controls may help to clarify the
      findings. Additionally, the use of empirically derived sub-phenotypes (i.e.,
      which serve to differentiate distinct groups of affected individuals) may also
      help to identify genetic mediators of pharmacologic response in relation to SRDs.
      The identification of genetic mediators can inform clinical care both by
      identifying risk factors for SRDs and predicting adverse events and therapeutic
      outcomes associated with specific pharmacotherapies.

PMID- 25819026
TI  - Nursing psychotherapeutic interventions: a review of clinical studies.
AB  - AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To summarise current knowledge about nursing
      psychotherapeutic interventions in adults. BACKGROUND: In Portugal, the provision
      of psychotherapeutic interventions is considered a competence of mental health
      nurses. However, literature is not totally clear about the differences between
      'psychotherapy' and 'psychotherapeutic interventions' and about the specific
      characteristics that define a nursing psychotherapeutic intervention. DESIGN:
      Narrative review. METHODS: A literature review utilising MEDLINE, PsycINFO,
      CINAHL, the Web of Science, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and
      MedicLatina computerised databases for the period from 2003-2013. A total of 151
      eligible articles were identified. Relevant data were extracted, and findings
      were synthetised in a narrative synthesis. RESULTS: Nursing psychotherapeutic
      interventions are frequently based on 'Cognitive-Behavioural' rationale. The
      usual length of these interventions varies between 5-16 weeks, in a total of 5-12
      sessions of 45-60 minutes. The mechanisms of change are heterogeneous, but the
      therapeutic relationship between the nurse and the client seems to be the most
      important positive predictive factor of nursing psychotherapeutic interventions.
      Some of the most used outcome assessment measures include the Beck Depression
      Inventory, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the CORE-OM. The
      effectiveness of nursing psychotherapeutic interventions has been widely
      demonstrated in many studies. However, the need of further studies to prove its
      cost effectiveness is evident. CONCLUSIONS: It is necessary to have a better
      understanding of nursing psychotherapeutic interventions, one that explains its
      conceptual limits, to improve mental health nursing knowledge and create suitable
      models of psychotherapeutic intervention in nursing. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL
      PRACTICE: The findings of this review can create awareness for some weaknesses of
      nursing knowledge about the psychotherapeutic intervention and for the need to
      produce knowledge, to nurture the nursing discipline in the area of
      psychotherapeutic intervention with even more theoretical and practical support.

PMID- 25819027
TI  - 'Paradox' of troponin elevations after non-cardiac surgery.

PMID- 25819028
TI  - Molecular structures of free-base corroles: nonplanarity, chirality, and
      enantiomerization.
AB  - The molecular structures of free-base corroles are illustrative of a variety of
      bonded and nonbonded interactions including aromaticity, intra- as well as
      intermolecular hydrogen bonding, steric interactions among multiple NH hydrogens
      within a congested central cavity, and the effects of peripheral substituents.
      Against this backdrop, an X-ray structure of 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octabromo
      5,10,15-tris(pentafluorophenyl)corrole, H3[Br8TPFPCor], corresponding to a
      specific tautomer, has been found to exhibit the strongest nonplanar distortions
      observed to date for any free-base corrole structure. Two adjacent N-protonated
      pyrrole rings are tilted with respect to each other by approximately 97.7 degrees
      , while the remainder of the molecule is comparatively planar. Dispersion
      corrected DFT calculations were undertaken to investigate to what extent the
      strong nonplanar distortions can be attributed to steric effects of the
      peripheral substituents. For meso-triphenylcorrole, DFT calculations revealed
      nonplanar distortions that are only marginally less pronounced than those found
      for H3(Br8TPFPCor). A survey of X-ray structures of sterically unhindered
      corroles also uncovered additional examples of rather strong nonplanar
      distortions. Detailed potential energy calculations as a function of different
      saddling dihedrals also emphasized the softness of the distortions. Because of
      nonplanar distortions, free-base corrole structures are chiral. For
      H3[Br8TPFPCor], DFT calculations led to an estimate of 15 kcal/mol (0.67 eV) as
      the activation barrier for enantiomerization of the free-base structures, which
      is significantly higher than the barrier for NH tautomerism calculated for this
      molecule, about 5 kcal/mol (0.2 eV). In summary, steric crowding of the internal
      NH hydrogens appears to provide the main driving force for nonplanar distortions
      of meso-triarylcorroles; the presence of additional beta-substituents adds
      marginally to this impetus. 

PMID- 25819029
TI  - One-stage dual latissimus dorsi muscle flap transfer with a pair of vascular
      anastomoses and double nerve suturing for long-standing facial paralysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Various types of neurovascular free-muscle transfers have been
      reported as surgical treatments for long-standing facial paralysis. Among one
      stage methods, two approaches, that is, latissimus dorsi transfer with nerve
      suturing to the contralateral facial nerve and gracilis transfer with nerve
      suturing to the ipsilateral masseteric nerve, have recently become popular. The
      former method has the advantage of making spontaneous smiling possible, but the
      contraction strength of the transferred muscle varies, whereas the latter
      approach has the advantage of guaranteeing voluntary contraction of the
      transferred muscle, but makes spontaneous smiling difficult. Recently, dual
      innervation methods have also been reported, but uncertainty remains about the
      utility of such approaches. To overcome these drawbacks, we devised a hybrid
      method combining the two previously established techniques. METHODS: Two
      latissimus dorsi muscle flaps containing the thoracodorsal vessels from one side
      are transferred with a pair of vascular anastomoses. The true trunk of the
      thoracodorsal nerve, which innervates one of the muscle flaps, is sutured to the
      contralateral facial nerve, while the short branch of the thoracodorsal nerve,
      which innervates the other muscle flap, is sutured to the ipsilateral masseteric
      nerve. From November 2011 to October 2013, we used this method in four patients
      with long-standing facial paralysis. RESULTS: Smiling was assessed in the three
      patients who were followed up for more than 1 year, and satisfactory results were
      obtained (Harii score: 4-5). In one patient, the movement mediated via the
      contralateral facial nerve was a little weak, but this was compensated for by the
      muscles controlled by the ipsilateral masseteric nerve. CONCLUSION: Our novel one
      stage method, which involves a combination of two previously established methods,
      guarantees early voluntary smiling, and spontaneous smiling becomes possible
      later. In addition, it is free from the uncertainty associated with double
      innervation and does not require nerve grafts. So, stable results can be expected
      in most patients with long-standing facial paralysis.

PMID- 25819031
TI  - MicroRNA-490-3P targets CDK1 and inhibits ovarian epithelial carcinoma
      tumorigenesis and progression.
AB  - The expression of microRNA-490-3P has been reported to regulate hepatocellular
      carcinoma cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and its overexpression
      significantly inhibits A549 lung cancer cell proliferation. Here, we demonstrated
      for the first time that miR-490 mRNA expression was significantly lower in
      ovarian carcinoma and borderline tumors compared to benign tumors, and lower in
      metastatic ovarian carcinoma (omentum) than primary ovarian carcinoma, and was
      negatively associated with differentiation and International Federation of
      Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging. MiR-490-3P overexpression promoted G1/S
      or G2/M arrest and apoptosis; reduced cell proliferation, migration and invasion;
      reduced CDK1, Bcl-xL, MMP2/9, CCND1, SMARCD1 mRNA or protein expression; and
      induced P53 expression. Dual-luciferase reporter assay indicated miR-490-3P
      directly targeted CDK1. In vivo studies showed that miR-490-3P transfection
      suppressed tumor development and CDK1, Bcl-xL, MMP2/9 expression while inducing
      P53 expression. These findings indicate that miR-490-3P may target CDK1 and
      inhibit ovarian epithelial carcinoma tumorigenesis and progression.

PMID- 25819030
TI  - Radiation takes its Toll.
AB  - The ability to recognize and respond to universal molecular patterns on invading
      microorganisms allows our immune system to stay on high alert, sensing danger to
      our self-integrity. Our own damaged cells and tissues in pathological situations
      activate similar warning systems as microbes. In this way, the body is able to
      mount a response that is appropriate to the danger. Toll-like receptors are at
      the heart of this pattern recognition system that initiates innate pro-oxidant,
      pro-inflammatory signaling cascades and ultimately bridges recognition of danger
      to adaptive immunity. The acute inflammatory lesions that are formed segue into
      resolution of inflammation, repair and healing or, more dysfunctionally, into
      chronic inflammation, autoimmunity, excessive tissue damage and carcinogenesis.
      Redox is at the nexus of this decision making process and is the point at which
      ionizing radiation initially intercepts to trigger similar responses to self
      damage. In this review we discuss our current understanding of how radiation
      damaged cells interact with Toll-like receptors and how the immune systems
      interprets these radiation-induced danger signals in the context of whole-body
      exposures and during local tumor irradiation. 

PMID- 25819032
TI  - Progesterone generates cancer stem cells through membrane progesterone receptor
      triggered signaling in basal-like human mammary cells.
AB  - Ionizing radiation and cumulative exposure to steroid hormones are known risk
      factors for breast cancer. There is increasing evidence that breast tumors are
      driven by a subpopulation of tumor-initiating cancer stem cells (CSCs). In MCF10A
      non-cancerous basal-like PR(-) cells, progesterone treatment and X-rays generated
      ALDH(+) and CD44(+)/CD24(-) CSCs. Here, we report that in irradiated MCF10A
      cells, progesterone activated the PI3K/Akt pathway via membrane progesterone
      receptor (mPR). Inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathway counteracted the generation of
      CSCs by progesterone and irradiation. The stimulation of PI3K/Akt via mPR
      resulted in the inactivation of FOXO transcriptional activity, the upregulation
      of snail and slug expression and a downregulation of miR-29 expression, which led
      to increased levels of KLF4, a transcription factor required for breast CSC
      maintenance. Stabilization of miR-29 expression impeded the generation of CSCs,
      while its inhibition alone was sufficient to generate CSCs. This study provides a
      new mechanistic basis for progesterone and radiation-induced breast cancer risk
      in basal cells. In addition, the elucidation of new pathways and miRNA
      regulations involved in CSC generation and maintenance may open the door to
      potential novel anti-CSC strategies. 

PMID- 25819033
TI  - Modeling and motion compensation of a bidirectional tendon-sheath actuated system
      for robotic endoscopic surgery.
AB  - Recent study shows that tendon-sheath system (TSS) has great potential in the
      development of surgical robots for endoscopic surgery. It is able to deliver
      adequate power in a light-weight and compact package. And the flexibility and
      compliance of the tendon-sheath system make it capable of adapting to the long
      and winding path in the flexible endoscope. However, the main difficulties in
      precise control of such system fall on the nonlinearities of the system behavior
      and absence of necessary sensory feedback at the surgical end-effectors. Since
      accurate position control of the tool is a prerequisite for efficacy, safety and
      intuitive user-experience in robotic surgery, in this paper we propose a system
      modeling approach for motion compensation. Based on a bidirectional actuated
      system using two separate tendon-sheaths, motion transmission is firstly
      characterized. Two types of positional errors due to system backlash and
      environment loading are defined and modeled. Then a model-based feedforward
      compensation method is proposed for open-loop control, giving the system
      abilities to adjust according to changes in the transmission route configuration
      without any information feedback from the distal end. A dedicated experimental
      platform emulating a bidirectional TSS robotic system for endoscopic surgery is
      built for testing. Proposed positional errors are identified and verified. The
      performance of the proposed motion compensation is evaluated by trajectory
      tracking under different environment loading conditions. And the results
      demonstrate that accurate position control can be achieved even if the
      transmission route configuration is updated. 

PMID- 25819034
TI  - Tablet PC-enabled application intervention for patients with gastric cancer
      undergoing gastrectomy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer is among the most common gastrointestinal cancers
      worldwide. Patients who have undergone surgery for gastric cancer may suffer from
      malnutrition and potential consequences such as gastrointestinal complications,
      surgical stress, and cancer cachexia. A tablet PC-based intervention via a mobile
      application might enhance the early recovery of postgastrectomy patients.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop and test a tablet personal
      computer (PC)-assisted intervention to hasten the recovery of postgastrectomy
      cancer patients with respect to nutritional status. METHODS: This single-arm
      pilot study investigated a tablet PC application developed to serve the functions
      of nutritional monitoring, medical information management, drainage follow-up,
      and wound care. All services were delivered by medical professionals. RESULTS:
      Twenty consecutive gastrectomy patients at the National Taiwan University
      Hospital received perioperative care via this application (App group). During the
      study period, we retrospectively collected an additional 20 demographically
      matched gastrectomy cases as a control group. The App group had a lower body
      weight loss percentage relative to the control group during a 6-month follow-up
      period (4.8+/-1.2% vs. 8.7+/-2.4%; p<0.01). However, the patients in the App
      group had more outpatient clinic (OPC) visits than did those in the control group
      (9.8+/-0.9 vs. 5.6+/-0.8; p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: This study supported the
      feasibility of a tablet PC-based application for the perioperative care of
      gastric cancer subjects to promote a lower body weight loss and the collection of
      comprehensive surgical records.

PMID- 25819035
TI  - Role of PMK-1/p38 MAPK defense in Caenorhabditis elegans against Klebsiella
      pneumoniae infection during host-pathogen interaction.
AB  - The present study reports that Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) killed the
      Caenorhabditis elegans as a consequence of an accumulation and proliferation of
      the pathogen inside the worms' intestine. The real-time PCR analysis of the genes
      responsible for vulval development (let-23) and egg laying (lin-29) in KP
      infected C. elegans confirmed the reproductive defects provoked by KP at the
      molecular level. In addition, the genetic analysis in N2 wild type, tol-1, sek-1
      and pmk-1 mutants unveiled that KP attenuates the toll-dependent p38 mitogen
      activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) by chiefly inhibiting the production of
      antimicrobial factors such as nlp-29, lys-1 and C-type lectins. Conclusively, the
      surrendering of the host immune system appears to be attenuated by the toll
      dependent p38 MAPK pathway regulation in C. elegans. 

PMID- 25819036
TI  - THE HAPPINESS AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING OF PEOPLE ON HAEMODIALYSIS.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Happiness is a construct that has been gaining more prominence in
      both social and health research. The measure of happiness, subjective well-being,
      has not been rigorously explored in the end-stage kidney disease (ESKD)
      population. OBJECTIVES: To measure the subjective well-being of people with ESKD
      on haemodialysis and to compare their subjective well-being with a general
      population cohort. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design measuring the subjective well
      being of an Australian haemodialysis cohort compared with a non-dialysis age
      matched cohort. PARTICIPANTS: The haemodialysis cohort (N = 172), recruited from
      eight dialysis centres, had a mean age of 64.04 years (SD = 14.82) and included
      104 males (60.5%) and 66 (38.4%) females. The non-dialysis cohort (N = 200),
      randomly extracted from the 2012 Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, had a mean age
      of 63.97 (SD = 14.68) and included 101 males (50.5%) and 99 females (49.5%).
      MEASUREMENT: Subjective well-being was measured using the Personal Wellbeing
      Index. This seven-item measure rates satisfaction with life in seven domains:
      standard of living, health, achievements in life, relationships, safety,
      community and future security. RESULTS: The haemodialysis cohort reported lower
      general life satisfaction, life achievements, relationship and personal safety
      compared to the general population. There were no differences between the two
      groups for health, community and future security. Standard of living and
      satisfaction with life achievements carried higher importance in subjective well
      being compared with health satisfaction CONCLUSION: Subjective well-being can be
      an important indicator of people's life quality to be considered by clinicians
      and nephrology researchers in future studies.

PMID- 25819038
TI  - Predictive value of the usual clinical signs and laboratory tests in the
      diagnosis of septic arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of clinical and
      laboratory signs for the diagnosis of septic arthritis (SA). Patients and methods
      This prospective study included all adult patients with suspected SA seen in the
      emergency department or rheumatology department at the University Hospital,
      Clermont-Ferrand, France, over a period of 18 months. RESULTS: In total, 105
      patients with suspected SA were included, 38 (36%) presenting with SA (29 [28%]
      with bacteriologically documented SA). In the univariate analysis, chills
      (p=0.015), gradual onset (p=0.04), local redness (p=0.01), as well as an entry
      site for infection (p=0.01) were most often identified in SA. A history of
      crystal-induced arthritis (p=0.004) was more frequent in non-SA cases. An
      erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)>50 mm (p=0.005), a C-reactive protein (CRP)
      level >100 mg/L (p=0.019), and radiological signs suggestive of SA (p=0.001) were
      more frequent in the SA cases. Synovial fluid appearance: purulent (p50,000/MUL
      (p < 0.001), differentiated between SA and non-SA. In multivariate analysis, only
      chills (odds ration [OR]=4.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3-17.1), a history
      of crystal-induced arthritis (OR=0.09, 95% CI 0.01-0.9), purulent appearance of
      the joint fluid (OR=8.4, 95% CI 2.4-28.5), synovial WBC count >50,000/mm3
      (OR=6.8, 95% CI 1.3-36), and radiological findings (OR=7.1, 95% CI 13-37.9)
      remained significant. CONCLUSION: No clinical sign or laboratory test (excluding
      bacteriological test), taken alone, is conclusive for the differentiation between
      SA and non-SA, but the association of several signs, notably chills, history of
      crystal-induced arthritis, radiological findings, and the appearance and
      cellularity of joint fluid may be suggestive.

PMID- 25819037
TI  - Outcome of tuberculosis treatment in HIV-positive adults diagnosed through active
      versus passive case-finding.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization strongly recommends regular screening
      for tuberculosis (TB) in HIV-positive individuals. OBJECTIVE: To compare the
      outcome of anti-tuberculosis treatment (ATT) in HIV-positive adults diagnosed
      with TB through active case-finding (ACF) or passive case-finding (PCF). DESIGN:
      Antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naive adults diagnosed with TB were included from
      two prospective cohort studies conducted in Ethiopia between September 2010 and
      March 2013. The PCF cohort was based at out-patient TB clinics, whereas
      participants in the ACF cohort were actively screened for TB by bacteriological
      sputum testing (smear microscopy, Xpert MTB/RIF assay, and liquid culture)
      without pre-selection on the basis of symptoms and signs. Outcomes of ATT were
      compared between participants in the two cohorts; characteristics at diagnosis
      and predictors of adverse outcomes were analysed. RESULTS: Among 439 TB/HIV co
      infected participants, 307 and 132 belonged to PCF and ACF cohorts, respectively.
      Compared with the ACF participants, hemoptysis, conjunctival pallor, bedridden
      status, and low mid upper-arm circumference (MUAC) were significantly more common
      in participants identified through PCF. Sputum smear-positivity rates among
      pulmonary TB cases were 44.2% and 21.1% in the PCF and ACF cohorts, respectively
      (p<0.001). Treatment success was ascertained in 247 (80.5%) of the participants
      in the PCF cohort and 102 (77.2%) of the participants in the ACF cohorts
      (p=0.223). Low MUAC (p=0.001) independently predicted mortality in the
      participants in both cohorts. CONCLUSION: Although patients identified through
      ACF had less advanced TB disease, ATT outcome was similar to the patients
      identified through PCF. To achieve a better outcome, case management in ACF
      strategy should be strengthened through enhanced patient-centred counselling and
      adherence support.

PMID- 25819040
TI  - Mechanistic and therapeutic insights gained from studying rare skeletal diseases.
AB  - Rare bone diseases account for 5% of all birth defects and can cause significant
      morbidity throughout patients' lives. Significant progress is being made to
      elucidate the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these diseases. This paper
      summarizes presentation highlights of a workshop on Rare Skeletal Diseases
      convened to explore how the study of rare diseases has influenced the field's
      understanding of bone anabolism and catabolism and directed the search for new
      therapies benefiting patients with rare conditions as well as patients with
      common skeletal disorders. 

PMID- 25819041
TI  - Virtual PRA replaces traditional PRA: small change but significantly more justice
      for sensitized patients.

PMID- 25819039
TI  - Epigenetic histone modifications and master regulators as determinants of context
      dependent nuclear receptor activity in bone cells.
AB  - Genomic annotation of unique and combinatorial epigenetic modifications along
      with transcription factor occupancy is having a profound impact on our
      understanding of the genome. These studies have led to a better appreciation of
      the dynamic nature of the epigenetic and transcription factor binding components
      that reveal overarching principles of the genome as well as tissue specificity.
      In this minireview, we discuss the presence and potential functions of several of
      these features across the genome in osteoblast lineage cells. We examine how
      these features are modulated during cellular maturation, affect transcriptional
      output and phenotype, and how they alter the ability of cells to respond to
      systemic signals directed by calcemic hormones such as 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3
      and PTH. In particular, we describe recent experiments which indicate that
      progressive stages of bone cell differentiation affect RUNX2 binding to the
      genome, modify and restrict patterns of gene expression, and dramatically alter
      cellular response to the vitamin D hormone. These studies expand our
      understanding of mechanisms that govern steroid hormone regulation of gene
      expression, while highlighting the increasing complexity that is evident relative
      to these basic cellular processes. The results also have profound implications
      with respect to the impact of skeletal diseases on transcriptional outcomes as
      well. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Epigenetics and Bone. 

PMID- 25819042
TI  - Multicenter randomized study of inosine pranobex versus acyclovir in the
      treatment of recurrent herpes labialis and recurrent herpes genitalis in Chinese
      patients.
AB  - The objective of the study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral inosine
      pranobex as compared with acyclovir in the treatment of recurrent herpes labialis
      (RHL) and recurrent herpes genitalis (RHG). A multicenter double-blind, double
      dummy, randomized, controlled, parallel group trial was conducted in 144 patients
      with RHL and 144 RHG. Patients were assigned to treatment in one of two groups:
      (i) inosine pranobex group (active inosine pranobex, 1 g four times daily, and
      acyclovir placebo); or (ii) acyclovir group (active acyclovir, 200 mg five times
      daily, and inosine pranobex placebo). The total symptom score (TSS) of patients
      with RHL did not differ in the inosine pranobex and acyclovir group on the 3rd or
      7th day of treatment. There was also no difference in the efficacy rates between
      the two groups. No difference of TSS was observed between patients with RHG
      taking inosine pranobex and acyclovir on days 3 or 5 of the treatment,
      respectively. The short-term clinical recurrence rate of RHG at 3-month follow-up
      was much lower in the inosine pranobex group than acyclovir group. The incidence
      of hyperuricemia was higher in the inosine pranobex group than acyclovir group.
      In conclusion, inosine pranobex was as effective as acyclovir in treating RHL and
      RHG with significantly greater reduction of the short-term recurrence rate of
      herpes genitalis at 3-month follow up. Long-term recurrence rates at 6 months or
      longer remain to be determined. Hyperuricemia should be monitored during the
      treatment.

PMID- 25819044
TI  - Health status of users of the Bologna local health authority drug addiction
      treatment services: a study of hospital admissions in the period 2004-2013.
AB  - The aim of this study was to monitor the health status of the users of the
      services for drug addiction (SERT) in the metropolitan area of Bologna by
      analysing the hospital discharge records (SDO). For the period 2004-2013, among
      the residents of the metropolitan areas aged 15-64, we compared the trend in
      hospital admissions of SERT users with that of the general population. We
      calculated the standardised rates of hospitalisation and the likelihood of
      admission. Over the period in question the standardised hospitalisation rates
      decreased, with a larger drop among SERT users (330.17 males per 10,000
      inhabitants in 2004, 215.91 in 2013; 547.60 females per 10,000 inhabitants in
      2004, 283.20 in 2013) as compared with the general population (109.49 males in
      2004, 82.16 in 2013; 161.40 females in 2004, 124.38 in 2013). Admission
      likelihood was always higher for SERT users, but was lower in 2013 than in 2004,
      especially for infectious diseases and psychic disorders. The results highlight
      the effectiveness of Bologna's local system of services in taking care of aspects
      connected to addiction, as well as health-related disorders. 

PMID- 25819045
TI  - A survey on antibiotic therapy knowledge among physicians of a tertiary care and
      university hospital.
AB  - Antibiotic therapy has resulted in major progress in the fight against infectious
      diseases and is associated with an improved quality of life and increased
      survival. However, the emergence of resistant bacterial strains represents an
      inevitable consequence of antibiotic treatment and yields a loss of beneficial
      effects. Due to the scarce availability of new molecules in the near future,
      physicians have to learn how to best use currently available molecules. The aim
      of the present study was to evaluate the criteria that physicians use in choosing
      targeted antibiotic therapy. To achieve this goal, we used a questionnaire
      comprising seven questions. The questionnaire was administered, with the
      guarantee of anonymity, to a pool of physicians at the Federico II University
      Hospital of Naples who could prescribe antibiotics. Of the physicians
      interviewed, 68% chose antibiotic therapy autonomously or in cooperation with
      other doctors of the same structure, whereas 30% of interviewees referred to the
      infectious diseases consultant (8% after the first bacterial isolation and 22%
      after antibiotic therapy failure). The definition and meaning of minimum
      inhibitory concentration (MIC) were known to the vast majority of physicians (82%
      and 83%, respectively). In contrast, few of the interviewees knew the definition
      or meaning of breakpoint (16% and 17%, respectively). The key question of the
      questionnaire focused on the main criterion for antibiotic choice: 68% of
      interviewees gave an incorrect answer, most interviewees considering only the
      lowest MIC value for the isolated bacterium as the fundamental parameter in
      antibiotic choice. Our study shows that antibiotic therapy in a teaching hospital
      is often chosen using inappropriate criteria. Due to the well-known effects of
      the wrong antibiotic choice on therapeutic failure rate and on healthcare cost,
      information and training programmes for physicians who prescribe antibiotics are
      urgently needed. 

PMID- 25819046
TI  - Evaluation of various staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) types in
      Staphylococcus epidermidis invasive strains from hospitalised patients in Iran.
AB  - Staphylococcus epidermidis is known to be a major cause of nosocomial infections
      particularly in catheter-associated bacteraemia, prosthetic valve endocarditis
      (PVE) and immunocompromised patients in different health care units. The
      emergence of multidrug-resistant strains, especially to beta-lactam antibiotics
      such as methicillin, has increased the mortality due to S. epidermidis. A kind of
      low affinity penicillin-binding protein (PBP2alpha), which is encoded by the mecA
      gene that is located in the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec),
      mediates the resistance to methicillin. The aim of this study was to investigate
      the prevalence of SCCmec types and evaluate the antibiotic profile assay in
      invasive strains isolated from clinical samples. The study focused on invasive
      strains, determining the antimicrobial resistance profile, designing new primers
      for detection of the mecA gene and SCCmec typing with the multiplex PCR method.
      By using the PCR molecular test, 87.1% of all isolates were found to be positive
      for the mecA gene. In SCCmec typing, different types (I-V) were identified, in
      which SCCmec type I was detected in 3 isolates, SCCmec type II in 5 isolates,
      SCCmec type III in 22 isolates, SCCmec type IV in 27 isolates and SCCmec type V
      was distinguished in 4 isolates. Since coagulase-negative staphylococci are
      reported as a major cause of hospital infections, molecular typing methods like
      SCCmec typing would be a helpful method to control and prevent bacterial
      infections.

PMID- 25819047
TI  - Determination of CTX-M beta-lactamase in Escherichia coli strains isolated from
      clinical samples.
AB  - The aim of this study was to determine the ESBL with phenotypic tests and
      investigate the bla(CTX-M) genes with the PCR method in Escherichia coli strains.
      The presence of ESBL in E. coli strains was determined with the Vitek 2 automated
      system. ESBL-positive 100 and ESBL-negative 50 E. coli strains were included in
      the study. The ESBL disk diffusion screening test (DDST) and the combined disk
      confirmation tests (CDCT) were performed on these strains and the results of
      these tests were compared with each other. bla(CTX-M) genes were investigated
      with the PCR method. The results of CDCT-CAZ-CZC and CDCT-CTX-CTC were found to
      be consistent in 90% of strains. Those of the automated system, DDST and CDCT-CAZ
      CZC were compatible with each other in 83.3% of strains. Also the results of the
      automated system and CDCT-CTX-CTC were found to be compatible in 83.3% of
      strains. Based on PCR, bla(CTX-M) genes were found in 67.3% of 150 strains.
      According to the order of frequency, 46%, 38.7%, 20%, 7.3% of strains were
      determined to carry groups I, IV, II and III, respectively.

PMID- 25819048
TI  - Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate treatment in HbeAg-positive patients.
AB  - Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (Tenofovir DF) is a nucleotide analogue. This
      multicentre study reports retrospectively the long-term efficacy and safety data
      with tenofovir DF treatment in nucleosid(t)e-naive, hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)
      positive chronic hepatitis B patients. Thirty-one patients (11 females, 20 males)
      received 245 mg tenofovir DF per diem. All patients' initial serum hepatitis B
      virus (HBV) DNA levels were over 2,000 IU/ml. Serum alanine aminotransferase
      (ALT) levels, HBeAg, hepatitis B e antibodies (anti-HBe), hepatitis B surface
      antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B surface antibodies (Anti-HBs), HBV DNA, creatinine
      and urea levels were evaluated at baseline, and at weeks 12, 24, 48 and 96 during
      therapy. Thirty-one patients completed 96 weeks of treatment. Mean age was 37.6
      +/- 9.4 years. The initial mean value of ALT was 79 +/- 39.9 IU/L. At baseline,
      mean of fibrosis (Ishak) of liver biopsies was 2.3 +/- 0.7. Two of the patients
      (5.9%) achieved HBV DNA less than 300 copies at week 12 of treatment and 97.1 %
      at week 96. HBeAg loss was observed in 6.7% of patients. At week 96, HBsAg loss
      was not observed in any of the patients. Mean ALT at week 48 was 32.7 U/L, at
      week 96 32.6 U/L. Renal safety was good. Creatinine remained stable. Tenofovir DF
      was well tolerated and produced potent, continuous viral suppression with
      increasing HBeAg loss.

PMID- 25819049
TI  - A prospective evaluation of maraviroc administration in patients with advanced
      HIV disease and multiple comorbidities: focus on efficacy and tolerability
      issues.
AB  - In our HIV outpatient centre where over 1,200 patients are followed, maraviroc as
      an entry inhibitor was introduced in 2010. We aimed to assess the background, the
      therapeutic challenges and the prospective monitoring of all patients treated
      with a combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) including maraviroc. Sixty-six
      patients started a maraviroc-containing cART with a history of HIV infection
      lasting 13.9+/-10.7 years. This interim analysis presents patients who had at
      least 12 (mean 16.9+/-12.8) months of follow-up. One to 17 previous cART changes
      prompted the introduction of maraviroc in rescue regimens in the great majority
      of patients considered (53 of 66); in 13 cases, maraviroc was given to patients
      with advanced HIV disease and no immune recovery after 2-3 years of a
      virologically-effective cART. The most frequent companion antiretroviral agents
      were: darunavir/ritonavir (51 cases), raltegravir (49 subjects), and etravirine
      (36 cases). The most common underlying conditions were: AIDS (41 cases), liver
      cirrhosis (21), AIDS-related or other malignancies (20 cases), major
      cardiovascular events (18 cases), osteonecrosis and haemodialysis-treated kidney
      failure (3 cases each). A chronic HCV and HBV hepatitis were of concern in 25 and
      13 patients. The addition of maraviroc added favourably to clinical-laboratory
      markers of HIV disease progression, and those of comorbid conditions. HIV
      viraemia became (or remained) undetectable in 55 patients of 66 (83.3%). An
      improvement in CD4+ count was observed in all 66 patients, based on a mean 24.9+/
      19.2% increase versus baseline, paralleled by an improvement in mean absolute
      CD4+ count of 134.7+/-121.1 cells/MUL. A tendency towards an increased mean and
      peak CD4+ count was observed in the subgroup receiving a maraviroc-raltegravir
      based cART. As no clinical-laboratory adverse events attributable to maraviroc
      occurred, nobody discontinued the study drug. Only mild-transient
      gastrointestinal disturbances, fatigue and anorexia, were reported during
      maraviroc administration, but their relationship with the study drug was
      difficult to assess because of the multiple comorbidities and polypharmacy. Our
      preliminary experience with maraviroc, even considering the limits of the
      proportionally reduced sample, the patients' salvage stage of advanced disease
      and the related-unrelated morbidities, underlines its excellent efficacy and
      safety profile.

PMID- 25819050
TI  - Aerosolized amphotericin B lipid complex and invasive pulmonary aspergillosis: a
      case report.
AB  - Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is an emerging life-threatening infection
      in immuno-compromised patients. The incidence of IPA following kidney
      transplantation is low (between 0.7 and 4%), yet mortality remains unacceptably
      high (75-80%). A first line therapy with voriconazole or lipid formulations of
      amphotericin B is often limited by co-morbidities, adverse effects and drug
      interactions. The case within this publication is the first described report of
      IPA in a renal transplant recipient responding to aerosolized amphotericin B
      lipid complex. 

PMID- 25819051
TI  - Performance of Alere Determine HIV-1/2 Ag/Ab Combo rapid test for acute HIV
      infection: a case report.
AB  - We describe a case of symptomatic acute HIV infection in a young man where a
      fourth-generation rapid screening test combining HIV-specific antibody and p24
      antigen was negative. In highly suspicious cases of acute HIV infection, plasma
      HIV RNA assays together with conventional, non-rapid screening tests should be
      used. 

PMID- 25819052
TI  - [Thalamo-mesencephalic aspergillus abscess in a heart transplant subject: a case
      report and literature review].
AB  - Cerebral aspergillosis is a rare and highly fatal infection that mainly affects
      immunocompromised patients. We report on a case of a heart transplanted Caucasian
      man, who arrived at our hospital because of the onset of diplopy. We performed a
      broad diagnostic work-up: the brain MRI showed a single ring-enhancing thalamo
      mesencephalic area suggestive of abscess lesion; cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
      analysis disclosed galactomannan and beta-D-glucan antigens. Thus the antifungal
      therapy was immediately started. We decided to discontinue the therapy 16 months
      later because of severe hepatic toxicity, given that the patient was persistently
      asymptomatic, brain imaging showed a progressive resolution of the abscess area
      and CSF antigen analysis was persistently negative. The follow-up at three months
      was unchanged. 

PMID- 25819053
TI  - An 81-year-old male with iliopsoas abscess by Streptococcus sanguis.
AB  - Iliopsoas muscle abscess is an uncommon condition, which has been growing in
      incidence. We describe a primary iliopsoas abscess by Streptococcus sanguis
      affecting an 81-year-old man cured by antibiotic therapy and aspiration
      procedure. The objective is to enhance the suspicion index about the iliopsoas
      abscess that may be mistaken for other causes of acute abdomen. The important
      diagnostic role of abdominal imaging studies is also emphasised. 

PMID- 25819054
TI  - [Histoplasmosis: the multiple sides of an uncommon disease].
AB  - Disseminated histoplasmosis is an invasive fungal infection documented in
      patients with impaired cellular immunity coming from endemic areas (America,
      Asia, Africa). We report two cases of disseminated histoplasmosis in AIDS
      patients paradigmatic of the multifaceted nature of the disease, which may be an
      expression either of an advanced state of immunosuppression or the immune
      reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS). 

PMID- 25819055
TI  - Leg ulcer and osteomyelitis due to methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus
      infection after fracture repair treatment: a case highlighting the potential role
      of prostaglandin E1 vasodilator.
AB  - Prostaglandins appear to reduce biofilm formation and chronicization of
      infections, and stimulate a rapid and effective clearance of infecting micro
      organisms. We report a case of recovery from methicillin-susceptible
      Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) osteomyelitis after multidisciplinary management
      with antibiotics, anti-thrombotics and prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) vasodilator, in a
      patient with tibial plateau fracture repaired with internal fixation devices. A
      47-year-old HIV-negative male with chronic ulcer on the proximal third of the
      left leg was admitted to the Orthopaedic Unit of the Orestano Clinic in Palermo,
      Italy, for suspected osteomyelitis. A biopsy of the skin ulcer and blood cultures
      were performed and resulted positive for MSSA. Labelled leukocyte scintigraphy
      confirmed osteomyelitis. No clinical improvement was observed after combined
      antibiotic treatment with rifampicin plus trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. The
      patient underwent a 4-day therapeutic cycle: PGE1 (alprostadil 60 mg/day IV)
      combined with nadroparin calcium plus gentamicin, followed by treatment with
      aminaftone plus sulodexide plus levofloxacin. At discharge, the patient's painful
      symptoms had completely resolved and the ulcer had cicatrized; recovery from
      osteomyelitis was confirmed by scintigraphy. This treatment protocol including
      PGE1 may result in a significant improvement in quality of life and functional
      status of patients with a reduction in direct and indirect costs and economic
      benefit for the National Health Service. 

PMID- 25819056
TI  - Macroscopic haemoglobinuria associated with Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection
      successfully treated by clarithromycin.
AB  - A 25-year-old man developed macroscopic haemoglobinuria after a persistent dry
      cough. Although chest radiograph findings were normal, since the serum antibody
      for Mycoplasma pneumoniae was significantly elevated, a diagnosis infection with
      this organism was made. Despite the absence of apparent anaemia, a marked
      increase in serum haemolytic markers and positive result for urine haemoglobin
      indicated the haemolysis of red blood cells, which was likely to have occurred
      secondarily to M. pneumoniae infection. Shortly after the initiation of a
      macrolide antibiotic, clarithromycin, the patient's haemoglobinuria completely
      disappeared together with a complete resolution of his respiratory symptoms. In
      this case, due to the lymphocyte-stimulatory nature of M. pneumoniae, an enhanced
      immune response, such as the production of cold agglutinins, was likely to be
      involved in the pathogenesis of erythrocyte haemolysis. The immunomodulatory
      property of clarithromycin was thought to repress the increased immunological
      reaction and thus enable the resolution of the urine abnormality. 

PMID- 25819057
TI  - The first announcement about the 1918 "Spanish flu" pandemic in Greece through
      the writings of the pioneer newspaper "Thessalia" almost a century ago.
AB  - A local pioneer newspaper, "Thessalia", was the first to announce the arrival of
      "Spanish Flu" in Greece. It was July 19th 1918 when an epidemic outbreak occurred
      in the city of Patras. Until then, "Thessalia" had dealt in depth with the flu
      pandemic in the Greek district of Thessaly, informing the readers of the measures
      taken, as well as the social and economic aspects of the flu.

PMID- 25819058
TI  - [Mycobacterium infection in prehistoric humans: co-evolution in remote ages].
AB  - The introduction of agriculture and animal husbandry at the end of the Mesolithic
      era, despite enabling a significant demographic growth through an increase in
      food storage and availability, caused new infectious noxae to enter the
      pathocoenosis. However in the Palaeolithic era, hunter-gatherers were already in
      contact with infectious diseases of animal origin, albeit episodically. Modern
      biomedical technologies allow us to estimate, with better approximation, how long
      mankind has been in contact with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Archaeological
      finds, including human and animal remains (especially the aurochs), are
      particularly studied by palaeopathologists, as mycobacteria frequently cause bone
      involvement and this characteristic is of particular interest for
      palaeopathological (even macroscopic) studies; the interest is to detect the
      ancient DNA of MT, which is the cause of bone tuberculosis in skeletal remains as
      well as in mummies. According to our present knowledge, palaeopathological
      findings, confirmed by molecular techniques, suggest that tuberculosis in human
      skeletons goes back at most to 9000 years ago, while, in a veterinary
      environment, the most ancient DNA of MTBC to be detected in an American bison
      dates back about 17,000 years. The possibility of discovering archaeological
      finds making even more ancient human remains available leaves opens up the
      possibility of dating back to previous eras the transmission of MTBC infection to
      mankind. Phylogenetic works examining the available materials (DNAa) suggest that
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of tuberculosis infection in humans and
      cattle (Aurochs), would have had a co-evolutionary process. On the basis of
      recent phylogenetic studies, the MTBC genome would have had a wide span of time
      to reach a suitable adjustment, co-evolving in geographical environments both at
      high and low host density. It is likely that the strains that did not show this
      strong "flexibility" underwent extinction, in favour of more versatile, adaptable
      strains, that are able to infect susceptible hosts "always" and in any
      environmental condition. 

PMID- 25819059
TI  - Individual and area-level factors correlated with death by suicide in older
      adults.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the influence of individual and area-level
      characteristics associated with suicide in older adults. METHOD: This study used
      two complementary data sources. The first used administrative data from the
      Quebec Coroner's office and included information on suicide deaths in older
      adults aged 65years and over who died by suicide between 2000 and 2005 (n=903
      persons). The second data source, which was used to identify the control group,
      came from a longitudinal study on seniors' health that was conducted in Quebec
      between 2004 and 2005 (n=2493 persons). Logistic regression analyses were used to
      test for associations between suicide and individual and area-level level
      characteristics. RESULTS: Suicide was associated with male gender, age, the
      presence of a physical and mental disorder and the use of health services. At the
      area-level level, suicide was associated with a higher population density,
      concentration of men, lower rates of education and higher rate of unemployment.
      Gender specific analyses also showed different patterns of associations on
      suicide risk. CONCLUSIONS: Suicide in older adults is associated with area-level
      and individual characteristics. This suggests that policies targeting only one
      level of risk factors are less likely to significantly influence suicide among
      this population.

PMID- 25819060
TI  - Automated colon cancer detection using hybrid of novel geometric features and
      some traditional features.
AB  - Automatic classification of colon into normal and malignant classes is complex
      due to numerous factors including similar colors in different biological
      constituents of histopathological imagery. Therefore, such techniques, which
      exploit the textural and geometric properties of constituents of colon tissues,
      are desired. In this paper, a novel feature extraction strategy that
      mathematically models the geometric characteristics of constituents of colon
      tissues is proposed. In this study, we also show that the hybrid feature space
      encompassing diverse knowledge about the tissues' characteristics is quite
      promising for classification of colon biopsy images. This paper thus presents a
      hybrid feature space based colon classification (HFS-CC) technique, which
      utilizes hybrid features for differentiating normal and malignant colon samples.
      The hybrid feature space is formed to provide the classifier different types of
      discriminative features such as features having rich information about geometric
      structure and image texture. Along with the proposed geometric features, a few
      conventional features such as morphological, texture, scale invariant feature
      transform (SIFT), and elliptic Fourier descriptors (EFDs) are also used to
      develop a hybrid feature set. The SIFT features are reduced using minimum
      redundancy and maximum relevancy (mRMR). Various kernels of support vector
      machines (SVM) are employed as classifiers, and their performance is analyzed on
      174 colon biopsy images. The proposed geometric features have achieved an
      accuracy of 92.62%, thereby showing their effectiveness. Moreover, the proposed
      HFS-CC technique achieves 98.07% testing and 99.18% training accuracy. The better
      performance of HFS-CC is largely due to the discerning ability of the proposed
      geometric features and the developed hybrid feature space. 

PMID- 25819061
TI  - A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, phase 3 trial to evaluate the
      efficacy and safety of anagliptin in drug-naive patients with type 2 diabetes.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of anagliptin in
      drug-naive patients with type 2 diabetes in a double-blind randomized placebo
      controlled study. A total of 109 patients were randomized to 100 mg (n=37) or 200
      mg (n=33) anagliptin twice daily or placebo (n=39). The primary objective was to
      alter HbA1c levels from baseline at a 24-week endpoint. The overall baseline mean
      age and body mass index were 56.20 +/- 9.77 years and 25.01 +/- 2.97 kg/m(2),
      respectively, and the HbA1c level was of 7.14 +/- 0.69 %. Anagliptin at 100 mg
      and 200 mg produced significant reductions in HbA1c (-0.50 +/- 0.45 % and -0.51
      +/- 0.55%, respectively), and the placebo treatment resulted in an increase in
      HbA1c by 0.23 +/- 0.62 %. Both doses of anagliptin produced significant decreases
      in fasting plasma glucose (-0.53 +/- 1.25 mmol/L and -0.72 +/- 1.25 mmol/L,
      respectively) and the proinsulin/insulin ratio (-0.04 +/- 0.15 and -0.07 +/-
      0.18, respectively) compared with placebo. No meaningful body weight changes from
      baseline were observed in three groups. Plasma dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4
      activity was significantly inhibited after 24 weeks of anagliptin treatment, and
      >75% and >90% inhibitions were observed during the meal tolerance tests with 100
      mg and 200 mg anagliptin, respectively. The incidences of adverse or serious
      adverse events were similar among the three study groups. Twice-daily anagliptin
      therapy effectively inhibited DPP-4 activity and improved glycemic control and
      was well-tolerated in patients with type 2 diabetes. 

PMID- 25819062
TI  - Whole-exome sequencing of Ethiopian patients with ichthyosis vulgaris and atopic
      dermatitis.

PMID- 25819063
TI  - Sinus microbiota varies among chronic rhinosinusitis phenotypes and predicts
      surgical outcome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a prevalent multifactorial disease
      process in which bacteria are believed to play a role in the propagation of
      inflammation. Multiple subtypes of CRS have been described based on clinical and
      pathologic features, but a detailed examination of the sinus microbiota in
      patients with CRS and its clinical subtypes has yet to be performed. OBJECTIVE:
      We sought to examine the resident microbiota of CRS subtypes and determine
      whether bacterial diversity is a predictor of disease outcomes. METHODS: Sinus
      swabs from patients with CRS and healthy subjects collected during endoscopic
      sinus surgery were analyzed by means of molecular phylogenetic analysis of 16S
      rDNA pyrosequences. RESULTS: Fifty-six patients with CRS and 26 control subjects
      were studied. Biodiversity was similar between the CRS and control groups. Among
      the CRS subtypes examined, only 2 conditions (presence of purulence and comorbid
      condition of asthma) were associated with significant alterations in microbial
      community composition. In 27 patients with CRS who were followed postoperatively,
      those with better outcomes had more diverse bacterial communities present at the
      time of surgery, along with higher relative abundances of Actinobacteria.
      CONCLUSION: Analysis of microbiota in a large cohort reveals that particular CRS
      phenotypes (asthma and purulence) are characterized by distinct compositions of
      resident bacterial communities. We found that bacterial diversity and composition
      are predictors of surgical outcome, promoting the concept of community ecology in
      patients with CRS.

PMID- 25819064
TI  - Developing challenges in the urbanisation of village doctors in economically
      developed regions: A survey of 844 village doctors in Changzhou, China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To reveal the challenges of village doctors' survival and training in
      economically developed areas in eastern China. DESIGN: A field survey was used to
      assess the challenges of village doctors. SETTING: The study was conducted in
      Changzhou, Jiangsu province, which is an economically developed region in eastern
      China. PARTICIPANTS: The participants included 844 village doctors, 15 township
      hospital staff members and 6 health bureau leaders. RESULTS: The main challenges
      in Changzhou include an insufficient amount of village doctors, difficulties in
      obtaining professional qualification for village doctors, low salaries and
      benefits, and difficulties in recruitment. CONCLUSION: With increasing
      urbanisation in China, the gap between actual and expected income and social
      security has been increasing. Changes to training have influenced the stability
      of village doctor teams. Declining attachment of young people to their hometown
      village has contributed to recruitment difficulties.

PMID- 25819065
TI  - The nuclear translocation of ERK1/2 as an anticancer target.
AB  - A hallmark of the ERK1/2 functioning is their nuclear translocation, which is
      mainly required for the induction of proliferation. Activated ERK1/2 molecules
      that remain in the cytoplasm initiate other activities, including immediate
      feedback loops. Prevention of the nuclear translocation should therefore inhibit
      proliferation, without affecting cytoplasm-induced cellular processes. Here we
      present an NTS-derived myristoylated phosphomimetic peptide, which blocks the
      interaction of importin7 and ERK1/2, and consequently the nuclear translocation
      of the latter. In culture, the peptide induces apoptosis of melanoma cells
      inhibits the viability of other cancer cells, but has no effect on non
      transformed, immortalized cells. It even inhibits the viability of PLX4032- and
      U0126-resistant melanoma cells. In xenograft models, the peptide inhibits several
      cancers, and acts much better than PLX4032 in preventing melanoma recurrence.
      This study provides a proof of concept for using the nuclear translocation of
      ERK1/2 as a drug target for the combat of various ERK1/2-related cancers. 

PMID- 25819066
TI  - Is surgery always the best treatment for severe carotid stenosis in the frail
      elderly?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Presentation of a case of carotid stenosis in an elderly patient with
      multiple co-morbidities, and its management. METHODS: Pre-operative management of
      an elderly patient affected by carotid artery stenosis with cardiac, metabolic
      and renal comorbidities and a recent history of buccal squamous carcinoma.
      RESULTS: Pre-operative anestesiologic assessment showed an increased risk for the
      presence of heart failure, cardiogenic pulmonary hypertension, mild/moderate
      stage renal disease. CONCLUSION: The frail elderly represents a real challenge
      for the surgeon, because in choosing treatment other options must be taken into
      account both in view of local disease and of various systemic comorbidities.

PMID- 25819067
TI  - Editorial: scientific journal relies.

PMID- 25819068
TI  - Tools to support teaching and conducting research.

PMID- 25819069
TI  - Inter-rater reliability and validity of the Ministry of Health of Turkey's
      mandatory emergency triage instrument.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: In 2009, the Ministry of Health in Turkey mandated a three-level
      emergency triage scale coded with the colours red, yellow and green in descending
      order of acuity. This study was conducted to assess the reliability and validity
      of this mandatory emergency triage instrument in Turkey. METHODS: This
      prospective study was conducted in the ED of an academic hospital with 40,000
      presentations per year. The reliability assessment was between triage of a real
      life patient by an emergency medical technician vs the consensus of the
      investigators based on retrospective medical record review. The inter-rater
      agreement method with quadratic weighted kappa analysis was used. The
      instrument's validity was measured by ED length of stay, admission rates, in
      hospital mortality, ED resource utilisation and lifesaving intervention. RESULTS:
      A total of 618 patients were assigned to either red (n = 126), yellow (n = 352),
      or green (n = 140) by acuity level at triage. In this study, the triage scale
      demonstrated 'substantial' reliability with a quadratic weighted kappa value of
      0.725 (95% CI 0.68-0.77). It also suggested validity regarding all the measured
      surrogate markers, as they were strongly associated with acuity level (P < 0.001
      for each). Spearman's rank correlation coefficient between triage acuity and
      total number of used resources was 0.482 (95% CI 0.42-0.54). CONCLUSIONS: This
      study demonstrates substantial reliability of Turkey's Ministry of Health's
      mandatory three-level triage instrument. Significant association was also
      observed between the triage levels and the validity parameters measured in the
      study.

PMID- 25819070
TI  - The value of energy spectral CT in the differential diagnosis between benign and
      malignant soft tissue masses of the musculoskeletal system.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the value of energy spectral CT in the differential
      diagnosis between benign and malignant tumor of the musculoskeletal system.
      METHODS: Energy spectral CT scan was performed on 100 patients with soft tissue
      mass caused by musculoskeletal tumors found by MRI. Solid areas with homogenous
      density were chosen as region of interests (ROI), avoiding necrosis, hemorrhage
      and calcification region. Select the optimal keV on single energy images, and
      then the keV-CT curve was automatically generated. All 100 cases of tumors proved
      by histological examination were divided into four groups, 38 cases were in
      benign group, 10 cases in borderline group, 49 cases in malignant group, and 3
      cases of lipoma (that were analyzed separately since its curve was arc shaped,
      significantly different from other curves). The formula used to calculate the
      slope of spectral curve was as follows: slope=(Hu40 keV-Hu80 keV)/40. As the
      slope was steep within the range of 40-80 keV based on preliminary observations,
      40 keV and 80 keV were used as the reference points to calculate the slope value
      of the energy spectral curve. Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test was applied for
      statistical analysis, and P<0.05 was considered to indicate a statistically
      significant difference. RESULTS: The spectral curve of benign group was gradually
      falling type with a mean slope of 0.75 +/- 0.30, that of malignant group was
      sharply falling type with a mean slope of 1.64 +/- 1.00, and that of borderline
      group was a falling type between the above two groups with a mean slope of 1.34
      +/- 0.45. The differences of slopes between benign and malignant group, benign
      and borderline group were of statistical significance (P<0.05) respectively. The
      spectral curves of 3 cases of lipoma showed arc shaped rising type with a mean
      slope of -2.00. CONCLUSION: Spectral curve is useful in the differential
      diagnosis of benign and malignant tumor of the musculoskeletal system. Arc shaped
      curve is a specific sign for tumors containing abundant fat.

PMID- 25819071
TI  - [Sudden epigastric pain].

PMID- 25819072
TI  - Stent deformation at the edge of a high pressure balloon.
AB  - Focal ultrashort balloons are essential tools for lesion preparation and final
      stent expansion. However, they may cause a major distortion of the adjacent
      segments. Here we report a case with a stent deformation emphasizing the
      importance of utilizing intravascular imaging techniques for optimal
      interventions. 

PMID- 25819074
TI  - The Listeria monocytogenes strain 10403S BioCyc database.
AB  - Listeria monocytogenes is a food-borne pathogen of humans and other animals. The
      striking ability to survive several stresses usually used for food preservation
      makes L. monocytogenes one of the biggest concerns to the food industry, while
      the high mortality of listeriosis in specific groups of humans makes it a great
      concern for public health. Previous studies have shown that a regulatory network
      involving alternative sigma (sigma) factors and transcription factors is pivotal
      to stress survival. However, few studies have evaluated at the metabolic networks
      controlled by these regulatory mechanisms. The L. monocytogenes BioCyc database
      uses the strain 10403S as a model. Computer-generated initial annotation for all
      genes also allowed for identification, annotation and display of predicted
      reactions and pathways carried out by a single cell. Further ongoing manual
      curation based on published data as well as database mining for selected genes
      allowed the more refined annotation of functions, which, in turn, allowed for
      annotation of new pathways and fine-tuning of previously defined pathways to more
      L. monocytogenes-specific pathways. Using RNA-Seq data, several transcription
      start sites and promoter regions were mapped to the 10403S genome and annotated
      within the database. Additionally, the identification of promoter regions and a
      comprehensive review of available literature allowed the annotation of several
      regulatory interactions involving sigma factors and transcription factors. The L.
      monocytogenes 10403S BioCyc database is a new resource for researchers studying
      Listeria and related organisms. It allows users to (i) have a comprehensive view
      of all reactions and pathways predicted to take place within the cell in the
      cellular overview, as well as to (ii) upload their own data, such as differential
      expression data, to visualize the data in the scope of predicted pathways and
      regulatory networks and to carry on enrichment analyses using several different
      annotations available within the database.

PMID- 25819073
TI  - BioXpress: an integrated RNA-seq-derived gene expression database for pan-cancer
      analysis.
AB  - BioXpress is a gene expression and cancer association database in which the
      expression levels are mapped to genes using RNA-seq data obtained from The Cancer
      Genome Atlas, International Cancer Genome Consortium, Expression Atlas and
      publications. The BioXpress database includes expression data from 64 cancer
      types, 6361 patients and 17 469 genes with 9513 of the genes displaying
      differential expression between tumor and normal samples. In addition to data
      directly retrieved from RNA-seq data repositories, manual biocuration of
      publications supplements the available cancer association annotations in the
      database. All cancer types are mapped to Disease Ontology terms to facilitate a
      uniform pan-cancer analysis. The BioXpress database is easily searched using HUGO
      Gene Nomenclature Committee gene symbol, UniProtKB/RefSeq accession or,
      alternatively, can be queried by cancer type with specified significance filters.
      This interface along with availability of pre-computed downloadable files
      containing differentially expressed genes in multiple cancers enables
      straightforward retrieval and display of a broad set of cancer-related genes.

PMID- 25819075
TI  - LOTUS-DB: an integrative and interactive database for Nelumbo nucifera study.
AB  - Besides its important significance in plant taxonomy and phylogeny, sacred lotus
      (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) might also hold the key to the secrets of aging, which
      attracts crescent attentions from researchers all over the world. The genetic or
      molecular studies on this species depend on its genome information. In 2013, two
      publications reported the sequencing of its full genome, based on which we
      constructed a database named as LOTUS-DB. It will provide comprehensive
      information on the annotation, gene function and expression for the sacred lotus.
      The information will facilitate users to efficiently query and browse genes,
      graphically visualize genome and download a variety of complex data information
      on genome DNA, coding sequence (CDS), transcripts or peptide sequences, promoters
      and markers. It will accelerate researches on gene cloning, functional
      identification of sacred lotus, and hence promote the studies on this species and
      plant genomics as well. Database URL: http://lotus-db.wbgcas.cn

PMID- 25819077
TI  - Identification of a small set of plasma signalling proteins using neural network
      for prediction of Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - MOTIVATION: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a dementia that gets worse with time
      resulting in loss of memory and cognitive functions. The life expectancy of AD
      patients following diagnosis is ~7 years. In 2006, researchers estimated that
      0.40% of the world population (range 0.17-0.89%) was afflicted by AD, and that
      the prevalence rate would be tripled by 2050. Usually, examination of brain
      tissues is required for definite diagnosis of AD. So, it is crucial to diagnose
      AD at an early stage via some alternative methods. As the brain controls many
      functions via releasing signalling proteins through blood, we analyse blood
      plasma proteins for diagnosis of AD. RESULTS: Here, we use a radial basis
      function (RBF) network for feature selection called feature selection RBF network
      for selection of plasma proteins that can help diagnosis of AD. We have
      identified a set of plasma proteins, smaller in size than previous study, with
      comparable prediction accuracy. We have also analysed mild cognitive impairment
      (MCI) samples with our selected proteins. We have used neural networks and
      support vector machines as classifiers. The principle component analysis, Sammmon
      projection and heat-map of the selected proteins have been used to demonstrate
      the proteins' discriminating power for diagnosis of AD. We have also found a set
      of plasma signalling proteins that can distinguish incipient AD from MCI at an
      early stage. Literature survey strongly supports the AD diagnosis capability of
      the selected plasma proteins.

PMID- 25819076
TI  - Does the addition of specific acupuncture to standard swallowing training improve
      outcomes in patients with dysphagia after stroke? a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of adding acupuncture to standard swallowing
      training for patients with dysphagia after stroke. DESIGN: Single-blind
      randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Inpatient and outpatient clinics. SUBJECTS:
      A total of 124 patients with dysphagia after stroke were randomly divided into
      two groups: acupuncture and control. INTERVENTIONS: The acupuncture group
      received standard swallowing training and acupuncture treatment. In comparison,
      the control group only received standard swallowing training. Participants in
      both groups received six days of therapy per week for a four-week period. MAIN
      MEASURES: The primary outcome measures included the Standardized Swallowing
      Assessment and the Dysphagia Outcome Severity Scale. The secondary outcome
      measures included the Modified Barthel Index and Swallowing-Related Quality of
      Life, which were assessed before and after the four-week therapy period. RESULTS:
      A total of 120 dysphagic subjects completed the study (60 in acupuncture group
      and 60 in control group). Significant differences existed in the Standardized
      Swallowing Assessment, Dysphagia Outcome Severity Scale, Modified Barthel Index,
      and Swallowing-Related Quality of Life scores of each group after the treatment
      (P < 0.01). After the four-week treatment, the Standardized Swallowing Assessment
      (mean difference - 2.9; 95% confidence interval (CI) - 5.0 to - 0.81; P < 0.01),
      Dysphagia Outcome Severity Scale (mean difference 2.3; 95% CI 0.7 to 1.2; P <
      0.01), Modified Barthel Index (mean difference 17.2; 95% CI 2.6 to 9.3; P < 0.05)
      and Swallowing-Related Quality of Life scores (mean difference 31.4; 95% CI 3.2
      to 11.4; P < 0.01) showed more significant improvement in the acupuncture group
      than the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture combined with the standard
      swallowing training may be beneficial for dysphagic patients after stroke.

PMID- 25819078
TI  - Halvade: scalable sequence analysis with MapReduce.
AB  - MOTIVATION: Post-sequencing DNA analysis typically consists of read mapping
      followed by variant calling. Especially for whole genome sequencing, this
      computational step is very time-consuming, even when using multithreading on a
      multi-core machine. RESULTS: We present Halvade, a framework that enables
      sequencing pipelines to be executed in parallel on a multi-node and/or multi-core
      compute infrastructure in a highly efficient manner. As an example, a DNA
      sequencing analysis pipeline for variant calling has been implemented according
      to the GATK Best Practices recommendations, supporting both whole genome and
      whole exome sequencing. Using a 15-node computer cluster with 360 CPU cores in
      total, Halvade processes the NA12878 dataset (human, 100 bp paired-end reads, 50*
      coverage) in <3 h with very high parallel efficiency. Even on a single, multi
      core machine, Halvade attains a significant speedup compared with running the
      individual tools with multithreading.

PMID- 25819079
TI  - DEOD: uncovering dominant effects of cancer-driver genes based on a partial
      covariance selection method.
AB  - MOTIVATION: The generation of a large volume of cancer genomes has allowed us to
      identify disease-related alterations more accurately, which is expected to
      enhance our understanding regarding the mechanism of cancer development. With
      genomic alterations detected, one challenge is to pinpoint cancer-driver genes
      that cause functional abnormalities. RESULTS: Here, we propose a method for
      uncovering the dominant effects of cancer-driver genes (DEOD) based on a partial
      covariance selection approach. Inspired by a convex optimization technique, it
      estimates the dominant effects of candidate cancer-driver genes on the expression
      level changes of their target genes. It constructs a gene network as a directed
      weighted graph by integrating DNA copy numbers, single nucleotide mutations and
      gene expressions from matched tumor samples, and estimates partial covariances
      between driver genes and their target genes. Then, a scoring function to measure
      the cancer-driver score for each gene is applied. To test the performance of
      DEOD, a novel scheme is designed for simulating conditional multivariate normal
      variables (targets and free genes) given a group of variables (driver genes).
      When we applied the DEOD method to both the simulated data and breast cancer
      data, DEOD successfully uncovered driver variables in the simulation data, and
      identified well-known oncogenes in breast cancer. In addition, two highly ranked
      genes by DEOD were related to survival time. The copy number amplifications of
      MYC (8q24.21) and TRPS1 (8q23.3) were closely related to the survival time with P
      values = 0.00246 and 0.00092, respectively. The results demonstrate that DEOD can
      efficiently uncover cancer-driver genes.

PMID- 25819080
TI  - MSA-PAD: DNA multiple sequence alignment framework based on PFAM accessed domain
      information.
AB  - Here we present the MSA-PAD application, a DNA multiple sequence alignment
      framework that uses PFAM protein domain information to align DNA sequences
      encoding either single or multiple protein domains. MSA-PAD has two alignment
      options: gene and genome mode.

PMID- 25819081
TI  - Assessing allele-specific expression across multiple tissues from RNA-seq read
      data.
AB  - MOTIVATION: RNA sequencing enables allele-specific expression (ASE) studies that
      complement standard genotype expression studies for common variants and,
      importantly, also allow measuring the regulatory impact of rare variants. The
      Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project is collecting RNA-seq data on multiple
      tissues of a same set of individuals and novel methods are required for the
      analysis of these data. RESULTS: We present a statistical method to compare
      different patterns of ASE across tissues and to classify genetic variants
      according to their impact on the tissue-wide expression profile. We focus on
      strong ASE effects that we are expecting to see for protein-truncating variants,
      but our method can also be adjusted for other types of ASE effects. We illustrate
      the method with a real data example on a tissue-wide expression profile of a
      variant causal for lipoid proteinosis, and with a simulation study to assess our
      method more generally.

PMID- 25819083
TI  - Cloning and primary immunological study of TGF-beta1 and its receptors TbetaR I
      /TbetaR II in tilapia(Oreochromis niloticus).
AB  - The transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) superfamily plays critical roles
      in tumor suppression, cell proliferation and differentiation, tissue
      morphogenesis, lineage determination, cell migration and apoptosis. Recently, TGF
      beta1, one important member of TGF-beta superfamily, is suggested as an immune
      regulator in the teleost. In this study, we cloned the cDNAs of TGF-beta1 and its
      receptors, TbetaR I and TbetaR II (including three isoforms) from tilapia
      (Genbank accession numbers: KP754231- KP754235). A tissue distribution profile
      analysis indicated that TGF-beta1 was highly expressed in the head kidney, gill,
      spleen, kidney and PBLs (peripheral blood leukocytes); TbetaR I only showed
      considerable expression in the liver; and TbetaR II-2 was highly expressed in the
      kidney, gill, liver, head kidney and heart. We determined that the mRNA
      expressions of TGF-beta and TbetaR I /TbetaR II-2 were significantly increased in
      tilapia head kidney and spleen leukocytes by the stimulation of
      Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or Poly I: C. We also examined their expressions in the
      spleen and head kidney of tilapia after IP injection of streptococcus agalactiae.
      The results showed that the mRNA expressions of these three genes all increased
      in the head kidney as early as 6 h post infection, and in the spleen 3 d post
      infection. In addition, the protein level of TGF-beta1 was also up-regulated in
      the head kidney and the spleen after infection. Taken together, our data indicate
      that the TGF-beta1-TbetaR I /TbetaR II-2 system functions potentially in tilapia
      immune system. 

PMID- 25819084
TI  - Diagnostic criteria of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy in
      diabetes mellitus.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The possibility of co-association between diabetes mellitus (DM) and
      chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) has long been a focus of
      interest as well as of clinical significance. As CIDP is a potentially treatable
      condition, it is diagnosis in the context of DM is of great importance. However,
      diagnostic criteria to identify CIDP in patients with diabetes are not available.
      We propose a diagnostic tool that should help clinicians to decide what is the
      probability that a patient with diabetes might have CIDP. METHODS: We list
      several clinical, electrophysiological, and laboratory parameters that, when
      combined, have the power of discriminating an immune-mediated neuropathy in
      patients with DM. By summing the points assigned to each of these parameters, we
      define four levels of probability for a patient with diabetes to have CIDP. To
      analyze the validity of the diagnostic toll, we applied it in three different
      patient populations: (i) Patients with diabetes with peripheral neuropathy, (ii)
      Patients with CIDP without DM, and (iii) Patients with diabetes with CIDP.
      RESULTS: The scores of patients with diabetes without CIDP ranged from -7 to 2,
      while those of patients with DM-CIDP ranged from 2 to 20. The scores of non
      diabetic patients with CIDP were similar to those of patients with DM-CIDP and
      ranged from 6 to 16. The mean score of patients with DM-CIDP was 9.083, while the
      score of patients with CIDP was 11.16 and that of patients with diabetic
      polyneuropathy was -3.59. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that this diagnostic
      tool is able to identify patients with diabetes with overlapping CIDP.

PMID- 25819085
TI  - Genetic study of complex diseases in the post-GWAS era.
AB  - Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified thousands of genes and
      genetic variants (mainly SNPs) that contribute to complex diseases in humans.
      Functional characterization and mechanistic elucidation of these SNPs and genes
      action are the next major challenge. It has been well established that SNPs
      altering the amino acids of protein-coding genes can drastically impact protein
      function, and play an important role in molecular pathogenesis. Functions of
      regulatory SNPs can be complex and elusive, and involve gene expression
      regulation through the effect on RNA splicing, transcription factor binding, DNA
      methylation and miRNA recruitment. In the present review, we summarize the recent
      progress in our understanding of functional consequences of GWAS-associated non
      coding regulatory SNPs, and discuss the application of systems genetics and
      network biology in the interpretation of GWAS findings. 

PMID- 25819086
TI  - Large noncoding RNAs are promising regulators in embryonic stem cells.
AB  - Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) hold great promises for treating and studying
      numerous devastating diseases. The molecular basis of their potential is not
      completely understood. Large noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are an important class of
      gene regulators that play essential roles in a variety of physiologic and
      pathologic processes. Dozens of lncRNAs are now identified to control ESC self
      renewal and differentiation. Research on lncRNAs may provide novel insights into
      manipulating the cell fate or reprogramming somatic cells into induced
      pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). In this review, we summarize the recent research
      efforts in identifying functional lncRNAs and understanding how they act in ESCs,
      and discuss various future directions of this field. 

PMID- 25819088
TI  - Downregulation of rice DWARF 14 LIKE suppress mesocotyl elongation via a
      strigolactone independent pathway in the dark.
AB  - Strigolactones (SLs) are a class of plant hormones that control plant development
      in response to environmental conditions. In rice, mesocotyl elongation is
      regulated by SLs in the dark, while mesocotyls are longer in SL deficient or
      insensitive mutants. SLs are perceived by DWARF14 (D14), which is a member of a
      small gene family. In this study, we examined the function of another D14 family
      gene in rice, D14 LIKE (D14L), focusing on mesocotyl growth. The mesocotyls of
      D14L RNAi lines are longer than those of WT in the dark. This phenotype is
      enhanced when the D14L RNAi lines are combined with the d14 mutation, suggesting
      that D14 and D14L work independently to inhibit mesocotyl elongation. This
      phenotype is alleviated by the exogenous supply of GR24, a synthetic SL,
      suggesting that D14L is not necessary for SL signaling. D14L mRNA is
      predominantly expressed in vascular bundles and crown root primordia. Our results
      suggest that D14L and D14 confer their effects via an SL independent pathway and
      an SL signaling pathway respectively. 

PMID- 25819087
TI  - Genome-wide linkage and positional association analyses identify associations of
      novel AFF3 and NTM genes with triglycerides: the GenSalt study.
AB  - We conducted a genome-wide linkage scan and positional association study to
      identify genes and variants influencing blood lipid levels among participants of
      the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Salt-Sensitivity (GenSalt) study. The GenSalt
      study was conducted among 1906 participants from 633 Han Chinese families. Lipids
      were measured from overnight fasting blood samples using standard methods.
      Multipoint quantitative trait genome-wide linkage scans were performed on the
      high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, and log-transformed
      triglyceride phenotypes. Using dense panels of single nucleotide polymorphisms
      (SNPs), single-marker and gene-based association analyses were conducted to
      follow-up on promising linkage signals. Additive associations between each SNP
      and lipid phenotypes were tested using mixed linear regression models. Gene-based
      analyses were performed by combining P-values from single-marker analyses within
      each gene using the truncated product method (TPM). Significant associations were
      assessed for replication among 777 Asian participants of the Multi-ethnic Study
      of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Bonferroni correction was used to adjust for multiple
      testing. In the GenSalt study, suggestive linkage signals were identified at
      2p11.2-2q12.1 [maximum multipoint LOD score (MML) = 2.18 at 2q11.2] and 11q24.3
      11q25 (MML = 2.29 at 11q25) for the log-transformed triglyceride phenotype.
      Follow-up analyses of these two regions revealed gene-based associations of
      charged multivesicular body protein 3 (CHMP3), ring finger protein 103 (RNF103),
      AF4/FMR2 family, member 3 (AFF3), and neurotrimin (NTM) with triglycerides (P = 4
      * 10(-4), 1.00 * 10(-5), 2.00 * 10(-5), and 1.00 * 10(-7), respectively). Both
      the AFF3 and NTM triglyceride associations were replicated among MESA study
      participants (P = 1.00 * 10(-7) and 8.00 * 10(-5), respectively). Furthermore,
      NTM explained the linkage signal on chromosome 11. In conclusion, we identified
      novel genes associated with lipid phenotypes in linkage regions on chromosomes 2
      and 11.

PMID- 25819089
TI  - Generation of an lncRNA Gtl2-GFP reporter for rapid assessment of pluripotency in
      mouse induced pluripotent stem cells.

PMID- 25819090
TI  - Development of Triticum aestivum-Leymus mollis translocation lines and
      identification of resistance to stripe rust.

PMID- 25819091
TI  - A novel method for furfural recovery via gas stripping assisted vapor permeation
      by a polydimethylsiloxane membrane.
AB  - Furfural is an important platform chemical with a wide range of applications.
      However, due to the low concentration of furfural in the hydrolysate, the
      conventional methods for furfural recovery are energy-intensive and
      environmentally unfriendly. Considering the disadvantages of pervaporation (PV)
      and distillation in furfural separation, a novel energy-efficient 'green
      technique', gas stripping assisted vapor permeation (GSVP), was introduced in
      this work. In this process, the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane was prepared
      by employing water as solvent. Coking in pipe and membrane fouling was virtually
      non-existent in this new process. In addition, GSVP was found to achieve the
      highest pervaporation separation index of 216200 (permeate concentration of 71.1
      wt% and furfural flux of 4.09 kg m(-2) h(-1)) so far, which was approximately 2.5
      times higher than that found in pervaporation at 95 degrees C for recovering 6.0
      wt% furfural from water. Moreover, the evaporation energy required for GSVP
      decreased by 35% to 44% relative to that of PV process. Finally, GSVP also
      displayed more promising potential in industrial application than PV, especially
      when coupled with the hydrolysis process or fermentation in biorefinery industry.

PMID- 25819092
TI  - Calcium-phosphate and parathyroid intradialytic profiles: A potential aid for
      tailoring the dialysate calcium content of patients on different hemodialysis
      schedules.
AB  - Severe hyperparathyroidism is a challenge on hemodialysis. The definition of
      dialysate calcium (Ca) is a pending issue with renewed importance in cases of
      individualized dialysis schedules and of portable home dialysis machines with low
      flow dialysate. Direct measurement of calcium mass transfer is complex and is
      imprecisely reflected by differences in start-to-end of dialysis Ca levels. The
      study was performed in a dialysis unit dedicated to home hemodialysis and to
      critical patients with wide use of daily and tailored schedules. The Ca-phosphate
      (P)-parathyroid hormone (PTH) profile includes creatinine, urea, total and
      ionized Ca, albumin, sodium, potassium, P, PTH levels at start, mid, and end of
      dialysis. "Severe" secondary hyperparathyroidism was defined as PTH > 300 pg/mL
      for >=3 months. Four schedules were tested: conventional dialysis (polysulfone
      dialyzer 1.8-2.1 m(2) ), with dialysate Ca 1.5 or 1.75 mmol/L, NxStage (Ca 1.5
      mmol/L), and NxStage plus intradialytic Ca infusion. Dosages of vitamin D,
      calcium, phosphate binders, and Ca mimetic agents were adjusted monthly. Eighty
      Ca-P-PTH profiles were collected in 12 patients. Serum phosphate was efficiently
      reduced by all techniques. No differences in start-to-end PTH and Ca levels on
      dialysis were observed in patients with PTH levels < 300 pg/mL. Conversely, Ca
      levels in "severe" secondary hyperparathyroid patients significantly increased
      and PTH decreased during dialysis on all schedules except on Nxstage (P < 0.05).
      Our data support the need for tailored dialysate Ca content, even on "low-flow"
      daily home dialysis, in "severe" secondary hyperparathyroid patients in order to
      increase the therapeutic potentials of the new dialysis techniques. 

PMID- 25819093
TI  - Synthesis of [(11)C]GSK1482160 as a new PET agent for targeting P2X(7) receptor.
AB  - The authentic standards GSK1482160 and its isomer, as well as the radiolabeling
      precursors desmethyl-GSK1482160 and Boc-protected desmethyl-GSK1482160 were
      synthesized from L-pyroglutamic acid, methyl L-pyroglutamate and 2-chloro-3
      (trifluoromethyl)benzylamine with overall chemical yield 27-28% in 3 steps, 58%
      in 4 steps, 76% in 1 step and 33% in 2 steps, respectively. [(11)C]GSK1482160 was
      prepared from either desmethyl-GSK1482160 or Boc-protected desmethyl-GSK1482160
      with [(11)C]CH3OTf through N-[(11)C]methylation and isolated by HPLC combined
      with SPE in 40-50% and 30-40% radiochemical yield, respectively, based on
      [(11)C]CO2 and decay corrected to end of bombardment (EOB). The radiochemical
      purity was >99%, and the specific activity at EOB was 370-1110 GBq/MUmol with a
      total synthesis time of ~40-min from EOB.

PMID- 25819094
TI  - Synthesis and biological evaluation of nonionic substrate mimics of UDP-Galp as
      candidate inhibitors of UDP galactopyranose mutase (UGM).
AB  - The synthesis of 1-[5-O-(alpha-D-galactopyranosyl)-D-glucityl]pyrimidine-2,4(3H)
      dione and 1-[(5-O-(beta-D-galactopyranosyl)-D-glucityl]pyrimidine-2,4(3H)-dione
      as non-ionic substrate mimics of UDP-Galp are described. UDP-Galp is a precursor
      of Galf, which is a primary component of the cell-wall glycans of several
      microorganisms. The interconversion of UDP-Galp and UDP-Galf is catalyzed by UDP
      galactopyranose mutase (UGM); its inhibition comprises a mode of compromising the
      microorganisms. The nonionic polyhydroxylated chain was intended to mimic the
      ionic pyrophosphate group and the ribose moiety in UDP-Galp and increase the
      bioavailabilities of the candidate inhibitors. Inhibition assays with UGM of
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis showed only weak inhibition of the enzyme by these
      compounds.

PMID- 25819095
TI  - Pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and metabolic characterization of a brain
      retentive microtubule (MT)-stabilizing triazolopyrimidine.
AB  - Previous studies revealed that examples of the non-naturally occurring
      microtubule (MT)-stabilizing triazolopyrimidines are both brain penetrant and
      orally bioavailable, indicating that this class of compounds may be potentially
      attractive in the development of MT-stabilizing therapies for the central nervous
      system (CNS). We now report on the pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD),
      and metabolism of a selected triazolopyrimidine congener, (S)-3-(4-(5-chloro-7
      ((1,1,1-trifluoropropan-2-yl)amino)-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-6-yl)-3,5
      difluorophenoxy)-propan-1-ol (4). These studies revealed that 4 exhibits longer
      brain than plasma half-life that may be exploited to achieve a selective
      accumulation of the compound within the CNS. Furthermore, compound metabolism
      studies suggest that in plasma 4 is rapidly oxidized at the terminal hydroxyl
      group to form a comparatively inactive carboxylic acid metabolite. Peripheral
      administration of relatively low doses of 4 to normal mice was found to produce a
      significant elevation in acetylated alpha-tubulin, a marker of stable MTs, in the
      brain. Collectively, these results indicate that 4 may effectively target brain
      MTs at doses that produce minimal peripheral exposure. 

PMID- 25819096
TI  - Five new phorbol esters with cytotoxic and selective anti-inflammatory activities
      from Croton tiglium.
AB  - Five new phorbol esters, (four phorbol diesters, 1-4, and one 4-deoxy-4alpha
      phorbol diester, 5), as well as four known phorbol esters analogues (6-9) were
      isolated and identified from the branches and leaves of Croton tiglium. Their
      structures were elucidated mainly by extensive NMR spectroscopic, and mass
      spectrometric analysis. Among them, compound (1) was the first example of a
      naturally occurring phorbol ester with the 20-aldehyde group. Compounds 2-5, and
      7-9 showed potent cytotoxicity against the K562, A549, DU145, H1975, MCF-7, U937,
      SGC-7901, HL60, Hela, and MOLT-4 cell lines, with IC50 values ranging from 1.0 to
      43 MUM, while none of the compounds exhibited cytotoxic effects on normal human
      cell lines 293T and LX-2, respectively. In addition, compound 3 exhibited
      moderate COX-1 and COX-2 inhibition, with IC50 values of 0.14 and 8.5 MUM,
      respectively.

PMID- 25819097
TI  - Asymmetric hydrogenation of aromatic ketones by new recyclable ionic tagged
      ferrocene-ruthenium catalyst system.
AB  - Newly developed ferrocene-oxazoline-phosphine ligands containing quaternary
      ammonium ionic groups exhibited excellent catalytic performance for the ruthenium
      catalyzed hydrogenation of aromatic ketonic substrates to give chiral secondary
      alcohols with high levels of conversions and enantioselectivities. Simple
      manipulation process, water tolerance, high activity and good recyclable property
      make this catalysis practical and appealing. 

PMID- 25819098
TI  - Canthinone alkaloids are novel protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B inhibitors.
AB  - Considerable attention has been paid to protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B)
      inhibitors as a potential therapy for diabetes. Screening of a natural compound
      library resulted in six canthinone alkaloids, namely, picrasidine L (1), 3,4
      dimethyl-canthin-5,6-dione (2), 4-ethyl-3-methyl-canthin-5,6-dione (3),
      eurycomine E (4), 5-methoxy-canthin-6-one (5), and 5-acethoxy-canthin-6-one (6),
      as novel PTP1B inhibitors. Among these, 1 is the competitive PTP1B inhibitor with
      the best inhibitory selectivity between PTP1B and other PTPs and was shown to
      promote activity in the insulin signaling pathway in cell-based assays. Molecular
      docking simulations and structure-activity relationship analysis of 1 will add to
      its potential as a lead compound in future anti-insulin-resistant drug
      developments. 

PMID- 25819099
TI  - Prognostic factors in pterygopalatine and infratemporal fossa malignant tumours:
      A single institution experience.
AB  - PURPOSE: To elucidate the clinical characteristics of malignancies involving the
      pterygopalatine and infratemporal fossa and identify the outcome-related
      predictors. METHODS: A retrospective review of the patients diagnosed with
      malignancies involving these spaces between 2006 and 2013 was conducted. We
      investigated the 5-year recurrence free survival, metastasis free survival and
      overall survival, and univariate and multivariate analysis were used to identify
      the outcome-related factors. RESULTS: A total of 80 patients (46 male and 34
      female) aged from 1 to 82 years were retrospectively analysed. The most frequent
      location for involved malignancies included the pterygopalatine fossa (n = 35,
      43.8%), followed by the infratemporal fossa (n = 25, 31.2%) and the
      pterygopalatine and infratemporal fossa together (n = 20, 25%). In multivariate
      analysis, gender (HR: 2.59, 95% CI: 1.034-6.488, p = 0.042), margin status (HR:
      6.158, 95% CI: 2.115-17.932, p = 0.001) and adjuvant radiotherapy (HR: 3.116, 95%
      CI: 1.057-9.191, p = 0.039) were predictors for the 5-year recurrence-free
      survival rate, and brain invasion (HR: 6.218, 95% CI: 1.375-28.115, p = 0.018)
      and surgical margin (HR: 21.961, 95% CI: 2.383-202.418, p = 0.006) were
      predictors for the 5-year overall survival rate. CONCLUSION: These results
      indicate that malignancies involving the pterygopalatine and infratemporal fossa
      have a poor prognosis. Brain invasion is a dangerous sign for decreased survival.
      An ideal surgical margin is associated with a lower recurrence and higher
      survival rate. Adjuvant radiotherapy should be performed to achieve better local
      control.

PMID- 25819100
TI  - Linguistic labels, dynamic visual features, and attention in infant category
      learning.
AB  - How do words affect categorization? According to some accounts, even early in
      development words are category markers and are different from other features.
      According to other accounts, early in development words are part of the input and
      are akin to other features. The current study addressed this issue by examining
      the role of words and dynamic visual features in category learning in 8- to 12
      month-old infants. Infants were familiarized with exemplars from one category in
      a label-defined or motion-defined condition and then tested with prototypes from
      the studied category and from a novel contrast category. Eye-tracking results
      indicated that infants exhibited better category learning in the motion-defined
      condition than in the label-defined condition, and their attention was more
      distributed among different features when there was a dynamic visual feature
      compared with the label-defined condition. These results provide little evidence
      for the idea that linguistic labels are category markers that facilitate category
      learning. 

PMID- 25819101
TI  - [Christoph Willibald Gluck (Erasbach [berching], Germany, 1714/Vienna, Austria,
      1787)].

PMID- 25819102
TI  - Post-trauma administration of the pifithrin-alpha oxygen analog improves
      histological and functional outcomes after experimental traumatic brain injury.
AB  - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability worldwide.
      Programmed death of neuronal cells plays a crucial role in acute and chronic
      neurodegeneration following TBI. The tumor suppressor protein p53, a
      transcription factor, has been recognized as an important regulator of apoptotic
      neuronal death. The p53 inactivator pifithrin-alpha (PFT-alpha) has been shown to
      be neuroprotective against stroke. A previous cellular study indicated that PFT
      alpha oxygen analog (PFT-alpha (O)) is more stable and active than PFT-alpha. We
      aimed to investigate whether inhibition of p53 using PFT-alpha or PFT-alpha (O)
      would be a potential neuroprotective strategy for TBI. To evaluate whether these
      drugs protect against excitotoxicity in vitro, primary rat cortical cultures were
      challenged with glutamate (50mM) in the presence or absence of various
      concentrations of the p53 inhibitors PFT-alpha or PFT-alpha (O). Cell viability
      was estimated by LDH assay. In vivo, adult Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to
      controlled cortical impact (CCI, with 4m/s velocity, 2mm deformation). Five hours
      after injury, PFT-alpha or PFT-alpha (O) (2mg/kg, i.v.) was administered to
      animals. Sensory and motor functions were evaluated by behavioral tests at 24h
      after TBI. The p53-positive neurons were identified by double staining with cell
      specific markers. Levels of mRNA encoding for p53-regulated genes (BAX, PUMA, Bcl
      2 and p21) were measured by reverse transcription followed by real time-PCR from
      TBI animals without or with PFT-alpha/PFT-alpha (O) treatment. We found that PFT
      alpha(O) (10 MUM) enhanced neuronal survival against glutamate-induced
      cytotoxicity in vitro more effectively than PFT-alpha (10 MUM). In vivo PFT-alpha
      (O) treatment enhanced functional recovery and decreased contusion volume at 24h
      post-injury. Neuroprotection by PFT-alpha (O) treatment also reduced p53-positive
      neurons in the cortical contusion region. In addition, p53-regulated PUMA mRNA
      levels at 8h were significantly reduced by PFT-alpha (O) administration after
      TBI. PFT-alpha (O) treatment also decreased phospho-p53 positive neurons in the
      cortical contusion region. Our data suggest that PFT-alpha (O) provided a
      significant reduction of cortical cell death and protected neurons from glutamate
      induced excitotoxicity in vitro, as well as improved neurological functional
      outcome and reduced brain injury in vivo via anti-apoptotic mechanisms. The
      inhibition of p53-induced apoptosis by PFT-alpha (O) provides a useful tool to
      evaluate reversible apoptotic mechanisms and may develop into a novel therapeutic
      strategy for TBI.

PMID- 25819103
TI  - Lesion-induced accumulation of platelets promotes survival of adult neural stem /
      progenitor cells.
AB  - The presence of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) in specific areas of the
      central nervous system (CNS) supports tissue maintenance as well as regeneration.
      The subependymal zone (SEZ), located at the lateral ventricle's wall, represents
      a niche for NSPCs and in response to stroke or demyelination becomes activated
      with progenitors migrating towards the lesion and differentiating into neurons
      and glia. The mechanisms that underlie this phenomenon remain largely unknown.
      The vascular niche and in particular blood-derived elements such as platelets,
      has been shown to contribute to CNS regeneration in different pathological
      conditions. Indeed, intracerebroventricularly administrated platelet lysate (PL)
      stimulates angiogenesis, neurogenesis and neuroprotection in the damaged CNS.
      Here, we explored the presence of platelets in the activated SEZ after a focal
      demyelinating lesion in the corpus callosum of mice and we studied the effects of
      PL on proliferating SEZ-derived NSPCs in vitro. We showed that the lesion-induced
      increase in the size of the SEZ and in the number of proliferating SEZ-resident
      NSPCs correlates with the accumulation of platelets specifically along the
      activated SEZ vasculature. Expanding on this finding, we demonstrated that
      exposure of NSPCs to PL in vitro led to increased numbers of cells by enhanced
      cell survival and reduced apoptosis without differences in proliferation and in
      the differentiation potential of NSPCs. Finally, we demonstrate that the
      accumulation of platelets within the SEZ is spatially correlated with reduced
      numbers of apoptotic cells when compared to other periventricular areas. In
      conclusion, our results show that platelet-derived compounds specifically promote
      SEZ-derived NSPC survival and suggest that platelets might contribute to the
      enlargement of the pool of SEZ NSPCs that are available for CNS repair in
      response to injury. 

PMID- 25819105
TI  - Spreading depolarizations mediate excitotoxicity in the development of acute
      cortical lesions.
AB  - Spreading depolarizations (SD) are mass depolarizations of neurons and astrocytes
      that occur spontaneously in acute brain injury and mediate time-dependent lesion
      growth. Glutamate excitotoxicity has also been extensively studied as a mechanism
      of neuronal injury, although its relevance to in vivo pathology remains unclear.
      Here we hypothesized that excitotoxicity in acute lesion development occurs only
      as a consequence of SD. Using glutamate-sensitive microelectrodes, we found that
      SD induced by KCl in normal rat cortex elicits increases in extracellular
      glutamate (11.6+/-1.3MUM) that are synchronous with the onset, sustainment, and
      resolution of the extracellular direct-current shift of SD. Inhibition of
      glutamate uptake with d,l-threo-beta-benzyloxyaspartate (TBOA, 0.5 and 1mM)
      significantly prolonged the duration of the direct-current shift (148% and 426%,
      respectively) and the glutamate increase (167% and 374%, respectively) in a dose
      dependent manner (P<0.05). These prolonged events produced significant cortical
      lesions as indicated by Fluoro-Jade staining (P<0.05), while no lesions were
      observed after SD in control conditions or after cortical injection of 1mM
      glutamate (extracellular increase: 243+/-50.8MUM) or 0.5mM TBOA (glutamate
      increase: 8.5+/-1.6MUM) without SD. We then used an embolic focal ischemia model
      to determine whether glutamate elevations occur independent of SD in the natural
      evolution of a cortical lesion. In both the ischemic core and penumbra, glutamate
      increased only in synchrony with anoxic terminal SD (6.1+/-1.1MUM) and transient
      SDs (11.8+/-2.4MUM), and not otherwise. Delayed terminal SDs were also observed
      in two animals at 98 and 150min after ischemic onset and induced similar
      glutamate elevations. Durations of SDs and glutamate increases were significantly
      correlated in both normal and ischemic animals (P<0.05). These data suggest that
      pathologically prolonged SDs are a required mechanism of acute cortical lesion
      development and that glutamate elevations and the mass electrochemical changes of
      SD and are merely different facets of the same pathophysiologic process. 

PMID- 25819106
TI  - Cumulative mental health consequences of acne: 23-year follow-up in a general
      population birth cohort study.

PMID- 25819107
TI  - MY APPROACH to the patient with pulmonary embolism.

PMID- 25819104
TI  - Demyelination as a rational therapeutic target for ischemic or traumatic brain
      injury.
AB  - Previous research on stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI) heavily emphasized
      pathological alterations in neuronal cells within gray matter. However, recent
      studies have highlighted the equal importance of white matter integrity in long
      term recovery from these conditions. Demyelination is a major component of white
      matter injury and is characterized by loss of the myelin sheath and
      oligodendrocyte cell death. Demyelination contributes significantly to long-term
      sensorimotor and cognitive deficits because the adult brain only has limited
      capacity for oligodendrocyte regeneration and axonal remyelination. In the
      current review, we will provide an overview of the major causes of demyelination
      and oligodendrocyte cell death following acute brain injuries, and discuss the
      crosstalk between myelin, axons, microglia, and astrocytes during the process of
      demyelination. Recent discoveries of molecules that regulate the processes of
      remyelination may provide novel therapeutic targets to restore white matter
      integrity and improve long-term neurological recovery in stroke or TBI patients. 

PMID- 25819108
TI  - Bisphenol A exposure accelerated the aging process in the nematode Caenorhabditis
      elegans.
AB  - Bisphenol A (BPA) is a well-known environmental estrogenic disruptor that causes
      adverse effects. Recent studies have found that chronic exposure to BPA is
      associated with a high incidence of several age-related diseases. Aging is
      characterized by progressive function decline, which affects quality of life.
      However, the effects of BPA on the aging process are largely unknown. In the
      present study, by using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model, we
      investigated the influence of BPA exposure on the aging process. The decrease in
      body length, fecundity, and population size and the increased egg laying
      defection suggested that BPA exposure resulted in fitness loss and reproduction
      aging in this animal. Lifetime exposure of worms to BPA shortened the lifespan in
      a dose-dependant manner. Moreover, prolonged BPA exposure resulted in age-related
      behavior degeneration and the accumulation of lipofuscin and lipid peroxide
      products. The expression of mitochondria-specific HSP-6 and endoplasmic reticulum
      (ER)-related HSP-70 exhibited hormetic decrease. The expression of ER-related HSP
      4 decreased significantly while HSP-16.2 showed a dose-dependent increase. The
      decreased expression of GCS-1 and GST-4 implicated the reduced antioxidant
      ability under BPA exposure, and the increase in SOD-3 expression might be caused
      by elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Finally, BPA
      exposure increased the generation of hydrogen peroxide-related ROS and superoxide
      anions. Our results suggest that BPA exposure resulted in an accelerated aging
      process in C. elegans mediated by the induction of oxidative stress. 

PMID- 25819109
TI  - Tributyltin chloride leads to adiposity and impairs metabolic functions in the
      rat liver and pancreas.
AB  - Tributyltin chloride (TBT) is an environmental contaminant used in antifouling
      paints of boats. Endocrine disruptor effects of TBT are well established in
      animal models. However, the adverse effects on metabolism are less well
      understood. The toxicity of TBT in the white adipose tissue (WAT), liver and
      pancreas of female rats were assessed. Animals were divided into control and TBT
      (0.1 MUg/kg/day) groups. TBT induced an increase in the body weight of the rats
      by the 15th day of oral exposure. The weight gain was associated with high
      parametrial (PR) and retroperitoneal (RP) WAT weights. TBT-treatment increased
      the adiposity, inflammation and expression of ERalpha and PPARgamma proteins in
      both RP and PR WAT. In 3T3-L1 cells, estrogen treatment reduced lipid droplets
      accumulation, however increased the ERalpha protein expression. In contrast, TBT
      treatment increased the lipid accumulation and reduced the ERalpha expression.
      WAT metabolic changes led to hepatic inflammation, lipid accumulation, increase
      of PPARgamma and reduction of ERalpha protein expression. Accordingly, there were
      increases in the glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity tests with increases
      in the number of pancreatic islets and insulin levels. These findings suggest
      that TBT leads to adiposity in WAT specifically, impairing the metabolic
      functions of the liver and pancreas.

PMID- 25819110
TI  - Femoral Traction Splints in Mountain Rescue Prehospital Care: To Use or Not to
      Use? That Is the Question.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the incidence of femur fractures in mountain rescue in
      England and Wales. To investigate the attitudes of rescuers toward the use of
      femoral traction splints. To review the literature for evidence on the use of
      traction splints in prehospital medicine and test the hypothesis that femoral
      traction splints reduce morbidity and mortality in patients with a fractured
      femur. METHODS: The Mountain Rescue England and Wales database was searched for
      cases of suspected fractured femur occurring between 2002 and 2012, a
      questionnaire was sent to all mountain rescue teams in England and Wales, and a
      literature review was performed. Relevant articles were critically reviewed to
      identify the evidence base for the use of femoral traction splints. RESULTS:
      Femur fractures are uncommon in mountain rescue, with an incidence of suspected
      femur fractures on scene at 9.3 a year. Traction splints are used infrequently;
      13% of the suspected femur fractures were treated with traction. However,
      rescuers have a positive attitude toward traction splints and perceive few
      disadvantages to their use. No trials demonstrate that traction splints reduce
      morbidity or mortality, but a number describe complications resulting from their
      use. CONCLUSIONS: Femur fractures are rare within mountain rescue. Traction
      splints may be no more effective than other methods of splinting in prehospital
      care. We failed to identify evidence that supports the hypothesis that traction
      splints reduce morbidity or mortality. We advocate the use of a femoral traction
      splints but recognize that other splints may also be appropriate in this
      environment.

PMID- 25819111
TI  - Cardiovascular and Perceptual Responses to an Ultraendurance Channel Swim: A Case
      Study.
AB  - Ultraendurance open water swimming presents unique physiological challenges. This
      case study aimed to describe cardiovascular and perceptual responses during a
      successful solo channel swim. Investigators followed a female swimmer's Catalina
      Channel (32.2 km) crossing, monitoring water temperature (T(water)) and air
      temperature (T(air)), distance remaining (DR), average velocity, and heart rate
      (HR(swim)) at regular intervals. Every 24 minutes, the swimmer reported perceived
      pain (on a scale of 0-10), rating of perceived exertion (RPE [scale of 6-20]),
      perceived thermal sensation (scale 0-8), and thirst (scale 1-9). Data are
      presented as mean +/- SD where applicable. The participant finished in 9 hours, 2
      minutes, and 48 seconds; T(water) averaged 19.1 +/- 0.4oC, and T(air) averaged
      18.6 +/- 0.9oC. Her HR(swim) ranged from 148 to 155 beats/min, and thermal
      sensation ranged from 3 to 4. Pain inconsistently varied from 0 to 5 during the
      swim. The RPE remained between 12 and 14 for the first 8 hours, but increased
      dramatically near the end (reaching 18). Thirst sensation steadily increased
      throughout the swim, again reaching maximal values on completion. Physiologically
      and statistically significant correlations existed between thirst and DR (r = 
      0.905), RPE and HR(swim) (r = 0.741), RPE and DR (r = -0.694), and pain and DR (r
      = -0.671). The primary findings were that, despite fluctuations in perceptual
      stressors, the swimmer maintained a consistent exercise intensity as indicated by
      HR(swim); and during ultraendurance swimming, pain, RPE, and thirst positively
      correlated with distance swum. We hope these findings aid in the preparation and
      performance of future athletes by providing information on what swimmers may
      expect during an ultraendurance attempt and by increasing the understanding of
      physiological and perceptual responses during open water swimming.

PMID- 25819112
TI  - Enhancing vaccine design strategies: applications for protein science, proteomics
      and adjuvants.

PMID- 25819113
TI  - Decreased thalamic glutamate level in unmedicated adult obsessive-compulsive
      disorder patients detected by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous neuroimaging studies implied that the dysfunction of cortico
      striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuit served as the neural basis for the
      pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The imbalances in
      neuronal metabolite and neurotransmitter within CSTC circuit have been shown as
      the leading reasons of the OCD onset. The aim of this study is to investigate the
      metabolic alterations, especially the glutamatergic signal dysfunction within
      CSTC circuit, and the relationships between neural metabolites and the symptom
      severity of OCD patients. METHODS: Single voxel magnetic resonance spectroscopy
      (MRS) was conducted in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and bilateral thalamus
      areas for thirteen unmedicated adult OCD patients with age-, gender-, and
      education-matched healthy controls. Quantification and multivariate analysis were
      performed to identify vital metabolic biomarkers for patients and healthy
      controls group differentiation. Moreover, we performed Spearman's rank
      correlation analysis for OCD patients to examine the relationship between the
      metabolite concentration level and OCD symptomatology. RESULTS: Patients with OCD
      showed significantly decreased glutamate level in mPFC (p=0.021) and right
      thalamus (p=0.039), and significantly increased choline compounds in left
      thalamus (p=0.044).The glutamate in right thalamus was shown as the most
      important metabolite for group separation from multivariate analysis (Q(2)=0.134)
      and was significantly correlated with the patients' compulsion scores (Spearman
      r=-0.674, p=0.016). LIMITATIONS: Limited sample size, the use of creatine and
      phosphocreatine (Cr) ratios rather than absolute concentrations and unresolved
      glutamine (Gln) are limitations of the present study. CONCLUSION: Our study
      results consolidated the hypothesis about glutamatergic signaling dysfunction in
      OCD. To our knowledge, it is the first finding about a reduced thalamic glutamate
      level in adult unmedicated OCD patients. The dysregulation of glutamate serves as
      a potential target for the OCD pharmacotherapy and the detailed mechanisms
      underlying the glutamate alterations within CSTC circuits merit further
      investigations.

PMID- 25819114
TI  - Systematic review with meta-analysis: early infant feeding and coeliac disease-
      update 2015.
AB  - BACKGROUND: New evidence emerged on early feeding practices and the risk of
      coeliac disease. AIM: To systematically update evidence on these practices to
      find out whether there is a need to revise current recommendations. METHODS:
      MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library were searched from July 2012 (end of
      last search) to February 2015 for studies of any design that assessed the effect
      of gluten consumption and breastfeeding on the development of coeliac disease
      and/or coeliac disease-related autoimmunity. RESULTS: We identified 21
      publications, including two, new, large, randomised controlled trials performed
      in high-risk infants. Exclusive or any breastfeeding, as well as breastfeeding at
      the time of gluten introduction, did not reduce the risk of developing coeliac
      disease during childhood. For infants at high risk of developing coeliac disease,
      gluten introduction at 4 months of age in very small amounts, or at 6 or 12
      months of age, resulted in similar rates of coeliac disease diagnosis in early
      childhood. Later gluten introduction was associated with later development of
      coeliac specific autoimmunity and coeliac disease during childhood, but not total
      risk reduction. Observational studies indicate that consumption of a higher
      amount of gluten at weaning may increase the risk for coeliac disease
      development. CONCLUSIONS: Infant feeding practices (breastfeeding, time of gluten
      introduction) have no effect on the risk of developing coeliac disease during
      childhood (at least at specific timeframes evaluated in the included studies),
      necessitating an update of current European recommendations.

PMID- 25819115
TI  - Serum biomarkers of oxidative stress in cats with feline infectious peritonitis.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to elucidate the possible presence of oxidative
      stress in cats naturally affected by feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) by
      investigating two antioxidant biomarkers in serum: paraoxonase-1 (PON1) and total
      antioxidant capacity (TAC). PON1 was measured by spectrophotometric assays using
      three different substrates: p-nitrophenyl acetate (pNA), phenyl acetate (PA) and
      5-thiobutil butyrolactone (TBBL), in order to evaluate possible differences
      between them. The PA and TBBL assays for PON1 and the assay for TAC were
      validated, providing acceptable precision and linearity although PA and TAC
      assays showed limit of detection higher than the values found in some cats with
      FIP. Cats with FIP and other inflammatory conditions showed lower PON1 values
      compared with a group of healthy cats with the three assays used, and cats with
      FIP showed significant decreased TAC concentrations. This study demonstrated the
      existence of oxidative stress in cats with FIP. 

PMID- 25819116
TI  - Clinical features and outcome of typhoid fever and invasive non-typhoidal
      salmonellosis in a tertiary hospital in Belgium: analysis and review of the
      literature.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Typhoid fever (TF) occurs rarely in industrialized countries because
      of advances in health care and improvement of drinking water. Conversely, non
      typhoid salmonellosis (NTS) remains widespread, because of food contamination or
      asymptomatic carriage. Non-typhoid salmonellosis can be severe when becoming
      invasive non-typhoid salmonellosis (iNTS). Although established prognostic
      indicators of the two pathologies are different, direct comparisons between iNTS
      and TF in the literature remain scarce. The purpose of this study was to analyse
      and compare demographic, clinical features and outcome of hospitalized patients
      with TF and iNTS. METHODS: Demographic, clinical features and outcome were
      retrospectively analysed in a series of patients hospitalized between 2007 and
      2012. RESULTS: A total of 33 patients were enrolled, including 13 with
      established TF and 20 with iNTS. No differences between TF and iNTS patients were
      observed in incidence of fever, abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, headache, nausea and
      vomiting and duration of antibiotic therapy (<= 7 days in both groups). Although
      the clinical outcome of TF patients was identical to that of iNTS patients,
      including incidence of complications, length of hospitalization and mortality
      (1/13 (7.7%) vs 2/20 (10%), P = 0.43), comorbidities were less frequent in the TF
      group than in the iNTS group (2/13 vs 15/20, P = 0.003). CONCLUSION: The clinical
      profile and outcome of TF patients are similar to those with iNTS. Although
      comorbidities are more often associated with iNTS, the results of our study
      suggest that clinical management of these two diseases should remain similar.

PMID- 25819117
TI  - A galectin from shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei is involved in immune recognition and
      bacteria phagocytosis.
AB  - Galectins are conserved family members with beta-galactosides affinity that play
      multiple functions in embryogenesis, development and regulation of innate and
      adaptive immunity. However, little functional studies were reported in
      crustaceans. Here, a shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei galectin (LvGal) cDNA was
      identified with an open reading frame of 1017 bp, which encodes a putative
      protein of 338 amino acids. A carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) and several
      amino acids residues involved in dimerization were found in LvGal. LvGal mRNA was
      mainly expressed in gills and hemocytes and upregulated post Vibrio anguillarum
      challenge. Recombinant LvGal (rLvGal) was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21
      (DE3) and the purified rLvGal could strongly bind G(-) bacteria V. anguillarum
      and G(+) bacteria Micrococcus lysodeikticus. Besides, rLvGal exhibited strong
      activity to agglutinate V. anguillarum and weak activity to agglutinate M.
      lysodeikticus but no obvious antibacterial activity was found with selected
      bacteria. In addition, in vivo experiments showed rLvGal could promote
      phagocytosis of bacteria by hemocytes. Thus, through these collective data we
      predicted LvGal is involved in immune recognition and functions as a potential
      pattern recognition receptor. 

PMID- 25819118
TI  - Neuron-restrictive silencer factor in periaqueductal gray contributes to
      remifentanil-induced postoperative hyperalgesia via repression of the mu-opioid
      receptor.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The ultra-short-acting mu-opioid receptor (MOR) agonist remifentanil
      induces postoperative hyperalgesia both in preclinical and clinical research
      studies. However, the precise mechanisms remain unclear, although changes in
      opioid receptor expression might be a correlative feature. Neuron-restrictive
      silencer factor (NRSF) functions as a crucial regulator of MOR expression in
      specific neuronal cells. Using a mouse model of incisional postoperative pain, we
      assessed the expression of MOR and NRSF and investigated whether disruption of
      NRSF expression could prevent the postoperative nociceptive sensitization induced
      by surgical incision and subcutaneous infusion of remifentanil. METHODS: Paw
      withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT) and paw withdrawal thermal latency (PWTL)
      were independently used to assess mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia
      after surgery and cerebral ventricle injection of NRSF antisense oligonucleotide.
      Western blotting analyses were preformed to assess the expression levels of MOR
      and NRSF. RESULTS: NRSF expression levels were enhanced after intraoperative
      infusion of remifentanil, resulting in repression of MOR expression in the
      periaqueductal gray (PAG). NRSF blockade with an NRSF antisense oligonucleotide
      significantly enhanced the expression levels of MOR and alleviated mechanical
      allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia induced by intraoperative infusion of
      remifentanil. CONCLUSION: NRSF functions as a negative regulator of MOR in PAG
      and contributes to remifentanil-induced postoperative hyperalgesia. NRSF in PAG
      may be a potential target for this pain therapy.

PMID- 25819119
TI  - Eye of the tiger sign in a 23 year patient with mitochondrial membrane protein
      associated neurodegeneration.

PMID- 25819120
TI  - Delayed diagnosis of vestibular epilepsy due to temporal cavernous malformation.

PMID- 25819121
TI  - [Management of side effects of targeted therapies in renal cancer: stomatological
      side effects (mucositis, epistaxis)].
AB  - The advent of targeted therapies in the treatment of renal cancer has shown
      different types of lesions of the oral cavity, which appear to be specific to the
      drug classes used (mTOR inhibitors, anti-angiogenic agents and conventional
      cytotoxic drugs). Before starting treatment with targeted therapy, it is
      essential to have an oral and a dental examination. The treatment of mucositis
      induced by targeted therapies is based on bicarbonate-based mouthwash, with the
      optional addition of an antifungal or a local antiseptic. It is possible to use
      topical or systemic analgesics for the pain. Dietary advice for patients is also
      useful. Most cases of epistaxis caused by anti-angiogenics stop spontaneously and
      require no medical intervention. Regular application of an emollient can be used
      to prevent the formation of scabs. 

PMID- 25819122
TI  - [Management of side effects of targeted therapies in renal cancer: sexual
      disorders].
AB  - Since sexual disorders were not specifically studied in the principal series,
      epidemiological data is scarce. Nevertheless, in practice, when sexuality is
      dealt with during the monitoring of patients undergoing targeted therapies, more
      than half of the patients questioned say that they attach importance to their
      quality of sex life, despite the severity of their metastatic renal cancer. At
      the start of treatment, it is therefore important to inform patients of the
      possible occurrence of problems and to encourage them to report them. During
      treatment, screening for sexual disorders by questioning is desirable: desire,
      lubrication, dyspareunia, erectile dysfunction. In the event of the onset of a
      sexual disorder during treatment, it is not usually necessary to stop or modify
      the treatment. Therapeutic measures depend on the discomfort felt and are under
      the control of the specialist: erectile dysfunction, male libido disorders,
      vaginal dryness and vulvovaginitis. A consultation with an oncology psychologist
      and/or sex therapist is useful, if possible with the partner, based on the impact
      of the sexual problems. 

PMID- 25819123
TI  - [Management of side-effects of targeted therapies in renal cancer: cardiovascular
      side-effects].
AB  - Several types of cardiovascular complications can occur during treatment with
      targeted therapies: heart failure, QTc lengthening, arterial and venous
      thrombosis. A clinical examination, ECG and cardiac ultrasound are essential
      before starting treatment with targeted therapy. Patients with no medical
      history, who are asymptomatic with a normal ECG and a left ventricular ejection
      fraction (LVEF) greater than 50% can begin molecular targeted therapy (MTT).
      Patients must be assessed by a cardiologist before the introduction of MTT if
      they have a history of ischemic or valvular heart disease, heart failure, atrial
      fibrillation, stroke, transient ischemic attack, or ECG anomalies (Q wave,
      supraventricular arrhythmia, QT greater than 500ms), or LVEF less than 50%. In
      patients who are symptomatic (dyspnoea, angina, syncope, embolism etc.) and/or
      present with a modification to the ECG or alteration to the LVEF, MTT must be
      stopped and reassessment by a cardiologist is indicated. The restarting of MTT
      following a cardiovascular complication must be subject to a multidisciplinary
      discussion taking into account the severity of the cardiac event, its
      reversibility with cardiac treatment, life expectancy of the patient as well as
      the expected efficacy of the drug. 

PMID- 25819124
TI  - [Toxicities of targeted therapies and their management in renal cancer:
      methodology of guidelines].
AB  - Advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is associated with a poor prognosis and is
      refractory to standard chemotherapy. Recent progress in the understanding of
      molecular biology and pathogenesis of renal cell cancer has been translated into
      the development of new therapeutic strategies. The management of metastatic RCC
      has been revolutionized with the development of targeted molecular therapies
      against VEGF-VEGFR and mTOR. Randomized phase III clinical trials demonstrated
      clinical benefit for patients with advanced RCC in overall survival and
      progression free survival. Guidelines for the management of side effects induced
      by these targeted therapies seem to be warranted. 

PMID- 25819125
TI  - [Management of side effects of targeted therapies in renal cancer: cutaneous side
      effects].
AB  - Targeted therapies used (angiogenesis inhibitors and mTOR inhibitors) in advanced
      renal cell carcinoma have a constellation of reaction affecting the skin, hair
      and nails. This guideline describes the incidence, clinical presentation and
      treatment of dermatologic side effects that develop with the use of targeted
      therapies (sunitinib, sorafenib, pazopanib, bevacizumab, everolimus,
      temsirolimus). 

PMID- 25819126
TI  - [Management of side-effects of targeted therapies in renal cancer: endocrine side
      effects and metabolic disorders].
AB  - Several types of endocrine complications and metabolic disorders can occur during
      treatment with targeted therapies: thyroid dysfunction, hyperglycaemia,
      hyperlipidaemia, etc. Thyroid dysfunctions are mainly observed with tyrosine
      kinase inhibitors (TKI), with a high frequency with sunitinib (18 to 85%) and
      sorafenib (21%). Hypothyroidism can be symptomatic with clinical signs including
      asthenia, constipation, cold intolerance, with elevated TSH and low free T 4
      levels; or subclinical with non-specific clinical signs (asthenia) with TSH less
      than 8-10mIU/L and free T 4 normal, and often requiring supplementation with
      thyroid hormones. The occurrence of thyroid dysfunction does not mean that
      treatment with TKI must be stopped. Thyrotoxicosis, usually transient, can
      precede the onset of hypothyroidism during treatment with TKI. Specialist opinion
      from an endocrinologist should be considered with the occurrence of thyroid
      dysfunction. Abnormalities in the glycaemic and lipid profile are often seen with
      mTOR inhibitors and require monitoring before and during the treatment, as well
      as a specialist opinion from an endocrinologist in the event of hyperglycaemia or
      dyslipidaemia. 

PMID- 25819127
TI  - [Managing side-effects of targeted therapies in renal cancer:surgical
      complications].
AB  - The principal surgical complication feared in a patient under anti-angiogenic
      targeted therapy is gastrointestinal perforation. It is therefore important to be
      alert to situations "potentially at risk" of perforation: diverticulitis,
      carcinomatosis, intra-abdominal abscess, history of external radiotherapy,
      colonoscopy in the 4 weeks preceding the treatment, inflammatory disease and
      gastrointestinal mucosal ulceration, colonic stent, NSAID. It is essential to
      make an early diagnosis, and for treatment to be conservative if possible, with
      nasogastric aspiration without surgery. Surgical treatment is only offered in the
      event of worsening or failure of medical treatment. The time periods between
      surgery and the initiation of anti-angiogenic treatment vary according to the
      medication. With bevacizumab: major surgery: 4 weeks; 6 weeks if the patient has
      comorbidities. Minor surgery (e.g. dental extraction): wait for the wound to
      heal. With insertion of a PAC, bevacizumab can be administered the day after the
      insertion if necessary. With TKI: it is recommended to wait for the scar to heal
      in cases of major surgery. There is no specific recommendation for mTOR
      inhibitors. The time periods between termination of an anti-angiogenic treatment
      and scheduling of surgery also vary depending on the medication. With
      bevacizumab: 6 to 8 weeks for scheduled surgery. In the event of emergency
      surgery, the surgeon must be aware of an increased risk of post-operative
      complications. With TKI, 2 days for sorafenib, and 4 days for sunitinib. There is
      no specific recommendation for mTOR inhibitors. 

PMID- 25819128
TI  - [Management of side-effects of targeted therapies in renal cancer:
      gastrointestinal side-effects].
AB  - Several types of gastrointestinal complications can occur during treatment with
      targeted therapies: diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, abnormalities in hepatic and
      pancreatic profiles, etc. Gastrointestinal problems in targeted therapy can have
      a significant impact on the general status of patients, their weight and their
      adherence to the treatment. The prevention, screening and rapid treatment of
      these side-effects are essential elements of patient care and can limit the
      associated dose reductions and loss of therapeutic benefit. In the case of
      diarrhoea, treatment must be started at the onset of grade 1 or 2 diarrhoea (four
      to six stools per day), with loperamide or racecadotril. Treatment with targeted
      therapy must be stopped if there is diarrhoea of grade 3 or 4 (more than six
      stools per day). In the case of nausea/vomiting or burning pain in the
      oesophagus, symptomatic treatment without stopping the targeted therapy is
      recommended. Biological assessment including transaminases, total and conjugated
      bilirubin should be prescribed before treatment initiation with targeted therapy.
      An elevation in alkaline phosphatases without elevation of transaminases suggests
      primarily the existence of hepatic metastases. In the event of worsening of the
      hepatic profile, if ALT greater than 5N, treatment must be stopped and specialist
      advice sought. 

PMID- 25819129
TI  - [Management of side effects of targeted therapies in renal cancer: nephrological
      side effects].
AB  - Several types of nephrological side-effects can occur during treatment with
      targeted therapy: high blood pressure, proteinuria, thrombotic microangiopathy,
      kidney failure, etc. Screening and treatment for high blood pressure, proteinuria
      and kidney failure are recommended during treatment with molecular targeted
      therapy (mainly for anti-VEGF). If BP is greater than 140/90mmHg on two
      measurements, it must be treated before the start of treatment. Self-measurement
      or ambulatory measurement of blood pressure is recommended. All antihypertensive
      drugs may be used apart from those, which interfere with cytochrome P450
      (verapamil and diltiazem). Specialist advice (cardiology or nephrology) is
      recommended in the event of uncontroled hypertension. It is essential to monitor
      proteinuria with a urine strip test: if proteinuria is less than 2+ (grade 1),
      maintain treatment with molecular targeted therapy; if proteinuria is greater or
      equal to 2+ (grade2 or 3, confirmed by weight assay), specialist advice is
      required. Persisting proteinuria of grade2 or 3 requires nephrological
      monitoring. Thrombotic microangiopathy must be investigated in the event of
      hypertension greater than grade2 and/or proteinuria greater than 2+. 

PMID- 25819130
TI  - [Management of side effects of targeted therapies in renal cancer: iatrogenic
      side effects].
AB  - Since premedication of patients with an H1 antihistamine is recommended before
      the start of the intravenous infusion of temsirolimus, temsirolimus is to be used
      with caution in cases where there is a history of hypersensitivity to this class
      of antihistamines, or medical contra-indication for treatment with
      antihistamines. Comorbidities and co-medications must be taken into account in
      the prescription of targeted therapies. For sunitinib, sorafenib, and pazopanib:
      potential drug interactions are possible with inducers/inhibitors of CYP3A4, anti
      hypertensive drugs, antidiabetic drugs, thyroid hormones, and anticoagulant
      treatments. The combination of bevacizumab and sunitinib is very toxic
      (microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia), and is contra-indicated unless part of a
      clinical trial. Screening, equilibration or treatment of hypothyroidism, anaemia,
      undernutrition, hypophosphatemia, hypomagnesaemia, sleep disorders, depression or
      other comorbidities, which may contribute to asthenia is recommended. In patients
      treated with sunitinib or pazopanib, a thyroid function test is recommended at
      the treatment centre as well as regular TSH assays. 

PMID- 25819131
TI  - [Management of side effects of targeted therapies in renal cancer: pulmonary side
      effects].
AB  - Several types of pulmonary complications can occur during treatment with targeted
      therapies: haemoptysis; cough; dyspnoea; pleural effusions, etc. Only bevacizumab
      seems to be associated with an increased risk of haemoptysis, but this risk is
      low (less than 2% for haemoptysis greater or equal to grade 3). There are no
      validated predictive criteria for haemoptysis with bevacizumab in pulmonary
      metastases of renal cancer. In cases of haemoptysis, its severity must be
      evaluated and appropriate examinations used to determine its cause.
      Administration of an mTOR inhibitor, in particular everolimus, is associated with
      the occurrence of both asymptomatic and potentially life-threatening
      pneumopathies. In cases of respiratory symptoms with normal chest radiography, a
      chest CT scan must be carried out, due to its superior sensitivity and
      specificity in the diagnosis of pneumopathies with everolimus. In cases of
      pneumopathies with mTOR inhibitors, specialist advice (pulmonologist) is
      recommended. A bronchoscopy with lavage must be discussed if an opportunistic
      infection is suspected. A temporary stop to mTOR inhibitor, dose reduction and
      treatment with corticosteroids are discussed depending on the symptoms. 

PMID- 25819132
TI  - Population pharmacokinetics of dolutegravir in HIV-infected treatment-naive
      patients.
AB  - AIM: Dolutegravir is the newest integrase inhibitor approved for HIV treatment
      and has demonstrated potent antiviral activity in patient populations with a
      broad range of treatment experience. This analysis aimed to characterize the
      population pharmacokinetics of dolutegravir in treatment-naive patients and to
      evaluate the influence of patient covariates. METHODS: A population
      pharmacokinetic model was developed using a non-linear mixed effect modelling
      approach based on data from 563 HIV-infected, treatment-naive adult patients in
      three phase 2/3 trials who received dolutegravir (ranging from 10-50 mg once
      daily) alone or in combination with abacavir/lamivudine or
      tenofovir/emtricitabine. RESULTS: The pharmacokinetics of dolutegravir were
      adequately described by a linear one compartment model with first order
      absorption, absorption lag time and first order elimination. Population estimates
      for apparent clearance, apparent volume of distribution, absorption rate constant
      and absorption lag time were 0.901 l h(-1) , 17.4 l, 2.24 h(-1) , and 0.263 h,
      respectively. Weight, smoking status, age and total bilirubin were predictors of
      clearance, weight was a predictor of volume of distribution and gender was a
      predictor of bioavailability. However, the magnitude of the effects of these
      covariates on steady-state dolutegravir plasma exposure was relatively small
      (<32%) and was not considered clinically significant. Race/ethnicity, HBV/HCV co
      infection, CDC classification, albumin, creatinine clearance, alanine
      aminotransferase or aspartate aminotransferase did not influence the
      pharmacokinetics of dolutegravir in this analysis. CONCLUSIONS: A population
      model that adequately characterizes dolutegravir pharmacokinetics has been
      developed. No dolutegravir dose adjustment by patient covariates is necessary in
      HIV-infected treatment-naive patients.

PMID- 25819133
TI  - Ras, Rac1, and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) signaling in nitric oxide
      induced endothelial cell migration.
AB  - The small GTP-binding proteins Ras and Rac1 are molecular switches exchanging GDP
      for GTP and converting external signals in response to a variety of stimuli. Ras
      and Rac1 play an important role in cell proliferation, cell differentiation, and
      cell migration. Rac1 is directly involved in the reorganization and changes in
      the cytoskeleton during cell motility. Nitric oxide (NO) stimulates the Ras -
      ERK1/2 MAP kinases signaling pathway and is involved in the interaction between
      Ras and the phosphatidyl-inositol-3 Kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway and cell
      migration. This study utilizes bradykinin (BK), which promotes endogenous
      production of NO, in an investigation of the role of NO in the activation of Rac1
      in rabbit aortic endothelial cells (RAEC). NO-derived from BK stimulation of RAEC
      and incubation of the cells with the s-nitrosothiol S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO)
      activated Rac1. NO-derived from BK stimulation promoted RAEC migration over a
      period of 12 h. The use of RAEC permanently transfected with the dominant
      negative mutant of Ras (Ras(N17)) or with the non-nitrosatable mutant of Ras
      (Ras(C118S)); and the use of specific inhibitors of: Ras, PI3K, and Rac1 resulted
      in inhibition of NO-mediated Rac1 activation. BK-stimulated s-nitrosylation of
      Ras in RAEC mediates Rac1 activation and cell migration. Inhibition of NO
      mediated Rac1 activation resulted in inhibition of endothelial cell migration. In
      conclusion, the NO indirect activation of Rac1 involves the direct participation
      of Ras and PI3K in the migration of endothelial cells stimulated with BK.

PMID- 25819134
TI  - Increased brain nitric oxide levels following ethanol administration.
AB  - Nitric oxide is a ubiquitous messenger molecule, which at elevated concentrations
      has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several neurological disorders. Its
      role in oxidative stress, attributed in particular to the formation of
      peroxynitrite, proceeds through its high affinity for the superoxide radical.
      Alcoholism has recently been associated with the induction of oxidative stress,
      which is generally defined as a shift in equilibrium between pro-oxidant and anti
      oxidant species in the direction of the former. Furthermore, its primary
      metabolite acetaldehyde, has been extensively associated with oxidative damage
      related toxic effects following alcohol ingestion. The principal objective of
      this study was the application of long term in vivo electrochemistry (LIVE) to
      investigate the effect of ethanol (0.125, 0.5 and 2.0 g kg(-1)) and acetaldehyde
      (12.5, 50 and 200 mg kg(-1)) on NO levels in the nucleus accumbens of freely
      moving rats. Systemic administrations of ethanol and acetaldehyde resulted in a
      dose-dependent increases in NO levels, albeit with very differing time courses.
      Subsequent to this the effect on accumbal NO levels, of subjecting the animal to
      different drug combinations, was also elucidated. The nitric oxide synthase
      inhibitor L-NAME (20 mg kg(-1)) and acetaldehyde sequestering agent D
      penicillamine (50 mg kg(-1)) both attenuated the increase in NO levels following
      ethanol (1 g kg(-1)) administration. Conversely, the alcohol dehydrogenase
      inhibitor 4-methylpyrazole (25 mg kg(-1)) and catalase inhibitor sodium azide (10
      mg kg(-1)) potentiated the increase in NO levels following ethanol
      administration. Finally, dual inhibition of aldehyde dehydrogenase and catalase
      by cyanamide (25 mg kg(-1)) caused an attenuation of ethanol effects on NO
      levels. Taken together these data highlight a robust increase in brain NO levels
      following systemic alcohol administration which is dependent on NO synthase
      activity and may involve both alcohol- and acetaldehyde-dependent mechanisms.

PMID- 25819135
TI  - The photovoltaic efficiency of the fabrication of copolymer P3HT:PCBM on
      different thickness nano-anatase titania as solar cell.
AB  - Organic solar cells based on (3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid
      methylester (P3HT:PCBM) bulk heterojunction (BHJ) with an inverted structure have
      been fabricated using nano-anatase crystalline titanium dioxide (TiO2) as their
      electron transport layer, which was prepared on the indium tin oxide coated glass
      (ITO-glass), silicon wafer and glass substrates by sol-gel method at different
      spin speed by using spin-coating (1000, 2000 and 3,000 rpm) for nano-thin film
      58, 75 and 90 nm respectively. The effect of thickness on the surface morphology
      and optical properties of TiO2 layer were investigated by atomic force microscopy
      (AFM), X-ray diffraction and UV-visible spectrophotometer. The optical band gap
      of the films has been found to be in the range 3.63-3.96 eV for allowed direct
      transition and to be in the range 3.23-3.69 eV for forbidden direct transition to
      the different TiO2 thickness. The samples were examined to feature current and
      voltages darkness and light extraction efficiency of the solar cell where they
      were getting the highest open-circuit voltage, Voc, and power conversion
      efficiency were 0.66% and 0.39% fabricated with 90 nm respectively.

PMID- 25819137
TI  - Scaffold assembly based on genome rearrangement analysis.
AB  - Advances in DNA sequencing technology over the past decade have increased the
      volume of raw sequenced genomic data available for further assembly and analysis.
      While there exist many algorithms for assembly of sequenced genomic material,
      they often experience difficulties in constructing complete genomic sequences.
      Instead, they produce long genomic subsequences (scaffolds), which then become a
      subject to scaffold assembly aimed at reconstruction of their order along genome
      chromosomes. The balance between reliability and cost for scaffold assembly is
      not there just yet, which inspires one to seek for new approaches to address this
      problem. We present a new method for scaffold assembly based on the analysis of
      gene orders and genome rearrangements in multiple related genomes (some or even
      all of which may be fragmented). Evaluation of the proposed method on
      artificially fragmented mammalian genomes demonstrates its high reliability. We
      also apply our method for incomplete anophelinae genomes, which expose high
      fragmentation, and further validate the assembly results with referenced-based
      scaffolding. While the two methods demonstrate consistent results, the proposed
      method is able to identify more assembly points than the reference-based
      scaffolding. 

PMID- 25819136
TI  - An audit of best evidence topic reviews in the International Journal of Surgery.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: IJS launched best evidence topic reviews (BETs) in 2011, when the
      guidelines for conducting and reporting these reviews were published in the
      journal. AIMS: (1) Audit the adherence of all published BETs in IJS to these
      guidelines. (2) Assess the reach and impact of BETs published in IJS. METHODS:
      BETs published between 2011 and February 2014 were identified from
      http://www.journal-surgery.net/. Standards audited included: completeness of
      description of study attrition, and independent verification of searches. Other
      extracted data included: relevant subspecialty, duration between searches and
      publication, and between acceptance and publication. Each BET's number of
      citations (http://scholar.google.co.uk/), number of tweets
      (http://www.altmetric.com/) and number of Researchgate views
      (https://www.researchgate.net/) were recorded. RESULTS: Thirty-four BETs were
      identified: the majority, 19 (56%), relating to upper gastrointestinal surgery
      and none to cardiothoracic, orthopaedic or paediatric surgery. Twenty-nine BETs
      (82%) fully described study attrition. Twenty-one (62%) had independently
      verified search results. The mean times from literature searching to publication
      and acceptance to publication were 38.5 weeks and 13 days respectively. There
      were a mean 40 (range 0-89) Researchgate views/article, mean 2 (range 0-7)
      citations/article and mean 0.36 (range 0-2) tweets/article. CONCLUSIONS:
      Adherence to BET guidelines has been variable. Authors are encouraged to adhere
      to journal guidelines and reviewers and editors to enforce them. BETs have
      received similar citation levels to other IJS articles. Means of increasing the
      visibility of published BETs such as social media sharing, conference
      presentation and deposition of abstracts in public repositories should be
      explored. More work is required to encourage more submissions from other surgical
      subspecialties other than gastrointestinal specialties.

PMID- 25819138
TI  - Ancestral population genomics using coalescence hidden Markov models and
      heuristic optimisation algorithms.
AB  - With full genome data from several closely related species now readily available,
      we have the ultimate data for demographic inference. Exploiting these full
      genomes, however, requires models that can explicitly model recombination along
      alignments of full chromosomal length. Over the last decade a class of models,
      based on the sequential Markov coalescence model combined with hidden Markov
      models, has been developed and used to make inference in simple demographic
      scenarios. To move forward to more complex demographic modelling we need better
      and more automated ways of specifying these models and efficient optimisation
      algorithms for inferring the parameters in complex and often high-dimensional
      models. In this paper we present a framework for building such coalescence hidden
      Markov models for pairwise alignments and present results for using heuristic
      optimisation algorithms for parameter estimation. We show that we can build more
      complex demographic models than our previous frameworks and that we obtain more
      accurate parameter estimates using heuristic optimisation algorithms than when
      using our previous gradient based approaches. Our new framework provides a
      flexible way of constructing coalescence hidden Markov models almost
      automatically. While estimating parameters in more complex models is still
      challenging we show that using heuristic optimisation algorithms we still get a
      fairly good accuracy. 

PMID- 25819139
TI  - Intensive multifactorial treatment modifies the effect of family history of
      diabetes on glycaemic control in people with Type 2 diabetes: a post hoc analysis
      of the ADDITION-Denmark randomized controlled trial.
AB  - AIM: To investigate whether intensive multifactorial treatment can reverse the
      predisposed adverse phenotype of people with Type 2 diabetes who have a family
      history of diabetes. METHODS: Data from the randomized controlled trial ADDITION
      Denmark were used. A total of 1441 newly diagnosed patients with diabetes (598
      with family history of diabetes) were randomized to intensive treatment or
      routine care. Family history of diabetes was defined as having one parent and/or
      sibling with diabetes. Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess the
      changes in risk factors (BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, lipids and
      HbA1c ) after 5 years of follow-up in participants with and without a family
      history of diabetes. An interaction term between family history of diabetes and
      treatment group was included in the models to test for a modifying effect of the
      intervention. All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, baseline value of the risk
      factor and general practice (random effect). RESULTS: At baseline, participants
      with a family history of diabetes were younger and had a 1.1 mmol/mol (0.1%)
      higher HbA1c concentration at the time of diagnosis than those without a family
      history of diabetes. Family history of diabetes modified the effect of the
      intervention on changes in HbA1c levels. In the group receiving routine care,
      participants with a family history of diabetes experienced an improvement in
      HbA1c concentration that was 3.3 mmol/mol (0.3%) lower than the improvement found
      in those without a family history of diabetes after 5 years of follow-up. In the
      intensive treatment group, however, there was no difference in HbA1c
      concentrations between participants with and without a family history of diabetes
      after 5 years of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Intensive treatment of diabetes may
      partly remove the adverse effects of family history of diabetes on glycaemic
      control. The effect of this improvement on long-term diabetic complications
      warrants further investigation.

PMID- 25819140
TI  - Asia Pacific Consensus Statements on Crohn's disease. Part 1: Definition,
      diagnosis, and epidemiology: (Asia Pacific Crohn's Disease Consensus--Part 1).
AB  - Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was previously thought to be rare in Asia, but
      emerging data indicate rising incidence and prevalence of IBD in the region. The
      Asia Pacific Working Group on Inflammatory Bowel Disease was established in Cebu,
      Philippines, at the Asia Pacific Digestive Week conference in 2006 under the
      auspices of the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology with the goal of
      developing best management practices, coordinating research, and raising
      awareness of IBD in the region. The consensus group previously published
      recommendations for the diagnosis and management of ulcerative colitis with
      specific relevance to the Asia-Pacific region. The present consensus statements
      were developed following a similar process to address the epidemiology,
      diagnosis, and management of Crohn's disease. The goals of these statements are
      to pool the pertinent literature specifically highlighting relevant data and
      conditions in the Asia-Pacific region relating to the economy, health systems,
      background infectious diseases, differential diagnoses, and treatment
      availability. It does not intend to be all comprehensive and future revisions are
      likely to be required in this ever-changing field. 

PMID- 25819141
TI  - Effect of small donor weight and donor-recipient weight ratio on the outcome of
      liver transplantation in children.
AB  - A small donor weight is a risk factor for HAT with potential for graft loss. To
      test this hypothesis, we evaluated outcomes of pediatric liver transplants
      utilizing donors <20 kg using the UNOS database from 01/2003 to 01/2012 (n =
      1311). All isolated liver transplants with whole organ grafts were included.
      Recipients were divided into four groups based on donor weight: group 1, donor
      weight <5 kg (n = 34 [2%]); group 2, 5-10 kg (431 [33%]); group 3, 10-15 kg (560
      [43%]); and group 4, 15-20 kg (286 [22%]). Actuarial patient survival for the
      first year post-transplant was significantly lower in groups 1 and 2 compared to
      groups 3 and 4 (p = 0.002), similarly the one-yr graft function (p < 0.0001). The
      difference was due to graft loss within the first month for groups 1 and 2. HAT
      was significantly higher in groups 1 and 2 compared to others (p = 0.0006).
      Logistic regression analysis demonstrated donor weight as the most predictive
      factor with analysis of the ROC curve showing a cutoff point at 7.8 kg. The donor
      recipient weight ratio did, in none of the models, gain statistical significance.

PMID- 25819142
TI  - Research on food and nutrition characteristics of conjugated fatty acids.
AB  - In this study, the physiological effects of fatty acids with conjugated double
      bonds were widely examined in vitro and in vivo. Initially, a method for
      determination of conjugated fatty acids in food and biological samples was
      established. I then clarified that the oxidative stability of conjugated fatty
      acids was improved by the form of triacylglycerol and addition of an antioxidant,
      and the influence of this effect on the metabolism and pharmacokinetics of
      conjugated fatty acids was clarified in vivo. In addition, antitumor, anti
      angiogenesis, and antiobesity effects of conjugated fatty acids were found for
      the first time, thus demonstrating the usefulness of conjugated fatty acids. This
      communication mainly outlines the data obtained for conjugated linolenic acid. In
      addition, this review summarizes my research on conjugated fatty acid. 

PMID- 25819143
TI  - Genetic determinants of cognitive responses to caffeine drinking identified from
      a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial.
AB  - The widely observed between-subject variability in cognitive responses to coffee
      may have a genetic basis. We evaluated cognitive responses to caffeine throughout
      three complex cognitive tasks assessing different subdomains of attention, namely
      Alerting and Orienting (Categorical Search Task) and Executive Control (Stroop
      Task and Eriksen Flanker Task). We explored whether they are influenced by gene
      variants affecting adenosine metabolism or catecholamine receptors. We recruited
      106 healthy male subjects who were administered, in a double-blind design, 40mL
      of either a decaffeinated coffee preparation plus 3mg/kg caffeine (caf) or the
      corresponding vehicle (decaf). The protocol was repeated 24h later with the
      alternative preparation. Cognitive tasks were performed between 30min and 2h
      after caf or decaf administration. Each subject underwent ambulatory blood
      pressure monitoring for 2h. Blood samples were collected for genetic evaluations
      and for plasma caffeine and catecholamines measures. We found a significant
      reduction of reaction times in two of the cognitive tasks (Categorical Search
      Task and Stroop Task) after caf compared with decaf, indicating that caffeine, on
      average, improved the attention level in the domains under investigation. We also
      found, however, a great inter-individual variability in the cognitive performance
      responses to caffeine. In exploring genetic sources for such variability, we
      found a relation between polymorphisms of adenosine A2A and the caffeine effects
      on the attentional domains of Orienting and Executive control. In conclusion,
      variability in the attentional response to coffee may be partly explained by
      genetic polymorphisms of adenosine and adrenergic receptors. 

PMID- 25819144
TI  - Altered serotonin and dopamine transporter availabilities in brain of depressed
      patients upon treatment with escitalopram: A [123 I]beta-CIT SPECT study.
AB  - Altered SERT and DAT availabilities during treatment with escitalopram were
      investigated with [(123)I]2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta-(4-iodophenyl)tropane (beta
      CIT) SPECT in a series of patients fulfilling the criteria for unipolar major
      depressive disorder (MDD). 27 patients (10m, 42+/-16y) with diagnosis of MDD were
      recruited for the study. All patients underwent neuropsychiatric testing for
      assessment of Hamilton Depression (HAM-D) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
      scores. At baseline, [(123)I]beta-CIT SPECT recordings were acquired 4h (SERT
      weighted) and 20-24h p.i (DAT-weighted). Follow-up scans and neuropsychiatric
      testing were performed after six weeks of stable escitalopram medication. Voxel
      wise parametric maps of specific/ non-specific ratios-1 (~BPND) were calculated.
      At baseline, DAT-weighted BPND was 5.06+/-0.81 in striatum and SERT-weighted BPND
      was 0.94+/-0.18 in thalamus. There were significant negative correlations with
      age for DAT in striatum (R=-0.60; p<0.01) and SERT in thalamus (R=-0.45; p<0.05).
      Under SSRI treatment there was an apparent 42% occupancy of SERT in thalamus
      (p<0.0001), whereas DAT availability increased significantly by 20% in striatum
      (p<0.001); higher apparent SERT occupancy in thalamus was associated with lesser
      DAT increase in striatum (R=-0.62; p<0.005). The low apparent SERT occupancy may
      be confounded by alterations in SERT expression during treatment. Thus,
      [(123)I]beta-CIT SPECT revealed age-dependent declines in DAT and SERT
      availabilities in un-medicated MDD patients, comparable to that seen previously
      in healthy controls. At follow-up, the SSRI-evoked increase in DAT was less
      pronounced in the older patients, even though apparent SERT occupancy and
      clinical improvement were not age-dependent. Present findings may have
      implications for escitalopram dosage and side effect profile in younger MDD
      patients. 

PMID- 25819145
TI  - A prospective study of the prevalence of corneal surface disease in dogs
      receiving prophylactic topical lubrication under general anesthesia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify the prevalence of corneal ulceration in dogs receiving
      prophylactic gel lubrication under general anesthesia (GA). MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: An ophthalmic examination was performed before premedication and 24 h
      after GA in 100 dogs (199 eyes) undergoing nonophthalmic procedures. Individuals
      with known pre-existing ocular surface conditions were excluded. An ocular
      lubricating gel containing carmellose sodium was applied by the anesthetist at
      induction and every 2-4 h until extubation. Logistic regression analysis was used
      to calculate risk factors for ulcerative disease, including signalment, length of
      GA, patient position, procedure performed, pre-, and post-GA ophthalmic
      examination findings and admitting service. A Wilcoxon rank sum test compared pre
      and post-GA Schirmer tear test-1 (STT-1) values. RESULTS: One dog (0.5% of total
      eyes) developed fluorescein stain uptake consistent with superficial corneal
      ulceration that resolved within 48 h with supportive treatment. Twenty-five
      (18.6% of total eyes) developed a faint, patchy corneal uptake of stain in the
      axial cornea that was consistent with epithelial erosion. All erosions resolved
      with lubrication 24 h later. The decrease in STT-1 readings at 24 h post-GA was
      statistically significant from those pre-GA (P < 0.001). No significant risk
      factors for corneal erosion/ulceration were identified. CONCLUSIONS: The results
      of this study show that a basic protocol of prophylactic lubrication during GA
      was associated with a low prevalence of corneal ulceration but a higher
      prevalence of epithelial erosion. In addition, the study supports the need for
      post-GA corneal examination.

PMID- 25819146
TI  - Assessing the Nonlinearity of Karst Response Function under Variable Boundary
      Conditions.
AB  - The hydraulic and transfer response of karst aquifers is complex and often highly
      nonlinear: due to their high transmissivity and connection with the surface, such
      systems are very sensitive to modifications of their boundary conditions. The aim
      of this study was to assess the variation of the response depending on both
      upstream and downstream parameters, and propose a methodology to simulate the
      response of the karst system depending on those parameters. The impact of the
      variations of multiple environmental parameters on the response of a karstic
      system submitted to tidal variations (Normandy, France) was investigated after a
      campaign of artificial tracer tests acquired in very different hydrologic
      conditions (rainfall events, low tide, high tide, low/high piezometric level, and
      low/high waters). Principal components analysis and hierarchical clustering were
      applied on both environmental variables and karstic system response variables
      (parameters of the residence time distribution [RTD] curves). Equations between
      the RTD parameters and the most relevant variables were established using a
      symbolic regression algorithm. It appeared that the variations of the RTD
      parameters depend mainly on the cumulated rainfall preceding the injection, the
      piezometric level of the aquifer, and on the tide parameters. The hydraulic
      conditions downstream of the aquifer have a strong influence on the hydraulic and
      transfer response of the aquifer. The response of the aquifer in various and
      extreme conditions has been simulated using the equations resulting from the
      symbolic regression algorithm. Such relationships can be useful for management of
      water resources in karst media, and support decision making. 

PMID- 25819147
TI  - [Non-invasive assessment of fatty liver].
AB  - As the result of various harmful effects (infectious agents, metabolic diseases,
      unhealthy diet, obesity, toxic agents, autoimmune processes) hepatic damage may
      develop, which can progress towards liver steatosis, and fibrosis as well. The
      most common etiological factors of liver damages are hepatitis B and C infection,
      alcohol consumption and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Liver biopsy is
      considered as the gold standard for the diagnosis of chronic liver diseases. Due
      to the dangers and complications of liver biopsy, studies are focused on non
      invasive markers and radiological imaging for liver steatosis, progression of
      fatty liver, activity of the necroinflammation and the severity of the fibrosis.
      Authors review the possibilities of non-invasive assessment of liver steatosis.
      The statistical features of the probes (positive, negative predictive values,
      sensitivity, specificity) are reviewed. The role of radiological imaging is also
      discussed. Although the non-invasive methods discussed in this article are useful
      to assess liver steatosis, further studies are needed to validate to follow
      progression of the diseases and to control therapeutic response.

PMID- 25819148
TI  - [Reducing invasiveness of laparoscopic surgery using natural orifices and
      abdominal wall defects for extraction of the specimen].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Due to significant technical evolution complex surgeries can be
      performed laparoscopically nowadays. However, laparotomy is needed frequently for
      the extraction of the specimen, which decreases the advantages of laparoscopy.
      AIM: The aim of the authors was to analyse and present their experience on the
      use of natural orifices and abdominal wall defects for extraction of the surgical
      specimen. METHOD: From 2009 the authors used natural orifices (stomach, vagina,
      rectum) when viscerotomy was an obligate part of laparoscopic surgery and, in a
      special gastrointestinal laparoscopic operation, the gate of the inguinal hernia
      for specimen extraction. RESULTS: In 3 patients benign lesions of the stomach
      were extracted using gastroscope. In 6 patients with bowel endometriosis, in whom
      the wall of the vagina was completely infiltrated, the resected bowel was
      extracted transvaginally, and in 5 patients transrectal extraction of the
      specimen was performed. In 2 patients the inguinal hernia was used for the
      surgical specimen extraction after laparoscopic sigmoid resection, and in one
      patient a single-port was inserted into the gate of the hernia during
      laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Complications occurred only after transvaginal
      specimen extraction (rectovaginal fistula in 2 patients). CONCLUSIONS: Use of
      natural orifices and abdominal wall defects for surgical specimen extraction
      further decreases the invasiveness of laparoscopic surgery, if indications made
      appropriately.

PMID- 25819149
TI  - [Thrombotic events and significance of the IPSET thrombosis risk evaluation score
      in essential thrombocythaemia].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Thrombo-haemorrhagic complications contribute to both morbidity and
      mortality in patients with essential thrombocythaemia. AIM: The aim of the
      authors was to estimate the incidence of thrombotic events and to examine the
      clinical utility of IPSET thrombosis risk evaluation score against conventional
      two-categorical (low and high) risk assessment. METHOD: A retrospective analysis
      was carried out on 155 patients with essential thrombocythaemia (106 females;
      median age, 61 years) in a period between 1999 and 2014. RESULTS: The analysis
      revealed 55 (35.5%) major thrombotic events before and 25 (16.1%) major
      thrombotic complications after establishment of the haematologic diagnosis.
      Significant differences were observed in thrombosis-free survival between the
      different IPSET groups (p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The IPSET model was first
      examined in this cohort of patients with essential thrombocythaemia diagnosed in
      a single Hungarian haematologic centre. The results suggest that this score may
      provide more information than the conventional thrombosis risk assessment.

PMID- 25819150
TI  - [Burnout among Hungarian physicians. Who are the most at risk?].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Burnout is one of the most challenging questions of the healthcare
      systems in the 21st century. AIM: The aim of this study was to analyze the
      Hungarian physicians' burnout and its associations with workload factors (work
      hours, shift work, multiple workplaces). METHOD: Data of this representative,
      cross-sectional, online epidemiological study was obtained from online
      questionnaires completed by 4784 physicians. RESULTS: Medium or high level
      personal accomplishment was present in 75.9% and emotional exhaustion in 58%
      among physicians, while medium or high level of depersonalization subscale was
      53%. All of the 3 dimensions showed association with young ages (<35 years), work
      in in-patient care, shift hours and multiple workplaces. The physician partner
      increased the risk of depersonalization, however, children were protective
      factors. The work-home interface was associated with higher burnout scores.
      CONCLUSIONS: Physicians' burnout is an important indicator of the functioning and
      effectiveness of the healthcare system. The results suggest the importance of
      prevention and intervention.

PMID- 25819151
TI  - [The role of Sir William Osler (1849-1919) in the universal history of medicine].

PMID- 25819153
TI  - Inhibition of melanogenesis by beta-caryophyllene from lime mint essential oil in
      mouse B16 melanoma cells.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Volatile essential oils of mint species are used for cosmetics and in
      skin care products. In this study, we evaluated the main chemical components of
      the lime mint and the anti-melanogenic properties of its main components.
      METHODS: The essential oil was analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
      (GC/MS). The anti-melanogenic effects of mint essential oil and beta
      caryophyllene were investigated in B16F10 murine melanoma cells. RESULTS: The
      main components of lime mint essential oil were found to be D-limonene (41.10%),
      D-carvone (8.58%), delta-selinene (6.73%) and beta-caryophyllene (6.24%). The
      lime mint essential oil reduced melanin production in a dose-dependent manner in
      murine B16F10 cells. beta-Caryophyllene, one of the main compounds in lime mint
      essential oil, could reduce melanogenesis by down-regulating the expression of
      MITF, TRP-1, TRP-2 and tyrosinase, resulting in a decrease in melanin content
      decrease. CONCLUSION: These results reveal that lime mint essential oil and beta
      caryophyllene are considered to be valuable as potential skin-whitening agents.

PMID- 25819154
TI  - Combination of eccentric exercise and neuromuscular electrical stimulation to
      improve quadriceps function post-ACL reconstruction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been shown to reduce
      quadriceps activation failure (QAF), and eccentric exercise has been shown to
      lessen muscle atrophy post-ACL reconstruction. Given that these are two critical
      components of quadriceps strength, intervention combining these therapies may be
      effective at reinstituting quadriceps function post-reconstruction. Thus, the aim
      of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a combined NMES and eccentric
      exercise intervention to improve the recovery of quadriceps activation and
      strength post-reconstruction. METHODS: Thirty-six individuals post-injury were
      placed into four treatment groups (N&E, NMES and eccentrics; E-only, eccentrics
      only; N-only, NMES-only; and STND, standard of care) and ten healthy controls
      participated. N&E and N-only received the NMES protocol 2* per week for the first
      6 weeks post-reconstruction. N&E and E-only received the eccentric exercise
      protocol 2* per week beginning 6 weeks post-reconstruction. Quadriceps activation
      was assessed via the superimposed burst technique and quantified via the central
      activation ratio. Quadriceps strength was assessed via maximal voluntary isomeric
      contractions (Nm/kg). Data was gathered on three occasions: pre-operative, 12
      weeks-post-surgery and at return-to-play. RESULTS: No differences in pre
      operative measures existed (P>0.05). E-only recovered quadriceps activation
      better than N-only or STND (P<0.05). N&E and E-only recovered strength better
      than N-only or the STND (P<0.05) and had strength values that were similar to
      healthy at return-to-play (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Eccentric exercise was capable of
      restoring levels of quadriceps activation and strength that were similar to those
      of healthy adults and better than NMES alone. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 3,
      Parallel longitudinal study.

PMID- 25819155
TI  - Reconstruction techniques and clinical results of patellar tendon ruptures:
      Evidence today.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The analysis of the different operative reconstructions of patellar
      tendon ruptures has not been reported. A critical review of the existing
      literature was performed to identify the different operative techniques and the
      post-operative outcomes in acute, chronic and post-total knee arthroplasty (TKA)
      patellar tendon rupture repairs. METHODS: Using PRISMA guidelines, a review of
      the English-written literature published after 1947 was performed using the
      MEDLINE, PubMed and Cochrane libraries in November 2013 to retrieve case series
      with the keywords "Patellar tendon" AND "Rupture" AND "Repair" in their title or
      abstract. RESULTS: Forty-one manuscripts, reporting on 503 patients were
      analysed. Three-hundred-and-fifty-four acute repairs described eight different
      operative techniques. One-hundred-and-forty-nine chronic repairs described eight
      different operative techniques. Sixty-eight post-TKA repairs described nine
      different operative techniques. Six acute, four chronic and seven post-TKA repair
      operative techniques reported failures. In acute repair, using a primary repair
      method augmented with cerclage wire, Dall-Miles cable or non-absorbable sutures
      reported the best clinical results, with a 2% failure rate. Alternatively, for
      chronic and post-TKA repair, autogeneous grafts were significantly better than
      primary repair (p=0.0252, 0.0038 respectively). CONCLUSION: Acute surgical repair
      of a patellar tendon rupture using augmented primary repair is associated with
      the best post-operative outcomes. In chronic and post-TKA repair, autogeneous
      grafts produce best post-operative outcomes. Immediate post-operative
      mobilisation should be considered in all repairs. Future papers reporting on
      patellar operative repairs should have a standardised scoring method of
      functional outcome to allow more comprehensive comparison and evaluation.

PMID- 25819156
TI  - Low incidence of complications in computer assisted total knee arthroplasty--A
      retrospective review of 1596 cases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Computer assisted total knee arthroplasty (CATKA) has its own unique
      complications. The aim of this study was to present our experience of early
      complications in a large consecutive series of CATKA. METHOD: We investigated
      retrospective data on the complications specific to computer navigation that were
      encountered with a consecutive series of 1596 CATKA. RESULTS: Intraoperatively,
      eight episodes of software failure occurred, two requiring conversion to
      conventional jig based TKA. There were four broken drill bits when positioning
      the pins for data entry. Repeat cuts of bone due to malalignment were required on
      two occasions. There were 17 episodes of superficial pin site infections at the
      tibial pin-site managed conservatively with antibiotics. One tibial fracture
      occurred through an old tibial tracker pin site hole. CONCLUSION: This large
      study shows a low complication rate related to CATKA which is reassuring to the
      orthopaedic community. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Level of evidence: III.

PMID- 25819157
TI  - Human tuberculosis predates domestication in ancient Syria.
AB  - The question of pre-neolithic tuberculosis is still open in paleopathological
      perspective. One of the major interests is to explore what type of infection
      could have existed around the early stage of animal domestication.
      Paleopathological lesions evoking skeletal TB were observed on five human
      skeletons coming from two PPNB sites in Syria, which belongs to the geographical
      cradle of agriculture. These sites represent respectively pre-domestication phase
      (Dja'de el Mughara, Northern Syria, 8800-8300 BCE cal.) and early domestication
      phase (Tell Aswad, Southern Syria, 8200-7600 BCE cal.). MicroCT scan analyses
      were performed on two specimens (one per site) and revealed microscopic changes
      in favor of TB infection. Detection of lipid biomarkers is positive for two
      specimens (one per site). Initial molecular analysis further indicates the
      presence of TB in one individual from Dja'de. Interestingly, no morphological
      evidence of TB was observed on animal remains of wild and newly domesticated
      species, discovered in these sites. These observations strongly suggest the
      presence of human tuberculosis before domestication and at its early stages. 

PMID- 25819158
TI  - The cell envelope of tubercle bacilli.
AB  - The envelope of tubercle bacilli and of other mycobacteria is important for the
      bacterial physiology since inhibition of the production of some of its
      constituents kills the cells. It consists of a plasma membrane, which is
      apparently homologous to plasma membranes of other bacteria, surrounded by a
      complex wall of carbohydrate and lipid, which is in turn surrounded by an
      outermost layer, called 'capsule' in the case of pathogenic species. The wall
      possesses a fundamental, covalently linked 'cell-wall skeleton' composed of
      peptidoglycan covalently linked to arabinogalactan esterified by very long-chain
      (up to C90) fatty acids (mycolic acids). These fatty acids form the inner leaflet
      of a typical outer membrane (mycomembrane) whose outer leaflet consists of a
      great variety of non-covalently linked lipids and glycolipids. The thickness of
      the mycomembrane is similar to that of the plasma membrane, implying dedicated
      conformations of mycolic acids. Finally, a periplasmic space also exists in
      mycobacteria, between the membrane and the peptidoglycan.

PMID- 25819159
TI  - Feasibility of a subcutaneously administered block/homo-mixed polyplex micelle as
      a carrier for DNA vaccination in a mouse tumor model.
AB  - In this study, the potential of DNA vaccine by subcutaneously (s.c.) administered
      block/homo-mixed (B/H) polyplex micelles carrying genes encoding tumor-associated
      antigen SART3 as well as CD40L and GM-CSF was compared with the intraperitoneal
      (i.p.) and intravenous (i.v.) administrations or electroporation method. Confocal
      laser microscopy revealed high localization of polyplexes in groin lymph nodes
      and local skin tissues after s.c. administration, and in the mesenteric lymph
      nodes, liver, and spleen after i.p. administration, but not after i.v.
      administration. Real-time RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry showed transgene
      expression in the above organs by s.c. and i.p. administered B/H polyplex
      micelles, but not by the i.v. administration or electroporation. Polyplex-carried
      DNA vaccines significantly decreased the weight of subcutaneous CT26 tumors in
      mice compared to the mock (2.9+/-0.8 vs 6.4+/-2.6 g, P<0.05 for s.c.; 3.2+/-1.1
      vs 4.7+/-2.1 g, P<0.05 for i.p. administration). The survival rate was improved
      by s.c. administration of the DNA vaccine (P<0.05) and by the i.p. administered
      DNA vaccine (P<0.01) compared with that of the mock controls in mice with
      peritoneally disseminated CT26 cancer. Such therapeutic effects were not observed
      by the naked DNA, i.v. administered DNA vaccine or electroporation. CTL and NK
      cell activities of splenocytes and infiltration of CD11c(+) DCs, and CD4(+) and
      CD8a(+) T cells into tumor tissues were upregulated in the s.c. administered DNA
      vaccine group (P<0.05), which was consistent with i.p. administration. No
      abnormal findings in local injection sites, body weight, or blood examinations
      were observed by s.c. or i.p. administration of polyplex micelles, whereas
      proinflammatory cytokine production was minimized in visceral organs with the
      s.c. administered polyplex-carried DNA vaccine. In conclusion, s.c.
      administration of B/H polyplex micelles may be a safe and useful modality for DNA
      vaccination. 

PMID- 25819160
TI  - The effect of butorphanol on the incidence of dexmedetomidine-induced emesis in
      cats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Tauo evaluate the antiemetic effect of butorphanol (BUT) when co
      administered with dexmedetomidine (DEX) in cats. STUDY DESIGN: Double-blind,
      randomized controlled cross-over experimental study. ANIMALS: Fourteen purpose
      bred healthy Domestic Short Hair cats, seven females and seven males, aged median
      (range) 14-84 (78) months and weighing 1.7-5.5 (4.0) kg. METHODS: Each cat
      received five different treatment protocols intramuscularly (IM): (A) 25 MUg kg(
      1) DEX; (B) 20 MUg kg(-1) DEX and 0.2 mg kg(-1) BUT; (C) 20 MUg kg(-1) DEX and
      0.1 mg kg(-1) BUT; (D) 25 MUg kg(-1) DEX and 0.2 mg kg(-1) BUT; and (E) 20 MUg
      kg(-1) DEX. Episodes of emesis, incidence and severity of nausea, and time to
      lateral recumbency were recorded for a period of 8 minutes after treatment
      administration, and the sedation was scored at the end of this period. The
      Friedman test and the Cochran's Q-test were used to analyse the data.
      Significance was evaluated at the 5% level. RESULTS: The proportion of cats that
      vomited was significantly lower with the treatment protocols that included BUT
      (B, C and D) compared with the protocols that included only DEX (A and E). The
      proportion of cats that had nausea was significantly higher with the protocols
      that included only DEX (A and E) compared with protocols B and D. Time to lateral
      recumbency (p=0.09) and sedation score (p=0.07) was not statistically different
      between the treatment protocols. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Butorphanol
      can be used to prevent emesis and reduce the incidence and the severity of nausea
      caused by DEX in cats. It seems that the combination of BUT and DEX is very
      useful not only when emesis could result in serious complications, but also to
      provide comfort and well-being in cats sedated for minor procedures.

PMID- 25819162
TI  - Respiratory and Acoustical Differences Between Belt and Neutral Style of Singing.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Belt is a style of singing commonly used in nonclassical genres. Its
      respiratory, phonatory, and resonatory characteristics are unclear. DESIGN: Basic
      research. METHODS: Six female singers, professionally performing in the belt
      styles since many years, sang an excerpt of a song in belt and nonbelt/neutral
      style, two times with the lyrics and two times replacing the lyrics with /pae/
      syllables. On separate channels, recordings were made of audio, oral pressure,
      and rib cage and abdominal wall movements, as picked up by respiratory inductive
      plethysmography. Lung volume and breathing patterns during inhalation and
      phonation were normalized with respect to duration and averaged. Voice source was
      analyzed in terms of flow glottograms derived from the audio signal by inverse
      filtering. RESULTS: Belt was produced with higher pressures and yielded higher
      sound levels, but no consistent breathing pattern was observed, neither for the
      belt, nor for the neutral style. Voice source differences suggested that belt was
      produced with firmer glottal adduction than neutral. Also, in four of the
      singers, the first formant was closer to a spectrum harmonic in belt than in
      neutral. CONCLUSIONS: Belt style of singing is not associated with a
      characteristic breathing behavior but is produced with higher subglottal
      pressures, higher sound levels, and firmer glottal adduction than a neutral style
      of singing.

PMID- 25819161
TI  - Mycobacterium tuberculosis has diminished capacity to counteract redox stress
      induced by elevated levels of endogenous superoxide.
AB  - Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) has evolved protective and detoxification
      mechanisms to maintain cytoplasmic redox balance in response to exogenous
      oxidative stress encountered inside host phagocytes. In contrast, little is known
      about the dynamic response of this pathogen to endogenous oxidative stress
      generated within Mtb. Using a noninvasive and specific biosensor of cytoplasmic
      redox state of Mtb, we for first time discovered a surprisingly high sensitivity
      of this pathogen to perturbation in redox homeostasis induced by elevated
      endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS). We synthesized a series of hydroquinone
      based small molecule ROS generators and found that ATD-3169 permeated
      mycobacteria to reliably enhance endogenous ROS including superoxide radicals.
      When Mtb strains including multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug
      resistant (XDR) patient isolates were exposed to this compound, a dose-dependent,
      long-lasting, and irreversible oxidative shift in intramycobacterial redox
      potential was detected. Dynamic redox potential measurements revealed that Mtb
      had diminished capacity to restore cytoplasmic redox balance in comparison with
      Mycobacterium smegmatis (Msm), a fast growing nonpathogenic mycobacterial
      species. Accordingly, Mtb strains were extremely susceptible to inhibition by ATD
      3169 but not Msm, suggesting a functional linkage between dynamic redox changes
      and survival. Microarray analysis showed major realignment of pathways involved
      in redox homeostasis, central metabolism, DNA repair, and cell wall lipid
      biosynthesis in response to ATD-3169, all consistent with enhanced endogenous ROS
      contributing to lethality induced by this compound. This work provides empirical
      evidence that the cytoplasmic redox poise of Mtb is uniquely sensitive to
      manipulation in steady-state endogenous ROS levels, thus revealing the importance
      of targeting intramycobacterial redox metabolism for controlling TB infection. 

PMID- 25819164
TI  - Special issue on "Recent progress in lipid peroxidation based on novel
      approaches".

PMID- 25819163
TI  - Novel approaches to identify protein adducts produced by lipid peroxidation.
AB  - Lipid peroxidation is responsible for the generation of chemically reactive,
      diffusible lipid-derived electrophiles (LDEs) that covalently modify cellular
      protein targets. These protein modifications modulate protein activity and
      macromolecular interactions and induce adaptive and toxic cell signaling. Protein
      modifications induced by LDEs can be identified and quantified by affinity
      enrichment and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-based
      techniques. Tagged LDE analog probes with different electrophilic groups can be
      covalently captured by click chemistry for LC-MS/MS analyses, thereby enabling in
      depth studies of proteome damage at the protein and peptide sequence levels.
      Conversely, click-reactive, thiol-directed probes can be used to evaluate thiol
      damage caused by LDE by difference. These analytical approaches permit systematic
      study of the dynamics of protein damage caused by LDE and mechanisms by which
      oxidative stress contribute to toxicity and diseases. 

PMID- 25819166
TI  - Specialized Referral Centers for Rectal Cancer.

PMID- 25819165
TI  - Necroptosis: The Trojan horse in cell autonomous antiviral host defense.
AB  - Herpesviruses suppress cell death to assure sustained infection in their natural
      hosts. Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) encodes suppressors of apoptosis as well as
      M45-encoded viral inhibitor of RIP activation (vIRA) to block RIP homotypic
      interaction motif (RHIM)-signaling and recruitment of RIP3 (also called RIPK3),
      to prevent necroptosis. MCMV and human cytomegalovirus encode a viral inhibitor
      of caspase (Casp)8 activation to block apoptosis, an activity that unleashes
      necroptosis. Herpes simplex virus (HSV)1 and HSV2 incorporate both RHIM and Casp8
      suppression strategies within UL39-encoded ICP6 and ICP10, respectively, which
      are herpesvirus-conserved homologs of MCMV M45. Both HSV proteins sensitize human
      cells to necroptosis by blocking Casp8 activity while preventing RHIM-dependent
      RIP3 activation and death. In mouse cells, HSV1 ICP6 interacts with RIP3 and,
      surprisingly, drives necroptosis. Thus, herpesviruses have illuminated the
      contribution of necoptosis to host defense in the natural host as well as its
      potential to restrict cross-species infections in nonnatural hosts. 

PMID- 25819167
TI  - Albumin concentration significantly impacts on free teicoplanin plasma
      concentrations in non-critically ill patients with chronic bone sepsis.
AB  - The impact of decreased serum albumin concentrations on free antibiotic
      concentrations in non-critically ill patients is poorly described. This study
      aimed to describe the pharmacokinetics of a high-dose regimen of teicoplanin, a
      highly protein-bound antibiotic, in non-critically ill patients with
      hypoalbuminaemia. Ten patients with chronic bone sepsis and decreased serum
      albumin concentrations (<35 g/L) receiving teicoplanin 12 mg/kg 12-hourly
      intravenously for 48 h followed by 12 mg/kg once daily were enrolled. Surgical
      debridement was performed on Day 3. Samples of venous blood were collected pre
      infusion and post-infusion during the first 4 days of therapy. Total and free
      teicoplanin concentrations were assayed using validated chromatographic methods.
      The median serum albumin concentration for the cohort was 18 (IQR 15-24) g/L.
      After 48 h, the median (IQR) free trough (fC(min)) and total trough (tC(min))
      concentrations were 2.90 (2.67-3.47) mg/L and 15.54 (10.28-19.12) mg/L,
      respectively, although trough concentrations declined thereafter. Clearance of
      the free concentrations was significantly high relative to the total fraction at
      38.6 (IQR 29.9-47.8) L/h and 7.0 (IQR 6.8-9.8) L/h, respectively (P<0.001).
      Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that whereas total teicoplanin
      concentration did not impact on free concentrations (P=0.174), albumin
      concentration did (P<0.001). This study confirms the significant impact of
      hypoalbuminaemia on free concentrations of teicoplanin in non-critically ill
      patients, similar to that in critically ill patients. Furthermore, the poor
      correlation with total teicoplanin concentration suggests that therapeutic drug
      monitoring of free concentrations should be used in these patients.

PMID- 25819168
TI  - In vitro bactericidal property of levornidazole against Bacteroides fragilis
      studied by time-kill assay and sigmoid Emax model analysis.

PMID- 25819169
TI  - Meta-analysis of association between the TP53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and risk of
      endometriosis based on case-control studies.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In the light of the relationship between the TP53 Arg72Pro (rs1042522)
      polymorphism and the risk of endometriosis remains inclusive or controversial.
      For better understanding of the effect of TP53 Arg72Pro polymorphism on
      endometriosis risk, we performed a meta-analysis. METHODS: The relevant studies
      were identified through a search of PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, Ovid,
      Springer, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), cqvip, Wanfang
      database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature (CBM) databases up to December, 2014.
      The association between the TP53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and endometriosis risk was
      pooled by conducted by odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: A total
      of fifteen case-control studies with 2683 cases and 3335 controls were eventually
      identified. There was significant association between Arg72Pro polymorphism and
      endometriosis risk in all of the five models in overall populations (C vs. G:
      OR=1.32, 95%CI=1.14-1.53, p=0.00; CC vs. GG: OR=1.80, 95%CI=1.28-2.53, p=0.001;
      GC vs. GG: OR=1.52, 95%CI=1.22-1.88, p=0.00; CC vs. GC/GG: OR=1.32, 95%CI=1.05
      1.66, p=0.016; CC/GC vs. GG: OR=1.59, 95%CI=1.26-2.00, p=0.00). In the sub-group
      analysis according to ethnicity, the results suggested that TP53 Arg72Pro
      polymorphism was not associated with endometriosis risk in Caucasians. However,
      the significant association was found in Asians and Mixed race (MIX) under the
      five models. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this meta-analysis suggest that the TP53
      Arg72Pro polymorphism can increase the risk of endometriosis, especially among
      Asians and MIX populations. Considering the limited sample size and ethnicities
      included in the meta-analysis, further larger scaled and well-designed studies
      are needed to confirm our results.

PMID- 25819171
TI  - A naturalistic study of recovering gamblers: What gets better and when they get
      better.
AB  - Gambling recovery has typically been assessed through the lens of gambling
      behavior and its consequences. Little attention has been given to less obvious
      features of gambling disorder, such as negative affectivity, gambling cognitive
      distortions, impulsivity, cognitive flexibility, planning, inhibitory control,
      and decision-making. The current study investigates how gambling treatment
      affected these variables and if any are related to gambling recovery. One hundred
      and thirteen patients were assigned to psycho-education and psychiatric
      treatment. A subset of 48 patients was additionally assigned to cognitive
      behavioral therapy (CBT). Seventy-two patients were reassessed 6 months after
      treatment onset. Recovered and non-recovered gamblers did not differ in pre
      treatment demographic, gambling, and psychiatric profiles. Three outcome
      variables were strongly related with gambling recovery: negative affectivity,
      cognitive distortions and decision-making. Logistic regression identified
      reduction of gambling cognitive distortions and better performance on decision
      making as the best predictors of gambling recovery, regardless of the type of
      treatment received. Beyond the standard outcome measures for gambling treatment,
      increased sensitivity to loss and decreased positive expectancies towards
      gambling are key targets to promote recovery in gambling treatment. 

PMID- 25819170
TI  - Heart rate and respiratory response to doxapram in patients with panic disorder.
AB  - Panic disorder (PD) is characterized by anticipatory anxiety and panic, both
      causing physiological arousal. We investigated the differential responses between
      anticipatory anxiety and panic in PD and healthy controls (HC). Subjects (15 PD
      and 30 HC) received an injection of a respiratory stimulant, doxapram, with a
      high rate of producing panic attacks in PD patients, or an injection of saline.
      PD subjects had significantly higher scores in anxiety and panic symptoms during
      both conditions. Analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) indices showed higher
      sympathetic activity (LF) during anticipatory anxiety and panic states, an
      increase in the ratio of LF/HF during the anticipatory and panic states and a
      decrease in parasympathetic (HF) component in PD patients. During doxapram PD
      subjects increased their LF/HF ratio while HC had a reduction in LF/HF.
      Parasympathetic component of HRV was lower during anticipatory anxiety in PD. In
      general, PD showed greater sympathetic and psychological responses related to
      anxiety and sensations of dyspnea, reduced parasympathetic responses during
      anticipatory and panic states, but no differences in respiratory response. This
      confirms previous studies showing that PD patients do not have an intrinsic
      respiratory abnormality (either heightened or dysregulated) at the level of the
      brain stem but rather an exaggerated fear response. 

PMID- 25819172
TI  - Parenting clinically anxious versus healthy control children aged 4-12 years.
AB  - This study investigated whether parenting behaviors differed between parents of
      68 clinically anxious children and 106 healthy control children aged 4-12 years.
      The effects of parent gender, child gender and child age on parenting were
      explored. Mothers and fathers completed a questionnaire to assess parenting
      behaviors in for children hypothetically anxious situations. Results showed that
      parents of clinically anxious children reported more anxiety-enhancing parenting
      (reinforcement of dependency and punishment) as well as more positive parenting
      (positive reinforcement). For the clinical sample, fathers reported using more
      modeling/reassurance than mothers, and parents reported using more force with
      their 4-7-year-olds than with their 8-12-year-olds. No interaction effects were
      found for child gender with child anxiety status on parenting. Results indicate
      that for intervention, it is important to measure parenting behaviors, and to
      take into account father and mother differences and the age of the child. 

PMID- 25819174
TI  - Increased impulsivity in pathological gambling: Considering nicotine dependence.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: It has been highlighted that increased impulsivity is an important
      etiological factor in pathological gambling (PG). However, the role of the highly
      prevalent comorbid mental disorders in PG remains unclear. This is of special
      concern as the highest comorbidity was found between PG and nicotine dependence
      (ND), which, in turn, has also been associated with heightened impulsivity. This
      study aimed to find out whether increased impulsivity in PG is a specific
      characteristic related to comorbid mental disorders in general or especially to
      ND. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was designed that included a healthy control
      group and three disorder groups with comorbid PG excluding ND, comorbid PG
      including ND, and ND alone according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
      Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition. Impulsivity was assessed according to the
      dimensions response and choice impulsivity applying behavioral and self-report
      measures. RESULTS: We found (a) increased response impulsivity in the comorbid PG
      group when compared to the control group. Furthermore, increased choice
      impulsivity was found (b) in comorbid PG excluding ND and (c) in comorbid PG
      including ND when compared to ND alone. Other group differences did not reach
      significance. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight that comorbid PG shares
      deficits in inhibitory control with ND. In contrast, maladaptive choices are a
      specific disorder characteristic of comorbid PG when compared to ND. If
      replicated in further studies, intervention strategies strengthening cognitive
      control skills might be effective for comorbid PG as well as ND whereas
      strategies enhancing maladaptive valuation of rewards might be specifically
      effective in comorbid PG.

PMID- 25819173
TI  - Re-evaluating "transitional neonatal hypoglycemia": mechanism and implications
      for management.

PMID- 25819175
TI  - Malignant potential in pancreatic neoplasm; new insights provided by circulating
      miR-223 in plasma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent studies have identified that microRNAs are stably detectable
      in plasma/serum because of their binding to specific proteins or being packaged
      in secretory vesicles. METHODS: We tested miR-223 as a candidate of novel plasma
      biomarker in pancreatic cancer (PCa) and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm
      (IPMN). RESULTS: i) miR-223 expression was significantly higher in PCa tissues (p
      = 0.0069) than in normal tissues. ii) Plasma miR-223 levels were significantly
      higher in 71 PCa patients than 67 healthy volunteers (p < 0.0001). iii) Plasma
      miR-223 levels were significantly reduced in postoperative samples (p = 0.0297).
      iv) Plasma miR-223 levels tended to discriminate the malignant potential between
      benign IPMN and malignant IPMN (p = 0.0963), and the progressive extent of
      invasiveness between malignant IPMN and pancreatic invasive ductal carcinoma
      (PIDC) (p = 0.0004). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that a
      low level of plasma miR-223 was an independent risk factor for PIDC (p = 0.0012,
      odds ratio 7.90 [95% CI: 2.06 - 41.2]). v) There was no significant correlation
      between plasma miR-223 levels and the number of any blood cell types in the
      peripheral blood. CONCLUSION: Plasma miR-223 might be a clinically useful
      biomarker for screening PCa, and predicting malignant potential of IPMN and the
      invasiveness of PCa.

PMID- 25819176
TI  - Fractional flow reserve for coronary bifurcation lesions: can fractional flow
      reserve-guided side branch intervention strategy improve clinical outcomes
      compared with angiography-guided strategy?

PMID- 25819177
TI  - The effect of transradial coronary catheterization on upper limb function.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyze the change of upper limb
      function when percutaneous coronary procedures were performed through the radial
      artery. BACKGROUND: It is currently unknown if upper limb function is affected by
      transradial (TR) catheterization. METHODS: Between January 2013 and February
      2014, upper limb function was assessed in a total of 338 patients undergoing
      coronary catheterization in an ambulatory setting (85% radial approach, 15%
      femoral approach). Upper limb function was assessed with the self-reported
      shortened version of the Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand questionnaire.
      The presence and severity of upper extremity cold intolerance was assessed with
      the self-reported Cold Intolerance Symptom Severity questionnaire. Both
      questionnaires were completed before the catheterization and at 30-day follow-up.
      Higher scores represent worse upper limb functionality or symptoms. The
      nonparametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to assess the change of upper
      limb function and symptoms over time. RESULTS: Upper limb function did not change
      significantly over time when catheterization was performed through the radial
      artery (p=0.06). The number of procedure-related extremity complaints that
      persisted during 30-day follow-up were not different between both access groups
      (TR access 10.5%, transfemoral access 11.5%; p=0.82). The upper extremity was not
      affected by cold intolerance after TR access at 30-day follow-up (p=0.91).
      CONCLUSIONS: Upper limb function was not affected when coronary catheterizations
      and interventions were performed through the radial artery.

PMID- 25819178
TI  - Tandem middle cerebral artery-internal carotid artery occlusions: primary
      stenting of M1 and M2 tract crossing the anterior communicating artery.

PMID- 25819179
TI  - Neoatherosclerosis as the cause of late failure of a bioresorbable vascular
      scaffold.

PMID- 25819180
TI  - Fractional flow reserve and coronary bifurcation anatomy: a novel quantitative
      model to assess and report the stenosis severity of bifurcation lesions.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to develop a new model for assessment of
      stenosis severity in a bifurcation lesion including its core. The diagnostic
      performance of this model, powered by 3-dimensional quantitative coronary
      angiography to predict the functional significance of obstructive bifurcation
      stenoses, was evaluated using fractional flow reserve (FFR) as the reference
      standard. BACKGROUND: Development of advanced quantitative models might help to
      establish a relationship between bifurcation anatomy and FFR. METHODS: Patients
      who had undergone coronary angiography and interventions in 5 European cardiology
      centers were randomly selected and analyzed. Different bifurcation fractal laws,
      including Murray, Finet, and HK laws, were implemented in the bifurcation model,
      resulting in different degrees of stenosis severity. RESULTS: A total of 78
      bifurcation lesions in 73 patients were analyzed. In 51 (65%) bifurcations, FFR
      was measured in the main vessel. A total of 34 (43.6%) interrogated vessels had
      an FFR<=0.80. Correlation between FFR and diameter stenosis was poor by
      conventional straight analysis (rho=-0.23, p<0.001) but significantly improved by
      bifurcation analyses: the highest by the HK law (rho=-0.50, p<0.001), followed by
      the Finet law (rho=-0.49, p<0.001), and the Murray law (rho=-0.41, p<0.001). The
      area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve for predicting FFR<=0.80
      was significantly higher by bifurcation analysis compared with straight analysis:
      0.72 (95% confidence interval: 0.61 to 0.82) versus 0.60 (95% confidence
      interval: 0.49 to 0.71; p=0.001). Applying a threshold of >=50% diameter
      stenosis, as assessed by the bifurcation model, to predict FFR<=0.80 resulted in
      23 true positives, 27 true negatives, 17 false positives, and 11 false negatives.
      CONCLUSIONS: The new bifurcation model provides a comprehensive assessment of
      bifurcation anatomy. Compared with straight analysis, identification of lesions
      with preserved FFR values in obstructive bifurcation stenoses was improved.
      Nevertheless, accuracy was limited by using solely anatomical parameters.

PMID- 25819181
TI  - Recurrent Myocardial Infarctions Due to Thrombosis of a Coronary Aneurysm in
      Neurofibromatosis Type 1: Is Antiplatelet Treatment Enough?

PMID- 25819182
TI  - Approaching the post-femoral era for coronary angiography and intervention.

PMID- 25819183
TI  - Percutaneous treatment of a giant right coronary artery aneurysm.

PMID- 25819184
TI  - Vessel Caging Versus Vascular Restoration in the Same Artery: Long-Term Vascular
      Remodeling and Healing in Response to Overlapping Metal Stent and Bioresorbable
      Polymer Scaffold.

PMID- 25819185
TI  - Tricuspid Regurgitation Is Associated With Increased Risk of Mortality in
      Patients With Low-Flow Low-Gradient Aortic Stenosis and Reduced Ejection
      Fraction: Results of the Multicenter TOPAS Study (True or Pseudo-Severe Aortic
      Stenosis).
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study sought to examine the impact of tricuspid regurgitation
      (TR) on mortality in patients with low-flow, low-gradient (LF-LG) aortic stenosis
      (AS) and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). BACKGROUND: TR is
      often observed in patients with LF-LG AS and low LVEF, but its impact on
      prognosis remains unknown. METHODS: A total of 211 patients (73+/-10 years of
      age; 77% men) with LF-LG AS (mean gradient<40 mm Hg and indexed aortic valve area
      [AVA]<=0.6 cm2/m2) and reduced LVEF (<=40%) were prospectively enrolled in the
      TOPAS (True or Pseudo-Severe Aortic Stenosis) study and 125 (59%) of them
      underwent aortic valve replacement (AVR) within 3 months following inclusion. The
      severity of AS was assessed by the projected AVA (AVAproj) at normal flow rate
      (250 ml/s), as previously described and validated. The severity of TR was graded
      according to current guidelines. RESULTS: Among the 211 patients included in the
      study, 22 (10%) had no TR, 113 (54%) had mild (grade 1), 50 (24%) mild-to
      moderate (grade 2), and 26 (12%) moderate-to-severe (grade 3) or severe (grade 4)
      TR. During a mean follow-up of 2.4+/-2.2 years, 104 patients (49%) died.
      Univariable analysis showed that TR>=2 was associated with increased risk of all
      cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.82, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.22 to
      2.71; p=0.004) and cardiovascular mortality (HR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.20 to 2.83;
      p=0.005). After adjustment for age, sex, coronary artery disease, AVAproj, LVEF,
      stroke volume index, right ventricular dysfunction, mitral regurgitation, and
      type of treatment (AVR vs. conservative), the presence of TR>=2 was an
      independent predictor of all-cause mortality (HR: 1.88, 95% CI: 1.08 to 3.23;
      p=0.02) and cardiovascular mortality (HR: 1.92, 95% CI: 1.05 to 3.51; p=0.03).
      Furthermore, in patients undergoing AVR, TR>=3 was an independent predictor of 30
      day mortality compared with TR=0/1 (odds ratio [OR]: 7.24, 95% CI: 1.56 to 38.2;
      p=0.01) and TR=2 (OR: 4.70, 95% CI: 1.00 to 25.90; p=0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In
      patients with LF-LG AS and reduced LVEF, TR is independently associated with
      increased risk of cumulative all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality
      regardless of the type of treatment. In patients undergoing AVR, moderate/severe
      TR is associated with increased 30-day mortality. Further studies are needed to
      determine whether TR is a risk marker or a risk factor of mortality and whether
      concomitant surgical correction of TR at the time of AVR might improve outcomes
      for this high-risk population.

PMID- 25819186
TI  - Provisional T-stenting with bioresorbable vascular scaffolds in vivo: insights
      from optical frequency domain imaging.

PMID- 25819187
TI  - Randomized Comparison of FFR-Guided and Angiography-Guided Provisional Stenting
      of True Coronary Bifurcation Lesions: The DKCRUSH-VI Trial (Double Kissing Crush
      Versus Provisional Stenting Technique for Treatment of Coronary Bifurcation
      Lesions VI).
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study sought to compare the outcomes of fractional flow reserve
      (FFR)-guided and angiography (Angio)-guided provisional side-branch (SB) stenting
      for true coronary bifurcation lesions. BACKGROUND: Angio-guided provisional SB
      stenting after stenting of the main vessel provides favorable outcomes for the
      majority of coronary bifurcation lesions. Whether an FFR-guided provisional
      stenting approach is superior has not been studied. METHODS: A total of 320
      patients with single Medina 1,1,1 and 0,1,1 coronary bifurcation lesions
      undergoing stenting with a provisional SB approach were randomly assigned 1:1 to
      Angio-guided and FFR-guided groups. SB stenting was performed for Thrombolysis In
      Myocardial Infarction flow grade<3, ostial SB stenosis>70%, or greater than type
      A dissection after main vessel stenting in the Angio-guided group and for SB
      FFR<0.80 in the FFR-guided group. The primary endpoint was the 1-year composite
      rate of major adverse cardiac events (cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and
      clinically driven target vessel revascularization). RESULTS: Comparing the Angio
      guided and FFR-guided groups, treatment of the SB (balloon or stenting) was
      performed in 63.1% and 56.3% of lesions respectively (p=0.07); stenting of the SB
      was attempted in 38.1% and 25.9%, respectively (p=0.01); and, when attempted,
      stenting was successful in 83.6% and 73.3% of SBs, respectively (p=0.01). The 1
      year composite major adverse cardiac event rate was 18.1% in both groups (hazard
      ratio: 0.91, 95% confidence interval: 0.48 to 1.88; p=1.00). The 1-year target
      vessel revascularization and stent thrombosis rates were 6.9% and 5.6% (p=0.82)
      and 1.3% and 0.6% (p=0.56) in the Angio-guided and FFR-guided groups,
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In this multicenter, randomized trial, angiographic
      and FFR guidance of provisional SB stenting of true coronary bifurcation lesions
      provided similar 1-year clinical outcomes. (Randomized Study on DK Crush
      Technique Versus Provisional Stenting Technique for Coronary Artery Bifurcation
      Lesions; ChiCTR-TRC-07000015).

PMID- 25819188
TI  - Fractional Flow Reserve in the Transradial Era: Will Hand Vein Adenosine Infusion
      Suffice?: A Comparative Study of the Extent, Rapidity, and Stability of Hyperemia
      From Hand and Femoral Venous Routes of Adenosine Administration.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess adenosine infusion via a cannula
      in the back of the hand compared with central venous access to achieve peak
      hyperemia during fractional flow reserve (FFR). BACKGROUND: Adenosine is often
      used to induce maximal hyperemia when measuring FFR. The gold standard is
      continuous infusion via a large central vein; however, the increasing use of the
      transradial route for angiography makes it desirable to have an alternative route
      for adenosine. Peripheral venous access is frequently obtained in the hand, but
      concern exists as to whether adenosine delivery from this site can achieve
      adequate vasodilation for accurate FFR measurement. Our aim was to address this.
      METHODS: Subjects were selected from patients presenting for coronary
      angiography/intervention who required a pressure-wire study. Subjects received
      intravenous adenosine infusion sequentially via 2 routes: first, via a 20-gauge
      hand cannula, and then, after a washout period, via a 5- or 6-F femoral venous
      sheath. Adenosine was administered at 140 MUg/kg/min from each site. Data
      interpretation was blinded. Minimal FFR achieved with intravenous adenosine from
      each infusion site was recorded as was the time to peak hyperemia. RESULTS:
      Paired (hand and femoral adenosine) recordings taken from 84 vessels in 61
      patients were suitable for blinded analysis. The mean FFR measured using
      adenosine administered via hand and femoral routes was 0.85 with an SD of 0.08
      (intraclass correlation=0.986). Time to peak hyperemia was longer on average with
      hand-administered adenosine compared with femoral adenosine administration (63 s
      vs. 43 s; mean difference, 22 s with a 95% confidence interval: 18 s to 27 s;
      p<0.0001). Formal comparison of FFR stability using Mann-Whitney analysis (2
      tailed) gives p=0.43, indicating no significant evidence of a difference in
      stability between the 2 routes. CONCLUSIONS: Hand vein adenosine infusion
      produced FFR values very similar to those obtained using central femoral vein
      adenosine administration, with no systematic bias toward higher or lower reading
      from 1 site. This has important practical implications for radial access cases
      involving pressure-wire studies.

PMID- 25819189
TI  - Slow-flow phenomenon after Paclitaxel-coated balloon angioplasty: findings from
      optical coherence tomography and coronary angioscopy.

PMID- 25819190
TI  - Additional perspectives on the prognostic significance of tricuspid
      regurgitation: more lessons from the study of patients with low-flow aortic
      stenosis.

PMID- 25819191
TI  - Attitudes towards rotating shift work in clinical nurses: a Q-methodology study.
AB  - AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To identify clinical nurses' attitudes towards rotating
      shift work. BACKGROUND: Many hospitals worldwide employ rotating shift work
      patterns to staff their facilities. Attitudes of clinical nurses towards rotating
      shift work vary. DESIGN: To understand clinical nurses' attitudes towards
      rotating shift work, Q-methodology, a method for the analysis of subjective
      viewpoints with the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative methods, was
      used. METHODS: Forty-six selected Q-statements from each of the 39 participants
      were classified into a normal distribution using an 11-point bipolar scale. The
      collected data were analysed using pc-QUANL program. RESULTS: Three discrete
      factors emerged as follows: factor I (rotating shift work is frustrating:
      objectionable perspective), factor II (rotating shift work is satisfactory:
      constructive perspective) and factor III (rotating shift work is problematic, but
      necessary: ambivalent perspective). CONCLUSIONS: The subjective viewpoints of the
      three identified factors can be applied in developing various roster designs for
      nurses engaging in rotating shift work. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The
      findings provide the baseline for nurse leaders in helping nurses adjust and deal
      with rotating shift work.

PMID- 25819192
TI  - CT imaging for left atrial appendage closure: a review and pictorial essay.
AB  - Cardioembolic stroke is an important complication of atrial fibrillation. The
      thrombus responsible for this arises from the left atrial appendage (LAA) in >90%
      of cases, providing the rationale for device-based LAA closure as a means of
      thromboprophylaxis. Although oral anticoagulant therapy remains the mainstay for
      reducing the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation, an increasing
      number of patients, particularly those ineligible for conventional
      pharmacotherapy, are being offered percutaneous left atrial appendage closure.
      Cardiovascular CT can provide important information to assess the suitability of
      patients for LAA interventions and guide device selection and approach. The high
      spatial resolution and multiplanar capability of contemporary contrast-enhanced
      gated multidetector cardiovascular CT render it an ideal modality for
      noninvasively evaluating patients before intervention and assessing patients
      after intervention both for complications and procedural outcome. 

PMID- 25819193
TI  - Determination and distribution of left ventricular size as measured by
      noncontrast CT in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Left ventricular (LV) volume and mass have prognostic relevance.
      Overall size of the left ventricle as it appears in noncontrast CT is a composite
      of the ventricular volume and myocardial mass. We describe a method to estimate
      the LV size using a single cross-section in noncontrast CT and determined normal
      ranges on the basis of a large population cohort. METHODS: The Multi-Ethnic Study
      of Atherosclerosis with 6814 participants from 4 ethnicities who were free of
      known cardiovascular disease and enrolled between 2000 and 2002 form the basis of
      our analysis. LV size was calculated from a single cross-sectional slice obtained
      by either nonenhanced electron beam or multidetector CT. LV size was adjusted to
      body surface area to obtain the LV size index, which was adjusted for age, sex,
      race or ethnicity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes. RESULTS: There
      were significant differences in LV size index by race which were further
      influenced by age and sex. Higher values were noted in men in all ethnic groups
      across all age groups. Similarly, LV size index uniformly decreased with age
      across all ethnic and sex categories. Caucasians had the lowest and African
      Americans had the highest LV size index across all age and sex categories. In
      multivariate regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, race or ethnicity,
      hypertension, hyperlipidemia, smoking, and diabetes mellitus, the significant
      differences were noted between male vs female (median difference, 17.5 cc/m(2); P
      < .001), ethnic groups (Caucasian, reference group; Asian, 3.7 cc/m(2); African
      American, 8.3 cc/m(2); and Hispanic, 5.6 cc/m(2); P < .001), and age groups (45
      54 years, reference group; 55-64 years, -5.2 cc/m(2); 65-74 years, -11.4 cc/m(2);
      and 74-84 years, -12.5 cc/m(2)). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides normative
      values for LV size as determined from a single, nonenhanced CT cross-section and
      indexed to body surface area, and it demonstrates that the LV size index varies
      by age, sex, and ethnic background.

PMID- 25819194
TI  - Diagnostic accuracy and discrimination of ischemia by fractional flow reserve CT
      using a clinical use rule: results from the Determination of Fractional Flow
      Reserve by Anatomic Computed Tomographic Angiography study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is the gold standard for determining
      lesion-specific ischemia. Computed FFRCT derived from coronary CT angiography
      (coronary CTA) correlates well with invasive FFR and accurately differentiates
      between ischemia-producing and nonischemic lesions. The diagnostic performance of
      FFRCT when applied in a clinically relevant way to all vessels >= 2 mm in
      diameter stratified by sex and age has not been previously examined. METHODS: Two
      hundred fifty-two patients and 407 vessels underwent coronary CTA, FFRCT,
      invasive coronary angiography, and invasive FFR. FFRCT and FFR <= 0.80 were
      considered ischemic, whereas CT stenosis >= 50% was considered obstructive. The
      diagnostic performance of FFRCT was assessed following a prespecified clinical
      use rule which included all vessels >= 2 mm in diameter, not just those assessed
      by invasive FFR measurements. Stenoses <30% were assigned an FFR of 0.90, and
      stenoses >90% were assigned an FFR of 0.50. Diagnostic performance of FFRCT was
      stratified by vessel diameter, sex, and age. RESULTS: By FFR, ischemia was
      identified in 129 of 252 patients (51%) and in 151 of 407 vessels (31%). Mean age
      (+/- standard deviation) was 62.9 +/- 9 years, and women were older (65.5 vs 61.9
      years; P = .003). Per-patient diagnostic accuracy (83% vs 72%; P < .005) and
      specificity (54% vs 82%, P < .001) improved significantly after application of
      the clinical use tool. These were significantly improved over standard coronary
      CTA values before application of the clinical use rule. Discriminatory power of
      FFRCT also increased compared with baseline (area under the receiver operating
      characteristics curve [AUC]: 0.93 vs 0.81, P < .001). Diagnostic performance
      improved in both sexes with no significant differences between the sexes (AUC:
      0.93 vs 0.90, P = .43). There were no differences in the discrimination of FFRCT
      after application of the clinical use rule when stratified by age >= 65 or <65
      years (AUC: 0.95 vs 0.90, P = .10). CONCLUSIONS: The diagnostic accuracy and
      discriminatory power of FFRCT improve significantly after the application of a
      clinical use rule which includes all clinically relevant vessels >2 mm in
      diameter. FFRCT has similar diagnostic accuracy and discriminatory power for
      ischemia detection in men and women irrespective of age using a cut point of 65
      years.

PMID- 25819195
TI  - Atherosclerosis burden of the aortic valve and aorta and risk of acute kidney
      injury after transcatheter aortic valve implantation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atheroembolic renal disease, due to dislodgement of cholesterol
      crystals during maneuvering of a large catheter across the aorta and deployment
      of the transcatheter prosthesis within a calcified aortic valve, may be one of
      the pathophysiological mechanisms of acute kidney injury (AKI) complicating
      transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). OBJECTIVE: To investigate the
      association between the atherosclerotic burden and plaque characteristics of the
      aortic valve and thoracic aorta, evaluated with multidetector CT (MDCT), and the
      occurrence of AKI after TAVI. METHODS: Aortic valve calcification,
      atherosclerosis burden, and plaque characteristics of the thoracic aorta
      (including aortic root, ascending aorta, aortic arch, and descending aorta) were
      analyzed in preprocedural MDCT data of 210 TAVI patients (age, 81 +/- 7.1 years;
      51.4% men). The thoracic aorta was divided into ascending aorta, aortic arch, and
      descending thoracic aorta which was further divided into 5 to 8 segments
      according to the posterior intercostal arteries. Each segment where the maximum
      wall thickness exceeded >= 2 mm was defined as diseased segment with
      atherosclerotic plaque. Aortic atherosclerosis burden was defined as the
      proportion of thoracic aortic segments with atherosclerosis. AKI was defined by a
      creatinine level >= 1.5 * baseline or >= 26.4 MUmol/L above baseline. MDCT data
      were correlated with the occurrence of postprocedural AKI in a multivariate
      logistic regression model. RESULTS: Postprocedural AKI occurred in 51 patients
      (24.3%). In patients with AKI, the burden of overall (87.5% [75%-90%] vs 71.4%
      [50%-87.5%]; P < .001) and noncalcified atherosclerosis (42.9% [22.2%-62.5%] vs
      12.5% [0%-28.6%]; P < .001) and the maximum plaque thickness (5.7 +/- 1.8 mm vs
      4.5 +/- 1.4 mm; P < .001) were larger compared with patients without AKI. The
      burden of noncalcified atherosclerosis remained independently associated with AKI
      (odds ratio, 1.03 [per each 1% of increase in aortic segments with noncalcified
      atherosclerosis]; 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.05; P = .006) after adjusting
      for baseline renal function, logistic EuroSCORE, and procedural access. In
      contrast, aortic valve calcification was not independently associated with AKI.
      CONCLUSION: In patients undergoing TAVI, occurrence of postprocedural AKI was
      associated with the extent of noncalcified atherosclerotic plaque burden of the
      thoracic aorta.

PMID- 25819196
TI  - Esmolol is noninferior to metoprolol in achieving a target heart rate of 65
      beats/min in patients referred to coronary CT angiography: a randomized
      controlled clinical trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Coronary CT angiography (CTA) is an established tool to rule out
      coronary artery disease. Performance of coronary CTA is highly dependent on
      patients' heart rates (HRs). Despite widespread use of beta-blockers for coronary
      CTA, few studies have compared various agents used to achieve adequate HR
      control. OBJECTIVE: We sought to assess if the ultrashort-acting beta-blocker
      intravenous esmolol is at least as efficacious as the standard of care
      intravenous metoprolol for HR control during coronary CTA. METHODS: Patients
      referred to coronary CTA with a HR >65 beats/min despite oral metoprolol
      premedication were enrolled in the study. We studied 412 patients (211 male; mean
      age, 57 +/- 12 years). Two hundred four patients received intravenous esmolol,
      and 208 received intravenous metoprolol with a stepwise bolus administration
      protocol. HR and blood pressure were recorded at arrival, before, during,
      immediately after, and 30 minutes after the coronary CTA scan. RESULTS: Mean HRs
      of the esmolol and metoprolol groups were similar at arrival (78 +/- 13 beats/min
      vs 77 +/- 12 beats/min; P = .65) and before scan (68 +/- 7 beats/min vs 69 +/- 7
      beats/min; P = .60). However, HR during scan was lower in the esmolol group vs
      the metoprolol group (58 +/- 6 beats/min vs 61 +/- 7 beats/min; P < .0001),
      whereas HRs immediately and 30 minutes after the scan were higher in the esmolol
      group vs the metoprolol group (68 +/- 7 beats/min vs 66 +/- 7 beats/min; P = .01
      and 65 +/- 8 beats/min vs 63 +/- 8 beats/min; P < .0001; respectively). HR <= 65
      beats/min was reached in 182 of 204 patients (89%) who received intravenous
      esmolol vs 162 of 208 of the patients (78%) who received intravenous metoprolol
      (P < .05). Of note, hypotension (systolic BP <100 mm Hg) was observed right after
      the scan in 19 patients (9.3%) in the esmolol group and in 8 patients (3.8%) in
      the metoprolol group (P < .05), whereas only 5 patients (2.5%) had hypotension 30
      minutes after the scan in the esmolol group compared to 8 patients (3.8%) in the
      metoprolol group (P = .418). CONCLUSION: Intravenous esmolol with a stepwise
      bolus administration protocol is at least as efficacious as the standard of care
      intravenous metoprolol for HR control in patients who undergo coronary CTA.

PMID- 25819197
TI  - Rosebush injury: an unusual cause of fibular artery pseudoaneurysm.
AB  - Fibular and tibial artery pseudoaneurysms are common and mainly associated with
      trauma. We reported here a case with an uncommon presentation of fibular artery
      pseudoaneurysm. 

PMID- 25819198
TI  - President's page: Implementation of coronary CT angiography to assess chest pain
      patients in the Emergency Department--a call for action!

PMID- 25819200
TI  - Anaphylaxis with intravenous immunoglobulin: a time for introspection.

PMID- 25819199
TI  - Mechanical properties of gray and white matter brain tissue by indentation.
AB  - The mammalian brain is composed of an outer layer of gray matter, consisting of
      cell bodies, dendrites, and unmyelinated axons, and an inner core of white
      matter, consisting primarily of myelinated axons. Recent evidence suggests that
      microstructural differences between gray and white matter play an important role
      during neurodevelopment. While brain tissue as a whole is rheologically well
      characterized, the individual features of gray and white matter remain poorly
      understood. Here we quantify the mechanical properties of gray and white matter
      using a robust, reliable, and repeatable method, flat-punch indentation. To
      systematically characterize gray and white matter moduli for varying indenter
      diameters, loading rates, holding times, post-mortem times, and locations we
      performed a series of n=192 indentation tests. We found that indenting thick,
      intact coronal slices eliminates the common challenges associated with small
      specimens: it naturally minimizes boundary effects, dehydration, swelling, and
      structural degradation. When kept intact and hydrated, brain slices maintained
      their mechanical characteristics with standard deviations as low as 5% throughout
      the entire testing period of five days post mortem. White matter, with an average
      modulus of 1.89 5kPa +/- 0.592 kPa, was on average 39% stiffer than gray matter,
      p<0.01, with an average modulus of 1.389 kPa +/- 0.289 kPa, and displayed larger
      regional variations. It was also more viscous than gray matter and responded less
      rapidly to mechanical loading. Understanding the rheological differences between
      gray and white matter may have direct implications on diagnosing and
      understanding the mechanical environment in neurodevelopment and neurological
      disorders.

PMID- 25819201
TI  - Closed reduction of metatarsophalangeal joint dislocations in acute and subacute
      presentations: a novel technique.

PMID- 25819202
TI  - Predelivery extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in a life-threatening peripartum
      cardiomyopathy: save both mother and child.

PMID- 25819203
TI  - Sedation with the Combination of Ketamine and Propofol in a Pediatric ED: A
      Retrospective Case Series Analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Literature to date has suggested advantages of sedation with the
      combination of ketamine and propofol over ketamine alone or propofol alone.
      However, there is a paucity of data regarding sedation with the combination of
      ketamine and propofol in pediatric emergency medicine. METHODS: A retrospective
      case series analysis of children who underwent sedation with the combination of
      ketamine and propofol in a pediatric emergency department was conducted. Study
      covariates were extracted from the emergency department medical records. RESULTS:
      Four hundred twenty-nine patients, 297 males and 132 females, with a median age
      of 6.8 years (interquartile range, 3.9-10.9 years), underwent sedation by
      pediatric emergency physicians. Serious adverse events during sedation (SAEDS)
      were recorded in 52 procedures (12.1%), which included 39 hypoxic events (9.1%),
      12 apneic events (2.8%), and 1 laryngospasm (0.2%). All SAEDS were managed
      successfully, and no child underwent intubation because of an adverse reaction or
      required hospitalization. Multivariate logistic regression analysis did not
      reveal any association between age, weight, fasting time, analgesic medication
      provided before sedation, length of procedure, capnography use, dosages of
      medications, and the presence of SAEDS. CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest reported
      series of sedation with the combination of ketamine and propofol in pediatric
      emergency medicine. Findings suggest that sedation with the combination of
      ketamine and propofol can be safely performed by a skilled emergency physician.

PMID- 25819204
TI  - Fulminant dengue myocarditis complicated with profound shock and fatal outcome
      under intra-aortic balloon pumping support.

PMID- 25819205
TI  - Scope of shared decision making in patients with psychologic complaints.

PMID- 25819206
TI  - Charlie Hebdo attacks: lessons from the military milieu.

PMID- 25819207
TI  - Successful use of ECMO as a bridge to surgical embolectomy in Life-Threatening
      Pulmonary Embolism.

PMID- 25819208
TI  - Transnasal sphenopalatine ganglion block for the treatment of postdural puncture
      headache in the ED.

PMID- 25819209
TI  - SHARP VERSUS BLUNT DIALYSIS NEEDLE USE WITH BUTTONHOLE METHOD: OPEN RANDOMISED
      TRIAL.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Current protocols recommend the use of a blunt needle to access the
      arteriovenous fistula via a buttonhole. This study aims to demonstrate whether a
      sharp needle can be used at the same buttonhole site without causing
      complications. GOAL: To measure and compare fistula cannulation failures between
      the use of blunt and sharp needles. PLAN: Open-crossover randomised controlled
      trial. PARTICIPANTS: Adult out-patients who had provided consent and were on
      dialysis with a mature arteriovenous fistula and buttonhole cannulation. OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Failed cannulation-difficulty in inserting the needle and the
      trampoline effect; incidence of complications, such as infection and haematomas;
      times to haemostasis; patients' pain; and patients' preferences. RESULTS: Based
      on analysis of the data from the 35 patients enrolled, no significant differences
      were detected in failed cannulation of the fistulae between the use of a blunt
      needle and a sharp needle for the 335 venous accesses (p = 0.071). However, a
      significant difference was detected for the 335 arterial accesses (p = 0.001), in
      which the sharp needle was more effective. Significant differences were also
      detected in the difficulty of insertion and in the trampoline effect for both
      venous and arterial access (p < 0.05); the use of a sharp needle was more
      favourable. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates an increased incidence of failed
      cannulation using a blunt needle compared with using a sharp needle, although
      this was not significant. In addition, the use of a sharp needle did not result
      in any increase in complications.

PMID- 25819210
TI  - The Swedish Hayling task, and its relation to working memory, verbal ability, and
      speech-recognition-in-noise.
AB  - Cognitive functions and speech-recognition-in-noise were evaluated with a
      cognitive test battery, assessing response inhibition using the Hayling task,
      working memory capacity (WMC) and verbal information processing, and an auditory
      test of speech recognition. The cognitive tests were performed in silence whereas
      the speech recognition task was presented in noise. Thirty young normally-hearing
      individuals participated in the study. The aim of the study was to investigate
      one executive function, response inhibition, and whether it is related to
      individual working memory capacity (WMC), and how speech-recognition-in-noise
      relates to WMC and inhibitory control. The results showed a significant
      difference between initiation and response inhibition, suggesting that the
      Hayling task taps cognitive activity responsible for executive control. Our
      findings also suggest that high verbal ability was associated with better
      performance in the Hayling task. We also present findings suggesting that
      individuals who perform well on tasks involving response inhibition, and WMC,
      also perform well on a speech-in-noise task. Our findings indicate that capacity
      to resist semantic interference can be used to predict performance on speech-in
      noise tasks. 

PMID- 25819211
TI  - Modelling runway incursion severity.
AB  - Analysis of the causes underlying runway incursions is fundamental for the
      development of effective mitigation measures. However, there are significant
      weaknesses in the current methods to model these factors. This paper proposes a
      structured framework for modelling causal factors and their relationship to
      severity, which includes a description of the airport surface system
      architecture, establishment of terminological definitions, the determination and
      collection of appropriate data, the analysis of occurrences for severity and
      causes, and the execution of a statistical analysis framework. It is implemented
      in the context of U.S. airports, enabling the identification of a number of
      priority interventions, including the need for better investigation and causal
      factor capture, recommendations for airfield design, operating scenarios and
      technologies, and better training for human operators in the system. The
      framework is recommended for the analysis of runway incursions to support safety
      improvements and the methodology is transferable to other areas of aviation
      safety risk analysis. 

PMID- 25819212
TI  - A risk analysis of winter navigation in Finnish sea areas.
AB  - Winter navigation is a complex but common operation in north-European sea areas.
      In Finnish waters, the smooth flow of maritime traffic and safety of vessel
      navigation during the winter period are managed through the Finnish-Swedish
      winter navigation system (FSWNS). This article focuses on accident risks in
      winter navigation operations, beginning with a brief outline of the FSWNS. The
      study analyses a hazard identification model of winter navigation and reviews
      accident data extracted from four winter periods. These are adopted as a basis
      for visualizing the risks in winter navigation operations. The results reveal
      that experts consider ship independent navigation in ice conditions the most
      complex navigational operation, which is confirmed by accident data analysis
      showing that the operation constitutes the type of navigation with the highest
      number of accidents reported. The severity of the accidents during winter
      navigation is mainly categorized as less serious. Collision is the most typical
      accident in ice navigation and general cargo the type of vessel most frequently
      involved in these accidents. Consolidated ice, ice ridges and ice thickness
      between 15 and 40cm represent the most common ice conditions in which accidents
      occur. Thus, the analysis presented in this article establishes the key elements
      for identifying the operation types which would benefit most from further safety
      engineering and safety or risk management development. 

PMID- 25819213
TI  - Extracellular vesicle-depleted fetal bovine and human sera have reduced capacity
      to support cell growth.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is the most widely used serum supplement for
      mammalian cell culture. It supports cell growth by providing nutrients, growth
      signals, and protection from stress. Attempts to develop serum-free media that
      support cell expansion to the same extent as serum-supplemented media have not
      yet succeeded, suggesting that FBS contains one or more as-yet-undefined growth
      factors. One potential vehicle for the delivery of growth factors from serum to
      cultured cells is extracellular vesicles (EVs). METHODS: EV-depleted FBS and
      human serum were generated by 120,000g centrifugation, and its cell growth
      supporting activity was measured. Isolated EVs from FBS were quantified and
      characterized by nanoparticle tracking analysis, electron microscopy, and protein
      assay. EV internalization into cells was quantified using fluorescent plate
      reader analysis and microscopy. RESULTS: Most cell types cultured with EV
      depleted FBS showed a reduced growth rate but not an increased sensitivity to the
      DNA-damaging agent etoposide and the endoplasmic reticulum stress-inducing
      chemical tunicamycin. Supplying cells with isolated FBS-derived EVs enhanced
      their growth. FBS-derived EVs were internalized by mouse and human cells wherein
      65+/-26% of them interacted with the lysosomes. EV-depleted human serum also
      exhibited reduced cell growth-promoting activity. CONCLUSIONS: EVs play a role in
      the cell growth and survival-promoting effects of FBS and human serum. Thus, it
      is important to take the effect of EV depletion under consideration when planning
      EV extraction experiments and while attempting to develop serum-free media that
      support rapid cell expansion. In addition, these findings suggest roles for
      circulating EVs in supporting cell growth and survival in vivo.

PMID- 25819214
TI  - Ready-made chromatography columns for extracellular vesicle isolation from
      plasma.
AB  - Proteomic studies of circulating vesicles are hampered by difficulties in
      purifying vesicles from plasma and serum. Isolations are contaminated with high
      abundance blood proteins that may mask genuine vesicular-associated proteins
      and/or simply provide misleading data. In this brief report, we explored the
      potential utility of a commercially available size exclusion chromatography
      column for rapid vesicle purification. We evaluated the performance of the
      column, with cancer cell line conditioned medium or healthy donor plasma, in
      terms of removing non-vesicular protein and enriching for vesicles exhibiting
      exosome characteristics. Serial fractions revealed a peak for typical exosomal
      proteins (CD9, CD81 etc.) that preceded the peak for highly abundant proteins,
      including albumin, for either sample type, and harvesting only this peak would
      represent elimination of >95% of protein from the sample. The columns showed good
      reproducibility, and streamlining the workflow would allow the exosome-relevant
      material to be collected in less than 10 minutes. Surprisingly, however,
      subsequent post-column vesicle concentration steps whilst resulting in some
      protein loss also lead to low vesicle recoveries, with a net effect of reducing
      sample purity (assessed by the particle-to-protein ratio). The columns provide a
      convenient, reproducible and highly effective means of eliminating >95% of non
      vesicular protein from biological fluid samples such as plasma. 

PMID- 25819215
TI  - Clinical features and course of generalized pustular psoriasis in Korea.
AB  - The clinical course of generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) is variable and
      unpredictable. Sufficient data on the clinical course of the disease has not been
      reported due to its rarity. To investigate the clinical features and course of
      GPP according to its subtypes, medical records of patients diagnosed with GPP
      from 2002 to 2012 at two tertiary hospitals were reviewed. The data included
      patient demographics, associated symptoms, aggravating factors, patterns of
      relapse and prognosis. Thirty-three patients with GPP were included in our study,
      with a mean age of 45.6 years and a male : female ratio of 1:1.2. Patients were
      categorized based on the following subtypes: acute GPP, 21 (63.6%); GPP of
      pregnancy, two (6.1%); juvenile GPP, three (9.1%); and annular GPP, seven
      (21.2%). In the acute GPP population, skin lesions cleared within 2 months in 11
      (73.3%) patients, and six (40.0%) of these had no relapse. Severe complications,
      abortion or death, were observed in two patients (100.0%) with GPP of pregnancy.
      Nineteen (76.0%) of the GPP patients experienced persistence or relapse of skin
      lesions. The patterns of skin lesions upon relapse included plaques in six
      patients (31.6%), pustules in eight patients (42.1%), and plaques and pustules in
      five patients (26.3%). Among acute GPP patients, 16.7% of patients with no
      relapse had a history of plaque psoriasis. However, 77.8% of patients with
      persistence and relapse in their clinical course had a history of plaque
      psoriasis. In conclusion, our study presents the detailed clinical course of GPP
      by subtype in Korean patients. 

PMID- 25819216
TI  - Management of neutropenia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - Neutropenia is defined as a neutrophil count lower than 1.5g/L, with
      categorization as mild, moderate, or severe when the count is 1.5-1g/L, 1-0.5g/L,
      or<0.5g/L, respectively. The main complication is infection, whose risk increases
      with the depth and duration of the neutropenia. Comprehensive etiological
      investigations are mandatory to determine the best treatment strategy.
      Constitutional neutropenia is rarely seen in everyday rheumatology practice. It
      predominantly affects patients of African descent and is usually moderate and
      well tolerated. Congenital neutropenia due to genetic abnormalities is severe and
      chiefly seen in the pediatric population. Most cases of neutropenia in patients
      with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are acquired. Medications are the most common
      causes, making detailed history-taking crucial. Many medications used to treat RA
      can induce neutropenia. Folic acid deficiency should be sought routinely in
      patients taking methotrexate. A less common cause of neutropenia is an RA-related
      autoimmune reaction. Splenomegaly suggests Felty's syndrome, which is accompanied
      with large granular lymphocytic (LGL) leukemia in 40% of cases. The treatment
      depends on the depth of the neutropenia and findings from the etiological workup.
      A neutrophil count below 0.5g/L, a fever, and the presence of clinical signs
      indicate a life-threatening condition requiring emergent treatment. In other
      patients, the first step is immediate discontinuation of any possibly involved
      drugs, simultaneously with the etiological workup. 

PMID- 25819217
TI  - [Second generation ALK inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer: systemic
      review].
AB  - The identification of the EML4-ALK rearrangement in 5% of NSCLC enhanced the
      development of 1st generation ALK inhibitors such as crizotinib. Two phase III
      trials demonstrated crizotinib efficacy in second line metastatic (PROFILE 1007)
      and more recently first line metastatic (PROFILE 1014) NSCLC in terms of
      progression-free survival and also objective response. However, within 12 to 16
      months, patients will progress due to the emergence of acquired resistance
      mechanisms such as mutation (L1196M) or amplification of the ALK gene, as well as
      activation of alternative signaling pathways (EGFR, KRAS). Second generation ALK
      inhibitors have been developed such as ceritinib, alectinib, and AP26113. This
      review will present those new drugs, summarize the results of their ongoing
      trials, and discuss the best way to treat ALK+ NSCLC patients. 

PMID- 25819218
TI  - The effect of graft type on mortality in liver transplantation for hepatocellular
      carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Liver transplantation (LT) with living-donor (LD-P) and deceased
      donor (DD-P) partial grafts for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may be associated
      with worse outcomes. Using the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), we aimed
      to: (1) examine the risk of mortality in LT for HCC, (2) to establish if this
      risk is affected by partial graft use, and (3) to determine if this effect is
      mitigated by improved tumor-associated risk stratification. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      All first-time adult LT recipients were analyzed (3/2002-12/2012), including
      2,353 LD-P, 727 DD-P, and 47,833 DD whole (DD-W) grafts. Cox proportional hazards
      models were used to examine the risk of mortality given HCC. Interaction/subset
      analyses were used to examine the effect of tumor-risk and graft-type on outcome.
      Presence of an HCC exception and low alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level (<66 ng/mL)
      were considered favorable. RESULTS: Overall, HCC was associated with an increased
      mortality risk compared to the absence of HCC (HR 1.21 [1.15-1.27]), and the use
      of partial grafts was noted to further intensify this risk. However, HCC with a
      favorable risk profile had more comparable outcomes to patients without HCC and
      this finding was similar across all graft-types (Given LD-P: HR 1.14 [0.76-1.73];
      Given DD-P: HR1.05 [0.71-1.56]; Given DD-W: HR1.08 [1.02-1.14]). On subset
      analysis, all graft types had similar outcomes given either favorable-risk HCC or
      the absence of HCC. CONCLUSIONS: There is no significant difference in outcomes
      between whole and partial grafts given (1) patients with HCC with a favorable
      risk-profile or (2) patients without HCC.

PMID- 25819219
TI  - Comparison of predicted extinction coefficients of monoclonal antibodies with
      experimental values as measured by the Edelhoch method.
AB  - Pace et al. (1995) [1] recommended an equation used to predict extinction
      coefficient of a protein. However, no antibody data was included in the
      development of this equation. The main objective of this study was to therefore
      investigate how the predicted value of the extinction coefficient is comparable
      to the experimentally determined extinction coefficient of antibodies measured by
      the Edelhoch method. We have measured the extinction coefficients (E) of 13 IgG1
      monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in phosphate buffer at pH 7.2. The maximum
      variability in the experimentally measured extinction coefficient of a given mAb
      molecule was found to be about 2%. Experimentally determined extinction
      coefficients of all mAbs were found to be lower than the predicted value, with
      the maximum difference found to being 4.7%. The highest and lowest values of
      experimental extinction coefficient among the thirteen IgG1 monoclonal antibodies
      obtained were 230525.9M(-1)cm(-1) (i.e. 1.55(mg/ml)(-1)cm(-1)) and 191,411.6M(
      1)cm(-1) (i.e. 1.29(mg/ml)(-1)cm(-1)). A difference of <3% (with respect to mean
      value) was observed between the experimental and predicted values of the
      extinction coefficient. A comprehensive analysis and interpretation of the
      comparison of the predicted and experimentally determined extinction coefficient
      by the Edelhoch method is discussed in terms of structural characterization and
      accessible surface area (ASA). 

PMID- 25819220
TI  - Biochemical analysis and hypoglycemic activity of a polysaccharide isolated from
      the fruit of Lycium barbarum L.
AB  - Purification, characterization and hypoglycemic activities of polysaccharide from
      Lycium barbarum L. were investigated in this study. A water soluble
      polysaccharide (LBP) was obtained with ultrafiltration membranes separation,
      which was further purified by chromatography of DEAE cellulose column and
      Sephadex G-150 to get LBP3a and LBP3b. The high performance permeation
      chromatography (HPGPC) analysis showed that the average molecular weight (Mw) of
      LBP3b was 4.92kDa. Monosaccharide composition analysis revealed that the LBP3b
      was comprised of mannose, rhamnose, glucose, galactose and xylose with a molar
      ratio of 5.52:5.11:28.06:1.00:1.70. The preliminary structure features of LBP3b
      were investigated by UV, FT-IR, NMR and SEM. In vitro cell experiments showed
      that LBP3b had significantly inhibited the absorption of glucose in a dose
      dependent manner. The study showed that LBP3b had potential use as an anti
      diabetic agent. 

PMID- 25819221
TI  - Regulatory divergence between parental alleles determines gene expression
      patterns in hybrids.
AB  - Both hybridization and allopolyploidization generate novel phenotypes by
      conciliating divergent genomes and regulatory networks in the same cellular
      context. To understand the rewiring of gene expression in hybrids, the total
      expression of 21,025 genes and the allele-specific expression of over 11,000
      genes were quantified in interspecific hybrids and their parental species, Coffea
      canephora and Coffea eugenioides using RNA-seq technology. Between parental
      species, cis- and trans-regulatory divergences affected around 32% and 35% of
      analyzed genes, respectively, with nearly 17% of them showing both. The relative
      importance of trans-regulatory divergences between both species could be related
      to their low genetic divergence and perennial habit. In hybrids, among
      divergently expressed genes between parental species and hybrids, 77% was
      expressed like one parent (expression level dominance), including 65% like C.
      eugenioides. Gene expression was shown to result from the expression of both
      alleles affected by intertwined parental trans-regulatory factors. A strong
      impact of C. eugenioides trans-regulatory factors on the upregulation of C.
      canephora alleles was revealed. The gene expression patterns appeared determined
      by complex combinations of cis- and trans-regulatory divergences. In particular,
      the observed biased expression level dominance seemed to be derived from the
      asymmetric effects of trans-regulatory parental factors on regulation of alleles.
      More generally, this study illustrates the effects of divergent trans-regulatory
      parental factors on the gene expression pattern in hybrids. The characteristics
      of the transcriptional response to hybridization appear to be determined by the
      compatibility of gene regulatory networks and therefore depend on genetic
      divergences between the parental species and their evolutionary history. 

PMID- 25819222
TI  - Ectopic ACTH syndrome caused by desmopressin-responsive thymic neuroendocrine
      tumor.
AB  - A 32-year-old Chinese woman with rapid weight gain and progressive edema was
      found to have typical Cushingoid features. Her endocrine data were consistent
      with a diagnosis of ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome. To differentiate ectopic
      ACTH syndrome (EAS) from Cushing's disease (CD), various dynamic endocrine and
      imaging tests were performed. Her ACTH response was negative to corticotropin
      releasing hormone (CRH) and positive to desmopressin. Magnetic resonance imaging
      of the pituitary showed no mass lesion. Computed tomography scan of the chest
      revealed a large mass (21 * 15 mm) in the anterior mediastinum, where positron
      emission tomography showed accumulation of [(18)F] fluorodeoxyglucose. Selective
      venous sampling showed marked step-up in ACTH level in the internal thoracic vein
      but not in the cavernous sinus after CRH stimulation. These data are compatible
      with the diagnosis of EAS. The resected tumor was pathologically consistent with
      thymic neuroendocrine tumor (NET) positive for ACTH by immunohistochemistry and
      abundant V1b receptor gene expression by RT-PCR. Postoperatively, her circulating
      ACTH/cortisol levels became normalized, and responded to stimulation with CRH but
      not with desmopressin. Her Cushingoid appearance gradually disappeared, and she
      was free from recurrence 5 years after surgery. This is a rare case of
      desmopressin-responsive EAS caused by thymic NET with predominant V1b gene
      expression, which was successfully localized by imaging modalities combined with
      selective venous sampling. 

PMID- 25819223
TI  - Serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels and thyroid hormone levels in
      gestational transient thyrotoxicosis: Is the serum hCG level useful for
      differentiating between active Graves' disease and GTT?
AB  - Gestational transient thyrotoxicosis (GTT) is defined as transient thyrotoxicosis
      caused by the stimulating effect of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) during
      pregnancy. We attempted to identify the serum hCG level that causes GTT, and we
      compared the serum hCG levels and thyroid hormone levels of GTT patients
      according to whether they had a background of thyroid disease. We also evaluated
      serum hCG as a parameter for differentiating between active Graves' disease (GD)
      and GTT. We reviewed the 135 cases of pregnant women who came to our hospital to
      be evaluated for thyrotoxicosis during their 7th to 14th week of pregnancy, and
      their serum hCG level was measured at that time. Among the 135 pregnant women
      with thyrotoxicosis; 103 of the women had GTT, and the other 32 women had active
      GD. There were no correlations between their serum hCG levels and free thyroid
      hormone levels. There were no significant differences in thyroid hormone levels
      or hCG levels among the GTT groups with different thyroid disease backgrounds;
      i.e., the GTT group without thyroid disease, GTT group with chronic thyroiditis,
      GTT group with non-functioning thyroid nodules, and GTT group with GD in
      remission. The serum hCG level of the GTT group was significantly higher than in
      the active GD group, but it was not a good parameter for differentiating between
      the two groups. The FT3/FT4 ratio of the active GD was significantly higher than
      in GTT group, and was a better parameter for differentiation. 

PMID- 25819224
TI  - Sequential treatment with resveratrol-trolox improves development of porcine
      embryos derived from parthenogenetic activation and somatic cell nuclear
      transfer.
AB  - We investigated the effect of resveratrol supplementation during IVM and/or
      trolox during IVC on the development of porcine embryos derived from
      parthenogenetic activation (PA) and SCNT. In this study, we evaluated
      intracellular glutathione (GSH) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, gene
      expression in blastocysts, and embryonic development after PA and SCNT. To
      determine the combined effects of resveratrol during IVM and trolox during IVC on
      PA embryos, we selected optimal concentrations (2 MUM of resveratrol and 200 MUM
      of trolox) and designed four groups: (1) control, (2) resveratrol, (3) trolox,
      and (4) combined. All treatment groups showed significantly increased
      intracellular GSH levels and decreased ROS levels. Resveratrol supported
      significantly higher cleavage and blastocyst formation rates than the control
      (80.3% and 38.0% vs. 71.1% and 22.4%, respectively) by downregulating Bax/Bcl-2,
      Caspase-3, and Bak. Trolox showed significantly increased blastocyst formation
      rates (36.7%) compared with the control (22.4%) by downregulating only Caspase-3.
      The combined group had significantly higher cleavage and blastocyst formation
      rates and greater total cell numbers than the control (81.7%, 36.3%, and 67.1 vs.
      71.1%, 22.4%, and 47.8, respectively) by downregulating Bax/Bcl-2, Caspase-3, and
      Bak. On the basis of these results, we applied sequential treatments with
      resveratrol and trolox to SCNT, and blastocyst formation rates and total cell
      numbers were significantly increased compared with the control (17.2% and 52.1
      vs. 11.8% and 36.6, respectively), with increased GSH, decreased ROS levels,
      upregulated proliferating cell nuclear antigen, and downregulated Bax/Bcl-2 and
      Caspase-3. These results indicate that sequential treatment with resveratrol
      during IVM and trolox during IVC improved the development of PA and SCNT porcine
      embryos by regulating intracellular GSH, ROS levels, and gene expression.

PMID- 25819225
TI  - Asbestos in Asia.
AB  - Asbestos is a global killer. Despite lessons learned in the developed world on
      the use of asbestos and its hazardous pulmonary consequences, its use continues
      to increase in Asia. Although some countries such as Japan, Korea and Singapore
      have curtailed the use of this mineral, there are numerous countries in Asia that
      continue to mine, import and use this fibre, particularly China, which is one of
      the largest consumers in the world. Numerous factors ranging from political and
      economic to the lack of understanding of asbestos and the management of asbestos
      related lung disease are keys to this observed trend. Awareness of these factors
      combined with early intervention may prevent the predicted Asian 'tsunami' of
      asbestos diseases. 

PMID- 25819226
TI  - Perceived profitability and well-being in Australian dryland farmers and
      irrigators.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the relationship between self-reported farm profitability
      and farmer well-being, and to explore potential implications for farmer
      assistance policy. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of farmers from Regional
      Wellbeing Survey data (wave 1, 2013) and comparison between groups. PARTICIPANTS:
      Participants were 1172 dryland farmers (35% women) and 707 irrigators (24%
      women). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The Personal Wellbeing Index and the Kessler 10
      item measure of general psychological distress. RESULTS: There is a consistent
      and significant relationship between higher profitability, greater well-being and
      less distress among dryland farmers and irrigators. CONCLUSIONS: The relationship
      between farm profitability and the well-being of Australian dryland farmers and
      irrigators has the potential to inform farmer assistance policy. Assistance
      programs can be more effective if they explicitly incorporate a profitability
      assessment into their targeting and eligibility requirements and a well-being
      component into program design and delivery. SETTING: Rural Australia.
      INTERVENTION: Not applicable.

PMID- 25819228
TI  - MYD88 L265P and CXCR4 mutations in lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma identify cases with
      high disease activity.
AB  - Recurrent mutations in MYD88 have been identified in >90% of lymphoplasmacytic
      lymphoma (LPL). Recently, WHIM (warts, hypogammaglobulinaemia, infections,
      myelokathexis) syndrome-like mutations in CXCR4 have been described in 28% of LPL
      cases, and seem to impact clinical presentation and response to therapy. We
      investigated the presence of the MYD88 L265P mutation in 90 decalcified, formalin
      fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) bone marrow (BM) biopsies, including 51 cases of
      LPL, 14 cases of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), 13 cases of marginal
      zone lymphoma (MZL) and 12 normal controls. In addition, the C-terminal domain of
      CXCR4 was sequenced in LPL cases. MYD88 L265P was found in 49/51 (96%) LPL cases
      and in 1/13 (7.6%) MZL (splenic type), whereas all CLL samples remained negative.
      The two MYD88 wild type LPL cases were associated with cold agglutinin disease.
      Mutations in CXCR4 were detected in 17/47 (36.2%) LPL cases, which showed a
      higher extent of BM infiltration and lower leucocyte counts (P = 0.02),
      haemoglobin (P = 0.05) and platelet counts (P = 0.01). In conclusion the
      detection of MYD88 L265P mutation in FFPE samples is reliable and useful for
      subtyping small B-cell lymphomas in BM biopsies. In addition, the presence of
      CXCR4 mutations identifies a subgroup of LPL patients with higher disease
      activity. 

PMID- 25819227
TI  - The ancestral role of nodal signalling in breaking L/R symmetry in the vertebrate
      forebrain.
AB  - Left-right asymmetries in the epithalamic region of the brain are widespread
      across vertebrates, but their magnitude and laterality varies among species.
      Whether these differences reflect independent origins of forebrain asymmetries or
      taxa-specific diversifications of an ancient vertebrate feature remains unknown.
      Here we show that the catshark Scyliorhinus canicula and the lampreys Petromyzon
      marinus and Lampetra planeri exhibit conserved molecular asymmetries between the
      left and right developing habenulae. Long-term pharmacological treatments in
      these species show that nodal signalling is essential to their generation, rather
      than their directionality as in teleosts. Moreover, in contrast to zebrafish,
      habenular left-right differences are observed in the absence of overt asymmetry
      of the adjacent pineal field. These data support an ancient origin of epithalamic
      asymmetry, and suggest that a nodal-dependent asymmetry programme operated in the
      forebrain of ancestral vertebrates before evolving into a variable trait in bony
      fish. 

PMID- 25819229
TI  - Digoxin ameliorates autoimmune arthritis via suppression of Th17 differentiation.
AB  - Digoxin is a cardiac glycoside that is commonly used to treat heart failure.
      Based on its known anti-inflammatory effect, this study was undertaken to
      investigate the effect of digoxin on collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and to
      delineate the underlying mechanism. Digoxin or vehicle was injected
      intraperitoneally thrice weekly in mice with CIA, from day 7 or day 35 after
      immunization to investigate preventive or therapeutic effect, respectively. The
      incidence and severity of arthritis was evaluated. Digoxin treatment suppressed
      the incidence of arthritis and joint inflammation in mice with CIA. The
      expression of IL-17 and other proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-1beta, IL
      6, TNF-alpha and IL-21, were markedly reduced in the arthritic joints of digoxin
      treated CIA mice. Th17 cells and CD4(+) pSTAT3(+) cells were less frequently
      observed in the spleen of digoxin-treated CIA mice than controls. The mRNA
      expression of IL-17 and ROR gammat was consistently lower in total splenocytes or
      draining lymph node cells obtained from digoxin-treated CIA mice. Digoxin also
      reduced in vitro Th17 differentiation and LPS-stimulated IgG production. The
      number of osteoclasts in the arthritic joint was lower in digoxin-treated mice,
      whereas digoxin treatment did not directly suppress in vitro osteoclastogenesis.
      Our findings suggest that digoxin can regulate Th17 and reciprocally promote Treg
      cells and suppress joint inflammation and bone erosion in CIA. Digoxin may be a
      therapeutic option by targeting pathogenic Th17 and immunoglobulin production,
      for treatment of autoimmune arthritis and other Th17-related diseases.

PMID- 25819230
TI  - Coronary artery bypass grafting in the octogenarian. Is complete
      revascularization always necessary?
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the completeness of
      revascularization affects the outcomes in the octogenarian. MATERIAL OF STUDY: We
      retrospectively reviewed 130 consecutive octogenarians who underwent isolated
      coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) between January 2003 and September 2010.
      According to operative technique, patients were categorized in Complete
      Revascularization (CRV) Group (96 patients) and in Incomplete Revascularization
      (IRV) Group (34 patients). Follow-up was 98% complete (mean: 30 +/- 25 months).
      RESULTS: The overall in-hospital mortality was 13% and was similar in both groups
      (p=0.0553). Multivariate regression analysis identified preoperative left
      ventricular ejection fraction <= 40% (p= 0.0060; OR= 0.19) and NHYA class > II
      (p= 0.0042; OR= 0.17) as risk factor for in-hospital death. Cox regression
      analysis not identified incomplete revascularization as risk factor for early or
      late death (p= 0.1381 and p= 0.8865). No differences in 5-year survival and
      freedom from major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) was found
      between two groups (p=0.8865 and p=0.6283). DISCUSSION: CRV is important in young
      patients undergoing CABG, but this principle remains less absolute in elderly
      patients. In our study, the survival benefit of CRV was less in octogenarians.
      Probably, the major benefit of CRV was seen in patients less than 80 years of
      age. This makes sense because these patients have a longer expected survival, and
      there were more patients available to statistically confirm any difference in
      outcome. CONCLUSIONS: In octogenarians undergoing CABG, IRV does not affect
      survival and freedom from MACCE. Patients' preoperative conditions are important
      in determining short and long term outcomes.

PMID- 25819231
TI  - [Electric chemotherapy in extensive tumor infiltration of skin and subcutaneous
      tissue --a valuable extension of dermato-oncologic armamentariums].

PMID- 25819232
TI  - New systemic agents in dermatology with respect to fertility, pregnancy, and
      lactation.
AB  - With the increasing use of new, predominantly biologic drugs in dermatology,
      questions frequently arise in clinical practice as to their safety in women
      wishing to conceive as well as during pregnancy and lactation. Apart from the
      Summary of Product Characteristics and the Physician's Desk Reference, reliable
      information may be obtained from databases such as the one compiled by the Center
      for Pharmacovigilance and Consultation on Embryonal Toxicology at Charite
      University Medical Center Berlin (https://www.embryotox.de). Another source of
      information is researching recent publications, for example via PubMed
      (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed). This article presents current knowledge
      from the sources mentioned above, and gives detailed information about the use of
      new biologic agents in women wishing to conceive as well as during pregnancy and
      lactation. Drugs reviewed include: infliximab, adalimumab, etanercept, metastatic
      for psoriasis, vemurafenib, dabrafenib, imatinib, ipilimumab for melanoma,
      vismodegib for basal cell carcinoma, rituximab for cutaneous lymphoma as well as
      omalizumab and anakinra used in the treatment of allergies. 

PMID- 25819235
TI  - Biosimilars: a systematic review of published and ongoing clinical trials of
      antipsoriatics in chronic inflammatory diseases.
AB  - Biosimilars for psoriasis treatment are currently being developed. Comparison of
      their efficacy and safety is a challenge. For approval, the European Medicines
      Agency (EMA) considers indirect evidence from other indications (for example,
      rheumatoid arthritis) as sufficient. Systematic review of biosimilars for
      psoriasis and other indications, review of ongoing trials in trial registers.
      Systematic search for randomized controlled trials (RCT) on biosimilars to
      adalimumab, etanercept, infliximab, and ustekinumab compared to their reference
      medication: (1) Publications in Medline, Medline In-Process, Embase, Cochrane
      Library (efficacy, safety, immunogenicity) and (2) ongoing studies in clinical
      trial registers. No trials on biosimilars in psoriasis patients were identified.
      As to the infliximab biosimilar, there is data on patients with ankylosing
      spondylitis and rheumatoid arthritis, indicating no clinically relevant
      differences regarding efficacy and safety. Currently, there are two registered
      studies of an adalimumab biosimilar and one study of an etanercept biosimilar in
      psoriasis patients. Further ongoing studies on biosimilars to adalimumab,
      etanercept, and infliximab - all in rheumatoid arthritis patients - were
      identified. There is currently only limited data regarding RCTs with biosimilars.
      Provision of further clinical data and inclusion of patients in patient registers
      will be crucial. 

PMID- 25819237
TI  - Wnt signaling in skin homeostasis and pathology.
AB  - The mammalian skin mediates the primary interphase between the body and the
      external environment and provides the first line of defense against pathogens,
      mechanical trauma, sunlight injuries, and chemical stress. Proper physical,
      biochemical, and immunological composition of the skin is necessary to maintain
      its barrier function. Therefore, the skin reflects a complex dynamic organ with
      high cellular turnover during normal tissue replacement and wound repair. Stem
      cell reservoirs ensure constant skin renewal. Wnt signaling controls stem cell
      maintenance and fate decisions in various tissues and also reflects a key pathway
      in controlling skin development and homeostasis. Disruption of Wnt signaling in
      the skin causes disorders such as alopecia, chronic inflammatory skin diseases or
      cancer. This review summarizes the role of Wnt signaling during skin development,
      homeostasis, and disease. 

PMID- 25819239
TI  - Electrochemotherapy in advanced skin tumors and cutaneous metastases - a
      retrospective multicenter analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Once classic treatments such as chemotherapy or
      radiation therapy have been exhausted, only few therapeutic options remain for
      extensive skin tumors or cutaneous metastases. In such cases, electrochemotherapy
      may be considered as alternative therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this
      retrospective study, clinical features, treatment response, and adverse effects
      were evaluated in 56 patients treated with electrochemotherapy at six German
      dermatology departments. RESULTS: The mean age of the patient cohort (14 men, 42
      women) was 69.3 years. Included were 20 patients with skin metastasis of advanced
      malignant melanoma, 13 patients with breast cancer metastases, 15 patients with
      primary squamous cell carcinoma of the skin or cutaneous metastases of other
      carcinoma types, and 8 patients with cutaneous lymphoma or sarcoma. The overall
      response rate was 44.6% (10.7% complete response; 33.9% partial response). By
      contrast, 31 (55.4%) patients did not respond (12.5% had stable disease; 42.9%,
      tumor progression). Patients with melanoma and cutaneous lymphoma or sarcoma
      responded significantly better than those with carcinoma. Roughly one quarter of
      patients showed an improvement in tumor-related exudation, fetor, and chronic
      bleeding. CONCLUSION: Showing only few adverse effects, electrochemotherapy was
      effective in about one half of the patients with advanced tumors. Treatment
      response appears to depend on the tumor entity.

PMID- 25819243
TI  - An ulcerated giant pilomatricoma mimicking malignancy.

PMID- 25819246
TI  - A case of histiocytic lymphophagocytic panniculitis (Rosai-Dorfman disease) with
      positive autoantibodies.

PMID- 25819248
TI  - Erythema ab igne and dermal scarring caused by cupping and moxibustion treatment.

PMID- 25819250
TI  - White papules on forehead and decollete.

PMID- 25819252
TI  - Exophytic and ulcerated nodule on the hand.

PMID- 25819254
TI  - S3 guidelines for the management of anticoagulation in cutaneous surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An increasing number of patients are being treated with
      anticoagulants and platelet inhibitors. Whenever surgical procedures of the skin
      are required, questions arise regarding the perioperative management of
      anticoagulation. METHODS: Development of S3 guidelines following the requirements
      of the Association of Scientific Medical Societies, systematic literature search
      and analysis, use of GRADE methodology, structured consensus conference using a
      nominal group process. RESULTS: During cutaneous surgery, treatment with
      acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) should be continued if medically necessary. In
      procedures with a higher risk of bleeding and a positive bleeding history, INR
      should be determined preoperatively. Surgical procedures of the skin with a
      higher risk of bleeding should not be performed if the INR is above therapeutic
      range. Bridging from vitamin K antagonists (VKA) to heparin should not be
      performed just because of the surgery of the skin. As to direct-acting oral
      anticoagulants, the last dose should be taken 24 h preoperatively. CONCLUSIONS:
      The recommendations issued by the German guidelines group are mostly in line with
      recommendations provided by other guidelines. The American iChest-Guidelinei
      recommends continuing VKAs and acetylsalicylic acid during minor dermatologic
      procedures. In their guidelines, the German College of General Practitioners and
      Family Physicians considers an INR of 2 to be adequate in surgical procedures on
      the skin.

PMID- 25819262
TI  - Re: Diagnostic error: Missed fractures in emergency medicine.

PMID- 25819263
TI  - SCAI/AATS/ACC/STS Operator and Institutional Requirements for Transcatheter Valve
      Repair and Replacement, Part III: Pulmonic Valve.

PMID- 25819264
TI  - Restricted participation in stroke caregivers: who is at risk?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify caregiver-, stroke survivor-, and caregiving situation
      related factors that are associated with caregivers' restriction from
      participation in their normative activities (ie, participation restriction) over
      the first 2 years poststroke. DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: Acute
      care facilities and community. PARTICIPANTS: A secondary data analysis of
      caregiver/survivor dyads (N=399). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Data were collected at 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months poststroke. The
      primary outcome was caregivers' participation restriction and was assessed using
      the Caregiver Impact Scale. Caregivers also provided demographic information and
      completed standardized measures to capture assistance provided, mastery, and
      depression. From stroke survivors we collected demographic characteristics,
      stroke severity, and cognitive and physical functioning. Data were analyzed using
      individual growth curve modeling. RESULTS: Participation restriction level
      improved over time. Caregiver factors associated with restricted participation
      included younger age, being employed, higher depression, and lower mastery level.
      Stroke survivor factors associated with caregivers' restricted participation
      included hemorrhagic stroke, more severe stroke, more physical and memory
      impairments, and lower participation. Significant factors related to the
      caregiving situation included providing high levels of assistance and caring for
      a spouse. CONCLUSIONS: Depressed younger caregivers, with low levels of mastery,
      who provide high-intensity support to spouses with cognitive difficulties may be
      at risk. Screening for these factors may help identify stroke families at risk
      for poor outcomes and may be used to more efficiently allocate health resources.

PMID- 25819265
TI  - A case of dry eye secondary to ocular ischemic syndrome due to carotid artery
      occlusion.
AB  - A case of unilateral dry eye associated with ipsilateral carotid artery
      occlusion. 

PMID- 25819266
TI  - History and symptom taking in contact lens fitting and aftercare.
AB  - AIM: To appraise history and symptom taking for contact lens consultations, to
      determine current practice and to make recommendations for best practice. METHOD:
      The peer reviewed academic literature was reviewed and the results informed a
      survey completed by 256 eye care practitioners (ECPs) on their current practice
      and influences. RESULTS: The last eye-test date, last contact lens aftercare (for
      existing wearers) and reason for visit are key questions for most ECPs. Detailed
      use of contact lens questions are more commonly applied in aftercares than when
      refitting patients who have previously discontinued wear (87% vs 56% use),
      whereas questions on ocular and general history, medication and lifestyle were
      generally more commonly utilised for new patients than in aftercares (72% vs
      50%). 75% of ECPs requested patients bring a list of their medication to
      appointments. Differential diagnosis questioning was thorough in most ECPs (87%
      of relevant questions asked). Attempts to optimise compliance included oral
      instruction (95% always) and written patient instructions (95% at least
      sometimes). Abbreviations were used by 39% of respondents (26% used ones provided
      by a professional body). CONCLUSION: There is scope for more consistency in
      history and symptom taking for contact lens consultations and recommendations are
      made.

PMID- 25819267
TI  - The use and application of drama in nursing education--an integrative review of
      the literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Caring is grounded on universal humanistic values such as kindness,
      empathy, concern and love for self and others. Nurses need to learn how to
      implement these values in the care for patients. Nursing students find it hard to
      assimilate theoretical knowledge in practice. Experiential learning in the form
      of drama has been used in several studies to enhance nursing students' learning.
      AIM: The aim of this study was to review empirical and theoretical articles on
      the use and application of drama in nursing education. DESIGN: An integrative
      review of the literature. METHOD: The databases CINAHL, PubMed, ProQuest and
      Academic search elite were searched for articles. RESULT: The search generated 64
      articles, with 20 articles meeting the inclusive criteria. Three themes with
      their attendant subthemes emerged through the analysis. The themes are: The
      Framing, The Objectives and The Embodiment. CONCLUSION: Drama is effective in
      entry level courses in nursing education to enhance student learning and can be
      flexible and adjusted to various contexts. Further research using drama to enroll
      nursing students as fictive patients and relatives and thereby explore different
      perspectives is suggested, and more research on the application of drama in
      nursing education at an advanced level is required.

PMID- 25819268
TI  - Exploring the use of standardized patients for simulation-based learning in
      preparing advanced practice nurses.
AB  - The use of standardized patients for simulation-based learning was integrated
      into the Master of Nursing curriculum in the 2012-2013 academic year. The study
      aimed to explore the Master of Nursing students' experiences with and perceptions
      of using standardized patients in simulations, and to identify the students'
      learning needs in preparing to become advanced practice nurses. The study adopted
      an exploratory descriptive qualitative design, using a focus group interview. The
      study was conducted at a university in Singapore. Seven Master of Nursing
      students who were enrolled in the Acute Care Track of Master of Nursing program
      in the 2012-2013 academic year participated in the study. The data were gathered
      at the end of the first semester. Content analysis was used to analyze the data.
      Three main categories - usefulness, clinical limitations, and realism - were
      identified in the study. The results revealed that the students felt using
      standardized patients was useful and realistic for developing skills in history
      taking, communication, and responding to an emergency situation. On the other
      hand, they found that the standardized patients were limited in providing
      critical signs and symptoms of case scenarios. To meet the learning objectives,
      future development and integration of standardized patients in the Master of
      Nursing curriculum might need to be considered along with the use of a high
      fidelity simulator. This can be an alternative strategy to fill the gaps in each
      method. Obviously, using standardized patients for simulation-based learning has
      added value to the students' learning experiences. It is highly recommended that
      future studies explore the impact of using standardized patients on students'
      performance in clinical settings.

PMID- 25819269
TI  - Tiotropium Respimat in cystic fibrosis: Phase 3 and Pooled phase 2/3 randomized
      trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tiotropium Respimat improved lung function in a phase 2 trial in
      patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). We investigated its efficacy and safety in a
      phase 3 trial, including a pre-specified pooled analysis of the phase 2 and 3
      trials. METHODS: 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of
      tiotropium Respimat 5 MUg once daily in patients with CF (N=463). RESULTS: Co
      primary efficacy endpoints showed no statistical difference between tiotropium
      and placebo: percent-predicted forced expiratory volume in 1s (FEV1) area under
      the curve from 0-4h (AUC0-4h) (95% CI): 1.64% (0.27,3.55; p=0.092); percent
      predicted trough FEV1 (95% CI) 1.40% (0.50,3.30; p=0.15). Adverse events were
      similar between groups. Pooled phase 2/3 trial results showed a treatment
      difference in favor of tiotropium: percent-predicted FEV1 AUC0-4h (95% CI): 2.62%
      (1.34,3.90). CONCLUSION: Tiotropium was well tolerated in patients with CF; lung
      function improvements compared with placebo were not statistically significant in
      the phase 3 trial. CLINICAL TRIALS: These studies are registered with clinical
      trial identifier numbers NCT00737100 and NCT01179347 NCT00737100 NCT01179347.
      These studies are also registered with the EudraCT number: 2008-001156-43 and
      2010-019802-17.

PMID- 25819270
TI  - Could Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion Be a Platform to Decrease the Incidence of Chronic
      Lung Allograft Dysfunction?
AB  - The number of patients requiring lung transplantation is increasing, with a
      significant unmet demand for grafts. Ex vivo lung perfusion has been developed to
      increase graft recruitment. The major complications of lung transplantation
      include chronic allograft dysfunction (CLAD) whose cumulative incidence ranges
      from 43-80% within the first 5 years of transplantation. Many risk factors are
      listed for development of CLAD and almost all of those risk factors would involve
      activation of Toll-like receptors. This paper represents the author's overview
      regarding the development of CLAD as a complication of lung transplantation and
      the possible protective potential of ex vivo lung perfusion in this regard.

PMID- 25819271
TI  - Overexpression of squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1 is associated with the onset
      and progression of human hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Previous studies indicated Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen 1
      (SCCA1) may be involved in tumorigenesis and progress of various human
      malignancies by inhibiting cell apoptosis and promoting cell proliferative
      activity. The aim of the study was to further investigate SCCA1 expression in
      different extent of liver diseases and evaluate the clinical significance and
      prognostic value in HCC. METHODS: Eighty nine patient-matched tumors and
      peritumoral surgical specimens and 56 liver biopsies specimens from 23 patients
      with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 19 with dysplastic nodule (DN), and 14 with HCC
      were enrolled. An additional four normal liver (NL) samples were used as
      controls. SCCA1 expression in liver tissue was measured by immunochemistry.
      Another 28 HCC specimens and paired non-tumor tissues were used for SCCA1
      detection by Western blot. The prognostic value of SCCA1 expression in HCC was
      evaluated by the Cox proportional hazards regression model analysis. RESULTS:
      Western blot analysis showed SCCA1 positive rate in HCC was higher than the
      matched adjacent noncancerous tissues (p <0.001). Immunohistochemistry revealed
      that SCCA1-positive rate increased gradually from NL, CHB, PNT to DN and HCC (p
      <0.05). Clinicopathological analysis showed that SCCA1 expression was positively
      associated with tumor differentiation (p = 0.043) and patients' Child-Pugh score
      (p = 0.021). The SCCA1-poistive group showed better overall survival than the
      negative group (p = 0.029). Importantly, SCCA1 expression was an independent
      prognostic factor for the overall survival of HCC patients (hazard ratio = 3.757,
      p <0.001). CONCLUSION: SCCA1 expression pattern may relate to the progression of
      chronic liver diseases. Furthermore, our study supports a potential association
      of negative SCCA1 expression with poor outcome in HCC.

PMID- 25819272
TI  - APOE and AGT in the Finnish p.Arg133Cys CADASIL population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: CADASIL is an inherited systemic small vessel disease, the affected
      status of brain vessels leading to subcortical vascular dementia. The defective
      gene is NOTCH3 in which over 230 different pathogenic mutations have been
      identified. The clinical course of CADASIL is highly variable even within
      families. Previous studies have shown that additional genetic factors modify the
      phenotype. AIMS AND METHODS: Altogether, 134 Finnish CADASIL patients with
      p.Arg133Cys mutation were analysed for possible associations between the
      apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype, angiotensinogen (AGT) p.Met268Thr polymorphism
      or neutral p.Ala202Ala NOTCH3 polymorphism and earlier first-ever stroke or
      migraine. RESULTS: We found no association between the APOE genotypes, AGT
      polymorphism, NOTCH3 polymorphism and earlier first-ever stroke or migraine.
      CONCLUSIONS: The APOE, AGT and NOTCH3 polymorphism did not modify the onset of
      strokes or migraine in our CADASIL sample, which is one of the largest
      mutationally homogenous CADASIL populations published to date. International
      collaboration, pooled analyses and genomewide approaches are warranted to
      identify the genetic factors that modify the highly variable CADASIL phenotype.

PMID- 25819273
TI  - Cell source-dependent in vivo immunosuppressive properties of mesenchymal stem
      cells derived from the bone marrow and synovial fluid of minipigs.
AB  - The in vitro differentiation and immunosuppressive capacity of mesenchymal stem
      cells (MSCs) derived from synovial fluid (SF-MSCs) and bone marrow extract (BM
      MSCs) in an isogenic background of minipigs were comparatively analyzed in a
      collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The
      proliferation capacity and expression of pluripotent transcription factors
      (Oct3/4 and Sox2) were significantly (P<0.05) higher in SF-MSCs than in BM-MSCs.
      The differentiation capacity of SF-MSCs into adipocytes, osteocytes and
      neurocytes was significantly (P<0.05) lower than that of BM-MSCs, and the
      differentiation capacity of SF-MSCs into chondrocytes was significantly (P<0.05)
      higher than that of BM-MSCs. Systemic injection of BM- and SF-MSCs significantly
      (P<0.05) ameliorated the clinical symptoms of CIA mice, with SF-MSCs having
      significantly (P<0.05) higher clinical and histopathological recovery scores than
      BM-MSCs. Furthermore, the immunosuppressive properties of SF-MSCs in CIA mice
      were associated with increased levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine
      interleukin (IL)-10, and decreased levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL
      1beta and osteoclast-related sRANKL. In conclusion, SF-MSCs exhibited eminent
      pluripotency and differentiation capacity into chondrocytes, addition to
      substantial in vivo immunosuppressive capacity by elevating IL-10 and reducing IL
      1beta levels in CIA mice.

PMID- 25819274
TI  - Myosin-X and disease.
AB  - Myosin-X (Myo10) is a motor protein best known for its role in filopodia
      formation. New research implicates Myo10 in a number of disease states including
      cancer metastasis and pathogen infection. This review focuses on these
      developments with emphasis on the emerging roles of Myo10 in formation of cancer
      cell protrusions and metastasis. A number of aggressive cancers show high levels
      of Myo10 expression and knockdown of Myo10 has been shown to dramatically limit
      cancer cell motility in 2D and 3D systems. Myo10 knockdown also limits spread of
      intracellular pathogens marburgvirus and Shigella flexneri. Consideration is
      given to how these properties might arise and potential paths of future research.

PMID- 25819275
TI  - Protein- and Peptide-drug conjugates: an emerging drug delivery technology.
AB  - Protein- and peptide-drug conjugates hold a promising stance in the delivery of
      therapeutic agents by providing distinct advantage of improving therapeutic
      potential of drugs. Recent advancements in the proteomics and recombinant DNA
      technology, by enabling identification of distinct structural features of
      proteins and making it feasible to introduce specific functionalities in
      protein/peptide structure, has made it possible to synthesize high quality
      protein- and peptide-drug conjugates though a wide variety of coupling
      techniques. Additionally, use of specialized linkers makes them unique in their
      in vivo therapeutic application by providing target tissue-specific release of
      drug. Several protein- and peptide-drug conjugates are currently under clinical
      trials warranting their huge market potential in near future. Increased
      understanding in this field will surely enable us to produce high quality protein
      and peptide-drug conjugates which will serve therapeutic needs demanded from
      drug delivery systems in clinical settings.

PMID- 25819277
TI  - Hybrid protein-synthetic polymer nanoparticles for drug delivery.
AB  - Among the most common nanoparticulate systems, the polymeric nanocarriers have a
      number of key benefits, which give a great choice of delivery platforms.
      Nevertheless, polymeric nanoparticles possess some limitations that include use
      of toxic solvents in the production process, polymer degradation, drug leakage
      outside the diseased tissue, and polymer cytotoxicity. The combination of
      polymers of biological and synthetic origin is an appealing modern strategy for
      the production of novel nanocarriers with unprecedented properties. Proteins'
      interface can play an important role in determining bioactivity and toxicity and
      gives perspective for future development of the polymer-based nanoparticles. The
      design of hybrid constructs composed of synthetic polymer and biological
      molecules such as proteins can be considered as a straightforward tool to
      integrate a broad spectrum of properties and biofunctions into a single device.
      This review discusses hybrid protein-synthetic polymer nanoparticles with
      different structures and levels in complexity and functionality, in view of their
      applications as drug delivery systems.

PMID- 25819278
TI  - Efficient delivery of therapeutic agents by using targeted albumin nanoparticles.
AB  - Albumin nanoparticles are one of the most important drug carriers for the
      delivery of therapeutic drugs, especially for the treatment of malignancies. This
      potential is due to their high binding capacity for both hydrophobic and
      hydrophilic drugs and the possibility of surface modification. Accumulation of
      albumin-bound drugs in the tumor interstitium occurs by the enhanced permeability
      and retention effect, which is also facilitated by the 60-kDa glycoprotein
      transcytosis pathway and binding to secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine
      located in the tumor extracellular matrix. In addition, specific ligands such as
      monoclonal antibodies, folic acid, transferrin, and peptides can be conjugated to
      the surface of albumin nanoparticles to actively target the drug to its site of
      action. The albumin-bound paclitaxel, Abraxane, is one of the several therapeutic
      nanocarriers that have been approved for clinical use. By the development of
      Abraxane that demonstrates a higher response rate and improved tolerability and
      therapeutic efficiency in comparison with solvent-based formulation, and with
      consideration of its commercial success, albumin is attracting the interest of
      many biotechnological and pharmaceutical companies. This chapter explores the
      current targeted and nontargeted albumin-based nanoparticles that are in various
      stages of development for the delivery of therapeutic agents in order to enhance
      the efficacy of cancer treatment.

PMID- 25819276
TI  - Modifications of natural peptides for nanoparticle and drug design.
AB  - Natural products serve as an important source of novel compounds for drug
      development. Recently, peptides have emerged as a new class of therapeutic agents
      due to their versatility and specificity for biological targets. Yet, their
      effective application often requires use of a nanoparticle delivery system. In
      this chapter, we review the role of natural peptides in the design and creation
      of nanomedicines, with a particular focus on cell-penetrating peptides,
      antimicrobial peptides, and peptide toxins. The use of natural peptides in
      conjunction with nanoparticle delivery systems holds great promise for the
      development of new therapeutic formulations as well as novel platforms for the
      delivery of various cargoes.

PMID- 25819279
TI  - Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP) Nanoparticles for Diagnostics and for
      Controlled and Targeted Drug Delivery.
AB  - Neuropeptides are potentially valuable tools for clinical applications as they
      offer many distinct advantages over other bioactive molecules like proteins and
      monoclonal antibodies due to their reduced side effects and simple chemical
      modifications. Despite such advantages, the difficulty with neuropeptides often
      relies on their poor metabolic stability and reduced biological activity
      intervals. Among the neuropeptides, VIP has been identified as a potentially
      bioactive agent for inflammatory, neurodegenerative, and cancer-related diseases.
      However, the effective translation of preclinical studies related to VIP to
      clinical realities faces several major challenges, most of which are commonplace
      for other neuropeptides. Here, we present recent studies aimed at developing
      nanostructured organic and inorganic systems either for the appropriate delivery
      of VIP or for VIP targeting. These technologies stand as an alternative starting
      point for chemical manipulations of the neuropeptides in order to improve
      potency, selectivity, or pharmacokinetic parameters.

PMID- 25819280
TI  - Implications of protein- and Peptide-based nanoparticles as potential vehicles
      for anticancer drugs.
AB  - Protein-based nanocarriers have gained considerable attention as colloidal
      carrier systems for the delivery of anticancer drugs. Protein nanocarriers
      possess various advantages including their low cytotoxicity, abundant renewable
      sources, high drug-binding capacity, and significant uptake into the targeted
      tumor cells. Moreover, the unique protein structure offers the possibility of
      site-specific drug conjugation and tumor targeting using various ligands
      modifying the surface of protein nanocarriers. In this chapter, we highlight the
      most important applications of protein nanoparticles (NPs) for the delivery of
      anticancer drugs. We examine the various techniques that have been utilized for
      the preparation of anticancer drug-loaded protein NPs. Finally, the current
      chapter also reviews the major outcomes of the in vitro and in vivo
      investigations of surface-modified tumor-targeted protein NPs.

PMID- 25819281
TI  - Polysaccharide nanoparticles for protein and Peptide delivery: exploring less
      known materials.
AB  - Finding adequate carriers for protein and peptide delivery has become an urgent
      need, owing to the growing number of macromolecules identified as having
      therapeutic potential. Nanoparticles have emerged in the field as very promising
      vehicles and much work has been directed to testing the capacity of different
      materials to compose the matrix of these carriers. Natural materials and,
      specifically, polysaccharides have been taking the forefront of the challenge,
      because of several favoring properties that include the higher propensity to
      exhibit biodegradability and biocompatibility, and also the high structural
      flexibility. The majority of works found in the literature regarding
      polysaccharide nanoparticles uses very popular materials like chitosan or
      hyaluronic acid. This review is aimed at describing and exploring the potential
      of polysaccharides that are not so well known or that are less explored. For
      those, the main properties will be described, together with an overview of the
      reported applications as nanoparticle matrix materials.

PMID- 25819282
TI  - Bioconjugation of silk fibroin nanoparticles with enzyme and Peptide and their
      characterization.
AB  - Bombyx mori silk fibroin is a type of protein-based polymer with unique
      characteristics that is widely used in the research and development of medical
      biomaterials. The degummed filament of silk fibroin can be dissolved in a highly
      concentrated salt solution. After desalination, the regenerated liquid silk
      fibroin (LSF) solution could be made into various forms of silk biomaterials,
      such as powder, fiber, film, porous matrix, 3D scaffold, and hydrogel, depending
      on its application. In this study, we mixed the liquid silk solution with
      enzymes, including oxidase and hydrolase, and rapidly injected the mixture into
      an excess of acetone. The enzyme retained most of its enzymatic activity and was
      also captured in silk fibroin nanoparticles (SFNs), which instantly formed via a
      configuration transition of the regenerated silk protein from a random coil and
      alpha-helix to a beta-sheet. The resulting enzyme-captured SFNs displayed a fine
      crystal structure with a high activity recovery and good thermal stability.
      Moreover, the affinities of these modified enzymes to their substrate did not
      evidently suffer from the capture. When only the liquid silk solution was rapidly
      injected into acetone, the resulting globular SFNs with the same crystallinity
      were also a good carrier that was covalently conjugated to enzymes and insulin.
      Thus, silk protein nanoparticles are of potential value as an enzyme or peptide
      delivery system for the research and development of medical biomaterials. In this
      report, the bioconjugation of SFNs with glucose oxidase, superoxidase, beta
      glucosidase, L-asparaginase, neutral protease, and insulin and their
      characterization are described in detail.

PMID- 25819284
TI  - Preface.

PMID- 25819283
TI  - Food-grade protein-based nanoparticles and microparticles for bioactive delivery:
      fabrication, characterization, and utilization.
AB  - Proteins can be used to fabricate nanoparticles and microparticles suitable for
      use as delivery systems for bioactive compounds in pharmaceutical, food,
      cosmetic, and other products. Food proteins originate from various animal or
      vegetal sources and exhibit a wide diversity of molecular and physicochemical
      characteristics, e.g., molecular weight, conformation, flexibility, polarity,
      charge, isoelectric point, solubility, and interactions. As a result, protein
      particles can be assembled using numerous different preparation methods, from one
      or more types of protein or from a combination of a protein and another type of
      biopolymer (usually a polysaccharide). The final characteristics of the particles
      produced are determined by the proteins and/or polysaccharides used, as well as
      the fabrication techniques employed. This chapter provides an overview of the
      functional properties of food proteins that can be used to assemble nanoparticles
      and microparticles, the fabrication techniques available to create those
      particles, the factors that influence their stability, and their potential
      applications within the food industry.

PMID- 25819285
TI  - Aerosol-assisted extraction of silicon nanoparticles from wafer slicing waste for
      lithium ion batteries.
AB  - A large amount of silicon debris particles are generated during the slicing of
      silicon ingots into thin wafers for the fabrication of integrated-circuit chips
      and solar cells. This results in a significant loss of valuable materials at
      about 40% of the mass of ingots. In addition, a hazardous silicon sludge waste is
      produced containing largely debris of silicon, and silicon carbide, which is a
      common cutting material on the slicing saw. Efforts in material recovery from the
      sludge and recycling have been largely directed towards converting silicon or
      silicon carbide into other chemicals. Here, we report an aerosol-assisted method
      to extract silicon nanoparticles from such sludge wastes and their use in lithium
      ion battery applications. Using an ultrasonic spray-drying method, silicon
      nanoparticles can be directly recovered from the mixture with high efficiency and
      high purity for making lithium ion battery anode. The work here demonstrated a
      relatively low cost approach to turn wafer slicing wastes into much higher value
      added materials for energy applications, which also helps to increase the
      sustainability of semiconductor material and device manufacturing. 

PMID- 25819286
TI  - Transthyretin V122I amyloidosis with clinical and histological evidence of
      amyloid neuropathy and myopathy.
AB  - Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) is a genetically and clinically
      heterogeneous disease manifesting with predominant peripheral and autonomic
      neuropathy; cardiomyopathy, or both. ATTR V122I is the most common variant
      associated with non-neuropathic familial amyloid cardiomyopathy. We present an
      unusual case of V122I amyloidosis with features of amyloid neuropathy and
      myopathy, supported by histological confirmation in both sites and diffuse tracer
      uptake on (99m)Tc-3,3-Diphosphono-1,2-Propanodicarboxylic acid (DPD) scintigraphy
      throughout skeletal and cardiac muscle. A 64 year old Jamaican man presented with
      cardiac failure. Cardiac MR revealed infiltrative cardiomyopathy; abdominal fat
      aspirate confirmed the presence of amyloid, and he was homozygous for the V122I
      variant of transthyretin. He also described general weakness and EMG demonstrated
      myopathic features. Sural nerve and vastus lateralis biopsy showed TTR amyloid.
      The patient is being treated with diflunisal, an oral TTR stabilising agent.
      Symptomatic myopathy and neuropathy with confirmation of tissue amyloid
      deposition has not previously been described. Extracardiac amyloidosis has
      implications for diagnosis and treatment. 

PMID- 25819287
TI  - Is high dose rate brachytherapy reliable and effective treatment for prostate
      cancer patients? A review of the literature.
AB  - The intrinsic physical and radiobiological characteristics of High Dose Rate
      Brachytherapy (HDR-BT) are well suited to the treatment of prostate cancer. HDR
      BT was initially used as a boost to external beam brachytherapy, but has
      subsequently been employed as the sole treatment, which is termed HDR
      monotherapy. This review summarizes the clinical outcomes and toxicity results of
      the principal studies and discusses the radiobiological basis supporting its use.

PMID- 25819288
TI  - Longitudinal relationships between language and verbal short-term memory skills
      in children with Down syndrome.
AB  - Children with Down syndrome are at risk for language difficulties, the nature of
      which is not well understood. This study compared the longitudinal predictors of
      language skills in children with Down syndrome with those in typically developing
      control children matched for initial level of nonverbal mental ability. An age
      cohort of children with Down syndrome (n=43) and 57 typically developing control
      children was assessed on measures of vocabulary, grammar, and verbal short-term
      memory three times at yearly intervals. Children with Down syndrome showed slower
      development on all measures than the typically developing controls. Longitudinal
      analyses showed moderate to high stability of language and verbal short-term
      memory skills. Our results confirm earlier evidence of pervasive language
      learning difficulties in this group and suggest that early language intervention
      should be given high priority.

PMID- 25819289
TI  - One-stage cosmetic finger reconstruction using a second toe island flap
      containing terminal branches of the toe artery.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: A finger reconstructed by toe transfer may have morphological
      defects. We report the results of second toe transfer for 1-stage finger
      reconstruction with an island flap based on terminal branches of the toe artery.
      HYPOTHESIS: The technique can improve the morphological outcomes of reconstructed
      fingers. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Between January 2008 and June 2011, toe-to-finger
      transfer was performed for 36 fingers in 31 patients. An island flap containing
      terminal branches of the toe artery was embedded in the neck of the second toe to
      eliminate the morphological defect caused by stenosis in that area. RESULTS: All
      reconstructed fingers and all flaps survived. No donor site complications
      occurred. The mean follow-up was 8 months (range, 5 to 25 months). The morphology
      of the reconstructed finger was close to that of a normal finger, and a natural
      transition could be observed in the finger pulp, the finger neck, and the
      junction between the toe and the finger. Sensory recovery of the finger pulp
      ranged from S1 to S3+. The mean pinch strength of the reconstructed fingers was
      48% to 60% of that of the contralateral side. The mean DASH scores were 52.9,
      48.9, and 46.0 for patients that had the index, third, and fourth fingers
      reconstructed, respectively, and the lowest mean aesthetic score was 70.
      DISCUSSION: The method provides good aesthetic and functional outcomes, and
      overcomes aesthetic difficulties associated with other methods of toe transfer
      for finger reconstruction.

PMID- 25819290
TI  - Treatment of dystonia in extensor hallucis longus and digitorum muscles with
      neurotomy of the branches of the deep fibular nerve: Preliminary results.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Dystonia in extensor hallucis and/or digitorum muscles can be
      observed in pyramidal and extrapyramidal lesions and results in pain in these
      toes, spontaneous or when walking, problems and discomfort when putting on shoes
      and socks, and cutaneous lesions on the toes. The objective of this study was to
      assess the efficacy and safety of deep fibular nerve neurotomy for the extensor
      hallucis longus (EHL) and/or the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) branches in the
      treatment of extension dystonia of the hallux and/or other toes. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: A deep fibular nerve neurotomy was performed in 20 patients (n=19 for
      the EHL, n=6 for the EDL). We retrospectively analyzed the treatment's efficacy
      and safety and assessed the patients' self-reported improvement and overall
      treatment satisfaction. RESULTS: Dystonia totally disappeared in 15 cases (75%);
      it persisted at a minimal level in the other patients. The patients reported a
      decrease in pain (P<0.01) and fewer difficulties putting on shoes and socks
      (P<0.001) and had a high median level of satisfaction (8.5/10). Adverse effects
      were rare and transient. The identification of the nerve branches was sometimes
      difficult. DISCUSSION: Deep fibular nerve neurotomy for the EHL and/or EDL
      branches seems to be an effective treatment for extension dystonia of the hallux
      and/or other toes and its consequences for the adult neurological patient.
      However, these encouraging preliminary results should be confirmed by
      prospective, longer-term studies.

PMID- 25819291
TI  - Abridged republication of FIGO's staging classification for cancer of the ovary,
      fallopian tube, and peritoneum.

PMID- 25819292
TI  - Recognizing the journey and celebrating the achievement of cochlear implants.

PMID- 25819294
TI  - Extract of Bowdichia virgilioides and maackiain as larvicidal agent against Aedes
      aegypti mosquito.
AB  - The larvicidal activities of extracts of three hardwood species (Hymenaea
      stigonorcapa, Anadenanthera colubrina and Bowdichia virgilioides) against 4th
      instar larvae of Aedes aegypti were evaluated using WHO guidelines. Extracts of
      H. stignocarpa and A. colubrina showed weak activity. The highest larvicidal
      effect was obtained with the cyclohexane extract of the heartwood of B.
      virgilioides, which caused 100% mortality at concentrations at 50 and 100 ug/mL.
      Fraction toluene/EtOAc (8:2) from this extract showed larvicidal activity (LC50 =
      34.90 +/- 1.27 ug/mL). A mixture of two compounds identified as medicarpin and
      maackiain exhibited a very good larvicidal activity (sub-fraction 2, LC50 = 17.5
      +/- 1.87 ug/mL) and maackiain showed to be a strong larvicidal compound (LC50 =
      21.95 +/- 1.34 ug/mL). This result can be of value in the search for new natural
      larvicidal compounds from other hardwood plant extracts and presents the first
      report of B. virgilioides being used to control a mosquito vector.

PMID- 25819293
TI  - Enhancing Parent-Child Communication and Parental Self-Esteem With a Video
      Feedback Intervention: Outcomes With Prelingual Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing
      Children.
AB  - Evidence on best practice for optimizing communication with prelingual deaf and
      hard-of-hearing (DHH) children is lacking. This study examined the effect of a
      family-focused psychosocial video intervention program on parent-child
      communication in the context of childhood hearing loss. Fourteen hearing parents
      with a prelingual DHH child (Mage = 2 years 8 months) completed three sessions of
      video interaction guidance intervention. Families were assessed in spontaneous
      free play interactions at pre and postintervention using the Emotional
      Availability (EA) Scales. The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale was also used to assess
      parental report of self-esteem. Compared with nontreatment baselines, increases
      were shown in the EA subscales: parental sensitivity, parental structuring,
      parental nonhostility, child responsiveness, and child involvement, and in
      reported self-esteem at postintervention. Video-feedback enhances communication
      in families with prelingual DHH children and encourages more connected parent
      child interaction. The results raise implications regarding the focus of early
      intervention strategies for prelingual DHH children. 

PMID- 25819295
TI  - Cymbopogon citratus-synthesized gold nanoparticles boost the predation efficiency
      of copepod Mesocyclops aspericornis against malaria and dengue mosquitoes.
AB  - Plant-borne compounds can be employed to synthesize mosquitocidal nanoparticles
      that are effective at low doses. However, how they affect the activity of
      mosquito predators in the aquatic environment is unknown. In this study, we
      synthesized gold nanoparticles (AuN) using the leaf extract of Cymbopogon
      citratus, which acted as a reducing and capping agent. AuN were characterized by
      a variety of biophysical methods and sorted for size in order to confirm
      structural integrity. C. citratus extract and biosynthesized AuN were tested
      against larvae and pupae of the malaria vector Anopheles stephensi and the dengue
      vector Aedes aegypti. LC50 of C. citratus extract ranged from 219.32 ppm to
      471.36 ppm. LC50 of AuN ranged from 18.80 ppm to 41.52 ppm. In laboratory, the
      predatory efficiency of the cyclopoid crustacean Mesocyclops aspericornis against
      A. stephensi larvae was 26.8% (larva I) and 17% (larva II), while against A.
      aegypti was 56% (I) and 35.1% (II). Predation against late-instar larvae was
      minimal. In AuN-contaminated environment,predation efficiency against A.
      stephensi was 45.6% (I) and 26.7% (II), while against A. aegypti was 77.3% (I)
      and 51.6% (II). Overall, low doses of AuN may help to boost the control of
      Anopheles and Aedes larval populations in copepod-based control programs.

PMID- 25819296
TI  - Characterization of a gut-associated asparaginyl endopeptidase of Clonorchis
      sinensis.
AB  - Asparaginyl endopeptidases (AEP: EC 3.4.22.34) are a family of cysteine proteases
      classified into the MEROPS clan CD, family C13. In this study, we characterized
      the biochemical and antigenic properties of an AEP of Clonorchis sinensis
      (CsAEP). The recombinant CsAEP showed hydrolytic activity at pH values ranging
      from acidic to neutral with optimum activity at pH 6.0. While the recombinant
      CsAEP was stable at neutral pHs, it was unstable at acidic pHs and resulted in
      loss of enzymatic activity. The recombinant enzyme was effectively inhibited by
      iodoacetic acid and N-ethylmaleimide, but not by E-64. The partially purified
      native CsAEP showed biochemical properties similar to the recombinant enzyme.
      Native CsAEP is likely to be cleaved into an N-terminal mature enzyme and a C
      terminal fragment via autocatalytic activation at acidic pHs. Polyclonal antibody
      raised against the recombinant CsAEP recognized three forms of CsAEP, proenzyme,
      the N-terminal mature enzyme and the C-terminal fragment, in the worm extract
      (WE) of C. sinensis. However, only the C-terminal fragment was mainly found in
      the excretory and secretory (ES) products of the parasite. Strong CsAEP activity
      was found in the WE, but only a trace level of CsAEP activity was detected in the
      ES products of the parasite. CsAEP was expressed in various developmental stages
      of C. sinensis, from metacercariae to adults, and was found to be localized in
      the intestine of the parasite as well as in intestinal contents. Sera from rats
      experimentally infected with C. sinensis reacted with CsAEP beginning 4 weeks
      after infection. These results suggest that CsAEP is a gut-associated enzyme
      synthesized in the intestine of C. sinensis and subsequently secreted into the
      intestinal lumen of the parasite. 

PMID- 25819298
TI  - Induction of Sd(a)-sialomucin and sulfated H-sulfomucin in mouse small intestinal
      mucosa by infection with parasitic helminth.
AB  - Mucin is a major component of mucus on gastrointestinal mucosa. Mucin alteration
      in the host is considered to be the principal event for expulsion of intestinal
      helminths. However, it is unclear what mucin alterations are induced by various
      helminth infections. In this study, the alterations of mouse small intestinal
      mucin after infection with two nematodes, Nippostrongylus brasiliensis and
      Heligmosomoides polygyrus, which parasitize the jejunal epithelium, and a
      cestode, Vampirolepis nana, which parasitizes the ileal epithelium, were examined
      biochemically and histologically using two anti-mucin monoclonal antibodies
      (mAbs), HCM31 and PGM34, which recognize Sd(a) antigen, NeuAcalpha2-3(GalNAcbeta1
      4)Galbeta1-4GlcNAcbeta-, and sulphated H type 2 antigen, Fucalpha1-2Galbeta1
      4GlcNAc(6SO3H)beta-, respectively. The goblet cell mucins that reacted with HCM31
      increased conspicuously on the jejunal mucosa concurrently with expulsion of N.
      brasiliensis. Increased levels of HCM31-reactive mucins were observed in the
      jejunal mucosa after H. polygyrus infection, despite the ongoing parasitism.
      Goblet cell mucins that reacted with PGM34 increased on the ileal mucosa during
      V. nana parasitism. Small intestinal goblet cells reacting with the two mAbs were
      not observed in non-infected mice, although sialomucins and sulfomucins were
      abundantly present. Additionally, the number of ileal goblet cells that reacted
      with the two mAbs was increased at the time of expulsion of heterophyid
      trematode. These results indicate that the type of specific acidic mucins
      expressed after infection varies among species of intestinal helminth, and,
      furthermore, that the relationship with worm expulsion is also different.

PMID- 25819299
TI  - Kinetic and biochemical characterization of Trypanosoma evansi nucleoside
      triphosphate diphosphohydrolase.
AB  - Nucleoside triphosphate diphospho-hydrolases (NTPDases) catalyze the hydrolysis
      of several nucleosides tri and diphosphate playing major roles in eukaryotes
      including purinergic signaling, inflammation, hemostasis, purine salvage and host
      pathogen interactions. These enzymes have been recently described in parasites
      where several evidences indicated their involvement in virulence and infection.
      Here, we have investigated the presence of NTPDase in the genome of Trypanosoma
      evansi. Based on the genomic sequence from Trypanosoma brucei, we have amplified
      an 1812 gene fragment corresponding to the T. evansi NTPDase gene. The protein
      was expressed in the soluble form and purified to homogeneity and enzymatic
      assays were performed confirming the enzyme identity. Kinetic parameters and
      substrate specificity were determined. The dependence of cations on enzymatic
      activity was investigated indicating the enzyme is stimulated by divalent cations
      and carbohydrates but inhibited by sodium. Bioinformatic analysis indicates the
      enzyme is a membrane bound protein facing the extracellular side of the cell with
      98% identity to the T. brucei homologous NTPDase gene. 

PMID- 25819297
TI  - Immuno-evasive tactics by schistosomes identify an effective allergy
      preventative.
AB  - Many chronic inflammatory diseases can be improved by helminth infection, but the
      mechanisms are poorly understood. Allergy and helminthiasis are both associated
      with Th2-like immune responses; thus, defining how infection with parasites leads
      to reduced allergy has been particularly challenging. We sought to better
      understand this conundrum by evaluating host-parasite interactions involved in
      Th2 immunity in human schistosomiasis. Immune cells were cultured with
      schistosomes and the effect on CD23, an IgE receptor associated with resistance
      in schistosomiasis, was evaluated. Cells treated with schistosomes demonstrated
      reduced surface CD23 levels with a parallel accumulation of soluble (s) CD23
      suggesting this IgE receptor is proteolytically cleaved by the parasite.
      Consistent with this hypothesis, a schistosome-generated (SG)-sCD23 fragment of
      15 kDa was identified. SG-sCD23 inhibited IgE from binding to CD23 and
      FcepsilonRI, but lacked the ability to bind CD21. These results suggested that
      schistosomes target IgE-mediated immunity in immuno-evasive tactics. Based on its
      characteristics, we predicted that SG-sCD23 would function as an efficacious
      allergy preventative. Treatment of human FcepsilonRI-transgenic mice with
      recombinant (r) SG-sCD23 reduced the ability of human IgE to induce an acute
      allergic response in vivo. In addition, an optimized form of rSG-sCD23 with an
      introduced point mutation at Asp258 (D258E)to stabilize IgE binding had increased
      efficacy compared to native rSG-sCD23. Schistosome infection may thus inhibit
      allergic-like protective immune responses by increasing soluble IgE decoy
      receptors. Allergy treatments based on this naturally occurring phenomenon may be
      highly effective and have fewer side effects with long-term use. 

PMID- 25819300
TI  - Clearing up misunderstandings around core outcomes for atopic dermatitis.

PMID- 25819301
TI  - Cardiac magnetic resonance: Is it time to replace the endomyocardial biopsy to
      detect heart transplant rejection?

PMID- 25819302
TI  - Organ donation after death of chronic lung allograft dysfunction patients.

PMID- 25819303
TI  - Making governance work in the health care sector: evidence from a 'natural
      experiment' in Italy.
AB  - The Italian Health care System provides universal coverage for comprehensive
      health services and is mainly financed through general taxation. Since the early
      1990s, a strong decentralization policy has been adopted in Italy and the state
      has gradually ceded its jurisdiction to regional governments, of which there are
      twenty. These regions now have political, administrative, fiscal and
      organizational responsibility for the provision of health care. This paper
      examines the different governance models that the regions have adopted and
      investigates the performance evaluation systems (PESs) associated with them,
      focusing on the experience of a network of ten regional governments that share
      the same PES. The article draws on the wide range of governance models and PESs
      in order to design a natural experiment. Through an analysis of 14 indicators
      measured in 2007 and in 2012 for all the regions, the study examines how
      different performance evaluation models are associated with different health care
      performances and whether the network-shared PES has made any difference to the
      results achieved by the regions involved. The initial results support the idea
      that systematic benchmarking and public disclosure of data are powerful tools to
      guarantee the balanced and sustained improvement of the health care systems, but
      only if they are integrated with the regional governance mechanisms. 

PMID- 25819304
TI  - Review article: spontaneous bacterial peritonitis--bacteriology, diagnosis,
      treatment, risk factors and prevention.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a severe and often fatal
      infection in patients with cirrhosis and ascites. AIM: To review the known and
      changing bacteriology, risk factors, ascitic fluid interpretation, steps in
      performing paracentesis, treatment, prophylaxis and evolving perspectives related
      to SBP. METHODS: Information was obtained from reviewing medical literature
      accessible on PubMed Central. The search term 'spontaneous bacterial peritonitis'
      was cross-referenced with 'bacteria', 'risk factors', 'ascites', 'paracentesis',
      'ascitic fluid analysis', 'diagnosis', 'treatment', 'antibiotics', 'prophylaxis',
      'liver transplantation' and 'nutrition'. RESULTS: Gram-positive cocci (GPC) such
      as Staphylococcus, Enterococcus as well as multi-resistant bacteria have become
      common pathogens and have changed the conventional approach to treatment of SBP.
      Health care-associated and nosocomial SBP infections should prompt greater
      vigilance and consideration for alternative antibiotic coverage. Acid suppressive
      and beta-adrenergic antagonist therapies are strongly associated with SBP in at
      risk individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Third-generation, broad-spectrum cephalosporins
      remain a good initial choice for SBP treatment. Levofloxacin is an acceptable
      alternative for patients not receiving long-term flouroquinolone prophylaxis or
      for those with a penicillin allergy. For uncomplicated SBP, early oral switch
      therapy is reasonable. Alternative antibiotics such as pipercillin-tazobactam
      should be considered for patients with nosocomial SBP or for patients who fail to
      improve on traditional antibiotic regimens. Selective albumin supplementation
      remains an important adjunct in SBP treatment. Withholding acid suppressive
      medication deserves strong consideration, and discontinuing beta-adrenergic
      antagonist therapy in patients with end-stage liver disease and resistant ascites
      is standard care. Liver transplant evaluation should be undertaken for patients
      who develop SBP barring contraindications.

PMID- 25819305
TI  - Beware of multiplicity problems in clinical trials.

PMID- 25819306
TI  - Memory detection using fMRI - does the encoding context matter?
AB  - Recent research revealed that the presentation of crime related details during
      the Concealed Information Test (CIT) reliably activates a network of bilateral
      inferior frontal, right medial frontal and right temporal-parietal brain regions.
      However, the ecological validity of these findings as well as the influence of
      the encoding context are still unclear. To tackle these questions, three
      different groups of subjects participated in the current study. Two groups of
      guilty subjects encoded critical details either only by planning (guilty
      intention group) or by really enacting (guilty action group) a complex, realistic
      mock crime. In addition, a group of informed innocent subjects encoded half of
      the relevant details in a neutral context. Univariate analyses showed robust
      activation differences between known relevant compared to neutral details in the
      previously identified ventral frontal-parietal network with no differences
      between experimental groups. Moreover, validity estimates for average changes in
      neural activity were similar between groups when focusing on the known details
      and did not differ substantially from the validity of electrodermal recordings.
      Additional multivariate analyses provided evidence for differential patterns of
      activity in the ventral fronto-parietal network between the guilty action and the
      informed innocent group and yielded higher validity coefficients for the
      detection of crime related knowledge when relying on whole brain data. Together,
      these findings demonstrate that an fMRI-based CIT enables the accurate detection
      of concealed crime related memories, largely independent of encoding context. On
      the one hand, this indicates that even persons who planned a (mock) crime could
      be validly identified as having specific crime related knowledge. On the other
      hand, innocents with such knowledge have a high risk of failing the test, at
      least when considering univariate changes of neural activation.

PMID- 25819307
TI  - Pulmonary embolism severity index, age-based markers and evaluation in the
      emergency department.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the severity of pulmonary
      embolism in the emergency department using vital signs and age-based vital
      parameters and compare these parameters with pulmonary embolism severity index
      (PESI) score. METHODS: Between January 2011 and October 2014, there were 284
      patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism in the Emergency Unit of Selcuk
      University Hospital. Patient records were reviewed retrospectively. The PESI
      scores were calculated, and patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups.
      Shock index (SI), age-based shock index (SIA), maximum heart rate (MHR), minpulse
      (MP) and pulse maximum index (PMI) were calculated. The association of these
      parameters with PESI was evaluated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve
      analysis was performed to evaluate the association of risk and mortality with age
      based markers. RESULTS: There were 75 men (43%) in the 173 patients included in
      the study. The PESI classification showed 54 patients in the low-risk group and
      119 patients in the high-risk group. Mortality was higher in the PESI high-risk
      group, and no deaths occurred in the low-risk group. Comparison of the age-based
      markers and PESI for patients who died or survived showed that AUC for PESI was
      0.807, AUC for SI was 0.824 and AUC for SIA was 0.825. CONCLUSIONS: The SIA risk
      classification was more efficient than SI in pulmonary embolism patients who
      presented to the emergency unit. The SIA was more accurate than SI or PESI in
      predicting mortality.

PMID- 25819308
TI  - Evaluation of peptide nucleic acid-mediated multiplex real-time PCR kits for
      rapid detection of carbapenemase genes in gram-negative clinical isolates.
AB  - The emergence of clinical isolates of carbapenemase-producing microbes confers
      multidrug-resistance to these bacteria and renders them difficult to treat. This
      study was performed to evaluate peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe-based multiplex
      real-time PCR kits used to detect carbapenemase genes. In total, 324
      carbapenemase genes, collected from 318 gram-negative clinical isolates in 36
      different hospital laboratories, were assayed to evaluate multiplex real-time PCR
      kits (PANAGENE; Daejeon, Korea). The nine most prevalent carbapenemase genes
      (KPC, OXA-48, GES, IMP, VIM, NDM, ISAba1-OXA-51, OXA-23, and OXA-58) were
      included in this study. The sensitivity and specificity of the multiplex real
      time PCR assay to all of the carbapenemase genes were above 99.0%, except for
      ISAba1-OXA-51. The detection limit of the assay was 100 target copies per 25 MUL
      of reaction volume for all of the nine genetic types of carbapenemases, and the
      genes were all detected in a single three-hour PCR. The assay also showed
      considerable efficiency (above 80.0%), stable reproducibility (coefficient of
      variation, below 5.0%) and a long shelf-life (more than eight months) with no
      cross reactivity. The developed PNA-mediated multiplex real-time PCR assay was
      useful for the rapid, accurate and simultaneous identification of nine
      carbapenemase genes in gram-negative clinical isolates, suggesting its potential
      to help choose the appropriate antibiotics and aid the control of carbapenemase
      genes.

PMID- 25819309
TI  - Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for the biosynthesis of various
      phenylpropanoid derivatives.
AB  - Plants produce a variety of natural products with promising biological
      activities, such as the phenylpropanoids resveratrol and curcumin. While these
      molecules are naturally assembled through dedicated plant metabolic pathways,
      combinatorial biosynthesis has become an attractive tool to generate desired
      molecules. In this work, we demonstrated that biosynthetic enzymes from different
      sources can be recombined like legos to make various molecules. Seven
      biosynthetic genes from plants and bacteria were used to establish a variety of
      complete biosynthetic pathways in Escherichia coli to make valuable compounds.
      Different combinations of these biosynthetic bricks were made to design
      rationally various natural product pathways, yielding four phenylpropanoid acids
      (cinnamic acid, p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid, and ferulic acid), three bioactive
      natural stilbenoids (resveratrol, piceatannol and pinosylvin), and three natural
      curcuminoids (curcumin, bisdemethoxycurcumin and dicinnamoylmethane). A curcumin
      analog dicaffeoylmethane was synthesized by removing a methyltransferase from the
      curcumin biosynthetic pathway. Furthermore, introduction of a fungal flavin
      dependent halogenase into the resveratrol biosynthetic pathway yielded a novel
      chlorinated molecule 2-chloro-resveratrol. This work thus provides a novel and
      efficient biosynthetic approach to creating various bioactive molecules. Further
      expansion of the library of the biosynthetic bricks will provide a resource for
      rational design of various phenylpropanoids via the combinatorial biosynthesis
      approach. 

PMID- 25819310
TI  - Pharmacovigilance in children: detecting adverse drug reactions in routine
      electronic healthcare records. A systematic review.
AB  - AIMS: A systematic review of the literature published in English over 10 years
      was undertaken in order to describe the use of electronic healthcare data in the
      identification of potential adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in children. METHODS:
      MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched using MESH headings and text words. Titles,
      keywords and abstracts were checked for age <18 years, potential ADRs and
      electronic healthcare data. Information extracted included age, data source,
      pharmacovigilance method, medicines and ADRs. Studies were quality assessed.
      RESULTS: From 14 804 titles, 314 had a full text review and 71 were included in
      the final review. Fifty were published in North America, 10 in Scandinavia. Study
      size ranged from less than 1000 children to more than 10 million. Sixty per cent
      of studies used data from one source. Comparative observational studies were most
      commonly reported (66.2%) with 15% using passive surveillance. Electronic
      healthcare data set linkage and the quality of the data source were poorly
      reported. ADRs were classified using the International Classification of Disease
      (ICD10). Multi-system reactions were most commonly studied, followed by central
      nervous system and mental and behavioural disorders. Vaccines were most
      frequently prescribed followed by corticosteroids, general anaesthetics and
      antidepressants. CONCLUSIONS: Routine electronic healthcare records were
      increasingly reported to be used for pharmacovigilance in children. This growing
      and important health protection activity could be enhanced by consistent
      reporting of studies to improve the identification, interpretation and
      generalizability of the evidence base.

PMID- 25819311
TI  - Asia-Pacific consensus statements on Crohn's disease. Part 2: Management.
AB  - The Asia Pacific Working Group on Inflammatory Bowel Disease was established in
      Cebu, Philippines, at the Asia Pacific Digestive Week conference in 2006 under
      the auspices of the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology (APAGE) with
      the goal of developing best management practices, coordinating research and
      raising awareness of IBD in the region. The consensus group previously published
      recommendations for the diagnosis and management of ulcerative colitis (UC) with
      specific relevance to the Asia-Pacific region. The present consensus statements
      were developed following a similar process to address the epidemiology, diagnosis
      and management of Crohn's disease (CD). The goals of these statements are to pool
      the pertinent literature specifically highlighting relevant data and conditions
      in the Asia-Pacific region relating to the economy, health systems, background
      infectious diseases, differential diagnoses and treatment availability. It does
      not intend to be all-comprehensive and future revisions are likely to be required
      in this ever-changing field. 

PMID- 25819312
TI  - Physicochemical properties of potential porphyrin photosensitizers for
      photodynamic therapy.
AB  - This research evaluated the suitability of synthetic photosensitizers for their
      use as potential photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy using steady state and
      time-resolved spectroscopic techniques. Four tetraphenylporphyrin derivatives
      were studied in ethanol and dimethyl sulfoxide. The spectroscopic properties
      namely electronic absorption and emission spectra, ability to generate singlet
      oxygen, lifetimes of the triplet state, as well as their fluorescence quantum
      yield were determined. Also time-correlated single photon counting method was
      used to precisely determine fluorescence lifetimes for all four compounds. Tested
      compounds exhibit high generation of singlet oxygen, low generation of
      fluorescence and they are chemical stable during irradiation. The studies show
      that the tested porphyrins satisfy the conditions of a potential drug in terms of
      physicochemical properties. 

PMID- 25819313
TI  - Resonance light scattering spectroscopy of procyanidin-CPB-DNA ternary system and
      its potential application.
AB  - A new method for the determination of calf thymus DNA at nanogram level was
      proposed based on the enhanced resonance light scattering (RLS) signals of DNA in
      the presence of procyanidin and cetylpyridinium bromide dihydrate (CPB). Under
      the experimental conditions, the RLS intensity of DNA at 291.0 nm was greatly
      enhanced by procyanidin-CPB at pH 7.0. There was a good linear relationship
      (r=0.9993) between the enhanced RLS intensity (DeltaI(RLS)) and DNA concentration
      of 0.0084-3.36 MUg mL(-1). The limit of detection (LOD) was 2.27 ng mL(-1)
      (3S0/S). Three synthetic DNA samples were measured with satisfactory, and the
      recovery was 102.3-107.2%.

PMID- 25819314
TI  - Synthesis and spectroscopical study of rhodanine derivative using DFT approaches.
AB  - The optimized molecular structure, vibrational frequencies, corresponding
      vibrational assignments of (E)-5-benzylidene-2-thioxothiazolidine-4-one (E5BTTO)
      have been investigated experimentally and theoretically based on Density
      Functional Theory (DFT) approach. The FT-Raman and FT-IR spectra of E5BTTO were
      recorded in solid phase. Theoretical calculations were performed at the DFT level
      using the Gaussian 03 program. The experimental bands were assigned and
      characterized on the basis of the scaled theoretical wavenumber by their Total
      Energy Distribution (TED). The results of the calculation were applied to
      simulate infrared and raman spectra of the title compound which showed good
      agreement with the observed spectra. The calculated HOMO and LUMO energies show
      that charge transfer occur within the molecule. Stability arising from
      hyperconjugative interactions leading to its NLO activity and charge
      delocalization were analyzed using Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analysis. 

PMID- 25819315
TI  - Electrolytic coloration below 0 degrees C and spectral properties of ammonium
      alum crystals using a pointed anode.
AB  - Ammonium alum crystals are colored electrolytically below 0 degrees C and under
      various voltages using a pointed anode and a flat cathode. SO2(-), O3(-), O2(-),
      O(-) hole-trapped centers and O(0), O(2-), H(+) radicals are produced in colored
      ammonium alum crystals. The absorption bands of the SO2(-) and O3(-) hole-trapped
      centers are observed in the absorption spectra of the colored ammonium alum
      crystals. The hole-trapped centers and radicals come mainly from the electric
      field-induced decomposition of the SO4(2-) radicals and crystalline water
      molecules. Current is measured during electrolytic coloration. Electron exchanges
      from electrons and small charged radicals to electrodes induce complete current. 

PMID- 25819316
TI  - Quantum dots and ionic liquid-sensitized effect as an efficient and green
      catalyst for the sensitive determination of glucose.
AB  - A novel fluorescence (FL) method using water-soluble CdSe quantum dots (QDs) is
      proposed for the fluorometric determination of hydrogen peroxide and glucose.
      Water-soluble CdSe QDs were synthesized by using thioglycolic acid as stabilizer
      in aqueous solutions. The nanoparticles were structurally and optically
      characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS),
      Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy,
      photoluminescence (PL) emission spectroscopy and transmission electron microscope
      (TEM). Ionic liquid-sensitized effect in aqueous solution was then investigated.
      In the presence of ionic liquid as catalyst, H2O2 was decomposed into radical
      that could quench the fluorescence of CdSe QDs more efficiently and rapidly. Then
      the oxidization of glucose by glucose oxidase was coupled with the fluorescence
      quenching of CdSe QDs by H2O2 producer with ionic liquid catalyst, which can be
      used to detect glucose. Therefore, a new FL analysis system was developed for the
      determination of glucose. Under the optimum conditions, there is a good linear
      relationship between the relative PL emission intensity and the concentration of
      glucose in the range of 5.0*10(-7)-1.0*10(-4) M of glucose with a correlation
      coefficient (R(2)) of 0.9973. The limit of detection of this system was found to
      be 1.0*10(-7) M. This method is not only simple, sensitive and low cost, but also
      reliable for practical applications.

PMID- 25819317
TI  - Photocatalytic activity of biogenic silver nanoparticles synthesized using potato
      (Solanum tuberosum) infusion.
AB  - In this study, we have reported a fast and eco-benign procedure to synthesis
      silver nanoparticle at room temperature using potato (Solanum tuberosum) infusion
      along with the study of its photocatalytic activity on methyl orange dye. After
      addition of potato infusion to silver nitrate solution, the color of the mixture
      changed indicating formation of silver nanoparticles. Time dependent UV-Vis
      spectra were obtained to study the rate of nanoparticle formation with time.
      Purity and crystallinity of the biogenic silver nanoparticles were examined by X
      ray diffraction (XRD). Average size and morphology of the nanoparticles were
      characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron
      microscopy (TEM). Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) was employed to
      detect functional bio-molecules responsible that contribute to the reduction and
      capping of biosynthesized Ag nanoparticles. Further, these synthesized
      nanoparticles were used to investigate their ability to degrade methyl orange dye
      under sunlight irradiation and the results showed effective photocatalytic
      property of these biogenic silver nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25819319
TI  - Rapid, synergistic extractive spectrophotometric determination of copper(II) by
      using sensitive chromogenic reagent N",N"'-bis[(E)-(4-fluorophenyl)
      methylidene]thiocarbonohydrazide.
AB  - A rapid and simple spectrophotometric method was developed for the determination
      of copper(II) by using newly synthesized chromogenic reagent, N",N"'-bis[(E)-(4
      fluorophenyl)methylidene]thiocarbonohydrazide [bis(4-fluoroPM)TCH]. The reagent
      is highly sensitive and it forms yellow colored ternary complex with copper(II)
      in presence pyridine having composition 1:1:2 (M:L:Py) in the acidic pH range.
      Absorption of colored complex in amyl acetate is measured with reagent as a blank
      at lambdamax 375 nm. The synergistic effect is observed due to pyridine forming
      adduct with reagent in the organic phase. Beer's law was obeyed in the
      concentration range from 2.0 to 14 MUg mL(-1) for copper(II)-[bis(4-fluoroPM)TCH]
      Py complex. Molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity values for Cu(II)-bis(4
      fluoroPM)TCH]-Py complex are 0.42545*10(5) and 0.0014 MUg/cm(2), respectively.
      The selectivity of the developed method was checked in the presence of various
      foreign ions. The developed method showed relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of
      0.13% for n=10. The composition of Cu(II)-[bis(4-fluoroPM)TCH]-Py complex was
      determined by known methods such as Job's method of continuous variation, mole
      ratio method and slope ratio method. It is found that the ternary complex is
      stable for more than 24h. Various factors influencing on the degree of
      complexation, such as, effect of pH, reagent concentration, synergent
      concentration, solvent etc. were studied. The accuracy and reliability of method
      was verified by AAS. This method is found to be simple, rapid and reproducible.

PMID- 25819318
TI  - DNA interaction, SOD, peroxidase and nuclease activity studies of iron complex
      having ligand with carboxamido nitrogen donors.
AB  - Complex (Et3HN)[Fe(III)(bpb)Cl2], 1 {where H2bpb: N,N'-(1,2
      phenylene)bis(pyridine-2-carboxamide)} was synthesized and characterized by
      reported procedure (Yang et al., 1991). Complex 1 was found to be effective in
      superoxide scavenging activity and an IC50 value of 4.1 MUM was obtained in
      xanthine-xanthine oxidase nitro blue tetrazolium assay. Peroxidase-like activity
      of this complex was determined by the oxidation of 2,2'-azino-bis(3
      ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS). DNA interaction studies of complex
      1 showed binding of DNA through external or groove binding. Complex 1 exhibited
      chemical nuclease activity in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and cleaved
      supercoiled pBR322 DNA to its linear and nicked circular form at physiological
      pH. Mechanistic studies indicated possible role of hydroxyl radical (.OH) species
      in DNA cleavage activity via hydroperoxo intermediate: [Fe(III)OOH(-)](2+)
      >[Fe(IV)O](2+)+(.)OH.

PMID- 25819320
TI  - Spectroscopic investigation (FT-IR and FT-Raman), vibrational assignments, HOMO
      LUMO, NBO, MEP analysis and molecular docking study of 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4,5
      dimethyl-1H-imidazole 3-oxide.
AB  - In this work, the vibrational spectral analysis was carried out using FT-IR and
      FT-Raman spectroscopy of 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4,5-dimethyl-1H-imidazole 3-oxide.
      The computations were performed at DFT levels of theory to get the optimized
      geometry and vibrational frequencies of the normal modes of the title compound
      using Gaussian09 software. The complete vibrational assignments of frequencies
      were made on the basis of potential energy distribution. The calculated HOMO and
      LUMO energies show the chemical activity of the molecule. The stability of the
      molecule arising from hyper-conjugative interaction and charge delocalization has
      been analyzed using NBO analysis. The hyperpolarizability values are reported and
      the first hyperpolarizability of the title compound is 19.61 times that of
      standard NLO material urea. From the MEP plot, the negative charge covers the
      nitro group and the positive region is over the hydroxyl group and N-H part of
      the imidazole ring. The calculated (1)H NMR results are in good agreement with
      experimental data. Molecular docking study is also reported. 

PMID- 25819321
TI  - Electro-bioremediation of contaminated sediment by electrode enhanced capping.
AB  - In-situ capping often eliminates or slows natural degradation of hydrocarbon due
      to the reducing conditions in the sediments. The purpose of this research was to
      demonstrate a reactive capping technique, an electrode enhanced cap, to produce
      favorable conditions for hydrocarbon degradation and evaluate this reactive
      capping technique for contaminated sediment remediation. Two graphite electrodes
      were placed horizontally at different layers in a cap and connected to external
      power of 2 V. Redox potentials increased and pH decreased around the anode.
      Phenanthrene concentration decreased and PAH degradation genes increased in the
      vicinity of the anode. Phenanthrene concentrations at 0-1 cm sediment beneath the
      anode decreased to ~50% of initial concentration over ~70 days, while
      phenanthrene levels in control reactor kept unchanged. A degradation model of
      electrode enhanced capping was developed to simulate reaction-diffusion
      processes, and model results show that a reaction-dominated region was created in
      the vicinity of the anode. Although the degradation dominated region was thin,
      transport processes in a sediment cap environment are typically sufficiently slow
      to allow this layer to serve as a permeable reactive barrier for hydrocarbon
      decontamination. 

PMID- 25819322
TI  - Idiopathic hyperammonemia after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: A case
      report.
AB  - IHA is characterized by a sudden increase in plasma ammonia levels in the absence
      of any identifiable causes, which mostly results in intractable coma and high
      mortality. It has been reported in some patients after receiving intensive
      chemotherapy for hematological malignancy or HSCT. We describe a case of a
      patient with FA that developed acute idiopathic hyperammonemia after the
      preparative regimen for HSCT. 

PMID- 25819323
TI  - Impact of the Diabetes Inpatient Care and Education (DICE) project and the DICE
      Care Pathway on patient outcomes and trainee doctor's knowledge and confidence.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the impact of the Diabetes Inpatient Care and Education project
      and a comprehensive diabetes care pathway, the Diabetes Inpatient Care and
      Education Care Pathway, on patient outcomes and on the knowledge and confidence
      of trainee doctors. METHODS: The effect on patient outcomes was evaluated by
      comparing the National Diabetes Inpatient Audit data before (2012) and after
      (2013) implementing the Diabetes Inpatient Care and Education project. The impact
      on trainee doctors was evaluated using the Modified Kirkpatrick model. Just
      before the project began and again 3 months later, trainee doctors were surveyed
      to assess their knowledge and confidence in inpatient diabetes care. RESULTS:
      Patient harm was found to have been reduced significantly when National Diabetes
      Inpatient Audit data for 2012 and 2013 were compared. Severe hypoglycaemia
      decreased from 15.4 to 9.7%, medication errors from 56.9 to 21.1% and insulin
      errors from 31 to 7%. Across the 96 trainee doctors surveyed, the mean (sd)
      knowledge and confidence scores increased significantly (P < 0.001 for both) from
      57.1 (16.8) and 61.8 (14.9) to 68.4 (13.3) and 74.3 (11.7), respectively.
      CONCLUSION: The Diabetes Inpatient Care and Education project and the Diabetes
      Inpatient Care and Education Care Pathway improved patient outcomes and the
      knowledge and confidence of trainee doctors in this hospital. The impact of a
      similar project in other hospitals needs to be evaluated.

PMID- 25819325
TI  - Enzyme-Artificial Enzyme Interactions as a Means for Discriminating among
      Structurally Similar Isozymes.
AB  - We describe the design and function of an artificial enzyme-linked receptor (ELR)
      that can bind different members of the glutathione-S-transferase (GST) enzyme
      family. The artificial enzyme-enzyme interactions distinctly affect the catalytic
      activity of the natural enzymes, the biomimetic, or both, enabling the system to
      discriminate among structurally similar GST isozymes. 

PMID- 25819324
TI  - Stimulation of Rotator Cuff Repair by Sustained Release of Bone Morphogenetic
      Protein-7 Using a Gelatin Hydrogel Sheet.
AB  - Bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) promotes not only osteogenesis but also
      matrix production in chondrocytes and tenocytes. However, because of its short
      half-life, maintaining local concentrations of BMP-7 is difficult. We examined
      the use of a gelatin hydrogel sheet (GHS) for the sustained release of BMP-7 in
      stimulating rotator cuff repair at the tendon-to-bone insertion. Twelve-week-old
      male Sprague-Dawley rats were used. Radiolabeled BMP-7 ((125)I-BMP-7) was
      injected into the subacromial bursa in the (125)I-BMP-7 group, whereas a GHS
      impregnated with (125)I-BMP-7 was implanted on the tendon attached to the tendon
      to-bone insertion in the (125)I-BMP-7+GHS group. Levels of (125)I-BMP-7 in the
      tendon-to-bone insertion were assessed at 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 postoperative days.
      The BMP-7 concentrations were significantly higher in the (125)I-BMP-7+GHS group
      than in the (125)I-BMP-7 group. Next, the bilateral supraspinatus tendons were
      resected and sutured to the greater tuberosity of the humerus using the Mason
      Allen technique. Treatment groups were created as follows: either phosphate
      buffered saline (PBS) or BMP-7 was injected into the subacromial bursa in the PBS
      and BMP-7 groups, whereas a GHS impregnated with either PBS or BMP-7 was
      implanted on the repaired tendon attached to the tendon-to-bone insertion in the
      PBS+GHS and BMP-7+GHS groups. The resected specimens were stained at 2, 4, and 8
      postoperative weeks with hematoxylin and eosin as well as Safranin O, and tissue
      repair was evaluated histologically by using the tendon-to-bone maturing score.
      Tissue repair was assessed biomechanically at 4 and 8 postoperative weeks. The
      BMP-7+GHS group at 8 postoperative weeks demonstrated a favorable cartilage
      matrix production and tendon orientation; moreover, the tendon-to-bone maturing
      score and the ultimate force-to-failure were the highest in this group. The
      ability of GHS to provide controlled release of various growth factors has been
      previously reported. We confirmed that the GHS releases BMP-7 in a sustained
      manner in the rat shoulder joint. At 8 postoperative weeks, the repaired tissue
      was mostly restored, both histologically and biomechanically, in the BMP-7+GHS
      group. We therefore conclude that the sustained release of BMP-7 from a GHS can
      stimulate rotator cuff repair.

PMID- 25819326
TI  - Remove or not, that is the question: A case report on carotid artery cannulation
      during indwelling venous hemodialysis catheter.
AB  - A 58-year-old woman visited the emergency department for acute occlusion of
      arteriovenous fistula. One session of hemodialysis was scheduled via temporary
      venous hemodialysis catheter before thrombectomy. Unfortunately, neck arterial
      cannulation was discovered after complete placement of catheter. The catheter was
      removed immediately but bleeding could not be stopped. Pseudoaneurysm over the
      right carotid artery was proved by angiography and repaired by graft stent.
      Arterial cannulation during venous hemodialysis catheter insertion is a rare but
      serious complication and there is no standard response recommended. Immediate
      removal of the misplaced hemodialysis catheter might not be the best choice. We
      suggest to leave the misplaced catheter in artery until further intervention in
      consideration of complications and repair access. Every hemodialysis center
      should standardize responses to arterial cannulation during venous hemodialysis
      catheter indwelling, especially carotid puncture happens, according to the
      medical facility. 

PMID- 25819327
TI  - Neutralizing epitopes on the respiratory syncytial virus fusion glycoprotein.
AB  - Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of pneumonia and
      bronchiolitis, but despite decades of research a safe and effective vaccine has
      remained elusive. The viral fusion glycoprotein (RSV F) plays an obligatory role
      in the entry process and is the major target of neutralizing antibodies, making
      it an attractive target for vaccine development. This review will summarize the
      recently determined structures of RSV F in the prefusion and postfusion
      conformations and describe the location and properties of neutralizing epitopes
      on RSV F, including the newly identified prefusion-specific epitopes. The
      influence of these findings on vaccine development will also be discussed, with a
      focus on the rational design and optimization of vaccine antigens. 

PMID- 25819328
TI  - Advection, dispersion, and confusion.

PMID- 25819329
TI  - Integrated approach in the assessment of skin compatibility of cosmetic
      formulations with green coffee oil.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Green coffee oil (GCO) has been used in cosmetic formulations due to
      its emollient and anti-ageing properties. However, there are insufficient studies
      about its safety when applied in cosmetic formulations. METHODS: Cytotoxicity of
      GCO and of formulations containing 2.5-15% of GCO was evaluated by the MTT
      reduction assay, in human keratinocytes. Formulations containing 15% of GCO and
      the vehicle were applied under in use conditions in the volar forearm of human
      volunteers during 3 days. Transepidermal water loss, stratum corneum water
      content and erythema index were evaluated each 24 h using biophysical techniques.
      The same formulations were probed for skin tolerance through a patch test.
      RESULTS: Neither pure GCO nor its formulations showed cytotoxic effects in
      concentrations up to 100 MUg mL(-1) . Transepidermal water loss values showed a
      slight reduction when the formulation containing GCO was applied. Stratum corneum
      water content and erythema index did not show significant differences, as the
      results observed in the first day of the study were maintained throughout 3 days.
      None of the volunteers display any reaction after using an occlusive patch.
      CONCLUSION: The results obtained in the study indicate that GCO seems to be safe
      for topical applications and showed good skin compatibility under the
      experimental conditions of the study.

PMID- 25819330
TI  - Synthesis and antimycobacterial properties of ring-substituted 6
      hydroxynaphthalene-2-carboxanilides.
AB  - In this study, a series of twenty-two ring-substituted 6-hydroxynaphthalene-2
      carboxanilides was prepared and characterized. Primary in vitro screening of the
      synthesized compounds was performed against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra,
      Mycobacterium avium complex and M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. Derivatives
      substituted by trifluoromethyl, bromo, methyl and methoxy moieties in C'(3) and
      C'(4) positions of the anilide ring showed 2-fold higher activity against M.
      tuberculosis than isoniazid and 4.5-fold higher activity against M. avium subsp.
      paratuberculosis than rifampicin. 6-Hydroxy-N-(2-methylphenyl)naphthalene-2
      carboxamide had MIC=29 MUM against M. avium complex. A significant decrease of
      mycobacterial cell metabolism (viability of M. tuberculosis H37Ra) was observed
      using MTT assay. Screening of the cytotoxicity of the most effective
      antimycobacterial compounds was performed using the THP-1 cells, and no
      significant lethal effect was observed. The structure-activity relationships are
      discussed.

PMID- 25819331
TI  - Development of a clickable activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) probe for
      agmatine deiminases.
AB  - Agmatine deiminases (AgDs) catalyze the hydrolytic conversion of agmatine
      (decarboxylated arginine) to N-carbamoylputrescine with concomitant release of
      ammonia. These enzymes, which are encoded by some pathogenic bacterial species,
      confer a competitive survival advantage by virtue of energy production and acid
      tolerance through agmatine catabolism. Herein we report the development of a
      clickable activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) probe that targets the AgD
      encoded by Streptococcus mutans with high selectivity and sensitivity. 

PMID- 25819332
TI  - Nucleobase modified neamines with a lysine as a linker, their inhibition
      specificity for TAR-Tat derived from HIV-1.
AB  - Nucleobase modified neamines with a lysine as the linker (NbK-neamines) were
      synthesized and their binding toward hairpin RNAs derived from HIV-1 activator
      region were studied. NbK-neamines were bind those RNAs with micro molar level of
      binding affinities and compete with corresponding activator peptide for TAR RNA,
      but not for RRE RNA. GbK-neamine denotes the highest binding affinity with TAR
      RNA, three to five times higher than other three NbK-neamines. GbK-neamine could
      be a candidate of potential inhibitor for TAR-Tat. 

PMID- 25819333
TI  - Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 1
      inhibitors with a benzopentathiepine moiety.
AB  - Tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 1 (TDP1) is a promising target for antitumor
      therapy based on Top1 poison-mediated DNA damage. Several novel
      benzopentathiepines were synthesized and tested as inhibitors of TDP1 using a new
      oligonucleotide-based fluorescence assay. The benzopentathiepines have IC50
      values in the range of 0.2-6.0 MUM. According to the molecular modeling, the
      conformational flexibility of the dibutylamine group of the most effective
      inhibitor (3d) allows it to occupy an advantageous position for effective binding
      compared to its cyclic counterparts. The study of cytotoxicity of these compounds
      revealed that all compounds cause an apoptotic cell death in MCF-7 and Hep G2
      cells. Therefore the new class of very effective inhibitors of TDP1 was
      elaborated.

PMID- 25819334
TI  - Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of a highly-potent and cancer cell
      selective folate-taxoid conjugate.
AB  - The folate receptor (FR) has been widely recognized as an excellent target for
      the tumor-selective delivery of cytotoxic agents, and four folate-drug conjugates
      have entered clinical evaluations for the treatment of solid tumors to date.
      However, most of these conjugates required structural modification of the
      cytotoxic warheads in order to achieve efficient drug release from the linkers.
      We designed and constructed a novel folate conjugate of a highly-potent next
      generation taxoid, SB-T-1214, by exploiting bioorthogonal Cu-free 'click'
      chemistry. The synthesis was highly convergent and required no HPLC purification
      to obtain the final folate-taxoid conjugate 1. Conjugate 1 demonstrated highly FR
      specific potency (IC50 2.1-3.5 nM) against a panel of cancer cell lines, with a
      >1000-fold decrease in cytotoxicity against normal human cells (IC50>5000 nM).
      The remarkable potency and selectivity of conjugate 1 can be attributed to highly
      FR-specific receptor-mediated endocytosis as well as efficient release of the
      unmodified cytotoxic warhead using a mechanism-based self-immolative linker.

PMID- 25819335
TI  - Synthesis and structure-activity relationships of boswellic acid derivatives as
      potent VEGFR-2 inhibitors.
AB  - A series of AKBA derivatives were synthesized, and evaluated as potent VEGFR-2
      inhibitors. The initial biological evaluation indicated that the introduction of
      C-24 amide group or a heterocycle at C-2,3 position effectively improved the
      potency. Further structure-activity relationship analysis showed that amide (7,
      23, 25, and 26) and heterocycle (19, 34, and 36) substituted AKBA derivatives
      displayed more potential anti-proliferation activities than AKBA (1) on HUVECs
      that express high levels of VEGFR-2. Among all tested compounds, compounds 7 and
      19 exhibited the best potency (IC50: 2.36 and 2.13 MUM) and obvious inhibitory
      activities with VEGFR-2 inhibition rates of 96% and 94% at 50 MUM, respectively.

PMID- 25819336
TI  - Molecular blood group typing in Banjar, Jawa, Mandailing and Kelantan Malays in
      Peninsular Malaysia.
AB  - In this study we genotyped ABO, Rhesus, Kell, Kidd and Duffy blood group loci in
      DNA samples from 120 unrelated individuals representing four Malay subethnic
      groups living in Peninsular Malaysia (Banjar: n = 30, Jawa: n = 30, Mandailing: n
      = 30 and Kelantan: n = 30). Analyses were performed using commercial polymerase
      chain reaction-sequence specific primer (PCR-SSP) typing kits (BAG Health Care
      GmbH, Lich, Germany). Overall, the present study has successfully compiled blood
      group datasets for the four Malay subethnic groups and used the datasets for
      studying ancestry and health. 

PMID- 25819337
TI  - Chronic replicative stress induced by CCl4 in TRF1 knockout mice recapitulates
      the origin of large liver cell changes.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Large liver cell changes (LLCC) are characterized by
      pleomorphic large nuclei frequently found in liver diseases as chronic viral
      hepatitis and liver cirrhosis. The origin of this lesion remains cryptic, but the
      presence of LLCC is correlated with an increased risk of hepatocellular
      carcinoma. Telomeric repeat binding factor 1 (TRF1) is part of the shelterin
      complex and is essential for telomere protection. Ablation of TRF1 induces
      telomere fragility and fusions and chromosomal instability. METHODS: In this
      study, we addressed the role of TRF1 in liver regeneration generating a mouse
      model with conditional deletion of TRF1 in the liver. RESULTS: TRF1 deletion has
      no deleterious effects in liver and leads to increased ploidy of hepatocytes
      after 2/3 hepatectomy. Mice lacking TRF1 in the liver can survive for over one
      year without any evidence for altered liver function. Importantly, applying
      chronic replicative stress by frequent carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) injections,
      TRF1 deleted mice undergo ploidy changes consistent with endoreduplication and
      develop LLCC like lesions in the liver positive for p21, Cyclin D1 and PCNA as
      observed in humans. CONCLUSION: In summary, we provide mechanistic insight into
      the role of TRF1 in liver regeneration and provide a mouse model recapitulating
      the clinical features of LLCC.

PMID- 25819338
TI  - Clinical evaluation of the v-gel supraglottic airway device in comparison with a
      classical laryngeal mask and endotracheal intubation in cats during spontaneous
      and controlled mechanical ventilation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare airway management during induction of anaesthesia, in
      spontaneous ventilation and controlled mechanical ventilation (CMV), using a cat
      specific supraglottic airway device (the v-gel), a classical laryngeal mask (LM)
      or an endotracheal tube (ETT). STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, randomized clinical
      trial. ANIMALS: Forty-five healthy cats. METHODS: After premedication, cats were
      randomly allocated to one of three groups to secure the airway: 1) v-gel; 2) LM;
      or 3) ETT (cuff pressure: 20 cm H2O). Cats were anaesthetized for elective
      procedures. The dose of propofol necessary to insert the v-gel, LM or ETT, the
      number of attempts required to achieve insertion and leakage during spontaneous
      ventilation and CMV at different peak inspiratory pressures (8, 10, 12, 14 and 16
      cm H2O) were recorded. Leakage of >20% of tidal volume was considered as a
      criterion for exclusion. Significance was set at a p-value of <0.05. RESULTS:
      Cats in the v-gel group required a median (range) of 3 mg kg(-1) (2-5 mg kg(-1))
      of propofol for successful placement, which was significantly less than the 5 mg
      kg(-1) (3-7 mg kg(-1)) required for endotracheal intubation (p = 0.005). No
      significant difference in the total dose of propofol was observed between the v
      gel and LM [3 mg kg(-1) (2-7 mg kg(-1))] groups or the ETT and LM groups.
      Significantly more cats in the ETT group were excluded for leakage of >20% during
      CMV at all pressure settings. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The v-gel is a
      practical alternative to the LM and ETT for securing the airway after induction
      of anaesthesia and for CMV up to 16 cm H2O in healthy cats. The v-gel can be
      inserted at a more superficial level of anaesthesia than the ETT and showed
      significantly less leakage during CMV than the ETT.

PMID- 25819339
TI  - PDGF-D signaling in portal myofibroblasts and hepatic stellate cells proves
      identical to PDGF-B via both PDGF receptor type alpha and beta.
AB  - Platelet-derived growth factor-D (PDGF-D) is one member of PDGF growth factors
      and known to signal by binding to and activating its cognate receptor type beta
      (PDGFR-beta). Beside PDGF-B, PDGF-D is a potent growth factor for stellate cell
      growth and proliferation and therefore potentiates the extracellular matrix
      deposition in liver fibrogenesis. We aimed to explore the signaling and molecular
      mechanisms of PDGF-D in liver fibrogenesis using the primary liver portal
      myofibroblasts and hepatic stellate cells. Unexpectedly we found PDGF-D to bind
      to PDGFR-alpha, thus inducing receptor endocytosis and decreasing the amount of
      PDGFR-alpha significantly. PDGF-D activates PDGFR-alpha specific tyrosine 754 and
      -1018 phosphorylation and CrkII, the adaptor protein that is specifically
      recruited by activated PDGFR-alpha. As a novel finding we could also demonstrate
      that recombinant PDGFR-alpha-Fc chimera homodimer is able to bind PDGF-D and thus
      prevent PDGF-D signaling. PDGF-D does induce individual PDGFR-beta specific
      tyrosine phosphorylation similar to the PDGF-B. Additionally, PDGF-D enhances
      extracellular matrix accumulation comparable to the PDGF-B isoform. CONCLUSION:
      PDGF-D signaling in pMF and HSC is identical to that of PDGF-B by binding to both
      PDGFR-alpha and -beta.

PMID- 25819340
TI  - Reactive oxygen species in the tumor niche triggers altered activation of
      macrophages and immunosuppression: Role of fluoxetine.
AB  - Macrophages are projected as one of the key players responsible for the
      progression of cancer. Classically activated (M1) macrophages are pro
      inflammatory and have a central role in host defense, while alternatively
      activated (M2) macrophages are associated with immunosuppression. Macrophages
      residing at the site of neoplastic growth are alternately activated and are
      referred to as tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). These "cooperate" with tumor
      tissue, promoting increased proliferation and immune escape. Selective serotonin
      reuptake inhibitors like fluoxetine have recently been reported to possess anti
      inflammatory activity. We used fluoxetine to target tumor-associated inflammation
      and consequent alternate polarization of macrophages. We established that murine
      peritoneal macrophages progressed towards an altered activation state when
      exposed to cell-free tumor fluid, as evidenced by increased IL-6, IL-4 and IL-10
      levels. These polarized macrophages showed significant pro-oxidant bias and
      increased p65 nuclear localization. It was further observed that these altered
      macrophages could induce oxidative insult and apoptosis in cultured mouse CD3(+)
      T cells. To validate these findings, we replicated key experiments in vivo, and
      observed that there was increased serum IL-6, IL-4 and IL-10 in tumor-bearing
      animals, with increased % CD206(+) cells within the tumor niche. TAMs showed
      increased nuclear localization of p65 with decreased Nrf2 expression in the
      nucleus. These results were associated with increase in apoptosis of CD3(+) T
      cells co-cultured with TAM-spent media. We could establish that fluoxetine
      treatment could specifically re-educate the macrophages both in vitro and in vivo
      by skewing their phenotype such that immune suppression mediated by tumor
      dictated macrophages was successfully mitigated. 

PMID- 25819341
TI  - Impact of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy on Left Ventricular Mechanics:
      Understanding the Response through a New Quantitative Approach Based on
      Longitudinal Strain Integrals.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The mechanisms of improvement of left ventricular (LV) function with
      cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) are not yet elucidated. The aim of this
      study was to describe a new tool based on automatic quantification of the
      integrals of regional longitudinal strain signals and evaluate changes in LV
      strain distribution after CRT. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational
      study of 130 patients with heart failure before CRT device implantation and after
      3 to 6 months of follow-up. Integrals of regional longitudinal strain signals
      (from the beginning of the cardiac cycle to strain peak [IL,peak] and to the
      instant of aortic valve closure [IL,avc]) were analyzed retrospectively with
      custom-made algorithms. Response to CRT was defined as a decrease in LV end
      systolic volume of >=15%. RESULTS: Responders (61%) and nonresponders (39%)
      showed similar baseline values of regional IL,peak and IL,avc. At follow-up,
      significant improvements of midlateral IL,peak and of midlateral IL,avc were
      noted only in responders. Midlateral IL,avc showed a relative increase of 151 +/-
      276% in responders, whereas a decrease of 33 +/- 69% was observed in
      nonresponders. The difference between IL,avc and IL,peak (representing wasted
      energy of the LV myocardium) of the lateral wall showed a relative change of -59
      +/- 103% in responders between baseline and CRT, whereas in nonresponders, the
      relative change was 21 +/- 113% (P = .009). CONCLUSIONS: Strain integrals
      revealed changes between baseline and CRT in the lateral wall, demonstrating the
      beneficial effects of CRT on LV mechanics with favorable myocardial reverse
      remodeling.

PMID- 25819342
TI  - Left Ventricular Rotational Mechanics in Preterm Infants Less Than 29 Weeks'
      Gestation over the First Week after Birth.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of data on left ventricular (LV) rotational
      physiology, twist, and torsional mechanics in preterm infants. The principal aims
      of the present study were to assess the feasibility and reproducibility of
      measuring LV rotation, twist, and torsion in preterm infants (<29 weeks'
      gestation) using two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography and to examine
      the changes in those parameters over the first week after birth. METHODS: This
      was a prospective observational study involving preterm infants <29 weeks'
      gestation. Echocardiographic evaluations were performed on days 1, 2, and 5 to 7
      after delivery. LV basal and apical rotation, LV twist, LV twist rate (LVTR), and
      LV untwist rate (LVUTR) were measured from the basal and apical short-axis
      parasternal views and calculated using two-dimensional speckle-tracking
      echocardiography. Torsion was also calculated by normalizing LV twist to LV end
      diastolic length. One-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to
      compare values across the three time points. Intra- and interobserver
      reproducibility were assessed using Bland-Altman analysis and the intraclass
      correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Fifty-one infants with a mean +/- SD
      gestational age of 26.8 +/- 1.5 weeks and a mean birth weight of 945 +/- 233 g
      were included. There was high intra- and interobserver reproducibility for basal
      and apical rotation, LV twist, and LV torsion, with intraclass correlation
      coefficients ranging from 0.78 to 0.96 (P < .001 for all). Intra- and
      interobserver intraclass correlation coefficients for LVTR and LVUTR ranged from
      0.70 to 0.88 (P < .001 for all). Apical rotation remained constant over the first
      week of age in a positive counterclockwise fashion (11.8 +/- 5.0 degrees  vs 12.1
      +/- 6.1 degrees  vs 11.7 +/- 8.3 degrees , P = .92). Basal rotation changed from
      counterclockwise on day 1 to clockwise on day 7 (median, 5.5 degrees 
      [interquartile range, -0.3 degrees  to 8.3 degrees ] vs 4.0 [interquartile range,
      -4.7 degrees  to 7.2 degrees ] vs -4.5 degrees  [interquartile range, -5.8
      degrees  to -2.3 degrees ], P < .001), with resultant net increases in twist and
      torsion (P < .05). There was no change in LVTR (P = .60), but LVUTR increased
      across the same time period (P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: Assessment of twist, LVTR,
      and LVUTR is feasible in preterm infants, with acceptable reproducibility. There
      are increases in LV twist and torsion in addition to LVUTR, suggesting changes in
      LV mechanics during the first week of age.

PMID- 25819343
TI  - Bufadienolides and polyhydroxycholestane derivatives from Bufo bufo gargarizans.
AB  - A new polyhydroxycholestane sulfate ester, 3alpha,12beta,25,26-tetrahydroxy-7-oxo
      5beta-cholestane 26-O-sulfate (1), was isolated from dried skin of Bufo bufo
      gargarizans Cantor and its structure was elucidated on the basis of extensive 1D
      and 2D NMR as well as HR-ESI-MS analysis. A comparison of steroidal metabolite
      profiles, based on HPLC and LC-MS analyses, indicates that the chemical
      compositions of the various parts of toads, such as venom, skin and stratum
      corneum, are significantly different. 

PMID- 25819344
TI  - Feasibility study for intraepidermal delivery of proteins using a solid
      microneedle array.
AB  - Solid microneedles (MN) are a promising tool for dermal drug delivery. Particular
      focus lies on the field of vaccination due to pain-free, safe, hygienic and
      patient compliant antigen deposition. Diverse coating techniques and formulations
      have been developed to preserve vaccine activity and to enable targeted drug
      deposition in the skin. Process and long-term storage stability of coated MN,
      however, have not yet been studied in detail. Hence, a feasibility study was
      conducted determining the appropriate needle length (300 MUm) for local
      intraepidermal protein delivery. Moreover, a protein-stabilizing coating
      formulation was developed. Coating of the MN resulted in protein concentrations
      between 10 and 23 MUg, 90% of the bioactivity of the model protein asparaginase
      was maintained for 3 months. Skin experiments verified the intraepidermal
      deposition of 68.0 +/- 11.7% of the coated model protein after single
      application. Slightly increased interleukin 8 levels right after MN insertion
      indicated minor skin irritation due to the mechanical piercing stress. Thus,
      specifically highlighting protein stabilization during storage, we demonstrated
      that selective intraepidermal deposition of proteins or peptides' using solid MN
      is a feasible approach.

PMID- 25819345
TI  - Bilateral Ovarian Burkitt's Lymphoma: Successful Treatment with Preservation of
      Ovarian Function.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bilateral ovarian Burkitt's lymphoma was diagnosed in a 10-year-old
      girl who presented with abdominal pain, constipation, and signs of ovarian
      torsion. CASE: Left salpingo-oopherectomy and biopsy of the right ovary were
      carried out as initial surgical intervention. She remained well in first complete
      remission at 25 months after multiagent chemotherapy, with pubertal development
      on clinical examination, hormonal measurements, and pelvic sonography. SUMMARY
      AND CONCLUSION: Although rare, Burkitt's lymphoma should be included in the
      differential diagnosis of bilateral ovarian tumors in childhood, and more
      conservative surgical management is indicated to preserve ovarian function and
      fertility.

PMID- 25819346
TI  - A geometric morphometrics comparative analysis of Neandertal humeri (epiphyses
      fused) from the El Sidron cave site (Asturias, Spain).
AB  - A new collection of 49,000 year old Neandertal fossil humeri from the El Sidron
      cave site (Asturias, Spain) is presented. A total of 49 humeral remains were
      recovered, representing 10 left and 8 right humeri from adults, adolescents, and
      a juvenile (not included in the analyses). 3D geometric morphometric (GM) methods
      as well as classic anthropological variables were employed to conduct a broad
      comparative analysis by means of mean centroid size and shape comparisons,
      principal components analysis, and cluster studies. Due to the fragmentary nature
      of the fossils, comparisons were organized in independent analyses according to
      different humeral portions: distal epiphysis, diaphysis, proximal epiphysis, and
      the complete humerus. From a multivariate viewpoint, 3D-GM analyses revealed
      major differences among taxonomic groups, supporting the value of the humerus in
      systematic classification. Notably, the Australopithecus anamensis (KP-271) and
      Homo ergaster Nariokotome (KNM-WT 15000) distal humerus consistently clusters
      close to those of modern humans, which may imply a primitive condition for Homo
      sapiens morphology. Australopithecus specimens show a high degree of dispersion
      in the morphospace. The El Sidron sample perfectly fits into the classic
      Neandertal pattern, previously described as having a relatively wide olecranon
      fossa, as well as thin lateral and medial distodorsal pillars. These
      characteristics were also typical of the Sima de los Huesos (Atapuerca) sample,
      African mid-Pleistocene Bodo specimen, and Lower Pleistocene TD6-Atapuerca
      remains and may be considered as a derived state. Finally, we hypothesize that
      most of the features thought to be different between Neandertals and modern
      humans might be associated with structural differences in the pectoral girdle and
      shoulder joint. 

PMID- 25819347
TI  - A splitting brain: Imbalanced neural networks in schizophrenia.
AB  - Dysconnectivity between key brain systems has been hypothesized to underlie the
      pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The present study examined the pattern of
      functional dysconnectivity across whole-brain neural networks in 121 first
      episode, treatment-naive patients with schizophrenia by using resting-state
      functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI). Group independent component
      analysis (ICA) was first applied to rsfMRI data to extract 90 functional
      components of the brain. The functional connectivity between these ICA components
      was then evaluated and compared between the patient and control groups. To
      examine the functional roles of significantly altered between-component
      connections in patients, each ICA component was ascribed to one of 10 previously
      well-defined brain networks/areas. Relative to findings in healthy controls
      (n=103), 29 altered functional connections including 19 connections with
      increased connectivity and 10 connections with decreased connectivity in
      schizophrenia patients were found. Increased connectivity was mainly within the
      default mode network (DMN) and between the DMN and cognitive networks, whereas
      decreased connectivity was predominantly associated with sensory networks. Given
      the key roles of the DMN in internal mental processes and sensory networks in
      inputs from the external environment, these patterns of altered brain network
      connectivity could suggest imbalanced neural processing of internal and external
      information in schizophrenia. 

PMID- 25819348
TI  - Efforts to reduce the disparity between permanent residents and temporary
      migrants: Stop TB experiences in Shanghai, China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Eight of 17 districts of Shanghai have offered transportation and
      living allowances subsidies to patients with tuberculosis (TB) among the migrant
      population. The study aimed to assess the impact of the subsidising initiative on
      the treatment success rate (TSR) and identify the social determinants of
      treatment outcomes. METHODS: The participants included 7072 residents and 5703
      migrants who were registered in the TB Information Management System with smear
      positive pulmonary TB from January 2006 to December 2010. The Cochran-Armitage
      test was employed to test the trends of TSR and logistic regressions to identify
      the factors associated with treatment outcome. RESULTS: Without subsidies,
      migrant TB cases had lower odds of successful treatment [OR = 0.20 (95% CI 0.18
      0.23)] than resident cases. Subsidisation was associated with a 65% increased
      odds ratio of success [1.65 (1.40-1.95)] among migrant cases. The TSR has
      stabilised at 87% for both permanent residents and temporary migrants since 2009.
      Living in districts with a population density >=20,000/km(2) was associated with
      a low odds ratio [0.42 (0.26-0.68)] among resident cases, whereas among migrant
      cases those living in districts out of central downtown had a higher odds ratio
      of treatment success [peripheral downtown: 1.73 (1.36-2.20), suburban: 1.69 (1.16
      2.46)]. The TB cases in districts with 2.0-2.9 TB specialists/100 cases had a
      higher odds ratio [2.99 (1.91-4.69)] of successful treatment than cases from
      districts with fewer specialists. CONCLUSIONS: Besides free medical services,
      transport and living allowance subsidies to migrant patients with TB improved the
      treatment outcome significantly.

PMID- 25819349
TI  - Interleukin-21 induces proliferation and modulates receptor expression and
      effector function in canine natural killer cells.
AB  - Interleukin (IL)-21 is an important modulator of natural killer (NK) cell
      function. However, little is known about IL-21 function in canine NK cells
      because the phenotype of these cells remains undefined. In this study, we
      selectively expanded non-B and non-T large granular NK lymphocytes (CD3(-)CD21(
      )CD5(-)CD4(-)TCRalphabeta(-)TCRgammadelta(-)) ex vivo from the peripheral blood
      mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of healthy dogs using a combination of IL-2, IL-15, and
      IL-21 in the presence of 100 Gy-irradiated K562 cells. We investigated the
      effects of varying the duration and timing of IL-21 treatment on stimulation of
      proliferation, expression of NK-related receptors, anti-tumor activity and
      production of interferon (IFN)-gamma. The expanded NK cells in each treatment
      group became enlarged and highly granular after 21 days in culture. NK cells
      proliferated rapidly in response to activation by IL-21 for 3 weeks, and IL-21
      was able to induce changes in the mRNA expression of NK cell-related receptors
      and enhance the effector function of NK cells in perforin- and granzyme-B
      dependent manners. The duration, frequency and timing of IL-21 stimulation during
      culture affected the rate of proliferation, patterns of receptor expression,
      cytokine production, and anti-tumor activity. The optimal conditions for
      maximizing the IL-21-induced proliferation and effector function of NK cells in
      the presence of IL-2 and IL-15 were seen in cells treated with IL-21 for the
      first 7 days of culture but without any further IL-21 stimulation other than an
      additional 2-day treatment prior to harvesting on day 21. The results of this
      study suggest that synergistic interactions of IL-21 with IL-2 and IL-15 play an
      important role in the proliferation, receptor expression, and effector function
      of canine NK cells. 

PMID- 25819350
TI  - Environmental risk assessment of water quality in harbor areas: a new methodology
      applied to European ports.
AB  - This work presents a standard and unified procedure for assessment of
      environmental risks at the contaminant source level in port aquatic systems.
      Using this method, port managers and local authorities will be able to
      hierarchically classify environmental hazards and proceed with the most suitable
      management actions. This procedure combines rigorously selected parameters and
      indicators to estimate the environmental risk of each contaminant source based on
      its probability, consequences and vulnerability. The spatio-temporal variability
      of multiple stressors (agents) and receptors (endpoints) is taken into account to
      provide accurate estimations for application of precisely defined measures. The
      developed methodology is tested on a wide range of different scenarios via
      application in six European ports. The validation process confirms its
      usefulness, versatility and adaptability as a management tool for port water
      quality in Europe and worldwide. 

PMID- 25819351
TI  - Adsorptive/photo-catalytic process for naphthalene removal from aqueous media
      using in-situ nickel doped titanium nanocomposite.
AB  - The present study investigates the synthesis and characterization of in-situ
      nickel doped titanium nanocomposite (TiO2/NiO) use as an adsorbent and a photo
      catalyst for naphthalene removal from aqueous phase. Nickel-titanium
      nanocomposites were synthesized by using an in-situ process for the nickel doping
      and further calcined at 600  degrees C for 6 h to produce the desired TiO2/NiO
      nanocomposite, which was then characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
      (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD)
      and UV-Vis analysis before and after naphthalene removal. The removal of
      naphthalene was explored with effect of pH, time and initial concentration of
      naphthalene (2-25 mg/L) in the presence of dark and light phases. Naphthalene
      removal tests were conducted under both batch and continuous flow conditions. A
      special column without any channeling problem was successfully designed for the
      removal of naphthalene by continuous flow process in the presence of visible
      light source. The removal was maximized at pH 6.5. The maximum amount of
      naphthalene removed by TiO2/NiO(0.1) nanocomposite in the presence of visible
      light phase was 322.1 mg/g, which was 2.5 times greater than that of the parent
      TiO2. The removal of naphthalene obtained during the breakthrough analysis was
      consistent with the batch equilibrium data. 

PMID- 25819352
TI  - First Person Perspectives: An Introductory Note.

PMID- 25819354
TI  - Comparison of the effects of calcium carbonate and ossein-hydroxyapatite complex
      on back and knee pain and quality of life in osteopenic perimenopausal women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Back and knee pain (BP; KP), which often accompanies osteoporosis, is
      a prevalent health problem affecting quality of life (QoL) in middle-aged women.
      AIM: To compare the effects of calcium carbonate (CC) and ossein-hydroxyapatite
      complex (OHC) on BP and KP and QoL in perimenopausal osteopenic women. SUBJECTS:
      74 perimenopausal women were randomized to receive 1,200 mg/day of CC (n=38) or
      1,660 mg/day of OHC (n=36) for 6 months. METHODS: This was a randomized, open
      label, parallel-group, controlled, prospective study. Back and knee basal pain
      was recorded using a visual analogue scale (VAS) at each control and exercise
      induced pain was recorded using a visual rating system (VRS). Changes in QoL were
      evaluated using the SF-36 questionnaire. RESULTS: In patients treated with OHC,
      mean VAS and VRS pain scores decreased significantly after 5 and 6 months of
      treatment, indicating a significant analgesic effect. In the CC group, however,
      changes were minor and non-significant. Two-way analysis of variance using
      treatment group and time as independent variables revealed a significantly
      greater effect of OHC over CC on VAS and VRS scores. SF-36 showed significant
      improvement for OHC on the physical component summary score and no changes for
      CC. Responses to items assessing emotional and social aspects of QoL showed only
      a significant improvement in vitality for OHC and no significant changes for CC
      in any of the four dominions constituting the SF-36 mental component. CONCLUSION:
      OHC has a significant analgesic effect and improves the physical component of QoL
      to a greater extent than CC.

PMID- 25819355
TI  - Shear bond strength between resin cement and colored zirconia made with metal
      chlorides.
AB  - STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Although the application of zirconia in esthetic prostheses
      has increased, the shear bond strength (SBS) between colored zirconia and resin
      cement has not been investigated. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to
      compare the SBS between resin cement and colored zirconia made with metal
      chlorides. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty-four zirconia specimens were divided into
      2 groups: one in which the specimens were bonded with resin cement, including 4
      META (4-methacryloxyethyl trimellitic anhydride), and one in which the specimens
      were bonded with resin cement (SEcure, Sun Medical) after being processed with
      zirconia primer (Zirconia Liner), including 4-META. Each group was then divided
      into 4 subgroups depending on the coloring liquid. The subgroups were noncolored
      (control), commercial coloring liquid VITA In-Ceram 2000 YZ LL1, aqueous chromium
      chloride solution 0.1 wt%, and aqueous molybdenum chloride solution 0.1 wt%.
      Composite resin cylinders (Filtek Z250, 3M ESPE) were fabricated and bonded to
      the surface of the zirconia specimen with resin cement (SEcure). All specimens
      were stored in 37 degrees C distilled water for 24 hours, and the SBS was
      measured with a universal testing machine. All data were analyzed statistically
      with 2-way ANOVA and tested post hoc with the Tukey test (alpha=.05). RESULTS:
      Significant differences were observed among the SBS values of the colored
      zirconia depending on the coloring liquid (P<.001) and whether they were
      processed with zirconia primer (P<.001). The SBS between colored zirconia and
      resin cement was significantly higher than that of noncolored zirconia and resin
      cement in groups processed with zirconia primer (P<.05). Colored zirconia
      immersed in aqueous molybdenum chloride solution showed a significantly higher
      SBS. CONCLUSIONS: Coloring liquid enhanced the SBS between resin cement and
      zirconia processed with zirconia primer. In particular, colored zirconia immersed
      in aqueous molybdenum chloride solution showed the highest SBS.

PMID- 25819356
TI  - Technique for systematic bone reduction for fixed implant-supported prosthesis in
      the edentulous maxilla.
AB  - Bone reduction for maxillary fixed implant-supported prosthodontic treatment is
      often necessary to either gain prosthetic space or to conceal the prosthesis
      tissue junction in patients with excessive gingival display (gummy smile).
      Inadequate bone reduction is often a cause of prosthetic failure due to material
      fractures, poor esthetics, or inability to perform oral hygiene procedures due to
      unfavorable ridge lap prosthetic contours. Various instruments and techniques are
      available for bone reduction. It would be helpful to have an accurate and
      efficient method for bone reduction at the time of surgery and subsequently
      create a smooth bony platform. This article presents a straightforward technique
      for systematic bone reduction by transferring the patient's maximum smile line,
      recorded clinically, to a clear radiographic smile guide for treatment planning
      using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). The patient's smile line and the
      amount of required bone reduction are transferred clinically by marking bone with
      a sterile stationery graphite wood pencil at the time of surgery. This technique
      can help clinicians to accurately achieve the desired bone reduction during
      surgery, and provide confidence that the diagnostic and treatment planning goals
      have been achieved. 

PMID- 25819357
TI  - Mechanical performance of implant-supported posterior crowns.
AB  - STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: The fracture of implant-supported restorations, especially
      of the veneering layer, is a common problem in dentistry. Monolithic ceramic or
      resin restorations might help solve this problem. PURPOSE: The purpose of this in
      vitro study was to obtain additional insight into the risk of fracture of implant
      supported restorations. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Identical crowns (n=10) of 10
      different ceramic and composite resin materials were cemented on conventional
      abutments on implant replicas embedded in polymethyl methacrylate blocks. The
      specimens were subjected to compressive load in a universal testing machine to
      record initial load to failure (ILF). Additionally, the flexural strength (FS),
      compressive strength (CS), and elastic modulus (E) of the investigated materials
      were determined. These results were used in a finite element analysis model of a
      composite resin and a lithium disilicate crown. RESULTS: Anatomic contour
      zirconia (Lava Plus) crowns had the highest ILF (6065 N), followed by lithium
      disilicate (IPS e.max) (2788 N) and the composite resin materials (Protemp 4,
      Majesty Flow, Telio CAD, Estenia C&B, Lava Ultimate, VITA Enamic) (2386 to 1935
      N). Veneered zirconia (Lava) crowns showed the lowest ILF (1477 N). The highest
      FS, CS, and E were found for Lava Plus and IPS e.max. No direct relationship was
      found between ILF and the FS, CS, or E. The finite element analysis showed
      stresses that did not exceed the FS or CS of IPS e.max. The surface roughness of
      these crowns might have caused initial failure at relatively low stresses.
      CONCLUSIONS: In this laboratory study, monolithic implant-supported crowns showed
      a higher ILF than conventional veneered ceramic crowns. Monolithic ceramic
      restorations might perform better than composite resin crowns.

PMID- 25819358
TI  - Prospective, 1-year observational study of double-threaded tapered body dental
      implants with immediate loading.
AB  - STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Unlike conventional loading protocols, the immediate
      loading of single implants has not been fully investigated. PURPOSE: The purpose
      of this study was to assess the prosthetic and esthetic periimplant mucosal
      outcomes of immediately restored dental implants during a 1-year follow-up.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty participants meeting the established inclusion
      criteria received double-threaded, tapered body dental implants (SuperLine;
      Dentium). Implants were placed and stabilized at a minimum of 35 Ncm of torque
      and restored immediately after the surgery with interim restorations. These were
      replaced with definitive restorations 6 months after implant placement. Clinical
      measurements at each visit included resonance frequency analysis, the evaluation
      of the participants' oral health (gingival and plaque indices), and the esthetic
      outcome of the interim or definitive restoration. RESULTS: Implants placed in
      this clinical study had a 100% success rate. The oral health and esthetic
      outcomes were favorable for all participants. CONCLUSIONS: Double-threaded,
      tapered body dental implants that were placed and immediately restored with fixed
      interim prostheses and with definitive prostheses after 6 months remained stable
      and functional after 1 year.

PMID- 25819359
TI  - Anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and cytotoxic activity of fibrous clays.
AB  - Produced worldwide at 1.2m tons per year, fibrous clays are used in the
      production of pet litter, animal feed stuff to roof parcels, construction and
      rheological additives, and other applications needing to replace long-fiber
      length asbestos. To the authors' knowledge, however, information on the
      beneficial effects of fibrous clays on health remains scarce. This paper reports
      on the anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and cytotoxic activity by sepiolite
      (Vallecas, Spain) and palygorskite (Torrejon El Rubio, Spain). The anti
      inflammatory activity was determined using the 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13
      acetate (TPA) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) methods. Histological cuts were obtained
      for quantifying leukocytes found in the epidermis. Palygorkite and sepiolite
      caused edema inhibition and migration of neutrophils ca. 68.64 and 45.54%, and 80
      and 65%, respectively. Fibrous clays yielded high rates of infiltration,
      explained by cleavage of polysomes and exposure of silanol groups. Also, fibrous
      clays showed high inhibition of myeloperoxidase contents shortly after exposure,
      but decreased sharply afterwards. In contrast, tubular clays caused an increasing
      inhibition of myeloperoxidase with time. Thus, clay structure restricted the
      kinetics and mechanism of myeloperoxidase inhibition. Fibrous clays were screened
      in vitro against human cancer cell lines. Cytotoxicity was determined using the
      protein-binding dye sulforhodamine B (SRB). Exposing cancer human cells to
      sepiolite or palygorskite showed growth inhibition varying with cell line. This
      study shows that fibrous clays served as an effective anti-inflammatory, limited
      by chemical transfer and cellular-level signals responding exclusively to an
      early exposure to clay, and cell viability decreasing significantly only after
      exposure to high concentrations of sepiolite. 

PMID- 25819360
TI  - Improved stability and skin permeability of sodium hyaluronate-chitosan
      multilayered liposomes by Layer-by-Layer electrostatic deposition for quercetin
      delivery.
AB  - Layer-by-Layer (LbL) technology, based on the electrostatic interaction of
      polyelectrolytes, is used to improve the stability of drug delivery systems. In
      the present study, we developed multilayered liposomes with up to 10 alternating
      layers based on LbL deposition of hyaluronate-chitosan for transdermal delivery.
      Dihexadecyl phosphate was used to provide liposomes with a negative charge; the
      liposomes were subsequently coated with cationic chitosan (CH) followed by
      anionic sodium hyaluronate (HA). The resulting particles had a cumulative size of
      528.28+/-29.22nm and an alternative change in zeta potential. Differential
      scanning calorimetry (DSC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed
      that the multilayered liposomes formed a spherical polyelectrolyte complex (PEC)
      after deposition. Observations in size distribution after 1 week found that the
      particles coated with even layers of polyelectrolytes, hyaluronate and chitosan
      (HA-CH), were more stable than the odd layers. Membrane stability in the presence
      of the surfactant Triton X-100 increased with an increase in bilayers as compared
      to uncoated liposomes. An increase in the number of bilayers deposited on the
      liposomal surface resulted in a sustained release of quercetin, with release
      kinetics that fit the Korsmeyer-Peppas model. In an in vitro skin permeation
      study, negatively charged (HA-CH)-L and positively charged CH-L were observed to
      have similar skin permeability, which were superior to uncoated liposomes. These
      results indicate that multilayered liposomes properly coated with
      polyelectrolytes of HA and CH by electrostatic interaction improve stability and
      can also function as potential drug delivery system for the transdermal delivery
      of the hydrophobic antioxidant quercetin. 

PMID- 25819361
TI  - Dextrin-coated zinc substituted cobalt-ferrite nanoparticles as an MRI contrast
      agent: In vitro and in vivo imaging studies.
AB  - Application of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) as a negative
      contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been of widespread
      interest. These particles can enhance contrast of images by altering the
      relaxation times of the water protons. In this study, dextrin-coated zinc
      substituted cobalt-ferrite (Zn0.5Co0.5Fe2O4) NPs were synthesized by a co
      precipitation method, and the morphology, size, structure and magnetic properties
      of the NPs were investigated. These NPs had superparamagnetic behavior with an
      average size of 3.9 (+/-0.9, n=200)nm measured by transmission electron
      microscopy. Measurements on the relaxivities (r2 and r2(*)) of the NPs were
      performed in vitro by agarose phantom. In addition, after subcutaneous injection
      of the NPs into C540 cell line in C-57 inbred mice, the relaxivities were
      measured in vivo by a 1.5T MRI system. These NPs could effectively increase the
      image contrast in both T2-and T2(*)-weighted samples. 

PMID- 25819362
TI  - Functionalized graphene oxide as a drug carrier for loading pirfenidone in
      treatment of subarachnoid hemorrhage.
AB  - Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a life-threatening disease that causes high
      morbidity and mortality. Pirfenidone is a SAH drug that prevents secondary
      bleeding and cerebral infarction. To improve its therapeutic efficacy, this study
      aimed to employ a functionalized graphene oxide nanosheet (FGO) as a drug carrier
      loading pirfenidone to treat SAH. The graphene oxide nanosheet was introduced
      with transcription activator peptide (Tat), followed by functionalization with
      methoxy polyethylene glycol (mPEG) and loading with pirfenidone. The pirfenidone
      loaded FGO (pirfenidone-FGO) exhibits better treatment efficacy than the single
      pirfenidone due to more effective loading and controlled release of the drug in
      tissue. The introduction of Tat and mPEG onto GO nanosheet contributes to the
      ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and the stability in blood circulation
      of the drug. At lower pH values, the highly efficient release of the drug from
      the pirfenidone-FGO exerts effective treatment to acidic inflammatory lesion
      after severe SAH. Besides its treatment function, FGO is also shown as a strong
      near infrared absorbing material which can be applied in photoacoustic imaging,
      allowing rapid real-time monitoring with deep resolution of brain tissues after
      SAH. The treatment efficacy of pirfenidone-FGO for central nervous system
      injuries is further demonstrated by hematoxylin and eosin staining of coronal
      brain slices, as well as measurements of brain water content and blood-brain
      barrier permeability. Our study supports the potential of FGO in clinical
      application in treatment of SAH. 

PMID- 25819363
TI  - Cyclodextrin-based star polymers as a versatile platform for
      nanochemotherapeutics: Enhanced entrapment and uptake of idarubicin.
AB  - A series of cyclodextrin-based star polymers were synthesized using beta
      cyclodextrin (CD) as hydrophilic core, methyl methacrylate (MMA) and tert-butyl
      acrylate (tBA) as hydrophobic arms. Star polymers, either homopolymers or
      random/block copolymers, showed narrow molecular weight distributions. Grafting
      hydrophobic arms created CD-based nanoparticles (CD-NPs) in the size range (130
      200nm) with narrow PdI <0.15 and slightly negative zeta-potential. Particle
      surface could be modified with chitosan to impart a positive surface charge.
      Colloidal stability of CD-NPs was a function of pH as revealed by the pH
      titration curves. CD-NPs were used as carrier for the chemotherapeutic drug
      idarubicin (encapsulation efficiency, EE ~40%) ensuring prolonged release profile
      (~80% after 48h). For cell-based studies, coumarin-6 was encapsulated as a
      fluorescent marker (EE ~75%). Uptake studies carried out on A549 and Caco-2 cell
      lines proved the uptake of coumarin-loaded NPs as a function of time and
      preferential localization in the cytoplasm. Uptake kinetics revealed no
      saturation or plateau over 6h. Chitosan-modified NPs showed significantly
      improved, concentration-dependent cellular uptake. Meanwhile, CD-NPs were non
      cytotoxic on both cell lines over the concentration range (0.25-3mg/ml) as
      studied by MTT and LDH assays. In conclusion, CD star polymers can be considered
      a versatile platform for a new class of biocompatible nanochemotherapy. 

PMID- 25819364
TI  - Preparation and in vitro characterization of chitosan nanobubbles as theranostic
      agents.
AB  - Theranostic delivery systems are nanostructures that combine the modality of
      therapy and diagnostic imaging. Polymeric micro- and nanobubbles, spherical
      vesicles containing a gas core, have been proposed as new theranostic carriers
      for MRI-guided therapy. In this study, chitosan nanobubbles were purposely tuned
      for the co-delivery of prednisolone phosphate and a Gd(III) complex, as
      therapeutic and MRI diagnostic agent, respectively. Perfluoropentane was used for
      filling up the internal core of the formulation. These theranostic nanobubbles
      showed diameters of about 500nm and a positive surface charge that allows the
      interaction with the negatively charged Gd-DOTP complex. Pluronic F68 was added
      to the nanobubble aqueous suspension as stabilizer agent. The encapsulation
      efficiency was good for both the active compounds, and a prolonged drug release
      profile was observed in vitro. The effect of ultrasound stimulation on
      prednisolone phosphate release was evaluated at 37 degrees C. A marked increase
      on drug release kinetics with no burst effect was obtained after the exposure of
      the system to ultrasound. Furthermore, the relaxivity of the MRI probe changed
      upon incorporation in the nanobubble shell, thereby offering interesting
      opportunity in dual MRI-US experiments. The ultrasound characterization showed a
      good in vitro echogenicity of the theranostic nanobubbles. In summary, chitosan
      drug-loaded nanobubbles with Gd(III) complex bound to their shell might be
      considered a new platform for imaging and drug delivery with the potential of
      improving anti-cancer treatments. 

PMID- 25819365
TI  - Wettability studies of topologically distinct titanium surfaces.
AB  - Biomedical implants made of titanium-based materials are expected to have certain
      essential features including high bone-to-implant contact and optimum
      osteointegration, which are often influenced by the surface topography and
      physicochemical properties of titanium surfaces. The surface structure in the
      nanoscale regime is presumed to alter/facilitate the protein binding, cell
      adhesion and proliferation, thereby reducing post-operative complications with
      increased lifespan of biomedical implants. The novelty of our TiO2 nanostructures
      lies mainly in the high level control over their morphology and roughness by mere
      compositional change and optimisation of the experimental parameters. The present
      work focuses on the wetting behaviour of various nanostructured titanium surfaces
      towards water. Kinetics of contact area of water droplet on macroscopically flat,
      nanoporous and nanotubular titanium surface topologies was monitored under
      similar evaporation conditions. The contact area of the water droplet on
      hydrophobic titanium planar surface (foil) was found to decrease during
      evaporation, whereas the contact area of the droplet on hydrophobic nanorough
      titanium surfaces practically remained unaffected until the complete evaporation.
      This demonstrates that the surface morphology and roughness at the nanoscale
      level substantially affect the titanium dioxide surface-water droplet
      interaction, opposing to previous observations for microscale structured
      surfaces. The difference in surface topographic nanofeatures of nanostructured
      titanium surfaces could be correlated not only with the time-dependency of the
      contact area, but also with time-dependency of the contact angle and
      electrochemical properties of these surfaces. 

PMID- 25819367
TI  - Animal models for acute radiation syndrome drug discovery.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Although significant scientific advances have been made over the
      past six decades in developing safe, nontoxic and effective radiation/medical
      countermeasures (MCMs) for acute radiation syndrome (ARS), no drug has been
      approved by the US FDA. The availability of adequate animal models is a prime
      requisite under the criteria established by the FDA 'animal rule' for the
      development of novel MCMs for ARS and the discovery of biomarkers for radiation
      exposure. AREAS COVERED: This article reviews the developments of MCMs to combat
      ARS, with particular reference to the various animal models (rodents: mouse and
      rat; canine: beagle; minipigs and nonhuman primates [NHPs]) utilized for the in
      depth evaluation. The objective, pathways and challenges of the FDA Animal
      Efficacy Rule are also discussed. EXPERT OPINION: There are a number of well
      defined animal models, the mouse, canine and NHP, that are being used for the
      development of MCMs. Additional animal models, such as the minipig, are under
      development to further assist in the identification, efficacy testing and
      approval of MCMs under the FDA Animal Efficacy Rule.

PMID- 25819368
TI  - A meta-analysis reveals a positive correlation between genetic diversity metrics
      and environmental status in the long-lived seagrass Posidonia oceanica.
AB  - The seagrass Posidonia oceanica is a key engineering species structuring coastal
      marine systems throughout much of the Mediterranean basin. Its decline is of
      concern, leading to the search for short- and long-term indicators of seagrass
      health. Using ArcGIS maps from a recent, high-resolution (1-4 km) modelling study
      of 18 disturbance factors affecting coastal marine systems across the
      Mediterranean (Micheli et al. 2013,
      http://globalmarine.nceas.ucsb.edu/mediterranean/), we tested for correlations
      with genetic diversity metrics (allelic diversity, genotypic/clonal diversity and
      heterozygosity) in a meta-analysis of 56 meadows. Contrary to initial
      predictions, weak but significantly positive correlations were found for
      commercial shipping, organic pollution (pesticides) and cumulative impact. This
      counterintuitive finding suggests greater resistance and resilience of
      individuals with higher genetic and genotypic diversity under disturbance (at
      least for a time) and/or increased sexual reproduction under an intermediate
      disturbance model. We interpret the absence of low and medium levels of genetic
      variation at impacted locations as probable local extinctions of individuals that
      already exceeded their resistance capacity. Alternatively, high diversity at high
      impact sites is likely a temporal artefact, reflecting the mismatch with pre
      environmental impact conditions, especially because flowering and sexual
      recruitment are seldom observed. While genetic diversity metrics are a valuable
      tool for restoration and mitigation, caution must be exercised in the
      interpretation of correlative patterns as found in this study, because the
      exceptional longevity of individuals creates a temporal mismatch that may falsely
      suggest good meadow health status, while gradual deterioration of allelic
      diversity might go unnoticed.

PMID- 25819366
TI  - Higher infection rate after 7- compared with 5-day cycle of azacitidine in
      patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Azacitidine (AZA) dose reduction is a common practice in cytopenic
      patients. However, a correlation between AZA dose and infection complications has
      never been studied. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Higher-risk patients with
      myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia treated with AZA in 18 Israeli
      hospitals between the years 2008 and 2011 were included in a former national
      survey. To reveal the effect of AZA dosage on infection risk we limited our
      analysis to the infection rate after the first AZA dose alone. We excluded
      subsequent cycles of AZA from the analysis, because infectious events during
      these cycles might be related to other cofactors such as disease response to AZA
      therapy. RESULTS: After the first AZA cycle, infectious events were more frequent
      after doses of 75 mg/m(2) for 7 days than 75 mg/m(2) for 5 days (36/106 [34%] and
      10/67 [14.9%], respectively; P = .008), regardless of the patient's age. Of the
      46 recorded infectious events, the causative pathogen was identified as bacterial
      in 25 (54.3%) and as viral or fungal in 2 (4.3%) and 2 (4.3%) cases,
      respectively. No pathogen was identified in 17 (37%) cases. Infections were
      significantly more prevalent among patients who presented with platelet counts <
      20,000 (43.6% vs. 23.6%; P = .012) and poor risk cytogenetics (40.7% vs. 19.8%; P
      = .008). CONCLUSION: Reduction of AZA dose might decrease infection rate and
      therefore should be considered in patients with high infection risk.

PMID- 25819369
TI  - The discriminative ability of waist circumference, body mass index and waist-to
      hip ratio in identifying metabolic syndrome: Variations by age, sex and race.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Many studies have suggested that there is variation in the
      capabilities of BMI, WC and WHR in predicting cardiometabolic risk and that it
      might be confounded by gender, ethnicity and age group. The objective of this
      study is to examine the discriminative abilities of body mass index (BMI), waist
      circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) to predict two or more non-adipose
      components of the metabolic syndrome (high blood pressure, hypertriglyceridemia,
      low high density lipoprotein-cholesterol and high fasting plasma glucose) among
      the adult Malaysian population by gender, age group and ethnicity. METHODS: Data
      from 2572 respondents (1044 men and 1528 women) aged 25-64 years who participated
      in the Non Communicable Disease Surveillance 2005/2006, a population-based cross
      sectional study, were analysed. Participants' socio-demographic details,
      anthropometric indices (BMI, WC and WHR), blood pressure, fasting lipid profile
      and fasting glucose level were assessed. Receiver operating characteristics
      curves analysis was used to evaluate the ability of each anthropometric index to
      discriminate MetS cases from non-MetS cases based on the area under the curve.
      RESULTS: Overall, WC had better discriminative ability than WHR for women but did
      not perform significantly better than BMI in both sexes, whereas BMI was better
      than WHR in women only. Waist circumference was a better discriminator of MetS
      compared to WHR in Malay men and women. Waist circumference and BMI performed
      better than WHR in Chinese women, men aged 25-34 years and women aged 35-44
      years. CONCLUSIONS: The discriminative ability of BMI and WC is better than WHR
      for predicting two or more non-adipose components of MetS. Therefore, either BMI
      or WC measurements are recommended in screening for metabolic syndrome in routine
      clinical practice in the effort to combat cardiovascular disease and type II
      diabetes mellitus.

PMID- 25819370
TI  - Mechanistic Insight into Peroxydisulfate Reactivity: Oxidation of the cis,cis
      [Ru(bpy)2(OH2)]2O(4+) "Blue Dimer".
AB  - One-electron oxidation of the MU-oxo dimer (cis,cis-[Ru(III)(bpy)2(OH2)]2O(4+),
      {3,3}) to {3,4} by S2O8(2-) can be described by three concurrent reaction
      pathways corresponding to the three protic forms of {3,3}. Free energy
      correlations of the rate constants, transient species dynamics determined by
      pulse radiolysis, and medium and temperature dependencies of the alkaline pathway
      all suggest that the rate-determining step in these reactions is a strongly
      nonadiabatic dissociative electron transfer within a precursor ion pair leading
      to the {3,4}|SO4(2-)|SO4(*-) ion triple. As deduced from the SO4(*-) scavenging
      experiments with 2-propanol, the SO4(*-) radical then either oxidizes {3,4} to
      {4,4} within the ion triple, effecting a net two-electron oxidation of {3,3}, or
      escapes in solution with ~25% probability to react with additional {3,3} and
      {3,4}, that is, effecting sequential one-electron oxidations. The reaction model
      presented also invokes rapid {3,3} + {4,4} -> 2{3,4} comproportionation, for
      which kcom ~5 * 10(7) M(-1) s(-1) was independently measured. The model provides
      an explanation for the observation that, despite favorable energetics, no
      oxidation beyond the {3,4} state was detected. The indiscriminate nature of
      oxidation by SO4(*-) indicates that its fate must be quantitatively determined
      when using S2O8(2-) as an oxidant. 

PMID- 25819371
TI  - Streamlined method for parallel identification of single domain antibodies to
      membrane receptors on whole cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Owing to their minimal size, high production yield, versatility and
      robustness, the recombinant variable domains (nanobodies) of camelid single chain
      antibodies are valued affinity reagents for research, diagnostic, and therapeutic
      applications. While their preparation against purified antigens is
      straightforward, the generation of nanobodies to difficult targets such as multi
      pass or complex membrane cell receptors remains challenging. Here we devised a
      platform for high throughput identification of nanobodies to cell receptor based
      on the use of a biotin handle. METHODS: Using a biotin-acceptor peptide tag, the
      in vivo biotinylation of nanobodies in 96 well culture blocks was optimized
      allowing their parallel analysis by flow cytometry and ELISA, and their direct
      use for pull-down/MS target identification. RESULTS: The potential of this
      strategy was demonstrated by the selection and characterization of panels of
      nanobodies to Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18), MHC II and the mouse Ly-5 leukocyte common
      antigen (CD45) receptors, from a VHH library obtained from a llama immunized with
      mouse bone marrow derived dendritic cells. By on and off switching of the
      addition of biotin, the method also allowed the epitope binning of the selected
      Nbs directly on cells. CONCLUSIONS: This strategy streamlines the selection of
      potent nanobodies to complex antigens, and the selected nanobodies constitute
      ready-to-use biotinylated reagents. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: This method will
      accelerate the discovery of nanobodies to cell membrane receptors which comprise
      the largest group of drug and analytical targets.

PMID- 25819372
TI  - Comparative venomics of the Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis viridis) from
      Colorado: Identification of a novel pattern of ontogenetic changes in venom
      composition and assessment of the immunoreactivity of the commercial antivenom
      CroFab(r).
AB  - Here we describe and compare the venomic and antivenomic characteristics of both
      neonate and adult Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis viridis) venoms. Although
      both neonate and adult venoms contain unique components, similarities among
      protein family content were seen. Both neonate and adult venoms consisted of
      myotoxin, bradykinin-potentiating peptide (BPP), phospholipase A2 (PLA2), Zn(2+)
      dependent metalloproteinase (SVMP), serine proteinase, L-amino acid oxidase
      (LAAO), cysteine-rich secretory protein (CRISP) and disintegrin families.
      Quantitative differences, however, were observed, with venoms of adults
      containing significantly higher concentrations of the non-enzymatic toxic
      compounds and venoms of neonates containing higher concentrations of pre
      digestive enzymatic proteins such as SVMPs. To assess the relevance of this venom
      variation in the context of snakebite and snakebite treatment, we tested the
      efficacy of the common antivenom CroFab(r) for recognition of both adult and
      neonate venoms in vitro. This comparison revealed that many of the major protein
      families (SVMPs, CRISP, PLA2, serine proteases, and LAAO) in both neonate and
      adult venoms were immunodepleted by the antivenom, whereas myotoxins, one of the
      major toxic components of C. v. viridis venom, in addition to many of the small
      peptides, were not efficiently depleted by CroFab(r). These results therefore
      provide a comprehensive catalog of the venom compounds present in C. v. viridis
      venom and new molecular insight into the potential efficacy of CroFab(r) against
      human envenomations by one of the most widely distributed rattlesnake species in
      North America. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Comparative proteomic analysis of venoms
      of neonate and adult Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis viridis) from a
      discrete population in Colorado revealed a novel pattern of ontogenetic shifts in
      toxin composition for viperid snakes. The observed stage-dependent decrease of
      the relative content of disintegrins, catalytically active D49-PLA2s, L-amino
      acid oxidase, and SVMPs, and the concomitant increase of the relative abundance
      of paralytic small basic myotoxins and ohanin-like toxin, and hemostasis
      disrupting serine proteinases, may represent an age-dependent strategy for
      securing prey and avoiding injury as the snake switches from small ectothermic
      prey and newborn rodents to larger endothermic prey. Such age-dependent shifts in
      venom composition may be relevant for antivenom efficacy and treatment of
      snakebite. However, applying a second-generation antivenomics approach, we show
      that CroFab(r), developed against venom of three Crotalus and one Agkistrodon
      species, efficiently immunodepleted many, but not all, of the major compounds
      present in neonate and adult C. v. viridis venoms.

PMID- 25819373
TI  - Self-management interventions for young people with chronic conditions: A
      systematic overview.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To provide a systematic overview of self-management interventions
      (SMI) for young people with chronic conditions with respect to content, formats,
      theories, and evaluated outcomes. METHODS: Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, Web-of
      Science, CINAHL, and Cochrane were searched. Reviews' reference lists were
      scrutinized. Selected studies were: Original research articles in English
      published between 2003 and March 2014; about the evaluation of SMI for 7 to 25
      year-olds with somatic chronic conditions/physical disabilities; with clear
      outcomes and intervention descriptions. The classification of medical, role and
      emotion management served to review content. Formats, theories, and evaluated
      outcomes were summarized. RESULTS: 86 studies were reviewed. Most aimed at
      medical management and were unclear about theoretical bases. Although a variety
      of outcomes was evaluated and the distribution over self-management domains was
      quite unpredictable, outcomes conceptually related to specific content. A content
      based framework for the evaluation of self-management interventions is presented.
      CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: SMI relate to self-management tasks and
      skill-building. Yet, conceptualizations of self-management support often remained
      unclear and content focuses predominantly on the medical domain, neglecting
      psycho-social challenges for chronically ill young people. Future evaluations
      should match outcomes/themes to content and characteristics. Our framework and
      overview of SMI characteristics and outcomes may assist clinicians in providing
      self-management support.

PMID- 25819374
TI  - Continuous local anesthetic infusion for children with spina bifida undergoing
      major reconstruction of the lower urinary tract.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: While many options for postoperative analgesia are available to the
      general patient population, choices are limited for individuals with spinal
      dysraphism. We hypothesized that the use of continuous local anesthetic infusion
      following major reconstruction of the lower urinary tract in children with spina
      bifida would significantly decrease need for opiate use, while maintaining
      adequate pain control. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Children with spina bifida who
      underwent major reconstruction of the lower urinary tract at Children's Hospital
      Colorado were identified from January, 2003 through January, 2013 were
      identified. In addition to enterocycstoplasty, procedures included Mitrofanoff or
      Monti creation, bladder neck reconstruction, and Malone antegrade continence
      enema. Patients who had local anesthetic infusion catheters placed in the
      incision were compared to patients without catheters. Opioid consumption was
      calculated by conversion of any opiates into IV morphine (mg/kg) on postoperative
      days (POD) 0-3. Pain was assessed by mean and maximum FLACC scores on POD 0-2.
      Use of antiemetic medications and wound related complications were recorded as
      secondary metrics. Patients with other etiologies for neurogenic bladder and
      bowel were excluded. Patients whose pain was assessed by other assessment scales
      were excluded. Chi-squared analysis was used for nominal variables, students t
      test was used for analysis of continuous variables. P values <0.05 were
      considered significant. RESULTS: 36 myelomeningocele patients who underwent
      primary enterocystoplasty met the inclusion criteria. All surgeries were open
      procedures. 24 patients in the infusion catheter group were compared to 12
      patients who received primary analgesia by PCA or IV narcotics. There were no
      significant differences in age, sex, weight or spinal defect level between the
      two groups. Opioid use, as defined by IV morphine equivalents, was significantly
      less in the wound soaker group on all PODs. The total opioid use after POD #0-3
      was 0.55 mg/kg in the wound soaker group vs 1.66 mg/kg in the IV/PCA group (p =
      0.03). FLACC scores were uniformly lower in the wound soaker group, but were not
      significantly different. There was a significant decrease in need for
      postoperative antiemetic use in the wound soaker group (36.5% vs 83.3%, p =
      0.014). Complications and hospital stay were similar between both groups.
      DISCUSSION: The advantage of local anesthesia is the reduction of systemic
      opioids and their subsequent adverse side effects. Our results suggest that in
      children with spina bifida undergoing major reconstruction of the lower urinary
      tract narcotic consumption is approximately 1/3 when continuous local anesthetic
      catheters are placed into the incision. The need for antiemetic medication is
      also significantly less. While this technique has been validated in a variety of
      other settings, it may be most beneficial in patients with myelomeningocele or
      other spinal dysraphism where epidural placement is generally contraindicated and
      narcotic use may have a particularly deleterious effect on preexisting neurogenic
      bowel function. The primary limitation of our study is that it is a retrospective
      review of a limited number of patients. Patients were not randomized and subject
      to other management differences that could have influenced our results in unknown
      ways. CONCLUSIONS: Continuous local anesthetic catheters are a simple, effective
      alternative strategy to provide postoperative analgesia while reducing systemic
      opiate use and associated adverse effects.

PMID- 25819375
TI  - Intravesical tunnel length to ureteral diameter ratio insufficiently explains
      ureterovesical junction competence: A parametric simulation study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In 1959, Paquin recommended a tunnel length five times the diameter of
      the ureter to prevent vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) during ureteral reimplants. In
      1969, Lyon et al. challenged Paquin's conclusions and proposed that the ureteral
      orifice was more important than the intravesical tunnel for UVJ competence. It is
      not known if the two mechanisms of UVJ competence (tunnel length and UO spatial
      orientation) are interdependent or if one is more critical. Although in clinical
      practice Paquin's rule has stood the test of time, classical mechanics of
      materials would predict more coaptation (less reflux) with larger diameter
      ureters and this contradicts Paquin's rule. The aim of this study was to test
      Paquin's tunnel length theory by parametrically modeling the ureterovesical
      junction (UVJ) to determine variables critical for ureteral closure. STUDY
      DESIGN: LS-DYNA finite-element simulation software was use to model ureteral
      collapse (Figure). Intravesical tunnel length, ureteral diameter, ureteral
      thickness and ureteral stiffness were all modeled. Changes in the pressure
      required to collapse the ureter were studied as each variable was changed on the
      model. The modeled ureteral orifice was not affected by changes in bladder volume
      (in a real bladder, bladder distention would pull the ureteral office open) and
      had no constraints (which could occur by suturing the ureteral orifice to a stiff
      bladder). RESULTS: As predicted by classical mechanics of materials, the pressure
      required to collapse the ureter was inversely related to its diameter. Above 1 cm
      tunnel length, pressures required to collapse a ureter did not decrease by any
      significant amount. Increasing ureteral thickness or ureteral stiffness did
      increase the pressure required to collapse the ureter, but only significantly for
      ureteral thicknesses not commonly seen in practice (i.e. wall thickness of 2.5 mm
      in a 6.4 mm ureter). DISCUSSION: Our model showed that for most ureters seen in
      clinical practice (3-30 mm in diameter), and when the ureteral orifice is not
      constrained by the bladder mucosa, a 1 cm tunnel would allow the ureter to
      collapse under low pressures. Contrary to Paquin's belief, larger diameter
      ureters collapsed more easily. It is important to understand that our model's
      main limitation was that it did not study the effects of the ureteral orifice,
      which in light of our findings must play an important role in preventing reflux
      as suggested by Lyon et al., in 1969. For example, a 3 cm ureteral orifice
      sutured to the bladder mucosa would be difficult to collapse as the bladder
      distends and pulls open the orifice. One way of compensating for a difficult to
      collapse ureteral orifice would be creating a larger diameter tunnel, but another
      would be to create a better ureteral orifice, perhaps by narrowing the diameter
      of the UO (distal ureteral tapering) and making it protrude into the bladder like
      a volcano (i.e. advancement sutures, or creating an intravesical nipple).
      CONCLUSION: We hope that this new understanding of the variables involved in
      ureterovesical junction competence can lead to further refinement in our surgical
      techniques to correct vesicoureteral reflux.

PMID- 25819376
TI  - The influence of hormonal treatment with beta-human chorionic gonadotropin for
      cryptorchidism on future fertility in rats.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There have been two treatment modalities for cryptorchidism such
      that surgical and hormonal; the latter being highly controversial. While some
      authors suggest that hormonal treatment increases the number and maturation of
      germ cells in cryptorchid testes, others believe just the opposite. OBJECTIVE: We
      aimed to find out the sperm counts and testicular index; briefly fertility
      potential of the normally descended contralateral testes in adulthood period in
      rats treated with Beta-HCG in early period of their lives. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Three groups, each including 10 rats aged 22 days old, in which delactation and
      normal feeding can be started, were formed to be Group 1: Sham operated, Group 2:
      Experimental cryptorchidism (EC) and Group 3: Hormone-treated after experimental
      cryptorchidism was performed (HT-EC). Left testis was placed in the abdomen in
      group 2 and 3. In group 1, a sham operation was performed. The rats in EC-HT
      group received subcutaneous injections of 50 IU/kg Beta-HCG daily for 7 days.
      Right orchidectomy was performed when they reached reproductive period to
      evaluate fertility potential with sperm counts and testicular index. Testicular
      index was calculated according to the formula "testicular length * width/weight
      of rat". Epididymal sperm count was made with hemocytometer. RESULTS: 
      DISCUSSION: We evaluated the physical characteristics and fertility potential
      (sperm counts) of contralateral normal testes during adulthood in rats that
      underwent experimental unilateral cryptorchidism during infancy. A relationship
      between testis weight and sperm counts were also investigated. We could not find
      any direct correlation of sperm count with either testicular weight or testicular
      index in our study. Although the rats had normal testes at birth, we found
      decreased sperm counts in contralateral normal testes in EC group. This suggests
      that unilateral cryptorchidism may cause some systemic effects that reach the
      other testis. Hormone treatment was not beneficial. This is comparable to
      Nambirajan et al. who reported histological changes and decreased spermatogenic
      cell count in contralateral scrotal testes in experimentally induced unilateral
      cryptorchidism in early period of life in rats. Heiskanen et al. reported that
      treatment with Beta-HCG leads to decreased total sperm counts in the future due
      to increased germ cell apoptosis caused by hormonal withdrawal after treatment.
      Cortes et al. also reported decreased number of germ cells in 1-3 year-old boys
      who underwent surgery after unsuccessful Beta-HCG treatment. The reasons could be
      delayed testicular descent or adverse effect of hormone treatment though. Our
      results concurred with them. Apparently, our model has failed to mimic the
      pathophysiologic mechanisms of congenital cryptorchidism in humans. Furthermore,
      we applied hormone treatment in normal rats with normally descended testes.
      Therefore, the "by-product" information of our study is that, unnecessary use of
      Beta-HCG during infancy may impair future fertility. CONCLUSION: Our study
      suggests that Beta-HCG treatment may decrease sperm counts and decrease the
      future fertility potential. We could not find any direct correlation of sperm
      count with either testicular weight or testicular index.

PMID- 25819377
TI  - Laser Doppler spectroscopy of testes after unilateral orchiopexy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Undescended testes are the most common urogenital malformation in
      boys. Impaired microcirculation is among other factors addressed as a potential
      complication of surgery and scar formation, leading to long-term suboptimal
      results. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to compare the postoperative microcirculation in
      operated versus non-operated contralateral testis groups after unilateral
      orchiopexies versus a healthy control cohort. METHODS: Ninety-nine consecutive
      patients were included after unilateral orchiopexy procedures at the age of 3.5
      years (+/-2.9 years) at a single center for pediatric surgery. Eight-five
      patients were examined with a combination of laser Doppler (blood flow
      determination) and white-light spectroscopy (oxygen saturation and hemoglobin
      amount determinations) to determine the microcirculation at two different depth
      levels non-invasively. All relevant surgery data were obtained retrospectively.
      RESULTS: The right side was operated in 53.5% of cases. Previous hormone
      treatment had been prescribed in 46.5%. There were no significant differences in
      perfusion measurements between patients with previous hormone therapy and
      patients without. There was no significant difference in age and clinical
      pubertal stage between groups; however, 65% of patients underwent surgery after
      their second birthday. When comparing oxygen saturation (So2), relative
      hemoglobin (rHb), flow, and velocity in the operated testis with the
      contralateral testis of the same patients, we found significantly higher flows
      and velocities for the contralateral testes (p = 0.041, p = 0.022). Similar
      higher flows and velocities were found in the healthy controls (p < 0.001). The
      differences between healthy controls and contralateral testis that were not
      operated on did not reach statistical significance. There was no difference in
      measurements at 2 mm depth (skin and subcutaneous tissue) between groups to rule
      out systemic or capillary differences. DISCUSSION: Important limitations include
      the limited and relatively heterogeneous samples that were obtained for follow-up
      and retrospective surgery data collection. An additional limitation is missing
      presurgical data, which we hope to obtain in future studies. Hormonal data or
      bone age could not be obtained for study reasons. The age in our study was on
      average above the recommended age for orchiopexy in Germany (6-12 months), which
      could also restrict generalizability. In terms of complications, we observed
      reascending testes within the range but a rather high incidence of wound
      infections. The combination of Doppler and white-light spectroscopy was easily
      applicable and produced reliable data at 2 and 8 mm depth simultaneously in a
      standardized setting. CONCLUSIONS: After orchiopexy, differences were found in
      the microcirculation between the operated and contralateral testes or healthy
      controls. It remains unclear if this is an effect of primary disease or surgery.
      The microcirculation of contralateral testes was also seemingly different from
      controls. This is most likely not a consequence of surgery alone, but a common
      problem for both testes in the affected patients.

PMID- 25819378
TI  - What is the risk of urinary tract infection in children with antenatally
      presenting dilating vesico-ureteric reflux?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The incidence of recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in
      children with primary vesico-ureteric reflux (VUR) presenting symptomatically is
      well documented. The risk of UTI in asymptomatic primary VUR diagnosed on
      investigation of antenatal hydronephrosis (ANH) is less clear. Paradoxically,
      several previous studies have suggested a lower risk (1-25%). We ascertain the
      incidence of UTI amongst antenatally-presenting primary VUR and explore risk
      factors. STUDY DESIGN: All patients <16 years managed for primary VUR between
      1997 and 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were identified by
      searching 'VUR, vesicoureteric reflux' and 'vesico' in the clinical database.
      Sex, follow up, antibiotic prophylaxis, age at UTI, grade of VUR, radioisotope
      imaging findings (CRN-congenital reflux nephropathy, NRD-new renal defects),
      evidence of bladder dysfunction, surgical intervention and resolution were
      recorded. UTI diagnosis was based on positive urine culture with symptoms
      including fever. SPSS statistical package and Pearson's Chi-squared test were
      used to explore significance. RESULTS: Of 308 patients with primary VUR aged <16
      years treated, 242 were diagnosed following presentation with UTI. The remaining
      66 (21%) were initially asymptomatic, and VUR was diagnosed on investigation of
      ANH. All were given prophylaxis from birth. Six months to 16years (median 6years)
      follow-up was available for 54 (42 males, 12 females). All but two patients had
      grade III-V VUR (96%), bilaterally in 41 (76%). CRN was evident in 30 (56%; all
      male) and bladder dysfunction in 12 (22%; 10 males). Twenty-eight patients (52%)
      developed a UTI. The risk of UTI was 58% in girls, 33% in boys without CRN and
      57% in boys with CRN (p = 0.17). Bladder dysfunction was a significant risk
      factor for UTI (p = 0.03). All 8 (15%; 7 males) with NRD had had a UTI. A single
      UTI appeared responsible for the majority of NRD (6/8; 75%). UTI occurred in 6/27
      (22%) boys after circumcision compared to 17/25 (68%) prior/without circumcision
      (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of UTI in VUR detected after presentation
      with ANH was 52%. CRN and bladder dysfunction were risk factors for developing a
      UTI. Circumcision appears to significantly reduce the risk of infection.
      Antenatal presentation of primary VUR does not carry a reduced risk of UTI. A
      single UTI, in half before the age of six months, seemed responsible for the
      majority of NRD. In boys, the highest risk of UTI is in the first few months of
      infancy, despite antibiotic prophylaxis, and other interventions, particularly
      circumcision, should therefore be considered as early as possible.

PMID- 25819379
TI  - A comparative bibliometric analysis of the top 150 cited papers in hypospadiology
      (1945-2013).
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Hypospadias, the most common congenital malformation of the penis,
      is characterized by an abnormal ventral opening of the urethral meatus, abnormal
      ventral curvature of the penis, and an abnormal distribution of the foreskin
      around the glans, with a ventrally-deficient hooded foreskin, and has been
      described in modern peer-reviewed literature since Noble's description in 1853. A
      dramatic increase in the literature on hypospadiology has focused on two main
      topics: The aetiology of the condition including molecular mechanisms and
      environmental influences, as well as surgical techniques to repair the defect,
      however there have been a number of facets of research stemming from this poorly
      understood condition in a developing subspecialty (Figure). The majority of these
      publications focus on the evolution of surgical technique and management.
      Urethral reconstruction should offer the ability to stand to urinate and combine
      a satisfactory cosmetic result. The tubularized incised plate repair, popularized
      by Snodgrass et al., and the Mathieu repair, have been the mainstay for distal
      hypospadias, however, there have still been a large number of well-described
      techniques, with no consensus as to the ideal method of repair, some of which is
      attributed to non-uniform standards of reporting outcomes. There is also no
      standard objective means to qualitatively assess the importance of each of these
      contributions. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the top
      150 peer-reviewed articles in the field of hypospadiology by way of citation
      analysis as a means to determine the importance/relevance of each contribution
      throughout 8 decades of research. STUDY DESIGN: A cited reference search was
      carried out for indexed citations within Web of ScienceTM Core Collection. The
      top 150 indexed cited articles containing the topic "hypospadias" in specific
      subject categories were compiled using a component of Science Citation Index
      command. References were then evaluated, and analysed across a number of indices,
      and over time. RESULTS: The mean number of citations was 76 for each article. The
      top 150 articles were published across 21 countries, with the majority
      originating from the USA. The lead research institution was the University of
      Texas (Southwestern) Medical Center. In total, the top 3 centers represented 33
      publications within the top 150 citations. The most commonly utilized journal was
      the Journal of Urology. The most cited author was W.T. Snodgrass. 39% papers in
      the top 150 cited articles were published prior to 1990. Three out of the five
      papers cited in the 1940s dealt with operative technique to repair hypospadias.
      The period 2000-2010 in contrast, demonstrated a significant inverse correlation
      between molecular biology citations, and those for operative techniques, with the
      incidence of the latter dropping to 6% of all cited papers. DISCUSSION: This is
      the first study of its kind to analyse the most influential articles in
      hypospadiology, and their characteristics assessed for authorship, content and
      impact factor. Furthermore it allows data analysis by topic and between time
      points. This not only de-clutters the wealth of accumulated data on this subject,
      but also provides an important adjunct to education and training. As with this
      study, other citation analytical studies in urology found a significant
      preponderance in cited studies originating from the USA. The prevalence of the US
      in cited papers doesn't reflect any inherent bias, just a greater number of
      publications. CONCLUSION: Although there are inherent potential elements of bias
      in citation analysis, this study demonstrates that citation analysis in a
      complicated topic can provide a high-throughput, uncomplicated method of quickly
      deciphering important contributions of authors and institutions to the field of
      hypospadias research.

PMID- 25819380
TI  - Surgical treatment reduces blood pressure in children with unilateral congenital
      hydronephrosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Renal disorders can cause hypertension, but less is known about the
      influence of hydronephrosis on blood pressure. Hydronephrosis due to pelvo
      ureteric junction obstruction (PUJO) is a fairly common condition (incidence in
      newborns of 0.5-1%). Although hypertensive effects of hydronephrosis have been
      suggested, this has not been substantiated by prospective studies in humans [1
      3]. Experimental studies with PUJO have shown that animals with induced
      hydronephrosis develop salt-sensitive hypertension, which strongly correlate to
      the degree of obstruction [4-7]. Moreover, relief of the obstruction normalized
      blood pressure [8]. In this first prospective study our aim was to study the
      blood pressure pattern in pediatric patients with hydronephrosis before and after
      surgical correction of the ureteral obstruction. Specifically, we investigated if
      preoperative blood pressure is reduced after surgery and if split renal function
      and renographic excretion curves provide any prognostic information. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: Twelve patients with unilateral congenital hydronephrosis were included
      in this prospective study. Ambulatory blood pressure (24 h) was measured
      preoperatively and six months after surgery. Preoperative evaluations of
      bilateral renal function by Tc99m-MAG3 scintigraphy, and renography curves,
      classified according to O'Reilly, were also performed. RESULTS: As shown in the
      summary figure, postoperative systolic (103 +/- 2 mmHg) and diastolic (62 +/- 2
      mmHg) blood pressure were significantly lower than those obtained preoperatively
      (110 +/- 4 and 69 +/- 2 mmHg, respectively), whereas no changes in circadian
      variation or pulse pressure were observed. Renal functional share of the
      hydronephrotic kidney ranged from 11 to 55%. There was no correlation between the
      degree of renal function impairment and the preoperative excretory pattern, or
      between the preoperative excretory pattern and the blood pressure reduction
      postoperatively. However, preoperative MAG3 function of the affected kidney
      correlated with the magnitude of blood pressure change after surgery. DISCUSSION:
      Correction of the obstruction lowered blood pressure, and the reduction in blood
      pressure appeared to correlate with the degree of renal functional impairment,
      but not with the excretory pattern. Thus, in the setting of hypertension, it
      appears that the functional share of the hydronephrotic kidney should be
      considered an indicator of the need for surgery, whereas the renography curve is
      less reliable. The strength of the present study is the prospective nature and
      that ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was used. Future longitudinal prolonged
      follow-up studies are warranted to confirm the present findings, and to
      understand if a real nephrogenic hypertension with potential necessity of
      treatment will develop. CONCLUSION: This novel prospective study in patients with
      congenital hydronephrosis demonstrates a reduction in blood pressure following
      relief of the obstruction. Based on the present results, we propose that the
      blood pressure level should also be taken into account when deciding whether to
      correct hydronephrosis surgically or not.

PMID- 25819381
TI  - Declining prevalence of hepatitis E antibodies among Danish blood donors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The increasing incidence of reported hepatitis E cases in Europe has
      focused attention on hepatitis E virus (HEV) and the risk of transfusion
      transmitted hepatitis E. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence
      of antibodies to HEV (anti-HEV) among Danish blood donors in 2013 and to compare
      it to previous studies in Denmark. In addition we wanted to compare the relative
      reactivity of two different assays. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Samples from 504
      blood donors were collected and analyzed for anti-HEV with an in-house assay
      developed at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In addition the samples
      were analyzed with the Wantai anti-HEV assay. Demographic information and
      possible HEV exposure was collected by self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS:
      Using the NIH assay the prevalence of anti-HEV among Danish blood donors was
      10.7% and with the Wantai assay the prevalence of anti-HEV was 19.8% (p < 0.001).
      In both cases the presence of anti-HEV was significantly correlated with
      increasing age. In addition, anti-HEV as measured by the Wantai test was
      significantly associated with contact with children (p = 0.01), but in
      multivariate analysis only age was associated with anti-HEV in both assays. By
      the NIH assay, the prevalence had declined from 20.6% in 2003 to 10.7% in 2013.
      CONCLUSIONS: Anti-HEV prevalence had decreased by half among Danish blood donors
      over 10 years, but was still highly prevalent. The difference in reactivity of
      the two assays demonstrates the importance of using the same assay when comparing
      the anti-HEV prevalence in populations over time.

PMID- 25819382
TI  - IgA NEPHROPATHY IN PATIENTS RECEIVING A RENAL TRANSPLANT.
AB  - BACKGROUND: IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the third most frequent cause of renal
      graft loss among patients with primary glomerulonephritis. OBJECTIVES: To assess
      clinical and laboratorial profile of patients with pre and/or post transplant
      IgAN, in addition to patient and graft survival in both groups. DESIGN: Data from
      146 patients who had received a renal transplant were retrospectively collected
      and were divided in two groups: group 1-patients with biopsy-documented IgAN as
      the underlying native kidney disease (n = 128); group 2-patients who developed
      post-transplant IgAN independent of the underlying disease (n = 18).
      PARTICIPANTS: Patients submitted to renal transplantation (1998-2010) with pre
      and/or post transplant IgAN. MEASUREMENTS: Clinical and laboratorial evaluation
      of renal function of 146 post transplant IgAN patients. RESULTS: Recipients and
      deceased donors exhibited a higher degree of HLA compatibility (1.0 vs. 2.5
      mismatches for groups 1 and 2, respectively). The main post-transplant IgAN
      presentation was haematuria associated with non-nephrotic proteinuria (44.4%). A
      histological pattern of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis was observed in 59.2%
      of biopsy samples. The 10-year patient survival was 93.5% in group 1 and 100% in
      group 2, and the graft survival rates were 58.5 and 87.2%, respectively.
      CONCLUSION: The rate of post-transplant IgA diagnosis in our case series was 11%,
      and IgAN was diagnosed late in the course of transplantation. In most cases, IgAN
      manifested as haematuria and non-nephrotic proteinuria, without renal graft
      dysfunction, and this picture might explain late indication of graft biopsies.
      The 10-year patient survival rates were excellent.

PMID- 25819383
TI  - Does myasthenia gravis influence overall survival and cumulative incidence of
      recurrence in thymoma patients? A Retrospective clinicopathological multicentre
      analysis on 797 patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Aim of this study is to evaluate whether Myasthenia Gravis (MG) might
      influence Overall Survival (OS) and Cumulative Incidence of Recurrence (CIR) in
      thymoma patients. METHODS: this is a multicenter retrospective study of patients
      operated in 6 high-volume Italian Institutions between 1990 and 2012. OS was
      estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and CIR by considering death from any cause
      as a competing event. Crude and adjusted comparisons by MG for OS and CIR were
      performed using Cox and Fine&Gray models. Adjusted models included MG, age,
      gender, stage, histology, induction therapy, completeness of resection, adjuvant
      therapy. RESULTS: Seven hundred ninety-seven patients were included: 375 (47%)
      had MG. MG patients were younger and more frequently female, with a B2-B3
      thymoma. At the end of the study, 129 patients (54 with MG) developed a
      recurrence and 165 (66 with MG) died. At univariate analysis, MG showed a slight
      protective effect on OS, not confirmed by the multivariate model. Age, incomplete
      resection, advanced stages and thymic carcinoma were negative prognostic
      variables. Univariate analyses showed no evidence of MG protective effect on CIR.
      Advanced stages and induction therapy were significant negative predictors.
      CONCLUSION: our study showed that MG was significantly associated with female,
      lower age and B2-B3 thymoma; it demonstrated a slight protective effect on OS at
      the univariate analysis which was not confirmed in multivariate as well as no
      impact on CIR. Advanced tumor stages and thymic carcinoma histology for OS and
      induction therapy and advanced stages for CIR were negative prognostic variables.

PMID- 25819384
TI  - The frequency and impact of FGFR1 amplification on clinical outcomes in Korean
      patients with small cell lung cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) plays a critical role in
      many human cancers. We tried to identify the frequency of FGFR1 amplifications
      among Korean patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Additionally, we
      examined the clinical significance of FGFR1 amplifications for overall survival
      (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) among SCLC patients who received
      standard chemotherapies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tumor tissues from 158 Korean
      patients diagnosed with SCLC from September 2009 to February 2013 were collected
      and analyzed using an FGFR1 FISH assay with a probe that hybridized to chromosome
      region 8p12-8p11.23 (Abbott Molecular, Abbott Park, IL). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:
      FGFR1 amplification was detected in three patients (1.9%) harboring extensive
      disease (ED). A multivariate analysis showed that among the patients with ED,
      FGFR1 amplification was associated with shorter disease-free survival to first
      line chemotherapy with etoposide plus cisplatin or carboplatin (hazard ratio
      [HR]=7.1; 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.0-25.4; P=0.003). The median overall
      survival time of the patients with ED was 8.2 and 10.2 months among patients with
      and without FGFR1 amplification, respectively (P=0.37). Although FGFR1
      amplification is rare in SCLC compared to non-small cell lung cancer or other
      malignancies with squamous histology, it is associated with poor survival
      following standard chemotherapy in SCLC. Further studies in large cohorts of
      patients with SCLC are needed to verify these results. Our results imply that
      FGFR1 may be a potential therapeutic target in SCLC and it could be confirmed in
      a clinical trial.

PMID- 25819385
TI  - You may look unhappy unless you smile: the distinctiveness of a smiling face
      against faces without an explicit smile.
AB  - An expressionless face is often perceived as rude whereas a smiling face is
      considered as hospitable. Repetitive exposure to such perceptions may have
      developed stereotype of categorizing an expressionless face as expressing
      negative emotion. To test this idea, we displayed a search array where the target
      was an expressionless face and the distractors were either smiling or frowning
      faces. We manipulated set size. Search reaction times were delayed with frowning
      distractors. Delays became more evident as the set size increased. We also
      devised a short-term comparison task where participants compared two sequential
      sets of expressionless, smiling, and frowning faces. Detection of an expression
      change across the sets was highly inaccurate when the change was made between
      frowning and expressionless face. These results indicate that subjects were
      confused with expressed emotions on frowning and expressionless faces, suggesting
      that it is difficult to distinguish expressionless face from frowning faces. 

PMID- 25819386
TI  - Red blood cell distribution width is increased in patients with psoriasis
      vulgaris: A retrospective study on 261 patients.
AB  - Circulating inflammatory cytokines and markers are increased in patients with
      psoriasis. Recent studies have shown that a higher red blood cell distribution
      width (RDW) is associated with disease activity in various disorders. Our
      objective was to investigate whether RDW is increased in psoriasis patients, and
      to evaluate its possible association with disease severity. We conducted a
      retrospective study of psoriasis patients seen in a university hospital in South
      Korea. Information about demographics, hematological parameters and disease
      severity were collected. Statistical analysis was performed using Student's t
      test, multivariable logistic regression, Fisher's exact test and Spearman's rank
      correlation coefficient analysis as appropriate. A total of 261 psoriasis
      patients and 102 healthy controls were included in our study. The mean RDW value
      was significantly increased in psoriasis patients compared with healthy control
      (P = 0.037). Compared with mild psoriasis patients (Psoriasis Area and Severity
      Index [PASI], <7), moderate to severe patients (PASI, >=7) showed significantly
      higher RDW values (P = 0.044). However, RDW did not show significant correlation
      with PASI (P = 0.358). When patients were divided into two groups according to
      their RDW value (<14.6% and >=14.6%), the mean value of PASI was not
      significantly different (P = 0.219). Patients with psoriasis showed increased RDW
      values compared with healthy controls. It was also higher in the moderate and
      severe disease group than the mild group. Though this is only a pilot study, it
      is possible that RDW value can reflect the inflammatory status of psoriasis
      patients.

PMID- 25819387
TI  - Severe micrognathia with 21 trisomy assessed prenatally by performing three
      dimensional computed tomography.
AB  - Severe micrognathia can lead to death shortly after birth without a proper
      resuscitation. However, it is difficult to develop an effective resuscitation
      strategy without a prenatal diagnosis of the severity of micrognathia. In the
      present case, we used fetal three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) to
      assess the severity of micrognathia. Its images clearly demonstrated bony
      framework of mandible and suggested that mandibular hypoplasia was too severe to
      allow for oral intubation. We therefore decided that the ex utero intrapartum
      treatment (EXIT) procedure would be more appropriate to establish the airway at
      birth. The prenatal 3D-CT is useful to evaluate the mandibular anatomy in utero
      if the severity of the micrognathia is not confirmed by the ultrasound or
      magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). 

PMID- 25819388
TI  - [Locoregional surgery for stage IV breast cancer patients].
AB  - Three to 6% of women newly diagnosed with breast cancers have stage IV disease.
      Overall survival was improved during the last few years (16-45 months). The
      treatment of stage IV breast cancer has traditionally been palliative with
      surgical resection reserved for symptomatic wound complications. Since 2000,
      several retrospective studies have compared surgery versus no local therapy in
      women presenting with stage IV breast cancer with an intact primary tumor. All
      showed a survival advantage for the surgical cohort. However, these studies are
      limited by the fact that it is not possible to control for biases that led to
      surgical resection of the primary tumor. Several prospective randomized trials
      have been undertaken. We have partial results for two of them and they show no
      survival differences between patients who benefit from local surgery and patients
      who did not have surgery. However, breast surgery is at low risk of complication,
      if not considering psychological aspect of mastectomy, and can be proposed to
      patients with no progression after first chemotherapy. Conservative management
      can be an option, but surgery must be optimal with negative margins. No benefit
      of axillary surgery has been shown but this treatment can lead to complications
      and impact quality of life of patients. Therefore, axillary node resection is not
      recommended for stage IV breast cancer. Finally, radiotherapy can be an
      alternative option of local therapy associated or no to surgery in stage IV
      breast cancer.

PMID- 25819389
TI  - [The prenatal diagnosis is not the eugenics].

PMID- 25819390
TI  - [G. Bleu et D. Subtil in reply to the correspondence by L. Marpeau on their
      article entitled: Assessment of vacuum-assisted delivery in a Frank breech
      presentation. Gynecol Obstet Fertil 2015;43:123-7].

PMID- 25819391
TI  - [HRT and ovarian cancer risk].

PMID- 25819392
TI  - [L. Marpeau in reply to the article by G. Bleu et al.: Assessment of vacuum
      assisted delivery in a Frank breech presentation. Gynecol Obstet Fertil
      2015;43:123-7].

PMID- 25819394
TI  - Study identifies first-ever human population adaptation to toxic chemical,
      arsenic.

PMID- 25819393
TI  - [The access of independent midwives to maternity ward technical facilities: the
      experimentation of a level-1 department].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The first aim of this study was to evaluate the access of independent
      midwives to the technical facilities of a level-1 maternity hospital, with a
      follow-up of 2 years. The second aim was to evaluate the transfer of clinical
      responsibility, when a patient stops being managed by the independent midwife to
      be taken care of by the hospital team. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective
      study including 51 patients. Analysis of maternal and perinatal data. RESULTS: Of
      the 51 births, there were 42 vaginal deliveries without intervention (82.35%), 3
      instrumental deliveries (5.88%), 6 caesarean sections (11.76%). The midwife-led
      care was completed in 70.59% of cases. The rate of transfer of clinical
      responsibility during labor was 25.49%. We conducted a neonatal transfer due to a
      respiratory distress syndrome. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The access to technical
      support appears as an opportunity for independent midwives to establish a special
      relationship with their patients. However, this device preserves the possibility
      of a traditional hospital care when needed. This way, access to the technical
      support is a safe alternative that has the consent of the users (patients and
      midwives) as well as of the entire hospital team. Moreover, such device allowed
      an increase of 5% per year of our obstetrical activity with an estimated increase
      of 10% per year.

PMID- 25819395
TI  - Turning a vole into a mighty rodent.

PMID- 25819396
TI  - An Evolutionary Approach Reveals New Clues toward Understanding the Roots of
      Schizophrenia.

PMID- 25819397
TI  - Getting to the origins of photosynthesis.

PMID- 25819398
TI  - Endovascular therapy for fibromuscular dysplasia of the bilateral external iliac
      arteries visualized with optical coherence tomography.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a non-inflammatory, non
      atherosclerotic, degenerative vascular disease that most frequently affects renal
      and carotid arteries in women aged 30-50 years, and rarely complicating arteries
      of the lower limbs. CASE REPORT: A 60-year-old woman was admitted with
      intermittent claudication of both legs. We performed pelvic and bilateral lower
      extremities angiography, which revealed that the bilateral external iliac
      arteries (EIAs) had the 'string of beads' appearance with a diagnosis of FMD.
      Endovascular therapy (EVT) was performed for the bilateral EIAs. Optical
      coherence tomography (OCT) images showed thickening and thinning of the middle
      layer, while three-dimensional OCT images showed a 'haustra coli'-like
      appearance. After successful balloon angioplasty, claudication completely
      disappeared. CONCLUSIONS: We report a rare case of EVT successfully performed for
      FMD of the bilateral EIAs. Our findings suggest that OCT may provide unique
      diagnostic clues in FMD patients.

PMID- 25819399
TI  - Acidogenicity and acidurance of dental plaque and saliva sediment from adults in
      relation to caries activity and chlorhexidine exposure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The ecological plaque hypothesis for the etiopathogenesis of caries
      implies a microbial shift towards a more aciduric dental plaque microbiota, due
      to a frequent carbohydrate intake. Acid tolerance has been suggested as an
      important property of the caries-associated bacteria and several in vitro studies
      with mixed cultures indicated that a low pH rather than the carbohydrate
      availability is responsible for microbiota shifts associated with the development
      of dental caries. OBJECTIVE: To examine 1) the acidogenic potential (amount
      lactate produced per mg plaque and minute, at pH 7.0 or pH 5.5) and the aciduric
      potential (acidogenic potential at pH 5.5/acidogenic potential at pH 7.0) of
      dental plaque and salivary sediment taken from caries-active or caries-free
      adults, and 2) the effect of a short-term chlorhexidine treatment on these
      potentials. DESIGN: Dental plaque and saliva sediment samples were taken from
      caries-free and caries-active subjects and suspended in Ringer's solution
      containing 1% sucrose and buffered with 0.5 M 3-[N-morpholino]propanesulfonic
      acid (MOPS), pH 7.0, or 3-[N-morpholino]ethanesulfonic acid (MES), pH 5.5. After
      incubation at 37 degrees C for 10-20 min, the concentration of lactic acid in the
      suspension was determined by an enzymatic assay. The acid production of dental
      plaque was also determined after a period of mouth rinsing with 0.2%
      chlorhexidine. RESULTS: Both dental plaque and salivary sediment from caries-free
      subjects exhibited significantly lower acidogenic potentials at both pHs compared
      to caries-active volunteers. The opposite was observed with the aciduric
      potential. Chlorhexidine treatment significantly reduced all three potentials but
      had no effect on the relative proportion of bacteria grown on acidic agar.
      CONCLUSIONS: Caries-active adults have an oral microbiota characterised by an
      increased catabolic velocity for sugar. The increase is more pronounced at
      neutral than acidic pH. Exposure to chlorhexidine, through mouthwash, temporarily
      decreases the acidogenicity of the microbiota.

PMID- 25819400
TI  - Plasmids in antibiotic susceptible and antibiotic resistant commensal Escherichia
      coli from healthy Australian adults.
AB  - A collection of 111 commensal Escherichia coli isolated from 84 faecal samples
      from healthy Australian adults were screened using PCR-based replicon typing.
      Each isolate represented a distinct strain found in a particular faecal sample.
      Fifty-one isolates were resistant to one or more of 12 antibiotics tested. FII
      and FIB replicons were most common and usually found together. The FII replicon
      was detected in 63 isolates (35 susceptible, 28 resistant), the FIB replicon was
      present in 65 (32 susceptible, 33 resistant) and 54 (30 susceptible, 24
      resistant) included both. Other replicon types were found infrequently (A/C, I1,
      K, L/M, P, R, Y, FIA and FIC) or not at all (HI1, HI2, N, T, U, W, X). Only the
      B/O amplicon, found in 21 resistant but only 4 susceptible isolates, was
      associated with antibiotic resistance. Detailed analysis of this group revealed
      that the B/O PCR also detected Z plasmids of several distinguishable types. PCR
      assays were developed to detect the two repA genes (repABKI and repAZ) found in
      members of the I-complex (I, B/O, K and Z plasmids). These assays distinguished
      the B/O and Z plasmids detected by the original "B/O" PCR. One isolate carried
      repABKI and the remainder carried repAZ. These genes were also detected in
      further isolates in the collection. Conjugative transfer of resistance genes was
      detected for the B/O plasmid and two Z groups. Evidence for transfer of repAZ
      plasmids in the human colon in the absence of antibiotic selection was also
      obtained. 

PMID- 25819401
TI  - Status of autophagy, lysosome activity and apoptosis during corpus luteum
      regression in cattle.
AB  - Corpus luteum (CL) regression is required during the estrous cycle. During CL
      regression, luteal cells stop producing progesterone and are degraded by
      apoptosis. However, the detailed mechanism of CL regression in cattle has not
      been fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to evaluate autophagy, lysosome
      activity, and apoptosis during CL regression in cattle. The expression of
      autophagy-related genes (LC3alpha, LC3beta, Atg3, and Atg7) and the protein LC3
      II was significantly higher in the late CL than in the mid CL. In addition,
      autophagy activity was significantly increased in the late CL. Moreover, gene
      expression of the autophagy inhibitor mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) was
      significantly lower in the late CL than in the mid CL. Lysosome activation and
      expression of cathepsin-related genes (CTSB, CTSD, and CTSZ) showed significant
      increases in the late CL and were associated with an increase in cathepsin B
      protein. In addition, mRNA expression and activity of caspase 3 (CASP3), an
      apoptotic enzyme, were significantly higher in the late CL than in the mid CL.
      These results suggest simultaneous upregulation of autophagy-related factors,
      lysosomal enzymes and apoptotic mediators, which are involved in regression of
      the bovine CL. 

PMID- 25819402
TI  - Sound identification in human auditory cortex: Differential contribution of local
      field potentials and high gamma power as revealed by direct intracranial
      recordings.
AB  - High gamma power has become the principal means of assessing auditory cortical
      activation in human intracranial studies, albeit at the expense of low frequency
      local field potentials (LFPs). It is unclear whether limiting analyses to high
      gamma impedes ability of clarifying auditory cortical organization. We compared
      the two measures obtained from posterolateral superior temporal gyrus (PLST) and
      evaluated their relative utility in sound categorization. Subjects were
      neurosurgical patients undergoing invasive monitoring for medically refractory
      epilepsy. Stimuli (consonant-vowel syllables varying in voicing and place of
      articulation and control tones) elicited robust evoked potentials and high gamma
      activity on PLST. LFPs had greater across-subject variability, yet yielded higher
      classification accuracy, relative to high gamma power. Classification was
      enhanced by including temporal detail of LFPs and combining LFP and high gamma.
      We conclude that future studies should consider utilizing both LFP and high gamma
      when investigating the functional organization of human auditory cortex. 

PMID- 25819403
TI  - Aetiology of bronchiectasis in Guangzhou, southern China.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Aetiologies of bronchiectasis in mainland China and
      their comparisons with those in western countries are unknown. We aimed to
      investigate bronchiectasis aetiologies in Guangzhou, southern China, and to
      determine ethnic or geographic differences with reports from western countries.
      METHODS: Consecutive patients with steady-state bronchiectasis were randomly
      recruited. Past history was meticulously extracted. Patients underwent physical
      examination, saccharine test, humoral immunity assays, gastroesophageal reflux
      scoring and sputum culture. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy, total immunoglobin E (IgE)
      and Aspergillus fumigatus-specific IgE measurement, 24-h gastroesophageal pH
      monitoring and miscellaneous screening tests were performed, if indicated. This
      entailed comparisons on aetiologies with literature reports. RESULTS: We enrolled
      148 patients (44.6 +/- 13.8 years, 92 females), most of whom had mild to moderate
      bronchiectasis. Idiopathic (46.0%), post-infectious (27.0%) and immunodeficiency
      (8.8%) were the most common aetiologies. Miscellaneous aetiologies consisted of
      asthma (5.4%), gastroesophageal reflux (4.1%), aspergillosis (2.7%), congenital
      lung malformation (2.0%), Kartagener syndrome (1.4%), rheumatoid arthritis
      (1.4%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (0.7%), Young's syndrome (0.7%),
      yellow nail's syndrome (0.7%), eosinophilic bronchiolitis (0.7%) and foreign
      bodies (0.7%). No notable differences in clinical characteristics between
      idiopathic and known aetiologies were found. Ethnic or geographic variations of
      aetiologies were overall unremarkable. CONCLUSIONS: Idiopathic, post-infectious
      and immunodeficiency constitute major bronchiectasis aetiologies in Guangzhou.
      Clinical characteristics of patients between known aetiologies and idiopathic
      bronchiectasis were similar. Ethnicity and geography only account for limited
      differences in aetiologic spectra. These findings will offer rationales for early
      diagnosis and management of bronchiectasis in future studies and clinical
      practice in China.

PMID- 25819404
TI  - Mechanical surface waves accompany action potential propagation.
AB  - Many diverse studies have shown that a mechanical displacement of the axonal
      membrane accompanies the electrical pulse defining the action potential (AP). We
      present a model for these mechanical displacements as arising from the driving of
      surface wave modes in which potential energy is stored in elastic properties of
      the neuronal membrane and cytoskeleton while kinetic energy is carried by the
      axoplasmic fluid. In our model, these surface waves are driven by the travelling
      wave of electrical depolarization characterizing the AP, altering compressive
      electrostatic forces across the membrane. This driving leads to co-propagating
      mechanical displacements, which we term Action Waves (AWs). Our model allows us
      to estimate the shape of the AW that accompanies any travelling wave of voltage,
      making predictions that are in agreement with results from several experimental
      systems. Our model can serve as a framework for understanding the physical
      origins and possible functional roles of these AWs. 

PMID- 25819405
TI  - CD133 allows elaborated discrimination and quantification of haematopoietic
      progenitor subsets in human haematopoietic stem cell transplants.
AB  - The success of haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation largely depends on
      numbers of transplanted HSCs, which reside in the CD34(+) populations of bone
      marrow (BM), peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) and umbilical cord blood (UCB).
      More specifically HSCs reside in the CD38(low/-) subpopulation, which cannot be
      objectively discriminated from mature CD34(+)  CD38(+) progenitors. Thus, better
      marker combinations for the quantification of more primitive haematopoietic stem
      and progenitor cells in transplants are required. Recently, by combining CD34 and
      CD133 we could clearly distinguish CD133(+)  CD34(+) multipotent and lympho
      myeloid from CD133(low)  CD34(+) erythro-myeloid progenitors in UCB samples. To
      qualify the assessment of CD133 for routine quality control of adult HSC sources,
      we analysed the developmental potentials of CD133(+) and CD133(low)
      subpopulations in BM and PBSC. Similar to UCB, CD133 expression objectively
      discriminated functionally distinct subpopulations in adult HSC sources. By
      implementing anti-CD45RA staining, which separates multipotent (CD133(+)  CD34(+)
      CD45RA(-) ) from lympho-myeloid (CD133(+)  CD34(+)  CD45RA(+) ) progenitor
      fractions, UCB was found to contain 2-3 times higher multipotent progenitor
      frequencies than BM and PBSC. To test for the consistency of CD133 expression, we
      compared CD133(+)  CD34(+) contents of 128 UCB samples with maternal and
      obstetrical factors and obtained similar correlations to related studies focusing
      on CD34(+) cell contents. In conclusion, implementation of anti-CD133 staining
      into existing routine panels will improve the quality control analyses for HSC
      transplants. 

PMID- 25819406
TI  - Elevated serum CA 19-9 level associated with a splenic cyst: which is the actual
      clinical management? Review of the literature.
AB  - Splenic cysts are relatively rare entities. The differential diagnosis for these
      lesions includes parasite infections, results of previous trauma or infarction,
      congenital forms, primitive splenic neoplasm or cystic metastasis. They can be
      either symptomatic, causing mainly abdominal pain, or asymptomatic, thus being
      diagnosed as in incidental finding during radiological examination for other
      clinical reasons: among these a raised serum level of CA 19-9 can be a case. It
      has been demonstrated that epidermoid and mesothelial congenital cyst can be
      associated with a pathological level of this tumor marker which is usually
      correlated to biliopancreatic and colonic carcinomas. The aim of the present
      study is to present the case of an asymptomatic epidermoid splenic cyst
      associated with a continuous increase of CA 19-9 and to describe the applied
      clinical workup and surgical management by laparoscopic total splenectomy.
      Moreover, to analyze the demographics, clinical and pathological features of
      these infrequent lesions and to confront our therapeutic management with that of
      the other reported cases, we conducted a systematic review of the literature.

PMID- 25819407
TI  - Cardiac tamponade caused by paradoxical immune reconstitution inflammatory
      syndrome.

PMID- 25819408
TI  - The utilization of clinical and radiologic tools for the diagnosis of acute
      appendicitis.

PMID- 25819409
TI  - In response to "Scope of shared decision making in patients with psychologic
      complaints".

PMID- 25819410
TI  - Pectus excavatum: a cause of serious cardiac dysfunction and dysrhythmia.

PMID- 25819411
TI  - Recurrent idiopathic ventricular fibrillation induced by high fever.

PMID- 25819412
TI  - How rare is hypertensive brain stem encephalopathy?

PMID- 25819413
TI  - Factitious snake envenomation and narcotic-seeking behavior.

PMID- 25819414
TI  - Glucose metabolism provide distinct prosurvival benefits to non-small cell lung
      carcinomas.
AB  - Heterogeneity within the same tumor type has been described to be complex and
      occur at multiple levels. Less is known about the heterogeneity at the level of
      metabolism, within a tumor set, yet metabolic pathways are highly relevant to
      survival signaling in tumors. In this study, we profiled the glucose metabolism
      of several non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cell lines and could show that,
      NSCLC display distinct glycolytic metabolism. Genetic and pharmacological
      perturbation of glycolysis was selectively toxic to NSCLCs with high rates of
      glycolysis. Furthermore, high expression of hexokinase-2, localized at the
      mitochondria, was a feature of the NSCLCs dependent on glucose catabolism. Our
      study provides evidence for quantitative metabolic diversity in NSCLCs and
      indicates that glucose metabolism provide differential prosurvival benefits to
      NSCLCs. 

PMID- 25819415
TI  - Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7 is up-regulated during EAE and
      inhibits the differentiation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells.
AB  - Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) differentiation failure is one of the
      leading causes for remyelination defects in the demyelinating lesions of multiple
      sclerosis (MS). In this study, we explored the roles of insulin-like growth
      factor-binding proteins 7 (IGFBP-7) on OPCs differentiation during experimental
      autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). We first investigated the expression pattern
      of IGFBP-7 by real-time PCR and immunofluorescence staining. It showed that IGFBP
      7 was expressed in astrocytes (ACs), oligodendrocytes (OLs) and neurons both in
      vitro and in vivo. The mRNA and protein level of IGFBP-7 was also increased in
      the spinal cord from mice at the peak of EAE disease. Next we found that IGFBP-7
      acted as a negatively regulator of the OPCs differentiation. Together, these data
      suggest that IGFBP-7 was up regulated during EAE and inhibit the transition from
      OPCs to mature OLs, implying its use as a potential therapeutic target for the
      treatment of inflammatory demyelinating diseases.

PMID- 25819416
TI  - The impact of obesity and weight gain on development of sleep problems in a
      population-based sample.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate the role of obesity
      and weight gain in the development of sleep problems in a population-based
      cohort. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A population-based sample of men (n = 1896, aged 40
      79 years) and women (n = 5116, age >=20 years) responded to questionnaires at
      baseline and follow-up after 10-13 years. Sleep problems were assessed through
      questions about difficulties initiating sleep (DIS), difficulties maintaining
      sleep (DMS), excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), and insomnia. Body mass index
      (BMI) was calculated from self-reported weight and height at both baseline and
      follow-up, while confounding factors (physical activity, tobacco and alcohol use,
      somatic disease, and snoring) were based on responses at baseline. RESULTS:
      Although overweight and obese subjects reported more sleep problems at baseline,
      there was no independent association between BMI level at baseline and
      development of new sleep problems. Subjects in the quartile with the highest rise
      in BMI with a weight gain exceeding 2.06 kg/m2 had a higher risk of developing
      DMS [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.58; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.01), EDS
      (2.25; 1.65-3.06], and insomnia (2.78; 1.60-4.82). Weight gain was not associated
      with the development of DIS. CONCLUSIONS: Weight gain is an independent risk
      factor for developing several sleep problems and daytime sleepiness. The presence
      of overweight and weight gain should be considered when treating patients with
      sleep problems.

PMID- 25819417
TI  - Commentary on "Impact of sleep-disordered breathing on metabolic dysfunctions in
      patients with polycystic ovary syndrome".

PMID- 25819418
TI  - High-frequency heart rate variability during worry predicts stress-related
      increases in sleep disturbances.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether high-frequency heart
      rate variability (HF-HRV) during waking restfulness and during worry predicts
      increases in sleep disturbances in response to a stressful life event. METHODS: A
      longitudinal study following up 22 individuals from well-defined periods of lower
      and higher stress was conducted. HF-HRV during waking restfulness and in response
      to a worry induction was measured during a low-stress period. Sleep disturbances
      were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Insomnia
      Severity Index (ISI) during low-stress and high-stress periods. RESULTS: During
      both the low- and high-stress periods, lower HF-HRV during worry was associated
      with greater PSQI scores. Importantly, lower HF-HRV during the worry induction
      prospectively predicted greater increases in the PSQI score from the low-stress
      to the high-stress periods. CONCLUSION: HF-HRV during worry might represent an
      index of vulnerability to stress-induced sleep disturbances.

PMID- 25819419
TI  - Diagnostic accuracy of the Spanish version of the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire
      for screening of obstructive sleep apnea in habitually snoring children.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine the diagnostic test accuracy of the Spanish
      version of the respiratory symptoms scale of the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire
      (PSQ) in habitually snoring children for identifying obstructive sleep apnea
      (OSA). METHODS: Habitually snoring children referred for polysomnography (PSG)
      were recruited. Parents answered the PSQ prior to PSG. Based on an apnea-hypopnea
      index (AHI) >1.0 in PSG, children were divided into OSA and primary snorers.
      Correlations to PSG indices and diagnostic test accuracy measures were
      calculated. RESULTS: Of the 83 (n = 53 males, mean age 9.5 +/- 3.6 years)
      habitually snoring children included, 35 had OSA. The previously validated PSQ
      cutoff value of 0.33 showed a specificity of 0.72 and sensitivity of 0.78. The
      PSQ score correlated significantly with the AHI rs = 0.313 (p-value = 0.004). Six
      items of the PSQ were significantly different between cases and controls. A
      subscale constructed on these six PSQ items concerning respiratory symptoms
      showed a good sensitivity (0.886) and an excellent negative likelihood ratio
      (0.261). PSQ was able to identify 89% of the children with OSA correctly.
      CONCLUSIONS: This version of the PSQ was able to identify children with OSA,
      separating them from those with primary snoring. The use of this simple,
      standardized questionnaire tool seems to be helpful and may improve clinical
      decision making in habitually snoring children.

PMID- 25819420
TI  - Postoperative ileus: Recent developments in pathophysiology and management.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Postoperative ileus (POI) is a frequent occurrence after
      abdominal and other types of surgery, and is associated with significant
      morbidity and costs to health care providers. The aims of this narrative review
      were to provide an update of classification systems, preventive techniques,
      pathophysiological mechanisms, and treatment options for established POI.
      METHODS: The Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed and Google Scholar databases were
      searched using the key phrases 'ileus', 'postoperative ileus' and 'definition',
      for relevant studies published in English from January 1997 to August 2014.
      RESULTS: POI is still a problematic and frequent complication of surgery. Fluid
      overload, exogenous opioids, neurohormonal dysfunction, and gastrointestinal
      stretch and inflammation are key mechanisms in the pathophysiology of POI.
      Evidence is supportive of thoracic epidural analgesia, avoidance of salt and
      water overload, alvimopan and gum chewing as measures for the prevention of POI,
      and should be incorporated into perioperative care protocols. Minimal access
      surgery and avoidance of nasogastric tubes may also help. Novel strategies are
      emerging, but further studies are required for the treatment of prolonged POI,
      where evidence is still lacking. CONCLUSIONS: Although POI is often inevitable,
      methods to reduce its duration and facilitate recovery of postoperative
      gastrointestinal function are evolving rapidly. Utilisation of standardised
      diagnostic classification systems will help improve applicability of future
      studies.

PMID- 25819421
TI  - Stroke treated at a neurosurgical ward: a cohort study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Little is known about the long-term recovery of patients treated with
      neurosurgery after stroke. This study aimed to explore the recovery of patients
      with first-time stroke treated in a neurosurgical ward, including their function,
      the presence of disability and life situation at admission, discharge and 4 years
      later. METHODS: In this cohort study, 28 subjects (average age 55 years) were
      included. All had first-time stroke and were treated at the neurosurgical ward
      consecutively for 18 months. Baseline characteristics were identified, and follow
      up home visits (n = 13) were performed 4 years post-stroke to explore the life
      situation, health status and recovery. RESULTS: At admission, the median Glasgow
      Coma Scale score was 8 (range 3-15). Craniectomy or craniotomy was performed on
      12 of the subjects. Average hospitalization time was 58 days. Two subjects died
      during the hospital stay, and an additional five died before the follow-up.
      Significant improvement in function from discharge to follow-up was noted: four
      of 13 were back at work, two were in need of personal assistance and one lived in
      a nursing home. Follow-up questionnaires showed a relatively high level of
      participation and independence. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with stroke who were
      admitted to a neurosurgical ward had a low mortality rate during the acute
      treatment, and at 4 years post-stroke, the survival rate was 75%. The level of
      disability and dependence at discharge was high, but at 4 years post-stroke,
      there was both measurable and self-perceived improvement in function.

PMID- 25819422
TI  - Neural correlates of individual differences in fear learning.
AB  - Variability in fear conditionability is common, and clarity regarding the neural
      regions responsible for individual differences in fear conditionability could
      uncover brain-based biomarkers of resilience or vulnerability to trauma-based
      psychopathologies (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder). In recent years,
      neuroimaging work has yielded a detailed understanding of the neural mechanisms
      underlying fear conditioning common across participants, however only a minority
      of studies have investigated the brain basis of inter-individual variation in
      fear learning. Moreover, the majority of these studies have employed small sample
      sizes (mean n=17; range n=5-27) and all have failed to meet the minimum
      recommended sample size for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies
      of individual differences. Here, using fMRI, we analyzed blood-oxygenation level
      dependent (BOLD) response recorded simultaneously with skin conductance response
      (SCR) and ratings of unconditioned stimulus (US) expectancy in 49 participants
      undergoing Pavlovian fear conditioning. On average, participants became
      conditioned to the conditioned stimulus (CS+; higher US expectancy ratings and
      SCR for the CS+ compared to the unpaired conditioned stimulus, CS-); the CS+ also
      robustly increased activation in the bilateral insula. Amygdala activation was
      revealed from a regression analysis that incorporated individual differences in
      fear conditionability (i.e., a between-subjects regressor of mean CS+>CS- SCR).
      By replicating results observed using much smaller sample sizes, the results
      confirm that variation in amygdala reactivity covaries with individual
      differences in fear conditionability. The link between behavior (SCR) and brain
      (amygdala reactivity) may be a putative endophenotype for the acquisition of fear
      memories. 

PMID- 25819423
TI  - Responses of rat medial prefrontal cortical neurons to Pavlovian conditioned
      stimuli and to delivery of appetitive reward.
AB  - In the present experiments, medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) neurons were
      extracellularly recorded by means of tetrode electrodes to examine their possible
      role in the prediction of appetitive reward. Two different cue tones (CS) and
      sucrose solution or water reward (US) were associated in a Pavlovian conditioning
      paradigm. In order to test behavioral correlate of the CS-US association, the
      head acceleration before the first lick of licking cluster was measured. Neuronal
      activity changes in the mPFC were analyzed (i) during the CS presentations; (ii)
      before the first lick of licking clusters; (iii) during consummation; and (iv) we
      also examined whether consummation was represented in neurons responding to the
      CSs. There was a difference between the head accelerations to the different USs
      during early or late occurring first approaches, but there was no such a
      difference during intercluster approaches. A significant proportion of neurons
      changed their firing rate during the CS presentation, before the first lick of
      licking cluster or during licking of the reward. Both, excitatory and inhibitory
      responses were observed. A subpopulation of neurons responding to the CSs also
      responded during reward consumption. Differential population activities of
      excitatory neurons were recorded in response to the different CSs, CS evoked
      approach behaviors and consumption of different rewards. Neuronal responses also
      discriminated among the CSs and trials with or without consummation. These
      results provided evidence for the involvement of mPFC neurons in the prediction,
      representation and organization of conditioned behavioral actions, such as
      approaches to rewards and consummation. 

PMID- 25819424
TI  - Interaction of neuropeptidase activities in cortico-limbic regions after acute
      restraint stress.
AB  - Brain enkephalin, vasopressin and oxytocin are anxiolytic agents involved in the
      stress response. Acute restraint stress influences certain neuropeptidase
      activities, such as some enkephalin-degrading peptidases and
      vasopressinase/oxytocinase, in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), amygdala (AM)
      or hippocampus (HC), which are involved in this response. Because these regions
      form a unified circuit and cooperate in their response to stress, it is important
      to analyze the profile of the regional distribution of these activities as well
      as their inter-regional model of interaction in this circuit. Regarding the
      regional study, although most activities showed a marked predominance of the AM
      over the HC and mPFC, both in control and stressed animals, enkephalin-degrading
      activity, assayed as membrane-bound alanyl aminopeptidase activity, showed a
      change after stress, increasing in the HC and decreasing in the AM. The
      correlational study in controls indicated essentially a positive interaction
      between the mPFC and AM. In marked contrast, there was a highly significant
      change in the functional status of this circuit after stress, showing mainly a
      positive correlation between the mPFC and HC and between the AM and HC. The
      existence of correlations does not demonstrate a direct relationship between
      regions. However, reasons for such strong associations after restraint stress
      should be examined. The present study may indicate a connection between
      neuropeptidase activities and their corresponding neuropeptidergic substrates due
      to significant changes in the functional status of the cortico-limbic circuit
      after restraint stress. 

PMID- 25819425
TI  - The neglected foundation of global health.

PMID- 25819426
TI  - Multivalent conjugation of antibody to dendrimers for the enhanced capture and
      regulation on colon cancer cells.
AB  - Circulation tumor cells (CTCs) in the bloodstream of early-stage cancer patients
      carry the important information about valuable biomarkers and biological
      properties of primary tumor. However, detection and capture of CTCs are
      challenging owing to their low concentrations. Traditional technologies have the
      limited detection sensitivity and the low capture efficiency. We, herein, report
      an effective approach to specifically bind and capture colon cancer HT29 cells by
      using multiple Sialyl Lewis X antibodies (aSlex)-conjugated PAMAM dendrimers. The
      conjugation was characterized by using atom force microscope, UV and fluorescence
      measurements. The capturing and regulating HT29 cells by the aSlex-coated
      dendrimer conjugate were analyzed by microscopy and flow cytometry. The results
      indicated that the conjugate showed the enhanced capture of HT29 cells in a
      concentration-dependent manner and the maximum capture efficiency of 77.88% was
      obtained within 1 h-exposure. G6-5aSlex-FITC conjugate showed capture efficiency
      better than FITC-G6-COOH-5aSlex conjugate. G6-5aSlex-FITC conjugate could
      specifically capture HT29 cells even when the target HT29 cells were diluted with
      the interfering cells (e.g., RBCs) to a low concentration. The capture resulted
      in a concentration-dependent restraint of the cell activity. In conclusion, the
      aSlex-coated dendrimer conjugate displayed the great potential in capturing and
      restraining colorectal CTCs in blood. 

PMID- 25819427
TI  - A comparison of three different radiotherapy boost techniques after breast
      conserving therapy for breast cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: Compare different boost techniques after breast conserving therapy (BCT)
      in terms of local and loco-regional recurrences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 2000
      to 2005, patients treated with BCT for invasive breast cancer (BC) were included.
      An electron boost (EB) was performed for a superficial boost-volume (less than 29
      mm under the epidermis), in all other cases a brachytherapy boost (BTB) was
      proposed. When patients refused a BTB or it was not possible for technical
      reasons, a photon boost (PB) was given. The primary endpoints were local and loco
      regional recurrences. Secondary endpoints were metastasis-free and overall
      survival. RESULTS: 1379 patients were eligible for analysis. Most patients (1052)
      received an EB, 225 a BTB and 76 a PB. At a median follow-up of 8.8 years, 35
      (2.5%) patients developed a local or loco-regional recurrence. Ten years local
      relapse-free rate was 97.9%. No differences between boost techniques were
      observed in relapse risk, metastasis-free and overall survival after multivariate
      analyses. CONCLUSION: In women treated with BCT followed by a boost irradiation
      to the tumor bed, no difference in local and loco-regional recurrence, metastasis
      free and overall survival was observed comparing three different boost
      techniques. Outcome was excellent regardless of the boost technique.

PMID- 25819429
TI  - Spatial regulation of IL-4 signalling in vivo.
AB  - Type 2 immune responses are defined by the cytokines interleukin 4 (IL-4), IL-5
      and IL-13 and the cellular and physiological changes that these cytokines induce,
      including IgE production, eosinophilia, mast cell degranulation, mucus secretion
      and smooth muscle contraction. Together these responses provide a "weep and
      sweep" reflex that is optimised to expel parasitic worms. The same response can
      also be pathological when mis-timed or activated inappropriately. Current
      understanding of the orchestration and regulation of type 2 immunity is rapidly
      advancing, with recent identification of participating innate cells and
      elucidation of the cytokine signals responsible for their activation. In vivo,
      the outcome of cytokine signalling is critically dependent on timing, location
      and context. In this commentary, we describe the spatiotemporal control of type 2
      cytokine signalling, consider its implications for bystander cells, and discuss
      its significance during co-infection.

PMID- 25819428
TI  - Insights into antiviral innate immunity revealed by studying hepatitis C virus.
AB  - Experimental studies on the interactions of the positive strand RNA virus
      hepatitis C virus (HCV) with the host have contributed to several discoveries in
      the field of antiviral innate immunity. These include revealing the antiviral
      sensing pathways that lead to the induction of type I interferon (IFN) during HCV
      infection and also the importance of type III IFNs in the antiviral immune
      response to HCV. These studies on HCV/host interactions have contributed to our
      overall understanding of viral sensing and viral evasion of the antiviral
      intracellular innate immune response. In this review, I will highlight how these
      studies of HCV/host interactions have led to new insights into antiviral innate
      immunity. Overall, I hope to emphasize that studying antiviral immunity in the
      context of virus infection is necessary to fully understand antiviral immunity
      and how it controls the outcome of viral infection. 

PMID- 25819430
TI  - Space and time: New considerations about the relationship between Toll-like
      receptors (TLRs) and type I interferons (IFNs).
AB  - The Toll like receptors (TLRs) and the type I interferons have critical roles to
      play in innate immunity. In this review we will discuss new developments relating
      to the important area of TLR/IFN cross regulation. 

PMID- 25819431
TI  - Multi-state relative survival modelling of colorectal cancer progression and
      mortality.
AB  - Accurate identification of factors associated with progression of colorectal
      cancer remains a challenge. In particular, it is unclear which statistical
      methods are most suitable to separate the effects of putative prognostic factors
      on cancer progression vs cancer-specific and other cause mortality. To address
      these challenges, we analyzed 10 year follow-up data for patients who underwent
      curative surgery for colorectal cancer in 1985-2000. Separate analyses were
      performed in two French cancer registries. Results of three multivariable models
      were compared: Cox model with recurrence as a time-dependent variable, and two
      multi-state models, which separated prognostic factor effects on recurrence vs
      death, with or without recurrence. Conventional multi-state model analyzed all
      cause mortality while new relative survival multi-state model focused on cancer
      specific mortality. Among the 2517 and 2677 patients in the two registries, about
      50% died without a recurrence, and 28% had a recurrence, of whom almost 90% died.
      In both multi-state models men had significantly increased risk of cancer
      recurrence in both registries (HR=0.79; 95% CI: 0.68-0.92 and HR=0.83; 95% CI:
      0.71-0.96). However, the two multi-state models identified different prognostic
      factors for mortality without recurrence. In contrast to the conventional model,
      in the relative survival analyses gender had no independent association with
      cancer-specific mortality whereas patients diagnosed with stage III cancer had
      significantly higher risks in both registries (HR=1.67; 95% CI: 1.27-2.22 and
      HR=2.38; 95% CI: 1.29-3.27). In conclusion, relative survival multi-state model
      revealed that different factors may be associated with cancer recurrence vs
      cancer-specific mortality either after or without a recurrence. 

PMID- 25819432
TI  - Ultrafast excited-state charge-transfer dynamics in laccase type I copper site.
AB  - Femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy was used to investigate the excited state
      dynamics of the T1 copper site of laccase from Pleurotus ostreatus, by exciting
      its 600 nm charge transfer band with a 15-fs pulse and probing over a broad range
      in the visible region. The decay of the pump-induced ground-state bleaching
      occurs in a single step and is modulated by clearly visible oscillations. Global
      analysis of the two-dimensional differential transmission map shows that the
      excited state exponentially decays with a time constant of 375 fs, thus featuring
      a decay rate slower than those occurring in quite all the investigated T1 copper
      site proteins. The ultrashort pump pulse induces a vibrational coherence in the
      protein, which is mainly assigned to ground state activity, as expected in a
      system with fast excited state decay. Vibrational features are discussed also in
      comparison with the traditional resonance Raman spectrum of the enzyme. The
      results indicate that both excited state dynamics and vibrational modes
      associated with the T1 Cu laccase charge transfer have main characteristics
      similar to those of all the T1 copper site-containing proteins. On the other
      hand, the differences observed for laccase from P. ostreatus further confirm the
      peculiar hypothesized trigonal T1 Cu site geometry.

PMID- 25819433
TI  - The lived experience of US parents of children with autism spectrum disorders: a
      systematic review and meta-synthesis.
AB  - Current US statistics indicate that 1 in 68 children is diagnosed with an
      autistic spectrum disorder (Centers for Disease Control (2014) Prevalence of
      autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years-autism and developmental
      disabilities monitoring network, 11 Sites, United States, 2010. Morbidity and
      Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)). The lived experience of parents with children
      diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder is important to know since quantitative
      studies have indicated that higher rates of mental disorders exist in this
      population as compared to parents of typically developing children (Yirmiya and
      Shaked (2005) Psychiatric disorders in parents of children with autism: a meta
      analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 46: 69-83). This study was a
      meta-synthesis of the qualitative literature in this area embedded within a
      systematic review. A comprehensive search and review yielded 14 studies. A total
      of six major themes were identified: (a) emotional stress and strain; (b)
      adaptation; (c) impact on the family; (d) services; (e) stigmatization; and (f)
      appreciating the little things. Implications of these results are discussed. 

PMID- 25819434
TI  - Acetylcholine contributes to control the physiological inflammatory response
      during the peri-implantation period.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Maternal antigen-presenting cells attracted to the pregnant uterus
      interact with trophoblast cells and modulate their functional profile to favour
      immunosuppressant responses. Non-neuronal cholinergic system is expressed in
      human cytotrophoblast cells and in immune cells with homeostatic regulatory
      functions. AIM: The aim of this work was to evaluate whether non-neuronal
      acetylcholine conditions maternal monocyte and DC migration and activation
      profiles. METHODS: We used an in vitro model resembling maternal-placental
      interface represented by the co-culture of human trophoblast cells (Swan-71 cell
      line) and monocytes or DC. RESULTS: When cytotrophoblast cells were treated with
      neostigmine (Neo) to concentrate endogenous acetylcholine levels, monocyte
      migration was increased. In parallel, high levels of IL-10 and decreased levels
      of TNF-alpha were observed upon interaction of maternal monocytes with
      trophoblast cells. This effect was synergized by Neo and was prevented by
      atropine, a muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist. Similarly, trophoblast
      cells increased the migration of DC independently of Neo treatment; however,
      enhanced IL-10 and MCP-1 synthesis in trophoblast-DC co-cultures with no changes
      in TNF-alpha and IL-6 was observed. In fact, there were no changes in HLA-DR,
      CD86 or CD83 expression. Finally, trophoblast cells treated with Neo increased
      the expression of two antigen-presenting cells attracting chemokines, MCP-1, MIP
      1alpha and RANTES through muscarinic receptors, and it was prevented by atropine.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our present results support a novel role of acetylcholine
      synthesized by trophoblast cells to modulate antigen-presenting cell migration
      and activation favouring an immunosuppressant profile that contributes to immune
      homeostasis maintenance at the maternal-foetal interface.

PMID- 25819435
TI  - Pannexin 1 facilitates arterial relaxation via an endothelium-derived
      hyperpolarization mechanism.
AB  - Pannexin 1 (Panx1) is involved in endothelium-dependent vasodilation in large
      arteries, but the exact mechanistic role remains poorly understood. We
      hypothesized that Panx1 facilitates large vessel relaxations regulating
      endothelium-derived hyperpolarization (EDH)-like mechanisms. The EDH-like
      component of acetylcholine-induced relaxation of saphenous arteries studied in
      isometric myograph after inhibition of NO-synthase and cyclooxygenase was
      significantly impaired in mice with genetically ablated Panx1 (KO) relative to
      that in the wild type (WT) mice. Application of P1-receptor antagonist and
      apyrase significantly reduced this component in WT, but not in KO mice,
      indicating participation of ATP released via Panx1 in the EDH-like relaxation. 

PMID- 25819436
TI  - A single PXXP motif in the C-terminal region of srGAP3 mediates binding to
      multiple SH3 domains.
AB  - The Slit-Robo GTPase-activating protein 3 (srGAP3) has been implicated in
      different critical aspects of neuronal development. These findings have mainly
      been based on the characterisation of the three conserved globular N-terminal
      domains, while the function of the C-terminal region (CTR) is still unknown. We
      show that this predicted unstructured region acts as an adaptor by binding to the
      endocytic proteins Amphiphysin, Endophilin-A2, Endophilin-A1, as well as the Ras
      signalling protein Grb2. All these interactions depend on a single proline-rich
      motif in the CTR and the Src-homology 3 domains of the binding partners. Via
      these interactions srGAP3 could link receptor signalling events to the endocytic
      machinery. 

PMID- 25819437
TI  - LeNRT2.3 functions in nitrate acquisition and long-distance transport in tomato.
AB  - Nitrogen plays an important role in plant growth and development. Nitrate
      transporters have been extensively studied in Arabidopsis, but in tomato they
      have not been functionally characterized. In this study, we report the functions
      of LeNRT2.3 in nitrate transport in tomato. Our results show that LeNRT2.3 is
      induced by nitrate, and mainly localizes to the plasma membranes of rhizodermal
      and pericycle cells in roots. Further analysis in Xenopus oocytes showed that
      LeNRT2.3 mediates low-affinity nitrate transport. 35S:LeNRT2.3 increased nitrate
      uptake in root and transport from root to shoot. More interestingly, 35S:LeNRT2.3
      showed high biomass and fruit weight. Taken together, these results suggest that
      LeNRT2.3 plays a double role in nitrate uptake and long-distance transport in
      tomato. 

PMID- 25819438
TI  - Inositol transport proteins.
AB  - The cyclic polyol myo-inositol is a key molecule in many different metabolic
      pathways among all organisms; in addition, it is fundamental for osmotic balance
      in the mammalian brain. This review sums up inositol transporters from eukaryotic
      organisms, elucidating their vital role in regulating the intracellular
      distribution and uptake of inositol. They can be divided into two groups
      according to their transport mechanisms: (1) sodium ion coupled inositol
      transporters that belong to the Solute Carrier Families 5 and 6-like Superfamily
      and, (2) proton coupled inositol symporters that are members of the Major
      Facilitator Superfamily. Intriguingly members of both families offer promising
      targets for medical treatment of a variety of diseases. 

PMID- 25819439
TI  - GGPPS deficiency aggravates CCl4-induced liver injury by inducing hepatocyte
      apoptosis.
AB  - GGPPS catalyses the expression of GGPP, a key protein in the mevalonate metabolic
      pathway. HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor statins can induce liver injury by
      inhibiting GGPP. However, the function of GGPPS in liver injury has not yet been
      revealed. In this study, we found that GGPPS increased in liver injury and that
      GGPPS deletion augmented liver injury and fibrosis. GGPPS inhibition induced
      hepatocyte apoptosis, inflammation and TGF-beta1 secretion, which activated
      hepatic stellate cells. Our findings imply that GGPPS deletion induces hepatocyte
      apoptosis, which makes the liver vulnerable to hepatotoxicity. 

PMID- 25819440
TI  - Vibrio vulnificus glycogen branching enzyme preferentially transfers very short
      chains: N1 domain determines the chain length transferred.
AB  - The glycogen branching enzyme from Vibrio vulnificus (VvGBE) transfers short side
      chains (DP 3-5) significantly greater than any other bacterial glycogen branching
      enzyme (GBE). To elucidate the role of the N-domain of VvGBE in the unique
      branching pattern, domain-truncated (N1 and N) and N1-domain-swapped (with VvGBE
      N1 replacing the counter part of Escherichia coli GBE) mutants were constructed.
      The truncation mutants synthesized branched products with a greatly reduced
      proportion of short chains. The swapping mutant exhibited a branching pattern of
      the short chain region similar to that of VvGBE. We conclude that the N1-domain
      of VvGBE has a crucial role in the determination of the branching pattern of
      glycogen. 

PMID- 25819441
TI  - Brain inflammation and psoriasis: a [11 C]-(R)-PK11195 positron emission
      tomography study.

PMID- 25819442
TI  - The scientific abstract: a beginner's guide.

PMID- 25819443
TI  - Molecular identification of black-pigmented bacteria from subgingival samples of
      cats suffering from periodontal disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To characterise the black-pigmented bacterial species found in the
      subgingival samples of cats with periodontal disease using molecular-based
      microbiological techniques. METHODS: Sixty-five subgingival samples obtained from
      50 cats with periodontal disease were analysed by polymerase chain reaction
      amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis and cloning and sequencing of the
      16S rRNA genes. RESULTS: Among the 65 subgingival samples, eight phylogenetic
      profiles were obtained, of which the most prevalent species were: Porphyromonas
      gulae (40%), P. gingivalis/P. gulae (36 . 9%), P. gulae/Porphyromonas sp. UQD 406
      (9 . 2%), Odoribacter denticanis (6 . 2%), P. gulae/Porphyromonas sp. UQD 348 (1
      . 5%) and P. circumdentaria (1 . 5%). When compared with the species resulting
      from biochemical diagnosis, the identification of P. gulae was congruent in 70%
      of the cases, while colonies identified as P. intermedia-like corresponded in 80%
      of cases to P. gulae. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The use of molecular-based
      microbiological diagnostic techniques resulted in a predominance of Porphyromonas
      spp. in the subgingival plaque of cats suffering from periodontal disease.
      Further characterisation of these bacteria identified P. gulae, O. denticanis and
      P. circumdentaria. The more frequently detected phylogenetic profiles
      corresponded to P. gingivalis and P. gulae.

PMID- 25819445
TI  - RASP (Reconstruct Ancestral State in Phylogenies): a tool for historical
      biogeography.
AB  - We announce the release of Reconstruct Ancestral State in Phylogenies (RASP), a
      user-friendly software package for inferring historical biogeography through
      reconstructing ancestral geographic distributions on phylogenetic trees. RASP
      utilizes the widely used Statistical-Dispersal Vicariance Analysis (S-DIVA), the
      Dispersal-Extinction-Cladogenesis (DEC) model (Lagrange), a Statistical DEC model
      (S-DEC) and BayArea. It provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to specify a
      phylogenetic tree or set of trees and geographic distribution constraints, draws
      pie charts on the nodes of a phylogenetic tree to indicate levels of uncertainty,
      and generates high-quality exportable graphical results. RASP can run on both
      Windows and Mac OS X platforms. All documentation and source code for RASP is
      freely available at http://mnh.scu.edu.cn/soft/blog/RASP. 

PMID- 25819444
TI  - The effects of endoxifen and other major metabolites of tamoxifen on the
      sulfation of estradiol catalyzed by human cytosolic sulfotransferases hSULT1E1
      and hSULT1A1*1.
AB  - Tamoxifen is successfully used for both treatment and prevention of estrogen
      dependent breast cancer, yet side effects and development of resistance remain
      problematic. Endoxifen is a major active metabolite of tamoxifen that is being
      investigated for clinical use. We hypothesized that endoxifen and perhaps other
      major metabolites of tamoxifen may affect the ability of human estrogen
      sulfotransferase 1E1 (hSULT1E1) and human phenol sulfotransferase 1A1 isoform 1
      (hSULT1A1*1) to catalyze the sulfation of estradiol, an important mechanism in
      termination of estrogen signaling through loss of activity at estrogen receptors.
      Our results indicated that endoxifen, N-desmethyltamoxifen (N-desTAM), 4
      hydroxytamoxifen (4-OHTAM), and tamoxifen-N-oxide were weak inhibitors of
      hSULT1E1 with Ki values ranging from 10 MUM to 38 MUM (i.e., over 1000 times
      higher than the 8.1 nM Km value for estradiol as substrate for the enzyme). In
      contrast to the results with hSULT1E1, endoxifen and 4-OHTAM were significant
      inhibitors of the sulfation of 2.0 uM estradiol catalyzed by hSULT1A1*1, with
      IC50 values (9.9 MUM and 1.6 MUM, respectively) that were similar to the Km value
      (1.5 MUM) for estradiol as substrate for this enzyme. Additional investigation of
      the interaction of these metabolites with the two sulfotransferases revealed that
      endoxifen, 4-OHTAM, and N-desTAM were substrates for hSULT1E1 and hSULT1A1*1,
      although the relative catalytic efficiencies varied with both the substrate and
      the enzyme. These results may assist in future elucidation of cell- and tissue
      specific effects of tamoxifen and its metabolites. 

PMID- 25819446
TI  - Long-term hydrodynamic modeling of the Arabian Gulf.
AB  - A 3-D prognostic baroclinic hydrodynamic model of the Arabian Gulf (AG) was
      developed using Delft3D-FLOW. The model was forced with long-term time averaged
      climatological data over the computational domain and long-term salinity and
      temperature boundary conditions applied at its tidal open boundary. The model
      simulation results were thoroughly validated against measured tides from 5
      stations and measured currents at 4 locations in the central and southern parts.
      Water salinity and temperature were validated in space and time using
      observations spanning over 73 years from 1923 to 1996 for the AG, the Strait of
      Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. The bottom flow of the AG basin at the vicinity of
      the Strait of Hormuz was also validated against the available measurements.
      Seasonal evaporation and surface density spatial distribution maps were produced
      and compared with available records. The developed model setup successfully
      generated the AG seasonal stratification and hydrographic conditions.

PMID- 25819447
TI  - Marine governance in the English Channel (La Manche): Linking science and
      management.
AB  - The English Channel is one of the world's busiest sea areas with intense shipping
      and port activity juxtaposed with recreation, communications and important
      conservation areas. Opportunities for marine renewable energy vie with existing
      activities for space. The current governance of the English Channel is reviewed
      and found to lack integration between countries, sectors, legislation and
      scientific research. Recent developments within the EU's marine management
      frameworks are significantly altering our approach to marine governance and this
      paper explores the implications of these new approaches to management of the
      English Channel. Existing mechanisms for cross-Channel science and potential
      benefits of an English Channel scale perspective are considered. In conclusion,
      current management practices are considered against the 12 Malawi Principles of
      the ecosystem approach resulting in proposals for enhancing governance of the
      region through science at the scale of the English Channel. 

PMID- 25819448
TI  - Agreement on urgency assessment between secretaries and general practitioners: an
      observational study in out-of-hours general practice service in Belgium.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In some European countries telephone triage (TT) during out-of-hours
      primary care showed to be safe and effective. Other countries, such as Belgium,
      may not have trained auxiliary personnel while their national health services
      want to establish TT. OBJECTIVES: To compare urgency levels assessed by
      secretaries and general practitioners in one general practice cooperative in
      Belgium. METHODS: Percentage of correct-, under-, and over-triage were calculated
      in total and per reason for encounter. Inter-rater agreement was investigated.
      RESULTS: The secretaries correctly triaged (same urgency level) 77% of the
      telephone calls, under-triaged 10% and over-triaged 13%.'Shortness of breath',
      'skin cuts', 'chest pain', 'feeling unwell' and 'syncope' were often under
      triaged. CONCLUSION: Before introducing TT, auxiliary staff should be trained and
      protocols should be used.

PMID- 25819449
TI  - Introduction to Special Issue on ocular ECM.

PMID- 25819450
TI  - Structure and function of the interphotoreceptor matrix surrounding retinal
      photoreceptor cells.
AB  - The interphotoreceptor matrix (IPM) is a highly organized structure with
      interconnected domains surrounding cone and rod photoreceptor cells and extends
      throughout the subretinal space. Based on known roles of the extracellular matrix
      in other tissues, the IPM is thought to have several prominent functions
      including serving as a receptor for growth factors, regulating retinoid
      transport, participating in cytoskeletal organization in surrounding cells, and
      regulation of oxygen and nutrient transport. In addition, a number of studies
      suggest that the IPM also may play a significant role in the etiology of retinal
      degenerative disorders. In this review, we describe the present knowledge
      concerning the structure and function of the IPM under physiological and
      pathological conditions. 

PMID- 25819452
TI  - The role of extracellular matrix in retinal vascular development and preretinal
      neovascularization.
AB  - Extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a central role in angiogenesis. ECM degrading
      enzymes breakdown the pre-existing vascular basement membrane at an early stage
      of angiogenesis and subsequently degrade stromal ECM as the new vessels invade
      into tissues. Conversely certain ECM components including collagen, fibronectin
      or fibrin are required for endothelial cell migration and tube morphogenesis. As
      the new vessels form they lay down a basement membrane that surrounds the
      endothelial tubes and is essential for their stability. In the rodent eye the
      transient expression of fibronectin and matricellular proteins plays a key role
      in retinal vascular development. In pathological retinal angiogenesis, such as in
      proliferative diabetic retinopathy, preretinal neovascularization occurs where
      new blood vessels invade the cortical vitreous gel and these blood vessels
      require vitreous collagen for their growth. The vitreous is normally anti
      angiogenic and contains endogenous ECM inhibitors of angiogenesis including
      opticin and thombospondins, and ECM fragments such as endostatin. In preretinal
      neovascularization, the combined anti-angiogenic effects of these molecules are
      overcome by an excess of growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth
      factor-A, and new vessels grow into the vitreous with potentially blinding
      sequelae. 

PMID- 25819451
TI  - Optic nerve head biomechanics in aging and disease.
AB  - This nontechnical review is focused upon educating the reader on optic nerve head
      biomechanics in both aging and disease along two main themes: what is known about
      how mechanical forces and the resulting deformations are distributed in the
      posterior pole and ONH (biomechanics) and what is known about how the living
      system responds to those deformations (mechanobiology). We focus on how ONH
      responds to IOP elevations as a structural system, insofar as the acute
      mechanical response of the lamina cribrosa is confounded with the responses of
      the peripapillary sclera, prelaminar neural tissues, and retrolaminar optic
      nerve. We discuss the biomechanical basis for IOP-driven changes in connective
      tissues, blood flow, and cellular responses. We use glaucoma as the primary
      framework to present the important aspects of ONH biomechanics in aging and
      disease, as ONH biomechanics, aging, and the posterior pole extracellular matrix
      (ECM) are thought to be centrally involved in glaucoma susceptibility, onset and
      progression. 

PMID- 25819453
TI  - The role of CTGF in diabetic retinopathy.
AB  - Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF, CCN2) contributes to fibrotic responses in
      diabetic retinopathy, both before clinical manifestations occur in the pre
      clinical stage of diabetic retinopathy (PCDR) and in proliferative diabetic
      retinopathy (PDR), the late clinical stage of the disease. CTGF is a secreted
      protein that modulates the actions of many growth factors and extracellular
      matrix (ECM) proteins, leading to tissue reorganization, such as ECM formation
      and remodeling, basal lamina (BL) thickening, pericyte apoptosis, angiogenesis,
      wound healing and fibrosis. In PCDR, CTGF contributes to thickening of the
      retinal capillary BL and is involved in loss of pericytes. In this stage, CTGF
      expression is induced by advanced glycation end products, and by growth factors
      such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor
      (TGF)-beta. In PDR, the switch from neovascularization to a fibrotic phase - the
      angio-fibrotic switch - in PDR is driven by CTGF, in a critical balance with
      vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). We discuss here the roles of CTGF in
      the pathogenesis of DR in relation to ECM remodeling and wound healing
      mechanisms, and explore whether CTGF may be a potential novel therapeutic target
      in the clinical management of early as well as late stages of DR. 

PMID- 25819455
TI  - Extracellular matrix, gap junctions, and retinal vascular homeostasis in diabetic
      retinopathy.
AB  - The vascular basement membrane (BM) contains extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins
      that assemble in a highly organized manner to form a supportive substratum for
      cell attachment facilitating myriad functions that are vital to cell survival and
      overall retinal homeostasis. The BM provides a microenvironment in which
      bidirectional signaling through integrins regulates cell attachment, turnover,
      and functionality. In diabetic retinopathy, the BM undergoes profound structural
      and functional changes, and recent studies have brought to light the implications
      of such changes. Thickened vascular BM in the retinal capillaries actively
      participate in the development and progression of characteristic changes
      associated with diabetic retinopathy. High glucose (HG)-induced compromised cell
      cell communication via gap junctions (GJ) in retinal vascular cells may disrupt
      homeostasis in the retinal microenvironment. In this review, the role of altered
      ECM synthesis, compromised GJ activity, and disturbed retinal homeostasis in the
      development of retinal vascular lesions in diabetic retinopathy are discussed. 

PMID- 25819454
TI  - Mechanical interactions and crosstalk between corneal keratocytes and the
      extracellular matrix.
AB  - The generation of cellular forces and the application of these physical forces to
      the ECM play a central role in mediating matrix patterning and remodeling during
      fundamental processes such as developmental morphogenesis and wound healing. In
      addition to growth factors and other biochemical factors that can modulate the
      keratocyte mechanical phenotype, another key player in the regulation of cell
      induced ECM patterning is the mechanical state of the ECM itself. In this review
      we provide an overview of the biochemical and biophysical factors regulating the
      mechanical interactions between corneal keratocytes and the stromal ECM at the
      cellular level. We first provide an overview of how Rho GTPases regulate the sub
      cellular pattern of force generation by corneal keratocytes, and the impact these
      forces have on the surrounding ECM. We next review how feedback from local matrix
      structural and mechanical properties can modulate keratocyte phenotype and
      mechanical activity. Throughout this review, we provide examples of how these
      biophysical interactions may contribute to clinical outcomes, with a focus on
      corneal wound healing. 

PMID- 25819456
TI  - Regulation of corneal stroma extracellular matrix assembly.
AB  - The transparent cornea is the major refractive element of the eye. A finely
      controlled assembly of the stromal extracellular matrix is critical to corneal
      function, as well as in establishing the appropriate mechanical stability
      required to maintain corneal shape and curvature. In the stroma, homogeneous,
      small diameter collagen fibrils, regularly packed with a highly ordered
      hierarchical organization, are essential for function. This review focuses on
      corneal stroma assembly and the regulation of collagen fibrillogenesis. Corneal
      collagen fibrillogenesis involves multiple molecules interacting in sequential
      steps, as well as interactions between keratocytes and stroma matrix components.
      The stroma has the highest collagen V:I ratio in the body. Collagen V regulates
      the nucleation of protofibril assembly, thus controlling the number of fibrils
      and assembly of smaller diameter fibrils in the stroma. The corneal stroma is
      also enriched in small leucine-rich proteoglycans (SLRPs) that cooperate in a
      temporal and spatial manner to regulate linear and lateral collagen fibril
      growth. In addition, the fibril-associated collagens (FACITs) such as collagen
      XII and collagen XIV have roles in the regulation of fibril packing and inter
      lamellar interactions. A communicating keratocyte network contributes to the
      overall and long-range regulation of stromal extracellular matrix assembly, by
      creating micro-domains where the sequential steps in stromal matrix assembly are
      controlled. Keratocytes control the synthesis of extracellular matrix components,
      which interact with the keratocytes dynamically to coordinate the regulatory
      steps into a cohesive process. Mutations or deficiencies in stromal regulatory
      molecules result in altered interactions and deficiencies in both transparency
      and refraction, leading to corneal stroma pathobiology such as stromal
      dystrophies, cornea plana and keratoconus. 

PMID- 25819457
TI  - From nano to macro: studying the hierarchical structure of the corneal
      extracellular matrix.
AB  - In this review, we discuss current methods for studying ocular extracellular
      matrix (ECM) assembly from the 'nano' to the 'macro' levels of hierarchical
      organization. Since collagen is the major structural protein in the eye,
      providing mechanical strength and controlling ocular shape, the methods presented
      focus on understanding the molecular assembly of collagen at the nanometre level
      using X-ray scattering through to the millimetre to centimetre level using non
      linear optical (NLO) imaging of second harmonic generated (SHG) signals. Three
      dimensional analysis of ECM structure is also discussed, including electron
      tomography, serial block face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) and digital
      image reconstruction. Techniques to detect non-collagenous structural components
      of the ECM are also presented, and these include immunoelectron microscopy and
      staining with cationic dyes. Together, these various approaches are providing new
      insights into the structural blueprint of the ocular ECM, and in particular that
      of the cornea, which impacts upon our current understanding of the control of
      corneal shape, pathogenic mechanisms underlying ectatic disorders of the cornea
      and the potential for corneal tissue engineering. 

PMID- 25819458
TI  - The dynamic sclera: extracellular matrix remodeling in normal ocular growth and
      myopia development.
AB  - Myopia is a common ocular condition, characterized by excessive elongation of the
      ocular globe. The prevalence of myopia continues to increase, particularly among
      highly educated groups, now exceeding 80% in some groups. In parallel with the
      increased prevalence of myopia, are increases in associated blinding ocular
      conditions including glaucoma, retinal detachment and macular degeneration,
      making myopia a significant global health concern. The elongation of the eye is
      closely related to the biomechanical properties of the sclera, which in turn are
      largely dependent on the composition of the scleral extracellular matrix.
      Therefore an understanding of the cellular and extracellular events involved in
      the regulation of scleral growth and remodeling during childhood and young
      adulthood will provide future avenues for the treatment of myopia and its
      associated ocular complications. 

PMID- 25819461
TI  - Primary defects in lipolysis and insulin action in skeletal muscle cells from
      type 2 diabetic individuals.
AB  - A decrease in skeletal muscle lipolysis and hormone sensitive-lipase (HSL)
      expression has been linked to insulin resistance in obesity. The purpose of this
      study was to identify potential intrinsic defects in lipid turnover and lipolysis
      in myotubes established from obese and type 2 diabetic subjects. Lipid
      trafficking and lipolysis were measured by pulse-chase assay with radiolabeled
      substrates in myotubes from non-obese/non-diabetic (lean), obese/non-diabetic
      (obese) and obese/diabetic (T2D) subjects. Lipolytic protein content and level of
      Akt phosphorylation were measured by Western blot. HSL was overexpressed by
      adenovirus-mediated gene delivery. Myotubes established from obese and T2D
      subjects had lower lipolysis (-30-40%) when compared to lean, using oleic acid as
      precursor. Similar observations were also seen for labelled glycerol.
      Incorporation of oleic acid into diacylglycerol (DAG) and free fatty acid (FFA)
      level was lower in T2D myotubes, and acetate incorporation into FFA and complex
      lipids was also lower in obese and/or T2D subjects. Both protein expression of
      HSL (but not ATGL) and changes in DAG during lipolysis were markedly lower in
      cells from obese and T2D when compared to lean subjects. Insulin-stimulated
      glycogen synthesis (-60%) and Akt phosphorylation (-90%) were lower in myotubes
      from T2D, however, overexpression of HSL in T2D myotubes did not rescue the
      diabetic phenotype. In conclusion, intrinsic defects in lipolysis and HSL
      expression co-exist with reduced insulin action in myotubes from obese T2D
      subjects. Despite reductions in intramyocellular lipolysis and HSL expression,
      overexpression of HSL did not rescue defects in insulin action in skeletal
      myotubes from obese T2D subjects. 

PMID- 25819460
TI  - Role of tyrosine-sulfated proteins in retinal structure and function.
AB  - The extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a significant role in cellular and retinal
      health. The study of retinal tyrosine-sulfated proteins is an important first
      step toward understanding the role of ECM in retinal health and diseases. These
      secreted proteins are members of the retinal ECM. Tyrosine sulfation was shown to
      be necessary for the development of proper retinal structure and function. The
      importance of tyrosine sulfation is further demonstrated by the evolutionary
      presence of tyrosylprotein sulfotransferases, enzymes that catalyze proteins'
      tyrosine sulfation, and the compensatory abilities of these enzymes. Research has
      identified four tyrosine-sulfated retinal proteins: fibulin 2, vitronectin,
      complement factor H (CFH), and opticin. Vitronectin and CFH regulate the
      activation of the complement system and are involved in the etiology of some
      cases of age-related macular degeneration. Analysis of the role of tyrosine
      sulfation in fibulin function showed that sulfation influences the protein's
      ability to regulate growth and migration. Although opticin was recently shown to
      exhibit anti-angiogenic properties, it is not yet determined what role sulfation
      plays in that function. Future studies focusing on identifying all of the
      tyrosine-sulfated retinal proteins would be instrumental in determining the
      impact of sulfation on retinal protein function in retinal homeostasis and
      diseases. 

PMID- 25819459
TI  - Extracellular matrix in the trabecular meshwork: intraocular pressure regulation
      and dysregulation in glaucoma.
AB  - The trabecular meshwork (TM) is located in the anterior segment of the eye and is
      responsible for regulating the outflow of aqueous humor. Increased resistance to
      aqueous outflow causes intraocular pressure to increase, which is the primary
      risk factor for glaucoma. TM cells reside on a series of fenestrated beams and
      sheets through which the aqueous humor flows to exit the anterior chamber via
      Schlemm's canal. The outer trabecular cells are phagocytic and are thought to
      function as a pre-filter. However, most of the outflow resistance is thought to
      be from the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the juxtacanalicular region, the
      deepest portion of the TM, and from the inner wall basement membrane of Schlemm's
      canal. It is becoming increasingly evident that the extracellular milieu is
      important in maintaining the integrity of the TM. In glaucoma, not only have
      ultrastructural changes been observed in the ECM of the TM, and a significant
      number of mutations in ECM genes been noted, but the stiffness of glaucomatous TM
      appears to be greater than that of normal tissue. Additionally, TGFbeta2 has been
      found to be elevated in the aqueous humor of glaucoma patients and is assumed to
      be involved in ECM changes deep with the juxtacanalicular region of the TM. This
      review summarizes the current literature on trabecular ECM as well as the
      development and function of the TM. Animal models and organ culture models
      targeting specific ECM molecules to investigate the mechanisms of glaucoma are
      described. Finally, the growing number of mutations that have been identified in
      ECM genes and genes that modulate ECM in humans with glaucoma are documented. 

PMID- 25819462
TI  - Treatment of spontaneous preterm labour with retosiban: a phase 2 proof-of
      concept study.
AB  - AIM: The aim was to investigate the efficacy and safety of intravenous retosiban
      in women with spontaneous preterm labour. METHODS: This was a randomized, double
      blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial. Retosiban was administered
      intravenously for 48 h to women in spontaneous preterm labour between 30(0/7) and
      35(6/7)  weeks' gestation with an uncomplicated singleton pregnancy in an in
      patient obstetric unit. Outcome measures were uterine quiescence (primary
      endpoint), days to delivery, preterm delivery and safety. RESULTS: Uterine
      quiescence was achieved in 62% of women who received retosiban (n = 30) compared
      with 41% who received placebo (n = 34). The relative risk (RR) was 1.53 (95%
      credible interval [CrI] 0.98, 2.48; NS). Retosiban resulted in a significant
      increase in time to delivery compared with placebo (mean difference 8.2 days, 95%
      CrI 2.7, 13.74). This difference was consistent across all gestational ages. The
      proportion of preterm births in the retosiban and placebo groups was 18.7% (95%
      CrI 7.4%, 33.7%) and 47.2% (95% CrI 31.4%, 63.4%), respectively. The RR of
      preterm birth in women treated with retosiban was 0.38 (95% CrI 0.15, 0.81).
      There were no deliveries within 7 days in the retosiban group, but there were six
      (17.6%) births in the placebo group. The maternal, fetal and neonatal adverse
      events were comparable in the retosiban and placebo groups. CONCLUSIONS:
      Intravenous administration of retosiban in women with spontaneous preterm labour
      was associated with a greater than 1 week increase in time to delivery compared
      with placebo, a significant reduction in preterm deliveries, a non-significant
      increase in uterine quiescence and a favourable safety profile.

PMID- 25819463
TI  - A systematic review of the relationship between postpartum sleep disturbance and
      postpartum depression.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between postpartum sleep disturbance and
      postpartum depression and describe the characteristics and demographics of the
      samples. DATA SOURCES: Electronic databases Medline, PubMed, Cochrane, EPOC,
      CINAHL, ProQuest, and Psych INFO. In addition, hand searches of bibliographies
      supplemented the electronic search. STUDY SELECTION: English language primary
      studies on the relationship between postpartum sleep disturbance and postpartum
      depression were included. Thirteen observational studies met the inclusion
      criteria. DATA EXTRACTION: Data that specified the relationship between sleep
      disturbance and postpartum depression were extracted from the studies. The data
      were organized per author, year, participants, setting, country, demographics,
      design, sample size, outcomes, evidence, and effect size. DATA SYNTHESIS: The
      effect size indicating the relationship between sleep disturbance and postpartum
      depression across the studies ranged between 0.4 and 1.7. There was evidence of a
      strong relationship between sleep disturbance and postpartum depression; however,
      the participants in the 13 studies were predominantly educated, middle class,
      older than age 30 years, and White. Likewise, the definition and measurement of
      postpartum sleep varied across the studies, which increased the possibility of
      bias. CONCLUSIONS: Further research within the postpartum period involving
      underserved, younger women and samples with more diversity in race and ethnicity
      are needed.

PMID- 25819464
TI  - Hybrid encapsulation structures based on beta-carotene-loaded nanoliposomes
      within electrospun fibers.
AB  - Hybrid encapsulation structures based on beta-carotene-loaded nanoliposomes
      incorporated within the polymeric ultrathin fibers produced through
      electrospinning were developed to improve the photostability of the antioxidant.
      These novel materials were intended to incorporate beta-carotene into water-based
      food formulations, overcoming the existing limitations associated with its
      hydrophobic character. Initially, both empty and antioxidant-loaded nanoliposomes
      were developed and incorporated into polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) and polyethylene
      oxide (PEO) solutions. The changes in the solution properties were evaluated to
      determine their effects on the electrospinning processing. The mixed polymer
      solutions were subsequently electrospun to produce hybrid nanoliposome-loaded
      ultrathin fibers. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of phospholipid molecules
      inside the electrospun fibers. These ultrathin fibers were evaluated regarding
      their morphology, diameter, internal beta-carotene distribution and stability
      against UV irradiation. Liposomal release studies from the electrospun fibers
      were also undertaken, confirming the presence of the liposomal structures after
      dissolving the electrospun fibers in water. 

PMID- 25819465
TI  - Restructuring fundamental predator-prey models by recognising prey-dependent
      conversion efficiency and mortality rates.
AB  - Incorporating protozoa into population models (from simple predator-prey
      explorations to complex food web simulations) is of conceptual, ecological, and
      economic importance. From theoretical and empirical perspectives, we expose
      unappreciated complexity in the traditional predator-prey model structure and
      provide a parsimonious solution, especially for protistologists. We focus on how
      prey abundance alters two key components of models: predator conversion
      efficiency (e, the proportion of prey converted to predator, before mortality
      loss) and predator mortality (delta, the portion of the population lost though
      death). Using a well-established model system (Paramecium and Didinium), we
      collect data to parameterize a range of existing and novel population models that
      differ in the functional forms of e and delta. We then compare model simulations
      to an empirically obtained time-series of predator-prey population dynamics. The
      analysis indicates that prey-dependent e and delta should be considered when
      structuring population models and that both prey and predator biomass also vary
      with prey abundance. Both of these impact the ability of the model to predict
      population dynamics and, therefore, should be included in theoretical model
      evaluations and assessment of ecosystem dynamics associated with biomass flux. 

PMID- 25819466
TI  - Ultrasound Imaging for Analyzing Lateral Tongue Movements during Mastication in
      Adults with Cerebral Palsy Compared with Adults without Oral Motor Disabilities.
AB  - Described here is an ultrasound technique used to study tongue movements,
      particularly lateral tongue movements, during mastication. A method to analyze
      spatial and temporal tongue movements was developed, and the feasibility of using
      this method was evaluated. Biplane ultrasound images of tongue movements of four
      adults without oral motor disability and two adults with oral motor disability as
      a result of cerebral palsy, were acquired. Tongue movements were analyzed in the
      coronal and sagittal planes using B-mode and M-mode ultrasonography. Inter-rater
      and intra-rater agreement for manual tracing of tongue contours was good (ICC =
      0.81 and 0.84, respectively). There were significant differences between the two
      adult groups in movement frequency in the horizontal direction in both coronal
      and sagittal planes. In the coronal plane, differences in movement frequency and
      range of vertical movement were detected. Data obtained from sagittal images,
      with the exception of vertical frequency, indicated no differences between the
      groups. The protocol developed in this study (using B-mode and M-mode) proved to
      be valid and reliable. By using this protocol with individuals with and without
      oral motor disability, we were able to illustrate the clinical application of our
      protocol to evaluation of differences in tongue movements during mastication. 

PMID- 25819467
TI  - Optimization of Contrast-to-Tissue Ratio Through Pulse Windowing in Dual
      Frequency "Acoustic Angiography" Imaging.
AB  - Early-stage tumors in many cancers are characterized by vascular remodeling,
      indicative of transformations in cell function. We have previously presented a
      high-resolution ultrasound imaging approach to detecting these changes that is
      based on microbubble contrast agents. In this technique, images are formed from
      only the higher harmonics of microbubble contrast agents, producing images of
      vasculature alone with 100- to 200-MUm resolution. In this study, shaped transmit
      pulses were used to image the higher broadband harmonic echoes of microbubble
      contrast agents, and the effects of varying pulse window and phasing on
      microbubble and tissue harmonic echoes were evaluated using a dual-frequency
      transducer in vitro and in vivo. An increase in the contrast-to-tissue ratio of
      6.8 +/- 2.3 dB was observed in vitro using an inverted pulse with a cosine window
      relative to a non-inverted pulse with a rectangular window. The increase in mean
      image intensity resulting from contrast enhancement in vivo in five rodents was
      13.9 +/- 3.0 dB greater for an inverted cosine-windowed pulse and 17.8 +/- 3.6 dB
      greater for a non-inverted Gaussian-windowed pulse relative to a non-inverted
      pulse with a rectangular window. Implications for pre-clinical and diagnostic
      imaging are discussed.

PMID- 25819468
TI  - Guiding and controlling percutaneous pancreas biopsies with contrast-enhanced
      ultrasound: target lesions are not localized on B-mode ultrasound.
AB  - The aim of the study described here was to prospectively investigate the clinical
      and practical value of percutaneous contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS)-guided
      biopsy of pancreatic lesions that are not definitively localized by B-mode
      ultrasound (US). Fifty-three patients underwent CEUS-guided biopsy. The rate of
      satisfactory percutaneous biopsy was 96.23% (51/53) with a median number of
      puncture attempts per patient of 3.0, and the diagnostic accuracy in satisfactory
      sampling was 96.08% (49/51). The sensitivity of CEUS-guided biopsy in diagnosing
      malignancy was 90.48% (38/42). There was only one major complication in our
      study, a patient (1/51, 1.96%) with biliary peritonitis. For pancreatic lesions
      that are not definitively localized by B-mode US, puncture guided by CEUS could
      improve accuracy, lower the incidence of complications and avoid unnecessary
      biopsy. 

PMID- 25819469
TI  - Nitric Oxide-Enhanced Molecular Imaging of Atheroma using Vascular Cellular
      Adhesion Molecule 1-Targeted Echogenic Immunoliposomes.
AB  - The aim of this study was to determine whether pre-treatment with nitric oxide
      loaded echogenic liposomes (NO-ELIP) plus ultrasound can improve highlighting by
      molecularly targeted (anti-vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 [VCAM-1]) ELIP of
      atheroma components. Atherosclerotic animals were treated with anti-VCAM-1-ELIP
      or immunoglobulin (IgG)-ELIP. Each group was selected at random to receive pre
      treatment with standard ELIP plus ultrasound, NO-ELIP without ultrasound and NO
      ELIP plus ultrasound. Intravascular ultrasound highlighting data for the same
      arterial segments were collected before and after treatment. Pre-treatment with
      NO-ELIP plus ultrasound resulted in a significant increase in acoustic
      enhancement by anti-VCAM-1-ELIP (21.3 +/- 1.5% for gray-scale value, 53.9 +/-
      3.1% for radiofrequency data; p < 0.001 vs. IgG-ELIP, p < 0.05 vs. pre-treatment
      with standard ELIP plus ultrasound or NO-ELIP without ultrasound). NO-ELIP plus
      ultrasound can improve highlighting of atheroma by anti-VCAM-1 ELIP. This NO pre
      treatment strategy may be useful in optimizing contrast agent delivery to the
      vascular wall for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications. 

PMID- 25819470
TI  - The evaluation of bone metabolism in children with renal transplantation.
AB  - This study aims to evaluate BMD and bone biomarkers and to investigate the
      effects of immunosuppressives on bone disease after RTx. Thirty-three RTR aged
      16.7 +/- 3.7 yr and healthy controls (n = 32) were enrolled. There was no
      difference between pre-RTx BMD and BMD at the time of study (45.9 +/- 30.9 months
      after RTx), while both values were lower than controls (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05,
      respectively). Worst BMD scores were obtained at sixth month after RTx (-0.2 +/-
      0.9) and best at fourth year (1.4 +/- 1.3). 25-hydroxy-(OH) vitamin D and OPG
      were higher in RTR (p < 0.001). BMD z scores negatively correlated with OPG and
      cumulative CS doses at the time of study (r = -0.344, p < 0.05 and r = -0.371, p
      < 0.05, respectively). Regression analysis revealed OPG as the only predictor of
      BMD (beta -0.78, 95% CI -0.004 to -0.013, p < 0.001). The increase in OPG, a
      significant predictor of BMD, could either be secondary to graft dysfunction or
      for protection against bone loss. CS doses should be minimized to avoid their
      untoward effects on bone metabolism.

PMID- 25819471
TI  - A New Preparation Method for Anisotropic Silk Fibroin Nerve Guidance Conduits and
      Its Evaluation In Vitro and in a Rat Sciatic Nerve Defect Model.
AB  - Over the past decade, silk fibroin (SF) has been emergently used in peripheral
      nerve tissue engineering. Current approaches aiming at producing SF-based nerve
      guidance conduits (SF-NGCs) used dissolved silk based on either aqueous solutions
      or organic solvents. In this study, we describe a novel procedure to produce SF
      NGCs: A braided tubular structure of raw Bombyx mori silk is subsequently
      processed with the ternary solvent CaCl2/H2O/ethanol, formic acid, and methanol
      to improve its mechanical and topographical characteristics. Topographically, the
      combination of the treatments results in a fusion of the outer single silk fibers
      to a closed layer with a thickness ranging from about 40 to 75 MUm. In contrast
      to the outer wall, the inner lumen (not treated with processing solvents) still
      represents the braided structure of single fibers. Mechanical stability,
      elasticity, and kink characteristics were evaluated with a custom-made test
      system. The modification procedure described here drastically improved the
      elastic properties of our tubular raw scaffold, favoring its use as a NGC. A cell
      migration assay with NIH/3T3-fibroblasts revealed the impermeability of the SF
      NGC wall for possible invading and scar-forming cells. Moreover, the potential of
      the SF-NGC to serve as a substratum for Schwann cells has been demonstrated by
      cytotoxicity tests and live-dead stainings of Schwann cells grown on the inner
      surface of the SF-NGC. In vivo, the SF-NGC was tested in a rat sciatic nerve
      injury model. In short-term in vivo studies, it was proved that SF-NGCs are not
      triggering host inflammatory reactions. After 12 weeks, we could demonstrate
      morphological and functional reinnervation of the distal targets. Filled with
      collagen, a higher number of axons could be found in the distal to the graft
      (1678+/-303), compared with the empty SF-NGC (1274+/-146). The novel SF-NGC
      presented here shows promising results for the treatment of peripheral nerve
      injuries. The modification of braided structures to adapt their mechanical and
      topographical characteristics may support the translation of SF-based scaffolds
      into the clinical setting. However, further improvements and the use of
      extracellular matrix molecules and Schwann cells are suggested to enable silk
      tube based conduits to bridge long-distance nerve gaps. 

PMID- 25819472
TI  - Quantitative analysis by GC-MS/MS of 18 aroma compounds related to oxidative off
      flavor in wines.
AB  - A quantitation method for 18 aroma compounds reported to contribute to
      "oxidative" flavor in wines was developed. The method allows quantitation of the
      (E)-2-alkenals ((E)-2-hexenal, (E)-2-heptenal, (E)-2-octenal, and (E)-2-nonenal),
      various Strecker aldehydes (methional, 2-phenylacetaldehyde, 3-methylbutanal, and
      2-methylpropanal), aldehydes (furfural, 5-methylfurfural, hexanal, and
      benzaldehyde), furans (sotolon, furaneol, and homofuraneol), as well as alcohols
      (methionol, eugenol, and maltol) in the same analysis. The aldehydes were
      determined after derivatization directly in the wine with O-(2,3,4,5,6
      pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine hydrochloride; the formed oximes along with the
      underivatized aroma compounds were isolated by solid-phase extraction and
      analyzed by means of GC-MS/MS. The method was used to investigate the effect of
      different closures (synthetic closures, natural corks, and screw cap) on the
      formation of oxidation-related compounds in 14 year old white wine. Results
      showed a significant increase in the concentration of some of the monitored
      compounds in the wine, particularly methional, 2-phenylacetaldehyde, and 3
      methylbutanal. 

PMID- 25819473
TI  - Artificial Pancreas Project at Cambridge 2013.
AB  - The development and clinical testing of closed-loop systems (the artificial
      pancreas) is underpinned by advances in continuous glucose monitoring and
      benefits from concerted academic and industry collaborative efforts. This review
      describes the progress of the Artificial Pancreas Project at the University of
      Cambridge from 2006 to 2014. Initial studies under controlled laboratory
      conditions, designed to collect representative safety and performance data, were
      followed by short to medium free-living unsupervised outpatient studies
      demonstrating the safety and efficacy of closed-loop insulin delivery using a
      model predictive control algorithm. Accompanying investigations included
      assessment of the psychosocial impact and key factors affecting glucose control
      such as insulin kinetics and glucose absorption. Translation to other disease
      conditions such as critical illness and Type 2 diabetes took place. It is
      concluded that innovation of iteratively enhanced closed-loop systems will
      provide tangible means to improve outcomes and quality of life in people with
      Type 1 diabetes and their families in the next decade. 

PMID- 25819474
TI  - Investigation of a Novel PLGA/CaP Scaffold in the Healing of Tooth Extraction
      Sockets to Alveolar Bone Preservation in Humans.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is expected that 40% to 60% of initial alveolar bone volume will
      be lost up to 6 months after tooth extraction. OsteoScaf(TM) (TRT, Toronto, ON,
      Canada) (poly (DL-lactide-co-glycololide/calcium phosphate [PLGA/CaP] scaffold)
      is a novel bone substitute material and represents a promising alternative for
      maintaining alveolar bone integrity in this clinical scenario. PURPOSE: Here it
      was hypothesized that OsteoScaf would reduce alveolar bone lost after tooth
      extraction in patient, acting as a clot-retention device. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A
      total of 10 patients (32 sockets) were included in the study, of which 16 sockets
      were grafted with OsteoScaf and 16 were used as control (coagulum alone). Cone
      beam computed tomography (CBCT) was performed both immediately following
      extraction and also at 120 days postoperatively, at which time biopsy samples
      were also harvested for histological analyses. RESULTS: Quantitative analysis of
      CBCT showed less bone resorption in the OsteoScaf groups, being 10.5% to 14.4%
      less bone lost in the center of the socket, 15.4% in the buccal region, and 12.6%
      in the palatal. Qualitative histological analysis showed new bone tissue in
      direct apposition to the scaffold - demonstrating its osteoconductive nature.
      CONCLUSION: OsteoScaf diminished the expected bone lost during the postextraction
      remodeling of the alveolar bone ridge at 120 days postextraction.

PMID- 25819475
TI  - The bold and the fearless among us: elevated psychopathic traits and levels of
      anxiety and fear are associated with specific aberrant driving behaviors.
AB  - In spite of the well-documented connection between personality traits like
      impulsivity, sensation seeking and fearlessness with aberrant driving behaviors,
      scarce research exists to examine the association between risky and aggressive
      driving and psychopathic characteristics, which encompass the above traits. The
      present investigation examines in two studies the association between specific
      sub-types of driving misconduct, i.e., unintentional mistakes and deliberate rule
      violations with psychopathic characteristics, with a focus on the role of levels
      of fear and anxiety in aberrant driving. Findings support the hypotheses that
      fearlessness, i.e., the bold, unemotional aspect of psychopathic traits,
      characterizes drivers who engage in frequent deliberate driving code violations,
      whereas the more impulsive/antisocial aspect of psychopathy, associated with
      higher levels of fear and anxiety, is more characteristic of drivers who engage
      in unintentional mistakes. Fearless features are also associated with higher self
      reported driving misconduct and accidents. Study 2 conceptually replicated this
      finding by showing that mistakes are positively related to high sensitivity to
      punishment, while violations are negatively related to it. Findings are discussed
      in light of psychopathy theory and in relation to prevention and intervention. 

PMID- 25819476
TI  - The effects of changes in the traffic scene during overtaking.
AB  - Overtaking maneuvers were studied in real traffic, by comparing cases where a
      change in the opposite traffic occurred during the overtaking maneuver i.e.,
      appearance of an oncoming car, with cases where no change occurred during the
      maneuver i.e., either an already apparent oncoming car or no oncoming car. In
      total 45 naturally occurring cases of overtaking were analysed. By examining the
      time headways (TH) between the overtaking car and the other cars involved, at the
      end of the maneuver, a significant correlation was found between the TH to
      opposite traffic and the TH rear to the overtaken car. In cases where a change in
      the opposite traffic occurred and the proximity to opposite traffic was below a
      critical TH (<4s) the appearance of a new-oncoming car caused the overtakers to
      actively press, both longitudinally and laterally, close to the overtaken car. In
      cases of overtaking where no change in the opposite traffic occurred, the TH rear
      to the overtaking vehicle was unaffected by the TH to the opposite traffic.
      Interestingly, in comparing cases where an oncoming car appeared during
      overtaking with cases where an oncoming car was apparent from the start of the
      maneuver both the TH to the opposite traffic and the duration of the maneuver
      were not found to be significantly different. It is suggested that drivers were
      probably expecting to be confronted with an oncoming car during the overtaking.
      However, the decreased available time to disambiguate this situation leads the
      overtaking driver to limit the rear safety margin of the vehicle being overtaken.
      The appropriateness of this practice, in terms of safety, remains questionable. 

PMID- 25819477
TI  - Prediction at long-term condyle screw fixation of temporomandibular joint
      implant: A numerical study.
AB  - The fixation of commercial temporomandibular joint (TMJ) implant is accomplished
      by using screws, which, in some cases, can lead to loosening of the implant. The
      aim of this study was to predict the evolution of fixation success of a TMJ.
      Numerical models using a Christensen TMJ implant were developed to analyze strain
      distributions in the adjacent mandibular bone. The geometry of a human mandible
      was developed based on computed tomography (CT) scans from a cadaveric mandible
      on which a TMJ implant was subsequently placed. In this study, the five most
      important muscle forces acting were applied and the anatomical conditions
      replicated. The evolution of fixation was defined according to bone response
      methodology focused in strain distribution around the screws. Strain and
      micromotions were analyzed to evaluate implant stability, and the evolution
      process conduct at three different stages: start with all nine screws in place
      (initial stage); middle stage, with three screws removed (middle stage), and end
      stage, with only three screws in place (final stage). With regard to loosening,
      the implant success fixation changed the strains in the bone between 21% and 30%,
      when considering the last stage. The most important screw positions were #1, #7,
      and #9. It was observed that, despite the commercial Christensen TMJ implant
      providing nine screw positions for fixation, only three screws were necessary to
      ensure implant stability and fixation success. 

PMID- 25819478
TI  - Why physicians do not initiate dual therapy as recommended by AACE guidelines: A
      survey of clinicians in the United States.
AB  - AIMS: The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) recommends
      initiating dual therapy with antihyperglycemic agents in untreated patients with
      type 2 diabetes mellitus and HbA1c between 7.6% (60 mmol/mol) and 9.0% (75
      mmol/mol). In practice physicians do not always follow guidelines. This study
      assessed why physicians do not prescribe dual therapy when treating eligible
      patients. METHODS: 1235 primary care physicians (PCPs) and 290 specialists in the
      United States reviewed medical charts for 5995 patients whose HbA1c was between
      7.6% (60 mmol/mol) and 9.0% (75 mmol/mol) at diagnosis and were being treated
      with metformin monotherapy. In an online survey physicians rated the relevance of
      22 reasons for not initiating dual therapy using a 5-point Likert scale. Relevant
      reasons were compared between PCPs vs. specialists, and younger vs. older
      patients, using multivariate general linear regression and mixed-effect models.
      RESULTS: Four relevant reasons for not following AACE guidelines were physician
      related: (1) "Metformin monotherapy is sufficient to improve glycemic control";
      (2) "Monotherapy is easier to handle than dual therapy"; (3) "I believe that
      monotherapy and changes in lifestyle are enough for hyperglycemia control"; and
      (4) "I recommend monotherapy before considering dual therapy." One relevant
      reason was patient-related: (5) "Patient has mild hyperglycemia." Regression
      analysis demonstrated that PCPs rated each physician-related reason as
      significantly more relevant than specialists. Three physician-related reasons
      were significantly more relevant for younger patients than older patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: Physicians do not follow AACE guidelines due to physicians' beliefs
      toward therapy and the perception of mild hyperglycemia in patients.

PMID- 25819479
TI  - Two patients with HNF4A-related congenital hyperinsulinism and renal tubular
      dysfunction: A clinical variation which includes transient hepatic dysfunction.
AB  - The HNF4A p.R76W mutation causes congenital hyperinsulinism with Fanconi
      syndrome. Here, we report two cases who also presented with increased urinary
      calcium excretion and one had a transient hepatic dysfunction with hepatomegaly.
      Clinical variations including transient liver dysfunction is a likely mutation
      specific clinical characteristic. 

PMID- 25819480
TI  - Causal and bidirectional linkages over time between depression and diabetes
      regimen distress in adults with type 2 diabetes.
AB  - AIMS: Diabetes regimen distress (RD) and depression are related constructs,
      however the nature of their relationship has not been explored over time, leading
      to difficulties differentiating between RD and depression and for selection of
      programs of care. We examined longitudinal associations between RD and depression
      to explicate the direction and mechanism of operation between these two
      constructs. METHODS: 392 adults with type 2 diabetes participated in a randomized
      control trial (RCT) to reduce diabetes distress. Participants were assessed for
      RD and depression symptoms, using the PHQ-8, at baseline, and at 4 and 12 months.
      Latent growth curve models tested both predictive unidirectional and
      bidirectional longitudinal associations between changes in RD and depression.
      RESULTS: Changes in RD did not significantly predict changes in PHQ-8, nor did
      changes in PHQ-8 predict changes in RD. A significant bidirectional association
      was found (Coefficient Estimate=.081, p=.001), where decreases in RD were
      associated with decreases in PHQ-8. The association was strongest among those
      with high baseline RD or PHQ-8 scores. CONCLUSIONS: In the context of an RCT to
      reduce distress, support was found for a covarying association, in which changes
      in RD and depression symptoms occurred in tandem over time. No support was found
      for a causative association. Findings point to RD and depression containing
      properties that may be related to a shared underlying dimension of emotional
      distress. Results suggest consideration of both RD and depression in clinical
      decision making, with interventions selected based on source of distress.

PMID- 25819481
TI  - Assessment of a screening protocol for type 2 diabetes in community pharmacy. The
      DiabNow Study.
AB  - The aim of this study was to assess the performance and feasibility of a protocol
      for screening type 2 diabetes in community pharmacy. Performance was primarily
      assessed by measuring stakeholders' adherence (pharmacists, patients and
      physicians) to the protocol's components. 

PMID- 25819482
TI  - Stuart Lipton: UFOs and flying tigers.

PMID- 25819483
TI  - Brain CT signs and the effect of alteplase after stroke.

PMID- 25819485
TI  - Introductory paragraph.

PMID- 25819486
TI  - Imaging regional lung function: a critical tool for developing inhaled
      antimicrobial therapies.
AB  - Alterations in regional lung function due to respiratory infection have a
      significant effect on the deposition of inhaled treatments. This has consequences
      for treatment effectiveness and hence recovery of lung function. In order to
      advance our understanding of respiratory infection and inhaled treatment
      delivery, we must develop imaging techniques that can provide regional functional
      measurements of the lung. In this review, we explore the role of functional
      imaging for the assessment of respiratory infection and development of inhaled
      treatments. We describe established and emerging functional lung imaging methods.
      The effect of infection on lung function is described, and the link between
      regional disease, function, and inhaled treatments is discussed. The potential
      for lung function imaging to provide unique insights into the functional
      consequences of infection, and its treatment, is also discussed. 

PMID- 25819484
TI  - Association between brain imaging signs, early and late outcomes, and response to
      intravenous alteplase after acute ischaemic stroke in the third International
      Stroke Trial (IST-3): secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Brain scans are essential to exclude haemorrhage in patients with
      suspected acute ischaemic stroke before treatment with alteplase. However,
      patients with early ischaemic signs could be at increased risk of haemorrhage
      after alteplase treatment, and little information is available about whether pre
      existing structural signs, which are common in older patients, affect response to
      alteplase. We aimed to investigate the association between imaging signs on brain
      CT and outcomes after alteplase. METHODS: IST-3 was a multicentre, randomised
      controlled trial of intravenous alteplase (0.9 mg/kg) versus control within 6 h
      of acute ischaemic stroke. The primary outcome was independence at 6 months
      (defined as an Oxford Handicap Scale [OHS] score of 0-2). 3035 patients were
      enrolled to IST-3 and underwent prerandomisation brain CT. Experts who were
      unaware of the random allocation assessed scans for early signs of ischaemia
      (tissue hypoattenuation, infarct extent, swelling, and hyperattenuated artery)
      and pre-existing signs (old infarct, leukoaraiosis, and atrophy). In this
      prespecified analysis, we assessed interactions between these imaging signs,
      symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage (a secondary outcome in IST-3) and
      independence at 6 months, and alteplase, adjusting for age, National Institutes
      of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, and time to randomisation. This trial is
      registered at ISRCTN.com, number ISRCTN25765518. FINDINGS: 3017 patients were
      assessed in this analysis, of whom 1507 were allocated alteplase and 1510 were
      assigned control. A reduction in independence was predicted by tissue
      hypoattenuation (odds ratio 0.66, 95% CI 0.55-0.81), large lesion (0.51, 0.38
      0.68), swelling (0.59, 0.46-0.75), hyperattenuated artery (0.59, 0.47-0.75),
      atrophy (0.74, 0.59-0.94), and leukoaraiosis (0.72, 0.59-0.87). Symptomatic
      intracranial haemorrhage was predicted by old infarct (odds ratio 1.72, 95% CI
      1.18-2.51), tissue hypoattenuation (1.54, 1.04-2.27), and hyperattenuated artery
      (1.54, 1.03-2.29). Some combinations of signs increased the absolute risk of
      symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage (eg, both old infarct and hyperattenuated
      artery, excess with alteplase 13.8%, 95% CI 6.9-20.7; both signs absent, excess
      3.2%, 1.4-5.1). However, no imaging findings-individually or combined-modified
      the effect of alteplase on independence or symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage.
      INTERPRETATION: Some early ischaemic and pre-existing signs were associated with
      reduced independence at 6 months and increased symptomatic intracranial
      haemorrhage. Although no interaction was noted between brain imaging signs and
      effects of alteplase on these outcomes, some combinations of signs increased some
      absolute risks. Pre-existing signs should be considered, in addition to early
      ischaemic signs, during the assessment of patients with acute ischaemic stroke.
      FUNDING: UK Medical Research Council, Health Foundation UK, Stroke Association
      UK, Chest Heart Stroke Scotland, Scottish Funding Council SINAPSE Collaboration,
      and multiple governmental and philanthropic national funders.

PMID- 25819487
TI  - In vitro, in silico and integrated strategies for the estimation of plasma
      protein binding. A review.
AB  - Plasma protein binding (PPB) strongly affects drug distribution and
      pharmacokinetic behavior with consequences in overall pharmacological action.
      Extended plasma protein binding may be associated with drug safety issues and
      several adverse effects, like low clearance, low brain penetration, drug-drug
      interactions, loss of efficacy, while influencing the fate of enantiomers and
      diastereoisomers by stereoselective binding within the body. Therefore in
      holistic drug design approaches, where ADME(T) properties are considered in
      parallel with target affinity, considerable efforts are focused in early
      estimation of PPB mainly in regard to human serum albumin (HSA), which is the
      most abundant and most important plasma protein. The second critical serum
      protein alpha1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), although often underscored, plays also an
      important and complicated role in clinical therapy and thus the last years it has
      been studied thoroughly too. In the present review, after an overview of the
      principles of HSA and AGP binding as well as the structure topology of the
      proteins, the current trends and perspectives in the field of PPB predictions are
      presented and discussed considering both HSA and AGP binding. Since however for
      the latter protein systematic studies have started only the last years, the
      review focuses mainly to HSA. One part of the review highlights the challenge to
      develop rapid techniques for HSA and AGP binding simulation and their performance
      in assessment of PPB. The second part focuses on in silico approaches to predict
      HSA and AGP binding, analyzing and evaluating structure-based and ligand-based
      methods, as well as combination of both methods in the aim to exploit the
      different information and overcome the limitations of each individual approach.
      Ligand-based methods use the Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSAR)
      methodology to establish quantitate models for the prediction of binding
      constants from molecular descriptors, while they provide only indirect
      information on binding mechanism. Efforts for the establishment of global models,
      automated workflows and web-based platforms for PPB predictions are presented and
      discussed. Structure-based methods relying on the crystal structures of drug
      protein complexes provide detailed information on the underlying mechanism but
      are usually restricted to specific compounds. They are useful to identify the
      specific binding site while they may be important in investigating drug-drug
      interactions, related to PPB. Moreover, chemometrics or structure-based modeling
      may be supported by experimental data a promising integrated alternative strategy
      for ADME(T) properties optimization. In the case of PPB the use of molecular
      modeling combined with bioanalytical techniques is frequently used for the
      investigation of AGP binding. 

PMID- 25819488
TI  - An adverse reaction to intravenously administered marbofloxacin in a dog during
      general anaesthesia.

PMID- 25819489
TI  - Development and application of a fluorescent glucose uptake assay for the high
      throughput screening of non-glycoside SGLT2 inhibitors.
AB  - Sodium-dependent glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are of current
      interest as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. Efforts have been made to discover
      phlorizin-related glycosides with good SGLT2 inhibitory activity. To increase
      structural diversity and better understand the role of non-glycoside SGLT2
      inhibitors on glycemic control, we initiated a research program to identify non
      glycoside hits from high-throughput screening. Here, we report the development of
      a novel, fluorogenic probe-based glucose uptake system based on a Cu(I)-catalyzed
      [3+2] cycloaddition. The safer processes and cheaper substances made the
      developed assay our first priority for large-scale primary screening as compared
      to the well-known [(14)C]-labeled alpha-methyl-D-glucopyranoside ([(14)C]-AMG)
      radioactive assay. This effort culminated in the identification of a
      benzimidazole, non-glycoside SGLT2 hit with an EC50 value of 0.62 MUM by high
      throughput screening of 41,000 compounds.

PMID- 25819491
TI  - Open access? Yes! But how?

PMID- 25819490
TI  - WHO/ISH total risk approach for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease
      shows greater decrease in costs for women but not the elderly in Jamaica.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate cost savings from and implications of replacing the
      single risk with a total cardiovascular risk approach in primary prevention of
      cardiovascular disease (CVD). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A cost analysis using
      data from the 2007-08 Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey of 1,432 persons aged
      40 years and older with 10-year risk estimated from region-specific World Health
      Organization/International Society for Hypertension (WHO/ISH) CVD risk charts.
      The WHO/ISH and local treatment guidelines were used to cost lifestyle changes,
      medications, and provider visits. RESULTS: Use of the total cardiovascular risk
      approach was less costly regardless of age. Women showed greater cost disparity.
      However, if 10-year CVD risk was estimated without measured cholesterol, both
      approaches resulted in similar costs in men >=60 years. The annual per capita
      cost of lifestyle recommendations, critical in the absence of pharmacotherapy,
      was estimated at US $869.05 for diet and US $80 for physical activity. This
      represents about a third of the annual income of a minimum wage earner. At the
      national level, implementation of the WHO/ISH total risk approach could reduce
      health care costs by US $5 million annually. CONCLUSION: Cost savings that mainly
      resulted from reduced care for women may lead to gender disparity in CVD
      outcomes.

PMID- 25819497
TI  - Congenital intra-oral adhesions: a surgical approach to cleft palate lateral
      synechia syndrome.
AB  - An array of genetic syndromes has been associated with intra-oral adhesions in
      neonates. The primary medical issues arise from airway obstruction, feeding
      difficulties and poor oral development, specifically with cleft palate lateral
      synechia syndrome (CPLSS). Despite this, a paucity of data exists for the
      clinical management of intra-oral adhesions in this population. We report the
      cases of a father and daughter diagnosed with CPLSS who presented with
      respiratory and feeding difficulties at birth undergoing surgical correction.
      Early surgical ligation of intra-oral bands allows for a stabilization of the
      airway, improved feeding and oral development with a good long-term outcome. 

PMID- 25819496
TI  - Cortical cross-modal plasticity following deafness measured using functional near
      infrared spectroscopy.
AB  - Evidence from functional neuroimaging studies suggests that the auditory cortex
      can become more responsive to visual and somatosensory stimulation following
      deafness, and that this occurs predominately in the right hemisphere. Extensive
      cross-modal plasticity in prospective cochlear implant recipients is correlated
      with poor speech outcomes following implantation, highlighting the potential
      impact of central auditory plasticity on subsequent aural rehabilitation.
      Conversely, the effects of hearing restoration with a cochlear implant on
      cortical plasticity are less well understood, since the use of most neuroimaging
      techniques in CI recipients is either unsafe or problematic due to the
      electromagnetic artefacts generated by CI stimulation. Additionally, techniques
      such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are confounded by acoustic
      noise produced by the scanner that will be perceived more by hearing than by deaf
      individuals. Subsequently it is conceivable that auditory responses to acoustic
      noise produced by the MR scanner may mask auditory cortical responses to non
      auditory stimulation, and render inter-group comparisons less significant.
      Uniquely, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a silent neuroimaging
      technique that is non-invasive and completely unaffected by the presence of a CI.
      Here, we used fNIRS to study temporal-lobe responses to auditory, visual and
      somatosensory stimuli in thirty profoundly-deaf participants and thirty normally
      hearing controls. Compared with silence, acoustic noise stimuli elicited a
      significant group fNIRS response in the temporal region of normally-hearing
      individuals, which was not seen in profoundly-deaf participants. Visual motion
      elicited a larger group response within the right temporal lobe of profoundly
      deaf participants, compared with normally-hearing controls. However, bilateral
      temporal lobe fNIRS activation to somatosensory stimulation was comparable in
      both groups. Using fNIRS these results confirm that auditory deprivation is
      associated with cross-modal plasticity of visual inputs to auditory cortex.
      Although we found no evidence for plasticity of somatosensory inputs, it is
      possible that our recordings may have included activation of somatosensory cortex
      that masked any group differences in auditory cortical responses due to the
      limited spatial resolution associated with fNIRS. 

PMID- 25819498
TI  - Onabotulinum toxin injection for parotid fistula treatment in a case of recurrent
      parotitis complicated with abscess formation.

PMID- 25819499
TI  - Influence of the physicochemical properties of inorganic supports on the activity
      of immobilized bacteria for water denitrification.
AB  - The denitrification of polluted water was studied by using supported E-coli
      bacteria. The physicochemical characteristics of supports and the influence of
      these properties on the bacteria performance were analyzed. Inorganic supports
      oxides and zeolites were selected in order to cover a wide range of porosity and
      surface chemical properties and the denitrification process systematically
      studied. Consecutive denitrification cycles in batch experiments and the toxicity
      of supports were also analyzed. The acidity of supports provokes a slower
      reduction processes, favoring also a high concentration of intermediate nitrites
      in solution for longer periods. The NO3(-) reduction is faster than the NO2(-)
      one, being also less influenced by the support characteristics. Anyway, the total
      denitrification is reached in all cases. The best performance was obtained with
      bacteria supported on mesoporous and non-acid silica support.

PMID- 25819501
TI  - High salt intake negatively impacts ovarian follicle development.
AB  - Many human disorders induce high salinity in tissues and organs, interfering with
      their normal physiological functions. Using a mouse model, we demonstrated that
      high salt intake caused infertility. Specifically, we established that high
      salinity dramatically affects ovarian follicle development and the extent of
      follicular atresia. However, it did not significantly influence the primordial
      follicles. TUNEL assays revealed that high salt intake inhibited follicle
      development by inducing the granulosa and theca cells that surround the oocytes
      to undergo apoptosis. Furthermore, immunohistological staining for the
      proliferation markers Ki67 and PH3 showed that high salt intake also repressed
      granulosa cell proliferation. In vitro testing of granulosa cells also confirmed
      that high salt significantly repressed cell proliferation and promoted cell
      apoptosis. In summary, high salt consumption negatively impacts reproductive
      functions in female mice by interfering with ovarian folliculogenesis.

PMID- 25819500
TI  - Elevated Hippocampal Cholinergic Neurostimulating Peptide precursor protein (HCNP
      pp) mRNA in the amygdala in major depression.
AB  - The amygdala is innervated by the cholinergic system and is involved in major
      depressive disorder (MDD). Evidence suggests a hyper-activate cholinergic system
      in MDD. Hippocampal Cholinergic Neurostimulating Peptide (HCNP) regulates
      acetylcholine synthesis. The aim of the present work was to investigate
      expression levels of HCNP-precursor protein (HCNP-pp) mRNA and other cholinergic
      related genes in the postmortem amygdala of MDD patients and matched controls
      (females: N = 16 pairs; males: N = 12 pairs), and in the mouse unpredictable
      chronic mild stress (UCMS) model that induced elevated anxiety-/depressive-like
      behaviors (females: N = 6 pairs; males: N = 6 pairs). Results indicate an up
      regulation of HCNP-pp mRNA in the amygdala of women with MDD (p < 0.0001), but
      not males, and of UCMS-exposed mice (males and females; p = 0.037). HCNP-pp
      protein levels were investigated in the human female cohort, but no difference
      was found. There were no differences in gene expression of acetylcholinesterase
      (AChE), muscarinic (mAChRs) or nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) between MDD subjects
      and controls or UCMS and control mice, except for an up-regulation of AChE in
      UCMS-exposed mice (males and females; p = 0.044). Exploratory analyses revealed a
      baseline expression difference of cholinergic signaling-related genes between
      women and men (p < 0.0001). In conclusion, elevated amygdala HCNP-pp expression
      may contribute to mechanisms of MDD in women, potentially independently from
      regulating the cholinergic system. The differential expression of genes between
      women and men could also contribute to the increased vulnerability of females to
      develop MDD. 

PMID- 25819502
TI  - Influence of gender and time diet exposure on endocrine pancreas remodeling in
      response to high fat diet-induced metabolic disturbances in mice.
AB  - In this study, we investigated a possible sexual dimorphism regarding metabolic
      response and structural and functional adaptations of the endocrine pancreas
      after exposure to a high-fat diet (HFd). On chow diet, male and female
      C57BL/6/JUnib mice showed similar metabolic and morphometric parameters, except
      that female islets displayed a relatively lower beta-cell:non-beta-cell ratio.
      After 30 days on HFd, both male and female mice showed increased weight gain,
      however only the males displayed glucose intolerance associated with high
      postprandial glycemia when compared to their controls. After 60 days on HFd, both
      genders became obese, hyperglycemic, hyperinsulinemic, insulin resistant and
      glucose intolerant, although the metabolic changes were more pronounced in males,
      while females displayed greater weight gain. In both genders, insulin resistance
      induced by HFd feeding was compensated by expansion of beta-cell mass without
      changes in islet cytoarchitecture. Interestingly, we found a strong correlation
      between the degree of beta-cell expansion and the levels of hyperglycemia in the
      fed state: male mice fed a 60d-HFd, showing higher glycemic levels also displayed
      a greater beta-cell mass increase in comparison with female mice. Additionally,
      sexual dimorphism was also observed regarding the source of beta-cell mass
      expansion following 60d-HFd: while in males, both hypertrophy and hyperplasia
      (revealed by morphometry and Ki67 immunoreaction) of beta-cells were observed,
      female islets displayed only a significant increase in beta-cell size. In
      conclusion, this study describes gender differences in metabolic response to high
      fat diet, paralleled by distinct compensatory morphometric changes in pancreatic
      islets.

PMID- 25819503
TI  - Weight loss: indication of brain damage and effect of combined normobaric oxygen
      and ethanol therapy after stroke.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Weight loss is commonly seen after stroke. However, there
      is paucity of data that objectively examines the relationship between weight loss
      and infarction. We have used two unique models of middle cerebral artery (MCA)
      occlusion in rats to determine if weight loss can be used as indicator for
      severity of brain damage and for beneficial effects of stroke therapy. METHODS:
      Sprague-Dawley rats underwent MCA occlusion using the rat intraluminal filament
      or auto-thrombus stroke models. Reperfusion was established at different
      intervals by removing the intraluminal filament or injecting r-tPA, followed by
      treatment with either ethanol (EtOH), normobaric oxygen (NBO), NBO plus EtOH or
      no treatment. The extent of brain injury was determined using infarct volume and
      motor performance. RESULTS: The intraluminal filament ischaemic model
      demonstrated a significant positive correlation between weight loss and infarct
      volume size after acute stroke, as well as compared to infarct volumes post
      treatment with NBO, EtOH and NBO plus EtOH. There was also a positive significant
      correlation between weight loss and infarct volume size in the thromboembolism
      ischaemic model with or without treatment. Furthermore a positive correlation was
      observed between weight loss and deficit score in both ischaemic models.
      DISCUSSION: Degree of weight loss after stroke is largely associated with
      severity of infarction as well as damage reduction after treatment
      administration.

PMID- 25819508
TI  - Large local reactions to insect stings.
AB  - Large local reactions (LLRs) are IgE-mediated late-phase inflammatory reactions
      that can cause great morbidity but are associated with a relatively low risk of
      future anaphylaxis. Patients with LLR may benefit from consultation with an
      allergist to help clarify the relative risk, to plan the best treatment for
      future stings, and to determine whether or not to pursue testing or venom
      immunotherapy (VIT). The chance of anaphylaxis to future stings is <5%, so VIT is
      not generally recommended to people who have had LLR. Whether to prescribe an
      epinephrine injector is often determined by the frequency of exposure, the
      proximity to medical care, and the impact on quality of life. For people who have
      unavoidable exposure and need treatment almost every year for LLR, VIT can be
      recommended with confidence that it will significantly and safely reduce the
      severity of LLR to stings. 

PMID- 25819509
TI  - Safety of infliximab for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease: current
      understanding of the potential for serious adverse events.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Infliximab , a chimeric monoclonal antibody directed towards TNF
      alpha, has revolutionized the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
      Since this therapy suppresses the immune system by neutralizing the immunological
      activity of TNF, concerns exist regarding the potential for infection, malignancy
      and immune disorders. AREAS COVERED: Comprehensive data from randomized
      controlled trials, meta-analyses and cohort studies have defined the risk of
      infection and malignancy with infliximab. Additional data regarding associations
      with immune disorders, such as drug-induced lupus, demyelinating syndromes and
      psoriaform skin disease have emerged, primarily from case reports. We report
      evidence from the most robust data sources that have examined these adverse
      events. EXPERT OPINION: A modest increase in the incidence of serious infection
      with infliximab and TNF-antagonists has been observed in methodologically
      rigorous studies. Combination therapy with an immunosuppressant does not confer a
      higher risk of serious infection than infliximab monotherapy. TNF-antagonist
      therapy alone with an immunosuppressant is not associated with higher rates of
      malignancy. Additional data are required to define causality, the magnitude and
      determinants of risk for other immune-related complications. Available data
      suggest the therapeutic index of infliximab is favorable for treatment of
      moderate-to-severe IBD.

PMID- 25819510
TI  - Habitat fragmentation in coastal southern California disrupts genetic
      connectivity in the cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus).
AB  - Achieving long-term persistence of species in urbanized landscapes requires
      characterizing population genetic structure to understand and manage the effects
      of anthropogenic disturbance on connectivity. Urbanization over the past century
      in coastal southern California has caused both precipitous loss of coastal sage
      scrub habitat and declines in populations of the cactus wren (Campylorhynchus
      brunneicapillus). Using 22 microsatellite loci, we found that remnant cactus wren
      aggregations in coastal southern California comprised 20 populations based on
      strict exact tests for population differentiation, and 12 genetic clusters with
      hierarchical Bayesian clustering analyses. Genetic structure patterns largely
      mirrored underlying habitat availability, with cluster and population boundaries
      coinciding with fragmentation caused primarily by urbanization. Using a habitat
      model we developed, we detected stronger associations between habitat-based
      distances and genetic distances than Euclidean geographic distance. Within
      populations, we detected a positive association between available local habitat
      and allelic richness and a negative association with relatedness. Isolation-by
      distance patterns varied over the study area, which we attribute to temporal
      differences in anthropogenic landscape development. We also found that genetic
      bottleneck signals were associated with wildfire frequency. These results
      indicate that habitat fragmentation and alterations have reduced genetic
      connectivity and diversity of cactus wren populations in coastal southern
      California. Management efforts focused on improving connectivity among remaining
      populations may help to ensure population persistence.

PMID- 25819511
TI  - Midwives' comprehension of care for women with intellectual disability during
      pregnancy and childbirth: An open-ended questionnaire study in Sweden.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Few studies have investigated midwifery care for women with
      intellectual disability (ID). AIM: To gain a deeper understanding of midwives'
      comprehension of care for women with ID during pregnancy and childbirth. METHODS:
      A cross-sectional study among 375 midwives at antenatal clinics and delivery
      wards in Sweden. Findings 2476 quotations were sorted into six categories:
      information; communication and approach; the role of the midwife; preparing for
      and performing interventions and examinations; methods and assessments; and
      organisation of care. The midwives affirmed that individual, clear and repeated
      information together with practical and emotional support was important for women
      with ID. The midwives planned the care as to strengthen the capacity of the
      women, open doors for the unborn child and reinforce the process of becoming a
      mother. Extra time could be needed. They tried to minimise interventions. The
      midwives felt a dual responsibility, to support the mother-child contact but also
      to assess and identify any deficits in the caring capacity of the mother and to
      involve other professionals if needed. CONCLUSIONS: The midwives described
      specially adapted organisation of care, models of information, practical
      education and emotional support to facilitate the transition to motherhood for
      women with ID. They have a dual role and responsibility in supporting the woman,
      while making sure the child is properly cared for. Healthcare services should
      offer a safe and trusted environment to enable such midwifery care. When foster
      care is planned, the society should inform and co-operate with midwives in the
      care of these women.

PMID- 25819512
TI  - Functional discomfort and a shift in midwifery paradigm.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine and critically examine maternity attitudes surrounding
      labour pain and how midwives can best facilitate women navigating intrapartum
      discomfort without relying on 'pain-relief' strategies or immediate recourse for
      analgesic assistance. APPROACH: This article examines current literature using
      seminal research and wider international perspectives, exploring the complex and
      fluctuating needs of women negotiating the composite factors of labour discomfort
      are investigated. FINDINGS: Factors such as birth environment, fear, midwifery
      presence, and self-efficacy, have a significant impact on the uptake of
      intrapartum analgesia. A holistic view of intrapartum discomfort is needed to
      shift the current paradigm of pathologising labour pain into one which situates
      it as a source of positive physiology and functional discomfort. CONCLUSION:
      Continuing to practice with a pharmacological outlook, aiming to rid the
      labouring body of discomfort, is reductionist for both midwives and women.
      Midwives must seek to employ a new lexicon with which to communicate and
      facilitate women within the dynamic and continually changing territory of labour.
      If this conceptual shift is realised, the subsequent positive sequalae of women
      rediscovering their innate birthing capabilities could create a situation where
      birth can be considered as an aesthetic peak experience, improving satisfaction
      on both sides of the midwife-mother diad.

PMID- 25819514
TI  - Our challenge to industry and to each other.

PMID- 25819513
TI  - Outcomes of covered expandable stents for the treatment of TASC D aorto-iliac
      occlusive lesions.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Aortoiliac arterial occlusive disease is frequently encountered in
      the management of lower limb vascular insufficiency. We report our experience
      with covered balloon-expandable stents for treatment of TASC D lesions of the
      abdominal aorta and common iliac arteries. METHODS: A retrospective study of 30
      patients who underwent aortoiliac stenting with the Atrium Advanta V12 from March
      2010 to September 2012 was conducted. Patient demographic data, clinical signs
      and symptoms and procedural details were recorded. Outcomes assessed were primary
      patency, secondary patency, technical success, complications, limb salvage and
      survival. RESULTS: Median age was 67 years (range 48-84) and 40% of patients
      underwent treatment for critical limb ischaemia. Median follow-up was 13 months
      (range 3-38 months). Stent configuration comprised of long iliac stents in 20
      patients, a large diameter aortic stent with iliac stenting in six patients, and
      aortic stent alone in four patients. Radiological success was achieved in 100%
      and the complication rate was 6%. Primary patency at 6, 12 and 24 months was 97%,
      90% and 79%, respectively. Four cases of in-stent stenosis were reported, with
      three of these undergoing re-interventions resulting in a secondary patency rate
      of 97% at the end of follow-up. One patient death occurred within the follow-up
      period. DISCUSSION: This case series demonstrates that treatment of complex
      aortoiliac occlusive disease with covered balloon-expandable stents can have
      acceptable results with good patency and good clinical outcome. Secondary patency
      rates are comparable to open surgical revascularisation, with lower morbidity.

PMID- 25819515
TI  - Celebrate national workplace wellness week using the worksite wellness toolkit.

PMID- 25819516
TI  - Global food practices, cultural competency, and dietetics: part 2.

PMID- 25819517
TI  - 2015 academy member benefits update.

PMID- 25819518
TI  - Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: nutrition services for
      individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and special health
      care needs.
AB  - It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that nutrition
      services provided by registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) and nutrition and
      dietetics technicians, registered (NDTRs), who work under RDN supervision, are
      essential components of comprehensive care for adults with intellectual and
      developmental disabilities (IDD) and children and youth with special health care
      needs (CYSHCN). Nutrition services should be provided throughout life in a manner
      that is interdisciplinary, family-centered, community based, and culturally
      competent. Individuals with IDD and CYSHCN have many risk factors requiring
      nutrition interventions, including growth alterations (eg, failure to thrive,
      obesity, or growth retardation), metabolic disorders, poor feeding skills, drug
      nutrient interactions, and sometimes partial or total dependence on enteral or
      parenteral nutrition. Furthermore, these individuals are also more likely to
      develop comorbid conditions, such as obesity or endocrine disorders that require
      nutrition interventions. Poor nutrition-related health habits, limited access to
      services, and long-term use of multiple medications are considered health risk
      factors. Timely and cost-effective nutrition interventions can promote health
      maintenance and reduce risk and cost of comorbidities and complications. Public
      policy for individuals with IDD and CYSHCN has evolved, resulting in a transition
      from institutional facilities and programs to community and independent living.
      The expansion of public access to technology and health information on the
      Internet challenges RDNs and NDTRs to provide accurate scientific information to
      this rapidly growing and evolving population. RDNs and NDTRs with expertise in
      this area are best prepared to provide appropriate nutrition information to
      promote wellness and improve quality of life. 

PMID- 25819519
TI  - Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: standards of practice and standards of
      professional performance for registered dietitian nutritionists (competent,
      proficient, and expert) in adult weight management.
AB  - Weight management encompasses the inter-relationship of nutrition, physical
      activity, and health behavior change. Nutrition is key for the prevention and
      treatment of obesity and chronic disease and maintenance of overall health. Thus,
      the Weight Management Dietetic Practice Group, with guidance from the Academy of
      Nutrition and Dietetics Quality Management Committee, has developed Standards of
      Practice and Standards of Professional Performance for Registered Dietitian
      Nutritionists (RDNs) in Adult Weight Management as a resource for RDNs working in
      weight management. This document allows RDNs to assess their current skill levels
      and to identify areas for further professional development in this expanding
      practice area. This document describes the current standards for weight
      management practice for RDNs. The Standards of Practice represent the four steps
      in the Nutrition Care Process as applied to the care of patients/clients. The
      Standards of Professional Performance consist of six domains of professionalism:
      Quality in Practice, Competence and Accountability, Provision of Services,
      Application of Research, Communication and Application of Knowledge, and
      Utilization and Management of Resources. Within each standard, specific
      indicators provide measurable action statements that illustrate how the standard
      can be applied to practice. The indicators describe three skill levels
      (competent, proficient, and expert) for RDNs working in weight management. The
      Standards of Practice and Standards of Professional Performance are complementary
      resources for the Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in weight management. 

PMID- 25819520
TI  - Developing an advanced practice credential for registered dietitian nutritionists
      in clinical nutrition practice.

PMID- 25819521
TI  - Report from the advanced-level clinical practice audit task force of the
      commission on dietetic registration: results of the 2013 advanced-level clinical
      practice audit.

PMID- 25819523
TI  - Adjusted or ideal body weight for nutrition assessment?

PMID- 25819524
TI  - Galectin expression in cancer diagnosis and prognosis: A systematic review.
AB  - Galectins are a family of proteins that bind to specific glycans thereby
      deciphering the information captured within the glycome. In the last two decades,
      several galectin family members have emerged as versatile modulators of tumor
      progression. This has initiated the development and preclinical assessment of
      galectin-targeting compounds. With the first compounds now entering clinical
      trials it is pivotal to gain insight in the diagnostic and prognostic value of
      galectins in cancer as this will allow a more rational selection of the patients
      that might benefit most from galectin-targeted therapies. Here, we present a
      systematic review of galectin expression in human cancer patients. Malignant
      transformation is frequently associated with altered galectin expression, most
      notably of galectin-1 and galectin-3. In most cancers, increased galectin-1
      expression is associated with poor prognosis while elevated galectin-9 expression
      is emerging as a marker of favorable disease outcome. The prognostic value of
      galectin-3 appears to be tumor type dependent and the other galectins require
      further investigation. Regarding the latter, additional studies using larger
      patient cohorts are essential to fully unravel the diagnostic and prognostic
      value of galectin expression. Furthermore, to better compare different findings,
      consensus should be reached on how to assess galectin expression, not only with
      regard to localization within the tissue and within cellular compartments but
      also regarding alternative splicing and genomic variations. Finally, linking
      galectin expression and function to aberrant glycosylation in cancer cells will
      improve our understanding of how these versatile proteins can be exploited for
      diagnostic, prognostic and even therapeutic purposes in cancer patients. 

PMID- 25819525
TI  - Comparison of Direct Side-to-End and End-to-End Hypoglossal-Facial Anastomosis
      for Facial Nerve Repair.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The hypoglossal facial anastomosis (HFA) is the gold standard for
      facial reanimation in patients with severe facial nerve palsy. The major
      drawbacks of the classic HFA technique are lingual morbidities due to hypoglossal
      nerve transection. The side-to-end HFA is a modification of the classic technique
      with fewer tongue-related morbidities. OBJECTIVES: In this study we compared the
      outcome of the classic end-to-end and the direct side-to-end HFA surgeries
      performed at our center in regards to the facial reanimation success rate and
      tongue-related morbidities. METHODS: Twenty-six successive cases of HFA were
      enrolled. In 9 of them end-to-end anastomoses were performed, and 17 had direct
      side-to-end anastomoses. The House-Brackmann (HB) and Pitty and Tator (PT) scales
      were used to document surgical outcome. The hemiglossal atrophy, swallowing, and
      hypoglossal nerve function were assessed at follow-up. RESULTS: The original
      pathology was vestibular schwannoma in 15, meningioma in 4, brain stem glioma in
      4, and other pathologies in 3. The mean interval between facial palsy and HFA was
      18 months (range: 0-60). The median follow-up period was 20 months. The PT grade
      at follow-up was worse in patients with a longer interval from facial palsy and
      HFA (P value: 0.041). The lesion type was the only other factor that affected PT
      grade (the best results in vestibular schwannoma and the worst in the other
      pathologies group, P value: 0.038). The recovery period for facial tonicity was
      longer in patients with radiation therapy before HFA (13.5 vs. 8.5 months) and
      those with a longer than 2-year interval from facial palsy to HFA (13.5 vs. 8.5
      months). Although no significant difference between the side-to-end and the end
      to-end groups was seen in terms of facial nerve functional recovery, patients
      from the side-to-end group had a significantly lower rate of lingual morbidities
      (tongue hemiatrophy: 100% vs. 5.8%, swallowing difficulty: 55% vs. 11.7%, speech
      disorder 33% vs. 0%). CONCLUSION: With the side-to-end HFA technique the
      functional restoration outcome is at least as good as that following the classic
      end-to-end HFA, but the complications related to the complete hypoglossal nerve
      transection can be avoided. Best results are achieved if this procedure is
      performed within the first 2 years after facial nerve injury. Patients with
      facial palsy of longer duration also have the chance for good functional
      restoration after HFA.

PMID- 25819526
TI  - Persistent Outpatient Hypertension Is Independently Associated with Spinal Cord
      Dysfunction and Imaging Characteristics of Spinal Cord Damage among Patients with
      Cervical Spondylosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Hypertension and cervical spondylosis are diseases of the adult
      population that are approaching near pandemic proportions. However, the
      interactions between these two disease processes are poorly understood. We set
      out to determine the associations among systemic hypertension, clinical status,
      and imaging findings of spinal cord damage for patients with cervical stenosis.
      METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed on patients with symptomatic
      cervical stenosis related to degenerative disease and divided on the basis of
      outpatient blood pressure control (normal <140/<90 mm Hg). Sagittal T2-weighted
      magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the cervical spine was analyzed to determine
      the degree of maximal canal stenosis (MCS; %), surface area of increased signal
      intensity (ISI; cm(2)), and signal intensity ratio (SIR). Functional status was
      evaluated using the modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) scale and
      the Nurick scale. RESULTS: One hundred twenty-two patients were identified (64
      hypertensive, 58 nonhypertensive). Likelihood of ISI was higher in hypertensive
      patients (P < 0.05). Average ISI was significantly higher in patients with
      uncontrolled blood pressure (P = 0.02) despite MCS being identical between the
      two groups. The mJOA and Nurick scores were worse for patients with systemic
      hypertension (P < 0.02). Diabetes mellitus and smoking history did not affect
      these findings. CONCLUSIONS: Persistent hypertension in outpatients is associated
      with worsened clinical status and increased markers of spinal cord damage on MRI.
      Perioperative management of blood pressure may serve to improve clinical
      outcomes. Larger prospective trials are necessary to further validate these
      findings.

PMID- 25819527
TI  - Cerebral Angiography for Multimodal Surgical Planning in Epilepsy Surgery:
      Description of a New Three-Dimensional Technique and Literature Review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Cerebrovascular imaging is critical for safe and accurate planning of
      Stereo-ElectroEncephaloGraphy (SEEG) electrode trajectory. We developed a new
      technique for Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) Three-Dimensional Digital
      Subtraction Angiography (3D DSA). METHODS: The workflow core is the acquisition
      of computed tomography datasets without (bone mask) and with selective injection
      of contrast medium in the main brain-feeding arteries, followed by dataset
      registration and subtraction. The images were acquired with the O-armTM 1000
      System (Medtronic). Images were postprocessed with FSL software package. We
      retrospectively analyzed 191 3D DSA procedures and qualitatively analyzed the
      quality of each 3D DSA dataset. RESULTS: The quality of 3D DSA was good in 150
      procedures, sufficient in 37, and poor in 4. 3D rendering of the vascular tree
      was helpful for both SEEG implantation and resective surgery planning.
      Angiography complications occurred in only one procedure that was aborted due to
      a major allergic reaction to contrast medium. No other complications directly
      related to 3D DSA occurred. Minor intracerebral hemorrhage occurred in 2/191
      patients after SEEG implantation, with no permanent sequelae. CONCLUSIONS: CBCT
      3D DSA is a safe diagnostic procedure for SEEG electrode trajectory planning and
      for 3D reconstructions of the vascular tree in multimodal scenes for resections.
      The high fidelity and geometric accuracy contribute to the safety of electrode
      implantation.

PMID- 25819528
TI  - Simple Accuracy Enhancing Techniques in Neuronavigation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neuronavigation is an essential tool in cranial neurosurgery. Despite
      continuing improvements in the technologies used for neuronavigation, certain
      events can lead to unacceptable mismatches. To provide the best possible outcome
      for the patients, surgeons need to do everything possible to reduce mismatches.
      METHODS AND RESULTS: Some simple techniques can greatly improve neuronavigation
      accuracy and patient safety. We describe two simple methods that were developed
      or refined in the Department of Neurosurgery at Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland:
      the transdermal navigation landmark and use of bone screws for co-registration.
      CONCLUSIONS: Both techniques are easy to use, do not require expensive additional
      instruments, and are helpful in procedures involving neuronavigation.

PMID- 25819529
TI  - Osteointegration in Custom-made Porous Hydroxyapatite Cranial Implants: From
      Reconstructive Surgery to Regenerative Medicine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Custom-made porous hydroxyapatite (HA) implant (Fin-Ceramica Faenza
      S.p.A., Italy) is a biomimetic, osteoconductive material. Margin fusion at the
      bone-implant edge, cell proliferation within implant pores, and osteointegration
      in an animal model have already been described. CASE DESCRIPTION: Radiological,
      microtomographical, and histological analyses were performed on two patients who
      underwent surgical explantation of cranial implants after postoperative
      complication. Primary devices explanted after 2 years showed areas of newly
      formed bone strictly osteointegrated with pores of the prosthesis. These
      prostheses showed a focal zone of resorption in correspondence of the newly
      formed bone, and no signs of inflammation or cytotoxicity were observed. A back
      up prosthesis, explanted from the same patient after 6 months because of an
      infection, did not show presence of newly formed bone both on the surface and in
      the internal part of the prosthesis. CONCLUSIONS: Custom-made porous HA implant
      is an osteoconductive material able to promote osteogenesis, osteointegrate with
      bone tissue, provide an effective cranial reconstruction, and restore functional
      features of the skull. However, complete bone healing is still a complex and long
      process.

PMID- 25819530
TI  - Acetaldehyde production capacity of salivary microflora in alcoholics during
      early recovery.
AB  - This study investigated whether a relationship exists between the acetaldehyde
      production capacity of salivary microflora (sAPC) in recovering alcoholics, and
      craving, and/or resumption of drinking within 12 weeks after embarking on an
      abstinence-based treatment program. Serial sAPC measurements were determined by
      gas chromatography on spontaneous saliva samples of 30 male alcoholics on days 2,
      4, 11, and 18 during a 21-day in-patient treatment program. Craving was measured
      simultaneously with the Penn Alcohol Craving Scale. Outcome over 12 weeks was
      assessed by telephone interviews. There was no significant change in sAPC values
      from day 2 to day 18, while craving scores decreased markedly between day 2 to
      day 4. Sixteen participants remained abstinent for the full 12 weeks.
      Statistically significant differences were found between the sAPC values of the
      group that remained abstinent and the group that resumed drinking within 12
      weeks. The highest sAPC value measured on day 2 had a strong predictive value for
      maintained abstinence at 12 weeks for beer-only drinkers or drinkers consuming
      less than 320 g of alcohol per week. The study is the first investigation into a
      potential relationship between the acetaldehyde production capacity of salivary
      microflora and early resumption of drinking in recovering alcoholics. The
      findings suggest that such a relationship indeed exists for beer-only drinkers,
      possibly linked to lower alcohol intake, and that it is unrelated to withdrawal
      craving. sAPC is proposed as a candidate biomarker with diagnostic and/or
      prognostic potential.

PMID- 25819531
TI  - Replacing Insulin Glargine with Neutral Protamine Hagedorn (NPH) Insulin in a
      Subpopulation of Study Subjects in the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in
      Diabetes (ACCORD): Effects on Blood Glucose Levels, Hypoglycemia and Patient
      Satisfaction.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To ensure patient safety when replacing insulin glargine (IG) with
      neutral protamine Hagedorn (NPH) insulin and to determine differences in blood
      glucose control, frequency of hypoglycemia, insulin dosing, health resource
      utilization and quality of life between users of IG and NPH insulin. METHODS: A
      single-site, open-label, randomized, 6-month comparative study of 66 patients
      from the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial.
      Randomization was 1:1 to receive IG or NPH insulin. Data regarding blood glucose
      control, insulin dosage adjustment and recording of hypoglycemia episodes were
      obtained through telephone calls; office visits were conducted to measure weight,
      glycated hemoglobin, fasting plasma glucose and blood glucose profile. The
      Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ) was used to measure
      patients' satisfaction with their diabetes treatment. RESULTS: Rates of
      symptomatic hypoglycemia did not differ significantly between groups: 37.5+/-2.2
      for the IG group and 31.1+/-2.1 for the NPH group. However, patients treated with
      NPH insulin had higher frequencies of severe hypoglycemia (6.1+/-0.9) compared
      with 2.7+/-0.6 for the IG group. A significant difference in changes in glycated
      hemoglobin (A1C) was observed between the groups: the mean +/- standard error A1C
      decreases from baseline were -0.34%+/-0.11 for the IG group, vs -0.01%+/-0.10 for
      the NPH insulin group. The data obtained from the DTSQ showed greater treatment
      satisfaction in the IG group compared with the NPH insulin group. CONCLUSIONS:
      Switching from IG to NPH insulin resulted in more than double the rate of severe
      hypoglycemias and led to decreased metabolic control. Greater treatment
      satisfaction was observed with IG, compared with NPH insulin, as measured by
      change from baseline in the DTSQ scores.

PMID- 25819532
TI  - Supernatants from stored red blood cell (RBC) units, but not RBC-derived
      microvesicles, suppress monocyte function in vitro.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We have previously shown that critically ill children transfused with
      red blood cells (RBCs) of longer storage durations have more suppressed monocyte
      function after transfusion compared to children transfused with fresher RBCs and
      that older stored RBCs directly suppress monocyte function in vitro, through
      unknown mechanisms. We hypothesized that RBC-derived microvesicles (MVs) were
      responsible for monocyte suppression. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: To determine the
      role of stored RBC unit-derived MVs, we cocultured monocytes with supernatants,
      isolated MVs, or supernatants that had been depleted of MVs from prestorage
      leukoreduced RBCs that had been stored for either 7 or 30 days. Isolated MVs were
      characterized by electron microscopy and flow cytometry. Monocyte function after
      coculture experiments was measured by cytokine production after stimulation with
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS). RESULTS: Monocyte function was suppressed after
      exposure to supernatants from 30-day RBC units compared to monocytes cultured in
      medium alone (LPS-induced tumor necrosis factor-alpha production, 17,611 +/-
      3,426 vs. 37,486 +/- 5,598 pg/mL; p = 0.02). Monocyte function was not suppressed
      after exposure to MV fractions. RBC supernatants that had been depleted of MVs
      remained immunosuppressive. Treating RBC supernatants with heat followed by RNase
      (to degrade protein-bound RNA) prevented RBC supernatant-induced monocyte
      suppression. CONCLUSION: Our findings implicate soluble mediators of stored RBC
      induced monocyte suppression outside of MV fractions and suggest that
      extracellular protein-bound RNAs (such as microRNA) may play a role in
      transfusion-related immunomodulation.

PMID- 25819533
TI  - Tattoo of vascular cannulation site as a self-cannulation aid.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Haemodialysis can be provided either in a healthcare setting or home
      environment. Patients receiving dialysis at home report a better quality of life.
      Patients or their carers must be able to cannulate their fistula confidently and
      independently when dialysing at home. METHOD: We describe a patient with a
      functional fistula which was difficult to palpate, leading to difficulties in
      cannulation and multiple referrals to the home therapies team. PROCEDURE: A
      series of discrete dots were tattooed to delineate the borders of the fistula and
      served to guide cannulation. RESULTS: Following this simple intervention, our
      patient was able to self-cannulate confidently, dialysing at home four times per
      week. There were no further referrals to the home therapies team. CONCLUSION:
      Permanent tattoo of the skin to guide cannulation can used when a fistula is
      difficult to palpate or if a further superficialisation procedure is not desired.
      Patients have to be made aware that the markings are permanent and might outlast
      the fistula.

PMID- 25819534
TI  - [Assessment of anesthesiologist intervention during cataract surgery under
      topical anesthesia].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The current demographic situation in France regarding
      anesthesiologists calls for a reconsideration of anesthesia management for
      patients undergoing cataract surgery under topical anesthesia. This prospective
      observational study aimed to assess the requirement for anesthesiologist
      intervention during cataract surgery performed under topical anesthesia. PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: Patients operated between November 2, 2011 and July 31, 2012 were
      included after indication of topical anesthesia for phacoemulsification proposed
      by the surgeon and confirmed by the anesthesiologist. Each patient was
      premedicated. All patients were monitored and supervised during the surgery by a
      nurse anesthesiologist. An anesthesiologist could be called at any time at the
      request of the surgeon or nurse anesthesiologist. For each patient, medical
      histories were recorded as well as the event "anesthesiologist called", along
      with the reason and the treatment performed. RESULTS: Five hundred and seventy
      five phacoemulsifications were performed in 486 patients. The event
      "anesthesiologist called" was recorded 20 times: 18 times for hypertension, once
      for anxiety and once for non-emergent conversion to general anesthesia after a
      surgical complication. Each episode of hypertension was successfully treated by
      following the nicardipine protocol. Preoperatively uncontrolled hypertension was
      the only significant predictive risk factor for anesthesiologist requirement.
      CONCLUSIONS: These results question the usefulness of preoperative anesthesia
      consultation for all patients who underwent phacoemulsification under topical
      anesthesia, since this consultation does not lead to an anesthesiologist service.
      Intraoperative medical complications may be treated according to medical
      protocols developed jointly by surgeons and anesthesiologists. This practice may
      free up anesthesiologists' time, without compromising patient safety.

PMID- 25819535
TI  - [Classification of vitreomacular adhesion and macular holes].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Optical coherence tomography has significantly changed the approach
      to vitreomacular diseases, including macular holes (MH). OCT provides information
      on differential diagnoses (lamellar hole, pseudo-hole), the MH size, the status
      of the vitreous, and the status of the various retinal layers. The evolution of
      diagnostic tools and treatment justifies the need for an update of the current
      classification of vitreomacular diseases. METHOD: A group of retina specialists
      met several times to discuss the international classification, recently published
      by The International Vitreomacular Traction Study Group, focusing on
      vitreomacular adhesion (VMA), vitreomacular traction (VMT) and MH. It was
      compared to the classification currently used in France, based on the
      ophthalmoscopic system of Gass, then further delineated by Gaudric's OCT studies,
      in order to suggest a French adaptation to the international classification.
      RESULTS: An adapted classification for clinical use in France and in connection
      with the international classification is proposed. VMA are classified as an
      "associated" or "isolated" VMA respectively with or without macular disease. MH
      are distinguished as "primary" or "secondary" MH depending on whether the
      etiology is known or not, and classified as "small", "medium" and "large"
      depending on the size of the hole, and according to the presence or absence of
      VMT. Finally, VMT are described according to presence or absence of an epimacular
      membrane and according to the width of the adhesion.

PMID- 25819536
TI  - Patient delay in skin cancer: Influence of clinical characteristics and
      questionnaire results.

PMID- 25819537
TI  - Prevention of gastrointestinal events in patients on antithrombotic therapy in
      the peri-endoscopy period: review of new evidence and recommendations from recent
      guidelines.
AB  - Management of patients on antithrombotic therapy undergoing endoscopic procedures
      can be challenging. Although guidelines from major gastrointestinal endoscopy
      societies provide useful recommendations in this regard, data are limited
      concerning the bleeding risk of new complex endoscopic procedures and the
      management of novel anticoagulants in patients needing invasive procedures. The
      approach to the management of antithrombotic therapy often needs to be formulated
      on an individual basis, especially in patients with high thrombotic risk
      undergoing a high-risk endoscopic procedure. In addition to the procedure-related
      bleeding risk, endoscopists also need to consider the urgency of the endoscopic
      procedure, the thromboembolic risk of the patient if antithrombotic therapy is
      temporarily withheld, and the timing of discontinuation/resumption of
      antithrombotic therapy in the decision-making process. Diagnostic endoscopic
      procedures with or without biopsy can often be done without interruption of
      antithrombotic therapy. If possible, elective procedures with high bleeding risk
      should be delayed in patients on antithrombotic therapy for conditions with high
      thrombotic risk. If high-risk procedures cannot be delayed in these patients,
      thienopyridines, traditional and novel anticoagulants are usually withheld,
      whereas aspirin withdrawal is decided on a case by case basis. In patients with
      high thrombotic risk, communication with the prescribing clinician before
      proceeding to procedures with high bleeding risk is particularly important in
      optimizing the peri-procedural management plan of antithrombotic therapy. 

PMID- 25819538
TI  - A case of sudden death after Japanese encephalitis vaccination.
AB  - Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus is estimated to result in 3500-50,000 clinical
      cases every year, with mortality rates of up to 20-50% and a high percentage of
      neurological sequelae in survivors. Vaccination is the single most important
      measure in preventing this disease. Inactivated Vero cell culture-derived JE
      vaccines have not been linked to any fatalities, and few serious adverse events
      after vaccination have been reported. Here, we report a case of sudden death in
      which a 10-year-old boy experienced cardiopulmonary arrest 5 min after receiving
      a Japanese encephalitis vaccination. He had been receiving psychotropic drugs for
      the treatment of pervasive developmental disorders. Postmortem examinations were
      nonspecific, and no signs of dermatologic or mucosal lesions or an elevation of
      the serum tryptase level, which are characteristic of anaphylaxis, were observed.
      A toxicological examination revealed that the blood concentrations of the orally
      administered psychotropic drugs were within the therapeutic ranges. The patient
      was considered to have died of an arrhythmia that was not directly associated
      with the vaccination.

PMID- 25819539
TI  - Coconut atrium in long-standing rheumatic valvular heart disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Complete calcification of the left atrium (LA) is called "coconut
      atrium", which decreases the compliance of LA, leading to the elevation of LA
      pressure that is transmitted to the right-side of the heart. The pathogenesis of
      LA calcification in patients with rheumatic heart disease is unknown; however,
      possible mechanisms include chronic strain force in the atrial wall and
      inflammation. We report here a patient with long-standing rheumatic valvular
      heart disease with coconut atrium. CASE REPORT: A 76-year-old man presented with
      breathlessness and leg edema due to right-sided heart failure. He was diagnosed
      with rheumatic fever at 8 years of age. Mitral commissurotomy and the mitral and
      aortic valve replacement were previously performed to treat mitral and aortic
      valvular stenosis. The profile view of the chest X-ray indicated a diffuse
      calcified outline of the LA wall. A transthoracic echocardiogram revealed
      pulmonary hypertension and dilatation of both atria. Moreover, computed
      tomography showed nearly circumferential calcification of the LA wall. Despite
      intense medical treatment, he succumbed to heart failure. An autopsy demonstrated
      that the LA was markedly dilated, its wall was calcified, and its appearance was
      similar to the surface of an atherosclerotic aorta. Microscopic examination
      revealed intensive calcification in the endocardium. Minimal accumulation of
      inflammatory cells was noted. Although slight fibrosis was observed, the cardiac
      musculature was preserved. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the
      first report that identifies the histological changes of LA calcification
      associated with long-standing rheumatic valvular heart disease.

PMID- 25819540
TI  - An optimized method to process mouse CNS to simultaneously analyze neural cells
      and leukocytes by flow cytometry.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Flow cytometry is an efficient and powerful technique to characterize
      and quantify numerous cells. However, the strengths of this technique have not
      been widely harnessed in neurosciences due to the critical step of CNS tissue
      preparation into a single cell suspension. Previous reports assessed either
      neural cells or infiltrating leukocytes but simultaneous detection has not been
      extensively implemented. We optimized CNS tissue preparation for flow cytometry
      analysis. NEW METHOD: We subjected CNS tissue from individual adult mice to
      different digestion protocols and PercollTM methods. We quantified and
      characterized by flow cytometry neural cells (neurons, oligodendrocytes,
      microglia) and leukocytes (macrophages, T lymphocytes). RESULTS: The one step
      PercollTM method significantly increased cell yield compared to the gradient
      PercollTM method. The collagenase D+DNase I digestion led to the maximal cell
      number recovery while preserving cell marker (O4, NeuN, CD45, CD11b, CD3, CD4,
      CD8) integrity compared to papain, trypsin digestion, and no digestion. The
      combination of collagenase D+DNase I digestion and one step PercollTM method was
      optimal for the recovery and analysis of cells from the CNS of naive and
      experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (multiple sclerosis model) mice.
      COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHOD(S): Although flow cytometry does not reveal CNS
      localization, this technique allows concurrent quantification of multiple
      parameters. In contrast to other protocols, our novel method simultaneously
      analyzes neural and immune cells in individual mice in healthy and pathological
      conditions. CONCLUSIONS: We strongly believe that the field of neurosciences will
      benefit from an optimal use of flow cytometry to elucidate physiological and
      pathological processes.

PMID- 25819541
TI  - Longitudinal measures of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in serum of Gullah
      African Americans in South Carolina: 2003-2013.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Charleston Harbor has elevated concentrations of PFAS in dolphins,
      but local human exposure data are limited. OBJECTIVES: We sought to describe PFAS
      serum concentrations' temporal trends among Gullah African American residents of
      coastal South Carolina. METHODS: Longitudinal measures of PFAS in blood serum
      from a Gullah clinical sample, without lupus, were examined using spaghetti plots
      and visit-to-visit change scores (e.g., differences in concentrations between
      visits) among the 68 participants with repeated measures available. We also
      modeled population-level trends among the 71 participants with any data using
      proportionate percentile models, accounting for clustering through robust
      standard errors. In a post-hoc analysis we examined heterogeneity of temporal
      trends by age through mixed-effects models for the log-transformed PFAS
      compounds. RESULTS: Population concentrations of PFOS dropped approximately 9
      (95% CI: 8, 10) percent each year over 2003-2013. This was concordant with
      individual PFOS trajectories (median PFOS change score -21.7 ng/g wet weight,
      interquartile range of PFOS change scores: -32.8, -14.9) and reports for other
      populations over this time period. Several other compounds including PFOA, PFHxS,
      and PFuNDA also showed a population-level decrease. However, examination of
      individual trajectories suggested substantial heterogeneity. Post-hoc analyses
      indicated that PFAS trajectories were heterogeneous by age. CONCLUSIONS: Many
      PFAS compounds are decreasing in a sample of Gullah African Americans from
      coastal South Carolina. There may be age differences in the elimination kinetics
      of PFASs. The possible role of age as a modifier of PFAS serum trends merits
      further research.

PMID- 25819542
TI  - Polymorphisms of the thiopurine S-methyltransferase gene among the Libyan
      population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) is a cytosolic enzyme that
      catalyses the S-methylation of 6-mercaptopurine and azathioprine. Low activity
      phenotypes are correlated with polymorphism in the TPMT gene. Patients with low
      or undetectable TMPT activity could develop severe myelosuppression when they are
      treated with standard doses of thiopurine drugs. Since ethnic differences in the
      TPMT gene polymorphism have been demonstrated worldwide, assessing it in the
      Libyan population is worthwhile. METHODS: We investigated TPMT gene polymorphism
      in a total of 246 Libyan healthy adult blood donors from three different Libyan
      regions (Tripoli, Yefren, and Tawargha) and 50 children with acute lymphoblastic
      leukaemia (ALL). We used polymerase chain reaction restriction length
      polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and allele-specific PCR-based assays to analyse the TPMT
      gene for the variants *2 c.238 G>C, *3A (c.460 G>A and c.719 A>G), *3B (c.460
      G>A), and *3C (c.719 A>G). RESULTS: Our results show that the TPMT variants
      associated with low enzymatic activity were detected in 3.25% (8 in 246) of adult
      Libyan individuals and the frequency of total mutant alleles was 1.63%.
      Heterozygous genotypes were TPMT*3A in three subjects (0.61%) and TPMT*3C in five
      subjects (1.02%). No TPMT*2 and TPMT*3B allelic variants and no homozygous or
      compound heterozygous mutant alleles were detected. The normal allele (wild-type)
      was found in 98.4% of the adult individuals studied. No mutant alleles were
      detected among the 50 children who had ALL. CONCLUSIONS: We report on the
      presence of the TPMT*3C and *3A mutant alleles in the Libyan population.
      Therefore, monitoring the patients to be treated with doses of thiopurine drugs
      for TPMT variants is worthwhile to avoid the development of severe
      myelosuppression.

PMID- 25819543
TI  - Expression of regulatory dendritic cell-related cytokines in cattle
      experimentally infected with Trypanosoma evansi.
AB  - Trypanosoma evansi causes wasting disease in many livestock. T. evansi infection
      gives rise to inflammatory immune responses, which contribute to the development
      of inflammation-associated tissue injury. We previously reported that regulatory
      dendritic cells (DCs), which act as potential regulators of inflammation, were
      activated in infected mice and transfer of regulatory DCs to infected mice
      prolonged their survival. However, the kinetics of regulatory DCs in cattle,
      which are natural hosts of T. evansi, remained unclear. In this study, we report
      that the expressions of CCL8 and IL-10, which promote the development of
      regulatory DCs, were up-regulated in cattle experimentally infected with T.
      evansi. This finding is potentially useful for studying the control strategy of
      T. evansi infection in cattle. 

PMID- 25819544
TI  - Molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium parvum detected in Japanese black
      and Holstein calves in Iwate Prefecture and Tanegashima Island, Kagoshima
      Prefecture, Japan.
AB  - Cryptosporidium oocysts were found in 43 out of 77 calves from two farms in Iwate
      Prefecture and nine farms on Tanegashima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The
      DNA fragments of 18S ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) gene were amplified by a nested PCR
      from 43 oocyst-positive as well as one oocyst-negative samples. All of them were
      precisely identified as C. parvum by analyzing the nucleotide sequences of the
      18S rRNA gene. C. parvum oocyst-positive calves ranged in age from 6 to 13 days
      old and significantly have watery diarrhea (P<0.05). Sequences of the gene
      encoding the 60-kDa glycoprotein (GP60) in 43 Cryptosporidium oocyst-positive
      samples were identical to that of the zoonotic IIaA15G2R1 subtype. We therefore
      suggest that calves could be potential sources of C. parvum infections in humans.

PMID- 25819545
TI  - Is the Glasgow Coma Scale Score in Children in the Emergency Department Lower
      During the Night?
AB  - The body clock may, through stimulation of melatonin secretion, influence the
      Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score. The aim of this study was to investigate whether
      the time of presentation of children in the emergency department is associated
      with GCS scores. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of 6,649 records of
      children presenting to an emergency department, with comparison of patients with
      GCS scores lower than 15 seen during the daytime and night time regarding
      diagnosis, disease severity, GCS score, age, sex, and ethnic group. RESULTS: Of
      4,034 children seen during the daytime, 25 had GCS scores lower than 15, whereas
      34 of 2,592 children seen during the night had GCS scores lower than 15 (P =
      .005). There were no differences in age, sex, ethnicity, or disease severity
      between the group of patients seen during the daytime and those seen during the
      night. Conditions presenting with reduced GCS scores were seizures (32%),
      respiratory tract infection (17%), other infections (20%), trauma (13%), and
      other conditions (18%). Significantly more children with respiratory tract
      infections and low GCS scores presented during the night (P = .029). DISCUSSION:
      The presentation of children with low GCS scores was more common during the
      night. Children with reduced GCS scores and viral respiratory tract infections
      presented more frequently during the night. Assessment of patients' level of
      consciousness during the night needs to discriminate difficulties in eliciting a
      response due to fatigue from features of cerebral dysfunction.

PMID- 25819546
TI  - Neonatal sepsis in a rapidly growing, tertiary neonatal intensive care unit:
      Trends over 18 years.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We investigated changes in the admission patterns of neonatal
      intensive care units and the epidemiology of neonatal sepsis following the rapid
      expansion and improvements in neonatal intensive care. METHODS: Data on the
      admission of neonates with culture-proven sepsis between 1996 and 2013 (period I,
      1996-2005; period II, 2006-2013) were collected retrospectively. RESULTS: The
      admission of extremely low-birthweight (ELBW) infants increased between periods I
      and II (11.1 vs 28.7 infants per 1000 live births, P < 0.001). The survival rate
      of the ELBW infants improved (57.5 vs 80.1%, P < 0.001), and duration of hospital
      stay increased (median, 64 vs 80 days, P = 0.001). The incidence of sepsis among
      all infants and ELBW infants increased (all infants, 5.9 vs 12.7 cases per 1000
      live births; ELBW infants, 189.5 vs 290.1 cases per 1000 live births). In ELBW
      infants, the incidence of sepsis caused by coagulase-negative Staphylococcus
      (CONS), significantly increased during period II (8.8 vs 25.4%, P = 0.039). On
      multivariate analysis, central vascular catheters and prolonged hospitalization
      were independently associated with increased sepsis rate, particularly CONS in
      ELBW infants. CONCLUSIONS: The inborn admission rate for ELBW infants has
      increased significantly and is accompanied by improved survival and longer
      hospital stay. The incidence of neonatal sepsis, particularly in ELBW infants,
      has also increased, and CONS has emerged as a major pathogen. Central vascular
      catheters and prolonged hospitalization could be independent risk factors for the
      increased sepsis rate, particularly sepsis due to CONS.

PMID- 25819547
TI  - Ultrafast and reversible control of the exchange interaction in Mott insulators.
AB  - The strongest interaction between microscopic spins in magnetic materials is the
      exchange interaction Jex. Therefore, ultrafast control of Jex holds the promise
      to control spins on ultimately fast timescales. We demonstrate that time-periodic
      modulation of the electronic structure by electric fields can be used to
      reversibly control Jex on ultrafast timescales in extended antiferromagnetic Mott
      insulators. In the regime of weak driving strength, we find that Jex can be
      enhanced and reduced for frequencies below and above the Mott gap, respectively.
      Moreover, for strong driving strength, even the sign of Jex can be reversed and
      we show that this causes time reversal of the associated quantum spin dynamics.
      These results suggest wide applications, not only to control magnetism in
      condensed matter systems, for example, via the excitation of spin resonances, but
      also to assess fundamental questions concerning the reversibility of the quantum
      many-body dynamics in cold atom systems. 

PMID- 25819548
TI  - Characterization of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells in aplastic anaemia.
AB  - In aplastic anaemia (AA), haemopoietic activity is significantly reduced and
      generally attributed to failure of haemopoietic stem cells (HSC) within the bone
      marrow (BM). The regulation of haemopoiesis depends on the interaction between
      HSC and various cells of the BM microenvironment, including mesenchymal stromal
      cells (MSC). MSC involvement in the functional restriction of HSC in AA is
      largely unknown and therefore, the physical and functional properties of AA MSC
      were studied in vitro. MSC were characterized by their phenotype and ability to
      form adherent stromal layers. The functional properties of AA MSC were assessed
      through proliferative, clonogenic and cross-over culture assays. Results indicate
      that although AA MSC presented typical morphology and distinctive mesenchymal
      markers, stromal formation was reduced, with 50% of BM samples failing to produce
      adherent layers. Furthermore, their proliferative and clonogenic capacity was
      markedly decreased (P = 0.03 and P = 0.04 respectively) and the ability to
      sustain haemopoiesis was significantly reduced, as assessed by total cell
      proliferation (P = 0.032 and P = 0.019 at Week 5 and 6, respectively) and
      clonogenic potential of HSC (P = 0.02 at Week 6). It was concluded that the
      biological characteristics of AA MSC are different from those of control MSC and
      their in vitro haemopoiesis-supporting ability is significantly reduced. 

PMID- 25819549
TI  - Management and treatment of splenic trauma in children.
AB  - AIM: To assess types of splenic traumas, accompanying injuries, their management
      and results. METHODS: We studied the reports of 90 patients (64 boys, 26 girls)
      who were treated for splenic injuries as a result of blunt abdominal trauma
      between 2005-2012. Age, sex, hospitalization time, mechanisms of traumas,
      accompanying injuries and management methods were recorded. RESULTS: Causes of
      trauma were falls from height (46 patients, 51%), pedestrian traffic accidents
      (17 patients, 19%), passenger traffic accidents (11 patients, 12%), bicycle
      accidents (10 patients, 11%) and falling objects from height (6 patients, 6.6%).
      Splenic injury alone was observed in 57 patients (63.3%) and other organ injuries
      together with splenic injury in 33 patients (36.7%). Splenectomy was performed in
      six patients (6.6%) due to hemodynamic instability and small intestine repair due
      to small intestine injury in one patient (1.1%). None of these patients died from
      their injuries. CONCLUSION: A large proportion of splenic injuries recover with
      conservative therapy. Some of the advantages of conservative therapy include
      short hospitalization time, less need for blood transfusion, and less morbidity
      and mortality. Falls from height and traffic accidents are important factors in
      etiology. The possibility of other organ injuries together with splenic injuries
      should be considered.

PMID- 25819550
TI  - An ACCUMULATION AND REPLICATION OF CHLOROPLASTS 5 gene mutation confers light
      green peel in cucumber.
AB  - The peel color of fruit is an important commercial trait in cucumber, but the
      underlying molecular basis is largely unknown. A mutant showing light green
      exocarp was discovered from ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) mutagenized cucumber
      line 406 with dark green exocarp. Genetic analysis showed the mutant phenotype is
      conferred by a single recessive gene, here designated as lgp (light green peel).
      By re-sequencing of bulked segregants, we identified the candidate gene
      Csa7G051430 encoding ACCUMULATION AND REPLICATION OF CHLOROPLASTS 5 (ARC5) that
      plays a vital role in chloroplast division in Arabidopsis. A single nucleotide
      polymorphism (SNP) causing amino acid alteration in the conserved GTPase domain
      of Csa7G051430 showed co-segregation with the altered phenotype. Furthermore, the
      transient RNA interference of this gene resulted in reduced number and enlarged
      size of chloroplasts, which were also observed in the lgp mutant. This evidence
      supports that the non-synonymous SNP in Csa7G051430 is the causative mutation for
      the light green peel. This study provides a new allele for cucumber breeding for
      light green fruits and additional resource for the study of chloroplast
      development.

PMID- 25819551
TI  - Social factors and barriers to self-care adherence in Hispanic men and women with
      diabetes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore quantitatively the extent to which social support, social
      norms and barriers are associated with self-efficacy and self-care adherence in
      Hispanic patients with diabetes and the extent to which these differ for men and
      women. METHODS: Baseline survey data were collected from 248 low-SES, Hispanic
      men and women who were participants in a randomized controlled trial of a
      culturally targeted intervention for diabetes management. Student's t, Pearson
      correlations and multiple regression were used to analyze the data. RESULTS:
      Compared to men, women were less likely to receive support, faced more barriers,
      reported less self-efficacy and had lower levels of self-care adherence.
      Perceived support was consistently correlated with better self-efficacy in women
      but not men, even though men reported higher levels of support. CONCLUSION: The
      lack of adequate support seems to be a fundamental barrier for Hispanic women
      with diabetes. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Health care providers should be sensitive
      to sociocultural influences in Hispanic groups that may facilitate men's self
      care adherence, but could potentially hamper women's efforts. Interventions
      designed for Hispanics should augment women's support needs and address culture
      and social factors that may differentially impact the ability of men and women to
      manage their diabetes.

PMID- 25819552
TI  - The Effect of a Polyvalent Antivenom on the Serum Venom Antigen Levels of Naja
      sputatrix (Javan Spitting Cobra) Venom in Experimentally Envenomed Rabbits.
AB  - The treatment protocol of antivenom in snake envenomation remains largely
      empirical, partly due to the insufficient knowledge of the pharmacokinetics of
      snake venoms and the effects of antivenoms on the blood venom levels in victims.
      In this study, we investigated the effect of a polyvalent antivenom on the serum
      venom antigen levels of Naja sputatrix (Javan spitting cobra) venom in
      experimentally envenomed rabbits. Intravenous infusion of 4 ml of Neuro
      Polyvalent Snake Antivenom [NPAV, F(ab')2 ] at 1 hr after envenomation caused a
      sharp decline of the serum venom antigen levels, followed by transient resurgence
      an hour later. The venom antigen resurgence was unlikely to be due to the
      mismatch of pharmacokinetics between the F(ab')2 and venom antigens, as the
      terminal half-life and volume of distribution of the F(ab')2 in serum were
      comparable to that of venom antigens (p > 0.05). Infusion of an additional 2 ml
      of NPAV was able to prevent resurgence of the serum venom antigen level,
      resulting in a substantial decrease (67.1%) of the total amount of circulating
      venom antigens over time course of envenomation. Our results showed that the
      neutralization potency of NPAV determined by neutralization assay in mice may not
      be an adequate indicator of its capability to modulate venom kinetics in relation
      to its in vivo efficacy to neutralize venom toxicity. The findings also support
      the recommendation of giving high initial dose of NPAV in cobra envenomation,
      with repeated doses as clinically indicated in the presence of rebound
      antigenemia and symptom recurrence. 

PMID- 25819553
TI  - Cdk5 contributes to inflammation-induced thermal hyperalgesia mediated by the p38
      MAPK pathway in microglia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The mechanisms underlying cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5)-mediated
      thermal hyperalgesia induced by inflammation remain poorly understood. In the
      present study, we examined thermal hyperalgesia provoked by peripheral injection
      of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) to test for Cdk5 signaling in the spinal
      dorsal horns of rats through the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK)
      signaling pathway, which is known to function in mediating inflammatory pain.
      METHODS: We induced the inflammatory pain model by plantar injection of CFA and
      compared the inhibitory effects of roscovitine and SB203580 on thermal
      hyperalgesia. We measured localization of Cdk5, p35, OX-42, and glial fibrillary
      acidic protein (GFAP) in the dorsal horn at 1 and 3 days after CFA injection
      using immunohistochemistry, and we measured protein levels of OX-42 and
      phosphorylated-p38 (p-p38) using Western blot analysis. Tumor necrosis factor-a
      (TNF-a) was measured by ELISA. RESULTS: The maximum thermal hyperalgesia induced
      by CFA occurred at 1d following injection and decreased until 5 d. We found
      colocalization of the Cdk5 activator p35, the microglial marker OX-42 and p-p38
      in the same microglial cells and neurons of the spinal cord at day 1 after CFA
      injection; however, we saw no colocalization of p35 and GFAP, a marker of
      activated astrocytes. The thermal hyperalgesia induced by CFA was inhibited by
      intrathecal administration of the Cdk5 inhibitor roscovitine and by the p38
      inhibitor SB203580. Furthermore, the expression of OX-42, p-p38, and TNF-a was
      remarkably increased from days 1 to 5 post-CFA injection and were significantly
      reversed by roscovitine between 1 and 3 days. CONCLUSIONS: Cdk5, an upstream
      regulator of p38 and TNF-a, mediates CFA-induced thermal hyperalgesia. As such,
      pharmacological blocking of the generation of p-p38 mediated by Cdk5 may present
      a novel approach for diminishing inflammatory pain. This article is part of a
      Special Issue entitled SI: Spinal cord injury.

PMID- 25819554
TI  - Repetition priming results in sensitivity attenuation.
AB  - Repetition priming refers to the change in the ability to perform a task on a
      stimulus as a consequence of a former encounter with that very same item.
      Usually, repetition results in faster and more accurate performance. In the
      present study, we used a contrast discrimination protocol to assess perceptual
      sensitivity and response bias of Gabor gratings that are either repeated (same
      orientation) or alternated (different orientation). We observed that contrast
      discrimination performance is worse, not better, for repeated than for alternated
      stimuli. In a second experiment, we varied the probability of stimulus
      repetition, thus testing whether the repetition effect is due to bottom-up or top
      down factors. We found that it is top-down expectation that determines the
      effect. We discuss the implication of these findings for repetition priming and
      related phenomena as sensory attenuation. This article is part of a Special Issue
      entitled SI: Prediction and Attention. 

PMID- 25819555
TI  - Cytokines, but not corticotropin-releasing factor and endothelin-1, participate
      centrally in the febrile response in zymosan-induced arthritis in rats.
AB  - Recent literature has revealed that centrally generated prostaglandins
      participate in the febrile response in zymosan-induced arthritis in rats.
      However, it is not clear whether other centrally acting pyrogenic mediators such
      as cytokines, endothelins (ETs), and the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)
      contribute to the febrile response in this model. In the present study, rats were
      pretreated with intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injections of soluble TNF
      receptor I (sTNFRI), recombinant IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), anti-rat IL-6
      monoclonal antibody (AbIL-6), alpha-helical CRF9-41 (a nonselective CRF1/CRF2
      receptor antagonist), BQ-123 (an ETA receptor antagonist), BQ-788 (an ETB
      receptor antagonist), and artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF, control) prior to
      an intra-articular zymosan (4 mg) injection. Rectal temperatures were measured
      with a telethermometer. The administration of IL-1ra (200 ug), sTNFRI (500 ng),
      and AbIL-6 (5 ug) attenuated body temperature elevations after a zymosan
      injection. The administration of BQ-788 (3 pmol), BQ-123 (3 pmol), and alpha
      helical CRF9-41 (25 ug) did not affect the zymosan-induced febrile response. All
      the compounds used to pretreat the animals did not significantly alter their
      basal body temperatures. Together, the results here demonstrate that the febrile
      response in zymosan-induced arthritis in rats depends on the centrally acting
      pyrogenic cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and IL-6, but does not depend on either
      CRF or ET-1.

PMID- 25819556
TI  - An outbreak of swimming-pool related respiratory symptoms: An elusive source of
      trichloramine in a municipal indoor swimming pool.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several members of a swimming club complained of respiratory symptoms
      associated with attending a municipal indoor swimming pool. Trichloramine, a
      volatile chlorination by-product and a potent respiratory irritant, was the most
      probable culprit, but the exact cause for its presence in excessive
      concentrations remained elusive. METHODS: Twenty-two competitive swimmers and six
      coaches were evaluated during the outbreak and nine swimmers and four coaches
      were re-evaluated one year later. Symptoms were recorded by non-standardized
      history taking; pulmonary function testing included spirometry, measurement of
      fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) and histamine provocation. Concentrations
      of trichloramine in air were measured repeatedly by the method of Hery. RESULTS:
      The most commonly reported symptoms consisted of cough (n=16), dyspnoea (n=13),
      tearing eyes (n=10) and blocked or runny nose (n=6). Mean FEV1% predicted was
      109.1%. Mean FENO level was 19.7 ppb (higher than 25 ppb in 3 subjects). Airway
      hyperreactivity to histamine (PC20 <= 8 mg/ml) was detected in 22/26 subjects.
      Measured trichloramine concentrations in air exceeded the maximal concentration
      (WHO) of 0.5mg/m(3) four times between May and October 2011 and four times
      between January and March 2012. Polyamine compounds, present in glue used for
      repairing pipework, were identified as a probable external source of nitrogen
      resulting in increasing trichloramine concentrations. After the removal of the
      presumed cause of the excessive trichloramine concentrations, most subjects
      improved clinically, but several subjects remained symptomatic and had bronchial
      hyperreactivity. DISCUSSION: A high prevalence of airway hyperreactivity,
      accompanied by symptoms of upper and lower airways, was detected in swimmers who
      had been repeatedly exposed to high trichloramine concentrations. A glue
      containing polyamines, used to repair a pipework, was suspected to be the source
      of this excessive production of trichloramine.

PMID- 25819557
TI  - Standard bowel cleansing is highly ineffective in cirrhotic patients undergoing
      screening colonoscopy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Few data are available on tolerability and quality of standard bowel
      cleansing for colonoscopy in patients with chronic disease. AIM: We seek to
      evaluate the tolerability and results of lavage solution for colonoscopy in
      cirrhotic patients in comparison with controls. METHODS: Fifty-three cirrhotic
      and fifty-two normal subjects undergoing colonoscopy were prospectively enrolled
      in the study. Data regarding tolerability of lavage solution were harvested at
      the pre-procedure visit. Data on level of bowel cleansing and other endoscopic
      variables were recorded after the procedure. RESULTS: Rate of failure to complete
      the prescribed bowel preparation and incidence of side effects during its
      administration were similar between cirrhotic and normal subjects. Despite this,
      cirrhotic patients exhibited an insufficient level of bowel preparation with
      approximately half exhibiting bad colon cleansing level (49% versus 5% control,
      p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Alternative bowel cleansing protocols are needed for
      cirrhotic subjects to better match their colonoscopic screening needs.

PMID- 25819558
TI  - Current methods for capsular typing of Streptococcus pneumoniae.
AB  - Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major respiratory tract pathogen causing
      pneumococcal disease mainly in children aged less than five years and in the
      elderly. Ninety-eight different capsular types (serotypes) of pneumococci have
      been reported, but pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) include polysaccharide
      antigens against only 7, 10 or 13 serotypes. It is therefore important to track
      the emergence of serotypes due to the clonal expansion of non-vaccine serotypes.
      Increased numbers of carried and disease-causing pneumococci are now being
      analysed as part of the post-PCV implementation surveillance studies and hence
      rapid, accurate and cost-effective typing methods are important. Here we describe
      serotyping methods published prior to 10th November 2014 for pneumococcal capsule
      typing. Sixteen methods were identified; six were based on serological tests
      using immunological properties of the capsular epitopes, eight were semi
      automated molecular tests, and one describes the identification of capsular type
      directly from whole genome data, which also allows for further intra and inter
      genome analyses. There was no single method that could be recommended for all
      pneumococcal capsular typing applications. Although the Quellung reaction is
      still considered to be the gold-standard, laboratories should take into account
      the number of pneumococcal isolates and the type of samples to be used for
      testing, the time frame for the results and the resources available in order to
      select the most appropriate method. Most likely, a combination of phenotypic and
      genotypic methods would be optimal to monitor and evaluate the impact of
      pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and to provide information for future vaccine
      formulations. 

PMID- 25819559
TI  - p-Aminophenyl-alpha-D-mannopyranoside engineered lipidic nanoparticles for
      effective delivery of docetaxel to brain.
AB  - Lipidic systems are considered to be the most promising carrier for drug delivery
      to brain. Metabolic substrates like carbohydrates and amino acids are able to
      traverse the blood-brain barrier (BBB) by specific carrier-mediated transport
      systems like glucose transporters present on the both luminal and abluminal side
      of the BBB. With this objective, the docetaxel (DTX) loaded solid lipidic
      nanoparticles were formulated and surface modified with a mannose derived ligand
      p-aminophenyl-alpha-D-mannopyranoside (MAN) to develop MAN conjugated lipidic
      nanoparticles for targeting DTX to brain. Lipidic nanoparticles were prepared
      using emulsification and solvent evaporation method using stearic acid as charge
      modifying lipid and conjugated with MAN using carbodimide coupling. These lipidic
      nanoparticles were successfully characterized using various techniques like DLS,
      TEM, DSC and FTIR spectroscopy. Cytotoxicity and cell uptake unveiled enhanced
      efficacy of conjugated lipidic nanoparticles. Pharmacokinetic and brain
      distribution studies demonstrated increased DTX concentrations using lipidic
      nanoparticles in brain and conjugating MAN on surface of lipidic nanoparticles
      further augmented the inflow of the drug to brain. Present study revealed the
      prospective of mannose analog, MAN-conjugated lipidic nanoparticles as efficient
      vehicle for anticancer drug delivery to brain.

PMID- 25819560
TI  - The extent of inflammatory infiltration in primary cancer tissues is associated
      with lymphomagenesis in immunodeficient mice.
AB  - Xenotransplantation of human cancers into immunodeficient mice is a very useful
      approach for studying human tumor biology. However, the occasional occurrence of
      lymphomagenesis in some mice can spoil the model and must be investigated in
      detail. We found that a high percentage (32.5%, 26/80) of cancer patient-derived
      xenografts (PDXs) resembled lymphoma in NOD/SCID mice. Of the 26 xenografts, 23
      were human-derived expressing human CD45 (hCD45+) and proved to be of the B-cell
      subtype (CD3-/CD20+), and they were all positive for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
      The remaining 3 xenografts proved to be mouse-derived for both hCD45- and
      negative amplification of a human gene. The most interesting finding is that
      gastric cancer had much higher rates (24/126, 19.0%) of lymphoma formation in the
      PDX model than did colorectal cancer (1/43, 2.3%). Statistical analysis revealed
      that cancer type and inflammation in the parent tumor are significantly
      associated with lymphomagenesis. Further validation discovered lymphomagenesis by
      inoculating only gastritis mucosa. Therefore, our findings suggest that it is
      necessary to take precautions when directly xenografting cancer tissues with
      remarkable baseline inflammation, such as gastric cancer into immunodeficient
      NOD/SCID strains. Further, the established xenograft models should be validated
      by both leukocyte markers and human gene signatures.

PMID- 25819561
TI  - Centrosome-Associated Degradation Limits beta-Catenin Inheritance by Daughter
      Cells after Asymmetric Division.
AB  - Caenorhabditis elegans embryos rapidly diversify cell fate using a modified
      Wnt/beta-catenin signaling strategy to carry out serial asymmetric cell divisions
      (ACDs). Wnt-dependent ACDs rely on nuclear asymmetry of the transcriptional
      coactivator SYS-1/beta-catenin between daughter cells to differentially activate
      Wnt-responsive target genes. Here, we investigate how dynamic localization of SYS
      1 to mitotic centrosomes influences SYS-1 inheritance in daughter cells and cell
      fate outcomes after ACD. Through yeast two-hybrid screening, we identify the
      centrosomal protein RSA-2 as a SYS-1 binding partner and show that localization
      of SYS-1 to mitotic centrosomes is dependent on RSA-2. Uncoupling SYS-1 from the
      centrosome by RSA-2 depletion increases SYS-1 inheritance after ACD and promotes
      Wnt-dependent cell fate. Photobleaching experiments reveal that centrosome-bound
      SYS-1 turns over rapidly. Interestingly, disruption of the proteasome leads to an
      increased accumulation of SYS-1 at the centrosome but disrupts its dynamic
      turnover. We conclude that centrosomal targeting of SYS-1 promotes its
      degradation during asymmetric cell division. We propose a model whereby
      centrosome-associated SYS-1 degradation couples negative regulation with cell
      division timing to facilitate SYS-1 clearance from the mother cell at the time of
      asymmetric division. Based on our observations of centrosomal SYS-1 dynamics, we
      discuss the possibility that the centrosome may coordinate various cell-cycle
      dependent processes by synchronizing mitosis and protein regulation. 

PMID- 25819562
TI  - Fitness Trade-offs Result in the Illusion of Social Success.
AB  - Cooperation is ubiquitous across the tree of life, from simple microbes to the
      complex social systems of animals. Individuals cooperate by engaging in costly
      behaviors that can be exploited by other individuals who benefit by avoiding
      these associated costs. Thus, if successful exploitation of social partners
      during cooperative interactions increases relative fitness, then we expect
      selection to lead to the emergence of a single optimal winning strategy in which
      individuals maximize their gain from cooperation while minimizing their
      associated costs. Such social "cheating" appears to be widespread in nature,
      including in several microbial systems, but despite the fitness advantages
      favoring social cheating, populations tend to harbor significant variation in
      social success rather than a single optimal winning strategy. Using the social
      amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, we provide a possible explanation for the
      coexistence of such variation. We find that genotypes typically designated as
      "cheaters" because they produce a disproportionate number of spores in chimeric
      fruiting bodies do not actually gain higher fitness as a result of this apparent
      advantage because they produce smaller, less viable spores than putative
      "losers." As a consequence of this trade-off between spore number and viability,
      genotypes with different spore production strategies, which give the appearance
      of differential social success, ultimately have similar realized fitness. These
      findings highlight the limitations of using single fitness proxies in
      evolutionary studies and suggest that interpreting social trait variation in
      terms of strategies like cheating or cooperating may be misleading unless these
      behaviors are considered in the context of the true multidimensional nature of
      fitness.

PMID- 25819563
TI  - Investigating the regulation of stem and progenitor cell mitotic progression by
      in situ imaging.
AB  - Genome stability relies upon efficacious chromosome congression and regulation by
      the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC). The study of these fundamental mitotic
      processes in adult stem and progenitor cells has been limited by the technical
      challenge of imaging mitosis in these cells in situ. Notably, how broader
      physiological changes, such as dietary intake or age, affect mitotic progression
      in stem and/or progenitor cells is largely unknown. Using in situ imaging of C.
      elegans adult germlines, we describe the mitotic parameters of an adult stem and
      progenitor cell population in an intact animal. We find that SAC regulation in
      germline stem and progenitor cells is distinct from that found in early embryonic
      divisions and is more similar to that of classical tissue culture models. We
      further show that changes in organismal physiology affect mitotic progression in
      germline stem and progenitor cells. Reducing dietary intake produces a checkpoint
      dependent delay in anaphase onset, and inducing dietary restriction when the
      checkpoint is impaired increases the incidence of segregation errors in mitotic
      and meiotic cells. Similarly, developmental aging of the germline stem and
      progenitor cell population correlates with a decline in the rate of several
      mitotic processes. These results provide the first in vivo validation of models
      for SAC regulation developed in tissue culture systems and demonstrate that
      several fundamental features of mitotic progression in adult stem and progenitor
      cells are highly sensitive to organismal physiological changes.

PMID- 25819564
TI  - Expectations and Outcomes of Reserve Network Performance following Re-zoning of
      the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
AB  - Networks of no-take marine reserves (NTMRs) are widely advocated for preserving
      exploited fish stocks and for conserving biodiversity. We used underwater visual
      surveys of coral reef fish and benthic communities to quantify the short- to
      medium-term (5 to 30 years) ecological effects of the establishment of NTMRs
      within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP). The density, mean length, and
      biomass of principal fishery species, coral trout (Plectropomus spp., Variola
      spp.), were consistently greater in NTMRs than on fished reefs over both the
      short and medium term. However, there were no clear or consistent differences in
      the structure of fish or benthic assemblages, non-target fish density, fish
      species richness, or coral cover between NTMR and fished reefs. There was no
      indication that the displacement and concentration of fishing effort reduced
      coral trout populations on fished reefs. A severe tropical cyclone impacted many
      survey reefs during the study, causing similar declines in coral cover and fish
      density on both NTMR and fished reefs. However, coral trout biomass declined only
      on fished reefs after the cyclone. The GBRMP is performing as expected in terms
      of the protection of fished stocks and biodiversity for a developed country in
      which fishing is not excessive and targets a narrow range of species. NTMRs
      cannot protect coral reefs directly from acute regional-scale disturbance but,
      after a strong tropical cyclone, impacted NTMR reefs supported higher biomass of
      key fishery-targeted species and so should provide valuable sources of larvae to
      enhance population recovery and long-term persistence. 

PMID- 25819565
TI  - PLETHORA Genes Control Regeneration by a Two-Step Mechanism.
AB  - Regeneration, a remarkable example of developmental plasticity displayed by both
      plants and animals, involves successive developmental events driven in response
      to environmental cues. Despite decades of study on the ability of the plant
      tissues to regenerate a complete fertile shoot system after inductive cues, the
      mechanisms by which cells acquire pluripotency and subsequently regenerate
      complete organs remain unknown. Here, we show that three PLETHORA (PLT) genes,
      PLT3, PLT5, and PLT7, regulate de novo shoot regeneration in Arabidopsis by
      controlling two distinct developmental events. Cumulative loss of function of
      these three genes causes the intermediate cell mass, callus, to be incompetent to
      form shoot progenitors, whereas induction of PLT5 or PLT7 can render shoot
      regeneration hormone-independent. We further show that PLT3, PLT5, and PLT7
      establish pluripotency by activating root stem cell regulators PLT1 and PLT2, as
      reconstitution of either PLT1 or PLT2 in the plt3; plt5-2; plt7 mutant re
      established the competence to regenerate shoot progenitor cells but did not lead
      to the completion of shoot regeneration. PLT3, PLT5, and PLT7 additionally
      regulate and require the shoot-promoting factor CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON2 (CUC2) to
      complete the shoot-formation program. Our findings uncouple the acquisition of
      competence to regenerate shoot progenitor cells from completion of shoot
      formation, indicating a two-step mechanism of de novo shoot regeneration that
      operates in all tested plant tissues irrespective of their origin. Our studies
      reveal intermediate developmental phases of regeneration and provide a deeper
      understanding into the mechanistic basis of regeneration.

PMID- 25819566
TI  - Transforming the thermal grill effect by crossing the fingers.
AB  - The relation between pain perception and spatial representation of the body is
      poorly understood. In the thermal grill illusion (TGI), alternating non-noxious
      warm and cold temperatures cause a paradoxical, sometimes painful, sensation of
      burning heat. We combined thermal grill stimulation with crossing the fingers to
      investigate whether nociceptively mediated sensation depends on the somatotopic
      or spatiotopic configuration of thermal inputs. We stimulated the index, middle,
      and ring fingers when the middle finger either was or was not crossed over the
      index to generate "warm-cold-warm" patterns in either somatotopic or spatiotopic
      coordinates. Participants adjusted a temperature delivered to the other hand
      until it matched their perception of the cold target finger (index or middle). We
      found significant temperature overestimation when the target was central within
      the spatial configuration (warm-cold-warm) compared to when it was peripheral
      (cold-warm-warm). Crucially, this effect depended on the spatiotopic
      configuration of thermal inputs, but it was independent of the finger posture and
      present for both index and middle target fingers-the thermal grill effect for the
      middle finger was abolished when it was crossed over the index to adopt a
      spatiotopically peripheral position, while the same effect was newly generated
      for the index finger by the same postural change. Our results suggest that the
      locations of multiple stimuli are remapped into external space as a group;
      nociceptively mediated sensations depended not on the body posture, but rather on
      the external spatial configuration formed by the pattern of thermal stimuli in
      each posture.

PMID- 25819567
TI  - ImmVar project: Insights and design considerations for future studies of
      "healthy" immune variation.
AB  - The Immune Variation (ImmVar) project is one of a series of recent efforts to map
      the extent of variation in immune function in healthy human subjects. The focus
      of our initial studies involved a careful mapping of the genetic architecture of
      the adaptive and innate immunologic transcriptomes. Our studies highlight the
      shared nature of this immunogenetic architecture across human populations, the
      important role of context in uncovering effects of genetic variation, and the
      fact that, over all tested genes, common genetic variation account for a minority
      of the variance in the immune transcriptome in healthy subjects. Yet, it is an
      element of the variance that can be measured very precisely and will play an
      important role in the design of future studies. We therefore discuss how insights
      from ImmVar and similar studies inform experimental strategies and frame the
      design of future studies of immune function in health and disease. 

PMID- 25819568
TI  - Utilization of a real-time PCR assay for diagnosis of Babesia microti infection
      in clinical practice.
AB  - Babesiosis is an emerging tick-borne disease mainly caused Babesia microti, a
      protozoan that infects erythrocytes. Microscopic examination of blood smears is
      the current gold standard for detection of Babesia infection, but this diagnostic
      test has several limitations. We developed and assessed the clinical utilization
      of a multiplex real-time PCR assay targeting the 18S rRNA gene of B. microti and
      the human gapdh gene. The limit of detection of this PCR assay was approximately
      1-3parasites/MUl of blood. The assay showed a diagnostic sensitivity and probable
      specificity of 100% based on testing 145 retrospective and 185 prospective blood
      specimens from controls and patients with confirmed babesiosis. Notably, the PCR
      assay was more sensitive than blood smear examination in patients during and
      following anti-babesia drug therapy. Our study suggests that PCR testing is as
      good or better than a blood smear for detection of B. microti in routine clinical
      practice. PCR testing may confirm the presence of babesiosis in patients whose
      level of infection is too low for reliable microscopic detection. 

PMID- 25819569
TI  - Modeling and optimization of photo-Fenton degradation of 2,4-D using ferrioxalate
      complex and response surface methodology (RSM).
AB  - This study reports the application of the photo-Fenton process for the
      degradation of the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic (2,4-D). The objective of
      this research was the evaluation of the procedure at natural pH (pH = 5) using
      the ferrioxalate complex as iron source at two incident irradiation levels. For
      this purpose, different combinations of attenuation filters from a solar
      simulator were tested. Since the process depends on several parameters, the
      influence of the temperature (T) and peroxide to 2,4-D initial concentration
      ratio (R) were investigated and optimized by the application of a three-level
      factorial experimental design combined with the Response Surface Methodology
      (RSM). The significance of models and their coefficients were assessed with the
      analysis of variance (ANOVA). The found optimal conditions were: T = 50  degrees
      C and R = 46.3 and T = 41.53  degrees C and R = 41.46, achieving experimental
      conversions of 91.4 and 95.9% for the low and high radiation levels,
      respectively. The obtained results are very close to the values predicted by the
      quadratic models (93.8 and 100.0%). It was concluded that temperature and
      hydrogen peroxyde concentration have different influences on the response factor
      depending on the incident irradiation level. It was demonstrated that RSM is a
      good tool for studying the effects of different variables and their interactions
      on 2,4-D conversion percentage in the photo-Fenton process. In addition, solution
      acute toxicity was also evaluated during the treatments under optimum conditions,
      since some degradation by-products of 2,4-D can be more toxic than the parent
      compound. For this purpose, the commonly used Microtox((r)) test based on the
      bacteria Vibrio fischeri was employed. 

PMID- 25819570
TI  - Rhizoremediation of phenanthrene and pyrene contaminated soil using wheat.
AB  - Rhizoremediation, the use of the plant rhizosphere and associated microorganisms
      represents a promising method for the clean up of soils contaminated with
      polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) including phenanthrene and pyrene, two
      model PAHs. Although numerous studies have been published reporting the
      degradation of phenanthrene and pyrene, very few evaluate the microbial basis of
      the rhizoremediation process through the application of molecular tools. The aim
      of this study was to investigate the effect of wheat on the degradation of two
      model PAHs (alone or in combination) and also on soil bacterial, fungal and nidA
      gene (i.e. a key gene in the degradation of pyrene) communities. The addition of
      wheat plants led to a significant enhancement in the degradation of both
      phenanthrene and pyrene. In pyrene-contaminated soils, the degradation rate
      increased from 15% (65 mg/kg) and 18% (90 mg/kg) in unplanted soils to 65% (280
      mg/kg) and 70% (350 mg/kg) in planted treatments while phenanthrene reduction was
      enhanced from 97% (394 mg/kg) and 87% (392 mg/kg) for unplanted soils to 100%
      (406 mg/kg) and 98% (441 mg/kg) in the presence of wheat. PCR-DGGE results showed
      that the plant root let to some changes in the bacterial and fungal communities;
      these variations did not reflect any change in hydrocarbon-degrading communities.
      However, plate counting, traditional MPN and MPN-qPCR of nidA gene revealed that
      the wheat rhizosphere led to an increase in the total microbial abundance
      including PAH degrading organisms and these increased activities resulted in
      enhanced degradation of phenanthrene and pyrene. This clearer insight into the
      mechanisms underpinning PAH degradation will enable better application of this
      environmentally friendly technique. 

PMID- 25819571
TI  - Can incentives make a difference? Assessing the effects of policy tools for
      encouraging tree-planting on private lands.
AB  - This study uses a mail survey of private landowners in the Midwest United States
      to understand the characteristics of owners who have planted trees or intend to
      plant trees in the future. The analysis examines what policy tools encourage
      owners to plant trees, and how policy tools operate across different ownership
      attributes to promote tree-planting on private lands. Logistic regression results
      suggest that cost-subsidizing policy tools, such as low-cost and free seedlings,
      significantly increase the odds of actual and planned reforestation when
      landowners consider them important for increasing forest cover. Individuals most
      likely to plant trees, when low-cost seedlings are available and important, are
      fairly recent (<5 years), college-educated owners who own small parcels (<4 ha)
      and use the land for recreation. Motivations to reforest were also shaped by
      owners' planning horizons, connection to the land, previous tree-planting
      experience, and peer influence. The study has relevance for the design of policy
      approaches that can encourage private forestation through provision of economic
      incentives and capacity to private landowners. 

PMID- 25819572
TI  - Novel roles of Xin-repeat protein in skeletal muscle: a new insight into
      monogenetic myopathies.

PMID- 25819573
TI  - Our New President--Michael Camilleri, MD, MPhil, MRCP, FACP, AGAF.

PMID- 25819574
TI  - Disturbed postprandial glucose metabolism and gut hormone responses in non
      diabetic patients with psoriasis.

PMID- 25819575
TI  - Histomorphologic and molecular phenotypes predict gemcitabine response and
      overall survival in adenocarcinoma of the ampulla of Vater.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The need for adjuvant chemotherapy after resection of ampullary
      cancer (PapCa) remains undefined. Recent data suggest that a different epithelial
      origin of PapCa might be associated with different tumor biology. The aim of the
      present study was to assess the clinical value of morphologic and
      immunohistochemic subclassification of PapCa into intestinal-type (IT) and
      pancreaticobiliary-type (PT) to predict chemotherapy response and overall
      survival (OS). METHODS: Via a prospective database, 112 PapCa were identified, of
      which 95 could be included in the present study. Those were compared with 206
      matching patients with periampullary pancreatic cancer (ie, pancreatic ductal
      adenocarcinoma, PDAC). IT and PT PapCa were classified morphologically, and
      tissue microarray was prepared with immunohistochemistry for CK7, CK20, MUC2,
      CDX2, beta-Catenin, and Villin. Multivariate survival analysis was performed.
      RESULTS: OS of PT patients was less compared with IT patients (25 vs 98 months; P
      < .001), whereas it was comparable with patients with PDAC (25 vs 14 months; P =
      .123). PT patients receiving adjuvant gemcitabine chemotherapy featured improved
      OS (32 vs 13 months; P = .013), whereas gemcitabine tended to be associated with
      decreased OS in IT patients (35 vs 112 months; P = .193). Besides histopathologic
      classification, expression of CK7 and MUC2 were important prognostic variables.
      PT patients with CK7-positivity or MUC2-negativity were segregated into an even
      poorer prognostic group. CONCLUSION: PapCa is not a separate tumor entity. We
      demonstrate important differences between IT-PapCa and PT-PapCa not only in long
      term survival but also in response to adjuvant gemcitabine. Tumor biology and
      clinical course of PT tumors resemble those of PDAC. PT tumors should therefore
      be treated like PDAC.

PMID- 25819576
TI  - Adolescents' and Young Adults' Online Risk Taking: The Role of Gist and Verbatim
      Representations.
AB  - Young people are exposed to and engage in online risky activities, such as
      disclosing personal information and making unknown friends online. Little
      research has examined the psychological mechanisms underlying young people's
      online risk taking. Drawing on fuzzy trace theory, we examined developmental
      differences in adolescents' and young adults' online risk taking and assessed
      whether differential reliance on gist representations (based on vague, intuitive
      knowledge) or verbatim representations (based on specific, factual knowledge)
      could explain online risk taking. One hundred and twenty two adolescents (ages 13
      17) and 172 young adults (ages 18-24) were asked about their past online risk
      taking behavior, intentions to engage in future risky online behavior, and gist
      and verbatim representations. Adolescents had significantly higher intentions to
      take online risks than young adults. Past risky online behaviors were positively
      associated with future intentions to take online risks for adolescents and
      negatively for young adults. Gist representations about risk negatively
      correlated with intentions to take risks online in both age groups, while
      verbatim representations positively correlated with online risk intentions,
      particularly among adolescents. Our results provide novel insights about the
      underlying mechanisms involved in adolescent and young adults' online risk
      taking, suggesting the need to tailor the representation of online risk
      information to different age groups. 

PMID- 25819577
TI  - Comprehensive protein profiling of synovial fluid in osteoarthritis following
      protein equalization.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to characterise the protein complement of
      synovial fluid (SF) in health and osteoarthritis (OA) using liquid chromatography
      mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) following peptide-based depletion of high abundance
      proteins. DESIGN: SF was used from nine normal and nine OA Thoroughbred horses.
      Samples were analysed with LC-MS/MS using a NanoAcquityTM LC coupled to an LTQ
      Orbitrap Velos. In order to enrich the lower-abundance protein fractions protein
      equalisation was first undertaken using ProteoMinerTM. Progenesis-QITM LC-MS
      software was used for label-free quantification. In addition
      immunohistochemistry, western blotting and mRNA expression analysis was
      undertaken on selected joint tissues. RESULTS: The number of protein
      identifications was increased by 33% in the ProteoMinerTM treated SF compared to
      undepleted SF. A total of 764 proteins (462 with>=2 significant peptides) were
      identified in SF. A subset of 10 proteins were identified which were
      differentially expressed in OA SF. S100-A10, a calcium binding protein was
      upregulated in OA and validated with western blotting and immunohistochemistry.
      Several new OA specific peptide fragments (neopeptides) were identified.
      CONCLUSION: The protein equalisation method compressed the dynamic range of the
      synovial proteins identifying the most comprehensive SF proteome to date. A
      number of proteins were identified for the first time in SF which may be involved
      in the pathogenesis of OA. We identified a distinct set of proteins and
      neopeptides that may act as potential biomarkers to distinguish between normal
      and OA joints.

PMID- 25819578
TI  - Is the contralateral hip at risk in patients with unilateral symptomatic cam
      femoroacetabular impingement? A quantitative T1rho MRI study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the profile of weight-bearing cartilage of hips with a cam
      deformity using T1rho magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and evaluate for a side-to
      side difference in the T1rho profile of patients with bilateral cam morphology
      but only unilateral hip pain. METHODS: 19 patients with bilateral cam morphology
      undergoing osteochondroplasty for unilateral hip pain were prospectively
      recruited. Anterior and anterosuperior alpha angles were measured using computer
      tomography. All patients underwent bilateral 1.5T T1rho MRI. The cartilage
      bilayer of the hip joint was evaluated and the mean T1rho relaxation time
      calculated for each quadrant of the weight-bearing surface. RESULTS: Mean T1rho
      relaxation times were not significantly different when each quadrant was compared
      to the rest of the weight-bearing surface of the symptomatic (P = 0.068) and
      asymptomatic hips (P = 0.102). There was also no significant side-to-side
      difference between the same quadrants of symptomatic and asymptomatic hips. No
      correlation was detected between alpha angle and the mean T1rho relaxation time
      in each quadrant. There was no significant difference in mean alpha angles
      between the symptomatic and asymptomatic sides at the anterior (54.2 vs 56.0
      degrees ; P = 0.382) and anterosuperior positions (65.1 vs 65.2 degrees ; P =
      0.971). CONCLUSION: We conclude that previously observed regional variation in
      T1rho values of normal hips is altered in hips with cam morphology. No difference
      in T1rho values between symptomatic and asymptomatic cam hips was demonstrated.
      Therefore, regardless of the presence of hip pain, a cam deformity may predispose
      to hip joint cartilage degradation and increase the risk of hip osteoarthritis.

PMID- 25819579
TI  - The ability of systemic biochemical markers to reflect presence, incidence, and
      progression of early-stage radiographic knee and hip osteoarthritis: data from
      CHECK.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To relate systemic biochemical markers of joint metabolism to
      presence, incidence, and progression of early-stage radiographic knee and/or hip
      osteoarthritis (OA). METHOD: The cartilage markers uCTX-II, sCOMP, sPIIANP, and
      sCS846, bone markers uCTX-I, uNTX-I, sPINP, and sOC, and synovial markers sHA and
      sPIIINP were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or radioactive
      immunoassay in baseline samples of CHECK (Cohort Hip and Cohort Knee), a cohort
      study of early-stage symptomatic knee and/or hip OA. Knee and hip radiographs
      were obtained at baseline and 5-year follow-up. Presence of OA at baseline was
      defined as Kellgren and Lawrence (K&L) = 1 (maximum observed). Incidence of OA
      was defined as K&L = 0 at baseline and K&L >= 1 at 5-year follow-up. Progression
      of OA was defined as K&L = 1 at baseline and K&L >= 2 at 5-year follow-up.
      RESULTS: Data were available for 801 subjects at baseline and for 723 subjects at
      both baseline and 5-year follow-up. Multiple cartilage and synovial markers
      showed positive associations with presence and progression of knee and hip OA and
      with incidence of hip OA, except for negative associations of uCTX-II and sCOMP
      with incidence of knee OA. uCTX-II and sCOMP showed multiple interactions with
      other biomarkers in their associations with knee and hip OA. Bone markers were
      positively associated with presence of radiographic knee OA, but negatively
      associated with progression of radiographic hip OA. CONCLUSION: Especially
      metabolism in cartilage and synovial matrix appear to be of relevance in knee and
      hip OA. The role of bone metabolism appears to differ between knee and hip OA.

PMID- 25819580
TI  - Depletion of SIRT6 causes cellular senescence, DNA damage, and telomere
      dysfunction in human chondrocytes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: SIRT6, a member of the sirtuin family of nicotinamide adenine
      dinucleotide (NAD(+))-dependent protein deacetylases, has been implicated as a
      key factor in aging-related diseases. However, the role of SIRT6 in chondrocytes
      has not been fully explored. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of
      SIRT6 in human chondrocytes by inhibiting SIRT6 in vitro. DESIGN: First, the
      localization of SIRT6 and proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in human
      cartilages was examined by immunohistochemistry. Next, SIRT6 was depleted by RNA
      interference (RNAi), and the effect of SIRT6 depletion on changes in gene
      expression, protein levels, proliferation, and senescence in human chondrocytes
      was assessed. Furthermore, to detect DNA damage and telomere dysfunction,
      gammaH2AX foci and telomere dysfunction-induced foci (TIFs) were examined using
      immunofluorescence microscopy. The protein levels of two mediators for DNA damage
      induced-senescence, p16 and p21, were examined by western blotting. RESULTS:
      Immunohistochemical analysis showed SIRT6 was preferentially expressed in the
      superficial zone chondrocytes and PCNA-positive cluster-forming chondrocytes in
      the osteoarthritic cartilage tissue samples. Real-time PCR analysis showed that
      matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1) and MMP-13 mRNA were significantly increased
      by SIRT6 inhibition. Moreover, SIRT6 inhibition significantly reduced
      proliferation and increased senescence associated beta-galactosidase (SA-beta
      Gal)-positive chondrocytes; it also led to increased p16 levels.
      Immunofluorescence microscopy showed that gammaH2AX foci and TIFs were increased
      by SIRT6 inhibition. CONCLUSION: Depletion of SIRT6 in human chondrocytes caused
      increased DNA damage and telomere dysfunction, and subsequent premature
      senescence. These findings suggest that SIRT6 plays an important role in the
      regulation of senescence of human chondrocytes.

PMID- 25819581
TI  - Knee osteoarthritis and all-cause mortality: the Wuchuan Osteoarthritis Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous studies showed that knee osteoarthritis (OA) is associated
      with increased mortality in Caucasians. While prevalence of knee OA is higher in
      Chinese than in Caucasians, no study has examined whether knee OA increases
      mortality in Chinese population. METHODS: Between 8/2005-10/2005 1025 residents
      aged >=50 years were recruited in randomly selected rural communities in Wuchuan,
      China. Subjects completed a home interview and had weight-bearing posteroanterior
      semiflexed view of radiographs at tibiofemoral joints and skyline view of
      radiographs at patellofemoral joints, and were followed until end of 2013. A knee
      was defined as having radiographic osteoarthritis (ROA) if either
      Kellgren/Lawrence (KL) score at tibiofemoral joint >=2 or presence of OA at
      patellofemoral joint based on OARSI criteria. Symptomatic knee osteoarthritis
      (SxOA) was defined if both pain (i.e., knee pain occurred on most days in past
      month) and ROA were present at the same knee. We examined the relation of knee
      SxOA and knee ROA to the all-cause mortality, respectively, using Cox
      proportional hazard models adjusting for potential confounders. RESULTS: Over the
      follow-up period 99 subjects died. The mortality rates were 32.6 (95% confidence
      interval (CI): 19.6-54.0) and 10.9 (95% CI: 8.8-13.5) per 1000 person-years among
      subjects with and without SxOA, respectively. Multivariable adjusted hazard ratio
      of all-cause mortality for knee SxOA was 1.9 (95% CI: 1.0-3.5). However, no such
      association was observed for knee ROA (hazard ratio = 1.2, 95% CI: 0.7-1.9).
      CONCLUSIONS: Knee SxOA was associated with an increased risk of all-cause
      mortality among the residents in the rural areas of China.

PMID- 25819582
TI  - Socio-economic status and the risk of developing hand, hip or knee
      osteoarthritis: a region-wide ecological study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between socio-economic status (SES) and
      risk of hand, hip or knee osteoarthritis (OA) at a population level. DESIGN:
      Retrospective ecological study using the System for the Development of Research
      in Primary Care (SIDIAP) database (primary care anonymized records for >5 million
      people in Catalonia (Spain)). Urban residents >15 years old (2009-2012) were
      eligible. OUTCOMES: Validated area-based SES deprivation index MEDEA (proportion
      of unemployed, temporary workers, manual workers, low educational attainment and
      low educational attainment among youngsters) was estimated for each area based on
      census data as well as incident diagnoses (ICD-10 codes) of hand, hip or knee OA
      (2009-2012). Zero-inflated Poisson models were fitted to study the association
      between MEDEA quintiles and the outcomes. RESULTS: Compared to the least
      deprived, the most deprived areas were younger (43.29 (17.59) vs 46.83 (18.49),
      years (Mean SD), had fewer women (49.1% vs 54.8%), a higher percentage of obese
      (16.2% vs 8.4%), smokers (16.9% vs 11.9%) and high-risk alcohol consumption
      subjects (1.5% vs 1.3%). Compared to the least deprived, the most deprived areas
      had an excess risk of OA: age-sex-adjusted Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) 1.26 (1.11
      1.42) for hand, 1.23 (1.17-1.29) hip, and 1.51 (1.45-1.57) knee. Adjustment for
      obesity attenuated this association: 1.06 (0.93-1.20), 1.04 (0.99-1.09), and 1.23
      (1.19-1.28) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Deprived areas have higher rates OA (hand,
      hip, knee). Their increased prevalence of obesity accounts for a 50% of the
      excess risk of knee OA observed. Public health interventions to reduce the
      prevalence of obesity in this population could reduce health inequalities.

PMID- 25819583
TI  - Relationship of unilateral total hip arthroplasty (THA) to contralateral and
      ipsilateral knee joint degeneration - a longitudinal 3T MRI study from the
      Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association of prevalent unilateral total hip
      arthroplasty (THA) with worsening of degenerative knee abnormalities and clinical
      outcomes in the ipsilateral and contralateral knee. METHODS: Both knees of 30
      individuals in the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) with unilateral THA (n = 14
      left, n = 16 right) at baseline were assessed at baseline and at 4-year follow-up
      for Whole-organ MR Imaging Scores (WORMS), cartilage T2 relaxation times (only
      available for right knees), Western Ontario and McMasters Universities Arthritis
      Index (WOMAC) scores and upper leg isometric strength. Right knees of 30
      individuals without THA were analyzed as controls. Contralateral knees were
      compared to ipsilateral knees with paired t-tests and to control knees with
      multivariate regression analysis adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: In paired
      analyses, compared to ipsilateral knees, contralateral knees had higher WORMS
      total (P = 0.008) and cartilage scores (P = 0.007) at baseline. Over 4 years
      contralateral knees worsened more on WORMS total score (P = 0.008). Cartilage T2
      values were higher in knees contralateral to the THA (baseline, P = 0.02; follow
      up, P < 0.001). Contralateral knees had greater declines in knee extension
      strength (P = 0.04) and had a trend for greater worsening in WOMAC pain,
      stiffness, function and total scores (P = 0.04-0.09). Similar results were found
      comparing contralateral knees with control knees in multivariate regression
      models. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalent unilateral THA is associated with an greater
      progression of degenerative findings for the knee contralateral to THA.

PMID- 25819584
TI  - Nevirapine Resistance in Previously Nevirapine-Unexposed HIV-1-Infected Kenyan
      Infants Initiating Early Antiretroviral Therapy.
AB  - Nevirapine (NVP) resistance occurs frequently in infants following NVP use in
      prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) regimens. However, among
      previously NVP-unexposed infants treated with NVP-antiretroviral therapy (ART),
      the development and impact of NVP resistance have not been well characterized. In
      a prospective clinical trial providing early ART to HIV-infected infants <5
      months of age in Kenya (OPH03 study), we followed NVP-unexposed infants who
      initiated NVP-ART for 12 months. Viral loads were assessed and resistance
      determined using a population-based genotypic resistance assay. Of 99 infants
      screened, 33 had no prior NVP exposure, 22 of whom were initiated on NVP-ART.
      Among 19 infants with follow-up, seven (37%) infants developed resistance: one at
      3 months and six at 6 months after ART initiation. The cumulative probability of
      NVP resistance was 5.9% at 3 months and 43.5% at 6 months. Baseline HIV RNA
      levels (p=0.7) and other characteristics were not associated with developing
      resistance. Post-ART, higher virus levels at visits preceding the detection of
      resistance were significantly associated with increased detection of resistance
      (p=0.004). Virus levels after 6 and 12 months of ART were significantly higher in
      infants with resistance than those without (p=0.007, p=0.030, respectively).
      Among infants without previous NVP exposure, development of NVP resistance was
      frequent and was associated with virologic failure during the first year of ART.
      Earlier development of NVP resistance in infants than in adults initiating NVP
      ART may be due to longer viremia following ART or inadequate NVP levels resulting
      from NVP lead-in dosing. The development of NVP resistance may, in part, explain
      the superiority of protease inhibitor-based ART in infants.

PMID- 25819585
TI  - Helical coil electrode radiofrequency ablation designed for application in
      osteolytic vertebral tumors--initial evaluation in a porcine model.
AB  - BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is emerging as a complementary
      treatment for vertebral metastases. Traditional RFA induces frictional heating
      leading to local tissue necrosis but often yields small, incomplete, and
      inhomogeneous zones of ablation in bone. We have developed a new bone-specific
      RFA electrode that uses a nontraditional frequency (27.12 MHz) and geometry
      (helical), exploiting a magnetic field and an electric field to generate larger
      and more comprehensive treatment zones. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to
      evaluate the feasibility and safety of the Bone Coil RFA electrode in the spine.
      STUDY DESIGN: This is a preclinical in vivo study based on basic science.
      METHODS: Under institutional approval, six healthy Yorkshire pigs received a sham
      and an RF treatment in two adjacent cervical vertebrae. To deploy the Bone Coil
      RFA device in dense porcine vertebrae, a surgical approach was required; an
      irrigated coring drill bit created a cylindrical path in the vertebral bodies
      through which the RFA electrodes were placed. The electronic circuit was
      completed by four grounding pads. Treatment was delivered for 10 minutes at 20 W
      (n=1), 25 W (n=1), and 30 W (n=4). To monitor the thermal rise and for safety,
      fiber-optic probes recorded temperatures in the center of each coil and near the
      spinal foramen. After the procedure, animals were monitored for 2 weeks. Magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI) was completed immediately after treatment and at 14 days.
      Magnetic resonance image segmentation and histology were used to evaluate the
      ablation volume. RESULTS: Comprehensive treatment of the porcine vertebrae was
      demonstrated by temperature monitoring, MRI, and histology. Large zones of RF
      ablation were obtained (RF: 3.72+/-0.73 cm3 vs. sham: 1.98+/-0.16 cm3, p<.05),
      confined within the vertebral body. Internal temperatures were elevated with RF
      (66.1  degrees C-102.9  degrees C), without temperature rise outside of the
      vertebrae (38.2  degrees C +/- 1.5  degrees C). Mobility, neurological responses,
      and behavior were normal, consistent with preprocedural examination. Magnetic
      resonance imaging best visualized ablation at Day 14. Histology revealed
      comprehensive homogeneous coagulative necrosis with little peripheral sign of
      repair. CONCLUSIONS: The Bone Coil RFA device created large intravertebral
      ablation volumes with no neurologic sequelae. Radiofrequency thermal ablation
      (clearly distinguished from the much smaller effects arising from core drilling)
      corresponded to the homogeneous necrosis visible on histology.

PMID- 25819586
TI  - Thoracolumbar pneumorrhachis after nonspinal gunshot wound.

PMID- 25819587
TI  - Cholangiocarcinoma presenting as cervical spine metastasis.

PMID- 25819588
TI  - Open reduction and posterior instrumented spinopelvic fixation for traumatic
      grade IV lateral spondylolisthesis of the thoracolumbar spine.

PMID- 25819589
TI  - Thoracic neuroblastoma presenting with Guillain-Barre-like symptoms.

PMID- 25819590
TI  - Mirabegron.
AB  - Mirabegron is used for the treatment of symptoms associated with overactive
      bladder syndrome. It selectively stimulates the beta3 -adrenoreceptor, which
      relaxes the detrusor muscle. This improves urine storage by distension of the
      bladder body. 

PMID- 25819591
TI  - Development of a Neonatal End-of-Life Care Education Program for NICU Nurses in
      Japan.
AB  - We developed the first end-of-life care education program for neonatal intensive
      care unit (NICU) nurses in Japan. It focused on ethical decision making, care of
      dying neonates, bereavement, and cultural communication. The program improved
      nurses' knowledge, F(2.16, 62.5) = 260.6, p < .001, and understanding, F(2.05,
      59.4) = 29.1, p < .001, and significantly reduced weaknesses in neonatal end-of
      life care. It was considered well designed and may provide further mentoring
      support for NICU nurses.

PMID- 25819592
TI  - [Imaging strategy for children after a first episode of pyelonephritis].
AB  - Pyelonephritis is a common bacterial disease in young children and is a serious
      infection because of its potential to produce renal scarring. One of the concerns
      of physicians is therefore the diagnosis of uropathy at risk for recurrence of
      pyelonephritis, especially high-grade reflux. There are no French recommendations
      on imaging evaluation after a first episode of pyelonephritis. Voiding
      cystography was systematically proposed years ago and recommended by the American
      Academy of Pediatrics until 1999. This systematic strategy exposed all children
      to a painful, irradiating exam, and exposed them to urinary tract infection. The
      American recommendations changed in 2011 and cystography is now only proposed to
      children with recurrence of pyelonephritis or with ultrasound abnormalities. A
      collaborative review of the literature involving the Pediatric Emergency,
      Nephrology and Surgery Departments at Necker-Enfants-Malades Hospital led us to
      propose an algorithm for imaging after the first episode of pyelonephritis in
      children. This algorithm was based on data from the past medical history (results
      of prenatal ultrasonography or recurrence of pyelonephritis), the results of the
      ultrasound exam at the time of diagnosis, and the procalcitonin concentration, to
      limit the indications for voiding cystography, limiting risk for delaying high
      grade reflux diagnosis. Children with low risk for high-grade reflux can be
      followed up with an ultrasound exam 6 months after acute infection.

PMID- 25819593
TI  - Single-port laparoscopic ovarian transposition in an 11-year-old girl.
AB  - Ovarian transposition was the first procedure proposed for children with cancer
      to preserve ovarian function from damage caused by abdominal and pelvic
      radiotherapy. In this paper, we describe the first pediatric case of single-port
      laparoscopic ovarian transposition. 

PMID- 25819594
TI  - How best to measure cough clinically.
AB  - It is possible to measure cough by assessing its severity, frequency, intensity,
      associated urge and its impact on quality of life. Cough severity can simply be
      assessed with a Visual Analogue Scale. Cough frequency can be assessed
      objectively with cough frequency monitors. Validated cough monitors include the
      Leicester Cough Monitor and the VitaloJAK. Cough reflex sensitivity measurement
      is better used to investigate the mechanisms of action of antitussive
      medications, rather than assessing efficacy. Health-Related Quality of Life
      measures are available to assess the impact of cough; they include the validated
      Leicester Cough Questionnaire and Cough-specific Quality of Life Questionnaire
      for adult patients. It is best to assess cough with a combination of subjective
      and objective tools, to capture its wide-ranging impact. 

PMID- 25819595
TI  - Editorial: emerging issues in sociotechnical systems thinking and workplace
      safety.
AB  - The burden of on-the-job accidents and fatalities and the harm of associated
      human suffering continue to present an important challenge for safety researchers
      and practitioners. While significant improvements have been achieved in recent
      decades, the workplace accident rate remains unacceptably high. This has spurred
      interest in the development of novel research approaches, with particular
      interest in the systemic influences of social/organisational and technological
      factors. In response, the Hopkinton Conference on Sociotechnical Systems and
      Safety was organised to assess the current state of knowledge in the area and to
      identify research priorities. Over the course of several months prior to the
      conference, leading international experts drafted collaborative, state-of-the-art
      reviews covering various aspects of sociotechnical systems and safety. These
      papers, presented in this special issue, cover topics ranging from the
      identification of key concepts and definitions to sociotechnical characteristics
      of safe and unsafe organisations. This paper provides an overview of the
      conference and introduces key themes and topics. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY:
      Sociotechnical approaches to workplace safety are intended to draw practitioners'
      attention to the critical influence that systemic social/organisational and
      technological factors exert on safety-relevant outcomes. This paper introduces
      major themes addressed in the Hopkinton Conference within the context of current
      workplace safety research and practice challenges.

PMID- 25819596
TI  - Fructosamine; is the current interest in alternative glycaemic markers justified?

PMID- 25819597
TI  - Highlight: After the bottleneck--how a tiny group of macaques founded a thriving
      population on Mauritius.

PMID- 25819598
TI  - Is an attention-based associative account of adjacent and nonadjacent dependency
      learning valid?
AB  - Pacton and Perruchet (2008) reported that participants who were asked to process
      adjacent elements located within a sequence of digits learned adjacent
      dependencies but did not learn nonadjacent dependencies and conversely,
      participants who were asked to process nonadjacent digits learned nonadjacent
      dependencies but did not learn adjacent dependencies. In the present study, we
      showed that when participants were simply asked to read aloud the same sequences
      of digits, a task demand that did not require the intentional processing of
      specific elements as in standard statistical learning tasks, only adjacent
      dependencies were learned. The very same pattern was observed when digits were
      replaced by syllables. These results show that the perfect symmetry found in
      Pacton and Perruchet was not due to the fact that the processing of digits is
      less sensitive to their distance than the processing of syllables, tones, or
      visual shapes used in most statistical learning tasks. Moreover, the present
      results, completed with a reanalysis of the data collected in Pacton and
      Perruchet (2008), demonstrate that participants are highly sensitive to
      violations involving the spacing between paired elements. Overall, these results
      are consistent with the Pacton and Perruchet's single-process account of adjacent
      and nonadjacent dependencies, in which the joint attentional processing of the
      two events is a necessary and sufficient condition for learning the relation
      between them, irrespective of their distance. However, this account should be
      completed to encompass the notion that the presence or absence of an intermediate
      event is an intrinsic component of the representation of an association. 

PMID- 25819599
TI  - A novel multimodular methodology to investigate external cervical tooth
      resorption.
AB  - AIM: To introduce a multimodular combination of techniques as a novel minimal
      invasive approach to investigate efficiently and accurately external cervical
      resorption (ECR). METHODOLOGY: One case of a central incisor with extensive
      external cervical resorption was selected to demonstrate the potential of a
      comparative novel study methodology. ECR diagnosis was based on clinical
      inspection, digital radiography and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). After
      extraction, the tooth was investigated using microfocus computed tomography
      (micro-CT), nano-CT and hard tissue histology. These techniques were compared for
      their accuracy and applicability to highlight their advantages and disadvantages.
      RESULTS: Nano-CT was more effective than micro-CT and CBCT for detailed ex vivo
      exploration of ECR. The reparative tissue, pericanalar resorption resistant sheet
      (PRRS), pulp tissue reactions, resorption channels and their interconnection with
      the periodontal ligament space were accurately visualized by detailed processing
      and analysis of the nano-CT data set with Dataviewer and CTAn software. Nano-CT
      analysis provided better insight in the true extent of the resorption, based on
      quantitative measurements and 3D visualization of the tooth structure. Nano-CT
      imaging results were similar to hard tissue histology at the mineralized tissue
      level. To clarify the dynamic phenomenon of reparative tissue formation and
      substitution of the resorbed tissues, nano-CT needed to be associated with hard
      tissue histology. CONCLUSION: Nano-CT is a fast and minimal invasive technique
      for the ex vivo analysis and understanding of ECR and is complementary with hard
      tissue histology. A combined approach of clinical and CBCT examination, with nano
      CT and histological mapping measurements, can provide an ideal platform for
      future ECR imaging and exploration studies.

PMID- 25819600
TI  - Bladder calculi in the augmented bladder: a follow-up study of 160 children and
      adolescents.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Bladder augmentation (BA) has been used for various congenital and
      acquired conditions to create a low pressure, continent catheterizable reservoir.
      The prevalence of calculi within the BA have been reported to be from 3 to 52.5%.
      The present study reports the prevalence and risk factors of bladder calculi in
      patients with BA. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective review of 160 patients
      was performed from January 1997 through December 2012. The various risk factors
      for the formation of bladder calculi such as the nature of the anatomical defect,
      presence of preoperative urinary calculi, type of bowel augmentation, addition of
      a mitrofanoff and/or bladder neck procedure, prevalence of post-operative urinary
      tract infections (UTIs), need for mitrofanoff revision due to stenosis/difficulty
      catheterization, postoperative significant hydronephrosis and bladder calculi
      were recorded for analysis. The children underwent open removal or endoscopic
      cystolithotripsy. One hundred and eight males and 52 females (average age 6.3
      years) were followed up for a median of 70.5 months. All patients performed daily
      bladder irrigation with tap or drinking water. RESULTS: Post-operative bladder
      calculi were noted in 14 (8.8%) of 160 patients following BA. Median time to
      stone formation was 37.5 months (11-120 months). Recurrent febrile UTIs were
      noted in 16 of the 160 patients following BA. The various risk factors and their
      outcomes are summarized in table. Eight patients underwent open cystolithotomy
      and four patients were treated by cystolithotripsy. Post-operative recurrent
      bladder calculi were noted in 2 patients. Multivariate analysis revealed that
      exstrophy/epispadias (OR 17.2) and recurrent UTI (OR 55.4) were independent risk
      factors for developing postoperative calculi in bladder augmentations. All other
      risk factors did not achieve statistical significance. DISCUSSION: There seemed
      to be no difference in the prevalence of calculi in the ileal or colonic
      augmentations. Mucus secreted by the bowel segment blocks catheters leading to
      incomplete drainage, stagnation and UTIs. Our protocol consists of daily bladder
      irrigation till the effluents are clear of mucus. This is probably the key to the
      low prevalence of postoperative calculi (8.8%) in our patients. CONCLUSION:
      Bladder exstrophy/epispadias and UTIs are independent statistically significant
      risk factors for the formation of bladder calculi in BA patients. Other risk
      factors such as preoperative calculi, bladder neck procedures and the use of
      mitrofanoff though not statistically significant, may contribute to the overall
      risk. The performance of daily bladder irrigation is an important part of our
      management of mucus.

PMID- 25819601
TI  - Meta-analysis of complication rates of the tubularized incised plate (TIP)
      repair.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine overall complication rates of the tubularized incised
      plate (TIP) repair and assess the effects of technical modifications, length of
      follow-up and geographical location of reported results. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A
      systematic literature search was undertaken, using Medline and Pubmed, in order
      to identify relevant articles. Random effects models were used to estimate pooled
      complication rates. Meta-regression was performed for each outcome by using mixed
      effects models with type of hypospadias (primary distal, primary proximal and
      secondary) as predictors. RESULTS: Of the 189 articles that were identified, 49
      studies (4675 patients) were included in the analysis. Fistula and re-operation
      rates were significantly higher in secondary repairs (15.5% and 23.3%) compared
      to primary proximal (10.3% and 12.2%) and primary distal (5.7% and 4.5%) (P =
      0.045 and P < 0.001, respectively). Technical modifications reduced fistula rates
      from 10.3% to 3.3% (P = 0.003) and re-operation rates from 13.6% to 2.8% (P =
      0.001). The rate of meatal stenosis was highest in the secondary repairs, with
      follow-up >1 year (12.7%). Comparison of geographical location showed that
      complication rates for all but one variable were significantly lower in North
      America when compared to Europe and the rest of the world. Mean meatal stenosis
      rates were 1.8% in North America, 3.4% in Europe and 8.2% in the rest of the
      world (P = 0.002). This remained significant in a multivariable model
      incorporating repair technique and length of follow-up (P = 0.046). Mean rates of
      urethral stricture, fistula and re-operation followed a similar pattern (P =
      0.045, P = 0.009 and P < 0.001, respectively). Mean follow-up was shortest in the
      North American group, at 11.9 months, compared to Europe, at 17.8 months, and the
      rest of the world, at 18.9 months. DISCUSSION: The present meta-analysis has
      shown that the lowest complication rates for the TIP repair are when it is
      applied to primary distal hypospadias. Complication rates are higher for all
      variables when the TIP repair is used for primary proximal hypospadias. Lower
      complication rates than those reported in this TIP review have been documented in
      some studies using a staged repair for correction of primary proximal or
      secondary hypospadias [11,12,68], implying that a staged approach may be superior
      to the TIP repair in these settings. Documentation of follow-up duration was
      limited, making assessment of the impact of length of follow-up difficult.
      Geographical location had a noticeable effect on outcome, with all but one
      complication being lower in the North American than the other groups. Mean follow
      up was shortest in North America and it is suggested that the short follow-up in
      the North American studies may have led to under-reporting of late complications.
      CONCLUSION: The TIP repair has evolved to incorporate modifications that have
      significantly lowered complications. Higher complication rates are seen with
      secondary and proximal repairs; however, limited, published long-term data impair
      a true assessment of outcome.

PMID- 25819602
TI  - Supine pediatric percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL).
AB  - INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND: Many authors reported their experience with supine PCNL
      in adult population comparing the outcome with prone PCNL and they found that the
      stone free rate and the operative time were in favor of prone PCNL with a lower
      patient morbidity among patients with supine PCNL. This encouraged us to perform
      supine PCNL in pediatric population. AN OBJECTIVE: In this study we evaluated the
      safety and efficacy of supine PCNL in pediatric population. STUDY DESIGN
      (SUBJECTS/PATIENTS/MATERIALS/METHODS): Between April 2011 and February 2014 a
      total of 27 children (6 girls and 21 boys) presented with renal calculi. The
      stones were single pelvic stone in 14 cases, pelvic stone with lower calyceal
      stones in 7 cases and pelvic stone with upper calyceal stones in 6 cases. The
      mean stone size was 32 mm (range 20-47 mm). All patients were managed with supine
      PCNL performed by a single surgeon. Marking the posterior axillary line in
      standing position before the operation is a mandatory initial step. The patients
      were placed in supine position with elevation of the ipsilateral shoulder and hip
      by means of two bags one underneath the shoulder and the other underneath the hip
      to widen the operative field. The technique was performed using a sheathless 19
      fr. Richard wolf rigid nephroscope after acute tract dilation by amplatz
      dilators. Complications (intraoperative and postoperative) and stone free rate
      rates were reported. RESULTS: A single lower calyceal access was used in all
      cases through which we could successfully remove even the upper calyceal stones.
      Kinking of the guide wire during tract dilatation were encountered in 4 cases and
      the guide wire was successfully exchanged using a small Teflon dilator in 2 cases
      while ultrasonographic guided lower calyceal repuncture was done in 2 cases. The
      average operative time (from the beginning of the puncture trial to nephrostomy
      tube insertion) was (41 +/- 15) min. The operation was successfully completed as
      planned in all cases with two cases of intraoperative complications (one case of
      pelvicalyceal system perforation and another case of intraoperative bleeding and
      blood transfusion). The initial stone free rate was (92.5%). Postoperative
      complications was reported in the form of 2 cases of fever that respond to
      medical treatment for 72 h. DISCUSSION: The main advantages of supine pediatric
      PCNL is that it is comfortable for the surgeon, the anesthetist and the child.
      The main disadvantages of supine pediatric PCNL is that it is not familiar for
      most urologists and small field of operation. The short outcome of our study is
      the small number of cases and the lack of comparative study with prone pediatric
      PCNL. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric supine PCNL is a safe and effective method for
      management of pediatric renal stones. It carries the advantages of easily upper
      calyx access through the lower calyceal tract, low incidence of fluid absorption
      or hypothermia and easy anesthesia monitoring. However a larger number of cases
      are needed to be evaluated.

PMID- 25819603
TI  - Attitudes and beliefs of Australian adults on reality television cooking
      programmes and celebrity chefs. Is there cause for concern? Descriptive analysis
      presented from a consumer survey.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is evidence suggesting that the nutritional content of recipes
      promoted by celebrity chefs or television cooking programmes contradict healthy
      eating guidelines. This study aims to investigate people's attitudes and beliefs
      about popular television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs. METHODS: Males
      and females who watch television cooking programmes were recruited to participate
      in a self-administered online questionnaire (22-items) which included multiple
      choice and rank order questions. RESULTS: A total of n = 207 participants
      undertook the questionnaire with fully completed questionnaires available for n =
      150 participants (Males, n = 22; Females, n = 128; aged 38.4 +/- 14 years). The
      majority of respondents watch <=30 minutes of television cooking programming per
      day (total responses, n = 153/207; 74%) with almost three-quarters (total
      responses, n = 130/175; 74%) having attempted a recipe. New cooking ideas (total
      responses, n = 81/175; 46%) and entertainment (total responses, n = 64/175;
      36.5%) were the two main reasons participants gave for watching these programmes.
      Significantly more respondents believed recipes use excessive amounts of
      unhealthy fat, sugar or salt (unhealthy: 24%; healthy: 7%; P < 0.0001). Almost
      half of all respondents (total responses, n = 67/151; 44%) believed these
      programmes have no impact on their habitual diet. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our
      results suggest television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs are unlikely to
      impact habitual dietary intake; rather, vicarious viewing and entertainment
      appear important factors relating to why people watch these programmes. However
      results generated from the present study are descriptive and subjective and
      further investigation into the impact of television cooking programmes and
      celebrity chefs on behavioural change requires attention. Further investigation
      including a systematic investigation into the dietary quality of recipes promoted
      by celebrity chefs against national healthy eating benchmarks is also warranted.

PMID- 25819604
TI  - Influence of choice on vegetable intake in children: an in-home study.
AB  - Children's vegetable consumption is still far below that recommended, and
      stimulating their intake is a challenge for caregivers. The objective of this
      study was to investigate whether choice-offering is an effective strategy to
      increase children's vegetable intake in an in-home situation. Seventy children
      (mean age 3.7; SD 1) randomly assigned to a choice or a no-choice condition, were
      exposed 12 times to six familiar target vegetables at home during dinner. In the
      choice group, two selected vegetables were offered each time, whereas the no
      choice group only received one vegetable. Vegetable intake was measured by
      weighing children's plates before and after dinner. A mixed linear model with
      age, gender, and baseline vegetable liking as covariates was used to compare
      intake between the choice and the no-choice group. Mixed linear model analysis
      yielded estimated means for vegetable intake of 48.5 g +/- 30 in the no-choice
      group and 57.7 g +/- 31 for the choice group (P = 0.09). In addition, baseline
      vegetable liking (P <0.001) and age (P = 0.06) predicted vegetable intake to be
      higher when the child liked vegetables better and with older age. These findings
      suggest that choice-offering has some, but hardly robust, effect on increasing
      vegetable intake in children. Other factors such as age and liking of vegetables
      also mediate the effect of offering a choice. 

PMID- 25819605
TI  - Association of distorted eating behaviors with cardiometabolic risk indices in
      preadolescents. The Healthy Growth Study.
AB  - The association between distorted eating behavior (DEB) with cardiometabolic risk
      (CMR) in children has been poorly investigated. The aim of the study was to
      examine the association between DEB with certain CMR indices in 9- to 13-year-old
      children in Greece. A cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted among
      1803 schoolchildren from 77 primary schools in 4 counties of Greece with full
      data on DEBQ and ChEAT questionnaires and CMR indices. Children underwent
      anthropometric measurements and Tanner stage, serum lipid, glucose, insulin and
      HOMA-IR levels assessments. Univariate and multivariate linear regression
      analyses were performed to test for the association between components of DEBQ
      and ChEAT with CMR indices. Several significant associations between components
      of DEBQ and ChEAT with CMR indices were observed when tested at univariate
      regression models in both boys and girls. However, after adjusting for several
      possible confounders, including Tanner stage, all significant associations were
      lost in girls while only a few remained in boys. Thus, DEB might have an
      unfavorable effect also in certain CMR indices, besides nourishment status. This
      is more pronounced in preadolescent boys for whom hormonal changes due to the
      transition to adolescence have not yet been established compared to girls. Still
      further research is needed to shed more light on these associations. 

PMID- 25819606
TI  - Insula tuning towards external eating versus interoceptive input in adolescents
      with overweight and obesity.
AB  - This study was aimed to examine if adolescent obesity is associated with
      alterations of insula function as indexed by differential correlations between
      insula activation and perception of interoceptive feedback versus external food
      cues. We hypothesized that, in healthy weight adolescents, insula activation will
      positively correlate with interoceptive sensitivity, whereas in excess weight
      adolescents, insula activation will positively correlate with sensitivity towards
      external cues. Fifty-four adolescents (age range 12-18), classified in two groups
      as a function of BMI, excess weight (n = 22) and healthy weight (n = 32),
      performed the Risky-Gains task (sensitive to insula function) inside an fMRI
      scanner, and completed the heartbeat perception task (measuring interoceptive
      sensitivity) and the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (measuring external
      eating as well as emotional eating and restraint) outside the scanner. We found
      that insula activation during the Risky-Gains task positively correlated with
      interoceptive sensitivity and negatively correlated with external eating in
      healthy weight adolescents. Conversely, in excess weight adolescents, insula
      activation positively correlated with external eating and negatively correlated
      with interoceptive sensitivity, arguably reflecting obesity related
      neurocognitive adaptations. In excess weight adolescents, external eating was
      also positively associated with caudate nucleus activation, and restrained eating
      was negatively associated with insula activation. Our findings suggest that
      adolescent obesity is associated with disrupted tuning of the insula system
      towards interoceptive input. 

PMID- 25819607
TI  - The role of action control and action planning on fruit and vegetable
      consumption.
AB  - Globally, fruit and vegetable intake is lower than recommended despite being an
      important component to a healthy diet. Adopting or maintaining a sufficient
      amount of fruit and vegetables in one's diet may require not only motivation but
      also self-regulatory processes. Action control and action planning are two key
      volitional determinants that have been identified in the literature; however, it
      is not fully understood how these two factors operate between intention and
      behavior. Thus, the aim of the current study was to explore the roles of action
      control and action planning as mediators between intentions and dietary behavior.
      A longitudinal study with three points in time was conducted. Participants (N =
      286) were undergraduate students and invited to participate in a health behavior
      survey. At baseline (Time 1), measures of intention and fruit and vegetable
      intake were assessed. Two weeks later (Time 2), action control and action
      planning were assessed as putative sequential mediators. At Time 3 (two weeks
      after Time 2), fruit and vegetable consumption was measured as the outcome. The
      results revealed action control and action planning to sequentially mediate
      between intention and subsequent fruit and vegetable intake, controlling for
      baseline behavior. Both self-regulatory constructs, action control and action
      planning, make a difference when moving from motivation to action. Our
      preliminary evidence, therefore, suggests that planning may be more proximal to
      fruit and vegetable intake than action control. Further research, however, needs
      to be undertaken to substantiate this conclusion. 

PMID- 25819608
TI  - Functional dissection of a strong and specific microbe-associated molecular
      pattern-responsive synthetic promoter.
AB  - Synthetic promoters are important for temporal and spatial gene expression in
      transgenic plants. To identify novel microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP)
      responsive cis-regulatory sequences for synthetic promoter design, a combination
      of bioinformatics and experimental approaches was employed. One cis-sequence was
      identified which confers strong MAMP-responsive reporter gene activity with low
      background activity. The 35-bp-long cis-sequence was identified in the promoter
      of the Arabidopsis thaliana DJ1E gene, a homologue of the human oncogene DJ1. In
      this study, this cis-sequence is shown to be a tripartite cis-regulatory module
      (CRM). A synthetic promoter with four copies of the CRM linked to a minimal
      promoter increases MAMP-responsive reporter gene expression compared to the wild
      type DJ1E promoter. The CRM consists of two WT-boxes (GGACTTTT and GGACTTTG) and
      a variant of the GCC-box (GCCACC), all required for MAMP and salicylic acid (SA)
      responsivity. Yeast one-hybrid screenings using a transcription factor (TF)-only
      prey library identified two AP2/ERFs, ORA59 and ERF10, interacting
      antagonistically with the CRM. ORA59 activates reporter gene activity and
      requires the consensus core sequence GCCNCC for gene expression activation. ERF10
      down-regulates MAMP-responsive gene expression. No TFs interacting with the WT
      boxes GGACTTTT and GGACTTTG were selected in yeast one-hybrid screenings with the
      TF-only prey library. In transgenic Arabidopsis, the synthetic promoter confers
      strong and specific reporter gene activity in response to biotrophs and
      necrotrophs as well as SA. 

PMID- 25819609
TI  - Exploring the drug migration process through ethyl cellulose-based films from
      infrared-spectral insights.
AB  - Using novel time-dependent ATR-FTIR technique and two-dimensional correlation
      analysis (2 Dcos), the migration behavior of drugs with varying water
      solubilities was investigated with ethyl cellulose (EC) films prepared with
      different kinds of pore formers and/or plasticizers. Three major stages were
      determined for drug migration: (1) water migrated from the drug-saturated
      solution to the other side of the EC film, (2) upon saturation of the film, water
      migration ceased and enough pore former was dissolved, and (3) upon dissolution
      of enough pore former, channels were formed between both sides of the EC film
      causing drug migration to begin and water migration to return. Further
      investigations demonstrated a reduction or elimination in second stage with
      increasing water solubility of the pore former and/or decreasing water solubility
      of the drug. These results offer a mechanistic understanding of water and drug
      migration across EC films not previously studied and might provide an effective
      guide for the preparation of EC pharmaceutical coating with desired drug release
      behavior.

PMID- 25819610
TI  - Dysfunction of cortical dendritic integration in neuropathic pain reversed by
      serotoninergic neuromodulation.
AB  - Neuropathic pain is caused by long-term modifications of neuronal function in the
      peripheral nervous system, the spinal cord, and supraspinal areas. Although
      functional changes in the forebrain are thought to contribute to the development
      of persistent pain, their significance and precise subcellular nature remain
      unexplored. Using somatic and dendritic whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from
      neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex, we discovered that sciatic nerve injury
      caused an activity-dependent dysfunction of hyperpolarization-activated cyclic
      nucleotide-regulated (HCN) channels in the dendrites of layer 5 pyramidal neurons
      resulting in enhanced integration of excitatory postsynaptic inputs and increased
      neuronal firing. Specific activation of the serotonin receptor type 7 (5-HT7R)
      alleviated the lesion-induced pathology by increasing HCN channel function,
      restoring normal dendritic integration, and reducing mechanical pain
      hypersensitivity in nerve-injured animals in vivo. Thus, serotoninergic
      neuromodulation at the forebrain level can reverse the dendritic dysfunction
      induced by neuropathic pain and may represent a potential therapeutical target.

PMID- 25819611
TI  - Visually cued action timing in the primary visual cortex.
AB  - Most behaviors are generated in three steps: sensing the external world,
      processing that information to instruct decision-making, and producing a motor
      action. Sensory areas, especially primary sensory cortices, have long been held
      to be involved only in the first step of this sequence. Here, we develop a
      visually cued interval timing task that requires rats to decide when to perform
      an action following a brief visual stimulus. Using single-unit recordings and
      optogenetics in this task, we show that activity generated by the primary visual
      cortex (V1) embodies the target interval and may instruct the decision to time
      the action on a trial-by-trial basis. A spiking neuronal model of local recurrent
      connections in V1 produces neural responses that predict and drive the timing of
      future actions, rationalizing our observations. Our data demonstrate that the
      primary visual cortex may contribute to the instruction of visually cued timed
      actions.

PMID- 25819612
TI  - Modular deconstruction reveals the dynamical and physical building blocks of a
      locomotion motor program.
AB  - The neural substrates of motor programs are only well understood for small,
      dedicated circuits. Here we investigate how a motor program is constructed within
      a large network. We imaged populations of neurons in the Aplysia pedal ganglion
      during execution of a locomotion motor program. We found that the program was
      built from a very small number of dynamical building blocks, including both
      neural ensembles and low-dimensional rotational dynamics. These map onto
      physically discrete regions of the ganglion, so that the motor program has a
      corresponding modular organization in both dynamical and physical space. Using
      this dynamic map, we identify the population potentially implementing the
      rhythmic pattern generator and find that its activity physically traces a looped
      trajectory, recapitulating its low-dimensional rotational dynamics. Our results
      suggest that, even in simple invertebrates, neural motor programs are implemented
      by large, distributed networks containing multiple dynamical systems.

PMID- 25819613
TI  - Medial prefrontal cortex predicts internally driven strategy shifts.
AB  - Many daily behaviors require us to actively focus on the current task and ignore
      all other distractions. Yet, ignoring everything else might hinder the ability to
      discover new ways to achieve the same goal. Here, we studied the neural
      mechanisms that support the spontaneous change to better strategies while an
      established strategy is executed. Multivariate neuroimaging analyses showed that
      before the spontaneous change to an alternative strategy, medial prefrontal
      cortex (MPFC) encoded information that was irrelevant for the current strategy
      but necessary for the later strategy. Importantly, this neural effect was related
      to future behavioral changes: information encoding in MPFC was changed only in
      participants who eventually switched their strategy and started before the actual
      strategy change. This allowed us to predict spontaneous strategy shifts ahead of
      time. These findings suggest that MPFC might internally simulate alternative
      strategies and shed new light on the organization of PFC.

PMID- 25819614
TI  - A coding transformation for temporally structured sounds within auditory cortical
      neurons.
AB  - Although the coding transformation between visual thalamus and cortex has been
      known for over 50 years, whether a similar transformation occurs between auditory
      thalamus and cortex has remained elusive. Such a transformation may occur for
      time-varying sounds, such as music or speech. Most subcortical neurons explicitly
      encode the temporal structure of sounds with the temporal structure of their
      activity, but many auditory cortical neurons instead use a rate code. The
      mechanisms for this transformation from temporal code to rate code have remained
      unknown. Here we report that the membrane potential of rat auditory cortical
      neurons can show stimulus synchronization to rates up to 500 Hz, even when the
      spiking output does not. Synaptic inputs to rate-coding neurons arose in part
      from temporal-coding neurons but were transformed by voltage-dependent properties
      and push-pull excitatory-inhibitory interactions. This suggests that the
      transformation from temporal to rate code can be observed within individual
      cortical neurons.

PMID- 25819615
TI  - Protective and immunomodulatory effect of flos Lonicerae japonicae by augmenting
      IL-10 expression in a murine model of acute lung inflammation.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Lonicerae japonicae has shown antibacterial, anti
      inflammatory, antipyretic, antioxidant, antiviral, and protective effects in
      animal models of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. AIM OF THE STUDY: To
      investigate the effects of Flos L. japonicae (FLJ), a traditional Chinese
      medicinal herb, on acute lung inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS),
      in vivo, using a murine model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty 6-week-old female
      BALB/c mice were challenged with intratracheal LPS before treatment with FLJ or
      vehicle. FLJ was examined for its capacity to influence an LPS-induced increase
      in IL-10 and decrease in TNF-alpha, IL-1beta and IL-6 as measured in murine
      bronchoalveolar lavage (BALF). RESULTS: FLJ increased nuclear Sp1 binding
      activity thereby enhancing the expression of IL-10 and decreased nuclear NF
      kappaB binding activities thereby inhibiting the expression of TNF-alpha, IL
      1beta and IL-6 in the lung. The up-regulation of Sp1 activity by FLJ was through
      incremental phosphorylation of ERK. By contrast, the down-regulation of NF-kappaB
      activity by FLJ was through suppression of the phosphorylation of IkappaB, p38,
      and JNK. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated FLJ has protective activity against LPS
      induced lung inflammatory cytokine release. Anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10,
      may prove beneficial in the treatment of endotoxin-associated lung inflammation.

PMID- 25819616
TI  - Ethnobotanical study on medicinal plants in villages of Catak (Van-Turkey).
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: This paper provides significant ethnobotanical
      information on medicinal plants in the villages of Catak in the Eastern Anatolia
      Region. Recording such data calls for urgency. This is the first ethnobotanical
      study in which statistical calculations about plants are carried out by means of
      FIC method in Eastern (Van) part of Turkey. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aims to
      identify the wild plants collected for medicinal purposes by locals of Catak
      which is located in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, and to identify the
      uses and local names of these wild plants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A field study
      had been carried out for a period of approximately 2 years (2010-2012). During
      this period, 78 plants taxa were collected. Demographic characteristics of
      participants, names of the local plants, their utilized parts and preparation
      methods were investigated and recorded. The plant taxa were collected within the
      scope of the study; and herbarium materials were prepared. In addition, the
      relative significance value of the taxa was determined, and informant consensus
      factor (FIC) was calculated for the medicinal plants included in the study.
      RESULTS: We have found out in the literature review of the plants included in our
      study that 78 plant taxa are already used for medicinal purposes while 19 plants
      are not available among the records in the literature. The most common families
      are Asteraceae, Apiaceae, Lamiaceae, Rosaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, and
      Malvaceae. We include in our study and report for the first time the medicinal
      uses of Alchemilla buseriana Rothm., Astragalus longifolius Lam., Cephalaria
      microcephala Boiss., Euphorbia grisophylla M.S. Khan, Fritillaria crassifolia
      Boiss. & Huet. subsp. kurdica (Boiss. & Noe) Rix, Fritillaria pinardii Boiss.,
      Malabaila lasiocarpa Boiss., Nepeta betonicifolia C.A. Mey., Onobrychis altissima
      Grossh., Onobrychis carduchorum C.C. Townsend, Papaver bracteatum Lindl., Phlomis
      tuberosa L., Psephellus karduchorum (Boiss.) Wagenitz, Scutellaria orientalis L.
      subsp. pichleri (Stapf.) Edmondson, Stachys kurdica Boiss. & Hohen var. kurdica,
      Tanacetum kotschyi (Boiss.) Grierson, Tanacetum zahlbruckneri (Nab.) Grierson,
      Turanecio eriospermus (DC.) Hamzaoglu, Verbascum pyramidatum M.Bieb. Names of
      local plants in Turkey vary especially due to vernaculars. The plants that the
      locals of Catak use are called with the same or different local names in various
      parts of Anatolia. CONCLUSION: We found out that locals living in the research
      area use for therapeutic purpose 78 plants taxa which belong to 22 families.
      Turkish citizens with different ethnic backgrounds took the questionnaire. These
      people use these wild plants in treatment of several diseases. Comparison of the
      data obtained in this study with the experimental data obtained in the previous
      laboratory studies on the wild plants which grow in Catak proved ethnobotanical
      usages to a great extent. Literature review indicated that the therapeutic plants
      that grow in Catak are used in different parts of the world for the treatment of
      similar diseases.

PMID- 25819617
TI  - Retrocaval ureter in a ferret.

PMID- 25819618
TI  - Ammonia and temperature determine potential clustering in the anaerobic digestion
      microbiome.
AB  - Anaerobic digestion is regarded as a key environmental technology in the present
      and future bio-based economy. The microbial community completing the anaerobic
      digestion process is considered complex, and several attempts already have been
      carried out to determine the key microbial populations. However, the key
      differences in the anaerobic digestion microbiomes, and the environmental/process
      parameters that drive these differences, remain poorly understood. In this
      research, we hypothesized that differences in operational parameters lead to a
      particular composition and organization of microbial communities in full-scale
      installations. A total of 38 samples were collected from 29 different full-scale
      anaerobic digestion installations, showing constant biogas production in function
      of time. Microbial community analysis was carried out by means of amplicon
      sequencing and real-time PCR. The bacterial community in all samples was
      dominated by representatives of the Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria,
      covering 86.1 +/- 10.7% of the total bacterial community. Acetoclastic
      methanogenesis was dominated by Methanosaetaceae, yet, only the hydrogenotrophic
      Methanobacteriales correlated with biogas production, confirming their importance
      in high-rate anaerobic digestion systems. In-depth analysis of operational and
      environmental parameters and bacterial community structure indicated the presence
      of three potential clusters in anaerobic digestion. These clusters were
      determined by total ammonia concentration, free ammonia concentration and
      temperature, and characterized by an increased relative abundance of
      Bacteroidales, Clostridiales and Lactobacillales, respectively. None of the
      methanogenic populations, however, could be significantly attributed to any of
      the three clusters. Nonetheless, further experimental research will be required
      to validate the existence of these different clusters, and to which extent the
      presence of these clusters relates to stable or sub-optimal anaerobic digestion. 

PMID- 25819619
TI  - Treatment for Metastatic Penile Cancer After First-line Chemotherapy Failure:
      Analysis of Response and Survival Outcomes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively estimate the efficacy of various treatments used in
      men with metastatic penile cancer that progresses after first-line chemotherapy.
      METHODS: Patients were from a 30-patient cohort with stage TxN2-3M0 penile
      squamous cell carcinoma treated with neoadjuvant paclitaxel, ifosfamide, and
      cisplatin chemotherapy before planned lymphadenectomy. Nineteen patients (63.3%)
      had tumor progression or recurrence, and we evaluated the response to subsequent
      treatment and survival. RESULTS: Seventeen had received >= 1 salvage therapies;
      their median survival from first treatment failure was 5.7 months (range, 1.4
      30.3 months). Four patients underwent salvage surgery, all of whom experienced
      further disease progression within 2 months. Four patients received
      chemoradiotherapy, 1 with stable disease for 13.5 months and 3 with no apparent
      benefit. Two of 5 evaluable patients (40%) who had received bleomycin,
      methotrexate, and cisplatin had objective responses (1 complete, 1 partial) but 1
      developed fatal pneumonitis. There were no other documented responses to systemic
      therapy. Median overall survival was 5.6 months for patients who had received a
      second cisplatin-based treatment at any time and 4.3 months for those who had not
      (P = .4). CONCLUSION: Patients whose metastatic penile carcinoma progresses
      through or recurs after front-line cisplatin-based chemotherapy experience poor
      responses to the described salvage treatments, with a median overall survival
      time of <6 months. Emphasis should be placed on clinical trials for development
      of effective therapy in this setting.

PMID- 25819620
TI  - Medical testosterone: an iatrogenic cause of male infertility and a growing
      problem.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine (1) the frequency of testosterone (T) use in 2 academic
      male infertility practices, (2) the effect on semen parameters, and (3) the
      potential for reversibility. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review.
      Inclusion criteria were supplemental T usage at the time of initial visit, T
      cessation, and semen analyses before and after T cessation. RESULTS: From January
      2005 to March 2011, 110 of 1540 patients evaluated for infertility (7.1%) were on
      supplemental T. Thirty-nine patients met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-two of 39
      patients (56%) were started on medical recovery by medical treatment. Median
      sperm concentration increased from 0 to 6.3 million/mL (P <.0001) after T
      cessation, with median follow-up of 4.5 months. Eight men (21%) remained
      azoospermic, and 3 men had sperm concentrations of <= 0.1 million/mL. Fifteen of
      22 men given medical treatment and 16 of 17 men given no treatment had sperm
      return to the semen, respectively (P = .1061). Final sperm concentration did not
      differ between those who received medical treatment and those who did not.
      CONCLUSION: Exogenous T treatment causes infertility and is common among
      reproductive-aged men. These effects are transient for some, but not all men had
      return of sperm to the semen during the study interval, suggesting a possible
      underlying primary testicular dysfunction or ongoing hypothalamic-pituitary
      testicular axis suppression. Education about exogenous T's negative reproductive
      effects is necessary to avoid this preventable form of infertility. Men with low
      T levels should have sufficient evaluation to evaluate for underlying pathology
      before starting T.

PMID- 25819622
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25819621
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25819623
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25819619.

PMID- 25819625
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25819624
TI  - The cost of surveillance after urethroplasty.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine variability in urethral stricture surveillance. Urethral
      strictures impact quality of life and exact a large economic burden. Although
      urethroplasty is the gold standard for durable treatment, strictures recur in 8%
      18%. There are no universally accepted guidelines for posturethroplasty
      surveillance. We performed a literature search to evaluate variability in
      surveillance protocols, analyzed costs, and reviewed performance of each commonly
      used modality. METHODS: MEDLINE search was performed using the keywords
      "urethroplasty," "urethral stricture," and "stricture recurrence" to ascertain
      commonly used surveillance strategies for stricture recurrence. We included
      English language articles from the past 10 years with at least 10 patients, and
      age >18 years. Cost data were calculated based on standard 2013 Centers for
      Medicare and Medicaid Services physician's fees. RESULTS: Surveillance methods
      included retrograde urethrogram or voiding cystourethrogram, cystourethroscopy,
      urethral ultrasound, American Urological Association Symptom Score, and postvoid
      residual and urine flowmetry (UF) measurement. Most protocols call for a
      retrograde urethrogram or voiding cystourethrogram at the time of catheter
      removal. After this, UF or PVR, cystoscopy, urine culture, or a combination of UF
      and American Urological Association Symptom Score was performed at variable
      intervals. The first-year follow-up cost of anterior urethral surgery ranged from
      $205 to $1784. For posterior urethral surgery, follow-up cost for the first year
      ranged from $404 to $961. CONCLUSION: Practice variability for surveillance of
      urethral stricture recurrence after urethroplasty leads to significant
      differences in cost.

PMID- 25819626
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25819620.

PMID- 25819627
TI  - Extravascular incidental findings in run-off CT angiography in patients with
      acute limb ischaemia: incidence and clinical relevance.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the incidence and clinical relevance of extravascular incidental
      findings (EVIFs) in CT angiography of the abdominal aorta and lower extremities
      (run-off CTA) in patients presenting with acute limb ischaemia (ALI). MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: In this institutional review board-approved, retrospective study,
      141 run-off CTA examinations conducted between 2005 and 2013 of patients (67
      women, mean age 80 years; 74 men, mean age 69 years) presenting with clinical
      symptoms of ALI were re-evaluated by two radiologists (2 and 7 years of
      experience in interpreting run-off CTA). Imaging was conducted using 16- and 64
      section CT systems. Image acquisition ranged from the costodiaphragmatic recess
      to the forefoot. The medical history form of each patient served as the standard
      of reference for assessment of incidence of EVIFs. CT morphology was assessed to
      assign EVIFs to one of three categories of clinical relevance: (I) immediate,
      (II) potential, and (III) no clinical relevance. RESULTS: Thirty-eight patients
      had category I findings, including four patients (2.8%) with previously unknown
      malignancy and 67 patients with category II EVIFs. In total 473 extravascular
      EVIFs were found in 141 patients: 52 category I, 163 category II and 258 category
      III. CONCLUSION: EVIFs with immediate clinical relevance are very common in run
      off CTA in patients presenting with acute peripheral artery disease. Therefore,
      it is important to evaluate all body regions included in a CT examination
      carefully, even if the clinical focus is on vascular evaluation. The adequate
      classification of these EVIFs is required to avoid possible unnecessary
      diagnostic work-up with associated risks and costs.

PMID- 25819628
TI  - Field evaluation of the efficacy, compatibility and serologic profiling of a
      combined vaccine against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome and
      Haemophilus parasuis in nursery pigs.
AB  - The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy and compatibility of a separate
      or combined vaccination against the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome
      (PRRS) and Haemophilus (H.) parasuis. The study was conducted in a 1200 head
      nursery farm. A total of 360 piglets at an age of 26 days were randomized into
      three groups. Group A was vaccinated separately against H. parasuis
      (Porcilis((r))Glasser) and PRRS (Porcilis((r))PRRS), group B was vaccinated with
      a combined vaccine of both vaccines and group C remained unvaccinated as control
      group. The compatibility was evaluated by measurement of the body temperature and
      a palpation score of the injection site 0, 4, 24 and 72 h after vaccination.
      During the nursery and the fattening period the average daily weight gain (ADWG),
      the number of runts and the mortality was evaluated. Additionally blood samples
      were taken every 2 weeks during the nursery period to perform an OppA-ELISA and a
      PCR for PRRS virus. No significant difference could be seen regarding the body
      temperature between group A and group C. Piglets which were vaccinated with the
      combined vaccine showed a significantly higher body temperature 4 and 72 h post
      vaccination than piglets from group A. The palpation score was significantly
      higher in group A 4 and 24h post vaccination compared to the control group,
      whereas no significant difference was observed between group A and B. No
      significant differences between groups were seen in the ADWG during the nursery
      period. The mortality rate during the nursery period was significantly higher in
      group C than in group A. The ADWG during fattening was significantly higher in
      the vaccinated groups than in group C. A PRRS genotype1 field virus was detected
      at the end of the nursery period. No significant differences were observed in the
      number of OppA-ELISA positive animals, but vaccinated pigs seemed to react
      earlier. All pigs of the vaccinated groups that were positive in the OppA-ELISA
      did not develop Glasser's disease and remained in the study until slaughter. The
      combined administration had no negative influence on efficacy but showed a
      slightly worse compatibility than the separate administration of both vaccines.
      The results of the present study indicate that vaccination against Glasser's
      disease using Porcilis((r))Glasser might influence the results of the OppA-ELISA.

PMID- 25819629
TI  - [Nationwide survey on pediatric infectious disease organisation and antibiotic
      management in French hospitals].
AB  - Skills in pediatric infectious disease (PID) and antibiotic management are of
      critical importance in hospitals. This nationwide survey aimed to assess the
      characteristics, training, and tasks of PID consultants in French hospitals. The
      management of PID and antibiotic therapy was also analyzed in hospitals lacking
      PID consultants. METHODS: An electronic survey linked to a dedicated website was
      sent to French hospitals with a pediatric department in June 2012. In hospitals
      where PID consultants were available, they were asked to answer the
      questionnaire. In hospitals lacking PID consultants, pediatricians were asked to
      send the questionnaire to their infectious disease consultant, if available.
      RESULTS: A total of 86 individual responses were received from 76 hospitals
      (including 26 academic hospitals). The existence of a PID consultant was declared
      in 53 hospitals. Responses were received from the person claiming to be "the" or
      "one of the" PID consultants in 46 cases, representing 39 centers. PID
      consultants had a degree in PID (46%) or antibiotic therapy (37%), or a
      complementary qualification as a specialist in infectious diseases (13%). The PID
      consultants worked in departments of general pediatrics (61%) and emergency
      medicine (15%), or neonatology (15%). They were involved in the Nosocomial
      Infection Prevention Committee (43%) or the Antimicrobial Therapy Committee (63%)
      and had teaching activities (65%). There was a specific unit with a PID label in
      10% of the 39 centers reporting at least one consultant and consultations of
      infectious diseases took place in 28%. CONCLUSION: PID consultants are rare.
      Their important role in patient care should be recognized. Efforts should focus
      on recruiting and training such specialists.

PMID- 25819630
TI  - [Unscheduled pediatrician office visits: A national survey].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Unscheduled visits (UV) are defined as visits to the family
      pediatrician (FP) without an appointment or when the appointment was made less
      than 24h before. Because the number of FPs has decreased since the 2000s, the FP
      might be less available for UVs and that might be one of the reasons for the
      increase in emergency department visits. OBJECTIVES: The main objective of the
      study was to evaluate the proportion of UVs among visits with a FP. The secondary
      objective was to describe the daily activity of FPs. METHODS: In February 2012, e
      mail requests were sent to 1022 FPs, asking them to complete an anonymous
      questionnaire online at the website of the French Association of Pediatricians in
      Outpatient Practice (AFPA). The questionnaire was about 1 day of activity.
      RESULTS: A total of 434 FPs participated in the study (42.5%). Among the 10,263
      visits a day conducted by these FPs, 4574 were UVs (44.6% [95% CI: 43.6-45.5]).
      Two hundred and fifty FPs (59.5%) could not conduct one or more UVs because of a
      lack of availability. The number of children who were not treated on the same day
      because of a lack of availability was 959, i.e., 2.2 children per day and
      pediatrician. An absence of off-hour pediatricians in outpatient practice during
      weekends and during the night was reported by 61% (266) and 90% (391) of the FPs,
      respectively. CONCLUSION: FPs' activity includes a considerable number of UVs.
      However, a large number of UVs could not be made because of a lack of
      pediatricians' availability.

PMID- 25819631
TI  - [Carbamazepine and psychotropic treatment interaction: Two case studies of
      carbamazepine overdosage].
AB  - Drug interaction is a frequent situation in pediatrics and child psychiatry.
      Carbamazepine (CBZ) is an antiepileptic drug used as a mood stabilizer in child
      psychiatry. CBZ is known to be a potent inducer of various CYP isoenzymes of
      cytochrome P450, which might result in a decrease in the plasma concentration of
      associated treatments. We describe two cases of CBZ overdosage in adolescent
      inpatients (14 and 16 years). The patients were treated with risperidone
      associated with fluoxetine in one and with loxapine in the other case, and CBZ
      was introduced as a mood stabilizer. Patients presented typical clinical symptoms
      (fatigue, dizziness, gastrointestinal signs, blurred vision). Overdosage was
      confirmed by an elevated CBZ plasma concentration (17 and 15.5 mg/L, therapeutic
      range 4-12 mg/L). We recommend introducing CBZ very progressively in patients
      treated with psychotropics, particularly when it is associated to several
      treatments. An intensification of clinical and biological follow-up with early
      plasma concentration testing should allow for better treatment adjustment.

PMID- 25819632
TI  - [Pediatric reversible acute velar palsy: A case report].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Approximately 40 cases of acute idiopathic velopharyngeal
      reversible paralysis in the pediatric population have been reported in the
      literature. OBSERVATION: We present the case of a 12-year-old boy who had
      consulted in pediatric emergency departments for symptomatology including
      rhinolalia, nasal regurgitation, and deviation of the labial commissure.
      Paraclinical explorations helped diagnose rhombencephalitis with enterovirus. The
      introduction of oral corticosteroids was followed by rapid clinical improvement
      in 3 days. Monitoring 1 month later showed complete regression of symptoms.
      DISCUSSION: Similar cases in the literature describe the occurrence of nasal
      regurgitation and rhinolalia, sometimes associated with other cranial nerve
      impairment. The pathogenesis is rarely highlighted and the imaging results are
      always normal. Ad integrum recovery with or without corticosteroids is the rule.
      In light of this literature review, it is possible to conclude that the
      occurrence of such a suggestive clinical picture should limit the often costly
      and unnecessary additional tests.

PMID- 25819633
TI  - [Prognostic value of VZV PCR in cerebrospinal fluid in neurological
      manifestations of varicella].
AB  - Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is, like other alphaherpes viruses, neurotropic. Of
      the admissions to hospital for varicella, 7.6-25% are due to neurologic
      manifestations. Most of the time, the concomitant skin lesions facilitate the
      diagnosis. The justification of qualitative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) for
      VZV DNA in cerebrospinal fluid in the management of these patients is not clear.
      The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of qualitative PCR for
      VZV DNA in cerebrospinal fluid and to assess its impact on patient management. We
      conducted a retrospective monocentric study in Versailles Hospital (France). It
      included every child admitted for neurologic manifestations associated with
      varicella and compared the patients with positive PCR for VZV DNA to those with a
      negative PCR in the cerebrospinal fluid. Seven patients with positive PCR and 16
      patients with negative PCR were included. The median age of the children included
      was 3 years (range, 1.6-12 years) and 2 years (range, 0.6-5 years), respectively.
      In the positive PCR group, 86% of the children had fever on first examination and
      the average time between the onset of skin lesions and neurological signs was
      +1.28 days (range, -2 to +5 days). In comparison, in the negative PCR group, 81%
      of the children had fever and the average time delay was +1.75 days (-2 to +7
      days). There was no significant difference in terms of length of hospitalization;
      3 days (range, 0-6 days) and 3 days (range, 2-7 days), respectively. All patients
      discharged from our department went home. In addition, there was no significant
      difference between the two groups in terms of treatment with acyclovir; two
      children (28.5%) were treated in the positive PCR group versus four (25%) in the
      negative PCR group. Our study showed no prognostic value for qualitative PCR for
      VZV DNA in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neurologic manifestations of
      varicella. Therefore, its relevance can be questioned in clinical practice.
      However, in case of encephalitis and meningitis during primary infection with
      VZV, quantitative PCR for VZV DNA might have a prognostic value and therefore
      requires further study.

PMID- 25819634
TI  - Evoked potentials and disability in multiple sclerosis: A different perspective
      to a neglected method.
AB  - Evoked potentials and disability in multiple sclerosis: a different perspective
      to a neglected method. OBJECTIVE: Because evoked potentials (EP) are reflections
      of the functional integrity of sensory-motor systems, they are expected to
      reflect the abnormality in patients with disabilities and handicaps and also be
      in correlation with scales. This assumption was tested. METHODS: Patients with
      multiple sclerosis (MS) and myelopathy (M) and normal controls were investigated
      by EP, Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale-12, timed 25-foot walk test and extended
      disability status scale (EDSS). EP results were converted to ordinal values, and
      correlations of these values with scales were calculated. Sensitivity and
      specificity analysis of EP parameters was also performed. RESULTS: Total EP
      scores revealed high rates of abnormality in both groups, but MS revealed a
      different correlation pattern from M. The SEP+MEP summed score showed high
      sensitivity and specificity for MS and this was also correlated with the MS
      related disability-ambulation scales including EDSS. The most specific parameter
      was the minimum M latency in the MEP study. CONCLUSIONS: Four extremity
      recordings of EP with the use of more parameters than usual and ordinal
      expression of results seem to be benefical in MS. Although this study was cross
      sectional in nature, results indicated that EP might be useful in clinical follow
      up.

PMID- 25819635
TI  - Perceptions of paramedics and emergency staff about the care they provide to
      people who self-harm: Constructivist metasynthesis of the qualitative literature.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Presentations of self-harm to paramedic and emergency staff are
      increasing, and despite being the first professionals encountered, patients who
      self-harm report the quality of care and attitudes from these staff are
      unsatisfactory. Understanding this care may provide opportunities to improve
      services. The aim of this study is to enhance knowledge building and theory
      generation in order to develop practice and policy through a metasynthesis of
      qualitative research relating to perceptions of paramedic and emergency care for
      people who self-harm. METHODS: The metasynthesis draws on Evolved Grounded Theory
      Methodology (EGTM). A search was undertaken of CINAHL, MEDLINE, OVID and Psych
      INFO, and grey literature. Subject headings of 'self-harm' were used alongside
      key words 'suicide', 'paramedic' 'emergency', 'overdose', 'pre-hospital' mental
      health, ambulance, perceptions of care, emergency. RESULTS: A total of 1103
      papers were retrieved; 12 were finally included. No papers investigated paramedic
      care for self-harm. The following metaphors emerged: (a) frustration, futility
      and legitimacy of care; (b) first contact in the pre-hospital environment:
      talking, immediate and lasting implications of the moral agent; (c) decision
      making in self-harm: balancing legislation, risk and autonomy; (d) paramedics'
      perceptions: harnessing professionalism and opportunities to contribute to the
      care of self-harm. CONCLUSION: Paramedics are often the first health professional
      contact following self-harm, yet limited qualitative literature has explored this
      encounter. Metaphors revealed in this paper highlight challenges in decision
      making and legislation, also opportunities to improve care through
      professionalization and tailored education.

PMID- 25819636
TI  - Neuroprotection by peripheral nerve electrical stimulation and remote
      postconditioning against acute experimental ischaemic stroke.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Local electrical stimulation (ES) was reported to protect the brain
      during ischaemic injury, while the protective effect of limb remote ischaemic
      postconditioning (RIPostC) was confirmed. The aim of this study was to explore
      whether remote peripheral nerve ES exerted neuroprotection and whether this
      procedure shared the same neuroprotective mechanism underlying RIPostC. METHODS:
      Stroke in Sprague-Dawley rats was induced by distal middle cerebral artery
      occlusion (dMCAO). Rats were divided into five groups: dMCAO, RIPostC, ES, nerve
      resection (NR) + ES and RIPostC+ES. Twenty-four hours after reperfusion, rats
      were examined for neurobehavioural function, including forelimb fault placing
      test, Ludmila Belayev 12 score test, and infarct volume. The expression of Bcl-2
      and cleaved-caspase-3 in ischaemic cortex was assessed by Western blot. RESULTS:
      In forelimb fault placing test, as compared to the highest score in the stroke
      only group, RIPostC, ES and RIPostC+ES groups showed a significantly (P < 0.01)
      lower score. The results were similar for the Ludmila Belayev 12 score test. The
      infarct volume of the treatment groups also exhibited significant (P < 0.01)
      reduction as compared to the stroke-only group. The volume of infarct tissue in
      the combination of RIPostC+ES was significantly less than RIPostC and ES alone (P
      < 0.05). Furthermore, NR blocked the ES's protection (P < 0.05) as compared to
      the ES group by using above-mentioned methods. Bcl-2 was upregulated, while
      cleaved-caspase-3 was downregulated in the experimental groups as compared to the
      control group. No difference was found among the experimental groups. DISCUSSION:
      Peripheral nerve ES appears to have a neuroprotective effect in a rat dMCAO
      model. This effect may indicate a neural protective mechanism underlying
      beneficial effect of RIPostC.

PMID- 25819642
TI  - CTLA4 blockade in patients with malignant mesothelioma.

PMID- 25819643
TI  - Efficacy and safety of an intensified schedule of tremelimumab for chemotherapy
      resistant malignant mesothelioma: an open-label, single-arm, phase 2 study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: CTLA4 blockade by tremelimumab 15 mg/kg every 90 days provided
      preliminary evidence of activity in patients with pretreated malignant
      mesothelioma; however, retrospective exposure-response analysis of data from
      patients with melanoma suggested that this schedule could result in underexposure
      to tremelimumab. We therefore investigated the efficacy and safety of an
      intensified schedule of tremelimumab in patients with advanced malignant
      mesothelioma. METHODS: In this open-label, single-arm, phase 2 study,
      participants aged 18 years or older with unresectable, advanced malignant
      mesothelioma (measurable in accordance with the Response Evaluation Criteria in
      Solid Tumors [RECIST]), a life expectancy of 3 months or more, an Eastern
      Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 2 or less, and who had failed a
      first-line platinum-based regimen were enrolled at the University Hospital of
      Siena, Siena, Italy. Participants received tremelimumab 10 mg/kg once every 4
      weeks for six doses, then every 12 weeks until disease progression, unacceptable
      toxic effects, or refusal to continue treatment. The primary endpoint was the
      proportion of patients achieving an immune-related objective response (complete
      or partial), assessed in all patients who received at least one dose of the study
      drug. This study is registered with the European Union Clinical Trials Register,
      number 2012-002762-12, and ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01655888. FINDINGS:
      Between July 30, 2012, and July 15, 2013, we enrolled 29 patients with a median
      age of 65 years (range 42-78), stage III (n=11) or IV (n=18) disease, and an
      Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0-1 (n=23) or 2 (n=6).
      Malignant mesothelioma histology was epithelioid (n=21, including one
      peritoneal), biphasic (n=6), sarcomatoid (n=1), or undefined (n=1). Patients
      received a median of six doses of tremelimumab (range 1-13). After a median
      follow-up of 21.3 months (IQR 18.7-25.9), four immune-related-partial responses
      were recorded, one at the first tumour assessment (after about 12 weeks) and
      three at the second tumour assessment (about 24 weeks), with two responses
      occurring after initial progressive disease and one response after initial stable
      disease. 15 (52%) of patients achieved disease control, with a median duration of
      10.9 months (95% CI 8.2-13.6). According to modified RECIST, one patient (3%)
      achieved a partial response and 11 (38%) patients achieved disease control rate.
      Grade 1-2 treatment-related adverse events occurred in 26 (90%) patients and
      grade 3-4 adverse events in two (7%) patients. The most common treatment-related
      adverse events were gastrointestinal, dermatological, and fever. INTERPRETATION:
      Our results suggest that the intensified schedule of tremelimumab investigated
      seems to have clinical and immunological activity in patients with advanced
      malignant mesothelioma, and a good safety profile. The same intensified schedule
      is now being investigated in an ongoing randomised, double-blind, placebo
      controlled, phase 2b study. FUNDING: Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul
      Cancro, Istituto Toscano Tumori, and MedImmune.

PMID- 25819644
TI  - How do you solve a problem like tobacco?

PMID- 25819645
TI  - A Prospective Randomized Study of Pfannenstiel Versus Expanded Port Site Incision
      for Intact Specimen Extraction in Laparoscopic Radical Nephrectomy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare intra- and postoperative outcome of patients undergoing
      laparoscopic radical nephrectomy with intact specimen extraction through a
      Pfannenstiel (PFN) transverse suprapubic or expanded port site (EPS) incision in
      a prospective randomized fashion. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients undergoing
      laparoscopic transperitoneal radical nephrectomies for suspected renal tumors
      were randomized for intact renal specimen extraction via a PFN or EPS incision.
      Operative, perioperative, 1 week, 6 weeks, and 6 months postoperative parameters
      were prospectively recorded and analyzed including specimen weight, size in
      maximum diameter, incision length, total operative time, extraction time,
      estimated blood loss, length of hospital stay, pain score in the postoperative
      holding area and on the first post operative day, narcotic consumption, time to
      fluid intake/full diet intake, unassisted ambulation, cosmesis, and wound-related
      complications. A postoperative quality-of-life questionnaire was also filled out
      by all the patients. RESULTS: Our series included 51 patients: 26 in the PFN
      group and 25 in the EPS group. The two groups were similar in demographic
      characteristics and intraoperative and postoperative parameters apart from a
      longer PFN incision (P<0.00). First postoperative day pain score was
      significantly less in the PFN group than in the EPS group (P=0.023). Complication
      rate was less in the PFN group, although not statistically significant. Hospital
      stay was significantly shorter in the PFN than in the EPS group (P=0.01). Mean
      cosmesis and operative satisfaction scores at week 1, week 6, and 6 month visits
      were not significantly different between both groups. Compared with the EPS
      group, PFN group patients significantly will choose the same operation if they
      would do it again (P=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: PFN incision has less morbidity, pain
      score, and hospital stay compared with EPS incision for intact specimen
      extraction after transperitoneal laparoscopic radical nephrectomy. Both incisions
      are associated with high operative satisfaction, good cosmesis, and a low rate of
      wound complications.

PMID- 25819646
TI  - Community assembly of a euryhaline fish microbiome during salinity acclimation.
AB  - Microbiomes play a critical role in promoting a range of host functions.
      Microbiome function, in turn, is dependent on its community composition. Yet, how
      microbiome taxa are assembled from their regional species pool remains unclear.
      Many possible drivers have been hypothesized, including deterministic processes
      of competition, stochastic processes of colonization and migration, and
      physiological 'host-effect' habitat filters. The contribution of each to assembly
      in nascent or perturbed microbiomes is important for understanding host-microbe
      interactions and host health. In this study, we characterized the bacterial
      communities in a euryhaline fish and the surrounding tank water during salinity
      acclimation. To assess the relative influence of stochastic versus deterministic
      processes in fish microbiome assembly, we manipulated the bacterial species pool
      around each fish by changing the salinity of aquarium water. Our results show a
      complete and repeatable turnover of dominant bacterial taxa in the microbiomes
      from individuals of the same species after acclimation to the same salinity. We
      show that changes in fish microbiomes are not correlated with corresponding
      changes to abundant taxa in tank water communities and that the dominant taxa in
      fish microbiomes are rare in the aquatic surroundings, and vice versa. Our
      results suggest that bacterial taxa best able to compete within the unique host
      environment at a given salinity appropriate the most niche space, independent of
      their relative abundance in tank water communities. In this experiment,
      deterministic processes appear to drive fish microbiome assembly, with little
      evidence for stochastic colonization.

PMID- 25819647
TI  - Prevention, screening, and a chance of rain.

PMID- 25819648
TI  - Tale of woe questioned.

PMID- 25819649
TI  - Author's response.

PMID- 25819650
TI  - Hemostatic agents.

PMID- 25819651
TI  - Sage advice.

PMID- 25819652
TI  - Authors' response.

PMID- 25819653
TI  - Reducing early childhood caries in a Medicaid population: a systems model
      analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite early childhood caries (ECC) being largely preventable, its
      repair accounts for a disproportionate share of Medicaid expenditures. In this
      study, the authors model disease reductions and cost savings from ECC management
      alternatives. METHODS: The authors apply system dynamics modeling to the New York
      State Medicaid population of young children to compare potential outcomes of 9
      preventive interventions (water fluoridation, fluoride varnish, fluoride
      toothpaste, medical screening and fluoride varnish application, bacterial
      transmission reduction, motivational interviewing, dental prevention visits,
      secondary prevention, and combinations) and the effect of defluoridating New York
      City. RESULTS: Model simulations help project 10-year disease reductions and net
      savings from water fluoridation, motivational interviewing, and fluoride
      toothpaste. Interventions requiring health professionals cost more than they
      save. Interventions that target children at high risk, begin early, and combine
      multiple strategies hold greatest potential. Defluoridating New York City would
      increase disease and costs dramatically. CONCLUSIONS: The variety of population
      level and individual-level interventions available to control ECC differ
      substantially in their capacity to improve children's oral health and reduce
      state Medicaid expenditures. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Using Medicaid and health
      department dollars to deliver ECC preventive and management interventions holds
      strong promise to improve children's oral health while reducing state dental
      expenditures in Medicaid.

PMID- 25819654
TI  - Effectiveness of and tooth sensitivity with at-home bleaching in smokers: a
      multicenter clinical trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The authors conducted a 2-center controlled clinical study to show
      the equivalence of at-home bleaching in smokers and nonsmokers at 1 week and 1
      month and evaluate tooth sensitivity (TS). METHODS: The authors selected 60
      smokers and 60 nonsmokers with central incisors of shade A2 or darker. The
      participants performed bleaching with 10% carbamide peroxide for 3 hours daily
      for 3 weeks. The authors evaluated the color by using a shade guide and a
      spectrophotometer before, during, and after bleaching (1 week and 1 month).
      Patients recorded TS by using a 0-4 scale and a visual analog scale. The authors
      used multivariable regression analysis to test factors associated with color
      change and TS (alpha = .05). RESULTS: Smokers and nonsmokers showed significant
      color change statistically equivalent to within +/- 2.0 units at 1 week after
      bleaching. Overall, color shade improved by 4.1 shade guide units (95% confidence
      interval [CI], 3.7-4.5) and 7.8 units of color change measured with the
      spectrophotometer (95% CI, 7.1-8.5) at 1 month. None of the factors affected the
      TS risk. TS absolute risk and intensity were similar between groups (P > .05),
      with an overall estimate of 47% (95% CI, 38-56%). CONCLUSIONS: The immediate
      effectiveness of whitening- and bleaching-related TS were not affected by
      smoking. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Smoking did not affect the immediate color
      change (1 week). Effective whitening was achieved regardless of whether the
      patient was a smoker. However, this equivalence was not apparent 1 month after
      bleaching, with smokers having slightly darker teeth.

PMID- 25819655
TI  - Isolation of Raoultella planticola from refillable antimicrobial liquid soap
      dispensers in a dental setting.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Liquid antimicrobial soaps are commonly used in the dental health
      care setting for hand washing to minimize the potential spread of infectious
      agents to health care workers and patients. The purpose of the current study was
      to evaluate possible bacterial contamination of antimicrobial liquid soap
      dispensers located in 2 institutional comprehensive dental care clinics. METHODS:
      Fourteen soap dispensers and 16 original stock containers were sampled. A 1
      milliliter aliquot was diluted in 10 mL of phosphate buffer (Tween-80; Acros).
      Serial dilutions were plated in duplicate on neutralizing agar and incubated for
      7 days. Molecular identification was performed using 500 base pair comparisons of
      16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid sequencing. Taq polymerase chain reaction was
      performed with sequence-specific primers for Raoultella species. RESULTS:
      Bacterial growth was observed at 18 hours for 57% (8 of 14) of soap dispenser
      samples. Bacterial densities ranged from 4 * 10(2) to 6 * 10(9) colony-forming
      units per milliliter. Original commercial containers exhibited no growth.
      Isolates were identified as Raoultella (Klebsiella) planticola. CONCLUSIONS: This
      is the first study to the authors' knowledge indicating recovery of R. planticola
      from antimicrobial liquid soap dispensers. R. planticola is a recognized
      environmental opportunistic pathogen that potentially poses a health concern.
      PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: These findings indicate compliance problems with
      infection prevention recommendations and support the US Centers for Disease
      Control and Prevention's recommendation that dispensers should not be topped off.
      High bacterial loads of R. planticola are inconsistent with infection control
      practices and are a concern because transmission and possible infection to the
      health care worker or the patient may occur.

PMID- 25819656
TI  - Reporting of adverse events and statistical details of efficacy estimates in
      randomized clinical trials of pain in temporomandibular disorders: Analgesic,
      Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations,
      Opportunities, and Networks systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Statistical methods and adverse events (that is, harms) data affect
      the accuracy of conclusions about the risk-to-benefit ratio of treatments for
      temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). The authors reviewed the quality of reporting
      in TMD clinical trials to highlight practices that are in need of improvement.
      TYPES OF STUDIES REVIEWED: The authors included articles published between 1969
      and May 31, 2013, in which the investigators reported randomized clinical trials
      of TMD treatments with pain as a principal outcome variable. Investigators in
      trials of nonpharmacologic and noninvasive treatments were required to at least
      mask the participants and assessors; all others were required to be double
      masked. RESULTS: Ninety articles qualified for this review: 39 published between
      1971 and 2005 (older articles) and 51 published between 2006 and 2013 (newer
      articles). Specification of primary outcome analyses, methods to accommodate
      missing data, and adverse event collection methods and rates were generally poor.
      In some cases, there was apparent improvement from the older to the newer cohort;
      however, reporting of these methodological details remained inadequate even in
      the newer articles. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This review is designed to alert
      authors, reviewers, editors, and readers of TMD clinical trials to these issues
      and improve reporting quality in the future.

PMID- 25819657
TI  - A practical approach to evidence-based dentistry: VI: How to use a systematic
      review.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW: Dental practitioners face new clinical challenges on a
      daily basis. New treatment options and diagnostic tools are disseminated quickly,
      and the volume of articles and new evidence is overwhelming. Systematic reviews
      summarize and synthesize the available evidence related to diagnosis, therapy,
      prognosis, and harm for clinicians, patients, and decision makers. Such reviews
      represent one of the most powerful tools to translate knowledge into action.
      PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The critical appraisal of this type of study involves
      assessing the risk of bias, results, and applicability of such study. The authors
      provide guidance for clinicians to critically appraise systematic reviews and
      apply the findings in clinical practice.

PMID- 25819658
TI  - Diagnosis and endodontic treatment of type II dens invaginatus by using cone-beam
      computed tomography and splint guides for cavity access: a case report.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW: Dens invaginatus (DI) is defined as a rare dental
      malformation. The inherent structural variants of this anatomic disorder make it
      difficult to perform conventional endodontic treatment procedures by means of a
      conservative access cavity. In this clinical case report, the authors describe
      the treatment of a type II DI by means of guided splints for cavity access. CASE
      DESCRIPTION: This is a clinical report of a case of type II DI in a maxillary
      lateral incisor. The authors established the diagnosis by means of cone-beam
      computed tomography (CBCT). The authors manufactured 3 splint guides from a
      Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine file and a stereolithography file
      obtained from a plaster model of the patient by using software for guided implant
      placement, for access opening, and for locating the root canals. CONCLUSIONS:
      CBCT is an effective method for obtaining information about the root canal system
      in teeth with DI. In addition, guided implant surgery software is effective for
      manufacturing splint guides for endodontic treatment with conservative pulp
      chamber access. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Information obtained from CBCT allows the
      clinician to fabricate splint guides for minimally invasive access opening in
      this type of case, thus reducing the loss of dental tissue.

PMID- 25819659
TI  - Use of recombinant factor VII for tooth extractions in a patient with severe
      congenital factor VII deficiency: a case report.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW: Patients with factor VII deficiency have an increased
      risk of prolonged perioperative hemorrhage. In this article, the authors present
      a case of severe factor VII deficiency in a patient who required tooth
      extraction. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 44-year-old woman with severe congenital factor
      VII deficiency sought care for a symptomatic, carious, and nonrestorable
      maxillary right second molar that required extraction. The authors obtained
      hematologic consultation, and the patient underwent the extraction under general
      anesthesia in the inpatient setting. Perioperative management included performing
      relevant laboratory studies, preoperative recombinant factor VII infusion, and
      postoperative intravenous aminocaproic acid administration. No hemorrhagic
      complications occurred throughout the perioperative course. CONCLUSIONS AND
      PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The degree of factor VII deficiency correlates poorly
      with bleeding risk. Perioperative management is variable, requiring preoperative
      consultation with a hematologist.

PMID- 25819660
TI  - Recombinant human growth factor for periodontal regeneration may be efficacious.

PMID- 25819661
TI  - Considering a 2-office practice strategy.

PMID- 25819662
TI  - Your mobile dental home.

PMID- 25819663
TI  - For the patient. Keeping your gums healthy.

PMID- 25819664
TI  - Brain glucose metabolism in an animal model of depression.
AB  - An increasing number of data support the involvement of disturbances in glucose
      metabolism in the pathogenesis of depression. We previously reported that glucose
      and glycogen concentrations in brain structures important for depression are
      higher in a prenatal stress model of depression when compared with control
      animals. A marked rise in the concentrations of these carbohydrates and glucose
      transporters were evident in prenatally stressed animals subjected to acute
      stress and glucose loading in adulthood. To determine whether elevated levels of
      brain glucose are associated with a change in its metabolism in this model, we
      assessed key glycolytic enzymes (hexokinase, phosphofructokinase and pyruvate
      kinase), products of glycolysis, i.e., pyruvate and lactate, and two selected
      enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (pyruvate dehydrogenase and alpha
      ketoglutarate dehydrogenase) in the hippocampus and frontal cortex. Additionally,
      we assessed glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity, a key enzyme in the
      pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). Prenatal stress increased the levels of
      phosphofructokinase, an important glycolytic enzyme, in the hippocampus and
      frontal cortex. However, prenatal stress had no effect on hexokinase or pyruvate
      kinase levels. The lactate concentration was elevated in prenatally stressed rats
      in the frontal cortex, and pyruvate levels remained unchanged. Among the
      tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes, prenatal stress decreased the level of pyruvate
      dehydrogenase in the hippocampus, but it had no effect on alpha-ketoglutarate
      dehydrogenase. Like in the case of glucose and its transporters, also in the
      present study, differences in markers of glucose metabolism between control
      animals and those subjected to prenatal stress were not observed under basal
      conditions but in rats subjected to acute stress and glucose load in adulthood.
      Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity was not reduced by prenatal stress but
      was found to be even higher in animals exposed to all experimental conditions,
      i.e., prenatal stress, acute stress, and glucose administration. Our data
      indicate that glycolysis is increased and the Krebs cycle is decreased in the
      brain of a prenatal stress animal model of depression. 

PMID- 25819665
TI  - Protective effect of Jolkinolide B on LPS-induced mouse acute lung injury.
AB  - Jolkinolide B (JB), an ent-abietane diterpenoid, isolated from the dried root of
      Euphorbia fischeriana, has been reported to have potent anti-tumor and anti
      inflammatory activities. However, the effects of JB on acute lung injury (ALI)
      and underlying molecular mechanisms have not been investigated. The present study
      aimed to investigate the effect of JB on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI.
      Male C57BL/6 mice were pretreated with dexamethasone or JB 1h before intranasal
      instillation of LPS. The results showed that JB markedly attenuated LPS-induced
      histological alterations, lung edema, inflammatory cell infiltration,
      myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity as well as the production of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and
      IL-1beta. Furthermore, JB also significantly inhibited LPS-induced the
      degradation of IkappaBalpha and phosphorylation of NF-kappaB p65 and MAPK.
      Therefore, our study provides the first line of evidence that pretreatment of JB
      has a protective effect on LPS-induced ALI in mice. The anti-inflammatory
      mechanism of JB may be attributed to its suppression of NF-kappaB and MAPK
      activation.

PMID- 25819666
TI  - New polycomb group protein enhancer of zeste homolog (EZH) 2-derived peptide with
      the potential to induce cancer-reactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes in prostate
      cancer patients with HLA-A3 supertype alleles.
AB  - Analyses on reactivity of anti-cancer cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and clinical
      application of peptide-based anti-cancer vaccine have been mainly focused on
      patients with HLA-A2 or -A24 alleles. In this study, we identified an enhancer of
      zeste homolog (EZH) 2-derived peptide applicable for anti-cancer vaccine for
      prostate cancer patients with HLA-A3 supertype alleles. Five EZH2-derived
      peptides that were prepared based on the binding motif to the HLA-A3 supertype
      alleles (HLA-A11, -A31, and -A33) were functionally screened for their potential
      to induce peptide-specific CTLs from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)
      of HLA-A3 supertype allele(+) prostate cancer patients. As a result, EZH2733-741
      peptide was found to efficiently induce peptide-specific CTLs. The EZH2733-741
      peptide-stimulated and purified CD8(+) T cells from PBMCs of HLA-A3 supertype
      allele(+) prostate cancer patients showed higher cytotoxicity against HLA-A3
      supertype allele-expressing LNCaP prostate cancer cells than against parental
      LNCaP cells. This cytotoxicity against HLA-A3 supertype allele-expressing LNCaP
      cells was partially but significantly inhibited by the addition of EZH2733-741
      peptide-pulsed competitive cells. These results indicate that the EZH2733-741
      peptide could be a promising candidate for peptide-based immunotherapy for HLA-A3
      supertype allele(+) prostate cancer patients.

PMID- 25819667
TI  - Optimal Elbow Angle for Sonographic Visualization of the Ulnar Collateral
      Ligament.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To formally examine the sonographic appearance of the elbow ulnar
      collateral ligament (UCL) at 30 degrees  versus 70 degrees  of elbow flexion in
      asymptomatic baseball pitchers. DESIGN: A prospective, cross-sectional design.
      SETTING: Sports medicine clinic in a tertiary academic medical center.
      PARTICIPANTS: Thirty asymptomatic adolescent baseball pitchers 13-18 years of age
      (mean 15.8 years), with at least 3 years of continuous pitching experience and no
      significant history of elbow pain or injury. METHODS: Static sonographic images
      of the bilateral UCLs were obtained at 30 degrees  and 70 degrees  of elbow
      flexion by a single experienced examiner. Images were anonymized and randomized
      into a slide set. Three clinicians with different levels of ultrasound experience
      reviewed the static 30 degrees  and 70 degrees  images for each elbow and chose
      their preferred image based on UCL conspicuity. The clinicians reviewed a re
      randomized slide set 1 week later. A different study co-investigator measured UCL
      cross-sectional area (CSA) on all images using ultrasound machine electronic
      calipers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Preference for the sonographic conspicuity of
      the UCL at 30 degrees  versus 70 degrees  of elbow flexion, and UCL CSA at 30
      degrees  versus 70 degrees  of flexion. RESULTS: Each clinician demonstrated a
      significant preference for UCL images obtained at 70 degrees  of flexion when
      compared to those obtained at 30 degrees  (80.3% overall preference for 70
      degrees , P < .001). There was no statistically significant effect of clinician
      experience or arm dominance on image preference. The sonographically determined
      CSA of the UCLs were on average 1.4 mm(2) greater at 70 degrees  than at 30
      degrees  of flexion (P < .001) when combining dominant and nondominant arms.
      CONCLUSIONS: Static sonographic evaluation of the UCL at 70 degrees  of elbow
      flexion should be integrated into UCL imaging protocols. Furthermore, when
      performing sonographically guided procedures targeting the UCL, clinicians should
      consider positioning the elbow at >30 degrees  of flexion to optimize UCL
      conspicuity and CSA.

PMID- 25819668
TI  - Intra-rater Reliability of Arm and Hand Muscle Strength Measurements in Persons
      With Late Effects of Polio.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Muscle weakness in the upper limb is common in persons with late
      effects of polio. To be able to measure muscle strength and follow changes over
      time, reliable measurements are needed. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the intra-rater
      reliability of isometric and isokinetic arm and hand muscle strength measurements
      in persons with late effects of polio. DESIGN: A test-retest design. SETTINGS: A
      university hospital outpatient clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-eight persons (mean
      age 68 years, SD 11 years) with late effects of polio in their upper limbs.
      METHODS: Isometric shoulder abduction, isokinetic concentric elbow flexion and
      extension, isometric elbow flexion, and isometric grip strength were measured
      twice, 14 days apart. Reliability was evaluated with the intra-class correlation
      coefficient, the mean difference between the test sessions (d-), together with
      the 95% confidence intervals for d- , the standard error of measurement (SEM and
      SEM%), the smallest real difference (SRD and SRD%), and Bland-Altman graphs. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: A fixed dynamometer (Biodex) was used to measure arm
      strength and an electronic dynamometer (GRIP-it) was used to measure grip
      strength. RESULTS: Intra-rater reliability was high, with intra-class correlation
      coefficients between 0.87 and 0.98. The SEM%, representing the smallest change
      for a group of persons, ranged from 7%-24% for all strength measurements, and the
      SRD%, representing the smallest change for an individual person, ranged from 20%
      67%. CONCLUSION: Muscle strength in the upper limbs can be reliably measured in
      persons with late effects of polio. However, the measurement errors indicate that
      the method is more suitable to detect changes in muscle strength for a group of
      persons than for an individual person.

PMID- 25819669
TI  - High school completion programs recommended to improve health equity.

PMID- 25819670
TI  - bio-samtools 2: a package for analysis and visualization of sequence and
      alignment data with SAMtools in Ruby.
AB  - MOTIVATION: bio-samtools is a Ruby language interface to SAMtools, the highly
      popular library that provides utilities for manipulating high-throughput sequence
      alignments in the Sequence Alignment/Map format. Advances in Ruby, now allow us
      to improve the analysis capabilities and increase bio-samtools utility, allowing
      users to accomplish a large amount of analysis using a very small amount of code.
      bio-samtools can also be easily developed to include additional SAMtools methods
      and hence stay current with the latest SAMtools releases. RESULTS: We have added
      new Ruby classes for the MPileup and Variant Call Format (VCF) data formats
      emitted by SAMtools and introduced more analysis methods for variant analysis,
      including alternative allele calculation and allele frequency calling for SNPs.
      Our new implementation of bio-samtools also ensures that all the functionality of
      the SAMtools library is now supported and that bio-samtools can be easily
      extended to include future changes in SAMtools. bio-samtools 2 also provides
      methods that allow the user to directly produce visualization of alignment data.

PMID- 25819671
TI  - Outlier detection at the transcriptome-proteome interface.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In high-throughput experimental biology, it is widely acknowledged
      that while expression levels measured at the levels of transcriptome and the
      corresponding proteome do not, in general, correlate well, messenger RNA levels
      are used as convenient proxies for protein levels. Our interest is in developing
      data-driven computational models that can bridge the gap between these two levels
      of measurement at which different mechanisms of regulation may act on different
      molecular species causing any observed lack of correlations. To this end, we
      build data-driven predictors of protein levels using mRNA levels and known
      proxies of translation efficiencies as covariates. Previous work showed that in
      such a setting, outliers with respect to the model are reliable candidates for
      post-translational regulation. RESULTS: Here, we present and compare two novel
      formulations of deriving a protein concentration predictor from which outliers
      may be extracted in a systematic manner. The first approach, outlier rejecting
      regression, allows explicit specification of a certain fraction of the data as
      outliers. In a regression setting, this is a non-convex optimization problem
      which we solve by deriving a difference of convex functions algorithm (DCA). With
      post-translationally regulated proteins, one expects their concentrations to be
      affected primarily by disruption of protein stability. Our second algorithm
      exploits this observation by minimizing an asymmetric loss using quantile
      regression and extracts outlier proteins whose measured concentrations are lower
      than what a genome-wide regression would predict. We validate the two approaches
      on a dataset of yeast transcriptome and proteome. Functional annotation check on
      detected outliers demonstrate that the methods are able to identify post
      translationally regulated genes with high statistical confidence.

PMID- 25819672
TI  - Global optimization-based inference of chemogenomic features from drug-target
      interactions.
AB  - MOTIVATION: Gaining insight into chemogenomic drug-target interactions, such as
      those involving the substructures of synthetic drugs and protein domains, is
      important in fragment-based drug discovery and drug repositioning. Previous
      studies evaluated the interactions locally, thereby ignoring the competitive
      effects of different substructures or domains, but this could lead to high false
      positive estimation, calling for a computational method that presents more
      predictive power. RESULTS: A statistical model, termed Global optimization-based
      InFerence of chemogenomic features from drug-Target interactions, or GIFT, is
      proposed herein to evaluate substructure-domain interactions globally such that
      all substructure-domain contributions to drug-target interaction are analyzed
      simultaneously. Combinations of different chemical substructures were included
      since they may function as one unit. When compared to previous methods, GIFT
      showed better interpretive performance, and performance for the recovery of drug
      target interactions was good. Among 53 known drug-domain interactions, 81% were
      accurately predicted by GIFT. Eighteen of the top 100 predicted combined
      substructure-domain interactions had corresponding drug-target structures in the
      Protein Data Bank database, and 15 out of the 18 had been proved. GIFT was then
      implemented to predict substructure-domain interactions based on drug
      repositioning. For example, the anticancer activities of tazarotene, adapalene,
      acitretin and raloxifene were identified. In summary, GIFT is a global
      chemogenomic inference approach and offers fresh insight into drug-target
      interactions.

PMID- 25819673
TI  - Overlap and diversity in antimicrobial peptide databases: compiling a non
      redundant set of sequences.
AB  - MOTIVATION: The large variety of antimicrobial peptide (AMP) databases developed
      to date are characterized by a substantial overlap of data and similarity of
      sequences. Our goals are to analyze the levels of redundancy for all available
      AMP databases and use this information to build a new non-redundant sequence
      database. For this purpose, a new software tool is introduced. RESULTS: A
      comparative study of 25 AMP databases reveals the overlap and diversity among
      them and the internal diversity within each database. The overlap analysis shows
      that only one database (Peptaibol) contains exclusive data, not present in any
      other, whereas all sequences in the LAMP_Patent database are included in
      CAMP_Patent. However, the majority of databases have their own set of unique
      sequences, as well as some overlap with other databases. The complete set of non
      duplicate sequences comprises 16 990 cases, which is almost half of the total
      number of reported peptides. On the other hand, the diversity analysis identifies
      the most and least diverse databases and proves that all databases exhibit some
      level of redundancy. Finally, we present a new parallel-free software, named
      Dover Analyzer, developed to compute the overlap and diversity between any number
      of databases and compile a set of non-redundant sequences. These results are
      useful for selecting or building a suitable representative set of AMPs, according
      to specific needs.

PMID- 25819674
TI  - Power and sample-size estimation for microbiome studies using pairwise distances
      and PERMANOVA.
AB  - MOTIVATION: The variation in community composition between microbiome samples,
      termed beta diversity, can be measured by pairwise distance based on either
      presence-absence or quantitative species abundance data. PERMANOVA, a permutation
      based extension of multivariate analysis of variance to a matrix of pairwise
      distances, partitions within-group and between-group distances to permit
      assessment of the effect of an exposure or intervention (grouping factor) upon
      the sampled microbiome. Within-group distance and exposure/intervention effect
      size must be accurately modeled to estimate statistical power for a microbiome
      study that will be analyzed with pairwise distances and PERMANOVA. RESULTS: We
      present a framework for PERMANOVA power estimation tailored to marker-gene
      microbiome studies that will be analyzed by pairwise distances, which includes:
      (i) a novel method for distance matrix simulation that permits modeling of within
      group pairwise distances according to pre-specified population parameters; (ii) a
      method to incorporate effects of different sizes within the simulated distance
      matrix; (iii) a simulation-based method for estimating PERMANOVA power from
      simulated distance matrices; and (iv) an R statistical software package that
      implements the above. Matrices of pairwise distances can be efficiently simulated
      to satisfy the triangle inequality and incorporate group-level effects, which are
      quantified by the adjusted coefficient of determination, omega-squared (omega2).
      From simulated distance matrices, available PERMANOVA power or necessary sample
      size can be estimated for a planned microbiome study.

PMID- 25819675
TI  - ExaML version 3: a tool for phylogenomic analyses on supercomputers.
AB  - MOTIVATION: Phylogenies are increasingly used in all fields of medical and
      biological research. Because of the next generation sequencing revolution,
      datasets used for conducting phylogenetic analyses grow at an unprecedented pace.
      We present ExaML version 3, a dedicated production-level code for inferring
      phylogenies on whole-transcriptome and whole-genome alignments using
      supercomputers. RESULTS: We introduce several improvements and extensions to
      ExaML: Extensions of substitution models and supported data types, the
      integration of a novel load balance algorithm as well as a parallel I/O
      optimization that significantly improve parallel efficiency, and a production
      level implementation for Intel MIC-based hardware platforms.

PMID- 25819676
TI  - The role of laparoscopy in staging of different gynaecological cancers.
AB  - Apart from cervical and vaginal cancers that are staged by clinical examination,
      most gynaecological cancers are staged surgically. Not only can pelvic and para
      aortic lymphadenectomy offer accurate staging information that helps determine
      patients' prognosis and hence their treatment plan, but it may also provide a
      therapeutic effect under certain circumstances. In the past, such a procedure
      required a big laparotomy incision. With the advent of laparoscopic lighting and
      instrument, laparoscopic lymphadenectomy became popular since the late 1980s.
      Dargent et al. published the first report on laparoscopic staging in cervical
      cancers, and many studies then followed. To date, there are numerous case series
      and trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic surgery in managing
      gynaecological cancers. In general, compared with laparotomy, laparoscopic
      lymphadenectomy has less intraoperative blood loss and post-operative pain, fewer
      wound complications, shorter length of hospital stay and more speedy recovery.
      However, this is at the expense of longer operative time. The incidence of port
      site metastasis is extremely low, although it may be higher in advanced ovarian
      cancer. Preliminary data showed that there was no significant effect on
      recurrence and survival, but long-term data are lacking. In this article, the
      roles of laparoscopy in staging of uterine, cervical and ovarian cancers, the
      three most common gynaecological cancers, will be reviewed. Novel technologies
      such as robot-assisted surgery, single-port surgery and sentinel node biopsy will
      also be discussed.

PMID- 25819677
TI  - Autogenous bone and a bovine bone substitute for ridge preservation: preliminary
      clinical and histologic findings.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tooth extractions lead to morphological changes of the alveolar
      ridge. For oral rehabilitation sufficient bone volume of the alveolar ridge is
      required. This clinical study compared the ability of Bio-Oss(r) Collagen to
      autogenous bone to preserve bone volume after tooth extraction. METHODS: A total
      of 17 patients with 20 extraction sites were examined. After extraction, 10
      sockets were each filled with either autogenous bone or Bio-Oss(r) Collagen and
      covered with a resorbable membrane. The width of the alveolar ridge was measured
      postoperatively, and after 4 and 6 months respectively. Prior to implant
      insertion, a bone biopsy was taken from the grafted sites and evaluated
      histologically. RESULTS: The width of the alveolar ridge in the Bio-Oss(r)
      Collagen group decreased about 5.33 +/- 6.62% after 4 months and 9.45 +/- 10.51%
      after 6 months. The reduction in the group augmented with autogenous bone was
      14.31 +/- 21.41% after 4 months and 19.17 +/- 8.38% after 6 months. No
      statistically significant differences were observed. The histological examination
      showed comparable area fractions of total bone in both groups (Bio-Oss(r)
      Collagen: 59.99 +/- 24.23%; autogenous bone: 61.55 +/- 25.13%; p = 1.0).
      CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated that autogenous bone and Bio-Oss(r)
      Collagen are suitable for ridge preservation. However, both techniques could not
      entirely prevent tissue volume loss.

PMID- 25819678
TI  - Case of atrial fibrillation induced by interferon beta treatment for melanoma.

PMID- 25819679
TI  - Neurodegenerative changes in patients with clinical history of bipolar disorders.
AB  - Neurodegeneration in bipolar disorder (BPD) is poorly understood. Therefore, the
      current study was designed to assess the immunohistochemical changes in
      neurodegenerative markers in patients with BPD. Eleven consecutive autopsy cases
      diagnosed with BPD were analyzed. Sections were obtained from archival paraffin
      blocks of representative areas and stained using conventional methods, as well as
      immunostained with several antibodies to screen for neurodegenerative diseases.
      Age- and non-argyrophilic grains (AGs) degeneration matched controls were
      selected for each case. Clinical information was retrospectively collected from
      medical charts. All patients were men, and the average age of death was 70 years.
      Neuropathological diagnoses included dementia with grains (2), argyrophilic grain
      disease (2), corticobasal degeneration (CBD, 1), Lewy body disease (1), hypoxic
      encephalopathy (1) and cerebral infarction (1). All cases showed AGs to various
      degrees. Three patients died in their 50s; one demonstrated dementia with Lewy
      bodies, while the other two showed abundant AGs in the thalamus and amygdala. Of
      the three patients who died in their 60s, one showed AGs preferentially in the
      thalamus and amygdala, while the others demonstrated limbic predominance. The
      patients who died in/after their 70s demonstrated AGs similar to controls, except
      for the patient with CBD. Our data provides potentiality that neurodegenerative
      diseases may be an underlying pathology in certain cases of BPD. 

PMID- 25819680
TI  - Measuring cavitation and its cleaning effect.
AB  - The advantages and limitations of techniques for measuring the presence and
      amount of cavitation, and for quantifying the removal of contaminants, are
      provided. After reviewing chemical, physical, and biological studies, a universal
      cause for the cleaning effects of bubbles cannot yet be concluded. An "ideal
      sensor" with high spatial and temporal resolution is proposed. Such sensor could
      be used to investigate bubble jetting, shockwaves, streaming, and even chemical
      effects, by correlating cleaning processes with cavitation effects, generated by
      hydrodynamics, lasers or ultrasound. 

PMID- 25819681
TI  - Facile synthesis of gallium oxide hydroxide by ultrasonic irradiation of molten
      gallium in water.
AB  - This work describes the single-step synthesis of GaO(OH) by ultrasonic
      irradiation of molten gallium in warm water. The ultrasonic energy causes
      dispersion of the liquid gallium into micrometric spheres, as-well-as
      decomposition of some of the water into H and OH radicals. The OH radicals and
      the dissolved oxygen react on the surface of the gallium spheres to form
      crystallites of GaO(OH). These crystallites prevent the re-coalescence of the
      gallium spheres, and as the reaction proceeds all the gallium is converted into
      crystalline GaO(OH). 

PMID- 25819682
TI  - Allogeneic adipose-derived stem cells regenerate bone in a critical-sized ulna
      segmental defect.
AB  - Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) with multilineage potential can be induced into
      osteoblasts, adipocytes and chondrocytes. ASCs as seed cell are widely used in
      the field of tissue engineering, but most studies either use autologous cells as
      the source or an immunodeficient animal as the host. In our present study, we
      explored the feasibility of applying allogeneic ASCs and demineralized bone
      matrix (DBM) scaffolds for repairing tubular bone defects without using
      immunosuppressive therapy. Allogeneic ASCs were expanded and seeded on DBM
      scaffolds and induced to differentiate along the osteogenic lineage. Eight
      Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were used in this study and bilateral critical-sized
      defects (8 mm) of the ulna were created and divided into two groups: with ASC-DBM
      constructs or DBM alone. The systemic immune response and the extent of bone
      healing were evaluated post-operatively. Twenty-four weeks after implantation,
      digital radiography (DR) testing showed that new bones had formed in the
      experimental group. By contrast, no bone tissue formation was observed in the
      control group. This study demonstrated that allogeneic ASCs could promote bone
      regeneration and repair tubular bone defects combined with DBM by histologically
      typical bone without systemic immune response.

PMID- 25819683
TI  - Anti-inflammatory and wound healing potential of cashew apple juice (Anacardium
      occidentale L.) in mice.
AB  - Cashew apple is a tropical pseudofruit consumed as juice due to its excellent
      nutritional and sensory properties. In spite of being well known for its
      important antioxidant properties, the cashew apple has not been thoroughly
      investigated for its therapeutic potential. Thereby, this study evaluated the
      antioxidant capacity, anti-inflammatory, and wound-healing activities of cashew
      apple juice. Juices from ripe and immature cashew apples were analyzed for
      antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and wound-healing properties. Those were
      evaluated in murine models of xylene-induced ear edema and wound excision. Swiss
      mice were treated with cashew juice by gavage. Edema thickness was measured and
      skin lesions were analyzed by planimetry and histology. Both antioxidant content
      and total antioxidant activity were higher in ripe cashew apple juice (RCAJ) than
      in unripe cashew apple juice (UNCAJ). The UNCAJ presented the main anti
      inflammatory activity by a significant inhibition of ear edema (66.5%) when
      compared to RCAJ (10%). Moreover, UNCAJ also showed the best result for wound
      contraction (86.31%) compared to RCAJ (67.54%). Despite of higher antioxidant
      capacity, RCAJ did not promote better anti-inflammatory, and healing responses,
      which may be explained by the fact that treatment increased antioxidants level
      leading to a redox "imbalance" turning down the inflammatory response modulation
      exerted by reactive oxygen species (ROS). The results suggest that UNCAJ presents
      a greater therapeutic activity due to a synergistic effect of its phytochemical
      components, which improve the immunological mechanisms as well as an optimal
      balance between ROS and antioxidants leading to a better wound healing process. 

PMID- 25819684
TI  - A budding yeast's perspective on aging: the shape I'm in.
AB  - Aging is exemplified by progressive, deleterious changes that increase the
      probability of death. However, while the effects of age are easy to recognize,
      identification of the processes involved has proved to be much more difficult.
      Somewhat surprisingly, research using the budding yeast has had a profound impact
      on our current understanding of the mechanisms involved in aging. Herein, we
      examine the biological significance and implications surrounding the observation
      that genetic pathways involved in the modulation of aging and the determination
      of lifespan in yeast are highly complicated and conserved. 

PMID- 25819685
TI  - Efficacy of linezolid, teicoplanin, and vancomycin in prevention of an
      experimental polytetrafluoroethylene graft infection model caused by methicillin
      resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of linezolid,
      teicoplanin, and vancomycin in prevention of prosthetic vascular graft infections
      in a vascular graft infection model. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty rats were
      divided into 5 groups. A polytetrafluoroethylene graft was implanted on the back
      of each rat. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain was
      inoculated into all rats except Group 1. Group 2 was not given any treatment,
      Group 3 received linezolid, Group 4 received vancomycin, and Group 5 received
      teicoplanin. The grafts were removed for microbiological and histological
      examinations on the 7th day. In addition, C-reactive protein and prealbumin
      levels and leukocyte counts in obtained blood specimens were determined. RESULTS:
      Group 1 did not have infection. Group 2 had bacteria 5.7 * 10(4) CFU/cm(2). Group
      3 and Group 4 had less bacterial growth. Group 5 had no bacterial growth. The
      number of bacteria was significantly higher in Group 2 than in the other
      experimental groups and the control group (p<0.001). Although there was no
      bacterial growth in Group 5, it did not significantly differ from Group 3 and
      Group 4. Group 2 had a significantly higher CRP level and leukocyte count and a
      significantly lower prealbumin level than the other groups. CONCLUSIONS:
      Linezolid, teicoplanin, and vancomycin are effective in prevention of prosthetic
      vascular graft infections.

PMID- 25819686
TI  - Development and evaluation of a polydiacetylene based biosensor for the detection
      of H5 influenza virus.
AB  - H5N1 avian influenza has caused serious economic losses as well as posed
      significant threats to public health, agriculture and wildlife. It is important
      to develop a rapid, sensitive and specific detection platform suitable for
      disease surveillance and control. In this study, a highly sensitive, specific and
      rapid biosensor based on polydiacetylene was developed for detecting H5 influenza
      virus. The polydiacetylene based biosensor was produced from an optimized ratio
      of 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid and 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine,
      with the anti-H5 influenza antibody embedded onto the vesicle surface. The
      optimized polydiacetylene vesicle could detect H5 influenza virus sensitively
      with a detection limit of 0.53 copies/MUL, showing a dramatic blue-to-red color
      change that can be observed directly by the naked eye and recorded by a UV-vis
      spectrometer. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the biosensor were
      also evaluated. The sensor could specifically differentiate H5 influenza virus
      from H3 influenza virus, Newcastle disease virus and porcine reproductive and
      respiratory syndrome virus. Detection using tracheal swabs was in accord with
      virus isolation results, and comparable to the RT-PCR method. These results offer
      the possibility and potential of simple polydiacetylene based bio-analytical
      method for influenza surveillance.

PMID- 25819687
TI  - Determination of anti-adeno-associated virus vector neutralizing antibody titer
      with an in vitro reporter system.
AB  - Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are a platform of choice for in vivo gene
      transfer applications. However, neutralizing antibodies (NAb) to AAV can be found
      in humans and some animal species as a result of exposure to the wild-type virus,
      and high-titer NAb develop following AAV vector administration. In some
      conditions, anti-AAV NAb can block transduction with AAV vectors even when
      present at low titers, thus requiring prescreening before vector administration.
      Here we describe an improved in vitro, cell-based assay for the determination of
      NAb titer in serum or plasma samples. The assay is easy to setup and sensitive
      and, depending on the purpose, can be validated to support clinical development
      of gene therapy products based on AAV vectors. 

PMID- 25819688
TI  - Urinary albumin and transferrin as early diagnostic markers of chronic kidney
      disease.
AB  - Feline renal diseases are increasingly noted in veterinary practice. It is
      important to diagnose and identify the pathological basis of renal dysfunction
      accurately at an early stage, but there are only a few reports on this area in
      clinical veterinary medicine. We investigated the efficacy of measurement of
      urinary albumin (u-Alb) and urinary transferrin (u-Tf) for early diagnosis using
      5-ul urine samples collected noninvasively by catheterization from normal (IRIS
      stage I) cats and cats with stage I chronic kidney disease (CKD). The u-Alb
      levels in normal and stage I CKD cats were 6.0 +/- 4.5 and 11.2 +/- 8.4 mg/dl,
      respectively, and the u-Tf levels were 0.09 +/- 0.42 and 0.52 +/- 0.79 mg/dl,
      respectively. Based on ROC curve analysis, the sensitivity and specificity of u
      Alb and u-Tf were higher than those of the currently used biomarker, the plasma
      creatinine level. The sensitivity of u-Alb was higher than that of u-Tf, whereas
      the specificity of u-Tf was higher than that of u-Alb. The validity of the
      threshold albumin level (20 mg/dl) was confirmed by measurements using SDS-PAGE.
      Since leakage of u-Tf in urine precedes leakage of u-Alb, inclusion of u-Tf in
      biochemistry tests may be appropriate for IRIS staging as a diagnostic marker of
      early diagnosis of renal disorder in cats.

PMID- 25819689
TI  - Five scientists win the 2015 Gairdner International Awards.

PMID- 25819690
TI  - Peter Piot wins 2015 Canada Gairdner Global Health Award.

PMID- 25819692
TI  - Eliglustat for Gaucher's disease: trippingly on the tongue.

PMID- 25819691
TI  - Eliglustat compared with imiglucerase in patients with Gaucher's disease type 1
      stabilised on enzyme replacement therapy: a phase 3, randomised, open-label, non
      inferiority trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The mainstay of treatment for Gaucher's disease type 1 is alternate
      week infusion of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). We investigated whether
      patients stable on such treatment would remain so after switching to oral
      eliglustat, a selective inhibitor of glucosylceramide synthase. METHODS: In this
      phase 3, randomised, multinational, open-label, non-inferiority trial, we
      enrolled adults (aged >=18 years) who had received ERT for 3 years or more for
      Gaucher's disease. Patients were randomly allocated 2:1 at 39 clinics (stratified
      by ERT dose; block sizes of four; computer-generated centrally) to receive either
      oral eliglustat or imiglucerase infusions for 12 months. Participants and
      investigators were aware of treatment assignment, but the central reader who
      assessed organ volumes was masked. The composite primary efficacy endpoint was
      percentage of patients whose haematological variables and organ volumes remained
      stable for 12 months (ie, haemoglobin decrease not more than 15 g/L, platelet
      count decrease not more than 25%, spleen volume increase not more than 25%, and
      liver volume increase not more than 20%, in multiples of normal from baseline).
      The non-inferiority margin was 25% for eliglustat relative to imiglucerase,
      assessed in all patients who completed 12 months of treatment. This trial is
      registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00943111, and EudraCT, number 2008
      005223-28. FINDINGS: Between Sept 15, 2009, and Nov 9, 2011, we randomly
      allocated 106 (66%) patients to eliglustat and 54 (34%) to imiglucerase. In the
      per-protocol population, 84 (85%) of 99 patients who completed eliglustat
      treatment and 44 (94%) of 47 patients who completed imiglucerase treatment met
      the composite primary endpoint (between-group difference -8.8%; 95% CI -17.6 to
      4.2). The lower bound of the 95% CI of -17.6% was within the prespecified
      threshold for non-inferiority. Dropouts occurred due to palpitations (one patient
      on eliglustat), myocardial infarction (one patient on eliglustat), and psychotic
      disorder (one patient on imiglucerase). No deaths occurred. 97 (92%) of 106
      patients in the eliglustat group had treatment-emergent adverse events, as did 42
      (79%) of 53 in the imiglucerase group (mostly mild or moderate in severity).
      INTERPRETATION: Oral eliglustat maintained haematological and organ volume
      stability in adults with Gaucher's disease type 1 already controlled by
      intravenous ERT and could be a useful therapeutic option. FUNDING: Genzyme, a
      Sanofi company.

PMID- 25819693
TI  - The relationship between academic performance and recreation use among first-year
      medical students.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Self-care activities, including exercise, may be neglected by
      medical students in response to increasing academic demands. Low levels of
      exercise among medical students may have ripple effects on patient care and
      counseling. This study investigates the reciprocal role of recreation use and
      academic performance among first-year medical students. METHODS: We combined
      retrospective administrative data from four cohorts of first-year medical
      students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2006 to 2010
      (n=408). We estimated regression models to clarify the role of changes in
      recreation use before examinations on changes in academic performance, and vice
      versa. RESULTS: The use of recreation facilities by first-year medical students
      was highly skewed. We found that changes in recreation use before an exam were
      positively associated with changes in exam performance, and vice versa. Students
      who make large decreases in their recreation use are likely to decrease their
      exam scores, rather than increase them. DISCUSSION: Students who make decreases
      in their recreation, on average, are likely to decrease their exam scores. These
      findings suggest that medical students may be able to boost their achievement
      through wellness interventions, even if they are struggling with exams. We find
      no evidence that decreasing wellness activities will help improve exam
      performance.

PMID- 25819695
TI  - The current status of prophylactic replacement therapy in children and adults
      with haemophilia.
AB  - Initiating prophylactic treatment at an early age is considered to be the optimal
      form of therapy for a child with haemophilia A or B. The pioneering long term
      experiences of prophylactic treatment from Sweden and The Netherlands
      demonstrated the benefit of prophylaxis in retrospective and observational
      studies. Decades later, these benefits were confirmed in a randomized controlled
      study in USA. We review the current status of prophylactic replacement therapy of
      haemophilia in children, adolescents, adults and the elderly. Prophylaxis should
      begin at an early age and there are arguments for continuing it into adulthood.
      The dose of prophylaxis is dependent on the goal of treatment, economic resources
      and venous access and should be tailored individually. Starting the first
      exposures to clotting factor concentrates as prophylactic treatment, instead of
      on-demand in response to a bleed, may decrease the frequency of inhibitors in
      patients with haemophilia A. Novel longer-acting products are being introduced
      that could be helpful for patients with difficult venous access and enable higher
      trough levels. 

PMID- 25819694
TI  - Human monoclonal antibodies targeting the haemagglutinin glycoprotein can
      neutralize H7N9 influenza virus.
AB  - The recently identified avian-originated influenza H7N9 virus causes severe
      pulmonary disease and may lead to death in humans. Currently, treatment options
      for the prevention and control of fatal H7N9 infections in humans remain limited.
      Here we characterize two human monoclonal antibodies (HuMAbs), HNIgGA6 and
      HNIgGB5, by screening a Fab antibody phage library derived from patients who
      recovered from H7N9 infection. Both antibodies exhibit high neutralizing activity
      against H7N9 virus in cells. Two amino acids in the receptor-binding site, 186V
      and 226L, are crucial for the binding of these two HuMAbs to viral haemagglutinin
      antigens. Prophylaxis with HNIgGA6 and HNIgGB5 confers significant immunity
      against H7N9 virus in a mouse model and significantly reduces the pulmonary virus
      titre. When administered post infection, therapeutic doses of the HuMAbs also
      provide robust protection against lethality. These antibodies might represent a
      potential alternative or adjunct to H7N9 pandemic interventions. 

PMID- 25819696
TI  - A comparative analysis between laparoscopy and open colectomy: assessment of
      perioperative and oncological outcomes.
AB  - AIM: Aim of the study was to compare two groups of patients affected by
      colorectal adenocarcinoma that underwent to open colectomy and laparoscopic
      colectomy respectively, highlighting the advantage and problems. MATERIAL OF
      STUDY: This is a retrospective analysis. Between January 2003 and December 2006,
      54 patients who underwent colectomy were recruited. Of these, 26 patients
      underwent open colectomy, and 28 laparoscopy. RESULTS: For open colectomy the
      average duration of surgery was 177.9 minutes (surgical time) and 280.4 minutes
      (time of operating room) with a minimum of 110 and a maximum of 360 minutes, with
      significant differences according to type of surgery performed and the patient's
      clinical history. For laparoscopy the average duration was 293 minutes, (range
      135 - 520), with significant differences depending on the portion of the
      intestinal tract removed. DISCUSSION: The comparison of two different surgical
      techniques, laparoscopic and open colectomy revealed some differences. The
      duration of the resection was greater for laparoscopy when compared to the
      traditional technique. CONCLUSIONS: Both approaches are technically feasible,
      safe and oncologically correct. Laparoscopic technique shows a much more
      favorable outcome in terms of pain, absence of extensive scarring, the incidence
      of incisional hernias and hospital stay -surgery compared with surgery
      laparotomy.

PMID- 25819697
TI  - Provision of lipid-based nutrient supplements to Honduran children increases
      their dietary macro- and micronutrient intake without displacing other foods.
AB  - Inadequate energy intake and poor diet quality are important causes of chronic
      child undernutrition. Strategies for improving diet quality using lipid-based
      nutrient supplements (LNS) are currently being tested in several countries. To
      date, information on children's dietary intakes during LNS use is available only
      from Africa. In this study, we collected 24-h dietary recalls at baseline, 3, 6,
      9 and 12 months on Honduran children (n = 298) participating in a cluster
      randomised trial of LNS. Generalised estimating equations were used to examine
      differences in number of servings of 12 food groups in the LNS and control arms,
      and multi-level mixed effects models were used to compare macro- and
      micronutrient intakes. Models accounted for clustering and adjusted for child's
      age, season and breastfeeding status. Mean daily servings of 12 food groups did
      not differ by study arm at baseline and remained similar throughout the study
      with the exception of groups that were partially or entirely supplied by LNS
      (nuts and nut butters, fats, and sweets). Baseline intakes of energy, fat,
      carbohydrates, protein, folate and vitamin A, but not vitamin B12, iron and zinc
      were lower in the LNS than control arm. The change in all macro- and
      micronutrients from baseline to each study visit was larger for the LNS arm than
      the control, except for carbohydrates from baseline to 9 months. These findings
      indicate that LNS improved the macro- and micronutrient intakes of young non
      malnourished Honduran children without replacing other foods in their diet. 

PMID- 25819698
TI  - Using the Electronic Health Record in Nursing Research: Challenges and
      Opportunities.
AB  - Changes in the patient record from the paper to the electronic health record
      format present challenges and opportunities for the nurse researcher. Current use
      of data from the electronic health record is in a state of flux. Novel data
      analytic techniques and massive data sets provide new opportunities for nursing
      science. Realization of a strong electronic data output future relies on meeting
      challenges of system use and operability, data presentation, and privacy. Nurse
      researchers need to rethink aspects of proposal development. Joining ongoing
      national efforts aimed at creating usable data output is encouraged as a means to
      affect system design. Working to address challenges and embrace opportunities
      will help grow the science in a way that answers important patient care
      questions. 

PMID- 25819699
TI  - Nurses' Use of Computerized Clinical Guidelines to Improve Patient Safety in
      Hospitals.
AB  - Computerized clinical guidelines are frequently used to translate research into
      evidence-based behavioral practices and to improve patient outcomes. The purpose
      of this integrative review is to summarize the factors influencing nurses' use of
      computerized clinical guidelines and the effects of nurses' use of computerized
      clinical guidelines on patient safety improvements in hospitals. The Embase,
      Medline Complete, and Cochrane databases were searched for relevant literature
      published from 2000 to January 2013. The matrix method was used, and a total of
      16 papers were included in the final review. The studies were assessed for
      quality with the Critical Appraisal Skills Program. The studies focused on
      nurses' adherence to guidelines and on improved patient care and patient outcomes
      as benefits of using computerized clinical guidelines. The nurses' use of
      computerized clinical guidelines demonstrated improvements in care processes;
      however, the evidence for an effect of computerized clinical guidelines on
      patient safety remains limited. 

PMID- 25819700
TI  - Naltrexone-facilitated buprenorphine discontinuation: a feasibility trial.
AB  - RATIONALE: Buprenorphine is an effective and popular treatment for opioid
      dependence. It remains unclear, however, when or how to transition stable
      buprenorphine-maintained individuals to complete abstinence. This trial
      investigates the feasibility of using naltrexone to facilitate buprenorphine
      discontinuation in stable individuals who had tolerated a taper to 2mg or less
      but were unable to terminate entirely due to withdrawal-related distress.
      METHODS: The sample consisted of 6 buprenorphine-maintained individuals in
      sustained full remission, and who had tolerated a taper but were unable to
      discontinue altogether. A rapid induction procedure was performed, which included
      supervised buprenorphine discontinuation, oral naltrexone titration with a
      starting dose of 6.25mg, and administration of long-acting injectable naltrexone.
      Participants were followed weekly for 5weeks after the injection, with telephone
      follow-up occurring at 6months. RESULTS: The rapid induction procedure was well
      tolerated. There was no observed or reported clinical worsening over the course
      of study participation. Notably, no participants experienced an increase in
      Subjective Opioid Withdrawal Scale (SOWS) scores after the first oral dose of NTX
      as compared to day 1 (24hours after last dose of buprenorphine); instead, SOWS
      scores decreased between days 1 and 7 (p=0.043). All participants were able to
      discontinue buprenorphine and to remain opioid free during the trial and at
      follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary trial represented for all participants
      the first successful attempt at buprenorphine discontinuation. Further research
      is needed to better understand if naltrexone is effective at facilitating
      buprenorphine discontinuation, as well as the feasibility of a sequential
      approach (buprenorphine stabilization to naltrexone) for opioid use disorders.

PMID- 25819702
TI  - 4,4'-DMAR: chemistry, pharmacology and toxicology of a new synthetic stimulant of
      abuse.
AB  - In recent years, the spread of new psychoactive substances has dramatically
      increased in term of availability of both number of compounds and chemical
      families. In November 2012, 4,4'-Dimethylaminorex (4,4'-DMAR), a novel synthetic
      stimulant, was first detected in the Netherlands. Between June 2013 and June
      2014, thirty-one deaths associated with the consumption of this new drug have
      been registered across Europe. In this MiniReview, we have summarized the
      chemical, pharmacological and toxicological information about this new legal
      high. 

PMID- 25819701
TI  - Feasibility randomized controlled trial of cognitive and behavioral interventions
      for depression symptoms in patients accessing drug and alcohol treatment.
AB  - Depressed mood often co-exists with frequent drug and alcohol use. This trial
      examined the feasibility of screening, recruitment, randomization and engagement
      of drug and alcohol users in psychological interventions for depression symptoms.
      A total of 50 patients involved in community drugs and alcohol treatment (CDAT)
      were randomly allocated to behavioral activation delivered by psychological
      therapists (n = 23) or to cognitive behavioral therapy based self-help introduced
      by CDAT workers (n = 27). We examined recruitment and engagement rates, as well
      as changes in depression (PHQ-9) symptoms and changes in percent days abstinent
      (PDA within last month) at 24 weeks follow-up. The ratio of screened to recruited
      participants was 4 to 1, and the randomization schedule successfully generated 2
      groups with comparable characteristics. Follow-up was possible with 78% of
      participants post-treatment. Overall engagement in psychological interventions
      was low; only 42% of randomized participants attended at least 1 therapy session.
      Patients offered therapy appointments co-located in CDAT clinics were more likely
      to engage with treatment (odds ratio = 7.14, p = .04) compared to those offered
      appointments in community psychological care clinics. Intention-to-treat analyses
      indicated no significant between-group differences at follow-up in mean PHQ-9
      change scores (p = .59) or in PDA (p = .08). Overall, it was feasible to conduct
      a pragmatic trial within busy CDAT services, maximizing external validity of
      study results. Moderate and comparable improvements in depression symptoms over
      time were observed for participants in both treatment groups.

PMID- 25819703
TI  - Normative MRI, ultrasound and muscle functional MRI findings in the forearms of
      asymptomatic elite rowers.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Forearm injuries are common and debilitating to elite rowers. Chronic
      exertional compartment syndrome, intersection syndrome and proximal radial bone
      stress injuries have been documented in this population. This paper explores the
      imaging findings related to these conditions in asymptomatic elite rowers.
      DESIGN: Observational study. METHODS: 19 asymptomatic senior elite and under-23
      rowers currently competing at National level or above underwent ultrasound (US),
      Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and muscle functional MRI evaluation of their
      forearms. A comprehensive evaluation sheet identifying characteristics of bone
      stress, intersection syndrome and chronic exertional compartment syndrome was
      utilised based on a literature search and review by senior clinicians working
      with this population. RESULTS: Peritendinous fluid of Extensor Carpi Radialis
      Longus (n=10, 53%) or Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis (n=6, 32%) was a common
      finding on US. MRI had a higher rate of identification than US. Extensor
      Digitorum (Coeff=-1.76, 95%CI -3.04 to -0.49), Flexor Carpi Radialis (Coeff=
      2.86, 95%CI -5.35 to -0.38) and Flexor Carpi Ulnaris (Coeff=-3.31, 95%CI -5.30 to
      -1.32), Pronator Teres (Coeff=-3.94, 95%CI -6.89 to -0.99), and Supinator (Coeff=
      168, 95%CI -3.28 to -0.02) showed statistically significant changes immediately
      post-exercise. Mild proximal radial marrow hyperintensity was present (n=15,
      78.9%) with three participants (15.8%) also having mild periosteal oedema of the
      radius. CONCLUSIONS: Imaging findings commonly seen in symptomatic populations
      are observed in elite, asymptomatic rowers. Care should be taken when diagnosing
      bone stress injuries, intersection syndrome and compartment syndrome on imaging
      findings alone. Data presented can be utilised as a normative dataset for future
      case studies.

PMID- 25819704
TI  - Effects of footwear on running economy in distance runners: A meta-analytical
      review.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Previous studies reported inconsistent findings about the effects of
      footwear on running economy, which is a surrogate measure of running performance.
      This meta-analytical review compared the running economy between running in
      barefoot, minimalists, and standard running shoes. DESIGN: Meta-analysis.
      METHODS: Electronic searches on MEDLINE, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, and Cochrane
      Library databases were performed and the reference lists of the screened articles
      were also scrutinized. Two reviewers screened clinical trials that measured the
      oxygen cost of runners in different footwear conditions. RESULTS: Thirteen
      studies were selected in this meta-analysis with a total of 168 runners included.
      Barefoot running was shown to be more economic than shod running (p<0.01;
      standardized mean difference=-0.43; 95% Confidence Interval=-0.21 to -0.64;
      Z=3.96). Similar pattern was found when comparing minimalist and shoe (p<0.01;
      standardized mean difference=-0.49; 95% Confidence Interval=-0.29 to -0.70;
      Z=4.64). The observed changes were of small effect. Conversely, no significant
      difference in the metabolic cost was found between running in minimalists and
      barefoot running (p=0.45). CONCLUSIONS: Barefoot running or running in minimalist
      may require lower utilization of oxygen than shod running. Theoretically, the
      lower oxygen cost may improve long distance running performance. However, more
      than half of the runners in the included studies had previous barefoot experience
      and the findings may not apply to those habitual shod runners who are undergoing
      the transition. In addition, high risk of bias was reported in the included
      studies and quality study in the future is still warranted.

PMID- 25819705
TI  - Supporting New Zealand graduate midwives to stay in the profession: An evaluation
      of the Midwifery First Year of Practice programme.
AB  - BACKGROUND: the transition from undergraduate midwifery student to working as a
      confident midwife can be challenging for many newly qualified midwives.
      Supporting a smooth transition may have a positive impact on the confidence and
      retention of the new graduates within the workforce. In New Zealand the Midwifery
      First Year of Practice programme (MFYP) was introduced in 2007 as a structured
      programme of support for new graduate midwives for the whole of their first year
      of practice. The main components of the programme include support during clinical
      practice, provision of a funded mentor midwife chosen by the new graduate
      midwife, financial assistance for education and a requirement to undertake a
      quality assessment and reflection process at the end of the first year. AIM: the
      aim of this study was to explore the retention of new graduates in midwifery
      practice following participation in the Midwifery First Year of Practice
      programme. METHOD: data was obtained from the register of MFYP participants
      between the years 2007 and 2010. This data was cross referenced with the
      Midwifery Council of New Zealand register and workforce data for 2012. FINDINGS:
      between the years 2007 and 2010 there were 441 midwives who graduated from a
      midwifery pre-registration education programme in New Zealand. Of these 415
      participated in the MFYP programme. The majority were of New Zealand European
      ethnicity with 10% identifying as Maori. The mean age of participants reduced
      from 36.4 (SD 7.3) in 2007 to 33.4 (SD 8.1) in 2010. The overall retention rate
      for new graduate midwives who had participated in the MFYP programme was 86.3%,
      with 358 midwives still practising in 2012. CONCLUSION: there is good retention
      of new graduate midwives within New Zealand and the MFYP programme would appear
      to support retention.

PMID- 25819706
TI  - Exploration of preterm birth rates associated with different models of antenatal
      midwifery care in Scotland: Unmatched retrospective cohort analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: preterm birth represents a significant personal, clinical,
      organisational and financial burden. Strategies to reduce the preterm birth rate
      have had limited success. Limited evidence indicates that certain antenatal care
      models may offer some protection, although the causal mechanism is not
      understood. We sought to compare preterm birth rates for mixed-risk pregnant
      women accessing antenatal care organised at a freestanding midwifery unit (FMU)
      and mixed-risk pregnant women attending an obstetric unit (OU) with related
      community-based antenatal care. METHODS: unmatched retrospective 4-year Scottish
      cohort analysis (2008-2011) of mixed-risk pregnant women accessing (i) FMU
      antenatal care (n=1107); (ii) combined community-based and OU antenatal care
      (n=7567). Data were accessed via the Information and Statistics Division of the
      NHS in Scotland. Aggregates analysis and binary logistic regression were used to
      compare the cohorts' rates of preterm birth; and of spontaneous labour onset, use
      of pharmacological analgesia, unassisted vertex birth, and low birth weight. Odds
      ratios were adjusted for age, parity, deprivation score and smoking status in
      pregnancy. FINDINGS: after adjustment the 'mixed risk' FMU cohort had a
      statistically significantly reduced risk of preterm birth (5.1% [n=57] versus
      7.7% [n=583]; AOR 0.73 [95% CI 0.55-0.98]; p=0.034). Differences in these
      secondary outcome measures were also statistically significant: spontaneous
      labour onset (FMU 83.9% versus OU 74.6%; AOR 1.74 [95% CI 1.46-2.08]; p<0.001);
      minimal intrapartum analgesia (FMU 53.7% versus OU 34.4%; AOR 2.17 [95% CI 1.90
      2.49]; p<0.001); spontaneous vertex delivery (FMU 71.9% versus OU 63.5%; AOR 1.46
      [95% CI 1.32-1.78]; p<0.001). Incidence of low birth weight was not statistically
      significant after adjustment for other variables. There was no significant
      difference in the rate of perinatal or neonatal death. CONCLUSIONS: given this
      study's methodological limitations, we can only claim associations between the
      care model and or chosen outcomes. Although both cohorts were mixed risk,
      differences in risk levels could have contributed to these findings.
      Nevertheless, the significant difference in preterm birth rates in this study
      resonates with other research, including the recent Cochrane review of midwife
      led continuity models. Because of the multiplicity of risk factors for preterm
      birth we need to explore the salient features of the FMU model which may be
      contributing to this apparent protective effect. Because a randomised controlled
      trial would necessarily restrict choice to pregnant women, we feel that this
      option is problematic in exploring this further. We therefore plan to conduct a
      prospective matched cohort analysis together with a survey of unit practices and
      experiences.

PMID- 25819707
TI  - Retrospective study of the association between epidural analgesia during labour
      and complications for the newborn.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: our objective was to determine the association between epidural
      analgesia and different variables. BACKGROUND: the effect on newborns of epidural
      analgesia administered to the mother during labour remains under debate. METHOD:
      this association was retrospectively investigated in a cohort of 2399 children
      born in a Spanish public hospital. Only full-term (>37 weeks of gestation)
      deliveries were included. Other exclusion criteria were: induced delivery
      (medical or obstetric indication), elective caesarean section, or the presence of
      an important pregnancy risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, severe disease,
      toxaemia, retarded intrauterine growth, chronologically prolonged pregnancy,
      prolonged membrane rupture (>24 hours), oligoamnios, or polyhydramnios). The Mann
      Whitney U test and Fisher's exact test were applied to determine the relationship
      between variables. KEY CONCLUSIONS: Apgar index values at one minute and five
      minutes were slightly but significantly lower in neonates whose mothers had
      received epidural analgesia. Neonatal intensive care unit admission was
      significantly more frequent in the epidural versus non-epidural group.
      Resuscitation was significantly more frequent in the epidural versus non-epidural
      group. Early breast feeding onset was more frequent in the non-epidural group.
      The adverse effect of epidural analgesia on early lactation remained significant
      after adjusting for NICU admission and the need for resuscitation in a logistic
      regression analysis. Epidural analgesia may have adverse effects on newborns,
      although the risks are low, and further research is required to elucidate the
      causal nature of this relationship.

PMID- 25819708
TI  - Risk factors for predicting visual field progression in Chinese patients with
      primary open-angle glaucoma: A retrospective study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. It
      is characterized by progressive deterioration of the visual field (VF) that
      results in a complete loss of vision. This study aimed to determine the risk
      factors associated with VF progression in Chinese patients with primary open
      angle glaucoma (POAG). METHODS: We reviewed the charts of POAG patients who
      visited our clinic between July 2009 and June 2010. We included patients with
      five or more reliable VF tests using the Humphrey Field Analyzer (Humphrey
      Instruments, San Leandro, CA, USA) during a period of at least 2 years. The
      scoring system of the Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study (CIGTS) was
      used to code the VF. Progression was defined as an increasing score >=3, compared
      to the averaged baseline data. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression
      analyses were performed to identify the risk factors of VF progression. RESULTS:
      There were 92 patients (representing 92 eyes) with an average of 8.9 reliable VFs
      over a mean follow up of 5.4 years. Multivariate logistic regression showed that
      eyes with more VF tests [odds ratio (OR) = 1.500, p < 0.010] and either increased
      peak intraocular pressure (IOP) (OR = 1.235, p = 0.044) or a wide IOP range (OR =
      1.165, p = 0.041) favored VF progression. High myopia (less than -6.0 D) was not
      a risk factor (OR = 1.289, p = 0.698) for VF progression in this study.
      CONCLUSION: In addition to a greater number of VF tests, Chinese patients with
      treated POAG who experienced a high peak IOP or a wide range of IOP during follow
      up were more likely to have VF deterioration.

PMID- 25819709
TI  - Outsourcing vaccine logistics to the private sector: The evidence and lessons
      learned from the Western Cape Province in South-Africa.
AB  - With few exceptions, immunization supply chains in developing countries continue
      to face chronic difficulties in providing uninterrupted availability of potent
      vaccines up to service delivery levels, and in the most efficient manner
      possible. As these countries struggle to keep pace with an ever growing number of
      vaccines, more and more Ministries of Health are considering options of engaging
      the private sector to manage vaccine storage, handling and distribution on their
      behalf. Despite this emerging trend, there is limited evidence on the benefits or
      challenges of this option to improve public supply chain performance for national
      immunization programmes. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study aims to shed
      light on the value proposition of outsourcing by documenting the specific
      experience of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The methodology for this
      review rested on conducting two key supply chain assessments which allowed
      juxtaposing the performance of the government managed segments of the vaccine
      supply chain against those managed by the private sector. In particular, measures
      of effective vaccine management best practice and temperature control in the cold
      chain were analysed. In addition, the costs of engaging the private sector were
      analysed to get a better understanding of the economics underpinning outsourcing
      vaccine logistics. The results from this analysis confirmed some of the
      theoretical benefits of outsourcing to the private sector. Yet, if the experience
      in the Western Cape can be deemed a successful one, there are several policy and
      practice implications that developing countries should be mindful of when
      considering engaging the private sector. While outsourcing can help improve the
      performance of the vaccine supply chain, it has the potential to do the reverse
      if done incorrectly. The findings and lessons learnt from the Western Cape
      experience can serve as a step towards understanding the role of the private
      sector in immunization supply chain and logistics systems for developing
      countries. 

PMID- 25819710
TI  - Bacillus subtilis spores as adjuvants for DNA vaccines.
AB  - Recently, Bacillus subtilis spores were shown to be endowed with strong adjuvant
      capacity when co-administered with purified antigenic proteins. In the present
      study we assessed whether spores possess adjuvant properties when combined with
      DNA vaccines. We showed that B. subtilis spores promoted the activation of
      dendritic cells in vitro and induced migration of pro-inflammatory cells after
      parenteral administration to mice. Likewise, co-administration of spores with a
      DNA vaccine encoding the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) E7 protein
      enhanced the activation of antigen-specific CD8(+) T cell responses in vivo. Mice
      immunized with the DNA vaccine admixed with spores presented a protective
      immunity increase to previously implanted tumor cells, capable of expressing HPV
      16 oncoproteins. Finally, we observed that the adjuvant effect can vary
      accordingly to the number of co-administered spores which may be ascribed with
      the ability to induce. Collectively, the present results demonstrate for the
      first time that B. subtilis spores can also confer adjuvant effects to DNA
      vaccines. 

PMID- 25819711
TI  - Meningococcal C conjugate age-dependant long-term loss of effectiveness.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Although different epidemiological studies have assessed
      meningococcal C conjugate vaccine effectiveness within 1 and >1 year since
      vaccination, none of them evaluated long-term effectiveness. In order to assess
      if epidemiological data correlates with the findings described in seroprevalence
      studies we evaluated long-term vaccine effectiveness over time, up to 10 years
      since vaccination. METHODS: Cases targeted by vaccination programs and notified
      to the Spanish Surveillance System between 2001 and 2013 were included in the
      study. Vaccine effectiveness was estimated using the screening method.
      Relationship between vaccine effectiveness and time since vaccination was
      explored using point estimates, simple logistic regression or restricted cubic
      splines logistic regression model for all and for those vaccinated at <1, 1-11
      and at 12-19 years of age. RESULTS: From 345 confirmed cases reported in the
      period and targeted by vaccination programs, 125 (36.23%) were vaccine failures.
      Proportion of vaccine failures decreased with age of vaccination: 63.97% at <1
      year; 36.84% at 1-11 years; and 3.88% at 12-19 years. Using the best model for
      each group, vaccine effectiveness decreased from 99.12% to 90.85% (%change=-8.3%)
      for all; from 99.04% to 48.60% (%change=-50.9%) for those vaccinated at <1 years
      and from 99.45% to 90.18% (%change=-9.3%) for those vaccinated at 1-11 years
      after 10 years since vaccination. For those vaccinated at 12-19 years no changes
      were observed in vaccine effectiveness after 10 years (p=0.968). CONCLUSIONS:
      After 10 years, vaccine effectiveness decreased by 50% in those vaccinated at <1
      year, while those vaccinated with one dose at 12-19 years showed no changes.
      Vaccine failures occurred early after vaccination and more frequently in those
      vaccinated at younger ages. Vaccination at >=12 years seems to be related to a
      low number of vaccine failures and a higher and endurable protection over time.

PMID- 25819712
TI  - Feature-specific transition from positive mismatch response to mismatch
      negativity in early infancy: mismatch responses to vowels and initial consonants.
AB  - This study investigated how phonological saliency, deviance size, and maturation
      affect mismatch responses (MMRs) in early infancy. MMRs to Mandarin vowels and
      initial consonants were measured using a multi-deviant oddball paradigm in
      adults, newborns, and 6-month-olds. The vowel condition consisted of Mandarin
      syllable da as the standard, du as the large deviant and di as small deviant. As
      for initial consonant condition, we took syllable ba as standard, ga as large
      deviant, and ba as small deviant. While adults showed typical mismatch
      negativities (MMNs), newborns demonstrated broad positive MMRs (P-MMRs) to both
      initial consonants and vowels. For 6-month-olds, deviance size affected the
      polarity of MMRs to vowels. The large deviant du/da contrast elicited an adult
      like MMN, while the small deviant di/da contrast elicited a P-MMR. Initial
      consonant changes elicited only P-MMRs, regardless of deviance size. In summary,
      MMRs to vowels switched from P-MMR at birth to MMN at 6 months. However, the
      polarity transition was not found for MMRs to initial consonants. The
      developmental trajectories of MMRs to vowels and initial consonants further
      support the phonological saliency hypothesis.

PMID- 25819713
TI  - Differential tolerances to ocean acidification by parasites that share the same
      host.
AB  - Ocean acidification is predicted to cause major changes in marine ecosystem
      structure and function over the next century, as species-specific tolerances to
      acidified seawater may alter previously stable relationships between coexisting
      organisms. Such differential tolerances could affect marine host-parasite
      associations, as either host or parasite may prove more susceptible to the
      stressors associated with ocean acidification. Despite their important role in
      many ecological processes, parasites have not been studied in the context of
      ocean acidification. We tested the effects of low pH seawater on the cercariae
      and, where possible, the metacercariae of four species of marine trematode
      parasite. Acidified seawater (pH 7.6 and 7.4, 12.5  degrees C) caused a 40-60%
      reduction in cercarial longevity and a 0-78% reduction in metacercarial survival.
      However, the reduction in longevity and survival varied distinctly between
      parasite taxa, indicating that the effects of reduced pH may be species-specific.
      These results suggest that ocean acidification has the potential to reduce the
      transmission success of many trematode species, decrease parasite abundance and
      alter the fundamental regulatory role of multi-host parasites in marine
      ecosystems.

PMID- 25819714
TI  - Development of a Schistosoma mansoni shotgun O-glycan microarray and application
      to the discovery of new antigenic schistosome glycan motifs.
AB  - Upon infection with Schistosoma, antibody responses are mounted that are largely
      directed against glycans. Over the last few years significant progress has been
      made in characterising the antigenic properties of N-glycans of Schistosoma
      mansoni. Despite also being abundantly expressed by schistosomes, much less is
      understood about O-glycans and antibody responses to these have not yet been
      systematically analysed. Antibody binding to schistosome glycans can be analysed
      efficiently and quantitatively using glycan microarrays, but O-glycan array
      construction and exploration is lagging behind because no universal O-glycanase
      is available, and release of O-glycans has been dependent on chemical methods.
      Recently, a modified hydrazinolysis method has been developed that allows the
      release of O-glycans with free reducing termini and limited degradation, and we
      applied this method to obtain O-glycans from different S. mansoni life stages.
      Two-dimensional HPLC separation of 2-aminobenzoic acid-labelled O-glycans
      generated 362 O-glycan-containing fractions that were printed on an epoxide
      modified glass slide, thereby generating the first shotgun O-glycan microarray
      containing naturally occurring schistosome O-glycans. Monoclonal antibodies and
      mass spectrometry showed that the O-glycan microarray contains well-known
      antigenic glycan motifs as well as numerous other, potentially novel, antibody
      targets. Incubations of the microarrays with sera from Schistosoma-infected
      humans showed substantial antibody responses to O-glycans in addition to those
      observed to the previously investigated N- and glycosphingolipid glycans. This
      underlines the importance of the inclusion of these often schistosome-specific O
      glycans in glycan antigen studies and indicates that O-glycans contain novel
      antigenic motifs that have potential for use in diagnostic methods and studies
      aiming at the discovery of vaccine targets. 

PMID- 25819715
TI  - Phylogenomic analysis uncovers the evolutionary history of nutrition and
      infection mode in rice blast fungus and other Magnaporthales.
AB  - The order Magnaporthales (Ascomycota, Fungi) includes devastating pathogens of
      cereals, such as the rice blast fungus Pyricularia (Magnaporthe) oryzae, which is
      a model in host-pathogen interaction studies. Magnaporthales also includes
      saprotrophic species associated with grass roots and submerged wood. Despite its
      scientific and economic importance, the phylogenetic position of Magnaporthales
      within Sordariomycetes and the interrelationships of its constituent taxa, remain
      controversial. In this study, we generated novel transcriptome data from 21 taxa
      that represent key Magnaporthales lineages of different infection and nutrition
      modes and phenotypes. Phylogenomic analysis of >200 conserved genes allowed the
      reconstruction of a robust Sordariomycetes tree of life that placed the
      monophyletic group of Magnaporthales sister to Ophiostomatales. Among
      Magnaporthales, three major clades were recognized: 1) an early diverging clade A
      comprised of saprotrophs associated with submerged woods; 2) clade B that
      includes the rice blast fungus and other pathogens that cause blast diseases of
      monocot plants. These species infect the above-ground tissues of host plants
      using the penetration structure, appressorium; and 3) clade C comprised primarily
      of root-associated species that penetrate the root tissue with hyphopodia. The
      well-supported phylogenies provide a robust framework for elucidating evolution
      of pathogenesis, nutrition modes, and phenotypic characters in Magnaporthales. 

PMID- 25819716
TI  - Foot posture is associated with kinematics of the foot during gait: A comparison
      of normal, planus and cavus feet.
AB  - Variations in foot posture are associated with the development of some lower limb
      injuries. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. The
      objective of this study was to compare foot kinematics between normal, pes cavus
      and pes planus foot posture groups using a multi-segment foot model. Ninety-seven
      healthy adults, aged 18-47 were classified as either normal (n=37), pes cavus
      (n=30) or pes planus (n=30) based on normative data for the Foot Posture Index,
      Arch Index and normalised navicular height. A five segment foot model was used to
      measure tri-planar motion of the rearfoot, midfoot, medial forefoot, lateral
      forefoot and hallux during barefoot walking at a self-selected speed. Angle at
      heel contact, peak angle, time to peak angle and range of motion was measured for
      each segment. One way ANOVAs with post-hoc analyses of mean differences were used
      to compare foot posture groups. The pes cavus group demonstrated a distinctive
      pattern of motion compared to the normal and pes planus foot posture groups.
      Effect sizes of significant mean differences were large and comparable to similar
      studies. Three key differences in overall foot function were observed between the
      groups: (i) altered frontal and transverse plane angles of the rearfoot in the
      pes cavus foot; (ii) Less midfoot motion in the pes cavus foot during initial
      contact and midstance; and (iii) reduced midfoot frontal plane ROM in the pes
      planus foot during pre-swing. These findings indicate that foot posture does
      influence motion of the foot. 

PMID- 25819717
TI  - Assessment of walking, running, and jumping movement features by using the
      inertial measurement unit.
AB  - PURPOSE: To observe various modes of lower limb locomotion, an inertial
      measurement unit (IMU) was used. Digital signals were used to identify signal
      characteristics that help to distinguish among locomotion modes and intensity
      levels. METHODS: A wireless IMU was installed on the outside of shoes and three
      forms of locomotion (walking, running, and jumping) were assessed at two
      intensity levels (low and high) to observe the acceleration, foot angular
      velocity variations, and characteristics of the curve variations in the
      anteroposterior, mediolateral, and superior-inferior directions. RESULTS: Most
      interactions between intensity and locomotion were statistically significant,
      except for the acceleration in the anteroposterior direction and on the
      horizontal plane. In addition, as the intensity increased, the values of all the
      parameters increased. Thus, both the acceleration values and range of angular
      velocity variation can be used to distinguish the intensity levels. Moreover, the
      results indicated that the angular velocity in the frontal axis, which is the
      sequence of the plantar/dorsiflexion movements, can also be used to identify
      different locomotion. CONCLUSIONS: Uniaxial acceleration or the range of angular
      velocity variation could be used to identify locomotion intensities, whereas the
      characteristics of the uniaxial angular velocity curve could be used to identify
      the locomotion modes.

PMID- 25819718
TI  - Radical antegrade pancreatosplenectomy (with video).

PMID- 25819719
TI  - HAL-RAR(r) procedure: A safe operation for hemorrhoids.

PMID- 25819721
TI  - Prostate cancer risk calculators using ERSPC-derived data underestimate the risk
      if the WHO IRP 96/670 standard is used in prostate-specific antigen analysis.

PMID- 25819720
TI  - Polymorphisms of Genes Involved in Glucose and Energy Metabolic Pathways and
      Prostate Cancer: Interplay with Metformin.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Energy metabolism is important in cancer proliferation and
      progression, but its role in prostate cancer (PCa) remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: We
      explored whether single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of genes involved in
      energy metabolic pathways are associated with PCa risk and prognosis, and whether
      antidiabetic treatment modifies any such association. DESIGN, SETTING, AND
      PARTICIPANTS: The PRACTICAL Consortium genotyped 397 SNPs among 3241 screened
      participants (including 801 PCa cases) in the Finnish Prostate Cancer Screening
      Trial and 1983 hospital-based PCa cases. Information on medication use was
      obtained from a national prescription database. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND
      STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Genetic risk scores were calculated in terms of SNPs
      associated with PCa incidence or survival at a significance level of p < 5*10(
      3). Hazard ratios for PCa and disease-specific death were calculated via Cox
      regression modelling. The predictive value of the genetic risk score was
      evaluated using receiver operating characteristic and Harrell's c-index analyses.
      RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: A total of 30 SNPs were associated with PCa risk and ten
      SNPs with survival. The genetic risk score was consistently associated with PCa
      survival. The risk association was non-significantly weaker in metformin users.
      The genetic risk score did not improve prediction of PCa risk, but slightly
      improved the ability to predict PCa survival when added to conventional
      predictors (c-index improved from 87.4 to 87.9; p<0.001). A limitation is that
      information on diabetes apart from medication use was unavailable for the study
      population. CONCLUSIONS: SNPs of genes involved in energy metabolic pathways are
      associated with PCa survival. This suggests an important role of glucose
      metabolism in PCa progression, which could point to new avenues for prevention of
      PCa death. PATIENT SUMMARY: Genetic changes in glucose and energy metabolic
      pathways are associated with a higher risk of high-risk prostate cancer and
      adverse outcomes.

PMID- 25819722
TI  - Precision Medicine in Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer: Development of the
      Canary-Early Detection Research Network Active Surveillance Biopsy Risk
      Calculator.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Men on active surveillance (AS) face repeated biopsies. Most biopsy
      specimens will not show disease progression or change management. Such biopsies
      do not contribute to patient management and are potentially morbid and costly.
      OBJECTIVE: To use a contemporary AS prospective trial to develop a tool to
      predict AS biopsy outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Biopsy samples
      (median: 2; range: 2-9 per patient) from 859 men participating in the Canary
      Prostate Active Surveillance Study and with Gleason 6 prostate cancer (median
      follow-up: 35.8 mo; range: 3.0-148.7 mo) were analyzed. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND
      STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Logistic regression was used to predict progression,
      defined as an increase in Gleason score from <=6 to >=7 or increase in percentage
      of cores positive for cancer from <34% to >=34%. Fivefold internal cross
      validation was performed to evaluate the area under the receiver operating
      characteristic curve (AUC). RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: Statistically significant
      risk factors for progression on biopsy were prostate-specific antigen (odds ratio
      [OR]: 1.045; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.028-1.063), percentage of cores
      positive for cancer on most recent biopsy (OR: 1.401; 95% CI, 1.301-1.508), and
      history of at least one prior negative biopsy (OR: 0.524; 95% CI, 0.417-0.659). A
      multivariable predictive model incorporating these factors plus age and number of
      months since last biopsy achieved an AUC of 72.4%. CONCLUSIONS: A combination of
      readily available clinical measures can stratify patients considering AS prostate
      biopsy. Risk of progression or upgrade can be estimated and incorporated into
      clinical practice. PATIENT SUMMARY: The Canary-Early Detection Research Network
      Active Surveillance Biopsy Risk Calculator, an online tool, can be used to guide
      patient decision making regarding follow-up prostate biopsy.

PMID- 25819723
TI  - Cryoablation for Small Renal Masses: Selection Criteria, Complications, and
      Functional and Oncologic Results.
AB  - CONTEXT: Cryoablation (CA) is a minimally invasive modality with low complication
      rates, but its use in urology is relatively recent. OBJECTIVE: To summarize
      available evidence for CA for small renal masses (SRMs) and to assess the
      selection criteria, complications, and functional and oncologic results based on
      the latest CA literature. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A systematic literature search of
      the Medline, Embase, and Scopus databases was performed in August 2014 using
      Medical Subject Headings and free-text protocol. The following search terms were
      included: kidney cryosurgery, renal cryosurgery, kidney cryoablation, renal
      cryoablation, kidney cryotherapy, and renal cryotherapy. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Due
      to the relatively recent mainstream utilization of CA and lack of long-term
      efficacy data from large prospective or randomized studies, most of the data
      available on CA are limited to treatment of SRMs in patients who are often older
      or are poor surgical candidates. The rates of major complications across the CA
      literature remain relatively low. Studies assessing renal function after CA
      suggest a degree of functional decline following CA because proper application
      includes freezing of a tumor margin; however, often this is not clinically
      significant. Specific oncologic outcomes should be evaluated in patients with
      biopsy-proven renal cell carcinoma; when SRM series include benign or unbiopsied
      tumors, the results of these outcomes are skewed. Although earlier series were
      suggestive of a higher recurrence rate after CA, some studies have challenged
      this view reporting recurrence rates comparable with extirpative nephron-sparing
      surgery. CONCLUSIONS: CA represents an alternative approach to treatment for
      patients diagnosed with renal neoplasm. There is no consensus within the
      literature on the best patient selection criteria. Due to higher rates of
      treatment failure, it is often not offered to patients with minimal comorbidities
      and good life expectancy. In terms of functional outcomes, CA signifies a
      modality with minimum impact on renal function; however, well-designed studies
      precisely assessing this factor are lacking. CA is a minimally invasive modality
      with suitably low rates of complications, particularly if delivered via the
      percutaneous route. PATIENT SUMMARY: Cryoablation (CA) represents an alternative
      approach for treating renal neoplasm. Excellent functional outcomes and low rates
      of complications make CA an ideal minimally invasive modality. Patient selection
      criteria and oncologic outcomes require further study.

PMID- 25819725
TI  - Thyroglossal duct cyst: patient demographics and surgical outcome of 159 primary
      operations.

PMID- 25819724
TI  - Predicting Life Expectancy in Men Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.
AB  - CONTEXT: The widespread use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening has led
      to the detection of more indolent prostate cancer (PCa) in healthy men. PCa
      treatment and screening must therefore balance the potential for life gained
      against the potential for harm. Fundamental to this balance is physician
      awareness of a patient's estimated life expectancy (LE). OBJECTIVE: To review the
      evidence on LE differences between men diagnosed with PCa and the general
      population. To examine clinician- and model-predicted LE and publicly available
      LE calculators. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A comprehensive search of the PubMed
      database between 1990 and September 2014 was performed according to Preferred
      Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines.
      Free text protocols of the following search terms were used "life expectancy
      prostate cancer", "life expectancy non-cancer", "non-cancer mortality prostate",
      and "comorbidity-adjusted life expectancy". Two internet search engines were
      queried daily for 1 mo for the search term "life expectancy calculator", and the
      top 20 results were examined. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Of 992 articles and 32 websites
      screened, 17 articles and nine websites were selected for inclusion. Men with non
      screening-detected PCa and distant disease at diagnosis were found to have
      shorter LE than age-matched peers, whereas men with localized PCa had prolonged
      LE. In general, clinician-predicted 10-yr LE was pessimistic and of limited
      accuracy; however, model-predicted LE provided only modest improvements in
      accuracy (c-index of models 0.65-0.84). Online LE calculators provide consistent
      LE estimates, but government life tables provide LE estimates near the mean for
      all calculators examined. CONCLUSIONS: The accuracy of clinician-predicted
      survival is limited, and while available statistical models offer improvement in
      discrimination, it is unclear whether they provide advantages over freely
      available government life tables. PATIENT SUMMARY: We examined differences in
      life expectancy between men diagnosed with prostate cancer and the general
      population, and ways of predicting life expectancy to help guide treatment
      decisions. We found that current models for predicting life expectancy specific
      to prostate cancer might not be any better than government life tables or simple
      rules of thumb.

PMID- 25819726
TI  - Topical minoxidil improves congenital hypotrichosis caused by LIPH mutations.

PMID- 25819728
TI  - Screening of direct thrombin inhibitors from Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae by a
      peak fractionation approach.
AB  - Thrombin plays a significant role in thromboembolic disease. In this work, a peak
      fractionation approach combined with an activity assay method was used to screen
      direct thrombin inhibitors from Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae (RSM), a famous
      herbal remedy for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in China. A total of
      91 fractions were collected from the RSM extract, and 19 fractions out of them
      showed thrombin inhibitory effects with dose-effect relationship. Among them,
      three compounds were unambiguously identified as 15, 16-dihydrotanshinone I,
      cryptotanshinone and tanshinone IIA with IC50 values of 29.39, 81.11 and
      66.60MUM, respectively. The three compounds were reported with direct thrombin
      inhibition activities for the first time and their ligand-thrombin interactions
      were explored by a molecular docking research. These results may contribute to
      explain the medical benefit of RSM for the prevention and treatment of
      cardiovascular diseases.

PMID- 25819727
TI  - The influence of stress and gonadal hormones on neuronal structure and function.
AB  - This article is part of a Special Issue "SBN 2014". The brain is highly plastic,
      allowing us to adapt and respond to environmental and physiological challenges
      and experiences. In this review, we discuss the relationships among alterations
      in dendritic arborization, spine morphology, and behavior due to stress exposure,
      endogenous hormone fluctuation, or exogenous hormonal manipulation. Very few
      studies investigate structure-function associations directly in the same cohort
      of animals, and there are notable inconsistencies in evidence of structure
      function relationships in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. Moreover, little
      work has been done to probe the causal relationship between dendritic morphology
      and neuronal excitability, leaving only speculation about the adaptive versus
      maladaptive nature of experience-dependent dendritic remodeling. We propose that
      future studies combine electrophysiology with a circuit-level approach to better
      understand how dendritic structure contributes to neuronal functional properties
      and behavioral outcomes. 

PMID- 25819729
TI  - Outcomes for ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction: a retrospective review
      using the KJOC assessment score with two-year follow-up in an overhead throwing
      population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Injury to the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) often results in valgus
      elbow instability requiring reconstruction. No standardized and validated outcome
      measure has compared outcomes between surgical techniques and institutions in the
      overhead throwing athlete. The aim of this study was to use the Kerlan-Jobe
      Orthopaedic Clinic shoulder and elbow score (KJOC score) to report functional
      outcomes in overhead throwing athletes undergoing UCL reconstruction. We predict
      that the KJOC score in our general throwing population will provide an accurate
      assessment of postoperative outcomes consistent with previously published
      reports. METHODS: A retrospective review of 33 patients undergoing UCL
      reconstruction was carried out during a 5-year period between 2004 and 2009.
      Minimum follow-up was 2.2 years with an average of 3.7 years. All surgeries were
      performed by fellowship-trained surgeons using either the docking (n = 12) or
      modified Jobe technique (n = 21). Age, sport, position, and return to play status
      were obtained. The KJOC score was administered to assess final functional
      outcome. RESULTS: A total of 33 athletes underwent UCL reconstruction-30 baseball
      players and 3 javelin throwers. Of these, 27 (82%) returned to their sport at
      their previous level in an average of 12.25 months. The overall average KJOC
      score was 76. Athletes who returned to their previous level of play had a mean
      KJOC score of 77. Those who were unable to return to play had a mean score of 69.
      CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates consistent outcomes for UCL reconstruction
      using the KJOC shoulder and elbow score compared with previously reported data.

PMID- 25819730
TI  - Optimal baseplate rotational alignment for locking-screw fixation in reverse
      total shoulder arthroplasty: a three-dimensional computer-aided design study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Baseplate loosening in reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA)
      remains a concern. Placing peripheral screws into the 3 pillars of the densest
      scapular bone is believed to optimize baseplate fixation. Using a 3-dimensional
      computer-aided design (3D CAD) program, we investigated the optimal rotational
      baseplate alignment to maximize peripheral locking-screw purchase. METHODS:
      Seventy-three arthritic scapulae were reconstructed from computed tomography
      images and imported into a 3D CAD software program along with representations of
      an RTSA baseplate that uses 4 fixed-angle peripheral locking screws. The
      baseplate position was standardized, and the baseplate was rotated to maximize
      individual and combined peripheral locking-screw purchase in each of the 3
      scapular pillars. RESULTS: The mean +/- standard error of the mean positions for
      optimal individual peripheral locking-screw placement (referenced in internal
      rotation) were 6 degrees  +/- 2 degrees  for the coracoid pillar, 198 degrees  +/
      2 degrees  for the inferior pillar, and 295 degrees  +/- 3 degrees  for the
      scapular spine pillar. Of note, 78% (57 of 73) of the screws attempting to obtain
      purchase in the scapular spine pillar could not be placed without an in-out-in
      configuration. In contrast, 100% of coracoid and 99% of inferior pillar screws
      achieved full purchase. The position of combined maximal fixation was 11 degrees 
      +/- 1 degrees . CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that approximately 11 degrees 
      of internal rotation is the ideal baseplate position for maximal peripheral
      locking-screw fixation in RTSA. In addition, these results highlight the
      difficulty in obtaining optimal purchase in the scapular spine.

PMID- 25819731
TI  - Magnetic resonance rotator cuff fat fraction and its relationship with tendon
      tear severity and subject characteristics.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Compared with the Goutallier classification, chemical shift-based
      magnetic resonance (MR) fat quantification has superior reliability and accuracy
      in evaluation of muscle fatty infiltration. We used this method to assess the
      relationship between rotator cuff (RC) muscle fat fractions, tendon disease
      severity, and subject characteristics. METHODS: In total, 182 subjects with
      shoulder symptoms underwent shoulder MR imaging including additional sequences
      for fat quantitation. Then, fat fraction maps were manually segmented, and custom
      software was used to compute the fat fraction. Goutallier scores were also
      obtained. The relationship between fat fraction and tendon tear severity and
      subject characteristics was assessed with descriptive statistics, analysis of
      variance, Student t test of different subgroups, and simple and multiple linear
      regression analysis. RESULTS: Statistically higher supraspinatus fat fractions
      were observed in subgroups with tendon tears >3 cm, retraction >1 cm, age >50
      years, body mass index (BMI) >30, higher Goutallier score, female gender, and
      longer symptom duration. A significant linear relationship was seen between RC
      fat fraction and tendon disease severity, age, and BMI but not symptom duration.
      Multiple regression models with fat fraction and tendon disease, age, BMI, and
      gender were significant for all 4 muscles (P < .001). The slope of fatty
      infiltration increase with age was reduced after adjustment for tendon disease,
      BMI, and gender. CONCLUSION: RC fat fraction assessed by chemical shift MR
      demonstrated a significant linear relationship with tendon tear severity, age,
      BMI, and gender but not with symptom duration.

PMID- 25819733
TI  - "Turn on" and label-free core-shell Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles-based metal-enhanced
      fluorescent (MEF) aptasensor for Hg(2+).
AB  - A turn on and label-free fluorescent apasensor for Hg(2+) with high sensitivity
      and selectivity has been demonstrated in this report. Firstly, core-shell Ag@SiO2
      nanoparticles (NPs) were synthetized as a Metal-Enhanced Fluorescent (MEF)
      substrate, T-rich DNA aptamers were immobilized on the surface of Ag@SiO2 NPs and
      thiazole orange (TO) was selected as fluorescent reporter. After Hg(2+) was added
      to the aptamer-Ag@SiO2 NPs and TO mixture buffer solution, the aptamer strand can
      bind Hg(2+) to form T-Hg(2+)-T complex with a hairpin structure which TO can
      insert into. When clamped by the nucleic acid bases, the fluorescence quanta
      yield of TO will be increased under laser excitation and emitted a fluorescence
      emission. Furthermore, the fluorescence emission can be amplified largely by the
      MEF effect of the Ag@SiO2 NPs. The whole experiment can be finished within 30 min
      and the limit of detection is 0.33 nM even with interference by high
      concentrations of other metal ions. Finally, the sensor was applied for detecting
      Hg(2+) in different real water samples with satisfying recoveries over 94%. 

PMID- 25819732
TI  - Prognostic impact of des-gamma-carboxyl prothrombin in living-donor liver
      transplantation for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although the Milan criteria are widely accepted for liver
      transplantation (LT) in patients for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), they have
      not been fully evaluated for salvage LT in patients with recurrent HCC. We have
      previously reported outcomes of living-donor LT (LDLT) for HCC and identified 2
      risk factors affecting recurrence-free survival (RFS): tumor size >5 cm and des
      gamma-carboxyl prothrombin (DCP) concentration >300 mAU/mL (Kyushu University
      criteria). This study was designed to clarify risk factors for tumor recurrence
      after LDLT in patients with recurrent HCC. METHODS: Outcomes in 114 patients who
      underwent LDLT for recurrent HCC were analyzed retrospectively. RFS rates after
      LDLT were calculated, and risk factors for tumor recurrence were identified.
      RESULTS: The 1-, 3-, and 5-year RFS rates after LDLT were 90.6%, 80.4%, and
      78.8%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that tumor recurrence was
      associated with alpha-fetoprotein concentration >= 300 ng/mL, DCP concentration
      >= 300 mAU/mL, tumor number >= 4, tumor size >= 5 cm, transarterial chemotherapy
      before LDLT, duration of last treatment of HCC to LDLT <3 months, bilobar
      distribution, exceeding Milan criteria, exceeding Kyushu University criteria,
      poor differentiation, and histologic vascular invasion. Multivariate analysis
      showed that DCP >= 300 mAU/mL (P = .03) and duration from last treatment to LDLT
      <3 months (P = .01) were independent predictors of RFS. CONCLUSIONS: DCP
      concentration and time between last treatment and LDLT are prognostic of RFS in
      patients undergoing LDLT for HCC.

PMID- 25819734
TI  - Long term results of bivalvular mechanical replacement: A historical thirty year
      follow-up.

PMID- 25819735
TI  - CHA2DS2-VASc scores predict mortality after hospitalization for atrial
      fibrillation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The outcome of patients hospitalized for atrial fibrillation (AF) is
      relatively poor. We sought to determine the mortality rate and predictors of
      mortality following hospitalization for AF and to evaluate whether the CHA2DS2
      VASc score was a predictor of mortality. METHODS: We examined the national
      database of Thailand residents who registered for government provided health
      insurance in 2005 and reviewed patient records from 2005 to 2010 to determine all
      cause mortality. A total of 8981 patients (mean age, 65 years; 42% male) were
      admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of AF. Data on demographics and
      comorbidities were retrieved from the database. The CHA2DS2-VASc score was
      calculated for each patient. RESULTS: The hospitalization rate for AF was 15.5
      per 100,000 person-years. The two most common comorbidities were hypertension
      (N=1638, 18.2%) and diabetes (N=1349, 15.0%). The average CHA2DS2-VASc score for
      all patients was 1.8. By the 72-month follow-up (average 46 months), 3948
      patients (44.0%) had died. The CHA2DS2-VASc score was directly related to the
      mortality rate (P log-rank <0.0001). Multivariate analysis showed that a CHA2DS2
      VASc score >= 6 (hazard ratio [HR] 2.2, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-3.7,
      P=0.002) and the presence of chronic kidney disease (HR 2.0, 95% CI 1.7-2.4,
      P<0.0001) were the strongest predictors of death. CONCLUSION: The outcome after
      hospitalization for AF is relatively poor. The CHA2DS2-VASc score is an
      independent prognostic marker of poor outcomes following hospitalization for AF.

PMID- 25819736
TI  - Changes in visceral and subcutaneous fat mass in patients with pheochromocytoma.
AB  - CONTEXT: Overproduction of catecholamine induces not only hypertension but also
      glucose intolerance and hyperlipidemia. However, little is known about its effect
      on visceral and subcutaneous fat. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to investigate
      changes of metabolic factors including visceral and subcutaneous fat areas in
      patients with pheochromocytoma (Pheo). DESIGN AND PATIENTS: This was a cross
      sectional and longitudinal follow-up study of cases collected from Gunma
      University Hospital between 2002 and 2013. Forty-two patients with Pheo and 23
      with non-functioning adrenal adenoma (NFA) were analyzed before and after
      adrenalectomy. RESULTS: Multivariate logistic-regression analysis adjusted by age
      and gender revealed that glucose intolerance was more common in patients with
      Pheo than in patients with NFA (21/42, 51% vs. 4/23, 17%, p<0.05). Abdominal
      visceral fat area (VFA) and subcutaneous fat area (SFA) were significantly lower
      in patients with Pheo than in those with NFA (80.2+/-38.7 vs. 124.3+/-61.8cm(2),
      p<0.05; 114.6+/-58.9 vs. 164.3+/-40.3cm(2), p<0.05, respectively). Significant
      correlations were observed between fractionated urine noradrenaline level and
      serum HDL-cholesterol level (r = 0.36, p<0.05), urine normetanephrine level and
      tumor size (r=0.57, p<0.01), and urine adrenaline level and systolic blood
      pressure (r=0.35, p<0.05) in Pheo. However, there were no significant
      correlations between adrenaline and noradrenaline levels and other parameters,
      including serum LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and HbA1c. Furthermore,
      both VFA and SFA, body weight, and BMI were significantly increased, and serum
      HbA1c as well as HDL-cholesterol levels were decreased after adrenalectomy in
      Pheo. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest for the first time that catecholamines
      might regulate the serum HDL-cholesterol level and both abdominal visceral and
      subcutaneous fat mass in men.

PMID- 25819737
TI  - Exercising insulin sensitivity: AMPK turns on autophagy!

PMID- 25819738
TI  - PNIPAAm-MAA nanoparticles as delivery vehicles for curcumin against MCF-7 breast
      cancer cells.
AB  - Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer among women throughout the
      world. Natural compounds such as curcumin hold promise to treat a variety of
      cancers including breast cancer. However, curcumin's therapeutic application is
      limited, due to its rapid degradation and poor aqueous solubility. On the other
      hand, previous studies have stated that drug delivery using nanoparticles might
      improve the therapeutic response to anticancer drugs. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide
      co-methacrylic acid) (PNIPAAm-MAA) is one of the hydrogel copolymers utilized in
      the drug delivery system for cancer therapy. The aim of this study was to examine
      the cytotoxic potential of curcumin encapsulated within the NIPAAm-MAA
      nanoparticle, on the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. In this work, polymeric
      nanoparticles were synthesized through the free radical mechanism, and curcumin
      was encapsulated into NIPAAm-MAA nanoparticles. Then, the cytotoxic effect of
      curcumin-loaded NIPAAm-MAA on the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line was measured by
      MTT assays. The evaluation of the results showed that curcumin-loaded NIPAAm-MAA
      has more cytotoxic effect on the MCF-7 cell line and efficiently inhibited the
      growth of the breast cancer cell population, compared with free curcumin. In
      conclusion, this study indicates that curcumin-loaded NIPAAm-MAA suppresses the
      growth of the MCF-7 cell line. Overall, it is concluded that encapsulating
      curcumin into the NIPAAm-MAA copolymer could open up new avenues for breast
      cancer treatment. 

PMID- 25819739
TI  - Unavailability of thymidine kinase does not preclude the use of German
      comprehensive prognostic index: results of an external validation analysis in
      early chronic lymphocytic leukemia and comparison with MD Anderson Cancer Center
      model.
AB  - A comprehensive prognostic index that includes clinical (i.e., age, sex, ECOG
      performance status), serum (i.e., beta2-microglobulin, thymidine kinase [TK]),
      and molecular (i.e., IGVH mutational status, del 17p, del 11q) markers developed
      by the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) was externally validated in a prospective,
      community-based cohort consisting of 338 patients with early chronic lymphocytic
      leukemia (CLL) using as endpoint the time to first treatment (TTFT). Because
      serum TK was not available, a slightly modified version of the model based on
      seven instead of eight prognostic variables was used. By German index, 62.9% of
      patients were scored as having low-risk CLL (score 0-2), whereas 37.1% had
      intermediate-risk CLL (score 3-5). This stratification translated into a
      significant difference in the TTFT [HR = 4.21; 95% C.I. (2.71-6.53); P < 0.0001].
      Also the 2007 MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) score, barely based on
      traditional clinical parameters, showed comparable reliability [HR = 2.73; 95%
      C.I. (1.79-4.17); P < 0.0001]. A comparative performance assessment between the
      two models revealed that prediction of the TTFT was more accurate with German
      score. The c-statistic of the MDACC model was 0.65 (range, 0.53-0.78) a level
      below that of the German index [0.71 (range, 0.60-0.82)] and below the accepted
      0.7 threshold necessary to have value at the individual patient level. Results of
      this external comparative validation analysis strongly support the German score
      as the benchmark for comparison of any novel prognostic scheme aimed at
      evaluating the TTFT in patients with early CLL even when a modified version which
      does not include TK is utilized.

PMID- 25819740
TI  - 17alpha-Ethinylestradiol can disrupt hemoglobin catabolism in amphibians.
AB  - Different chemical substances, which enter the environment due to anthropogenic
      influences, can affect the endocrine system and influence development and
      physiology of aquatic animals. One of these endocrine disrupting chemicals is the
      synthetic estrogen, 17alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2), which is a main component of
      various oral contraceptives and demonstrably affects many different aquatic
      vertebrates at extremely low concentrations by feminization phenomena. The aim of
      the present study was to investigate whether a four week exposure to three
      different concentrations of EE2 (0.3 ng/L, 29.6 ng/L and 2960 ng/L) affects the
      catabolism of hemoglobin of the amphibian Xenopus laevis. The results of this
      study demonstrate for the first time that beside an increase of the hepatic
      vitellogenin gene expression, exposure to EE2 also decreases the gene expression
      of the hepatic heme oxygenase 1 and 2 (HO1, HO2), degrading heme of different
      heme proteins to biliverdin, as well as of the biliverdin reductase A (BLVRA),
      which converts biliverdin to bilirubin. The results further suggest that EE2
      already at the environmentally relevant concentration of (29.6 ng/L) can disrupt
      hemoglobin catabolism, indicated by decreased gene expression of HO2, which
      becomes evident at the highest EE2 concentration that led to a severe increase of
      biliverdin in plasma.

PMID- 25819741
TI  - Toxicity of noradrenaline, a novel anti-biofouling component, to two non-target
      zooplankton species, Daphnia magna and Ceriodaphnia dubia.
AB  - Noradrenaline (NA) is the active component of novel antifouling agents and acts
      by preventing attachment of fouling organisms. The goal of this study was to
      examine the toxicity of NA to the non-target zooplankton D. magna and C. dubia.
      Neonates were exposed to one of five concentrations of NA and effects on
      survival, reproduction and molting were determined. Calculated LC50 values were
      determined to be 46 and 38 MUM in C. dubia and D. magna, respectively. A 10-day
      C. dubia study found that reproduction metrics were significantly impacted at non
      lethal concentrations. In D. magna, concentrations greater than 40 MUM
      significantly impacted molting. A toxicity test was conducted with D. magna using
      oxidized NA, which yielded similar results. These data indicate that both NA and
      oxidized NA are toxic to non-target zooplankton. Results obtained from this study
      can be used to guide future ecological risk assessments of catecholamine-based
      antifouling agents.

PMID- 25819742
TI  - Busulfan dosing algorithm and sampling strategy in stem cell transplantation
      patients.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this investigation was to develop a model-based dosing algorithm
      for busulfan and identify an optimal sampling scheme for use in routine clinical
      practice. METHODS: Clinical data from an ongoing study (n = 29) in stem cell
      transplantation patients were used for the purposes our analysis. A one
      compartment model was selected as basis for sampling optimization and subsequent
      evaluation of a suitable dosing algorithm. Internal and external model validation
      procedures were performed prior to the optimization steps using ED-optimality
      criteria. Using systemic exposure as parameter of interest, dosing algorithms
      were considered for individual patients with the scope of minimizing the
      deviation from target range as determined by AUC(0,6 h). RESULTS: Busulfan
      exposure after oral administration was best predicted after the inclusion of
      adjusted ideal body weight and alanine transferase as covariates on clearance.
      Population parameter estimates were 3.98 h(-1), 48.8 l and 12.3 l h(-1) for the
      absorption rate constant, volume of distribution and oral clearance,
      respectively. Inter-occasion variability was used to describe the differences
      between test dose and treatment. Based on simulation scenarios, a dosing
      algorithm was identified, which ensures target exposure values are attained after
      a test dose. Moreover, our findings show that a sparse sampling scheme with five
      samples per patient is sufficient to characterize the pharmacokinetics of
      busulfan in individual patients. CONCLUSION: The use of the proposed dosing
      algorithm in conjunction with a sparse sampling scheme may contribute to
      considerable improvement in the safety and efficacy profile of patients
      undergoing treatment for stem cell transplantation.

PMID- 25819743
TI  - Self-report of eating disorder symptoms among women with and without infertility.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare eating disorder (ED) symptoms in women seeking treatment
      for infertility to women receiving routine primary care. DESIGN: A cross
      sectional comparative design. SETTING: Women were recruited from two infertility
      centers and a general hospital primary care setting. PARTICIPANTS: Participants
      included 51 women seeking treatment for ovulatory and unexplained infertility and
      34 women attending routine primary care. MEASURES: Participants completed a
      battery of standardized rating scales measuring self-reported ED symptoms, drive
      for thinness, bulimic symptoms, body dissatisfaction, and related clinical
      characteristics. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis of covariance confirmed that
      women seeking treatment for infertility had significantly greater scores on
      measures of drive for thinness (p = .001) and bulimic symptoms (p = .002) than
      those receiving routine primary care. However, the comparison group had
      significantly greater scores on measures of body dissatisfaction (p < .001) and
      dietary restraint (p = .001) than the infertility group. Both groups had elevated
      rates of lifetime ED diagnoses compared to national prevalence rates.
      CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrated that women seeking treatment for ovulatory and
      unexplained infertility have greater drive for thinness and bulimic symptoms but
      not body dissatisfaction or dietary restraint compared to women seeking primary
      care. The results suggest that infertility and routine health care visits may
      provide opportunities for early identification and treatment of women with ED
      symptomatology. Future studies may benefit from further elucidation of the
      potential role of ED symptoms in the etiology and maintenance of infertility in,
      particularly, normal-weight women.

PMID- 25819744
TI  - Distinct domains of impulsivity are impaired in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy but
      not in temporal lobe epilepsy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) is the most widely used
      questionnaire to study impulsivity in persons with psychiatric disorders, but it
      has rarely been applied to persons with epilepsy. The present study aimed to
      evaluate the usefulness of BIS-11 as a tool to explore impulsivity in two
      distinct epilepsy syndromes. METHOD: The BIS-11 was applied to 20 patients with
      juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) (32.5+/-8.95years old), 20 patients with
      temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) (37.7+/-13.25years old), and 26 healthy controls
      (31.86+/-11.25years old). The scores in motor, attentional, and lack of planning
      impulsivity were compared between groups. RESULTS: Patients with JME showed
      higher scores than patients with TLE and controls in all domains: motor (JME vs
      TLE: 28.60 vs 13.25 (mean score), p<0.001 and JME vs controls: 28.60 vs 14.12,
      p<0.001), attentional (JME vs TLE: 21.55 vs 13.45, p<0.001 and JME vs controls:
      21.55 vs 14.88, p<0.001) and nonplanning (JME vs TLE: 28.05 vs 13.10, p<0.001 and
      JME vs controls: 28.05 vs 16.15, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Higher BIS-11 scores in
      all domains of impulsivity [i.e., motor, attentional, and lack of planning]
      corroborated previous findings described in patients with JME. On the other hand,
      BIS-11 could not demonstrate problem solving and inhibitory control deficits
      related to impulsive behavior, which were described in patients with TLE. Other
      behavioral measures may be more sensitive to some aspects of impulsivity in TLE.
      Our results reinforce the concept that distinct epileptic syndromes require
      different neuropsychological approaches, especially considering a complex
      construct such as impulsivity.

PMID- 25819745
TI  - A cluster of rotavirus enteritis in pediatric liver recipients.
AB  - We observed a cluster of 4 pediatric liver recipients who developed diarrhea in a
      liver transplant unit within 5 days. Feces from these 4 patients were rotavirus
      positive when tested with Colloidal Gold Diagnostic Kit. Nucleic acid from 3
      fecal specimens was extracted and reverse transcribed. Two were amplified
      positively. The complementary DNAs were sequenced. Alignment and phylogenetic
      analysis were performed with MEGA 6.06. Although involving only 4 pediatric liver
      recipients, this cluster was caused by at least 2 distinct G9P[8] rotavirus
      strains and included community infection and nosocomial infection.

PMID- 25819747
TI  - Prioritization of psychological well-being in the care of diabetes: moving beyond
      excuses, bringing solutions.

PMID- 25819746
TI  - DNA vaccines encoding DEC205-targeted antigens: immunity or tolerance?
AB  - Targeting of antigens to the endocytic uptake receptor DEC205 resulted in
      enhanced antigen presentation by dendritic cells (DCs). In combination with
      adjuvants for DC maturation, proteins coupled to an antibody against DEC205
      induced strong pathogen-specific immune responses, whereas without additional
      adjuvant tolerance could be induced. As less is known about DNA vaccines encoding
      DEC205-targeted antigens, we explored the immunogenicity and efficacy of a
      dendritic cell-targeted DNA vaccine against influenza A virus (IAV) delivered by
      electroporation. Although coupling of haemagglutinin to a single-chain antibody
      against DEC205 enhanced antigen presentation on MHC class II and activation of T
      cell receptor-transgenic CD4 T cells, the T-cell responses induced by the
      targeted DNA vaccine in wild-type BALB/c mice were significantly reduced compared
      with DNA encoding non-targeted antigens. Consistently, these mice were less
      protected against an IAV infection. Adoptive transfer experiments were performed
      to assess the fate of the antigen-specific T cells in animals vaccinated with DNA
      encoding DEC205-targeted antigens. By this, we could exclude the general deletion
      of antigen-specific T cells as cause for the reduced efficacy, but observed a
      local expansion of antigen-specific regulatory T cells, which could suppress the
      activation of effector cells. In conclusion, DNA vaccines encoding DEC205
      targeted antigens induce peripheral tolerance rather than immunity in our study.
      Finally, we evaluated our DNA vaccines as prophylactic or therapeutic treatment
      in an allergen-induced asthma mouse model. 

PMID- 25819748
TI  - The outcome of apical microsurgery using MTA as the root-end filling material: 2-
      to 6-year follow-up study.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the influence of various predictors on the healing outcome 2-6
      years after apical microsurgery (AMS) using MTA as the root-end filling material.
      METHODOLOGY: A total of 90 anterior teeth with asymptomatic persistent
      periradicular periodontitis of strictly endodontic origin that failed after
      either nonsurgical or surgical treatment were included. Surgery was completed
      under local anaesthesia using a standardized clinical protocol. Clinical and
      radiographic measures as well as the follow-up period were used to determine the
      healing outcome. For statistical analysis of the predictors, the outcome was
      dichotomized into healed cases and nonhealed cases. Odds ratios were calculated,
      and Pearson chi-square or Fisher's exact tests were used to analyse the data.
      RESULTS: Clinical and radiographic assessment of AMS revealed that 80% were
      healed, 14.4% were nonhealed, whilst 5.6% were judged to be uncertain. None of
      the various predictors investigated had a significant influence on the outcome of
      AMS. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this clinical study demonstrated that 80% of
      cases that received apical microsurgery healed when using MTA as the root-end
      filling material.

PMID- 25819749
TI  - The relevance of ADCC for EGFR targeting: A review of the literature and a
      clinically-applicable method of assessment in patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Advances in the understanding of tumor biology have led to the
      development of targeted therapies as monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) in clinical
      oncology. Among their suggested mechanisms of action monoclonal antibodies (IgG1)
      selectively directed against tumor membrane receptors mediate of antibody
      dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) by triggering Fc-gammaRIII on natural
      killer (NK) cells. METHODS: This study reviews the clinical context of ADCC
      measurement with a particular focus on EGFR targeting and describes an ex vivo
      ADCC method applied to MoAbs (cetuximab and panitumumab), against epidermal
      growth factor receptor (EGFR). The test performance was evaluated on different
      target cells lines (CAL166, A431, HNO91, CAL27), with different effector cells
      (peripheral blood mononuclear cells or natural killers -NK-) and in various
      experimental conditions, in order to establish a truly clinically applicable
      method. RESULTS: Using the experience available in the published literature, we
      optimized all variables involved in the experimental design: target cells type,
      numbers and ratio target cells and NK cells (effector cells) per well, time of
      exposure and repeatability. CONCLUSION: ADCC measurement may be of clinical
      relevance in the context of treatment with MoAbs. This study describes a non
      radioactive method which has proven satisfactory in terms of sensitivity,
      reproducibility, feasibility and cost effectiveness for the measurement of ADCC
      activity mediated by NK with an orientation towards the EGFR target.

PMID- 25819750
TI  - Haematological problems in obstetrics.
AB  - Physiologic changes occur during pregnancy, which influence normal haematologic
      values and impact the diagnosis and management of haematologic disease in
      pregnancy. Physiologic changes of pregnancy also commonly lead to mimicking
      symptoms of haematologic disease that may prompt investigations for haematologic
      disease. The toxicity and radiation associated with the diagnostic imaging and
      pharmacologic management of both benign and malignant haematological conditions
      during pregnancy present unique challenges. Strategies for diagnosis and
      treatment must weigh the benefits and risks to the mother while also taking
      foetal outcome into consideration. In this review, we highlight the common
      haematologic diseases encountered by obstetricians and try to provide guidance
      for the most prevalent diagnostic and therapeutic questions. At the other end of
      the spectrum, we also comment on less common but very challenging haematologic
      diseases in pregnancy that require multidisciplinary effort to arrive at
      difficult individual diagnostic and treatment decisions. 

PMID- 25819751
TI  - Abba Kastin: The melanocyte stimulating hormone story and the future of the
      proteophathies.
AB  - From a personal viewpoint, Abba was always a congenial colleague and a good
      friend. I recall the hours of unraveling complex, confusing, and many times
      contradictory data sets with him and the excitement we both felt as what had been
      puzzling began to make sense. Most of all, I feel privileged to have Abba as a
      long and valued friend. 

PMID- 25819752
TI  - Effect of suppression of arabinoxylan synthetic genes in wheat endosperm on chain
      length of arabinoxylan and extract viscosity.
AB  - Arabinoxylan (AX) is the dominant component within wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
      endosperm cell walls, accounting for 70% of the polysaccharide. The viscosity of
      aqueous extracts from wheat grain is a key trait influencing the processing for
      various end uses, and this is largely determined by the properties of endosperm
      AX. We have previously shown dramatic effects on endosperm AX in transgenic wheat
      by down-regulating either TaGT43_2 or TaGT47_2 genes (orthologues to IRX9 and
      IRX10 in Arabidopsis, respectively) implicated in AX chain extension and the
      TaXAT1 gene responsible for monosubstitution by 3-linked arabinose. Here, we use
      these transgenic lines to investigate the relationship between amounts of AX in
      soluble and insoluble fractions, the chain-length distribution of these measured
      by intrinsic viscosity and the overall effect on extract viscosity. In transgenic
      lines expressing either the TaGT43_2 or TaGT47_2 RNAi transgenes, the intrinsic
      viscosities of water-extractable (WE-AX) and of a water-insoluble alkaline
      extracted fraction (AE-AX) were decreased by between 10% and 50% compared to
      control lines. In TaXAT1 RNAi lines, there was a 15% decrease in intrinsic
      viscosity of WE-AX but no consistent effect on that of AE-AX. All transgenic
      lines showed decreases in extract viscosity with larger effects in TaGT43_2 and
      TaGT47_2 RNAi lines (by up to sixfold) than in TaXAT1 RNAi lines (by twofold).
      These effects were explained by the decreases in amount and chain length of WE
      AX, with decreases in amount having the greater influence. Extract viscosity from
      wheat grain can therefore be greatly decreased by suppression of single gene
      targets. 

PMID- 25819753
TI  - ING3 protein expression profiling in normal human tissues suggest its role in
      cellular growth and self-renewal.
AB  - Members of the INhibitor of Growth (ING) family of proteins act as readers of the
      epigenetic code through specific recognition of the trimethylated form of lysine
      4 of histone H3 (H3K4Me3) by their plant homeodomains. The founding member of the
      family, ING1, was initially identified as a tumor suppressor with altered
      regulation in a variety of cancer types. While alterations in ING1 and ING4
      levels have been reported in a variety of cancer types, little is known regarding
      ING3 protein levels in normal or transformed cells due to a lack of reliable
      immunological tools. In this study we present the characterization of a new
      monoclonal antibody we have developed against ING3 that specifically recognizes
      human and mouse ING3. The antibody works in western blots, immunofluorescence,
      immunoprecipitation and immunohistochemistry. Using this antibody we show that
      ING3 is most highly expressed in small intestine, bone marrow and epidermis,
      tissues in which cells undergo rapid proliferation and renewal. Consistent with
      this observation, we show that ING3 is expressed at significantly higher levels
      in proliferating versus quiescent epithelial cells. These data suggest that ING3
      levels may serve as a surrogate for growth rate, and suggest possible roles for
      ING3 in growth and self renewal and related diseases such as cancer. 

PMID- 25819754
TI  - Lipids, blood pressure and kidney update 2014.
AB  - This paper is an effort to review all the most important studies and guidelines
      in the topics of lipid, blood pressure and kidney published in 2014. Irrespective
      of advances, the options for improving simultaneous hypercholesterolemia and
      hypertension management (as well as its complication - chronic kidney disease)
      remain a problem. Recommending hypolidemic, hypotensive and kidney disease drugs
      to obtain therapy targets in cardiovascular, diabetic, elderly and kidney disease
      (=high risk) patients might strengthen risk factor control, improve compliance
      and the therapy efficacy, and in the consequence reduce the risk of
      cardiovascular events and mortality rate. That is why the authors have decided to
      summary and discuss the recent scientific achievements in the field of lipid,
      blood pressure and kidney. 

PMID- 25819756
TI  - The association of subclinical hypocalcemia, negative energy balance and disease
      with bodyweight change during the first 30 days post-partum in dairy cows milked
      with automatic milking systems.
AB  - In a prospective cohort study, the daily bodyweight (BW) and milk production of
      92 cows were recorded using automatic milking systems. The objectives were to
      characterize calcium serum concentration variability on days 1-3 post-partum and
      to evaluate the association between subclinical hypocalcemia (SHPC) and change in
      BW over the first 30 days in milk (DIM) in Holstein dairy cows, while controlling
      for concurrent disease and negative energy balance (NEB). SHPC was defined as
      total serum calcium concentration between 6 and 8 mg/dL, NEB was defined as non
      esterified fatty acids (NEFA) > 0.7 mEq/L or beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) >= 1.2
      mmol/L. The peak incidence of SHPC was at 1 DIM for all groups (11%, 42% and 60%
      for parities 1, 2, and >=3, respectively). All parity groups lost weight (21, 33,
      and 34 kg) during the first 30 DIM. Parity 1 animals with disease compared with
      those without disease lost the most weight (2.6 kg/day BW loss vs. <1.9 kg/day,
      respectively). Normocalcemic parity 2 animals with either NEB or disease lost the
      most weight (>5 kg/day) compared with those in the SHPC group (<=4.5 kg/day). In
      parity >= 3 animals, SHPC was an important factor for BW loss; SHPC animals lost
      the most weight (>3.7 kg/day) vs. normocalcemic cows (<=3.3 kg/day) regardless of
      NEB or disease status. Even though all animals lost weight during early lactation
      the effect of disease, NEB, and SHPC on BW loss was different in each parity
      group. 

PMID- 25819755
TI  - Significant association of periodontal disease with anti-citrullinated peptide
      antibody in a Japanese healthy population - The Nagahama study.
AB  - Anti-citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA) is a highly specific autoantibody to
      rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Recent studies have revealed that periodontal disease
      (PD) is closely associated with RA and production of ACPA in RA. Analyses of
      associations between PD and ACPA production in a healthy population may deepen
      our understandings. Here, we analyzed a total of 9554 adult healthy subjects.
      ACPA and IgM-rheumatoid factor (RF) was quantified and PD status was evaluated
      using the number of missing teeth (MT), the Community Periodontal Index (CPI) and
      Loss of Attachment (LA) for these subjects. PD status was analyzed for its
      association with the positivity and categorical levels of ACPA and RF conditioned
      for covariates which were shown to be associated with PD, ACPA or RF. As a
      result, all of MT, CPI and LA showed suggestive or significant associations with
      positivity (p = 0.024, 0.0042 and 0.037, respectively) and levels of ACPA (p <=
      0.00031), but none of the PD parameters were associated with those of RF. These
      association patterns were also observed when we analyzed 6206 non-smokers of the
      participants. The significant associations between PD parameters and positivity
      and levels of ACPA in healthy population support the fundamental involvement of
      PD with ACPA production. 

PMID- 25819757
TI  - Transient plant transformation mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens: Principles,
      methods and applications.
AB  - Agrobacterium tumefaciens is widely used as a versatile tool for development of
      stably transformed model plants and crops. However, the development of
      Agrobacterium based transient plant transformation methods attracted substantial
      attention in recent years. Transient transformation methods offer several
      applications advancing stable transformations such as rapid and scalable
      recombinant protein production and in planta functional genomics studies. Herein,
      we highlight Agrobacterium and plant genetics factors affecting transfer of T-DNA
      from Agrobacterium into the plant cell nucleus and subsequent transient transgene
      expression. We also review recent methods concerning Agrobacterium mediated
      transient transformation of model plants and crops and outline key physical,
      physiological and genetic factors leading to their successful establishment. Of
      interest are especially Agrobacterium based reverse genetics studies in
      economically important crops relying on use of RNA interference (RNAi) or virus
      induced gene silencing (VIGS) technology. The applications of Agrobacterium based
      transient plant transformation technology in biotech industry are presented in
      thorough detail. These involve production of recombinant proteins (plantibodies,
      vaccines and therapeutics) and effectoromics-assisted breeding of late blight
      resistance in potato. In addition, we also discuss biotechnological potential of
      recombinant GFP technology and present own examples of successful Agrobacterium
      mediated transient plant transformations. 

PMID- 25819758
TI  - I'm positive, but i'm negative: Competing Voices in Informed Consent and
      Implications for HIV vaccine trials.
AB  - HIV vaccine trials (HVTs) are ethically complex, and sound informed consent
      processes should facilitate optimal decision-making for participants. This study
      aimed to explore representations of critical HVT-related concepts to enhance the
      consent process. Four focus group discussions were conducted with participants
      from key constituencies at a South African HVT site. Thematic analysis was
      employed to identify representations of key HVT-related concepts. The findings
      suggest that (potential) participants may negotiate multiple, competing versions
      of HVT-related concepts in a somewhat unrecognized process, which may have
      significant implications for the consent process. Stakeholders involved in
      consent and engagement activities at sites should be assisted to elicit, engage,
      and resolve competing representations of HVT-related concepts. More empirical
      research is needed to explore how such stakeholders address competing
      representations in their interactions with potential participants. 

PMID- 25819759
TI  - Biomedical Research Ethics Committees in sub-Saharan Africa: a collective review
      of their structure, functioning, and outcomes.
AB  - Research Ethics Committees (RECs) are mandated to protect human participants by
      conducting ethical reviews of biomedical research. To date, there is a dearth of
      information on the structure, functioning, and outcomes of RECs in Africa. This
      article reviews empirical studies investigating African RECs, with the aim of
      providing an overview of what is known and identifying gaps in our knowledge. We
      conducted a literature search of the EBSCO, PubMed, and Google Scholar electronic
      databases. Twenty-three empirical studies reporting on the structure, functions,
      and outcomes of African RECs were included in our analysis. The review yielded
      limited systematic data on RECs in Africa. Available empirical evidence suggests
      that challenges hampering the effective functioning of RECs included lack of
      membership diversity, scarcity of resources, insufficient training of members,
      inadequate capacity to review and monitor studies, and lack of national ethics
      guidelines and accreditation. Relatively little data on the review outcomes of
      African RECs were described. There is an ongoing need for concerted efforts from
      various stakeholders to support capacity development and enhancement of African
      RECs. 

PMID- 25819760
TI  - How to distinguish research from quality improvement.

PMID- 25819762
TI  - Lead and copper removal from aqueous solutions using carbon foam derived from
      phenol resin.
AB  - Phenolic resin-based carbon foam was prepared as an adsorbent for removing heavy
      metals from aqueous solutions. The surface of the produced carbon foam had a well
      developed open cell structure and the specific surface area according to the BET
      model was 458.59m(2)g(-1). Batch experiments showed that removal ratio increased
      in the order of copper (19.83%), zinc (34.35%), cadmium (59.82%), and lead
      (73.99%) in mixed solutions with the same initial concentration (50mgL(-1)). The
      results indicated that the Sips isotherm model was the most suitable for
      describing the experimental data of lead and copper. The maximum adsorption
      capacity of lead and copper determined to Sips model were 491mgg(-1) and 247mgg(
      1). The obtained pore diffusion coefficients for lead and copper were found to be
      1.02*10(-6) and 2.42*10(-7)m(2)s(-1), respectively. Post-sorption characteristics
      indicated that surface precipitation was the primary mechanism of lead and copper
      removal by the carbon foam, while the functional groups on the surface of the
      foam did not affect metal adsorption.

PMID- 25819761
TI  - Sestrin2 inhibits mTORC1 through modulation of GATOR complexes.
AB  - Sestrins are stress-inducible metabolic regulators that suppress a wide range of
      age- and obesity-associated pathologies, many of which are due to mTORC1
      overactivation. Upon various stresses, the Sestrins inhibit mTORC1 activity
      through an indirect mechanism that is still unclear. GATORs are recently
      identified protein complexes that regulate the activity of RagB, a small GTPase
      essential for mTORC1 activation. GATOR1 is a GTPase activating protein (GAP) for
      RagB whereas GATOR2 functions as an inhibitor of GATOR1. However, how the GATORs
      are physiologically regulated is unknown. Here we show that Sestrin2 binds to
      GATOR2, and liberates GATOR1 from GATOR2-mediated inhibition. Released GATOR1
      subsequently binds to and inactivates RagB, ultimately resulting in mTORC1
      suppression. Consistent with this biochemical mechanism, genetic ablation of
      GATOR1 nullifies the mTORC1-inhibiting effect of Sestrin2 in both cell culture
      and Drosophila models. Collectively, we elucidate a new signaling cascade
      composed of Sestrin2-GATOR2-GATOR1-RagB that mediates stress-dependent
      suppression of mTORC1 activity. 

PMID- 25819763
TI  - Refinement of the SWN-20 based on the Rasch rating model.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to refine the 20-item Subjective
      Well-Being under Neuroleptic Treatment Scale (SWN-20) using the Rasch rating
      model to validate measurements of subjective well-being in patients with
      schizophrenia undergoing antipsychotic treatment. METHODS: In total, 854 (403
      males, 451 females) inpatients (n=213) and outpatients (n=641) with schizophrenia
      participated in this study, which was designed as an open-label investigation of
      paliperidone extended release. The participants completed the Korean version of
      the SWN-20 themselves. Refinement of the Korean version of the SWN-20 was
      accomplished using the Rasch rating model. RESULTS: Infit and outfit statistics
      for all 20 items satisfied the criterion for construct validity. Second, all
      items except items 2 and 20 had suitable point-measure correlations, reflecting
      content validity. Third, item characteristic curves indicated that roughly 18
      items were evenly distributed along the person ability continuum. Finally, option
      analysis of the category characteristics showed that categories 3 and 4 in the
      SWN-20 response format were unnecessary. CONCLUSIONS: We offer several
      recommendations for improving the SWN-20: (a) items 2 and 20 should be omitted to
      ensure construct validity; (b) easier items would be added related to the person
      ability estimates in the process of validating a short form of the SWN scale
      based on item response theory; and (c) the number of response categories should
      be reduced for schizophrenic patients.

PMID- 25819765
TI  - Genome editing at the crossroads of delivery, specificity, and fidelity.
AB  - Genome editing (GE) entails the modification of specific genomic sequences in
      living cells for the purpose of determining, changing, or expanding their
      function(s). Typically, GE occurs after delivering sequence-specific designer
      nucleases (e.g., ZFNs, TALENs, and CRISPR/Cas9) and donor DNA constructs into
      target cells. These designer nucleases can generate gene knockouts or gene knock
      ins when applied alone or in combination with donor DNA templates, respectively.
      We review progress in this field, with an emphasis on designer nuclease and donor
      template delivery into mammalian target cell populations. We also discuss the
      impact that incremental improvements to these tools are having on the specificity
      and fidelity attainable with state-of-the-art DNA-editing procedures. Finally, we
      identify areas that warrant further investigation. 

PMID- 25819764
TI  - Selection strategies for anticancer antibody discovery: searching off the beaten
      path.
AB  - Antibody-based drugs represent one of the most successful and promising
      therapeutic approaches in oncology. Large combinatorial phage antibody libraries
      are available for the identification of therapeutic antibodies and various
      technologies exist for their further conversion into multivalent and
      multispecific formats optimized for the desired pharmacokinetics and the
      pathological context. However, there is no technology for antigen profiling of
      intact tumors to identify tumor markers targetable with antibodies. Such
      constraints have led to a relative paucity of tumor-associated antigens for
      antibody targeting in oncology. Here we review novel approaches aimed at the
      identification of antibody-targetable, accessible antigens in intact tumors. We
      hope that such advanced selection approaches will be useful in the development of
      next-generation antibody therapies for cancer. 

PMID- 25819766
TI  - Metastasectomy for Sarcoma.

PMID- 25819767
TI  - Somatic mosaicism of a CDKL5 mutation identified by next-generation sequencing.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: CDKL5-related encephalopathy is an X-linked dominantly inherited
      disorder that is characterized by early infantile epileptic encephalopathy or
      atypical Rett syndrome. We describe a 5-year-old Japanese boy with intractable
      epilepsy, severe developmental delay, and Rett syndrome-like features. Onset was
      at 2 months, when his electroencephalogram showed sporadic single poly spikes and
      diffuse irregular poly spikes. METHODS: We conducted a genetic analysis using an
      Illumina(r) TruSightTM One sequencing panel on a next-generation sequencer.
      RESULTS: We identified two epilepsy-associated single nucleotide variants in our
      case: CDKL5 p.Ala40Val and KCNQ2 p.Glu515Asp. CDKL5 p.Ala40Val has been
      previously reported to be responsible for early infantile epileptic
      encephalopathy. In our case, the CDKL5 heterozygous mutation showed somatic
      mosaicism because the boy's karyotype was 46,XY. The KCNQ2 variant p.Glu515Asp is
      known to cause benign familial neonatal seizures-1, and this variant showed
      paternal inheritance. CONCLUSIONS: Although we believe that the somatic mosaic
      CDKL5 mutation is mainly responsible for the neurological phenotype in the
      patient, the KCNQ2 variant might have some neurological effect. Genetic analysis
      by next-generation sequencing is capable of identifying multiple variants in a
      patient.

PMID- 25819768
TI  - Lead extraction from cathode ray tube funnel glass melted under different
      oxidizing conditions.
AB  - Lead was extracted into hydrochloric acid from cathode ray tube funnel glass
      melted under reducing atmosphere, oxidizing atmosphere, or a sequential
      combination of both to mechanistically investigate effects of the melting
      atmosphere on lead extraction. Melting funnel glass in a reductive atmosphere led
      to the generation of metallic lead particles that were readily soluble in the
      acid, increasing the quantity of lead extracted into the acid. Meanwhile, the
      glass product obtained after melting funnel glass in an oxidative atmosphere
      exhibited higher corrosion resistance in the acid, and the quantity of lead
      extracted from the treated glass decreased. However, Na2CO3 addition to the glass
      during melting hindered the enhancement of corrosion resistance and the
      immobilization of lead in the acid. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis of
      the treated glass samples showed that the positions of the peak or the profiles
      of the spectra attributed to Pb 4f, Si 2p, and O 1s signals were modified by
      oxidative melting, an indication that oxidative melting results in structural
      changes in the SiO2 framework of the glass. 

PMID- 25819769
TI  - Intestinal lengthening and reversed segment in a piglet short bowel syndrome
      model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Treatment of short bowel syndrome (SBS) remains difficult, entailing
      severe morbidity and mortality. Accepted surgical treatment modalities for SBS
      are the Bianchi intestinal lengthening procedure and reversed-segment procedure.
      We seek to investigate the short-term effects regarding growth, nutrition, and
      microscopic and functional adaptation after the intestinal lengthening and RS
      procedures in a piglet SBS-model. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-four piglets (Sus
      scrofa, +/-30 kg) were divided into four groups (n = 6 each) as follows: sham,
      SBS, Bianchi lengthening procedure (BIA), and reversed-segment (RS). At day one
      either sham laparotomy (sham) or 75% small bowel resection (SBS, BIA, and RS) was
      performed. After 2 wk sham laparotomy (sham and SBS), BIA, or RS procedure was
      performed. After 8 wk all animals were terminated. During the experimental time
      course, the following parameters were assessed: body weight, intestinal length,
      diameter, and weight, fat absorption, and biochemical parameters from serum and
      urine. Citrulline was used as a marker of absorptive enteral mass to demonstrate
      massive functional bowel loss. Intestinal biopsies were obtained for histologic
      analysis and electrophysiological measurements to analyze glucose absorptive
      capacity. RESULTS: Eight weeks after bowel resection, piglet growth was reduced
      in SBS, BIA, and RS piglets as demonstrated by reduced weight (51 +/- 4 kg, 47 +/
      2 kg, and 53 +/- 1 kg, respectively) compared with sham (69 +/- 3 kg; P < 0.01),
      with no demonstrable difference between SBS and treatment groups. Malabsorption
      and malnutrition occurred in SBS, BIA, and RS piglets reflected by increased
      fecal fat loss per 24 h (35 +/- 4%, 30 +/- 2%, and 32 +/- 4%, respectively versus
      18 +/- 1% in sham; P < 0.01) and reduced serum albumin levels (24 +/- 1 g/L, 22
      +/- 1 g/L, and 24 +/- 1 g/L, respectively versus sham 33 +/- 1 g/L; P < 0.01),
      but there was no significant difference between SBS and treatment groups. Serum
      citrulline levels reflected massive functional bowel loss (SBS 36 +/- 7 MUmol/L,
      BIA 23 +/- 1 MUmol/L, and RS 24 +/- 2 MUmol/L) compared with sham (64 +/- 5
      MUmol/L; P < 0.01). Electrophysiological measurements demonstrated reduced
      glucose absorption after intestinal resection, which did not return to base
      levels within the experimental time course. However, the intestine of BIA and RS
      piglets adapted more profoundly than SBS piglets, as reflected by a greater crypt
      depth (490 +/- 25 MUm and 492 +/- 21 MUm versus 388 +/- 20 MUm; P < 0.01); and
      BIA piglets showed greater villus length (884 +/- 58 MUm) than RS or SBS piglets
      (715 +/- 30 MUm and 737 +/- 64 MUm, respectively; P < 0.01) after 8 wk.
      CONCLUSIONS: Despite increased histologic intestinal adaptation, neither
      intestinal lengthening nor RS procedure demonstrated significantly improved
      absorption, nutrition, or weight gain for the treatment of SBS during the study
      period. Reduced glucose uptake on electrophysiology measurements and persistent
      low levels of citrulline may indicate reduced small bowel enterocyte functioning
      during the initial phase of intestinal adaptation.

PMID- 25819770
TI  - Papillary thyroid cancer-derived exosomes contain miRNA-146b and miRNA-222.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With the increasing diagnosis of indolent papillary thyroid cancer
      (PTC), the task of identifying those likely to suffer from recurrence is becoming
      ever more challenging. MicroRNA (miRNA/miR) in the circulation has been
      demonstrated as potential biomarkers of recurrence in PTC. This study aimed to
      investigate in vitro if extracellular miRNAs are contained in exosomes, and their
      potential effect on other cells. METHODS: TPC-1 (PTC) and NTHY (normal thyroid
      follicular) cell lines were treated with exosome isolates and conditioned medium
      (CM), both containing miR-146b and miR-222. The changes in proliferation over a
      72-h period of TPC-1 and NTHY were compared. Student t-test and analysis of
      variance were used for significance testing, and P < 0.05 was considered
      significant. RESULTS: Exosomes derived from TPC-1 cells were demonstrated to
      contain miR-146b and miR-222 in relative abundance. These exosomes caused a
      negative proliferative effect on both TPC-1 and NTHY cells. Exosomes derived from
      NTHY cells did not exert a significant proliferative effect on either cell line.
      CM from both cell types caused an initial increase in TPC-1 proliferation at 24
      h. No significant change in proliferation was seen with NTHY cells when treated
      with either of the CM. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that PTC cells overexpress
      miR-146b and miR-222 in exosomes; and that factors released by both normal
      thyroid and PTC cells alter proliferation of other cells in a complex manner. The
      intercellular interactions were likely conferred in part by exosomal miRNA, which
      can potentially be developed as biomarkers of PTC recurrence.

PMID- 25819771
TI  - Team interaction during surgery: a systematic review of communication coding
      schemes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Communication problems have been systematically linked to human
      errors in surgery and a deep understanding of the underlying processes is
      essential. Although a number of tools exist to assess nontechnical skills,
      methods to study communication and other team-related processes are far from
      being standardized, making comparisons challenging. We conducted a systematic
      review to analyze methods used to study events in the operating room (OR) and to
      develop a synthesized coding scheme for OR team communication. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Six electronic databases were accessed to search for articles that
      collected individual events during surgery and included detailed coding schemes.
      Additional articles were added based on cross-referencing. That collection was
      then classified based on type of events collected, environment type (real or
      simulated), number of procedures, type of surgical task, team characteristics,
      method of data collection, and coding scheme characteristics. All dimensions
      within each coding scheme were grouped based on emergent content similarity.
      Categories drawn from articles, which focused on communication events, were
      further analyzed and synthesized into one common coding scheme. RESULTS: A total
      of 34 of 949 articles met the inclusion criteria. The methodological
      characteristics and coding dimensions of the articles were summarized. A priori
      coding was used in nine studies. The synthesized coding scheme for OR
      communication included six dimensions as follows: information flow, period,
      statement type, topic, communication breakdown, and effects of communication
      breakdown. CONCLUSIONS: The coding scheme provides a standardized coding method
      for OR communication, which can be used to develop a priori codes for future
      studies especially in comparative effectiveness research.

PMID- 25819772
TI  - Emerging enhanced imaging technologies of the esophagus: spectroscopy, confocal
      laser endomicroscopy, and optical coherence tomography.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite advances in diagnoses and therapy, esophageal adenocarcinoma
      remains a highly lethal neoplasm. Hence, a great interest has been placed in
      detecting early lesions and in the detection of Barrett esophagus (BE). Advanced
      imaging technologies of the esophagus have then been developed with the aim of
      improving biopsy sensitivity and detection of preplastic and neoplastic cells.
      The purpose of this article was to review emerging imaging technologies for
      esophageal pathology, spectroscopy, confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE), and
      optical coherence tomography (OCT). METHODS: We conducted a PubMed search using
      the search string "esophagus or esophageal or oesophageal or oesophagus" and
      "Barrett or esophageal neoplasm" and "spectroscopy or optical spectroscopy" and
      "confocal laser endomicroscopy" and "confocal microscopy" and "optical coherence
      tomography." The first and senior author separately reviewed all articles. Our
      search identified: 19 in vivo studies with spectroscopy that accounted for 1021
      patients and 4 ex vivo studies; 14 clinical CLE in vivo studies that accounted
      for 941 patients and 1 ex vivo study with 13 patients; and 17 clinical OCT in
      vivo studies that accounted for 773 patients and 2 ex vivo studies. RESULTS:
      Human studies using spectroscopy had a very high sensitivity and specificity for
      the detection of BE. CLE showed a high interobserver agreement in diagnosing
      esophageal pathology and an accuracy of predicting neoplasia. We also found
      several clinical studies that reported excellent diagnostic sensitivity and
      specificity for the detection of BE using OCT. CONCLUSIONS: Advanced imaging
      technology for the detection of esophageal lesions is a promising field that aims
      to improve the detection of early esophageal lesions. Although advancing imaging
      techniques improve diagnostic sensitivities and specificities, their integration
      into diagnostic protocols has yet to be perfected.

PMID- 25819773
TI  - Enhanced beneficial effects of mild hypothermia by phenothiazine drugs in stroke
      therapy.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Hypothermia is a well-recognised and effective neuroprotectant
      because of its depressive effect on metabolism. However, its application in focal
      ischaemic stroke is limited by delayed onset, prolonged duration, the need for
      extensive medical and nursing efforts and significant complications. This study
      combined mild hypothermia with phenothiazine drugs to enhance its neuroprotective
      effects, thus potentially avoiding side effects. METHODS: Fifty-four male Sprague
      Dawley rats were induced with a 2-hour right middle cerebral artery (MCA)
      occlusion using an intraluminal filament. Five groups were tested: the stroke
      group without treatment (anal temperature 37.8-38.3 degrees C), the mild
      hypothermia group (anal temperature 35.0 degrees C), the drugs group (1 mg/kg
      chlorpromazine and 1 mg/kg promethazine, anal temperature at 37.8-38.3 degrees
      C), combination therapy with the mild hypothermia and drugs group and the normal
      control group (anal temperature 37.8-38.3 degrees C). The treatments immediately
      followed reperfusion. The extent of brain injury was evaluated by infarct volume
      and behaviour performance. RESULTS: The combination treatment of mild hypothermia
      with phenothiazine drugs demonstrated salient and significant (P < 0.001)
      reductions in infarct volume (30.0 +/- 15.14%) when compared to the stroke group
      (52.77 +/- 8.99%). A better recovery of long-term motor performance was also
      observed for those receiving the combination therapy. However, when administered
      independently, neither the mild hypothermia therapy (53.8 +/- 10.3%) nor
      phenothiazine regimen (55.7 +/- 9.00%) had significant therapeutic effects on
      infarct volume (P = 0.85 and 0.61, respectively). DISCUSSION: This study provides
      a novel and promising therapeutic strategy in the management of acute stroke.

PMID- 25819779
TI  - Prediction of cardiovascular disease worldwide.

PMID- 25819780
TI  - A photoluminescent layer for improving the performance of dye-sensitized solar
      cells.
AB  - A pyrene photoluminescent layer is coated on the front side of a dye-sensitized
      solar cell to enhance the power conversion efficiency. The power conversion
      efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cell coated with a pyrene photoluminescent
      layer improves from 9.12 +/- 0.06% to 10.30 +/- 0.11% (an improvement of 12.94%).

PMID- 25819778
TI  - A novel risk score to predict cardiovascular disease risk in national populations
      (Globorisk): a pooled analysis of prospective cohorts and health examination
      surveys.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Treatment of cardiovascular risk factors based on disease risk
      depends on valid risk prediction equations. We aimed to develop, and apply in
      example countries, a risk prediction equation for cardiovascular disease
      (consisting here of coronary heart disease and stroke) that can be recalibrated
      and updated for application in different countries with routinely available
      information. METHODS: We used data from eight prospective cohort studies to
      estimate coefficients of the risk equation with proportional hazard regressions.
      The risk prediction equation included smoking, blood pressure, diabetes, and
      total cholesterol, and allowed the effects of sex and age on cardiovascular
      disease to vary between cohorts or countries. We developed risk equations for
      fatal cardiovascular disease and for fatal plus non-fatal cardiovascular disease.
      We validated the risk equations internally and also using data from three cohorts
      that were not used to create the equations. We then used the risk prediction
      equation and data from recent (2006 or later) national health surveys to estimate
      the proportion of the population at different levels of cardiovascular disease
      risk in 11 countries from different world regions (China, Czech Republic,
      Denmark, England, Iran, Japan, Malawi, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, and USA).
      FINDINGS: The risk score discriminated well in internal and external validations,
      with C statistics generally 70% or more. At any age and risk factor level, the
      estimated 10 year fatal cardiovascular disease risk varied substantially between
      countries. The prevalence of people at high risk of fatal cardiovascular disease
      was lowest in South Korea, Spain, and Denmark, where only 5-10% of men and women
      had more than a 10% risk, and 62-77% of men and 79-82% of women had less than a
      3% risk. Conversely, the proportion of people at high risk of fatal
      cardiovascular disease was largest in China and Mexico. In China, 33% of men and
      28% of women had a 10-year risk of fatal cardiovascular disease of 10% or more,
      whereas in Mexico, the prevalence of this high risk was 16% for men and 11% for
      women. The prevalence of less than a 3% risk was 37% for men and 42% for women in
      China, and 55% for men and 69% for women in Mexico. INTERPRETATION: We developed
      a cardiovascular disease risk equation that can be recalibrated for application
      in different countries with routinely available information. The estimated
      percentage of people at high risk of fatal cardiovascular disease was higher in
      low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries. FUNDING: US
      National Institutes of Health, UK Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust.

PMID- 25819781
TI  - Understanding Miltefosine-Membrane Interactions Using Molecular Dynamics
      Simulations.
AB  - Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations are used to calculate the free
      energies of transfer of miltefosine, an alkylphosphocholine anticancer agent,
      from water to lipid bilayers to study its mechanism of interaction with
      biological membranes. We consider bilayers containing lipids with different
      degrees of unsaturation: dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC, saturated,
      containing 0%, 10%, and 30% cholesterol), dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC,
      diunsaturated), palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC, monounsaturated),
      diarachidonoylphosphatidylcholine (DAPC, polyunsaturated), and
      dilinoleylphosphatidylcholine (DUPC, polyunsaturated). These free energies,
      calculated using umbrella sampling, were used to compute the partition
      coefficients (K) of miltefosine between water and the lipid bilayers. The K
      values for the bilayers relative to that of pure DPPC were found to be 5.3
      (DOPC), 7.0 (POPC), 1.0 (DAPC), 2.2 (DUPC), 14.9 (10% cholesterol), and 76.2 (30%
      cholesterol). Additionally, we calculated the free energy of formation of
      miltefosine-cholesterol complexes by pulling the surfactant laterally in the DPPC
      + 30% cholesterol system. The free energy profile that we obtained provides
      further evidence that miltefosine tends to associate with cholesterol and has a
      propensity to partition into lipid rafts. We also quantified the kinetics of the
      transport of miltefosine through the various bilayers by computing permeance
      values. The highest permeance was observed in DUPC bilayers (2.28 * 10(-2) m/s)
      and the lowest permeance in the DPPC bilayer with 30% cholesterol (1.10 * 10(-7)
      m/s). Our simulation results show that miltefosine does indeed interact with
      lipid rafts, has a higher permeability in polyunsaturated, loosely organized
      bilayers, and has higher flip-flop rates in specific regions of cellular
      membranes. 

PMID- 25819782
TI  - Sesquiterpenes from the essential oil of Curcuma wenyujin and their inhibitory
      effects on nitric oxide production.
AB  - Three new sesquiterpenes including a new elemane-type sesquiterpene, 5betaH-elem
      1,3,7,8-tetraen-8,12-olide (1), and two new carabrane-type sesquiterpenes,
      7alpha,11-epoxy-6alpha-methoxy-carabrane-4,8-dione (2) and 8,11-epidioxy-8
      hydroxy-4-oxo-6-carabren (3), together with eight known sesquiterpenes (4-11)
      were isolated from Curcuma wenyujin Y. H. Chen et C. Ling. Their structures were
      elucidated based on extensive spectroscopic analyses. A possible biogenetic
      scheme for the related compounds was postulated. All of the isolated compounds
      were tested for inhibitory activity against LPS-induced nitric oxide production
      in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Meanwhile, preliminary structure-activity relationships
      for these compounds are discussed. 

PMID- 25819783
TI  - Cytidine-stabilized gold nanocluster as a fluorescence turn-on and turn-off probe
      for dual functional detection of Ag(+) and Hg(2+).
AB  - In this study, we have developed a label-free, dual functional detection strategy
      for highly selective and sensitive determination of aqueous Ag(+) and Hg(2+) by
      using cytidine stabilized Au NCs and AuAg NCs as fluorescent turn-on and turn off
      probes, respectively. The Au NCs and AuAg NCs showed a remarkably rapid response
      and high selectivity for Ag(+) and Hg(2+) over other metal ions, and relevant
      detection limit of Ag(+) and Hg(2+) is ca. 10 nM and 30 nM, respectively.
      Importantly, the fluorescence enhanced Au NCs by doping Ag(+) can be conveniently
      reusable for the detection of Hg(2+) based on the corresponding fluorescence
      quenching. The sensing mechanism was based on the high-affinity metallophilic
      Hg(2+)-Ag(+) interaction, which effectively quenched the fluorescence of AuAg
      NCs. Furthermore, these fluorescent nanoprobes could be readily applied to Ag(+)
      and Hg(2+) detection in environmental water samples, indicating their possibility
      to be utilized as a convenient, dual functional, rapid response, and label-free
      fluorescence sensor for related environmental and health monitoring.

PMID- 25819784
TI  - Tutorial review on validation of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods:
      part II.
AB  - This is the part II of a tutorial review intending to give an overview of the
      state of the art of method validation in liquid chromatography mass spectrometry
      (LC-MS) and discuss specific issues that arise with MS (and MS-MS) detection in
      LC (as opposed to the "conventional" detectors). The Part II starts with briefly
      introducing the main quantitation methods and then addresses the performance
      related to quantification: linearity of signal, sensitivity, precision, trueness,
      accuracy, stability and measurement uncertainty. The last section is devoted to
      practical considerations in validation. With every performance characteristic its
      essence and terminology are addressed, the current status of treating it is
      reviewed and recommendations are given, how to handle it, specifically in the
      case of LC-MS methods. 

PMID- 25819785
TI  - Tutorial review on validation of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods:
      part I.
AB  - This is the part I of a tutorial review intending to give an overview of the
      state of the art of method validation in liquid chromatography mass spectrometry
      (LC-MS) and discuss specific issues that arise with MS (and MS/MS) detection in
      LC (as opposed to the "conventional" detectors). The Part I briefly introduces
      the principles of operation of LC-MS (emphasizing the aspects important from the
      validation point of view, in particular the ionization process and ionization
      suppression/enhancement); reviews the main validation guideline documents and
      discusses in detail the following performance parameters:
      selectivity/specificity/identity, ruggedness/robustness, limit of detection,
      limit of quantification, decision limit and detection capability. With every
      method performance characteristic its essence and terminology are addressed, the
      current status of treating it is reviewed and recommendations are given, how to
      determine it, specifically in the case of LC-MS methods. 

PMID- 25819786
TI  - Identifying bioactive components in natural products through chromatographic
      fingerprint.
AB  - Bioactive component identification is a crucial issue in search for new drug
      leads. We provide a new strategy to search for bioactive components based on Sure
      Independence Screening (SIS) and interval PLS (iPLS). The method, which is termed
      as SIS-iPLS, is not only able to find out the chief bioactive components, but
      also able to judge how many components should be there responsible for the total
      bioactivity. The method is totally "data-driven" with no need for prior knowledge
      about the unknown mixture analyzed, therefore especially suitable for effect
      directed work like bioassay-guided fractionation. Two data sets, a synthetic
      mixture system of twelve components and a suite of Radix Puerariae Lobatae
      extracts samples, are used to test the identification ability of the SIS-iPLS
      method. 

PMID- 25819787
TI  - Simultaneous electrochemical sensing of thallium, lead and mercury using a novel
      ionic liquid/graphene modified electrode.
AB  - In the present manuscript, an electrochemical sensor for the sensitive detection
      of Tl(+), Pb(2+) and Hg(2+) is described. A new composite electrode has been
      fabricated using graphene, 1-n-octylpyridinum hexafluorophosphate (OPFP), and
      [2,4-Cl2C6H3C(O)CHPPh3] (L), as a new synthetic phosphorus ylide. The
      physicochemical and electrochemical characterizations of fabricated sensor were
      investigated in details. The advantages of the proposed composite electrode are
      its ability in simultaneous electrochemical detection of Tl(+), Pb(2+) and Hg(2+)
      with good selectivity, stability and no need for separating of the three species
      from complex mixtures prior to electrochemical measurements. The analytical
      performance of the proposed electrode was examined using square wave voltammetry.
      Tl(+), Pb(2+) and Hg(2+) can be determined in linear ranges from 1.25*10(-9) to
      2.00*10(-7) mol L(-1). Low detection limits of 3.57*10(-10) mol L(-1) for Tl(+),
      4.50*10(-10) mol L(-1) for Pb(2+) and 3.86*10(-10) mol L(-1) for Hg(2+) were
      achieved. Finally, the proposed electrochemical sensor was applied to detect
      trace analyte ions in various water and soil samples with satisfactory results.

PMID- 25819788
TI  - Metal-organic framework-templated synthesis of magnetic nanoporous carbon as an
      efficient absorbent for enrichment of phenylurea herbicides.
AB  - Nanoporous carbon with a high specific surface area and unique porous structure
      represents an attractive material as an adsorbent in analytical chemistry. In
      this study, a magnetic nanoporous carbon (MNC) was fabricated by direct
      carbonization of Co-based metal-organic framework in nitrogen atmosphere without
      using any additional carbon precursors. The MNC was used as an effective magnetic
      adsorbent for the extraction and enrichment of some phenylurea herbicides
      (monuron, isoproturon, diuron and buturon) in grape and bitter gourd samples
      prior to their determination by high performance liquid chromatography with
      ultraviolet detection. Several important experimental parameters that could
      influence the extraction efficiency were investigated and optimized. Under the
      optimum conditions, a good linearity was achieved in the concentration range of
      1.0-100.0 ng g(-1) for monuron, diuron and buturon and 1.5-100.0 ng g(-1) for
      isoproturon with the correlation coefficients (r) larger than 0.9964. The limits
      of detection (S/N=3) of the method were in the range from 0.17 to 0.46 ng g(-1).
      The results indicated that the MNC material was stable and efficient adsorbent
      for the magnetic solid-phase extraction of phenylurea herbicides and would have a
      great application potential for the extraction and preconcentration of more
      organic pollutants from real samples.

PMID- 25819789
TI  - Improving detection sensitivity of amino acids in thyroid tissues by using
      phthalic acid as a mobile phase additive in hydrophilic interaction
      chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry.
AB  - In this work, 0.08 mmol L(-1) of phthalic acid was introduced as a mobile phase
      additive to quantify free amino acids (AAs) by hydrophilic interaction liquid
      chromatography (HILIC) coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass
      spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). The addition of phthalic acid significantly increased
      the signal intensity of protonated AA ions, resulting from the decrease of the
      relative abundance of AA sodium adducts. Meanwhile, the chromatographic peak
      shapes of AAs were optimized. As a consequence, there was a noticeable increase
      in the sensitivity of detection for AAs. The limits of detection (LOD) and
      quantification (LOQ) of the AAs ranged from 0.0500 to 20.0 ng mL(-1) and from
      0.100 to 50.0 ng mL(-1), respectively, which were 4-50 times lower compared to
      the values measured without the addition of phthalic acid. The enhanced detection
      and separation of AAs were obtained by merely adding phthalic acid to the mobile
      phase without changing other conditions. Eventually, this simple method was
      validated and successfully applied to the analysis of twenty-four kinds of free
      AAs in human thyroid carcinoma and para-carcinoma tissues, demonstrating a
      significant increase of most AAs in thyroid carcinoma tissues (p<0.05).

PMID- 25819790
TI  - Highly-controllable imprinted polymer nanoshell at the surface of silica
      nanoparticles based room-temperature phosphorescence probe for detection of 2,4
      dichlorophenol.
AB  - This paper reports a facile and general method for preparing an imprinted polymer
      thin shell with Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots (QDs) at the surface of silica
      nanoparticles by stepwise precipitation polymerization to form the highly
      controllable core-shell nanoparticles (MIPs@SiO2-ZnS:Mn QDs) and sensitively
      recognize the target 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP). Acrylamide (AM) and ethyl
      glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) were used as the functional monomer and the cross
      linker, respectively. The MIPs@SiO2-ZnS:Mn QDs had a controllable shell thickness
      and a high density of effective recognition sites, and the thickness of uniform
      core-shell 2,4-DCP-imprinted nanoparticles was controlled by the total amounts of
      monomers. The MIPs@SiO2-ZnS:Mn QDs with a shell thickness of 45 nm exhibited the
      largest quenching efficiency to 2,4-DCP by using the spectrofluorometer. After
      the experimental conditions were optimized, a linear relationship was obtained
      covering the linear range of 1.0-84 MUmol L(-1) with a correlation coefficient of
      0.9981 and the detection limit (3sigma/k) was 0.15 MUmol L(-1). The feasibility
      of the developed method was successfully evaluated through the determination of
      2,4-DCP in real samples. This study provides a general strategy to fabricate
      highly-controllable core-shell imprinted polymer-contained QDs with highly
      selective recognition ability.

PMID- 25819791
TI  - Enzyme-regulated the changes of pH values for assembling a colorimetric and
      multistage interconnection logic network with multiple readouts.
AB  - Based on enzymatic reactions-triggered changes of pH values and biocomputing, a
      novel and multistage interconnection biological network with multiple easy
      detectable signal outputs has been developed. Compared with traditional chemical
      computing, the enzyme-based biological system could overcome the interference
      between reactions or the incompatibility of individual computing gates and offer
      a unique opportunity to assemble multicomponent/multifunctional logic
      circuitries. Our system included four enzyme inputs: beta-galactosidase (beta
      gal), glucose oxidase (GOx), esterase (Est) and urease (Ur). With the assistance
      of two signal transducers (gold nanoparticles and acid-base indicators) or pH
      meter, the outputs of the biological network could be conveniently read by the
      naked eyes. In contrast to current methods, the approach present here could
      realize cost-effective, label-free and colorimetric logic operations without
      complicated instrument. By designing a series of Boolean logic operations, we
      could logically make judgment of the compositions of the samples on the basis of
      visual output signals. Our work offered a promising paradigm for future
      biological computing technology and might be highly useful in future intelligent
      diagnostics, prodrug activation, smart drug delivery, process control, and
      electronic applications. 

PMID- 25819792
TI  - Microdamage induced calcium efflux from bone matrix activates intracellular
      calcium signaling in osteoblasts via L-type and T-type voltage-gated calcium
      channels.
AB  - Mechanisms by which bone microdamage triggers repair response are not completely
      understood. It has been shown that calcium efflux ([Ca(2+)]E) occurs from regions
      of bone undergoing microdamage. Such efflux has also been shown to trigger
      intracellular calcium signaling ([Ca(2+)]I) in MC3T3-E1 cells local to damaged
      regions. Voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) are implicated in the entry of
      [Ca(2+)]E to the cytoplasm. We investigated the involvement of VGCC in the
      extracellular calcium induced intracellular calcium response (ECIICR). MC3T3-E1
      cells were subjected to one dimensional calcium efflux from their basal aspect
      which results in an increase in [Ca(2+)]I. This increase was concomitant with
      membrane depolarization and it was significantly reduced in the presence of
      Bepridil, a non-selective VGCC inhibitor. To identify specific type(s) of VGCC in
      ECIICR, the cells were treated with selective inhibitors for different types of
      VGCC. Significant changes in the peak intensity and the number of [Ca(2+)]I
      oscillations were observed when L-type and T-type specific VGCC inhibitors
      (Verapamil and NNC55-0396, respectively) were used. So as to confirm the
      involvement of L- and T-type VGCC in the context of microdamage, cells were
      seeded on devitalized notched bone specimen, which were loaded to induce
      microdamage in the presence and absence of Verapamil and NNC55-0396. The results
      showed significant decrease in [Ca(2+)]I activity of cells in the microdamaged
      regions of bone when L- and T-type blockers were applied. This study demonstrated
      that extracellular calcium increase in association with damage depolarizes the
      cell membrane and the calcium ions enter the cell cytoplasm by L- and T-type
      VGCCs. 

PMID- 25819793
TI  - New Insights into the Post-Translational Regulation of DNA Damage Response and
      Double-Strand Break Repair in Caenorhabditis elegans.
AB  - Although a growing number of studies have reported the importance of SUMOylation
      in genome maintenance and DNA double-strand break repair (DSBR), relevant target
      proteins and how this modification regulates their functions are yet to be
      clarified. Here, we analyzed SUMOylation of ZTF-8, the homolog of mammalian
      RHINO, to test the functional significance of this protein modification in the
      DSBR and DNA damage response (DDR) pathways in the Caenorhabditis elegans
      germline. We found that ZTF-8 is a direct target for SUMOylation in vivo and that
      its modification is required for DNA damage checkpoint induced apoptosis and
      DSBR. Non-SUMOylatable mutants of ZTF-8 mimic the phenotypes observed in ztf-8
      null mutants, including reduced fertility, impaired DNA damage repair, and
      defective DNA damage checkpoint activation. However, while mutants for components
      acting in the SUMOylation pathway fail to properly localize ZTF-8, its
      localization is not altered in the ZTF-8 non-SUMOylatable mutants. Taken
      together, these data show that direct SUMOylation of ZTF-8 is required for its
      function in DSBR as well as DDR but not its localization. ZTF-8's human ortholog
      is enriched in the germline, but its meiotic role as well as its post
      translational modification has never been explored. Therefore, our discovery may
      assist in understanding the regulatory mechanism of this protein in DSBR and DDR
      in the germline. 

PMID- 25819794
TI  - Efficient CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Genome Editing in Mice by Zygote Electroporation
      of Nuclease.
AB  - The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR
      associated protein (Cas) system is an adaptive immune system in bacteria and
      archaea that has recently been exploited for genome engineering. Mutant mice can
      be generated in one step through direct delivery of the CRISPR/Cas9 components
      into a mouse zygote. Although the technology is robust, delivery remains a
      bottleneck, as it involves manual injection of the components into the pronuclei
      or the cytoplasm of mouse zygotes, which is technically demanding and inherently
      low throughput. To overcome this limitation, we employed electroporation as a
      means to deliver the CRISPR/Cas9 components, including Cas9 messenger RNA, single
      guide RNA, and donor oligonucleotide, into mouse zygotes and recovered live mice
      with targeted nonhomologous end joining and homology-directed repair mutations
      with high efficiency. Our results demonstrate that mice carrying CRISPR/Cas9
      mediated targeted mutations can be obtained with high efficiency by zygote
      electroporation. 

PMID- 25819796
TI  - Literacy after cerebral hemispherectomy: Can the isolated right hemisphere read?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Cerebral hemispherectomy, a surgical procedure undergone to control
      intractable seizures, is becoming a standard procedure with more cases identified
      and treated early in life [33]. While the effect of the dominant hemisphere
      resection on spoken language has been extensively researched, little is known
      about reading abilities in individuals after left-sided resection. Left
      lateralized phonological abilities are the key components of reading, i.e.,
      grapheme-phoneme conversion skills [1]. These skills are critical for the
      acquisition of word-specific orthographic knowledge and have been shown to
      predict reading levels in average readers as well as in readers with mild
      cognitive disability [26]. Furthermore, impaired phonological processing has been
      implicated as the cognitive basis in struggling readers. Here, we explored the
      reading skills in participants who have undergone left cerebral hemispherectomy.
      METHODS: Seven individuals who have undergone left cerebral hemispherectomy to
      control intractable seizures associated with perinatal infarct have been
      recruited for this study. We examined if components of phonological processing
      that are shown to reliably separate average readers from struggling readers,
      i.e., phonological awareness, verbal memory, speed of retrieval, and size of
      vocabulary, show the same relationship to reading levels when they are mediated
      by the right hemisphere [2]. RESULTS: We found that about 60% of our group
      developed both word reading and paragraph reading in the average range.
      Phonological processing measured by both phonological awareness and nonword
      reading was unexpectedly spared in the majority of participants. Phonological
      awareness levels strongly correlated with word reading. Verbal memory, a
      component of phonological processing skills, together with receptive vocabulary
      size, positively correlated with reading levels similar to those reported in
      average readers. Receptive vocabulary, a bilateral function, was preserved to a
      certain degree similar to that of strongly left-lateralized phonological skills
      [3]. Later seizure onset was associated with better reading levels. CONCLUSIONS:
      When cerebral hemispherectomy is performed to control seizures associated with
      very early (in utero) insult, it has been found that the remaining right
      hemisphere is still able to support reading and phonological processing skills
      that are normally mediated by the left hemisphere. Our results also suggest the
      existence of variability in individuals after hemispherectomy, even within groups
      having the same etiology and similar timing of insult.

PMID- 25819795
TI  - An Rtf2 Domain-Containing Protein Influences Pre-mRNA Splicing and Is Essential
      for Embryonic Development in Arabidopsis thaliana.
AB  - Alternative splicing is prevalent in plants, but little is known about its
      regulation in the context of developmental and signaling pathways. We describe
      here a new factor that influences pre-messengerRNA (mRNA) splicing and is
      essential for embryonic development in Arabidopsis thaliana. This factor was
      retrieved in a genetic screen that identified mutants impaired in expression of
      an alternatively spliced GFP reporter gene. In addition to the known spliceosomal
      component PRP8, the screen recovered Arabidopsis RTF2 (AtRTF2), a previously
      uncharacterized, evolutionarily conserved protein containing a replication
      termination factor 2 (Rtf2) domain. A homozygous null mutation in AtRTF2 is
      embryo lethal, indicating that AtRTF2 is an essential protein. Quantitative RT
      PCR demonstrated that impaired expression of GFP in atrtf2 and prp8 mutants is
      due to inefficient splicing of the GFP pre-mRNA. A genome-wide analysis using RNA
      sequencing indicated that 13-16% of total introns are retained to a significant
      degree in atrtf2 mutants. Considering these results and previous suggestions that
      Rtf2 represents an ubiquitin-related domain, we discuss the possible role of
      AtRTF2 in ubiquitin-based regulation of pre-mRNA splicing. 

PMID- 25819797
TI  - Can anesthetic treatment worsen outcome in status epilepticus?
AB  - Status epilepticus refractory to first-line and second-line antiepileptic
      treatments challenges neurologists and intensivists as mortality increases with
      treatment refractoriness and seizure duration. International guidelines advocate
      anesthetic drugs, such as continuously administered high-dose midazolam,
      propofol, and barbiturates, for the induction of therapeutic coma in patients
      with treatment-refractory status epilepticus. The seizure-suppressing effect of
      anesthetic drugs is believed to be so strong that some experts recommend using
      them after benzodiazepines have failed. Although the rationale for the use of
      anesthetic drugs in patients with treatment-refractory status epilepticus seems
      clear, the recommendation of their use in treating status epilepticus is based on
      expert opinions rather than on strong evidence. Randomized trials in this context
      are lacking, and recent studies provide disturbing results, as the administration
      of anesthetics was associated with poor outcome independent of possible
      confounders. This calls for caution in the straightforward use of anesthetics in
      treating status epilepticus. However, there are still more questions than
      answers, and current evidence for the adverse effects of anesthetic drugs in
      patients with status epilepticus remains too limited to advocate a change of
      treatment algorithms. In this overview, the rationale and the conflicting
      clinical implications of anesthetic drugs in patients with treatment-refractory
      status epilepticus are discussed, and remaining questions are elaborated. This
      article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Status Epilepticus". 

PMID- 25819798
TI  - The role of obesity in cognitive dysfunction in people with epilepsy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In the general population, obesity is associated with accelerated age
      related cognitive decline. The impact of obesity on cognitive function in
      neurological populations who already have a heightened risk of cognitive decline
      is unknown. This study explored the relationship between obesity and cognitive
      underfunction in people with medically intractable epilepsy. METHODS: Eighty-one
      consecutive patients admitted for evaluation for medically intractable epilepsy
      (36 females and 45 males) underwent tests of memory and intellectual function.
      Optimal level of function was assessed using the National Adult Reading Test -
      Revised. Measures of underfunction were calculated by subtracting current
      measures of intellectual ability from the NART IQ. Body mass index (BMI) was used
      as an index of obesity. RESULTS: Twenty-nine people had a BMI in the healthy
      range (36%), 31 were overweight (38%), and 21 were obese (26%). The healthy
      weight, overweight, and obese groups did not differ in age at the time of
      assessment, age at seizure onset, or optimal level of function (NART IQ). The
      obese group had a greater degree of suboptimal processing speed and demonstrated
      a greater degree of underfunction on the Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) measure compared to
      the healthy weight group. Body mass index accounted for 14% of the variance in
      underfunction in processing speed and 10% of the variance in underfunction in
      FSIQ. Controlling for the effects of age, all measures of memory function were
      significantly correlated with BMI, with poorer scores associated with higher
      BMIs. SIGNIFICANCE: A small but significant proportion of the variance in memory
      function and intellectual underfunction in people with epilepsy is explained by
      BMI. Further work is needed to establish whether a reduction in BMI to within
      healthy limits is associated with improvements in cognitive function in this
      group.

PMID- 25819799
TI  - Hypothesis: CeM-RVLM circuits may be implicated in sudden unexpected death in
      epilepsy by melanocortinergic-sympathetic signaling.

PMID- 25819800
TI  - Cross-cultural adaptation of the Malay version of the parent-proxy Health-Related
      Quality of Life Measure for Children with Epilepsy (CHEQOL-25) in Malaysia.
AB  - PURPOSE: We aimed to cross-culturally adapt the parent-proxy Health-Related
      Quality of Life Measure for Children with Epilepsy (CHEQOL-25) into Malay and to
      determine its validity and reliability among parents of children with epilepsy in
      Malaysia. METHODS: The English version of the parent-proxy CHEQOL-25 was
      translated according to international guidelines to Malay. Content validity was
      verified by an expert panel and piloted in five parents of children with epilepsy
      (CWE). The Malay parent-proxy CHEQOL-25 was then administered to 40 parents of
      CWE, aged 8-18years from two tertiary hospitals, at baseline and 2weeks later.
      Parents were also required to complete the Malay PedsQLTM 4.0 so that convergent
      validity could be assessed. Hypothesis testing was assessed by correlating the
      individual subscales in the parent-proxy CHEQOL-25 with epilepsy severity, the
      number of anticonvulsants, and the number of close friends. RESULTS: Participants
      from the pilot study did not encounter any problems in answering the final
      translated Malay parent-proxy CHEQOL-25. Hence, no further modifications were
      made. Cronbach's alpha for each subscale of the Malay parent-proxy CHEQOL-25
      ranged from 0.67 to 0.83. The intraclass correlation coefficient for all items at
      test-retest ranged from 0.70 to 0.94. Both the CHEQOL-25 and the PedsQLTM 4.0
      showed good correlation in the social and emotional subscales (r=0.598, p=0.002
      and r=0.342, p=0.031, respectively). The severity of epilepsy, higher number of
      antiepileptic drug(s), poorer cognitive ability of the child, lower number of
      close friends, and lesser amount of time spent with friends were significantly
      associated with poorer health-related quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: The Malay
      parent-proxy CHEQOL-25 was found to be a valid and reliable instrument to assess
      parents' perceived HRQOL of their CWE in Malaysia.

PMID- 25819801
TI  - Distribution of Candida albicans and non-albicans Candida species in oral
      candidiasis patients: Correlation between cell surface hydrophobicity and biofilm
      forming activities.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this investigation were to study the prevalence of
      Candida albicans and non-albicans Candida (NAC) species from oral candidiasis
      patients and evaluate the cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) and biofilm forming
      capacity of the clinical isolates Candida species from oral cavity. DESIGN: This
      study identified a total of 250 Candida strains isolated from 207 oral
      candidiasis patients with PCR-RFLP technique. CSH value, total biomass of biofilm
      and biofilm forming ability of 117 oral Candida isolates were evaluated. RESULTS:
      C. albicans (61.6%) was still the predominant species in oral candidiasis
      patients with and without denture wearer, respectively, followed by C. glabrata
      (15.2%), C. tropicalis (10.4%), C. parapsilosis (3.2%), C. kefyr (3.6%), C.
      dubliniensis (2%), C. lusitaniae (2%), C. krusei (1.6%), and C. guilliermondii
      (0.4%). The proportion of mixed colonization with more than one Candida species
      was 18% from total cases. The relative CSH value and biofilm biomass of NAC
      species were greater than C. albicans (p<0.001). Ninety-two percent of oral
      isolates NAC species had biofilm forming ability, whereas 78% of C. albicans were
      biofilm formers. Furthermore, the significant difference of relative CSH values
      between biofilm formers and non-biofilm formers was observed in the NAC species
      (p<0.005), whereas the difference was not statistically significant in C.
      albicans. CONCLUSION: The frequency of the NAC species colonization in oral
      cavity was gradually increasing. The possible contributing factors might be high
      cell surface hydrophobicity and biofilm forming ability. The relative CSH value
      could be a putative factor for determining biofilm formation ability of the non
      albicans Candida species.

PMID- 25819803
TI  - Intermittent application of hypergravity by centrifugation attenuates disruption
      of rat gait induced by 2 weeks of simulated microgravity.
AB  - The effects of intermittent hypergravity on gait alterations and hindlimb muscle
      atrophy in rats induced by 2 weeks of simulated microgravity were investigated.
      Rats were submitted to hindlimb unloading for 2 weeks (unloading period),
      followed by 2 weeks of reloading (recovery period). During the unloading period,
      animals were subjected to the following treatments: (1) free in cages (Control);
      (2) continuous unloading (UL); (3) released from unloading for 1 hour per day
      (UL+1G); (4) hypergravity for 1h per day using a centrifuge for small animals
      (UL+2G). The relative weights of muscles to the whole body weight and kinematics
      properties of hindlimbs during gait were evaluated. UL rats walked with their
      hindlimbs overextended, and the oscillation of their limb motion had become
      narrowed and forward-shifted after the unloading period, and this persisted for
      at least 2 weeks after the termination of unloading. However, these locomotor
      alterations were attenuated in rats subjected to UL+2G centrifugation despite
      minor systematic changes in muscle recovery. These findings indicate hypergravity
      application could counteract the adverse effects of simulated or actual
      microgravity environments.

PMID- 25819804
TI  - Malignant phenotype and two SDHD mutations in a family with paraganglioma
      syndrome type 1.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Paraganglioma syndrome type 1 (PGL1) is a rare autosomal dominant
      syndrome associated with multiple, overwhelmingly benign, pheochromocytomas and
      paragangliomas, attributed to SDHD gene mutations. OBJECTIVE: Clinically and
      molecularly characterize a family with uncommon malignant phenotype of
      paragangliomas attributed to two seemingly pathogenic SDHD germline mutations.
      MATERIALS & METHODS: The proband presented with large bilateral carotid body
      tumours and family history of cervical masses in his five siblings. All family
      members underwent clinical examination, imaging studies (18F-FDG PET/CT) and
      genotyping of relevant genes. The proband was diagnosed with locally advanced
      paraganglioma; his hypertensive, otherwise asymptomatic father, had locally
      advanced pheochromocytoma and his three siblings showed multiple head and neck
      masses, confirmed to be paragangliomas with local metastasis. All affected
      patients carried two germline mutations in the SDHD gene; a previously reported
      nonsense mutation in exon 1 (p.Trp5X) and a novel missense mutation in exon 2
      (p.Pro53Leu), highly deleterious by in silico analysis. Allelic loss at the SDHD
      locus was not shown for any of the analysed tumours. CONCLUSIONS: This is a rare
      case of malignant PGL1 with seemingly double pathogenic mutations in the SDHD
      gene, highlighting the possibility that the presence of both mutations is
      associated with the more aggressive phenotype.

PMID- 25819805
TI  - Multiple calcifying pseudoneoplasms of the neuraxis.
AB  - Calcified pseudoneoplasms of the neuraxis (CAPNON) are a rare diagnostic entity.
      They have been reported intra-cranially as well as in the spine, and are most
      commonly found at the skull base. This is a case report of a 38-year-old woman
      who presented with bilateral CAPNON, diagnosed 8 years apart. While there are
      approximately 46 reported in the current literature of cerebral and spinal fibro
      osseous lesions, this is the first report of separate lesions.

PMID- 25819806
TI  - Changes of cerebral white matter in patients suffering from Pantothenate Kinase
      Associated Neurodegeneration (PKAN): A diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To look for microstructural white matter alterations in patients with
      dystonia due to Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: We examined 21 genetically confirmed patients and an age-matched group
      of 21 healthy controls by diffusion tensor imaging. Evaluation of data was
      performed by tract-based spatial statistics analysis and a voxel-wise comparison
      of calculated maps of fractional anisotropy. Findings were compared between
      groups and correlated to the dystonia score of the Burke-Fahn-Marsden Scale (p <=
      0.05). RESULTS: Patients showed reductions of fractional anisotropy mainly in the
      periventricular substance surrounding the third ventricle, in the medial part of
      both putamina and in the frontal white matter including the anterior limbs of the
      internal capsules and the corpus callosum. Infratentorially, the cerebellar white
      matter and dorsal parts of the pons and medulla were affected. CONCLUSION: In
      addition to cortical grey matter changes, we now have a second structural finding
      pointing to a more widespread affection of cerebral tissue in PKAN dystonia than
      just the lesion and iron accumulation in the globus pallidus.

PMID- 25819807
TI  - Secondary treatment failure in cervical dystonia after treatment with inco- and
      abobotulinumtoxinA.

PMID- 25819808
TI  - Detecting and monitoring the symptoms of Parkinson's disease using smartphones: A
      pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Remote, non-invasive and objective tests that can be used to support
      expert diagnosis for Parkinson's disease (PD) are lacking. METHODS: Participants
      underwent baseline in-clinic assessments, including the Unified Parkinson's
      Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), and were provided smartphones with an Android
      operating system that contained a smartphone application that assessed voice,
      posture, gait, finger tapping, and response time. Participants then took the
      smart phones home to perform the five tasks four times a day for a month. Once a
      week participants had a remote (telemedicine) visit with a Parkinson disease
      specialist in which a modified (excluding assessments of rigidity and balance)
      UPDRS performed. Using statistical analyses of the five tasks recorded using the
      smartphone from 10 individuals with PD and 10 controls, we sought to: (1)
      discriminate whether the participant had PD and (2) predict the modified motor
      portion of the UPDRS. RESULTS: Twenty participants performed an average of 2.7
      tests per day (68.9% adherence) for the study duration (average of 34.4 days) in
      a home and community setting. The analyses of the five tasks differed between
      those with Parkinson disease and those without. In discriminating participants
      with PD from controls, the mean sensitivity was 96.2% (SD 2%) and mean
      specificity was 96.9% (SD 1.9%). The mean error in predicting the modified motor
      component of the UPDRS (range 11-34) was 1.26 UPDRS points (SD 0.16). CONCLUSION:
      Measuring PD symptoms via a smartphone is feasible and has potential value as a
      diagnostic support tool.

PMID- 25819809
TI  - Involvement of hypoxia and inflammation in early pregnancy loss mediated by Shiga
      toxin type 2.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Symptomatic or asymptomatic Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli
      (STEC) infections during early pregnancy may cause maternal or fetal damage
      mediated by Shiga toxin type 2 (Stx2). The aim of this study is to elucidate the
      mechanisms responsible for early pregnancy loss in rats treated with Stx2.
      METHODS: Sprague Dawley pregnant rats were intraperitoneally injected at day 8 of
      gestation with a sublethal dose (0.5 ng of Stx2/g of total body weight, 250 MUl)
      of purified Stx2. Control rats were injected with the same volume of PBS. The
      expression of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) glycosphingolipid receptor for Stx2 was
      evaluated by thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Regions of hypoxia in decidual
      tissue were determined by pimonidazole immunohistochemistry and vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression by Western blot and
      immunohistochemistry. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) levels in serum and
      decidual tissue were evaluated by ELISA. Serum progesterone levels were
      determined by RIA. RESULTS: Decidual tissue from both, control and Stx2-treated
      rats showed similar expression of Gb3 receptor. Intrauterine growth restriction
      was observed in Stx2-treated rats, associated with hypoxia and an increase of
      decidual TNF-alpha levels. Decrease of serum progesterone levels and decidual
      VEGF expression were also demonstrated. DISCUSSION: Our findings indicate that
      Stx2 reaches the uteroplacental unit, binds Gb3 and triggers damage in decidual
      tissue. Poor oxygen supply accompanied with damage in the uteroplacental unit and
      inflammation could be responsible for the early pregnancy loss. Decrease in the
      pregnancy protective factors, serum progesterone and local VEGF, may contribute
      to the pregnancy loss.

PMID- 25819810
TI  - Animal models of fetal growth restriction: Considerations for translational
      medicine.
AB  - Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is the failure of a fetus to reach its full
      genetic growth potential. It occurs in up to 8% of pregnancies, and after
      premature birth is the second leading cause of infant mortality and morbidity.
      There is no treatment currently available for FGR. Its primary cause, when not
      attributable to structural or genetic defects of the fetus, is 'placental
      insufficiency'. This broad definition covers the inability of the fetus to
      acquire sufficient nutrients and oxygen, and is influenced by a number of factors
      including altered maternal or fetal blood flow, reduced nutrient transport or
      changes in the placenta such as increased barrier thickness inhibiting nutrient
      transfer. For those researchers studying FGR and developing new therapies,
      choosing an animal model is a crucial consideration. It is vital to clearly frame
      the question being asked, as this will impact the factor influencing fetal
      nutrient delivery in the model, and will also affect the applicability of the
      results to the human condition. This review examines the range of in vivo models
      of FGR available for those engaged in translational research.

PMID- 25819811
TI  - Flatfoot in school-age children: prevalence and associated factors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Flatfoot has been shown to cause abnormal stresses on the foot and
      lower extremity. The altered mechanical stresses on these structures can
      aggravate the foot deformity. Screening of the flatfoot and its associated
      factors helps detect underlying risks influencing the stresses on the foot. The
      purpose of this study was to analyze the structure of the medial foot arch and
      investigate its associated factors in students, aged 7 to 14 years. METHODS:
      Multistage cluster sampling was used and each cluster included 2 other random
      sampling levels. A total of 667 Iranian school children were recruited and their
      feet were bilaterally evaluated using a static footprint while standing in a
      fully weightbearing position. The footprint, an observational measurement, and a
      questionnaire were used for the foot assessment. RESULTS: The prevalence of
      flatfoot was 17.1% in the population studied. There was no gender difference but
      the prevalence of flatfoot did decrease with age. The significant differences
      were observed in the prevalence of flatfoot between normal-weight, overweight,
      and obese groups (P < .01); more overweight participants had flatter feet.
      CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that development of the longitudinal plantar
      arch in school-age children is influenced by age and weight. Age and weight were
      the primary predictive factors of flatfoot. LEVELS OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic, Level
      IV: Case series.

PMID- 25819812
TI  - MiR-191 modulates malignant transformation of endometriosis through regulating
      TIMP3.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although aberrant expression of several miRNAs was found during the
      pathological development of endometriosis to endometriosis-associated ovarian
      cancer (EAOC), their roles are not fully understood. miR-191 is a miRNA
      significantly upregulated in endometriosis and EAOC patients. However, its
      downstream network is still not clear. This study explored its role in malignant
      transformation of endometriosis to EAOC. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Tissues from 12
      healthy controls, 12 patients with endometriomas, and 12 patients with EAOC were
      used to verify miR-191 expression by using qRT-PCR. Endometriosis cell line CRL
      7566 and ovarian endometrioid carcinoma cell line CRL-11731 were used to explore
      the downstream regulative function of miR-191. RESULTS: By using tissue and serum
      samples from healthy, endometriosis, and EAOC participants, we confirmed that miR
      191 expression was significantly higher in endometriosis and EAOC participants.
      Interestingly, we also observed that TIMP3 expression was negatively correlated
      with miR-191 expression. Overexpressing miR-191 in CRL-7566 significantly
      increased cell proliferation and invasion, while miR-191 knockdown in CRL-11731
      cells significantly decreased cell proliferation and invasion. These modulating
      effects of miR-191 are achieved through its regulation of TIMP3. CONCLUSIONS: miR
      191 can directly regulate TIMP3 expression, thereby affecting cell proliferation
      rate and invasion ability. The miR-191-TIMP3 axis might be critical in the
      malignant transformation of endometriosis to EAOC.

PMID- 25819813
TI  - DTB Select: 4 | April 2015.
AB  - Navigating the new drug-driving law ? EMA recommends suspension of medicines over
      trial concerns ? NICE updates approach to biosimilars ? Chondroitin for OA? ? The
      impact of molluscum contagiosum ? Reassessing treatments for neuropathic pain ?
      First-line drugs for hypertension ? Stopping smoking and mental health ? Warnings
      and advice on ? valproate treatment. 

PMID- 25819814
TI  - Aortic pseudocoarctation: a late presentation of an uncommon anomaly.

PMID- 25819815
TI  - Prostate cancer: beware of disseminated intravascular coagulation.
AB  - Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a pathological systemic condition
      resulting from aberrant activation of the coagulation system. It is characterised
      by the release and activation of procoagulants into the blood, with an associated
      consumption coagulopathy. Its association with solid and haematological
      malignancies is well described in literature. This case describes an elderly man,
      known to have prostate cancer, who following transurethral resection of the
      prostate developed DIC with haematuria, spontaneous ecchymoses and mucosal
      bleeding. Subsequent investigations revealed a prostate-specific antigen (PSA)
      >1000 ug/L, and staging CT showed multiple sclerotic metastatic lesions affecting
      the thoracic and lumbar vertebra, as well as infiltration into his left femur.
      Coagulation normalised with blood products and vitamin K within 1 week, and the
      patient responded to antiandrogen therapy with a reduction in pain and PSA on
      discharge. 

PMID- 25819816
TI  - Cavernous sinus syndrome: need for early diagnosis.
AB  - Cavernous sinus syndrome (CSS) is a rare condition characterised by
      ophthalmoplegia, proptosis, ocular and conjunctival congestion, trigeminal
      sensory loss and Horner's syndrome. These signs and symptoms result from the
      involvement of the cranial nerves passing through the cavernous sinus. We report
      the case of a 53-year-old man with a history of daily stabbing headache
      associated with dizziness, progressive blurred vision, right ocular pain, ptosis
      and ophthalmoplegia. After working up the patient, a meningioma was identified as
      the cause of the CSS. Despite advances in neuroimaging techniques, in some cases,
      the aetiology of CSS remains difficult to determine. We highlight the clinical
      and radiological features of a meningioma, one of the causes of CSS. Early
      diagnosis and treatment of CSS play a key role in a better prognosis. 

PMID- 25819817
TI  - Juvenile polymyositis with unremitting pain and progressive loss of motor and
      bulbar function on a background of sickle cell disease.
AB  - The diagnosis of acute autoimmune rheumatic disorders in sickle cell disease
      (SCD) can be challenging. Polymyositis is an inflammatory myopathy which, like
      SCD, may present with myalgia but is usually associated with proximal muscle
      weakness. We describe an adolescent boy presenting with limb pain, difficulty in
      mobilisation, with progressive loss of motor function and later bulbar weakness.
      Investigations showed massive elevation of creatine kinase, and MRI and muscle
      biopsy findings consistent with severe polymyositis. The patient was treated with
      corticosteroids, intravenous immunoglobulin and intensive rehabilitation therapy.
      He made a good recovery and was discharged on azathioprine and prednisolone. In
      the context of SCD, multisystem symptoms, unexplained muscle pain and weakness,
      unresponsive to conventional treatment in the presence of steady state
      haemoglobin, should alert the clinician to autoimmune phenomena. Key factors in
      making a diagnosis are an autoimmune screen and early discussion with a
      rheumatology expert. 

PMID- 25819818
TI  - An unusual cause of abdominal pain in an HIV-positive man.
AB  - We report a case of an HIV-positive man on antiretroviral therapy (ART) who
      developed abdominal pain due to acute-on-chronic intestinal ischaemia secondary
      to superior mesenteric vein thrombosis (SMVT) requiring emergency surgery. He was
      found to have persistently low levels of protein C on thrombophilia screening. To
      the best of our knowledge, the association linking SMVT to protein C deficiency
      in an HIV-infected patient has never been reported in the literature. 

PMID- 25819819
TI  - Cystic duct carcinoma mimicking a middle bile duct tumour.
AB  - Cystic duct carcinoma was defined by Farrar as a tumour restricted to the cystic
      duct, making it a rare disease. The authors describe a case of a cystic duct
      carcinoma that fulfils Farrar's strict diagnostic criteria and that became
      clinically relevant by compressing the common hepatic duct, thus causing
      cholestasis. A cholecystectomy was performed with en bloc resection of the cystic
      and extrahepatic bile duct with a regional lymphadenectomy. 

PMID- 25819820
TI  - Primary hyperparathyroidism in pregnancy leading to hypercalcaemic crisis and
      uraemic encephalopathy.
AB  - Primary hyperparathyroidism is rare during pregnancy. Recognition may be
      challenging as symptoms overlap with those of other common disorders of
      pregnancy. Furthermore, physiological changes of pregnancy affecting calcium
      homoeostasis mean awareness of the condition and careful interpretation of
      results in the light of pregnancy are essential for diagnosis. Maternal
      complications of primary hyperparathyroidism include nephrolithiasis,
      pancreatitis, cardiac arrhythmias, hypertension and peptic ulcers. At its most
      severe, hypercalcaemic crisis may occur, presenting with acute neurological
      disturbance. Most commonly, the underlying aetiology is a solitary parathyroid
      adenoma whereby parathyroidectomy is the only cure. A 30-year-old Caucasian woman
      booked under Consultant care presented at 32 weeks gestation with vomiting and
      right-sided loin pain. Following presentation, she was diagnosed with renal
      calculi. She was delivered by caesarean section (CS) due to deterioration in
      renal function. Post-CS, she had a grand mal seizure. She was found to have
      hypercalcaemia with underlying hyperparathyroidism. 

PMID- 25819821
TI  - Orbital metastasis as initial manifestation of a widespread papillary thyroid
      microcarcinoma.
AB  - Papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs), particularly microcarcinomas, rarely
      metastasise to the orbit. We report a case of a 49-year-old woman with a right
      supraorbital mass and unremarkable physical examination of the thyroid gland
      region. Orbital CT scan showed an expansile lytic lesion in the orbital plate of
      the frontal bone with a soft tissue component. An incision biopsy revealed
      metastatic well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma. Thyroid ultrasound was normal
      except for a subcentimetre nodule in the right lobe. The patient underwent total
      thyroidectomy where histopathology showed a subcentimetre follicular variant PTC.
      She subsequently received radioactive iodine therapy. Post-therapy whole body
      scan revealed metastatic thyroid tissues in the right orbital and posterior
      parietal, and left shoulder and hip areas. Although infrequent, metastatic
      thyroid carcinoma should be considered in patients with orbital metastasis even
      when neck examination is normal. In rare cases, this may be the initial
      manifestation of a widely metastatic papillary thyroid microcarcinoma. 

PMID- 25819822
TI  - A significant 'coronary steal' by thebesian veins, a rare congenital coronary
      defect masquerading as acute coronary syndrome.

PMID- 25819824
TI  - Fistula formation between the external iliac artery and ileal conduit following a
      radical cystoprostatectomy: a rare complication with prewarning signs of
      haemorrhage.
AB  - A 76-year-old man was admitted with bleeding per-urostomy following a collapse at
      home. Three weeks prior to the admission, he had undergone a radical
      cystoprostatectomy and formation of ileal-conduit for an extensive bladder
      carcinoma. A CT angiogram revealed a possible small source of bleeding within the
      ileal-conduit itself, which settled with conservative management. However, prior
      to discharge he developed profuse fresh bleeding from the urostomy, which could
      not be controlled. The patient underwent an emergency endoscopy of the conduit
      and laparotomy, which revealed a fistula between the right external iliac artery
      and the proximal end of the ileal-conduit. The right iliac artery was ligated and
      an emergency left-to-right femoral-femoral crossover bypass was performed. The
      right ureter was stented and rediverted through the ileal-conduit and the left
      ureter was stented at a later date. He unfortunately had a stormy postoperative
      recovery with further episodes of per-urostomy bleeding and no identified source.

PMID- 25819823
TI  - Headache during haemodialysis in a patient with shunt: a cause for concern?
AB  - A 20-year-old woman with a functioning ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt
      consistently reported unbearable vertex headaches and nausea during the last hour
      of her haemodialysis (HD) sessions. After one particularly severe episode, which
      was associated with vomiting, restlessness and blurred vision, her team suspected
      that she was developing dialysis disequilibrium syndrome. She improved fully on
      cessation of HD, requiring simple analgaesia only, and continued dialysis three
      times per week. Several more distressing episodes of nausea and headaches
      compelled us to give intravenous mannitol during HD, resulting in temporary
      improvement. Subsequently, shorter and more frequent dialysis sessions along with
      intravenous mannitol resulted in satisfactory clinical response. 

PMID- 25819825
TI  - Locally aggressive cavernous haemangioma of the mandible: an unusual
      presentation.

PMID- 25819826
TI  - Coronary artery aneurysm presenting as a large mass encroaching on the right
      atrium in an adult patient with untreated Kawasaki disease.
AB  - A 26-year-old man presented with atypical chest pain and dyspnoea for several
      days before admission that was not related to exertion. The patient had no
      medical history other than a long duration of fever and rash as a child, which
      resolved after a few weeks. The initial blood investigations showed
      thrombocytopenia and raised inflammatory markers with a negative troponin level.
      The patient had positive antiplatelet antibodies and was diagnosed with immune
      thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Echocardiography showed a large cystic mass at
      the right atrium. Coronary multislice CT showed a huge aneurysm at the origin of
      the right coronary artery (RCA), which was confirmed by coronary angiography. The
      patient received intravenous immunoglobulin and platelet transfusion before
      coronary artery bypass surgery and he had a successful resection of the aneurysm
      with a saphenous vein graft to distal RCA. The patient had a good recovery and
      was discharged home. 

PMID- 25819827
TI  - Strongyloidiasis: an unusual cause of septic shock with pneumonia and enteropathy
      in western countries.
AB  - We report a case of invasive strongyloidiasis in a patient from the French
      Antilles who had been living in France for many years, with no history of
      immunosuppression, and who was hospitalised in the intensive care unit for septic
      shock with multimicrobial hypoxaemia pneumonia and exudative enteropathy.
      Initiation of systemic corticosteroid therapy for septic shock seems to have
      precipitated onset of the parasitic infection, with recurrence of hypoxaemic
      pneumonia complicated by hypoxic cardiac arrest. The diagnosis was confirmed
      after roundworm larvae were found on bronchoalveolar lavage. Treatment with
      ivermectin was initiated, but the patient died in a context of postanoxic
      encephalopathy. 

PMID- 25819828
TI  - Exceptional penetrating orbital injury that spared the eye globe.

PMID- 25819829
TI  - Trifascicular block progressing to complete AV block on exercise: a rare
      presentation demonstrating the usefulness of exercise testing.
AB  - A 41-year-old man presented with dyspnoea and giddiness on exertion for the last
      1 month. A resting ECG during showed trifascicular block with complete right
      bundle branch block, left anterior fascicular block and a prolonged PR interval
      of >0.24 s. His echocardiography showed no evidence of wall motion abnormality.
      He was subjected to a treadmill test for exercise-induced ischaemia, which showed
      complete atrioventricular (AV) block during first stage of Bruce protocol. His
      symptoms of dyspnoea and giddiness were also reproduced. The test was terminated
      and ECG returned to trifascicular block, similar to that at his baseline ECG
      during recovery. Coronary angiogram (CAG) was performed to rule out any ischaemic
      cause for this exercise-induced AV block, which was normal. In view of his
      reproducible symptoms and demonstration of complete AV block on exercise, a dual
      chamber pacemaker (DDD) was implanted. His symptoms disappeared and he remained
      asymptomatic on follow-up. 

PMID- 25819830
TI  - Oral verruciform xanthoma.
AB  - Verruciform xanthoma (VX) of the oral cavity is a benign mucosal growth that
      often presents as a pink, yellow or grey raised plaque or papule with granular,
      papillary or verrucous surface morphology. Intraorally this often presents on the
      masticatory mucosa and extraorally often involves the skin and anogenital mucosa.
      There are several proposed aetiological factors and the clinical features of VX
      can be misleading; clinically it can resemble malignancy. Histopathological
      diagnosis is a key for the correct management of this lesion. Excision of this
      lesion is curative. 

PMID- 25819831
TI  - A new technique of closing a gastroatmospheric fistula with a rectus abdominis
      muscle flap.
AB  - Proximal enteroatmospheric fistulae are difficult to manage and carry high
      mortality from sepsis and electrolyte imbalances. Conservative management with
      total parenteral nutrition, exclusion of fistula, resection and anastomosis are
      conventional methods of treatment with low success rate. Providing muscle cover
      to manage an enteroatmospheric fistula is a noble concept. A postoperative high
      output gastroatmospheric fistula (GAF) was repaired by superior epigastric artery
      based rectus abdominis muscle flap (RAMF). Postoperative recovery was uneventful.
      This technique may be useful for closure of proximal enteroatmospheric fistulae
      that fail to heal through medical and conventional surgical management. 

PMID- 25819832
TI  - Subcutaneous sarcoidosis in a rhinoplasty scar.
AB  - The presence of a subcutaneous hard bony-like lump at the lateral nasal wall
      after a septorhinoplasty procedure is an unfavourable result. The reported
      patient developed this complication 2 years after a revision surgery, in which
      percutaneous osteotomies were performed. An excision biopsy of the lump took
      place and the histopathological analysis revealed a granulomatous gigantocellular
      inflammation with absence of birefringent particles on polarised lamp and
      negative mycobacteria culture. After additional investigations, the final
      diagnosis was consistent with grade 2 pulmonary sarcoidosis associated with
      subcutaneous sarcoidosis. No treatment was initiated. The facial symptoms
      resolved without any additional treatment and the pulmonary function tests have
      not deteriorated after 1 year of follow-up. The polymorphism of cutaneous lesions
      in sarcoidosis, the absence of systemic symptoms and the unrecognised entity of
      subcutaneous sarcoidosis in a scar illustrate the diagnostic challenge with this
      patient. 

PMID- 25819834
TI  - Light-controlled reversible formation and dissociation of nanorods via
      interconversion of pseudorotaxanes.
AB  - Nanorod-like supramolecular aggregates are fabricated by the self-assembly of the
      amphiphilic [2]pseudorotaxane, which can be dissociated and rebuilt by the
      alternating UV/vis irradiation. 

PMID- 25819833
TI  - Stability and compatibility of recombinant adeno-associated virus under
      conditions commonly encountered in human gene therapy trials.
AB  - Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors are rapidly becoming the first
      choice for human gene therapy studies, as clinical efficacy has been demonstrated
      in several human trials and proof-of-concept data have been demonstrated for
      correction of many others. When moving into human use under the auspices of an
      FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) application, it is necessary to demonstrate
      the stability of vector material under various conditions of storage, dilution,
      and administration when used in humans. Limited data are currently available in
      the literature regarding vector compatibility and stability, leading most IND
      sponsors to repeat all necessary studies. The current study addresses this issue
      with an rAAV vector (rAAV1-CB-chAATmyc) containing AAV2-inverted terminal repeat
      sequences packaged into an AAV1 capsid. Aliquots of vector were exposed to a
      variety of temperatures, diluents, container constituents, and other
      environmental conditions, and its functional biological activity (after these
      various treatments) was assessed by measuring transgene expression after
      intramuscular injection in mice. rAAV was found to be remarkably stable at
      temperatures ranging from 4 degrees C to 55 degrees C (with only partial loss of
      potency after 20 min at 70 degrees C), at pH ranging from 5.5 to 8.5, after
      contact with mouse or human serum (with or without complement depletion) or with
      gadolinium and after contact with glass, polystyrene, polyethylene,
      polypropylene, and stainless steel. The only exposure resulting in near-total
      loss of vector activity (10,000-fold loss) was UV exposure for 10 min. The
      stability of rAAV1 preparations bodes well for future dissemination of this
      therapeutic modality. 

PMID- 25819835
TI  - The applicability of the WHO classification in paediatric AML. A NOPHO-AML study.
AB  - The World Health Organization (WHO) classification of myeloid leukaemia was
      revised in 2008. It incorporates newly recognized entities and emphasizes the
      pivotal role of cytogenetic abnormalities. The aim of this study was to evaluate
      the usability of the WHO classification when applied to a large population-based
      paediatric acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cohort. We included children diagnosed
      with de novo AML, 0-18 years of age from the Nordic countries and Hong Kong from
      1993 to 2012. Data were retrieved from the Nordic Society for Paediatric
      Haematology and Oncology AML database and patients classified according to the
      WHO 2008 classification. A successful karyotype was available in 97% of the
      cases. AML with recurrent genetic abnormalities were present in 262 (41%) and 94
      (15%) were classified as AML with myelodysplasia-related changes (AML-MDS). WHO
      classifies patients with monosomy 7 and del(7q) into one group. We found that -7
      (n = 14) had significantly poorer outcome than del(7q) (n = 11); 5-year event
      free survival 26% vs. 67%, (P = 0.02), and 5-year overall survival 51% vs. 90%,
      (P = 0.04). The largest group was the highly heterogeneous AML not otherwise
      specified (NOS) (n = 280) (44%). In conclusion, the WHO classification allocated
      15% to AML-MDS, 44% to NOS and grouped together entities with clearly different
      outcome, therefore limiting the applicability of the current WHO classification
      in children with AML. 

PMID- 25819836
TI  - ESCRT-0 protein hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate
      (Hrs) is targeted to endosomes independently of signal-transducing adaptor
      molecule (STAM) and the complex formation with STAM promotes its endosomal
      dissociation.

PMID- 25819837
TI  - The role of laparoscopy in recurrent right lower quadrant pain in children.
AB  - According to scientific literature, laparoscopy as aid in diagnosis and therapy
      for chronic pain in the right iliac quadrant shows a undeniable advantage thanks
      to its mini-invasiveness, the possibility of a methodical and thorough
      exploration of the entire abdominal cavity in those cases of recurrent pain,
      emotionally and socially debilitating, that do not find an answer in the usual
      etiological diagnostic clinical-instrumental. In those cases in which any
      significant organic pathology that justifies the recurring pain in the right
      iliac fossa is found during laparoscopic exploration, it has been seen that it is
      useful to perform appendectomy anyway, that leads to the disappearance of
      symptoms, which are probably due to inflammatory recurrent catarrhal phenomena of
      appendix in such patients, as it is demonstrated by the adhesions found at cecum
      appendicular level. From January 2011 to December 2013, 24 children with chronic
      recurrent right lower quadrant pain were subjected to diagnostic laparoscopy.
      Ages varied from 11 to 18 years (mean, 14 years). There were 6 males and 18
      females. Laparoscopic findings included macroscopical signs of acute appendicitis
      in 15 patients; cecal adhesions in 20 patients, kink of the appendix in 3. The
      abdominal pain completely resolved in all the patients following laparoscopy.

PMID- 25819838
TI  - Novel clinical uses for cord blood derived mesenchymal stromal cells.
AB  - Regenerative medicine offers new hope for many debilitating diseases that result
      in damage to tissues and organs. The concept is straightforward with replacement
      of damaged cells with new functional cells. However, most tissues and organs are
      complex structures involving multiple cell types, supportive structures, a
      microenvironment producing cytokines and growth factors and a vascular system to
      supply oxygen and other nutrients. Therefore repair, particularly in the setting
      of ischemic damage, may require delivery of multiple cell types providing new
      vessel formation, a new microenvironment and functional cells. The field of stem
      cell biology has identified a number of stem cell sources including embryonic
      stem cells and adult stem cells that offer the potential to replace virtually all
      functional cells of the body. The focus of this article is a discussion of the
      potential of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) from cord blood (CB) for
      regenerative medicine approaches. 

PMID- 25819839
TI  - Ruptured aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage in the emergency department: Clinical
      outcome of patients having a lumbar puncture for red blood cell count, visual and
      spectrophotometric xanthochromia after a negative computed tomography.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Over the last decade, computed tomography scanners have gained
      resolution and have become the standard of care in the investigation of
      neurologically intact patients suffering from acute headache. The added value of
      the combined assessment of red blood cells count, visual and spectrophotometric
      xanthochromia, to detect ruptured aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (ASAH)
      following a negative head computed tomography (NHCT) was studied. METHODS: The
      population consisted of all patients who had cerebrospinal fluid tested for
      spectrophotometric xanthochromia between 2003 and 2009 identified through the
      clinical-laboratory database and who met all the inclusion criteria: >14 years
      old, had an initial Glasgow Coma Score of 15, a non-traumatic acute headache with
      a suspected subarachnoid hemorrhage recorded in the initial ED differential
      diagnosis and an initial negative head CT scan. RESULTS: A total of 706 patients
      were included. LP identified 5 ASAH (prevalence: 0.7%). In these patients, LP
      parameters were as follows: high red blood cell count (from 1310 to
      63,000*10(6)/L), positive visual xanthochromia in 4 out of 5 ASAH, and positive
      spectrophotometric xanthochromia in 5 out of 5 ASAH. All ASAH patients were
      neurologically intact after intervention. No deaths or missed ASAH were reported.
      Angiographies were performed on 127 patients (19.5%) of which 47 (34.1%) had
      positive xanthochromia (visual or spectrophotometric). CONCLUSIONS: Considering
      the low prevalence of ASAH following an NHCT, intense resources were utilized to
      identify all 5 ASAH. Lumbar puncture analyses combining red blood cell count,
      visual and spectrophotometric xanthochromia identified all ASAH, allowing
      intervention and a positive clinical outcome. Our data support 1) that LP
      identifies the presence of a ruptured ASAH after an NHCT and 2)' that a guide to
      define a subpopulation of patients who would benefit from a lumbar puncture after
      an NHCT would be desirable.

PMID- 25819840
TI  - LC-MS/MS based assay and reference intervals in children and adolescents for
      oxysterols elevated in Niemann-Pick diseases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Niemann-Pick type C (NP-C) is a rare progressive neurodegenerative
      lipid storage disorder with heterogeneous clinical presentation and challenging
      diagnostic procedures. Recently oxysterols have been reported to be specific
      biomarkers for NP-C but knowledge on the intra-individual variation and on
      reference intervals in children and adolescents are lacking. METHODS: We
      established a LC-MS/MS assay to measure Cholestane-3beta, 5alpha, 6beta-triol (C
      triol) and 7-Ketocholesterol (7-KC) following Steglich esterification. To assess
      reference intervals and intra-individual variation we determined oxysterols in
      148 children and adolescents from 0 to 18 years and repeat measurements in 19 of
      them. RESULTS: The reported method is linear (r>0.99), sensitive (detection limit
      of 0.03 ng/mL [0.07 nM] for C-triol, and 0.54 ng/mL [1.35 nM] for 7-KC) and
      precise, with an intra-day imprecision of 4.8% and 4.1%, and an inter-day
      imprecision of 7.0% and 11.0% for C-triol (28 ng/ml, 67 nM) and 7-KC (32 ng/ml,
      80 nM), respectively. Recoveries for 7-KC and C-triol range between 93% and 107%.
      The upper reference limit obtained for C-triol is 40.4 ng/mL (95% CI: 26.4-61.7
      ng/mL, 96.0 nM, 95% CI: 62.8-146.7 nM) and 75.0 ng/mL for 7-KC (95% CI: 55.5
      102.5 ng/mL, 187.2 nM, 95% CI: 138.53-255.8 nM), with no age or gender
      dependency. Both oxysterols have a broad intra-individual variation of 46%+/-23%
      for C-triol and 52%+/-29% for 7-KC. Nevertheless, all Niemann-Pick patients
      showed increased C-triol levels including Niemann-Pick type A and B patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: The LC-MS/MS assay is a robust assay to quantify C-triol and 7-KC in
      plasma with well documented reference intervals in children and adolescents to
      screen for NP-C in the pediatric population. In addition our results suggest that
      especially the C-triol is a biomarker for all three Niemann-Pick diseases.

PMID- 25819841
TI  - Can crayfish take the heat? Procambarus clarkii show nociceptive behaviour to
      high temperature stimuli, but not low temperature or chemical stimuli.
AB  - Nociceptors are sensory neurons that are tuned to tissue damage. In many species,
      nociceptors are often stimulated by noxious extreme temperatures and by chemical
      agonists that do not damage tissue (e.g., capsaicin and isothiocyanate). We test
      whether crustaceans have nociceptors by examining nociceptive behaviours and
      neurophysiological responses to extreme temperatures and potentially nocigenic
      chemicals. Crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) respond quickly and strongly to high
      temperatures, and neurons in the antenna show increased responses to transient
      high temperature stimuli. Crayfish showed no difference in behavioural response
      to low temperature stimuli. Crayfish also showed no significant changes in
      behaviour when stimulated with capsaicin or isothiocyanate compared to controls,
      and neurons in the antenna did not change their firing rate following application
      of capsaicin or isothiocyanate. Noxious high temperatures appear to be a
      potentially ecologically relevant noxious stimulus for crayfish that can be
      detected by sensory neurons, which may be specialized nociceptors. 

PMID- 25819842
TI  - ILDR1 deficiency causes degeneration of cochlear outer hair cells and disrupts
      the structure of the organ of Corti: a mouse model for human DFNB42.
AB  - Immunoglobulin-like domain containing receptor 1 (ILDR1) is a poorly
      characterized gene that was first identified in lymphoma cells. Mutations in
      ILDR1 are responsible for DFNB42, but the pathogenesis of hearing loss caused by
      ILDR1 mutations remains to be elucidated. To explore the role of ILDR1 in
      hearing, we created Ildr1 knockout mice. In heterozygous mice, ILDR1 expression
      was found in outer hair cells (OHCs) and inner hair cells (IHCs) of the organ of
      Corti. ILDR1-deficient mice are profoundly deaf by postnatal day 21 (P21). No
      significant difference was observed in the supporting cells and IHCs of ILDR1
      deficient mice, but progressive degeneration of OHCs occurred at P15 and
      disruption of the tunnel running through the organ of Corti was noticeable at
      P21. By P28, there were no OHCs visible in any of the turns of the organ of
      Corti, and the tunnel of the organ of Corti was entirely destroyed. ILDR1
      deficiency affects expression of tricellulin in vivo, and this provides a
      possible explanation to hearing loss. To further elucidate the mechanism of
      deafness related to ILDR1 deficiency, we pursued a differential proteomic
      approach to comprehensively assess differential protein expression in the
      cochleae of Ildr1(+/-) and Ildr1(-/-) mice at P21. Altogether, 708 proteins were
      up-regulated (fold change >1.5) and 114 proteins were down-regulated (fold change
      <0.5) in the Ildr1(-/-) mice compared with Ildr1(+/-) mice. Gene ontology
      classification indicated that a number of differentially expressed proteins are
      involved in cell adhesion, protein and vesicle-mediated transport, cell death,
      membrane organization, and cellular homeostasis. A few of these proteins are
      closely related to hearing development. Taken together, our data suggest that
      ILDR1 is important for the survival of OHCs and provide novel insights into the
      pathogenesis of human deafness DFNB42 deafness. 

PMID- 25819844
TI  - Young people with intellectual disability--the role of self-advocacy in a
      transformed Swedish welfare system.
AB  - A growing number of young people in Sweden with intellectual disability have
      organized themselves during the last 15 years in self-advocacy groups for
      socializing, empowerment, and expressing opposition to the norms and attitudes in
      a society that labels them as disabled. At the same time, the Swedish welfare
      system has transformed dramatically with processes of far-reaching
      individualization, closure of the major institutions, decentralization of
      responsibility from the state to local governments, and an emerging welfare
      market where service users are turned into customers. The aim of this article is
      to analyse and discuss the significance of self-advocacy in the new welfare
      context. Data were collected over a period of more than 10 years using repeated
      interviews with members of two self-advocacy groups and participation
      observations. Findings suggest that participation in self-advocacy groups opens
      up members for increasing health and well-being through new roles and identities,
      and it strengthens their control over everyday life. Support is still needed,
      however, but in new ways; otherwise, the restrictions of the institutions will
      simply be reconstructed in the new welfare system. 

PMID- 25819843
TI  - Bridging the gap between postembryonic cell lineages and identified embryonic
      neuroblasts in the ventral nerve cord of Drosophila melanogaster.
AB  - The clarification of complete cell lineages, which are produced by specific stem
      cells, is fundamental for understanding mechanisms, controlling the generation of
      cell diversity and patterning in an emerging tissue. In the developing Central
      Nervous System (CNS) of Drosophila, neural stem cells (neuroblasts) exhibit two
      periods of proliferation: During embryogenesis they produce primary lineages,
      which form the larval CNS. After a phase of mitotic quiescence, a subpopulation
      of them resumes proliferation in the larva to give rise to secondary lineages
      that build up the CNS of the adult fly. Within the ventral nerve cord (VNC)
      detailed descriptions exist for both primary and secondary lineages. However,
      while primary lineages have been linked to identified neuroblasts, the assignment
      of secondary lineages has so far been hampered by technical limitations.
      Therefore, primary and secondary neural lineages co-existed as isolated model
      systems. Here we provide the missing link between the two systems for all
      lineages in the thoracic and abdominal neuromeres. Using the Flybow technique,
      embryonic neuroblasts were identified by their characteristic and unique lineages
      in the living embryo and their further development was traced into the late
      larval stage. This comprehensive analysis provides the first complete view of
      which embryonic neuroblasts are postembryonically reactivated along the
      anterior/posterior-axis of the VNC, and reveals the relationship between
      projection patterns of primary and secondary sublineages. 

PMID- 25819845
TI  - Involvements of galanin and its receptors in antinociception in nucleus accumbens
      of rats with inflammatory pain.
AB  - This study tested the hypothesis that antinociceptive effects of galanin and its
      receptors in nucleus accumbens (NAc) of rats with inflammatory pain provoked by
      subcutaneous injection of 0.1 ml of 2% carrageenin into the sole of the rat's
      left hindpaw. The hindpaw withdrawal latencies (HWLs) in response to thermal and
      mechanical stimulation significantly decreased in bilateral hindpaws at 3 and 4
      hour after a subcutaneous injection of carrageenin. However intra-NAc injection
      of 2 and 3 nmol, but not 1 nmol of galanin markedly induced an increase in the
      HWLs in a dose-dependent way. Western blot also showed, that the expression of
      galanin receptor 1 (GalR1) and galanin receptor 2 (GalR2) were significantly
      upregulated in NAc at 3 hour after a subcutaneous injection of carrageenin. In
      addition, the rats were intra-NAc injected galanin, 5 min later following by
      intra-NAc injection of galanin receptor antagonist galantide, the galanin-induce
      antinociceptive effects were suppressed by galantide. The results demonstrated
      that galanin and its receptors might be involved in antinociception in the NAc of
      rats with inflammatory pain.

PMID- 25819846
TI  - Susceptibility of the Giant African snail (Achatina fulica) exposed to the
      gastropod parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita.
AB  - The Giant African snail (Achatina fulica) is a major pest in tropical countries.
      Current control methods involve the use of slug pellets (metaldehyde) but they
      are ineffective, therefore new methods of control are needed. We investigated
      whether A. fulica is susceptible to the gastropod parasitic nematode
      Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita, which has been developed as a biological control
      agent for slugs and snails in northern Europe. We exposed A. fulica to P.
      hermaphrodita applied at 30 and 150nematodes per cm(2) for 70days and also
      assessed feeding inhibition and changes in snail weight. We show that unlike the
      susceptible slug species Deroceras panormitanum, which is killed less than 30days
      of exposure to P. hermaphrodita, A. fulica is remarkably resistant to the
      nematode at both doses. Also P. hermaphrodita does not reduce feeding in A.
      fulica nor did it have any effect on weight gain over 70days. Upon dissection of
      infected A. fulica we found that hundreds of P. hermaphrodita had been
      encapsulated, trapped and killed in the snail's shell. We found that A. fulica is
      able to begin encapsulating P. hermaphrodita after just 3days of exposure and the
      numbers of nematodes encapsulated increased over time. Taken together, we have
      shown that A. fulica is highly resistant to P. hermaphrodita, which could be due
      to an immune response dependent on the snail shell to encapsulate and kill
      invading parasitic nematodes. 

PMID- 25819847
TI  - Tuning the electronic and magnetic properties of graphene-like AlN nanosheets by
      surface functionalization and thickness.
AB  - In this paper, the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties as well as the
      relative stabilities of fully and partially hydrogenated AlN nanosheets have been
      systematically investigated by first-principles calculations based on density
      functional theory. The results indicate that full hydrogenation is more
      energetically favorable for thinner AlN nanosheets, whereas semi-hydrogenation at
      N sites is preferred for thicker ones. Moreover, semiconductor -> half-metal ->
      metal transition with nonmagnetic -> magnetic transfer can be achieved for AlN
      nanosheets by surface hydrogenation and increasing nanosheet thickness. The
      diverse electronic and magnetic properties highlight the potential applications
      of AlN nanosheets in electronics and spintronics. 

PMID- 25819850
TI  - Atrial fibrillation: A major risk factor for cognitive decline.
AB  - Atrial fibrillation is a common disease of the elderly, conferring considerable
      morbidity and mortality related to cardiovascular effects and thromboembolic
      risks. Anticoagulation, antiarrhythmic medications, and rate control are the
      cornerstone of contemporary management, whereas ablation and evolving surgical
      techniques continue to play important secondary roles. Growing evidence shows
      that atrial fibrillation is also a risk factor for significant cognitive decline
      through a multitude of pathways, further contributing to morbidity and mortality.
      At the same time, cognitive decline associated with cryptogenic strokes may be
      the first clue to previously undiagnosed atrial fibrillation. These overlapping
      associations support the concept of cognitive screening and rhythm monitoring in
      these populations. New research suggests modulating effects of currently accepted
      treatments for atrial fibrillation on cognition; however, there remains the need
      for large multicenter studies to examine the effects of novel oral
      anticoagulants, rhythm and rate control, and left atrial appendage occlusion on
      long-term cognitive function.

PMID- 25819851
TI  - Authorship in a multicenter clinical trial: The Heart Failure-A Controlled Trial
      Investigating Outcomes of Exercise Training (HF-ACTION) Authorship and
      Publication (HAP) scoring system results.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Few guidelines exist regarding authorship on manuscripts resulting
      from large multicenter trials. The HF-ACTION investigators devised a system to
      address assignment of authorship on trial publications and tested the outcomes in
      the course of conducting the large, multicenter, National Heart, Lung, and Blood
      Institute-funded trial (n = 2,331; 82 clinical sites; 3 countries). The HF-ACTION
      Authorship and Publication (HAP) scoring system was designed to enhance rate of
      dissemination, recognize investigator contributions to the successful conduct of
      the trial, and harness individual expertise in manuscript generation. METHODS:
      The HAP score was generated by assigning points based on investigators'
      participation in trial enrollment, follow-up, and adherence, as well as
      participation in committees and other trial activity. Overall publication rates,
      publication rates by author, publication rates by site, and correlation between
      site publication and HAP score using a Poisson regression model were examined.
      RESULTS: Fifty peer-reviewed, original manuscripts were published within 6.5
      years after conclusion of study enrollment. In total, 137 different authors were
      named in at least 1 publication. Forty-five (55%) of the 82 sites had an author
      named to at least 1 article. A Poisson regression model examining incident rate
      ratios revealed that a higher HAP score resulted in a higher incidence of a
      manuscript, with a 100-point increase in site score corresponding to an
      approximately 32% increase in the incidence of a published article. CONCLUSIONS:
      Given the success in publishing a large number of manuscripts and widely
      distributing authorship, regular use of a transparent, objective authorship
      assignment system for publishing results from multicenter trials may be
      recommended to optimize fairness and dissemination of trial results.

PMID- 25819852
TI  - Rationale and design of a study exploring the efficacy of once-daily oral
      rivaroxaban (X-TRA) on the outcome of left atrial/left atrial appendage thrombus
      in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter and a retrospective
      observational registry providing baseline data (CLOT-AF).
AB  - There are still many unresolved issues concerning patient outcomes and prognostic
      factors in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and left atrial/left atrial
      appendage (LA/LAA) thrombi. Rivaroxaban (Xarelto(r)), a potent and highly
      selective oral, direct factor Xa inhibitor, is a new therapeutic option in this
      setting. The planned study program will consist of a prospective interventional
      study (X-TRA) and a retrospective observational registry (CLOT-AF). The primary
      objective of the X-TRA study is to explore the efficacy of rivaroxaban in the
      treatment of LA/LAA thrombi in patients with nonvalvular AF or atrial flutter,
      scheduled to undergo cardioversion or AF ablation, in whom an LA/LAA thrombus has
      been found on transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) before the procedure. The
      primary end point is the complete LA/LAA thrombus resolution rate at 6 weeks of
      end of treatment confirmed by TEE. The secondary objectives are to describe
      categories of thrombus outcome in patients (resolved, reduced, unchanged, larger,
      or new) confirmed on TEE at the end of treatment (after 6 weeks of treatment),
      incidence of the composite of stroke and noncentral nervous system systemic
      embolism at the end of treatment and during follow-up, and incidence of all
      bleeding at the end of treatment and during follow-up. The objective of the CLOT
      AF registry is to provide retrospective thrombus-related patient outcome data
      after standard-of-care anticoagulant treatment in patients with nonvalvular AF or
      atrial flutter, who have TEE-documented LA/LAA thrombi. The data will be used as
      a reference for the prospective X-TRA study. In conclusion, X-TRA and CLOT-AF
      will provide some answers to the many unresolved issues concerning patient
      outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with AF and LAA thrombi. Results from
      this study program would provide the first prospective interventional study (X
      TRA) and a large international retrospective observational registry (CLOT-AF) on
      the prevalence and natural history of LA/LAA thrombi. Unique data on clot
      resolution with rivaroxaban in a prospective cohort would be obtained in X-TRA. 

PMID- 25819853
TI  - An open-label, randomized, controlled, multicenter study exploring two treatment
      strategies of rivaroxaban and a dose-adjusted oral vitamin K antagonist treatment
      strategy in subjects with atrial fibrillation who undergo percutaneous coronary
      intervention (PIONEER AF-PCI).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Guidelines recommendations regarding anticoagulant therapy after
      percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) among patients with atrial fibrillation
      (AF) rely on retrospective, nonrandomized observational data. Currently, patients
      are treated with triple-therapy (dual antiplatelet therapy [DAPT] + oral
      anticoagulation therapy), but neither the duration of DAPT nor the level of
      anticoagulation has been studied in a randomized fashion. Recent studies also
      suggest dual pathway therapy with clopidogrel plus oral anticoagulation therapy
      may be superior, and other studies suggest that novel oral anticoagulants such as
      rivaroxaban may further improve patient outcomes. DESIGN: PIONEER AF-PCI
      (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01830543) is an exploratory, open-label, randomized,
      multicenter clinical study assessing the safety of 2 rivaroxaban treatment
      strategies and 1 vitamin K antagonist (VKA) treatment strategy in subjects who
      have paroxysmal, persistent, or permanent nonvalvular AF and have undergone PCI
      with stent placement. Approximately 2,100 subjects will be randomized in a 1:1:1
      ratio to receive either rivaroxaban 15 mg once daily plus clopidogrel 75 mg daily
      for 12 months (a WOEST trial-like strategy), or rivaroxaban 2.5 mg twice daily
      (with stratification to a prespecified duration of DAPT 1, 6, or 12 months, an
      ATLAS trial-like strategy), or dose-adjusted VKA once daily (with stratification
      to a prespecified duration of DAPT 1, 6, or 12 months, traditional triple
      therapy). All patients will be followed up for 12 months for the primary
      composite end point of Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction major bleeding,
      bleeding requiring medical attention, and minor bleeding (collectively,
      clinically significant bleeding). CONCLUSION: The PIONEER AF-PCI study is the
      first randomized comparison of VKA vs novel oral anticoagulant therapy in
      patients with NVAF receiving antiplatelet therapy after PCI to assess the
      relative risks of bleeding complications.

PMID- 25819854
TI  - Drug-coated balloons to improve femoropopliteal artery patency: Rationale and
      design of the LEVANT 2 trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atherosclerotic peripheral artery disease (PAD) is common and results
      in limitations in quality of life and potential progression to limb loss. Options
      for therapy include medical therapy, supervised exercise, surgical
      revascularization, and, more recently, endovascular therapies to restore arterial
      perfusion to the limb. Endovascular revascularization has evolved over the past 2
      decades, from percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) to self-expanding
      stents, atherectomy, laser angioplasty, and drug-eluting stents. Despite
      impressive technologic advances, PTA remains the standard of care at many
      institutions and is the recommended primary treatment modality for femoral
      popliteal PAD according to current American College of Cardiology
      Foundation/American Heart Association guidelines. However, restenosis after PTA
      is common. Therefore, a significant clinical need remains for a device that is
      able to achieve more durable patency than PTA but does not require a permanent
      implant. Drug-coated balloons (DCBs) have the potential to address this need.
      Several randomized controlled clinical trials of PTA balloons coated with
      different formulations of paclitaxel have been conducted in Europe (N Engl J Med
      2008;358:689-699) (Circulation 2008;118:1358-1365) (Circ Cardiovasc Interv
      2012;5:831-840) (JACC Cardiovas Interv 2014;7:10-19) and demonstrated more
      durable efficacy than PTA with comparable safety. These studies were limited by
      small sample sizes and powered solely for an angiographic primary end point. The
      pivotal LEVANT 2 trial was designed in collaboration with the US Food and Drug
      Administration to demonstrate safety and efficacy in a large population and to
      obtain US Food and Drug Administration approval. METHODS: A prospective,
      multicenter, single-blind trial comparing the Lutonix DCB (Bard Lutonix; New
      Hope, MN) versus PTA for treatment of femoropopliteal PAD (LEVANT 2) is the first
      US-based 2:1 randomized controlled trial of 476 patients with femoral-popliteal
      PAD designed to demonstrate superior efficacy and noninferior safety of a novel
      paclitaxel DCB compared with PTA. The primary efficacy end point is primary
      patency at 12 months. The primary safety end point is composite freedom at 12
      months from perioperative death, index limb amputation, reintervention, and limb
      related mortality. A series of important secondary end points include physical
      functioning, quality of life, revascularizations, and alternative measures of
      patency. To minimize bias potential for confounding variables, LEVANT 2 (1)
      excluded patients stented after predilation before randomization, (2)
      incorporated very stringent criteria for bailout stenting, (3) did not count
      bailout stenting as a target lesion revascularization or failure of any end
      point, (4) required a blinded clinician to perform clinical evaluations at follow
      up, and (5) required clinical assessment before review of duplex ultrasound
      results. CONCLUSIONS: LEVANT 2 represents the first US-inclusive multicenter,
      randomized controlled trial to assess the safety and efficacy of a novel DCB
      compared with PTA as primary therapy for symptomatic PAD on the background of
      standard medical therapy.

PMID- 25819855
TI  - Cardiovascular Safety Outcome Trials: A meeting report from the Cardiac Safety
      Research Consortium.
AB  - This White Paper provides a summary of presentations and discussions at a
      Cardiovascular Safety Outcome Trials Think Tank cosponsored by the Cardiac Safety
      Research Consortium, the US Food and Drug Administration, and the American
      College of Cardiology, held at American College of Cardiology's Heart House,
      Washington, DC, on February 19, 2014. Studies to assess cardiovascular (CV) risk
      of a new drug are sometimes requested by regulators to resolve ambiguous safety
      signals seen during its development or among other members of its class. Think
      Tank participants thought that important considerations in undertaking such
      studies were as follows: (1) plausibility-how likely it is that a possible signal
      indicating risk is real, based on strength of evidence, and/or whether a
      plausible mechanism of action for potential CV harm has been identified; (2)
      relevance-what relative and absolute CV risk would need to be excluded to
      determine that the drug had an acceptable benefit-to-risk balance for its use in
      the intended patient population; and (3) how plausibility and relevance influence
      the timing and approach to further safety assessment.

PMID- 25819857
TI  - Parkinson disease and risk of acute myocardial infarction: A population-based,
      propensity score-matched, longitudinal follow-up study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Previous studies on the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in
      patients with Parkinson disease (PD) have generated inconsistent results. The
      purpose of this population-based longitudinal follow-up study was to investigate
      whether incident PD is associated with an increased risk of AMI. METHODS: A total
      of 3,211 subjects with at least 2 ambulatory visits with the principal diagnosis
      of PD in 2001 were enrolled in the PD group. The non-PD group consisted of 3,211
      propensity score-matched subjects without PD. The propensity scores were computed
      using a logistic regression model that included age, sex, preexisting
      comorbidities, and socioeconomic status. The 3-year AMI-free survival rates of
      the 2 groups were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Stratified Cox
      proportional hazard regression with patients matched by propensity score was used
      to estimate the effect of PD on subsequent occurrence of AMI. RESULTS: During the
      3-year follow-up period, 83 subjects in the PD group and 53 in the non-PD group
      developed AMI (either fatal or nonfatal) events. The hazard ratio of AMI for the
      PD group compared with the non-PD group was 1.67 (95% CI 1.15-2.41, P = .0067).
      The AMI-free survival rate of the PD group was significantly lower than that of
      the non-PD group (P = .0032). The hazard ratios associated with PD for the
      combined end point 1 (AMI or cardiovascular death) and combined end point 2 (AMI
      or all-cause death) were 1.46 (95% CI 1.14-1.88, P = .0029) and 1.42 (95% CI 1.24
      1.64, P < .0001), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that PD is related
      to an increased risk of AMI. Further studies are required to investigate the
      mechanism underlying this association.

PMID- 25819856
TI  - Platelet aggregation and mental stress induced myocardial ischemia: Results from
      the Responses of Myocardial Ischemia to Escitalopram Treatment (REMIT) study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia (MSIMI) is common in
      patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) and associated with a poorer
      cardiovascular prognosis. Platelet hyperactivity is an important factor in acute
      coronary syndrome. This study examined associations between MSIMI and resting and
      mental stress-induced platelet activity. METHODS: Eligible patients with
      clinically stable IHD underwent a battery of 3 mental stress tests during the
      recruitment phase of REMIT study. MSIMI was assessed by echocardiography and
      electrocardiography. Ex vivo platelet aggregation in response to ADP,
      epinephrine, collagen, serotonin, and combinations of serotonin plus ADP,
      epinephrine, and collagen were evaluated as was platelet serotonin transporter
      expression. RESULTS: Of the 270 participants who completed mental stress testing,
      and had both resting and post-stress platelet aggregation evaluation , 43.33%
      (n=117) met criteria for MSIMI and 18.15% (n=49) had normal left ventricular
      response to stress (NLVR). The MSIMI group, relative to the NLVR groups,
      demonstrated heightened mental stress-induced aggregation responses, as measured
      by area under the curve, to collagen 10MUM (6.95[5.54] vs. -14.23[8.75].;
      P=0.045), epinephrine 10MUM (12.84[4.84] vs. -6.40[7.61].; P=0.037) and to
      serotonin 10 MUM plus ADP 1 MUM (6.64[5.29] vs. -27.34[8.34]; P<.001). The
      resting platelet aggregation and serotonin transporter expression, however, were
      not different between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that
      the dynamic change of platelet aggregation caused by mental stress may underlie
      MSIMI. While the importance of these findings requires additional investigation,
      they raise concern given the recognized relationship between mental stress
      induced platelet hyperactivity and cardiovascular events in patients with IHD.

PMID- 25819858
TI  - Cardiac arrest and clinical characteristics, treatments and outcomes among
      patients hospitalized with ST-elevation myocardial infarction in contemporary
      practice: A report from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiac arrest (CA) is a major complication of patients with ST
      elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Its prevalence and prognostic impact in
      contemporary US practice has not been well assessed. METHODS: We evaluated STEMI
      patients included in the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) Acute
      Coronary Treatment Intervention Outcomes Network Registry-Get With the Guidelines
      (ACTION Registry-GWTG) from 4/1/11 to 6/30/12. Patient clinical characteristics,
      treatments, and inhospital outcomes were compared by the presence or absence of
      CA on first medical contact-either before hospital arrival or upon presentation
      to the ACTION hospital. RESULTS: Of the 49,279 STEMI patients included, 3,716
      (7.5%) had CA. Cardiac arrest patients were more likely to have heart failure
      (15.5% vs 6.9%) and shock (42.9% vs 4.9%) on presentation and higher median (25th
      and 75th percentiles) ACTION Registry-GWTG mortality risk scores (42 [32, 54] vs
      32 [26, 38]) than non-CA patients (all P < .001). Primary percutaneous coronary
      intervention was performed in most patients with and without CA (76.7% vs 79.1%).
      Inhospital mortality was significantly higher in patients with than without CA
      (28.8% vs 4.0%; P < .001), both in patients who presented with cardiogenic shock
      (46.9% vs 27.1%; P < .001) and those without shock (15.4% vs 2.9%; P < .001). The
      ACTION Registry-GWTG inhospital mortality model underestimated mortality risk in
      CA patients; however, prediction significantly improved after adding CA to the
      model. CONCLUSIONS: Almost 8% of STEMI patients present with CA. More than 25%
      die during the hospitalization, despite high use of primary percutaneous coronary
      intervention. Cardiogenic shock and CA frequently coexist. Our results suggest
      that development of systems of care and treatments for both STEMI and CA is
      needed to reduce the high mortality in these patients.

PMID- 25819859
TI  - Comparison of different interdialytic intervals among hemodialysis patients on
      their echocardiogram-based cardiovascular parameters.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although cardiovascular events in hemodialysis (HD) patients are the
      most frequent on the day after a long (2 days) interdialytic interval (IDT), it
      has been uncertain whether accumulation or elimination of large extracellular
      fluid volume, electrolyte, and/or uremic substances is the culprit for this. We
      sought to test our hypothesis that the long IDT alters echocardiographic
      parameters at rest and during exercise in stable maintenance HD patients compared
      with other IDTs. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional comparison using 1-way
      repeated analysis of variance or Friedman test of echocardiograms at 3 different
      IDTs, just after HD, after short IDT (1 day), and after long IDT, among 80 stable
      Japanese outpatients (age 61 +/- 9 years, 60 males) on thrice weekly maintenance.
      End-systolic elastance (Ees), arterial elastance (Ea), and pressure-volume area
      (PVA) were estimated using a noninvasive single-beat technique. Ventricular
      arterial coupling was assessed by Ea/Ees ratio. Measurements were repeated after
      2-minute handgrip stress to evaluate cardiac reserve. RESULTS: Resting left
      ventricular end-diastolic volume index and stroke volume index were significantly
      larger after a 1-day IDT compared with just after HD and even more after a 2-day
      IDT. Although Ees, Ea, and Ea/Ees ratio at rest remained similar between short
      and long intervals, stroke work (SW) and PVA were higher after the long interval.
      During handgrip stress, a significant increase in Ea without corresponding rise
      in Ees was observed only after long IDT, resulting in decreased stroke volume
      index, SW, and SW/PVA efficiency. CONCLUSIONS: In a selective Japanese outpatient
      population on maintenance HD, there were no differences in resting cardiovascular
      function measured by echocardiography at 3 different IDTs. However, exercise
      induced afterload mismatch assessed by the changes in Ea, SV, SW, and SW/PVA
      efficiency was most pronounced in individuals after the long IDT compared with
      other IDTs. Our findings report potential pathophysiologic echocardiographic
      parameters that attempt to explain why cardiovascular events are highest on the
      day after the long IDT compared to other IDTs in dialysis patients.

PMID- 25819860
TI  - Anticoagulant therapy and outcomes in patients with prior or acute heart failure
      and acute coronary syndromes: Insights from the APixaban for PRevention of Acute
      ISchemic Events 2 trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Clinical outcomes and the effects of oral anticoagulants among
      patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and either a history of or acute
      heart failure (HF) are largely unknown. We aimed to assess the relationship
      between prior HF or acute HF complicating an index ACS event and subsequent
      clinical outcomes and the efficacy and safety of apixaban compared with placebo
      in these populations. METHODS: High-risk patients were randomly assigned post-ACS
      to apixaban 5.0 mg or placebo twice daily. Median follow-up was 8 (4-12) months.
      The primary outcome was cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke.
      The main safety outcome was thrombolysis in myocardial infarction major bleeding.
      RESULTS: Heart failure was reported in 2,995 patients (41%), either as prior HF
      (2,076 [28%]) or acute HF (2,028 [27%]). Patients with HF had a very high
      baseline risk and were more often managed medically. Heart failure was associated
      with a higher rate of the primary outcome (prior HF: adjusted hazard ratio [HR]
      1.73, 95% CI 1.42-2.10, P < .0001, acute HF: adjusted HR 1.65, 95% CI 1.35-2.01,
      P < .0001) and cardiovascular death (prior HF: HR 2.54, 95% CI 1.82-3.54, acute
      HF: adjusted HR 2.52, 95% CI 1.82-3.50). Patients with acute HF also had
      significantly higher rates of thrombolysis in myocardial infarction major
      bleeding (prior HF: adjusted HR 1.22, 95% CI 0.65-2.27, P = .54, acute HF:
      adjusted HR 1.78, 95% CI 1.03-3.08, P = .04). There was no statistical evidence
      of a differential effect of apixaban on clinical events or bleeding in patients
      with or without prior HF; however, among patients with acute HF, there were
      numerically fewer events with apixaban than placebo (14.8 vs 19.3, HR 0.76, 95%
      CI 0.57-1.01, interaction P = .13), a trend that was not seen in patients with
      prior HF or no HF. CONCLUSIONS: In high-risk patients post-ACS, both prior and
      acute HFs are associated with an increased risk of subsequent clinical events.
      Apixaban did not significantly reduce clinical events and increased bleeding in
      patients with and without HF; however, there was a tendency toward fewer clinical
      events with apixaban in patients with acute HF.

PMID- 25819861
TI  - Results of the Chronic Heart Failure Intervention to Improve MEdication Adherence
      study: A randomized intervention in high-risk patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Poor adherence to evidence-based medications in heart failure (HF) is
      a major cause of avoidable hospitalizations, disability, and death. To test the
      feasibility of improving medication adherence, we performed a randomized proof-of
      concept study of a self-management intervention in high-risk patients with HF.
      METHODS: Patients with HF who screened positively for poor adherence (<6 Morisky
      Medication Adherence Scale 8-item) were randomized to either the intervention or
      attention control group. In the intervention group (n = 44), a nurse conducted
      self-management training before discharge that focused on identification of
      medication goals, facilitation of medication-symptom associations, and use of a
      symptom response plan. The attention control group (n = 42) received usual care;
      both groups received follow-up calls at 1 week. However, the content of follow-up
      calls for the attention control group was unrelated to HF medications or
      symptoms. General linear mixed models were used to evaluate the magnitude of
      change in adherence and symptom-related events at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up
      clinic visits. Efficacy was measured as improved medication adherence using nurse
      assessed pill counts at each time point. RESULTS: Pooled over all time points,
      patients in the intervention group were more likely to be adherent to medications
      compared with patients in the attention control group (odds ratio 3.92, t = 3.51,
      P = .0007). CONCLUSIONS: A nurse-delivered, self-care intervention improved
      medication adherence in patients with advanced HF. Further work is needed to
      examine whether this intervention can be sustained to improve clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25819862
TI  - Copeptin is an independent predictor of diabetic heart disease and death.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We previously discovered that high copeptin is associated with
      incidence of diabetes mellitus (diabetes), abdominal obesity, and albuminuria.
      Furthermore, copeptin predicts cardiovascular events after myocardial infarction
      in diabetic patients, but whether it is associated with heart disease and death
      in individuals without diabetes and prevalent cardiovascular disease is unknown.
      In this study, we aim to test whether plasma copeptin (copeptin), the C-terminal
      fragment of arginine vasopressin prohormone, predicts heart disease and death
      differentially in diabetic and nondiabetic individuals. METHODS: We related
      plasma copeptin to a combined end point composed of coronary artery disease
      (CAD), heart failure (HF), and death in diabetes (n = 895) and nondiabetes (n =
      4187) individuals of the Malmo Diet and Cancer Study-Cardiovascular cohort.
      RESULTS: Copeptin significantly interacted with diabetes regarding the combined
      end point (P = .006). In diabetic individuals, copeptin predicted the combined
      end point (hazard ratio [HR] 1.32 per SD, 95% CI 1.10-1.58, P = .003) after
      adjustment for conventional risk factors, prevalent HF and CAD, and remained
      significant after additional adjustment for either fasting glucose (P = .02) or
      hemoglobin A1c (P = .02). Furthermore, in diabetic individuals, copeptin
      predicted CAD (HR 1.33 per SD, 95% CI 1.04-1.69, P = .02), HF (HR 1.62 per SD,
      95% CI 1.09-2.41, P = .02), and death (HR 1.32 per SD, 95% CI 1.04-1.68, P =
      .02). Interestingly, among nondiabetic individuals, copeptin was not associated
      with any of the end points. CONCLUSIONS: Copeptin predicted heart disease and
      death, specifically in diabetes patients, suggesting copeptin and the vasopressin
      system as a prognostic marker and therapeutic target for diabetic heart disease
      and death.

PMID- 25819863
TI  - A nationwide survey on perception, experience, and expectations of hybrid
      coronary revascularization among top-ranked US hospitals.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hybrid coronary revascularization (HCR) combines a surgical and
      percutaneous approach for treatment of multivessel coronary artery disease.
      METHODS: A survey was conducted among 200 cardiologists and cardiac surgeons from
      100 top-ranked US hospitals. Questions were asked involving the perception,
      experience, and future expectations of HCR. RESULTS: Of physicians invited to the
      survey, 90 completed the survey (45.5%). Relative to nonresponders, responders
      were more often affiliated with an academic institution (80.0% vs 61.8%, P=.005),
      with higher patient volumes, and with the availability of a hybrid operating room
      (90.0% vs 67.3%, P<.001). Survey responders felt that HCR should be considered in
      an older and relatively healthy patient population without complex lesions.
      Cardiac surgeons were more favorable to use HCR in patients with chronic lung
      disease (42.0% vs 10.0%, P<.001) or renal failure (28.0% vs 15.0%, P=.06). Among
      responders with HCR experience (n=54), 94% reported good to excellent results,
      and the learning curve differed depending on the surgical technique used.
      Inappropriate patient selection (41.2%) was the most common cause for
      complications. Three-quarter of responders believe that the future role for HCR
      will expand in the next decade. Important determinants of greater HCR use in the
      future were collaborative associations between cardiac surgeons and cardiologists
      (86.7%), appropriate patient selection (67.8%), and the outcomes of ongoing
      clinical trials (57.8%). CONCLUSION: In this nationwide survey, cardiologists and
      cardiac surgeons felt that HCR is a reasonable alternative technique for coronary
      revascularization among suitable patients. Most felt that use of HCR would
      increase in the next decade.

PMID- 25819864
TI  - A novel coronary angiography index (DILEMMA score) for prediction of functionally
      significant coronary artery stenoses assessed by fractional flow reserve: A novel
      coronary angiography index.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Angiographic evaluation of diameter stenosis has modest predictive
      value for functionally significant coronary artery stenoses as assessed by
      fractional flow reserve (FFR). Lesion length and assessment of area of myocardium
      at risk (Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation [BARI] Myocardial
      Jeopardy Index [MJI]) subtended by the stenotic coronary arteries are also
      predictors of functionally significant coronary artery stenoses. We sort to
      assess the diagnostic accuracy of DILEMMA score, which combines minimal lumen
      diameter (MLD), lesion length, and BARI MJI in prediction of significantly
      reduced FFR (<=0.8). METHODS: We assessed patients who underwent coronary
      angiography and FFR. Lesion length and MLD were assessed by quantitative coronary
      angiography. Estimation of area of myocardium at risk subtended by coronary
      stenoses was performed using the BARI MJI. RESULTS: A total of 296 patients (age
      64 +/- 10.6 years, 68% male, 497 vessels) were included. DILEMMA score was
      significantly higher in vessels with significant FFR, 6.09 +/- 3.23 versus 3.84
      +/- 2.99 (P < .001). In the derivation cohort, the optimism-adjusted Harrell c
      statistic for DILEMMA score was 0.82 compared with 0.76 for BARI MJI, 0.75 for
      lesion length, and 0.7 for MLD. In the validation cohort, the c-statistic for
      DILEMMA score, BARI MJI, lesion length, and MLD was 0.88, 0.77, 0.81, and 0.72,
      respectively. The DILEMMA score was a better predictor of FFR <=0.8 compared with
      MLD, lesion length, and BARI MJI individually (P < .001, P < .02, and P < .045,
      respectively) on Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparison. CONCLUSIONS: DILEMMA
      score, taking into account MLD, lesion length, and BARI MJI, may have incremental
      predictive value beyond the individual indices alone for detecting functionally
      significant coronary artery stenoses.

PMID- 25819865
TI  - Sensitive troponin assays in patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome:
      Results from the multicenter rule out myocardial infarction using computer
      assisted tomography II trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sensitive troponin (Tn) assays have been developed for the evaluation
      of patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We sought to compare
      the performance of a commercially available sensitive Tn I (sTnI) and
      precommercial highly sTnI (hsTnI) method to conventional Tn (cTn) assays.
      METHODS: Among patients with acute chest pain but normal cTn in the emergency
      department of 6 centers, sTnI and hsTnI were measured at baseline, 2 and 4 hours
      after presentation. Diagnostic accuracy of sTnI and hsTnI relative to cTn for
      diagnosis during index hospitalization as well as their associations with
      coronary artery disease in patients randomized to coronary computed tomographic
      angiography (CTA) was assessed. RESULTS: Overall, 322 patients were enrolled, of
      whom 161 had a CTA; 28 had ACS (8.7%), including 21 with unstable angina pectoris
      (UAP). Both sTnI and hsTnI values at baseline and second draw had significantly
      higher sensitivity for ACS and UAP than cTn and had significantly greater area
      under the receiver operator characteristic curve than cTn at first and second
      draws. Compared with cTn, 29% of ACS cases previously categorized as UAP were
      reclassified to acute myocardial infarction with sTnI or hsTnI. An hsTnI below
      limit of detection had 100% negative predictive value for ACS or significant
      coronary artery stenosis in those randomized to CTA. CONCLUSIONS: In patients
      with acute chest discomfort, use of sTnI and hsTnI methods led to significant
      improvement in the early diagnostic accuracy for ACS, reclassifying one-third of
      UAP to myocardial infarction. Very low values for hsTnI excluded underlying
      coronary artery disease.

PMID- 25819866
TI  - Genetic markers of repolarization and arrhythmic events after acute coronary
      syndromes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is a genetic contribution to the risk of ventricular
      arrhythmias in survivors of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). We wished to explore
      the role of 33 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in prolonged
      repolarization and sudden death in patients surviving ACS. METHODS: A total of
      2,139 patients (1680 white ethnicity) surviving an admission for ACS were
      enrolled in the prospective Coronary Disease Cohort Study. Extensive clinical,
      echocardiographic, and neurohormonal data were collected for 12 months, and
      clinical events were recorded for a median of 5 years. Each SNP was assessed for
      association with sudden cardiac death (SCD)/cardiac arrest (CA) and prolonged
      repolarization at 3 time-points: index admission, 1 month, and 12 months
      postdischarge. RESULTS: One hundred six SCD/CA events occurred during follow-up
      (6.3%). Three SNPs from 3 genes (rs17779747 [KCNJ2], rs876188 [C14orf64],
      rs3864180 [GPC5]) were significantly associated with SCD/CA in multivariable
      models (after correction for multiple testing); the minor allele of rs17779747
      with a decreased risk (hazard ratio [HR] 0.68 per copy of the minor allele, 95%
      CI 0.50-0.92, P = .012), and rs876188 and rs386418 with an increased risk (HR
      1.52 [95% CI 1.10-2.09, P = .011] and HR 1.34 [95% CI 1.04-1.82, P = .023],
      respectively). At 12 months postdischarge, rs10494366 and rs12143842 (NOS1AP)
      were significant predictors of prolonged repolarization (HR 1.32 [95% CI 1.04
      1.67, P = .022] and HR 1.30 [95% CI 1.01-1.66, P = .038], respectively), but not
      at earlier time-points. CONCLUSION: Three SNPs were associated with SCD/CA.
      Repolarization time was associated with variation in the NOS1AP gene. This study
      demonstrates a possible role for SNPs in risk stratification for arrhythmic
      events after ACS.

PMID- 25819867
TI  - Metabolic and cardiac phenotype characterization in 37 atypical Dunnigan patients
      with nonfarnesylated mutated prelamin A.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Laminopathies are associated with a broad spectrum of clinical
      manifestations, from lipodystrophy to cardiac diseases. The purpose of this study
      was to assess genotype-phenotype correlations in a lipodystrophic laminopathy
      caused by the Lamin A (LMNA) mutation T655fsX49. This mutation leads to synthesis
      of nonfarnesylated-mutated prelamin A that does not undergo the physiologic lamin
      A maturation process. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 35 patients originating
      from Reunion Island who carried the LMNA T655fsX49 mutation. Comparisons of
      cardiac and endocrinologic features were made between homozygous and heterozygous
      patients. Homozygous patients presented more overlapping syndromes with severe
      cardiac phenotypes, defined by cardiolaminopathy, early atheroma with coronary
      heart disease (CHD) and high-degree conduction disorder compared with
      heterozygous (40% vs 4%; P = .016). Moreover, homozygous patients had earlier
      onset (49.6 vs 66 years old; P = .0002). Left ventricle lowered ejection fraction
      associated with heart failure was more frequent in homozygous than in
      heterozygous patients (40% vs 0%, respectively). Lipodystrophic traits were more
      marked in the homozygous group but only reached statistical significance for L4
      subcutaneous fat measurement (2.8 +/- 2.16 vs 18.7 +/- 8.9 mm; P = .008) and
      leptin levels (2.45 +/- 1.6 vs 11.26 +/- 7.2 ng/mL; P = .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Our
      results suggest that there is a relationship between mutated prelamin-A
      accumulation and the severity of the phenotypes in homozygous familial partial
      lipodystrophy type 2 patients who harbor the LMNA T655fsX49 mutation. A dose
      dependent effect seems likely.

PMID- 25819868
TI  - Letter to the editor regarding the manuscript "Rationale and design of PRIMA II:
      A multicenter, randomized clinical trial to study the impact of in-hospital
      guidance for acute decompensated heart failure treatment by a predefined NT
      ProBNP target on the reduction of readmission and Mortality rAtes".

PMID- 25819869
TI  - Response to: Letter to the editor regarding the manuscript "Rationale and design
      of PRIMA II: A multicenter, randomized clinical trial to study the impact of in
      hospital guidance for acute decompensated heart failure treatment by a predefined
      NT-ProBNP target on the reduction of readmission and Mortality rAtes".

PMID- 25819870
TI  - Intraaortic balloon counterpulsation in acute myocardial infarction complicated
      by cardiogenic shock: Design and rationale of the Intraaortic Balloon Pump in
      Cardiogenic Shock II (IABP-SHOCK II) trial.

PMID- 25819871
TI  - Efficacy of ginger-based treatments against infection with Gyrodactylus turnbulli
      in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata (Peters)).
AB  - Monogenean infections of commercially farmed fishes are responsible for
      significant economic losses and existing chemical therapeutants, often stressful
      to the fish, pose associated risks. As part of a recent trend to move towards the
      use of alternative, plant-based remedies for commonly occurring aquaculture
      related diseases, the efficiency of ginger (Zingiber officinale) was investigated
      against the monogenean parasite Gyrodactylus turnbulli in the guppy. In vitro
      trials revealed the clear anti-parasitic effects of ginger. Ethanolic and aqueous
      extracts, prepared from freeze dried ginger, were tested. An increase in extract
      concentration was associated with reduced time to parasite immobilisation, with
      ethanolic extract being more efficient; at 75 and 200ppt aqueous ginger extract
      parasites died at 65.6+/-2.8 and 1.8+/-0.2min, respectively, whereas at 5 and
      40ppt ethanolic extract parasites died at 26.1+/-0.7 and 4.9+/-0.3min,
      respectively. Bathing G. turnbulli-infected fish in ethanolic ginger extract
      (i.e. 5 and 7.5ppt for 90 and 30min, respectively) significantly reduced
      infection prevalence and intensity when compared to the water and ethanol
      controls. The higher concentration (i.e. 7.5ppt) proved as equally effective as
      Praziquantel, the conventionally used chemical treatment for gyrodactylosis, with
      the fish appearing to be completely cleared of the infection in both cases. Oral
      treatments of G. turnbulli-infected guppies with diets supplemented with 10 and
      20% ginger powder proved to be ineffective in decreasing parasite load. These
      findings demonstrate that immersion in ginger extract offers an effective,
      alternative treatment against monogenean infection in fish. 

PMID- 25819874
TI  - Does in utero exposure of antiepileptic drugs lead to failure to reach full
      cognitive potential?
AB  - A clinical scenario of a young female on 800 mg of sodium valproate (VPA) who has
      recently failed lamotrigine (LTG) and levetiracetam (LEV) and who is currently
      planning a pregnancy is presented. Currently available data pertaining to the
      longer-term development of children exposed to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are
      reviewed along with considerations around the methodology and interpretation of
      such research. There is an accumulation of data highlighting significant risks
      associated with prenatal exposed to VPA, with the level of risk being mediated by
      dose. The majority of published evidence does not find a significant risk
      associated with carbamazepine (CBZ) exposure in utero for global cognitive
      abilities however the evidence for more specific cognitive skills are unclear.
      Limited data indicate that LTG may be a preferred treatment to VPA in terms of
      foetal outcome but further evidence is required. Too little data pertaining to
      LEV exposure is available and a lack of evidence regarding risk of this and other
      new AEDs should not be interpreted as evidence of safety.

PMID- 25819872
TI  - PHY906(KD018), an adjuvant based on a 1800-year-old Chinese medicine, enhanced
      the anti-tumor activity of Sorafenib by changing the tumor microenvironment.
AB  - PHY906 (KD018) is a four-herb Chinese Medicine Formula. It has been shown to
      potentially enhance the therapeutic indices of different class anticancer agents
      in vivo. Here, PHY906 is reported to enhance the anti-tumor activity of Sorafenib
      in nude mice bearing HepG2 xenografts. Among the four herbal ingredients of
      PHY906, Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi (S) and Paeonia lactiflora Pall (P) are
      required; however, S plays a more important role than P in increasing tumor
      apoptosis induced by Sorafenib with an increase of mouse(m)FasL and human(h)FasR
      expression. PHY906 may potentiate Sorafenib action by increasing hMCP1 expression
      and enhancing infiltration of macrophages into tumors with a higher M1/M2 (tumor
      rejection) signature expression pattern, as well as affect autophagy by
      increasing AMPKalpha-P and ULK1-S555-P of tumors. Depletion of macrophage could
      counteract PHY906 to potentiate the anti-tumor activity of Sorafenib. It was
      reported that tumor cells with higher levels of ERK1/2-P are more susceptible to
      Sorafenib, and the S component of PHY906 may increase ERK1/2-P via inhibition of
      ERK1/2 phosphatase in HepG2 tumors. PHY906 may potentiate the anti-hepatoma
      activity of Sorafenib by multiple mechanisms targeting on the inflammatory state
      of microenvironment of tumor tissue through two major ingredients (P and S) of
      PHY906. 

PMID- 25819875
TI  - Re-annotation of presumed noncoding disease/trait-associated genetic variants by
      integrative analyses.
AB  - Using RefSeq annotations, most disease/trait-associated genetic variants
      identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) appear to be located within
      intronic or intergenic regions, which makes it difficult to interpret their
      functions. We reassessed GWAS-Associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (herein
      termed as GASs) for their potential functionalities using integrative approaches.
      8834 of 9184 RefSeq "noncoding" GASs were reassessed to have potential regulatory
      functionalities. As examples, 3 variants (rs3130320, rs3806932 and rs6890853)
      were shown to have regulatory properties in HepG2, A549 and 293T cells. Except
      rs3130320 as a known expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), rs3806932 and
      rs6890853 were not reported as eQTLs in previous reports. 1999 of 9184
      "noncoding" GASs were re-annotated to the promoters or intragenic regions using
      Ensembl, UCSC and AceView gene annotations but they were not annotated into
      corresponding regions in RefSeq database. Moreover, these GAS-harboring genes
      were broadly expressed across different tissues and a portion of them was
      expressed in a tissue-specific manner, suggesting that they could be functional.
      Collectively, our study demonstrates the benefits of using integrative analyses
      to interpret genetic variants and may help to predict or explain disease
      susceptibility more accurately and comprehensively. 

PMID- 25819876
TI  - Tobacco plants over-expressing the sweet orange tau glutathione transferases
      (CsGSTUs) acquire tolerance to the diphenyl ether herbicide fluorodifen and to
      salt and drought stresses.
AB  - The glutathione transferases (GSTs) are members of a superfamily of enzymes with
      pivotal role in the detoxification of both xenobiotic and endogenous compounds.
      In this work, the generation and characterization of transgenic tobacco plants
      over-expressing tau glutathione transferases from Citrus sinensis (CsGSTU1 and
      CsGSTU2) and several cross-mutate forms of these genes are reported. Putative
      transformed plants were verified for the presence of the transgenes and the
      relative quantification of transgene copy number was evaluated by Taqman real
      time PCR. The analysis of gene expression revealed that transformed plants
      exhibit high levels of CsGSTU transcription suggesting that the insertion of the
      transgenes occurred in transcriptional active regions of the tobacco genome. In
      planta studies demonstrate that transformed tobacco plants gain tolerance against
      fluorodifen. Simultaneously, the wild type CsGSTU genes were in vitro expressed
      and their kinetic properties were determined using fluorodifen as substrate. The
      results show that CsGSTU2 follows a Michaelis-Menten hyperbolic kinetic, whereas
      CsGSTU1 generates a sigmoid plot typical of the regulatory enzymes, thus
      suggesting that when working at sub-lethal fluorodifen concentrations CsGSTU2 can
      counteract the herbicide injury more efficiently than the CsGSTU1. Moreover, the
      transgenic tobacco plant over-expressing CsGSTs exhibited both drought and
      salinity stress tolerance. However, as we show that CsGSTUs do not function as
      glutathione peroxidase in vitro, the protective effect against salt and drought
      stress is not due to a direct scavenging activity of the oxidative stress
      byproducts. The transgenic tobacco plants, which are described in the present
      study, can be helpful for phytoremediation of residual xenobiotics in the
      environment and overall the over-expression of CsGSTUs can be helpful to develop
      genetically modified crops with high resistance to abiotic stresses. 

PMID- 25819877
TI  - Influence of temperature on ultrasound absorption in waveguides made out of
      refractory materials.
AB  - We studied the influence of temperature increase to 1500  degrees C on ultrasound
      absorption at frequencies from 0.1 to 1.0 MHz in tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium,
      graphite, and fused silica. The ultrasound absorption coefficient in these
      materials was calculated. It was shown that the fused silica has the smallest
      ultrasound absorption coefficient for temperatures up to 1000  degrees C.
      Vanadium and graphite also have small values of this coefficient for the
      considered temperature. The ultrasound absorption was investigated experimentally
      in graphite and fused silica waveguides. We demonstrated that the ultrasound
      absorption did not change in graphite with the temperature increase, but it
      increased in fused silica by a factor 2 for the temperature above 1000  degrees
      C. We show that different acoustical and mechanical properties of vanadium,
      graphite, and fused silica allow using them for waveguide applications and buffer
      rods in crystal growth at temperatures below 1500  degrees C and ultrasound
      frequency below 1.0 MHz.

PMID- 25819878
TI  - Bulk and surface acoustic waves in solid-fluid Fibonacci layered materials.
AB  - We study theoretically the propagation and localization of acoustic waves in
      quasi-periodic structures made of solid and fluid layers arranged according to a
      Fibonacci sequence. We consider two types of structures: either a given Fibonacci
      sequence or a periodic repetition of a given sequence called Fibonacci
      superlattice. Various properties of these systems such as: the scaling law and
      the self-similarity of the transmission spectra or the power law behavior of the
      measure of the energy spectrum have been highlighted for waves of sagittal
      polarization in normal and oblique incidence. In addition to the allowed modes
      which propagate along the system, we study surface modes induced by the surface
      of the Fibonacci superlattice. In comparison with solid-solid layered structures,
      the solid-fluid systems exhibit transmission zeros which can break the self
      similarity behavior in the transmission spectra for a given sequence or induce
      additional gaps other than Bragg gaps in a periodic structure. 

PMID- 25819879
TI  - Extended temperature dependence of elastic constants in cubic crystals.
AB  - To extend the theory of the temperature dependence of the elastic constants in
      cubic crystals beyond the second- and third-order elastic constants, the fourth
      order elastic constants, as well as the non-linearity in the thermal expansion
      temperature dependence, have been taken into account. Theoretical results were
      represented as temperature functions of the effective elastic constants and
      compared with experimental data for a number of cubic crystals, such as alkali
      metal halides, and elements gold and silver. The relations obtained give a more
      accurate description of the experimental temperature dependences of second-order
      elastic constants for a number of cubic crystals, including deviations from
      linear behavior. A good agreement between theoretical estimates and experimental
      data has been observed. 

PMID- 25819880
TI  - Dysregulation of gene expression in human fetal endothelial cells from
      gestational diabetes in response to TGF-beta1.
AB  - Enhanced biosynthesis of several cytokines, such as, transforming growth factor
      beta1 (TGF-beta1), is detected in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). In this
      study, we addressed the question of whether the exposure to the abnormal milieu
      of GDM in vivo affects gene expression pattern of human umbilical vein
      endothelial cells (HUVEC) in response to TGF-beta1. We found that HUVEC isolated
      from GDM (dHUVEC) had reduced migratory capacity versus those of healthy women
      (nHUVEC) and this quiescent phenotype was associated with higher expression
      levels of the TGF-betatype I receptor ALK5 and a slight increase in the
      endogenous production of TGF-beta1 (mainly in its latent form). Moreover, we
      performed transcriptome analysis, using microarray technology, of dHUVEC versus
      nHUVEC, after 3h treatment with exogenous TGF-beta1 (10 ng/ml). The treatment of
      dHUVEC with TGF-beta1 caused downregulation of the transcription of multiple
      genes involved in development, cell movement and migration of cells versus TGF
      beta1-treated nHUVEC. These changes in transcriptome profile might contribute to
      GDM-dependent alterations in cardiac morphogenesis and placental development.

PMID- 25819882
TI  - Influence of non-covalent preorganization on supramolecular effective molarities.
AB  - A family of closely related zinc porphyrin-pyridine complexes were used to
      examine the influence of linker preorganization on supramolecular effective
      molarities for formation of intramolecular H-bonds. Each pyridine ligand was
      equipped with a side-chain containing two H-bond acceptors, one on the end of the
      chain (terminal) and one in the middle of the chain (linker). These H-bond
      acceptors make intramolecular interactions with phenol H-bond donors on the
      porphyrin periphery. Two different H-bonding acceptors were used as linker groups
      in order to construct frameworks with significantly different degrees of
      preorganization: ester linkers populate the H-bonded state 60-70% of the time,
      whereas amide linkers populate the H-bonded state 90-100% of the time. Thus the
      amide linkers provide a significantly more preorganised ligand framework than the
      ester linkers. Effective molarities (EM) for intramolecular H-bonds between the
      terminal H-bond acceptor groups on the ligands (esters and amides) and the
      porphyrin phenol groups were quantified using 32 chemical double mutant cycles.
      The values of EM for interactions with the terminal H-bond acceptors are
      independent of the nature of the linker H-bond acceptor (weakly bonded ester or
      strongly bonded amide), which indicates that preorganization of the linker has no
      effect on chelate cooperativity in these systems. 

PMID- 25819881
TI  - Physiology, pathogenicity and immunogenicity of live, attenuated Salmonella
      enterica serovar Enteritidis mutants in chicks.
AB  - To construct a novel live, attenuated Salmonella vaccine, the lon, cpxR and cpdB
      genes were deleted from a wild-type Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis-6 (SM
      6) strain using the phage lambda Red homologous recombination system, resulting
      in SM-?CpxR, SM-?C/Lon and SM-?C/L/CpdB. The growth curves of strain SM-?C/Lon
      grew more rapidly than the other strains and had OD 600 values higher than the
      other strains starting at the 4 h time point. The growth curves of strain SM
      ?C/L/CpdB were relatively flat. The colonization time of SM-?C/L/CpdB is about 8
      10 days. Deleting the lon/cpxR/cpdB (SM-6) genes resulted in an approximate 10(3)
      fold attenuation in virulence assessed by the analysis of the LD50 of specific
      pathogen-free (SPF) chicks. This result indicated that the deletion of the lon,
      cpxR and cpdB genes induced significant virulence attenuation. The protective
      effects of SM-?C/L/CpdB vaccination in SPF chicks against 5 * 10(9) colony
      forming units (CFU) of S. Enteritidis were resulted from the induction of an
      effective immune response. These findings demonstrate the potential of mutant SM
      ?C/L/CpdB to be used as an effective vaccine.

PMID- 25819883
TI  - The association between intradialytic exercise and hospital usage among
      hemodialysis patients.
AB  - Hemodialysis (HD) patients have high hospitalization rates. Benefits of
      intradialytic exercise have been proven in numerous studies yet exercise programs
      are still rarely used in the treatment of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Our
      objective was to determine if there was an association between a 6-month
      intradialytic bicycling program and hospitalization rates and length of stay
      (LOS) in ESKD patients. This was a retrospective cohort study that took place 6
      months prior to and 6 months during an intradialtyic exercise program at an
      outpatient HD unit in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Participants comprised 102
      patients who had commenced HD <6 months (incident) or >6 months (prevalent) prior
      to starting exercise. The intervention comprised a 6-month intradialytic
      bicycling program. Main outcome measures were hospitalization rate, cause of
      hospitalization, and LOS. Patients were predominantly male (67.6%) aged 65.6 +/-
      13.5 years and median HD vintage 1 year (range: 0-12). Comorbidities included
      diabetes mellitus (50%) and cardiac disease (38.2%). The hospitalization
      incidence rate ratio (IRR) was 0.48 (0.23-0.98; P = 0.04) in incident and 0.89
      (0.56-1.42; P = 0.64) in prevalent patients. The LOS decreased from 7.8 (95%
      confidence interval (CI): 7.3-8.4) to 3.1 (95% CI: 2.8-3.4) days and LOS IRR was
      0.39 (0.35-0.45; P < 0.001). The main predictors of hospitalization were lower
      albumin levels (P = 0.007) and lack of intradialytic exercise program
      participation (P < 0.001). In conclusion, 6 months of intradialytic exercise was
      associated with decreased LOS in both incident and prevalent HD patients. 

PMID- 25819884
TI  - Toxicity of silica nanoparticles depends on size, dose, and cell type.
AB  - Monodisperse spherical silica nanoparticles (SNPs) with diameters of 20-200 nm
      were employed to study size, dose, and cell-type dependent cytotoxicity in A549
      and HepG2 epithelial cells and NIH/3T3 fibroblasts. These uniform SNPs of
      precisely controlled sizes eliminated uncertainties arising from mixed sizes, and
      uniquely allowed the probing of effects entirely size-dependent. Cell viability,
      membrane disruption, oxidative stress, and cellular uptake were studied. The
      extent and mechanism of SNP cytotoxicity were found to be not only size and dose
      dependent, but also highly cell type dependent. Furthermore, the 60 nm SNPs
      exhibited highly unusual behavior in comparison to particles of other sizes
      tested, implying interesting possibilities for controlling cellular activities
      using nanoparticles. Specifically, the 60 nm SNPs were preferentially endocytosed
      by cells and, at high doses, caused a disproportionate decrease in cell
      viability. The present work may help elucidate certain contradictions among
      existing results on nanoparticle-induced cytotoxicity. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR:
      Silica nanoparticles are being investigated in many research areas for their use
      in clinical applications. Nonetheless, the relationship between particle size and
      potential toxicity remains to be elucidated. In this article, the authors studied
      the biological effects of spherical SNPs with precise diameters between 20 and
      200 nm on three different cell types and their results should provide more data
      on safety for better drug design.

PMID- 25819885
TI  - Stimuli-responsive liposomes for the delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics.
AB  - Nucleic acid therapeutics (NATs) are valuable tools in the modulation of gene
      expression in a highly specific manner. So far, NATs have been actively pursued
      in both pre-clinical and clinical studies to treat diseases such as cancer,
      infectious and inflammatory diseases. However, the clinical application of NATs
      remains a considerable challenge owing to their limited cellular uptake, low
      biological stability, off-target effect, and unfavorable pharmacokinetics. One
      concept to address these issues is to deliver NATs within stimuli-responsive
      liposomes, which release their contents of NATs upon encountering environmental
      changes such as temperature, pH, and ion strength. In this case, before reaching
      the targeted tissue/organ, NATs are protected from degradation by enzymes and
      immune system. Once at the area of interest, localized and targeted delivery can
      be achieved with minimal influence to other parts of the body. Here, we discuss
      the latest developments and existing challenges in this field. FROM THE CLINICAL
      EDITOR: Nucleic acid therapeutics have been shown to enhance or eliminate
      specific gene expression in experimental research. Unfortunately, clinical
      applications have so far not been realized due to problems of easy degradation
      and possible toxicity. The use of nanosized carriers such as liposomes to deliver
      nucleic acids is one solution to overcome these problems. In this review article
      the authors describe and discuss the potentials of various trigger-responsive
      "smart" liposomes, with a view to help other researchers to design better
      liposomal nucleic acid delivery systems.

PMID- 25819887
TI  - Nanometric agents in the service of neuroscience: Manipulation of neuronal growth
      and activity using nanoparticles.
AB  - Nerve regeneration and recovery could provide great therapeutic benefits for
      individuals suffering from nerve damage post trauma or degenerative diseases.
      However, manipulation of nerves presents a huge challenge for neuroscientists and
      is not yet clinically feasible. In recent years, nanoparticles have emerged as
      novel effective agents for control of neuronal growth and behavior. Nanoparticles
      may facilitate the needed nerve manipulation abilities for therapeutic and
      diagnostic purposes including within the brain. This review aims at presenting
      the currently available literature regarding the interactions between inorganic
      nanoparticles and neurons. A wide range of nanoparticles are presented, including
      gold, iron oxide, cerium oxide, nanotubes and quantum-dots. The nanoparticles
      enhance neuronal differentiation and survival, direct growth and regulate
      electrical activity. The studies are summarized in a concise table, arranged by
      the function and type of nanoparticle. The latest studies present a novel
      interdisciplinary approach, which could be harnessed for clinical applications in
      nanomedicine. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: Nerve regeneration remains the Holy Grail
      for patients with neuron loss. Nonetheless, this goal has not been realized in
      clinical setting thus far. In this article, the authors present a comprehensive
      review on various nanoparticle-based approaches, in both diagnosis and therapy,
      which should stimulate and generate more research ideas to the advancement in
      this field.

PMID- 25819886
TI  - Aerosol droplet delivery of mesoporous silica nanoparticles: A strategy for
      respiratory-based therapeutics.
AB  - A highly versatile nanoplatform that couples mesoporous silica nanoparticles
      (MSNs) with an aerosol technology to achieve direct nanoscale delivery to the
      respiratory tract is described. This novel method can deposit MSN nanoparticles
      throughout the entire respiratory tract, including nasal, tracheobronchial and
      pulmonary regions using a water-based aerosol. This delivery method was
      successfully tested in mice by inhalation. The MSN nanoparticles used have the
      potential for carrying and delivering therapeutic agents to highly specific
      target sites of the respiratory tract. The approach provides a critical
      foundation for developing therapeutic treatment protocols for a wide range of
      diseases where aerosol delivery to the respiratory system would be desirable.
      FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: Delivery of drugs via the respiratory tract is an
      attractive route of administration. In this article, the authors described the
      design of mesoporous silica nanoparticles which could act as carriers for drugs.
      The underlying efficacy was successfully tested in a mouse model. This drug
      carrier inhalation nanotechnology should potentially be useful in human clinical
      setting in the future.

PMID- 25819889
TI  - Myopericarditis and Takotsubo cardiomyopathy association.

PMID- 25819890
TI  - Acute myocardial infarction in a young woman with rheumatoid arthritis.

PMID- 25819888
TI  - Regulation and evolution of cardiopharyngeal cell identity and behavior: insights
      from simple chordates.
AB  - The vertebrate heart arises from distinct first and second heart fields. The
      latter also share a common origin with branchiomeric muscles in the pharyngeal
      mesoderm and transcription regulators, such as Nkx2-5, Tbx1 and Islet1. Despite
      significant progress, the complexity of vertebrate embryos has hindered the
      identification of multipotent cardiopharyngeal progenitors. Here, we summarize
      recent insights in cardiopharyngeal development gained from ascidian models,
      among the closest relatives to vertebrates. In a simplified cellular context,
      progressive fate specification of the ascidian cardiopharyngeal precursors
      presents striking similarities with their vertebrate counterparts. Multipotent
      cardiopharyngeal progenitors are primed to activate both the early cardiac and
      pharyngeal muscles programs, which segregate following asymmetric cells divisions
      as a result of regulatory cross-antagonisms involving Tbx1 and Nkx2-5 homologs.
      Activation of Ebf in pharyngeal muscle founder cells triggers both Myogenic
      Regulatory Factor-associated differentiation and Notch-mediated maintenance of an
      undifferentiated state in distinct precursors. Cross-species comparisons revealed
      the deep conservation of the cardiopharyngeal developmental sequence in spite of
      extreme genome sequence divergence, gene network rewiring and specific
      morphogenetic differences. Finally, analyses are beginning to uncover the
      influence of surrounding tissues in determining cardiopharyngeal cell identity
      and behavior. Thus, ascidian embryos offer a unique opportunity to study gene
      regulation and cell behaviors at the cellular level throughout cardiopharyngeal
      morphogenesis and evolution. 

PMID- 25819891
TI  - Soluble ST2 may possess special superiority as a risk predictor in heart failure
      patients.

PMID- 25819892
TI  - Endovascular treatment of peripheral artery disease reduces blood pressure and
      improves long-term prognosis.

PMID- 25819893
TI  - Decision making in a presumptive case of STEMI-like myocarditis.

PMID- 25819894
TI  - Epicardial adipose tissue has an increased thickness and is a source of
      inflammatory mediators in patients with calcific aortic stenosis.

PMID- 25819895
TI  - Mortality, sudden death and indication for cardioverter defibrillator
      implantation in a dialysis population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The incidence of sudden death among dialysis patients is high, but
      end stage renal disease was an exclusion criterion in the trials that
      demonstrated the benefit of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) for
      sudden death prevention. METHODS: Dialysis patients alive on January 2010 or
      starting dialysis between January 2010 and January 2013 were enrolled and
      retrospectively evaluated. Patients were divided into three groups: No
      Indication, Indication-With ICD and Indication-Without ICD. Cox and Fine and Gray
      regression models were used to estimate the total and cause-specific (sudden or
      non-sudden) mortality hazard ratio (HR, HR(cpRisk)), respectively. Survival was
      defined as the time from start of dialysis to the time of death. RESULTS:
      154/2072 patients (7.4%) had indication for ICD implantation and 52 (33.8%) of
      them received the device; 688 (33.2%) deaths were recorded. Mortality was
      different among groups [Indication-With ICD vs No-Indication: HR 1.59 (95% CI
      1.06-2.38) and Indication-Without ICD vs No-Indication: HR 2.67 (95% CI 2.09
      3.39, p < 0.001)]. 84/688 (12.2%) were sudden deaths. The cumulative incidence of
      sudden death was higher in patients with ICD indication [Indication-With ICD vs
      No-Indication HR(cpRisk) 3.21 (95% CI 1.38-7.40) and Indication-Without ICD vs No
      Indication: HR(cpRisk) 4.19 (95% CI 2.38-7.39), p < 0.001], but also No
      Indication patients showed a high rate of sudden death [8.5% (95% CI.6.5-10.9) at
      8 years of follow-up]. CONCLUSIONS: Dialysis patients with ICD indication had a
      worse survival than No-Indication subjects and the prognosis was particularly
      poor for the Indication-Without ICD group. Sudden death incidence was much higher
      than in the general population, even among No-Indication subjects.

PMID- 25819896
TI  - Common variants in or near ZNRF1, COLEC12, SCYL1BP1 and API5 are associated with
      diabetic retinopathy in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes.
AB  - AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Three recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified
      several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with modest effects on diabetic
      retinopathy in Mexican-American and white patients with diabetes. This study
      aimed to evaluate the effects of these variants on diabetic retinopathy in
      Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: A total of 1,972 patients with
      type 2 diabetes were recruited to this study, including 819 patients with
      diabetic retinopathy and 1,153 patients with diabetes of >=5 years duration but
      without retinopathy. Forty SNPs associated with diabetic retinopathy in three
      GWAS were genotyped. Fundus photography was performed to diagnose and classify
      diabetic retinopathy. RESULTS: rs17684886 in ZNRF1 and rs599019 near COLEC12 were
      associated with diabetic retinopathy (OR 0.812, p = 0.0039 and OR 0.835, p =
      0.0116, respectively) and with the severity of diabetic retinopathy (p = 0.0365
      and p = 0.0252, respectively, for trend analysis). Sub-analysis in patients with
      diabetic retinopathy revealed that rs6427247 near SCYL1BP1 (also known as GORAB)
      and rs899036 near API5 were associated with severe diabetic retinopathy (OR
      1.368, p = 0.0333 and OR 0.340, p = 0.0005, respectively). The associations
      between rs6427247 and rs899036 and severe diabetic retinopathy became more
      evident after a meta-analysis of published GWAS data (OR 1.577, p = 2.01 * 10(-4)
      for rs6427247; OR 0.330, p = 5.84 * 10(-7) for rs899036).
      CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: We determined that rs17684886 and rs599019 are
      associated with diabetic retinopathy and that rs6427247 and rs899036 are
      associated with severe diabetic retinopathy in Chinese patients with type 2
      diabetes.

PMID- 25819907
TI  - Pediatrics after-hours: a twenty-year academic-community partnership for acute
      care delivery.

PMID- 25819909
TI  - 50 years ago in The Journal of Pediatrics: Calorie intake of children with Down's
      syndrome (Mongolism) (sic).

PMID- 25819908
TI  - Dead wrong: the growing list of racial/ethnic disparities in childhood mortality.

PMID- 25819910
TI  - 50 years ago in The Journal of Pediatrics: Spontaneous closure of ventricular
      septal defect following cardiac failure in infancy.

PMID- 25819911
TI  - 50 years ago in The Journal of Pediatrics: Infection with Haemophilus
      aphrophilus: brain abscess (comment on current literature).

PMID- 25819912
TI  - 50 years ago in The Journal of Pediatrics: Necrotizing enterocolitis in premature
      infants.

PMID- 25819913
TI  - 50 years ago in The Journal of Pediatrics: Tyrosinemia--an inborn error of
      tyrosine metabolism with cirrhosis of the liver and multiple renal defects.

PMID- 25819914
TI  - Establishing a child rights, health equity, and social justice-based practice of
      pediatrics.

PMID- 25819915
TI  - DNA intercalative 4-butylaminopyrimido[4',5':4,5]thieno(2,3-b)quinoline induces
      cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in leukemia cells.
AB  - PURPOSE: DNA intercalators are one of the interesting groups in cancer
      chemotherapy. The development of novel anticancer small molecule has gained
      remarkable interest over the last decade. In this study, we synthesized and
      investigated the ability of a tetracyclic-condensed quinoline compound, 4
      butylaminopyrimido[4',5':4,5]thieno(2,3-b)quinoline (BPTQ), to interact with
      double-stranded DNA and inhibit cancer cell proliferation. METHODS: Circular
      dichroism, topological studies, molecular docking, absorbance, and fluorescence
      spectral titrations were employed to study the interaction of BPTQ with DNA.
      Cytotoxicity was studied by performing 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5
      diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay. Further,
      cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry, annexin V staining, mitochondrial membrane
      potential assay, DNA fragmentation, and western blot analysis were used to
      elucidate the mechanism of action of BPTQ at the cellular level. RESULTS:
      Spectral, topological, and docking studies confirmed that BPTQ is a typical
      intercalator of DNA. BPTQ induces dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the
      proliferation of cancer cells by arresting cells at S and G2/M phase. Further,
      BPTQ activates the mitochondria-mediated apoptosis pathway, as explicated by a
      decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential, increase in the Bax:Bcl-2 ratio,
      and activation of caspases. CONCLUSION: These results confirmed that BPTQ is a
      DNA intercalative anticancer molecule, which could aid in the development of
      future cancer therapeutic agents.

PMID- 25819916
TI  - A Comparative Study on the Effects of Millisecond- and Microsecond-Pulsed
      Electric Field Treatments on the Permeabilization and Extraction of Pigments from
      Chlorella vulgaris.
AB  - The interdependencies of the two main processing parameters affecting
      "electroporation" (electric field strength and pulse duration) while using pulse
      duration in the range of milliseconds and microseconds on the permeabilization,
      inactivation, and extraction of pigments from Chlorella vulgaris was compared.
      While irreversible "electroporation" was observed above 4 kV/cm in the
      millisecond range, electric field strengths of >=10 kV/cm were required in the
      microseconds range. However, to cause the electroporation of most of the 90 % of
      the population of C. vulgaris in the millisecond (5 kV/cm, 20 pulses) or
      microsecond (15 kV/cm, 25 pulses) range, the specific energy that was delivered
      was lower for microsecond treatments (16.87 kJ/L) than in millisecond treatments
      (150 kJ/L). In terms of the specific energy required to cause microalgae
      inactivation, treatments in the microsecond range also resulted in greater energy
      efficiency. The comparison of extraction yields in the range of milliseconds (5
      kV, 20 ms) and microseconds (20, 25 pulses) under the conditions in which the
      maximum extraction was observed revealed that the improvement in the carotenoid
      extraction was similar and chlorophyll a and b extraction was slightly higher for
      treatments in the microsecond range. The specific energy that was required for
      the treatment in the millisecond range (150 kJ/L) was much higher than those
      required in the microsecond range (30 kJ/L). The comparison of the efficacy of
      both types of pulses on the extraction enhancement just after the treatment and
      after a post-pulse incubation period seemed to indicate that PEF in the
      millisecond range created irreversible alterations while, in the microsecond
      range, the defects were a dynamic structure along the post-pulse time that caused
      a subsequent increment in the extraction yield.

PMID- 25819917
TI  - Efficacy of Broadline(r) spot-on against Aelurostrongylus abstrusus and
      Troglostrongylus brevior lungworms in naturally infected cats from Italy.
AB  - The increasing reports of Aelurostrongylus abstrusus infection and the new
      information on Troglostrongylus brevior have spurred the interest of the
      scientific community towards the research of pharmaceutical compounds effective
      against both pathogens. A novel topical combination of fipronil, (S)-methoprene,
      eprinomectin and praziquantel (Broadline(r), Merial) has been released for the
      treatment of a variety of feline parasitic infections. The present study reports
      the efficacy of this spot-on in treating cats naturally infected by feline
      lungworms. Client owned cats (n=191) were enrolled from three geographical areas
      of Italy and faecal samples were examined by floatation and Baermann techniques.
      Twenty-three individuals were positive for L1 of A. abstrusus (n=18) or T.
      brevior (n=3) or for both species (n=2) and they were topically treated with
      Broadline(r). Seventeen of them were also concomitantly infected by other
      parasites. Four weeks after treatment, faecal samples were collected and examined
      to assess the efficacy of a single administration of the product. Based on
      lungworm larvae counts, the efficacy of the treatment was 90.5% or 100% for A.
      abstrusus or T. brevior, respectively. Cats released significantly lower amounts
      of lungworm larvae after treatment compared to pre-treatment (p<0.0001). All but
      three cats were negative for other nematodes after treatment and all cats
      recovered from respiratory signs. Results of this study indicate that a single
      administration of the topical combination fipronil, (S)-methoprene, eprinomectin
      and praziquantel is effective and safe for the treatment of A. abstrusus and/or
      T. brevior infections in cats living under field conditions.

PMID- 25819918
TI  - A model for the dynamics of the free-living stages of equine cyathostomins.
AB  - Anthelmintic resistance in strongyle nematode parasites of horses is an expanding
      global problem and steps need to be taken to slow its development before control
      becomes more problematic. A move away from traditional deworming programmes,
      involving frequent whole-herd treatments with broad spectrum anthelmintics, to a
      more strategic or targeted use of chemicals is required. However, anthelmintic
      resistance management strategies which also maintain effective control are
      invariably more complicated and often require a greater understanding of both
      nematode epidemiology and grazing management, than does the simple routine use of
      chemicals. Here, as a first step in applying a modelling approach to resistance
      management in horses, a model is proposed to describe the dynamics on pasture of
      the free-living stages of equine cyathostomins. Firstly, the development and
      survival of the pre-infective stages is considered as a single process driven by
      temperature, and secondly, two populations of infective stage larvae (L3) are
      considered; those within the faecal pat and those on the herbage. Both are
      modelled using the box-car train approach which allows for variable development
      rates within a cohort of individuals and full overlap of generations. Uniquely,
      L3 survival is modelled as an ageing process where larvae progress through
      physiological age classes at a rate determined by temperature and rainfall. Model
      output reflects the dynamics of free-living stages under a range of environments.
      Under extreme cold, there is no development to L3 but eggs can survive for long
      periods to develop if conditions become favourable, while L3 survival is reduced
      under repeated freeze-thaw cycles. Under tropical conditions, development is
      rapid and a large number of L3 can be produced but survival of L3 is short. In
      temperate climates development tends to be slower, with large numbers of L3
      produced over the warmer months but fewer over winter, and L3 survival tends to
      be higher all year round. Although attempts to validate model output against
      field studies were compromised by the lack of published detail or an inability to
      access specific weather records, outputs averaged over multiple sets of weather
      data was often appropriate for that location. Variation in model output when
      using weather data sets which started on different days within the same week
      suggests that day-to-day differences in weather may affect the number of L3
      developing on pasture and that optimisation of anthelmintic use to minimise
      pasture infectivity may require a more detailed understanding of weather effects
      than previously thought. 

PMID- 25819919
TI  - Strabismus in infants following congenital cataract surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the incidence and characteristics of
      strabismus following congenital cataract surgery in infants. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Patients aged <12 months who underwent surgery for congenital cataract
      and were followed-up for >=1 years were included. Patients that had strabismus
      prior to surgery were excluded. Data regarding gender, cataract laterality,
      morphology, and density, age at the time of cataract surgery, ocular motility
      post surgery, and the presence of nystagmus were retrospectively obtained from
      the patients' records. RESULTS: The study included 79 patients (48 male and 31
      female). Unilateral surgery was performed in 14 of the patients, versus bilateral
      surgery in 65. Strabismus did not occur post surgery in 32 (40.5 %) of the
      patients (group 1), whereas 47 (59.5 %) (group 2) developed strabismus following
      surgery. The patients in group 1 were followed-up for a mean 50.7 +/- 38.5
      months, versus 50.3 +/- 39 months in group 2. Mean age at the time of cataract
      surgery in groups 1 and 2 was 3.6 +/- 1.9 years and 4.6 +/- 3.2 months
      respectively. Mean duration of time between cataract surgery and the development
      of strabismus was 13.3 +/- 13 months (range: 1-60 months). Unilateral cases were
      more prone to develop strabismus, which was statistically significant (p =
      0.028). Age at the time of cataract surgery, gender, cataract density, the
      occurrence of aphakic glaucoma, the presence of nystagmus, and additional ocular
      surgery were not significantly associated with the development of strabismus.
      CONCLUSION: Strabismus develops more frequently in children undergoing cataract
      surgery. In the present study strabismus occurred in more of the patients that
      underwent unilateral surgery. Based on the present findings, we think that long
      term careful follow-up to monitor the development of strabismus is required in
      all infants undergoing cataract surgery, especially unilateral cases.

PMID- 25819920
TI  - Index clinical manifestation of venous thromboembolism predicts early recurrence
      type and frequency: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Observational studies suggest index clinical manifestation of venous
      thromboembolism (VTE) predicts recurrence type. Data regarding the association
      between index manifestation and recurrence rates are conflicting. OBJECTIVES: To
      perform a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the
      type and frequency of recurrent VTE (rVTE) in persons after an index deep vein
      thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE). PATIENTS/METHODS: We searched
      bibliographic databases for RCTs of acute (early) treatment of rVTE in persons
      with an index DVT or PE (+/-DVT), enrolling >= 50 subjects anticoagulated >= 3
      months and reporting types of rVTE. We pooled (random-effects) the proportion of
      rVTEs that were DVTs, PEs, and fatal PEs, the proportion of recurrent PEs that
      were fatal, and absolute rVTE rates. RESULTS: In nine RCTs (N = 13 640; 413
      rVTEs) evaluating persons with an index PE; 66% (95% CI, 60-72%) of rVTEs were PE
      and 27% (95% CI, 22-33%) were fatal PE. Among 25 RCTs (N = 17 340; 692 rVTEs)
      evaluating persons with an index DVT, 36% (95% CI, 29-44%) experienced a
      recurrent PE and 10% (95% CI, 7-13%) a fatal PE. Recurrent PEs following an index
      PE had a higher fatality rate than after an index DVT (41%; 95% CI, 33-48% vs.
      25%; 95% CI, 18-33%; P = 0.007). The rVTE rate was higher following an index DVT
      compared with a PE (2.6%; 95% CI, 1.6-3.8% vs. 4.9%; 95% CI, 4.0-6.0%; P =
      0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis suggests most rVTEs will be the same type
      as the index event. While index DVTs are associated with a higher rVTE rate than
      index PEs; recurrent PEs are associated with high fatality.

PMID- 25819921
TI  - Long intervening non-coding RNA 00320 is human brain-specific and highly
      expressed in the cortical white matter.
AB  - Pervasive transcription of the genome produces a diverse array of functional non
      coding RNAs (ncRNAs). One particular class of ncRNAs, long intervening non-coding
      RNAs (lincRNAs) are thought to play a role in regulating gene expression and may
      be a major contributor to organism and tissue complexity. The human brain with
      its heterogeneous cellular make-up is a rich source of lincRNAs; however, the
      functions of the majority of lincRNAs are unknown. Recently, by completing RNA
      sequencing (RNA-Seq) of the human frontal cortex, we identified linc00320 as
      being highly expressed in the white matter compared to grey matter in multiple
      system atrophy (MSA) brain. Here, we further investigate the expression patterns
      of linc00320 and conclude that it is involved in specific brain regions rather
      than having involvement in the MSA disease process. We also show that the full
      length linc00320 is only expressed in human brain tissue and not in other
      primates, suggesting that it may be involved in improved functional connectivity
      for higher human brain cognition. 

PMID- 25819922
TI  - Oral allergy syndrome in children.
AB  - Oral allergy syndrome (OAS) is an allergic reaction that occurs after consumption
      of fresh fruits and vegetables in patients with allergy to pollen. It is mediated
      by immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies and symptoms arise as a result of cross
      reactivity between pollen and plant-derived food. OAS is rarely seen in young
      children, but the prevalence increases with age. The objectives of the study were
      to identify the prevalence of OAS and probable risk factors in children and
      adolescents with seasonal allergic rhinitis (AR). One-hundred and twenty patients
      with seasonal AR were included. Patients were diagnosed based on their clinical
      history, skin prick test outcome and specific IgE. In patients describing OAS,
      prick-by-prick tests with fresh fruit or vegetables were carried out. Thirty-two
      patients had OAS and it was more frequent in female patients than in male
      patients. OAS was more frequent in adolescents than in small children and in
      patients with higher total IgE. OAS was significantly more prevalent in patients
      with AR and asthma (P=0.0016), as was the case in patients with AR and atopic
      dermatitis (P=0.0004). OAS is rarely diagnosed in small children, partly because
      of an inadequate clinical history. Patients with OAS may have some risk factors
      in addition to pollen allergy, and those with more severe atopy are more likely
      to develop OAS.

PMID- 25819923
TI  - Evaluation of river water quality variations using multivariate statistical
      techniques: Sava River (Croatia): a case study.
AB  - For the evaluation of seasonal and spatial variations and the interpretation of a
      large and complex water quality dataset obtained during a 7-year monitoring
      program of the Sava River in Croatia, different multivariate statistical
      techniques were applied in this study. Basic statistical properties and
      correlations of 18 water quality parameters (variables) measured at 18 sampling
      sites (a total of 56,952 values) were examined. Correlations between air
      temperature and some water quality parameters were found in agreement with the
      previous studies of relationship between climatic and hydrological parameters.
      Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to explore the most important factors
      determining the spatiotemporal dynamics of the Sava River. PCA has determined a
      reduced number of seven principal components that explain over 75 % of the data
      set variance. The results revealed that parameters related to temperature and
      organic pollutants (CODMn and TSS) were the most important parameters
      contributing to water quality variation. PCA analysis of seasonal subsets
      confirmed this result and showed that the importance of parameters is changing
      from season to season. PCA of the four seasonal data subsets yielded six PCs with
      eigenvalues greater than one explaining 73.6 % (spring), 71.4 % (summer), 70.3 %
      (autumn), and 71.3 % (winter) of the total variance. To check the influence of
      the outliers in the data set whose distribution strongly deviates from the normal
      one, in addition to standard principal component analysis algorithm, two robust
      estimates of covariance matrix were calculated and subjected to PCA. PCA in both
      cases yielded seven principal components explaining 75 % of the total variance,
      and the results do not differ significantly from the results obtained by the
      standard PCA algorithm. With the implementation of robust PCA algorithm, it is
      demonstrated that the usage of standard algorithm is justified for data sets with
      small numbers of missing data, nondetects, and outliers (less than 4 %). The
      clustering procedure highlighted four different groups in which the sampling
      sites have similar characteristics and pollution levels. The first and the second
      group correspond to relatively low and moderately polluted sites while stations
      which are located in the middle of the river belong to the third and fourth group
      and correspond to highly and moderately polluted sites. 

PMID- 25819924
TI  - Phosphorus and nitrogen fluxes carried by 21 Finnish agricultural rivers in 1985
      2006.
AB  - The Finnish Agri-Environmental Programme aims to reduce nutrient load to waters.
      Using national monitoring data, we estimated the agricultural load (incl. natural
      background) of total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) transported by 21
      Finnish rivers to the northern Baltic Sea and analysed the flow-adjusted trends
      in the loads and concentrations from 1985 to 2006. We also related the loads to
      spatial and temporal patterns in catchment and agricultural characteristics.
      Agricultural load of TN increased, especially in the rivers discharging into the
      Bothnian Bay, while the load of TP decreased in most of the rivers, except those
      discharging into the Archipelago Sea. The trends may partly be related to a
      decrease in grassed area (TP, TN) and increased mineralisation (TN), but the
      available data on catchment and agricultural characteristics did not fully
      explain the observed pattern. Our study showed that data arising from relatively
      infrequent monitoring may prove useful for analysing long-term trend. The mutual
      correlation among the explaining variables hampered the analysis of the load
      generating factors. 

PMID- 25819925
TI  - Total petroleum hydrocarbons in edible marine biota from Northern Persian Gulf.
AB  - To provide a baseline information for consumer's health, distribution of total
      petroleum hydrocarbons in 18 edible marine biota species from northern Persian
      Gulf was evaluated. The samples were purchased from fish market of Hormozgan
      Province, South of Iran. Marine biota samples included different species with
      various feeding habits and were analyzed based on ultraviolet florescence
      spectroscopy. Petroleum hydrocarbons showed narrow variation, ranging from 0.67
      to 3.36 MUg/g dry weight. The maximum value was observed in silver pomfret.
      Anchovy and silver pomfret with the highest content of petroleum hydrocarbons
      were known as good indicator for oil pollution in the studied area. From public
      health point of view, the detected concentrations for total petroleum
      hydrocarbons were lower than hazardous guidelines. The results were recorded as
      background data and information in the studied area; the continuous monitoring of
      pollutants is recommended, according to the rapid extension of industrial and
      oily activities in Hormozgan Province. 

PMID- 25819926
TI  - Posthumous Reproduction (PHR) in Israel: Policy Rationales Versus Lay People's
      Concerns, a Preliminary Study.
AB  - Israeli policy concerning PHR has been decided upon in an expertocratic manner,
      leaving the voice of the public unheard. Based on 26 semi-structured in-depth
      interviews with 13 Jewish-Israeli young couples, this preliminary study provides
      the first empirical data regarding lay attitudes toward PHR in Israel. Findings
      suggest major dissimilarities between the policy and lay people's wishes and
      rationales. While policy is built on the "presumed wish" assumption, supposing
      all men living in a loving relationship wish to have their partner carry their
      child post-mortem, this was empirically unsupported. However, the findings
      suggest that many interviewees were willing to defer to their surviving spouse's
      wishes to have their post-mortem child, sometimes even against their own wish,
      indicating a support for presumed consent. Respecting the wishes of the dead, a
      dominant argument in the bioethical discussion in Israel and beyond, was mainly
      irrelevant to informants, whereas interviewees considered the future child's
      welfare, a concern overlooked by Israeli policy. Likewise, while posthumous
      grandparenthood is on the rise in Israel, it clearly contradicts the wishes of
      the majority of this study's informants. Nonetheless, existing policy is not
      expected to raise any opposition, due to the extreme liberalism of the
      participants and their support of reproductive autonomy. 

PMID- 25819927
TI  - Comparison between landfill gas and waste incineration for power generation in
      Astana, Kazakhstan.
AB  - The city of Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, which has a population of 804,474,
      and has been experiencing rapid growth over the last 15 years, generates
      approximately 1.39 kg capita(-1) day(-1) of municipal solid waste (MSW). Nearly
      700 tonnes of MSW are collected daily, of which 97% is disposed of at landfills.
      The newest landfill was built using modern technologies, including a landfill gas
      (LFG) collection system.The rapid growth of Astana demands more energy on its
      path to development, and the viability analysis of MSW to generate electricity is
      imperative. This paper presents a technical-economic pre-feasibility study
      comparing landfill including LFG utilization and waste incineration (WI) to
      produce electricity. The performance of LFG with a reciprocating engine and WI
      with steam turbine power technologies were compared through corresponding
      greenhouse gases (GHG) reduction, cost of energy production (CEP), benefit-cost
      ratio (BCR), net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) from the
      analyses. Results demonstrate that in the city of Astana, WI has the potential to
      reduce more than 200,000 tonnes of GHG per year, while LFG could reduce slightly
      less than 40,000 tonnes. LFG offers a CEP 5.7% larger than WI, while the latter
      presents a BCR two times higher than LFG. WI technology analysis depicts a NPV
      exceeding 280% of the equity, while for LFG, the NPV is less than the equity,
      which indicates an expected remarkable financial return for the WI technology and
      a marginal and risky scenario for the LFG technology. Only existing landfill
      facilities with a LFG collection system in place may turn LFG into a viable
      project. 

PMID- 25819928
TI  - Compost maturity and nitrogen availability by co-composting of paddy husk and
      chicken manure amended with clinoptilolite zeolite.
AB  - The availability of paddy husk from rice processing plants remains high owing to
      increase in the worldwide rice consumption. Increasing demand for chicken
      products leads to poultry wastes production. Co-composting of the aforementioned
      wastes could solve the indiscriminate disposal of these wastes. Thus, co
      composting of paddy husk and chicken slurry with clinoptilolite zeolite and urea
      as additive was carried out. Clinoptilolite zeolite was used to enhance ammonium
      and nitrate retention in the compost. Temperature of the compost was monitored
      three times daily for 55 days. Cation exchange capacity, organic matter, ash,
      humic acids, pH, total C, N, C/N ratio; total P, exchangeable Ca, Mg, K, NH4+,
      NO3-, and heavy metals contents were determined using standard procedures. pH,
      total N, humic acids, ash, NH4+, NO3-, P, Ca, Mg, and K contents increased but
      the salinity, heavy metals contents, and microbial population were low after the
      co-composting process. Zea mays L. (test crop) seed germination rate in distilled
      water and the compost were not significantly different. Growth of Spinach
      oleracea (test crop) on a peat-based growing medium and the compost was also not
      significantly different. These findings were possible because the clinoptilolite
      zeolite used in co-composting reduced accumulation of heavy metals that may have
      damage effects on the test crops. Mature compost with good agronomic properties
      can be produced by co-composting chicken slurry and paddy husk using
      clinoptilolite zeolite and urea as additives.

PMID- 25819929
TI  - Design of an innovative, ecological portable waste compressor for in-house
      recycling of paper, plastic and metal packaging waste.
AB  - Waste management in Greece relies heavily on unsustainable waste practices
      (mainly landfills and in certain cases uncontrolled dumping of untreated waste).
      Even though major improvements have been achieved in the recycling of municipal
      solid waste during recent years, there are some barriers that hinder the
      achievement of high recycling rates. Source separation of municipal solid waste
      has been recognised as a promising solution to produce high-quality recycled
      materials that can be easily directed to secondary materials markets. This
      article presents an innovative miniature waste separator/compressor that has been
      designed and developed for the source separation of municipal solid waste at a
      household level. The design of the system is in line with the Waste Framework
      Directive (2008/98/EC), since it allows for the separate collection (and
      compression) of municipal solid waste, namely: plastic (polyethylene
      terephthalate and high-density polyethylene), paper (cardboard and Tetrapak) and
      metal (aluminium and tin cans). It has been designed through the use of suitable
      software tools (LS-DYNA, INVENTROR and COMSOL). The results from the simulations,
      as well as the whole design process and philosophy, are discussed in this
      article. 

PMID- 25819930
TI  - An incentive-based source separation model for sustainable municipal solid waste
      management in China.
AB  - Municipal solid waste (MSW) management (MSWM) is most important and challenging
      in large urban communities. Sound community-based waste management systems
      normally include waste reduction and material recycling elements, often entailing
      the separation of recyclable materials by the residents. To increase the
      efficiency of source separation and recycling, an incentive-based source
      separation model was designed and this model was tested in 76 households in
      Guiyang, a city of almost three million people in southwest China. This model
      embraced the concepts of rewarding households for sorting organic waste,
      government funds for waste reduction, and introducing small recycling enterprises
      for promoting source separation. Results show that after one year of operation,
      the waste reduction rate was 87.3%, and the comprehensive net benefit under the
      incentive-based source separation model increased by 18.3 CNY tonne(-1) (2.4
      Euros tonne(-1)), compared to that under the normal model. The stakeholder
      analysis (SA) shows that the centralized MSW disposal enterprises had minimum
      interest and may oppose the start-up of a new recycling system, while small
      recycling enterprises had a primary interest in promoting the incentive-based
      source separation model, but they had the least ability to make any change to the
      current recycling system. The strategies for promoting this incentive-based
      source separation model are also discussed in this study. 

PMID- 25819931
TI  - Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS)--The safety of the
      use of formaldehyde in nail hardeners.

PMID- 25819932
TI  - A novel approach to assess the population health impact of introducing a Modified
      Risk Tobacco Product.
AB  - Based on the Food and Drug Administration's Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP)
      Application draft guideline, Philip Morris International (PMI) has developed a
      Population Health Impact Model to estimate the reduction in the number of deaths
      over a period following the introduction of an MRTP. Such a model is necessary to
      assess the effect that its introduction would have on population health, given
      the lack of epidemiological data available prior to marketing authorization on
      any risks from MRTPs. The model is based on publicly available data on smoking
      prevalence and on the relationships between smoking-related disease-specific
      mortality and various aspects of the smoking of conventional cigarettes (CCs),
      together with an estimate of exposure from the MRTP relative to that from CCs,
      and allows the exploration of possible scenarios regarding the effect of MRTP
      introduction on the prevalence of CC and MRTP use, individually and in
      combination. By comparing mortality attributable in a scenario where the MRTP is
      introduced with one where it is not, the model can estimate the mortality
      attributable to CCs and the MRTP, as well as the reduction in the deaths
      attributable to the introduction of the MRTP. 

PMID- 25819933
TI  - Glucocorticoid with or without additional immunosuppressant therapy for patients
      with lupus podocytopathy: a retrospective single-center study.
AB  - Lupus podocytopathy is a newly recognized class of lupus nephritis characterized
      by extensive glomerular foot process effacement without capillary wall immune
      deposits. The treatment response and relapse of glucocorticoid with or without
      additional immunosuppressive agents has not been well investigated. In this
      study, 50 patients with lupus podocytopathy were included and received
      glucocorticoid alone (glucocorticoid monotherapy) or glucocorticoid plus
      additional immunosuppressive agents (combination therapy) for their induction or
      maintenance treatment regimens. The treatment response and relapse rate in the
      two groups were respectively analyzed. We found that the induction treatment with
      glucocorticoid monotherapy and combination therapy led to remission in 47
      patients (94.0%) at 12 weeks treatment, with complete remission (CR) occurring in
      38 patients (76.0%). The CR rate compared between glucocorticoid monotherapy and
      combination therapy showed no difference (76.7% vs 75.0%, p = 0.9), the median
      time to CR was four weeks (range: 2.0-6.0 weeks) in glucocorticoid monotherapy
      and 8.0 weeks (range: 3.7-12.0 weeks) in combination therapy (p = 0.076). Twenty
      seven of 47 patients (57.4%) relapsed during maintenance, the relapse rate was
      much higher in the glucocorticoid monotherapy group than in the combination
      therapy group (89.5% vs 35.7%, p < 0.001), regardless of the induction regimens
      being glucocorticoid monotherapy or combination therapy. No patient developed end
      stage renal disease or died during follow-up for 6-125 months (median 62 months).
      In conclusion, the remission of lupus podocytopathy could be induced by
      glucocorticoid monotherapy or glucocorticoid plus other immunosuppressive agents,
      while the remission should be maintained by the combination regimen.

PMID- 25819934
TI  - Changes in the endocannabinoid signaling system in CNS structures of TDP-43
      transgenic mice: relevance for a neuroprotective therapy in TDP-43-related
      disorders.
AB  - Because of their neuroprotective properties, cannabinoids are being investigated
      in neurodegenerative disorders, mainly in preclinical studies. These disorders
      also include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative disease produced
      by the damage of the upper and lower motor neurons leading to muscle denervation,
      atrophy and paralysis. The studies with cannabinoids in ALS have been conducted
      exclusively in a transgenic mouse model bearing mutated forms of human superoxide
      dismutase-1, the first gene that was identified in relation with ALS. The present
      study represents the first attempt to investigate the endocannabinoid system in
      an alternative model, the transgenic mouse model of TAR-DNA binding protein-43
      (TDP-43), a protein related to ALS and also to frontotemporal dementia. We used
      these mice for behavioral and histological characterization at an early
      symptomatic phase (70-80 days of age) and at a post-symptomatic stage (100-110
      days of age). TDP-43 transgenic mice exhibited a worsened rotarod performance at
      both disease stages. This was accompanied by a loss of motor neurons in the
      spinal cord (measured by Nissl staining) and by reactive microgliosis (measured
      by Iba-1 immunostaining) at the post-symptomatic stage. We also detected elevated
      levels of the CB2 receptor (measured by qRT-PCR and western blotting) in the
      spinal cord of these animals. Double-staining studies confirmed that this up
      regulation occurs in microglial cells in the post-symptomatic stage. Some trends
      towards an increase were noted also for the levels of endocannabinoids, which in
      part correlate with a small reduction of FAAH. Some of these parameters were also
      analyzed in the cerebral cortex of TDP-43 transgenic mice, but we did not observe
      any significant change, in agreement with the absence of anomalies in cognitive
      tests. In conclusion, our data support the idea that the endocannabinoid
      signaling system, in particular the CB2 receptor, may serve for the development
      of a neuroprotective therapy in TDP-43-related disorders. We are presently
      engaged in pharmacological experiments to investigate this possibility. 

PMID- 25819935
TI  - Premorbid adjustment and clinical correlates of cognitive impairment in first
      episode psychosis. The PEPsCog Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The extent to which socio-demographic, clinical, and premorbid
      adjustment variables contribute to cognitive deficits in first-episode
      schizophrenia spectrum disorders remains to be ascertained. AIMS: To examine the
      pattern and magnitude of cognitive impairment in first-episode psychosis
      patients, the profile of impairment across psychosis subtypes and the
      associations with premorbid adjustment. METHODS: 226 first-episode psychosis
      patients and 225 healthy controls were assessed in the PEPsCog study, as part of
      the PEPs study. RESULTS: Patients showed slight to moderate cognitive impairment,
      verbal memory being the domain most impaired compared to controls. Broad
      affective spectrum patients had better premorbid IQ and outperformed the
      schizophrenia and other psychosis groups in executive function, and had better
      global cognitive function than the schizophrenia group. Adolescent premorbid
      adjustment together with age, gender, parental socio-economic status, and mean
      daily antipsychotic doses were the factors that best explained patients'
      cognitive performance. General and adolescent premorbid adjustment, age and
      parental socio-economic status were the best predictors of cognitive performance
      in controls. CONCLUSIONS: Poorer premorbid adjustment together with socio
      demographic factors and higher daily antipsychotic doses were related to a
      generalized cognitive impairment and to a lower premorbid intellectual reserve,
      suggesting that neurodevelopmental impairment was present before illness onset.

PMID- 25819936
TI  - Prediction of outcome in the psychosis prodrome using neuroanatomical pattern
      classification.
AB  - To date, research into the biomarker-aided early recognition of psychosis has
      focused on predicting the transition likelihood of clinically defined individuals
      with different at-risk mental states (ARMS) based on structural (and functional)
      brain changes. However, it is currently unknown whether neuroimaging patterns
      could be identified to facilitate the individualized prediction of symptomatic
      and functional recovery. Therefore, we investigated whether cortical surface
      alterations analyzed by means of multivariate pattern recognition methods could
      enable the single-subject identification of functional outcomes in twenty-seven
      ARMS individuals. Subjects were dichotomized into 'good' vs. 'poor' outcome
      groups on average 4years after the baseline MRI scan using a Global Assessment of
      Functioning (GAF) threshold of 70. Cortical surface-based pattern classification
      predicted good (N=14) vs. poor outcome status (N=13) at follow-up with an
      accuracy of 82% as determined by nested leave-one-cross-validation.
      Neuroanatomical prediction involved cortical area reductions in superior
      temporal, inferior frontal and inferior parietal areas and was not confounded by
      functional impairment at baseline, or antipsychotic medication and transition
      status over the follow-up period. The prediction model's decision scores were
      correlated with positive and general symptom scores in the ARMS group at follow
      up, whereas negative symptoms were not linked to predicted poorer functional
      outcome. These findings suggest that poorer functional outcomes are associated
      with non-resolving attenuated psychosis and could be predicted at the single
      subject level using multivariate neuroanatomical risk stratification methods.
      However, the generalizability and specificity of the suggested prediction model
      should be thoroughly investigated in future large-scale and cross-diagnostic MRI
      studies.

PMID- 25819938
TI  - New prevalence estimate of Torque Teno virus (TTV) infection in healthy
      population and patients with chronic viral hepatitis in Jiujiang, China.

PMID- 25819939
TI  - Atypical presentation of crusted (Norwegian) scabies.

PMID- 25819937
TI  - Neuroimaging findings from childhood onset schizophrenia patients and their non
      psychotic siblings.
AB  - Childhood onset schizophrenia (COS), with onset of psychosis before age 13, is a
      rare form of schizophrenia that represents a more severe and chronic form of the
      adult onset illness. In this review we examine structural and functional magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI) studies of COS and non-psychotic siblings of COS patients
      in the context of studies of schizophrenia as a whole. Studies of COS to date
      reveal progressive loss of gray matter volume and cortical thinning, ventricular
      enlargement, progressive decline in cerebellar volume and a significant but fixed
      deficit in hippocampal volume. COS is also associated with a slower rate of white
      matter growth and disrupted local connectivity strength. Sibling studies indicate
      that non-psychotic siblings of COS patients share many of these brain
      abnormalities, including decreased cortical thickness and disrupted white matter
      growth, yet these abnormalities normalize with age. Cross-sectional and
      longitudinal neuroimaging studies remain some of the few methods for assessing
      human brain function and play a pivotal role in the quest for understanding the
      neurobiology of schizophrenia as well as other psychiatric disorders. Parallel
      studies in non-psychotic siblings provide a unique opportunity to understand both
      risk and resilience in schizophrenia.

PMID- 25819940
TI  - Metaanalysis of BRAF mutations and clinicopathologic characteristics in primary
      melanoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: BRAF mutations occur in some melanomas. We hypothesized that BRAF
      mutation rates may differ in melanomas found in Asian compared to white
      populations. OBJECTIVE: We performed a metaanalysis of BRAF mutations and their
      associations with the clinicopathologic characteristics of primary melanoma (PM),
      with a subgroup analysis to compare Asian and white patients with PM. METHODS:
      The PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were searched up to November 2013. The
      incidence rates and odds ratios (ORs) of BRAF mutations were calculated using a
      fixed or random effects model. RESULTS: BRAF mutation was associated with younger
      age (OR = 1.734; P < .001), trunk location (OR = 2.272; P < .001), non
      chronically sun damaged skin (OR = 2.833; P < .001), superficial spreading
      melanoma (OR = 2.081; P < .001), and advanced melanoma stage (OR = 1.551; P =
      .003). The incidence of BRAF mutations in Asian patients with PM was half that of
      white patients with PM, but it was linked to the same clinicopathologic
      characteristics. LIMITATIONS: Only a small number of studies have been conducted
      on Asian patients with PMs. CONCLUSIONS: The BRAF mutation in PM was associated
      with age, anatomic site based on ultraviolet radiation exposure, histologic
      subtype, and advanced stage of melanoma. The clinicopathologic associations with
      BRAF mutations were similar in Asian and white patients with PM.

PMID- 25819941
TI  - A clinical characteristic analysis of pregnancy-associated intracranial
      haemorrhage in China.
AB  - Intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) occurring during pregnancy and the puerperium is
      an infrequent but severe complication with a high mortality and poor prognosis.
      Until recently, previous studies have mainly focused on the effect of different
      treatments on prognosis. However, few studies have provided solid evidence to
      clarify the key predisposing factors affecting the prognosis of ICH. In the
      present study, based on a unique sample with a high ICH incidence and mortality
      rate, we described the main clinical characteristics of ICH patients and found
      that the prognosis of patients who underwent surgical intervention was not better
      than that of patients who received other treatment modalities. However, pre
      eclampsia patients had higher maternal and neonatal mortality rates than other
      aetiology groups. Furthermore, univariate regression analysis identified onset to
      diagnosis time (O-D time) and pre-eclampsia as the only factors showing
      independent correlation with poor maternal outcomes (modified Rankin Scale, mRS
      >= 3), and only O-D time was identified as a predictor of maternal mortality.
      These results revealed that the aetiology of ICH and O-D time might be crucial
      predisposing factors to prognosis, especially for patients with pre-eclampsia.
      The study highlighted a novel direction to effectively improve the prognosis of
      pregnancy-associated ICH. 

PMID- 25819942
TI  - Expression and purification of short hydrophobic elastin-like polypeptides with
      maltose-binding protein as a solubility tag.
AB  - Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) are biodegradable polymers with interesting
      physico-chemical properties for biomedical and biotechnological applications. The
      recombinant expression of hydrophobic elastin-like polypeptides is often
      difficult because they possess low transition temperatures, and therefore form
      aggregates at sub-ambient temperatures. To circumvent this difficulty, we
      expressed in Escherichia coli three hydrophobic ELPs (VPGIG)n with variable
      lengths (n=20, 40, and 60) in fusion with the maltose-binding protein (MBP).
      Fusion proteins were soluble and yields of purified MBP-ELP ranged between 66 and
      127mg/L culture. After digestion of the fusion proteins by enterokinase, the ELP
      moiety was purified by using inverse transition cycling. The purified fraction
      containing ELP40 was slightly contaminated by traces of undigested fusion
      protein. Purification of ELP60 was impaired because of co-purification of the MBP
      tag during inverse transition cycling. ELP20 was successfully purified to
      homogeneity, as assessed by gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry analyses.
      The transition temperature of ELP20 was measured at 15.4 degrees C in low salt
      buffer. In conclusion, this method can be used to produce hydrophobic ELP of low
      molecular mass. 

PMID- 25819943
TI  - Newer antiepileptic drug use and other factors decreasing hospital encounters.
AB  - A retrospective analysis was conducted in one claims database and was confirmed
      in a second independent database (covering both commercial and government
      insurance plans between 11/2009 and 9/2011) for the understanding of factors
      influencing antiepileptic drug (AED) use and the role of AEDs and other health
      care factors in hospital encounters. In both datasets, epilepsy cases were
      identified by AED use and epilepsy diagnosis coding. Variables analyzed for
      effect on hospitalization rates were as follows: (1) use of first-generation AEDs
      or second-generation AEDs, (2) treatment changes, and (3) factors that may affect
      AED choice. Lower rates of epilepsy-related hospital encounters (encounters with
      an epilepsy diagnosis code) were associated with use of second-generation AEDs,
      deliberate treatment changes, and treatment by a neurologist. Epilepsy-related
      hospital encounters were more frequent for patients not receiving an AED and for
      those with greater comorbidities. On average, patients taking >=1 first
      generation AED experienced epilepsy-related hospitalizations every 684days, while
      those taking >=1second-generation AED were hospitalized every 1001days (relative
      risk reduction of 31%, p<0.01). Prescriptions for second-generation AEDs were
      more common among neurologists and among physicians near an epilepsy center. Use
      of second-generation AEDs, access to specialty care, and deliberate efforts to
      change medications following epilepsy-related hospital encounters improved
      outcomes of epilepsy treatment based on average time between epilepsy-related
      hospital encounters. These factors may be enhanced by public health policies,
      private insurance reimbursement policies, and education of patients and
      physicians. 

PMID- 25819944
TI  - Single versus combinatorial therapies in status epilepticus: Novel data from
      preclinical models.
AB  - Drug-refractory status epilepticus (RSE) is a major medical emergency with a
      mortality of up to 40% and the risk of severe long-term consequences. The
      mechanisms involved in RSE are incompletely understood. Animal models are
      important in developing treatment strategies for more effective termination of SE
      and prevention of its long-term outcomes. The pilocarpine and lithium-pilocarpine
      rat models are widely used in this respect. In these models, resistance to
      diazepam and other antiseizure drugs (ASDs) develops during SE so that an SE that
      is longer than 30 min is difficult to suppress. Furthermore, because all ASDs
      used in SE treatment are much more rapidly eliminated by rodents than by humans,
      SE recurs several hours after ASD treatment. Long-term consequences include
      hippocampal damage, behavioral alterations, and epilepsy with spontaneous
      recurrent seizures. In this review, different rational polytherapies for SE,
      which are more effective than monotherapies, are discussed, including a novel
      polytherapy recently developed by our group. Based on data from diverse seizure
      models, we hypothesized that cholinergic mechanisms are involved in the
      mechanisms underlying ASD resistance of SE. We, therefore, developed an
      intravenous drug cocktail, consisting of diazepam, phenobarbital, and the
      anticholinergic scopolamine. This drug combination irreversibly terminated SE
      when administered 60, 90, or 120 min after SE onset. The efficacy of this
      cocktail in terminating SE was comparable with the previously reported efficacy
      of polytherapies with the glutamate receptor antagonist ketamine. Furthermore,
      when injected 60 min after SE onset, the scopolamine-containing cocktail
      prevented development of epilepsy and hippocampal neurodegeneration, which was
      not observed with high doses of diazepam or a combination of phenobarbital and
      diazepam. Our data add to the existing preclinical evidence that rational
      polytherapy can be more effective than monotherapy in the treatment of SE and
      that combinatorial therapy may offer a clinically useful option for the treatment
      of RSE. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Status Epilepticus".

PMID- 25819945
TI  - Beyond medical diagnosis: Factors contributing to life satisfaction of women with
      epilepsy in Israel.
AB  - This study was an exploratory study aimed to examine the contribution of both
      objective variables (such as education, occupational status, and leisure
      activity) and subjective variables (such as perceived disability, body image, and
      feminine self-image) to the life satisfaction of women with epilepsy in Israel.
      The study also sought to compare the findings with earlier studies of women with
      epilepsy or other disabilities in order to identify similar patterns in their
      life satisfaction. The study included 70 women, who had applied in the past to
      the Israel Epilepsy Association to obtain information and leisure activities.
      They were asked about their degree of life satisfaction in the context of their
      personal data including occupational status, leisure activity, perceived
      disability, body image, and feminine self-image. Findings indicated that higher
      education and perception of body image and femininity were positively correlated
      with higher life satisfaction. The regression model showed that perceived
      severity of disability and body image had the highest contribution to
      satisfaction with life, a fact that attests to the paramount importance of
      women's perception of their health disability in dealing with the disorder. These
      findings are discussed in relation to earlier comparative studies of those
      with/without epilepsy. The implications for practice suggest aspects that ought
      to be included in therapeutic interventions such as including contents related to
      feminine self-image and body image in the rehabilitation process as well as
      recommendations for future studies. 

PMID- 25819946
TI  - Eyelid myoclonia seizures in adults: An alternate look at the syndrome paradox.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Eyelid myoclonia (EM), without or with absences (EMA), is induced by
      eye closure (ECL)-associated generalized paroxysms of polyspikes and waves.
      Although considered as an epileptic syndrome, it has been listed as a type of
      seizure in the recent epilepsy classifications, perhaps because of its clinical
      heterogeneity. In this study, we aimed to specifically study the clinical and
      electroencephalogram (EEG) features and the prognosis of long-term followed-up
      adult patients with EMs and to determine common points between EMAs, idiopathic
      generalized epilepsies (IGEs), and symptomatic epilepsies. METHODS: Between 1996
      and November 2011, 61 adult patients with EMs with or without absences and
      bilateral EEG paroxysms were retrospectively enrolled in the study and followed
      up for 1-34 years (mean: 5.8 years). RESULTS: According to patient history,
      seizure semiology, and EEG findings, we classified the patients having EM
      seizures into three main groups. In group 1 (n=31), all patients had prominent
      EMs with or without absences associated with upward rolling of eyeballs. The
      second group included 20 patients with EM seizures associated with generalized
      tonic-clonic seizures (GTCSs) and/or massive myoclonias. The third group of 7
      patients had varying diagnosis of symptomatic epilepsies. In the first group with
      pure EMA, the diagnosis was more delayed than in the other groups (p=0.01). In
      the group with pure EMA, EMs continued in adulthood (p=0.00), and only 24% of
      patients were seizure-free, which was considered poor prognosis. On EEG,
      occipital (n=3) and frontal (n=4) focal discharges were found in the group with
      pure EMA. Interestingly, 2 patients with symptomatic epilepsy with frontal
      lesions also had EM seizures. CONCLUSION: The patients with pure EMA have many
      similarities to patients with IGEs. We also demonstrated that EMs could be seen
      as a seizure type in symptomatic epilepsies. Eyelid myoclonia with absences meets
      the criteria for an epileptic syndrome with the early onset and long duration of
      seizures, special seizure type, specific EEG findings, possibility of cognitive
      impairment, precipitating modalities, photosensitivity, and presence of family
      history, suggesting a strong genetic background.

PMID- 25819947
TI  - Efficacy of perampanel in refractory nonconvulsive status epilepticus and simple
      partial status epilepticus.
AB  - We provide some evidence concerning the efficacy of perampanel (PER) in
      refractory status epilepticus (SE). We retroactively identified patients with SE
      treated in our department by searching for the term "status epilepticus" in the
      electronic archive of medical records. We present and analyze in this paper the
      subset of data of the patients treated with PER. We analyzed ten episodes of SE
      in nine patients. At the first administration, PER was given in a dosage of 6mg
      to most of our patients (7 of 10). On average, PER was administered as the 6th
      antiepileptic drug (AED) (range: 2-10). Depending on the criterion for efficacy,
      PER appears effective for the termination of SE in 2 to 6 (of 10) episodes.
      Unfortunately, safety data for the administration of PER with loading doses
      needed for the treatment of SE are lacking. Because of this, PER should be used
      very carefully in refractory SE and only after first-line treatment options have
      failed. 

PMID- 25819948
TI  - Economic evaluation of a behavior-modifying intervention to enhance antiepileptic
      drug adherence.
AB  - Between 35% and 50% of patients with epilepsy are reported to be not fully
      adherent to their medication schedule. We aimed to conduct an economic evaluation
      of strategies for improving adherence to antiepileptic drugs. Based on the
      findings of a systematic review, we identified an implementation intention
      intervention (specifying when, where, and how to act) which was tested in a trial
      that closely resembled current clinical management of patients with epilepsy and
      which measured adherence with an objective and least biased method. Using patient
      level data, trial patients were matched with those recruited for the Standard and
      New Antiepileptic Drugs trial according to their clinical characteristics and
      adherence. Generalized linear models were used to adjust cost and utility in
      order to estimate the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY)
      gained from the perspective of the National Health Service in the UK. The mean
      cost of the intervention group, L1340 (95% CI: L1132, L1688), was marginally
      lower than that of the control group representing standard care, L1352 (95% CI:
      L1132, L1727). Quality-adjusted life-year values in the intervention group were
      higher than those in the control group, i.e., 0.75 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.79) compared
      with 0.74 (95% CI: 0.68, 0.79), resulting in a cost saving of L12 (?15, US$19)
      and with the intervention being dominant. The probability that the intervention
      is cost-effective at a threshold of L20,000 per QALY is 94%. Our analysis lends
      support to the cost-effectiveness of a self-directed, implementation intention
      intervention for improving adherence to antiepileptic drugs. However, as with any
      modeling dependent on limited data on efficacy, there is considerable uncertainty
      surrounding the clinical effectiveness of the intervention which would require a
      substantive trial for a more definitive conclusion. 

PMID- 25819949
TI  - Quality of life and mood in patients with medically intractable epilepsy treated
      with targeted responsive neurostimulation.
AB  - PURPOSE: The primary efficacy and safety measures from a trial of responsive
      neurostimulation for focal epilepsy were previously published. In this report,
      the findings from the same study are presented for quality of life, which was a
      supportive analysis, and for mood, which was assessed as a secondary safety
      endpoint. METHODS: The study was a multicenter randomized controlled double
      blinded trial of responsive neurostimulation in 191 patients with medically
      resistant focal epilepsy. During a 4-month postimplant blinded period, patients
      were randomized to receive responsive stimulation or sham stimulation, after
      which all patients received responsive neurostimulation in open label to complete
      2years. Quality of life (QOL) and mood surveys were administered during the
      baseline period, at the end of the blinded period, and at year 1 and year 2 of
      the open label period. RESULTS: The treatment and sham groups did not differ at
      baseline. Compared with baseline, QOL improved in both groups at the end of the
      blinded period and also at 1year and 2years, when all patients were treated. At
      2years, 44% of patients reported meaningful improvements in QOL, and 16% reported
      declines. There were no overall adverse changes in mood or in suicidality across
      the study. Findings were not related to changes in seizures and antiepileptic
      drugs, and patients with mesial temporal seizure onsets and those with
      neocortical seizure onsets both experienced improvements in QOL. CONCLUSIONS:
      Treatment with targeted responsive neurostimulation does not adversely affect QOL
      or mood and may be associated with improvements in QOL in patients, including
      those with seizures of either mesial temporal origin or neocortical origin.

PMID- 25819950
TI  - Classical neurotransmitters and neuropeptides involved in generalized epilepsy in
      a multi-neurotransmitter system: How to improve the antiepileptic effect?
AB  - Here, we describe in generalized epilepsies the alterations of classical
      neurotransmitters and neuropeptides acting at specific subreceptors. In order to
      consider a network context rather than one based on focal substrates and in order
      to make the interaction between neurotransmitters and neuropeptides and their
      specific subreceptors comprehensible, neural networks in the hippocampus,
      thalamus, and cerebral cortex are described. In this disease, a neurotransmitter
      imbalance between dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons and between presynaptic
      GABAergic neurons (hypoactivity) and glutaminergic neurons (hyperactivity)
      occurs. Consequently, combined GABAA agonists and NMDA antagonists could
      furthermore stabilize the neural networks in a multimodal pharmacotherapy. The
      antiepileptic effect and the mechanisms of action of conventional and recently
      developed antiepileptic drugs are reviewed. The GASH:Sal animal model can
      contribute to examine the efficacy of antiepileptic drugs. The issues of whether
      the interaction of classical neurotransmitters with other subreceptors (5-HT7,
      metabotropic 5 glutaminergic, A2A adenosine, and alpha nicotinic 7 cholinergic
      receptors) or whether the administration of agonists/antagonists of neuropeptides
      might improve the therapeutic effect of antiepileptic drugs should be addressed.
      This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Genetic and Reflex Epilepsies,
      Audiogenic Seizures and Strains: From Experimental Models to the Clinic".

PMID- 25819951
TI  - Risk of cardiovascular abnormalities in relatives of SUDEP victims: How should we
      proceed?

PMID- 25819952
TI  - Molecular and functional studies of retinal degeneration as a clinical
      presentation of SACS-related disorder.
AB  - BACKGROUND: ARSACS (autosomal-recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay) is
      a neurodegenerative disorder caused by SACS gene mutations and characterized by a
      triad of symptoms: early-onset cerebellar ataxia, spasticity and peripheral
      neuropathy. A characteristic retinal nerve fiber hypertrophy has been reported in
      several individuals with ARSACS. METHODS: We describe a patient with a unique
      clinical presentation of ataxia, nystagmus, dysarthria, hearing impairment, and
      retinal degeneration. Whole-exome-sequencing was performed as well as
      morphological studies in the patient's fibroblasts. RESULTS: A compound
      heterozygosity for a novel D3269N and N2380K mutations in the SACS gene was
      found. The parents are carriers. Morphological studies revealed a dramatic
      decrease in the number of cell mitochondria as well as a difference in
      mitochondrial network morphology. CONCLUSIONS: Retinal degeneration has never
      been reported in ARSACS. Since sacsin is involved in the mitochondrial fusion
      fission process, we speculate that defected fission process may be responsible
      for an impaired mitochondrial function and retinal degeneration. Our patient has
      a unique clinical presentation of SACS mutations inconsistent with the classic
      ARSACS triad but also different from the "atypical" presentations described in
      the literature. Further studies are necessary to clarify the factors that modify
      the SACS related phenotype.

PMID- 25819953
TI  - A MarR Family Transcriptional Regulator, DptR3, Activates Daptomycin Biosynthesis
      and Morphological Differentiation in Streptomyces roseosporus.
AB  - Daptomycin produced by Streptomyces roseosporus is an important lipopeptide
      antibiotic used to treat human infections caused by Gram-positive pathogenic
      bacteria, including drug-resistant strains. The genetic basis for regulatory
      mechanisms of daptomycin production is poorly known. Here, we characterized the
      dptR3 gene, which encodes a MarR family transcriptional regulator located
      adjacent to the known daptomycin biosynthetic (dpt) genes. Deletion of dptR3
      reduced daptomycin production significantly and delayed aerial mycelium formation
      and sporulation on solid media. Dissection of the mechanism underlying the
      function of DptR3 in daptomycin production revealed that it stimulates daptomycin
      production indirectly by altering the transcription of dpt structural genes.
      DptR3 directly activated the transcription of its own gene, dptR3, but repressed
      the transcription of the adjacent, divergent gene orf16 (which encodes a putative
      ABC transporter ATP-binding protein). A 66-nucleotide DptR3-binding site in the
      intergenic region of dptR3-orf16 was determined by DNase I footprinting, and the
      palindromic sequence TCATTGTTACCTATGCTCACAATGA (underlining indicates inverted
      repeats) in the protected region was found to be essential for DptR3 binding.
      orf16, the major target gene of DptR3, exerted a positive effect on daptomycin
      biosynthesis. Our findings indicate that DptR3 functions as a global regulator
      that positively controls daptomycin production and morphological development in
      S. roseosporus. 

PMID- 25819954
TI  - Immunogenicity in Swine of Orally Administered Recombinant Lactobacillus
      plantarum Expressing Classical Swine Fever Virus E2 Protein in Conjunction with
      Thymosin alpha-1 as an Adjuvant.
AB  - Classical swine fever, caused by classical swine fever virus (CSFV), is a highly
      contagious disease that results in enormous economic losses in pig industries.
      The E2 protein is one of the main structural proteins of CSFV and is capable of
      inducing CSFV-neutralizing antibodies and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activities
      in vivo. Thymosin alpha-1 (Talpha1), an immune-modifier peptide, plays a very
      important role in the cellular immune response. In this study, genetically
      engineered Lactobacillus plantarum bacteria expressing CSFV E2 protein alone (L.
      plantarum/pYG-E2) and in combination with Talpha1 (L. plantarum/pYG-E2-Talpha1)
      were developed, and the immunogenicity of each as an oral vaccine to induce
      protective immunity against CSFV in pigs was evaluated. The results showed that
      recombinant L. plantarum/pYG-E2 and L. plantarum/pYG-E2-Talpha1 were both able to
      effectively induce protective immune responses in pigs against CSFV infection by
      eliciting immunoglobulin A (IgA)-based mucosal, immunoglobulin G (IgG)-based
      humoral, and CTL-based cellular immune responses via oral vaccination.
      Significant differences (P < 0.05) in the levels of immune responses were
      observed between L. plantarum/pYG-E2-Talpha1 and L. plantarum/pYG-E2, suggesting
      a better immunogenicity of L. plantarum/pYG-E2-Talpha1 as a result of the Talpha1
      molecular adjuvant that can enhance immune responsiveness and augment specific
      lymphocyte functions. Our data suggest that the recombinant Lactobacillus
      microecological agent expressing CSFV E2 protein combined with Talpha1 as an
      adjuvant provides a promising strategy for vaccine development against CSFV. 

PMID- 25819955
TI  - Diversity of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O26:H11 Strains
      Examined via stx Subtypes and Insertion Sites of Stx and EspK Bacteriophages.
AB  - Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a food-borne pathogen that may
      be responsible for severe human infections. Only a limited number of serotypes,
      including O26:H11, are involved in the majority of serious cases and outbreaks.
      The main virulence factors, Shiga toxins (Stx), are encoded by bacteriophages.
      Seventy-four STEC O26:H11 strains of various origins (including human, dairy, and
      cattle) were characterized for their stx subtypes and Stx phage chromosomal
      insertion sites. The majority of food and cattle strains possessed the stx(1a)
      subtype, while human strains carried mainly stx(1a) or stx(2a). The wrbA and yehV
      genes were the main Stx phage insertion sites in STEC O26:H11, followed distantly
      by yecE and sbcB. Interestingly, the occurrence of Stx phages inserted in the
      yecE gene was low in dairy strains. In most of the 29 stx-negative E. coli
      O26:H11 strains also studied here, these bacterial insertion sites were vacant.
      Multilocus sequence typing of 20 stx-positive or stx-negative E. coli O26:H11
      strains showed that they were distributed into two phylogenetic groups defined by
      sequence type 21 (ST21) and ST29. Finally, an EspK-carrying phage was found
      inserted in the ssrA gene in the majority of the STEC O26:H11 strains but in only
      a minority of the stx-negative E. coli O26:H11 strains. The differences in the
      stx subtypes and Stx phage insertion sites observed in STEC O26:H11 according to
      their origin might reflect that strains circulating in cattle and foods are
      clonally distinct from those isolated from human patients.

PMID- 25819956
TI  - The RpoE Stress Response Pathway Mediates Reduction of the Virulence of
      Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli by Zinc.
AB  - Zinc supplements are an effective clinical treatment for infantile diarrheal
      disease caused by enteric pathogens. Previous studies demonstrated that zinc acts
      on enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) bacteria directly to suppress several
      virulence-related genes at a concentration that can be achieved by oral delivery
      of dietary zinc supplements. Our in vitro studies showed that a micromolar
      concentration of zinc induced the envelope stress response and suppressed
      virulence in EPEC, providing a possible mechanistic explanation for zinc's
      therapeutic action. In this report, we investigated the molecular and
      physiological changes in EPEC induced by zinc. We found that micromolar
      concentrations of zinc reduced the bacterial growth rate without affecting
      viability. We observed increased membrane permeability caused by zinc. Zinc
      upregulated the RpoE-dependent envelope stress response pathway and suppressed
      EPEC virulence gene expression. RpoE alone was sufficient to inhibit virulence
      factor expression and to attenuate attaching and effacing lesion formation on
      human host cells. By mutational analysis we demonstrate that the DNA-binding
      motif of RpoE is necessary for suppression of the LEE1, but not the LEE4, operon.
      Predictably, inhibition of the RpoE-mediated envelope stress response in
      combination with micromolar concentrations of zinc reduced EPEC viability. In
      conclusion, zinc induces the RpoE and stress response pathways in EPEC, and the
      alternate sigma factor RpoE downregulates EPEC LEE and non-LEE virulence genes by
      multiple mechanisms. 

PMID- 25819957
TI  - Identification of anthraquinone-degrading bacteria in soil contaminated with
      polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
AB  - Quinones and other oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (oxy-PAHs) are
      toxic and/or genotoxic compounds observed to be cocontaminants at PAH
      contaminated sites, but their formation and fate in contaminated environmental
      systems have not been well studied. Anthracene-9,10-dione (anthraquinone) has
      been found in most PAH-contaminated soils and sediments that have been analyzed
      for oxy-PAHs. However, little is known about the biodegradation of oxy-PAHs, and
      no bacterial isolates have been described that are capable of growing on or
      degrading anthraquinone. PAH-degrading Mycobacterium spp. are the only organisms
      that have been investigated to date for metabolism of a PAH quinone, 4,5
      pyrenequinone. We utilized DNA-based stable-isotope probing (SIP) with [U
      (13)C]anthraquinone to identify bacteria associated with anthraquinone
      degradation in PAH-contaminated soil from a former manufactured-gas plant site
      both before and after treatment in a laboratory-scale bioreactor. SIP with [U
      (13)C]anthracene was also performed to assess whether bacteria capable of growing
      on anthracene are the same as those identified to grow on anthraquinone.
      Organisms closely related to Sphingomonas were the most predominant among the
      organisms associated with anthraquinone degradation in bioreactor-treated soil,
      while organisms in the genus Phenylobacterium comprised the majority of
      anthraquinone degraders in the untreated soil. Bacteria associated with
      anthracene degradation differed from those responsible for anthraquinone
      degradation. These results suggest that Sphingomonas and Phenylobacterium species
      are associated with anthraquinone degradation and that anthracene-degrading
      organisms may not possess mechanisms to grow on anthraquinone. 

PMID- 25819958
TI  - Genome Sequence and Transcriptome Analysis of Meat-Spoilage-Associated Lactic
      Acid Bacterium Lactococcus piscium MKFS47.
AB  - Lactococcus piscium is a psychrotrophic lactic acid bacterium and is known to be
      one of the predominant species within spoilage microbial communities in cold
      stored packaged foods, particularly in meat products. Its presence in such
      products has been associated with the formation of buttery and sour off-odors.
      Nevertheless, the spoilage potential of L. piscium varies dramatically depending
      on the strain and growth conditions. Additional knowledge about the genome is
      required to explain such variation, understand its phylogeny, and study gene
      functions. Here, we present the complete and annotated genomic sequence of L.
      piscium MKFS47, combined with a time course analysis of the glucose catabolism
      based transcriptome. In addition, a comparative analysis of gene contents was
      done for L. piscium MKFS47 and 29 other lactococci, revealing three distinct
      clades within the genus. The genome of L. piscium MKFS47 consists of one
      chromosome, carrying 2,289 genes, and two plasmids. A wide range of carbohydrates
      was predicted to be fermented, and growth on glycerol was observed. Both
      carbohydrate and glycerol catabolic pathways were significantly upregulated in
      the course of time as a result of glucose exhaustion. At the same time,
      differential expression of the pyruvate utilization pathways, implicated in the
      formation of spoilage substances, switched the metabolism toward a
      heterofermentative mode. In agreement with data from previous inoculation
      studies, L. piscium MKFS47 was identified as an efficient producer of buttery
      odor compounds under aerobic conditions. Finally, genes and pathways that may
      contribute to increased survival in meat environments were considered. 

PMID- 25819959
TI  - Latex Clearing Protein (Lcp) of Streptomyces sp. Strain K30 Is a b-Type
      Cytochrome and Differs from Rubber Oxygenase A (RoxA) in Its Biophysical
      Properties.
AB  - Specific polyisoprene-cleaving activities of 1.5 U/mg and 4.6 U/mg were
      determined for purified Strep-tagged latex clearing protein (Lcp) of Streptomyces
      sp. strain K30 at 23  degrees C and 37  degrees C, respectively. Metal analysis
      revealed the presence of approximately one atom of iron per Lcp molecule. Copper,
      which had been identified in Lcp1VH2 of Gordonia polyisoprenivorans previously,
      was below the detection limit in LcpK30. Heme was identified as a cofactor in
      purified LcpK30 by (i) detection of characteristic alpha-, beta-, and gamma
      (Soret)-bands at 562 nm, 532 nm, and 430 nm in the visible spectrum after
      chemical reduction, (ii) detection of an acetone-extractable porphyrin molecule,
      (iii) determination of a heme b-type-specific absorption maximum (556 nm) after
      chemical conversion of the heme group to a bipyridyl-heme complex, and (iv)
      detection of a b-heme-specific m/z value of 616.2 via mass spectrometry.
      Spectroscopic analysis showed that purified Lcp as isolated contains an oxidized
      heme-Fe(3+) that is free of bound dioxygen. This is in contrast to the rubber
      oxygenase RoxA, a c-type heme-containing polyisoprene-cleaving enzyme present in
      Gram-negative rubber degraders, in which the covalently bound heme firmly binds a
      dioxygen molecule. LcpK30 also differed from RoxA in the lengths of the rubber
      degradation cleavage products and in having a higher melting point of 61.5 
      degrees C (RoxA, 54.3  degrees C). In summary, RoxA and Lcp both are equipped
      with a heme cofactor and catalyze an oxidative C-C cleavage reaction but differ
      in the heme subgroup type and in several biochemical and biophysical properties.
      These findings suggest differences in the catalytic reaction mechanisms.

PMID- 25819960
TI  - Polyphenolic extract from maple syrup potentiates antibiotic susceptibility and
      reduces biofilm formation of pathogenic bacteria.
AB  - Phenolic compounds are believed to be promising candidates as complementary
      therapeutics. Maple syrup, prepared by concentrating the sap from the North
      American maple tree, is a rich source of natural and process-derived phenolic
      compounds. In this work, we report the antimicrobial activity of a phenolic-rich
      maple syrup extract (PRMSE). PRMSE exhibited antimicrobial activity as well as
      strong synergistic interaction with selected antibiotics against Gram-negative
      clinical strains of Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, and Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa. Among the phenolic constituents of PRMSE, catechol exhibited strong
      synergy with antibiotics as well as with other phenolic components of PRMSE
      against bacterial growth. At sublethal concentrations, PRMSE and catechol
      efficiently reduced biofilm formation and increased the susceptibility of
      bacterial biofilms to antibiotics. In an effort to elucidate the mechanism for
      the observed synergy with antibiotics, PRMSE was found to increase outer membrane
      permeability of all bacterial strains and effectively inhibit efflux pump
      activity. Furthermore, transcriptome analysis revealed that PRMSE significantly
      repressed multiple-drug resistance genes as well as genes associated with
      motility, adhesion, biofilm formation, and virulence. Overall, this study
      provides a proof of concept and starting point for investigating the molecular
      mechanism of the reported increase in bacterial antibiotic susceptibility in the
      presence of PRMSE. 

PMID- 25819961
TI  - Infection Density Dynamics of the Citrus Greening Bacterium "Candidatus
      Liberibacter asiaticus" in Field Populations of the Psyllid Diaphorina citri and
      Its Relevance to the Efficiency of Pathogen Transmission to Citrus Plants.
AB  - Huanglongbing, or citrus greening, is a devastating disease of citrus plants
      recently spreading worldwide, which is caused by an uncultivable bacterial
      pathogen, "Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus," and vectored by a phloem-sucking
      insect, Diaphorina citri. We investigated the infection density dynamics of "Ca.
      Liberibacter asiaticus" in field populations of D. citri with experiments using
      field-collected insects to address how "Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus" infection
      density in the vector insect is relevant to pathogen transmission to citrus
      plants. Of 500 insects continuously collected from "Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus"
      infected citrus trees with pathological symptoms in the spring and autumn of
      2009, 497 (99.4%) were "Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus" positive. The infections were
      systemic across head-thorax and abdomen, ranging from 10(3) to 10(7) bacteria per
      insect. In spring, the infection densities were low in March, at ~ 10(3) bacteria
      per insect, increasing up to 10(6) to 10(7) bacteria per insect in April and May,
      and decreasing to 10(5) to 10(6) bacteria per insect in late May, whereas the
      infection densities were constantly ~ 10(6) to 10(7) bacteria per insect in
      autumn. Statistical analysis suggested that several factors, such as insect sex,
      host trees, and collection dates, may be correlated with "Ca. Liberibacter
      asiaticus" infection densities in field D. citri populations. Inoculation
      experiments with citrus seedlings using field-collected "Ca. Liberibacter
      asiaticus"-infected insects suggested that (i) "Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus"
      transmitting insects tend to exhibit higher infection densities than do
      nontransmitting insects, (ii) a threshold level (~ 10(6) bacteria per insect) of
      "Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus" density in D. citri is required for successful
      transmission to citrus plants, and (iii) D. citri attaining the threshold
      infection level transmits "Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus" to citrus plants in a
      stochastic manner. These findings provide valuable insights into understanding,
      predicting, and controlling this notorious citrus pathogen.

PMID- 25819962
TI  - Lincomycin at Subinhibitory Concentrations Potentiates Secondary Metabolite
      Production by Streptomyces spp.
AB  - Antibiotics have either bactericidal or bacteriostatic activity. However, they
      also induce considerable gene expression in bacteria when used at subinhibitory
      concentrations (below the MIC). We found that lincomycin, which inhibits protein
      synthesis by binding to the ribosomes of Gram-positive bacteria, was effective
      for inducing the expression of genes involved in secondary metabolism in
      Streptomyces strains when added to medium at subinhibitory concentrations. In
      Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), lincomycin at 1/10 of its MIC markedly increased
      the expression of the pathway-specific regulatory gene actII-ORF4 in the blue
      pigmented antibiotic actinorhodin (ACT) biosynthetic gene cluster, which resulted
      in ACT overproduction. Intriguingly, S. lividans 1326 grown in the presence of
      lincomycin at a subinhibitory concentration (1/12 or 1/3 of its MIC) produced
      abundant antibacterial compounds that were not detected in cells grown in
      lincomycin-free medium. Bioassay and mass spectrometry analysis revealed that
      some antibacterial compounds were novel congeners of calcium-dependent
      antibiotics. Our results indicate that lincomycin at subinhibitory concentrations
      potentiates the production of secondary metabolites in Streptomyces strains and
      suggest that activating these strains by utilizing the dose-response effects of
      lincomycin could be used to effectively induce the production of cryptic
      secondary metabolites. In addition to these findings, we also report that
      lincomycin used at concentrations for markedly increased ACT production resulted
      in alteration of the cytoplasmic protein (FoF1 ATP synthase alpha and beta
      subunits, etc.) profile and increased intracellular ATP levels. A fundamental
      mechanism for these unique phenomena is also discussed. 

PMID- 25819963
TI  - Mutational Analysis of the Antitoxin in the Lactococcal Type III Toxin-Antitoxin
      System AbiQ.
AB  - The lactococcal abortive phage infection mechanism AbiQ recently was classified
      as a type III toxin-antitoxin system in which the toxic protein (ABIQ) is
      regulated following cleavage of its repeated noncoding RNA antitoxin (antiQ). In
      this study, we investigated the role of the antitoxin in antiphage activity. The
      cleavage of antiQ by ABIQ was characterized using 5' rapid amplification of cDNA
      ends PCR and was located in an adenine-rich region of antiQ. We next generated a
      series of derivatives with point mutations within antiQ or with various numbers
      of antiQ repetitions. These modifications were analyzed for their effect on the
      antiphage activity (efficiency of plaquing) and on the endoribonuclease activity
      (Northern hybridization). We observed that increasing or reducing the number of
      antiQ repeats significantly decreased the antiphage activity of the system.
      Several point mutations had a similar effect on the antiphage activity and were
      associated with changes in the digestion profile of antiQ. Interestingly, a point
      mutation in the putative pseudoknot structure of antiQ mutants led to an
      increased AbiQ antiphage activity, thereby offering a novel way to increase the
      activity of an abortive infection mechanism. 

PMID- 25819964
TI  - Amphibian Symbiotic Bacteria Do Not Show a Universal Ability To Inhibit Growth of
      the Global Panzootic Lineage of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
AB  - Microbiomes associated with multicellular organisms influence the disease
      susceptibility of hosts. The potential exists for such bacteria to protect
      wildlife from infectious diseases, particularly in the case of the globally
      distributed and highly virulent fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis of
      the global panzootic lineage (B. dendrobatidis GPL), responsible for mass
      extinctions and population declines of amphibians. B. dendrobatidis GPL exhibits
      wide genotypic and virulence variation, and the ability of candidate probiotics
      to restrict growth across B. dendrobatidis isolates has not previously been
      considered. Here we show that only a small proportion of candidate probiotics
      exhibited broad-spectrum inhibition across B. dendrobatidis GPL isolates.
      Moreover, some bacterial genera showed significantly greater inhibition than
      others, but overall, genus and species were not particularly reliable predictors
      of inhibitory capabilities. These findings indicate that bacterial consortia are
      likely to offer a more stable and effective approach to probiotics, particularly
      if related bacteria are selected from genera with greater antimicrobial
      capabilities. Together these results highlight a complex interaction between
      pathogens and host-associated symbiotic bacteria that will require consideration
      in the development of bacterial probiotics for wildlife conservation. Future
      efforts to construct protective microbiomes should incorporate bacteria that
      exhibit broad-spectrum inhibition of B. dendrobatidis GPL isolates. 

PMID- 25819966
TI  - Electrical stimulation improves microbial salinity resistance and organofluorine
      removal in bioelectrochemical systems.
AB  - Fed batch bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) based on electrical stimulation were
      used to treat p-fluoronitrobenzene (p-FNB) wastewater at high salinities. At a
      NaCl concentration of 40 g/liter, p-FNB was removed 100% in 96 h in the BES,
      whereas in the biotic control (BC) (absence of current), p-FNB removal was only
      10%. By increasing NaCl concentrations from 0 g/liter to 40 g/liter,
      defluorination efficiency decreased around 40% in the BES, and in the BC it was
      completely ceased. p-FNB was mineralized by 30% in the BES and hardly in the BC.
      Microorganisms were able to store 3.8 and 0.7 times more K(+) and Na(+)
      intracellularly in the BES than in the BC. Following the same trend, the ratio of
      protein to soluble polysaccharide increased from 3.1 to 7.8 as the NaCl increased
      from 0 to 40 g/liter. Both trends raise speculation that an electrical
      stimulation drives microbial preference toward K(+) and protein accumulation to
      tolerate salinity. These findings are in accordance with an enrichment of
      halophilic organisms in the BES. Halobacterium dominated in the BES by 56.8% at a
      NaCl concentration of 40 g/liter, while its abundance was found as low as 17.5%
      in the BC. These findings propose a new method of electrical stimulation to
      improve microbial salinity resistance. 

PMID- 25819965
TI  - Comparison of the Prevalences and Diversities of Listeria Species and Listeria
      monocytogenes in an Urban and a Rural Agricultural Watershed.
AB  - Foods and related processing environments are commonly contaminated with the
      pathogenic Listeria monocytogenes. To investigate potential environmental
      reservoirs of Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes, surface water and point source
      pollution samples from an urban and a rural municipal water supply watershed in
      Nova Scotia, Canada, were examined over 18 months. Presumptive Listeria spp. were
      cultured from 72 and 35% of rural and urban water samples, respectively, with 24%
      of the positive samples containing two or three different Listeria spp. The L.
      innocua (56%) and L. welshimeri (43%) groups were predominant in the rural and
      urban watersheds, respectively. Analysis by the TaqMan assay showed a
      significantly (P < 0.05) higher prevalence of L. monocytogenes of 62% versus 17%
      by the culture-based method. Both methods revealed higher prevalences in the
      rural watershed and during the fall and winter seasons. Elevated Escherichia coli
      (>= 100 CFU/100 ml) levels were not associated with the pathogen regardless of
      the detection method. Isolation of Listeria spp. were associated with 70 times
      higher odds of isolating L. monocytogenes (odds ratio = 70; P < 0.001). Serogroup
      IIa was predominant (67.7%) among the 285 L. monocytogenes isolates, followed by
      IVb (16.1%), IIb (15.8%), and IIc (0.4%). L. monocytogenes was detected in cow
      feces and raw sewage but not in septic tank samples. Pulsotyping of
      representative water (n = 54) and local human (n = 19) isolates suggested genetic
      similarities among some environmental and human L. monocytogenes isolates. In
      conclusion, temperate surface waters contain a diverse Listeria species
      population and could be a potential reservoir for L. monocytogenes, especially in
      rural agricultural watersheds.

PMID- 25819967
TI  - An L-Fucose Operon in the Probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG Is Involved in
      Adaptation to Gastrointestinal Conditions.
AB  - L-Fucose is a sugar present in human secretions as part of human milk
      oligosaccharides, mucins, and other glycoconjugates in the intestinal epithelium.
      The genome of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) carries a gene
      cluster encoding a putative L-fucose permease (fucP), L-fucose catabolic pathway
      (fucI, fucK, fucU, and fucA), and a transcriptional regulator (fucR). The
      metabolism of L-fucose in LGG results in 1,2-propanediol production, and their
      fucI and fucP mutants displayed a severe and mild growth defect on L-fucose,
      respectively. Transcriptional analysis revealed that the fuc genes are induced by
      L-fucose and subject to a strong carbon catabolite repression effect. This
      induction was triggered by FucR, which acted as a transcriptional activator
      necessary for growth on L-fucose. LGG utilized fucosyl-alpha1,3-N
      acetylglucosamine and contrarily to other lactobacilli, the presence of fuc genes
      allowed this strain to use the L-fucose moiety. In fucI and fucR mutants, but not
      in fucP mutant, L-fucose was not metabolized and it was excreted to the medium
      during growth on fucosyl-alpha1,3-N-acetylglucosamine. The fuc genes were induced
      by this fucosyl-disaccharide in the wild type and the fucP mutant but not in a
      fucI mutant, showing that FucP does not participate in the regulation of fuc
      genes and that L-fucose metabolism is needed for FucR activation. The l-fucose
      operon characterized here constitutes a new example of the many factors found in
      LGG that allow this strain to adapt to the gastrointestinal conditions.

PMID- 25819968
TI  - "Quorum Non-Sensing": Social Cheating and Deception in Vibrio cholerae.
AB  - Quorum sensing (QS) is widely used by bacteria to coordinate behavior in response
      to external stimuli. In Vibrio cholerae, this process is important for
      environmental survival and pathogenesis, though, intriguingly, a large percentage
      of natural isolates are QS deficient. Here, we show that QS-deficient mutants can
      spread as social cheaters by ceasing production of extracellular proteases under
      conditions requiring their growth. We further show that mutants stimulate biofilm
      formation and are over-represented in biofilms compared to planktonic
      communities; on this basis, we suggest that QS-deficient mutants may have the
      side effect of enhancing environmental tolerance of natural populations due to
      the inherent resistance properties of biofilms. Interestingly, high frequencies
      of QS-deficient individuals did not impact production of QS signaling molecules
      despite mutants being unable to respond to these inducers, indicating that these
      variants actively cheat by false signaling under conditions requiring QS. Taken
      together, our results suggest that social cheating may drive QS deficiency
      emergence within V. cholerae natural populations. 

PMID- 25819969
TI  - Evaluation of Molecular Methods To Improve the Detection of Burkholderia
      pseudomallei in Soil and Water Samples from Laos.
AB  - Burkholderia pseudomallei is the cause of melioidosis, a severe and potentially
      fatal disease of humans and animals. It is endemic in northern Australia and
      Southeast Asia and is found in soil and surface water. The environmental
      distribution of B. pseudomallei worldwide and within countries where it is
      endemic, such as the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos), remains unclear.
      However, this knowledge is important to our understanding of the ecology and
      epidemiology of B. pseudomallei and to facilitate public health interventions.
      Sensitive and specific methods to detect B. pseudomallei in environmental samples
      are therefore needed. The aim of this study was to compare molecular and culture
      based methods for the detection of B. pseudomallei in soil and surface water in
      order to identify the optimal approach for future environmental studies in Laos.
      Molecular detection by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) was attempted after DNA
      extraction directly from soil or water samples or after an overnight enrichment
      step. The positivity rates obtained by qPCR were compared to those obtained by
      different culture techniques. The rate of detection from soil samples by qPCR
      following culture enrichment was significantly higher (84/100) than that by
      individual culture methods and all culture methods combined (44/100; P < 0.001).
      Similarly, qPCR following enrichment was the most sensitive method for filtered
      river water compared with the sensitivity of the individual methods and all
      individual methods combined. In conclusion, molecular detection following an
      enrichment step has proven to be a sensitive and reliable approach for B.
      pseudomallei detection in Lao environmental samples and is recommended as the
      preferred method for future surveys. 

PMID- 25819970
TI  - Carbon source preference in chemosynthetic hot spring communities.
AB  - Rates of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), formate, and acetate mineralization
      and/or assimilation were determined in 13 high-temperature (>73  degrees C) hot
      springs in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming, in order to evaluate the
      relative importance of these substrates in supporting microbial metabolism. While
      9 of the hot spring communities exhibited rates of DIC assimilation that were
      greater than those of formate and acetate assimilation, 2 exhibited rates of
      formate and/or acetate assimilation that exceeded those of DIC assimilation.
      Overall rates of DIC, formate, and acetate mineralization and assimilation were
      positively correlated with spring pH but showed little correlation with
      temperature. Communities sampled from hot springs with similar geochemistries
      generally exhibited similar rates of substrate transformation, as well as similar
      community compositions, as revealed by 16S rRNA gene-tagged sequencing. Amendment
      of microcosms with small (micromolar) amounts of formate suppressed DIC
      assimilation in short-term (<45-min) incubations, despite the presence of native
      DIC concentrations that exceeded those of added formate by 2 to 3 orders of
      magnitude. The concentration of added formate required to suppress DIC
      assimilation was similar to the affinity constant (K(m)) for formate
      transformation, as determined by community kinetic assays. These results suggest
      that dominant chemoautotrophs in high-temperature communities are facultatively
      autotrophic or mixotrophic, are adapted to fluctuating nutrient availabilities,
      and are capable of taking advantage of energy-rich organic substrates when they
      become available.

PMID- 25819971
TI  - The N-Terminal GH10 Domain of a Multimodular Protein from Caldicellulosiruptor
      bescii Is a Versatile Xylanase/beta-Glucanase That Can Degrade Crystalline
      Cellulose.
AB  - The genome of the thermophilic bacterium Caldicellulosiruptor bescii encodes
      three multimodular enzymes with identical C-terminal domain organizations
      containing two consecutive CBM3b modules and one glycoside hydrolase (GH) family
      48 (GH48) catalytic module. However, the three proteins differ much in their N
      termini. Among these proteins, CelA (or C. bescii Cel9A [CbCel9A]/Cel48A) with a
      GH9/CBM3c binary partner in the N terminus has been shown to use a novel strategy
      to degrade crystalline cellulose, which leads to its outstanding cellulose
      cleaving activity. Here we show that C. bescii Xyn10C (CbXyn10C), the N-terminal
      GH10 domain from CbXyn10C/Cel48B, can also degrade crystalline cellulose, in
      addition to heterogeneous xylans and barley beta-glucan. The data from substrate
      competition assays, mutational studies, molecular modeling, and docking point
      analyses point to the existence of only one catalytic center in the bifunctional
      xylanase/beta-glucanase. The specific activities of the recombinant CbXyn10C on
      Avicel and filter paper were comparable to those of GH9/CBM3c of the robust CelA
      expressed in Escherichia coli. Appending one or two cellulose-binding CBM3bs
      enhanced the activities of CbXyn10C in degrading crystalline celluloses, which
      were again comparable to those of the GH9/CBM3c-CBM3b-CBM3b truncation mutant of
      CelA. Since CbXyn10C/Cel48B and CelA have similar domain organizations and high
      sequence homology, the endocellulase activity observed in CbXyn10C leads us to
      speculate that CbXyn10C/Cel48B may use the same strategy that CelA uses to
      hydrolyze crystalline cellulose, thus helping the excellent crystalline cellulose
      degrader C. bescii acquire energy from the environment. In addition, we also
      demonstrate that CbXyn10C may be an interesting candidate enzyme for
      biotechnology due to its versatility in hydrolyzing multiple substrates with
      different glycosidic linkages. 

PMID- 25819972
TI  - Alamethicin suppresses methanogenesis and promotes acetogenesis in
      bioelectrochemical systems.
AB  - Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) systems with mixed cultures often generate a
      variety of gaseous and soluble chemicals. Methane is the primary end product in
      mixed-culture MES because it is the thermodynamically most favorable reduction
      product of CO2. Here, we show that the peptaibol alamethicin selectively
      suppressed the growth of methanogens in mixed-culture MES systems, resulting in a
      shift of the solution and cathode communities to an acetate-producing system
      dominated by Sporomusa, a known acetogenic genus in MES systems. Archaea in the
      methane-producing control were dominated by Methanobrevibacter species, but no
      Archaea were detected in the alamethicin-treated reactors. No methane was
      detected in the mixed-culture reactors treated with alamethicin over 10 cycles (~
      3 days each). Instead, acetate was produced at an average rate of 115 nmol ml(-1)
      day(-1), similar to the rate reported previously for pure cultures of Sporomusa
      ovata on biocathodes. Mixed-culture control reactors without alamethicin
      generated methane at nearly 100% coulombic recovery, and no acetate was detected.
      These results show that alamethicin is effective for the suppression of
      methanogen growth in MES systems and that its use enables the production of
      industrially relevant organic compounds by the inhibition of methanogenesis.

PMID- 25819973
TI  - Vernalophrys algivore gen. nov., sp. nov. (Rhizaria: Cercozoa: Vampyrellida), a
      New Algal Predator Isolated from Outdoor Mass Culture of Scenedesmus dimorphus.
AB  - Microbial contamination is the main cause of loss of biomass yield in microalgal
      cultures, especially under outdoor environmental conditions. Little is known
      about the identities of microbial contaminants in outdoor mass algal cultures. In
      this study, a new genus and species of vampyrellid amoeba, Vernalophrys algivore,
      is described from cultures of Scenedesmus dimorphus in open raceway ponds and
      outdoor flat-panel photobioreactors. This vampyrellid amoeba was a significant
      grazer of Scenedesmus and was frequently associated with a very rapid decline in
      algal numbers. We report on the morphology, subcellular structure, feeding
      behavior, molecular phylogeny, and life cycle. The new amoeba resembles
      Leptophrys in the shape of trophozoites and pseudopodia and in the mechanism of
      feeding (mainly by engulfment). It possesses two distinctive regions in helix
      E10_1 (nucleotides 117 to 119, CAA) and E23_1 (nucleotides 522 and 523, AG) of
      the 18S rRNA gene. It did not form a monophyletic group with Leptophrys in
      molecular phylogenetic trees. We establish a new genus, Vernalophrys, with the
      type species Vernalophrys algivore. The occurrence, impact of the amoeba on mass
      culture of S. dimorphus, and means to reduce vampyrellid amoeba contamination in
      Scenedesmus cultures are addressed. The information obtained from this study will
      be useful for developing an early warning system and control measures for
      preventing or treating this contaminant in microalgal mass cultures. 

PMID- 25819974
TI  - Cardiac cephalgia.
AB  - "Cardiac cephalgia" is a type of secondary headache disorder, usually initiated
      by exertion that is related to myocardial ischemia. Primary exertional headaches
      such as sex-, cough-, or exercise-induced headaches are typically benign. Cardiac
      cephalgia, on the other hand, can have life-threatening complications. Due to
      overlapping features and similarities in presentation, cardiac cephalgia can be
      misdiagnosed as a primary headache disorder such as migraine. However, the
      management of these conditions is unique, and treatment of cardiac cephalgia with
      vasoconstrictors intended for migraine can potentially worsen myocardial
      ischemia. Thus, it is important to make the correct diagnosis by evaluating
      cardiac function with an electrocardiogram and/or stress testing. In this review,
      we examine reported cases of cardiac cephalgia from the past 5 years to highlight
      the importance of this condition in the differential diagnosis of a headache in a
      patient with a history of cardiovascular risk factors, as well as to discuss the
      appropriate approach to diagnosis and the proposed pathogenic mechanisms of this
      condition.

PMID- 25819975
TI  - Emerging behavioral treatments for migraine.
AB  - Although the efficacy of behavioral interventions for migraine (e.g., relaxation
      training, stress management, cognitive-behavioral therapy, biofeedback) is well
      established, other behavioral interventions that have shown efficacy for other
      conditions are being adapted to treat migraine. This paper reviews the literature
      to date on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based
      interventions, and behavioral interventions for common migraine comorbidities.
      ACT and mindfulness interventions prioritize the outcome of improved functioning
      above headache reduction and have demonstrated efficacy for chronic pain broadly.
      These emerging behavioral therapies show considerable promise for improving
      outcomes of migraine patients, particularly in reducing headache-related
      disability and affective distress, but efficacy to date is limited by small
      trials, short follow-up periods, and a need for comparison or integration with
      established pharmacologic and behavioral migraine treatments.

PMID- 25819976
TI  - The Mental and Physical Health Consequences of Changes in Private Insurance
      Before and After Early Retirement.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the impact of private insurance coverage on the
      symptoms of depression, activities of daily living (ADLs), and instrumental
      activities of daily living (IADLs) in the years leading up to Medicare
      eligibility focusing on the transition from full-time work to early full
      retirement. METHOD: The Health and Retirement Study was used to (a) estimate 2
      stage selection equations of (i) the transition to retirement and (ii) current
      insurance status, and (b) the impact of insurance coverage on health, net of
      endogeneity associated retirement and insurance coverage. RESULTS: Employment
      based insurance coverage was generally associated with better health. Moreover,
      being without employment-based insurance was particularly problematic during the
      transition to retirement. Non-group insurance only moderated the association
      between losing employment-based insurance and IADLs. DISCUSSION: Results
      indicated that private insurance coverage is an important contextual factor for
      the health of early retirees. Those who maintain steady coverage tend to fare the
      best in retirement. This highlights the dynamic nature of changes in health in
      later life.

PMID- 25819977
TI  - Self-organization in the limb: a Turing mechanism for digit development.
AB  - The statistician George E. P. Box stated, 'Essentially all models are wrong, but
      some are useful.' (Box GEP, Draper NR: Empirical Model-Building and Response
      Surfaces. Wiley; 1987). Modeling biological processes is challenging for many of
      the reasons classically trained developmental biologists often resist the idea
      that black and white equations can explain the grayscale subtleties of living
      things. Although a simplified mathematical model of development will undoubtedly
      fall short of precision, a good model is exceedingly useful if it raises at least
      as many testable questions as it answers. Self-organizing Turing models that
      simulate the pattern of digits in the hand replicate events that have not yet
      been explained by classical approaches. The union of theory and experimentation
      has recently identified and validated the minimal components of a Turing network
      for digit pattern and triggered a cascade of questions that will undoubtedly be
      well-served by the continued merging of disciplines. 

PMID- 25819978
TI  - Shaping of biological tubes by mechanical interaction of cell and extracellular
      matrix.
AB  - The shape of biological tubes is optimized for supporting efficient circulation
      of liquid and gas and to maintain organismal homeostasis. Maintaining a constant
      tube diameter and fitting tube length to body size are two requirements for
      proper tube function. The tracheal system of the Drosophila embryo is established
      through branching of ectodermal epithelia in the absence of environmental air,
      and the branching pattern and geometry of this system are genetically specified.
      Recent studies identified apical extracellular matrix (aECM) as a crucial
      regulator of tube expansion and elongation. Evidence suggests that aECM
      coordinates apical membrane growth and cell contractility to control tube growth
      at the tissue level. In the present review, we will discuss the physical
      mechanisms underlying this interaction. 

PMID- 25819979
TI  - Improving our resolution of kidney morphogenesis across time and space.
AB  - As with many mammalian organs, size and cellular complexity represent
      considerable challenges to the comprehensive analysis of kidney organogenesis.
      Traditional analyses in the mouse have revealed early patterning events and
      spatial cellular relationships. However, an understanding of later events is
      lacking. The generation of a comprehensive temporospatial atlas of gene
      expression during kidney development has facilitated advances in lineage
      definition, as well as selective compartment ablation. Advances in quantitative
      and dynamic imaging have allowed comprehensive analyses at the level of organ,
      component tissue and cell across kidney organogenesis. Such approaches will
      enhance our understanding of the links between kidney development and final
      postnatal organ function. The final frontier will be translating this
      understanding to outcomes for renal disease in humans. 

PMID- 25819980
TI  - Effectiveness of a walking group intervention to promote physical activity and
      cardiovascular health in predominantly non-Hispanic black and Hispanic urban
      neighborhoods: findings from the walk your heart to health intervention.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the
      Walk Your Heart to Health (WYHH) intervention, one component of the multilevel
      Community Approaches to Cardiovascular Health: Pathways to Heart Health
      (CATCH:PATH) intervention designed to promote physical activity and reduce
      cardiovascular risk among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic residents of Detroit,
      Michigan. The study was designed and implemented using a community-based
      participatory research approach that actively engaged community residents, health
      service providers and academic researchers. It was implemented between 2009 and
      2012. METHOD: WYHH was a 32-week community health promoter-facilitated walking
      group intervention. Groups met three times per week at community-based or faith
      based organizations, and walked for 45 to 90 minutes (increasing over time). The
      study used a cluster randomized control design to evaluate effectiveness of WYHH,
      with participants randomized into intervention or lagged intervention (control)
      groups. Psychosocial, clinical, and anthropometric data were collected at
      baseline, 8, and 32 weeks, and pedometer step data tracked using uploadable
      peisoelectric pedometers. RESULTS: Participants in the intervention group
      increased steps significantly more during the initial 8-week intervention period,
      compared with the control group (beta = 2004.5, p = .000). Increases in physical
      activity were associated with reductions in systolic blood pressure, fasting
      blood glucose, total cholesterol, waist circumference and body mass index at 8
      weeks, and maintained at 32 weeks. CONCLUSION: The WYHH community health promoter
      facilitated walking group intervention was associated with significant reductions
      in multiple indicators of cardiovascular risk among predominantly Hispanic and
      non-Hispanic Black participants in a low-to-moderate income urban community. Such
      interventions can contribute to reductions in racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic
      inequities in cardiovascular mortality.

PMID- 25819981
TI  - Characterization of humins from different natural sources and the effect on
      microbial reductive dechlorination of pentachlorophenol.
AB  - Humins have been reported to function as an electron mediator for microbial
      reducing reactions. However, the physicochemical properties and the functional
      moieties of humins from different natural sources have been poorly characterized.
      In this study, humins extracted from seven types of soil and from a river
      sediment were examined on the effect on microbial reductive dechlorination of
      pentachlorophenol (PCP) and characterized polyphasically. All humins facilitated
      microbial reductive dechlorination of PCP as electron mediators using formate as
      carbon source, with different dechlorination rates ranging from 0.99 to 7.63
      (MUmol Cl-) L(-1) d(-1). The highest rates were observed in humins with high
      carbon contents, extracted from Andisols containing allophone as major clay.
      Yields of the humins and the elemental compositions varied among sources. Fourier
      transform infrared analysis showed that all the humins exhibited similar spectra
      with different absorbance intensity; these data are indicative of their similar
      structures and identical classes of functional groups. The electron spin
      resonance spectra of humins prepared at different pH showed typical changes for
      the semiquinone-type radicals, suggestive of quinone moieties for the redox
      activity of the humins. Cyclic voltammetry analysis confirmed the presence of
      redox-active moieties in all the humins, with the estimated redox potentials in
      the range of -0.30 to -0.13 V (versus a standard hydrogen electrode), falling
      into the range of standard redox potential between the oxidation of formate as
      electron donor and the initial dechlorination of PCP as electron acceptor.

PMID- 25819982
TI  - Prevalence and characteristics of asthma in the aquatic disciplines.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the health benefits of swimming as a form of exercise,
      evidence exists that both the swimming pool environment and endurance exercise
      are etiologic factors in the development of asthma. The prevalence of asthma in
      swimmers is high compared with that in participants in other Olympic sport
      disciplines. There are no publications comparing the prevalence of asthma in the
      5 aquatic disciplines. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to examine and
      compare the prevalence of asthma in the aquatic disciplines and in contrast with
      other Olympic sports. METHODS: Therapeutic Use Exemptions containing objective
      evidence of athlete asthma/airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) were collected for
      all aquatic athletes participating in swimming, diving, synchronized swimming,
      water polo, and open water swimming for major events during the time period from
      2004-2009. The prevalence of asthma/AHR in the aquatic disciplines was analyzed
      for statistical significance (with 95% CIs) and also compared with that in other
      Olympic sports. RESULTS: Swimming had the highest prevalence of asthma/AHR in
      comparison with the other aquatic disciplines. The endurance aquatic disciplines
      have a higher prevalence of asthma/AHR than the aquatic nonendurance disciplines.
      Asthma/AHR is more common in Oceania, Europe, and North America than in Asia,
      Africa, and South America. In comparison with other Olympic sports, swimming,
      synchronized swimming, and open water swimming were among the top 5 sports for
      asthma/AHR prevalence. CONCLUSION: Asthma/AHR in the endurance aquatic
      disciplines is common at the elite level and has a varied geographic
      distribution. Findings from this study demonstrate the need for development of
      aquatic discipline-specific prevention, screening, and treatment regimens.

PMID- 25819983
TI  - Respiratory syncytial virus infection of primary human mast cells induces the
      selective production of type I interferons, CXCL10, and CCL4.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes severe respiratory tract
      infections, which might have a role in the development of airway hyperreactivity.
      Mast cells are important effector cells in allergy, with sentinel cell roles in
      host defense. However, the role of mast cells in response to RSV infection is
      unknown. OBJECTIVE: Human mast cell responses to RSV were investigated with a
      view to better understanding the role of mast cells in RSV-induced disease.
      METHODS: Human cord blood-derived mast cells and the HMC-1 mast cell line were
      exposed to RSV or UV-inactivated RSV. Viral gene and protein expression were
      evaluated by using PCR and flow cytometry. The expression of interferon
      stimulated genes and selected mediators were evaluated by using quantitative PCR
      and ELISA. RESULTS: Human mast cells expressed multiple RSV genes after exposure
      to RSV, and a small percentage of mast cells supported RSV antigen protein
      expression. RSV induced mast cells to upregulate production of chemokines,
      including CCL4, CCL5, and CXCL10, as well as type I interferons, and interferon
      stimulated gene expression. However, production of the granulocyte
      chemoattractants CXCL8 and CCL11 was not induced. Antibody blockade of the type I
      interferon receptor on human cord blood-derived mast cells reduced the RSV
      mediated induction of CXCL10 and CCL4 but not CCL5. Leukotriene C4 production by
      mast cells was not enhanced by exposure to RSV. CONCLUSION: Despite low levels of
      infection, human mast cells produce multiple chemokines in response to RSV
      through mechanisms that include responses to type I interferons. Such mast cell
      responses might enhance effector cell recruitment during RSV-induced disease.

PMID- 25819984
TI  - IL-13 desensitizes beta2-adrenergic receptors in human airway epithelial cells
      through a 15-lipoxygenase/G protein receptor kinase 2 mechanism.
AB  - BACKGROUND: beta2-Adrenergic receptor (beta2AR) agonists are critical treatments
      for asthma. However, receptor desensitization can lead to loss of therapeutic
      effects. Although desensitization to repeated use of beta2-agonists is well
      studied, type 2 inflammation could also affect beta2AR function. OBJECTIVE: We
      sought to evaluate the effect of the type 2 cytokine IL-13 on beta2AR
      desensitization in human airway epithelial cells (HAECs) and determine whether 15
      lipoxygenase-1 (15LO1) binding with phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein 1
      (PEBP1) contributes to desensitization through release of G protein receptor
      kinase 2 (GRK2). METHODS: HAECs in air-liquid interface culture with or without
      IL-13 (48 hours) or isoproterenol hydrochloride (ISO; 30 minutes) pretreatment
      were stimulated with ISO (10 minutes). Cyclic adenosine 3, 5-monophosphate (cAMP)
      levels were measured using ELISA, and beta2AR and GRK2 phosphorylation was
      measured using Western blotting. Short interfering RNA was used for 15LO1
      knockdown. Interactions of GRK2, PEBP1, and 15LO1 were detected by means of
      immunoprecipitation/Western blotting and immunofluorescence. HAECs and airway
      tissue from control subjects and asthmatic patients were evaluated for I5LO1,
      PEBP1, and GRK2. RESULTS: Pretreatment with ISO or IL-13 decreased ISO-induced
      cAMP generation compared with ISO for 10 minutes alone paralleled by increases in
      beta2AR and GRK2 phosphorylation. GRK2 associated with PEBP1 after 10 minutes of
      ISO in association with low phosphorylated GRK2 (pGRK2) levels. In contrast, in
      the presence of IL-13 plus ISO (10 minutes), binding of GRK2 to PEBP1 decreased,
      whereas 15LO1 binding and pGRK2 levels increased. 15LO1 knockdown restored ISO
      induced cAMP generation. These findings were recapitulated in freshly brushed
      HAECs from cells and tissue of asthmatic patients. CONCLUSION: IL-13 treatment of
      HAECs leads to beta2AR desensitization, which involves 15LO1/PEBP1 interactions
      to free GRK2, and allows it to phosphorylate (and desensitize) beta2ARs,
      suggesting that the beneficial effects of beta2-agonists could be blunted in
      patients with type 2 associated asthma.

PMID- 25819985
TI  - Weaning age in an expanding population: stable carbon and nitrogen isotope
      analysis of infant feeding practices in the Okhotsk culture (5th-13th centuries
      AD) in Northern Japan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The Okhotsk people were sedentary hunter-gatherer-fishers who lived
      and prospered in Sakhalin, Hokkaido, and the Kurile Islands during the 5th to
      13th centuries AD. They expanded rapidly along the northeastern coast of
      Hokkaido. We reconstructed infant feeding practices of the Moyoro population of
      the Okhotsk culture in eastern Hokkaido, Japan. METHODS: Stable isotope ratios in
      58 subadult human skeletons were measured. RESULTS: The results suggest that
      complementary foods with a relatively low carbon isotope ratio were consumed
      during and after weaning, as observed in ethnographic descriptions of northern
      human populations such as the Ainu and isotopically suggested in ancient northern
      hunter-gatherer-fisher populations. Nitrogen isotope ratios of subadults showed
      that the age at the end of weaning in the Moyoro population was 1.8 (1.4-2.2 in
      95% credible interval) years, which is earlier than that in other northern hunter
      gatherer-fisher populations. CONCLUSIONS: Because weaning age is one of the most
      important determinants of fertility, a shorter breastfeeding period suggests
      increased fertility. Furthermore, better nutrition would further promote the
      population increase, and thus populations of the Okhotsk culture could expand
      into new regions. These findings are consistent with recent emerging evidence of
      great contributions of the Okhotsk to the formation of later Ainu populations and
      culture.

PMID- 25819986
TI  - Interplay of reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide: nitric oxide coordinates
      reactive oxygen species homeostasis.

PMID- 25819987
TI  - A stochastic transcriptional switch model for single cell imaging data.
AB  - Gene expression is made up of inherently stochastic processes within single cells
      and can be modeled through stochastic reaction networks (SRNs). In particular,
      SRNs capture the features of intrinsic variability arising from intracellular
      biochemical processes. We extend current models for gene expression to allow the
      transcriptional process within an SRN to follow a random step or switch function
      which may be estimated using reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC).
      This stochastic switch model provides a generic framework to capture many
      different dynamic features observed in single cell gene expression. Inference for
      such SRNs is challenging due to the intractability of the transition densities.
      We derive a model-specific birth-death approximation and study its use for
      inference in comparison with the linear noise approximation where both
      approximations are considered within the unifying framework of state-space
      models. The methodology is applied to synthetic as well as experimental single
      cell imaging data measuring expression of the human prolactin gene in pituitary
      cells. 

PMID- 25819988
TI  - Heterogeneous Phenotype of Long QT Syndrome Caused by the KCNH2-H562R Mutation:
      Importance of Familial Genetic Testing.
AB  - INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Long QT syndrome is an inherited ion channelopathy
      that leads to syncope and sudden death. Because of the heterogeneous phenotype of
      this disease, genetic testing is fundamental to detect individuals with concealed
      long QT syndrome. In this study, we determined the features of a family with 13
      carriers of the KCNH2-H562R missense mutation, which affects the pore region of
      the HERG channel. METHODS: We identified the KCNH2-H562R mutation in a 65-year
      old man with a prolonged QTc interval who had experienced an episode of torsade
      de pointes. Subsequently, a total of 13 mutation carriers were identified in the
      family. Carriers (age 48 [26] years; 46% males) underwent clinical evaluation,
      electrocardiography and echocardiography. RESULTS: The mean (standard deviation)
      QTc in carriers was 493 (42) ms (3 [23%] showed normal QTc); 6 (46%) had symptoms
      (4, syncope; 1, sudden death; 1, aborted sudden death [proband]). While under
      treatment with beta-blockers, 11 of 12 carriers (92%) remained asymptomatic at 5
      years of follow-up (1 patient required left cardiac sympathectomy). The QTc
      shortening with beta-blockers was 50 (37) ms. There was 1 sudden death in a
      patient who refused treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Family study is essential in the
      interpretation of a genetic testing result. This article describes the
      heterogeneous and variable phenotype of a large family with the KCNH2-H562R
      mutation and highlights the role of genetic study for the appropriate
      identification of at-risk individuals who would benefit from treatment.

PMID- 25819989
TI  - Small-size Microparticles as Indicators of Acute Decompensated State in Ischemic
      Heart Failure.
AB  - INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Microparticles are markers for cell activation and
      apoptosis and could provide valuable information that is not available from
      clinical data. This study assesses the clinical and biological relationship of
      small-sized microparticles in different forms of ischemic systolic heart failure
      and their relation to markers of inflammation and repair. METHODS: We compared 49
      patients with acute heart failure, 39 with stable heart failure and 25 patients
      with stable coronary artery disease. Small-size microparticles counts were
      determined by high-resolution flow cytometry. Moreover, 3 different monocyte
      subpopulations and their expression of inflammatory and adhesive scavenger
      receptors were analyzed using a conventional flow cytometer. RESULTS: Endothelial
      CD144+ microparticle counts were decreased in heart failure groups (P=.008).
      Annexin V-binding microparticle counts were found increased in heart failure
      (P=.024) and in patients with lower functional class (P=.013). Platelet CD42b+
      microparticle counts positively correlated with left ventricular ejection
      fraction (P=.006), and annexin V-binding microparticle counts with interleukin-6
      levels in stable heart failure (P=.034). Annexin V-binding microparticle counts
      in the acute status strongly correlated with toll-like receptor-4 expression on
      all monocyte subsets (all P<.01). Three months after admission with acute heart
      failure, annexin V-binding microparticle counts were positively correlated with
      receptors for interleukin-6, CD163 and CD204 (all P<.05). CONCLUSIONS: Annexin V
      binding microparticle counts constitute valuable hallmarks of acute decompensated
      state in systolic heart failure. The observed relationship between small-size
      annexin V-binding microparticles and scavenger receptors supports their
      involvement in the progression of the acute response to injury, and thus their
      contribution to the pathogenesis of acute decompensated heart failure.

PMID- 25819990
TI  - Fenton degradation of sulfanilamide in the presence of Al,Fe-pillared clay:
      Catalytic behavior and identification of the intermediates.
AB  - Liquid phase catalytic degradation of sulfanilamide with H2O2 was carried out in
      the presence of Fe,Al/M-pillared clay (Fe,Al/M-MM, M=Na(+), Ca(2+) and Ba(2+)) as
      heterogeneous Fenton type catalyst. Fe,Al/M-MMs were prepared by swelling of
      layered aluminosilicate (90-95 wt.% montmorillonite) from a bed located in
      Mukhortala (Buryatia, Russia) in Na(+), Ca(2+) and Ba(2+) forms by means of the
      exchange of these cations with bulky Fe,Al-polyoxocations prepared at Al/Fe=10/1
      and OH/(Al+Fe)=2.0, and then calcinated at 500 degrees C. XRD method and chemical
      analysis demonstrated that the rate of crystalline swelling was dependent on the
      interlayer cations and decreased in the order: Fe,Al-/Na-MM>Fe,Al/Ca-MM>Fe,Al/Ba
      MM. It was found that the catalytic properties of Fe,Al/M-MMs depended on the
      type of exchangeable cations. The effect of the H2O2/sulfanilamide molar ratio,
      the catalyst content, the reaction temperature and the reaction pH on the removal
      rate of sulfanilamide has been studied in the presence of Fe,Al/Na-MM. The
      catalyst can be applied for degradation of sulfanilamide with H2O2 for at least
      three successive cycles without loss of activity. HPLC analyses pointed out that
      the main degradation intermediate products were sulfanilic acid, benzenesulfonic
      acid, p-benzoquinone and aliphatic carboxylic acids.

PMID- 25819992
TI  - [Surveillance and detection of unusual events in toxicovigilance: Review of
      relevant methods].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Declared cases of exposures related to potential toxic agents are
      reported through a national database, the French Network of Poison Centers, and
      account on average for 200,000 cases per year, including 75,000 to 80,000
      symptomatic cases. These data are currently used to investigate signals from
      local, national or international institutional partners (such as hospitals, local
      health authorities, and the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed). Our objective
      is to complete this classical toxicovigilance activity through the automated
      detection of unexpected or unusual events in order to identify precociously
      signals representing potential threats for public health. To reach this
      objective, the inventory of surveillance and detection methods of unexpected
      events is necessary. METHODS: A literature review was conducted via Scopus((r))
      and Pubmed((r)) databases, completed with grey literature and data available on
      worldwide vigilance systems' websites. RESULTS: The most commonly used methods
      are disproportional measures in the field of pharmacovigilance, some of which are
      subject to a routine detection at regular time intervals. Criteria of signal
      generation differ from one system to another, which have implemented data
      filtering strategies before or after analysis, in order to decrease the number of
      generated signals and improve their priority level. These signals are then
      transmitted to an experts committee for a clinical and epidemiological
      evaluation, and at times, for informing the patient's medical records. We also
      notice an interest in other approaches such as surveillance methods of temporal
      series or symbolic methods for associative rules extraction between one or more
      drugs and one or more adverse effects, with the possibility to include other
      types of variables, such a demographic data. The developments of probabilistic
      based algorithms have also been recently developed, opening new opportunities.
      CONCLUSION: These surveillance and detection methods are of high interest for the
      automated detection of signals from the French toxicovigilance network. The
      initial step to developing these methods consists in studying the statistical
      quality of data and targeting the needs and expectations of the toxicovigilance
      network for what we want and what we can detect.

PMID- 25819991
TI  - Targeted removal of trichlorophenol in water by oleic acid-coated nanoscale
      palladium/zero-valent iron alginate beads.
AB  - A new material was developed and evaluated for the targeted removal of
      trichlorophenol (TCP) from among potential interferents which are known to
      degrade removal activity. To achieve TCP-targeted activity, an alginate bead
      containing nanoscale palladium/zero-valent iron (Pd/nZVI) was coated with a
      highly hydrophobic oleic acid layer. The new material (Pd/nZVI-A-O)
      preferentially sorbed TCP from a mixture of chlorinated phenols into the oleic
      acid cover layer and subsequently dechlorinated it to phenol. The removal
      efficacy of TCP by Pd/nZVI-A-O was not affected by co-existing organic substances
      such as Suwannee River humic acid (SRHA), whereas the material without the oleic
      acid layer (Pd/nZVI-A) became less effective with increasing SRHA concentration.
      The inorganic substances nitrate and phosphate significantly reduced the
      reactivity of Pd/nZVI-A, however, Pd/nZVI-A-O showed similar TCP removal
      efficacies regardless of the initial inorganic ion concentrations. The influence
      of bicarbonate on the TCP removal efficacies of both Pd/nZVI-A and Pd/nZVI-A-O
      was not significant. The findings from this study suggest that Pd/nZVI-A-O, with
      its targeted, constant reactivity for TCP, would be effective for treating this
      contaminant in surface water or groundwater containing various competitive
      substrates. 

PMID- 25819993
TI  - [Contract for improving professional practices: What is the impact perceived by
      GPs?].
AB  - BACKGROUND: The CAPI (contract for improving professional practices) is a
      voluntary pay for performance scheme for primary care physicians introduced in
      France in 2009. Our objective was to analyze general practitioners' (GPs)
      perceptions of the impact of the CAPI on their healthcare practices. METHOD: The
      methodology was both qualitative, using thematic analysis of responses to three
      items of a questionnaire mailed to GPs in 2011, and quantitative using thematic
      multiple correspondence analysis of responses together with cluster analysis
      based on the ward aggregation criterion. RESULTS: A total of 1050 general
      practitioners answered, 31% had signed a CAPI. For CAPI-participating GPs, the
      contract was mostly related to changing practices for drug prescription. GPs who
      did not participate in the CAPI focused on ethical issues. They denounced a
      conflict of interest between the doctor and the patient and also the risk of
      patient selection. They connected these concepts to selected indicators. Due to
      their relationship with the health insurance fund, they feared their freedom of
      practice would be restricted. CONCLUSION: GP involvement in designing indicators
      would favor better balance between economic goals and values of care. The
      patients' viewpoint should be studied. Pay for performance has been renewed in
      the 2011. Further studies will analyze the impact of this new scheme in a medical
      and economic perspective.

PMID- 25819994
TI  - [The impact of screening sickle-cell carriers in the general population. A
      retrospective study in the Paris screening center].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Since 2006 the CIDD, the Paris information and screening center for
      sickle-cell disease, provides free assistance for adults who may be at risk of
      having children with sickle-cell disease. Recently, an increasing number of
      parents of a silent-carrier newborn detected by systematic neonatal screening are
      attending the center. We present a retrospective study of the impact of such
      information and screening on people. METHODS: The study involved 81 silent
      carrier men and women aged 18 to 45 years, interviewed using a telephone
      questionnaire (n=70) or during consultation (n=11) one to three years after
      screening. RESULTS: The study group represented 12% of individuals attending the
      center with the same characteristics. In general, the information delivered
      concerning sickle-cell disease and silent-carriers was well understood although
      concerns about personal and family history and the correctness of prior knowledge
      revealed a lack of information input from the environment (media, schools, health
      professionals). Poorly assimilated information involved three subjects: the
      difference between trait and disease; the difference between type of hemoglobin
      and blood group; and Mendelian transmission. The screening result was not a cause
      of separation among couples and was often passed on to family or friends.
      Disparities in adherence to prenatal diagnosis and termination of pregnancy were
      mainly related to different representations of disease severity. CONCLUSION:
      Joint screening of newborns and their parents is a good measure for adults, who
      are satisfied with being informed despite the psychological difficulties
      involved. However the implication for children detected remains a relevant issue
      because of the persistent perception of the trait as a pseudo-disease and the
      risk of reification of a biological difference between relatives.

PMID- 25819995
TI  - Comment on 'Multi-modality functional image guided dose escalation in the
      presence of uncertainties'.

PMID- 25819997
TI  - Personal characteristics and job satisfaction: India-Nigeria comparison.
AB  - This study examines the relationship between job satisfaction and personal
      characteristics on samples of 778 Indians and 620 Nigerians. The results indicate
      no relationship between sex, marital status, and annual income and job
      satisfaction for both the samples. Age showed quadratic and linear relationship
      with satisfaction for Indian and Nigerian samples respectively. Satisfaction
      increased with increasing number of dependents and work experience and decreased
      with increasing years of education for both the samples. The regression analysis
      showed that all seven personal characteristics accounted for 34.9 per cent and
      71.7 per cent variation in job satisfaction for Indian and Nigerian employees,
      respectively. Culture and level of industrialization have been examined to
      explain the differences in the results. 

PMID- 25819996
TI  - Pathological stage after neoadjuvant chemoradiation and esophagectomy superiorly
      predicts survival in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To assess the usefulness of pathological stage according
      to the 7th edition of the Union for International Cancer Control-American Joint
      Committee on Cancer (UICC-AJCC) as a prognostic tool in patients undergoing
      neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by esophagectomy (trimodality therapy, TMT)
      for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      One hundred twenty-five eligible patients completing TMT were enrolled for
      analysis. The clinical (cTNM7) and pathological (ypTNM7) stage groups of their
      tumors were prospectively classified, and re-grouped by the 6th edition (ypTNM6).
      Survival was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. The Cox proportional hazard
      model and the Akaike information criterion (AIC) were used to compare the
      performance of staging systems. RESULTS: With a median follow-up of 24.6 months,
      54 patients (43.2%) died. Forty patients (32%) achieved pathological complete
      remission (pCR). The median survival was 31.8 months. On multivariate analysis,
      ypTNM7 (but not pCR or pN) was the only independent factor affecting overall
      survival (p<0.001). The ypTNM7 was superior to cTNM7 or ypTNM6 in predicting both
      overall and recurrence-free survival after TMT based on AIC values and Cox
      proportional hazard model analysis. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with locally
      advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma undergoing TMT, ypTNM7 is the best
      predictor of survival.

PMID- 25819998
TI  - Predicting job satisfaction from life satisfaction: is there a general
      satisfaction factor?
AB  - Job satisfaction has been shown to be related to a number of individual and
      organizational effectiveness variables. Consequently, it is suggested that
      attempts to select individuals with inclinations towards satisfaction would be of
      theoretical and practical importance. For five samples of individuals
      representing a wide variety of occupations, regression analyses were used to
      assess the usefulness of life satisfaction in the prediction of subsequent job
      satisfaction, while statistically controlling various demographic variables, pay,
      tenure, and perceptions of task characteristics. In a sixth sample of workers
      eligible for retirement, the hypothesis that life satisfaction can be predicted
      from job satisfaction was also examined. The results showed that in three of the
      first five samples, life satisfaction was a significant predictor of job
      satisfaction. In the sample of retirees, significant results were also obtained
      using job satisfaction to predict subsequent life satisfaction. It is suggested
      that satisfaction may be a relatively stable and general aspect of certain
      individuals which is a function of particular personality characteristics and/or
      an inclination towards interpreting various situations in a favorable manner. 

PMID- 25819999
TI  - Source of performance variance as a moderator of the job satisfaction-job
      performance relationship.
AB  - Herman's (1973) proposition that satisfaction and performance can only be related
      when performance is at least partially under the worker's control was tested.
      Subjects were hired to work under conditions of high or low situational control
      of performance. Two performance measures were used, only one of which was
      designed to be susceptible to the situational control manipulation. Satisfaction
      was then predicted by performance, situational control condition, and their cross
      product. As expected, the interaction term was significant when the performance
      measure susceptible to situational control was used and nonsignificant when the
      nonsusceptible measure was used. It was concluded that the amount of performance
      variance which is individually rather than situationally controlled is an
      important moderator of the satisfaction-performance relationship. 

PMID- 25820000
TI  - A dialectical approach to investigating role conflict, job satisfaction and
      situational anxiety in an african industrial context.
AB  - A dialectical approach incorporating both nomothetic and idiographic perspectives
      is proposed as a possible solution to the problem of concept validation
      encountered in industrial psychological and industrial sociological
      investigations by providing them with a more complete criterion of validity. The
      use of the proposed method is illustrated in an empirical research investigation.

PMID- 25820001
TI  - Work and the quality of life.
AB  - Wilensky's (1960, 1961) proposition that the integration of work into one's total
      life is contingent upon the technological and social organization of the work was
      tested in a national probability sample of approximately 1,025 men and women. In
      line with Wilensky's arguments, it was found that a composit measure of job
      complexity and occupational status moderated the job satisfaction-life
      satisfaction relationship. Specifically, the relationship between job- and life
      satisfaction was greatest for individuals with occupations characterized as
      complex and high in status. The magnitude of the detected moderating effects, as
      well as that of job satisfaction per se, on life satisfaction, were small,
      however. It is argued that the scope of variables considered in attempts to
      understand the relationship between life- and job satisfaction should be expanded
      and suggestions for future research are offered. 

PMID- 25820002
TI  - The effects of need for achievement and need for independence on the relationship
      between perceived job attributes and managerial satisfaction and performance.
AB  - Work-manifest needs for achievement and independence were examined as moderators
      of relations between perceptions of five job attributes (skill variety, task
      identity, task significance, autonomy and feed-back) and job satisfaction and job
      performance among a sample of 346 middle-managers. Need for achievement and need
      for independence were unrelated to the perceived job attributor and to both job
      satisfaction and job performance. However, most of the relations between the
      perceived job attributes and both job satisfaction and job performance were
      significantly higher among the managers high in need for achievement and need for
      independence than among those low in these needs. These results point to the
      importance of differentiating between managers high and low in these needs when
      redesigning jobs. 

PMID- 25820003
TI  - Job dissatisfaction: what are the consequences?
AB  - Although job dissatisfaction has been of central importance to industrial
      psychology for many years, there exists no general theory of the behavioral and
      psychological consequences of job dissatisfaction. This paper reviews the concept
      of job dissatisfaction, and argues that no particular consequence of job
      dissatisfaction is inevitable or necessary. The various psychological and
      behavioral consequences of job dissatisfaction are considered, and a heuristic
      guide for further research is suggested. 

PMID- 25820004
TI  - Cognition vs affect in measures of job satisfaction.
AB  - The authors find reasons to question whether conventional measures of job
      satisfaction capture the original conception of 'morale'. In particular, evidence
      suggests that these measures reflect primarily cognitive evaluation rather than
      affective state or hedonic tone. Recent developments indicate that cognitive and
      affective systems may be somewhat independent of each other. Questions are raised
      concerning the appropriate means of measuring affect, as well as whether the
      antecedents and consequences of affect are expected to differ from those
      associated with cognitive appraisal. 

PMID- 25820005
TI  - Position characteristics organizational setting characteristics and employee
      reactions: test of conceptual framework.
AB  - This research examines the effectiveness of a conceptual framework designed to
      explain the relationships between several position and setting characteristics
      (e.g., position level, payment type, union representation, and geographical
      location of the organization) and employee reactions to the work and the work
      context. In general, the framework posits that position and setting
      characteristics influence employee reactions through their impact on the personal
      attributes of employees and on the characteristics of jobs these employees
      perform. Results provide substantial support for the conceptual framework.
      Implications of the findings for future research on the interactions among
      people, jobs, and organizational conditions are discussed. 

PMID- 25820007
TI  - Underlying presuppositions in solving two-term series problems.
AB  - Researchers are traditionally interested in the sort of psychological processes
      in which the subjects are engaged when solving two- and three-term series
      problems under time restrictions. Three models, the Linguistic (Clark), the
      Spatial Imagery Theory (mainly Huttenlocher) and the Mixed (Sternberg) propose
      alternative views for explaining the cognitive processes involved during problem
      solving. The present study was designed to examine the kind of presuppositions
      the native speakers use when solving two-term series problems under no time
      restrictions with four classes of adjectives: Ratio (or spatial) with and without
      context. Ordinal1 and Ordinal2 without context. The results show: (1) contrary to
      the theories absolute presuppositions is the predominant answer pattern on all
      adjective groups; (2) context exerts a strong effect on the form of
      presuppositions elicited by the subjects; (3) the unmarkedness-markedness concept
      appears pshychologically inconsistent; and (4) presuppositions in two-term series
      problems under no time restrictions seem to reflect a different sort of cognitive
      processes from that espoused by the models mentioned. 

PMID- 25820006
TI  - School attitudes and adolescents' aspirations: ethnic group differences.
AB  - In this study data were collected from 16-year-old Australians from Anglo
      Australian, Greek and Southern Italian families to examine relations between
      adolescents' school-related attitudes and their educational and occupational
      aspirations, after taking into account the influence on aspirations of social
      status and intellectual ability. Regression surfaces were constructed from
      hierarchical models that examined possible linear, interaction and curvilinear
      associations between the variables. The findings suggest the propositions that:
      (a) social status acts as an allocation factor such that low social status
      inhibits associations between early school attitudes and later aspirations; (b)
      in relation to intellectual ability, attitudes of early schooling have negligible
      or modest unique associations with adolescents' aspirations; and (c)
      relationships between social status, intelligence, attitudes and aspirations vary
      for adolescents from different ethnic groups indicating that ethnicity is an
      important contextual variable to include in investigations of aspirations. 

PMID- 25820008
TI  - Free and matrix classification: an experimental investigation of the responses of
      nine- and twelve-year-old children.
AB  - This study investigated the relationship between free and matrix classification
      performance as a function of stimulus dimensionality (2-D vs 3-D) and repealed
      trials. The subjects were 30 boys and 30 girls, mean age 12 years, and 30 boys
      and 30 girls, mean age 9 years. The results indicated that subjects succeeded on
      the matrix tasks more frequently than they were able to give multidimensional
      free classification responses. Subjects succeeded more frequently with 3-D than
      with 2-D stimuli. Retrials on both free and matrix classification tasks did not
      significantly improve performance. Possible reasons for the findings and their
      future implications were discussed. 

PMID- 25820012
TI  - International union of psychological science.

PMID- 25820009
TI  - A cross-cultural perspective of self-related conceptions in adolescence.
AB  - Adolescence has been described as a transitional phase of life often involving
      turbulence, stress and strain in five major problem areas. Osgood et al.'s (1975)
      Atlas of Affective Meaning provided three basic measures of Evaluation, Potency
      and Activity for some 620 concepts that are representative of human life
      experiences in 30 language/culture communities around the world. The ratings of
      30 concepts from the Atlas that represent the five major problem areas of
      adolescence were analyzed with the Three-Mode Multidimensional Scaling with
      Points-of-View Solution Technique (Tzeng and Landis 1978). The major results
      included the identification of cross-cultural common concept factors, 12
      'idealized' cultural groups, and the factor structures of 12 'private'
      configurations. The concept structures that emerged from this study accurately
      recovered the problem areas of adolescence cited in the literature and also
      revealed unexpected homogeneities and differences in the cultures involved.
      Implications for government, social planning and education were discussed. 

PMID- 25820013
TI  - International council of scientific unions (icsu).

PMID- 25820014
TI  - Psychologists for peace.

PMID- 25820015
TI  - Report on the first network-seminar of the international union of psychological
      sciences on man-computer-interaction research (macinter).

PMID- 25820016
TI  - All-round development as a fundamental right of youth.

PMID- 25820017
TI  - Direct retrospective comparison of adalimumab and infliximab in preventing early
      postoperative endoscopic recurrence after ileocaecal resection for crohn's
      disease: results from the MULTIPER database.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Both adalimumab [ADA] and infliximab [IFX] seem to be
      effective in the prevention of early postoperative endoscopic recurrence [EPER]
      after ileocaecal resection in Crohn's disease [CD] patients. There is lack of
      data with direct comparison between the two agents in the postoperative scenario.
      The aim of this study was to compare the rates of EPER in patients treated with
      ADA and IFX after ileocaecal resection for CD. METHODS: This was a multicentre
      retrospective analysis of EPER rates in CD patients after ileocaecal resections,
      from seven referral centres in three countries. Endoscopic recurrence was defined
      as Rutgeerts' score >= i2. The patients were allocated according to treatment to
      two groups: ADA or IFX. The EPER rates were compared between the two treatment
      groups. RESULTS: Among the 168 patients included in the database, 96 received
      anti-tumour necrosis factor [TNF] agents after resection [37 in the ADA and 59 in
      the IFX groups] and were included in this comparative study. The groups were
      comparable in all baseline characteristics, mainly age, gender, previous
      resections, perianal CD, and mono or combination therapy. EPER was identified in
      9/37 [24.32%] in the ADA group vs 16/59 [27.12%] in the IFX group [p = 0.815].
      CONCLUSIONS: In this retrospective direct comparison between ADA and IFX therapy
      after ileocaecal resection, there was no significant difference between the two
      anti-TNF agents in terms of EPER rates. However, prospective randomised studies
      are needed to confirm these data and better define the role of each agent in the
      prevention of EPER.

PMID- 25820019
TI  - Ingenol mebutate gel is effective against anogenital warts - a case series in 17
      patients.

PMID- 25820018
TI  - Changes in Epithelial Barrier Function in Response to Parasitic Infection:
      Implications for IBD Pathogenesis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Mast cells [MCs] are implicated in epithelial barrier
      alterations that characterize inflammatory and functional bowel disorders. In
      this study, we describe mast cell proteinases [chymases and tryptases] and tight
      junction [TJ] proteins kinetics in a rat model of postinfectious gut dysfunction.
      METHODS: Jejunal tissues of control and -infected rats were used. Inflammation
      related changes in MCs and the expression of TJ-related proteins were evaluated
      by immunostaining and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain
      reaction. Epithelial barrier function was assessed in vitro (Ussing chambers) and
      in vivo. RESULTS: After infection, intestinal inflammation was associated with a
      generalized overexpression of MC chymases, peaking between Days 6 and 14.
      Thereafter, a mucosal MC hyperplasia and a late increase in connective tissue MC
      counts were observed. From Day 2 post-infection, TJ proteins occludin and claudin
      3 expression was down-regulated whereas the pore-forming protein claudin-2 was
      overexpressed. The expression of proglucagon, precursor of the barrier-enhancing
      factor glucagon-like peptide-2, was reduced. These changes were associated with
      an increase in epithelial permeability, both in vitro and in vivo. CONCLUSIONS:
      Proteinases expression and location of mucosal and connective tissue MCs indicate
      a time-related pattern in the maturation of intestinal MCs following infection.
      Altered expression of TJ-related proteins is consistent with a loss of epithelial
      tightness, and provides a molecular mechanism for the enhanced epithelial
      permeability observed in inflammatory conditions of the gut.

PMID- 25820020
TI  - No increase in synovial fluid level of matrix metalloproteinase-3 by systemic
      administration of glucocorticoids in rheumatoid arthritis.

PMID- 25820021
TI  - Organic Anion Transporter 4-Mediated Transport of Olmesartan at Basal Plasma
      Membrane of Human Placental Barrier.
AB  - Mechanisms regulating fetal transfer of olmesartan, an angiotensin-II receptor
      type 1 antagonist, are important as potential determinants of life-threatening
      adverse fetal effects. The purpose of this study was to examine the olmesartan
      transport mechanism through the basal plasma membrane (BM) of human
      syncytiotrophoblasts forming the placental barrier. Uptake of olmesartan by human
      placental BM vesicles was potently inhibited by dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate
      (DHEAS), estrone 3-sulfate, and bromosulfophthalein, which are all typical
      substrates of organic anion transporter (OAT) 4 localized at the BM of
      syncytiotrophoblasts, and was increased in the absence of chloride. In
      tetracycline-inducible OAT4-expressing cells, [(3) H]olmesartan uptake was
      increased by tetracycline treatment. Olmesartan uptake via OAT4 was concentration
      dependent with a Km of 20 MUM, and was increased in the absence of chloride. [(3)
      H]Olmesartan efflux via OAT4 was also observed and was trans-stimulated by
      extracellular chloride and DHEAS. Thus, OAT4 mediates bidirectional transport of
      olmesartan and appears to regulate fetal transfer of olmesartan at the BM of
      syncytiotrophoblasts. Efflux transport of olmesartan via OAT4 from
      syncytiotrophoblasts to the fetal circulation might be facilitated in the
      presence of an inwardly directed physiological chloride gradient and
      extracellular DHEAS.

PMID- 25820022
TI  - [Anterior pure tibiotalar dislocation: A rare lesion].

PMID- 25820023
TI  - Men's contraceptive practices in France: evidence of male involvement in family
      planning.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe contraceptive practices of men in a relationship in
      France, where use of female-controlled methods is predominant, and to explore
      their involvement in managing contraception within the couple. STUDY DESIGN: Data
      are drawn from a national probability cross-sectional survey on sexual and
      reproductive health conducted in France in 2010. The study sample comprised 3373
      men aged 15-49, 1776 of whom were asked about their current contraceptive
      practices after they reported that they were fecund and sexually active and did
      not currently want a child. Analyses were performed with logistic regression
      models. RESULTS: Few men aged 15-49 with a partner did not use contraception
      (3.4%). Most reported using only a female method (71.7%), 20.4% only cooperative
      methods, such as condoms, withdrawal and the rhythm method and 4.5% both. Among
      contraceptive users, withdrawal (7.7%) was more likely to be used by men with low
      incomes or low educational levels. Condom use was reported as a contraceptive
      method by 18.9% of men. Its prevalence was higher for those in new and
      noncohabiting relationships (36.1%) and lower for those in cohabiting
      relationships (12.4%), in which STIs/HIV prevention is less of a concern.
      CONCLUSION: Men's high awareness of contraceptive practices and their use of some
      cooperative methods reveal their involvement in contraceptive practices within
      the context of relationships. Condom use is associated with the prevention of
      STIs/HIV for noncohabiting men, but men who live with their female partner seem
      to use condoms mainly as a contraceptive method. Withdrawal appears to be
      associated with low level of education and financial difficulties. Finally,
      having engendered a pregnancy that was terminated appears to influence men's
      contraceptive practices. IMPLICATIONS: Studying men's contraceptive practices
      helps to understand their involvement in contraceptive management within
      relationships.

PMID- 25820024
TI  - Primary stroke prevention in China - a new approach.
AB  - The growing burden of stroke in China, along with the increasing cost of health
      care calls for new, more effective strategies for stroke prevention. These
      strategies should include increasing awareness of stroke symptoms, awareness of
      risk factors, and provision of easily available information on means of modifying
      risk factors. The Stroke Riskometer App is exactly such a tool, available in
      Mandarin, for adult individuals to calculate their risk of stroke over the next 5
      and 10  years, and to identify their individual stroke risk factors and linking
      them to possible means of modifying these risk factors. The use of this App could
      reduce the risk of stroke for individuals in the Chinese population and
      contribute to significant reduction in stroke burden in China.

PMID- 25820025
TI  - Influence of H- and OH-adsorbates on the ethanol oxidation reaction--a DEMS
      study.
AB  - The ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) was investigated by potentiodynamic
      techniques on Pt/C, Rh/C, Pt-Rh/C, Pt-SnO2/C and Pt-Rh-SnO2/C by differential
      electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) in a flow cell system. Prior to the
      cyclic voltammetries, adsorption of H- and OH-species was carried out by
      chronoamperometry at Ead = 0.05 and 1 V vs. RHE, respectively, in order to
      examine their influence on the EOR on the different electrocatalysts. For the
      sake of comparison, another adsorption potential was chosen at Ead = 0.3 V vs.
      RHE, in the double layer region (i.e. in the absence of such adsorbates). For
      this study, 20 wt% electrocatalysts were synthesized using a modified polyol
      method and were physically characterized by inductively coupled plasma atomic
      emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission
      electron microscopy (TEM). When comparing the first and second cycles of the
      cyclic voltammograms (CVs) on Pt/C and Pt-SnO2/C, the presence of Had on the
      electrocatalyst surface seems to hinder the initiation of the ethanol
      electrooxidation, whereas the reaction onset potential is shifted negatively with
      the presence of OH-adsorbates. In contrast to them, the EOR on Rh/C is enhanced
      when the electrocatalyst surface is covered with Had and is inhibited after
      adsorption at Ead = 0.3 and 1 V vs. RHE. Finally, on Pt-Rh/C and Pt-Rh-SnO2/C,
      neither the H- nor OH-adsorbates do impact the EOR initiation. The lowest EOR
      onset was recorded on Pt-SnO2/C and Pt-Rh-SnO2/C electrocatalysts. The CO2
      currency efficiency (CCE) was also determined for each electrocatalyst and
      demonstrated higher values on Pt-Rh-SnO2/C. 

PMID- 25820026
TI  - Selective nitrogen functionalization of graphene by Bucherer-type reaction.
AB  - Nitrogen functionalization of graphene offers new hybrid materials with improved
      performance for important technological applications. Despite studies
      highlighting the dependence of the performance of nitrogen-functionalized
      graphene on the types of nitrogen functional groups that are present, precise
      synthetic control over their ratio is challenging. Herein, the synthesis of
      nitrogen-functionalized graphene rich in amino groups by a Bucherer-type reaction
      under hydrothermal conditions is reported. The efficiency of the synthetic method
      under two hydrothermal conditions was examined for graphite oxide produced by
      Hummers and Hofmann oxidation routes. The morphological and structural properties
      of the amino-functionalized graphene were fully characterized. The use of a
      synthetic method with a well-known mechanism for derivatization of graphene will
      open new avenues for highly reproducible functionalization of graphene materials.

PMID- 25820027
TI  - A General Strategy for the Synthesis of Enantiomerically Pure Azetidines and
      Aziridines through Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling.
AB  - In this communication, we report a straightforward synthesis of enantiomerically
      pure 2-alkyl azetidines. The protocol is based on a highly regioselective nickel
      catalyzed cross-coupling of aliphatic organozinc reagents with an aziridine that
      features a tethered thiophenyl group. Activation by methylation transforms the
      sulfide into an excellent leaving group and triggers the formation of the 2
      substituted azetidine core structure by cyclization. In addition, we have
      expanded this concept to the synthesis of enantiomerically pure, terminal alkyl
      aziridines. Coupling of a TMS-protected aziridine alcohol, followed by acidic
      work-up to remove the silyl group, provides 1,2-amino alcohol products that are
      readily cyclized to aziridines. Both of these sequences display excellent
      functional group tolerance and deliver the desired azetidine and aziridine
      products in good to excellent yields. 

PMID- 25820028
TI  - Programmed cell death 4 protein (Pdcd4) and homeodomain-interacting protein
      kinase 2 (Hipk2) antagonistically control translation of Hipk2 mRNA.
AB  - The tumor suppressor protein programmed cell death 4 (Pdcd4) is a highly
      conserved RNA-binding protein that inhibits the translation of specific mRNAs.
      Here, we have identified the homeobox-interacting protein kinase-2 (Hipk2) mRNA
      as a novel translational target of Pdcd4. Unlike most other protein kinases Hipk2
      is constitutively active after being synthesized by the ribosome and its
      expression and activity are thought to be mainly controlled by modulation of the
      half-life of the kinase. Our work provides the first evidence that Hipk2
      expression is also controlled on the level of translation. We show that Hipk2
      stimulates the translation of its own mRNA and that Pdcd4 suppresses the
      translation of Hipk2 mRNA by interfering with this auto-regulatory feedback
      mechanism. We also show that the translation of the related kinase Hipk1 is
      controlled by a similar feedback loop and that Hipk2 also stimulates the
      translation of Hipk1 mRNA. Taken together, our work describes a novel mechanism
      of translational suppression by Pdcd4 and shows for the first time that Hipk2
      controls its own synthesis by an auto-regulatory feedback mechanism. Furthermore,
      the effect of Hipk2 on the translation of Hipk1 RNA suggests that Hipk2 and Pdcd4
      can act in similar manner to control the translation of other mRNAs. 

PMID- 25820029
TI  - Analysis of differentially expressed lncRNAs in differentiation of bone marrow
      stem cells into neural cells.
AB  - Many studies have reported micro RNAs involved in the differentiation of bone
      marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) into neural cells; however, the roles of
      long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the differentiation of BMSCs into neural cells
      remain poorly understood. We used microarray assays to compare the lncRNA and
      messenger RNA (mRNA) expression profiles in BMSCs and neural-induced BMSCs. We
      found a total of 24 lncRNAs and 738 mRNAs that were upregulated and 32 lncRNAs
      and 682 mRNAs that were downregulated in samples induced for 3h; 27 lncRNAs and
      864 mRNAs that were upregulated and 37 lncRNAs and 968 mRNAs that were
      downregulated in 6h samples; and 23 lncRNAs and 1159 mRNAs that were upregulated
      or downregulated in both the 3h and 6h samples. For 23 differentially lncRNAs and
      83 differentially mRNAs, 256 matched lncRNA-mRNA pairs were found. GO (Gene
      ontology) analysis showed that these lncRNAs were associated with biological
      processes, cellular components, and molecular functions. Twenty-five pathways
      were identified by pathway analysis. Then, RT-qPCR validation of the
      differentially expressed H19, Esco2, Pcdhb18, and RGD1560277 genes confirmed the
      microarray data. Our study revealed the expression patterns of lncRNAs in the
      differentiation of BMSCs into neural cells, and many lncRNAs were differentially
      expressed in induced BMSCs, suggesting that they may play key roles in processes
      of differentiation. Our findings may promote the use of BMSCs to treat
      neurodegenerative diseases and trauma. 

PMID- 25820030
TI  - Ethnic differences in susceptibility to malaria: what have we learned from immuno
      epidemiological studies in West Africa?
AB  - There are many fundamental aspects of the immunobiology of Plasmodium falciparum
      infections that are not fully understood, therefore limiting our comprehension of
      how people become immune to malaria and why some ethnic groups living in malaria
      endemic areas are less susceptible than others. The complexity of parasite-host
      interactions and the genetic diversity of the parasites as well as the human host
      complicate our strategy to address this issue. In this mini-review we discuss and
      summarize what we have learned about African ethnic differences in susceptibility
      to malaria from immuno-epidemiological studies. Additionally, we suggest research
      topics that might be of great value for dissecting the mechanisms of protection
      by providing new insights into molecular interactions between the parasite and
      the host. 

PMID- 25820031
TI  - Ectoparasite fauna of rodents collected from two wildlife research centres in
      Saudi Arabia with discussion on the implications for disease transmission.
AB  - The majority of human pathogens are zoonotic and rodents play an important role
      as reservoirs of many of these infectious agents. In the case of vector-borne
      pathogens, rodent reservoirs not only act as a source of infection for vectors
      but also serve as hosts for the vectors themselves, supporting their populations.
      Current data on rodent-ectoparasite relationships is limited in Saudi Arabia,
      however, this is needed to assess disease risk and the relative importance of
      different hosts for the maintenance of vector-borne pathogen cycles. In order to
      provide baseline data for the region that could be used to assess zoonotic
      disease risk, we collected and identified 771 ectoparasite specimens (ticks,
      fleas and mites) from 161 rodents at two wildlife research centres in Saudi
      Arabia and discuss our results in the context of possible zoonotic disease risk
      based on the hosts and vectors present. 

PMID- 25820032
TI  - Emergency physicians and firearm violence.

PMID- 25820033
TI  - Emergency Department Corticosteroid Use for Allergy or Anaphylaxis Is Not
      Associated With Decreased Relapses.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVE: Corticosteroids (steroids) are often used to mitigate symptoms
      and prevent subsequent reactions in emergency department (ED) patients with
      allergic reactions, despite a lack of evidence to support their use. We sought to
      determine the association of steroid administration with improved clinical
      outcomes. METHODS: Adult allergy-related encounters to 2 urban EDs during a 5
      year period were identified and classified as "anaphylaxis" or "allergic
      reaction." Regional and provincial databases identified subsequent ED visits or
      deaths within a 7-day period. The primary outcome was allergy-related ED revisits
      in the steroid- and nonsteroid-exposed groups, adjusting for potential
      confounders with a propensity score analysis; secondary outcomes included the
      number of clinically important biphasic reactions and deaths. RESULTS: Two
      thousand seven hundred one encounters (473 anaphylactic) were included; 48% were
      treated with steroids. Allergy-related ED revisits occurred in 5.8% and 6.7% of
      patients treated with and without steroids, respectively (adjusted odds ratio
      [OR] 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.64 to 1.28), with a number needed to
      treat (NNT) to benefit of 176 (95% CI NNT to benefit 39 to infinity to NNT to
      harm 65). The adjusted OR in the anaphylaxis subgroup was 1.12 (95% CI 0.41 to
      3.27). In the allergic reaction group, the adjusted OR was 0.91 (95% CI 0.63 to
      1.31), with an NNT to benefit of 173 (95% CI NNT to benefit 38 to infinity to NNT
      to harm 58). In the steroid and nonsteroid groups, there were 4 and 1 clinically
      important biphasic reactions, respectively. There were no deaths. CONCLUSION:
      Among ED patients with allergic reactions or anaphylaxis, corticosteroid use was
      not associated with decreased relapses to additional care within 7 days.

PMID- 25820034
TI  - Interactions of CO2 with various functional molecules.
AB  - The CO2 capturing and sequestration are of importance in environmental science.
      Understanding of the CO2-interactions with various functional molecules including
      multi-N-containing superbases and heteroaromatic ring systems is essential for
      designing novel materials to effectively capture the CO2 gas. These interactions
      are investigated using density functional theory (DFT) with dispersion correction
      and high level wave function theory (resolution-of-identity (RI) spin-component
      scaling (scs) Moller-Plesset second-order perturbation theory (MP2) and coupled
      cluster with single, double and perturbative triple excitations (CCSD(T))). We
      found intriguing molecular systems of melamine, 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5
      ene (TBD), 7-azaindole and guanidine, which show much stronger CO2 interactions
      than the well-known functional systems such as amines. In particular, melamine
      could be exploited to design novel materials to capture the CO2 gas, since one
      CO2 molecule can be coordinated by four melamine molecules, which gives a binding
      energy (BE) of ~85 kJ mol(-1), much larger than in other cases. 

PMID- 25820035
TI  - Management of Parapneumonic Pleural Effusion in Adults.
AB  - Pleural infections have high morbidity and mortality, and their incidence in all
      age groups is growing worldwide. Not all infectious effusions are parapneumonic
      and, in such cases, the organisms found in the pleural space are not the same as
      those observed in lung parenchyma infections. The diagnostic difficulty lies in
      knowing whether an infectious effusion will evolve into a complicated
      effusion/empyema, as the diagnostic methods used for this purpose provide poor
      results. The mainstays of treatment are to establish an early diagnosis and to
      commence an antibiotic regimen and chest drain as soon as possible. This should
      preferably be carried out with fine tubes, due to certain morphological,
      bacteriological and biochemical characteristics of the pleural fluid. Fluid
      analysis, particularly pH, is the most reliable method for assessing evolution.
      In a subgroup of patients, fibrinolytics may help to improve recovery, and their
      combination with DNase has been found to obtain better results. If medical
      treatment fails and surgery is required, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery
      (VATS) is, at least, comparable to decortication by thoracotomy, so should only
      undertaken if previous techniques have failed. Further clinical trials are needed
      to analyze factors that could affect the results obtained, in order to define new
      evidence-based diagnostic and therapeutic strategies that provide more effective,
      standardized management of this disease. 

PMID- 25820036
TI  - Quality of spirometric data in Spain: The 3E study.

PMID- 25820037
TI  - A phylogenetically informed delineation of floristic regions within a
      biodiversity hotspot in Yunnan, China.
AB  - Traditional attempts to delineate floristic regions typically focus on species
      distributions, often ignoring the rich context that phylogenetic relationships
      can provide. In this study, we explore how phylogenetic relatedness, taxonomic
      composition, and regional phylogenetic structure change across a global
      biodiversity hotspot region, Yunnan, located in southwestern China. We propose a
      system of floristic regions within Yunnan by combining data on the distributions
      and phylogenetic relationships of 1,983 genera of native seed plants. We
      identified eight distinct floristic regions in Yunnan, which were grouped into
      two larger northern and southern geographical units. Phylogenetic relatedness was
      well correlated with taxonomic composition between floras in Yunnan. Across the
      Yunnan region we examined, the central Yunnan region shows the lowest level of
      spatial turnover in phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic composition of the
      floristic assemblages. Using null model analyses, we found evidence of nonrandom
      phylogenetic structure across the region, in which four areas show higher
      phylogenetic turnover than expected given the underlying taxonomic composition
      between sites. Our results show that the integration of phylogenetic information
      can provide valuable insight in floristic assessments, and help us to better
      understand the structure of a global biodiversity hotspot. 

PMID- 25820038
TI  - Chromosomal DNA damage in APOE E4 carriers and noncarriers does not appear to be
      different.
AB  - DNA damage may play a key role in promoting disease-onset and accelerated disease
      progression in Alzheimer's disease (AD) by increasing the rates of neuronal cell
      death. The E4 allele of the APOE gene is the best characterised genetic risk
      factor for AD, however, it is unknown if APOE E4 carriers exhibit increased
      levels of DNA damage which may contribute to increased AD risk. 175 healthy
      participants (aged 34-67 years old) from South Australia were recruited into the
      study and provided a single blood sample for the isolation of peripheral blood
      lymphocytes, APOE genotyping and lymphocyte chromosomal DNA damage analysis using
      the Cytokinesis-Block micronucleus cytome (CBMN-Cyt) assay with the micronucleus
      index being the primary outcome measure. When compared to non-APOE E4 carriers,
      APOE E4 carriers did not exhibit altered rates of i) cell division, represented
      by the nuclear division index (NDI, P = 0.372), ii) cell death as represented by
      apoptotic (P = 0.457) and necrotic (P = 0.393) frequencies and iii) chromosomal
      DNA damage as indicated by the number of micronuclei (MNi, P = 0.795),
      nucleoplasmic bridges (NPBs, P = 0.221) or nuclear buds (NBUDs, P = 0.293) scored
      in binucleated cells. In conclusion, although we and others have previously shown
      that rates of chromosomal DNA damage measured using the CBMN-Cyt assay are
      elevated in individuals with cognitive impairment, in this South Australian
      cohort the frequency of genome instability is not substantially influenced by the
      presence of the APOE E4 allele.

PMID- 25820039
TI  - Therapeutic Potential of Steroidal Alkaloids in Cancer and Other Diseases.
AB  - Steroidal alkaloids are a class of secondary metabolites isolated from plants,
      amphibians, and marine invertebrates. Evidence accumulated in the recent two
      decades demonstrates that steroidal alkaloids have a wide range of bioactivities
      including anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, etc.,
      suggesting their great potential for application. It is therefore necessary to
      comprehensively summarize the bioactivities, especially anticancer activities and
      mechanisms of steroidal alkaloids. Here we systematically highlight the
      anticancer profiles both in vitro and in vivo of steroidal alkaloids such as
      dendrogenin, solanidine, solasodine, tomatidine, cyclopamine, and their
      derivatives. Furthermore, other bioactivities of steroidal alkaloids are also
      discussed. The integrated molecular mechanisms in this review can increase our
      understanding on the utilization of steroidal alkaloids and contribute to the
      development of new drug candidates. Although the therapeutic potentials of
      steroidal alkaloids look promising in the preclinical and clinical studies,
      further pharmacokinetic and clinical studies are mandated to define their
      efficacy and safety in cancer and other diseases. 

PMID- 25820040
TI  - What ails the practice of medicine: the Atlas has shrugged.
AB  - Health-care providers are currently facing a huge challenge. At one end they are
      expending a huge amount of time and energies on health-care delivery including
      time spent on upgradation of their knowledge and skills (to remain abreast with
      the field and be able to provide state-of-art patient care), sometimes even at
      the expense of themselves and their families. On the other hand they are not
      receiving adequate re-imbursement for their efforts. To compound the problem
      several "traders" have entered the profession who are well adept in the
      materialistic approach abandoning the ethics (which currently happens to be the
      flavor of society in general), giving a bad name to the whole profession and
      causing severe grief, embarrassment and even dis-illusion to an average
      physician. The solution to the problem may lie in weeding out these "black sheep"
      as also realization by the society that the whole profession should not be
      wrongly labeled, rather a hard toiling and a morally driven practitioner should
      be given his/her due worth.

PMID- 25820041
TI  - From 'Make in India' to 'Made in India': the saroglitazar story.

PMID- 25820042
TI  - Vitamin D and cardiovascular disease - have we found the answers?

PMID- 25820043
TI  - The CRRIS study: beginning of a new era of enquiry and educational intervention
      in India.

PMID- 25820044
TI  - Challenges of STEMI care in India & the real world.

PMID- 25820045
TI  - "Hypertension guidelines: good-bye to confusion and welcome to clarity".

PMID- 25820046
TI  - Observational study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of saroglitazar in Indian
      diabetic dyslipidemia patients.
AB  - Saroglitazar is a dual PPAR alpha/gamma agonist approved in India for the
      management of diabetic dyslipidemia. AIMS: The objective of this study was to
      evaluate the safety and efficacy of saroglitazar 4 mg once daily in clinical
      practice. METHODS: This was an observational, multicenter, single-arm study.
      Patients with type 2 diabetes (with on-going antidiabetic medication), age above
      18 years, and triglycerides >=200 mg/dL were included. RESULTS: A total 2804
      patients with a mean duration of diabetes 6.29 yrs were included in this
      analysis. The baseline demographic profile was: mean age of 53 yrs, mean body
      weight 72.3 kg and mean BMI of 27 kg/m(2). 62.5% patients were male and 57.8%
      were reported to be on statin therapy at baseline. All 2804 patients were on
      antidiabetic medications with 15.4% patients on monotherapy and rest were on two
      or more than two antidiabetic medications at baseline. The baseline triglycerides
      and HbA1C values were 312.3 mg/dL and 8.3% respectively. At 3 months follow-up,
      use of saroglitazar 4 mg led to significant reduction in TG (35.8%), LDL-C
      (16.4%), total cholesterol (19%) and non-HDL-C (23.4%). Addition of saroglitazar
      to baseline antidiabetic medications showed a significant 0.9% absolute reduction
      in HbA1c with significant improvement in fasting and post prandial plasma
      glucose. No serious adverse events, alteration in liver or renal enzymes and
      edema or weight gain were reported. CONCLUSION: Saroglitazar is a potential
      therapeutic option in type 2 diabetic patients with high TG levels, not
      controlled by statins, for comprehensive control of lipid and glycemic parameters
      with acceptable safety profile.

PMID- 25820047
TI  - Independent association of severe vitamin D deficiency as a risk of acute
      myocardial infarction in Indians.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Association of vitamin D deficiency with coronary heart disease (CHD)
      has been widely reported. Emerging data has shown high prevalence of vitamin D
      deficiency among Indians. However, this association has not been studied in
      Indians. METHODS: A case-control study with 120 consecutive cases of first
      incident acute myocardial infarction (MI) and 120 age and gender matched healthy
      controls was conducted at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. The
      standard clinical and biochemical risk factors for MI were assessed for both
      cases and controls. Serum 25 (OH) vitamin D assay was performed from stored
      samples for cases and controls using radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: Vitamin D
      deficiency [25(OH) D < 30 ng/ml] was highly prevalent in cases and controls
      (98.3% and 95.8% respectively) with median levels lower in cases (6 ng/ml and
      11.1 ng/ml respectively; p < 0.001). The cases were more likely to have diabetes,
      hypertension and consume tobacco and alcohol. They had higher waist hip ratio,
      total and LDL cholesterol. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed
      severe vitamin D deficiency [25(OH) vitamin D < 10 ng/ml] was associated with a
      risk of MI with an odds ratio of 4.5 (95% CI 2.2-9.2). CONCLUSIONS: This study
      reveals high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among cases of acute MI and
      controls from India, with levels of 25 (OH)D being significantly lower among
      cases. Despite rampant hypovitaminosis, severe vitamin D deficiency was
      associated with acute MI after adjusting for conventional risk factors. This
      association needs to be tested in larger studies in different regions of the
      country.

PMID- 25820048
TI  - Cardiovascular risk reduction intervention among school-students in Kolkata, West
      Bengal - the CRRIS study protocol.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Increasing burden of cardiovascular risk-factors among adolescent
      school-children is a major concern in India. Dearth of information regarding the
      burden of these factors and the efficacy of educational intervention in
      minimizing them among urban school-students of India called for a school-based,
      educational intervention involving a representative sample of these students and
      their caregivers. METHODOLOGY: Using a randomized-controlled design with
      stratified-random sampling, 1000 students (approximately 50/school) of 9th grade
      from 20 randomly selected schools (representing all socio-economic classes and
      school-types) and their caregivers (preferably mothers) will be recruited.
      Objectives of the study will include: estimation of the baseline burden and post
      interventional change in cardiovascular risk-factors, related knowledge,
      perception and practice among participants in Kolkata. DATA COLLECTION: After
      obtaining appropriate consent (assent for adolescents), collection of the
      questionnaire-based data (regarding cardiovascular disease/risk-factor related
      knowledge, perception, practice), anthropometric measurements, stress assessment
      and cardiological check-up (pulse and blood pressure measurement along with
      auscultation for any abnormal heart sounds) will be conducted for each
      participating students twice at an interval of six months. In between 6
      educational sessions will be administered in 10 of the 20 schools randomized to
      the intervention arm. After the follow-up data collection, same sessions will be
      conducted in the non-interventional schools. DATA ANALYSES AND DELIVERABLE:
      Descriptive and inferential analyses (using SAS 9.3) will be conducted to
      determine the distribution of the risk-factors and efficacy of the intervention
      in minimizing them so that policy-making can be guided appropriately to keep the
      adolescents healthy in their future life.

PMID- 25820049
TI  - NT pro B type natriuretic peptide levels in constrictive pericarditis and
      restrictive cardiomyopathy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The differentiation of constrictive pericarditis (CP) from
      restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) may be clinically difficult and may require
      multiple investigations. Even though brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is shown to
      be higher in patients with RCM as compared to CP, the clinical utility is not
      fully established especially in Indian patients known to have advanced CP and
      myocardial involvement. METHODS AND RESULTS: We measured NT-pro-BNP levels in 49
      patients suspected of having either CP or RCM, diagnosed on the basis of
      echocardiography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, endomyocardial
      biopsy and cardiac catheterization data as needed. Twenty nine patients (Mean age
      - 26 yrs, 24 males) had CP and 20 patients (Mean age - 39 yrs, 14 males) had RCM.
      The median plasma NT-pro-BNP levels were significantly higher in RCM as compared
      to CP [1775 (208-7500) pg/ml vs 124 (68-718) pg/ml, respectively; p = 0.001]. A
      cut off value of 459 pg/ml had sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of
      90%, 86% and 88% respectively, for differentiating CP from RCM. CONCLUSIONS: The
      NT-pro-BNP levels are significantly elevated in RCM as compared to CP.

PMID- 25820050
TI  - Prevalence of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Bangladeshi
      children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent prevalence data on rheumatic fever (RF) and rheumatic heart
      disease (RHD) are lacking in Bangladeshi population. AIM: We have done this
      national level cross-sectional survey to determine the prevalence of RF and RHD
      in Bangladeshi children. METHODS: Samples were drawn from three out of seven
      divisions of Bangladesh from both urban and rural areas. Trained and experienced
      enumerators visited households to suspect cases of RF or RHD in 5-19 years
      children by asking structured questions on symptoms and signs of RF and RHD (n =
      56,827). Then trained doctors again took history and examined them for RF/RHD. RF
      was defined according to the Modified Jones Criteria 1992. Doppler
      echocardiography was done to confirm the diagnosis in all suspected cases of
      RF/RHD. RESULTS: A total of 36 RF cases (new and old) and 16 Doppler
      echocardiography confirmed RHD cases were identified. Prevalence of RF and RHD
      was 0.9 per 1000 (95% confidence interval: 0.7-1.2) while prevalence of RF was
      0.6 per 1000 (95% CI: 0.4-0.9) and RHD 0.3 per 1000 (95% CI: 0.2-0.5).
      CONCLUSION: Observed prevalence of RF and RHD indicates that RF/RHD is
      disappearing from Bangladesh. However, studies using new technology of portable
      echocardiographic screening are needed.

PMID- 25820051
TI  - Comparing stress testing and fractional flow reserve to evaluate presence,
      location and extent of ischemia in coronary artery disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: FFR provides an accurate and reproducible assessment of the
      functional severity of coronary stenosis. Whereas stress testing remains the
      preferred initial modality for assessment of ischemia, there is limited data
      comparing it with FFR. We sought to determine the correlation between cardiac
      stress testing and coronary fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurement for
      assessing the presence, location, and burden of myocardial ischemia in patients
      referred for evaluation of coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: Over 5-year
      study period, of the 5420 consecutive coronary angiograms that were screened, 326
      patients had FFR measurements. Of these, 96 patients with FFR measurements who
      had a preceding stress test (stress echocardiography [SE] or myocardial perfusion
      imaging [MPI]) within a year were included. RESULTS: Of the 96 patients, there
      were 46 (48%) men and 50 (52%) women with a mean age of 61 +/- 10 years. SE was
      performed in 57 (59.3%) and MPI in 32 (40.7%) of patients. FFR was <=0.79 in 54
      (56%) patients. Stress testing had low sensitivity (55%) and specificity (47%)
      compared to FFR. The concordance between FFR and stress testing was low for both
      presence (k=0.03) and location (k=0.05) of the ischemic territory. The number of
      ischemic vascular territories was correctly estimated in only 39% of the stress
      tests. SE was more likely to overestimate and MPI more likely to underestimate
      extent of ischemia. CONCLUSIONS: In patients referred for evaluation of CAD,
      there was poor correlation between stress testing and FFR. A prospective study
      comparing these two modalities with FFR is needed.

PMID- 25820052
TI  - Inappropriate shock for myopotential over-sensing in a patient with subcutaneous
      ICD.
AB  - Inappropriate ICD shocks are common adverse events; they are mainly due to
      supraventricular arrhythmias and secondly are related to noise, undersensing,
      oversensing, device malfunctions. We present a case of inappropriate device
      therapy due to myopotential oversensing in a patient with a subcutaneous ICD (s
      ICD). A 58 years old male with an s-ICD during the device interrogation showed a
      previous episode of suspected sustained ventricular tachycardia at 210 bpm, which
      was effectively treated with ICD shock. The patient experienced the electrical
      shock while holding a big gas-cylinder in his arms. The EGM analysis revealed
      many irregular ventricular signals of low amplitude lasting for 24 s and
      interrupted by the shock. The device showed no malfunctions. This is the first
      case report of inappropriate S-ICD shock related to myopotential over-sensing. By
      recording intracardiac EGM, we demonstrated that the noise was created by the
      activity of the pectorals muscles.

PMID- 25820053
TI  - Iatrogenic mitral stenosis following transcatheter aortic valve replacement
      (TAVR).
AB  - A 57 year old female underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for
      severe aortic stenosis. Mild iatrogenic mitral stenosis was noted
      intraoperatively. Attempts to reposition the device were hampered by aortic
      angulation. One year later, severe mitral stenosis was confirmed on
      transoesophageal echocardiography. It is important to recognise that iatorgenic
      mitral stenosis due to TAVR may progress over time. Care should be taken to
      minimise the risk of this rare complication. 

PMID- 25820054
TI  - 3-D optical coherence tomographic image of bifurcation lesion treated with two
      Absorb scaffolds.

PMID- 25820055
TI  - Methemoglobinemia and arterial blood gas.

PMID- 25820056
TI  - Hypertrophy to failure: what goes wrong with the fibers of the heart?

PMID- 25820057
TI  - How to perform transeptal puncture.

PMID- 25820058
TI  - Value of FFR in clinical practice.
AB  - Fractional flow reserve is an important tool in the cardiac catheterization lab
      to assess the physiological significance of coronary lesions. This article
      discusses the basic concepts about FFR and its utility in clinical decision
      making. 

PMID- 25820059
TI  - Yoga: from cardiovascular benefit to the gates of God.

PMID- 25820060
TI  - A/H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccination: A retrospective evaluation of adverse
      maternal, fetal and neonatal outcomes in a cohort of pregnant women in Italy.
AB  - Although concerns about safety of influenza vaccination during pregnancy have
      been raised in the past, vaccination of pregnant women was recommended in many
      countries during the 2009 A/H1N1 pandemic influenza. A retrospective cohort study
      was conducted to evaluate the risk of adverse maternal, fetal and neonatal
      outcomes among pregnant women vaccinated with a MF59-adjuvanted A/H1N1 pandemic
      influenza vaccine. The study was carried out in four Italian regions (Piemonte,
      Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Lazio, and Puglia) among 102,077 pregnant women
      potentially exposed during the second or third trimester of gestation to the
      vaccination campaign implemented in 2009/2010. Based on data retrieved from the
      regional administrative databases, the statistical analysis was performed using
      the Cox proportional-hazards model, adjusting for the propensity score to account
      for the potential confounding effect due to the socio-demographic characteristics
      and the clinical and reproductive history of women. A total of 100,332 pregnant
      women were eligible for the analysis. Of these, 2003 (2.0%) received the A/H1N1
      pandemic influenza vaccination during the second or third trimester of gestation.
      We did not observe any statistically significant association between the A/H1N1
      pandemic influenza vaccination and different maternal outcomes (hospital
      admissions for influenza, pneumonia, hypertension, eclampsia, diabetes, thyroid
      disease, and anaemia), fetal outcomes (fetal death after the 22nd gestational
      week) and neonatal outcomes (pre-term birth, low birth weight, low 5-min Apgar
      score, and congenital malformations). Pre-existing health-risk conditions
      (hospital admissions and drug prescriptions for specific diseases before the
      onset of pregnancy) were observed more frequently among vaccinated women, thus
      suggesting that concomitant chronic conditions increased vaccination uptake. The
      results of this study add some evidence on the safety of A/H1N1 pandemic
      influenza vaccination during pregnancy but, because of the reduced statistical
      power, meta-analyses and large multi-centres studies are needed in order to
      obtain more conclusive results, especially for rare outcomes. 

PMID- 25820061
TI  - Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv) modified-live vaccine
      reduces virus transmission in experimental conditions.
AB  - Some vaccination strategies have shown good results in reducing the clinical
      outcomes of PRRS. Nevertheless the effect of vaccines on viral transmission is
      poorly described, so we aimed to fill this gap with the present study. Twelve
      Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) piglets, vaccinated against PRRSv at 3 weeks of age
      (Porcilis PRRS ID((r)), MSD), were inoculated at 31 days post-vaccination with a
      heterologous genogroup 1.1 strain, and put in contact with 12 vaccinated piglets
      during 49 days. The same protocol was carried out simultaneously with SPF non
      vaccinated piglets. Piglets were monitored individually for clinical symptoms on
      a daily basis and individual blood samples were taken twice a week. In inoculated
      piglets, the genome viral load specific to the inoculated strain was reduced and
      viraemia shortened in vaccinated piglets (28 days versus 38 days in non
      vaccinated piglets). In contact pigs, the challenge strain was detected in the
      serum of only one vaccinated piglet whereas it was detected in all contact non
      vaccinated piglets. Transmission parameters were estimated by a Bayesian analysis
      of transmission data in the two groups. The estimated transmission rate was 10
      times lower in vaccinated than in non-vaccinated piglets and the duration of
      infectiousness was reduced, leading to a reproduction ratio R significantly lower
      (0.30 [0.05-0.96] versus 5.42 [2.94-9.04] in non vaccinated piglets). Hence, in
      our experimental conditions, vaccination was able to decrease considerably PRRSv
      spread. A complementary evaluation in field conditions would be required to
      identify circumstances associated with infection control failures that can be
      observed in pig farms. 

PMID- 25820062
TI  - Accounting for personal and professional choices for pandemic influenza
      vaccination amongst English healthcare workers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are encouraged to get vaccinated during
      influenza pandemics to reduce their own, and patients', risk of infection, and to
      encourage their patients to get immunised. Despite extensive research on HCWs'
      receipt of vaccination, little is known about how HCWs articulate pandemic
      influenza vaccination advice to patients. AIMS: To explore HCWs' uptake of the
      A/H1N1 vaccine during the pandemic of 2009-2010, their recommendations to
      patients at the time, and their anticipated choices around influenza vaccination
      under different pandemic scenarios. METHOD: We conducted semi-structured
      interviews and focus groups with eight vaccinated and seventeen non-vaccinated
      HCWs from primary care practices in England. The data was analysed using thematic
      analysis. RESULTS: The HCWs constructed their receipt of vaccination as a
      personal choice informed by personal health history and perceptions of vaccine
      safety, while they viewed patients' vaccination as choices made following
      informed consent and medical guidelines. Some HCWs received the A/H1N1 vaccine
      under the influence of their local practice organizational norms and values.
      While non-vaccinated HCWs regarded patients' vaccination as patients' choice,
      some vaccinated HCWs saw it also as a public health issue. The non-vaccinated
      HCWs emphasised that they would not allow their personal choices to influence the
      advice they gave to patients, whereas some vaccinated HCWs believed that by
      getting vaccinated themselves they could provide a reassuring example to
      patients, particularly those who have concerns about influenza vaccination. All
      HCWs indicated they would accept vaccination under the severe pandemic scenario.
      However, most non-vaccinated HCWs expressed reticence to vaccinate under the mild
      pandemic scenario. CONCLUSIONS: Providing evidence-based arguments about the
      safety of new vaccines and the priority of public health over personal choice,
      and creating strong social norms for influenza vaccination as part of the
      organizational culture, should increase uptake of influenza vaccination among
      primary care HCWs and their patients.

PMID- 25820063
TI  - A cytomegalovirus-based vaccine provides long-lasting protection against lethal
      Ebola virus challenge after a single dose.
AB  - Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus; EBOV) is a highly lethal hemorrhagic disease virus
      that most recently was responsible for two independent 2014 outbreaks in multiple
      countries in Western Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
      respectively. Herein, we show that a cytomegalovirus (CMV)-based vaccine provides
      durable protective immunity from Ebola virus following a single vaccine dose.
      This study has implications for human vaccination against ebolaviruses, as well
      as for development of a 'disseminating' vaccine to target these viruses in wild
      African great apes. 

PMID- 25820065
TI  - Socioeconomic status and HIV vaccine preparedness studies in North America.
AB  - Educational level, employment, and income are key components of socioeconomic
      status (SES). This article is a systematic review of SES variables in North
      American countries, and their relationship to willingness to participate (WTP)
      and retention in a hypothetical preventive phase 3 HIV vaccine trial and in
      actual HIV vaccine trials. Men who have sex with men (MSM) tended to have higher
      educational levels, be more employed, and had higher income levels than injection
      drug users (IDU) and women at heterosexual risk (WAHR). In large part, there was
      no relationship between educational level and WTP, as well as between educational
      level and retention. Similarly, there was no relationship between employment and
      WTP. In WAHR who were African-American, those employed were less likely than
      others to complete the study at 18 months. The exact occupations of participants
      analyzed have not been specified, and specification of these occupations may help
      determine whether enhanced retention (ER) strategies are required. 

PMID- 25820064
TI  - Evaluation of the protective efficacy of four novel identified membrane
      associated proteins of Streptococcus suis serotype 2.
AB  - Streptococcus suis serotype 2 (S. suis 2) is an important zoonotic pathogen that
      can also cause epidemics of life-threatening infections in humans. Surface
      proteins of pathogens play a critical role in the interaction with host system or
      environment, as they take part in processes like virulence, cytotoxicity,
      adhesion, signaling or transport, etc. Thus, surface proteins identified by the
      screening of immunoproteomic techniques are promising vaccine candidates or
      diagnostic markers. In this study, four membrane associated proteins (MAP)
      identified by immunoproteomic method were cloned and expressed as recombinant
      proteins with his-tag. Screening for vaccine candidates were firstly performed by
      protection assay in vivo and immunization with Sbp markedly protected mice
      against systemic S. suis 2 infection. The immune responses and protective of Sbp
      were further evaluated. The results showed that Sbp could elicit a strong humoral
      antibody response and protect mice from lethal challenge with S. suis 2. The
      antiserum against Sbp could efficiently impede survival of bacterial in whole
      blood killing assay and conferred significant protection against S. suis 2
      infection in passive immunization assays. The findings indicate that Sbp may
      serve as an important factor in the pathogenesis of S. suis 2 and would be a
      promising subunit vaccine candidate. 

PMID- 25820066
TI  - Anthrax vaccine recipients lack antibody against the loop neutralizing
      determinant: A protective neutralizing epitope from Bacillus anthracis protective
      antigen.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Epitope-focused immunogens can elicit antibody against the loop
      neutralizing determinant (LND), a neutralizing epitope found within the 2beta2
      2beta3 loop of protective antigen (PA), which can protect rabbits from high-dose
      inhalation challenge with Bacillus anthracis Ames strain. Interestingly, data
      suggests that this epitope is relatively immunosilent in rabbits and non-human
      primates immunized with full length PA. METHODS: To determine whether the LND is
      immunosilent among humans vaccinated with PA, we screened antisera from AVA- or
      placebo-vaccinees from a clinical trial for antibody reactive with the LND.
      RESULTS: AVA-vaccinee sera had significant PA-specific antibody compared to
      placebo-vaccinee sera; however, sera from the two cohorts were indistinguishable
      with regard to the frequency of individuals with antibody specific for the LND.
      CONCLUSIONS: AVA-vaccinees have a low frequency of antibody reactive with the
      LND. As with rabbits and non-human primates, the elicitation of LND-specific
      antibody in humans appears to require immunization with an epitope-focused
      vaccine.

PMID- 25820067
TI  - Multiple factors affect immunogenicity of DNA plasmid HIV vaccines in human
      clinical trials.
AB  - Plasmid DNA vaccines have been licensed for use in domesticated animals because
      of their excellent immunogenicity, but none have yet been licensed for use in
      humans. Here we report a retrospective analysis of 1218 healthy human volunteers
      enrolled in 10 phase I clinical trials in which DNA plasmids encoding HIV
      antigens were administered. Elicited T-cell immune responses were quantified by
      validated intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) stimulated with HIV peptide
      pools. HIV-specific binding and neutralizing antibody activities were also
      analyzed using validated assays. Results showed that, in the absence of adjuvants
      and boosting with alternative vaccines, DNA vaccines elicited CD8+ and CD4+ T
      cell responses in an average of 13.3% (95% CI: 9.8-17.8%) and 37.7% (95% CI: 31.9
      43.8%) of vaccine recipients, respectively. Three vaccinations (vs. 2) improved
      the proportion of subjects with antigen-specific CD8+ responses (p=0.02), as did
      increased DNA dosage (p=0.007). Furthermore, female gender and participants
      having a lower body mass index were independently associated with higher CD4+ T
      cell response rate (p=0.001 and p=0.008, respectively). These vaccines elicited
      minimal neutralizing and binding antibody responses. These findings of the
      immunogenicity of HIV DNA vaccines in humans can provide guidance for future
      clinical trials. 

PMID- 25820068
TI  - High-yield production of recombinant virus-like particles of enterovirus 71 in
      Pichia pastoris and their protective efficacy against oral viral challenge in
      mice.
AB  - Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is one of the major causative pathogens of hand, foot and
      mouth disease (HFMD), which is highly prevalent in the Asia-Pacific regions.
      Severe HFMD cases with neurological complications and even death are often
      associated with EV71 infections. However, no licensed EV71 vaccine is currently
      available. Recombinant virus-like particles (VLPs) of EV71 have been produced and
      shown to be a promising vaccine candidate in preclinical studies. However, the
      performance of current recombinant expression systems for EV71 VLP production
      remains unsatisfactory with regard to VLP yield and manufacturing procedure, and
      thus hinders further product development. In this study, we evaluated the
      expression of EV71 VLPs in Pichia pastoris and determined their protective
      efficacy in mouse models of EV71 infections. We showed that EV71 VLPs could be
      produced at high levels up to 4.9% of total soluble protein in transgenic P.
      pastoris yeast co-expressing P1 and 3CD proteins of EV71. The resulting yeast
      produced VLPs potently induced neutralizing antibodies against homologous and
      heterologous EV71 strains in mice. More importantly, maternal immunization with
      VLPs protected neonatal mice in both intraperitoneal and oral challenge
      experiments. Collectively, these results demonstrated the success of simple, high
      yield production of EV71 VLPs in transgenic P. pastoris, thus lifting the major
      roadblock in commercial development of VLP-based EV71 vaccines. 

PMID- 25820069
TI  - Development of a dual vaccine for prevention of Brucella abortus infection and
      Escherichia coli O157:H7 intestinal colonization.
AB  - Zoonoses that affect human and animal health have an important economic impact.
      In the study now presented, a bivalent vaccine has been developed that has the
      potential for preventing the transmission from cattle to humans of two bacterial
      pathogens: Brucella abortus and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). A
      66kDa chimeric antigen, composed by EspA, Intimin, Tir, and H7 flagellin (EITH7)
      from STEC, was constructed and expressed in B. abortus Deltapgm vaccine strain
      (BabDeltapgm). Mice orally immunized with BabDeltapgm(EITH7) elicited an immune
      response with the induction of anti-EITH7 antibodies (IgA) that clears an
      intestinal infection of E. coli O157:H7 three times faster (t=4 days) than mice
      immunized with BabDeltapgm carrier strain (t=12 days). As expected, mice
      immunized with BabDeltapgm(EITH7) strain also elicited a protective immune
      response against B. abortus infection. A Brucella-based vaccine platform is
      described capable of eliciting a combined protective immune response against two
      bacterial pathogens with diverse lifestyles-the intracellular pathogen B. abortus
      and the intestinal extracellular pathogen STEC. 

PMID- 25820071
TI  - mAb C19 targets a novel surface marker for the isolation of human cardiac
      progenitor cells from human heart tissue and differentiated hESCs.
AB  - AIMS: Cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) have been isolated from adult and
      developing hearts using an anti-mouse Sca-1 antibody. However, the absence of a
      human Sca-1 homologue has hampered the clinical application of the CPCs.
      Therefore, we generated novel monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specifically raised
      against surface markers expressed by resident human CPCs. Here, we explored the
      suitability of one of these mAbs, mAb C19, for the identification, isolation and
      characterization of CPCs from fetal heart tissue and differentiating cultures of
      human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). METHODS & RESULTS: Using whole-cell
      immunization, mAbs were raised against Sca-1+ CPCs and screened for reactivity to
      various CPC lines by flow cytometry. mAb C19 was found to be specific for Sca-1+
      CPCs, with high cell surface binding capabilities. mAb C19 stained small stem
      like cells in cardiac tissue sections. Moreover, during differentiation of hESCs
      towards cardiomyocytes, a transient population of cells with mAb C19 reactivity
      was identified and isolated using magnetic-activated cell sorting. Their cell
      fate was tracked and found to improve cardiomyocyte purity from hESC-derived
      cultures. mAb C19+ CPCs, from both hESC differentiation and fetal heart tissues,
      were maintained and expanded in culture, while retaining their CPC-like
      characteristics and their ability to further differentiate into cardiomyocytes by
      stimulation with TGFbeta1. Finally, gene expression profiling of these mAb C19+
      CPCs suggested a highly angiogenic nature, which was further validated by cell
      based angiogenesis assays. CONCLUSION: mAb C19 is a new surface marker for the
      isolation of multipotent CPCs from both human heart tissues and differentiating
      hESCs.

PMID- 25820070
TI  - Evaluation of a Salmonella Enteritidis vaccine and related ELISA for respective
      induction and assessment of acquired immunity to the vaccine and/or Echinacea
      purpurea in Awassi Ewes.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate an experimental Salmonella Enteritidis (SE)
      bacterin and an indirect ELISA system to assess quantitatively the acquired
      immunity in Awassi ewes to the vaccine and/or Echinacea purpurea (EP) dried
      roots. Four treatments of the ewes were included in the experimental design, with
      6 ewes/treatment. The first treatment (T1) had the controls that were non
      vaccinated and non-treated with EP. The T2 ewes were only treated with EP. The T3
      and T4 ewes were vaccinated at D1 (initiation of trial) and D10, while the T4
      ewes were additionally administered the EP dried roots. Blood was collected from
      the jugular vein of all ewes at D1, D10, D21 and D45. The construction of the
      vaccine and the ELISA are detailed within the manuscript. The ELISA was able to
      detect quantitatively the significant acquired primary and secondary immunity to
      the vaccine in T3 and T4 ewes, compared to their low level of background
      immunities at initiation of the experiment (p<0.05). In addition, the ELISA
      detected the absence of seroconversion at all blood sampling times (p>0.05) in T1
      control ewes, and in the T2 ewes that were given only the (EP) (p>0.05).
      Moreover, the ELISA was able to uncover the significant seroconversion of
      secondary immune response in T4 ewes at D21 compared to that at D10 (p<0.05), and
      the absence of significant seroconversion of secondary response in T3 ewes. This
      is the first work in literature that reports the need to supplement the
      vaccination by the experimental SE bacterin with daily oral intake of 250mg of EP
      dried roots, effective the first vaccination day and up to 21 days, for obtaining
      a statistically significant seroconversion. 

PMID- 25820073
TI  - Nickel-catalyzed direct thiolation of unactivated C(sp(3))-H bonds with
      disulfides.
AB  - The first nickel-catalyzed thiolation of unactivated C(sp(3))-H bonds with
      disulfides was described. This transformation uses (dppp)NiCl2 as a catalyst and
      BINOL as a ligand, which are efficient for the thiolation of beta-methyl C(sp(3))
      H bonds of a broad range of aliphatic carboxamides. The reaction provides an
      efficient synthetic pathway to access diverse thioethers. 

PMID- 25820072
TI  - Maternal occupational exposure to ionizing radiation and major structural birth
      defects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ionizing radiation (IR) is known to be carcinogenic and mutagenic,
      but little is known about the association between maternal occupational exposure
      to IR and birth defects. METHODS: We studied 38,009 mothers who participated in
      the National Birth Defects Prevention Study and delivered between 1997 and 2009.
      We assessed odds ratios [ORs] for the association between maternal occupations
      with potential exposure to IR and 39 birth defects. RESULTS: We observed
      significant odds ratios (ORs) for isolated hydrocephaly (adjusted OR [AOR], 2.1;
      95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-4.2), isolated anotia/microtia (AOR, 2.0; 95%
      CI, 1.0-4.0), isolated colonic atresia (crude OR, 7.5; 95% CI, 2.5-22.3),
      isolated omphalocele (AOR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.1-4.6) and isolated anencephaly (crude
      OR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.06-0.94). We also observed a nonsignificant OR for birth
      defects in aggregate (AOR, 2.0; 95% CI, 0.9-4.6) among mothers with potential
      occupational exposure to fluoroscopy. CONCLUSION: We assessed 39 birth defects,
      observing that maternal occupations with potential exposure to IR were associated
      with a significantly increased risk for 4 birth defects and a significantly
      protected risk for 1 birth defect. These results should be interpreted cautiously
      because our measurement of exposure is qualitative, some of these associations
      may be due to occupational exposures that are correlated with IR and some may be
      due to chance. However, these findings serve as the first evaluation of these
      relationships in a large study and may be useful for generating hypotheses for
      future studies.

PMID- 25820074
TI  - Duodenal diverted sleeve gastrectomy with ileal interposition does not cause
      biliary salt malabsorption.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Duodenal diverted sleeve gastrectomy with ileal interposition (DDSG
      II) is a bariatric-metabolic operation designed to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus
      (T2DM). It is restrictive (SG) but also acts on the small bowel with functional
      effects. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether or not it
      is also a malabsorptive operation. METHODS: Twelve obese patients (9 female and 3
      male) affected by T2DM had DDSG-II. Follow-up was every 3 months, and the results
      after 1 year are reported here. Clinical conditions, related to diabetes and
      malnutrition, changes in weight, body mass index, fasting glucose plasma levels,
      HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin %), basal insulin, vitamin B12, folic acid, vitamin D,
      total proteins, albumin, and hemoglobin were recorded. Basal plasma levels of
      FGF19 (pg/mL) and of 7alpha-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one (C4) (MUg/dL) were also
      determined for the diagnosis of biliary salt malabsorption. The results were
      expressed as mean+/-SEM, and the differences between times compared by the Mann
      Whitney U test; P<.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: After 1 year, all
      patients had a significant weight loss (-33.2+/-3 kg) with T2DM remission
      according to the American Diabetes Association criteria (11), criteria. No
      significant changes in total proteins, albumin, hemoglobin, and vitamins (B6,
      B12, and D) were detected. C4 did not change after the operation (2+/-.5 ug/dL
      versus 1.6+/-.5 ug/dL), whereas FGF19 significantly increased (from 85+/-11.2
      pg/mL to 166.4+/-28.2 pg/mL, P<.04). Only 2 patients had mild symptoms of
      malabsorption. CONCLUSIONS: DDSG-II is effective for treatment of T2DM obese
      patients, increases the enterokine FGF19, and does not cause biliary salt
      malabsorption.

PMID- 25820075
TI  - Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is associated with an increased exposure to ionizing
      radiation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery provides for a reliable and sustainable solution to
      the obesity epidemic. The gold standard bariatric surgical procedure is the Roux
      en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). Assessment of this population preoperatively and work
      up of postoperative complications often includes radiographic evaluation.
      Repeated exposure to radiation is not without complication. OBJECTIVE: Assess the
      association between the RYGB and exposure to ionizing radiation. SETTING:
      Academic medical center. METHODS: Patients were identified by their ICD-9 code as
      having had a RYGB at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) from 2002 to 2012.
      The number of abdominal and pelvis (A/P) computed tomography (CT) scans performed
      was determined and converted into an effective dose (ED) and expressed as
      milliSeiverts (mSv) to illustrate the biologic effects of radiation. RESULTS:
      From 2002 to 2012, 1789 primary laparoscopic RYGBs were completed. Fifty-five
      revisional operations were completed on 51 patients. Of these, 38 had both their
      index and second operation at the MGH. A total of 1065 A/P CTs were completed in
      the laparoscopic RYGB population (mean = .6), and 106 A/P CTs were done in the
      revisional surgery cohort (mean = 2.8). The mean ED of radiation was 56.1 mSv and
      19.5 mSv for the index and revisional populations, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:
      This study demonstrated the significant cumulative radiation exposure
      attributable to A/P CTs. This exposes the patient to a potential increased risk
      of malignancy as well as imposing a financial burden on the healthcare system.
      The findings of this study raise the awareness of an increased risk of radiation
      exposure for this population and the necessity of creation of a dedicated
      algorithm for the mindful utilization of CT imaging.

PMID- 25820076
TI  - Modification of Belsey (Mark IV) fundoplication in the management of hiatal
      hernia and gastroesophageal reflux disease after sleeve gastrectomy: a case
      report.

PMID- 25820077
TI  - A tribute to Dr. Edward E. Mason, M.D.

PMID- 25820078
TI  - Effect of bismuth subgallate on the quality of life in patients undergoing
      Scopinaro's biliopancreatic diversion.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Malabsorptive techniques, such as biliopancreatic diversion,
      described by Scopinaro, can cause disabling steatorrhea that affects patients'
      quality of life. Although it usually improves over time, a reduced group of
      patients can require treatment. The objective of the present study was to assess
      the effects of bismuth subgallate on the quality of life (QoL) of patients
      undergoing Scopinaro's biliopancreatic diversion (SBPD) for morbid obesity. The
      study was conducted at the Hospital Universitario Insular de Gran Canaria, Spain,
      a public hospital. METHODS: A prospective, observational study in clinical
      practice was performed to ascertain the effects of bismuth subgallate on QoL in a
      group of patients undergoing SBPD who reported disabling diarrhea and related
      odor. Patients received treatment with 2 courses of oral bismuth subgallate, 200
      mg every 8 hours for 12 weeks, with a 4-week rest period. Pretreatment and
      posttreatment surveys were performed. The Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index
      (GIQLI) questionnaire was used, which evaluates symptoms, physical status,
      emotional status, social performance, and treatment effects. RESULTS: Sixty
      patients--90% women--with a mean age of 45.6 years were included in the study,
      65% of which had superobesity. GIQLI scores obtained at treatment completion were
      significantly higher--both overall and in the various domains--than those
      obtained before treatment onset (P<.01). When the morbid obesity and superobesity
      groups were analyzed separately, a significant increase in the scores for both
      patient groups was also observed (P< .01). CONCLUSIONS: In clinical practice,
      treatment with bismuth subgallate resulted in a short-term improvement of QoL for
      patients undergoing SBPD.

PMID- 25820079
TI  - Endometrial histology in severely obese bariatric surgery candidates: an
      exploratory analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Endometrial pathology risk has been linked to obesity; however,
      little is known of its prevalence in severely obese women not seeking care for
      endometrial pathology associated symptoms. This pilot study was designed to
      explore the frequency and risk factors associated with endometrial pathology in
      cancer-free, severely obese, bariatric surgery candidates using the Pipelle
      endometrial sampling technique (SureFlex Preferred Curette, Bioteque America,
      Inc, New Taipei City, Taiwan). METHODS: Twenty-nine severely obese bariatric
      surgery candidates with intact uteruses and no history of endometrial cancer or
      endometrial ablation were included in this subanalysis from a larger cohort of
      47. Endometrial samples were obtained using a Pipelle endometrial suction curette
      at a single time point before surgery. Logistic regression was used to assess the
      relationship between body mass index and endometrial pathology when adjusting for
      age and race. RESULTS: Of the 29 successful biopsies, 8 (27.6%) were classified
      as abnormal endometrium: 1 was classified as complex atypical hyperplasia, 1 was
      classified as hyperplasia without atypia, 4 samples were identified with
      endometrial polyps, and 2 samples were identified with metaplasia. None presented
      with cancer. Increasing body mass index was significantly associated with higher
      risk of abnormal endometrium (OR = 1.19, 95% CI [1.03-1.36], P = .01).
      CONCLUSIONS: The findings in this sample suggest that obesity may be associated
      with increased risk of having undiagnosed endometrial pathology. More thorough
      examination of relationships between levels of obesity and endometrial pathology
      are needed to better characterize high cancer risk groups who may benefit from
      introducing new screening measures.

PMID- 25820081
TI  - One-stage robotically assisted laparoscopic biliopancreatic diversion with
      duodenal switch: analysis of 179 patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch (BPD-DS) has been
      reported to be the most effective procedure for weight loss and minimizing
      postoperative weight regain. However, because of its technical complexity and
      concerns for higher operative and metabolic complications, it has not obtained
      widespread acceptance among patients or bariatric surgeons. Nevertheless, the use
      of robotic systems has been increasing because of its ability to overcome
      technical challenges, such as torque, freedom of movement, and precision. The
      objective of this study was to review the efficacy and safety of robotic
      assistance in laparoscopic BPD-DS. METHODS: A prospectively maintained database
      of patients who underwent robotic-assisted laparoscopic BPD-DS between 2008 and
      2013 was reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: A total of 179 consecutive patients
      (137 female and 42 male) were included in the study. The mean age was 44 years
      (20-72 yr). Mean body mass index (BMI) was 50.3 kg/m(2) (35-78.8 kg/m(2)), and
      the number of preoperative co-morbidities was 6.6 (2-14). Mean operative time for
      a typical BPD-DS with appendectomy was 249 minutes (162-413 min), which increased
      to 278 minutes (193-463 min) in adhesiolysis associated cases and increased to
      272 minutes (186-431 min) if additional procedures, such as hiatal hernia repair,
      cholecystectomy, or Meckel's diverticulum resection, were included. All
      procedures were completed as a single-stage operation. There were no major
      intraoperative complications. Two patients had unexpected returns to the
      operating room during the same admission: one for an endoscopic release of an
      inadvertently sutured nasogastric tube and the other for port site infection.
      Median hospital stay was 2.7 days (1-13). Two patients had significantly longer
      stays for carpal tunnel syndrome exacerbation (9 d) and port site infection (13
      d). Postoperatively, the median excess weight loss at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, and
      36 months with follow-up of 71% of patients at 1 year, 45% of patients at 2
      years, and 15% of patients at 5 years, was 19%, 35.9%, 53.1%, 65.6%, 74.6%,
      79.9%, and 75.8%, respectively. Diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia went
      into remission 95.5%, 92.1%, and 92% of the time, respectively. No mortality
      occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Robotically assisted duodenoileal anastomosis during
      laparoscopic BPD-DS is a feasible, well-tolerated, and effective alternative to
      assist in the technically challenging part of the operation.

PMID- 25820080
TI  - Hospital volume and outcomes for laparoscopic gastric bypass and adjustable
      gastric banding in the modern era.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Over the past decade, there has been a rapid decline in adverse
      events after bariatric surgery. As a result, it is possible that the influence of
      hospital volume on outcomes has attenuated over time. The objective of the
      present study was to examine whether the relationship between hospital volume and
      adverse events has persisted in the era of laparoscopic surgery. This study is
      based on analysis of State Inpatient Databases (SID) for 12 states from 2006
      through 2011, which included 446,127 patients. METHODS: Using hospital discharge
      data, changes in serious complications, reoperations and mortality over time, and
      the impact of hospital volume on outcomes among patients undergoing laparoscopic
      adjustable gastric band (LAGB) and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB)
      were studied. Hospitals were stratified by operative volume, and using
      multivariable logistic regression to adjust for patient characteristics and
      procedure-type, the relationships between hospital volume and outcomes during 3 2
      year periods were examined: 2006-2007, 2008-2009, and 2010-2011. RESULTS: The
      rate of reoperations and mortality were low, and there were no significant
      differences between the highest (>125 cases/yr) and lowest (<50 cases/yr) volume
      hospitals for both LAGB and LRYGB. The volume-outcome relationship was most
      prominent when examining rates of adjusted odds ratios for serious complications
      at the lowest volume hospitals compared with the highest volume hospitals (LAGB:
      1.65 [CI: 1.18, 2.30] for 2006-2007, 1.81 [CI: 1.36, 2.41] for 2008-2009, and
      2.08 [CI:1.40, 3.09] for 2010-2011; LRYGB: 1.55 [CI:1.23, 1.95] for 2006-2007,
      1.39 [CI:1.09, 1.76], and 1.39 [CI:1.07, 1.80] for 2010-2011). CONCLUSIONS:
      Outcomes improved over the study period at both high- and low-volume volume
      hospitals. There remain significant differences in serious complications between
      the highest and lowest volume hospitals for both stapled and nonstapled
      procedures.

PMID- 25820082
TI  - Health-related quality of life after bariatric surgery: a systematic review of
      prospective long-term studies.
AB  - Impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is common in bariatric surgery
      candidates and is often one of the motivating factors for seeking bariatric
      surgery. Although many studies have reported changes in HRQoL after bariatric
      surgery, few are long-term prospective studies and no systematic review has been
      conducted. A systematic database search identified studies reporting HRQoL
      preoperatively and>=5 years after bariatric surgery. Change in HRQoL over time
      was the outcome variable, divided into primary and secondary outcomes. Seven
      prospective cohort studies met the inclusion criteria. Eight HRQoL measures and 6
      surgical methods were identified. Long-term follow-up time ranged from 5-10
      years, sample sizes from 44 to 655 patients, and follow-up rates from 61% to 92%.
      None of the 7 studies were randomized controlled trials, and only 2 studies used
      control groups. Six of 7 studies showed statistically significant improvements in
      all of the primary outcomes, and 1 study showed statistically significant
      improvements in 1 of 2 primary outcomes. Of the statistically significant HRQoL
      improvements, 92% were clinically meaningful. Peak improvements in primary HRQoL
      outcomes were typically observed during the first years of follow-up, followed by
      a gradual decline that seemed to stabilize 5 years postoperatively. Long-term
      HRQoL scores typically remained improved relative to preoperative scores but were
      somewhat below population norm scores. In conclusion, while bariatric surgery
      candidates reported impaired HRQoL presurgically, their HRQoL improved
      considerably after bariatric surgery and much of the initial HRQoL improvements
      were maintained over the long term. 

PMID- 25820083
TI  - Improvement in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome in
      adolescents undergoing bariatric surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic
      liver disease in children. It is linked to obesity and the metabolic syndrome
      (MS), predisposing to future cirrhosis. The objective of this study was to
      demonstrate the effects that weight loss achieved with laparoscopic adjustable
      gastric band (LAGB) has on the metabolic parameters and NAFLD scores of obese
      adolescents with evidence of fatty liver disease. METHODS: Adolescents undergoing
      LAGB were evaluated for NAFLD with evidence of fatty liver on preoperative
      sonogram, serum biochemistry, or both between 2005 and 2011. Primary endpoint was
      change in NAFLD scores after LAGB and secondary endpoint change in MS criteria.
      RESULTS: Fifty-six out of 155 adolescents had evidence of fatty liver disease at
      presentation. The group consisted of 17 (30%) male and 39 (70%) females, mean age
      16.1 years (range 14-17.8 yr). Preoperative body mass index (BMI) was 48.8
      kg/m(2) (+/-7) dropping to 37.9 kg/m(2) (+/-8.3) at 12 months and 36.8 kg/m(2)
      (+/-8.2) at 24 months. Fifteen (27%) patients met the criteria for MS. When
      comparing 1-year postsurgery to presurgery, the NAFLD score decreased by an
      average of .68 (SD = 1.03, P<.01). The 2-year NAFLD score decreased by a mean of
      .38 (SD = .99, P = .01). The reoperation rate for band/port related complications
      was 10.7% at 2 years with no mortality. MS rates improved from 27% to 2% at 2
      years (P< .01). CONCLUSIONS: LAGB is a safe and effective operation for obese
      adolescents with NAFLD. There was significant improvement in NAFLD scores and
      resolution of MS.

PMID- 25820084
TI  - Synthesis of diastereomerically pure Lys(Nepsilon-lipoyl) building blocks and
      their use in Fmoc/tBu solid phase synthesis of lipoyl-containing peptides for
      diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis.
AB  - Primary Biliary Cirrhosis is an immune-mediated disease in which one of the
      epitopes recognized by antimitochondrial autoantibodies is a lipoylated fragment
      of the PDC-E2 protein. Accordingly, the synthesis of lipoylated peptides as
      diagnostic tools is a relevant target. Up to now, the proper tools for the
      introduction of lipoylation on building blocks to be used in Fmoc/tBu solid phase
      peptide synthesis (SPPS) are lacking, and the role of chirality in lipoylation
      remains poorly studied. In this paper, we present the synthesis of lipoylated
      lysine derivatives as pure diastereomeric building blocks suitable for Fmoc/tBu
      SPPS and their introduction in relevant peptide sequences to possibly serve as
      synthetic probes for the development of novel diagnostic tools for this disease.
      The optimization of the synthesis of lipoylated building blocks derived from
      racemic, (R)-, and (S)-alpha-lipoic acid is described. Synthesis of peptide
      probes incorporating lipoylation is described. An insight regarding the cleavage
      of lipoylated peptides is given, as well as a method to oxidize or reduce the 1,2
      dithiolane ring of the lipoyl moiety directly on the peptide without any
      subsequent purification.

PMID- 25820085
TI  - Cooling of burns: Mechanisms and models.
AB  - The role of cooling in the acute management of burns is widely accepted in
      clinical practice, and is a cornerstone of basic first aid in burns. This has
      been underlined in a number of animal models. The mechanism by which it delivers
      its benefit is poorly understood, but there is a reduction in burns progression
      over the first 48 h, reduced healing time, and some subjective improvements in
      scarring when cooling is administered after burning. Intradermal temperature
      normalises within a matter of seconds to a few minutes, yet the benefits of even
      delayed cooling persist, implying it is not simply the removal of thermal energy
      from the damaged tissues. Animal models have used oedema formation, preservation
      of dermal perfusion, healing time and hair retention as indicators of burns
      severity, and have shown cooling to improve these indices, but pharmacological or
      immunological blockade of humoural and cellular mediators of inflammation did not
      reproduce the benefit of cooling. More recently, some studies of tissue from
      human and animal burns have shown consistent, reproducible, temporal changes in
      gene expression in burned tissues. Here, we review the experimental evidence of
      the role and mechanism of cooling in burns management, and suggest future
      research directions that may eventually lead to improved treatment outcomes.

PMID- 25820086
TI  - Increase in cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) in specific
      areas of the mouse brain by acute caffeine administration.
AB  - Caffeine produces a variety of behavioral effects including increased alertness,
      reduced food intake, anxiogenic effects, and dependence upon repeated exposure.
      Although many of the effects of caffeine are mediated by its ability to block
      adenosine receptors, it is possible that other neural substrates, such as cocaine
      and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART), may be involved in the effects of
      caffeine. Indeed, a recent study demonstrated that repeated caffeine
      administration increases CART in the mouse striatum. However, it is not clear
      whether acute caffeine administration alters CART in other areas of the brain. To
      explore this possibility, we investigated the dose- and time-dependent changes in
      CART immunoreactivity (CART-IR) after a single dose of caffeine in mice. We found
      that a high dose of caffeine (100 mg/kg) significantly increased CART-IR 2 h
      after administration in the nucleus accumbens shell (AcbSh), dorsal bed nucleus
      of the stria terminalis (dBNST), central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA),
      paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN), arcuate hypothalamic nucleus (Arc),
      and locus coeruleus (LC), and returned to control levels after 8 h. But this
      increase was not observed in other brain areas. In addition, caffeine
      administration at doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg appears to produce dose-dependent
      increases in CART-IR in these brain areas; however, the magnitude of increase in
      CART-IR observed at a dose of 50 mg/kg was similar or greater than that observed
      at a dose of 100 mg/kg. This result suggests that CART-IR in AcbSh, dBNST, CeA,
      PVN, Arc, and LC is selectively affected by caffeine administration.

PMID- 25820087
TI  - Use of the New Antiplatelet Agents in Acute Coronary Syndromes: Limitations
      Related to Patient Characteristics.

PMID- 25820088
TI  - Two-stage observer based offset-free MPC.
AB  - This paper addresses design of model predictive control (MPC) for dynamic systems
      in the presence of disturbances. For the systems with disturbances, it is common
      to use observers to estimate states and disturbances, allowing control algorithm
      to reject disturbances. In this paper, we demonstrate how one can extend model
      predictive control for systems with disturbances by applying full state and
      disturbance observer. To this aim, a two-stage approach is proposed where the
      observer design procedure is completely decoupled from the MPC problem, known as
      the separation principle. We focus on the decoupling principal and it is shown
      that the observer can be designed independently via a norm minimization problem
      to reduce effects of disturbances and model mismatch. On the other hand, the MPC
      law is obtained using the multi-parametric quadratic programming approach where
      the parameters are the components of the state vector. 

PMID- 25820089
TI  - Design of RTDA controller for industrial process using SOPDT model with minimum
      or non-minimum zero.
AB  - This research paper focuses on the design and development of simplified RTDA
      control law computation formulae for SOPDT process with minimum or non-minimum
      zero. The design of RTDA control scheme consists of three main components namely
      process output prediction, model prediction update and control action
      computation. The systematic approach for computation of the above three
      components for SOPDT process with minimum or non-minimum zero is developed in
      this paper. The design, implementation and performance evaluation of the
      developed controller is demonstrated via simulation examples. The closed loop
      equation, block diagram representation and theoretical stability derivation for
      RTDA controller are developed. The performance of proposed controller is compared
      with IMC, SPC, MPC and PID controller and it is demonstrated on Industrial non
      linear CSTR process. 

PMID- 25820090
TI  - Adaptive control schemes for improving dynamic performance of efficiency
      optimized induction motor drives.
AB  - Model Based Control (MBC) is one of the energy optimal controllers used in vector
      controlled Induction Motor (IM) for controlling the excitation of motor in
      accordance with torque and speed. MBC offers energy conservation especially at
      part-load operation, but it creates ripples in torque and speed during load
      transition, leading to poor dynamic performance of the drive. This study
      investigates the opportunity for improving dynamic performance of a three-phase
      IM operating with MBC and proposes three control schemes: (i) MBC with a low pass
      filter (ii) torque producing current (iqs) injection in the output of speed
      controller (iii) Variable Structure Speed Controller (VSSC). The pre and post
      operation of MBC during load transition is also analyzed. The dynamic performance
      of a 1-hp, three-phase squirrel-cage IM with mine-hoist load diagram is tested.
      Test results are provided for the conventional field-oriented (constant flux)
      control and MBC (adjustable excitation) with proposed schemes. The effectiveness
      of proposed schemes is also illustrated for parametric variations. The test
      results and subsequent analysis confer that the motor dynamics improves
      significantly with all three proposed schemes in terms of overshoot/undershoot
      peak amplitude of torque and DC link power in addition to energy saving during
      load transitions.

PMID- 25820091
TI  - MY APPROACH to the long QT syndrome (LQTS).

PMID- 25820092
TI  - MY APPROACH to low-level troponin elevations.

PMID- 25820093
TI  - Elevated cerebrospinal fluid endothelin 1 associated with neurogenic pulmonary
      edema in children with enterovirus 71 encephalitis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Neurogenic pulmonary edema (NPE) is a fatal complication in children
      with enterovirus 71 (EV71) encephalitis. Endothelin 1 (ET-1), a potent
      vasoconstrictor, can induce pulmonary edema in rats via intrathecal injections.
      Thus, it was hypothesized that ET-1 in the central nervous system may correlate
      with NPE in children with EV71 encephalitis. METHODS: Clinical data and ET-1 in
      the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were compared between three groups: (1) EV71
      encephalitis with NPE; (2) EV71 encephalitis without NPE; and (3) non-EV71
      aseptic meningitis. ET-1 immunostaining was performed on the brainstem of autopsy
      patients. RESULTS: The EV71 with NPE group showed significantly increased CSF
      levels of ET-1 compared to the EV71 without NPE and the non-EV71 aseptic
      meningitis groups (both p<0.01). The optimum cut-off point of ET-1 to predict NPE
      in EV71 patients, based on the receiver operating characteristic curve, was 0.5
      pg/ml (sensitivity 83%, specificity 100%). Immunostaining in the brainstem showed
      increased ET-1 expression, mainly in the oligodendrocytes, in EV71 with NPE
      patients compared with control patients. CONCLUSION: ET-1 in the central nervous
      system may play a role in the development of NPE in children with EV71 infection
      and could be used as a biomarker or therapeutic target for NPE in EV71
      encephalitis.

PMID- 25820094
TI  - Eosinophilic pleural effusion due to Spirometra mansoni spargana: a case report
      and review of the literature.
AB  - A 36-year-old female presented with an eosinophilic pleural effusion. The
      eosinophilic pleural effusion was considered to have been caused by a parasitic
      infection. Spirometra mansoni spargana was confirmed by semi-rigid thoracoscopy.
      About 2 months after treatment with praziquantel for 3 days, the pleural effusion
      had disappeared on the chest roentgenogram. 

PMID- 25820095
TI  - Tuberculosis risk-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms do not show
      association with leprosy in Chinese population.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Leprosy and tuberculosis (TB) are chronic granulomatous infectious
      diseases. As well as pathogen and environmental factors, host genetic factors
      make a substantial contribution to susceptibility to both diseases. More
      importantly, leprosy and TB also have pathogenic mechanisms and clinical features
      in common. In this study, the genetic association between leprosy and TB was
      investigated in a Chinese Han population. METHODS: A genetic association study
      that included 46 TB susceptibility single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was
      performed, involving 1150 leprosy cases and 1150 controls from the Chinese Han
      population. The Sequenom MassARRAY system was used. RESULTS: No significant
      association was found between the 46 SNPs and leprosy. Therefore, according to
      the present study, there is no shared susceptibility locus between leprosy and TB
      in the Chinese Han population. CONCLUSIONS: Although leprosy and TB have a number
      of similar characteristics, no shared susceptibility loci were found in the
      Chinese Han population. Thus, this study demonstrated that the genetic basis of
      the pathogenesis of the two diseases may vary greatly.

PMID- 25820096
TI  - Rabies in Saudi Arabia: a need for epidemiological data.
AB  - Rabies is endemic in animals in the Arabian Peninsula. Although Saudi Arabia is
      the largest country in the Peninsula, little has been published about the rabies
      situation in the country. A total of 11,069 animal bites to humans were reported
      during 2007-2009, and 40 animals suspected of rabies were examined for rabies
      infection from 2005 through 2010. Results suggest that animal-related injuries in
      Saudi Arabia remain a public health problem, with feral dogs accounting for the
      majority of bites to humans and for the majority of animals found to be rabid.
      Over the last 10 years, no confirmed human rabies case has been reported. More
      detailed information about the epidemiology of animal bites and that of animal
      rabies in Saudi Arabia would be of great interest, notably to provide a basis on
      which vaccination recommendations could be made for the numerous international
      travellers visiting the country.

PMID- 25820097
TI  - Non-coding RNA in control of gene regulatory programs in cardiac development and
      disease.
AB  - Organogenesis of the vertebrate heart is a highly specialized process involving
      progressive specification and differentiation of distinct embryonic cardiac
      progenitor cell populations driven by specialized gene programming events.
      Likewise, the onset of pathologies in the adult heart, including cardiac
      hypertrophy, involves the reactivation of embryonic gene programs. In both cases,
      these intricate genomic events are temporally and spatially regulated by complex
      signaling networks and gene regulatory networks. Apart from well-established
      transcriptional mechanisms, increasing evidence indicates that gene programming
      in both the developing and the diseased myocardium are under epigenetic control
      by non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). MicroRNAs regulate gene expression at the post
      transcriptional level, and numerous studies have now established critical roles
      for this species of tiny RNAs in a broad range of aspects from cardiogenesis
      towards adult heart failure. Recent reports now also implicate the larger family
      of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in these processes as well. Here we discuss the
      involvement of these two ncRNA classes in proper cardiac development and
      hypertrophic disease processes of the adult myocardium. This article is part of a
      Special Issue entitled: Non-coding RNAs. 

PMID- 25820098
TI  - Segmental marking: A new technique to prevent pedicle twisting.

PMID- 25820099
TI  - Binding-induced, turn-on fluorescence of the EGFR/ERBB kinase inhibitor,
      lapatinib.
AB  - We report the photophysical properties, binding-induced turn-on emission, and
      fluorescence imaging of the cellular uptake and distribution of lapatinib, an
      EGFR/ERBB inhibitor. Lapatinib, a type II, i.e. inactive state, inhibitor that
      targets the ATP binding pocket of the EGFR family of receptor tyrosine kinases.
      DFT calculations predict that the 6-furanylquinazoline core of lapatinib should
      exhibit an excited state with charge transfer character and an S0 to S1
      transition energy of 3.4 eV. Absorption confirms an optical transition in the
      near UV to violet, while fluorescence spectroscopy shows that photoemission is
      highly sensitive to solvent polarity. The hydrophobicity of lapatinib leads to
      fluorescent aggregates in solution, however, binding to the lipid-carrier
      protein, BSA or to the kinase domain of ERBB2, produces spectroscopically
      distinct photoemission. Confocal fluorescence microscopy imaging of lapatinib
      uptake in ERBB2-overexpressing MCF7 and BT474 cells reveals pools of
      intracellular inhibitor with emission profiles consistent with aggregated
      lapatinib. 

PMID- 25820100
TI  - Calculus formation: nurses' decision-making in abortion-related care.
AB  - Nurses routinely provide care to patients in ethically challenging situations. To
      explore the continuum between conscientious objectors and designated staff in the
      provision of care to women seeking abortions, the aim of this study was to
      thickly describe decision-making, using abortion as the clinical context to
      elucidate how nurses approach ethically challenging work. A purposive sample of
      25 nurses who worked in abortion clinics, emergency departments, intensive care
      units, labor, and delivery, operating rooms, and post anesthesia care units were
      interviewed. Qualitative description and thematic analysis were used to identify
      the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral processes in nurses' decisions to care
      for women needing abortions. Nurses developed and used multifaceted, real-time
      calculi when making decisions about their participation in emergent or routine
      abortion care. Nurses tacked back and forth between the personal and professional
      and/or held multiple contradictory positions simultaneously. Nurses weighed the
      role and opinion of others to determine if they know how to or know why they
      would provide abortion care to women, particularly in the elective abortion
      context. The parameters of the nurse-patient relationship were complex and
      specific to the experiences of both the nurse and patient. Findings from this
      study further develop the science of ethically challenging decision-making and
      expand our understanding of factors that influence how nurses develop
      relationships to ethically challenging work.

PMID- 25820105
TI  - Information disclosure and peer effects in the use of antibiotics.
AB  - Mandatory information disclosure may allow sellers to observe and respond to
      other sellers' attributes (seller peer effects) as well as informing consumers of
      the sellers' attributes (consumer learning effect). Using the data from mandatory
      information disclosure of antibiotic prescription rates for the common cold in
      Korea, this paper shows that while average prescription rates decreased after the
      disclosure, more than 30% of the clinics increased their antibiotic
      prescriptions. Moreover, clinics that were prescribing relatively fewer
      antibiotics than other local clinics before the disclosure requirement were more
      likely to increase their prescription rate. The average prescription rates also
      declined less in markets with stronger clinic competition. These results are
      consistent with seller peer effects. 

PMID- 25820106
TI  - Ovarian microcystic stromal tumor: A novel extracolonic tumor in familial
      adenomatous polyposis.
AB  - Ovarian microcystic stromal tumor (MCST) is a very rare neoplasm; hence, its
      nomenclature was recently designated as "Distinctive morphologic and
      immunohistochemical features" in 2009. Its exact origin, etiological genetic
      alterations, and background are not yet clearly known. Familial adenomatous
      polyposis (FAP) is an autosomal dominant disease that leads to development of
      colorectal polyps via germ-line mutations of the APC gene on chromosome 5q21~22.
      In this study, we report a 40-year-old female patient who had ovarian MCST and
      FAP. On sequencing the APC gene in ovarian MSCT, we detected a novel somatic
      mutation of the APC gene in exon 11, with a heterozygous deletion at nucleotide
      position c.1540delG (p.Ala514 Profs*9). Mutations of beta-catenin (CTNNB1) and
      FOXL2 were not detected. Although one case demonstrating involvement of Wnt/beta
      catenin in ovarian MCST associated with FAP has been presented previously, no
      detailed information was provided. Thus, this is the ovarian MCST with a somatic
      mutation of APC in a patient with FAP.

PMID- 25820108
TI  - A restless abdomen and propriospinal myoclonus like at sleep onset: an unusual
      overlap syndrome.
AB  - We report for the first time the association between restless abdomen, a
      phenotypic variant of restless legs syndrome in which symptoms are limited to the
      abdomen, and propriospinal myoclonus at sleep onset causing severe insomnia. The
      treatment with a low-dosage of dopaminergic drug (pramipexole) induced the
      immediate disappearance of both symptoms, which was documented by video
      polysomnography. 

PMID- 25820109
TI  - Healthcare-associated infective endocarditis of the pulmonary valve.
AB  - We report a case of a 66-year-old man with known ischaemic heart disease,
      diabetes mellitus and stage 4 kidney disease who was admitted to our tertiary
      centre with shortness of breath and atrial flutter. Transoesophageal
      echocardiography (TOE) was without suspicion of endocarditis. During
      hospitalisation, the patient suffered a nosocomial infection in a peripheral
      vascular catheter caused by Staphylococcus aureus. TOE after positive blood
      cultures revealed a new vegetation on the pulmonary valve that resolved after
      antibiotic treatment. 

PMID- 25820110
TI  - Unusual cause of infective endocarditis in an elderly patient with a rare
      condition.
AB  - A 77-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with a 1-week history
      of anorexia, fatigue, general malaise and a 3-day history of fever. Clinical
      examination revealed livedo reticularis across the anterior aspect of her knees
      and a pansystolic murmur. Laboratory evaluation found neutrophil leucocytosis;
      elevated C reactive protein and blood cultures grew Streptococcus acidominimus.
      Transthoracic echocardiography displayed vegetation on the mitral valve and a
      left atrial myxoma. She was treated with intravenous benzylpenicillin and
      erythromycin for the infective endocarditis (IE) and remains well 3 months post
      treatment. S. acidominimus is considered a common veterinary pathogen rarely
      found in humans. To the best of our knowledge, only two prior reports of IE due
      to this organism exist in the literature. This case highlights how rare pathogens
      can cause unusual presentation and the importance of IE as a differential even in
      the absence of classical signs, if fever and new murmur are present. 

PMID- 25820111
TI  - The crying sign: the winking umbilical cord.
AB  - A preterm baby girl, born at 34 weeks gestation, with features of Beckwith
      Wiedemann syndrome was noted to have a relatively large umbilical stump. No fetal
      abnormalities had been detected on anatomy scan at 28 weeks and only mild
      polyhydramnios and macrosomia were noted on a 32-week ultrasound scan. Although
      there was no obvious omphalocoele, clinical assessment of the umbilical cord
      revealed an abdominal wall defect through which bowel would protrude into the
      umbilicus when the infant was crying. In keeping with an abdominal wall defect
      alpha-fetoprotein was found to be elevated. Surgical consultation advised
      conservative management. Subsequently, detachment of the umbilical cord occurred
      1 week postdischarge and a large umbilical hernia persists. Genetic analysis
      confirmed a diagnosis of Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome. 

PMID- 25820112
TI  - Laparoendoscopic Single-site Compared With Conventional Laparoscopic Ovarian
      Cystectomy for Ovarian Endometrioma.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVE: To estimate the efficacy of laparoendoscopic single-site (LESS)
      ovarian cystectomy in ovarian endometrioma. DESIGN: Retrospective study. Canadian
      Task Force Classification II-2. SETTING: University hospital. PATIENTS: Three
      hundred forty-three premenopausal women with previously untreated ovarian
      endometrioma. INTERVENTION: The surgical and follow-up outcomes were compared
      between LESS (n = 154) and conventional laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy (n =
      189). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Four patients (2.6%) in the LESS group but
      no patients in conventional group required additional ports (p = .040). No
      patient in either group required conversion to laparotomy. Operating times,
      estimated blood loss, perioperative hemoglobin level changes, and transfusions
      did not differ between groups. However, the length of postoperative hospital stay
      was significantly shorter in the LESS group (2 +/- .4 days vs 2.3 +/- .8 days, p
      = .001) and significantly more patients in this group were discharged within 2
      days of surgery (93.5% vs 79.4%, p < .001). Perioperative complications occurred
      in 1 patient (0.6%) in the LESS group and in 2 patients (1.1%) in the
      conventional group (p > .999). The LESS group showed significantly lower pain
      scores at 16 (3.2 vs 3.6, p < .001), 24 (2.8 vs 3, p = .004), and 30 hours (2.7
      vs 3, p = .040) after surgery. The requirement for additional analgesics was
      significantly lower in the LESS group (27.9% vs 45%, p = .001). After a median
      follow-up time of 48 months, 11 patients (7.1%) in the LESS group and 21 patients
      (11.1%) in the conventional group showed recurrent endometrioma (p = .209).
      CONCLUSION: LESS ovarian cystectomy has similar feasibility and efficacy with
      conventional laparoscopic surgery in the management of endometrioma. However,
      LESS is associated with less postoperative pain, lower analgesic requirement, and
      earlier discharge.

PMID- 25820113
TI  - Postoperative Analgesia after Laparoscopic Ovarian Cyst Resection: Double-blind
      Multicenter Randomized Control Trial Comparing Intraperitoneal Nebulization and
      Peritoneal Instillation of Ropivacaine.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of local anesthetic intraperitoneal
      nebulization with intraperitoneal instillation during laparoscopic ovarian
      cystectomy on postoperative morphine consumption and pain. DESIGN: Multicenter,
      randomized, case-control trial. DESIGN CLASSIFICATION: Canadian Task Force
      Classification I. SETTING: University hospitals in Italy. PATIENTS: One hundred
      forty patients scheduled for laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy. INTERVENTIONS:
      Patients were randomized to receive either nebulization of ropivacaine 150 mg
      before surgery or instillation of ropivacaine 150 mg before surgery. Nebulization
      was performed using the Aeroneb Pro device (Aerogen, Galway, Ireland).
      MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: One hundred forty patients were enrolled, and 123
      completed the study. There was no difference between the 2 groups in average
      morphine consumption (7.3 +/- 7.5 mg in the nebulization group vs 9.2 +/- 7.2 mg
      in the instillation group; p = .17). Eighty-two percent of patients in the
      nebulization group required morphine compared with 96% in the instillation group
      (p < .05). Patients receiving nebulization had a lower dynamic Numeric Ranking
      Scale compared with those in the instillation group in the postanesthesia care
      unit postanesthesia care unit and 4 hours after surgery (p < .05). Ten patients
      (15%) in the nebulization group experienced shivering in the postanesthesia care
      unit compared with 2 patients (4%) in the instillation group (p = .035).
      CONCLUSION: Nebulization of ropivacaine prevents the use of morphine in a
      significant proportion of patients, reduced postoperative pain during the first
      hours after surgery, and was associated with a higher incidence of postoperative
      shivering when compared with instillation.

PMID- 25820114
TI  - Is There Excess Oxidative Stress and Damage in Eyes of Patients with Retinitis
      Pigmentosa?
AB  - Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of diseases in which a mutation in one of
      the large variety of genes causes death of rod photoreceptors. After rods die,
      cone photoreceptors gradually die resulting in constriction of visual fields and
      eventual blindness in many patients. Studies in animal models of RP have
      demonstrated that oxidative damage is a major contributor to cone cell death. In
      this study, we extended those findings to patients with RP, because compared to
      control patients, those with RP showed significant reduction in the reduced to
      oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG) ratio in aqueous humor and a significant increase
      in aqueous protein carbonyl content. In contrast, there was no significant
      decrease in the serum GSH/GSSG ratio or increase in carbonyl content of serum
      proteins. These data indicate that patients with RP have ocular oxidative stress
      and damage in the absence of manifestations of systemic oxidative stress and/or
      damage indicating that demonstrations of oxidative damage-induced cone cell death
      in animal models of RP may translate to human RP. These observations lead to the
      hypothesis that potent antioxidants will promote cone survival and function in
      patients with RP and that the aqueous GSH/GSSG ratio and carbonyl content on
      proteins may provide useful biomarkers. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 23, 643-648. 

PMID- 25820115
TI  - Fluorescence-Raman dual modal endoscopic system for multiplexed molecular
      diagnostics.
AB  - Optical endoscopic imaging, which was recently equipped with bioluminescence,
      fluorescence, and Raman scattering, allows minimally invasive real-time detection
      of pathologies on the surface of hollow organs. To characterize pathologic
      lesions in a multiplexed way, we developed a dual modal fluorescence-Raman
      endomicroscopic system (FRES), which used fluorescence and surface-enhanced Raman
      scattering nanoprobes (F-SERS dots). Real-time, in vivo, and multiple target
      detection of a specific cancer was successful, based on the fast imaging
      capability of fluorescence signals and the multiplex capability of simultaneously
      detected SERS signals using an optical fiber bundle for intraoperative endoscopic
      system. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and epidermal growth
      factor receptor (EGFR) on the breast cancer xenografts in a mouse orthotopic
      model were successfully detected in a multiplexed way, illustrating the potential
      of FRES as a molecular diagnostic instrument that enables real-time tumor
      characterization of receptors during routine endoscopic procedures. 

PMID- 25820116
TI  - Increased Complications in Obese Patients Undergoing Direct Anterior Total Hip
      Arthroplasty.
AB  - The direct anterior (DA) approach for total hip arthroplasty (THA) has
      demonstrated successful short term outcomes in several studies. However, there is
      no consensus about which patients are appropriate candidates for DA total hip
      arthroplasty. It is also unclear if short term outcomes in obese patients
      undergoing THA through a DA approach are elevated in comparison to non-obese
      patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate complication rates and short
      term outcomes of obese, pre-obese, and normal body mass index (BMI) patients
      undergoing THA with a DA approach in a consecutive group of patients. This study
      was a retrospective review of 210 consecutive patients who underwent unilateral
      THA through a DA approach for osteoarthritis or avascular necrosis during the
      early peri-operative period. The study included 61 patients with normal BMI, 70
      pre-obese patients, and 79 obese patients according to World Health Organization
      (WHO) classification (49 class I obese, 22 class II obese, and 8 class III obese
      patients). Patient charts were reviewed to determine differences in surgical
      time, length of stay, disposition, major complications, wound complications, and
      short term outcome measures. When comparing normal and pre-obese patients (BMI
      <30) to a combined group of WHO class I, II, and III obese patients (BMI >30),
      the obese group demonstrated increased surgical times by 12.7 minutes (P<0.0001),
      as well as increased length of stay (P=0.0303), narcotic use (P=0.0037), and
      assistive device use at two weeks (P<0.0030). In addition, major complications
      and wound complications were both significantly increased in the obese group
      (odds ratio [OR], 8.8; P=0.0493 and OR, 3.6; P=0.0431, respectively). There was
      also a trend toward increased use of rehabilitation facilities in the obese group
      at disposition, 15.4% vs 7.6% (P=0.0774). This study demonstrates that obese
      patients undergoing a DA approach have a 8.8 and 3.6 times increase in major and
      wound complications, respectively, compared to patients with a BMI <30. Obese
      patients also demonstrated significant increases in operative time, use of
      narcotics, use of assistive devices, and length of stay. There was a trend toward
      higher use of rehabilitation placement. While significant, these findings are
      similar to complication rates in the literature for other THA operative
      approaches. This study further defines the risks associated with performing THA
      on obese patients regardless of approach.

PMID- 25820117
TI  - Short-Term Metal Ion Trends Following Removal of Recalled Modular Neck Femoral
      Stems.
AB  - Elevated serum metal ions have been well documented with the Rejuvenate modular
      neck femoral stem (Stryker, Mahwah, NJ); however, the rate at which ion levels
      decline following revision is less clear. This study included fifty-nine
      consecutive revisions of Rejuvenate stems for symptomatic ALTR. Blood tests prior
      to revision and postoperatively at 6weeks, 3months, 6months, and 1year measured
      serum cobalt and chromium concentrations, ESR, and CRP. At six weeks following
      revision of a unilateral Rejuvenate, cobalt and chromium levels dropped from
      preoperative levels by 67% and 42%, respectively. At three months, cobalt levels
      declined to 19% of preoperative values, but chromium levels remained stable. With
      this information, surgeons can set realistic expectations for serum metal ion
      levels following Rejuvenate stem revision. 

PMID- 25820118
TI  - Are Nonagenarians Too Old For Total Hip Arthroplasty? An Evaluation of Morbidity
      and Mortality Within a Total Joint Replacement Registry.
AB  - A greater number of patients aged 90 and over will become candidates for total
      hip arthroplasty (THA) as the nonagenarian population continues to grow. This
      study evaluated the patient characteristics and incidence of postoperative
      morbidity and mortality of 183 nonagenarian THA patients among 43,543 primary THA
      patients followed by a total joint replacement registry. Nonagenarians had a
      greater number of comorbidities preoperatively, experienced a higher one year
      mortality and had a longer hospital length of stay. However, nonagenarians did
      not have an increased risk of infection, deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary
      embolism and postoperative mortality was within expected rates for individuals 90
      years and older. Higher readmission rates, however, highlight the benefits of
      close follow up during a prolonged postoperative period.

PMID- 25820119
TI  - Radiological and Functional Outcomes in Computer Assisted Total Knee Arthroplasty
      Between Consultants and Trainees - A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - Computer Aided Surgery has consistently shown superior alignment of components
      when compared to non-navigated jig based techniques. The aim of this study is to
      assess the mid-term clinical outcome of TKA performed by a consultant orthopedic
      surgeon, compared to trainee surgeons. Ninety-two patients were matched and
      randomly allocated to have CAS surgery performed by either a consultant or
      trainee and followed up prospectively for 5-years. Knee society scores,
      mechanical axis, tourniquet time and blood loss data were collected. Our study
      demonstrated that trainees were able to achieve equal coronal alignment (P=0.15),
      blood loss (P=0.45) and functional scores (P=0.15). The Consultant group had a
      significantly (P<0.001) shorter tourniquet time. We confirm that CAS can assist
      less experienced surgeons to reliably achieve good mid-term outcomes in TKA. 

PMID- 25820120
TI  - Hierarchical zeolites and their catalytic performance in selective oxidative
      processes.
AB  - Hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites prepared using a simple alkali treatment and
      subsequent HCl washing are found to exhibit unprecedented catalytic activities in
      selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol under microwave irradiation. The metal-free
      zeolites promote the microwave-assisted oxidation of benzyl alcohol with hydrogen
      peroxide in yields ranging from 45-35 % after 5 min of reaction under mild
      reaction conditions as well as the epoxidation of cyclohexene to valuable
      products (40-60 % conversion). The hierarchically porous systems also exhibited
      an interesting catalytic activity in the dehydration of N,N-dimethylformamide (25
      30 % conversion), representing the first example of transition-metal free
      catalysts in this reaction. 

PMID- 25820121
TI  - Evaluation of adaptive combination of 30-channel head receive coil array data in
      23Na MR imaging.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim was to optimally combine multichannel coil array data in sodium
      ((23) Na) MRI. METHODS: (23) Na MRI was conducted on a 3 Tesla MR system using a
      30-channel head receive coil array. The parameters used for the adaptive
      combination (ADC) reconstruction of the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) dataset
      have been optimized by finding the maximum mean SNR. A pseudo multiple-replica
      approach has been used to obtain SNR maps of the combined images. To prove
      reproducibility of the combination algorithm, the procedure was repeated for
      several measurements. RESULTS: For low SNR data, sum-of-squares (SOS)
      reconstruction leads to high background noise and a signal bias in the imaged
      object. The ADC reconstruction clearly reduces noise in the image and leads to an
      increase of the mean SNR in the range of 8% to 50%, compared to weighted SOS
      depending on the absolute SNR of the image. The evaluation of the effects of
      different noise scans showed that a small number of projections can be used to
      estimate noise statistics of the coil array without substantially decreasing the
      resulting SNR. CONCLUSION: (23) Na MRI can be markedly improved by using a 30
      channel receive array and ADC reconstruction. The ADC reconstruction showed
      robust results for all measurements without the need for sensitivity maps.

PMID- 25820122
TI  - Comparison between bioluminescence imaging technique and CFU count for the study
      of oropharyngeal candidiasis in mice.
AB  - We recently described a bioluminescence in vivo imaging technique, representing a
      powerful tool to test the real-time progression of oropharyngeal candidiasis,
      hence potentially useful to evaluate the efficacy of antifungal therapies. In
      this study, the in vivo imaging technique was compared with CFU measurement of
      target organs (tongue, esophagus and stomach) for monitoring and quantifying
      oropharyngeal candidiasis. We have correlated these two analytical methods at
      different times post-infection using engineered, luminescent Candida albicans in
      mice rendered susceptible to oral candidiasis by cortisone-acetate. Scatter
      plots, Pearson correlation and Student's t test were used to compare the methods.
      We observed that the bioluminescence in vivo imaging technique was more reliable
      than CFU counts in detecting early infection of, and its extent in, the oral
      cavity of the mouse. This was also evident following the introduction of a
      variable such as treatment with fluconazole. The results described in this study
      could validate the bioluminescence in vivo imaging technique as a method to
      monitor and quantify oropharyngeal candidiasis and to assess early discovery of
      active compounds in vivo.

PMID- 25820124
TI  - Search and the Aging Mind: The Promise and Limits of the Cognitive Control
      Hypothesis of Age Differences in Search.
AB  - Search is a prerequisite for successful performance in a broad range of tasks
      ranging from making decisions between consumer goods to memory retrieval. How
      does aging impact search processes in such disparate situations? Aging is
      associated with structural and neuromodulatory brain changes that underlie
      cognitive control processes, which in turn have been proposed as a domain-general
      mechanism controlling search in external environments as well as memory. We
      review the aging literature to evaluate the cognitive control hypothesis that
      suggests that age-related change in cognitive control underlies age differences
      in both external and internal search. We also consider the limits of the
      cognitive control hypothesis and propose additional mechanisms such as changes in
      strategy use and affect that may be necessary to understand how aging affects
      search. 

PMID- 25820123
TI  - 'Carriers of variant luteinizing hormone (V-LH) among 1593 Baltic men have
      significantly higher serum LH'.
AB  - Luteinizing hormone (LH) is a pituitary heterodimeric glycoprotein essential in
      male and female reproduction. Its functional polymorphic variant (V-LH) is
      determined by two missense mutations (rs1800447, A/G, Trp8Arg; rs34349826, A/G,
      Ile15Thr) in the LH beta-subunit encoding gene (LHB; 19q13.3; 1111 bp; 3 exons).
      Among women, V-LH has been associated with higher circulating LH and reduced
      fertility, but the knowledge of its effect on male reproductive parameters has
      been inconclusive. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of V-LH
      on hormonal, seminal and testicular parameters in the Baltic young men cohort (n
      = 986; age: 20.1 +/- 2.1 years) and Estonian idiopathic infertility patients (n =
      607; 35.1 +/- 5.9 years). V-LH was detected by genotyping of the underlying DNA
      polymorphisms using PCR-RFLP combined with resequencing of a random subset of
      subjects. Genetic associations were tested using linear regression under additive
      model and results were combined in meta-analysis. No significant difference was
      detected between young men and infertility patients for the V-LH allele frequency
      (11.0 vs. 9.3%, respectively). V-LH was associated with higher serum LH in both,
      the young men cohort (p = 0.022, allelic effect = 0.26 IU/L) and the idiopathic
      infertility group (p = 0.008, effect = 0.59 IU/L). In meta-analysis, the
      statistical significance was enhanced (p = 0.0007, resistant to Bonferroni
      correction for multiple testing; effect = 0.33 IU/L). The detected significant
      association of V-LH with increased serum LH remained unchanged after additional
      adjustment for the SNPs previously demonstrated to affect LH levels (FSHB 
      211G/T, FSHR Asn680Ser, FSHR -29A/G). Additionally, a suggestive trend for
      association with reduced testicular volume was observed among young men, and with
      lower serum FSH among infertility patients. The V-LH carrier status did not
      affect sperm parameters and other circulating reproductive hormones. For the
      first time, we show a conclusive contribution of V-LH to the natural variance in
      male serum LH levels. Its downstream clinical consequences are still to be
      learned.

PMID- 25820126
TI  - The chain length of biologically produced (R)-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid affects
      biological activity and structure of anti-cancer peptides.
AB  - Conjugation of DP18L peptide with (R)-3-hydroxydecanoic acid, derived from the
      biopolymer polyhydroxyalkanoate, enhances its anti-cancer activity (O'Connor et
      al., 2013. Biomaterials 34, 2710-2718). However, it is unknown if other (R)-3
      hydroxyalkanoic acids (R3HAs) can enhance peptide activity, if chain length
      affects enhancement, and what effect R3HAs have on peptide structure. Here we
      show that the degree of enhancement of peptide (DP18L) anti-cancer activity by
      R3HAs is carbon chain length dependent. In all but one example the R3HA
      conjugated peptides were more active against cancer cells than the unconjugated
      peptides. However, R3HAs with 9 and 10 carbons were most effective at improving
      DP18L activity. DP18L peptide variant DP17L, missing a hydrophobic amino acid
      (leucine residue 4) exhibited lower efficacy against MiaPaCa cells. Circular
      dichroism analysis showed DP17L had a lower alpha helix content and the
      conjugation of any R3HA ((R)-3-hydroxyhexanoic acid to (R)-3-hydroxydodecanoic
      acid) to DP17L returned the helix content back to levels of DP18L. However (R)-3
      hydroxyhexanoic did not enhance the anti-cancer activity of DP17L and at least 7
      carbons were needed in the R3HA to enhance activity of D17L. DP17L needs a longer
      chain R3HA to achieve the same activity as DP18L conjugated to an R3HA. As a
      first step to assess the synthetic potential of polyhydroxyalkanoate derived
      R3HAs, (R)-3-hydroxydecanoic acid was synthetically converted to (+/-)3
      chlorodecanoic acid, which when conjugated to DP18L improved its
      antiproliferative activity against MiaPaCa cells. 

PMID- 25820125
TI  - Magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia induced cytosine deaminase expression in
      microencapsulated E. coli for enzyme-prodrug therapy.
AB  - Engineered bacterial cells that are designed to express therapeutic enzymes under
      the transcriptional control of remotely inducible promoters can mediate the de
      novo conversion of non-toxic prodrugs to their cytotoxic forms. In situ cellular
      expression of enzymes provides increased stability and control of enzyme activity
      as compared to isolated enzymes. We have engineered Escherichia coli (E. coli),
      designed to express cytosine deaminase at elevated temperatures, under the
      transcriptional control of thermo-regulatory lambdapL-cI857 promoter cassette
      which provides a thermal switch to trigger enzyme synthesis. Enhanced cytosine
      deaminase expression was observed in cultures incubated at 42 degrees C as
      compared to 30 degrees C, and enzyme expression was further substantiated by
      spectrophotometric assays indicating enhanced conversion of 5-fluorocytosine to 5
      fluorouracil. The engineered cells were subsequently co-encapsulated with
      magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in immunoprotective alginate microcapsules, and
      cytosine deaminase expression was triggered remotely by alternating magnetic
      field-induced hyperthermia. The combination of 5-fluorocytosine with AMF
      activated microcapsules demonstrated tumor cell cytotoxicity comparable to direct
      treatment with 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy. Such enzyme-prodrug therapy, based on
      engineered and immunoisolated E. coli, may ultimately yield an improved
      therapeutic index relative to monotherapy, as AMF mediated hyperthermia might be
      expected to pre-sensitize tumors to chemotherapy under appropriate conditions. 

PMID- 25820127
TI  - Regulation of stimulus-inducible gene expression in myeloid cells.
AB  - One of the best-characterized and biologically important gene expression
      programmes in myeloid cells is their response to pro-inflammatory stimuli.
      Macrophages and DCs in particular are key mediators of immune responses, and are
      widely-used as prototypes to understand and define the determinants of specific
      and inducible gene expression. In this review we summarize advances and concepts
      which have been made towards the understanding of inducible gene expression, with
      a particular focus on insights gained using the myeloid system as a model. We
      discuss the emerging concept of layered control of gene regulation and cell
      identity by different functional classes of transcription factors; and examine
      recent progress to understanding the molecular processes involved, including the
      involvement of nucleosome positioning, chromatin modifications, and nuclear
      architecture. We also address the exciting but less-well understood role of non
      coding RNAs in controlling specific gene expression programmes in myeloid and
      other cell-types. 

PMID- 25820128
TI  - Towards changing healthcare workers' behaviour: a qualitative study exploring non
      compliance through appraisals of infection prevention and control practices.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Improving behaviour in infection prevention and control (IPC)
      practice remains a challenge, and understanding the determinants of healthcare
      workers' (HCWs) behaviour is fundamental to develop effective and sustained
      behaviour change interventions. AIM: To identify behaviours of HCWs that
      facilitated non-compliance with IPC practices, focusing on how appraisals of IPC
      duties and social and environmental circumstances shaped and influenced non
      compliant behaviour. This study aimed to: (1) identify how HCWs rationalized
      their own behaviour and the behaviour of others; (2) highlight challenging areas
      of IPC compliance; and (3) describe the context of the working environment that
      may explain inconsistencies in IPC practices. METHODS: Clinical staff at a
      National Health Service hospital group in London, UK were interviewed between
      December 2010 and July 2011 using qualitative methods. Responses were analysed
      using a thematic framework. FINDINGS: Three ways in which HCWs appraised their
      behaviour were identified through accounts of IPC policies and practices: (1)
      attribution of responsibilities, with ambiguity about responsibility for certain
      IPC practices; (2) prioritization and risk appraisal, which demonstrated a
      divergence in values attached to some IPC policies and practices; and (3)
      hierarchy of influence highlighted that traditional clinical roles challenged
      work relationships. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, behaviours are not entirely independent
      of policy rules, but often an amalgamation of local normative practices,
      individual preferences and a degree of professional isolation.

PMID- 25820129
TI  - How the brain predicts people's behavior in relation to rules and desires.
      Evidence of a medio-prefrontal dissociation.
AB  - Forming and updating impressions about others is critical in everyday life and
      engages portions of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC), the posterior
      cingulate cortex (PCC) and the amygdala. Some of these activations are attributed
      to "mentalizing" functions necessary to represent people's mental states, such as
      beliefs or desires. Evolutionary psychology and developmental studies, however,
      suggest that interpersonal inferences can also be obtained through the aid of
      deontic heuristics, which dictate what must (or must not) be done in given
      circumstances. We used fMRI and asked 18 participants to predict whether unknown
      characters would follow their desires or obey external rules. Participants had no
      means, at the beginning, to make accurate predictions, but slowly learned
      (throughout the experiment) each character's behavioral profile. We isolated
      brain regions whose activity changed during the experiment, as a neural signature
      of impression updating: whereas dMPFC was progressively more involved in
      predicting characters' behavior in relation to their desires, the medial
      orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala were progressively more recruited in
      predicting rule-based behavior. Our data provide evidence of a neural
      dissociation between deontic inference and theory-of-mind (ToM), and support a
      differentiation of orbital and dorsal prefrontal cortex in terms of low- and high
      level social cognition. 

PMID- 25820130
TI  - Toxicity Evaluation of a New Zn-Doped CuO Nanocomposite With Highly Effective
      Antibacterial Properties.
AB  - The increased resistances to conventional antibiotics determine a strong need for
      new antibacterials, and specific syntheses at the nanoscale promise to be helpful
      in this field. A novel Zinc-doped Copper oxide nanocomposite (nZn-CuO) has been
      recently sonochemically synthesized and successfully tested also against multi
      drug resistant bacteria. After synthesis and characterization of the
      physicochemical properties, the new nZn-CuO is here evaluated by the Frog Embyo
      Teratogenesis Assay-Xenopus test for its toxicological potential and this
      compared with that of nCuO and nZnO synthesized under the same conditions. No
      lethal effects are observed, while malformations and growth retardation slightly
      increase after nZn-CuO exposure. Nevertheless, these effects are smaller than
      those of nZnO. NP uptake by embryo tissues increase significantly with increasing
      NP concentrations, while no significant accumulation and adverse effects are seen
      after exposure to soluble Cu(2+) and Zn(2+) at the concentrations dissolved from
      the NPs. Key oxidative response genes are upregulated by nZn-CuO, as well as by
      nCuO and nZnO, suggesting the common mechanism of action. Considering the
      enhanced biocidal activity shown by the nanocomposite, together with the results
      presented in this study, we can affirm that the doping of the metal oxide
      nanoparticles should be considered a useful tool to engineer a safer nano
      antibacterial. 

PMID- 25820131
TI  - Sarcopenia Is Associated With Incident Disability, Institutionalization, and
      Mortality in Community-Dwelling Older Men: The Concord Health and Ageing in Men
      Project.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Sarcopenia is associated with an increased risk of adverse
      outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between severity
      of sarcopenia and incident activities of daily living (ADL) disability,
      institutionalization, and all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older men
      participating in the Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project (CHAMP). METHODS:
      Longitudinal analysis of 1705 participants aged 70 years or older at baseline
      (2005-2007) living in the community in Sydney, Australia. MEASUREMENTS: The main
      outcome measures were incident ADL disability, institutionalization, and
      mortality. Of the 1705 participants who completed the baseline assessments, a
      total of 1678 men (mean age 77 years) had complete measures by dual-energy x-ray
      absorptiometry, to assess sarcopenia in terms of low appendicular lean mass
      (ALM), using the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH)
      criteria. To differentiate between severity of sarcopenia we used low ALM alone
      (sarcopenia I), low ALM with weakness (sarcopenia II), and sarcopenia with
      weakness and poor gait speed (sarcopenia III). Cox proportional hazard models and
      logistic regression models were used to assess the risk of mortality and
      institutionalization, and incidence of ADL disability. RESULTS: From baseline to
      follow-up, 103 (11.3%) men had incident ADL disability, 191 (11.2%) men were
      institutionalized, and 535 (31.9%) had died. At baseline, 14.2% had sarcopenia I,
      5.3% had sarcopenia II, and 3.7% had sarcopenia III. Fully adjusted analysis
      (adjusted for demographics, lifestyle factors, comorbidities and health
      conditions, and blood measures) showed that sarcopenia I, II, and III were
      associated with increased risk of disability, institutionalization, and
      mortality. Associations between sarcopenia I, II, and III and risk of incident
      disability were as follows: odds ratio (OR) 2.77 95% confidence interval (CI)
      1.30-5.87, OR 3.78 95% CI 1.23-11.64, and OR 4.53 95% CI 0.90-22.72; associations
      with institutionalization were hazard ratio (HR) 1.96 95% CI 1.14-3.35, HR 2.53
      95% CI 1.31-4.90, and HR 2.27 95% CI 1.08-4.80; and with mortality were HR 1.65
      95% CI 1.30-2.09, HR 1.50 95% CI 1.08-2.08, and HR 1.69 95% CI 1.17-2.44.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that, in community-dwelling older men, sarcopenia
      defined by the FNIH criteria is associated with increased risk of incident
      disability, institutionalization, and mortality.

PMID- 25820132
TI  - Response To Dr Raider's JAMDA Letter to the Editor.

PMID- 25820133
TI  - Carbamates: A study on genotoxic, cytotoxic, and apoptotic effects induced in
      Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells.
AB  - In vitro effects of the carbamates pirimicarb and zineb and their formulations
      Aficida(r) (50% pirimicarb) and Azzurro(r) (70% zineb), respectively, were
      evaluated in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells. Whereas the cytokinesis
      blocked micronucleus cytome assay was employed to test for genotoxicity, MTT,
      neutral red (NR), and apoptosis evaluation were used as tests for estimating cell
      viability and succinic dehydrogenase activity, respectively. Concentrations
      tested were 10-300 MUg/ml for pirimicarb and Aficida(r), and 1-50 MUg/ml for
      zineb and Azzurro(r). All compounds were able to increase the frequency of
      micronuclei. A marked reduction in the nuclear division index was observed after
      treatment with 5 MUg/ml of zineb and Azzurro(r) and 10 MUg/ml of Azzurro(r).
      Alterations in the cellular morphology not allowing the recognition of
      binucleated cells exposed to 300 MUg/ml pirimicarb and Aficida(r) as well as 10
      50 MUg/ml zineb and Azzurro(r). All four compounds induced inhibition of both
      cell viability and succinic dehydrogenase activity and trigger apoptosis in CHO
      K1 cells, at least when exposed for 24 h. The data herein demonstrate the
      genotoxic and cytotoxic effects exerted by these carbamates and reveal the
      potential risk factor of these pesticides, still extensively used worldwide, for
      both human health and the environment.

PMID- 25820134
TI  - Cytotoxicity and mutagenicity assessment of organomodified clays potentially used
      in food packaging.
AB  - Modern food packaging has made great advances as result of global trends and
      consumer preferences, which are oriented to obtain improved food quality and
      safety. In this regard, clay minerals, and mainly Montmorillonite (Mt) are
      attracting considerable interest in food packaging because of the improvements
      developed in mechanical and barrier properties. Hence, the present work aim to
      assess the toxicity of four Montmorillonite-based clay minerals, an unmodified
      clay, Cloisite(r)Na+ (CNa+), and three modified Mt clays: Cloisite(r)30B (C30B),
      a commercial clay, and Clay1 and Clay2, two novel modified organoclays developed
      by the Packaging, Transport, & Logistics Research Institute (ITENE). First, the
      cytotoxic effects were studied in the Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
      (HUVEC). In addition, the potential mutagenicity of the clays was evaluated by
      the Ames test. Clay1 did not induce any cytotoxic effects in HUVEC, although it
      exhibited potential mutagenicity in TA98 Salmonella typhimurium strain. In
      contrast, Clay2 produced cytotoxicity in endothelial cells but no mutagenicity
      was recorded. However, CNa+ was not cytotoxic neither mutagenic. And finally,
      C30B showed positive results in both assays. Therefore, results showed that clay
      minerals have a different toxicity profile and a case by case toxicity evaluation
      is required. 

PMID- 25820135
TI  - The Myeloid U937 Skin Sensitization Test (U-SENS) addresses the activation of
      dendritic cell event in the adverse outcome pathway for skin sensitization.
AB  - The U-SENSTM assay, formerly known as MUSST (Myeloid U937 Skin Sensitization
      Test), is an in vitro method to assess skin sensitization. Dendritic cell
      activation following exposure to sensitizers was modelled in the U937 human
      myeloid cell line by measuring the induction of the expression of CD86 by flow
      cytometry. The predictive performance of U-SENSTM was assessed via a
      comprehensive comparison analysis with the available human and LLNA data of 175
      substances. U-SENSTM showed 79% specificity, 90% sensitivity and 88% accuracy. A
      four laboratory ring study demonstrated the transferability, reliability and
      reproducibility of U-SENSTM, with a reproducibility of 95% within laboratories
      and 79% between-laboratories, showing that the U-SENSTM assay is a promising tool
      in a skin sensitization risk assessment testing strategy. 

PMID- 25820136
TI  - Peeling back the layers of locomotor control in the spinal cord.
AB  - Vertebrate locomotion is executed by networks of neurons within the spinal cord.
      Here, we describe recent advances in our understanding of spinal locomotor
      control provided by work using optical and genetic approaches in mice and
      zebrafish. In particular, we highlight common observations that demonstrate
      simplification of limb and axial motor pool coordination by spinal network
      modularity, differences in the deployment of spinal modules at increasing speeds
      of locomotion, and functional hierarchies in the regulation of locomotor rhythm
      and pattern. We also discuss the promise of intersectional genetic strategies for
      better resolution of network components and connectivity, which should help us
      continue to close the gap between theory and function. 

PMID- 25820137
TI  - Matrix metalloproteinase-2 negatively regulates cardiac secreted phospholipase A2
      to modulate inflammation and fever.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 deficiency makes humans and mice
      susceptible to inflammation. Here, we reveal an MMP-2-mediated mechanism that
      modulates the inflammatory response via secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2), a
      phospholipid hydrolase that releases fatty acids, including precursors of
      eicosanoids. METHODS AND RESULTS: Mmp2(-/-) (and, to a lesser extent, Mmp7(-/-)
      and Mmp9(-/-)) mice had between 10- and 1000-fold elevated sPLA2 activity in
      plasma and heart, increased eicosanoids and inflammatory markers (both in the
      liver and heart), and exacerbated lipopolysaccharide-induced fever, all of which
      were blunted by adenovirus-mediated MMP-2 overexpression and varespladib
      (pharmacological sPLA2 inhibitor). Moreover, Mmp2 deficiency caused sPLA2
      mediated dysregulation of cardiac lipid metabolic gene expression. Compared with
      liver, kidney, and skeletal muscle, the heart was the single major source of the
      Ca(2+)-dependent, ~20-kDa, varespladib-inhibitable sPLA2 that circulates when MMP
      2 is deficient. PLA2G5, which is a major cardiac sPLA2 isoform, was
      proinflammatory when Mmp2 was deficient. Treatment of wild-type (Mmp2(+/+)) mice
      with doxycycline (to inhibit MMP-2) recapitulated the Mmp2(-/-) phenotype of
      increased cardiac sPLA2 activity, prostaglandin E2 levels, and inflammatory gene
      expression. Treatment with either indomethacin (to inhibit cyclooxygenase
      dependent eicosanoid production) or varespladib (which inhibited eicosanoid
      production) triggered acute hypertension in Mmp2(-/-) mice, revealing their
      reliance on eicosanoids for blood pressure homeostasis. CONCLUSIONS: A heart
      centric MMP-2/sPLA2 axis may modulate blood pressure homeostasis, inflammatory
      and metabolic gene expression, and the severity of fever. This discovery helps
      researchers to understand the cardiovascular and systemic effects of MMP-2
      inhibitors and suggests a disease mechanism for human MMP-2 gene deficiency.

PMID- 25820138
TI  - RpoS-dependent expression of OsmY in Salmonella enterica serovar typhi:
      activation under stationary phase and SPI-2-inducing conditions.
AB  - OsmY is a periplasmic protein with two BON domains which may attach to
      phospholipid membranes. Previous reports showed that the expression of OsmY in
      Escherichia coli was hyperosmotically inducible and RpoS dependent. But little
      work was done to investigate the expression and function of OsmY in Salmonella.
      Here, we detected the endogenous OsmY in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S.
      Typhi) with polyclonal antibody. The results showed that the expression of OsmY
      was also RpoS dependent and was activated under stationary phase. Further, using
      in vitro culture, we established the Salmonella pathogenesis island (SPI)-1 and
      SPI-2-inducing conditions with hyperosmolarity and low-phosphate, low-magnesium
      medium (pH 5.8), respectively, and found that only SPI-2-inducing conditions can
      activate the expression of OsmY. osmY deletion mutant showed delayed growth
      compared with wild-type S. Typhi in SPI-2-inducing conditions. The results
      indicated that OsmY may function to resist the stress and be favorable for
      Salmonella's replication in the Salmonella-containing vesicles of macrophage.

PMID- 25820139
TI  - Modified coil protection for proper coil frame configuration in wide-necked
      aneurysms.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Although various protective techniques for treating wide-necked
      intracranial aneurysms currently exist and continue to evolve, their utility may
      be limited in some lesions with complex configurations, small-caliber channels,
      or inherently tortuous vascular patterns. Described herein is a modified coil
      protection technique as a novel adjunct for proper coil frame configuration.
      METHODS: Initially, a microcatheter is passed into aneurysmal sac, and the first
      coil is inserted to build a frame. Inevitably, some coils may abut opposite poles
      of aneurysms and protrude into parent arteries. Should this happen, a second
      microcatheter may be placed at the site of coil protrusion, so that a separate
      and smaller coil may be partially deployed for protection. A framing coil may
      then be configured within aneurysmal sac, under protection of the secondary coil.
      Once the first coil is entirely in place, the remainder of second coil is
      carefully inserted, and additional coil may be inserted as needed via dual
      microcatheters. RESULTS: This technique was successfully applied to 23 saccular
      intracranial aneurysms of internal carotid (n = 8), middle cerebral (n = 6),
      anterior cerebral (n = 6), and superior cerebellar artery (n = 3), combining
      stent protection in two patients and balloon remodeling in one. Selective
      endovascular treatment was effective as a result. Excellent outcomes were
      achieved in all patients, with no morbidity or mortality directly related to the
      modified procedure. CONCLUSION: As suggested by outcomes of this small study, our
      modified coil protection method may be a safe option if traditional coiling
      strategies are not feasible, enabling stable coil frame configuration in wide
      necked aneurysms.

PMID- 25820140
TI  - Phenazine-1-carboxamide (PCN) from Pseudomonas sp. strain PUP6 selectively
      induced apoptosis in lung (A549) and breast (MDA MB-231) cancer cells by
      inhibition of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins.
AB  - Phenazine-1-carboxamide (PCN), a naturally occurring simple phenazine derivative
      isolated from Pseudomonas sp. strain PUP6, exhibited selective cytotoxic activity
      against lung (A549) and breast (MDA-MB-231) cancer cell lines in differential and
      dose-dependent manner compared to normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells. PCN
      treated cancer cells showed the induction of apoptosis as evidenced by the
      release of low level of LDH, morphological characteristics, production of
      reactive oxygen species, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsim) and
      induction of caspase-3. At molecular level, PCN instigates apoptosis by
      mitochondrial intrinsic apoptotic pathway via the overexpression of p53, Bax,
      cytochrome C release and activation of caspase-3 with the inhibition of oncogenic
      anti-apoptotic proteins such as PARP and Bcl-2 family proteins (Bcl-2, Bcl-w and
      Bcl-xL). The in silico docking studies of PCN targeted against the anti-apoptotic
      members of Bcl-2 family proteins revealed the interaction of PCN with the BH3
      domain, which might lead to the induction of apoptosis due to the inhibition of
      antiapoptotic proteins. Due to its innate inhibition potential of antiapoptotic
      Bcl-2 family proteins, PCN may be used as potent anticancer agent against both
      lung and breast cancer. 

PMID- 25820142
TI  - Erratum to: Mutations of HNRNPA0 and WIF1 predispose members of a large family to
      multiple cancers.

PMID- 25820141
TI  - Mitochondrial DNA damage by bleomycin induces AML cell death.
AB  - Mitochondria contain multiple copies of their own 16.6 kb circular genome. To
      explore the impact of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage on mitochondrial (mt)
      function and viability of AML cells, we screened a panel of DNA damaging
      chemotherapeutic agents to identify drugs that could damage mtDNA. We identified
      bleomycin as an agent that damaged mtDNA in AML cells at concentrations that
      induced cell death. Bleomycin also induced mtDNA damage in primary AML samples.
      Consistent with the observed mtDNA damage, bleomycin reduced mt mass and basal
      oxygen consumption in AML cells. We also demonstrated that the observed mtDNA
      damage was functionally important for bleomycin-induced cell death. Finally,
      bleomycin delayed tumor growth in xenograft mouse models of AML and anti-leukemic
      concentrations of the drug induced mtDNA damage in AML cells preferentially over
      normal lung tissue. Taken together, mtDNA-targeted therapy may be an effective
      strategy to target AML cells and bleomycin could be useful in the treatment of
      this disease.

PMID- 25820144
TI  - A critical perspective on second-order empathy in understanding psychopathology:
      phenomenology and ethics.
AB  - The centenary of Karl Jaspers' General Psychopathology was recognised in 2013
      with the publication of a volume of essays dedicated to his work (edited by
      Stanghellini and Fuchs). Leading phenomenological-psychopathologists and
      philosophers of psychiatry examined Jaspers notion of empathic understanding and
      his declaration that certain schizophrenic phenomena are 'un-understandable'. The
      consensus reached by the authors was that Jaspers operated with a narrow
      conception of phenomenology and empathy and that schizophrenic phenomena can be
      understood through what they variously called second-order and radical empathy.
      This article offers a critical examination of the second-order empathic stance
      along phenomenological and ethical lines. It asks: (1) Is second-order empathy
      (phenomenologically) possible? (2) Is the second-order empathic stance an
      ethically acceptable attitude towards persons diagnosed with schizophrenia? I
      argue that second-order empathy is an incoherent method that cannot be realised.
      Further, the attitude promoted by this method is ethically problematic insofar as
      the emphasis placed on radical otherness disinvests persons diagnosed with
      schizophrenia from a fair chance to participate in the public construction of
      their identity and, hence, to redress traditional symbolic injustices. 

PMID- 25820143
TI  - Exercise vasodilation is greater in women: contributions of nitric oxide synthase
      and cyclooxygenase.
AB  - PURPOSE: We hypothesized exercise vasodilation would be greater in women due to
      nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX) signaling. METHODS: 45
      healthy adults (23 women, W, 22 men, M, 26 +/- 1 years) completed two 10-min
      trials of dynamic forearm exercise at 15 % intensity. Forearm blood flow (FBF;
      Doppler ultrasound), arterial pressure (brachial catheter), and forearm lean mass
      were measured to calculate relative forearm vascular conductance (FVCrel) = FBF
      100 mmHg(-1) 100 g(-1) lean mass. Local intra-arterial infusion of L-NMMA or
      ketorolac acutely inhibited NOS and COX, respectively. In Trial 1, the first 5
      min served as control exercise (CON), followed by 5 min of L-NMMA or ketorolac
      over the last 5 min of exercise. In Trial 2, the remaining drug was infused
      during 5-10 min, to achieve combined NOS-COX inhibition (double blockade, DB).
      RESULTS: Are mean +/- SE. Women exhibited 29 % greater vasodilation in CON
      (DeltaFVCrel, 19 +/- 1 vs. 15 +/- 1, p = 0.01). L-NMMA reduced DeltaFVCrel (p <
      0.001) (W: Delta -2.3 +/- 1.3 vs. M: Delta -3.7 +/- 0.8, p = 0.25); whereas,
      ketorolac modestly increased DeltaFVCrel (p = 0.04) similarly between sexes (W:
      Delta 1.6 +/- 1.1 vs. M: Delta 2.0 +/- 1.6, p = 0.78). DB was also found to be
      similar between the sexes (p = 0.85). CONCLUSION: These data clearly indicate
      women produce a greater exercise vasodilator response. Furthermore, contrary to
      experiments in animal models, these data are the first to demonstrate vascular
      control by NOS and COX is similar between sexes.

PMID- 25820145
TI  - Comments on Mohammed Abouelleil Rashed's "A critical perspective on second-order
      empathy in understanding psychopathology: phenomenology and ethics".
AB  - Understanding the mental life of persons with psychosis/schizophrenia has been
      the crucial challenge of psychiatry since its origins, both for scientific models
      as well as for every therapeutic encounter between persons with and without
      psychosis/schizophrenia. Nonetheless, a preliminary understanding is always the
      first step of phenomenological as well as other qualitative research methods
      addressing persons with psychotic experiences in their life-world. In contrast to
      Rashed's assertions, in order to achieve such understanding, phenomenological
      psychopathologists need not necessarily adopt the transcendental-phenomenological
      attitude, which, however, is often required if performing phenomenological
      philosophy. Additionally, in the course of these (non-philosophical) scientific
      endeavors, differences between persons with psychosis/schizophrenia and so-called
      normal people seem to have a methodological function and value driving the
      scientist in her enterprise. Yet, these differences do not extend to ethical
      dimensions, and therefore, do not by any means touch ethical equality. 

PMID- 25820146
TI  - Tolerability and efficacy of erythropoietin (EPO) treatment in traumatic spinal
      cord injury: a preliminary randomized comparative trial vs. methylprednisolone
      (MP).
AB  - The only available treatment of traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) is high-dose
      methylprednisolone (MP) administered acutely after injury. However, as the
      efficacy of MP is controversial, we assessed the superiority of erythropoietin
      (EPO) versus MP in improving clinical outcome of acute TSCI. Patients aged 18 to
      65 years after C5-T12 injury, and grade A or B of the ASIA Impairment Scale
      (AIS), admitted within 8 h, hemodynamically stable, were randomized to MP
      according to the NASCIS III protocol or EPO iv (500 UI/kg, repeated at 24 and 48
      h). Patients were assessed by an investigator blind to treatment assignment at
      baseline and at day 3, 7, 14, 30, 60 and 90. Primary end point: number of
      responders (reduction of at least one AIS grade). Secondary end points: treatment
      safety and the effects of drugs on a number of disability measures. Frequentistic
      and post hoc Bayesian analyses were performed. Eight patients were randomized to
      MP and 11 to EPO. Three patients (27.3 %) on EPO and no patients on MP reached
      the primary end point (p = 0.17). No significant differences were found for the
      other disability measures. No adverse events or serious adverse events were
      reported in both groups. The Bayesian analysis detected a 91.8 % chance of
      achieving higher success rates on the primary end point with EPO in the intention
      to-treat population with a 95 % chance the difference between EPO and MP falling
      in the range (-0.10, 0.51) and a median value of 0.2. The results of Bayesian
      analysis favored the experimental treatment.

PMID- 25820147
TI  - The diagnostic value of minor salivary gland biopsy in clinically diagnosed
      patients with Parkinson's disease: comparison with DAT PET scans.
AB  - To investigate the predictive value of minor salivary gland biopsy in clinically
      diagnosed early stage Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, and to provide more
      evidence of minor salivary gland biopsy as a pathological diagnostic biomarker of
      PD. Thirteen patients with early stage PD and 13 age-matched controls were
      recruited. Hoehn and Yahr stage and Unified Parkinson's disease Rating Scale Part
      III were employed to evaluate their severity of the disease. All the subjects
      underwent minor salivary gland biopsy and (11)C-methyl-N-2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta
      (4-fluorophenyl) tropane ((11)C-CFT) DAT-PET scan. Immunohistochemical staining
      for Lewy-type alpha-synucleinopathy using antibody against alpha-synuclein (alpha
      Syn) was performed in the tissues obtained from minor salivary gland. Abnormal
      accumulation of alpha-Syn was found around the gland cells in 9 of the 13
      patients with PD, but in none of the control subjects. The alpha-Syn
      immunoreactive structures were located in the periacinar space. Twelve clinically
      diagnosed PD patients showed asymmetrical and relatively severe reduction of
      (11)C-CFT uptake in the posterior putamen compared with the control. The
      sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value
      of minor salivary gland biopsy were 75, 100, 100 and 25%, respectively, when
      compared with the DAT-PET imaging. Our results suggest that minor salivary gland
      biopsy does not hold high diagnostic accuracy as DAT-PET, but still has the
      potential to be a useful pathologic biomarker for PD, which is worth more
      investigations.

PMID- 25820148
TI  - A meta-analysis of the benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on
      psychological function among breast cancer (BC) survivors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Psychological issue is the most common co-morbidity of women with
      breast cancer (BC) after receiving treatment. Effective coping with this problem
      is significant importance. The aim of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the
      benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on psychological distress
      among breast cancer survivors. METHODS: PUBMED, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central
      Register of Controlled Trials were systematically searched from their inception
      to June 30, 2014. Two reviewers independently reviewed and extracted the data.
      The primary outcomes of interest were psychological domains. Review Manager 5.3
      was used to pool collected data. RESULTS: Nine articles involving 964
      participants were identified. Compared with those in control group, patients in
      MBSR group have a significant improvement on psychological domains: depression
      [mean difference (MD), 5.09; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 3.63-6.55; P <
      0.00001], anxiety (MD, 2.79; 95 % CI, 1.62-3.96; P < 0.00001), stress (MD, 4.10;
      95 % CI, 2.46-5.74; P < 0.00001). MBSR can also improve the overall quality of
      life (QOL) (MD, -1.16; 95 % CI, -2.21 to -0.12; P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: On the
      basis of our findings, MBSR shows a positive effect on psychological function and
      QOL of breast cancer survivors. This approach can be recommended to breast cancer
      patients as a part of their rehabilitation.

PMID- 25820149
TI  - Validity and reliability of an instrument for assessing case analyses in
      bioengineering ethics education.
AB  - Assessment in ethics education faces a challenge. From the perspectives of
      teachers, students, and third-party evaluators like the Accreditation Board for
      Engineering and Technology and the National Institutes of Health, assessment of
      student performance is essential. Because of the complexity of ethical case
      analysis, however, it is difficult to formulate assessment criteria, and to
      recognize when students fulfill them. Improvement in students' moral reasoning
      skills can serve as the focus of assessment. In previous work, Rosa Lynn Pinkus
      and Claire Gloeckner developed a novel instrument for assessing moral reasoning
      skills in bioengineering ethics. In this paper, we compare that approach to
      existing assessment techniques, and evaluate its validity and reliability. We
      find that it is sensitive to knowledge gain and that independent coders agree on
      how to apply it. 

PMID- 25820150
TI  - gamma-Glutamyltransferase, but not markers of hepatic fibrosis, is associated
      with cardiovascular disease in older people with type 2 diabetes mellitus: the
      Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study.
AB  - AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: We examined the association of prevalent and incident
      cardiovascular disease (CVD) with chronic liver disease in a cohort of community
      based people with type 2 diabetes, in order to clarify the relationship between
      these two important conditions. METHODS: 1,066 participants with type 2 diabetes
      aged 60-75 years underwent assessment of a range of liver injury markers (non
      specific injury, steatosis, steatohepatitis, fibrosis, portal hypertension).
      Individuals were followed up for incident cardiovascular events. RESULTS: At
      baseline there were 370/1,033 patients with prevalent CVD, including 317/1,033
      with coronary artery disease (CAD). After a mean follow-up of 4.4 years there
      were 44/663 incident CVD events, including 27/663 CAD events. There were 30/82
      CVD-related deaths. Risk of dying from or developing CVD was no higher in
      participants with steatosis than in those without (HR 0.90; 95% CI 0.40, 2.00; p
      > 0.05). The only notable relationship was with gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT)
      (incident CVD: adjusted HR for doubling GGT 1.24 [95% CI 0.97, 1.59] p = 0.086;
      incident CAD: adjusted HR 1.33 [95% CI 1.00, 1.78] p = 0.053), suggesting that in
      our study population, chronic liver disease may have little effect on the
      development of, or mortality from, CVD. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: An
      independent association between GGT and CVD warrants further exploration as a
      potentially useful addition to current cardiovascular risk prediction models in
      diabetes. However, overall findings failed to suggest that there is a clinical or
      pathophysiological association between chronic liver disease and CVD in elderly
      people with type 2 diabetes.

PMID- 25820152
TI  - Novel Genes Affecting Blood Pressure Detected Via Gene-Based Association
      Analysis.
AB  - Hypertension is a common disorder and one of the most important risk factors for
      cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to identify more novel genes
      for blood pressure. Based on the publically available SNP-based P values of a
      meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies, we performed an initial gene
      based association study in a total of 69,395 individuals. To find supplementary
      evidence to support the importance of the identified genes, we performed GRAIL
      (gene relationships among implicated loci) analysis, protein-protein interaction
      analysis, functional annotation clustering analysis, coronary artery disease
      association analysis, and other bioinformatics analyses. Approximately 22,129
      genes on the human genome were analyzed for blood pressure in gene-based
      association analysis. A total of 43 genes were statistically significant after
      Bonferroni correction (P < 2.3*10(-6)). The evidence obtained from the analyses
      of this study suggested the importance of ID1 (P = 2.0*10(-6)), CYP17A1 (P =
      4.58*10(-9)), ATXN2 (P = 1.07*10(-13)), CLCN6 (P = 4.79*10(-9)), FURIN (P =
      1.38*10(-6)), HECTD4 (P = 3.95*10(-11)), NPPA (P = 1.60*10(-6)), and PTPN11 (P =
      8.89*10(-10)) in the genetic basis of blood pressure. The present study found
      some important genes associated with blood pressure, which might provide insights
      into the genetic architecture of hypertension. 

PMID- 25820151
TI  - Par-3 modulates intestinal epithelial barrier function through regulating
      intracellular trafficking of occludin and myosin light chain phosphorylation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tight junctions play a critical role in the maintenance of intestinal
      barrier function. Partitioning-defective protein 3 (Par-3) can regulate
      intestinal barrier function through the modulation of tight junction assembly and
      cell polarity. However, the mechanisms are still not fully understood. METHODS:
      Adult C57BL/6 mice were treated with dextran sulfate sodium for 7 days, and
      segments of colon were harvested for immunofluorescent staining of Par-3. Caco-2
      intestinal epithelial cells were treated with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF
      alpha) for 24 h, and Par-3 expression was detected by Western blot analysis and
      immunofluorescence. Additionally, Caco-2 cells were treated with Par-3 small
      interfering RNA, and altered expression and subcellular localization of tight
      junction proteins were studied by Western blot analysis and immunofluorescence.
      Furthermore, the interaction between Par-3 and myosin light chain (MLC) was
      detected by immunoprecipitation. RESULTS: Par-3 was downregulated in murine
      dextran sulfate sodium induced acute inflammation and TNF-alpha-treated Caco-2
      cells. Depletion of Par-3 expression by small interfering RNA delayed intestinal
      epithelial barrier development in Caco-2 cells. This regulation was due to the
      redistribution of the tight junction protein occludin rather than the altered
      total levels of tight junction proteins. Par-3 silencing blocked the trafficking
      of occludin from or through the Golgi complex to the cell surface, and
      dramatically induced occludin accumulated at the Golgi complex. Importantly, Par
      3 can interact with MLC, and loss of Par-3 upregulated MLC kinase expression and
      MLC phosphorylation, which contributed to intestinal epithelial barrier
      dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that Par-3 plays an important
      role in the modulation of intestinal barrier function by regulating delivery of
      occludin as well as suppression of MLC phosphorylation.

PMID- 25820153
TI  - Time-varying signal analysis to detect high-altitude periodic breathing in
      climbers ascending to extreme altitude.
AB  - This work investigates the performance of cardiorespiratory analysis detecting
      periodic breathing (PB) in chest wall recordings in mountaineers climbing to
      extreme altitude. The breathing patterns of 34 mountaineers were monitored
      unobtrusively by inductance plethysmography, ECG and pulse oximetry using a
      portable recorder during climbs at altitudes between 4497 and 7546 m on Mt.
      Muztagh Ata. The minute ventilation (VE) and heart rate (HR) signals were
      studied, to identify visually scored PB, applying time-varying spectral,
      coherence and entropy analysis. In 411 climbing periods, 30-120 min in duration,
      high values of mean power (MP(VE)) and slope (MSlope(VE)) of the modulation
      frequency band of VE, accurately identified PB, with an area under the ROC curve
      of 88 and 89%, respectively. Prolonged stay at altitude was associated with an
      increase in PB. During PB episodes, higher peak power of ventilatory (MP(VE)) and
      cardiac (MP(LF)(HR) ) oscillations and cardiorespiratory coherence
      (MP(LF)(Coher)), but reduced ventilation entropy (SampEn(VE)), was observed.
      Therefore, the characterization of cardiorespiratory dynamics by the analysis of
      VE and HR signals accurately identifies PB and effects of altitude
      acclimatization, providing promising tools for investigating physiologic effects
      of environmental exposures and diseases.

PMID- 25820154
TI  - Hepatoprotective effects of selenium during diabetes in rats.
AB  - The present study investigated the hepatoprotective role of selenium during
      alloxan-induced diabetes in rats. Male Wistar rats were divided into four groups,
      namely, normal control, selenium treated, diabetic, and selenium-treated
      diabetic. Diabetes was induced in the animals by injecting alloxan
      intraperitoneally at a dose rate of 150 mg/kg body weight. Selenium in the form
      of sodium selenite was supplemented to rats at a dose level of 1 ppm in drinking
      water, ad libitum for two time durations of 2 and 4 weeks. The effects of
      different treatments were studied on various parameters in rat liver, which
      included serum glucose levels, serum insulin levels, alkaline phosphatase (ALP),
      aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), lipid
      peroxidation (LPO), glutathione reduced (GSH), oxidized glutathione (GSSG), total
      glutathione (TG), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione
      reductase, glutathione peroxidase, metallothionein (MT), and histoarchitecture. A
      significant increase in the serum glucose levels, LPO levels, and in enzyme
      activities of ALP, ALT, and AST was observed in diabetic rats which, however, got
      decreased significantly upon supplementation with selenium. On the contrary,
      decreased enzyme activities of GSSG, SOD, and CAT and depressed levels of GSH as
      well as serum insulin levels were observed in diabetic rats which got improved
      following selenium supplementation. Interestingly, MT levels were increased both
      in diabetic and selenium-treated diabetic rats. Further, marked alterations in
      histoarchitecture were seen in diabetic rats with the prominent features being
      congestion in sinusoids, lipid accumulation, and centrilobular hepatocyte
      degeneration. However, selenium treatment to diabetic rats showed overall
      improvement in the hepatic histoarchitecture. 

PMID- 25820155
TI  - Satisfaction with NHS is rising, but funding fears are high.

PMID- 25820156
TI  - Surgical management of extranasal nasal glioma.

PMID- 25820157
TI  - 6-Min walk-test data in severe obstructive-sleep-apnea-hypopnea-syndrome (OSAHS)
      under continuous-positive-airway-pressure (CPAP) treatment.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Few studies have evaluated the functional capacity of severe OSAHS.
      AIMS: To assess their functional capacity, identify their 6-min walking-distance
      (6MWD) influencing factors and compare their data with those of two control
      groups. METHODS: Sixty (42 males) clinically consecutive stable patients with
      severe OSAHS under CPAP were included. Clinical, Epworth questionnaire,
      anthropometric, polysomnographic, plethysmographic and 6-min walk-test (6MWT)
      data were collected. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify
      the 6MWD influencing factors. Data of a subgroup of severe OSAHS aged >=40 Yrs (n
      = 49) were compared with those of non-obese (n = 174) and obese (n = 55) groups.
      RESULTS: The means +/- SD of age and apnea-hypopnea-index were, respectively, 49
      +/- 10 Yr and 62 +/- 18/h. The profile of OSAHS patients carrying the 6MWT, was
      as follows: at the end of the 6MWT, 31% and 25% had, respectively, a high dyspnea
      (>5/10, visual analogue scale) and a low heart-rate (<60% of-maximal-predicted),
      13% had an abnormal 6MWD (<lower-limit-of-normal), 13% had an oxy-hemoglobin
      saturation (oxy-sat) fall> 5 points and 3% stopped the walk. The factors that
      significantly influenced the 6MWD, explaining 80% of its variability, are
      included in the following equation: 6MWD (m) = 29.66 * first-second-forced
      expiratory-volume (L) - 4.19 * Body-mass-index (kg/m(2)) - 51.89 * arterial
      hypertension (0. No; 1. Yes) + 263.53 * Height (m) + 2.63 * average oxy-sat
      during sleep (%) - 51.06 * Diuretic-use (0. No; 1. Yes) - 20.68 * Dyspnea (NYHA)
      (0. No; 1. Yes) - 38.09 * Anemia (0. No; 1. Yes) + 5.79 * Resting oxy-sat (%) -
      586.25. Compared with non-obese and obese groups, the subgroup of OSAHS has a
      significantly lower 6MWD [100 +/- 9%, 100 +/- 8% and 83 +/- 12%, respectively).
      CONCLUSION: Severe OSAHS may play a role in reducing the functional capacity.

PMID- 25820158
TI  - Factors associated with asthma control in patients with aspirin-exacerbated
      respiratory disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Effective control of asthma is the primary goal of its treatment.
      Despite an improved understanding of asthma pathogenesis and accessibility of
      novel therapies, the rate of uncontrolled asthma remains high. OBJECTIVE: To find
      potential factors associated with asthma control in patients with aspirin
      exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD). METHODS: Clinical data were collected
      from a specifically structured questionnaire. Demographics, a history of upper
      airway symptoms, asthma course, exacerbations expressed as emergency department
      (ED) visits/hospitalizations, and asthma treatment were considered. Spirometry,
      skin prick tests, total IgE concentration, and blood eosinophil count were
      evaluated. Asthma control was assessed through the Asthma Control Test (ACT).
      RESULTS: Out of 201 AERD patients, 41 (20.4%), 69 (34.3%), and 91 (45.3%) had
      controlled, partially controlled, and uncontrolled asthma, respectively. A
      multivariate ordered logistic regression analysis revealed that hospitalizations
      for asthma in the previous 12 months (OR 2.88; 95%CI, 1.11-7.46), ED visits for
      asthma throughout its duration (OR 1.05; 95%CI, 1.004-1.10), and total IgE
      concentration (OR 1.28; 95%CI, 1.02-1.60) were positively associated with poor
      asthma control, whereas FEV1 values (OR 0.98; 95%CI, 0.96-0.99) and medical care
      at a referential specialty clinic (OR 0.50; 95%CI, 0.27-0.95) were positively
      associated with good asthma control. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of uncontrolled
      asthma in AERD patients is high and similar to that observed in different
      asthmatic populations. Owing both to the specificity and complexity of the
      disease, AERD patients should stay under regular care of well experienced
      referential medical centers to ensure that this asthma phenotype is dealt with
      effectively.

PMID- 25820159
TI  - Evidence that the MEK/ERK but not the PI3K/Akt pathway is required for protection
      from myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury by 3',4'-dihydroxyflavonol.
AB  - The novel pro-drug of 3'4'-dihydroxyflavonol, NP202, potently reduces myocardial
      infarct size resulting from ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) through mechanisms that
      remain to be fully defined. In this study, we investigated whether
      cardioprotection induced by NP202 depended on activation of the reperfusion
      injury survival kinase (RISK) pathways. We therefore examined the effects of
      PD98059 and LY294002, specific inhibitors of the MEK/ERK1/2 and PI3K/Akt
      pathways, respectively. In isolated cardiomyocytes, H2O2induced oxidative stress
      activated ERK1/2 and this was further enhanced by DiOHF, the active parent
      compound of NP202. Although oxidative stress did not stimulate Akt in
      cardiomyocytes, co-treatment with DiOHF substantially increased Akt
      phosphorylation. This suggests that DiOHF is a potent modulator of RISK pathways
      specifically in the context of stress stimulation. In anesthetised sheep,
      following 1h ischemia and 3h reperfusion, the contribution of the RISK pathways
      to NP202-mediated cardioprotection was determined by treating the animals with
      PD98059, LY294002 or vehicle prior to NP202 administration and reperfusion.
      Infarct size, as a percentage of the area-at-risk, was substantially reduced by
      NP202 (from 78+/-6 to 46+/-4%, P<0.05). Inhibition of MEK/ERK1/2 abolished the
      cardioprotective effects of NP202 (infarct size 81+/-4%), whereas inhibition of
      PI3K/Akt had no effect (infarct size 53+/-4%). Our combined cellular and animal
      studies indicate that NP202 potently protects against myocardial I/R injury
      through complex mechanisms that involved augmentation of MEK/ERK1/2 signaling,
      but not PI3K/Akt signaling. 

PMID- 25820160
TI  - Chelation of dietary iron prevents iron accumulation and macrophage infiltration
      in the type I diabetic kidney.
AB  - We previously reported that the functional deletion of p21, a cyclin-dependent
      kinase inhibitor, in mice attenuated renal cell senescence in streptozotocin
      (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetic mice. In the present study, we investigated the
      effect of iron chelation on renal cell senescence and inflammation in the type 1
      diabetic kidney. STZ-treated mice showed increase in iron accumulation, tubular
      cell senescence and macrophage infiltration at week 28 in the kidney.
      Administering deferasirox, which removes only dietary iron, significantly
      attenuated iron accumulation in proximal tubules and the number of infiltrating
      F4/80-positive cells without effecting blood glucose, hematocrit or hemoglobin
      levels. In contrast however, deferasirox did not influence renal cell senescence.
      The lack of p21 decreased the renal tubular iron accumulation and did not change
      tubular cell senescence. Interestingly, the STZ-treated animals showed an
      increase in p16, another cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor. The results suggest
      that type 1 diabetes increases renal tubular iron accumulation and macrophage
      infiltration through a p21-dependent mechanism, and that the chelation of dietary
      iron attenuates these responses.

PMID- 25820162
TI  - Enhanced thermoelectric efficiency of porous silicene nanoribbons.
AB  - There is a critical need to attain new sustainable materials for direct upgrade
      of waste heat to electrical energy via the thermoelectric effect. Here we
      demonstrate that the thermoelectric performance of silicene nanoribbons can be
      improved dramatically by introducing nanopores and tuning the Fermi energy. We
      predict that values of electronic thermoelectric figure of merit ZTe up to 160
      are achievable, provided the Fermi energy is located approximately 100 meV above
      the charge neutrality point. Including the effect of phonons yields a value for
      the full figure of merit of ZT = 3.5. Furthermore the sign of the thermopower S
      can be varied with achievable values as high as S = +/- 500 MUV/K. As a method of
      tuning the Fermi energy, we analyse the effect of doping the silicene with either
      a strong electron donor (TTF) or a strong electron acceptor (TCNQ) and
      demonstrate that adsorbed layers of the former increases ZTe to a value of 3.1,
      which is insensitive to temperature over the range 100 K - 400 K. This
      combination of a high, temperature-insensitive ZTe, and the ability to choose the
      sign of the thermopower identifies nanoporous silicene as an ideal thermoelectric
      material with the potential for unprecedented performance. 

PMID- 25820163
TI  - Plasma-cell mastitis with two other concomitant diseases.

PMID- 25820161
TI  - The European Registry for Patients with Mechanical Circulatory Support
      (EUROMACS): first annual report.
AB  - The European Registry for Patients with Mechanical Circulatory Support (EUROMACS)
      was founded on 10 December 2009 with the initiative of Roland Hetzer (Deutsches
      Herzzentrum Berlin, Berlin, Germany) and Jan Gummert (Herz- und Diabeteszentrum
      Nordrhein-Westfalen, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany) with 15 other founding
      international members. It aims to promote scientific research to improve care of
      end-stage heart failure patients with ventricular assist device or a total
      artificial heart as long-term mechanical circulatory support. Likewise, the
      organization aims to provide and maintain a registry of device implantation data
      and long-term follow-up of patients with mechanical circulatory support. Hence,
      EUROMACS affiliated itself with Dendrite Clinical Systems Ltd to offer its
      members a software tool that allows input and analysis of patient clinical data
      on a daily basis. EUROMACS facilitates further scientific studies by offering
      research groups access to any available data wherein patients and centres are
      anonymized. Furthermore, EUROMACS aims to stimulate cooperation with clinical and
      research institutions and with peer associations involved to further its aims.
      EUROMACS is the only European-based Registry for Patients with Mechanical
      Circulatory Support with rapid increase in institutional and individual
      membership. Because of the expeditious data input, the European Association for
      Cardiothoracic Surgeons saw the need to optimize the data availability and the
      significance of the registry to improve care of patients with mechanical
      circulatory support and its potential contribution to scientific intents; hence,
      the beginning of their alliance in 2012. This first annual report is designed to
      provide an overview of EUROMACS' structure, its activities, a first data
      collection and an insight to its scientific contributions. 

PMID- 25820164
TI  - Impact of a clinical pharmacist stress ulcer prophylaxis management program on
      inappropriate use in hospitalized patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: Appropriate utilization of stress ulcer prophylaxis should be limited to
      high-risk, intensive care unit (ICU) patients. However, inappropriate stress
      ulcer prophylaxis use among all hospitalized patients remains a concern. The
      purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical and economic impact of a novel
      pharmacist-managed stress ulcer prophylaxis program in ICU and general ward
      patients. METHODS: This retrospective, pre- and poststudy design was conducted in
      adult ICU and general ward patients at a large academic medical center between
      January 1, 2011 and January 31, 2012 to compare the rates of inappropriate stress
      ulcer prophylaxis before and after the implementation of a pharmacist-led stress
      ulcer prophylaxis management program. RESULTS: A total of 1134 unique patients
      consisting of 16,415 patient days were evaluated. The relative reduction in the
      rate of inappropriate stress ulcer prophylaxis days after program implementation
      in ICU and general ward patients was 58.3% and 83.5%, respectively (P < .001).
      The rates of ICU patients inappropriately continued on stress ulcer prophylaxis
      upon hospital discharge in the pre- and postimplementation groups were 29.9% and
      3.6%, respectively (P < .001), whereas general ward patients significantly
      decreased from 36.2% to 5.4% in the pre- and postimplementation groups,
      respectively (P < .001). Total inpatient costs associated with all stress ulcer
      prophylaxis administered was $20,052.70 in the pre- and $3280.49 in the
      postimplementation group (P < .001), resulting in an estimated cost savings of >
      $200,000 annually. No differences in clinical outcomes were observed.
      CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of a pharmacist-managed stress ulcer prophylaxis
      program was associated with a decrease in inappropriate acid suppression rates
      during hospitalization and upon discharge, as well as significant cost savings.

PMID- 25820165
TI  - Diagnosis of unstable angina pectoris has declined markedly with the advent of
      more sensitive troponin assays.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Since the arrival of the universal definition of myocardial
      infarction more sensitive troponin assays have been developed. How these
      occurrences have influenced the proportions and clinical features of the
      components of acute coronary syndrome have not been studied prospectively in
      unselected hospital patients. METHODS: During 2010 we evaluated all patients in
      whom cardiac troponin I had been measured at a single university hospital. The
      diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (ST-elevation myocardial infarction
      [STEMI] or non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction [NSTEMI]) was established in
      cases of a rise and/or fall of cardiac troponin I together with cardiac ischemic
      features. Patients with unstable chest discomfort and cardiac troponin I values
      below the decision limit of myocardial infarction were diagnosed as having
      unstable angina pectoris. The definition of acute coronary syndrome included
      unstable angina pectoris, NSTEMI, and STEMI. Mortality data were obtained from
      the Danish Civil Personal Registration System. RESULTS: Of 3762 consecutive
      patients, 516 had acute coronary syndrome. Unstable angina pectoris was present
      in 7%, NSTEMI in 67%, and STEMI in 26%. The NSTEMI patients were older, more
      frequently women, and had more comorbidities than patients with unstable angina
      pectoris and STEMI. At median follow-up of 3.2 years 195 patients had died: 14%
      of unstable angina pectoris, 45% of NSTEMI, and 25% of STEMI patients. Age
      adjusted log-rank statistics revealed differences in mortality: NSTEMI vs
      unstable angina pectoris (P = .0091) and NSTEMI vs STEMI (P = .0045).
      CONCLUSIONS: The application of the universal definition together with the use of
      a contemporary troponin assay seems to have reduced the proportion of patients
      with unstable angina pectoris to the benefit of patients with NSTEMI. Despite
      this, NSTEMI patients have a sustained higher mortality than patients with STEMI.

PMID- 25820166
TI  - Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in a patient with anorexia nervosa with
      profound zinc and iron deficiency.

PMID- 25820167
TI  - Primary risk prevention in the elderly: use clinician-patient discussions, not
      automatic statin prescribing.

PMID- 25820168
TI  - Gastrointestinal bleeding, aortic stenosis, and the hiding culprit.

PMID- 25820169
TI  - Intravenous Imaging Contrast Media Complications: The Basics That Every Clinician
      Needs to Know.
AB  - Intravenous contrast is commonly used in noninvasive imaging procedures such as
      magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography and can evaluate blood vessels
      and better characterize soft-tissue lesions. Although the incidence of adverse
      events after administration of contrast is low, it is important that clinicians
      and radiologists minimize risks and respond quickly and effectively when
      reactions occur. We will discuss a range of adverse events to iodinated and
      gadolinium-based contrast agents, including allergic-like reactions,
      nephrotoxicity, extravasation, and nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. We will review
      risk stratification for patients, as well as premedication and treatment of
      adverse events. 

PMID- 25820170
TI  - Scope of problem of pulmonary arterial hypertension.
AB  - BACKGROUND: As with many uncommon diseases, data in patients with pulmonary
      arterial hypertension are sparse in regard to emergency service visits,
      hospitalizations, and mortality. The purpose of this investigation is to assess
      the scope of the problem of Group 1 pulmonary arterial hypertension in adults in
      the US and trends from 2001 to 2007. METHODS: The Nationwide Emergency Department
      Sample, 2007-2011, was used to determine the number of emergency department
      visits, hospitalizations, and all-cause mortality of patients aged >=18 years
      with Group 1 pulmonary arterial hypertension. We assessed patients with a
      discharge code for "primary pulmonary hypertension," and excluded patients with
      known causes of pulmonary hypertension that are not classified as Group 1.
      RESULTS: There were 64,451 emergency department visits and 52,779
      hospitalizations for pulmonary arterial hypertension from 2007-2011 in patients
      aged >=18 years. The proportion of all emergency department visits that were for
      pulmonary arterial hypertension decreased from 16.4/100,000 visits in 2007 to
      8.9/100,000 visits in 2011 (P < .0001). The proportion of all hospitalizations
      that were for pulmonary arterial hypertension decreased from 79/100,000
      hospitalizations in 2007 to 38/100,000 hospitalizations in 2011 (P < .0001).
      Population-based death rates in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension
      decreased from 4.6/million population in 2007 to 1.7/million population in 2011
      (P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Decreasing rates of emergency department visits,
      hospitalizations, and deaths in patients with Group 1 pulmonary arterial
      hypertension were shown from 2007-2011. We speculate that this resulted from
      improved treatment during the period of observation.

PMID- 25820171
TI  - Compensatory erythropoiesis has no impact on the outcome of the in vivo Pig-a
      mutation assay in rats following treatment with the haemolytic agent 2
      butoxyethanol.
AB  - The Pig-a assay has rapidly gained international interest as a useful tool for
      assessing the mutagenic potential of compounds in vivo. Although a large number
      of compounds, including both mutagens and non-mutagens, have been tested in the
      rat Pig-a assay in haematopoietic cells, there is limited understanding of how
      perturbations in haematopoiesis affect assay performance. Of particular concern
      is the possibility that regenerative haematopoiesis alone, without exposure to a
      genotoxic agent, could result in elevated Pig-a mutant cell frequencies. To
      address this concern, Wistar-Han rats were dosed by oral gavage with a non
      genotoxic haemolytic agent, 2-butoxyethanol (2-BE). Dose levels ranging from 0 to
      450 mg/kg were tested using both single administration and 28-day treatment
      regimens. Haematology parameters were assessed at minimum within the first 24h of
      treatment and 8 days after the final administration. Pig-a mutant frequencies
      were assessed on Days 15 and ~30 for both treatment protocols and also on Days 43
      and 57 for the 28-day protocol. Even at doses of 2-BE that induced marked
      intravascular lysis and strong compensatory erythropoiesis, the average Pig-a
      mutant phenotype red blood cell and reticulocyte frequencies were within the
      historical vehicle control distribution. 2-BE therefore showed no evidence of in
      vivo mutagenicity in these studies. The data suggest that perturbations in
      haematopoiesis alone do not lead to an observation of increased mutant frequency
      in the Pig-a assay.

PMID- 25820172
TI  - Confirmation of Pig-a mutation in flow cytometry-identified CD48-deficient T
      lymphocytes from F344 rats.
AB  - The Pig-a assay is used for monitoring somatic cell mutation in laboratory
      animals and humans. The assay detects haematopoietic cells deficient in
      glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored protein surface markers using flow
      cytometry. However, given that synthesis of the protein markers (and the
      expression of their genes) is independent of the expression of the X-linked Pig-a
      gene and the function of its enzyme product, the deficiency of markers at the
      surface of the cells may be caused by a number of events (e.g. by mutation or
      epigenetic silencing in the marker gene itself or in any of about two dozen
      autosomal genes involved in the synthesis of GPI). Here we provide direct
      evidence that the deficiency of the GPI-anchored surface marker CD48 in rat T
      cells is accompanied by mutation in the endogenous X-linked Pig-a gene. We
      treated male F344 rats with N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU), and established colonies
      from flow cytometry-identified and sorted CD48-deficient spleen T-lymphocytes.
      Molecular analysis confirmed that the expanded sorted cells have mutations in the
      Pig-a gene. The spectrum of Pig-a mutation in our model was consistent with the
      spectrum of ENU-induced mutation determined in other in vivo models, mostly base
      pair substitutions at A:T with the mutated T on the non-transcribed strand of Pig
      a genomic DNA. We also used next generation sequencing to derive a similar
      mutational spectrum from a pool of 64 clones developed from flow-sorted CD48
      deficient lymphocytes. Our findings confirm that Pig-a assays detect what they
      are designed to detect-gene mutation in the Pig-a gene. 

PMID- 25820173
TI  - The renaissance of black phosphorus.
AB  - One hundred years after its first successful synthesis in the bulk form in 1914,
      black phosphorus (black P) was recently rediscovered from the perspective of a 2D
      layered material, attracting tremendous interest from condensed matter
      physicists, chemists, semiconductor device engineers, and material scientists.
      Similar to graphite and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), black P has a
      layered structure but with a unique puckered single-layer geometry. Because the
      direct electronic band gap of thin film black P can be varied from 0.3 eV to
      around 2 eV, depending on its film thickness, and because of its high carrier
      mobility and anisotropic in-plane properties, black P is promising for novel
      applications in nanoelectronics and nanophotonics different from graphene and
      TMDs. Black P as a nanomaterial has already attracted much attention from
      researchers within the past year. Here, we offer our opinions on this emerging
      material with the goal of motivating and inspiring fellow researchers in the 2D
      materials community and the broad readership of PNAS to discuss and contribute to
      this exciting new field. We also give our perspectives on future 2D and thin film
      black P research directions, aiming to assist researchers coming from a variety
      of disciplines who are desirous of working in this exciting research field. 

PMID- 25820175
TI  - APOBEC3 genes: retroviral restriction factors to cancer drivers.
AB  - The APOBEC3 cytosine deaminases play key roles in innate immunity through their
      ability to mutagenize viral DNA and restrict viral replication. Recent advances
      in cancer genomics, together with biochemical characterization of the APOBEC3
      enzymes, have now implicated at least two family members in somatic mutagenesis
      during tumor development. We review the evidence linking these enzymes to
      carcinogenesis and highlight key questions, including the potential mechanisms
      that misdirect APOBEC3 activity to the host genome, the links to viral infection,
      and the association between a common APOBEC3 polymorphism and cancer risk. 

PMID- 25820177
TI  - Pyrene magic: chiroptical enciphering and deciphering 1,3-dioxolane bearing two
      wirepullings to drive two remote pyrenes.
AB  - 2,2-Dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane connected to two pyrene moieties through flexible
      wires in chloroform exhibited cryptochirality in the ground state, as proven by
      the lack of detectable circular dichroism signals. This cryptochirality was
      deciphered in the photoexcited state by circularly polarised luminescence
      signals. 

PMID- 25820174
TI  - Human IL-32 expression protects mice against a hypervirulent strain of
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
AB  - Silencing of interleukin-32 (IL-32) in a differentiated human promonocytic cell
      line impairs killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) but the role of IL-32 in
      vivo against MTB remains unknown. To study the effects of IL-32 in vivo, a
      transgenic mouse was generated in which the human IL-32gamma gene is expressed
      using the surfactant protein C promoter (SPC-IL-32gammaTg). Wild-type and SPC-IL
      32gammaTg mice were infected with a low-dose aerosol of a hypervirulent strain of
      MTB (W-Beijing HN878). At 30 and 60 d after infection, the transgenic mice had
      66% and 85% fewer MTB in the lungs and 49% and 68% fewer MTB in the spleens,
      respectively; the transgenic mice also exhibited greater survival. Increased
      numbers of host-protective innate and adaptive immune cells were present in SPC
      IL-32gammaTg mice, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) positive lung
      macrophages and dendritic cells, and IFN-gamma (IFNgamma) and TNFalpha positive
      CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells in the lungs and mediastinal lymph nodes. Alveolar
      macrophages from transgenic mice infected with MTB ex vivo had reduced bacterial
      burden and increased colocalization of green fluorescent protein-labeled MTB with
      lysosomes. Furthermore, mouse macrophages made to express IL-32gamma but not the
      splice variant IL-32beta were better able to limit MTB growth than macrophages
      capable of producing both. The lungs of patients with tuberculosis showed
      increased IL-32 expression, particularly in macrophages of granulomas and airway
      epithelial cells but also B cells and T cells. We conclude that IL-32gamma
      enhances host immunity to MTB. 

PMID- 25820176
TI  - Using brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity to screen for metabolic syndrome in
      community populations.
AB  - The aim of this study is to investigate the viability of using brachial-ankle
      pulse wave velocity (baPWV) as a primary tool to screen metabolic syndrome
      (MetS), and to explore the risk factors of MetS in community populations. A total
      of 1914 subjects completed medical examination in Shanghai. BaPWV was
      significantly associated with the components of MetS. The area under curve (AUC)
      and its 95% confidence interval (CI) in total group were 62.50% and 60.00%-65.30%
      with the appropriate cut-off point being 1435 cm/sec. The AUC (95%CI) of three
      subgroups (40-50 yrs, 50-60 yrs and over 60 yrs group) were 75.30% (67.48%
      83.35%), 63.35% (58.96%-67.60%), 55.37% (51.19%-60.01%), respectively. A clear
      pattern surfaced in the process of investigation: the younger were the subjects
      group, the better receiver operating characteristic (ROC) efficacy would emerge;
      and the higher sensitivity was, the better negative predictive value (NPV) would
      be. Male gender, high baPWV values, elevated uric acid (UA) and excess
      hypersensitive C reaction protein (hs-CRP) levels were stayed in the two
      regression models as the independent risk factors for MetS. We conclude that
      baPWV may serve as a potential screening tool for MetS at the cut-off point of
      1435 cm/sec. 

PMID- 25820179
TI  - Synthesis and antifungal activities of novel polyheterocyclic spirooxindole
      derivatives.
AB  - A series of spirooxindole tetrahydrofuran derivatives 3 were obtained in moderate
      to good yields via oxindole derivatives 1 and beta-arylacrylonitrile derivatives
      2via base-mediated cascade [3 + 2] double Michael reactions under mild conditions
      and the application of this method in the synthesis of bioactive analogues, such
      as functionalized spirooxindole octahydrofuro[3,4-c]pyridine derivatives 4 which
      contain two new heterocyclic rings and two quaternary carbon centers, has also
      been developed. Subsequently, antifungal activities of all of the synthesized
      compounds were evaluated against five phytopathogenic fungi (Rhizoctonia solani,
      Fusarium semitectum, Alternaria solani, Valsa mali and Fusarium graminearum)
      using the mycelium growth rate method. The preliminary results showed that the
      spirooxindole octahydrofuro[3,4-c]pyridine derivative 4 showed higher growth
      inhibition of Valsa mali and Fusarium graminearum, than spirooxindole
      tetrahydrofuran derivatives 3. For example, spirooxindole octahydrofuro[3,4
      c]pyridine derivative 4ab, having a bromine atom at the meta position of the
      benzene ring, was the best compound in inhibiting F. g. with an IC50 value of
      3.31, in particular with inhibition of 4ab on F. g. being similar to that of the
      control cycloheximide (IC50 = 3.3 MUg mL(-1)).

PMID- 25820178
TI  - A Comparison of 8 Nutrition-Related Tests to Predict Mortality in Hemodialysis
      Patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Protein-energy wasting (PEW) describes a state of decreased protein
      and energy fuels and is highly prevalent in hemodialysis patients. As PEW is
      associated with mortality, it should be detected accurately and easily. This
      study investigated which nutrition-related test predicts mortality and morbidity
      best in hemodialysis patients. DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: Data were used from CONTRAST,
      a cohort of end-stage kidney disease patients. Subjective Global Assessment
      (SGA), Malnutrition Inflammation Score (MIS), Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index
      (GNRI), composite score of Protein-Energy Nutritional Status (cPENS), serum
      albumin, serum creatinine, body mass index, and normalized protein nitrogen
      appearance rate were assessed at baseline. End points were all-cause mortality,
      cardiovascular events, and infection. Discriminative value of every test was
      assessed with Harrell's C statistic and calibration tested using the Hosmer
      Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test. Ultimately, in every test, 4 groups were created
      to compare (1) hazard ratios (HR; worst vs best group), (2) HR increase per
      group, and (3) HR of worst group versus other groups. RESULTS: In total, 489
      patients were analyzed. Median follow-up was 2.97 years (interquartile range,
      1.67-4.47 years). MIS, GNRI, albumin, and creatinine discriminated all-cause
      mortality equally. SGA, cPENS, body mass index, and normalized protein nitrogen
      appearance were inferior. cPENS and creatinine were inadequately calibrated. Of
      the remaining tests, GNRI predicted mortality less when comparing HRs. MIS and
      albumin predicted mortality equally well. In a subanalysis, these also predicted
      infection equally well, but MIS predicted cardiovascular events better.
      CONCLUSION: Of the 8 investigated nutrition-related tests, MIS and albumin
      predict mortality best in hemodialysis patients. As one has no added value over
      the other, we conclude that mortality is most easily predicted in hemodialysis
      patients by serum albumin.

PMID- 25820180
TI  - pi-Conjugated [2]Catenanes Based on Oligothiophenes and Phenanthrolines:
      Efficient Synthesis and Electronic Properties.
AB  - Novel pi-conjugated topologies based on oligothiophenes and phenanthroline have
      been assembled by combining their outstanding electronic and structural benefits
      with the specific properties of the topological structure. Macrocycles and
      catenanes are prepared by using an optimized protocol of transition metal
      templated macrocyclization followed by efficient Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling
      reaction steps. By using this method, [2]catenanes comprising two interlocked pi
      conjugated macrocycles with different ring sizes have been synthesized. The
      structures of the [2]catenanes and corresponding macrocycles are confirmed by
      detailed (1) H NMR spectroscopy and high resolution mass spectrometry. Single
      crystal X-ray structural analysis of the quaterthiophene-diyne macrocycle affords
      important insight into the packing features and intermolecular interaction of the
      new systems. The fully conjugated interlocked [2]catenanes are fully
      characterized by spectroscopic and electrochemical measurements. 

PMID- 25820182
TI  - Developmental defects in the teeth of three wild chimpanzees from the Tai forest.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Developmental defects in teeth (accentuated lines and hypoplasias)
      have played a critical role in studies of childhood disease, nutrition, weaning,
      environmental variation, and early mortality. While these enigmatic structures
      have been lauded for their potential insights into human evolution, few studies
      have examined defects in individuals of known histories. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Here we document defects in the molars of three wild juvenile chimpanzees from
      the Tai forest (Pan troglodytes verus) and compare them with behavioral,
      epidemiological, and environmental records. RESULTS: Accentuated lines of
      differing intensities were found throughout molar crown and root growth, and were
      most common in a juvenile who demonstrated slow skeletal growth and prolonged
      maternal dependence. These defects were observed in association with some but not
      all injuries and disease outbreaks in this community. A 10-year record of
      accentuated line frequency across individuals shows a significant negative
      correlation with rainfall, but does not correlate with fruit availability or
      reveal significant annual trends. Several hypoplasias formed between ~0.6 and 5.8
      years of age on molar crowns and roots of the three individuals, however,
      available behavioral and epidemiological records do not explain their causation.
      DISCUSSION: While teeth may provide precise and accurate records of illness and
      trauma in some cases, inferring seasonal cycles, social stress, or weaning in
      living or fossil primate dentitions requires additional evidence beyond the
      presence, absence, or degree of expression of these defects. Studies that
      microsample bulk and trace elements may provide a more secure context for the
      interpretation of environmental, physiological, and dietary changes that impact
      dental tissue formation.

PMID- 25820181
TI  - Oligoclonal bands predict multiple sclerosis in children with optic neuritis.
AB  - We retrospectively evaluated predictors of conversion to multiple sclerosis (MS)
      in 357 children with isolated optic neuritis (ON) as a first demyelinating event
      who had a median follow-up of 4.0 years. Multiple Cox proportional-hazards
      regressions revealed abnormal cranial magnet resonance imaging (cMRI; hazard
      ratio [HR] = 5.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.39-10.39, p < 0.001),
      presence of cerebrospinal fluid immunoglobulin G oligoclonal bands (OCB; HR =
      3.69, 95% CI = 2.32-5.86, p < 0.001), and age (HR = 1.08 per year of age, 95% CI
      = 1.02-1.13, p = 0.003) as independent predictors of conversion, whereas sex and
      laterality (unilateral vs bilateral) had no influence. Combined cMRI and OCB
      positivity indicated a 26.84-fold higher HR for developing MS compared to double
      negativity (95% CI = 12.26-58.74, p < 0.001). Accordingly, cerebrospinal fluid
      analysis may supplement cMRI to determine the risk of MS in children with
      isolated ON.

PMID- 25820184
TI  - Dinuclear Face-Sharing Bi-octahedral Tungsten(VI) Core and Unusual Thermal
      Behavior in Complex Th Tungstates.
AB  - Invited for the cover of this issue are the groups of Evgeny V. Alekseev at the
      Forchungszentrum Julich and Thorstem M. Gesing at the University of Bremen. The
      image depicts the complex thorium tungstate polyanions, having a six-leafed lily
      cross-section, containing a rare confacial [W2 O9 ](6-) bioctahedral core. Read
      the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.201500500. 

PMID- 25820183
TI  - Test battery with the human cell line activation test, direct peptide reactivity
      assay and DEREK based on a 139 chemical data set for predicting skin sensitizing
      potential and potency of chemicals.
AB  - To develop a testing strategy incorporating the human cell line activation test
      (h-CLAT), direct peptide reactivity assay (DPRA) and DEREK, we created an
      expanded data set of 139 chemicals (102 sensitizers and 37 non-sensitizers) by
      combining the existing data set of 101 chemicals through the collaborative
      projects of Japan Cosmetic Industry Association. Of the additional 38 chemicals,
      15 chemicals with relatively low water solubility (log Kow > 3.5) were selected
      to clarify the limitation of testing strategies regarding the lipophilic
      chemicals. Predictivities of the h-CLAT, DPRA and DEREK, and the combinations
      thereof were evaluated by comparison to results of the local lymph node assay.
      When evaluating 139 chemicals using combinations of three methods based on
      integrated testing strategy (ITS) concept (ITS-based test battery) and a
      sequential testing strategy (STS) weighing the predictive performance of the h
      CLAT and DPRA, overall similar predictivities were found as before on the 101
      chemical data set. An analysis of false negative chemicals suggested a major
      limitation of our strategies was the testing of low water-soluble chemicals. When
      excluded the negative results for chemicals with log Kow > 3.5, the sensitivity
      and accuracy of ITS improved to 97% (91 of 94 chemicals) and 89% (114 of 128).
      Likewise, the sensitivity and accuracy of STS to 98% (92 of 94) and 85% (111 of
      129). Moreover, the ITS and STS also showed good correlation with local lymph
      node assay on three potency classifications, yielding accuracies of 74% (ITS) and
      73% (STS). Thus, the inclusion of log Kow in analysis could give both strategies
      a higher predictive performance.

PMID- 25820185
TI  - Impedance analysis of inherently redox-active ionic-liquid-based
      photoelectrochemical cells: charge-transfer mechanism in the presence of an
      additional redox couple.
AB  - An intensive electrochemical impedance study was carried out to understand the
      charge-transfer processes in photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells based on ionic
      liquid (IL) electrolytes. Three different electrolytes were utilized to
      understand the role of redox species as well as the medium on the charge-transfer
      mechanism. The negligible diffusion resistance, despite the presence of two
      different redox species in the case of Fe(CN)(6) (-4/-3) in IL, was explained on
      the basis of charge transfer between species of two different redox couples.
      Accordingly, the redox species are not required to travel through the bulk of the
      electrolyte for the removal of accumulated charges, as short-range charge
      transfer between the IL and the Fe(CN)(6) (-4/-3) species facilitates the removal
      of accumulated charges. It is also shown that PEC cells utilizing dual redox
      couples are highly stable with larger photoelectrochmeical windows, >3 V.

PMID- 25820186
TI  - Heme oxygenase-1 modulates microRNA expression in cultured astroglia:
      implications for chronic brain disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Over-expression of the heme-degrading enzyme, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1)
      promotes iron deposition, mitochondrial damage, and autophagy in astrocytes and
      enhances the vulnerability of nearby neuronal constituents to oxidative injury.
      These neuropathological features and aberrant brain microRNA (miRNA) expression
      patterns have been implicated in the etiopathogeneses of various
      neurodevelopmental and aging-related neurodegenerative disorders. OBJECTIVE: To
      correlate glial HO-1 overexpression with altered miRNA patterns, which have been
      linked to the aforementioned "core" neuropathological features. METHODS: miRNA
      microchip assays were performed on HMOX1- and sham-transfected primary rat
      astroglia and affected miRNAs were further validated by qPCR. The roles of the
      heme degradation products, carbon monoxide (CO), iron (Fe) and bilirubin on miRNA
      expression were assessed and salient mRNA targets of the impacted miRNAs were
      ascertained. RESULTS: In HMOX1-transfected astrocytes, rno-miR-140*, rno-miR-17,
      and rno-miR-16 were significantly up-regulated, and rno-miR-297, rno-miR-206, rno
      miR-187, rno-miR-181a, rno-miR-138 and rno-miR-29c were down-regulated, compared
      to sham-transfected controls. CO and Fe were implicated in the HMOX1 effects,
      whereas bilirubin was inert or counteracted the HMOX1-related changes. mRNA
      levels of Ngfr, Vglut1, Mapk3, Tnf-alpha, and Sirt1, known targets of the down
      regulated miRNAs and abnormal in various human brain disorders, were
      significantly increased in the HMOX-1-transfected astrocytes. CONCLUSIONS: In
      chronic CNS disorders, altered expression of salient miRNAs and their mRNA
      targets may contribute to the neural damage accruing from the over-expression of
      glial HO-1.

PMID- 25820187
TI  - Cerebellar granule cells are predominantly generated by terminal symmetric
      divisions of granule cell precursors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) are generated by
      symmetric and asymmetric cell division of neural stem cells and their derivative
      progenitor cells. Cerebellar granule cells are the most abundant neurons in the
      CNS, and are generated by intensive cell division of granule cell precursors
      (GCPs) during postnatal development. Dysregulation of GCP cell cycle is causal
      for some subtypes of medulloblastoma. However, the details and mechanisms
      underlying neurogenesis from GCPs are not well understood. RESULTS: Using long
      term live-cell imaging of proliferating GCPs transfected with a fluorescent
      newborn-granule cell marker, we found that GCPs underwent predominantly symmetric
      divisions, generating two GCPs or two neurons, while asymmetric divisions
      generating a GCP and a neuron were only occasionally observed, in both
      dissociated culture and within tissues of isolated cerebellar lobules. We found
      no significant difference in cell cycle length between proliferative and
      neurogenic divisions, or any consistent changes in cell cycle length during
      repeated proliferative division. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike neural stem cells in the
      cerebral cortex and spinal cord, which generate many neurons by repeated
      asymmetric division, cerebellar GCPs produce neurons predominantly by terminal
      symmetric division. These results indicate diverse mechanisms of neurogenesis in
      the mammalian brain.

PMID- 25820188
TI  - An in vitro analysis of separation of multi-use ProTaper Universal and ProTaper
      Next instruments in extracted mandibular molar teeth.
AB  - This study investigated the separation incidence of reused ProTaper Universal and
      ProTaper Next rotary instruments and identified the location of separated
      fragments. The root canals of extracted human mandibular molars were prepared
      with 10 assorted sets of ProTaper Universal and ProTaper Next instruments. After
      each preparation, instrument sets were autoclaved. This arrangement was repeated
      until an instrument fractured. The number of prepared teeth until fracture
      occurred was recorded for each instrument set. Teeth in which the instruments
      fractured were analyzed to determine the separation grade, apical relation, and
      coronal position. Fracture surfaces of the instruments were examined with
      scanning electron microscope. ProTaper Universal instruments fractured after
      application to a mean of 7.3 teeth, and ProTaper Next instruments after
      application to a mean of 5.7 teeth (p > 0.05). In the ProTaper Universal and
      ProTaper Next groups, F2 and X1 were the most commonly fractured instruments,
      respectively. Torsional and cyclic failures were evenly distributed in both the
      groups. The mean lengths of the fractured fragments of the instruments showed no
      statistically significant difference. The distance between the tip of the
      fractured instruments and apical constriction was similar (p > 0.05). However,
      the mean distance between the root canal orifice and coronal part of the
      fractured instrument was shorter in the ProTaper Next group (p < 0.05). The life
      span of ProTaper Universal and ProTaper Next instruments was the same for
      preparation of mandibular molar teeth. None of the instruments were fractured in
      the first usage.

PMID- 25820189
TI  - Improving Trastuzumab's Stability Profile by Removing the Two Degradation
      Hotspots.
AB  - Stability of recombinant monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is essential for their
      clinical application. The presence of the two degradation hotspots, namely, LC
      Asn30 and HC-Asp102, in its complementary determinant regions prevents
      trastuzumab (Herceptin(r)) from being supplied in a drug product format of liquid
      formulation. To improve the stability, a new antibody was created by replacing
      the two residues with chemically similar amino acids of LC-Gln30 and HC-Glu102.
      This new mAb, named as T-mAb2, exhibited a simple and more uniform charge
      heterogeneity profile than T-mAb1, which is trastuzumab made in our laboratory,
      as displayed by the difference between their main peak area percentages (82.9%
      for T-mAb2 vs. 60.5% for T-mAb1). Computer modeling results, physicochemical and
      biological characterization, and stability profiling studies on T-mAb2 and T-mAb1
      demonstrated that stability of T-mAb2 was significantly improved. In comparison
      with T-mAb1, although its in vitro human epidermal growth factor receptor 2
      (HER2)-target binding activities were reduced slightly, in vivo tumor growth
      inhibiting activity was not affected, as demonstrated by the study results using
      the SKOV3 xenograft mouse model. Hence, a new anti-HER2 antibody was generated
      with improved stability that could be used to produce the drug product in liquid
      formulation for cost saving and more convenient usage.

PMID- 25820191
TI  - Delayed Anticipatory Spoken Language Processing in Adults with Dyslexia-Evidence
      from Eye-tracking.
AB  - It is now well established that anticipation of upcoming input is a key
      characteristic of spoken language comprehension. It has also frequently been
      observed that literacy influences spoken language processing. Here, we
      investigated whether anticipatory spoken language processing is related to
      individuals' word reading abilities. Dutch adults with dyslexia and a control
      group participated in two eye-tracking experiments. Experiment 1 was conducted to
      assess whether adults with dyslexia show the typical language-mediated eye gaze
      patterns. Eye movements of both adults with and without dyslexia closely
      replicated earlier research: spoken language is used to direct attention to
      relevant objects in the environment in a closely time-locked manner. In
      Experiment 2, participants received instructions (e.g., 'Kijk naar de(COM)
      afgebeelde piano(COM)', look at the displayed piano) while viewing four objects.
      Articles (Dutch 'het' or 'de') were gender marked such that the article agreed in
      gender only with the target, and thus, participants could use gender information
      from the article to predict the target object. The adults with dyslexia
      anticipated the target objects but much later than the controls. Moreover,
      participants' word reading scores correlated positively with their anticipatory
      eye movements. We conclude by discussing the mechanisms by which reading
      abilities may influence predictive language processing.

PMID- 25820190
TI  - Advances in ultrasound imaging for congenital malformations during early
      gestation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With refinement in ultrasound technology, detection of fetal
      structural abnormalities has improved and there have been detailed reports of the
      natural history and expected outcomes for many anomalies. The ability to either
      reassure a high-risk woman with normal intrauterine images or offer comprehensive
      counseling and offer options in cases of strongly suspected lethal or major
      malformations has shifted prenatal diagnoses to the earliest possible gestational
      age. METHODS: When indicated, scans in early gestation are valuable in accurate
      gestational dating. Stricter sonographic criteria for early nonviability guard
      against unnecessary intervention. Most birth defects are without known risk
      factors, and detection of certain malformations is possible in the late first
      trimester. RESULTS: The best time for a standard complete fetal and placental
      scan is 18 to 20 weeks. In addition, certain soft anatomic markers provide clues
      to chromosomal aneuploidy risk. Maternal obesity and multifetal pregnancies are
      now more common and further limit early gestation visibility. CONCLUSION: Other
      advanced imaging techniques during early gestation in select cases of suspected
      malformations include fetal echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging.

PMID- 25820192
TI  - Dismantling papillary renal cell carcinoma classification: The heterogeneity of
      genetic profiles suggests several independent diseases.
AB  - Papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC) is the second most frequent renal cell
      carcinoma (RCC) after clear cell RCC. In contrast to clear cell RCC, there is no
      consensual protocol using targeted therapy for metastatic pRCC. Moreover,
      diagnosis of some pRCC, especially pRCC of type 2 (pRCC2) may be challenging. Our
      aim was to identify molecular biomarkers that could be helpful for the diagnosis
      and treatment of pRCC. We studied the clinical, histological, immunohistological,
      and comprehensive genetic features of a series of 31 pRCC including 15 pRCC1 and
      16 pRCC2. We aimed to determine whether pRCC represents a unique entity or
      several diseases. In addition, we compared the genetic features of pRCC2 to those
      of eight RCC showing various degrees of tubulo-papillary architecture, including
      three TFE-translocation RCC and five unclassified RCC. We demonstrate that pRCC
      is a heterogeneous group of tumors with distinct evolution. While most pRCC2 had
      genetic profiles similar to pRCC1, some shared genomic features, such as loss of
      3p and loss of chromosome 14, with clear cell RCC, TFE-translocation RCC, and
      unclassified RCC. We identified variants of the MET gene in three pRCC1. A
      mutation in the BRAF gene was also identified in one pRCC1. In addition, using
      next-generation sequencing (NGS), we identified several variant genes. Genomic
      profiling completed by NGS allowed us to classify pRCC2 in several groups and to
      identify novel mutations. Our findings provide novel information on the
      pathogenesis of pRCC that allow insights for personalized treatment.

PMID- 25820198
TI  - Association of body mass index with chromosome damage levels and lung cancer risk
      among males.
AB  - Epidemiological studies have shown an etiological link between body mass index
      (BMI) and cancer risk, but evidence supporting these observations is limited.
      This study aimed to investigate potential associations of BMI with chromosome
      damage levels and lung cancer risk. First, we recruited 1333 male workers from a
      coke-oven plant to examine their chromosome damage levels; and then, a cohort
      study of 12,052 males was used to investigate the association of BMI with lung
      cancer incidence. We further carried out a meta-analysis for BMI and male lung
      cancer risk based on cohort studies. We found that men workers with excess body
      weight (BMI >= 25 kg/m(2)) had lower levels of MN frequencies than men with
      normal-weight (BMI: 18.5-24.9). Our cohort study indicated that, the relative
      risk (RR) for men with BMI >= 25 to develop lung cancer was 35% lower than RR for
      normal-weight men. Further meta-analysis showed that, compared to normal-weight
      men, men with BMI >= 25 had decreased risk of lung cancer among both the East
      Asians and others populations. These results indicate that men with excess body
      weight had significant decreased chromosome damage levels and lower risk of lung
      cancer than those with normal-weight. However, further biological researches were
      needed to validate these associations.

PMID- 25820199
TI  - A semi-interpenetrating network approach for dimensionally stabilizing highly
      charged anion exchange membranes for alkaline fuel cells.
AB  - There is a delicate balance between ion exchange capacity (IEC), conductivity,
      and dimensional stability in anion exchange membranes as higher charge content
      can lead to increased water uptake, causing excessive swelling and charge
      dilution. Using highly-charged benzyltrimethylammonium polysulfone (IEC=2.99 mEq
      g(-1) ) as a benchmark (which ruptured in water even at room temperature), we
      report the ability to dramatically decrease water uptake using a semi
      interpenetrating network wherein we reinforced the linear polyelectrolyte with a
      crosslinked poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) network. These membranes show
      enhanced dimensional stability as a result of lower water uptake (75 % vs. 301 %
      at 25  degrees C) while maintaining excellent hydroxide conductivity (up to 50 mS
      cm(-1) at 25  degrees C). These improvements produced an enhanced alkaline fuel
      cell capable of generating 236 mW cm(-2) peak power density at 80  degrees C.
      This method is easily adaptable and can be a viable strategy for stabilizing
      existing systems. 

PMID- 25820200
TI  - Metabolite and macromolecule T1 and T2 relaxation times in the rat brain in vivo
      at 17.2T.
AB  - PURPOSE: To measure the T1 and T2 relaxation times of water, metabolites, and
      macromolecules in the rat brain in vivo at 17.2T and achieve absolute
      quantification of the neurochemical profile. Relaxation times were compared with
      values from the literature found at lower magnetic fields. METHODS: (1) H NMR
      spectra were measured using a LASER localization sequence. T1 - and T2 -weighted
      spectra were analyzed using LCModel with an original parameterization of the
      macromolecule baseline. RESULTS: The T1 relaxation times of 20 metabolites and
      the T2 relaxation times of 16 singlets and J-coupled metabolites were measured.
      The mean T1 and T2 relaxation times for metabolites were 1721 +/- 237 ms and 148
      +/- 53 ms, respectively. In addition, we measured the T1 and T2 relaxation times
      of 4 macromolecule resonance groups, their mean T1 and T2 relaxation times being
      690 +/- 100 ms and 37 +/- 15 ms, respectively. Absolute quantification of 21
      metabolites and 4 groups of macromolecule resonances was achieved with Cramer-Rao
      Lower Bounds below 5% for Cr, Gln, Glu, GPC, Ins, NAA, PCr, and Tau and below 25%
      for the remaining resonances. CONCLUSION: Comparison of our relaxation times to
      previously published values suggests a small increase of T1 values and a clear
      decrease of T2 values between 11.7 and 17.2T.

PMID- 25820201
TI  - Hospital management of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary
      disease.
AB  - The course of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is often complicated
      by episodes of acute worsening of respiratory symptoms, which may lead to
      escalation of therapy and occasionally emergency department visits and
      hospitalization. Acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) have a negative impact on
      quality of life and hasten the decline of lung function. They also significantly
      contribute to the direct and indirect healthcare costs of this disease. Severe
      exacerbations (those leading to hospital admission) have been associated with
      significant poor outcomes including an increased risk of readmissions and
      mortality. COPD is currently the fourth leading cause of hospital readmission in
      the United States. In this review, we will provide a broad overview on the
      etiology, assessment, management, discharge planning, and follow-up care of
      patients hospitalized with AECOPD.

PMID- 25820202
TI  - Does near-roadway air pollution contribute to childhood obesity?

PMID- 25820203
TI  - New European Food Safety Authority recommendation for infant formulae contradicts
      the physiology of human milk and infant development.
AB  - The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has concluded from a limited review of
      the literature that although docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was required for infant
      formula, arachidonic acid was not 'even in the presence of DHA'. The EFSA report
      mistakes a nutrient ubiquitous in the diets of infants, and with wide-ranging
      effects, for an optional drug targeted to a particular outcome that is properly
      excluded when no benefit is found for that particular outcome. The EFSA's
      conclusion is not evidence-based. Its conclusions are grounded in trials which
      tested functionality of DHA, not arachidonic acid. Arachidonic acid has very
      different biological functions, for instance, in the vasculature and in specific
      aspects of immunity. None of the trials cited tested any property specific to
      arachidonic acid. The test of time through natural selection and human evolution
      has resulted in milk composition in which arachidonic acid and its long-chain
      polyenoic family members are conserved and occupy a prominent position. As DHA
      suppresses arachidonic acid, an infant formula with DHA and no arachidonic acid
      runs the risk of cardio- and cerebrovascular morbidity through suppression of the
      favourable eicosanoid derivatives of arachidonic acid and cell structural
      integrity. The EFSA recommendation should be rejected forthwith as unsafe and
      risking lifelong disability. 

PMID- 25820204
TI  - Anthropometric indices and dietary intake: prospective determinants of geriatric
      cognitive impairment?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the magnitude of elderly (aged 60-85 years) persons with
      cognitive impairment and its relation with their dietary and anthropometric
      status. METHODS:  DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. The cognitive status of the
      subjects was screened using the Mini Mental Score Examination (MMSE). The binary
      logistic regression coefficients were ascertained for determining the association
      of predictors like MMSE score, body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)
      with the age of the subjects. SETTING: Government hospitals, Vadodara, India.
      SUBJECTS: Geriatric subjects (n = 50) aged 60-85 years. RESULTS: The mean age of
      the elderly subjects was around 68 years old. The majority of subjects fell into
      the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) category, with Grade I obesity. We noted
      significant correlations (p < 0.05; p < 0.01) with energy, protein, vitamin B12,
      WHR and BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive abnormalities doubly elevate with advancing
      age, with decreased intake of dietary nutrients. The cognitive assessment
      undertaken focused on this rampant under-diagnosed cognition. The burgeoning
      prodromal insidious stage of cognitive impairment demands rapid diagnosis for
      preserving mental health, or else severe deterioration takes over, leading to
      compromised mental abilities in the elderly.

PMID- 25820206
TI  - Self-regulation of eating behaviour among adolescents.

PMID- 25820205
TI  - Mice perceive synergistic umami mixtures as tasting sweet.
AB  - Previous electrophysiological investigation shows that combinations of compounds
      classified by humans as umami-tasting, such as glutamate salts and 5'
      ribonucleotides, elicit synergistic responses in neurons throughout the rodent
      taste system and produce a pattern that resembles responses to sweet compounds.
      The current study tested the hypothesis that a synergistic mixture of
      monopotassium glutamate (MPG) and inositol monophosphate (IMP) possesses
      perceptual similarity to sucrose in mice. We estimated behavioral similarity
      among these tastants and the individual umami compounds using a series of
      conditioned taste aversion (CTA) tests, a procedure that measures whether a CTA
      formed to one stimulus generalizes to another. Our primary finding was that a CTA
      to a synergistic mixture of MPG + IMP generalizes to sucrose, and vice-versa.
      This indicates umami synergistic mixtures are perceived as having a sweet, or at
      least sucrose-like, taste to mice. Considering other recent studies, our data
      argue strongly in favor of multiple receptor mechanisms for umami detection, and
      complexity in taste perception models for rodents. 

PMID- 25820207
TI  - Comparison of Brucella canis genomes isolated from different countries shows
      multiple variable regions.
AB  - Brucella canis is a pathogenic bacterium for dogs and its zoonotic potential has
      been increasing in recent years. In this study, we report the sequencing,
      annotation and analysis of the genome of Brucella canis strain Oliveri isolated
      from a dog in a breeding kennel in Medellin, Colombia, South America. Whole
      genome shotgun sequencing was carried out using the ROCHE 454 GS FLX Titanium
      technology at the National Center for Genomic Sequencing-CNSG in Medellin,
      Colombia. The assembly procedure was performed using Newbler v2.6. In the genome
      annotation process, each contig was analyzed independently using as reference
      Brucella suis ATCC 1330 chromosomes. This new genome could be useful for the
      development of diagnostic tools and for vaccines search as well, in order to
      reduce the health impact of this infection in both, dogs and humans. The sequence
      was deposited in EMBL-EBI with accession numbers HG803175 and HG803176 for
      chromosomes 1 and 2, respectively. 

PMID- 25820208
TI  - Glochidioboside Kills Pathogenic Bacteria by Membrane Perturbation.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial effects of
      glochidioboside and determine its mechanism of action. Glochidioboside has been
      reported to be isolated from some plants but the underlying biological properties
      have remained largely obscure until now. To identify the antibacterial activity
      of all biological properties, pathogenic bacteria susceptibility test was
      performed, and the result shows that the compound displays remarkable
      antibacterial activity against antibiotic-resistant bacteria not to mention
      general pathogen. To demonstrate membrane disruption and depolarization, SYTOX
      green and bis-(1,3-dibutylbarbituric acid) trimethine oxonol were used with
      Escherichia coli O157, and indicated that glochidioboside affected cytoplasmic
      membranes by permeabilization and depolarization, respectively. Calcein efflux
      was evident in a membrane model that encapsulated fluorescent dye, and supported
      the hypothesis of a membrane-active mechanism. To confirm the release of
      intracellular matrix owing to membrane damage, the movements of potassium ion
      were observed; the results indicated that the cells treated with glochidioboside
      leaked potassium ion, thus the damage induced by the compounds lead to leaking
      intracellular components. We propose that glochidioboside kills pathogenic
      bacteria via perturbation of integrity of the membrane. 

PMID- 25820209
TI  - Retrograde intrarenal surgery versus percutaneous nephrolithotomy in patients
      with significant comorbidities and solitary kidney.

PMID- 25820210
TI  - Mitochondrial DNA-Based Analyses of Relatedness Among Turkeys, Meleagris
      gallopavo.
AB  - The domesticated turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, is believed to be a single breed
      with several varieties whose relatedness and origins remain poorly understood.
      Using the mitochondrial genome sequence (GenBank accession no. EF153719) that our
      group first reported, we investigated the relationships among 15 of the most
      widely occurring turkey varieties using D-loop and 16S RNA sequences. We
      included, as a non-traditional outgroup, mtDNA sequence information from wild
      turkey varieties. A total of 24 SNPs, including 18 in the D-loop and 6 in the 16S
      rRNA, was identified, validated and used. Of the 15 haplotypes detected based on
      these SNPs, 7 were unique to wild turkeys. Nucleotide diversity estimates were
      relatively low when compared to those reported for chickens and other livestock.
      Network and phylogenetic analyses showed a closer relationship among heritage
      varieties than between heritage and wild turkeys. The mtDNA data provide
      additional evidence that suggest a recent divergence of turkey varieties. 

PMID- 25820211
TI  - A simple and convenient sticky/blunt-end ligation method for fusion gene
      construction.
AB  - Here we present a simple and convenient sticky/blunt-end ligation method for
      fusion gene construction. The fusion gene is constructed by seamless ligation of
      5'-end phosphorylated blunt ends instead of by overlap extension PCR (OE-PCR).
      Therefore, the challenge of amplifying large DNA fragments (e.g., the large
      bifunctional enzyme gene constructed by fusion of two monofunctional enzyme
      genes) by PCR can be avoided. In addition, synthesis of the inner primers for OE
      PCR is not necessary, indicating that this method should be especially convenient
      for construction of fusion genes with various combinations of multiple fragments
      (e.g., chimeric gene libraries, fusion gene libraries). As a modification of the
      commonly used fusion gene construction technique, this method may find a wide
      range of applications in bioscience and biotechnology. 

PMID- 25820212
TI  - Implementing a telephone based peer support intervention for women with a BRCA1/2
      mutation.
AB  - Women with a BRCA1/2 gene mutation face complex risk management decisions and
      communication issues that can lead to increased levels of distress and unmet
      needs. We describe the implementation of a peer-support program that aims to
      reduce distress among women with a BRCA1/2 mutation, including peer and support
      recipient satisfaction with the program, challenges and lessons learnt.
      Participants with a BRCA1/2 mutation were matched with a trained peer volunteer
      (also a mutation carrier) to have regular one-on-one phone calls, over 4 months.
      Details of the calls, including topics discussed, time spent and number, were
      collected. Peers and recipients completed surveys assessing how they felt the
      contact went, satisfaction with the program, and preferences for matching.
      Satisfaction with the program was high for both peers and recipients. 80% of
      pairs ended contact through mutual agreement. Peers and recipients differed in
      the importance placed on age and surgery experience to determine matches. The
      most challenging aspect of the program for peers was difficulty in contacting
      recipients. Peer support for women with a BRCA1/2 mutation is feasible. However,
      to encourage continued involvement by peers and recipients greater flexibility in
      the method and delivery of contact is needed. We advocate the use of text
      messaging and/or email as mechanisms for pairs to arrange and maintain contact.
      These strategies should be in addition to, rather than replacing, calls. A mixed
      medium intervention, where recipients can tailor the method of communication to
      suit their needs, may be preferable and effective, though this would need to be
      tested.

PMID- 25820213
TI  - Influence of isolated or simultaneous application of electromyostimulation and
      vibration on leg blood flow.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to analyze the acute effects of isolated or
      simultaneously applied whole-body vibration (WBV) and electromyostimulation (ES)
      on the popliteal arterial blood velocity and skin temperature (ST) of the calf.
      METHODS: Thirteen healthy males were assessed in five different sessions. After a
      familiarization session, four interventions were applied in random order; WBV,
      ES, simultaneous WBV and ES (WBV+ES), and 30 s of WBV followed by 30 s of ES
      (WBV30/ES30). Each intervention consisted of 10 sets * 1 min ON + 1 min OFF. The
      subject was standing on the vibration platform (squat position, 30 degrees  knee
      flexion, 26 Hz, 5 mm peak-to-peak), and ES was applied on the gastrocnemius of
      both the legs (8 Hz, 400 us). RESULTS: The WBV+ES intervention was the only one
      that maintained the mean blood velocity (MBV) elevated above baseline during the
      10 sets, from set-1 (134.6 % p < 0.01) to set-10 (112.6 % p < 0.05). The combined
      interventions were the only ones that maintained the peak blood velocity (PBV)
      elevated above baseline during all the sets, from set-1 (113.5 % p < 0.001) to
      set-10 (88.8 % p < 0.01) and from set-1 (58.4 % p < 0.01) to set-10 (49.1 % p <
      0.05) for WBV+ES and WBV30/ES30, respectively. CONCLUSION: The simultaneous
      application of WBV and ES produced a general greater increase in MBV and PBV than
      the application of each method alone or consecutive. This novel methodological
      proposal could be interesting in different fields such as sports or the
      rehabilitation process of different pathologies, to achieve an enhanced
      peripheral blood flow.

PMID- 25820214
TI  - BRAF V600E mutation is a useful marker for differentiating Rathke's cleft cyst
      with squamous metaplasia from papillary craniopharyngioma.

PMID- 25820215
TI  - Association between rs6812193 polymorphism and sporadic Parkinson's disease
      susceptibility.
AB  - Recently, the association of a single nucleotide polymorphism rs6812193 C/T with
      sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) susceptibility has been widely evaluated, but
      the results remained inconsistent. This association should be clarified because
      of the importance of it on human health and quality of life. We performed a
      comprehensive meta-analysis to evaluate the association between the rs6812193
      polymorphism and sporadic PD. PubMed was used to retrieve articles published up
      to June 2014 for all studies evaluating the rs6812193 polymorphism and PD in
      humans. Ethnicity-specific subgroup analysis was also performed based on
      ethnicity susceptibility. A total of 17 independent study samples (15 Caucasians
      and 2 Asians) including 17,956 cases and 52,751 controls were used in the
      presented study. The MAFT (minor allele T frequency) in PD patients of European
      descent is obviously higher than Asian cases (p < 0.01). The results suggested
      the rs6812193 polymorphism (allele T vs. C) is significantly associated with PD
      susceptibility among overall samples (OR 0.882, 95 % CI 0.856-0.908) and
      Caucasian population (OR 0.881, 95 % CI 0.856-0.907), but not in Asian samples
      (OR 0.918, 95 % CI 0.721-1.168). No evidence of publication bias was observed.
      Throughout our analysis, the rs6812193 polymorphism is significantly associated
      with sporadic PD susceptibility in Caucasian samples, and ethnicity might be the
      key point of inconsistency in rs6812193 studies. Further studies are warranted to
      re-examine the observed associations, especially in different ethnicities.

PMID- 25820216
TI  - Has the diagnosis of a stroke been overlooked in the symptoms of Julius Caesar?

PMID- 25820217
TI  - Analysis of prior mammography with negative result in women with interval breast
      cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of our study was to review mammographic findings which were
      previously negative in women with interval breast cancer and to analyze the
      histopathological features of the interval breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      A total of 5521 women underwent surgery for breast cancer between January 2009
      and December 2011. Among them, 240 women who had undergone available, previous
      mammography studies reported as normal or benign (mean interval between
      examinations, 9.7 months) were included in our study. We reviewed the previous
      mammographic features and categorized as true interval breast cancer, minimal
      sign, and missed interval breast cancer. Histopathological findings were also
      reviewed. RESULTS: Of the 240 diagnosed cancers, 78 (32.5 %) were classified as
      true interval breast cancer, 78 (32.5 %) as minimal sign, and 84 (35 %) as missed
      interval breast cancer. True interval breast cancer occurred in a younger age and
      showed dense breast compared with missed breast cancer. The breast density of 169
      patients (70.4 %) was dense. In the minimal sign group, the most common finding
      was normal appearing tissue (61/78), followed by benign-appearing calcification
      (17/78). There were no significant differences in the histopathological findings
      in each of the three groups and tended to have smaller tumor size, negative nodal
      status, a lower AJCC stage, and frequent luminal A subtype. CONCLUSION: The
      majority of interval breast cancers was not detectable in patients with dense
      breast or showed subtle mammographic findings on previous mammography. Although
      the majority of breast cancers showed a low grade in the histopathological
      findings, a better understanding of the mammographic findings will influence the
      sensitivity of mammography.

PMID- 25820218
TI  - The role of professional knowledge in case-based reasoning in practical ethics.
AB  - The use of case-based reasoning in teaching professional ethics has come of age.
      The fields of medicine, engineering, and business all have incorporated ethics
      case studies into leading textbooks and journal articles, as well as
      undergraduate and graduate professional ethics courses. The most recent
      guidelines from the National Institutes of Health recognize case studies and face
      to-face discussion as best practices to be included in training programs for the
      Responsible Conduct of Research. While there is a general consensus that case
      studies play a central role in the teaching of professional ethics, there is
      still much to be learned regarding how professionals learn ethics using case
      based reasoning. Cases take many forms, and there are a variety of ways to write
      them and use them in teaching. This paper reports the results of a study designed
      to investigate one of the issues in teaching case-based ethics: the role of one's
      professional knowledge in learning methods of moral reasoning. Using a novel
      assessment instrument, we compared case studies written and analyzed by three
      groups of students whom we classified as: (1) Experts in a research domain in
      bioengineering. (2) Novices in a research domain in bioengineering. (3) The non
      research group--students using an engineering domain in which they were
      interested but had no in-depth knowledge. This study demonstrates that a
      student's level of understanding of a professional knowledge domain plays a
      significant role in learning moral reasoning skills.

PMID- 25820219
TI  - Muscle atrophy as pre-sarcopenia in Japanese patients with chronic liver disease:
      computed tomography is useful for evaluation.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIM: The definition of muscle atrophy (pre-sarcopenia) and its
      diagnostic criteria have not been well reported. To elucidate the frequency of
      pre-sarcopenia in chronic liver disease (CLD), we examined clinical features of
      Japanese CLD patients using abdominal computed tomography (CT) findings. METHODS:
      We enrolled 988 CLD (736 with naive hepatocellular carcinoma) and 372 normal
      control subjects (NCs). The psoas muscle area index [PI, psoas muscle area at the
      mid-L3 level in CT (cm(2))/height (m)(2)] was calculated using personal computer
      software. The cut-off level for pre-sarcopenia was defined as less than two
      standard deviations (SDs) below the mean PI value in the NCs under 55 years old
      [males, 45.6 +/- 5.7 years (n = 61), 4.24 cm(2)/m(2); females, 47.0 +/- 6.1 years
      (n = 49), 2.50 cm(2)/m(2)]. Elderly was defined as 65 years or older. Clinical
      features were retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS: In the CLD group (HCV:HBV:HBV
      and HCV:alcohol:non-HBV and HCV = 652:88:7:82:159), pre-sarcopenia was observed
      in 15.3% of patients with chronic hepatitis (CH), 24.4% of those with liver
      cirrhosis (LC) Child-Pugh A, 37.7% of those with LC Child-Pugh B, and 37.1% of
      those with LC Child-Pugh C. A comparison between NC and CH by age (<55, 55-64, 65
      74, >=75 years) showed that the frequency of pre-sarcopenia was higher in CH
      regardless of age (1.8 vs. 3.6%, 3.2 vs. 15.9%, 4.9 vs. 13.4%, 14.3 vs. 20.2%,
      respectively). PI values showed correlations with BMI (r = 0.361), age (r = 
      0.167), albumin (r = 0.115), and branched-chain amino acids (r = 0.199) (P <
      0.01). CONCLUSION: Retrospective evaluate for pre-sarcopenia was easy to perform
      with CT findings. Nutrition and exercise instruction should be considered for
      early stage and even non-elderly CLD as well as LC.

PMID- 25820220
TI  - Love on lockdown: how social network characteristics predict separational
      concurrency among low income African-American women.
AB  - One out of nine African-American men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind
      bars, resulting in many African-American women losing their primary romantic
      partners to incarceration. Research suggests that partner incarceration may
      contribute to increased risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)/human
      immunodeficiency virus (HIV); however, factors associated with women's decisions
      to begin new sexual partnerships following partner incarceration (i.e.,
      separational concurrency) have not been well studied. This study examined the
      social context relevant to initiating separational concurrency, following
      incarceration of a primary male partner. Cross-sectional secondary data analysis
      of 6-month follow-up data from the CHAT Project, a social-network based
      HIV/sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention study in Baltimore, MD, USA.
      Participants were N = 196 African-American women, who reported ever having had a
      partner who was incarcerated for at least 6 months during the relationship. The
      majority (81.5%) of women were unemployed with a mean age of 41.7 years. Over
      half of the sample (59.5%) reported having used crack or heroin at least once in
      the previous 12 months; 48.5% of the women had experienced physical abuse, with
      over half of the sample reporting a lifetime history of emotional abuse (54.6%).
      Separational concurrency, defined as answering yes to the item, "While [your]
      partner was incarcerated, did you have any other sexual partners?," was the
      primary outcome measure. After adjusting for age, drug use and unemployment the
      multiple logistic regression model found that women who reported a history of
      physical or emotional abuse were over two times as likely to report separational
      concurrency than women without an abuse history [adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 2.24;
      95% CI, 1.24, 4.05; p = .007 and AOR, 2.44; 95% CI, 1.33, 4.46; p = .004,
      respectively]. Individuals who reported a higher number of drug-using sex
      partners (AOR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.4, 4.5; p = .002), sex exchange partners (AOR,
      4.0; 95% CI, 1.8 8.9; p = .001), and sexual partners who engaged in concurrency
      (AOR: 2.67; 95% CI: 1.5, 4.8; p = .001) were significantly more likely to report
      separational concurrency. Conversely, participants who reported more female kin
      in their social networks (AOR, .808; 95% CI, .67, .97; p = .025), having known
      network members a longer time (AOR, .997; 95% CI, .993, .999; p = .043), and
      higher levels of trust for network members (AOR, .761; 95% CI, .63, .92; p =
      .005) were significantly less likely to report separational concurrency. Results
      of this study demonstrate that social network characteristics may be crucial to
      understanding separational concurrency among African-American urban women who
      have lost a partner to incarceration. Social network and other resource-based
      interventions, which provide instrumental, social, and economic resources to
      women who have experienced the loss of a partner to incarceration, may be
      important tools in empowering women and helping to reduce the disproportionate
      burden of STIs/HIV among low income, African-American women.

PMID- 25820221
TI  - A large temperature fluctuation may trigger an epidemic erythromelalgia outbreak
      in China.
AB  - Although erythromelalgia (EM) has been documented in the literature for almost
      150 years, it is still poorly understood. To overcome this limitation, we
      examined the spatial distribution of epidemic EM, and explored the association
      between temperature fluctuation and epidemic EM outbreaks in China. We searched
      all peer-reviewed literature on primary epidemic EM outbreaks in China. A two
      stage model was used to characterize the relationship between temperature
      fluctuation and epidemic EM outbreaks. We observed that epidemic EM outbreaks
      were reported from 13 provinces during 1960-2014 and they mainly occurred between
      February and March in southern China. The majority of EM cases were middle school
      students, with a higher incidence rate in female and resident students. The major
      clinical characteristics of EM cases included burning, sharp, tingling and/or
      stinging pain in toes, soles and/or dorsum of feet, fever, erythema and swelling.
      A large "V"-shaped fluctuation of daily average temperature (TM) observed during
      the epidemic EM outbreaks was significantly associated with the number of daily
      EM cases (beta = 1.22, 95%CI: 0.66 ~ 1.79), which indicated that this "V"-shaped
      fluctuation of TM probably triggered the epidemic EM outbreaks. 

PMID- 25820222
TI  - Dietary and exercise change following acute cardiac syndrome onset: A latent
      class growth modelling analysis.
AB  - The present study aim determine sub-group trajectories of change on measures of
      diet and exercise following acute coronary syndrome. 150 participants were
      assessed in hospital, 1 month and 6 months subsequently on measures including
      physical activity, diet, illness beliefs, coping and mood. Change trajectories
      were measured using latent class growth modelling. Multinomial logistic
      regression was used to predict class membership. These analyses revealed changes
      in exercise were confined to a sub-group of participants already reporting
      relatively high exercise levels; those eating less healthily evidenced modest
      dietary improvements. Coping, gender, depression and perceived control predicted
      group membership to a modest degree.

PMID- 25820223
TI  - Comparison of the plasmonic performances between lithographically fabricated and
      chemically grown gold nanorods.
AB  - Noble metal nanostructures, especially gold nanocrystals, have attracted
      intensive interest due to their rich plasmonic properties and enormous potential
      technological applications. The preparation process of gold nanocrystals can
      strongly affect their plasmonic properties and therefore their performances in
      various applications. Chemically synthesized colloidal gold nanocrystals are
      usually employed in biomedical fields, while lithographically fabricated ones are
      highly preferred for constructing optical meta-structures. A detailed careful
      comparison of the plasmonic performances between lithographical and chemical
      metal nanostructures is strongly desired for using them for different
      applications. Herein, we experimentally measured and quantitatively compared the
      plasmonic properties, including longitudinal localized surface plasmon
      wavelengths (LLSPWs) and plasmon peak widths, scattering intensities, and local
      electric field enhancements, of lithographically fabricated and chemically grown
      gold nanorods. The lithographical nanorods exhibit much weaker scattering,
      largely broadened spectral widths, and considerably reduced electric field
      enhancements. Electrodynamic simulations suggest that the reduction in the
      plasmonic performance of the lithographical nanorods is caused mainly by the use
      of an adhesive metal layer and slightly by their polycrystalline nature. Our
      quantitative comparison results will be very helpful in guiding the selection of
      proper types of metal nanostructures for targeted technological applications. 

PMID- 25820224
TI  - MPs criticise government for inaction since Winterbourne View scandal.

PMID- 25820225
TI  - Emergence of electrophilic alumination as the counterpart of established
      nucleophilic lithiation: an academic sojourn in organometallics with William
      Kaska as fellow traveler.
AB  - William Kaska pursued doctoral studies with John Eisch in mechanistic
      organometallic chemistry, first with organolithium reactions at St. Louis
      University and then at the University of Michigan with organoaluminum reactions.
      Thereby he revealed the change in mechanism from nucleophilic lithiation and
      carbolithiation to that of electrophilic alumination, carboalumination and
      hydroalumination of organic substrates, which reactions were previously observed
      by Karl Ziegler in his empirical studies of organoaluminum reactions. Our
      findings were the first mechanistic studies attempting to set such Ziegler
      chemistry on a modern theoretical basis. 

PMID- 25820226
TI  - A polyamine-modified near-infrared fluorescent probe for selective staining of
      live cancer cells.
AB  - We report the synthesis of novel polyamine-modified near-infrared (NIR) probes,
      which show excellent water-solubility and good optical properties. One probe was
      taken up efficiently by living cancer cell lines whereas no staining of the non
      cancer cells was observed. 

PMID- 25820227
TI  - A new subset of deutan colour vision defect associated with an L/M visual pigment
      gene array of normal order and -71C substitution in the Japanese population.
AB  - In 524 Japanese individuals with deutan colour vision defect, 76 had a normal
      order pigment gene array, where the L gene is at the first position and the M
      gene(s) is located downstream. Of these 76 individuals, 69 had a -71A>C
      substitution in the M gene without any other mutation. Because the expression of
      L/M genes is up-regulated by thyroid hormone (T3) in human retinoblastoma WERI
      cells, we examined the effects of T3 on promoter activity; T3 increased the
      activity of the -71A promoter 2-fold, but it had no effect on the -71C promoter.
      Similarly, the -71C promoter was much less activated by T3 than the -71A promoter
      in HEK293 cells expressing thyroid hormone receptor isoform beta2. Such a weak
      response of the -71C promoter to T3 may cause a decrease in the number of M cones
      and/or the density of M pigment during the differentiation of M cones. The
      average Rayleigh match midpoint was 18.9 +/- 4.1 in 162 ordinary deuteranomaly
      individuals, but was 37.3 +/- 9.1 in 63 deuteranomaly individuals with -71C. The 
      71A>C substitution was found to be specific to eastern Asia. These results
      suggest that there may be a new subset of deuteranomaly associated with -71C in
      the Japanese (and probably eastern Asian) population(s). 

PMID- 25820228
TI  - Identification of large channels in cationic PEGylated cubosome nanoparticles by
      synchrotron radiation SAXS and Cryo-TEM imaging.
AB  - Extra-large nanochannel formation in the internal structure of cationic cubosome
      nanoparticles results from the interplay between charge repulsion and steric
      stabilization of the lipid membrane interfaces and is evidenced by cryogenic
      transmission electron microscopy (Cryo-TEM) and synchrotron radiation small-angle
      X-ray scattering (SAXS). The swollen cubic symmetry of the lipid nanoparticles
      emerges through a shaping transition of onion bilayer vesicle intermediates
      containing a fusogenic nonlamellar lipid. Cationic amphiphile cubosome particles,
      thanks to the advantages of their liquid crystalline soft porous nanoarchitecture
      and capability for multi-drug nanoencapsulation, appear to be of interest for the
      design of mitochondrial targeting devices in anti-cancer therapies and as siRNA
      nanocarriers for gene silencing. 

PMID- 25820229
TI  - Ruthenium(II) Complexes Containing Lutidine-Derived Pincer CNC Ligands:
      Synthesis, Structure, and Catalytic Hydrogenation of C-N bonds.
AB  - A series of Ru complexes containing lutidine-derived pincer CNC ligands have been
      prepared by transmetalation with the corresponding silver-carbene derivatives.
      Characterization of these derivatives shows both mer and fac coordination of the
      CNC ligands depending on the wingtips of the N-heterocyclic carbene fragments. In
      the presence of tBuOK, the Ru-CNC complexes are active in the hydrogenation of a
      series of imines. In addition, these complexes catalyze the reversible
      hydrogenation of phenantridine. Detailed NMR spectroscopic studies have shown the
      capability of the CNC ligand to be deprotonated and get involved in ligand
      assisted activation of dihydrogen. More interestingly, upon deprotonation, the Ru
      CNC complex 5 e(BF4 ) is able to add aldimines to the metal-ligand framework to
      yield an amido complex. Finally, investigation of the mechanism of the
      hydrogenation of imines has been carried out by means of DFT calculations. The
      calculated mechanism involves outer-sphere stepwise hydrogen transfer to the C-N
      bond assisted either by the pincer ligand or a second coordinated H2 molecule.

PMID- 25820231
TI  - SQUIRE and the evolving science of healthcare improvement.

PMID- 25820230
TI  - Syndromic parkinsonism and dementia associated with OPA1 missense mutations.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Mounting evidence links neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson
      disease and Alzheimer disease with mitochondrial dysfunction, and recent emphasis
      has focused on mitochondrial dynamics and quality control. Mitochondrial dynamics
      and mtDNA maintenance is another link recently emerged, implicating mutations in
      the mitochondrial fusion genes OPA1 and MFN2 in the pathogenesis of multisystem
      syndromes characterized by neurodegeneration and accumulation of mtDNA multiple
      deletions in postmitotic tissues. Here, we report 2 Italian families affected by
      dominant chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO) complicated by
      parkinsonism and dementia. METHODS: Patients were extensively studied by optical
      coherence tomography (OCT) to assess retinal nerve fibers, and underwent muscle
      and brain magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), and muscle biopsy and
      fibroblasts were analyzed. Candidate genes were sequenced, and mtDNA was analyzed
      for rearrangements. RESULTS: Affected individuals displayed a slowly progressive
      syndrome characterized by CPEO, mitochondrial myopathy, sensorineural deafness,
      peripheral neuropathy, parkinsonism, and/or cognitive impairment, in most cases
      without visual complains, but with subclinical loss of retinal nerve fibers at
      OCT. Muscle biopsies showed cytochrome c oxidase-negative fibers and mtDNA
      multiple deletions, and MRS displayed defective oxidative metabolism in muscle
      and brain. We found 2 heterozygous OPA1 missense mutations affecting highly
      conserved amino acid positions (p.G488R, p.A495V) in the guanosine triphosphatase
      domain, each segregating with affected individuals. Fibroblast studies showed a
      reduced amount of OPA1 protein with normal mRNA expression, fragmented
      mitochondria, impaired bioenergetics, increased autophagy and mitophagy.
      INTERPRETATION: The association of CPEO and parkinsonism/dementia with
      subclinical optic neuropathy widens the phenotypic spectrum of OPA1 mutations,
      highlighting the association of defective mitochondrial dynamics, mtDNA multiple
      deletions, and altered mitophagy with parkinsonism.

PMID- 25820232
TI  - Technical note: A linear model for predicting delta13 Cprotein.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Development of a model for the prediction of delta(13) Cprotein from
      delta(13) Ccollagen and Delta(13) Cap-co . Model-generated values could, in turn,
      serve as "consumer" inputs for multisource mixture modeling of paleodiet.
      METHODS: Linear regression analysis of previously published controlled diet data
      facilitated the development of a mathematical model for predicting delta(13)
      Cprotein (and an experimentally generated error term) from isotopic data
      routinely generated during the analysis of osseous remains (delta(13) Cco and
      Delta(13) Cap-co ). RESULTS: Regression analysis resulted in a two-term linear
      model (delta(13) Cprotein (%) = (0.78 * delta(13) Cco ) - (0.58* Delta(13) Cap-co
      ) - 4.7), possessing a high R-value of 0.93 (r(2)  = 0.86, P < 0.01), and
      experimentally generated error terms of +/-1.9% for any predicted individual
      value of delta(13) Cprotein . This model was tested using isotopic data from
      Formative Period individuals from northern Chile's Atacama Desert. CONCLUSIONS:
      The model presented here appears to hold significant potential for the prediction
      of the carbon isotope signature of dietary protein using only such data as is
      routinely generated in the course of stable isotope analysis of human osseous
      remains. These predicted values are ideal for use in multisource mixture modeling
      of dietary protein source contribution.

PMID- 25820234
TI  - Stereoselective Preparation of Polyfunctional Alkenylindium(III) Halides and
      Their Cross-Coupling with Unsaturated Halides.
AB  - The direct insertion of indium powder to cycloalkenyl iodides in the presence of
      LiCl in THF allows the preparation of new highly functionalized
      cycloalkenylindium(III) derivatives. In addition, we discovered that, in contrast
      to many metal insertions to alkenyl iodides which proceed with a loss of
      stereochemistry, the insertion of In/LiCl to stereodefined (Z)- and (E)-styryl
      iodides in THF proceeded with high retention of stereochemistry. After a
      palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling, various polyfunctionalized (Z)- and (E)
      stilbenes were obtained with high stereoselectivity. 

PMID- 25820235
TI  - Parameterization of the Hamiltonian Dielectric Solvent (HADES) Reaction-Field
      Method for the Solvation Free Energies of Amino Acid Side-Chain Analogs.
AB  - Optimization of the Hamiltonian dielectric solvent (HADES) method for
      biomolecular simulations in a dielectric continuum is presented with the goal of
      calculating accurate absolute solvation free energies while retaining the model's
      accuracy in predicting conformational free-energy differences. The solvation free
      energies of neutral and polar amino acid side-chain analogs calculated by using
      HADES, which may optionally include nonpolar contributions, were optimized
      against experimental data to reach a chemical accuracy of about 0.5 kcal mol(-1).
      The new parameters were evaluated for charged side-chain analogs. The HADES
      results were compared with explicit-solvent, generalized Born, Poisson-Boltzmann,
      and QM-based methods. The potentials of mean force (PMFs) between pairs of side
      chain analogs obtained by using HADES and explicit-solvent simulations were used
      to evaluate the effects of the improved parameters optimized for solvation free
      energies on intermolecular potentials.

PMID- 25820233
TI  - Nonsense-mediated RNA decay--a switch and dial for regulating gene expression.
AB  - Nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD) represents an established quality control
      checkpoint for gene expression that protects cells from consequences of gene
      mutations and errors during RNA biogenesis that lead to premature termination
      during translation. Characterization of NMD-sensitive transcriptomes has
      revealed, however, that NMD targets not only aberrant transcripts but also a
      broad array of mRNA isoforms expressed from many endogenous genes. NMD is thus
      emerging as a master regulator that drives both fine and coarse adjustments in
      steady-state RNA levels in the cell. Importantly, while NMD activity is subject
      to autoregulation as a means to maintain homeostasis, modulation of the pathway
      by external cues provides a means to reprogram gene expression and drive
      important biological processes. Finally, the unanticipated observation that
      transcripts predicted to lack protein-coding capacity are also sensitive to this
      translation-dependent surveillance mechanism implicates NMD in regulating RNA
      function in new and diverse ways. 

PMID- 25820236
TI  - Enhanced characterization of contractility in cardiomyocytes during early drug
      safety assessment.
AB  - We sought to investigate whether drug-induced changes in contractility were
      affected by pacing rates that represent the range of heart rates encountered in
      vivo. Using the cell geometry measurement system (IonOptix), we paced dog
      cardiomyocytes at different cycle lengths (CLs) of 2000, 1000, 500, and 333.3 ms,
      before and after exposure to 13 inotropic drugs. Time course data using vehicle
      control (0.1% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)) demonstrated stability of the system at
      all CLs tested. Seven positive inotropes (eg isoproterenol) exerted rate
      dependent increases in sarcomere shortening (Sarc. short.; maximal effect at a CL
      of 333.3 ms [0.1 uM isoproterenol increased Sarc. short. by 41.1% and 145.9% at
      2000 and 333.3 ms, respectively]). Omecamtiv mecarbil showed an atypical profile
      (increased Sarc. short. at 2000 ms [106.9%] and decreased at 333.3 ms [IC(50) =
      0.64 uM]). Four negative inotropes (eg flecainide) showed rate-independent
      inhibition of Sarc. short. (IC(50)s: 3.3 uM [2000 ms] versus 2.3 uM [333.3 ms]).
      The remaining negative inotropes, verapamil, and BTS (N-benzyl-p-toluene
      sulphonamide) produced an increase (IC(50)s: 3.9 uM [2000 ms] versus 0.043 uM
      [333.3ms]) and decrease (IC(50)s: 18.3 uM [2000 ms] versus 34.0 uM [333.3 ms]) in
      potency, respectively. Negative inotropes (eg flecainide, BTS, and verapamil)
      decreased the area of the Ca(2+) transient versus Sarc. short. hysteresis loop,
      although rate dependency was seen with verapamil only. Positive inotropes (eg
      isoproterenol and levosimendan) induced a rate-dependent increase in the area,
      however Omecamtiv mecarbil increased and decreased the area at CLs of 2000 and
      333.3 ms, respectively. Thus, the use of different pacing rates may improve the
      detection of inotropes in early drug discovery and illustrate the potential for
      finger-printing different mechanisms of action.

PMID- 25820238
TI  - High effective cytosolic H+ buffering in mouse cortical astrocytes attributable
      to fast bicarbonate transport.
AB  - Cytosolic H(+) buffering plays a major role for shaping intracellular H(+) shifts
      and hence for the availability of H(+) for biochemical reactions and acid/base
      coupled transport processes. H(+) buffering is one of the prime means to protect
      the cell from large acid/base shifts. We have used the H(+) indicator dye BCECF
      and confocal microscopy to monitor the cytosolic H(+) concentration, [H(+)]i, in
      cultured cortical astrocytes of wild-type mice and of mice deficient in
      sodium/bicarbonate cotransporter NBCe1 (NBCe1-KO) or in carbonic anhydrase
      isoform II (CAII-KO). The steady-state buffer strength was calculated from the
      amplitude of [H(+)]i transients as evoked by CO2/HCO3(-) and by butyric acid in
      the presence and absence of CO2/HCO3(-). We tested the hypotheses if, in addition
      to instantaneous physicochemical H(+) buffering, rapid acid/base transport across
      the cell membrane contributes to the total, "effective" cytosolic H(+) buffering.
      In the presence of 5% CO2/26 mM HCO3(-), H(+) buffer strength in astrocytes was
      increased 4-6 fold, as compared with that in non-bicarbonate, HEPES-buffered
      solution, which was largely attributable to fast HCO3 (-) transport into the
      cells via NBCe1, supported by CAII activity. Our results show that within the
      time frame of determining physiological H(+) buffering in cells, fast transport
      and equilibration of CO2/H(+)/HCO3(-) can make a major contribution to the total
      "effective" H(+) buffer strength. Thus, "effective" cellular H(+) buffering is,
      to a large extent, attributable to membrane transport of base equivalents rather
      than a purely passive physicochemical process, and can be much larger than
      reported so far. Not only physicochemical H(+) buffering, but also rapid import
      of HCO3(-) via the electrogenic sodium-bicarbonate cotransporter NBCe1, supported
      by carbonic anhydrase II (CA II), was identified to enhance cytosolic H(+) buffer
      strength substantially.

PMID- 25820237
TI  - Long-term Coexposure to Hexavalent Chromium and B[a]P Causes Tissue-Specific
      Differential Biological Effects in Liver and Gastrointestinal Tract of Mice.
AB  - Complex mixtures of environmental agents often cause mixture-specific health
      effects that cannot be accounted for by a single mechanism. To study the
      biological effects of exposure to a mixture of chromium-VI and benzo[a]pyrene
      (B[a]P), often found together in the environment, we exposed mice for 60 days to
      0, 55, 550, or 5500 ppb Cr(VI) in drinking water followed by 90 days of
      coexposure to B[a]P at 0, 1.25, 12.5, or 125 mg/kg/day and examined liver and
      gastrointestinal (GI) tract for exposure effects. In the liver, the mixture
      caused more significant histopathology than expected from the sum of effects of
      the individual components, while in the GI tract, Cr(VI) alone caused significant
      enterocyte hypertrophy and increases in cell proliferation and DNA damage that
      were also observed in mice coexposed to B[a]P. Expression of genes involved in
      drug metabolism, tumor suppression, oxidative stress, and inflammation was
      altered in mixed exposures relative to control and to singly exposed mice. Drug
      metabolism and oxidative stress genes were upregulated and tumor suppressor and
      inflammation genes downregulated in the proximal GI tract, whereas most markers
      were upregulated in the distal GI tract and downregulated in the liver. Oral
      exposure to Cr(VI) and B[a]P mixtures appears to have tissue-specific
      differential consequences in liver and GI tract that cannot be predicted from the
      effects of each individual toxicant. Tissue specificity may be particularly
      critical in cases of extended exposure to mixtures of these agents, as may happen
      in the occupational setting or in areas where drinking water contains elevated
      levels of Cr(VI).

PMID- 25820239
TI  - Tissue-specific roles of FGF signaling in external genitalia development.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The developmental processes of the genital tubercle (GT), the anlage
      of the external genitalia, possess several developmental aspects, including GT
      outgrowth, urethral tube formation, and epithelial differentiation of the
      urethra. The GT comprises the mesenchyme derived from the lateral mesoderm,
      ectodermal epithelium, and endodermal epithelium (embryonic urethral epithelium).
      The three tissue layers develop the GT coordinately. RESULTS: Around the initial
      stage of GT outgrowth (E11.5), FGF signaling was detected in the mesenchyme of
      the GT. FGF signaling was detected in the three tissue layers of the GT around
      the early stage of urethral formation (E13.5). Subsequently, FGF signaling was
      predominantly detected in the urethral epithelium (E14.5). Tissue-specific roles
      of FGF signaling in GT development were revealed by conditional Fgfr gene
      knockout approaches. Mesenchymal FGF signaling in the early-stage GT is required
      for its outgrowth. Ectodermal FGF signaling in the GT is required for the
      differentiation of the ectoderm and urethral epithelium at their junction to form
      the proper urethral tube. Endodermal FGF signaling in the GT is required for the
      stratification and cell adhesive characteristics of the urethral epithelium.
      CONCLUSIONS: The current study suggests that spatiotemporally regulated FGF
      signaling plays tissue-specific roles in multiple processes of external genitalia
      development.

PMID- 25820240
TI  - Analysis of transthyretin in human serum by capillary zone electrophoresis
      electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Application to familial
      amyloidotic polyneuropathy type I.
AB  - Transthyretin (TTR) is known to misfold and aggregate, causing different types of
      amyloidosis. Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy type I (FAP-I), which is the
      most common hereditary systemic amyloidosis, is associated with a TTR variant
      that presents a single amino acid substitution of valine for methionine at
      position 30 (Met 30). To screen for TTR-related amyloidosis rapidly and reliably,
      we have developed a novel procedure based on the analysis of monomers from the
      homotetrameric protein (~56 kDa). First, we established a CZE-ESI-TOF-MS method
      to detect wild-type (normal) TTR with or without several PTMs, as well as an
      extra minor isoform in TTR standard solutions. Later, a sample pretreatment based
      on immunoprecipitation (IP) and centrifugal filtration was optimized to analyze
      serum samples from healthy controls and FAP-I patients (including an asymptomatic
      patient, a symptomatic patient, a liver-transplanted patient with the specific
      mutation, and a patient originally without the mutation who received a liver
      transplant from an FAP-I patient (iatrogenic FAP-I)). The mutant TTR (Met 30)
      variant with a relative molecular mass 32.07 higher than the wild-type TTR was
      found in the asymptomatic, the symptomatic and the iatrogenic FAP-I patients, who
      interestingly also presented the same concentration ratio between both variants
      of TTR (abnormal and normal). In contrast, as in the healthy controls, the
      abnormal TTR variant was not detected in the liver-transplanted patient with the
      specific mutation, which confirms the effectiveness of the treatment. The
      proposed procedure could be regarded as a suitable screening system for
      individuals with suspected TTR amyloidosis, and to gain insight into TTR
      structure, to understand the mechanism underlying the disease. 

PMID- 25820241
TI  - Somatostatin receptor-mediated specific delivery of paclitaxel prodrugs for
      efficient cancer therapy.
AB  - In this study, a novel PTX prodrug, octreotide(Phe)-polyethene glycol-paclitaxel
      [OCT(Phe)-PEG-PTX], was successfully synthesized and used for targeted cancer
      therapy. A nontargeting conjugate, mPEG-PTX, was also synthesized and used as a
      control. Chemical structures of OCT(Phe)-PEG-PTX and mPEG-PTX were confirmed
      using (1) H nuclear magnetic resonance and circular dichroism. The drug contents
      in both the conjugates were 12.0% and 14.0%, respectively. Compared with the
      parent drug (PTX), OCT(Phe)-PEG-PTX, and mPEG-PTX prodrugs showed a 20,000- and
      30,000-fold increase in water solubility, respectively. PTX release from mPEG-PTX
      and OCT(Phe)-PEG-PTX exhibited a pH-dependent profile. Moreover, compared with
      mPEG-PTX, OCT(Phe)-PEG-PTX exhibited significantly stronger cytotoxicity against
      NCI-H446 cells (SSTR overexpression) but comparable cytotoxicity against WI-38
      cells (no SSTR expression). Results of confocal laser scanning microscopy
      revealed that the targeting prodrug labeled with fluorescence probe was
      selectively taken into tumor cells via SSTR-mediated endocytosis. In vivo
      investigation of prodrugs in nude mice bearing NCI-H446 cancer xenografts
      confirmed that OCT(Phe)-PEG-PTX prodrug exhibited stronger antitumor efficacy and
      lower systemic toxicity than mPEG-PTX and commercial Taxol. These results
      suggested that OCT(Phe)-PEG-PTX is a promising anticancer drug delivery system
      for targeted cancer therapy.

PMID- 25820242
TI  - Expression of Calcium Channel Subunit Variants in Small Mesenteric Arteries of
      WKY and SHR.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Enhanced function of dihydropyridine-sensitive Ca2+ channels (CaV) in
      hypertensive arterial myocytes (HAM) is well accepted. Increased protein
      expression of pore forming alpha1-subunits contributes to this effect, but cannot
      explain all of the differences in CaV properties in HAM. We hypothesized that
      differences in expression of CaV subunits and/or their splice variants also
      contribute. METHODS: RNA, protein, and myocytes were isolated from small
      mesenteric arteries (SMA) of 20-week-old male WKY and SHR and analyzed by
      polymerase chain reaction (PCR), sequencing, immunoblotting, and patch clamp
      methods. RESULTS: Cav1.2 alpha1, beta2c, and alpha2delta1d were the dominant
      subunits expressed in both WKY and SHR with a smaller amount of beta3a. Real-time
      PCR indicated that the mRNA abundance of beta3a and alpha2delta1 but not total
      Cav1.2 alpha1 or beta2c were significantly larger in SHR. Analysis of alternative
      splicing of Cav1.2 alpha1 showed no differences in abundance of mutually
      exclusive exons1b, 8, 21 and 32 or alternative exons33 and 45. However, inclusion
      of exon9* was higher and a 73 nucleotide (nt) deletion in exon15 (exon15Delta73)
      was lower in SHR. Immunoblot analysis showed higher protein levels of Cav1.2
      alpha1 (1.61+/-0.05), beta3 (1.80+/-0.32), and alpha2delta1 (1.80+/-0.24) but not
      beta2 in SHR. CONCLUSIONS: The lower abundance of exon15Delta73 transcripts in
      SHR results in a larger fraction of total Cav1.2 mRNA coding for full-length CaV
      protein, and the higher abundance of exon9* transcripts and CaVbeta3a protein
      likely contribute to differences in gating and kinetics of CaV currents in SHR.
      Functional studies of Ca2+ currents in native SMA myocytes and HEK cells
      transiently transfected with CaV subunits support these conclusions.

PMID- 25820243
TI  - Treatment of Sleep Apnea With CPAP Lowers Central and Peripheral Blood Pressure
      Independent of the Time-of-Day: A Randomized Controlled Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a risk factor for hypertension and
      randomized controlled trials have shown that OSA treatment with continuous
      positive airway pressure (CPAP) reduces peripheral blood pressure and arterial
      stiffness. Arterial stiffness is known to augment central aortic blood pressure
      independent of peripheral brachial blood pressure. Currently, it is unclear
      whether the reduction in blood pressure with CPAP is similar between central and
      peripheral sites. It is also unknown whether there are any time-of-day influences
      on central blood pressure changes after CPAP. METHODS: Thirty-eight patients
      received therapeutic and sham CPAP in random order for 8 weeks each with an
      intervening 1-month washout. Peripheral and central blood pressure and arterial
      stiffness (augmentation index and time to reflection) were measured by pulse wave
      analysis at end-of-treatment visits. Measurements were taken in the afternoon (~2
      pm) and the next morning (~9 am). RESULTS: Compared to sham, CPAP significantly
      reduced central systolic (mean difference: -4.1 mm Hg; P = 0.003), central
      diastolic (-3.9 mm Hg; P = 0.0009), peripheral systolic (-4.1mm Hg; P = 0.004),
      and peripheral diastolic (-3.8 mm Hg; P = 0.001) blood pressure. These effects
      were not influenced by time-of-day. Time to reflection was improved with CPAP
      compared to sham (3.7 ms; P = 0.01). There was no overall difference in
      augmentation index however when examined by time-of-day, a modest reduction with
      CPAP was observed in the morning (-2.5%; P = 0.03) but not in the evening (0.12%;
      P = 0.91). CONCLUSION: CPAP reduces both central and peripheral blood pressure
      independent of the time-of-day. In contrast, modest improvements in conduit
      arterial stiffness after CPAP may only occur in the morning.

PMID- 25820245
TI  - Serial block face-scanning electron microscopy: a tool for studying embryonic
      development at the cell-matrix interface.
AB  - Studies of gene regulation, signaling pathways, and stem cell biology are
      contributing greatly to our understanding of early embryonic vertebrate
      development. However, much less is known about the events during the latter half
      of embryonic development, when tissues comprising mostly extracellular matrix
      (ECM) are formed. The matrix extends far beyond the boundaries of individual
      cells and is refractory to study by conventional biochemical and molecular
      techniques; thus major gaps exist in our knowledge of the formation and three
      dimensional (3D) organization of the dense tissues that form the bulk of adult
      vertebrates. Serial block face-scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) has the
      ability to image volumes of tissue containing numerous cells at a resolution
      sufficient to study the organization of the ECM. Furthermore, whereas light
      microscopy was once relatively straightforward and electron microscopy was
      performed in specialist laboratories, the tables are turned; SBF-SEM is
      relatively straightforward and is becoming routine in high-end resolution studies
      of embryonic structures in vivo. In this review, we discuss the emergence of SBF
      SEM as a tool for studying embryonic vertebrate development.

PMID- 25820244
TI  - Associations of Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System Genes With Blood Pressure
      Changes and Hypertension Incidence.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) plays an important
      role in blood pressure (BP) regulation. The current study uses single-marker and
      gene-based analyses to examine the association between RAAS genes and
      longitudinal BP phenotypes in a Han Chinese population. METHODS: A total of 1,768
      participants from the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Salt Sensitivity (GenSalt)
      follow-up study were included in the current study. Twenty-seven BP measurements
      were taken using random-zero sphygmomanometers at baseline and 2 follow-up
      visits. Mixed-effect models were used to assess the additive associations of 106
      single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 10 RAAS genes with longitudinal BP
      changes and hypertension incidence. Gene-based analyses were conducted using the
      truncated product method. Attempts were made to replicate significant findings
      among Asian participants of the Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).
      False discovery rate procedures were used to adjust for multiple testing.
      RESULTS: During an average of 7.2 years of follow-up, average systolic and
      diastolic BP increased, and 32.1% (512) of participants free from hypertension at
      baseline developed hypertension. NR3C2 SNPs rs7694064 and rs6856803 were
      significantly associated with longitudinal changes in systolic BP (P interaction
      = 6.9*10(-5) and 8.2*10(-4), respectively). Through gene-based analysis, NR3C2
      was found to be significantly associated with longitudinal systolic BP change (P
      value of 1.00*10(-7)), even after removal of significant markers rs7694064 and
      rs6856803 from the analysis. The association between NR3C2 and longitudinal
      systolic BP change was replicated in Asian MESA participants (P value of 1.00*10(
      4)). CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that NR3C2 may play an important role
      in BP progression and development of hypertension.

PMID- 25820246
TI  - Cystic fibrosis: a look into the future of prenatal screening and therapy.
AB  - Despite recent guidelines suggesting prenatal screening for carriers of cystic
      fibrosis (CF) mutations, many physicians do not offer patients this service or
      even counseling. Some argue that the risks of miscarriage associated with
      prenatal diagnostic techniques outweigh the benefit of added insight, but with
      the advent of newer, noninvasive techniques, risks of miscarriage may be
      significantly lowered. Prenatal diagnosis provides parents the time to prepare
      for raising a child with CF, and soon, could provide treatment options in utero
      that could improve quality of life. Here, we describe two of the most promising
      gene therapy approaches: lentivirus and adenoassociated virus (AAV)-mediated gene
      transduction. Thus, prenatal detection and treatment is in a most crucial stage
      for care of patients with CF.

PMID- 25820248
TI  - Response to the letter to the editor: 1q gain is a frequent finding in
      preoperatively treated Wilms tumors, but of limited prognostic value for risk
      satisfaction in the SIOP2009/Gesellschaft fur Padiatrische Onkologie und
      Hamatologie (GPOH) trial.

PMID- 25820249
TI  - VEGF Enhances the Migration of MSCs in Neural Differentiation by Regulating Focal
      Adhesion Turnover.
AB  - Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) hold great promise in neural regeneration, due to
      their intrinsic neuronal potential and migratory tropism to damaged nervous
      tissues. However, the chemotactic signals mediating the migration of MSCs remain
      poorly understood. Here, we investigated the regulatory roles for focal adhesion
      kinase (FAK) and Rac1 in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-stimulated
      migration of MSCs in neural differentiation. We found that MSCs in various
      differentiation states show significant different chemotactic responses to VEGF
      and cells in 24-h preinduction state possess the highest migration speed and
      efficiency. FAK, as the downstream signaling molecule, is involved in the VEGF
      induced migration by regulating the assembly and distribution of focal adhesions
      (FAs) and reorganization of F-actin. The features of FAs and cytoskeletons and
      the ability of lamellipodia formation are closely related to the neural
      differentiation states of MSCs. VEGF promotes FA formation with an asymmetric
      distribution of FAs and induces the activation of Y397-FAK and Y31/118-paxillin
      of undifferentiated and 24-h preinduced MSCs in a time-dependent manner.
      Inhibition of FAK by PF-228 or expressing FAK-Y397F mutant impairs the dynamics
      of FAs in MSCs during VEGF-induced migration. Furthermore, Rac1 regulates FA
      formation in a FAK-dependent manner. Overexpression of constitutive activated
      mutants of Rac1 increases the number of FAs in undifferentiated and 24-h
      preinduced MSCs, while VEGF-induced increase of FA formation is decreased by
      inhibiting FAK by PF-228. Collectively, these results demonstrate that FAK and
      Rac1 signalings coordinately regulate the dynamics of FAs during VEGF-induced
      migration of MSCs in varying neural differentiation states.

PMID- 25820250
TI  - A novel method for assessing bladder-related pain reveals the involvement of
      nerve growth factor in pain associated with cyclophosphamide-induced chronic
      cystitis in mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pain is a prominent feature of interstitial cystitis/painful bladder
      syndrome (IC/PBS), but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. There
      is a lack of well-characterized research tools, such as pain evaluation methods
      and experimental animal models, for investigating non-ulcerative cystitis. We
      developed a novel method for evaluating bladder pain in mice with
      cyclophosphamide (CYP)-induced cystitis. METHODS: Cystitis was produced by a
      single intraperitoneal injection of CYP (300 mg/kg) or repeated injections of CYP
      (150 mg/kg once daily for 4 days). Blunt stimulation with a cotton probe was
      applied to the abdominal region, and the thresholds for withdrawal responses were
      measured quantitatively using an anaesthesiometer. RESULTS: The single injection
      of CYP provoked acute cystitis with severe bladder inflammation in mice. In these
      mice, we could detect an increased sensitivity to blunt stimulation, which was
      abolished by intravesical lidocaine. The stimulation induced phosphorylation of
      extracellular signal-regulated kinases in bladder-projecting sensory neurons.
      Chronic treatment with CYP produced persistent pain responses to the blunt
      stimulus. Although there were few signs of bladder inflammation in these mice,
      the concentration of nerve growth factor (NGF) was elevated in bladder tissue,
      and NGF antiserum inhibited the hypersensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: The blunt probe
      method is useful for evaluating bladder pain signalling in mice, and revealed the
      involvement of an NGF-sensitive pain pathway in chronic cystitis pain. This
      assessment method may be useful for studying the pathophysiology of bladder pain
      and for developing therapeutic strategies for non-ulcerative IC/PBS in patients.

PMID- 25820251
TI  - Development of an aquacatalytic system based on the formation of vesicles of an
      amphiphilic palladium NNC-pincer complex.
AB  - Two amphiphilic palladium NNC-pincer complexes bearing hydrophilic tri(ethylene
      glycol) chains and hydrophobic dodecyl chains were designed and prepared for the
      development of a new aquacatalytic system. In water, these amphiphilic complexes
      self-assembled to form vesicles, the structures which were established by means
      of a range of physical techniques. When the catalytic activities of the vesicles
      were investigated in the arylation of terminal alkynes in water, they were found
      to catalyze the reaction of aryl iodides with terminal alkynes to give good
      yields of the corresponding internal alkynes. The formation of a vesicular
      structure was shown to be essential for efficient promotion of this reaction in
      water. 

PMID- 25820252
TI  - Interactome of the negative regulator of nuclear import BRCA1-binding protein 2.
AB  - Although the negative regulator of nuclear import (NRNI) BRCA1 binding protein 2
      (BRAP2) is highly expressed in testis, its role is largely unknown. Here we
      address this question by documenting the BRAP2 interactome from human testis,
      using the yeast 2-hybrid system to identify BRAP2-interacting proteins with roles
      in diverse cellular processes, including regulation of the actin cytoskeleton,
      ubiquitinylation, cell cycle/apoptosis and transcription. Interaction with BRAP2
      in adult mouse testis with three of these, PH domain and leucine rich repeat
      protein phosphatase 1 (PHLPP1), A-Kinase anchor protein (AKAP3) and DNA methyl
      transferase 1 (DNMT1), was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation assays. BRAP2's
      ability to inhibit PHLPP1 and DNMT1 nuclear localisation was also confirmed by
      quantitative confocal microscopy. Importantly, the physiological relevance
      thereof was implied by the cytoplasmic localisation of PHLPP1, AKAP3 and DNMT1 in
      pachytene spermatocytes/round spermatids where BRAP2 is present at high levels,
      and nuclear localisation of PHLPP1 and DNMT1 in spermatogonia concomitant with
      lower levels of BRAP2. Interestingly, BRAP2 was also present in murine
      spermatozoa, in part colocalised with AKAP3. Together the results indicate for
      the first time that BRAP2 may play an important NRNI role in germ cells of the
      testis, with an additional, scaffold/structural role in mature spermatozoa. 

PMID- 25820253
TI  - Characterization of ferromagnetic or conductive properties of metallic foreign
      objects embedded within the human body with magnetic iron detector (MID):
      Screening patients for MRI.
AB  - PURPOSE: A preliminary assessment of the MRI-compatibility of metallic object
      possibly embedded within the patient is required before conducting the MRI
      examination. The Magnetic Iron Detector (MID) is a highly sensitive susceptometer
      that uses a weak magnetic field to measure iron overload in the liver. MID might
      be used to perform a screening procedure for MRI by determining the
      ferromagnetic/conductive properties of embedded metallic objects. METHODS: The
      study was composed by: (i) definition of MID sensitivity threshold; (ii)
      application of MID in a procedure to characterize the ferromagnetic/conductive
      properties of metallic foreign objects in 958 patients scheduled for MID
      examination. RESULTS: The detection threshold for ferromagnetic objects was found
      to be the equivalent of a piece of wire of length 2 mm and gauge 0.8 mm(2) and,
      representing purely conductive objects, an aluminum sheet of area 2 * 2 cm(2) .
      Of 958 patients, 165 had foreign bodies of unknown nature. MID was able to detect
      those with ferromagnetic and/or conducting properties based on fluctuations in
      the magnetic and eddy current signals versus control. CONCLUSION: The high
      sensitivity of MID makes it suitable for assessing the ferromagnetic/conductive
      properties of metallic foreign objects embedded within the body of patients
      scheduled for MRI.

PMID- 25820254
TI  - Early skeletal muscle adaptations to short-term high-fat diet in humans before
      changes in insulin sensitivity.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this investigation was to understand the metabolic
      adaptations to a short-term (5 days), isocaloric, high-fat diet (HFD) in healthy,
      young males. METHODS: Two studies were undertaken with 12 subjects. Study 1
      investigated the effect of the HFD on skeletal muscle substrate metabolism and
      insulin sensitivity. Study 2 assessed the metabolic and transcriptional responses
      in skeletal muscle to the transition from a fasted to fed state using a high-fat
      meal challenge before and after 5 days of the HFD. RESULTS: Study 1 showed no
      effect of a HFD on skeletal muscle metabolism or insulin sensitivity in fasting
      samples. Study 2 showed that a HFD elicits significant increases in fasting serum
      endotoxin and disrupts the normal postprandial excursions of serum endotoxin, as
      well as metabolic and transcriptional responses in skeletal muscle. These effects
      after 5 days of the HFD were accompanied by an altered fasting and postprandial
      response in the ratio of phosphorylated- to total-p38 protein. These changes all
      occurred in the absence of alterations in insulin sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      findings provide evidence for early biological adaptations to high-fat feeding
      that proceed and possibly lead to insulin resistance.

PMID- 25820255
TI  - Irisin levels before and after physical activity among school-age children with
      different BMI: a direct relation with leptin.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Irisin is a novel myokine that seems to mediate the beneficial effects
      of exercise. Levels of circulating irisin before and after an 8-month physical
      activity program (PAP) in school-age children were evaluated. METHODS: Irisin and
      leptin were measured at baseline and at follow-up among 85 children with
      different BMI. RESULTS: Of the 85 children (mean age 8.9; 47% female), 25
      children had normal weight, 23 were overweight, and 37 had obesity. We observed
      no significant difference in irisin serum levels between boys and girls. Irisin
      was positively associated with BMI before and after the PAP (r(before) = 0.42;
      r(after) = 0.37, P < 0.001), with the highest levels in children with obesity.
      There was a slight decrease of circulating irisin after PAP, but this decrease
      was not of statistical significance. We observed a high and positive association
      between irisin and leptin levels before and after the PAP (r(before) = 0.78;
      r(after) = 0.82, P < 0.001). Moreover, changes in leptin correlated with changes
      in irisin (r = 0.72, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Circulating irisin is positively
      linked to BMI and leptin in school-age children, supporting the notion that that
      irisin is produced by adipose tissue. As in previous reports, this study failed
      to observe changes in irisin levels after exercise, likely because higher irisin
      levels are produced only during exercise.

PMID- 25820256
TI  - Interactive effects of oligofructose and obesity predisposition on gut hormones
      and microbiota in diet-induced obese rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Oligofructose (OFS) is a prebiotic that reduces energy intake and fat
      mass via changes in gut satiety hormones and microbiota. The effects of OFS may
      vary depending on predisposition to obesity. The aim of this study was to examine
      the effect of OFS in diet-induced obese (DIO) and diet-resistant (DR) rats.
      METHODS: Adult, male DIO, and DR rats were randomized to: high-fat/high-sucrose
      (HFS) diet or HFS diet + 10% OFS for 6 weeks. Body composition, food intake, gut
      microbiota, plasma gut hormones, and cannabinoid CB(1) receptor expression in the
      nodose ganglia were measured. RESULTS: OFS reduced body weight, energy intake,
      and fat mass in both phenotypes (P < 0.05). Select gut microbiota differed in DIO
      versus DR rats (P < 0.05), the differences being eliminated by OFS. OFS did not
      modify plasma ghrelin or CB(1) expression in nodose ganglia, but plasma levels of
      GIP were reduced and PYY were elevated (P < 0.05) by OFS. CONCLUSIONS: OFS was
      able to reduce body weight and adiposity in both prone and resistant obese
      phenotypes. OFS-induced changes in gut microbiota profiles in DIO and DR rats,
      along with changes in gut hormone levels, likely contribute to the sustained
      lower body weights.

PMID- 25820257
TI  - All in the family: correlations between parents' and adolescent siblings' weight
      and weight-related behaviors.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine whether and how parents' and adolescent siblings' weight
      and weight-related behaviors are correlated. Results will inform which family
      members may be important to include in adolescent obesity prevention
      interventions. METHODS: Data from two linked population-based studies, EAT 2010
      and F-EAT, were used for cross-sectional analyses. Parents (n = 58; 91% females;
      mean age = 41.7 years) and adolescent siblings (sibling #1 n = 58, 50% girls,
      mean age = 14.3 years; sibling #2 n = 58, 64% girls, mean age = 14.8 years) were
      socioeconomically and racially/ethnically diverse. RESULTS: Some weight-related
      behaviors between adolescent siblings were significantly positively correlated
      (i.e., fast food consumption, breakfast frequency, sedentary patterns, p < 0.05).
      There were no significant correlations between parents' weight and weight-related
      behaviors and adolescent siblings' same behaviors. Some of the significant
      correlations found between adolescent siblings' weight-related behaviors were
      statistically different from correlations between parents' and adolescent
      siblings' weight-related behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Although not consistently,
      adolescent siblings' weight-related behaviors were significantly correlated as
      compared with parents' and adolescent siblings' weight-related behaviors. It may
      be important to consider including siblings in adolescent obesity prevention
      interventions or in recommendations healthcare providers give to adolescents
      regarding their weight and weight-related behaviors.

PMID- 25820258
TI  - Maternal weight change from prepregnancy to 7 years postpartum--the influence of
      behavioral factors.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We studied the influence of maternal behavior on weight change from
      prepregnancy to 7 years postpartum. METHODS: We used linear regression to study
      the independent and combined associations between self-reported behavior in
      pregnancy (dietary intake, leisure-time exercise, sedentary activity, smoking)
      and postpartum (breastfeeding duration and smoking) on weights at 6 months, 18
      months, and 7 years postpartum. RESULTS: Women's average 7-year weight gain was
      2.07 kg, with 23% gaining >5 kg. Multivariable analyses suggested that women with
      healthier dietary intake, more leisure-time exercise, less sedentary behavior,
      and longer duration of breastfeeding on average gained 1.66 kg [95% confidence
      interval (CI): 1.40; 1.91] with a significantly reduced odds [OR 0.56 (95% CI:
      0.49; 0.64)] of gaining >5 kg from prepregnancy to 7 years postpartum compared to
      women with none or one of these behaviors [mean gain 3.03 kg (95% CI: 2.68;
      3.39)]. Women who ceased smoking had higher long-term weight gain than
      nonsmokers, but not smokers. CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to healthy behaviors during
      pregnancy lowered long-term weight gain considerably by lowering postpartum
      weight retention and subsequent weight gain. Public health efforts to help
      mothers achieve healthy behaviors might prevent childbearing-related weight gain.

PMID- 25820260
TI  - Determination of Flurbiprofen in Human Plasma by High-Performance Liquid
      Chromatography.
AB  - A simple high-performance liquid chromatography method has been developed for
      determination of flurbiprofen in human plasma. The method was validated on an Ace
      C18 column using UV detection. The mobile phase was acetonitrile-0.05 M potassium
      dihydrogen phosphate solution (60:40, v/v) adjusted to pH 3.5 with phosphoric
      acid. The calibration curve was linear between the concentration range of 0.10
      5.0 MUg/mL. Intra- and inter-day precision values for flurbiprofen in plasma were
      <4.47, and accuracy (relative error) was better than 3.67%. The extraction
      recoveries of flurbiprofen from human plasma were between 93.0 and 98.9%. The
      limits of detection and quantification of flurbiprofen were 0.03 and 0.10 MUg/mL,
      respectively. In addition, this assay was applied to determine the
      pharmacokinetic parameters of flurbiprofen in six healthy Turkish volunteers who
      had been given 100 mg flurbiprofen. 

PMID- 25820259
TI  - Isoflavones in soy flour diet have different effects on whole-genome expression
      patterns than purified isoflavone mix in human MCF-7 breast tumors in
      ovariectomized athymic nude mice.
AB  - SCOPE: Soy flour diet (MS) prevented isoflavones from stimulating MCF-7 tumor
      growth in athymic nude mice, indicating that other bioactive compounds in soy can
      negate the estrogenic properties of isoflavones. The underlying signal
      transduction pathways to explain the protective effects of soy flour consumption
      were studied here. METHODS AND RESULTS: Ovariectomized athymic nude mice
      inoculated with MCF-7 human breast cancer cells were fed either Soy flour diet
      (MS) or purified isoflavone mix diet (MI), both with equivalent amounts of
      genistein. Positive controls received estradiol pellets and negative controls
      received sham pellets. GeneChip Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 Array platform was
      used to evaluate gene expressions, and results were analyzed using bioinformatics
      approaches. Tumors in MS-fed mice exhibited higher expression of tumor growth
      suppressing genes ATP2A3 and BLNK and lower expression of oncogene MYC. Tumors in
      MI-fed mice expressed a higher level of oncogene MYB and a lower level of MHC-I
      and MHC-II, allowing tumor cells to escape immunosurveillance. MS-induced gene
      expression alterations were predictive of prolonged survival among estrogen
      receptor-positive breast cancer patients, whilst MI-induced gene changes were
      predictive of shortened survival. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that dietary
      soy flour affects gene expression differently than purified isoflavones, which
      may explain why soy foods prevent isoflavones-induced stimulation of MCF-7 tumor
      growth in athymic nude mice.

PMID- 25820261
TI  - Reprogramming of cell fate: epigenetic memory and the erasure of memories past.
AB  - Cell identity is a reflection of a cell type-specific gene expression profile,
      and consequently, cell type-specific transcription factor networks are considered
      to be at the heart of a given cellular phenotype. Although generally stable, cell
      identity can be reprogrammed in vitro by forced changes to the transcriptional
      network, the most dramatic example of which was shown by the induction of
      pluripotency in somatic cells by the ectopic expression of defined transcription
      factors alone. Although changes to cell fate can be achieved in this way, the
      efficiency of such conversion remains very low, in large part due to specific
      chromatin signatures constituting an epigenetic barrier to the transcription
      factor-mediated reprogramming processes. Here we discuss the two-way relationship
      between transcription factor binding and chromatin structure during cell fate
      reprogramming. We additionally explore the potential roles and mechanisms by
      which histone variants, chromatin remodelling enzymes, and histone and DNA
      modifications contribute to the stability of cell identity and/or provide a
      permissive environment for cell fate change during cellular reprogramming. 

PMID- 25820262
TI  - Cockayne syndrome group B protein regulates DNA double-strand break repair and
      checkpoint activation.
AB  - Mutations of CSB account for the majority of Cockayne syndrome (CS), a
      devastating hereditary disorder characterized by physical impairment,
      neurological degeneration and segmental premature aging. Here we report the
      generation of a human CSB-knockout cell line. We find that CSB facilitates HR and
      represses NHEJ. Loss of CSB or a CS-associated CSB mutation abrogating its ATPase
      activity impairs the recruitment of BRCA1, RPA and Rad51 proteins to damaged
      chromatin but promotes the formation of 53BP1-Rif1 damage foci in S and G2 cells.
      Depletion of 53BP1 rescues the formation of BRCA1 damage foci in CSB-knockout
      cells. In addition, knockout of CSB impairs the ATM- and Chk2-mediated DNA damage
      responses, promoting a premature entry into mitosis. Furthermore, we show that
      CSB accumulates at sites of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in a transcription
      dependent manner. The kinetics of DSB-induced chromatin association of CSB is
      distinct from that of its UV-induced chromatin association. These results reveal
      novel, important functions of CSB in regulating the DNA DSB repair pathway choice
      as well as G2/M checkpoint activation. 

PMID- 25820263
TI  - Telomerase abrogates aneuploidy-induced telomere replication stress, senescence
      and cell depletion.
AB  - The causal role of aneuploidy in cancer initiation remains under debate since
      mutations of euploidy-controlling genes reduce cell fitness but aneuploidy
      strongly associates with human cancers. Telomerase activation allows immortal
      growth by stabilizing telomere length, but its role in aneuploidy survival has
      not been characterized. Here, we analyze the response of primary human cells and
      murine hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to aneuploidy induction and the role of
      telomeres and the telomerase in this process. The study shows that aneuploidy
      induces replication stress at telomeres leading to telomeric DNA damage and p53
      activation. This results in p53/Rb-dependent, premature senescence of human
      fibroblast, and in the depletion of hematopoietic cells in telomerase-deficient
      mice. Endogenous telomerase expression in HSCs and enforced expression of
      telomerase in human fibroblasts are sufficient to abrogate aneuploidy-induced
      replication stress at telomeres and the consequent induction of premature
      senescence and hematopoietic cell depletion. Together, these results identify
      telomerase as an aneuploidy survival factor in mammalian cells based on its
      capacity to alleviate telomere replication stress in response to aneuploidy
      induction. 

PMID- 25820264
TI  - Weight loss in a man from West Africa. S. stercoralis hyperinfection.

PMID- 25820265
TI  - Call to improve transparency of trials of non-regulated interventions.

PMID- 25820266
TI  - Mapping the zoonotic niche of Marburg virus disease in Africa.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Marburg virus disease (MVD) describes a viral haemorrhagic fever
      responsible for a number of outbreaks across eastern and southern Africa. It is a
      zoonotic disease, with the Egyptian rousette (Rousettus aegyptiacus) identified
      as a reservoir host. Infection is suspected to result from contact between this
      reservoir and human populations, with occasional secondary human-to-human
      transmission. METHODS: Index cases of previous human outbreaks were identified
      and reports of infection in animals recorded. These data were modelled within a
      species distribution modelling framework in order to generate a probabilistic
      surface of zoonotic transmission potential of MVD across sub-Saharan Africa.
      RESULTS: Areas suitable for zoonotic transmission of MVD are predicted in 27
      countries inhabited by 105 million people. Regions are suggested for exploratory
      surveys to better characterise the geographical distribution of the disease, as
      well as for directing efforts to communicate the risk of practices enhancing
      zoonotic contact. CONCLUSIONS: These maps can inform future contingency and
      preparedness strategies for MVD control, especially where secondary transmission
      is a risk. Coupling this risk map with patient travel histories could be used to
      guide the differential diagnosis of highly transmissible pathogens, enabling more
      rapid response to outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever.

PMID- 25820268
TI  - Exploiting the Spur of the Moment to Enhance Healthy Consumption: Verbal
      Prompting to Increase Fruit Choices in a Self-Service Restaurant.
AB  - BACKGROUND: People often have good intentions to eat healthily, but these
      intentions may get overruled by temporary moments of temptation. The current
      study examined the effectiveness of "verbal prompting" as a nudge to increase
      fruit salad sales in a natural setting. METHODS: A field experiment was conducted
      in a self-service restaurant during breakfast time. After an initial baseline
      period, the intervention involved four different prompts suggesting ordering a
      side dish (i.e. orange juice, fruit salad, pancakes) given by cashiers to
      visitors. The intervention phase lasted 13 weeks. Cash register and observational
      data were obtained. In addition, a sample of visitors (N = 393) responded to a
      survey. RESULTS: A significant increase in sales of orange juice was observed
      during the orange juice verbal prompts intervention periods (35-42% of all
      breakfasts sold) compared to baseline (20% of all breakfasts sold). Similarly,
      sales of fruit salad (9%) and pancakes (3%) rose to a small but significant
      extent compared to baseline sales (3% and 1%, respectively). Survey results
      showed that customers did not feel pressurised into purchasing a side dish.
      CONCLUSION: Together, findings suggest that verbal prompts involving healthy side
      dishes are a potential useful nudge to implement in other food service settings.

PMID- 25820267
TI  - The structural organization of seed oil bodies could explain the contrasted oil
      extractability observed in two rapeseed genotypes.
AB  - MAIN CONCLUSION: The protein, phospholipid and sterol composition of the oil body
      surface from the seeds of two rapeseed genotypes was compared in order to explain
      their contrasted oil extractability. In the mature seeds of oleaginous plants,
      storage lipids accumulate in specialized structures called oil bodies (OBs).
      These organelles consist of a core of neutral lipids surrounded by a phospholipid
      monolayer in which structural proteins are embedded. The physical stability of
      OBs is a consequence of the interactions between proteins and phospholipids. A
      detailed study of OB characteristics in mature seeds as well as throughout seed
      development was carried out on two contrasting rapeseed genotypes Amber and
      Warzanwski. These two accessions were chosen because they differ dramatically in
      (1) crushing ability, (2) oil extraction yield and, (3) the stability of purified
      OBs. Warzanwski has higher crushing ability, better oil extraction yield and less
      stable purified OBs than Amber. OB morphology was investigated in situ using
      fluorescence microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and pulsed field
      gradient NMR. During seed development, OB diameter first increased and then
      decreased 30 days after pollination in both Amber and Warzanwski embryos. In
      mature seeds, Amber OBs were significantly smaller. The protein, phospholipid and
      sterol composition of the hemi-membrane was compared between the two accessions.
      Amber OBs were enriched with H-oleosins and steroleosins, suggesting increased
      coverage of the OB surface consistent with their higher stability. The nature and
      composition of phospholipids and sterols in Amber OBs suggest that the hemi
      membrane would have a more rigid structure than that of Warzanwski OBs.

PMID- 25820269
TI  - Evaluation of DXA vs. MRI for body composition measures in 1-month olds.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Detailed measures of infant body composition are needed for
      understanding the impact of genes and environment on growth early in life.
      OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy and bias of body
      composition in infants. METHODS: Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and
      magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were used to determine body composition and the
      trunk depot. The depots measured were total fat mass (FM), total fat-free mass
      (FFM) and trunk FM and FFM using DXA and MRI in 14 infants. RESULTS: None of the
      regression lines between DXA and MRI significantly deviate from the line of
      identity for any of the depots studied. However, Bland-Altman analyses revealed
      bias for trunk FM and trunk FFM. CONCLUSION: Our data showed DXA to be accurate
      (regression not significantly deviating from the line of identity), with high
      agreement (indicated by high R(2) ) and without bias (non-significant Bland
      Altman) when estimating total FM and FFM. This could not be said for trunk
      estimates.

PMID- 25820270
TI  - Desflurane anesthesia and postoperative cognitive function.

PMID- 25820272
TI  - Ebola mortality is highest among babies, finds study.

PMID- 25820271
TI  - The uses of laryngeal mask airway ProSealTM and endobronchial blocker for one
      lung anesthesia.
AB  - PURPOSE: The use of an endobronchial blocker in conjunction with a supraglottic
      device in elective thoracic cases has never been studied. The aim of this study
      was to report the success rate and time to placement of the endobronchial blocker
      in anaesthetized patients with a laryngeal mask airway (LMA)-ProSealTM in place.
      METHODS: This was a single-center, prospective, descriptive pilot study that
      enrolled 30 patients aged 18-75 years, with ASA I-III, who underwent elective
      thoracotomy or video-assisted thoracoscopy. We collected data on time to
      placement of the endobronchial blocker into the selected bronchus, time consumed
      for final blocker positioning and inflation, lung deflation score at chest
      opening, and postoperative airway complications. RESULTS: One patient was
      excluded because of high peak airway pressure during LMA ventilation. The time
      required for blocker placement in the right main bronchus was shorter [mean 160
      (78-480) s] compared with that for the left main bronchus [225 (117-420) s]. The
      blocker was successfully placed on the first attempt in 25 patients. Lung
      deflation score graded by the surgeon was 8/10 (median). Minor postoperative
      airway complications, such as sore throat (28.6 %) and hoarseness of voice (17.9
      %), were reported. CONCLUSIONS: The use of LMA-ProSealTM in conjunction with the
      COOPDECH Endobronchial Blocker Tube may be considered an alternative one-lung
      ventilation technique in selected cases. However, success rates and time required
      for placement of the blocker seem dependent on the operator's skill. Although
      postoperative sore throat and hoarseness of voice were reported, these improved
      in 24 h.

PMID- 25820273
TI  - Tuning the reactivity of a dissociative force field: proton transfer properties
      of aqueous H3O(+) and their dependence on the three-body interaction.
AB  - The proton transfer properties of the dissociative water potential developed by
      Garofalini et al. were closely examined by carefully analyzing the pairwise
      screening functions of the three-body interaction. It was shown that a
      simultaneous adjustment of the exponential screening factor and the three-body
      cutoff distance enables a selective adjustment of the diffusive properties of an
      excess proton, while at the same time structural and other dynamical data remain
      unaffected to a large extend. To investigate proton transfer properties without
      the influence of nuclear quantum effects, deuterated systems have been
      investigated in addition to their hydrogen counterparts. It was shown that the
      suggested parameter set A leads to significantly improved diffusion coefficients
      and proton hopping rates. Comparison of proton transfer correlation functions to
      simulation data obtained from Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations
      confirms the improved performance of the adjusted parametrization. 

PMID- 25820274
TI  - Evolution on one foot.

PMID- 25820275
TI  - A metabolic switch toward lipid use in glycolytic muscle is an early pathologic
      event in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
AB  - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common fatal motor neuron disease
      in adults. Numerous studies indicate that ALS is a systemic disease that affects
      whole body physiology and metabolic homeostasis. Using a mouse model of the
      disease (SOD1(G86R)), we investigated muscle physiology and motor behavior with
      respect to muscle metabolic capacity. We found that at 65 days of age, an age
      described as asymptomatic, SOD1(G86R) mice presented with improved endurance
      capacity associated with an early inhibition in the capacity for glycolytic
      muscle to use glucose as a source of energy and a switch in fuel preference
      toward lipids. Indeed, in glycolytic muscles we showed progressive induction of
      pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 expression. Phosphofructokinase 1 was inhibited,
      and the expression of lipid handling molecules was increased. This mechanism
      represents a chronic pathologic alteration in muscle metabolism that is
      exacerbated with disease progression. Further, inhibition of pyruvate
      dehydrogenase kinase 4 activity with dichloroacetate delayed symptom onset while
      improving mitochondrial dysfunction and ameliorating muscle denervation. In this
      study, we provide the first molecular basis for the particular sensitivity of
      glycolytic muscles to ALS pathology.

PMID- 25820276
TI  - Targeting DDX3 with a small molecule inhibitor for lung cancer therapy.
AB  - Lung cancer is the most common malignancy worldwide and is a focus for developing
      targeted therapies due to its refractory nature to current treatment. We
      identified a RNA helicase, DDX3, which is overexpressed in many cancer types
      including lung cancer and is associated with lower survival in lung cancer
      patients. We designed a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor, RK-33, which
      binds to DDX3 and abrogates its activity. Inhibition of DDX3 by RK-33 caused G1
      cell cycle arrest, induced apoptosis, and promoted radiation sensitization in
      DDX3-overexpressing cells. Importantly, RK-33 in combination with radiation
      induced tumor regression in multiple mouse models of lung cancer.
      Mechanistically, loss of DDX3 function either by shRNA or by RK-33 impaired Wnt
      signaling through disruption of the DDX3-beta-catenin axis and inhibited non
      homologous end joining-the major DNA repair pathway in mammalian somatic cells.
      Overall, inhibition of DDX3 by RK-33 promotes tumor regression, thus providing a
      compelling argument to develop DDX3 inhibitors for lung cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25820278
TI  - Editorial Commentary: Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1) and HTLV-1
      Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic Paraparesis.

PMID- 25820277
TI  - Neurological Manifestations in Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1)
      Infected Individuals Without HTLV-1-Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic
      Paraparesis: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the agent of HTLV
      1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), observed in up to
      5% of infected individuals. Despite low prevalence, many HTLV-1-infected patients
      who do not fulfill criteria for HAM/TSP present with neurological complaints
      related to sensory, motor, urinary, or autonomic manifestations. The aim of this
      study was to determine the incidence of neurologic manifestations and risk
      factors associated with these outcomes. METHODS: The incidence of HAM/TSP and new
      signs and neurologic symptoms were computed in a group of patients enrolled in a
      cohort study. RESULTS: Of 414 subjects, 76 had definite HAM/TSP, 87 had possible
      or probable HAM/TSP, and 251 subjects had no neurologic manifestation and were
      selected for analysis. Definite HAM/TSP developed in 5 (1.47%) patients. Follow
      up of at least 3 years was achieved in 51% of patients. The incidence rate was
      computed in 1000 person-years (206 for hand numbness, 187 for feet numbness, 130
      for nocturia, and 127 for urgency). Average incidence rate in neurological exam
      was 76 for leg hyperreflexia, 53 for leg weakness, and 37 for Babinski sign. In
      the applied Expanded Disability Status Scale, the incidence rate of worsening 1
      point was 134 per 1000 person-years. Kaplan-Meier curves stratified by sex and
      proviral load showed that females and patients with proviral load >50,000
      copies/10(6) peripheral blood mononuclear cells had a higher risk of progression.
      CONCLUSIONS: Development of neurological symptoms or signs occurred in up to 30%
      of asymptomatic subjects during 8 years of follow-up.

PMID- 25820279
TI  - Genetic Resources of Pinus cembra L. Marginal Populations from the Tatra
      Mountains: Implications for Conservation.
AB  - The levels of variation and genetic diversity of offspring of randomly selected
      old mother trees in four marginal populations of the Pinus cembra in the Tatra
      Mountains were analyzed. Twenty-four isozyme loci were analyzed (nine of them
      were monomorphic). The analyzed offspring of Swiss stone pine showed highly
      diverse polymorphism at the levels of both provenances and individual families
      (the offspring of one mother tree). The mean observed heterozygosity was low and
      very similar to that of other Carpathian populations. The genetic diversity (mean
      Fst = 11%) between the four provenances was higher than that observed for
      populations from the Carpathian Mountains and the Alps. The genetic uniqueness
      (high genetic richness and diversity) of the analyzed Tatra populations of P.
      cembra as a whole and particular tree stands requires protection because of their
      valuable contribution to the species total genetic diversity (gene pool).

PMID- 25820286
TI  - Largest set of human genomes from a single population is sequenced.

PMID- 25820288
TI  - Programmable Mg(2+)-dependent DNAzyme switch by the catalytic hairpin DNA
      assembly for dual-signal amplification toward homogeneous analysis of protein and
      DNA.
AB  - The catalytic hairpin DNA assembly-programmed active Mg(2+)-dependent DNAzyme was
      proposed for dual-signal amplified detection toward protein and DNA. The protein
      detection was implemented with the further combination of an additional terminal
      protection strategy. The detection limit toward avidin and target DNA could be
      achieved as 2 pM and 0.5 pM, respectively, with a high selectivity. 

PMID- 25820287
TI  - Organ-on-a-chip: development and clinical prospects toward toxicity assessment
      with an emphasis on bone marrow.
AB  - Conventional approaches for toxicity evaluation of drugs and chemicals, such as
      animal tests, can be impractical due to the large experimental scale and the
      immunological differences between species. Organ-on-a-chip models have recently
      been recognized as a prominent alternative to conventional toxicity tests aiming
      to simulate the human in vivo physiology. This review focuses on the organ-on-a
      chip applications for high-throughput screening of candidate drugs against
      toxicity, with a particular emphasis on bone-marrow-on-a-chip. Studies in which
      organ-on-a-chip models have been developed and utilized to maximize the
      efficiency and predictability in toxicity assessment are introduced. The
      potential of these devices to replace tests of acute systemic toxicity in
      animals, and the challenges that are inherent in simulating the human immune
      system are also discussed. As a promising approach to overcome the limitations,
      we further focus on an in-depth analysis of the development of bone-marrow-on-a
      chip that is capable of simulating human immune responses against external
      stimuli due to the key roles of marrow in immune systems with hematopoietic
      activities. Owing to the complex interactions between hematopoietic stem cells
      and marrow microenvironments, precise control of both biochemical and physical
      niches that are critical in maintenance of hematopoiesis remains a key challenge.
      Thus, recently developed bone-marrow-on-a-chip models support immunogenicity and
      immunotoxicity testing in long-term cultivation with repeated antigen
      stimulation. In this review, we provide an overview of clinical studies that have
      been carried out on bone marrow transplants in patients with immune-related
      diseases and future aspects of clinical and pharmaceutical application of bone
      marrow-on-a-chip. 

PMID- 25820289
TI  - Specificity of hemodynamic brain responses to painful stimuli: a functional near
      infrared spectroscopy study.
AB  - Assessing pain in individuals not able to communicate (e.g. infants, under
      surgery, or following stroke) is difficult due to the lack of non-verbal
      objective measures of pain. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) being a portable,
      non-invasive and inexpensive method of monitoring cerebral hemodynamic activity
      has the potential to provide such a measure. Here we used functional NIRS to
      evaluate brain activation to an innocuous and a noxious electrical stimulus on
      healthy human subjects (n = 11). For both innocuous and noxious stimuli, we
      observed a signal change in the primary somatosensory cortex contralateral to the
      stimulus. The painful and non-painful stimuli can be differentiated based on
      their signal size and profile. We also observed that repetitive noxious stimuli
      resulted in adaptation of the signal. Furthermore, the signal was distinguishable
      from a skin sympathetic response to pain that tended to mask it. Our results
      support the notion that functional NIRS has a potential utility as an objective
      measure of pain. 

PMID- 25820290
TI  - Antimicrobial susceptibility of rapidly growing mycobacteria using the rapid
      colorimetric method.
AB  - Drug susceptibility testing (DST) of rapidly growing mycobacteria (RGM) are
      recommended for guiding the antimicrobial therapy. We have evaluated the use of
      resazurin in Mueller-Hinton medium (MHR) for MIC determination of RGM and
      compared the results with those obtained with the reference standard broth
      microdilution in Mueller-Hinton (MH) and with the resazurin microtiter assay
      (REMA) in 7H9 broth. The MIC of eight drugs: amikacin (AMI), cefoxitin (FOX),
      ciprofloxacin (CIP), clarithromycin (CLA), doxycycline (DOX), linezolid (LZD),
      moxifloxacin (MXF) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) were evaluated
      against 76 RGM (18 species) using three methods (MH, MHR, and REMA) in a 96-well
      plate format incubated at 37  degrees C over 3-5 days. Results obtained in the MH
      plates were interpreted by the appearance of turbidity at the bottom of the well
      before adding the resazurin. MHR and 7H9-REMA plates were read by visual
      observation for a change in color from blue to pink. The majority of results were
      obtained at day 5 for MH and 1 day after for MHR and 7H9-REMA. However, the
      preliminary experiment on time to positivity results using the reference strain
      showed that the resazurin can be added to the MH at day 2 to produce the results
      at day 3, but future studies with large sets of strains are required to confirm
      this suggestion. A high level of agreement (kappa 1.000-0.884) was obtained
      between the MH and the MHR. Comparison of results obtained with 7H9-REMA, on the
      other hand, revealed several discrepancies and a lower level of agreement (kappa
      1.000-0.111). The majority of the strains were resistant to DOX and TMP-SMX, and
      the most active antimicrobials for RGM were AMI and FOX. In the present study,
      MHR represented an excellent alternative for MIC determination of RGM. The
      results could be read reliably, more easily, and more quickly than with the
      classical MH method.

PMID- 25820291
TI  - Predictive parameters for medical expulsive therapy in ureteral stones: a
      critical evaluation.
AB  - To evaluate the predictive value of some certain radiological as well as stone
      related parameters for medical expulsive therapy (MET) success with an alpha
      blocker in ureteral stones. A total 129 patients receiving MET for 5 to 10 mm
      ureteral stones were evaluated. Patients were divided into two subgroups where
      MET was successful in 64 cases (49.61%) and unsuccessful in 65 cases (50.39%).
      Prior to management, stone size, location, position in the ureter, degree of
      hydronephrosis, diameter of ureteral lumen proximal to the stone, ureteral wall
      thickness along with patient's demographics including body mass index (BMI)
      values were evaluated and recorded. The possible predictive values of these
      parameters for stone expulsion (and stone expulsion time) were evaluated in a
      comparative manner between two groups. The overall mean patient age and stone
      size values were 38.02 +/- 0.94 years and 40.31 +/- 1.13 mm(2), respectively.
      Regarding the predictive values of these parameters for MET-success, while stone
      size and localization, degree of hydronephrosis, proximal ureteral diameter and
      ureteral wall thickness were found to be highly predictive for MET-success,
      patients age, BMI values and stone density had no predictive value on this
      aspect. Our findings indicated that some stone and anatomical factors may be used
      to predict the success of MET in an effective manner. With this approach
      unnecessary use of these drugs that may cause a delay for stone removal will be
      avoided and the possible adverse effects of obstruction as well as stone-related
      clinical symptoms could be minimized.

PMID- 25820292
TI  - The hounsfield unit value calculated with the aid of non-contrast computed
      tomography and its effect on the outcome of percutaneous nephrolithotomy.
AB  - To evaluate the effect of the Hounsfield unit (HU) value, calculated with the aid
      of non-contrast computed tomography, on the outcome of percutaneous
      nephrolithotomy (PCNL). Data for 83 patients evaluated in our clinic between
      November 2011 and February 2014 that had similar stone sizes, localizations, and
      radio opacities were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were grouped
      according to their HU value, in a low HU group (HU <= 1000) or a high HU group
      (HU > 1000). The two groups were compared based on their PCNL success rates,
      complications, duration of surgery, duration of fluoroscopy, and decrease in the
      hematocrit. There were no significant differences in terms of mean age, female
      male ratio, or mean body mass index between the two groups (p > 0.05). The stone
      size and stone surface area did not differ significantly between the groups (p =
      0.820 and p = 0.394, respectively). The unsuccessful PCNL rate and the prevalence
      of complications did not differ significantly between the two groups (p > 0.05).
      The duration of surgery, duration of fluoroscopy, and decrease in the hematocrit
      were significantly greater in the high HU group compared to the low HU group (p <
      0.001). Calculating the HU value using this imaging method may predict cases with
      longer surgery durations, longer fluoroscopy durations, and greater decreases in
      hematocrite levels, but this value is not related to the success rate of PCNL.

PMID- 25820293
TI  - Milk of calcium stones: radiological signs and management outcome.
AB  - Milk of calcium (MOC) is a rare type of stone that was first described in 1940 by
      Ludin and Howald who reported MOC in renal cysts. Milk of calcium is a viscous
      colloidal suspension of calcium salts. Stasis, obstruction and infection are
      important predisposing factors. Due to a layering effect, characteristic
      radiological signs especially in CT can help in diagnosis to avoid unsuccessful
      shock wave lithotripsy. This is the largest reported case series, in which
      radiological signs by CT scan to predict renal MOC stones, clinical picture and
      management outcome are described in detail. Cases with suspected renal milk of
      calcium stones were studied over 7 years (2008-2015). All cases were diagnosed
      preoperatively by non-contrast CT. Urine cultures were performed in all patients
      preoperatively. Intra-operative and postoperative findings were reported. Stones
      retrieved were sent for chemical analysis using an infrared method. Seven cases
      of milk of calcium renal stones were included in this study. These stones were
      faint radio-opaque in two cases and radiolucent in five cases. All cases were
      diagnosed preoperatively with non-contrast CT. Their Hounsfield units (HU) ranged
      from 114 to 612. All stones were located in a dependent position (gravitational
      effect) in the posterior aspect of dilated calyces. Five cases exhibited the
      typical fluid level and two cases demonstrated semilunar (half moon) pattern in
      the anterior surface of the stones. All cases underwent PCNL with suction and
      retrieval of soft stones without the need for disintegration. When stones
      demonstrate a low Hounsfield unit, are arranged in dependent positions within
      dilated calyces and exhibit fluid level or semilunar pattern on non-contrast CT,
      milk of calcium stones should be considered. PCNL is an effective modality for
      management of renal milk of calcium stones.

PMID- 25820294
TI  - Metagenomic analysis of the sludge microbial community in a lab-scale
      denitrifying phosphorus removal reactor.
AB  - Denitrifying phosphorus removal is an attractive wastewater treatment process due
      to its reduced carbon source demand and sludge minimization potential. In the
      present study, the metagenome of denitrifying phosphorus removal sludge from a
      lab-scale anaerobic-anoxic SBR was generated by Illumina sequencing to study the
      microbial community. Compared with the aerobic phosphorus removal sludge, the
      denitrifying phosphorus removal sludge demonstrated quite similar microbial
      community profile and microbial diversity with sludge from Aalborg East EBPR
      WWTP. Proteobacteria was the most dominant phylum; within Proteobacteria, beta
      Proteobacteria was the most dominant class, followed by alpha-, gamma-, delta-,
      and epsilon-Proteobacteria. The genes involved in phosphate metabolism and
      biofilm formation reflected the selective pressure of the phosphorus removal
      process. Moreover, ppk sequence from DPAO was outside the Accumulibacter
      clusters, which suggested different core phosphorus removal bacteria in
      denitrifying and aerobic phosphorus removal systems. In a summary, putative DPAO
      might be a novel genus that is closely related between Accumulibacter and
      Dechloromonas within Rhodocyclus. The microbial community and metabolic profiles
      achieved in this study will eventually help to improve the understanding of key
      microorganisms and the entire community in order to improve the phosphorus
      removal efficiency of EBPR processes.

PMID- 25820295
TI  - Purification of substances from Achyrocline satureioides with inhibitory activity
      against Paenibacillus larvae, the causal agent of American foulbrood in
      honeybees' larvae.
AB  - Achyrocline satureioides extracts were tested in vitro against the growth of
      Paenibacillus larvae. Four different extracts were obtained by liquid-liquid
      extraction from an aqueous-ethyl alcohol macerate of the aerial parts of the
      plant. The biological activity was tested by the broth microdilution technique.
      Hexane extract showed the highest activity (minimum inhibitory concentration =
      0.060 +/- 0.037 mg/mL). Transmission electron microscopy experiments showed that
      the main effect exerted by the hexane extract on the cell was at the cellular
      membrane level. The hexane extract was analyzed by thin-layer chromatography, and
      the activity of its components was tested by bioautography. Four growth
      inhibition zones were observed in the bioautographic experiments (using hexane
      acetone (7:3) as mobile phase), with that at Rf = 0.57 showing the largest zone
      of inhibition. High-performance liquid chromatographic experiments, using
      ultraviolet and electrospray ionization coupled to tandem mass spectrometric
      detection, showed the presence of one compound with a m/z ratio of 442, which may
      be related to phloroglucinols alpha-pyrone compounds recently discovered. The
      high antibacterial activity of the hexane extract and of the isolated compound
      determined in this work may be useful for the development of future new
      alternatives for the treatment of American foulbrood. 

PMID- 25820296
TI  - Exhaustive study of the novel hyper alkalophil, thermostable, and chelator
      resistant metalloprotease.
AB  - Our newly discovered metalloprotease, designated as ALP NS12 was selected using
      gelatin agar plates with incubation at 100  degrees C. Subcloning of the
      fragments in to pUC118 to make E. coli HB101 (pPEMP01NS) with following two-step
      chromatography using diethylaminoethyl sepharose (DEAE-sepharose) and Sephadex G
      100 columns to purify 97-kDa expressed enzyme was performed. Although activity of
      immobilized ALP NS12 on glass surface was established at temperatures between 70
      and 120  degrees C and pH ranges 4.0-13.0, the optimum temperature and pH were
      achieved at 100  degrees C and 11.0, respectively. Enhancement of enzyme activity
      was obtained in the presence of 5 mM MnCl2 (91 %), CaCl2 (357 %), FeCl2 (175 %),
      MgCl2 (94 %), ZnCl2 (412 %), NiCl (86 %), NaCl (239 %), and Na-sulfate (81 %)
      while inhibition was observed with EDTA (5 mM), PMSF (3 mM), urea (8 M), and SDS
      (1 %) at 65, 37, 33, and 42 %, respectively. Consequently, the enzyme was well
      analyzed using crystallography and protein modeling. ALP NS12 can be applied in
      industrial processes at extreme temperatures and under highly basic conditions,
      chelators, and detergents.

PMID- 25820297
TI  - Gliotoxin-producing endophytic Acremonium sp. from Zingiber officinale found
      antagonistic to soft rot pathogen Pythium myriotylum.
AB  - Soft rot caused by Pythium sp. is a major cause of economic loss in ginger
      cultivation. Endophytic fungi isolated from Zingiber officinale were screened for
      its activity against the soft rot pathogen Pythium myriotylum. Among the isolates
      screened, an endophytic fungus which was identified as Acremonium sp. showed
      promising activity against the phytopathogen in dual culture. The selected fungus
      was cultured in large scale on solid rice media and was extracted with ethyl
      acetate. The crude extract was subjected to column chromatography and preparative
      HPLC to obtain the fraction with the antifungal activity. LC-QTOF-MS/MS analysis
      of this fraction done using water-acetonitrile gradient identified a mass of m/z
      327 (M + H) corresponding to gliotoxin with specific fragments m/z 263, 245, 227,
      and 111. The result was reconfirmed in negative mode ionization. Gliotoxin is the
      major antagonistic peptide produced by the commercially used biocontrol agent,
      Trichoderma sp., which shows high antagonism against Pythium sp. The gliotoxin
      production by the isolated endophytic Acremonium sp. of Z. officinale shows the
      possible natural biocontrol potential of this endophytic fungus.

PMID- 25820298
TI  - A 2D bilayered metal-organic framework as a fluorescent sensor for highly
      selective sensing of nitro explosives.
AB  - A novel Cd-MOF (metal organic framework) [Cd3(NTB)2(DMA)3].2DMA (H3NTB = 4,4',4''
      nitrilotrisbenzoic acid; DMA = N,N-dimethylacetamide) () was obtained under
      solvothermal conditions. The resulting MOF exhibits a novel (2D->3D)
      interdigitated architecture that is obtained from a bilayered motif with
      hexagonal grids. Luminescence properties of the activated phase of well dispersed
      in different solvents have also been investigated systematically, which
      demonstrate distinct solvent-dependent luminescence spectra with emission
      intensities significantly quenched toward nitrobenzene (NB) and 2,4,6
      trinitrophenol (TNP). The results reveal that can be applied as a fluorescent
      sensor for the detection of TNP with high sensitivity, selectivity, and
      recyclability. 

PMID- 25820300
TI  - Patterned paper sensors printed with long-chain DNA aptamers.
AB  - There is growing interest in developing printable paper sensors to enable rapid
      testing of analytes for environmental, food safety, and clinical applications. A
      major challenge is to find suitable bioinks that are amenable to high-speed
      printing and remain functional after printing. We report on a simple and
      effective approach wherein an aqueous ink composed of megadalton-sized tandem
      repeating structure-switching DNA aptamers (concatemeric aptamers) is used to
      rapidly create patterned paper sensors on filter paper by inkjet printing. These
      concatemeric aptamer reporters remain immobilized at the point of printing
      through strong adsorption but retain sufficient segmental mobility to undergo
      structure switching and fluorescence signaling to provide both qualitative and
      quantitative detection of small molecules and protein targets. The convenience of
      inkjet printing allows for the patterning of internally referenced sensors with
      multiplexed detection, and provides a generic platform for on-demand printing of
      sensors even in remote locations. 

PMID- 25820301
TI  - Uncontrolled before-after studies: discouraged by Cochrane and the EMJ.

PMID- 25820299
TI  - The role of auxiliary subunits for the functional diversity of voltage-gated
      calcium channels.
AB  - Voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) represent the sole mechanism to convert
      membrane depolarization into cellular functions like secretion, contraction, or
      gene regulation. VGCCs consist of a pore-forming alpha(1) subunit and several
      auxiliary channel subunits. These subunits come in multiple isoforms and splice
      variants giving rise to a stunning molecular diversity of possible subunit
      combinations. It is generally believed that specific auxiliary subunits
      differentially regulate the channels and thereby contribute to the great
      functional diversity of VGCCs. If auxiliary subunits can associate and dissociate
      from pre-existing channel complexes, this would allow dynamic regulation of
      channel properties. However, most auxiliary subunits modulate current properties
      very similarly, and proof that any cellular calcium channel function is indeed
      modulated by the physiological exchange of auxiliary subunits is still lacking.
      In this review we summarize available information supporting a differential
      modulation of calcium channel functions by exchange of auxiliary subunits, as
      well as experimental evidence in support of alternative functions of the
      auxiliary subunits. At the heart of the discussion is the concept that, in their
      native environment, VGCCs function in the context of macromolecular signaling
      complexes and that the auxiliary subunits help to orchestrate the diverse protein
      protein interactions found in these calcium channel signalosomes. Thus, in
      addition to a putative differential modulation of current properties,
      differential subcellular targeting properties and differential protein-protein
      interactions of the auxiliary subunits may explain the need for their vast
      molecular diversity.

PMID- 25820302
TI  - Randomised controlled trials: understanding effect sizes.

PMID- 25820304
TI  - Hydrogenated graphene and hydrogenated silicene: computational insights.
AB  - Density functional calculations are performed to study the energetic, structural,
      and electronic properties of graphene and silicene functionalized with hydrogen.
      Our calculations predict that H atoms bind much more strongly to silicene than to
      graphene. The adsorbed H atoms tend to cooperatively stabilize each other leading
      to a two-dimensional nucleation and growth mechanism. The different structural
      and electronic modifications induced by H in fully functionalized graphene and
      silicene (known as graphane and silicane) are also explained. Finally, the
      electronic properties of defective graphane with multiple hydrogen vacancies are
      investigated. Engineering the vacancies in graphane offers a way to modify the
      electronic properties of this material. 

PMID- 25820303
TI  - Coil combination for receive array spectroscopy: Are data-driven methods superior
      to methods using computed field maps?
AB  - PURPOSE: Combining spectra from receive arrays, particularly X-nuclear spectra
      with low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), is challenging. We test whether data
      driven combination methods are better than using computed coil sensitivities.
      THEORY: Several combination algorithms are recast into the notation of Roemer's
      classic formula, showing that they differ primarily in their estimation of coil
      receive sensitivities. This viewpoint reveals two extensions of the whitened
      singular-value decomposition (WSVD) algorithm, using temporal or temporal +
      spatial apodization to improve the coil sensitivities, and thus the combined
      spectral SNR. METHODS: Radiofrequency fields from an array were simulated and
      used to make synthetic spectra. These were combined with 10 algorithms. The
      combined spectra were then assessed in terms of their SNR. Validation used
      phantoms and cardiac (31) P spectra from five subjects at 3T. RESULTS: Combined
      spectral SNRs from simulations, phantoms, and humans showed the same trends. In
      phantoms, the combined SNR using computed coil sensitivities was lower than with
      WSVD combination whenever the WSVD SNR was >14 (or >11 with temporal apodization,
      or >9 with temporal + spatial apodization). These new apodized WSVD methods gave
      higher SNRs than other data-driven methods. CONCLUSION: In the human torso, at
      frequencies >=49 MHz, data-driven combination is preferable to using computed
      coil sensitivities. Magn Reson, 2015. (c) 2015 The Authors. Magnetic Resonance in
      Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society
      for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. This is an open access article under the
      terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use,
      distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
      properly cited. Magn Reson Med 75:473-487, 2016. (c) 2015 The Authors. Magnetic
      Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of
      International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

PMID- 25820305
TI  - Empowering academic research in chemical risk assessment and management.

PMID- 25820306
TI  - In response to Bales (2014).

PMID- 25820308
TI  - The rationale for moving beyond monetization in valuing ecosystem services.

PMID- 25820309
TI  - Introduction to 3 learned discourses on ecological valuation.

PMID- 25820310
TI  - Why money matters in ecological valuation.

PMID- 25820311
TI  - Ecosystem services: value is in the eye of the beholder.

PMID- 25820312
TI  - Nanomaterial environmental risk assessment.

PMID- 25820313
TI  - Whole-system perspectives in rivers: insights and implications.

PMID- 25820315
TI  - Clinical Presentation, Long-Term Follow-Up, and Outcomes of 1001 Arrhythmogenic
      Right Ventricular Dysplasia/Cardiomyopathy Patients and Family Members.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) is
      a progressive cardiomyopathy. We aimed to define long-term outcome in a
      transatlantic cohort of 1001 individuals. METHODS AND RESULTS: Clinical and
      genetic characteristics and follow-up data of ARVD/C index-patients (n=439,
      fulfilling of 2010 criteria in all) and family members (n=562) were assessed.
      Mutations were identified in 276 index-patients (63%). Index-patients presented
      predominantly with sustained ventricular arrhythmias (268; 61%). During a median
      follow-up of 7 years, 301 of the 416 index-patients presenting alive (72%)
      experienced sustained ventricular arrhythmias. Sudden cardiac death during follow
      up occurred more frequently among index-patients without an implantable
      cardioverter-defibrillator (10/63, 16% versus 2/335, 0.6%). Overall, cardiac
      mortality and the need for cardiac transplantation were low (6% and 4%,
      respectively). Clinical characteristics and outcomes were similar in index
      patients with and without mutations, as well as in those with familial and
      nonfamilial ARVD/C. ARVD/C was diagnosed in 207 family members (37%). Symptoms at
      first evaluation correlated with disease expression. Family members with
      mutations were more likely to meet Task Force Criteria for ARVD/C (40% versus
      18%), experience sustained ventricular arrhythmias (11% versus 1%), and die from
      a cardiac cause (2% versus 0%) than family members without mutations.
      CONCLUSIONS: Long-term outcome was favorable in diagnosed and treated ARVD/C
      index-patients and family members. Outcome in index-patients was modulated by
      implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation, but not by mutation status
      and familial background of disease. One third of family members developed ARVD/C.
      Outcome in family members was determined by symptoms at first evaluation and
      mutations.

PMID- 25820316
TI  - Spinal cord compression injury in lysophosphatidic acid 1 receptor-null mice
      promotes maladaptive pronociceptive descending control.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although activation of the lysophosphatidic acid receptor 1 (LPA1) is
      known to mediate pronociceptive effects in peripheral pain models, the role of
      this receptor in the modulation of spinal nociception following spinal cord
      injury (SCI) is unknown. AIM: In this study, LPA1 regulation of spinal
      excitability mediated by supraspinal descending antinociceptive control systems
      was assessed following SCI in both wild-type (WT) and maLPA1-null receptor mice.
      METHODS: The effect of a T8 spinal compression in WT and maLPA1-null mice was
      assessed up to 1 month after SCI using histological, immunohistochemical and
      behavioural techniques analysis including electrophysiological recording of
      noxious toes-Tibialis Anterior (TA) stimulus-response reflex activity. The effect
      of a T3 paraspinal transcutaneous electrical conditioning stimulus on TA noxious
      reflex temporal summation was also assessed. RESULTS: Histological analysis
      demonstrated greater dorsolateral funiculus damage after SCI in maLPA1-null mice,
      without a change in the stimulus-response function of the TA noxious reflex when
      compared to WT mice. While T3 conditioning stimulation in the WT group inhibited
      noxious TA reflex temporal summation after SCI, this stimulus strongly excited TA
      reflex temporal summation in maLPA1-null mice. The functional switch from
      descending inhibition to maladaptive facilitation of central excitability of
      spinal nociception demonstrated in maLPA1-null mice after SCI was unrelated to a
      general change in reflex activity. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the LPA1
      receptor is necessary for inhibition of temporal summation of noxious reflex
      activity, partly mediated via long-tract descending modulatory systems acting at
      the spinal level.

PMID- 25820317
TI  - Synthesis of 1-C-Glycoside-Linked Lipid II Analogues Toward Bacterial
      Transglycosylase Inhibition.
AB  - Preparation of Lipid II analogues containing an enzymatically uncleavable 1-C
      glycoside linkage between the disaccharide moiety and the pyrophosphate- or
      pyrophosphonate-lipid moiety is described. The synthesis of a common 1-C-vinyl
      disaccharide intermediate has been developed that allows easy preparation of both
      an elongated sugar-phosphate bond and a sugar-phosphonate moiety, which are
      coupled with the polyprenyl phosphate to give the desired molecules. Inhibition
      studies show how a subtle structural modification results in dramatically
      different potency toward bacterial transglycosylase (TGase), and the results
      identify Lipid II-C-O-PP (IC50 =25 MUM) as a potential TGase inhibitor.

PMID- 25820319
TI  - Morphological diversity in the orbital bones of two teleosts with experimental
      and natural variation in eye size.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Understanding differences in tissue morphology has not been well
      researched, yet provides crucial insight into evolution. We investigate the
      effect of eye reduction on the shape of surrounding bones by examining two morphs
      of the Mexican tetra (Tinaja cavefish and sighted fish), F1 intermediates,
      zebrafish, a sighted tetra after lens removal and a zebrafish mutant, bum-/- ,
      which has a degenerating lens. RESULTS: Significantly, by comparing the skulls,
      we show that there are broadly similar effects on bone shape after eye reduction
      with bones posterior and dorsal to the eye consistently most affected in both
      species. We conclude that there are conserved mechanisms underlying bone shape
      changes in response to a reduced or lost eye. Of interest, when we compare the
      shapes of individual bones and the mode of eye reduction, differences suggest
      that the finer details of these underlying mechanisms may indeed vary. We also
      show that cavefish occupy a unique morphospace with respect to skull morphology
      and that F1 intermediates are most similar to sighted fish than their cavefish
      parent. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the dynamic nature of the vertebrate
      skull and its ability to respond to tissue changes within the head, a topic which
      has been largely overlooked in the literature. Developmental Dynamics 244:1109
      1120, 2015. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

PMID- 25820318
TI  - Getting to the heart of hERG K(+) channel gating.
AB  - Potassium ion channels encoded by the human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG)
      form the ion-conducting subunit of the rapid delayed rectifier potassium current
      (IKr ). Although hERG channels exhibit a widespread tissue distribution they play
      a particularly important role in the heart. There has been considerable interest
      in hERG K(+) channels for three main reasons. First, they have very unusual
      gating kinetics, most notably rapid and voltage-dependent inactivation coupled to
      slow deactivation, which has led to the suggestion that they may play a specific
      role in the suppression of arrhythmias. Second, mutations in hERG are the cause
      of 30-40% of cases of congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS), the commonest inherited
      primary arrhythmia syndrome. Third, hERG is the molecular target for the vast
      majority of drugs that cause drug-induced LQTS, the commonest cause of drug
      induced arrhythmias and cardiac death. Drug-induced LQTS has now been reported
      for a large range of both cardiac and non-cardiac drugs, in which this side
      effect is entirely undesired. In recent years there have been comprehensive
      reviews published on hERG K(+) channels (Vandenberg et al. 2012) and we will not
      re-cover this ground. Rather, we focus on more recent work on the structural
      basis and dynamics of hERG gating with an emphasis on how the latest developments
      may facilitate translational research in the area of stratifying risk of
      arrhythmias. 

PMID- 25820320
TI  - "Cross-linked fibrous" spherulites formed from a low molecular weight compound,
      Fmoc-functionalized phenolic amino acid.
AB  - While biomacromolecules such as proteins are shown to form fibrous spherulites,
      which are generally "semicrystalline" in nature, here we show that a simple, low
      molecular weight compound such as fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-functionalized
      phenolic amino acid (Fmoc-l-tyrosine) can form "fibrous" spherulites with highly
      "cross-linked" microfibrils using the supramolecular self-assembly process. 

PMID- 25820321
TI  - Aberrant immunostaining pattern of the CD24 glycoprotein in clinical samples and
      experimental models of pediatric medulloblastomas.
AB  - The CD24 glycoprotein is a mediator of neuronal proliferation, differentiation
      and immune suppression in the normal CNS, and a proposed cancer biomarker in
      multiple peripheral tumor types. We performed a comparative analysis of CD24 gene
      expression in a large cohort of pediatric and adult brain tumors (n = 813), and
      further characterized protein expression in tissue sections (n = 39), primary
      brain tumor cultures (n = 12) and a novel orthotopic group 3 medulloblastoma
      xenograft model. Increased CD24 gene expression was demonstrated in ependymomas,
      medulloblastomas, anaplastic astrocytomas and glioblastomas, although
      medulloblastomas displayed higher expression than all other tumor entities.
      Preferential expression of CD24 in medulloblastomas was confirmed at protein
      level by immunostaining and computerized image analysis of cryosections.
      Morphologies and immunophenotyping of CD24(+) cells in tissue sections
      tentatively suggested disparate functions in different tumor subsets. Notably,
      protein staining of medulloblastoma cells was associated with prominent
      cytoplasmic and membranous granules, enabling rapid and robust identification of
      medulloblastoma cells in clinical tissue samples, as well as in experimental
      model systems. In conclusion, our results implicate CD24 as a clinically and
      experimentally useful medulloblastoma immunomarker. Although our results
      encourage further functional studies of CD24 as a potential molecular target in
      subsets of brain tumors, the promiscuous expression of CD24 in vivo highlights
      the importance of specificity in the future design of such targeted treatment.

PMID- 25820322
TI  - Evidence that periweaning failure-to-thrive syndrome (PFTS) has a genetic
      predisposition.
AB  - Genetic susceptibility or resistance to diseases is currently drawing increasing
      attention. This work describes two different breeding herds showing signs of
      periweaning failure-to-thrive syndrome (PFTS), an emergent swine disease. The
      disease was diagnosed based on clinical picture and confirmed by histopathology.
      The possibility of main infectious pathogens was ruled out by
      immunohistochemistry and PCR. In a simple approach, sires of the affected piglets
      have been determined using microsatellite paternity analysis, including a healthy
      group in each case. In each of the two farms, a single boar was found to have
      sired 45-50 per cent sick animals. Removal of this sire from two farms resulted
      in a significant decrease in the prevalence of the disease among the offspring,
      in accordance with other two cases diagnosed, although without including a
      control group. Since the analysed animals belonged to three different genetic
      lines, these findings point to the existence of individual genetic susceptibility
      to this syndrome. 

PMID- 25820323
TI  - Decreased dose of radiation to dogs during acquisition of elbow radiographs using
      draped shielding.
AB  - Protective lead equivalent shielding of patients is not routinely used in
      veterinary radiology. The goal of this study was to determine whether the use of
      lead equivalent shielding results in a significant reduction in dose of radiation
      to dogs during acquisition of elbow radiographs. The authors measured radiation
      doses in the primary beam and over and under protective lead equivalent shielding
      that was placed at the level of the eyes, body and gonads during acquisition of
      elbow radiographs using 0.01 mSv sensitivity dosimetry badges. Shielding
      consisted of 0.5 mm lead equivalent aprons and thyroid shields placed over bodies
      and eyes, respectively. All badges in the primary beam-detected radiation.
      Shielding significantly decreased the dose of radiation with significantly less
      scatter and tube leakage radiation detected under compared with over shielding
      (P=0.0001). The dose of radiation detected over shielding was significantly
      greater than zero (P=0.0001), while that under shielding did not differ
      significantly from zero (P=0.09). Based on these results, the authors recommend
      protective shielding be used on veterinary patients during radiography.

PMID- 25820324
TI  - Relationship between age at gonadectomy and health problems in kittens adopted
      from shelters.
AB  - Prepubertal gonadectomy (PPG) is promoted as a way of managing overpopulation in
      cats, but concerns about PPG and potential health issues still exist. The
      objective of the present study was to evaluate short-term and long-term health
      problems in cats subjected to PPG in comparison to gonadectomy at traditional age
      (TAG). In a prospective clinical trial, 800 shelter kittens aged between
      approximately 8 weeks and 12 weeks were recruited before adoption and randomly
      assigned to either the PPG group (gonadectomy performed immediately) or the TAG
      group (gonadectomy delayed until six months to eight months of age). Short-term
      health issues included mortality between when kittens arrived at the clinic and
      up to seven days after they returned to the shelter, as well as the occurrence of
      various other health issues arising in the first month following adoption.
      Kittens were followed-up until 24 months of age specifically for feline lower
      urinary tract disease, urethral obstruction (male cats), lameness, fractures and
      hypersensitivity disorders with dermatological presentation. In the short term,
      there were no significant differences between health problems in PPG and TAG
      kittens. Similarly, no significant differences were observed between treatment
      groups in terms of the type or number of health issues in the long term. In
      conclusion, there are no health-related contraindications to advocating PPG
      strategies in shelter cats. Ideally, PPG should be performed at the shelter
      facility itself as long as excellent infectious disease control and postoperative
      clinical observation before adoption are guaranteed.

PMID- 25820325
TI  - Canine hip dysplasia in Tibetan terriers.

PMID- 25820327
TI  - Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of Cu/Cu2O hollow spheres with enhanced
      photocatalytic and gas sensing activities at room temperature.
AB  - Cu/Cu2O nano-heterostructure hollow spheres with a submicron diameter (200-500
      nm) were prepared by a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method using Cu(OAc)2.H2O,
      PVP and ascorbic acid solution as the precursors. The morphology of the products
      could evolve with the hydrothermal time from solid spheres to thick-shell hollow
      spheres, then to thin-shell hollow spheres, and finally to nanoparticles.
      Moreover, the content of Cu in the products could be controlled by adjusting the
      hydrothermal time. The spontaneous forming of the hollow structure spheres was
      found to result from the Ostwald ripening effect during the low temperature (100 
      degrees C) hydrothermal reaction process. The photocatalytic degradation
      activities on MO under visible-light irradiation and the gas sensing activities
      toward the oxidizing NO2 gas of different Cu/Cu2O nano-heterostructure hollow
      spheres were investigated. As a result, the Cu/Cu2O nano-heterostructure hollow
      spheres obtained at the hydrothermal time of 30 min, with a rough/porous thin
      shell structure and a Cu content of about 10.5 wt%, exhibited the best
      photocatalytic and gas sensing performances compared with others. 

PMID- 25820326
TI  - Ability of the gut microbiota to produce PUFA-derived bacterial metabolites:
      Proof of concept in germ-free versus conventionalized mice.
AB  - SCOPE: The gut microbiota is able to modulate host physiology through the
      production of bioactive metabolites. Our recent studies suggest that changes in
      gut microbiota composition upon prebiotics supplementation alter tissue levels of
      PUFA-derived metabolites in mice. However, in vivo evidence that gut microbes
      produces PUFA-derived metabolites is lacking. This study aimed to decipher the
      contribution of gut microbes versus that of the host in PUFA-derived metabolite
      production. METHODS AND RESULTS: To achieve this goal, we compared the proportion
      of PUFA-derived metabolites and the expression of fatty acid desaturases in germ
      free (GF) and conventionalized (CONV) mice fed either a low fat or Western diet.
      Higher concentrations of PUFA-derived metabolites were found in the colonic
      contents of conventionalized mice (CONV) mice compared to GF mice. The abundance
      of these metabolites in host tissues was modulated by dietary treatments but not
      by microbial status. Although microbial status did significantly influence
      desaturase expression, no correlations between host enzymes and tissue PUFA
      derived metabolite levels were observed. CONCLUSION: Together, these results
      highlight the ability of the gut microbiota to produce PUFA-derived metabolites
      from dietary PUFA. However, microbial production of these metabolites in colonic
      contents is not necessarily associated with modifications of their concentration
      in host tissues.

PMID- 25820329
TI  - Advancing ethical neuroscience.

PMID- 25820328
TI  - A novel PKD2L1 C-terminal domain critical for trimerization and channel function.
AB  - As a transient receptor potential (TRP) superfamily member, polycystic kidney
      disease 2-like-1 (PKD2L1) is also called TRPP3 and has similar membrane topology
      as voltage-gated cation channels. PKD2L1 is involved in hedgehog signaling,
      intestinal development, and sour tasting. PKD2L1 and PKD1L3 form heterotetramers
      with 3:1 stoichiometry. C-terminal coiled-coil-2 (CC2) domain (G699-W743) of
      PKD2L1 was reported to be important for its trimerization but independent studies
      showed that CC2 does not affect PKD2L1 channel function. It thus remains unclear
      how PKD2L1 proteins oligomerize into a functional channel. By SDS-PAGE, blue
      native PAGE and mutagenesis we here identified a novel C-terminal domain called
      C1 (K575-T622) involved in stronger homotrimerization than the non-overlapping
      CC2, and found that the PKD2L1 N-terminus is critical for dimerization. By
      electrophysiology and Xenopus oocyte expression, we found that C1, but not CC2,
      is critical for PKD2L1 channel function. Our co-immunoprecipitation and dynamic
      light scattering experiments further supported involvement of C1 in
      trimerization. Further, C1 acted as a blocking peptide that inhibits PKD2L1
      trimerization as well as PKD2L1 and PKD2L1/PKD1L3 channel function. Thus, our
      study identified C1 as the first PKD2L1 domain essential for both PKD2L1
      trimerization and channel function, and suggest that PKD2L1 and PKD2L1/PKD1L3
      channels share the PKD2L1 trimerization process. 

PMID- 25820330
TI  - The relation between measures of cognitive and motor functioning in 5- to 6-year
      old children.
AB  - Specific relations between executive functions (working memory capacity, planning
      and problem-solving, inhibitory control) and motor skill performance
      (anticipatory motor planning, manual dexterity) were examined in 5- to 6-year-old
      children (N = 40). Results showed that the two motor skill components were not
      correlated. Additionally, it was found that response planning performance was a
      significant predictor of anticipatory motor planning performance, whereas
      inhibitory control and working memory capacity measures were significant
      predictors of manual dexterity scores. Taken together, these results suggest that
      cognitive and motor skills are linked, but that manual dexterity and anticipatory
      motor planning involve different specialized skills. The current study provides
      support for specific relations between cognitive and motor performance, which has
      implications for early childhood cognitive-motor training and intervention
      programs. 

PMID- 25820331
TI  - Calibrating Independence Goals and Partner Support: Couples Adjust to Functional
      Limitations after Tumor Surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: When patients recover from disease-related functional limitations,
      support received from partners may not always match patients' changing
      independence goals. The lines of defense (LoD) model proposes a hierarchy of
      independence goals (LoDs), ranging from minimising discomfort by disengagement
      (lowest LoD) to protection of self-reliance (highest LoD). Prostate cancer
      patients' LoDs were examined as moderators of the association between partner
      support and patients' and partners' affect during patients' recovery from
      postsurgical functional limitations. METHODS: Data from 169 couples were assessed
      four times within 7 months following patients' surgery. Patients reported on post
      surgery functional limitations (i.e. incontinence), LoDs, affect, and received
      partner support. Partners reported on affect and support provided to patients.
      RESULTS: In patients endorsing lower LoDs, more received support was associated
      with less negative affect. Also, not endorsing high LoDs while receiving strong
      partner support was related to patients' lower negative and higher positive
      affect. Partners' support provision to patients tended to be associated with
      increases in partners' negative affect when patients had endorsed higher LoDs and
      with increases in positive affect when patients had endorsed lower LoDs.
      CONCLUSIONS: Matching patients' independence goals or LoDs with partners' support
      may be beneficial for patients' and partners' affect.

PMID- 25820332
TI  - Experience with HSP90 inhibitor AUY922 in patients with relapsed or refractory
      non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

PMID- 25820333
TI  - Imatinib-treated chronic myeloid leukemia patients with discordant response
      between cytogenetic and molecular tests at 3 and 6 month time-points have a
      reduced probability of subsequent optimal response.

PMID- 25820334
TI  - Azacitidine as post-remission consolidation for sorafenib-induced remission of
      Fms-like tyrosine kinase-3 internal tandem duplication positive acute myeloid
      leukemia.

PMID- 25820335
TI  - Efficacy of single versus boost vaccination against influenza virus in patients
      with multiple myeloma.

PMID- 25820337
TI  - Hypertrophic preconditioning: short-term tricks for long-term gain.

PMID- 25820338
TI  - Metabolic switching: synergistic induction of carotenogenesis in the aerial
      microalga, Vischeria helvetica, under environmental stress conditions by
      inhibitors of fatty acid biosynthesis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the roles of fatty acid biosynthesis in
      carotenogenesis in the high-lipid accumulating aerial microalga Vischeria
      helvetica KGU-Y001, we cultured algal cells with fatty acid biosynthesis
      inhibitors. RESULTS: Under nitrogen-deficient, high-light (200 umol photons m(-2)
      s(-1)) conditions, the alga accumulated 6.2 mg carotenoids g(-1) dry weight cells
      (DWC) after 1 week of culture. The total fatty acid content increased gradually,
      and reached 290 mg g(-1) DWC after 9 weeks. When algal cells were cultured with a
      fatty acid biosynthesis inhibitor (molinate) under nitrogen-deficient, high-light
      conditions for 1 week, carotenoid accumulation was synergistically increased to
      2.4 times that in algal cells cultured without the inhibitor in nitrogen
      deficient, low-light conditions (40 umol photons m(-2) s(-1)). The synergistic
      induction of carotenogenesis was suppressed by an inhibitor of c-jun N-terminal
      kinase, a mitogen-activated protein kinase-like protein. CONCLUSION: In a
      commercial context, carotenoid production could be increased by using fatty acid
      biosynthesis inhibitors to redirect metabolic flux to carotenoid biosynthesis
      instead of fatty acid synthesis.

PMID- 25820336
TI  - Myocardial Hypertrophic Preconditioning Attenuates Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy and
      Slows Progression to Heart Failure Through Upregulation of S100A8/A9.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transient preceding brief ischemia provides potent cardioprotection
      against subsequent long ischemia, termed ischemic preconditioning. Here, we
      hypothesized that transient short-term hypertrophic stimulation would induce the
      expression of hypertrophy regression genes and render the heart resistant to
      subsequent hypertrophic stress, and slow the progression to heart failure, as
      well. METHODS AND RESULTS: Cardiomyocyte hypertrophy was induced in mice by
      either transverse aortic constriction or an infusion of phenylephrine, and in
      neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes by norepinephrine exposures. In the
      preconditioning groups, hypertrophic stimulation was provided for 1 to 7 days and
      then withdrawn for several days by either aortic debanding or discontinuing
      phenylephrine or norepinephrine treatment, followed by subsequent reexposure to
      the hypertrophic stimulus for the same period as in the control group. One or 6
      weeks after transverse aortic constriction, the heart weight/body weight ratio
      was lower in the preconditioning group than in the control group, whereas the
      lung weight/body weight ratio was significantly decreased 6 weeks after
      transverse aortic constriction. Similar results were obtained in mice receiving
      phenylephrine infusion and neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes stimulated
      with norepinephrine. Both mRNA and protein expression of S100A8 and S100A9 showed
      significant upregulation after the removal of hypertrophic stimulation and
      persisted for 6 weeks in response to reimposition of transverse aortic
      constriction. The treatment with recombinant S100A8/A9 inhibited norepinephrine
      induced myocyte hypertrophy and reduced the expression of calcineurin and NFATc3,
      but the silencing of S100A8/A9 prevented such changes. CONCLUSIONS:
      Preconditioning with prohypertrophic factors exerts an antihypertrophic effect
      and slows the progression of heart failure, indicating the existence of the
      phenomenon for hypertrophic preconditioning.

PMID- 25820339
TI  - Surveying treatment preferences in U.S. Iraq-Afghanistan Veterans with PTSD
      symptoms: a step toward veteran-centered care.
AB  - This study examined health care barriers and preferences among a self-selected
      sample of returning U.S. veterans drawn from a representative, randomly selected
      frame surveyed about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology and
      mental health utilization in the prior year. Comparisons between treated (n =
      160) and untreated (n = 119) veterans reporting PTSD symptoms were conducted for
      measures of barriers and preferences, along with logistic models regressing
      mental health utilization on clusters derived from these measures. Reported
      barriers corroborated prior research findings as negative beliefs about treatment
      and stigma were strongly endorsed, but only privacy concerns were associated with
      lower service utilization (B = -0.408, SE = 0.142; p = .004). The most endorsed
      preference (91.0%) was for assistance with benefits, trailed by help for physical
      problems, and particular PTSD symptoms. Help-seeking veterans reported stronger
      preferences for multiple interventions, and desire for services for families (B =
      0.468, SE = 0.219; p = .033) and specific PTSD symptoms (B = 0.659, SE = 0.302; p
      = .029) were associated with increased utilization. Outcomes of the study
      suggested PTSD severity drove help-seeking in this cohort. Results also support
      the integration of medical and mental health services, as well as coordination of
      health and benefits services. Finally, the study suggested that outreach about
      privacy protections and treatment options could well improve engagement in
      treatment. 

PMID- 25820340
TI  - Analysis of underivatized cellodextrin oligosaccharides by capillary
      electrophoresis with direct photochemically induced UV-detection.
AB  - This work focuses on the development of a CE method allowing, for the first time,
      the simultaneous separation of the underivatized first seven cellodextrin
      oligomers (glucose, cellobiose, cellotriose, cellotetraose, cellopentaose,
      cellohexaose, and celloheptaose), with a view to analyze the hydrolysates
      obtained after partial acid depolymerization of nitrocellulose, and eight
      carbohydrates (ribose, xylose, fructose, mannose, galactose, maltose, lactose,
      and sucrose), which might be potential interfering compounds in explosives
      samples. Separation was achieved with a highly alkaline BGE containing sodium
      chloride and direct mid-UV-absorbance detection was performed after photo
      oxidation in the detection window. EOF was reversed to speed up the analysis
      using a dynamic capillary coating by hexadimethrine bromide. A central composite
      design was carried out to determine the effects of BGE conductivity and sodium
      hydroxide concentration on resolutions between neighboring peaks, and analysis
      time. A desirability analysis on modeled responses was applied to maximize
      resolutions and to minimize analysis time. The simultaneous analysis in 20 min
      total runtime of the 15 carbohydrates plus internal reference (naphthalene
      sulfonate) was carried out at 25 degrees C with a BGE composed of 77.4 mM NaOH
      and 183 mM NaCl to adjust the conductivity at the optimum value. Finally, the
      resolution robustness was checked. This new method should also be of interest to
      monitor food and nonfood crop products.

PMID- 25820341
TI  - The transverse diameter of the chest on routine radiographs reliably estimates
      gestational age and weight in premature infants.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prior to digital radiography it was possible for a radiologist to
      easily estimate the size of a patient on an analog film. Because variable
      magnification may be applied at the time of processing an image, it is now more
      difficult to visually estimate an infant's size on the monitor. Since gestational
      age and weight significantly impact the differential diagnosis of neonatal
      diseases and determine the expected size of kidneys or appearance of the brain by
      MRI or US, this information is useful to a pediatric radiologist. Although this
      information may be present in the electronic medical record, it is frequently not
      readily available to the pediatric radiologist at the time of image
      interpretation. OBJECTIVE: To determine if there was a correlation between
      gestational age and weight of a premature infant with their transverse chest
      diameter (rib to rib) on admission chest radiographs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This
      retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board, which waived
      informed consent. The maximum transverse chest diameter outer rib to outer rib
      was measured on admission portable chest radiographs of 464 patients admitted to
      the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during the 2010 calendar year. Regression
      analysis was used to investigate the association between chest diameter and
      gestational age/birth weight. Quadratic term of chest diameter was used in the
      regression model. RESULTS: Chest diameter was statistically significantly
      associated with both gestational age (P < 0.0001) and birth weight (P < 0.0001).
      CONCLUSION: An infant's gestational age and birth weight can be reliably
      estimated by comparing a simple measurement of the transverse chest diameter on
      digital chest radiograph with the tables and graphs in our study.

PMID- 25820342
TI  - Magnetic resonance imaging acquisition techniques intended to decrease movement
      artefact in paediatric brain imaging: a systematic review.
AB  - Attaining paediatric brain images of diagnostic quality can be difficult because
      of young age or neurological impairment. The use of anaesthesia to reduce
      movement in MRI increases clinical risk and cost, while CT, though faster,
      exposes children to potentially harmful ionising radiation. MRI acquisition
      techniques that aim to decrease movement artefact may allow diagnostic paediatric
      brain imaging without sedation or anaesthesia. We conducted a systematic review
      to establish the evidence base for ultra-fast sequences and sequences using
      oversampling of k-space in paediatric brain MR imaging. Techniques were assessed
      for imaging time, occurrence of movement artefact, the need for sedation, and
      either image quality or diagnostic accuracy. We identified 24 relevant studies.
      We found that ultra-fast techniques had shorter imaging acquisition times
      compared to standard MRI. Techniques using oversampling of k-space required equal
      or longer imaging times than standard MRI. Both ultra-fast sequences and those
      using oversampling of k-space reduced movement artefact compared with standard
      MRI in unsedated children. Assessment of overall diagnostic accuracy was
      difficult because of the heterogeneous patient populations, imaging indications,
      and reporting methods of the studies. In children with shunt-treated
      hydrocephalus there is evidence that ultra-fast MRI is sufficient for the
      assessment of ventricular size. 

PMID- 25820343
TI  - Estimating the within-household infection rate in emerging SIR epidemics among a
      community of households.
AB  - This paper is concerned with estimation of the within-household infection rate
      gammaL for a susceptible --> infective --> recovered epidemic among a population
      of households, from observation of the early, exponentially growing phase of an
      epidemic. Specifically, it is assumed that an estimate of the exponential growth
      rate is available from general data on an emerging epidemic and more-detailed,
      household-level data are available in a sample of households. Estimates of gammaL
      obtained using the final size distribution of single-household epidemics are
      usually biased owing to the emerging nature of the epidemic. A new method, which
      accounts correctly for the emerging nature of the epidemic, is developed by
      exploiting the asymptotic theory of supercritical branching processes and proved
      to yield a strongly consistent estimator of gammaL as the population and sampled
      households both tend to infinity in an appropriate fashion. The theory is
      illustrated by simulations which demonstrate that the new method is feasible for
      finite populations and numerical studies are used to explore how changes to the
      parameters governing the spread of an epidemic affect the bias of estimates based
      on single-household final size distributions.

PMID- 25820344
TI  - Microfluidic Organ-on-a-Chip Technology for Advancement of Drug Development and
      Toxicology.
AB  - In recent years, the exploitation of phenomena surrounding microfluidics has seen
      an increase in popularity, as researchers have found a way to use their unique
      properties to create superior design alternatives. One such application is
      representing the properties and functions of different organs on a microscale
      chip for the purpose of drug testing or tissue engineering. With the introduction
      of "organ-on-a-chip" systems, researchers have proposed various methods on
      various organ-on-a-chip systems to mimic their in vivo counterparts. In this
      article, a systematic approach is taken to review current technologies pertaining
      to organ-on-a-chip systems. Design processes with attention to the particular
      instruments, cells, and materials used are presented. 

PMID- 25820345
TI  - Patient-controlled analgesia at the end of life at a pediatric oncology
      institution.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patient controlled anesthesia (PCA) is increasingly used to manage
      pain in pediatric cancer patients and is important in the treatment of escalating
      pain at the end of life. The description of the use of opioid PCA in this
      population has been limited. PROCEDURE: This retrospective chart review of the
      last 2 weeks of life addressed the following objectives: (1) to describe the
      patient population treated with opioid PCA; (2) to describe the morphine
      equivalent doses (MED) (mg/kg/day); and (3) to describe the pain scores (PS).
      RESULTS: Twenty-eight percent of inpatients used opioid PCA for pain control
      during the last 2 weeks of life. The mean MED (mg/kg/day) (SD) at 2 weeks prior
      and the day of death were 10.7 (17.9) and 19 (25.8). The mean MED increased over
      the last 2 weeks of life for all patients and across age groups and cancer
      diagnoses (all P < 0.05). The mean MED was significantly higher in the younger
      age group (age <13 vs. age >= 13) on the day of death (P < 0.04). There was a
      significant change in mean PS over the last 2 weeks of life (P < 0.001), with the
      highest PS on the day before death. The most frequently used concurrent
      medications were benzodiazepines (91%). CONCLUSIONS: Children and young adults
      with cancer experience high opioid requirements and significant dose increases
      during the last 2 weeks of life. Additionally, PS increase toward the end of
      life. Opioid rotation and addition of adjuvant medications merit consideration in
      the context of escalating opioid requirements.

PMID- 25820347
TI  - The gene encoding the mouse contactin-1 axonal glycoprotein is regulated by the
      collier/Olf1/EBF family early B-Cell factor 2 transcription factor.
AB  - The Contactin-1 axonal glycoprotein (formerly F3/Contactin) plays a relevant role
      in cerebellar ontogenesis, as shown in Contactin-1 KO-mice and in transgenic mice
      misexpressing the corresponding cDNA from a heterologous promoter. Likewise, null
      mutant mice for the Collier/Olf1/Early B-cell family transcription factor EBF2,
      in which Purkinje neuron development is primarily affected, exhibit abnormalities
      in cerebellar corticogenesis. Here, to evaluate the contribution to the Ebf2 null
      phenotype of changes in the profile of Contactin-1, we study its expression in
      Ebf2 null mice. In addition, we explore the activation profile of the Cntn1 gene
      promoter upon transferring the Ebf2 mutation to transgenic mice expressing an
      enhanced green fluorescent protein reporter under control of Cntn1 gene
      regulatory sequences. In Ebf2 null mice, Contactin-1 protein expression and Cntn1
      gene promoter activity are both downregulated during embryonic and early
      postnatal cerebellar development, both in the rostral and caudal folia, while in
      the latter an upregulation is observed at postnatal day 8. In vitro, vectors
      driving EBF1,2,3 transcription factors from a cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter
      transactivate a Cntn1-Choline acetyltransferse (CAT) promoter-reporter construct
      in cotransfection assays and, accordingly, by chromatin immunoprecipitation, we
      show that the Cntn1 gene 5' flanking region is bound by the EBF2 transcription
      factor, consistent with the evidence that this region bears the cognate
      deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) consensus sequences. These data indicate that
      Contactin-1 expression is dependent upon EBF factors, suggesting that the Cntn1
      gene belongs to the expanding regulatory cascade driven by these transcriptional
      regulators so that changes in its activation may contribute to the phenotype of
      Ebf2 null mutant mice.

PMID- 25820346
TI  - Acid-base and electrolyte abnormalities in heart failure: pathophysiology and
      implications.
AB  - Electrolyte and acid-base abnormalities are a frequent and potentially dangerous
      complication in subjects with congestive heart failure. This may be due either to
      the pathophysiological alterations present in the heart failure state leading to
      neurohumoral activation (stimulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system,
      sympathoadrenergic stimulation), or to the adverse events of therapy with
      diuretics, cardiac glycosides, and ACE inhibitors. Subjects with heart failure
      may show hyponatremia, magnesium, and potassium deficiencies; the latter two play
      a pivotal role in the development of cardiac arrhythmias. The early
      identification of these alterations and the knowledge of the pathophysiological
      mechanisms are very useful for the management of these patients. 

PMID- 25820348
TI  - Designed synthesis of a series of zwitterion-polyoxometalate hybrid materials for
      selective scavenging and photolysis of dyes.
AB  - Zwitterions and polyoxometalates (POMs) are two kinds of functional moieties with
      very different properties for applications in different fields. We have developed
      an effective strategy to successfully immobilize these two different moieties
      into the frameworks of porous hybrid materials, in which the POM units act as
      templates and photoactive moieties. These hybrid materials demonstrate remarkable
      efficiency for selective scavenging and photolysis of cationic dyes from polluted
      water, and up to 10% dye uptake and quantitative photolysis of dyes have been
      realized. 

PMID- 25820350
TI  - Causal relevance of circulating high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with cancer:
      a Mendelian randomization meta-analysis.
AB  - We summarized published data on the associations of apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene
      epsilon2/epsilon3/epsilon4 polymorphism with both cancer risk and circulating
      lipid profiles, aiming to examine the causal relevance between lipids and cancer
      risk. Article identification and data abstraction were conducted in duplicate and
      independently by two authors. Data were analyzed by STATA software. Twenty-five
      articles that examined the associations of APOE gene epsilon2/epsilon3/epsilon4
      polymorphism with either cancer risk (n = 22) or circulating lipid changes (n =
      4) were eligible. The presence of epsilon2 and epsilon4 alleles showed no overall
      associations with overall cancer risk when compared with epsilon3 allele. The
      epsilon4 allele was significantly associated with 1.40-fold (odds ratio or OR =
      1.40; 95% confidence interval or CI: 1.00-1.94; P = 0.047) increased risk of
      developing cancer in Asian populations, and the presence of heterogeneity was low
      (I(2) = 37.6%). Carriers of epsilon3/epsilon4 genotype had a significant
      reduction in circulating HDL-C (WMD = -2.62; 95% CI: -4.19 to -1.04; P = 0.001)
      without heterogeneity (I(2) = 16.6%). The predicted odds of having cancer for 1
      mg/dL reduction in circulating HDL-C was 1.14 (95% CI: 1.00 to 1.89). The
      findings of this Mendelian randomization meta-analysis demonstrate that reduced
      circulating HDL-C might be a potentially causal risk factor for the development
      of overall cancer in Asians. 

PMID- 25820351
TI  - Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and beta-blocker transformation products
      may not pose a significant risk of toxicity to aquatic organisms in wastewater
      effluent-dominated receiving waters.
AB  - A probabilistic ecological risk assessment was conducted for the transformation
      products (TPs) of 3 beta-blockers (atenolol, metoprolol, and propranolol) and 5
      selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs; citalopram, fluoxetine,
      fluvoxamine, paroxetine, and sertraline) to assess potential threats to aquatic
      organisms in effluent-dominated surface waters. To this end, the pharmacokinetic
      literature, the University of Minnesota's Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database
      Pathway Prediction System aerobic microbial degradation software, and photolysis
      literature pertaining to beta-blockers and SSRIs were used to determine their
      most likely TPs formed via human metabolism, aerobic biodegradation, and
      photolysis, respectively. Monitoring data from North American and European
      surface waters receiving human wastewater inputs were the basis of the exposure
      characterizations of the parent compounds and the TPs, where available. In most
      cases, where monitoring data for TPs did not exist, we assumed a conservative 1:1
      parent-to-TP production ratio (i.e., 100% of parent converted). The US
      Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)'s EPISuite and ECOSAR v1.11 software were
      used to estimate acute and chronic toxicities to aquatic organisms. Hazard
      quotients, which were calculated using the 95(th) percentile of the exposure
      distributions, ranged from 10(-11) to 10(-3) (i.e., all significantly less than
      1). Based on these results, the TPs of interest would be expected to pose little
      to no environmental risk in surface waters receiving wastewater inputs. Overall,
      we recommend developing analytical methods that can isolate and quantify human
      metabolites and TPs at environmentally relevant concentrations to confirm these
      predictions. Further, we recommend identifying the major species of TPs from
      classes of pharmaceuticals that could elicit toxic effects via specific modes of
      action (e.g., norfluoxetine via the serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]1A
      receptors) and conducting aquatic toxicity tests to confirm these findings. To
      our knowledge, this is the first quantitative probabilistic ecotoxicological
      assessment of all of the predicted and probable TPs of these pharmaceuticals, and
      our approach provides a framework for future such studies with other compound
      classes as data become available.

PMID- 25820349
TI  - Controlled expression of Drosophila homeobox loci using the Hostile takeover
      system.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hostile takeover (Hto) is a Drosophila protein trapping system that
      allows the investigator to both induce a gene and tag its product. The Hto
      transposon carries a GAL4-regulated promoter expressing an exon encoding a FLAG
      mCherry tag. Upon expression, the Hto exon can splice to a downstream genomic
      exon, generating a fusion transcript and tagged protein. RESULTS: Using rough-eye
      phenotypic screens, Hto inserts were recovered at eight homeobox or Pax loci:
      cut, Drgx/CG34340, Pox neuro, araucan, shaven/D-Pax2, Zn finger homeodomain 2,
      Sex combs reduced (Scr), and the abdominal-A region. The collection yields
      diverse misexpression phenotypes. Ectopic Drgx was found to alter the
      cytoskeleton and cell adhesion in ovary follicle cells. Hto expression of cut,
      araucan, or shaven gives phenotypes similar to those of the corresponding UAS
      cDNA constructs. The cut and Pox neuro phenotypes are suppressed by the
      corresponding RNAi constructs. The Scr and abdominal-A inserts do not make fusion
      proteins, but may act by chromatin- or RNA-based mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS: Hto can
      effectively express tagged homeodomain proteins from their endogenous loci; the
      Minos vector allows inserts to be obtained even in transposon cold-spots. Hto
      screens may recover homeobox genes at high rates because they are particularly
      sensitive to misexpression.

PMID- 25820352
TI  - Radiographic outcomes of anterior column realignment for adult sagittal plane
      deformity: a multicenter analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Anterior column reconstruction (ACR) is a minimally invasive technique
      for the treatment of sagittal plane deformity. ACR uses a lateral transpsoas
      approach with ALL release and the application of an interbody device to achieve
      correction. Here, we present 1-year radiographic results from a multicenter study
      of adult spinal deformity (ASD) patients. METHODS: A multicenter database was
      queried from 2005 to 2013 for ASD patients treated with ACR. Demographics,
      surgical data, and radiographic measurements were collected and retrospectively
      analyzed. Radiographic time points included preoperative (pre-op), postoperative
      (post-op; first visit prior to 3 months), and last follow-up (last FU; minimum of
      1 year). Sagittal radiographic measurements included regional lumbar lordosis
      (LL), pelvic incidence (PI), pelvic tilt (PT), sacral slope (SS), T1 spinopelvic
      inclination (T1SPi), and segmental lordosis (disc angle). RESULTS: Mean patient
      age was 67.4 years (range 46.5-80.0) and 11 patients (32.4 %) were male. Twenty
      patients (58.8 %) had previous lumbar surgery. All patients had a minimal of one
      level ACR with ALL release (mean 1.7; range 1-4). Mean number of lateral
      interbody fusion (LLIF) levels without ALL release per patient was 0.7 (range 0
      3). Thirty-three patients (97.1 %) received supplemental posterior fixation and 1
      patient (2.9 %) had lateral fixation only. In 26 patients (76.5 %), supplemental
      posterior fixation was performed using an open approach, and 7 patients (20.6 %)
      were treated with percutaneous placement. Mean of number of levels fused was 7.1
      (range 2-16). There was a significant improvement in LL (p < 0.001), PI-LL
      mismatch (p < 0.001), and PT (p = 0.03) from pre-op to post-op, and pre-op to
      last FU. There was no change in T1SPi, SS, or PI. Segmental lordosis improved at
      ACR levels from mean of -2.2 degrees  pre-op to -16.0 degrees  post-op (p < 0.01)
      and -16.3 degrees  at last FU (p < 0.001). The addition of posterior column
      osteotomy increased the change in segmental lordosis with ACR by 72.7 % (p <
      0.001). LLIF without ALL release led to significant improvement in segmental
      lordosis from pre-op (-2.4 degrees ) to post-op (-7.1 degrees ; p < 0.01) but not
      from pre-op to last FU (-5.7 degrees ; p = 0.06). CONCLUSION: ACR successfully
      restores lumbar lordosis in ASD patients with sagittal imbalance. ACR results in
      greater segmental correction than is achieved with LLIF alone. Supplementing with
      posterior osteotomies allows for even greater correction. The ability to achieve
      the desired radiographic goals is expected to improve as technical nuances are
      refined and patient selection is optimized.

PMID- 25820353
TI  - Comparison of MIS vs. open PLIF/TLIF with regard to clinical improvement, fusion
      rate, and incidence of major complication: a meta-analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Meta-analysis was conducted to estimate whether MiTLIF could reduce the
      complication rate while maintaining the similar clinical result to that of open
      procedures. METHODS: A search of the literature was conducted on pubmed or
      EMBASE. A database including patient clinical information was created. A
      systematic review of eligible studies with multivariate regression analysis was
      performed to quantitatively review the correlation of VAS improvement rate and
      the performance of MiTLIF. RESULTS: Fourteen articles with a minimum of 12-month
      follow-up met our inclusion criteria. The hypothesis of homogeneity could be
      accepted. The fixed-effects model was used to calculate the summary risk ratio
      (odds ratio). In the pooled analysis, the summary risk ratio (odds ratio) in
      patients with MiTLIF against those with open procedure for fusion rate,
      complication rate and revision/readmission rate was 0.99 (p = 0.36), 1.15 (p =
      0.5) and 2.59 (p = 0.003), respectively, suggesting that MiTLIF was a risk factor
      for revision/readmission. Multivariate regression analysis showed that the
      percentage of male patients and the length of surgery exert a significant impact
      on VAS improvement rate. The selection of MiTLF was not significant. CONCLUSION:
      Fusion rate and complication rate for both open and MiTLIF were similar.
      Moreover, the MiTLIF group tended to have a higher revision/readmission rate,
      which might be associated with the deep learning curve. Therefore, to achieve the
      level of surgical skill required of an MiTLIF surgeon, many years of training and
      experience are necessary. Otherwise, MiTLIF may yield unsatisfactory result upon
      patients.

PMID- 25820355
TI  - Genome-wide analysis and differential expression of chitinases in banana against
      root lesion nematode (Pratylenchus coffeae) and eumusa leaf spot (Mycosphaerella
      eumusae) pathogens.
AB  - Knowledge on structure and conserved domain of Musa chitinase isoforms and their
      responses to various biotic stresses will give a lead to select the suitable
      chitinase isoform for developing biotic stress-resistant genotypes. Hence, in
      this study, chitinase sequences available in the Musa genome hub were analyzed
      for their gene structure, conserved domain, as well as intron and exon regions.
      To identify the Musa chitinase isoforms involved in Pratylenchus coffeae (root
      lesion nematode) and Mycosphaerella eumusae (eumusa leaf spot) resistant
      mechanisms, differential gene expression analysis was carried out in P. coffeae-
      and M. eumusae-challenged resistant and susceptible banana genotypes. This study
      revealed that more number of chitinase isoforms (CIs) were responses upon eumusa
      leaf spot stress than nematode stress. The nematode challenge studies revealed
      that class II chitinase (GSMUA_Achr9G16770_001) was significantly overexpressed
      with 6.75-fold (with high fragments per kilobase of exon per million fragments
      mapped (FPKM)) in resistant genotype (Karthobiumtham-ABB) than susceptible
      (Nendran-AAB) genotype, whereas when M. eumusae was challenge inoculated, two
      class III CIs (GSMUA_Achr9G25580_001 and GSMUA_Achr8G27880_001) were
      overexpressed in resistant genotype (Manoranjitham-AAA) than the susceptible
      genotype (Grand Naine-AAA). However, none of the CIs were found to be commonly
      overexpressed under both stress conditions. This study reiterated that the
      chitinase genes are responding differently to different biotic stresses in their
      respective resistant genotypes.

PMID- 25820354
TI  - Clinical outcomes and toxicity after exclusive versus postoperative radiotherapy
      in supraglottic cancer: new solutions for old problems? The case of stage I and
      II disease.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare acute and late toxicities, survival, and laryngeal
      preservation after radiotherapy alone (RR) or radiotherapy after partial
      laryngectomy (PLR) in early supraglottic laryngeal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      From 1984 to 2012, 172 patients were treated in our department. We analyzed and
      compared toxicities (CTCAE v 4.0), overall survival (OS), disease-specific
      survival (DSS), disease-free survival (DFS), local relapse-free survival (LRFS),
      nodal relapse-free survival (NRFS), metastasis-free survival (MFS), and the
      number of salvage total laryngectomies. RESULTS: Patients in the RR group were
      older (p = 0.05) and had more often comorbidities (p = 0.025); those in the PLR
      group had mostly T2 disease (p = 0.014). No difference in number of local, nodal,
      and distant recurrences was found. A higher incidence of late mild dry mouth in
      patients treated with RR (38 vs. 4 %, p = 0.000) was reported. At univariate
      analysis, only a younger age, a better performance status, and the absence of
      comorbidities favorably impacted on OS and DSS. No differences were found in DFS,
      LRFS, NRFS, MFS, and the number of rescue laryngectomies between the two groups.
      Younger age and a good performance status persisted as a predictive factor of
      better survival (OS and DSS) at multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Radical
      radiotherapy appears to be a viable alternative to conservative surgery, even in
      elderly patients with poor performance status and comorbidities. Salvage
      laryngectomy in the RR group was compared favorably with those reported in other
      conservative surgery series and in the group treated postoperatively of our
      series.

PMID- 25820356
TI  - Comparison and evaluation of two diagnostic methods for detection of npt II and
      GUS genes in Nicotiana tabacum.
AB  - To diminish the time required for some diagnostic assays including polymerase
      chain reaction (PCR), loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and also a
      visual detection protocol on the basis of npt II and GUS genes in transgenic
      tobacco plants were used. Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of
      Nicotiana tabacum leaf discs was performed with plant transformation vector of
      pBI 121. From kanamycin-resistant plants selected by their antibiotic resistance,
      four plants were selected for DNA isolation. Presence of the transgene was
      confirmed in the transformants by PCR and LAMP. In this regard, all LAMP and PCR
      primers were designed on the basis of the gene sequences of npt II and GUS. The
      LAMP assay was applied for direct detection of gene marker from plant samples
      without DNA extraction steps (direct LAMP assay). Also, a novel colorimetric LAMP
      assay for rapid and easy detection of npt II and GUS genes was developed here,
      its potential compared with PCR assay. The LAMP method, on the whole, had the
      following advantages over the PCR method: easy detection, high sensitivity, high
      efficiency, simple manipulation, safety, low cost, and user friendly. 

PMID- 25820357
TI  - Effects of C-terminal domain truncation on enzyme properties of Serratia
      marcescens chitinase C.
AB  - A chitinase gene (SmChiC) and its two C-terminal truncated mutants, SmChiCG426
      and SmChiCG330 of Serratia marcescens, were constructed and cloned by employing
      specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. SmChiCG426 is derived from
      SmChiC molecule without its C-terminal chitin-binding domain (ChBD) while
      SmChiCG330 is truncated from SmChiC by its C-terminal deletion of both ChBD and
      fibronectin type III domain (FnIII). To study the role of the C-terminal domains
      of SmChiC on the enzyme properties, SmChiC, SmChiCG426, and SmChiCG330 were
      expressed in Escherichia coli by using the pET-20b(+) expression system. The His
      tag affinity-purified SmChiC, SmChiCG426, and SmChiCG330 enzymes had a calculated
      molecular mass of 51, 46, and 36 kDa, respectively. Certain biochemical
      characterizations indicated that the enzymes had similar physicochemical
      properties, such as the optimum pH (5), temperature (37  degrees C),
      thermostability (50  degrees C), and identical hydrolyzing product (chitobiose)
      from both the soluble and insoluble chitin substrates. The overall catalytic
      efficiency k cat /K M was higher for both truncated enzymes toward the insoluble
      alpha-chitin, whereas the binding abilities toward the insoluble alpha-chitin
      substrate were reduced moderately. The fluorescence and circular dichroism (CD)
      spectroscopy data suggested that both mutants retained a similar folding
      conformation as that of the full-length SmChiC enzyme. However, a CD-monitored
      melting study showed that the SmChiCG330 had no obvious transition temperature,
      unlike the SmChiC and SmChiCG426.

PMID- 25820358
TI  - Increased vulnerability to physical stress by inactivation of NdgR in
      Streptomyces coelicolor.
AB  - The antibiotic production and spore formation process in Streptomyces coelicolor
      need complex decision making processes by several regulatory units. These
      regulatory units are involved in both primary and secondary metabolism. As a
      result, most regulators have several functions, and those are worthwhile themes
      to study about different functions of a known regulator. In this study, a
      deletion mutant of ndgR, which encodes the nitrogen-dependent growth regulator,
      was examined by the cell viability test, TEM, and growth in N
      acetylglucosamine/asparagine (GlcNAc/Asn) liquid medium. The results of the study
      show that NdgR is also involved in the structure of the cell membrane affecting
      survival under physical shocks. Deletion of ndgR leads to abnormal cell membrane
      resulting in the vulnerable cells to physical stress caused by shaking with beads
      in liquid culture condition. This empirical observation is the first meaningful
      explanation to why ndgR mutant could not grow well in a liquid minimal medium due
      to the defect of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) utilization and phospholipid
      synthesis. 

PMID- 25820359
TI  - Enhanced expression of bioactive recombinant VEGF-111 with insertion of intronic
      sequence in mammalian cell lines.
AB  - Among all VEGF-A isoforms, VEGF-111 is particularly important in molecular
      biology research owing to its potent angiogenic properties and its remarkable
      resistance to proteolysis. These features make it a potential candidate for
      therapeutic use in ischemic diseases. VEGF-111 is not expressed in normal cells,
      but expression is induced by UV-B irradiation and exposure to genotoxic agents.
      Here, to increase expression at the transcriptional and translational levels, we
      synthesized and cloned recombinant VEGF-111 cDNA. Two fragments encoding exons 1
      4 and intron 4/5 plus exon 8a were amplified and cloned into the pBud.CE4.1
      vector using a class IIs restriction enzyme-based method. The expression of VEGF
      111 in CHO-dhfr - and HEK 293 cell lines was evaluated with real-time PCR, dot
      blotting, and ELISA. VEGF expression was increased about 10- and 18-fold in
      transfected CHO-dhfr - and HEK 293 cells, respectively. Dot blotting and ELISA
      confirmed successful production of VEGF-111 in both cell lines. 

PMID- 25820360
TI  - A trypsin inhibitor from rambutan seeds with antitumor, anti-HIV-1 reverse
      transcriptase, and nitric oxide-inducing properties.
AB  - Nephelium lappaceum L., commonly known as "rambutan," is a typical tropical tree
      and is well known for its juicy and sweet fruit which has an exotic flavor.
      Chemical studies on rambutan have led to the identification of various components
      such as monoterpene lactones and volatile compounds. Here, a 22.5-kDa trypsin
      inhibitor (N . lappaceum trypsin inhibitor (NLTI)) was isolated from fresh
      rambutan seeds using liquid chromatographical techniques. NLTI reduced the
      proteolytic activities of both trypsin and alpha-chymotrypsin. Dithiothreitol
      reduced the trypsin inhibitory activity of NLTI at a concentration of 1 mM,
      indicating that an intact disulfide bond is essential to the activity. NLTI
      inhibited HIV-1 reverse transcriptase with an IC50 of 0.73 MUM. In addition, NLTI
      manifested a time- and dose-dependent inhibitory effect on growth in many tumor
      cells. NLTI is one of the few trypsin inhibitors with nitric oxide-inducing
      activity and may find application in tumor therapy.

PMID- 25820363
TI  - Eliminating voltage decay of lithium-rich li1.14 mn0.54 ni0.14 co0.14 o2 cathodes
      by controlling the electrochemical process.
AB  - A lithium-rich cathode material Li1.14 Mn0.54 Ni0.14 Co0.14 O2 (LNMCO) is
      prepared by a co-precipitation method. The issue of voltage decay in long-term
      cycling is largely eliminated by control of the charge-discharge voltage range.
      The LNMCO material exhibits 9.8 % decay in discharge voltage over 200 cycles
      between 2.0-4.6 V, during which the working voltage decays significantly, from
      3.57 V to 3.22 V. The decay was decelerated by a factor of six by using a voltage
      window of 2.0-4.4 V, from 3.53 V to 3.47 V. IR and Raman spectra reveal that the
      transformation of layered structure to spinel is significantly retarded under 2.0
      4.4 V cycling conditions. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was also applied
      for examining phase change in an individual particle during cycling, showing that
      the spinel phase occurs both at 2.0-4.6 V and at 2.0-4.4 V, but is not dominant
      in the latter. Normalization of Li can remove the additional impact on the
      voltage decay which is brought by different amounts of Li intercalation. The
      mechanism of no voltage decay at 2.0-4.4 V cycling is raised and electrochemical
      impedance spectrum data also support the hypothesis.

PMID- 25820365
TI  - Flavylium based dual photochromism: addressing cis-trans isomerization and ring
      opening-closure by different light inputs.
AB  - The multistate system of 4',7-dihydroxy-3-methoxyflavylium is constituted by a
      multiequilibrium involving trans-chalcone, cis-chalcone, hemiketal, flavylium
      cation and quinoidal base. This system possesses two independently addressable
      inter-connected photochromic systems based on the cis-trans isomerization and
      ring opening-closure of the hemiketal. 

PMID- 25820366
TI  - Society of Gynecologic Oncology recommendations for the prevention of ovarian
      cancer.
AB  - Mortality from ovarian cancer may be dramatically reduced with the implementation
      of attainable prevention strategies. The new understanding of the cells of origin
      and the molecular etiology of ovarian cancer warrants a strong recommendation to
      the public and health care providers. This document discusses potential
      prevention strategies, which include 1) oral contraceptive use, 2) tubal
      sterilization, 3) risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy in women at high hereditary
      risk of breast and ovarian cancer, 4) genetic counseling and testing for women
      with ovarian cancer and other high-risk families, and 5) salpingectomy after
      childbearing is complete (at the time of elective pelvic surgeries, at the time
      of hysterectomy, and as an alternative to tubal ligation). The Society of
      Gynecologic Oncology has determined that recent scientific breakthroughs warrant
      a new summary of the progress toward the prevention of ovarian cancer. This
      review is intended to emphasize the importance of the fallopian tubes as a
      potential source of high-grade serous cancer in women with and without known
      genetic mutations in addition to the use of oral contraceptive pills to reduce
      the risk of ovarian cancer.

PMID- 25820364
TI  - Hepatitis C virus infects rhesus macaque hepatocytes and simianized mice.
AB  - At least 170 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus
      (HCV). Owing to the narrow host range of HCV and restricted use of chimpanzees,
      there is currently no suitable animal model for HCV pathogenesis studies or the
      development of a HCV vaccine. To identify cellular determinants of interspecies
      transmission and establish a novel immunocompetent model system, we examined the
      ability of HCV to infect hepatocytes from a small nonhuman primate, the rhesus
      macaque (Macaca mulatta). We show that the rhesus orthologs of critical HCV entry
      factors support viral glycoprotein-dependent virion uptake. Primary hepatocytes
      from rhesus macaques are also permissive for HCV-RNA replication and particle
      production, which is enhanced when antiviral signaling is suppressed. We
      demonstrate that this may be owing to the diminished capacity of HCV to
      antagonize mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein-dependent innate cellular
      defenses. To test the ability of HCV to establish persistent replication in vivo,
      we engrafted primary rhesus macaque hepatocytes into immunocompromised
      xenorecipients. Inoculation of resulting simian liver chimeric mice with either
      HCV genotype 1a or 2a resulted in HCV serum viremia for up to 10 weeks.
      CONCLUSION: Together, these data indicate that rhesus macaques may be a viable
      model for HCV and implicate host immunity as a potential species-specific barrier
      to HCV infection. We conclude that suppression of host immunity or further viral
      adaptation may allow robust HCV infection in rhesus macaques and creation of a
      new animal model for studies of HCV pathogenesis, lentivirus coinfection, and
      vaccine development.

PMID- 25820367
TI  - Exploring perceptions of community health policy in Kenya and identifying
      implications for policy change.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Global interest and investment in close-to-community health services
      is increasing. Kenya is currently revising its community health strategy (CHS)
      alongside political devolution, which will result in revisioning of
      responsibility for local services. This article aims to explore drivers of policy
      change from key informant perspectives and to study perceptions of current
      community health services from community and sub-county levels, including
      perceptions of what is and what is not working well. It highlights implications
      for managing policy change. METHODS: We conducted 40 in-depth interviews and 10
      focus group discussions with a range of participants to capture plural
      perspectives, including those who will influence or be influenced by CHS policy
      change in Kenya (policymakers, sub-county health management teams, facility
      managers, community health extension worker (CHEW), community health workers
      (CHWs), clients and community members) in two purposively selected counties:
      Nairobi and Kitui. Qualitative data were digitally recorded, transcribed,
      translated and coded before framework analysis. RESULTS: There is widespread
      community appreciation for the existing strategy. High attrition, lack of
      accountability for voluntary CHWs and lack of funds to pay CHW salaries, combined
      with high CHEW workload were seen as main drivers for strategy change. Areas for
      change identified include: lack of clear supervisory structure including
      provision of adequate travel resources, current uneven coverage and equity of
      community health services, limited community knowledge about the strategy
      revision and demand for home-based HIV testing and counselling. CONCLUSION: This
      in-depth analysis which captures multiple perspectives results in robust
      recommendations for strategy revision informed by the Five Wonders of Change
      Framework. These recommendations point towards a more people-centred health
      system for improved equity and effectiveness and indicate priority areas for
      action if success of policy change through the roll-out of the revised strategy
      is to be realized.

PMID- 25820368
TI  - Chloride transporters and receptor-mediated endocytosis in the renal proximal
      tubule.
AB  - KEY POINTS: The reabsorptive activity of renal proximal tubule cells is mediated
      by receptor-mediated endocytosis and polarized transport systems that reflect
      final cell differentiation. Loss-of-function mutations of the endosomal chloride
      proton exchanger ClC-5 (Dent's disease) cause a major trafficking defect in
      proximal tubule cells, associated with lysosomal dysfunction, oxidative stress
      and dedifferentiation/proliferation. A similar but milder defect is associated
      with mutations in CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator).
      Vesicular chloride transport appears to be important for the integrity of the
      endolysosomal pathway in epithelial cells. ABSTRACT: The epithelial cells lining
      the proximal tubules of the kidney reabsorb a large amount of filtered ions and
      solutes owing to receptor-mediated endocytosis and polarized transport systems
      that reflect final cell differentiation. Dedifferentiation of proximal tubule
      cells and dysfunction of receptor-mediated endocytosis characterize Dent's
      disease, a rare disorder caused by inactivating mutations in the CLCN5 gene that
      encodes the endosomal chloride-proton exchanger, ClC-5. The disease is
      characterized by a massive urinary loss of solutes (renal Fanconi syndrome), with
      severe metabolic complications and progressive renal failure. Investigations of
      mutations affecting the gating of ClC-5 revealed that the proximal tubule
      dysfunction may occur despite normal endosomal acidification. In addition to
      defective endocytosis, proximal tubule cells lacking ClC-5 show a trafficking
      defect in apical receptors and transporters, as well as lysosomal dysfunction and
      typical features of dedifferentiation, proliferation and oxidative stress. A
      similar but milder defect is observed in mouse models with defective CFTR, a
      chloride channel that is also expressed in the endosomes of proximal tubule
      cells. These data suggest a major role for endosomal chloride transport in the
      maintenance of epithelial differentiation and reabsorption capacity of the renal
      proximal tubule.

PMID- 25820369
TI  - Free lymph node flap transfer and laser-assisted liposuction: a combined
      technique for the treatment of moderate upper limb lymphedema.
AB  - Upper limb lymphedema following breast cancer surgery is a challenging problem
      for the surgeon. Lymphatico-venous or lymphatico-lymphatic anastomoses have been
      used to restore the continuity of the lymphatic system, offering a degree of
      improvement. Long-term review indicates that lumen obliteration and occlusion at
      the anastomosis level commonly occurs with time as a result of elevated venous
      pressure. Lymph node flap transfer is another microsurgical procedure designed to
      restore lymphatic system physiology but does not provide a complete volume
      reduction, particularly in the presence of hypertrophied adipose tissue and
      fibrosis, common in moderate and advanced lymphedema. Laser-assisted liposuction
      has been shown to effectively reduce fat and fibrotic tissues. We present
      preliminary results of our practice using a combination of lymph node flap
      transfer and laser-assisted liposuction. Between October 2012 and May 2013, ten
      patients (mean 54.6 +/- 9.3 years) with moderate (stage II) upper extremity
      lymphedema underwent groin or supraclavicular lymph node flap transfer combined
      with laser-assisted liposuction (high-power diode pulsed laser with 1470-nm
      wavelength, LASEmaR 1500-EUFOTON, Trieste, Italy). A significant decrease of
      upper limb circumference measurements at all levels was noted postoperatively.
      Skin tonicity was improved in all patients. Postoperative lymphoscintigraphy
      revealed reduced lymph stasis. No patient suffered from donor site morbidity. Our
      results suggest that combining laser liposuction with lymph node flap transfer is
      a safe and reliable procedure, achieving a reduction of upper limb volume in
      treated patients suffering from moderate upper extremity lymphedema.

PMID- 25820371
TI  - Reappraisal of PLA2R1 in membranous nephropathy: immunostaining method influence
      and association with IgG4-dominant phenotype.
AB  - The M-type phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R1) was identified recently as a
      specific target antigen in idiopathic membranous nephropathy. However, the
      influence of different sample preparation techniques on the immunostaining of
      PLA2R1 is unclear. Previous studies have identified IgG4 as the dominant subclass
      of PLA2R1 antibodies. However, it remains unclear whether the IgG subclass
      profiles of the glomerular immune complexes of PLA2R1-positive and -negative
      idiopathic membranous nephropathy cases are similar. To address these questions,
      we conducted the present study of 58 idiopathic membranous nephropathy cases. The
      PLA2R1 positivity rate for the paraffin-embedded sections was 61%, whereas that
      for the frozen sections was 65%. Nonspecific background staining was observed in
      the frozen sections. Discrepancies between different sample preparations occurred
      in three cases (6%); two cases were PLA2R1-positive in paraffin sections and
      PLA2R1-negative in frozen sections and one case was PLA2R1-negative in paraffin
      sections and PLA2R1-positive in frozen sections. Regarding the IgG subclass
      profile, 89% of the PLA2R1-positive cases demonstrated the IgG4
      dominant/codominant phenotype versus 31% of the PLA2R1-negative cases (p <
      0.001). Clinical characteristics and pathological findings did not significantly
      differ between PLA2R1-positive and -negative cases. In summary, the PLA2R1
      immunofluorescence results were not affected by the different sample preparation
      techniques, although paraffin-embedded sections were preferred for the
      histological detection of PLA2R1 because of the nonspecific background staining
      observed in frozen sections. The observed lower frequency of the non-IgG4
      dominant/codominant phenotype in PLA2R1-negative idiopathic membranous
      nephropathy cases may suggest that there are heterogeneous subgroups of this
      disease.

PMID- 25820372
TI  - Giant cell angioblastoma of bone: four new cases provide further evidence of its
      distinct clinical and histopathological characteristics.
AB  - Giant cell angioblastoma is a rare locally aggressive vascular neoplasm that
      occurs predominantly in the soft tissue of infants and children. As very few
      cases have been reported, the diagnostic criteria of this tumor type have not
      been clearly defined. The majority of earlier reported cases occurred in soft
      tissues, only one case being reported to arise in bone. In this study, we
      describe four additional cases of giant cell angioblastoma with primary
      presentation in bone. Two cases occurred in males: one in a 23-month-old baby and
      the other in an 8-year-old boy. The other two cases occurred in adult females, at
      an age of 37 and 56 years, respectively. The involved sites were right femur,
      left hip and knee joint, lumbar vertebra, left metacarpus, and phalange. The main
      presenting symptoms were skeletal pain (n = 3) and limping (n = 1). Clinically,
      three cases were suspected as tuberculosis and one case as fibrous dysplasia.
      Histologically, all tumors were composed of infiltrative nodules composed of
      angiomatous vessels surrounded by spindled-to-ovoid cells and variable numbers of
      histiocytoid and multinucleate giant cells. By immunohistochemistry, the
      angiomatous vessels were positive for endothelial markers, whereas surrounding
      pericytes were positive for actin. The variable histiocytoid cells and
      multinucleate giant cells showed a histiocytic phenotype. Follow-up revealed no
      signs of local recurrence or metastasis after surgery, but the follow-up periods
      were of limited duration. This study illustrates that giant cell angioblastoma
      represents a locally aggressive endothelial neoplasm characterized by nodular
      proliferation of small vessels with scattered multinucleate giant cells. It can
      occur in bone and also in adults, although very rarely.

PMID- 25820373
TI  - Placental C4d deposition is a feature of defective placentation: observations in
      cases of preeclampsia and miscarriage.
AB  - Placental C4d deposition is frequent in preeclampsia, and shallow placentation is
      a characteristic of both preeclampsia and miscarriage. This study was conducted
      to determine the relationship among placental C4d, maternal human leukocyte
      antigen (HLA) antibodies, and placental pathology in preeclampsia and miscarriage
      cases. The patient population (N = 104) included those with (1) preterm
      preeclampsia with fetal growth restriction (PE-FGR; n = 21), (2) preterm
      preeclampsia (PE; n = 20), (3) spontaneous preterm delivery (sPTD; n = 39), and
      (4) miscarriage (n = 24). C4d immunohistochemistry was performed, and the
      presence of maternal plasma HLA antibodies was examined. C4d staining of the
      syncytiotrophoblast was more frequent in PE-FGR patients (76.2 %) than in PE
      (10.0 %; p < 0.001) and sPTD (2.6 %; p < 0.001) patients. Maternal HLA antibody
      positive rate was not different among the study groups. There was a significant
      correlation between C4d immunoreactivity and placental pathology consistent with
      maternal vascular underperfusion (p < 0.001) but not with maternal HLA antibody
      status. In miscarriages, the positive rates of C4d, HLA class I, and HLA class II
      antibodies were 58.3, 25.0, and 12.5 %, respectively. There was no correlation
      between the presence of maternal HLA class I or II antibodies and placental C4d
      immunoreactivity. This study confirms frequent placental C4d deposition in
      preeclampsia with fetal growth restriction and miscarriage. The association
      between placental C4d deposition and pathological findings of maternal vascular
      underperfusion suggests that C4d staining of the syncytiotrophoblast is a
      consequence of defective placentation rather than of a specific maternal immune
      response against fetal HLA. The study also demonstrates the usefulness of C4d as
      a biomarker of placentas at risk.

PMID- 25820375
TI  - Nuclear Translocation of Calpain-2 Mediates Apoptosis of Hypertrophied
      Cardiomyocytes in Transverse Aortic Constriction Rat.
AB  - Apoptosis of cardiomyocytes plays an important role in the transition from
      cardiac hypertrophy to heart failure. Hypertrophied cardiomyocytes show enhanced
      susceptibility to apoptosis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine
      the susceptibility to apoptosis and its mechanism in hypertrophied cardiomyocytes
      using a rat model of transverse abdominal aortic constriction (TAC). Sixteen
      weeks of TAC showed compensatory and pathological hypertrophy in the left
      ventricle. TUNEL-positive nuclei were significantly increased in TAC with
      angiotensin II (Ang II) treatment. Calpain inhibitor, PD150606, effectively
      inhibited Ang II-induced apoptosis of hypertrophied cardiomyocytes. Ang II
      increased nuclear translocation of intracellular Ca(2+) activated calpain-2 in
      hypertrophied cardiomyocytes. Ang II enhanced the interaction between activated
      calpain-2 and Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II deltaB
      (CaMKIIdeltaB), and promoted the degradation of CaMKIIdeltaB by calpain-2 in the
      nuclei of hypertrophied cardiomyocytes. Consequently, the depressed CaMKIIdeltaB
      downregulated the expression of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 leading to mitochondrial
      depolarization and release of cytochrome c led to apoptosis of hypertrophied
      cardiomyocytes. In conclusion, hypertrophied cardiomyocytes show increased
      susceptibility to apoptosis during Ang II stimulation via nuclear calpain-2 and
      CaMKIIdeltaB pathway.

PMID- 25820374
TI  - Prevalence of HPV infection in head and neck carcinomas shows geographical
      variability: a comparative study from Brazil and Germany.
AB  - Rising prevalence rates of high-risk human papillomaviruses (hrHPV) infection in
      oropharyngeal carcinoma (up to 80 %) have been reported in North America and
      Scandinavia. We have analysed 424 German and 163 Brazilian head and neck squamous
      cell carcinomas (HNSCC) from the oral cavity (OSCC), oropharynx (OPSCC) and
      hypopharynx (HPSCC) using p16 immunohistochemistry, HPV DNA PCR and sequencing,
      hrHPV DNA in situ hybridisation (ISH) and hrHPV E6/E7 RNA ISH. In the German
      series, 52/424 cases (12.3 %) were p16-positive/hrHPV-positive (OSCC 3.8 %
      [10/265], OPSCC 34.4 % [42/122], HPSCC 0 % [0/37]). In addition, there were 9
      cases that were p16-positive/hrHPV-negative (5 OPSCC and 4 OSCC). In the
      Brazilian series, the overall hrHPV DNA prevalence by PCR was 11.0 % ([18/163];
      OSCC 6 % [5/83], OPSCC 15.5 % [11/71], HPSCC 22.2 % [2/9]). Ten of these cases
      were hrHPV-positive/p16-positive. The remaining 8 hrHPV-positive/p16-negative
      cases were also negative in both ISH assays. Furthermore, 5 p16-positive/hrHPV
      negative cases (2 OPSCC and 3 OSCC) were identified. In both series, HPV16 was by
      far the most common HPV type detected. We confirm that regardless of geographical
      origin, the highest hrHPV prevalence in HNSCC is observed in oropharyngeal
      carcinomas. The proportion of HPV-associated OPSCC was substantially higher in
      the German cohort than in the Brazilian series (34.4 vs. 15.5 %), and in both
      groups, the prevalence of hrHPV in OPSCC was much lower than in recent reports
      from North America and Scandinavia. We suggest, therefore, that it may be
      possible to define areas with high (e.g. USA, Canada, Scandinavia), intermediate
      (e.g. Germany) and low (e.g. Brazil) prevalences of HPV infection in OPSCC.

PMID- 25820376
TI  - Effects of mefenoxam fungicide on soil biochemical properties.
AB  - We studied the effect of mefenoxam on soil biochemical properties. Soil was mixed
      with three rates of mefenoxam (0.5, 1 and 2 L ha(-1)) and incubated for 83 days.
      Fungicide was applied to the soil four times during the experiment, according to
      the manufacturer's instructions. Soil ergosterol, dehydrogenase, urease, beta
      glucosidase, and phosphatase activities were measured during the experiment.
      Compared to controls, soils with the highest doses of mefenoxam demonstrated
      decreased ergosterol and dehydrogenase activities by 81 and 27 %, respectively;
      whereas, urease, beta-glucosidase, and phosphatase activities increased. These
      results suggest that mefenoxam may possibly have consequences for agronomic crop
      production due to the negative effect on soil fungal populations and stimulation
      of the growth of soil bacterial activity.

PMID- 25820378
TI  - The effect of Li(+) ions on the luminescent properties of a single-phase white
      light-emitting phosphor alpha-Sr2P2O7:Dy(3.).
AB  - Two series of phosphors, alpha-Sr2(1-x)Dy2xP2O7 and alpha-Sr2(1-2x)Dy2xLi2xP2O7,
      with different x values were synthesized successfully using a conventional solid
      state method at high temperature for the first time, and their luminescence
      properties were investigated comparatively. The effect of Li(+) ions on the
      luminescence properties of Dy(3+) in alpha-Sr2P2O7 host, including luminescence
      intensity, optimal doping concentration, concentration quenching mechanism, and
      decay behavior, was discussed in detail by considering the defect generation in
      alpha-Sr2P2O7:Dy(3+), the charge compensation of Li(+) ions and the role of
      Li2CO3 as solid flux expected in phosphors. The obtained excitation and emission
      spectra indicate that these as-prepared phosphors can be excited by ultraviolet
      light and show white light emission due to the combination of the (4)F9/2
      >(6)H15/2 and (4)F9/2->(6)H13/2 transitions of Dy(3+) ions. The CIE chromaticity
      coordinates and color correlated temperature of Dy(3+) emission in the phosphor
      alpha-Sr2(1-2x)Dy2xLi2xP2O7 (x = 0.03) with optimal fluorescence intensity was
      also calculated. The present work could be helpful for understanding the effect
      of the charge compensator (e.g. Li(+) ion) on the luminescent properties of
      phosphors with non-equivalent ion-displacement and the design of novel phosphors
      by efficiently taking advantage of charge compensator (e.g. Li(+) ion). 

PMID- 25820379
TI  - Archaea on the move.

PMID- 25820377
TI  - Neurocognitive long-term impact of two-field conventional radiotherapy in adult
      patients with operated pituitary adenomas.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the long-term impact of postoperative two-field-conventional
      radiotherapy (RT) on neurocognitive functions of adult patients with operated
      pituitary adenomas (PA). METHODS: We selected 124 adult patients with operated PA
      56 of whom had also received RT-recorded their main clinical data and performed a
      neuropsychological assessment in all of them that included 15 standardized tests,
      and a cerebral SPECT in eight patients. Comparative analyses were carried out on
      major clinical and neurocognitive domains between irradiated and not irradiated
      patients, and on cerebral SPECT source. RESULTS: Compared with non-irradiated
      patients, irradiated patients performed significantly worse on Barcelona's story
      recall test (P < 0.001) and arithmetic problems (P < 0.03) and on five categories
      of the Wisconsin card sorting test, especially on perseverative answers and
      errors (P < 0.001) without differences in other examined functional domains. RT
      was the only factor associated with worse results in these tests regardless other
      clinical and treatment-related variables. Kaplan-Meier analysis suggested that
      the probability of achieving poorer results with time was related to RT total
      dose and field-size, type of PA and age at the time of RT. Four of the five
      SPECTS performed in irradiated patients revealed a similar altered perfusion in
      the left temporal lobe cortical region. CONCLUSIONS: In adult patients with
      operated PA, RT was independently associated with an impairment on verbal memory
      and executive function, when compared to non-irradiated patients. Our data
      suggest that diagnosis of acromegaly or Cushing's disease, and age at the time of
      RT were able to modulate this long-term radio-induced neurocognitive sequelae.

PMID- 25820380
TI  - Domain walls and anchoring transitions mimicking nematic biaxiality in the
      oxadiazole bent-core liquid crystal C7.
AB  - We investigate the origin of "secondary disclinations" that were recently
      described as new evidence of a biaxial nematic phase in an oxadiazole bent-core
      thermotropic liquid crystal C7. Using an assortment of optical techniques such as
      polarizing optical microscopy, LC PolScope, and fluorescence confocal polarizing
      microscopy, we demonstrate that the secondary disclinations represent non
      singular domain walls formed in a uniaxial nematic phase during the surface
      anchoring transition, in which surface orientation of the director changes from
      tangential (parallel to the bounding plates) to tilted. Each domain wall
      separates two regions with the director tilted in opposite azimuthal directions.
      At the centre of the wall, the director remains parallel to the bounding plates.
      The domain walls can be easily removed by applying a moderate electric field. The
      anchoring transition is explained by the balance of (a) the intrinsic
      perpendicular surface anchoring produced by the polyimide aligning layer and (b)
      tangential alignment caused by ionic impurities forming electric double layers.
      The model is supported by the fact that the temperature of the tangentially
      tilted anchoring transition decreases as the cell thickness increases and as the
      concentration of ionic species (added salt) increases. We also demonstrate that
      the surface alignment is strongly affected by thermal degradation of the samples.
      This study shows that C7 exhibits only a uniaxial nematic phase and demonstrates
      yet another mechanism (formation of "secondary disclinations") by which a
      uniaxial nematic phase can mimic a biaxial nematic behaviour. 

PMID- 25820381
TI  - An efficient calculation method for pharmacokinetic parameters in brain
      permeability study using dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI.
AB  - PURPOSE: To develop an efficient method for calculating pharmacokinetic (PK)
      parameters in brain DCE-MRI permeability studies. METHODS: A linear least-squares
      fitting algorithm based on a derivative expression of the two-compartment PK
      model was proposed to analytically solve for the PK parameters. Noise in the
      expression was minimized through low-pass filtering. Simulation studies were
      conducted in which the proposed method was compared with two existing methods in
      terms of accuracy and efficiency. Five in vivo brain studies were demonstrated
      for potential clinical application. RESULTS: In the simulation studies using
      chosen parameter values, the calculated percent difference of K(trans) by the
      proposed method was <5.0% with a temporal resolution (Deltat) < 5 s, and the
      accuracies of all parameter results were better or comparable to existing
      methods. When analyzed within certain parameter intensity ranges, the proposed
      method was more accurate than the existing methods and improved the efficiency by
      a factor of up to 458 for a Deltat = 1 s and up to 38 for a Deltat = 5 s. In the
      in vivo study, the calculated parameters using the proposed method were
      comparable to those using the existing methods with improved efficiencies.
      CONCLUSIONS: An efficient method was developed for the accurate and efficient
      calculation of parameters in brain DCE-MRI permeability studies.

PMID- 25820383
TI  - Varenicline-induced acute liver injury with jaundice.

PMID- 25820382
TI  - Uncovering pharmacological mechanisms of Wu-tou decoction acting on rheumatoid
      arthritis through systems approaches: drug-target prediction, network analysis
      and experimental validation.
AB  - Wu-tou decoction (WTD) has been extensively used for the treatment of rheumatoid
      arthritis (RA). Due to lack of appropriate methods, pharmacological mechanisms of
      WTD acting on RA have not been fully elucidated. In this study, a list of
      putative targets for compositive compounds containing in WTD were predicted by
      drugCIPHER-CS. Then, the interaction network of the putative targets of WTD and
      known RA-related targets was constructed and hub nodes were identified. After
      constructing the interaction network of hubs, four topological features of each
      hub, including degree, node betweenness, closeness and k-coreness, were
      calculated and 79 major hubs were identified as candidate targets of WTD, which
      were implicated into the imbalance of the nervous, endocrine and immune (NEI)
      systems, leading to the main pathological changes during the RA progression.
      Further experimental validation also demonstrated the preventive effects of WTD
      on inflammation and joint destruction in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rats
      and its regulatory effects on candidate targets both in vitro and in vivo
      systems. In conclusion, we performed an integrative analysis to offer the
      convincing evidence that WTD may attenuate RA partially by restoring the balance
      of NEI system and subsequently reversing the pathological events during RA
      progression. 

PMID- 25820384
TI  - Cobalamin coenzyme forms are not likely to be superior to cyano- and hydroxyl
      cobalamin in prevention or treatment of cobalamin deficiency.
AB  - Methylcobalamin (MeCbl) and adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl) are coenzymes for
      methionine synthase and methylmalonyl-CoA mutase, respectively. Hydroxylcobalamin
      (HOCbl) and cyanocobalamin (CNCbl) are frequently used for supplementation. MeCbl
      and AdoCbl have recently emerged as alternative forms in supplements. In the
      light of metabolic transformation of Cbl into its cofactor forms, this review
      discusses current evidence on efficacy and utility of different Cbl forms in
      preventing or treating Cbl deficiency. Cbl-transporting proteins bind and mediate
      the uptake of all aforementioned forms of Cbl. After internalization and
      lysosomal release, Cbl binds to the cytosolic chaperon MMACHC that is responsible
      for (i) flavin-dependent decyanation of [CN-Co(3+) Cbl to [Co(2+)]Cbl; (ii)
      glutathione-dependent dealkylation of MeCbl and AdoCbl to [Co(2+/1+)]Cbl; and
      (iii) glutathione-dependent decyanation of CNCbl or reduction of HOCbl under
      anaerobic conditions. MMACHC shows a broad specificity for Cbl forms and supplies
      the Cbl(2+) intermediate for synthesis of MeCbl and AdoCbl. Cobalamin chemistry,
      physiology, and biochemistry suggest that MeCbl and AdoCbl follow the same route
      of intracellular processing as CNCbl does. We conclude that supplementing MeCbl
      or AdoCbl is unlikely to be advantageous compared to CNCbl. On the other hand,
      there are obvious advantages of high parenteral doses (1-2 mg) of HOCbl in
      treating inborn errors of Cbl metabolism.

PMID- 25820386
TI  - The antibacterial activity of ceramsite coated by silver nanoparticles in
      micropore.
AB  - In the present study, ceramsite was combined with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to
      fabricate a new nanocomposite for water disinfection. The ceramsite was prepared
      by fly ash, straw ash, and cement. AgNPs were synthesized using
      polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as the capping agent. The nanocomposite was prepared
      by self-aggregation of AgNPs on the surface of the ceramsite. AgNPs capped with
      PVP can form a thin film on the surface of micropore in ceramsite. The
      nanocomposite can inhibit bacteria growth and induce damage of the cell membrane
      of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Therefore,
      the nanocomposite is a new material which can be used for disinfection in
      drinking water. 

PMID- 25820387
TI  - Protopine production by fumaria cell suspension cultures: effect of light.
AB  - Protopine biosynthesis in Fumaria rostellata and Fumaria officinalis cell
      suspensions was investigated. For the first time, we reported for calli and cell
      suspensions obtained from F. rostellata and F. officinalis. Callus induction was
      initiated on a Murashige and Skoog medium, supplemented with sucrose and various
      concentrations of plant growth regulators: 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)
      and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP). The best morphological characteristics, growth
      behavior, and protopine biosynthesis were observed for two callus lines (5FRL14
      and 12FOL1) cultivated under submerged conditions, at low concentration of 2,4-D
      (0.2 and 0.5 mg/L) and higher concentration of BAP (2.0 and 3.0 mg/L). The
      maximal yield of protopine was accumulated from cell suspension of F. rostellata
      (line 5FRL14) cultivated under illumination-49.6 mg/L. Time courses of
      utilization of sucrose, ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate ions in cultural liquid
      and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity of alkaloid extracts of studied
      suspensions are also presented.

PMID- 25820385
TI  - An update on the transport and metabolism of iron in Listeria monocytogenes: the
      role of proteins involved in pathogenicity.
AB  - Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive bacterium that causes a rare but severe
      human disease with high mortality rate. The microorganism is widespread in the
      natural environment where it shows a saprophytic lifestyle. In the human body it
      infects many different cell types, where it lives intracellularly, however it may
      also temporarily live extracellularly. The ability to survive and grow in such
      diverse niches suggests that this bacterium has a wide range of mechanisms for
      both the acquisition of various sources of iron and effective management of this
      microelement. In this review, data about the mechanisms of transport, metabolism
      and regulation of iron, including recent findings in these areas, are summarized
      with focus on the importance of these mechanisms for the virulence of L.
      monocytogenes. These data indicate the key role of haem transport and maintenance
      of intracellular iron homeostasis for the pathogenesis of L. monocytogenes.
      Furthermore, some of the proteins involved in iron homeostasis like Fri and FrvA
      seem to deserve special attention due to their potential use in the development
      of new therapeutic antilisterial strategies. 

PMID- 25820388
TI  - 9H-Carbazole Derivatives Containing the N-Benzyl-1,2,3-triazole Moiety as New
      Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors.
AB  - A series of triazole-containing carbazole derivatives were designed as new anti
      acetylcholinesterase (AChE) agents. The target compounds 6a-q were simply
      prepared via a one-pot three-component click reaction of N-propargyl-9H
      carbazole, sodium azide, and an appropriate benzyl halide. The in vitro anti
      cholinesterase assay showed that the unsubstituted benzyl derivative 6p along
      with the 2-F, 2-Me, 3-Me, 3-MeO, and 3-F analogs (6a, 6c, and 6g-i) had
      significant anti-AChE activity (IC50s <= 3.8 MUM). Among them, the 2-methylbenzyl
      derivative 6c with an IC50 value of 1.9 MUM was the most active compound. The SAR
      studies revealed that small halogen atoms such as the fluorine atom or electron
      donating groups such as methyl or methoxy at the ortho or meta positions of the
      benzyl pendent group could be tolerated or improved the anti-AChE activity.

PMID- 25820389
TI  - NLRC5 Mediates IL-6 and IL-1beta Secretion in LX-2 Cells and Modulated by the NF
      kappaB/Smad3 Pathway.
AB  - Recent data have shown that nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat
      proteins (NLRs), a class of innate immune receptors that respond to pathogen
      attack or cellular stress, have gained increasing attention. NLRC5 (NLR family,
      CARD domain containing 5) is the largest member of the NLR family, which has
      recently been identified as a critical regulator of immune responses. Until
      recently, the function of NLRC5 has been a matter of debate. In this study, we
      explore the role of NLRC5 in cytokine secretion and the role of the nuclear
      factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) signaling pathway in tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF
      alpha)-induced NLRC5 expression in LX-2 cells. We demonstrated that
      overexpression of NLRC5 results in an upregulation of IL-6 and IL-1beta
      secretion. On the other hand, knockdown of NLRC5 by transfecting siRNA decreased
      IL-6 and IL-1beta secretion in LX-2 cells. Meanwhile, the results showed that
      pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) (a specific inhibitor of the NF-kappaB
      signaling pathway) inhibited NLRC5 expression and NLRC5 silencing could increase
      the expression levels of p65 in cell nucleus accompanied with upregulated
      phosphorylation of Smad3 protein levels in response to TNF-alpha. These results
      indicated that NLRC5 plays a significant role in TNF-alpha-enhanced cytokine (IL
      6 and IL-1beta) secretion of LX-2 cells and the NF-kappaB/Smad3 signal pathway is
      involved in its induction of expression. 

PMID- 25820390
TI  - Growth Differentiation Factor-15 Is a Novel Biomarker Predicting Acute
      Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
AB  - Exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) reduce quality of
      life and are associated with a more rapid deterioration of the disease. Growth
      differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is a novel candidate exacerbation biomarker.
      In this study, we aimed to assess GDF-15 as a biomarker of acute exacerbation of
      COPD (AE-COPD). Lung function parameters, arterial blood gas analysis, and
      circulating levels of GDF-15, C-reactive protein (CRP), and fibrinogen were
      assessed in 29 patients on admission to the hospital for AE-COPD, in 29 age-,
      gender-, and body mass index (BMI)-matched patients with stable COPD, and 29
      matched controls with normal lung function. Patients with AE-COPD had higher
      circulating concentrations of GDF-15 (p < 0.001), CRP (p < 0.001), and fibrinogen
      (p < 0.002) compared with patients with stable COPD and healthy controls. GDF-15
      levels correlated with systemic inflammatory marker CRP in patients with AE-COPD
      (r = 0.677, p < 0.001) and with stable COPD (r = 0.417, p = 0.024). Multivariate
      logistic regression analysis revealed GDF-15 (odds ratio 18.16, 95% confidence
      interval (CI) 2.51-134.32; p = 0.005) as an independent predictor of AE-COPD. In
      receiver operating characteristic analysis, GDF-15 achieved an area under the
      curve of 0.78 for the identification of AE-COPD. In conclusion, GDF-15 is a novel
      blood biomarker of AE-COPD that is more sensitive than that of CRP. GDF-15 may
      offer new insights into the pathogenesis of AE-COPD.

PMID- 25820392
TI  - Exercise intensity and the protection from postprandial vascular dysfunction in
      adolescents.
AB  - Acute exercise transiently improves endothelial function and protects the
      vasculature from the deleterious effects of a high-fat meal (HFM). We sought to
      identify whether this response is dependent on exercise intensity in adolescents.
      Twenty adolescents (10 male, 14.3 +/- 0.3 yr) completed three 1-day trials: 1)
      rest (CON); 2) 8 * 1 min cycling at 90% peak power with 75 s recovery [high
      intensity interval exercise (HIIE)]; and 3) cycling at 90% of the gas exchange
      threshold [moderate-intensity exercise (MIE)] 1 h before consuming a HFM (1.50
      g/kg fat). Macrovascular and microvascular endothelial function was assessed
      before and immediately after exercise and 3 h after the HFM by flow-mediated
      dilation (FMD) and laser Doppler imaging [peak reactive hyperemia (PRH)]. FMD and
      PRH increased 1 h after HIIE [P < 0.001, effect size (ES) = 1.20 and P = 0.048,
      ES = 0.56] but were unchanged after MIE. FMD and PRH were attenuated 3 h after
      the HFM in CON (P < 0.001, ES = 1.78 and P = 0.02, ES = 0.59). FMD remained
      greater 3 h after the HFM in HIIE compared with MIE (P < 0.001, ES = 1.47) and
      CON (P < 0.001, ES = 2.54), and in MIE compared with CON (P < 0.001, ES = 1.40).
      Compared with CON, PRH was greater 3 h after the HFM in HIIE (P = 0.02, ES =
      0.71) and MIE (P = 0.02, ES = 0.84), with no differences between HIIE and MIE (P
      = 0.72, ES = 0.16). Plasma triacylglycerol concentration and total antioxidant
      status concentration were not different between trials. We conclude that exercise
      intensity plays an important role in protecting the vasculature from the
      deleterious effects of a HFM. Performing HIIE may provide superior vascular
      benefits than MIE in adolescent groups. 

PMID- 25820391
TI  - Coronary vasomotor responses to isometric handgrip exercise are primarily
      mediated by nitric oxide: a noninvasive MRI test of coronary endothelial
      function.
AB  - Endothelial cell release of nitric oxide (NO) is a defining characteristic of
      nondiseased arteries, and abnormal endothelial NO release is both a marker of
      early atherosclerosis and a predictor of its progression and future events.
      Healthy coronaries respond to endothelial-dependent stressors with vasodilatation
      and increased coronary blood flow (CBF), but those with endothelial dysfunction
      respond with paradoxical vasoconstriction and reduced CBF. Recently, coronary MRI
      and isometric handgrip exercise (IHE) were reported to noninvasively quantify
      coronary endothelial function (CEF). However, it is not known whether the
      coronary response to IHE is actually mediated by NO and/or whether it is
      reproducible over weeks. To determine the contribution of NO, we studied the
      coronary response to IHE before and during infusion of N(G)-monomethyl-l-arginine
      (l-NMMA, 0.3 mg.kg(-1).min(-1)), a NO-synthase inhibitor, in healthy volunteers.
      For reproducibility, we performed two MRI-IHE studies ~8 wk apart in healthy
      subjects and patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Changes from rest to
      IHE in coronary cross-sectional area (%CSA) and diastolic CBF (%CBF) were
      quantified. l-NMMA completely blocked normal coronary vasodilation during IHE
      [%CSA, 12.9 +/- 2.5 (mean +/- SE, placebo) vs. -0.3 +/- 1.6% (l-NMMA); P < 0.001]
      and significantly blunted the increase in flow [%CBF, 47.7 +/- 6.4 (placebo) vs.
      10.6 +/- 4.6% (l-NMMA); P < 0.001]. MRI-IHE measures obtained weeks apart
      strongly correlated for CSA (P < 0.0001) and CBF (P < 0.01). In conclusion, the
      normal human coronary vasoactive response to IHE is primarily mediated by NO.
      This noninvasive, reproducible MRI-IHE exam of NO-mediated CEF promises to be
      useful for studying CAD pathogenesis in low-risk populations and for evaluating
      translational strategies designed to alter CAD in patients.

PMID- 25820393
TI  - Angiotensin II in human skin: an age-dependent role for core temperature
      regulation?

PMID- 25820394
TI  - Acute inhibition of ATP-sensitive K+ channels impairs skeletal muscle vascular
      control in rats during treadmill exercise.
AB  - The ATP-sensitive K(+) (KATP) channel is part of a class of inward rectifier K(+)
      channels that can link local O2 availability to vasomotor tone across exercise
      induced metabolic transients. The present investigation tested the hypothesis
      that if KATP channels are crucial to exercise hyperemia, then inhibition via
      glibenclamide (GLI) would lower hindlimb skeletal muscle blood flow (BF) and
      vascular conductance during treadmill exercise. In 27 adult male Sprague-Dawley
      rats, mean arterial pressure, blood lactate concentration, and hindlimb muscle BF
      (radiolabeled microspheres) were determined at rest (n = 6) and during exercise
      (n = 6-8, 20, 40, and 60 m/min, 5% incline, i.e., ~60-100% maximal O2 uptake)
      under control and GLI conditions (5 mg/kg intra-arterial). At rest and during
      exercise, mean arterial pressure was higher (rest: 17 +/- 3%, 20 m/min: 5 +/- 1%,
      40 m/min: 5 +/- 2%, and 60 m/min: 5 +/- 1%, P < 0.05) with GLI. Hindlimb muscle
      BF (20 m/min: 16 +/- 7%, 40 m/min: 30 +/- 9%, and 60 m/min: 20 +/- 8%) and
      vascular conductance (20 m/min: 20 +/- 7%, 40 m/min: 33 +/- 8%, and 60 m/min: 24
      +/- 8%) were lower with GLI during exercise at 20, 40, and 60 m/min, respectively
      (P < 0.05 for all) but not at rest. Within locomotory muscles, there was a
      greater fractional reduction present in muscles comprised predominantly of type I
      and type IIa fibers at all exercise speeds (P < 0.05). Additionally, blood
      lactate concentration was 106 +/- 29% and 44 +/- 15% higher during exercise with
      GLI at 20 and 40 m/min, respectively (P < 0.05). That KATP channel inhibition
      reduces hindlimb muscle BF during exercise in rats supports the obligatory
      contribution of KATP channels in large muscle mass exercise-induced hyperemia.

PMID- 25820395
TI  - 20-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid involved in endothelial activation and
      thrombosis.
AB  - Endothelial cells play an important role in the process of coagulation and the
      function of platelets. We have previously reported that 20
      hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE), a metabolite of arachidonic acid,
      increased platelet aggregation and induced hemostasis. The purpose of the present
      study is to investigate whether 20-HETE-mediated endothelial activation has
      effect on the coagulation and platelet aggregation. C57Bl/6 mice were treated
      with PBS or 20-HETE (20 MUg/kg) for 2 h, and then we performed a carotid artery
      or femoral artery thrombosis model by FeCl3. Detection of blood flow indicated
      that 20-HETE pretreatment accelerated formation of thrombus in both common
      carotid artery and femoral artery. In vitro, the secretion and expression of von
      Willebrand factor (vWF) in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells
      (HUVECs) with 20-HETE stimulation were increased, subsequently. The protein level
      of vWF in HUVECs was decreased at 1 h but increased with prolonged treatment with
      20-HETE (>4 h). In contrast, vWF in the culture medium was increased under
      administration of 20-HETE at 1 h. As a result, adhesion of platelets on HUVECs
      was significantly increased by 20-HETE. In HUVECs, the extracellular signal
      regulated kinase (ERK) pathway was activated by 20-HETE in a dose-dependent
      manner, and the inhibitors of ERK and L-type Ca(2+) channel blocked the release
      of vWF mediated by 20-HETE. In conclusion, 20-HETE instigates endothelial
      activation and induces the expression and secretion of vWF via the activation of
      ERK and calcium channel and therefore triggers thrombosis. 

PMID- 25820396
TI  - Interleukin-6 mediates exercise preconditioning against myocardial ischemia
      reperfusion injury.
AB  - Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine that protects against cardiac
      ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury following pharmacological and ischemic
      preconditioning (IPC), but the affiliated role in exercise preconditioning is
      unknown. Our study purpose was to characterize exercise-induced IL-6 cardiac
      signaling (aim 1) and evaluate myocardial preconditioning (aim 2). In aim 1, C57
      and IL-6(-/-) mice underwent 3 days of treadmill exercise for 60 min/day at 18
      m/min. Serum, gastrocnemius, and heart were collected preexercise, immediately
      postxercise, and 30 and 60 min following the final exercise session and analyzed
      for indexes of IL-6 signaling. For aim 2, a separate cohort of exercise
      preconditioned (C57 EX and IL-6(-/-) EX) and sedentary (C57 SED and IL-6(-/-)
      SED) mice received surgical I/R injury (30 min I, 120 min R) or a time-matched
      sham operation. Ischemic and perfused tissues were examined for necrosis,
      apoptosis, and autophagy. In aim 1, serum IL-6 and IL-6 receptor (IL-6R),
      gastrocnemius, and myocardial IL-6R were increased following exercise in C57 mice
      only. Phosphorylated (p) signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 was
      increased in gastrocnemius and heart in C57 and IL-6(-/-) mice postexercise,
      whereas myocardial iNOS and cyclooxygenase-2 were unchanged in the exercised
      myocardium. Exercise protected C57 EX mice against I/R-induced arrhythmias and
      necrosis, whereas arrhythmia score and infarct outcomes were higher in C57 SED,
      IL-6(-/-) SED, and IL-6(-/-) EX mice compared with SH. C57 EX mice expressed
      increased p-p44/42 MAPK (Thr(202)/Tyr(204)) and p-p38 MAPK (Thr(180)/Tyr(182))
      compared with IL-6(-/-) EX mice, suggesting pathway involvement in exercise
      preconditioning. Findings indicate exercise exerts cardioprotection via IL-6 and
      strongly implicates protective signaling originating from the exercised skeletal
      muscle. 

PMID- 25820398
TI  - Persistence of mullerian duct structures in a genetic male with distal monosomy
      10q.
AB  - Persistent mullerian duct syndrome (PMD) with antimullerian hormone (AMH)
      deficiency is usually associated with mutations or deletions of the AMH gene,
      although many cases have no identified gene association. We report on a genetic
      male with PMD and AMH deficiency associated with distal monosomy 10q. A term
      3,230 g infant was born to a healthy 27-year-old. Fetal ultrasound had shown
      possible genital ambiguity. Postnatal exam showed a 0.5 cm phallus with basal
      meatus, normal scrotum with no palpable gonads, no vaginal orifice, and a rectal
      fistula with an imperforate anus. Voiding cystourethrogram with ultrasound,
      cystoscopy, and laparoscopy showed normal bladder, urethral orifice, distal
      vagina, cervix, and bilateral abdominal testis. At 24 hours of life, testosterone
      was within normal range with low AMH level. Chromosome microarray analysis showed
      46, XY, del10(10q25.3q26.13) involving an 8.2 MB interstitial deletion. Whole
      exome sequencing identified a NOTCH2 variant (1p11.2). AMH sequencing revealed no
      abnormalities. Following multidisciplinary team and parent discussion, male
      gender was assigned. Testosterone treatment resulted in penile length of 1.5 cm.
      Bilateral orchiopexy and posterior sagittal anorectoplasty were performed at 11
      months of age; rudimentary mullerian structures were identified. This observation
      suggests an association of 10qter elements with male differentiation including
      AMH expression and is similar to a patient with 46, XY, del(10q26.1) in which AMH
      levels were not reported. Regional candidate genes include FGFR2 (10q26.13). The
      possible contribution of a NOTCH2 variant cannot be excluded.

PMID- 25820401
TI  - Legal, ethical issues loom over topic of recontacting patients: advances in
      research, next-generation sequencing lead geneticists to consider approaching
      former patients with results about genetic variants.

PMID- 25820402
TI  - Settlement reached over medicaid coverage of cystic fibrosis drug: Arkansas
      federal court case highlights medical necessity, high cost of targeted therapies.

PMID- 25820397
TI  - Induction and functional significance of the heme oxygenase system in
      pathological shear stress in vivo.
AB  - The present study examined the heme oxygenase (HO) system in an in vivo murine
      model of pathological shear stress induced by partial carotid artery ligation. In
      this model, along with upregulation of vasculopathic genes, HO-1 is induced in
      the endothelium and adventitia, whereas HO-2 is mainly upregulated in the
      endothelium. Within minutes of ligation, NF-kappaB, a transcription factor that
      upregulates vasculopathic genes and HO-1, is activated. Failure to express either
      HO-1 or HO-2 exaggerates the reduction in carotid blood flow and exacerbates
      vascular injury. After artery ligation, comparable induction of HO-2 occurred in
      HO-1(+/+) and HO-1(-/-) mice, whereas HO-1 induction was exaggerated in HO-2(-/-)
      mice compared with HO-2(+/+) mice. Upregulation of HO-1 by an adeno-associated
      viral vector increased vascular HO-1 expression and HO activity and augmented
      blood flow in both ligated and contralateral carotid arteries. Acute inhibition
      of HO activity decreased flow in the ligated carotid artery, whereas a product of
      HO, carbon monoxide (CO), delivered by CO-releasing molecule-3, increased carotid
      blood flow. In conclusion, in the partial carotid artery ligation model of
      pathological shear stress, this study provides the first demonstration of 1)
      upregulation and vasoprotective effects of HO-1 and HO-2 and the vasorelaxant
      effects of CO as well as 2) vascular upregulation of HO-1 in vivo by an adeno
      associated viral vector that is attended by a salutary vascular response.
      Induction of HO-1 may reside in NF-kappaB activation, and, along with induced HO
      2, such upregulation of HO-1 provides a countervailing vasoprotective response in
      pathological shear stress in vivo. 

PMID- 25820404
TI  - Measurement of distinctive features of cortical spreading depolarizations with
      different MRI contrasts.
AB  - Growing clinical evidence suggests critical involvement of spreading
      depolarizations (SDs) in the pathophysiology of neurological disorders such as
      migraine and stroke. MRI provides powerful tools to detect and assess co
      occurring cerebral hemodynamic and cellular changes during SDs. This study
      reports the feasibility and advantages of two MRI scans, based on balanced steady
      state free precession (b-SSFP) and diffusion-weighted multi-spin-echo (DT2),
      heretofore unexplored for monitoring SDs. These were compared with gradient-echo
      MRI. SDs were induced by KCl application in rat brain. Known for high SNR, the T2
      and T1-based b-SSFP contrast was hypothesized to provide higher spatiotemporal
      specificity than T2*-based gradient-echo scanning. DT2 scanning was designed to
      provide simultaneous T2 and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements,
      thus enabling combined quantitative assessment of hemodynamic and cellular
      changes during SDs. Procedures were developed to automate identification of SD
      induced responses in all the scans. These responses were analyzed to determine
      detection sensitivity and temporal characteristics of signals from each scanning
      method. Cluster analysis was performed to elucidate unique temporal patterns for
      each contrast. All scans allowed detection of SD-induced responses. b-SSFP scans
      showed significantly larger relative intensity changes, narrower peak widths and
      greater spatial specificity compared with gradient-echo MRI. SD-induced effects
      on ADC, calculated from DT2 scans, showed the most pronounced signal changes,
      displaying about 20% decrease, as against 10-15% signal increases observed with b
      SSFP and gradient-echo scanning. Cluster analysis revealed additional temporal
      sub-patterns, such as an initial dip on gradient-echo scans and temporally
      shifted T2 and proton density changes in DT2 data. To summarize, b-SSFP and DT2
      scanning provide distinct information on SDs compared with gradient-echo MRI. DT2
      scanning, with its potential to simultaneously provide cellular and hemodynamic
      information, can offer unique information on the inter-relationship between these
      processes in pathologic brain, which may improve monitoring of spreading
      depolarizations in (pre)clinical settings.

PMID- 25820405
TI  - Comparison of the dental anomalies found in maxillary canine-first premolar
      transposition cases with those in palatally displaced canine cases.
AB  - AIM: To compare the developmental dental anomalies associated with maxillary
      canine-first premolar (MxCP1) transposition and those of palatally displaced
      canine (PDC) with each other and with the background prevalence in the Maltese
      population in order to elucidate whether the two conditions have similar or
      differing genetic backgrounds. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dental records of 477
      subjects with PDC, 57 subjects with MxCP1, and a control group of 500 subjects
      with no history of a PDC or tooth transposition were compared for canine eruption
      anomalies and hypodontia. RESULTS: A high frequency of bilateral occurrence was
      present for both canine malpositions and when unilateral, a trend to right-sided
      occurrence was evident. The occurrence of transpositions in the PDC group and of
      PDC in the MxCP1 group was higher than expected. The prevalence of incisor
      hypodontia was significantly higher in subjects with PDC and MxCP1, as compared
      to the control group. LIMITATIONS: The size of the MxCP1 group is relatively
      small. The study population is a small isolated Caucasian population and the
      results may not be applicable to other populations. CONCLUSIONS: There is no
      significant difference between the MxCP1 and PDC groups in the prevalence or
      distribution of hypodontia and each of these groups exhibits a higher prevalence
      of the other canine anomaly. These findings support the theory that PDC and MxCP1
      form part of a group of interrelated dental anomalies that share a common genetic
      basis.

PMID- 25820406
TI  - Cephalometric appraisal of post-treatment tooth eruption: a 20 year follow-up
      study.
AB  - AIM: To assess the amount of tooth eruption that occurs during 20 years after
      completion of orthodontic treatment and analyse possible correlations with age
      and mandibular growth pattern present. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective
      longitudinal cephalometric investigation of dento-alveolar changes was performed
      in 72 patients (50 women and 22 men). Two lateral cephalograms, taken at the end
      of orthodontic treatment and on average 20 years later, were available for each
      subject. The mean age at the beginning of the observation period was 21.5 years
      and the mean observation period was 19.7 years. Changes in the cephalometric
      measurements were evaluated statistically. RESULTS: For all parameters, there is
      evidence for an increase in tooth eruption parameters during the 20 year
      interval. Furthermore, a significant difference in change was found between
      different growth patterns for all parameters. For the majority of the parameters,
      the increase is higher for subjects being younger at the end of orthodontic
      treatment. There is no evidence for a difference in change between males and
      females. CONCLUSION: Continued tooth eruption readily occurs after termination of
      orthodontic treatment in all patients. There is a correlation between the
      mandibular growth pattern present and the amount of tooth eruption in posterior
      and anterior regions in both the mandible and the maxilla after completion of the
      orthodontic treatment. These changes are more pronounced in patients treated
      orthodontically during adolescence.

PMID- 25820408
TI  - Conservation of writhe helicity under anti-parallel reconnection.
AB  - Reconnection is a fundamental event in many areas of science, from the
      interaction of vortices in classical and quantum fluids, and magnetic flux tubes
      in magnetohydrodynamics and plasma physics, to the recombination in polymer
      physics and DNA biology. By using fundamental results in topological fluid
      mechanics, the helicity of a flux tube can be calculated in terms of writhe and
      twist contributions. Here we show that the writhe is conserved under anti
      parallel reconnection. Hence, for a pair of interacting flux tubes of equal flux,
      if the twist of the reconnected tube is the sum of the original twists of the
      interacting tubes, then helicity is conserved during reconnection. Thus, any
      deviation from helicity conservation is entirely due to the intrinsic twist
      inserted or deleted locally at the reconnection site. This result has important
      implications for helicity and energy considerations in various physical contexts.

PMID- 25820407
TI  - Stability of Class II fixed functional appliance therapy--a systematic review and
      meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To systematically search for scientific evidence concerning the
      stability of treatment (Tx) results achieved by means of Class II fixed
      functional appliance therapy and to assess possible differences between
      appliances. SEARCH METHODS: An electronic search of databases and orthodontic
      journals was carried out (until December 2013), with supplemental hand searching.
      In addition to the names of all identified appliances, the term fixed functional
      was used in combination with each of the following search terms: long-term, post
      Tx, relapse, retention, stability. SELECTION CRITERIA: To be included in the
      review, the articles had to contain clear data on: Class II Tx with a fixed
      functional appliance (>5 patients), post-Tx period >= 1 year, assessment of ANB
      angle, Wits appraisal, molar relationship, soft-tissue profile convexity
      excluding the nose, overjet and/or overbite. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: The
      literature search revealed 20 scientific investigations which corresponded to
      only two of the 76 identified appliances (Herbst and Twin Force Bite Corrector).
      As only one publication was found for the Twin Force Bite Corrector, a meta
      analysis could only be performed for Herbst Tx. The data were extracted, pooled
      and weighted according to the number of patients in each study. RESULTS: The mean
      values for post-Tx relapse (percentages relative to the Tx changes) were: ANB
      angle 0.2 degrees (12.4 per cent), Wits appraisal 0.5mm (19.5 per cent), sagittal
      molar relationship 1.2mm/0.1 cusp widths (21.8 per cent /6.5 per cent); soft
      tissue profile convexity excluding nose less than 0.1 degrees (1.0 per cent),
      overjet 1.8mm (26.2 per cent), overbite Class II:1 1.4mm (44.7 per cent),
      overbite Class II:2 1.0mm (22.2 per cent). CONCLUSIONS: The scientific evidence
      concerning the stability of Tx results is inexistent for most fixed functional
      appliances for Class II correction except for Herbst appliance Tx. Even if the
      evidence level of most included studies is rather low, good dentoskeletal
      stability without clinically relevant changes was found for most variables.

PMID- 25820410
TI  - UV Emission of Gd3+ in the Presence of Cu2+ : Towards Luminescence Quenching
      through Quantum Cutting?
AB  - The first investigation into the ultraviolet (UV) photoluminescence of
      gadolinium(III) in the presence of copper(II) is reported. A melt-quenched barium
      phosphate glass was used as a model matrix. The optical spectroscopy assessment
      shows that with increasing CuO concentration the Cu(2+) absorption band grows
      steadily, whereas the UV emission from Gd(3+) ions is progressively quenched. The
      data, thus, suggests the existence of a Gd(3+) ->Cu(2+) energy-transfer process
      ocurring through quantum cutting. A downconversion/cross-relaxation pathway
      proceeding through a virtual state in Gd(3+) is proposed. These findings suggest
      gadolinium(III) could potentially be used in the optical sensing of copper(II). 

PMID- 25820409
TI  - Additive-manufactured patient-specific titanium templates for thoracic pedicle
      screw placement: novel design with reduced contact area.
AB  - PURPOSE: Image-based navigational patient-specific templates (PSTs) for pedicle
      screw (PS) placement have been described. With recent advances in three
      dimensional computer-aided designs and additive manufacturing technology, various
      PST designs have been reported, although the template designs were not optimized.
      We have developed a novel PST design that reduces the contact area without
      sacrificing stability. It avoids susceptibility to intervening soft tissue,
      template geometric inaccuracy, and difficulty during template fitting. METHODS:
      Fourteen candidate locations on the posterior aspect of the vertebra were
      evaluated. Among them, locations that had high reproducibility on computed
      tomography (CT) images and facilitated accurate PS placement were selected for
      the final PST design. An additive manufacturing machine (EOSINT M270) fabricated
      the PSTs using commercially pure titanium powder. For the clinical study, 36
      scoliosis patients and 4 patients with ossification of the posterior longitudinal
      ligament (OPLL) were treated with thoracic PSs using our newly developed PSTs. We
      intraoperatively and postoperatively evaluated the accuracy of the PS hole
      created by the PST. RESULTS: Based on the segmentation reproducibility and
      stability analyses, we selected seven small, round contact points for our PST:
      bilateral superior and inferior points on the transverse process base, bilateral
      inferior points on the laminar, and a superior point on the spinous process.
      Clinically, the success rates of PS placement using this PST design were 98.6 %
      (414/420) for scoliosis patients and 100 % (46/46) for OPLL patients. CONCLUSION:
      This study provides a useful design concept for the development and introduction
      of patient-specific navigational templates for placing PSs.

PMID- 25820412
TI  - Elucidating factors important for monovalent cation selectivity in enzymes: E.
      coli beta-galactosidase as a model.
AB  - Many enzymes require a specific monovalent cation (M(+)), that is either Na(+) or
      K(+), for optimal activity. While high selectivity M(+) sites in transport
      proteins have been extensively studied, enzyme M(+) binding sites generally have
      lower selectivity and are less characterized. Here we study the M(+) binding site
      of the model enzyme E. coli beta-galactosidase, which is about 10 fold selective
      for Na(+) over K(+). Combining data from X-ray crystallography and computational
      models, we find the electrostatic environment predominates in defining the Na(+)
      selectivity. In this lower selectivity site rather subtle influences on the
      electrostatic environment become significant, including the induced polarization
      effects of the M(+) on the coordinating ligands and the effect of second
      coordination shell residues on the charge distribution of the primary ligands.
      This work expands the knowledge of ion selectivity in proteins to denote novel
      mechanisms important for the selectivity of M(+) sites in enzymes. 

PMID- 25820411
TI  - Data quality in diffusion tensor imaging studies of the preterm brain: a
      systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To study early neurodevelopment in preterm infants, evaluation of
      brain maturation and injury is increasingly performed using diffusion tensor
      imaging, for which the reliability of underlying data is paramount. OBJECTIVE: To
      review the literature to evaluate acquisition and processing methodology in
      diffusion tensor imaging studies of preterm infants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      searched the Embase, Medline, Web of Science and Cochrane databases for relevant
      papers published between 2003 and 2013. The following keywords were included in
      our search: prematurity, neuroimaging, brain, and diffusion tensor imaging.
      RESULTS: We found 74 diffusion tensor imaging studies in preterm infants meeting
      our inclusion criteria. There was wide variation in acquisition and processing
      methodology, and we found incomplete reporting of these settings. Nineteen
      studies (26%) reported the use of neonatal hardware. Data quality assessment was
      not reported in 13 (18%) studies. Artefacts-correction and data-exclusion was not
      reported in 33 (45%) and 18 (24%) studies, respectively. Tensor estimation
      algorithms were reported in 56 (76%) studies but were often suboptimal.
      CONCLUSION: Diffusion tensor imaging acquisition and processing settings are
      incompletely described in current literature, vary considerably, and frequently
      do not meet the highest standards.

PMID- 25820413
TI  - Distribution and Molecular Characterization of Hepatitis E virus in Domestic
      Animals and Wildlife in Croatia.
AB  - Hepatitis E is becoming a growing health concern in European countries as an
      increase of sporadic human cases of unknown origin has been recorded lately. Its
      causative agent, Hepatitis E virus (HEV), is known to have zoonotic potential and
      thus the role of domestic and wild animals in the chain of viral spread should be
      considered when investigating risk factors and the epidemiology of the disease. A
      comprehensive survey based on viral RNA detection was carried out in Croatia
      including blood, spleen and liver samples originating from 1816 different
      domestic and wild animals and digestive gland samples from 538 molluscs. A high
      HEV prevalence was detected in domestic pigs (24.5%) and wild boars (12.3%),
      whereas cattle, molluscs, ruminant and carnivore wildlife samples tested
      negative. Molecular characterization of both ORF1 and ORF2 genomic regions
      confirmed the phylogenetic clustering of the obtained sequences into genotype 3,
      previously reported in Europe. Furthermore, our results proved the presence of
      identical sequence variants in different samples, regardless of their origin, age
      or habitat of the host, suggesting transmission events between domestic swine, as
      well as between domestic swine and wild boars in the country. Moreover, a close
      genetic relationship of Croatian animal strains and known human HEV strains from
      GenBank opens the question of possible cross-species HEV transmission in Croatia,
      especially in the areas with an intensive swine production.

PMID- 25820414
TI  - BWH emergency radiology--surgical correlation: small-bowel GI stromal tumor
      perforation.
AB  - We present the radiological and intraoperative correlation of a large necrotic
      gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) with features of a tumor-bowel fistula and
      perforation in a 49-year-old woman presenting to the emergency department with a
      4-day history of worsening abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. The patient
      underwent urgent exploratory laparotomy for partial resection of the small bowel,
      with primary anastomosis. The purpose of this article is to emphasize the
      importance for emergency radiologists to be familiar with this entity and its
      possible complications to help guide the surgeons in the patient's management. 

PMID- 25820415
TI  - Keratin 19, a Cancer Stem Cell Marker in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: Keratin 19 (K19) is a known marker of poor prognosis and invasion in
      human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the relationship between K19 and
      cancer stem cells (CSCs) is unclear. Here, we determined whether K19 can be used
      as a new CSC marker and therapeutic target in HCC. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: HCC cell
      lines were transfected with a K19 promoter-driven enhanced green fluorescence
      protein gene. CSC characteristics, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and
      TGFb/Smad signaling were examined in FACS-isolated K19(+)/K19(-) cells. K19 and
      TGFb receptor 1 (TGFbR1) expression in 166 consecutive human HCC surgical
      specimens was examined immunohistochemically. RESULTS: FACS-isolated single
      K19(+) cells showed self-renewal and differentiation into K19(-) cells, whereas
      single K19(-) cells did not produce K19(+) cells. K19(+) cells displayed high
      proliferation capacity and 5-fluorouracil resistance in vitro.
      Xenotransplantation into immunodeficient mice revealed that K19(+) cells
      reproduced, differentiated into K19(-) cells, and generated large tumors at a
      high frequency in vivo. K19(+) cells were found to be involved in EMT and the
      activation of TGFb/Smad signaling, and these properties were suppressed by K19
      knockdown or treatment with a TGFbR1 inhibitor. The TGFbR1 inhibitor also showed
      high therapeutic effect against K19(+) tumor in the mouse xenograft model.
      Immunohistochemistry of HCC specimens showed that compared with K19(-) patients,
      K19(+) patients had significantly poorer recurrence-free survival and higher
      tumor TGFbR1 expression. CONCLUSIONS: K19 is a new CSC marker associated with EMT
      and TGFb/Smad signaling, and it would thus be a good therapeutic target for
      TGFbR1 inhibition.

PMID- 25820418
TI  - Band alignment and enhanced photocatalytic activation of alpha/beta-Bi2O3
      heterojunctions via in situ phase transformation.
AB  - The assembling heterojunction, one of the key topics in photocatalysts and
      semiconductors (SCs), is generally accomplished in at least two steps, of which
      the first step is the synthesis of a matrix, and then the growth of the second
      phase on the matrix. Herein we present the preparation of alpha/beta-Bi2O3
      heterojunctions by an in situ phase transformation technique. Under normal
      pressure, a facile citrate method was used to synthesize beta-Bi2O3 nanosheets
      and alpha/beta-Bi2O3 heterojunctions. The novel features of the process are the
      mild operating conditions by an appropriate selection of heat treatment
      temperature and time. Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we found that
      a number of nano-sized alpha-Bi2O3 form on the beta-Bi2O3 nanosheet via a
      controlled beta->alpha phase transition, generating a large number of
      heterojunctions. The CM1 (calcining beta-Bi2O3 precursor at 363  degrees C for 4
      h) heterojunction achieves a strong visible light absorption and dye absorption
      capacity and produces a very high reaction rate for Rhodamine B (RhB)
      photodegradation. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) revealed excellent
      charge transfer characteristics of the heterojunction, which accounts for its
      high photoactivity. Using the X-ray electron valence band spectra, it is found
      that the valence band of alpha-Bi2O3 is more negative than that of beta-Bi2O3.
      Thus, in heterojunctions, the photogenerated holes in beta-Bi2O3 are transferred
      to alpha-Bi2O3 with good charge transport characteristics by the intrinsic
      driving force in the interface field. Furthermore, a separated hole can
      accomplish a transfer process from alpha-Bi2O3 to the aqueous solution within its
      lifetime due to the diameter of alpha-Bi2O3 being less than 17.6 nm. 

PMID- 25820416
TI  - Mutation spectrum in the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway in gastric fundic
      gland-associated neoplasms/polyps.
AB  - Frequent activation of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway has recently been
      demonstrated in gastric adenocarcinoma/neoplasia of chief cell predominant type
      (GA-CCP/GN-CCP) with submucosal involvement. In this study, we examined the
      activation status of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway in GN-CCP without
      submucosal involvement, which is referred to as gastric dysplasia-CCP (GD-CCP).
      We also examined beta-catenin expression and the mutation spectrum of PPP2R1A and
      Wnt pathway genes in 11 cases of GD-CCP, 25 cases of gastric polyps of fundic
      gland type (GPs-FG), and 21 cases of GPs-FG with dysplasia (GP-FGD). beta-catenin
      nuclear staining was observed in 3 cases of GD-CCP, none of GPs-FG, and 6 cases
      of GPs-FGD. Mutations in Wnt pathway genes, including PPP2R1A, were observed in 4
      cases of GDs-CCP, 10 cases of GPs-FG, and 7 cases of GPs-FGD. Two of these seven
      GPs-FGD cases showed beta-catenin nuclear staining. However, none of the 4 GD-CCP
      cases with mutations or the 10 GPs-FG cases with mutations showed beta-catenin
      nuclear staining. PPP2R1A mutations were observed in 1 GD-CCP case and 1 GPs-FGD
      case. Although the mutation spectra of the Wnt pathway genes in GD-CCP and GP-FG
      differed, based on the absence of beta-catenin nuclear staining despite the
      genetic alterations, GD-CCP is more similar to GP-FG than to GN-CCP, which shows
      beta-catenin nuclear staining and submucosal involvement. Activation of the
      Wnt/beta-catenin signaling by the beta-catenin nuclear transition may be required
      during progression from GD-CCP to GN-CCP. Furthermore, this is the first report
      describing PPP2R1A mutations in gastric fundic gland-associated neoplasms. 

PMID- 25820419
TI  - Visible-light sensitization and photoenergy storage in quantum
      dot/polyoxometalate systems.
AB  - Recently, the process by which energy is transferred from photoexcited
      semiconductor nanocrystals, called quantum dots (QDs), to other semiconductors
      has attracted much attention and has potential application in solar energy
      conversion (i.e., QD-sensitized solar cells). Sensitization of wide band gap
      polyoxometalates (POMs) to visible light by using CuInS2 QDs dispersed in an
      organic solution is demonstrated herein. Photoluminescence quenching and lifetime
      studies revealed efficient electron transfer from the CuInS2 QDs to POMs, such as
      SiW12 O40 and W10 O32 , that were hybridized with a cationic surfactant. CuInS2
      QDs function as an antenna that absorbs visible light and supplies electrons to
      the POMs to enable certain photocatalytic reactions, including noble-metal-ion
      reduction. The photoenergy storage capabilities of the QD-POM system, in which
      electrons photogenerated in QDs by visible-light excitation are trapped and
      accommodated by POMs to form reduced POM, are also demonstrated. Electrons stored
      in the POM can be later discharged through reductive reactions, such as oxygen
      reduction, in the dark. 

PMID- 25820417
TI  - In rectal cancer, the type of desmoplastic response after preoperative
      chemoradiotherapy is associated with prognosis.
AB  - Although the essential contribution of the desmoplastic reaction (DR) to
      aggressive tumor behavior is increasingly recognized, its prognostic value has
      not been investigated in rectal cancer after preoperative chemoradiotherapy. We
      retrospectively analyzed 101 consecutive patients with rectal cancer treated with
      short-course chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery (2001-2007). The DR in the
      resected primary tumor was pathologically classified into three patterns on the
      basis of products of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs): mature (multilayered
      fibrotic), intermediate (keloid-like hyalinized), and immature (mostly myxoid).
      We classified 46 tumors as mature, 30 as intermediate, and 25 as immature DR. In
      addition, immunostaining of CD8(+) and FoxP3(+) cells was performed to
      characterize the immune response accompanying DR. Mature DR correlated with
      higher density of CD8(+) and FoxP3(+) cells in both resected surgical and
      pretreatment biopsy specimens. A significant association with DR category was
      observed for T stage, lymphatic invasion, and venous invasion (P <= 0.0001
      0.0006). Mature DR was significantly associated with higher grade of pathological
      response (P = 0.0350). The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 82, 72,
      and 47 % for mature, intermediate, and immature DR, respectively (P = 0.0055). On
      multivariate analysis, DR category and ypN were independently predictive of DFS.
      The pattern of the DR in rectal cancers after chemoradiotherapy treatment might
      have a prognostic value, as it likely reflects pretreatment desmoplastic
      environment.

PMID- 25820420
TI  - On benchmark problems, challenges, and competitions in electrokinetics-A review.
AB  - In this critical review, we comment on the absence of widely shared benchmark
      problems and relevant challenges or even attractive competitions in the field of
      electrokinetics. We argue that in some other scientific domains that are,
      similarly as electrokinetics, strongly multidisciplinary, the existence of these
      tools is very beneficial because it stimulates the discussion about what
      constitutes the bottleneck of further progress, allows easier exploitation of
      results provided by other scientific and engineering disciplines, and, last but
      not least, makes the research domain attractive and visible to a broader public,
      including students. The goal of this review is to provoke some discussion that
      might perhaps lead to compensating for these shortcomings. 

PMID- 25820421
TI  - Modeling the relationship of epigenetic modifications to transcription factor
      binding.
AB  - Transcription factors (TFs) and epigenetic modifications play crucial roles in
      the regulation of gene expression, and correlations between the two types of
      factors have been discovered. However, methods for quantitatively studying the
      correlations remain limited. Here, we present a computational approach to
      systematically investigating how epigenetic changes in chromatin architectures or
      DNA sequences relate to TF binding. We implemented statistical analyses to
      illustrate that epigenetic modifications are predictive of TF binding affinities,
      without the need of sequence information. Intriguingly, by considering genome
      locations relative to transcription start sites (TSSs) or enhancer midpoints, our
      analyses show that different locations display various relationship patterns. For
      instance, H3K4me3, H3k9ac and H3k27ac contribute more in the regions near TSSs,
      whereas H3K4me1 and H3k79me2 dominate in the regions far from TSSs. DNA
      methylation plays relatively important roles when close to TSSs than in other
      regions. In addition, the results show that epigenetic modification models for
      the predictions of TF binding affinities are cell line-specific. Taken together,
      our study elucidates highly coordinated, but location- and cell type-specific
      relationships between epigenetic modifications and binding affinities of TFs. 

PMID- 25820422
TI  - New insights into the performance of human whole-exome capture platforms.
AB  - Whole exome sequencing (WES) is increasingly used in research and diagnostics.
      WES users expect coverage of the entire coding region of known genes as well as
      sufficient read depth for the covered regions. It is, however, unknown which
      recent WES platform is most suitable to meet these expectations. We present
      insights into the performance of the most recent standard exome enrichment
      platforms from Agilent, NimbleGen and Illumina applied to six different DNA
      samples by two sequencing vendors per platform. Our results suggest that both
      Agilent and NimbleGen overall perform better than Illumina and that the high
      enrichment performance of Agilent is stable among samples and between vendors,
      whereas NimbleGen is only able to achieve vendor- and sample-specific best exome
      coverage. Moreover, the recent Agilent platform overall captures more coding
      exons with sufficient read depth than NimbleGen and Illumina. Due to considerable
      gaps in effective exome coverage, however, the three platforms cannot capture all
      known coding exons alone or in combination, requiring improvement. Our data
      emphasize the importance of evaluation of updated platform versions and suggest
      that enrichment-free whole genome sequencing can overcome the limitations of WES
      in sufficiently covering coding exons, especially GC-rich regions, and in
      characterizing structural variants. 

PMID- 25820423
TI  - RoboOligo: software for mass spectrometry data to support manual and de novo
      sequencing of post-transcriptionally modified ribonucleic acids.
AB  - Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (RNA), transfer RNA and other biological or synthetic
      RNA polymers can contain nucleotides that have been modified by the addition of
      chemical groups. Traditional Sanger sequencing methods cannot establish the
      chemical nature and sequence of these modified-nucleotide containing oligomers.
      Mass spectrometry (MS) has become the conventional approach for determining the
      nucleotide composition, modification status and sequence of modified RNAs.
      Modified RNAs are analyzed by MS using collision-induced dissociation tandem mass
      spectrometry (CID MS/MS), which produces a complex dataset of oligomeric
      fragments that must be interpreted to identify and place modified nucleosides
      within the RNA sequence. Here we report the development of RoboOligo, an
      interactive software program for the robust analysis of data generated by CID
      MS/MS of RNA oligomers. There are three main functions of RoboOligo: (i)
      automated de novo sequencing via the local search paradigm. (ii) Manual
      sequencing with real-time spectrum labeling and cumulative intensity scoring.
      (iii) A hybrid approach, coined 'variable sequencing', which combines the user
      intuition of manual sequencing with the high-throughput sampling of automated de
      novo sequencing. 

PMID- 25820424
TI  - RNA polymerase II pausing can be retained or acquired during activation of genes
      involved in the epithelial to mesenchymal transition.
AB  - Promoter-proximal RNA polymerase II (Pol II) pausing is implicated in the
      regulation of gene transcription. However, the mechanisms of pausing including
      its dynamics during transcriptional responses remain to be fully understood. We
      performed global analysis of short capped RNAs and Pol II Chromatin
      Immunoprecipitation sequencing in MCF-7 breast cancer cells to map Pol II pausing
      across the genome, and used permanganate footprinting to specifically follow
      pausing during transcriptional activation of several genes involved in the
      epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). We find that the gene for EMT master
      regulator Snail (SNAI1), but not Slug (SNAI2), shows evidence of Pol II pausing
      before activation. Transcriptional activation of the paused SNAI1 gene is
      accompanied by a further increase in Pol II pausing signal, whereas activation of
      non-paused SNAI2 gene results in the acquisition of a typical pausing signature.
      The increase in pausing signal reflects increased transcription initiation
      without changes in Pol II pausing. Activation of the heat shock HSP70 gene
      involves pausing release that speeds up Pol II turnover, but does not change
      pausing location. We suggest that Pol II pausing is retained during
      transcriptional activation and can further undergo regulated release in a signal
      specific manner. 

PMID- 25820425
TI  - The structural impact of DNA mismatches.
AB  - The structure and dynamics of all the transversion and transition mismatches in
      three different DNA environments have been characterized by molecular dynamics
      simulations and NMR spectroscopy. We found that the presence of mismatches
      produced significant local structural alterations, especially in the case of
      purine transversions. Mismatched pairs often show promiscuous hydrogen bonding
      patterns, which interchange among each other in the nanosecond time scale. This
      therefore defines flexible base pairs, where breathing is frequent, and where
      distortions in helical parameters are strong, resulting in significant
      alterations in groove dimension. Even if the DNA structure is plastic enough to
      absorb the structural impact of the mismatch, local structural changes can be
      propagated far from the mismatch site, following the expected through-backbone
      and a previously unknown through-space mechanism. The structural changes related
      to the presence of mismatches help to understand the different susceptibility of
      mismatches to the action of repairing proteins. 

PMID- 25820426
TI  - Significance of ligand interactions involving Hop2-Mnd1 and the RAD51 and DMC1
      recombinases in homologous DNA repair and XX ovarian dysgenesis.
AB  - The evolutionarily conserved Hop2-Mnd1 complex is a key cofactor for the meiosis
      specific recombinase Dmc1. However, emerging evidence has revealed that Hop2-Mnd1
      is expressed in somatic tissues, primary human fibroblasts and cell lines, and
      that it functions in conjunction with the Rad51 recombinase to repair damaged
      telomeres via the alternate lengthening of telomeres mechanism. Here, we reveal
      how distinct DNA-binding activities of Hop2-Mnd1 mediate the stabilization of the
      RAD51-ssDNA presynaptic filament or stimulate the homologous DNA pairing
      reaction. We have also endeavored to define the interface that governs the
      assembly of the higher order complex of Hop2-Mnd1 with RAD51. Unexpectedly, we
      find that ATP enhances the interaction between Hop2-Mnd1 and RAD51, and that both
      Hop2 and Mnd1 are involved in RAD51 interaction via their C-terminal regions.
      Importantly, mutations introduced into these Hop2 and Mnd1 domains, including the
      HOP2 p.del201Glu mutation present in a patient of XX ovarian dysgenesis, diminish
      the association and functional synergy of Hop2-Mnd1 with both RAD51 and DMC1. Our
      findings help delineate the intricate manner in which Hop2-Mnd1 engages and
      functions with RAD51 and DMC1 in mammalian cells and speak to the possible cause
      of XX ovarian dysgenesis. 

PMID- 25820427
TI  - A method for mutagenesis of mouse mtDNA and a resource of mouse mtDNA mutations
      for modeling human pathological conditions.
AB  - Mutations in human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can cause mitochondrial disease and
      have been associated with neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, diabetes and
      aging. Yet our progress toward delineating the precise contributions of mtDNA
      mutations to these conditions is impeded by the limited availability of faithful
      transmitochondrial animal models. Here, we report a method for the isolation of
      mutations in mouse mtDNA and its implementation for the generation of a
      collection of over 150 cell lines suitable for the production of
      transmitochondrial mice. This method is based on the limited mutagenesis of mtDNA
      by proofreading-deficient DNA-polymerase gamma followed by segregation of the
      resulting highly heteroplasmic mtDNA population by means of intracellular
      cloning. Among generated cell lines, we identify nine which carry mutations
      affecting the same amino acid or nucleotide positions as in human disease,
      including a mutation in the ND4 gene responsible for 70% of Leber Hereditary
      Optic Neuropathies (LHON). Similar to their human counterparts, cybrids carrying
      the homoplasmic mouse LHON mutation demonstrated reduced respiration, reduced ATP
      content and elevated production of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS).
      The generated resource of mouse mtDNA mutants will be useful both in modeling
      human mitochondrial disease and in understanding the mechanisms of ROS production
      mediated by mutations in mtDNA. 

PMID- 25820428
TI  - A thesaurus of genetic variation for interrogation of repetitive genomic regions.
AB  - Detecting genetic variation is one of the main applications of high-throughput
      sequencing, but is still challenging wherever aligning short reads poses
      ambiguities. Current state-of-the-art variant calling approaches avoid such
      regions, arguing that it is necessary to sacrifice detection sensitivity to limit
      false discovery. We developed a method that links candidate variant positions
      within repetitive genomic regions into clusters. The technique relies on a
      resource, a thesaurus of genetic variation, that enumerates genomic regions with
      similar sequence. The resource is computationally intensive to generate, but once
      compiled can be applied efficiently to annotate and prioritize variants in
      repetitive regions. We show that thesaurus annotation can reduce the rate of
      false variant calls due to mappability by up to three orders of magnitude. We
      apply the technique to whole genome datasets and establish that called variants
      in low mappability regions annotated using the thesaurus can be experimentally
      validated. We then extend the analysis to a large panel of exomes to show that
      the annotation technique opens possibilities to study variation in hereto hidden
      and under-studied parts of the genome. 

PMID- 25820429
TI  - The feedback control of UPF3 is crucial for RNA surveillance in plants.
AB  - Nonsense-mediated-decay (NMD) is a eukaryotic RNA surveillance mechanism that
      controls the levels of both aberrant and normal transcripts. The regulation of
      this process is not well understood. The Arabidopsis NMD factor UPF3 is regulated
      by a negative feedback-loop that targets its own transcript for NMD. We
      investigated the functional significance of this control for the overall
      regulation of NMD in Arabidopsis. For this, we tested the ability of NMD
      sensitive and -insensitive forms of UPF3, expressed under the control of UPF3
      promoter, to complement NMD functionality in NMD-mutant plants and investigated
      their impact in wild-type (WT) plants. The sensitivity of UPF3 transcript to NMD
      was essential for efficient complementation of NMD in upf3 mutants. Upregulated
      UPF3 expression in WT plants resulted in over-degradation of certain transcripts
      and inhibited degradation of other transcripts. Our results demonstrate that, in
      contrast to mammalian cells, a delicate balance of UPF3 transcript levels by its
      feedback loop and by restriction of its transcription, are crucial for proper NMD
      regulation in Arabidopsis. Interestingly, the levels of many small-nucleolar-RNAs
      (snoRNAs) were decreased in upf1 and upf3 mutants and increased upon enhanced
      UPF3 expression. This suggests that proper snoRNA homeostasis in Arabidopsis
      depends on the integrity of the NMD pathway. 

PMID- 25820431
TI  - IntFOLD: an integrated server for modelling protein structures and functions from
      amino acid sequences.
AB  - IntFOLD is an independent web server that integrates our leading methods for
      structure and function prediction. The server provides a simple unified interface
      that aims to make complex protein modelling data more accessible to life
      scientists. The server web interface is designed to be intuitive and integrates a
      complex set of quantitative data, so that 3D modelling results can be viewed on a
      single page and interpreted by non-expert modellers at a glance. The only
      required input to the server is an amino acid sequence for the target protein.
      Here we describe major performance and user interface updates to the server,
      which comprises an integrated pipeline of methods for: tertiary structure
      prediction, global and local 3D model quality assessment, disorder prediction,
      structural domain prediction, function prediction and modelling of protein-ligand
      interactions. The server has been independently validated during numerous CASP
      (Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction) experiments,
      as well as being continuously evaluated by the CAMEO (Continuous Automated Model
      Evaluation) project. The IntFOLD server is available at:
      http://www.reading.ac.uk/bioinf/IntFOLD/. 

PMID- 25820430
TI  - Distribution of DNA-condensing protein complexes in the adenovirus core.
AB  - Genome packing in adenovirus has long evaded precise description, since the viral
      dsDNA molecule condensed by proteins (core) lacks icosahedral order
      characteristic of the virus protein coating (capsid). We show that useful
      insights regarding the organization of the core can be inferred from the analysis
      of spatial distributions of the DNA and condensing protein units (adenosomes).
      These were obtained from the inspection of cryo-electron tomography
      reconstructions of individual human adenovirus particles. Our analysis shows that
      the core lacks symmetry and strict order, yet the adenosome distribution is not
      entirely random. The features of the distribution can be explained by modeling
      the condensing proteins and the part of the genome in each adenosome as very soft
      spheres, interacting repulsively with each other and with the capsid, producing a
      minimum outward pressure of ~0.06 atm. Although the condensing proteins are
      connected by DNA in disrupted virion cores, in our models a backbone of DNA
      linking the adenosomes is not required to explain the experimental results in the
      confined state. In conclusion, the interior of an adenovirus infectious particle
      is a strongly confined and dense phase of soft particles (adenosomes) without a
      strictly defined DNA backbone. 

PMID- 25820432
TI  - Transgenerational plasticity mitigates the impact of global warming to offspring
      sex ratios.
AB  - Global warming poses a threat to organisms with temperature-dependent sex
      determination because it can affect operational sex ratios. Using a
      multigenerational experiment with a marine fish, we provide the first evidence
      that parents developing from early life at elevated temperatures can adjust their
      offspring gender through nongenetic and nonbehavioural means. However, this
      adjustment was not possible when parents reproduced, but did not develop, at
      elevated temperatures. Complete restoration of the offspring sex ratio occurred
      when parents developed at 1.5  degrees C above the present-day average
      temperature for one generation. However, only partial improvement in the sex
      ratio occurred at 3.0  degrees C above average conditions, even after two
      generations, suggesting a limitation to transgenerational plasticity when
      developmental temperature is substantially increased. This study highlights the
      potential for transgenerational plasticity to ameliorate some impacts of climate
      change and that development from early life may be essential for expression of
      transgenerational plasticity in some traits.

PMID- 25820433
TI  - Lysosomal membrane stability of the mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis (L.), as a
      biomarker of tributyltin exposure.
AB  - The effect of tributyltin (TBT) on the stability of hemocytic lysosome membranes
      of the mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis, and the use thereof as a biomarker of
      TBT-induced stress, was investigated. Mussels were exposed to 0.1 and 1.0 ug/L
      tributyltin respectively for 4 weeks. Lysosomal membrane stability of hemocytes
      was tested weekly by means of the neutral red retention time (NRRT) assay, after
      which the mussel samples were analyzed for TBT content. The two exposed groups
      exhibited significantly increased (p < 0.05) whole body TBT concentrations with
      concomitant significant decreases (p < 0.05) in NRRT (R(2) values of 0.85 and
      0.971 for lower and higher exposure groups, respectively). The higher exposure
      group showed a typical dose-response curve. For the control, no TBT was detected
      and NRRT remained stable. It was concluded that the NRRT assay could be
      considered as a useful technique, and lysosomal membrane destabilization a useful
      early warning and cellular biomarker of stress due to TBT exposure in M.
      galloprovincialis.

PMID- 25820434
TI  - Identification of a new microcystin-degrading bacterium isolated from Lake
      Chaohu, China.
AB  - A microcystin-LR (MC-LR)-degrading bacterium was isolated from Lake Chaohu, a
      eutrophic freshwater lake containing toxic cyanobacterial blooms. Based on the
      analysis of 16S rDNA gene sequence and physiobiochemical characteristics, the
      isolated strain, most likely belongs to the genus Bacillus with the highest
      sequence similarity value with Bacillus nanhaiencis strain K-W39 (JQ799091.1),
      was named B. nanhaiencis strain JZ-2013. The strain JZ-2013 could grow on mineral
      salt medium supplied with MC-LR as sole carbon and nitrogen sources. The optimal
      temperature and pH for strain JZ-2013 growth and MC-LR biodegradation were 30
      degrees C and 8.0, respectively. The MC-LR with the initial concentration of 15
      mg/L could be consumed 80 % by strain JZ-2013 within 9 days. The existence of
      exogenous carbon and nitrogen sources could significantly increase the removal
      efficiency of MC-LR. The strain JZ-2013 can efficiently removed MC-LR of low
      concentration in real water sample.

PMID- 25820435
TI  - Cognitive predictors and risk factors of PTSD following stillbirth: a short-term
      longitudinal study.
AB  - This short-term longitudinal study investigated cognitive predictors and risk
      factors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in mothers following stillbirth.
      After a stillbirth at >= 24 weeks gestational age, 65 women completed structured
      clinical interviews and questionnaires assessing PTSD symptoms, cognitive
      predictors (appraisals, dysfunctional strategies), and risk factors (perceived
      social support, trauma history, obstetric history) at 3 and 6 months. PTSD
      symptoms decreased between 3 and 6 months (Cohen's d ranged .34-.52). Regression
      analyses also revealed a specific positive relationship between Rumination and
      concurrent frequency of PTSD symptoms (beta = .45). Negative Self-View and
      Negative World-View related positively and Self-Blame related negatively to
      concurrent number of PTSD symptoms (beta = .48, .44, -.45, respectively).
      Suppression and Distraction predicted a decrease and Numbing predicted an
      increase in time-lagged number of PTSD symptoms (beta = -.33, -.28, .30,
      respectively). Risk factors for PTSD symptoms were younger age (beta = -.25),
      lower income (beta = -.29), fewer previous pregnancies (beta = -.31), and poorer
      perceived social support (beta = -.26). Interventions addressing negative
      appraisals, dysfunctional strategies, and social support are recommended for
      mothers with PTSD following stillbirth. Knowledge of cognitive predictors and
      risk factors of PTSD may inform the development of a screening instrument.

PMID- 25820436
TI  - Ovarian cancer prevention: Time for primetime?

PMID- 25820438
TI  - In memoriam: L. Emmerson Ward, MD, 1918-2014.

PMID- 25820437
TI  - Proton therapy for pediatric and adolescent esthesioneuroblastoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Esthesioneuroblastoma (EN) of the paranasal sinus comprises less than
      3% of tumors of in pediatric and adolescent patients [1]. The collective adult
      literature indicates a critical role for radiotherapy in attaining cure [2], yet
      pediatric outcome data is limited. Radiation in pediatric patients with EN can
      cause significant morbidity due to the proximity of critical structures. Proton
      radiotherapy offers a potential dosimetric benefit that may improve long-term
      survival and toxicity outcomes in the pediatric population [3]. METHODS: We
      retrospectively identified eight patients treated for EN with proton radiotherapy
      from 2000-2013. Times to event clinical endpoints are summarized using the Kaplan
      Meier methods and are from the date of radiotherapy completion. Toxicities are
      reviewed and graded according to CTCAE v. 4.0. RESULTS: Median follow up was 4.6
      years for survivors (range 0.8-9.4 years). The 4 year overall survival was 87.5%.
      Four of eight patients (one elective) had comprehensive neck radiotherapy. No
      local or regional failures were observed. Two patients failed distantly with
      diffuse leptomeningeal disease and intraparenchymal brain metastases, at 0.6 and
      1.3 months respectively. Four patients developed radiation related late
      toxicities including endocrine dysfunction, two cases of grade 2 retinopathy and
      one case of grade 3 optic neuropathy. CONCLUSIONS: In a limited cohort, proton
      radiotherapy appears to provide excellent locoregional disease control even in
      those patients with locally advanced disease and intracranial extension. Distant
      failure determined overall survival in our cohort. Toxicities were acceptable
      given disease location and extent.

PMID- 25820442
TI  - Red emissive AIE luminogens with high hole-transporting properties for efficient
      non-doped OLEDs.
AB  - Two bifunctional red AIE luminogens with efficient solid-state emission and good
      hole-transporting characteristics are reported. Efficient non-doped OLEDs are
      fabricated with high external quantum efficiencies of up to 3.9%. Bilayer EL
      devices using them as both EMLs and HTLs are fabricated with good performances. 

PMID- 25820444
TI  - [Molecular diagnostics in neuropathology].
AB  - As in only few other areas of oncology, molecular markers in neurooncology have
      become an integral part of clinical decision-making. This development is driven
      by a bustling scientific activity exploring the molecular basis and pathogenesis
      of human brain tumors. In addition, a high percentage of brain tumor patients are
      included in clinical studies in which molecular markers are assessed and linked
      with clinical informativeness. First steps towards more differentiated
      therapeutic strategies against brain tumors have thus been taken. The
      implementation in the clinical and diagnostic routine requires a detailed
      knowledge and a close collaboration between all medical disciplines involved. 

PMID- 25820445
TI  - [Molecular diagnostics of non-small cell lung cancer: New markers and
      technologies].
AB  - Lung cancer is the prototypical tumor entity for the development of new
      diagnostic and individualized therapeutic strategies based on molecular patient
      stratification. Developments in this field specifically concentrate on predictive
      biomarkers for the response to conventional therapeutic agents, novel drugs
      targeting specific mutations and also new immunomodulatory drugs. The multitude
      of upcoming new predictive biomarkers requires the development and implementation
      of efficient test strategies and comprehensive technical methods, specifically
      when tissue restrictions inherent to lung cancer diagnostics are also taken into
      account. Novel procedures and technical aspects of these issues are discussed in
      this review. 

PMID- 25820446
TI  - [Histological diagnosis and complications of celiac disease. Update according to
      the new S2k guidelines].
AB  - Celiac disease is a relatively common immunological systemic disease triggered by
      the protein gluten in genetically predisposed individuals. Classical symptoms
      like chronic diarrhea, steatorrhea, weight loss and growth retardation are
      nowadays relatively uncommon. Diagnostic workup includes serological tests for
      IgA antibodies against tissue transglutaminase 2 (anti-TG2-IgA) and total IgA and
      histology of duodenal biopsies. Histomorphological classification should be done
      according to the modified Marsh-Oberhuber classification. Diagnosis of celiac
      disease should be based on serological, clinical, and histological findings. The
      only treatment is a life-long gluten-free diet. Unchanged or recurrent symptoms
      under gluten-free diet may indicate refractory celiac disease. Enteropathy
      associated T-cell lymphoma and adenocarcinomas of the small intestine are known
      complications of celiac disease. 

PMID- 25820447
TI  - Lactogenic hormone stimulation and epigenetic control of L-amino acid oxidase
      expression in lactating mammary glands.
AB  - L-amino acid oxidase (LAO), a classic flavoprotein, shows antibacterial activity
      by producing hydrogen peroxide. LAO exists in many tissues such as salivary
      gland, thymus, spleen, small intestine and testis. In particular, LAO was highly
      expressed in mice milk and plays an important factor in innate immunity of
      mammary glands. However, the mechanism which LAO expression is regulated
      spatially and temporally in lactating mammary glands has been unclear. In this
      study, we showed the contribution of lactogenic hormone and epigenetic control on
      LAO gene expression. In monolayer of mammary epithelial cells, treatment of
      lactogenic hormone mixture, dexamethasone, insulin and prolactin, did not induce
      LAO mRNA expression and its promoter activity, even though one of milk protein
      beta-casein expression was stimulated. However, increase of LAO expression was
      observed when the cells were treated with lactogenic hormones in a 3-dimensional
      culture. The results of chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis revealed that
      histone H3K18 acetylation increased and histone H3K27 tri-methylation decreased
      with lactation, which is associated with a period of high LAO expression.
      Moreover, the treatment of histone methylation inhibitor (DZNep) as well as
      histone deacetylation inhibitor (Trichostatine A) induced LAO expression in
      monolayer of mammary cells. Taken together, this is the first demonstration
      showing that LAO expression is induced in cell culture, and stimulation of
      lactogenic hormone and change of histone modification are promising signals to
      show highly expression of LAO in lactating mammary glands.

PMID- 25820449
TI  - Detergent-Stable Salt-Activated Proteinases from Virgibacillus halodenitrificans
      SK1-3-7 Isolated from Fish Sauce Fermentation.
AB  - The NaCl-activated and detergent-stable proteinases from Virgibacillus
      halodenitrificans SK1-3-7 isolated from fish sauce fermentation were purified and
      characterized. The enzymes with molecular masses of 20 and 36 kDa showed
      caseinolytic activity on a zymogram. Optimum azocaseinolytic activity was at 60 
      degrees C and pH 9. The proteolytic activity increased in the presence of 10 mM
      CaCl2 and 0.5 M NaCl and showed high stability at 0-2 M NaCl. The enzymes were
      stable at pH 4-10 and 10-50  degrees C. The enzymes preferably hydrolyzed Suc-Ala
      Ala-Pro-Phe-pNA and were completely inhibited by phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride
      (PMSF), showing subtilisin-like characteristics. Activity and stability remained
      high in the presence of H2O2 and various surfactants. The enzymes exhibited high
      stability (>95%) in various organic solvents (DMSO, butanol, ethanol, 2-propanol,
      and acetonitrile) at concentration of 50%. The V. halodenitrificans SK1-3-7
      proteinases showed potential as a biocatalyst in aqueous-organic solvent systems
      and as an additive in laundry detergent.

PMID- 25820450
TI  - Expression and Characterization of a Recombinant Laccase with Alkalistable and
      Thermostable Properties from Streptomyces griseorubens JSD-1.
AB  - Streptomyces griseorubens JSD-1 is a novel actinomycete that could grow
      efficiently upon lignin, and the ligninolytic genes active in this
      biotransformation were expected to be crucial. To investigate the molecular
      mechanism of utilizing lignin, genome sequencing was carried out to obtain its
      draft genome, which was deposited at GenBank under the accession No.
      JJMG00000000. Multiple copper oxidase (MCO) was obtained, which proved to be an
      extracellular enzyme and have relative high expression with the stimulation of
      ligninolytic materials. Judging from its putative 3D structure, the N-terminal of
      MCO was bared, which was fit for the linkage of poly-HIS10 tag. As a result,
      heterogeneous expression conditions of recombinant laccase was achieved with
      TransB(DE3) grown in a modified terrific broth (TB) medium with an extra addition
      of 0.5% glucose at 30  degrees C until optical density at 600 nm (OD600) reached
      0.8 when expression was induced by 25 MUM isopropyl beta-D-1
      thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) and also 100 MUM copper sulphate as supplement.
      Finally, it exhibited special characters of thermal robustness, alkaline activity
      profiles, high resistance to metallic ions and chemical inhibitors as well as dye
      decolourization. In summary, our findings illustrated the genetic basic of
      utilizing lignin in this isolate. Additionally, a novel laccase expected to be
      potential in agricultural and industrial application was expressed and
      characterized as well.

PMID- 25820452
TI  - Deciding who should be treated for hepatitis C infection in a rapidly changing
      therapeutic landscape.

PMID- 25820453
TI  - Call for studies in implementation science: improving reading comprehension in
      school-age children.
AB  - PURPOSE: In this article, the Editor of Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in
      Schools makes the case for more studies in implementation science in order to
      improve the reading comprehension of school-age children, particularly those with
      specific language impairment and nonspecific language impairment.

PMID- 25820451
TI  - Asymptomatic metastasis to cricoid from prostate carcinoma: an incidental finding
      detected on 18F-choline PET/CT.
AB  - Metastases to the larynx from prostate carcinoma are rare. We describe a case of
      asymptomatic prostate carcinoma metastasis to the right cricoid cartilage
      detected on 18F-fluorocholine PET/CT. This was histologically proven on open
      biopsy and the patient was offered local radiotherapy. 

PMID- 25820448
TI  - Patterning, specification, and differentiation in the developing hypothalamus.
AB  - Owing to its complex structure and highly diverse cell populations, the study of
      hypothalamic development has historically lagged behind that of other brain
      regions. However, in recent years, a greatly expanded understanding of
      hypothalamic gene expression during development has opened up new avenues of
      investigation. In this review, we synthesize existing work to present a holistic
      picture of hypothalamic development from early induction and patterning through
      nuclear specification and differentiation, with a particular emphasis on
      determination of cell fate. We will also touch on special topics in the field
      including the prosomere model, adult neurogenesis, and integration of migratory
      cells originating outside the hypothalamic neuroepithelium, and how these topics
      relate to our broader theme.

PMID- 25820454
TI  - Do nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase contribute to the heat loss responses
      in older males exercising in the heat?
AB  - This study evaluated the separate and combined roles of nitric oxide synthase
      (NOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX) in forearm sweating and cutaneous vasodilatation
      in older adults during intermittent exercise in the heat. Twelve healthy older
      (62 +/- 7 years) males performed two 30 min cycling bouts at a fixed rate of
      metabolic heat production (400 W) in the heat (35 degrees C, 20% relative
      humidity). The exercise bouts were followed by 20 and 40 min of recovery,
      respectively. Forearm sweat rate (ventilated capsule) and cutaneous vascular
      conductance (CVC, laser Doppler perfusion units/mean arterial pressure) were
      evaluated at four skin sites that were continuously perfused via intradermal
      microdialysis with: (1) lactated Ringer solution (Control), (2) 10 mm ketorolac
      (non-selective COX inhibitor), (3) 10 mm N(G) -nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l
      NAME; non-selective NOS inhibitor) or (4) a combination of 10 mm ketorolac + 10
      mm l-NAME. Sweating was not different between the four sites during either
      exercise bout (main effect P = 0.92) (average of last 5 min of second exercise,
      Control, 0.80 +/- 0.06; ketorolac, 0.77 +/- 0.09; l-NAME, 0.74 +/- 0.07;
      ketorolac + l-NAME, 0.77 +/- 0.09 mg min(-1) cm(-2) ). During both exercise
      bouts, relative to CVC evaluated at the Control site (average of last 5 min of
      second exercise, 69 +/- 6%max), CVC was similar at the ketorolac site (P = 0.62;
      66 +/- 4%max) whereas it was attenuated to a similar extent at both the l-NAME
      (49 +/- 8%max) and ketorolac + l-NAME (54 +/- 8%max) sites (both P < 0.05). Thus,
      we demonstrate that NOS and COX are not functionally involved in forearm sweating
      whereas only NOS contributes to forearm cutaneous vasodilatation in older adults
      during intermittent exercise in the heat.

PMID- 25820455
TI  - A case study of brain morphometry in triplets discordant for Down syndrome.
AB  - Down syndrome, the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability, offers
      the opportunity to explore the associations between genetics and both
      neuroanatomic and neuropsychological phenotypes. This case report summarizes the
      findings of a neuroimaging and neuropsychology study of two adolescent females
      with Down syndrome and their same-sex discordant triplet siblings (one from each
      family; n = 4). Using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and surface
      based morphometric approaches, we offer the first in vivo report of cortical
      surface area reductions and increases in the thickness of the cortical sheet in
      youth with Down syndrome relative to their typically developing same-sex triplet
      siblings.

PMID- 25820457
TI  - Liposomes as a model for the study of high frequency dielectrophoresis.
AB  - Liposomes were used as a physical model to study the dielectrophoretic response
      of single-shelled particles at high frequencies. For a typical particle, the
      single-shelled theoretical model predicts a lower cross-over frequency that
      depends upon the dielectric properties of the shell and an upper crossover
      frequency that depends upon the dielectric properties of the interior. Dried
      liposomes were rehydrated in media with conductivity ranging from 100 to 2000
      MUS/cm. The high frequency dielectrophoresis response of the liposomes was
      observed in the range of 1-80 MHz at 30 volts peak-to-peak, and the upper cross
      over frequency was recorded. The experimental results closely matched the
      theoretical expectations. In particular, the upper cross-over frequency ranged
      from 9 to 60 MHz and was found to depend linearly on the interior conductivity of
      the liposome. These results further confirm the single-shell model at high
      frequencies. Moreover, they suggest liposomes may be a useful model particle for
      use during the development of dielectrophoresis-based devices. 

PMID- 25820456
TI  - Concussion recovery time among high school and collegiate athletes: a systematic
      review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Concussion diagnosis and management is made through the clinical exam
      using assessment tools that include self-report symptomatology, postural control,
      and cognitive evaluations. The specific timing of concussion resolution varies
      between individuals. However, despite a lack of research in concussion recovery,
      it is widely accepted that the majority of young adults will recover in 7-10
      days, with youth athletes taking longer. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this review
      is to directly compare the recovery duration among high school and collegiate
      athletes on symptom reports and cognitive assessments following concussion. DATA
      SOURCES: Data were collected from a literature search comprising high school or
      college athletes only. This included studies (n = 6) that reported symptom or
      cognitive performance recovery to the exact day. RESULTS: High school athletes
      self-reported symptom recovery at 15 days compared with 6 days in collegiate
      athletes. Both college and high school athletes showed cognitive recovery at
      similar rates of 5 and 7 days. LIMITATIONS: This review only included articles
      that were directly related to concussed high school or college athletes.
      Additionally, athletes in the high school and college setting typically receive a
      battery of neurocognitive tests that may not be as sensitive or as comprehensive
      as a full neuropsychological exam. CONCLUSION: The review finds that
      neurocognitive recovery rates are similar among high school and college athletes,
      while symptom reporting shows longer recovery time points in high school than in
      college. IMPLICATIONS OF KEY FINDINGS: An individualized and stepwise concussion
      management plan is important for proper concussion recovery regardless of age.

PMID- 25820458
TI  - Signal-to-noise ratio and MR tissue parameters in human brain imaging at 3, 7,
      and 9.4 tesla using current receive coil arrays.
AB  - PURPOSE: Relaxation times, transmit homogeneity, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and
      parallel imaging g-factor were determined in the human brain at 3T, 7T, and 9.4T,
      using standard, tight-fitting coil arrays. METHODS: The same human subjects were
      scanned at all three field strengths, using identical sequence parameters and
      similar 31- or 32-channel receive coil arrays. The SNR of three-dimensional (3D)
      gradient echo images was determined using a multiple replica approach and
      corrected with measured flip angle and T2 (*) distributions and the T1 of white
      matter to obtain the intrinsic SNR. The g-factor maps were derived from 3D
      gradient echo images with several GRAPPA accelerations. RESULTS: As expected, T1
      values increased, T2 (*) decreased and the B1 -homogeneity deteriorated with
      increasing field. The SNR showed a distinctly supralinear increase with field
      strength by a factor of 3.10 +/- 0.20 from 3T to 7T, and 1.76 +/- 0.13 from 7T to
      9.4T over the entire cerebrum. The g-factors did not show the expected decrease,
      indicating a dominating role of coil design. CONCLUSION: In standard experimental
      conditions, SNR increased supralinearly with field strength (SNR ~ B0 (1.65) ).
      To take full advantage of this gain, the deteriorating B1 -homogeneity and the
      decreasing T2 (*) have to be overcome.

PMID- 25820459
TI  - Suzuki Coupling Reactions Catalyzed by PdO Dispersed on Dealuminated Y Zeolite in
      Air under Ambient Conditions.
AB  - Suzuki coupling reactions are performed using PdO loaded on dealuminated Y (USY)
      zeolite. The reaction between bromobenzene and phenylboronic acid is complete in
      15 min at room temperature in air, with a turnover number of 1300. The reaction
      can be repeated at least five times by using 1 wt % Pd. Inductively coupled
      plasma analysis does not reveal the dissolution of Pd from products, even if the
      reaction is repeated up to four times. Pd K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine
      structure analysis reveals the presence of molecular-like PdO and a mixture of
      Pd(0) -PdO before and after the reaction, respectively. This is probably because
      Pd stabilized by Al sites is present at the II sites of the Y-type zeolite, as
      estimated using first-principles calculations. Conversely, Pd species change to
      PdO clusters after repeated reactions in air using the thermally treated sample. 

PMID- 25820460
TI  - Contact effects in thin 3D-topological insulators: how does the current flow?
AB  - The effect of different contact configurations (semi-infinite extended-channel,
      normal metal and ferromagnetic metal) on quantum transport through thin Bi2Se3
      three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator (TI) slab (channel) has been
      investigated through Non-Equilibrium Green Function. The issue of contact
      dependent current flow and distribution across quintuple layers of 3D-TI has been
      addressed in this work and applied to expound the explanation for recent
      experimental work on electrical detection of spin-momentum locking on topological
      surface for long channel device. A theoretical model is propounded to develop a
      microscopic understanding of transport in 3D-TI in which contact type and
      magnetization concur with helical surface states of the TI channel to manifest
      seemingly counter-intuitive current distribution across layers. The quantum
      transport calculations for short channel devices with magnetic source and drain
      contacts postulate negative surface current for anti-phase magnetization whose
      axis is transverse to both current and quintuple layers. For in-phase
      magnetization at the two terminals, it is shown that observations can change
      fundamentally to result in anomalous current distribution. Such results are
      explained to stem from the confinement of 3D-TI between ferromagnetic contacts
      along the transport direction. A simple mechanism to validate topological
      insulators via quantum transport experiments has also been suggested. 

PMID- 25820461
TI  - Recent progress on pyrazole scaffold-based antimycobacterial agents.
AB  - New and reemerging infectious diseases will continue to pose serious global
      health threats well into the 21st century and according to the World Health
      Organization report, these are still the leading cause of death among humans
      worldwide. Among infectious diseases, tuberculosis claims approximately 2 million
      deaths per year worldwide. Also, agents that reduce the duration and complexity
      of the current therapy would have a major impact on the overall cure rate. Due to
      the development of resistance to conventional antibiotics there is a need for new
      therapeutic strategies to combat Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Subsequently, there
      is an urgent need for the development of new drug candidates with newer targets
      and alternative mechanism of action. In this perspective, pyrazole, one of the
      most important classes of heterocycles, has been the topic of research for
      thousands of researchers all over the world because of its wide spectrum of
      biological activities. To pave the way for future research, there is a need to
      collect the latest information in this promising area. In the present review, we
      have collated published reports on the pyrazole core to provide an insight so
      that its full therapeutic potential can be utilized for the treatment of
      tuberculosis. In this article, the possible structure-activity relationship of
      pyrazole analogs for designing better antituberculosis (anti-TB) agents has been
      discussed and is also helpful for new thoughts in the quest for rational designs
      of more active and less toxic pyrazole-based anti-TB drugs.

PMID- 25820462
TI  - Mechanical interplay between invadopodia and the nucleus in cultured cancer
      cells.
AB  - Invadopodia are actin-rich membrane protrusions through which cells adhere to the
      extracellular matrix and degrade it. In this study, we explored the mechanical
      interactions of invadopodia in melanoma cells, using a combination of correlative
      light and electron microscopy. We show here that the core actin bundle of most
      invadopodia interacts with integrin-containing matrix adhesions at its basal end,
      extends through a microtubule-rich cytoplasm, and at its apical end, interacts
      with the nuclear envelope and indents it. Abolishment of invadopodia by
      microtubules or src inhibitors leads to the disappearance of these nuclear
      indentations. Based on the indentation profile and the viscoelastic properties of
      the nucleus, the force applied by invadopodia is estimated to be in the
      nanoNewton range. We further show that knockdown of the LINC complex components
      nesprin 2 or SUN1 leads to a substantial increase in the prominence of the
      adhesion domains at the opposite end of the invadopodia. We discuss this
      unexpected, long-range mechanical interplay between the apical and basal domains
      of invadopodia, and its possible involvement in the penetration of invadopodia
      into the matrix. 

PMID- 25820464
TI  - Digestive absorption of silicon, supplemented as orthosilicic acid-vanillin
      complex.
AB  - SCOPE: Silicon (Si) is an abundant element on earth. It is found naturally in
      water in the form of orthosilicic acid (OSA), however this form is not stable
      under certain conditions such as in highly concentrated and non-neutral pH
      solutions, which lead to its polymerization and reduced bioavailability. This
      study aimed to assess the bioavailability of Si from OSA stabilized by vanillin
      (OSA-VC). METHODS AND RESULTS: This was a single-center, double-blind, cross-over
      randomized controlled trial. Fourteen healthy subjects were recruited and
      consumed either OSA-VC or a placebo on two separate occasions. Blood and urine
      samples were collected during 6 h following ingestion and analyzed to determine
      Si absorption and excretion. Plasma Si area under the curve (0-6 h) was
      significantly higher after OSA-VC ingestion compared to placebo ingestion (p =
      0.0002). Significantly higher urinary Si excretion was also reported over the 6-h
      period after OSA-VC ingestion compared to placebo (p<0.0001). Approximately 21%
      of ingested Si was excreted in urine during this period. CONCLUSION: Although
      many studies have investigated the metabolism and bioavailability of Si
      supplemented in foods or as a food ingredient, this was the first to investigate
      and demonstrate the digestibility of OSA administered in a complex form with
      vanillin.

PMID- 25820463
TI  - Hemizygosity for SMCHD1 in Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy Type 2:
      Consequences for 18p Deletion Syndrome.
AB  - Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is most often associated with
      variegated expression in somatic cells of the normally repressed DUX4 gene within
      the D4Z4-repeat array. The most common form, FSHD1, is caused by a D4Z4-repeat
      array contraction to a size of 1-10 units (normal range 10-100 units). The less
      common form, FSHD2, is characterized by D4Z4 CpG hypomethylation and is most
      often caused by loss-of-function mutations in the structural maintenance of
      chromosomes hinge domain 1 (SMCHD1) gene on chromosome 18p. The chromatin
      modifier SMCHD1 is necessary to maintain a repressed D4Z4 chromatin state. Here,
      we describe two FSHD2 families with a 1.2-Mb deletion encompassing the SMCHD1
      gene. Numerical aberrations of chromosome 18 are relatively common and the
      majority of 18p deletion syndrome (18p-) cases have, such as these FSHD2
      families, only one copy of SMCHD1. Our finding therefore raises the possibility
      that 18p- cases are at risk of developing FSHD. To address this possibility, we
      combined genome-wide array analysis data with D4Z4 CpG methylation and repeat
      array sizes in individuals with 18p- and conclude that approximately 1:8 18p-
      cases might be at risk of developing FSHD. 

PMID- 25820465
TI  - Endoscopic endonasal resection of clival xanthoma: case report and literature
      review.
AB  - Bone xanthoma is an extremely rare and benign tumor in terms of its nature and
      growth over time. We describe the first case coexisting with ventriculomegaly
      secondary to aqueduct stenosis (non-tumoral hydrocephalus), the second xanthoma
      of the clivus described to date. The patient was a 51-year-old woman with
      headaches and absence seizures. Axial T1-weighted MRI showed a well-demarcated,
      hypointense, osteolytic, 25 * 18 * 15 mm lesion with cortical erosion located at
      the right margin of the clivus. Sagittal T2-weighted MRI demonstrated a
      hypointense mass without associated edema. Sagittal gadolinium-enhanced T1
      weighted MRI showed contrast uptake with a partially hypointense rim. The
      increased ventricular size without periventricular edema was associated with
      aqueduct stenosis, and there was no contiguity with the tumor. A neuronavigation
      image-guided transsphenoidal approach was chosen to perform a macroscopically
      complete resection. Intraoperative histopathological study showed a chordoma of
      the clivus. Exhaustive postsurgical study revealed the benign nature of a bone
      xanthoma. Given the finding of a clival lesion, the differential diagnosis is
      essentially with other malignant entities with a rapidly fatal outcome, such as
      metastases, or with a possible invasive evolution, such as clivus chordomas. This
      report describes the clinical, radiological, and pathological keys for such
      differentiation in order to avoid unnecessarily aggressive treatment with
      ablative surgery and radiotherapy. 

PMID- 25820466
TI  - Pu-erh tea polysaccharides decrease blood sugar by inhibition of alpha
      glucosidase activity in vitro and in mice.
AB  - Type 2 diabetes is mainly induced by environmental factors such as being
      overweight, decreased physical activity and inbalanced energy metabolism, such as
      pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction and peripheral insulin resistance. Acarbose, a
      microbial carbohydrate and an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, is currently a useful
      agent for attenuating type 2 diabetes. However, it is usually accompanied by many
      side effects, such as abdominal distention, flatulence, diarrhea and meteorism.
      These side effects may be caused by its strong inhibition of alpha-amylase,
      leading to the accumulation of several undigested carbohydrates. The bacteria
      residing in the colon can further ferment the undigested carbohydrate to release
      gas. Finding a new alpha-glucosidase inhibitor with a low inhibitory effect on
      alpha-amylase is highly anticipated. In this report we describe a group of
      carbohydrates found in pu-erh tea polysaccharide (PTPS) that can inhibit alpha
      glucosidase but have less of an inhibitory effect on alpha-amylase. The
      preliminary experiments on mice indicate that PTPS might be better than acarbose
      at suppressing blood glucose after oral administration of a carbohydrate diet; it
      is recommended that further clinical trials are required in type 2 diabetes in
      future studies. 

PMID- 25820468
TI  - Mechanofluorochromic materials based on aggregation-induced emission-active boron
      ketoiminates: regulation of the direction of the emission color changes.
AB  - We report a series of mechanofluorochromic (MFC) compounds based on organoboron
      complexes with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics. We synthesized
      a variety of boron ketoiminates and investigated the effect of the substituents
      on the optical properties by altering the end groups in the compounds. The
      synthesized boron ketoiminates showed AIE properties and MFC behavior.
      Interestingly, the hypsochromic and bathochromic shifts of the emission bands
      individually observed for boron ketoiminates depended on the chemical structures
      of the end groups. From the X-ray diffraction and differential scanning
      calorimetry analyses, it was confirmed that the MFC property of boron
      ketoiminates should be derived from a phase transition between crystalline and
      amorphous states. In addition, the direction of the peak shifts of the emission
      bands was controlled by the degree of steric hindrance of the end group. 

PMID- 25820467
TI  - H2 Treatment Attenuated Pain Behavior and Cytokine Release Through the HO-1/CO
      Pathway in a Rat Model of Neuropathic Pain.
AB  - Neuropathic pain (NP) is characterized by persistent pain, tactile allodynia, or
      hyperalgesia. Peripheral nerve injury contributes to rapid progress of
      inflammatory response and simultaneously generates neuropathic pain. Hydrogen
      (H2) has anti-inflammation, anti-apoptosis, and anti-oxidative stress effects.
      Therefore, we hypothesized that H2 treatment could alleviate allodynic and
      hyperalgesic behaviors and the release of inflammatory factors in rats with
      neuropathic pain. Peripheral neuropathic pain was established by chronic
      constriction injury of sciatic nerve in rats. H2 was given twice through
      intraperitoneal injection at a daily dose of 10 mL/kg during days 1-7 after the
      operation. Hyperalgesia and allodynia were tested, pro-inflammatory factors of
      dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and the spinal cord were measured by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay (ELISA) during days 1-14 after the operation, and heme
      oxygenase (HO)-1 messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression and activities were
      measured at day 14 after sciatic nerve injury in rats. After Sn (IV)
      protoporphyrin IX dihydrochloride (SnPP)-IX, hemin, and carbon monoxide-releasing
      molecule (CORM)-2 had been given for chronic constriction injury (CCI) in rats,
      the above indicators were assessed. We found that H2 clearly inhibited
      hyperalgesia and allodynia in neuropathic pain and also attenuated the pro
      inflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and high-mobility group box (HMGB) 1.
      H2 improved HO-1 mRNA and protein expression and activities in the process of
      pain. SnPP-IX reversed the inhibitory effect of H2 on hyperalgesia and allodynia
      and on pro-inflammatory cytokines in DRG and the spinal cord. The antinociceptive
      and anti-inflammatory effects of H2 were involved in the activation of HO-1/CO
      signaling during neuropathic pain in rats. 

PMID- 25820469
TI  - The smell of change: warming affects species interactions mediated by chemical
      information.
AB  - Knowledge of how temperature influences an organism's physiology and behaviour is
      of paramount importance for understanding and predicting the impacts of climate
      change on species' interactions. While the behaviour of many organisms is driven
      by chemical information on which they rely on to detect resources, conspecifics,
      natural enemies and competitors, the effects of temperature on infochemical
      mediated interactions remain largely unexplored. Here, we experimentally show
      that temperature strongly influences the emission of infochemicals by ladybeetle
      larvae, which, in turn, modifies the oviposition behaviour of conspecific
      females. Temperature also directly affects female perception of infochemicals and
      their oviposition behaviour. Our results suggest that temperature-mediated
      effects on chemical communication can influence flows across system boundaries
      (e.g. immigration and emigration) and thus alter the dynamics and stability of
      ecological networks. We therefore argue that investigating the effects of
      temperature on chemical communication is a crucial step towards a better
      understanding of the functioning of ecological communities facing rapid
      environmental changes. 

PMID- 25820470
TI  - Family CHAOS is associated with glycaemic control in children and adolescents
      with type 1 diabetes mellitus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite advances in the medical management of type 1 diabetes
      mellitus (T1DM), for many, glycaemic control remains substandard. Other factors
      are clearly important in determining success, or lack thereof, with diabetes
      management. With this in mind, we have investigated whether family CHAOS may
      provide a novel tool to identify when environmental confusion could impact on
      diabetes management and subsequent glycaemic control. METHODS: A case-control
      study of children and adolescents with established T1DM and age-/sex-matched
      controls was conducted. Demographic information, both maternal and paternal CHAOS
      scores, and HbA1c were collected. Statistical analysis was undertaken to explore
      associations between T1DM and CHAOS and between CHAOS and HbA1c. RESULTS: Data on
      65 children with T1DM and 60 age-/sex-matched controls were obtained. There was
      no evidence of group differences for maternal CHAOS (p = 0.227), but paternal
      CHAOS scores were higher for the T1DM group (p = 0.041). Greater maternal and
      paternal CHAOS scores were both associated with higher HbA1c (p <= 0.027). The
      maternal association remained after controlling for diabetes duration, SMBG
      frequency, and insulin therapy. CONCLUSION: In children with T1DM, there appears
      to be a negative association between increased environmental confusion, as rated
      by CHAOS, and glycaemic control. In addition, when compared to controls, fathers
      of children and adolescents with T1DM appear to experience CHAOS differently to
      mothers. These findings contribute to the growing body of literature exploring
      psychosocial factors in T1DM. Continuing efforts are required to fully understand
      how the family and psychosocial environment interact with diabetes to impact on
      long-term health outcomes.

PMID- 25820472
TI  - Enantioselective Degradation of (2RS, 3RS)-Paclobutrazol in Rat Liver Microsomes.
AB  - Paclobutrazol, with two stereogenic centers, but gives only (2R, 3R) and (2S, 3S)
      enantiomers because of steric-hindrance effects, is an important plant growth
      regulator in agriculture and horticulture. Enantioselective degradation of
      paclobutrazol was investigated in rat liver microsomes in vitro. The degradation
      kinetics and the enantiomer fraction were determined using a Lux Cellulose-1
      chiral column on a reverse-phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
      system. The t1/2 of (2R, 3R)-paclobutrazol is 18.60 min, while the t1/2 of (2S,
      3S)-paclobutrazol is 10.93 min. Such consequences clearly indicated that the
      degradation of paclobutrazol in rat liver microsomes was stereoselective and the
      degradation rate of (2S, 3S)-paclobutrazol was much faster than (2R, 3R)
      paclobutrazol. In addition, significant differences between the two enantiomers
      were also observed in enzyme kinetic parameters. The Vmax of (2S, 3S)
      paclobutrazol was more than 2-fold of (2R, 3R)-paclobutrazol and the Clint of
      (2S, 3S)-paclobutrazol was higher than that of (2R, 3R)-paclobutrazol after
      incubation in rat liver microsomes. These results may have potential implications
      for better environmental and ecological risk assessment for paclobutrazol.

PMID- 25820471
TI  - Shifts in soil testate amoeba communities associated with forest diversification.
AB  - We studied changes of testate amoeba communities associated with the conversion
      of spruce monocultures into mixed beech-fir-spruce forests in the Southern Black
      Forest Mountains (Germany). In this region, forest conversion is characterized by
      a gradual development of beech undergrowth within thinned spruce tree stands
      leading to multiple age continuous cover forests with a diversified litter layer.
      Strong shifts in the abundance of testate amoeba observed in intermediate stages
      levelled off to monoculture conditions again after the final stage of the
      conversion process had been reached. The average number of species per conversion
      stage (i.e., local richness) did not respond strongly to forest conversion, but
      the total number of species (i.e., regional richness) was considerably higher in
      the initial stage than in the mixed forests, due to the large number of
      hygrophilous species inhabiting spruce monocultures. Functional diversity of the
      testate amoeba community, however, significantly increased during the conversion
      process. This shift was closely associated with improved C and N availability as
      well as higher niche diversity in the continuous cover stands. Lower soil acidity
      in these forests coincided with a higher relative abundance of eurytopic species.
      Our results suggest that testate amoeba communities are much more affected by
      physicochemical properties of the soil than directly by litter diversity. 

PMID- 25820473
TI  - Extensive and interrelated subcortical white and gray matter alterations in
      preterm-born adults.
AB  - Preterm birth is a leading cause for impaired neurocognitive development with an
      increased risk for persistent cognitive deficits in adulthood. In newborns,
      preterm birth is associated with interrelated white matter (WM) alterations and
      deep gray matter (GM) loss; however, little is known about the persistence and
      relevance of these subcortical brain changes. We tested the hypothesis that the
      pattern of correspondent subcortical WM and GM changes is present in preterm-born
      adults and has a brain-injury-like nature, i.e., it predicts lowered general
      cognitive performance. Eighty-five preterm-born and 69 matched term-born adults
      were assessed by diffusion- and T1-weighted MRI and cognitive testing. Main
      outcome measures were fractional anisotropy of water diffusion for WM property,
      GM volume for GM property, and full-scale IQ for cognitive performance. In
      preterm-born adults, reduced fractional anisotropy was widely distributed ranging
      from cerebellum to brainstem to hemispheres. GM volume was reduced in the
      thalamus, striatum, temporal cortices, and increased in the cingulate cortices.
      Fractional anisotropy reductions were specifically associated with GM loss in
      thalamus and striatum, with correlation patterns for both regions extensively
      overlapping in the WM of brainstem and hemispheres. For overlap regions,
      fractional anisotropy was positively related with both gestational age and full
      scale IQ. Results provide evidence for extensive, interrelated, and adverse WM
      and GM subcortical changes in preterm-born adults. Data suggest persistent brain
      injury-like changes of subcortical-cortical connectivity after preterm delivery.

PMID- 25820476
TI  - Triphenylene-based tris-N-heterocyclic stannylenes.
AB  - Two planar tridentate N-heterocyclic stannylenes are synthesized from the
      corresponding 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexaamino-triphenylene and Sn[N(TMS)2]2. Multinuclear
      NMR and absorption spectra of these tris-stannylenes are reported. Molecular
      structure of the N-benzhydryl-substituted tris-stannylene is also realized. 

PMID- 25820475
TI  - Irisin is more strongly predicted by muscle oxidative potential than adiposity in
      non-diabetic men.
AB  - Numerous controversies surround the peptide hormone irisin. Although implicated
      as a myokine promoting the browning of adipose tissue in rodents, its roles in
      humans remain unclear. Contradictory results have also been found with respect to
      the relationships between adiposity or metabolic health and plasma irisin levels
      in humans. We investigated the relationship between irisin levels and body
      composition (hydrostatic weighing), insulin sensitivity (hyperinsulinemic
      euglycemic clamp), fitness level (ergocycle VO2max) and skeletal muscle metabolic
      profile in 53 men (aged 34-53 years) from four groups: sedentary non-obese
      controls (body mass index [BMI] <25 kg/m(2)), sedentary obese (BMI >30 kg/m(2)),
      sedentary obese glucose-intolerant, and non-obese highly trained endurance
      active. Baseline plasma irisin levels were significantly different between
      groups, being lowest in trained men (140.6 +/- 38.2 ng/mL) and highest in
      metabolically deteriorated glucose-intolerant subjects (204.0 +/- 50.5 ng/mL;
      ANOVA p = 0.01). Including all subjects, irisin levels were positively associated
      with adiposity (e.g. fat mass, r = 0.430, p < 0.01) and negatively associated
      with fitness (r = -0.369, p < 0.01), insulin sensitivity (M/I, r = -0.355, p <
      0.01) and muscle citrate synthase (CS) activity (r = -0.482, p < 0.01). Most
      correlations lost statistical significance when excluding active individuals,
      except for insulin resistance (r = -0.413, p < 0.01) and CS (r = -0.462, p <
      0.01). Multiple regression analyses reveal CS as the strongest independent
      predictor of irisin levels (r(2) range 0.214 to 0.237). We conclude that muscle
      oxidative potential is an important factor linked to circulating irisin levels.

PMID- 25820477
TI  - Time to divest from tobacco-funded research.

PMID- 25820474
TI  - Circulating irisin and glucose metabolism in overweight/obese women: effects of
      alpha-lipoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid.
AB  - Irisin is a myokine/adipokine with potential role in obesity and diabetes. The
      objectives of the present study were to analyse the relationship between irisin
      and glucose metabolism at baseline and during an oral glucose tolerance test
      (OGTT) and to determine the effects of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and/or alpha
      lipoic acid treatment on irisin production in cultured human adipocytes and in
      vivo in healthy overweight/obese women following a weight loss program. Seventy
      three overweight/obese women followed a 30% energy-restricted diet supplemented
      without (control) or with EPA (1.3 g/day), alpha-lipoic acid (0.3 g/day) or both
      EPA + alpha-lipoic acid (1.3 + 0.3 g/day) during 10 weeks. An OGTT was performed
      at baseline. Moreover, human adipocytes were treated with EPA (100-200 MUM) or
      alpha-lipoic acid (100-250 MUM) during 24 h. At baseline plasma, irisin
      circulating levels were positively associated with glucose levels; however, serum
      irisin concentrations were not affected by the increment in blood glucose or
      insulin during the OGTT. Treatment with alpha-lipoic acid (250 MUM) upregulated
      Fndc5 messenger RNA (mRNA) and irisin secretion in cultured adipocytes. In
      overweight/obese women, irisin circulating levels decreased significantly after
      weight loss in all groups, while no additional differences were induced by EPA or
      alpha-lipoic acid supplementation. Moreover, plasma irisin levels were positively
      associated with higher glucose concentrations at beginning and at endpoint of the
      study. The data from the OGTT suggest that glucose is not a direct contributing
      factor of irisin release. The higher irisin levels observed in overweight/obese
      conditions could be a protective response of organism to early glucose
      impairments.

PMID- 25820478
TI  - Curious cases of 3,6-dinitropyrazolo[4,3-c]pyrazole-based energetic cocrystals
      with high nitrogen content: an alternative to salt formation.
AB  - Two structurally interesting 3,6-dinitropyrazolo[4,3-c]pyrazole-based energetic
      cocrystals were prepared and confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction. As
      novel energetic materials, these two unusual neutral acid-base complexes possess
      high nitrogen content, good detonation properties, and improved impact and
      friction sensitivities which highlight their potential energetic applications. 

PMID- 25820479
TI  - Validation of a method to differentiate arterial and venous vessels in CT
      perfusion data using linear combinations of quantitative time-density curve
      characteristics.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We aimed to develop and evaluate a new method that reliably
      differentiates between cerebral arteries and veins using voxel-wise CT-perfusion
      derived parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen consecutive patients with
      suspected stroke but without pathological findings were examined on a multi
      detector CT system: 32 dynamic phases (?t = 1.5 s) during application of 35 mL
      iomeprol-350 were acquired at 80 kV/200mAs. Three hemodynamic parameters were
      calculated for 18 arterial and venous vessel segments: A (maximum of the time
      density-curve), T (time-to-peak), and W (full-width-at-half-maximum). Using
      receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and Fisher's linear
      discriminant analysis (FLDA), the performance of every classifier (A, T, W) and
      of all linear combinations for the differentiation of arterial and venous vessels
      was determined. RESULTS: A maximum area under the ROC-curve (AUC) of 0.945
      (accuracy = 86.8%) was obtained using the FLDA combination of A&T or the triplet
      FLDA of A&T&W for the classification of venous and arterial vessels. The best
      single parameter was T with an AUC of 0.871 (accuracy = 79.0%), which performed
      significantly worse than the combination A&T (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Arteries
      and veins can be accurately differentiated based on dynamic CT perfusion data
      using the maximum of the time-density curve, its time-to-peak, its width, and
      FLDA combinations of these parameters, which yield accuracies up to 87%. KEY
      POINTS: * For classification of cerebral vasculature, time-to-peak has the best
      single-parameter accuracy. * Fisher's linear discriminant analysis improves the
      performance of the individual classifiers. * Combining signal maximum and time-to
      peak parameters significantly increased the classifying potential. * Pre
      processing of time-density-curves by Gaussian filtering or fitting can improve
      diagnostic accuracy.

PMID- 25820481
TI  - Hydrogen bonding and pi-pi interactions in imidazolium-chloride ionic liquid
      clusters.
AB  - A systematic electronic structure analysis of hydrogen bonding (H-bonding), anion
      pi(+) and pi(+)-pi(+) interactions present in [C1C1im]Cl ion-pairs (IPs) and
      selected [C1C1im]2Cl2 IP-dimers has been carried out. Interactions have been
      characterised using a combination of QTAIM, NCIPLOT, NBO and qualitative MO
      theory. IP-dimers form non-directional charge quadrupolar arrangements due to
      Coulombic interactions. These are found to associate either as clusters or as
      loosely associated IP-IP structures. Large conformational changes are found to
      occur for very little cost in energy, indicating that charge screening is
      essentially independent of the cation ring orientation. H-bond formation is
      accompanied by charge transfer and polarisation of the entire [C1C1im](+) ring.
      Charge transfer does not follow the same trend for the CHelpG, QTAIM and NBO
      methods. Weak "stacked" pi(+)-pi(+) interactions are stabilised in the presence
      of anions, which locate between and at the periphery of the rings, novel strongly
      bent H-bonds are also present. Primary (ring; C-H...Cl(-)) H-bonds and anion
      pi(+) (C(2)...Cl(-)) interactions are found to decay more rapidly with distance
      than secondary (aliphatic; C(M)-H...Cl(-)) H-bonds. This leads to an increase in
      the relative importance of secondary H-bond interactions in the IP-dimers.
      Moreover, rotation of the methyl groups within the "stacked" pi(+)-pi(+) IP
      dimers facilitates the formation of (stronger) linear secondary H-bonds. Thus,
      compared to isolated IPs, secondary H-bonds may play an increased role within the
      condensed phase. Overall we find that structural fluidity is facilitated by
      fluctuating hydrogen bond, pi(+)-pi(+) and anion-pi(+) interactions.

PMID- 25820480
TI  - Recurrent peripheral vestibulopathy: Is MRI useful for the diagnosis of
      endolymphatic hydrops in clinical practice?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Recurrent peripheral vestibulopathy (RPV) is a public health problem,
      yet the aetiology remains unclear. Recent developments in MRI of endolymphatic
      hydrops (EH) allow for a better understanding of inner ear disorders. We intended
      to study the prevalence of EH in patients with RPV, in comparison to those with
      Meniere's disease (MD). METHODS: MRI examinations were performed 4 hours after
      intravenous injection of gadoteric acid in 132 patients with RPV (n = 64) and MD
      (n = 68). Two radiologists retrospectively studied the prevalence and
      localization of EH in RPV and MD groups. Patients were graded based on the number
      and localization of hydrops, between 1 (EH in either cochlea or vestibule on one
      side) and 4 (EH in cochlea and vestibule on both ears). RESULTS: We identified EH
      in 31 out of 64 patients and in 61 out of 68 patients in the RPV and MD groups,
      respectively. There was a significant difference regarding the number of subjects
      with EH between the two groups (p <= 0.01), with a higher average number of
      hydrops localization in MD group (p <= 0.01). CONCLUSION: MRI may reveal EH in
      some cases among patients with RPV, suggesting a similar pathophysiological
      mechanism in comparison with MD. KEY POINTS: * MRI may reveal endolymphatic
      hydrops in some patients with recurrent peripheral vestibulopathy. * We suggest a
      similar pathophysiological mechanism in recurrent vestibulopathy and Meniere's
      Disease. * MRI with delayed acquisition helps clinicians to assess patients with
      recurrent vestibulopathy. * The outcome would be to aid the development of
      adapted therapeutic strategies. * MRI of endolymphatic hydrops should probably be
      included in future diagnostic protocols.

PMID- 25820483
TI  - Design of experiments reveals critical parameters for pilot-scale freeze-and-thaw
      processing of L-lactic dehydrogenase.
AB  - Freezing constitutes an important unit operation of biotechnological protein
      production. Effects of freeze-and-thaw (F/T) process parameters on stability and
      other quality attributes of the protein product are usually not well understood.
      Here a design of experiments (DoE) approach was used to characterize the F/T
      behavior of L-lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) in a 700-mL pilot-scale freeze container
      equipped with internal temperature and pH probes. In 24-hour experiments, target
      temperature between -10 and -38 degrees C most strongly affected LDH stability
      whereby enzyme activity was retained best at the highest temperature of -10
      degrees C. Cooling profile and liquid fill volume also had significant effects on
      LDH stability and affected the protein aggregation significantly. Parameters of
      the thawing phase had a comparably small effect on LDH stability. Experiments in
      which the standard sodium phosphate buffer was exchanged by Tris-HCl and the non
      ionic surfactant Tween 80 was added to the protein solution showed that pH shift
      during freezing and protein surface exposure were the main factors responsible
      for LDH instability at the lower freeze temperatures. Collectively, evidence is
      presented that supports the use of DoE-based systematic analysis at pilot scale
      in the identification of F/T process parameters critical for protein stability
      and in the development of suitable process control strategies. 

PMID- 25820482
TI  - Determinants of Muscle and Bone Aging.
AB  - Loss of bone and muscle with advancing age represent a huge threat to loss of
      independence in later life. Osteoporosis represents a major public health problem
      through its association with fragility fractures, primarily of the hip, spine and
      distal forearm. Sarcopenia, the age related loss of muscle mass and function, may
      add to fracture risk by increasing falls risk. In the context of muscle aging, it
      is important to remember that it is not just a decline in muscle mass which
      contributes to the deterioration of muscle function. Other factors underpinning
      muscle quality come into play, including muscle composition, aerobic capacity and
      metabolism, fatty infiltration, insulin resistance, fibrosis and neural
      activation. Genetic, developmental, endocrine and lifestyle factors, such as
      physical activity, smoking and poor diet have dual effects on both muscle and
      bone mass in later life and these will be reviewed here. Recent work has
      highlighted a possible role for the early environment. Inflammaging is an
      exciting emerging research field that is likely to prove relevant to future work,
      including interventions designed to retard to reverse bone and muscle loss with
      age.

PMID- 25820485
TI  - The Association Between Serum Levels of Selenium, Copper, and Magnesium with
      Thyroid Cancer: a Meta-analysis.
AB  - There are conflicting reports on the correlation between serum levels of selenium
      (Se), copper (Cu), and magnesium (Mg) with thyroid cancer. The purpose of the
      present study is to clarify the association between Se, Cu, and Mg levels with
      thyroid cancer using a meta-analysis approach. We searched articles indexed in
      PubMed published as of January 2015 that met our predefined criteria. Eight
      eligible articles involving 1291 subjects were identified. Overall, pooled
      analysis indicated that subjects with thyroid cancer had lower serum levels of Se
      and Mg, but higher levels of Cu than the healthy controls [Se: standardized mean
      difference (SMD) = -0.485, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = (-0.878, -0.092), p
      = 0.016; Cu: SMD = 2.372, 95%CI = (0.945, 3.799), p = 0.001; Mg: SMD = -0.795,
      95%CI = (-1.092, -0.498), p < 0.001]. Further subgroup analysis found lower serum
      levels of Se in thyroid cancer in Norway [SMD = -0.410, 95%CI = (-0.758, -0.062),
      p = 0.021] and Austria [SMD = -0.549, 95%CI = (-0.743, -0.355), p < 0.001], but
      not in Poland (SMD = -0.417, 95%CI = (-1.724, 0.891), p = 0.532]. Further
      subgroup analysis also found that patients with thyroid cancer had higher serum
      levels of Cu in China [SMD = 1.571, 95%CI = (1.121, 2.020), p < 0.001] and Turkey
      [SMD = 0.977, 95%CI = (0.521, 1.432), p < 0.001], but not in Poland [SMD = 3.471,
      95%CI = (-0.056, 6.997], p = 0.054]. In conclusion, this meta-analysis supports a
      significant association between serum levels of Se, Cu, and Mg with thyroid
      cancer. However, the subgroup analysis found that there was significant effect
      modification of Se, Cu levels by ethnic, like China and Poland. Thus, this
      finding needs further confirmation by a trans-regional multicenter study to
      obtain better understanding of causal relationship between Se, Cu, and Mg with
      thyroid cancer of different human races or regions.

PMID- 25820484
TI  - Transmembrane 6 superfamily member 2 gene E167K variant impacts on steatosis and
      liver damage in chronic hepatitis C patients.
AB  - Steatosis and inherited host factors influence liver damage progression in
      chronic hepatitis C (CHC). The transmembrane 6 superfamily member 2 (TM6SF2) gene
      E167K variant increases liver fat and risk of progressive steatohepatitis by
      interfering with lipoprotein secretion. Our aim was to determine whether the
      E167K variant affects histological severity of steatosis, necroinflammation, and
      fibrosis in a cross-sectional cohort of 815 Italian therapy-naive CHC patients.
      The association with clinically significant fibrosis was replicated in 645
      Swiss/German patients. The TM6SF2 E167K variant was genotyped by TaqMan assays,
      steatosis graded according to the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease activity
      score, and necroinflammation and fibrosis graded and staged according to Ishak in
      Italian, and to Metavir in Swiss/German patients. The E167K variant was detected
      in 69 (9%) Italian patients and was associated with more severe steatosis,
      independently of confounders (P = 0.038). The association between E167K and
      steatosis severity was present in patients not infected by genotype 3 (G3) HCV (P
      = 0.031), but not in those infected by G3 HCV (P = 0.58). Furthermore, the E167K
      variant was associated with more severe necroinflammation (Ishak grade; adjusted
      P = 0.037) and nearly associated with more severe fibrosis (Ishak stage; adjusted
      P = 0.058). At multivariate logistic regression analysis, the E167K variant was
      independently associated with histologically probable or definite cirrhosis
      (Ishak stage S6; odds ratio [OR]: 2.19; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.18-3.93;
      P = 0.010). After further conditioning for steatosis and necroinflammation, the
      E167K variant remained associated with cirrhosis (OR, 3.15; 95% CI: 1.60-5.99; P
      < 0.001). In Swiss/German patients, the E167K variant was independently
      associated with clinically significant fibrosis Metavir stage F2-F4 (OR, 1.81;
      95% CI: 1.12-3.02; P = 0.016). CONCLUSION: TM6SF2 E167K variant impacts on
      steatosis severity and is associated with liver damage and fibrosis in patients
      with CHC.

PMID- 25820486
TI  - Preoperative risk factors and radiographic findings predictive of laparoscopic
      conversion to open procedures in Crohn's disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Laparoscopy is accepted as a standard surgical approach for Crohn's
      disease. However, the rate of conversion is high, ranging from 15 to 70 %
      depending on the population. There are also concerns that conversion results in
      worsened outcomes versus an initial open procedure. METHODS: This study evaluated
      preoperative radiographic findings to determine who is at increased risk of
      conversion and may therefore benefit from an initial open approach. A case
      matched study included patients from 2004 to 2013 with preoperative CTE/MRE who
      underwent laparoscopic surgery converted to an open approach, and compared them
      to laparoscopically completed controls with similar age, same surgeon, and number
      of previous abdominal operations. Studies were reviewed by two blinded
      radiologists. Variables included abdominal AP diameter, amount of subcutaneous
      fat, peritoneal versus pelvic location of disease (greater or lesser hemipelvis
      or abdomen), intestinal location of disease (colon, TI, ileum, jejunum), and
      presence, length, and location of strictures, simple or complex fistula,
      phlegmon, or abscess. Conditional logistic regression evaluated relationships
      between radiographic variables and conversion. Twenty-seven patients meeting
      study criteria were compared with 81 controls. RESULTS: A negative association
      between conversion and disease in the left lesser pelvis was found (p = 0.019)
      and neared significance for left abdomen (p = 0.08). Positive correlations were
      found with pelvic fistulas (p = 0.003), complex fistulas (p = 0.017), and pelvic
      abscesses (p = 0.009) and neared significance for Society of Abdominal Radiology
      classification (p = 0.058). CONCLUSION: Preoperative imaging in patients with
      Crohn's disease can help in selecting the most suitable cases to approach
      laparoscopically and reduce conversion rates and should be evaluated in
      conjunction with other preoperative factors.

PMID- 25820487
TI  - Prognostic Impact of Tumor Growth Type on 7th AJCC Staging System for
      Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma: a Single-Center Experience of 659 Cases.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Because noticeable changes were made to the 7th American Joint
      Committee on Cancer (AJCC) tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging for intrahepatic
      cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC), we validated the prognostic impact of tumor staging
      after macroscopic curative resection of IHCC. METHODS: A cohort of 659 IHCC
      patients who underwent R0 (n = 539) or R1 (n = 120) resection were selected with
      exclusion of R2 resection (n = 111). Study patients were followed up for >=24
      months or until death with no patient lost during survival analysis. RESULTS:
      Anatomical resection was performed in 599 (90.9%) and concurrent bile duct
      resection was conducted in 97 (14.7%). Median survival periods following R0, R1,
      and R2 resections were 28, 12, and 3 months, respectively (p = 0.000). In the R0
      resection group, the 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year tumor recurrence rates were 36.4%,
      57.9%, 64.7%, and 65.0%, respectively, and the 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year patient
      survival rates were 73.1%, 44.2%, 33.0%, and 23.1%, respectively. Independent
      risk factors for tumor recurrence and patient survival were tumor growth type,
      tumor size > 5 cm, perineural invasion, and lymph node metastasis. According to
      the 7th AJCC staging system, the prognostic contrast was marginal in stage T2-4
      tumors without lymph node metastasis (p > 0.8). With our redefined staging system
      with tumor growth types and risk factors including tumor number and
      perineural/lymphovascular invasion, clear prognostic contrast was achieved among
      T1-3 stages (p = 0.000). CONCLUSION: Growth type of IHCC seems to be essential
      for determining tumor stage. Although the stratification of the 7th AJCC IHCC
      staging system seems reasonably established, refinements and further validation
      could improve prognostic predictability.

PMID- 25820488
TI  - Ex vivo resection of hepatic neoplasia and autotransplantation: a case report and
      review of the literature.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Ex situ liver resection is an uncommon procedure but offers an
      opportunity for R0 surgical resection of liver tumors that are otherwise
      unresectable. Liver insufficiency following extensive resections is a risk in
      this patient population; consequently, all measures should be taken to prevent
      this highly morbid complication. METHOD: We report a case of a patient with an
      extensive cholangiocarcinoma involving all three hepatic veins that required ex
      vivo resection and liver autotransplantation to achieve an R0 resection.
      Postoperatively, the patient demonstrated signs of worsening liver function that,
      in addition to standard medical therapy, underwent a brief treatment with
      molecular adsorbent recirculating system (MARS) therapy. RESULTS: Although the
      role of MARS remains unclear, the patient tolerated it well and her liver graft
      dysfunction and hepatic encephalopathy slowly resolved. The patient was
      discharged to a rehabilitation facility. She is currently alive and well with no
      evidence of recurrence 3 years later. CONCLUSION: We present a review of the
      literature on ex situ resection and liver autotransplantation. In addition to
      numerous case reports, there are a few moderate series of ex situ resection and
      autotransplantation. We suggest that the use of artificial liver devices, if
      indicated, in the postoperative ex situ resection liver autotransplant patient
      may assist in the support of the patient while the transplanted liver remnant
      recovers.

PMID- 25820489
TI  - Role of electron transport chain of chloroplasts in oxidative burst of
      interaction between Erwinia amylovora and host cells.
AB  - Erwinia amylovora is a necrogenic bacterium, causing the fire blight disease on
      many rosaceous plants. Triggering oxidative burst by E. amylovora is a key
      response by which host plants try to restrain pathogen spread. Electron transport
      chain (ETC) of chloroplasts is known as an inducible source of reactive oxygen
      species generation in various stresses. This research was performed to assess the
      role of this ETC in E. amylovora-host interaction using several inhibitors of
      this chain in susceptible and resistant apple and pear genotypes. All ETC
      inhibitors delayed appearance of disease necrosis, but the effects of methyl
      viologen, glutaraldehyde, and DCMU were more significant. In the absence of
      inhibitors, resistant genotypes showed an earlier and severe H2O2 generation and
      early suppression of redox dependent, psbA gene. The effects of inhibitors were
      corresponding to the redox potential of ETC inhibitory sites. In addition,
      delayed necrosis appearance was associated with the decreased disease severity
      and delayed H2O2 generation. These results provide evidences for the involvement
      of this ETC in host oxidative burst and suggest that chloroplast ETC has
      significant role in E. amylovora-host interaction. 

PMID- 25820490
TI  - In memoriam: S. Harvey Mudd.

PMID- 25820492
TI  - Electrochemical paper-based microfluidic devices.
AB  - Self-pumping porous microfluidic devices have attracted significant interest
      because of their low cost and broad applicability in point-of-care and low
      resource settings. One limitation of many of the devices is sensitivity and
      selectivity for detection. Electrochemistry can provide a sensitive, selective
      detection method while still using low cost, portable instrumentation as typified
      by handheld glucometers. Here, the development of electrochemical paper-based
      analytical devices (ePADs) is reviewed. Given the importance of electrode
      geometry and composition, fabrication methods are reviewed first. This is
      followed by a review of example applications demonstrated for ePADs. Finally,
      major accomplishments and future directions are summarized. 

PMID- 25820491
TI  - State-dependent control of breathing by the retrotrapezoid nucleus.
AB  - KEY POINTS: This study explores the state dependence of the hypercapnic
      ventilatory reflex (HCVR). We simulated an instantaneous increase or decrease of
      central chemoreceptor activity by activating or inhibiting the retrotrapezoid
      nucleus (RTN) by optogenetics in conscious rats. During quiet wake or non-REM
      sleep, hypercapnia increased both breathing frequency (fR ) and tidal volume (VT
      ) whereas, in REM sleep, hypercapnia increased VT exclusively. Optogenetic
      inhibition of RTN reduced VT in all sleep-wake states, but reduced fR only during
      quiet wake and non-REM sleep. RTN stimulation always increased VT but raised fR
      only in quiet wake and non-REM sleep. Phasic RTN stimulation produced active
      expiration and reduced early expiratory airflow (i.e. increased upper airway
      resistance) only during wake. We conclude that the HCVR is highly state
      dependent. The HCVR is reduced during REM sleep because fR is no longer under
      chemoreceptor control and thus could explain why central sleep apnoea is less
      frequent in REM sleep. ABSTRACT: Breathing has different characteristics during
      quiet wake, non-REM or REM sleep, including variable dependence on PCO2. We
      investigated whether the retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN), a proton-sensitive
      structure that mediates a large portion of the hypercapnic ventilatory reflex,
      regulates breathing differently during sleep vs. wake. Electroencephalogram, neck
      electromyogram, blood pressure, respiratory frequency (fR ) and tidal volume (VT
      ) were recorded in 28 conscious adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. Optogenetic
      stimulation of RTN with channelrhodopsin-2, or inhibition with archaerhodopsin,
      simulated an instantaneous increase or decrease of central chemoreceptor
      activity. Both opsins were delivered with PRSX8-promoter-containing lentiviral
      vectors. RTN and catecholaminergic neurons were transduced. During quiet wake or
      non-REM sleep, hypercapnia (3 or 6% FI,CO2 ) increased both fR and VT whereas, in
      REM sleep, hypercapnia increased VT exclusively. RTN inhibition always reduced VT
      but reduced fR only during quiet wake and non-REM sleep. RTN stimulation always
      increased VT but raised fR only in quiet wake and non-REM sleep. Blood pressure
      was unaffected by either stimulation or inhibition. Except in REM sleep, phasic
      RTN stimulation entrained and shortened the breathing cycle by selectively
      shortening the post-inspiratory phase. Phasic stimulation also produced active
      expiration and reduced early expiratory airflow but only during wake. VT is
      always regulated by RTN and CO2 but fR is regulated by CO2 and RTN only when the
      brainstem pattern generator is in autorhythmic mode (anaesthesia, non-REM sleep,
      quiet wake). The reduced contribution of RTN to breathing during REM sleep could
      explain why certain central apnoeas are less frequent during this sleep stage.

PMID- 25820493
TI  - The "syncope and dementia" study: a prospective, observational, multicenter study
      of elderly patients with dementia and episodes of "suspected" transient loss of
      consciousness.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Syncope and related falls are one of the main causes and the
      predominant cause of hospitalization in elderly patients with dementia. However,
      the diagnostic protocol for syncope is difficult to apply to patients with
      dementia. Thus, we developed a "simplified" protocol to be used in a prospective,
      observational, and multicenter study in elderly patients with dementia and
      transient loss of consciousness suspected for syncope or unexplained falls. Here,
      we describe the protocol, its feasibility and the characteristics of the patients
      enrolled in the study. METHODS: Patients aged >=65 years with a diagnosis of
      dementia and one or more episodes of transient loss of consciousness during the
      previous 3 months, subsequently referred to a Geriatric Department in different
      regions of Italy, from February 2012 to May 2014, were enrolled. A simplified
      protocol was applied in all patients. Selected patients underwent a second-level
      evaluation. RESULTS: Three hundred and three patients were enrolled; 52.6%
      presented with episodes suspected to be syncope, 44.5% for unexplained fall and
      2.9% both. Vascular dementia had been previously diagnosed in 53.6% of
      participants, Alzheimer's disease in 23.5% and mixed forms in 12.6%. Patients
      presented with high comorbidity (CIRS score = 3.6 +/- 2), severe functional
      impairment, (BADL lost = 3 +/- 2), and polypharmacy (6 +/- 3 drugs). CONCLUSION:
      Elderly patients with dementia enrolled for suspected syncope and unexplained
      falls have high comorbidity and disability. The clinical presentation is often
      atypical and the presence of unexplained falls is particularly frequent.

PMID- 25820494
TI  - Balanced SSFP-like steady-state imaging using small-tip fast recovery with a
      spectral prewinding pulse.
AB  - PURPOSE: Small-tip fast recovery (STFR) imaging has been proposed recently as a
      potential alternative to balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP). STFR
      relies on a tailored "tip-up" radio-frequency pulse to achieve comparable signal
      level as bSSFP, but with reduced banding artifacts and transient oscillations,
      and is compatible with magnetization-preparation pulses. Previous STFR
      implementations used two-dimensional or three-dimensional pulses spatially
      tailored to the accumulated phase calculated from a B0 field map, making the
      steady-state STFR signal contain some T2* weighting. Here, we propose to replace
      the spatially tailored pulse with a recently introduced spectrally selective "pre
      winding" pulse that is precomputed to a target frequency range. The proposed
      "spectral-STFR" sequence produces T2/T1-weighted images similar to bSSFP, but
      with reduced banding and potentially other benefits. THEORY AND METHODS: We
      investigated the steady-state signal properties of spectral-STFR using
      simulations, and phantom and human volunteer experiments. RESULTS: Our simulation
      and experimental results showed that the spectral-STFR sequence has similar
      signal level and tissue contrast as bSSFP, but has a wider passband and more
      consistent banding profiles across different tissues (e.g., less hyperintense
      signal at band edges for low flip angles). Care is needed in designing the
      spectral radio-frequency pulse to ensure that the small tip angle approximation
      holds during radio-frequency transmission. CONCLUSION: Spectral-STFR has similar
      tissue contrast as bSSFP but a wider passband and more consistent cerebrospinal
      fluid/brain tissue contrast across the passband. The spectral-STFR sequence is a
      potential alternative to bSSFP in some applications. Compared to a spatially
      tailored STFR sequence, spectral-STFR can be precomputed, is easier to implement
      in practice, and potentially has more uniform image contrast and minimal T2*
      weighting.

PMID- 25820495
TI  - Teaching bioprocess engineering to undergraduates: Multidisciplinary hands-on
      training in a one-week practical course.
AB  - Bioprocess engineering is a highly interdisciplinary field of study which is
      strongly benefited by practical courses where students can actively experience
      the interconnection between biology, engineering, and physical sciences. This
      work describes a lab course developed for 2nd year undergraduate students of
      bioprocess engineering and related disciplines, where students are challenged
      with a real-life bioprocess-engineering application, the production of
      recombinant protein in a fed-batch process. The lab course was designed to
      introduce students to the subject of operating and supervising an experiment in a
      bioreactor, along with the analysis of collected data and a final critical
      evaluation of the experiment. To provide visual feedback of the experimental
      outcome, the organism used during class was Escherichia coli which carried a
      plasmid to recombinantly produce enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) upon
      induction. This can easily be visualized in both the bioreactor and samples by
      using ultraviolet light. The lab course is performed with bioreactors of the
      simplest design, and is therefore highly flexible, robust and easy to reproduce.
      As part of this work the implementation and framework, the results, the
      evaluation and assessment of student learning combined with opinion surveys are
      presented, which provides a basis for instructors intending to implement a
      similar lab course at their respective institution.

PMID- 25820496
TI  - Chondroitin Sulfate-E Binds to Both Osteoactivin and Integrin alphaVbeta3 and
      Inhibits Osteoclast Differentiation.
AB  - Integrins and their ligands have been suggested to be associated with osteoclast
      mediated bone resorption. The present study was designed to investigate whether
      chondroitin sulfate E (CS-E), which is one of the sulfated glycosaminoglycans
      (GAGs), is involved in osteoactivin (OA) activity, and osteoclast
      differentiation. The binding affinity of sulfated GAGs to integrin and its ligand
      was measured using biotin-labeled CS-E, and the osteoclast differentiation was
      evaluated by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining and a pit formation
      assay. CS-E as well as CS-B, synthetic chondroitin polysulfate, and heparin
      inhibited osteoclast differentiation of bone marrow-derived macrophages. Pre
      coating of OA to synthetic calcium phosphate-coated plates enhanced the
      osteoclastic differentiation of RAW264 cells, and addition of a neutralizing
      antibody to OA inhibited its differentiation. CS-E bound not only to OA,
      fibronectin, and vitronectin, but also to its receptor integrin alphaVbeta3, and
      inhibited the direct binding of OA to integrin alphaVbeta3. Furthermore, CS-E
      blocked the binding of OA to cells and inhibited OA-induced osteoclastic
      differentiation. On the other hand, heparinase treatment of RAW264 cells
      inhibited osteoclastic differentiation. Since binding of OA to the cells was
      inhibited by the presence of heparan sulfate or heparinase treatment of cells,
      heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) was also considered to be an OA receptor.
      Taken together, the present results suggest that CS-E is capable of inhibiting OA
      induced osteoclast differentiation by blocking the interaction of OA to integrin
      alphaVbeta3 and HSPG.

PMID- 25820497
TI  - Let the sunshine in--making industry payments to New Zealand doctors transparent.

PMID- 25820498
TI  - Predictors of outcome for cutaneous squamous cell cancer.

PMID- 25820499
TI  - Availability and quantity of antidotes in New Zealand.

PMID- 25820500
TI  - Availability of antidotes, antivenoms, and antitoxins in New Zealand hospital
      pharmacies.
AB  - AIM: To assess the adequacy of the types and quantities of antidotes, antivenoms
      and antitoxins held by New Zealand hospital pharmacies. METHODS: A list of 61
      antidotes, antivenoms, antitoxins and their various forms was developed following
      literature review and consideration of national pharmaceutical listings. An
      Internet-accessible survey was then developed, validated and, during the period
      28 February to 7 April 2014, sent to 24 hospital pharmacies nationally for
      completion. Results were assessed and compared with published guidelines for
      adequate stocking of antidotes in hospitals that provide emergency care. RESULTS:
      The response rate for the survey was 100%. Wide variation in stock levels were
      reported with only N- acetylcysteine and octreotide held in adequate quantities
      by all hospitals to manage a single patient for 24 hours. While archaic compounds
      were still stocked, newer and more effective pharmaceuticals were not. The
      national replacement cost for expiring drugs was estimated at $171,024, with
      smaller, more isolated facilities facing the greatest expense and difficulty in
      achieving timely resupply. CONCLUSION: Shortcomings in the types and quantities
      of antidotes, antivenoms and antitoxins held by New Zealand hospital pharmacies
      were recognised. This situation may be improved through national rationalisation
      of pharmaceutical storage and supply, and implementation of a national antidote
      database.

PMID- 25820501
TI  - Removal of Special Authority requirements for clopidogrel improved optimal care
      following percutaneous coronary intervention across sociodemographic groups.
AB  - AIM: To examine if optimal clopidogrel therapy following percutaneous coronary
      intervention (PCI) differed systematically by sociodemographic characteristics
      during and after special authority (SA) restrictions, which required hospital
      specialist approval for full funding. METHOD: National health databases were
      anonymously linked for New Zealanders discharged following publicly-funded PCI
      between 1/07/2009-31/12/2009 when SA criteria applied and from 1/09/2010
      28/02/2011 after funding restrictions ceased. The proportion of days that
      patients were dispensed clopidogrel in the two 6-month periods post-discharge was
      calculated (medicine possession ratio;MPR). Optimal clopidogrel-dispensing
      (defined as a MPR>0.8) was analysed by sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS:
      During the first discharge period, 74% (95% CI 72-75%) of patients (n=2416) had
      optimal dispensing compared with 81% (95% CI 79-82%) of discharges from 1/09/2010
      28/02/2011 (n=2347). In both discharge periods, 2-3% of patients received no
      therapy. Minimal relative differences in optimal dispensing were noted by age,
      sex, or deprivation status in either discharge period. However, optimal
      clopidogrel-dispensing was 13-14% less likely among Maori and Pacific peoples
      relative to 'Other' patients during funding restrictions. Relative ethnic
      differences changed little once funding restrictions ended despite absolute
      increases in dispensing. CONCLUSIONS: Optimal clopidogrel coverage following PCI
      improved by 7% across sociodemographic groups after funding restrictions ceased,
      but ethnic disparities were unaltered.

PMID- 25820502
TI  - Paediatric EEG provision in New Zealand: a survey of practice.
AB  - AIM: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder in children.
      Electroencephalography (EEG) is integral to the diagnosis of an electroclinical
      epilepsy syndrome. Here we aim to describe provision of paediatric EEGs in New
      Zealand. METHOD: All neurophysiology departments in New Zealand performing
      paediatric EEGs were invited to participate. Personal interviews were conducted
      to ascertain the number and type of EEGs performed in children and the paediatric
      protocols used in each department. RESULTS: 12 of the 13 eligible neurophysiology
      departments participated. These departments performed between 2-950 paediatric
      EEGs each year. Waiting times were variable: urgent (8 hours-14 days); semi
      urgent (1 day-8 weeks); routine (1 week-4 months); with two centres unable to
      perform urgent or semi urgent EEGs. Seven departments routinely sleep deprived
      children. The percentage of all outpatient paediatric EEGs that were sleep
      deprived ranged from 1-100%. Children's EEGs were reported by either paediatric
      (five departments) or adult neurologists (seven departments). CONCLUSIONS: There
      is marked variability between neurophysiology departments in the provision of
      EEGs for New Zealand children. As EEGs are important for epilepsy diagnosis,
      increased resources are required to ensure New Zealand children have equitable
      access to timely quality paediatric EEGs.

PMID- 25820503
TI  - Computer Assisted Learning for the Mind (CALM): the mental health of medical
      students and their use of a self-help website.
AB  - AIMS: The aim of this study was to develop an evidence-based self-help website,
      Computer Assisted Learning for the Mind (CALM) designed to improve mental health
      amongst medical students; and to assess the proportion, demographics and mental
      health of students who chose to use the site. METHODS: All 2nd and 3rd year
      medical students from one New Zealand university were invited to participate.
      Demographics and mental health scores of those accessing CALM were compared with
      those not accessing it. Outcome measures included depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety
      (GADS-7) scores recorded at baseline. Anonymous identifiers were used to track
      website use. RESULTS: Baseline questionnaires were completed by 279/321 (87%) of
      eligible students. CALM was accessed by 80/321 (25%) of the students over a 5
      week period. Those who accessed CALM and could be linked by unique identifier
      (n=49) had significantly higher anxiety scores (p=0.01) but not higher depression
      scores (p=0.067) at baseline, than those who did not access CALM (n=230). Of
      those students with both PHQ-9 scores and GAD-7 scores =10 (at risk of
      significant depression and anxiety) at baseline, 41% went on to access CALM.
      CONCLUSIONS: The CALM website was used by 25% of medical students, particularly
      those with poorer anxiety scores. Self-selection to a web-based resource may
      provide assistance to those most in need, but further research would be needed to
      assess effectiveness.

PMID- 25820504
TI  - Predicting lymph node metastases in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma: use of a
      morphological scoring system.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Predicting which patients will develop nodal metastasis from
      cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) remains difficult. This study evaluates
      a recently described histological risk model validated for mucosal head and neck
      SCC (HNSCC) when applied to cutaneous tumours. In this model, morphologic
      variables including worst pattern of invasion, lymphocytic host response and
      perineural invasion were shown to predict disease recurrence, loco regional
      recurrence and overall survival in mucosal HNSCC. METHODS: Patients with cSCC and
      known metastatic spread were identified from the author's database over a 5-year
      period between July 2007 and July 2012. Histology specimens from the original
      primary tumour were separately analysed by 2 histopathologists. Scores were
      compared against T-Stage matched control specimens without metastatic spread.
      RESULTS: 27 patients with metastatic cSCC were identified. Scores for worst
      pattern of invasion (WPOI) were significantly higher in individuals with lymph
      node metastases (p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Adverse pattern of invasion, defined as
      presence of small tumour islands or tumour satellites may be an independent risk
      factor for developing nodal metastases in cSCC. These tumours are difficult to
      investigate histopathologically as it is difficult to be confident the correct
      primary is chosen for study.

PMID- 25820505
TI  - Association of point prevalence diagnosis of delirium on length of stay, 6-month
      mortality, and level of care on discharge at Waitemata District Health Board,
      Auckland.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Delirium in hospitalised older persons is common and is correlated
      with adverse outcomes. Few studies of this have been done in New Zealand. The
      study aimed to measure the impact of delirium on 6-month mortality, length of
      inpatient stay and level of care. METHOD: We performed a retrospective analysis
      utilising data from the Delirium Point Prevalence Audit conducted at Waitemata
      District Health Board. The subjects were older inpatients (>65 years) surveyed
      between 15/05/2012 to 24/07/2012. Delirium was defined as screening positive on
      the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM). Patients were dichotomised into those with
      delirium or without. RESULTS: 250 patients were identified. 28(11.2%) were CAM
      positive while 222 (88.8%) were CAM-negative. Mortality at 6 months for the CAM
      positive group was 39%, compared to 10% in the CAM-negative group (p<0.005). The
      mean inpatient day stay for the CAM-positive group was 25.4 days; for the CAM
      negative group it was 21.6 days (p=0.721). The proportion requiring an increased
      level of care at discharge was 66.6% for the CAM-positive group, while for CAM
      negative persons the rate was 13.8% (p<0.00003). CONCLUSION: In hospitalised
      older adults, the presence of a positive CAM test for delirium was strongly
      associated with both a higher mortality rate at 6 months and a requirement for an
      increased level of care at discharge as compared to a negative CAM. No effect was
      observed on inpatient length of stay.

PMID- 25820506
TI  - Nicotine and toxicant yield ratings of electronic cigarette brands in New
      Zealand.
AB  - AIMS: To analyse electronic cigarette (EC) brands available in New Zealand for
      nicotine and toxicant yield ratings. METHOD: Fourteen EC brands were analysed
      before and after nicotine exhaustion for nicotine and nine for major toxicants.
      Concentration of nicotine and aldehydes in vapour was measured and compared with
      the nicotine and aldehydes in the smoke of a Marlboro cigarette. RESULTS: ECs
      labelled as high strength (16-18+ mg nicotine) contained 5-46 mg nicotine.
      Nicotine EC brands yielded 19-93 mcg nicotine per puff compared to 147 mcg per
      puff for Marlboro cigarettes, and emitted 200 times less toxic aldehydes
      (acetaldehyde, formaldehyde and acrolein) than Marlboro cigarette smoke. Compared
      with the first generation EC, study ECs emitted 73% less aldehydes. Diethylene
      and monoethylene glycol were not detected in vapour. CONCLUSION: ECs available in
      New Zealand in 2013 exposed users to higher levels of nicotine than in older
      brands but lower than cigarettes, and to far lower levels of toxicants than
      cigarettes and earlier ECs, indicating potential as safer substitutes for
      tobacco.

PMID- 25820507
TI  - What should be the management policy for asymptomatic inguinal hernias?
AB  - Elective surgical repair was the general policy for the treatment of asymptomatic
      and minimally symptomatic inguinal hernias, based on reducing the risks of
      possible future bowel obstruction or visceral strangulation. Two randomised
      controlled trials in 2006 suggested that an alternative policy of "watchful
      waiting" was safe and appropriate. As a result, some health authorities in the UK
      withdrew funding for elective surgical repair for asymptomatic hernias in 2010.
      The long-term follow-up results of these two trials, however, showed high rates
      of surgery in the watchful waiting arms due to the development of symptoms. Two
      recent studies have called the watchful waiting policy into question on the basis
      of cost-effectiveness, quality of life and mortality data. The current article
      shows the results of an Official Information Act request of the New Zealand
      Ministry of Health and the 20 District Health Boards on their current policies
      for the management of such hernias. The results show a range of policies, with
      two District Health Boards employing watchful waiting, seven with policies or
      health pathways that can restrict or deny access to treatment, and all District
      Health Boards required to comply with Ministry of Health performance indicators.
      It is concluded that, at least with some District Health Boards, patients with
      asymptomatic and minimally symptomatic inguinal hernias are given a lower
      priority for surgical treatment than they might merit on clinical grounds.
      Further research is needed to formulate appropriate policy for the management of
      this common disorder, and should perhaps be extended to cover other similarly
      common conditions. 

PMID- 25820508
TI  - A rare case of anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis during pregnancy.
AB  - Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor encephalitis was first described as a
      severe form of encephalitis by Dalmau et al in 2006. This is an autoimmune
      disorder usually associated with paraneoplastic mechanism that manifests as
      neuropsychiatric disorder affecting mainly women of child-bearing age.
      Nevertheless anti- NMDA receptor encephalitis is a rare condition during
      pregnancy. To -date, there have been only four reported cases during pregnancy.
      We report a case of a 23-year-old primigravida in first trimester pregnancy with
      altered mental status and multiple neurological symptoms related to anti-NMDA
      receptor encephalitis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported
      anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis during pregnancy in Australasia. 

PMID- 25820509
TI  - Medical image. Metal pigmentation of gingiva.

PMID- 25820510
TI  - The Auckland Surgical Theatre Educational Environment Measure: does attending
      surgery benefit house officers?

PMID- 25820511
TI  - LMNA Mutation c.917T>G (p.L306R) Leads to Deleterious Hyper-Assembly of Lamin A/C
      and Associates with Severe Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy and Premature Aging.
AB  - Mutations in the LMNA gene coding for the nuclear lamina proteins lamin A and its
      smaller splice form lamin C associate with a heterogeneous group of diseases
      collectively called laminopathies. Here, we describe a 2-year-old patient with a
      previously undescribed phenotype including right ventricular cardiomyopathy,
      progeroid features, and premature death. Sequencing of LMNA revealed a novel
      heterozygous de novo mutation p.L306R located in the alpha-helical rod domain of
      A-type lamins. Fibroblasts from the patient showed reduced proliferation and
      early premature replicative senescence, as characterized by progressive
      hyperlobulation of the nuclei, abnormally clustered centromeres, loss of lamin
      B1, and reorganization of promyelocytic leukemia nuclear bodies. Furthermore, the
      patient cells were more sensitive to double-strand DNA breaks. Similar structural
      and phenotypic defects were observed in normal fibroblasts transfected with FLAG
      tagged p.L306R lamin A. Correspondingly, in vitro assembly studies revealed that
      the p.L306R generates a "hyper-assembly" mutant of lamin A that forms extensive
      fiber arrays under physiological conditions where wild-type lamin A is still
      largely soluble. In summary, we report a novel LMNA p.L306R mutation that leads
      to previously undescribed hyper-assembly of lamin A, heavy distortion of nuclear
      shape and that manifests as right ventricular cardiomyopathy and premature aging.

PMID- 25820512
TI  - Opposite rheological properties of neuronal microcompartments predict axonal
      vulnerability in brain injury.
AB  - Although pathological changes in axonal morphology have emerged as important
      features of traumatic brain injury (TBI), the mechanical vulnerability of the
      axonal microcompartment relative to the cell body is not well understood. We
      hypothesized that soma and neurite microcompartments exhibit distinct mechanical
      behaviors, rendering axons more sensitive to a mechanical injury. In order to
      test this assumption, we combined protein micropatterns with magnetic tweezer
      rheology to probe the viscoelastic properties of neuronal microcompartments.
      Creep experiments revealed two opposite rheological behaviors within cortical
      neurons: the cell body was soft and characterized by a solid-like response,
      whereas the neurite compartment was stiffer and viscous-like. By using
      pharmacological agents, we demonstrated that the nucleus is responsible for the
      solid-like behavior and the stress-stiffening response of the soma, whereas
      neurofilaments have a predominant contribution in the viscous behavior of the
      neurite. Furthermore, we found that the neurite is a mechanosensitive compartment
      that becomes softer and adopts a pronounced viscous state on soft matrices.
      Together, these findings highlight the importance of the regionalization of
      mechanical and rigidity-sensing properties within neuron microcompartments in the
      preferential damage of axons during traumatic brain injury and into potential
      mechanisms of axonal outgrowth after injury. 

PMID- 25820514
TI  - Desmoid tumor fistulating to small bowel.

PMID- 25820513
TI  - The PNEI holistic approach in coloproctology.
AB  - The psycho-neuroendocrine-immune approach relies on the concept of considering
      diseases from a holistic point of view: the various components (psyche, nervous
      system, endocrine system, and immune system) control the diseased organ/apparatus
      and in turn are influenced by a feedback mechanism. In this article, we will
      consider the psycho-neuroendocrine-immune approach to coloproctological
      disorders, by providing clinical cases and discussing them in light of this
      approach. 

PMID- 25820515
TI  - Reply to the 'Comment on "How to interpret Onsager cross terms in mixed ionic
      electronic conductors"' by H.-I. Yoo, M. Martin, and J. Janek, Phys. Chem. Chem.
      Phys., 2015, 7, DOI: 10.1039/C4CP05737F.
AB  - The origin of the Onsager cross terms in mixed-ionic-electronic-conductor (MIEC)
      oxides is re-examined. Experiments are suggested to determine which of the two
      suggested explanations is applicable. 

PMID- 25820516
TI  - Esterase- and pH-responsive poly(beta-amino ester)-capped mesoporous silica
      nanoparticles for drug delivery.
AB  - Gating of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with the stimuli-responsive
      poly(beta-amino ester) has been achieved. This hybrid nanocarrier releases
      doxorubicin (DOX) under acidic conditions or in the presence of porcine liver
      esterase. The DOX loaded poly(beta-amino ester)-capped MSNs reduce cell viability
      when tested on MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells. 

PMID- 25820517
TI  - A novel Hartman Shack-based topography system: repeatability and agreement for
      corneal power with Scheimpflug+Placido topographer and rotating prism auto
      keratorefractor.
AB  - The purpose of this study is to analyze the repeatability and agreement of
      corneal power using a new Hartman type topographer in comparison to
      Scheimpflug+Placido and autorefractor devices. In this cross sectional,
      observational study performed at the cornea services of a specialty hospital, 100
      normal eyes (100 consecutive candidates) without any previous ocular surgery or
      morbidity except refractive error were evaluated. All candidates underwent three
      measurements each on a Full gradient, Hartman type topographer (FG) (iDesign,
      AMO), Scheimpflug+Placido topographer (SP) (Sirius, CSO) and rotating prism auto
      keratorefractor (AR) (KR1, Nidek). The parameters assessed were flat keratometry
      (K1), steep keratometry (K2), steep axis (K2 axis), mean K, J 0 and J 45. Intra
      device repeatability and inter-device agreement were evaluated. On repeatability
      analysis, the intra-device means were not significantly different (ANOVA, p >
      0.05). Intraclass correlations (ICC) were >0.98 except for J 0 and J 45. In terms
      of intra-measurement standard deviation (Sw), the SP and FG groups fared better
      than AR group (p < 0.001, ANOVA). On Sw versus Average plots, no significantly
      predictive fit was seen (p > 0.05, R (2) < 0.1 for all the values). On inter
      device agreement analysis, there was no difference in means (ANOVA, p > 0.05).
      ICC ranged from 0.92 to 0.99 (p < 0.001). Regression fits on Bland-Altman plots
      suggested no clinically significant effect of average values over difference in
      means. The repeatability of Hartman type topographer in normal eyes is comparable
      to SP combination device and better than AR. The agreement between the three
      devices is good. However, we recommend against interchanging these devices
      between follow-ups or pooling their data.

PMID- 25820518
TI  - Agreement between diurnal variations of intraocular pressure by Tono-Pen and
      Goldmann applanation tonometer in patients on topical anti-glaucoma medication.
AB  - To estimate agreement in diurnal variations of intraocular pressure (IOP) by Tono
      Pen (TP) and Goldmann applanation tonometer (GAT) in glaucoma patients on topical
      anti-glaucoma medication(s). IOP was measured at every 3 h from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
      in 50 eyes of glaucoma patients on topical medication(s). Diurnal fluctuation of
      IOP by each method was calculated as maximum-minimum IOP in a day. Central
      corneal thickness (CCT) was measured by ultrasonic pachymeter. There was good
      correlation between TP and GAT at all times during a day, minimum, and maximum
      IOPs during a day (Correlation coefficient, 0.706 at 7 a.m., 0.624 at 10 a.m.,
      0.682 at 1 p.m., 0.814 at 4 p.m., 0.652 at 7 p.m., 0.572 at 10 p.m., 0.668
      minimum IOP, 0.689 maximum IOP). Mean IOPs by TP were always higher than GAT at
      all times during a day. Bland-Altman plots suggested a close relationship between
      the two sets of readings, and that this relationship was consistent at different
      times in a day, in maximum IOPs, minimum IOPs and also in fluctuation of IOPs.
      Linear regression analysis between the differences of diurnal fluctuation
      (diurnal fluctuation by GAT-diurnal fluctuation by TP) and CCT showed strong
      association (R 2 = 0.857, p < 0.001). The mean change in difference of diurnal
      fluctuation (GAT-TP) for a 10-micron increase in CCT was 0.69 mmHg. TP can be
      considered a reliable alternative to GAT in glaucoma patients for knowing the
      diurnal control of IOP; however these two methods should not be used
      interchangeably. Difference of diurnal fluctuation between two methods is
      dependent on CCT.

PMID- 25820519
TI  - Targeting thyroid hormone receptor beta in triple-negative breast cancer.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to discover novel nuclear receptor targets in
      triple-negative breast cancer. Expression microarray, Western blot, qRT-PCR
      analyses, MTT growth assay, soft agar anchorage-independent growth assay, TRE
      reporter transactivation assay, and statistical analysis were performed in this
      study. We performed microarray analysis using 227 triple-negative breast tumors,
      and clustered the tumors into five groups according to their nuclear receptor
      expression. Thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRbeta) was one of the most
      differentially expressed nuclear receptors in group 5 compared to other groups.
      TRbeta low expressing patients were associated with poor outcome. We evaluated
      the role of TRbeta in triple-negative breast cancer cell lines representing group
      5 tumors. Knockdown of TRbeta increased soft agar colony and reduced sensitivity
      to docetaxel and doxorubicin treatment. Docetaxel or doxorubicin long-term
      cultured cell lines also expressed decreased TRbeta protein. Microarray analysis
      revealed cAMP/PKA signaling was the only KEGG pathways upregulated in TRbeta
      knockdown cells. Inhibitors of cAMP or PKA, in combination with doxorubicin
      further enhanced cell apoptosis and restored sensitivity to chemotherapy. TRbeta
      specific agonists enhanced TRbeta expression, and further sensitized cells to
      both docetaxel and doxorubicin. Sensitization was mediated by increased apoptosis
      with elevated cleaved PARP and caspase 3. TRbeta represents a novel nuclear
      receptor target in triple-negative breast cancer; low TRbeta levels were
      associated with enhanced resistance to both docetaxel and doxorubicin treatment.
      TRbeta-specific agonists enhance chemosensitivity to these two agents.
      Mechanistically enhanced cAMP/PKA signaling was associated with TRbeta's effects
      on response to chemotherapy. 

PMID- 25820521
TI  - In Vivo Function of PTEX88 in Malaria Parasite Sequestration and Virulence.
AB  - Malaria pathology is linked to remodeling of red blood cells by eukaryotic
      Plasmodium parasites. Central to host cell refurbishment is the trafficking of
      parasite-encoded virulence factors through the Plasmodium translocon of exported
      proteins (PTEX). Much of our understanding of its function is based on
      experimental work with cultured Plasmodium falciparum, yet direct consequences of
      PTEX impairment during an infection remain poorly defined. Using the murine
      malaria model parasite Plasmodium berghei, it is shown here that efficient
      sequestration to the pulmonary, adipose, and brain tissue vasculature is
      dependent on the PTEX components thioredoxin 2 (TRX2) and PTEX88. While TRX2
      deficient parasites remain virulent, PTEX88-deficient parasites no longer
      sequester in the brain, correlating with abolishment of cerebral complications in
      infected mice. However, an apparent trade-off for virulence attenuation was
      spleen enlargement, which correlates with a strongly reduced schizont-to-ring
      stage transition. Strikingly, general protein export is unaffected in PTEX88
      deficient mutants that mature normally in vitro. Thus, PTEX88 is pivotal for
      tissue sequestration in vivo, parasite virulence, and preventing exacerbation of
      spleen pathology, but these functions do not correlate with general protein
      export to the host erythrocyte. The presented data suggest that the protein
      export machinery of Plasmodium parasites and their underlying mechanistic
      features are considerably more complex than previously anticipated and indicate
      challenges for targeted intervention strategies. 

PMID- 25820520
TI  - The SrkA Kinase Is Part of the SakA Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Interactome
      and Regulates Stress Responses and Development in Aspergillus nidulans.
AB  - Fungi and many other eukaryotes use specialized mitogen-activated protein kinases
      (MAPK) of the Hog1/p38 family to transduce environmental stress signals. In
      Aspergillus nidulans, the MAPK SakA and the transcription factor AtfA are
      components of a central multiple stress-signaling pathway that also regulates
      development. Here we characterize SrkA, a putative MAPK-activated protein kinase,
      as a novel component of this pathway. DeltasrkA and DeltasakA mutants share a
      derepressed sexual development phenotype. However, DeltasrkA mutants are not
      sensitive to oxidative stress, and in fact, srkA inactivation partially
      suppresses the sensitivity of DeltasakA mutant conidia to H2O2, tert-butyl
      hydroperoxide (t-BOOH), and menadione. In the absence of stress, SrkA shows
      physical interaction with nonphosphorylated SakA in the cytosol. We show that
      H2O2 induces a drastic change in mitochondrial morphology consistent with a
      fission process and the relocalization of SrkA to nuclei and mitochondria,
      depending on the presence of SakA. SakA-SrkA nuclear interaction is also observed
      during normal asexual development in dormant spores. Using SakA and SrkA S-tag
      pulldown and purification studies coupled to mass spectrometry, we found that
      SakA interacts with SrkA, the stress MAPK MpkC, the PPT1-type phosphatase AN6892,
      and other proteins involved in cell cycle regulation, DNA damage response, mRNA
      stability and protein synthesis, mitochondrial function, and other stress-related
      responses. We propose that oxidative stress induces DNA damage and mitochondrial
      fission and that SakA and SrkA mediate cell cycle arrest and regulate
      mitochondrial function during stress. Our results provide new insights into the
      mechanisms by which SakA and SrkA regulate the remodelling of cell physiology
      during oxidative stress and development. 

PMID- 25820523
TI  - Plank-shaped column-forming mesogens with substituents on one side only.
AB  - Prolonged glyoxylation of pyrenyl-1-glyoxylic acid ethyl ester leads to a mixture
      of isomers with polar pyrenylene-1,8-diglyoxylic acid as the main product,
      whereas the centrosymmetric 1,6-isomer is obtained in good yield from the
      corresponding dibromopyrene. Perkin condensations followed by Pd-catalyzed
      cyclizations lead to isomeric dinaphthopyrene-tetracarboxdiimides that self
      assemble into columnar liquid crystals of hexagonal and rectangular symmetry, of
      which the rectangular mesophases have unusually elongated unit cells. The cisoid
      diimides with both alkylimide substituents on the same side of the oblong arene
      system show a much greater tendency to self-assemble into fluid stacks of disks
      than their centrosymmetric isomers. With racemically branched alkyl substituents,
      uniform vertical surface alignment of the columns in the high-temperature
      hexagonal mesophase is resilient to cycling through the lower-temperature
      rectangular and crystalline phases. 

PMID- 25820522
TI  - Role of Pex11p in Lipid Homeostasis in Yarrowia lipolytica.
AB  - Peroxisomes are essential organelles in the cells of most eukaryotes, from yeasts
      to mammals. Their role in beta-oxidation is particularly essential in yeasts; for
      example, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, fatty acid oxidation takes place solely in
      peroxisomes. In this species, peroxisome biogenesis occurs when lipids are
      present in the culture medium, and it involves the Pex11p protein family:
      ScPex11p, ScPex25p, ScPex27p, and ScPex34p. Yarrowia lipolytica has three Pex11p
      homologues, which are YALI0C04092p (YlPex11p), YALI0C04565p (YlPex11C), and
      YALI0D25498p (Pex11/25p). We found that these genes are regulated by oleic acid,
      and as has been observed in other organisms, YlPEX11 deletion generated giant
      peroxisomes when mutant yeast were grown in oleic acid medium. Moreover,
      DeltaYlpex11 was unable to grow on fatty acid medium and showed extreme dose
      dependent sensitivity to oleic acid. Indeed, when the strain was grown in minimum
      medium with 0.5% glucose and 3% oleic acid, lipid body lysis and cell death were
      observed. Cell death and lipid body lysis may be partially explained by an
      imbalance in the expression of the genes involved in lipid storage, namely, DGA1,
      DGA2, and LRO1, as well as that of TGL4, which is involved in lipid
      remobilization. TGL4 deletion and DGA2 overexpression resulted in decreased oleic
      acid sensitivity and delayed cell death of DeltaYlpex11, which probably stemmed
      from the release of free fatty acids into the cytoplasm. All these results show
      that YlPex11p plays an important role in lipid homeostasis in Y. lipolytica. 

PMID- 25820525
TI  - Suppression of endothelial CD39/ENTPD1 is associated with pulmonary vascular
      remodeling in pulmonary arterial hypertension.
AB  - Endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction plays a role in the pathobiology of occlusive
      vasculopathy in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Purinergic signaling
      pathways, which consist of extracellular nucleotide and nucleoside-mediated cell
      signaling through specific receptors, are known to be important regulators of
      vascular tone and remodeling. Therefore, we hypothesized that abnormalities in
      the vascular purinergic microenvironment are associated with PAH. Enzymatic
      clearance is crucial to terminate unnecessary cell activation; one of the most
      abundantly expressed enzymes on the EC surface is E-NTPDase1/CD39, which
      hydrolyzes ATP and ADP to AMP. we used histological samples from patients and
      healthy donors, radioisotope-labeled substrates to measure ectoenzyme activity,
      and a variety of in vitro approaches to study the role of CD39 in PAH.
      Immunohistochemistry on human idiopathic PAH (IPAH) patients' lungs demonstrated
      that CD39 was significantly downregulated in the endothelium of diseased small
      arteries. Similarly, CD39 expression and activity were decreased in cultured
      pulmonary ECs from IPAH patients. Suppression of CD39 in vitro resulted in EC
      phenotypic switch that gave rise to apoptosis-resistant pulmonary arterial
      endothelial cells and promoted a microenvironment that induced vascular smooth
      muscle cell migration. we also identified that the ATP receptor P2Y11 is
      essential for ATP-mediated EC survival. Furthermore, we report that apelin, a
      known regulator of pulmonary vascular homeostasis, can potentiate the activity of
      CD39 both in vitro and in vivo. we conclude that sustained attenuation of CD39
      activity through ATP accumulation is tightly linked to vascular dysfunction and
      remodeling in PAH and could represent a novel target for therapy. 

PMID- 25820524
TI  - Attenuating endogenous Fgfr2b ligands during bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis does
      not compromise murine lung repair.
AB  - Fibroblast growth factors (Fgfs) mediate organ repair. Lung epithelial cell
      overexpression of Fgf10 postbleomycin injury is both protective and therapeutic,
      characterized by increased survival and attenuated fibrosis. Exogenous
      administration of FGF7 (palifermin) also showed prophylactic survival benefits in
      mice. The role of endogenous Fgfr2b ligands on bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis is
      still elusive. This study reports the expression of endogenous Fgfr2b ligands,
      receptors, and signaling targets in wild-type mice following bleomycin lung
      injury. In addition, the impact of attenuating endogenous Fgfr2b-ligands
      following bleomycin-induced fibrosis was tested by using a doxycycline (dox)
      based inducible, soluble, dominant-negative form of the Fgfr2b receptor. Double
      transgenic (DTG) Rosa26(rtTA/+);tet(O)solFgfr2b mice were validated for the
      expression and activity of soluble Fgfr2b (failure to regenerate maxillary
      incisors, attenuated recombinant FGF7 signal in the lung). As previously
      reported, no defects in lung morphometry were detected in DTG (+dox) mice exposed
      from postnatal days (PN) 1 through PN105. Female single-transgenic (STG) and DTG
      mice were subjected to various levels of bleomycin injury (1.0, 2.0, and 3.0
      U/kg). Fgfr2b ligands were attenuated either throughout injury (days 0-11; days 0
      28) or during later stages (days 6-28 and 14-28). No significant changes in
      survival, weight, lung function, confluent areas of fibrosis, or hydroxyproline
      deposition were detected in DTG mice. These results indicate that endogenous
      Fgfr2b ligands do not significantly protect against bleomycin injury, nor do they
      expedite the resolution of bleomycin-induced lung injury in mice. 

PMID- 25820526
TI  - Evaluation of cigarette smoke-induced emphysema in mice using quantitative micro
      computed tomography.
AB  - Chronic cigarette smoke (CS) exposure provokes variable changes in the lungs, and
      emphysema is an important feature of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The
      usefulness of micro-computed tomography (CT) to assess emphysema in different
      mouse models has been investigated, but few studies evaluated the dynamic
      structural changes in a CS-induced emphysema mouse model. A novel micro-CT
      technique with respiratory and cardiac gating has resulted in high-quality images
      that enable processing for further quantitative and qualitative analyses. Adult
      female C57BL/6J mice were repeatedly exposed to mainstream CS, and micro-CT scans
      were performed at 0, 4, 12, and 20 wk. Emphysema was also histologically
      quantified at each time point. Air-exposed mice and mice treated with
      intratracheal elastase served as controls and comparisons, respectively. End
      expiratory lung volume, corresponding to functional residual volume, was defined
      as the calculated volume at the phase of end-expiration, and it evaluated air
      trapping. The end-expiratory lung volumes of CS-exposed mice were significantly
      larger than those of air controls at 12 and 20 wk, which was in line with
      alveolar enlargement and destruction by histological quantification. However, CS
      exposure neither increased low attenuation volume nor decreased the average lung
      CT value at any time point, unlike the elastase-instilled emphysema model. CS
      exposed mice had rather higher average lung CT values at 4 and 12 wk. This is the
      first study characterizing a CS-induced emphysema model on micro-CT over time in
      mice. Moreover, these findings extend our understanding of the distinct
      pathophysiology of CS-induced emphysema in mice. 

PMID- 25820527
TI  - Platelet-derived miR-103b as a novel biomarker for the early diagnosis of type 2
      diabetes.
AB  - AIMS: MicroRNA-103 (miR-103) plays a critical role in regulating glucose
      homeostasis in type 2 diabetes (DM2). Recent data suggest that secreted frizzled
      related protein 4 (SFRP4) serves as a potential risk biomarker for prediabetic
      mellitus (pre-DM) and that platelets are enriched for miR-103. The objective of
      this study was to test the hypothesis that platelet-derived miR-103b (miR-103
      as), which regulates SFRP4, might be a novel biomarker for the early diagnosis of
      DM2. METHODS: We evaluated platelet miR-103b expression in healthy subjects (n =
      46), pre-DM subjects (n = 48), non-complicated diabetic subjects (n = 43) and
      diabetes mellitus type 2-coronary heart disease subjects (n = 36), respectively,
      and analyzed the relationship of these levels with its target gene SFRP4.
      RESULTS: In qRT-PCR assays, miR-103b were significantly down-regulated, and
      conversely, the expression of the SFRP4 gene was up-regulated in pooled leukocyte
      depleted platelets and individual subjects with pre-DM. Additionally, patients
      who had undergone antiplatelet treatment were characterized by decreased gene
      expression of SFRP4 and increased levels of platelet-derived miR-103b. miR-103b
      modulated reporter gene expression through SFRP4 mRNA 3'-UTR seed sequence and
      negatively regulated its expression. Furthermore, SFRP4 mRNA and protein levels
      were down-regulated by a miR-103b mimic but were up-regulated by a miR-103b
      inhibitor. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that platelet-derived miR-103b could
      negatively regulate the expression of SFRP4 mRNA/protein in pre-DM2, indicating
      that miR-103b could be a novel biomarker for the early diagnosis of DM2.

PMID- 25820529
TI  - The complex morphology of acute kidney injury with microangiopathic hemolytic
      anemia and hyposplenism.

PMID- 25820528
TI  - Animal and cellular models of hepatocellular carcinoma bone metastasis:
      establishment and characterisation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An increasingly high occurrence of bone metastases in hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC) patients highlights the importance of fundamental research on HCC
      bone metastasis, which has been limited in its success due to the lack of a model
      system. PURPOSE: Establishment of animal and cellular models of HCC bone
      metastasis and discovery of HCC bone metastasis-related genes. METHODS:
      Luciferase-transfected HCC cell lines HCCLM3, MHCC97H, and SMMC-7721 were used to
      inoculate nude mice intracardially. Formation of bone metastases was examined by
      bioluminescence imaging, SPECT, and pathology study. Metastatic cells in bone
      were isolated and subcultured. Differences between bone metastatic cells and
      their parental cells were studied by in vitro/in vivo assays. RESULTS: Mouse
      model of HCC bone metastasis was successfully established. Injected tumour cells
      formed metastases in the skull, the spine, the hind limbs, and the sternum,
      causing osteolytic lesions via act of MMP-1 and recruitment of osteoclasts. Four
      bone metastatic cell lines were extracted from HCCLM3-inoculated mice and were
      demonstrated to exhibit a much stronger ability to form bone metastases as well
      as other phenotypes, including enhanced in vitro migration/invasion and colony
      formation. Moreover, the expression of PTHrP, MMP-1, and CTGF was significantly
      elevated in bone metastatic cells compared to parental HCC cells. CONCLUSION: The
      nude mouse model and bone metastatic cell lines together provide an effective
      simulation of HCC bone metastasis. This model system will become powerful tool
      with which to explore the mechanisms and therapies of HCC bone metastasis.
      Additionally, PTHrP, MMP-1, and CTGF are candidate genes related to HCC bone
      metastasis.

PMID- 25820530
TI  - Trace membrane additives affect lipid phases with distinct mechanisms: a modified
      Ising model.
AB  - The addition of trace molecules into membranes can significantly alter the
      morphology of the co-existing liquid phases and lipid phase transition
      temperature. Membrane additives may affect lipid phase dynamics through
      preferentially partitioning to the boundary between lipid phases or
      preferentially mixing into one lipid phase. The characteristic differences
      between these mechanisms are demonstrated here in a minimalistic nearest neighbor
      model to provide a framework for how slight changes to membrane composition may
      affect lipid-phase-dependent processes, such as lipid-raft formation,
      immunological signaling, and molecular sorting preceding endocytosis with
      coexisting liquid phases. Within the low mole fractions explored here (<=3 mol%),
      increasing the additive concentration linearly changed the phase miscibility
      temperature. Rotationally asymmetric Janus particles reduced the miscibility
      transition temperature for all fractions and degree of phase polarization.
      Rotationally symmetric additives, however, either increased or decreased the
      phase miscibility temperature depending on the phase preference of the additive.
      While most experimental molecules may contain aspects of both of these idealized
      additives, this model provides a broad framework to quantify the effects of
      membrane additives in regard to lipid phase preference, lipid-raft association,
      and contribution to lipid phase-dependent molecular sorting.

PMID- 25820532
TI  - Bad luck, no luck, good luck!

PMID- 25820531
TI  - Characterization of the flexible lip regions in bacteriophage lambda lysozyme
      using MD simulations.
AB  - The upper and lower lip regions in lysozyme from bacteriophage lambda (lambda
      lysozyme) are flexible in solution and exhibit two different conformations in
      crystal structures of the protein. MD simulations have been used to characterize
      the structure and dynamics of these lip regions, which surround the active site.
      Ten different simulations have been run including those with restraining to
      experimental NOE distance and (1)H-(15)N order parameter data. The simulations
      show that the lower lip region, although undergoing considerable backbone
      fluctuations, contains two persistent beta-strands. In the upper lip region, a
      wide range of conformations are populated and it is not clear from the available
      data whether some helical secondary structure is present. The work provides a
      clear example of the advantages of combining MD simulations with experimental
      data to obtain a structural interpretation of the latter. In this case, time
      averaged order parameter restraining has played an essential role in enabling
      convergence between two different starting structures and identifying the extent
      to which flexible regions in solution can contain persistent secondary structure.

PMID- 25820533
TI  - Safety of antidiabetes medications: An update.
AB  - Adverse iatrogenic effects of especial relevance for antidiabetes medications
      include hypoglycemic episodes, major adverse cardiovascular (CV) events, cancer,
      bone fractures, pancreatic effects, genital/urinary tract infections, and weight
      gain. Here, recent clinical studies addressing safety profiles of antidiabetes
      medications are reviewed. On balance, new prospective and population-based
      studies continue to indicate that the benefits of improved glucose control
      outweigh the risks associated with antidiabetes medications in most patients with
      type 2 diabetes. 

PMID- 25820534
TI  - Synthesis of a Fluorine-Containing Cis-Cisoidal One-Handed Helical
      Polyphenylacetylene and Application of Highly Selective Photocyclic Aromatization
      Product on Oxygen Permselective Membrane.
AB  - A novel phenylacetylene monomer having a perfluorinated alkyl group (M-F) was
      synthesized and polymerized in a chiral catalytic system to yield a one-handed
      helical polymer. The ability and efficiency of the chiral induction of the
      fluorine-containing monomer in the helix-sense-selective polymerization (HSSP)
      was much higher than those of a monomer having the corresponding alkyl group (M
      H) we reported before. The resulting polymer showed cis-cisoidal one-handed
      helical conformation, and was suitable for highly selective photocyclic
      aromatization (SCAT) to give a 2D surface modifier (). Oxygen permselectivity
      through a base polymer membrane was highly enhanced from 1.83 to 2.36 by adding a
      small amount (1-5 wt%) of the 2D surface modifier . The improvement was thought
      to be caused by improvement of solution selectivity on the membrane surface which
      the 2D surface modifier effectively covered.

PMID- 25820535
TI  - A general, eco-friendly synthesis procedure of self-assembled ZnO-based materials
      with multifunctional properties.
AB  - A bioinspired one-pot approach for the synthesis of ZnO-carbohydrate hierarchical
      architectures was developed. The synergy between a saccharide (mono-, di- or
      polysaccharide) that contains d-glucose units and triethanolamine is the key
      parameter of the synthetic methodology. The morphology of the ZnO composites is
      dictated by the saccharide used, and rod, spindle, solid and hollow spherical
      like ZnO structures are obtained by varying the carbohydrate. The synthesized
      composites present good photocatalytic and antimicrobial activity. 

PMID- 25820536
TI  - 4-Phosphopyrazol-2-yl alanine: a non-hydrolysable analogue of phosphohistidine.
AB  - We report the synthesis of a stable analogue of tau-phosphohistidine: 4
      phosphopyrazol-2-yl alanine (pPza). Polyclonal antibodies generated against the
      mimic show high reactivity and selectivity for tau-phosphohistidine, with minor
      or no cross-reactivity towards non-phosphorylated histidine or O-phosphoamino
      acids, including phosphotyrosine.

PMID- 25820538
TI  - A Study of Teacher-Learner Interactions: A Continuum Between Monologic and
      Dialogic Interactions.
AB  - PURPOSE: Teachers and learners must be able to shift flexibly along the continuum
      of monologic and dialogic interactional repertoires to advance learning. This
      article describes how teachers and learners interacted during whole-class
      instruction along the continuum between monologic and dialogic interaction in
      primary school classrooms in Western Cape, South Africa. METHOD: A video
      observation method was used to analyze teacher-learner interactions (TLIs) across
      15 lessons in intermediate-phase classrooms. TLIs were analyzed in relation to
      indicators such as authority, questions, feedback, explanation, metalevel
      connection, and collaboration. The transcriptions of TLIs were described using
      quantitative and qualitative techniques. RESULTS: The study found that teachers
      sustained dominant monologic interactions by asserting their authority, asking
      mainly closed-ended questions, and providing confirming/correcting feedback that
      constrained the interaction. Learners had limited opportunities for explanations
      or collaboration. Across most lessons, there were episodic shifts from monologic
      TLIs to transitional TLIs. These transitions were achieved by using mainly open
      ended questions and feedback to expand the interaction. Dialogic TLIs were not
      evident. CONCLUSIONS: Monologic TLIs were dominant, closing down opportunities
      for communication. Although transitional TLIs were evident, they were episodic
      and showed the potential for opening interaction opportunities. The absence of
      dialogic TLIs suggested that collaborative engagement opportunities were
      unavailable. The opportunity for intervention to increase dialogic TLIs is
      discussed.

PMID- 25820537
TI  - Prostate Cancer: assessing the effects of androgen-deprivation therapy using
      quantitative diffusion-weighted and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) on MRI
      parameters and evaluate their associations with treatment response measures.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 30 men with histopathologically
      confirmed prostate cancer who underwent MRI before and after initiation of ADT.
      Thirty-four tumours were volumetrically assessed on DW-MRI (n = 32) and DCE-MRI
      (n = 18), along with regions of interest in benign prostatic tissue, to calculate
      apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and transfer constant (K(trans)) values.
      Changes in MRI parameters and correlations with clinical parameters (change in
      prostate-specific antigen [PSA], treatment duration, PSA nadir) were assessed.
      RESULTS: Prostate volume and PSA values decreased significantly with therapy (p <
      0.001). ADC values increased significantly in tumours and decreased in benign
      prostatic tissue (p < 0.05). Relative changes in ADC and absolute post
      therapeutic ADC values differed significantly between tumour and benign tissue (p
      < 0.001). K(trans) decreased significantly only in tumours (p < 0.001); relative
      K(trans) changes and post-therapeutic values were not significantly different
      between tumour and benign tissue. The relative change in tumour ADC correlated
      significantly with PSA decrease. No changes were associated with treatment
      duration or PSA nadir. CONCLUSIONS: Multi-parametric MRI shows significant
      measurable changes in tumour and benign prostate caused by ADT and may help in
      monitoring treatment response. KEY POINTS: * Androgen-deprivation therapy caused
      changes of ADC, K (trans) in tumour and benign prostate. * Prostate volume and
      PSA values decreased significantly with therapy. * ADC values may be helpful for
      monitoring treatment response.

PMID- 25820539
TI  - Angiogenic Role of MMP-2/9 Expressed on the Cell Surface of Early Endothelial
      Progenitor Cells/Myeloid Angiogenic Cells.
AB  - Since the introduction of angiogenic cell therapy using early endothelial
      progenitor cells (EPCs), myeloid angiogenic cells (MACs) have been expected to be
      useful in treating ischemic diseases. In order to elucidate the angiogenic
      properties of MACs/EPCs, we clarified the characteristics of MACs as compared to
      M2 macrophages (Mphis). Comparison of the gene expression profiles of MACs and
      late EPCs revealed that MACs expressed greater amounts of metalloproteinase (MMP)
      9. It should be noted that the profile of MMP-2/9 expression on the cell surface
      of MACs was similar to that of M2 Mphis, and that cell surface MMP-2/9 might be
      an active form based on molecular size. In addition, the invasion of MACs was
      prohibited not only by MMP-2/9 inhibitor, but also by the hyaluronidase treatment
      that caused the down-regulation of MMP-9 on the cell surface of MACs and
      inhibited their invasion activity. These results indicate that cell surface MMP
      2/9 plays an important role in the high invasion ability of MACs. The conditioned
      medium of both MACs and M2 Mphis stimulated tube formation of endothelial cells
      in vitro. MACs caused an increase in vessel formation in in vivo models through
      the production of IL-8. We propose that the role of MACs with cell surfaces
      expressing MMP-2/9 is rapidly invading ischemic tissue.

PMID- 25820543
TI  - Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells in Liver Fibrosis: Recent Findings, Old/New
      Caveats and Future Perspectives.
AB  - Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are progenitors which share plastic
      adherence capacity and cell surface markers but have different properties
      according to their cell and tissue sources and to culture conditions applied.
      Many recent publications suggest that MSCs can differentiate into hepatic-like
      cells, which can be a consequence of either a positive selection of rare in vivo
      pluripotent cells or of the original plasticity of some cells contributing to MSC
      cultures. A possible role of MSCs in hereditary transmission of obesity and/or
      diabetes as well as properties of MSCs regarding immunomodulation, cell fusion
      and exosome release capacities are discussed according to recent literature.
      Limitations in methods used to track MSCs in vivo especially in the context of
      liver cirrhosis are addressed as well as strategies explored to enhance their
      migratory, survival and proliferation properties, which are known to be relevant
      for their future clinical use. Current knowledge regarding mechanisms involved in
      liver cirrhosis amelioration mediated by naive and genetically modified MSCs as
      well as the effects of applying preconditioning and combined strategies to
      improve their therapeutic effects are evaluated. Finally, first reports of GMP
      guidelines and biosafety issues in MSCs applications are discussed.

PMID- 25820545
TI  - Erratum to: Risk factors for target non-attainment during empirical treatment
      with beta-lactam antibiotics in critically ill patients.

PMID- 25820544
TI  - Glyceronephosphate O-acyltransferase as a hemochromatosis modifier gene: Another
      iron in the fire?

PMID- 25820546
TI  - Capsule commentary on Mukhtar et al., Assessment of HBV preventive services in a
      medically underserved Asian and Pacific Islander population using provider and
      patient data.

PMID- 25820547
TI  - Unlicensed Health Care Personnel and Patient Outcomes.

PMID- 25820549
TI  - Electrochemical and physicochemical properties of small phosphonium cation ionic
      liquid electrolytes with high lithium salt content.
AB  - Electrolytes of a room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL),
      trimethyl(isobutyl)phosphonium (P111i4) bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (FSI) with a
      wide range of lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) salt concentrations (up to
      3.8 mol kg(-1) of salt in the RTIL) were characterised using a combination of
      techniques including viscosity, conductivity, differential scanning calorimetry
      (DSC), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), nuclear magnetic resonance
      (NMR) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). We show that the FSI-based electrolyte
      containing a high salt concentration (e.g. 1 : 1 salt to IL molar ratio,
      equivalent to 3.2 mol kg(-1) of LiFSI) displays unusual transport behavior with
      respect to lithium ion mobility and promising electrochemical behavior, despite
      an increase in viscosity. These electrolytes could compete with the more
      traditionally studied nitrogen-based ionic liquids (ILs) in lithium battery
      applications. 

PMID- 25820548
TI  - Dutch-Flemish translation of nine pediatric item banks from the Patient-Reported
      Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)(r).
AB  - PURPOSE: The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System
      (PROMIS((r))) is a new, state-of-the-art assessment system for measuring patient
      reported health and well-being of adults and children. It has the potential to be
      more valid, reliable, and responsive than existing PROMs. The items banks are
      designed to be self-reported and completed by children aged 8-18 years. The
      PROMIS items can be administered in short forms or through computerized adaptive
      testing. This paper describes the translation and cultural adaption of nine
      PROMIS item banks (151 items) for children in Dutch-Flemish. METHODS: The
      translation was performed by FACITtrans using standardized PROMIS methodology and
      approved by the PROMIS Statistical Center. The translation included four forward
      translations, two back-translations, three independent reviews (at least two
      Dutch, one Flemish), and pretesting in 24 children from the Netherlands and
      Flanders. RESULTS: For some items, it was necessary to have separate translations
      for Dutch and Flemish: physical function-mobility (three items), anger (one
      item), pain interference (two items), and asthma impact (one item). Challenges
      faced in the translation process included scarcity or overabundance of possible
      translations, unclear item descriptions, constructs broader/smaller in the target
      language, difficulties in rank ordering items, differences in unit of
      measurement, irrelevant items, or differences in performance of activities. By
      addressing these challenges, acceptable translations were obtained for all items.
      CONCLUSION: The Dutch-Flemish PROMIS items are linguistically equivalent to the
      original USA version. Short forms are now available for use, and entire item
      banks are ready for cross-cultural validation in the Netherlands and Flanders.

PMID- 25820550
TI  - A familial GLI2 deletion (2q14.2) not associated with the holoprosencephaly
      syndrome phenotype.
AB  - Molecular alterations of the GLI2 gene in 2q14.2 are associated with features
      from the holoprosencephaly spectrum. However, the phenotype is extremely
      variable, ranging from unaffected mutation heterozygotes to isolated or combined
      pituitary hormone deficiency, and to patients with a phenotype that overlaps with
      holoprosencephaly, including abnormal pituitary gland formation/function,
      craniofacial dysmorphisms, branchial arch anomalies, and polydactyly. Although
      many point mutations within the GLI2 gene have been identified, large (sub)
      microscopic deletions affecting 2q14.2 are rare. We report on a family with a 4.3
      Mb deletion in 2q14 affecting GLI2 without any dysmorphologic features belonging
      to the holoprosencephaly spectrum. This family confirms the incomplete penetrance
      of genomic disturbances affecting the GLI2 gene. However, the family presented
      here is unique as none of the three identified individuals with a GLI2 deletion
      showed any typical signs of holoprosencephaly, whereas all patients reported so
      far were referred for genetic testing because at least one member exhibited
      holoprosencephaly and related features.

PMID- 25820552
TI  - Isotachophoresis for fractionation and recovery of cytoplasmic RNA and nucleus
      from single cells.
AB  - There is a substantial need for simultaneous analyses of RNA and DNA from
      individual single cells. Such analysis provides unique evidence of cell-to-cell
      differences and the correlation between gene expression and genomic mutation in
      highly heterogeneous cell populations. We present a novel microfluidic system
      that leverages isotachophoresis to fractionate and isolate cytoplasmic RNA and
      genomic DNA (gDNA) from single cells. The system uniquely enables independent,
      sequence-specific analyses of these critical markers. Our system uses a
      microfluidic chip with a simple geometry and four end-channel electrodes, and
      completes the entire process in <5 min, including lysis, purification,
      fractionation, and delivery to DNA and RNA output reservoirs, each containing
      high quality and purity aliquots with no measurable cross-contamination of
      cytoplasmic RNA versus gDNA. We demonstrate our system with simultaneous,
      sequence-specific quantitation using off-chip RT-qPCR and qPCR for simultaneous
      cytoplasmic RNA and gDNA analyses, respectively. 

PMID- 25820551
TI  - Exercise training and return to a well-balanced diet activate the neuregulin
      1/ErbB pathway in skeletal muscle of obese rats.
AB  - KEY POINTS: Some studies suggest that neuregulin 1 (NRG1) could be involved in
      the regulation of skeletal muscle energy metabolism in rodents. Here we assessed
      whether unbalanced diet is associated with alterations of the NRG1 signalling
      pathway and whether exercise and diet might restore NRG1 signalling in skeletal
      muscle of obese rats. We show that diet-induced obesity does not impair NRG1
      signalling in rat skeletal muscle. We also report that endurance training and a
      well-balanced diet activate the NRG1 signalling in skeletal muscle of obese rats,
      possibly via a new mechanism mediated by the protease ADAM17. These results
      suggest that some beneficial effects of physical activity and diet in obese rats
      could be partly explained by stimulation of the NRG1 signalling pathway.
      ABSTRACT: Some studies suggest that the signalling pathway of neuregulin 1
      (NRG1), a protein involved in the regulation of skeletal muscle metabolism, could
      be altered by nutritional and exercise interventions. We hypothesized that diet
      induced obesity could lead to alterations of the NRG1 signalling pathway and that
      chronic exercise could improve NRG1 signalling in rat skeletal muscle. To test
      this hypothesis, male Wistar rats received a high fat/high sucrose (HF/HS) diet
      for 16 weeks. At the end of this period, NRG1 and ErbB expression/activity in
      skeletal muscle was assessed. The obese rats then continued the HF/HS diet or
      were switched to a well-balanced diet. Moreover, in both groups, half of the
      animals also performed low intensity treadmill exercise training. After another 8
      weeks, NRG1 and ErbB expression/activity in skeletal muscle were tested again.
      The 16 week HF/HS diet induced obesity, but did not significantly affect the
      NRG1/ErbB signalling pathway in rat skeletal muscle. Conversely, after the switch
      to a well-balanced diet, NRG1 cleavage ratio and ErbB4 amount were increased.
      Chronic exercise training also promoted NRG1 cleavage, resulting in increased
      ErbB4 phosphorylation. This result was associated with increased protein
      expression and phosphorylation ratio of the metalloprotease ADAM17, which is
      involved in NRG1 shedding. Similarly, in vitro stretch-induced activation of
      ADAM17 in rat myoblasts induced NRG1 cleavage and ErbB4 activation. These results
      show that low intensity endurance training and well-balanced diet activate the
      NRG1-ErbB4 pathway, possibly via the metalloprotease ADAM17, in skeletal muscle
      of diet-induced obese rats.

PMID- 25820553
TI  - Italian Society of Endocrinology Consensus Statement: definition, evaluation and
      management of patients with mild primary hyperparathyroidism.

PMID- 25820554
TI  - ROS-Induced Nuclear Translocation of Calpain-2 Facilitates Cardiomyocyte
      Apoptosis in Tail-Suspended Rats.
AB  - Isoproterenol (ISO) induced nuclear translocation of calpain-2 which further
      increased susceptibility of cardiomyocyte apoptosis in tail-suspended rats. The
      underlying mechanisms remain elusive. In the present study, the results showed
      that ISO (10 nM) significantly elevated NADPH oxidases (NOXs) activity and NOXs
      derived ROS productions which induced nuclear translocation of calpain-2 in
      cardiomyocytes of tail-suspended rats. In contrast, the inhibition of NADPH
      oxidase or cleavage of ROS not only reduced ROS productions, but also resisted
      nuclear translocation of calpain-2 and decreased ISO-induced apoptosis of
      cardiomyocyte in tail-suspended rats. ISO also increased the constitutive binding
      between calpain-2 and Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II deltaB (CaMK
      II deltaB) in nuclei, concomitant with the promotion of CaMK II deltaB
      degradation and subsequent down-regulation of Bcl-2 mRNA expression and the ratio
      of Bcl-2 to Bax protein in tail-suspended rat cardiomyocytes. These effects of
      ISO on cardiomyocytes were abolished by a calpain inhibitor PD150606. Inhibition
      of calpain significantly reduced ISO-induced loss of the mitochondrial membrane
      potential, cytochrome c release into the cytoplasm, as well as the activation of
      caspase-3 and caspase-9 in mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. In summary, the above
      results suggest that ISO increased NOXs-derived ROS which activated nuclear
      translocation of calpain-2, subsequently nuclear calpain-2 degraded CaMK II
      deltaB which reduced the ratio of Bcl-2 to Bax, and finally the mitochondria
      apoptosis pathway was triggered in tail-suspended rat cardiomyocytes. Therefore,
      calpain-2 may represent a potentially therapeutic target for prevention of
      oxidative stress-associated cardiomyocyte apoptosis.

PMID- 25820555
TI  - Metformin reduces ovarian cancer risk in Taiwanese women with type 2 diabetes
      mellitus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Whether metformin therapy affects ovarian cancer risk in Asian
      patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus has not been investigated. METHODS: Data
      analysis was performed in 2014. The reimbursement databases of Taiwanese female
      patients with a new diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus between 1998 and 2002
      (n = 479,475) were retrieved from the National Health Insurance for follow-up of
      ovarian cancer until the end of 2009. Metformin was treated as a time-dependent
      variable; and of these patients, 286,106 were never-users, and 193,369 were ever
      users. A time-dependent approach was used to calculate ovarian cancer incidence
      and estimate hazard ratios by Cox regression for never-users (as referent group),
      ever-users and subgroups of metformin exposure (tertiles of cumulative duration
      and cumulative dose). RESULTS: During follow-up, 601 metformin ever-users and
      2600 never-users developed ovarian cancer, representing an incidence of 49.4 and
      146.4 per 100,000 person-years, respectively. The overall fully adjusted hazard
      ratio (95% confidence intervals) for ever-users versus never-users was 0.658
      (0.593-0.730). The fully adjusted hazard ratios for the first, second and third
      tertiles of cumulative duration of metformin therapy were 1.169 (1.019-1.341),
      0.761 (0.644-0.898) and 0.276 (0.225-0.340), respectively (p trend < 0.01) and
      1.220 (1.067-1.395), 0.610 (0.513-0.725) and 0.305 (0.248-0.374), respectively (p
      trend < 0.01), for a cumulative dose of metformin. In additional analyses,
      sulfonylureas but not the other antidiabetic drugs were associated with a reduced
      risk of ovarian cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Metformin use is associated with a decreased
      risk of ovarian cancer.

PMID- 25820556
TI  - Effect of interleukin-1beta and dehydroepiandrosterone on the expression of
      lumican and fibromodulin in fibroblast-like synovial cells of the human
      temporomandibular joint.
AB  - Several epidemiological studies have reported that temporomandibular disorders
      (TMDs) are more prevalent in women than in men. It has recently been proposed
      that sex hormones such as estrogen, testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone
      (DHEA) are involved with the pathogenesis of TMDs. Although studies have
      investigated the relationship between estrogen and testosterone and the
      restoration of TMDs, the relationship between DHEA and TMDs is unknown. The
      synovial tissue of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is made up of connective
      tissue with an extracellular matrix (ECM) composed of collagen and proteoglycan.
      One proteoglycan family, comprised of small leucine-rich repeat proteoglycans
      (SLRPs), was found to be involved in collagen fibril formation and interaction.
      In recent years, the participation of SLRPs such as lumican and fibromodulin in
      the internal derangement of TMJ has been suggested. Although these SLRPs may
      contribute to the restoration of the synovium, their effect is still unclear. The
      purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of DHEA, a sex hormone, on
      the expression of lumican and fibromodulin in human temporomandibular specimens
      and in cultured human TMJ fibroblast-like synovial cells in the presence or
      absence of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta). In the in
      vivo study, both normal and osteoarthritic (OA) human temporomandibular synovial
      tissues were immunohistochemically examined. In the in vitro study, five
      fibroblast-like synoviocyte (FLS) cell lines were established from human TMJ
      synovial tissue of patients with osteoarthritis. The subcultured cells were then
      incubated for 3, 6, 12 or 24 h with/without IL-1beta (1 ng/mL) in the presence or
      absence of DHEA (10 MUM). The gene expression of lumican and fibromodulin was
      examined using the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and their protein
      expression was examined using immunofluorescent staining. We demonstrated that
      the expression of lumican significantly differs from that of fibromodulin in
      synovial tissue in OA and furthermore, that IL-1beta induced a significant
      increase in lumican mRNA and immunofluorescent staining in FLS compared to cells
      without IL-1beta. DHEA plus IL-1beta induced a significant increase in
      fibromodulin, but not in lumican mRNA, compared to DHEA alone, IL-1beta alone and
      in the absence of DHEA and IL-1beta. In immunofluorescent staining, weaker
      fibromodulin staining of FLS cells was observed in cells cultured in the absence
      of both DHEA and IL-1beta compared to fibromodulin staining of cells cultured
      with DHEA alone, with DHEA plus IL-1beta, or with IL-1beta alone. These results
      indicate that DHEA may have a protective effect on synovial tissue in TMJ by
      enhancing fibromodulin formation after IL-1beta induced inflammation. DHEA
      enhancement of fibromodulin expression may also exert a protective effect against
      the hyperplasia of fibrous tissue that TGF-beta1 induces. In addition lumican and
      fibromodulin are differentially expressed under different cell stimulation
      conditions and lumican and fibromodulin may promote regeneration of the TMJ after
      degeneration and deformation induced by IL-1beta. 

PMID- 25820557
TI  - Are podoplanin and ezrin involved in the invasion process of the ameloblastomas?
AB  - The association between podoplanin and ezrin in the process of odontogenic tumors
      invasion has been suggested, but was not studied yet. Our purpose was to
      investigate the relationship between podoplanin and ezrin expressions in the
      odontogenic epithelium of ameloblastomas. Forty-seven ameloblastomas were
      analyzed by immunohistochemistry using anti-podoplanin and anti-ezrin antibodies.
      The expressions of both proteins were evaluated using a score method and the
      comparison and association between these proteins were verified, respectively, by
      Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test and by Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, using a
      statistical significance level of 0.05. The majority of tumors (87.2%) exhibited
      strong membranous expression of podoplanin in the peripheral cells. Cytoplasmic
      expression of ezrin in the peripheral cells of ameloblastomas was stronger than
      its membranous expression. No statistically significant correlation was observed
      between podoplanin and ezrin. However, there was statistically significant
      difference between membranous podoplanin and membranous ezrin expressions,
      between cytoplasmic podoplanin and membranous ezrin expressions, and between
      cytoplasmic podoplanin and cytoplasmic ezrin expressions. There was no
      statistical difference between membranous podoplanin and cytoplasmic ezrin
      expressions. These results suggest a synergistic role of both proteins in the
      process of invasion of ameloblastomas. 

PMID- 25820558
TI  - RANK/RANKL/OPG signaling pathways in necrotic jaw bone from bisphosphonate
      treated subjects.
AB  - Osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) is a chronic complication affecting long-term
      bisphosphonate-treated subjects, recognized by non-healing exposed bone in the
      maxillofacial region. The pathophysiological mechanism underlying ONJ has not
      been fully elucidated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role
      of RANK/RANKL/OPG signaling pathway and, in parallel, to evaluate angiogenic and
      matrix mineralization processes in jaw bone necrotic samples obtained from
      bisphosphonate-treated subjects with established ONJ. Necrotic bone samples and
      native bone samples were processed for Light and Field Emission in Lens Scanning
      Electron Microscope (FEISEM) analyses, for Real-Time RT-PCR to evaluate the gene
      expression of TNFRSF11A (RANK), TNFSF11 (RANKL), and TNFSF11B (OPG) and for
      immunohistochemical analyses of VEGF and BSP expression. Morphological analyses
      performed by Light microscope and FEISEM show empty osteocytic lacunae and
      alteration of lamellar organization with degradation of the mineralized bone
      matrix in necrotic bone samples. A significant increase in TNFRSF11A, TNFSF11,
      TRAF6 and NFAT2 gene expression, and a reduction of TNFSF11B gene transcription
      level compared is also showed in necrotic bone compared to control samples. No
      significant difference of VEGF expression is evidenced, while lower BSP
      expression in necrotic bone compared to healthy samples is found. Even if the
      pathogenesis of bisphosphonate-associated ONJ remains unknown, a link between
      oral pathogens and its development seems to exist. We suppose lipopolysaccharide
      produced by bacteria colonizing and infecting necrotic bone and the surrounding
      viable area could trigger RANK/RANKL/OPG signaling pathway and, in this context,
      osteoclasts activation could be considered as a protective strategy carried out
      by the host bone tissue to delimitate the necrotic area and to counteract
      infection. 

PMID- 25820559
TI  - Seasonal expression of androgen receptor, aromatase, and estrogen receptor alpha
      and beta in the testis of the wild ground squirrel (Citellus dauricus Brandt).
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate the seasonal expression of androgen
      receptor (AR), estrogen receptors alpha and beta (ERalpha and ERbeta) and
      aromatase cytochrome P450 (P450arom) mRNA and protein by real-time PCR and
      immunohistochemistry in the wild ground squirrel (WGS) testes. Histologically,
      all types of spermatogenic cells including mature spermatozoa were identified in
      the breeding season (April), while spermatogonia and primary spermatocytes were
      observed in the nonbreeding season (June), and spermatogonia, primary
      spermatocytes and secondary spermatocytes were found in pre-hibernation
      (September). AR was present in Leydig cells, peritubular myoid cells and Sertoli
      cells in the breeding season and pre-hibernation with more intense staining in
      the breeding season, whereas AR was only found in Leydig cells in the nonbreeding
      season; P450arom was expressed in Leydig cells, Sertoli cells and germ cells
      during the breeding season, whereas P450arom was found in Leydig cells and
      Sertoli cells during pre-hibernation, but P450arom was not present in the
      nonbreeding season; stronger immunohistochemical signal for ERalpha was present
      in Sertoli cells and Leydig cells during the breeding season; ERbeta was only
      expressed in Leydig cells of the breeding season. Consistent with the
      immunohistochemical results, the mean mRNA level of AR, P450arom, ERalpha and
      ERbeta were higher in the testes of the breeding season when compared to pre
      hibernation and the nonbreeding season. These results suggested that the seasonal
      changes in spermatogenesis and testicular recrudescence and regression process in
      WGSs might be correlated with expression levels of AR, P450arom and ERs, and that
      estrogen and androgen may play an important autocrine/paracrine role to regulate
      seasonal testicular function. 

PMID- 25820560
TI  - Elastofibroma dorsi: a histochemical and immunohistochemical study.
AB  - Elastofibroma dorsi (ED) is considered a member of a heterogeneous group of
      benign fibrous (fibroblastic or myofibroblastic) soft-tissue tumors, frequently
      localized in the periscapular region in middle aged or older individuals.
      However, the pathogenesis of ED is still unclear and many authors believe that ED
      results from a reactive hyperproliferation of fibroblastic tissue, while others
      suggest that it may be a consequence of a mechanical friction. In our study, we
      examined 11 cases of ED using histochemical and immunohistochemical methods, in
      order to extend the knowledge about extracellular matrix composition and
      histopathogenesis of ED. From the results it appeared that stroma and
      interspersed spindle cells of ED were positive for both periostin and tenascin-C.
      Mast cells tryptase-positive were also abundant throughout the lesion. The
      perivascular distribution of periostin and tenascin-C, associated with the CD34
      positivity, suggest that endothelial-mesenchymal transition events can account
      for neovascularization and production of fibroelastic tissue characteristic of
      elastofibroma. Our data obtained in endothelial cells cultures demonstrated that
      elastin production is higher when the status of confluence of the cells is low.
      So, we can assume that such a phenomenon is a characteristic of
      mesenchymal/endothelial cells CD34 positive, in which elastin production results
      to be inversely proportional to the vascular differentiation of cellular
      elements. In the light of these considerations, we think that a cancerous nature
      of ED is unlikely. Overall, our study report, for the first time, a detailed
      description of extracellular matrix composition in ED, suggesting that a
      mechanical strain-dependent reactivation of periostin and tenascin-C expression,
      as well as of elastin deposition, could be responsible for development of ED. 

PMID- 25820561
TI  - Effects of lead pollution on Ammonia parkinsoniana (foraminifera):
      ultrastructural and microanalytical approaches.
AB  - The responses of Ammonia parkinsoniana (Foraminifera) exposed to different
      concentrations of lead (Pb) were evaluated at the cytological level. Foraminifera
      bearing sediments were placed in mesocosms that were housed in aquaria each with
      seawater of a different lead concentration. On the basis of transmission electron
      microscopy and environmental scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy
      dispersive spectrometer analyses, it was possible to recognize numerous
      morphological differences between untreated (i.e., control) and treated (i.e.,
      lead enrichment) specimens. In particular, higher concentrations of this
      pollutant led to numerical increase of lipid droplets characterized by a more
      electron-dense core, proliferation of residual bodies, a thickening of the
      organic lining, mitochondrial degeneration, autophagosome proliferation and the
      development of inorganic aggregates.  All these cytological modifications might
      be related to the pollutant-induced stress and some of them such as the
      thickening of organic lining might suggest a potential mechanism of protection
      adopted by foraminifera. 

PMID- 25820562
TI  - Muc5ac mucin expression during rat skin development.
AB  - Some mucin genes have been detected during human embryonic and fetal organ
      development; however, little is known about mucin expression in epidermal
      development, neither in humans nor in other species. The present research was
      developed to explore Muc5ac skin expression during prenatal and postnatal rat
      development. Immunohistochemistry (IHC), Western blotting (WB) and RT-PCR were
      employed. By IHC, Muc5ac protein was found early in embryonic epidermis from day
      13 of gestation until seven days after birth when the surface epidermis became
      negative and the reaction was restricted to secreting sebum cells. In coincidence
      with IHC findings, WB analysis showed a band at approximately 200KDa at the same
      periods of development. Results were also confirmed by RT-PCR. Muc5ac expression
      in rat embryonic epidermis suggests that Muc5ac may play a protective role in
      embryonic skin previous to birth which may be replaced by pile covering. To our
      knowledge, this is the first report which confirmed Muc5ac expression during skin
      development. CONCLUSION:   Muc5ac expression in rat embryonic epidermis suggests
      that Muc5ac may play a protective role in embryonic skin previous to birth which
      may be replaced by pile covering. To our knowledge, this is the first report
      which confirmed Muc5ac expression during skin development.

PMID- 25820563
TI  - Preferentially regulated expression of connexin 43 in the developing spiral
      ganglion neurons and afferent terminals in post-natal rat cochlea.
AB  - The expression pattern of connexin 43 (Cx43) in the cochlea is not determined and
      is controversial. Since the presence of Cx43 is essential for hearing, we re
      examined its distribution during postnatal development of rat cochlea. Cx43
      protein was expressed in spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) and their neurite
      terminals innervating the inner and outer hair cells (IHCs and OHCs) as early as
      birth (post-natal day 0, P0), and persisted until P14. Double immunofluorescence
      staining, using two antibodies against Cx43 and TUJ1, a marker for all SGNs and
      afferent terminals, showed that immunoreactivity for Cx43 and TUJ1 was perfectly
      colocalized in SGNs and afferent terminals associated with the IHCs and OHCs.
      However, beyond P14, Cx43 immunostaining could no longer be detected in the
      region of the synaptic terminals at the bases of IHCs and OHCs (P17, adult). In
      contrast, Cx43 maintained its expression in SGNs into adulthood. We further
      performed quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction
      (qRT-PCR) to identify the presence of Cx43 mRNA in the modiolus (mainly
      containing SGNs). Cx43 mRNA was higher at P8, compared with P1, and subsequently
      decreased at P14. These results indicated that Cx43 correlated with cochlear
      synaptogenesis and establishment of auditory neurotransmission. 

PMID- 25820564
TI  - Lipofuscin, lipofuscin-like pigments and autofluorescence.
AB  - A brief overview is here provided on lipofuscin and lipofuscin-like substances,
      with particular reference to their biological significance as well as to their
      cellular origin and pathophysiological role. Special emphasis is also placed on
      the mutual relationships between lipofuscin and lipofuscin-like lipopigments on
      one side, and cell autofluorescence on the other. 

PMID- 25820565
TI  - Internalized chitosan nanoparticles persist for long time in cultured cells.
AB  - Chitosan-based nanoparticles (chiNPs) are considered to be potentially good
      carriers for the sustained intracellular delivery of specific molecules. However,
      scarce attention has been paid to the long-lasting permanence of these NPs in the
      intracellular milieu, as well as to their intracellular fate (i.e., distribution,
      interaction with cell organelles, and degradation) in the long term. In the
      present study, the presence and subcellular location of FITC-labelled chiNPs were
      monitored in HeLa cells up to 14 days post-administration using multicolor
      fluorescence confocal microscopy and diaminobenzidine photo-oxidation at
      transmission electron microscopy. The main result of the present study is the
      demonstration that internalized chiNPs persist inside the cell up to two weeks,
      occurring in both the cytoplasm and nucleus; accordingly, chiNPs are able to pass
      from mother to daughter cells through several mitotic cycles. The cells did not
      show increased mortality or structural damage up to 14 days after chiNP exposure.

PMID- 25820568
TI  - The fuss over lipo"fuss"cin: not all autofluorescence is the same.
AB  - Since the first description of cellular autofluorescence over a century ago, we
      have now come to appreciate that autofluorescence should not be discarded as a
      biological artifact but embraced as a biological phenomenon with potentially
      important cellular relevance. Indeed, cellular and tissue autofluorescence has
      been attributed to a spectrum of unrelated molecules such as porphyrins, vitamins
      (vitamin A, riboflavin, thiamine), structural proteins, lipofuscin and ceroid
      pigments. We have recently shown that freshly isolated epithelial cancer stem
      cells (CSCs) bear autofluorescent vesicles in the cytoplasm. Our studies
      definitively prove that riboflavin and not lipofuscin is the source of
      autofluorescence in CSCs as the inhibition of ATP and not autophagy eliminates
      CSC autofluorescence, that the ATP-dependent transporter ABCG2, for which
      riboflavin is a substrate, is overexpressed in autofluorescent CSCs and co
      localizes with the membrane of intracellular autofluorescent vesicles, the ABCG2
      specific inhibitor Fumitremorgin C reversibly eliminates CSC autofluorescence,
      riboflavin is a substrate for ABCG2, and only the addition of riboflavin to
      vitamin-deprived CSC cultures is capable of restoring autofluorescence. Thus, the
      sum of these data unequivocally supports the conclusion that the source of CSC
      autofluorescence is the vitamin riboflavin. 

PMID- 25820569
TI  - Erratum - Analysis of extracellular superoxide dismutase and Akt in ascending
      aortic aneurysm with tricuspid or bicuspid aortic valve.
AB  - This correct the article published on European Journal of Histochemistry
      2014;58:200-206 doi: 10.4081/ejh.2014.2383. 

PMID- 25820570
TI  - Functional Complementation Assay for 47 MUTYH Variants in a MutY-Disrupted
      Escherichia coli Strain.
AB  - MUTYH-associated polyposis (MAP) is an adenomatous polyposis transmitted in an
      autosomal-recessive pattern, involving biallelic inactivation of the MUTYH gene.
      Loss of a functional MUTYH protein will result in the accumulation of G:T
      mismatched DNA caused by oxidative damage. Although p.Y179C and p.G396D are the
      two most prevalent MUTYH variants, more than 200 missense variants have been
      detected. It is difficult to determine whether these variants are disease-causing
      mutations or single-nucleotide polymorphisms. To understand the functional
      consequences of these variants, we generated 47 MUTYH gene variants via site
      directed mutagenesis, expressed the encoded proteins in MutY-disrupted
      Escherichia coli, and assessed their abilities to complement the functional
      deficiency in the E. coli by monitoring spontaneous mutation rates. Although the
      majority of variants exhibited intermediate complementation relative to the wild
      type, some variants severely interfered with this complementation. However, some
      variants retained functioning similar to the wild type. In silico predictions of
      functional effects demonstrated a good correlation. Structural prediction of
      MUTYH based on the MutY protein structure allowed us to interpret effects on the
      protein stability or catalytic activity. These data will be useful for evaluating
      the functional consequences of missense MUTYH variants detected in patients with
      suspected MAP. 

PMID- 25820572
TI  - On-line visualization of multicolor chemical images with stimulated Raman
      scattering spectral microscopy.
AB  - We demonstrate multicolor, on-line visualization in label-free biomedical
      microscopy based on stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). Fast data acquisition of
      SRS spectral images and subsequent image generation are achieved. The loading
      vectors for the blind separation of chemical components are predetermined by
      multivariate analysis at a certain field of view (FOV) and are applied to execute
      on-line visualization of chemical images at other FOVs. We also show that the
      response time can be shortened by reducing the number of spectral data points.
      This on-line visualization system is expected to increase the usability of the
      Raman imaging system and the analytical throughput for screening. 

PMID- 25820571
TI  - Downregulation of ubiquitin inhibits the proliferation and radioresistance of non
      small cell lung cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Radioresistance has been an important factor in restricting efficacy of
      radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and new approaches
      to inhibit cancer growth and sensitize irradiation were warranted. Despite the
      important role of ubiquitin/proteasome system (UPS) during cancer progression and
      treatment, the expression and biological role of ubiquitin (Ub) in human NSCLC
      has not been characterized. In this study, we found that ubiquitin was
      significantly overexpressed in 75 NSCLC tissues, compared to their respective
      benign tissues by immunohistochemistry (P < 0.0001). Knock-down of ubiquitin by
      mixed shRNAs targeting its coding genes ubiquitin B (UBB) and ubiquitin C (UBC)
      suppressed the growth and increased the radiosensitivity in NSCLC H1299 cells.
      Apoptosis and gamma H2AX foci induced by X-ray irradiation were enhanced by knock
      down of ubiquitin. Western blot and immunostaining showed that knock-down of
      ubiquitin decreased the expression and translocation of NF-kappaB to the nucleus
      by reduced phospho-IkappaBalpha after irradiation. Suppression of ubiquitin
      decreased the proliferation and radioresistance of H1299 transplanted xenografts
      in nude mice by promoting apoptosis. Taken together, our results demonstrate the
      critical role of ubiquitin in NSCLC proliferation and radiosensitivity. Targeting
      ubiquitin may serve as a potentially important and novel approach for NSCLC
      prevention and therapy. 

PMID- 25820573
TI  - Identification of the dye adsorption modes in dye-sensitised solar cells with X
      ray spectroscopy techniques: a computational study.
AB  - Adsorption geometry of dye molecules can have a substantial impact on the
      efficiency and functional lifespan of a dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC) and
      therefore, its reliable assessment is an important step in engineering more
      efficient DSSCs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of oxygen is empirically
      proved to be the most efficient technique in distinguishing between the two most
      occurring adsorption geometries, i.e. monodentate and bidentate. In this
      computational study, we provide a comprehensive analysis of XPS and X-ray
      absorption spectroscopy (XAS) of carbon and oxygen for these binding modes in a
      perylene-sensitised TiO2. We confirm that O 1s XPS has an excellent sensitivity
      in mode identification. Moreover, we show that adsorption has a great impact on
      the XPS binding energies and reduces them by ~4 eV, and using this effect, we
      extend the XPS usage to study dye desorption in the cell. Finally, our results
      for XAS indicate that although less sensitive, the spectra from carbon can be
      used in mode detection. 

PMID- 25820574
TI  - Effectiveness and safety of calcineurin inhibitor withdrawal in kidney
      transplantation: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose was to compare the effectiveness and safety of
      calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) withdrawal and continued therapies in kidney
      transplant recipients. METHODS: We searched the PubMed, MEDLINE, Springer,
      Elsevier Science Direct, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar up to May 2014. Risk
      ratio (RR) or weighted mean difference (WMD) and their 95 % confidence intervals
      (CIs) were calculated in fixed-effects model or random-effects model when
      appropriate. Besides, sensitivity analysis was performed based on the addition of
      sirolimus in initial immunosuppression protocols. RESULTS: Total seven studies
      with 1071 kidney transplant recipients received CNIs withdrawal therapy
      (experimental group) and 792 kidney transplant recipients received CNIs continued
      therapy (control group) were included in the meta-analysis. The overall estimates
      of acute rejection rate (RR = 1.64, 95 % CI: 1.19-2.27, P = 0.003), mean measured
      glomerular filtration rate (WMD = 9.50, 95 % CI = 2.96-16.03, P = 0.004),
      thrombocytopenia (RR = 3.39, 95 % CI: 2.27-5.05, P < 0.00001) and hypertension
      (RR = 0.56, 95 % CI: 0.40-0.78, P = 0.0006) showed that there were significant
      differences between the CNIs withdrawal and continued therapies in kidney
      transplant recipients, while no significant differences were found between groups
      in survival rate, graft survival rate, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia,
      hypertriglyceridemia and malignancies. In addition, two studies, in which
      sirolimus was not used in initial immunosuppression protocol, were excluded in
      sensitivity analysis and the results were still consistent with the overall
      analysis. CONCLUSIONS: CNIs withdrawal therapy in kidney transplant recipients
      could significantly decrease risk of hypertension and improve glomerular
      filtration rate, accompanying with increased risk of acute rejection and
      thrombocytopenia, compared with the CNIs continued therapy.

PMID- 25820575
TI  - CO oxidation catalysed by Pd-based bimetallic nanoalloys.
AB  - Density functional theory based global geometry optimization has been used to
      demonstrate the crucial influence of the geometry of the catalytic cluster on the
      energy barriers for the CO oxidation reaction over Pd-based bimetallic
      nanoalloys. We show that dramatic geometry change between the reaction
      intermediates can lead to very high energy barriers and thus be prohibitive for
      the whole process. This introduces challenges for both the design of new
      catalysts, and theoretical methods employed. On the theory side, a careful choice
      of geometric configurations of all reaction intermediates is crucial for an
      adequate description of a possible reaction path. From the point of view of the
      catalyst design, the cluster geometry can be controlled by adjusting the level of
      interaction between the cluster and the dopant metal, as well as between the
      adsorbate molecules and the catalyst cluster by mixing different metals in a
      single nanoalloy particle. We show that substitution of a Pd atom in the Pd5
      cluster with a single Ag atom to form Pd4Ag1 leads to a potential improvement of
      the catalytic properties of the cluster for the CO oxidation reaction. On the
      other hand, a single Au atom does not enhance the properties of the catalyst,
      which is attributed to a weaker hybridization between the cluster's constituent
      metals and the adsorbate molecules. Such flexibility of properties of bimetallic
      nanoalloy clusters illustrates the possibility of fine-tuning, which might be
      used for design of novel efficient catalytic materials. 

PMID- 25820577
TI  - Precision of 5 different keratometry devices.
AB  - To compare the precision among currently available keratometry devices. The
      corneal power was measured on two separate visits with the Nidek TonoRef II
      Autorefractor/Keratometer, the Zeiss IOLMaster 500, the Haag-Streit Lenstar LS
      900, the Oculus Pentacam, and the Oculus Keratograph 4M. The precision was
      evaluated as the mean absolute intersession difference (MAD) between the corneal
      power measurements for each patient. Only the non-operated eye was included in
      the study. The Keratograph was found to have the highest MAD (0.215 D), which was
      significantly different from the other devices except for the IOLMaster. Nidek
      ARK had the lowest MAD (0.097 D), but this was not significant compared to
      Pentacam (0.124 D), Lenstar (0.132 D), or IOLMaster (0.140 D). Only one out of 29
      patients had a precision difference exceeding 0.25 D with the Nidek ARK. Among
      the devices studied, the Nidek ARK was found to have the highest and the
      Keratograph was found to have to the lowest precision for the measurement of
      corneal power.

PMID- 25820576
TI  - Clinical, anatomical, and electrophysiological assessments of the central retina
      following intravitreal bevacizumab for macular edema secondary to retinal vein
      occlusion.
AB  - The purpose of this study is to evaluate the long-term visual, anatomical and
      electrophysiological outcomes of repeated intravitreal injections of bevacizumab
      for macular edema due to retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and investigate any
      possible toxic effects on the central fovea. This is a prospective,
      noncomparative, interventional case series. Thirty-three eyes of 33 patients with
      macular edema secondary to RVO were treated with 1.25 mg/0.05 ml intravitreal
      bevacizumab. Nine patients had nonischemic central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO)
      and 24 patients had branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO). The main outcome
      measures were best-corrected visual acuity, central retinal thickness (CRT), and
      multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) responses changes at baseline, 1 month
      after the third injection and at the end of the 2-year long follow-up period.
      Patients with CRVO had mean best-corrected Snellen visual acuity of 0.10 at
      baseline, which improved significantly to 0.31 after 2 years (P = 0. 028).The
      mean CRT at presentation was 756.28 MUm and reduced significantly to 439.14 MUm
      after 2 years (P = 0.05). Patients with BRVO had mean best-corrected Snellen
      visual acuity of 0.19 at baseline, which improved significantly to 0.40 after 2
      years (P < 0.001). The mean CRT at presentation was 681.04 MUm and reduced
      significantly to 369.81 MUm after 2 years (P < 0.001). Mean mfERG responses
      within central 10 degrees  (ring1, ring2) showed statistically significant
      differences on P1 parameters in terms of response density and implicit time after
      2 years in both CRVO and BRVO patients. Repeated intravitreal bevacizumab
      injections for macular edema due to either CRVO or BRVO resulted in long-term
      improvement of visual acuity, a reduction in CRT and statistically significant
      changes in the mfERG responses with nondemonstrable toxic effects on the central
      fovea.

PMID- 25820578
TI  - Systematic Evaluation of the Upper Airway in a Sample Population: Factors
      Associated with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the anatomy of the upper airway (UA) of a
      representative sample of the adult population of Sao Paulo city, Brazil, and to
      identify factors associated with the presence of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome
      (OSAS), as confirmed using full-night polysomnography (PSG). STUDY DESIGN: Cross
      sectional study. SETTING: Population-based sample. METHODS: A 3-stage sampling
      procedure was used to proportionally recruit adult residents of Sao Paulo city
      according to gender, age, and socioeconomic status. A complete evaluation was
      performed, including a systematic evaluation of the UA prior to conducting PSG.
      RESULTS: Nine-hundred ninety-three (90.2%) of the participants were seen by an
      ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist. Individuals who were diagnosed with OSAS
      (32.9%) presented a higher frequency of nasal symptoms and structural
      abnormalities (both nasal and oropharyngeal) compared with those without OSAS. No
      anatomical differences were observed in the facial skeleton. An abnormal nasal
      structure visible via anterior rhinoscopy was the only UA factor predicting OSAS
      after adjustments for the other common OSAS risk factors (male sex, aging,
      obesity, and increased neck circumference). CONCLUSION: This is the first study
      in which a systematic evaluation of the UA was followed by a sleep study in a
      population-based sample. In a sample of the general population that had not
      previously been screened for OSAS, having an abnormal nasal structure was found
      to be a risk factor for OSAS, in conjunction with other well-established clinical
      and demographic factors, such as male gender, increased age, increased neck
      circumference, and body mass index.

PMID- 25820579
TI  - Public awareness of human papillomavirus as a causative factor for oropharyngeal
      cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the public's awareness of human papillomavirus (HPV) as a
      causative factor for oropharyngeal cancer. STUDY DESIGN: Twenty-three-item
      survey. SETTING: Local shopping malls and Maxwell Air Force Base in 2012.
      METHODS: Respondents were randomly chosen to participate in 23-item survey at
      various local shopping malls and at Maxwell Air Force Base in 2012. The chi(2)
      test was used in statistical analysis. RESULTS: The majority of respondents (n =
      319) were civilians; 158 were military officer trainees (MOTs). All MOTs had a
      bachelor's degree or higher, while 37% of civilian respondents had a bachelor's
      degree or higher. Most MOTs (82%) were aware of oropharyngeal cancer, and 53% of
      civilians had not heard of oropharyngeal cancer (P < .0001). Most respondents
      (73% civilian and 91% military) were aware of the association between HPV and
      cervical cancer. Conversely, 75% of civilian population and 49% of MOTs were not
      aware of the association between HPV and oropharyngeal cancer (P < .0001). The
      majority of respondents (61% military and 81% civilian) did not know that both
      sexes were eligible for HPV vaccine (P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Most respondents
      were aware that HPV is a causative agent of cervical cancer. However, the
      majority were not aware of the association between oropharyngeal cancer and HPV.
      Furthermore, many respondents were not aware that HPV equally affects males and
      females and that the vaccine is available for both sexes. This underscores the
      need to educate the public on the availability of HPV vaccine and the association
      between HPV and oropharyngeal cancer.

PMID- 25820580
TI  - Myringotomy and ventilation tube insertion with endoscopic or microscopic
      technique in adults: a pilot study.
AB  - The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility of endoscopic-assisted
      myringotomy and ventilation tube insertion in adults affected by chronic otitis
      media with effusion, comparing the outcomes of this approach with those obtained
      with the traditional microscopic technique. Twenty-four patients were enrolled in
      this trial and alternately assigned to 2 groups of 12 subjects each. In group A,
      patients underwent myringotomy and ventilation tube insertion under endoscopic
      view, whereas in group B, the same procedure was performed traditionally using a
      microscope. All cases were evaluated 1 week after surgery and then monthly until
      tube extrusion. Type A tympanogram was achieved in 10 of 13 ears in both groups
      (76.92%). No significant difference in operative times or complication rates was
      observed (P > .05). Endoscopic technique could be a viable alternative to the
      microscopic approach for myringotomy and ventilation tube positioning in adults
      affected by chronic otitis media with effusion. 

PMID- 25820581
TI  - Office-Based Photoangiolytic Laser Treatment of Reinke's Edema: Safety and Voice
      Outcomes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety, tolerability, and voice outcomes of office
      based photoangiolytic laser treatment of Reinke's edema. STUDY DESIGN: Case
      series with chart review. SETTING: Academic medical center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS:
      We performed a retrospective analysis of patients undergoing office-based laser
      treatment of endoscopy-proven Reinke's edema. Safety and tolerability were
      evaluated by reviewing complications. Voice outcomes were analyzed by comparing
      pre- and postprocedural acoustic, aerodynamic, and Voice Handicap Index
      measurements. Complete data sets were not available for all subjects; sample size
      for each parameter is reported with the corresponding result. RESULTS: Nineteen
      patients met inclusion criteria. There were no minor or major complications. Five
      procedures were truncated due to patient intolerance. Phonatory frequency range
      increased (n = 12, P = .003), while percent jitter decreased (n = 12, P = .004).
      Phonation threshold pressure decreased after treatment (n = 4, P = .049). Voice
      Handicap Index also decreased (n = 14, P < .001). CONCLUSION: This study
      represents the largest series of patients undergoing office-based photoangiolytic
      laser treatment specifically for Reinke's edema. Our data suggest that this is a
      safe and effective modality to treat dysphonia associated with Reinke's edema,
      although patient intolerance of the procedure may represent a barrier.

PMID- 25820582
TI  - Objective vestibular testing of children with dizziness and balance complaints
      following sports-related concussions.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To conduct objective assessment of children with balance and
      vestibular complaints following sports-related concussions and identify the
      underlying deficits by analyzing laboratory test outcomes. STUDY DESIGNS: Case
      series with chart review. SETTING: Pediatric tertiary care facility. SUBJECTS AND
      METHODS: Medical records were reviewed of 42 pediatric patients with balance
      and/or vestibular complaints following sports-related concussions who underwent
      comprehensive laboratory testing on their balance and vestibular function.
      Patients' characteristics were summarized and results analyzed. RESULTS: More
      than 90% of the children with protracted dizziness or imbalance following sports
      related concussion had at least 1 abnormal finding from the comprehensive balance
      and vestibular evaluation. The most frequent deficit was found in dynamic visual
      acuity test, followed by Sensory Organization Test and rotational test. Patient's
      balance problem associated with concussion seemed to be primarily instigated by
      vestibular dysfunction. Furthermore, semicircular canal dysfunction was involved
      more often than dysfunction of otolith organs. Yet, <10% of the children
      experienced a hearing loss following sports-related concussion. CONCLUSIONS:
      Vestibular impairment is common among children with protracted dizziness or
      imbalance following sports-related concussion. Our study demonstrated that proper
      and thorough evaluation is imperative to identify these underlying deficits and
      laboratory tests were helpful in the diagnosis and recommendation of following
      rehabilitations.

PMID- 25820583
TI  - Seeding of recipient-originated epithelial cells attenuates epithelial to
      mesenchymal transition in rat tracheal allotransplantation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The specific role and mechanism of epithelium in the progression of
      obliterative airway disease (OAD) after tracheal allotransplantation remain
      poorly understood. In this study, we used rat heterotopic tracheal
      transplantation to investigate the mechanism of epithelial cell seeding during
      the process of OAD. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, basic science. SETTING: Research
      laboratory. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In total, 120 Sprague Dawley (SD) rats and 90
      Wistar rats were used. Tracheas from SD rats were implanted into SD rats
      (syngeneic, n = 30) or Wistar rats (allogeneic, n = 30), and SD rat tracheas
      (seeded with Wistar rat-derived epithelial cells 6 days after transplantation)
      were transplanted into Wistar rats (seeded allogeneic, n = 30). Grafts were
      harvested at 7, 14, or 30 days after transplantation for histologic, quantitative
      reverse transcriptional polymerase chain reaction or Western blot analyses.
      RESULTS: Syngrafts retained normal histologic structures, while the corresponding
      allografts demonstrated less ciliated epithelia and more lumenal occlusion.
      Seeding of epithelial cells ameliorated the histologic changes, reduced the
      expression of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related transcriptional
      factors and mesenchymal markers, and dampened the expression of transforming
      growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1) and phosphorylation of smad3. CONCLUSION: Seeding
      of recipient epithelial cells inhibits the progression of OAD by attenuating EMT
      via TGF-beta-Smad signaling in rat heterotopic tracheal allografts. Clinically,
      the injection of recipient-originated epithelial cells might provide new insights
      into the treatment for OAD after tracheal allotransplantation.

PMID- 25820584
TI  - The effect of tonsillectomy alone in adult obstructive sleep apnea.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of tonsillectomy
      as a single procedure in the treatment of adult obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
      STUDY DESIGN: Prospective multi-institutional study evaluating adults with
      tonsillar hypertrophy scheduled to undergo tonsillectomy as an isolated surgery.
      SETTING: Tertiary care medical centers within the US Department of Defense.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Adult subjects with tonsillar hypertrophy who were already
      scheduled for tonsillectomy were enrolled from October 2010 to July 2013.
      Subjects underwent physical examination, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Berlin
      Questionnaire, and polysomnogram before surgery and after. Collected data
      included demographics, questionnaire scores, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), and
      lowest saturation of oxygen. RESULTS: A total of 202 consecutive subjects
      undergoing tonsillectomy were enrolled. The final analysis included 19 subjects
      testing positive for OSA. The mean age was 27.9 years; mean body mass index,
      29.6; median tonsil size, 3; and most frequent Friedman stage, 1. The AHI before
      surgery ranged from 5.4 to 56.4 events per hour. The mean AHI decreased from 18.0
      to 3.2 events per hour after surgery, a reduction of 82%. The responder rate-
      with subjects achieving at least a 50% reduction of AHI to a value <15--was
      94.7%. Following tonsillectomy, there were statistically significant reductions
      in median lowest saturation of oxygen level and Epworth Sleepiness Scale and
      Berlin scores. CONCLUSIONS: Adult tonsillectomy alone has beneficial effect in
      OSA management, particularly in young overweight men with large tonsils, moderate
      OSA, and low Friedman stage.

PMID- 25820585
TI  - Unexpected Detection of Parotid Gland Malignancy during Primary Extracapsular
      Dissection.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the oncologic and functional outcome in cases in which a
      false preoperative working hypothesis "benign parotid tumor" led to a primary
      extracapsular dissection being performed rather than a traditional, more radical
      surgical modality. STUDY DESIGN: Case series with chart review. SETTING: Academic
      tertiary referral center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The records of all patients
      treated for malignant tumors of the parotid gland between 2006 and 2012 were
      retrospectively studied. Patients were excluded from our study sample for
      insufficient data or if their histories indicated manifestation of malignant
      tumors without primary parotid origin (squamous cell carcinomas, lymphomas,
      melanomas), revision surgery, as well as concomitant or past malignant tumors.
      Consequently, a total of 29 patients with 30 primary malignant tumors of the
      parotid gland formed our study sample (14 men, 15 women; male:female ratio,
      0.93:1; mean age, 55.4 years; range, 14-85 years). RESULTS: Of 30 cases, 22 had
      low-grade tumors. Further tumor cells were detected in only the histology
      specimens of the parotid in 3 of the 25 cases treated subsequently with
      completion parotidectomy. Five patients received adjuvant radiation. Five-year
      disease-specific survival was 100%; local disease control was 96.6%. Of 30 cases,
      28 had House-Brackmann I after tumor treatment; the other 2 cases had a slight
      paralysis (House-Brackmann II). CONCLUSION: Beginning with the "false" working
      hypothesis and performing an extracapsular dissection in unsuspected cases seems
      to have no adverse impact on patients' survival and postoperative quality of life
      in cases in which definitive histology reveals malignancy.

PMID- 25820586
TI  - Corticosteroid use does not alter nasal mucus glucose in chronic rhinosinusitis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate nasal mucus glucose concentrations in patients with and
      without chronic rhinosinusitis and determine if corticosteroid therapy alters
      mucus glucose. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: Single
      tertiary care center. SUBJECTS: Ninety-five patients presenting to an
      otolaryngology clinic. METHODS: Participants completed questionnaires that
      included a history of medical and surgical therapies as well as sinusitis
      specific quality-of-life measurements. Nasal mucus was collected in an outpatient
      clinic using an open cell foam technique. The nasal mucus glucose concentrations
      of patients with and without chronic rhinosinusitis were compared to the use of
      systemic and topical glucocorticoid treatment. RESULTS: A statistically
      significant difference was measured between mean nasal glucose secretions of
      control patients, 10.2 mg/dL, compared with patients diagnosed with chronic
      rhinosinusitis, 18.4 mg/dL (P < .0001). Use of corticosteroids, both topical and
      systemic, did not correlate with nasal glucose concentrations. CONCLUSION:
      Patients diagnosed with chronic rhinosinusitis have elevated nasal glucose
      concentrations compared with control patients, and this elevated nasal glucose
      level was independent of corticosteroid use. Nasal glucose may independently
      contribute to the pathophysiology of chronic rhinosinusitis.

PMID- 25820587
TI  - Eosinophilic Laryngitis in Children with Aerodigestive Dysfunction.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the presence of laryngeal eosinophils and associated
      symptomatology in patients with aerodigestive dysfunction. STUDY DESIGN: Case
      series with chart review. SETTING: Single tertiary pediatric referral center.
      SUBJECTS: Eighty-one consecutive pediatric patients referred to a
      multidisciplinary aerodigestive clinic with upper airway concerns. METHODS:
      Microlaryngoscopy and posterior arytenoid biopsy, flexible bronchoscopy,
      esophagogastroduodenoscopy and esophageal biopsy, and impedance probe testing
      were performed as indicated by clinical symptoms. Positive versus negative
      posterior arytenoid biopsy for eosinophils and the presence or absence of
      concomitant histopathological laryngitis and/or esophagitis were measured.
      RESULTS: Nine of 81 (11%) patients had positive laryngeal biopsy for eosinophils
      (range, 1-29 eosinophils/high-powered field [HPF]). Three of these 9 patients
      also had concurrent biopsy-proven eosinophilic esophagitis, while 8 of 81 total
      patients had biopsy-proven eosinophilic esophagitis. The frequency of biopsy
      proven eosinophilic esophagitis was higher in patients with posterior arytenoid
      eosinophils versus patients without laryngeal eosinophils (33% versus 6.9%, P =
      .0408). CONCLUSIONS: Eosinophilic inflammation in the larynx has not been
      described in children with complex aerodigestive complaints. Posterior arytenoid
      eosinophils may serve as a marker of chronic laryngeal inflammation in children
      with aerodigestive dysfunction, although their exact role in this inflammation
      remains unclear. In our population, >15 eosinophils/HPF within posterior
      arytenoid biopsies was associated with concomitant eosinophilic esophagitis.

PMID- 25820588
TI  - Pediatric head and neck malignancies: incidence and trends, 1973-2010.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Determine the current epidemiology of head and neck (H&N) cancer in
      the US pediatric population. STUDY DESIGN: Analysis of national tumor registries
      comparing childhood H&N cancer trends to overall childhood cancer trends.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results)
      database was accessed to gather epidemiologic data regarding pediatric H&N cancer
      between 1973 and 2010. Specific trends related to demographic background,
      histologic diagnosis, tumor location, and incidence, as well as general trends of
      all pediatric cancers, were extracted. RESULTS: The total burden and incidence
      rates of pediatric cancer as well as H&N cancer continue to rise. Cancer was
      diagnosed in children <15 years old at a rate of 12.5 cases (95% confidence
      interval [CI], 11.9-13.1) per 100,000 from 1973 to 1975 and 17.3 (95% CI, 16.7
      17.9) from 2007 to 2009, an increase of 38%. H&N cancers in the same age group
      increased from 1.1 (95% CI, 0.9-1.2) in 1973-1975 to 1.6 (95% CI, 1.4-1.8) in
      2007-2009, an increase of 45%. Despite this apparent increased incidence, the
      proportion of H&N cancers to all cancers in the pediatric population has remained
      stable. CONCLUSION: As with all pediatric cancer, the public health burden of
      pediatric H&N cancer continues to rise. The proportion of H&N malignancy to all
      pediatric cancer is stable. With the incidence increasing, however, work to
      identify treatment strategies remains crucial.

PMID- 25820589
TI  - Airway Management in Severe Combat Maxillofacial Trauma.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Airway stabilization is critical in combat maxillofacial injury as
      normal anatomical landmarks can be obscured. The study objective was to
      characterize the epidemiology of airway management in maxillofacial trauma. STUDY
      DESIGN: Retrospective database analysis. SETTING: Military treatment facilities
      in Iraq and Afghanistan and stateside tertiary care centers. SUBJECTS: In total,
      1345 military personnel with combat-related maxillofacial injuries sustained
      March 2004 to August 2010 were identified from the Expeditionary Medical
      Encounter Database using International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision,
      Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes. METHODS: Descriptive statistics,
      including basic demographics, injury severity, associated injuries, and airway
      interventions, were collected. A logistic regression was performed to determine
      factors associated with the need for tracheostomy. RESULTS: A total of 239 severe
      maxillofacial injuries were identified. The most common mechanism of injury was
      improvised explosive devices (66%), followed by gunshot wounds (8%), mortars
      (5%), and landmines (4%). Of the subjects, 51.4% required intubation on their
      initial presentation. Of tracheostomies, 30.4% were performed on initial
      presentation. Of those who underwent bronchoscopy, 65.2% had airway inhalation
      injury. There was a significant relationship between the presence of head and
      neck burn and association with airway inhalation injury (P < .0001). There was
      also a significant relationship between the severity of facial injury and the
      need for intubation (P = .002), as well as the presence of maxillofacial fracture
      and the need for tracheostomy (P = .0001). CONCLUSIONS: There is a high incidence
      of airway injury in combat maxillofacial trauma, which may be underestimated.
      Airway management in this population requires a high degree of suspicion and low
      threshold for airway stabilization.

PMID- 25820590
TI  - Free flaps in head and neck reconstruction after oncologic surgery: expected
      outcomes in the elderly.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To provide surgeons and clinicians with a critical review of
      microvascular reconstructive options and their expected outcomes after head and
      neck cancer resection in the elderly. DATA SOURCES: Medline, Isiweb, and Cochrane
      databases. REVIEW METHODS: A literature search was performed in May 2014 and
      included studies published between 2000 and 2014. Keywords were used for articles
      identification, and inclusion criteria were defined for consideration in the
      present review. CONCLUSIONS: Evaluation of the pertinent literature is hampered
      by a number of biases, such as a lack of general consensus of a definition of
      "elderly," differences among scales used to quantify comorbidities, and
      subjective evaluation of flap-related and systemic complications. However, our
      findings showed no differences in terms of free flap success, surgical
      complications, or mortality rate between older and younger patients. Moreover,
      recipient site complications do not seem to be affected by age. IMPLICATION FOR
      PRACTICE: Microvascular reconstruction in the elderly can be performed with high
      success rates, even though medical complications can occur more frequently
      compared to younger patients. Minor and major surgical complications in the
      elderly appear to be comparable to those in the younger population and do not
      affect final outcome or the perioperative mortality rate. Flap outcome does not
      seem to be significantly affected by age. Careful preoperative assessment and
      postoperative monitoring are mandatory to prevent adverse events, and prompt
      management is warranted whenever present.

PMID- 25820591
TI  - The Role of Obstruction Length and Height in Predicting Outcome of Velopharyngeal
      Surgery.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To measure obstruction length and height using drug-induced sleep
      endoscopy (DISE) in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients and to evaluate their
      association with outcomes of velopharyngeal surgery. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective
      cohort study. SETTING: University medical center. METHODS: Forty-three
      consecutive patients with OSA were evaluated by DISE using dexmedetomidine. The 2
      new parameters, obstruction length (defined as the distance from the most
      superior point of the collapse to the most inferior point of the collapse) and
      obstruction height (the distance from the posterior border of the nasal septum to
      the most proximal point of the collapse), were measured by both DISE and a
      pressure transducer catheter method before surgery. All of the patients received
      velopharyngeal surgery, including revised uvulopalatopharyngoplasty with uvula
      preservation and transpalatal advancement pharyngoplasty. We followed up with all
      of the patients using polysomnography at least 3 months after surgery. RESULTS:
      Twenty-six (60.5%) patients were responders, and 17 (39.5%) were nonresponders.
      The mean obstruction length and obstruction height were 1.3 +/- 0.5 cm (range,
      0.4-2.2 cm) and 3.4 +/- 0.9 cm (range, 1.1-5.0 cm), respectively. Nonresponders
      had a longer obstruction length and a shorter obstruction value. Multivariate
      logistic regression analysis revealed that obstruction length >1.4 cm (odds ratio
      [OR], 0.21; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.04-0.98; P = .048) and obstruction
      height >=3.2 cm (OR, 9.35; 95% CI, 1.79-48.80; P = .008) were the only
      independent predictors of velopharyngeal surgery success. CONCLUSIONS: Accurate
      measurement of obstruction length and height can be performed with both DISE and
      a pressure transducer catheter method. The 2 parameters can predict the outcome
      of velopharyngeal surgery.

PMID- 25820593
TI  - Enantioselective Allylation of (2E,4E)-2,4-Dimethylhexadienal: Synthesis of
      (5R,6S)-(+)-Pteroenone.
AB  - Allylation, trans- and cis-crotylation of (2E,4E)-2,4-dimethylhexadienal, a
      representative alpha,beta,gamma,delta-unsaturated aldehyde, was carried out under
      different catalytic and stoichiometric conditions. The reactions catalyzed by
      organocatalysts TRIP-PA and N,N'-dioxides gave the best results with respect to
      yields, asymmetric induction, and catalyst load in comparison to other
      procedures. The developed methodology was applied in the enantioselective
      synthesis of (5R,6S)-(+)-pteroenone, a defensive metabolite (ichthyodeterrent) of
      the Antarctic pteropod Clione antarctica. 

PMID- 25820592
TI  - Retrospective analysis of metastatic behaviour of breast cancer subtypes.
AB  - Among breast cancer patients who develop distant metastases, there is marked
      variability in the clinical course, including metastasis pattern. Here, we
      present a retrospective study of breast cancer patients who all developed distant
      metastases focusing on the association between breast cancer subtype and clinical
      course, including organ-specific metastasis. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) were
      assembled and stained for ER, PR, HER2, EGFR, CK5/6, CK14, E-Cadherin, TP53 and
      Ki67 for 263 breast cancer patients with metastatic disease. Tumours were
      classified into ER+/HER2-/Ki67high, ER+/HER2-/Ki67low, ER+/HER2+, ER-/HER2+ and
      ER-/HER2- groups. Relevant data related to metastasis pattern, metastasis
      timeline, systemic treatment and survival were retrieved. Associations between
      site-specific relapse and patient/tumour characteristics were assessed with
      multivariate models using logistic regression. Median time for development of
      distant metastasis was 30 months (range 0-15.3 years); 75.8 % of the distance
      metastases developed in the first 5 years after treatment of the primary tumour.
      Patients with ER-/HER2- tumours had a median overall survival of 27 months; those
      with HER2+ tumours of 52 months; those with ER+/HER2-/Ki67high of 76 months and
      those with ER+/HER2-/Ki67low of 79 months. Bone was the most common site for
      distant metastasis (70.6 %) followed by liver (54.5 %) and lung (31.4 %),
      respectively. Visceral metastasis was found in 76.8 % of the patients. Patients
      with ER-/HER2- tumours developed visceral metastases in 81 % and bone metastases
      in 55.2 %; those with HER2+ tumours developed visceral metastases in 77.4 % and
      bone metastases in 69.8 %; those with ER+/HER2-/Ki67high developed visceral
      metastases in 75.7 % and bone metastases in 87.8 % and those with ER+/HER2
      /Ki67low developed visceral metastases in 76.9 % and bone metastases in 73.1 %.
      In metastatic breast cancer patients, tumour subtypes are associated with
      survival and pattern of distant metastases. These associations are of help in
      choices for surveillance and therapy in individual patients.

PMID- 25820594
TI  - Synthesis and conformation of 3,6-connected cyclohexadiene chains.
AB  - 3,6-Connected cyclohexadienes as precursors for polyphenylenes are synthesized
      and characterized by mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. Pure fractions of
      trimers, hexamers, and nonamers are collected after separation of the product
      mixture by recycling GPC. The anticipated formation of rigid linear structures,
      due to the trans-configuration of the monomeric units, is supported by density
      functional theory and experimentally confirmed by dynamic light scattering from
      dilute solution at low scattering angles. The obtained translational diffusion
      coefficients are represented by rigid rod-like or prolate ellipsoid-like
      molecular shapes. The measurements of diffusion coefficients reveal a length
      dependent ratio of 1:2:3 between the three oligomers, which directly correlates
      to the expected length extension from trimer to nonamer. 

PMID- 25820595
TI  - The Impact of the Birth of a Child with Intellectual Disabilities on Pre-Existing
      Parental Christian Faith from the Perspective of Parents Who Have Parented Their
      Child to Adulthood.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Faith in the lives of UK families with an adult with intellectual
      disabilities is an under-researched area with little existing literature.
      Research in the United States with Christian parents suggests that they draw on
      their faith for coping (Rogers-Dulan 1998) and for understanding (Skinner et al.
      1999). METHODS: In this study, grounded theory methodology has been used to
      examine the impact on pre-existing parental faith of the birth of a child with
      intellectual disabilities from the perspective of parents who have parented their
      children to adulthood. Seventeen parents or couples took part in semistructured
      qualitative interviews about their faith. RESULTS: The majority of parents after
      their child were diagnosed with intellectual disabilities went through a period
      of flux when they questioned the role of God in the disability. CONCLUSIONS: The
      positive or negative connotations of the attempts at meaning-making did not
      impact on the eventual outcome for the parents. They eventually put such
      existential questions aside, accepted their child, and continued in their faith.
      The implications of the research for health professionals, church organizations
      and researchers are considered.

PMID- 25820596
TI  - Recent advances in near-infrared fluorescence-guided imaging surgery using
      indocyanine green.
AB  - Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging has better tissue penetration, allowing
      for the effective rejection of excitation light and detection deep inside organs.
      Indocyanine green (ICG) generates NIR fluorescence after illumination by an NIR
      ray, enabling real-time intraoperative visualization of superficial lymphatic
      channels and vessels transcutaneously. The HyperEye Medical System (HEMS) can
      simultaneously detect NIR rays under room light to provide color imaging, which
      enables visualization under bright light. Thus, NIR fluorescence imaging using
      ICG can provide for excellent diagnostic accuracy in detecting sentinel lymph
      nodes in cancer and microvascular circulation in various ischemic diseases, to
      assist us with intraoperative decision making. Including HEMS in this system
      could further improve the sentinel lymph node mapping and intraoperative
      identification of blood supply in reconstructive organs and ischemic diseases,
      making it more attractive than conventional imaging. Moreover, the development of
      new laparoscopic imaging systems equipped with NIR will allow fluorescence-guided
      surgery in a minimally invasive setting. Future directions, including the
      conjugation of NIR fluorophores to target specific cancer markers might be
      realistic technology with diagnostic and therapeutic benefits. 

PMID- 25820597
TI  - Highlights of the Twelfth Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Cancer and Ageing
      Research.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: This paper reports the highlights of the presentation at the
      Twelfth Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Cancer and Ageing Research was held at the
      auditorium of Saitama Cancer Center in Saitama, Japan, in June 19-21, 2014.
      RESULTS: Thirty-two oral presentations were delivered on various themes, such as
      therapeutic agents, cancer stem cells, EMT signaling, molecular epidemiology,
      cellular senescence, and clinical research, to more than 80 participants. The
      significance of translational research was emphasized in clinical sessions by
      physicians. A special session, "Thinking about Scientific Philosophy," featured
      presentations by distinguished scientists from Japan and Korea. CONCLUSION: We
      really feel that this meeting of minds has a unique and creative purpose, and a
      role of a prototype for Joint Symposia in Asian countries. The next Symposium is
      anticipated in 2016 in Jeju, Korea.

PMID- 25820598
TI  - The prognostic impact of EGFR, ErbB2 and MET gene amplification in human gastric
      carcinomas as measured by quantitative Real-Time PCR.
AB  - PURPOSE: Identification of critical genes which play pivotal roles in controlling
      tumor growth and survival will establish the basis for developing therapeutic
      targets. In this study, we focused on frequencies of EGFR, ErbB2 and MET gene
      amplification in gastric cancer patients to develop personalized medicine to
      improve the treatment. METHOD: EGFR, ErbB2 and MET gene amplification, and mRNA
      expression were analyzed by the quantitative Real-Time PCR in paraffin-embedded
      samples from 115 patients with gastric cancer. RESULTS: EGFR, ErbB2 and MET genes
      were amplified in 11.3 % (13/115), 6.1 % (7/115) and 19.1 % (22/115) of cancerous
      specimens, respectively. The correlation coefficient test clearly indicated that
      gene amplification in these three genes was positively correlated with mRNA
      transcription (EGFR: R = 0.631, p = 0.009; ErbB2: R = 0.652, p = 0.023; MET: R =
      0.715, p < 0.001). EGFR and MET gene amplification was significantly associated
      with Ki-67 MI (p = 0.022 and p = 0.015). MET amplification was also significantly
      associated with age of >=60 years (p = 0.021) and tumor size of >=5 cm (p =
      0.032). MET amplification, but not EGFR and ErbB2, was a significant prognostic
      factor in poor survival among patients with gastric cancer. CONCLUSIONS: EGFR,
      ErbB2 and MET genes are frequently amplified in gastric carcinoma. EGFR, ErbB2
      and MET gene amplification is positively correlated with mRNA transcription. MET
      gene amplification correlates with a poor prognosis and poor survival in gastric
      carcinomas.

PMID- 25820599
TI  - Divergent ontogenies of trophic morphology in two closely related haplochromine
      cichlids.
AB  - Fish develop morphological specializations in their trophic and locomotor systems
      as a result of varying functional demands in response to environmental pressures
      at different life stages. These specializations should maximize particular
      performances in specialists, adapting them to their trophic and habitat niches at
      each ontogenetic stage. Because differential growth rates of the structural
      components comprised in the head are likely to be linked to the diet of a fish
      throughout its development, we investigated the ontogenetic development of two
      haplochromine cichlid species belonging to different trophic guilds. We employed
      geometric morphometric techniques to evaluate whether starting from
      morphologically similar fry they diverge into phenotypes that characterize
      trophic guilds and locomotor types. Our examination of overall body shape shows
      that certain specialized morphological features are already present in fry,
      whereas other traits diverge through ontogeny due to differences in species
      specific allometric variation. Allometric shape variation was found to be more
      relevant for the biter specialist than for the sucker morphotype. Our results
      confirm that phenotypic changes during ontogeny can be linked to dietary and
      habitat shifts in these fish. Furthermore, evidence for an integrated development
      of trophic and locomotor specializations in morphology was observed.

PMID- 25820600
TI  - Cellulase recycling in biorefineries--is it possible?
AB  - On a near future, bio-based economy will assume a key role in our lives.
      Lignocellulosic materials (e.g., agroforestry residues, industrial/solid wastes)
      represent a cheaper and environmentally friendly option to fossil fuels. Indeed,
      following suitable processing, they can be metabolized by different
      microorganisms to produce a wide range of compounds currently obtained by
      chemical synthesis. However, due to the recalcitrant nature of these materials,
      they cannot be directly used by microorganisms, the conversion of polysaccharides
      into simpler sugars being thus required. This conversion, which is usually
      undertaken enzymatically, represents a significant part on the final cost of the
      process. This fact has driven intense efforts on the reduction of the enzyme cost
      following different strategies. Here, we describe the fundamentals of the enzyme
      recycling technology, more specifically, cellulase recycling. We focus on the
      main strategies available for the recovery of both the liquid- and solid-bound
      enzyme fractions and discuss the relevant operational parameters (e.g.,
      composition, temperature, additives, and pH). Although the efforts from the
      industry and enzyme suppliers are primarily oriented toward the development of
      enzyme cocktails able to quickly and effectively process biomass, it seems clear
      by now that enzyme recycling is technically possible. 

PMID- 25820601
TI  - Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy with fulleropyrrolidine: photoinactivation
      mechanism of Staphylococcus aureus, in vitro and in vivo studies.
AB  - A family of N-methylpyrrolidinium fullerene iodide salts has been intensively
      studied to determine their applicability in antimicrobial photodynamic therapy
      (APDT). This study examined in vitro the efficacy of a C60 fullerene
      functionalized with one methylpyrrolidinium group to kill upon irradiation with
      white light gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, as well as fungal cells,
      and the corresponding mechanism of the fullerene bactericidal action. The in
      vitro studies revealed that the high antistaphylococcal efficacy of
      functionalized fullerene could be linked to their ability to photogenerate
      singlet oxygen and superoxide anion. Following Staphylococcus aureus
      photoinactivation, no modifications of its genomic DNA were detected. In
      contrast, photodamage of the cell envelope seemed to be a dominant mechanism of
      bactericidal action. In in vivo studies, a 2 log10 reduction in the average
      bioluminescent radiance between treated and non-treated mice was reached. One day
      post APDT treatment, moist and abundant growth of bacteria could be observed on
      wounds of non-fulleropyrrolidine and dark control mice. APDT-treated wounds
      stayed visibly clear up to the third day. Moreover, cytotoxicity test on human
      dermal keratinocytes revealed great safety of using the sensitizer toward
      eukaryotic cells. These data indicate potential application of functionalized
      fullerene as antistaphylococcal sensitizer for superficial infections.

PMID- 25820602
TI  - Functional gene-based discovery of phenazines from the actinobacteria associated
      with marine sponges in the South China Sea.
AB  - Phenazines represent a large group of nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds
      produced by the diverse group of bacteria including actinobacteria. In this
      study, a total of 197 actinobacterial strains were isolated from seven different
      marine sponge species in the South China Sea using five different culture media.
      Eighty-seven morphologically different actinobacterial strains were selected and
      grouped into 13 genera, including Actinoalloteichus, Kocuria, Micrococcus,
      Micromonospora, Mycobacterium, Nocardiopsis, Prauserella, Rhodococcus,
      Saccharopolyspora, Salinispora, Serinicoccus, and Streptomyces by the
      phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene. Based on the screening of phzE genes, ten
      strains, including five Streptomyces, two Nocardiopsis, one Salinispora, one
      Micrococcus, and one Serinicoccus were found to be potential for phenazine
      production. The level of phzE gene expression was highly expressed in
      Nocardiopsis sp. 13-33-15, 13-12-13, and Serinicoccus sp. 13-12-4 on the fifth
      day of fermentation. Finally, 1,6-dihydroxy phenazine (1) from Nocardiopsis sp.
      13-33-15 and 13-12-13, and 1,6-dimethoxy phenazine (2) from Nocardiopsis sp. 13
      33-15 were isolated and identified successfully based on ESI-MS and NMR analysis.
      The compounds 1 and 2 showed antibacterial activity against Bacillus mycoides
      SJ14, Staphylococcus aureus SJ51, Escherichia coli SJ42, and Micrococcus luteus
      SJ47. This study suggests that the integrated approach of gene screening and
      chemical analysis is an effective strategy to find the target compounds and lays
      the basis for the production of phenazine from the sponge-associated
      actinobacteria.

PMID- 25820603
TI  - Comparison of Cancer-specific and General Health Literacy Assessments in an
      Educated Population: Correlations and Modifying Factors.
AB  - An information onslaught accompanies cancer diagnoses, but patient comprehension
      (health literacy; HL) is frequently low, impacting both immediate care and longer
      term follow-up. Knowledge and adoption of preventive measures is especially
      important for cancer survivors due to their increased risk of secondary malignant
      neoplasms. We sought to evaluate the Test of Functional Health Literacy Adult (S
      TOFHLA) against the recently developed cancer-specific Cancer Message Literacy
      Test (CMLT-r) among an educated population of both cancer survivors and those
      cancer-free. Participants were recruited 2013 (May through December) from various
      units within a local hospital and from several local churches, and each completed
      the S-TOFHLA and CMLT-r and provided demographic information and cancer status.
      The 109 participants had a mean age of 58 years and were as follows: 65.1 %
      female; 92.7 % white, 50.4 % college graduates, and 41.3 % cancer survivors. S
      TOFHLA scores ranged from 12-36 (mean 34.1) and non-significantly varied by
      gender, education, cancer status, and age. CMLT-r scores ranged from 28.6-100 %
      (mean 86.4 %) and significantly varied by education (p = 0.013), but not by
      gender, cancer status, or age. Overall, CMLT-r and S-TOFHLA significantly
      correlated (p < 0.001). Assessment scores were skewed towards the maximum with
      non-significant differences by cancer status. As cancer survivorship improves and
      as the population becomes more educated, more refined approaches to assess health
      literacy should be considered. Increased education does not imply increased
      health literacy, and cancer survivorship does not imply higher health or cancer
      literacy. Concerted efforts to improve patient understanding and implementation
      of preventive measures are imperative.

PMID- 25820604
TI  - The Development of a Communication Tool to Facilitate the Cancer Trial
      Recruitment Process and Increase Research Literacy among Underrepresented
      Populations.
AB  - Despite increasing need to boost the recruitment of underrepresented populations
      into cancer trials and biobanking research, few tools exist for facilitating
      dialogue between researchers and potential research participants during the
      recruitment process. In this paper, we describe the initial processes of a user
      centered design cycle to develop a standardized research communication tool
      prototype for enhancing research literacy among individuals from underrepresented
      populations considering enrollment in cancer research and biobanking studies. We
      present qualitative feedback and recommendations on the prototype's design and
      content from potential end users: five clinical trial recruiters and ten
      potential research participants recruited from an academic medical center.
      Participants were given the prototype (a set of laminated cards) and were asked
      to provide feedback about the tool's content, design elements, and word choices
      during semi-structured, in-person interviews. Results suggest that the prototype
      was well received by recruiters and patients alike. They favored the simplicity,
      lay language, and layout of the cards. They also noted areas for improvement,
      leading to card refinements that included the following: addressing additional
      topic areas, clarifying research processes, increasing the number of diverse
      images, and using alternative word choices. Our process for refining user
      interfaces and iterating content in early phases of design may inform future
      efforts to develop tools for use in clinical research or biobanking studies to
      increase research literacy. 

PMID- 25820607
TI  - Local and Global Dynamics: general discussion.

PMID- 25820605
TI  - Nutritional Online Information for Cancer Patients: a Randomized Trial of an
      Internet Communication Plus Social Media Intervention.
AB  - We hypothesized that cancer patients using an Internet website would show an
      improvement in the knowledge about healthy eating habits, and this might be
      enhanced by social media interaction. A 6-month randomized intervention was set
      up. Eligible subjects were allocated in intervention (IG) and control groups
      (CG). IG had access to the website, and CG was provided with printed versions.
      All enrolled participants filled in Nutrition Questionnaire (NQ), Quality of Life
      Questionnaire (QoL) and Psychological Distress Inventory (PDI), at baseline and
      after 6 months. The difference between post- vs pre-questionnaires was
      calculated. Seventy-four subjects (CG 39; IG 35) completed the study. There was
      an increase in the score after the intervention in both groups for the NQ, even
      if not statistically significant. Dividing the IG into three categories, no (NI),
      low (LI) and high interactions (HI), we found a decreased score (improvement) in
      the CG (-0.2) and in the HI (-1.7), and an increased score (worsening) in the NI
      (+3.3) (p = NS) analysing the PDI. We found an increased score in the QoL both in
      CG and IG (adjusted LSMeans +3.5 and +2.8 points, respectively; p = NS). This
      study represents an example for support cancer patients. Despite the lack of
      significant effects, critical points and problems encountered may be of interest
      to researchers and organization working in the cancer setting. Intervention
      strategies to support patients during the care process are needed in order to
      attain the full potential of patient-centred care on cancer outcomes.

PMID- 25820608
TI  - Image-defined risk factor assessment of neurogenic tumors after neoadjuvant
      chemotherapy is useful for predicting intra-operative risk factors and the
      completeness of resection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with neuroblastoma are now stratified at diagnosis according
      to the presence and number of image-defined risk factors (IDRFs). We examined the
      added value of IDRF assessment after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for predicting
      surgical resection. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From 2009-2012, 39 out of 91 patients
      operated on in our institution for neuroblastic tumors received neoadjuvant
      chemotherapy based on ongoing SIOPEN protocols or treatment guidelines. IDRFs
      were assessed both at diagnosis and preoperatively on CT and/or MRI. RESULTS:
      Median age at diagnosis was 30 months [range 2-191]. The tumor locations were
      adrenal (n = 20), paravertebral (n = 13) and perivascular (n = 6). INRGSS stages
      were L2 (n = 13), M (n = 25) and Ms (n = 1). Eleven tumors (28%) were MYCN
      amplified. Chemotherapy reduced the number of IDRFs in 54% of patients overall
      (21/39): 61.5% (16/26) of M and Ms patients, and 38.5% (5/13) of non metastatic
      patients (P < 0.001). The number of IDRFs lost after chemotherapy was
      proportional to the degree of tumor shrinkage (P = 0.002), independent of the
      primary tumor location (P = 0.73), although the number was higher in patients
      with left versus right adrenal locations (P = 0.004). Patients with neuroblastoma
      on post-surgical histology lost more IDRFs (median: 1[0-9]) than patients with
      ganglioneuroblastoma (median: 0[0-4]) (P < 0.001). The completeness of resection
      was related only to the number of preoperative IDRFs (P = 0.028). CONCLUSION:
      IDRF assessment after neoadjuvant chemotherapy is useful for predicting
      completeness of resection of neurogenic tumors. A larger international study is
      needed to confirm these results and to explore a possible correlation between
      preoperative IDRF status and survival.

PMID- 25820609
TI  - The long-sought seventeen-electron radical [(C6Me6)Cr(CO)3](+): isolation,
      crystal structure and substitution reaction.
AB  - A highly air-sensitive seventeen-electron half-sandwich radical,
      [(C6Me6)Cr(CO)3](+), which has been long sought over 40 years, was isolated and
      structurally characterized. EPR spectroscopy and theoretical calculations
      indicate that the spin density mainly resides on the chromium atom. The radical
      can undergo a substitution reaction with PPh3 to form a more stable cation,
      [(C6Me6)Cr(CO)2(PPh3)](+). This work provides a direct observation of the radical
      process for CO-substitution reactions found in (arene)M(CO)3 (M = Cr, Mo, or W)
      systems, and suggests that other stable radicals of the type [(arene)M(CO)3](+)
      are accessible. 

PMID- 25820610
TI  - The use of hemostatic agents does not prevent hemorrhagic complications of
      robotic partial nephrectomy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the impact of HA on robotic PN (RPN) outcomes. METHODS: We
      retrospectively analyzed data from patients who underwent RPN in eight centers
      between 2009 and 2013. Hemorrhagic complications were defined as the occurrence
      of a pseudoaneurysm, arteriovenous fistula or hematoma requiring transfusion.
      Patients were first divided into two groups: group A (use of at least one HA) and
      group B (no HA used), and then into five groups to assess the impact of each HA:
      group 1 (no HA), group 2 (Floseal((r)) only), group 3 (Surgicel((r)) only), group
      4 (Tachosil((r)) only) and group 5 (Surgicel((r)) + Floseal((r))). The impact of
      HA was evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Out of 515
      RPN, 315 (61 %) were done using at least one HA (group A) and 200 (39 %) were
      done without any HA (group B). Patients in both groups had similar hemorrhagic
      complication rates (13 % vs. 15 %, p = 0.42) and postoperative complication rates
      (19 % vs. 23 %, p = 0.32). In multivariate analysis, the absence of HA was not a
      risk factor for hemorrhagic complications (OR 0.77, p = 0.54). When each type of
      HA was considered individually, none was associated with the occurrence of
      hemorrhagic complication either in univariate or in multivariate analysis.
      CONCLUSION: In this multicenter study, the use of HA was not associated with a
      lower risk of hemorrhagic or global complications.

PMID- 25820611
TI  - Alcohol Outcome Expectancies and Regrettable Drinking-Related Social Behaviors.
AB  - AIMS: Research has shown that alcohol outcome expectancies are predictive of
      heavy alcohol consumption, which can lead to risky behavior. The purpose of the
      present study was to assess the incidence of various low-risk social behaviors
      while drinking among college students. Such social behaviors may later be
      regretted (referred to as regrettable social behaviors) and include electronic
      and in-person communications. METHODS: College students (N = 236) completed
      measures of alcohol outcome expectancies and regrettable social behaviors.
      RESULTS: Regrettable social behaviors were reported by 66.1% of participants,
      suggesting that they may occur at a much higher rate than more serious drinking
      related consequences (e.g., drinking and driving, violence, etc.). Expectancies
      for social facilitation predicted regrettable social behavior. Further, this
      relationship was mediated by amount of alcohol consumed. CONCLUSION: Given the
      high incidence, regrettable social behaviors may be effective targets in alcohol
      prevention programming.

PMID- 25820612
TI  - Efficacy and Safety of the 3-Month Formulation of Paliperidone Palmitate vs
      Placebo for Relapse Prevention of Schizophrenia: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Treatment nonadherence and relapse are common problems in patients
      with schizophrenia. The long-acting 3-month formulation of paliperidone
      palmitate, owing to its extended elimination half-life, may offer a valuable
      therapeutic option for these patients. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and
      safety of the 3-month formulation of paliperidone palmitate vs placebo in
      delaying time to relapse of schizophrenia symptoms. DESIGN, SETTING, AND
      PARTICIPANTS: This randomized, multicenter trial conducted from April 26, 2012,
      through April 9, 2014, in 8 countries consisted of 4 phases: 3-week screening
      phase, flexible-dose 17-week open-label transition phase, 12-week open-label
      maintenance phase, and open-ended double-blind (DB) phase. Of the 506 patients
      enrolled (aged 18-70 years; DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of schizophrenia), 305 were
      randomized to 3-month paliperidone palmitate (n = 160) or placebo (n = 145) in
      the DB phase. INTERVENTIONS: Patients received once-monthly doses of the 1-month
      formulation of paliperidone palmitate (50, 75, 100, or 150 mg eq) during the
      transition phase, followed by a single dose of the 3-month formulation (3.5 times
      the stabilized dose of once-monthly paliperidone palmitate) during the
      maintenance phase. Stabilized patients were randomized to receive either a fixed
      dose of 3-month paliperidone palmitate (175, 263, 350, or 525 mg eq) or placebo
      once every 3 months during the DB phase. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Time from
      randomization to the first relapse event (time to relapse) in the DB phase.
      RESULTS: In the interim analysis, time to first relapse was significantly
      different in favor of the paliperidone palmitate group vs the placebo group
      (hazard ratio = 3.45; 95% CI, 1.73-6.88; P < .001); median time to relapse was
      274 days for placebo but not estimable for 3-month paliperidone palmitate. An
      independent data monitoring committee recommended early study termination due to
      efficacy. In the DB phase, 183 of 305 patients (62% with 3-month paliperidone
      palmitate; 58% with placebo) had at least 1 treatment-emergent adverse event;
      those noted more frequently in the group receiving paliperidone palmitate than in
      the placebo group were headache (9% vs 4%), weight increased (9% vs 3%),
      nasopharyngitis (6% vs 1%), and akathisia (4% vs 1%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE:
      Compared with placebo, the 3-month formulation of paliperidone palmitate
      administered 4 times yearly significantly delayed time to relapse in patients
      with schizophrenia. The 3-month formulation was generally tolerable and has a
      safety profile consistent with other marketed paliperidone formulations. TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier:NCT01529515.

PMID- 25820614
TI  - Emotion Expression and Substance Use in Newly Parenting Adolescents and Young
      Adults.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Deficits in emotion expression skills have been associated with
      alcohol and substance use, but the mechanisms through which these associations
      occur are not well understood. The current study investigated (a) associations
      between emotion expression and substance use (i.e., alcohol, cigarettes, and
      marijuana) in newly parenting adolescents and young adults and (b) whether
      symptoms of depression and stress mediate these associations in young mothers and
      fathers. METHODS: Participants recruited from obstetrics and gynecology clinics
      completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, Perceived
      Stress Scale, Emotion Expression Scale for Children, and substance use items.
      RESULTS: Path analysis indicated that lower emotion expression at 6 months
      postpartum was significantly associated with more alcohol and marijuana use at 12
      months postpartum for males but not females. Also among males, stress levels at 6
      months postpartum partially mediated associations between emotion expression and
      alcohol and marijuana use at 12 months postpartum. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest
      that poor emotion expression skills are related to more substance use in young
      fathers, and levels of stress may partially account for this association.

PMID- 25820615
TI  - Object-location memory in adults with autism spectrum disorder.
AB  - This study tested implicit and explicit spatial relational memory in Autism
      Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Participants were asked to study pictures of rooms and
      pictures of daily objects for which locations were highlighted in the rooms.
      Participants were later tested for their memory of the object locations either by
      being asked to place objects back into their original locations or into new
      locations. Proportions of times when participants choose the previously studied
      locations for the objects irrespective of the instruction were used to derive
      indices of explicit and implicit memory [process-dissociation procedure, Jacoby,
      1991, 1998]. In addition, participants performed object and location recognition
      and source memory tasks where they were asked about which locations belonged to
      the objects and which objects to the locations. The data revealed difficulty for
      ASD individuals in actively retrieving object locations (explicit memory) but not
      in subconsciously remembering them (implicit memory). These difficulties cannot
      be explained by difficulties in memory for objects or locations per se (i.e., the
      difficulty pertains to object-location relations). Together these observations
      lend further support to the idea that ASD is characterised by relatively
      circumscribed difficulties in relational rather than item-specific memory
      processes and show that these difficulties extend to the domain of spatial
      information. They also lend further support to the idea that memory difficulties
      in ASD can be reduced when support is provided at test.

PMID- 25820613
TI  - Genome-wide association study of blood lead shows multiple associations near
      ALAD.
AB  - Exposure to high levels of environmental lead, or biomarker evidence of high body
      lead content, is associated with anaemia, developmental and neurological deficits
      in children, and increased mortality in adults. Adverse effects of lead still
      occur despite substantial reduction in environmental exposure. There is genetic
      variation between individuals in blood lead concentration but the polymorphisms
      contributing to this have not been defined. We measured blood or erythrocyte lead
      content, and carried out genome-wide association analysis, on population-based
      cohorts of adult volunteers from Australia and UK (N = 5433). Samples from
      Australia were collected in two studies, in 1993-1996 and 2002-2005 and from UK
      in 1991-1992. One locus, at ALAD on chromosome 9, showed consistent association
      with blood lead across countries and evidence for multiple independent allelic
      effects. The most significant single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs1805313 (P
      = 3.91 * 10(-14) for lead concentration in a meta-analysis of all data), is known
      to have effects on ALAD expression in blood cells but other SNPs affecting ALAD
      expression did not affect blood lead. Variants at 12 other loci, including ABO,
      showed suggestive associations (5 * 10(-6) > P > 5 * 10(-8)). Identification of
      genetic polymorphisms affecting blood lead reinforces the view that genetic
      factors, as well as environmental ones, are important in determining blood lead
      levels. The ways in which ALAD variation affects lead uptake or distribution are
      still to be determined. 

PMID- 25820616
TI  - Selection of a hepatitis C virus with altered entry factor requirements reveals a
      genetic interaction between the E1 glycoprotein and claudins.
AB  - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) cell entry is a complex, multistep process requiring
      numerous host cell factors, including the tight junction protein claudin-1
      (CLDN1). It is not known whether CLDN1 and the HCV glycoproteins physically
      interact. Therefore, the focus of this work was to study genetic interactions
      between CLDN1 and HCV. We used CRISPR technology to generate CLDN1 knockout (KO)
      Huh-7.5 cells, which could not be infected by genotype 2a Jc1 HCV unless CLDN1
      expression was restored. Passage of Jc1-transfected CLDN1 KO cells resulted in
      the selection of a virus that could infect these cells. This virus encoded a
      single mutation, H316N (numbered relative to the HCV polyprotein), in the E1
      glycoprotein. Whereas Jc1 H316N efficiently infected cells lacking CLDN1, such
      infection was blocked by an antibody targeting CLDN6, another member of the
      claudin family that is expressed in these cells. Furthermore, HuH6 cells, which
      express CLDN6, but not CLDN1, were infectable only with the mutant virus. Thus,
      this mutant virus adapted to the loss of CLDN1 by developing the capacity to
      utilize other CLDNs. Indeed, CLDN1/CLDN6 double-KO Huh-7.5 cells supported
      infection by the mutant virus only when CLDN1, CLDN6, or CLDN9 was expressed.
      Finally, this phenotype was not genotype dependent, given that the H316N mutation
      rendered a Japanese fulminant hepatitis 1 chimeric HCV genome encoding the
      genotype 5a glycoproteins able to utilize CLDN6 for host cell entry. CONCLUSION:
      These data demonstrate plasticity of HCV virus-host interactions, where a
      previously CLDN1-dependent virus was capable of evolving to use CLDN6. They also
      reveal a role for E1 in determining entry factor usage and imply a direct,
      physical interaction between E1 and CLDNs.

PMID- 25820617
TI  - New approaches in the design and development of cannabinoid receptor ligands:
      multifunctional and bivalent compounds.
AB  - Since the identification of the endocannabinoid system, two G protein-coupled
      receptors (GPCRs) of this complex system were identified and characterized:
      cannabinoid receptors type 1 (CB1R) and type 2 (CB2R). In addition to orthosteric
      and subsequently allosteric ligands, new strategies have been used to target
      CBRs. Bivalent ligands and multifunctional ligands acting at diverse biological
      targets have been designed, synthesized, and characterized for both CBRs. Due to
      their altered receptor binding and pharmacological profiles, they are interesting
      tools to explore CBR functions and their interactions with other physiological
      systems. Moreover, this approach may bear therapeutic advantages in the therapy
      of CBR-related disorders, especially multifactorial diseases. Promising prospects
      include anorectics with fewer side effects, analgesics with decreased tolerance,
      and therapeutics with multiple pharmacological activities for the treatment of
      cancer, inflammation, multiple sclerosis, Huntington's and Alzheimer's diseases. 

PMID- 25820618
TI  - Unmet challenges in immune-mediated hepatobiliary diseases.
AB  - It is ironic that the liver, which serves a critical function in immune
      tolerance, itself becomes the victim of an autoimmune attack. Indeed, liver
      autoimmunity and the autoimmune diseases associated with both innate and adaptive
      responses to hepatocytes and/or cholangiocytes are models of human autoimmunity.
      For example, in primary biliary cirrhosis, there exists a well-defined and
      characteristic autoantibody and considerable homogeneity between patients. In
      autoimmune hepatitis, there are clinical characteristics that allow a rigorous
      subset definition and well-defined inflammatory infiltrates. In both cases, there
      are defects in a variety of immune pathways and including regulatory cells. In
      primary sclerosing cholangitis, with its characteristic overlap with inflammatory
      bowel disease, there are unique defects in innate immunity and particular
      important contribution of lymphoid homing to disease pathogenesis. In these
      diseases, as with other human autoimmune processes, there is the critical
      understanding that pathogenesis requires a genetic background, but is determined
      by environmental features, and indeed the concordance of these diseases in
      identical twins highlights the stochastic nature of immunopathology.
      Unfortunately, despite major advances in basic immunology and in immunopathology
      in these diseases, there remains a major void in therapy. The newer biologics
      that are so widely used in rheumatology, neurology, and gastroenterology have not
      yet seen success in autoimmune liver disease. Future efforts will depend on more
      rigorous molecular biology and systems analysis in order for successful
      application to be made to patients. 

PMID- 25820619
TI  - Recurrence of frontometaphyseal dysplasia in two sisters with a mutation in FLNA
      and an atypical paternal phenotype: Insights into genotype-phenotype correlation.

PMID- 25820620
TI  - Blood group AB is protective factor for gestational diabetes mellitus: a
      prospective population-based study in Tianjin, China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The ABO blood types are associated with cancers, cardiovascular
      diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus but whether they are also associated with
      gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is unknown. We examined the relationship
      between the ABO blood types and the risk of GDM in a prospective population-based
      Chinese cohort. METHODS: From 2010 to 2012, we recruited 14,198 pregnant women
      within the first 12 weeks of gestation in Tianjin, China. All women had a glucose
      challenge test (GCT) at 24-28 gestational weeks, followed by a 75-g 2-h oral
      glucose tolerance test if the results from GCT were >=7.8 mmol/L. GDM was
      diagnosed based on the glucose cut-points of the International Association of
      Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Group criteria. Logistic regression was used to
      obtain odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) adjusted for
      traditional risk factors. Stratified analysis was performed by family history of
      diabetes (yes versus no). Sensitivity analyses were also performed by using the
      World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for GDM. RESULTS: Women with blood
      groups A, B or O (i.e. non-AB) were associated with increased risk of GDM as
      compared with those with blood group AB (adjusted OR: 1.44, 95% CI: 1.13-1.83).
      Sensitivity analyses showed that the result was consistent using WHO criteria.
      The adjusted OR of blood group non-AB versus AB for GDM was enhanced among women
      with a family history of diabetes (2.69, 1.21-5.96) and attenuated among those
      without (1.33, 1.03-1.71). CONCLUSIONS: Blood group AB was a protective factor
      against GDM in pregnant Chinese women.

PMID- 25820621
TI  - Overexpression of AtAP1M3 regulates flowering time and floral development in
      Arabidopsis and effects key flowering-related genes in poplar.
AB  - APETALA1 plays a crucial role in the transition from vegetative to reproductive
      phase and in floral development. In this study, to determine the effect of AP1
      expression on flowering time and floral organ development, transgenic Arabidopsis
      and poplar overexpressing of AtAP1M3 (Arabidopsis AP1 mutant by dominant negative
      mutation) were generated. Transgenic Arabidopsis with e35Spro::AtAP1M3 displayed
      phenotypes with delayed-flowering compared to wild-type and flowers with abnormal
      sepals, petals and stamens. In addition, transgenic Arabidopsis plants exhibited
      reduced growth vigor compared to the wild-type plants. Ectopic expression of
      AtAP1M3 in poplar resulted in up- or down-regulation of some endogenous key
      flowering-related genes, including floral meristems identity gene LFY, B-class
      floral organ identity genes AP3 and PI, flowering pathway integrator FT1 and
      flower repressors TFL1 and SVP. These results suggest that AtAP1M3 regulates
      flowering time and floral development in plants. 

PMID- 25820623
TI  - Predictors of hepatorenal syndrome in alcoholic liver cirrhosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Alcoholic liver disease is a major cause of liver cirrhosis and the
      hepatorenal syndrome is a serious complication. Risk factors for hepatorenal
      syndrome (HRS) in alcoholic liver cirrhosis are not entirely explored. AIM: To
      assess the risk factors for hepatorenal syndrome in alcoholic liver cirrhosis.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: Consecutive patients with alcoholic liver disease were
      followed for two months, development of renal failure, classified either as HRS
      or renal failure not fulfilling criteria of HRS, was the main outcome. RESULTS:
      Of 171 patients, 14 (8.2%) developed HRS and 13 (7.6%), renal failure not
      fulfilling the HRS criteria. A significant difference was found between patients
      with and without HRS in serum sodium (131.1+/-3.8 vs. 135.7+/-5.2; P = 0.003),
      creatinine, (94.1+/-26.8 vs. 80.3+/-20.2; P < 0.001), albumin (23.5+/-4.9 vs.
      29.9+/-5.8; P < 0.001), INR (1.76+/-0.45 vs. 1.44+/-0.41; P < 0.001), bilirubin
      (252.3+/-179.4 vs. 91.2+/-101.0; P < 0.001), MELD (23+/-6 vs 15+/-5; P < 0.001)
      and MELD-Na score (27+/-5 vs. 18+/-6; P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis adjusted
      for sex and age showed that sodium together with creatinine are the strongest HRS
      predictors, followed by bilirubin with respective odds' ratios (95% CI) of 1.041
      (1.012-1.072) for creatinine, 0.870 (0.766-0.988) for serum sodium and 1.005
      (1.001-1.010) for serum bilirubin. CONCLUSION: Serum levels of sodium, creatinine
      and bilirubin are important predictors of the hepatorenal syndrome.

PMID- 25820622
TI  - Feedback-induced glutamate spillover enhances negative feedback from horizontal
      cells to cones.
AB  - KEY POINTS: In the retina, horizontal cells feed back negatively to cone
      photoreceptors. Glutamate released from cones can spill over to neighbouring
      cones. Here we show that cone glutamate release induced by negative feedback can
      also spill over to neighbouring cones. This glutamate activates the glutamate
      transporter-associated chloride current in these neighbouring cones, which leads
      to a change in their membrane potential and thus modulates their output. In this
      way, feedback-induced glutamate spillover enhances negative feedback from
      horizontal cells to cones, thus forming an additional feedback pathway. This
      effect will be particularly prominent in cones that are strongly hyperpolarized
      by light. ABSTRACT: Inhibition in the outer retina functions via an unusual
      mechanism. When horizontal cells hyperpolarize the activation potential of the
      Ca(2+) current of cones shifts to more negative potentials. The underlying
      mechanism consists of an ephaptic component and a Panx1/ATP-mediated component.
      Here we identified a third feedback component, which remains active outside the
      operating range of the Ca(2+) current. We show that the glutamate transporters of
      cones can be activated by glutamate released from their neighbours. This pathway
      can be triggered by negative feedback from horizontal cells to cones, thus
      providing an additional feedback pathway. This additional pathway is mediated by
      a Cl(-) current, can be blocked by either removing the gradient of K(+) or by
      adding the glutamate transporter blocker TBOA, or low concentrations of Zn(2+) .
      These features point to a glutamate transporter-associated Cl(-) current. The
      pathway has a delay of 4.7 +/- 1.7 ms. The effectiveness of this pathway in
      modulating the cone output depends on the equilibrium potential of Cl(-) (ECl )
      and the membrane potential of the cone. Because estimates of ECl show that it is
      around the dark resting membrane potential of cones, the activation of the
      glutamate transporter-associated Cl(-) current will be most effective in changing
      the membrane potential during strong hyperpolarization of cones. This means that
      negative feedback would particularly be enhanced by this pathway when cones are
      hyperpolarized. Spatially, this pathway does not reach further than the direct
      neighbouring cones. The consequence is that this feedback pathway transmits
      information between cones of different spectral type.

PMID- 25820624
TI  - Significantly higher incidence of skin cancer than other malignancies in patients
      after heart transplantation. A retrospective cohort study in the Czech Republic.
AB  - AIMS: To perform the first study in Czech Republic on heart transplant recipients
      (HTRs), compare the risks for different types of cancer and provide comprehensive
      analysis of skin cancer and other types of cancer morbidity from which we would
      be able to derive an evidence-based skin cancer surveillance program. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed to determine and compare
      standardized morbidity ratio (SMR) of different types of cancer developed after
      heart transplantation. We analysed data obtained from medical documentation of
      603 HTRs transplanted between 1993 and 2010. RESULTS: 191 incident cases of
      malignancy occurred in123 HTRs (20.4%). According to expectations, nonmelanoma
      skin cancer was the most frequent type of malignancy (119 cases) with SMR 7.6 (P
      < 0.001), followed by lung cancer with SMR 2.7 (P < 0.001). SMR for melanoma was
      2.5, P = 0.129. Other types of cancer in HTRs (prostate and kidney cancer) were
      less frequent (SMR 2.06, P = 0.038 and SMR 2.03, P = 0.122). CONCLUSION: The risk
      of malignancy development is significantly higher for HTRs compared to the
      general population. Squamous cell carcinoma of the skin is the most frequent type
      of cancer followed by basal cell carcinoma. These findings emphasise the
      importance of regular skin cancer screening in HTRs.

PMID- 25820625
TI  - Stapling Versus Hand Suture for Gastroenteric Anastomosis in Roux-en-Y Gastric
      Bypass: a Randomized Clinical Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Different anastomotic techniques have been evaluated during a
      laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB); however, no techniques have proven
      to be better than any other regarding complications and the percentage of weight
      loss (excess weight loss (%EWL)), and there are few controlled prospective
      studies to compare them. METHODS: A randomized, prospective study was conducted
      in 238 patients undergoing RYGB for morbid obesity between July 2008 and
      September 2012 to compare the early and late postoperative complications between
      the two surgical techniques: gastrojejunal hand-sutured anastomosis (HSA) and
      circular-stapled anastomosis (CSA). Minimum follow-up was 24 months. RESULTS: The
      two groups of patients were similar for demographic data and preoperative
      comorbidities. There were no significant differences between the surgical
      techniques regarding %EWL at 3, 12, and 24 months. The patients with CSA had a
      greater frequency of postoperative gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) (4.2 vs. 0%, p
      = 0.024) and surgical wound infection (11.1 vs. 3.4%, p = 0.025) than the
      patients with HSA, with no significant differences in the other early
      complications. There were no significant differences in either group for late
      complications (gastrojejunal anastomosis (GJA) stricture, marginal ulcer, GJA
      perforation, bowel obstruction, and eventration). No significant differences were
      observed in operative time, rate of reoperation and postoperative length of
      hospital stay. CONCLUSIONS: HSA and CSA were techniques with similar safety and
      effectiveness in our study. HSA had a lower rate of bleeding complications and
      surgical wound infection, although it does require greater experience in
      laparoscopic hand suturing.

PMID- 25820626
TI  - Potential of prodendronic polyamines with modulated segmental charge density as
      novel coating for fast and efficient analysis of peptides and basic proteins by
      CE and CE-MS.
AB  - In this work, the suitability of a new polymer family has been investigated as
      capillary coatings for the analysis of peptides and basic proteins by CE. This
      polymer family has been designed to minimize or completely prevent protein
      capillary wall interactions and to modify the EOF. These coating materials are
      linear polymeric chains bearing as side cationizable moiety a dentronic triamine
      derived from N,N,N',N'-tetraethyldiethylenetriamine (TEDETA), which is linked to
      the backbone through a spacer (unit labeled as TEDETAMA). Four different polymers
      have been prepared and evaluated: a homopolymer which comprised only of those
      cationizable repetitive units of TEDETAMA, and three copolymers that randomly
      incorporate TEDETAMA together with neutral hydrosoluble units of N-(2
      hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide (HPMA) at different molar percentages (25:75, 50:50
      and 75:25). It has been demonstrated that the composition of the copolymers
      influences the EOF and therefore the separation of the investigated biopolymers.
      Among the novel polymers studied, poly-(TEDETAMA-co-HPMA) 50:50 copolymer was
      successfully applied as coating material of the inner capillary surface in CE-UV
      and CE-MS, providing EOF reversing together with fast and efficient baseline
      separation of peptides and basic proteins. Finally, the feasibility of the
      polymer-coated capillary was shown through the analysis of lysozyme in a cheese
      sample. 

PMID- 25820627
TI  - Patterning of polymer brushes made easy using titanium dioxide: direct and remote
      photocatalytic lithography.
AB  - Photocatalytic lithography is proved for the realization of micropatterned
      polymer brushes. Initiator-functionalized titanium dioxide or silicon surfaces
      are respectively exposed directly to near-UV light through a photomask (direct
      approach) or through a transparent photoactive TiO2 film (remote approach).
      Initiator patterns are then amplified as polymer brushes with SI-ATRP. Features
      down to 10 MUm could be obtained using simple equipment. The process is
      intrinsically parallel, has high throughput and scalable to wafer size, making it
      powerful for microfabrication purposes. 

PMID- 25820628
TI  - A novel high light-inducible carotenoid-binding protein complex in the thylakoid
      membranes of Synechocystis PCC 6803.
AB  - Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is a model cyanobacterium extensively used to study
      photosynthesis. Here we reveal a novel high light-inducible carotenoid-binding
      protein complex (HLCC) in the thylakoid membranes of Synechocystis PCC 6803 cells
      exposed to high intensity light. Zeaxanthin and myxoxanthophyll accounted for
      29.8% and 54.8%, respectively, of the carotenoids bound to the complex. Using
      Blue-Native PAGE followed by 2D SDS-PAGE and mass spectrometry, we showed that
      the HLCC consisted of Slr1128, IsiA, PsaD, and HliA/B. We confirmed these
      findings by SEAD fluorescence cross-linking and anti-PsaD immuno-coprecipitation
      analyses. The expression of genes encoding the protein components of the HLCC was
      enhanced by high light illumination and artificial oxidative stress. Deletion of
      these proteins resulted in impaired state transition and increased sensitivity to
      oxidative and/or high light stress, as indicated by increased membrane
      peroxidation. Therefore, the HLCC protects thylakoid membranes from extensive
      photooxidative damage, likely via a mechanism involving state transition. 

PMID- 25820629
TI  - Ecotoxicity of multiwalled carbon nanotubes: standardization of the dispersion
      methods and concentration measurements.
AB  - There are currently a variety of applications for multiwalled carbon nanotubes
      (MWCNTs), but considerable concerns exist regarding their release into the
      environment. Their potential accumulation by aquatic organisms could lead to
      transfer throughout food chains. Considering the divergences in experimental data
      published on the ecotoxicity of carbon nanotubes, further research is required.
      The dispersion of MWCNTs in aqueous culturing media of organisms as well as the
      determination of concentrations are relevant aspects to obtain accurate
      ecotoxicity results. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy is one of the most reported
      techniques to analyze concentration quickly and economically, but the
      methodologies to prepare dispersions and selecting the wavelengths for
      ultraviolet-visible measurements have not yet been clearly defined. The present
      study demonstrates that dispersion procedures influence absorbance, and an
      approach to determine the most appropriate measurement wavelength is proposed.
      Ecotoxicity tests with MWCNTs were performed on Vibrio fischeri bacteria, and
      divergences in the results were observed with respect to those previously
      reported. The present study contributes to the attempt to overcome the lack of
      standardization in the environmental assessment of MWCNTs.

PMID- 25820630
TI  - Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion: is surgical education safe?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Operative skills are key to neurosurgical resident training. They
      should be acquired in a structured manner and preferably starting early in
      residency. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the outcome and
      complication rate of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion with or without
      instrumentation (ACDF(I)) is not inferior for supervised residents as compared to
      board-certified faculty neurosurgeons (BCFN). METHODS: This was a retrospective
      single-center study of all consecutive patients undergoing ACDF(I)-surgery
      between January 2011 and August 2014. All procedures were dichotomized into two
      groups according to the surgeon's level of experience: teaching cases
      (postgraduate year (PGY)-2 to PGY-6 neurosurgical residents) and non-teaching
      cases operated by BCFN. The primary study endpoint was patients' clinical outcome
      4 weeks after surgery, categorized into a binary responder and non-responder
      variable. Secondary endpoints were complications, need for re-do surgery, and
      clinical outcome until the last follow-up. RESULTS: After exclusion of six cases
      because of incomplete data, a total of 287 ACDF(I) operations were enrolled into
      the study, of which 82 (29.2 %) were teaching cases and 199 (70.8 %) were non
      teaching cases. Teaching cases required a longer operation time (131 min (95 %
      confidence interval (CI) 122-141 min) vs. 102 min (95-108 min; p < 0.0001) and
      were associated with a slightly higher estimated blood loss (84 ml (95 % CI 56
      111 ml) vs. 57 ml (95 % CI 47-66 ml); p = 0.0017), while there was no difference
      in the rate of intraoperative complications (2.4 vs. 1.5 %; p = 0.631). Four
      weeks after surgery, 92.7 and 93 % of the patients had a positive response to
      surgery (p = 1.000), respectively. There was no difference in the postoperative
      complication rate (4.9 vs. 3.0 %; p = 0.307). Around 30 % of the study patients
      were followed up in outpatient clinics for more than once up until a mean period
      of 6.4 months (95 % CI 5.3-7.6 months). At the last follow-up, the clinical
      outcome was similar with a 90 % responder rate for both groups (p = 0.834). In
      total, five patients from the teaching group and eight patients from the non
      teaching group required re-do surgery (p = 0.602). CONCLUSIONS: Short- and mid
      term outcomes and complication rates following microscopic ACDF(I) were
      comparable for patients operated on by supervised neurosurgical residents or by
      senior surgeons. Our data thus indicate that a structured neurosurgical education
      of operative skills does not lead to worse outcomes or increase the complication
      rates after ACDF(I). Confirmation of the results by a prospective study is
      desired.

PMID- 25820631
TI  - Authors' reply to "Pathogenesis of radiosurgery-induced cyst formation in
      patients with arteriovenous malformation".

PMID- 25820632
TI  - Simultaneous fluorescein sodium and 5-ALA in fluorescence-guided glioma surgery.

PMID- 25820633
TI  - The Relationship between Theoretical Orientation and Countertransference
      Expectations: Implications for Ethical Dilemmas and Risk Management.
AB  - Countertransference (CT) awareness is widely considered valuable for differential
      diagnosis and the proactive management of ethical dilemmas. We predicted that the
      more practitioners' theoretical orientation (TO) emphasizes insight into the
      dynamics of subjective mental life, the better they will be at using their CT
      expectations in differential diagnosis with high-risk patients. To test this
      hypothesis, we compared psychodynamic therapy (PDT) practitioners who emphasize
      insight into subjective mental life with practitioners who do not emphasize this
      epistemology. Results indicated that PDT practitioners expected significantly
      more CT than practitioners of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and other
      practitioners (e.g., family systems, humanistic/existential and eclectic) to
      patients with borderline personality organization overall. PDT practitioners had
      significantly more CT expectations to patients with borderline-level pathologies
      as compared with neurotic-level patients than both CBT and other practitioners.
      PDT practitioners were significantly more expectant of CT issues than CBT
      practitioners with respect to the personality disorders most associated with
      acting out and risk management problems (e.g., paranoid, psychopathic,
      narcissistic, sadistic, sadomasochistic, masochistic, hypomanic, passive
      aggressive, counterdependent and counterphobic). The other practitioners
      generally had CT expectations between PDT and CBT. These findings suggest that
      clinical training into CT may be useful in differential diagnoses and in helping
      to avoid ethical dilemmas regardless of one's theoretical preference. Copyright
      (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGE: Insight into
      countertransference can be used to help with differential diagnoses and to help
      prevent possible management problems with acting out patients. The Psychodynamic
      Diagnostic Manual is a useful taxonomy in that it includes countertransference as
      a diagnostic aid.

PMID- 25820635
TI  - Switching health insurers: the role of price, quality and consumer information
      search.
AB  - We examine the impact of price, service quality and information search on
      people's propensity to switch health insurers in the competitive Dutch health
      insurance market. Using panel data from annual household surveys and data on
      health insurers' premiums and quality ratings over the period 2006-2012, we
      estimate a random effects logit model of people's switching decisions. We find
      that switching propensities depend on health plan price and quality, and on
      people's age, health, education and having supplementary or group insurance.
      Young people (18-35 years) are more sensitive to price, whereas older people are
      more sensitive to quality. Searching for health plan information has a much
      stronger impact on peoples' sensitivity to price than to service quality. In
      addition, searching for health plan information has a stronger impact on the
      switching propensity of higher than lower educated people, suggesting that higher
      educated people make better use of available health plan information. Finally,
      having supplementary insurance significantly reduces older people's switching
      propensity.

PMID- 25820636
TI  - Phase-transfer and other types of catalysis with cyclopropenium ions.
AB  - This work establishes the cyclopropenium ion as a viable platform for efficient
      phase-transfer catalysis of a diverse range of organic transformations. The
      amenability of these catalysts to large-scale synthesis and structural
      modification is demonstrated. Evaluation of the molecular structure of an optimal
      catalyst reveals some unique structural features of these systems. Finally, a
      discussion of electronic charge distribution underscores an important
      consideration for catalyst design. 

PMID- 25820637
TI  - Adult Siblings Consider the Future: Emergent Themes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the perceptions of adult siblings
      regarding a future care role and compare with perceived parental wishes as family
      often provide a key support role in the lives of people who have an intellectual
      disability. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with
      15 adult siblings and an approach aligned to IPA was used to analyse the results.
      RESULTS: Emergent themes demonstrated that intellectual disability has an impact
      upon sibling lives yet the degree and range of impact varies. Most participants
      were concerned about the future, service issues were raised as was futures
      planning, siblings' needs, the positive impact of intellectual disability and
      influence of life stage upon care giving. CONCLUSION: The findings highlight that
      whilst the impact of intellectual disability upon adult siblings is variable,
      siblings are concerned about the future, and that life stage and circumstance
      appear to influence care giving.

PMID- 25820638
TI  - Effects of a School-Based Social Skills Training Program for Adolescents with
      Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability.
AB  - Social deficits are a core characteristic of individuals with autism spectrum
      disorders and co-occurring intellectual disabilities (ASD-ID). Despite
      persistence of these deficits into adolescence, few social skills interventions
      have been empirically evaluated for older individuals with ASD-ID. The present
      investigation adapted an efficacious protocol for adolescents with ASD, video
      based group instruction (VGI), and extended the procedure to 4 adolescents in a
      public high school setting. A multiple probe across behaviors design demonstrated
      the effectiveness of VGI for teaching novel social behavior to three of the four
      participants, with mixed outcomes for the fourth participant. Long-term
      maintenance was observed for two participants, though generalization outcomes
      were mixed. The results support using VGI within high school curricula for some
      adolescents with ASD-ID. 

PMID- 25820639
TI  - Response to letter to the Editor from Dr. Carbillon on our article about first
      pregnancy characteristics, genetics, and breast density.

PMID- 25820641
TI  - An experimental apparatus to simulate body-powered prosthetic usage: Development
      and preliminary evaluation.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Harness fitting in the body-powered prosthesis remains more
      art than science due to a lack of consistent and quantitative evaluation. The aim
      of this study was to develop a mechanical, human-body-shaped apparatus to
      simulate body-powered upper limb prosthetic usage and evaluate its capability of
      quantitative examination of harness configuration. TECHNIQUE: The apparatus was
      built upon a torso of a wooden mannequin and integrated major mechanical joints
      to simulate terminal device operation. Sensors were used to register cable
      tension, cable excursion, and grip force simultaneously. DISCUSSION: The
      apparatus allowed the scapula to move up to 127 mm laterally and the load cell
      can measure the cable tension up to 445 N. Our preliminary evaluation highlighted
      the needs and importance of investigating harness configurations in a systematic
      and controllable manner. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The apparatus allows objective,
      systematic, and quantitative evaluation of effects of realistic harness
      configurations and will provide insightful and working knowledge on harness
      fitting in upper limb amputees using body-powered prosthesis.

PMID- 25820640
TI  - Outcomes of knee disarticulation and the influence of surgical techniques in
      dysvascular patients: A systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dysvascularity is the main cause of lower limb amputations in
      Scotland, and there is an insignificant proportion (1.7%) of knee
      disarticulations, despite the benefits of amputation. OBJECTIVES: The outcomes of
      knee disarticulation and its associated surgical techniques will be evaluated
      based on healing, reamputations, functional outcomes, prosthetic ambulation and
      gait biomechanics to determine whether a greater rate of knee disarticulations
      can be justified among dysvascular patients. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review.
      METHODS: Key electronic databases were searched for the relevant literature based
      on a pre-specified eligibility criterion. RESULTS: The 17 articles included in
      this review were appraised for their quality, and key findings are extracted.
      CONCLUSION: Healing rates are favourable, but there is a need for appropriate
      amputation level selection to prevent reamputations. Knee disarticulation
      patients have better maintenance of independent living status than transfemoral
      patients, but overall prosthetic ambulation rates are inconsistent. In terms of
      gait biomechanics of knee disarticulation, there are some positive indications,
      but the evidence is insubstantial. A stronger body of evidence is required in
      this subject field, and recommendations are made for future research - Scottish
      Intercollegiate Guidelines Network Grade of Recommendation: C. CLINICAL
      RELEVANCE: This review aims to inform the multidisciplinary teams involved in the
      rehabilitation of dysvascular amputees about evidence-based outcomes following
      knee disarticulation. This knowledge will be beneficial when formulating
      treatment pathways for this vulnerable population group.

PMID- 25820642
TI  - D-pi-A conjugated molecules for optoelectronic applications.
AB  - Dipolar chromophores consisting of electron donor (D) and electron acceptor (A)
      groups connected through a conjugated pi-bridge have been actively studied and
      integrated in optoelectronic and electronic devices. Generally, such pi
      conjugated molecules provide substantial delocalization of pi-electrons over the
      molecules. Here, a brief overview of recent research on D-pi-A dipolar
      chromophores including their syntheses and several promising applications is
      reported, especially in nonlinear optical devices and organic photovoltaics.
      Structure/property relationships are discussed in order to exploit the potentials
      by tuning the pi-electron density, polarizability, and HOMO-LUMO band gap of the
      chromophores. Some of the examples may well set the stage for chip-scale
      integration of optoelectronics as well as the realization of an important array
      of new device technologies.

PMID- 25820644
TI  - Overexpression of the phosphofructokinase encoding gene is crucial for achieving
      high production of D-lactate in Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen
      deprivation.
AB  - We previously reported on the impacts of the overexpression of individual genes
      of the glycolytic pathway encoding glucokinase (GLK), glyceraldehyde phosphate
      dehydrogenase (GAPDH), phosphofructokinase (PFK), triosephosphate isomerase
      (TPI), and bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) on D-lactate productivity in
      Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen-deprived conditions. Searching for
      synergies, in the current study, we simultaneously overexpressed the five
      glycolytic genes in a stepwise fashion to evaluate the effect of the cumulative
      overexpression of glycolytic genes on D-lactate production. Interestingly, the
      final D-lactate concentration markedly differed depending on whether or not the
      PFK encoding gene was overexpressed when combined with overexpressing other
      glycolytic genes. The simultaneous overexpression of the GLK, GAPDH, TPI, and FBA
      encoding genes led to the highest initial D-lactate concentration at 10 h.
      However, this particular recombinant strain dramatically slowed producing D
      lactate when a concentration of 1300 mM was reached, typically after 32 h. In
      contrast, the strain overexpressing the PFK encoding gene together with the GLK,
      GAPDH, TPI, and FBA encoding genes showed 12.7 % lower initial D-lactate
      concentration at 10 h than that observed with the strain overexpressing the genes
      coding for GLK, GAPDH, TPI, and FBA. However, this recombinant strain continued
      to produce D-lactate after 32 h, reaching 2169 mM after a mineral salts medium
      bioprocess incubation period of 80 h. These results suggest that overexpression
      of the PFK encoding gene is essential for achieving high production of D-lactate.
      Our findings provide interesting options to explore for using C. glutamicum for
      cost-efficient production of D-lactate at the industrial scale. 

PMID- 25820643
TI  - Microbial community analysis of switchgrass planted and unplanted soil microcosms
      displaying PCB dechlorination.
AB  - Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) pose potential risks to human and environmental
      health because they are carcinogenic, persistent, and bioaccumulative. In this
      study, we investigated bacterial communities in soil microcosms spiked with PCB
      52, 77, and 153. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) was employed to improve overall
      PCB removal, and redox cycling (i.e., sequential periods of flooding followed by
      periods of no flooding) was performed in an effort to promote PCB dechlorination.
      Lesser chlorinated PCB transformation products were detected in all microcosms,
      indicating the occurrence of PCB dechlorination. Terminal restriction fragment
      length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and clone library analysis showed that PCB spiking,
      switchgrass planting, and redox cycling affected the microbial community
      structure. Putative organohalide-respiring Chloroflexi populations, which were
      not found in unflooded microcosms, were enriched after 2 weeks of flooding in the
      redox-cycled microcosms. Sequences classified as Geobacter sp. were detected in
      all microcosms and were most abundant in the switchgrass-planted microcosm spiked
      with PCB congeners. The presence of possible organohalide-respiring bacteria in
      these soil microcosms suggests that they play a role in PCB dechlorination
      therein. 

PMID- 25820645
TI  - An amino acid at position 512 in beta-glucosidase from Clavibacter michiganensis
      determines the regioselectivity for hydrolyzing gypenoside XVII.
AB  - A recombinant beta-glucosidase from Clavibacter michiganensis specifically
      hydrolyzed the outer and inner glucose linked to the C-3 position in
      protopanaxadiol (PPD)-type ginsenosides and the C-6 position in protopanaxatriol
      (PPT)-type ginsenosides except for the hydrolysis of gypenoside LXXV (GypLXXV).
      The enzyme converted gypenoside XVII (GypXVII) to GypLXXV by hydrolyzing the
      inner glucose linked to the C-3 position. The substrate-binding residues obtained
      from the GypXVII-docked homology models of beta-glucosidase from C. michiganensis
      were replaced with alanine, and the amino acid residue at position 512 was
      selected because of the changed regioselectivity of W512A. Site-directed
      mutagenesis for the amino acid residue at position 512 was performed. W512A and
      W512K hydrolyzed the inner glucose linked to the C-3 position and the outer
      glucose linked to the C-20 position of GypXVII to produce GypLXXV and F2. W512R
      hydrolyzed only the outer glucose linked to the C-20 position of GypXVII to
      produce F2. However, W512E and W512D exhibited no activity for GypXVII. Thus, the
      amino acid at position 512 is a critical residue to determine the
      regioselectivity for the hydrolysis of GypXVII. These wild-type and variant
      enzymes produced diverse ginsenosides, including GypXVII, GypLXXV, F2, and
      compound K, from ginsenoside Rb1. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first
      report of the alteration of regioselectivity on ginsenoside hydrolysis by protein
      engineering.

PMID- 25820646
TI  - Ectoparasite loads in sympatric urban populations of the northern white-breasted
      and the European hedgehog.
AB  - We investigated abundance and prevalence of ticks and fleas infesting urban
      populations of two species of hedgehogs: the northern white-breasted hedgehog
      (Erinaceus roumanicus) and the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus). The
      hedgehogs were captured in the city of Poznan (western Poland) over the period of
      4 years. Both species of hedgehogs were infested with the castor bean tick
      (Ixodes ricinus), the hedgehog tick (Ixodes hexagonus), and the hedgehog flea
      (Archeopsylla erinacei). The northern white-breasted hedgehog had higher loads of
      I. ricinus and A. erinacei than the European hedgehog. The abundance and
      prevalence of I. hexagonus were similar on both species of hosts. Co-infestation
      with the two species of ticks was more frequent on the northern white-breasted
      hedgehog than on the European hedgehog. Therefore, these two closely related
      species of hedgehogs differ in their importance as hosts of arthropod vectors of
      pathogens in urban areas and might play a different role in the dynamics of
      zoonotic diseases. 

PMID- 25820647
TI  - Report of Theileria luwenshuni and Theileria sp. RSR from cervids in Gansu,
      China.
AB  - Theileria parasites are important tick-borne pathogens of animals and cause huge
      economic losses worldwide. Here, we undertook to assess the prevalence of
      Theileria spp. in cervids in Gansu, China, based on PCR analysis and sequencing
      of the 18S rRNA genes. Molecular survey showed that Theileria luwenshuni and
      Theileria sp. RSR were frequently found in Gansu cervids, and the prevalence of
      T. luwenshuni was 66.7% (n = 9, 6/9) in roe deer in Zhengning County, 58.3% (n =
      12, 7/12) in sika deer in Ningxian County, 50% (n = 10, 5/10) in sika deer and
      42.9% (n = 14, 6/14) in red deer in Weiyuan County. The prevalence of Theileria
      sp. RSR was 77.8% (n = 9, 7/9) in roe deer in Zhengning County, 75% (n = 12,
      9/12) in sika deer in Ningxian County, 60.0% (n = 10, 6/10) in sika deer, and
      50.0% (n = 14, 7/14) in red deer in Weiyuan County. The co-prevalence of the two
      T. luwenshuni and Theileria sp. RSR was 55.6% (n = 5, 5/9) in roe deer in
      Zhengning County, 50% (n = 12, 6/12) in sika deer in Ningxian county, 50% (n =
      10, 5/10) in sika deer and 35.7% (n = 14, 5/14) in red deer in Weiyuan County,
      respectively. No other Theileria species was found in these samples. T.
      luwenshuni and Theileria sp. RSR were detected for the first time in cervids in
      Gansu, China. Animal experiments showed that four sheep were inoculated with roe
      deer blood from Zhengning, sika deer blood from Ningxian, sika deer blood, and
      red deer blood from Weiyuan, respectively, and the Theileria isolated from these
      inoculated sheep was identified as T. luwenshuni, but Theileria sp. RSR was not
      detected in these sheep. Our results extend our understanding of the epidemiology
      of cervine theileriosis in Gansu, China, and will facilitate the implementation
      of measures to control theileriosis in cervids and small ruminants. This was the
      first report to demonstrate the occurrence of T. luwenshuni from roe deer, sika
      deer, and red deer worldwide.

PMID- 25820648
TI  - Mechanistic studies of the apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter.
AB  - In mammals, the apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT) is
      responsible for the reuptake of bile acid from the intestine, thus recycling bile
      acid that is secreted from the gallbladder, for the purpose of digestion. As bile
      acid is synthesized from cholesterol, ASBT inhibition could have important
      implications in regulation of cholesterol levels in the blood. We report on a
      simulation study of the recently resolved structures of the inward-facing ASBT
      from Neisseria meningitidis and from Yersinia frederiksenii, as well as of an
      ASBT variant from Yersinia frederiksenii suggested to be in the outward-facing
      conformation. Classical and steered atomistic simulations and comprehensive
      potential of mean force analyses of ASBT, both in the absence and presence of
      ions and substrate, allow us to characterize and gain structural insights into
      the Na(+) binding sites and propose a mechanistic model for the transport cycle.
      In particular, we investigate structural features of the ion translocation
      pathway, and suggest a third putative Na(+) binding site. Our study sheds light
      on the structure-function relationship of bacterial ASBT and may promote a deeper
      understanding of transport mechanism altogether.

PMID- 25820649
TI  - Hair cortisol concentrations in higher- and lower-stress mother-daughter dyads: A
      pilot study of associations and moderators.
AB  - Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) are receiving increased attention as a novel
      biomarker of psychophysiological responses to chronic stress, with potential
      relevance for psychopathology risk research. We examined the validity of HCC as a
      marker of psychosocial stress in mother (M(age)  = 37.87 years)-daughter (M(age) 
      = 7.62 years) dyads characterized by higher (n = 30) or lower (n = 30) maternal
      chronic stress. Additionally, we examined whether early care moderated similarity
      of HCC levels within dyads. Higher-stress mothers had significantly lower HCC
      compared to lower-stress mothers, consistent with other research showing that
      chronic stress leads to blunted HPA axis activity over time. Further, HCC in
      daughters were significantly and positively associated with previously assessed
      salivary cortisol stress reactivity. Finally, mother-daughter HCC associations
      were significantly moderated by negative parenting styles, such that associations
      became stronger as quality of parenting decreased. Findings overall indicate that
      HCC may be a useful marker of cortisol responses to chronic stress.

PMID- 25820650
TI  - Metastability in lipid based particles exhibits temporally deterministic and
      controllable behavior.
AB  - The metastable-to-stable phase-transition is commonly observed in many fields of
      science, as an uncontrolled independent process, highly sensitive to microscopic
      fluctuations. In particular, self-assembled lipid suspensions exhibit phase
      transitions, where the underlying driving mechanisms and dynamics are not well
      understood. Here we describe a study of the phase-transition dynamics of lipid
      based particles, consisting of mixtures of dilauroylphosphatidylethanolamine
      (DLPE) and dilauroylphosphatidylglycerol (DLPG), exhibiting a metastable liquid
      crystalline-to-stable crystalline phase transition upon cooling from 60 degrees C
      to 37 degrees C. Surprisingly, unlike classically described metastable-to-stable
      phase transitions, the manner in which recrystallization is delayed by tens of
      hours is robust, predetermined and controllable. Our results show that the delay
      time can be manipulated by changing lipid stoichiometry, changing solvent
      salinity, adding an ionophore, or performing consecutive phase-transitions.
      Moreover, the delay time distribution indicates a deterministic nature. We
      suggest that the non-stochastic physical mechanism responsible for the delayed
      recrystallization involves several rate-affecting processes, resulting in a
      controllable, non-independent metastability. A qualitative model is proposed to
      describe the structural reorganization during the phase transition. 

PMID- 25820651
TI  - Indanones as high-potency reversible inhibitors of monoamine oxidase.
AB  - Recent reports document that alpha-tetralone (3,4-dihydro-2H-naphthalen-1-one) is
      an appropriate scaffold for the design of high-potency monoamine oxidase (MAO)
      inhibitors. Based on the structural similarity between alpha-tetralone and 1
      indanone, the present study involved synthesis of 34 1-indanone and related
      indane derivatives as potential inhibitors of recombinant human MAO-A and MAO-B.
      The results show that C6-substituted indanones are particularly potent and
      selective MAO-B inhibitors, with IC50 values ranging from 0.001 to 0.030 MUM. C5
      Substituted indanone and indane derivatives are comparatively weaker MAO-B
      inhibitors. Although the 1-indanone and indane derivatives are selective
      inhibitors of the MAO-B isoform, a number of homologues are also potent MAO-A
      inhibitors, with three homologues possessing IC50 values <0.1 MUM. Dialysis of
      enzyme-inhibitor mixtures further established a selected 1-indanone as a
      reversible MAO inhibitor with a competitive mode of inhibition. It may be
      concluded that 1-indanones are promising leads for the design of therapies for
      neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders such as Parkinson's disease and
      depression. 

PMID- 25820652
TI  - Anesthesia in Cri du Chat syndrome: Information on 51 Italian patients.

PMID- 25820653
TI  - The hepatoprotective effect of aqueous extracts of Penthorum chinense Pursh
      against acute alcohol-induced liver injury is associated with ameliorating
      hepatic steatosis and reducing oxidative stress.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of Penthorum chinense
      Pursh (PCP), a health food and folk medicine, against acute alcohol-induced liver
      injury and further to elucidate its probable mechanisms. Male C57BL/6 mice were
      treated with an aqueous extract of PCP (5.2 and 10.3 g per kg BW) once daily for
      7 consecutive days prior to ethanol gavage (4.7 g kg(-1)) every 12 h for a total
      of three doses. Pretreatment with PCP significantly decreased the elevations of
      alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and hepatic
      triglyceride after the last ethanol administration. PCP suppressed the elevation
      of the malondialdehyde (MDA) level, restored the glutathione (GSH) level and
      enhanced the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in both
      the serum and liver, which were associated with the inhibition of hepatic
      cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1). In addition, alcohol exposure markedly induced the
      lipolysis of white adipose tissue (WAT) through up-regulating protein expressions
      of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and phosphorylation of hormone-sensitive
      lipase (p-HSL), and enhancing the fatty acid uptake capacity in the liver by
      elevated hepatic CD36 expression, which were attenuated by PCP treatment. These
      data demonstrated that pre-treatment with PCP protected against acute ethanol
      induced liver injury, possibly by reducing CYP2E1-dependent oxidative stress and
      ameliorating dysfunctional WAT derived-fatty acid influx to the liver. Our
      findings suggest that PCP might be a promising agent for the prevention of acute
      alcohol-induced liver injury. 

PMID- 25820654
TI  - High correlation of the Oxford Knee Score with postoperative pain, but not with
      performance-based functioning.
AB  - PURPOSE: The Oxford Knee Score (OKS) is a widely known patient-related outcome
      measure (PROM) to determine pain and knee functioning before and after total knee
      arthroplasty (TKA). Self-reported function is mainly influenced by change in
      pain; therefore, it was hypothesized that the OKS correlates more with pain than
      with performance-based functioning. METHODS: In a prospective cohort of 88
      patients, who had a cementless mobile-bearing TKA, included in a randomized
      clinical trial, the correlation between the overall OKS, and its subscales for
      pain (PCS) and function (FCS), with performance-based functioning using the
      DynaPort(r) Knee Score (DKS), visual analogue scale score for pain (VAS) and the
      Knee Society Score (KSS) was evaluated. All scores were measured preoperatively,
      6 months and 1 year after surgery. Overall change in outcome over time was
      analysed until 5 years after surgery. RESULTS: All scores improved over time. The
      DKS was influenced by sex, preoperative BMI and age. The internal consistency of
      the OKS PCS increased over time, whereas the OKS FCS remained the same. The mean
      postoperative OKS FCS showed moderate correlation with the DKS (r = 0.65, p <
      0.001), and the mean postoperative OKS and OKS PCS showed high correlation with
      the VAS (r = -0.79 and r = -0.82, respectively, p < 0.001). The mean
      postoperative KSS showed high correlations with the OKS (r = 0.80, p < 0.001),
      the OKS PCS (r = 0.72 p < 0.001) and OKS FCS (r = 0.74, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION:
      The postoperative OKS and the OKS PCS showed high correlation with pain, but only
      the postoperative OKS FCS was well correlated with performance-based functioning.
      This suggests that the OKS is more related to pain and tells us less on
      postoperative functioning. This is important when the OKS as PROM is used to
      evaluate the quality of orthopaedic care of patients with TKA. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:
      III.

PMID- 25820655
TI  - The critical shoulder angle is associated with rotator cuff tears and shoulder
      osteoarthritis and is better assessed with radiographs over MRI.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is an
      association between the critical shoulder angle (CSA) and rotator cuff tears
      (RCT) as well as osteoarthritis (OA), and to compare the reproducibility and
      accuracy of CSA values as measured with radiograph and MRI. METHODS: Based on a
      pre hoc power analysis, three independent reviewers measured CSAs for three
      groups of 10 age-matched patients each (RCT group, OA group, and non-RCT/non-OA
      group) using radiographs and MRIs. Inter- and intra-observer agreements of CSAs
      were determined with intraclass correlation coefficients. ANOVA analysis was
      performed. RESULTS: Interobserver and intra-observer agreements on radiographs
      were 0.87 (95 % CI 0.78-0.93) and 0.91 (95 % CI 0.82-0.96), respectively.
      Significant differences in mean CSAs by radiographs were found between the groups
      (RCT 37.3 degrees  +/- 2.6 degrees ; OA 28.7 degrees  +/- 2.2 degrees ; non
      RCT/non-OA 32.7 degrees  +/- 2.5 degrees ; p < 0.001). CSAs obtained from MRI
      scans had interobserver agreement of 0.62 (95 % CI 0.43-0.78) and intra-observer
      agreement of 0.68 (95 % CI 0.50-0.80). There was a significant correlation
      between the patients' pathologies and CSAs measured by radiographs (r = 0.44; p =
      0.02) and MRI (r = 0.50; p = 0.01). A significant difference in mean CSAs
      measured on radiograph versus MRI was seen in the OA group (28.7 degrees  +/- 2.2
      degrees  vs. 31.3 degrees  +/- 4.4 degrees ; p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: CSA
      measurements obtained from radiographs demonstrated excellent interobserver
      agreement with less variability than CSAs from MRI, especially in OA patients.
      This study confirms an association between the CSA and RCTs as well as OA
      pathology. Assessing the CSA may be helpful during diagnostic evaluation of
      patients with shoulder pain and can help predict pathology. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:
      Retrospective cohort study, Level IV.

PMID- 25820656
TI  - Functional role and mechanism of lncRNA LOC728228 in malignant 16HBE cells
      transformed by anti-benzopyrene-trans-7,8-dihydrodiol-9,10-epoxide.
AB  - Lung cancer is a major health problem, and is considered one of the deadliest
      cancers in humans. It is refractory to current treatments, and the mechanisms of
      lung cancer are unknown. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in various
      biological processes and human diseases. However, the exact functional roles and
      mechanisms of lncRNAs are largely unclear. In this study, we attempted to
      identify lung-cancer-related lncRNAs. We found changes in lncRNA expression in
      the anti-benzo(a) pyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide (anti-BPDE)-transformed human
      bronchial epithelial cell line (16HBE-T cells) using microarrays and qRT-PCR. Of
      these lncRNAs, LOC728228 was upregulated relative to its expression in control
      untransformed16HBE (16HBE-N) cells. LOC728228 knockdown inhibited cell
      proliferation, caused G0/G1-phase cell-cycle arrest, reduced cellular migration,
      suppressed colony formation in vitro, and inhibited tumor growth in a nude mouse
      xenograft model. LOC728228 knockdown also suppressed cyclin D1 expression, and
      the depletion of cyclin D1 induced G0/G1-phase cell-cycle arrest and inhibited
      cell proliferation, thus influencing the malignant potential of cancer cells. In
      summary, our results suggest that lncRNA LOC728228 has an oncogene-like function
      and plays a vital role in human lung cancer.

PMID- 25820657
TI  - Existence of circulating anti-endothelial cell antibodies after heart
      transplantation is associated with post-transplant acute allograft rejection.
AB  - Anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECA) may be involved in the development of
      heart allograft rejection. Its detection might be a cheap and noninvasive method
      to identify high-risk patients. An indirect immunofluorescence method on human
      umbilical vein endothelial cells was used to investigate the presence of AECAs in
      260 pre- and post-transplant serum samples sequentially collected from 34
      patients within the first year after heart transplantation (HTX). The presence of
      AECAs before (23.5 %) and early after HTX (14.7 %) was associated with a
      significantly increased risk of early acute rejection (75 and 60 %, respectively)
      compared to 33 % in AECA-negative patients (p = 0.049). Moreover, rejections from
      AECA-positive patients were more severe (p = 0.057) with a significantly
      increased incidence of multiple (p = 0.025). The mean number of the sum of
      rejection episodes was significantly higher in AECA-positive patients (p <=
      0.05). Patients free of AECAs mainly received mycophenolate mofetil as primary
      immunosuppression (p = 0.067). Nevertheless, the presence of AECAs did not affect
      long-term outcome and mortality of HTX patients. Despite a low number of patient
      samples, the detection of AECAs before and early after HTX could be used as a
      biomarker for an increased risk of early acute rejection in high-risk patients.
      This easy method might be a valuable tool to support screening procedures to
      improve individualized immunosuppressive therapy. 

PMID- 25820660
TI  - Effects of self-compassion workbook training on trauma-related guilt in a sample
      of homeless veterans: a pilot study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The present pilot study examined the effects of a 4-week-long self
      administered self-compassion training on trauma-related guilt and compared it to
      a stress inoculation control group. METHOD: A total of 47 homeless male veterans
      who were living in transitional housing facilities volunteered to participate in
      this study. Participants were randomly assigned to either a self-compassion (N =
      13) or a stress inoculation (N = 14) group and were asked to complete pre-, mid-,
      and postintervention assessments measuring changes in self-compassion, trauma
      related guilt, and posttraumatic stress disorder severity. RESULTS: Participants
      in both interventions reported increased levels of self-compassion and equal
      reductions in trauma-related guilt. No other significant changes were noted.
      CONCLUSIONS: The results from this pilot study provide preliminary evidence for
      the use of self-compassion and stress inoculation trainings as effective
      interventions for trauma-related guilt. The findings also suggest that self
      administered trainings in the form of workbooks may be a viable, cost-effective
      form of intervention for disadvantaged populations, such as homeless veterans in
      transitional housing, who may lack resources or access to professionals or
      paraprofessionals. The effects of both self-compassion training and stress
      inoculation training on the study variables and directions for future research on
      self-compassion and trauma-related guilt are discussed.

PMID- 25820658
TI  - Prognostic significance of late gadolinium enhancement quantification in cardiac
      magnetic resonance imaging of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with systolic
      dysfunction.
AB  - Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) with systolic dysfunction carries a poor
      prognosis. Although late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on cardiac magnetic
      resonance is associated with adverse cardiac events in HCM and is inversely
      related to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), it is unknown whether LGE
      or LVEF more accurately predicts adverse cardiac events in HCM with systolic
      dysfunction. We retrospectively assessed the extent of LGE with a threshold of 6
      standard deviations in 46 consecutive HCM patients with systolic dysfunction
      defined as LVEF <50 % (average 35 +/- 12 %) who underwent cardiac magnetic
      resonance (35 males, mean age 59 +/- 14 years). They were followed up over 1755
      +/- 594 days. The composite adverse cardiac events end point included
      cardiovascular death, lethal arrhythmia, cardioembolic stroke, and unplanned
      heart failure hospitalization. LGE was detected in all patients, and the mean
      extent was 30 +/- 15 %. Twenty-nine patients developed adverse cardiac events.
      Multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis revealed the extent of LGE as a
      good independent predictor of adverse cardiac events. Risk increased with the
      extent of LGE (hazard ratio = 1.62/10 % increase in LGE, 95 % confidence interval
      = 1.23-2.15, p < 0.001). LVEF was inversely related to the extent of LGE (r = 
      0.44; p = 0.002) and was also an independent predictor of adverse cardiac events.
      Risk decreased with LVEF (hazard ratio = 0.68/10 % increase in LVEF, 95 %
      confidence interval = 0.51-0.91, p = 0.010). The Akaike information criterion
      evaluating the fit of a model demonstrated that the extent of LGE was a better
      independent predictor of MACE than LVEF (Akaike information criterion = 172.20
      and 178.09, respectively).The extent of LGE was a good independent predictor of
      adverse cardiac events and reflected mortality and morbidity more precisely than
      LVEF in HCM with systolic dysfunction. 

PMID- 25820661
TI  - Routine iron supplementation and screening for iron deficiency anemia in
      pregnancy: a systematic review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Routine screening and supplementation for iron deficiency anemia
      (IDA) in asymptomatic, nonanemic pregnant women could improve maternal and infant
      health outcomes. PURPOSE: Update of a 2006 systematic review by the U.S.
      Preventive Services Task Force on screening and supplementation for IDA in
      pregnancy. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library (1996 to August 2014)
      and reference lists of relevant systematic reviews to identify studies published
      since 1996. STUDY SELECTION: English-language trials and controlled observational
      studies about effectiveness of screening and routine supplementation for IDA in
      developed countries. DATA EXTRACTION: Data extraction and quality assessment
      confirmed and dual-rated by a second investigator using prespecified criteria.
      DATA SYNTHESIS: No study directly compared clinical outcomes or harms of
      screening or not screening pregnant women for IDA. Twelve supplementation trials
      were included, and no controlled observational studies met inclusion criteria. On
      the basis of 11 trials, routine maternal iron supplementation had inconsistent
      effects on rates of cesarean delivery, small size for gestational age, and low
      birthweight and no effect on maternal quality of life, gestational age, Apgar
      scores, preterm birth, or infant mortality. Twelve trials reported improvements
      in maternal hematologic indices, although not all were statistically significant.
      Pooled analysis of 4 trials resulted in a statistically significant difference in
      IDA incidence at term, favoring supplementation (risk ratio, 0.29 [95% CI, 0.17
      to 0.49]; I2 = 0%). Maternal iron supplementation did not affect infant iron
      status at 6 months. Harms, none of which were serious or had long-term
      consequences, were inconsistently reported in 10 of the trials, with most finding
      no difference between groups. LIMITATIONS: Data from trials in countries with
      limited generalizability to U.S. populations were included. Studies were
      methodologically heterogeneous, and some were small and underpowered. CONCLUSION:
      There is inconclusive evidence that routine prenatal supplementation for IDA
      improves maternal or infant clinical health outcomes, but supplementation may
      improve maternal hematologic indices. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Agency for
      Healthcare Research and Quality.

PMID- 25820662
TI  - Comparing Motor Skills in Autism Spectrum Individuals With and Without Speech
      Delay.
AB  - Movement atypicalities in speed, coordination, posture, and gait have been
      observed across the autism spectrum (AS) and atypicalities in coordination are
      more commonly observed in AS individuals without delayed speech (DSM-IV Asperger)
      than in those with atypical or delayed speech onset. However, few studies have
      provided quantitative data to support these mostly clinical observations. Here,
      we compared perceptual and motor performance between 30 typically developing and
      AS individuals (21 with speech delay and 18 without speech delay) to examine the
      associations between limb movement control and atypical speech development.
      Groups were matched for age, intelligence, and sex. The experimental design
      included: an inspection time task, which measures visual processing speed; the
      Purdue Pegboard, which measures finger dexterity, bimanual performance, and hand
      eye coordination; the Annett Peg Moving Task, which measures unimanual goal
      directed arm movement; and a simple reaction time task. We used analysis of
      covariance to investigate group differences in task performance and linear
      regression models to explore potential associations between intelligence,
      language skills, simple reaction time, and visually guided movement performance.
      AS participants without speech delay performed slower than typical participants
      in the Purdue Pegboard subtests. AS participants without speech delay showed
      poorer bimanual coordination than those with speech delay. Visual processing
      speed was slightly faster in both AS groups than in the typical group.
      Altogether, these results suggest that AS individuals with and without speech
      delay differ in visually guided and visually triggered behavior and show that
      early language skills are associated with slower movement in simple and complex
      motor tasks.

PMID- 25820663
TI  - Enhanced piezo-humidity sensing of a Cd-ZnO nanowire nanogenerator as a self
      powered/active gas sensor by coupling the piezoelectric screening effect and
      dopant displacement mechanism.
AB  - Highly sensitive humidity sensing has been realized from a Cd-doped ZnO nanowire
      (NW) nanogenerator (NG) as a self-powered/active gas sensor. The piezoelectric
      output of the device acts not only as a power source, but also as a response
      signal to the relative humidity (RH) in the environment. The response of Cd-ZnO
      (1 : 10) NWs reached up to 85.7 upon exposure to 70% relative humidity, much
      higher than that of undoped ZnO NWs. Cd dopant can increase the number of oxygen
      vacancies in the NWs, resulting in more adsorption sites on the surface of the
      NWs. Upon exposure to a humid environment, a large amount of water molecules can
      displace the adsorbed oxygen ions on the surface of Cd-ZnO NWs. This procedure
      can influence the carrier density in Cd-ZnO NWs and vary the screening effect on
      the piezoelectric output. Our study can stimulate a research trend on exploring
      composite materials for piezo-gas sensing. 

PMID- 25820664
TI  - Growth and development of Colorado potato beetle larvae, Leptinotarsa
      decemlineata, on potato plants expressing the oryzacystatin II proteinase
      inhibitor.
AB  - Plant proteinase inhibitors (PIs) are attractive tools for crop improvement and
      their heterologous expression can enhance insect resistance in transgenic plants.
      PI oryzacystatin II (OCII), isolated from rice, showed potential in controlling
      pests that utilize cysteine proteinases for protein digestion. To evaluate the
      applicability of the OCII gene in enhancing plant defence, OCII-transformed
      potatoes were bioassayed for resistance to Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa
      decemlineata Say). Feeding on transformed leaves of potato cultivars Desiree and
      Jelica significantly affected larval growth and development, but did not change
      mortality rates. During the L2 and L3 developmental stages larvae consumed the
      OCII-transformed foliage faster as compared to the nontransformed control. Also
      these larvae reached the prepupal stage (end of L4 stage) 2 days earlier than
      those fed on control leaves. However, the total amounts of consumed OCII
      transformed leaves were up to 23% lower than of control, and the maximal weights
      of prepupal larvae were reduced by up to 18% as compared to larvae fed on
      nontransformed leaves. The reduction in insect fitness reported in this study in
      combination with other control measures, could lead to improved CPB resistance
      management in potato.

PMID- 25820666
TI  - Organomagnesium-catalyzed isomerization of terminal alkynes to allenes and
      internal alkynes.
AB  - Organomagnesium complexes 2 were synthesized from N,N-dialkylamineimine ligands 1
      and dibenzylmagnesium by benzylation of the imine moiety. 3-Aryl-1-propynes
      reacted with 2 to form the corresponding tetraalkynyl complexes, which acted as
      catalysts for the transformation of these terminal alkynes into allenes and
      further to internal alkynes under mild conditions. To the best of our knowledge,
      this example is the first of an organomagnesium-catalyzed isomerization of
      alkynes. Notably, the reactions proceeded through temporally separated autotandem
      catalysis, thus allowing the isolation of the allene or internal alkyne species
      in good yields. Mechanistic experiments suggested that the catalytically active
      tetraalkynyl complexes consist of a tautomeric mixture of alkynyl-, allenyl-, and
      propargylmagnesium species. 

PMID- 25820665
TI  - In vitro comparison of three rifampicin loading methods in a reinforced porous
      beta-tricalcium phosphate scaffold.
AB  - The antibiotic compound, rifampicin (RFP), was loaded into porous reinforced beta
      tricalcium phosphate (beta-TCP) scaffolds using three different solution
      adsorption methods. This resulted in drug delivery systems (DDS) generated by
      vacuum adsorption (VA), dynamic adsorption (DA), and static adsorption (SA). In
      vitro examination of the drug loading and release profiles of the DDS indicated
      that the unit mass of RFP loaded into the scaffold by the VA method (0.44 mg/g)
      was higher than that achieved by SA (0.42 mg/g) or DA (0.38 mg/g) (P < 0.05). The
      mechanical strength had no significant change after RFP-loading (P > 0.05).
      Moreover, there were no significant differences among the mechanical strength of
      three beta-TCP DDS generated by loading RFP using SA, DA, and VA (P > 0.05). In
      vitro release testing showed an initial burst release of RFP from the three
      different DDS within the first 3 h and in the first 51 h, the cumulative release
      of RFP from VA-DDS, DA-DDS, and SA-DDS had reached 56.2, 83.6, and 88.6 %,
      respectively. Complete RFP release had occurred from VA-DDS, DA-DDS, and SA-DDS
      after 23, 17, and 15 days, respectively. As the VA-DDS method showed improved RFP
      loading and a more sustained drug release, this method is recommended for
      solution adsorption drug loading into porous beta-TCP scaffolds to form a DDS.

PMID- 25820667
TI  - Copper Prussian blue analogue: investigation into multifunctional activities for
      biomedical applications.
AB  - We have designed and developed stable and biocompatible copper analogues of a
      Prussian blue (PB) nanoparticle based drug delivery system containing doxorubicin
      that show selective quenching of fluorescence of doxorubicin compared to PB
      analogues with other metals and inhibition of cancer cell proliferation,
      suggesting future potential multifunctional applications in biomedical sciences. 

PMID- 25820668
TI  - Variability of Transcutaneous Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Pressure Measurements
      Associated with Sensor Location.
AB  - Transcutaneous measurement of oxygen and carbon dioxide pressure (PtcO2 and
      PtcCO2) is useful in gas exchange monitoring. However, the relationship between
      PtcO2, pulse oximetry (SaO2) and arterial blood gases (ABG) is unclear. The aim
      of the present study was to compare PtcO2 and PtcCO2 with SaO2 and ABG, to
      evaluate the effect of sensor location on the results and stability of PtcO2 and
      PtcCO2, and to assess the impact of body composition on PtcO2 and PtcCO2. PtcO2
      and PtcCO2 were measured in 20 healthy volunteers at three locations: right
      second intercostal space, lateral surface of the abdomen, and the inner surface
      of the left arm. The results were recorded 10, 15, and 20 min after sensor
      fixation and compared with SaO2 and ABG measured 20 min after electrode placement
      on the chest. Body composition was evaluated by bioimpedance. The findings were
      that PtcO2 was stable on the chest; but on the arm and abdomen it increased and
      reached maximum at 20 min. Transcutaneous PCO2 stabilized at 10 min in all the
      three locations. No significant correlations between PtcO2 and SaO2 or PaO2 were
      found. Transcutaneous PCO2 correlated with PaCO2. Both PtcO2 and PtcCO2 were not
      influenced by body composition. We conclude that the value of PtcO2 in monitoring
      of blood oxygenation was not unequivocally confirmed; PtcCO2 reliably reflects
      PaCO2, irrespective of sensor location. Body composition does not affect PtcO2
      and PtcCO2. 

PMID- 25820669
TI  - The Prevalence of Oral Inflammation Among Denture Wearing Patients with Chronic
      Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
AB  - Oral inflammation is an important contributor to the etiology of chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease, which can impact patient's health status. Previous
      studies indicate that people with poor oral health are at higher risk for
      nosocomial pneumonia. Denture wearing is one promoting factor in the development
      of mucosal infections. Colonization of the denture plaque by Gram-negative
      bacteria, Candida spp., or other respiratory pathogens, occurring locally, may be
      aspirated to the lungs. The studies showed that chronic obstructive pulmonary
      disease (COPD) patients treated with combinations of medicines with
      corticosteroids more frequently suffer from Candida-associated denture
      stomatitis. Treatment of oral candidiasis in patients with COPD constitutes a
      therapeutic problem. Therefore, it is essential to pay attention to the condition
      of oral mucosal membrane and denture hygiene habits. The guidelines for care and
      maintenance of dentures for COPD patients are presented in this paper. The
      majority of patients required improvement of their prosthetic and oral hygiene.
      Standard oral hygiene procedures in relation to dentures, conducted for
      prophylaxis of stomatitis complicated by mucosal infection among
      immunocompromised patients, are essential to maintain healthy oral tissues. The
      elimination of traumatic denture action in dental office, compliance with oral
      and denture hygiene, proper use and storage of prosthetic appliances in a dry
      environment outside the oral cavity can reduce susceptibility to infection.
      Proper attention to hygiene, including brushing and rinsing the mouth, may also
      help prevent denture stomatitis in these patients. 

PMID- 25820670
TI  - Central and peripheral irisin differentially regulate blood pressure.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Irisin is a newly identified 112 amino acid hormone, derived as a
      product of fibronectin type III domain containing 5 (FNDC5), which is highly
      related to metabolic activity in skeletal muscle and brown fat. The effects of
      irisin on cardiovascular functions are unknown. PURPOSE: To explore the effects
      of central and peripheral irisin on cardiovascular functions. METHODS: Irisin was
      either administrated into 3rd ventricle of rats or intravenously, and its effects
      on blood pressure and cardiac contractibility measured. RESULTS: Administration
      of recombinant human irisin into the 3rd brain ventricle of rats activated
      neurons in the paraventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus. Central administration
      of irisin increased blood pressure and cardiac contractibility. Exogenous irisin
      reversed atenolol-induced inhibition of cardiac contractibility. In contrast,
      peripheral administration of irisin reduced blood pressure in both control and
      spontaneously hypertensive rats. Irisin dilated mesenteric artery rings through
      ATP-sensitive potassium channels. CONCLUSION: Our studies indicate that central
      and peripheral irisin may differentially regulate cardiovascular activities.

PMID- 25820671
TI  - Interaction Between Brain Histamine and Serotonin, Norepinephrine, and Dopamine
      Systems: In Vivo Microdialysis and Electrophysiology Study.
AB  - Brain monoamines (serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, and histamine) play an
      important role in emotions, cognition, and pathophysiology and treatment of
      mental disorders. The interactions between serotonin, norepinephrine, and
      dopamine were studied in numerous works; however, histamine system received less
      attention. The aim of this study was to investigate the interactions between
      histamine and other monoamines, using in vivo microdialysis and
      electrophysiology. It was found that the inverse agonist of histamine-3
      receptors, thioperamide, increased the firing activity of dopamine neurons in the
      ventral tegmental area. Selective agonist of histamine-3 receptors, immepip,
      reversed thiperamide-induced stimulation of firing activity of dopamine neurons.
      The firing rates of serotonin and norpeinephrine neurons were not attenuated by
      immepip or thioperamide. Thioperamide robustly and significantly increased
      extracellular concentrations of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine in the
      rat prefrontal cortex and slightly increased norepinephrine and dopamine levels
      in the tuberomammillary nucleus of the hypothalamus. It can be concluded that
      histamine stimulates serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine transmission in the
      brain. Modulation of firing of dopamine neurons is a key element in functional
      interactions between histamine and other monoamines. Antagonists of histamine-3
      receptors, because of their potential ability to stimulate monoamine
      neurotransmission, might be beneficial in the treatment of mental disorders. 

PMID- 25820672
TI  - Cannabinoid-Induced Changes in the Activity of Electron Transport Chain Complexes
      of Brain Mitochondria.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate changes in the activity of individual
      mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes (I, II/III, IV) and citrate synthase
      induced by pharmacologically different cannabinoids. In vitro effects of selected
      cannabinoids on mitochondrial enzymes were measured in crude mitochondrial
      fraction isolated from pig brain. Both cannabinoid receptor agonists, Delta(9)
      tetrahydrocannabinol, anandamide, and R-(+)-WIN55,212-2, and antagonist/inverse
      agonists of cannabinoid receptors, AM251, and cannabidiol were examined in pig
      brain mitochondria. Different effects of these cannabinoids on mitochondrial
      respiratory chain complexes and citrate synthase were found. Citrate synthase
      activity was decreased only by Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol and AM251.
      Significant increase in the complex I activity was induced by anandamide. At
      micromolar concentration, all the tested cannabinoids inhibited the activity of
      electron transport chain complexes II/III and IV. Stimulatory effect of
      anandamide on activity of complex I may participate on distinct physiological
      effects of endocannabinoids compared to phytocannabinoids or synthetic
      cannabinoids. Common inhibitory effect of cannabinoids on activity of complex
      II/III and IV confirmed a non-receptor-mediated mechanism of cannabinoid action
      on individual components of system of oxidative phosphorylation. 

PMID- 25820673
TI  - Human pericytes isolated from adipose tissue have better differentiation
      abilities than their mesenchymal stem cell counterparts.
AB  - Multi-potent mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells are present in almost all organs
      and tissues, although their identity remains elusive. Several isolation
      strategies have been pursued to identify these cells prospectively, leading to
      the isolation of various cell populations endowed with multi-lineage mesodermal
      potential. Historically, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were the first cell
      population to be isolated from the stromal fraction of most connective tissues.
      These cells are able to differentiate towards various mesodermal lineages and are
      currently the most studied adult mesodermal progenitors. Recently, the isolation
      of a subpopulation of microvascular pericytes (PCs) endowed with multi-lineage
      mesodermal potential has led to the identification of mesenchymal progenitors
      that reside in a defined anatomical location, namely the wall of small blood
      vessels. To gain insight into these two related cell populations, we performed a
      detailed analysis of the mesodermal potential of isogenic human MSCs and PCs
      isolated from white adipose tissue. Although both cell populations expressed
      known mesodermal markers at similar levels and displayed a comparable growth
      rate, PCs differentiated towards osteocytes, adipocytes and myocytes more
      efficiently than their MSC counterparts, as revealed by both histological and
      molecular assays. Our results show that microvascular PCs are more prone to
      mesenchymal differentiation than MSCs and therefore represent a preferable source
      of human adult mesenchymal progenitors when adipose tissue is used as a cell
      source. 

PMID- 25820674
TI  - Biodistribution and radiation dosimetry of (82)Rb at rest and during peak
      pharmacological stress in patients referred for myocardial perfusion imaging.
AB  - PURPOSE: (82)Rb is an ultra-short-lived positron emitter used for myocardial
      blood flow quantification with PET imaging. The aim of this study was to quantify
      the biodistribution and radiation dosimetry in patients with coronary disease and
      in healthy normal volunteers. METHODS: A total of 30 subjects, 26 patients with
      known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) and four healthy volunteers were
      injected with (82)Rb chloride at 10 MBq/kg followed by a 10-min dynamic PET scan.
      Chest scans at rest were acquired in all subjects, as well as one additional
      biodistribution scan of the head, neck, abdomen, pelvis or thighs. Chest scans
      under stress were acquired in 25 of the CAD patients. (82)Rb time-integrated
      activity coefficients were determined in 22 source organs using volume of
      interest analysis, including corrections for partial-volume losses. The mean time
      integrated activity coefficients were used to calculate the whole-body effective
      dose using tissue weighting factors from the International Commission on
      Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publications 60 and 103. RESULTS: A total of 283
      organ time-integrated activity coefficients were calculated, with a minimum of
      four values per source organ. The rest and stress mean effective dose was 0.8
      mSv/GBq, according to the most recent ICRP definition. Using 10 MBq/kg for 3D PET
      imaging, the effective dose to a gender-averaged reference person (60 kg female
      and 73 kg male) is 1.1 mSv for a complete rest and stress perfusion study. For 2D
      PET using a typical injected activity of 1.1 to 2.2 GBq each for rest and stress,
      the effective dose for a complete study is 1.8 to 3.5 mSv. CONCLUSION: The
      current effective dose estimate in CAD patients is four times lower than the
      values reported previously by the ICRP, and about 35% lower than previous in vivo
      studies in young healthy subjects.

PMID- 25820675
TI  - Brain (18)F-DOPA PET and cognition in de novo Parkinson's disease.
AB  - PURPOSE: The role of mesocortical dopaminergic pathways in the cognitive function
      of patients with early Parkinson's disease (PD) needs to be further clarified.
      METHODS: The study groups comprised 15 drug-naive patients with de novo PD and 10
      patients with essential tremor (controls) who underwent (18)F-DOPA PET (static
      acquisition, normalization on mean cerebellar counts) and an extended
      neuropsychological test battery. Factor analysis with varimax rotation was
      applied to the neuropsychological test scores, to yield five factors from 16
      original scores, which explained 82 % of the total variance. Correlations between
      cognitive factors and (18)F-DOPA uptake were assessed with SPM8, taking age and
      gender as nuisance variables. RESULTS: (18)F-DOPA uptake was significantly lower
      in PD patients than in controls in the bilateral striatum, mainly in the more
      affected (right) hemisphere, and in a small right temporal region. Significant
      positive correlations were found only in PD patients between the executive factor
      and (18)F-DOPA uptake in the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the
      middle frontal gyrus, between the verbal fluency factor and (18)F-DOPA uptake in
      left BA 46 and the bilateral striatum, and between the visuospatial factor and
      (18)F-DOPA uptake in the left ACC and bilateral striatum. No correlations were
      found between (18)F-DOPA uptake and either the verbal memory factor or the
      abstraction-working memory factor. CONCLUSION: These data clarify the role of the
      mesocortical dopaminergic pathways in cognitive function in early PD,
      highlighting the medial frontal lobe, anterior cingulate, and left BA 46 as the
      main sites of cortical correlation with executive and language functions.

PMID- 25820676
TI  - MicroRNA-494 is a master epigenetic regulator of multiple invasion-suppressor
      microRNAs by targeting ten eleven translocation 1 in invasive human
      hepatocellular carcinoma tumors.
AB  - Vascular invasion provides a direct route for tumor metastasis. The degree to
      which microRNA (miRNA) expression plays a role in tumor vascular invasion is
      unclear. Here, we report that miR-494 is up-regulated in human hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC) tumors with vascular invasion and can promote HCC cell
      invasiveness by gene inactivation of multiple invasion-suppressor miRNAs. Our
      results show that ten eleven translocation (TET) methylcytosine dioxygenase,
      predominantly TET1 in HCC cells, is a direct target of miR-494. The reduced 5'
      hydroxymethylcytosine levels observed in the proximal cytosine-phosphate-guanine
      (CpG) regions of multiple invasion-suppressor miRNA genes are strongly associated
      with their transcriptional repression upon miR-494 overexpression, whereas
      enforced DNA demethylation can abolish the repression. Furthermore, TET1
      knockdown shows a similar effect as miR-494 overexpression. Conversely, miR-494
      inhibition or enforced TET1 expression is able to restore invasion-suppressor
      miRNAs and inhibit miR-494-mediated HCC cell invasion. CONCLUSIONS: miR-494 can
      trigger gene silencing of multiple invasion-suppressor miRNAs by inhibiting
      genomic DNA demethylation by direct targeting of TET1, thereby leading to tumor
      vascular invasion.

PMID- 25820677
TI  - Organization of left-right coordination of neuronal activity in the mammalian
      spinal cord: Insights from computational modelling.
AB  - KEY POINTS: Coordination of neuronal activity between left and right sides of the
      mammalian spinal cord is provided by several sets of commissural interneurons
      (CINs) whose axons cross the midline. Genetically identified inhibitory V0D and
      excitatory V0V CINs and ipsilaterally projecting excitatory V2a interneurons were
      shown to secure left-right alternation at different locomotor speeds. We have
      developed computational models of neuronal circuits in the spinal cord that
      include left and right rhythm-generating centres interacting bilaterally via
      three parallel pathways mediated by V0D , V2a-V0V and V3 neuron populations. The
      models reproduce the experimentally observed speed-dependent left-right
      coordination in normal mice and the changes in coordination seen in mutants
      lacking specific neuron classes. The models propose an explanation for several
      experimental results and provide insights into the organization of the spinal
      locomotor network and parallel CIN pathways involved in gait control at different
      locomotor speeds. ABSTRACT: Different locomotor gaits in mammals, such as walking
      or galloping, are produced by coordinated activity in neuronal circuits in the
      spinal cord. Coordination of neuronal activity between left and right sides of
      the cord is provided by commissural interneurons (CINs), whose axons cross the
      midline. In this study, we construct and analyse two computational models of
      spinal locomotor circuits consisting of left and right rhythm generators
      interacting bilaterally via several neuronal pathways mediated by different CINs.
      The CIN populations incorporated in the models include the genetically identified
      inhibitory (V0D ) and excitatory (V0V ) subtypes of V0 CINs and excitatory V3
      CINs. The model also includes the ipsilaterally projecting excitatory V2a
      interneurons mediating excitatory drive to the V0V CINs. The proposed network
      architectures and CIN connectivity allow the models to closely reproduce and
      suggest mechanistic explanations for several experimental observations. These
      phenomena include: different speed-dependent contributions of V0D and V0V CINs
      and V2a interneurons to left-right alternation of neural activity, switching
      gaits between the left-right alternating walking-like activity and the left-right
      synchronous hopping-like pattern in mutants lacking specific neuron classes, and
      speed-dependent asymmetric changes of flexor and extensor phase durations. The
      models provide insights into the architecture of spinal network and the
      organization of parallel inhibitory and excitatory CIN pathways and suggest
      explanations for how these pathways maintain alternating and synchronous gaits at
      different locomotor speeds. The models propose testable predictions about the
      neural organization and operation of mammalian locomotor circuits.

PMID- 25820678
TI  - DNA methylation and physio-biochemical analysis of chickpea in response to cold
      stress.
AB  - Cold stress (CS) signals are translated into physiological changes as products of
      direct and/or indirect of gene expression regulated by different factors like DNA
      methylation. In this study, some of these factors were comparatively studied in
      two chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes (Sel96Th11439, cold-tolerant
      genotype, and ILC533, cold susceptible one) under control (23  degrees C) and
      days 1, 3, and 6 after exposing the seedlings to CS (4  degrees C). Under CS,
      tolerant genotype prevented H2O2 accumulation which led to a decrease in damage
      indices (malondialdehyde and electrolyte leakage index) compared to susceptible
      one. The significant activities of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase,
      catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, guaiacol peroxidase, and polyphenol oxidase)
      along with a significant proportion of change in DNA methylation/demethylation
      patterns were often effective factors in preserving cell against cold-induced
      oxidative stress. Chickpea cells in response to CS changed access to their genome
      as the number of bands without change from day 1 to day 6 of exposure to CS
      particularly in tolerant genotype was decreased. During CS, the methylation level
      was higher compared to demethylation (29.05 vs 19.79 %) in tolerant genotype and
      (27.92 vs 22.09 %) in susceptible one. However, for prolonged periods of CS,
      changes in demethylated bands in tolerant genotype were higher than that of in
      susceptible one (9.24 vs 4.13 %), indicating higher potential for activation of
      CS responsive genes. Such a status along with higher activity of antioxidants and
      less damage indices could be related to cold tolerance (CT) mechanisms in
      chickpea. Sequencing analysis confirmed the important role of some specific DNA
      sequences in creating CT with possible responsive components involved in CS.
      Thus, dynamic assessment using multi-dimensional approaches allows us to
      progressively fill in the gaps between physio-biochemical and molecular events in
      creating CT, to comprehend better the nature of the plant stress response and
      molecular mechanisms behind.

PMID- 25820679
TI  - Loss of centromeric histone H2AT120 phosphorylation accompanies somatic
      chromosomes inactivation in the aberrant spermatocytes of Acricotopus lucidus
      (Diptera, Chironomidae).
AB  - In the germ line of the chironomid Acricotopus lucidus, two cells with quite
      different chromosome constitutions result from the last unequal gonial mitosis.
      In the male, the future primary spermatocyte receives all the germ line-limited
      chromosomes (=Ks) together with somatic chromosomes (=Ss), and later on undergoes
      meiotic divisions, while the connected aberrant spermatocyte gets only Ss and
      remains undivided with chromosomes inactivated in a metaphase-like condensed
      state. This raises the question whether the centromeres of the permanently
      condensed Ss of the aberrant spermatocyte remain active during meiosis of the
      connected regular spermatocyte. Active centromeres exhibit an epigenetic
      phosphorylation mark at threonine 120 of histone H2A. To visualise the
      centromeric H2A phosphorylation of the Ss in the aberrant spermatocyte, meiotic
      stages were immunostained with different anti-phospho histone H2AT120 antibodies.
      Clear H2AT120ph signals appear at the centromeres of the Ss during prophase,
      persist on the metaphase-like condensed Ss during meiosis I of the connected
      primary spermatocyte and disappear during transition to meiosis II. The
      centromeres of the Ss and Ks of the regular spermatocytes display H2AT120ph
      signals from prophase I to anaphase II. The loss of the H2AT120 phosphorylation
      detected on the centromeres of the Ss of the aberrant spermatocyte indicating
      their deactivation supports the idea of a programmed inactivation of the Ss to
      block the entry of the germ line-derived aberrant spermatocyte, lacking Ks, into
      meiosis, and thus to prevent the generation of sperms possessing only Ss. This
      mechanism would ensure the presence of the Ks in the germ line.

PMID- 25820680
TI  - Clinical picture and risk prediction of short-term mortality in cardiogenic
      shock.
AB  - AIMS: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical picture and outcome
      of cardiogenic shock and to develop a risk prediction score for short-term
      mortality. METHODS AND RESULTS: The CardShock study was a multicentre,
      prospective, observational study conducted between 2010 and 2012. Patients with
      either acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or non-ACS aetiologies were enrolled within
      6 h from detection of cardiogenic shock defined as severe hypotension with
      clinical signs of hypoperfusion and/or serum lactate >2 mmol/L despite fluid
      resuscitation (n = 219, mean age 67, 74% men). Data on clinical presentation,
      management, and biochemical variables were compared between different aetiologies
      of shock. Systolic blood pressure was on average 78 mmHg (standard deviation 14
      mmHg) and mean arterial pressure 57 (11) mmHg. The most common cause (81%) was
      ACS (68% ST-elevation myocardial infarction and 8% mechanical complications); 94%
      underwent coronary angiography, of which 89% PCI. Main non-ACS aetiologies were
      severe chronic heart failure and valvular causes. In-hospital mortality was 37%
      (n = 80). ACS aetiology, age, previous myocardial infarction, prior coronary
      artery bypass, confusion, low LVEF, and blood lactate levels were independently
      associated with increased mortality. The CardShock risk Score including these
      variables and estimated glomerular filtration rate predicted in-hospital
      mortality well (area under the curve 0.85). CONCLUSION: Although most commonly
      due to ACS, other causes account for one-fifth of cases with shock. ACS is
      independently associated with in-hospital mortality. The CardShock risk Score,
      consisting of seven common variables, easily stratifies risk of short-term
      mortality. It might facilitate early decision-making in intensive care or guide
      patient selection in clinical trials. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01374867.

PMID- 25820681
TI  - The importance of sensory integration processes for action cascading.
AB  - Dual tasking or action cascading is essential in everyday life and often
      investigated using tasks presenting stimuli in different sensory modalities.
      Findings obtained with multimodal tasks are often broadly generalized, but until
      today, it has remained unclear whether multimodal integration affects performance
      in action cascading or the underlying neurophysiology. To bridge this gap, we
      asked healthy young adults to complete a stop-change paradigm which presented
      different stimuli in either one or two modalities while recording behavioral and
      neurophysiological data. Bimodal stimulus presentation prolonged response times
      and affected bottom-up and top-down guided attentional processes as reflected by
      the P1 and N1, respectively. However, the most important effect was the
      modulation of response selection processes reflected by the P3 suggesting that a
      potentially different way of forming task goals operates during action cascading
      in bimodal vs. unimodal tasks. When two modalities are involved, separate task
      goals need to be formed while a conjoint task goal may be generated when all
      stimuli are presented in the same modality. On a systems level, these processes
      seem to be related to the modulation of activity in fronto-polar regions (BA10)
      as well as Broca's area (BA44). 

PMID- 25820682
TI  - Two-years results of native tissue versus vaginal mesh repair in the treatment of
      anterior prolapse according to different success criteria: A randomized
      controlled trial.
AB  - AIMS: To compare efficacy and safety of the traditional colporraphy and
      transvaginal polypropylene mesh for the treatment of advanced anterior vaginal
      prolapse according to different success criteria in two-year follow-up. METHODS:
      In this randomized controlled trial, women with anterior prolapse stage II or
      greater, with Ba point >= +1 (POP-Q quantification), were randomly assigned to
      have either anterior colporraphy (n = 43) or transvaginal mesh repair (n = 43).
      The primary outcome was to compare objective success rate under two success
      definitions: prolapse stage I (Ba < -1) and stage II (Ba < 0). Secondary outcomes
      included complications and prolapse symptoms, satisfaction and quality of life
      (QoL). Intention to treat was used for the primary endpoint and per protocol
      analysis for the secondary outcomes. RESULTS: The groups presented similar
      preoperative data. Thirty three patients from the colporraphy and 37 from the
      mesh groups completed two-year follow-up. Under Ba < -1 definition, success rate
      was 39.53% for both groups (P = 1.00). Considering success as Ba < 0, analysis
      favored the mesh group by 23% (51.16% and 74.42%; 95% CI for difference: 3-43%; P
      = 0.022). Patients from the mesh group were more satisfied after two years (81.8%
      and 97.3% for colporraphy and mesh, respectively, 15.5% difference; 95% CI for
      difference 1-29%; P = 0.032). Both procedures similarly improved women's symptoms
      and QoL. Some complications were observed, one being a 13.5% mesh exposure rate.
      CONCLUSIONS: Transvaginal synthetic mesh repair for advanced anterior vaginal
      prolapse provided higher anatomical success and satisfaction rates compared with
      traditional colporraphy. Both procedures equally improved quality of life.
      Neurourol. Urodynam. 35:509-514, 2016. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

PMID- 25820684
TI  - Does anatomy explain the origin of a leak after sleeve gastrectomy.

PMID- 25820683
TI  - Systematic review and meta-analysis of objective and subjective quality of life
      among pediatric, adolescent, and young adult bone tumor survivors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pediatric, adolescent, and young adult survivors of bone sarcomas are
      at risk for poor quality of life (QOL). We conducted a systematic review and meta
      analysis to summarize the literature describing QOL in this population and
      differences in QOL based on local control procedures. PROCEDURE: Included studies
      described >=5 patients <25 years old who had completed local control treatment
      for bone sarcoma, defined QOL as a main outcome, and measured it with a validated
      instrument. Data extraction and quality assessments were conducted with
      standardized tools. Meta-analyses compared QOL based on surgical procedure (limb
      sparing vs. amputation) and were stratified by assessment type (objective
      physical function, clinician-assessed disability, patient-reported disability,
      and patient-reported QOL). Effect sizes were reported as the standard mean
      difference when multiple instruments were used within a comparison and weighted
      mean difference otherwise. All were weighted by inverse variance and modeled with
      random effects. RESULTS: Twenty-two of 452 unique manuscripts were included in
      qualitative syntheses, eight of which were included in meta-analyses. Manuscripts
      were heterogeneous with respect to included patient populations (age, tumor type,
      time since treatment) and QOL instruments. Prospective studies suggested that QOL
      improves over time, and that female sex and older age at diagnosis are associated
      with poor QOL. Meta-analyses showed no differences in outcomes between patients
      who underwent limb-sparing versus amputation for local control. CONCLUSION: QOL
      studies among children and AYAs with bone sarcoma are remarkably diverse, making
      it difficult to detect trends in patient outcomes. Future research should focus
      on standardized QOL instruments and interpretations.

PMID- 25820685
TI  - An evaluation of a high-pressure (11)CO carbonylation apparatus.
AB  - [(11)C]Carbon monoxide ((11)CO) is a versatile building block for the synthesis
      of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) radioligands. However, the difficulty of
      trapping (11)CO in a small solvent volume has limited its utility. We here report
      an evaluation of a simple, fully automated high-pressure synthesizer prototype
      for the use in (11)C-carbonylation reactions. [(11)C]Carbon monoxide was easily
      prepared by online reduction of [(11)C]carbon dioxide using either Mo(s) or Zn(s)
      as the reducing agent. The conversion yield of (11)CO was >99% when zinc was used
      as the reducing agent, and the corresponding value for Mo was approximately 71%.
      When the Zn or Mo column was constantly kept under inert atmosphere, no
      significant decrease in reducing properties was observed for more than 100 (11)CO
      productions. However, in our hands, Mo reductant was much easier to service. A
      total of nine functional groups were successfully radiolabeled using the (11)CO
      synthesizer prototype. All measured radiochemical yields exceeded 37%, and the
      (11)CO trapping efficiency was generally above 90%, except for the Suzuki
      coupling where the trapping efficiency was 80%. This high-pressure synthesizer
      using [(11)C]carbon monoxide as the labeling precursor is easy to operate
      allowing for (11)C-carbonylation reactions to be performed in a high yield and in
      a routinely fashion.

PMID- 25820686
TI  - Metabolic and biological profile of autochthonous Vitis vinifera L. ecotypes.
AB  - Vitis vinifera L. is a plant species rich in phenolic compounds that are usually
      associated with the health benefits of wine and grape consumption in the diet.
      Anthocyanins, catechins, flavonol, phenolic acids and stilbenes are key molecular
      constituents of the Vitis berries, affecting the quality of grape products. The
      purpose of this work was to identify the metabolic profiles of 37 genetically
      certified V. vinifera Latial accessions. In particular, qualitative and
      quantitative analyses of specific secondary metabolites and total phenolic and
      tannin contents were performed by LC-MS and spectrophotometric analysis. In
      addition, since plant molecules are well-known for their free radical scavenging
      properties, the antioxidant effects of the sample extracts were evaluated through
      two different antiradical assays: DPPH and FRAP tests. Finally, a preliminary
      screening of the antiproliferative activity of each specimen on HCT-116 human
      colorectal cancer cells was conducted. All the results showed a great variety and
      amount of phenolic compounds in all accessions; moreover, we observed a
      significant correlation in the extracts between the metabolite concentration and
      bioactivity. Besides, some samples presented extraordinary biological effects,
      such as reduction of tumor cell growth not associated with cytotoxicity,
      supporting their use as possible future adjuvants for cancer therapy. In
      conclusion, the present research increased the scientific knowledge about Italian
      autochthonous vine ecotypes in order to valorize them and support their
      reintroduction in the local economic system. 

PMID- 25820687
TI  - Post-treatment-Free Solution-Processed Non-stoichiometric NiO(x) Nanoparticles
      for Efficient Hole-Transport Layers of Organic Optoelectronic Devices.

PMID- 25820688
TI  - Mutation rate analysis at 19 autosomal microsatellites.
AB  - Previous studies have demonstrated that a large sample size is needed to reliably
      estimate population- and locus-specific microsatellite mutation rates. Therefore,
      we conducted a long-term collaboration study and performed a comprehensive
      analysis on the mutation characteristics of 19 autosomal short tandem repeat
      (STR) loci. The STR loci located on 15 of 22 autosomal chromosomes were analyzed
      in a total of 21,106 samples (11,468 parent-child meioses) in a Chinese
      population. This provided 217,892 allele transfers at 19 STR loci. An overall
      mutation rate of 1.20 * 10(-3) (95% CI, 1.06-1.36 * 10(-3) ) was observed in the
      populations across 18 of 19 STR loci, except for the TH01 locus with no mutation
      found. Most STR mutations (97.7%) were single-step mutations, and only a few
      mutations (2.30%) comprised two and multiple steps. Interestingly, approximately
      93% of mutation events occur in the male germline. The mutation ratios increased
      with the paternal age at child birth (r = 0.99, p<0.05), but not maternal age.
      Last, with the combination analysis of the data from the southern Chinese
      population, we drew a picture of 19 STR mutations in China. In conclusion, the
      data from this study will provide useful information in parentage testing,
      kinship analysis, and population genetics.

PMID- 25820689
TI  - GPR30 Mediates the Fast Effect of Estrogen on Mouse Blastocyst and its Role in
      Implantation.
AB  - Our previous work demonstrated that estrogen could rapidly increase intracellular
      Ca(2+) in dormant mouse blastocysts. The purpose of the present study is to
      investigate the physiological relevance of G protein-coupled receptor 30 (GPR30)
      in the fast effect of estrogen on mouse blastocyst and in embryo implantation. We
      used reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, immunofluorescence, embryo
      coculture with Ishikawa uterine epithelial cell line, and embryo transfer
      technology to detect the expression of GPR30 in mouse embryos and the nongenomic
      effects of estrogen via GPR30 on blastocyst. We found that GPR30 is expressed in
      the mouse blastocyst, and its location is mostly consistent with the binding site
      of estrogen. Both estrogen and GPR30-specific agonist G-1 rapidly increase the
      intracellular Ca(2+) and phospholipase C activation in blastocyst cells, while
      GPR30-specific antagonist G-15 blocked this effect of estrogen. The pretreatment
      of G-15 on blastocysts lead to a lower attachment rate and implantation rate. Our
      data collectively suggested that GPR30 can mediate the fast effect of estrogen on
      blastocysts and play an important role in embryo implantation. 

PMID- 25820690
TI  - H3K27me3 is an Epigenetic Mark of Relevance in Endometriosis.
AB  - Epigenetic mechanisms may play an important role in the etiology of
      endometriosis. The modification of histones by methylation of lysine residues has
      been shown to regulate gene expression by changing chromatin structure. We have
      previously shown that endometriotic lesions had aberrant levels of histone
      acetylation (lower) and methylation (higher) than control tissues. We aimed to
      determine the levels of trimethylated histone 3 at lysine residue 27 (H3K27me3),
      a well-known repressive mark, by immunoassay of fresh tissues and
      immunohistochemistry (IHC) of an endometriosis-focused tissue microarray. Also,
      we aimed to determine levels of expression of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2),
      the enzyme responsible for trimethylation of H3K27me3, in cell lines. Average
      levels of H3K27me3 measured by immunoassay were not significantly different in
      lesions compared to endometrium from patients and controls. However, there was a
      trend of higher levels of H3K27me3 in secretory versus proliferative endometrium.
      The results of IHC showed that lesions (ovarian, fallopian, and peritoneal) and
      secretory endometrium from controls have higher percentage of H3K27me3-positive
      nuclei than eutopic endometrium from patients. Endometriotic epithelial cells
      express high levels of EZH2, which is upregulated by progesterone. This study
      provides evidence in support of a role of H3K27me3 in the pathogenesis of
      endometriosis and for EZH2 as a potential therapeutic target for this disease,
      but more studies are necessary to understand the molecular mechanisms at play. 

PMID- 25820691
TI  - Multispectral labeling of embryonic cells with lipophilic carbocyanine dyes.
AB  - Incubation of hatched Strongylocentrotus purpuratus sea urchin embryos or larvae
      with suspensions of the carbocyanine dyes DiI, DiO, and DiD resulted in the
      random labeling of membranes of some ectodermal epithelial cells and blastocoelar
      cells, producing a range of differentially colored cells that can be tracked
      during development. Simultaneous application of soluble Vybrant(r) preparations
      of the three dyes resulted in similar labeling of each cell. Dye labeling of the
      ectoderm was nearly eliminated by deciliation and some ciliated squamous
      epithelial cells adjacent to labelled cells were refractory to Vybrant(r) dye
      uptake irrespective of concentration or duration of treatment, together
      suggesting local variation in the properties of cell membranes or cilia.
      Furthermore, single cells possessing distinctive morphological features were
      detected.

PMID- 25820693
TI  - Comment on "How to interpret Onsager cross terms in mixed ionic electronic
      conductors" by I. Riess, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2014, 16, 22513.
AB  - Here we show that the Onsager cross terms for ion-electron interactions are not
      an artifact, but the necessity to phenomenologically and completely describe the
      mass/charge transport of a mixed ionic-electronic conductor in terms of mobile
      charged components which are the only experimentally operable species. The use of
      an appropriate comprehensive defect model may help to reduce the cross terms
      (which depend on the choice of formal charge of the mobile defects), but it
      cannot obviate them if long-range Coulombic interactions are in action among the
      defects. 

PMID- 25820692
TI  - Autoimmune uveitis: clinical, pathogenetic, and therapeutic features.
AB  - Autoimmune uveitis (AU), an inflammatory non-infectious process of the vascular
      layer of the eye, can lead to visual impairment and, in the absence of a timely
      diagnosis and suitable therapy, can even result in total blindness. The majority
      of AU cases are idiopathic, whereas fewer than 20 % are associated with systemic
      diseases. The clinical severity of AU depends on whether the anterior,
      intermediate, or posterior part of the uvea is involved and may range from almost
      asymptomatic to rapidly sight-threatening forms. Race, genetic background, and
      environmental factors can also influence the clinical picture. The pathogenetic
      mechanism of AU is still poorly defined, given its remarkable heterogeneity and
      the many discrepancies between experimental and human uveitis. Even so, the onset
      of AU is thought to be related to an aberrant T cell-mediated immune response,
      triggered by inflammation and directed against retinal or cross-reactive
      antigens. B cells may also play a role in uveal antigen presentation and in the
      subsequent activation of T cells. The management of AU remains a challenge for
      clinicians, especially because of the paucity of randomized clinical trials that
      have systematically evaluated the effectiveness of different drugs. In addition
      to topical treatment, several different therapeutic options are available,
      although a standardized regimen is thus far lacking. Current guidelines recommend
      corticosteroids as the first-line therapy for patients with active AU.
      Immunosuppressive drugs may be subsequently required to treat steroid-resistant
      AU and for steroid-sparing purposes. The recent introduction of biological
      agents, such as those targeting tumor necrosis factor-alpha, is expected to
      remarkably increase the percentages of responders and to prevent irreversible
      sight impairment. This paper reviews the clinical features of AU and its crucial
      pathogenetic targets in relation to the current therapeutic perspectives. Also,
      the largest clinical trials conducted in the last 12 years for the treatment of
      AU are summarized and critically discussed. 

PMID- 25820694
TI  - Maternal age and ovarian stimulation independently affect oocyte mtDNA copy
      number and cumulus cell gene expression in bovine clones.
AB  - STUDY QUESTION: Does maternal ageing and ovarian stimulation alter mitochondrial
      DNA (mtDNA) copy number and gene expression of oocytes and cumulus cells from a
      novel bovine model for human IVF? SUMMARY ANSWER: Oocytes collected from females
      with identical nuclear genetics show decreased mtDNA copy number and increased
      expression of an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress gene with repect to ovarian
      stimulation, whilst differences in the expression of genes involved in
      mitochondrial function, antioxidant protection and apoptosis were evident in
      relation to maternal ageing and the degree of ovarian stimulation in cumulus
      cells. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Oocyte quality declines with advancing maternal
      age; however, the underlying mechanism, as well as the effects of ovarian
      stimulation are poorly understood. Human studies investigating these effects are
      often limited by differences in age and ovarian stimulation regimens within a
      patient cohort, as well as genetic and environmental variability. STUDY DESIGN,
      SIZE, DURATION: A novel bovine cross-sectional maternal age model for human IVF
      was undertaken. Follicles were aspirated from young (3 years of age; n = 7
      females) and old (10 years of age; n = 5 females) Holstein Freisian clones
      following multiple unstimulated, mild and standard ovarian stimulation cycles.
      These bovine cloned females were generated by the process of somatic cell nuclear
      transfer (SCNT) from the same founder and represent a homogeneous population with
      reduced genetic and environmental variability. Maternal age and ovarian
      stimulation effects were investigated in relation to mtDNA copy number, and the
      expression of 19 genes involved in mitochondrial function, antioxidant
      protection, oocyte-cumulus cell signalling and follicle development in both
      oocytes and cumulus cells. MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Young (3 years of age; n
      = 7 females) and old (10 years of age; n = 5 females) Holstein Freisian bovine
      clones were maintained as one herd. Stimulation cycles were based on the long
      GnRH agonist down-regulation regimen used in human fertility clinics. Follicle
      growth rates, numbers and diameters were monitored by ultrasonography and
      aspirated when the lead follicles were >14 mm in diameter. Follicle
      characteristics were analysed using a mixed model procedure. Quantitative PCR
      (qPCR) was used to determine mtDNA copy number and reverse transcriptase-qPCR (RT
      qPCR) was used to measure gene expression in oocytes and cumulus cells. MAIN
      RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: Method of ovarian stimulation (P = 0.04), but not
      maternal age (P > 0.1), was associated with a lower mtDNA copy number in oocytes.
      Neither factor affected mtDNA copy number in cumulus cells. In oocytes, maternal
      age had no effect on gene expression; however, ovarian stimulation in older
      females increased the expression of GRP78 (P = 0.02), a gene involved in ER
      stress. In cumulus cells, increasing maternal age was associated with the higher
      expression of genes involved in mitochondrial maintenance (TXN2 P = 0.008 and
      TFAM P = 0.03), whereas ovarian stimulation decreased the expression of genes
      involved in mitochondrial oxidative stress and apoptosis (TXN2 P = 0.002, PRDX3 P
      = 0.03 and BAX P = 0.03). LIMITATIONS, REASON FOR CAUTION: The low number of
      oocyte and cumulus cell samples collected from the unstimulated cycles limited
      the analysis. Fertilization and developmental potential of the oocytes was not
      assessed because these were used for mtDNA and gene expression quantification.
      WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: Delineation of the independent effects of
      maternal age and ovarian stimulation regimen on mtDNA copy number gene expression
      in oocytes and cumulus cells was enabled by the removal of genetic and
      environmental variability in this bovine model for human IVF. Therefore, these
      extend upon previous knowledge and findings provide relevant insights that are
      applicable for improving human ovarian stimulation regimens. STUDY
      FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS: Funding was provided by Fertility Associates and the
      University of Auckland. J.C.P. is a shareholder of Fertility Associates and
      M.P.G. received a fellowship from Fertility Associates. The other authors of this
      manuscript declare no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing
      the impartiality of the reported research.

PMID- 25820695
TI  - Estrogen-dependent regulation of human uterine natural killer cells promotes
      vascular remodelling via secretion of CCL2.
AB  - STUDY QUESTION: Does intrauterine biosynthesis of estrogen play an important role
      in early pregnancy by altering the function of uterine natural killer (uNK)
      cells? SUMMARY ANSWER: Estrogens directly regulate the function of human uNK
      cells by increasing uNK cell migration and secretion of uNK cell-derived
      chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2) that critically facilitates uNK-mediated
      angiogenesis. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: uNK cells are a phenotypically distinct
      population of tissue-resident immune cells that regulate vascular remodelling
      within the endometrium and decidua. Recently we discovered that decidualisation
      of human endometrial stromal cells results in the generation of an estrogen-rich
      microenvironment in areas of decidualised endometrium. We hypothesize that
      intrauterine biosynthesis of estrogens plays an important role in early pregnancy
      by altering the function of uNK cells. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: This
      laboratory-based study used primary human uNK cells which were isolated from
      first trimester human decidua (n = 32). PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS:
      Primary uNK cells were isolated from first trimester human decidua using magnetic
      cell sorting. The impact of estrogens on uNK cell function was assessed. Isolated
      uNK cells were treated with estrone (E1, 10(-8) M) or estradiol (E2, 10(-8) M)
      alone or in combination with the anti-estrogen ICI 182 780 (ICI, 10(-6) M). uNK
      cell motility was assessed by transwell migration assay and time-lapse
      microscopy. Expression of chemokine receptors was assessed by quantitative PCR
      (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry, and angiogenic factors were assessed by qPCR and
      cytokine array. Concentrations of CCL2 in supernatants were measured by enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay. Angiogenesis was assessed in a human endometrial
      endothelial cell network formation assay. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE:
      Treatment with either E1 or E2 increased uNK cell migration (P = 0.0092 and P =
      0.0063, respectively) compared with control. Co-administration of the anti
      estrogen ICI blocked the effects of E1 and E2 on cell migration. Concentrations
      of C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) mRNA in uNK cells were increased by E2
      treatment. The network formation assay revealed that conditioned media from uNK
      cells treated with E2 significantly increased human endometrial endothelial cell
      (HEEC) angiogenesis (P = 0.0029 versus control). Analysis of media from uNK cells
      treated with E2 using an antibody array identified CCL2 as the most abundant
      cytokine. Validation assays confirmed concentrations of CCL2 mRNA and protein
      were increased by E2 in uNK cells (P < 0.05 versus controls). Compared with the
      control, recombinant human CCL2 was found to increase HEEC network formation (P <
      0.05) and neutralization of CCL2 in uNK conditioned media significantly decreased
      E2-dependent uNK-mediated network formation (P = 0.0006). LIMITATIONS, REASONS
      FOR CAUTION: Our results are based on in vitro responses of primary human cells
      and we cannot be certain that similar mechanisms occur in vivo in humans. Primary
      human uNK cells were isolated from first trimester decidua at a range of
      gestations (8-12 weeks), which may be a source of variation. Primary human uNK
      cells from non-pregnant endometrium were not assessed and therefore the responses
      of uNK cells to E2 treatment described in this study may be distinct to uNK cells
      from first trimester decidua. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: E2 is an
      essential regulator of reproductive competence. This study demonstrates a
      critical role for E2 in regulating cellular cross-talk within the endometrium
      during early pregnancy. We provide the first evidence that E2 directly regulates
      the function of human uNK cells by altering uNK cell migration and the secretion
      of uNK-derived angiogenic factors. We describe a novel mechanism of estrogen
      dependent secretion of CCL2 which critically mediates uNK-dependent endometrial
      angiogenesis. Dysregulation of uNK cell function has been implicated in the
      aetiology of early implantation disorders and disorders of pregnancy. These novel
      findings provide unique insight into the regulation of uNK cell activity during
      the establishment of pregnancy in women and highlight key processes which may be
      targeted in future therapeutic strategies. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS:
      Studies undertaken in the authors' laboratory were supported by MRC Programme
      Grant G1100356/1 to P.T.K.S. The authors have no conflicts of interest to
      disclose.

PMID- 25820696
TI  - Use of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate and prevalent leiomyoma in young African
      American women.
AB  - STUDY QUESTION: Is use of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) a risk factor
      for or a protective factor against prevalent uterine leiomyoma? SUMMARY ANSWER:
      Ever use of DMPA was associated with a decreased risk (adjusted risk ratio (RR):
      0.8, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.6, 0.9) of prevalent leiomyoma in young
      African American women. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Although progesterone is
      associated with growth of leiomyoma, previous epidemiological studies have shown
      a protective association for DMPA use. These previous studies may have been
      biased by studying clinically diagnosed leiomyoma (DMPA may mask symptoms thus
      delaying diagnoses). STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: Cross sectional analysis of
      baseline data from a cohort study of 1696 African American women.
      PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Community-based recruitment (e.g.
      letters, flyers, radio and TV announcements) were used to enroll African American
      women between 23 and 34 years old without a previous diagnosis of leiomyoma in
      the Metropolitan Detroit area. Extensive questionnaire data were used to
      determine DMPA use and screening ultrasound detected the presence of leiomyoma
      >=0.5 cm in diameter. Relative risks with adjustment for covariates were
      calculated for the presence of leiomyoma based on ever use of DMPA as well as
      duration and recency of use. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: Among the 1696
      volunteers who enrolled, 43% had used DMPA. Leiomyoma were detected in 17% of
      those who had ever used DMPA compared with 26% of those who had never used DMPA.
      The reduction in prevalence remained after adjustment for potential confounders
      and was highest among women who had used DMPA for more than 4 years (adjusted RR:
      0.5, 95% CI: 0.3, 0.8). The reduction in risk was seen for women whose most
      recent use was up to 8 years prior to study enrollment. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR
      CAUTION: The use of cross-sectional data means that the timing of initial fibroid
      development is not known, so the temporality of the association is uncertain.
      However in this sample of young women, most fibroids were small, suggesting that
      DMPA exposure may have occurred before leiomyoma development. WIDER IMPLICATIONS
      OF THE FINDINGS: Our findings are in agreement with previous epidemiological
      studies, but protected from the bias inherent in the use of clinically diagnosed
      leiomyoma. Although further studies will be needed to elucidate the mechanism,
      use of DMPA as a contraceptive appears to provide long lasting protection against
      uterine leiomyoma. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS: No competing interests.
      This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the
      NIH, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and in part by funds
      allocated for health research by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
      TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: N/A.

PMID- 25820697
TI  - Functional expression of transient receptor potential channels in human
      endometrial stromal cells during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle.
AB  - STUDY QUESTION: Are members of the transient receptor potential (TRP) channel
      superfamily functionally expressed in the human endometrial stroma? SUMMARY
      ANSWER: The Ca(2+)-permeable ion channels TRPV2, TRPV4, TRPC6 and TRPM7 are
      functionally expressed in primary endometrial stromal cells. WHAT IS KNOWN
      ALREADY: Intercellular communication between epithelial and stromal endometrial
      cells is required to initiate decidualization, a prerequisite for successful
      implantation. TRP channels are possible candidates as signal transducers involved
      in cell-cell communication, but no fingerprint is available of the functional
      distribution of TRP channels in the human endometrium during the luteal phase of
      the menstrual cycle. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: Endometrial biopsy samples
      (previously frozen) from patients of reproductive age with regular menstrual
      cycles, who were undergoing diagnostic laparoscopic surgery for pain and/or
      infertility, were analysed. Samples were obtained from the menstrual (Days 1-5, n
      = 3), follicular (Days 6-14, n = 6), early luteal (Days 15-20, n = 5) and late
      luteal (Days 21-28, n = 5) phases. In addition, a total of 13 patient samples
      taken during the luteal phase were used to set up primary cell cultures for
      further experiments. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Quantitative real
      time PCR (qRT-PCR), immunocytochemistry, Fura2-based Ca(2+)-microfluorimetry and
      whole-cell patch clamp experiments were performed to study the functional
      expression pattern of TRP channels. Specific pharmacological agents, such as
      Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol, GSK1016790A and 1-oleoyl-2-acetyl-glycerol, were
      used to functionally assess the expression of TRPV2, TRPV4 and TRPC6,
      respectively. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: Expression of TRPV2, TRPV4,
      TRPC1, TRPC4, TRPC6, TRPM4 and TRPM7 was detected at the mRNA level in
      endometrial biopsies (n = 19) and in primary endometrial stromal cell cultures
      obtained from patients during the luteal phase (n = 5) of the menstrual cycle.
      Messenger RNA levels of TRPV2, TRPC4 and TRPC6 were significantly increased (P <
      0.01) in the late luteal phase compared with the early luteal phase.
      Immunocytochemistry experiments showed a positive staining for TRPV2, TRPV4,
      TRPC6 and TRPM7 in the plasma membrane and in the cytoplasm of primary
      endometrial stromal cells. Ca(2+)-microfluorimetry revealed significant increases
      (P < 0.001) in intracellular Ca(2+) levels when stromal cells were incubated with
      specific activators of TRPV2, TRPV4 and TRPC6. Further functional
      characterization was performed using whole-cell patch clamp experiments. Taken
      together, these data provide evidence for the functional activity of TRPV2,
      TRPV4, TRPC6 and TRPM7 channels in primary stromal cell cultures. LIMITATIONS,
      REASONS FOR CAUTION: Although mRNA levels are detected for TRPV6, TRPC1, TRPC4
      and TRPM4, the limited supply of specific antibodies and lack of selective
      pharmacological agents restricted any additional analysis of these ion channels.
      WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: Embryo implantation is a dynamic
      developmental process that integrates many signalling molecules into a precisely
      orchestrated programme. Our findings identified certain members of the TRP
      superfamily as candidate sensors in the epithelial-stromal crosstalk. These
      results are very helpful to unravel the signalling cascade required for
      successful embryo implantation. In addition, this knowledge could lead to new
      strategies to correct implantation failure and facilitate the development of
      novel non-hormonal contraceptives. STUDY FUNDING/ COMPETING INTERESTS: This work
      was supported by grants from the Research Foundation-Flanders (G.0856.13N to
      J.V.), the Research Council of the KU Leuven (OT/13/113 to J.V. and T.D. and PF
      TRPLe to T.V.) and by the Planckaert-De Waele fund (to J.V.). K.D.C. and K.H. are
      funded by the FWO Belgium. None of the authors have a conflict of interest.

PMID- 25820698
TI  - Indolo[3,2-c]quinoline G-quadruplex stabilizers: a structural analysis of binding
      to the human telomeric G-quadruplex.
AB  - A library of 5-methylindolo[3,2-c]quinolones (IQc) with various substitution
      patterns of alkyldiamine side chains were evaluated for G-quadruplex (G4) binding
      mode and efficiency. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer melting assays showed
      that IQcs with a positive charge in the heteroaromatic nucleus and two weakly
      basic side chains are potent and selective human telomeric (HT) and gene promoter
      G4 stabilizers. Spectroscopic studies with HT G4 as a model showed that an IQc
      stabilizing complex involves the binding of two IQc molecules (2,9-bis{[3
      (diethylamino)propyl]amino}-5-methyl-11H-indolo[3,2-c]quinolin-5-ium chloride, 3
      d) per G4 unit, in two non-independent but equivalent binding sites. Molecular
      dynamics studies suggest that end-stacking of 3 d induces a conformational
      rearrangement in the G4 structure, driving the binding of a second 3 d ligand to
      a G4 groove. Modeling studies also suggest that 3 d, with two three-carbon side
      chains, has the appropriate geometry to participate in direct or water-mediated
      hydrogen bonding to the phosphate backbone and/or G4 loops, assisted by the
      terminal nitrogen atoms of the side chains. Additionally, antiproliferative
      studies showed that IQc compounds 2 d (2-{[3-(diethylamino)propyl]amino}-5-methyl
      11H-indolo[3,2-c]quinolin-5-ium chloride) and 3 d are 7- to 12-fold more
      selective for human malignant cell lines than for nonmalignant fibroblasts. 

PMID- 25820699
TI  - Method for identification of rigid domains and hinge residues in proteins based
      on exhaustive enumeration.
AB  - Many proteins undergo large-scale motions where relatively rigid domains move
      against each other. The identification of rigid domains, as well as the hinge
      residues important for their relative movements, is important for various
      applications including flexible docking simulations. In this work, we develop a
      method for protein rigid domain identification based on an exhaustive enumeration
      of maximal rigid domains, the rigid domains not fully contained within other
      domains. The computation is performed by mapping the problem to that of finding
      maximal cliques in a graph. A minimal set of rigid domains are then selected,
      which cover most of the protein with minimal overlap. In contrast to the results
      of existing methods that partition a protein into non-overlapping domains using
      approximate algorithms, the rigid domains obtained from exact enumeration
      naturally contain overlapping regions, which correspond to the hinges of the
      inter-domain bending motion. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated on
      several proteins.

PMID- 25820700
TI  - Co-expression of beta-arrestin1 and NF-kB is associated with cancer progression
      and poor prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma.
AB  - beta-arrestin1 and NF-kappaB have been demonstrated to be associated with
      tumorigenesis, tumor progression, and metastasis. Thus far, there is nevertheless
      little study about these two molecules in lung adenocarcinoma. The aim of this
      study was to investigate the correlation between beta-arrestin1 and NF-kappaB
      expression and the clinicopathological characteristics in lung adenocarcinoma. A
      total of 115 surgically resected lung adenocarcinoma patients were recruited for
      the study. Expression of beta-arrestin1 and p65 were detected by
      immunohistochemistry (IHC) in lung adenocarcinoma tissue samples. Nuclear
      expression of beta-arrestin1 and p65 were observed in 39.1 % (45/115) and 46.1 %
      (53/115) cases of lung adenocarcinoma, respectively. And high expression of beta
      arrestin1 had negative prognostic impact for overall survival (OS) and disease
      free survival (DFS) (p = 0.034 and p = 0.033). In addition, overexpression of p65
      indicated a significantly poor OS and DFS than those of lower-expression (p =
      0.038 and p = 0.041). Furthermore, co-expression of nuclear beta-arrestin1 and
      p65 correlated with poorer OS and DFS in lung adenocarcinoma patients.
      Multivariate analysis using the Cox regression model confirmed that co-expression
      of nuclear beta-arrestin1 and p65 was an independent prognostic factor for tumor
      progression (p = 0.008). In conclusion, these data indicated that co-expression
      of nuclear beta-arrestin1 and p65 was a novel predictor for worse prognosis in
      patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

PMID- 25820701
TI  - Decreased expression of claudin-3 is associated with a poor prognosis and EMT in
      completely resected squamous cell lung carcinoma.
AB  - The deregulation of claudin-3 has been reported to correlate with the invasion
      and metastasis of various cancers, but little is known about its expression level
      and the prognostic value in squamous cell lung carcinoma (SqCC). The purpose of
      this study is to determine the expression levels and the prognostic value of
      claudin-3 in completely resected SqCC tissues, and the potential underlying
      mechanism. The protein expression of claudin-3, E-cadherin, beta-catenin, and
      vimentin in the tumor tissues from 103 patients with surgically resected SqCC was
      examined using immunohistochemistry, western blots, as well as semi-quantitative
      estimation. The claudin-3 protein level was significantly associated with E
      cadherin, beta-catenin, and vimentin protein expression. A decreased claudin-3
      protein level was significantly correlated with TNM stage, lymph node metastasis,
      and disease recurrence. Similarly, downregulation of E-cadherin was significantly
      correlated with lymph node metastasis and disease recurrence. Decreased beta
      catenin expression also had a significant correlation with disease recurrence.
      Univariate analyses indicated that the T stage, lymph node metastasis, the TNM
      stage, and the expression of claudin-3, beta-catenin, and vimentin were
      significant predictors for overall survival (OS). Moreover, multivariate analyses
      demonstrated that the TNM stage and protein levels of claudin-3, beta-catenin,
      and vimentin were independent predictors for OS of SqCC patients. Claudin-3 plays
      an important role in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of SqCC and might be
      used as a potential prognostic factor for SqCC.

PMID- 25820702
TI  - Human tolerogenic dendritic cells produce IL-35 in the absence of other IL-12
      family members.
AB  - IL-35 is a cytokine of the IL-12 family, existing as a heterodimer of IL-12p35
      and Ebi3. IL-35 has anti-inflammatory properties and is produced by regulatory T
      cells in humans and mice, where it is required for optimal suppression of immune
      responses. Distinct from other IL-12 cytokines, the expression of IL-35 has not
      been described in antigen-presenting cells. In view of the immune-regulatory
      properties of IL-35, we investigated the expression, regulation, and function of
      IL-12p35 and Ebi3 in human monocyte-derived dendritic cells and tolerogenic DCs
      (tolDCs). These tolDCs do not produce IL-12p70 or the homodimer IL-12p40. We
      demonstrate that tolDCs completely lack transcriptional expression of IL-12p40.
      However, tolDCs maintain mRNA expression of IL-12p35 and Ebi3. Using
      intracellular flow cytometry and Western blot analysis, we show that tolDCs
      produce Ebi3 and IL-12p35, and both can be enhanced upon stimulation with IFN
      gamma, LPS, or CD40L. tolDCs supernatants have the capacity to suppress T-cell
      activation. Using IL12A silencing, we demonstrate that IL-12p35 is required for
      tolDCs to reach their full suppressive potential. Taken together, our results
      indicate that tolDCs produce IL-35, providing an additional novel mechanism by
      which tolDCs elicit their tolerogenic potential. 

PMID- 25820703
TI  - The cost-effectiveness of sofosbuvir-based regimens for treatment of hepatitis C
      virus genotype 2 or 3 infection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 2 or 3 can be
      treated with sofosbuvir without interferon. Because sofosbuvir is costly, its
      benefits should be compared with the additional resources used. OBJECTIVE: To
      estimate the cost-effectiveness of sofosbuvir-based treatments for HCV genotype 2
      or 3 infection in the United States. DESIGN: Monte Carlo simulation, including
      deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. DATA SOURCES: Randomized
      trials, observational cohorts, and national health care spending surveys. TARGET
      POPULATION: 8 patient types defined by HCV genotype (2 vs. 3), treatment history
      (naive vs. experienced), and cirrhosis status (noncirrhotic vs. cirrhotic). TIME
      HORIZON: Lifetime. PERSPECTIVE: Payer. INTERVENTION: Sofosbuvir-based therapies,
      pegylated interferon-ribavirin, and no therapy. OUTCOME MEASURES: Discounted
      quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness
      ratios (ICERs). RESULTS OF BASE-CASE ANALYSIS: The ICER of sofosbuvir-based
      treatment was less than $100,000 per QALY in cirrhotic patients (genotype 2 or 3
      and treatment-naive or treatment-experienced) and in treatment-experienced
      noncirrhotic patients but was greater than $200,000 per QALY in treatment-naive
      noncirrhotic patients. RESULTS OF SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS: The ICER of sofosbuvir
      based therapy for treatment-naive noncirrhotic patients with genotype 2 or 3
      infection was less than $100,000 per QALY when the cost of sofosbuvir was reduced
      by approximately 40% and 60%, respectively. In probabilistic sensitivity
      analyses, cost-effectiveness conclusions were robust to uncertainty in treatment
      efficacy. LIMITATION: The analysis did not consider possible benefits of
      preventing HCV transmission. CONCLUSION: Sofosbuvir provides good value for money
      for treatment-experienced patients with HCV genotype 2 or 3 infection and those
      with cirrhosis. At their current cost, sofosbuvir-based regimens for treatment
      naive noncirrhotic patients exceed willingness-to-pay thresholds commonly cited
      in the United States. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: National Institute on Drug Abuse
      and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

PMID- 25820704
TI  - Antibiotic-impregnated catheters reduce ventriculoperitoneal shunt infection rate
      in high-risk newborns and infants.
AB  - PURPOSE: The incidence of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt infection accounts for
      about 5-15%, but it can rise up to 70% in specific high-risk subgroups.
      Antibiotic-impregnated catheters (AICs) have been designed to reduce shunt
      infections, but reports on their efficacy are discordant, especially in young
      children. The aim of this study is to assess, for the first time, the efficacy of
      AICs in newborns and infants at very high risk for shunt infection. METHODS: We
      reviewed the medical records of newborns and infants treated with a VP shunt for
      newly diagnosed hydrocephalus. Patients were divided in two groups: Group A was
      composed by children who received AICs, whereas Group B included children
      implanted with standard silicone catheters (non-AICs). We compared the shunt
      infection rate in both groups, and analyzed differences in specific high-risk
      subgroups (preterm newborns, children with posthemorrhagic or postinfective
      hydrocephalus, and children with a previous external ventricular drainage).
      RESULTS: Forty eight children younger than 1 year old were included in our study.
      Twenty two patients were implanted with an AIC, whereas 26 patients received a
      standard silicone catheter. The follow-up was at least 1 year (mean 8 +/- 3
      years). The overall infection rate decreased from 34% in non-AIC group to 9 % in
      the AIC group. Moreover, AICs showed to have a protective effect against shunt
      infections in all the specific high-risk subgroups analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: This
      study demonstrates for the first time that AICs are effective in reducing VP
      shunt infection in high-risk pediatric patients younger than 1 year old.

PMID- 25820705
TI  - The Society for Craniofacial Genetics and Developmental Biology 37th annual
      meeting.

PMID- 25820706
TI  - Notice of Withdrawal.
AB  - Notice of Withdrawal: 'Odanacatib restores trabecular bone of skeletally mature
      female rabbits with osteopenia but induces brittleness of cortical bone: a
      comparative study of the investigational drug with PTH, Estrogen and Alendronate'
      by Mohd. Parvez Khan, Atul Kumar Singh, Abhishek Kumar Singh, Pragya Shrivastava,
      Mahesh Chandra Tiwari, Geet Kumar Nagar, Himangshu Kousik Bora, Venkitanarayanan
      Parameswaran, Sabyasachi Sanyal, Jayesh R. Bellare and Naibedya Chattopadhyay The
      above article from the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, published online on
      27 March 2015 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been
      withdrawn by agreement between the journal's editor-in-chief, Juliet E. Compston,
      the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
      This action has been agreed due to an error at the publishers which caused a
      duplicate of the article to be published on 22 September 2015. The correct
      version of the article is to be found at: 'Odanacatib restores trabecular bone of
      skeletally mature female rabbits with osteopenia but induces brittleness of
      cortical bone: a comparative study of the investigational drug with PTH, Estrogen
      and Alendronate' by Mohd. Parvez Khan, Atul Kumar Singh, Abhishek Kumar Singh,
      Pragya Shrivastava, Mahesh Chandra Tiwari, Geet Kumar Nagar, Himangshu Kousik
      Bora, Venkitanarayanan Parameswaran, Sabyasachi Sanyal, Jayesh R. Bellare and
      Naibedya Chattopadhyay (doi: 10.1002/jbmr.2719).

PMID- 25820707
TI  - POEMS syndrome with opticneuritis as initial symptom: a case report.
AB  - Polyneuropathy, Organomegaly, Endocrinopathy, M-protein and Skin changes syndrome
      is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome from a plasma cell dyscrasia, which most
      commonly presents with peripheral neuropathy. We report a 30-year-old female with
      blurred vision and vision loss as reasons for her initial treatment; the patient
      was diagnosed with bilateral opticneuritis. Five months later, the patient
      started to have lower extremity numbness and fatigue. Initial laboratory tests
      did not reveal positive monoclonal immunoglobulin. Therefore, simple peripheral
      neuropathy was considered for diagnosis, and the patient was treated in the
      Department of Neurology in our hospital; however, the symptom was not alleviated.
      Seven months later, the patient showed symptoms of cough, dyspnea, along with
      rough skin, pigmentation and drooping of both feet. Chest CT revealed
      bronchiectasis and infection of lungs, destruction of thoracic bones and ribs.
      Further examination indicated that the patient had splenomegaly, hypothyroidism
      and monoclonal IgA-lambda chain zone, which led to a clear diagnosis of
      Polyneuropathy, Organomegaly, Endocrinopathy, M-protein and Skin changes
      syndrome.

PMID- 25820708
TI  - Treating genetic disease: Expanding the options.

PMID- 25820709
TI  - Mechanical/physical methods of cell distribution and tissue homogenization.
AB  - This chapter covers the various methods of Mechanical Cell Disruption and Tissue
      Homogenization that are currently commercially available for processing minute
      samples (<1 mL) to larger production quantities. These mechanical methods of
      lysing do not introduce chemicals or enzymes to the system. However, the energies
      needed when using these "harsh" methods can be high and destroy the very proteins
      being sought.The destruction of cell membranes and walls by these "harsh" methods
      is effected by subjecting the cells (1) to shearing by liquid flow, (2) to
      exploding by pressure differences between inside and outside of cell, (3) to
      collision forces by impact of beads or paddles, or (4) a combination of these
      forces. Practical suggestions to optimize each method, where to acquire such
      equipment, and links to reference sources are included. 

PMID- 25820710
TI  - Sample preservation through heat stabilization of proteins: principles and
      examples.
AB  - Due to post-sampling changes, caused by residual enzyme activity in the sample,
      levels of analytes can change from their in vivo levels so that they no longer
      accurately reflect conditions in the living system. The Stabilizor(TM) system
      accomplishes elimination of enzyme activity through heat-induced denaturation of
      enzymes by permanently altering the 3D protein structure of the enzymes. Heat
      stabilization can be introduced in the workflow either directly after sampling,
      with the instrument just next to where the sample is taken, or prior to sample
      homogenization and extraction, when samples are heat denatured directly from a
      frozen state. Initially, heat stabilization was developed to enable mass
      spectrometric analysis of neuropeptides. Heat stabilization has since been
      further developed and applied to a range of samples and downstream protein
      analysis techniques such as western blot, 2D gels and phosphorylation analysis
      with LC-MS. 

PMID- 25820711
TI  - Isolating peripheral lymphocytes by density gradient centrifugation and magnetic
      cell sorting.
AB  - Combining density gradient centrifugation with magnetic cell sorting provides a
      powerful tool to isolate blood cells with high reproducibility, yield, and
      purity. It also allows for subsequent separation of multiple cell types,
      resulting in the possibility to analyze different purified fractions from one
      donor's sample. The centrifugation step divides whole blood into peripheral blood
      mononuclear cells (PBMC), erythrocytes, and platelet-rich plasma. In the
      following, lymphocyte subtypes can be consecutively isolated from the PBMC
      fraction. This chapter describes enrichment of erythrocytes, CD14-positive
      monocytes and CD3-positive T lymphocytes. Alternatively, other cell types can be
      targeted by using magnetic beads specific for the desired subpopulation. 

PMID- 25820712
TI  - Investigating the adipose tissue secretome: a protocol to generate high-quality
      samples appropriate for comprehensive proteomic profiling.
AB  - In this chapter, we describe in detail how to prepare a sample containing the
      complete entity of secretion products from murine primary adipocytes, which are
      suitable for comprehensive and sensitive secretome analysis. The underlying
      protocol should be seen as a starting point guiding through critical steps of the
      complex workflow in order to approximate to the real secretome in the context of
      different sample types used for the diverse research questions the protocol has
      to be carefully adjusted. 

PMID- 25820713
TI  - Methods for proteomics-based analysis of the human muscle secretome using an in
      vitro exercise model.
AB  - Over the last decade, the skeletal muscle as a secretory organ gained in
      importance. A growing number of peptides are described which are produced and
      released by the muscle fibers and work in an autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine
      fashion. The contraction-induced secretion of these myokines is considered to
      contribute to the health-promoting effects of exercise. To gain further insights
      into the molecular processes that occur during contraction an in vitro exercise
      model, electric pulse stimulation (EPS), was established. Recent publications
      show that this model is suitable to electro-stimulate human skeletal muscle cells
      and thus mimic muscle contraction in vitro. Here, we provide a detailed protocol
      for the proteomics-based analysis of the human muscle secretome, starting with
      the cultivation of human myotubes and their electric pulse stimulation, ending
      with sample preparation for targeted and untargeted proteome analysis of the cell
      culture supernatant. This whole workflow should allow deeper insights into the
      complex nature of the muscle secretome and the identification of new myokines
      which might help to understand the crosstalk of the working muscle with different
      organs and the beneficial effects of exercise. 

PMID- 25820714
TI  - Urinary pellet sample preparation for shotgun proteomic analysis of microbial
      infection and host-pathogen interactions.
AB  - Urine is one of the most important biofluids in clinical proteomics, and in the
      past decades many potential disease biomarkers have been identified using mass
      spectrometry-based proteomics. Current studies mainly perform analyses of the
      urine supernatant devoid of cells and cell debris, and the pellet (or sediment)
      fraction is discarded. However, the pellet fraction is biologically of interest.
      It may contain whole human cells shed into the urine from anatomically proximal
      tissues and organs (e.g., kidney, prostate, bladder, urothelium, and genitals),
      disintegrated cells and cell aggregates derived from such tissues, viruses and
      microbial organisms which colonize or infect the urogenital tract. Knowledge of
      the function, abundance, and tissue of origin of such proteins can explain a
      pathological process, identify a microbe as the cause of urinary tract infection,
      and measure the human immune response to the infection-associated pathogen(s).
      Successful detection of microbial species in the urinary pellet via proteomics
      can serve as a clinical diagnostic alternative to traditional cell culture-based
      laboratory tests. Filter-aided sample preparation (FASP) has been widely used in
      shotgun proteomics. The methodology presented here implements an effective lysis
      of cells present in urinary pellets, solubilizes the majority of the proteins
      derived from microbial and human cells, and generates enzymatic digestion
      compatible protein mixtures using FASP followed by optimized desalting procedures
      to provide a peptide fraction for sensitive and comprehensive LC-MS/MS analysis.
      A highly parallel sample preparation method in 96-well plates to allow scaling up
      such experiments is discussed as well. Separating peptides by nano-LC in one
      dimension followed by online MS/MS analysis on a Q-Exactive mass spectrometer, we
      have shown that more than 1,000 distinct microbial proteins and 1,000 distinct
      human proteins can be identified from a single experiment. 

PMID- 25820715
TI  - A protocol for the parallel isolation of intact mitochondria from rat liver,
      kidney, heart, and brain.
AB  - Mitochondria are key organelles for cellular energy production and cell death
      decisions. Consequently, a plethora of conditions which are toxic to cells are
      known to directly attack these organelles. However, mitochondria originating from
      different tissues differ in their sensitivity to toxic insults. Thus, in order to
      predict the potential organ-specific toxicity of a given drug or pathological
      condition at the mitochondrial level, test settings are needed that directly
      compare the responses and vulnerabilities of mitochondria from different organs.
      As a prerequisite for such test strategies, we provide here a robust, prompt, and
      easy-to-follow step-by-step protocol to simultaneously isolate functional and
      intact mitochondria from rat liver, kidney, heart, and brain. This isolation
      procedure ensures mitochondrial preparations of comparable purity and
      reproducible quantities which can be subsequently analyzed for organ-specific
      mitochondrial toxicity. 

PMID- 25820717
TI  - Dynamic range compression with ProteoMinerTM: principles and examples.
AB  - One of the main challenges in proteomics investigation, protein biomarker
      research, and protein purity and contamination analysis is how to efficiently
      enrich and detect low-abundance proteins in biological samples. One approach that
      makes the detection of rare species possible is the treatment of biological
      samples with solid-phase combinatorial peptide ligand libraries, ProteoMiner.
      This method utilizes hexapeptide bead library with huge diversity to bind and
      enrich low-abundance proteins but remove most of the high-abundance proteins,
      therefore compresses the protein abundance range in the samples. This work
      describes optimized protocols and highlights on the successful application of
      ProteoMiner to protein identification and analysis. 

PMID- 25820716
TI  - Isolation of mitochondria from cultured cells and liver tissue biopsies for
      molecular and biochemical analyses.
AB  - We recently reported a new method to isolate functionally intact mitochondria
      from cell culture and small tissue samples (Schmitt et al., Anal Biochem
      443(1):66-74, 2013). This method comprises a semi-automated cell rupture, termed
      pump controlled cell rupture system (PCC), which can be precisely adjusted to the
      specific cellular source of isolation and which can be tightly controlled
      (Schmitt et al., Anal Biochem 443(1):66-74, 2013). Here we provide a detailed
      hands-on protocol of this PCC method which results in an efficient cell breakage
      but preserving the mitochondrial integrity. Upon subsequent purification steps,
      the obtained mitochondrial fraction meets the quality and purity required for
      molecular analyses, e.g. proteomic comparisons, as well as for biochemical
      analyses, e.g. determination of diverse enzymatic activities. 

PMID- 25820718
TI  - Qualitative and quantitative proteomic analysis of formalin-fixed paraffin
      embedded (FFPE) tissue.
AB  - Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue has recently gained interest as
      an alternative to fresh/frozen tissue for retrospective protein biomarker
      discovery. However, during the formalin fixation proteins undergo degradation and
      cross-linking, making conventional protein analysis technologies challenging.
      Cross-linking is even more challenging when quantitative proteome analysis of
      FFPE tissue is planned. The use of conventional protein labeling technologies on
      FFPE tissue has turned out to be problematic as the lysine residue labeling
      targets are frequently blocked by the formalin treatment. We have established a
      qualitative and quantitative proteomics analysis technique for FFPE tissues that
      combines label-free proteomic analysis with optimized protein extraction and
      separation conditions. 

PMID- 25820719
TI  - Full-length protein extraction protocols and gel-based downstream applications in
      formalin-fixed tissue proteomics.
AB  - Archival formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue repositories and their
      associated clinical information can represent a valuable resource for tissue
      proteomics. In order to make these tissues available for protein biomarker
      discovery and validation studies, dedicated sample preparation procedures
      overcoming the intermolecular cross-links introduced by formalin need to be
      implemented. This chapter describes a full-length protein extraction protocol
      optimized for downstream gel-based proteomics applications. Using the procedures
      detailed here, SDS-PAGE, western immunoblotting, GeLC-MS/MS, 2D-PAGE, and 2D-DIGE
      can be carried out on FFPE tissues. Technical tips, critical aspects, and
      drawbacks of the method are presented and discussed. 

PMID- 25820720
TI  - Enrichment of low-abundant protein targets by immunoprecipitation upstream of
      mass spectrometry.
AB  - Immunoprecipitation (IP) is commonly used upstream of mass spectrometry (MS) as
      an enrichment tool for low-abundant protein targets. However, several aspects of
      the classical IP procedure such as nonspecific protein binding to the isolation
      matrix, detergents or high salt concentrations in wash and elution buffers, and
      antibody chain contamination in elution fractions render it incompatible with
      downstream mass spectrometry analysis. Here, we discuss two IP workflows that are
      designed to minimize or eliminate these contaminants: the first employs
      biotinylated antibodies and streptavidin magnetic beads while the second method
      utilizes a traditional antibody that is oriented and cross-linked to Protein AG
      magnetic beads. Both modified magnetic supports have low background binding and
      both antibody immobilization strategies significantly reduce or eliminate
      antibody heavy and light chain contamination in the eluent, minimizing potential
      ion suppression effects and thereby maximizing detection of target antigens and
      interacting proteins. 

PMID- 25820721
TI  - Principles of protein labeling techniques.
AB  - Protein labeling methods prior to separation and analysis have become
      indispensable approaches for proteomic profiling. Basically, three different
      types of tags are employed: stable isotopes, mass tags, and fluorophores. While
      proteins labeled with stable isotopes and mass tags are measured and
      differentiated by mass spectrometry, fluorescent labels are detected with
      fluorescence imagers. The major purposes for protein labeling are monitoring of
      biological processes, reliable quantification of compounds and specific detection
      of protein modifications and isoforms in multiplexed samples, enhancement of
      detection sensitivity, and simplification of detection workflows. Proteins can be
      labeled during cell growth by incorporation of amino acids containing different
      isotopes, or in biological fluids, cells or tissue samples by attaching specific
      groups to the epsilon-amino group of lysine, the N-terminus, or the cysteine
      residues. The principles and the modifications of the different labeling
      approaches on the protein level are described; benefits and shortcomings of the
      methods are discussed. 

PMID- 25820722
TI  - Isolation of extracellular vesicles for proteomic profiling.
AB  - Extracellular vesicles are nano-sized lipid bilayer vesicles released from most
      cells, including archaea, bacteria, and eukaryotic cells. These membrane vesicles
      play multiple roles in cell-to-cell communication, including immune modulation,
      angiogenesis, and transformation of cells by transferring genetic material and
      functional proteins. They contain specific subsets of proteins, DNA, RNA, and
      lipids that represent their cellular status. Furthermore, extracellular vesicles
      are enriched in cell type- or disease-specific vesicular proteins, especially
      plasma membrane proteins, which have pathophysiological functions; these
      vesicular proteins are considered novel diagnostic biomarkers as well as
      therapeutic targets. To profile the proteome, various purification methods of
      extracellular vesicles have been developed, but density gradient
      ultracentrifugation is considered the most promising. In this chapter, we
      describe the isolation of extracellular vesicles derived from SW480 cells and the
      preparation of tryptic peptides for mass-spectrometry-based proteomic analysis. 

PMID- 25820723
TI  - A protocol for exosome isolation and characterization: evaluation of
      ultracentrifugation, density-gradient separation, and immunoaffinity capture
      methods.
AB  - Exosomes are 40-150 nm extracellular vesicles that are released from a multitude
      of cell types, and perform diverse cellular functions including intercellular
      communication, antigen presentation, and transfer of tumorigenic proteins, mRNA
      and miRNA. Exosomes are important regulators of the cellular niche, and their
      altered characteristics in many diseases, such as cancer, suggest their
      importance for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, and as drug delivery
      vehicles. Exosomes have been purified from biological fluids and in vitro cell
      cultures using a variety of strategies and techniques. In this chapter, we reveal
      the protocol and key insights into the isolation, purification and
      characterization of exosomes, distinct from shed microvesicles and apoptotic
      blebs. Using the colorectal cancer cell line LIM1863 as a cell model, a
      comprehensive evaluation of exosome isolation methods including
      ultracentrifugation (UC-Exos), OptiPrepTM density-based separation (DG-Exos), and
      immunoaffinity capture using anti-EpCAM-coated magnetic beads (IAC-Exos) were
      examined. All exosome isolation methodologies contained 40-150 nm vesicles based
      on electron microscopy, and positive for exosome markers (Alix, TSG101, HSP70)
      based on immunoblotting. This protocol employed a proteomic profiling approach to
      characterize the protein composition of exosomes, and label-free spectral
      counting to evaluate the effectiveness of each method in exosome isolation. Based
      on the number of MS/MS spectra identified for exosome markers and proteins
      associated with their biogenesis, trafficking, and release, IAC-Exos was shown to
      be the most effective method to isolate exosomes. However, the use of density
      based separation (DG-Exos) provides significant advantages for exosome isolation
      when the use of immunoaffinity capture is limited (due to antibody availability
      and suitability of exosome markers). 

PMID- 25820724
TI  - Chloroplast isolation and affinity chromatography for enrichment of low-abundant
      proteins in complex proteomes.
AB  - Detailed knowledge of the proteome is crucial to advance the biological sciences.
      Low-abundant proteins are of particular interest to many biologists as they
      include, for example those proteins involved in signal transduction. Recent
      technological advances resulted in a tremendous increase in protein
      identification sensitivity by mass spectrometry (MS). However, the dynamic range
      in protein abundance still forms a fundamental problem that limits the detection
      of low-abundant proteins in complex proteomes. These proteins will typically
      escape detection in shotgun MS experiments due to the presence of other proteins
      at an abundance several-fold higher in order of magnitude. Therefore, specific
      enrichment strategies are required to overcome this technical limitation of MS
      based protein discovery. We have searched for novel signal transduction proteins,
      more specifically kinases and calcium-binding proteins, and here we describe
      different approaches for enrichment of these low-abundant proteins from isolated
      chloroplasts from pea and Arabidopsis for subsequent proteomic analysis by MS.
      These approaches could be extended to include other signal transduction proteins
      and target different organelles. 

PMID- 25820725
TI  - Depletion of RuBisCO protein using the protamine sulfate precipitation method.
AB  - Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) is a major high
      abundant protein (HAP) in the plant leaves which hinders analysis of low-abundant
      proteins (LAP). In this chapter, we describe a highly simple RuBisCO depletion
      method using protamine sulfate (PS). Addition of 0.1 % PS is sufficient to
      precipitate the RuBisCO from the leaf extracts of diverse plants including
      monocots and dicots. Our results of SDS-PAGE, Western blotting, and two
      dimensional gel electrophoresis showed that both large and small subunits of
      RuBisCO were precipitated in the pellet fractions, while LAPs were enriched in
      the supernatant fraction after PS precipitation. 

PMID- 25820726
TI  - Step-by-step preparation of proteins for mass spectrometric analysis.
AB  - Nowadays, identification of proteins from biological samples by mass spectrometry
      is widely used. In principle there are two scenarios. Proteins are pre
      fractionated in some way, e.g. by gel electrophoresis or are analyzed as complex
      mixture (shot gun). Shot gun proteomics became recently more popular, because of
      technological developments on the mass spectrometer side which allows now the
      identification of several thousand proteins from complex biological matrix.
      However, in many cases it is still useful to separate proteins first in a gel.
      But not only mass spectrometer technology made progress. This is also true for
      the sample preparation. Recently, protocols and techniques were developed which
      make the analysis of starting material in the low microgram range possible and
      also simplify the whole procedure. Detailed protocols will be described allowing
      also inexperienced beginners to get good results. 

PMID- 25820727
TI  - Identification of protein N-termini using TMPP or dimethyl labeling and mass
      spectrometry.
AB  - Determination of a protein's N-terminal sequence can be important for the
      characterization of protein processing. To increase the confidence of protein N
      terminal identification, chemical derivatization of the N-terminal amine group by
      (N-Succinimidyloxycarbonylmethyl)tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)phosphonium bromide
      (TMPP) or dimethyl labeling followed by mass spectrometric analysis is commonly
      performed. Using this approach, proteins can be separated by SDS-PAGE, and the
      protein N-terminus of interest is labeled by TMPP or dimethyl in-gel before
      tryptic digestion and LC-MS analysis. The N-terminus of a protein can thus be
      easily identified because the N-terminal tryptic peptides are preferentially
      labeled. Peptides with N-terminal derivatization produce a better fragmentation
      pattern during tandem mass spectrometric analysis, which significantly
      facilitates sequencing of these peptides. 

PMID- 25820728
TI  - Optimization of cell lysis and protein digestion protocols for protein analysis
      by LC-MS/MS.
AB  - Mass spectrometry-based proteomics is the method of choice for analyzing (sub-)
      proteomes from virtually any source; with cells grown in culture being the most
      frequently investigated samples. Using HeLa cells, we describe a strategy for the
      optimization of protocols for whole proteome analysis. We cover cell lysis,
      protein precipitation and digestion, comparing the results obtained using
      different parameters and offering various possibilities for the optimization of a
      proteomic workflow which can be used for virtually any type of animal cell grown
      in culture. 

PMID- 25820729
TI  - Comprehensive protocol to simultaneously study protein phosphorylation,
      acetylation, and N-linked sialylated glycosylation.
AB  - Post-translational modifications (PTMs) such as phosphorylation, acetylation, and
      glycosylation are an essential regulatory mechanism of protein function and they
      are associated with a range of biological processes. Since most PTMs alter the
      molecular mass of a protein, mass spectrometry (MS) is the ideal analytical tool
      for studying various PTMs. However, PTMs are generally present in
      substoichiometric levels and therefore their unmodified counterpart often
      suppresses their signal in MS. Consequently, PTM analysis by MS is a challenging
      task requiring highly specialized and sensitive enrichment methods. Currently,
      several methods have been implemented for PTM enrichment and each of them has its
      drawbacks and advantages as they differ in selectivity and specificity toward
      specific protein modifications. Unfortunately, for most of the more than 300
      known modifications we have none or poor tools for selective enrichment.Here, we
      describe a comprehensive workflow to simultaneously study phosphorylation,
      acetylation, and N-linked sialylated glycosylation from the same biological
      sample. The protocol involves an initial titanium dioxide (TiO2) step to enrich
      for phosphopeptides and sialylated N-linked glycopeptides followed by glycan
      release and post-fractionation using sequential elution from immobilized metal
      affinity chromatography (SIMAC) to separate mono-phosphorylated and
      deglycosylated peptides from multi-phosphorylated ones. The IMAC flow-through and
      acidic elution is subsequently subjected to a next round of TiO2 enrichment for
      further separation of mono-phosphopeptides from deglycosylated peptides. In
      addition, the acetylated peptides present in the first TiO2 flow-through are
      enriched by immunoprecipitation (IP). Finally, the samples are fractionated by
      hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) to reduce sample complexity
      and increase the coverage during LC-MS/MS analysis. This allows the analysis of
      multiple types of modifications from the same highly complex biological sample
      without decreasing the quality of each individual PTM study. 

PMID- 25820730
TI  - Protein profiling and phosphoprotein analysis by isoelectric focusing.
AB  - Protein profiling enables the qualitative characterization of a proteome of
      interest. Phosphorylation is a post-translational modification with regulatory
      functions in a plethora of cell processes. We present an experimental workflow
      for simultaneous analysis of the proteome and phosphoproteome with no additional
      enrichment for phosphoproteins/phosphopeptides. Our approach is based on
      isoelectric focusing (IEF) which allows the separation of peptide mixtures on an
      immobilized pH gradient (IPG) according to their isoelectric point. Due to the
      negative charge of the phosphogroup, most of the phosphopeptides migrate toward
      acidic pH values. Peptides and phosphopeptides are then identified by mass
      spectrometry (MS) and phosphopeptide spectra are manually checked for the
      assignment of phosphorylation sites. Here, we apply this methodology to
      investigate synaptosome extracts from whole mouse brain. IEF-based peptide
      separation is an efficient method for peptide and phosphopeptide identification. 

PMID- 25820731
TI  - Principles and examples of gel-based approaches for phosphoprotein analysis.
AB  - Methods for analyzing the phosphorylation status of proteins are essential to
      investigate in detail key cellular processes, including signal transduction and
      cell metabolism. The transience of this post-translational modification and the
      generally low abundance of phosphoproteins require specific enrichment and/or
      detection steps prior to analysis. Here, we describe three gel-based approaches
      for the analysis of differentially expressed phosphoproteins. These approaches
      comprise (1) the sequential fluorescence staining of two-dimensional (2-D) gels
      using Pro-Q((r)) Diamond and SYPRO((r)) Ruby dyes to visualize and quantify
      phosphoproteins in total cellular lysates as well as (2) affinity enrichment of
      phosphoproteins in conjunction with sequential fluorescence staining of the 2-D
      gels and (3) affinity enrichment of proteins prior to pre-electrophoretic
      fluorescence labeling and 2-D gel electrophoresis. 

PMID- 25820732
TI  - Neutral Phosphate-Affinity SDS-PAGE system for profiling of protein
      phosphorylation.
AB  - In this chapter, we describe a standard protocol for phosphate-affinity SDS-PAGE
      that uses a dizinc(II) complex of the phosphate-binding molecule Phos-tag in
      conjunction with a neutral-pH gel system (Zn(2+-)Phos-tag SDS-PAGE) to detect
      shifts in the mobilities of phosphoproteins. A previous protocol for affinity
      electrophoresis that uses polyacrylamide-bound Mn(2+)-Phos-tag and Laemmli's
      buffer system under conditions of alkaline pH has limitations in separating
      certain phosphoproteins. The current protocol provides major improvements in
      separation and detection of various phosphorylated protein species. We here
      introduce two neutral-pH gel systems buffered with Bis-Tris-HCl and Tris-AcOH,
      respectively, for Zn(2+)-Phos-tag SDS-PAGE, and we also discuss their
      characteristics on the basis of comparative studies on phosphorylation profiling
      of proteins with a wide range of molecular masses. Each analytical procedure,
      from the beginning of gel preparation to the end of electrophoresis, requires 2.5
      5 h with either buffer system. 

PMID- 25820733
TI  - Enrichment and identification of bacterial glycopeptides by mass spectrometry.
AB  - Large-scale analysis of protein N- and O-linked glycosylation by mass
      spectrometry has traditionally been performed in eukaryotes by parallel
      approaches aimed at elucidating glycan structures (glycomics) and their formerly
      glycosylated peptides (glycoproteomics) without reference to their intact state.
      Such analyses depend heavily on commercial glycosidases (e.g. protein N
      glycosidase F) that can remove glycans from the peptide backbone for separate
      analyses. Bacterial glycosylation has only recently been identified as a
      widespread phenomenon. In many cases however, unique bacterial sugars preclude
      enzymatic removal, therefore ultimately requiring a site-specific approach for
      intact glycopeptide analysis. Here, we describe protocols for the enrichment of
      bacterial glycopeptides using zwitterionic-hydrophilic interaction liquid
      chromatography (ZIC-HILIC) and their analysis using liquid chromatography coupled
      to electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with collision
      induced dissociation (CID) and higher energy collisional dissociation (HCD)
      fragmentation for glycan structure elucidation and glycopeptide identification. 

PMID- 25820734
TI  - In-gel peptide IEF sample preparation for LC/MS analysis.
AB  - The technique of proteolytically digesting a sample and identifying its protein
      components by liquid chromatography followed by mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is a
      widely used analytical tool. Prior fractionation by isoelectric focusing (IEF)
      may be performed to increase the depth of proteome coverage. Here, we describe a
      method for in-gel IEF separation of a proteolytic digest that utilizes
      commercially available immobilized pH gradient (IPG) strips and a widely used IEF
      instrument. 

PMID- 25820735
TI  - Western blotting using in-gel protein labeling as a normalization control: stain
      free technology.
AB  - Western blotting is a commonly used laboratory technique for semi-quantifying
      protein amounts. It is important when quantifying protein expression to account
      for differences in the amount of total protein loaded onto the gel using a
      loading control. Common loading controls include housekeeping proteins, such as
      beta-actin or GAPDH, quantified by Western blot, or total protein, quantified
      using a stain such as Coomassie Brilliant Blue or Ponceau S. A more recently
      developed method for total protein quantification utilizes stain-free technology,
      which has a linear dynamic detection range and allows for protein detection on
      both gels and membranes. Here, we describe the theory and use of stain-free gels
      for total protein quantification and normalization of Western blots. 

PMID- 25820736
TI  - 2-D Western blotting for evaluation of antibodies developed for detection of host
      cell protein.
AB  - Recombinant proteins generated for therapeutic use must be substantially free of
      residual host cell protein (HCP). The presence of host cell protein (HCP) is
      usually assayed by ELISA using a polyclonal antibody mixture raised against a
      population of proteins derived from the host cell background. This antibody
      should recognize as high a proportion as possible of the potential HCPs in a
      given sample. A recommended method for evaluating the assay involves two
      dimensional electrophoretic separation followed by Western blotting.We present
      here a method using commercial anti-HCP antibody and samples derived from Chinese
      Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. The 2-D electrophoresis procedure gives highly
      reproducible spot patterns and entire procedure can be completed in less than 2
      days. Software analysis enables the straightforward generation of percent
      coverage values for the antibody when used to probe HCP-containing samples. 

PMID- 25820737
TI  - Free flow electrophoresis for separation of native membrane protein complexes.
AB  - This chapter describes the technology of free flow electrophoresis (FFE) and
      protocols to separate membrane protein complexes for proteome analysis. FFE is a
      highly versatile technology applied in the field of protein analysis. It is
      superior to native PAGE due to its fast continuous processing of sample at high
      resolution. Additionally, the dynamic separation range from ions, peptides, to
      proteins, protein complexes, up to organelles, and whole cells makes it the
      method of choice in the analysis of proteins. FFE is carried out in an aqueous
      medium without inducing any solid matrix, such as acrylamide, so that it
      simplifies the analysis of protein complexes for the downstream analysis. Here,
      we describe the novel zone electrophoresis interval method (IZE-FFE) for
      separation of protein complexes from the thylakoid membrane of Arabidopsis
      thaliana by charge only. Protein complexes isolated by IZE FFE were characterized
      according to molecular weight by Blue Native PAGE and were proteins stained with
      coomassie. 

PMID- 25820738
TI  - Three-dimensional electrophoresis for quantitative profiling of complex
      proteomes.
AB  - Quantitative 2D-gel-dependent proteomics became feasible with 2D fluorescence
      difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE), and this technique has gained wide
      acceptance because it has eliminated the gel to gel variations and greatly
      facilitated the quantitative comparisons across gels for many different
      experimental conditions. However, the co-migration of several proteins in the
      same spot is still a major limitation which detracts from the accuracy of
      comparative quantification and prevents unambiguous post-translational
      modifications (PTMs) detection.A protocol based on traditional polyacrylamide gel
      IEF sample fractionation, and followed by two consecutive SDS-PAGE
      electrophoreses alleviates co-migration limitations. The use of two different
      buffer systems for SDS-PAGE is central to the proposed approach. 

PMID- 25820739
TI  - A bead-based multiplex sandwich immunoassay to assess the abundance and
      posttranslational modification state of beta-catenin.
AB  - A system-wide analysis of cell signaling involves detecting and quantifying a
      range of proteins and their posttranslational modification states in the same
      cellular sample. We propose a protocol for a miniaturized, bead-based array and
      describe its efficiency in characterizing the different forms and functions of
      beta-catenin. The protocol provides detailed instructions for cell culture and
      bead array assays that enable insights into complex networks at the systems
      level. 

PMID- 25820741
TI  - Amyloid-binding proteins: affinity-based separation, proteomic identification,
      and optical biosensor validation.
AB  - The amyloid-beta peptide is considered as a key player in the development and
      progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although good evidence exists that
      amyloid-beta accumulates inside cells, intracellular brain amyloid-beta-binding
      proteins remain poorly characterized. Here we describe a protocol for affinity
      based profiling of amyloid-beta-binding proteins of rat brain, their proteomic
      identification and validation by a surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based
      analysis. It includes: (a) SPR-based selection of immobilization conditions for
      beta-amyloid coupling and choice of appropriate resin for preparation of an
      affinity sorbent; (b) immobilization of beta-amyloid on the selected resin; 

PMID- 25820742
TI  - Proteomic profiling by nanomaterials-based matrix-assisted laser
      desorption/ionization mass spectrometry for high-resolution data and novel
      protein information directly from biological samples.
AB  - Qualitative and quantitative analyses of global proteome samples derived from
      biocomplex mixtures are very important to understand the cellular functions in
      cell biology. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry
      (MALDI-MS)-based proteomics has recently become one of the most informative and
      attractive core technologies in proteomics. Particularly, nanomaterials-based
      MALDI mass spectrometric methods are quickly becoming a critical miniaturized
      bioanalytical tool for detecting and discerning proteins from biocomplex samples.
      These MALDI-developed strategies allow high-throughput identification of proteins
      from highly complex mixtures including accurate mass measurement of peptides
      derived from total proteome digests and peptides/proteins separations from
      various samples. The nanomaterials-integrated MALDI-MS technologies in protein
      arrays hold much promise for interrogating the diverse and immense proteome in
      cell biology. As a result, nanomaterials-assisted MALDI-MS-based proteomic
      workflow, including sample preparation, information on the local molecular
      composition, relative abundance and spatial distribution of peptides and proteins
      and their analysis, should make the technology more easily available to a broad
      community and turn it into a powerful methodology for bioanalysts. 

PMID- 25820740
TI  - Identification of SUMO E3 ligase-specific substrates using the HuProt human
      proteome microarray.
AB  - The functional protein microarray is a powerful and versatile systems biology and
      proteomics tool that allows the rapid activity profiling of thousands of proteins
      in parallel. We have recently developed a human proteome array, the HuProt array,
      which includes ~80 % of all the full-length proteins of the human proteome. In
      one recent application of the HuProt array, we identified numerous SUMO E3 ligase
      dependent SUMOylation substrates. For many SUMO E3 ligases, only a small number
      of substrates have been identified and the target specificities of these ligases
      therefore remain poorly defined. In this protocol, we outline a method we
      developed using the HuProt array to screen the human proteome to identify novel
      SUMO E3 ligase substrates recognized by specific E3 ligases. 

PMID- 25820743
TI  - Carlos F. Salinas, DMD (April 9, 1941-January 14, 2015).

PMID- 25820744
TI  - Free-hand transperineal targeted prostate biopsy with real-time fusion imaging of
      multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging and transrectal ultrasound: single
      center experience in China.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To report our experience with free-hand transperineal targeted biopsy
      with real-time transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) and multiparametric magnetic
      resonance imaging (mpMRI) fusion images for the diagnosis of prostate cancer
      (PCa). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 62 consecutive patients suspicious of PCa
      at the mpMRI scan and PSA >4.0 ng/mL were recruited prospectively. Targeted
      biopsies (TBs) were carried out for each cancer-suspicious lesion and followed a
      12-core systematic biopsy (SB) protocol. Pathological findings of TB and SB were
      analyzed. RESULTS: The age of the patients was 68.38 +/- 6.57 years (range 51-79
      years). The preoperative PSA value was 10.21 +/- 5.57 ng/mL (range 4.5-30.1
      ng/mL). Preoperative prostate volume was 34.05 +/- 9.86 mL (range 19-64 mL). The
      PCa patients detected by SB and/or TB were 34 (54.8%). Cancer-detected rates of
      SB and TB cores were 7.53 and 26.2%, respectively (P < 0.001). The positive core
      length of SB and TB cores was 3.71 +/- 2.77 mm (range 1-14 mm) and 5.00 +/- 3.04
      mm (range 2-17 mm), respectively (P = 0.016). The positive core percent of SB and
      TB cores was 28.77 +/- 20.13% (range 7-100%) and 35.76 +/- 18.73 (range 11-100%),
      respectively (P = 0.048). Moreover, clinically significant PCa cores detected by
      the SB and TB were 19 cores (2.6%) and 48 cores (18.5%), respectively (P <
      0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Free-hand transperineal TB using real-time TRUS and mpMRI
      fusion imaging has the ability to improve sampling quality and detect more
      clinically significant PCa compared with SB.

PMID- 25820746
TI  - Altered Cortical Thickness and Tract Integrity of the Mirror Neuron System and
      Associated Social Communication in Autism Spectrum Disorder.
AB  - Previous studies using neural activity recording and neuroimaging techniques have
      reported functional deficits in the mirror neuron system (MNS) for individuals
      with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, a few studies focusing on gray and
      white matter structures of the MNS have yielded inconsistent results. The current
      study recruited adolescents and young adults with ASD (aged 15-26 years) and age
      matched typically developing (TD) controls (aged 14-25 years). The cortical
      thickness (CT) and microstructural integrity of the tracts connecting the regions
      forming the classical MNS were investigated. High-resolution T1-weighted imaging
      and diffusion spectrum imaging were performed to quantify the CT and tract
      integrity, respectively. The structural covariance of the CT of the MNS regions
      revealed a weaker coordination of the MNS network in ASD. A strong correlation
      was found between the integrity of the right frontoparietal tracts and the social
      communication subscores measured by the Chinese version of the Social
      Communication Questionnaire. The results showed that there were no significant
      mean differences in the CTs and tract integrity between the ASD and TD groups,
      but revealed a moderate or even reverse age effect on the frontal MNS structures
      in ASD. In conclusion, aberrant structural coordination may be an underlying
      factor affecting the function of the MNS in ASD patients. The association between
      the right frontoparietal tracts and social communication performance implies a
      neural correlate of communication processing in the autistic brain. This study
      provides evidence of abnormal MNS structures and their influence on social
      communication in individuals with ASD.

PMID- 25820745
TI  - Education, marital status, and risk of hip fractures in older men and women: the
      CHANCES project.
AB  - The role of socioeconomic status in hip fracture incidence is unclear. In a
      diverse population of elderly, higher education was found to be associated with
      lower, whereas living alone, compared to being married/cohabiting, with higher
      hip fracture risk. Educational level and marital status may contribute to hip
      fracture risk. INTRODUCTION: The evidence on the association between
      socioeconomic status and hip fracture incidence is limited and inconsistent. We
      investigated the potential association of education and marital status with hip
      fracture incidence in older individuals from Europe and USA. METHODS: A total of
      155,940 participants (79 % women) aged 60 years and older from seven cohorts were
      followed up accumulating 6456 incident hip fractures. Information on education
      and marital status was harmonized across cohorts. Hip fractures were ascertained
      through telephone interviews/questionnaires or through record linkage with
      registries. Associations were assessed through Cox proportional hazard regression
      adjusting for several factors. Summary estimates were derived using random
      effects models. RESULTS: Individuals with higher education, compared to those
      with low education, had lower hip fracture risk [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.84, 95 %
      confidence interval (CI) 0.72-0.95]. Respective HRs were 0.97 (95 % CI 0.82-1.13)
      for men and 0.75 (95 % CI 0.65-0.85) for women. Overall, individuals living
      alone, especially those aged 60-69 years, compared to those being
      married/cohabiting, tended to have a higher hip fracture risk (HR = 1.12, 95 % CI
      1.02-1.22). There was no suggestion for heterogeneity across cohorts (P
      heterogeneity > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The combined data from >150,000 individuals
      60 years and older suggest that higher education may contribute to lower hip
      fracture risk. Furthermore, this risk may be higher among individuals living
      alone, especially among the age group 60-69 years, when compared to those being
      married/cohabiting.

PMID- 25820747
TI  - The p53-inducible gene 3 involved in flavonoid-induced cytotoxicity through the
      reactive oxygen species-mediated mitochondrial apoptotic pathway in human
      hepatoma cells.
AB  - Flavonoids have been reported to exhibit prooxidant cytotoxicity against cancer
      cells, but the underlying mechanism is still poorly understood. Here we
      investigated the potential mechanism that p53-inducible gene 3 (PIG3), a
      NADPH:quinone oxidoreductase, mediated the prooxidant cytotoxicity of flavonoids
      on human hepatoma HepG2 cells. The results showed that flavonoids (apigenin,
      luteolin, kaempferol, and quercetin) inhibited the growth of HepG2 cells in a
      dosage- and time-dependent manner, and induced the morphological changes
      characteristic of apoptosis in HepG2 cells. We also found that expression of PIG3
      was increased markedly in HepG2 cells treated with flavonoids at both mRNA and
      protein levels, which was accompanied by increased intracellular ROS production
      and a decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsim). All these effects
      were largely reversed through knockdown of the PIG3 gene in HepG2 cells. Western
      blotting indicated that flavonoids increased cytochrome c release, upregulated
      the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2, and activated the caspases-9 and -3. Moreover, knockdown
      of PIG3 could reverse the changes of these apoptotic-related proteins. These
      results suggest that PIG3 plays an important role in regulating the prooxidant
      activity and apoptosis-inducing action of flavonoids on HepG2 cells though the
      ROS-triggered mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. 

PMID- 25820748
TI  - Resveratrol attenuates inflammation and oxidative stress in epididymal white
      adipose tissue: implications for its involvement in improving steroidogenesis in
      diet-induced obese mice.
AB  - Chronic, low-grade systemic inflammation has been shown to play an important role
      in the development of obesity-related complications. Epididymal white adipose
      tissue (WAT) can influence testicular function through its endocrine function.
      The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of resveratrol on the
      epididymal WAT inflammatory response and on testicular steroidogenesis in obese
      individuals. Seven-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-calorie and high
      cholesterol diet (HCD group) or HCD supplemented with resveratrol (HCD+Res group)
      for 18 weeks. As we previously showed that resveratrol protects against Leydig
      cell steroidogenesis in HCD-induced obese mice, this study assessed macrophage
      infiltration in fat depots by measuring crown-like structure (CLS) density.
      Histological analysis showed that adipocyte size was significantly smaller and
      CLSs were less numerous in the HCD+Res group than the HCD group (P < 0.01).
      Additionally, resveratrol supplementation decreased Nfkb1 expression (P < 0.01)
      and increased the IkappaB-alpha protein abundance (P < 0.01) in epididymal WAT.
      Consistent with this alteration in NF-kappaB signaling, the expression of two
      classic proinflammatory cytokines, TNF-alpha (Tnfa) and IL-1beta (Il1b), were
      significantly decreased in the HCD+Res group compared with the HCD group (P <
      0.01). Significant differences were also found in the expression of sirtuin1
      (Sirt1) (P < 0.01) and manganese superoxide dismutase (Sod2) (P < 0.01) between
      the HCD and HCD+Res groups. Our data suggest that resveratrol can attenuate
      obesity-induced inflammation and oxidative stress in epididymal WAT, which partly
      accounts for its beneficial effects in testicular steroidogenesis.

PMID- 25820749
TI  - Intramolecular carbolithiation of heterosubstituted alkynes: an experimental and
      theoretical study.
AB  - A series of heterosubstitued alkynes was successfully submitted to the
      intramolecular carbolithiation of their triple bond. We show that the addition is
      stereoselective because of the control exerted by the terminal substituent X on
      the geometry of the transition state. A complementary DFT study suggests that the
      addition is anti when a strong Li-X interaction occurs. 

PMID- 25820750
TI  - Effects of climate and plant phenology on recruitment of moose at the southern
      extent of their range.
AB  - Climate plays a fundamental role in limiting the range of a species, is a key
      factor in the dynamics of large herbivores, and is thought to be involved in
      declines of moose populations in recent decades. We examined effects of climate
      and growing-season phenology on recruitment (8-9 months old) of young Shiras
      moose (Alces alces shirasi) over three decades, from 18 herds, across a large
      geographic area encompassing much of the southern extent of their range.
      Recruitment declined in 8 of 18 herds during 1980-2009, whereas others did not
      exhibit a temporal trend (none showed a positive trend). During those three
      decades, seasonal temperatures increased, spring-summer precipitation decreased,
      and spring occurred earlier, became shorter in duration, and green-up occurred
      faster. Recruitment was influenced negatively by warm temperatures during the
      year before young were born, but only for herds with declining recruitment. Dry
      spring-summers of the previous year and rapid rates of spring green-up in the
      year of birth had similar negative influences across declining and stable herds.
      Those patterns indicate both direct (year(t)) and delayed (year(t-1)) effects of
      weather and plant phenology on recruitment of young, which we hypothesize was
      mediated through effects on maternal nutritional condition. Suppressed nutrition
      could have been induced by (1) increased thermoregulatory costs associated with
      warming temperatures and (2) shortened duration of availability of high-quality
      forage in spring. Progressive reductions in net energetic gain for species that
      are sensitive to climate may continue to hamper individual fitness and population
      dynamics.

PMID- 25820751
TI  - Nonadditive impacts of temperature and basal resource availability on predator
      prey interactions and phenotypes.
AB  - Predicting the impacts of climate change on communities requires understanding
      how temperature affects predator-prey interactions under different biotic
      conditions. In cases of size-specific predation, environmental influences on the
      growth rate of one or both species can determine predation rates. For example,
      warming increases top-down control of food webs, although this depends on
      resource availability for prey, as increased resources may allow prey to reach a
      size refuge. Moreover, because the magnitude of inducible defenses depends on
      predation rates and resource availability for prey, temperature and resource
      levels also affect phenotypic plasticity. To examine these issues, we manipulated
      the presence/absence of predatory Hynobius retardatus salamander larvae and
      herbivorous Rana pirica tadpoles at two temperatures and three basal resource
      levels. and measured their morphology, behavior, growth and survival. Prior work
      has shown that both species express antagonistic plasticity against one another
      in which salamanders enlarge their gape width and tadpoles increase their body
      width to reach a size-refuge. We found that increased temperatures increased
      predation rates, although this was counteracted by high basal resource
      availability, which further decreased salamander growth. Surprisingly,
      salamanders caused tadpoles to grow larger and express more extreme defensive
      phenotypes as resource levels decreased under warming, most likely due to their
      increased risk of predation. Thus, temperature and resources influenced defensive
      phenotype expression and its impacts on predator and prey growth by affecting
      their interaction strength. Our results indicate that basal resource levels can
      modify the impacts of increased temperatures on predator-prey interactions and
      its consequences for food webs. 

PMID- 25820752
TI  - Hidden relationships between metalloproteins unveiled by structural comparison of
      their metal sites.
AB  - Metalloproteins account for a substantial fraction of all proteins. They
      incorporate metal atoms, which are required for their structure and/or function.
      Here we describe a new computational protocol to systematically compare and
      classify metal-binding sites on the basis of their structural similarity. These
      sites are extracted from the MetalPDB database of minimal functional sites (MFSs)
      in metal-binding biological macromolecules. Structural similarity is measured by
      the scoring function of the available MetalS2 program. Hierarchical clustering
      was used to organize MFSs into clusters, for each of which a representative MFS
      was identified. The comparison of all representative MFSs provided a thorough
      structure-based classification of the sites analyzed. As examples, the
      application of the proposed computational protocol to all heme-binding proteins
      and zinc-binding proteins of known structure highlighted the existence of
      structural subtypes, validated known evolutionary links and shed new light on the
      occurrence of similar sites in systems at different evolutionary distances. The
      present approach thus makes available an innovative viewpoint on metalloproteins,
      where the functionally crucial metal sites effectively lead the discovery of
      structural and functional relationships in a largely protein-independent manner. 

PMID- 25820753
TI  - Lewis acid-assisted detection of nerve agents in water.
AB  - The five-coordinate compound, Salen((t)Bu)Al(Ac), prepared in situ from
      Salen((t)Bu)AlBr and NH4Ac, forms Lewis acid-base adducts in aqueous solution
      with the G-type nerve agents, Sarin and Soman, and the VX hydrolysis product,
      ethylmethylphosphonate (EMPA). The resulting compounds,
      [Salen((t)Bu)Al(NA)](+)[Ac] (-) (with NA = Sarin, Soman, and EMPA) are
      sufficiently stable to be identified by ESI-MS. Molecular ion peaks were detected
      for every compound with little or no fragmentation. The distinctive MS signatures
      for the [Salen((t)Bu)Al(NA)](+) compounds provide a new technique for identifying
      nerve agents from aqueous solution. The energetics of the displacement of Ac(-)
      by the nerve agents to form [Salen((t)Bu)Al(NA)](+)[Ac](-) were determined
      computationally. 

PMID- 25820754
TI  - An open-label, randomized, multicenter dose-finding study of once-per-cycle
      pegfilgrastim versus daily filgrastim in Chinese breast cancer patients receiving
      TAC chemotherapy.
AB  - A chemotherapy regimen of docetaxel, doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (TAC) has
      been accepted as a standard care because of their superior clinical benefit in
      early-stage breast cancer patients, but with a higher risk of neutropenia.
      Pegfilgrastim is a once-per-cycle therapy for prophylactic neutrophil support and
      neutropenia prevention. There was still a lack of direct evidences for finding an
      optimal fixed dose of pegfilgrastim in Chinese breast cancer patients receiving
      TAC regimen. An open-label, randomized, phase II study was designed to compare
      the effects of pegfilgrastim with filgrastim. Eighteen centers in China enrolled
      171 eligible female breast cancer patients with cycles of TAC chemotherapy
      treatment, randomized into four arms, received a single subcutaneous injection of
      pegfilgrastim (60, 100 or 120 ug/kg) per chemotherapy cycle or daily subcutaneous
      injections of filgrastim 5 ug/kg 24 h after chemotherapy. Efficacy and safety
      were analyzed. In ITT population, the mean duration of grade 3+ neutropenia
      (neutrophil count <1.0 * 10(9)/l) was 2.09, 1.53 and 1.73 days in patients who
      received pegfilgrastim 60, 100 and 120 ug/kg/cycle, respectively, and 1.69 days
      in patients who received 5 ug/kg/day filgrastim (P = 0.043). The incidence of
      grade 3+ neutropenia was 76, 83 and 74 % for doses of pegfilgrastim and 90 % for
      filgrastim (P = 0.409). The results for febrile neutropenia, time to neutrophil
      recovery and neutrophil profile were also not significantly different between
      arms. The safety profiles of pegfilgrastim and filgrastim were similar. A single
      dose of 100 ug/kg once-per-cycle administration of pegfilgrastim provided
      neutrophil support and a safety profile comparable to daily subcutaneous
      injections of filgrastim in Chinese breast cancer patients receiving TAC
      chemotherapy.

PMID- 25820755
TI  - Simultaneous (68)Ga-DOTA-TOC PET/MRI with gadoxetate disodium in patients with
      neuroendocrine tumor.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a simultaneous PET/MRI approach to imaging patients with
      neuroendocrine tumor using a combination of (68)Ga-DOTA-TOC as a PET contrast
      agent and gadoxetate disodium as a hepatobiliary MRI contrast agent. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Ten patients with neuroendocrine tumor with known or suspected
      hepatic disease were imaged using a (68)Ga-DOTA-TOC PET/CT immediately followed
      by a 3.0T time-of-flight PET/MRI, using a combined whole body and liver specific
      imaging. The presence of lesions and DOTA-TOC avidity were assessed on CT, PET
      from PET/CT, diffusion weighted imaging, hepatobiliary phase imaging (HBP), and
      PET from PET/MRI. Maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) in hepatic lesions
      and nodal metastases were compared between PET/CT and PET/MRI, as were detection
      rates using each imaging approach. RESULTS: A total of 101 hepatic lesions were
      identified, 47 of which were DOTA-TOC avid and able to be individually measured
      on both PET/CT and PET/MRI. HBP imaging had a higher sensitivity for detection of
      hepatic lesions compared to CT or PET (99% vs. 46% and 64%, respectively; p
      values <0.001). There was a strong correlation between SUVmax of liver lesions
      obtained with PET/CT compared to PET/MR imaging (Pearson's correlation = 0.91).
      For nodal disease, CT had a higher sensitivity compared to whole body MRI (p =
      0.015), although PET acquired from PET/MRI detected slightly more lesions
      compared to PET from PET/CT. CONCLUSIONS: A simultaneous PET/MRI using both
      (68)Ga-DOTA-TOC and gadoxetate disodium was successful in whole body staging of
      patients with neuroendocrine tumor. HBP imaging had an increased detection rate
      for hepatic metastases.

PMID- 25820756
TI  - Time Course of Behavioral Alteration and mRNA Levels of Neurotrophic Factor
      Following Stress Exposure in Mouse.
AB  - Stress is known to affect neurotrophic factor expression, which induces
      depression-like behavior. However, whether there are time-dependent changes in
      neurotrophic factor mRNA expression following stress remains unclear. In the
      present study, we tested whether chronic stress exposure induces long-term
      changes in depression-related behavior, serum corticosterone, and hippocampal
      proliferation as well as neurotrophic factor family mRNA levels, such as brain
      derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF), neurotrophin-3 (NT
      3), and ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), in the mouse hippocampus. The mRNA
      level of neurotrophic factors (BDNF, NGF, NT-3, and CNTF) was measured using the
      real-time PCR. The serum corticosterone level was evaluated by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay, and, for each subject, the hippocampal proliferation was
      examined by 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine immunostaining. Mice exhibited depression-like
      behavior in the forced-swim test (FST) and decreased BDNF mRNA and hippocampal
      proliferation in the middle of the stress exposure. After 15 days of stress
      exposure, we observed increased immobility in the FST, serum corticosterone
      levels, and BDNF mRNA levels and degenerated hippocampal proliferation,
      maintained for at least 2 weeks. Anhedonia-like behavior in the sucrose
      preference test and NGF mRNA levels were decreased following 15 days of stress.
      NGF mRNA levels were significantly higher 1 week after stress exposure. The
      current data demonstrate that chronic stress exposure induces prolonged BDNF and
      NGF mRNA changes and increases corticosterone levels and depression-like behavior
      in the FST, but does not alter other neurotrophic factors or performance in the
      sucrose preference test. 

PMID- 25820757
TI  - Salivary microbiota reflects changes in gut microbiota in cirrhosis with hepatic
      encephalopathy.
AB  - Altered gut microbiome is associated with systemic inflammation and cirrhosis
      decompensation. However, the correlation of the oral microbiome with inflammation
      in cirrhosis is unclear. Our aim was to evaluate the oral microbiome in cirrhosis
      and compare with stool microbiome. Outpatients with cirrhosis (with/without
      hepatic encephalopathy [HE]) and controls underwent stool/saliva microbiome
      analysis (for composition and function) and also systemic inflammatory
      evaluation. Ninety-day liver-related hospitalizations were recorded. Salivary
      inflammation was studied using T helper 1 cytokines/secretory immunoglobulin A
      (IgA), histatins and lysozyme in a subsequent group. A total of 102 patients with
      cirrhosis (43 previous HE) and 32 age-matched controls were included. On
      principal component analysis (PCA), stool and saliva microbiome clustered far
      apart, showing differences between sites as a whole. In salivary microbiome, with
      previous HE, relative abundance of autochthonous families decreased whereas
      potentially pathogenic ones (Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcaceae) increased in
      saliva. Endotoxin-related predicted functions were significantly higher in
      cirrhotic saliva. In stool microbiome, relative autochthonous taxa abundance
      reduced in previous HE, along with increased Enterobacteriaceae and
      Enterococcaceae. Cirrhotic stool microbiota demonstrated a significantly higher
      correlation with systemic inflammation, compared to saliva microbiota, on
      correlation networks. Thirty-eight patients were hospitalized within 90 days.
      Their salivary dysbiosis was significantly worse and predicted this outcome
      independent of cirrhosis severity. Salivary inflammation was studied in an
      additional 86 age-matched subjects (43 controls/43 patients with cirrhosis);
      significantly higher interleukin (IL)-6/IL-1beta, secretory IgA, and lower
      lysozyme, and histatins 1 and 5 were found in patients with cirrhosis, compared
      to controls. CONCLUSIONS: Dysbiosis, represented by reduction in autochthonous
      bacteria, is present in both saliva and stool in patients with cirrhosis,
      compared to controls. Patients with cirrhosis have impaired salivary defenses and
      worse inflammation. Salivary dysbiosis was greater in patients with cirrhosis who
      developed 90-day hospitalizations. These findings could represent a global
      mucosal-immune interface change in cirrhosis.

PMID- 25820758
TI  - Synthesis and characterization of (18)F-labeled active site inhibited factor VII
      (ASIS).
AB  - Activated factor VII blocked in the active site with Phe-Phe-Arg-chloromethyl
      ketone (active site inhibited factor VII (ASIS)) is a 50-kDa protein that binds
      with high affinity to its receptor, tissue factor (TF). TF is a transmembrane
      glycoprotein that plays an important role in, for example, thrombosis,
      metastasis, tumor growth, and tumor angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to
      develop an (18)F-labeled ASIS derivative to assess TF expression in tumors.
      Active site inhibited factor VII was labeled using N-succinimidyl-4
      [(18)F]fluorobenzoate, and the [(18)F]ASIS was purified on a PD-10 desalting
      column. The radiochemical yield was 25 +/- 6%, the radiochemical purity was >97%,
      and the pseudospecific radioactivity was 35 +/- 9 GBq/umol. The binding efficacy
      was evaluated in pull-down experiments, which monitored the binding of unlabeled
      ASIS and [(18)F]ASIS to TF and to a specific anti-factor VII antibody (F1A2-mAb).
      No significant difference in binding efficacy between [(18)F]ASIS and ASIS could
      be detected. Furthermore, [(18)F]ASIS was relatively stable in vitro and in vivo
      in mice. In conclusion, [(18)F]ASIS has for the first time been successfully
      synthesized as a possible positron emission tomography tracer to image TF
      expression levels. In vivo positron emission tomography studies to evaluate the
      full potential of [(18)F]ASIS are in progress.

PMID- 25820759
TI  - Early growth response gene-1 decoy oligonucleotides inhibit vascular smooth
      muscle cell proliferation and neointimal hyperplasia of autogenous vein graft in
      rabbits.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The excess proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and
      the development of intimal hyperplasia is a hallmark of vein graft failure. This
      study aimed to verify that a single intraoperative transfection of early growth
      response gene-1 (Egr-1) decoy oligonucleotide (ODN) can suppress vein graft
      proliferation of VSMCs and intimal hyperplasia. METHODS: In a rabbit model,
      jugular veins were treated with Egr-1 decoy ODN, scrambled decoy ODN, Fugene6, or
      were left untreated, then grafted to the carotid artery. The vein graft samples
      were obtained 48 h, 1, 2 or 3 weeks after surgery. The thickness of the intima
      and intima/media ratio in the grafts was analysed by haematoxylin-eosin (HE)
      staining. The expression of the Egr-1 decoy ODN transfected in the vein was
      analysed using fluorescent microscopy. Egr-1 mRNA was measured using reverse
      transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The expression of Egr-1 protein was
      analysed by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Transfection
      efficiency of the ODN was confirmed by 4', 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining.
      In the grafts treated with Egr-1 decoy ODN, our study achieved statistically
      significant inhibition of intimal hyperplasia by ~58% at 3 weeks. Transfection of
      Egr-1 decoy ODNs decreased the protein expression of Egr-1 and Egr-1 mRNA.
      CONCLUSIONS: We confirmed that gene therapy using in vivo transfection of an Egr
      1 decoy ODN significantly inhibits proliferation of VSMC and intimal hyperplasia
      of vein grafts in a rabbit model.

PMID- 25820760
TI  - Aortic valve/root procedures in patients with an anomalous left circumflex
      coronary artery and a bicuspid aortic valve: anatomical and technical
      implications.
AB  - An anomalous origin of the left circumflex coronary artery that arises as a side
      branch of the right coronary artery from the right coronary sinus of Valsalva
      encircling the aortic annulus is usually an incidental finding. However, in
      patients undergoing aortic valve procedures, its existence can significantly
      complicate the surgical treatment. We report our operative strategy in patients
      with an anomalous left circumflex coronary artery, a bicuspid aortic valve
      morphology and different aortic valve pathologies. 

PMID- 25820761
TI  - Protein kinase C bidirectionally modulates Ih and hyperpolarization-activated
      cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channel surface expression in hippocampal pyramidal
      neurons.
AB  - KEY POINTS: Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels,
      particularly that of the HCN1 isoform, are enriched in the distal dendrites of
      hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons; these channels have physiological functions
      with respect to decreasing neuronal excitability. In the present study, we aimed
      to investigate phosphorylation as a mechanism controlling Ih amplitude and HCN1
      surface expression in hippocampal principal neurons under normal physiological
      conditions. Tyrosine phosphorylation decreased Ih amplitude at maximal activation
      (maximal Ih ), without altering HCN1 surface expression, in two classes of
      hippocampal principal neurons. Inhibition of serine/threonine protein
      phosphatases 1 and 2A decreased maximal Ih and HCN1 surface expression in
      hippocampal principal neurons. Protein kinase C (PKC) activation irreversibly
      diminished Ih and HCN1 surface expression, whereas PKC inhibition augmented Ih
      and HCN1 surface expression. PKC activation increased HCN1 channel
      phosphorylation. These results demonstrate the novel finding of a phosphorylation
      mechanism, dependent on PKC activity, which bidirectionally modulates Ih
      amplitude and HCN1channel surface expression in hippocampal principal neurons
      under normal physiological conditions. ABSTRACT: Hyperpolarization-activated,
      cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) ion channels attenuate excitability in hippocampal
      pyramidal neurons. Loss of HCN channel-mediated current (Ih ), particularly that
      mediated by the HCN1 isoform, occurs with the development of epilepsy.
      Previously, we showed that, following pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus,
      there are two independent changes in HCN function in dendrites: decreased Ih
      amplitude associated with a loss of HCN1 surface expression and a hyperpolarizing
      shift in voltage-dependence of activation (gating). The hyperpolarizing shift in
      gating was attributed to decreased phosphorylation as a result of a loss of p38
      mitogen-activated protein kinase activity and increased calcineurin activity;
      however, the mechanisms controlling Ih amplitude and HCN1 surface expression
      under epileptic or normal physiological conditions are poorly understood. We
      aimed to investigate phosphorylation as a mechanism regulating Ih amplitude and
      HCN1 surface expression (i.e. as is the case for HCN gating) in hippocampal
      principal neurons under normal physiological conditions. We discovered that
      inhibition of either tyrosine phosphatases or the serine/threonine protein
      phosphatases 1 and 2A decreased Ih at maximal activation in hippocampal CA1
      pyramidal dendrites and pyramidal-like principal neuron somata from naive rats.
      Furthermore, we found that inhibition of PP1/PP2A decreased HCN1 surface
      expression, whereas tyrosine phosphatase inhibition did not. Protein kinase C
      (PKC) activation reduced Ih amplitude and HCN1 surface expression, whereas PKC
      inhibition produced the opposite effect. Inhibition of protein phosphatases 1 and
      2A and activation of PKC increased the serine phosphorylation state of the HCN1
      protein. The effect of PKC activation on Ih was irreversible. These results
      indicate that PKC bidirectionally modulates Ih amplitude and HCN1 surface
      expression in hippocampal principal neurons.

PMID- 25820762
TI  - New oral anticoagulants versus vitamin K antagonists for treatment of acute
      venous thromboembolism: do they really increase the incidence of myocardial
      infarction?

PMID- 25820763
TI  - Optimized co-solute paramagnetic relaxation enhancement for the rapid NMR
      analysis of a highly fibrillogenic peptide.
AB  - Co-solute paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE) is an attractive way to speed
      up data acquisition in NMR spectroscopy by shortening the T 1 relaxation time of
      the nucleus of interest and thus the necessary recycle delay. Here, we present
      the rationale to utilize high-spin iron(III) as the optimal transition metal for
      this purpose and characterize the properties of its neutral chelate form Fe(DO3A)
      as a suitable PRE agent. Fe(DO3A) effectively reduces the T 1 values across the
      entire sequence of the intrinsically disordered protein alpha-synuclein with
      negligible impact on line width. The agent is better suited than currently used
      alternatives, shows no specific interaction with the polypeptide chain and, due
      to its high relaxivity, is effective at low concentrations and in 'proton-less'
      NMR experiments. By using Fe(DO3A) we were able to complete the backbone
      resonance assignment of a highly fibrillogenic peptide from alpha1-antitrypsin by
      acquiring the necessary suite of multidimensional NMR datasets in 3 h. 

PMID- 25820765
TI  - A cure for the high cost of hepatitis C virus treatment.

PMID- 25820764
TI  - Autologous intestinal reconstruction surgery as part of comprehensive management
      of intestinal failure.
AB  - Pediatric intestinal failure (IF) remains to be associated with significant
      morbidity and mortality, the most frequent underlying etiologies being short
      bowel syndrome (SBS), and primary motility disorders. Management aims to assure
      growth and development, while preventing complications and facilitating weaning
      off parenteral support (PS) by fully utilizing adaptation potential of the
      remaining gut. Probability of survival and weaning off PS is improved by
      coordinated multidisciplinary intestinal rehabilitation combining individualized
      physiological enteral and parenteral nutrition (PN), meticulous central line care
      and medical management with carefully planned surgical care. Increasing evidence
      suggests that autologous intestinal reconstruction (AIR) surgery is effective
      treatment for selected short bowel patients. Bowel lengthening procedures
      normalize pathological adaptation-associated short bowel dilatation with
      potential to support intestinal absorption and liver function by various
      mechanisms. Although reversed small intestinal segment, designed to prolong
      accelerated intestinal transit, improves absorption in adult SBS, its feasibility
      in children remains unclear. Controlled bowel obstruction to induce dilatation
      followed by bowel lengthening aims to gain extra length in patients with the
      shortest duodenojejunal remnant. Reduced PS requirement limits the extent of
      complications, improving prognosis and quality of life. The great majority of
      children with SBS can be weaned from PS while prognosis of intractable primary
      motility disorders remains poor without intestinal transplantation, which serves
      as a salvage therapy for life-threatening complications such as liver failure,
      central vein thrombosis or recurrent bloodstream infections. 

PMID- 25820766
TI  - Reflections on the challenges of understanding racial, cultural and sexual
      differences in couple relationship research.
AB  - : In the field of systemic psychotherapy there has been much recent interest in
      the areas of culture and reflexivity, and in working with couples. In this
      article we reflect on the process of conducting research in these areas. Drawing
      on findings from a large, national, empirical mixed-methods study on long-term
      relationships, we use two examples from the data to illustrate the complexity of
      researching across racial, cultural and sexual differences, in terms of research
      design and sampling, fieldwork and research practice, and making sense of
      multidimensional data. We point to findings that suggest that notions of
      coupledom are culturally constructed and thus challenge straightforward ideas of
      the procreative, sexually active couple dyad, separate from intergenerational
      extended families. The clinical significance of the findings for both lesbian,
      gay, bisexual or queer and culturally diverse couples and families are discussed.
      PRACTITIONER POINTS: Cultural or racial matching is not a sufficient condition
      for engagement and empathy with couples and families.Critical reflexivity about
      similarity and difference is essential in cross-cultural systemic practice.'The
      couple' and its distance from the extended family may be defined differently in
      different cultures.One research tool used in this project, the emotion map,
      appears to have utility in clinical practice with couples and families.

PMID- 25820767
TI  - Analysis of L-homoarginine in biological samples by HPLC involving precolumn
      derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde and N-acetyl-L-cysteine.
AB  - L-Homoarginine (hArg) may play a role in regulating the metabolism of its
      structural homologue L-arginine via multiple pathways (including nitric oxide
      synthase) in animals. Accurate measurement of hArg is essential for studying its
      synthesis and utilization by cells and the whole body. Here, we describe a
      simple, sensitive and automated method for analysis of hArg in biological samples
      by high-performance liquid chromatography involving precolumn derivatization with
      o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) and N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) as the thiol. The hArg-OPA
      NAC derivative was separated at 25  degrees C on a reversed-phase C18 material
      and detected by fluorescence at excitation and emission wavelengths of 340 and
      450 nm, respectively. The total running time for one sample (including the time
      for column regeneration) was 20 min, with the retention time for hArg being 10.03
      min. The limit of detection was 188 fmol hArg, which was equivalent to 12 nM hArg
      in the 160-ul assay mixture. The assay was linear between 1.0 and 80 pmol hArg
      injected into the HPLC column (equivalent to 0.0625 and 5 uM hArg in the 160-ul
      assay mixture, respectively). The precision (relative deviation, %) and bias
      (relative error, %) of the HPLC method were 0.52-1.16 and 0.42-1.12,
      respectively, for aqueous solutions of hArg and for various biological samples
      (e.g., plasma, liver, brain and kidney). This is a highly sensitive, accurate,
      efficient and easily automated method for analysis of hArg in biological samples
      and provides a useful tool for studying the biochemistry, nutrition, physiology
      and pharmacology of hArg and arginine in animals and humans.

PMID- 25820769
TI  - The unique N-terminal insert in the ribosomal protein, phosphoprotein P0, of
      Tetrahymena thermophila: Bioinformatic evidence for an interaction with 26S rRNA.
AB  - Phosphoprotein P0 (P0) is part of the stalk complex of the eukaryotic large
      ribosomal subunit necessary for recruiting elongation factors. While the P0
      sequence is highly conserved, our group noted a 15-16 residue insert exclusive to
      the P0s of ciliated protists, including Tetrahymena thermophila. We hypothesized
      that this insert may have a function unique in ciliated protists, such as stalk
      regulation via phosphorylation of the insert. Almost no mention of this insert
      exists in the literature, and although the T. thermophila ribosome has been
      crystallized, there is limited structural data for Tetrahymena's P0 (TtP0) and
      its insert. To investigate the structure and function of the TtP0 insert, we
      performed in silico analyses. The TtP0 sequence was scanned with phosphorylation
      site prediction tools to detect the likelihood of phosphorylation in the insert.
      TtP0's sequence was also used to produce a homology model of the N-terminal
      domain of TtP0, including the insert. When the insert was modeled in the context
      of the 26S rRNA, it associated with a region identified as expansion segment 7B
      (ES7B), suggesting a potential functional interaction between ES7B and the insert
      in T. thermophila. We were not able to obtain sufficient data to determine
      whether a similar relationship exists in other ciliated protists. This study lays
      the groundwork for future experimental studies to verify the presence of TtP0
      insert/ES7 interactions in Tetrahymena, and to explore their functional
      significance during protein synthesis.

PMID- 25820768
TI  - Anhedonic behavior in cryptochrome 2-deficient mice is paralleled by altered
      diurnal patterns of amygdala gene expression.
AB  - Mood disorders are frequently paralleled by disturbances in circadian rhythm
      related physiological and behavioral states and genetic variants of clock genes
      have been associated with depression. Cryptochrome 2 (Cry2) is one of the core
      components of the molecular circadian machinery which has been linked to
      depression, both, in patients suffering from the disease and animal models of the
      disorder. Despite this circumstantial evidence, a direct causal relationship
      between Cry2 expression and depression has not been established. Here, a genetic
      mouse model of Cry2 deficiency (Cry2 (-/-) mice) was employed to test the direct
      relevance of Cry2 for depression-like behavior. Augmented anhedonic behavior in
      the sucrose preference test, without alterations in behavioral despair, was
      observed in Cry2 (-/-) mice. The novelty suppressed feeding paradigm revealed
      reduced hyponeophagia in Cry2 (-/-) mice compared to wild-type littermates. Given
      the importance of the amygdala in the regulation of emotion and their relevance
      for the pathophysiology of depression, potential alterations in diurnal patterns
      of basolateral amygdala gene expression in Cry2 (-/-) mice were investigated
      focusing on core clock genes and neurotrophic factor systems implicated in the
      pathophysiology of depression. Differential expression of the clock gene Bhlhe40
      and the neurotrophic factor Vegfb were found in the beginning of the active
      (dark) phase in Cry2 (-/-) compared to wild-type animals. Furthermore, amygdala
      tissue of Cry2 (-/-) mice contained lower levels of Bdnf-III. Collectively, these
      results indicate that Cry2 exerts a critical role in the control of depression
      related emotional states and modulates the chronobiological gene expression
      profile in the mouse amygdala. 

PMID- 25820770
TI  - A pyrene-fused N-heteroacene with eleven rectilinearly annulated aromatic rings.
AB  - A highly soluble pyrene-fused undecacene is realized by end-capping the
      rectilinear aromatic pi-plane with triptycenylene units. Besides the good
      solubility, the compound shows a high tendency to crystallize. Two polymorphs
      from dichlorobenzene and chloroform are described. In the polymorph from
      chloroform, half of the molecules are strongly bent out of the pi-plane by 26.4
      degrees . 

PMID- 25820771
TI  - Plant cell reprogramming as an adaptive strategy.

PMID- 25820772
TI  - Autologous fascia pubovaginal slings after prior synthetic anti-incontinence
      procedures for recurrent incontinence: A multi-institutional prospective
      comparative analysis to de novo autologous slings assessing objective and
      subjective cure.
AB  - AIMS: Given the paucity of prospective data on the treatment of incontinent women
      with prior synthetic mid-urethral sling (MUS), we sought to report our
      prospective experience with autologous fascia pubovaginal sling placement (AF
      PVS) after prior synthetic mid-urethral sling (MUS). METHODS: An IRB-approved,
      multi-institutional, prospective cohort of patients from 2010 to 2013 undergoing
      AF-PVS for urinary incontinence was evaluated and stratified for the presence of
      a prior MUS. Pre-operative characteristics and validated quality of life
      questionnaires (IIQ-7 and UDI-6) were compared to post-operative pad usage,
      scores on the IIQ-7 and UDI-6, complications, and visual analog scale assessment
      of improvement. RESULTS: 288 patients met inclusion criteria, 59 (20.4%) of whom
      had undergone a prior MUS before AF-PVS placement. Of these 59 patients, 20
      (33.9%) had a prior vaginal extrusion and 5 (8.5%) had suffered from obstruction
      requiring sling lysis or excision. With a median of 14 months follow-up, prior
      MUS placement was not associated with a significant difference in objective
      (55.9% vs. 62.4%, P = 0.37) or subjective cure (66.1% vs. 69.0%, P = 0.75) when
      compared to patients undergoing placement of an initial AF-PVS. Patients
      undergoing AF-PVS after prior MUS did have a significantly higher rate of urinary
      retention requiring intermittent catheterization (8.5% vs. 3.1%, P < 0.001) and
      re-operation (13.6% vs. 3.5%, P = 0.01) for persistent incontinence. CONCLUSIONS:
      Despite higher rates of retention and need for repeat operation, AF-PVS after
      failed MUS is an acceptable treatment option with no difference in success as
      compared to patients undergoing initial AF-PVS placement. Neurourol. Urodynam.
      35:604-608, 2016. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

PMID- 25820774
TI  - How many molecules does it take to tell a story? Case studies, language, and an
      epistemic view of medicinal chemistry.
AB  - Medicinal chemistry has always been closer to the arts than other disciplines in
      the natural sciences. Instead of searching for natural laws, medicinal chemistry
      creates new molecular entities entailing desired pharmaceutical characteristics.
      While the productive output of medicinal chemistry is comprehensively documented,
      the epistemic paths of the creative process are less well described. Here we show
      how such paths could be visualized and how these visualizations relate to images
      developed in the history and philosophy of science. Based on the discussion of
      these visualizations, we argue that there is a need for a new language of
      creativity that can be employed during the very course of research, as opposed to
      its retrospective analysis. This language should be able to reflect both the
      status and directions in highly complex research processes that may have a clear
      goal, yet must remain open to unexpected moments of serendipity. 

PMID- 25820773
TI  - T1rho imaging in premanifest Huntington disease reveals changes associated with
      disease progression.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Imaging biomarkers sensitive to Huntington's disease (HD) during the
      premanifest phase preceding motor diagnosis may accelerate identification and
      evaluation of potential therapies. For this purpose, quantitative MRI sensitive
      to tissue microstructure and metabolism may hold great potential. We investigated
      the potential value of T1rho relaxation to detect pathological changes in
      premanifest HD (preHD) relative to other quantitative relaxation parameters.
      METHODS: Quantitative MR parametric mapping was used to assess differences
      between 50 preHD subjects and 26 age- and sex-matched controls. Subjects with
      preHD were classified into two progression groups based on their CAG-age product
      (CAP) score; a high and a low/moderate CAP group. Voxel-wise and region-of
      interest analyses were used to assess changes in the quantitative relaxation
      times. RESULTS: T1rho showed a significant increase in the relaxation times in
      the high-CAP group, as compared to controls, largely in the striatum. The T1rho
      changes in the preHD subjects showed a significant relationship with CAP score.
      No significant changes in T2 or T2* relaxation times were found in the striatum.
      T2* relaxation changes were found in the globus pallidus, but no significant
      changes with disease progression were found. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that
      quantitative T1rho mapping may provide a useful marker for assessing disease
      progression in HD. The absence of T2 changes suggests that the T1rho
      abnormalities are unlikely owing to altered water content or tissue structure.
      The established sensitivity of T1rho to pH and glucose suggests that these
      factors are altered in HD perhaps owing to abnormal mitochondrial function.

PMID- 25820775
TI  - A national survey of Rett syndrome: age, clinical characteristics, current
      abilities, and health.
AB  - As part of a wider study to investigate the behavioral phenotype of a national
      sample of girls and women with Rett syndrome (RTT) in comparison to a well-chosen
      contrast group and its relationship to parental well-being, the development,
      clinical severity, current abilities and health of 91 participants were analyzed
      in relation to diagnostic, clinical and genetic mutation categories. Early
      truncating mutations or large deletions were associated with greater severity.
      Early regression was also associated with greater severity. All three were
      associated with lower current abilities. Epilepsy and weight, gastrointestinal
      and bowel problems were common co-morbidities. Participants with classic RTT had
      greater health problems than those with atypical RTT. A substantial minority of
      respondents reported fairly frequent signs of possible pain experienced by their
      relative with RTT. Overall, the study provides new data on the current abilities
      and general health of people with RTT and adds to the evidence that the severity
      of the condition and variation of subsequent disability, albeit generally within
      the profound range, may be related to gene mutation. The presence of certain co
      morbidities represents a substantial ongoing need for better health. The
      experience of pain requires further investigation.

PMID- 25820777
TI  - Metabolomics analysis of muscle from piglets fed low protein diets supplemented
      with branched chain amino acids using HPLC-high-resolution MS.
AB  - Low protein (LP) diet can reduce feed costs and decrease nitrogen emission.
      Branched chain amino acids (BCAA), especially leucine, have been shown to
      influence muscle protein metabolism. Here, we used HPLC-high-resolution MS-based
      metabolomics approach to investigate the effects of LP diet supplemented with
      BCAA on metabolome in the muscle of piglets. The 10-21 kg piglets were fed with
      LP diet supplemented with BCAA. Amino acids (AAs) and metabolomics profiles of
      plasma, muscle, and liver were analyzed. Free AA profiles of plasma showed
      increased levels of BCAA. Multivariate analysis showed significant difference in
      skeletal muscle metabolites among different diet treatment groups, and most of
      the identified differential compounds were involved in AA metabolism and protein
      anabolism. These compounds, including alanine, glutamine, sarcosine, ornithine,
      proline, methionine, and threonine, all increased in the BCAA supplemented group
      compared with normal protein diet group. Metabolic pathway analysis suggested
      that BCAA could be converted to nonessential AAs and their metabolites by direct
      or indirect synthesis under LP diets, which could participate in the muscle
      protein synthesis or energy metabolism, and ultimately reduced nitrogen emission.

PMID- 25820776
TI  - L-Asparaginase lowers plasma antithrombin and mannan-binding-lectin levels:
      Impact on thrombotic and infectious events in children with acute lymphoblastic
      leukemia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: L-asparaginase, a key therapeutic agent in the management of patients
      with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), dramatically impairs hepatic protein
      synthesis. We investigated the effects of prolonged exposure to L-asparaginase on
      antithrombin (AT), fibrinogen and mannan-binding-lectin (MBL) levels, and on the
      occurrence of thrombotic events (TE) and febrile neutropenia episodes (FN) in
      pediatric patients. PROCEDURE: Protein levels were measured in 97 children during
      30 weeks of chemotherapy with L-asparaginase and up to 1 year following
      remission. TE and FN episodes were recorded during this period. RESULTS: Median
      AT level decreased from 0.96 IU/mL prior to treatment (range: 0.69-1.38) to 0.55
      IU/mL (0.37-0.76) during therapy. Fibrinogen and MBL decreased from 3.18 g/L
      (1.29-7.28) and 1,177 ng/mL (57-5,343) to 1.56 g/L (0.84-2.13) and 193 ng/mL (57
      544), respectively. All three proteins had recovered 1-4 weeks after L
      asparaginase cessation. TE were reported in 22 (23%) patients. Of these, 11
      occurred after a median of 10 administrations of L-asparaginase. Fifty-one FN
      were associated with infections, of which 36 occurred during treatment with L
      asparaginase. Patients with low levels of MBL at diagnosis were at higher risk of
      FN associated with infections (RR = 1.59, 95%CI: 1.026-2.474). Both AT and MBL
      decreases were moderately correlated with fibrinogen (r = 0.51 and 0.58,
      respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Children with ALL are exposed to significant decrease
      in AT, fibrinogen and MBL levels, and concomitant increased risk of thrombosis
      and FN with infection during L-asparaginase treatment. Measuring plasma levels of
      these liver-derived proteins could help predict the occurrence of adverse events.

PMID- 25820778
TI  - A rigid naphthalenediimide triangle for organic rechargeable lithium-ion
      batteries.

PMID- 25820779
TI  - RORgammat(+) hematopoietic cells are necessary for tumor cell proliferation
      during colitis-associated tumorigenesis in mice.
AB  - Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common tumor entities. In patients
      with inflammatory bowel diseases, the development of colitis-associated colon
      cancer is considered a dangerous long-term complication. IL-17A and the
      transcription factor retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor gammat
      (RORgammat) play fundamental roles in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel
      diseases; in human studies, we detected a dense infiltration of RORgammat
      dependent CD4(+) IL17A(+) T helper (Th)17 cells in specimens of CRC, ulcerative
      colitis, and ulcerative colitis-associated colorectal cancer. However, the
      mechanistic role of RORgammat(+) hematopoietic cells in colitis-associated
      tumorigenesis remains unclear. To investigate colitis-associated colon
      tumorigenesis, we conducted studies in the AOM+DSS mouse model that revealed the
      importance of RORgammat for colon tumor progression. In the absence of RORgammat
      dependent Th17 lymphocytes, mice showed signs of intense chronic colitis, but
      developed significantly fewer macroscopic tumor nodules. The reduction of tumor
      development in RORgammat(-/-) mice was not due to reduced colon tumor initiation.
      However, the proliferation rate of tumor cells was reduced in the absence of
      RORgammat-dependent Th17 cells and tumor cells showed pronounced signs of
      senescence-associated epigenetic and lysosomal changes. These results indicate an
      important role for the immunological milieu in colitis-associated cancer, which
      is shaped in-part by RORgammat-dependent Th17 lymphocytes that support CRC
      growth. 

PMID- 25820780
TI  - Ability and Disability in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Literature
      Review Employing the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and
      Health-Children and Youth Version.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study is the first in a series of four empirical investigations
      to develop International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
      (ICF) Core Sets for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The objective was to use a
      systematic review approach to identify, number, and link functional ability and
      disability concepts used in the scientific ASD literature to the nomenclature of
      the ICF-CY (Children and Youth version of the ICF, covering the life span).
      METHODS: Systematic searches on outcome studies of ASD were carried out in
      Medline/PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC and Cinahl, and relevant functional ability and
      disability concepts extracted from the included studies. These concepts were then
      linked to the ICF-CY by two independent researchers using a standardized linking
      procedure. New concepts were extracted from the studies until saturation of
      identified ICF-CY categories was reached. RESULTS: Seventy-one studies were
      included in the final analysis and 2475 meaningful concepts contained in these
      studies were linked to 146 ICF-CY categories. Of these, 99 categories were
      considered most relevant to ASD (i.e., identified in at least 5% of the studies),
      of which 63 were related to Activities and Participation, 28 were related to Body
      functions, and 8 were related to Environmental factors. The five most frequently
      identified categories were basic interpersonal interactions (51%), emotional
      functions (49%), complex interpersonal interactions (48%), attention functions
      (44%), and mental functions of language (44%). CONCLUSION: The broad variety of
      ICF-CY categories identified in this study reflects the heterogeneity of
      functional differences found in ASD--both with respect to disability and
      exceptionality--and underlines the potential value of the ICF-CY as a framework
      to capture an individual's functioning in all dimensions of life. The current
      results in combination with three additional preparatory studies (expert survey,
      focus groups, and clinical study) will provide the scientific basis for defining
      the ICF Core Sets for ASD for multipurpose use in basic and applied research and
      every day clinical practice of ASD.

PMID- 25820781
TI  - Quantum interference measurement of spin interactions in a bio
      organic/semiconductor device structure.
AB  - Quantum interference is used to measure the spin interactions between an InAs
      surface electron system and the iron center in the biomolecule hemin in nanometer
      proximity in a bio-organic/semiconductor device structure. The interference
      quantifies the influence of hemin on the spin decoherence properties of the
      surface electrons. The decoherence times of the electrons serve to characterize
      the biomolecule, in an electronic complement to the use of spin decoherence times
      in magnetic resonance. Hemin, prototypical for the heme group in hemoglobin, is
      used to demonstrate the method, as a representative biomolecule where the spin
      state of a metal ion affects biological functions. The electronic determination
      of spin decoherence properties relies on the quantum correction of
      antilocalization, a result of quantum interference in the electron system. Spin
      flip scattering is found to increase with temperature due to hemin, signifying a
      spin exchange between the iron center and the electrons, thus implying
      interactions between a biomolecule and a solid-state system in the hemin/InAs
      hybrid structure. The results also indicate the feasibility of artificial
      bioinspired materials using tunable carrier systems to mediate interactions
      between biological entities. 

PMID- 25820782
TI  - The first wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic among soldiers of the Canadian
      expeditionary force.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This article evaluates the evidence for the presence of the first,
      mild wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic among soldiers in the Canadian
      Expeditionary Force (CEF). METHODS: Death records for soldiers in the CEF who
      died in Canada in 1917 and 1918 were extracted from the Commonwealth War Graves
      Commission and record-linked to the Canada War Graves Registers, Circumstances of
      Casualty database. Monthly mortality rates from pneumonia and influenza (P&I)
      were compared with mortality rates from all other causes for 1917 and 1918, and
      by region for 1918. RESULTS: The herald wave of influenza was present among CEF
      soldiers in 1918. P&I mortality was significantly higher in March and April 1918
      than during the same period in 1917. P&I mortality rates varied across the
      country and were significantly higher among soldiers who died in the Maritime
      region of Canada. In March, Maritime P&I mortality was significantly higher than
      its counterpart in the West; in April it was significantly higher than P&I
      mortality in both the Central and Western regions. CONCLUSIONS: The CEF findings
      suggest that local, geographic heterogeneity characterized the first wave of the
      1918 influenza pandemic in Canada and illustrate the ways in which well
      established, historical patterns of cross-border social contact with the United
      States, coupled with the special conditions created by warfare,
      disproportionately funnelled influenza into particular regions. Identification of
      the mild first wave among soldiers in the CEF calls for more research on the
      civilian experience of both waves of influenza in Canada.

PMID- 25820783
TI  - Gaucher-Associated Parkinsonism.
AB  - Gaucher disease is associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) by mutations in
      glucocerebrosidase (GCase). The gene encoding GCase, glucosidase beta acid (GBA),
      is an important risk factor for PD. Findings from large studies have shown that
      patients with PD have an increased frequency of mutations in GBA and that GBA
      mutation carriers exhibit diverse parkinsonian phenotypes and Lewy body
      pathology. Although the mechanism for this association remains elusive, some
      hypotheses have been proposed to explain it, including gain of function caused by
      GBA mutations, which increases alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn) aggregation, loss of
      function due to lysosomal enzyme deficiency, which affects alpha-syn clearance,
      and even a bidirectional feedback loop, but each of these hypotheses has its
      limitations. It is also worth noting that many findings have implicated the
      interaction between alpha-syn and GCase, indicating the essential role of the
      interaction in the pathogenesis of GBA-associated parkinsonism. Therefore, the
      current review focuses on alpha-syn and GCase, and it provides some new thoughts
      that may be helpful for understanding the alpha-syn-GCase interaction and
      unraveling the exact mechanism underlying GBA-associated parkinsonism. 

PMID- 25820784
TI  - Protective Effect of Pyrroloquinoline Quinone (PQQ) in Rat Model of Intracerebral
      Hemorrhage.
AB  - Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) has invoked considerable interest because of its
      presence in foods, antioxidant properties, cofactor of dehydrogenase, and amine
      oxidase. Protective roles of PQQ in central nervous system diseases, such as
      experimental stroke and spinal cord injury models have been emerged. However, it
      is unclear whether intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), as an acute devastating
      disease, can also benefit from PQQ in experimental conditions. Herein, we
      examined the possible effect of PQQ on neuronal functions following ICH in the
      adult rats. The results showed that rats pretreated with PQQ at 10 mg/kg
      effectively improved the locomotor functions, alleviated the hematoma volumes,
      and reduced the expansion of brain edema after ICH. Also, pretreated rats with
      PQQ obviously reduced the production of reactive oxygen species after ICH,
      probably due to its antioxidant properties. Further, we found that, Bcl-2/Bax,
      the important indicator of oxidative stress insult in mitochondria after ICH,
      exhibited increasing ratio in PQQ-pretreated groups. Moreover, activated caspase
      3, the apoptotic executor, showed coincident alleviation in PQQ groups after ICH.
      Collectively, we speculated that PQQ might be an effective and potential
      neuroprotectant in clinical therapy for ICH. 

PMID- 25820785
TI  - Mitochondrial Cyclophilin D as a Potential Therapeutic Target for Ischemia
      Induced Facial Palsy in Rats.
AB  - Many studies have demonstrated that ischemia could induce facial nerve (FN)
      injury. However, there is a lack of a suitable animal model for FN injury study
      and thus little knowledge is available about the precise mechanism for FN injury.
      The aims of this study were to establish a reliable FN injury model induced by
      blocking the petrosal artery and to investigate whether dysfunctional interaction
      between cyclophilin D (CypD) and mitochondrial permeability transition pore
      (MPTP) can mediate cell dysfunction in ischemic FN injury. The outcomes of
      ischemia-induced FN injury rat model were evaluated by behavioral assessment,
      histological observation, electrophysiology, and electron microscopy. Then the
      levels of CypD and protein that forms the MPTP were evaluated under the
      conditions with or without the treatment of Cyclosporin A (CsA), which has been
      found to disrupt MPTP through the binding of CypD. The blocking of petrosal
      artery caused significant facial palsy signs in the ischemia group but not in the
      sham group. Furthermore, ischemia can induce the dysfunction of facial nucleus
      neurons and destruction of the myelin sheath and increase the protein levels of
      CypD and MPTP protein compared with sham group. Interestingly, treatment with CsA
      significantly improved neurological function and reversed the ischemia-induced
      increase of CypD and MPTP proteins in ischemia group. These results demonstrated
      that blocking of petrosal artery in rats can induce FN injury and the mechanism
      may be related to the disruption of MPTP by CypD. 

PMID- 25820787
TI  - Synthesis of metalloporphyrin-based conjugated microporous polymer spheres
      directed by bipyridine-type ligands.
AB  - Zinc porphyrin (TP-Zn)-based conjugated microporous polymer (Zn-CMP) spheres were
      obtained via Sonagashira-Hagihara cross coupling reactions between 5,10,15,20
      tetrakis(4-ethynylphenyl)porphyrin-Zn(II) and brominated monomers directed by
      bidentate bipyridine (BP)-type ligands for the first time, and the sphere
      diameters could be adjusted from 320 to 740 nm. The coordination between BP and
      TP-Zn was proved to be the key to forming spheres.

PMID- 25820786
TI  - Comparison of dynamic transperineal ultrasound and defecography for the
      evaluation of pelvic floor disorders.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: X-ray defecography is considered the gold standard for imaging
      pelvic floor pathology. However, it is limited by the capability to demonstrate
      only the posterior pelvic compartment, significant radiation exposure, and
      inconvenience. Dynamic transperineal ultrasound (DTP-US) can visualize all of
      three pelvic floor compartments, is free of radiation, and does not cause
      significant discomfort. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of
      consistency between defecography (DEF) and DTP-US in the diagnosis of pelvic
      floor deformations. METHODS: One hundred and five women (age 56 +/- 11 years)
      suffering from constipation and fecal incontinence were clinically evaluated and
      further examined by DEF and DTP-US. The rate of diagnosis of pelvic floor hernias
      using the DTP-US was compared to that found on DEF. RESULTS: The specificity for
      the diagnosis of rectoceles was of 82% for mid-size rectocele and 98% for large
      rectoceles, and the sensitivity was of 59% for mid-size rectoceles and 50% for
      larger rectoceles. The sensitivity for the detection of intussusceptions,
      enteroceles, and rectal prolapse were 82, 74, and 75%, respectively. The
      specificity was 84% for the detection of intussusception, 92% for enteroceles,
      and 97% for the diagnosis of rectal prolapse. Higher rates of DTP-US diagnosis
      were obtained when the intussuscepted rectum moved closer toward the ultrasound
      probe. CONCLUSIONS: The sensitivity of DTP-US was good to excellent and the
      specificity was high. The added value of this technique in exploring all the
      compartments of the pelvic floor as well as the perineal muscles makes DTP-US a
      preferred procedure.

PMID- 25820788
TI  - Conspecific density modulates the effect of predation on dispersal rates.
AB  - Dispersal decisions underlie the spatial dynamics of metacommunities. Prey
      individuals may disperse to reduce the risk of either predation or starvation,
      and both of these risks may depend on conspecific density. Surprisingly, there is
      little theory examining how dispersal rates should change in response to the
      combined effects of predation and changes in conspecific density. We develop such
      a model and show that, under certain conditions, predators may induce dispersal
      at low prey densities but not high prey densities. We then experimentally
      manipulate the density of the ciliate Paramecium aurelia and the perceived
      presence of its predator, the flatworm Stenostomum virginiamum, in a two-patch
      metacommunity to parameterise the model. Paramecium dispersed in response to
      Stenostomum at low densities, but they reduced their dispersal in response to
      predation risk at high predator densities. By applying our model to the empirical
      data, we show that this switch in dispersal strategy, linked to increases in prey
      density, occurred because predators increased the difficulty or risk of
      dispersal. Together, the model and experiment reveal that the effects of
      predators on dispersal are contingent on prey density. Previous studies have
      sometimes reported an increase in dispersal rate when predation risk is elevated,
      and other times a decrease in dispersal rate. Our demonstration of a switch
      point, with predation risk increasing dispersal at low prey densities but
      reducing dispersal above a threshold of prey density, may reconcile the diversity
      of prey dispersal behaviours reported in these previous investigations and
      observed in nature. 

PMID- 25820789
TI  - Biometallization-Based Electrochemical Magnetoimmunosensing Strategy for Avian
      Influenza A (H7N9) Virus Particle Detection.
AB  - A highly sensitive electrochemical immunosensor for avian influenza A (H7N9)
      virus (H7N9 AIV) detection was proposed by using electrochemical
      magnetoimmunoassay coupled with biometallization and anodic stripping
      voltammetry. This strategy could accumulate the enzyme-generated product on the
      surface of the magneto electrode by means of silver deposition, which amplified
      the detection signal about 80 times. The use of magnetic beads (MBs) and the
      magneto electrode could also amplify the detection signal. Furthermore, a bi
      electrode signal transduction system was introduced into this immunosensor, which
      is also beneficial to the immunoassay. A concentration as low as 0.011 ng mL(-1)
      of H7N9 AIV could be detected in about 1.5 h with good specificity. This study
      not only provides a simple and sensitive approach for virus detection but also
      offers an effective signal enhancement strategy for the development of highly
      sensitive MB-based electrochemical immunoassays. 

PMID- 25820791
TI  - Simultaneous capture, detection, and inactivation of bacteria as enabled by a
      surface-enhanced Raman scattering multifunctional chip.
AB  - Herein, we present a multifunctional chip based on surface-enhanced Raman
      scattering (SERS) that effectively captures, discriminates, and inactivates
      pathogenic bacteria. The developed SERS chip is made of a silicon wafer decorated
      with silver nanoparticles and modified with 4-mercaptophenylboronic acid (4
      MPBA). It was prepared in a straightforward manner by chemical reduction assisted
      by hydrogen fluoride etching, followed by the conjugation of 4-MPBA through Ag?S
      bonds. The dominant merits of the fabricated SERS chip include excellent
      reproducibility with a relative standard deviation (RSD) value smaller than 11.0
      %, adaptable bacterial-capture efficiency (ca. 60 %) at low concentrations (500
      2000 CFU mL(-1) ), a low detection limit (down to a concentration of 1.0*10(2) 
      cells mL(-1) ), and high antibacterial activity (an antibacterial rate of ca. 97
      %). The SERS chip enabled sensitive and specific discrimination of Escherichia
      coli and Staphylococcus aureus from human blood. 

PMID- 25820790
TI  - Heart rate variability, adiposity, and physical activity in prepubescent
      children.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed at examining the associations between weight status,
      body fat mass, and heart rate variability in prepubescent children, adjusting for
      physical activity levels. METHODS: A cross-sectional investigation in which a
      total of 50 Caucasian pre-pubertal children (21 normal weight; 8 overweight; 21
      obese), aged 6-10 years (8.33 +/- 1.14), including both boys (n = 24) and girls
      (n = 26), were recruited from local schools. Total body fat and trunk fat were
      evaluated through dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Free-living physical activity
      levels were evaluated by accelerometer. Short-term heart rate variability
      acquisition was performed; time- and frequency-domain parameters were analysed.
      Logarithmic transformations of the low-frequency (LnLFnu), high-frequency
      (LnHFnu) normalized units and low-frequency/high-frequency (LnLFnu/HFnu) ratio
      were computed. RESULTS: Adjusting for age, Tanner stage, and moderate to vigorous
      physical activity levels, obese children compared to normal weight children
      showed a significant decreased LnHfnu (3.8 +/- 0.2 vs 4.1 +/- 0.2 %) and both
      higher LnLFnu (4.0 +/- 0.4 vs 3.7 +/- 0.3 %) and LnLFnu/LnHFnu ratio (1.1 +/- 0.1
      vs 0.9 +/- 0.1). LnHFnu showed significant negative correlation with waist
      circumference (r = -0.598; P = 0.000), total body fat (r = -0.409; P = 0.011) and
      trunk fat (r = -0.472; P = 0.003). Both LnLFnu and LnLFnu/LnHFnu ratio showed
      positive correlations with waist circumference (r = 0.455; r = 0.513) and trunk
      fat (r = 0.370; r = 0.415). CONCLUSIONS: A higher amount of body fat mass,
      particularly central fat, was shown to be related to decreased parasympathetic
      modulation in time-domain heart rate variability. This finding highlights the
      potential cardiovascular risk that excessive fat mass may represent even at very
      young age.

PMID- 25820792
TI  - Dimensional assessment of continuous loop cortical suspension devices and
      clinical implications for intraoperative button flipping and intratunnel graft
      length.
AB  - Continuous loop cortical suspension devices have been demonstrated to be more
      consistent and biomechanically superior compared to adjustable loop devices;
      however, continuous loop devices present unique challenges compared to adjustable
      loop devices, especially in short tunnel reconstruction applications.
      Specifically, adjustable loop devices have the advantage of a "one size fits all"
      approach, and the ability to tension these devices following button flipping
      allows for the intratunnel graft length to be maximized. Nevertheless, the
      reliability of continuous loop devices has sustained their widespread use. We
      hypothesized that continuous loop cortical suspension devices from different
      manufacturers would exhibit equivalent 15 mm loop lengths, as advertised. Loop
      length was measured using a tensile testing machine. Contrary to our hypothesis,
      continuous loop cortical suspension devices with equivalent advertised lengths
      exhibited different loop lengths (up to 27% discrepancy). Inconsistencies with
      regards to manufacturers' reported loop lengths for continuous loop devices could
      have serious clinical implications and additionally complicate technique
      transferal among devices. Consequently, the manufacturers' accurate and complete
      disclosure of the dimensions and specifications associated with each continuous
      loop device is critical. Furthermore, surgeon awareness of true loop length
      dimensions and inconsistencies among devices is needed to ensure optimal
      implantation and resultant clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25820793
TI  - Morphotropic Phase Boundary in the Pb-Free (1 - x)BiTi(3/8)Fe(2/8)Mg(3/8)O3
      xCaTiO3 System: Tetragonal Polarization and Enhanced Electromechanical
      Properties.

PMID- 25820794
TI  - Impact of Taylor-Aris diffusivity on analyte and system zone dispersion in CZE
      assessed by computer simulation and experimental validation.
AB  - Application of pressure-driven laminar flow has an impact on zone and boundary
      dispersion in open tubular CE. The GENTRANS dynamic simulator for electrophoresis
      was extended with Taylor-Aris diffusivity which accounts for dispersion due to
      the parabolic flow profile associated with pressure-driven flow. Effective
      diffusivity of analyte and system zones as functions of the capillary diameter
      and the amount of flow in comparison to molecular diffusion alone were studied
      for configurations with concomitant action of imposed hydrodynamic flow and
      electroosmosis. For selected examples under realistic experimental conditions,
      simulation data are compared with those monitored experimentally using modular CE
      setups featuring both capacitively coupled contactless conductivity and UV
      absorbance detection along a 50 MUm id fused-silica capillary of 90 cm total
      length. The data presented indicate that inclusion of flow profile based Taylor
      Aris diffusivity provides realistic simulation data for analyte and system peaks,
      particularly those monitored in CE with conductivity detection. 

PMID- 25820795
TI  - Adsorption of polyelectrolytes to like-charged substrates induced by multivalent
      counterions as exemplified by poly(styrene sulfonate) and silica.
AB  - The present study demonstrates that multivalent counterions trigger adsorption of
      polyelectrolytes on a like-charged substrate. In particular, adsorption of
      polystyrene sulfonate on silica is studied experimentally in NaCl, MgCl2, and
      LaCl3 solutions by optical reflectivity. While adsorption is negligible in the
      presence of Na(+), the polyelectrolyte adsorbs in the presence of Mg(2+) and
      La(3+). The adsorbed amount of the polyelectrolyte goes through a maximum as a
      function of the salt concentration. This maximum increases with increasing
      valence and shifts to lower salt concentrations. At low salt concentration, the
      adsorption is negligible. At intermediate salt level, ripening and multilayer
      formation leads to continuous growth of the adsorbed layer. At higher salt level,
      blocking and formation of a monolayer lead to saturation. These results are
      tentatively interpreted in terms of a charge reversal of the polyelectrolyte
      metal complex. The molecular mass of the polyelectrolyte has an important effect
      on the adsorption behavior, whereby the tendency towards ripening becomes more
      pronounced at large molecular mass. 

PMID- 25820796
TI  - Transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: more haste, less speed?

PMID- 25820798
TI  - Twenty-year survival post-liver transplant: challenges and lessons.
AB  - There have been numerous reports on survival outcomes after liver transplantation
      with short-term and mid-term follow-up. However, only a few reports are available
      for 20-year long-term survivors after liver transplantation. In Korea, the first
      successful deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) in a 13-year-old Wilson's
      disease patient was performed in 1988, and the first successful living donor
      liver transplantation (LDLT) in 9-month biliary atresia patient was performed in
      1994. Because of the severe shortage of deceased donors and delayed launching of
      LDLT from December 1994, only 38 cases of liver transplantation (two pediatric
      LDLTs and 36 DDLTs) from 1988 to 1994 were included in this study (Strong and
      Fawcett, Hepatol Int 2015 [1]. doi: 10.1007/s12072-015-9617-1) to investigate
      more than 20-year survivors. Six adult recipients after DDLT and three pediatric
      recipients (one DDLT, two LDLTs) are alive now with normal liver function in
      Korea. Twenty-year survivors after DDLT and LDLT do not show that significant co
      morbidities related to long-term immunosuppression and high-dose indefinite HBIG
      monotherapy has shown the reliable modality to prevent HBV-reinfection for HBV
      related liver transplant candidates.

PMID- 25820797
TI  - Management of post transplant hepatitis C in the direct antiviral agents era.
AB  - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the main indications for liver
      transplantation. Viral recurrence occurs in all patients with detectable serum
      HCV RNA at the time of transplantation leading to cirrhosis in 20-30% of patients
      within 5 years. Viral eradication using antiviral therapy has been shown to
      improve patient and graft survival. Pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin
      (RBV) antiviral therapy achieved SVR in around 30% of transplant recipients. In
      the non-transplant setting, first generation NS3/4 protease inhibitors,
      boceprevir or telaprevir associated with PEG-IFN and RBV, has improved the SVR
      rates to 75% in genotype 1 infected patients. However, tolerability and drug-drug
      interactions with calcineurin inhibitors are both limiting factors of their use
      in transplant recipients. In the non-transplant patients, using new direct-acting
      antiviral therapy has dramatically improved the efficacy of antiviral C therapy
      over recent years leading to SVR rates over 90% in phase II and III clinical
      trials, without PEG-IFN and/or RBV. Preliminary results in transplant patients
      showed better efficacy, better tolerability and less drug-drug interactions.

PMID- 25820799
TI  - Medication risk mitigation matrix: A pharmaceutical care opportunity for
      precision medication.

PMID- 25820800
TI  - Employment of 4-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)phenol as a signal enhancer of the
      chemiluminescent luminol-H2O2-horseradish peroxidase reaction for detection of
      hepatitis C virus in real samples.
AB  - Highly sensitive detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in serum is a key method
      for diagnosing and classifying the extent of HCV infection. In this study, a p
      phenol derivative, 4-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)phenol (4-TRP), was employed as an
      efficient enhancer of the luminol-hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-horseradish peroxidase
      (HRP) chemiluminescence (CL) system for detection of HCV. Compared with a
      traditional enhancer, 4-TRP strongly enhanced CL intensity with the effect of
      prolonging and stabilizing light emission. The developed CL system was applied to
      detecting HCV core antigen (HCV-cAg) using a sandwich structure inside
      microwells. Our experimental results showed that there was good linear
      relationship between CL intensity and HCV-cAg concentration in the 0.6-3.6 pg/mL
      range (R = 0.99). The intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation were 4.5
      5.8% and 5.0-7.3%, respectively. In addition, sensitive determination of HCV-cAg
      in serum samples using the luminol-H2O2-HRP-4-TRP CL system was also feasible in
      clinical settings.

PMID- 25820801
TI  - Electroconvulsive therapy during pregnancy revisited.

PMID- 25820802
TI  - Brachytherapy in pelvic malignancies: a review for radiologists.
AB  - Brachytherapy, also known as sealed source or internal radiation therapy,
      involves placement of a radioactive source immediately adjacent to or within
      tumor, thus enabling delivery of a localized high dose of radiation. Compared
      with external beam radiation which must first pass through non-target tissues,
      brachytherapy results in less radiation dose to normal tissues. In the past
      decade, brachytherapy use has markedly increased, thus radiologists are
      encountering brachytherapy devices and their associated post-treatment changes to
      increasing degree. This review will present a variety of brachytherapy devices
      that radiologists may encounter during diagnostic pelvic imaging with a focus on
      prostate and gynecologic malignancies. The reader will become familiar with the
      function, correct position, and potential complications of brachytherapy devices
      in an effort to improve diagnostic reporting and communication with clinicians. 

PMID- 25820803
TI  - Computed tomography after nephron-sparing surgery.
AB  - The increased use of abdominal cross-sectional imaging has contributed to a
      greater detection of incidental small renal masses. Treatment options for
      localized disease renal cell carcinoma include radical nephrectomy or partial
      nephrectomy (PN), the former being preferred for treatment of early-stage tumors.
      The most adopted technique for follow-up imaging is contrast-enhanced computed
      tomography (CT), whose findings can cause uncertainty and unnecessary repetition
      of examinations. Our purpose is to describe CT findings after PN and to describe
      evolution in time of such images. 

PMID- 25820804
TI  - [Fistulas of the lower urinary tract in children].
AB  - A lower urinary tract fistula consist in an abnormal connection between bladder,
      urethra and adjacent abdominal organs or skin. There are several types of urinary
      fistulas in paediatric age and they may be congenital or acquired. Etiology may
      be due to embriological defects, infectious processes, malignant tumours, pelvic
      irradiation as well as complications following surgical procedures, especially
      postsurgical repair of hypospadia or epispadia. Clinical presentation depends on
      the type of fistula and diagnosis is based on signs, symptoms and radiological or
      endoscopic examinations. We performed PubMed research using terms such as lower
      urinary fistulae, urology and paediatrics and we consulted medical texts. We
      reviewed selected articles and used the relevant ones to perform our study
      concentrating on classification, diagnosis and treatment of different types of
      fistulas. Paediatric lower urinary fistulas are an uncommon pathology, but the
      knowledge of their etiology and classification is important to recognise them and
      lead the physician to an appropriate treatment, which is surgical in most cases.

PMID- 25820806
TI  - Radiologic resolution of malignant infantile osteopetrosis skeletal changes
      following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the only known
      curative treatment of malignant infantile osteopetrosis (MIOP). In this study,
      short-term serial bone surveys were used to assess radiologic evolution of
      skeletal changes after HSCT in MIOP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Baseline whole-body
      bone survey was performed in all patients. HSCT was successful in 14 patients (11
      with full chimerism, three with mixed chimerism) in whom follow-up bone surveys
      were carried out at 6 and 12 months after HSCT. RESULTS: Normal corticomedullary
      differentiation was evident in five (P = 0.06) and 12 (P < 0.005) patients at 6
      and 12 months, respectively. Abnormal endobone appearance in long bones, present
      in 11 participants at baseline exam, disappeared in eight (P = 0.008) and all (P
      = 0.001) patients at 6 and 12 months, respectively. In 6-month follow-up,
      rachitic changes significantly disappeared (P < 0.01) in long bones; however,
      they were evident in ribs of 12 patients (P = 0.50). No patient had rickets in
      ribs or long bones after 12 months. CONCLUSION: We observed considerable
      resolution of MIOP skeletal changes after HSCT in all patients with either full
      or mixed chimerism. Rachitic changes in long bones, attenuated corticomedullary
      differentiation, and endobone appearance were the first to resolve. We propose
      using single long bone plain x-ray to demonstrate short-term skeletal response to
      HSCT.

PMID- 25820805
TI  - BCL::MP-fold: Membrane protein structure prediction guided by EPR restraints.
AB  - For many membrane proteins, the determination of their topology remains a
      challenge for methods like X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance
      (NMR) spectroscopy. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy has
      evolved as an alternative technique to study structure and dynamics of membrane
      proteins. The present study demonstrates the feasibility of membrane protein
      topology determination using limited EPR distance and accessibility measurements.
      The BCL::MP-Fold (BioChemical Library membrane protein fold) algorithm assembles
      secondary structure elements (SSEs) in the membrane using a Monte Carlo
      Metropolis (MCM) approach. Sampled models are evaluated using knowledge-based
      potential functions and agreement with the EPR data and a knowledge-based energy
      function. Twenty-nine membrane proteins of up to 696 residues are used to test
      the algorithm. The RMSD100 value of the most accurate model is better than 8 A
      for 27, better than 6 A for 22, and better than 4 A for 15 of the 29 proteins,
      demonstrating the algorithms' ability to sample the native topology. The average
      enrichment could be improved from 1.3 to 2.5, showing the improved discrimination
      power by using EPR data.

PMID- 25820807
TI  - Plant Sterol Diversity in Pollen from Angiosperms.
AB  - Here we have examined the composition of free sterols and steryl esters of pollen
      from selected angiosperm species, as a first step towards a comprehensive
      analysis of sterol biogenesis in the male gametophyte. We detected four major
      sterol structural groups: cycloartenol derivatives bearing a 9beta,19-cyclopropyl
      group, sterols with a double bond at C-7(8), sterols with a double bond at C
      5(6), and stanols. All these groups were unequally distributed among species.
      However, the distribution of sterols as free sterols or as steryl esters in
      pollen grains indicated that free sterols were mostly Delta(5)-sterols and that
      steryl esters were predominantly 9beta,19-cyclopropyl sterols. In order to link
      the sterol composition of a pollen grain at anthesis with the requirement for
      membrane lipid constituents of the pollen tube, we germinated pollen grains from
      Nicotiana tabacum, a model plant in reproductive biology. In the presence of
      radiolabelled mevalonic acid and in a time course series of measurements, we
      showed that cycloeucalenol was identified as the major neosynthesized sterol.
      Furthermore, the inhibition of cycloeucalenol neosynthesis by squalestatin was in
      full agreement with a de novo biogenesis and an apparent truncated pathway in the
      pollen tube. 

PMID- 25820808
TI  - Proteomic Analysis Reveals PGAM1 Altering cis-9, trans-11 Conjugated Linoleic
      Acid Synthesis in Bovine Mammary Gland.
AB  - cis-9, trans-11 Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is one of the most extensively
      studied CLA isomers due to its multiple isomer-specific effects. However, the
      molecular mechanisms of cis-9,trans-11 CLA synthesis in ruminant mammary gland
      are still not clearly understood. This process may be mediated, to a certain
      extent, by trans-11 C18:1 regulated by stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1) and/or
      its syntrophic proteins. This study aimed to investigate the effects of TVA on
      SCD1-mediated cis-9,trans-11 CLA synthesis in MAC-T cells and its potential
      molecular mechanism. Results showed that trans-11 C18:1 was continually taken up
      and converted into cis-9,trans-11 CLA in MAC-T cells during the 4-h incubation of
      50 MUM trans-11 C18:1. SCD1 protein expression increased more than twofold at 2 h
      (P < 0.01) and 2.5 h (P < 0.05) before decreasing to less than half of the normal
      level at 4 h (P < 0.05). One up-regulated (RAS guanyl releasing protein 4 isoform
      1 [RASGRP4]) and six down-regulated proteins (glucosamine-6-phosphate deaminase 1
      [GNPDA1], triosephosphate isomerase [TPI1], phosphoglycerate mutase 1 [PGAM1],
      heat shock protein beta-1 [HSPB1], annexin A3 [ANXA3], thiopurine S
      methyltransferase [TPMT]) were found in MAC-T cells treated with trans-11 C18:1.
      Of these seven identified proteins, the presence of GNPDA1 and PGAM1 was verified
      in several models. More trans-11 C18:1 was taken up after PGAM1 knockdown by
      small interfering RNA (siRNA). In conclusion, our data suggested that PGAM1 may
      have a negative relationship with SCD1 and seemed to be involved in cis-9, trans
      11 CLA synthesis by facilitating the absorption of trans-11 C18:1 in the bovine
      mammary gland. 

PMID- 25820809
TI  - Intuition versus cognition: a qualitative exploration of how women understand and
      manage their increased breast cancer risk.
AB  - Risk comprehension in individuals at increased familial risk of cancer is
      suboptimal and little is known about how risk is understood and managed by at
      risk individuals who do not undergo genetic testing. We qualitatively studied
      these issues in 36 unaffected women from high-risk breast cancer families,
      including both women who had and had not undergone genetic testing. Data were
      collected through semi-structured interviews and data analysis was guided by
      Grounded Theory. Risk comprehension and risk management were largely influenced
      by the individual's experience of coming from a high-risk family, with both
      tested and untested women relying heavily on their intuition. Although women's
      cognitive understanding of their risk appeared generally accurate, this objective
      risk information was considered of secondary value. The findings could be used to
      guide the development and delivery of information about risk and risk management
      to genetically tested and untested individuals at increased risk of hereditary
      cancer. 

PMID- 25820810
TI  - Two novel homozygous missense mutations in the GDF5 gene cause brachydactyly type
      C.
AB  - Mutations of the GDF5 gene cause a variable phenotype including brachydactyly
      type C. A review of the literature showed that it is caused either by
      heterozygous frameshift mutations within the prodomain or heterozygous
      missense/nonsense mutations within the active domain. Only a single patient with
      a homozygous mutation (c.517A > G, which predicts p. Met173Val) has been reported
      in this disorder. In this paper, we report two children with novel homozygous
      missense mutations in the GDF5 gene associated with brachydactyly type C: one
      mutation was within the region coding for the prodomain (c.608C > A, which
      predicts p.Thr203Asn) and the other was within the region coding for the active
      domain (c.1456 G > A, which predicts p.Val486Met). The genotype-phenotype
      correlations in the mutational spectrum of the GDF5 gene are discussed.

PMID- 25820811
TI  - Altered structure of cortical sulci in gilles de la Tourette syndrome: Further
      support for abnormal brain development.
AB  - Gilles de la Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by
      the presence of motor and vocal tics. We hypothesized that patients with this
      syndrome would present an aberrant pattern of cortical formation, which could
      potentially reflect global alterations of brain development. Using 3 Tesla
      structural neuroimaging, we compared sulcal depth, opening, and length and
      thickness of sulcal gray matter in 52 adult patients and 52 matched controls.
      Cortical sulci were automatically reconstructed and identified over the whole
      brain, using BrainVisa software. We focused on frontal, parietal, and temporal
      cortical regions, in which abnormal structure and functional activity were
      identified in previous neuroimaging studies. Partial correlation analysis with
      age, sex, and treatment as covariables of noninterest was performed amongst
      relevant clinical and neuroimaging variables in patients. Patients with Gilles de
      la Tourette syndrome showed lower depth and reduced thickness of gray matter in
      the pre- and post-central as well as superior, inferior, and internal frontal
      sulci. In patients with associated obsessive-compulsive disorder, additional
      structural changes were found in temporal, insular, and olfactory sulci.
      Crucially, severity of tics and of obsessive-compulsive disorder measured by Yale
      Global Tic severity scale and Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive scale,
      respectively, correlated with structural sulcal changes in sensorimotor,
      temporal, dorsolateral prefrontal, and middle cingulate cortical areas. Patients
      with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome displayed an abnormal structural pattern of
      cortical sulci, which correlated with severity of clinical symptoms. Our results
      provide further evidence of abnormal brain development in GTS.

PMID- 25820812
TI  - Feedback regulation of IFN-alpha/beta signaling by Axl receptor tyrosine kinase
      modulates HBV immunity.
AB  - Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is known to cause age-dependent infection outcomes
      wherein most infections during young age result in chronicity. The mechanism
      underlying the differential outcome remains elusive. By using hydrodynamic
      injection of the replication-competent pAAV-HBV, we established a mouse model in
      which HBV persistence was generated in 4-5 w/o C57BL/6 young mice, but not in
      adult mice over 10 w/o. HBV-tolerant young mice expressed higher interferon (IFN)
      alpha/beta levels in hepatocytes and intrahepatic plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) than
      adult mice after pAAV-HBV injection. Excessive IFN-alpha/beta expression in young
      mice was associated with induction of the Axl regulatory pathway and expansion of
      intrahepatic Treg cells. In line with these findings, augmented IFN-beta
      expression increased Axl expression in the liver and HBV persistence in adult
      mice, whereas IFN-alpha/beta signaling blockage decreased Axl expression and HBV
      persistence in young mice. Accordingly, Axl overexpression decreased HBV
      clearance of adult mice whereas Axl silencing enhanced HBV clearance of young
      mice. In vitro, IFN-beta priming of pDCs and Axl-overexpressing macrophages
      enhanced Treg-cell differentiation. These findings suggest that age-dependent HBV
      chronicity is attributed to IFN-beta-Axl immune regulation, which is selectively
      induced in young mice by excessive IFN-alpha/beta production at early stage of
      HBV infection. 

PMID- 25820813
TI  - Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtilis CBMDC3f with antimicrobial activity against
      Gram-positive foodborne pathogenic bacteria: UV-MALDI-TOF MS analysis of its
      bioactive compounds.
AB  - In this work a new Bacillus sp. strain, isolated from honey, was characterized
      phylogenetically. Its antibacterial activity against three relevant foodborne
      pathogenic bacteria was studied; the main bioactive metabolites were analyzed
      using ultraviolet matrix assisted laser desorption-ionization mass spectrometry
      (UV-MALDI MS). Bacillus CBMDC3f was phylogenetically characterized as Bacillus
      subtilis subsp. subtilis after rRNA analysis of the 16S subunit and the gyrA gene
      (access codes Genbank JX120508 and JX120516, respectively). Its antibacterial
      potential was evaluated against Listeria monocytogenes (9 strains), B. cereus (3
      strains) and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC29213. Its cell suspension and cell-free
      supernatant (CFS) exerted significant anti-Listeria and anti-S. aureus
      activities, while the lipopeptides fraction (LF) also showed anti-B. cereus
      effect. The UV-MALDI-MS analysis revealed surfactin, iturin and fengycin in the
      CFS, whereas surfactin predominated in the LF. The CFS from CBMDC3f contained
      surfactin, iturin and fengycin with four, two and four homologues per family,
      respectively, whereas four surfactin, one iturin and one fengycin homologues were
      identified in the LF. For some surfactin homologues, their UV-MALDI-TOF/TOF
      (MS/MS; Laser Induced Decomposition method, LID) spectra were also obtained. Mass
      spectrometry analysis contributed with relevant information about the type of
      lipopeptides that Bacillus strains can synthesize. From our results, surfactin
      would be the main metabolite responsible for the antibacterial effect. 

PMID- 25820814
TI  - Meta-analysis of Brazilian genetic admixture and comparison with other Latin
      America countries.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study aims at performing a systematic review and meta-analysis
      with the studies of genetic admixture inference of Brazilian population and to
      compare these results with the genetic admixture levels in other Latin American
      countries. METHODS: We searched for articles regarding the estimation of
      Brazilian genetic admixture published between 1980 and 2014 that used autosomal
      markers. Then, conducted meta-analyses at the whole-country and regional level.
      Finally, we compared the results of Brazil with other estimates from other South,
      Central and North American countries. RESULTS: We analyzed data from 25 studies
      in 38 different Brazilian populations. European (EUR) ancestry is the major
      contributor to the genetic background of Brazilians, followed by African (AFR),
      and Amerindian (AMR) ancestries. The pooled ancestry contributions were 0.62 EUR,
      0.21 AFR, and 0.17AMR. The Southern region had a greater EUR contribution (0.77)
      than other regions. Individuals from the Northeast (NE) region had the highest
      AFR contribution (0.27) whereas individuals from the North regions had more AMR
      contribution (0.32). In the Latin America context, Brazil has the 5th high EUR
      contribution, the 12th for the AFR component and the 10th for the AMR ancestry.
      CONCLUSIONS: Admixture proportions vary greatly among Brazilian populations and
      also through Latin America. More studies in the Center-West, North and NE regions
      are needed to capture a more complete picture of the genomic ancestry of Brazil.

PMID- 25820815
TI  - Spatial training preserves associative memory capacity with augmentation of
      dendrite ramification and spine generation in Tg2576 mice.
AB  - Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder and there
      is currently no efficient cure for this devastating disease. Cognitive
      stimulation can delay memory loss during aging and in patients with mild
      cognitive impairment. In 3 * Tg-AD mice, training decreased the neuropathologies
      with transient amelioration of memory decline. However, the neurobiological
      mechanisms underlying the learning-improved memory capacity are poorly
      understood. Here, we found in Tg2576 mice spatial training in Morris water maze
      (MWM) remarkably improved the subsequent associative memory acquisition detected
      by contextual fear conditioning. We also found that spatial training enhanced
      long term potentiation, dendrite ramification and spine generation in hippocampal
      dentate gyrus (DG) and CA1 neurons at 24 h after the training. In the molecular
      level, the MWM training remarkably activated calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein
      kinase II (CaMKII) with elevation of glutamate AMPA receptor GluA1 subunit
      (GluA1), postsynaptic density protein 93 (PSD93) and postsynaptic density protein
      95 (PSD95) in the hippocampus. Finally, the training also significantly
      ameliorated AD-like tau and amyloid pathologies. We conclude that spatial
      training in MWM preserves associative memory capacity in Tg2576 mice, and the
      mechanisms involve augmentation of dendrite ramification and spine generation in
      hippocampus. 

PMID- 25820816
TI  - Rapid Linguistic Ambiguity Resolution in Young Children with Autism Spectrum
      Disorder: Eye Tracking Evidence for the Limits of Weak Central Coherence.
AB  - Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have often been reported to have
      difficulty integrating information into its broader context, which has motivated
      the Weak Central Coherence theory of ASD. In the linguistic domain, evidence for
      this difficulty comes from reports of impaired use of linguistic context to
      resolve ambiguous words. However, recent work has suggested that impaired use of
      linguistic context may not be characteristic of ASD, and is instead better
      explained by co-occurring language impairments. Here, we provide a strong test of
      these claims, using the visual world eye tracking paradigm to examine the online
      mechanisms by which children with autism resolve linguistic ambiguity. To address
      concerns about both language impairments and compensatory strategies, we used a
      sample whose verbal skills were strong and whose average age (7; 6) was lower
      than previous work on lexical ambiguity resolution in ASD. Participants (40 with
      autism and 40 controls) heard sentences with ambiguous words in contexts that
      either strongly supported one reading or were consistent with both (John fed/saw
      the bat). We measured activation of the unintended meaning through implicit
      semantic priming of an associate (looks to a depicted baseball glove). Contrary
      to the predictions of weak central coherence, children with ASD, like controls,
      quickly used context to resolve ambiguity, selecting appropriate meanings within
      a second. We discuss how these results constrain the generality of weak central
      coherence.

PMID- 25820818
TI  - Thermally-activated recombination in one component of (CH3NH3)PbI3/TiO2 observed
      by photocurrent spectroscopy.
AB  - Photocurrent measurements on devices containing perovskite (CH3NH3)PbI3 show two
      distinct spectral responses when deposited in a mesoporous oxide matrix, compared
      with one response for planar perovskite alone. With a TiO2 matrix, the shorter
      wavelength response has an inverted temperature response with increasing
      performance on cooling. 

PMID- 25820817
TI  - A prospective study of erythrocyte polyunsaturated fatty acid, weight gain, and
      risk of becoming overweight or obese in middle-aged and older women.
AB  - PURPOSE: omega3 and omega6 fatty acids (FA) may have divergent effects on the
      development of obesity. We examined the association of baseline erythrocyte
      omega3 and omega6 FA composition with body weight change and the risk of becoming
      overweight or obese in the Women's Health Study (WHS) participants. METHODS: We
      identified 534 women who had baseline erythrocyte FA measured and a baseline body
      mass index (BMI) of 18.5-<25 kg/m(2). Body weight was updated at a total of six
      time points during follow-up. RESULTS: Weight gain during a mean of 10.4-year
      follow-up increased with increasing quartiles of baseline erythrocyte cis omega6
      FA, omega6/omega3 ratio, and trans FA while decreased with increasing cis omega3
      FA. After multivariable adjustment including total energy intake and physical
      activity, the weight gain (kg) in the highest versus the lowest quartile was 3.08
      versus 2.32 for erythrocyte cis omega6 FA (p trend 0.04), 2.07 versus 2.92 for
      cis omega3 FA (p trend 0.08), 2.93 versus 2.05 for omega6/omega3 ratio (p trend
      0.046), and 3.03 versus 2.27 for trans FA (p trend 0.06). Among individual FA,
      the associations were significant for 18:2omega6, 18:3omega6, and trans 18:1 and
      marginally significant for 20:3omega6 and trans 18:2. The risk of becoming
      overweight or obese (defined as BMI >=25 kg/m(2) at any follow-up time point)
      increased across increasing omega6/omega3 ratio (multivariable model p trend
      0.04). CONCLUSIONS: In this prospective study, we found suggestive evidence that
      erythrocyte cis omega6 FA may be positively associated, and cis omega3 FA
      inversely associated with weight gain in initially normal-weight women.

PMID- 25820819
TI  - Starch based polyhydroxybutyrate production in engineered Escherichia coli.
AB  - Every year, the amount of chemosynthetic plastic accumulating in the environment
      is increasing, and significant time is required for decomposition. Bio-based,
      biodegradable plastic is a promising alternative, but its production is not yet a
      cost effective process. Decreasing the production cost of polyhydroxyalkanoate by
      utilizing renewable carbon sources for biosynthesis is an important aspect of
      commercializing this biodegradable polymer. An Escherichia coli strain that
      expresses a functional amylase and accumulate polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), was
      constructed using different plasmids containing the amylase gene of Panibacillus
      sp. and PHB synthesis genes from Ralstonia eutropha. This engineered strain can
      utilize starch as the sole carbon source. The maximum PHB production (1.24 g/L)
      was obtained with 2% (w/v) starch in M9 media containing 0.15% (w/v) yeast
      extract and 10 mM glycine betaine. The engineered E. coli SKB99 strain can
      accumulate intracellular PHB up to 57.4% of cell dry mass.

PMID- 25820820
TI  - Platelet VEGF and serum TGF-beta1 levels predict chemotherapy response in non
      small cell lung cancer patients.
AB  - We examined the levels of platelet vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF(PLT))
      and serum level of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta1) in non-small
      cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients before and after chemotherapy to assess their
      clinical value as biomarkers. A total of 115 subjects were recruited at the First
      Hospital of Qinhuangdao between July 2012 and October 2013, including 65 NSCLC
      patients receiving chemotherapy (NSCLC group) and 50 healthy controls (control
      group). All NSCLC patients received gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GP regimen) for a
      total of two courses. VEGF(PLT) and serum TGF-beta1 levels were measured before
      and after chemotherapy using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Platelet
      count was obtained using the Abbott CD-1600 auto blood analyzer. NSCLC group was
      categorized into complete response (CR) plus partial response (PR) group and
      stable disease (SD) plus progressive disease (PD) group based on the results of
      CT scans obtained 1 week after chemotherapy. Our results revealed that VEGF(PLT)
      and serum TGF-beta1 levels were significantly higher in NSCLC group before
      chemotherapy, compared to the control group (VEGF(PLT), 0.813 +/- 0.072 vs. 0.547
      +/- 0.024; t = 26.48; P < 0.001 and TGF-beta1, 46.00 +/- 4.47 vs. 16.43 +/- 2.12;
      t = 44.87; P < 0.001). Importantly, VEGF(PLT) and serum TGF-beta1 levels
      decreased significantly after chemotherapy in CR + PR group in comparison with
      before chemotherapy (VEGF(PLT), 0.453 +/- 0.078 vs. 0.814 +/- 0.127; t = 15.51; P
      < 0.001 and TGF-beta1, 20.17 +/- 2.43 vs. 42.13 +/- 4.54; t = 27.31; P < 0.001).
      By contrast, VEGF(PLT) and serum TGF-beta1 levels were markedly higher after
      chemotherapy in the SD + PD group in comparison with before chemotherapy
      (VEGF(PLT), 0.816 +/- 0.043 vs. 1.065 +/- 0.016; t = 22.38; P < 0.001 and TGF
      beta1, 41.80 +/- 5.46 vs. 45.83 +/- 4.62; t = 2.32; P = 0. 03). Our results show
      that NSCLC patients exhibit high VEGF(PLT) and serum TGF-beta1 levels, and
      VEGF(PLT) and TGF-beta1 levels correlate with chemotherapy response to GP
      regimen. Therefore, VEGF(PLT) and serum TGF-beta1 levels are valuable biomarkers
      in clinical monitoring of NSCLC patients.

PMID- 25820821
TI  - Protein expression and methylation of MGMT, a DNA repair gene and their
      correlation with clinicopathological parameters in invasive ductal carcinoma of
      the breast.
AB  - Epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation are being increasingly recognized
      to play an important role in cancer and may serve as a cancer biomarker. The aim
      of this study was to evaluate the promoter methylation status of MGMT (O6
      methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase) and a possible correlation with the
      expression of MGMT and standard clinicopathological parameters in invasive ductal
      breast carcinoma patients (IDC) of Kashmir. Methylation-specific PCR was carried
      out to investigate the promoter methylation status of MGMT in breast tumors
      paired with the corresponding normal tissue samples from 128 breast cancer
      patients. The effect of promoter methylation on protein expression in the primary
      breast cancer and adjacent normal tissues was evaluated by immunohistochemistry
      (n = 128) and western blotting (n = 30). The frequency of tumor hypermethylation
      was 39.8 % and a significant difference in methylation frequency among breast
      tumors were found (p < 0.001) when compared with the corresponding normal tissue.
      Immunohistochemical analysis showed no detectable expression of MGMT in 68/128
      (53.1 %) tumors. MGMT promoter methylation mediated gene silencing was associated
      with loss of its protein expression (rs = -0.285, p = 0.001, OR = 3.38, 95 % CI =
      1.59-7.17). A significant correlation was seen between loss of MGMT and lymph
      node involvement (p = 0.030), tumor grade (p < 0.0001), loss of estrogen
      receptors (ER; p = 0.021) and progesterone receptors (PR) (p = 0.016). Also, MGMT
      methylation was found to be associated with tumor grade (p = 0.011), tumor stage
      (p = 0.009), and loss of ER (p = 0.003) and PR receptors (p = 0.009). To our
      knowledge, our findings, for the first time, in Kashmiri population, indicate
      that MGMT is aberrantly methylated in breast cancer and promoter hypermethylation
      could be attributed to silencing of MGMT gene expression in breast cancer. Our
      data suggests that MGMT promoter hypermethylation could have a potential function
      as molecular biomarker of breast oncogenesis. Also, based on their predictive
      value of response to therapy, the immunohistochemical evaluation and
      interpretation of MGMT may also help in future to establish therapeutic
      strategies for patients with breast cancer.

PMID- 25820822
TI  - Aflatoxin B1 induces Src phosphorylation and stimulates lung cancer cell
      migration.
AB  - AflatoxinB1 (AFB1) is well known as a potent carcinogen. Epidemiological studies
      have shown an association between AFB1 exposure and lung cancer in humans. AFB1
      can induce the mutations of genes such as tumor suppressor p53 through its
      metabolite AFB1-8,9-exo-epoxide, which acts as a mutagen to react with DNA. In
      addition, recent study demonstrates AFB1 positively regulates type I insulin-like
      growth factor receptor (IGF-IR) signaling in hepatoma cells. The current study
      aims to determine the effects of AFB1 on Src kinase and insulin receptor
      substrate (IRS) in lung cancer cells and the effects of AFB1 on lung cancer cell
      migration. To this end, the effects of AFB1 on IRS expression, Src, Akt, and ERK
      phosphorylation were measured by Western blot analysis. The migration of lung
      cancer cells was detected by wound-healing assay. AFB1 downregulates IRS1 but
      paradoxically upregulates IRS2 through positive regulation of the stability of
      IRS2 and the proteasomal degradation of IRS1 in lung cancer cell lines A549 and
      SPCA-1. In addition, AFB1 induces Src, Akt, and ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Treatment
      of lung cancer cells with Src inhibitor saracatinib abrogates AFB1-induced IRS2
      accumulation. Moreover, AFB1 stimulates lung cancer cell migration, which can be
      inhibited by saracatinib. We conclude that AFB1 may upregulate IRS2 and stimulate
      lung cancer cell migration through Src.

PMID- 25820823
TI  - Adenovirus type 12 E1B 55-kilodalton oncoprotein promotes p53-mediated apoptotic
      response of ovarian cancer to cisplatin.
AB  - The tumor suppressor p53-mediated apoptotic response plays an important role in
      cisplatin resistant in ovarian cancer. The adenovirus (Ad) type 12 E1B 55-kDa
      protein binds to p53 and inactivates its transcriptional transactivation
      function. In this study, we test the hypothesis that Ad12 E1B 55-kDa oncoprotein
      promotes p53-mediated apoptotic response of ovarian cancer to cisplatin. First,
      we observed the upregulation protein level of p53 target genes in cisplatin
      resistant or cisplatin-sensitive ovarian cancer by Western blotting. Second,
      after transfection of Ad12 E1b 55-kDa expression plasmid, the expressions of p53
      target genes in A2780 cells were further enhanced. Co-IP experiment demonstrated
      Ad12 E1b 55 kDa associated with p53. MTT assay confirmed that the cell
      proliferation was enhanced after transfection, as well as the enhanced cell
      inhibitory rate in the presence of cisplatin. Using flow cytometry, transfection
      of Ad12 E1B 55-kDa protein induced apoptosis and promoted S-phase transition in
      proliferation. Finally, results showed that all these changes promoted by Ad12
      E1b 55 kDa were attenuated by the exposure of specific inhibitor of p53
      signaling, pifithrin-alpha. Taken together, we concluded that Ad E1B 55-kDa
      oncoprotein promotes p53-mediated apoptotic response of ovarian cancer to
      cisplatin.

PMID- 25820825
TI  - Peripherally Hexasulfanylated Subporphyrins.
AB  - Peripherally hexachlorinated meso-triphenyl subporphyrin 4 was prepared by
      chlorination of meso-triphenyl subporphyrin 1 with N-chlorosuccinimide and was
      effectively transformed to hexasulfanylated subporphyrins 5-8 via nucleophilic
      aromatic substitution (S(N)Ar) reactions with the corresponding thiols under
      basic conditions. The structures of 5-8 have been all well characterized by
      single-crystal X-ray analysis. (1)H NMR studies indicated that the meso-phenyl
      substituents undergo restricted rotation for 5-8, while the beta-sulfanyl
      substituents are conformationally flexible in 5, 6, and 8, and are strictly
      regulated to an anti-conformation in 7. Judging from the absorption spectra, the
      oxidation and reduction potentials, and the DFT calculations, the substituent
      effects decrease in the order of 5>6>7>8. Subporphyrin 8 effectively captures C60
      in a 1:1 manner in [D8 ]toluene solution.

PMID- 25820824
TI  - Interaction with CCNH/CDK7 facilitates CtBP2 promoting esophageal squamous cell
      carcinoma (ESCC) metastasis via upregulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition
      (EMT) progression.
AB  - CtBP2, as a transcriptional corepressor of epithelial-specific genes, has been
      reported to promote tumor due to upregulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition
      (EMT) in cancer cells. CtBP2 was also demonstrated to contribute to the
      proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cells through a
      negative transcriptional regulation of p16(INK4A). In this study, for the first
      time, we reported that CtBP2 expression, along with CCNH/CDK7, was higher in ESCC
      tissues with lymph node metastases than in those without lymph node metastases.
      Moreover, both CtBP2 and CCNH/CDK7 were positively correlated with E-cadherin,
      tumor grade, and tumor metastasis. However, the concrete mechanism of CtBP2's
      role in enhancing ESCC migration remains incompletely understood. We confirmed
      that CCNH/CDK7 could directly interact with CtBP2 in ESCC cells in vivo and in
      vitro. Furthermore, our data demonstrate for the first time that CtBP2 enhanced
      the migration of ESCC cells in a CCNH/CDK7-dependent manner. Our results
      indicated that CCNH/CDK7-CtBP2 axis may augment ESCC cell migration, and
      targeting the interaction of both may provide a novel therapeutic target of ESCC.

PMID- 25820826
TI  - A low phosphorylation potential in the acetogen Acetobacterium woodii reflects
      its lifestyle at the thermodynamic edge of life.
AB  - The anaerobic, acetogenic bacterium Acetobacterium woodii grows on hydrogen and
      carbon dioxide and uses the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway to fix carbon but also to
      synthesize ATP. The free energy change of acetogenesis from H2 + CO2 allows for
      synthesis of only a fraction of an ATP under environmental conditions, and A.
      woodii is clearly a paradigm for microbial life under extreme energy limitation.
      However, it was unknown how much energy is required to make ATP under these
      conditions. In the present study, we determined the phosphorylation potential in
      cells metabolizing three different acetogenic substrates. It accounts to 37.9 +/-
      1.3 kJ/mol ATP during acetogenesis from fructose, 32.1 +/- 0.3 kJ/mol ATP during
      acetogenesis from H2 + CO2 and 30.2 +/- 0.9 kJ/mol ATP during acetogenesis from
      CO, the lowest phosphorylation potential ever described. The physiological
      consequences in terms of energy conservation under extreme energy limitation are
      discussed. 

PMID- 25820828
TI  - The matricellular protein CCN1 regulates TNF-alpha induced vascular endothelial
      cell apoptosis.
AB  - Due to the epidemic obesity and associated diabetes, the incidence of
      atherosclerosis is increasing worldwide. Atherosclerosis is a chronic
      inflammatory disease characterized by the hardening and narrowing of arteries
      with plaques that consist of inflammatory cells, dead endothelial cells, lipids,
      and often hyper proliferated vascular smooth muscle cells. During the development
      of atherosclerosis, vascular endothelial cell (EC) apoptosis induced by the
      adipokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), is an early event in the
      plaque formation. However, TNF-alpha alone is not sufficient to induce apoptosis
      of endothelial cells. Recent studies suggested that the matricellular protein CCN
      family member 1 (CCN1) involves in endothelial cell dysfunction besides its well
      known angiogenic function during tissue repair by promoting vascular smooth
      muscle cells proliferation and migration. Herein, we explored the possibility and
      mechanism of CCN1 in TNF-alpha induced endothelial cells apoptosis. Both mRNA and
      protein levels of CCN1 are found up-regulated in endothelial cells after TNF
      alpha treatment. In addition, overexpression of CCN1 promoted endothelial cell
      apoptosis in the presence of TNF-alpha. Furthermore, CCN1 directly up-regulated
      the expression of TNF-alpha-target genes, and this up-regulation required the
      activation of P53 and NF-kappaB both in vivo and in vitro. Taken together, CNN1
      regulates TNF-alpha induced endothelial cells apoptosis that may underlie poor
      response to TNF-alpha therapy and hence may be a better therapeutic target for
      preventing vascular dysfunction in obesity.

PMID- 25820827
TI  - The function of the autonomic nervous system during spaceflight.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Despite decades of study, a clear understanding of autonomic
      nervous system activity in space remains elusive. Differential interpretation of
      fundamental data has driven divergent theories of sympathetic activation and
      vasorelaxation. METHODS: This paper will review the available in-flight autonomic
      and hemodynamic data in an effort to resolve these discrepancies. The NASA
      NEUROLAB mission, the most comprehensive assessment of autonomic function in
      microgravity to date, will be highlighted. The mechanisms responsible for altered
      autonomic activity during spaceflight, which include the effects of hypovolemia,
      cardiovascular deconditioning, and altered central processing, will be presented.
      RESULTS: The NEUROLAB experiments demonstrated increased sympathetic activity and
      impairment of vagal baroreflex function during short-duration spaceflight.
      Subsequent non-invasive studies of autonomic function during spaceflight have
      largely reinforced these findings, and provide strong evidence that sympathetic
      activity is increased in space relative to the supine position on Earth. Others
      have suggested that microgravity induces a state of relative vasorelaxation and
      increased vagal activity when compared to upright posture on Earth. These
      ostensibly disparate theories are not mutually exclusive, but rather directly
      reflect different pre-flight postural controls. CONCLUSION: When these results
      are taken together, they demonstrate that the effectual autonomic challenge of
      spaceflight is small, and represents an orthostatic stress less than that of
      upright posture on Earth. In-flight countermeasures, including aerobic and
      resistance exercise, as well short-arm centrifugation, have been successfully
      deployed to counteract these mechanisms. Despite subtle changes in autonomic
      activity during spaceflight, underlying neurohumoral mechanisms of the autonomic
      nervous system remain intact and cardiovascular function remains stable during
      long-duration flight.

PMID- 25820829
TI  - Peak loading during walking is not associated with fracture migration following
      tibial plateau fracture: A preliminary case series.
AB  - Tibial plateau fractures are common, but little evidence exists for their
      postoperative management, especially when recommending if patients should weight
      bear at all, partially, or as tolerated. In this study, we describe the loads
      passing through the fracture construct and the associated fracture migration over
      the first year following surgery. Nine patients were treated with open reduction
      and internal fixation and instructed to weight bear as tolerated. Fracture
      loading and migration were assessed at 2, 12, 26, and 52 weeks postoperative.
      Fracture loading was calculated as the knee joint reaction force (peak, average,
      the angle of the force vector, and the point of force application) using gait
      analysis and an inverse dynamics musculoskeletal model. Fracture migration was
      assessed using radiostereometric analysis. The fractures were progressively
      loaded during the rehabilitation phase. The point of application of the load
      shifted from neutral to medial by week 26 for all patients. Migration during the
      first postoperative year was within current clinical acceptable limits. The peak
      load during walking at each time point was not associated with fracture fragment
      migration and does not appear to exceed the elastic limit of the fracture
      construct.

PMID- 25820830
TI  - Magnetic solid-phase extraction of brominated flame retardants from environmental
      waters with graphene-doped Fe3O4 nanocomposites.
AB  - Graphene-doped Fe3O4 nanocomposites were prepared by a solvothermal reaction of
      an iron source with graphene. The nanocomposites were characterized by
      transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction,
      superconducting quantum interference, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform
      infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This nanomaterial
      has been used as a magnetic solid-phase extraction sorbent to extract trace
      brominated flame retardants from environmental waters. Various extraction
      parameters were optimized including dosage and reusability of the nanocomposites,
      and pH of sample matrix. The reliability of the magnetic solid-phase extraction
      protocol based on graphene-doped Fe3O4 nanocomposites was evaluated by
      investigating the recoveries of 2,4,6-tribromophenol, tetrabromobisphenol A, 4
      bromodiphenyl ether, and 4,4'-dibromodiphenyl ether in water samples. Good
      recoveries (85.0-105.0%) were achieved with the relative standard deviation
      ranging from 1.1-7.1%. Moreover, it is speculated from characterization and
      magnetic solid-phase extraction experiment that there is not only pi-pi stacking
      but also possible hydrophobic interaction between the graphene-doped Fe3O4
      nanocomposites and analytes.

PMID- 25820832
TI  - Quantitative proteomic analyses of Schistosoma japonicum in response to
      artesunate.
AB  - Artesunate (ART) has high prophylactic efficacy against Schistosoma japonicum
      infections and has been used to treat and prevent schistosomiasis in China since
      1995. However, the molecular mechanism of ART's effects on S. japonicum remains
      unclear. Herein, we applied isobaric tagging reagents for relative and absolute
      quantification analyses coupled with two-dimensional liquid chromatography and
      tandem mass spectrometry to investigate the effect of ART on the proteome of S.
      japonicum in susceptible mice. 4529 proteins were quantified on the basis of
      21,825 unique peptides. Comparative proteomic analyses revealed that 145, 228 and
      185 proteins were significantly differentially expressed after ART treatment in
      schistosomula, juvenile and adult worms, respectively. Ninety proteins were
      differentially expressed between each two treatment groups in response to ART
      treatment: 67 proteins were associated with S. japonicum development/aging and 23
      were specifically associated with ART treatment. Quantitative real-time PCR of
      selected genes verified the proteomic data. Gene ontology annotation and Kyoto
      encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway mapping analysis showed that the
      majority of differentially expressed proteins were involved in
      stress/defense/detoxification, signal transduction, carbohydrate metabolism,
      amino acid metabolism, transcription/translation, and protein
      synthesis/assembly/degradation. Thirty-four of the proteins differentially
      expressed under ART treatment encoded hypothetical, uncharacterized proteins with
      unknown functions. This study obtained the first comprehensive protein expression
      profile of S. japonicum in response to ART, and provides a basis for a better
      understanding of the molecular mechanisms of ART effects on S. japonicum.

PMID- 25820833
TI  - A combined experimental and computational study on the cycloisomerization of 2
      ethynylbiaryls catalyzed by dicationic arene ruthenium complexes.
AB  - Ruthenium-catalyzed cycloisomerization of 2-ethynylbiaryls was investigated to
      identify an optimal ruthenium catalyst system. A combination of [eta(6) -(p
      cymene)RuCl2 (PR3 )] and two equivalents of AgPF6 effectively converted 2
      ethynylbiphenyls into phenanthrenes in chlorobenzene at 120  degrees C over 20 h.
      Moreover, 2-ethynylheterobiaryls were found to be favorable substrates for this
      ruthenium catalysis, thus achieving the cycloisomerization of previously unused
      heterocyclic substrates. Moreover, several control experiments and DFT
      calculations of model complexes were performed to propose a plausible reaction
      mechanism. 

PMID- 25820831
TI  - Dual kappa-agonist/MU-antagonist opioid receptor modulation reduces levodopa
      induced dyskinesia and corrects dysregulated striatal changes in the nonhuman
      primate model of Parkinson disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Effective medical management of levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID)
      remains an unmet need for patients with Parkinson disease (PD). Changes in opioid
      transmission in the basal ganglia associated with LID suggest a therapeutic
      opportunity. Here we determined the impact of modulating both mu and kappa opioid
      receptor signaling using the mixed agonist/antagonist analgesic nalbuphine in
      reducing LID and its molecular markers in the nonhuman primate model. METHODS: 1
      Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-treated macaques with advanced
      parkinsonism and reproducible LID received a range of nalbuphine doses or saline
      subcutaneously as: (1) monotherapy, (2) acute coadministration with levodopa, and
      (3) chronic coadministration for 1 month. Animals were assessed by blinded
      examiners for motor disability and LID severity using standardized rating scales.
      Plasma levodopa levels were determined with and without nalbuphine, and
      postmortem brain samples were subjected to Western blot analyses. RESULTS:
      Nalbuphine reduced LID in a dose-dependent manner by 48% (p < 0.001) without
      compromising the anti-PD effect of levodopa or changing plasma levodopa levels.
      There was no tolerance to the anti-LID effect of nalbuphine given chronically.
      Nalbuphine coadministered with levodopa was well tolerated and did not cause
      sedation. Nalbuphine monotherapy had no effect on motor disability. Striatal
      tissue analyses showed that nalbuphine cotherapy blocks several molecular
      correlates of LID, including overexpression of DeltaFosB, prodynorphin, dynorphin
      A, cyclin-dependent kinase 5, and increased phosphorylation of DARPP-32 at
      threonine-34. INTERPRETATION: Nalbuphine reverses the molecular milieu in the
      striatum associated with LID and is a safe and effective anti-LID agent in the
      primate model of PD. These findings support repurposing this analgesic for the
      treatment of LID.

PMID- 25820834
TI  - Deposition of wafer-scale single-component and binary nanocrystal superlattice
      thin films via dip-coating.

PMID- 25820835
TI  - Combination of CE-MS and advanced chemometric methods for high-throughput
      metabolic profiling.
AB  - In this work, an untargeted approach based on capillary electrophoresis-mass
      spectrometry (CE-MS) in combination with multivariate data analyses is proposed
      as a high-throughput general methodology for metabolomic studies. First, total
      ion electropherograms (TIEs) were considered for exploratory and classification
      purposes by means of principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares
      discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Then, multivariate curve resolution alternating
      least squares (MCR-ALS) was applied to the multiple full scan MS data sets. This
      strategy permitted the resolution of a large number of metabolites being
      characterized by their electrophoretic peaks and their corresponding mass
      spectra. The proposed approach allowed solving additional electrophoretic issues,
      such as background noise contributions, low signal-to-noise ratios, asymmetric
      peaks and migration time shifts. The usefulness of the proposed methodology is
      demonstrated in a comparative study of the metabolic profiles from baker's yeast
      (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) samples cultured at two temperatures, 30 degrees C and
      37 degrees C. A total number of 80 metabolites were relevant to yeast samples
      differentiation at the two temperatures and almost 50 of them were tentatively
      identified based on their accurate experimental molecular mass. The results show
      that changes in amino acid, nucleotide and lipid metabolic pathways participated
      in the acclimatization of yeast cells to grow at 37 degrees C.

PMID- 25820836
TI  - Formation of fluorescent polydopamine dots from hydroxyl radical-induced
      degradation of polydopamine nanoparticles.
AB  - This study describes the synthesis of fluorescent polydopamine dots (PDs) through
      hydroxyl radical-induced degradation of polydopamine nanoparticles. The
      decomposition of polydopamine nanoparticles to fluorescent PDs was confirmed
      using transmission electron microscopy and dark-field microscopy. The analysis of
      PDs by using laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry
      revealed that the PDs consisted of dopamine, 5,6-dihydroxyindole, and
      trihydroxyindole units. Oligomerization and self-assembly of these units produced
      a broad adsorption band, resulting in an excitation-wavelength-dependent emission
      behavior. The maximal fluorescence of PDs appeared at 440 nm with a quantum yield
      of 1.2%. The coordination between the catechol groups of PDs and ferric ions
      (Fe(3+)) quenched the fluorescence of PDs; the limit of detection at a signal-to
      noise ratio of 3 for Fe(3+) was determined to be 0.3 MUM. The presence of
      pyrophosphate switched on the fluorescence of the PD-Fe(3+) complexes. Compared
      to the other reported methods for sensing Fe(3+), PDs provided simple, low-cost,
      and reusable detection of Fe(3+). 

PMID- 25820837
TI  - Influence of Sn content on the hydrogenation of crotonaldehyde catalysed by
      colloidally prepared PtSn nanoparticles.
AB  - Bimetallic PtSn nanoparticles (NPs) of well-defined size and metal composition
      were prepared by means of colloidal methods. The mean particle diameter was about
      2 nm for all samples irrespective of the Pt/Sn-ratio, which enables a systematic
      study of the influence of the composition on the catalytic properties while
      excluding particle size effects. The hydrogenation of crotonaldehyde was
      investigated as a reaction for which chemoselectivity is known to be a
      challenging task. Already very low atomic Sn contents (~10%) were found to lead
      to a significantly improved activity which may be attributed to an electronic
      effect of Sn on Pt. For further increasing tin contents the activity decreased
      gradually. This trend was accompanied by a steady increase in selectivity towards
      the desired product (crotylalcohol). The results show that the highest
      crotylalcohol time yields can be obtained by using catalysts with an atomic Sn
      content of approximately 23%. In contrast, maximum crotylalcohol selectivities
      are achieved by using catalysts with a high tin content (>50%). 

PMID- 25820838
TI  - Survivorship and clinical outcome of Birmingham hip resurfacing: a minimum ten
      years' follow-up.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Resurfacing as a percentage of total hip arthroplasty rose from 5.6
      % in 2001 to 8.9 % in 2005 in Australia. During the same period the resurfacing
      to conventional prosthesis rose from 19.6 % to 29 % in the younger age group
      (less than 55 years). Long term (more than ten years) functional results of BHR
      are sparingly documented. Among the literatures available, the patient selection
      criteria vary from osteoarthritis, avascular necrosis, and dysplastic hip to
      slipped capital femoral epiphysis. The objective of the current study is to
      evaluate long term survivorship and functional outcome of Birmingham hip
      resurfacing surgery in osteoarthritic hip patients performed by a single surgeon.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this retrospective clinical study, all patients who
      underwent hip resurfacing for osteoarthritis of hip between 1999 and 2004 are
      included. All surgeries were performed by single surgeon (SJM) and in all
      patients Smith & Nephew system (Midland Medical Technologies, Birmingham, United
      Kingdom)) was used. Revision surgery is considered the end point of survivorship.
      Means, standard deviations, and confidence interval were calculated for all
      continuous measures. Survival analysis was performed with the Kaplan-Meier method
      and 95 % confidence intervals were calculated. RESULT: The result is based on 222
      patients (244 hips). This included 153 males and 69 females. Our mean follow up
      was 12.05 years and overall survival was 93.7 %. In terms of gender, survival in
      males was 95.43 % while in females it was 89.86 %. Failure was seen in 14
      patients (16 hips), which included seven female (10.14 %) and seven male (4.57 %)
      patients. Failure of femoral components due to aseptic loosening and varus
      collapse was seen in eight patients after a mean 9.6 years. Metal allergy was
      seen in three patients (five hips), all of them were female of which two had
      bilateral resurfacing. Other complications included femoral neck stress fractures
      in two patients and acetabular component loosening in one patient. We observed
      that the failure rate is higher if the BHR femoral component size is 46 or less
      (ten out of 16 hips revised). CONCLUSION: If patient selection is judiciously
      done and surgical technique is meticulously followed, hip resurfacing offers
      acceptable survivorship, satisfactory range of motion and enables patients to
      resume high demand activities including sports. Future improvements in the
      bearing surfaces, and possibly in the design, might alleviate concerns posed by
      high serum metal level and provide options that continue to benefit younger
      patients in future.

PMID- 25820839
TI  - Irrigation and debridement for periprosthetic infections of the hip and factors
      determining outcome.
AB  - PURPOSE: Our purpose was to identify the success rate and factors predicting
      outcome of irrigation and debridement (I&D) in patients with deep periprosthetic
      joint infection (PJI) of the hip. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed clinical
      characteristics of patients with deep PJI after primary/revision total hip
      arthroplasty (THA) between January 2000 and May 2013 treated with I&D. Implant
      retention was the outcome of interest. Sixty patients (29 men and 31 women; mean
      age 64.9 years) were identified. Mean follow-up was 59 months (range, 12-168).
      RESULTS: The implants were retained in 42 patients (70%). Failure of I&D
      treatment correlated with duration of symptoms >five days (p <0.001) and obesity
      [body mass index (BMI) >= 30)] (p = 0.0289). Treatment outcome was affected by
      the type of pathogen (p = 0.0482), with patients with methicillin-resistant
      staphylococci having significantly lower odds of success. CONCLUSIONS: I&D can be
      a feasible option in THA patients presenting with acute deep PJI. Duration of
      symptoms >five days, isolation of methicillin-resistant staphylococci and obesity
      should be taken into consideration in pre-operative decision making.

PMID- 25820840
TI  - Pretreatment Differences in BOLD Response to Emotional Faces Correlate with
      Antidepressant Response to Scopolamine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Faster acting antidepressants and biomarkers that predict treatment
      response are needed to facilitate the development of more effective treatments
      for patients with major depressive disorders. Here, we evaluate implicitly and
      explicitly processed emotional faces using neuroimaging to identify potential
      biomarkers of treatment response to the antimuscarinic, scopolamine. METHODS:
      Healthy participants (n=15) and unmedicated-depressed major depressive disorder
      patients (n=16) participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover
      infusion study using scopolamine (4 MUg/kg). Before and following scopolamine,
      blood oxygen-level dependent signal was measured using functional MRI during a
      selective attention task. Two stimuli comprised of superimposed pictures of faces
      and houses were presented. Participants attended to one stimulus component and
      performed a matching task. Face emotion was modulated (happy/sad) creating
      implicit (attend-houses) and explicit (attend-faces) emotion processing
      conditions. The pretreatment difference in blood oxygen-level dependent response
      to happy and sad faces under implicit and explicit conditions (emotion processing
      biases) within a-priori regions of interest was correlated with subsequent
      treatment response in major depressive disorder. RESULTS: Correlations were
      observed exclusively during implicit emotion processing in the regions of
      interest, which included the subgenual anterior cingulate (P<.02) and middle
      occipital cortices (P<.02). CONCLUSIONS: The magnitude and direction of
      differential blood oxygen-level- dependent response to implicitly processed
      emotional faces prior to treatment reflect the potential to respond to
      scopolamine. These findings replicate earlier results, highlighting the potential
      for pretreatment neural activity in the middle occipital cortices and subgenual
      anterior cingulate to inform us about the potential to respond clinically to
      scopolamine.

PMID- 25820841
TI  - R-Baclofen Reverses a Social Behavior Deficit and Elevated Protein Synthesis in a
      Mouse Model of Fragile X Syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common known inherited form of
      intellectual disability and the single genomic cause of autism spectrum
      disorders. It is caused by the absence of a fragile X mental retardation gene
      (Fmr1) product, FMRP, an RNA-binding translation suppressor. Elevated rates of
      protein synthesis in the brain and an imbalance between synaptic signaling via
      glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are both considered important in the
      pathogenesis of FXS. In a mouse model of FXS (Fmr1 knockout [KO]), treatment with
      R-baclofen reversed some behavioral and biochemical phenotypes. A remaining
      crucial question is whether R-baclofen is also able to reverse increased brain
      protein synthesis rates. METHODS: To answer this question, we measured regional
      rates of cerebral protein synthesis in vivo with the L-[1-(14)C]leucine method in
      vehicle- and R-baclofen-treated wildtype and Fmr1 KO mice. We further probed
      signaling pathways involved in the regulation of protein synthesis. RESULTS:
      Acute R-baclofen administration corrected elevated protein synthesis and reduced
      deficits on a test of social behavior in adult Fmr1 KO mice. It also suppressed
      activity of the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway, particularly in
      synaptosome-enriched fractions, but it had no effect on extracellular-regulated
      kinase 1/2 activity. Ninety min after R-baclofen treatment, we observed an
      increase in metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 expression in the frontal cortex, a
      finding that may shed light on the tolerance observed in human studies with this
      drug. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that treatment via activation of the GABA
      (GABA receptor subtype B) system warrants further study in patients with FXS.

PMID- 25820842
TI  - Serotonergic psychedelics temporarily modify information transfer in humans.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Psychedelics induce intense modifications in the sensorium, the sense
      of "self," and the experience of reality. Despite advances in our understanding
      of the molecular and cellular level mechanisms of these drugs, knowledge of their
      actions on global brain dynamics is still incomplete. Recent imaging studies have
      found changes in functional coupling between frontal and parietal brain
      structures, suggesting a modification in information flow between brain regions
      during acute effects. METHODS: Here we assessed the psychedelic-induced changes
      in directionality of information flow during the acute effects of a psychedelic
      in humans. We measured modifications in connectivity of brain oscillations using
      transfer entropy, a nonlinear measure of directed functional connectivity based
      on information theory. Ten healthy male volunteers with prior experience with
      psychedelics participated in 2 experimental sessions. They received a placebo or
      a dose of ayahuasca, a psychedelic preparation containing the serotonergic 5-HT2A
      agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine. RESULTS: The analysis showed significant changes
      in the coupling of brain oscillations between anterior and posterior recording
      sites. Transfer entropy analysis showed that frontal sources decreased their
      influence over central, parietal, and occipital sites. Conversely, sources in
      posterior locations increased their influence over signals measured at anterior
      locations. Exploratory correlations found that anterior-to-posterior transfer
      entropy decreases were correlated with the intensity of subjective effects, while
      the imbalance between anterior-to-posterior and posterior-to-anterior transfer
      entropy correlated with the degree of incapacitation experienced. CONCLUSIONS:
      These results suggest that psychedelics induce a temporary disruption of neural
      hierarchies by reducing top-down control and increasing bottom-up information
      transfer in the human brain.

PMID- 25820843
TI  - Recurrent abdominal pain in children: a clinical approach.
AB  - The term 'recurrent abdominal pain', or RAP, refers mainly to the duration of
      painful period and frequency of pain. The commonly accepted duration is at least
      three months in the preceding period, and over this three-month period, there are
      at least three episodes of pain that are severe enough to affect the daily
      activities of the affected patients. Over the years, with advances in medical
      technology and better understanding of the pathophysiology of abdominal pain,
      more and more organic causes have been identified. However, the most common cause
      of RAP in children is still functional in origin. 

PMID- 25820844
TI  - Recognising sleep apnoea.
AB  - Most people spend a third of their lives sleeping, and thus, sleep has a major
      impact on all of us. As sleep is a function and not a structure, it is
      challenging to treat and prevent its complications. Sleep apnoea is one such
      complication, with serious and potentially life-threatening consequences. Local
      studies estimate that about 15% of Singapore's population is afflicted with sleep
      apnoea. The resulting sleep fragmentation may result in poor quality of sleep,
      leading to daytime sleepiness. Sleep apnoea may also be the underlying cause of
      high blood pressure, memory loss, poor concentration and work performance, motor
      vehicle accidents, and marital problems. Evaluation involves a sleep study,
      followed by patient education, and an individualised step-wise management
      approach should be explored. Many patients will require follow-up for a long
      period of time, as management options may not offer a permanent cure; other
      contributory causes may arise at different phases of their lives, compounded by
      genetic and hormonal issues, ethnicity and the modern hazards of a fast-paced
      society. 

PMID- 25820845
TI  - Imaging of the spleen: what the clinician needs to know.
AB  - The spleen is considered 'the forgotten organ' among radiologists and clinicians,
      although it is well visualised on abdominal computed tomography and magnetic
      resonance imaging. Moreover, the spleen is commonly involved in a wide range of
      pathologic disorders. These include congenital anomalies, infectious and
      inflammatory diseases, vascular disorders, benign and malignant tumours, and
      systemic disorders. In this review, we focus on the key imaging findings of the
      normal spleen, its variants, as well as relevant congenital and acquired
      abnormalities. It is of utmost importance to recognise and correctly interpret
      the variable spectrum of abnormalities that may involve the spleen, in order to
      avoid unnecessary invasive procedures and to guide adequate treatment. 

PMID- 25820846
TI  - Cerebellar strokes: a clinical outcome review of 79 cases.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Cerebellar infarcts and haemorrhages are relatively uncommon,
      accounting for less than 10% of all strokes. The objective of the present study
      was to quantify and compare the outcomes of patients with cerebellar infarct and
      those of patients with cerebellar haemorrhage, as well as to identify the risk
      factors that predict poor outcome in patients with cerebellar stroke. METHODS: We
      retrospectively reviewed the medical records of consecutive patients admitted to
      National University Hospital, Singapore, between 2004 and 2006, within one week
      of cerebellar stroke onset. Baseline data included demographics, concomitant
      comorbidities, and the presence or absence of brainstem compression and
      hydrocephalus (on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging). The Glasgow
      Outcome Scale and modified Rankin Score were used to assess outcome at discharge
      and at six months after discharge. RESULTS: A total of 79 patients with
      cerebellar stroke were admitted during the study period. Of these 79 patients,
      17.7% died and 31.6% had poor outcomes at six months after discharge. Patients
      with cerebellar haemorrhage were found to be more likely to have poor outcomes as
      compared to patients with cerebellar infarct, both at discharge (odds ratio [OR]
      4.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3-14.1) and at six months after discharge (OR
      5.2, 95% CI 1.6-17.2). When compared to small lesions (< 5 cm(3)), lesions > 20
      cm(3) were significantly associated with poorer outcomes and the development of
      hydrocephalus and brainstem compression. CONCLUSION: Cerebellar strokes are a
      significant cause of morbidity and mortality. The outcomes of patients with
      cerebellar haemorrhage are more likely to be worse than those of patients with
      cerebellar infarct.

PMID- 25820847
TI  - Integrated approach to e-learning enhanced both subjective and objective
      knowledge of aEEG in a neonatal intensive care unit.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Various meta-analyses have shown that e-learning is as effective as
      traditional methods of continuing professional education. However, there are some
      disadvantages to e-learning, such as possible technical problems, the need for
      greater self-discipline, cost involved in developing programmes and limited
      direct interaction. Currently, most strategies for teaching amplitude-integrated
      electroencephalography (aEEG) in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) worldwide
      depend on traditional teaching methods. METHODS: We implemented a programme that
      utilised an integrated approach to e-learning. The programme consisted of three
      sessions of supervised protected time e-learning in an NICU. The objective and
      subjective effectiveness of the approach was assessed through surveys
      administered to participants before and after the programme. RESULTS: A total of
      37 NICU staff (32 nurses and 5 doctors) participated in the study. 93.1% of the
      participants appreciated the need to acquire knowledge of aEEG. We also saw a
      statistically significant improvement in the subjective knowledge score (p =
      0.041) of the participants. The passing rates for identifying abnormal aEEG
      tracings (defined as >= 3 correct answers out of 5) also showed a statistically
      significant improvement (from 13.6% to 81.8%, p < 0.001). Among the participants
      who completed the survey, 96.0% felt the teaching was well structured, 77.8% felt
      the duration was optimal, 80.0% felt that they had learnt how to systematically
      interpret aEEGs, and 70.4% felt that they could interpret normal aEEG with
      confidence. CONCLUSION: An integrated approach to e-learning can help improve
      subjective and objective knowledge of aEEG.

PMID- 25820848
TI  - Effect of Pilates exercises on postpartum maternal fatigue.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Postpartum fatigue is a pervasive phenomenon and often affects
      mothers immediately after delivery. The present study aimed to assess the effect
      Pilates home exercises had on postpartum maternal fatigue. METHODS: A total of 80
      women participated in our clinical trial study. The women were randomly divided
      into two groups - the intervention group (n = 40) and the control group (n = 40).
      In the intervention group, the women performed Pilates exercises five times a
      week (30 min per session) for eight consecutive weeks. The first session was
      conducted 72 hours after delivery. The control group did not receive any
      intervention. Each woman's level of fatigue was evaluated at hospital discharge
      (as a baseline), and at four and eight weeks after delivery, using the standard
      Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) questionnaire and repeated measures
      analysis. RESULTS: During the eight weeks of follow-up, we found that the
      intervention group had lower mean MFI-20 scores than the control group with
      regard to general fatigue (7.80 +/- 2.07 vs. 12.72 +/- 1.79; p < 0.001), physical
      fatigue (7.12 +/- 1.41 vs. 10.42 +/- 2.02; p < 0.001), reduced activity (6.95 +/-
      1.35 vs. 11.27 +/- 1.70; p < 0.001), reduced motivation (6.20 +/- 1.01 vs. 9.80
      +/- 2.04; p < 0.001) and mental fatigue (6.85 +/- 1.45 vs. 10.72 +/- 1.98; p <
      0.001). CONCLUSION: The present study's findings show that physical exercise can
      significantly reduce postpartum maternal fatigue in all subscales.

PMID- 25820849
TI  - Urinary incontinence after intravenous dexamethasone sodium phosphate injection.

PMID- 25820850
TI  - Comment on: current status of functional gastrointestinal evaluation in clinical
      practice.

PMID- 25820851
TI  - Author's reply: current status of functional gastrointestinal evaluation in
      clinical practice.

PMID- 25820852
TI  - Interpersonal problems among psychiatric outpatients and non-clinical samples.

PMID- 25820853
TI  - Cerebrovascular ischaemia after carbon monoxide intoxication.

PMID- 25820854
TI  - Current status of functional gastrointestinal evaluation in clinical practice.

PMID- 25820855
TI  - Comment on: cerebrovascular ischaemia after carbon monoxide intoxication.

PMID- 25820856
TI  - Author's reply: cerebrovascular ischaemia after carbon monoxide intoxication.

PMID- 25820857
TI  - Unusual optic disc infarction in a case of arteritic anterior ischaemic optic
      neuropathy (AAION).
AB  - Herein, we report another case of arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy
      from Singapore, in which the initial optic disc swelling was extreme and the
      sequential disease resolved because the patient was already on maximum treatment.
      As the management of this biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis case was complicated
      by the presence of a number of other medical conditions, including end-stage
      renal failure, monitoring of the response to treatment proved problematic. 

PMID- 25820858
TI  - Triquetral fracture with associated pisiform subluxation.
AB  - We herein present a case of right triquetral fracture with associated pisiform
      and flexor carpi ulnaris subluxation in a 29-year-old man. Initial radiography
      showed a right triquetral fracture. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance
      imaging demonstrated a triquetral fracture with a subluxated pisiform. Open
      reduction and lag screw fixation of the right triquetrum was performed, with good
      subsequent recovery of function. Although triquetral fracture with subluxation of
      the pisotriquetral joint is uncommon, attending clinicians should bear in mind
      the possibility of such an injury when managing traumatic ulnar-sided wrist pain.

PMID- 25820859
TI  - A rare case of multiple bronchial artery aneurysms associated with a double
      aortic arch.
AB  - Bronchial artery aneurysm is uncommon, and the occurrence of multiple aneurysms
      arising from a bronchial artery is even rarer. To date, there has been only one
      published case report describing double bronchial artery aneurysms. We herein
      describe a case of three aneurysms arising from a left bronchial artery,
      accompanied by multiple bilateral hypertrophied bronchial and intercostobronchial
      arteries, as well as a double aortic arch. Bronchial artery aneurysm is
      potentially life-threatening, and immediate treatment is recommended to minimise
      the potential risk of rupture. The aneurysms in our case were successfully
      treated via transcatheter arterial embolisation using coils. 

PMID- 25820860
TI  - Successful endovascular embolisation of a jejunal artery aneurysm.
AB  - Jejunal artery aneurysms are rare, with only six cases reported in the literature
      to date. Endovascular embolisation of the jejunal artery is rarely performed.
      Herein, we report the case of a 57-year-old man who successfully underwent
      endovascular embolisation for bleeding caecal diverticulosis, during which a 9-mm
      fusiform jejunal artery aneurysm was incidentally diagnosed. Subsequently, the
      jejunal aneurysm was successfully embolised using Vortex coils. 

PMID- 25820861
TI  - Bladder repair following iatrogenic cystotomy in irradiated small capacity
      bladders.
AB  - During laparotomy in a previously irradiated and operated pelvis, incidental
      cystotomies can occur and a tension-free, watertight, two- or three-layer closure
      of the bladder may be impossible. We herein report two cases of iatrogenic
      defects of the bladders in post-irradiated pelvises and compare the two different
      methods of bladder repair employed - an ileal augmentation segment used in the
      first case and bovine pericardial graft used in the second. Successful closures
      of the bladder defects were achieved in both cases. Native irradiated bowel and
      bovine pericardium can be useful substitutes in situations involving bladder
      defects in a previously irradiated pelvis. The advantages and disadvantages of
      the two approaches are also herein discussed. 

PMID- 25820862
TI  - Malignant mesothelioma of tunica vaginalis: an extremely rare case presenting
      without risk factors.
AB  - Testicular tumours have many different manifestations, including hydrocele
      formation. Herein, we present an extremely rare case of testicular mesothelioma
      presenting with left hydrocele, but without risk factors. Left radical inguinal
      orchidectomy was performed, and pathological examination revealed a malignant
      mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis of the testis. No infiltration of the
      spermatic cord was evident, and upon advanced radiological evaluation, no sign of
      metastasis was detected. Follow-up was still ongoing in our urology outpatient
      clinic at the time of this report. Although hydrocele is a simple and common
      condition that is easy to diagnose, a detailed investigation should be performed.
      Thus, when encountering a patient with hydrocele, the clinician should evaluate
      the possibility of the presence of an underlying testicular/paratesticular
      tumour, including a rare one such as mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis. 

PMID- 25820863
TI  - 20-year survival post-liver transplant: much more is needed!

PMID- 25820864
TI  - Topographical investigation of changes in depth-wise proteoglycan distribution in
      rabbit femoral articular cartilage at 4 weeks after transection of the anterior
      cruciate ligament.
AB  - In this study, we explore topographical changes in proteoglycan distribution from
      femoral condylar cartilage in early osteoarthritis, acquired from both the
      lateral and medial condyles of anterior cruciate ligament transected (ACLT) and
      contralateral (CNTRL) rabbit knee joints, at 4 weeks post operation. Four sites
      across the cartilage surface in a parasagittal plane were defined across tissue
      sections taken from femoral condyles, and proteoglycan (PG) content was
      quantified using digital densitometry. The greatest depth-wise change in PG
      content due to an ACLT (compared to the CNTRL group) was observed anteriorly
      (site C) from the most weight-bearing location within the lateral compartment. In
      the medial compartment, the greatest change was observed in the most weight
      bearing location (site B). The depth-wise changes in PG content were observed up
      to 48% and 28% depth from the tissue surface at these aforementioned sites,
      respectively (p < 0.05). The smallest depth-wise change in PG content was
      observed posteriorly (site A) from the most weight-bearing location within both
      femoral condyles (up to 20% and up to 5% depth from the tissue surface at lateral
      and medial compartments, respectively). This study gives further insight into how
      early cartilage deterioration progresses across the parasagittal plane of the
      femoral condyle.

PMID- 25820865
TI  - Assessing individual risk for high-risk colorectal adenoma at first-time
      screening colonoscopy.
AB  - Assessing risk of colorectal adenoma at first-time colonoscopy that are of higher
      likelihood of developing advanced neoplasia during surveillance could help tailor
      first-line colorectal cancer screening. We developed prediction models for high
      risk colorectal adenoma (at least one adenoma >=1 cm, or with advanced histology,
      or >=3 adenomas) among 4,881 asymptomatic white men and 17,970 women who
      underwent colonoscopy as their first-time screening for colorectal cancer in two
      prospective US studies using logistic regressions. C-statistics and Hosmer
      Lemeshow tests were used to evaluate discrimination and calibration. Ten-fold
      cross-validation was used for internal validation. A total of 330 (6.7%) men and
      678 (3.8%) women were diagnosed with high-risk adenoma at first-time screening
      colonoscopy. The model for men included age, family history of colorectal cancer,
      BMI, smoking, sitting watching TV/VCR, regular aspirin/NSAID use, physical
      activity, and a joint term of multivitamin and alcohol. For women, the model
      included age, family history of colorectal cancer, BMI, smoking, alcohol,
      beef/pork/lamb as main dish, regular aspirin/NSAID, calcium, and oral
      contraceptive use. The C-statistic of the model for men was 0.67 and 0.60 for
      women (0.64 and 0.57 in cross-validation). Both models calibrated well. The
      predicted risk of high-risk adenoma for men in the top decile was 15.4% vs. 1.8%
      for men in the bottom decile (Odds Ratio [OR] = 9.41), and 6.6% vs. 2.1% for
      women (OR = 3.48). In summary, we developed and internally validated an absolute
      risk assessment tool for high-risk colorectal adenoma among the US population
      that may provide guidance for first-time colorectal cancer screening. 

PMID- 25820867
TI  - Computational characterization of the chemical step in the GTP hydrolysis by Ras
      GAP for the wild-type and G13V mutated Ras.
AB  - The free energy profiles for the chemical reaction of the guanosine triphosphate
      hydrolysis GTP + H2O -> GDP + Pi by Ras-GAP for the wild-type and G13V mutated
      Ras were computed by using molecular dynamics protocols with the QM(ab initio)/MM
      potentials. The results are consistent with the recent measurements of reaction
      kinetics in Ras-GAP showing about two-order reduction of the rate constant upon
      G13V mutation in Ras: the computed activation barrier on the free energy profile
      is increased by 3 kcal/mol upon the G13V replacement. The major reason for a
      higher energy barrier is a shift of the "arginine finger" (R789 from GAP) from
      the favorable position in the active site. The results of simulations provide
      support for the mechanism of the reference reaction according to which the Q61
      side chain directly participates in chemical transformations at the proton
      transfer stage.

PMID- 25820868
TI  - The role of soft-tissue traction forces in bone segment transport for callus
      distraction : A force measurement cadaver study on eight human femora using a
      novel intramedullary callus distraction system.
AB  - Callus distraction using bone segment transport systems is an applied process in
      the treatment of bone defects. However, complications such as muscle
      contractures, axial deviation and pin track infections occur in the treatment
      process using the currently available devices. Since successful treatment is
      influenced by the applied distraction force, knowledge of the biomechanical
      properties of the involved soft tissues is essential to improve clinical outcome
      and treatment strategies. To date, little data on distraction forces and the role
      of soft-tissue traction forces are available. The aim of this study was to assess
      traction forces generated by soft tissues during bone segment transport using a
      novel intramedullary callus distraction system on eight human femora. For
      traction force measurements, bone segment transport over 60-mm femoral defects
      was conducted under constant load measurement using 40- and 60-mm bone segments.
      The required traction forces for 60-mm bone segments were higher than forces for
      40-mm bone segments. This study demonstrates that soft tissues are of relevance
      biomechanically in bone segment transport. The size of the bone segment and the
      selection of the region for osteotomy are of utmost importance in defining the
      treatment procedure. 

PMID- 25820866
TI  - Association of PEDF polymorphisms with age-related macular degeneration and
      polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - This study assesses the association of the pigment epithelium-derived factor
      (PEDF) gene with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and polypoidal choroidal
      vasculopathy (PCV). Publications in MEDLINE and EMBASE up to 21/08/2014 were
      searched for case-control association studies of PEDF with AMD and/or PCV.
      Reported studies giving adequate genotype and/or allele information were
      included. Pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of each
      polymorphism were estimated. Our literature search yielded 297 records. After
      excluding duplicates and reports with incomplete information, 8 studies were
      eligible for meta-analysis, involving 2284 AMD patients versus 3416 controls, and
      317 PCV patients versus 371 controls. Four PEDF polymorphisms were meta-analyzed:
      rs1136287, rs12150053, rs12948385 and rs9913583, but none was significantly
      associated with AMD or PCV. The most-investigated polymorphism, rs1136287, had a
      pooled-OR of 1.02 (95% CI: 0.94-1.11, P = 0.64) for AMD. In subgroup analysis by
      ethnicity, no significant association was identified. Polymorphisms present in
      single report showed no association. Therefore, existing data in literature does
      not support the role of PEDF in the genetic susceptibility of AMD and PCV,
      although replication in specific populations is warranted. Since the pooled
      sample size for PCV was small, there is a need of PEDF genotyping in larger
      samples of PCV. 

PMID- 25820869
TI  - CXCR4 positive cell-derived Pdx1-high/Shh-low cells originated from embryonic
      stem cells improve the repair of pancreatic injury in mice.
AB  - Treatments for pancreatic injuries have been significantly improved recently, but
      full recovery of pancreatic function remains difficult. Embryonic stem cells have
      great potentialities for self-renewal and multiple differentiations. In this
      study, we explored an approach to induce the differentiation of pancreatic
      progenitor cells from embryonic stem cells in vitro. Male mouse embryonic stem
      cells were cultured by the hanging-drop method to form embryoid bodies. The
      definitive endoderm marked by CXCR4 in embryoid bodies was sorted by magnetic
      activated cell sorting and subsequently administrated with b-FGF, exendin-4, and
      cyclopamine to induce the differentiation of putative pancreatic progenitor
      cells, which was monitored by Pdx1, and Shh expressions. The putative pancreatic
      progenitor cells were transplanted into female BALB/c mice with pancreatitis
      induced by L-Arginine. Male donor cells were located by detecting sex-determining
      region of Y-chromosome DNA. Definitive endoderm cells (CXCR4(+) cells) were
      sorted from 5-day embryoid bodies. After 3-day administration with b-FGF, exendin
      4, and cyclopamine, Pdx1-high/Shh-low cells were differentiated from CXCR4(+)
      cells. These cells developed into more amylase-secreted cells in vitro and could
      specifically reside in the damaged pancreas acinar area in mice with acute
      pancreatitis to enhance the regeneration. The putative pancreatic progenitor
      cells (Pdx1-high/Shh-low cells) derived from mouse embryonic stem cells through
      the administration of b-FGF, exendin-4, and cyclopamine on the CXCR4(+) cells in
      vitro could improve the regeneration of injured pancreatic acini in vivo. 

PMID- 25820870
TI  - Synthesis, Spectroscopic Properties and Antioxidant Activity of Bis-Hydrazones
      and Schiff's bases Derived from Terephthalic Dihydrazide.
AB  - A series of novel Schiff base containing bis-1,2,4-triazole and bis-hydrazone
      derived from terephthalic dihydrazide was synthesized. All the newly synthesized
      compounds were characterized by (1)H, (13)C NMR, mass spectra, FTIR and elemental
      analysis. UV-vis spectra and fluorescent spectra of the compounds were recorded.
      The effect of substituent such as electron withdrawing and electron donating
      groups on the fluorescent spectra was studied. Also, the comparative discussion
      on fluorescent spectra of Schiff's base and hydrazones has been described. The
      antioxidant activity of the compounds revealed that compound 5c and 5f are the
      most potent compounds in this series. 

PMID- 25820871
TI  - Apparent shear sensitivity of molecular rotors in various solvents.
AB  - Fluorescent environment-sensitive dyes often change their spectral properties
      concomitantly with multiple solvent properties, such as polarity, protonation,
      hydrogen bond formation, or viscosity. Careful consideration of the response is
      needed when a fluorescent dye is used to report a single property. Recently, we
      observed an increase of emission intensity of viscosity-sensitive molecular
      rotors in fluids subject to flow and speculated that either polar-polar
      interaction or hydrogen bond formation play a role in the apparent flow
      sensitivity. In this study, we show experimental evidence that photoisomerization
      to an isomer with a lower quantum yield, first proposed by Rumble et al. (J Phys
      Chem A 116(44):10786-10792, 2012), plays a key role in the observed phenomenon.
      We subjected four molecular rotors with different electron acceptor motifs to
      fluid flow in solvents of different polarity and ability to form hydrogen bonds.
      We also measured the isomerization dynamics in a custom fluorophotometer with
      extremely low light exposure. Our results indicate that the photoisomerization
      rate depends both on the solvent and on the electron acceptor group, as does the
      recovery of the original isomer in the dark. In most solvents, recovery of the
      dark isomer is much more rapid than originally reported, and a state of quasi
      equilibrium between both isomers is possible. Moreover, the sensitivity (i.e.,
      relative intensity increase at the same flow rate) is also solvent-dependent. The
      intensity increase can be detected at very low velocities (as low as 0.06 mm/s).
      Characteristic for fluorescent dyes is the high spatial resolution, and no flow
      measurement device with comparable sensitivity and spatial resolution exists,
      although the nature of the solvent needs to be taken into account for
      quantitative flow measurement. 

PMID- 25820872
TI  - Solvent Dependency in the Quantum Efficiency of 4-[(4-Aminophenyl)-(4-imino-1
      cyclohexa-2, 5- dienylidene) methyl] Aniline Hydrochloride.
AB  - In the present work dual beam thermal lens technique is used for studying the
      solvent dependency on the quantum efficiency of a novel dye used for biomedical
      applications. The role of solvent in the absolute fluorescence quantum yield of 4
      [(4-Aminophenyl)-(4-imino-1-cyclohexa-2, 5- dienylidene) methyl] aniline
      hydrochloride is studied using thermal lens technique. It is observed that the
      variation in solvents and its concentration results considerable variations in
      the fluorescence quantum yield. These variations are due to the non-radiative
      relaxation of the absorbed energy and because of the different solvent
      properties. The highest quantum yield of the dye is observed in the polar protic
      solvent-water. 

PMID- 25820873
TI  - Estimation of Dipole Moments and Quantum Yield of 5-chloro-2-methoxyphenyl
      Boronic Acid in Different Solvents Environment.
AB  - The Photophysical properties like ground state and excited state dipole moments,
      change in the dipole moment and fluorescence quantum yield of a boronic acid
      derivative 5-chloro-2-methoxy phenyl boronic acid (5CMPBA) are characterized. The
      study is carried out in various solvents at room temperature using absorption and
      steady-state fluorescence technique. The emission wavelength of 5CMPBA is quite
      sensitive to the polarity of solvents. With the increase in solvent polarity red
      shift or bathochromic shift of about 9 nm has been observed. The excited state
      and ground state dipole moments are estimated using solvatochromic shift method
      and effect of solvents on spectral properties of the molecule are investigated
      using Kamlet-Taft multiple linear regression approach. The changes in dipole
      moment (DeltaMU) are calculated both from solvatochromic shift method and
      microscopic solvent polarity parameter (E T (N) ), and the values are compared.
      The ground state dipole moment is also evaluated using quantum chemical
      calculations. The bathochromic shift of the emission spectra and the increase in
      the excited state dipole moment indicates pi -> pi* transitions as well as the
      possibility of intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) character in the emitting
      singlet state of 5CMPBA. The relative quantum yield (Phi), radiative and non
      radiative decay constants are calculated using single point method. It is found
      that the quantum yield of the molecule varies from 11 to 64% with the change in
      the solvent polarity indicating the dependency of fluorescence nature on the
      solvent environment.

PMID- 25820874
TI  - Independent application of montreal cognitive assessment/mini-mental state
      examination conversion.

PMID- 25820876
TI  - Structural, spectroscopic and computational examination of the dative interaction
      in constrained phosphine-stibines and phosphine-stiboranes.
AB  - A series of phosphine-stibine and phosphine-stiborane peri-substituted
      acenaphthenes containing all permutations of pentavalent groups -SbCln Ph4-n (5
      9), as well as trivalent groups -SbCl2 , -Sb(R)Cl, and -SbPh2 (2-4, R=Ph, Mes),
      were synthesised and fully characterised by single crystal diffraction and
      multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. In addition, the bonding in these species was
      studied by DFT computational methods. The P-Sb dative interactions in both series
      range from strongly bonding to non-bonding as the Lewis acidity of the Sb
      acceptor is decreased. In the pentavalent antimony series, a significant change
      in the P-Sb distance is observed between -SbClPh3 and -SbCl2 Ph2 derivatives 6
      and 7, respectively, consistent with a change from a bonding to a non-bonding
      interaction in response to relatively small modification in Lewis acidity of the
      acceptor. In the Sb(III) series, two geometric forms are observed. The P-Sb bond
      length in the SbCl2 derivative 2 is as expected for a normal (rather than a
      dative) bond. Rather unexpectedly, the phosphine-stiborane complexes 5-9
      represent the first examples of the sigma(4) P->sigma(6) Sb structural motif.

PMID- 25820875
TI  - Structural characteristics of pineapple pulp polysaccharides and their antitumor
      cell proliferation activities.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pineapple has a delicious taste and good health benefits. Bioactive
      polysaccharides are important components of pineapple that might contribute to
      its health benefits. Since little structural information on these polysaccharides
      is currently available, the aim of this study was to investigate their structural
      characteristics and bioactivities. RESULTS: The polysaccharides of pineapple pulp
      were fractionated into three fractions (PAPs 1-3) by anion exchange
      chromatography. Their structural characteristics were first identified, including
      molecular weights and glycosidic linkages. The monosaccharide compositions were
      revealed as PAP 1 (Ara, Xyl, Man, Glc and Gal), PAP 2 (Rha, Ara, Xyl, Man, Glc
      and Gal) and PAP 3 (Rha, Ara, Xyl, Man and Gal). Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
      spectra suggested that PAP 2 had a backbone of -> 4)-alpha-d-Manp-(1 -> 2,4)
      alpha-d-Manp-(1 -> with branches attached to O-4 of Manp. The NMR data of alpha-l
      Araf-(1->, ->3)-alpha-l-Araf-(1->, ->4)-beta-d-Galp-(1 -> and -> 4)-alpha-d
      GalpAMe-(1 -> were assigned. PAPs 1 and 2 showed significant antitumor cell
      proliferation activities against breast carcinoma cell line and strong
      antioxidant activities. CONCLUSION: The above findings indicated that PAPs 1-3
      contributed much to the health benefits of pineapple. They could be used as
      health-beneficial food additives in functional foods.

PMID- 25820877
TI  - Elucidating the interaction of gamma-hydroxymethyl-gamma-butyrolactone
      substituents with model membranes and protein kinase C-C1 domains.
AB  - The protein kinase C (PKC) family of proteins is an attractive drug target.
      Dysregulation of PKC-dependent signalling pathways is related to several human
      diseases like cancer, immunological and other diseases. We approached the problem
      of altering PKC activities by developing C1 domain-based PKC ligands. In this
      report gamma-hydroxymethyl-gamma-butyrolactone (HGL) substituents were
      investigated in an effort to develop small molecule-based PKC regulators with
      higher specificity for C1 domain than the endogenous diacylglycerols (DAGs).
      Extensive analysis of membrane-ligands interaction measurements revealed that the
      membrane-active compounds strongly interact with the lipid bilayers and the
      hydrophilic parts of compounds localize at the bilayer/water interface. The
      pharmacophores like hydroxymethyl, carbonyl groups and acyl-chain length of the
      compounds are crucial for their interaction with the C1 domain proteins. The
      potent compounds showed more than 17-fold stronger binding affinity for the C1
      domains than DAG under similar experimental conditions. Nonradioactive kinase
      assay confirmed that these potent compounds have similar or better PKC dependent
      phosphorylation capabilities than DAG under similar experimental conditions.
      Hence, our findings reveal that these HGL analogues represent an attractive group
      of structurally simple C1 domain ligands that can be further structurally altered
      to improve their potencies. 

PMID- 25820878
TI  - Decision making and the cost effectiveness of our interventions.

PMID- 25820879
TI  - Common contra-indications and interactions of drugs in orthopaedic practice.
AB  - Drug therapy forms an integral part of the management of many orthopaedic
      conditions. However, many medicines can produce serious adverse reactions if
      prescribed inappropriately, either alone or in combination with other drugs.
      Often these hazards are not appreciated. In response to this, the European Union
      recently issued legislation regarding safety measures which member states must
      adopt to minimise the risk of errors of medication. In March 2014 the Medicines
      and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and NHS England released a Patient
      Safety Alert initiative focussed on errors of medication. There have been similar
      initiatives in the United States under the auspices of The National Coordinating
      Council for Medication Error and The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of
      Healthcare Organizations. These initiatives have highlighted the importance of
      informing and educating clinicians. Here, we discuss common drug interactions and
      contra-indications in orthopaedic practice. This is germane to safe and effective
      clinical care.

PMID- 25820880
TI  - Changing trends in the management of children's fractures.
AB  - The management of children's fractures has evolved as a result of better health
      education, changes in lifestyle, improved implant technology and the changing
      expectations of society. This review focuses on the changes seen in paediatric
      fractures, including epidemiology, the increasing problems of obesity, the
      mechanisms of injury, non-accidental injuries and litigation. We also examine the
      changes in the management of fractures at three specific sites: the supracondylar
      humerus, femoral shaft and forearm. There has been an increasing trend towards
      surgical stabilisation of these fractures. The reasons for this are
      multifactorial, including societal expectations of a perfect result and reduced
      hospital stay. Reduced hospital stay is beneficial to the social, educational and
      psychological needs of the child and beneficial to society as a whole, due to
      reduced costs.

PMID- 25820881
TI  - Cost effectiveness of total hip arthroplasty in osteoarthritis: comparison of
      devices with differing bearing surfaces and modes of fixation.
AB  - Many different designs of total hip arthroplasty (THA) with varying performance
      and cost are available. The identification of those which are the most cost
      effective could allow significant cost-savings. We used an established Markov
      model to examine the cost effectiveness of five frequently used categories of THA
      which differed according to bearing surface and mode of fixation, using data from
      the National Joint Registry for England and Wales. Kaplan-Meier analyses of rates
      of revision for men and women were modelled with parametric distributions. Costs
      of devices were provided by the NHS Supply Chain and associated costs were taken
      from existing studies. Lifetime costs, lifetime quality-adjusted-life-years
      (QALYs) and the probability of a device being cost effective at a willingness to
      pay L20 000/QALY were included in the models. The differences in QALYs between
      different categories of implant were extremely small (< 0.0039 QALYs for men or
      women over the patient's lifetime) and differences in cost were also marginal
      (L2500 to L3000 in the same time period). As a result, the probability of any
      particular device being the most cost effective was very sensitive to small,
      plausible changes in quality of life estimates and cost. Our results suggest that
      available evidence does not support recommending a particular device on cost
      effectiveness grounds alone. We would recommend that the choice of prosthesis
      should be determined by the rate of revision, local costs and the preferences of
      the surgeon and patient.

PMID- 25820882
TI  - Does tranexamic acid alter the risk of thromboembolism after total hip
      arthroplasty in the absence of routine chemical thromboprophylaxis?
AB  - Tranexamic acid (TXA) has been used to reduce blood loss during total hip
      arthroplasty (THA), but its use could increase the risk of venous thromboembolic
      disease (VTE). Several studies have reported that TXA does not increase the
      prevalence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), but most of those used routine chemical
      thromboprophylaxis, thereby masking the potential increased risk of TXA on VTE.
      We wished to ascertain whether TXA increases the prevalence of VTE in patients
      undergoing THA without routine chemical thromboprophylaxis. We carried out a
      retrospective case-control study in 254 patients who underwent a primary THA, 127
      of whom received TXA (1 g given pre-operatively) and a control group of 127 who
      did not. All patients had mechanical but no chemical thomboprophylaxis. Each
      patient was examined for DVT by bilateral ultrasonography pre-operatively and on
      post-operative days 1 and 7. TXA was found to statistically significantly
      increase the incidence of total DVT on post-operative day 7 compared with the
      control group (24 (18.9%) and 12 (9.4%), respectively; p < 0.05) but most cases
      of DVT were isolated distal DVT, with the exception of one patient with proximal
      DVT in each group. One patient in the control group developed a non-fatal
      symptomatic pulmonary embolism (PE). The use of TXA did not appear to affect the
      prevalence of either proximal DVT or PE.

PMID- 25820883
TI  - The effect of frictional torque and bending moment on corrosion at the taper
      interface : an in vitro study.
AB  - The aim of this study was to assess the effect of frictional torque and bending
      moment on fretting corrosion at the taper interface of a modular femoral
      component and to investigate whether different combinations of material also had
      an effect. The combinations we examined were 1) cobalt-chromium (CoCr) heads on
      CoCr stems 2) CoCr heads on titanium alloy (Ti) stems and 3) ceramic heads on
      CoCr stems. In test 1 increasing torque was imposed by offsetting the stem in the
      anteroposterior plane in increments of 0 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm and 8 mm when the torque
      generated was equivalent to 0 Nm, 9 Nm, 14 Nm and 18 Nm. In test 2 we
      investigated the effect of increasing the bending moment by offsetting the
      application of axial load from the midline in the mediolateral plane. Increments
      of offset equivalent to head + 0 mm, head + 7 mm and head + 14 mm were used.
      Significantly higher currents and amplitudes were seen with increasing torque for
      all combinations of material. However, Ti stems showed the highest corrosion
      currents. Increased bending moments associated with using larger offset heads
      produced more corrosion: Ti stems generally performed worse than CoCr stems.
      Using ceramic heads did not prevent corrosion, but reduced it significantly in
      all loading configurations.

PMID- 25820884
TI  - The influence of the strength of bone on the deformation of acetabular shells: a
      laboratory experiment in cadavers.
AB  - Concerns have been raised that deformation of acetabular shells may disrupt the
      assembly process of modular prostheses. In this study we aimed to examine the
      effect that the strength of bone has on the amount of deformation of the
      acetabular shell. The hypothesis was that stronger bone would result in greater
      deformation. A total of 17 acetabular shells were inserted into the acetabula of
      eight cadavers, and deformation was measured using an optical measuring system.
      Cores of bone from the femoral head were taken from each cadaver and compressed
      using a materials testing machine. The highest peak modulus and yield stress for
      each cadaver were used to represent the strength of the bone and compared with
      the values for the deformation and the surgeon's subjective assessment of the
      hardness of the bone. The mean deformation of the shell was 129 um (3 to 340). No
      correlation was found between deformation and either the maximum peak modulus (r2
      = 0.011, t = 0.426, p = 0.676) or the yield stress (r2 = 0.024, t = 0.614, p =
      0.549) of the bone. Although no correlation was found between the strength of the
      bone and deformation, the values for the deformation observed could be sufficient
      to disrupt the assembly process of modular acetabular components.

PMID- 25820885
TI  - Coxa profunda in the diagnosis of pincer-type femoroacetabular impingement and
      its prevalence in asymptomatic subjects.
AB  - In many papers, the diagnosis of pincer-type femoroacetabular impingement (FAI)
      is attributed to the presence of coxa profunda. However, little is known about
      the prevalence of coxa profunda in the general population and its clinical
      relevance. In order to ascertain its prevalence in asymptomatic subjects and
      whether it is a reliable indicator of pincer-type FAI, we undertook a cross
      sectional study between July and December 2013. A total of 226 subjects (452
      hips) were initially screened. According to strict inclusion criteria, 129
      asymptomatic patients (257 hips) were included in the study. The coxa profunda
      sign, the crossover sign, the acetabular index (AI) and lateral centre-edge (LCE)
      angle were measured on the radiographs. The median age of the patients was 36.5
      years (28 to 50) and 138 (53.7%) were women. Coxa profunda was present in 199
      hips (77.4%). There was a significantly increased prevalence of coxa profunda in
      women (p < 0.05) and a significant association between coxa profunda and female
      gender (p < 0.001) (92% vs 60.5%). The crossover sign was seen in 36 hips (14%),
      an LCE > 40 degrees  in 28 hips (10.9%) and an AI < 0o in 79 hips (30.7%). A
      total of 221 normal hips (79.2%) (normal considering the crossover) had coxa
      profunda, a total of 229 normal hips (75.5%) (normal considering the LCE) had
      coxa profunda and a total of 178 normal hips (75.3%) (normal considering AI) had
      coxa profunda. When the presence of all radiological signs in the same subject
      was considered, pincer-type FAI was found in only two hips (one subject). We
      therefore consider that the coxa profunda sign should not be used as a
      radiological indicator of pincer-type FAI. We consider profunda to be a benign
      alteration in the morphology of the hip with low prevalence and a lack of
      association with other radiological markers of FAI. We suggest that the diagnosis
      of pincer-type FAI should be based on objective measures, in association with
      clinical findings.

PMID- 25820886
TI  - The capsular ligaments provide more hip rotational restraint than the acetabular
      labrum and the ligamentum teres : an experimental study.
AB  - In this in vitro study of the hip joint we examined which soft tissues act as
      primary and secondary passive rotational restraints when the hip joint is
      functionally loaded. A total of nine cadaveric left hips were mounted in a
      testing rig that allowed the application of forces, torques and rotations in all
      six degrees of freedom. The hip was rotated throughout a complete range of
      movement (ROM) and the contributions of the iliofemoral (medial and lateral
      arms), pubofemoral and ischiofemoral ligaments and the ligamentum teres to
      rotational restraint was determined by resecting a ligament and measuring the
      reduced torque required to achieve the same angular position as before resection.
      The contribution from the acetabular labrum was also measured. Each of the
      capsular ligaments acted as the primary hip rotation restraint somewhere within
      the complete ROM, and the ligamentum teres acted as a secondary restraint in high
      flexion, adduction and external rotation. The iliofemoral lateral arm and the
      ischiofemoral ligaments were primary restraints in two-thirds of the positions
      tested. Appreciation of the importance of these structures in preventing
      excessive hip rotation and subsequent impingement/instability may be relevant for
      surgeons undertaking both hip joint preserving surgery and hip arthroplasty.

PMID- 25820887
TI  - Effects of rotational acetabular osteotomy on the mechanical stress within the
      hip joint in patients with developmental dysplasia of the hip: a subject-specific
      finite element analysis.
AB  - In this study we used subject-specific finite element analysis to investigate the
      mechanical effects of rotational acetabular osteotomy (RAO) on the hip joint and
      analysed the correlation between various radiological measurements and mechanical
      stress in the hip joint. We evaluated 13 hips in 12 patients (two men and ten
      women, mean age at surgery 32.0 years; 19 to 46) with developmental dysplasia of
      the hip (DDH) who were treated by RAO. Subject-specific finite element models
      were constructed from CT data. The centre-edge (CE) angle, acetabular head index
      (AHI), acetabular angle and acetabular roof angle (ARA) were measured on
      anteroposterior pelvic radiographs taken before and after RAO. The relationship
      between equivalent stress in the hip joint and radiological measurements was
      analysed. The equivalent stress in the acetabulum decreased from 4.1 MPa (2.7 to
      6.5) pre-operatively to 2.8 MPa (1.8 to 3.6) post-operatively (p < 0.01). There
      was a moderate correlation between equivalent stress in the acetabulum and the
      radiological measurements: CE angle (R = -0.645, p < 0.01); AHI (R = -0.603, p <
      0.01); acetabular angle (R = 0.484, p = 0.02); and ARA (R = 0.572, p < 0.01). The
      equivalent stress in the acetabulum of patients with DDH decreased after RAO.
      Correction of the CE angle, AHI and ARA was considered to be important in
      reducing the mechanical stress in the hip joint.

PMID- 25820888
TI  - The dynamic nature of alignment and variations in normal knees.
AB  - The restoration of knee alignment is an important goal during total knee
      arthroplasty (TKA). In the past surgeons aimed to restore neutral limb alignment
      during surgery. However, previous studies have demonstrated alignment to be
      dynamic, varying depending on the position of the limb and the degree of weight
      bearing, and between patients. We used a validated computer navigation system to
      measure the femorotibial mechanical angle (FTMA) in 264 knees in 77 male and 55
      female healthy volunteers aged 18 to 35 years (mean 26.2). We found the mean
      supine alignment to be a varus angle of 1.2 degrees  (standard deviation (sd) 4),
      with few patients having neutral alignment. FTMA differs significantly between
      males and females (with a mean varus of 1.7 degrees  (sd 4) and 0.4 degrees  (sd
      3.9), respectively; p = 0.008). It changes significantly with posture, the knee
      hyperextending by a mean of 5.6 degrees , and coronal plane alignment becoming
      more varus by 2.2 degrees  (sd 3.6) on standing compared with supine. Knee
      alignment is different in different individuals and is dynamic in nature,
      changing with different postures. This may have implications for the assessment
      of alignment in TKA, which is achieved in non-weight-bearing conditions and which
      may not represent the situation observed during weight-bearing.

PMID- 25820889
TI  - Validation of a prediction model that allows direct comparison of the Oxford Knee
      Score and American Knee Society clinical rating system.
AB  - This study demonstrates a significant correlation between the American Knee
      Society (AKS) Clinical Rating System and the Oxford Knee Score (OKS) and provides
      a validated prediction tool to estimate score conversion. A total of 1022
      patients were prospectively clinically assessed five years after TKR and
      completed AKS assessments and an OKS questionnaire. Multivariate regression
      analysis demonstrated significant correlations between OKS and the AKS knee and
      function scores but a stronger correlation (r = 0.68, p < 0.001) when using the
      sum of the AKS knee and function scores. Addition of body mass index and age
      (other statistically significant predictors of OKS) to the algorithm did not
      significantly increase the predictive value. The simple regression model was used
      to predict the OKS in a group of 236 patients who were clinically assessed nine
      to ten years after TKR using the AKS system. The predicted OKS was compared with
      actual OKS in the second group. Intra-class correlation demonstrated excellent
      reliability (r = 0.81, 95% confidence intervals 0.75 to 0.85) for the combined
      knee and function score when used to predict OKS. Our findings will facilitate
      comparison of outcome data from studies and registries using either the OKS or
      the AKS scores and may also be of value for those undertaking meta-analyses and
      systematic reviews.

PMID- 25820890
TI  - The treatment of a rupture of the Achilles tendon using a dedicated management
      programme.
AB  - The Swansea Morriston Achilles Rupture Treatment (SMART) programme was introduced
      in 2008. This paper summarises the outcome of this programme. Patients with a
      rupture of the Achilles tendon treated in our unit follow a comprehensive
      management protocol that includes a dedicated Achilles clinic, ultrasound
      examination, the use of functional orthoses, early weight-bearing, an accelerated
      exercise regime and guidelines for return to work and sport. The choice of
      conservative or surgical treatment was based on ultrasound findings. The rate of
      re-rupture, the outcome using the Achilles Tendon Total Rupture Score (ATRS) and
      the Achilles Tendon Repair Score, (AS), and the complications were recorded. An
      elementary cost analysis was also performed. Between 2008 and 2014 a total of 273
      patients presented with an acute rupture 211 of whom were managed conservatively
      and 62 had surgical repair. There were three re-ruptures (1.1%). There were 215
      men and 58 women with a mean age of 46.5 years (20 to 86). Functional outcome was
      satisfactory. Mean ATRS and AS at four months was 53.0 (sd 14), 64.9 (sd 15) (n =
      135), six months 67.8 (sd 16), 73.8 (sd 15) (n = 103) and nine months (72.4; sd
      14) 72.3 (sd 13) (n = 43). The programme realised estimated cost savings
      exceeding L91,000 per annum. The SMART programme resulted in a low rate of re
      rupture, a satisfactory outcome, a reduced rate of surgical intervention and a
      reduction in healthcare costs.

PMID- 25820891
TI  - The effect of strict infection control policies on the rate of infection after
      elective foot and ankle surgery: a review of 1737 cases.
AB  - The rate of surgical site infection after elective foot and ankle surgery is
      higher than that after other elective orthopaedic procedures. Since December
      2005, we have prospectively collected data on the rate of post-operative
      infection for 1737 patients who have undergone elective foot and ankle surgery.
      In March 2008, additional infection control policies, focused on surgical and
      environmental risk factors, were introduced in our department. We saw a 50%
      reduction in the rate of surgical site infection after the introduction of these
      measures. We are, however, aware that the observed decrease may not be entirely
      attributable to these measures alone given the number of factors that predispose
      to post-operative wound infection.

PMID- 25820892
TI  - The natural history of primary anterior dislocation of the glenohumeral joint in
      adolescence.
AB  - The natural history of primary anterior dislocation of the glenohumeral joint in
      adolescent patients remains unclear and there is no consensus for management of
      these patients. The objectives of this study were to report the natural history
      of primary anterior dislocation of the glenohumeral joint in adolescent patients
      and to identify the risk factors for recurrent dislocation. We reviewed
      prospectively-collected clinical and radiological data on 133 adolescent patients
      diagnosed with a primary anterior dislocation of the glenohumeral joint who had
      been managed non-operatively at our hospital between 1996 and 2008. There were
      115 male (86.5%) and 18 female patients (13.5%) with a mean age of 16.3 years (13
      to 18) and a mean follow-up of 95.2 months (1 to 215). During follow-up, 102
      (absolute incidence of 76.7%) patients had a recurrent dislocation. The median
      interval between primary and recurrent dislocation was ten months (95% CI 7.4 to
      12.6). Applying survival analysis the likelihood of having a stable shoulder one
      year after the initial injury was 59% (95% CI 51.2 to 66.8), 38% (95% CI 30.2 to
      45.8%) after two years, 21% (95% CI 13.2 to 28.8) after five years, and 7% (95%
      CI 1.1 to 12.9) after ten years. Neither age nor gender significantly predicted
      recurrent dislocation during follow-up. We conclude that adolescent patients with
      a primary anterior dislocation of the glenohumeral joint have a high rate of
      recurrent dislocation, which usually occurs within two years of their initial
      injury: these patients should be considered for early operative stabilisation.

PMID- 25820893
TI  - Secondary neurological deterioration in traumatic spinal injury: data from
      medicolegal cases.
AB  - We assessed the frequency and causes of neurological deterioration in 59 patients
      with spinal cord injury on whom reports were prepared for clinical negligence
      litigation. In those who deteriorated neurologically we assessed the causes of
      the change in neurology and whether that neurological deterioration was
      potentially preventable. In all 27 patients (46%) changed neurologically, 20
      patients (74% of those who deteriorated) had no primary neurological deficit. Of
      those who deteriorated, 13 (48%) became Frankel A. Neurological deterioration
      occurred in 23 of 38 patients (61%) with unstable fractures and/or dislocations;
      all 23 patients probably deteriorated either because of failures to immobilise
      the spine or because of inappropriate removal of spinal immobilisation. Of the 27
      patients who altered neurologically, neurological deterioration was, probably,
      avoidable in 25 (excess movement in 23 patients with unstable injuries, failure
      to evacuate an epidural haematoma in one patient and over-distraction following
      manipulation of the cervical spine in one patient). If existing guidelines and
      standards for the management of actual or potential spinal cord injury had been
      followed, neurological deterioration would have been prevented in 25 of the 27
      patients (93%) who experienced a deterioration in their neurological status.

PMID- 25820894
TI  - Total knee arthroplasty following tibial plateau fracture: a matched cohort
      study.
AB  - Radiological evidence of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) after fracture of
      the tibial plateau is common but end-stage arthritis which requires total knee
      arthroplasty is much rarer. The aim of this study was to examine the indications
      for, and outcomes of, total knee arthroplasty after fracture of the tibial
      plateau and to compare this with an age and gender-matched cohort of TKAs carried
      out for primary osteoarthritis. Between 1997 and 2011, 31 consecutive patients
      (23 women, eight men) with a mean age of 65 years (40 to 89) underwent TKA at a
      mean of 24 months (2 to 124) after a fracture of the tibial plateau. Of these, 24
      had undergone ORIF and seven had been treated non-operatively. Patients were
      assessed pre-operatively and at 6, 12 and > 60 months using the Short Form-12,
      Oxford Knee Score and a patient satisfaction score. Patients with instability or
      nonunion needed total knee arthroplasty earlier (14 and 13.3 months post-injury)
      than those with intra-articular malunion (50 months, p < 0.001). Primary cruciate
      retaining implants were used in 27 (87%) patients. Complication rates were higher
      in the PTOA cohort and included wound complications (13% vs 1% p = 0.014) and
      persistent stiffness (10% vs 0%, p = 0.014). Two (6%) PTOA patients required
      revision total knee arthroplasty at 57 and 114 months. The mean Oxford knee score
      was worse pre-operatively in the cohort with primary osteoarthritis (18 vs 30, p
      < 0.001) but there were no significant differences in post-operative Oxford knee
      score or patient satisfaction (primary osteoarthritis 86%, PTOA 78%, p = 0.437).
      Total knee arthroplasty undertaken after fracture of the tibial plateau has a
      higher rate of complications than that undertaken for primary osteoarthritis, but
      patient-reported outcomes and satisfaction are comparable. Cite this article:
      Bone Joint J 2015;97-B:532-8. 

PMID- 25820895
TI  - Contribution of inflammation to cellular injury in compartment syndrome in an
      experimental rodent model.
AB  - Compartment syndrome, a devastating consequence of limb trauma, is characterised
      by severe tissue injury and microvascular perfusion deficits. We hypothesised
      that leucopenia might provide significant protection against microvascular
      dysfunction and preserve tissue viability. Using our clinically relevant rat
      model of compartment syndrome, microvascular perfusion and tissue injury were
      directly visualised by intravital video microscopy in leucopenic animals. We
      found that while the tissue perfusion was similar in both groups (38.8% (standard
      error of the mean (sem) 7.1), 36.4% (sem 5.7), 32.0% (sem 1.7), and 30.5% (sem
      5.35) continuously-perfused capillaries at 45, 90, 120 and 180 minutes
      compartment syndrome, respectively versus 39.2% (sem 8.6), 43.5% (sem 8.5), 36.6%
      (sem 1.4) and 50.8% (sem 4.8) at 45, 90, 120 and 180 minutes compartment
      syndrome, respectively in leucopenia), compartment syndrome-associated muscle
      injury was significantly decreased in leucopenic animals (7.0% (sem 2.0), 7.0%,
      (sem 1.0), 9.0% (sem 1.0) and 5.0% (sem 2.0) at 45, 90, 120 and 180 minutes of
      compartment syndrome, respectively in leucopenia group versus 18.0% (sem 4.0),
      23.0% (sem 4.0), 32.0% (sem 7.0), and 20.0% (sem 5.0) at 45, 90, 120 and 180
      minutes of compartment syndrome in control, p = 0.0005). This study demonstrates
      that the inflammatory process should be considered central to the understanding
      of the pathogenesis of cellular injury in compartment syndrome.

PMID- 25820896
TI  - Cortical strut bone grafting and long-stem endoprosthetic reconstruction
      following massive bone tumour resection in the lower limb.
AB  - We determined the efficacy of a devitalised autograft (n = 13) and allograft (n =
      16) cortical strut bone graft combined with long-stem endoprosthetic
      reconstruction in the treatment of massive tumours of the lower limb. A total of
      29 patients (18 men:11 women, mean age 20.1 years (12 to 45) with a ratio of
      length of resection to that of the whole prosthesis of > 50% were treated between
      May 2003 and May 2012. The mean follow-up was 47 months (15 to 132). The stem of
      the prosthesis was introduced through bone graft struts filled with cement, then
      cemented into the residual bone. Bone healing was achieved in 23 patients (86%).
      The mean Musculoskeletal Tumour Society functional score was 85% (57 to 97). The
      five-year survival rate of the endoprostheses was 81% (95% confidence intervals
      67.3 to 92.3). The mean length of devitalised autografts and allografts was 8.6
      cm (5 to 15), which increased the ratio of the the length of the stem of the
      prosthesis to that of the whole length of the prosthesis from a theoretical 35%
      to an actual 55%. Cortical strut bone grafting and long-stem endoprosthetic
      reconstruction is an option for treating massive segmental defects following
      resection of a tumour in the lower limb. Patients can regain good function with a
      low incidence of aseptic loosening. The strut graft and the residual bone
      together serve as a satisfactory bony environment for a revision prosthesis, if
      required, once union is achieved.

PMID- 25820897
TI  - The effect of surgical synovectomy and radiotherapy on the rate of recurrence of
      pigmented villonodular synovitis of the knee: an individual patient meta
      analysis.
AB  - Pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) is a rare proliferative process of the
      synovium which most commonly affects the knee and occurs in either a localised
      (LPVNS) or a diffuse form (DPVNS). The effect of different methods of surgical
      synovectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy on the rate of recurrence is unclear. We
      conducted a systematic review and identified 35 observational studies in English
      which reported the use of surgical synovectomy to treat PVNS of the knee. A meta
      analysis included 630 patients, 137 (21.8%) of whom had a recurrence after
      synovectomy. For patients with DPVNS, low-quality evidence found that the rate of
      recurrence was reduced by both open synovectomy (odds ration (OR) = 0.47; 95% CI
      0.25 to 0.90; p = 0.024) and combined open and arthroscopic synovectomy (OR =
      0.19, 95% CI = 0.06 to 0.58; p = 0.003) compared with arthroscopic surgery. Very
      low-quality evidence found that the rate of recurrence of DPVNS was reduced by
      peri-operative radiotherapy (OR = 0.31, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.70; p = 0.01). Very low
      quality evidence suggested that the rate of recurrence of LPVNS was not related
      to the surgical approach. This meta-analysis suggests that open synovectomy or
      synovectomy combined with peri-operative radiotherapy for DPVNS is associated
      with a reduced rate of recurrence. Large long-term prospective multicentre
      observational studies, with a focus on both rate of recurrence and function, are
      required to confirm these findings.

PMID- 25820898
TI  - End caps prevent nail migration in elastic stable intramedullary nailing in
      paediatric femoral fractures: a biomechanical study using synthetic and cadaveric
      bones.
AB  - End caps are intended to prevent nail migration (push-out) in elastic stable
      intramedullary nailing. The aim of this study was to investigate the force at
      failure with and without end caps, and whether different insertion angles of
      nails and end caps would alter that force at failure. Simulated oblique fractures
      of the diaphysis were created in 15 artificial paediatric femurs. Titanium
      Elastic Nails with end caps were inserted at angles of 45 degrees , 55 degrees 
      and 65 degrees  in five specimens for each angle to create three study groups.
      Biomechanical testing was performed with axial compression until failure. An
      identical fracture was created in four small adult cadaveric femurs harvested
      from two donors (both female, aged 81 and 85 years, height 149 cm and 156 cm,
      respectively). All femurs were tested without and subsequently with end caps
      inserted at 45 degrees . In the artificial femurs, maximum force was not
      significantly different between the three groups (p = 0.613). Push-out force was
      significantly higher in the cadaveric specimens with the use of end caps by an up
      to sixfold load increase (830 N, standard deviation (SD) 280 vs 150 N, SD 120,
      respectively; p = 0.007). These results indicate that the nail and end cap
      insertion angle can be varied within 20 degrees  without altering construct
      stability and that the risk of elastic stable intramedullary nailing push-out can
      be effectively reduced by the use of end caps.

PMID- 25820899
TI  - The transverse Vulpius gastrocsoleus recession for equinus gait in children with
      cerebral palsy.
AB  - We report the results of Vulpius transverse gastrocsoleus recession for equinus
      gait in 26 children with cerebral palsy (CP), using the Gait Profile Score (GPS),
      Gait Variable Scores (GVS) and movement analysis profile. All children had an
      equinus deformity on physical examination and equinus gait on three-dimensional
      gait analysis prior to surgery. The pre-operative and post-operative GPS and GVS
      were statistically analysed. There were 20 boys and 6 girls in the study cohort
      with a mean age at surgery of 9.2 years (5.1 to 17.7) and 11.5 years (7.3 to
      20.8) at follow-up. Of the 26 children, 14 had spastic diplegia and 12 spastic
      hemiplegia. Gait function improved for the cohort, confirmed by a decrease in
      mean GPS from 13.4 degrees  pre-operatively to 9.0 degrees  final review (p <
      0.001). The change was 2.8 times the minimal clinically important difference
      (MCID). Thus the improvements in gait were both clinically and statistically
      significant. The transverse gastrocsoleus recession described by Vulpius is an
      effective procedure for equinus gait in selected children with CP, when there is
      a fixed contracture of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles.

PMID- 25820900
TI  - The development of a rat model to investigate the formation of blast-related post
      traumatic heterotopic ossification.
AB  - Currently, there is no animal model in which to evaluate the underlying
      physiological processes leading to the heterotopic ossification (HO) which forms
      in most combat-related and blast wounds. We sought to reproduce the ossification
      that forms under these circumstances in a rat by emulating patterns of injury
      seen in patients with severe injuries resulting from blasts. We investigated
      whether exposure to blast overpressure increased the prevalence of HO after
      transfemoral amputation performed within the zone of injury. We exposed rats to a
      blast overpressure alone (BOP-CTL), crush injury and femoral fracture followed by
      amputation through the zone of injury (AMP-CTL) or a combination of these (BOP
      AMP). The presence of HO was evaluated using radiographs, micro-CT and histology.
      HO developed in none of nine BOP-CTL, six of nine AMP-CTL, and in all 20 BOP-AMP
      rats. Exposure to blast overpressure increased the prevalence of HO. This model
      may thus be used to elucidate cellular and molecular pathways of HO, the effect
      of varying intensities of blast overpressure, and to evaluate new means of
      prophylaxis and treatment of heterotopic ossification.

PMID- 25820901
TI  - Ras/ERK1/2 pathway regulates the self-renewal of dairy goat spermatogonia stem
      cells.
AB  - Spermatogonia stem cells (SSCs), also named the male germline stem cells (mGSCs),
      which is located at the base of the seminiferous tubules of testis, is the basis
      for generating sperm steadily in male animals. Currently, there are some
      preliminary study on the self-renewal and differentiation of SSCs, but further
      mechanism, especially in large animals, has not been clearly understood.
      Ras/ERK1/2 pathway is widely distributed in multiple cells in vivo. It plays an
      important role in cell proliferation, differentiation and so on. However, the
      study on the function for the self-renewal of dairy goats SSCs has not been
      investigated. In this study, the dairy goat SSCs characterization were evaluated
      by semi-RT-PCR, alkaline phosphatase (AP) staining, and immunofluorescence
      staining. Then, Ras/ERK1/2 pathway was blocked by specific MEK1/2 inhibitor
      PD0325901. We analyzed the proliferation by cell number, cell growth curve, Brdu
      incorporation assay, and cell cycle analysis. The results showed that the
      proliferation was significantly inhibited by PD0325901. Cell apoptosis induced by
      blocking the Ras/ERK1/2 pathway was analyzed by TUNEL. The expression of ETV5 and
      BCL6B, the downstream gene of Ras/ERK1/2 pathway, was downregulated. This study
      suggest that the Ras/ERK1/2 pathway plays a critical role in maintaining the self
      renewal of dairy goat SSCs via regulation of ETV5 and BCL6B. This study laid a
      foundation for insights into the mechanism of SSCs self-renewal comprehensively. 

PMID- 25820902
TI  - ATPases, ion exchangers and human sperm motility.
AB  - Human sperm has several mechanisms to control its ionic milieu, such as the Na,K
      ATPase (NKA), the Ca-ATPase of the plasma membrane (PMCA), the Na(+)/Ca(2) (+)
      exchanger (NCX) and the Na(+)/H(+)-exchanger (NHE). On the other hand, the dynein
      ATPase is the intracellular motor for sperm motility. In this work, we evaluated
      NKA, PMCA, NHE, NCX and dynein-ATPase activities in human sperm and investigated
      their correlation with sperm motility. Sperm motility was measured by Computer
      Assisted Semen Analysis. It was found that the NKA activity is inhibited by
      ouabain with two Ki (7.9 * 10(-9) and 9.8 * 10(-5) M), which is consistent with
      the presence of two isoforms of alpha subunit of the NKA in the sperm plasma
      membranes (alpha1 and alpha4), being alpha4 more sensitive to ouabain. The
      decrease in NKA activity is associated with a reduction in sperm motility. In
      addition, sperm motility was evaluated in the presence of known inhibitors of
      NHE, PMCA and NCX, such as amiloride, eosin, and KB-R7943, respectively, as well
      as in the presence of nigericin after incubation with ouabain. Amiloride, eosin
      and KB-R7943 significantly reduced sperm motility. Nigericin reversed the effect
      of ouabain and amiloride on sperm motility. Dynein-ATPase activity was inhibited
      by acidic pH and micromolar concentrations of Ca(2) (+). We explain our results
      in terms of inhibition of the dynein-ATPase in the presence of higher cytosolic
      H(+) and Ca(2) (+), and therefore inhibition of sperm motility.

PMID- 25820903
TI  - Molecular basis of imprinting disorders affecting chromosome 14: lessons from
      murine models.
AB  - Uniparental inheritance of chromosome 14q32 causes developmental failure during
      gestation and early postnatal development due to mis-expression of a cluster of
      imprinted genes under common epigenetic control. Two syndromes associated with
      chromosome 14q32 abnormalities have been described, Kagami-Ogata and Temple
      syndromes. Both of these syndromes are characterised by specific impairments of
      intrauterine development, placentation and early postnatal survival. Such
      abnormalities arise because the processes of intrauterine growth and postnatal
      adaptation are critically modulated by the dosage of imprinted genes in the
      chromosome 14q32 cluster. Much of our understanding of how the imprinted genes in
      this cluster are regulated, as well as their individual functions in the
      molecular pathways controlling growth and postnatal adaptation, has come from
      murine models. Mouse chromosome 12qF1 contains an imprinted region syntenic to
      human chromosome 14q32, collectively referred to as the Dlk1-Dio3 cluster. In
      this review, we will summarise the wealth of information derived from animal
      models of chromosome 12 imprinted gene mis-regulation, and explore the
      relationship between the functions of individual genes and the phenotypic result
      of their mis-expression. As there is often a considerable overlap between the
      functions of genes in the Dlk1-Dio3 cluster, we propose that the expression
      dosage of these genes is controlled by common regulatory mechanisms to co
      ordinate the timing of growth and postnatal adaptation. While the diseases
      associated with mis-regulated chromosome 14 imprinting are rare, studies carried
      out in mice on the functions of the affected genes as well as their normal
      regulatory mechanisms have revealed new mechanistic pathways for the control of
      growth and survival in early life. 

PMID- 25820904
TI  - Sharp molecular-sieving of alcohol-water mixtures over phenyldiboronic acid
      pillared graphene oxide framework (GOF) hybrid membrane.
AB  - A submicron thick diboronic acid linked GOF/polyvinyl alcohol hybrid membrane was
      prepared for the first time. The uniform inter-spacing of the GOF membrane
      excludes the diffusion of large molecules based on a molecular sieving mechanism.
      It exhibits high stability and excellent sieving performance in solvent (>=C3)
      dehydration (SFs > 10,000).

PMID- 25820905
TI  - The cyano group as a traceless activation group for the intermolecular [3+2]
      cycloaddition of azomethine ylides: a five-step synthesis of (+/-)
      isoretronecanol.
AB  - The cyano group was used as a traceless activation group for the [3+2]
      cycloaddition of azomethine ylides in a two-step process, thereby providing a
      highly effective approach to 5-unsubstituted pyrrolidines. The transformation
      includes the silver acetate catalyzed intermolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of
      alpha-iminonitriles and an unprecedented sodium borohydride induced reductive
      decyanation reaction. A diverse array of substrates is amenable to this
      transformation. The methodology was further extended to a five-step total
      synthesis of the pyrrolizidine natural product isoretronecanol. 

PMID- 25820906
TI  - A Lightweight TiO2/Graphene Interlayer, Applied as a Highly Effective Polysulfide
      Absorbent for Fast, Long-Life Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

PMID- 25820907
TI  - Interleukin-27, a novel cytokine induced by ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat
      hearts, mediates cardioprotective effects via the gp130/STAT3 pathway.
AB  - Patients with coronary artery disease show high serum levels of interleukin (IL)
      27, a novel member of the IL-6 family. However, the function of IL-27 in hearts
      suffering ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury is unclear. Here, we showed increased
      expression of mRNA for the IL-27 subunits, EBI3 and p28, in rat hearts after 40
      min of coronary ligation and release for 7 days. This increase was associated
      with a peak in the release of the cardiac enzyme, creatine kinase-MB, on day 2
      post-release. Moreover, levels of IL-27 receptor subunit gp130 mRNA, but not
      those of subunit WSX-1 mRNA, decreased in post-ischemic hearts. These results
      suggest that increased IL-27 production may compensate for receptor
      downregulation during myocardial recovery. Lactate dehydrogenase release and
      crystal violet staining revealed that IL-27 or IL-6 significantly attenuated
      severe hypoxia (SH, 2 % O2)-induced cell damage in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts and
      primary rat neonatal cardiomyocytes. Incubating cardiomyocytes with IL-27 or IL-6
      resulted in time-dependent activation of signal transducers and activators of
      transcription 3 (STAT3). Interestingly, IL-27-induced STAT3 activation was
      attenuated by pre-treatment with a gp130-neutralizing antibody. Blocking gp130
      also reduced the cytoprotective effects of IL-27 or IL-6. Moreover, IL-27
      mediated protection against SH was blocked by stattic, a small-molecule inhibitor
      of STAT3. IL-27 markedly improved post-ischemic recovery and reduced tissue
      damage in isolated perfused hearts when administered 5 min before reperfusion.
      These results indicate that IL-27 protects the myocardium against IR injury and
      facilitates the recovery of damaged cardiomyocytes via the gp130/STAT3 pathway.

PMID- 25820908
TI  - Determination of chemotherapeutic drugs in human urine by capillary
      electrophoresis with UV and fluorimetric detection using solid-supported liquid
      liquid extraction for sample clean-up.
AB  - Capillary electrophoresis was used for the rapid determination of three
      chemotherapeutic drugs employed to treat colorectal cancer: irinotecan, tegafur,
      and leucovorin, and their main metabolites (7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin and 5
      fluorouracil), in human urine samples. A phosphate buffer (pH 11.34; 20 mM) was
      selected as the background electrolyte. A hydrodynamic injection (9 s, 30 mbar)
      was applied and the separation was carried out using a separation temperature and
      voltage of 25 degrees C and 25 kV, respectively. A capillary with two detection
      windows for serial online UV and fluorescence detection was satisfactorily
      employed. A solid-supported liquid-liquid extraction procedure was optimized for
      the clean-up of the urine samples and the extraction of the analytes. Matrix
      effects were assessed and signal suppression was observed for three of the
      analytes, thus, matrix-matched calibration was used for compensating residual
      matrix effects on these analytes. The proposed method allows the separation and
      quantification of the chemotherapeutics in less than 6 min. Detection limits
      range between 0.01 and 0.30 mg/L. The method was satisfactorily applied to the
      determination of the target compounds in human urine samples, with recoveries of
      92.4-107.7%. 

PMID- 25820910
TI  - Laparoscopic Colorectal Cancer Resection in High-Volume Surgical Centers: Long
      Term Outcomes from the LAPCOLON Group Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Strong evidence has confirmed the benefit of laparoscopy in
      colorectal cancer resection but remains a challenging procedure. It is not clear
      that such promising results in selected patients translate into a favorable risk
      benefit balance in real practice. We conducted a multicenter national
      observational registry to assess operative and oncologic long-term outcomes
      following laparoscopic colorectal cancer resection. METHODS: All patients with
      laparoscopic colorectal cancer resection between 2001 and 2004 were included.
      Data were extracted from the prospective Italian national database of 10 high
      volume centers (>=40 colorectal cancer laparoscopic resections per year).
      Surgical technique and follow-up were standardized. Survivals were analyzed by
      Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: We reported 1832 patients with colon (58.5%) and
      rectal cancer (41.5%). TNM stage was 0-I-II in 1044 patients (57%) and III-IV in
      788 patients (43%). Surgery included a totally laparoscopic procedure in 1820
      patients (99.3%). Conversion was 10.5%. Postoperative morbidity and 30-day
      mortality rates were 17 and 1.2%, respectively. Clinical anastomotic leakage rate
      was 8.3% (n=152). R0 resection was 95%. With a median follow-up of 54.2 months,
      cancer recurrence rate was 13.3%. At 5 years, cancer-free survival was 86.7%.
      Upon multivariate analysis, age (P=0.001) and TNM stage (P<0.001) were associated
      with cancer-free survival. Predictive factors of cancer recurrence were gender
      (P=0.029) and TNM stage (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In high-volume centers and non
      selective patients, laparoscopic colorectal resection for cancer achieves good
      operative results with satisfactory long-term oncologic results. Even in the
      laparoscopy era, age, gender, and TNM stage remain the most powerful predictor of
      oncologic outcomes.

PMID- 25820911
TI  - Risk Factors for Re-recurrence After First Reoperative Surgery for Locoregional
      Recurrent/Persistent Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is generally an indolent tumor
      indicative of favorable prognosis. However, post-treatment recurrences may be
      problematic, and management strategies for recurrent disease have not been
      established. This study investigated risk factors associated with re-recurrence
      of PTC after reoperative surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 151
      patients with pathologically confirmed recurrent/persistent PTC who underwent
      reoperation. Clinical factors, operative and pathologic findings, serum
      thyroglobulin levels, postoperative complications, and recurrences were examined.
      Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors
      associated with re-recurrence-free survival (RFS) after reoperative surgery.
      RESULTS: Recurrent tumors were found in thyroid remnants or previous resection
      bed (n=28), central nodes (n=48), and lateral neck nodes (n=102). Biochemical
      complete remission (stimulated thyroglobulin<1 ng/mL) was achieved in 69 (51.5%)
      patients after reoperative surgery. Permanent vocal fold paralysis and
      hypoparathyroidism developed in 6 (4.1%) and 4 (2.8%) patients, respectively.
      Vocal fold paralysis occurred primarily due to intentional nerve resection
      following tumor invasion. During a median follow-up of 57.5 months, 41 (27.2%)
      patients had re-recurrences. Univariate analyses showed that extranodal extension
      (p=0.028), recurrent laryngeal nerve invasion (p=0.037), as well as stimulated
      (p=0.001) and unstimulated (p=0.015) serum thyroglobulin were significant
      predictors of RFS. Multivariate analyses showed that postoperative biochemical
      remission independently predicted RFS (p=0.014). CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative
      thyroglobulin after reoperative surgery predicted re-recurrence. Careful follow
      up of these patients after reoperation is recommended.

PMID- 25820912
TI  - Gross motor coordination and weight status of Portuguese children aged 6-14
      years.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To construct age- and gender-specific percentiles for gross motor
      coordination (MC) tests and to explore differences in gross MC in normal-weight,
      overweight and obese children. METHODS: Data are from the "Healthy Growth of
      Madeira Study," a cross-sectional study carried out in children, aged 6-14 years.
      All 1,276 participants, 619 boys and 657 girls, were assessed for gross MC
      (Korperkoordinations Test fur Kinder, KTK), anthropometry (height and body mass),
      physical activity (Baecke questionnaire) and socioeconomic status (SES). Centile
      curves for gross MC were obtained for boys and girls separately using generalized
      additive models for location, scale and shape. RESULTS: A significant main effect
      for age was found in walking backwards and moving sideways. Boys performed
      significantly better than girls on moving sideways. At the upper limit of the
      distributions, interindividual variability was higher in hopping on one leg
      (girls) and jumping and moving sideways (boys and girls). One-way ANCOVA,
      controlling for age, physical activity and SES, indicated that normal-weight
      children scored significantly better than their obese peers in all gross MC
      tests. Overweight boys and girls also scored significantly better than their
      obese colleagues in some MC tests. CONCLUSIONS: These centile curves can be used
      as reference data in Portuguese children and youth, aged 6-14 years. Being
      overweight or obese was a major limitation in MC tests and, therefore, of the
      children's health- and performance-related physical fitness.

PMID- 25820913
TI  - Identifying the unmet needs of breast cancer patients post-primary treatment: the
      Cancer Survivor Profile (CSPro).
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to develop a brief measure of problem areas
      experienced by patients following primary treatment for breast cancer. METHOD:
      Systematic reviews of the quantitative and qualitative literature were used to
      inform selection of scale items using (1) valid and reliable items from a
      national item bank (patient reported outcomes measurement information system
      [PROMIS]), (2) existing scales from prior breast cancer survivorship research, or
      (3) items developed by the investigators. RESULTS: Participants (n = 400) were on
      average 51 years old, highly educated, Caucasian, diagnosed with stage I-III
      breast cancer, and a median of 1.96 years post-primary treatment. Principal
      component analysis on a random sample (n = 200) and confirmation on a second
      random sample (n = 200) indicated that each of the scales under consideration
      provided a significant measurement model for the symptom burden (CFI = 0.95),
      health behavior (CFI = 1.00), functional limitation (CFI = 0.99), health care
      seeking skill (CFI = 0.98), and cancer-related financial strain (CFI = 1.00)
      broad domains. The median Cronbach's alpha was 0.91. The measure demonstrated
      convergent, divergent, construct, and clinical validity. Lower levels of fatigue
      (beta = 0.251. p < 0.000) and pain (beta = 0.221, p < 0.000) and greater health
      competence (beta = 0.278, p < 0.000) and physical activity (beta = 0.165, p <
      0.000) were associated with self-rated global health (F = 60.43, p < 0.000). The
      final measure consists of 73 items and requires approximately 15 min to complete.
      DISCUSSION: The Cancer Survivor Profile (CSPro) provides a profile of problem
      areas supported by epidemiological and qualitative research on unmet needs of
      breast cancer survivors. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Breast cancer
      survivors can use the CSPro to prioritize problem areas following cancer
      treatment.

PMID- 25820914
TI  - Obstructive sleep apnea: underdiagnosed in older adults with severe mental
      illness?

PMID- 25820915
TI  - Hepatic effects of repeated oral administration of diclofenac to hepatic
      cytochrome P450 reductase null (HRNTM) and wild-type mice.
AB  - Hepatic NADPH-cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase null (HRNTM) mice exhibit normal
      hepatic and extrahepatic biotransformation enzyme activities when compared to
      wild-type (WT) mice, but express no functional hepatic cytochrome P450
      activities. When incubated in vitro with [(14)C]-diclofenac, liver microsomes
      from WT mice exhibited extensive biotransformation to oxidative and glucuronide
      metabolites and covalent binding to proteins was also observed. In contrast,
      whereas glucuronide conjugates and a quinone-imine metabolite were formed when
      [(14)C]-diclofenac was incubated with HRNTM mouse liver, only small quantities of
      P450-derived oxidative metabolites were produced in these samples and covalent
      binding to proteins was not observed. Livers from vehicle-treated HRNTM mice
      exhibited enhanced lipid accumulation, bile duct proliferation, hepatocellular
      degeneration and necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration, which were not
      present in livers from WT mice. Elevated liver-derived alanine aminotransferase,
      glutamate dehydrogenase and alkaline phosphatase activities were also observed in
      plasma from HRNTM mice. When treated orally with diclofenac for 7 days, at 30
      mg/kg/day, the severities of the abnormal liver histopathology and plasma liver
      enzyme findings in HRNTM mice were reduced markedly. Oral diclofenac
      administration did not alter the liver histopathology or elevate plasma enzyme
      activities of WT mice. These findings indicate that HRNTM mice are valuable for
      exploration of the role played by hepatic P450s in drug biotransformation, but
      poorly suited to investigations of drug-induced liver toxicity. Nevertheless,
      studies in HRNTM mice could provide novel insights into the role played by
      inflammation in liver injury and may aid the evaluation of new strategies for its
      treatment.

PMID- 25820916
TI  - 3-Aminotriazole protects from CoCl2-induced ototoxicity by inhibiting the
      generation of reactive oxygen species and proinflammatory cytokines in mice.
AB  - Cobalt is an essential heavy metal that is necessary for the formation of vitamin
      B12 (hydroxocobalamin). However, exposure to excess cobalt for a prolonged period
      can harm the human body, causing pulmonary fibrosis, blindness, deafness, and
      peripheral neuropathy. 3-Aminotriazole (3-AT) is a catalase inhibitor that is
      often used to investigate the physiological effects of catalase. The present
      study found that injection of 3-AT in mice significantly reduced CoCl2-induced
      hearing impairment. In cultured organ of Corti explants from rats, 3-AT treatment
      protected hair cells from CoCl2-induced cytotoxicity. To determine the mechanism
      by which 3-AT protected from CoCl2-induced ototoxicity, we used the HEI-OC1
      auditory cell line. Pretreatment with 10 mM 3-AT attenuated CoCl2-induced
      accumulation of ROS and induction of proinflammatory cytokine expression.
      Interestingly, these protective effects of 3-AT did not require catalase
      activity, as demonstrated by a series of experiments using RNA interference
      mediated catalase knockdown in HEI-OC1 cells and using catalase-deficient mouse
      embryonic fibroblasts. Our results demonstrated the mechanisms of CoCl2-induced
      ototoxicity that may provide better ways to prevent the ototoxic effect of cobalt
      exposure.

PMID- 25820917
TI  - Regulatory toxicology in the twenty-first century: challenges, perspectives and
      possible solutions.
AB  - The advent of new testing systems and "omics"-technologies has left regulatory
      toxicology facing one of the biggest challenges for decades. That is the question
      whether and how these methods can be used for regulatory purposes. The new
      methods undoubtedly enable regulators to address important open questions of
      toxicology such as species-specific toxicity, mixture toxicity, low-dose effects,
      endocrine effects or nanotoxicology, while promising faster and more efficient
      toxicity testing with the use of less animals. Consequently, the respective
      assays, methods and testing strategies are subject of several research programs
      worldwide. On the other hand, the practical application of such tests for
      regulatory purposes is a matter of ongoing debate. This document summarizes key
      aspects of this debate in the light of the European "regulatory status quo",
      while elucidating new perspectives for regulatory toxicity testing. 

PMID- 25820918
TI  - Moving from rats to cellular omics in regulatory toxicology: great challenge
      toward sustainability or "up-shit-creek without a paddle"?

PMID- 25820919
TI  - Borderline cognitive level in a family with Bazex-Dupre-Christol syndrome.
AB  - Bazex-Dupre-Christol syndrome (BDCS) [OMIM 301845] is an X-linked dominant
      disorder of the hair follicle characterized by multiple basal cell carcinomas,
      follicular atrophoderma, congenital hypotrichosis, and hypohidrosis. Additional
      features include multiple milia, trichoepitheliomas, and axillary hidradenitis
      suppurativa as well as a variety of other symptoms. Some patients with a
      diagnosis of BDCS have had poor school performance. But no other associated
      psychopathological disorders have been described in the literature. We describe
      the neuropsychological characteristics and the co-occurring psychopathological
      disorders in an Italian family (brother and sister, and their mother) affected by
      BDCS. The BDCS phenotype in this family was characterized by hypotrichosis,
      atrophoderma follicularis, milia, and trichoepitheliomas. No basal cell
      carcinomas were documented. At neuropsychological assessment the three affected
      family members all had a borderline cognitive level. Other identified
      psychopathological disorders included attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
      executive deficits, academic difficulties, deficits in lexical skills, and
      internalizing problems. The presence of cognitive impairment in the three family
      members affected by BDCS suggests that cognitive impairment may be associated
      with the syndrome. It may be useful to assess neuropsychological performance in
      patients with BDCS to identify possible associated neuropsychological disorders.

PMID- 25820920
TI  - The deferiprone and deferasirox combination is efficacious in iron overloaded
      patients with beta-thalassemia major: A prospective, single center, open-label
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The high cost, coupled with the need for continuous infusion, renders
      Desferrioxamine (DFO), a non-feasible option for iron-chelation in a large
      majority of patients with beta-thalassemia major in developing countries.
      Monotherapy with deferiprone (DFP) or deferasirox (DFX) may not always attain
      optimal control, particularly in heavily iron-loaded patients. Combination of DFP
      and DFX is a potential alternative. PROCEDURE: A prospective, single-center, open
      label, uncontrolled study was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of
      the combination in patients with beta-thalassemia major. Patients who had
      received either DFP or DFX for >1 year and a serum ferritin >2,000 MUg/L were
      enrolled. Blood counts, liver/renal functions, and serum ferritin were monitored
      during the 1-year study period. Facilities for cardiac T2*-MRI were unavailable.
      RESULTS: Thirty-six patients with a mean age of 13 +/- 6.9 years (range: 4-29)
      and a ferritin of 6,768 +/- 4,145 MUg/L formed the study cohort. Eight (22%)
      patients had transient gastrointestinal adverse effects. DFX was discontinued in
      one patient for persistent abdominal pain/diarrhea. Eight (22%) had joint
      symptoms; DFP was discontinued in two. Four (11%) patients had elevation in
      AST/ALT levels, managed with temporary interruption of DFX. Nine (25%) had an
      inconsistent elevation of creatinine to >33% of baseline; no intervention was
      done. One had transient proteinuria. None had neutropenia. At the end of 1 year,
      the serum ferritin reduced by a mean value of 3,275.3 +/- 618.2 MUg/L (P <
      0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The oral combination was found to be safe, efficacious, and
      a feasible option in patients with suboptimal response to monotherapy.

PMID- 25820922
TI  - Effects of processing and storage conditions on charged metabolomic profiles in
      blood.
AB  - The development of high-throughput metabolite measurement technologies has
      enabled the use of metabolomics for epidemiologic studies by profiling metabolite
      concentrations in large cohorts of human blood samples. Standard protocols are
      necessary to obtain unbiased profiles through multiple runs over long periods of
      time and to allow reliable statistical analyses. This study assessed the effects
      of sampling procedures and storage conditions on the stability of metabolomic
      profiles in plasma and serum. Charged metabolomic profiles were determined by
      capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) and compared by multivariate
      analyses. The effects of pre-analytical procedures, including times for clotting
      and incubation of serum and plasma, respectively; incubation temperatures; and
      number of freeze-thaw cycles, were assessed. Overall, inter-individual
      differences in profiles were larger than intra-individual differences, and
      profiles in plasma showed better stability than those in serum. These quantified
      datasets of metabolites, along with their stability and variation, may help in
      interpreting data from long-term cohort studies.

PMID- 25820921
TI  - Characteristics of Young Children with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Baseline
      Features from the POTS Jr. Sample.
AB  - Pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and impairing
      condition that can emerge early in childhood and persist into adulthood. The
      primary aim of this paper is to examine the characteristics of a large sample of
      young children with OCD (age range from 5 to 8). The sample will be described
      with regard to: demographics, OCD symptoms/severity, family history and parental
      psychopathology, comorbidity, and global and family functioning. The sample
      includes 127 youth with a primary diagnosis of OCD who participated in a multi
      site, randomized control clinical trial of family-based exposure with response
      prevention. Key findings include moderate to severe OCD symptoms, high rates of
      impairment, and significant comorbidity, despite the participants' young age.
      Discussion focuses on how the characteristics of young children compare with
      older youth and with the few other samples of young children with OCD.
      Considerations regarding generalizability of the sample and limitations of the
      study are discussed. 

PMID- 25820923
TI  - Site-specific dental plaque pH in 13-year-old Thai schoolchildren.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper was to study pH conditions between dental sites,
      taking account the presence of caries, calculus, and microbial composition and
      alkali production. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred 13-year-old Thai
      schoolchildren were recorded for caries experience (DMFT, DT), calculus, plaque,
      and gingivitis. Ex vivo urease activity was measured on 11, 26, 31, and 46
      (distal aspect) with the rapid urease test and pH at baseline and after rinse
      with 0.25 % urea solution on mesial site in vivo. Interproximal plaque from
      contralateral teeth was microbiological analysed with the checkerboard technique.
      RESULTS: Thirty-four children were caries free. Plaque and calculus were
      abundant; all children showed a high resting plaque pH and the mandibular incisor
      showed significantly (p < 0.01) higher pH at baseline, max pH and AOC7.0 after
      urea challenge, ex vivo urease activity and calculus but lower caries experience
      than other teeth. A significant inverse correlation (p < 0.02) was found between
      caries frequency and ex vivo urease activity for tooth 11. Anaerobes predominated
      over streptococci, but no significant differences between dental sites were
      found. CONCLUSIONS: The study group had a high baseline plaque pH, in vivo and ex
      vivo urease activity, and calculus but low caries experience, which was best
      reflected in the lower incisor region. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Urease activity and pH
      on site level may be important determinants for individuals at caries risk.

PMID- 25820924
TI  - Comparison of retreatment ability of full-sequence reciprocating instrumentation
      and 360 degrees  rotary instrumentation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the amount of
      root canal filling material after root canal filling removal with 360 degrees 
      rotary instrumentation or reciprocating motion with the same file sequence.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Root canals of the 36 mandibular premolars were shaped
      with ProTaper Universal instruments up to size F2 and filled with corresponding
      single gutta-percha cone and sealer. The teeth were assigned to two retreatment
      groups (n = 18): group 1 360 degrees  rotational motion and group 2 reciprocating
      motion of ATR Tecnika motors (1310 degrees  clockwise and 578 degrees 
      counterclockwise). Retreatment procedure was performed with ProTaper Universal
      retreatment files with a sequence of D1-3 and ProTaper Universal F3 instruments.
      Total time required to remove filling material were recorded. Remaining filling
      material was examined under stereomicroscope at *8 magnification. The data were
      analysed statistically using the Mann-Whitney U test, and testing was performed
      at 95 % confidence level (p < 0.05). RESULTS: There were no significant
      differences between the groups (p > 0.05) in terms of remaining filling material.
      The total time required for retreatment was shorter in 360 degrees  rotational
      motion group compared to reciprocating motion group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Both
      continuous rotation and reciprocating motion showed similar effectiveness in
      terms of root canal filling material removal. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Using ProTaper
      Universal retreatment instruments with reciprocating motion of ATR motor and
      conventional rotary motion have similar efficacy in root canal filling removal.

PMID- 25820925
TI  - Quantifying the natural history of biofilm formation in vivo during the
      establishment of chronic implant-associated Staphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis
      in mice to identify critical pathogen and host factors.
AB  - While it is well known that Staphylococcus aureus establishes chronic implant
      associated osteomyelitis by generating and persisting in biofilm, research to
      elucidate pathogen, and host specific factors controlling this process has been
      limited due to the absence of a quantitative in vivo model. To address this, we
      developed a murine tibia implant model with ex vivo region of interest (ROI)
      imaging analysis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Implants were coated with
      Staphylococcus aureus strains (SH1000, UAMS-1, USA300LAC) with distinct in vitro
      biofilm phenotypes, were used to infect C57BL/6 or Balb/c mice. In contrast to
      their in vitro biofilm phenotype, results from all bacteria strains in vivo were
      similar, and demonstrated that biofilm on the implant is established within the
      first day, followed by a robust proliferation phase peaking on Day 3 in Balb/c
      mice, and persisting until Day 7 in C57BL/6 mice, as detected by SEM and
      bioluminescent imaging. Biofilm formation peaked at Day 14, covering ~40% of the
      ROI coincident with massive agr-dependent bacterial emigration, as evidenced by
      large numbers of empty lacunae with few residual bacteria, which were largely
      culture negative (80%) and PCR positive (87.5%), supporting the clinical
      relevance of this implant model.

PMID- 25820926
TI  - Cheetah interspecific SCNT followed by embryo aggregation improves in vitro
      development but not pluripotent gene expression.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the capacity of domestic cat (Dc, Felis
      silvestris) oocytes to reprogram the nucleus of cheetah (Ch, Acinonyx jubatus)
      cells by interspecies SCNT (iSCNT), by using embryo aggregation. Dc oocytes were
      in vitro matured and subjected to zona pellucida free (ZP-free) SCNT or iSCNT,
      depending on whether the nucleus donor cell was of Dc or Ch respectively. ZP-free
      reconstructed embryos were then cultured in microwells individually (Dc1X and
      Ch1X groups) or in couples (Dc2X and Ch2X groups). Embryo aggregation improved in
      vitro development obtaining 27.4, 47.7, 16.7 and 28.3% of blastocyst rates in the
      Dc1X, Dc2X, Ch1X and Ch2X groups, respectively (P<0.05). Moreover, aggregation
      improved the morphological quality of blastocysts from the Dc2X over the Dc1X
      group. Gene expression analysis revealed that Ch1X and Ch2X blastocysts had
      significantly lower relative expression of OCT4, CDX2 and NANOG than the Dc1X,
      Dc2X and IVF control groups. The OCT4, NANOG, SOX2 and CDX2 genes were
      overexpressed in Dc1X blastocysts, but the relative expression of these four
      genes decreased in the Dc2X, reaching similar relative levels to those of Dc IVF
      blastocysts. In conclusion, Ch blastocysts were produced using Dc oocytes, but
      with lower relative expression of pluripotent and trophoblastic genes, indicating
      that nuclear reprogramming could be still incomplete. Despite this, embryo
      aggregation improved the development of Ch and Dc embryos, and normalized Dc gene
      expression, which suggests that this strategy could improve full-term
      developmental efficiency of cat and feline iSCNT embryos. 

PMID- 25820927
TI  - A Randomized Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Co
      Administration of Sitagliptin with Intensively Titrated Insulin Glargine.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to assess the effect of sitagliptin
      on insulin dose in patients with inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes who
      titrate basal insulin to a target fasting glucose level after initiating
      sitagliptin. METHODS: This was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo
      controlled, 24-week clinical trial in which treatment with sitagliptin 100 mg/day
      or placebo was administered concurrently with insulin glargine titration,
      targeting a fasting glucose of 4.0-5.6 mmol/L (72-100 mg/dL). The trial
      randomized 660 patients with type 2 diabetes and inadequate glycemic control on
      insulin, with or without metformin (>=1500 mg/day) or sulfonylurea, for >=10
      weeks. Patients could remain on metformin but not sulfonylurea after
      randomization. RESULTS: The increase from baseline in the daily dose of insulin
      was less in the sitagliptin group (N = 329) compared to placebo (N = 329)
      (between group difference = -4.7 IU [95% confidence interval [CI] -8.3, -1.2]; p
      = 0.009). Patients in the sitagliptin group had lower glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c)
      levels after 24 weeks (between-group difference of -0.4% [95% CI -0.6, -0.3; -4.9
      mmol/mol (95% CI -6.6, -3.2)]; p < 0.001), and more patients in the sitagliptin
      group reached the HbA1c goal of <7.0% (53 mmol/mol), with a between-group
      difference of 17.3% (95% CI 10.4%, 24.1%; p < 0.001). Fewer patients in the
      sitagliptin group experienced an adverse event of hypoglycemia (between-group
      difference = -15.5%, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Administration of sitagliptin prior
      to intensive titration of basal insulin glargine reduces the insulin dose
      requirement while providing superior glycemic control and less hypoglycemia,
      compared to an insulin-only regimen. FUNDING: Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ,
      USA.

PMID- 25820928
TI  - Physical exercise and acute restraint stress differentially modulate hippocampal
      brain-derived neurotrophic factor transcripts and epigenetic mechanisms in mice.
AB  - Physical exercise and stressful experiences have been shown to exert opposite
      effects on behavioral functions and brain plasticity, partly by involving the
      action of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Although epigenetic
      modifications are known to play a pivotal role in the regulation of the different
      BDNF transcripts, it is poorly understood whether epigenetic mechanisms are also
      implied in the BDNF modulation induced by physical exercise and stress. Here, we
      show that total BDNF mRNA levels and BDNF transcripts 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 were
      reduced immediately after acute restraint stress (RS) in the hippocampus of mice,
      and returned to control levels 24 h after the stress session. On the contrary,
      exercise increased BDNF mRNA expression and counteracted the stress-induced
      decrease of BDNF transcripts. Physical exercise-induced up-regulation of BDNF
      transcripts was accounted for by increase in histone H3 acetylated levels at
      specific BDNF promoters, whereas the histone H3 trimethylated lysine 27 and
      dimethylated lysine 9 levels were unaffected. Acute RS did not change the levels
      of acetylated and methylated histone H3 at the BDNF promoters. Furthermore, we
      found that physical exercise and RS were able to differentially modulate the
      histone deacetylases mRNA levels. Finally, we report that a single treatment with
      histone deacetylase inhibitors, prior to acute stress exposure, prevented the
      down-regulation of total BDNF and BDNF transcripts 1, 2, 3, and 6, partially
      reproducing the effect of physical exercise. Overall, these results suggest that
      physical exercise and stress are able to differentially modulate the expression
      of BDNF transcripts by possible different epigenetic mechanisms.

PMID- 25820929
TI  - Stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha prevents endothelial progenitor cells
      senescence and enhances re-endothelialization of injured arteries via human
      telomerase reverse transcriptase.
AB  - Recent studies have suggested that endothelial progenitor subpopulation (EPCs)
      number and activity were associated with EPCs senescence. Our previous study had
      shown that stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha) could prevent EPCs
      senescence, which may be via telomerase. In this study, we further investigated
      the role of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (h-TERT) on the protective
      effect of SDF-1alpha against senescence. Knockdown h-TERT abrogated the
      protective effect of SDF-1alpha and abolished the effects of SDF-1alpha on
      migration and proliferation. Moreover, it inhibited EPCs recruitment. In
      conclusion, h-TERT served a critical role in the progress that SDF-1alpha
      prevented EPCs senescence and enhanced re-endothelialization of the injured
      arteries. 

PMID- 25820930
TI  - Cognitive dysfunction in patients with very mild Alzheimer's disease and amnestic
      mild cognitive impairment showing hemispheric asymmetries of hypometabolism on
      18F-FDG PET.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We investigated cognitive dysfunction in patients with Alzheimer's
      disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) who present
      hemispheric asymmetries of cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRglc) decrease
      on (18) F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. METHODS: Based on the
      hemispheric asymmetries of CMRglc decrease in the posterior cingulate cortex,
      precuneus, and parietotemporal cortex, the patients were divided into three
      groups (a left-dominant hypometabolism group, a right-dominant hypometabolism
      group, and a non-dominant hypometabolism group). CMRglc decrease in the whole
      brain was controlled among the three groups. All the patients underwent mini
      mental state examination (MMSE), Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R), and
      Wechsler Adult Intelligent Scale-Third (WAIS-III). RESULTS: There were no
      significant differences in MMSE and WAIS-III scores among the three groups. In
      WMS-R, the results indicated that the left-dominant group demonstrated
      significantly lower scores in verbal memory than the other two groups.
      Furthermore, the left-dominant group had a greater tendency to be diagnosed with
      AD rather than aMCI. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with AD and aMCI showing left-dominant
      hypometabolism tend to show severer impairment in verbal memory function and to
      be diagnosed with AD dementia.

PMID- 25820931
TI  - Survival benefit in women with BRCA1 mutation or familial risk in the MRI
      screening study (MRISC).
AB  - Adding MRI to annual mammography screening improves early breast cancer detection
      in women with familial risk or BRCA1/2 mutation, but breast cancer specific
      metastasis free survival (MFS) remains unknown. We compared MFS of patients from
      the largest prospective MRI Screening Study (MRISC) with 1:1 matched controls.
      Controls, unscreened if<50 years, and screened with biennial mammography if >=50
      years, were matched on risk category (BRCA1, BRCA2, familial risk), year and age
      of diagnosis. Of 2,308 MRISC participants, breast cancer was detected in 93 (97
      breast cancers), who received MRI <2 years before breast cancer diagnosis; 33
      BRCA1 mutation carriers, 18 BRCA2 mutation carriers, and 42 with familial risk.
      MRISC patients had smaller (87% vs. 52% <T2, p < 0.001), more often node negative
      (69% vs. 44%, p = 0.001) tumors and received less chemotherapy (39% vs. 77%, p <
      0.001) and hormonal therapy (14% vs. 47%, p < 0.001) than controls. Median follow
      up time was 9 years (range 0-14). Breast cancer metastasized in 9% (8/93) of
      MRISC patients and in 23% (21/93) of controls (p = 0.009). MFS was better in
      MRISC patients overall (log-rank p = 0.008, HR 0.36, 95% CI 0.16-0.80), with
      familial risk (log-rank p = 0.024, HR: 0.21, 95% CI 0.04-0.95), and in BRCA1
      mutation carriers (log-rank p = 0.055, HR 0.30, 95% CI 0.08-1.13). MFS remained
      better in MRISC patients after lead time correction (log-rank p = 0.020, HR 0.40,
      95% CI 0.18-0.90). Overall survival was non-significantly better in MRISC
      patients (log-rank p = 0.064, HR 0.51, CI 0.24-1.06). Annual screening with MRI
      and mammography improves metastasis free survival in women with BRCA1 mutation or
      familial predisposition. 

PMID- 25820932
TI  - Health and Functioning in Grandparents After a Young Grandchild's Death.
AB  - This cross-sectional study examined the physical and mental health, grief and
      role functioning of 136 grandparents in the first year after death of their young
      grandchild (newborn through 6 years). Grandparents were 36-77 years old; 73%
      female; 24% Hispanic, 38% Black/African American, and 38% White. Mean age of the
      115 deceased grandchildren was 12.8 months (SD = 20.71) with 37% <1 month old;
      65% were male, 77% died in the hospital. Grandparents were recruited through
      state death records and interviewed by telephone. Grandparents experienced:
      clinical depression (31%), PTSD (35%); illnesses (28%), hospitalizations, new
      chronic health conditions (mental disorders, hypertension, angina, cancer), and
      medication changes. Grandparents who provided care for the deceased grandchild
      had more intense symptoms of grief, depression and PTSD and more trouble focusing
      at their jobs. Severity of depressive and/or PTSD symptoms were more likely to be
      at clinically important levels for grandparents who had provided childcare for
      the deceased grandchild than for non-caregiving grandparents. Black grandparents
      had more severe symptoms of PTSD and thought more about their deceased grandchild
      on the job than White grandparents. The interaction effect of race/ethnicity and
      provision of child care was significant for PTSD and Blame and Anger. Hispanic
      grandparents who provided some child care for their deceased grandchild had less
      severe PTSD symptoms than caregiving Black and White grandparents. Caregiving
      Hispanic grandparents also experienced less Blame and Anger than White caregiving
      grandparents.

PMID- 25820933
TI  - Finite element simulation of the insertion of guidewires during an EVAR
      procedure: example of a complex patient case, a first step toward patient
      specific parameterized models.
AB  - Deformations of the vascular structure due to the insertion of tools during
      endovascular treatment of aneurysms of the abdominal aorta, unless properly
      anticipated during the preoperative planning phase, may be the source of
      intraoperative or postoperative complications. We propose here an explicit finite
      element simulation method which enables one to predict such deformations. This
      method is based on a mechanical model of the vascular structure which takes into
      account the nonlinear behavior of the arterial wall, the prestressing effect
      induced by the blood pressure and the mechanical support of the surrounding
      organs and structures. An analysis of the model sensitivity to the parameters
      used to represent this environment is done. This allows determining the
      parameters that have the largest influence on the quality of the prediction and
      also provides realistic values for each of them as no experimental data are
      available in the literature. Moreover, for the first time, the results are
      compared with 3D intraoperative data. This is done for a patient-specific case
      with a complex anatomy in order to assess the feasibility of the method. Finally,
      the predictive capability of the simulation is evaluated on a group of nine
      patients. The error between the final simulated and intraoperatively measured
      tool positions was 2.1 mm after the calibration phase on one patient. It results
      in a 4.6 +/- 2.5 mm in average error for the blind evaluation on nine patients.

PMID- 25820934
TI  - [Treatment of acute renal failure in Germany: Analysis of current practice].
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There are currently no reliable data on the
      differential use of renal replacement therapy (RRT) options for critically ill
      patients with acute renal failure in Germany. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A
      questionnaire-based survey was delivered to 2265 German intensive care units. The
      questionnaire contained 19 questions regarding RRT. RESULTS: A total of 423
      German intensive care units participated in the survey. The offered modalities of
      RRT varied significantly: the smaller the facility, the fewer different RRT
      options were available. Intermittent dialysis procedures were available in only
      35% of hospitals with up to 400 beds. In university hospitals, hemodynamically
      unstable patients were exclusively treated by continuous RRT, whereas in
      hospitals with up to 400 beds, intermittent RRT was also used. In addition,
      treatment practice was also dependent on the specialization of the treating
      physicians: Isolated acute renal failure was treated more often intermittently by
      nephrologists compared to anesthesiologists (79.7 vs. 43.3%). Nephrologists also
      used extracorporeal RRT more often in cardiorenal syndrome (54.3 vs. 35.8%),
      whereas anesthesiologists preferred them in sepsis (37.3 vs. 23.1%). The choice
      of anticoagulant varied as well: Hospitals with up to 400 beds offered regional
      citrate anticoagulation in only 50% compared to 90% of university hospitals.
      CONCLUSIONS: Currently, RRT treatment in acute renal failure on German intensive
      care units seems to be dependent on the size, local structures, and education of
      the intensivists rather than patient needs. Our results demonstrate the necessity
      to establish cross-disciplinary standards for the treatment of acute renal
      failure in German intensive care units.

PMID- 25820936
TI  - The distribution pattern of genetic variation in the transcript isoforms of the
      alternatively spliced protein-coding genes in the human genome.
AB  - By enabling the transcription of multiple isoforms from the same gene locus,
      alternative-splicing mechanisms greatly expand the diversity of the human
      transcriptome and proteome. Currently, the alternatively spliced transcripts from
      each protein-coding gene locus in the human genome can be classified as either
      principal or non-principal isoforms, providing that they differ with respect to
      cross-species conservation or biological features. By mapping the variants from
      the 1000 Genomes Project onto the coding region of each isoform, an interesting
      pattern of the genetic variation distributions of the coding regions for these
      two types of transcript isoforms was revealed on a whole-genome scale: compared
      with the principal isoform-specific coding regions, the non-principal isoform
      specific coding regions are significantly enriched in amino acid-changing
      variants, particularly those that have a strong impact on protein function and
      have higher derived allele frequencies, suggesting that non-principal isoform
      specific substitutions are less likely to be related to phenotype changes or
      disease. The results herein can help us better understand the potential
      consequences of alternatively spliced products from a population perspective. 

PMID- 25820937
TI  - Nitric oxide activation by caa3 oxidoreductase from Thermus thermophilus.
AB  - Visible and UV-resonance Raman spectroscopy was employed to investigate the
      reaction of NO with cytochrome caa3 from Thermus thermophilus. We show the
      formation of the hyponitrite (HO-N=N-O)(-) bound to the heme a3 species (nuN=N =
      1330 cm(-1)) forming a high spin complex in the oxidized heme a3 Fe/CuB binuclear
      center of caa3-oxidoreductase. In the absence of heme a3 Fe(2+)-NO formation, the
      electron required for the formation of the N=N bond originates from the
      autoreduction of CuB by NO, producing nitrite. With the identification of the
      hyponitrite intermediate the hypothesis of a common phylogeny of aerobic
      respiration and bacterial denitrification is fully supported and the mechanism
      for the 2e(-)/2H(+) reduction of NO to N2O can be described with more certainty.

PMID- 25820935
TI  - [Electronic alerts for acute kidney injury: Opportunities and limits].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (previously: acute renal failure) is a frequent
      disorder of hospitalized patients with serious complications contributing to
      worse prognosis as seen in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Acute
      kidney injury carries a high economic health burden. Early diagnosis and
      treatment and outpatient care may avoid complications such as development or
      progression of chronic kidney disease. OBJECTIVES: The opportunities and limits
      of electronic alert systems for acute kidney injury were evaluated. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Narrative review. RESULTS: In accordance with the literature, more than
      95% of affected patients are treated by nonrenal specialties. Results from such
      systems established in the UK are promising. Patients with acute kidney injury
      are reliably and early detected by electronic alert systems. Quality of care is
      improved by hospital-wide electronic alert systems for acute kidney injury. Also,
      early initiated treatment seems to contribute to favorable patient-related
      outcome and to reduce mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of hospital-wide
      electronic alert systems for acute kidney injury should be seriously considered.

PMID- 25820938
TI  - Antiarrhythmics for maintaining sinus rhythm after cardioversion of atrial
      fibrillation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation is the most frequent sustained arrhythmia. Atrial
      fibrillation frequently recurs after restoration of normal sinus rhythm.
      Antiarrhythmic drugs have been widely used to prevent recurrence, but the effect
      of these drugs on mortality and other clinical outcomes is unclear. This is an
      update of a review previously published in 2008 and 2012. OBJECTIVES: To
      determine in patients who have recovered sinus rhythm after having atrial
      fibrillation, the effects of long-term treatment with antiarrhythmic drugs on
      death, stroke, embolism, drug adverse effects and recurrence of atrial
      fibrillation. SEARCH METHODS: We updated the searches of CENTRAL in The Cochrane
      Library (2013, Issue 12 of 12), MEDLINE (to January 2014) and EMBASE (to January
      2014). The reference lists of retrieved articles, recent reviews and meta
      analyses were checked. SELECTION CRITERIA: Two independent authors selected
      randomised controlled trials comparing any antiarrhythmic drug with a control (no
      treatment, placebo, drugs for rate control) or with another antiarrhythmic drug
      in adults who had atrial fibrillation and in whom sinus rhythm was restored. Post
      operative atrial fibrillation was excluded. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two
      authors independently assessed quality and extracted data. Studies were pooled,
      if appropriate, using Peto odds ratio (OR). All results were calculated at one
      year of follow-up. MAIN RESULTS: In this update three new studies, with 534
      patients, were included making a total of 59 included studies comprising 21,305
      patients. All included studies were randomised controlled trials. Allocation
      concealment was adequate in 17 trials, it was unclear in the remaining 42 trials.
      Risk of bias was assessed in all domains only in the trials included in this
      update.Compared with controls, class IA drugs quinidine and disopyramide (OR
      2.39, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.03 to 5.59, number needed to treat to
      harm (NNTH) 109, 95% CI 34 to 4985) and sotalol (OR 2.23, 95% CI 1.1 to 4.50,
      NNTH 169, 95% CI 60 to 2068) were associated with increased all-cause mortality.
      Other antiarrhythmics did not seem to modify mortality, but our data could be
      underpowered to detect mild increases in mortality for several of the drugs
      studied.Several class IA (disopyramide, quinidine), IC (flecainide, propafenone)
      and III (amiodarone, dofetilide, dronedarone, sotalol) drugs significantly
      reduced recurrence of atrial fibrillation (OR 0.19 to 0.70, number needed to
      treat to beneft (NNTB) 3 to 16). Beta-blockers (metoprolol) also significantly
      reduced atrial fibrillation recurrences (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.88, NNTB
      9).All analysed drugs increased withdrawals due to adverse affects and all but
      amiodarone, dronedarone and propafenone increased pro-arrhythmia. Only 11 trials
      reported data on stroke. None of them found any significant difference with the
      exception of a single trial than found less strokes in the group treated with
      dronedarone compared to placebo. This finding was not confirmed in others studies
      on dronedarone.We could not analyse heart failure and use of anticoagulation
      because few original studies reported on these measures. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS:
      Several class IA, IC and III drugs, as well as class II drugs (beta-blockers),
      are moderately effective in maintaining sinus rhythm after conversion of atrial
      fibrillation. However, they increase adverse events, including pro-arrhythmia,
      and some of them (disopyramide, quinidine and sotalol) may increase mortality.
      Possible benefits on clinically relevant outcomes (stroke, embolism, heart
      failure) remain to be established.

PMID- 25820939
TI  - Remarkable and Crystal-Structure-Dependent Piezoelectric and Piezoresistive
      Effects of InAs Nanowires.

PMID- 25820940
TI  - Effect of synthetic and natural water-absorbing soil amendments on photosynthesis
      characteristics and tuber nutritional quality of potato in a semi-arid region.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The effect of water-absorbing soil amendments on photosynthesis
      characteristics and tuber nutritional quality was investigated in a field
      experiment in a semi-arid region in northern China in 2010-2012. Treatments
      included two synthetic water-absorbing amendments, potassium polyacrylate (PAA)
      and polyacrylamide (PAM), and one natural amendment, humic acid (HA), both as
      single amendments and compound amendments (HA combined with PAA or PAM), and a no
      amendment control. RESULTS: Soil amendments had a highly significant effect (P <=
      0.01) on photosynthesis characteristics, dry biomass, crop root/shoot (R/S) ratio
      and tuber nutritional quality. They improved both dry biomass above ground and
      dry biomass underground in the whole growing season by 4.6-31.2 and 1.1-83.1%
      respectively in all three years. Crop R/S ratio was reduced in the early growing
      season by 2.0-29.4% and increased in the later growing season by 2.3-32.6%. Soil
      amendments improved leaf soil plant analysis development value, net
      photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate by 1.4-17.0, 5.1
      45.9, 2.4-90.6 and 2.0-22.6% respectively and reduced intercellular CO2
      concentration by 2.1-19.5% in all three years. CONCLUSION: Amendment treatment
      with PAM + HA always had the greatest effect on photosynthesis characteristics
      and tuber nutritional quality among all amendment treatments and thus merits
      further research.

PMID- 25820942
TI  - Low-dimensional carbon spacers in surface plasmon-coupled emission with
      femtomolar sensitivity and 1000-fold fluorescence enhancements.
AB  - We have engineered the use of 2D, 1D and 0D carbon allotropes as spacers to
      achieve in excess of 1000-fold fluorescence enhancements in a Surface plasmon
      coupled emission (SPCE) platform. We also have demonstrated the femtomolar
      sensitivity of silver decorated carbon dots (AgCD) in the detection of a
      radiating dipole. 

PMID- 25820941
TI  - Key challenges for the creation and maintenance of specialist protein resources.
AB  - As the volume of data relating to proteins increases, researchers rely more and
      more on the analysis of published data, thus increasing the importance of good
      access to these data that vary from the supplemental material of individual
      articles, all the way to major reference databases with professional staff and
      long-term funding. Specialist protein resources fill an important middle ground,
      providing interactive web interfaces to their databases for a focused topic or
      family of proteins, using specialized approaches that are not feasible in the
      major reference databases. Many are labors of love, run by a single lab with
      little or no dedicated funding and there are many challenges to building and
      maintaining them. This perspective arose from a meeting of several specialist
      protein resources and major reference databases held at the Wellcome Trust Genome
      Campus (Cambridge, UK) on August 11 and 12, 2014. During this meeting some common
      key challenges involved in creating and maintaining such resources were
      discussed, along with various approaches to address them. In laying out these
      challenges, we aim to inform users about how these issues impact our resources
      and illustrate ways in which our working together could enhance their accuracy,
      currency, and overall value.

PMID- 25820943
TI  - Orienting tetramolecular G-quadruplex formation: the quest for the elusive RNA
      antiparallel quadruplex.
AB  - DNA and RNA G-quadruplexes (G4) are unusual nucleic acid structures involved in a
      number of key biological processes. RNA G-quadruplexes are less studied although
      recent evidence demonstrates that they are biologically relevant. Compared to DNA
      quadruplexes, RNA G4 are generally more stable and less polymorphic. Duplexes and
      quadruplexes may be combined to obtain pure tetrameric species. Here, we
      investigated whether classical antiparallel duplexes can drive the formation of
      antiparallel tetramolecular quadruplexes. This concept was first successfully
      applied to DNA G4. In contrast, RNA G4 were found to be much more unwilling to
      adopt the forced antiparallel orientation, highlighting that the reason RNA
      adopts a different structure must not be sought in the loops but in the G-stem
      structure itself. RNA antiparallel G4 formation is likely to be restricted to a
      very small set of peculiar sequences, in which other structural features overcome
      the formidable intrinsic barrier preventing its formation. 

PMID- 25820944
TI  - A mobile biosafety microanalysis system for infectious agents.
AB  - Biological threats posed by pathogens such as Ebola virus must be quickly
      diagnosed, while protecting the safety of personnel. Scanning electron microscopy
      and microanalysis requires minimal specimen preparation and can help to identify
      hazardous agents or substances. Here we report a compact biosafety system for
      rapid imaging and elemental analysis of specimens, including powders, viruses and
      bacteria, which is easily transportable to the site of an incident. 

PMID- 25820945
TI  - Comparison between the cultures of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)
      on feeder-and serum-free system (Matrigel matrix), MEF and HDF feeder cell lines.
AB  - Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are a type of pluripotent stem
      cells artificially derived from an adult somatic cell (typically human
      fibroblast) by forced expression of specific genes. In recent years, different
      feeders like inactivated mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), human dermal
      fibroblasts (HDFs), and feeder free system have commonly been used for supporting
      the culture of stem cells in undifferentiated state. In the present work, the
      culture of hiPSCs and their characterizations on BD Matrigel (feeder-and serum
      free system), MEF and HDF feeders using cell culture methods and molecular
      techniques were evaluated and compared. The isolated HDFs from foreskin samples
      were reprogrammed to hiPSCs using gene delivery system. Then, the pluripotency
      ability of hiPSCs cultured on each layer was determined by teratoma formation and
      immunohistochemical staining. After EBs generation the expression level of three
      germ layers genes were evaluated by Q-real-time PCR. Also, the cytogenetic
      stability of hiPSCs cultured on each condition was analyzed by karyotyping and
      comet assay. Then, the presence of pluripotency antigens were confirmed by
      Immunocytochemistry (ICC) test and alkaline phosphatase staining. This study were
      showed culturing of hiPSCs on BD Matrigel, MEF and HDF feeders had normal
      morphology and could maintain in undifferentiated state for prolonged expansion.
      The hiPSCs cultured in each system had normal karyotype without any chromosomal
      abnormalities and the DNA lesions were not observed by comet assay. Moreover, up
      regulation in three germ layers genes in cultured hiPSCs on each layer (same to
      ESCs) compare to normal HDFs were observed (p < 0.05). The findings of the
      present work were showed in stem cells culturing especially hiPSCs both MEF and
      HDF feeders as well as feeder free system like Matrigel are proper despite
      benefits and disadvantages. Although, MEFs is suitable for supporting of stem
      cell culturing but it can animal pathogens transferring and inducing immune
      response. Furthermore, HDFs have homologous source with hiPSCs and can be used as
      feeder instead of MEF but in therapeutic approaches the cells contamination is a
      problem. So, this study were suggested feeder free culturing of hiPSCs on
      Matrigel in supplemented media (without using MEF conditioned medium) resolves
      these problems and could prepare easy applications of hiPSCs in therapeutic
      approaches of regenerative medicine such as stem-cell therapy and somatic cell
      nuclear in further researches. 

PMID- 25820946
TI  - Companion animal zoonoses: risks and recommendations.

PMID- 25820947
TI  - 'Fly-grazing Bill' to become law.

PMID- 25820948
TI  - BEVA seeks assurance on continuation of equine research funding.

PMID- 25820949
TI  - Queen opens Battersea's new kennels.

PMID- 25820950
TI  - Views sought on sentencing proposals for dangerous dog offences.

PMID- 25820951
TI  - Collies contribute to glaucoma research project.

PMID- 25820953
TI  - Improving understanding of Chiari malformation/syringomyelia in dogs.

PMID- 25820954
TI  - Veterinary mental health: an international issue.

PMID- 25820955
TI  - Anatomy photographs showcase the best in scientific imaging.

PMID- 25820956
TI  - Bovine TB infection status in cattle in Great Britain in 2013.
AB  - This report, provided by the APHA, summarises the infection status of bovine TB
      in cattle in Great Britain from January 1 to December 31, 2013 and describes some
      of the temporal trends observed over a longer period. It updates the previous
      annual summary for 2012, also published in Veterinary Record (VR, June 14, 2014,
      vol 174, pp 600-604).

PMID- 25820957
TI  - Towards cost-effective fluke control in cattle.

PMID- 25820958
TI  - Correction.

PMID- 25820959
TI  - Lungworm in dogs.

PMID- 25820960
TI  - Misconceptions regarding rabbit behaviour.

PMID- 25820967
TI  - Engaging with CPD.

PMID- 25820968
TI  - Support for the Veterinary Benevolent Fund.

PMID- 25820969
TI  - Dr yes.

PMID- 25820971
TI  - Educating the educators.
AB  - A new course for veterinary educators offers the choice of gaining an associate
      qualification or building up to a masters degree. Course administrator Faye
      Davies explains. 

PMID- 25820972
TI  - Diary of a parliamentary intern.
AB  - Hannah Jordan, parliamentary intern to Lord Trees, discusses business in
      Parliament before the House rises for the general election. 

PMID- 25820973
TI  - Ten-minute chat.

PMID- 25820974
TI  - Malignancy rate of 10,731 uteri morcellated during laparoscopic supracervical
      hysterectomy (LASH).
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aims to evaluate the number of cases of occult uterine
      malignancies in all LASH surgeries at the MIC clinic (Berlin) and to verify how
      the operative technique affects the prognosis of the disease. METHODS: Data of
      10,731 patients who underwent a standardized LASH surgery with electric power
      morcellation between 1998 and April 30, 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Main
      indication for LASH was symptomatic uterine myomas (81.3 %). RESULTS: No intra
      operative complication was caused by use of a morcellator. In total, six sarcomas
      (0.06 %), including four endometrial stromal sarcomas (0.04 %) two
      leiomyosarcomas (0.02 %), and eight endometrial cancers (0.07 %) were documented.
      This amounts to a very low uterine malignancy rate of 0.13 %. Median follow-up
      period for all six patients with sarcoma and seven patients with endometrial
      cancer was 65.58 months (13-169). No recurrence was reported for the patients
      with endometrial cancer and five sarcoma patients in the comprehensible follow-up
      period. One patient died 13 months after LASH surgery due to the diagnosed
      leiomyosarcoma with peritoneal carcinomatosis and bone metastases. CONCLUSION: In
      10,731 morcellated uteri during LASH only 0.06 % sarcoma and 0.07 % endometrial
      carcinoma were detected. All patients should be informed about the rare
      possibility of a malignant disease during pre-operative counseling. With a timely
      follow-up surgery according to the oncologic guidelines, our data suggest a very
      good prognosis in terms of survival after LASH with morcellation of malignant
      tumors in the uterus.

PMID- 25820975
TI  - A metal-free N-annulated thienocyclopentaperylene dye: power conversion
      efficiency of 12% for dye-sensitized solar cells.
AB  - Reported are two highly efficient metal-free perylene dyes featuring N-annulated
      thienobenzoperylene (NTBP) and N-annulated thienocyclopentaperylene (NTCP), which
      are coplanar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Without the use of any
      coadsorbate, the metal-free organic dye derived from the NTCP segment was used
      for a dye-sensitized solar cell which attained a power conversion efficiency of
      12% under an irradiance of 100 mW cm(-2), simulated air mass global (AM1.5G)
      sunlight.

PMID- 25820976
TI  - Assessing the prevalence of compromised bone health among overweight and obese
      African-American breast cancer survivors: a case-control study.
AB  - PURPOSE: Osteoporosis increases the risk of fracture and is often considered a
      late effect of breast cancer treatment. We examined the prevalence of compromised
      bone health in a sample of exclusively African-American (AA) breast cancer
      survivors since bone mineral density (BMD) varies by race/ethnicity in healthy
      populations. METHODS: Using a case-control design, AA women in a weight loss
      intervention previously diagnosed and treated for stages I-IIIa breast cancer
      were matched 1:1 on age, race, sex, and BMI with non-cancer population controls
      (n = 101 pairs) from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
      Questionnaires and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning were
      completed, and participants were categorized as having normal bone density, low
      bone mass, or osteoporosis using the World Health Organization (WHO) definition
      for femoral neck T-scores. RESULTS: The majority of these overweight/obese
      survivors were 6.6 (+/-4.7) years post-diagnosis, had stage II (n = 46) or stage
      III (n = 16) disease, and treated with chemotherapy (76 %), radiation (72 %),
      and/or adjuvant hormone therapies (45 %). Mean femoral neck BMD was significantly
      lower in cases vs. matched non-cancer population controls (0.85 +/- 0.15 vs. 0.91
      +/- 0.14 g/cm(2), respectively; p = 0.007). However, the prevalence of low bone
      mass and osteoporosis was low and did not significantly differ between groups (n
      = 101 pairs; p = 0.26), even when restricted to those on adjuvant hormone
      therapies (n = 45 pairs; p = 0.75). Using conditional logistic regression,
      controlling for dietary factors and education, the odds of developing compromised
      bone health in AA breast cancer survivors was insignificant (OR 1.5, 95 % CI
      0.52, 5.56). CONCLUSIONS: These null case-control findings challenge the clinical
      assumption that osteoporosis is highly prevalent among all breast cancer
      survivors, providing foundational evidence to support differences by
      race/ethnicity and body weight. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Routine bone
      density testing and regular patient-provider dialogue is critical in
      overweight/obese AA breast cancer survivors to ensure that healthy lifestyle
      factors (e.g., ideal weight, regular weight-bearing exercises, dietary adequacy
      of calcium and vitamin D) support optimal skeletal health.

PMID- 25820977
TI  - Visualization of the omental bursa and its spatial relationships to left
      subphrenic extraperitoneal spaces by the second Chinese Visible Human model.
AB  - PURPOSE: In order to overcome the obstacle that detailed spatial relationships of
      the omental bursa to its related spaces cannot be displayed clearly by thick
      slice sectional anatomical imaging and computed tomography, we designed a new
      approach to three-dimensional (3D) visualization of the omental bursa. METHODS:
      By Amira((r)) software, we employed thin-slice cross-sectional images of the
      upper abdomen retrieved from second Chinese Visible Human datasets to display the
      spatial relationships of the omental bursa to its related spaces, especially to
      the left subphrenic extraperitoneal spaces. Moreover, these spatial relationships
      were presented on 3D sections reconstructed from second Chinese Visible Human
      images and computed tomography images. RESULTS: Of importance, the gastric bare
      area is located among the superior, inferior, and splenic recesses. The
      appearance of the foramen bursae omenti majoris is the only pathway communicating
      between the superior and inferior recesses of the omental bursa, and also is the
      anatomic landmark between the superior and inferior recesses. The splenic recess
      is surrounded from behind by the splenic bare area and the gastric bare area.
      CONCLUSION: As one of the subphrenic spaces, the omental bursa with its related
      spaces was imaged three-dimensionally using a visualization technique.
      Familiarity with the anatomic location and spatial relationships of the omental
      bursa to its related spaces may be beneficial for the differential diagnosis and
      intervention, improving outcome.

PMID- 25820978
TI  - Improving the Conduct and Reporting of Statistical Analysis in Psychology.
AB  - We respond to the commentaries Waldman and Lilienfeld (Psychometrika, 2015) and
      Wigboldus and Dotch (Psychometrika, 2015) provided in response to Sijtsma's
      (Sijtsma in Psychometrika, 2015) discussion article on questionable research
      practices. Specifically, we discuss the fear of an increased dichotomy between
      substantive and statistical aspects of research that may arise when the latter
      aspects are laid entirely in the hands of a statistician, remedies for false
      positives and replication failure, and the status of data exploration, and we
      provide a re-definition of the concept of questionable research practices.

PMID- 25820979
TI  - Encourage Playing with Data and Discourage Questionable Reporting Practices.

PMID- 25820980
TI  - Playing with Data--Or How to Discourage Questionable Research Practices and
      Stimulate Researchers to Do Things Right.
AB  - Recent fraud cases in psychological and medical research have emphasized the need
      to pay attention to Questionable Research Practices (QRPs). Deliberate or not,
      QRPs usually have a deteriorating effect on the quality and the credibility of
      research results. QRPs must be revealed but prevention of QRPs is more important
      than detection. I suggest two policy measures that I expect to be effective in
      improving the quality of psychological research. First, the research data and the
      research materials should be made publicly available so as to allow verification.
      Second, researchers should more readily consider consulting a methodologist or a
      statistician. These two measures are simple but run against common practice to
      keep data to oneself and overestimate one's methodological and statistical
      skills, thus allowing secrecy and errors to enter research practice.

PMID- 25820981
TI  - Thinking About Data, Research Methods, and Statistical Analyses: Commentary on
      Sijtsma's (2014) "Playing with Data".
AB  - We comment on Sijtsma's (2014) thought-provoking essay on how to minimize
      questionable research practices (QRPs) in psychology. We agree with Sijtsma that
      proactive measures to decrease the risk of QRPs will ultimately be more
      productive than efforts to target individual researchers and their work. In
      particular, we concur that encouraging researchers to make their data and
      research materials public is the best institutional antidote against QRPs,
      although we are concerned that Sijtsma's proposal to delegate more responsibility
      to statistical and methodological consultants could inadvertently reinforce the
      dichotomy between the substantive and statistical aspects of research. We also
      discuss sources of false-positive findings and replication failures in
      psychological research, and outline potential remedies for these problems. We
      conclude that replicability is the best metric of the minimization of QRPs and
      their adverse effects on psychological research. 

PMID- 25820983
TI  - Facing up to the challenges of advancing Craniofacial Research.
AB  - Craniofacial anomalies are among the most common human birth defects and have
      considerable functional, aesthetic, and social consequences. The early
      developmental origin as well as the anatomical complexity of the head and face
      render these tissues prone to genetic and environmental insult. The establishment
      of craniofacial clinics offering comprehensive care for craniofacial patients at
      a single site together with international research networks focused on the
      origins and treatment of craniofacial disorders has led to tremendous advances in
      our understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of congenital craniofacial
      anomalies. However, the genetic, environmental, and developmental sources of many
      craniofacial disorders remain unknown. To overcome this problem and further
      advance craniofacial research, we must recognize current challenges in the field
      and establish priority areas for study. We still need (i) a deeper understanding
      of variation during normal development and within the context of any disorder,
      (ii) improved genotyping and phenotyping and understanding of the impact of
      epigenetics, (iii) continued development of animal models and functional analyses
      of genes and variants, and (iv) integration of patient derived cells and tissues
      together with 3D printing and quantitative assessment of surgical outcomes for
      improved practice. Only with fundamental advances in each of these areas will we
      be able to meet the challenge of translating potential therapeutic and
      preventative approaches into clinical solutions and reduce the financial and
      emotional burden of craniofacial anomalies.

PMID- 25820982
TI  - Dopaminergic modulation of appetitive trace conditioning: the role of D1
      receptors in medial prefrontal cortex.
AB  - RATIONALE: Trace conditioning may provide a behavioural model suitable to examine
      the maintenance of 'on line' information and its underlying neural substrates.
      OBJECTIVES: Experiment la was run to establish trace conditioning in a shortened
      procedure which would be suitable to test the effects of dopamine (DA) D1
      receptor agents administered by microinjection directly into the brain.
      Experiment lb examined the effects of the DA D1 agonist SKF81297 and the DA D1
      antagonist SCH23390 following systemic administration in pre-trained animals.
      Experiment 2 went on to test the effects of systemically administered SKF81297 on
      the acquisition of trace conditioning. In experiment 3, SKF81297 was administered
      directly in prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) sub-regions of medial prefrontal
      cortex (mPFC) to compare the role of different mPFC sub-regions. RESULTS: Whilst
      treatment with SCH23390 impaired motor responding and/or motivation, SKF81297 had
      relatively little effect in the pre-trained animals tested in experiment 1b.
      However, systemic SKF81297 depressed the acquisition function at the 2-s trace
      interval in experiment 2. Similarly, in experiment 3, SKF81297 (0.1 MUg in 1.0
      MUl) microinjected into either PL or IL mPFC impaired appetitive conditioning at
      the 2-s trace interval. CONCLUSIONS: Impaired trace conditioning under SKF81297
      is likely to be mediated in part (but not exclusively) within the IL and PL mPFC
      sub-regions. The finding that trace conditioning was impaired rather than
      enhanced under SKF81297 provides further evidence for the inverse U-function
      which has been suggested to be characteristic of mPFC DA function.

PMID- 25820984
TI  - Development of selectable marker-free transgenic potato plants expressing cry3A
      against the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Elimination of selectable marker genes (SMGs) is important for the
      safe assessment and commercial use of transgenic plants. The destructive and
      invasive Colorado potato beetle (CPB) poses a serious threat to potato
      production. In response to this need, selectable marker-free transgenic potato
      lines expressing cry3A were developed to control the damage and spread of CPB.
      RESULTS: We simultaneously introduced cry3A and npt II genes harboured in
      different plasmids into the potato genome using the Agrobacterium-mediated
      cotransformation method. Four selectable marker-free transgenic potato (CT) lines
      expressing cry3A were developed by self-crossing segregation and molecular
      analyses, including Southern blot, western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent
      assay (ELISA) assays. CT lines were used in a resistance bioassay against CPB in
      the laboratory and field. In the laboratory, CT lines exhibited high resistance
      to CPB, and 100% mortality of first-instar larvae occurred 6 days after
      infestation. In the field, untransformed plant leaves were almost entirely
      consumed, with an average of 155 larvae present per plant 25 days after
      inoculation. However, CT lines showed no damage symptoms, with approximately 2.5
      larvae surviving per plant. CONCLUSION: We successfully eliminated SMGs from the
      transgenic potato lines expressing cry3A in order to decrease CPB damage, control
      the spread of this pest eastwards and alleviate the concern regarding the safe
      assessment of regulatory requirements. (c) 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

PMID- 25820985
TI  - Managing Life, Motherhood and Mental Health After Discharge from a Mother-Baby
      Unit: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis.
AB  - Women who are admitted to a mother-baby psychiatric unit during the postnatal
      period often experience ongoing difficulties after discharge and require support
      in the community. This study explored the experiences of women following
      discharge from a mother-baby unit and their use of services and supports in the
      community. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight women who had
      been discharged from a mother-baby unit. To gain a comprehensive understanding of
      the lived experiences of these women, Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis was
      used to examine the transcripts. The themes identified focused on the transition
      home from the mother-baby unit as a significant event, the experience of life in
      the community, and the complex decision-making process involved in community
      service use. This study provides greater insight into women's experiences of
      managing life, motherhood, and mental health in the community and their use of
      recommended services. Results can inform future post-discharge and transition
      planning within mother-baby units and inpatient psychiatric facilities.

PMID- 25820987
TI  - Caregiver Perceptions of Clinical Decision-Making for the Treatment of Children.
AB  - Many sources of information impact one's clinical decision-making (CDM) (e.g.
      clinical intuition, previous experience, research results). Relatively little is
      known about the clients' perspectives of these factors. The current study is an
      examination of perceptions of the favorability of various CDM influences held by
      caregivers of children presenting for mental health treatment (n = 371).
      Responses to a questionnaire showed that caregivers overwhelmingly favored a
      treatment decision based on current scientific research, with one's clinical
      experience being the second most favored influence. Other influences, such as
      colleague consultation and clinical intuition, were less favorable. 

PMID- 25820986
TI  - Cross-Sectional Data Within 1 Year of the Fukushima Meltdown: Effect-Size of
      Predictors for Depression.
AB  - This cross-sectional study investigates effect sizes of depression predictors in
      a community close to the Fukushima, Japan nuclear reactor damaged by the 11
      March, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Subjects volunteered for assessment between
      December, 2011 and March, 2012. Of 466 individuals (351 female, mean age 60.4
      year, SD = 14.0), 23 % of the female participants and 17 % of the male
      participants could be diagnosed with depression. The strongest predictors were
      house damage, age, income reduction, home water incursion, and casualty
      acquaintance. Education level, location during disaster, and workplace damage
      proved non-significant. The high number of retired/unemployed in the sample may
      have influenced outcome. Results suggest sampling influences the applicability of
      Conservation of Resources model to a disaster event. 

PMID- 25820988
TI  - Evaluation of the protective capabilities of nucleosome STRs obtained by large
      scale sequencing.
AB  - Partial DNA profiles are often obtained from degraded forensic samples and are
      hard to analyze and interpret. With in-depth studies on degraded DNA, an
      increasing number of forensic scientists have focused on the intrinsic structural
      properties of DNA. In theory, nucleosomes offer protection to the bound DNA by
      limiting access to enzymes. In our study, we performed large-scale DNA sequencing
      on nucleosome core DNA of human leucocytes. Five nucleosome short tandem repeats
      (STRs) were selected (including three forensic common STRs (i.e. TPOX, TH01, and
      D10S1248) and two unpublished STRs (i.e. AC012568.7 and AC007160.3)). We
      performed a population genetic investigation and forensic genetic statistical
      analysis of these two unpublished loci on 108 healthy unrelated individuals of
      the HeBei Han population in China. We estimated the protective capabilities of
      five selected nucleosome loci and MiniFilerTM loci with artificial degraded DNA
      and case samples. We also analyzed differences between sequencing results and
      software predicted results. Our findings showed that nucleosome STRs were more
      likely to be detected than MiniFilerTM loci. They were well protected from
      degradation by nucleosomes and could be candidates for further nucleosome
      multiplex construction, which would increase the chances of obtaining a better
      balanced profile with fewer allelic drop-outs. 

PMID- 25820989
TI  - Calcium silicate/calcium phosphate biphasic cements for vital pulp therapy:
      chemical-physical properties and human pulp cells response.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim was to test the properties of experimental calcium
      silicate/calcium phosphate biphasic cements with hydraulic properties designed
      for vital pulp therapy as direct pulp cap and pulpotomy. METHODS: CaSi-alphaTCP
      and CaSi-DCDP were tested for ion-releasing ability, solubility, water sorption,
      porosity, ability to nucleate calcium phosphates, and odontoblastic
      differentiation-alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and osteocalcin (OCN) upregulation-of
      primary human dental pulp cells (HDPCs). RESULTS: The materials showed high Ca
      and OH release, high open pore volume and apparent porosity, and a pronounced
      ability to nucleate calcium phosphates on their surface. HDPCs treated with CaSi
      alphaTCP showed a strong upregulation of ALP and OCN genes, namely a tenfold
      increase for OCN and a threefold increase for ALP compared to the control cells.
      Conversely, CaSi-DCDP induced a pronounced OCN gene upregulation but had no
      effect on ALP gene regulation. CONCLUSIONS: Both cements showed high
      biointeractivity (release of Ca and OH ions) correlated with their marked ability
      to nucleate calcium phosphates. CaSi-alphaTCP cement proved to be a potent
      inducer of ALP and OCN genes as characteristic markers of mineralization
      processes normally poorly expressed by HDPCs. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Calcium
      silicate/calcium phosphate cements appear to be attractive new materials for
      vital pulp therapy as they may provide odontogenic/dentinogenic chemical signals
      for pulp regeneration and healing, and dentin formation in regenerative
      endodontics.

PMID- 25820990
TI  - Platform switching vs standard implants in partially edentulous patients using
      the Dental Tech Implant System: clinical and radiological results from a
      prospective multicenter study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The main objective of this study was to evaluate clinical and
      radiographic outcomes of implant-supported fixed partial prostheses, comparing
      platform switching and standard platform concepts. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Patients with single or multiple partial edentulism were included in this
      prospective multicenter study. Success rate, as well as crestal bone loss and
      occurrence of complications were evaluated over time, for a minimum of 3 years
      after prosthesis delivery. Radiographic and clinical examination served to
      evaluate implant and prosthesis conditions. RESULTS: A total of 51 patients with
      117 implants (55 in the centralized platform group and 62 in the standard
      platform group) were considered in the analysis. After 3 years of loading, the
      cumulative implant survival in test group was 90.3 %, while in the control group,
      it was 96.5 % without any statistically significant difference. After 3 years of
      function, the bone loss was 0.33 +/- 0.19 mm in the test group and 0.48 +/- 0.26
      mm, revealing a significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: Platform switching concept
      may lead to a reduction of marginal bone loss over time if compared to
      standardized one. Such effect seemed not to be related to a reduction of overall
      success rate of the treatment. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Platform switching could be a
      viable prosthetic option for implant treatment of partial edentulism.

PMID- 25820991
TI  - Effect of component mal-rotation on knee loading in total knee arthroplasty using
      multi-body dynamics modeling under a simulated walking gait.
AB  - Mal-rotation of the components in total knee arthorplasty (TKA) is a major cause
      of postoperative complications, with an increased propensity for implant
      loosening or wear leading to revision. A musculoskeletal multi-body dynamics
      model was used to perform a parametric study of the effects of the rotational mal
      alignments in TKA on the knee loading under a simulated walking gait. The knee
      contact forces were found to be more sensitive to variations in the varus-valgus
      rotation of both the tibial and the femoral components and the internal-external
      rotation of the femoral component in TKA. The varus-valgus mal-rotation of the
      tibial or femoral component and the internal-external mal-rotation of the femoral
      component with a 5 degrees  variation were found to affect the peak medial
      contact force by 17.8-53.1%, the peak lateral contact force by 35.0-88.4% and the
      peak total contact force by 5.2-18.7%. Our findings support the clinical
      observations that a greater than 3 degrees  internal mal-rotation of the femoral
      component may lead to unsatisfactory pain levels and a greater than 3 degrees 
      varus mal-rotation of the tibial component may lead to medial bone collapse.
      These findings determined the quantitative effects of the mal-rotation of the
      components in TKA on the contact load. The effect of such mal-rotation of the
      components of TKA on the kinematics would be further addressed in future studies.

PMID- 25820992
TI  - Changes in Payment Regulation and Acute Care Use for Total Hip Replacement:
      Trends in Length of Stay, Costs, and Discharge, 1997-2012.
AB  - PURPOSE: To describe trends in the length of stay (LOS), costs, mortality, and
      discharge destination among a national sample of total hip replacement (THR)
      patients between 1997 and 2012. DESIGN: Longitudinal retrospective design
      METHODS: Descriptive analysis of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project
      (HCUP) National Inpatient Sample data. FINDINGS: A total of 3,516,636 procedures
      were performed over the study period. Most THR patients were women, and the
      proportion aged 44-65 years increased. LOS decreased from 5 to 3 days. Charges
      more than doubled, from $22,184 to $53,901. Deaths decreased from 43 to 12 deaths
      per 10,000 patients. THR patients discharged to an institutional setting
      declined, while those discharged to the community increased. CONCLUSION: We found
      an increase in THR patients, who were younger, women, had private insurance, and
      among those discharged to community-based settings. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Findings
      have implications for patient profiles, workplace environments, quality
      improvement, and educational preparation of nurses in acute and postacute
      settings.

PMID- 25820994
TI  - Fundus albipunctatus: review of the literature and report of a novel RDH5 gene
      mutation affecting the invariant tyrosine (p.Tyr175Phe).
AB  - Fundus albipunctatus (FA) is a rare, congenital form of night blindness with rod
      system impairment, characterised by the presence of numerous small, white-yellow
      retinal lesions. FA belongs to a heterogenous group of so-called flecked retina
      syndromes. This disorder shows autosomal recessive inheritance and is caused
      mostly by mutations in the RDH5 gene. This gene encodes the enzyme that is a part
      of the visual cycle, the 11-cis retinol dehydrogenase. This study is a brief
      review of the literature on FA and a report of the first molecular evidence for
      RDH5 gene mutation in a Polish patient with this rare disorder. We present a
      novel pathogenic RDH5 gene mutation in a 16-year-old female patient with symptoms
      of night blindness. The patient underwent ophthalmological examinations,
      including colour vision testing, fundus photography, automated visual field
      testing, full-field electroretinography (ERG) and spectral optical coherent
      tomography (SOCT). The patient showed typical FA ERG records, the visual field
      was constricted and fundus examination revealed numerous characteristic, small,
      white-yellowish retinal lesions. DNA sequencing of the RDH5 gene coding sequence
      (exons 2-5) enabled the detection of the homozygous missense substitution c.524A
      > T (p.Tyr175Phe) in exon 3. This is the first report of RDH5 gene mutation that
      affects the invariant tyrosine, one of the most conserved amino acid residues in
      short-chain alcohol dehydrogenases/reductases (SDRs), crucial for these enzymes'
      activity. The location of this substitution, together with its predicted
      influence on the protein function, indicate that the p.Tyr175Phe mutation is the
      cause of FA in our patient.

PMID- 25820995
TI  - Orexinergic theta rhythm in the rat hippocampal formation: In vitro and in vivo
      findings.
AB  - Previous in vivo data suggested that orexin neuropeptides (ORX(A) and ORX(B) )
      synthetized in hypothalamic neurons were involved in the mechanism of generation
      of the hippocampal formation theta rhythm. Surprisingly, this suggestion has
      never been directly proved by experiments using intraseptal or intrahippocampal
      administration of orexins. In this study, involving the use of in vitro
      hippocampal formation slices and in vivo model of anesthetized rat, we provide
      the first convergent electropharmacological evidence that in the presence of both
      ORX(A) and ORX(B) the hippocampal formation neuronal network is capable of
      producing oscillations in the theta band. This effect of orexin peptides was
      antagonized by selective blockers of orexin receptors (OX1 R and OX2 R), SB
      334867 and TCS OX2 29, respectively. These results provide evidence for a novel,
      orexinergic mechanism responsible for the production of theta rhythm in the
      hippocampal formation neuronal network.

PMID- 25820993
TI  - Oncogenic role of miR-155 in anaplastic large cell lymphoma lacking the t(2;5)
      translocation.
AB  - Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a rare, aggressive, non-Hodgkin's
      lymphoma that is characterized by CD30 expression and disease onset in young
      patients. About half of ALCL patients bear the t(2;5)(p23;q35) translocation,
      which results in the formation of the nucleophosmin-anaplastic lymphoma tyrosine
      kinase (NPM-ALK) fusion protein (ALCL ALK(+)). However, little is known about the
      molecular features and tumour drivers in ALK-negative ALCL (ALCL ALK(-)), which
      is characterized by a worse prognosis. We found that ALCL ALK(-), in contrast to
      ALCL ALK(+), lymphomas display high miR-155 expression. Consistent with this, we
      observed an inverse correlation between miR-155 promoter methylation and miR-155
      expression in ALCL. However, no direct effect of the ALK kinase on miR-155 levels
      was observed. Ago2 immunoprecipitation revealed miR-155 as the most abundant
      miRNA, and enrichment of target mRNAs C/EBPbeta and SOCS1. To investigate its
      function, we over-expressed miR-155 in ALCL ALK(+) cell lines and demonstrated
      reduced levels of C/EBPbeta and SOCS1. In murine engraftment models of ALCL ALK(
      ), we showed that anti-miR-155 mimics are able to reduce tumour growth. This goes
      hand-in-hand with increased levels of cleaved caspase-3 and high SOCS1 in these
      tumours, which leads to suppression of STAT3 signalling. Moreover, miR-155
      induces IL-22 expression and suppresses the C/EBPbeta target IL-8. These data
      suggest that miR-155 can act as a tumour driver in ALCL ALK(-) and blocking miR
      155 could be therapeutically relevant. Original miRNA array data are to be found
      in the supplementary material (Table S1).

PMID- 25820996
TI  - Termination of pregnancy for renal malformations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We studied the correlation between prenatal diagnosis and postmortem
      investigations in pregnancies terminated for renal malformations. METHODS: Over a
      5-year period, 77 cases of termination of pregnancy (TOP) for renal malformations
      were reviewed. Chromosomal anomalies (n = 9) and cases without conventional or
      virtual autopsy were excluded (n = 15). In 53 cases, prenatal ultrasound
      diagnosis and conventional autopsy findings were compared. In addition, we
      compared the accuracy of conventional and virtual autopsy findings in 17 cases.
      RESULTS: Full agreement was observed in 60.4% (32/53) of cases. In 26.4% (14/53)
      of the cases, the presence of additional malformations did not alter the final
      diagnosis. However, in 11.3% (6/53) the final diagnosis was adjusted because of
      major additional findings. One case showed a total disagreement. Conventional and
      virtual autopsy were in full agreement in 52.9% (9/17). Postmortem magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI) description and detection of malformations was less
      complete and failed to correctly diagnose 5/17 cases (29.4%). In 17.6% (3/17) of
      the cases, postmortem MRI revealed malformations not confirmed by conventional
      autopsy. CONCLUSIONS: A high correlation between prenatal ultrasound and
      postmortem investigations was observed. Conventional autopsy remains the gold
      standard to reveal additional major and minor malformations, leading to a correct
      final diagnosis. The added value of virtual necropsy for renal pathology was
      limited.

PMID- 25820997
TI  - Prognostic Significance of CDCP1 Expression in Colorectal Cancer and Effect of
      Its Inhibition on Invasion and Migration.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To assess the correlations and functions of complement C1r/C1s, Uegf,
      Bmp1 domain-containing protein-1 (CDCP1) in identifying colorectal cancer (CRC)
      patients who are at high risk for metastasis. METHODS: Tumor specimens from 101
      patients were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction to detect CDCP1
      expression. CDCP1 expression plasmids and shRNA were used to knock down CDCP1
      expression in this study to investigate migratory and invasive abilities by
      Boyden chambers. The mRNA expression profiles in shCDCP1 transfectants were
      compared to those in control cells by conducting microarray analysis. Its
      downstream effectors were also invested in this study. RESULTS: CRC patients with
      a high CDCP1 expression had a statistically significant lower overall survival
      and disease-free survival compared to those exhibiting low CDCP1 expression. In
      vitro, knock-down CDCP1 expression significantly decreased migratory and invasive
      abilities in HCT116. Aberrant expression of CDCP1 increased cancer cell migration
      and invasion. By using integrated genomics, we identified ROCK1 (rho-associated,
      coiled-coil-containing protein kinase 1 pseudogene 1) as a downstream effector in
      CDCP1-mediated migration and as an invasion mediator. Clinically, ROCK1 and CDCP1
      mRNA expression exhibited a strong positive correlation in CRC patient samples.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our results implicated CDCP1 as a key regulator of CRC migration and
      invasion, and suggest that it is a useful prognostic factor for patients with
      CRC. Improved identification of a high-risk subset of early metastatic patients
      may guide indications of individualized treatment in clinical practice.

PMID- 25820998
TI  - Use of Postmastectomy Radiotherapy and Survival Rates for Breast Cancer Patients
      with T1-T2 and One to Three Positive Lymph Nodes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) in terms of
      survival for breast cancer patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer
      (AJCC) pT1-2 and one to three tumor positive lymph nodes is controversial,
      especially in this era of more effective systemic treatment. METHODS: Using data
      from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and
      End Results (SEER) program between 1998 and 2008, this study respectively
      identified 93,793 and 36,299 women with AJCC pT1-2pN1 breast cancer who underwent
      mastectomy. The association of PMRT use with overall and cause-specific survival
      was examined using multivariable Cox models in subgroups defined by tumor stage.
      RESULTS: In the NCDB cohort, 21.5 % of the patients (n = 20,236) received PMRT,
      and a very similar percentage (21.9 %, n = 7939) received PMRT in the SEER
      cohort. In the NCDB cohort, PMRT was associated with a 14 % relative risk
      reduction in all-cause mortality among the patients with two positive lymph nodes
      and tumors 2-5 cm in size or three positive nodes [hazard ratio (HR), 0.86; 95 %
      confidence interval (CI), 0.81-0.91; p < 0.0001], but PMRT had no beneficial
      effect for the patients with one positive node or two positive nodes and tumors 2
      cm in size or smaller. Analysis of the SEER cohort confirmed this heterogeneous
      effect, showing PMRT to be associated with a 14 % relative risk reduction in
      breast cancer cause-specific mortality among the patients with two positive nodes
      and tumors 2-5 cm in size or three positive nodes (HR 0.86; 95 % CI 0.77-0.96; p
      = 0.007) but not in the other subgroup. CONCLUSION: The effectiveness of
      radiotherapy depends on the combination comprising the number of positive lymph
      nodes and tumor size, which may enable more precise patient selection for PMRT.

PMID- 25821000
TI  - Risk-reducing mastectomy for BRCA gene mutation carriers.

PMID- 25820999
TI  - Pancreatic Resection Results in a Statewide Surgical Collaborative.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A strong relationship between hospital caseload and adverse outcomes
      has been demonstrated for pancreatic resections. Participation in regional
      surgical collaboratives may mitigate this phenomenon. This study sought to
      investigate changes over time in adverse outcomes after pancreatectomy across
      hospitals with different caseloads in a statewide surgical collaborative.
      METHODS: The study investigated patients undergoing pancreatic resection from
      January 2008 to August 2013 at Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative (MSQC)
      hospitals (1007 patients in 19 academic and community hospitals). Risk-adjusted
      rates of major complications, mortality, and failure to rescue were compared
      between hospitals based on caseloads (low, medium, and high) in early (2008-2010)
      and later (2011-2013) periods. Finally, the degree to which different
      complications explained changes in hospital outcome variation was assessed.
      RESULTS: Adjusted rates of major complications and mortality decreased over time,
      driven largely by improvements at low-caseload hospitals. In 2008-2010, risk
      adjusted major complication rates were higher for low-caseload than for high
      caseload hospitals (27.8 vs. 17.8 %; p = 0.02). However, these differences were
      attenuated in 2011-2013 (22.2 vs. 20.0 %; p = 0.74). Similarly, adjusted
      mortality rates were higher in low-caseload hospitals in 2008-2010 (6.2 vs. 0.8
      %; p = 0.02), but these differences were attenuated in 2011-2013 (3.3 vs. 1.1 %;
      p = 0.18). Variation in major complications decreased, largely due to decreased
      variation in "medical" complication rates, with less change in surgical-site
      complications. CONCLUSION: Participation in regional quality collaboratives by
      lower-volume hospitals can attenuate the volume-outcome relationship for
      pancreatic surgery. Continued work in collaboratives with an emphasis on
      technical and intraoperative aspects of care may improve overall quality of care.

PMID- 25821001
TI  - Erratum to: Anesthetic Selection and Disease-Free Survival Following Optimal
      Primary Cytoreductive Surgery for Stage III Epithelial Ovarian Cancer.

PMID- 25821002
TI  - Different expression levels of spartin cause broad spectrum of cellular
      consequences in human neuroblastoma cells.
AB  - Hereditary spastic paraplegia describes a diverse group of neurodegenerative
      conditions characterised by progressive spasticity and weakness of the lower
      limbs. Mutations in the SPG20 gene encoding spartin cause an autosomal recessive
      hereditary spastic paraplegia known as Troyer syndrome. To evaluate the cellular
      consequences of sustained spartin depletion in neuronal cells, we established
      several clonal SH-SY5Y cell lines with different level of spartin knockdown.
      Here, we report that cells with modest spartin downregulation show signs of
      neuronal differentiation such as increased neuritogenesis and cytoskeleton
      rearrangement. Interestingly, we also indicate that permanent high level spartin
      depletion results in impaired cell growth and multiple mitochondrial aberrations,
      which we speculate, arise as a result of chronic oxidative stress. Our studies
      demonstrate that the scale of spartin downregulation is the major factor that
      determines the severity of cellular consequences observed and suggest that there
      is a critical level of spartin expression which must be maintained for proper
      cellular functions. 

PMID- 25821003
TI  - Baseline characteristic of patients presenting with lacunar stroke and cerebral
      small vessel disease may predict future development of depression.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is associated with late-onset
      depression and increases the risk for depression after stroke. We aimed to
      investigate baseline predictors of depression after long-term follow-up in
      patients with SVD, initially presenting with first-ever lacunar stroke, free of
      depression and cognitive impairment. METHODS: A total of 294 patients with SVD
      were evaluated 3-5 years after the qualifying event. We analyzed baseline
      demographic data, vascular risk factors, functional status expressed as a score
      on modified Rankin Scale (mRS), cognitive status, presence of depression, total
      number of lacunar infarcts and severity of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) on
      MRI with Age-Related White Matter Changes scale total score (tARWMC) and Fazekas
      scale periventricular and deep subcortical scores. RESULTS: On follow-up,
      depression was registered in 117 (39.8%) SVD patients. At the baseline, patients
      with depression compared with non-depressed were older (64.4 vs 60.9 years; p =
      0.007), had higher mRS score (2.8 +/- 0.7 vs 1.5 +/- 0.7; p < 0.0001) and had
      more severe lesions on MRI scales (p < 0.0001 for all parameters). On follow-up,
      depressed patients more frequently exhibited cognitive decline (75.2% depressed
      vs 56.5% non-depressed; p = 0.003). No difference was detected in risk factor
      frequency between groups. Multivariate Cox regression analysis adjusted by age
      and gender revealed independent predictors of depression: baseline mRS >2 (HR
      2.17, 95%CI 1.74-2.72; p < 0.0001) and tARWMC (HR 1.05, 95%CI 1.02-1.09; p =
      0.005), and cognitive decline on follow-up (HR 1.80, 95%CI 1.12-2.89; p = 0.015).
      CONCLUSIONS: Baseline functional status and severity of WMH and development of
      cognitive decline predict the occurence of late-onset depression in patients with
      SVD.

PMID- 25821005
TI  - Effect of TiO2 particles on normal and resonance Raman spectra of coumarin 343: a
      theoretical investigation.
AB  - It is well known that interfacial structures and charge transfer in dye
      sensitized solar cells are extremely important for the enhancement of cell
      efficiency. Here, the normal Raman spectra (NRS) and resonance Raman spectra
      (RRS) of a C343-sensitized TiO2 cluster (Ti9O18) are theoretically predicted from
      combined electronic structure calculations and a vibrationally-resolved spectral
      method to reveal the relationship between interfacial geometries and excited
      state dynamics. The results show that although the NRS of free C343 and the C343
      TiO2 cluster correspond to the vibrational motions of C343 in a high frequency
      domain, their mode frequencies show obvious differences due to the interaction of
      the TiO2 cluster on C343, and several new Raman active fingerprint modes, such as
      bidentate chelating bonding modes, can be used to determine interfacial
      geometries. However, the resonance Raman activities of low-frequency modes are
      significantly enhanced and several modes from the TiO2 cluster can be observed,
      consistent with experimental measurements. Furthermore, the RRS from a locally
      excited state and a charge transfer state of C343-TiO2 are dramatically
      different, for instance, new Raman active modes with 1212 cm(-1), 1560 cm(-1) and
      1602 cm(-1), corresponding to the motions of CH2 rocking, C=C/C-N/C=O stretching
      and C=O/C=C stretching, appear from the charge transfer state. The obtained
      information on mode-specific reorganization energies from these excited states is
      greatly helpful to understand and control interfacial electron transfer.

PMID- 25821004
TI  - Targeting SLC1a5-mediated glutamine dependence in non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - We previously elucidated the pleotropic role of solute carrier family A1 member 5
      (SLC1A5) as the primary transporter of glutamine (Gln), a modulator of cell
      growth and oxidative stress in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of our
      study was to evaluate SLC1A5 as a potential new therapeutic target and candidate
      biomarker predictive of survival and response to therapy. SLC1A5 targeting was
      examined in a panel of NSCLC and human bronchial cell lines by RNA interference
      and by a small molecular inhibitor, gamma-l-glutamyl-p-nitroanilide (GPNA). The
      effects of targeting SLC1A5 on cell growth, Gln uptake, ATP level, autophagy and
      cell death were examined. Inactivation of SLC1A5 genetically or pharmacologically
      decreased Gln consumption, inhibited cell growth, induced autophagy and apoptosis
      in a subgroup of NSCLC cell lines that overexpress SLC1A5. Targeting SLC1A5
      function decreased tumor growth in NSCLC xenografts. A multivariate Cox
      proportional hazards analysis indicates that patients with increased SLC1A5 mRNA
      expression have significantly shorter overall survival (p = 0.01, HR = 1.24, 95%
      CI: 1.05-1.46), adjusted for age, gender, smoking history and disease stage. In
      an immunohistochemistry study on 207 NSCLC patients, SLC1A5 protein expression
      remained highly significant prognostic value in both univariate (p < 0.0001, HR =
      1.45, 95% CI: 1.15-1.50) and multivariate analyses (p = 0.04, HR = 1.22, 95% CI:
      1.01-1.31). These results position SLC1A5 as a new candidate prognostic biomarker
      for selective targeting of Gln-dependent NSCLC. 

PMID- 25821006
TI  - Development of a paediatric population pharmacokinetic model for valacyclovir
      from literature non-compartmental values originating from sparse studies and
      Bayesian priors: a simulation study.
AB  - A preliminary population pharmacokinetic (PopPK) model of valacyclovir in
      children was developed from non-compartmental analysis (NCA) parameter values
      from literature, including several age groups, combined with Bayesian priors from
      a PopPK model of acyclovir, the active metabolite of valacyclovir, from
      literature too. Also a simulation study was carried out to evaluate the
      performance of various modelling choices related to the estimation of model
      parameters from NCA parameters originating from sparse PK studies. Assuming a one
      compartment model with first order absorption, a mixed effects, meta-analysis
      approach was utilized which allows accounting the random intergroup variability,
      the detection of covariates and the application of informative Bayesian priors on
      the parameters. The conclusions from the simulation study calculating bias and
      precision for various cases, were that a model which takes explicitly into
      account the sampling schedule, performs better than a model using the theoretical
      expressions of calculating the NCA parameters. Also by using the geometric rather
      than the arithmetic means of NCA parameters, less biased results are obtained.
      These findings guided the choices for the valacyclovir model, for which
      informative priors from a PopPK model of acyclovir were applied for some of the
      parameters, in order to include a richer covariate model for clearance, not
      supported by the NCA dataset and a value for bioavailability. This preliminary
      valacyclovir model can be used in simulations to provide dosage recommendations
      for children of various ages and to help design more efficiently prospective
      clinical trials. 

PMID- 25821007
TI  - [Not Available].

PMID- 25821008
TI  - Staphylococcus aureus impairs the airway epithelial barrier in vitro.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a cluster of disorders that result in
      sinonasal mucosal inflammation. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is associated
      with severe and recalcitrant CRS. The purpose of our study was to investigate the
      effect of S. aureus on respiratory epithelial barrier structure and function.
      METHODS: Conditioned media from S. aureus reference strains (American Type
      Culture Collection [ATCC] 13565, 14458, and 25923) was applied to air-liquid
      interface (ALI) cultures of primary human nasal epithelial cells (HNECs) and
      transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) was measured to assess cell-to-cell
      integrity. Electron microscopy was used to gauge the ciliated area and tight
      junctions (TJs). Additionally, the expression of the TJ protein zona occludens-1
      (ZO-1) was examined via immunofluorescence. Statistical analysis was performed
      using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with pairwise Bonferroni-adjusted t tests.
      RESULTS: Secreted products applied to ALI cultures from S. aureus strain 13565
      caused a concentration-dependent decline in electrical impedance compared to
      controls and reference strains 14458 and 25923 (p < 0.001). Electron microscopy
      showed a distinct separation between adjacent cells apically, in the region of
      TJs. The ciliated area was not affected; however, ZO-1 expression became
      discontinuous in HNECs exposed to the 13565 strain's conditioned media.
      CONCLUSION: Conditioned media of the S. aureus strain 13565 damages the airway
      epithelium by disrupting the TJs between primary HNECs grown at an ALI. These
      findings suggest that strain-specific S. aureus-secreted product(s) compromise
      epithelial barrier function, which may constitute 1 of the roles played by S.
      aureus in the pathophysiology of recalcitrant CRS. Further research is required
      to uncover the relevant molecular mechanisms.

PMID- 25821010
TI  - Oral analgesia for relieving post-caesarean pain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oral analgesia is a convenient and widely used form of pain relief
      following caesarean section. It includes various medications used at different
      doses alone or in adjunction to other form of analgesia. OBJECTIVES: To determine
      the effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of oral analgesia for post
      caesarean pain relief. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and
      Childbirth Group's Trials Register (31 July 2014) and reference lists of
      retrieved studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs).
      Cluster-randomised trials were eligible for inclusion but none were identified.
      Quasi-randomised and cross-over trials were not eligible for
      inclusion.Interventions included oral medication given to women for post
      caesarean pain relief compared with oral medication, or placebo/no treatment.
      DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently assessed for
      inclusion all the potential studies and independently assessed trial quality,
      extracted the data using the agreed data extraction form, and checked them for
      accuracy. MAIN RESULTS: Eight small trials involving 962 women (out of 13
      included trials) contributed data to the analysis, of which only four trials had
      low risk of bias.None of the included studies reported on 'adequate pain relief',
      which is one of this review's primary outcomes. 1. Opiod analgesics versus
      placeboBased on one trial involving 120 women, the effect of opioids versus
      placebo was not significant in relation to the need for additional pain relief
      (primary outcome) (risk ratio (RR) 0.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.06 to
      1.92), and the effect in terms of adverse drug effects outcomes was also
      uncertain (RR 6.58, 95% CI 0.38 to 113.96).Low (75 mg) and high (150 mg) doses of
      tramadol had a similar effect on the need for additional pain relief (RR 0.67,
      95% CI 0.12 to 3.78 and RR 0.14, 95% CI 0.01 to 2.68, respectively, one study, 80
      women). 2. Non-opioid analgesia versus placeboThe confidence interval for the
      lower requirement for additional analgesia (primary outcome) with the non-opioid
      analgesia group was wide and includes little or no effect (average RR 0.70, 95%
      CI 0.48 to 1.01, six studies, 584 women). However, we observed substantial
      heterogeneity due to the variety of non-opioid drugs used (I(2) = 85%). In a
      subgroup analysis of different drugs, only gabapentin use resulted in less need
      for additional pain relief (RR 0.34, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.51, one trial, 126 women).
      There was no difference in need for additional pain relief with the use of
      celexocib, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen, paracetamol. Maternal drug effects
      were more common with the use of non-opioid analgesics (RR 11.12, 95% CI 2.13 to
      58.22, two trials, 267 women).Gabapentin 300 mg (RR 0.25, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.49,
      one study, 63 women) and 600 mg (RR 0.44, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.71, one study, 63
      women) as well as ketoprofen 100 mg (RR 0.55, 95% CI 0.39 to 0.79, one study 72
      women) were both more effective than placebo with respect to the need for
      additional pain relief. However, the 50 mg ketoprofen group and the placebo group
      did not differ in terms of the number of women requiring additional pain relief
      (RR 0.82, 95% CI 0.64 to 1.07, one study, 72 women). 3. Combination analgesics
      versus placeboOur pooled analysis for the effect of combination analgesics on the
      need for additional pain relief was RR 0.70 (95% CI 0.35 to 1.40, three trials,
      242 women, I(2) = 69%). When comparing different drugs within the combination
      oral analgesics versus placebo comparison we observed subgroup differences (P =
      0.05; I2 = 65.8%). One trial comparing paracetamol plus codeine versus placebo
      resulted in fewer women requiring additional pain relief (RR 0.44, 95% CI 0.23 to
      0.82, one trial, 65 women). However, there were no differences in the the number
      of women requiring additional pain relief when comparing paracetamol plus
      oxycodone versus placebo, or paracetamol plus propoxyphene (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.78
      to 1.28, one trial, 96 women and RR 0.65, 95% CI 0.11 to 3.69, one trial, 81
      women, respectively).Maternal drug effects were more common in combination
      analgesics group versus placebo (RR 13.18, 95% CI 2.86 to 60.68, three trials,
      252 women). 4. Opioid analgesics versus non-opioid analgesicsThe confidence
      interval for the effect on additional pain relief between opioid and non-opioid
      drugs was very wide (RR 0.51, 95% CI 0.07 to 3.51, one trial, 121 women). Side
      effects were more common with the use opioids versus non-opioids analgesics (RR
      2.32, 95% CI 1.15 to 4.69, two trials 241 women). 5. Opioid analgesics versus
      combination analgesicsThere was no difference in need for additional pain relief
      in opioid analgesics versus combination analgesics based on one study involving
      121 women comparing tramadol and paracetamol plus propoxyphene (RR 0.51, 95% CI
      0.07 to 3.51). Maternal adverse effects also did not differ between the two
      groups (RR 6.74, 95% CI 0.39 to 116.79). 6. Non-opioid versus combination
      analgesicsThe need for additional pain relief was greater in the group of women
      who received non-opoid analgesics (RR 0.87, 95% CI 0.81 to 0.93, one trial, 192
      women) compared with the group of women who received combination analgesics.
      Secondary outcomes not reported in the included studiesNo data were found on the
      following secondary outcomes: number of days in hospital post-operatively, re
      hospitalisation due to incisional pain, fully breastfeeding on discharge, mixed
      feeding at discharge, incisional pain at six weeks after caesarean section,
      maternal post partum depression, effect (negative) on mother and baby interaction
      and cost of treatment. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Eight trials with 962 women were
      included in the analysis, but only four trials were of high quality. All the
      trials were small. We carried out subgroup analysis for different drugs within
      the same group and for high versus low doses of the same drug. However, the
      relatively few studies (one to two trials) and numbers of women (40 to 136)
      limits the reliability of these subgroup analyses.Due to limited data available
      no conclusions can be made regarding the safest and the most effective form of
      oral analgesia for post-caesarean pain. Further studies are necessary.

PMID- 25821009
TI  - Quantitative elemental analysis of bovine ovarian follicles using X-ray
      fluorescence imaging.
AB  - The X-ray Fluorescence Micro-spectroscopy (XFM) beamline at the Australian
      Synchrotron was used to image 97 follicle histological sections from 45 different
      bovine ovaries focusing on healthy antral follicles ranging from small (<4 mm) up
      to preovulatory sizes (>16 mm) and on antral follicles undergoing atresia. This
      analysis identified five elements (Cu, Fe, Zn, Se and Br) consistently present
      within the ovarian tissue with Fe, Zn and Se localised to specific structures.
      GeoPIXE v6.4g was subsequently used to extract quantitative information
      pertaining to the elemental concentrations surrounding each of these follicles.
      Statistical analysis suggested that significant elemental differences were
      evident between follicle groups sorted according to their health status (Fe and
      Br), and their size (Se). Se appeared to be the element which most greatly
      distinguished large antral follicles from smaller counterparts. The ability to
      use synchrotron radiation to measure trace element distributions in bovine
      follicles at such high resolutions could have a significant impact on
      understanding the mechanisms of follicular development. This research is intended
      to form a baseline study of healthy cycling ovaries which could later be extended
      to disease states, thereby improving our current understanding of infertility and
      endocrine diseases involving the ovary. 

PMID- 25821011
TI  - Low-cost facile fabrication of flexible transparent copper electrodes by
      nanosecond laser ablation.
AB  - Low-cost Cu flexible transparent conducting electrodes (FTCEs) are fabricated by
      facile nanosecond laser ablation. The fabricated Cu FTCEs show excellent opto
      electrical properties (transmittance: 83%, sheet resistance: 17.48 Omega sq(-1))
      with outstanding mechanical durability. Successful demonstration of a touch
      screen panel confirms the potential applicability of Cu FTCEs to the flexible
      optoelectronic devices. 

PMID- 25821012
TI  - Fatigue: the heavy backpack of many rheumatoid arthritis patients.

PMID- 25821013
TI  - Levels of potential bioactive compounds including carotenoids, vitamin C and
      phenolic compounds, and expression of their cognate biosynthetic genes vary
      significantly in different varieties of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) grown under
      uniform cultural conditions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In addition to their high carbohydrate content, potatoes are also an
      important dietary source of vitamin C and bioactive secondary metabolites,
      including phenolic compounds and carotenoids, which have been suggested to play a
      role in human health. The expression of genes encoding key enzymes involved in
      the synthesis of these compounds was assessed by reverse transcription
      quantitative polymerase chain reaction and compared to the accumulation of the
      corresponding product in seven potato varieties showing contrasting levels of
      metabolite accumulation. RESULTS: Strong positive correlations were found between
      phenolic content in the flesh of tubers and transcript levels of phenylalanine
      ammonia lyase (PAL) and chalcone synthase (CHS) genes. The expression of PAL and
      CHS was also related to that of AN1, a transcription factor involved in the
      synthesis of anthocyanins, suggesting that these genes are regulated in a
      coordinated manner. No clear relationship was found between transcript levels of
      phytoene synthase (PSY) or L-galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase (GLDH) genes and
      total carotenoid or vitamin C accumulation, respectively. CONCLUSION: Data
      indicate that levels of total phenolic and flavonoid compounds in potato are
      controlled primarily by PAL and CHS gene expression. Transcript levels of PSY and
      GLDH did not control accumulation of carotenoids or vitamin C.

PMID- 25821014
TI  - Measurement of Leptin by RIA Versus MIA in a Population of Healthy Newborns.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Assays based on multiplex immunoassay (MIA) technology have
      demonstrated advantages over enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and
      radioimmunoassay (RIA). Its acceptance depends on how well it performs in
      comparison to older techniques. The aim is to compare the results of leptin using
      RIA versus MIA. METHODS: We analyzed 81 samples of umbilical cord blood of
      healthy term newborns by RIA and MIA. RESULTS: The concordance correlation
      coefficient was 0.158 (95% CI 0.10-0.21). Pearson's correlation coefficient was
      0.6651 (95% CI 0.52-0.77; P < 0.0001). In the Bland-Altman plot, concordance is
      acceptable because most of the measurements are within a mean of +/-1.96 SD.
      CONCLUSIONS: As shown by the Bland-Altman plot, there is concordance by both
      methods, but with a weak correlation.

PMID- 25821015
TI  - A two-dimensional honeycomb coordination network based on fused triacontanuclear
      heterometallic {Co12Mn18} wheels.
AB  - An unprecedented two-dimensional honeycomb network based on fused
      triacontanuclear heterometallic wheels of 3.4 nm, {[Co2(Mn3O)(N3)2(pic)6(NO3)](
      )}6 (Hpic = picolinic acid), has been assembled. The hexagonal {Co12Mn18} wheel
      motif is composed of six oxo-centered {Mn3} trinuclear and six {Co2} dinuclear
      moieties acting as nodes and linkers, respectively. The paramagnetic properties
      of this compound observed down to 1.8 K result from the competition of Mn...Mn,
      Mn...Co and Co...Co interactions in combination with spin-orbit coupling and
      single-ion behavior of the Co(II) centers.

PMID- 25821017
TI  - Pristine Basal- and Edge-Plane-Oriented Molybdenite MoS2 Exhibiting Highly
      Anisotropic Properties.
AB  - The layered structure of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2 ) is structurally similar to
      that of graphite, with individual sheets strongly covalently bonded within but
      held together through weak van der Waals interactions. This results in two
      distinct surfaces of MoS2 : basal and edge planes. The edge plane was
      theoretically predicted to be more electroactive than the basal plane, but
      evidence from direct experimental comparison is elusive. Herein, the first study
      comparing the two surfaces of MoS2 by using macroscopic crystals is presented. A
      careful investigation of the electrochemical properties of macroscopic MoS2
      pristine crystals with precise control over the exposure of one plane surface,
      that is, basal plane or edge plane, was performed. These crystals were
      characterized thoroughly by AFM, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron
      spectroscopy, voltammetry, digital simulation, and DFT calculations. In the Raman
      spectra, the basal and edge planes show anisotropy in the preferred excitation of
      E2g and A1g phonon modes, respectively. The edge plane exhibits a much larger
      heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant k(0) of 4.96*10(-5) and 1.1*10(-3) 
      cm s(-1) for [Fe(CN)6 ](3-/4-) and [Ru(NH3 )6 ](3+/2+) redox probes,
      respectively, compared to the basal plane, which yielded k(0) tending towards
      zero for [Fe(CN)6 ](3-/4-) and about 9.3*10(-4)  cm s(-1) for [Ru(NH3 )6 ](3+/2+)
      . The industrially important hydrogen evolution reaction follows the trend
      observed for [Fe(CN)6 ](3-/4-) in that the basal plane is basically inactive. The
      experimental comparison of the edge and basal planes of MoS2 crystals is
      supported by DFT calculations. 

PMID- 25821016
TI  - Diagnostic accuracy of calretinin for malignant mesothelioma in serous effusions:
      a meta-analysis.
AB  - Numerous studies have investigated the utility of calretinin in differentiating
      malignant mesothelioma (MM) from metastatic carcinoma (MC) in serous effusions.
      However, the results remain controversial. The aim of this study is to determine
      the overall accuracy of calretinin in serous effusions for MM through a meta
      analysis of published studies. Publications addressing the accuracy of calretinin
      in the diagnosis of MM were selected from the Medline (Ovid), PubMed, the
      Cochrane Library Database and the Web of Science. Data from selected studies were
      pooled to yield summary sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative
      likelihood ratio (LR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and receiver operating
      characteristic (SROC) curve. Statistical analysis was performed by Meta-Disc 1.4
      and STATA 12.0 softwares. 18 studies met the inclusion criteria and the summary
      estimating for calretinin in the diagnosis of MM were: sensitivity 0.91 (95%CI:
      0.87-0.94), specificity 0.96 (95%CI: 0.95-0.96), positive likelihood ratio (PLR)
      14.42 (95%CI: 7.92-26.26), negative likelihood ratio (NLR) 0.1 (95%CI: 0.05-0.2)
      and diagnostic odds ratio 163.03 (95%CI: 54.62-486.63). The SROC curve indicated
      that the maximum joint sensitivity and specificity (Q-value) was 0.92; the area
      under the curve was 0.97. Our findings suggest that calretinin may be a useful
      diagnostic tool for confirming MM in serous effusions. 

PMID- 25821018
TI  - Nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging using thallium-201 with a novel multifocal
      collimator SPECT/CT: IQ-SPECT versus conventional protocols in normal subjects.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A novel multifocal collimator, IQ-SPECT (Siemens) consists of
      SMARTZOOM, cardio-centric and 3D iterative SPECT reconstruction and makes it
      possible to perform MPI scans in a short time. The aims are to delineate the
      normal uptake in thallium-201 ((201)Tl) SPECT in each acquisition method and to
      compare the distribution between new and conventional protocol, especially in
      patients with normal imaging. METHODS: Forty patients (eight women, mean age of
      75 years) who underwent myocardial perfusion imaging were included in the study.
      All patients underwent one-day protocol perfusion scan after an adenosine-stress
      test and at rest after administering (201)Tl and showed normal results.
      Acquisition was performed on a Symbia T6 equipped with a conventional dual-headed
      gamma camera system (Siemens ECAM) and with a multifocal SMARTZOOM collimator.
      Imaging was performed with a conventional system followed by IQ-SPECT/computed
      tomography (CT). Reconstruction was performed with or without X-ray CT-derived
      attenuation correction (AC). Two nuclear physicians blinded to clinical
      information interpreted all myocardial perfusion images. A semi-quantitative
      myocardial perfusion was analyzed by a 17-segment model with a 5-point visual
      scoring. The uptake of each segment was measured and left ventricular functions
      were analyzed by QPS software. RESULTS: IQ-SPECT provided good or excellent image
      quality. The quality of IQ-SPECT images without AC was similar to those of
      conventional LEHR study. Mid-inferior defect score (0.3 +/- 0.5) in the
      conventional LEHR study was increased significantly in IQ-SPECT with AC (0 +/-
      0). IQ-SPECT with AC improved the mid-inferior decreased perfusion shown in
      conventional images. The apical tracer count in IQ-SPECT with AC was decreased
      compared to that in LEHR (0.1 +/- 0.3 vs. 0.5 +/- 0.7, p < 0.05). The left
      ventricular ejection fraction from IQ-SPECT was significantly higher than that
      from the LEHR collimator (p = 0.0009). CONCLUSION: The images of IQ-SPECT
      acquired in a short time are equivalent to that of conventional LEHR. The results
      indicated that the IQ-SPECT system with AC is capable of correcting inferior
      artifacts with high image quality.

PMID- 25821019
TI  - Health-related factors associated with the participation in cervical cancer
      screening.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to describe the coverage for cervical
      cancer screening among the visitors of a food exhibition in Brussels, Belgium and
      to describe the factors that affect their participation in the screening
      programs. METHODS: The participants aged between 25 and 64 years were recruited
      during a food exhibition at the Brussels Exhibition Centre from 6 until 21
      October 2012. Their participation to the cervical cancer screening was recorded
      as well as their medical history and health related parameters. RESULTS: After
      adjustment for age and region, 66% of the 408 participants have had a cervical
      cancer screening during the past three years. In univariate analysis, no
      participation in the cervical cancer screening was related to hypertension, high
      body mass index (BMI), and low self-reported health. There was no adherence to
      breast cancer screening. Age, systolic blood pressure, abdominal circumference
      and BMI of the participants who did not adhere to cervical cancer screening were
      significantly higher as compared to the participants who did adhere. A
      multivariate analysis confirmed the relationship between not adhering to the
      screening and older age (OR=0.56; 95% CI: 0.44, 0.73) and having a high body mass
      index (OR=0.63; 95% CI: 0.47, 0.85). Participation to the screening was related
      to having a tetanus vaccination (OR=1.67; 95% CI: 1.05, 2.63) and adhering to
      breast cancer screening (OR=3.9; 95% CI: 2.09, 6.84). CONCLUSIONS: Our study
      revealed an association between not having had a cervical smear in the last three
      years and not having had a mammography, older age, not having had a tetanus
      immunisation recently and having a higher BMI.

PMID- 25821020
TI  - Association of obesity with the prevalence of hypertension in school children
      from central Thailand.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obesity and underweight are both a public health concern worldwide.
      Being overweight, and obesity are primary risk factors for the development of
      chronic conditions including hypertension. Data on obesity and the underweight as
      well as their association with hypertension in Thai children, specifically, are
      scant. This study was aimed to assess the relationship between obesity or
      underweight status and hypertension in Thai school children. METHODS:
      Anthropometric data were collected from 3991 students (mean age of 9.5 yr) in
      Ongkharak district, central Thailand. The sex as well as the age-specific BMI
      criteria of the WHO were used to define what is overweight, obesity, underweight
      and severe underweight status of children. In order to calculate the odds ratio
      and the association between one's nutritional status and hypertension logistic
      regression was used. RESULTS: Obese and overweight children have a higher
      prevalence of hypertension compared with children with an average weight (49.5%
      and 26.5% versus 16.2%, respectively). The risks of developing hypertension is
      also high in obese children (OR 5.15; 95%CI: 4.27, 6.22), overweight children
      (1.87; 95% CI: 1.50, 2.32) and overweight/obese children (OR 3.30; 95% CI: 2.82,
      3.86. Additionally, underweight children were not associated with an increased
      risk of hypertension (OR 1.04; 95% CI: 0.72, 1.42). CONCLUSIONS: Rates of
      hypertension in overweight and obese children are high in central Thailand and,
      as a result, this increased body weight is a risk factor for hypertension.
      Larger, multi-centric studies are required to evaluate the correlation between
      hypertension and obesity amongst children at the national level.

PMID- 25821021
TI  - Calculating population attributable fraction for cardiovascular risk factors
      using different methods in a population based cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Population Attributable Fraction (PAF) is one of the most practical
      measures for estimating the burden of risk factors with some challenges in its
      calculation. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the first cause of death worldwide
      and the estimation of accurate PAFs for CVD risk factors is of great importance
      in conducting preventive strategies. Our aim was to estimate the PAFs of CVD risk
      factors via direct, i.e. based on regression models, and indirect, i.e. using
      related equations, methods. METHODS: Participants (3200 males and 4245 females
      aged >=30 yr) without history of CVD were selected from the population-based
      cohort of Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS). Hazard ratio (HR) and Odds ratio
      (OR) of conventional risk factors were calculated for CVD events after ten yr of
      follow-up. Levin's and Miettinen's equations were applied to indirectly estimate
      the PAFs and average PAF was directly derived from logistic regression model.
      RESULTS: The sum of PAFs resulted from indirect estimations reached to more than
      100% (around 200% and 150% based on Levin's and Miettinen's formula
      respectively). The direct estimation attributed 80% and 86% of burden of CVD
      events to conventional risk factors in men and women respectively. The rank and
      pattern of PAFs of risk factors was somehow different among different methods.
      CONCLUSIONS: Estimating priorities of risk factors may differ in different
      methods for calculating PAF. This study provides evidence on the more expediency
      of direct method over indirect ways when individual data is available through a
      population-based cohort.

PMID- 25821022
TI  - Predicting hepatitis B monthly incidence rates using weighted Markov chains and
      time series methods.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B (HB) is a major global mortality. Accurately predicting
      the trend of the disease can provide an appropriate view to make health policy
      disease prevention. This paper aimed to apply three different to predict monthly
      incidence rates of HB. METHODS: This historical cohort study was conducted on the
      HB incidence data of Hamadan Province, the west of Iran, from 2004 to 2012.
      Weighted Markov Chain (WMC) method based on Markov chain theory and two time
      series models including Holt Exponential Smoothing (HES) and SARIMA were applied
      on the data. The results of different applied methods were compared to correct
      percentages of predicted incidence rates. RESULTS: The monthly incidence rates
      were clustered into two clusters as state of Markov chain. The correct predicted
      percentage of the first and second clusters for WMC, HES and SARIMA methods was
      (100, 0), (84, 67) and (79, 47) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The overall incidence
      rate of HBV is estimated to decrease over time. The comparison of results of the
      three models indicated that in respect to existing seasonality trend and non
      stationarity, the HES had the most accurate prediction of the incidence rates.

PMID- 25821023
TI  - Association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d levels and vitamin D dietary intake with
      metabolic syndrome: a case control study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Association between the vitamin D deficiency and metabolic syndrome
      (MetS) has previously been noted and reported to be controversial. The aim of
      this study was to determine the association of serum 25 (OH) D Level and Vitamin
      D dietary intake with MetS among Iranian population. METHODS: This analytical
      study was conducted on 122 patients with MetS based on the ATPIII criteria and
      128 subjects without MetS as control from September 2010 to April 2011. Serum
      levels of calcium, phosphorus and 25(OH) D were compared between the two groups.
      A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to calculate dietary intake. Data
      were analyzed using Chi- square test, t-test, Mann-Whitney U test and logistic
      regression analysis. RESULTS: Serum concentrations of 25 (OH) D, calcium and
      phosphorus and calcium intake were significantly lower in subjects with MetS
      compared to the subjects without MetS. 98.4% of subjects with MetS and 88.3%
      without MetS had Vit. D deficiency and this difference was statistically
      significant (P=0.005). In regression analysis, lower concentration of serum 25
      (OH) D, calcium and phosphorus and lower calcium and diary intake were predictors
      of MetS. CONCLUSIONS: Serum 25 (OH) D Level, calcium and phosphorus and calcium
      intake are associated with metabolic syndrome. However, the mechanism of this
      association requires further studies.

PMID- 25821024
TI  - Horizontal inequity in access to outpatient services among Shiraz City residents,
      Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: lack of access to health services has been mentioned as one of the
      main causes of health inequity in health system. The aim of this study was to
      measure horizontal inequity in access to outpatient services in Shiraz. METHODS:
      This household survey was conducted among 1608 participants above 18 years in
      Shiraz in 2012. Four-stage sampling was used. According to high amount of zero
      valued of outpatient services utilization, Zero inflated regression model was
      established. We computed concentration index (CI) for determining actual (CIM)
      and indirect standardized utilization (CIIS) of outpatient services in order to
      compute horizontal inequity index (HII). The results were analyzed using Stata
      software, version 8. RESULTS: The CIM was not statistically significant (-0.016,
      95% CI: -0.097, 0.066). But the CIIS was statistically significant and favored
      the rich (0.06, 95% CI: 0.010 to 0.001). The horizontal inequity index was 
      0.076. CONCLUSIONS: There was no inequality in actual amount of outpatient
      utilization, maybe High subsidization to health care by government in public
      sector, high insurance coverage, low prices of health services in the public
      sector, quality of services and opportunity cost of high income groups were the
      reasons for our results.

PMID- 25821025
TI  - Socio-demographic characteristics associated with cigarettes smoking, drug abuse
      and alcohol drinking among male medical university students in Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Substance abuse is one of the most complicated social problems.
      Understanding socio-demographic characteristics of those who abuse substances
      could help deal with this problem more efficiently. The main objective of this
      study was to determine socio-demographic characteristics associated with alcohol
      drinking, cigarettes smoking and drug abuse among a sample of male medical
      university students in Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in
      2014 among 425 male medical college students randomly selected with the
      proportional to size among different faculties in Isfahan and Kermanshah medical
      universities in Iran. A self-report written questionnaire was applied to collect
      data. Data were analyzed by the SPSS-20. RESULTS: Mean age of the respondents was
      19.9 yr (ranging from 18 to 22 yr). About 19.4%, 3.9%, and 10.1% of the
      respondents had history of cigarette smoking, drug use, and alcohol drinking
      during the past three months, respectively. Logistic regression showed that
      mother's educational level, living place, economic status, and parents' divorce
      were the most influential predictive factors on substance abuse. CONCLUSIONS:
      Considering the high prevalence of substance abuse (especially smoking and
      alcohol drinking), it seems essential to design educational interventions to
      prevent substance abuse, paying attention to predictive factors mentioned above,
      among college students.

PMID- 25821026
TI  - The effect of a prevention program based on health belief model on osteoporosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis is one of the most common metabolic bone diseases. The
      purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a prevention program based
      on health belief model on osteoporosis among women. METHODS: In this quasi-case
      study, 120 patients (60 cases and 60 control), registered under the health
      centers in Fasa City, Fars Province, Iran were selected in 2014. A questionnaire
      consisting of demographic information, Health Belief Model (HBM) constructs was
      used to measure nutrition and walking performance for prevention of osteoporosis
      before, immediately after the intervention and six months later. Bone mineral
      density (BMD) was recorded at the lumbar spine and femur before and six months
      after intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS19 via chi-square test,
      independent t-test, and Repeated Measures ANOVA at significance level of 0.05.
      RESULTS: Immediately and six months after the intervention, the case group showed
      a significant increase in the knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived
      severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy, internal cues to
      action, nutrition and walking performance compared to the control group. Six
      months after the intervention, the value of lumbar spine BMD T-Score in the case
      group increased to 0.127, while in the control group it reduced to -0.043. The
      value of the Hip BMD T-Score in the intervention group increased to 0.125 but it
      decreased to -0.028 in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed the
      effectiveness of knowledge, walking and diet on bone mass by HBM model. Hence,
      these models can act as a framework for designing and implementing educational
      interventions for the osteoporosis prevention.

PMID- 25821027
TI  - Timing and delay in children vaccination; evaluation of expanded program of
      immunization in outskirt of Iranian cities.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Most studies evaluated the vaccine coverage, but the time of
      vaccination is important as coverage. This study was conducted to evaluate the
      Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) in outskirt of Iranian cities regarding to
      incidence of delay vaccination among children less than 4 years. METHODS: This
      cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among children 24-47 months old,
      living in the suburbs of five metropolises of Iran. Totally, 3610 eligible
      children selected with proportioned cluster sampling method and data of
      vaccination card extracted after interview with child parents. Delayed incidence
      rate reported and predictive factors assessed by Chi square test and Multivariate
      logistic regression. RESULTS: Overall, 56.6% to 93.2% vaccines were administered
      out of time. Delayed vaccination incidence with more than one-week delay varies
      from 5.5% to 74.9% for polio at birth and MMR2 at 18 month, respectively.
      Mother's educational level and birth order were the most important predictors of
      delayed vaccination. Incidence of delayed vaccination was enlarged by increasing
      birth order and decreased in lower educated mothers. CONCLUSIONS: Incidence rate
      of delayed vaccination is more than expectation. Regarding to high coverage
      vaccines in Iran, heath officers and health policy makers should attempt for on
      time vaccination beside of high immunization coverage especially in slum areas
      with more concentrated immigrants due to low literature and crowded families.

PMID- 25821028
TI  - Evaluation of interleukin-8 -251 t/a polymorphisms in visceral leishmaniasis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Interleukin (IL)-8 plays important roles in the recruitment and
      activation of immune cells during visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Genetic variations
      in IL-8 modulate the expression of IL-8 protein and may be associated with VL.
      This study aimed to evaluate polymorphisms at the IL-8 -251 position in VL
      patients. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on three groups:
      Leishmania-seropositive patients with clinical symptoms of VL (n = 91),
      seropositive patients without clinical symptoms (n = 104), and healthy controls
      (n = 110). Polymorphisms at the IL-8-251 position were analyzed using allele
      specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Anti-Leishmania antibody titers were
      assessed by immunofluorescence. RESULTS: IL-8-251 polymorphism was significantly
      associated with VL (P<0.002). The IL-8-251 T/T genotype was significantly higher
      in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3 (P<0.002). The validity of the data was
      analyzed using Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and one-way analysis of variance
      (ANOVA), as well as chi2 tests. CONCLUSIONS: IL-8-251 polymorphism was
      significantly associated with impaired immune responses in VL and might be
      considered a risk factor for disease development.

PMID- 25821029
TI  - Levels of alarm thresholds of meningitis outbreaks in Hamadan Province, west of
      Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Few studies have focused on syndromic data to determine levels of
      alarm thresholds to detection of meningitis outbreaks. The purpose of this study
      was to determine threshold levels of meningitis outbreak in Hamadan Province,
      west of Iran. METHODS: Data on both confirmed and suspected cases of meningitis
      (fever and neurological symptom) form 21 March 2010 to 20 March 2012 were used in
      Hamadan Province, Iran. Alarm threshold levels of meningitis outbreak were
      determined using four different methods including absolute values or standard
      method, relative increase, statistical cutoff points and upper control limit of
      exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) algorithm. RESULTS: Among 723
      reported cases, 41 were diagnosed to have meningitis. Standard level of alarm
      thresholds for meningitis outbreak was determined as incidence of 5/100000
      persons. Increasing 1.5 to two times in reported cases of suspected meningitis
      per week was known as the threshold levels according to relative increase method.
      An occurrence four cases of suspected meningitis per week that equals to 90th
      percentile was chosen as alarm thresholds by statistical cut off point method.
      The corresponding value according to EWMA algorithm was 2.57 i.e. three cases.
      CONCLUSIONS: Policy makers and staff of syndromic surveillance systems are highly
      recommended to apply the above different methods to determine the levels of alarm
      threshold.

PMID- 25821030
TI  - Controllable growth of durable superhydrophobic coatings on a copper substrate
      via electrodeposition.
AB  - Superhydrophobic coatings on a copper substrate are grown via electrodeposition
      followed by thermal annealing. The influence of the deposition potential, zinc
      ion concentration, deposition time, annealing temperature and annealing time on
      the wetting properties was systematically investigated. The coating
      electrodeposited at -1.35 V for 25 min and annealed at 190  degrees C for 60 min
      exhibited excellent superhydrophobicity with a contact angle as high as 170 +/- 2
      degrees  and a sliding angle of almost 0 degrees . The water drop can fully
      bounce as a balloon when impinging such a solid surface, exhibiting excellent non
      sticking properties. By adopting various characterization methods, it was
      demonstrated that the as-prepared superhydrophobic surfaces also exhibited
      properties of anticorrosion, antiabrasion, long-term stability and durability and
      large buoyancy force, which offer an effective strategy and promising industrial
      applications for fabricating superhydrophobic surfaces on various metallic
      materials. 

PMID- 25821031
TI  - Glottic and supraglottic pT3 squamous cell carcinoma: outcomes with transoral
      laser microsurgery.
AB  - Patients diagnosed with T3 squamous cell laryngeal carcinomas are nowadays
      offered either organ-preserving surgical or non-surgical treatment, with the
      optimum approach remaining undefined. No direct comparison of organ-preserving
      therapeutical options, stratified by anatomical subsites is available in the
      literature. The aim of this study is to present institutional treatment outcomes
      for laser-assisted microsurgery (TLM) of laryngeal T3 squamous cell carcinomas
      and review the relevant literature. Sixty-four consecutive, previously untreated
      patients were evaluated. Twenty-four supraglottic and 19 glottic patients were
      treated with TLM and neck dissection, tumor exposure and postoperative upstaging
      of the tumors through pathology evaluation of the specimens being the only
      exclusion criteria. Five-year disease-specific survival and organ preservation
      rates for supraglottic carcinomas were both 91.7 %. The respective values for
      glottic carcinomas were 63.2 and 73.3 %. TLM-treated T3 supraglottic tumors seem
      to attribute better outcomes than T3 glottic tumors in terms of recurrence-free
      survival, organ preservation and local control (p = 0.01, <0.0001 and 0.01,
      respectively). The results of this study suggest that TLM-treated T3 supraglottic
      tumors have a good prognosis, substantially better than that of glottic tumors. A
      literature review, on the other hand, attributes to chemo-radiation-treated T3
      supraglottic tumors a considerably poorer prognosis. Further studies of
      homogenous populations in terms of anatomical subsites are needed in order to
      reach a consensus regarding treatment of T3 laryngeal tumors.

PMID- 25821032
TI  - Effects of olanzapine on serum protein phosphorylation patterns in patients with
      schizophrenia.
AB  - PURPOSE: Previous studies have shown that blood serum phosphoproteins are altered
      in schizophrenia patients in comparison to controls. However, it is not known
      whether phosphoproteins are also changed in response to treatment with
      antipsychotics. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Blood samples were taken from patients (n =
      23) at baseline and after 6 weeks of olanzapine treatment. Immobilized metal ion
      affinity chromatography (IMAC) was used for enrichment of serum phosphoproteins
      and these were analyzed by label-free LC-MS in expression mode (LC-MS(E) ).
      RESULTS: We identified 11 proteins that were changed significantly in overall
      abundance and 45 proteins that showed changes in phosphorylation after the
      antipsychotic treatment. The altered phosphoproteins were mainly involved in the
      acute phase response, lipid and glucose homeostasis (LXR), retinoic acid
      signaling (RXR), and complement pathways. Some of the proteins showed a marked
      increase in phosphorylation, including apolipoprotein A-I (3.4-fold), alpha-1
      anti-chymotrypsin (3.1-fold), and apolipoprotein B-100 (2.2-fold). In addition,
      several proteins showed either decreased phosphorylation (e.g. complement C4A,
      collagen alpha-1 chain, complement factor H) or a mixture of increased and
      decreased phoshphorylation (e.g. afamin, complement C5, complement factor B).
      Finally, 24 of the altered phosphoproteins showed opposite directional changes in
      a comparison of baseline schizophrenia patients before and after treatment with
      olanzapine. These included alpha-1B-glycoprotein, apolipoprotein A-IV, vitamin D
      binding protein, and prothrombin. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: These data
      demonstrate the potential for future studies of serum phosphoproteins as a
      readout of physiological function and might have utility in studies aimed at
      identification of biomarkers for drug response prediction or monitoring.

PMID- 25821033
TI  - The double-histidine Cu2+-binding motif: a highly rigid, site-specific spin probe
      for electron spin resonance distance measurements.
AB  - The development of ESR methods that measure long-range distance distributions has
      advanced biophysical research. However, the spin labels commonly employed are
      highly flexible, which leads to ambiguity in relating ESR measurements to protein
      backbone structure. Herein we present the double-histidine (dHis) Cu(2+)-binding
      motif as a rigid spin probe for double electron-electron resonance (DEER)
      distance measurements. The spin label is assembled in situ from natural amino
      acid residues and a metal salt, requires no postexpression synthetic
      modification, and provides distance distributions that are dramatically narrower
      than those found with the commonly used protein spin label. Simple molecular
      modeling based on an X-ray crystal structure of an unlabeled protein led to a
      predicted most probable distance within 0.5 A of the experimental value. Cu(2+)
      DEER with the dHis motif shows great promise for the resolution of precise,
      unambiguous distance constraints that relate directly to protein-backbone
      structure and flexibility.

PMID- 25821034
TI  - Correlation of ultrasound appearance, gross anatomy, and histology of the femoral
      nerve at the femoral triangle.
AB  - PURPOSE: Correlation between ultrasound appearance, gross anatomic
      characteristics, and histologic structure of the femoral nerve (FN) is lacking.
      Utilizing cadavers, we sought to characterize the anatomy of the FN, and provide
      a quantitative measure of its branching. We hypothesize that at the femoral
      crease, the FN exists as a group of nerve branches, rather than a single nerve
      structure, and secondarily, that this transition into many branches is apparent
      on ultrasonography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nineteen preserved cadavers were
      investigated. Ultrasonography was sufficient to evaluate the femoral nerve in
      nine specimens; gross dissection was utilized in all 19. Anatomic characteristics
      were recorded, including distances from the inguinal ligament to femoral crease,
      first nerve branch, and complete arborization of the nerve. The nerves from nine
      specimens were excised for histologic analysis. RESULTS: On ultrasound, the nerve
      became more flattened, widened, and less discrete as it coursed distally.
      Branching of the nerve was apparent in 12 of 18 images, with mean distance from
      inguinal ligament of 3.9 (1.0) cm. However, upon dissection, major branching of
      the femoral nerve occurred at 3.1 (1.0) cm distal to the inguinal ligament, well
      proximal to the femoral crease. Histologic analysis was consistent with findings
      at dissection. CONCLUSION: The femoral nerve arborizes into multiple branches
      between the inguinal ligament and the femoral crease. Initial branching is often
      high in the femoral triangle. As hypothesized, the FN exists as a closely
      associated group of nerve branches at the level of the femoral crease; however,
      the termination of the nerve into multiple branches is not consistently apparent
      on ultrasonography.

PMID- 25821035
TI  - Morphometric differences of nasopalatine canal based on 3D classifications:
      descriptive analysis on CBCT.
AB  - PURPOSE: This descriptive retrospective study analyzed differences among
      sagittal, coronal and axial NC groups based on the dimensions of nasopalatine
      canal (NC), buccal bone plate (BBP) and palatal bone plate (PBP) to canal.
      METHODS: Measurements were made on 224 CBCTs for NC, BBP and PBP on the three
      anatomic planes at three levels: level 1, when the incisive foramen is completely
      closed on the axial plane; level 2, at the midpoint of NC length (NCL) on the
      sagittal plane; and level 3, at the foramina of Stenson on the sagittal plane.
      ANOVA tests with post hoc tests were used. The intraclass correlation coefficient
      and Kappa test were used for evaluating the intraobserver agreement. RESULTS:
      Regarding coronal classification, these significant differences were found: BBP
      length (BL)level 1 was lower for the two parallel canals group; PBP length
      (PL)level 1 was lower for single canal group; and NCL was lower for Y-type canal
      group. Regarding axial classification, these significant differences were found:
      LPlevel 1 was lower for 3.1-3 group; PBP width (PW)level 3 was the greatest for
      3.1-3; and LPlevel 3 was lower for 1.1. CONCLUSIONS: Presurgical evaluation with
      CBCT in premaxillae region should include analysis on coronal and axial planes
      and not only on sagittal plane seeing as morphometric differences were found on
      coronal and axial planes. Following the morphological coronal classification, two
      parallel canals presented a higher NCL, a higher LP and a lower LV at inferior
      edge of alveolar ridge.

PMID- 25821036
TI  - A review of iron species for visible-light photocatalytic water purification.
AB  - Iron species are one of the least toxic and least expensive substances that are
      photocatalytic in the visible region of the spectrum. Therefore, this article
      focuses on iron-based photocatalysts sensitive to visible light. Photo-Fenton
      reactions are considered with respect to those assisted by and involve the in
      situ production of H2O2. The possible role that photoactive iron species play by
      interacting with natural organic matter in water purification in the natural
      environment is considered. The review also considered photosensitization by
      phthalocyanines and the potential role that layered double hydroxides may have
      not only as catalyst supports but also as photosensitizers themselves. Finally,
      photocatalytic disinfection of water is discussed, and the desirability of
      standardized metrics and experimental conditions to assist in the comparative
      evaluation of photocatalysts is highlighted.

PMID- 25821037
TI  - Recovery and electrochemical performance in lithium secondary batteries of
      biochar derived from rice straw.
AB  - Renewable biomass has attracted great attention for the production of biooil,
      biogas, and biochar, a carbon residual applicable for carbon sequestration and
      environmental remediation. Rice straw is one of the most common biomasses among
      agricultural wastes in South Korea. As part of our advanced and environmentally
      friendly research, we applied biochar derived from rice straw as the anode
      material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Porous carbons with a high surface
      area were prepared from rice straw. Such porous carbons have exhibited
      particularly large reversible capacity and hence proven to be a candidate anode
      material for high-rate and high-capacity LIBs. Rice straw-derived biochars were
      synthesized at four different temperatures: 400, 550, 700, and 900  degrees C.
      The surface was modified by using HCl and H2O2 on the 550  degrees C biochar in
      order to increase the surface area. The resulting biochar was characterized by X
      ray diffraction (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM).
      The surface area was measured by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. The
      electrochemical characterizations were investigated by galvanostatic charge
      discharge (CD) curves, cyclic voltammetry (CV), and electrochemical impedance
      spectroscopy (EIS). All samples exhibited reversible capacities of below 200 mAh
      g(-1). The surface-modified biochars exhibited improved cycle performance.
      Surface modification using HCl showed better cycle performance than H2O2.
      However, the capacities of the treated 550  degrees C biochar were similar to
      those of non-surface-modified biochar.

PMID- 25821038
TI  - Investigation of aromatic hydrocarbon inclusion into cyclodextrins by Raman
      spectroscopy and thermal analysis.
AB  - Among various cavitand molecules, cyclodextrins are extensively studied due to
      their ability to form host-guest complexes with small hydrophobic molecules.
      Aiming to explore cyclodextrin implementation on the scopes related to the
      environmental pollution monitoring or remediation, extensive studies for
      understanding the cyclodextrin-based host-guest complex formation with selected
      targeted substances are conducted. In this context, two polycyclic aromatic
      hydrocarbons, naphthalene and fluoranthene as well as toluene as a member of
      volatile organic compounds, were studied regarding their ability to encapsulate
      into cyclodextrin cavities. Synthesised complexes were examined by
      thermogravimetric analysis combined with Raman spectroscopy. The obtained results
      demonstrated that the size between targeted molecules and the cyclodextrin
      cavities strongly correlates with its ability to engage in complexation. Thus,
      this latter parameter plays an important role in the inclusion complex formation
      as well as in the strength of the interaction between the molecules.

PMID- 25821039
TI  - Aging effect on the leaching behavior of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, and Cd) in red
      paddy soil.
AB  - Aging effect can influence the fractions distribution and mobility of metals
      after they are added into soil. In this study, incubation and soil column
      experiments under simulated acid rain condition were conducted to evaluate aging
      effect on the leaching characteristic of Cu, Zn, and Cd in artificial polluted
      red paddy soil. Our results showed that aging effect reduced metal contents in
      exchangeable and HoAc soluble fractions. Power function was the most excellent to
      describe the variation of exchangeable fraction, while pseudo first- and second
      order functions were more successful to describe the leaching characteristic of
      metals from soil columns. The leaching amount of the metals from the polluted
      soil only accounted for a small part of their total content in soil, and the
      leachability of Cu was the weakest. Both the exchangeable and HoAc soluble
      fraction were available as indicators to evaluate the leachability of metals in
      red paddy soil. The shorter time the soil was contaminated, the more amounts of
      metals released from the soil. The reduction of exchangeable fraction caused by
      aging effect was the main reason for the decrease of metal mobility in soil. 

PMID- 25821040
TI  - ACN9 and alcohol dependence: family-based association analysis in multiplex
      alcohol dependence families.
AB  - A previous genome-wide linkage study of alcohol dependence (AD) in the Pittsburgh
      based multiplex family study found suggestive evidence for linkage on Chromosome
      7q, a region in which the ACN9 gene is located. Using the same two generation
      Pittsburgh family data in which linkage was found, data for a third generation
      was added. The expanded sample included 133 pedigrees with 995 individuals. Finer
      mapping was undertaken using six SNPs extending from rs1917939 to rs13475 with
      minor allele frequency (MAF) >=0.15 and pair-wise linkage disequilibrium (LD) of
      r(2) <0.8 using the HapMap CEU population. Binary affection status, visual, and
      auditory P300 data were tested for family-based association. Family-based
      analyses found all six SNPs associated with affected status. Three SNPs are
      located upstream of the gene, two SNPs are within intron 1 and one is in Exon 4.
      FBAT P-values for the six SNPs ranged between 0.05 and 0.0005. Haplotype analysis
      revealed one four-SNP block formed by rs10499934, rs7794886, rs12056091, and
      rs13475 with an overall significant association at P = 0.0008. Analysis of visual
      P300 amplitude data, a known endophenotype of alcohol dependence risk, revealed a
      significant association for SNPs within intron 1 and exon 4 under a dominant
      model of transmission. Family-based association analysis shows the ACN9 gene
      significantly associated with alcohol dependence and P300 amplitude variation.
      The potential importance of the ACN9 gene for AD risk may be related to its role
      in gluconeogenesis which may be involved in the regulation of alcohol metabolism.

PMID- 25821041
TI  - Transplantation speed offers early hepatocyte engraftment in acute liver injured
      rats: A translational study with clinical implications.
AB  - The impact of the rate of intraportal hepatocyte transplantation on early
      engraftment and repopulation is unclear. The aim of this study was to address
      this and to improve the engraftment and repopulation efficiencies of hepatocyte
      transplantation for the treatment of a rat model of acute liver failure in a
      clinically useful way without preconditioning. Acute hepatic injury was induced
      into Sprague-Dawley rats with D-galactosamine. Hepatocytes were infused
      intraportally over a period of 30, 70, or 100 seconds to study early engraftment
      (2 days) and repopulation (7 days). Three groups had significant differences in
      hepatocyte engraftment (P = 0.018) and repopulation efficiencies (P = 0.037), and
      an infusion over a period of 70 seconds produced superior outcomes. After the 70
      second infusion, the transplanted cells immediately transmigrated the sinusoidal
      endothelial layer and rarely accumulated in the portal venules, with liver
      function improving significantly. The mean first peak pressures, without
      significant differences, were 14.8 +/- 6.5, 17.7 +/- 3.7, and 13.6 +/- 3.0 mm Hg
      in the 30-, 70-, and 100-second groups, respectively. Differential hepatocyte
      transfusion rates contributed to accelerated early engraftment and repopulation
      in rats with acute liver injury. These proof-of-concept findings are of clinical
      significance because they are easy to translate into practice.

PMID- 25821042
TI  - Knowing What to Do and Being Able to Do It: Influences on Parent Choice and Use
      of Practices to Support Young People Living with Mental Illness.
AB  - A parent's response to a young person's mental illness can influence their
      recovery and wellbeing. Many parents devote considerable time and energy to
      supporting a young person experiencing mental illness and engage in numerous
      different practices to do so. Yet little is known about why parents use
      particular practices. This article explores this question through qualitative
      analysis of parent perspectives. Interviews with 32 parents of young people
      living with mental illness were analysed using constant comparative analysis.
      Findings suggest that parents' choice of and ability to carry out particular
      practices are shaped by: their knowledge and beliefs; their personal resources
      and constraints; and their social and service networks. Further, parents took
      active measures to optimize these influences. By understanding the complexity of
      their own potential influence on both knowing what to do and being able to do it,
      health professionals can better enable parents to support young adults
      experiencing mental illness. 

PMID- 25821043
TI  - An Exploratory Factor Analysis of Coping Styles and Relationship to Depression
      Among a Sample of Homeless Youth.
AB  - The extent to which measures of coping adequately capture the ways that homeless
      youth cope with challenges, and the influence these coping styles have on mental
      health outcomes, is largely absent from the literature. This study tests the
      factor structure of the Coping Scale using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and
      then investigates the relationship between coping styles and depression using
      hierarchical logistic regression with data from 201 homeless youth. Results of
      the EFA indicate a 3-factor structure of coping, which includes active, avoidant,
      and social coping styles. Results of the hierarchical logistic regression show
      that homeless youth who engage in greater avoidant coping are at increased risk
      of meeting criteria for major depressive disorder. Findings provide insight into
      the utility of a preliminary tool for assessing homeless youths' coping styles.
      Such assessment may identify malleable risk factors that could be addressed by
      service providers to help prevent mental health problems. 

PMID- 25821044
TI  - From small fullerenes to the graphene limit: A harmonic force-field method for
      fullerenes and a comparison to density functional calculations for Goldberg
      Coxeter fullerenes up to C980.
AB  - We introduce a simple but computationally very efficient harmonic force field,
      which works for all fullerene structures and includes bond stretching, bending,
      and torsional motions as implemented into our open-source code Fullerene. This
      gives accurate geometries and reasonably accurate vibrational frequencies with
      root mean square deviations of up to 0.05 A for bond distances and 45.5 cm(-1)
      for vibrational frequencies compared with more elaborate density functional
      calculations. The structures obtained were used for density functional
      calculations of Goldberg-Coxeter fullerenes up to C980. This gives a rather large
      range of fullerenes making it possible to extrapolate to the graphene limit.
      Periodic boundary condition calculations using density functional theory (DFT)
      within the projector augmented wave method gave an energy difference between -8.6
      and -8.8 kcal/mol at various levels of DFT for the reaction C60 ->graphene (per
      carbon atom) in excellent agreement with the linear extrapolation to the graphene
      limit (-8.6 kcal/mol at the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof level of theory).

PMID- 25821045
TI  - Breast carcinoma with a predominant duct-replacing component and chondroid matrix
      production.
AB  - Breast carcinomas that produce chondroid matrix are extremely rare. If the
      carcinoma is invasive, it is classified as a matrix-producing carcinoma (MPC).
      Herein, we present a case of a breast carcinoma, which showed duct-replacing
      growth with chondroid matrix production. A 63-year-old woman underwent fine
      needle aspiration cytology for suspected malignancy, based on radiological
      findings. Cellular components showed sufficient atypia to allow a diagnosis of
      malignancy. A partial mastectomy was performed, and no mass-forming lesion was
      apparent in the surgically resected specimen. Histopathological examination
      showed that the carcinoma produced chondroid matrix and grew replacing ducts,
      which were associated with a small amount of an obvious invasive component
      without matrix production. Some parts of the duct-replacing component might take
      the form of expansile invasion due to the absence of residual duct-lining
      myoepithelial cells; it is difficult to decide whether the duct-replacing
      component is invasive or not. However, regarding a few tumor nests, they would be
      recognized as MPC-like intraductal components because of the focal presence of
      myoepithelial cells around them. Hence, this carcinoma could not be definitely
      diagnosed as a MPC, even though we believe they are closely related. This is the
      first reported case of a breast carcinoma displaying duct-replacing growth with
      chondroid matrix production.

PMID- 25821046
TI  - Are patients with low body mass index candidates for deep inferior epigastric
      perforator flaps for unilateral breast reconstruction?
AB  - Thin women have not traditionally been considered ideal candidates for autologous
      breast reconstruction. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of deep
      inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap reconstruction in thin women
      undergoing immediate unilateral breast reconstruction. A retrospective review of
      1,040 consecutive patients was performed. In total, 381 patients met the
      inclusion criteria. To improve clinical interpretability, patients were divided
      into three groups based on body mass index: "thin" (BMI <= 22.99), "traditional"
      (>23 and <=29.99), and "obese" (BMI >30) candidates. Flap characteristics were
      compared to mastectomy weights, and postoperative complications were analyzed. In
      all groups, flap size was generally more than sufficient to match the mastectomy
      specimen, as flap weight:mastectomy weight ratio ws greater than 1 in all groups
      with no significant difference between groups (1.1 in thin patients, 1.0 in
      traditional patients, and 1.0 in obese patients). Fat necrosis prevalence was
      lowest in the thin group (12.5%), compared to the traditional (15.9%, P = 0.443)
      or obese (14.4%, P = 0.698) groups. Prevalence of breast infection were lower in
      the thin patients (5.2%) versus the traditional (8.7%, P = 0.287) or obese
      (14.4%, P = 0.033). Abdominal wound healing complications and seroma were also
      lowest in thin patients. DIEP flap breast reconstruction may be an effective
      method for unilateral breast reconstruction in thin patients, with sufficient
      flap weights and lower incidence of complications than in heavier patients. As
      such, low BMI may not present a barrier in the reconstruction of a breast mound
      matching native breast size.

PMID- 25821047
TI  - Validation of Fall Risk Assessment Specific to the Inpatient Rehabilitation
      Facility Setting.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate and compare the Morse Fall Scale (MFS) and the Casa Colina
      Fall Risk Assessment Scale (CCFRA) for identification of patients at risk for
      falling in an acute inpatient rehabilitation facility. The primary objective of
      this study was to perform a retrospective validation study of the CCFRAS,
      specifically for use in the inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) setting.
      DESIGN: Retrospective validation study. METHOD: The study was approved under
      expedited review by the local Institutional Review Board. Data were collected on
      all patients admitted to Cottage Rehabiliation Hospital (CRH), a 38-bed acute
      inpatient rehabilitation hospital, from March 2012 to August 2013. Patients were
      excluded from the study if they had a length of stay less than 3 days or age less
      than 18. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and the
      diagnostic odds ratio were used to examine the differences between the MFS and
      CCFRAS. AUC between fall scales was compared using the DeLong Test. FINDINGS:
      There were 931 patients included in the study with 62 (6.7%) patient falls. The
      average age of the population was 68.8 with 503 males (51.2%). The AUC was 0.595
      and 0.713 for the MFS and CCFRAS, respectively (0.006). The diagnostic odds ratio
      of the MFS was 2.0 and 3.6 for the CCFRAS using the recommended cutoffs of 45 for
      the MFS and 80 for the CCFRAS. CONCLUSION: The CCFRAS appears to be a better tool
      in detecting fallers vs. nonfallers specific to the IRF setting. CLINICAL
      RELEVANCE: The assessment and identification of patients at high risk for falling
      is important to implement specific precautions and care for these patients to
      reduce their risk of falling. The CCFRAS is more clinically relevant in
      identifying patients at high risk for falling in the IRF setting compared to
      other fall risk assessments. Implementation of this scale may lead to a reduction
      in fall rate and injuries from falls as it more appropriately identifies patients
      at high risk for falling.

PMID- 25821048
TI  - A new paradigm for numerical simulation of microneedle-based drug delivery aided
      by histology of microneedle-pierced skin.
AB  - Microneedle (MN) is a relatively recent invention and an efficient technology for
      transdermal drug delivery (TDD). Conventionally, mathematical models of MNs drug
      delivery define the shape of the holes created by the MNs in the skin as the same
      as their actual geometry. Furthermore, the size of the MN holes in the skin is
      considered to be either the same or a certain fraction of the length of the MNs.
      However, the histological images of the MN-treated skin indicate that the real
      insertion depth is much shorter than the length of the MNs and the shapes may
      vary significantly from one case to another. In addressing these points, we
      propose a new approach for modeling MN-based drug delivery, which incorporates
      the histology of MN-pierced skin using a number of concepts borrowed from image
      processing tools. It is expected that the developed approach will provide better
      accuracy of the drug diffusion profile. A new computer program is developed to
      automatically obtain the outline of the MNs-treated holes and import these images
      into computer software for simulation of drug diffusion from MN systems. This
      method can provide a simple and fast way to test the quality of MNs design and
      modeling, as well as simulate experimental studies, for example, permeation
      experiments on MN-pierced skin using diffusion cell. The developed methodology is
      demonstrated using two-dimensional (2D) numerical modeling of flat MNs (2D).
      However, the methodology is general and can be implemented for three dimensional
      (3D) MNs if there is sufficient number of images for reconstructing a 3D image
      for numerical simulation. Numerical modeling for 3D geometry is demonstrated by
      using images of an ideal 3D MN. The methodology is not demonstrated for real 3D
      MNs, as there are not sufficient numbers of images for the purpose of this paper.

PMID- 25821049
TI  - Peptide Sequence Analysis by Electron Transfer Dissociation Mass Spectrometry: A
      Web-Based Tutorial.
AB  - We created a web-based tutorial designed to teach manual interpretation and
      identification of spectra acquired using electron transfer dissociation (ETD).
      The tutorial provides an explanation of the ETD fragmentation process with the
      goal of identifying all of the significant peaks in a spectrum. We discuss
      determination of the precursor mass and charge state, neutral losses, electron
      transfer without dissociation (ETnoD), and the mechanisms by which fragment ions
      are created. Our hope is to provide a tool that presents the information already
      taught in D.F.H.'s short courses in a way that is easy for any student or
      researcher in the mass spectrometry community to access. The tutorial may be
      found at http://www.huntlab.org.

PMID- 25821050
TI  - Pyrylium Salts as Reactive Matrices for MALDI-MS Imaging of Biologically Active
      Primary Amines.
AB  - Many neuroactive substances, including endogenous biomolecules, environmental
      compounds, and pharmaceuticals possess primary amine functional groups. Among
      these are catecholamine neurotransmitters (e.g., dopamine), many substituted
      phenethylamines (e.g., amphetamine), as well as amino acids and neuropeptides. In
      most cases, mass spectrometric (ESI and MALDI) analyses of trace amounts of such
      compounds are challenging because of their poor ionization properties. We present
      a method for chemical derivatization of primary amines by reaction with pyrylium
      salts that facilitates their detection by MALDI-MS and enables the imaging of
      primary amines in brain tissue sections. A screen of pyrylium salts revealed that
      the 2,4-diphenyl-pyranylium ion efficiently derivatizes primary amines and can be
      used as a reactive MALDI-MS matrix that induces both derivatization and
      desorption. MALDI-MS imaging with such matrix was used to map the localization of
      dopamine and amphetamine in brain tissue sections and to quantitatively map the
      distribution of the neurotoxin beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine. 

PMID- 25821051
TI  - An interchangeable role for kainate and metabotropic glutamate receptors in the
      induction of rat hippocampal mossy fiber long-term potentiation in vivo.
AB  - The roles of both kainate receptors (KARs) and metabotropic glutamate receptors
      (mGluRs) in mossy fiber long-term potentiation (MF-LTP) have been extensively
      studied in hippocampal brain slices, but the findings are controversial. In this
      study, we have addressed the roles of both mGluRs and KARs in MF-LTP in
      anesthetized rats. We found that MF-LTP could be induced in the presence of
      either GluK1-selective KAR antagonists or group I mGluR antagonists. However, LTP
      was inhibited when the group I mGluRs and the GluK1-KARs were simultaneously
      inhibited. Either mGlu1 or mGlu5 receptor activation is sufficient to induce this
      form of LTP as selective inhibition of either subtype alone, together with the
      inhibition of KARs, did not inhibit MF-LTP. These data suggest that mGlu1
      receptors, mGlu5 receptors, and GluK1-KARs are all engaged during high-frequency
      stimulation, and that the activation of any one of these receptors alone is
      sufficient for the induction of MF-LTP in vivo.

PMID- 25821052
TI  - Attitudes of the Prekmurje Roma towards health and healthcare.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Knowledge of the culture, traditions and values of the Roma is
      important for understanding their relationship to health and the health system.
      The Roma in Prekmurje, the far northeastern part of Slovenia, are a unique ethnic
      group and in many respects different from other Roma. The aim of the study was to
      determine their attitudes towards health and the healthcare system. METHODS AND
      MATERIALS: We conducted 25 interviews in Roma settlements. The participants were
      between 18 and 64 years of age, with the average age being 23.46 years old; 48 %
      were men and 52 % women. We used qualitative content analysis as the data
      analysis technique. As a tool to facilitate the qualitative data analysis, we
      used the software Atlas.ti. In the study, we used a data-driving coding scheme.
      Two independent coders carried out the coding. RESULTS: We determined eight
      logical categories that explain the attitudes of the Roma towards health,
      satisfaction, problems and prospects and the functioning of the health system at
      the local level. These are experiences with the healthcare system, personal
      healthcare, the perception of health and illness, suggestions for improvement,
      common diseases as perceived by the Roma, poverty and socioeconomic status of the
      Roma, discrimination and the need for a better understanding of the Roma.
      CONCLUSION: Roma culture and their customs affect the Roma's relationship with
      health and the healthcare services in Prekmurje. The Roma are willing to
      participate in health status improvement, but require special attention within
      the national healthcare system.

PMID- 25821053
TI  - Clinical profile, natural history, and predictors of mortality in patients with
      acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is an increasingly recognized
      entity encompassing an acute deterioration of liver function in patients with
      cirrhosis, either secondary to superimposed liver injury or due to extrahepatic
      precipitating factors such as infection culminating in the end-organ dysfunction.
      Its main features are reversibility and high short-term mortality due to
      multiorgan failure (MOF). We aimed to analyze the clinical, laboratory, and
      etiological predictors of mortality and outcome in patients with ACLF. METHODS:
      We evaluated 1215 patients with chronic liver disease; 90 patients met the
      criteria for ACLF. RESULTS: The most common cause of underlying chronic liver
      disease was alcohol, and the most common acute insult (AI) in those patients was
      superadded alcoholic hepatitis. In all, 50% of all patients died within 30 days
      (71.1 % within the first 14 days after admission). MOF was the cause of death in
      70 % of cases. On multivariate analysis, high serum potassium, serum creatinine
      higher than 90 umol/L, and C-reactive protein > 30 mg/L were found to be
      independent baseline predictors of mortality. APACHE II (Acute Physiology and
      Chronic Health Evaluation II) score was the best predictor of short-term
      mortality (area under the curve (AUC), 0.878). MOF was a valuable predictor of
      mortality (AUC, 0.923); 33 of 35 patients who had MOF at admission died. Presence
      of positive systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria at admission was
      also correlated with in-hospital mortality (AUC, 0.742). CONCLUSION: ACLF is a
      serious condition with high short-term mortality. Because ACLF is reversible, it
      is necessary to identify at-risk patients as soon as possible to treat acute
      events in a timely manner.

PMID- 25821054
TI  - A retrospective, case-control study on traditional environmental risk factors in
      inflammatory bowel disease in Vukovar-Srijem County, north-eastern Croatia, 2010.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Traditional environmental risk factors in inflammatory bowel disease
      (IBD), ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), were examined as part of
      the retrospective epidemiologic study conducted in Vukovar-Srijem County, north
      eastern Croatia in 2010. The geographical variations in the frequency of IBD in
      Croatia have been observed, which is also the trend in the Central Eastern
      European region and Europe as a whole, indicating the influence of environmental
      and lifestyle factors. However, the data on the spread of environmental IBD risk
      factors are still limited. The purpose of this study was to analyse the
      traditional environmental risk factors in IBD on our cohort sample, including
      measles virus infection and vaccination (MMR vaccine-Mumps, Measles, Rubella),
      tonsillectomy, appendectomy, current and former cigarette smoking and use of oral
      contraceptives in women. METHODS: This retrospective, case-control study was
      performed as a part of a wider epidemiologic study aimed at assessing the
      incidence, prevalence and clinical expression of IBD, in Vukovar-Srijem County
      (population: 204,768; 2001), which is a lesser developed part of the continental
      Croatia that experienced deep demographic changes in the recent past. IBD
      patients were identified according to the hospital's patient records. There were
      119 UC patients and 31 CD patients of a total of 150 patients in the cohort. A
      total of 150 individuals, volunteers, not having a diagnosis of IBD, age- and sex
      matched, were used as the control group. Information on examined risk factors
      were obtained from all subjects in a previously conducted interview. Patients
      were contacted personally or by phone and interviewed by a gastroenterologist.
      RESULTS: There were no differences in the number of smokers, former smokers and
      non-smokers, between UC and CD patients and the controls, nor in the duration of
      smoking (years), in current smokers and ex-smokers. Only marginally significant
      longer time of non-smoking, in ex-smokers was found in IBD patients, compared to
      the controls, more pronounced in CD patients (p = 0.05). No difference was found
      in relation to tonsillectomy and risk of IBD. There was no difference in the
      number of female IBD patients and women from the controls using oral
      contraceptives. Duration (years) of oral contraceptives use was longer in women
      from the controls than in female IBD patients (p < 0.001). Frequency of
      appendectomy was the lowest in UC patients, compared to the controls and CD
      patients (3.4, 12.0 and 38.7%, respectively) (p < 0.001). No difference was found
      in relation to measles virus infection and risk of IBD. MMR vaccination rates
      were higher in CD patients (90.3%), compared to UC patients and the controls
      (74.8 and 67.3%, respectively) (p = 0.026). CONCLUSIONS: No association was found
      between smoking and tonsillectomy and risk of IBD. Our results do not support the
      idea of oral contraceptives use as a risk factor for IBD. Frequency of
      appendectomy was the lowest in UC patients, suggesting that appendectomy
      decreases the risk of UC, contributing the earlier results. MMR vaccination
      seemed to be associated with Crohn's disease. These results can add value to our
      understanding of the increasing incidence of IBD in Croatia and other Central
      Eastern European countries and can be introductory to future large-scale
      research.

PMID- 25821055
TI  - [Use of ECMO in adult patients with cardiogenic shock: a position paper of the
      Austrian Society of Cardiology].
AB  - The use of ECMO to stabilize critically ill patients with severely depressed
      cardiac function and hemodynamics increased in the last years due to broader
      availability, better performance and easier implantation of the devices. The
      present guidelines of the Austrian Society of Cardiology focus on the use of ECMO
      in adult non-operated patients with cardiac diseases. Not only indications and
      contraindications are highlighted, but also the equally important issues of
      monitoring, complication management, measures during implantation and operation,
      and weaning of the devices are treated in detail. Thereby the present guidelines
      aim to optimize the use of ECMO in the individual centers, and aim to help
      current non-ECMO centers in developing a local ECMO-program or to contact ECMO
      centers for discussion of individual patients. 

PMID- 25821056
TI  - Patient's and physician's behavior on the management of benign prostatic
      hyperplasia among the patients at the risk of clinical progression. A multicenter
      noninterventional trial in Slovakia by "Prostate and Expectations of Treatment:
      Epidemiology Research" (PETER) study group.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of the survey was to assess physician's behavior and the
      global knowledge about patient's preferences and their psychological burden
      linked to lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in an outpatient setting in
      Slovakia. METHODS: The study included 36 outpatient urological clinics. Overall,
      1132 newly diagnosed LUTS patients were screened within 1 month. A total of 454
      questionnaires were obtained from 459 LUTS patients with risk of progression
      (RP). Inclusion criteria were: age > 50 years, IPSS > 8, prostate volume >= 30
      cm3, and PSA >= 1.5 to <= 10 ng/ml. RESULTS: The digital rectal examination, PSA
      testing, and urinalysis were used in all the centers as first visit examinations.
      The least frequently performed diagnostic procedure was uroflowmetry (74 %). The
      physician's preferred therapy for patients with RP was standard combined
      treatment in (52.6 %); followed by alpha-blocker alone (45 %) and monotherapy
      with 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors (5-ARI) only in 3 % of all asked urologists.
      Patient's mean age was 63.3 years (SD +/-  7.4); baseline PSA value 2.2 ng/ml (SD
      + 3.2); prostate volume was 38.0 ml (SD +/-  16.7 ml); Qmax was 11.5 ml/s (SD +/-
      4.6); and IPSS score 12.5 (SD +/-  6.3). The most bothersome symptoms were
      nocturia (prevalence of >= 75 %), weak urinary stream (61 %), and retarded
      voiding (43 %). Patient's expectations of treatment were rapid improvement of
      symptoms (36.0 %), stabilization of symptoms (35.5 %), and reduction of potential
      risk of surgical intervention (25.8 %). CONCLUSIONS: Our research reflects the
      physician's behavior, patient's self-perception of the disease and therapeutic
      priorities in the current outpatient practice in Slovakia.

PMID- 25821057
TI  - Non-specific low back pain: occupational or lifestyle consequences?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nursing occupation was identified as a risk occupation for the
      development of low back pain (LBP). The aim of our study was to find out how much
      occupational factors influence the development of LBP in hospital nursing
      personnel. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Non-experimental approach with a cross-sectional
      survey and statistical analysis. Nine hundred questionnaires were distributed
      among nursing personnel, 663 were returned and 659 (73.2 %) were considered for
      the analysis. Univariate and multivariate statistics for LBP risk was calculated
      by the binary logistic regression. The chi(2), influence factor, 95 % confidence
      interval and P value were calculated. Multivariate binary logistic regression was
      calculated by the Wald method to omit insignificant variables. RESULTS: Not
      performing exercises represented the highest risk for the development of LBP (OR
      2.8, 95 % CI 1.7-4.4; p < 0.001). The second and third ranked risk factors were
      frequent manual lifting > 10 kg (OR 2.4, 95 % CI 1.5-3.8; p < 0.001) and duration
      of employment >= 19 years (OR 2.4, 95 % CI 1.6-3.7; p < 0.001). The fourth ranked
      risk factor was better physical condition by frequent recreation and sports,
      which reduced the risk for the development of LBP (OR 0.4, 95 % CI 0.3-0.7; p =
      0.001). Work with the computer >= 2 h per day as last significant risk factor
      also reduced the risk for the development of LBP (OR 0.6, 95 % CI 0.4-0.1; p =
      0.049). CONCLUSION: Risk factors for LBP established in our study (exercises,
      duration of employment, frequent manual lifting, recreation and sports and work
      with the computer) are not specifically linked to the working environment of the
      nursing personnel. Rather than focusing on mechanical causes and direct workload
      in the development of non-specific LBP, the complex approach to LBP including
      genetics, psychosocial environment, lifestyle and quality of life is coming more
      to the fore.

PMID- 25821058
TI  - HUIEC, Human intestinal epithelial cell line with differentiated properties:
      process of isolation and characterisation.
AB  - The intestinal epithelium is composed of diverse cell types, most abundant being
      the enterocytes. Among other functions, they maintain the intestinal barrier and
      play a critical role in the absorption of nutrients, drugs and toxins. This study
      describes the development and characterization of human intestinal epithelial
      cells (HUIEC), a spontaneously arising cell line established by selective
      trypsinization and cloning of the intestinal epithelium, resulting in a uniform
      population of highly epithelial cells with a strong growth potential. 

PMID- 25821059
TI  - Intra-arrest percutaneous coronary intervention: a case series.
AB  - In patients with refractory cardiac arrest presumably from acute coronary
      occlusion, primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) may provide an
      opportunity for revascularisation and, subsequently, return of spontaneous
      circulation. We present our experience from a 24/7 primary percutaneous coronary
      intervention centre serving a population of approximately 800,000 individuals. A
      retrospective analysis was performed in patients with cardiac arrest treated from
      July 2011 to January 2014. Inclusion criteria were cardiac arrest and emergency
      coronary angiography performed during on-going external cardiopulmonary
      resuscitation (CPR). Course of treatment was analysed to outline the reasons for
      poor survival. Eight patients met the inclusion criteria; six (75 %) were male,
      and the mean age was 63 +/- 16 years. Revascularisation under continuous
      cardiopulmonary resuscitation was achieved in all eight patients. Sustained
      return of spontaneous circulation was achieved in two patients (25 %). Both
      patients had poor neurological outcome (cerebral performance category 4), and
      both died within 3 months. We identified total duration of cardiopulmonary
      resuscitation (90.5 +/- 33.3 min), lack of prehospital mechanical cardiopulmonary
      resuscitation devices and lack of extra-corporeal life support devices as the
      most likely reasons contributing to poor survival.

PMID- 25821060
TI  - Enrichment and separation of antitumor triterpene acids from the epidermis of
      Poria cocos by pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography and conventional
      high-speed counter-current chromatography.
AB  - Triterpene acids were extracted from the epidermis of Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf.
      These acids were found to inhibit the growth of lung cancer cells in vitro and in
      vivo. An efficient method for the preparative separation of antitumor triterpene
      acids was established that involves the combination of pH-zone-refining counter
      current chromatography and conventional high-speed counter-current
      chromatography. We used pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography to
      concentrate the triterpene acids using a two-phase solvent system composed of
      petroleum ether/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (3:7:5:5, v/v/v/v), trifluoroacetic
      acid (10 mM) was added to the upper phase as a retainer, and ammonia (10 mM) was
      added to the lower phase as an eluter. As a result, 200 mg concentrate of
      triterpene acids was obtained from 1.0 g of crude extract. The concentrate was
      further separated by conventional high-speed counter-current chromatography using
      a solvent system composed of petroleum ether/ethyl acetate/methanol/water
      (0.8:1.2:1.2:0.9, v/v), yielding 50 mg of poricoic acid A and 5 mg of poricoic
      acid B from 120 mg concentrate, respectively. The inhibitory activity of the
      major compound on lung A549 cells was examined and poricoic acid A was found to
      significantly inhibit the growth of A 549 cells. 

PMID- 25821061
TI  - Human pulvinar functional organization and connectivity.
AB  - The human pulvinar is the largest thalamic area in terms of size and cortical
      connectivity. Although much is known about regional pulvinar structural anatomy,
      relatively little is known about pulvinar functional anatomy in humans.
      Cooccurrence of experimentally induced brain activity is a traditional metric
      used to establish interregional brain connectivity and forms the foundation of
      functional neuroimaging connectivity analyses. Because functional neuroimaging
      studies report task-related coactivations within a standardized space, meta
      analysis of many whole-brain studies can define the brain's interregional
      coactivation across many tasks. Such an analysis can also detect and define
      variations in functional coactivations within a particular region. Here we use
      coactivation profiles reported in ~ 7,700 functional neuroimaging studies to
      parcellate and define the pulvinar's functional anatomy. Parcellation of the
      pulvinar's coactivation profile identified five clusters per pulvinar of distinct
      functional coactivation. These clusters showed a high degree of symmetry across
      hemispheres and correspondence with the human pulvinar's cytoarchitecture. We
      investigated the functional coactivation profiles of each resultant pulvinar
      cluster with meta-analytic methods. By referencing existent neuroimaging and
      lesion-deficit literature, these profiles make a case for regional pulvinar
      specialization within the larger human attention-controlling network. Reference
      to this literature also informs specific hypotheses that can be tested in
      subsequent studies in healthy and clinical populations.

PMID- 25821063
TI  - Treatment of melanoma with a serotype 5/3 chimeric oncolytic adenovirus coding
      for GM-CSF: Results in vitro, in rodents and in humans.
AB  - Metastatic melanoma is refractory to irradiation and chemotherapy, but amenable
      to immunological approaches such as immune-checkpoint-inhibiting antibodies or
      adoptive cell therapies. Oncolytic virus replication is an immunogenic
      phenomenon, and viruses can be armed with immunostimulatory molecules. Therefore,
      oncolytic immuno-virotherapy of malignant melanoma is an appealing approach,
      which was recently validated by a positive phase 3 trial. We investigated the
      potency of oncolytic adenovirus Ad5/3-D24-GMCSF on a panel of melanoma cell lines
      and animal models, and summarized the melanoma-specific human data from the
      Advanced Therapy Access Program (ATAP). The virus effectively eradicated human
      melanoma cells in vitro and subcutaneous SK-MEL-28 melanoma xenografts in nude
      mice when combined with low-dose cyclophosphamide. Furthermore, virally-expressed
      granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) stimulated the
      differentiation of human monocytes into macrophages. In contrast to human cells,
      RPMI 1846 hamster melanoma cells exhibited no response to oncolytic viruses and
      the chimeric 5/3 fiber failed to increase the efficacy of transduction,
      suggesting limited utility of the hamster model in the context of viruses with
      this capsid. In ATAP, treatments appeared safe and well-tolerated. Four out of
      nine melanoma patients treated were evaluable for possible therapy benefit with
      modified RECIST criteria: one patient had minor response, two had stable disease,
      and one had progressive disease. Two patients were alive at 559 and 2,149 days
      after treatment. Ad5/3-D24-GMCSF showed promising efficacy in preclinical studies
      and possible antitumor activity in melanoma patients refractory to other forms of
      therapy. This data supports continuing the clinical development of oncolytic
      adenoviruses for treatment of malignant melanoma. 

PMID- 25821064
TI  - Population pharmacokinetic analysis of oseltamivir and oseltamivir carboxylate
      following intravenous and oral administration to patients with and without renal
      impairment.
AB  - This work characterizes the pharmacokinetics (PK) of oseltamivir phosphate (OP)
      and its active metabolite, oseltamivir carboxylate (OC), and investigates
      oseltamivir i.v. dosing regimens for treatment of influenza in patients with
      normal renal function and with various degrees of renal impairment. Initially,
      data collected from 149 subjects with normal renal function and mild to severe
      renal impairment who were administered 40-200 mg oseltamivir i.v. were described
      by a four-compartment model. Two compartments described OP, one compartment
      described OC and one compartment described OP to OC metabolism. Then, data of 128
      subjects administered 20-1,000 mg oseltamivir orally were added. The absorption
      model included three first-order processes with direct (via first-pass) input in
      the OC compartment and two (direct and delayed) inputs in the OP compartment.
      Simulations and PK bridging were used to recommend i.v. dosing regimens. The
      analysis demonstrated that renal function had a major effect on OC clearance (CL
      M ) and exposure. CL M for subjects with mild, moderate and severe renal
      impairment was 18, 50, and 84 % lower than for subjects with normal renal
      function. Simulations were used to select i.v. dosing regimens that provide OC
      Cmin coverage and exposures comparable to those achieved in subjects with normal
      renal function administered 75 mg b.i.d. orally. The oseltamivir dose depended on
      the degree of renal impairment and was independent of route of administration.
      Specifically, 75 mg b.i.d. is recommended for subjects with normal renal function
      or mild renal impairment, 30 mg b.i.d. for subjects with moderate renal
      impairment, and 30 mg q.d. for subjects with severe renal impairment. Recommended
      i.v. doses were the same as those recommended for oral administration in
      corresponding renal impairment groups.

PMID- 25821065
TI  - Development and application of an aggregate adherence metric derived from
      population pharmacokinetics to inform clinical trial enrichment.
AB  - Nonadherence to prescribed medication is a common barrier to effective treatment,
      and current options to determine adherence are limited. This study describes
      development of an aggregate adherence measure based on population
      pharmacokinetics (PK), and its comparison to a subjective questionnaire, the
      Morisky 8-item medication adherence scale (MMAS8), in a trial of psychiatric
      patients on stable doses of oral aripiprazole. A comprehensive model was first
      built using plasma drug concentration data from 24 clinical studies comprising
      448 patients with over 13,500 observations. Application of this model to
      independent patient profiles for a given drug-dosing regimen were used to
      generate the primary aggregate adherence metric, a ratio of observed versus
      expected plasma exposures at steady-state. Although the metric is capable of
      comparing relative adherence across groups, simulations showed that the metric is
      not sufficiently sensitive as an individual diagnostic in all cases. There were
      no trends observed between results from calculated aggregate adherence metrics
      and total scores from MMAS8 in a single-visit clinical trial of 47 patients with
      bipolar 1 disorder or schizophrenia who were on stable doses of aripiprazole,
      although a strong association was observed for one MMAS8 question. The range of
      the metric calculated for patients was between 0.16 and 3.15. The described
      approach of a novel "reverse" application of population PK to quantify relative
      adherence with an aggregate measure may be influential for both clinical and
      pharmacometric communities. 

PMID- 25821066
TI  - [Epidemiology and prevention of leishmaniasis in northern Afghanistan].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Leishmaniasis is estimated to cause the ninth largest disease burden
      among infectious diseases worldwide and it is not preventable by vaccination or
      chemoprophylaxis, but only by personal protective measures preventing bites of
      infectious arthropod vectors. OBJECTIVES: Which leishmania species are endemic in
      northern Afghanistan, what are the clinical characteristics of skin lesions
      produced by cutanizing leishmania species, what are their epidemiological
      characteristics, and which preventive measures are feasible? METHODS: The medical
      literature was reviewed, knowledge gaps were analyzed and completed by our own
      data collected locally. RESULTS: Four Leishmania species are considered endemic
      in northern Afghanistan, of which Leishmania tropica, L. major, and L. donovani
      can produce skin lesions while L. donovani and L. infantum visceralize.
      Transmission modes and seasons vary markedly among focally epidemic urban
      anthroponotic L. tropica and rural enzootic L. major. Combined preventive
      measures may reduce the infection rate by more than 10,000-fold. CONCLUSION:
      Cutaneous as well as visceral leishmaniasis can occur among returnees from
      Afghanistan. Atypical, poorly healing skin lesions can be caused by L. donovani.
      Extensive use of personal protective measures against arthropod vectors is
      strongly recommended for all travelers.

PMID- 25821067
TI  - Nasal lavage levels of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and
      chronic nasal hypereosinophilia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to measure levels of granulocyte
      macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in nasal lavage of patients
      affected by chronic eosinophilic sinonasal inflammation to clarify the
      relationship with eosinophilic tissue infiltration and clinical features.
      METHODS: Between November 2012 and June 2013, we selected 70 patients with
      chronic eosinophilic inflammation (average age 41.8 years) who were classified
      into the following groups: persistent allergic rhinitis (group 1), noninfectious
      non-allergic rhinitis with eosinophilia syndrome (group 2) and chronic
      rhinosinusitis with polyps (group 3). Finally, we enrolled 20 healthy subjects as
      controls (group 4). All patients underwent symptoms score questionnaire based on
      a visual analogue scale, nasal endoscopy and/or computed tomography (CT) scan,
      and allergy testing. Nasal cytology by scraping of the mucosa and GM-CSF assays
      in nasal lavage were performed in all subjects. RESULTS: Detectable levels of GM
      CSF were found in 34 of 70 (48.57%) patients, with an average concentration of
      2.67 +/- 0.8 pg/mL, whereas in controls only 1 of 20 individuals showed
      detectable GM-CSF levels. Eosinophil infiltration was significantly higher in
      patients with detectable GM-CSF compared to those with undetectable levels (49.4%
      vs 39.2%, respectively; p < 0.05). Furthermore, significant weakly-moderate
      correlation was found between GM-CSF levels and percentage of eosinophil
      infiltration in tissue (p < 0.05). Correlation between symptom scores and GM-CSF
      levels was significant only in group 2, which showed higher average
      concentrations of GM-CSF compared to groups 1 and 3 (2.9 pg/mL vs 1.6 pg/mL and
      1.8 pg/mL, respectively; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our data confirm that GM-CSF is
      more frequently detectable in nasal lavages of patients affected by chronic
      sinonasal eosinophilic inflammation than in controls. Statistical analyses
      revealed a significant weakly-moderate correlation between GM-CSF levels in nasal
      lavage of all patients and percentage of eosinophil infiltration of nasal mucosa.

PMID- 25821068
TI  - Graphene/polyaniline woven fabric composite films as flexible supercapacitor
      electrodes.
AB  - We report the design and preparation of graphene and polyaniline (PANI) woven
      fabric composite films by in situ electropolymerization. The introduction of PANI
      greatly improves the electrochemical properties of solid-state supercapacitors
      which possess capacitances as high as 23 mF cm(-2), and exhibit excellent cycling
      stability with ~ 100% capacitance retention after 2000 cycles. The devices have
      displayed superior flexibility with improved areal specific capacitances to 118%
      during deformation.

PMID- 25821069
TI  - Interventions for reducing wrong-site surgery and invasive clinical procedures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Specific clinical interventions are needed to reduce wrong-site
      surgery, which is a rare but potentially disastrous clinical error. Risk factors
      contributing to wrong-site surgery are variable and complex. The introduction of
      organisational and professional clinical strategies have a role in minimising
      wrong-site surgery. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of organisational
      and professional interventions for reducing wrong-site surgery (including wrong
      side, wrong-procedure and wrong-patient surgery), including non-surgical invasive
      clinical procedures such as regional blocks, dermatological, obstetric and dental
      procedures and emergency surgical procedures not undertaken within the operating
      theatre. SEARCH METHODS: For this update, we searched the following electronic
      databases: the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group
      Specialised Register (January 2014), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled
      Trials (The Cochrane Library 2014), MEDLINE (June 2011 to January 2014), EMBASE
      (June 2011 to January 2014), CINAHL (June 2011 to January 2014), Dissertations
      and Theses (June 2011 to January 2014), African Index Medicus, Latin American and
      Caribbean Health Sciences database, Virtual Health Library, Pan American Health
      Organization Database and the World Health Organization Library Information
      System. Database searches were conducted in January 2014. SELECTION CRITERIA: We
      searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs), non-randomised controlled
      trials, controlled before-after studies (CBAs) with at least two intervention and
      control sites, and interrupted-time-series (ITS) studies where the intervention
      time was clearly defined and there were at least three data points before and
      three after the intervention. We included two ITS studies that evaluated the
      effectiveness of organisational and professional interventions for reducing wrong
      site surgery, including wrong-side and wrong-procedure surgery. Participants
      included all healthcare professionals providing care to surgical patients;
      studies where patients were involved to avoid the incorrect procedures or studies
      with interventions addressed to healthcare managers, administrators, stakeholders
      or health insurers. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors
      independently assesses the quality and abstracted data of all eligible studies
      using a standardised data extraction form, modified from the Cochrane EPOC
      checklists. We contacted study authors for additional information. MAIN RESULTS:
      In the initial review, we included one ITS study that evaluated a targeted
      educational intervention aimed at reducing the incidence of wrong-site tooth
      extractions. The intervention included examination of previous cases of wrong
      site tooth extractions, educational intervention including a presentation of
      cases of erroneous extractions, explanation of relevant clinical guidelines and
      feedback by an instructor. Data were reported from all patients on the
      surveillance system of a University Medical centre in Taiwan with a total of
      24,406 tooth extractions before the intervention and 28,084 tooth extractions
      after the intervention. We re-analysed the data using the Prais-Winsten time
      series and the change in level for annual number of mishaps was statistically
      significant at -4.52 (95% confidence interval (CI) -6.83 to -2.217) (standard
      error (SE) 0.5380). The change in slope was statistically significant at -1.16
      (95% CI -2.22 to -0.10) (SE 0.2472; P < 0.05).This update includes an additional
      study reporting on the incidence of neurological WSS at a university hospital
      both before and after the Universal Protocol's implementation. A total of 22,743
      patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures at the University of Illionois
      College of Medicine at Peoria, Illinois, United States of America were reported.
      Of these, 7286 patients were reported before the intervention and 15,456 patients
      were reported after the intervention. The authors found a significant difference
      (P < 0.001) in the incidence of WSS between the before period, 1999 to 2004, and
      the after period, 2005 to 2011.  Similarly, data were re-analysed using Prais
      Winsten regression to correct for autocorrelation. As the incidences were
      reported by year only and the intervention occurred in July 2004, the
      intervention year 2004 was excluded from the analysis. The change in level at the
      point the intervention was introduced was not statistically significant at -0.078
      percentage points (pp) (95% CI -0.176 pp to 0.02 pp; SE 0.042; P = 0.103). The
      change in slope was statistically significant at 0.031 (95% CI 0.004 to 0.058; SE
      0.012; P < 0.05). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this update added one
      additional ITS study to the previous review which contained one ITS study. The
      original review suggested that the use of a specific educational intervention in
      the context of a dental outpatient setting, which targets junior dental staff
      using a training session that included cases of wrong-site surgery, presentation
      of clinical guidelines and feedback by an instructor, was associated with a
      reduction in the incidence of wrong-site tooth extractions. The additional study
      in this update evaluated the annual incidence rates of wrong-site surgery in a
      neurosurgical population before and after the implementation of the Universal
      Protocol. The data suggested a strong downward trend in the incidence of wrong
      site surgery prior to the intervention with the incidence rate approaching zero.
      The effect of the intervention in these studies however remains unclear, as data
      reflect only two small low-quality studies in very specific population groups.

PMID- 25821070
TI  - Seed response to strigolactone is controlled by abscisic acid-independent DNA
      methylation in the obligate root parasitic plant, Phelipanche ramosa L. Pomel.
AB  - Seed dormancy release of the obligate root parasitic plant, Phelipanche ramosa,
      requires a minimum 4-day conditioning period followed by stimulation by host
      derived germination stimulants, such as strigolactones. Germination is then
      mediated by germination stimulant-dependent activation of PrCYP707A1, an abscisic
      acid catabolic gene. The molecular mechanisms occurring during the conditioning
      period that silence PrCYP707A1 expression and regulate germination stimulant
      response are almost unknown. Here, global DNA methylation quantification
      associated with pharmacological approaches and cytosine methylation analysis of
      the PrCYP707A1 promoter were used to investigate the modulation and possible role
      of DNA methylation during the conditioning period and in the PrCYP707A1 response
      to GR24, a synthetic strigolactone analogue. Active global DNA demethylation
      occurs during the conditioning period and is required for PrCYP707A1 activation
      by GR24 and for subsequent seed germination. Treatment with 5-azacytidine, a DNA
      hypomethylating molecule, reduces the length of the conditioning period.
      Conversely, hydroxyurea, a hypermethylating agent, inhibits PrCYP707A1 expression
      and seed germination. Methylated DNA immunoprecipitation followed by PCR
      experiments and bisulfite sequencing revealed that DNA demethylation particularly
      impacts a 78-nucleotide sequence in the PrCYP707A1 promoter. The results here
      demonstrate that the DNA methylation status during the conditioning period plays
      a crucial role independently of abscisic acid in the regulation of P. ramosa seed
      germination by controlling the strigolactone-dependent expression of PrCYP707A1. 

PMID- 25821071
TI  - Planteose as a storage carbohydrate required for early stage of germination of
      Orobanche minor and its metabolism as a possible target for selective control.
AB  - Root parasitic weeds in Orobanchaceae cause serious damage to worldwide
      agriculture. Germination of the parasites requires host-derived germination
      stimulants, such as strigolactones, as indicators of host roots within reach of
      the parasite's radicles. This unique germination process was focused on to
      identify metabolic pathways required for germination, and to design a selective
      control strategy. A metabolomic analysis of germinating seeds of clover
      broomrape, Orobanche minor, was conducted to identify its distinctive
      metabolites. Consequently, a galactosyl-sucrose trisaccharide, planteose (alpha-d
      galactopyranosyl-(1->6)-beta-d-fructofuranosyl-(2->1)-alpha-d-glucopyranoside),
      was identified as a metabolite that decreased promptly after reception of the
      germination stimulant. To investigate the importance of planteose metabolism, the
      effects of several glycosidase inhibitors were examined, and nojirimycin
      bisulfite (NJ) was found to alter the sugar metabolism and to selectively inhibit
      the germination of O. minor. Planteose consumption was similar in NJ-treated
      seeds and non-treated germinating seeds; however, NJ-treated seeds showed lower
      consumption of sucrose, a possible intermediate of planteose metabolism,
      resulting in significantly less glucose and fructose. This inhibitory effect was
      recovered by adding glucose. These results suggest that planteose is a storage
      carbohydrate required for early stage of germination of O. minor, and NJ inhibits
      germination by blocking the supply of essential glucose from planteose and
      sucrose. Additionally, NJ selectively inhibited radicle elongation of germinated
      seeds of Orobanchaceae plants (Striga hermonthica and Phtheirospermum japonicum).
      Thus, NJ will be a promising tool to develop specific herbicides to the
      parasites, especially broomrapes, and to improve our understanding of the
      molecular mechanisms of this unique germination. 

PMID- 25821062
TI  - Gray matter atrophy in patients with mild cognitive impairment/Alzheimer's
      disease over the course of developing delusions.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We conducted a neuroimaging analysis to understand the neuroanatomical
      correlates of gray matter loss in a group of mild cognitive impairment and early
      Alzheimer's disease patients who developed delusions. METHODS: With data
      collected as part of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, we
      conducted voxel-based morphometry to determine areas of gray matter change in the
      same Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative participants, before and after
      they developed delusions. RESULTS: We identified 14 voxel clusters with
      significant gray matter decrease in patient scans post-delusional onset,
      correcting for multiple comparisons (false discovery rate, p < 0.05). Major areas
      of difference included the right and left insulae, left precuneus, the right and
      left cerebellar culmen, the left superior temporal gyrus, the right posterior
      cingulate, the right thalamus, and the left parahippocampal gyrus. CONCLUSIONS:
      Although contrary to our initial predictions of enhanced right frontal atrophy,
      our preliminary work identifies several neuroanatomical areas, including the
      cerebellum and left posterior hemisphere, which may be involved in delusional
      development in these patients.

PMID- 25821072
TI  - Hormone activities and the cell cycle machinery in immunity-triggered growth
      inhibition.
AB  - Biotic stress and diseases caused by pathogen attack pose threats in crop
      production and significantly reduce crop yields. Enhancing immunity against
      pathogens is therefore of outstanding importance in crop breeding. However, this
      must be balanced, as immune activation inhibits plant growth. This immunity
      coupled growth trade-off does not support resistance but is postulated to reflect
      the reallocation of resources to drive immunity. There is, however, increasing
      evidence that growth-immunity trade-offs are based on the reconfiguration of
      hormone pathways, shared by growth and immunity signalling. Studies in roots
      revealed the role of hormones in orchestrating growth across different cell
      types, with some hormones showing a defined cell type-specific activity. This is
      apparently highly relevant for the regulation of the cell cycle machinery and
      might be part of the growth-immunity cross-talk. Since plants are constantly
      exposed to Immuno-activating microbes under agricultural conditions, the
      transition from a growth to an immunity operating mode can significantly reduce
      crop yield and can conflict our efforts to generate next-generation crops with
      improved yield under climate change conditions. By focusing on roots, we outline
      the current knowledge of hormone signalling on the cell cycle machinery to
      explain growth trade-offs induced by immunity. By referring to abiotic stress
      studies, we further introduce how root cell type-specific hormone activities
      might contribute to growth under immunity and discuss the feasibility of
      uncoupling the growth-immunity cross-talk. 

PMID- 25821073
TI  - Exploiting genetic diversity from landraces in wheat breeding for adaptation to
      climate change.
AB  - Climate change has generated unpredictability in the timing and amount of rain,
      as well as extreme heat and cold spells that have affected grain yields worldwide
      and threaten food security. Sources of specific adaptation related to drought and
      heat, as well as associated breeding of genetic traits, will contribute to
      maintaining grain yields in dry and warm years. Increased crop photosynthesis and
      biomass have been achieved particularly through disease resistance and healthy
      leaves. Similarly, sources of drought and heat adaptation through extended
      photosynthesis and increased biomass would also greatly benefit crop improvement.
      Wheat landraces have been cultivated for thousands of years under the most
      extreme environmental conditions. They have also been cultivated in lower input
      farming systems for which adaptation traits, particularly those that increase the
      duration of photosynthesis, have been conserved. Landraces are a valuable source
      of genetic diversity and specific adaptation to local environmental conditions
      according to their place of origin. Evidence supports the hypothesis that
      landraces can provide sources of increased biomass and thousand kernel weight,
      both important traits for adaptation to tolerate drought and heat. Evaluation of
      wheat landraces stored in gene banks with highly beneficial untapped diversity
      and sources of stress adaptation, once characterized, should also be used for
      wheat improvement. Unified development of databases and promotion of data sharing
      among physiologists, pathologists, wheat quality scientists, national programmes,
      and breeders will greatly benefit wheat improvement for adaptation to climate
      change worldwide. 

PMID- 25821074
TI  - Variance components, heritability and correlation analysis of anther and ovary
      size during the floral development of bread wheat.
AB  - Anther and ovary development play an important role in grain setting, a crucial
      factor determining wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield. One aim of this study was
      to determine the heritability of anther and ovary size at different positions
      within a spikelet at seven floral developmental stages and conduct a variance
      components analysis. Relationships between anther and ovary size and other traits
      were also assessed. The thirty central European winter wheat genotypes used in
      this study were based on reduced height (Rht) and photoperiod sensitivity (Ppd)
      genes with variable genetic backgrounds. Identical experimental designs were
      conducted in a greenhouse and field simultaneously. Heritability of anther and
      ovary size indicated strong genetic control. Variance components analysis
      revealed that anther and ovary sizes of floret 3 (i.e. F3, the third floret from
      the spikelet base) and floret 4 (F4) were more sensitive to the environment
      compared with those in floret 1 (F1). Good correlations were found between spike
      dry weight and anther and ovary size in both greenhouse and field, suggesting
      that anther and ovary size are good predictors of each other, as well as spike
      dry weight in both conditions. Relationships between spike dry weight and anther
      and ovary size at F3/4 positions were stronger than at F1, suggesting that F3/4
      anther and ovary size are better predictors of spike dry weight. Generally, ovary
      size showed a closer relationship with spike dry weight than anther size,
      suggesting that ovary size is a more reliable predictor of spike dry weight. 

PMID- 25821075
TI  - Heterovalent-Doping-Enabled Efficient Dopant Luminescence and Controllable
      Electronic Impurity Via a New Strategy of Preparing II-VI Nanocrystals.
AB  - Substitutional heterovalent doping represents an effective method to control the
      optical and electronic properties of nanocrystals (NCs). Highly monodisperse II
      VI NCs with deep substitutional dopants are presented. The NCs exhibit stable,
      dominant, and strong dopant fluorescence, and control over n- and p-type
      electronic impurities is achieved. Large-scale, bottom-up superlattices of the
      NCs will speed up their application in electronic devices. 

PMID- 25821076
TI  - Effect of borojo (Borojoa patinoi Cuatrecasas) three-phase composition and gum
      arabic on the glass transition temperature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The search for natural, novel, high-quality, stable food ingredients
      is an ongoing practice in the food industry. Pulp of borojo (Borojoa patinoi
      Cuatrecasas), which is a fruit of the Colombian Pacific region, can be separated
      into three phases: liquid (LP), medium (MP) and solid (SP) phases. The objective
      of this work was to evaluate the effect of the three-phase composition and gum
      arabic on their glass transitions temperatures (T(g)). The best mixture, LP-MP,
      MP-SP and LP-SP and gum arabic (GA) was identified by response surface
      methodology. RESULTS: When adding GA to SP borojo phase in a 1:1 proportion, the
      resulting T(g) of the mixture was 132.27  degrees C whereas Tg for GA and SP
      phase were 154.89  degrees C and 79.86  degrees C respectively, which supported
      this combination as attractive from a processing perspective and supports an
      industrial advantage of using borojo as food ingredient. Phases were
      characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography, Fourier transform
      infrared spectroscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy and mass spectrometry.
      Low molecular weight compounds such as fructose for MP lowered T(g) whereas the
      presence of lignin increased T(g) of the mixtures as with the SP. CONCLUSIONS:
      The addition of GA significantly increased T(g) of borojo phases so leading to
      propose them as novel food processing materials.

PMID- 25821077
TI  - A pH-switched Pickering emulsion catalytic system: high reaction efficiency and
      facile catalyst recycling.
AB  - A smart Pickering emulsion catalytic system is constructed, which not only
      exhibits fivefold reaction rate enhancement effects in comparison to the
      conventional biphasic system but also can be facilely demulsified by tuning pH,
      allowing for in situ recycling nanocatalysts. 

PMID- 25821078
TI  - Tuning oxygen vacancy photoluminescence in monoclinic Y2WO6 by selectively
      occupying yttrium sites using lanthanum.
AB  - The effect of isovalent lanthanum (La) doping on the monoclinic Y2WO6
      photoluminescence was studied. Introducing the non-activated La(3+) into Y2WO6
      brings new excitation bands from violet to visible regions and strong near
      infrared emission, while the bands position and intensity depend on the doping
      concentration. It is interesting to find that doping La(3+) into Y2WO6 promotes
      the oxygen vacancy formation according to the first-principle calculation, Raman
      spectrum, and synchrotron radiation analysis. Through the Rietveld refinement and
      X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results, La(3+) is found to mainly occupy the Y2
      (2f) site in low-concentration doped samples. With increasing doping
      concentration, the La(3+) occupation number at the Y3 (4g) site increases faster
      than those at the Y1 (2e) and Y2 (2f) sites. When La(3+) occupies different Y
      sites, the localized energy states caused by the oxygen vacancy pair change their
      position in the forbidden band, inducing the variation of the excitation and
      emission bands. This research proposes a feasible method to tune the oxygen
      vacancy emission, eliminating the challenge of precisely controlling the
      calcination atmosphere. 

PMID- 25821080
TI  - Dinuclear Face-Sharing Bi-octahedral Tungsten(VI) Core and Unusual Thermal
      Behavior in Complex Th Tungstates.
AB  - Two new thorium tungstates A6 Th6 (WO4 )14 O (A=K and Rb) were synthesized by
      high-temperature solid-state reactions. The structures of both phases are based
      on a rare dinuclear confacial bi-octahedral [W2 O9 ](6-) core, encapsulated in a
      [Th6 W7 O46 (W2 O9 )](32-) cage showing a cross-section geometry similar to a six
      leafed lily. The adjacent cages are connected in two dimensional layers by WO4
      tetrahedral linkers. Due to the dissimilarities in mutual orientations of
      adjacent layers in these two structures, K6 Th6 (WO4 )14 O crystallizes in space
      group of R32 while Rb6 Th6 (WO4 )14 O stabilizes in P$?bar 6$2c. The high
      temperature phase transition was observed in Rb6 Th6 (WO4 )14 O and investigated
      using high-temperature PXRD technique. The results demonstrate a very unusual
      thermal behavior of this compound. The Raman and IR spectra of both phases were
      analyzed with respect to their complex structures. 

PMID- 25821079
TI  - Relationship between cigarette smoking and one leg with eyes closed balance in
      Japanese men.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the link between cigarette smoking and one leg with
      eyes closed balance in Japanese men. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We used data from 4224
      Japanese men, aged 43.3 +/- 13.9 years, in this cross-sectional study. Balance,
      such as one leg with eyes closed balance was measured. In addition, cigarette
      smoking habits were obtained by well-trained medical staff. The effect of
      cigarette smoking on one leg with eye closed balance was evaluated. RESULTS: A
      total of 1613 men (38.2 %) had smoking habit and 1471 men (34.8 %) regularly
      exercised. Age-related changes in one leg with eyes closed balance were noted.
      One leg with eyes closed balance in subjects with cigarette smoking (30.9 +/-
      31.8 s) was significantly lower than those in subjects without cigarette smoking
      (32.4 +/- 33.5 s) even after adjusting for confounding factors i.e. age, body
      weight and exercise habits. CONCLUSION: Cigarette smoking might be associated
      with one leg with eyes closed balance in Japanese men.

PMID- 25821082
TI  - Ageing of out-of-equilibrium nanoalloys by a kinetic mean-field approach.
AB  - This study describes the ageing of bimetallic nanoparticles using a kinetic mean
      field method which provides the time evolution of the concentration for each
      site. We consider the cuboctahedron of 309 atoms in the Cu-Ag system, which is a
      prototype of systems with a strong tendency to phase separate. Starting from an
      initial homogenous configuration, we investigate the evolution towards the
      equilibrium configuration at different temperatures. Surprisingly, at low
      temperature, the kinetics exhibits a first transition towards an onion-like
      configuration followed by a second transition towards the equilibrium core-shell
      configuration. An analysis of the kinetics of the formation and then of the
      dissolution of the onion-like structure allows us to identify the main paths of
      the kinetic process. 

PMID- 25821081
TI  - A novel HIF-1alpha-integrin-linked kinase regulatory loop that facilitates
      hypoxia-induced HIF-1alpha expression and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in
      cancer cells.
AB  - Here, we described a novel regulatory feedback loop in which hypoxia induces
      integrin-linked kinase (ILK) expression through a HIF-1alpha-dependent mechanism
      and ILK, in turn, stimulates HIF-1alpha expression through cell type- and cell
      context-dependent pathways. HIF-1alpha increased ILK via transcriptional
      activation. ILK increased HIF-1alpha levels by promoting mTOR-mediated
      translation in PC-3 and MCF-7 cells, and by blocking GSK3beta-mediated
      degradation in LNCaP cells, consistent with the cell line-/cellular context
      specific functions of ILK as a Ser473-Akt kinase. We show that ILK can account
      for the effects of hypoxia on Akt, mTOR, and GSK3beta phosphorylation. Also, ILK
      can de-repress HIF-1alpha signaling through the YB-1-mediated inhibition of
      Foxo3a expression. In concert with HIF-1alpha, these downstream effectors promote
      epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) through modulation of Snail and Zeb1.
      Thus, the ILK-HIF-1alpha regulatory loop could underlie the maintenance of high
      HIF-1alpha expression levels and the promotion of EMT under hypoxic conditions.
      Finally, we show that the small-molecule ILK inhibitor T315 can disrupt this
      regulatory loop in vivo and suppress xenograft tumor growth, thereby providing
      proof-of-concept that targeting ILK represents an effective strategy to block HIF
      1alpha expression and aggressive phenotype in cancer cells. 

PMID- 25821083
TI  - Comparison of higher energy collisional dissociation and collision-induced
      dissociation MS/MS sequencing methods for identification of naturally occurring
      peptides in human urine.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to determine the best fragmentation method for
      sequence identification of naturally occurring urinary peptides in the field of
      clinical proteomics. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We used LC-MS/MS analysis of urine
      samples to determine the analytical performance of higher energy collisional
      dissociation (HCD), CID with high and low resolution MS/MS for the identification
      of naturally occurring peptides in the low molecular weight urinary proteome.
      RESULTS: HCD and CID high-resolution generated a 22% error rate in peptide
      sequence identifications. CID low-resolution showed significantly higher error
      rates (37%). Excluding the error rate (i.e rejection of cysteine-containing
      peptides), we observed a higher degree of overlap between HCD and CID high
      resolution for identification of peptide sequences of rank 1 and cross
      correlation >= 1.9 (262 peptide sequences) compared to CID low (208 peptide
      sequences with HCD and 192 peptide sequences with CID high). Reproducibility of
      detected peptides in three out of the five replicates was also higher in HCD and
      CID high in relation to CID low resolution. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE:
      Our data demonstrated that HCD and CID high-resolution performed with better
      accuracy and reproducibility than CID low resolution in respect to the
      identification of naturally occurring urinary peptide sequences.

PMID- 25821084
TI  - A cactus-derived toxin-like cystine knot Peptide with selective antimicrobial
      activity.
AB  - Naturally occurring cystine knot peptides show a wide range of biological
      activity, and as they have inherent stability they represent potential scaffolds
      for peptide-based drug design and biomolecular engineering. Here we report the
      discovery, sequencing, chemical synthesis, three-dimensional solution structure
      determination and bioactivity of the first cystine knot peptide from Cactaceae
      (cactus) family: Ep-AMP1 from Echinopsis pachanoi. The structure of Ep-AMP1 (35
      amino acids) conforms to that of the inhibitor cystine knot (or knottin) family
      but represents a novel diverse sequence; its activity was more than 500 times
      higher against bacterial than against eukaryotic cells. Rapid bactericidal action
      and liposome leakage implicate membrane permeabilisation as the mechanism of
      action. Sequence homology places Ec-AMP1 in the plant C6-type of antimicrobial
      peptides, but the three dimensional structure is highly similar to that of a
      spider neurotoxin. 

PMID- 25821085
TI  - Erratum to: Atypical chronic myeloid leukemia with concomitant CSF3R T618I and
      SETBP1 mutations unresponsive to the JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib.

PMID- 25821086
TI  - Knee morphometric risk factors for acute anterior cruciate ligament injury in
      skeletally immature patients.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective, case-control. PURPOSE: Knee morphometric risk
      factors for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury have been a
      popular topic with skeletally mature patients. Little research has focused on the
      skeletally immature, with conflicting conclusions. This study performs a
      comprehensive analysis of identified parameters thought to predispose to ACL
      injury in a skeletally immature cohort. METHODS: A retrospective review of
      pediatric patients undergoing knee magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed
      over a 4-year period. Inclusionary criteria included mid-substance ACL
      disruption, skeletal immaturity, noncontact injury, without associated
      ligamentous disruption, and no medical condition associated with ligamentous
      laxity. MRI studies were analyzed by a pediatric musculoskeletal radiologist,
      measuring identified bony parameters, and compared with an age-matched control
      group without ligamentous injury. Data were analyzed using unpaired t-tests and
      logistic regression. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-eight patients sustained an
      ACL disruption, 39 met all inclusionary criteria (66 excluded for associated
      ligamentous disruption, 23 skeletally mature, three traumatic mechanisms, one
      with Marfan syndrome). When compared to an age-matched control cohort, the notch
      width index (NWI) was found to be significantly smaller in the ACL-injured group
      (p = 0.046). Subgroups analysis demonstrated significant differences in
      morphometric parameters between subjects with isolated ACL injuries and
      concomitant medial collateral ligament (MCL) strain. CONCLUSIONS: The NWI was
      significantly smaller in the ACL injury group. Significant differences were noted
      between isolated ACL injuries and ACL injuries with an MCL strain. This study
      further highlights the need for incorporating associated injury patterns when
      investigating the influence of morphometric factors for ACL injury in the
      skeletally immature. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III.

PMID- 25821087
TI  - Evaluation of the ability of black nightshade Solanum nigrum L. for
      phytoremediation of thallium-contaminated soil.
AB  - Thallium (Tl) pollution in agricultural areas can pose hidden danger to humans,
      as food consumption is the key exposure pathway of Tl. Owing to the extreme
      toxicity of Tl, removal of Tl from soil becomes necessary to minimize the Tl
      related health effects. Phytoremediation is a cost-effective method to remove
      heavy metals from soil, but not all plants are appropriate for this purpose.
      Here, the ability of Solanum nigrum L., commonly known as black nightshade, to
      remediate Tl-contaminated soil was evaluated. The accumulation of Tl in different
      organs of S. nigrum was measured under both field and greenhouse conditions.
      Additionally, the growth and maximal quantum efficiency of photosystem II (Fv/Fm)
      under different Tl concentrations (1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mg kg(-1)) were examined
      after 4-month pot culture. Under both field and greenhouse conditions, Tl
      accumulated in S. nigrum was positively correlated with Tl concentration in the
      soil. Thallium mostly accumulated in the root, and bioconcentration factor was
      greater than 1, indicating the good capability of S. nigrum to extract Tl.
      Nonetheless, the growth and Fv/Fm of S. nigrum were reduced at high Tl
      concentration (>10 mg kg(-1)). Given the good tolerance, fast growth, high
      accumulation, and global distribution, we propose that S. nigrum is a competent
      candidate to remediate moderately Tl-contaminated soil (<10 mg kg(-1)) without
      causing far-reaching ecological consequences.

PMID- 25821088
TI  - Prevalence and characteristics of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)
      producing Enterobacteriaceae isolated from rural well water in Taian, China,
      2014.
AB  - The production of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) is one of the major
      antimicrobial resistance mechanisms in Enterobacteriaceae, and the increasing
      number of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolated from water environments has
      posed a serious threat to the public health. The study aimed to analyze
      prevalence and characterization of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae from rural
      well waters in Taian, China. A total of 10 isolates expressing an ESBL phenotype,
      including 9 Escherichia coli (E. coli) and 1 Klebsiella pneumoniae (K.
      pneumoniae) was obtained from 4 (4%) out of the 100 sampled wells. ESBL genotype
      revealed that 9 expressed CTX-M-15 and 1 produced CTX-M-27. Five out of 8 ESBL
      producing E. coli expressing CTX-M-15 belonged to ST10, which are mostly detected
      from human feces in China. Importantly, the only strain of CTX-M-27-producing E.
      coli belonged to multi-locus sequence type B2:131 (ST131), which may be related
      with severe infection in humans and animals.

PMID- 25821089
TI  - Generalized joint hypermobility, joint hypermobility syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos
      syndrome, hypermobility type.
AB  - This issue of the American Journal of Medical Genetics Seminar Series Part C is
      dedicated to generalized joint hypermobility (gJHM), joint hypermobility syndrome
      (JHS), and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type (EDS-HT). gJHM is the best
      known clinical manifestation of inherited defects of the connective tissue. On
      the other side, JHS and EDS-HT are actually considered one and the same from a
      clinical perspective by most practitioners and researchers (i.e., JHS/EDS-HT),
      and their molecular basis remains unknown. For decades, "non-syndromic" gJHM and
      JHS/EDS-HT have been thought to be simple clinical curiosities or an asset for
      the "affected" individual. In recent years, the attention on these partially
      overlapping phenotypes has increased, as they are now recognized risk factors for
      a series of non-communicable diseases and long-term disabilities. This series
      consists of 10 papers focused on three main topics, namely (i) assessment and
      differential diagnosis of children and adults with gJHM, (ii) systematic
      presentation of selected key non-articular manifestations of JHS/EDS-HT and
      actual perception of physiotherapy as the best therapeutic resource for this
      condition, and (iii) exploration of the available knowledge relating "congenital
      laxity of tissues" to various dysfunctions of the nervous system during
      development and adulthood. The contributors hope that this collection raises
      attention to this fascinating field of knowledge, which seems to have
      ramifications in virtually all medical disciplines.

PMID- 25821090
TI  - Differential diagnosis and diagnostic flow chart of joint hypermobility
      syndrome/ehlers-danlos syndrome hypermobility type compared to other heritable
      connective tissue disorders.
AB  - Joint hypermobility syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos syndrome hypermobility type (JHS/EDS
      HT) is an evolving and protean disorder mostly recognized by generalized joint
      hypermobility and without a defined molecular basis. JHS/EDS-HT also presents
      with other connective tissue features affecting a variety of structures and
      organs, such as skin, eye, bone, and internal organs. However, most of these
      signs are present in variable combinations and severity in many other heritable
      connective tissue disorders. Accordingly, JHS/EDS-HT is an "exclusion" diagnosis
      which needs the absence of any consistent feature indicative of other partially
      overlapping connective tissue disorders. While both Villefranche and Brighton
      criteria include such an exclusion as a mandatory item, a systematic approach for
      reaching a stringent clinical diagnosis of JHS/EDS-HT is still lacking. The
      absence of a consensus on the diagnostic approach to JHS/EDS-HT concerning its
      clinical boundaries with similar conditions contribute to limit our actual
      understanding of the pathologic and molecular bases of this disorder. In this
      review, we revise the differential diagnosis of JHS/EDS-HT with those heritable
      connective tissue disorders which show a significant overlap with the former and
      mostly include EDS classic, vascular and kyphoscoliotic types, osteogenesis
      imperfecta, Marfan syndrome, Loeys-Dietz syndrome, arterial tortuosity syndrome,
      and lateral meningocele syndrome. A diagnostic flow chart is also offered with
      the attempt to support the less experienced clinician in stringently recognizing
      JHS/EDS-HT and stimulate the debate in the scientific community for both
      management and research purposes.

PMID- 25821091
TI  - The neuromuscular differential diagnosis of joint hypermobility.
AB  - Joint hypermobility is the defining feature of various inherited connective
      tissue disorders such as Marfan syndrome and various types of Ehlers-Danlos
      syndrome and these will generally be the first conditions to be considered by
      geneticists and pediatricians in the differential diagnosis of a patient
      presenting with such findings. However, several congenital and adult-onset
      inherited myopathies also present with joint hypermobility in the context of
      often only mild-to-moderate muscle weakness and should, therefore, be included in
      the differential diagnosis of joint hypermobility. In fact, on the molecular
      level disorders within both groups represent different ends of the same spectrum
      of inherited extracellular matrix (ECM) disorders. In this review we will
      summarize the measures of joint hypermobility, illustrate molecular mechanisms
      these groups of disorders have in common, and subsequently discuss the clinical
      features of: 1) the most common connective tissue disorders with myopathic or
      other neuromuscular features: Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Marfan syndrome and Loeys
      Dietz syndrome; 2) myopathy and connective tissue overlap disorders (muscle
      extracellular matrix (ECM) disorders), including collagen VI related dystrophies
      and FKBP14 related kyphoscoliotic type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome; and 3) various
      (congenital) myopathies with prominent joint hypermobility including RYR1- and
      SEPN1-related myopathy. The aim of this review is to assist clinical geneticists
      and other clinicians with recognition of these disorders.

PMID- 25821092
TI  - Gastrointestinal and nutritional issues in joint hypermobility syndrome/Ehlers
      Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type.
AB  - Gastrointestinal involvement is a well known complication of Ehlers-Danlos
      syndromes (EDSs), mainly in form of abdominal emergencies due to
      intestinal/abdominal vessels rupture in vascular EDS. In the last decade, a
      growing number of works investigated the relationship between a wide spectrum of
      chronic gastrointestinal complaints and various EDS forms, among which the
      hypermobility type (a.k.a. joint hypermobility syndrome; JHS/EDS-HT) was the most
      studied. The emerging findings depict a major role for gastrointestinal
      involvement in the health status and, consequently, management of JHS/EDS-HT
      patients. Nevertheless, fragmentation of knowledge limits its impact on practice
      within the boundaries of highly specialized clinics. In this paper, literature
      review on gastrointestinal manifestations in JHS/EDS-HT was carried out and
      identified papers categorized as (i) case-control/cohort studies associating
      (apparently non-syndromic) joint hypermobility and gastrointestinal involvement,
      (ii) case-control/cohort studies associating JHS/EDS-HT and gastrointestinal
      involvement, (iii) case reports/series on various gastrointestinal complications
      in (presumed) JHS/EDS-HT, and (iv) studies reporting gastrointestinal features in
      heterogeneous EDS patients' cohorts. Gastrointestinal manifestations of JHS/EDS
      HT were organized and discussed in two categories, including structural anomalies
      (i.e., abdominal/diaphragmatic hernias, internal organ/pelvic prolapses,
      intestinal intussusceptions) and functional features (i.e., dysphagia, gastro
      esophageal reflux, dyspepsia, recurrent abdominal pain, constipation/diarrhea),
      with emphasis on practice and future implications. In the second part of this
      paper, a summary of possible nutritional interventions in JHS/EDS-HT was
      presented. Supplementation strategies were borrowed from data available for
      general population with minor modifications in the light of recent discoveries in
      the pathogenesis of selected JHS/EDS-HT features.

PMID- 25821093
TI  - Knowledge, assessment, and management of adults with joint hypermobility
      syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos syndrome hypermobility type among Flemish
      physiotherapists.
AB  - Physiotherapy plays a fundamental role in managing adults with the joint
      hypermobility syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos syndrome hypermobility type (JHS/EDS-HT).
      However, it is a challenge for both the patient and the physiotherapist as the
      condition is poorly understood and treatment for JHS/EDS-HT is currently
      undefined. Insight into current practice is, therefore, necessary in order to
      establish baseline knowledge in this area and in the long term to improve the
      standard of patient care. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate
      current physiotherapists' knowledge of JHS/EDS-HT and to gain insight into
      current physiotherapy practice with emphasis on assessment, management, and
      treatment efficacy. Three hundred twenty-five Flemish physiotherapists
      participated in the study by filling out electronically a modified version of the
      "Hypermobility and Hypermobility Syndrome Questionnaire" (HHQ), which covered
      theoretical constructs such as general knowledge, assessment, management, and
      learning in relation to generalized joint hypermobility and JHS/EDS-HT. The
      results show that physiotherapists report a low level of confidence with regard
      to assessment and management of JHS/EDS-HT. Knowledge of hypermobility and
      JHS/EDS-HT is weak, especially regarding the features associated with JHS/EDS-HT.
      Many treatment approaches are used by physiotherapists with the majority showing
      preference for education, reassurance, muscle strengthening, proprioceptive and
      core stability training. Almost all approaches were perceived as being clinically
      effective by the physiotherapists, highlighting a lack of consensus. In
      conclusion, this study in Flemish physiotherapists confirms that JHS/EDS-HT is
      under-recognized, not well known and deemed difficult to treat. Further education
      is required and sought by the physiotherapists surveyed, and future research is
      needed.

PMID- 25821094
TI  - Psychopathological manifestations of joint hypermobility and joint hypermobility
      syndrome/ Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type: The link between connective
      tissue and psychological distress revised.
AB  - Psychological distress is a known feature of generalized joint hypermobility
      (gJHM), as well as of its most common syndromic presentation, namely Ehlers
      Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type (a.k.a. joint hypermobility syndrome -
      JHS/EDS-HT), and significantly contributes to the quality of life of affected
      individuals. Most published articles dealt with the link between gJHM (or JHS/EDS
      HT) and anxiety-related conditions, and a novel generation of studies is emerging
      aimed at investigating the psychopathologic background of such an association. In
      this paper, literature review was carried out with a semi-systematic approach
      spanning the entire spectrum of psychopathological findings in gJHM and JHS/EDS
      HT. Interestingly, in addition to the confirmation of a tight link between
      anxiety and gJHM, preliminary connections with depression, attention deficit (and
      hyperactivity) disorder, autism spectrum disorders, and obsessive-compulsive
      personality disorder were also found. Few papers investigated the relationship
      with schizophrenia with contrasting results. The mind-body connections
      hypothesized on the basis of available data were discussed with focus on
      somatotype, presumed psychopathology, and involvement of the extracellular matrix
      in the central nervous system. The hypothesis of positive Beighton score and
      alteration of interoceptive/proprioceptive/body awareness as possible
      endophenotypes in families with symptomatic gJHM or JHS/EDS-HT is also suggested.
      Concluding remarks addressed the implications of the psychopathological features
      of gJHM and JHS/EDS-HT in clinical practice.

PMID- 25821095
TI  - Phenotypic variability in developmental coordination disorder: Clustering of
      generalized joint hypermobility with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder,
      atypical swallowing and narrative difficulties.
AB  - Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a recognized childhood disorder
      mostly characterized by motor coordination difficulties. Joint hypermobility
      syndrome, alternatively termed Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type
      (JHS/EDS-HT), is a hereditary connective tissue disorder mainly featuring
      generalized joint hypermobility (gJHM), musculoskeletal pain, and minor skin
      features. Although these two conditions seem apparently unrelated, recent
      evidence highlights a high rate of motor and coordination findings in children
      with gJHM or JHS/EDS-HT. Here, we investigated the prevalence of gJHM in 41
      Italian children with DCD in order to check for the existence of recognizable
      phenotypic subgroups of DCD in relation to the presence/absence of gJHM. All
      patients were screened for Beighton score and a set of neuropsychological tests
      for motor competences (Movement Assessment Battery for Children and Visual-Motor
      Integration tests), and language and learning difficulties (Linguistic
      Comprehension Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Boston Naming Test, Bus
      Story Test, and Memoria-Training tests). All patients were also screening for
      selected JHS/EDS-HT-associated features and swallowing problems. Nineteen (46%)
      children showed gJHM and 22 (54%) did not. Children with DCD and gJHM showed a
      significant excess of frequent falls (95 vs. 18%), easy bruising (74 vs. 0%),
      motor impersistence (89 vs. 23%), sore hands for writing (53 vs. 9%), attention
      deficit/hyperactivity disorder (89 vs. 36%), constipation (53 vs. 0%),
      arthralgias/myalgias (58 vs. 4%), narrative difficulties (74 vs. 32%), and
      atypical swallowing (74 vs. 18%). This study confirms the non-causal association
      between DCD and gJHM, which, in turn, seems to increase the risk for non-random
      additional features. The excess of language, learning, and swallowing
      difficulties in patients with DCD and gJHM suggests a wider effect of lax tissues
      in the development of the nervous system.

PMID- 25821096
TI  - The role of narrative medicine in the management of joint hypermobility
      syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type.
AB  - Joint hypermobility syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos syndrome hypermobility type (JHS/EDS
      HT) is a hereditary connective tissue disorder affecting every bodily system. It
      is largely underdiagnosed by many practitioners, with the result of a
      considerable delay in diagnosis and, consequently, in the onset of adequate
      management schedule and treatment. Patients may also experience to be
      misbelieved, erroneously considered affected by a psychiatric or psychosomatic
      disorders, and rejected by the medical profession, which can lead to feelings of
      anger and resentment. Patient journeys are often long and complicated, but if
      doctors allowed the patient time to tell the full story, and were more prepared
      to think holistically, there may be a far more positive outcome. Here, the
      patients' perspective is presented with a narrative medicine approach,
      illustrating the tri-dimensional experience of a JHS/EDS-HT patient, who is also
      a Bowen Practitioner and a medical writer/educator. Narrative medicine would be
      invaluable in working with JHS/EDS-HT so that the patient can tell the story, and
      offer the practitioner a whole picture of her/his suffering and, often, the key
      for understanding the cause(s). Once this has been achieved, it might be possible
      to build upon a more positive and therapeutic dialogue which would result in
      better treatment and more effective management. It is also important for doctors
      to communicate with JHS/EDS-HT experts who will ultimately improve the patient
      journey and treatment outcomes of such a complex connective tissue disorder.

PMID- 25821097
TI  - Comparison between minimally invasive and open living donor hepatectomy: A
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - Living donor liver transplantation is a valid alternative to deceased donor liver
      transplantation, and its safety and feasibility have been well determined.
      Minimally invasive living donor hepatectomy (MILDH) has taken some time to be
      accepted because of inherent technical difficulties and the highly demanding
      surgical skills needed to perform the procedure, and its role is still being
      debated. Because of the lack of data, a systematic review and meta-analysis
      comparing MILDH and open living donor hepatectomy (OLDH) was performed. A
      systematic literature search was performed with PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and
      Cochrane Library Central. Treatment outcomes, including blood loss, operative
      time, hospital stay, analgesia use, donor-recipient morbidity and mortality, and
      donor procedure costs, were analyzed. There were 573 articles, and a total of 11,
      dated between 2006 and 2014, fulfilled the selection criteria and were,
      therefore, included. These 11 studies included a total of 608 adult patients.
      Blood loss [mean difference (MD) = -46.35; 95% confidence interval (CI) = -94.04
      1.34; P = 0.06] and operative times [MD = 19.65; 95% CI = -4.28-43.57; P = 0.11]
      were comparable between the groups, whereas hospital stays (MD = -1.56; 95% CI = 
      2.63 to -0.49; P = 0.004), analgesia use (MD = -0.54; 95% CI = -1.04 to -0.03; P
      = 0.04), donor morbidity rates [odds ratio (OR) = 0.62; 95% CI = 0.40-0.98; P =
      0.04], and wound-related complications (OR = 0.41; 95% CI = 0.17-0.97; P = 0.04)
      were significantly reduced in MILDH. MILDH for right liver procurement was
      associated with a significantly reduced hospital stay (OR = -0.92; 95% CI = 0.17
      0.97; P = 0.04). In conclusion, MILDH is associated with intraoperative results
      that are comparable to results for OLDH and with surgical outcomes that are no
      worse than those for the open procedure.

PMID- 25821098
TI  - High Dose Proton Pump Inhibitor Infusion Versus Bolus Injection for the
      Prevention of Bleeding After Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection: Prospective
      Randomized Controlled Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A high dose of continuous intravenous infusion of proton pump
      inhibitor (PPI) is the standard treatment for peptic ulcer bleeding. The optimal
      dose for the prevention of bleeding after endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD)
      is unclear. AIM: The purpose of this study was to determine whether stronger acid
      suppression more effectively prevents bleeding and high risk ulcer stigma (HRS)
      after gastric ESD. METHODS: A total of 273 patients who underwent ESD were
      randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: the continuous infusion group
      and the bolus injection group. Second-look endoscopy was performed on the
      following day after ESD. The incidences and risk factors of HRS identified by
      second-look endoscopy and delayed bleeding were analyzed. RESULTS: There were no
      differences in the incidences of HRS and delayed bleeding between two treatment
      groups. The incidence of HRS was 15.8 % (43/273) and the gross morphology (flat
      or depressed) was identified as a significant factor associated with HRS. The
      incidence of delayed bleeding was 8.4 % (23/273) and the gross morphology (flat)
      and the presence of submucosal invasive cancer were identified as the associated
      risk factors for delayed bleeding. CONCLUSION: The incidences of delayed bleeding
      and HRS identified by second-look endoscopy were not affected by PPI infusion
      methods. Flat or depressed morphologic lesions and submucosal invasive cancer
      should be closely monitored.

PMID- 25821099
TI  - Poor Sustained Virological Response in a Multicenter Real-Life Cohort of Chronic
      Hepatitis C Patients Treated with Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin plus
      Telaprevir or Boceprevir.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There are limited data analyzing the effectiveness of boceprevir
      (BOC) or telaprevir (TVR) in combination with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) plus
      ribavirin (RBV) in a real-life patient cohort. AIMS: In clinical trials, patients
      with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) treated with BOC or TVR plus PEG-IFN and RBV
      achieved sustained virological response (SVR) rates of 70 %. However, it is not
      clear whether similar results can be realized in routine practice. Our goal is to
      examine SVR rates of these triple regimens for CHC in a multicenter real-life
      patient cohort. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 200 consecutive CHC genotype
      1 patients who were initiated on PEG-IFN, RBV, and either TVR (n = 113) or BOC (n
      = 87) from July 2011 to February 2014 at two US academic liver clinics, a
      Veterans Affairs liver clinic and a community gastroenterology clinic. RESULTS:
      Both BOC and TVR treatment groups were similar in regard to comorbidities, BMI,
      and HCV RNA levels. BOC patients were more likely to have cirrhosis than TVR
      patients (47 vs. 24 %, P = 0.001). SVR rates were low in both cohorts (40 % for
      BOC, 53 % for TVR, P = 0.05). On multivariate logistic regression, treatment
      adherence by the "80/80/80 rule," diagnosis of cirrhosis, and use of
      erythropoietin were statistically significant predictors for SVR. Of these,
      treatment adherence was the strongest predictor (OR 4.43, 95 % CI 2.8-6.06, P <
      0.001). CONCLUSION: SVR was much lower in a real-life patient cohort than in
      clinical trials (53 % for TVR and 40 % for BOC, compared to 66-75 % in clinical
      trials).

PMID- 25821100
TI  - Laparoscopic Extraction of a Hepatic Fish Bone Mimicking a Liver Mass After
      Gastric Perforation.

PMID- 25821101
TI  - Gastrointestinal Pathologic Abnormalities in Pediatric- and Adult-Onset Common
      Variable Immunodeficiency.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Common variable immunodeficiency is the most common form of primary
      symptomatic immunodeficiency. Gastrointestinal manifestations, such as gastritis,
      diarrhea, gastrointestinal infections, and malabsorption, may complicate the
      clinical history in almost 50 % of patients. AIM: To evaluate gastrointestinal
      histopathological findings in pediatric- and in adult-onset common variable
      immunodeficiency patients. METHODS: Twenty-two patients with common variable
      immunodeficiency (13 children, nine adults) were retrospectively studied from a
      clinical and histopathological point of view. RESULTS: Increased T lymphocyte
      infiltrate and the absence of plasma cells in duodenal lamina propria and
      submucosa were the most frequent findings, independently from onset age, whereas
      follicular lymphoid hyperplasia and polymorphonuclear infiltrate, as well as
      parasitic and viral infections, were only present in the adult group. Common
      variable immunodeficiency patients with minor gastrointestinal symptoms also
      presented pathological findings, mainly the absence of plasma cells, T cell
      infiltrate, and infections, independently of age. CONCLUSIONS: Gastrointestinal
      pathological abnormalities are common in both pediatric- and adult-onset common
      variable immunodeficiency patients. Histological alterations may vary depending
      upon the age of onset, possibly due to duration of disease. Minor
      gastrointestinal symptoms are also associated with pathological findings;
      therefore, these should be searched in all symptomatic patients.

PMID- 25821102
TI  - HIV therapy-the state of art.
AB  - HIV Attachment. In this cross section, HIV is shown at the top and a target cell
      is shown at the bottom in blues. HIV envelope protein (A) has bound to the
      receptor CD4 (B) and then to coreceptor CCR5 (C), causing a change in
      conformation that inserts fusion peptides into the cellular membrane
      Antiretroviral therapy changed the face of HIV/AIDS from that of soon and certain
      death to that of a chronic disease in the years following introduction of highly
      active antiretroviral therapy in 1995-1996 (initially termed HAART, but now most
      often abbreviated to ART since not all combinations of regimens are equally
      active). Since then, many new agents have been developed and introduced in
      response to problems of resistance, toxicity, and tolerability, and great
      advances have been achieved in accessibility of HIV drugs in resource-poor global
      regions. Potential challenges that providers of HIV therapy will face in the
      coming decade include continuing problems with resistance, especially where
      access to drugs is inconsistent, determining how best to combine new and existing
      agents, defining the role of preventive treatment (pre-exposure prophylaxis or
      PrEP), and evaluating the potential of strategies for cure in some populations. 

PMID- 25821103
TI  - Posterior trunk reconstruction with the dorsal intercostal artery perforator
      based flap: Clinical experience on 20 consecutive oncological cases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Few studies in the recent literature have investigated the
      reliability of dorsal intercostal artery perforator (DICAP) flap in posterior
      trunk reconstruction. The purpose of this report is to describe our clinical
      experience with the use of DICAP flaps in a cohort of oncological patients.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty patients underwent posterior trunk reconstruction
      with DICAP based flaps. Patients age ranged from 45 to 76 years. All defects
      resulted from skin cancer ablation. Defect sizes ranged from 4 * 4 to 6 * 8 cm.
      The flaps were mobilized in V-Y or propeller fashion. The flaps were islanded on
      1 (12 cases), 2 (6 cases), or 3 (2 cases) perforators. Donor sites were always
      closed primarily. RESULTS: Eleven V-Y advancement flaps were performed; one of
      these was converted to a perforator-plus peninsular flap design, which retained
      an additional source of blood supply from the opposite skin bridge. Nine flaps
      were mobilized in propeller fashion. Flap dimensions ranged from 4 * 6 to 6 * 14
      cm. Mean operative time was 70 min. One V-Y flap complicated with marginal
      necrosis that healed with no need for reintervention. All the other flaps
      survived uneventfully. No other complications were observed at recipient and
      donor sites. Follow-up ranged from 3 months to 2 years. All the patients were
      satisfied with the surgical outcome. CONCLUSIONS: DICAP based flaps proved to be
      a reliable option to resurface posterior trunk defects following oncological
      resection, allowing to achieve like-with-like reconstruction with excellent
      contour and minimal donor-site morbidity. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
      Microsurgery 36:546-551, 2016.

PMID- 25821104
TI  - Functional evidence of paraventricular nucleus involvement in cardiovascular and
      autonomic modulation in response to acute microgravity (head-down tilt) in
      unanesthetized rats.
AB  - Exposure to microgravity induces autonomic and vestibular disorders such as
      alterations in cardiovascular function. The paraventricular nucleus of the
      hypothalamus (PVN) is known to be an important center for integrating autonomic
      and cardiovascular responses as blood volume reflexes. The acute effects promoted
      by microgravity and PVN involvement in cardiovascular and autonomic parameters
      have not yet been evaluated. Male Wistar rats were anesthetized to facilitate
      cannulae implantation in the PVN. After 3 days of surgical recovery, femoral
      artery and vein catheters were implanted for direct recording of blood pressure
      and heart rate (HR) in conscious animals to evaluate cardiovascular and autonomic
      changes in an acute protocol of head-down tilt (HDT) in nonanesthetized rats.
      During HDT, there was an increase in mean arterial pressure (11 +/- 1 mmHg, P <
      0.05) and a decrease in HR (-28 +/- 5 bpm, P < 0.05). Spectral analysis of
      systolic arterial pressure showed an increase in the low-frequency (LF)
      component. In addition, HDT induced a reduction in the LF component and an
      increase in the high-frequency (HF) component of the pulse interval (PI). PVN
      inhibition with muscimol reversed bradycardia and blocked the reduction of the LF
      and HF increases in PI during HDT. These results suggest that the PVN
      participates in the cardiovascular compensation during HDT, especially modulating
      cardiac responses.

PMID- 25821105
TI  - Impact of nanosizing on solubility and dissolution rate of poorly soluble
      pharmaceuticals.
AB  - The quantitative determination of solubility and the initial dissolution rate
      enhancement of crystalline nanoparticles were critically investigated using a
      separation-based approach (ultracentrifugation and filtration). Four poorly
      soluble model compounds (griseofulvin, celecoxib, compound-X, and fenofibrate)
      were used in this investigation. The effect of the stabilizer concentration on
      the solubility of the unmilled compound was determined first to quantify its
      impact on the solubility and used for comparing solubility enhancement upon
      nanosizing. Methodologies were established for ultracentrifugation, ensuring
      satisfactory separation of crystalline nanoparticles. The data obtained using
      separation-based methodologies proved to be accurate, reproducible, and were in
      fair agreement with what would be predicted from the Ostwald-Freundlich equation.
      The dissolution studies under sink conditions were proved to be less efficient in
      quantifying the initial dissolution rate of crystalline nanoparticles. Nonsink
      dissolution experiments were able to reduce the high-dissolution velocity of
      nanoparticles and generated the best discriminative dissolution profile. The
      enhancement in initial dissolution rate was significantly less than that expected
      from the Noyes-Whitney equation based on surface area change. This discriminatory
      dissolution method can potentially be used further in the modeling of crystalline
      nanoparticles during drug development.

PMID- 25821106
TI  - Publisher Notice.

PMID- 25821107
TI  - PI3K/AKT pathway-mediated regulation of p27(Kip1) is associated with cell cycle
      arrest and apoptosis in cervical cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27(Kip1) is known to act as a
      putative tumor suppressor in several human cancers, including cervical cancer.
      Down-regulation of p27(Kip1) may occur either through transcription inhibition or
      through phosphorylation-dependent proteolytic degradation. As yet, the mechanism
      underlying p27(Kip1) down-regulation and its putative downstream effects on
      cervical cancer development are poorly understood. Here we assessed the
      expression and sub-cellular localization of p27(Kip1) and its effects on
      proliferation, cell cycle progression and (inhibition of) apoptosis in cervical
      cancer cells. METHODS: Primary cervical cancer samples (n = 70), normal cervical
      tissue samples (n = 30) and cervical cancer-derived cell lines (n = 8) were used
      to assess the expression of p27(Kip1) and AKT1 by RT-PCR, Western blotting and
      immunohistochemistry, respectively. The effects of the PI3K inhibitor LY294004
      and the proteasome inhibitor MG132 on cervical cancer cell proliferation were
      investigated using a MTT assay. Apoptosis and cell cycle analyses were carried
      out using flow cytometry, and sub-cellular p27(Kip1) localization analyses were
      carried out using immunofluorescence assays. RESULTS: We observed p27(Kip1) down
      regulation (p = 0.045) and AKT1 up-regulation (p = 0.046) in both the primary
      cervical cancer samples and the cervical cancer-derived cell lines, compared to
      the normal cervical tissue samples tested. Treatment of cervical cancer-derived
      cell lines with the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 resulted in a reduced AKT1 activity.
      We also observed a dose-dependent inhibition of cell viability after treatment of
      these cell lines with the proteasome inhibitor MG132. Treatment of the cells with
      LY294002 resulted in a G1 cell cycle arrest, a nuclear expression of p27(Kip1),
      and a cytoplasmic p27(Kip1) accumulation after subsequent treatment with MG132.
      Additionally, we found that the synergistic effect of MG132 and LY294002 resulted
      in a sub-G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction through poly (ADP-ribose)
      polymerase (PARP) cleavage. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that p27(Kip1) down
      regulation in cervical cancer cells is primarily regulated through PI3K/AKT
      mediated proteasomal degradation. The observed synergistic effect of the MG132
      and LY294002 inhibitors may form a basis for the design of novel cervical cancer
      therapies.

PMID- 25821108
TI  - Chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting in bone marrow transplant: the unmet
      need.

PMID- 25821109
TI  - Determination of multi-pesticide residue in tobacco using multi-walled carbon
      nanotubes as a reversed-dispersive solid-phase extraction sorbent.
AB  - A multi-pesticide residue determination method based on a modified QuEChERS
      (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) method using multiwalled carbon
      nanotubes as reversed-dispersive solid-phase extraction material was validated in
      37 representative pesticides in tobacco. Determination was performed using liquid
      chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring
      mode. Three major types of tobacco leaf samples, namely, flue-cured, burley, and
      oriental tobacco were studied and compared. Three factors (extraction time,
      external diameter, and amount of extraction material used) that could affect the
      performance of multi-walled carbon nanotubes were investigated. Optimization of
      sample preparation and determination allowed recoveries between 70.8 and 114.8%
      for all 37 pesticides with < 20.0% relative standard deviations at three spiking
      levels of 20, 50, and 200 MUg/kg. The limits of quantification and limits of
      detection for the 37 pesticides ranged within 0.46-28.57 and 0.14-8.57 MUg/kg at
      a signal-to-noise ratio of 10 and 3, respectively. 

PMID- 25821111
TI  - Effect of the Mitral Valve's Anterior Leaflet on Axisymmetry of Transmitral
      Vortex Ring.
AB  - The shape and formation of transmitral vortex ring are shown to be associated
      with diastolic function of the left ventricle (LV). Transmitral vortex ring is a
      flow feature that is observed to be non-axisymmetric in a healthy heart and its
      inherent asymmetry in the LV assists in efficient ejection of the blood during
      systole. This study is a first step towards understanding the effects of the
      mitral valve's anterior leaflet on transmitral flow. We experimentally study a
      single-leaflet model of the mitral valve to investigate the effect of the
      anterior leaflet on the axisymmetry of the generated vortex ring based on the
      three-dimensional data acquired using defocusing digital particle image
      velocimetry. Vortex rings form downstream of a D-shaped orifice in presence or
      absence of the anterior leaflet in various physiological stroke ratios. The
      results of the statistical analysis indicate that the formed vortex ring
      downstream of a D-shaped orifice is markedly non-axisymmetric, and presence of
      the anterior leaflet improves the ring's axisymmetry. This study suggests that
      the improvement of axisymmetry in presence of the anterior leaflet might be due
      to coupled dynamic interaction between rolling-up of the shear layer at the edges
      of the D-shaped orifice and the borders of the anterior leaflet. This interaction
      can reduce the non-uniformity in vorticity generation, which results in more
      axisymmetric behavior compared to the D-shaped orifice without the anterior
      leaflet. 

PMID- 25821110
TI  - Sensation-to-cognition cortical streams in attention-deficit/hyperactivity
      disorder.
AB  - We sought to determine whether functional connectivity streams that link sensory,
      attentional, and higher-order cognitive circuits are atypical in attention
      deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We applied a graph-theory method to the
      resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 120 children with
      ADHD and 120 age-matched typically developing children (TDC). Starting in
      unimodal primary cortex-visual, auditory, and somatosensory-we used stepwise
      functional connectivity to calculate functional connectivity paths at discrete
      numbers of relay stations (or link-step distances). First, we characterized the
      functional connectivity streams that link sensory, attentional, and higher-order
      cognitive circuits in TDC and found that systems do not reach the level of
      integration achieved by adults. Second, we searched for stepwise functional
      connectivity differences between children with ADHD and TDC. We found that, at
      the initial steps of sensory functional connectivity streams, patients display
      significant enhancements of connectivity degree within neighboring areas of
      primary cortex, while connectivity to attention-regulatory areas is reduced.
      Third, at subsequent link-step distances from primary sensory cortex, children
      with ADHD show decreased connectivity to executive processing areas and increased
      degree of connections to default mode regions. Fourth, in examining medication
      histories in children with ADHD, we found that children medicated with
      psychostimulants present functional connectivity streams with higher degree of
      connectivity to regions subserving attentional and executive processes compared
      to medication-naive children. We conclude that predominance of local sensory
      processing and lesser influx of information to attentional and executive regions
      may reduce the ability to organize and control the balance between external and
      internal sources of information in ADHD.

PMID- 25821113
TI  - Design, Fabrication, and In Vitro Testing of an Anti-biofouling Glaucoma Micro
      shunt.
AB  - Glaucoma, one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness, is a progressive
      neurodegenerative disease. Chronic elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), a prime
      risk factor for glaucoma, can be treated by aqueous shunts, implantable devices,
      which reduce IOP in glaucoma patients by providing alternative aqueous outflow
      pathways. Although initially effective at delaying glaucoma progression,
      contemporary aqueous shunts often lead to numerous complications and only 50% of
      implanted devices remain functional after 5 years. In this work, we introduce a
      novel micro-device which provides an innovative platform for IOP reduction in
      glaucoma patients. The device design features an array of parallel micro-channels
      to provide precision aqueous outflow resistance control. Additionally, the
      device's microfluidic channels are composed of a unique combination of
      polyethylene glycol materials in order to provide enhanced biocompatibility and
      resistance to problematic channel clogging from biofouling of aqueous proteins.
      The microfabrication process employed to produce the devices results in
      additional advantages such as enhanced device uniformity and increased
      manufacturing throughput. Surface characterization experimental results show the
      device's surfaces exhibit significantly less non-specific protein adsorption
      compared to traditional implant materials. Results of in vitro flow experiments
      verify the device's ability to provide aqueous resistance control, continuous
      long-term stability through 10-day protein flow testing, and safety from risk of
      infection due to bacterial ingression. 

PMID- 25821112
TI  - Patient-Specific Airway Wall Remodeling in Chronic Lung Disease.
AB  - Chronic lung disease affects more than a quarter of the adult population; yet,
      the mechanics of the airways are poorly understood. The pathophysiology of
      chronic lung disease is commonly characterized by mucosal growth and smooth
      muscle contraction of the airways, which initiate an inward folding of the
      mucosal layer and progressive airflow obstruction. Since the degree of
      obstruction is closely correlated with the number of folds, mucosal folding has
      been extensively studied in idealized circular cross sections. However, airflow
      obstruction has never been studied in real airway geometries; the behavior of
      imperfect, non-cylindrical, continuously branching airways remains unknown. Here
      we model the effects of chronic lung disease using the nonlinear field theories
      of mechanics supplemented by the theory of finite growth. We perform finite
      element analysis of patient-specific Y-branch segments created from magnetic
      resonance images. We demonstrate that the mucosal folding pattern is insensitive
      to the specific airway geometry, but that it critically depends on the mucosal
      and submucosal stiffness, thickness, and loading mechanism. Our results suggests
      that patient-specific airway models with inherent geometric imperfections are
      more sensitive to obstruction than idealized circular models. Our models help to
      explain the pathophysiology of airway obstruction in chronic lung disease and
      hold promise to improve the diagnostics and treatment of asthma, bronchitis,
      chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and respiratory failure. 

PMID- 25821114
TI  - Size and shape characterization of hydrated and desiccated exosomes.
AB  - Exosomes are stable nanovesicles secreted by cells into the circulation. Their
      reported sizes differ substantially, which likely reflects the difference in the
      isolation techniques used, the cells that secreted them, and the methods used in
      their characterization. We analyzed the influence of the last factor on the
      measured sizes and shapes of hydrated and desiccated exosomes isolated from the
      serum of a pancreatic cancer patient and a healthy control. We found that
      hydrated exosomes are close-to-spherical nanoparticles with a hydrodynamic radius
      that is substantially larger than the geometric size. For desiccated exosomes, we
      found that the desiccated shape and sizing are influenced by the manner in which
      drying occurred. Isotropic desiccation in aerosol preserves the near-spherical
      shape of the exosomes, whereas drying on a surface likely distorts their shapes
      and influences the sizing results obtained by techniques that require surface
      fixation prior to analysis. 

PMID- 25821115
TI  - Improved detection of beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine using N-hydroxysuccinimide
      ester of N-butylnicotinic acid for the localization of BMAA in blue mussels
      (Mytilus edulis).
AB  - beta-N-Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is an important non-protein amino acid linked
      to neurodegenerative diseases, specifically amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
      Because it can be transferred and bioaccumulated higher up the food chain, it
      poses significant public health concerns; thus, improved detection methods are of
      prime importance for the identification and management of these toxins. Here, we
      report the successful use of N-hydroxysuccinimide ester of N-butylnicotinic acid
      (C4-NA-NHS) for the efficient separation of BMAA from its isomers and higher
      sensitivity in detecting BMAA compared to the current method of choice using 6
      aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate (AQC) derivatization.
      Implementation of this efficient method allowed localization of BMAA in the non
      visceral tissues of blue mussels, suggesting that more efficient depuration may
      be required to remove this toxin prior to consumption. This is a crucial method
      in establishing the absence or presence of the neurotoxic amino acid BMAA in
      food, environmental or biomedical samples. 

PMID- 25821116
TI  - Characterization of DNA in cell culture supernatant by fluorescence-detection
      size-exclusion chromatography.
AB  - A fluorescence-detection size-exclusion chromatography (FSEC) method was
      developed to characterize DNA in cell culture supernatant. Samples stained with
      Picogreen were fractionated by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and monitored
      simultaneously by UV absorbance and fluorescence. SEC provided a size
      characterization capability absent from bulk fluorescent assays, and was also
      free from interference from other fluorescent and UV-absorbing small-molecule
      cell culture components. FSEC revealed that DNA in mammalian cell culture
      supernatant exists mostly in the form of nucleosomal arrays. FSEC combined with
      agarose electrophoresis revealed spontaneous degradation of DNA in mammalian cell
      culture supernatant over a 30 day period at 4  degrees C: from arrays containing
      up to ~40 nucleosomes, down to arrays containing three or fewer nucleosomes. It
      also detected nucleosomal DNA in wheat, soy, and yeast hydrolysates commonly used
      to enhance cell culture productivity.

PMID- 25821117
TI  - F2RL3 methylation, lung cancer incidence and mortality.
AB  - Smoking accounts for a large share of lung cancer. F2RL3 methylation was recently
      identified as a biomarker closely reflecting both current and past smoking
      exposure. We aimed to assess the associations of F2RL3 methylation with lung
      cancer incidence and mortality. In a large population-based cohort study, F2RL3
      methylation was measured in baseline blood samples of 4,987 participants by
      MassARRAY. Associations of F2RL3 methylation and smoking with lung cancer
      incidence/mortality during a median follow-up of 10.9 years were assessed by Cox
      regression, controlling for potential confounders. The ability of F2RL3
      methylation to predict lung cancer was examined by Harrell's C statistics.
      Hypomethylation at F2RL3 was strongly associated with both lung cancer incidence
      and mortality, with age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratios (HR; 95% CI) of 9.99
      (5.61-17.79) and 16.86 (8.53-33.34), respectively, for participants whose
      methylation intensity were <=0.54 compared with whose methylation intensity were
      >=0.75. Strongly elevated HRs of 2.88 (1.42-5.84) and 5.17 (2.28-11.70) persisted
      even after controlling for multiple covariates including smoking status and pack
      years. With fully adjusted HRs of 9.92 (2.88-34.12) and 16.48 (4.10-66.15), the
      associations between methylation and the two outcomes were particularly strong
      among participants>=65 years. Combination of F2RL3 methylation and pack-years
      predicted lung cancer incidence with high accuracy (optimism-corrected Harrell's
      C statistics = 0.86 for participants>=65 years). These findings suggested that
      F2RL3 methylation is a very strong predictor of lung cancer risk and mortality,
      particularly at older age. The potential implications of F2RL3 methylation for
      early detection, risk stratification and prevention of lung cancer warrant
      further exploration. 

PMID- 25821118
TI  - Structural aspects of a protein-surfactant assembly: native and reduced States of
      human serum albumin.
AB  - The inherently present seventeen disulfide bonds of the circulatory protein,
      human serum albumin (HSA) provide the necessary structural stability. Various
      spectroscopic approaches were used to investigate the effect of reduction of
      these disulfide bonds and its binding with the anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl
      sulfate (SDS). Based on several spectroscopic analyses, our investigations
      highlight the following interesting aspects: (1) HSA on reduction loses not only
      its tertiary structure but also a significant amount of secondary structure as
      well. However, the reduced state of the protein is not like the molten-globule,
      (2) this structural loss of the protein due to reduction is more prominent than
      that caused by higher SDS concentrations alone and can certainly be attributed to
      the role of disulfide bonds, (3) lower surfactant concentrations provide marginal
      structural rigidity to the native state of the protein, whereas, higher
      concentrations of SDS induces secondary structure to the reduced state of HSA,
      (4) the binding of SDS with both the native and reduced states of HSA, occurred
      in three distinct stages which was followed by a saturation stage. However, the
      nature of such binding is different for both the states as investigated by using
      the Stern-Volmer equations and estimating the thermodynamic parameters. Besides,
      in contrast to the native state, the reduced state of HSA shows that the lone
      tryptophan residue gets more buried. However, there occurs a sudden decrement in
      the lifetime of the tryptophan and the hydrodynamic diameter increases by
      twofold. 

PMID- 25821119
TI  - Use of the pedicled nasoseptal flap in the endoscopic management of cholesterol
      granulomas of the petrous apex.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nowadays the endoscopic approach represents a useful alternative to
      traditional surgical approaches in the treatment of cholesterol granulomas (CGs)
      of the petrous apex (PA). Recently the nasoseptal flap (NSF) has been employed to
      permit long-term patency of drainage site. The purpose of this study is to report
      our experience with the NSF in the endoscopic management of CG and to analyze the
      advantages, limitations, and outcomes of the technique. METHODS: A retrospective
      analysis was carried out on 10 patients affected by CG of the PA who had been
      treated endoscopically, using the NSF. RESULTS: An endoscopic transpterygoid
      approach was used for 6 patients and the remaining 4 were treated using the
      transclival approach. A NSF was used in all 10 cases. In 6 cases the flap was
      ipsilateral to the lesion whereas in 4 it was contralateral. In 90% of our
      patients no evidence of disease was observed after a mean follow-up period of
      35.7 months, with resolution of their symptoms. One patient presented a
      recurrence because of a technical error (inadequate placement of the flap in the
      cavity), and has been retreated endoscopically. CONCLUSION: The pedicled NSF
      seems to be helpful in avoiding the concentric growth of the granulomatous cyst
      epithelium while assuring ventilation and drainage of the cyst. However, bigger
      studies with longer-term follow-up are needed to confirm these findings. Correct
      and meticulous placement of the flap inside the cystic cavity is the most
      critical issue for the success of the procedure.

PMID- 25821120
TI  - Efficient approach to 2-hydroxy-2,3-dihydrofuran derivatives and its application
      for the synthesis of novel 4-(1H-pyrazol-4-yl)pyridazines.
AB  - A highly efficient method for the synthesis of 2-hydroxy-2,3-dihydrofuran
      derivatives from 1,4-enediones and phenacyl pyridinium halides via a domino
      reaction has been developed. This is a simple and beneficial strategy for the
      construction of 2-hydroxy-2,3-dihydrofuran compounds from readily available
      starting materials under mild conditions. Moreover, the application of this
      reaction provides a straightforward and practical route for the synthesis of the
      novel 4-(1H-pyrazol-4-yl)pyridazine skeleton. 

PMID- 25821121
TI  - Bed rest in singleton pregnancies for preventing preterm birth.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bed rest in hospital or at home is widely recommended for the
      prevention of preterm birth. This advice is based on the observation that hard
      work and hard physical activity during pregnancy could be associated with preterm
      birth and with the idea that bed rest could reduce uterine activity. However, bed
      rest may have some adverse effects on other outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the
      effect of prescription of bed rest in hospital or at home for preventing preterm
      birth in pregnant women at high risk of preterm birth. SEARCH METHODS: We
      searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (18
      December 2014), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane
      Library, 2014, Issue 12), MEDLINE (December 2014), EMBASE (December 2014), LILACS
      (December 2014), and bibliographies of relevant papers. SELECTION CRITERIA:
      Randomized, cluster-randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials with
      reported data that assess clinical outcomes in women at high risk of spontaneous
      preterm birth who were prescribed bed rest in hospital or at home for preventing
      preterm birth, and their babies. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors
      independently assessed eligibility, trial quality and extracted data. MAIN
      RESULTS: Two studies met the inclusion criteria. One study was not considered for
      the meta-analysis, since data combined singleton and multiple pregnancies. No
      differences in any maternal and perinatal outcomes were reported by the authors.
      This study was at low risk of selection, performance, detection and attrition
      bias. Only data from one study were included in the meta-analysis (1266 women).
      This study was at unclear risk of bias for most domains due to lack of reporting.
      Four hundred and thirty-two women were prescribed bed rest at home and a total of
      834 women received a placebo (412) or no intervention (422). Preterm birth before
      37 weeks was similar in both groups (7.9% in the intervention group versus 8.5%
      in the control group; risk ratio (RR) 0.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.62 to
      1.37). No other results were reported for any of the other primary or secondary
      outcomes. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is no evidence, either supporting or
      refuting the use of bed rest at home or in hospital, to prevent preterm birth.
      Although bed rest in hospital or at home is widely used as the first step of
      treatment, there is no evidence that this practice could be beneficial. Due to
      the potential adverse effects that bed rest could have on women and their
      families, and the increased costs for the healthcare system, clinicians should
      discuss the pros and cons of bed rest to prevent preterm birth. Potential
      benefits and harms should be discussed with women facing an increased risk of
      preterm birth. Appropriate research is mandatory. Future trials should evaluate
      both the effectiveness of bed rest, and the effectiveness of the prescription of
      bed rest, to prevent preterm birth.

PMID- 25821122
TI  - Interlocking membrane/catalyst layer interface for high mechanical robustness of
      hydrocarbon-membrane-based polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.
AB  - A physical interlocking interface that can tightly bind a sulfonated poly(arylene
      ether sulfone) (SPAES) membrane and a Nafion catalyst layer in polymer
      electrolyte fuel cells is demonstrated. Owing to higher expansion with hydration
      for SPAES than for Nafion, a strong normal force is generated at the interface of
      a SPAES pillar and a Nafion hole, resulting in an 8-fold increase of the
      interfacial bonding strength at RH 50% and a 4.7-times increase of the wet/dry
      cycling durability. 

PMID- 25821123
TI  - Genotoxic effects of the antimalarial drug lumefantrine in human lymphocytes in
      vitro and computational prediction of the mechanism associated with its
      interaction with DNA.
AB  - Lumefantrine (LF) is an aryl-amino alcohol antimalarial drug used in artemisinin
      based combination therapies against malaria worldwide. In this study, we
      investigated the genotoxic effects of LF in human lymphocytes in vitro, and the
      potential noncovalent interaction of LF with DNA using a 3D DNA-docking model.
      The number of DNA breaks and the frequency of nuclear buds (NBUDS) was
      significantly increased (P < 0.01 and P < 0. 05, respectively) at LF
      concentrations of 60, 80, and 100 ug/mL (LF60, LF80, and LF100, respectively).
      Frequency (0/00) of micronuclei (MN) formation also increased after LF
      treatments. However, this was only significant for LF100 (P = 0.01) and LF80 (P =
      0.001). LF did not affect the frequency of nucleoplasmic bridges (NPBs) (P =
      0.12) or the nuclear division index (NDI) (P = 0.32). Computational analysis
      suggests that LF may interact noncovalently with DNA via the DNA minor groove
      surface with a predicted binding affinity energy of -7.2 kcal/mol and showing a
      favorable shape complementary to this groove. Our results suggest that LF has
      clastogenic effects in human lymphocytes in vitro due to noncovalent interaction
      with the minor groove of DNA.

PMID- 25821124
TI  - Magnetocaloric effect and thermal conductivity of Gd(OH)3 and Gd2O(OH)4(H2O)2.
AB  - Magnetocaloric effect (MCE) and thermal conductivity of two gadolinium
      hydroxides, Gd(OH)3 (1) and Gd2O(OH)4(H2O)2 (2), are investigated. Magnetic
      studies indicate that both 1 and 2 exhibit antiferromagnetic interaction, and the
      MCE values for 1 and 2 at 2 K and DeltaH = 7 T are 62.00 J kg(-1) K(-1) and 59.09
      J kg(-1) K(-1), respectively. Investigation of their thermal conductivity reveals
      that the thermal conductivity for 1 is significantly better than that for 2.

PMID- 25821125
TI  - Identification of a novel unpaired histidine sensor kinase affecting secondary
      metabolism and morphological differentiation in Streptomyces acidiscabies ATCC
      49003.
AB  - Two-component systems (TCSs) are an important signaling transduction pathway that
      adapt to changing environments. Commonly, a TCS comprises a sensor kinase that is
      usually an integral membrane histidine sensor kinase and a response regulator
      that mediates the cellular responses. Presently, however, we cloned a novel
      sensor kinase gene (tcsK) that is not adjacent to its cognate response regulator
      from Streptomyces acidiscabies that produces two secondary metabolites, thaxtomin
      A and WS5995B, and identified its functional involvement in the production of
      secondary metabolites and morphological differentiation. The elevated expression
      and disruption of the tcsK gene enhanced 7.1-fold and almost abolished WS5995B
      production in S. acidiscabies, respectively, but did not affect the production of
      thaxtomin A. In addition, spore formation of S. acidiscabies was decreased 120
      fold by the disruption of tcsK, and the actinorhodin production of Streptomyces
      lividans TK24 was increased 5.7-fold by the high expression of tcsK. These
      results indicate that the novel unpaired tcsK gene may be related to the control
      of secondary metabolite production and spore formation in actinomycetes.

PMID- 25821126
TI  - Disentangling Complex Mixtures of Compounds with Near-Identical (1) H and (13) C
      NMR Spectra using Pure Shift NMR Spectroscopy.
AB  - The thorough analysis of highly complex NMR spectra using pure shift NMR
      experiments is described. The enhanced spectral resolution obtained from modern
      2D HOBS experiments incorporating spectral aliasing in the (13) C indirect
      dimension enables the distinction of similar compounds exhibiting near-identical
      (1) H and (13) C NMR spectra. It is shown that a complete set of extremely small
      Deltadelta((1) H) and Deltadelta((13) C) values, even below the natural line
      width (1 and 5 ppb, respectively), can be simultaneously determined and assigned.

PMID- 25821127
TI  - Head and neck cancer subtypes with biological and clinical relevance: Meta
      analysis of gene-expression data.
AB  - Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a disease with heterogeneous
      clinical behavior and response to therapies. Despite the introduction of
      multimodality treatment, 40-50% of patients with advanced disease recur.
      Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the classification beyond the
      current parameters in clinical use to better stratify patients and the
      therapeutic approaches. Following a meta-analysis approach we built a large
      training set to whom we applied a Disease-Specific Genomic Analysis (DSGA) to
      identify the disease component embedded into the tumor data. Eleven independent
      microarray datasets were used as validation sets. Six different HNSCC subtypes
      that summarize the aberrant alterations occurring during tumor progression were
      identified. Based on their main biological characteristics and de-regulated
      signaling pathways, the subtypes were designed as immunoreactive, inflammatory,
      human papilloma virus (HPV)-like, classical, hypoxia associated, and mesenchymal.
      Our findings highlighted a more aggressive behavior for mesenchymal and hypoxia
      associated subtypes. The Genomics Drug Sensitivity Project was used to identify
      potential associations with drug sensitivity and significant differences were
      observed among the six subtypes. To conclude, we report a robust molecularly
      defined subtype classification in HNSCC that can improve patient selection and
      pave the way to the development of appropriate therapeutic strategies.

PMID- 25821128
TI  - Conversion of hemicellulose sugars catalyzed by formic acid: kinetics of the
      dehydration of D-xylose, L-arabinose, and D-glucose.
AB  - The pre-treatment of lignocellulosic biomass produces a liquid stream of
      hemicellulose-based sugars, which can be further converted to high-value
      chemicals. Formosolv pulping and the Milox process use formic acid as the
      fractionating agent, which can be used as the catalyst for the valorisation of
      hemicellulose sugars to platform chemicals. The objective of this study was to
      investigate the reaction kinetics of major components in the hemicelluloses
      fraction of biomass, that is, D-xylose, L-arabinose and D-glucose. The kinetics
      experiments for each sugar were performed at temperatures between 130 and 170 
      degrees C in various formic acid concentrations (10-64 wt %). The implications of
      these kinetic models on the selectivity of each sugar to the desired products are
      discussed. The models were used to predict the reaction kinetics of solutions
      that resemble the liquid stream obtained from the fractionation process of
      biomass using formic acid. 

PMID- 25821129
TI  - Antimicrobial Peptides from the Aurein Family Form Ion-Selective Pores in
      Bacillus subtilis.
AB  - The mechanism of action of aurein 2.2 and aurein 2.3, antimicrobial peptides from
      the frog Litoria aurea, was investigated. Proteomic profiling of the Bacillus
      subtilis stress response indicates that the cell envelope is the main target for
      both aureins. Upon treatment, the cytoplasmic membrane depolarizes and cellular
      ATP levels decrease. Global element analysis shows that intracellular
      concentrations of certain metal ions (potassium, magnesium, iron, and manganese)
      strongly decrease. Selective translocation of some ions over others was
      demonstrated in vitro. The same set of ions also leaks from B. subtilis cells
      treated with sublethal concentrations of gramicidin S, MP196, and nisin. Aureins
      do not permeabilize the cell membrane for propidium iodide thus excluding
      formation of large, unspecific pores. Our data suggest that the aureins acts by
      forming small pores thereby causing membrane depolarization, and by triggering
      the release of certain metal ions thus disturbing cellular ion homeostasis. 

PMID- 25821131
TI  - Pigmented villonodular synovitis of the temporomandibular joint: Case report and
      review of the literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We present a case of a 51-year-old male patient with pigmented
      villonodular synovitis (PVNS) of the left temporomandibular joint (TMJ) that
      initially presented as a slow-growing left facial mass. Upon further workup, a
      contrast-enhanced CT scan demonstrated an expansile soft tissue mass in the left
      TMJ. METHODS: The lesion was diagnosed through fine-needle aspiration biopsy. The
      patient was treated with resection of the TMJ, temporal bone, and root of the
      zygoma. A temporalis muscle and temporoparietal fascia flap was used for
      reconstruction to fill the defect and provide contour. RESULTS: Postoperatively,
      the patient has been tumor free with excellent cosmesis. Our case demonstrates a
      very successful outcome. CONCLUSION: Previous literature has also reported that
      complete excision is an ideal procedure for PVNS of TMJ, but temporalis
      rotational flap use has been rare. This case and previously reported cases in the
      literature are also reviewed.

PMID- 25821130
TI  - Cardiac autoimmunity as a novel biomarker, mediator, and therapeutic target of
      heart disease in type 1 diabetes.
AB  - Patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) suffer excess mortality from cardiovascular
      disease (CVD) that has persisted despite substantial reductions in microvascular
      complications. Although T1D and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are etiologically distinct,
      it has generally been assumed that CVD in T1D is "the same disease" as that found
      in T2D. Here, we review the most recent epidemiological and clinical studies on
      heart disease in T1D, highlighting differences between CVD in T1D and T2D. In
      addition, we discuss experimental and clinical evidence for a post-myocardial
      infarction (MI) autoimmune heart syndrome in T1D, including the development of
      diagnostic assays which we believe can, for the first time, differentiate between
      heart disease in T1D and T2D. We postulate that a clinically unrecognized form of
      chronic myocardial inflammation ("myocarditis") triggered by MI contributes to
      the poor CVD outcomes in T1D. These findings provide a conceptual shift in our
      understanding of CVD in T1D and have important diagnostic and therapeutic
      implications. 

PMID- 25821132
TI  - Jieduquyuziyin prescription suppresses IL-17 production and Th17 activity in
      MRL/lpr mice by inhibiting expression of Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein
      kinase-4.
AB  - Jieduquyuziyin prescription (JP) is a traditional Chinese medicinal (TCM) formula
      which has been demonstrated to be effective for systemic lupus erythematosus
      (SLE) treatment as an approved hospital prescription for many years in China. But
      its mechanism of action in combating this disease is largely unknown. Our
      previous studies showed that JP can slow disease progression without producing
      significant toxic side effects. We treated MRL/lpr mice with JP to ascertain if
      JP could improve SLE by the suppression of Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein
      kinase-4 (CaMK4) expression. We investigated the role of JP in a model of SLE in
      MRL/lpr mice, and identified the possible mechanism of action. Mice were divided
      randomly into four groups: control, model, and two treatment groups. Sections of
      renal tissue were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). Histopathologic
      changes in the kidney were evaluated by light microscopy. T-helper (Th)17 cells
      were analyzed by flow cytometry. mRNA levels of interleukin (IL)-17, CaMK4, and
      RORgammat were measured by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT
      PCR). CaMK4 expression was assessed by Western blotting. The results showed that
      the percentages of Th17, IL-17, and RORgammat in mice treated with JP were
      decreased remarkably compared to the model group (p < 0.05). Interestingly, a
      high CaMK4 expression was observed in the SLE mice, which was inhibited by JP.
      These results suggest that CaMK4 activity was increased in T cells from MRL/lpr
      mice compared with the control group. Our findings support the conclusion that
      the effects of JP on MRL/lpr mice may involve the regulation of CaMK4
      overexpression in MRL/lpr mice. 

PMID- 25821133
TI  - How long does it take a cell to divide?

PMID- 25821134
TI  - Percutaneous yttrium aluminum garnet-laser lithotripsy of intrahepatic stones and
      casts after liver transplantation.
AB  - Bile duct stones and casts (BDSs) contribute importantly to morbidity after liver
      transplantation (LT). The purpose of this study was to estimate the clinical
      efficacy, safety, and long-term results of percutaneous transhepatic
      cholangioscopic lithotripsy (PTCSL) in transplant recipients and to discuss
      underlying factors affecting the outcome. A retrospective chart review revealed
      18 recipients with BDSs treated by PTCSL laser lithotripsy with a holmium-yttrium
      aluminum garnet laser probe at 365 to 550 um. They were analyzed in a median
      follow-up time of 55 months. In all but 1 patient (17/18 or 94%), it was
      technically feasible to clear all BDSs with a mean of 1.3 sessions. PTCSL was
      unsuccessful in 1 patient because of multiple stones impacting the bile ducts
      bilaterally; 17% had early complications (Clavien II). All biliary casts were
      successfully cleared; 39% had total remission; 61% needed additional
      interventions in the form of percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography and
      dilation (17%), re-PTCSL (11%), self-expandable metallic stents (22%), or
      hepaticojejunostomy (6%); and 22% eventually underwent retransplantation. The
      overall liver graft survival rate was 78%. Two patients died during follow-up for
      reasons not related to their BDS. Nonanastomotic strictures (NASs) were
      significantly associated with treatment failure. We conclude that PTCSL in LT
      patients is safe and feasible. NASs significantly increased the risk of relapse.
      Repeated minimally invasive treatments, however, prevented graft failure in 78%
      of the cases.

PMID- 25821135
TI  - Glyphosate and dicamba herbicide tank mixture effects on native plant and non
      genetically engineered soybean seedlings.
AB  - Crops engineered to contain genes for tolerance to multiple herbicides may be
      treated with several herbicides to manage weeds resistant to each herbicide.
      Thus, nearby non-target plants may be subjected to increased exposure to several
      herbicides used in combination. Of particular concern are native plants, as well
      as adjacent crops which have not been genetically engineered for tolerance to
      herbicides. We evaluated responses of seven species of native plants grown in a
      greenhouse and treated less than field application rates of glyphosate and/or
      dicamba: Andropogon gerardii, Asclepias syriaca, Eutrochium purpureum, Oenothera
      biennis, Polyganum lapathifolium, Solidago canadensis and Tridens flavus, and non
      herbicide resistant soybean (Glycine max, Oregon line M4). Herbicide
      concentrations were 0.03 or 0.1 * field application rates of 1122 g ha(-1) active
      ingredient (a.i) (831 g ha(-1) acid glyphosate) for glyphosate and 562 g ha(-1)
      a.i. for dicamba. In general, plant growth responses to combinations of
      glyphosate and dicamba were less than the sum of growth responses to the
      individual herbicides (i.e., antagonistic effect), primarily when one or both
      herbicides alone caused a large reduction in growth. E. purpureum, P.
      lapathifolium and S. canadensis were the most sensitive species to both
      herbicides, while A. gerardii was the most tolerant, with no response to either
      herbicide. The combinations of herbicides resulted in responses most similar to
      that from dicamba alone for G. max and from glyphosate alone for T. flavus. The
      results of this study indicated the need for more data such as effects on native
      plants in the field to assess risks to non-target plants from combinations of
      herbicides.

PMID- 25821136
TI  - Microsolvation and hydration enthalpies of CaS2O3(H2O)(n) (n = 0-19) and S2O3(2
      )(H2O)(n) (n = 0-16): an ab initio study.
AB  - We studied microhydrated calcium thiosulfate and its ions at the restricted
      Hartree-Fock RHF/6-31G* level of theory. A semiempirical molecular dynamics
      search of progressively more hydrated species provided lowest-energy
      configurations that were then fully optimized and characterized as energy minima
      at the RHF/6-31G* level of theory. The first solvation shell of calcium
      thiosulfate contains 18 water molecules, while the first solvation shell of
      thiosulfate ion consists of 15 water molecules. QTAIM calculations show hydrogen
      bonding to sulfur. At 298.15 K, we estimate the total standard enthalpies of
      hydration for thiosulfate ion and calcium thiosulfate at infinite dilution as 
      301 kcal mol(-1) and -335 kcal mol(-1), respectively. The dissociation of
      hydrated calcium thiosulfate at infinite dilution is predicted to be an
      endothermic process with an enthalpy of 262 kcal mol(-1). Based on some
      experimental data, the predominant form of calcium thiosulfate in solution is
      predicted to be the contact ion pair. 

PMID- 25821137
TI  - The DFT local reactivity descriptors of alpha-tocopherol.
AB  - The calculations of local reactivity descriptors, the electron donor Fukui
      function f(-)(r), the average local ionization energy I(r), the Fukui function
      dual descriptor f((2))(r), and the electron acceptor Fukui function f(+)(r) for
      alpha-tocopherol, the main biologically active form of vitamin E for antioxidant
      reactions in phospholipid membranes, is presented. The calculations are performed
      at B3LYP/6-311++G** level of theory in the gas-phase. The obtained results
      indicate that the most preferred sites for donating electron in a reaction with
      radical or oxidizing molecule are associated mostly with pi electrons above and
      below the aromatic part of the alpha-tocopherol chromanol ring. The most reactive
      sites for accepting electrons are associated with the leaving H(9) atom in the
      extension of the phenolic OH bond on the alpha-tocopherol chromanol ring plane,
      in the place where the formation of H-bond of the precursor complex between
      approaching reactive oxygen radical and phenolic OH group of alpha-tocopherol
      could be expected. The separated reactive sites in alpha-tocopherol suggest that
      the proton and electron, along with the hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) process,
      could also be transferred to different proton and electron acceptors as in
      bidirectional proton coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions. The results
      presented in this paper suggest that large charge redistribution and significant
      pi-pi interactions may be expected in antioxidant reactions of alpha-tocopherol.

PMID- 25821138
TI  - The neuropeptide bursicon acts in cuticle metabolism.
AB  - Bursicon is a heterodimeric neuropeptide formed of bursicon alpha (burs alpha)
      and bursicon beta (burs beta) that controls cuticle tanning and wing expansion in
      insects. Burs alpha-alpha and burs beta-beta homodimers are also formed; they act
      via an unknown receptor to induce expression of prophylactic immune and stress
      genes during molting. Based on the hypothesis that burs beta-beta and/or bursicon
      influence expression of additional genes acting after the molt, we prepared and
      sequenced six Drosophila cDNA libraries from groups of flies separately injected
      with burs beta-beta, bursicon, or blank control. Compared to the control, the
      burs beta-beta treatments led to upregulation (by at least 1.5-fold) of 262 genes
      at 0.5 h postinjection (PI) and 298 genes at 1 h PI; 323 genes at 0.5 h PI and
      269 genes at 1h PI were downregulated (by at least 0.67). Similar changes were
      recorded following bursicon injections. Of these genes, expression of seven
      transcripts encoding cuticle proteins was upregulated and three downregulated by
      burs beta-beta; expression of nine transcripts encoding cuticle proteins were
      upregulated and four downregulated following bursicon treatments. Expression of
      dozens of genes involved in chitin metabolism was altered by the experimental
      treatments. We recorded parallel changes in expression of selected genes by
      transcriptome and qPCR analysis. These findings support our hypothesis that burs
      beta-beta and bursicon influence expression of additional genes acting after the
      molt. We report that burs beta-beta and bursicon act in cuticle synthesis and
      degradation by regulating the expression of cuticular protein and chitin
      metabolizing related genes. 

PMID- 25821139
TI  - Positive effects of the traditional Chinese medicine MLC901 in cognitive tasks.
AB  - MLC901 (NurAiDII) is used as a treatment for stroke patients. It has been shown
      that MLC901 improves motor and cognitive recovery in ischemic and traumatic brain
      injured rodents. The present study seeks to delineate cognitive effects induced
      by MLC901 in normal, noninjured mice. To this end, the behaviors of vehicle- and
      MLC901-treated C57BL/6 mice in hippocampus-dependent (passive avoidance, Morris
      water maze) and hippocampus-independent (novel object recognition) cognitive
      tasks are compared. The potential influence of the compound on the anxiety level
      and nycthemeral rhythm of mice is also assessed. In addition, the long-term
      effects of MLC901 on hippocampal neurogenesis are measured. The results clearly
      demonstrate that MLC901 promotes extinction in passive avoidance and reversal
      learning in the Morris water maze and improves the performance of mice in novel
      object recognition. In parallel, this study shows the long-term proneurogenesis
      effects of MLC901 that result in the increase in the number of mature neurons in
      the hippocampus. If these observations can be extended to humans, then MLC901
      could represent a promising therapeutic strategy.

PMID- 25821140
TI  - Developability assessment during the selection of novel therapeutic antibodies.
AB  - Therapeutic antibodies and antibody derivatives comprise the majority of today's
      biotherapeutics. Routine methods to generate novel antibodies, such as
      immunization and phage-display, often give rise to several candidates with
      desired functional properties. On the contrary, resource-intense steps such as
      the development of a cell line, a manufacturing process, or a formulation, are
      typically carried out for only one candidate. Therefore, "developability," that
      is, the likelihood for the successful development of a lead candidate into a
      stable, manufacturable, safe, and efficacious drug, may be used as an additional
      selection criterion. Employing a set of small-scale, fast, and predictive tests
      addressing biochemical and biophysical features, as well as in vivo fate can help
      to identify a clinical candidate molecule with promising properties at an early
      stage of drug development. This article gives an overview of existing methods for
      developability testing and shows how these assays can be interlaced in the lead
      selection process.

PMID- 25821141
TI  - Network structure of functional hippocampal lateralization in birds.
AB  - Functional hemispheric asymmetry is a common feature of vertebrate brain
      organization, yet little is known about how hemispheric dominance is implemented
      at the neural level. One notable example of hemispheric dominance in birds is the
      leading role of the left hippocampal formation in controlling navigational
      processes that support homing in pigeons. Relying on resting state fMRI analyses
      (where Functional connectivity (FC) can be determined by placing a reference
      'seed' for connectivity in one hemisphere), we show that following seeding in
      either an anterior or posterior region of the hippocampal formation of homing
      pigeons and starlings, the emergent FC maps are consistently larger following
      seeding of the left hippocampus. Left seedings are also more likely to result in
      FC maps that extend to the contralateral hippocampus and outside the boundaries
      of the hippocampus. The data support the hypothesis that broader FC is one neural
      organizational property that confers, with respect to navigation, functional
      dominance to the left hippocampus of birds.

PMID- 25821142
TI  - When emotions are expressed figuratively: Psycholinguistic and Affective Norms of
      619 Idioms for German (PANIG).
AB  - Despite flourishing research on the relationship between emotion and literal
      language, and despite the pervasiveness of figurative expressions in
      communication, the role of figurative language in conveying affect has been
      underinvestigated. This study provides affective and psycholinguistic norms for
      619 German idiomatic expressions and explores the relationships between affective
      and psycholinguistic idiom properties. German native speakers rated each idiom
      for emotional valence, arousal, familiarity, semantic transparency,
      figurativeness, and concreteness. They also described the figurative meaning of
      each idiom and rated how confident they were about the attributed meaning. The
      results showed that idioms rated high in valence were also rated high in arousal.
      Negative idioms were rated as more arousing than positive ones, in line with
      results from single words. Furthermore, arousal correlated positively with
      figurativeness (supporting the idea that figurative expressions are more
      emotionally engaging than literal expressions) and with concreteness and semantic
      transparency. This suggests that idioms may convey a more direct reference to
      sensory representations, mediated by the meanings of their constituting words.
      Arousal correlated positively with familiarity. In addition, positive idioms were
      rated as more familiar than negative idioms. Finally, idioms without a literal
      counterpart were rated as more emotionally valenced and arousing than idioms with
      a literal counterpart. Although the meanings of ambiguous idioms were less
      correctly defined than those of unambiguous idioms, ambiguous idioms were rated
      as more concrete than unambiguous ones. We also discuss the relationships between
      the various psycholinguistic variables characterizing idioms, with reference to
      the literature on idiom structure and processing. 

PMID- 25821143
TI  - Geometric and electronic structure and magnetic properties of Fe-Au nanoalloys:
      insights from ab initio calculations.
AB  - We have performed density functional theory (DFT) based calculations of Fe-Au
      nanoalloys containing 113 atoms, Fe(x)Au(113-x) (x = 23, 56, 90), to determine
      their preferred geometric structure and the ensuing electronic structural and
      magnetic properties. We find that these nanoalloys prefer the formation of a core
      shell structure and the Fe core maintains almost a constant magnetic moment of
      ~2.8 MU(B) regardless of the Fe content, which is 27% enhancement from the bulk
      value and in qualitative agreement with some previous results. The local magnetic
      moment of Fe atoms is well correlated with the local coordination of the Fe
      atoms. Furthermore, the enhancement of the magnetic moment may be traced to
      charge depletion from the Fe atoms in the core to the Au atoms in the shell. The
      preference for the core-shell structure over one with segregated Fe and Au parts
      could be the low surface tension at the Fe-Au interface, which is larger for the
      core-shell structure, and can be attributed to strong Fe-Au interfacial
      interaction as a result of large charge transfer at the interface.

PMID- 25821144
TI  - The impact of primary prophylaxis with granulocyte colony-stimulating factors on
      febrile neutropenia during chemotherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of
      randomized controlled trials.
AB  - PURPOSE: The study aims to assess the relative efficacy of granulocyte colony
      stimulating factor (G-CSF) products administered as primary prophylaxis (PP) to
      patients with cancer receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. METHODS: A
      systematic literature review identified publications (January 1990 to September
      2013) of randomized controlled trials evaluating PP with filgrastim,
      pegfilgrastim, lenograstim, or lipegfilgrastim in adults receiving
      myelosuppressive chemotherapy for solid tumors or non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Direct,
      indirect, and mixed-treatment comparison (MTC) were used to estimate the odds
      ratio and 95 % credible interval of febrile neutropenia (FN) during cycle 1 and
      all cycles of chemotherapy combined without adjusting for differences in relative
      dose intensity (RDI) between study treatment arms. RESULTS: Twenty-seven
      publications representing 30 randomized controlled trials were included. Using
      MTC over all chemotherapy cycles, PP with filgrastim, pegfilgrastim, lenograstim,
      and lipegfilgrastim versus no G-CSF PP or placebo were associated with
      statistically significantly reduced FN risk. FN risk was also significantly
      reduced with pegfilgrastim PP versus filgrastim PP. Over all chemotherapy cycles,
      there was a numerical but statistically nonsignificant increase in the FN risk
      for lipegfilgrastim PP versus pegfilgrastim PP. Using MTC in cycle 1, PP with
      filgrastim, pegfilgrastim, and lipegfilgrastim versus no G-CSF PP or placebo were
      associated with statistically significantly reduced FN risk. CONCLUSIONS: In this
      meta-analysis, using MTC without adjustment for RDI, PP with all G-CSFs evaluated
      reduced the FN risk in patients receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. Future
      studies are needed to assess the influence of RDI on FN outcomes and to eliminate
      potential bias between G-CSF arms receiving more intensive chemotherapy than
      control arms.

PMID- 25821146
TI  - Application of a fast and cost-effective in situ derivatization method prior to
      gas chromatography with mass spectrometry to monitor endocrine disruptors in
      water matrices.
AB  - This work deals with the optimization of a rapid, cost-effective, and eco
      friendly gas chromatography with mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous
      determination of four endocrine disruptor compounds in water matrices: estrone,
      17beta-estradiol, 17alpha-ethinylestradiol, and bisphenol A, that are currently
      considered to be of main concern in the field of water policy and that could
      became candidates for future regulations. The method involves simultaneous
      derivatization and extraction of compounds by dispersive liquid-liquid
      microextraction followed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry analysis.
      Derivatization and extraction parameters were optimized with the aid of
      experimental design approach. An excellent linear response was achieved for all
      analytes (r(2) >= 0.999). Limits of detection and quantification are 0.003-0.005
      and 0.0094-0.0164 MUg/L, respectively. Intraday precision ranged between 1.1 and
      12.6%, whereas interday precision ranged between 0.5 and 14.7%. For accuracy,
      bias values varied between -15.0 and 13.7%. Recoveries at three concentration
      levels ranged from 86.4 to 118.2%. The proposed method can be applied to the
      routine analysis of groundwater, river, sea, tap, and mineral water samples with
      excellent sensitivity, precision, and accuracy. 

PMID- 25821145
TI  - Disparities in barriers to follow-up care between African American and White
      breast cancer survivors.
AB  - PURPOSE: Despite recommendations for breast cancer survivorship care, African
      American women are less likely to receive appropriate follow-up care, which is
      concerning due to their higher mortality rates. This study describes differences
      in barriers to follow-up care between African American and White breast cancer
      survivors. METHODS: We conducted a mailed survey of women treated for non
      metastatic breast cancer in 2009-2011, 6-24 months post-treatment (N = 203).
      Survivors were asked about 14 potential barriers to follow-up care. We used
      logistic regression to explore associations between barriers and race, adjusting
      for covariates. RESULTS: Our participants included 31 African American and 160
      White survivors. At least one barrier to follow-up care was reported by 62 %.
      Compared to White survivors, African Americans were more likely to identify
      barriers related to out-of-pocket costs (28 vs. 51.6 %, p = 0.01), other health
      care costs (21.3 vs. 45.2 %, p = 0.01), anxiety/worry (29.4 vs. 51.6 %, p =
      0.02), and transportation (4.4 vs. 16.1 %, p = 0.03). After adjustment for
      covariates, African Americans were three times as likely to report at least one
      barrier to care (odds ratio (OR) = 3.3, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.1
      10.1). CONCLUSIONS: Barriers to care are common among breast cancer survivors,
      especially African American women. Financial barriers to care may prevent
      minority and underserved survivors from accessing follow-up care. Enhancing
      insurance coverage or addressing out-of-pocket costs may help address financial
      barriers to follow-up care among breast cancer survivors. Psychosocial care aimed
      at reducing fear of recurrence may also be important to improve access among
      African American breast cancer survivors.

PMID- 25821148
TI  - Clinical outcomes in patients with acute eosinophilic pneumonia not treated with
      corticosteroids.
AB  - PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the course of clinical
      stability in patients with acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP) who did not receive
      corticosteroid treatment. METHODS: Secondary analysis included 19 consecutive
      patients with AEP who did not receive corticosteroid treatment from a cohort of
      310 patients newly diagnosed with AEP between October 2007 and December 2013.
      RESULTS: All patients presented with dyspnea, fever, or cough with diffuse
      pulmonary infiltration. All but one patient (95 %) had elevated C-reactive
      protein (CRP), and 11 (58 %) patients had peripheral eosinophilia at the time of
      diagnosis. During the follow-up period, the dyspnea improved within a median of 4
      (3-6) days and defervescence occurred within a median of 5 (4-7) days. Median
      time to clinical stability (defined as disappearance of all initial presenting
      symptoms) was 9 (7-12) days. In addition, the majority of pulmonary infiltrates
      on chest radiographs completely disappeared within 14 days after diagnosis.
      However, the peripheral eosinophil count and the frequency of peripheral
      eosinophilia increased up to 10 days and then decreased during the follow-up
      period. All patients experienced peripheral eosinophilia during hospitalisation.
      CONCLUSION: AEP-associated symptoms and radiographic abnormalities were resolved
      completely within 2 weeks after diagnosis even when corticosteroid treatment was
      not initiated. However, these findings might be limited to relatively mild cases
      of AEP.

PMID- 25821149
TI  - "Manejar la Situacion": Partner Notification, Partner Management, and Conceptual
      Frameworks for HIV/STI Control Among MSM in Peru.
AB  - Previous analyses of partner notification (PN) have addressed individual,
      interpersonal, social, and structural issues influencing PN outcomes but have
      paid less attention to the conceptual framework of PN itself. We conducted 18
      individual interviews and 8 group discussions, in a two-stage qualitative
      research process, to explore the meanings and contexts of PN for sexually
      transmitted infections (STI) among men who have sex with men (MSM) and men who
      have sex with men and women (MSMW) in Lima, Peru. Participants described PN as
      the open disclosure of private, potentially stigmatizing information that could
      strengthen or disrupt a partnership, structured by the tension between
      concealment and revelation. In addition to informing partners of an STI
      diagnosis, the act of PN was believed to reveal other potentially stigmatizing
      information related to sexual identity and practices such as homosexuality,
      promiscuity, and HIV co-infection. In this context, the potential development of
      visible, biological STI symptoms represented a risk for disruption of the
      boundary between secrecy and disclosure that could result in involuntary
      disclosure of STI status. To address the conflict between concealment and
      disclosure, participants cited efforts to "manejar la situacion" (manage the
      situation) by controlling the biological risks of STI exposure without openly
      disclosing STI status. We use this concept of "managing the situation" as a
      practical and theoretical framework for comprehensive Partner Management for
      HIV/STI control systems among MSM in Latin America. 

PMID- 25821147
TI  - Reliability of an fMRI paradigm for emotional processing in a multisite
      longitudinal study.
AB  - Multisite neuroimaging studies can facilitate the investigation of brain-related
      changes in many contexts, including patient groups that are relatively rare in
      the general population. Though multisite studies have characterized the
      reliability of brain activation during working memory and motor functional
      magnetic resonance imaging tasks, emotion processing tasks, pertinent to many
      clinical populations, remain less explored. A traveling participants study was
      conducted with eight healthy volunteers scanned twice on consecutive days at each
      of the eight North American Longitudinal Prodrome Study sites. Tests derived from
      generalizability theory showed excellent reliability in the amygdala ( Erho2 =
      0.82), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG; Erho2 = 0.83), anterior cingulate cortex
      (ACC; Erho2 = 0.76), insula ( Erho2 = 0.85), and fusiform gyrus ( Erho2 = 0.91)
      for maximum activation and fair to excellent reliability in the amygdala ( Erho2
      = 0.44), IFG ( Erho2 = 0.48), ACC ( Erho2 = 0.55), insula ( Erho2 = 0.42), and
      fusiform gyrus ( Erho2 = 0.83) for mean activation across sites and test days.
      For the amygdala, habituation ( Erho2 = 0.71) was more stable than mean
      activation. In a second investigation, data from 111 healthy individuals across
      sites were aggregated in a voxelwise, quantitative meta-analysis. When compared
      with a mixed effects model controlling for site, both approaches identified
      robust activation in regions consistent with expected results based on prior
      single-site research. Overall, regions central to emotion processing showed
      strong reliability in the traveling participants study and robust activation in
      the aggregation study. These results support the reliability of blood oxygen
      level-dependent signal in emotion processing areas across different sites and
      scanners and may inform future efforts to increase efficiency and enhance
      knowledge of rare conditions in the population through multisite neuroimaging
      paradigms.

PMID- 25821150
TI  - Functionalizable low-fouling coatings for label-free biosensing in complex
      biological media: advances and applications.
AB  - This review focuses on recent advances in the development of functionalizable
      antifouling coatings and their applications in label-free optical biosensors.
      Approaches to the development of antifouling coatings, ranging from self
      assembled monolayers and PEG derivatives to ultra-low-fouling polymer brushes,
      are reviewed. Methods of preparation and characterization of antifouling coatings
      and the functionalization of antifouling coatings with bioreceptors are reviewed,
      and the effect of functionalization on the fouling properties of biofunctional
      coating is discussed. Special attention is given to biofunctional coatings for
      label-free bioanalysis of blood plasma and serum for medical diagnostics. 

PMID- 25821151
TI  - Prevalence of incidental prostate cancer: A systematic review of autopsy studies.
AB  - Prostate cancer screening may detect nonprogressive cancers, leading to
      overdiagnosis and overtreatment. The potential for overdiagnosis can be assessed
      from the reservoir of prostate cancer in autopsy studies that report incidental
      prostate cancer rates in men who died of other causes. We aimed to estimate the
      age-specific incidental cancer prevalence from all published autopsy studies. We
      identified eligible studies by searches of Medline and Embase, forward and
      backward citation searches and contacting authors. We screened the titles and
      abstracts of all articles; checked the full-text articles for eligibility and
      extracted clinical and pathology data using standardized forms. We extracted mean
      cancer prevalence, age-specific cancer prevalence and validity measures and then
      pooled data from all studies using logistic regression models with random
      effects. The 29 studies included in the review dated from 1948 to 2013.
      Incidental cancer was detected in all populations, with no obvious time trends in
      prevalence. Prostate cancer prevalence increased with each decade of age, OR =
      1.7 (1.6-1.8), and was higher in studies that used the Gleason score, OR = 2.0
      (1.1-3.7). No other factors were significantly predictive. The estimated mean
      cancer prevalence increased in a nonlinear fashion from 5% (95% CI: 3-8%) at age
      <30 years to 59% (95% CI: 48-71%) by age >79 years. There was substantial
      variation between populations in estimated cancer prevalence. There is a
      substantial reservoir of incidental prostate cancer which increases with age. The
      high risk of overdiagnosis limits the usefulness of prostate cancer screening. 

PMID- 25821152
TI  - The Role of Phonological versus Morphological Skills in the Development of Arabic
      Spelling: An Intervention Study.
AB  - The current study investigated the contribution of two linguistic intervention
      programs, phonological and morphological to the development of word spelling
      among skilled and poor native Arabic readers, in three grades: second, fourth and
      sixth. The participants were assigned to three experimental groups: morphological
      intervention, phonological intervention and a non-intervention control group.
      Phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and spelling abilities were
      tested before and after the intervention. Participants from both linguistic
      intervention programs and in all grades made significant progress in linguistic
      awareness and spelling after the intervention. The results showed that both
      intervention programs were successful in promoting children's spelling skills in
      both groups. Also, older poor readers showed a stronger response to the
      morphological intervention than the older skilled readers. A transfer effect was
      found with the phonological training contributing to the morphological skills and
      vice versa. The results of the current study were discussed in the light of
      developmental and psycholinguistic views of spelling acquisition as well as the
      characteristics of Arabic language and orthography. 

PMID- 25821153
TI  - Predicting euarchontan body mass: A comparison of tarsal and dental variables.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Multiple meaningful ecological characterizations of a species revolve
      around body mass. Because body mass cannot be directly measured in extinct taxa,
      reliable body mass predictors are needed. Many published body mass prediction
      equations rely on dental dimensions, but certain skeletal dimensions may have a
      more direct and consistent relationship with body mass. We seek to evaluate the
      reliability of prediction equations for inferring euarchontan body mass based on
      measurements of the articular facet areas of the astragalus and calcaneus.
      METHODS: Surface areas of five astragalar facets (n = 217 specimens) and two
      calcaneal facets (n = 163) were measured. Separate ordinary least squares and
      multiple regression equations are presented for different levels of taxonomic
      inclusivity, and the reliability of each equation is evaluated with the
      coefficient of determination, standard error of the estimate, mean prediction
      error, and the prediction sum of squares statistic. We compare prediction errors
      to published prediction equations that utilize dental and/or tarsal measures.
      Finally, we examine the effects of taxonomically specific regressions and apply
      our equations to a diverse set of non-primates. RESULTS: Our results reveal that
      predictions based on facet areas are more reliable than most linear dental or
      tarsal predictors. Multivariate approaches are often better than univariate
      methods, but require more information (making them less useful for fragmentary
      fossils). While some taxonomically specific regressions improve predictive
      ability, this is not true for all primate groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among individual
      facets, the ectal and fibular facets of the astragalus and the calcaneal cuboid
      facet are the best body mass predictors. Since these facets have primarily
      concave curvature and scale with positive allometry relative to body mass, it
      appears that candidate skeletal proxies for body mass can be identified based on
      their curvature and scaling coefficients.

PMID- 25821154
TI  - Application of the Ugi reaction with multiple amino acid-derived components:
      synthesis and conformational evaluation of piperazine-based minimalist
      peptidomimetics.
AB  - The concurrent employment of alpha-amino acid-derived chiral components such as
      aldehydes and alpha-isocyanoacetates, in a sequential Ugi reaction/cyclization
      two-step strategy, opens the door to the synthesis of three structurally distinct
      piperazine-based scaffolds, characterized by the presence of L-Ala and/or L-Phe
      derived side chains and bearing appropriate functionalities to be easily applied
      in peptide chemistry. By means of computational studies, these scaffolds have
      been demonstrated to act as minimalist peptidomimetics, able to mimic a well
      defined range of peptide secondary structures and therefore potentially useful
      for the synthesis of small-molecule PPI modulators. Preliminary biological
      evaluation of two different resistant hepatocellular carcinoma cellular lines,
      for which differentiation versus resistance ability seem to be strongly
      correlated with well defined types of PPIs, has revealed a promising
      antiproliferative activity for selected compounds.

PMID- 25821155
TI  - Electrically tunable selective reflection of light from ultraviolet to visible
      and infrared by heliconical cholesterics.
AB  - Electrical tuning of selective reflection of light is achieved in a very broad
      spectral range from ultraviolet to visible and infrared by an oblique helicoidal
      state of a cholesteric liquid crystal in a wide temperature range (including room
      temperature). The phenomenon offers potential applications in tunable smart
      windows, lasers, optical filters and limiters, as well as in displays. 

PMID- 25821156
TI  - The pharmacokinetics and safety of idelalisib in subjects with moderate or severe
      hepatic impairment.
AB  - Idelalisib, a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase delta (PI3Kdelta) inhibitor, is
      metabolized primarily by aldehyde oxidase to form GS-563117, an inactive
      metabolite, and is metabolized to a lesser extent by cytochrome P450 3A and
      uridine 5'-diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase 1A4. In a mass balance study, the
      orally administered idelalisib dose was recovered mainly in feces (~78%). This
      study evaluated the pharmacokinetics and safety of a single 150-mg dose of
      idelalisib in subjects with moderate or severe hepatic impairment and in age-,
      sex-, and weight-matched, healthy controls. The idelalisib maximum observed
      plasma concentration was generally comparable in subjects with moderate or severe
      hepatic impairment versus healthy controls, whereas the mean area under the curve
      was higher (58% to 59%). GS-563117 exposures were lower in impaired versus
      healthy control subjects, likely because of lower formation in the setting of
      liver impairment. Exploratory analyses indicated no relevant relationships
      between idelalisib or GS-563117 plasma exposures and Child-Pugh-Turcotte scores.
      Single oral doses of idelalisib 150 mg were well tolerated, with most treatment
      emergent adverse events (AEs) and laboratory abnormalities being grades 1 or 2 in
      severity. As such, no dose adjustment was required when initiating idelalisib
      treatment in patients with mild or moderate hepatic impairment, although close
      monitoring for potential AEs is recommended.

PMID- 25821158
TI  - Palladium catalyzed selective mono-arylation of o-carboranes via B-H activation.
AB  - Palladium catalyzed selective mono-arylation of o-carboranes with aryl iodides
      has been developed, and a series of B(8)/B(9)-Ar-o-carboranes anchored with
      active groups have been synthesized with moderate to good yield as well as good
      selectivity. The mechanism involving Pd(II) catalyzed electrophilic B-H
      activation was also proposed. 

PMID- 25821159
TI  - Selective functionalization of hollow nanospheres with Acid and base groups for
      cascade reactions.
AB  - The inner-surface functionalization of hollow silica spheres has rarely been
      reported and is still a challenging topic. Herein, we report a deacetalization
      Henry cascade reaction catalyzed by dual-functionalized mesoporous silica hollow
      nanospheres with basic amine groups (?NH2 ) on the internal shell and carboxylic
      acid groups (?COOH) on the external shell. The selective functionalization has
      been realized by a combination of "step-by-step post-grafting" and "cationic
      surfactant-assisted selective etching" strategy. Compared to unisolated catalyst,
      the selectively isolated acidic and basic dual catalyst provides excellent
      catalytic performance for the deacetalization-Henry cascade reaction in terms of
      both activity (>99 %) and selectivity (95 %). 

PMID- 25821157
TI  - Models of germ cell development and their application for toxicity studies.
AB  - Germ cells are unique in their ability to transfer genetic information and traits
      from generation to generation. As such, the proper development of germ cells and
      the integrity of their genome are paramount to the health of organisms and the
      survival of species. Germ cells are also exquisitely sensitive to environmental
      influences although the testing of germ cell toxicity, especially in females, has
      proven particularly challenging. In this review, we first describe the remarkable
      odyssey of germ cells in mammals, with an emphasis on the female germline, from
      their initial specification early during embryogenesis to the generation of
      mature gametes in adults. We also describe the current methods used in germ cell
      toxicity testing and their limitations in examining the complex features of
      mammalian germ cell development. To bypass these challenges, we propose the use
      of alternative model systems such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Drosophila
      melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, and in vitro germ cell methods that have
      distinct advantages over traditional toxicity models. We discuss the benefits and
      limitations of each approach, their application to germ cell toxicity studies,
      and the need for computational approaches to maximize the usefulness of these
      models. Together, the inclusion of these alternative germ cell toxicity models
      will be invaluable for the examination of stages not easily accessible in mammals
      as well as the large scale, high-throughput investigation of germ cell toxicity.

PMID- 25821160
TI  - Genetic and clinical characteristics of primary and secondary glioblastoma is
      associated with differential molecular subtype distribution.
AB  - Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is classified into primary (pGBM) or secondary
      (sGBM) based on clinical progression. However, there are some limits to this
      classification for insight into genetically and clinically distinction between
      pGBM and sGBM. The aim of this study is to characterize pGBM and sGBM associating
      with differential molecular subtype distribution. Whole transcriptome sequencing
      data was used to assess the distribution of molecular subtypes and genetic
      alterations in 88 pGBM and 34 sGBM in a Chinese population-based cohort, and the
      biological progression and prognostic impact were analyzed by combining clinical
      information. Forty-one percentage of pGBM were designated as Mesenchymal subtype,
      while only 15% were the Proneural subtype. However, sGBM displayed the opposite
      ratio of Mesenchymal (15%) and Proneural (44%) subtypes. Mutations in isocitrate
      dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1) were found to be highly concentrated in the Proneural
      subtypes. In addition, patients with sGBM were 10 years younger on average than
      those with pGBM, and exhibited clinical features of shorter overall survival and
      frontal lobe tumor location tendency. Furthermore, in sGBM, gene sets related to
      malignant progression were found to be enriched. Overall, these results reveal
      the intrinsic distinction between pGBM and sGBM, and provide insight into the
      genetic and clinical attributes of GBM. 

PMID- 25821161
TI  - Tailoring the properties of ammine metal borohydrides for solid-state hydrogen
      storage.
AB  - A series of halide-free ammine manganese borohydrides, Mn(BH4 )2 ?nNH3 , n=1, 2,
      3, and 6, a new bimetallic compound Li2 Mn(BH4 )4 ?6NH3 , and the first ammine
      metal borohydride solid solution Mg1-x Mnx (BH4 )2 ?6NH3 are presented. Four new
      crystal structures have been determined by synchrotron radiation powder X-ray
      diffraction and the thermal decomposition is systematically investigated for all
      the new compounds. The solid-gas reaction between Mn(BH4 )2 and NH3 provides
      Mn(BH4 )2 ?6NH3 . The number of NH3 per Mn has been varied by mechanochemical
      treatment of Mn(BH4 )2 ?6NH3 -Mn(BH4 )2 mixtures giving rise to increased
      hydrogen purity for n/m<=1 for M(BH4 )m ?nNH3 . The structures of Mg(BH4 )2 ?3NH3
      and Li2 Mg(BH4 )4 ?6NH3 have been revisited and new structural models are
      presented. Finally, we demonstrate that ammonia destabilizes metal borohydrides
      with low electronegativity of the metal (chip <~1.6), while metal borohydrides
      with high electronegativity (chip >~1.6) are generally stabilized. 

PMID- 25821162
TI  - Engineering a bacterial tape recorder.
AB  - A method has been developed to produce and integrate single-stranded DNA into
      genomic locations in bacteria in response to exogenous signals. The system
      functions similarly to a cellular tape recorder by writing information into DNA
      and reading it at a later time. Much like other cellular memory platforms, its
      operation is based on DNA recombinase function. However, the scalability and
      recording capacity have been improved over previous designs. In addition, memory
      storage was reversible and could be recorded in response to analogue inputs, such
      as light exposure. This modular memory writing system is an important addition to
      the genomic editing toolbox available for synthetic biology. 

PMID- 25821165
TI  - Pentoxifylline-tocopherol-clodronate combination: A novel treatment for
      osteoradionecrosis of the temporal bone.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Osteoradionecrosis (ORN) of the temporal bone is a complication of
      radiation therapy that is extremely challenging to manage. METHODS: We report the
      case of a patient treated at our institution and present a review of the
      literature. RESULTS: A 52-year-old woman presented with ORN of the temporal bone
      20 years after radiation therapy for an ipsilateral parotid tumor. She failed
      conservative management, including serial debridements, oral and topical
      antibiotics/antifungals, and aural lavage. As an alternative to hyperbaric oxygen
      (HBO) and/or temporal bone resection, treatment with pentoxifylline-tocopherol
      clodronate combination (PENTOCLO) was pursued and her condition improved
      dramatically. CONCLUSION: This is the first document use of PENTOCLO to treat ORN
      of the temporal bone. PENTOCLO may represent an effective nonsurgical management
      option for ORN of the temporal bone.

PMID- 25821163
TI  - Not just chlorthalidone: evidence-based, single tablet, diuretic alternatives to
      hydrochlorothiazide for hypertension.
AB  - Accounting for 15 % of deaths worldwide, hypertension is often treated with
      hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) (50 million prescriptions annually). HCTZ has a <24-h
      duration of action, is less potent than chlorthalidone and all major
      antihypertensive drug classes, and is inferior to four antihypertensive drugs for
      cardiovascular event (CVE) reduction. If there were alternative diuretics, why
      prescribe HCTZ? Chlorthalidone is often offered as an alternative to HCTZ, but
      has limited pharmaceutical formulations. However, there are seven evidence-based,
      single-tablet, alternative diuretics. For reducing CVE, the following are
      superior to their comparators: chlorthalidone versus four antihypertensives in
      multiple hypertensive populations; indapamide versus placebo in elderly Chinese
      (and versus enalapril for left ventricular hypertrophy), triamterene-HCTZ versus
      placebo in elderly Europeans, amiloride-HCTZ versus three antihypertensives, and
      indapamide-perindopril versus placebo in three populations. Additionally,
      chlorthalidone-azilsartan and spironolactone-HCTZ are potent combinations The
      aldosterone antagonist component of the latter combination has been shown to
      reduce total mortality by 30 % in heart failure. Five of these seven have
      multiple dose formulations. Six cost $4-$77 monthly. In conclusion, based on both
      scientific and practical grounds, new prescriptions for HCTZ are rarely
      justified. 

PMID- 25821166
TI  - Safety and feasibility of S-1 adjuvant chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer in
      elderly patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The safety and feasibility of administering S-1 adjuvant chemotherapy
      for pancreatic cancer has not yet been fully evaluated in elderly patients.
      METHODS: This retrospective study selected patients who underwent curative
      surgery for pancreatic cancer, were diagnosed with stage II disease or lower or
      stage III disease with combined resection of the celiac artery, and received
      adjuvant S-1 at our institution. The patients were categorized into two groups:
      non-elderly patients (<70 years of age: group A) and elderly patients (>70 years
      of age: group B). The toxicity and S-1 continuation rates were compared between
      the two groups. RESULTS: A total of 76 patients were evaluated in the present
      study. There were no grade 4 toxicities. The incidences of grade 3 hematological
      and non-hematological toxicities were <5 % in both groups, and the differences
      were not significantly different. The continuation rate at 6 months was 60.5 % in
      group A and 72.7 % in group B, which was also not significantly different.
      CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that S-1 adjuvant chemotherapy for pancreatic
      cancer is safe and feasible, regardless of the age of the patient, especially for
      elderly patients who may be candidates for clinical trials.

PMID- 25821167
TI  - Human neonatal hepatocyte transplantation induces long-term rescue of
      unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia in the Gunn rat.
AB  - Crigler-Najjar type 1 disease is a rare inherited metabolic disease characterized
      by high levels of unconjugated bilirubin due to the complete absence of hepatic
      uridine diphosphoglucuronate-glucuronosyltransferase activity. Hepatocyte
      transplantation (HT) has been proposed as an alternative treatment for Crigler
      Najjar syndrome, but it is still limited by the quality and the low engraftment
      and repopulation ability of the cells used. Because of their attachment
      capability and expression of adhesion molecules as well as the higher proportion
      of hepatic progenitor cells, neonatal hepatocytes may have an advantage over
      adult cells. Adult or neonatal hepatocytes were transplanted into Gunn rats, a
      model for Crigler-Najjar disease. Engraftment and repopulation were studied and
      compared by immunofluorescence (IF). Additionally, the serum bilirubin levels,
      the presence of bilirubin conjugates in rat serum, and the expression of uridine
      diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase 1 family polypeptide A1 (UGT1A1) in rat liver
      samples were also analyzed. Here we show that neonatal HT results in long-term
      correction in Gunn rats. In comparison with adult cells, neonatal cells showed
      better engraftment and repopulation capability 3 days and 6 months after
      transplantation, respectively. Bilirubinemia decreased in the transplanted
      animals during the whole experimental follow-up (6 months). Bilirubin conjugates
      were also present in the serum of the transplanted animals. Western blots and IF
      confirmed the presence and expression of UGT1A1 in the liver. This work is the
      first to demonstrate the advantage of using neonatal hepatocytes for the
      treatment of Crigler-Najjar in vivo.

PMID- 25821168
TI  - Low mean temperature rather than few sunshine hours are associated with an
      increased incidence of type 1 diabetes in children.
AB  - The well-known north-south gradient and the seasonal variability in incidence of
      childhood type 1 diabetes indicate climatological factors to have an effect on
      the onset. Both sunshine hours and a low temperature may be responsible. In the
      present study we tried to disentangle these effects that tend to be strongly
      connected. Exposure data were sunshine hours and mean temperature respectively
      obtained from eleven meteorological stations in Sweden which were linked to
      incidence data from geographically matched areas. Incident cases during 1983-2008
      were retrieved from the population based Swedish childhood diabetes register. We
      used generalized additive models to analyze the incidence as a function of mean
      temperature and hours of sun adjusted for the time trend, age and sex. In our
      data set the correlation between sun hours and temperature was weak (r = 0.36)
      implying that it was possible to estimate the effect of these variables in a
      regression model. We fit a general additive model with a smoothing term for the
      time trend. In the model with sun hours we found no significant effect on T1
      incidence (p = 0.17) whereas the model with temperature as predictor was
      significant (p = 0.05) when adjusting for the time trend, sex and age. Adding sun
      hours in the model where mean temperature was already present did not change the
      effect of temperature. There is an association with incidence of type 1 diabetes
      in children and low mean temperature independent of a possible effect of sunshine
      hours after adjustment for age, sex and time trend. The findings may mirror the
      cold effect on insulin resistance and accords with the hypothesis that overload
      of an already ongoing beta cell destruction may accelerate disease onset. 

PMID- 25821169
TI  - Exposure to 50 Hz electric fields reduces stress-induced glucocorticoid levels in
      BALB/c mice in a kV/m- and duration-dependent manner.
AB  - Electric fields (EFs) can reduce elevated levels of stress-related hormones in
      some organisms. In this study, endocrine effects of exposure to a 50 Hz EF were
      investigated in male BALB/c mice. Specifically, plasma glucocorticoid (GC) levels
      were examined because GC is known to mediate the stress response in mice,
      including changes induced by immobilization. Mice were exposed to 50 Hz EFs (at
      2.5-200 kV/m) for 60 min. They were immobilized for the latter half (30 min). At
      the end of exposure period, blood samples were collected and GC levels estimated
      by spectrofluorometry. GC levels were not influenced by EFs in absence of
      immobilization, but they were significantly higher in immobilized mice than in
      non-immobilized mice (P < 0.01). Elevated GC levels induced by immobilization
      were significantly reduced by exposure to an EF at 10 kV/m (P < 0.05), and the
      effect of EFs at 0-10 kV/m on GC levels increased in a kV/m-dependent manner (P <
      0.05). In contrast, following treatment with EFs at 50 and 200 kV/m, GC levels
      were higher than those observed at 10 kV/m. To assess the effect of EF treatment
      duration, mice were also exposed to 50 Hz EFs (10 kV/m) for 6, 20, or 60 min.
      Immobilization-induced increase in GC levels was significantly suppressed by EF
      exposure for 20 and 60 min. Therefore, our results demonstrate that extremely low
      frequency EFs alter stress response of mice in a kV/m- and duration-dependent
      manner.

PMID- 25821170
TI  - [Malignant Sertoli cell tumors of the testes].
AB  - Sertoli cell tumors are a rare malignancy which account for approximately 1.5 %
      of all testicular tumors. Although malignant Sertoli cell tumors are uncommon,
      they are associated with a poor prognosis. So far 36 cases of malignant courses
      of disease have been described. We present a patient with a lymphogenic
      metastasized Sertoli cell tumor, who 24 months after orchiectomy and extended
      retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy is relapse-free. 

PMID- 25821171
TI  - Development and Applications of the Lectin Microarray.
AB  - The lectin microarray is an emerging technology for glycomics. It has already
      found maximum use in diverse fields of glycobiology by providing simple
      procedures for differential glycan profiling in a rapid and high-throughput
      manner. Since its first appearance in the literature in 2005, many application
      methods have been developed essentially on the same platform, comprising a series
      of glycan-binding proteins immobilized on an appropriate substrate such as a
      glass slide. Because the lectin microarray strategy does not require prior
      liberation of glycans from the core protein in glycoprotein analysis, it should
      encourage researchers not familiar with glycotechnology to use glycan analysis in
      future work. This feasibility should provide a broader range of experimental
      scientists with good opportunities to investigate novel aspects of glycoscience.
      Applications of the technology include not only basic sciences but also the
      growing fields of bio-industry. This chapter describes first the essence of
      glycan profiling and the basic fabrication of the lectin microarray for this
      purpose. In the latter part the focus is on diverse applications to both
      structural and functional glycomics, with emphasis on the wide applicability now
      available with this new technology. Finally, the importance of developing
      advanced lectin engineering is discussed. 

PMID- 25821172
TI  - Halogen bonding in the design of organic phosphors.
AB  - Halogen bonding as a new strategy for introducing heavy atom perturbers in
      defined stoichiometry in the design of organic phosphors is reviewed. Considering
      ten novel cocrystals assembled by polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their
      heterocyclic analogues and haloperfluorobenzenes using the new strategy, apart
      from biphenyl cocrystals they all phosphoresce strongly, showing that the new
      methodology can induce phosphorescence by a heavy atom effect. More interesting,
      the phosphorescence properties, including excitation/emission wavelengths and
      decay dynamics, show dependence on the structure of the PAHs and interaction
      patterns, which is very important and valuable in modulation of the expected
      colors of luminescent materials. 

PMID- 25821173
TI  - THE EFFECTS OF XANTHOTOXIN ON THE BIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY OF Galleria mellonella
      L. (LEPIDOPTERA: PYRALIDAE).
AB  - The effects of a dietary plant allelochemical, xanthotoxin (XA), on survivorship,
      development, male and female adult longevity, fecundity, and hatchability of the
      greater wax moth Galleria mellonella L. were investigated. Oxidative stress
      indicators, the lipid peroxidation product, malondialdehyde (MDA), and protein
      oxidation products, protein carbonyl (PCO) contents, and activities of a
      detoxification enzyme glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity were determined in
      wax moth adults. The insect was reared from first-instar larvae on an artificial
      diets containing XA at 0.001, 0.005, or 0.1% to adult stage in laboratory
      conditions. Relative to the controls, the diets containing XA concentrations led
      to decreased survivorship in seventh instar, pupal, and adult stages. Compared to
      control diet (77.7%), the highest dietary XA concentration decreased survivorship
      to adulthood to 11.0%. The highest XA concentration (0.1%) reduced female
      longevity from 10.4 to 5.7 days and decreased egg numbers from 95.0 to 33.5 and
      hatchability from 82.7 to 35.6%. The lowest XA concentration (0.001%) led to
      about a sixfold increase in MDA content. XA at high concentrations (0.005 and
      0.1%) increased MDA (by threefold) and protein carbonyl (by twofold) contents
      decreased GST activity. The highest dietary XA concentration decreased GST
      activity from 0.28 +/- 0.025 to 0.16 +/- 0.005 MUmol/mg protein/min. We infer
      from these findings that XA-induced oxidative stress led to decreased biological
      fitness. 

PMID- 25821174
TI  - Prediction of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Doripenem in Pediatric
      Patients.
AB  - The aim of this paper was to predict the pharmacokinetics of doripenem in
      pediatrics from adult pharmacokinetic data and to investigate dosing regimens in
      pediatrics using Monte-Carlo pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD)
      simulations prior to the initiation of pediatric clinical trials. The
      pharmacokinetics in pediatrics was predicted by using a previously reported
      approach for beta-lactam antibiotics. Monte-Carlo simulation was employed to
      assess dosing regimens in pediatrics based on the predicted pharmacokinetic
      profiles and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) distributions of
      Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae, which frequently cause
      infectious pediatric diseases. The probabilities of attaining target time above
      MIC (40%T>MIC) were calculated for dosing regimens of 1-30 mg/kg with two or
      three times daily dosing (TID) based on simulations of 5000 pediatric patients
      and MICs. The results suggested 15 and 5 mg/kg TID would give approximately 90%
      or more probability of target attainment against Haemophilus influenzae and
      Streptococcus pneumoniae, respectively. The pediatric phase 3 study confirmed
      that pharmacokinetics in pediatrics could be well predicted by this method,
      indicating that the dosing regimen had been appropriately selected. The framework
      of dose selection for pediatric clinical trials based on predictions of
      pharmacokinetic profiles and PK/PD indices should be applicable to the
      development of other beta-lactam antibiotics for pediatric use.

PMID- 25821175
TI  - A Viscidane Diterpene and Polyacetylenes from Cultures of Hypsizygus marmoreus.
AB  - Investigation on the cultures of Hypsizygus marmoreus resulted in the isolation
      of a new viscidane diterpene, 8-oxoviscida-3,11(18)-diene-13,14,15,19-tetraol (1)
      and two new polyacetylenes, (E)-10-(1,1-dimethyl-2-propenyloxy)-2-decene-4,6,8
      triyn-1-ol (2) and 10-(1,1-dimethyl-2-propenyloxy)deca-4,6,8-triyn-1-ol (3),
      together with two known polyacetylenes, (E)-2-decen-4,6,8-triyn-1-ol (4) and
      4,6,8-decatriyn-1-ol (5). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of
      extensive spectroscopic studies. Compound 1 is the first finding of viscidane
      diterpene in mushrooms. Compounds 1, 3 and 5 were tested for cytotoxicity against
      human tumor cell lines HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7 and SW-480. None of the
      compounds showed cytotoxic activity (IC50 > 40 uM).

PMID- 25821176
TI  - MRI signatures of the frontotemporal lobar degeneration continuum.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify overlapping and unique grey (GM) and white matter (WM)
      signatures within the frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) continuum, and
      discriminate likely FTLD-TAU and FTLD-TDP patients using structural and diffusion
      tensor (DT) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS: T1-weighted and DT MRI
      were collected from 121 subjects: 35 motor neuron disease (MND), 14 behavioral
      variant of frontotemporal dementia, 12 semantic and 11 nonfluent primary
      progressive aphasia, 21 progressive supranuclear palsy syndrome patients, and 28
      healthy controls. Patterns of GM atrophy were established using voxel-based
      morphometry. Tract-based spatial statistics was used to perform a WM voxelwise
      analysis of mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy. RESULTS: In all clinical
      FTLD phenotypes, the pattern of WM damage was more distributed than that of GM
      atrophy. All patient groups, with the exception of MND cases with a pure motor
      syndrome, shared a focal GM atrophy centered around the dorsolateral and medial
      frontal cortex and a largely overlapping pattern of WM damage involving the genu
      and body of the corpus callosum and ventral frontotemporal and dorsal
      frontoparietal WM pathways. Surrounding this common area, phenotype (symptom)
      specific GM and WM regions of damage were found in each group. CONCLUSIONS: In
      the FTLD spectrum, WM disruption is more severe than GM damage. Frontal cortex
      and WM pathways represent the common target of neurodegeneration in these
      conditions. The topographic pattern of damage supports a "prion-like" protein
      propagation through WM connections as underlying mechanism of the stereotyped
      progression of FTLD.

PMID- 25821177
TI  - Impact of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy on Survival in Chronic Obstructive
      Pulmonary Disease.
AB  - PURPOSE: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a significant cardiac risk factor,
      associated with increased mortality. The impact of LVH on mortality in chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is unknown. We evaluated the impact of LVH
      on mortality in COPD patients by measurement of left ventricular dimensions by
      echocardiography. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study utilizing a NHS database of
      COPD patients (TARDIS), in Tayside, Scotland (2001-2010), linked with databases
      regarding echocardiograms, pharmacy prescription, and the General Register Office
      for Scotland death registry. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to
      determine hazard ratios for mortality and hospital admissions based upon left
      ventricular mass index (LVMI) and left ventricular internal diastolic diameter
      after correction for all available influential covariates. Increased LVIDd was
      defined as >5.3 cm (female) and >5.9 cm (male). LVH was defined as an LVMI of >95
      g/m(2) (female) and >115 g/m(2) (male). RESULTS: 617 patients were included for
      analysis. Mean (SD) age at diagnosis, 70 (9); mean FEV1 % (SD), 60.6 (19.3); mean
      resting SaO2 % (SD), 92.7 (10). Mean follow-up 4.5 years. Increased LVIDd was not
      associated with increased mortality, chi (2)= 0.767, p = 0.381. Increased LVMI
      was associated with a significant increased risk of mortality, chi (2) = 5.447, p
      = 0.02 with an adjusted HR (95 % CI) of 1.542 (1.068-2.228), p = 0.021.
      CONCLUSIONS: The presence of LVH, demonstrated by elevated left ventricular mass
      index is associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality in COPD
      patients. Therapeutic interventions are required to address this important
      modifiable risk factor in COPD patients.

PMID- 25821178
TI  - Circulating tumor cells in small cell lung cancer: ex vivo expansion.

PMID- 25821179
TI  - Flavobacterium vireti sp. nov., isolated from soil.
AB  - A novel Gram-negative, aerobic, yellow-pigmented, non-motile and rod-shaped
      bacterium, designated as THG-SM1(T), was isolated from field soil collected from
      Suwon, South Korea. The strain was found to grow optimally at 28  degrees C, at
      pH 7.0 and in the absence of NaCl. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities,
      strain THG-SM1(T) belongs to the genus Flavobacterium and is most closely related
      to Flavobacterium terrae KACC 11731(T), followed by Flavobacterium columnare KACC
      11683(T) and Flavobacterium enshiense KCTC 23775(T). The DNA G+C content of the
      novel isolate was determined to be 38.5 mol%. In DNA-DNA hybridization tests, the
      DNA relatedness between strain THG-SM1(T) and its closest phylogenetic neighbour
      F. terrae was below 50 %. Flexirubin-type pigments were found to be present. The
      major polar lipid and isoprenoid quinone were phosphatidylethanolamine and
      menaquinone 6 (MK-6), respectively. The main cellular fatty acids were identified
      as iso-C15:1G, iso-C15:0 3OH, iso-C16:0 and iso-C15:0. The DNA-DNA hybridization
      result and differentiating chemotaxonomic and phenotypic characteristics showed
      that strain THG-SM1(T) represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium,
      for which the name Flavobacterium vireti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is
      THG-SM1(T) (=KACC 18371(T) = CCTCC AB2014312(T)). 

PMID- 25821180
TI  - Implicit guidance to stable performance in a rhythmic perceptual-motor skill.
AB  - Feedback about error or reward is regarded essential for aiding learners to
      acquire a perceptual-motor skill. Yet, when a task has redundancy and the mapping
      between execution and performance outcome is unknown, simple error feedback does
      not suffice in guiding the learner toward the optimal solutions. The present
      study developed and tested a new means of implicitly guiding learners to acquire
      a perceptual-motor skill, rhythmically bouncing a ball on a racket. Due to its
      rhythmic nature, this task affords dynamically stable solutions that are robust
      to small errors and noise, a strategy that is independent from actively
      correcting error. Based on the task model implemented in a virtual environment, a
      time-shift manipulation was designed to shift the range of ball-racket contacts
      that achieved dynamically stable solutions. In two experiments, subjects
      practiced with this manipulation that guided them to impact the ball with more
      negative racket accelerations, the indicator for the strategy with dynamic
      stability. Subjects who practiced under normal conditions took longer time to
      acquire this strategy, although error measures were identical between the control
      and experimental groups. Unlike in many other haptic guidance or adaptation
      studies, the experimental groups not only learned, but also maintained the stable
      solution after the manipulation was removed. These results are a first
      demonstration that more subtle ways to guide the learner to better performance
      are needed especially in tasks with redundancy, where error feedback may not be
      sufficient.

PMID- 25821181
TI  - Intermuscular coherence contributions in synergistic muscles during pedaling.
AB  - The execution of rhythmical motor tasks requires the control of multiple skeletal
      muscles by the Central Nervous System (CNS), and the neural mechanisms according
      to which the CNS manages their coordination are not completely clear yet. In this
      study, we analyze the distribution of the neural drive shared across muscles that
      work synergistically during the execution of a free pedaling task.
      Electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded from eight lower limb muscles of
      eleven healthy untrained participants during an unconstrained pedaling exercise.
      The coordinated activity of the lower limb muscles was described within the
      framework of muscle synergies, extracted through the application of nonnegative
      matrix factorization. Intermuscular synchronization was assessed by calculating
      intermuscular coherence between pairs of EMG signals from co-active, both
      synergistic and non-synergistic muscles within their periods of co-activation.
      The spatiotemporal structure of muscle coordination during pedaling was well
      represented by four muscle synergies for all the subjects. Significant coherence
      values within the gamma band (30-60 Hz) were identified only for one out of the
      four extracted muscle synergies. This synergy is mainly composed of the activity
      of knee extensor muscles, and its function is related to the power production and
      crank propelling during the pedaling cycle. In addition, a significant coherence
      peak was found in the lower frequencies for the GAM/SOL muscle pair, possibly
      related to the ankle stabilizing function of these two muscles during the
      pedaling task. No synchronization was found either for the other extracted muscle
      synergies or for pairs of co-active but non-synergistic muscles. The obtained
      results seem to suggest the presence of intermuscular synchronization only when a
      functional force production is required, with the observed gamma band
      contribution possibly reflecting a cortical drive to synergistic muscles during
      pedaling.

PMID- 25821183
TI  - Schizophrenia or Possession? A Reply to Kemal Irmak and Nuray Karanci.
AB  - A recent paper in this journal argues that some cases of schizophrenia should be
      seen as cases of demon possession and treated by faith healers. A reply, also
      published in this journal, responds by raising concerns about the intellectual
      credibility and potentially harmful practical implications of demon possession
      beliefs. My paper contributes to the discussion, arguing that a critique of demon
      possession beliefs in the context of schizophrenia is needed, but suggesting an
      alternative basis for it. It also reflects on important differences between
      demonic and other forms of spirit possession and considers the implications of
      this for mental healthcare providers. 

PMID- 25821182
TI  - Combined targeting of high-mobility group box-1 and interleukin-8 to control
      micrometastasis potential in gastric cancer.
AB  - Micrometastasis is the major cause of treatment failure in gastric cancer (GC).
      Because epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is considered to develop prior
      to macroscopic metastasis, EMT-promoting factors may affect micrometastasis. This
      study aimed to evaluate the role of extracellular high-mobility group box-1
      (HMGB1) in EMT and the treatment effect of combined targeting of HMGB1 and
      interleukin-8 (IL-8) at early-stage GC progression through interrupting EMT
      promotion. Extracellular HMGB1 was induced by human recombinant HMGB1 and pCMV
      SPORT6-HMGB1 plasmid transfection. EMT activation was evaluated by
      immunoblotting, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. Increased
      migration/invasion activities were evaluated by in vitro transwell
      migration/invasion assay using all histological types of human GC cell lines
      (N87, MKN28 SNU-1 and KATOIII), N87-xenograft BALB/c nude mice and human paired
      serum-tissue GC samples. HMGB1-induced soluble factors were measured by
      chemiluminescent immunoassay. Inhibition effects of tumor growth and EMT
      activation by combined targeting of HMGB1 and IL-8 were evaluated in N87
      xenograft nude mice. Serum HMGB1 increases along the GC carcinogenesis and
      reaches maximum before macroscopic metastasis. Overexpressed extracellular HMGB1
      promoted EMT activation and increased cell motility/invasiveness through ligation
      to receptor for advanced glycation end products. HMGB1-induced IL-8
      overexpression contributed the HMGB1-induced EMT in GC in vitro and in vivo.
      Blocking HMGB1 caused significant reduction of tumor growth, and addition of
      human recombinant IL-8 rescues this antitumor effects. Our results imply the role
      of HMGB1 in EMT through IL-8 mediation, and a potential mechanism of GC
      micrometastasis. Our observations suggest combination strategy of HMGB1 and IL-8
      as a promising diagnostic and therapeutic target to control GC micrometastasis. 

PMID- 25821185
TI  - A Facile One-Pot Synthesis of a Two-Dimensional MoS2 /Bi2S3 Composite Theranostic
      Nanosystem for Multi-Modality Tumor Imaging and Therapy.
AB  - 2D PEG-ylated MoS2/Bi2 S3 composite nanosheets are successfully constructed by
      introducing bismuth ions to react with the two extra S atoms in a (NH4)2 MoS4
      molecule precursor for solvothermal synthesis of MoS2. The MBP nanosheets can
      serve as a promising platform for computed tomography and photoacoustic-imaging
      guided tumor diagnosis, as well as combined tumor photothermal therapy and
      sensitized radiotherapy.

PMID- 25821186
TI  - Induction of centrosome amplification by formaldehyde, but not hydroquinone, in
      human lymphoblastoid TK6 cells.
AB  - Benzene and formaldehyde (FA) are important industrial chemicals and
      environmental pollutants that cause leukemia by inducing DNA damage and
      chromosome aberrations in hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), the target cells for
      leukemia. Our previous studies showed that workers exposed to benzene and FA
      exhibit increased levels of aneuploidy in their blood cells. As centrosome
      amplification is a common phenomenon in human cancers, including leukemia, and is
      associated with aneuploidy in carcinogenesis, we hypothesized that benzene and FA
      would induce centrosome amplification in vitro. We treated human lymphoblastoid
      TK6 cells with a range of concentrations of hydroquinone (HQ, a benzene
      metabolite) or FA for 24 h, allowed the cells to recover in fresh medium for 24
      h, and examined centrosome amplification; chromosomal gain, loss, and breakage;
      and cytotoxicity. We included melphalan and etoposide, chemotherapeutic drugs
      that cause therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia and that have been shown to
      induce centrosome amplification as well as chromosomal aneuploidy and breakage,
      as positive controls. Melphalan and etoposide induced centrosome amplification
      and chromosome gain and breakage in a dose-dependent manner, at cytotoxic
      concentrations. HQ, though cytotoxic, did not induce centrosome amplification or
      any chromosomal aberration. FA-induced centrosome amplification and cytotoxicity,
      but did not induce chromosomal aberrations. Our data suggest, for the first time,
      that centrosome amplification is a potential mechanism underlying FA-induced
      leukemogenesis, but not benzene-induced leukemogenesis, as mediated through HQ.
      Future studies are needed to delineate the mechanisms of centrosome amplification
      and its association with DNA damage, chromosomal aneuploidy and carcinogenesis,
      following exposure to FA.

PMID- 25821184
TI  - Patrilineal populations show more male transmission of reproductive success than
      cognatic populations in Central Asia, which reduces their genetic diversity.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The extent to which social organization of human societies impacts the
      patterns of genetic diversity remains an open question. Here, we investigate the
      transmission of reproductive success in patrilineal and cognatic populations from
      Central Asia using a coalescent approach. METHODS: We performed a study on the
      mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome polymorphism of patrilineal and
      cognatic populations from Central Asia. We reconstructed the gene genealogies in
      each population for both kind of markers and inferred the imbalance level of
      these genealogies, a parameter directly related to the level of transmission of
      reproductive success. RESULTS: This imbalance level appeared much stronger for
      the Y chromosome in patrilineal populations than in cognatic populations, while
      no difference was found for mtDNA. Furthermore, we showed that this imbalance
      level correlates negatively with Y-chromosomal, mtDNA, and autosomal genetic
      diversity. CONCLUSIONS: This shows that patrilineality might be one of the
      factors explaining the male transmission of reproductive success, which, in turn,
      lead to a reduction of genetic diversity. Thus, notwithstanding the fact that our
      population genetic approach clearly shows that there is a strong male-biased
      transmission of reproductive success in patrilineal societies, it also highlights
      the fact that a social process such as cultural transmission of reproductive
      success could play an important role in shaping human genetic diversity, although
      we cannot formally exclude that this transmission has also a genetic component.

PMID- 25821187
TI  - Palladium-catalyzed oxidative synthesis of highly functionalized ortholactones.
AB  - A palladium-catalyzed oxidative reaction is reported which converts dihydropyrans
      to their corresponding ortholactone. The products are formed in good to excellent
      yields with a very high level of chemoselectivity and functional group tolerance.
      Mechanistic studies confirm that the reaction proceeds by a Wacker-type
      mechanism. 

PMID- 25821188
TI  - Cutaneous manifestations of human immunodeficiency virus: a clinical update.
AB  - Dermatologic diseases are common in the HIV-infected population. Many of the
      cutaneous diseases are not unique to this group, but the presentation can be more
      severe. Although the introduction of antiretroviral therapy has been followed by
      a decline in many of the skin diseases associated with HIV, drug reactions and
      other non-infectious skin conditions have increased. This article reviews the
      current spectrum of HIV-associated skin conditions, focusing on common
      complaints, infections, drug-associated toxicity and malignancies. 

PMID- 25821189
TI  - Update on prevention and treatment of intestinal helminth infections.
AB  - Intestinal helminth infections are some of world's most common tropical diseases
      and cause significant impairments in pediatric growth and cognitive impairment as
      well as maternal health, particularly in areas lacking adequate access to safe
      water or sanitation. Routine mass drug administration (MDA) of anthelminthic
      medications to children living in endemic areas and interventions to improve
      water hygiene and sanitation form the basis of current control efforts. We review
      recent evidence on the effectiveness of these approaches and outline the
      limitations of MDA, including poor cure rates against hookworm and Trichuris
      trichiura, rapid post-MDA reinfection, and inadequate coverage of at-risk
      populations. Ultimately, alternative tools and strategies, including new drugs,
      drug combinations, and vaccines, will be needed to control or ultimately
      eliminate these infections. 

PMID- 25821190
TI  - Skin infections in returned travelers: an update.
AB  - Dermatologic manifestations of travel-related illness are particularly vexing due
      to the broad differential diagnosis and clinicians' unfamiliarity with uncommonly
      seen diseases. This paper aims to educate and update the reader on selected
      infectious diseases in the returned traveler whose disease manifestations are
      primarily dermatologic. First, the evolving epidemiology of these infections is
      examined; understanding the geographic distribution of infectious etiologies
      helps refine and narrow the differential diagnosis. This is followed by a
      discussion of six important clinical syndromes including cutaneous larva migrans
      (CLM), cutaneous leishmaniasis, tungiasis, myiasis, antibiotic-resistant skin and
      soft tissue infection, and selected infections associated with fever and rash
      (e.g., measles, chikungunya virus infection, dengue fever, rickettsial spotted
      fevers). Familiarity with these syndromes and a situational awareness of their
      epidemiology will facilitate a prompt, accurate diagnosis and lead to appropriate
      treatment and prevention of further disease spread. 

PMID- 25821191
TI  - Pressure ulcers in the ICU patient: an update on prevention and treatment.
AB  - The occurrence of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPU) is a recognized metric
      of quality of care by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and
      the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Pressure ulcer (PU) prevention
      and treatment have become a priority for many facilities as the reimbursement for
      hospital-acquired PUs has been significantly restricted by regulations
      implemented by CMS in 2008. Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are at higher risk
      for PU development due to comorbidities and life-saving treatment modalities in
      this environment. PU occurrence in ICUs ranges from 8.8 to 23 %. The literature
      was reviewed for recent advances in PU prevention and treatment in ICU patients.
      Advancements include risk assessment, education, turning schedules, providing
      staff with feedback from audits, lift teams, review of linen, consensus statement
      regarding unavoidable PU, treatment modalities, and an assessment of the
      knowledge providers have of PU prevention and treatment. 

PMID- 25821192
TI  - Plasmodium knowlesi malaria: Overview Focussing on Travel-Associated Infections.
AB  - In 2004, Plasmodium knowlesi was first recognised as a relevant cause of human
      malaria in Southeast Asia. Since then, P. knowlesi has been described from all
      Southeast Asian countries except Laos and has become well-established as the
      fifth human malaria parasite and the first significant zoonotic Plasmodium
      species. As countries endemic for P. knowlesi malaria are among the most popular
      and most highly visited international destinations, travel medicine experts
      should be aware about disease and risks including prophylactic and therapeutic
      measures. Between 2005 and 2012, 15 cases of P. knowlesi malaria have been
      recognised and published in international travellers. Male gender and travel to
      rural/forested areas with contact to wild monkeys are risk factors for P.
      knowlesi infection. The present review gives an overview on current literature on
      the P. knowlesi parasite and summarises recent findings related to epidemiology,
      diagnostics, treatment and prophylaxis focussing on travellers. 

PMID- 25821193
TI  - Good tolerance and long-term complete remission after definitive intensity
      modulated radiotherapy for locally advanced head and neck cancer in a patient
      with human immunodeficiency virus infection: A case report and literature review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The main concerns with radiation therapy for head and neck cancer in
      human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients include limited tumor
      response and profound mucosal or skin toxicities under severe immunocompromised
      status. METHODS: In this study, we describe the clinicopathological features,
      chronological changes in HIV viral loads and CD4 counts, and treatment outcomes
      of definitive radiotherapy for locally advanced head and neck cancer in an HIV
      infected patient. RESULTS: Despite low CD4 counts (80 cells/uL), a combination of
      highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and definitive concurrent
      chemoradiotherapy (70 Gy of simultaneously integrated boost intensity-modulated
      radiotherapy (IMRT), fluorouracil, and leucovorin) was well-tolerated. Grade 3
      mucositis and dermatitis were resolved 2 weeks after treatment completion. The
      patient was alive and remained disease-free 31 months after treatment.
      CONCLUSION: For patients with HIV diagnosed with locally advanced head and neck
      cancer, good tolerance and outcome can be achieved with definitive radiotherapy
      while on HAART.

PMID- 25821194
TI  - History and perspectives of A2A adenosine receptor antagonists as potential
      therapeutic agents.
AB  - Growing evidence emphasizes that the purine nucleoside adenosine plays an active
      role as a local regulator in different pathologies. Adenosine is a ubiquitous
      nucleoside involved in various physiological and pathological functions by
      stimulating A1 , A2A , A2B , and A3 adenosine receptors (ARs). At the present
      time, the role of A2A ARs is well known in physiological conditions and in a
      variety of pathologies, including inflammatory tissue damage and
      neurodegenerative disorders. In particular, the use of selective A2A antagonists
      has been reported to be potentially useful in the treatment of Parkinson's
      disease (PD). In this review, A2A AR signal transduction pathways, together with
      an analysis of the structure-activity relationships of A2A antagonists, and their
      corresponding pharmacological roles and therapeutic potential have been
      presented. The initial results from an emerging polypharmacological approach are
      also analyzed. This approach is based on the optimization of the affinity and/or
      functional activity of the examined compounds toward multiple targets, such as A1
      /A2A ARs and monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B), both closely implicated in the
      pathogenesis of PD.

PMID- 25821195
TI  - Quantitative trait locus analysis and fine mapping of the qPL6 locus for panicle
      length in rice.
AB  - KEY MESSAGE: Two QTLs were identified to control panicle length in rice backcross
      lines, and one QTL qPL6 was finely mapped with potential in high yield breeding.
      Panicle length (PL) is the key determinant of panicle architecture in rice, and
      strongly affects yield components, such as grain number per panicle. However,
      this trait has not been well studied genetically nor its contribution to yield
      improvement. In this study, we performed quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis
      for PL in four backcross populations derived from the cross of Nipponbare
      (japonica) and WS3 (indica), a new plant type (NPT) variety. Two QTLs were
      identified on chromosome 6 and 8, designated as qPL6 and qPL8, respectively. Near
      isogenic lines (NILs) were developed to evaluate their contribution to important
      agronomic traits. We found that qPL6 and qPL8 had additive effects on PL trait.
      For the qPL6 locus, the WS3 allele also increased panicle primary and secondary
      branches and grain number per panicle. Moreover, this allele conferred wide and
      strong culms, a character of lodging resistance. By analyzing key recombinants in
      two steps, the qPL6 locus was finely mapped to a 25-kb interval, and 3 candidate
      genes were identified. According to the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)
      within candidate genes, 5 dCaps markers were designed and used to get haplotypes
      of 96 modern Chinese varieties, which proved that qPL6 locus is differentiated
      between indica and temperate japonica varieties. Taken together, the superior
      qPL6 allele can be applied in rice breeding programs for large sink size,
      particularly for japonica varieties that originally lack the allele.

PMID- 25821197
TI  - Low-density lipoprotein apheresis for corticosteroid-resistant skin lesions
      caused by cholesterol crystal embolism: a case report and review of the
      literature.
AB  - Cholesterol crystal embolism (CCE) is an arterio-arterial embolism originating
      from the breakdown of atherosclerotic plaques in the aortic wall. The embolism
      affects the skin and kidney particularly, as well as frequently affects the
      gastrointestinal tract and other organs. Although there are no clearly effective
      direct therapies for CCE, corticosteroid therapy and combination therapy with low
      density lipoprotein apheresis (LDL-A) followed by corticosteroids were recently
      reported to be effective for renal manifestations in some cases. However, few
      cases offer suggestions for the treatment of skin lesions caused by CCE. We
      report here a case of a 58-year-old man diagnosed with CCE with skin
      manifestations and kidney dysfunction who achieved complete remission after LDL
      A. LDL-A may be a useful treatment for CCE, particularly in cases with skin
      manifestations. 

PMID- 25821196
TI  - Sequencing consolidates molecular markers with plant breeding practice.
AB  - KEY MESSAGE: Plenty of molecular markers have been developed by contemporary
      sequencing technologies, whereas few of them are successfully applied in
      breeding, thus we present a review on how sequencing can facilitate marker
      assisted selection in plant breeding. The growing global population and shrinking
      arable land area require efficient plant breeding. Novel strategies assisted by
      certain markers have proven effective for genetic gains. Fortunately, cutting
      edge sequencing technologies bring us a deluge of genomes and genetic variations,
      enlightening the potential of marker development. However, a large gap still
      exists between the potential of molecular markers and actual plant breeding
      practices. In this review, we discuss marker-assisted breeding from a historical
      perspective, describe the road from crop sequencing to breeding, and highlight
      how sequencing facilitates the application of markers in breeding practice.

PMID- 25821198
TI  - Impact of Luminal Fluid Volume on the Drug Absorption After Oral Administration:
      Analysis Based on In Vivo Drug Concentration-Time Profile in the Gastrointestinal
      Tract.
AB  - The objective of this study is to clarify the influence of fluid volume in the
      gastrointestinal (GI) tract on the oral drug absorption. In vivo rat luminal
      concentrations of FITC-dextran (FD-4), a nonabsorbable marker, and drugs
      (metoprolol and atenolol) after oral coadministration as solutions with different
      osmolarity were determined by direct sampling of residual water in each segment
      of the GI tract. The luminal FD-4 concentration after oral administration as
      hyposmotic solution was significantly higher than that after administration as
      isosmotic or hyperosmotic solution. As the change in FD-4 concentration reflects
      the change in the volume of luminal fluid, it indicated that the luminal volume
      was greatly influenced by osmolality of solution ingested orally. Then, fraction
      of drug absorbed (Fa) in these segments was calculated by comparing the area
      under the luminal concentration-time curve of FD-4 with those of drugs. Fa values
      of two model drugs in each GI segment decreased with increase in luminal fluid
      volume, and the impact of the fluid volume was marked for Fa of atenolol (a low
      permeable drug) than for that of metoprolol (a high permeable drug). These
      findings should be beneficial to assure the effectiveness and safety of oral drug
      therapy.

PMID- 25821199
TI  - Biflavone Ginkgetin, a Novel Wnt Inhibitor, Suppresses the Growth of
      Medulloblastoma.
AB  - Medulloblastoma (MB) is a form of malignant brain tumor that predominantly arises
      in infants and children, of which approximately 25 % is due to upregulation of
      canonical Wnt pathway with mainly mutations in CTNNB1. Therefore, Wnt inhibitors
      could offer rational therapeutic strategies and chemoprevention for this
      malignant cancer. In our present study, we undertook a screening for antagonists
      of Wnt signaling from 600 natural compounds, and identified Ginkgetin, a
      biflavone isolated from Cephalotaxus fortunei var. alpina. Ginkgetin inhibited
      Wnt pathway with an IC50 value around 5.92 MUM and structure-activity
      relationship analysis suggested the methoxy group in Ginkgetin as a functional
      group. Biflavone Ginkgetin showed obvious cytotoxicity in Daoy and D283 MB cells.
      Cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry showed that Ginkgetin induced efficiently
      G2/M phase arrest in Daoy cells. Further mechanism studies showed that Ginkgetin
      reduced the expression of Wnt target genes, including Axin2, cyclinD1 and
      survivin in MB cells. The phosphorylation level of beta-catenin also decreased in
      a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Collectively, our data suggest that
      Ginkgetin is a novel inhibitor of Wnt signaling, and as such warrants further
      exploration as a promising anti-medulloblastoma candidate.

PMID- 25821201
TI  - Population genetic data for 17 autosomal STR markers in the Hani population from
      China.
AB  - The Hani is a local minority in the southwestern part of China. To establish a
      database of ethnic short tandem repeats (STRs), 17 autosomal STRs in the Hani
      ethnic group were investigated. A total of 706 unrelated individuals from three
      Hani settlements were genotyped using the PowerPlex 18D System. Allele frequency
      data and forensic parameters were evaluated. The genetic relationship among the
      Hani and 11 related populations was assessed.

PMID- 25821200
TI  - Concise Review: NANOG in Cancer Stem Cells and Tumor Development: An Update and
      Outstanding Questions.
AB  - The homeobox domain transcription factor NANOG, a key regulator of embryonic
      development and cellular reprogramming, has been reported to be broadly expressed
      in human cancers. Functional studies have provided strong evidence that NANOG
      possesses protumorigenic attributes. In addition to promoting self-renewal and
      long-term proliferative potential of stem-like cancer cells, NANOG-mediated
      oncogenic reprogramming may underlie clinical manifestations of malignant
      disease. In this review, we examine the molecular origin, expression, biological
      activities, and mechanisms of action of NANOG in various malignancies. We also
      consider clinical implications such as correlations between NANOG expression and
      cancer prognosis and/or response to therapy. We surmise that NANOG potentiates
      the molecular circuitry of tumorigenesis, and thus may represent a novel
      therapeutic target or biomarker for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment
      outcome of cancer. Finally, we present critical pending questions relating NANOG
      to cancer stem cells and tumor development.

PMID- 25821202
TI  - Deletion and duplication at DYS448 and DYS626 loci: unexpected patterns within
      the AZFc region of the Y-chromosome.
AB  - Increasing the knowledge of multiple and microstructural events within the Y
      chromosome may prove useful to better characterize abnormal short tandem repeats
      patterns complicating DNA profile interpretation. On the long arm of the human Y
      chromosome, such structural rearrangements were observed in azoospermia factor
      regions (AZFa, AZFb, AZFc) that play an important role in male fertility and also
      host Y-STRs commonly used in forensic genetics. Here, we describe two cases,
      involving two males formerly included in an Italian population study, where
      DYS448 and DYS626 loci, located within the AZFc region, simultaneously displayed
      a double deletion in one case and a double duplication in the other. With the aim
      of better defining the size of both events, low and high-resolution mapping by
      means of 16 sequence-tagged sites was performed, and unexpected discontinued
      patterns within the palindromic segments b1/b3 of the AZFc were identified.
      Extending the analysis to their respective male relatives revealed unaltered
      transmission of the patterns along the two pedigrees. Reviewing literature data
      describing DYS448-DYS626 deletion and duplication suggested no close correlation
      between the occurrence of multiple/microstructural events and geographical
      origin. 

PMID- 25821203
TI  - Allele frequency distribution of 10 MiniSTRs in the Pashtun population of
      Pakistan.
AB  - Two hundred individual samples of Pashtun population from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
      province of Pakistan were randomly evaluated through 10 MiniSTR loci (CSF1PO,
      D7S820, TPOX, D18S51, D2S1338, D13S317, FGA, D5S818, D21S11, and D16S539). The
      PCR product size was reduced in the range of 65 to 280 bp. A total of 112 alleles
      were observed containing allelic frequency ranging from 0.0025 to 0.4325.
      Statistical values for forensic and parentage analysis were calculated including
      combined power of discrimination (PD), combined power of exclusion (PE), and
      cumulative probability of matching (PM) and equaled to 0.99999999999768,
      0.99984944, and 2.33 * 10(-12), respectively. These MiniSTRs show a high degree
      of polymorphism information content and discriminatory power which would be
      helpful to resolve forensic cases and establish DNA database for major population
      groups of Pakistan. In contrast to different populations, significant differences
      were also observed on these loci.

PMID- 25821204
TI  - Darunavir-based dual therapy of treatment-experienced HIV-infected patients:
      analysis from a national multicenter database.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We assessed the virological response of dual therapy with DRV/r, plus
      raltegravir, maraviroc or etravirine, in virological failure patients and in
      virologically suppressed patients collected in the Italian Antiretroviral
      Resistance Database (ARCA). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The primary endpoint was the
      percentage of patients remaining free of virological failure (confirmed >50
      copies/mL or any change in the regimen). Subjects had a resistance test and at
      least one follow-up visit. Observation was censored at last visit under dual
      therapy and survival analysis and proportional hazard models were used. RESULTS:
      Sixty-seven percent of the 221 patients started DRV/r with RAL, 20.4 % with ETV,
      and 12.2 % with MAR; 31.2 % virological failures were observed. At survival
      analysis, the overall proportion of failure was 29.2 % at 1 year and 33.8 % at 2
      years. The proportion of failure was lower in patients starting with undetectable
      vs. detectable viral load (13.3 and 25.2 % vs. 37.4 and 38.8 % at 1 and 2 years,
      respectively, p = 0.001 for both analyses) and in patients treated with DRV 600
      BID vs. 800 QD (HR: 0.56, 95 % CI: 0.31-0.99, p < 0.05). By regimen, the adjusted
      proportional model showed no significant difference among the three regimens. A
      significant lower risk of failure was associated with higher GSS (HIV-DB HR:
      0.53, 95 % CI: 0.32-0.88, p = 0.014; Rega 0.60, 0.40-0.88, p < 0.01; ANRS 0.55,
      0.34-0.90, p = 0.017), while a higher risk of failure with detectable HIV-RNA
      (3.02, 1.70-5.72, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Among experienced patients, the best
      candidates for dual-therapy regimens including DRV/r are those with undetectable
      viral load and higher GSS.

PMID- 25821205
TI  - Energetics and structural characterization of isomers using ion mobility and gas
      phase H/D exchange: Learning from lasso peptides.
AB  - State-of-the-art characterization of proteins using MS namely relies on
      fragmentation methods that allow exploring featured dissociative reaction
      pathways. These pathways are often initiated by a series of potentially
      informative mass-constant conformational changes that are nonetheless frequently
      overlooked by lack of adequate investigation techniques. In the present study, we
      propose a methodology to readily address both structural and energetic aspects of
      stereoisomerization reactions using ion mobility coupled with MS. To this end, a
      commercial spectrometer was used as a reactor comprising an energy resolved
      collisional activation step intended at promoting controlled conformational
      changes and a structural assignment step dedicated to the identification of the
      generated isomers. This identification relies on ion mobility and other on-line
      coupled techniques, namely an originally designed gas-phase H/D exchange
      experiment. We here apply this methodology to characterize the isomerization
      kinetics of capistruin, a 19-residue long lasso-folded peptide. We expect this
      approach to bring insights into the physical origin of global dissociation
      thresholds monitored in MS/MS experiments and to set a promising basis for
      quantitative investigations of the stability of different molecular folds. 

PMID- 25821206
TI  - Bioactive Microsphere-Based Scaffolds Containing Decellularized Cartilage.
AB  - The aim of this study was to fabricate mechanically functional microsphere-based
      scaffolds containing decellularized cartilage (DCC), with the hypothesis that
      this approach would induce chondrogenesis of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal
      stem cells (rBMSCs) in vitro. The DCC was derived from porcine articular
      cartilage and decellularized using a combination of physical and chemical
      methods. Four types of scaffolds were fabricated: poly(d,l-lactic-co-glycolic
      acid) (PLGA) only (negative control), TGF-beta-encapsulated (positive control),
      PLGA surface coated with DCC, and DCC-encapsulated. These scaffolds were seeded
      with rBMSCs and cultured up to 6 weeks. The compressive modulus of the DCC-coated
      scaffolds prior to cell seeding was significantly lower than all other scaffold
      types. Gene expression was comparable between DCC-encapsulated and TGF-beta
      encapsulated groups. Notably, DCC-encapsulated scaffolds contained 70% higher
      glycosaminoglyan (GAG) content and 85% more hydroxyproline compared to the TGF
      beta group at week 3 (with baseline levels subtracted out from acellular DCC
      scaffolds). Certainly, bioactivity was demonstrated in eliciting a biosynthetic
      response from the cells with DCC, although true demonstration of chondrogenesis
      remained elusive under the prescribed conditions. Encapsulation of DCC appeared
      to lead to improved cell performance relative to coating with DCC, although this
      finding may be a dose-dependent observation. Overall, DCC introduced via
      microsphere-based scaffolds appears to be promising as a bioactive approach to
      cartilage regeneration, although additional studies will be required to
      conclusively demonstrate chondroinductivity. 

PMID- 25821207
TI  - Evaluation of new transparent tungsten containing nanocomposites for radiation
      protection screens.
AB  - Evaluation of the new lead-free optically transparent nanocomposites is provided
      in this paper along with the introduction to their fabrication technologies and
      the results of investigation of their X-ray attenuating and optical properties
      before and after their exposure to high doses. These materials might be
      considered for the construction of X-ray protective screens that are used to
      protect medical personnel against scattered X rays during close-to patient
      operations. Rough selection of possible composites was performed according to X
      ray attenuation modelling results. Experimental nanocomposites were prepared
      dissolving tungstates in different solvents or embedding tungsten structures into
      polymer matrix. It was found that the lead equivalent thickness of fabricated
      experimental samples varied from 0.15 to 0.75 mmPb and was higher for samples,
      containing polyanions of phosphotungstic acid. Transparency of the experimental
      samples to visible light varied from 20 to 60 % and was slightly increasing with
      irradiation dose due to radiation-induced processes in polymers. 

PMID- 25821208
TI  - Radiation exposure during X-ray examinations in a large paediatric hospital in
      Serbia.
AB  - Objective of this work is to evaluate radiation exposure from X-ray examinations
      in a large paediatric hospital in Serbia, including radiographic, fluoroscopic
      and computed tomography (CT) examinations in four age groups: 0-1, 1-5, 5-10 and
      10-15 y. Incident air kerma was assessed for the following radiographies: chest
      (AP, PA, LAT), spine (AP, LAT), pelvis (AP), urinary tract (AP, PA) and skull
      (AP, PA, LAT). Kerma-area product was measured for the fluoroscopy examinations:
      barium swallow, barium meal, barium enema and micturating cystography. Dose in CT
      was assessed in terms of volume CT dose index and dose-length product for
      examinations of the head, chest and abdomen. The collected data were compared
      with other similar studies, which indicated a need to expand such survey to other
      paediatric hospitals in Serbia. 

PMID- 25821209
TI  - Basic radiation protection training for nurses and paramedical personnel: Belgian
      experience and future perspectives.
AB  - When using ionising radiation for medical diagnosis or treatment of patients,
      understanding of relevant radiation protection principles and issues is
      indispensable. In Belgium, nurses and paramedical staff are required to acquire
      knowledge for protecting the patient against the detrimental effects of ionising
      radiation by means of a vocational training course. The experience with and
      challenges for this training course are presented here from a lecturer's point of
      view, together with a proposal for a future approach that harmonises the training
      content, its level and quality, according to European recommended standards. 

PMID- 25821210
TI  - Patient dosimetry in nuclear medicine.
AB  - In diagnostic nuclear medicine, the biokinetics of the radiopharmaceutical
      (actually of the radionuclide) is determined for a number of representative
      patients. At therapy, it is essential to determine the patient's individual
      biokinetics of the radiopharmaceutical in order to calculate the absorbed doses
      to critical normal organs/tissues and to the target volume(s) with high accuracy.
      For the diagnostic situations, there is still a lack of quantitative
      determinations of the organ/tissue contents of radiopharmaceuticals and their
      variation with time. Planar gamma camera imaging using the conjugate view
      technique combined with a limited number of SPECT/CT images is the main method
      for such studies. In a similar way, PET/CT is used for 3D image-based internal
      dosimetry for PET substances. The transition from stylised reference phantoms to
      voxel phantoms will lead to improved dose estimates for diagnostic procedures.
      Examples of dose coefficients and effective doses for diagnostic substances are
      given. For the therapeutic situation, a pre-therapeutic low activity
      administration is used for quantitative measurements of organ/tissue distribution
      data by a gamma camera or a SPECT- or PET-unit. Together with CT and/or MR images
      this will be the base for individual dose calculations using Monte Carlo
      technique. Treatments based on administered activity should only be used if
      biological variations between patients are small or if a pre-therapeutic activity
      administration is impossible. 

PMID- 25821211
TI  - Experience in retake analysis for digital mammography at a university hospital.
AB  - Data from one digital mammograph (flat detector active area of 19.2 * 23 cm(2))
      were collected over a 1-year period using locally developed software in order to
      evaluate retakes, their rates, their causes and the possible measures to reduce
      their occurrence. Among them, 7.1 % of the images were marked as repetitions, and
      in 16 % of the studies, at least one image was repeated. When evaluating causes
      of retakes, the primary cause was incorrect positioning (49 %), closely followed
      by additional retakes in cases of large breasts (44 %). When dealing with large
      breasts and using a small flat panel, additional images were necessary to fully
      visualise the breast, and as a consequence, some breast regions received repeated
      radiation exposure. Moreover, a small detector increases retakes in breasts
      slightly wrongly positioned. To try and reduce the retake rate, it is important
      to plan training sessions based on images selected from the retake analysis. 

PMID- 25821212
TI  - Comparison of image quality among three X-ray systems for chest radiography:
      first step in optimisation.
AB  - The aim of this study was to compare the performance of three digital X-ray
      systems [one flat-panel (DR) and two computed radiography (CR)] for chest
      radiography in terms of the entrance surface air kerma (ESAK) delivered to a
      polymethyl methacrylate phantom of 20 cm (equivalent to an adult patient) and
      image quality through of numerical evaluations using a test object (TO). The tube
      charge applied was ranged from 0.6 to 32 mAs, to a fixed tension of 125 kVp. The
      DR system presented the highest mean values of ESAK (615.9 uGy) along with the
      highest signal-to-noise ratio values, whereas CR systems showed a better high
      contrast spatial resolution. Differences were statistically significant in both
      cases regarding the tube charge used. Thus, this parameter should be mainly
      considered to optimise the radiological protection through exposure settings
      selected. This survey represents the first effort to achieve optimisation in
      digital radiology for Chile. 

PMID- 25821213
TI  - Indication-based diagnostic reference levels for adult CT-examinations in
      Finland.
AB  - A diagnostic reference level (DRL) is a predefined dose level, which should not
      be exceeded in an examination that is conducted appropriately on an average-sized
      patient. Since dose from only one examination should not be compared with a DRL,
      the average dose from a good sample of at least 10 average-sized patients should
      be compared. The previous DRLs for computed tomography (CT)-examinations for
      adults in Finland were issued in 2007 and only covered examinations conducted on
      a particular body region. Because the image quality requirements, and thus the
      dose needed, vary between different indications, there has been a call for
      indication-based DRLs for CT. The new indication-based DRLs for CT came into
      effect on June 2013. They are based on a dose survey performed in 2012. Doses
      were collected from examinations conducted on a particular body region, based on
      some indication and from some special examination types. The DRLs were set
      according to the third quartile approach. On average, the DRLs for a particular
      body region dropped ~ 20 % from the previous DRLs.

PMID- 25821214
TI  - Evaluation of automated CDMAM readings for non-standard CDMAM imaging conditions:
      grid-less acquisitions and scatter correction.
AB  - Recently, Siemens introduced a software-based scatter correction in combination
      with grid-less digital mammography for dose-reduced breast imaging. In this
      study, the potential dose reduction when compared with using a grid was
      calculated. Image quality was evaluated using the CDMAM phantom. Nine hundred and
      sixty CDMAM measurements were performed with and without grid. The images were
      analysed with the CDCOM software. The correlation of CDCOM readings of gold
      thickness thresholds with human readings for grid-less imaging was found to be
      linear, with slope 2.157 and off-set 0.024 (R(2) = 1), validating the further use
      of CDCOM. Dose reduction for 21, 32, 45, 60, 75 and 90 mm equivalent breast
      thickness was found to be 28, 17, 21, 18, 8 and 3 %. Scatter correction did not
      influence CDCOM readings, but image homogeneity was improved. Grid-less
      acquisitions, with or without scatter correction, can be used for reducing the
      dose while maintaining image quality as evaluated from the CDMAM phantom. 

PMID- 25821215
TI  - Evaluation of an automated FDG dose infuser to PET-CT patients.
AB  - An experience with an automated infuser device at a university hospital is
      presented in this paper. Occupational doses at operators' fingertips were
      measured using optically stimulated luminescence dosemeters for two different
      scenarios: (i) using a semi-automatic system to prepare the fluorodesoxiglucose
      (FDG) injections that were delivered to the patient manually and (ii) using an
      automated infusion device that prepares and delivers the FDG dose. The accuracy
      of the activity prepared by the automatic system was also verified. Reductions in
      fingertip doses of 60 % using the fully automatic system have been measured. The
      difference between the programmed and the delivered activity was 2 %. The use of
      the automatic infuser in the authors' institution has led to a substantial
      reduction in hand radiation doses. But contamination risks, even though reduced,
      still exist; therefore, radioisotope manipulation should follow strict radiation
      protection rules to avoid incidents. Improved accuracy in dose delivery reduces
      chances of dose misadministration. 

PMID- 25821216
TI  - Cutting edge: Antimalarial drugs inhibit IFN-beta production through blockade of
      cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-DNA interaction.
AB  - Type I IFN is strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of systemic autoimmune
      diseases, such as lupus, and rare monogenic IFNopathies, including Aicardi
      Goutieres syndrome. Recently, a new DNA-activated pathway involving the enzyme
      cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) was described and potentially linked to Aicardi
      Goutieres syndrome. To identify drugs that could potentially inhibit cGAS
      activity, we performed in silico screening of drug libraries. By computational
      analysis, we identified several antimalarial drugs (AMDs) that were predicted to
      interact with the cGAS/dsDNA complex. Our studies validated that several AMDs
      were effective inhibitors of IFN-beta production and that they functioned by
      inhibiting dsDNA stimulation of cGAS. Because AMDs have been widely used in human
      diseases and have an excellent safety profile, our findings suggest new
      therapeutic strategies for the treatment of severe debilitating diseases
      associated with type I IFNs due to cGAS activation. 

PMID- 25821217
TI  - A novel IL-25 signaling pathway through STAT5.
AB  - IL-25 is a member of the IL-17 family of cytokines that promotes Th2 cell
      mediated inflammatory responses. IL-25 signals through a heterodimeric receptor
      (IL-25R) composed of IL-17RA and IL-17RB, which recruits the adaptor molecule
      Act1 for downstream signaling. Although the role of IL-25 in potentiating type 2
      inflammation is well characterized by its ability to activate the epithelium as
      well as T cells, the components of its signaling cascade remain largely unknown.
      In this study, we found that IL-25 can directly activate STAT5 independently of
      Act1. Furthermore, conditional STAT5 deletion in T cells or epithelial cells led
      to a defective IL-25-initiated Th2 polarization as well as defective IL-25
      enhancement of Th2 responses. Finally, we found that STAT5 is recruited to the IL
      25R in a ligand-dependent manner through unique tyrosine residues on IL-17RB.
      Together, these findings reveal a novel Act1-independent IL-25 signaling pathway
      through STAT5 activation. 

PMID- 25821218
TI  - Endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced IRE1alpha activation mediates cross-talk of
      GSK-3beta and XBP-1 to regulate inflammatory cytokine production.
AB  - IL-1beta and TNF-alpha are important proinflammatory cytokines that respond to
      mutated self-antigens of tissue damage and exogenous pathogens. The endoplasmic
      reticulum (ER) stress and unfolded protein responses are related to the induction
      of proinflammatory cytokines. However, the detailed molecular pathways by which
      ER stress mediates cytokine gene expression have not been investigated. In this
      study, we found that ER stress-induced inositol-requiring enzyme (IRE)1alpha
      activation differentially regulates proinflammatory cytokine gene expression via
      activation of glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3beta and X-box binding protein
      (XBP)-1. Surprisingly, IL-1beta gene expression was modulated by IRE1alpha
      mediated GSK-3beta activation, but not by XBP-1. However, IRE1alpha-mediated XBP
      1 splicing regulated TNF-alpha gene expression. SB216763, a GSK-3 inhibitor,
      selectively inhibited IL-1beta gene expression, whereas the IRE1alpha RNase
      inhibitor STF083010 suppressed only TNF-alpha production. Additionally,
      inhibition of GSK-3beta greatly increased IRE1alpha-dependent XBP-1 splicing. Our
      results identify an unsuspected differential role of downstream mediators GSK
      3beta and XBP-1 in ER stress-induced IRE1alpha activation that regulates cytokine
      production through signaling cross-talk. These results have important
      implications in the regulation of inflammatory pathways during ER stress, and
      they suggest novel therapeutic targets for diseases in which meta-inflammation
      plays a key role. 

PMID- 25821219
TI  - Antibodies generated against Streptococci protect in a mouse model of
      disseminated aspergillosis.
AB  - Invasive aspergillosis (IA) resulting from infection by Aspergillus fumigatus is
      a leading cause of death in immunosuppressed populations. There are limited
      therapeutic options for this disease and currently no vaccine. There is evidence
      that some anti-A. fumigatus mAbs can provide protection against IA. However,
      vaccine development has been impeded by a paucity of immunological targets on
      this organism demonstrated to provide protective responses. Sialylated
      oligosaccharide epitopes found on a variety of pathogens, including fungi and
      group B streptococci (GBS), are thought to be major virulence factors of these
      organisms facilitating pathogen attachment to host cells and modulating
      complement activation and phagocytosis. Because some of these oligosaccharide
      structures are conserved across kingdoms, we screened a panel of mAbs raised
      against GBS serotypes for reactivity to A. fumigatus. This approach revealed that
      SMB19, a GBSIb type-specific mAb, reacts with A. fumigatus conidia and hyphae.
      The presence of this Ab in mice, as a result of passive or active immunization,
      or by enforced expression of the SMB19 H chain as a transgene, results in
      significant protection in both i.v. and airway-induced models of IA. This study
      demonstrates that some Abs generated against bacterial polysaccharides engage
      fungal pathogens and promote their clearance in vivo and thus provide rationale
      of alternative strategies for the development of vaccines or therapeutic mAbs
      against these organisms. 

PMID- 25821221
TI  - Cutting edge: Ubiquitin-specific protease 4 promotes Th17 cell function under
      inflammation by deubiquitinating and stabilizing RORgammat.
AB  - RORgammat is a key transcription factor that controls the development and
      function of inflammatory Th17. The mechanisms that regulate RORgammat stability
      remain unclear. We report that Th17 cells highly express the deubiquitinase
      ubiquitin-specific protease (USP)4, which is essential for maintaining RORgammat
      and Th17 cell function. Inhibition of the catalytic activity of USP4 with
      vialinin A, a compound derived from Chinese traditional medicine, dampened Th17
      differentiation. USP4 interacted and deubiquitinated K48-linked
      polyubiquitination of RORgammat, thereby promoting RORgammat function and IL-17A
      transcription. Interestingly, TGF-beta plus IL-6 enhanced USP4-mediated
      deubiquitination of RORgammat. Moreover, USP4 and IL-17 mRNA, but not RORgammat
      mRNA, were significantly elevated in CD4(+) T cells from patients with rheumatic
      heart disease. Thus, USP4 could be a novel therapeutic target for the treatment
      of Th17-modulated autoimmune diseases. 

PMID- 25821220
TI  - Regulatory T cells require TCR signaling for their suppressive function.
AB  - Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a subset of CD4(+) T cells that maintain immune
      tolerance in part by their ability to inhibit the proliferation of conventional
      CD4(+) T cells (Tconvs). The role of the TCR and the downstream signaling
      pathways required for this suppressive function of Tregs are not fully
      understood. To yield insight into how TCR-mediated signals influence Treg
      suppressive function, we assessed the ability of Tregs with altered TCR-mediated
      signaling capacity to inhibit Tconv proliferation. Mature Tregs deficient in Src
      homology 2 domain containing leukocyte protein of 76 kDa (SLP-76), an adaptor
      protein that nucleates the proximal signaling complex downstream of the TCR, were
      unable to inhibit Tconv proliferation, suggesting that TCR signaling is required
      for Treg suppressive function. Moreover, Tregs with defective phospholipase C
      gamma (PLCgamma) activation due to a Y145F mutation of SLP-76 were also defective
      in their suppressive function. Conversely, enhancement of diacylglycerol-mediated
      signaling downstream of PLCgamma by genetic ablation of a negative regulator of
      diacylglycerol kinase zeta increased the suppressive ability of Tregs. Because
      SLP-76 is also important for integrin activation and signaling, we tested the
      role of integrin activation in Treg-mediated suppression. Tregs lacking the
      adaptor proteins adhesion and degranulation promoting adapter protein or CT10
      regulator of kinase/CT10 regulator of kinase-like, which are required for TCR
      mediated integrin activation, inhibited Tconv proliferation to a similar extent
      as wild-type Tregs. Together, these data suggest that TCR-mediated PLCgamma
      activation, but not integrin activation, is required for Tregs to inhibit Tconv
      proliferation. 

PMID- 25821222
TI  - Microtubule nucleation in mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells is regulated by
      the concerted action of GIT1/betaPIX proteins and calcium.
AB  - Ag-mediated activation of mast cells initiates signaling events leading to Ca(2+)
      response, release of allergic mediators from cytoplasmic granules, and synthesis
      of cytokines and chemokines. Although microtubule rearrangement during activation
      has been described, the molecular mechanisms that control their remodeling are
      largely unknown. Microtubule nucleation is mediated by complexes that are formed
      by gamma-tubulin and gamma-tubulin complex proteins. In this study, we report
      that, in bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs), gamma-tubulin interacts with p21
      activated kinase interacting exchange factor beta (betaPIX) and G protein-coupled
      receptor kinase-interacting protein (GIT)1. Microtubule regrowth experiments
      showed that the depletion of betaPIX in BMMCs stimulated microtubule nucleation,
      whereas depletion of GIT1 led to the inhibition of nucleation compared with
      control cells. Phenotypic rescue experiments confirmed that betaPIX and GIT1
      represent negative and positive regulators of microtubule nucleation in BMMCs,
      respectively. Live-cell imaging disclosed that both proteins are associated with
      centrosomes. Immunoprecipitation and pull-down experiments revealed that an
      enhanced level of free cytosolic Ca(2+) affects gamma-tubulin properties and
      stimulates the association of GIT1 and gamma-tubulin complex proteins with gamma
      tubulin. Microtubule nucleation also was affected by Ca(2+) level. Moreover, in
      activated BMMCs, gamma-tubulin formed complexes with tyrosine-phosphorylated
      GIT1. Further experiments showed that GIT1 and betaPIX are involved in the
      regulation of such important physiological processes as Ag-induced chemotaxis and
      degranulation. Our study provides for the first time, to our knowledge, a
      possible mechanism for the concerted action of tyrosine kinases, GIT1/betaPIX
      proteins, and Ca(2+) in the propagation of signals leading to the regulation of
      microtubule nucleation in activated mast cells. 

PMID- 25821223
TI  - Notch signaling enhances FcepsilonRI-mediated cytokine production by mast cells
      through direct and indirect mechanisms.
AB  - Th2-type cytokines and TNF-alpha secreted by activated mast cells upon cross
      linking of FcepsilonRI contribute to the development and maintenance of Th2
      immunity to parasites and allergens. We have previously shown that cytokine
      secretion by mouse mast cells is enhanced by signaling through Notch receptors.
      In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanisms by which Notch signaling
      enhances mast cell cytokine production induced by FcepsilonRI cross-linking.
      FcepsilonRI-mediated production of cytokines, particularly IL-4, was
      significantly enhanced in mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells by priming with
      Notch ligands. Western blot analysis showed that Notch signaling augmented and
      prolonged FcepsilonRI-mediated phosphorylation of MAPKs, mainly JNK and p38 MAPK,
      through suppression of the expression of SHIP-1, a master negative regulator of
      FcepsilonRI signaling, resulting in the enhanced production of multiple
      cytokines. The enhancing effect of Notch ligand priming on multiple cytokine
      production was abolished by knockdown of Notch2, but not Notch1, and FcepsilonRI
      mediated production of multiple cytokines was enhanced by retroviral transduction
      with the intracellular domain of Notch2. However, only IL-4 production was
      enhanced by both Notch1 and Notch2. The enhancing effect of Notch signaling on IL
      4 production was lost in bone marrow-derived mast cells from mice lacking
      conserved noncoding sequence 2, which is located at the distal 3' element of the
      Il4 gene locus and contains Notch effector RBP-J binding sites. These results
      indicate that Notch2 signaling indirectly enhances the FcepsilonRI-mediated
      production of multiple cytokines, and both Notch1 and Notch2 signaling directly
      enhances IL-4 production through the noncoding sequence 2 enhancer of the Il4
      gene. 

PMID- 25821224
TI  - FcgammaRIIB prevents inflammatory type I IFN production from plasmacytoid
      dendritic cells during a viral memory response.
AB  - The type I IFN (IFN-alpha) response is crucial for viral clearance during primary
      viral infections. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are important early
      responders during systemic viral infections and, in some cases, are the sole
      producers of IFN-alpha. However, their role in IFN-alpha production during memory
      responses is unclear. We found that IFN-alpha production is absent during a
      murine viral memory response, despite colocalization of virus and pDCs to the
      splenic marginal zone. The absence of IFN was dependent on circulating Ab and was
      reversed by the transgenic expression of the activating human FcgammaRIIA
      receptor on pDCs. Furthermore, FcgammaRIIB was required for Sendai virus immune
      complex uptake by splenic pDCs in vitro, and internalization via FcgammaRIIb
      prevented cargo from accessing TLR signaling endosomes. Thus, pDCs bind viral
      immune complexes via FcgammaRIIB and prevent IFN-alpha production in vivo during
      viral memory responses. This Ab-dependent IFN-alpha regulation may be an
      important mechanism by which the potentially deleterious effects of IFN-alpha are
      prevented during a secondary infection. 

PMID- 25821225
TI  - Personal Protective Equipment for Filovirus Epidemics: A Call for Better
      Evidence.
AB  - Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an important part of worker protection
      during filovirus outbreaks. The need to protect against a highly virulent fluid
      borne pathogen in the tropical environment imposes a heat stress on the wearer
      that is itself a safety risk. No evidence supports the choice of PPE employed in
      recent outbreaks, and standard testing procedures employed by the protective
      garment industry do not well simulate filovirus exposure. Further research is
      needed to determine the appropriate PPE for filoviruses and the heat stress that
      it imposes. 

PMID- 25821226
TI  - Ebola Virus Glycoprotein Promotes Enhanced Viral Egress by Preventing Ebola VP40
      From Associating With the Host Restriction Factor BST2/Tetherin.
AB  - BACKGROUND: BST2/tetherin is an innate immune molecule with the unique ability to
      restrict the egress of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other enveloped
      viruses, including Ebola virus (EBOV). Coincident with this discovery was the
      finding that the HIV Vpu protein down-regulates BST2 from the cell surface,
      thereby promoting viral release. Evidence suggests that the EBOV envelope
      glycoprotein (GP) also counteracts BST2, although the mechanism is unclear.
      RESULTS: We find that total levels of BST2 remain unchanged in the presence of
      GP, whereas surface BST2 is significantly reduced. GP is known to sterically mask
      surface receptors via its mucin domain. Our evaluation of mutant GP molecules
      indicate that masking of BST2 by GP is probably responsible for the apparent
      surface BST2 down-regulation; however, this masking does not explain the observed
      virus-like particle egress enhancement. We discovered that VP40
      coimmunoprecipitates and colocalizes with BST2 in the absence but not in the
      presence of GP. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that GP may overcome the BST2
      restriction by blocking an interaction between VP40 and BST2. Furthermore, we
      have observed that GP may enhance BST2 incorporation into virus-like particles.
      Understanding this novel EBOV immune evasion strategy will provide valuable
      insights into the pathogenicity of this deadly pathogen.

PMID- 25821228
TI  - Reply to Thysen et al.

PMID- 25821227
TI  - Does Influenza Vaccination Modify Influenza Severity? Data on Older Adults
      Hospitalized With Influenza During the 2012-2013 Season in the United States.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Some studies suggest that influenza vaccination might be protective
      against severe influenza outcomes in vaccinated persons who become infected. We
      used data from a large surveillance network to further investigate the effect of
      influenza vaccination on influenza severity in adults aged >=50 years who were
      hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza. METHODS: We analyzed influenza
      vaccination and influenza severity using Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance
      Network (FluSurv-NET) data for the 2012-2013 influenza season. Intensive care
      unit (ICU) admission, death, diagnosis of pneumonia, and hospital and ICU lengths
      of stay served as measures of disease severity. Data were analyzed by
      multivariable logistic regression, parametric survival models, and propensity
      score matching (PSM). RESULTS: Overall, no differences in severity were observed
      in the multivariable logistic regression model. Using PSM, adults aged 50-64
      years (but not other age groups) who were vaccinated against influenza had a
      shorter length of ICU stay than those who were unvaccinated (hazard ratio for
      discharge, 1.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-3.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings
      show a modest effect of influenza vaccination on disease severity. Analysis of
      data from seasons with different predominant strains and higher estimates of
      vaccine effectiveness are needed.

PMID- 25821229
TI  - Changes in BCG Vaccination Policy Should Consider the Effect on Child Health.

PMID- 25821230
TI  - A case of lung adenocarcinoma with multiple cavitary metastases.

PMID- 25821231
TI  - Severe ischemic colitis after treatment of bile-duct cancer using gemcitabine and
      cisplatin.

PMID- 25821232
TI  - Morphological distribution of lung cancer from Cancer Incidence in Five
      Continents Vol. X.

PMID- 25821233
TI  - Reactive oxygen species-mediated bacterial killing by B lymphocytes.
AB  - Regulated production of ROS is mainly attributed to Nox family enzymes. In
      neutrophil granulocytes and macrophages, Nox2 has a crucial role in bacterial
      killing, and the absence of phagocytic ROS production leads to the development of
      CGD. Expression of Nox2 was also described in B lymphocytes, where the role of
      the enzyme is still poorly understood. Here, we show that peritoneal B cells,
      which were shown recently to possess phagocytic activity, have a high capacity to
      produce ROS in a Nox2-dependent manner. In phagocytosing B cells, intense
      intraphagosomal ROS production is detected. Finally, by studying 2 animal models
      of CGD, we demonstrate that phagocyte oxidase-deficient B cells have a reduced
      capacity to kill bacteria. Our observations extend the number of immune cell
      types that produce ROS to kill pathogens. 

PMID- 25821235
TI  - When Did the Swahili Become Maritime?
AB  - : In this article, we examine an assumption about the historic Swahili of the
      eastern African coast: that they were a maritime society from their beginnings in
      the first millennium C.E. Based on historical and archaeological data, we suggest
      that, despite their proximity to and use of the sea, the level of maritimity of
      Swahili society increased greatly over time and was only fully realized in the
      early second millennium C.E. Drawing on recent theorizing from other areas of the
      world about maritimity as well as research on the Swahili, we discuss three
      arenas that distinguish first- and second-millennium coastal society in terms of
      their maritime orientation. These are variability and discontinuity in settlement
      location and permanence; evidence of increased engagement with the sea through
      fishing and sailing technology; and specialized architectural developments
      involving port facilities, mosques, and houses. The implications of this study
      are that we must move beyond coastal location in determining maritimity; consider
      how the sea and its products were part of social life; and assess whether the
      marine environment actively influences and is influenced by broader patterns of
      sociocultural organization, practice, and belief within Swahili and other
      societies. [maritime, fishing and sailing, long-distance trade, Swahili, eastern
      Africa]. RESUMEN: En este articulo, evaluamos la hipotesis de que los pueblos
      Swahili de la costa oriental africana fueron una sociedad maritima a partir del
      primer milenio E.C. Basados en informacion historica y arqueologica, proponemos
      que la asociacion de la sociedad Swahili con el mar incremento considerablemente
      con el tiempo y se manifesto de una forma significativa particularmente desde
      principios del segundo milenio E.C. Utilizando teorias recientes sobre
      maritimidad en otras areas del mundo, asi como investigaciones sobre los Swahili,
      discutimos tres temas que marcan las diferencias del nivel de orientacion
      maritima de esta sociedad costera entre el primer y segundo milenio. Estas son la
      variabilidad y discontinuidad en la localizacion y permanencia de los
      asentamientos; evidencia de una conexion mayor con el mar a traves de la
      tecnologia de pesca y navegacion; y desarrollos arquitectonicos especializados
      que incluyen instalaciones portuarias, mezquitas, y casas. Las implicaciones de
      este estudio indican que debemos considerar otros aspectos de una sociedad aparte
      de su localizacion costera para determinar su maritimidad. Hay que considerar
      como el mar y sus productos son parte de la vida social y evaluar si existe una
      influencia reciproca entre el ambiente maritimo y los patrones de organizacion
      sociocultural, las practicas, y las creencias de los Swahili y otras sociedades.
      [maritimo, pesca y navegacion, comercio a larga distancia, Swahili, Africa
      Oriental].

PMID- 25821236
TI  - The quality of social relationships in ravens.
AB  - The quality of a social relationship represents the history of past social
      interactions between two individuals, from which the nature and outcome of future
      interactions can be predicted. Current theory predicts that relationship quality
      comprises three separate components, its value, compatibility and security. This
      study is the first to investigate the components of relationship quality in a
      large-brained bird. Following methods recently used to obtain quantitative
      measures of each relationship quality component in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes,
      we entered data on seven behavioural variables from a group of 11 ravens, Corvus
      corax, into a principal components analysis. The characteristics of the extracted
      components matched those predicted for value, compatibility and security, and
      were labelled as such. When the effects of kinship and sex combination on each
      relationship quality component were analysed, we found that kin had more valuable
      relationships, whereas females had less secure and compatible relationships,
      although the effect of sex combination on compatibility only applied to nonkin.
      These patterns are consistent with what little knowledge we have of raven
      relationships from aviary studies and show that the components of relationship
      quality in ravens may indeed be analogous to those in chimpanzees.

PMID- 25821237
TI  - Appraisal and coping styles account for the effects of temperament on
      preadolescent adjustment.
AB  - Temperament, appraisal, and coping are known to underlie emotion regulation, yet
      less is known about how these processes relate to each other across time. We
      examined temperamental fear, frustration, effortful control, and impulsivity,
      positive and threat appraisals, and active and avoidant coping as processes
      underpinning the emotion regulation of pre-adolescent children managing stressful
      events. Appraisal and coping styles were tested as mediators of the longitudinal
      effects of temperamental emotionality and self-regulation on adjustment using a
      community sample (N=316) of preadolescent children (8-12 years at T1) studied
      across one year. High threat appraisals were concurrently related to high fear
      and impulsivity, whereas effortful control predicted relative decreases in threat
      appraisal. High fear was concurrently related to high positive appraisal, and
      impulsivity predicted increases in positive appraisal. Fear was concurrently
      related to greater avoidant coping, and impulsivity predicted increases in
      avoidance. Frustration predicted decreases in active coping. These findings
      suggest temperament, or dispositional aspects of reactivity and regulation,
      relates to concurrent appraisal and coping processes and additionally predicts
      change in these processes. Significant indirect effects indicated that appraisal
      and coping mediated the effects of temperament on adjustment. Threat appraisal
      mediated the effects of fear and effortful control on internalizing and
      externalizing problems, and avoidant coping mediated the effect of impulsivity on
      internalizing problems. These mediated effects suggest that one pathway through
      which temperament influences adjustment is pre-adolescents' appraisal and coping.
      Findings highlight temperament, appraisal and coping as emotion regulation
      processes relevant to children's adjustment in response to stress.

PMID- 25821234
TI  - Phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C in health and disease.
AB  - Phospholipases are widely occurring and can be found in several different
      organisms, including bacteria, yeast, plants, animals, and viruses. Phospholipase
      C (PLC) is a class of phospholipases that cleaves phospholipids on the
      diacylglycerol (DAG) side of the phosphodiester bond producing DAGs and
      phosphomonoesters. Among PLCs, phosphoinositide-specific PLC (PI-PLC) constitutes
      an important step in the inositide signaling pathways. The structures of PI-PLC
      isozymes show conserved domains as well as regulatory specific domains. This is
      important, as most PI-PLCs share a common mechanism, but each of them has a
      peculiar role and can have a specific cell distribution that is linked to a
      specific function. More importantly, the regulation of PLC isozymes is
      fundamental in health and disease, as there are several PLC-dependent molecular
      mechanisms that are associated with the activation or inhibition of important
      physiopathological processes. Moreover, PI-PLC alternative splicing variants can
      play important roles in complex signaling networks, not only in cancer but also
      in other diseases. That is why PI-PLC isozymes are now considered as important
      molecules that are essential for better understanding the molecular mechanisms
      underlying both physiology and pathogenesis, and are also potential molecular
      targets useful for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies. 

PMID- 25821238
TI  - Reaction Pathway and Free Energy Barrier for Urea Elimination in Aqueous
      Solution.
AB  - To accurately predict the free energy barrier for urea elimination in aqueous
      solution, we examined the reaction coordinates for the direct and water-assisted
      elimination pathways, and evaluated the corresponding free energy barriers by
      using the surface and volume polarization for electrostatics (SVPE) model-based
      first-principles electronic-structure calculations. Based on the computational
      results, the water-assisted elimination pathway is dominant for urea elimination
      in aqueous solution, and the corresponding free energy barrier is 25.3 kcal/mol.
      The free energy barrier of 25.3 kcal/mol predicted for the dominant reaction
      pathway of urea elimination in aqueous solution is in good agreement with
      available experimental kinetic data.

PMID- 25821239
TI  - Does Hospital Competition Save Lives? Evidence from the English NHS Patient
      Choice Reforms.
AB  - Recent substantive reforms to the English National Health Service expanded
      patient choice and encouraged hospitals to compete within a market with fixed
      prices. This study investigates whether these reforms led to improvements in
      hospital quality. We use a difference-in-difference-style estimator to test
      whether hospital quality (measured using mortality from acute myocardial
      infarction) improved more quickly in more competitive markets after these reforms
      came into force in 2006. We find that after the reforms were implemented,
      mortality fell (i.e. quality improved) for patients living in more competitive
      markets. Our results suggest that hospital competition can lead to improvements
      in hospital quality.

PMID- 25821240
TI  - Responses of soil nutrient concentrations and stoichiometry to different human
      land uses in a subtropical tidal wetland.
AB  - We studied the impacts of anthropogenic changes in land use on the stoichiometric
      imbalance of soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in
      Phragmites australis wetlands in the Minjiang River estuary. We compared five
      areas with different land uses: P. australis wetland (control), grassland, a
      mudskipper breeding flat, pond aquaculture and rice cropland. Human activity has
      affected the elemental and stoichiometric compositions of soils through changes
      in land use. In general, soil C and N concentrations were lower and total soil K
      concentrations were higher at the sites under human land uses relative to the
      control site, and total soil P concentrations were generally not significantly
      different. The close relationship between total soil C and N concentrations in
      all cases, including fertilization with N, suggested that N was the most limiting
      nutrient in these wetlands. Lower soil N concentrations and similar soil P
      concentrations and higher soil K concentrations under human land-use activities
      suggest that human activity has increased the role of N limitation in these
      wetlands. Only grassland use increases soil N contents (only in the 0-10 cm of
      soil). Despite N fertilization, lower soil N concentrations were also observed in
      the rice cropland, indicating the difficulty of avoiding N limitation in these
      wetlands. The observed lower soil N:P ratio, together with higher soil P and K
      availabilities in rice croplands, is consistent with the tendency of human
      activity to change the competitive relationships of plants, in this case favoring
      species adapted to high rates of growth (low N:P ratio) and/or favoring plants
      with high demands for P and K. Both, soil C storage and respiration were higher
      in grasslands, likely due to the introduction of grasses, which led to a high
      density of plants, increased grazing activity and soil compaction. Soil C storage
      and respiration were lower under human land uses, except in the rice cropland,
      with respect to natural wetland. Using overall data, soil C storage and
      respiration were correlated, indicating that soil respiration was correlated with
      plant productivity. In this wetland area the impacts of different human land-uses
      on soil stoichiometry and C-cycle can be very different depending on the
      activity. Further regeneration of natural communities can be determined by the
      previous type of land-use.

PMID- 25821241
TI  - The Criminal Corpse, Anatomists and the Criminal Law: Parliamentary Attempts to
      Extend the Dissection of Offenders in Late Eighteenth-Century England.
AB  - In the later eighteenth century two schemes were introduced in Parliament for
      extending the practice of handing over the bodies of executed offenders to
      anatomists for dissection. Both measures were motivated by the needs of anatomy -
      including the improvement of surgical skill, the development of medical teaching
      in the provinces, and for conducting public anatomical demonstrations. Yet both
      failed to pass into law due to concerns about the possibly damaging effects in
      terms of criminal justice. Through a detailed analysis of the origins and
      progress of these two parliamentary measures - a moment when the competing claims
      of anatomy and criminal justice vied for supremacy over the criminal corpse - the
      following article sheds light on judicial attitudes to dissection as a method of
      punishment and adds to our understanding of why the dread of dissection would
      come to fall upon the dead poor (rather than executed offenders) in the
      nineteenth century.

PMID- 25821242
TI  - ENTRY IN THE ADHD DRUGS MARKET: WELFARE IMPACT OF GENERICS AND ME-TOO'S.
AB  - Recent decades have seen a growth in treatments for attention deficit
      hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) including many branded and generic drugs. In the
      early 2000's, new drug entry dramatically altered market shares. We estimate a
      demand system for ADHD drugs and assess the welfare impact of new drugs. We find
      that entry induced large welfare gains by reducing prices of substitute drugs,
      and by providing alternative delivery mechanisms for existing molecules. Our
      results suggest that the success of follow-on patented drugs may come from
      unanticipated innovations like delivery mechanisms, a factor ignored by proposals
      to retard new follow-on drug approvals.

PMID- 25821243
TI  - The design of trapping devices in pollination traps of the genus Arum (Araceae)
      is related to insect type.
AB  - Pollinators have long been known to select for floral traits, but the nature of
      this relationship has been little investigated in trap pollination systems. We
      investigated the trapping devices of 15 Arum spp. and compared them with the
      types of insects trapped. Most species shared a similar general design of trap
      chamber walls covered in downward-pointing papillate cells, lacunose cells in the
      chamber wall and elongated sterile flowers partially blocking the exit of the
      trap. However, there was significant variation in all these morphological
      features between species. Furthermore, these differences related to the type of
      pollinator trapped. Most strikingly, species pollinated by midges had a slippery
      epidermal surface consisting of smaller papillae than in species pollinated by
      other insects. Midge-pollinated species also had more elongated sterile flowers
      and tended to have a larger lacunose area. We conclude that pollination traps
      evolve in response to the type of insect trapped and that changes to the slippery
      surfaces of the chamber wall are an important and previously little recognized
      variable in the design of pollination traps.

PMID- 25821244
TI  - Correlates of hyperdiversity in southern African ice plants (Aizoaceae).
AB  - The exceptionally high plant diversity of the Greater Cape Floristic Region
      (GCFR) comprises a combination of ancient lineages and young radiations. A
      previous phylogenetic study of Aizoaceae subfamily Ruschioideae dated the
      radiation of this clade of > 1500 species in the GCFR to 3.8-8.7 Mya,
      establishing it as a flagship example of a diversification event triggered by the
      onset of a summer-arid climate in the region. However, a more recent analysis
      found an older age for the Ruschioideae lineage (17 Mya), suggesting that the
      group may in fact have originated much before the aridification of the region 10
      15 Mya. Here, we reassess the tempo of radiation of ice plants by using the most
      complete generic-level phylogenetic tree for Aizoaceae to date, a revised
      calibration age and a new dating method. Our estimates of the age of the clade
      are even younger than initially thought (stem age 1.13-6.49 Mya), supporting the
      hypothesis that the radiation post-dates the establishment of an arid environment
      in the GCFR and firmly placing the radiation among the fastest in angiosperms
      (diversification rate of 4.4 species per million years). We also statistically
      examine environmental and morphological correlates of richness in ice plants and
      find that diversity is strongly linked with precipitation, temperature,
      topographic complexity and the evolution of highly succulent leaves and wide-band
      tracheids.

PMID- 25821245
TI  - Recurrent polymorphic mating type variation in Madagascan Bulbophyllum species
      (Orchidaceae) exemplifies a high incidence of auto-pollination in tropical
      orchids.
AB  - The transition from outcrossing to self-fertilization is one of the most common
      evolutionary changes in angiosperms. The orchid family exemplifies this
      evolutionary trend but, because of a general lack of large-scale surveys on auto
      pollination in orchid taxa, the incidence and modes of auto-pollination among
      (sub)tropical orchids remain poorly known. In the present study, we assessed the
      frequency and mode of auto-pollination within and among species of a largely
      monophyletic group of Madagascan Bulbophyllum. The capacity for autonomous fruit
      set was investigated by bagging experiments in the greenhouse and the field,
      complemented with detailed floral micromorphological studies of the gynostemium.
      Our survey comprises 393 accessions, representing at least 78 species, and thus
      approximately 37% of the species diversity of the genus in the Madagascan region.
      Our studies revealed that mating type is directly related to gynostemium
      structure, most often involving the presence or absence of a physical barrier
      termed 'rostellum'. As a novel and unexpected finding, we identified eight
      species of a single lineage of Madagascan Bulbophyllum (termed 'clade C'), in
      which auto-pollinating morphs (selfers), either lacking a rostellum or (rarely)
      possessing a stigmatic rostellum, co-exist with their pollinator-dependent
      conspecifics (outcrossers). We hypothesize that auto-pollination via rostellum
      abortion has a simple genetic basis, and probably evolved rapidly and recurrently
      by subtle changes in the timing of rostellum development (heterochrony). Thus,
      species of clade C may have an intrinsic genetic and developmental lability
      toward auto-pollination, allowing rapid evolutionary response under
      environmental, perhaps human-disturbed conditions favouring reproductive
      assurance. Overall, these findings should stimulate further research on the
      incidence, evolution, and maintenance of mating type variation in tropical
      orchids, as well as how they adapt(ed) to changing environmental conditions.

PMID- 25821246
TI  - Can Triticum urartu (Poaceae) be identified by pollen analysis? Implications for
      detecting the ancestor of the extinct two-grained einkorn-like wheat.
AB  - The domestication of the one-grained einkorn (Triticum monococcum) in the Near
      East is relatively well known. However, an independent two-grained einkorn-like
      domestication has been archaeobotanically detected and scarce information is
      available. Triticum urartu, a wild wheat, was not fully described until the 1970s
      because the phenology does not allow it to be distinguished easily from wild
      einkorn (Triticum boeoticum subsp. thaoudar), although a genetic separation
      exists. Both species are mostly two grained and could potentially be the
      relatives of the extinct two-grained form. Pollen grains of several genetically
      well-identified wheat species, including T. urartu and T. boeoticum subsp.
      thaoudar, were studied by measuring the grain diameter and examining the exine
      sculpturing with phase-contrast microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to
      gain an insight into differences enabling taxonomic identification. This work
      showed that, although T. urartu pollen is smaller on average, grain diameter is
      not sufficient because of the size overlap between the species, but T. urartu
      presents a different exine sculpturing (scabrate) from other Triticum spp.
      (aerolate). This outcome is useful for taxonomists and archaeobotanists. First,
      it will allow a simple re-classification of herbarium materials. Second, further
      research could establish whether T. urartu was cultivated.

PMID- 25821247
TI  - Characterisation of cylindrical curves.
AB  - We employ moving frames along pairs of curves at constant separation to derive
      various conditions for a curve to belong to the surface of a circular cylinder.

PMID- 25821248
TI  - ON AN ALLEGED TRUTH/FALSITY ASYMMETRY IN CONTEXT SHIFTING EXPERIMENTS.
AB  - Keith DeRose has argued that context shifting experiments should be designed in a
      specific way in order to accommodate what he calls a 'truth/falsity asymmetry'. I
      explain and critique DeRose's reasons for proposing this modification to
      contextualist methodology, drawing on recent experimental studies of DeRose's
      bank cases as well as experimental findings about the verification of affirmative
      and negative statements. While DeRose's arguments for his particular modification
      to contextualist methodology fail, the lesson of his proposal is that there is
      good reason to pay close attention to several subtle aspects of the design of
      context shifting experiments.

PMID- 25821249
TI  - Calla palustris (Araceae): New palynological insights with special regard to its
      controversial systematic position and to closely related genera.
AB  - Almost all systematic treatments agree that Calla is a puzzling case, being a
      highly autapomorphic taxon with obscure relationships. In molecular-based
      classifications the variable placements of Calla within Aroideae conflict
      strongly with those in morphologically and anatomically based systematic
      classifications, which treat the genus as a subfamily (Calloideae) of its own. We
      studied the pollen morphology and ultrastructure of Calla by light and electron
      microscopy, and mapped the relevant pollen characters as well as some flower
      characters to the proposed placements of Calla within the Araceae as indicated in
      the various molecular phylogenies. Calla pollen is extraordinary within the
      entire Araceae. Pollen grains are small, and basically disulcate or with a ring
      like aperture. The ornamentation is psilate to perforate, and the pollen wall
      consists of a sporopolleninous tectate-columellate exine. These pollen characters
      are shared with those of several earlier-diverging aroid taxa, especially with
      those of subfamily Zamioculcadoideae, whereas pollen characters in members of
      subfamily Aroideae deviate significantly. These findings are in accordance with
      other floral characters. Therefore, we propose that Calla is best placed in a
      transition zone between either subfamily Zamioculcadoideae (Stylochaeton clade)
      and subfamily Aroideae (Aroideae clade) or between subfamily Zamioculcadoideae
      (Stylochaeton clade) and subfamily Lasioideae.

PMID- 25821250
TI  - Synthesis and Investigation of Novel Spiro-isoxazolines as Anti-Cancer Agents.
AB  - A series of structurally diverse 4-bromo spiro-isoxazolines possessing a variety
      of aromatic and aliphatic substituents at the 3 position, were synthesized
      through a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition followed by intramolecular cyclization of a
      pendant hydroxyl or carboxylic acid group. The biochemical antiproliferative
      activity was evaluated in vitro by using two breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and
      MDA-MB-231) and two prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3 and DU-145) using the MTT
      viability assay, and the IC50 values were obtained. Spiro-isoxazoline derivatives
      bearing a p-chloro or an o-dichloro aromatic substituent at the 3-position of the
      isoxazoline showed considerable antitumor activities in all four cell lines with
      IC50 value ranging from 43MUM to 56MUM.

PMID- 25821251
TI  - Chemical Bonding and Atomic Structure in Y2O3:ZrO2-SrTiO3 Layered
      Heterostructures.

PMID- 25821252
TI  - Perovskite B-Site Compositional Control of [110]p Polar Displacement Coupling in
      an Ambient-Pressure-Stable Bismuth-based Ferroelectric.

PMID- 25821253
TI  - One-Pot Deracemization of sec-Alcohols: Enantioconvergent Enzymatic Hydrolysis of
      Alkyl Sulfates Using Stereocomplementary Sulfatases.

PMID- 25821254
TI  - Probing Local Backbone Geometries in Intrinsically Disordered Proteins by Cross
      Correlated NMR Relaxation.

PMID- 25821255
TI  - Why and How to Prefer a Causal Account of Parenthood.

PMID- 25821256
TI  - Cognitive Impairment in Depressed Older Adults: Implications for Prognosis and
      Treatment.

PMID- 25821257
TI  - Ectomycorrhizal Community Structure of Salix and Betula spp. at a Saline Site in
      Central Poland in Relation to the Seasons and Soil Parameters.
AB  - Saline stress is one of the most important abiotic factors limiting the growth
      and development of plants and associated microorganisms. While the impact of
      salinity on associations of arbuscular fungi is relatively well understood,
      knowledge of the ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi of trees growing on saline land is
      limited. The main objective of this study was to determine the density and
      diversity of EM fungi associated with three tree species, Salix alba, Salix
      caprea and Betula pendula, growing in saline soil during two seasons, autumn and
      spring. The site was located in central Poland, and the increased salinity of the
      soil was of anthropogenic origin from soda production. The degree of EM
      colonisation of fine root tips varied between 9 and 34 % and depended on the tree
      species of interest (S. caprea < S. alba < B. pendula) and season (spring <
      autumn). Moreover, the ectomycorrhizal colonisation of B. pendula was positively
      correlated with pH and CaCO3, while for S. caprea and S. alba, colonisation was
      associated with most of the other soil parameters investigated; e.g. salinity,
      Corg and N. Analysis of EM fungi revealed four to five different morphotypes per
      each season: Tomentella sp. Sa-A, Hebeloma collariatum Sc-A, Geopora sp. Sc-A,
      Helotiales sp. Bp-A in the autumn and Tomentella sp. Sa-S, Tomentella sp. Sc-S
      and three morphotypes from the families Thelephoraceae and Pyronemataceae in the
      spring. In conclusion, the density of EM is related to the level of salinity
      (ECe), season and tree species. Tomentella spp., Hebeloma sp., Geopora sp. and
      Helotiales sp. are groups of species highly adapted to saline conditions.

PMID- 25821258
TI  - Accumulation of Major and Trace Elements in Spider Webs.
AB  - The spider webs of Malthonica ferruginea (Panzer, 1804) from the Agelenidae
      family were used for the evaluation of heavy metal contamination, and major and
      trace elements presence in the air of Wroclaw, Poland. The concentrations of 16
      elements were determined (Mg, Al, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, W,
      Pt, and Pb). Samples of webs were collected from six different locations with
      low, moderate, and high pollution level (urban of low and high traffic,
      residential, and postindustrial sites) after 60 days of exposure. Samples
      collected from high traffic sites and postindustrial site were found to have high
      contents of elements than residential sites and one of low traffic urban site.
      The principle component analysis (PCA) and correlation analysis provide important
      information about the potential sources of the elements in spider webs. Two
      contamination sources were identified: road traffic emissions and industrial.
      This was a first-time ever attempt to use webs for biomonitoring of small-scale
      distribution of airborne major and trace elements in the city of Wroclaw.

PMID- 25821259
TI  - Heavy Metal Uptake by Herbs. IV. Influence of Soil pH on the Content of Heavy
      Metals in Valeriana officinalis L.
AB  - The aim of the study was to estimate the influence of soil pH on the uptake of
      copper, zinc, and manganese by Valeriana officinalis. Preliminary studies
      involved soil analyses to determine acidity, organic matter content, and copper,
      zinc, and manganese total and bioavailable forms. The study involved atomic
      absorption spectrometry to determine the concentration of the elements, and
      mineral soil of pH = 5.1 was used in the study, as being typical for central
      Poland. The copper, zinc, and manganese contents were determined in plants grown
      in soils which had been modified to cover a wide range of pH values 3/13. The
      intensity of germination was strongly pH dependent with the highest yield
      obtained in original, unmodified soil. Surprisingly, high soil alkalinity
      stimulated copper and manganese uptake while at the same time resulting in a
      decrease in zinc content.

PMID- 25821260
TI  - Corrugated Waveguide Mode Content Analysis Using Irradiance Moments.
AB  - We present a novel, relatively simple method for determining the mode content of
      the linearly polarized modes of a corrugated waveguide using the moments of the
      intensity pattern of the field radiated from the end of the waveguide. This
      irradiance moment method is based on calculating the low-order irradiance
      moments, using measured intensity profiles only, of the radiated field from the
      waveguide aperture. Unlike the phase retrieval method, this method does not use
      or determine the phase distribution at the waveguide aperture. The new method was
      benchmarked numerically by comparison with sample mode mixtures. The results
      predict less than +/-0.7% error bar in the retrieval of the mode content. The
      method was also tested using high-resolution experimental data from beams
      radiated from 63.5 mm and 19 mm corrugated waveguides at 170 and 250 GHz,
      respectively. The results showed a very good agreement of the mode content
      retrieved using the irradiance moment method versus the phase retrieval
      technique. The irradiance moment method is most suitable for cases where the
      modal power is primarily in the fundamental HE11 mode, with <8% of the power in
      high-order modes.

PMID- 25821262
TI  - Volcanic sintering: Timescales of viscous densification and strength recovery.
AB  - [1] Sintering and densification are ubiquitous processes influencing the
      emplacement of both effusive and explosive products of volcanic eruptions. Here
      we sinter ash-size fragments of a synthetic National Institute of Standards and
      Technology viscosity standard glass at temperatures at which the resultant melt
      has a viscosity of ~108-109 Pa.s at 1bar to assess sintering dynamics under near
      surface volcanic conditions. We track the strength recovery via uniaxial
      compressive tests. We observe that volcanic ash sintering is dominantly time
      dependent, temperature dependent, and grain size dependent and may thus be
      interpreted to be controlled by melt viscosity and surface tension. Sintering
      evolves from particle agglutination to viscous pore collapse and is accompanied
      by a reduction in connected porosity and an increase in isolated pores. Sintering
      and densification result in a nonlinear increase in strength. Micromechanical
      modeling shows that the pore-emanated crack model explains the strength of porous
      lava as a function of pore fraction and size.

PMID- 25821261
TI  - Primordial argon isotope fractionation in the atmosphere of Mars measured by the
      SAM instrument on Curiosity and implications for atmospheric loss.
AB  - [1] The quadrupole mass spectrometer of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)
      instrument on Curiosity rover has made the first high-precision measurement of
      the nonradiogenic argon isotope ratio in the atmosphere of Mars. The resulting
      value of 36Ar/38Ar = 4.2 +/- 0.1 is highly significant for it provides excellent
      evidence that "Mars" meteorites are indeed of Martian origin, and it points to a
      significant loss of argon of at least 50% and perhaps as high as 85-95% from the
      atmosphere of Mars in the past 4 billion years. Taken together with the isotopic
      fractionations in N, C, H, and O measured by SAM, these results imply a
      substantial loss of atmosphere from Mars in the posthydrodynamic escape phase.

PMID- 25821263
TI  - GPT2: Empirical slant delay model for radio space geodetic techniques.
AB  - Up to now, state-of-the-art empirical slant delay modeling for processing
      observations from radio space geodetic techniques has been provided by a
      combination of two empirical models. These are GPT (Global Pressure and
      Temperature) and GMF (Global Mapping Function), both operating on the basis of
      long-term averages of surface values from numerical weather models. Weaknesses in
      GPT/GMF, specifically their limited spatial and temporal variability, are largely
      eradicated by a new, combined model GPT2, which provides pressure, temperature,
      lapse rate, water vapor pressure, and mapping function coefficients at any site,
      resting upon a global 5 degrees  grid of mean values, annual, and semi-annual
      variations in all parameters. Built on ERA-Interim data, GPT2 brings forth
      improved empirical slant delays for geophysical studies. Compared to GPT/GMF,
      GPT2 yields a 40% reduction of annual and semi-annual amplitude differences in
      station heights with respect to a solution based on instantaneous local pressure
      values and the Vienna mapping functions 1, as shown with a series of global VLBI
      (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) solutions.

PMID- 25821264
TI  - Are vegetation-related roughness changes the cause of the recent decrease in dust
      emission from the Sahel?
AB  - [1] Since the 1980s, a dramatic downward trend in North African dustiness and
      transport to the tropical Atlantic Ocean has been observed by different data sets
      and methods. The precise causes of this trend have previously been difficult to
      understand, partly due to the sparse observational record. Here we show that a
      decrease in surface wind speeds associated with increased roughness due to more
      vegetation in the Sahel is the most likely cause of the observed drop in dust
      emission. Associated changes in turbulence and evapotranspiration, and changes in
      large-scale circulation, are secondary contributors. Past work has tried to
      explain negative correlations between North African dust and precipitation
      through impacts on emission thresholds due to changes in soil moisture and
      vegetation cover. The use of novel diagnostic tools applied here to long-term
      surface observations suggests that this is not the dominating effect. Our results
      are consistent with a recently observed global decrease in surface wind speed,
      known as "stilling", and demonstrate the importance of representing vegetation
      related roughness changes in models. They also offer a new mechanism of how land
      use change and agriculture can impact the Sahelian climate. Citation: Cowie, S.
      M., P. Knippertz, and J. H. Marsham (2013), Are vegetation-related roughness
      changes the cause of the recent decrease in dust emission from the Sahel?,
      Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 1868-1872, doi:10.1002/grl.50273.

PMID- 25821265
TI  - Spatially mapped reductions in the length of the Arctic sea ice season.
AB  - : Satellite data are used to determine the number of days having sea ice coverage
      in each year 1979-2013 and to map the trends in these ice-season lengths. Over
      the majority of the Arctic seasonal sea ice zone, the ice season shortened at an
      average rate of at least 5 days/decade between 1979 and 2013, and in a small area
      in the northeastern Barents Sea the rate of shortening reached over 65
      days/decade. The only substantial non-coastal area with lengthening sea ice
      seasons is the Bering Sea, where the ice season lengthened by 5-15 days/decade.
      Over the Arctic as a whole, the area with ice seasons shortened by at least 5
      days/decade is 12.4 * 106 km2, while the area with ice seasons lengthened by at
      least 5 days/decade is only 1.1 * 106 km2. The contrast is even greater,
      percentage-wise, for higher rates. KEY POINTS: Sea ice seasons have shortened by
      at least 5 days/decade over most of the ArcticAcross 1.9 million km2 ice seasons
      have shortened by at least 25 days/decadeCounter to most of the Arctic ice
      seasons have lengthened in the Bering Sea.

PMID- 25821266
TI  - Detecting fossil fuel emissions patterns from subcontinental regions using North
      American in situ CO2 measurements.
AB  - : The ability to monitor fossil fuel carbon dioxide (FFCO2) emissions from
      subcontinental regions using atmospheric CO2 observations remains an important
      but unrealized goal. Here we explore a necessary but not sufficient component of
      this goal, namely, the basic question of the detectability of FFCO2 emissions
      from subcontinental regions. Detectability is evaluated by examining the degree
      to which FFCO2 emissions patterns from specific regions are needed to explain the
      variability observed in high-frequency atmospheric CO2 observations. Analyses
      using a CO2 monitoring network of 35 continuous measurement towers over North
      America show that FFCO2 emissions are difficult to detect during nonwinter
      months. We find that the compounding effects of the seasonality of atmospheric
      transport patterns and the biospheric CO2 flux signal dramatically hamper the
      detectability of FFCO2 emissions. Results from several synthetic data case
      studies highlight the need for advancements in data coverage and transport model
      accuracy if the goal of atmospheric measurement-based FFCO2 emissions detection
      and estimation is to be achieved beyond urban scales. KEY POINTS: Poor
      detectability of fossil fuel CO2 emissions from subcontinental
      regionsDetectability assessed via attribution of emissions patterns in
      atmospheric dataLoss in detectability due to transport modeling errors and
      biospheric signal.

PMID- 25821267
TI  - Experimental evidence for the formation of liquid saline water on Mars.
AB  - : Evidence for deliquescence of perchlorate salts has been discovered in the
      Martian polar region while possible brine flows have been observed in the
      equatorial region. This appears to contradict the idea that bulk deliquescence is
      too slow to occur during the short periods of the Martian diurnal cycle during
      which conditions are favorable for it. We conduct laboratory experiments to study
      the formation of liquid brines at Mars environmental conditions. We find that
      when water vapor is the only source of water, bulk deliquescence of perchlorates
      is not rapid enough to occur during the short periods of the day during which the
      temperature is above the salts' eutectic value, and the humidity is above the
      salts' deliquescence value. However, when the salts are in contact with water
      ice, liquid brine forms in minutes, indicating that aqueous solutions could form
      temporarily where salts and ice coexist on the Martian surface and in the shallow
      subsurface. KEY POINTS: The formation of brines at Martian conditions was studied
      experimentallyBulk deliquescence from water vapor is too slow to occur diurnally
      on MarsBrines form in minutes when salts are placed in direct contact with ice.

PMID- 25821268
TI  - Local amplification of storm surge by Super Typhoon Haiyan in Leyte Gulf.
AB  - Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines in November 2013, was an extremely
      intense tropical cyclone that had a catastrophic impact. The minimum central
      pressure of Typhoon Haiyan was 895 hPa, making it the strongest typhoon to make
      landfall on a major island in the western North Pacific Ocean. The
      characteristics of Typhoon Haiyan and its related storm surge are estimated by
      numerical experiments using numerical weather prediction models and a storm surge
      model. Based on the analysis of best hindcast results, the storm surge level was
      5-6 m and local amplification of water surface elevation due to seiche was found
      to be significant inside Leyte Gulf. The numerical experiments show the coherent
      structure of the storm surge profile due to the specific bathymetry of Leyte Gulf
      and the Philippines Trench as a major contributor to the disaster in Tacloban.
      The numerical results also indicated the sensitivity of storm surge forecast.

PMID- 25821269
TI  - Forecast cooling of the Atlantic subpolar gyre and associated impacts.
AB  - Decadal variability in the North Atlantic and its subpolar gyre (SPG) has been
      shown to be predictable in climate models initialized with the concurrent ocean
      state. Numerous impacts over ocean and land have also been identified. Here we
      use three versions of the Met Office Decadal Prediction System to provide a
      multimodel ensemble forecast of the SPG and related impacts. The recent cooling
      trend in the SPG is predicted to continue in the next 5 years due to a decrease
      in the SPG heat convergence related to a slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional
      Overturning Circulation. We present evidence that the ensemble forecast is able
      to skilfully predict these quantities over recent decades. We also investigate
      the ability of the forecast to predict impacts on surface temperature, pressure,
      precipitation, and Atlantic tropical storms and compare the forecast to recent
      boreal summer climate.

PMID- 25821270
TI  - Changes in global net radiative imbalance 1985-2012.
AB  - Combining satellite data, atmospheric reanalyses, and climate model simulations,
      variability in the net downward radiative flux imbalance at the top of Earth's
      atmosphere (N) is reconstructed and linked to recent climate change. Over the
      1985-1999 period mean N (0.34 +/- 0.67 Wm-2) is lower than for the 2000-2012
      period (0.62 +/- 0.43 Wm-2, uncertainties at 90% confidence level) despite the
      slower rate of surface temperature rise since 2000. While the precise magnitude
      of N remains uncertain, the reconstruction captures interannual variability which
      is dominated by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 and the El Nino Southern
      Oscillation. Monthly deseasonalized interannual variability in N generated by an
      ensemble of nine climate model simulations using prescribed sea surface
      temperature and radiative forcings and from the satellite-based reconstruction is
      significantly correlated (r~0.6) over the 1985-2012 period.

PMID- 25821271
TI  - Do seasonal-to-decadal climate predictions underestimate the predictability of
      the real world?
AB  - Seasonal-to-decadal predictions are inevitably uncertain, depending on the size
      of the predictable signal relative to unpredictable chaos. Uncertainties can be
      accounted for using ensemble techniques, permitting quantitative probabilistic
      forecasts. In a perfect system, each ensemble member would represent a potential
      realization of the true evolution of the climate system, and the predictable
      components in models and reality would be equal. However, we show that the
      predictable component is sometimes lower in models than observations, especially
      for seasonal forecasts of the North Atlantic Oscillation and multiyear forecasts
      of North Atlantic temperature and pressure. In these cases the forecasts are
      underconfident, with each ensemble member containing too much noise.
      Consequently, most deterministic and probabilistic measures underestimate
      potential skill and idealized model experiments underestimate predictability.
      However, skilful and reliable predictions may be achieved using a large ensemble
      to reduce noise and adjusting the forecast variance through a postprocessing
      technique proposed here.

PMID- 25821272
TI  - Broadscale postseismic gravity change following the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake
      and implication for deformation by viscoelastic relaxation and afterslip.
AB  - The analysis of GRACE gravity data revealed postseismic gravity increase by 6
      MUGal over a 500 km scale within a couple of years after the 2011 Tohoku-Oki
      earthquake, which is nearly 40-50% of the coseismic gravity change. It originates
      mostly from changes in the isotropic component corresponding to the Mrr moment
      tensor element. The exponential decay with rapid change in a year and gradual
      change afterward is a characteristic temporal pattern. Both viscoelastic
      relaxation and afterslip models produce reasonable agreement with the GRACE free
      air gravity observation, while their Bouguer gravity patterns and seafloor
      vertical deformations are distinctly different. The postseismic gravity variation
      is best modeled by the biviscous relaxation with a transient and steady state
      viscosity of 1018 and 1019 Pa s, respectively, for the asthenosphere. Our
      calculated higher-resolution viscoelastic relaxation model, underlying the
      partially ruptured elastic lithosphere, yields the localized postseismic
      subsidence above the hypocenter reported from the GPS-acoustic seafloor
      surveying.

PMID- 25821273
TI  - Groundwater depletion during drought threatens future water security of the
      Colorado River Basin.
AB  - Streamflow of the Colorado River Basin is the most overallocated in the world.
      Recent assessment indicates that demand for this renewable resource will soon
      outstrip supply, suggesting that limited groundwater reserves will play an
      increasingly important role in meeting future water needs. Here we analyze 9
      years (December 2004 to November 2013) of observations from the NASA Gravity
      Recovery and Climate Experiment mission and find that during this period of
      sustained drought, groundwater accounted for 50.1 km3 of the total 64.8 km3 of
      freshwater loss. The rapid rate of depletion of groundwater storage (-5.6 +/- 0.4
      km3 yr-1) far exceeded the rate of depletion of Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
      Results indicate that groundwater may comprise a far greater fraction of Basin
      water use than previously recognized, in particular during drought, and that its
      disappearance may threaten the long-term ability to meet future allocations to
      the seven Basin states.

PMID- 25821274
TI  - Global model of low-frequency chorus (fLHR<f<0.1fce) from multiple satellite
      observations.
AB  - : Whistler mode chorus is an important magnetospheric emission, playing a dual
      role in the acceleration and loss of relativistic electrons in the Earth's outer
      radiation belt. Chorus is typically generated in the equatorial region in the
      frequency range 0.1-0.8 fce, where fce is the local electron gyrofrequency.
      However, as the waves propagate to higher latitudes, significant wave power can
      occur at frequencies below 0.1fce. Since this wave power is largely omitted in
      current radiation belt models, we construct a global model of low-frequency
      chorus, fLHR<f<0.1fce, using data from six satellites. We find that low-frequency
      chorus is strongest, with an average intensity of 200 pT2, in the prenoon sector
      during active conditions at midlatitudes (20 degrees <|lambdam |<50 degrees )
      from 4<L*<8. Such midlatitude, low-frequency chorus wave power will contribute to
      the acceleration and loss of relativistic electrons and should be taken into
      account in radiation belt models. KEY POINTS: Strong chorus waves can extend
      below 0.1 times local electron gyrofrequencyLow frequency chorus strongest at mid
      latitudes in pre-noon sector for L*=4 to 8Low frequency chorus should be included
      in radiation belt models.

PMID- 25821275
TI  - Distinct patterns of seasonal Greenland glacier velocity.
AB  - : Predicting Greenland Ice Sheet mass loss due to ice dynamics requires a
      complete understanding of spatiotemporal velocity fluctuations and related
      control mechanisms. We present a 5 year record of seasonal velocity measurements
      for 55 marine-terminating glaciers distributed around the ice sheet margin, along
      with ice-front position and runoff data sets for each glacier. Among glaciers
      with substantial speed variations, we find three distinct seasonal velocity
      patterns. One pattern indicates relatively high glacier sensitivity to ice-front
      position. The other two patterns are more prevalent and appear to be meltwater
      controlled. These patterns reveal differences in which some subglacial systems
      likely transition seasonally from inefficient, distributed hydrologic networks to
      efficient, channelized drainage, while others do not. The difference may be
      determined by meltwater availability, which in some regions may be influenced by
      perennial firn aquifers. Our results highlight the need to understand subglacial
      meltwater availability on an ice sheet-wide scale to predict future dynamic
      changes. KEY POINTS: First multi-region seasonal velocity measurements show
      regional differencesSeasonal velocity fluctuations on most glaciers appear
      meltwater controlledSeasonal development of efficient subglacial drainage
      geographically divided.

PMID- 25821276
TI  - Cusp observation at Saturn's high-latitude magnetosphere by the Cassini
      spacecraft.
AB  - : We report on the first analysis of magnetospheric cusp observations at Saturn
      by multiple in situ instruments onboard the Cassini spacecraft. Using this we
      infer the process of reconnection was occurring at Saturn's magnetopause. This
      agrees with remote observations that showed the associated auroral signatures of
      reconnection. Cassini crossed the northern cusp around noon local time along a
      poleward trajectory. The spacecraft observed ion energy-latitude dispersions-a
      characteristic signature of the terrestrial cusp. This ion dispersion is
      "stepped," which shows that the reconnection is pulsed. The ion energy-pitch
      angle dispersions suggest that the field-aligned distance from the cusp to the
      reconnection site varies between ~27 and 51 RS . An intensification of lower
      frequencies of the Saturn kilometric radiation emissions suggests the prior
      arrival of a solar wind shock front, compressing the magnetosphere and providing
      more favorable conditions for magnetopause reconnection. KEY POINTS: We observe
      evidence for reconnection in the cusp plasma at SaturnWe present evidence that
      the reconnection process can be pulsed at SaturnSaturn's cusp shows similar
      characteristics to the terrestrial cusp.

PMID- 25821277
TI  - Greenland ice sheet melt from MODIS and associated atmospheric variability.
AB  - : Daily June-July melt fraction variations over the Greenland ice sheet (GIS)
      derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (2000
      2013) are associated with atmospheric blocking forming an omega-shape ridge over
      the GIS at 500 hPa height. Blocking activity with a range of time scales, from
      synoptic waves breaking poleward (<5 days) to full-fledged blocks (>=5 days),
      brings warm subtropical air masses over the GIS controlling daily surface
      temperatures and melt. The temperature anomaly of these subtropical air mass
      intrusions is also important for melting. Based on the years with the greatest
      melt (2002 and 2012) during the MODIS era, the area-average temperature anomaly
      of 2 standard deviations above the 14 year June-July mean results in a melt
      fraction of 40% or more. Though the summer of 2007 had the most blocking days,
      atmospheric temperature anomalies were too small to instigate extreme melting.
      KEY POINTS: Short-term atmospheric blocking over Greenland contributes to melt
      episodesAssociated temperature anomalies are equally important for the
      meltDuration and strength of blocking events contribute to surface melt
      intensity.

PMID- 25821278
TI  - Decrypting geophysical signals at Stromboli Volcano (Italy): Integration of
      seismic and Ground-Based InSAR displacement data.
AB  - We present the integration of seismic and Ground-Based Interferometric Synthetic
      Aperture Radar system (GBInSAR) displacement data at Stromboli Volcano. Ground
      deformation in the area of summit vents is positively correlated with both
      seismic tremor amplitude and cumulative amplitudes of very long period (VLP)
      signals associated with Strombolian explosions. Changes in VLP amplitudes precede
      by a few days the variations in ground deformation and seismic tremor. We propose
      a model where the arrival of fresh, gas-rich magma from depth enhances gas slug
      formation, promoting convection and gas transfer throughout the conduit system.
      At the shallowest portion of the conduit, an increase in volatile content causes
      a density decrease, expansion of the magmatic column and augmented degassing
      activity, which respectively induce inflation of the conduit, and increased
      tremor amplitudes. The temporal delay between increase of VLP and tremor
      amplitudes/conduit inflation can be interpreted in terms of the different
      timescales characterizing bulk gas transfer versus slug formation and ascent.

PMID- 25821279
TI  - A numerical algorithm with preference statements to evaluate the performance of
      scientists.
AB  - Academic evaluation committees have been increasingly receptive for using the
      number of published indexed articles, as well as citations, to evaluate the
      performance of scientists. It is, however, impossible to develop a stand-alone,
      objective numerical algorithm for the evaluation of academic activities, because
      any evaluation necessarily includes subjective preference statements. In a
      market, the market prices represent preference statements, but scientists work
      largely in a non-market context. I propose a numerical algorithm that serves to
      determine the distribution of reward money in Mexico's evaluation system, which
      uses relative prices of scientific goods and services as input. The relative
      prices would be determined by an evaluation committee. In this way, large
      evaluation systems (like Mexico's Sistema Nacional de Investigadores) could work
      semi-automatically, but not arbitrarily or superficially, to determine
      quantitatively the academic performance of scientists every few years. Data of 73
      scientists from the Biology Institute of Mexico's National University are
      analyzed, and it is shown that the reward assignation and academic priorities
      depend heavily on those preferences. A maximum number of products or activities
      to be evaluated is recommended, to encourage quality over quantity.

PMID- 25821280
TI  - Power laws in citation distributions: evidence from Scopus.
AB  - Modeling distributions of citations to scientific papers is crucial for
      understanding how science develops. However, there is a considerable empirical
      controversy on which statistical model fits the citation distributions best. This
      paper is concerned with rigorous empirical detection of power-law behaviour in
      the distribution of citations received by the most highly cited scientific
      papers. We have used a large, novel data set on citations to scientific papers
      published between 1998 and 2002 drawn from Scopus. The power-law model is
      compared with a number of alternative models using a likelihood ratio test. We
      have found that the power-law hypothesis is rejected for around half of the
      Scopus fields of science. For these fields of science, the Yule, power-law with
      exponential cut-off and log-normal distributions seem to fit the data better than
      the pure power-law model. On the other hand, when the power-law hypothesis is not
      rejected, it is usually empirically indistinguishable from most of the
      alternative models. The pure power-law model seems to be the best model only for
      the most highly cited papers in "Physics and Astronomy". Overall, our results
      seem to support theories implying that the most highly cited scientific papers
      follow the Yule, power-law with exponential cut-off or log-normal distribution.
      Our findings suggest also that power laws in citation distributions, when
      present, account only for a very small fraction of the published papers (less
      than 1 % for most of science fields) and that the power-law scaling parameter
      (exponent) is substantially higher (from around 3.2 to around 4.7) than found in
      the older literature.

PMID- 25821281
TI  - Too many journals? Towards a theory of repeated rejections and ultimate
      acceptance.
AB  - Under a set of reasonable assumptions, it is shown that all manuscripts submitted
      to any journal will ultimately be published, either by the first journal or by
      one of the following journals to which a manuscript is resubmitted. This suggests
      that low quality manuscripts may also be published, which further suggests that
      there may be too many journals.

PMID- 25821282
TI  - Exploring indigenous landscape classification across different dimensions: a case
      study from the Bolivian Amazon.
AB  - Decisions on landscape management are often dictated by government officials
      based on their own understandings of how landscape should be used and managed,
      but rarely considering local peoples' understandings of the landscape they
      inhabit. We use data collected through free listings, field transects, and
      interviews to describe how an Amazonian group of hunter-horticulturalists, the
      Tsimane', classify and perceive the importance of different elements of the
      landscape across the ecological, socioeconomic, and spiritual dimensions. The
      Tsimane' recognize nine folk ecotopes (i.e., culturally-recognized landscape
      units) and use a variety of criteria (including geomorphological features and
      landscape uses) to differentiate ecotopes from one another. The Tsimane' rank
      different folk ecotopes in accordance with their perceived ecological,
      socioeconomic, and spiritual importance. Understanding how local people perceive
      their landscape contributes towards a landscape management planning paradigm that
      acknowledges the continuing contributions to management of landscape inhabitants,
      as well as their cultural and land use rights.

PMID- 25821283
TI  - Does the Hispanic Paradox in U.S. Adult Mortality Extend to Disability?
AB  - Studies consistently document a Hispanic paradox in U.S. adult mortality, whereby
      Hispanics have similar or lower mortality rates than non-Hispanic whites despite
      lower socioeconomic status. This study extends this line of inquiry to
      disability, especially among foreign-born Hispanics, since their advantaged
      mortality seemingly should be paired with health advantages more generally. We
      also assess whether the paradox extends to U.S.-born Hispanics to evaluate the
      effect of nativity. We calculate multistate life tables of life expectancy with
      disability to assess whether racial/ethnic and nativity differences in the length
      of disability-free life parallel differences in overall life expectancy. Our
      results document a Hispanic paradox in mortality for foreign-born and U.S.-born
      Hispanics. However, Hispanics' low mortality rates are not matched by low
      disability rates. Their disability rates are substantially higher than those of
      non-Hispanic whites and generally similar to those of non-Hispanic blacks. The
      result is a protracted period of disabled life expectancy for Hispanics, both
      foreign- and U.S.-born.

PMID- 25821284
TI  - Managing Spatial Selections With Contextual Snapshots.
AB  - Spatial selections are a ubiquitous concept in visualization. By localizing
      particular features, they can be analysed and compared in different views.
      However, the semantics of such selections often depend on specific parameter
      settings and it can be difficult to reconstruct them without additional
      information. In this paper, we present the concept of contextual snapshots as an
      effective means for managing spatial selections in visualized data. The
      selections are automatically associated with the context in which they have been
      created. Contextual snapshots can also be used as the basis for interactive
      integrated and linked views, which enable in-place investigation and comparison
      of multiple visual representations of data. Our approach is implemented as a
      flexible toolkit with well-defined interfaces for integration into existing
      systems. We demonstrate the power and generality of our techniques by applying
      them to several distinct scenarios such as the visualization of simulation data,
      the analysis of historical documents and the display of anatomical data.

PMID- 25821285
TI  - Beyond Components of Wellbeing: The Effects of Relational and Situated
      Assemblage.
AB  - Despite multiple axes of variation in defining wellbeing, the paper argues for
      the dominance of a 'components approach' in current research and practice. This
      approach builds on a well-established tradition within the social sciences of
      attending to categories whether for their identification, their value or their
      meanings and political resonance. The paper critiques the components approach and
      explores how to move beyond it towards conceptually integrating the various
      categories and dimensions through a relational and situated account of wellbeing.
      Drawing on more fluid social sciences, wellbeing is framed as an effect,
      dependent on the mobilisation of resources from everyday encounters with complex
      assemblages of people, things and places. Through such a framing, wellbeing can
      be conceived of as stable and amenable to change, as individual and collective
      and as subjective and objective. Policy interventions then need to attend to the
      relationalities of particular social and spatial contexts.

PMID- 25821286
TI  - Reliability, Validity, and Associations with Sexual Behavior among Ghanaian
      Teenagers of Scales Measuring Four Dimensions Relationships with Parents and
      Other Adults.
AB  - Little research has been done on the social contexts of adolescent sexual
      behaviors in sub-Saharan Africa. As part of a longitudinal cohort study (N=1275)
      of teenage girls and boys in two Ghanaian towns, interviewers administered a 26
      item questionnaire module intended to assess four dimensions of youth-adult
      relationships: monitoring conflict, emotional support, and financial support.
      Confirmatory factor and traditional psychometric analyses showed the four scales
      to be reliable. Known-groups comparisons provided evidence of their validity. All
      four scales had strong bivariate associations with self-reported sexual behavior
      (odds ratios = 1.66, 0.74, 0.47, and 0.60 for conflict, support, monitoring, and
      financial support). The instrument is practical for use in sub-Saharan African
      settings and produces measures that are reliable, valid, and predictive of sexual
      behavior in youth.

PMID- 25821287
TI  - Gastrointestinal Basidiobolomycosis, a Rare and Under-diagnosed Fungal Infection
      in Immunocompetent Hosts: A Review Article.
AB  - Gastrointestinal Basidiobolomycosis (GIB) is an unusual, rare, but emerging
      fungal infection in the stomach, small intestine, colon, and liver. It has been
      rarely reported in the English literature and most of the reported cases have
      been from US, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran. In the last five years, 17 cases
      have been reported from one or two provinces in Iran, and it seems that it has
      been undiagnosed or probably unnoticed in other parts of the country. In this
      review, we explored the English literature from 1964 through 2013 via PubMed,
      Google, and Google scholar using the following search keywords:
      BasidiobolomycosisBasidiobolus ranarumGastrointestinal Basidiobolomycosis In this
      review, we attempted to collect all clinical, pathological, and radiological
      findings of the presenting patients; complemented with previous experiences
      regarding the treatment and prognosis of the GIB. Since 1964, only 71 cases have
      been reported, which will be fully described in terms of clinical presentations,
      methods of diagnosis and treatment as well as prognosis and follow up. 

PMID- 25821288
TI  - The shape of uterine contractions and labor progress in the spontaneous active
      labor.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dystocia is the most common indication of primary cesarean section.
      The most common cause of dystocia is uterine dysfunction. In prolonged labor,
      more attention is usually paid to the fetus and pelvis rather than to the role of
      uterine contractions in a delivery. Therefore, we decided to determine the
      relationship between the labor progress and uterine contractions shapes. METHODS:
      In this cross-sectional study, 200 primiparous women participated having a single
      pregnancy and cephalic presentation. Uterus contractions were recorded using
      electronic fetal monitoring at the beginning of the active phase of labor
      (dilatation 3-5 cm) for 30 min. Fall to rise (F:R) ratio was calculated by
      determining the duration of returning from a contraction peak to its baseline
      (fall) and the duration of the rise time from baseline to peak (rise) in two
      groups. The data were analyzed using t-test and Chi-square test. RESULTS: In this
      study, 162 women had a normal delivery and 38 women had a cesarean (CS) delivery
      due to the lack of labor progress. The average F:R ratio was 1.13+/-0.193 seconds
      in the vaginal delivery group and 1.64+/-0.301 seconds in the CS group. This
      difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). The frequency of contractions
      in the vaginal delivery group was more than the CS group (P=0.008). CONCLUSION:
      Our findings demonstrated that uterine contractions shapes change; and F:R ratio
      was higher in the group that lacked labor progress. Therefore, contraction shapes
      can be used to predict the labor progress.

PMID- 25821289
TI  - Designing a prognostic scoring system for predicting the outcomes of proximal
      fifth metatarsal fractures at 20 weeks.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fractures of the proximal fifth metatarsal bone are among the most
      common fractures observed in the foot and their classification and management has
      been subject to much discussion and disagreement. In this study, we aim to
      identify and quantify the effect of possible predictors of the outcome of the
      treatment of proximal fifth metatarsal fractures. METHODS: Patients with
      established proximal fifth metatarsal fractures were enrolled in this prospective
      cohort and the outcome of their treatment was assessed using the AOFAS mid foot
      scale at 6 and 20 weeks. RESULTS: 143 patients were included in the study. Our
      study showed that displacement, weight and type III fractures were significant
      independent predictors of poor outcome at 6 weeks while at 20 weeks in addition
      to these factors, gender and diabetes mellitus were also shown to be significant
      independent predictors of poor outcome. A scoring system was designed by
      assigning weight to these factors and it was shown to be a strong predictor of
      outcome at 20 weeks. CONCLUSION: We recommend that our scoring system would help
      surgeons to decide whether patients' prognostic factors are significant enough
      for him/her to opt for a surgical approach to treatment rather than a
      conservative approach.

PMID- 25821290
TI  - Comparison of cell viability and embryoid body size of two embryonic stem cell
      lines after different exposure times to bone morphogenetic protein 4.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Activation of bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) signaling pathway
      in embryonic stem (ES) cells plays an important role in controlling cell
      proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Adverse effects of BMP4 occur in a
      time dependent manner; however, little is known about the effect of different
      time exposure of this growth factor on cell number in culture media. In this
      study, we investigated the role of two different exposure times to BMP4 in cell
      viability, embryoid body (EB), size, and cavitation of ES cells. METHODS:
      Embryonic stem cells (R1 and B1 lines) were released from the feeder cell layers
      and were cultured using EBs protocol by using the hanging drop method and
      monolayer culture system. The cells were cultured for 5 days with 100 ng/mL BMP4
      from the beginning (++BMP4) or after 48 h (+BMP4) of culture and their cell
      number were counted by trypan blue staining. The data were analyzed using non
      parametric two-tailed Mann-Whitney test. P<0.05 was considered as significant.
      RESULTS: In EB culture protocol, cell number significantly decreased in +BMP4
      culture condition with greater cavity size compared to the ++BMP4 condition at
      day 5 (P=0.009). In contrast, in monolayer culture system, there was no
      significant difference in the cell number between all groups (P=0.91).
      CONCLUSION: The results suggest that short-term exposure of BMP4 is required to
      promote cavitation in EBs according to lower cell number in +BMP4 condition.
      Different cell lines showed different behavior in cavitation formation.

PMID- 25821291
TI  - Acute and Chronic Effects of N-acetylcysteine on Pentylenetetrazole-induced
      Seizure and Neuromuscular Coordination in Mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has been indicated against experimental
      seizures, but with relatively inconclusive results. This study was undertaken to
      evaluate whether NAC exerts a dose-dependent anticonvulsant effect and to
      determine NAC safe therapeutic dose range and its muscle-relaxant activity in
      both acute and chronic uses. METHODS: Following intraperitoneal (i.p.)
      administration of N-acetylcysteine acutely (50-300 mg/kg) or chronically for 8
      days (25-300 mg/kg), mice were injected with PTZ (90 mg/kg, i.p.) and latency
      times to the onset of myoclonic and clonic seizures and protection against death
      were recorded. Changes in body weight and mortality rate were considered as
      parameters for drug safety. The muscle-relaxant activity of NAC was assessed by
      rotarod test. RESULTS: Acute and chronic treatment with NAC delayed latency times
      to myoclonic and clonic seizures in a dose-dependent manner, but with no
      significant prevention against PTZ-induced death. Chronic administration of 300
      mg/kg NAC was fully lethal while lower doses (100 and 150 mg/kg) resulted in a
      significant weight loss and decreased stay time on rotarod. Acute treatment with
      NAC had no significant effect on stay time on rotarod at all studied doses.
      CONCLUSION: NAC exerts a dose-dependent anticonvulsant effect in acute and
      chronic uses, with no muscle relaxant activity. NAC has higher efficacy in
      preventing seizure in chronic than acute treatment, but its chronic use at higher
      doses of 75 mg/kg may be associated with side effects and/or toxicity. These
      findings suggest that low doses of NAC may have a potential use as a prophylactic
      treatment for absence seizure in human.

PMID- 25821292
TI  - Attenuation of morphine withdrawal syndrome by various dosages of curcumin in
      comparison with clonidine in mouse: possible mechanism.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Herbal medical compounds and their major constituent have been used
      in the management and treatment of opioid withdrawal syndrome and pain. This
      study was carried out to clarify the effect of curcumin, the major compound of
      turmeric, on morphine withdrawal syndrome in mouse model and its possible
      mechanisms of pain relieving activity by assessing in writhing test as a model of
      visceral pain. METHODS: Due to two separate protocols (withdrawal syndrome and
      pain), 144 male albino mice were divided in two major groups. In withdrawal
      syndrome group, test effect of various dosages of curcumin (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg)
      was assessed on withdrawal signs and compared with positive and negative control
      and standard treatment (clonidine 0.4 mg/kg) groups. In pain groups, to determine
      the mechanism of pain relieving activity of curcumin, various dosages of curcumin
      (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg) in three separated groups, were used against acetic acid
      induced writhing (which is a constriction) test. The most effective dose (40
      mg/kg) was used in writhing test and compared with groups pretreated with
      antagonist of major neurotransmitters involved in pain; and compared with group
      pretreated with vehicle (DMSO, 0.05%) as control. RESULTS: Curcumin attenuates
      withdrawal syndrome in a dose dependent manner in comparison with the dependent
      positive control group (P<0.05). It also indicated that pretreatment with
      naloxone and cyproheptadine significantly attenuate antinociception effect of
      curcumin (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study advocate that antinociception of
      curcumin was mediated by opioidergic and adrenergic system.

PMID- 25821293
TI  - The role of apoptosis in the cellular response of liver and spleen of BALB/c mice
      in cutaneous leishmaniasis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a common parasitic disease in Iran being
      mainly caused by Leishmania (L.) major. The aim of this study was to investigate
      the occurrence of apoptosis in the spleen and liver of female mice infected with
      L. major. METHODS: BALB/c mice were randomly assigned into the control and
      experimental groups (ten mice per group). The experimental groups were
      subcutaneously inoculated with promastigotes of L. major at stationary phase. The
      animals were sacrificed after 20, 40, 60, 90, and 120 days of injection. The
      liver and spleen were analyzed for various parameters of apoptosis. RESULTS:
      Activities of superoxide dismutase and caspase-3, levels of superoxide anion
      production and malondialdehyde, and the percent of DNA fragmentation were
      increased in the liver and spleen of the infected mice. Catalase activity in the
      liver was increased, while glutathione level in both tissues was decreased after
      90 and 120 days of infection. The numbers of apoptotic nuclei in the spleen were
      higher than the liver at 90 and 120 days post-infection using the TUNEL method.
      CONCLUSION: L. major infection induces a time-dependent increase in apoptosis in
      the liver and spleen as evidenced by the production of ROS, increasing activation
      of caspase-3, elevated DNA fragmentation, and increasing lipid peroxidation.
      Induction of oxidative stress was observed in the liver and spleen after 90 and
      120 days of initiation of the infection. However, the spleen tissue appears to be
      more sensitive to the infection to L. major on oxidative stress and apoptosis
      induction compared with the liver tissue.

PMID- 25821294
TI  - Wharton's Jelly-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells can Differentiate into Hepatocyte
      like Cells by HepG2 Cell Line Extract.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Wharton's jelly is an unlimited source of stem cells that can be used
      in cell therapy and tissue engineering without any ethical concern. It has been
      revealed the cell-free extract could be effective to induce cell differentiation.
      The objective of this study was to induce Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal
      stem cells (MSCs) into hepatocyte-like cells by premeabilization of the cells in
      the presence of HepG2 cell line extract. METHODS: MSCs were isolated from the
      umbilical cord, CD marker profile and their differentiation potential into
      adipogenic and osteogenic lineages were determined. The cells were then,
      permeabilized by streptolysin O in the presence of HepG cell extract. The treated
      cells were cultured for 17 days. The cell phenotype was evaluated and the
      hepatocyte specific markers were detected by immunofluorescence and
      immunocytochemistry. The Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) reaction and the cellular
      uptake of indocyanine green were performed to evaluate the functional behavior of
      the differentiated cells. RESULTS: The phenotype of extract-treated MSCs changed
      into a round or polygonal cells with few short processes and they could express
      high level of albumin, cytokeratin 18 and 19. The MSCs also could store glycogen
      and uptake and release indocyanine green. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated for the
      first time that Wharton's jelly-derived MSCs could differentiate into hepatocyte
      like cells by premeabilization of them in the presence of HepG2 cell extract.
      This study suggests a feasible method to differentiate MSCs into functional
      hepatocyte-like cells.

PMID- 25821295
TI  - The effects of resveratrol in rats with simultaneous type 2 diabetes and renal
      hypertension: a study of antihypertensive mechanisms.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Resveratrol has beneficial effects on cardiovascular system. This
      study aimed at examining antidiabetic and antihypertensive effects of resveratrol
      in rats with simultaneous type 2 diabetes and renal hypertension. METHODS: Eight
      groups (8-10 each) of male Spargue-Dawley rats, including a control, a diabetic
      (induced by streptozotocin and nicotinamide), a renal hypertensive (induced by
      placing plexiglas clips on the left renal arteries), a sham, a simultaneously
      hypertensive-diabetic receiving vehicle, and 3 simultaneous hypertensive-diabetic
      receiving resveratrol at 5, 10 or 20 mg/kg/day were used. Four weeks after the
      induction of diabetes, renal hypertension was induced and animals were given
      vehicle or resveratrol for the next four weeks. Afterwards, blood pressure and
      glucose, serum markers of oxidative stress were measured and animal's aortic
      rings were used for isolated studies. RESULTS: Serum malondialdehyde, systolic
      blood pressure, heart rate, fasting blood glucose, maximal response and effective
      concentration 50 of phenylephrine, and inhibitory concentration 50 of
      acetylcholine of hypertensive-diabetic group receiving vehicle were significantly
      higher than those of the control group, and treatment with resveratrol caused
      significant reduction of these variables. Moreover, serum superoxide dismutase,
      glutathione reductase, and maximal response to acetylcholine of hypertensive
      diabetic group receiving vehicle were significantly lower than those of the
      control group, and treatment with resveratrol caused significant increase of
      these variables. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that resveratrol has
      antidiabetic and antihypertensive effects, which may be partly due to antioxidant
      mechanism. They also show that antihypertensive effect of resveratrol may be
      additionally mediated by improving the release of nitric oxide and sympathoplegic
      activities.

PMID- 25821296
TI  - The prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection and smear positive pulmonary
      tuberculosis in people with household close contact with tuberculosis in north of
      iran.
AB  - One of the recommended strategies for preventing tuberculosis is to screen high
      risk populations with respect to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) infection. The
      aim of the present study was to investigate latent infection and active
      tuberculosis in people with close household contact. It was a cross-sectional
      descriptive, analytical study with the sample size of 668 people from homes with
      one infected resident. In order to diagnose tuberculosis latent infection, the
      PPD test was done. To determine patients with smear-positive pulmonary
      tuberculosis, three sputum samples were taken from every patient and were
      examined using direct microscopy and culture. Data was analyzed by SPSS20
      software. The prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection and smear-positive
      pulmonary tuberculosis were 42.8% and 0.9% respectively. The prevalence of latent
      tuberculosis infection and smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis in people with
      close household contact were less than that of other studies. However, smear
      positive pulmonary tuberculosis in people with close household contact was 199.5
      times more than that of the general population. 

PMID- 25821297
TI  - Effect of burn sites (upper and lower body parts) and gender on extensive burns'
      mortality.
AB  - Our recent literature survey indicated a lack of clinical assessment of the
      influence of gender and site of burn injury on the outcome of patients with
      extensive burns. This report examines the effect of burn sites and gender on
      extensive burns' mortality. Data was gathered from 283 patients with burns larger
      than 65% of the total body surface area (TBSA) above the belt line or below the
      belt line; and without underlying diseases and inhalation burn injury. Patients
      were classified according to gender, site of injury (upper and lower body parts)
      and hospital stay period. Mortality rates of each category were then compared
      with each other. The hospital stay period in the female group was significantly
      higher compared with the male group (P<0.001) and the mortality rate among the
      female patients was higher compared with the male patients (P=0.004). Although
      the mortality rate in lower body part of the male group was significantly higher
      in comparison with the upper body part burn (P=0.001), there was no difference in
      mortality rate of upper versus lower body part in the female group. The mortality
      rate was generally higher among the female patients. Additionally, higher
      mortality rate was observed among male patients with lower body part burn
      compared with injuries of male patients with upper body part burn. 

PMID- 25821298
TI  - G22A Polymorphism of Adenosine Deaminase and its Association with Biochemical
      Characteristics of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in an Iranian Population.
AB  - Adenosine deaminase (ADA) is an important regulator of insulin action. The single
      nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) G22A in the ADA gene decreases enzymatic activity
      of ADA. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the SNP
      G22A and blood glycemic control, insulin resistance, and obesity of gestational
      diabetes mellitus (GDM) patients in an Iranian population. SNP G22A was
      determined in women with GDM (N=70) and healthy pregnant women (control, N=70)
      using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Fasting
      plasma glucose (FPG), hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c), plasma insulin levels and plasma
      lipids were measured using commercial kits. Homeostasis model of assessment for
      insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was calculated. The distribution of genotypes and
      alleles among GDM patients was similar to that of the control group. FPG and
      HbA1c were significantly higher in GDM patients with GG genotype compared with
      GDM patients with GA+AA genotype and non-GDM patients. The frequency of GG
      genotype was significantly higher in obese GDM patients compared to lean GDM
      patients. The SNP G22A in the ADA gene was not associated with the risk of GDM in
      our population. GG genotype was associated with poor glycemic control and obesity
      in GDM patients. 

PMID- 25821299
TI  - An unusual case of metastatatic renal cell carcinoma presenting as melena and
      duodenal ulcer, 16 years after nephrectomy; a case report and review of the
      literature.
AB  - Renal cell carcinoma comprises about 2% of adult tumors. The overall 10-year
      survival rate of patients with RCC after nephrectomy is about 18-27%. The
      incidence of metastasis of initial RCC is about 24-28%, but this rate after
      nephrectomy is as high as 51%. The most common site of recurrence is the lung,
      however liver and bone metastases are common. There are many reported cases with
      late metastasis, however isolated late metastasis in the gastrointestinal tract
      especially duodenum is very rare. Herein we report our experience with a case of
      gastrointestinal bleeding secondary to metastatic renal cell carcinoma to
      duodenum, 16 years after nephrectomy. To the best of our knowledge, about 30 of
      such cases have been reported in the English literature. Many of the previous
      cases have been part of disseminated disease and isolated duodenal metastasis is
      very rare. The longest reported duration between nephrectomy for renal cell
      carcinoma and duodenal metastasis has been 13 years, thus it seems our case to be
      also unique because of very late duodenal metastasis. 

PMID- 25821300
TI  - A huge lymphangioma mimicking pleural effusion with extension to both chest
      cavities: a case report and review of literature.
AB  - Mediastinal lymphangioma is primarily a benign lesion and the majority of the
      cases are found incidentally. These lesions account for approximately 1% of all
      mediastinal tumors. Here we present a giant mediastinal cystic mass in a 35-year
      old female who was presented with severe respiratory distress. On the plain chest
      radiography and CT scan, a massive left pleural effusion with large parasternal
      and mediastinal lymphadenopathy was seen. Thoracentesis was performed and 400 cm3
      of clear fluid was drained from the left hemithorax. However, a subsequent CT
      scan with contrast and the same technique 40 days later showed a large cystic
      mass in the mediastinum protruding to the right and left hemi thoraces. The giant
      cystic mass was resected via right and left anterior thoracotomies.
      Histopathological examination revealed a diagnosis of lymphangioma. The patient
      has been alive and without tumor recurrence and has been followed for 2 years. 

PMID- 25821301
TI  - An intraoral epitheloid hemangioendothelioma masquerading clinically as pyogenic
      granuloma.
AB  - Epitheloid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is an uncommon angiocentric neoplasm of
      intermediate malignant potential. This tumor is frequently seen in the lungs and
      liver, but its presentation in the oral cavity is rare. In the oral cavity,
      gingival region is the common sites of occurrence. We report a rare case of
      epitheloid hemangioendothelioma in a 48-year-old male, presenting as a growth in
      the upper anterior gingiva of five months duration along with a review of its
      clinicopathological and immunohistochemical characteristics. 

PMID- 25821302
TI  - Time to sensitize medical graduates to the Indian Systems of Medicine and
      Homeopathy.

PMID- 25821304
TI  - The Tamiflu fiasco and lessons learnt.
AB  - Oseltamivir (Tamiflu), a neuraminidase inhibitor, was approved for seasonal flu
      by US Food and Drug Administration in 1999. A number of randomized controlled
      trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis emphasized a favorable efficacy and
      safety profile. Majority of them were funded by Roche, which also first marketed
      and promoted this drug. In 2005 and 2009, the looming fear of pandemic flu led to
      recommendation by prominent regulatory bodies such as World Health Organization
      (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Medicines Agency and
      others for its use in treatment and prophylaxis of influenza, and it's
      stockpiling as a measure to tide over the crisis. Serious Adverse Events,
      especially neuropsychiatric events associated with Tamiflu started getting
      reported leading to a cascade of questions on clinical utility of this drug. A
      recent Cochrane review and related articles have questioned the risk-benefit
      ratio of the drug, besides raising doubts about the regulatory decision of
      approving it. The recommendations for stockpiling the said drug as given by
      various international organizations viz WHO have also been put to scrutiny.
      Although many reviewers have labeled the Tamiflu saga as a "costly mistake," the
      episode leaves us with some important lessons. This article takes a comprehensive
      relook on the subject, and we proceed to suggest some ways and means to avoid a
      similar situation in the future. 

PMID- 25821303
TI  - Diabetes-associated depression: the serotonergic system as a novel
      multifunctional target.
AB  - Diabetes associated depression is a largely understudied field which nonetheless
      carries a significant disease burden. The very low therapeutic efficacy of the
      existing conventional drugs with poor outcome may be, in part, due to uncertainty
      of the mechanism involved that clearly explains the existing comorbidity. The
      main purpose of this review was to address the sophisticated mechanisms of this
      comorbidity with a view of developing potential novel targets with higher
      efficacy and specificity. Data were collected from database searches including
      PubMed, references from relevant English language research/review articles and
      other official publications. Articles from 1990 to 2013 were included, and a
      broad search term criteria were followed for data mining so that relevant
      information was not missed out. Some of the search terms used included; diabetes
      induced depression, diabetes and serotonin, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)
      axis and diabetes and glucocorticoids in diabetes. Neuropathologically, depletion
      of brain monoaminergic activity specifically the serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine
      [5-HT]) system, due to chronically persisting diabetic state may lead to the mood
      and behavioral complications that further add on worsening the quality life
      years. The 5-HT system through multifunctional tasks regulates neurogenesis and
      plasticity and by complex receptor mechanism controls the emotional and
      behavioral activity. Persisting hyperglycemia leads to impaired neurogenesis,
      decreased synaptic plasticity, undesired neuro-anatomical alterations,
      neurochemical deficits, and reduced neurotransmitter activity. The neurotrophic
      factors and secondary messenger functions affected at molecular and genetic
      levels indicate the impact of diabetes-mediated dysregulation on neuronal
      circuits. HPA activity, glycogen synthase kinase 3, and insulin signaling
      controls were also found to be hampered, interlinked to 5-HT system following
      diabetic progression. 

PMID- 25821305
TI  - Protective effect of simvastatin and rosuvastatin on trinitrobenzene sulfonic
      acid-induced colitis in rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Statins have anti-inflammatory effects that are not directly related
      to their cholesterol lowering activity. This study was carried out to evaluate
      the effect of simvastatin or rosuvastatin on the extent of colonic mucosal damage
      and on the inflammatory response in trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced
      ulcerative colitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ulcerative colitis was induced by
      single intrarectal injection of 120 mg/kg TNBS. Test groups were treated with
      simvastatin (10 mg/kg, p.o.) or rosuvastatin (10 mg/kg, p.o.). Colonic mucosal
      inflammation was evaluated clinically, biochemically, and histologically. RESULT:
      Disease activity index score in TNBS-treated rats, as determined by weight loss,
      stool consistency, fecal occult blood, were significantly lowers in simvastatin
      or rosuvastatin-treated rats than TNBS-treated animals. Simvastatin or
      rosuvastatin counteracted the reduction in colon length, decreased colon weight,
      neutrophil accumulation, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha level in TNBS-induced
      colitis. Simvastatin and rosuvastatin also inhibited the increase in oxidative
      stress levels after TNBS administration. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that
      simvastatin and rosuvastatin significantly ameliorate experimental colitis in
      rats, and these effects could be explained by their anti-inflammatory and
      antioxidant activity.

PMID- 25821306
TI  - Lead-induced adverse effects on the reproductive system of rats with particular
      reference to histopathological changes in uterus.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study was undertaken to elucidate the adverse effect of lead on
      female reproductive system following in vivo exposure in rats. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Animals of Group II, III and IV received lead acetate in drinking water
      (30, 100 and 300 ppm, respectively) for 28 days whereas Group I served as
      control. Lead levels in digested blood and bone samples were measured using
      atomic absorption spectrophotometer. RESULTS: Marked and a significant decrease
      in per cent body weight gain was observed in rats of Group IV and III,
      respectively, compared to that in the control group. Relative uterine weights
      were found to decrease by 27% in Group III and IV compared to control and low
      dose lead treated (30 ppm) rats. Lead levels were found to increase in a linear
      manner in blood along with a marked increase in bone levels in 100 ppm exposure
      group while there was a decrease in both the blood and bones levels at 300 ppm
      exposure. Compared to plasma progesterone levels in rats of the control group, a
      nonsignificant (12.46-21.13%) reduction in plasma progesterone were observed in
      different lead-treated groups. No apparent gross pathological lesions were
      observed in any of the vital organs, including uterus. However, histopathological
      examination of uteri of different groups revealed lead-induced dose-dependent
      inflammatory changes, which were characterized by thickening of the endometrium,
      narrowing of uterine lumen, damage to endometrial glands and vacuolar
      degeneration in endometrial epithelial cells. CONCLUSION: Findings of this study
      suggest lead-induced pathophysiological alterations in myometrium, which in turn
      may affect the reproductive efficiency of animals.

PMID- 25821307
TI  - Toll-like receptor 4 is involved in a protective effect of rhein on
      immunoglobulin A nephropathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective was to investigate the protective effects of rhein on
      renal histology change and the effects of rhein on renal tissue toll-like
      receptor (TLR) 4, TLR9, transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) expression
      in immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bovine serum
      albumin-lipopolysaccharide-carbon tetrachloride 4 method was used to establish
      IgAN model. Thirty-two male sprague dawley rats were randomly divided into the
      control group, IgAN model group, rhein-prevented group, and rhein-treated group.
      24-h urinary protein (UP), creatinine, urea, alanine aminotransferase (ALT),
      total protein (TP) contents in the serum of rats were detected with automatic
      biochemical analyzer and renal pathological changes were observed by the
      hematoxylin and eosin and periodic acid-Schiff staining. The glomerular
      deposition of IgA was measured by immunofluorescence staining. Real-time
      polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry were used to detect renal
      tissue contents of TLR4, TLR9, TGF-beta1 messenger ribonucleic acid and protein
      expression. RESULTS: The biochemical parameters results of IgAN model rats showed
      that the 24-h UP excretion and ALT concentration were much higher, and TP
      concentration was much lower than those of the control group (P < 0.05). Granule
      like or mass-like IgA depositions in the mesangial area, glomerular
      hypercellularity, hyperplasia of mesangial matrix, and tubulointerstitial
      fibrosis were found in IgAN group. Rhein-prevented and rhein-treated both
      improved the biochemical parameters and relieved renal pathological injury. The
      expressions of renal tissue TLR4, TGF-beta1, but not TLR9 were significantly
      elevated in IgAN model rats (P < 0.05). Rhein-prevented and rhein-treated both
      inhibited TLR4 and TGF-beta1 expressions. CONCLUSION: Rhein significantly
      improved the serum and urine biochemical parameters, and attenuated the
      glomerular pathological changes and tubulointerstitial fibrosis in IgAN rats. The
      mechanism may involve inhibition of renal TLR4 and TGF-beta1 secretion.

PMID- 25821308
TI  - Evaluation of effects of T and N type calcium channel blockers on the
      electroencephalogram recordings in Wistar Albino Glaxo/Rij rats, an absence
      epilepsy model.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: It is suggested that excessive calcium entry into neurons is the main
      triggering event in the initiation of epileptic discharges. We aimed to
      investigate the role of T and N type calcium channels in absence epilepsy
      experimental model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Wistar Albino Glaxo/Rij (WAG/Rij) rats
      (12-16 weeks old) were randomly allocated into four groups; sham, mibefradil (T
      type calcium channel blocker), w-Conotoxin MVIIA (N type calcium channel
      blocker), and mibefradil + w-Conotoxin MVIIA. Beta, alpha, theta, and delta wave
      ratios of EEG recordings and frequency and duration of spike wave discharges
      (SWDs) were analyzed and compared between groups. RESULTS: Beta and delta
      recording ratios in 1 MUM/5 MUl mibefradil group was significantly different from
      basal and other dose-injected groups. Beta, alpha, and theta recordings in 0.2
      MUM/5 MUl w-Conotoxin MVIIA group was significantly different from basal and
      other dose-injected groups. In w-Conotoxin MVIIA after mibefradil group, beta,
      alpha, and theta recording ratios were significantly different from basal and
      mibefradil group. Mibefradil and w-Conotoxin MVIIA significantly decreased the
      frequency and duration of SWDs. The decrease of frequency and duration of SWDs in
      mibefradil group was significantly different from w-Conotoxin MVIIA group. The
      frequency and duration of SWDs significantly decreased in w-Conotoxin MVIIA after
      mibefradil group compared with basal, mibefradil, and w-Conotoxin MVIIA groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that both T and L type calcium channels play activator
      roles in SWDs and have positive effects on frequency and duration of these
      discharges. These results are related with their central effects more than
      peripheral effects.

PMID- 25821309
TI  - Combination of Spirulina with glycyrrhizin prevents cognitive dysfunction in aged
      obese rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the cognition enhancing effect of the combination of
      Spirulina and glycyrrhizin in monosodium glutamate (MSG)-induced obese aged rats.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Obesity was induced in rats by administration of MSG
      (intraperitoneally, 4 mg/g body weight) for 14 consecutive days from day 1 after
      birth. Subsequently, the animals were allowed to grow for 18 months with food and
      water ad libitum. Hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia, leptin resistance, were
      monitored in these animals. Cognitive status was assessed by Barne's maze task
      and hippocampal acetylcholinesterase (AChE) levels. Further, the animals were
      treated with Spirulina (Sp) (oral route, 1 g/Kg body weight, for 30 days) alone
      or glycyrrhizin (Gly) alone (intraperitoneal route, 0.1 mg/Kg, on day 15 and day
      21), or their combination (SpGly). Counting of the treatment days was done by
      considering first day of Sp administration as day 1. After the completion of 30
      days of Spirulina treatment or 2 doses of Gly administration or the combination
      (SpGly) treatment, the animals were left for 3 weeks. They were then were
      assessed for their biochemical and cognitive changes. RESULTS: The combination of
      Sp with Gly showed a significant reduction (P < 0.0001) in glucose, cholesterol,
      leptin levels in the serum with improvement in cognitive functions with
      concomitant reduction in AChE activity in the hippocampal tissue homogenates (P <
      0.0001) of the obese rats. CONCLUSION: SpGly combination has a potential role in
      reversing cognitive dysfunctions associated with aging and obesity.

PMID- 25821310
TI  - Effects of valproate on the carotid artery intima-media thickness in epileptics.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective was to explore the effects of valproate (VPA) on the
      carotid artery intima-media thickness (CA-IMT) in epileptics. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A total of 30 epileptic patients treated with VPA was included as
      disease group, while 33 healthy people who matched general basic demographic
      details were the control group. The IMTs of the left and right carotids of the
      both groups were measured, and the average CA-IMT was calculated. The IMT-related
      risk factors were acquired for the univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS:
      The bilateral carotid and average CA-IMTs of the disease group were significantly
      higher than the control group (P < 0.001). The multivariant gradual regressive
      analysis screened out two CA-IMT-related factors, namely the disease duration and
      the drug administration duration were positively correlated with the average CA
      IMT. The epileptic patients with disease course of more than 3 years had much
      higher average CA-IMT than that of the epileptics with <=3 years disease (P <
      0.001). The average CA-IMT of the patients with VPA-administration duration >1
      year was also higher than that of the patients with VPA-administration duration
      <1 year, while the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.196).
      CONCLUSIONS: The average CA-IMT of the epileptic patients treated with VPA was
      higher than that of healthy people.

PMID- 25821312
TI  - Effects of bleomycin A5 on caspase-3, P53, bcl-2 expression and telomerase
      activity in vascular endothelial cells.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanism of
      bleomycin A5 in inducing the apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells
      (ECV304). MATERIALS AND METHODS: ECV304 cells were cultured and passaged, and
      then were divided into control group and three treatment groups. The later three
      groups were treated with 15, 75, and 150 MUg/ml bleomycin A5 for 24 hours,
      respectively. The expressions of caspase-3, p53, and bcl-2 in ECV304 cells were
      detected by flow cytometry, and the activity of telomerase was determined using
      telomere repeat amplification protocol (TRAP)-silver staining method. RESULTS:
      After treatment with different concentrations of bleomycin A5, the expression of
      caspase-3 in ECV304 cells was increased. It was significantly decreased with the
      increase of bleomycin A5 concentration, but the difference between 75 MUg/ml and
      150 MUg/ml groups was not significant. Bleomycin A5 could significantly increase
      the expression of p53, with concentration dependence. It had no obvious effect on
      bcl-2 expression. There was high expression of telomerase in control group. After
      treatment with different concentration of bleomycin A5, the telomerase activity
      was significantly decreased. CONCLUSION: Bleomycin A5 can increase caspase-3 and
      p53 levels and inhibit telomerase activity to induce ECV304 apoptosis.

PMID- 25821311
TI  - Resuscitation with hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.4 attenuates intestinal injury in a
      rabbit model of sepsis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Improvement of mucosal barrier function and reduction of bacterial
      translocation are important in the management of sepsis. The mechanisms that
      underlie the protective effects of colloids on the intestinal mucosal barrier are
      unclear. The study aims to investigate the effect of fluid resuscitation with
      hydroxyethyl starch (HES) 130/0.4 against intestinal mucosal barrier dysfunction
      in a rabbit model of sepsis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty healthy rabbits were
      randomly and equally divided into a sham-operated control, a sepsis model, or a
      sepsis + HES treatment group. The sepsis model and sepsis + HES treatment groups
      were subjected to a modified colon ascendens stent peritonitis (CASP) procedure
      to induce sepsis. Four hours after the CASP procedure, fluid resuscitation was
      performed with 6% HES 130/0.4. Arterial and superior mesenteric vein blood
      samples were collected 4 and 8 h after the CASP procedure for blood gas analysis
      and measuring tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-10, and D-lactate levels.
      The rabbits were euthanized 8 h after CASP, and sections of the small intestine
      were stained to evaluate histopathological changes. RESULTS: Respiratory rate and
      blood pressure were stable during the resuscitation period. Fluid resuscitation
      with 6% HES 130/0.4 alleviated pathological changes in the abdominal cavity,
      improved blood gas parameters and inflammatory mediator levels, decreased plasma
      D-lactate levels, and reduced intestinal mucosal injury compared with the non
      treated sepsis model. CONCLUSIONS: Fluid resuscitation with 6% HES 130/0.4
      protects against intestinal mucosal barrier dysfunction in rabbits with sepsis,
      possibly via mechanisms associated with improving intestinal oxygen metabolism
      and reducing the release of inflammatory mediators.

PMID- 25821313
TI  - Evaluation of anti-osteoarthritic activity of Vigna mungo in papain induced
      osteoarthritis model.
AB  - AIM: This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of Vigna mungo
      hydroalcoholic extract (VMHA) by papain induced osteoarthritis (OA) in the rat
      model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: OA was induced by intra-articular injection of
      papain (4% w/v) along with cysteine (0.03 M) on day 1, 4 and 7 in rats and VMHA
      was administered orally in three doses (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) after last papain
      injection. The anti-osteoarthritic activity was evaluated by measuring knee joint
      diameter, grip strength, locomotion activity and hanging time. Histopathological
      analysis and acute toxicity study were also performed. RESULTS: VMHA improved
      inflammatory condition with all the doses, but significant (P < 0.05) attenuation
      of inflammation was present only with 400 mg/kg dose. The grip strength,
      locomotion activity and hanging time were also significantly (P < 0.05) improved
      at dose level of 100 mg/kg however other two doses (200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg) were
      not found to be effective. VMHA did not show any mortality or any toxic clinical
      signs after oral administration of 2 g/kg dose. CONCLUSION: VMHA improved
      arthritic condition by significantly reducing pain and inflammation.

PMID- 25821314
TI  - Under-reporting of adverse drug reactions: a challenge for pharmacovigilance in
      India.
AB  - AIM: The aim was to evaluate the extent and factors responsible for
      underreporting (UR) of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in India. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A retrospective observational, cross-sectional prospective questionnaire
      based analysis was undertaken to evaluate the extent and factors for UR of ADRs
      in pharmacovigilance. RESULTS: At the time, this report was prepared, 90 ADR
      Monitoring Centers (AMC) were operational in India. Indian AMC functional rate
      was 56.45%. The average number of Individual Case Safety Reports reported by our
      center via VigiFlow per month was 48.038. In a period of the 3 years the total
      number of ADRs reported was 3024. The average number of reports per month was
      80.08. Active surveillance versus spontaneous reporting contributed 66.13% versus
      33.86% of the total ADRs (P < 0.0001). Outpatient Department (OPD) contribution
      was 76.05% and indoor contribution was 23.94% of total reports (P < 0.0001).
      Department of Medicine (33%), followed by oncology (19.27%) and chest disease
      (13.49%) contributed maximally. The contribution of Pharmacology ADR monitoring
      OPD was 16.20%. Eye, ear, nose and throat and surgery, private Medical Colleges,
      hospitals in periphery, sub-district and district contributed no ADRs. ADR
      detection rates by clinical presentation, biochemical investigation and
      diagnostic tools were 84.33%, 14.57%, and 1.09% respectively (P < 0.0001).
      Reporting by postgraduate, registrars, consultants and nurses were 72.65%, 6.58%,
      16.56% and 4.19% respectively (P < 0.0001). PG students in Pharmacology
      contributed an average number of 5.61 ADR reports/month. The lack of knowledge
      and awareness about Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI), lethargy,
      indifference, insecurity, complacency, workload, lack of training were the common
      factors responsible for UR. Major academic activity, exams, thesis and synopsis
      submission time influenced reporting of ADRs by postgraduate students.
      CONCLUSION: UR is a matter of concern PvPI. Multiple interventions are needed to
      improve ADR reporting.

PMID- 25821315
TI  - Safety and efficacy of Qurse-e-istisqua in chronic hepatitis C infection: an
      exploratory study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Qurse-e-istisqua (Q-e-I), an Unani medicine commonly prescribed to
      treat liver disorders. OBJECTIVES: To study efficacy and safety of Q-e-I in
      hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. METHODS: In this randomized double-blind
      exploratory study, 60 naive patients of HCV infection were assigned to receive
      either interferonalpha2a (IFNalpha2a) (3 mIU, subcutaneous, thrice weekly),
      ribavirin (RBV) (1000 mg, orally, twice daily in divided doses) and placebo (n =
      30) or IFNalpha2a, RBV and Q-e-I (5 g, orally, thrice daily in divided doses) (n
      = 30). HCV RNA levels, serum hyaluronic acid (SHA), ultrasound image scoring for
      fibrosis, liver and renal function test, prothrombin time, were done at the
      baseline and thereafter periodically. RESULTS: Early virologic response (EVR),
      end of treatment response (ETR) and sustained virologic response (SVR) were 90%,
      96.6% and 90% in the control group and 86.6%, 90.0% and 83.3% in the treatment
      group. SHA level was lower in the treatment group at the end of the treatment as
      compared to the control group. Mean end of follow-up ultrasound image scoring for
      fibrosis in the control and the treatment group was 1.37 +/- 0.07 and 1.22 +/-
      0.06 respectively. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels were significantly
      lower in the treatment group than the control group at 1-month. Commonly observed
      adverse drug reactions included fever, hair fall, fatigue, anemia, and diarrhea.
      CONCLUSION: Q-e-I was well tolerated and showed anti-fibrotic activity. EVR, ETR
      and SVR suggested that Q-e-I do not have any anti-HCV activity. Early recovery in
      AST and inhibition of progress of fibrosis in Q-e-I group was probably due to the
      anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity of its ingredients.

PMID- 25821316
TI  - Effects of combination of aliskiren and pentoxyfylline on renal function in the
      rat remnant kidney model of chronic renal failure.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim was to investigate the nephroprotective effect of combination
      of aliskiren (ASK), a direct renin inhibitor and pentoxifylline (PTX), inhibitor
      of tumor necrotic factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), in rat remnant kidney model of
      chronic kidney disease (CKD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nephrectomized (NPX) rats
      were treated with ASK (10 mg/kg, p.o.), PTX (100 mg/kg, p.o.), and combination of
      PTX + ASK once daily for 28 days. We have performed analysis of various renal
      injury parameters after 4 weeks of treatment. RESULTS: Treatment with PTX, ASK
      and combination showed significant improvement in urea, creatinine and total
      protein in plasma when compared with vehicle treated group in NPX rats. ASK and
      combination of PTX + ASK elicited significant reduction in blood pressure but PTX
      alone did not produce blood pressure reduction. ASK treatment showed significant
      elevation in TNF-alpha, whereas PTX and ASK + PTX showed significant reduction in
      TNF-alpha in plasma. Histopathologically, the extent of the kidney injury was
      similar in NPX + vehicle and NPX + ASK-treated rats. PTX and ASK + PTX-treated
      group showed lesser extent of kidney injury. There was good correlation of mRNA
      expression levels of kidney injury molecule-1 and bradykinin B1 receptor data
      with histopathological findings in kidney samples and elevated TNF-alpha levels
      in plasma. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that combination of PTX + ASK may be better
      therapeutic intervention for nephroprotection in CKD patients.

PMID- 25821317
TI  - Protective effect of rutin on impairment of cognitive functions of due to
      antiepileptic drugs on zebrafish model.
AB  - AIM: The severity of adverse reactions due to antiepileptics is observed during
      initiation and early treatment in which impairment of cognitive effects are
      common. Since long time, herbal medicine is a natural remedy to treat neural
      symptoms. Phytochemicals have been proven to be potent neuro-protective agents.
      Rutin, a bioflavonoid is established to be nootropic in many studies. In this
      study, we aimed to determine the protective effect of rutin in zebrafish against
      the side effects produced by AEDs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seizures were induced
      in zebrafish by phenylenetetrazole. Rutin pretreatment (50 mg/kg, single
      injection, i.p.) was done before commencement of the study. Behavioral studies
      were performed as: latency to move high in the tank, locomotion effects, color
      effect, shoal cohesion, light/dark test on Zebrafish. RESULTS: Treatment with
      rutin reverted the locomotor behavior to normal. Treatment with AEDs caused
      fishes to move in all regions while, in case of treatment with rutin, the
      response reverted to normal. Treatment with AEDs altered swimming behavior of
      zebrafish, however, rutin showed a positive effect over this behavior. Treatment
      with AEDs resulted in restricted movement of zebrafish to the dark zone.
      Treatment with rutin caused increased latency of zebrafish to move in the light
      compartment. Similarly, time spent in the light compartment by zebrafish treated
      with rutin was significantly (P < 0.01) higher as compared to zebrafish treated
      with AEDs. CONCLUSION: The results suggest a protective role of rutin on
      cognition impaired by AEDs.

PMID- 25821318
TI  - A comparison of enoxaparin with unfractionated heparins in patients with coronary
      heart disease in an emergency department in rural South Indian tertiary care
      teaching hospital.
AB  - AIM: Antithrombotic therapy with heparin plus antiplatelets reduces the rate of
      ischemic events in patients with coronary heart disease. Low molecular weight
      heparin has a more predictable anticoagulant effect than standard unfractionated
      heparin, is easier to administer, does not require monitoring and is associated
      with less ADRs. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate and compare the
      clinical and cost outcomes of Enoxaparin with a standard unfractionated heparin
      in patients with coronary heart disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a
      noninvasive prospective observational descriptive study carried out at a multi
      specialty tertiary care teaching hospital situated in rural Tamil Nadu, India.
      Male and female coronary heart disease (CHD) patients aged 35-75 years newly
      diagnosed or those having a history of CHD were included. The intervention group
      received enoxaparin for 5 days. A series of resting the electrocardiogram,
      prothrombin time and ADRs were measured in all patients during days 1 and 21
      respectively. RESULTS: Compared to unfractionated heparin group of patients, the
      average prothrombin time was significantly higher (P < 0.0001) whereas
      hypokalemia was significantly lower (P < 0.02) in enoxaparin group of patients.
      Even though recurrence of angina and ADRs such as bleeding, nausea, headache and
      sudden cough occurred less frequently in the enoxaparin group of patients
      compared to unfractionated heparin group of patients, the differences were not
      significant. CONCLUSIONS: Antithrombotic therapy with enoxaparin plus aspirin was
      safer and more effective than unfractionated heparin plus aspirin, in reducing
      the incidence of ischemic events in patients with unstable angina or myocardial
      infarction in the early phase.

PMID- 25821320
TI  - Effects of Ginkgo biloba extract on the apoptosis of oxygen and glucose-deprived
      SH-SY5Y cells and its mechanism.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim was to observe the effects of the extract of Ginkgo biloba
      (EGb761) on the apoptosis of oxygen and glucose-deprived (OGD) human
      neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) cells and explore its mechanism. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: SH-SY5Y cells were divided into normal control group, OGD group, OGD for
      4 h and EGb761-pretreated groups including very low-concentration (20 MUg/ml),
      low-concentration group (25 MUg/ml), moderate-concentration group (50 MUg/ml) and
      high-concentration group (100 MUg/ml). Twenty four hours after reoxygenation,
      cell viability was determined with 3-[4, 5-dimehyl-2-thiazolyl]-2, 5-diphenyl-2H
      tetrazolium bromide assay, apoptosis rate was detected with annexin V-fluorescein
      isothiocyanate/propidium iodide double staining flow cytometry and the protein
      level of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) was observed with immunofluorescence
      technique in each group. RESULTS: Cell viability was significantly lower in OGD
      group than in EGb761-pretreated groups, especially in moderate-concentration
      group (50 MUg/ml) (P < 0.005). Apoptosis rate was significantly lower in EGb761
      pretreated groups than in OGD group (P < 0.001). Immunofluorescent staining
      showed that there was AIF nuclear translocation in both EGb761-pretreated groups
      and OGD group, but AIF nuclear translocation was less in EGb761-pretreated groups
      than in OGD group. CONCLUSION: EGb761 can reduce the apoptosis of OGD SH-SY5Y
      cells probably through inhibiting AIF nuclear translocation. This study provides
      a theoretical basis for the application of EGb761 in clinical practice.

PMID- 25821319
TI  - Comparison of colistin monotherapy and non-colistin combinations in the treatment
      of multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter spp. bloodstream infections: a multicenter
      retrospective analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy of colistin (COL) monotherapy versus non-COL
      based combinations in the treatment of bloodstream infections (BSIs) due to
      multidrug resistant Acinetobacter spp.(MDR-A). MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Retrospective data of 107 MDR-A BSI cases from 27 tertiary centers in Turkey were
      included. PRIMARY END-POINT: 14-day mortality. SECONDARY END-POINTS: Microbial
      eradication and clinical improvement. RESULTS: Thirty-six patients in the COL
      monotherapy (CM) group and 71 in the non-COL based combinations (NCC) group were
      included in the study. Mean age was 59.98 +/- 20 years (range: 18-89) and 50.5%
      were male. Median duration of follow-up was 40 days (range: 9-297). The 14-day
      survival rates were 52.8% in CM and 47.23% in NCC group (P = 0.36).
      Microbiological eradication was achieved in 69% of CM and 83% of NCC group (P =
      0.13). Treatment failure was detected in 22.9% of cases in both CM and NCC
      groups. Univariate analysis revealed that mean age (P = 0.001), Charlson
      comorbidity index (P = 0.03), duration of hospital stay before MDR-A BSI (P =
      0.04), Pitt bacteremia score (P = 0.043) and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health
      Evaluation II score (P = 0.05) were significant in terms of 14-day mortality.
      Advanced age (P = 0.01) and duration of hospital stay before MDR-A BSI (P = 0.04)
      were independently associated with 14-day mortality in multivariate analysis.
      CONCLUSION: No significant difference was detected between CM and non-COL based
      combinations in the treatment of MDR-A BSIs in terms of efficacy and 14-day
      mortality.

PMID- 25821321
TI  - A questionnaire-based survey to ascertain the views of clinicians regarding
      rational use of antibiotics in teaching hospitals of Kolkata.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective was to assess the views of clinicians in teaching
      hospitals of Kolkata regarding the use of antibiotics in their own hospitals,
      focusing on perceived misuse, reasons behind such misuse and feasible remedial
      measures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 200 clinicians from core clinical
      disciplines was approached in six teaching hospitals of Kolkata through purposive
      sampling. A structured, validated questionnaire adopted from published studies
      and modified to suit the responding population was completed by consenting
      respondents through face-to-face interaction with a single interviewer.
      Respondents were free to leave out questions they did not wish to answer.
      RESULTS: Among 130 participating clinicians (65% of approached), all felt that
      antibiotic misuse occurs in various hospital settings; 72 (55.4% of the
      respondents) felt it was a frequent occurrence and needed major rectification.
      Cough and cold (78.5%), fever (65.4%), and diarrhea (62.3%) were perceived to be
      the commonest conditions of antibiotic misuse. About half (50.76%) felt that oral
      preparations were more misused compared to injectable or topical ones. Among oral
      antibiotics, co-amoxiclav (66.9%) and cefpodoxime (63.07%) whereas among
      parenteral ones, ceftriaxone and other third generation cephalosporins (74.6%)
      followed by piperacillin-tazobactam (61.5%) were selected as the most misused
      ones. Deficient training in rational use of medicines (70.7%) and absence of
      institutional antibiotic policy (67.7%) were listed as the two most important
      predisposing factors. Training of medical students and interns in rational
      antibiotic use (78.5%), implementation of antibiotic policy (76.9%), improvement
      in microbiology support (70.7%), and regular surveillance on this issue (64.6%)
      were cited as the principal remedial measures. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians
      acknowledge that the misuse of antibiotics is an important problem in their
      hospitals. A system of clinical audit of antibiotic usage, improved microbiology
      support and implementation of antibiotic policy can help to promote rational use
      of antimicrobial agents.

PMID- 25821323
TI  - Aminoglycosides induce fragility of human red cell membrane: an in vitro study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: It is well-known that aminoglycosides are ototoxic and nephrotoxic.
      Recent advances in pharmacology research suggest that the red cell used as a
      carrier of aminoglycosides. This study aimed to find the effect of
      aminoglycosides on the human red cell membrane using osmotic fragility test.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted in Rizgari Teaching Hospital in
      Erbil, Iraq. The effect of aminoglycosides, namely gentamicin, amikacin, and
      spectinomycin, on human red cells was investigated. The effects of
      aminoglycosides were evaluated by osmotic fragility test using fresh human blood
      in the presence of aminoglycosides in concentrations of 10-160 MUg/mL. RESULTS:
      The results showed that aminoglycosides drugs shifted the osmotic fragility curve
      to some extent, and this effect was well observed with spectinomycin. The
      hemolysis did not depend on the concentration of aminoglycosides. The
      concentration of sodium chloride to induced 50% hemolysis is higher in presence
      of gentamicin, amikacin and spectinomycin (at 160 MUg/mL) than corresponding
      control and this account to an increment in hemolysis percents of 1.88, 1.5 and
      1.06%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Aminoglycosides induce human red cell membrane
      fragility in a concentration-independent manner.

PMID- 25821322
TI  - Interaction of aqueous leaf extract of Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr. with
      cholinergic, serotonergic and adrenergic receptors: an ex vivo study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim was to study interaction of aqueous leaf extract of Aegle
      marmelos (AM) with cholinergic, serotonergic, and adrenergic receptor systems
      using appropriate rat tissues-ileum, fundus and tracheal chain, respectively.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cumulative concentration-response curves (CRC) were
      constructed at various doses on each tissue for AM and respective standard
      agonist. The CRC was again plotted in presence and absence of respective standard
      antagonist to confirm the interaction of receptor system and AM. RESULTS: AM
      induced concentration-dependent contractions in isolated rat ileum (0.2-6.4
      mg/ml) and fundus (0.2-3.2 mg/ml) that were inhibited significantly (P < 0.05) in
      the presence of atropine (10(-7) M) and ketanserin (10(-6) M), respectively. The
      relaxant effect, produced by AM (0.2 mg/ml) on carbachol (10(-5) M) precontracted
      rat tracheal chain, was also inhibited significantly (P < 0.05) by propranolol (1
      ng/ml). CONCLUSION: It may be concluded that AM possesses agonistic activity on
      cholinergic, serotonergic and adrenergic receptors.

PMID- 25821324
TI  - Effect of adiponectin on expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and
      pigment epithelium-derived factor: an in vitro study.
AB  - AIM: This study was carried out to identify the role of adiponectin (APN) in
      modulating the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and
      pigment epithelial-derived factor (PEDF) in relation to ocular angiogenesis.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human retinal pigment epithelial cell lines (ARPE-19) were
      cultured in Dulbeco's minimum essential medium with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS)
      and exposed to varying concentrations of recombinant adiponectin (5-5 ng/ml) for
      1 h. Analysis of VEGF and PEDF mRNA was done by reverse transcriptase and further
      quantified by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. VEGF and PEDF protein
      expression were studied using enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA).
      STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Unpaired Student's t-test was used to analyze the
      significance. P < 0.05 was accepted as statistically significant. RESULTS: ARPE
      cells exposed to APN showed decreased expression of VEGF mRNA, protein whereas
      PEDF protein is unaltered and PEDF mRNA was increased. CONCLUSION: Our in vitro
      study on ARPE exposed to APN showed a negative correlation with VEGF levels. Thus
      indicating the protective role for APN in angiogenesis-related diseases.

PMID- 25821325
TI  - Reversible bilateral ototoxicity in a patient with chronic hepatitis B during
      peginterferon alpha-2a treatment.
AB  - Peginterferon alpha-2a (PEG IFN alpha-2a) is frequently used in chronic hepatitis
      B (CHB)treatment. Numerous adverse events can be noted during this therapy such
      as flu-like disease, rash, weight loss and depression. However, PEG IFN alpha-2a
      related ototoxicity seems to be an uncommon entity. Ototoxicity can be detected
      objectively by audiometry. In this paper, we present a case of CHB who developed
      reversible bilateral ototoxicity during PEG IFN alpha-2a treatment. Due to
      ototoxicity detected objectively by audiogram, treatment was ceased at sixth
      month and ototoxicity completely recovered one month after stopping the drug. 

PMID- 25821326
TI  - Pustular drug hypersensitivity syndrome due to allopurinol.
AB  - Allopurinol hypersensitivity syndrome (AHS) is a severe drug reaction. It is
      characterized by rash, fever, and internal organ involvement. It may present in
      different clinical forms. We present a case of acute generalized exanthematous
      pustulosis occurring as a manifestation of AHS. 

PMID- 25821327
TI  - Cost-effectiveness of the baclofen versus chlordiazepoxide in alcohol withdrawal
      syndrome.

PMID- 25821329
TI  - A cross-sectional study of adverse drug reactions reporting among doctors of a
      private medical college in Bihar, India.

PMID- 25821330
TI  - 'Radical Interpretation' and the Assessment of Decision-Making Capacity.
AB  - The assessment of patients' decision-making capacity (DMC) has become an
      important area of clinical practice, and since it provides the gateway for a
      consideration of non-consensual treatment, has major ethical implications. Tests
      of DMC such as under the Mental Capacity Act (2005) for England and Wales aim at
      supporting autonomy and reducing unwarranted paternalism by being 'procedural',
      focusing on how the person arrived at a treatment decision. In practice, it is
      difficult, especially in problematic or borderline cases, to avoid a
      consideration of beliefs and values; that is, of the substantive content of ideas
      rather than simple 'cognitive' or procedural abilities. However, little attention
      has been paid to how beliefs and values might be assessed in the clinical context
      and what kind of 'objectivity' is possible. We argue that key aspects of Donald
      Davidson's ideas of 'Radical Interpretation' and the 'Principle of Charity'
      provide useful guidance as to how clinicians might approach the question of
      whether an apparent disturbance in a person's thinking about beliefs or values
      undermines their DMC. A case example is provided, and a number of implications
      for clinical practice are discussed.

PMID- 25821331
TI  - Simultaneous inference of a misclassified outcome and competing risks failure
      time data.
AB  - Ipsilateral breast tumor relapse (IBTR) often occurs in breast cancer patients
      after their breast conservation therapy. The IBTR status' classification (true
      local recurrence versus new ipsilateral primary tumor) is subject to error and
      there is no widely-accepted gold standard. Time to IBTR is likely informative for
      IBTR classification because new primary tumor tends to have a longer mean time to
      IBTR and is associated with improved survival as compared with the true local
      recurrence tumor. Moreover, some patients may die from breast cancer or other
      causes in a competing risk scenario during the follow-up period. Because the time
      to death can be correlated to the unobserved true IBTR status and time to IBTR
      (if relapse occurs), this terminal mechanism is non-ignorable. In this article,
      we propose a unified framework that addresses these issues simultaneously by
      modeling the misclassified binary outcome without a gold standard and the
      correlated time to IBTR, subject to dependent competing terminal events. We
      evaluate the proposed framework by a simulation study and apply it to a real
      dataset consisting of 4, 477 breast cancer patients. The adaptive Gaussian
      quadrature tools in SAS procedure NLMIXED can be conveniently used to fit the
      proposed model. We expect to see broad applications of our model in other studies
      with a similar data structure.

PMID- 25821332
TI  - Boron removal from aqueous solutions using alginate gel beads in fixed-bed
      systems.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A column sorption study was carried out using calcium alginate gel
      beads as adsorbent for the removal of boron from aqueous solutions. The
      breakthrough curve was obtained as a function of pH, initial concentration of
      boron, feed flow rate, adsorbent mass and column diameter. The breakthrough
      capacity values and adsorption percentage of calcium alginate gel for boron were
      calculated. Column data obtained at different conditions were described using the
      Adams-Bohart model and bed-depth service time (BDST), derived from the Adams
      Bohart equation to predict breakthrough curves and to determine the
      characteristic column parameters required for process design. RESULTS: The
      maximum adsorption percentage of boron on calcium alginate gel beads using an
      initial concentration of boron of 50 mg L-1 at pH 11 and room temperature (20+/-1
      degrees C) was calculated to be 55.14%. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that
      calcium alginate can be used in a continuous packed-bed column for boron
      adsorption. The optimal conditions for boron adsorption were obtained at high pH,
      higher initial boron concentration, increased column depth and lower flow
      velocity. (c) 2014 The Authors. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology
      published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. 

PMID- 25821333
TI  - 'Herbals she peruseth': reading medicine in early modern England.
AB  - In 1631, Richard Brathwaite penned a conduct manual for 'English Gentlewomen'. In
      Brathwaite's mind, the ideal English gentlewoman was not only chaste, modest and
      honourable but also an avid reader. In fact, Brathwaite specifically recommends
      English gentlewomen to first peruse herbals and then to deepen their medical
      knowledge via conference. Centred on the manuscript notebooks of two late
      seventeenth-century women, Margaret Boscawen (d. 1688) and Elizabeth Freke (1642
      1714), this article explores women and 'medical reading' in early modern England.
      It first demonstrates that whilst both women consulted herbals by contemporary
      authors such as John Gerard and Nicholas Culpeper, their modes of reading could
      not be more different. Where Freke ruminated, digested and abstracted from
      Gerard's large tome, Boscawen made practical lists from Culpeper's The English
      Physitian. Secondly, the article shows that both supplemented their herbal
      reading with a range of other vernacular medical texts including printed medical
      recipe books, contemporary pharmacopoeia and surgical handbooks. Early modern
      English women's medical reading, I argue, was nuanced, sophisticated and diverse.
      Furthermore, I contend that well-informed readers like Boscawen and Freke made
      smart medical consumers and formidable negotiators in their medical encounters.

PMID- 25821334
TI  - New challenges in the epidemiology and treatment of visceral leishmaniasis in
      periurban areas.
AB  - Visceral leishmaniasis [VL] represents a major public health problem in many
      areas of the world. This review focuses on the impact of periurbanization on the
      epidemiology and treatment of VL, using Brazil as an example. VL continues to be
      mostly a disease of poverty with impact on families. However, the disease has
      expanded in Latin America, with foci reported as far south as Argentina. There is
      an increasing overlap of Leishmania infantum chagasi and HIV infections and other
      immunosuppressive conditions, resulting in VL emerging as an opportunistic
      infection. This new setting poses new challenges for VL disease control and
      patient management.

PMID- 25821336
TI  - Bilingualism as a Model for Multitasking.
AB  - Because both languages of bilinguals are constantly active, bilinguals need to
      manage attention to the target language and avoid interference from the non
      target language. This process is likely carried out by recruiting the executive
      function (EF) system, a system that is also the basis for multitasking. In
      previous research, bilinguals have been shown to outperform monolinguals on tasks
      requiring EF, suggesting that the practice using EF for language management
      benefits performance in other tasks as well. The present study examined 203
      children, 8-11 years old, who were monolingual, partially bilingual, bilingual,
      or trilingual performing a flanker task. Two results support the interpretation
      that bilingualism is related to multitasking. First, bilingual children
      outperformed monolinguals on the conflict trials in the flanker task, confirming
      previous results for a bilingual advantage in EF. Second, the inclusion of
      partial bilinguals and trilinguals set limits on the role of experience: partial
      bilingual performed similarly to monolinguals and trilinguals performed similarly
      to bilinguals, suggesting that degrees of experience are not well-calibrated to
      improvements in EF. Our conclusion is that the involvement of EF in bilingual
      language processing makes bilingualism a form of linguistic multitasking.

PMID- 25821335
TI  - The developing brain in a multitasking world.
AB  - To understand the problem of multitasking, it is necessary to examine the brain's
      attention networks that underlie the ability to switch attention between stimuli
      and tasks and to maintain a single focus among distractors. In this paper we
      discuss the development of brain networks related to the functions of achieving
      the alert state, orienting to sensory events, and developing self-control. These
      brain networks are common to everyone, but their efficiency varies among
      individuals and reflects both genes and experience. Training can alter brain
      networks. We consider two forms of training: (1) practice in tasks that involve
      particular networks, and (2) changes in brain state through such practices as
      meditation that may influence many networks. Playing action video games and
      multitasking are themselves methods of training the brain that can lead to
      improved performance but also to overdependence on media activity. We consider
      both of these outcomes and ideas about how to resist overdependence on media.
      Overall, our paper seeks to inform the reader about what has been learned about
      attention that can influence multitasking over the course of development.

PMID- 25821337
TI  - alpha-2-macroglobulin in saliva is associated with glycemic control in patients
      with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) require an adequate
      glycemic control to avoid diabetic complications. Currently, saliva biomarkers
      are used as a diagnostic tool and can be indicative of the degree of progression
      and control of various diseases. Several studies indicate that alpha-2
      macroglobulin levels are elevated in diabetic patients. METHODS: 120 subjects
      with DM2 were enrolled and classified into two groups according to their glycemic
      control (percentage of glycated hemoglobin-A1c (HbA1c), <7% adequate glycemic
      control group; >7% inadequate glycemic control group). The relationship between
      alpha-2-macroglobulin levels from saliva samples and HbA1c was subsequently
      evaluated. RESULTS: We found a positive correlation between alpha-2-macroglobulin
      and HbA1c (r = 0.778 and P < 0.0001). Area under the receivers operating
      characteristic (ROC) curve of alpha-2-macroglobulin indicated a positive
      discrimination threshold of alpha-2-macroglobulin (AUC = 0.903, CI 95%: 0.847
      0.959, P < 0.0001) to diagnose glycemic control. CONCLUSIONS: Our data strongly
      suggest that the level of saliva alpha-2-macroglobulin is an indicator for the
      degree of glycemic control in diabetic patients and represents a promising
      alternative method to evaluate this parameter.

PMID- 25821338
TI  - Blockade of aquaporin 1 inhibits proliferation, motility, and metastatic
      potential of mesothelioma in vitro but not in an in vivo model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an aggressive tumor of the serosal
      membranes, mostly the pleura. It is related to asbestos exposure and has a poor
      prognosis. MM has a long latency period, and incidence is predicted to remain
      stable or increase until 2020. Currently, no biomarkers for a specific targeted
      therapy are available. Previously, we observed that expression of aquaporin 1
      (AQP1) was an indicator of prognosis in two independent cohorts. Here we
      determine whether AQP1 inhibition has therapeutic potential in the treatment of
      MM. METHODS: Functional studies were performed with H226 cells and primary MM
      cells harvested from pleural effusions. AQP1 expression and mesothelial phenotype
      was determined by immunohistochemistry. AQP1 function was inhibited by a
      pharmacological blocker (AqB050) or AQP1-specific siRNA. Cell proliferation,
      migration, and anchorage-independent cell growth were assessed. A nude mouse
      heterotopic xenograft model of MM was utilised for the in vivo studies. RESULTS:
      Inhibition of AQP1 significantly decreases cell proliferation, metastatic
      potential, and motility without inducing nonspecific cytotoxicity or increasing
      apoptosis. In vivo blockade of AQP1 had no biologically significant effect on
      growth of established tumours. CONCLUSIONS: Targeted blockade of AQP1 restricts
      MM growth and migration in vitro. Further work is warranted to fully evaluate
      treatment potential in vivo.

PMID- 25821339
TI  - Capillary deposition of complement C4d and C3d in Chinese renal allograft
      biopsies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: C3d is a product of both the classic and the alternative complement
      cascades; however, few studies have addressed the role of C3d in renal biopsies
      and its relationship with long-term graft survival rate is not very clear.
      METHODS: 94 patients with biopsy-proven acute rejection episodes were included in
      the study. We investigated the associations between histological findings,
      clinical examinations, and outcome. RESULTS: The overall prevalence for C4dPTC
      and C3dPTC was 42.6% and 29.8%. There was a significant association between
      C3dPTC and C4dPTC (P < 0.001). C3dPTC and C4dPTC were related with histological
      types (P = 0.024 and P < 0.001, resp.). The long-term survival rate for C4dPTC
      positive transplants was lower than that of C4dPTC negative transplants, but it
      was not statistic significant in our study (P = 0.150). The survival rate of
      C3dPTC positive group was much lower than the negative group (P = 0.014).
      Patients with double positives for C4dPTC and C3dPTC exhibited the lowest
      survival rate significantly different from those of the C3dPTC only and C4dPTC
      only groups (P = 0.01 and P = 0.0037). CONCLUSIONS: This longitudinal cohort
      study has demonstrated that C3d deposition in the PTC was closely related to
      renal dysfunction and pathological changes.

PMID- 25821340
TI  - Physical activity enhances metabolic fitness independently of cardiorespiratory
      fitness in marathon runners.
AB  - High levels of cardiovascular fitness (CRF) and physical activity (PA) are
      associated with decreased mortality and risk to develop metabolic diseases. The
      independent contributions of CRF and PA to metabolic disease risk factors are
      unknown. We tested the hypothesis that runners who run consistently >50 km/wk
      and/or >2 marathons/yr for the last 5 years have superior metabolic fitness
      compared to matched sedentary subjects (CRF, age, gender, and BMI). Case-control
      recruitment of 31 pairs of runner-sedentary subjects identified 10 matched pairs
      with similar VO2max (mL/min/kg) (similar-VO2max). The similar-VO2max group was
      compared with a group of age, gender, and BMI matched pairs who had the largest
      difference in VO2max (different-VO2max). Primary outcomes that defined metabolic
      fitness including insulin response to an oral glucose tolerance test, fasting
      lipids, and fasting insulin were superior in runners versus sedentary controls
      despite similar VO2max. Furthermore, performance (velocity at VO2max, running
      economy), improved exercise metabolism (lactate threshold), and skeletal muscle
      levels of mitochondrial proteins were superior in runners versus sedentary
      controls with similar VO2max. In conclusion subjects with a high amount of PA
      have more positive metabolic health parameters independent of CRF. PA is thus a
      good marker against metabolic diseases.

PMID- 25821341
TI  - Ficus insipida subsp. insipida (Moraceae) reveals the role of ecology in the
      phylogeography of widespread Neotropical rain forest tree species.
AB  - AIM: To examine the phylogeography of Ficus insipida subsp. insipida in order to
      investigate patterns of spatial genetic structure across the Neotropics and
      within Amazonia. LOCATION: Neotropics. METHODS: Plastid DNA (trnH-psbA; 410
      individuals from 54 populations) and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed
      spacer (ITS; 85 individuals from 27 populations) sequences were sampled from
      Mexico to Bolivia, representing the full extent of the taxon's distribution.
      Divergence of plastid lineages was dated using a Bayesian coalescent approach.
      Genetic diversity was assessed with indices of haplotype and nucleotide
      diversities, and genetic structure was examined using spatial analysis of
      molecular variance (SAMOVA) and haplotype networks. Population expansion within
      Amazonia was tested using neutrality and mismatch distribution tests. RESULTS:
      trnH-psbA sequences yielded 19 haplotypes restricted to either Mesoamerica or
      Amazonia; six haplotypes were found among ITS sequences. Diversification of the
      plastid DNA haplotypes began c. 14.6 Ma. Haplotype diversity for trnH-psbA was
      higher in Amazonia. Seven genetically differentiated SAMOVA groups were described
      for trnH-psbA, of which two were also supported by the presence of unique ITS
      sequences. Population expansion was suggested for both markers for the SAMOVA
      group that contains most Amazonian populations. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: Our results
      show marked population genetic structure in F. insipida between Mesoamerica and
      Amazonia, implying that the Andes and seasonally dry areas of northern South
      America are eco-climatic barriers to its migration. This pattern is shared with
      other widespread pioneer species affiliated to wet habitats, indicating that the
      ecological characteristics of species may impact upon large-scale phylogeography.
      Ficus insipida also shows genetic structure in north-western Amazonia potentially
      related to pre-Pleistocene historical events. In contrast, evident population
      expansion elsewhere in Amazonia, in particular the presence of genetically
      uniform populations across the south-west, indicate recent colonization. Our
      findings are consistent with palaeoecological data that suggest recent post
      glacial expansion of Amazonian forests in the south.

PMID- 25821342
TI  - Using groundwater age distributions to estimate the effective parameters of
      Fickian and non-Fickian models of solute transport.
AB  - Groundwater age distributions are used to estimate the parameters of Fickian, and
      non-Fickian, effective models of solute transport. Based on the similarities
      between the transport and age equations, we develop a deconvolution based
      approach that describes transport between two monitoring wells. We show that the
      proposed method gives exact estimates of the travel time distribution between two
      wells when the domain is stationary and that the method still provides useful
      information on transport when the domain is non-stationary. The method is
      demonstrated using idealized uniform and layered 2-D aquifers. Homogeneous
      transport is determined exactly and non-Fickian transport in a layered aquifer
      was also approximated very well, even though this example problem is shown to be
      scale-dependent. This work introduces a method that addresses a significant
      limitation of tracer tests and non-Fickian transport modeling which is the
      difficulty in determining the effective parameters of the transport model.

PMID- 25821344
TI  - ENTHUSIASM DELINEATED: WEEPING AS A RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
      BRITAIN.
AB  - Eighteenth-century Europe and its renowned cult of sensibility have a special
      place in the history of tears. This article revisits weeping in eighteenth
      century Britain, seeking especially to recover the religious practices, texts,
      and ideas involved in the production and interpretation of tears. Some of the
      most prolific and public weeping of the period was produced by the Methodist
      revival, and especially the preaching of the "Weeping Prophet", George
      Whitefield. A different, more melancholy form of enthusiasm was the keynote of
      Henry Mackenzie's famously lachrymose novel The Man of Feeling (1771),
      reinterpreted here as a handbook of Christian sensibility and religious weeping.
      On both sides of the French Revolution debate in Britain in the 1790s, tears were
      shed, but were also denounced. The retrospective belief that tearful
      sensibilities had given rise to dangerous ideologies and bloody violence cast the
      practice of weeping in a new light. Suspicions of religious "enthusiasm" from
      earlier periods were now applied to revolutionary sympathisers in Britain, and
      commentators, including Helen Maria Williams, began to discuss the idea that it
      was un-English to weep.

PMID- 25821343
TI  - Statistical learning as an individual ability: Theoretical perspectives and
      empirical evidence.
AB  - Although the power of statistical learning (SL) in explaining a wide range of
      linguistic functions is gaining increasing support, relatively little research
      has focused on this theoretical construct from the perspective of individual
      differences. However, to be able to reliably link individual differences in a
      given ability such as language learning to individual differences in SL, three
      critical theoretical questions should be posed: Is SL a componential or unified
      ability? Is it nested within other general cognitive abilities? Is it a stable
      capacity of an individual? Following an initial mapping sentence outlining the
      possible dimensions of SL, we employed a battery of SL tasks in the visual and
      auditory modalities, using verbal and non-verbal stimuli, with adjacent and non
      adjacent contingencies. SL tasks were administered along with general cognitive
      tasks in a within-subject design at two time points to explore our theoretical
      questions. We found that SL, as measured by some tasks, is a stable and reliable
      capacity of an individual. Moreover, we found SL to be independent of general
      cognitive abilities such as intelligence or working memory. However, SL is not a
      unified capacity, so that individual sensitivity to conditional probabilities is
      not uniform across modalities and stimuli.

PMID- 25821345
TI  - A unified statistical approach to non-negative matrix factorization and
      probabilistic latent semantic indexing.
AB  - Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is a powerful machine learning method for
      decomposing a high-dimensional nonnegative matrix V into the product of two
      nonnegative matrices, W and H, such that V ~ W H. It has been shown to have a
      parts-based, sparse representation of the data. NMF has been successfully applied
      in a variety of areas such as natural language processing, neuroscience,
      information retrieval, image processing, speech recognition and computational
      biology for the analysis and interpretation of large-scale data. There has also
      been simultaneous development of a related statistical latent class modeling
      approach, namely, probabilistic latent semantic indexing (PLSI), for analyzing
      and interpreting co-occurrence count data arising in natural language processing.
      In this paper, we present a generalized statistical approach to NMF and PLSI
      based on Renyi's divergence between two non-negative matrices, stemming from the
      Poisson likelihood. Our approach unifies various competing models and provides a
      unique theoretical framework for these methods. We propose a unified algorithm
      for NMF and provide a rigorous proof of monotonicity of multiplicative updates
      for W and H. In addition, we generalize the relationship between NMF and PLSI
      within this framework. We demonstrate the applicability and utility of our
      approach as well as its superior performance relative to existing methods using
      real-life and simulated document clustering data.

PMID- 25821346
TI  - Applying a Multiple Group Causal Indicator Modeling Framework to the Reading
      Comprehension Skills of Third, Seventh, and Tenth Grade Students.
AB  - This study demonstrates the utility of applying a causal indicator modeling
      framework to investigate important predictors of reading comprehension in third,
      seventh, and tenth grade students. The results indicated that a 4-factor multiple
      indicator multiple indicator cause (MIMIC) model of reading comprehension
      provided adequate fit at each grade level. This model included latent predictor
      constructs of decoding, verbal reasoning, nonverbal reasoning, and working memory
      and accounted for a large portion of the reading comprehension variance (73% to
      87%) across grade levels. Verbal reasoning contributed the most unique variance
      to reading comprehension at all grade levels. In addition, we fit a multiple
      group 4-factor MIMIC model to investigate the relative stability (or variability)
      of the predictor contributions to reading comprehension across development (i.e.,
      grade levels). The results revealed that the contributions of verbal reasoning,
      nonverbal reasoning, and working memory to reading comprehension were stable
      across the three grade levels. Decoding was the only predictor that could not be
      constrained to be equal across grade levels. The contribution of decoding skills
      to reading comprehension was higher in third grade and then remained relatively
      stable between seventh and tenth grade. These findings illustrate the feasibility
      of using MIMIC models to explain individual differences in reading comprehension
      across the development of reading skills.

PMID- 25821347
TI  - A Mechanically Tunable Microfluidic Cell-Trapping Device.
AB  - Controlled manipulation, such as isolation, positioning and trapping of cells, is
      important in basic biological research and clinical diagnostics.
      Micro/nanotechnologies have been enabling more effective and efficient cell
      trapping than possible with conventional platforms. Currently available
      micro/nanoscale methods for cell trapping, however, still lack flexibility in
      precisely controlling the number of trapped cells. We exploited the large
      compliance of elastomers to create an array of cell-trapping microstructures,
      whose dimensions can be mechanically modulated by inducing uniformly distributed
      strain via application of external force on the chip. The device consists of two
      elastomer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sheets, one of which bears dam-like, cup
      shaped geometries to physically capture cells. The mechanical modulation is used
      to tune the characteristics of cell trapping to capture a predetermined number of
      cells, from single cells to multiple cells. Thus, enhanced utility and
      flexibility for practical applications can be attained, as demonstrated by
      tunable trapping of MCF-7 cells, a human breast cancer cell line.

PMID- 25821348
TI  - Age group estimation in free-ranging African elephants based on acoustic cues of
      low-frequency rumbles.
AB  - Animal vocal signals are increasingly used to monitor wildlife populations and to
      obtain estimates of species occurrence and abundance. In the future, acoustic
      monitoring should function not only to detect animals, but also to extract
      detailed information about populations by discriminating sexes, age groups,
      social or kin groups, and potentially individuals. Here we show that it is
      possible to estimate age groups of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) based
      on acoustic parameters extracted from rumbles recorded under field conditions in
      a National Park in South Africa. Statistical models reached up to 70 % correct
      classification to four age groups (infants, calves, juveniles, adults) and 95 %
      correct classification when categorising into two groups (infants/calves lumped
      into one group versus adults). The models revealed that parameters representing
      absolute frequency values have the most discriminative power. Comparable
      classification results were obtained by fully automated classification of rumbles
      by high-dimensional features that represent the entire spectral envelope, such as
      MFCC (75 % correct classification) and GFCC (74 % correct classification). The
      reported results and methods provide the scientific foundation for a future
      system that could potentially automatically estimate the demography of an
      acoustically monitored elephant group or population.

PMID- 25821349
TI  - Dual representation of item positions in verbal short-term memory: Evidence for
      two access modes.
AB  - Memory sets of N = 1~5 digits were exposed sequentially from left-to-right across
      the screen, followed by N recognition probes. Probes had to be compared to memory
      list items on identity only (Sternberg task) or conditional on list position.
      Positions were probed randomly or in left-to-right order. Search functions
      related probe response times to set size. Random probing led to ramped,
      "Sternbergian" functions whose intercepts were elevated by the location
      requirement. Sequential probing led to flat search functions-fast responses
      unaffected by set size. These results suggested that items in STM could be
      accessed either by a slow search-on-identity followed by recovery of an
      associated location tag, or in a single step by following item-to-item links in
      study order. It is argued that this dual coding of location information occurs
      spontaneously at study, and that either code can be utilised at retrieval
      depending on test demands.

PMID- 25821350
TI  - Snack food advertising in stores around public schools in Guatemala.
AB  - Obesity in school-age children is emerging as a public heath concern. Food
      marketing influences preferences and increases children's requests for food. This
      study sought to describe the type of snack foods advertised to children in stores
      in and around public schools and assess if there is an association between child
      oriented snack food advertising and proximity to schools. All food stores located
      inside and within a 200 square meter radius from two preschools and two primary
      schools were surveyed. We assessed store type, number and type of snack food
      advertisements including those child-oriented inside and outside stores. We
      surveyed 55 stores and found 321 snack food advertisements. Most were on
      sweetened beverages (37%) and soft drinks (30%). Ninety-two (29%) were child
      oriented. Atoles (100.0%), cereals (94.1%), and ice cream and frozen desserts
      (71.4%) had the greatest proportion of child-oriented advertising. We found more
      child-oriented advertisements in stores that were closer (<170 m) to schools
      compared to those farther away. In conclusion, the food industry is flooding the
      market, taking advantage of the lack of strict regulation in Guatemala. Child
      oriented advertisements are available in almost all stores within a short walking
      distance from schools, exposing children to an obesogenic environment.

PMID- 25821351
TI  - Protective effects of N-acetylcysteine in concanavalin A-induced hepatitis in
      mice.
AB  - This study was designed to study the protective effects and mechanisms of N
      acetylcysteine (NAC) in concanavalin A-induced hepatitis in mice. In this study,
      pretreatment with NAC ameliorated the histopathological changes and suppressed
      inflammatory cytokines in ConA-induced hepatitis. The expression of IL-2, IL-6,
      TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma was significantly reduced in the NAC-treated groups. NAC
      activated PI3K/Akt pathway and inhibited the activation of NF-kappaB.
      Additionally, NAC reduced autophagosome formation, as assessed by detecting the
      expression of LC3 and Beclin 1. Our results demonstrate that NAC can alleviate
      ConA-induced hepatitis by regulating the PI3K/Akt pathway and reducing the late
      stages of autophagy. Our results described a new pharmaceutical to provide more
      effective therapies for immune hepatitis. 

PMID- 25821352
TI  - Clinical features and genetic background of the periodic Fever syndrome with
      aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and adenitis: a single center longitudinal
      study of 81 patients.
AB  - PFAPA syndrome is the most common autoinflammatory disorder in childhood with
      unknown etiology. The aim of our study was clinical evaluation of PFAPA patients
      from a single tertiary care center and to determine whether variations of AIM2,
      MEFV, NLRP3, and MVK genes are involved in PFAPA pathogenesis. Clinical and
      laboratory data of consecutive patients with PFAPA syndrome followed up at the
      University Children's Hospital, Ljubljana, were collected from 2008 to 2014. All
      four genes were PCR amplified and directly sequenced. Eighty-one patients
      fulfilled criteria for PFAPA syndrome, 50 (63%) boys and 31 (37%) girls, with
      mean age at disease onset of 2.1 +/- 1.5 years. Adenitis, pharyngitis, and
      aphthae were present in 94%, 98%, and 56%, respectively. Family history of
      recurrent fevers in childhood was positive in 78%. Nineteen variants were found
      in 17/62 (27%) patients, 4 different variants in NLRP3 gene in 13 patients, and 6
      different variants in MEFV gene in 5 patients, and 2 patients had 2 different
      variants. No variants of clinical significance were found in MVK and AIM2 genes.
      Our data suggest that PFAPA could be the result of multiple low-penetrant
      variants in different genes in combination with epigenetic and environmental
      factors leading to uniform clinical picture. 

PMID- 25821354
TI  - Short-term reproducibility of the inflammatory phenotype in different subgroups
      of adult asthma cohort.
AB  - Inflammatory phenotype classification using induced sputum appears attractive as
      it can be applied to inflammation-based management of the patients with asthma.
      The aim of the study was to determine the reproducibility of inflammatory
      phenotype over time in patients with asthma. In 66 adults asthma was categorized
      as steroid-naive (SN, n = 17), mild to moderate (MMA, n = 33), and refractory
      treated with oral corticosteroids (RA, n = 16). Clinical assessment, skin prick
      testing, spirometry, and two sputum inductions in 4-6-week interval were done.
      Inflammatory phenotypes were classified as eosinophilic (EA), consisting of
      eosinophilic and mixed granulocytic phenotypes, and noneosinophilic (NEA)
      consisting of paucigranulocytic and neutrophilic phenotypes. During study asthma
      treatment remained constant. In SN group 25% of patients changed phenotype from
      EA to NEA and 44% changed phenotype from NEA to EA. In MMA group 26% of patients
      changed phenotype from EA to NEA and 50% changed phenotype from NEA to EA. In 29%
      of RA patients inflammatory phenotype changed from EA to NEA and in 22% it
      changed from NEA to EA. Inflammatory classification, using induced sputum, is not
      fully reproducible in adults with asthma in short-term evaluation. EA seems to be
      more stable phenotype across all subgroups whereas NEA remained stable only in RA
      group. 

PMID- 25821353
TI  - Helicobacter pylori outer membrane vesicle proteins induce human eosinophil
      degranulation via a beta2 Integrin CD11/CD18- and ICAM-1-dependent mechanism.
AB  - Eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), a cytotoxic protein contained in eosinophils
      granules, can contribute to various inflammatory responses. Although Helicobacter
      pylori infection increases infiltration of eosinophils, the mechanisms of
      eosinophil degranulation by H. pylori infection are largely unknown. The goal of
      this study was to investigate the role of H. pylori outer membrane vesicles
      (OMVs) in modulating eosinophil degranulation. We found that eosinophils treated
      with H. pylori OMVs released significantly more ECP compared with untreated
      controls. In addition, eosinophils cocultured with OMV-preexposed primary gastric
      epithelial cells exhibited significantly increased ECP release. Similarly,
      eosinophils cocultured with culture supernatant (CM) from primary gastric
      epithelial cells exposed to OMVs (OMV-CM) released significantly higher amounts
      of ECP compared with eosinophils cocultured with CM from unexposed control cells.
      Furthermore, OMVs and OMV-CM both induced the upregulation of ICAM-1 on gastric
      epithelial cells and beta2 integrin CD11b on eosinophils. In addition, both
      transduction of ICAM-1 shRNA into gastric epithelial cells and treatment with
      neutralizing mAbs to CD18 significantly decreased OMV-mediated or OMV-CM-mediated
      release of ECP. These results suggest that the eosinophil degranulation response
      to H. pylori OMVs occurs via a mechanism that is dependent on both beta2 integrin
      CD11/CD18 and ICAM-1. 

PMID- 25821355
TI  - Pathogenic roles of macrophage migration inhibitory factor during dengue virus
      infection.
AB  - Dengue virus (DENV) infection is the most common cause of viral hemorrhagic
      fever, which can lead to life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock
      syndrome (DHF/DSS). Hemorrhage and plasma leakage are two major hallmarks of
      DHF/DSS. Because the mechanisms causing these pathogenic changes are unclear,
      there is no effective therapy against DHF/DSS. In this review, we focus on the
      possible pathogenic effects of a pleiotropic cytokine, macrophage migration
      inhibitory factor (MIF), on the pathogenesis of DENV infection. MIF is a critical
      mediator of the host immune response and inflammation, and there is a correlation
      between the serum levels of MIF and disease severity in dengue patients.
      Furthermore, MIF knock-out mice exhibit less severe clinical disease and
      lethality. However, the role of MIF in the pathogenesis of DHF/DSS is not limited
      to immune cell recruitment. Recent evidence indicates that DENV infection induced
      MIF production and may contribute to vascular hyperpermeability and viral
      replication during DENV infection. The expression of both adhesion and
      coagulation molecules on MIF-stimulated monocytes and endothelial cells is also
      increased, which may contribute to inflammatory and anticoagulatory states during
      DHF/DSS. Therefore, blocking MIF production or its function may provide a
      solution for the treatment and prevention of DHF/DSS. 

PMID- 25821357
TI  - The role of adenosine receptors in the central action of caffeine.
AB  - The behavioral effects of caffeine appear likely to be due in large measure to
      antagonism of the action of endogenous adenosine at A1- and A2a-receptors in the
      central nervous system. Other biochemical mechanisms of action of caffeine, such
      as release of intracellular calcium, inhibition of phosphodiesterases and
      blockade of regulatory sites of GABAA-reccptors, would require much higher
      concentrations than the micromolar concentrations of caffeine associated with
      behavioral stimulation. However, micromolar concentrations of caffeine also would
      be expected to cause only a modest blockade of adenosine receptors. Selective
      adenosine agonists and xanthine antagonists have provided some insights into
      central roles for adenosine receptor subtypes. Thus, behavioral stimulation by
      xanthines appears to require blockade of both A1- and A2a-receptors. Chronic
      blockade of adenosine receptors by caffeine would be expected to result in
      alterations in the central receptors and pathways that are regulated by adenosine
      through A1- and A2a-receptors. Indeed, chronic caffeine docs alter the density
      not only of adenosine receptors, but also of adrenergic, cholinergic, GABAergic
      and serotonergic receptors. Behavioral responses to agents acting through
      dopaminergic and cholinergic pathways arc altered. As yet, a coherent explanation
      of the acute and chronic effects of caffeine in terms of blockade of adenosine
      receptors has not emerged. Interactions between pathways subserved by A1 - and
      A2a-adcnosine receptors complicate attempts to interpret caffeine pharmacology,
      as does the complex control by adenosine receptors of dopamincrgic, cholinergic
      and other central pathways.

PMID- 25821358
TI  - Our duty to promote local emergency services for traumatic dental injuries.

PMID- 25821356
TI  - The role of innate immunity receptors in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel
      disease.
AB  - Innate immunity constitutes the first line of defense, fundamental for the
      recognition and the initiation of an inflammatory response against
      microorganisms. The innate immune response relies on the sensing of microbial
      associated molecular patterns through specialized structures such as toll-like
      receptors (TLRs) and the nucleotide oligomerization domain- (NOD-) like receptors
      (NLRs). In the gut, these tasks are performed by the epithelial barrier and the
      presence of adaptive and innate immune mechanisms. TLRs and NLRs are distributed
      throughout the gastrointestinal mucosa, being more expressed in the epithelium,
      and in lamina propria immune and nonimmune cells. These innate immunity receptors
      exhibit complementary biological functions, with evidence for pathways
      overlapping. However, as tolerance is the predominant physiological response in
      the gastrointestinal mucosa, it appears that the TLRs are relatively
      downregulated, while NLRs play a critical role in mucosal defense in the gut.
      Over the past two decades, genetic polymorphisms have been associated with
      several diseases including inflammatory bowel disease. Special emphasis has been
      given to the susceptibility to Crohn's disease, in association with abnormalities
      in the NOD2 and in the NLRP3/inflammasome. Nevertheless, the mechanisms
      underlying innate immune receptors dysfunction that result in the persistent
      inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease remain to be clarified. 

PMID- 25821359
TI  - Multiple jaw cysts-unveiling the Gorlin-Goltz syndrome.
AB  - Gorlin-Goltz syndrome or basal cell nevus syndrome is a comparatively rare
      syndrome characterized by basal cell nevi, odontogenic keratocysts, and skeletal
      anomalies. Diagnosis is based on the major and minor clinical and radiographic
      criteria. Dentist plays a major role in the diagnosis of this disease due to the
      oral and maxillofacial manifestations of the syndrome. In some cases, jaw cysts
      are diagnosed by routine radiographs advised by the dentists. Odontogenic
      keratocysts in such syndromic patients will be multiple and extensive and in some
      cases results in cortical expansion and facial disfigurement. Thorough clinical
      examination and investigations prompt an early confirmation of the syndrome,
      which is very essential to avoid morbidity associated with the syndrome. Here, we
      report a case of multiple odontogenic cysts in a 16-year-old patient which later
      was diagnosed as a case of Gorlin Goltz syndrome. 

PMID- 25821361
TI  - Maxillary palatal ramp prosthesis: A prosthodontic solution to manage mandibular
      deviation following surgery.
AB  - Mandibular resection following surgical treatment for neoplastic lesions of the
      oral cavity leads to numerous complications including altered mandibular
      movements, disfigurement, difficult in swallowing, impaired speech and
      articulation, and deviation of the mandible towards the resected site. Various
      prosthetic methods are employed to reduce or minimize mandibular deviation and
      improve and restore the lost functions and esthetic, like maxillomandibular
      fixation, implant supported prosthesis, removable mandibular guide flange
      prosthesis, and palatal based guidance restoration. This clinical report
      describes the rehabilitation of a patient following segmental mandibulectomy
      using palatal ramp prosthesis. 

PMID- 25821360
TI  - Five years follow-up of a keratocyst odontogenic tumor treated by
      marsupialization and enucleation: A case report and literature review.
AB  - Odontogenic cysts are considered as nonneoplasic benign lesions. Among the cysts,
      keratocyst odontogenic tumor (KCOT) is an intra-osseous tumor characterized by
      parakeratinized stratified squamous epithelium and a potential for aggressive,
      infiltrative behavior, and for the possibility to develop carcinomas in the
      lesion wall. Thus, the aim of this study was to describe a clinical case of KCOT
      in a young patient and discuss the treatment alternatives to solve this case. A
      15-year-old male was referred for treatment of a giant lesion in his left side of
      the mandible. After the biopsy, a diagnostic of KCOT was made, and the following
      procedures were planned for KCOT treatment. Marsupialization was performed for
      lesion decompression and consequent lesion size reduction. Afterward, enucleation
      for complete KCOT removal was performed followed by third mandibular molar
      extraction. After 5 years, no signs of recurrence were observed. The treatment
      proposed was efficient in removing the KCOT with minimal surgical morbidity and
      optimal healing process, and the first and second mandibular molars were
      preserved with pulp vitality. In conclusion, this treatment protocol was an
      effective and conservative approach for the management of the KCOT, enabling the
      reduction of the initial lesion, the preservation of anatomical structures and
      teeth, allowing quicker return to function. No signs of recurrence after 5 years
      were observed. 

PMID- 25821362
TI  - Prosthetic rehabilitation of severe Siebert's Class III defect with modified
      Andrews bridge system.
AB  - Prosthetic dentistry involves the replacement of missing and contiguous tissues
      with artificial substitutes to restore and maintain the oral functions,
      appearance, and health of the patient. The treatment of edentulous areas with
      ridge defects poses a challenging task for the dentist. Management of such cases
      involves a wide range of treatment options comprising mainly of surgical
      interventions and non surgical techniques such as use of removable, fixed or
      fixed- removable partial dentures. But each treatment plan undertaken should be
      customized according to patient needs. A variety of factors such as quality and
      quantity of existing contiguous hard and soft tissues, systemic condition and
      economic status of the patient play an important role in treatment planning,
      clinical outcome and prognosis. This case report presents the restoration of a
      Seibert's Class III ridge defect by an economical modification of Andrews Bridge
      in a 32 Year old patient. 

PMID- 25821363
TI  - Metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma in the maxilla and mandible, an extremely
      rare presentation.
AB  - Malignancy is characterized by anaplasia, invasiveness, and metastasis. Primary
      oral squamous cell carcinoma is the most prevalent oral malignancy, but secondary
      malignancy from distant sites have also been reported. Hepatocellular carcinoma
      (HCC) is a common primary liver malignancy that frequently metastasizes during
      the course of the disease, but < 1% of cases show oral involvement. Such
      secondary neoplasms do not have any pathognomonic clinical or radiologic
      findings, and therefore they pose a diagnostic challenge. Hence, in the
      differential diagnosis of malignant tumors of the oral cavity, it is essential to
      consider the occurrence of both primary as well as metastatic tumors despite the
      low incidence of the latter. A rare case of HCC metastasizing to both the maxilla
      and mandible is presented, in which the patient succumbed to the disease as a
      result of the delay in diagnosis. 

PMID- 25821364
TI  - Assessment of the relationship between maxillary rotation and nasal morphology in
      males.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nasal features are important in treatment planning for orthodontic
      treatment. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to assess the
      relationship between maxillary inclination and nasal morphology in males.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-five samples were selected for the study between the
      age group of 18 and 30 years. Selected individuals were subjected to
      cephalometric radiography. These lateral cephalograms were traced and divided
      into three groups on the basis of the angle given by Schwarz for rotation of the
      maxilla. The nasal features of these groups were evaluated and compared using
      mean, standard deviation, Student's t-test and analysis of variance. RESULTS: The
      results suggest that there was statistically significant difference in nasal
      height, nasal bone length (NBL), nasal depth, nasolabial angle (NLA), nasal tip
      angle and upper lip inclination angle in different maxillary inclination group.
      CONCLUSION: The nasal height, NBL, NLA and nasal tip angle had a maximum value in
      retro inclination group.

PMID- 25821365
TI  - Accurate registration of peri-implant soft tissues to create an optimal emergence
      profile.
AB  - One of the challenges in restoring anterior space with implant restoration is
      maintaining the natural looking of peri-implant area. This case report presents a
      clinical procedure to create the soft tissue emergence profile for anterior
      maxillary teeth. A 49-year-old male presented with missing right maxillary
      lateral incisor. A provisional restoration was inserted 1 week after implant
      placement. Area of the provisional restoration related to the gingival tissue
      (transmucosal area) was adjusted to create an optimum emergence profile. Two
      months later, an indirect method was used to accurately transfer the soft peri
      implant tissues to the master cast. This clinical technique minimizes surgical
      procedure and avoids the possibility of soft tissue collapsing that may occur
      during the impression procedure. 

PMID- 25821366
TI  - Clinical evaluation of the marginal gingiva as a donor tissue to augment the
      width of keratinized gingiva: Series of 2 cases with 3-year follow-up.
AB  - The indications to increase the width of keratinized gingiva have not been proven
      beyond doubt; however it becomes indispensable in certain clinical situations.
      Inspite of frequently encountered complications, palate is considered most
      preferred area to harvest the free gingival graft (FGG). This procedure aimed at
      investigating the potential of buccal marginal gingiva as a donor to augment
      keratinized gingiva. To the best of our knowledge, no such cases have been
      documented in the literature. FGG harvested from maxillary buccal marginal
      gingiva was used to augment gingiva in the mandibular anterior region for two
      patients. This not only improved plaque control but also resulted in acceptable
      esthetic results over 3 years. Furthermore, gingiva at donor sites gained its
      normal form and was in harmony with the neighboring teeth. It may be concluded
      that buccal marginal gingiva may provide a predictable substitute to other donor
      tissues to augment gingiva. 

PMID- 25821367
TI  - Splinted mandibular protraction appliance.
AB  - Advancement of mandible rather than tooth movement is an ideal treatment for the
      correction of Class II malocclusion resulting from mandibular retrusion. In
      growing patients, forward repositioning of mandible by mandibular repositioning
      appliances is considered as a treatment of choice. Correction of mandibular
      retrusion by the conventional mandibular protraction appliances (MPAs) is mainly
      due to dento-alveolar changes and by altering the design of original MPAs, these
      limitations were minimized. The modified design enhanced the mandibular growth
      and contributed for the better skeletal correction of Class II malocclusion as
      compared to the conventional MPAs. This article highlights the design and
      fabrication of a splinted MPA for the correction of Class II malocclusion due to
      mandibular retrusion and also describes a patient managed by this appliance. 

PMID- 25821368
TI  - Retention of resin-based filled and unfilled pit and fissure sealants: A
      comparative clinical study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The most caries-susceptible period of a permanent
      first molar tooth is the eruption phase, during which the enamel is not fully
      matured and it is usually difficult for the child to clean the erupting tooth
      surfaces. Sealing occlusal pits and fissures with resin-based pit and fissure
      sealants is a proven method to prevent occlusal caries. The difference in the
      viscosity of the sealants differs in the penetration into pit and fissures and
      abrasive wear resistance property due to the addition of filler particles. The
      present study was conducted to evaluate and compare the retention of the resin
      based filled (Helioseal F, Ivoclar Vivadent) and unfilled (Clinpro, 3M ESPE) pit
      and fissure sealants, which is important for their effectiveness. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Fifty-six children between the age group of 6 and 9 years, with all four
      newly erupted permanent first molars were selected. Sealants were applied
      randomly using split mouth design technique on permanent first molars. Evaluation
      of sealant retention was performed at regular intervals over 12 months, using
      Simonsen's criteria at 2(nd), 4(th), 6(th), 8(th), 10(th) and 12(th) month. The
      results were subjected to statistical analysis. RESULTS: At the end of our study
      period (12(th) month), 53.57% showed complete retention, 37.50% showed partial
      retention, and 8.83% showed complete missing of resin-based filled (Helioseal F)
      pit and fissure sealant. And, 64.29% showed complete retention, 32.14% showed
      partial retention, and 3.57% showed complete missing of resin-based unfilled
      (Clinpro) pit and fissure sealant. This difference in retention rates between
      filled and unfilled pit and fissure sealants was not statistically significant.
      CONCLUSION: The difference in retention rates between Helioseal F and Clinpro was
      not statistically significant, but Clinpro (unfilled) sealant showed slightly
      higher retention rates and clinically better performance than Helioseal F
      (filled).

PMID- 25821370
TI  - Viral evolution: Influenza evolves - From rhetoric to reality?

PMID- 25821369
TI  - Cavity disinfection in minimally invasive dentistry - comparative evaluation of
      Aloe vera and propolis: A randomized clinical trial.
AB  - CONTEXT: The survival of atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) restorations
      would probably increase if near total elimination of cariogenic microorganisms
      could be done in the process of cavity cleaning before going ahead with the
      restoration. Thus, use of naturally occurring disinfecting agents for achieving
      this goal could herald a new beginning in the field of contemporary minimum
      intervention dentistry. AIMS: To evaluate the efficacy of hand instruments in
      excavating dental caries and comparatively evaluate the roles of Aloe vera and
      propolis as potential cavity disinfecting agents after minimally invasive hand
      excavation of dental caries. SETTINGS AND DESIGNS: Experimental, in vivo
      intergroup split mouth, randomized clinical trial. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The
      study included Group I (Control), Group II (A. vera) and Group III (propolis).
      Ten patients with three teeth each have occlusal/occlusoproximal lesions suitable
      for ART were selected. Dentinal samples were collected three times from each
      tooth viz., preexcavation, postexcavation and postdisinfection of the cavities.
      These dentinal samples were subjected to microbiological analyses for total
      viable count. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Repeated measures of analysis of
      variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni post-hoc test and one-way ANOVA with Tukey post
      hoc test. RESULTS: In all the three groups, significant amount of bacteria were
      left behind after hand excavation. Group II and Group III, in which cavities were
      treated with A. vera and propolis extracts respectively, showed a significant
      reduction in the bacterial counts when compared to control the group.
      CONCLUSIONS: Hand excavation alone does not completely eliminate bacteria, which
      may predispose treated teeth to secondary caries. Both propolis and A. vera
      extracts can be used as potential natural disinfecting agents, thereby embracing
      the concept of phytotherapy in minimum intervention dentistry.

PMID- 25821371
TI  - Neodymium:Yttrium aluminum garnet laser in the management of oral leukoplakia: A
      case series.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Oral leukoplakia is a nonscrappable whitish patch described as a
      potentially malignant disorder with high prevalence in India. Besides medicinal
      treatment, neodymium: Yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd: YAG) laser is also used for
      the management of oral leukoplakia. This study evaluated the role of Nd: YAG
      laser in the management of oral leukoplakia and also investigated postoperative
      complications along with long-term prognosis of the disease. SETTINGS AND
      DESIGNS: The study is a prospective cohort study conducted for 24 months (June
      2011 to May 2013) in Lucknow. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study comprised of 42
      patients, both male and female of Indian origin and diagnosed with oral
      leukoplakic lesions. Patients with biopsy proven squamous cell carcinoma and
      medically compromised are excluded from the study. All patients has undergone
      ablation of lesion by pulsed Nd: YAG laser and were followed after 24 h, 72 h, 1
      week and then successively for 1, 3, 6 months and then 1(st) and 2(nd)
      postoperative years. RESULTS: Pain and slough were evaluated by Wicoxon rank test
      (P = 0.0001 statistically significant) which decreased from 24 h to 1-week and
      became nil in subsequent follow-ups. Similarly, McNemar's test (P = 0.001
      statistically significant) was used for evaluation of burning sensation,
      paresthesia, infection and recurrences. Recurrence was noted in 2 patients but
      following the second application, there were no recurrences over the period of
      further follow-up. None of the patient suffered from an infection, paresthesia or
      anesthesia. CONCLUSION: Hence, Nd: YAG laser was found to be effective in
      ablating leukoplakia. It is convenient, economical with minimum complications and
      morbidities.

PMID- 25821372
TI  - Use of buccal myomucosal flap for palatal lengthening in cleft palate patient:
      Experience of 20 cases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this review was to assess the effectiveness of the
      buccal myomucosal flap in secondary repairs of cleft palate in 20 patients.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: Totally, 20 patients, who underwent secondary palatoplasty
      between 5 years and 8 years in which a buccal myomucosal flap was used, were
      reviewed retrospectively. All patients had undergone at least one previous
      attempted repair at other institutions. Indications for the secondary repair
      included velopharyngeal incompetence and/or oronasal fistula. Patients were
      evaluated preoperatively for oronasal fistula status, velopharyngeal competence,
      nasal resonance, speech quality, and nasal escape. RESULTS: The buccal myomucosal
      flap was used in all 20 patients, and there was marked increase in the quality of
      speech as well as nasal regurgitation decreased. In patients with levator
      dysfunction due to poor primary surgery and glottal speech the results were
      inconclusive. CONCLUSION: Palate re-repair combined with a buccal myomucosal
      flap, occasionally in conjunction with other techniques, is an effective method
      for correcting failed cleft palate repairs. Minimum donor site morbidity and
      complication makes the buccal flap a useful armamentarium of a cleft surgeon.

PMID- 25821373
TI  - Versatile retraction mechanics: Implant assisted en-masse retraction with a boot
      loop.
AB  - The purpose of this paper is to explain the versatility offered by the use of
      arch wires with boot loops in retraction mechanics while taking direct anchorage
      from mini-screws. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The materials include the mini screws
      placed at the appropriate location and retraction arches made of 0.019 X 0.025 SS
      with boot loops placed distal to the lateral incisors. Mini screw provides a
      stable anchorage for enmasse retraction of the anterior teeth with the help of a
      boot loop using sliding and/or loop mechanics. RESULTS: The arch wires with boot
      loops have a definite advantage over the soldered/crimpable hooks because of the
      versatility it offers during the process of retraction. CONCLUSION: An innovative
      approach combining the advantages of absolute anchorage using mini implants and a
      retraction arch with boot loop is presented here.

PMID- 25821374
TI  - A comparative evaluation of the effect of dentin desensitizers on the retention
      of complete cast metal crowns.
AB  - CONTEXT: Desensitizers are used to reduce dentin hypersensitivity. They affect
      the surface texture of prepared dentin and may alter the retention of fixed
      restorations. AIMS: The aim was to evaluate the effect of dentin desensitizers on
      the retention of complete cast metal crowns luted with glass ionomer cement.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Fifty freshly extracted human premolars were subjected to
      standardized tooth preparation (20 degrees  total convergence, 4 mm axial height)
      with a computer numerically controlled machine. Individual cast metal crowns were
      fabricated from a base metal alloy. Dentin desensitizers included none (control),
      a glutaraldehyde (GLU) based primer (Gluma desensitizer), casein phosphopeptide
      (CPP)-amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) (GC Mousse), erbium, chromium: YSGG laser
      (Waterlase MD Turbo, Biolase) and Pro-Argin (Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief
      desensitizing polishing paste). After desensitization, crowns were luted with
      glass ionomer cement and kept for 48 h at 37 degrees C in 100% relative humidity.
      The samples were tested using a universal testing machine by applying a load at a
      crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Statistical analysis
      included One-way ANOVA, followed by the Scheffe post-hoc test with P < 0.05.
      RESULTS: All dentin desensitizers showed significantly different values: Pro
      Argin (4.10 Megapascals [Mpa]) < CPP-ACP (4.01 mpa) < GLU based primer (3.87 Mpa)
      < Virgin dentin (3.65 Mpa) < LASER (3.37 Mpa). CONCLUSIONS: On comparing the
      effect of prepared virgin dentin, GLU based primer, CPP-ACP, LASER and Pro-Argin
      on the retention of complete cast metal crowns luted with glass ionomer cement on
      prepared teeth, it can be concluded that Pro-Argin and CPP-ACP showed the best
      retention in this in vitro study.

PMID- 25821375
TI  - Estimation of changes in C-reactive protein level and pregnancy outcome after
      nonsurgical supportive periodontal therapy in women affected with periodontitis
      in a rural set up of India.
AB  - AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Estimation of changes in C-reactive protein (CRP) level and
      pregnancy outcome after nonsurgical supportive periodontal therapy in pregnant
      women affected with Periodontitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 100 pregnant
      females with periodontitis were assigned to treatment and control groups. All the
      details about previous and current pregnancies were obtained. Full-mouth
      periodontal examination was done at baseline, which included oral hygiene index
      simplified plaque index, gingival index, and clinical attachment loss. CRP level
      was also measured from collected blood sample initially at baseline and later
      after the delivery in both the group. Subjects in the treatment group received
      nonsurgical periodontal treatment during the second trimester of gestational
      period, and those in the control group did not receive any periodontal therapy
      during this period. Periodontal therapy included mechanical plaque control
      instructions and scaling and root planning. Outcome measures assessed were
      changes in CRP levels, gestational age, and birth weight of the infants. When
      delivery occurred at <37 weeks of gestation, it was considered as preterm birth
      (PTB), and low birth weight (LBW) was recorded when the infant weighed <2500 g.
      RESULTS: In the treatment group, 32% of PTB and 68% of Normal term birth (NTB)
      delivery whereas in the control group 72% PTB and 28% of NTB were recorded.
      Infants measured with LBW were 36% in the treatment group and 52% in the control
      group. Mean birth weight was 2644.44 +/- 450.53 g in the treatment group and
      2447.82 +/- 368.02 g in the control group (P < 0.05). Mean gestational age in the
      treatment group was 35.57 +/- 2.40 weeks and 34.17 +/- 2.92 weeks in the control
      group (P < 0.05). The treatment group showed statistically significant reduction
      in mean values of CRP level after delivery in comparison to baseline values (P <
      0.05), whereas control group showed no significant reduction in values (P >
      0.05). CONCLUSION: Nonsurgical supportive periodontal therapy may lower the risk
      of preterm delivery in females affected with periodontitis by reducing CRP level.

PMID- 25821376
TI  - Comparison between stainless steel staples and silk sutures for primary closure
      of skin in patients undergoing neck dissection: A comparative clinical study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Comparison between stainless steel staples and silk sutures for
      primary closure of skin in patients undergoing neck dissection, in context of
      rapid application, approximation of the skin edges, economy and aesthetics of the
      resultant scar. AIM: (1) To compare surgical stainless steel staples and silk
      sutures for primary wound closure, with respect to presence/absence of wound
      infection and dehiscence (2) To compare the resultant scar following the two
      different methods of the closure at 3(rd) month postoperatively with the help of
      visual analog scale and analyze the result statistically DESIGN: This study was
      designed to compare skin closure using staples and silk sutures in patients
      undergoing neck dissection, using both methods in one-half of the same wound;
      thus each wound affording its own control. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was
      conducted on patients requiring collar line incision (high submandibular
      incision) with or without a cephalad extension of midline lower lip split
      incision for surgical access, who presented to the Department of Oral and Maxillo
      Facial Surgery. (1) SAMPLE SIZE: 10 (2) STUDY DESIGN: Prospective Comparative
      study (3) Study duration: One and half years (4) Surgical stainless steel
      staples: Proximate Plus MD 35 W, Ethicon Endo Surgery (5) Sutures: 3-0 Ethiprime
      NW 5003, Non-Absorbable Surgical Suture, Mersilk-90 cm, Ethicon, (16 mm 3/8
      circle cutting needle). CONCLUSION: It was concluded that there is no significant
      difference between the scars observed in the regions of incision which underwent
      primary closure by two different methods, that is surgical stainless steel
      staples and 3-0 Mersilk Sutures.

PMID- 25821377
TI  - 'Sutureless' transconjunctival approach for infraorbital rim fractures.
AB  - AIM: To analyze the ease and surgical outcome of using sutureless
      transconjunctival approach for repair of infra-orbital fractures. DESIGN:
      Prospective clinical case series. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Totally 5 patients with
      infra-orbital rim or orbital floor fractures were selected and the fractures were
      accessed through a pre-septal transconjunctival incision. After reduction and
      fixation, the conjunctiva was just re-approximated and re-draped into position.
      Incidence of post-operative complications such as diplopia, lid retraction,
      eyelid dystopia, foreign body granuloma and poor conjunctival healing was
      assessed at intervals of 1 week, 15 days and a month post-operatively. RESULTS:
      No complications were observed in any of the 5 patients. Healing was satisfactory
      in all patients. CONCLUSION: The sutureless technique appears to be a time saving
      and technically simpler viable alternative to multilayered suturing in orbital
      trauma with minimal post-operative complications.

PMID- 25821378
TI  - Prevalence of glutathione S-transferase M1 null polymorphism in tobacco users,
      oral leukoplakia and oral squamous cell carcinoma patients in South Indian
      population: A polymerase chain reaction study.
AB  - CONTEXT: Tobacco abuse is a well-known risk factor for potentially malignant
      disorders as well as oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Factors that influence
      tobacco-exposed individuals developing a malignancy may include a combination of
      total tobacco exposure and genetic susceptibility. AIM: This study was undertaken
      to determine the prevalence of the glutathione S-transferase M1 (GSTM1) null
      polymorphism in oral leukoplakia and oral SCC patients in South Indian
      population. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This case-control study was conducted in
      hospital setting on South Indian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Totally, 280
      subjects with a history of tobacco use, oral leukoplakia, oral SCC were included
      in this study. Three milliliter of blood was collected and transported under cold
      cycle and taken for evaluation of GSTM1 null polymorphism using Multiplex
      Polymerase Chain Reaction. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: On comparing the prevalence of
      GSTM1 null polymorphism among the group with subjects with habits and no oral
      lesions, oral leukoplakia and oral SCC, it was observed that there was a
      statistically significant association between GSTM1 null polymorphism and the
      different groups (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The lack of GSTM1 activity would make
      the oral tissues more susceptible to action of tobacco carcinogens and to the
      development of a high-grade level of dysplasia in oral leukoplakia and thereby
      increases the susceptibility of lesion to undergo malignant changes.

PMID- 25821379
TI  - Estimation of salivary flow rate, pH, buffer capacity, calcium, total protein
      content and total antioxidant capacity in relation to dental caries severity, age
      and gender.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to evaluate salivary flow rate, pH, buffering
      capacity, calcium, total protein content and total antioxidant capacity in
      relation to dental caries, age and gender. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study
      population consisted of 120 healthy children aged 7-15 years that was further
      divided into two groups: 7-10 years and 11-15 years. In this 60 children with
      DMFS/dfs = 0 and 60 children with DMFS/dfs >=5 were included. The subjects were
      divided into two groups; Group A: Children with DMFS/dfs = 0 (caries-free) Group
      B: Children with DMFS/dfs >=5 (caries active). Unstimulated saliva samples were
      collected from all groups. Flow rates were determined, and samples analyzed for
      pH, buffer capacity, calcium, total protein and total antioxidant status.
      Salivary antioxidant activity is measured with spectrophotometer by an adaptation
      of 2,2'-azino-di-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) assays. RESULTS: The mean
      difference of the two groups; caries-free and caries active were proved to be
      statistically significant (P < 0.05) for salivary calcium, total protein and
      total antioxidant level for both the sexes in the age group 7-10 years and for
      the age 11-15 years the mean difference of the two groups were proved to be
      statistically significant (P < 0.05) for salivary calcium level for both the
      sexes. Salivary total protein and total antioxidant level were proved to be
      statistically significant for male children only. CONCLUSIONS: In general, total
      protein and total antioxidants in saliva were increased with caries activity.
      Calcium content of saliva was found to be more in caries-free group and increased
      with age.

PMID- 25821380
TI  - Loss on drying, calcium concentration and pH of fluoride dentifrices.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Fluoride dentifrices containing calcium carbonate have advantages
      such as control of dental plaque and progression of dental caries, also
      contributing to oral hygiene, represent most dentifrices marketed in Brazil. AIM:
      To evaluate the physicochemical properties of seven fluoride dentifrices
      containing calcium carbonate in relation to hydrogen potential (pH), loss on
      drying and calcium concentration. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data collection was
      performed using the potentiometric method for pH ranges, gravimetric analysis for
      loss on drying and atomic absorption spectrometry for the concentration of
      calcium ions. All tests were performed in triplicate and the analysis was
      performed entirely at random according to one-way analysis of variance at 5%
      significance level. RESULTS: The pH values were alkaline and ranged from 8.67
      (Oral-B 123((r))) to 10.03 (Colgate Maxima Protecao Anticaries((r))). The results
      of loss on drying ranged from 33.81% (Oral-B 123((r))) to 61.13% (Close Up((r))),
      with significant differences between brands tested. In relation to the calcium
      content, the highest and lowest concentrations were found in dentifrices
      Even((r)) (155.55 g/kg) and Colgate Ultra Branco((r)) (129 g/kg), respectively,
      with significant difference (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Fluoride dentifrices analyzed
      showed alkaline pH and high levels of loss on drying and calcium concentration.
      However, these physicochemical characteristics differed according to the
      different brands tested.

PMID- 25821381
TI  - Analysis of time-dependent changes in Bitemarks on Styrofoam sheets.
AB  - CONTEXT: The scope of Bitemarks in forensic dentistry is widening as they help
      the forensic expert in identifying the perpetuator in medicolegal cases. The
      greatest challenge in Bitemarks analysis is the time-dependent changes produced
      in Bitemark patterns on various substrates at the scene of the crime. AIMS: To
      analyze the time-dependent changes in Bitemarks on Styrofoam sheets. SETTINGS AND
      DESIGN: Single centered prospective study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-five
      subjects were randomly chosen, and dental casts prepared. Then test bites were
      registered on Styrofoam sheets, overlays prepared from these test bites on
      subsequent days (day 1, 2, 3, 4) and checked for matching accuracy. STATISTICAL
      ANALYSIS USED: The data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA to compare the
      overlays from dental stone cast with test bites on Styrofoam sheets on subsequent
      days. RESULTS: The P value was found to be 1 which is statistically not
      significant implying that there were no significant time-dependent changes in the
      pattern of Bitemarks. CONCLUSIONS: There were no time-dependent changes in the
      pattern of Bitemarks on Styrofoam sheets hence they serve as better materials
      than Bitemarks on human skin or food substrates obtained from the scene of the
      crime.

PMID- 25821382
TI  - Appraisal of the remineralizing potential of child formula dentifrices on primary
      teeth: An in vitro pH cycling model.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the remineralizing potential of child formula dentifrices on
      primary teeth using an in vitro 7 days pH cycling model. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Twenty-one primary teeth were placed in demineralizing solution for 96 h to
      produce artificial carious lesions; then cut longitudinally into 100-150 MUm
      thick sections and randomly assigned to three groups. Sections in Group A were
      treated with dentifrice containing 458 ppm monofluorophosphate (MFP) and sections
      in Group B with 500 ppm sodium fluoride (NaF). Group C sections were treated with
      a nonfluoridated dentifrice. RESULTS: Group A (458 ppm MFP) and Group B (500 ppm
      NaF) showed significant decrease in lesion depth, whereas Group C (non F) showed
      a significant increase in depth (P <= 0.05, paired t-test). CONCLUSION: Though
      dentifrices containing 458 ppm MFP and 500 ppm NaF demonstrated remineralization
      of carious lesions, it was not complete. Therefore, it is also important to
      emphasize on other preventive methods in the prevention and/or reversal of
      carious lesions.

PMID- 25821383
TI  - Sealing ability of three hydrophilic single-cone obturation systems: An in vitro
      glucose leakage study.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study is to compare the corono-apical sealing ability of
      three single-cone obturation systems using a glucose leakage model. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A total of 90 freshly extracted human maxillary single-rooted teeth was
      selected, and their crowns were cut. The root canal of each sample was
      instrumented using a rotary crown down technique and then divided into four
      experimental (n = 20 each) and two control groups (n = 5 each). Samples in the
      experimental groups were filled as follows: Group 1, cold lateral condensation
      using gutta-percha/AH Plus; group 2, single-cone C-points/smart-paste bio-sealer;
      group 3, single-cone bio-ceramic (BC) impregnated gutta-percha/endo-sequence BC
      sealer; group 4, single-cone Resilon/RealSeal SE after 7 days, the sealing
      ability of root canal fillings was tested at different time intervals using
      glucose leakage model. Glucose leakage values were measured using a
      spectrophotometer and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The four experimental
      groups presented significantly different glucose leakage values at all test
      periods (P < 0.05). At the end of the observation period, the cumulative glucose
      leakage values of groups 2 and 3 were significantly lower than those of groups 1
      and 4 (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: C-points/smart-paste Bio and BC impregnated gutta
      percha/endo-sequence BC sealer combinations provided the superior sealing ability
      over the lateral condensation technique.

PMID- 25821384
TI  - Denture acceptance among newly rehabilitated elderly population in old age homes
      in South India.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Elders in old age homes are mainly those who have been abandoned by
      their family and have one or more physical or mental disabilities. It is a major
      challenge for the dental professional to plan oral health strategy for this group
      of patients. AIM OF THE STUDY: Aim of the present study is to observe and
      determine the acceptance of new dental prosthesis among the elderly residing as
      inmates of 3 old age homes in Mangalore City. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross
      sectional study was conducted using a survey proforma. Information regarding
      their experience with the new denture, 1-month, 3 months and 6 months after
      denture insertion was gathered. Statistical analysis of the data was done using
      the Chi-square test with the P < 0.05 considered significant. RESULTS: One
      hundred and eighty-three residents out of a total of 400 residents in 3 old age
      homes were denture wearers. Among them, 101 (55.2%) were females, and 82 (44.8%)
      were males. Dental prosthesis whether worn regularly, discomfort, retention,
      cleansing of denture during a period of 1-month, 3 months and 6 months was found
      to be significant satisfaction with the prosthesis, denture adhesives used, food
      accumulation during a period of 1-month, 3 months and 6 months was found to be
      nonsignificant. CONCLUSION: The emotional makeup of the patient must be taken
      into consideration during the entire procedure. We must understand that the
      success of the prosthesis depends mainly on the patient's confidence in the
      dentist rather than the quality of the prosthesis.

PMID- 25821385
TI  - Orofacial granulomatosis affecting lip and gingiva in a 15-year-old patient: A
      rare case report.
AB  - Orofacial granulomatosis (OFG) is a rare disorder affecting the orofacial region,
      and clinically characterized by diffuse, nontender, soft to firm, painless
      swelling restricted to one or both lips and intraoral sites such as tongue,
      gingiva and buccal mucosa. Histologically, OFG is characterized by noncaseating
      granulomatous inflammation. The early diagnosis of OFG is essential for the
      better prognosis of the lesion. Delay in diagnosis of OFG results into formation
      of indurated and permanent swelling of the lip that not only compromises esthetic
      appearance but also causes impairment in function such as speaking and eating.
      Early diagnosis of OFG is challenging to the health care professionals due to
      clinical and histological resemblance to other chronic granulomatous disorders.
      Thus, dentists may act as a first person to diagnose the lesion and play an
      important role in the multidisciplinary treatment of granulomatous disorders.
      Here, we present a case of OFG affecting lips and gingiva in a 15-year-old
      patient without any identifiable systemic or local causes. 

PMID- 25821386
TI  - Gingival depigmentation: A split mouth comparative study between scalpel and
      cryosurgery.
AB  - Gingival hyperpigmentation is a major esthetic concern for many people. Although
      it is not a medical problem, many people complain of dark gums as unesthetic.
      Gingival depigmentation is a periodontal plastic surgical procedure, whereby the
      hyperpigmentation is removed or reduced by various techniques. For depigmentation
      of gingival, different treatment modalities have been reported, such as scalpel,
      cryosurgery, electrosurgery, lasers, etc., this article compares the management
      of three cases with scalpel and cryosurgery and also highlights the relevance of
      cryosurgery. 

PMID- 25821387
TI  - A Bayesian Approach for Graph-constrained Estimation for High-dimensional
      Regression.
AB  - Many different biological processes are represented by network graphs such as
      regulatory networks, metabolic pathways, and protein-protein interaction
      networks. Since genes that are linked on the networks usually have biologically
      similar functions, the linked genes form molecular modules to affect the clinical
      phenotypes/outcomes. Similarly, in large-scale genetic association studies, many
      SNPs are in high linkage disequilibrium (LD), which can also be summarized as a
      LD graph. In order to incorporate the graph information into regression analysis
      with high dimensional genomic data as predictors, we introduce a Bayesian
      approach for graph-constrained estimation (Bayesian GRACE) and regularization,
      which controls the amount of regularization for sparsity and smoothness of the
      regression coefficients. The Bayesian estimation with their posterior
      distributions can provide credible intervals for the estimates of the regression
      coefficients along with standard errors. The deviance information criterion (DIC)
      is applied for model assessment and tuning parameter selection. The performance
      of the proposed Bayesian approach is evaluated through simulation studies and is
      compared with Bayesian Lasso and Bayesian Elastic-net procedures. We demonstrate
      our method in an analysis of data from a case-control genome-wide association
      study of neuroblastoma using a weighted LD graph.

PMID- 25821388
TI  - A New CT Prostate Segmentation for CT-Based HDR Brachytherapy.
AB  - High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy has become a popular treatment modality for
      localized prostate cancer. Prostate HDR treatment involves placing 10 to 20
      catheters (needles) into the prostate gland, and then delivering radiation dose
      to the cancerous regions through these catheters. These catheters are often
      inserted with transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guidance and the HDR treatment plan
      is based on the CT images. The main challenge for CT-based HDR planning is to
      accurately segment prostate volume in CT images due to the poor soft tissue
      contrast and additional artifacts introduced by the catheters. To overcome these
      limitations, we propose a novel approach to segment the prostate in CT images
      through TRUS-CT deformable registration based on the catheter locations. In this
      approach, the HDR catheters are reconstructed from the intra-operative TRUS and
      planning CT images, and then used as landmarks for the TRUS-CT image
      registration. The prostate contour generated from the TRUS images captured during
      the ultrasound-guided HDR procedure was used to segment the prostate on the CT
      images through deformable registration. We conducted two studies. A prostate
      phantom study demonstrated a submillimeter accuracy of our method. A pilot study
      of 5 prostate-cancer patients was conducted to further test its clinical
      feasibility. All patients had 3 gold markers implanted in the prostate that were
      used to evaluate the registration accuracy, as well as previous diagnostic MR
      images that were used as the gold standard to assess the prostate segmentation.
      For the 5 patients, the mean gold-marker displacement was 1.2 mm; the prostate
      volume difference between our approach and the MRI was 7.2%, and the Dice volume
      overlap was over 91%. Our proposed method could improve prostate delineation,
      enable accurate dose planning and delivery, and potentially enhance prostate HDR
      treatment outcome.

PMID- 25821389
TI  - Toward real-time endoscopically-guided robotic navigation based on a 3D virtual
      surgical field model.
AB  - The challenge is to accurately guide the surgical tool within the three
      dimensional (3D) surgical field for robotically-assisted operations such as tumor
      margin removal from a debulked brain tumor cavity. The proposed technique is 3D
      image-guided surgical navigation based on matching intraoperative video frames to
      a 3D virtual model of the surgical field. A small laser-scanning endoscopic
      camera was attached to a mock minimally-invasive surgical tool that was
      manipulated toward a region of interest (residual tumor) within a phantom of a
      debulked brain tumor. Video frames from the endoscope provided features that were
      matched to the 3D virtual model, which were reconstructed earlier by raster
      scanning over the surgical field. Camera pose (position and orientation) is
      recovered by implementing a constrained bundle adjustment algorithm. Navigational
      error during the approach to fluorescence target (residual tumor) is determined
      by comparing the calculated camera pose to the measured camera pose using a micro
      positioning stage. From these preliminary results, computation efficiency of the
      algorithm in MATLAB code is near real-time (2.5 sec for each estimation of pose),
      which can be improved by implementation in C++. Error analysis produced 3-mm
      distance error and 2.5 degree of orientation error on average. The sources of
      these errors come from 1) inaccuracy of the 3D virtual model, generated on a
      calibrated RAVEN robotic platform with stereo tracking; 2) inaccuracy of
      endoscope intrinsic parameters, such as focal length; and 3) any endoscopic image
      distortion from scanning irregularities. This work demonstrates feasibility of
      micro-camera 3D guidance of a robotic surgical tool.

PMID- 25821390
TI  - Detection of Medium-Sized Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons via Fluorescence
      Energy Transfer.
AB  - Reported herein is the use of proximity-induced non-covalent energy transfer for
      the detection of medium-sized polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This
      energy transfer occurs within the cavity of gamma-cyclodextrin in various aqueous
      environments, including human plasma and coconut water. Highly efficient energy
      transfer was observed, and the efficiency of the energy transfer is independent
      of the concentration of gamma-cyclodextrin used, demonstrating the importance of
      hydrophobic binding in facilitating such energy transfer. Low limits of detection
      were also observed for many of the PAHs investigated, which is promising for the
      development of fluorescence-based detection schemes.

PMID- 25821391
TI  - "Is he a licentious lewd Sort of a Person?" Constructing the child rapist in
      early modern England.

PMID- 25821392
TI  - Analysis of 1-Minute Potentially Available Fluoride from Dentifrice.
AB  - Previous reports found that some fluoride-containing dentifrices do not release
      effective concentrations of fluoride during brushing. Failure to release fluoride
      can be due to dentifrice matrix components that interfere with the solubilization
      of the fluoride salts during brushing. A new generation of dentifrices has the
      capability to precipitate beneficial fluoride salts during tooth brushing.
      Therefore, a method that assesses the potentially available fluoride during the 1
      minute brushing is needed. A new filter-paper absorption method to assess the 1
      min bioavailable fluoride concentration was developed to meet this need. This
      method utilizes coiled filter paper that rapidly absorbs the aqueous phase of the
      dentifrice slurry followed by centrifugation to recover that fluid for fluoride
      measurement via fluoride ion-selective electrode. The analytical method was used
      to successfully determine the total fluoride and 1-min bioavailable fluoride in
      eight dentifrice products containing sodium fluoride (NaF), disodium
      monofluorophosphate (Na2FPO3, MFP), stannous fluoride (SnF2), or NaF with
      amorphous calcium phosphate (NaF + ACP). The results showed that some of the
      dentifrices tested had significantly lower potentially available fluoride than
      the total fluoride. For a MFP-containing sample, aged seven years past its expiry
      date, there was significant reduction in the bioavailable fluoride compared to
      MFP products that were not aged. Other than the aged MFP and the SnF2-containing
      samples the bioavailable fluoride for all products tested had at least 80 % of
      the label fluoride concentration. The filter paper absorption method yielded
      reproducible results for the products tested with MFP samples showing the largest
      variations.

PMID- 25821393
TI  - Causality and Causal Inference in Social Work: Quantitative and Qualitative
      Perspectives.
AB  - Achieving the goals of social work requires matching a specific solution to a
      specific problem. Understanding why the problem exists and why the solution
      should work requires a consideration of cause and effect. However, it is unclear
      whether it is desirable for social workers to identify cause and effect, whether
      it is possible for social workers to identify cause and effect, and, if so, what
      is the best means for doing so. These questions are central to determining the
      possibility of developing a science of social work and how we go about doing it.
      This article has four aims: (1) provide an overview of the nature of causality;
      (2) examine how causality is treated in social work research and practice; (3)
      highlight the role of quantitative and qualitative methods in the search for
      causality; and (4) demonstrate how both methods can be employed to support a
      "science" of social work.

PMID- 25821394
TI  - A Riemannian framework for matching point clouds represented by the Schrodinger
      distance transform.
AB  - In this paper, we cast the problem of point cloud matching as a shape matching
      problem by transforming each of the given point clouds into a shape
      representation called the Schrodinger distance transform (SDT) representation.
      This is achieved by solving a static Schrodinger equation instead of the
      corresponding static Hamilton-Jacobi equation in this setting. The SDT
      representation is an analytic expression and following the theoretical physics
      literature, can be normalized to have unit L2 norm-making it a square-root
      density, which is identified with a point on a unit Hilbert sphere, whose
      intrinsic geometry is fully known. The Fisher-Rao metric, a natural metric for
      the space of densities leads to analytic expressions for the geodesic distance
      between points on this sphere. In this paper, we use the well known Riemannian
      framework never before used for point cloud matching, and present a novel
      matching algorithm. We pose point set matching under rigid and non-rigid
      transformations in this framework and solve for the transformations using
      standard nonlinear optimization techniques. Finally, to evaluate the performance
      of our algorithm-dubbed SDTM-we present several synthetic and real data examples
      along with extensive comparisons to state-of-the-art techniques. The experiments
      show that our algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art point set registration
      algorithms on many quantitative metrics.

PMID- 25821395
TI  - The ambiguous victim: Miklos Nyiszli's narrative of medical experimentation in
      Auschwitz-Birkenau.

PMID- 25821396
TI  - Not All Ideals are Equal: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Ideals in Relationships.
AB  - The ideal standards model suggests that greater consistency between ideal
      standards and actual perceptions of one's relationship predicts positive
      relationship evaluations; however, no research has evaluated whether this differs
      across types of ideals. A self-determination theory perspective was derived to
      test whether satisfaction of intrinsic ideals buffers the importance of extrinsic
      ideals. Participants (N=195) in committed relationships directly and indirectly
      reported the extent to which their partner met their ideal on two dimensions:
      intrinsic (e.g., warm, intimate) and extrinsic (e.g., attractive, successful).
      Relationship need fulfillment and relationship quality were also assessed.
      Hypotheses were largely supported, such that satisfaction of intrinsic ideals
      more strongly predicted relationship functioning, and satisfaction of intrinsic
      ideals buffered the relevance of extrinsic ideals for outcomes.

PMID- 25821397
TI  - Improvement in Overall Survival from Extremity Soft Tissue Sarcoma over Twenty
      Years.
AB  - Several patient demographic factors, including marital status, have been
      demonstrated to have prognostic significance for survival in extremity soft
      tissue sarcoma (ESTS). A study population of 12,546 adult patients diagnosed with
      ESTS from 1991 to 2010 was identified from the SEER database, a large population
      based registry, in order to determine whether overall survival had changed over
      this recent 20-year period. The study population was divided into three groups by
      year of diagnosis: 1991-1996, 1997-2003, and 2004-2010. We used the Kaplan-Meier
      method and Cox proportional hazards regression to assess survival differences
      between different demographic groups and prognostic clinical characteristics.
      Over the course of time, the 5-year overall survival rates have increased from
      28% in the earliest time period to 62% in the latest (P < 0.0001). On
      multivariate analysis, the mortality rate progressively declined from the 1991
      1996 group (HR: 3.02, CI: 2.78-3.29) to the 1997-2003 group (HR: 2.21, CI: 2.06
      2.37), with the 2004-2010 group having the best overall survival, despite
      increases in the proportion of patients with tumors greater than 5 cm in size (P
      < 0.0001), and those presenting with metastasis (P < 0.0001). 

PMID- 25821398
TI  - 'Hella Ghetto!': (Dis)locating Race and Class Consciousness in Youth Discourses
      of Ghetto Spaces, Subjects and Schools.
AB  - Based on analysis of interviews conducted during 2008-2009 in Oakland,
      California, this paper examines how narratives of inner-city youth reinforce and
      destabilize mainstream conceptions of 'ghetto.' The paper demonstrates that inner
      city youth discourses regarding 'ghetto' spaces, subjects and schools often
      exemplify a consciousness informed by both counter-hegemonic insights and
      internalized psychological trauma. In other words, the interviewed youth
      reconstitute the term 'ghetto' to signify structural and cultural processes of
      dislocation occurring in their neighborhood through narratives characterized by
      contradiction. This finding is significant because it questions how to analyze
      non-white narratives and offers 'dislocated consciousness' as an interpretive
      lens grounded in the contradictions of subaltern consciousness theorized by
      W.E.B. Dubois, Frantz Fanon and Antonio Gramsci. By developing the concept of
      'dislocation' to illuminate how such youth negotiate, resist and internalize the
      material and ideological structures that condition their existence, this study
      contributes to the existing literature on race and class consciousness of urban
      youth. The paper concludes by exploring how strategies urban youth utilize to
      come to terms with their lives can provide new understandings of urban
      communities and schooling.

PMID- 25821399
TI  - Does logging and forest conversion to oil palm agriculture alter functional
      diversity in a biodiversity hotspot?
AB  - Forests in Southeast Asia are rapidly being logged and converted to oil palm.
      These changes in land-use are known to affect species diversity but consequences
      for the functional diversity of species assemblages are poorly understood.
      Environmental filtering of species with similar traits could lead to
      disproportionate reductions in trait diversity in degraded habitats. Here, we
      focus on dung beetles, which play a key role in ecosystem processes such as
      nutrient recycling and seed dispersal. We use morphological and behavioural
      traits to calculate a variety of functional diversity measures across a gradient
      of disturbance from primary forest through intensively logged forest to oil palm.
      Logging caused significant shifts in community composition but had very little
      effect on functional diversity, even after a repeated timber harvest. These data
      provide evidence for functional redundancy of dung beetles within primary forest
      and emphasize the high value of logged forests as refugia for biodiversity. In
      contrast, conversion of forest to oil palm greatly reduced taxonomic and
      functional diversity, with a marked decrease in the abundance of nocturnal
      foragers, a higher proportion of species with small body sizes and the complete
      loss of telecoprid species (dung-rollers), all indicating a decrease in the
      functional capacity of dung beetles within plantations. These changes also
      highlight the vulnerability of community functioning within logged forests in the
      event of further environmental degradation.

PMID- 25821400
TI  - Adapting to climate change in South East Queensland, Australia.

PMID- 25821401
TI  - Modelling land cover change in the Brazilian Amazon: temporal changes in drivers
      and calibration issues.
AB  - Land cover change (LCC) models are used in many studies of human impacts on the
      environment, but knowing how well these models predict observed changes in the
      landscape is a challenge. We used nearly three decades of LCC maps to run several
      LCC simulations to: (1) determine which parameters associated with drivers of LCC
      (e.g. roads) get selected for which transition (forest to deforested,
      regeneration to deforested or deforested to regeneration); (2) investigate how
      the parameter values vary through time with respect to the different activities
      (e.g. farming); and (3) quantify the influence of choosing a particular time
      period for model calibration and validation on the performance of LCC models. We
      found that deforestation of primary forests tends to occur along roads (included
      in 95 % of models) and outside protected areas (included in all models),
      reflecting farming establishment. Regeneration tends to occur far from roads
      (included in 78 % of the models) and inside protected areas (included in 38 % of
      the models), reflecting the processes of land abandonment. Our temporal analysis
      of model parameters revealed a degree of variation through time (e.g.
      effectiveness of protected areas rose by 73 %, p < 0.001), but for the majority
      of parameters there was no significant trend. The degree to which model
      predictions agreed with observed change was heavily dependent on the year used
      for calibration (p < 0.001). The next generation of LCC models may need to embed
      trends in parameter values to allow the processes determining LCC to change
      through time and exert their influence on model predictions.

PMID- 25821402
TI  - Synthesis in land change science: methodological patterns, challenges, and
      guidelines.
AB  - Global and regional economic and environmental changes are increasingly
      influencing local land-use, livelihoods, and ecosystems. At the same time,
      cumulative local land changes are driving global and regional changes in
      biodiversity and the environment. To understand the causes and consequences of
      these changes, land change science (LCS) draws on a wide array synthetic and meta
      study techniques to generate global and regional knowledge from local case
      studies of land change. Here, we review the characteristics and applications of
      synthesis methods in LCS and assess the current state of synthetic research based
      on a meta-analysis of synthesis studies from 1995 to 2012. Publication of
      synthesis research is accelerating, with a clear trend toward increasingly
      sophisticated and quantitative methods, including meta-analysis. Detailed trends
      in synthesis objectives, methods, and land change phenomena and world regions
      most commonly studied are presented. Significant challenges to successful
      synthesis research in LCS are also identified, including issues of
      interpretability and comparability across case-studies and the limits of and
      biases in the geographic coverage of case studies. Nevertheless, synthesis
      methods based on local case studies will remain essential for generating
      systematic global and regional understanding of local land change for the
      foreseeable future, and multiple opportunities exist to accelerate and enhance
      the reliability of synthetic LCS research in the future. Demand for global and
      regional knowledge generation will continue to grow to support adaptation and
      mitigation policies consistent with both the local realities and regional and
      global environmental and economic contexts of land change.

PMID- 25821403
TI  - Food and feed supply and waste disposal in the industrialising city of Vienna
      (1830-1913): a special focus on urban nitrogen flows.
AB  - Taking an urban metabolism perspective, this article investigates food and feed
      consumption as well as flows of nitrogen in the city of Vienna during the
      industrial transformation. It addresses the question of the amount of
      agricultural products consumed in the city and their nitrogen content, their
      origin and their fate after consumption. Changes in dietary nitrogen flows in
      nineteenth century Vienna are embedded in the context of a socio-ecological
      transition from an agrarian to an industrial socio-metabolic regime. Similarities
      and differences in the size and dynamics of urban nitrogen flows in Vienna and
      Paris are discussed. Critical reading of historical sources and historical
      material flow accounting are the methodological backbone of this study. Between
      1830 and 1913, inflows of dietary nitrogen into the city increased fivefold.
      Throughout the time period under observation, the urban waterscape was the most
      important sink for human and animal excreta. The amount of nitrogen disposed of
      in the urban waterscape via urban excreta increased sevenfold. The average daily
      consumption of nitrogen per capita was very similar to that in Paris, but the
      composition of foodstuff differed. In Vienna, the share of meat in food
      consumption was considerably higher. Both cities had to face the challenge of
      increasing output flows. However, urban authorities in Vienna and Paris came to
      different solutions of how to deal with this challenge. Besides institutional
      settings, the specific geomorphology of the cities as well as biogeographic
      factors such as the absorption capacity of the Danube in Vienna and the Seine in
      Paris mattered.

PMID- 25821404
TI  - Research advancements in palm oil nutrition.
AB  - Palm oil is the major oil produced, with annual world production in excess of 50
      million tonnes. About 85% of global palm oil produced is used in food
      applications. Over the past three decades, research on nutritional benefits of
      palm oil have demonstrated the nutritional adequacy of palm oil and its products,
      and have resulted in transitions in the understanding these attributes. Numerous
      studies have demonstrated that palm oil was similar to unsaturated oils with
      regards to effects on blood lipids. Palm oil provides a healthy alternative to
      trans-fatty acid containing hydrogenated fats that have been demonstrated to have
      serious deleterious effects on health. The similar effects of palm oil on blood
      lipids, comparable to other vegetable oils could very well be due to the
      structure of the major triglycerides in palm oil, which has an unsaturated fatty
      acid in the stereospecific numbers (sn)-2 position of the glycerol backbone. In
      addition, palm oil is well endowed with a bouquet of phytonutrients beneficial to
      health, such as tocotrienols, carotenoids, and phytosterols. This review will
      provide an overview of studies that have established palm oil as a balanced and
      nutritious oil.

PMID- 25821405
TI  - Neonatal effect of remifentanil in general anaesthesia for caesarean section: a
      randomized trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Remifentanil has been suggested for its short duration of action to
      replace standard opioids for induction of general anaesthesia in caesarean
      section. While the stabilizing effect of remifentanil on maternal circulation has
      been confirmed, its effect on postnatal adaptation remains unclear, as currently
      published studies are not powered sufficiently to detect any clinical effect of
      remifentanil on the newborn. METHODS: Using a double-blinded randomized design, a
      total of 151 parturients undergoing caesarean delivery under general anaesthesia
      were randomized into two groups--76 patients received a bolus of remifentanil
      prior to induction, while 75 patients were assigned to the control group.
      Remifentanil 1 MUg/kg was administered 30 seconds before the standard induction
      of general anaesthesia. The primary outcome measure was an assessment of neonatal
      adaptation using the Apgar score, while secondary outcomes included the need for
      respiratory support after delivery and differences in umbilical blood gas
      analysis (Astrup). RESULTS: The incidence of lower Apgar scores between 0 and 7
      was significantly higher in the remifentanil group at one minute (25% vs. 9.3% of
      newborns, p = 0.017); whilst at five minutes and later no Apgar score differences
      were observed. There was no difference in the need for moderate (nasal CPAP) or
      intensive (intubation) respiratory support, but significantly more neonates in
      the remifentanil group required tactile stimulation for breathing support (21%
      vs. 7% of newborns, p = 0.017). There was no difference in the parameters from
      umbilical cord blood gas analysis between the groups. CONCLUSION: At a dose of 1
      MUg/kg, remifentanil prior to induction of general anaesthesia increases the risk
      of neonatal respiratory depression during first minutes after caesarean delivery
      but duration of clinical symptoms is short. TRIAL REGISTRATION:
      ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01550640.

PMID- 25821406
TI  - Case report of Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy associated with repetitive anaesthesia
      in a female patient with Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) is a rare disorder with high
      relevance for anaesthesia. It is an acute cardiac syndrome characterized by an
      acute onset of reversible left ventricular dysfunction associated with emotional
      and physical stress. This is the only case published of a patient having five
      severe Tako-Tsubo incidents in five consecutive general anaesthesia procedures
      within one year. CASE PRESENTATION: A 61 years old female patient (height 1.65 m;
      weight 70 kg) presented with a haemorrhagic pituitary adenoma with compression of
      the optic chiasm and was scheduled for transnasal endoscopic tumour resection. We
      report a case series with five consecutive anaesthesia procedures in the same
      patient for neurosurgery. This case series is remarkable since the severe
      symptoms occurred during every anaesthesia procedure. The female patient was
      resuscitated two times including therapeutic hypothermia, but fortunately no
      neurological or cognitive deficit was detectable. CONCLUSIONS: TTC may initially
      present in the perioperative period with pulmonary oedema, electrocardiographic
      (ECG) changes, elevation of cardiac enzymes, and cardiogenic shock or cardiac
      arrest. Since the risk of recurrence is considered to be low in TTC, this case
      report is of high interest. In each procedure similar clinical signs were found
      which resulted in severe haemodynamic derangements in every manifestation and
      cardiac arrest in two of the manifestations. Despite cardiopulmonary
      resuscitation twice, the patient survived without any neurological deficiency.

PMID- 25821407
TI  - Notch signaling activation is critical to the development of neuropathic pain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain is a major health problem
      worldwide. Notch signaling is a highly conserved pathway in evolution, which has
      an important role in synaptic plasticity and inflammation in central nervous
      system. The present study was designed to investigate the potential role of notch
      signaling in the development of neuropathic pain. METHODS: The neuropathic pain
      was induced by spared nerve injury (SNI) in rats. The activation of notch
      signaling in the lumbar spinal dorsal horn was measured. DAPT, an inhibitor of
      notch signaling, was intrathecally (i.t.) administered before SNI or after
      appearance of pain sensitivity. Moreover, Jagged-1 (JAG-1) peptide, a ligand of
      notch signaling, was i.t. administered to normal rats. The mechanical allodynia
      was assessed by von Frey test. RESULTS: Here, we found that DAPT administered 0.5
      h before SNI operation could significantly prevent the decrease of mechanical paw
      withdrawal threshold (PWT) for more than 4 weeks (P < 0.05 vs. SNI group). DAPT
      administered after appearance of pain sensitivity could also significantly
      reverse the decrease of mechanical PWT in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05). In
      addition, administration of Jagged-1 (JAG-1) peptide significantly decreased the
      mechanical PWT of normal rats in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:
      Therefore, notch signaling activation might contribute to the development of
      neuropathic pain. This study might provide a new therapeutic target for
      neuropathic pain.

PMID- 25821408
TI  - Going back to home to die: does it make a difference to patient survival?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Many patients wish to stay at home during the terminal stage of
      cancer. However, there is concern that medical care provided at home may
      negatively affect survival. This study therefore explored whether the survival
      duration differed between cancer patients who received inpatient care and those
      who received home care. METHODS: We retrospectively investigated the place of
      care/death and survival duration of 190 cancer patients after their referral to a
      palliative care consultation team in a Japanese general hospital between 2007 and
      2012. The patients were classified into a hospital care group consisting of those
      who received palliative care in the hospital until death, and a home care group
      including patients who received palliative care at home from doctors in
      collaboration with the palliative care consultation team. Details of the place of
      care, survival duration, and patient characteristics (primary site, gender, age,
      history of chemotherapy, and performance status) were obtained from electronic
      medical records, and analyzed after propensity score matching in the place of
      care. RESULTS: Median survival adjusted for propensity score was significantly
      longer in the home care group (67.0 days, n = 69) than in the hospital care group
      (33.0 days, n = 69; P = 0.0013). Cox's proportional hazard analysis revealed that
      the place of care was a significant factor for survival following adjustment for
      covariates including performance status. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that
      the general concern that home care shortens the survival duration of patients is
      not based on evidence. A cohort study including more known prognostic factors is
      necessary to confirm the results.

PMID- 25821409
TI  - Expression of hedgehog signal pathway in articular cartilage is associated with
      the severity of cartilage damage in rats with adjuvant-induced arthritis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cartilage damage is a crucial step in rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
      disease progress while its molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. Here we
      investigated the expression of hedgehog (Hh) signal pathway in articular
      cartilage of adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) rats and its possible pathological
      role in cartilage damage. METHODS: 30 rats were divided into sham and AIA group
      (n = 15). Complete Freund's adjuvant was used to induce AIA. Secondary paw
      swelling was measured on day 10, 14, 18, 22 and 26 after induction. Rats were
      sacrificed on day 26 and knee joints and cartilage tissues were collected. Paw
      swelling, cartilage histopathologic changes and OARSI scores were used to
      evaluate AIA in rats. The protein expression of Hh signal related genes (Shh,
      Ptch1, Smo and Gli1) in cartilage were assayed by immunohistochemistry. The mRNA
      levels of Shh, Ptch1, Smo, Gli1, type-II collagen (COII) and aggrecan in
      cartilage were assayed by real-time PCR. In vitro study, cultured AIA
      chondrocytes were treated with cyclopamine (a specific inhibitor of Hh signal)
      and the mRNA levels of Hh signal and ECM components (COII and aggrecan) were
      measured by real-time PCR. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical results revealed that
      Shh, Ptch1, Smo and Gli1 proteins showed higher expression in the articular
      cartilage of AIA rats than those of sham rats. Real-time PCR results confirmed
      that Shh, Ptch1, Smo and Gli1 mRNA levels in cartilage tissues of AIA rats were
      significantly increased compared with those of sham rats (1.6, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0
      fold, respectively). The mRNA levels of Shh, Ptch1, Smo, and Gli1 were associated
      with the severity of cartilage damage (indicated by OARSI scores, COII and
      aggrecan mRNA levels in cartilage). In vitro, cyclopamine effectively decreased
      the mRNA levels of Shh, Ptch1, Smo and Gli1, and increased the mRNA levels of
      COII and aggrecan in AIA chondrocytes, suggesting Hh signal inhibition might
      directly promote ECM production. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings present certain
      experimental evidence that Hh signal pathway is involved in the pathogenesis of
      cartilage damage in RA.

PMID- 25821411
TI  - Effects of a health information system data quality intervention on concordance
      in Mozambique: time-series analyses from 2009-2012.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We assessed the effects of a three-year national-level, ministry-led
      health information system (HIS) data quality intervention and identified
      associated health facility factors. METHODS: Monthly summary HIS data concordance
      between a gold standard data quality audit and routine HIS data was assessed in
      26 health facilities in Sofala Province, Mozambique across four indicators
      (outpatient consults, institutional births, first antenatal care visits, and
      third dose of diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus vaccination) and five levels of
      health system data aggregation (daily facility paper registers, monthly paper
      facility reports, monthly paper district reports, monthly electronic district
      reports, and monthly electronic provincial reports) through retrospective yearly
      audits conducted July-August 2010-2013. We used mixed-effects linear models to
      quantify changes in data quality over time and associated health system
      determinants. RESULTS: Median concordance increased from 56.3% during the
      baseline period (2009-2010) to 87.5% during 2012-2013. Concordance improved by
      1.0% (confidence interval [CI]: 0.60, 1.5) per month during the intervention
      period of 2010-2011 and 1.6% (CI: 0.89, 2.2) per month from 2011-2012. No
      significant improvements were observed from 2009-2010 (during baseline period) or
      2012-2013. Facilities with more technical staff (abeta: 0.71; CI: 0.14, 1.3),
      more first antenatal care visits (abeta: 3.3; CI: 0.43, 6.2), and fewer clinic
      beds (abeta: -0.94; CI: -1.7, -0.20) showed more improvements. Compared to
      facilities with no stock-outs, facilities with five essential drugs stocked out
      had 51.7% (CI: -64.8 -38.6) lower data concordance. CONCLUSIONS: A data quality
      intervention was associated with significant improvements in health information
      system data concordance across public-sector health facilities in rural and urban
      Mozambique. Concordance was higher at those facilities with more human resources
      for health and was associated with fewer clinic-level stock-outs of essential
      medicines. Increased investments should be made in data audit and feedback
      activities alongside targeted efforts to improve HIS data in low- and middle
      income countries.

PMID- 25821412
TI  - Direct Machining of Low-Loss THz Waveguide Components With an RF Choke.
AB  - We present results for the successful fabrication of low-loss THz metallic
      waveguide components using direct machining with a CNC end mill. The approach
      uses a split-block machining process with the addition of an RF choke running
      parallel to the waveguide. The choke greatly reduces coupling to the parasitic
      mode of the parallel-plate waveguide produced by the split-block. This method has
      demonstrated loss as low as 0.2 dB/cm at 280 GHz for a copper WR-3 waveguide. It
      has also been used in the fabrication of 3 and 10 dB directional couplers in
      brass, demonstrating excellent agreement with design simulations from 240-260
      GHz. The method may be adapted to structures with features on the order of 200
      MUm.

PMID- 25821410
TI  - Pancreatic cystic neoplasms: Review of current knowledge, diagnostic challenges,
      and management options.
AB  - Pancreatic cystic lesions are being detected with increasing frequency, largely
      due to advances in cross-sectional imaging. The most common neoplasms include
      serous cystadenomas, mucinous cystic neoplasms, intraductal papillary mucinous
      neoplasms, solid pseudopapillary neoplasms, and cystic pancreatic endocrine
      neoplasms. Computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and
      endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) are currently used as imaging modalities. EUS-guided
      fine needle aspiration has proved to be a useful diagnostic tool, and enables an
      assessment of tumor markers, cytology, chemistries, and DNA analysis. Here, we
      review the current literature on pancreatic cystic neoplasms, including
      classification, diagnosis, treatment, and recommendations for surveillance. Data
      for this manuscript was acquired via searching the literature from inception to
      December 2014 on PubMed and Ovid MEDLINE. 

PMID- 25821413
TI  - Patients in the radiology department may be at increased risk of developing
      critical instability.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to calculate the event rate for in-patients in the
      Radiology Department (RD) developing instability leading to calls for Medical
      Emergency Team assistance (MET-RD) compared to general ward (MET-W) patients. A
      retrospective comparison was done of MET-RD and MET-W calls in 2009 in a U.S.
      tertiary hospital with a well-established MET system. MET-RD and MET-W event
      rates represented as MET calls/hour/1000 admissions, adjusted for length of stay
      (LOS); rates also calculated for RD modalities. There were 31,320 hospital ward
      admissions had 1,230 MET-W, and among 149,569 radiology admissions there were 56
      MET-RD. When adjusted for LOS, the MET-RD event rate was 2 times higher than the
      MET-W rate (0.48 vs. 0.24 events/hour/1000 admissions). Event rates differed by
      procedure: computed tomography (CT) had 38% of MET-RDs (event rate 0.89);
      magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) accounted for 27% (event rate 1.56). Nuclear
      medicine had 1% of RD admissions but these patients accounted for 5% of MET-RD
      (event rate 1.53). Interventional radiology (IR) had 6% of RD admissions but 16%
      of MET-RD (event rate 0.61). While general x-ray comprised 63% of RD admissions,
      only 11% of MET-RD involved their care (event rate 0.09). In conclusion, the
      overall MET-RD event rate was twice the MET-W event rate; CT, MRI and IR rates
      were 3.7-6.5 times higher than on wards. RD patients are at increased risk for a
      MET call compared to ward patients when the time at risk is considered. Increased
      surveillance of RD patients is warranted.

PMID- 25821414
TI  - Quantum Monte Carlo Treatment of the Charge Transfer and  Diradical Electronic
      Character in a Retinal Chromophore Minimal  Model.
AB  - The penta-2,4-dieniminium cation (PSB3) displays similar ground state and first
      excited state potential energy features as those of the retinal protonated Schiff
      base (RPSB) chromophore in rhodopsin. Recently, PSB3 has been used to benchmark
      several electronic structure methods, including highly correlated multireference
      wave function approaches, highlighting the necessity to accurately describe the
      electronic correlation in order to obtain reliable properties even along the
      ground state (thermal) isomerization paths. In this work, we apply two quantum
      Monte Carlo approaches, the variational Monte Carlo and the lattice regularized
      diffusion Monte Carlo, to study the energetics and electronic properties of PSB3
      along representative minimum energy paths and scans related to its thermal cis
      trans isomerization. Quantum Monte Carlo is used in combination with the Jastrow
      antisymmetrized geminal power ansatz, which guarantees an accurate and balanced
      description of the static electronic correlation thanks to the
      multiconfigurational nature of the antisymmetrized geminal power term, and of the
      dynamical correlation, due to the presence of the Jastrow factor explicitly
      depending on electron-electron distances. Along the two ground state
      isomerization minimum energy paths of PSB3, CASSCF calculations yield wave
      functions having either charge transfer or diradical character in proximity of
      the two transition state configurations. Here, we observe that at the quantum
      Monte Carlo level of theory, only the transition state with charge transfer
      character can be located. The conical intersection, which becomes highly sloped,
      is observed only if the path connecting the two original CASSCF transition states
      is extended beyond the diradical one, namely by increasing the bond-length
      alternation (BLA). These findings are in good agreement with the results obtained
      by MRCISD+Q calculations, and they demonstrate the importance of having an
      accurate description of the static and dynamical correlation when studying
      isomerization and transition states of conjugated systems.

PMID- 25821415
TI  - Open-Ended Recursive Approach for the Calculation of Multiphoton  Absorption
      Matrix Elements.
AB  - We present an implementation of single residues for response functions to
      arbitrary order using a recursive approach. Explicit expressions in terms of
      density-matrix-based response theory for the single residues of the linear,
      quadratic, cubic, and quartic response functions are also presented. These
      residues correspond to one-, two-, three- and four-photon transition matrix
      elements. The newly developed code is used to calculate the one-, two-, three-
      and four-photon absorption cross sections of para-nitroaniline and para
      nitroaminostilbene, making this the first treatment of four-photon absorption in
      the framework of response theory. We find that the calculated multiphoton
      absorption cross sections are not very sensitive to the size of the basis set as
      long as a reasonably large basis set with diffuse functions is used. The choice
      of exchange-correlation functional, however, significantly affects the calculated
      cross sections of both charge-transfer transitions and other transitions, in
      particular, for the larger para-nitroaminostilbene molecule. We therefore
      recommend the use of a range-separated exchange-correlation functional in
      combination with the augmented correlation-consistent double-zeta basis set aug
      cc-pVDZ for the calculation of multiphoton absorption properties.

PMID- 25821416
TI  - Theoretical Investigation of the Electronic Structure of Fe(II) Complexes at Spin
      State Transitions.
AB  - The electronic structure relevant to low spin (LS)<->high spin (HS) transitions
      in Fe(II) coordination compounds with a FeN6 core are studied. The selected
      [Fe(tz)6]2+ (1) (tz = 1H-tetrazole), [Fe(bipy)3]2+ (2) (bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine),
      and [Fe(terpy)2]2+ (3) (terpy = 2,2':6',2"-terpyridine) complexes have been
      actively studied experimentally, and with their respective mono-, bi-, and
      tridentate ligands, they constitute a comprehensive set for theoretical case
      studies. The methods in this work include density functional theory (DFT), time
      dependent DFT (TD-DFT), and multiconfigurational second order perturbation theory
      (CASPT2). We determine the structural parameters as well as the energy splitting
      of the LS-HS states (DeltaEHL) applying the above methods and comparing their
      performance. We also determine the potential energy curves representing the
      ground and low-energy excited singlet, triplet, and quintet d6 states along the
      mode(s) that connect the LS and HS states. The results indicate that while DFT is
      well suited for the prediction of structural parameters, an accurate
      multiconfigurational approach is essential for the quantitative determination of
      DeltaEHL. In addition, a good qualitative agreement is found between the TD-DFT
      and CASPT2 potential energy curves. Although the TD-DFT results might differ in
      some respect (in our case, we found a discrepancy at the triplet states), our
      results suggest that this approach, with due care, is very promising as an
      alternative for the very expensive CASPT2 method. Finally, the two-dimensional
      (2D) potential energy surfaces above the plane spanned by the two relevant
      configuration coordinates in [Fe(terpy)2]2+ were computed at both the DFT and
      CASPT2 levels. These 2D surfaces indicate that the singlet-triplet and triplet
      quintet states are separated along different coordinates, i.e., different
      vibration modes. Our results confirm that in contrast to the case of complexes
      with mono- and bidentate ligands, the singlet-quintet transitions in
      [Fe(terpy)2]2+ cannot be described using a single configuration coordinate.

PMID- 25821417
TI  - On Predicting Mossbauer Parameters of Iron-Containing Molecules with Density
      Functional Theory.
AB  - The performance of six frequently used density functional theory (DFT) methods
      (RPBE, OLYP, TPSS, B3LYP, B3LYP*, and TPSSh) in the prediction of Mossbauer
      isomer shifts(delta) and quadrupole splittings (DeltaEQ) is studied for an
      extended and diverse set of Fe complexes. In addition to the influence of the
      applied density functional and the type of the basis set, the effect of the
      environment of the molecule, approximated with the conducting-like screening
      solvation model (COSMO) on the computed Mossbauer parameters, is also
      investigated. For the isomer shifts the COSMO-B3LYP method is found to provide
      accurate delta values for all 66 investigated complexes, with a mean absolute
      error (MAE) of 0.05 mm s-1 and a maximum deviation of 0.12 mm s-1. Obtaining
      accurate DeltaEQ values presents a bigger challenge; however, with the selection
      of an appropriate DFT method, a reasonable agreement can be achieved between
      experiment and theory. Identifying the various chemical classes of compounds that
      need different treatment allowed us to construct a recipe for DeltaEQ
      calculations; the application of this approach yields a MAE of 0.12 mm s-1 (7%
      error) and a maximum deviation of 0.55 mm s-1 (17% error). This accuracy should
      be sufficient for most chemical problems that concern Fe complexes. Furthermore,
      the reliability of the DFT approach is verified by extending the investigation to
      chemically relevant case studies which include geometric isomerism, phase
      transitions induced by variations of the electronic structure (e.g., spin
      crossover and inversion of the orbital ground state), and the description of
      electronically degenerate triplet and quintet states. Finally, the immense and
      often unexploited potential of utilizing the sign of the DeltaEQ in
      characterizing distortions or in identifying the appropriate electronic state at
      the assignment of the spectral lines is also shown.

PMID- 25821418
TI  - The Effect of a Mobile Health Decision Support System on Diagnosis and Management
      of Obesity, Tobacco Use, and Depression in Adults and Children.

PMID- 25821419
TI  - Cell-free eukaryotic systems for the production, engineering, and modification of
      scFv antibody fragments.
AB  - Open cell-free translation systems based on Escherichia coli cell lysates have
      successfully been used to produce antibodies and antibody fragments. In this
      study, we demonstrate the cell-free expression of functional single-chain
      antibody variable fragments (scFvs) in a eukaryotic and endotoxin-free in vitro
      translation system based on Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf21) insect cell extracts.
      Three scFv candidates with different specificities were chosen as models. The
      first scFv candidate SH527-IIA4 specifically discriminates between its
      phosphorylated (SMAD2-P) and nonphosphorylated antigens (SMAD2) (where SMAD is
      mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 2), whereas the second scFv candidate
      SH527-IIC10 recognizes both, SMAD2-P and SMAD2. The third scFv candidate SH855
      C11 binds specifically to a linear epitope of the CXC chemokine receptor type 5.
      The translocation of antibody fragments into the lumen of endogenous microsomal
      vesicles, which are contained in the lysate, was facilitated by fusion of scFv
      genes to the insect cell specific signal sequence of honeybee melittin. We
      compared the binding capabilities of scFv fragments with and without melittin
      signal peptide and detected that translocated scFv fragments were highly
      functional, whereas scFvs synthesized in the cytosol of the cell extract showed
      strongly decreased binding capabilities. Additionally, we describe a cell-free
      protein synthesis method for the incorporation of noncanonical amino acids into
      scFv molecules in eukaryotic cell lysates. We demonstrate the successful
      cotranslational labeling of de novo synthesized scFv molecules with fluorescent
      amino acids, using residue-specific as well as site-specific labeling.

PMID- 25821420
TI  - Atopic dermatitis is a serious health problem in Poland. Epidemiology studies
      based on the ECAP study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Global epidemiological studies have revealed considerable
      geographical differences in prevalence of atopic dermatitis (AD). AIM: To present
      the epidemiology of AD, risk factors and co-occurrence of allergic diseases in
      the Polish population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The present paper is a part of the
      Epidemiology of Allergic Disorders in Poland study. We studied 22 703
      participants by ECRHS/ISAAC questionnaire; 18 617 (53.8% female, 24.2% 6-7 y.o.,
      25.4% 13-14 y.o., 50.4% 20-44 y.o.) completed questionnaires were accepted. Four
      thousand seven hundred and eighty-three participants (25.7%) have undergone a
      medical examination. RESULTS: Atopic dermatitis was diagnosed in 3.91% (6-7 y.o.
      5.34%, 13-14 y.o. 4.3%, adults 3.02%), more often in females (OR = 1.52; 95% CI:
      0.56-0.77), in the cities (OR = 2.23; 95% CI: 1.61-3.09), in mothers (OR = 2.07;
      95% CI: 1.72-2.48) and fathers (OR = 2.00; 95% CI: 1.61-2.49) with atopy, higher
      education (OR = 1.61; 95% CI: 1.11-2.32) and economic status (OR = 1.35; 95% CI:
      1.04-1.74). The highest prevalence was found in Katowice (4.89%) and lowest in
      rural areas (1.9%). Coexisting AD and allergic rhinitis (AR) was found in 26.17%,
      AR and asthma in 9.09% and AD, AR and asthma in 14.6%. Atopic dermatitis was
      diagnosed by allergologists in 6.5% (6-7 y.o. 8.7%, 13-14 y.o. 9.0%, adults
      3.6%). Most diagnoses were made in Poznan (16.76%) and smallest in rural area
      (3.67%). 78.8% of subjects were diagnosed with AD for the first time although
      they had earlier experienced its symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Atopic dermatitis
      prevalence in Poland is below the mean rate for Europe, but the risk factor
      profile is similar to other countries. Atopic dermatitis is more frequent in well
      educated females with atopic parents and high socioeconomic status and who live
      in a city.

PMID- 25821421
TI  - Comparison of detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA and anti-Borrelia burgdorferi
      antibodies in patients with erythema migrans in north-eastern Poland.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Diagnostic methods in erythema migrans are still not standardized.
      AIM: To evaluate the frequency of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. DNA presence in
      patients with erythema migrans (EM); to assess the polymerase chain reaction
      (PCR) procedure for detecting B. burgdorferi s.l. DNA in patients with the skin
      form of Lyme borreliosis; and to compare the results of the PCR-based method with
      the traditional ELISA method. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Skin biopsy and blood samples
      from 93 patients with EM were examined for B. burgdorferi s.l. DNA detection
      (PCR). Seventy-one of these patients were examined for the presence of anti-B.
      burgdorferi s.l. antibodies (ELISA). RESULTS: Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. DNA was
      detected in 48% of the skin biopsy specimens and in 2% of blood samples. Only 1
      patient was PCR positive in both blood and skin samples. Seventy percent of
      patients whose PCR results were positive were bitten by a tick less than 14 days
      before. IgM anti-B. burgdorferi s.l - specific antibodies were present in the
      serum of 35% of patients and IgG antibodies - in 30% of patients. Seventeen
      percent were positive in both IgM and IgG. CONCLUSIONS: Polymerase chain reaction
      of skin biopsy specimens seems to be currently the most sensitive and specific
      test for the diagnosis of patients with EM, especially in patients with a short
      duration of the disease (< 14 days) but still its effectiveness is much lower
      than expected. Polymerase chain reaction of blood samples cannot be recommended
      at the present time for the routine diagnostic of patients with EM.

PMID- 25821422
TI  - Relationship between Helicobacter pylori and idiopathic chronic urticaria:
      effectiveness of Helicobacter pylori eradication.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Chronic urticaria (CU) is defined as the presence of urticaria on
      most days of the week for a period of 6 weeks or longer. Some studies have
      reported an association between CU and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection.
      AIM: To determine the prevalence of H. pylori infection using the stool antigen
      test in patients with idiopathic CU and to investigate the infected patients with
      CU following eradication of H. pylori. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred patients
      with idiopathic CU and 100 healthy controls were referred to our clinic between
      May 2012 and June 2013 and were tested for H. pylori antigen. The patients
      infected with H. pylori received quadruple therapy for 2 weeks. To assess
      eradication efficacy, a repeated H. pylori stool antigen test was performed in
      each patient 6 weeks after the end of anti-H. pylori therapy. The effectiveness
      of eradication therapy on CU was assessed 3 months after treatment. RESULTS:
      Thirty-six percent patients with idiopathic CU were infected with H. pylori while
      23% of the controls were infected. Response to eradication therapy was evident in
      33 (91.67%) patients in whom H. pylori was eradicated while 3 (8.33%) patients
      showed no response despite eradication of H. pylori. Clinical follow-up of 33
      successfully treated patients 3 months later revealed complete remission of
      urticaria in 54.5%, partial remission in 18.2%, and no improvement in 27.3%.
      CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study suggest that H. pylori infection should be
      included in diagnostic workup of patients with no response to habitual treatment
      for CU or symptomatic gastrointestinal patients. For the diagnosis of H. pylori
      infection, one should consider the costs and accessibility of the population to
      the HpSA((r)) stool antigen test and Urea breath test (UBT).

PMID- 25821423
TI  - The effect of clary sage oil on staphylococci responsible for wound infections.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The spreading of bacterial antibiotic resistance among clinical
      strains of pathogenic bacteria has made investigators to search for other active
      antibacterial agents which could provide a valuable complement to the existing
      therapies. AIM: To determine the antibacterial activity of clary sage oil (Salvia
      sclarea L.) against Staphylococcus clinical strains which were isolated from
      patients with wound infections. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A comprehensive evaluation
      of Staphylococcus clinical strain resistance to antibiotics was performed. The
      constituents of clary sage oil were assayed by GC-FID-MS analysis. The minimal
      inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the tested essential oil against staphylococci
      by the micro-dilution broth method was determined. RESULTS: The clary sage oil
      was active against Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis and S. xylosus with MIC
      values ranging from 3.75 to 7.00 ul/ml. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the in vitro
      tests encourage to use formulations containing sage oil as the active natural
      antimicrobial agent. Because of its antimicrobial properties clary sage oil may
      be applied to treat wounds and skin infections.

PMID- 25821425
TI  - The most common mistakes on dermatoscopy of melanocytic lesions.
AB  - Dermatoscopy is a method of in vivo evaluation of the structures within the
      epidermis and dermis. Currently, it may be the most precise pre-surgical method
      of diagnosing melanocytic lesions. Diagnostic errors may result in unnecessary
      removal of benign lesions or what is even worse, they can cause early and very
      early melanomas to be overlooked. Errors in assessment of dermatoscopy can be
      divided into those arising from failure to maintain proper test procedures
      (procedural and technical errors) and knowledge based mistakes related to the
      lack of sufficient familiarity and experience in dermatoscopy. The article
      discusses the most common mistakes made by beginner or inexperienced
      dermatoscopists. 

PMID- 25821424
TI  - The role of selectins in alopecia areata.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: One of the main histopathological features of alopecia areata (AA)
      is a lymphocytic infiltration that surrounds hair follicles. Soluble forms of E,
      L, P-selectins are known indicators of ongoing inflammation. There are no studies
      regarding the assessment of their contribution in AA. AIM: To assess serum
      concentrations of selectins (E-selectin, L-selectin and P-selectin) in patients
      with AA in relation to selected clinical parameters, including disease severity
      and activity. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty-four patients with AA were involved in
      the study. The diagnosis was based on physical examination and photodermoscopy.
      The control group consisted of 40 healthy subjects. The serum concentrations of
      soluble E-selectin, L-selectin and P-selectin were detected with ELISA method.
      RESULTS: Statistically significantly higher levels of E, P, L-selectins were
      found in AA patients as compared with the healthy group. Serum concentrations of
      soluble forms of E- and L-selectins correlated with the severity of the disease,
      while E-selectin with activity of AA. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that
      selectins may play an important role in the pathogenesis of AA and may be a
      target of future therapies in this disease.

PMID- 25821426
TI  - Amorolfine vs. ciclopirox - lacquers for the treatment of onychomycosis.
AB  - Amorolfine 5% and ciclopirox 8% nail lacquers are commonly used in topical
      treatment of onychomycosis. These formulations may be used alone or in
      combination with oral antifungal agents. Amorolfine and ciclopirox are valuable
      therapeutic options, however, their usage in monotherapy should be limited.
      Proper amorolfine and ciclopirox penetration through the nail plate is provided
      by transungual drug delivery systems. Although amorolfine and ciclopirox have a
      different mode of action, they both exhibit a broad antifungal activity. The use
      of antifungal nail lacquers in combination with oral agents, such as terbinafine
      and itraconazole, improves efficacy of antifungal therapy. 

PMID- 25821428
TI  - Ultrasound findings in cutaneous sarcoidosis.
AB  - The diagnosis of cutaneous sarcoidosis relies mainly on the patient's history,
      presence of characteristic skin lesions and histological examination that shows a
      granulomatous, non-necrotizing dermal infiltration. The aim of the study was to
      assess the ultrasonographic features of cutaneous lesions of sarcoidosis before
      and after treatment. A 38-year-old woman with systemic sarcoidosis and specific
      cutaneous lesions was treated with systemic steroids followed by
      hydroxychloroquine. Ultrasonographic examination of the cutaneous sarcoidosis
      lesions was performed with a Philips iU 22 and Siemens Acuson S 2000 device, with
      the use of linear 15 MHz and 17 MHz transducers. Histological examination of skin
      lesions showed characteristic, naked, non-necrotizing granulomas in the upper
      dermis. Ultrasound examination revealed well-demarcated, hypoechogenic changes.
      Power-Doppler scan revealed increased vascularity within the lesions and the
      surrounding tissue. Clinical improvement of the skin lesions was confirmed by
      ultrasound examination, which showed a decrease in their size and normalization
      of dermal echogenicity and vascularity. Ultrasound examination can show cutaneous
      sarcoidosis lesions and their regression after appropriate treatment. 

PMID- 25821427
TI  - Extensive phlegmon and pyoderma gangrenosum: diagnostic difficulties.
AB  - Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a relatively rare neutrophilic dermatosis,
      characterized by progressive skin necrosis. It typically has a chronic course, of
      unknown etiology. Pyoderma gangrenosum diagnosis can be difficult because both
      histopathological examination and results of additional laboratory tests are not
      specific and the clinical state is conclusive, as for other physicians it poses a
      number of diagnostic dilemmas. Therefore, this condition should be treated
      interdisciplinary. We present a case of a 40-year-old patient with a diagnosis of
      PG, which in the early stages of the disease was treated as an extensive phlegmon
      by physicians of other specialties and it presented a serious diagnostic as well
      as therapeutic problem. 

PMID- 25821429
TI  - Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the skin in a Polish patient.
AB  - Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the skin (LELCS) is a very rare cutaneous
      neoplasm with limited metastatic potential. It presents distinctive
      histopathologic features similar to undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma and
      clinical similarities with other skin neoplasms. We present the first case of
      LELCS in Polish patients. A 72-year-old woman presented with a 12 months' history
      of painless, solitary tumor on the nose. A wide local excision was performed.
      There was no evidence of local recurrence 24 months after surgical treatment. 

PMID- 25821430
TI  - Case report on a patient with lupus panniculitis.
AB  - Lupus panniculitis is a rare variant of lupus erythematosus. It may occur as a
      separate disease or coexist with systemic or discoid lupus erythematosus. It is
      characterized by persistent, tender and hard nodules localised on the face, arms,
      shoulders, breast and buttocks. Healing of lesions is associated with scarring,
      lipoatrophy and rarely ulceration. Treatment of lupus panniculitis depends on
      disease advancement or concomitance of additional lupus erythematosus symptoms.
      We report a case of a 44-year-old patient with lupus panniculitis treated with
      chloroquine and glucocorticosteroids, including high dose infusions. Despite
      intense treatment, the patient developed symptoms that suggested a diagnosis of
      systemic lupus erythematosus. 

PMID- 25821431
TI  - Sturge-Weber syndrome type II treated with PDL 595 nm laser.
AB  - Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS) is rare congenital disorder presenting facial port
      wine stains (PWS) eye abnormalities and cerebrovascular malformations. The
      frequency of SWS is estimated at 1 in 50 000. Cerebrovascular abnormalities can
      be responsible for seizures, hemiparesis, mental retardation and ophthalmologic
      abnormalities cause intraocular pressure, glaucoma. Etiopathogenesis of SWS
      remains elusive. We present a case of a 7-year-old girl with SWS type II. A port
      wine stain involves the upper right part of half face and has been associated
      with glaucoma of both eyes. In the Department of Dermatology in 2009-2012 we
      performed 23 procedures within 2 months. We have been using PDL laser at
      wavelength 595 nm and very good cosmetic results were achieved. Given positive
      treatment effects, the laser therapy of port-wine stains is a method of
      selection. Port-wine stains in the course of SWS requires a large number of laser
      treatment. 

PMID- 25821432
TI  - Hydrophilic bile acids protect human blood-brain barrier endothelial cells from
      disruption by unconjugated bilirubin: an in vitro study.
AB  - Ursodeoxycholic acid and its main conjugate glycoursodeoxycholic acid are bile
      acids with neuroprotective properties. Our previous studies demonstrated their
      anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties in neural cells
      exposed to elevated levels of unconjugated bilirubin (UCB) as in severe jaundice.
      In a simplified model of the blood-brain barrier, formed by confluent monolayers
      of a cell line of human brain microvascular endothelial cells, UCB has shown to
      induce caspase-3 activation and cell death, as well as interleukin-6 release and
      a loss of blood-brain barrier integrity. Here, we tested the preventive and
      restorative effects of these bile acids regarding the disruption of blood-brain
      barrier properties by UCB in in vitro conditions mimicking severe neonatal
      hyperbilirubinemia and using the same experimental blood-brain barrier model.
      Both bile acids reduced the apoptotic cell death induced by UCB, but only
      glycoursodeoxycholic acid significantly counteracted caspase-3 activation. Bile
      acids also prevented the upregulation of interleukin-6 mRNA, whereas only
      ursodeoxycholic acid abrogated cytokine release. Regarding barrier integrity,
      only ursodeoxycholic acid abrogated UCB-induced barrier permeability. Better
      protective effects were obtained by bile acid pre-treatment, but a strong
      efficacy was still observed by their addition after UCB treatment. Finally, both
      bile acids showed ability to cross confluent monolayers of human brain
      microvascular endothelial cells in a time-dependent manner. Collectively, data
      disclose a therapeutic time-window for preventive and restorative effects of
      ursodeoxycholic acid and glycoursodeoxycholic acid against UCB-induced blood
      brain barrier disruption and damage to human brain microvascular endothelial
      cells. 

PMID- 25821433
TI  - Auditory and motion metaphors have different scalp distributions: an ERP study.
AB  - While many links have been established between sensory-motor words used literally
      (kick the ball) and sensory-motor regions of the brain, it is less clear whether
      metaphorically used words (kick the habit) also show such signs of "embodiment."
      Additionally, not much is known about the timing or nature of the connection
      between language and sensory-motor neural processing. We used stimuli divided
      into three figurativeness conditions-literal, metaphor, and anomalous-and two
      modality conditions-auditory (Her limousine was a privileged snort) and motion
      (The editorial was a brass-knuckle punch). The conditions were matched on a large
      number of potentially confounding factors including cloze probability. The
      electroencephalographic response to the final word of each sentence was measured
      at 64 electrode sites on the scalp of 22 participants and event-related
      potentials (ERPs) calculated. Analysis revealed greater amplitudes for
      metaphorical than literal sentences in both 350-500 ms and 500-650 ms timeframes.
      Results supported the possibility of different neural substrates for motion and
      auditory sentences. Greater differences for motion sentences were seen in the
      left posterior and left central electrode sites than elsewhere on the scalp.
      These findings are consistent with a sensory-motor neural categorization of
      language and with the integration of modal and amodal information during the N400
      and P600 timeframes. 

PMID- 25821434
TI  - (-)-Epicatechin combined with 8 weeks of treadmill exercise is associated with
      increased angiogenic and mitochondrial signaling in mice.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to conduct an 8 week endurance training program
      with and without (-)-epicatechin treatment and to determine whether there is a
      possible cumulative effect on protein markers of angiogenesis and mitochondrial
      biogenesis. Thirty-four 14-month old male mice (C57BL/6N) were randomized into
      four groups: control (C); (-)-epicatechin only ((-)-Epi); control with endurance
      training (CE); and (-)-epicatechin with endurance training ((-)-Epi-Ex). Mice in
      the training groups performed treadmill exercise for 8 weeks (5 * /week for 60
      min/session), whereas mice in the (-)-epicatechin group received 1.0 mg/kg of
      body mass twice daily during the training period. At 8 weeks, distance ran on the
      treadmill increased by 46, 69, and 84% in the (-)-Epi, CE, and (-)-Epi-Ex groups,
      respectively compared to the control group (p < 0.001 for all comparisons).
      Furthermore, the (-)-Epi-Ex group had significantly higher exercise capacity than
      the (-)-Epi and CE group. For angiogenic regulators, the (-)-Epi-Ex group had
      significantly higher VEGF-R2 protein expression with a concomitant reduction in
      TSP-1 protein expression than the exercise group. Interestingly, FoxO1 protein
      expression was significantly reduced for all three experimental groups compared
      to the control group. Protein markers such as PGC-1beta and TFAM were
      significantly higher in the (-)-Epi-Ex group compared to the three other groups.
      These findings suggest that (-)-epicatechin treatment combined with 8 weeks of
      endurance training provide a cumulative effect on a number of angiogenic and
      mitochondrial signaling which functionally translates to enhanced exercise
      tolerance. 

PMID- 25821435
TI  - Nonlinear digital signal processing in mental health: characterization of major
      depression using instantaneous entropy measures of heartbeat dynamics.
AB  - Nonlinear digital signal processing methods that address system complexity have
      provided useful computational tools for helping in the diagnosis and treatment of
      a wide range of pathologies. More specifically, nonlinear measures have been
      successful in characterizing patients with mental disorders such as Major
      Depression (MD). In this study, we propose the use of instantaneous measures of
      entropy, namely the inhomogeneous point-process approximate entropy (ipApEn) and
      the inhomogeneous point-process sample entropy (ipSampEn), to describe a novel
      characterization of MD patients undergoing affective elicitation. Because these
      measures are built within a nonlinear point-process model, they allow for the
      assessment of complexity in cardiovascular dynamics at each moment in time.
      Heartbeat dynamics were characterized from 48 healthy controls and 48 patients
      with MD while emotionally elicited through either neutral or arousing audiovisual
      stimuli. Experimental results coming from the arousing tasks show that ipApEn
      measures are able to instantaneously track heartbeat complexity as well as
      discern between healthy subjects and MD patients. Conversely, standard heart rate
      variability (HRV) analysis performed in both time and frequency domains did not
      show any statistical significance. We conclude that measures of entropy based on
      nonlinear point-process models might contribute to devising useful computational
      tools for care in mental health. 

PMID- 25821436
TI  - Dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function contributes to altered
      endocrine and neurobehavioral responses to acute stress.
AB  - Organisms react to environmental challenges by activating a coordinated set of
      brain-body responses known as the stress response. These physiological and
      behavioral countermeasures are, in large part, regulated by the neuroendocrine
      hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Normal functioning of the HPA axis
      ensures that an organism responds appropriately to altered environmental demands,
      representing an essential system to promote survival. Over the past several
      decades, increasing evidence supports the hypothesis that disruption of the HPA
      axis can lead to dysregulated stress response phenotypes, exacting a
      physiological cost on the organism commonly referred to as allostatic load.
      Furthermore, it has been recognized that high allostatic load can contribute to
      increased vulnerability of the organism to further challenges. This observation
      leads to the notion that disrupted HPA function and resulting inappropriate
      responses to stressors may underlie many neuropsychiatric disorders, including
      depression and anxiety. In the present set of studies, we investigate the role of
      both the normally functioning and disrupted HPA axis in the endocrine, neural,
      and behavioral responses to acute stress. Using a model of non-invasive chronic
      corticosterone treatment in mice, we show that dysregulating the normal function
      of the HPA leads to a mismatch between the hormonal and neural response to acute
      stress, resulting in abnormal behavioral coping strategies. We believe this model
      can be leveraged to tease apart the mechanisms by which altered HPA function
      contributes to neurobehavioral dysregulation in response to acute stress. 

PMID- 25821437
TI  - Clearing the smokescreen: the current evidence on cannabis use.

PMID- 25821438
TI  - The Oculus Rift: a cost-effective tool for studying visual-vestibular
      interactions in self-motion perception.
AB  - For years now, virtual reality devices have been applied in the field of vision
      science in an attempt to improve our understanding of perceptual principles
      underlying the experience of self-motion. Some of this research has been
      concerned with exploring factors involved in the visually-induced illusory
      perception of self-motion, known as vection. We examined the usefulness of the
      cost-effective Oculus Rift in generating vection in seated observers. This device
      has the capacity to display optic flow in world coordinates by compensating for
      tracked changes in 3D head orientation. We measured vection strength in three
      conditions of visual compensation for head movement: compensated, uncompensated,
      and inversely compensated. During presentation of optic flow, the observer was
      instructed to make periodic head oscillations (+/-22 degrees  horizontal
      excursions at approximately 0.53 Hz). We found that vection was best in the
      compensated condition, and was weakest in the inversely compensated condition.
      Surprisingly, vection was always better in passive viewing conditions, compared
      with conditions where active head rotations were performed. These findings
      suggest that vection is highly dependent on interactions between visual,
      vestibular and proprioceptive information, and may be highly sensitive to
      limitations of temporal lag in visual-vestibular coupling using this system. 

PMID- 25821439
TI  - Stimulus-category competition, inhibition, and affective devaluation: a novel
      account of the uncanny valley.
AB  - Stimuli that resemble humans, but are not perfectly human-like, are disliked
      compared to distinctly human and non-human stimuli. Accounts of this "Uncanny
      Valley" effect often focus on how changes in human resemblance can evoke
      different emotional responses. We present an alternate account based on the novel
      hypothesis that the Uncanny Valley is not directly related to 'human-likeness'
      per se, but instead reflects a more general form of stimulus devaluation that
      occurs when inhibition is triggered to resolve conflict between competing
      stimulus-related representations. We consider existing support for this
      inhibitory-devaluation hypothesis and further assess its feasibility through
      tests of two corresponding predictions that arise from the link between conflict
      resolving inhibition and aversive response: (1) that the pronounced disliking of
      Uncanny-type stimuli will occur for any image that strongly activates multiple
      competing stimulus representations, even in the absence of any human-likeness,
      and (2) that the negative peak of an 'Uncanny Valley' should occur at the point
      of greatest stimulus-related conflict and not (in the presence of human-likeness)
      always closer to the 'human' end of a perceptual continuum. We measured affective
      responses to a set of line drawings representing non-human animal-animal morphs,
      in which each continuum midpoint was a bistable image (Experiment 1), as well as
      to sets of human-robot and human-animal computer-generated morphs (Experiment 2).
      Affective trends depicting classic Uncanny Valley functions occurred for all
      continua, including the non-human stimuli. Images at continua midpoints elicited
      significantly more negative affect than images at endpoints, even when the
      continua included a human endpoint. This illustrates the feasibility of the
      inhibitory-devaluation hypothesis and the need for further research into the
      possibility that the strong dislike of Uncanny-type stimuli reflects the negative
      affective consequences of cognitive inhibition. 

PMID- 25821440
TI  - Talking with consumers about energy reductions: recommendations from a
      motivational interviewing perspective.
AB  - Reduction of energy costs has become a concern for many organizations. First, we
      review energy-saving studies in organizations in which consumers showed
      resistance to change their behavior. Second, we relate resistance to change to
      the psycholinguistic construct "sustain talk" that describes verbal arguments
      against behavior change (e.g., "Work processes have priority here"). Third, we
      argue how Motivational Interviewing (MI)-an interaction-approach to facilitate
      behavior change-might be helpful in dealing with this behavior. We transfer MI to
      interactions about energy-savings in organizations and demonstrate how
      qualification in MI for energy managers may affect these interactions. Therefore,
      we present three short case scenarios (i.e., video vignettes) that demonstrate
      socio-interactional mechanisms underlying energy-relevant decisions and
      behaviors. Consumer' verbal responses are graphed as one single time-variant
      index of readiness versus resistance (R-index) in order to illustrate
      interactional dynamics. In sum, we combine theoretical and empirical perspectives
      from multiple disciplines and discuss an innovative socio-interaction approach
      that may facilitate energy-efficient behavior in organizations. 

PMID- 25821442
TI  - The relation between language and arithmetic in bilinguals: insights from
      different stages of language acquisition.
AB  - Solving arithmetic problems is a cognitive task that heavily relies on language
      processing. One might thus wonder whether this language-reliance leads to
      qualitative differences (e.g., greater difficulties, error types, etc.) in
      arithmetic for bilingual individuals who frequently have to solve arithmetic
      problems in more than one language. The present study investigated how
      proficiency in two languages interacts with arithmetic problem solving throughout
      language acquisition in adolescents and young adults. Additionally, we examined
      whether the number word structure that is specific to a given language plays a
      role in number processing over and above bilingual proficiency. We addressed
      these issues in a German-French educational bilingual setting, where there is a
      progressive transition from German to French as teaching language. Importantly,
      German and French number naming structures differ clearly, as two-digit number
      names follow a unit-ten order in German, but a ten-unit order in French. We
      implemented a transversal developmental design in which bilingual pupils from
      grades 7, 8, 10, 11, and young adults were asked to solve simple and complex
      additions in both languages. The results confirmed that language proficiency is
      crucial especially for complex addition computation. Simple additions in contrast
      can be retrieved equally well in both languages after extended language practice.
      Additional analyses revealed that over and above language proficiency, language
      specific number word structures (e.g., unit-ten vs. ten-unit) also induced
      significant modulations of bilinguals' arithmetic performances. Taken together,
      these findings support the view of a strong relation between language and
      arithmetic in bilinguals. 

PMID- 25821441
TI  - Independence of face identity and expression processing: exploring the role of
      motion.
AB  - According to the classic Bruce and Young (1986) model of face recognition,
      identity and emotional expression information from the face are processed in
      parallel and independently. Since this functional model was published, a growing
      body of research has challenged this viewpoint and instead support an
      interdependence view. In addition, neural models of face processing emphasize
      differences in terms of the processing of changeable and invariant aspects of
      faces. This article provides a critical appraisal of this literature and
      discusses the role of motion in both expression and identity recognition and the
      intertwined nature of identity, expression and motion processing. We conclude by
      discussing recent advancements in this area and research questions that still
      need to be addressed. 

PMID- 25821443
TI  - A cross-cultural comparison between South African and British students on the
      Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales Third Edition (WAIS-III).
AB  - There is debate regarding the appropriate use of Western cognitive measures with
      individuals from very diverse backgrounds to that of the norm population. Given
      the dated research in this area and the considerable socio-economic changes that
      South Africa has witnessed over the past 20 years, this paper reports on the use
      of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Third Edition (WAIS-III), the most
      commonly used measure of intelligence, with an English second language,
      multilingual, low socio-economic group of black, South African university
      students. Their performance on the WAIS-III was compared to that of a
      predominantly white, British, monolingual, higher socio-economic group. A multi
      group confirmatory factor analysis showed that the WAIS-III lacks measurement
      invariance between the two groups, suggesting that it may be tapping different
      constructs in each group. The UK group significantly outperformed the SA group on
      the knowledge-based verbal, and some non-verbal subtests, while the SA group
      performed significantly better on measures of Processing Speed (PS). The groups
      did not differ significantly on the Matrix Reasoning subtest and on those working
      memory subtests with minimal reliance on language, which appear to be the least
      culturally biased. Group differences were investigated further in a set of
      principal components analyses, which revealed that the WAIS-III scores loaded
      differently for the UK and SA groups. While the SA group appeared to treat the PS
      subtests differently to those measuring perceptual organization and non-verbal
      reasoning, the UK group seemed to approach all of these subtests similarly. These
      results have important implications for the cognitive assessment of individuals
      from culturally, linguistically, and socio-economically diverse circumstances. 

PMID- 25821445
TI  - Characterization of pressure distribution in penetrating traumatic brain
      injuries.
AB  - Severe impacts to the head commonly lead to localized brain damage. Such impacts
      may also give rise to temporary pressure changes that produce secondary injuries
      in brain volumes distal to the impact site. Monitoring pressure changes in a
      clinical setting is difficult; detailed studies into the effect of pressure
      changes in the brain call for the development and use of animal models. The aim
      of this study is to characterize the pressure distribution in an animal model of
      penetrating traumatic brain injuries (pTBI). This data may be used to validate
      mathematical models of the animal model and to facilitate correlation studies
      between pressure changes and pathology. Pressure changes were measured in rat
      brains while subjected to pTBI for a variety of different probe velocities and
      shapes; pointy, blunt, and flat. Experiments on ballistic gel samples were
      carried out to study the formation of any temporary cavities. In addition,
      pressure recordings from the gel experiments were compared to values recorded in
      the animal experiments. The pTBI generated short lasting pressure changes in the
      brain tissue; the pressure in the contralateral ventricle (CLV) increased to 8
      bar followed by a drop to 0.4 bar when applying flat probes. The pressure changes
      in the periphery of the probe, in the Cisterna Magna, and the spinal canal, were
      significantly less than those recorded in the CLV or the vicinity of the skull
      base. High-speed videos of the gel samples revealed the formation of spherically
      shaped cavities when flat and spherical probes were applied. Pressure changes in
      the gel were similar to those recorded in the animals, although amplitudes were
      lower in the gel samples. We concluded cavity expansion rate rather than cavity
      size correlated with pressure changes in the gel or brain secondary to probe
      impact. The new data can serve as validation data for finite element models of
      the trauma model and the animal and to correlate physical measurements with
      secondary injuries. 

PMID- 25821444
TI  - Non-Coding RNAs in Stroke and Neuroprotection.
AB  - This review will focus on the current state of knowledge regarding non-coding
      RNAs (ncRNA) in stroke and neuroprotection. There will be a brief introduction to
      microRNAs (miRNA), long ncRNAs (lncRNA), and piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNA),
      followed by evidence for the regulation of ncRNAs in ischemia. This review will
      also discuss the effect of neuroprotection induced by a sublethal duration of
      ischemia or other stimuli given before a stroke (preconditioning) on miRNA
      expression and the role of miRNAs in preconditioning-induced neuroprotection.
      Experimental manipulation of miRNAs and/or their targets to induce pre- or post
      stroke protection will also be presented, as well as discussion on miRNA
      responses to current post-stroke therapies. This review will conclude with a
      brief discussion of future directions for ncRNAs studies in stroke, such as new
      approaches to model complex ncRNA datasets, challenges in ncRNA studies, and the
      impact of extracellular RNAs on human diseases such as stroke. 

PMID- 25821446
TI  - Identification and mutational analyses of phosphorylation sites of the
      calcineurin-binding protein CbpA and the identification of domains required for
      calcineurin binding in Aspergillus fumigatus.
AB  - Calcineurin is a key protein phosphatase required for hyphal growth and virulence
      in Aspergillus fumigatus, making it an attractive antifungal target. However,
      currently available calcineurin inhibitors, FK506 and cyclosporine A, are
      immunosuppressive, limiting usage in the treatment of patients with invasive
      aspergillosis. Therefore, the identification of endogenous inhibitors of
      calcineurin belonging to the calcipressin family is an important parallel
      strategy. We previously identified the gene cbpA as the A. fumigatus calcipressin
      member and showed its involvement in hyphal growth and calcium homeostasis.
      However, the mechanism of its activation/inhibition through phosphorylation and
      its interaction with calcineurin remains unknown. Here we show that A. fumigatus
      CbpA is phosphorylated at three distinct domains, including the conserved SP
      repeat motif (phosphorylated domain-I; PD-I), a filamentous fungal-specific
      domain (PD-II), and the C-terminal CIC motif (Calcipressin Inhibitor of
      Calcineurin; PD-III). While mutation of three phosphorylated residues (Ser208,
      Ser217, Ser223) in the PD-II did not affect CbpA function in vivo, mutation of
      the two phosphorylated serines (Ser156, Ser160) in the SP repeat motif caused
      reduced hyphal growth and sensitivity to oxidative stress. Mutational analysis in
      the key domains in calcineurin A (CnaA) and proteomic interaction studies
      confirmed the requirement of PxIxIT motif-binding residues (352-NIR-354) and the
      calcineurin B (CnaB)-binding helix residue (V371) for the binding of CbpA to
      CnaA. Additionally, while the calmodulin-binding residues (442-RVF-444) did not
      affect CbpA binding to CnaA, three mutations (T359P, H361L, and L365S) clustered
      between the CnaA catalytic and the CnaB-binding helix were also required for CbpA
      binding. This is the first study to analyze the phosphorylation status of
      calcipressin in filamentous fungi and identify the domains required for binding
      to calcineurin. 

PMID- 25821447
TI  - Tales from the crypt and coral reef: the successes and challenges of identifying
      new herpesviruses using metagenomics.
AB  - Herpesviruses are ubiquitous double-stranded DNA viruses infecting many animals,
      with the capacity to cause disease in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised
      hosts. Different herpesviruses have different cell tropisms, and have been
      detected in a diverse range of tissues and sample types. Metagenomics
      encompassing viromics-analyses the nucleic acid of a tissue or other sample in an
      unbiased manner, making few or no prior assumptions about which viruses may be
      present in a sample. This approach has successfully discovered a number of novel
      herpesviruses. Furthermore, metagenomic analysis can identify herpesviruses with
      high degrees of sequence divergence from known herpesviruses and does not rely
      upon culturing large quantities of viral material. Metagenomics has had success
      in two areas of herpesvirus sequencing: firstly, the discovery of novel exogenous
      and endogenous herpesviruses in primates, bats and cnidarians; and secondly, in
      characterizing large areas of the genomes of herpesviruses previously only known
      from small fragments, revealing unexpected diversity. This review will discuss
      the successes and challenges of using metagenomics to identify novel
      herpesviruses, and future directions within the field. 

PMID- 25821448
TI  - Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy: an effective alternative approach to control
      fungal infections.
AB  - Skin mycoses are caused mainly by dermatophytes, which are fungal species that
      primarily infect areas rich in keratin such as hair, nails, and skin.
      Significantly, there are increasing rates of antimicrobial resistance among
      dermatophytes, especially for Trichophyton rubrum, the most frequent etiologic
      agent worldwide. Hence, investigators have been developing new therapeutic
      approaches, including photodynamic treatment. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) utilizes
      a photosensitive substance activated by a light source of a specific wavelength.
      The photoactivation induces cascades of photochemicals and photobiological events
      that cause irreversible changes in the exposed cells. Although photodynamic
      approaches are well established experimentally for the treatment of certain
      cutaneous infections, there is limited information about its mechanism of action
      for specific pathogens as well as the risks to healthy tissues. In this work, we
      have conducted a comprehensive review of the current knowledge of PDT as it
      specifically applies to fungal diseases. The data to date suggests that
      photodynamic treatment approaches hold great promise for combating certain fungal
      pathogens, particularly dermatophytes. 

PMID- 25821449
TI  - Microbiota and mucosal immunity in amphibians.
AB  - We know that animals live in a world dominated by bacteria. In the last 20 years,
      we have learned that microbes are essential regulators of mucosal immunity.
      Bacteria, archeas, and viruses influence different aspects of mucosal development
      and function. Yet, the literature mainly covers findings obtained in mammals. In
      this review, we focus on two major themes that emerge from the comparative
      analysis of mammals and amphibians. These themes concern: (i) the structure and
      functions of lymphoid organs and immune cells in amphibians, with a focus on the
      gut mucosal immune system; and (ii) the characteristics of the amphibian
      microbiota and its influence on mucosal immunity. Lastly, we propose to use
      Xenopus tadpoles as an alternative small-animal model to improve the fundamental
      knowledge on immunological functions of gut microbiota. 

PMID- 25821450
TI  - Human Milk Blocks DC-SIGN-Pathogen Interaction via MUC1.
AB  - Beneficial effects of breastfeeding are well-recognized and include both
      immediate neonatal protection against pathogens and long-term protection against
      allergies and autoimmune diseases. Although several proteins have been identified
      to have anti-viral or anti-bacterial effects like secretory IgA or lactoferrin,
      the mechanisms of immune modulation are not fully understood. Recent studies
      identified important beneficial effects of glycans in human milk, such as those
      expressed in oligosaccharides or on glycoproteins. Glycans are recognized by the
      carbohydrate receptors C-type lectins on dendritic cell (DC) and specific tissue
      macrophages, which exert important functions in immune modulation and immune
      homeostasis. A well-characterized C-type lectin is dendritic cell-specific
      intercellular adhesion molecule-3-grabbing non-integrin (DC-SIGN), which binds
      terminal fucose. The present study shows that in human milk, MUC1 is the major
      milk glycoprotein that binds to the lectin domain of DC-SIGN and prevents
      pathogen interaction through the presence of Lewis x-type oligosaccharides.
      Surprisingly, this was specific for human milk, as formula, bovine or camel milk
      did not show any presence of proteins that interacted with DC-SIGN. The
      expression of DC-SIGN is found in young infants along the entire gastrointestinal
      tract. Our data thus suggest the importance of human milk glycoproteins for
      blocking pathogen interaction to DC in young children. Moreover, a potential
      benefit of human milk later in life in shaping the infants immune system through
      DC-SIGN cannot be ruled out. 

PMID- 25821451
TI  - Intravital and whole-organ imaging reveals capture of melanoma-derived antigen by
      lymph node subcapsular macrophages leading to widespread deposition on follicular
      dendritic cells.
AB  - Aberrant antigens expressed by tumor cells, such as in melanoma, are often
      associated with humoral immune responses, which may in turn influence tumor
      progression. Despite recent data showing the central role of adaptive immune
      responses on cancer spread or control, it remains poorly understood where and how
      tumor-derived antigen (TDA) induces a humoral immune response in tumor-bearing
      hosts. Based on our observation of TDA accumulation in B cell areas of lymph
      nodes (LNs) from melanoma patients, we developed a pre-metastatic B16.F10
      melanoma model expressing a fluorescent fusion protein, tandem dimer tomato, as a
      surrogate TDA. Using intravital two-photon microscopy (2PM) and whole-mount 3D LN
      imaging of tumor-draining LNs in immunocompetent mice, we report an unexpectedly
      widespread accumulation of TDA on follicular dendritic cells (FDCs), which were
      dynamically scanned by circulating B cells. Furthermore, 2PM imaging identified
      macrophages located in the subcapsular sinus of tumor-draining LNs to capture
      subcellular TDA-containing particles arriving in afferent lymph. As a
      consequence, depletion of macrophages or genetic ablation of B cells and FDCs
      resulted in dramatically reduced TDA capture in tumor-draining LNs. In sum, we
      identified a major pathway for the induction of humoral responses in a melanoma
      model, which may be exploitable to manipulate anti-TDA antibody production during
      cancer immunotherapy. 

PMID- 25821452
TI  - Lipid and Protein Co-Regulation of PI3K Effectors Akt and Itk in Lymphocytes.
AB  - The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase, PI3K) pathway transduces signals
      critical for lymphocyte function. PI3K generates the phospholipid PIP3 at the
      plasma membrane to recruit proteins that contain pleckstrin homology (PH) domains
      - a conserved domain found in hundreds of mammalian proteins. PH domain-PIP3
      interactions allow for rapid signal propagation and confer a spatial component to
      these signals. The kinases Akt and Itk are key PI3K effectors that bind PIP3 via
      their PH domains and mediate vital processes - such as survival, activation, and
      differentiation - in lymphocytes. Here, we review the roles and regulation of
      PI3K signaling in lymphocytes with a specific emphasis on Akt and Itk. We also
      discuss these and other PH domain-containing proteins as they relate more broadly
      to immune cell function. Finally, we highlight the emerging view of PH domains as
      multifunctional protein domains that often bind both lipid and protein substrates
      to exert their effects. 

PMID- 25821453
TI  - Chemical diversity of microbial volatiles and their potential for plant growth
      and productivity.
AB  - Microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) are produced by a wide array of
      microorganisms ranging from bacteria to fungi. A growing body of evidence
      indicates that MVOCs are ecofriendly and can be exploited as a cost-effective
      sustainable strategy for use in agricultural practice as agents that enhance
      plant growth, productivity, and disease resistance. As naturally occurring
      chemicals, MVOCs have potential as possible alternatives to harmful pesticides,
      fungicides, and bactericides as well as genetic modification. Recent studies
      performed under open field conditions demonstrate that efficiently adopting MVOCs
      may contribute to sustainable crop protection and production. We review here the
      chemical diversity of MVOCs by describing microbial-plants and microbial
      microbial interactions. Furthermore, we discuss MVOCs role in inducing phenotypic
      plant responses and their potential physiological effects on crops. Finally, we
      analyze potential and actual limitations for MVOC use and deployment in field
      conditions as a sustainable strategy for improving productivity and reducing
      pesticide use. 

PMID- 25821454
TI  - Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases in salicylic acid-mediated plant immune signaling.
AB  - Plant immune responses against biotrophic pathogens are regulated by the
      signaling hormone salicylic acid (SA). SA establishes immunity by regulating a
      variety of cellular processes, including programmed cell death (PCD) to isolate
      and kill invading pathogens, and development of systemic acquired resistance
      (SAR) which provides long-lasting, broad-spectrum resistance throughout the
      plant. Central to these processes is post-translational modification of SA
      regulated signaling proteins by ubiquitination, i.e., the covalent addition of
      small ubiquitin proteins. Emerging evidence indicates SA-induced protein
      ubiquitination is largely orchestrated by Cullin-RING ligases (CRLs), which
      recruit specific substrates for ubiquitination using interchangeable adaptors.
      Ligation of ubiquitin chains interlinked at lysine 48 leads to substrate
      degradation by the 26S proteasome. Here we discuss how CRL-mediated degradation
      of both nucleotide-binding/leucine-rich repeat domain containing immune receptors
      and SA-induced transcription regulators are critical for functional PCD and SAR
      responses, respectively. By placing these recent findings in context of knowledge
      gained in other eukaryotic model species, we highlight potential alternative
      roles for processive ubiquitination in regulating the activity of SA-mediated
      immune responses. 

PMID- 25821455
TI  - Cd and Ni transport and accumulation in the halophyte Sesuvium portulacastrum:
      implication of organic acids in these processes.
AB  - The implication of organic acids in Cd and Ni translocation was studied in the
      halophyte species Sesuvium portulacastrum. Citric, fumaric, malic, and ascorbic
      acids were separated and quantified by HPLC technique in shoots, roots and xylem
      saps of plants grown on nutrient solutions added with 50 MUM Cd, 100 MUM Ni and
      the combination of 50 MUM Cd + 100 MUM Ni. Results showed that Cd had no
      significant impact on biomass production while Ni and the combination of both
      metals drastically affected plant development. Cadmium and Ni concentrations in
      tissues and xylem sap were higher in plants subjected to individual metal
      application than those subjected to the combined effect of Cd and Ni suggesting a
      possible competition between these metals for absorption. Both metals applied
      separately or in combination induced an increase in citrate concentration in
      shoots and xylem sap but a decrease of this concentration in the roots. However,
      a minor relationship was observed between metal application and fumaric, malic,
      and ascorbic acids. Both observations suggest the implication of citric acid in
      Cd, Ni translocation and shoot accumulation in S. portulacastrum. The relatively
      high accumulation of citric acid in xylem sap and shoot of S. portulacastrum
      could be involved in metal chelation and thus contributes to heavy metal
      tolerance in this species. 

PMID- 25821456
TI  - Omic research in termites: an overview and a roadmap.
AB  - Many recent breakthroughs in our understanding of termite biology have been
      facilitated by "omics" research. Omic science seeks to collectively catalog,
      quantify, and characterize pools of biological molecules that translate into
      structure, function, and life processes of an organism. Biological molecules in
      this context include genomic DNA, messenger RNA, proteins, and other
      biochemicals. Other permutations of omics that apply to termites include
      sociogenomics, which seeks to define social life in molecular terms (e.g.,
      behavior, sociality, physiology, symbiosis, etc.) and digestomics, which seeks to
      define the collective pool of host and symbiont genes that collaborate to achieve
      high-efficiency lignocellulose digestion in the termite gut. This review covers a
      wide spectrum of termite omic studies from the past 15 years. Topics covered
      include a summary of terminology, the various kinds of omic efforts that have
      been undertaken, what has been revealed, and to a degree, what the results mean.
      Although recent omic efforts have contributed to a better understanding of many
      facets of termite and symbiont biology, and have created important new resources
      for many species, significant knowledge gaps still remain. Crossing these gaps
      can best be done by applying new omic resources within multi-dimensional (i.e.,
      functional, translational, and applied) research programs. 

PMID- 25821457
TI  - Genomic prediction of traits related to canine hip dysplasia.
AB  - Increased concern for the welfare of pedigree dogs has led to development of
      selection programs against inherited diseases. An example is canine hip dysplasia
      (CHD), which has a moderate heritability and a high prevalence in some large
      sized breeds. To date, selection using phenotypes has led to only modest
      improvement, and alternative strategies such as genomic selection (GS) may prove
      more effective. The primary aims of this study were to compare the performance of
      pedigree- and genomic-based breeding against CHD in the UK Labrador retriever
      population and to evaluate the performance of different GS methods. A sample of
      1179 Labrador Retrievers evaluated for CHD according to the UK scoring method
      (hip score, HS) was genotyped with the Illumina CanineHD BeadChip. Twelve
      functions of HS and its component traits were analyzed using different
      statistical methods (GBLUP, Bayes C and Single-Step methods), and results were
      compared with a pedigree-based approach (BLUP) using cross-validation. Genomic
      methods resulted in similar or higher accuracies than pedigree-based methods with
      training sets of 944 individuals for all but the untransformed HS, suggesting
      that GS is an effective strategy. GBLUP and Bayes C gave similar prediction
      accuracies for HS and related traits, indicating a polygenic architecture. This
      conclusion was also supported by the low accuracies obtained in additional GBLUP
      analyses performed using only the SNPs with highest test statistics, also
      indicating that marker-assisted selection (MAS) would not be as effective as GS.
      A Single-Step method that combines genomic and pedigree information also showed
      higher accuracy than GBLUP and Bayes C for the log-transformed HS, which is
      currently used for pedigree based evaluations in UK. In conclusion, GS is a
      promising alternative to pedigree-based selection against CHD, requiring more
      phenotypes with genomic data to improve further the accuracy of prediction. 

PMID- 25821459
TI  - DNA damage in BALB/c mice infected with Lacazia loboi and its relation to
      nutritional status.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Jorge Lobo's disease, also known as lacaziosis, is a cutaneous
      subcutaneous mycosis with chronic evolution. It is caused by the fungus Lacazia
      loboi. Herein we report a study that relates the genotoxicity caused by L. loboi
      in isogenic mice with nutritional status, through a normal or restricted diet.
      METHODS: DNA damage was assessed in the peripheral blood by the comet assay (tail
      intensity). RESULTS: The results for leukocytes showed increases in the mean tail
      intensity in mice under dietary restriction, in infected mice under dietary
      restriction and in infected mice ingesting a normal diet. CONCLUSION: These
      results indicate that dietary restriction and L. loboi infection may increase DNA
      damage levels in mice, as detected by the comet assay.

PMID- 25821460
TI  - The interplay of the gut microbiome, bile acids, and volatile organic compounds.
AB  - Background. There has been an increasing interest in the use of volatile organic
      compounds (VOCs) as potential surrogate markers of gut dysbiosis in
      gastrointestinal disease. Gut dysbiosis occurs when pathological imbalances in
      gut bacterial colonies precipitate disease and has been linked to the
      dysmetabolism of bile acids (BA) in the gut. BA metabolites as a result of
      microbial transformations act as signaling molecules and have demonstrated
      regulation of intestinal homeostasis through the TGR5 and FXR receptors by
      inhibiting inflammation, preventing pathogen invasion, and maintaining cell
      integrity. The presence of VOC footprints is the resultant effect to gut
      microbiome substrate fermentation. Aim. To review the role of the gut microbiome
      and bile acid signaling in intestinal homeostasis and the resultant use of VOCs
      as potential noninvasive surrogate biomarkers in gut dysbiosis. Methods. A
      systematic search on PubMed and Medline databases was performed to identify
      articles relevant to gut dysbiosis, BA metabolism, and VOCs. Conclusions. The
      host and presence of the gut microbiome appear to regulate the BA pool size. A
      dysbiotic gut microbiome results in disrupted intestinal homeostasis, which may
      be reflected by VOCs, differentiating those who are healthy and those with
      disease. 

PMID- 25821461
TI  - Analysis of the serum bile Acid composition for differential diagnosis in
      patients with liver disease.
AB  - Objectives. We determined the serum bile acid (BA) composition in patients with
      liver diseases and healthy volunteers to investigate the relationship between the
      etiologies of liver disease and BA metabolism. Material and Methods. Sera from
      150 patients with liver diseases and 46 healthy volunteers were obtained. The
      serum concentrations of the 16 different BAs were determined according to the LC
      MS/MS method and were compared between the different liver diseases. Results. A
      total of 150 subjects, including patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) (n = 44),
      hepatitis B virus (HBV) (n = 23), alcoholic liver disease (ALD) (n = 21), biliary
      tract disease (n = 20), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (n = 13), and
      other liver diseases (n = 29), were recruited. The levels of UDCA and GUDCA were
      significantly higher in the ALD group, and the levels of DCA and UDCA were
      significantly lower in the biliary tract diseases group than in viral hepatitis
      group. In the UDCA therapy (-) subgroup, a significantly lower level of TLCA was
      observed in the ALD group, with lower levels of CDCA, DCA, and GLCA noted in
      biliary tract diseases group compared to viral hepatitis group. Conclusions.
      Analysis of the BA composition may be useful for differential diagnosis in liver
      disease. 

PMID- 25821462
TI  - Bypass during Liver Transplantation: Anachronism or Revival? Liver
      Transplantation Using a Combined Venovenous/Portal Venous Bypass-Experiences with
      163 Liver Transplants in a Newly Established Liver Transplantation Program.
AB  - Introduction. The venovenous/portal venous (VVP) bypass technique has generally
      become obsolete in liver transplantation (LT) today. We evaluated our experience
      with 163 consecutive LTs that used a VVP bypass. Patients and Methods. The liver
      transplant program was started in our center in 2010. LTs were performed using an
      extracorporal bypass device. Results. Mean operative time was 269 minutes and
      warm ischemic time 43 minutes. The median number of transfusion of packed cells
      and plasma was 7 and 14. There was no intraoperative death, and the 30-day
      mortality was 3%. Severe bypass-induced complications did not occur. Discussion.
      The introduction of a new LT program requires maximum safety measures for all of
      the parties involved. Both surgical and anaesthesiological management
      (reperfusion) can be controlled very reliably using a VVP bypass device.
      Particularly when using marginal grafts, this approach helps to minimise both
      surgical and anaesthesiological complications in terms of less volume overload,
      less use of vasopressive drugs, less myocardial injury, and better peripheral
      blood circulation. Conclusion. Based on our experiences while establishing a new
      liver transplantation program, we advocate the reappraisal of the extracorporeal
      VVP bypass. 

PMID- 25821458
TI  - Transcriptional regulation of secretory capacity by bZip transcription factors.
AB  - Cells of specialized secretory organs expand their secretory pathways to
      accommodate the increased protein load necessary for their function. The
      endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the Golgi apparatus and the secretory vesicles,
      expand not only the membrane components but also the protein machinery required
      for increased protein production and transport. Increased protein load causes an
      ER stress response akin to the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR). Recent work has
      implicated several bZip transcription factors in the regulation of protein
      components of the early secretory pathway necessary to alleviate this stress.
      Here, we highlight eight bZip transcription factors in regulating secretory
      pathway component genes. These include components of the three canonical branches
      of the UPR-ATF4, XBP1, and ATF6, as well as the five members of the Creb3 family
      of transcription factors. We review findings from both invertebrate and
      vertebrate model systems suggesting that all of these proteins increase secretory
      capacity in response to increased protein load. Finally, we propose that the
      Creb3 family of factors may have a dual role in secretory cell differentiation by
      also regulating the pathways necessary for cell cycle exit during terminal
      differentiation.

PMID- 25821463
TI  - HOMA, BMI, and Serum Leptin Levels Variations during Antiviral Treatment Suggest
      Virus-Related Insulin Resistance in Noncirrhotic, Nonobese, and Nondiabetic
      Chronic Hepatitis C Genotype 1 Patients.
AB  - Objective. To investigate the relationship between insulin resistance and viral
      load decay in nondiabetic and noncirrhotic genotype 1 chronic HCV patients during
      peginterferon and ribavirin treatment and the possible influence of BMI and
      leptin as metabolic confounders. Methods. 75 consecutive noncirrhotic, nonobese,
      and nondiabetic patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C treated with
      peginterferon alpha 2a plus ribavirin were evaluated. HOMA-IR, serum leptin, and
      BMI were measured in all patients at baseline and at weeks 12 and 48, whereas
      viral load was measured at the same time points and then 24 weeks after the end
      of treatment. Results. HOMA-IR was significantly associated with both BMI and
      leptin at baseline. During peginterferon plus ribavirin treatment, there was a
      significant reduction of HOMA-IR at weeks 12 and 48 from baseline (P = 0.033 and
      0.048, resp.) in patients who achieved an early viral load decay (EVR), a trend
      not observed in patients who not achieved EVR. No variations during treatment
      were observed regarding BMI and leptin irrespective of EVR. Conclusion. The early
      reduction of HOMA-IR but not of BMI and leptin during antiviral treatment in
      noncirrhotic, chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 patients who achieved EVR suggests a
      viral genesis of insulin resistance in patients with nonmetabolic phenotype. 

PMID- 25821464
TI  - Survey of Accepted Practice following Failed Intubation for Emergency Caesarean
      Delivery.
AB  - Background. There is no consensus on the optimum management of failed tracheal
      intubation in emergency cesarean delivery performed for fetal compromise. The
      decision making process on whether to wake the patient or continue anesthesia
      with a supraglottic airway device is an underexplored area. This survey explores
      perceptions and experiences of obstetric anesthetists managing failed intubation.
      Methods. Anesthetists attending the Group of Obstetric Anaesthetists London
      (GOAL) Meeting in April 2014 were surveyed. Results. Ninety-three percent of
      anesthetists surveyed would not always wake the patient in the event of failed
      intubation for emergency cesarean delivery performed for fetal compromise. The
      median (interquartile range) of perceived acceptability of continuing anesthesia
      with a well-fitting supraglottic airway device, assessed using a visual analogue
      scale (0-100; 0 completely unacceptable; 100 completely acceptable), was 90
      [22.5]. Preoperative patient consent regarding the use of a supraglottic airway
      device for surgery in the event of failed intubation would affect the decision
      making of 40% of anaesthetists surveyed. Conclusion. These results demonstrate
      that a significant body of anesthetists with a subspecialty interest in obstetric
      anesthesia in the UK would not always wake up the patient and would continue with
      anesthesia and surgery with a supraglottic airway device in this setting. 

PMID- 25821466
TI  - Islets and glucose homeostasis.

PMID- 25821465
TI  - Effects of levothyroxine replacement therapy on parameters of metabolic syndrome
      and atherosclerosis in hypothyroid patients: a prospective pilot study.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of levothyroxine (LT4)
      replacement therapy during three months on some parameters of metabolic syndrome
      and atherosclerosis in patients with increased thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)
      level. This study included a group of 30 female patients with TSH level >4 mIU/L
      and 15 matched healthy controls. Intima media complex thickness (IMCT) and peak
      systolic flow velocity (PSFV) of superficial femoral artery were determined by
      Color Doppler scan. In hypothyroid subjects, BMI, SBP, DBP, and TSH were
      significantly increased versus controls and decreased after LT4 administration.
      FT4 was significantly lower in hypothyroid subjects compared with controls and
      significantly higher by treatment. TC, Tg, HDL-C, and LDL-C were similar to
      controls at baseline but TC and LDL-C were significantly decreased by LH4
      treatment. IMCT was significantly increased versus controls at baseline and
      significantly reduced by treatment. PSFV was similar to controls at baseline and
      significantly decreased on treatment. In this study, we have demonstrated the
      effects of LT4 replacement therapy during three months of treatment on correction
      of risk factors of metabolic syndrome and atherosclerosis. 

PMID- 25821467
TI  - Negative energy balance induced by paradoxical sleep deprivation causes
      multicompartmental changes in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle.
AB  - Objective. Describe multicompartmental changes in the fat and various muscle
      fiber types, as well as the hormonal profile and metabolic rate induced by SD in
      rats. Methods. Twenty adult male Wistar rats were equally distributed into two
      groups: experimental group (EG) and control group (CG). The EG was submitted to
      SD for 96 h. Blood levels of corticosterone (CORT), total testosterone (TESTO),
      insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) were used
      to assess the catabolic environment. Muscle trophism was measured using a cross
      sectional area of various muscles (glycolytic, mixed, and oxidative), and
      lipolysis was inferred by the weight of fat depots from various locations, such
      as subcutaneous, retroperitoneal, and epididymal. The metabolic rate was measured
      using oxygen consumption ([Formula: see text]O2) measurement. Results. SD
      increased CORT levels and decreased TESTO, IGF-1, and T4. All fat depots were
      reduced in weight after SD. Glycolytic and mixed muscles showed atrophy, whereas
      atrophy was not observed in oxidative muscle. Conclusion. Our data suggest that
      glycolytic muscle fibers are more sensitive to atrophy than oxidative fibers
      during SD and that fat depots are reduced regardless of their location. 

PMID- 25821468
TI  - Determination of Glucocorticoids in UPLC-MS in Environmental Samples from an
      Occupational Setting.
AB  - Occupational exposures to glucocorticoids are still a neglected issue in some
      work environments, including pharmaceutical plants. We developed an analytical
      method to quantify simultaneously 21 glucocorticoids using UPLC coupled with mass
      spectrometry to provide a basis to carry out environmental monitoring. Samples
      were taken from air, hand-washing tests, pad-tests and wipe-tests. This paper
      reports the contents of the analytical methodology, along with the results of
      this extensive environmental and personal monitoring of glucocorticoids. The
      method in UPLC-MS turned out to be suitable and effective for the aim of the
      study. Wipe-test and pad-test desorption was carried out using 50 mL syringes, a
      simple technique that saves time without adversely affecting analyte recovery.
      Results showed a widespread environmental pollution due to glucocorticoids. This
      is of particular concern. Evaluation of the dose absorbed by each worker and
      identification of a biomarker for occupational exposure will contribute to
      assessment and prevention of occupational exposure. 

PMID- 25821469
TI  - The role of citrullinated protein antibodies in predicting erosive disease in
      rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.
AB  - Background. Autoantibodies to citrullinated peptides have been shown to be
      valuable in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The expanding repertoire
      of antibodies to citrullinated peptide antigens (ACPA) has been a topic of great
      interest in recent reviews and research studies, as has the ability of these
      autoantibodies to predict disease outcome. Objectives. The aim of this review was
      to provide an update on the relevance of ACPA as prognostic markers in RA. The
      ability to identify patients predisposed to an aggressive outcome at the time of
      initial diagnosis greatly facilitates the selection of appropriate and cost
      effective treatment. Methods. A systematic review of the literature was carried
      out. Studies from 1967 up to June 2014 with data on prognostic value of ACPA were
      included. Quality assessment was done by using the modified Hayden list for
      prognostic studies. Meta-analysis was performed using BioStat software. Results.
      The results of 25 studies were selected for the final review. A total of 6421
      patients with RA were included, mainly in inception cohorts, with follow-up
      duration ranging from one year to ten years. All studies carried prognostic data
      on all available isotypes of anticyclic citrullinated protein (CCP), while four
      had data on antimutated citrullinated vimentin (MCV). There was a single relevant
      study each on anticitrullinated enolase peptide 1 (CEP1) and antichimaeric
      fibrin/filaggrin citrullinated peptide 1 (CFFCP1). All studies showed ACPA to be
      strong predictors of joint erosions in RA. Other factors, particularly baseline
      erosions, showed an additive effect. Anti-MCV appeared to be a marker of a more
      aggressive form of disease. Ten studies had data on which a meta-analysis could
      be performed. This gave an overall odds ratio of 4.85 for ACPA (anti-CCP/MCV)
      positivity being predictive for the development of joint erosions. Two studies
      with data on anti-CEP1 and anti-CFFCP1 also showed this positive predictive role
      of ACPA for joint erosions. Conclusions. ACPA are strong predictors of severity
      in RA. Their use should be part of routine rheumatology practice. 

PMID- 25821471
TI  - PEComa in a Young Patient with Known Li-Fraumeni Syndrome.
AB  - Perivascular epithelioid cells neoplasms (PEComas) constitute a family of rare
      tumours which have been reported virtually in all anatomic sites. The
      histological clarification of the malignant potential of these tumours is still
      problematic despite the proposed risk stratification systems. Li-Fraumeni
      syndrome (LFS) is caused by a germline mutation in the TP53 tumour suppressor
      gene. It is a rare but well-characterized cancer predisposition syndrome leading
      to the development of a variety of different tumour types. To the best of our
      knowledge, an association between this syndrome and PEComas has not been
      previously documented. A 24-year-old lady with known LFS presented with two
      uncertain-in-nature lesions, one within the right part of the liver and one
      within the upper pole of the right kidney. The patient underwent an uncomplicated
      open simultaneous right partial nephrectomy and resection of segment 7 of the
      liver. The morphological and immunohistochemical features of both lesions were of
      epithelioid angiomyolipoma (PEComa). Although the obvious scenario was that the
      liver lesion was a metastasis from the renal lesion, the assessment of their
      malignant potential according to the existing risk stratification systems was
      rather in favour of two synchronous primary PEComas, pointing out that the
      histological assessment of malignant potential of PEComas is still problematic. 

PMID- 25821470
TI  - Circadian System and Melatonin Hormone: Risk Factors for Complications during
      Pregnancy.
AB  - Pregnancy is a complex and well-regulated temporal event in which several steps
      are finely orchestrated including implantation, decidualization, placentation,
      and partum and any temporary alteration has serious effects on fetal and maternal
      health. Interestingly, alterations of circadian rhythms (i.e., shiftwork) have
      been correlated with increased risk of preterm delivery, intrauterine growth
      restriction, and preeclampsia. In the last few years evidence is accumulating
      that the placenta may have a functional circadian system and express the clock
      genes Bmal1, Per1-2, and Clock. On the other hand, there is evidence that the
      human placenta synthesizes melatonin, hormone involved in the regulation of the
      circadian system in other tissues. Moreover, is unknown the role of this local
      production of melatonin and whether this production have a circadian pattern.
      Available information indicates that melatonin induces in placenta the expression
      of antioxidant enzymes catalase and superoxide dismutase, prevents the injury
      produced by oxidative stress, and inhibits the expression of vascular endothelial
      growth factor (VEGF) a gene that in other tissues is controlled by clock genes.
      In this review we aim to analyze available information regarding clock genes and
      clock genes controlled genes such as VEGF and the possible role of melatonin
      synthesis in the placenta. 

PMID- 25821472
TI  - Comparisons of mouse mesenchymal stem cells in primary adherent culture of
      compact bone fragments and whole bone marrow.
AB  - The purification of mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) by using the
      standard method of whole bone marrow adherence to plastic still remains
      ineffective. An increasing number of studies have indicated compact bone as an
      alternative source of BMSCs. We isolated BMSCs from cultured compact bone
      fragments and investigated the proliferative capacity, surface immunophenotypes,
      and osteogenic and adipogenic differentiations of the cells after the first
      trypsinization. The fragment culture was based on the fact that BMSCs were
      assembled in compact bones. Thus, the procedure included flushing bone marrow out
      of bone cavity and culturing the fragments without any collagenase digestion. The
      cell yield from cultured fragments was slightly less than that from cultured bone
      marrow using the same bone quantity. However, the trypsinized cells from cultured
      fragments exhibited significantly higher proliferation and were accompanied with
      more CD90 and CD44 expressions and less CD45 expression. The osteogenic and
      adipogenic differentiation capacity of cells from cultured fragments were better
      than those of cells from bone marrow. The directly adherent culture of compact
      bone is suitable for mouse BMSC isolation, and more BMSCs with potentially
      improved proliferation capacity can be obtained in the primary culture. 

PMID- 25821473
TI  - Methane and nitrous oxide exchange over a managed hay meadow.
AB  - The methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) exchange of a temperate mountain
      grassland near Neustift, Austria, was measured during 2010-2012 over a time
      period of 22 months using the eddy covariance method. Exchange rates of both
      compounds at the site were low, with 97% of all half-hourly CH4 and N2O fluxes
      ranging between +/-200 and +/-50 ng m-2 s-1, respectively. The meadow acted as a
      sink for both compounds during certain time periods, but was a clear source of
      CH4 and N2O on an annual timescale. Therefore, both gases contributed to an
      increase of the global warming potential (GWP), effectively reducing the sink
      strength in terms of CO2 equivalents of the investigated grassland site. In 2011,
      our best guess estimate showed a net greenhouse gas (GHG) sink of -32 g CO2 equ.
      m-2 yr-1 for the meadow, whereby 55% of the CO2 sink strength of -71 g CO2m-2 yr
      1 was offset by CH4 (N2O) emissions of 7 (32) g CO2 equ. m-2 yr-1. When all data
      were pooled, the ancillary parameters explained 27 (42)% of observed CH4 (N2O)
      flux variability, and up to 62 (76)% on shorter timescales in-between management
      dates. In the case of N2O fluxes, we found the highest emissions at intermediate
      soil water contents and at soil temperatures close to 0 or above 14  degrees C.
      In comparison to CO2, H2O and energy fluxes, the interpretation of CH4 and N2O
      exchange was challenging due to footprint heterogeneity regarding their sources
      and sinks, uncertainties regarding post-processing and quality control. Our
      results emphasize that CH4 and N2O fluxes over supposedly well-aerated and
      moderately fertilized soils cannot be neglected when evaluating the GHG impact of
      temperate managed grasslands.

PMID- 25821474
TI  - Dystrophic-Anagen Effluvium Occurring During Pegylated Interferon-alpha
      2a/Ribavirin Therapy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Various types of dermatological manifestations have been reported
      due to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and anti-HCV therapy. Some of them have
      been described during IFN-based therapies. PEG-IFN-alpha-2a/RBV combination is
      used as the international standard of treatment for HCV infection for a long
      time. The combination therapy yields an adverse-event profile similar to standard
      interferon (IFN) therapy. Some of these adverse effects are rheumatologic,
      neuropsychiatric and dermatological manifestations including alopecia. CASE
      PRESENTATION: We reported a 43-year-old woman with dystrophic anagen effluvium
      (DAE), rheumatoid arthritis and Hashimoto thyroiditis, which were developed under
      the combination therapy for chronic HCV infection. CONCLUSIONS: Although some
      cases of alopecia areata (AA) and telogen effluvium (TE) were reported in
      literature, no case of DAE associated with PEG-INF-alpha-2a /RBV combination
      therapy was reported previously.

PMID- 25821475
TI  - Effect of Powdered Shells of the Snail Megalobulimus lopesi on Secondary
      Intention Wound Healing in an Animal Model.
AB  - Topical administration of powdered shells of the land snail Megalobulimus lopesi
      was evaluated in Wistar rats for their healing activity in an excision wound
      model. The animals were distributed into three groups-G1 (control): no
      therapeutic intervention; G2 (vehicle controls): Lanette cream once daily; G3
      (experimental animals): treated with powdered shells. Variables investigated
      were: wound area contraction, angiogenic activity, morphometric data, leukocytic
      inflammatory infiltrate, and total leukocyte count in peripheral blood.
      Thermogravimetric analysis and quantification and characterization of powdered
      shell proteins were also performed. Wound area on days 3, 7, and 14 was smaller
      in G3, besides presenting wound closure on day 21 for all these animals. Topical
      administration of the powdered shells also led to an increased number of vessels
      at the wound site, higher leukocyte counts in peripheral blood, and increased
      leukocytic inflammatory infiltrate. The results lend support to the southern
      Brazilian folk use of M. lopesi powdered shells, as shown by the enhanced
      secondary-intention healing achieved with their topical administration to wounds
      in rats. Topical administration caused inflammatory response modulation, crucial
      to accelerating the healing process, the chronification of which increases the
      risks of wound contamination by opportunistic pathogens. 

PMID- 25821476
TI  - The Synergistic Beneficial Effects of Ginkgo Flavonoid and Coriolus versicolor
      Polysaccharide for Memory Improvements in a Mouse Model of Dementia.
AB  - This study reports the combination of Ginkgo flavonoid (GF) and Coriolus
      versicolor polysaccharide (CVP) in the prevention and treatment of a mouse model
      of Alzheimer's disease (AD). GF is a traditional health product, and CVP is the
      main active ingredient of the medicinal fungus Coriolus versicolor. The Morris
      water maze test, the Y maze, and the step-through test showed that the
      combinational use of CVP and GF synergistically improved memory in a mouse model
      of AD. Based on H&E staining analysis, the combination of CVP and GF decreased
      the severity of the pathological findings in the brain. Given that the expression
      of IL-1beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha was downregulated, the inflammation response in
      AD mice was considered to be inhibited. The downregulation of GFAP further
      demonstrated that inflammation was reduced in the brain of AD mice following
      treatment. Moreover, the expression levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and
      catalase (CAT) were elevated in the brains of treated mice, indicating that
      oxidation levels were reduced upon the combination treatment. Our results provide
      new insights into the efficient utilization of traditional medicine for
      preventing dementia. 

PMID- 25821477
TI  - Electroacupuncture Treatment Improves Learning-Memory Ability and Brain Glucose
      Metabolism in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease: Using Morris Water Maze and
      Micro-PET.
AB  - Introduction. Alzheimer's disease (AD) causes progressive hippocampus
      dysfunctions leading to the impairment of learning and memory ability and low
      level of uptake rate of glucose in hippocampus. What is more, there is no
      effective treatment for AD. In this study, we evaluated the beneficial and
      protective effects of electroacupuncture in senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8
      (SAMP8). Method. In the electroacupuncture paradigm, electroacupuncture treatment
      was performed once a day for 15 days on 7.5-month-old SAMP8 male mice. In the
      normal control paradigm and AD control group, 7.5-month-old SAMR1 male mice and
      SAMP8 male mice were grabbed and bandaged while electroacupuncture group therapy,
      in order to ensure the same treatment conditions, once a day, 15 days. Results.
      From the Morris water maze (MWM) test, we found that the treatment of
      electroacupuncture can improve the spatial learning and memory ability of SAMP8
      mouse, and from the micro-PET test, we proved that after the electroacupuncture
      treatment the level of uptake rate of glucose in hippocampus was higher than
      normal control group. Conclusion. These results suggest that the treatment of
      electroacupuncture may provide a viable treatment option for AD. 

PMID- 25821478
TI  - Protective effects of tao-Hong-si-wu decoction on memory impairment and
      hippocampal damage in animal model of vascular dementia.
AB  - Tao-Hong-Si-Wu decoction (TSD) as a traditional chinese medicine (TCM) has been
      developed to treat thrombotic diseases for hundreds of years, and vascular
      dementia (VD) is a cognitive dysfunction syndrome caused by cerebral embolism. In
      this study, the protective effect of TSD on memory impairment and brain damage in
      rat model of VD induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was
      investigated. The study showed that rats in MCAO treatment with TSD for 14 days
      significantly improved behavioral function, increased densities of neuron, and
      induced angiogenesis in the brain compared with model rats. TSD also adjusted the
      neurotransmitter levels, reduced the content of endothelin-1 (ET-1), and induced
      the activities of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in hippocampus.
      Moreover, the immunohistochemical staining and western blotting results also
      revealed that TSD decreased apoptosis via upregulated B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl
      2)/Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax) ratio. These results demonstrated TSD
      possesses neuroprotective and antidementia properties by preventing the loss of
      neural cells, adjusting brain neurotransmitter, promoting cerebral blood
      circulation, and decreasing apoptosis. These results suggested that TSD might be
      developed as an effective drug for the prevention of VD. 

PMID- 25821479
TI  - Dry Needling Related Short-Term Vasodilation in Chronic Sciatica under Infrared
      Thermovision.
AB  - Vasomotor responses to dry needling (DN) of trigger points (TrPs) under infrared
      thermovision (IRT) camera control and TrPs coexistence in chronic sciatica
      patients have never been studied. Materials and Methods. Fifty consecutive
      chronic sciatica patients were enrolled in the study. DN under IRT control was
      performed for all patients regardless of gluteus minimus (GM) active TrPs
      examination. Then, the vasomotor response and its agreement with TrPs examination
      were evaluated. Results. The prevalence of GM active TrPs was 32%. DN provokes
      intensive vasodilatation for TrPs-positive patients only, with the localization
      dependent on referred pain during the procedure (r = 0.896;  P = 0.000) not the
      daily complaint. The increase of vasodilatation was, for example, for thigh, TrPs
      positive +30.29% (P < 0.05) versus TrPs-negative +4.08%. Additionally, a
      significant skin temperature increase was observed for TrPs-positive only, for
      example, thigh +1.5 +/- 1.3 degrees C (maximum) and +1.2 +/- 1.0 degrees C
      (average) (both P < 0.05). Conclusion. GM active TrPs prevalence among chronic
      sciatica patients was around one in three. Every TrPs-positive subject presented
      with vasodilatation under IRT in the area of DN related referred pain. Although
      TrPs involvement in chronic sciatica patients is possible, further studies on a
      bigger group of patients are still required. 

PMID- 25821480
TI  - Chemical Constituents and an Alternative Medicinal Veterinary Herbal Soap Made
      from Senna macranthera.
AB  - Upon undergoing biomonitoring, the most active dichloromethane extract retrieved
      from Senna macranthera roots led to the isolation of three main compounds:
      emodine, physione, and chrysophanol. In this sequence, these compounds revealed a
      potential antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated
      from animals with mastitis infections with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)
      values of 20, 90, and 90 MUg mL(-1), respectively. Therefore, an herbal soap was
      also produced from this same active extract. This soap was tested in vitro using
      gloves contaminated by animals with bovine mastitis that had been discarded after
      use by milkers and showed similar results to previously tested compounds. These
      results indicate the potential of this plant as an alternative veterinary
      medicine for the production of antibacterial soaps that aimed at controlling
      bovine mastitis infections in small Brazilian farms. 

PMID- 25821481
TI  - NaoXinTong Inhibits the Development of Diabetic Retinopathy in db/db Mice.
AB  - Buchang NaoXinTong capsule (NXT) is a Chinese Materia Medica standardized product
      extracted from 16 Chinese traditional medical herbs and widely used for treatment
      of patients with cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases in China. Formation
      of microaneurysms plays an important role in the development of diabetic
      retinopathy. In this study, we investigated if  NXT can protect diabetic mice
      against the development of diabetic retinopathy. The db/db mice (~6 weeks old), a
      diabetic animal model, were divided into two groups and fed normal chow or plus
      NXT for 14 weeks. During the treatment, fasting blood glucose levels were monthly
      determined. After treatment, retinas were collected to determine retinal
      thickness, accumulation of carbohydrate macromolecules, and caspase-3 (CAS-3)
      expression. Our results demonstrate that administration of NXT decreased fasting
      blood glucose levels. Associated with the decreased glucose levels, NXT blocked
      the diabetes-induced shrink of multiple layers, such as photoreceptor layer and
      outer nuclear/plexiform layers, in the retina. NXT also inhibited the diabetes
      induced expression of CAS-3 protein and mRNA, MMP-2/9 and TNFalpha mRNA,
      accumulation of carbohydrate macromolecules, and formation of acellular
      capillaries in the retina. Taken together, our study shows that NXT can inhibit
      the development of diabetic retinopathy and suggests a new potential application
      of NXT in clinic. 

PMID- 25821483
TI  - Korean studies on blood stasis: an overview.
AB  - Blood stasis is one of the important pathological concepts in Korean medicine. We
      analyzed the Korean studies concerning blood stasis. We searched for articles in
      eight electronic databases from their inception to September, 2014. We included
      reviews, clinical studies, and preclinical studies that had studied blood stasis
      and excluded articles in which blood stasis was not mentioned or in which the
      original authors had not explained blood stasis. Of 211 total included studies,
      19 were reviews, 52 were clinical studies, and 140 were preclinical articles.
      "Stagnant blood within the body" was the most frequently mentioned phrase of the
      traditional concept of blood stasis. Traumatic injury was the most frequently
      studied disease/condition in the clinical studies. In the preclinical studies,
      coagulopathy was studied most frequently, followed by hyperviscosity,
      hyperlipidemia, inflammation, neoplasm, ischemic brain injury, and
      atherosclerosis. Hyeolbuchukeo-tang and Angelicae Gigantis Radix were the most
      frequent formula and single herb, respectively, used in the blood stasis
      researches. The results showed that blood stasis was mainly recognized as
      disorder of circulation and many studies showed the effectiveness of activating
      blood circulating herbs for diseases and pathologies such as traumatic injury or
      coagulopathy. Further studies are needed in the pathologic mechanisms and various
      diseases of blood stasis. 

PMID- 25821482
TI  - Survival of AIDS patients treated with traditional chinese medicine in rural
      central china: a retrospective cohort study, 2004-2012.
AB  - This study aimed to explore the survival of AIDS patients treated with
      traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in addition to combined antiretroviral therapy
      (cART) and of AIDS patients treated with cART. Data of patients taking cART
      between 30 October 2003 and 30 October 2004 in the National TCM HIV Treatment
      Trial Program area were retrospectively analyzed, with follow-up from 30 October
      2004 to 30 October 2012. The log-rank test was used to compare survival between
      the two groups. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine hazard
      ratios to identify prognostic factors. The study included 521 patients in the TCM
      + cART group followed up for 3548 person-years and 375 patients in the cART group
      followed up for 2523 person-years. Mortality rates were 3.2/100 person-years and
      4.2/100 person-years in the TCM + cART and cART groups, respectively. The
      difference in survival was significant. After adjusting for explanatory
      variables, the mortality rate of AIDS patients in the cART group was 1.7 times
      higher than in the TCM + cART group. Male sex, older age, little education, and
      lower CD4 cell count were risk factors for mortality. TCM intervention in
      addition to cART could increase survival of AIDS patients. 

PMID- 25821484
TI  - Pharmacogenomics and herb-drug interactions: merge of future and tradition.
AB  - The worldwide using of herb products and the increasing potential herb-drug
      interaction issue has raised enthusiasm on discovering the underlying mechanisms.
      Previous review indicated that the interactions may be mediated by metabolism
      enzymes and transporters in pharmacokinetic pathways. On the other hand, an
      increasing number of studies found that genetic variations showed some influence
      on herb-drug interaction effects whereas these genetic factors did not draw much
      attention in history. We highlight that pharmacogenomics may involve the
      pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic pathways to affect herb-drug interaction. We
      are here to make an updated review focused on some common herb-drug interactions
      in association with genetic variations, with the aim to help safe use of herbal
      medicines in different individuals in the clinic. 

PMID- 25821485
TI  - Acupuncture for low back pain: an overview of systematic reviews.
AB  - Objective. As evidence of the effectiveness of acupuncture for low back pain
      (LBP) is inconsistent, we aimed to critically appraise the evidence from relevant
      systematic reviews. Methods. Systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials
      (RCTs) concerning acupuncture and LBP were searched in seven databases. Internal
      validity and external validity of systematic reviews were assessed. Systematic
      reviews were categorized and high quality reviews assigned greater weightings.
      Conclusions were generated from a narrative synthesis of the outcomes of subgroup
      comparisons. Results. Sixteen systematic reviews were appraised. Overall, the
      methodological quality was low and external validity weak. For acute LBP,
      evidence that acupuncture has a more favorable effect than sham acupuncture in
      relieving pain was inconsistent; it had a similar effect on improving function.
      For chronic LBP, evidence consistently demonstrated that acupuncture provides
      short-term clinically relevant benefits for pain relief and functional
      improvement compared with no treatment or acupuncture plus another conventional
      intervention. Conclusion. Systematic reviews of variable quality showed that
      acupuncture, either used in isolation or as an adjunct to conventional therapy,
      provides short-term improvements in pain and function for chronic LBP. More
      efforts are needed to improve both internal and external validity of systematic
      reviews and RCTs in this area. 

PMID- 25821486
TI  - Connectivity Study of the Neuromechanism of Acute Acupuncture Needling during
      fMRI in "Overweight" Subjects.
AB  - This functional connectivity study depicts how acupoints ST 36 and SP 9 and their
      sham acupoints acutely act on blood glucose (GLU), core body temperature (CBT),
      hunger, and sensations pertaining to needling (De-qi) via the limbic system and
      dopamine (DA) to affect various brain areas in fasting, adult, and "overweight"
      Chinese males using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Functional
      connectivity (FC) analysis utilized the amygdala (AMY) and hypothalamus (HYP) as
      regions of interest (ROIs) in the discrete cosine transform and seed correlation
      analysis methods. There was a significant difference in the spatial patterns of
      the distinct brain regions between groups. Correlation results showed that
      increased HYP-hippocampus FC after ACU was positively correlated with ACU-induced
      change in CBT; increased HYP-putamen-insula FC after ACU was positively
      correlated with ACU-induced change in GLU; and increased HYP-anterior cingulate
      cortex FC after ACU was positively correlated with ACU-induced change in HUNGER
      suggesting that increased DA modulation during ACU was probably associated with
      increased poststimulation limbic system and spinothalamic tract connectivity.
      Decreased HYP-thalamus FC after ACU was negatively correlated or anticorrelated
      with ACU-induced change in HUNGER suggesting that increased DA modulation during
      ACU was possibly associated with decreased poststimulation limbic system and
      spinothalamic tract connectivity. No correlation was found for min SHAM. This was
      an important study in addressing acute acupuncture effects and neural pathways
      involving physiology and appetite regulation in overweight individuals. 

PMID- 25821487
TI  - Classic and Modern Meridian Studies: A Review of Low Hydraulic Resistance
      Channels along Meridians and Their Relevance for Therapeutic Effects in
      Traditional Chinese Medicine.
AB  - Meridian theory is one of the core components of the theory of traditional
      Chinese medicine (TCM). It gives an integral explanation for how human life
      works, how a disease forms, and how a therapy acts to treat a disease. If we do
      not understand the meridians, it is hard to understand the TCM. People in China
      and abroad had been working hard for 50 years, trying to understand the
      meridians; then 15 years ago a breakthrough idea appeared when we realized that
      they are low resistance fluid channels where various chemical and physical
      transports take place. The channel is called low hydraulic resistance channel
      (LHRC) and the chemical transport is named volume transmission (VT). This review
      aims to give a full understanding of the essence of meridian and its works on the
      therapies of TCM. 

PMID- 25821488
TI  - Possible Involvement of u Opioid Receptor in the Antidepressant-Like Effect of
      Shuyu Formula in Restraint Stress-Induced Depression-Like Rats.
AB  - Recently MU opioid receptor (MOR) has been shown to be closely associated with
      depression. Here we investigated the action of Shuyu, a Chinese herbal
      prescription, on repeated restraint stress induced depression-like rats, with
      specific attention to the role of MOR and the related signal cascade. Our results
      showed that repeated restraint stress caused significant depressive-like
      behaviors, as evidenced by reduced body weight gain, prolonged duration of
      immobility in forced swimming test, and decreased number of square-crossings and
      rearings in open field test. The stress-induced depression-like behaviors were
      relieved by Shuyu, which was accompanied by decreased expression of MOR in
      hippocampus. Furthermore, Shuyu upregulated BDNF protein expression, restored the
      activity of CREB, and stimulated MEK and ERK phosphorylation in hippocampus of
      stressed rats. More importantly, MOR is involved in the effects of Shuyu on these
      depression-related signals, as they can be strengthened by MOR antagonist CTAP.
      Collectively, these data indicated that the antidepressant-like properties of
      Shuyu are associated with MOR and the corresponding CREB, BDNF, MEK, and ERK
      signal pathway. Our study supports clinical use of Shuyu as an effective
      treatment of depression and also suggests that MOR might be a target for
      treatment of depression and developing novel antidepressants. 

PMID- 25821490
TI  - Catalpol Modulates Lifespan via DAF-16/FOXO and SKN-1/Nrf2 Activation in
      Caenorhabditis elegans.
AB  - Catalpol is an effective component of rehmannia root and known to possess various
      pharmacological properties. The present study was aimed at investigating the
      potential effects of catalpol on the lifespan and stress tolerance using C.
      elegans model system. Herein, catalpol showed potent lifespan extension of wild
      type nematode under normal culture condition. In addition, survival rate of
      catalpol-fed nematodes was significantly elevated compared to untreated control
      under heat and oxidative stress but not under hyperosmolality conditions. We also
      found that elevated antioxidant enzyme activities and expressions of stress
      resistance proteins were attributed to catalpol-mediated increased stress
      tolerance of nematode. We further investigated whether catalpol's longevity
      effect is related to aging-related factors including reproduction, food intake,
      and growth. Interestingly, catalpol exposure could attenuate pharyngeal pumping
      rate, indicating that catalpol may induce dietary restriction of nematode.
      Moreover, locomotory ability of aged nematode was significantly improved by
      catalpol treatment, while lipofuscin levels were attenuated, suggesting that
      catalpol may affect age-associated changes of nematode. Our mechanistic studies
      revealed that mek-1, daf-2, age-1, daf-16, and skn-1 are involved in catalpol
      mediated longevity. These results indicate that catalpol extends lifespan and
      increases stress tolerance of C. elegans via DAF-16/FOXO and SKN-1/Nrf activation
      dependent on insulin/IGF signaling and JNK signaling. 

PMID- 25821489
TI  - Novel Mechanisms of Herbal Therapies for Inhibiting HMGB1 Secretion or Action.
AB  - High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is an evolutionarily conserved protein and is
      constitutively expressed in virtually all types of cells. In response to
      microbial infections, HMGB1 is secreted from activated immune cells to
      orchestrate rigorous inflammatory responses. Here we review the distinct
      mechanisms by which several herbal components inhibit HMGB1 action or secretion,
      such as by modulating inflammasome activation, autophagic degradation, or
      endocytic uptake. In light of the reciprocal interactions between these cellular
      processes, it is possible to develop more effective combinational herbal
      therapies for the clinical management of inflammatory diseases. 

PMID- 25821491
TI  - Hepatoprotective Effect of Silymarin (Silybum marianum) on Hepatotoxicity Induced
      by Acetaminophen in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.
AB  - This study was aimed to investigate the effect of Silymarin (SLM) on the
      hypertension state and the liver function changes induced by acetaminophen (APAP)
      in spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR). Animals normotensive (N) or hypertensive
      (SHR) were treated or not with APAP (3 g/kg, oral) or previously treated with
      SLM. Twelve hours after APAP administration, plasmatic levels of liver function
      markers: alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST),
      glucose (GLU), gamma glutamyl transferase (gamma-GT), and alkaline phosphatase
      (ALP) of all groups, were determined. Liver injury was assessed using
      histological studies. Samples of their livers were then used to determine the
      myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and nitric oxide (NO) production and were also
      sectioned for histological analysis. No differences were observed for ALT, gamma
      GT, and GLU levels between SHR and normotensive rats groups. However, AST and ALP
      levels were increased in hypertensive animals. APAP treatment promoted an
      increase in ALT and AST in both SHR and N. However, only for SHR, gamma-GT levels
      were increased. The inflammatory response evaluated by MPO activity and NO
      production showed that SHR was more susceptible to APAP effect, by increasing
      leucocyte infiltration. Silymarin treatment (Legalon) restored the hepatocyte
      functional and histopathological alterations induced by APAP in normotensive and
      hypertensive animals. 

PMID- 25821492
TI  - Inhibitory Effects of Chemical Compounds Isolated from the Rhizome of Smilax
      glabra on Nitric Oxide and Tumor Necrosis Factor- alpha Production in
      Lipopolysaccharide-Induced RAW264.7 Cell.
AB  - The rhizome of Smilax glabra has been used for a long time as both food and folk
      medicine in many countries. The present study focused on the active constituents
      from the rhizome of S. glabra, which possess potential anti-inflammatory
      activities. As a result, nine known compounds were isolated from the rhizome of
      S. glabra with the bioassay-guiding, and were identified as syringaresinol (1),
      lasiodiplodin (2), de-O-methyllasiodiplodin (3), syringic acid (4), 1,4-bis(4
      hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2,3-bis(hydroxymethyl)-1,4-butanediol (5),
      lyoniresinol (6), trans-resveratrol (7), trans-caffeic acid methyl ester (8), and
      dihydrokaempferol (9). Among these compounds, 2 and 3 were isolated for the first
      time from S. glabra. In addition, the potential anti-inflammatory activities of
      the isolated compounds were evaluated in vitro in lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-)
      induced RAW264.7 cells. Results indicated that 4 and 7 showed significant
      inhibitory effects on NO production of RAW264.7 cells, and 1, 2, 3, and 5 showed
      moderate suppression effects on induced NO production. 1, 7, and 5 exhibited high
      inhibitory effects on TNF-alpha production, with the IC50 values less than 2.3,
      4.4, and 16.6 MUM, respectively. These findings strongly suggest that compounds
      1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 were the potential anti-inflammatory active compositions
      of S. glabra. 

PMID- 25821493
TI  - The effect of electroacupuncture with different frequencies on muscle oxygenation
      in humans.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture
      (EA) with different frequencies on muscle oxygenation in humans. The subjects
      were 8 healthy male volunteers. Muscle oxygenation was measured using near
      infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were
      monitored simultaneously. After baseline recording, EA was given for 15 min and
      recovery was measured for 20 minutes. The procedure of EA at 1 Hz, at 20 Hz, and
      at control followed in the same subjects. Tissue oxygenation index (TOI)
      decreased during EA at 20 Hz (P < 0.05) and increased during the recovery period.
      Normalized tissue hemoglobin index (nTHI) also decreased during EA at 20 Hz and
      increased during the recovery period (P < 0.05), whereas TOI and nTHI in the EA
      at 1 Hz did not change significantly throughout the experiment. The peak TOI and
      nTHI values at 20 Hz during the recovery period were higher than the values at 1
      Hz and in the control (P < 0.05). BP and HR remained constant. These data suggest
      that the supply of oxygen to muscle decreased during EA at 20 Hz and increased
      after EA at 20 Hz, without any changes in HR and BP. 

PMID- 25821494
TI  - Antinociceptive Effect of the Essential Oil Obtained from the Leaves of Croton
      cordiifolius Baill. (Euphorbiaceae) in Mice.
AB  - Croton cordiifolius Baill. is a shrub known as "quebra-faca" and is used to treat
      inflammation, pain, wounds, and gastrointestinal disturbances in the semiarid
      region in the northeast of Brazil. In an ethnobotanical survey in the state of
      Pernambuco, "quebra-faca" use was cited in 33% of the interviews. Thus, we
      decided to evaluate the antinociceptive effects of the essential oil from C.
      cordiifolius (CcEO). Chemical analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
      revealed 1,8-cineole (25.09%) and alpha-phellandrene (15.43%) as major
      constituents. Antinociceptive activity was evaluated using murine models of
      chemically induced pain (writhing induced by acetic acid, formalin, capsaicin,
      and glutamate tests). Opioid and central nervous systems (CNS) involvement were
      also investigated. Regarding antinociceptive activity, CcEO (50 and 100 mg/kg)
      reduced the number of writhing responses induced by acetic acid and decreased the
      licking times in both phases of the formalin test. CcEO also was evaluated in
      capsaicin- and glutamate-induced nociception. While no effect was observed in the
      capsaicin test, CcEO (100 mg/kg) was effective in the glutamate test. Naloxone,
      an opioid antagonist, did not affect the antinociceptive activity of CcEO in
      writhing test. In conclusion, the antinociceptive effect of CcEO could be
      explained, at least in part, by inhibition of the glutamatergic system. 

PMID- 25821495
TI  - Maslinic Acid enhances signals for the recruitment of macrophages and their
      differentiation to m1 state.
AB  - The inflammatory process is involved in the genesis and evolution of different
      diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Macrophages play a
      central role in inflammation. In addition, they can regulate some stages of
      cancer development. Macrophages can polarize into M1 or M2 functional phenotype
      depending on the cytokines present in the tissue microenvironment. On the other
      hand, triterpenes found in virgin olive oil are described to present different
      properties, such as antitumoral and anti-inflammatory activity. The present study
      was designed to elucidate if the four major triterpenes found in virgin olive oil
      (oleanolic acid, maslinic acid, uvaol, and erythrodiol) are able to enhance M1
      macrophage response which represents an important defense mechanism against
      cancer. Our results indicated that maslinic acid modulated the inflammatory
      response by enhancing the production of IL-8, IL-1alpha, and IL-1beta; it
      promoted M1 response through the synthesis of IFN-gamma; and finally it did not
      modify significantly the levels of NFkappabeta or NO. Overall, our results showed
      that maslinic acid could prevent chronic inflammation, which represents a crucial
      step in the development of some cancers. 

PMID- 25821496
TI  - Xueshuan Xinmaining Tablet Treats Blood Stasis through Regulating the Expression
      of F13a1, Car1, and Tbxa2r.
AB  - Xueshuan Xinmaining Tablet (XXT), the Chinese formula, has long been administered
      in clinical practice for the treatment of cerebral thrombosis and coronary heart
      disease. In this study, we aimed to study the effect and the molecular mechanism
      of activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis. Rat models of cold
      coagulation blood stasis were induced with ice-water bath and epinephrine to
      assess the amelioration of blood stasis by XXT. Microarray technique was used to
      identify gene expression from the model and XXT-treated rats. In addition,
      Quantitative Real-Time PCR (qPCR) was performed to verify the microarray results.
      The results showed that XXT had a good therapeutic effect on blood stasis by
      reducing the whole blood viscosity (WBV), plasma viscosity (PV), increasing PT,
      APTT and TT, and by inhibiting platelet aggregation. Genes were differentially
      expressed in rats among the model group and the XXT-pretreated groups. XXT
      ameliorated blood stasis by regulating the expressions of F13a1, Car1, and
      Tbxa2r. 

PMID- 25821497
TI  - Evaluation of Antiradical and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Ethyl Acetate and
      Butanolic Subfractions of Agelanthus dodoneifolius (DC.) Polhill & Wiens
      (Loranthaceae) Using Equine Myeloperoxidase and Both PMA-Activated Neutrophils
      and HL-60 Cells.
AB  - The ethyl acetate and n-butanolic subfractions of Agelanthus dodoneifolius were
      investigated for their antioxidant and antimyeloperoxidase (MPO) activities. The
      reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was assessed by lucigenin-enhanced
      chemiluminescence (CL) and dichlorofluorescein- (DCF-) induced fluorescence
      techniques from phorbol myristate acetate- (PMA-) stimulated equine neutrophils
      and human myeloid cell line HL-60, respectively. In parallel, the effects of the
      tested subfractions were evaluated on the total MPO release by stimulated
      neutrophils and on the specific MPO activity by means of immunological assays.
      The results showed the potent activity of the butanolic subfraction, at least in
      respect of the chemiluminescence test (IC50 = 0.3 +/- 0.1 ug/mL) and the ELISA
      and SIEFED assays (IC50 = 2.8 +/- 1.2 ug/mL and 1.3 +/- 1.0 ug/mL), respectively.
      However, the ethyl acetate subfraction was found to be the most potent in the DCF
      assay as at the highest concentration, DCF fluorescence intensity decreases of
      about 50%. Moreover, we demonstrated that the ethyl acetate subfraction was rich
      in catechin (16.51%) while it was not easy to identify the main compounds in the
      butanolic subfraction using the UPLC-MS/MS technique. Nevertheless, taken
      together, our results provide evidence that Agelanthus dodoneifolius subfractions
      may represent potential sources of natural antioxidants and of
      antimyeloperoxidase compounds. 

PMID- 25821498
TI  - Effects of Electroacupuncture with Dominant Frequency at SP 6 and ST 36 Based on
      Meridian Theory on Pain-Depression Dyad in Rats.
AB  - Epidemic investigations reveal an intimate interrelationship between pain and
      depression. The effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on pain or depression has been
      demonstrated individually, but its effect on pain-depression dyad is unknown. Our
      study aimed to screen a dominant EA frequency on pain-depression dyad and
      determine the validity of acupoint selection based on meridian theory. The pain
      depression dyad rat model was induced by reserpine and treated using EA with
      different frequencies at identical acupoints to extract a dominant frequency and
      then administrated dominant-frequency EA at different acupoints in the above
      models. Paw withdrawal latency (PWL), emotional behavior of elevated zero maze
      (EZM) test, and open field (OF) test were conducted. We found that 100 Hz EA at
      Zusanli (ST 36) and Sanyinjiao (SP 6) (classical acupoints for spleen-deficiency
      syndrome) were the most effective in improving PWL, travelling distance in the
      EZM, and maximum velocity in OF compared to EA with other frequencies; ST 36 and
      SP 6 were proved more effective than other acupoints beyond the meridian theory
      and nonacupoints under the same administration of EA. Therefore, we concluded
      that 100 Hz is the dominant frequency for treating the pain-depression dyad with
      EA, and acupoints on spleen and stomach meridians are preferable choices. 

PMID- 25821499
TI  - A network-based approach to investigate the pattern of syndrome in depression.
AB  - In Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, syndrome is essential to diagnose
      diseases and treat patients, and symptom is the foundation of syndrome
      differentiation. Thus the combination and interaction between symptoms represent
      the pattern of syndrome at phenotypic level, which can be modeled and analyzed
      using complex network. At first, we collected inquiry information of 364
      depression patients from 2007 to 2009. Next, we learned classification models for
      7 syndromes in depression using naive Bayes, Bayes network, support vector
      machine (SVM), and C4.5. Among them, SVM achieves the highest accuracies larger
      than 0.9 except for Yin deficiency. Besides, Bayes network outperforms naive
      Bayes for all 7 syndromes. Then key symptoms for each syndrome were selected
      using Fisher's score. Based on these key symptoms, symptom networks for 7
      syndromes as well as a global network for depression were constructed through
      weighted mutual information. Finally, we employed permutation test to discover
      dynamic symptom interactions, in order to investigate the difference between
      syndromes from the perspective of symptom network. As a result, significant
      dynamic interactions were quite different for 7 syndromes. Therefore, symptom
      networks could facilitate our understanding of the pattern of syndrome and
      further the improvement of syndrome differentiation in depression. 

PMID- 25821500
TI  - Complex networks approach for analyzing the correlation of traditional chinese
      medicine syndrome evolvement and cardiovascular events in patients with stable
      coronary heart disease.
AB  - This is a multicenter prospective cohort study to analyze the correlation of
      traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome evolvement and cardiovascular events
      in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD). The impact of syndrome
      evolvement on cardiovascular events during the 6-month and 12-month follow-up was
      analyzed using complex networks approach. Results of verification using Chi
      square test showed that the occurrence of cardiovascular events was positively
      correlated with syndrome evolvement when it evolved from toxic syndrome to Qi
      deficiency, blood stasis, or sustained toxic syndrome, when it evolved from Qi
      deficiency to blood stasis, toxic syndrome, or sustained Qi deficiency, and when
      it evolved from blood stasis to Qi deficiency. Blood stasis, Qi deficiency, and
      toxic syndrome are important syndrome factors for stable CHD. There are positive
      correlations between cardiovascular events and syndrome evolution from toxic
      syndrome to Qi deficiency or blood stasis, from Qi deficiency to blood stasis, or
      toxic syndrome and from blood stasis to Qi deficiency. These results indicate
      that stable CHD patients with pathogenesis of toxin consuming Qi, toxin leading
      to blood stasis, and mutual transformation of Qi deficiency and blood stasis are
      prone to recurrent cardiovascular events. 

PMID- 25821501
TI  - Xuebijing Ameliorates Sepsis-Induced Lung Injury by Downregulating HMGB1 and RAGE
      Expressions in Mice.
AB  - Xuebijing (XBJ) injection, a traditional Chinese medicine, has been reported as a
      promising approach in the treatment of sepsis in China. However, its actual
      molecular mechanisms in sepsis-induced lung injury are yet unknown. Therefore,
      this study aimed to investigate the beneficial effects of XBJ on inflammation and
      the underlying mechanisms in a model of caecal ligation and puncture-(CLP-)
      induced lung injury. The mice were divided into CLP group, CLP+XBJ group (XBJ, 4
      mL/kg per 12 hours), and sham group. The molecular and histological examinations
      were performed on the lung, serum, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid samples
      of mice at the points of 6, 24, and 48 hours after CLP. The results show that XBJ
      reduces morphological destruction and neutrophil infiltration in the alveolar
      space and lung wet/dry weight ratio, which improves mortality of CLP-induced lung
      injury. Meanwhile, XBJ treatment downregulates high mobility group box protein 1
      (HMGB1) and the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) expression,
      as well as neutrophil counts, production of IL-1beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha in the
      BAL fluids. In conclusion, these results indicate that XBJ may reduce the
      mortality through inhibiting proinflammatory cytokines secretion mediated by
      HMGB1/RAGE axis. 

PMID- 25821502
TI  - Effects of abnormal savda munzip on the proliferation activity and migration
      ability of fibroblasts derived from hypertrophic scar in vitro.
AB  - Background. To explore the effect of ASMq on proliferation and migration ability
      of the fibroblast derived from HS of donor (HSFbs) in vitro. Methods. The HSFbs
      were cultured from tissue specimens and passaged to the 3~4 generation, which
      were treated with the different concentrations of ASMq and 5-Fu from 1 to 11
      days. The difference of HSFbs proliferation activity was analyzed by the CCK-8
      method. The HSFbs migration ability in ASMq (0.4 mg/mL) was analyzed by the Cell
      Scratch method. Results. Transmission electron microscope result shows ASMq
      concentration significantly increases and fibroblast cell structure markedly
      change in the experimental group. The proliferation activity of the HSFbs was
      obviously weakened in ASMq groups than those of the group A (P < 0.05) at seven
      days. The group C (0.4 mg/mL) is better suitable than other three ASMq treatment
      groups. Cell Migration Assay shows that the migration ability HSFbs was
      significantly reduced in ASMq (0.4 mg/mL) treatment group compared with those of
      blank control group at both 24 h and 48 h (P < 0.05). Conclusions. These results
      suggest that ASMq effectively restrains the proliferation and migration ability
      of the HTSFbs in vitro, which can be one of the mechanisms for the prevention and
      treatment of HS. 

PMID- 25821503
TI  - The Effect of Essential Oils and Bioactive Fractions on Streptococcus mutans and
      Candida albicans Biofilms: A Confocal Analysis.
AB  - The essential oils (EO) and bioactive fractions (BF) from Aloysia gratissima,
      Baccharis dracunculifolia, Coriandrum sativum, Cyperus articulatus, and Lippia
      sidoides were proven to have strong antimicrobial activity on planktonic
      microorganisms; however, little is known about their effects on the morphology or
      viability of oral biofilms. Previously, we determined the EO/fractions with the
      best antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus mutans and Candida spp. In this
      report, we used a confocal analysis to investigate the effect of these EO and BF
      on the morphology of S. mutans biofilms (thickness, biovolume, and architecture)
      and on the metabolic viability of C. albicans biofilms. The analysis of intact
      treated S. mutans biofilms showed no statistical difference for thickness in all
      groups compared to the control. However, a significant reduction in the biovolume
      of extracellular polysaccharides and bacteria was observed for A. gratissima and
      L. sidoides groups, indicating that these BF disrupt biofilm integrity and may
      have created porosity in the biofilm. This phenomenon could potentially result in
      a weakened structure and affect biofilm dynamics. Finally, C. sativum EO
      drastically affected C. albicans viability when compared to the control. These
      results highlight the promising antimicrobial activity of these plant species and
      support future translational research on the treatment of dental caries and oral
      candidiasis. 

PMID- 25821504
TI  - Self-reported efficacy of cannabis and other complementary medicine modalities by
      Parkinson's disease patients in colorado.
AB  - Introduction. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is frequently used by
      Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. We sought to provide information on CAM use
      and efficacy in PD patients in the Denver metro area with particular attention to
      cannabis use given its recent change in legal status. Methods. Self-administered
      surveys on CAM use and efficacy were completed by PD patients identified in
      clinics and support groups across the Denver metro area between 2012 and 2013.
      Results. 207 patients (age 69 +/- 11; 60% male) completed the survey. Responses
      to individual CAM therapy items showed that 85% of respondents used at least one
      form of CAM. The most frequently reported CAMs were vitamins (66%), prayer (59%),
      massage (45%), and relaxation (32%). Self-reported improvement related to the use
      of CAM was highest for massage, art therapy, music therapy, and cannabis. While
      only 4.3% of our survey responders reported use of cannabis, it ranked among the
      most effective CAM therapies. Conclusions. Overall, our cross-sectional study was
      notable for a high rate of CAM utilization amongst PD patients and high rates of
      self-reported efficacy across most CAM modalities. Cannabis was rarely used in
      our population but users reported high efficacy, mainly for nonmotor symptoms. 

PMID- 25821505
TI  - Effect of da-cheng-qi decoction on pancreatitis-associated intestinal dysmotility
      in patients and in rat models.
AB  - The impairment of intestinal motility and related infectious complications are
      the predominant clinical phenomenon in patients with severe acute pancreatitis
      (SAP). We aimed to investigate the effects of Da-Cheng-Qi decoction (DCQD) on the
      gastrointestinal injury in SAP patients and the potential mechanism involved in
      rats. DCQD was enema administered to 70 patients for 7 days in West China
      Hospital. Mortality and organ failure during admission were observed and blood
      samples for laboratory analysis were collected. We also experimentally examined
      plasma inflammatory cytokines in rat serum and carried the morphometric studies
      of the gut. Intestinal propulsion index and serum and tissue vasoactive
      intestinal peptide (VIP) were also detected. Though DCQD did not affect the
      overall incidence of organ failure, it shortened the average time of paralytic
      intestinal obstruction and decreased the morbidity of infectious complications in
      patients with SAP. Compared with untreated rats, the DCQD lowered the levels of
      proinflammatory cytokine and decreased the mean pathological intestinal lesion
      scores. The VIP level in intestinal tissue or serum in DCQD group was obviously
      lowered and intestinal propulsion index was significantly improved. In
      conclusion, DCQD has good effect on pancreatitis-associated intestinal
      dysmotility in patients and in rat models. 

PMID- 25821506
TI  - Tinospora crispa Ameliorates Insulin Resistance Induced by High Fat Diet in
      Wistar Rats.
AB  - The antidiabetic properties of Tinospora crispa, a local herb that has been used
      in traditional Malay medicine and rich in antioxidant, were explored based on
      obesity-linked insulin resistance condition. Male Wistar rats were randomly
      divided into four groups, namely, the normal control (NC) which received standard
      rodent diet, the high fat diet (HFD) which received high fat diet only, the high
      fat diet treated with T. crispa (HFDTC), and the high fat diet treated with
      orlistat (HFDO). After sixteen weeks of treatment, blood and organs were
      harvested for analyses. Results showed that T. crispa significantly (p < 0.05)
      reduced the body weight (41.14 +/- 1.40%), adiposity index serum levels (4.910 +/
      0.80%), aspartate aminotransferase (AST: 161 +/- 4.71 U/L), alanine
      aminotransferase (ALT: 100.95 +/- 3.10 U/L), total cholesterol (TC: 18.55 +/-
      0.26 mmol/L), triglycerides (TG: 3.70 +/- 0.11 mmol/L), blood glucose (8.50 +/-
      0.30 mmo/L), resistin (0.74 +/- 0.20 ng/mL), and leptin (17.428 +/- 1.50 ng/mL)
      hormones in HFDTC group. The insulin (1.65 +/- 0.07 pg/mL) and C-peptide (136.48
      pmol/L) hormones were slightly decreased but within normal range. The
      histological results showed unharmed and intact liver tissues in HFDTC group. As
      a conclusion, T. crispa ameliorates insulin resistance-associated with obesity in
      Wistar rats fed with high fat diet. 

PMID- 25821507
TI  - Windowed multitaper correlation analysis of multimodal brain monitoring
      parameters.
AB  - Although multimodal monitoring sets the standard in daily practice of
      neurocritical care, problem-oriented analysis tools to interpret the huge amount
      of data are lacking. Recently a mathematical model was presented that simulates
      the cerebral perfusion and oxygen supply in case of a severe head trauma,
      predicting the appearance of distinct correlations between arterial blood
      pressure and intracranial pressure. In this study we present a set of
      mathematical tools that reliably detect the predicted correlations in data
      recorded at a neurocritical care unit. The time resolved correlations will be
      identified by a windowing technique combined with Fourier-based coherence
      calculations. The phasing of the data is detected by means of Hilbert phase
      difference within the above mentioned windows. A statistical testing method is
      introduced that allows tuning the parameters of the windowing method in such a
      way that a predefined accuracy is reached. With this method the data of fifteen
      patients were examined in which we found the predicted correlation in each
      patient. Additionally it could be shown that the occurrence of a distinct
      correlation parameter, called scp, represents a predictive value of high quality
      for the patients outcome.

PMID- 25821508
TI  - Knowledge mining from clinical datasets using rough sets and backpropagation
      neural network.
AB  - The availability of clinical datasets and knowledge mining methodologies
      encourages the researchers to pursue research in extracting knowledge from
      clinical datasets. Different data mining techniques have been used for mining
      rules, and mathematical models have been developed to assist the clinician in
      decision making. The objective of this research is to build a classifier that
      will predict the presence or absence of a disease by learning from the minimal
      set of attributes that has been extracted from the clinical dataset. In this work
      rough set indiscernibility relation method with backpropagation neural network
      (RS-BPNN) is used. This work has two stages. The first stage is handling of
      missing values to obtain a smooth data set and selection of appropriate
      attributes from the clinical dataset by indiscernibility relation method. The
      second stage is classification using backpropagation neural network on the
      selected reducts of the dataset. The classifier has been tested with hepatitis,
      Wisconsin breast cancer, and Statlog heart disease datasets obtained from the
      University of California at Irvine (UCI) machine learning repository. The
      accuracy obtained from the proposed method is 97.3%, 98.6%, and 90.4% for
      hepatitis, breast cancer, and heart disease, respectively. The proposed system
      provides an effective classification model for clinical datasets.

PMID- 25821509
TI  - A sparse representation based method to classify pulmonary patterns of diffuse
      lung diseases.
AB  - We applied and optimized the sparse representation (SR) approaches in the
      computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) to classify normal tissues and five kinds of
      diffuse lung disease (DLD) patterns: consolidation, ground-glass opacity,
      honeycombing, emphysema, and nodule. By using the K-SVD which is based on the
      singular value decomposition (SVD) and orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP), it can
      achieve a satisfied recognition rate, but too much time was spent in the
      experiment. To reduce the runtime of the method, the K-Means algorithm was
      substituted for the K-SVD, and the OMP was simplified by searching the desired
      atoms at one time (OMP1). We proposed three SR based methods for evaluation: SR1
      (K-SVD+OMP), SR2 (K-Means+OMP), and SR3 (K-Means+OMP1). 1161 volumes of interest
      (VOIs) were used to optimize the parameters and train each method, and 1049 VOIs
      were adopted to evaluate the performances of the methods. The SR based methods
      were powerful to recognize the DLD patterns (SR1: 96.1%, SR2: 95.6%, SR3: 96.4%)
      and significantly better than the baseline methods. Furthermore, when the K-Means
      and OMP1 were applied, the runtime of the SR based methods can be reduced by
      98.2% and 55.2%, respectively. Therefore, we thought that the method using the K
      Means and OMP1 (SR3) was efficient for the CAD of the DLDs.

PMID- 25821511
TI  - Method for detecting core malware sites related to biomedical information
      systems.
AB  - Most advanced persistent threat attacks target web users through malicious code
      within landing (exploit) or distribution sites. There is an urgent need to block
      the affected websites. Attacks on biomedical information systems are no exception
      to this issue. In this paper, we present a method for locating malicious websites
      that attempt to attack biomedical information systems. Our approach uses
      malicious code crawling to rearrange websites in the order of their risk index by
      analyzing the centrality between malware sites and proactively eliminates the
      root of these sites by finding the core-hub node, thereby reducing unnecessary
      security policies. In particular, we dynamically estimate the risk index of the
      affected websites by analyzing various centrality measures and converting them
      into a single quantified vector. On average, the proactive elimination of core
      malicious websites results in an average improvement in zero-day attack detection
      of more than 20%. 

PMID- 25821510
TI  - Transmission dynamics of resistant bacteria in a predator-prey system.
AB  - This paper discusses the impact on human health caused by the addition of
      antibiotics in the feed of food animals. We use the established transmission rule
      of resistant bacteria and combine it with a predator-prey system to determine a
      differential equations model. The equations have three steady equilibrium points
      corresponding to three population dynamics states under the influence of
      resistant bacteria. In order to quantitatively analyze the stability of the
      equilibrium points, we focused on the basic reproduction numbers. Then, both the
      local and global stability of the equilibrium points were quantitatively analyzed
      by using essential mathematical methods. Numerical results are provided to relate
      our model properties to some interesting biological cases. Finally, we discuss
      the effect of the two main parameters of the model, the proportion of antibiotics
      added to feed and the predation rate, and estimate the human health impacts
      related to the amount of feed antibiotics used. We further propose an approach
      for the prevention of the large-scale spread of resistant bacteria and illustrate
      the necessity of controlling the amount of in-feed antibiotics used. 

PMID- 25821512
TI  - Handling diagnosis of schizophrenia by a hybrid method.
AB  - Psychotics disorders, most commonly known as schizophrenia, have incapacitated
      professionals in different sectors of activities. Those disorders have caused
      damage in a microlevel to the individual and his/her family and in a macrolevel
      to the economic and production system of the country. The lack of early and
      sometimes very late diagnosis has provided reactive measures, when the
      professional is already showing psychological signs of incapacity to work. This
      study aims to help the early diagnosis of psychotics' disorders with a hybrid
      proposal of an expert system that is integrated to structured methodologies in
      decision support (multicriteria decision analysis: MCDA) and knowledge structured
      representations into production rules and probabilities (artificial intelligence:
      AI). 

PMID- 25821513
TI  - Projecting the spatiotemporal carbon dynamics of the Greater Yellowstone
      Ecosystem from 2006 to 2050.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Climate change and the concurrent change in wildfire events and land
      use comprehensively affect carbon dynamics in both spatial and temporal
      dimensions. The purpose of this study was to project the spatial and temporal
      aspects of carbon storage in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) under these
      changes from 2006 to 2050. We selected three emission scenarios and produced
      simulations with the CENTURY model using three General Circulation Models (GCMs)
      for each scenario. We also incorporated projected land use change and fire
      occurrence into the carbon accounting. RESULTS: The three GCMs showed increases
      in maximum and minimum temperature, but precipitation projections varied among
      GCMs. Total ecosystem carbon increased steadily from 7,942 gC/m2 in 2006 to
      10,234 gC/m2 in 2050 with an annual rate increase of 53 gC/m2/year. About 56.6%
      and 27% of the increasing rate was attributed to total live carbon and total soil
      carbon, respectively. Net Primary Production (NPP) increased slightly from 260
      gC/m2/year in 2006 to 310 gC/m2/year in 2050 with an annual rate increase of 1.22
      gC/m2/year. Forest clear-cutting and fires resulted in direct carbon removal;
      however, the rate was low at 2.44 gC/m2/year during 2006-2050. The area of clear
      cutting and wildfires in the GYE would account for 10.87% of total forested area
      during 2006-2050, but the predictive simulations demonstrated different spatial
      distributions in national forests and national parks. CONCLUSIONS: The GYE is a
      carbon sink during 2006-2050. The capability of vegetation is almost double that
      of soil in terms of sequestering extra carbon. Clear-cutting and wildfires in GYE
      will affect 10.87% of total forested area, but direct carbon removal from clear
      cutting and fires is 109.6 gC/m2, which accounts for only 1.2% of the mean
      ecosystem carbon level of 9,056 gC/m2, and thus is not significant.

PMID- 25821514
TI  - Time Use as Cause and Consequence of Youth Development.
AB  - From an ecological perspective, daily activities are both causes and consequences
      of youth development. As causes, daily activities represent distinct sets of
      socialization experiences that afford opportunities to acquire new competencies
      and behavioral patterns. As consequences, daily activities reflect youth's force
      and resource characteristics, including developmental status, temperament and
      motivation, and pre-existing levels of adjustment. An ecological perspective also
      highlights the role of the larger sociocultural context in shaping and
      conditioning the links between daily activities and youth development. In this
      article, we draw on research with children and adolescents to consider how an
      ecological perspective can provide a flexible framework for studying time use as
      a developmental phenomenon. We also discuss methodological issues and suggest
      research that should be conducted in this broad area.

PMID- 25821515
TI  - Unpacking Self-Control.
AB  - Self-controlled behavior refers to actions aligned with valued, longer-term goals
      in the face of conflicting impulses to seek immediate gratification. In this
      article, we argue that the psychological processes that contribute to self
      controlled behavior can be grouped into two functionally distinct categories:
      Volitional processes facilitate self-controlled behavior and include executive
      functions as well as learned metacognitive strategies like planning, attention
      deployment, and psychological distancing. In contrast, impulsigenic processes
      undermine self-controlled behavior and include reward sensitivity, sensation
      seeking, and domain-specific cravings. A disproportionate amount of research has
      addressed the former at the expense of understanding individual and developmental
      differences in the latter. This imbalance is now being rectified. Distinguishing
      between self-controlled behavior and its antecedent psychological processes helps
      illuminate normative developmental changes in self-control and points to
      directions for measurement and intervention.

PMID- 25821516
TI  - Pupillary responses during a joint attention task are associated with nonverbal
      cognitive abilities and sub-clinical symptoms of autism.
AB  - Measures of pupillary dilation provide a temporally sensitive, quantitative
      indicator of cognitive resource allocation. The current study included 39
      typically developing children between 3 and 9 years of age. Children completed a
      free-viewing task designed to elicit gaze following, a core deficit of Autism
      Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Results revealed a negative association between
      children's pupil dilation and a standardized measure of nonverbal intelligence,
      suggesting that children with lower intelligence allocated more cognitive
      resources than children with higher intelligence. In addition, the results
      revealed a negative association between pupil dilation and a parent-report
      measure of sub-clinical symptoms of ASD, suggesting that children with fewer ASD
      related symptoms allocated more cognitive resources than children who showed more
      sub-clinical symptoms of ASD. Both associations were independent of each other
      and could not be explained by variation in chronological age. These findings
      extend previous research demonstrating associations between basic aspects of
      visual processing and intelligence. In addition, these findings comport with
      recent theories of ASD that emphasize reduced sensitivity to the reward value of
      social situations. When confronted with social ambiguity, children with more ASD
      related symptoms allocated fewer cognitive resources to resolving this ambiguity
      than children who showed fewer sub-clinical symptoms of ASD.

PMID- 25821518
TI  - Phenotypic and genetic characterization of a family carrying two Xq21.1-21.3
      interstitial deletions associated with syndromic hearing loss.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sensorineural hearing impairment is a common pathological
      manifestation in patients affected by X-linked intellectual disability. A few
      cases of interstitial deletions at Xq21 with several different phenotypic
      characteristics have been described, but to date, a complete molecular
      characterization of the deletions harboring disease-causing genes is still
      missing. Thus, the aim of this study is to realize a detailed clinical and
      molecular analysis of a family affected by syndromic X-linked hearing loss with
      intellectual disability. RESULTS: Clinical analyses revealed a very complex
      phenotype that included inner ear malformations, vestibular problems,
      choroideremia and hypotonia with a peculiar pattern of phenotypic variability.
      Genomic analysis revealed, for the first time, the presence of two close
      interstitial deletions in the Xq21.1-21.3, harboring 11 protein coding, 9 non
      coding genes and 19 pseudogenes. Among these, 3 protein coding genes have already
      been associated with X-linked hearing loss, intellectual disability and
      choroideremia. CONCLUSIONS: In this study we highlighted the presence of peculiar
      genotypic and phenotypic details in a family affected by syndromic X-linked
      hearing loss with intellectual disability. We identified two, previously
      unreported, Xq21.1-21.3 interstitial deletions. The two rearrangements,
      containing several genes, segregate with the clinical features, suggesting their
      role in the pathogenicity. However, not all the observed phenotypic features can
      be clearly associated with the known genes thus, further study is necessary to
      determine regions involved.

PMID- 25821521
TI  - Hypermutation takes the driver's seat.
AB  - Most pediatric tumors have only very few somatic mutations. However, a recent
      study revealed that a subset of tumors from children with congenital biallelic
      deficiency of DNA mismatch repair exhibits a mutational load surpassing almost
      all other cancers. In these ultra-hypermutated tumors, somatic mutations in the
      proofreading DNA polymerases complement the congenital mismatch repair deficiency
      to completely abolish replication repair, thereby driving tumor development.
      These findings open several possibilities for exploiting ultra-hypermutation for
      cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25821520
TI  - Activation of an endogenous retrovirus-associated long non-coding RNA in human
      adenocarcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as molecules that
      significantly impact many cellular processes and have been associated with almost
      every human cancer. Compared to protein-coding genes, lncRNA genes are often
      associated with transposable elements, particularly with endogenous retroviral
      elements (ERVs). ERVs can have potentially deleterious effects on genome
      structure and function, so these elements are typically silenced in normal
      somatic tissues, albeit with varying efficiency. The aberrant regulation of ERVs
      associated with lncRNAs (ERV-lncRNAs), coupled with the diverse range of lncRNA
      functions, creates significant potential for ERV-lncRNAs to impact cancer
      biology. METHODS: We used RNA-seq analysis to identify and profile the expression
      of a novel lncRNA in six large cohorts, including over 7,500 samples from The
      Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). RESULTS: We identified the tumor-specific expression
      of a novel lncRNA that we have named Endogenous retroViral-associated
      ADenocarcinoma RNA or 'EVADR', by analyzing RNA-seq data derived from colorectal
      tumors and matched normal control tissues. Subsequent analysis of TCGA RNA-seq
      data revealed the striking association of EVADR with adenocarcinomas, which are
      tumors of glandular origin. Moderate to high levels of EVADR were detected in 25
      to 53% of colon, rectal, lung, pancreas and stomach adenocarcinomas (mean = 30 to
      144 FPKM), and EVADR expression correlated with decreased patient survival (Cox
      regression; hazard ratio = 1.47, 95% confidence interval = 1.06 to 2.04, P =
      0.02). In tumor sites of non-glandular origin, EVADR expression was detectable at
      only very low levels and in less than 10% of patients. For EVADR, a MER48 ERV
      element provides an active promoter to drive its transcription. Genome-wide,
      MER48 insertions are associated with nine lncRNAs, but none of the MER48
      associated lncRNAs other than EVADR were consistently expressed in
      adenocarcinomas, demonstrating the specific activation of EVADR. The sequence and
      structure of the EVADR locus is highly conserved among Old World monkeys and apes
      but not New World monkeys or prosimians, where the MER48 insertion is absent.
      Conservation of the EVADR locus suggests a functional role for this novel lncRNA
      in humans and our closest primate relatives. CONCLUSIONS: Our results describe
      the specific activation of a highly conserved ERV-lncRNA in numerous cancers of
      glandular origin, a finding with diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic
      implications.

PMID- 25821524
TI  - A simple approach to hybrid inorganic-organic step-growth hydrogels with scalable
      control of physicochemical properties and biodegradability.
AB  - We prepared new and scalable, hybrid inorganic-organic step-growth hydrogels with
      polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) network knot construction elements
      and hydrolytically degradable poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) di-ester macromonomers
      by in situ radical-mediated thiol-ene photopolymerization. The physicochemical
      properties of the gels are fine-tailored over orders of magnitude including
      functionalization of their interior, a hierarchical gel structure, and
      biodegradability.

PMID- 25821525
TI  - International perspectives on the development of research-guided practice in
      community-based arts in health: Thinking the World of Arts in Health.

PMID- 25821523
TI  - High-risk alcohol use and anxiety and depression symptoms in adolescents and
      adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The medical literature shows that alcohol consumption is common among
      diabetic individuals and is associated with poor adherence to treatment,
      resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. However, no study has assessed
      the association between high-risk alcohol consumption and the presence of anxiety
      and depression in individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus (1DM). METHODS: The
      present cross-sectional study was conducted in Uberlandia, Brazil, and it
      assessed 209 outpatients in relation to alcohol consumption and the presence of
      anxiety and depression symptoms, using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification
      Test (AUDIT), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale, and glycemic
      control, according to the levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). The chi-square
      test and logistic regression analysis were used to investigate the association
      between the investigated variables. RESULTS: The prevalence of high-risk alcohol
      consumption (AUDIT >= 8) among individuals with 1DM was high, specifically 24.9%
      among the entire group of subjects, 12.9% among the adolescents, 14.7% among the
      females, and 34.6% among the males. In comparisons based on gender and age, the
      odds of high-risk drinking were higher among males and participants aged 30 to 40
      years (33.9%). The frequency of high-risk alcohol consumption did not differ as a
      function of gender among adolescents (females: 9.0%, males: 16.2%; p = 0.374).
      There was a linear trend in proportions related to the scores of anxiety and
      depression symptoms with high-risk alcohol consumption scores, indicating the
      association of these variables (p = 0.0229 and p = 0.0262, respectively).
      Moreover, the odds of female subjects exhibiting anxiety and depression symptoms
      were higher (odds ratio - OR: 4.4 and OR: 7.4, respectively). Glycemic control
      did not exhibit an association between high-risk alcohol consumption and the
      presence of anxiety and depression symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of high
      risk drinking increased along with age and was greater among males; however, this
      frequency did not exhibit differences in terms of gender among adolescents. There
      was a positive association between high risk alcohol consumption and anxiety and
      depression symptoms, although glycemic control was inadequate in most of the
      sample independent of alcohol consumption and the presence of anxiety and
      depression symptoms.

PMID- 25821526
TI  - LED pumped polymer laser sensor for explosives.
AB  - A very compact explosive vapor sensor is demonstrated based on a distributed
      feedback polymer laser pumped by a commercial InGaN light-emitting diode. The
      laser shows a two-stage turn on of the laser emission, for pulsed drive currents
      above 15.7 A. The 'double-threshold' phenomenon is attributed to the slow rise of
      the ~30 ns duration LED pump pulses. The laser emits a 533 nm pulsed output beam
      of ~10 ns duration perpendicular to the polymer film. When exposed to
      nitroaromatic model explosive vapors at ~8 ppb concentration, the laser shows a
      46% change in the surface-emitted output under optimized LED excitation.

PMID- 25821527
TI  - Polarized actin structural dynamics in response to cyclic uniaxial stretch.
AB  - Endothelial cell (EC) alignment to directional flow or stretch supports anti
      inflammatory functions, but mechanisms controlling polarized structural
      adaptation in response to physical cues remain unclear. This study aimed to
      determine whether factors associated with early actin edge ruffling implicated in
      cell polarization are prerequisite for stress fiber (SF) reorientation in
      response to cyclic uniaxial stretch. Time-lapse analysis of EGFP-actin in
      confluent ECs showed that onset of either cyclic uniaxial or equibiaxial stretch
      caused a non-directional increase in edge ruffling. Edge activity was
      concentrated in a direction perpendicular to the stretch axis after 60 min,
      consistent with the direction of SF alignment. Rho-kinase inhibition caused
      reorientation of both stretch-induced edge ruffling and SF alignment parallel to
      the stretch axis. Arp2/3 inhibition attenuated stretch-induced cell elongation
      and disrupted polarized edge dynamics and microtubule organizing center
      reorientation, but it had no effect on the extent of SF reorientation. Disrupting
      localization of p21-activated kinase (PAK) did not prevent stretch-induced SF
      reorientation, suggesting that this Rac effector is not critical in regulating
      stretch-induced cytoskeletal remodeling. Overall, these results suggest that
      directional edge ruffling is not a primary mechanism that guides SF reorientation
      in response to stretch; the two events are coincident but not causal.

PMID- 25821528
TI  - Efficacy of Extended Valganciclovir Prophylaxis in Preventing Cytomegalovirus
      Infection in Pediatric Kidney Transplantation.
AB  - Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the most frequent opportunistic infection in
      renal transplant (RTx) recipients. Valganciclovir (VGC) has been showed to be
      safe and highly effective in prophylaxis of CMV infection in RTx recipients.
      Recently, an increase in delayed onset CMV disease has been noted with some
      arguing that longer prophylaxis may decrease the late-onset disease. We
      retrospectively tested the hypothesis that extended term prophylaxis (ETP) of VGC
      for 12 months is more effective than short term prophylaxis (STP) of 6 months in
      preventing CMV infection and disease in pediatric RTx performed at the University
      of Florida from July 2003 to December 2010. In this period, all recipients
      underwent prospective CMV PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) monitoring and were
      maintained on similar immunosuppression. Eighty six patients received RTx during
      that period. All eligible subjects had to have at least 12 months of graft
      survival and 18 months of follow up, leaving 73 eligible subjects in final study
      group. CMV infection or disease occurred in 6/29 (20%) in the STP group vs 6/44
      (14%) in the ETP group with no statistical significant difference (P= 0.42).
      Donor positive/recipients negative CMV serology status (D+/R-) were associated
      with a higher risk of CMV infection in both univariate and multivariate analysis
      (P=0.01). Anemia and Leucopenia directly associated with VGC were similar in both
      groups (P=0.58 and P=0.2 respectively). Biopsy-proven acute rejection was also
      non-significant in both groups (P=0.39). Although ETP for CMV from 6 months to 12
      months is safe and has minimal adverse effect, it did not reduce CMV infection or
      disease. Further controlled studies in pediatrics age group are considered to
      compare longer versus shorter periods of prophylaxis and their impact on
      prevention of CMV infection, resistance, cost, and toxicity.

PMID- 25821529
TI  - Awareness of Memory Ability and Change: (In)Accuracy of Memory Self-Assessments
      in Relation to Performance.
AB  - Little is known about subjective assessments of memory abilities and decline
      among middle-aged adults or their association with objective memory performance
      in the general population. In this study we examined self-ratings of memory
      ability and change in relation to episodic memory performance in two national
      samples of middle-aged and older adults from the Midlife in the United States
      study (MIDUS II in 2005-06) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; every two
      years from 2002 to 2012). MIDUS (Study 1) participants (N=3,581) rated their
      memory compared to others their age and to themselves five years ago; HRS (Study
      2) participants (N=14,821) rated their current memory and their memory compared
      to two years ago, with up to six occasions of longitudinal data over ten years.
      In both studies, episodic memory performance was the total number of words
      recalled in immediate and delayed conditions. When controlling for demographic
      and health correlates, self-ratings of memory abilities, but not subjective
      change, were related to performance. We examined accuracy by comparing subjective
      and objective memory ability and change. More than one third of the participants
      across the studies had self-assessments that were inaccurate relative to their
      actual level of performance and change, and accuracy differed as a function of
      demographic and health factors. Further understanding of self-awareness of memory
      abilities and change beginning in midlife may be useful for identifying early
      warning signs of decline, with implications regarding policies and practice for
      early detection and treatment of cognitive impairment.

PMID- 25821530
TI  - Convergent Lines of Descent: Symptoms, Patterns, Constellations, and the Emergent
      Interface of Systems Biology and Chinese Medicine.
AB  - During the first decade of the twenty-first century, a network composed of
      politicians, regulators, bioscientists, clinical researchers, and Chinese
      medicine specialists has emerged that seeks to bridge an imagined gulf between
      the modern West and ancient China in order to create a new type of personalized
      medicine. The central building block of this bridge is the Chinese medical
      concept of zheng /, variously translated into English as syndrome, pattern, or
      type. My paper places side by side two different genealogies of how zheng assumed
      this central role. The first genealogy examines the process by means of which
      zheng came to be considered as something shared by both ancient China and cutting
      edge biological science and, by extension, how it manages to hold together the
      entire institutional, political, and economic framework into which this bridge is
      embedded and which it co-creates. The second genealogy shows zheng to be central
      to a much older series of redefinitions of Chinese medicine and Chinese medical
      practice that extend from the eleventh century to the present. Read together,
      these two genealogies-neither of which should be seen as exhaustive-raise three
      important issues that are further discussed in the conclusion of the paper.
      First, I explore how the concept of zheng has come to tie a medical tradition
      derided by its adversaries for being a pseudoscience to one of the most cutting
      edge fields of bioscience research. I ask what is at stake in this synthesis, for
      whom, and why, and how it transforms Chinese medicine and/or systems biology
      along the way. Second, I am interested in finding out how and why the very same
      concept can be at the heart of two apparently agonistic visions of Chinese
      medicine's future as it is popularly imagined in China today. Finally, I insist
      that the medical humanities need to become actively involved in the construction
      of emergent articulations such as the ones I am exploring. Merely writing a
      history of the present will not be productive unless its critique can somehow be
      articulated into the very processes of emergence that historians or
      anthropologists seek to examine.

PMID- 25821531
TI  - Exploring a Culturally Relevant Model of Cancer Prevention Involving Traditional
      Chinese Medicine Providers in a Chinese American Community.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer
      in all racial and ethnic groups. Although CRC screening is very cost-effective,
      screening rates are low among most ethnic groups, including Asian Americans.
      Given the high use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) among Chinese Americans
      one potentially useful approach to promote CRC screening in these communities
      could involve TCM providers in outreach efforts. METHODS: A two-phase study was
      conducted. The perceived suitability of TCM providers in CRC prevention was
      explored in Phase 1. Guided by Phase 1 findings, in Phase 2, a 38-page
      integrative educational flipchart was developed and tested. Focus groups and
      observations were conducted with TCM providers (acupuncturists and herbalists)
      and with limited English proficient Chinese American immigrants living in San
      Francisco, California. RESULTS: In Phase 1, the role of TCM providers as CRC
      screening educators was deemed acceptable by both providers and community
      members, although some providers had reservations about engaging in CRC outreach
      activities due to lack of expertise. The majority of providers were not aware of
      regular CRC screening as a preventive measure, and most were not up-to-date in
      their own screening. In Phase 2, the integrative CRC education flipchart was
      perceived as culturally appropriate based on stakeholder input and feedback.
      CONCLUSION: This study shows that TCM providers have the potential to be a
      valuable and culturally appropriate community resource for providing information
      on CRC screening. It suggests a potential role for traditional healers as change
      agents in the immigrant community health network.

PMID- 25821532
TI  - The Role of Complex Sentence Knowledge in Children with Reading and Writing
      Difficulties.

PMID- 25821533
TI  - Training Cameroonian researchers on pragmatic knowledge translation trials: a
      workshop report.
AB  - Limited health research capacity in one of the factors that prevents developing
      countries from attaining optimal health outcomes and achieving the Millennium
      Development Goals. We report here, the details of a workshop on pragmatic
      knowledge translation trials for Cameroonian researchers, the material covered
      and additional resources to support capacity development. At the end of this
      workshop, knowledge gains were noted and participants were able to initiate
      proposals for funding. These proposals were aimed at improving the clinical
      management of diabetes, hypertension and malaria. 

PMID- 25821534
TI  - [Iridocorneal adhesions revealing ankylosing spondylitis].

PMID- 25821535
TI  - [Genital pigmented Bowen disease].

PMID- 25821537
TI  - [Appendiculo subcutaneous fistula: a rare complication of acute appendicitis].

PMID- 25821536
TI  - [Spinal anesthesia for cesarean section: risk factors for emergence of Apgar
      scores below 7 in Malagasy newborns].

PMID- 25821538
TI  - [Meckel diverticulum complicated by retroperitoneal abscess: report of a rare
      case].

PMID- 25821539
TI  - [Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, particular skin tumor: report of 32 cases and
      review of the literature].

PMID- 25821540
TI  - Unrecognized psychiatric disorders among adult patients admitted into a general
      hospital in Maiduguri, Northeastern Nigeria.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Patients with unrecognized psychiatric disorders in general
      hospitals, suffer economic and psycho-social difficulties. This study aimed to
      determine (i) prevalence and pattern of psychiatric disorders, and (ii)
      prevalence of unrecognized psychiatric disorders among adult in-patients of a
      general hospital. METHODS: In this two-stage, cross-sectional study, we used (i)
      General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Composite International Diagnostic
      Interview (CIDI) to assess the prevalence of psychiatric disorders, and (ii)
      Patient Encounter Form to determine unrecognized psychiatric disorders, among
      patients admitted into a general hospital. RESULTS: Of the 283 respondents, 174
      (61.5%) had GHQ scores of <= 4. Eighty seven respondents (31%) had psychiatric
      disorders of which 85 (98%) were not recognized. The frequency of Depression and
      Anxiety disorders were 61.5% and 26.2% respectively. Unmarried (2.3, 1.2-4.3; p <
      0.00), females (2.1, 1.1-4.05; p = 0.01) and patients with "unexplained symptoms"
      (<= = 8.4, p< 0.00, df = 1) were more likely to have diagnosis of depression and
      anxiety disorder. CONCLUSION: We conclude that one-third of the patients in the
      general hospital, had co-morbid psychiatric diagnoses, mostly unrecognized by
      their physicians. Unmarried, females and respondents with unexplained symptoms
      were associated with depression and anxiety disorders. We recommend the posting
      of psychiatric trainees to general hospitals, and training of general
      practitioners on the use of simple depression and anxiety screening instruments.

PMID- 25821542
TI  - [Cecal volvulus on appendiceal tumor: report of a rare case].

PMID- 25821541
TI  - Rectal atresia: a rare cause of failure to pass meconium.
AB  - Rectal atresia or stenosis is an extremely rare anorectal malformation
      associating a normal anal canal with a stricture or a complete rectal atresia. We
      describe a case of rectal atresia in a newborn female presenting with an
      abdominal distension and failure of passing meconium. 

PMID- 25821543
TI  - [Primary tuberculous pyomyositis in an immunocompetent patient: report of a
      case].

PMID- 25821544
TI  - [Pneumocephalus complicating a blood patch for post cesarean headache].

PMID- 25821546
TI  - [Small pits of the lower lip: think paramedian fistula lip].

PMID- 25821545
TI  - [Pulmonary tuberculosis and tobacco: about 100 cases].

PMID- 25821547
TI  - [Corneal abscess: serious complication of neglected and poorly managed corneal
      trauma].

PMID- 25821548
TI  - [Lifesaving bilateral nephrectomy complicating Bourneville tuberous sclerosis].

PMID- 25821549
TI  - [Bladder metastasis of signet ring gastric adenocarcinoma].

PMID- 25821550
TI  - [The interest of addiction to first line anti-TB drugs].

PMID- 25821551
TI  - Advances in the pathogenesis of cardiorenal syndrome type 3.
AB  - Cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) type 3 is a subclassification of the CRS whereby an
      episode of acute kidney injury (AKI) leads to the development of acute cardiac
      injury or dysfunction. In general, there is limited understanding of the
      pathophysiologic mechanisms involved in CRS type 3. An episode of AKI may have
      effects that depend on the severity and duration of AKI and that both directly
      and indirectly predispose to an acute cardiac event. Experimental data suggest
      that cardiac dysfunction may be related to immune system activation, inflammatory
      mediators release, oxidative stress, and cellular apoptosis which are well
      documented in the setting of AKI. Moreover, significant derangements, such as
      fluid and electrolyte imbalance, metabolic acidosis, and uremia, which are
      typical features of acute kidney injury, may impair cardiac function. In this
      review, we will focus on multiple factors possibly involved in the pathogenesis
      issues regarding CRS type 3. 

PMID- 25821552
TI  - Enhancement of the acrolein-induced production of reactive oxygen species and
      lung injury by GADD34.
AB  - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by lung destruction
      and inflammation. As a major compound of cigarette smoke, acrolein plays a
      critical role in the induction of respiratory diseases. GADD34 is known as a
      growth arrest and DNA damage-related gene, which can be overexpressed in adverse
      environmental conditions. Here we investigated the effects of GADD34 on acrolein
      induced lung injury. The intranasal exposure of acrolein induced the expression
      of GADD34, developing the pulmonary damage with inflammation and increase of
      reactive oxygen species (ROS). Conversely, the integrality of pulmonary structure
      was preserved and the generation of ROS was reduced in GADD34-knockout mice.
      Acrolein-induced phosphorylation of eIF2alpha in GADD34-knockout epithelial cells
      by shRNA protected cell death by reducing misfolded protein-caused oxidative
      stress. These data indicate that GADD34 participates in the development of
      acrolein-induced lung injury. 

PMID- 25821553
TI  - Cardioprotective effect of propofol against oxygen glucose deprivation and
      reperfusion injury in H9c2 cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The intravenous anesthetic propofol is reported to be a
      cardioprotective agent against ischemic-reperfusion injury in the heart. However,
      the regulatory mechanism still remains unclear. METHODS: In this study, we used
      H9c2 cell line under condition of oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) followed by
      reperfusion (OGD/R) to induce in vitro cardiomyocytes ischemia-reperfusion
      injury. Propofol (5, 10, and 20 MUM) was added to the cell cultures before and
      during the OGD/R phases to investigate the underlying mechanism. RESULTS: Our
      data showed that OGD/R decreased cell viability, and increased lactate
      dehydrogenase leakage, and reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde production
      in H9c2 cells, all of which were significantly reversed by propofol. Moreover, we
      found that propofol increased both the activities and protein expressions of
      superoxide dismutase and catalase. In addition, propofol increased FoxO1
      expression in a dose-dependent manner and inhibited p-AMPK formation
      significantly. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the propofol might exert
      its antioxidative effect through FoxO1 in H9c2 cells, and it has a potential
      therapeutic effect on cardiac disorders involved in oxidative stress.

PMID- 25821556
TI  - Design and Analysis of a Novel Articulated Drive Mechanism for Multifunctional
      NOTES Robot.
AB  - This paper presents a novel articulated drive mechanism (ADM) for a
      multifunctional natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) robotic
      manipulator. It consists mainly of three major components including a snakelike
      linkage, motor housing, and an arm connector. The ADM can articulate into complex
      shapes for improved access to surgical targets. A connector provides an efficient
      and convenient modularity for insertion and removal of the robot. Four DC motors
      guide eight cables to steer the robot. The workspace, cable displacement and
      force transmission relationships are derived. Experimental results give
      preliminary validation of the feasibility and capability of the ADM system.

PMID- 25821555
TI  - Antioxidant capacity of "Mexican arnica" Heterotheca inuloides Cass natural
      products and some derivatives: their anti-inflammatory evaluation and effect on
      C. elegans life span.
AB  - It has been suggested that the accumulation of biomolecular damage caused by
      reactive oxygen species (ROS) contributes to aging. The antioxidant activity is
      related to the ability of certain compounds to protect against the potentially
      harmful effect of processes or reactions involving ROS. This ability is
      associated with the termination of free radical propagation in biological
      systems. From Heterotheca inuloides various compounds which have shown to possess
      antioxidant capacity and scavenging ROS. The aim of this study was to determine
      the antioxidant capacity of additional natural components isolated from H.
      inuloides and some semisynthetic derivatives, their anti-inflammatory activity
      and the effect on Caenorhabditis elegans nematode life span. Compounds showed
      ability to inhibit various biological processes such as lipid peroxidation,
      scavenge nonbiological important oxidants such as (1)O2, OH(?), H2O2, and HOCl
      and scavenge non biological stable free radicals (DPPH). Some cadinane type
      compounds showed possess antioxidant, ROS scavenging capacity, anti-inflammatory
      activity, and effect on the C. elegans life span. Flavonoid type compounds
      increased the life of the nematode and quercetin was identified as the compound
      with the greatest activity. The modification of chemical structure led to a
      change in the antioxidant capacity, the anti-inflammatory activity, and the
      survival of the worm. 

PMID- 25821554
TI  - Oxidative stress: dual pathway induction in cardiorenal syndrome type 1
      pathogenesis.
AB  - Cardiorenal Syndrome Type 1 (Type 1) is a specific condition which is
      characterized by a rapid worsening of cardiac function leading to acute kidney
      injury (AKI). Even though its pathophysiology is complex and not still completely
      understood, oxidative stress seems to play a pivotal role. In this study, we
      examined the putative role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of CRS Type 1.
      Twenty-three patients with acute heart failure (AHF) were included in the study.
      Subsequently, 11 patients who developed AKI due to AHF were classified as CRS
      Type 1. Quantitative determinations for IL-6, myeloperoxidase (MPO), nitric oxide
      (NO), copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/ZnSOD), and endogenous peroxidase
      activity (EPA) were performed. CRS Type 1 patients displayed significant
      augmentation in circulating ROS and RNS, as well as expression of IL-6.
      Quantitative analysis of all oxidative stress markers showed significantly lower
      oxidative stress levels in controls and AHF compared to CRS Type 1 patients (P <
      0.05). This pilot study demonstrates the significantly heightened presence of
      dual oxidative stress pathway induction in CRS Type 1 compared to AHF patients.
      Our findings indicate that oxidative stress is a potential therapeutic target, as
      it promotes inflammation by ROS/RNS-linked pathogenesis. 

PMID- 25821557
TI  - The BRAF kinase domain promotes the development of gliomas in vivo.
AB  - In-frame BRAF fusions have been observed in over 80% of sporadic pilocytic
      astrocytomas. In each fusion, the N-terminal autoinhibitory domain of BRAF is
      lost, which results in constitutive activation via the retained C-terminal kinase
      domain (BRAF-KD). We set out to determine if the BRAF-KD is sufficient to induce
      gliomas alone or in combination with Ink4a/Arf loss. Syngeneic cell lines
      demonstrated the transforming ability of the BRAF-KD following Ink4a/Arf loss. In
      vivo, somatic cell gene transfer of the BRAF-KD did not cause tumors to develop;
      however, gliomas were detected in 21% of the mice following Ink4a/Arf loss.
      Interestingly, these mice demonstrated no obvious symptoms. Histologically the
      tumors were highly cellular and atypical, similar to BRAF(V600E) tumors reported
      previously, but with less invasive borders. They also lacked the necrosis and
      vascular proliferation seen in BRAFV600E-driven tumors. The BRAF-KD-expressing
      astrocytes showed elevated MAPK signaling, albeit at reduced levels compared to
      the BRAF(V600E) mutant. Pharmacologic inhibition of MEK and PI3K inhibited cell
      growth and induced apoptosis in astrocytes expressing BRAF-KD. Our findings
      demonstrate that the BRAF-KD can cooperate with Ink4a/Arf loss to drive the
      development of gliomas and suggest that glioma development is determined by the
      level of MAPK signaling. 

PMID- 25821558
TI  - HSP90 inhibitor AUY922 induces cell death by disruption of the Bcr-Abl, Jak2 and
      HSP90 signaling network complex in leukemia cells.
AB  - The Bcr-Abl protein is an important client protein of heat shock protein 90
      (HSP90). We evaluated the inhibitory effects of the HSP90 ATPase inhibitor AUY922
      on 32D mouse hematopoietic cells expressing wild-type Bcr-Abl (b3a2, 32Dp210) and
      mutant Bcr-Abl imatinib (IM)-resistant cell lines. Western blotting results of
      fractions from gel filtration column chromatography of 32Dp210 cells showed that
      HSP90 together with Bcr-Abl, Jak2 Stat3 and several other proteins co-eluted in
      peak column fractions of a high molecular weight network complex (HMWNC). Co-IP
      results showed that HSP90 directly bound to Bcr-Abl, Jak2, Stat 3 and Akt. The
      associations between HSP90 and Bcr-Abl or Bcr-Abl kinase domain mutants (T315I
      and E255K) were interrupted by AUY922 treatment. Tyrosine phosphorylation of Bcr
      Abl showed a dose-dependent decrease in 32Dp210T315I following AUY922 treatment
      for 16h. AUY922 also markedly inhibited cell proliferation of both IM-sensitive
      32Dp210 (IC50 =6 nM) and IM-resistant 32Dp210T315I cells (IC50 ~6 nM) and human
      KBM-5R/KBM-7R cell lines (IC50 =50 nM). AUY922 caused significant G1 arrest in
      32Dp210 cells but not in T315I or E255K cells. AUY922 efficiently induced
      apoptosis in 32Dp210 (IC50 =10 nM) and T315I or E255K lines with IC50 around 20
      to 50 nM. Our results showed that Bcr-Abl and Jak2 form HMWNC with HSP90 in CML
      cells. Inhibition of HSP90 by AUY922 disrupted the structure of HMWNC, leading to
      Bcr-Abl degradation, nhibiting cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis. Thus,
      inhibition of HSP90 is a powerful way to inhibit not only IM-sensitive CML cells
      but also IM-resistant CML cells. 

PMID- 25821559
TI  - The adenovirus E1A oncoprotein N-terminal transcriptional repression domain
      enhances p300 autoacetylation and inhibits histone H3 Lys18 acetylation.
AB  - Expression of the adenovirus E1A N-terminal transcription repression domain alone
      (E1A 1-80) represses transcription from specific promoters such as HER2 [1] and
      from reconstituted chromatin [2]. Significantly, E1A 1-80 can induce the death of
      human breast cancer cells over-expressing the HER2 oncogene [1] as well as other
      cancer cells. Here, we report that E1A 1-80 alone is sufficient to inhibit H3K18
      acetylation in vivo and p300-mediated H3K18 acetylation in reconstituted
      chromatin. Of interest, hypoacetylation of H3K18 has been correlated with the
      survival of tumor cells and the poor prognosis of many cancers [3, 4]. E1A 1-80
      enhances p300 autoacetylation and concurrently inhibits H3K18 acetylation in
      chromatin in a dose-dependent manner. Pre-acetylation of p300 by incubation with
      acetyl-CoA alone reduces p300's ability to acetylate H3K18 in chromatin.
      Additional acetylation of p300 in the presence of E1A 1-80 produces stronger
      inhibition of H3K18 acetylation. These findings indicate that autoacetylation of
      p300 greatly reduces its ability to acetylate H3K18. The results reported here
      combined with our previous findings suggest that E1A can repress transcription by
      multiple strategies, including altering the chromatin modifying activity of p300
      and dissociating TFIID from the TATA box thus disrupting formation of the
      transcription pre-initiation complex [5, 6]. 

PMID- 25821560
TI  - Methylation of CHFR sensitizes esophageal squamous cell cancer to docetaxel and
      paclitaxel.
AB  - Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common malignancies
      worldwide. Both genetic and epigenetic changes are involved in esophageal
      carcinogenesis. CHFR methylation has been found frequently in different cancers
      and is regarded as a marker of taxane sensitivity. CHFR methylation was found in
      0% (0/16) of normal mucosa, 2.9% (1/34) of grade I dysplasia, 0% (0/8) of grade
      II dysplasia, 12.5% (1/8) of grade III dysplasia and 45% (49/109) of invasive
      cancer. When treated with docetaxel or paclitaxel, cell viability was lower in
      CHFR methylated esophageal cancer cells than in unmethylated cells (p<0.05). No
      difference was found with either cisplatin or VP16 treatment in either group
      (p>0.05). In CHFR methylated cells, treatment with docetaxel or paclitaxel
      resulted in almost all cells being suspended in G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle.
      After 5-AZ treatment, there was an increased fraction of CHFR-methylated cells in
      S and G2/M phases (p<0.05). In conclusion, CHFR is frequently methylated in ESCC
      and the expression of CHFR is regulated by promoter region methylation. CHFR
      methylation is a late stage event in ESCC. Methylation of CHFR sensitized ESCC
      cells to taxanes. 5-AZ may re-sensitize chemotherapy resistant in refractory
      tumors by inducing cell cycle phase re-distribution. 

PMID- 25821561
TI  - Polyphenols from green tea inhibit the growth of melanoma cells through
      inhibition of class I histone deacetylases and induction of DNA damage.
AB  - Melanoma is the leading cause of skin cancer-related deaths. We have examined the
      effect of green tea polyphenols (GTPs), a natural mixture of epicatechin
      monomers, on melanoma cancer cell growth and the molecular mechanism underlying
      these effects using different human melanoma cell lines as an in vitro model.
      Treatment of melanoma cell lines (A375, Hs294t, SK-Mel28 and SK-Mel119) with GTPs
      significantly inhibited the cell viability as well as colony formation ability of
      melanoma cells in a dose-dependent manner. These effects of GTPs were associated
      with a significant inhibition of histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity, reduction
      in the levels of class I HDAC proteins, enhancement of histone acetyltransferase
      (HAT) activity and induction of DNA damage, as detected by Comet assay, in
      melanoma cells. GTPs-induced decrease in the levels of class I HDAC proteins is
      mediated through proteasomal degradation. Valproic acid, an inhibitor of HDACs,
      exhibited a similar pattern of reduced viability and induction of death of
      melanoma cells. Treatment of A375 and Hs294t cells with GTPs resulted in a
      decrease in the levels of cyclins and cyclin dependent kinases of G1 phase of
      cell cycle whereas upregulated the levels of tumor suppressor proteins
      (Cip1/WAF1/p21, p16 and p53). 

PMID- 25821562
TI  - Microarray profile of human kidney from diabetes, renal cell carcinoma and renal
      cell carcinoma with diabetes.
AB  - Recent study from our laboratory showed that patients with diabetes are at a
      higher risk of developing kidney cancer. In the current study, we have screened
      whole human DNA genome from healthy control, patients with diabetes or renal cell
      carcinoma (RCC) or RCC+diabetes. We found that 883 genes gain/163 genes loss of
      copy number in RCC+diabetes group, 669 genes gain/307 genes loss in RCC group and
      458 genes gain/38 genes loss of copy number in diabetes group, after removing
      gain/loss genes obtained from healthy control group. Data analyzed for functional
      annotation enrichment pathways showed that control group had the highest number
      (280) of enriched pathways, 191 in diabetes+RCC group, 148 in RCC group, and 81
      in diabetes group. The overlap GO pathways between RCC+diabetes and RCC groups
      showed that nine were enriched, between RCC+diabetes and diabetes groups was four
      and between diabetes and RCC groups was eight GO pathways. Overall, we observed
      majority of DNA alterations in patients from RCC+diabetes group. Interestingly,
      insulin receptor (INSR) is highly expressed and had gains in copy number in
      RCC+diabetes and diabetes groups. The changes in INSR copy number may use as a
      biomarker for predicting RCC development in diabetic patients. 

PMID- 25821563
TI  - Mobilization of LINE-1 in irradiated mammary gland tissue may potentially
      contribute to low dose radiation-induced genomic instability.
AB  - It is known that cellular stresses such as ionizing radiation activate LINE-1
      (long interspersed nuclear element type 1, L1), but the molecular mechanisms of
      LINE-1 activation have not been fully elucidated. There is a possibility that DNA
      methylation changes induced by genotoxic stresses might contribute to LINE-1
      activation in mammalian cells. L1 insertions usually cause major genomic
      rearrangements, such as deletions, transductions, the intrachromosomal homologous
      recombination between L1s, and the generation of pseudogenes, which could lead to
      genomic instability. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of low
      and high doses of ionizing radiation on the DNA methylation status of LINE-1
      transposable elements in rat mammary glands. Here we describe radiation-induced
      hypomethylation and activation of LINE-1 ORF1 in rat mammary gland tissues. We
      show that radiation exposure has also led to the translation of the LINE-1
      element, whereby the 148 kDa LINE-1 protein level was increased 96 hours after
      treatment with a low dose and low energy level radiation and remained elevated
      for 24 weeks after treatment. The mobilization of LINE-1 in irradiated tissue may
      potentially contribute to genomic instability. The observed activation of mobile
      elements in response to radiation exposure is consistently discussed as a
      plausible mechanism of cancer etiology and development. 

PMID- 25821564
TI  - Targeting Intracellular Cholesterol is a Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Cancer
      Treatment.
AB  - Substantial data from cell culture and animal studies evidence the preventive
      effect of statins, cholesterol lowering-drugs, in regulation of cancer cell
      proliferation and metastasis. Various clinical studies also support this
      correlation between use of statin and the reduction of cancer incidence. However,
      in some cases, statins have failed to decrease the risk of cancer. Since, instead
      of serum cholesterol, intracellular cholesterol may play a crucial role in the
      regulation of tumorigenesis and metastasis. The mechanism by which cholesterol is
      stored within cancer cells may differ among cancer types and also in different
      individuals. This paper discusses the molecular detail to speculate the statin
      sensitive cancer. It also highlights that statins may work better as anticancer
      therapy if it is used with the combination of a specific microRNA (miR).

PMID- 25821565
TI  - Evaluating resident physicians' knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding the
      pain control in cancer patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pain has been one of the most debilitating symptoms of cancer. The
      aim of this study was to evaluate residents' knowledge, attitude, and practice
      regarding pain control in cancer patients. METHODS: In a descriptive study, 69
      randomly selected third-year various residents practicing in teaching hospitals
      of Shahid Beheshti School of medicine participated in this study. They have
      provided their demographic characteristics and completed a questionnaire, based
      on their "knowledge", "attitude" and "practice" regarding cancer pain and its
      management. Data analysis has performed using SPSS v.19. A p value of less than
      0.05 has considered as significant. RESULTS: Obtained Data from 69 participants
      including 32 anesthesiology residents has included to our study. The average
      scores were 35.8+/-6.1 (ranging from 20 to 49) for the residents' attitude,
      25.1+/-9.1 (ranging from 0 to 53) for their knowledge and 11.2+/-4.1 (ranging
      from 0 to 17) for their practice. The overall scores of the questions have
      related to attitude and knowledge were higher for residents of anesthesiology but
      the difference was not statistically significant (A: 37.1+/-4.9 vs. 34.7+/-6.8,
      p=0.106, K: 27.2+/-11.8 vs. 23.3+/-5.6, p=0.076). The average score for questions
      on physician' practice was significantly higher in residents of anesthesiology
      (P: 12.8+/-3.2 vs. 9.7+/-4.2, p=0.001). CONCLUSION: In order to provide patients
      with adequate pain relief, it has seemed advisable for medical schools to focus
      on improving the educational curriculum and integrating it into clinical
      practice.

PMID- 25821566
TI  - Immunohistochemical analysis of mismatch repair proteins in Iranian colorectal
      cancer patients at risk for lynch syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is a common
      hereditary cancer predisposing syndrome has molecular and clinicopathological
      features still have remained ambiguous within Iranian populations. We discuss in
      this article some molecular and clinicopathological features of the condition.
      METHODS: The study was a descriptive retrospective and designed on 1659
      colorectal cancer (CRC) patients were screened based on early-onset disease and
      Amsterdam II criteria during 14 years (2000-2013). Immunohistochemistry (IHC)
      staining was set up to detect expression of mismatch repair (MMR) genes on
      paraffin-embedded tissue sections of 31 HNPCC-CRC tumors. SPSS 19 software was
      used to analyze the data. RESULTS: IHC-MMR staining was absent in 7/31
      individuals (22.6%) of which 4 cases showed IHC-Absent (IHC-A) in both MSH2 and
      MSH6 (57.1%), in 2 cases both MLH1 and PMS2 had negative staining (28.6%), and
      just in one case, MSH6 was defective (14.3%). The frequency of CRC among IHC-A
      and IHC-Present (IHC-P) families was 67.5% and 27.9%, respectively. Also the most
      frequent extracolonic cancers in IHC-A group were: stomach (10%), small bowel
      (5%), and prostate (5%); and in IHC-P group: stomach (18.4%), lung (10.9%), and
      breast (7.5%). Average age of IHC-A individuals at diagnosis was 38.0 versus 45.3
      years in IHC-P individuals. Overall, 20.8% and 57.1% of our index CRCs were
      localized proximal to the splenic flexure in IHC-P and IHC-A groups,
      respectively. CONCLUSION: Given the lack of enough information about molecular
      aspects of hereditary cancer syndromes like HNPCC in Iran, more evaluations are
      necessary on larger samples using complementary techniques such as MSI-testing
      and mutation analyses.

PMID- 25821567
TI  - Further Stimulation of Cellular Immune Responses through Association of HPV-16
      E6, E7 and L1 Genes in order to produce more Effective Therapeutic DNA Vaccines
      in Cervical Cancer Model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer has been shown to be highly associated with human
      papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The viral oncogenes E6 and E7 are constantly
      expressed by the tumor cells and are therefore potent targets for therapeutic
      genetic vaccination. In the present study, it was investigated the potential
      effect of HPV-16 E6, E7 and L1 co-administration to activate specific cytotoxic T
      lymphocytes in tumor mice models. METHODS: The HPV-16 E6, E7 and L1 genes from
      Iranian isolate were separately inserted into the mammalian expression vector,
      pcDNA3, to construct the DNA vaccine candidates. Tumor-bearing Animals (C57BL/6
      mice) were immunized with the vaccine candidate; then, Lymphocyte Proliferation
      Assay (LPA) and relative tumor volume measurements were carried out in order to
      examine the immunological effects of the vaccine. RESULTS: Obtained results
      showed that co-administration of the HPV-16 E6, E7 and L1 DNA induced HPV-16
      specific cellular immune responses and also protected against TC-1-induced tumor
      in vivo compared with negative controls. CONCLUSION: The results showed that
      mixed delivery systems might be valuable to improve the magnitude of the induced
      immune responses and confirmed therapeutic effects of HPV-16 E6, E7 through
      cytotoxic T lymphocyte induction and illustrate the new promising role for HPV-16
      L1 CTL epitopes as a suitable CTL inducer.

PMID- 25821568
TI  - High Body Mass Index and Young Age Are not Associated with Post-Mastectomy Pain
      Syndrome in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Case-Control Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgery is usually the first treatment for breast cancer which is
      followed by some complications such as chronic pain. Post mastectomy pain
      syndrome (PMPS) is a common complication among breast cancer survivors and is
      considered as a chronic neuropathic pain in the side of surgery which persists
      more than three months. The exact mechanisms and related risk factors of the
      chronic pain after breast surgery are unknown. The aim of this study was to
      investigate the association of body mass index (BMI) and age with PMPS. METHODS:
      In this case-control study, a total of 122 women were assessed; of these, 61
      women were diagnosed with PMPS and selected as cases and 61 pain-free patients
      were selected as controls. The demographic and clinical characteristics of
      participants were collected through questionnaires and medical record of
      patients. Logistic regression model was used to determine the association of BMI
      and age with PMPS, adjusted for demographic and clinical characteristics.
      RESULTS: No significant differences were found in means of weight (68.02+/-8.80
      vs. 68.67+/-11.82, p=0.726), BMI (26.38+/-3.28 vs. 27.10+/-6.03, p=0.410), and
      age (46.34+/-11.67 vs. 48.54+/-12.57, p=0.319) between those with PMPS and those
      not reporting PMPS. A non-significant slight increase in odds ratio of PMPS was
      observed in obese category compared to normal weight category [OR=1.152 (95% CI
      0.405-3.275), p=0.908], but after adjusting the confounding factors, the risk of
      pain development was attenuated in obese subjects [OR=0.748 (95% CI 0.228-2.459),
      p=0.633]. Also, non-significant decrease in odds ratios of PMPS was found in 20
      39 y, 40-49 y, and 50-59 y ages categories compared to oldest age category
      [adjusted OR= 0.781 (95% CI 0.213-2.866), p=0.576; adjusted OR=0.485 (95% CI
      0.152- 1.554), p=0.183; adjusted OR=0.735 (95% CI 0.206-2.627), p=0.628;
      respectively]. CONCLUSION: In contrast with some observational studies, present
      study showed that high BMI and younger age might not be associated with increased
      risk of PMPS development. Further research is necessary to determine the main
      risk factors and directionality and causal mechanisms for associations of these
      risk factors with chronic pain after mastectomy.

PMID- 25821569
TI  - Evaluation of emotional distress in breast cancer patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cancer has been known as a class of dangerous diseases which cause
      tremendous physical and emotional problems to both patients and their families.
      In spite of medical advances, cancer is still considered to be equal with death
      and pain. This study aims to analyze the emotional distress and the causes in
      breast cancer patients. METHODS: This study was a quantitative study which tries
      to analyze the emotional distress in 82 breast cancer patients referred to the
      Radiotherapy and Oncology Department of Razi Hospital in Rasht, northern Iran. In
      this study, the emotional distress is analyzed based on a standard questionnaire
      which contains demographic information, distress thermometer, and a section
      devoted to the probable causes. RESULTS: Among the 82 patients that participated
      in this study, 32 patients (39%) suffered from severe emotional distress which
      had a statistically significant relationship (p<0.009) with the functional status
      of the patients. Taking care of children, fear, anxiety, difficulties of taking
      bath and wearing clothes, family problems, fever and nasal dryness are the most
      common issued related to emotional distress. CONCLUSION: Emotional distress can
      affect the quality of life of breast cancer patients. Therefore, oncology
      specialists should utilize mental health services to improve their patients'
      mental health as well as to control the consequences of the disease.

PMID- 25821570
TI  - The Prognostic Role of Tumor Marker CA-125 in B-Cell non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is a common malignancy of
      lymphoid tissues. Different types of NHL show various behaviors, prognoses, and
      responses to treatment. Evaluation of disease activity in NHL can be helpful in
      managing and even increasing the patient's survey. METHODS AND RESULTS: In total,
      121 patients (76 males and 45 females), and their age range were 18-53 years,
      were evaluated in this study. The mean level of serum carbohydrate antigen 125
      (CA-125) was 89.3+/-18.5 u/ml, ranging from 27 to 135 u/ml. There were
      significant differences in International Prognostic Index (IPI) score (p=0.002),
      stage of the disease (p=0.006), mortality rate (p=0.02), and relapse rate
      (p=0.04) between patients with serum CA-125 level <35 u/ml and patients with CA
      125 level >35 u/ml. CONCLUSION: CA-125 seems to be a useful and reliable tumor
      marker for monitoring a patient with NHL. It might be the time to consider CA-125
      in staging, prognostic scoring, or decision making about NHL treatment.

PMID- 25821571
TI  - Evaluation of Organs at Risk's Dose in External Radiotherapy of Brain Tumors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Radiotherapy plays an important role in the management of most
      malignant and many benign primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors.
      Radiotherapy affects both tumor cells and uninvolved normal cells; so, it is
      important to estimate absorbed dose to organs at risk in this kind of treatment.
      The aim of this study was to determine the absorbed dose to chiasma, lens, optic
      nerve, retina, parotid, thyroid and submandibular gland in frontal lobe brain
      tumors radiotherapy based on treatment planning system (TPS) calculation and
      direct measurement on the phantom. METHODS: A head and neck phantom was
      constructed using natural human bone and combination of paraffin wax and Sodium
      Chloride (NaCl) as tissue-equivalent material. Six cylinders were made of phantom
      material which had cavities to insert Thermoluminescent Dosimeters (TLDs) at
      several depths in order to measure absorbed dose to chiasma, lens, optic nerve,
      retina, parotid, thyroid and submandibular gland. Three routine conventional
      plans associated with tumors of this region and a new purposed technique were
      performed on the phantom and dose distribution and absorbed dose to critical
      organs were compared using treatment planning system (TPS) calculation and direct
      measurement on the phantom. RESULTS: Absorbed doses were measured with calibrated
      TLDs and are expressed in centigray (cGy). In all techniques absorbed dose to all
      organs except the lenses were at their tolerance dose levels and in the new
      purposed technique, absorbed dose to chiasma was significantly reduced.
      CONCLUSION: Our findings showed differences in the range of 1-5% in all
      techniques between TPS calculation and direct measurements for all organs except
      submandibular glands and thyroid. Because submandibular glands and thyroid are
      far from primary radiation field, TLD reading in these regions although small but
      differs from TPS calculation which shows very smaller doses. This might be due to
      scattered radiation which is not well considered in the TPS. In the new
      technique, because the chiasma is out of the radiation field, absorbed dose was
      reduced significantly.

PMID- 25821572
TI  - Relationships between Family Levels of Socioeconomic Status and Distribution of
      Breast Cancer Risk Factors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Not only the expand development of knowledge for reducing risk
      factors, but also the improvement in early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and
      socioeconomic inequalities could affect cancer incidence, diagnosis stage, and
      mortality. The aim of this study was investigation the relationships between
      family levels of socioeconomic status and distribution of breast cancer risk
      factors. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study has conducted on 526
      patients who were suffering from breast cancer, and have registered in Cancer
      Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences from March 2008
      to December 2013. A reliable and valid questionnaire about family levels of
      socioeconomic status has filled by interviewing the patients via phone. For
      analyzing the data, Multinomial logistic regression, Kendal tau-b correlation
      coefficient and Contingency Coefficient tests have executed by SPSS19. RESULTS:
      The mean age of the patients was 48.30 (SD=11.41). According to the results of
      this study, there was a significant relationship between family socioeconomic
      status and patient's age at diagnosis of breast cancer (p value<0.001). Also, the
      relationships between socioeconomic status and number of pregnancies, and
      duration of breast feeding were significant (p value> 0.001). In the multiple
      logistic regressions, the relationship between excellent socioeconomic status and
      number of abortions was significant (p value> 0.007). Furthermore, the
      relationships between moderate and good socioeconomic statuses and smoking were
      significant (p value=0.05 and p value=0.02, respectively). CONCLUSION: The
      results have indicated that among those patients having better socioeconomic
      status, age at cancer diagnosis, number of pregnancies and duration of breast
      feeding was lower, and then number of abortions was more than the others.
      According to the results of this study, it was really important to focus on
      family socioeconomic status as a critical and effective variable on breast cancer
      risk factors among the Iranian women.

PMID- 25821573
TI  - A report of a rare gastric cancer case: leptomeningeal carcinomatosis.
AB  - Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LMC) from gastrointestinal cancer would be rare. A
      56-years old man with complaint of dyspepsia and histopathologic examination of
      the biopsy specimens has shown: adenocarcinoma. At the end of adjuvant chemo
      radiation therapy, the patient has affected by headache and mild confusion. In
      cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology, a plenty of malignant cells have seen and
      unfortunately after a short time for about 4 days after ICU admission, the
      patient has died. This could be due to heavy burden of disease in central nervous
      system. 

PMID- 25821575
TI  - Incidence of Seminoma Cancer in Staffs that Worked in Electromagnetic Waves
      Station; Three Cases Report.
AB  - Physical agents such as ultraviolet or ionizing radiation and repetitive trauma
      have been related to the causation of cancer in humans. Much less clear is the
      association between exposure to radiofrequency, such as radar and microwave
      radiation to the development of cancer. Sporadic case reports and small series
      suggest that this type of radiation might lead to cancer or contribute to its
      evolution. The association between radiofrequency and testicular damage and
      cancer is unproved, but clinical and experimental data are suggestive of such
      possibility. In this paper we have reported three cases of seminoma in person who
      worked in the same place that exposed to radio frequency (RF) waves. 

PMID- 25821574
TI  - Malignant mesenchymal tumor of male breast: primary chondrosarcoma.
AB  - Breast Sarcomas have relatively been rare and accounted for 1% of all primary
      malignant tumors of the breast. Pure and primary chondrosarcoma of the male
      breast would be an extremely rare tumor. It might arise either from the breast
      stroma itself, or from underlying bone or cartilage. A 65-year-old man has
      presented with a rapidly growing breast mass since 5 months. Physical examination
      has established a large firm to hard mass with regular margins in the region of
      right breast. There was no axillary lymphadenopathy. Contrast enhanced MRI of
      breasts has shown a mixed-signal intensity multi lobulated cystic-solid mass
      (10.4 cm * 10.3 cm *9.9 cm) appearing predominantly hyper intense on T2W and hypo
      intense on T1W. The tumor has diagnosed as a low-grade chondrosarcoma of the
      breast by histopathological and immunohistochemistry analysis. Right sided
      radical mastectomy with grafting has done. It has seemed to be very important to
      identify the mammary primary sarcomas as entity separated from the carcinomas of
      the breast. 

PMID- 25821576
TI  - Radio Frequency as the Risk Factor of Cancer, yes? No?

PMID- 25821577
TI  - Effects of phylogenetic reconstruction method on the robustness of species
      delimitation using single-locus data.
AB  - Coalescent-based species delimitation methods combine population genetic and
      phylogenetic theory to provide an objective means for delineating evolutionarily
      significant units of diversity. The generalised mixed Yule coalescent (GMYC) and
      the Poisson tree process (PTP) are methods that use ultrametric (GMYC or PTP) or
      non-ultrametric (PTP) gene trees as input, intended for use mostly with single
      locus data such as DNA barcodes. Here, we assess how robust the GMYC and PTP are
      to different phylogenetic reconstruction and branch smoothing methods. We
      reconstruct over 400 ultrametric trees using up to 30 different combinations of
      phylogenetic and smoothing methods and perform over 2000 separate species
      delimitation analyses across 16 empirical data sets. We then assess how variable
      diversity estimates are, in terms of richness and identity, with respect to
      species delimitation, phylogenetic and smoothing methods. The PTP method
      generally generates diversity estimates that are more robust to different
      phylogenetic methods. The GMYC is more sensitive, but provides consistent
      estimates for BEAST trees. The lower consistency of GMYC estimates is likely a
      result of differences among gene trees introduced by the smoothing step.
      Unresolved nodes (real anomalies or methodological artefacts) affect both GMYC
      and PTP estimates, but have a greater effect on GMYC estimates. Branch smoothing
      is a difficult step and perhaps an underappreciated source of bias that may be
      widespread among studies of diversity and diversification. Nevertheless, careful
      choice of phylogenetic method does produce equivalent PTP and GMYC diversity
      estimates. We recommend simultaneous use of the PTP model with any model-based
      gene tree (e.g. RAxML) and GMYC approaches with BEAST trees for obtaining species
      hypotheses.

PMID- 25821578
TI  - A method for calculating minimum biodiversity offset multipliers accounting for
      time discounting, additionality and permanence.
AB  - Biodiversity offsetting, which means compensation for ecological and
      environmental damage caused by development activity, has recently been gaining
      strong political support around the world. One common criticism levelled at
      offsets is that they exchange certain and almost immediate losses for uncertain
      future gains. In the case of restoration offsets, gains may be realized after a
      time delay of decades, and with considerable uncertainty. Here we focus on offset
      multipliers, which are ratios between damaged and compensated amounts (areas) of
      biodiversity. Multipliers have the attraction of being an easily understandable
      way of deciding the amount of offsetting needed. On the other hand, exact values
      of multipliers are very difficult to compute in practice if at all possible. We
      introduce a mathematical method for deriving minimum levels for offset
      multipliers under the assumption that offsetting gains must compensate for the
      losses (no net loss offsetting). We calculate absolute minimum multipliers that
      arise from time discounting and delayed emergence of offsetting gains for a one
      dimensional measure of biodiversity. Despite the highly simplified model, we show
      that even the absolute minimum multipliers may easily be quite large, in the
      order of dozens, and theoretically arbitrarily large, contradicting the
      relatively low multipliers found in literature and in practice. While our results
      inform policy makers about realistic minimal offsetting requirements, they also
      challenge many current policies and show the importance of rigorous models for
      computing (minimum) offset multipliers. The strength of the presented method is
      that it requires minimal underlying information. We include a supplementary
      spreadsheet tool for calculating multipliers to facilitate application.

PMID- 25821579
TI  - Three layers of working memory: Focus-switch costs and retrieval dynamics as
      revealed by the N-count task.
AB  - Two experiments explored the process of switching items in and out of the focus
      of attention using a new paradigm, the N count task (adapted from Garavan, 1998;
      N varied from 1 to 4). This task yielded a focus size of one, indicated by a
      substantial focus switch cost for 2 count. Additionally, the focus switch costs
      in response time increased with working memory load, indicating an effortful
      search process occurring at a speed of about 240 ms/item. Maintaining and
      switching to and from a passive load did not increase the focus switch costs or
      decrease memory accuracy, indicating that there is no crosstalk between passive
      and active items. The results support a concentric theory of working memory: a
      small focus at its core, a surrounding area of (at least) three readily available
      items referred to as the outer store, and a still wider region of passive
      storage, possibly more long term memory than working memory.

PMID- 25821580
TI  - The redesign of the medical intern assignment mechanism in Israel.
AB  - A collaboration of medical professionals with economists and computer scientists
      involved in "market design" had led to the redesign of the clearinghouse
      assigning medical students to internships in Israel. The new mechanism presents
      significant efficiency gains relative to the previous one, and almost all
      students get a better chance of getting what they want. Continued monitoring of
      the new mechanism is required to verify that it is not abused, and explore
      whether it can be improved. Other organizations in Israel may also be able to
      profit from the experience that accumulates from market design, both in Israel
      and abroad. 

PMID- 25821581
TI  - Assessment of knowledge and practice of health workers towards tuberculosis
      infection control and associated factors in public health facilities of Addis
      Ababa, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis is the leading causes of mortality among infectious
      diseases worldwide. The risk of transmission from patients to health workers is
      doubles that of the general population. The close contact to the infectious case
      before diagnosis is the major risk for tuberculosis infection. The aim of the
      study was to assess knowledge and practice of health professionals towards
      tuberculosis infection control and its associated factors in health facilities of
      Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from
      February 29 to April 15/2014 in selected health facilities in Addis Ababa. Five
      hundred ninety health workers were included in the study. The sample size was
      assigned to each health facility proportional to their number of health workers.
      Study subjects were selected from each stratum by simple random sampling
      technique. Interviewer administered structured questionnaire was used to collect
      information. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with
      knowledge and practice of health workers towards tuberculosis infection control.
      RESULT: Five hundred eighty two participants with 98.6% response rate were
      involved in the study. Of these, 36.1% had poor knowledge and 51.7%
      unsatisfactory practice score towards tuberculosis infection control. Having more
      than six years working experience in health facility (AOR = 2.51; 95% CI: 1.5
      4.1) and tuberculosis related training (AOR = 2.51 95% CI; 1.5, 4.1) were
      significantly associated with knowledge on tuberculosis infection control. Having
      experience in tuberculosis clinic (AOR =1.93; 95% CI: 1.12, 3.34) and
      tuberculosis related training (AOR = 1.48; 95% CI: 1.87, 2.51) were significantly
      associated with practice on tuberculosis infection control. CONCLUSION: One third
      of health workers had relatively poor knowledge and nearly half of them had
      unsatisfactory practice on tuberculosis infection control. Tuberculosis training
      and work experiences in health facility are determinant factor to knowledge.
      Whereas tuberculosis related training and experience in tuberculosis clinic are
      predictor to practice. So, training of the health professionals, on job
      orientations of junior health workers, and farther study including private health
      workers are recommended.

PMID- 25821583
TI  - A Highly Efficient and Extremely Selective Intracellular Copper Detoxifying Agent
      Based on Nanoparticles of ZnMoS4.
AB  - Biocompatible ZnMoS4 NPs can selectively remove intracellular copper ions via ion
      exchange rather than chelation. This strategy represents a paradigm shift in
      designing new-generation intracellular metal detoxifying drugs.

PMID- 25821584
TI  - beta-Blockers in hypertension, diabetes, heart failure and acute myocardial
      infarction: a review of the literature.
AB  - beta-Blockers (BBs) are an essential class of cardiovascular medications for
      reducing morbidity and mortality in patients with heart failure (HF). However, a
      large body of data indicates that BBs should not be used as first-line therapy
      for hypertension (HTN). Additionally, new data have questioned the role of BBs in
      the treatment of stable coronary heart disease (CHD). However, these trials
      mainly tested the non-vasodilating beta1 selective BBs (atenolol and metoprolol)
      which are still the most commonly prescribed BBs in the USA. Newer generation
      BBs, such as the vasodilating BBs carvedilol and nebivolol, have been shown not
      only to be better tolerated than non-vasodilating BBs, but also these agents do
      not increase the risk of diabetes mellitus (DM), atherogenic dyslipidaemia or
      weight gain. Moreover, carvedilol has the most evidence for reducing morbidity
      and mortality in patients with HF and those who have experienced an acute
      myocardial infarction (AMI). This review discusses the cornerstone clinical
      trials that have tested BBs in the settings of HTN, HF and AMI. Large randomised
      trials in the settings of HTN, DM and stable CHD are still needed to establish
      the role of BBs in these diseases, as well as to determine whether vasodilating
      BBs are exempt from the disadvantages of non-vasodilating BBs. 

PMID- 25821586
TI  - Sentinel events in ophthalmology: experience from Hong Kong.
AB  - Purpose. To arouse ophthalmologists' awareness in patient safety by reviewing
      sentinel events in Ophthalmology submitted to a web-based incident reporting
      system involving all public hospitals in Hong Kong. Methods. Sentinel events in
      Ophthalmology reported from November 2007 to October 2014 were identified and
      classified into different categories for further presentation and analysis. Key
      contributing factors attributing to the occurrence of the incidents were
      described. Suggestions aiming to prevent future occurrence of similar events were
      made. Relevant literature and case law were discussed. Results. Twelve sentinel
      events were included in this observational case series. They were classified into
      4 main categories, namely "wrong eye" (5 cases, 41%), "wrong prescription" (3
      cases, 25%), "wrong patient and surgery" (2 cases, 17%), and "retained surgical
      items" (2 cases, 17%). The key contributing factor leading to the occurrence of
      the incidents was largely human error. Increased staff awareness and proper time
      out procedures were recommended to help prevent occurrence of these errors.
      Conclusion. Sentinel events in Ophthalmology do occur. Many of these incidents
      were attributed to human error. Surgeon's awareness and willingness to prevent
      occurrence of sentinel events are warranted. 

PMID- 25821585
TI  - Gene Therapy with Endogenous Inhibitors of Angiogenesis for Neovascular Age
      Related Macular Degeneration: Beyond Anti-VEGF Therapy.
AB  - Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of substantial and
      irreversible vision loss amongst elderly populations in industrialized countries.
      The advanced neovascular (or "wet") form of the disease is responsible for severe
      and aggressive loss of central vision. Current treatments aim to seal off leaky
      blood vessels via laser therapy or to suppress vessel leakage and neovascular
      growth through intraocular injections of antibodies that target vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF). However, the long-term success of anti-VEGF
      therapy can be hampered by limitations such as low or variable efficacy, high
      frequency of administration (usually monthly), potentially serious side effects,
      and, most importantly, loss of efficacy with prolonged treatment. Gene transfer
      of endogenous antiangiogenic proteins is an alternative approach that has the
      potential to provide long-term suppression of neovascularization and/or excessive
      vascular leakage in the eye. Preclinical studies of gene transfer in a large
      animal model have provided impressive preliminary results with a number of
      transgenes. In addition, a clinical trial in patients suffering from advanced
      neovascular AMD has provided proof-of-concept for successful gene transfer. In
      this mini review, we summarize current theories pertaining to the application of
      gene therapy for neovascular AMD and the potential benefits when used in
      conjunction with endogenous antiangiogenic proteins. 

PMID- 25821587
TI  - Correlation of papillomacular nerve fiber bundle thickness with central visual
      function in open-angle glaucoma.
AB  - Purpose. To determine the correlation of reduced retinal thickness in the central
      papillomacular bundle (CPB) to central visual function, including central retinal
      sensitivity and visual acuity, in glaucoma patients. Methods. This study enrolled
      50 eyes of 50 patients with open-angle glaucoma who were carefully screened for
      comorbid conditions that can cause decreased central visual function, such as
      cataracts or macular diseases. We used a novel CPB analysis comprising a program
      for optical coherence tomography that measured RNFL thickness and GCC thickness
      in the CPB and divided lengthwise into three parts (upper, middle, and lower
      CPB). The relationship of these parameters, including conventional macular
      thickness, to visual field sensitivity in four central standard automated
      perimetry points (the central four thresholds) and BCVA was analyzed. Results.
      The two parameters most highly correlated with central four thresholds were
      macular GCCT and macular RNFLT. The two parameters most highly correlated with
      BCVA were middle CPB (mid-CPB) GCCT and mid-CPB RNFLT. A multiple regression
      analysis revealed that mid-CPB GCCT was an independent factor impacting central
      retinal thresholds and BCVA. Conclusions. Our results suggest that mid-CPB RNFLT
      and GCCT, parameters of a novel papillomacular bundle analysis, are candidate
      biomarkers of decreased central visual function in glaucomatous eyes. 

PMID- 25821588
TI  - Proteomic study of retinal proteins associated with transcorneal electric
      stimulation in rats.
AB  - Background. To investigate how transcorneal electric stimulation (TES) affects
      the retina, by identifying those proteins up- and downregulated by transcorneal
      electric stimulation (TES) in the retina of rats. Methods. Adult Wistar rats
      received TES on the left eyes at different electrical currents while the right
      eyes received no treatment and served as controls. After TES, the eye was
      enucleated and the retina was isolated. The retinas were analyzed by proteomics.
      Results. Proteomics showed that twenty-five proteins were upregulated by TES. The
      identified proteins included cellular signaling proteins, proteins associated
      with neuronal transmission, metabolic proteins, immunological factors, and
      structural proteins. Conclusions. TES induced changes in expression of various
      functional proteins in the retina. 

PMID- 25821589
TI  - Clinical applications of anterior segment optical coherence tomography.
AB  - Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) was recently developed and
      has become a crucial tool in clinical practice. AS-OCT is a noncontact imaging
      device that provides the detailed structure of the anterior part of the eyes. In
      this review, the author will discuss the various clinical applications of AS-OCT,
      such as the normal findings, tear meniscus measurement, ocular surface disease
      (e.g., pterygium, pinguecula, and scleromalacia), architectural analysis after
      cataract surgery, post-LASIK keratectasia, Descemet's membrane detachment,
      evaluation of corneal graft after keratoplasty, corneal deposits (corneal
      dystrophies and corneal verticillata), keratitis, anterior segment tumors, and
      glaucoma evaluation (angle assessment, morphological analysis of the filtering
      bleb after trabeculectomy, or glaucoma drainage device implantation surgery). The
      author also presents some interesting cases demonstrated via AS-OCT. 

PMID- 25821590
TI  - Blockade of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 prevents inflammation
      and vascular leakage in diabetic retinopathy.
AB  - Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness in working age adults.
      The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of vascular endothelial
      growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1) blockade on the complications of DR.
      Experimental models of diabetes were induced with streptozotocin (STZ) treatment
      or Insulin2 gene mutation (Akita) in mice. Protein expression and localization
      were examined by western blots (WB) and immunofluorescence (IF). mRNA expression
      was quantified by PCR array and real-time PCR. The activity of VEGFR1 signaling
      was blocked by a neutralizing antibody called MF1. Vascular leakage was evaluated
      by measuring the leakage of [(3)H]-mannitol tracer into the retina and the IF
      staining of albumin. VEGFR1 blockade significantly inhibited diabetes-related
      vascular leakage, leukocytes-endothelial cell (EC) adhesion (or retinal
      leukostasis), expression of intercellular adhesion molecule- (ICAM-) 1 protein,
      abnormal localization and degeneration of the tight junction protein zonula
      occludens- (ZO-) 1, and the cell adhesion protein vascular endothelial (VE)
      cadherin. In addition, VEGFR1 blockade interfered with the gene expression of 10
      new cytokines and chemokines: cxcl10, il10, ccl8, il1f6, cxcl15, ccl4, il13,
      ccl6, casp1, and ccr5. These results suggest that VEGFR1 mediates complications
      of DR and targeting this signaling pathway represents a potential therapeutic
      strategy for the prevention and treatment of DR. 

PMID- 25821591
TI  - Retinal Neurodegeneration in db/db Mice at the Early Period of Diabetes.
AB  - Purpose. To describe both the functional and pathological alternations in
      neurosensory retina in a murine model of spontaneous type 2 diabetes (db/db
      mouse). Methods. db/db (BKS/DB-/-) mice and heterozygous littermates (as control
      group) at various ages (12, 16, 20, 24, and 28 weeks) were inspected with pattern
      electroretinogram (PERG), fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), and optical
      coherence tomography (OCT). Histological markers of neuroinflammation (IBA-1 and
      F4/80) were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. In addition, levels of retinal
      ganglion cell death were measured by terminal dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL).
      Results. Significant alternations of PERG responses and increased retinal
      ganglion cells (RGCs) apoptosis were observed in diabetic db/db mice for 20-week
      period when compared with control group. IBA-1 and F4/80 expression in
      microglia/macrophages became evidently for 24-week period, thus supporting the
      PERG findings. Furthermore, obvious thinning of nasal and dorsal retina in 28
      week-old db/db mice was also revealed by OCT. No visible retinal microvascular
      changes were detected by FFA throughout the experiments on db/db mice.
      Conclusions. Diabetic retina underwent neurodegenerative changes in db/db mice,
      which happened at retinal ganglion cell layer and inner nuclear layer. But there
      was no obvious abnormality in retinal vasculature on db/db mice. 

PMID- 25821593
TI  - Prognostic factors of early morphological response to treatment with ranibizumab
      in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration.
AB  - Aim. To assess the significance of age, gender, baseline best corrected visual
      acuity, baseline macula thickness, and type and size of choroidal
      neovascularization in early morphological therapeutic response to ranibizumab
      treatment in patients with the wet form of age-related macular degeneration.
      Methods. From 09/2008 to 06/2013 we evaluated 1153 newly diagnosed, treatment
      naive patients treated with ranibizumab. Based on the morphological findings in
      the macula following the initial 3 injections of ranibizumab, the patients were
      divided into two groups based on active and inactive choroidal
      neovascularization. Results. After the initial 3 injections of ranibizumab, we
      examined the sample of 841 eyes with active CNV and 312 eyes with inactive CNV.
      In the inactive group, we found a statistically higher proportion of occult CNV
      (P < 0.001) and lower incidence of CNV greater than 5DA (P < 0.001) compared with
      the active group. We found no statistically significant difference in age,
      gender, baseline best corrected visual acuity, or baseline macula thickness
      between the inactive and active groups. Conclusion. Occult CNV and CNV smaller
      than 5DA are optimistic factors for a better morphological therapeutic response
      at the beginning of ranibizumab treatment. 

PMID- 25821592
TI  - A review of current management of vitreomacular traction and macular hole.
AB  - The paper presents a review of the sequence of events of posterior vitreous
      detachment (PVD), vitreomacular adhesion (VMA), vitreomacular traction (VMT), and
      macular hole (MH) from their pathophysiological aspects, clinical features,
      diagnostic implications, and current management strategies. A treatment algorithm
      to be used in clinical practice in patients with VMA, VMT, and MH based on the
      presence of symptoms, visual acuity, associated epiretinal membrane, and width of
      the vitreous attachment is presented. Observation, pharmacologic vitreolysis with
      ocriplasmin, and surgical treatment are positioned as treatment options in the
      different steps of the therapeutic algorithm, with clear indications of the paths
      to be followed according to the initial presenting manifestations and the
      patient's clinical course. 

PMID- 25821596
TI  - Predictors of Mortality among Adult Antiretroviral Therapy Users in Southeastern
      Ethiopia: Retrospective Cohort Study.
AB  - Background. Although efforts have been made to reduce AIDS-related mortality by
      providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) services, still people are dying while
      they are on treatment due to several factors. This study aimed to investigate the
      predictors of mortality among adult antiretroviral therapy (ART) users in Goba
      Hospital, Southeast Ethiopia. Methods. The medical records of 2036 ART users who
      enrolled at Goba Hospital between 2007 and 2012 were reviewed and
      sociodemographic, clinical, and ART-related data were collected. Multivariable
      Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to measure risk of death and
      identify the independent predictors of mortality. Results. The overall mortality
      incidence rate was 20.3 deaths per 1000 person-years. Male, bedridden,
      overweight/obese, and HIV clients infected with TB and other infectious diseases
      had higher odds of death compared with their respective counterparts. On the
      other hand, ART clients with primary and secondary educational level and early
      and less advanced WHO clinical stage had lower odds of death compared to their
      counterparts. Conclusion. The overall mortality incidence rate was high and
      majority of the death had occurred in the first year of ART initiation.
      Intensifying and strengthening early ART initiation, improving nutritional
      status, prevention and control of TB, and other opportunistic infections are
      recommended interventions. 

PMID- 25821594
TI  - Sleep as a mediator in the pathway linking environmental factors to hypertension:
      a review of the literature.
AB  - Environmental factors, such as noise exposure and air pollution, are associated
      with hypertension. These environmental factors also affect sleep quality. Given
      the growing evidence linking sleep quality with hypertension, the purpose of this
      review is to investigate the role of sleep as a key mediator in the association
      between hypertension and environmental factors. Through this narrative review of
      the extant literature, we highlight that poor sleep quality mediates the
      relationship between environmental factors and hypertension. The conceptual model
      proposed in this review offers opportunities to address healthcare disparities in
      hypertension among African Americans by highlighting the disparate impact that
      the predictors (environmental factors) and mediator (sleep) have on the African
      American community. Understanding the impact of these factors is crucial since
      the main outcome variable (hypertension) severely burdens the African-American
      community. 

PMID- 25821595
TI  - A study of the relationship between food group recommendations and perceived
      stress: findings from black women in the Deep South.
AB  - Black women in the Deep South experience excess morbidity/mortality from obesity
      related diseases, which may be partially attributable to poor diet. One reason
      for poor dietary intake may be high stress, which has been associated with
      unhealthy diets in other groups. Limited data are available regarding dietary
      patterns of black women in the Deep South and to our knowledge no studies have
      been published exploring relationships between stress and dietary patterns among
      this group. This cross-sectional study explored the relationship between stress
      and adherence to food group recommendations among black women in the Deep South.
      Participants (n = 355) provided demographic, anthropometric, stress (PSS-10), and
      dietary (NCI ASA-24 hour recall) data. Participants were obese (BMI = 36.5
      kg/m(2)) and reported moderate stress (PSS-10 score = 16) and minimal adherence
      to Dietary Guidelines for Americans food group recommendations (1/3 did not meet
      recommendations for any food group). Participants reporting higher stress had
      higher BMIs than those reporting lower stress. There was no observed relationship
      between stress and dietary intake in this sample. Based on these study findings,
      which are limited by potential misreporting of dietary intake and limited
      variability in stress measure outcomes, there is insufficient evidence to support
      a relationship between stress and dietary intake. 

PMID- 25821597
TI  - Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Lipoatrophy in Patients with HIV Infection in
      Nigeria.
AB  - Background. Although the association between lipoatrophy and highly active
      antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is well known, other nondrug factors may be
      associated with lipoatrophy in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). There are no
      reports of lipoatrophy from Nigeria, a country with the second largest number of
      PLWHA. We aimed to determine the prevalence, characteristics, and factors
      associated with lipoatrophy in a cohort of patients attending the HIV clinic in
      Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Methods. Two hundred and eighty
      eight patients with HIV infection were recruited for the study. The study
      protocol involved administration of a questionnaire, targeted physical
      examination (including anthropometric indices and skin fold thickness), and
      bioelectrical impedance analysis measurements. Lipoatrophy was defined
      clinically. Results. Lipoatrophy was present in 75 (26.0%) persons. It was
      associated with lower body circumferences, skin fold thicknesses, and lower %
      body fat with preservation of skeletal muscle mass (all P < 0.05). Male gender
      and HAART use were the factors associated with lipoatrophy on multivariate
      analysis (P < 0.05). Conclusion. Lipoatrophy is frequently encountered in
      patients with HIV infection in Nigeria, with HAART use conferring an added factor
      in its development. There is need for more physician and patient awareness of
      this condition. 

PMID- 25821598
TI  - The versatility of autologous fat transplantation in correction of facial
      deformities: a single-center experience.
AB  - Deformities in the craniofacial region are of great social and functional
      importance. Several surgical techniques have been used to treat such pathologies
      often with high morbidity and lacking the ability to address smaller contour
      defects. The minimally invasive technique of fat transplantation has evolved
      rapidly within the last few decades. The objective of this paper is to present
      the versatility and applicability of fat transplantation in a wide range of
      contour deformities in the craniofacial region. We share our experiences in
      treating 13 patients with autoimmune disorders, congenital malformations, and
      acquired defects. Future perspectives of fat transplantation in the field of
      craniofacial reconstruction are discussed. 

PMID- 25821599
TI  - Identification of Putative Molecular Markers Associated with Root Traits in
      Coffea canephora Pierre ex Froehner.
AB  - Coffea canephora exhibit poor root system and are very sensitive to drought
      stress that affects growth and production. Deeper root system has been largely
      empirical as better avoidance to soil water limitation in drought condition. The
      present study aimed to identify molecular markers linked to high root types in
      Coffea canephora using molecular markers. Contrasting parents, L1 valley with low
      root and S.3334 with high root type, were crossed, and 134 F1 individuals were
      phenotyped for root and associated physiological traits (29 traits) and genotyped
      with 41 of the 320 RAPD and 9 of the 55 SSR polymorphic primers. Single marker
      analysis was deployed for detecting the association of markers linked to root
      associated traits by SAS software. There were 13 putative RAPD markers associated
      with root traits such as root length, secondary roots, root dry weight, and root
      to shoot ratio, in which root length associated marker OPS1850 showed high
      phenotypic variance of 6.86%. Two microsatellite markers linked to root length
      (CPCM13400) and root to shoot ratio (CM211300). Besides, 25 markers were
      associated with more than one trait and few of the markers were associated with
      positively related physiological traits and can be used in marker assisted trait
      selection. 

PMID- 25821600
TI  - Knowledge and confidence of a convenience sample of australasian emergency
      doctors in managing dental emergencies: results of a survey.
AB  - Background. We aimed to determine Australasian Specialist Emergency Physicians'
      and Emergency Physicians in Training (Trainees') level of knowledge of common
      dental emergencies. We also explored confidence in managing dental emergencies;
      predictors of confidence and knowledge; and preferences for further dental
      education. Methods. A questionnaire was distributed electronically (September
      2011) and directly (November 2011) to Fellows and Trainees of the Australasian
      College for Emergency Medicine. It explored demographics, confidence, knowledge
      of dental emergencies, and educational preferences. Results. Response rate was
      13.6% (464/3405) and college members were proportionally represented by region.
      Fewer than half (186/446; 42%) had received dental training. Sixty-two percent
      (244/391, 95% CI 57.5-67.1) passed (>50%) a knowledge test. More than 60%
      incorrectly answered questions on dental fracture, periodontal abscess, tooth
      eruption dates, and ulcerative gingivitis. Forty percent (166/416) incorrectly
      answered a question about Ludwig's Angina. Eighty-three percent (360/433) were
      confident in the pharmacological management of toothache but only 26% (112/434)
      confident in recognizing periodontal disease. Knowledge was correlated with
      confidence (r = 0.488). Interactive workshops were preferred by most (386/415,
      93%). Conclusions. The knowledge and confidence of Australasian Emergency
      Physicians and Trainees in managing dental emergencies are varied, yet
      correlated. Interactive training sessions in dental emergencies are warranted. 

PMID- 25821601
TI  - Early maternal deprivation enhances voluntary alcohol intake induced by exposure
      to stressful events later in life.
AB  - In the present study, we aimed to assess the impact of early life stress, in the
      form of early maternal deprivation (MD, 24 h on postnatal day, pnd, 9), on
      voluntary alcohol intake in adolescent male and female Wistar rats. During
      adolescence, from pnd 28 to pnd 50, voluntary ethanol intake (20%, v/v) was
      investigated using the two-bottle free choice paradigm. To better understand the
      relationship between stress and alcohol consumption, voluntary alcohol intake was
      also evaluated following additional stressful events later in life, that is, a
      week of alcohol cessation and a week of alcohol cessation combined with exposure
      to restraint stress. Female animals consumed more alcohol than males only after a
      second episode of alcohol cessation combined with restraint stress. MD did not
      affect baseline voluntary alcohol intake but increased voluntary alcohol intake
      after stress exposure, indicating that MD may render animals more vulnerable to
      the effects of stress on alcohol intake. During adolescence, when animals had
      free access to alcohol, MD animals showed lower body weight gain but a higher
      growth rate than control animals. Moreover, the higher growth rate was
      accompanied by a decrease in food intake, suggesting an altered metabolic
      regulation in MD animals that may interact with alcohol intake.

PMID- 25821602
TI  - Age-related alterations in the expression of genes and synaptic plasticity
      associated with nitric oxide signaling in the mouse dorsal striatum.
AB  - Age-related alterations in the expression of genes and corticostriatal synaptic
      plasticity were studied in the dorsal striatum of mice of four age groups from
      young (2-3 months old) to old (18-24 months of age) animals. A significant
      decrease in transcripts encoding neuronal nitric oxide (NO) synthase and
      receptors involved in its activation (NR1 subunit of the glutamate NMDA receptor
      and D1 dopamine receptor) was found in the striatum of old mice using gene array
      and real-time RT-PCR analysis. The old striatum showed also a significantly
      higher number of GFAP-expressing astrocytes and an increased expression of
      astroglial, inflammatory, and oxidative stress markers. Field potential
      recordings from striatal slices revealed age-related alterations in the magnitude
      and dynamics of electrically induced long-term depression (LTD) and significant
      enhancement of electrically induced long-term potentiation in the middle-aged
      striatum (6-7 and 12-13 months of age). Corticostriatal NO-dependent LTD induced
      by pharmacological activation of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors
      underwent significant reduction with aging and could be restored by inhibition of
      cGMP hydrolysis indicating that its age-related deficit is caused by an altered
      NO-cGMP signaling cascade. It is suggested that age-related alterations in
      corticostriatal synaptic plasticity may result from functional alterations in
      receptor-activated signaling cascades associated with increasing
      neuroinflammation and a prooxidant state. 

PMID- 25821603
TI  - Intensity sensitive modulation effect of theta burst form of median nerve
      stimulation on the monosynaptic spinal reflex.
AB  - The effects of electrical stimulation of median nerve with a continuous theta
      burst pattern (EcTBS) on the spinal H-reflex were studied. Different intensities
      and durations of EcTBS were given to the median nerve to 11 healthy individuals.
      The amplitude ratio of the H-reflex to maximum M wave (H/M ratio), corticospinal
      excitability and inhibition measured using motor evoked potentials (MEPs), short
      interval intracortical inhibition and facilitation (SICI/ICF), spinal reciprocal
      inhibition (RI), and postactivation depression (PAD) were measured before and
      after EcTBS. In result, the H/M ratio was reduced followed by EcTBS at 90% H
      reflex threshold, and the effect lasted longer after 1200 pulses than after 600
      pulses of EcTBS. In contrast, EcTBS at 110% threshold facilitated the H/M ratio,
      while at 80% threshold it had no effect. Maximum M wave, MEPs, SICI/ICF, RI, and
      PAD all remained unchanged after EcTBS. In conclusion, EcTBS produced lasting
      effects purely on the H-reflex, probably, through effects on postsynaptic
      plasticity. The effect of EcTBS depends on the intensity and duration of
      stimulation. EcTBS is beneficial to research on mechanisms of human plasticity.
      Moreover, its ability to modulate spinal excitability is expected to have
      therapeutic benefits on neurological disorders involving spinal cord dysfunction.

PMID- 25821604
TI  - Cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation effects on saccade adaptation.
AB  - Saccade adaptation is a cerebellar-mediated type of motor learning in which the
      oculomotor system is exposed to repetitive errors. Different types of saccade
      adaptations are thought to involve distinct underlying cerebellar mechanisms.
      Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) induces changes in neuronal
      excitability in a polarity-specific manner and offers a modulatory, noninvasive,
      functional insight into the learning aspects of different brain regions. We aimed
      to modulate the cerebellar influence on saccade gains during adaptation using
      tDCS. Subjects performed an inward (n = 10) or outward (n = 10) saccade
      adaptation experiment (25% intrasaccadic target step) while receiving 1.5 mA of
      anodal cerebellar tDCS delivered by a small contact electrode. Compared to sham
      stimulation, tDCS increased learning of saccadic inward adaptation but did not
      affect learning of outward adaptation. This may imply that plasticity mechanisms
      in the cerebellum are different between inward and outward adaptation. TDCS could
      have influenced specific cerebellar areas that contribute to inward but not
      outward adaptation. We conclude that tDCS can be used as a neuromodulatory
      technique to alter cerebellar oculomotor output, arguably by engaging wider
      cerebellar areas and increasing the available resources for learning. 

PMID- 25821605
TI  - Acute Spontaneous Coronary Artery Thrombosis as Initial Presentation of HIV
      Infection in a Young Man.
AB  - Introduction. The presentation of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in young HIV
      patients may be atypical with different pathophysiological and clinical features.
      Acute coronary thrombosis, as a presentation of acute coronary syndrome in young
      patients with HIV, raises diagnostic and treatment challenges. Case Presentation.
      We describe a case of a 33-year-old African man, without traditional
      atherosclerotic risk factors, who presented with chest pain of acute onset.
      Emergent coronary angiography revealed extensive thrombus in the left anterior
      descending coronary artery with no evidence of atherosclerosis in this or other
      coronary vessels. Plaque and/or thrombus prolapse through the stent was noted
      following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Resolution of chest pain and
      improvement in ST-segment elevation was noted after the procedure. A diagnosis of
      HIV infection was made during the workup for HIV infection. Conclusion. In young
      patients without traditional risk factors, HIV infection is a possible
      etiological factor for spontaneous coronary artery thrombosis. Percutaneous
      coronary intervention in patients with this presentation may be compounded with
      atherothrombotic complications. The likely pathophysiological pathway is
      superficial endothelial cell denudation as a result of chronic inflammation and
      immune activation. 

PMID- 25821606
TI  - Warthin-Like Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Associated with Lymphadenopathy and
      Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.
AB  - Defining the histologic variant of thyroid carcinoma is an important clinical
      implication as their progression, recurrence, aggressiveness, and prognosis
      differ. Warthin-like variant is one of the rarest histologic variants of
      papillary thyroid cancer. A 36-year-old female sought consult for assessment of a
      painless right neck tumor. High-resolution neck ultrasound revealed a right
      hypoechoic, 1.71 * 1.05 cm thyroid nodule. Ultrasound-guided fine-needle
      aspiration biopsy report was a Bethesda grade III. Thyroid function tests showed
      Hashimoto's thyroiditis. The patient underwent right hemithyroidectomy.
      Microscopically, the tumor was composed of papillae lined by cells with
      eosinophilic cytoplasm, nuclear chromatin clearing, grooves, and pseudoinclusions
      and a characteristic lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate of the papillae cores.
      Extension into the perithyroidal soft tissue and 3 ipsilateral lymph nodes was
      found to be positive for cancer. Warthin-like variant is an uncommon and
      relatively unknown variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma that has been usually
      associated with an excellent prognosis. Interestingly, BRAF mutations have been
      reported to be present in up to 75% of the patients. It is frequently associated
      with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and presents unique morphological features that make
      it recognizable on histologic examination. The cytological diagnosis is difficult
      to assess due to the overlap in its findings with the classical variant and
      Hashimoto's thyroiditis. 

PMID- 25821607
TI  - Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome 3 onset with severe ketoacidosis in a 74-year
      old woman.
AB  - Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D), autoimmune thyroid disease, and autoimmune
      gastritis often occur together forming the so-called autoimmune polyendocrine
      syndrome type 3 (APS3). We here report a clinical case of a 74-year-old woman who
      presented for the first time with severe hyperglycemia and ketoacidosis diagnosed
      as T1D. Further clinical investigations revealed concomitant severe
      hypothyroidism with autoimmune thyroid disease and severe cobalamin deficiency
      due to chronic atrophic gastritis. The diagnosis of type 1 diabetes mellitus was
      confirmed by the detection of autoantibodies against glutamic acid decarboxylase
      65, islet cell antibodies, and anti-insulin autoantibodies. Anti-thyroperoxidase,
      anti-thyroglobulin, and anti-gastric parietal cell antibodies were also clearly
      positive. The case emphasized that new onset diabetic ketoacidosis,
      hypothyroidism, and cobalamin deficiency may simultaneously occur, and one
      disease can mask the features of the other, thereby making diagnosis difficult.
      It is noteworthy that an APS3 acute episode occurred in an asymptomatic elder
      woman for any autoimmune diseases. 

PMID- 25821608
TI  - A Complicated Case of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia in the Second Trimester of
      Pregnancy Successfully Treated with All-trans-Retinoic Acid.
AB  - A 40-year-old female at 26-week gestation was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic
      leukemia (APL) after an abnormal prenatal lab workup showed pancytopenia. She was
      treated with all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), idarubicin, and dexamethasone. After
      day one of treatment, she developed differentiation syndrome, which was treated
      with dexamethasone. At 30-week gestation, she had preterm premature rupture of
      membranes and delivered by cesarean section because of the fetus' breech
      presentation. Despite ATRA's potential for teratogenicity, a viable infant was
      born without apparent anomalies. Postpartum, she underwent consolidation
      treatment with ATRA and arsenic trioxide (ATO). The patient continued ATRA
      therapy after delivery and is currently in remission. 

PMID- 25821609
TI  - Fulminant Shigellosis in a HIV Patient.
AB  - Infectious enterocolitis caused by shigella is usually self-limiting and seldom
      requires antibiotics treatment. It is uncommon to develop fulminant shigellosis
      requiring surgery. We report a rare case of fulminant shigellosis in a HIV
      patient with recurring infection which could not be managed with intravenous
      antibiotics. CT reviewed extensive colonic wall thickening and stranding with
      evidence of pneumatosis coli. The patient eventually required a Hartmann
      procedure. Although fulminant shigellosis is uncommon, thorough assessment and
      vigilant management are warranted in immunosuppressed patient. 

PMID- 25821610
TI  - Brain abscess after percutaneous therapy for trigeminal neuralgia.
AB  - We report a case of brain abscess following the percutaneous treatment for
      trigeminal neuralgia. This procedure envisages the access with a needle into the
      middle cranial fossa through the oral cavity. Thus, in this case, the bacterial
      infection can be more likely ascribed to the possible contamination of the needle
      inside the oral cavity rather than to other frequent and more controllable causes
      of infection like an imperfect sterilization of surgical instruments or an
      inadequate antiseptic preparation of both operator's hands and patient's skin.
      The subsequent brain abscess was treated with antibiotic therapy (Vancomycin 2 gr
      a day and Meropenem 8 g a day for 22 days before the surgical procedure and 30
      days after, until complete normalization of laboratory parameters, clinical
      parameters, and neurological symptoms) and surgical drainage, although the
      culture of the abscess capsule and the purulent material resulted sterile. In
      conclusion, the percutaneous therapy for trigeminal neuralgia can be objectively
      related to risks, even if performed by expert hands. Therefore, it is important
      that the patient should be advised regarding risks/benefits and/or septic
      complications of such procedures, even if they occur very seldom. An association
      of surgery and antibiotic therapy results as effective treatment for this
      pathologic condition. 

PMID- 25821611
TI  - Disseminated Nocardiosis: A Successful Blind Strategy of Treatment in an HIV
      Infected Patient.
AB  - Background. Nocardiosis is a rare disease that mainly affects severely
      immunocompromised patients. Symptoms are nonspecific and microbiological
      isolation is difficult, hiding the diagnosis. Treatment should be guided by
      species and susceptibility testing. Findings. We report a clinical case of a
      disseminated nocardiosis in a patient with HIV and HVB infections.
      Interpretation. Diagnosis should be presumed early and microbiological conditions
      should be optimized, in order to identify the species and achieve antibiotic
      susceptibility testing. This is a very important step to choose an effective
      therapeutic regimen or alternative options. 

PMID- 25821612
TI  - Lichen planus induced by pegylated interferon alfa-2a therapy in a patient
      monitored for delta hepatitis.
AB  - Interferons are used for treatment of chronic hepatitis B. They can induce or
      exacerbate some skin disorders, such as lichen planus. In this study, as we know,
      we presented the first case developing lichen planus while receiving interferon
      treatment due to delta hepatitis. A 31-year-old male patient presented to our
      outpatient clinic with HBsAg positivity. With his analyses, HBV DNA was negative,
      anti-delta total was positive, ALT was 72 U/L (upper limit 41 U/L), and platelet
      was 119 000/mm(3). He was therefore started on subcutaneous pegylated interferon
      alfa-2a therapy at 180 mcg/week for delta hepatitis. At month 4 of therapy, the
      patient developed diffuse eroded lace-like lesions in oral mucosa, white plaques
      on lips, and itchy papular lesions in the hands and feet. Lichen planus was
      considered by the dermatology clinic and topical treatment (mometasone furoate)
      was given. The lesions persisted at month 5 of therapy and biopsy samples were
      obtained from oral mucosal lesions and interferon dose was reduced to 135
      mcg/week. Biopsy demonstrated nonkeratinized stratified squamous epithelium;
      epithelial acanthosis, spongiosis, and apoptotic bodies were observed in the
      epidermis and therefore lichen planus was considered. At month 6 of therapy,
      lesions did not improve and even progressed and interferon treatment was
      therefore discontinued. 

PMID- 25821613
TI  - Family Outbreaks of Nontyphoidal Salmonellosis following a Meal of Guinea Pigs.
AB  - Salmonella outbreaks have been linked to a wide variety of foods, including
      recent nationwide outbreaks. Guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), also known as cuy or
      cobayo, has long been a popular delicacy and ceremonial food in the Andean region
      in South America. This case report describes three family outbreaks of
      nontyphoidal salmonellosis, each occurring after a meal of guinea pigs. We
      believe this case report is the first to describe a probable association between
      the consumption of guinea pig meat and human salmonellosis. Physicians should be
      aware of the association of Salmonella and the consumption of guinea pigs, given
      the increasing immigration of people from the Andean region of South America and
      the increasing travel to this region. 

PMID- 25821614
TI  - The impact of intensified hemodialysis on pruritus in an end stage renal disease
      patient with biliary ductopenia.
AB  - We report a unique observation characterized by the coexistence of idiopathic
      adulthood ductopenia (IAD), a rare cholestatic disease, and end stage renal
      failure treated by conventional hemodialysis in a patient awaiting double renal
      and liver transplantation. As pruritus gradually worsened, we hypothesized that
      intensified dialysis could alleviate the symptoms. Conventional hemodialysis
      following 3 hours/3 times a week regimen was initiated in December 2013. Due to
      increasing pruritus not responding to standard medical therapy, intensified
      hemodialysis following 2.5 hours/5 times a week regimen was started in May 2014.
      During two weeks, a temporary decrease in bilirubin levels was observed. No major
      changes on other liver function tests and inflammatory markers occurred.
      Nevertheless, a persistent improvement on pruritus and general wellbeing was
      obtained during the four weeks' study period. The pathogenesis of itch
      encompasses multiple factors, and, in our case, both uremic and cholestatic
      pruritus are involved, although the latter is likely to account for a greater
      proportion. By improving itch intensity, through better clearance of uremic and
      cholestatic toxins which we detail further, intensive dialysis appears to be an
      acceptable short-term method for patients with hepatic cholestasis and moderate
      pruritus not responding to conventional therapy. Additional studies are needed to
      assess and differentiate precisely factors contributing to pruritus of both
      origins. 

PMID- 25821615
TI  - Acute dysphasia and reversible cognitive decline in a patient with probable
      cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related inflammation.
AB  - Cerebral amyloid angiopathy related inflammation (CAAri) is becoming increasingly
      recognised as a subset of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). CAAri generally
      presents with subacute cognitive decline, headaches, seizures, behavioral
      changes, and focal neurological deficits. We describe a patient who developed
      acute dysphasia and reversible cognitive decline due to probable CAAri. CT brain
      showed bilateral vasogenic edema in the cerebral hemispheres, predominantly
      involving the parietal and temporal lobes, left greater than right without
      enhancement. Magnetic resonance brain imaging showed extensive multifocal areas
      of subcortical white matter T2 hyperintensity in the frontal and temporal regions
      with associated mass effect, negligible enhancement, and multiple foci of
      microhemorrhage on susceptibility weighted imaging sequences consistent with a
      diagnosis of probable CAAri. She responded dramatically to a course of
      intravenous methylprednisolone followed by further immunosuppression with pulse
      intravenous cyclophosphamide. Her dysphasia resolved within 5 days of intravenous
      methylprednisolone therapy. Her MMSE improved from 11/30 at day 5 of admission to
      28/30 at 6-month follow-up. The notable features of our case were the unusual CT
      findings, which were inconsistent with stroke and diagnostic utility of
      susceptibility-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in confirming the diagnosis
      which allowed for prompt institution of immunosuppression. 

PMID- 25821616
TI  - Tracheal agenesis: a challenging prenatal diagnosis-contribution of fetal MRI.
AB  - Tracheal agenesis is a rare congenital anomaly. The prevalence is less than 1 :
      50 000 with a male to female ratio of 2 : 1. This anomaly may be isolated but, in
      93% of cases, it is part of polymalformative syndrome. The most evocative
      diagnosis situation is the ultrasonographic congenital high airway obstruction
      syndrome. Dilated airways, enlarged lungs with flattened diaphragm, fetal ascites
      and severe nonimmune hydrops can be observed. In the absence of a congenital high
      airway obstruction syndrome, the antenatal diagnosis of tracheal agenesis is
      difficult. Tracheal agenesis should be suspected in the presence of an
      unexplained polyhydramnios associated with congenital malformations. The fetal
      airway exploration should then be systematically performed by fetal thoracic
      magnetic resonance imaging. A case of Floyd's type II tracheal agenesis, detected
      during the postnatal period, is reported here. The retrospective reexamination of
      fetal magnetic resonance images showed that the antenatal diagnosis would have
      been easy if a systematical examination of upper airways had been performed.
      Prenatal diagnosis of tracheal agenesis is possible with fetal MRI but the really
      challenge is to think about this pathology. 

PMID- 25821617
TI  - Drug resistant fetal arrhythmia in obstetric cholestasis.
AB  - Obstetric cholestasis (OC) is a pregnancy specific liver disease characterized by
      increased levels of bile acid (BA) and pruritus. Raised maternal BA levels could
      be associated with intrauterine death, fetal distress, and preterm labor and also
      alter the rate and rhythm of cardiomyocyte contraction and may cause fetal
      arrhythmic events. We report a case of drug resistant fetal supraventricular
      tachycardia and concomitant OC. Conclusion. If there are maternal OC and
      concomitant fetal arrhythmia, possibility of the resistance to antiarrhythmic
      treatment should be kept in mind. 

PMID- 25821618
TI  - Primary borderline mucinous tumors of the testis: a case report and literature
      review.
AB  - Ovarian-type epithelial tumors of the testes and paratestes are very rare.
      Mucinous subtypes of such tumors are extremely rare; only 25 cases have been
      reported to date. Ovarian-type epithelial tumors are histologically classified
      into cystadenomas, borderline tumors, and carcinomas. We herein report a case
      involving a 60-year-old man with a primary borderline mucinous tumor of the
      testis. He underwent orchiectomy and has developed no recurrence for 4 years.
      This is the 26th report of a mucinous tumor of the testis in the literature. We
      also herein review the literature and discuss the etiology, prognosis, and
      treatment of mucinous tumors of the testes. 

PMID- 25821619
TI  - Intravitreal aflibercept injection and photodynamic treatment of a patient with
      unilateral subretinal neovascular membrane associated with fundus flavimaculatus.
AB  - We report the good outcome of combined intravitreal aflibercept injection and
      photodynamic treatment in a case with fundus flavimaculatus (FFM) and unilateral
      subretinal neovascular membrane (SRNM). A 57-year-old man with FFM and unilateral
      SRNM who was treated with two consecutive ranibizumab injections with no
      improvement at another institution was referred to us. He was treated
      successfully with three aflibercept injections three months apart and a single
      photodynamic treatment performed a week after the initial aflibercept injection.
      Six weeks after the last aflibercept injection visual acuity was improved and
      submacular exudation exhibited dramatic resolution with a moderate degree of
      residual scarring. SRNM formation is rarely observed in eyes with FFM and a
      satisfactory outcome can be achieved with a proper treatment. 

PMID- 25821620
TI  - Massive temporal lobe cholesteatoma.
AB  - Introduction. Intracranial extension of cholesteatoma is rare. This may occur de
      novo or recur some time later either contiguous with or separate to the site of
      the original cholesteatoma. Presentation of Case. A 63-year-old female presented
      to a tertiary referral hospital with a fluctuating level of consciousness, fever,
      headache, and right-sided otorrhoea, progressing over several days. Her past
      medical history included surgery for right ear cholesteatoma and drainage of
      intracranial abscess 23 years priorly. There had been no relevant symptoms in the
      interim until 6 weeks prior to this presentation. Imaging demonstrated a large
      right temporal lobe mass contiguous with the middle ear and mastoid cavity with
      features consistent with cholesteatoma. The patient underwent a combined
      transmastoid/middle fossa approach for removal of the cholesteatoma and repair of
      the tegmen dehiscence. The patient made an uneventful recovery and remains well
      over 12 months later. Conclusion. This case presentation details a large
      intracranial cholesteatoma which had extended through a tegmen tympani dehiscence
      from recurrent right ear cholesteatoma treated by modified radical mastoidectomy
      over two decades priorly. There was a completely asymptomatic progression of
      disease until several weeks prior to this presentation. 

PMID- 25821621
TI  - Acute traumatic injury of the larynx.
AB  - Laryngeal trauma is rare but serious and potentially deadly injury. The prompt
      diagnosis and management of acute laryngeal trauma is necessary because the
      clinical presentation is variable depending on the location, severity, and
      mechanism of injury. Two case histories are presented: (1) case history A: a 53
      year-old male, after motor vehicle accident, fractured the mid anterior thyroid
      cartilage and both aspects of the cricoid cartilage; however, this patient was
      asymptomatic from the above fractures; and (2) case history B: a 41-year-old male
      who sustained trauma to the chest, neck, and left arm after being struck by a
      large lead pipe which fractured the left aspect of the cricoid cartilage was
      symptomatic. The type rather than the severity of acute laryngeal injury and the
      mechanism of injury may be related to symptomatology. Acute laryngeal trauma
      should be recognized by trauma radiologists and emergency room physicians. Early
      diagnosis and management of acute laryngeal trauma may prevent unnecessary
      specialty consults and long-term complications. 

PMID- 25821622
TI  - Robust and sustained effect of ketamine infusions coadministered with
      conventional antidepressants in a patient with refractory major depression.
AB  - Antidepressant treatments show low capacity to achieve full clinical remissions.
      Electroconvulsive therapy is an alternative treatment which has been shown to be
      more effective but it is not well tolerated and there are concerns regarding its
      safety. We present the case of a patient with resistant depression and modest and
      transient response to ECT and who showed a robust and maintained response after
      six i.v. ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) infusions without withdrawing her antidepressant
      regimen. Ketamine was very well tolerated. This case illustrates the potential
      role of ketamine as a booster to standard antidepressants. 

PMID- 25821623
TI  - Transcatheter Arterial Coil Embolization of Ruptured Common Hepatic Artery
      Aneurysm in a Patient with Behcet's Disease.
AB  - Hepatic artery aneurysm is a rare and potentially life-threatening entity. We
      report a case of ruptured common hepatic artery aneurysm in a patient with
      Behcet's disease. The ruptured aneurysm was treated successfully with
      transcatheter arterial coil embolization. Transcatheter arterial embolization is
      the preferred treatment modality in patients at high risk of surgical
      intervention. 

PMID- 25821624
TI  - Bullous systemic lupus erythematosus associated with esophagitis dissecans
      superficialis.
AB  - Bullous systemic lupus erythematosus is one of the rare autoantibody mediated
      skin manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) demonstrating
      subepidermal blistering with neutrophilic infiltrate histologically. We present a
      case of a 40-year-old Hispanic female who presented with a several months'
      history of multiple blistering pruritic skin lesions involving the face and
      trunk, a photosensitive rash over the face and neck, swelling of the right neck
      lymph node, and joint pain involving her elbows and wrist. Her malady was
      diagnosed as bullous systemic lupus erythematosus based on the immunological
      workup and biopsy of her skin lesions. The patient also complained of odynophagia
      and endoscopy revealed esophagitis dissecans superficialis which is a rare
      endoscopic finding characterized by sloughing of the esophageal mucosa. The
      bullous disorders typically associated with esophagitis dissecans superficialis
      are pemphigus and rarely bullous pemphigoid. However, this is the first reported
      case of bullous systemic lupus erythematosus associated with esophagitis
      dissecans superficialis. 

PMID- 25821625
TI  - Congenital agenesis of the internal jugular vein: an extremely rare anomaly.
AB  - Vascular anomalies of major venous vessels are rarely seen. Moreover, congenital
      absence of internal jugular vein is extremely uncommon. In our case, a female
      patient presented with primary unknown left cervical mass. Cervical
      ultrasonography demonstrated absence of right internal jugular vein. In addition,
      computed tomography and dynamic magnetic resonance imaging scans confirmed this
      diagnosis. Compensatory left internal jugular vein enlargement mimicked sort of
      cervical mass. Venous magnetic resonance imaging images revealed the absence of
      right internal jugular vein with compensatory left internal jugular vein
      dominance. In the literature, the agenesis of IJV was mentioned in a case with
      concomitant multiple problems. Here, an asymptomatic case is reported with an
      incident diagnosis. No interventions were planned upon the patient's request. It
      should be kept in mind that any kind of anomalies can be seen during venous
      access and neck surgery. 

PMID- 25821626
TI  - Limy bile syndrome complicated with primary hyperparathyroidism.
AB  - Limy bile is a relatively rare condition, in which a radiopaque material is
      visible in the gallbladder on plain radiography or computerized tomography. Cases
      of complicated hyperparathyroidism are extremely rare. We report a patient with
      right upper quadrant and epigastric pain and extremity weakness in whom abdominal
      tomography showed limy bile in the gallbladder and laboratory values showed high
      levels of serum calcium and parathormone. 

PMID- 25821627
TI  - Prostate cancer metastatic to the cervical lymph nodes.
AB  - Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, often presenting with regional
      lymph node or bone metastasis and rarely with supradiaphragmatic lymph node
      involvement. Most metastatic cancers involving the cervical lymph nodes are from
      cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract. In this report, we describe two cases
      with cervical lymph node enlargement due to metastatic prostate cancer as the
      initial clinical presentation: a 43-year-old male, initially misdiagnosed with a
      tumor of the upper aerodigestive tract and an 87-year-old male with right lobe
      pneumonia and cervical lymph node enlargement, initially attributed to be an
      acute inflammatory lymph node reaction. To the best of our knowledge, there are
      less than 50 cases reported in the literature of adenocarcinoma of prostate
      metastatic to the cervical lymph nodes and only one case presenting in men
      younger than 45 years. The authors intend to highlight the importance of digital
      rectal exam and PSA test in case of persistent left cervical lymph node
      enlargement, including men younger than 45 years of age. 

PMID- 25821628
TI  - Mediastinal B-cell lymphoma presenting with jugular-subclavian deep vein
      thrombosis as the first presentation.
AB  - Jugular venous thrombosis infrequently could be secondary to malignancy and has
      seldom been reported secondary to mediastinal large B-cell lymphomas. The
      postulated mechanisms are mechanical compression that leads to stagnation of
      blood in the venous system of the neck and/or an increase in the circulating
      thrombogenic elements that could cause venous thromboembolism as a paraneoplastic
      phenomenon. We report the case of a middle aged male presenting with right sided
      neck pain and arm swelling secondary to ipsilateral jugular-subclavian deep vein
      thrombosis. Investigations revealed it to be secondary to a mediastinal mass
      shown on CT scan of the chest. 

PMID- 25821629
TI  - Predictors of intention to quit waterpipe smoking: a survey of arab americans in
      houston, Texas.
AB  - Waterpipe smoking has been described as "the second global tobacco epidemic since
      the cigarette." Both Middle Eastern ethnicity and having a friend of Middle
      Eastern ethnicity have been reported as significant predictors of waterpipe
      smoking. Addressing waterpipe smoking in this ethnic minority is essential to
      controlling this growing epidemic in the US. We investigated the predictors of an
      intention to quit waterpipe smoking by surveying 340 Arab American adults in the
      Houston area. Primary analyses were conducted using stepwise logistic regression.
      Only 27% of participants reported having an intention to quit waterpipe smoking.
      Intention to quit waterpipe smoking was significantly higher with history of
      cigar use, a prior attempt to quit, and not smoking when seriously ill and
      significantly lower with increasing age, medium cultural acceptability of using
      waterpipe among family, high cultural acceptability of using waterpipe among
      friends, longer duration of smoking sessions, and perceiving waterpipe smoking as
      less harmful than cigarettes. Educational programs that target Arab Americans in
      general, and specifically older adults, those who smoke waterpipe for more than
      60 minutes, those whose family and friends approve waterpipe smoking, and those
      with no former attempts to quit, may be necessary to increase the intention to
      quit waterpipe smoking. 

PMID- 25821630
TI  - Inhibitory effects of sodium arsenite and acacia honey on acetylcholinesterase in
      rats.
AB  - This study was conducted to investigate the effect of sodium arsenite and Acacia
      honey on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and electrolytes in the brain and
      serum of Wistar rats. Male Wistar albino rats in four groups of five rats each
      were treated with distilled water, sodium arsenite (5 mg/kg body weight), Acacia
      honey (20% v/v), and sodium arsenite and Acacia honey, daily for one week. The
      sodium arsenite and Acacia honey significantly (P < 0.05) decreased AChE activity
      in the brain with the combined treatment being more potent. Furthermore, sodium
      arsenite and Acacia honey significantly (P < 0.05) decreased AChE activity in the
      serum. Strong correlation was observed between the sodium and calcium ion levels
      with acetylcholinesterase activity in the brain and serum. The gas chromatography
      mass spectrometry analysis of Acacia honey revealed the presence of a number of
      bioactive compounds such as phenolics, sugar derivatives, and fatty acids. These
      findings suggest that sodium arsenite and/or Acacia honey modulates
      acetylcholinesterase activities which may be explored in the management of
      Alzheimer's diseases but this might be counteracted by the hepatotoxicity induced
      by arsenics. 

PMID- 25821631
TI  - Serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines in painful knee osteoarthritis and
      sensitization.
AB  - Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disorder in the world. Among the
      mechanisms involved in osteoarthritis, biomarkers (cytokines profile) may be
      related to pain and pain intensity, functional capacity, and pressure pain
      thresholds (PPT). Thus, the study of these relationships may offer useful
      information about pathophysiology and associated mechanisms involved in
      osteoarthritis. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the
      seric concentration of pro (IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-alpha) and anti-inflammatory (IL
      10) cytokines in patients with painful knee osteoarthritis and to correlate the
      levels of these biomarkers with the patients' functional capacity and pressure
      pain threshold (PPT) values. 

PMID- 25821632
TI  - Quantitative determination of lercanidipine enantiomers in commercial
      formulations by capillary electrophoresis.
AB  - An enantioselective method based on capillary electrophoresis (CE) using
      cyclodextrin (CD) as chiral selector was developed and validated for
      determination of lercanidipine (LER) enantiomers, a drug calcium channel blocker
      which exerts antihypertensive effects of long duration, in a pharmaceutical
      formulation. Optimum separation of LER enantiomers was obtained on a 50 cm * 50
      MUm id capillary using a sodium acetate buffer solution 200 mmol/L pH 4.0
      containing 10 mmol/L of 2,3,6-o-methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (TM-beta-CD) as
      background electrolyte. The capillary temperature and voltage were 15 degrees C
      and 25 kV, respectively, hydrodynamic injection and detection at 237 nm.
      Linearity was obtained in the range 12.5-100 MUg/mL for both enantiomers (r >=
      0.995). The RSD (%) and relative errors (E, %) obtained in precision and accuracy
      studies (intraday and interday) were lower than 5%. After validation, the method
      was applied to quantify the enantiomers of LER in commercial tablets and the
      results were satisfactory in terms of accuracy and precision, both less than 5%.
      Therefore, this method was found to be appropriate for enantioselective quality
      control of LER enantiomers in pharmaceutical formulations. 

PMID- 25821633
TI  - Behaviour of silica and florisil as solid supports in the removal process of
      as(v) from aqueous solutions.
AB  - In this study two solid supports, silica and florisil, were impregnated with
      crown ether (dibenzo-18-crown-6) and Fe(III) ions and their efficiency was
      compared in the adsorption process of As(V) from aqueous solutions. The solid
      supports were impregnated with crown ether due to their ability to build
      complexes with positives ions. Fe(III) was used because of As(V) affinity for it.
      The impregnated solid supports were characterized by energy dispersive X-ray
      analysis, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,
      and the specific surface area. The influence of the solid : liquid ratio on the
      adsorption process, kinetic studies for the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second
      order, and activation energy were studied. Thermodynamic studies as well as
      equilibrium studies were carried out. The obtained results showed that, from the
      two considered materials, impregnated silica presents a higher efficiency with a
      good selectivity, able to remove As(V) from aqueous solutions containing trace
      concentrations. 

PMID- 25821634
TI  - Robust PLS Prediction Model for Saikosaponin A in Bupleurum chinense DC. Coupled
      with Granularity-Hybrid Calibration Set.
AB  - This study demonstrated particle size effect on the measurement of saikosaponin A
      in Bupleurum chinense DC. by near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy. Four
      types of granularity were prepared including powder samples passed through 40
      mesh, 65-mesh, 80-mesh, and 100-mesh sieve. Effects of granularity on NIR spectra
      were investigated, which showed to be wavelength dependent. NIR intensity was
      proportional to particle size in the first combination-overtone and combination
      region. Local partial least squares model was constructed separately for every
      kind of samples, and data-preprocessing techniques were performed to optimize
      calibration model. The 65-mesh model exhibited the best prediction ability with
      root mean of square error of prediction (RMSEP) = 0.492 mg.g(-1), correlation
      coefficient (R P ) = 0.9221, and relative predictive determinant (RPD) = 2.58.
      Furthermore, a granularity-hybrid calibration model was developed by
      incorporating granularity variation. Granularity-hybrid model showed better
      performance than local model. The model performance with 65-mesh samples was
      still the most accurate with RMSEP = 0.481 mg.g(-1), R P = 0.9279, and RPD =
      2.64. All the results presented the guidance for construction of a robust model
      coupled with granularity-hybrid calibration set. 

PMID- 25821637
TI  - Stop Aging Disease! ICAD 2014.
AB  - On November 1-2, 2014, there took place in Beijing, China, the first
      International Conference on Aging and Disease (ICAD 2014) of the International
      Society on Aging and Disease (ISOAD). The conference participants presented a
      wide and exciting front of work dedicated to amelioration of aging-related
      conditions, ranging from regenerative medicine through developing geroprotective
      substances, elucidating a wide range of mechanisms of aging and aging-related
      diseases, from energy metabolism through genetics and immunomodulation to systems
      biology. The conference further emphasized the need to intensify and support
      research on aging and aging-related diseases to provide solutions for the urgent
      health challenges of the aging society. 

PMID- 25821635
TI  - Non-coding RNA: a new frontier in regulatory biology.
AB  - A striking finding in the past decade is the production of numerous non-coding
      RNAs (ncRNAs) from mammalian genomes. While it is entirely possible that many of
      those ncRNAs are transcription noises or by-products of RNA processing,
      increasing evidence suggests that a large fraction of them are functional and
      provide various regulatory activities in the cell. Thus, functional genomics and
      proteomics are incomplete without understanding functional ribonomics. As has
      been long suggested by the 'RNA world' hypothesis, many ncRNAs have the capacity
      to act like proteins in diverse biochemical processes. The enormous amount of
      information residing in the primary sequences and secondary structures of ncRNAs
      makes them particularly suited to function as scaffolds for molecular
      interactions. In addition, their functions appear to be stringently controlled by
      default via abundant nucleases when not engaged in specific interactions. This
      review focuses on the functional properties of regulatory ncRNAs in comparison
      with proteins and emphasizes both the opportunities and challenges in future
      ncRNA research.

PMID- 25821636
TI  - Simultaneous Dual Selective Targeted Delivery of Two Covalent Gemcitabine
      Immunochemotherapeutics and Complementary Anti-Neoplastic Potency of [Se]
      Methylselenocysteine.
AB  - : The anti-metabolite chemotherapeutic, gemcitabine is relatively effective for a
      spectrum of neoplastic conditions that include various forms of leukemia and
      adenocarcinoma/carcinoma. Rapid systemic deamination of gemcitabine accounts for
      a brief plasma half-life but its sustained administration is often curtailed by
      sequelae and chemotherapeutic-resistance. A molecular strategy that diminishes
      these limitations is the molecular design and synthetic production of covalent
      gemcitabine immunochemotherapeutics that possess properties of selective
      "targeted" delivery. The simultaneous dual selective "targeted" delivery of
      gemcitabine at two separate sites on the external surface membrane of a single
      cancer cell types represents a therapeutic approach that can increase cytosol
      chemotherapeutic deposition; prolong chemotherapeutic plasma half-life (reduces
      administration frequency); minimize innocent exposure of normal tissues and
      healthy organ systems; and ultimately enhance more rapid and thorough resolution
      of neoplastic cell populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A light-reactive
      gemcitabine intermediate synthesized utilizing succinimidyl 4,4-azipentanoate was
      covalently bound to anti-EGFR or anti-HER2/neu IgG by exposure to UV light (354
      nm) resulting in the synthesis of covalent immunochemotherapeutics, gemcitabine
      (C4-amide)-[anti-EGFR] and gemcitabine-(C4-amide)-[anti-HER2/neu]. Cytotoxic anti
      neoplastic potency of gemcitabine-(C4-amide)-[anti-EGFR] and gemcitabine-(C4
      amide)-[anti-HER2/neu] between gemcitabine-equivalent concentrations of 10-12 M
      and 10-6 M was determined utilizing chemotherapeutic-resistant mammary
      adenocarcinoma (SKRr-3). The organoselenium compound, [Se]-methylselenocysteine
      was evaluated to determine if it complemented the anti-neoplastic potency of the
      covalent gemcitabine immunochemotherapeutics. RESULTS: Gemcitabine-(C4-amide)
      [anti-EGFR], gemcitabine-(C4-amide)-[anti-HER2/neu] and the dual simultaneous
      combination of gemcitabine-(C4-amide)-[anti-EGFR] with gemcitabine-(C4-amide)
      [anti-HER2/neu] all had anti-neoplastic cytotoxic potency against mammary
      adenocarcinoma. Gemcitabine-(C4-amide)-[anti-EGFR] and gemcitabine-(C4-amide)
      [anti-HER2/neu] produced progressive increases in anti-neoplastic cytotoxicity
      that were greatest between gemcitabine-equivalent concentrations of 10-9 M and 10
      6 M. Dual simultaneous combinations of gemcitabine-(C4-amide)-[anti-EGFR] with
      gemcitabine-(C4-amide)-[anti-HER2/neu] produced levels of anti-neoplastic
      cytotoxicity intermediate between each of the individual covalent gemcitabine
      immunochemotherapeutics. Total anti-neoplastic cytotoxicity of the dual
      simultaneous combination of gemcitabine-(C4-amide)-[anti-EGFR] and gemcitabine
      (C4-amide)-[anti-HER2/neu] against chemotherapeutic-resistant mammary
      adenocarcinoma (SKBr-3) was substantially higher when formulated with [Se]
      methylsele-nocysteine.

PMID- 25821638
TI  - Modelling the p53/p66Shc Aging Pathway in the Shortest Living Vertebrate
      Nothobranchius Furzeri.
AB  - Oxidative stress induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) increases during
      lifespan and is involved in aging processes. The p66Shc adaptor protein is a
      master regulator of oxidative stress response in mammals. Ablation of p66Shc
      enhances oxidative stress resistance both in vitro and in vivo. Most importantly,
      it has been demonstrated that its deletion retards aging in mice. Recently, new
      insights in the molecular mechanisms involving p66Shc and the p53 tumor
      suppressor genes were given: a specific p66Shc/p53 transcriptional regulation
      pathway was uncovered as determinant in oxidative stress response and, likely, in
      aging. p53, in a p66Shc-dependent manner, negatively downregulates the expression
      of 200 genes which are involved in the G2/M transition of mitotic cell cycle and
      are downregulated during physiological aging. p66Shc modulates the response of
      p53 by activating a p53 isoform (p44/p53, also named Delta40p53). Based on these
      latest results, several developments are expected in the future, as the
      generation of animal models to study aging and the evaluation of the use of the
      p53/p66Shc target genes as biomarkers in aging related diseases. The aim of this
      review is to investigate the conservation of the p66Shc and p53 role in oxidative
      stress between fish and mammals. We propose to approach this study trough a new
      model organism, the annual fish Nothobranchius furzeri, that has been
      demonstrated to develop typical signs of aging, like in mammals, including
      senescence, neurodegeneration, metabolic disorders and cancer. 

PMID- 25821640
TI  - Suicide in the global chinese aging population: a review of risk and protective
      factors, consequences, and interventions.
AB  - As one of the leading causes of death around the world, suicide is a global
      public health threat. In the Chinese population, suicides constitute one-fifth of
      all recorded suicides in the world. Despite the factual data on suicide rates,
      the understanding of various causal factors behind suicide, including risk and
      protective factors and adverse health care, remained incomplete among the global
      Chinese aging population. To fill in the knowledge void, this paper reviews the
      epidemiology of suicide among Chinese older adults globally as well as explores
      the existing intervention strategies. Using the PRISMA statement, we performed a
      systematic review of exiting research on the topic, including studies describing
      suicide among Chinese older adults in communities outside of Asia. A literature
      search was conducted online by using both medical and social science data-bases.
      Our findings highlighted that elderly suicide in Chinese populations is
      significantly affected by the social, cultural, and familial contexts within
      which the individual lived prior to committing suicide. Reviewing such research
      indicated that while reducing risk factors may contribute to lowering suicides
      amongst Chinese older adults, measures to improve protective factors are also
      critical. Support through ongoing family and community care relationships is
      necessary to improve resilience in older adults and positive aging. Future
      longitudinal studies on the risk factors and protective factors, and adverse
      health consequences are called for to devise culturally and linguistically
      appropriate prevention and intervention programs in global Chinese aging
      populations. 

PMID- 25821639
TI  - Metabolic syndrome, aging and involvement of oxidative stress.
AB  - The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome, a cluster of cardiovascular risk
      factors associated with obesity and insulin resistance, is dramatically
      increasing in Western and developing countries. This disorder consists of a
      cluster of metabolic conditions, such as hypertriglyceridemia, hyper-low-density
      lipoproteins, hypo-high-density lipoproteins, insulin resistance, abnormal
      glucose tolerance and hypertension, that-in combination with genetic
      susceptibility and abdominal obesity-are risk factors for type 2 diabetes,
      vascular inflammation, atherosclerosis, and renal, liver and heart diseases. One
      of the defects in metabolic syndrome and its associated diseases is excess of
      reactive oxygen species. Reactive oxygen species generated by mitochondria, or
      from other sites within or outside the cell, cause damage to mitochondrial
      components and initiate degradative processes. Such toxic reactions contribute
      significantly to the aging process. In this article we review current
      understandings of oxidative stress in metabolic syndrome related disease and its
      possible contribution to accelerated senescence. 

PMID- 25821642
TI  - Laparoscopic surgery in the elderly: a review of the literature.
AB  - Laparoscopic techniques are gradually replacing many common surgical procedures
      that are performed in an increasingly aging population. Laparoscopy places
      different physiologic demands on the body than in open surgery. PubMed was
      searched for evidence related to the use of laparoscopy in the elderly population
      to treat common surgical pathologies. Randomized trials, systematic reviews, and
      meta-analyses were preferred. Currently, over 40% of all surgeries performed in
      the U.S. are on patients older than 65 years. By the end of the 21st century,
      Americans are expected to live 20 years longer than the current average. However,
      elderly patients clearly show higher rates of surgical morbidity and mortality
      overall. Laparoscopic techniques show decreased wound complications, post
      operative ileus, intraoperative blood loss, and reduced need for post-operative
      rehabilitation. In conclusion, laparoscopic surgery is safe in the elderly
      population and affords multiple advantages including decreased pain and
      convalescence. However, the physiology of laparoscopy places demands on elderly
      patients that typically present with more medical comorbidities. 

PMID- 25821643
TI  - Hypoglycemia in older people - a less well recognized risk factor for frailty.
AB  - Recurrent hypoglycemia is common in older people with diabetes and is likely to
      be less recognized and under reported by patients and health care professionals.
      Hypoglycemia in this age group is associated with significant morbidities leading
      to both physical and cognitive dysfunction. Repeated hospital admissions due to
      frequent hypoglycemia are also associated with further deterioration in patients'
      general health. This negative impact of hypoglycemia is likely to eventually lead
      to frailty, disability and poor outcomes. It appears that the relationship
      between hypoglycemia and frailty is bidirectional and mediated through a series
      of influences including under nutrition. Therefore, attention should be paid to
      the management of under nutrition in the general elderly population by improving
      energy intake and maintaining muscle mass. Increasing physical activity and
      having a more conservative approach to glycemic targets in frail older people
      with diabetes may be worthwhile. 

PMID- 25821641
TI  - The role of the tripartite glutamatergic synapse in the pathophysiology of
      Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in individuals over
      65 years of age and is characterized by accumulation of beta-amyloid (Abeta) and
      tau. Both Abeta and tau alter synaptic plasticity, leading to synapse loss,
      neural network dysfunction, and eventually neuron loss. However, the exact
      mechanism by which these proteins cause neurodegeneration is still not clear. A
      growing body of evidence suggests perturbations in the glutamatergic tripartite
      synapse, comprised of a presynaptic terminal, a postsynaptic spine, and an
      astrocytic process, may underlie the pathogenic mechanisms of AD. Glutamate is
      the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and plays an important role
      in learning and memory, but alterations in glutamatergic signaling can lead to
      excitotoxicity. This review discusses the ways in which both beta-amyloid (Abeta)
      and tau act alone and in concert to perturb synaptic functioning of the
      tripartite synapse, including alterations in glutamate release, astrocytic
      uptake, and receptor signaling. Particular emphasis is given to the role of N
      methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) as a possible convergence point for Abeta and tau
      toxicity. 

PMID- 25821645
TI  - Correction: a randomized, double-blind trial of lisinopril and losartan for the
      treatment of cardiomyopathy in duchenne muscular dystrophy.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI:
      10.1371/currents.md.2cc69a1dae4be7dfe2bcb420024ea865.]. 

PMID- 25821644
TI  - Parametrial fat tissue from high fat diet-treated SKH-1 mice stimulates
      transformation of mouse epidermal JB6 cells.
AB  - : Our previous studies indicated that decreasing visceral adipose tissue by
      surgical removal of the parametrial fat pads inhibited UVB-induced carcinogenesis
      in SKH-1 mice fed a high fat diet (HFD), but not a low fat diet (LFD) indicating
      that the parametrial fat tissue from mice fed a HFD played a role in skin
      carcinogenesis. OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we sought to investigate how a
      HFD may influence the intrinsic properties of the parametrial fat tissue to
      influence UVB-induced skin tumor formation. METHODS AND RESULTS:
      Immunohistochemical staining, adipokine array, and flow cytometry showed that
      parametrial fat tissue from mice fed a HFD had a higher density of macrophage
      fused dead adipocytes (crown-like structures), more adipokines, and stimulated
      the production of more reactive oxygen species compared with parametrial fat
      tissue from mice fed a LFD. These differences between parametrial fat tissue from
      mice fed a HFD and LFD were associated with their effect on the in vitro
      transformation of mouse epidermal JB6 cells. Our results indicated that fat
      tissue filtrate (an aqueous filtrate made from the parametrial fat pad) from mice
      fed a HFD enhanced the conversion of JB6 cells from an epithelial-like morphology
      to cells with a fibroblast-like morphology to a greater extent than fat tissue
      filtrate from mice fed a LFD. Studies indicated that the fibroblast-like cells
      had decreased levels of E-cadherin, increased levels of Twist as assayed by
      western blot. Fat tissue filtrate made from the parametrial fat tissue of mice
      fed a HFD had 160% more transforming activity than that from mice fed a LFD and
      formed malignant mesenchymal tumors in vivo. CONCLUSION: These studies provide
      the first in vitro demonstration of a parametrial fat tissue-induced
      transformation of an epidermal cell.

PMID- 25821646
TI  - Correction: building a phylogenomic pipeline for the eukaryotic tree of life -
      addressing deep phylogenies with genome-scale data.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI:
      10.1371/currents.tol.c24b6054aebf3602748ac042ccc8f2e9.]. 

PMID- 25821647
TI  - The humanitarian situation in syria: a snapshot in the third year of the crisis.
AB  - Between April and June 2014, International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC),
      an International NGO, and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the
      East (GOPA) conducted a needs assessment of Syrians affected by the crisis with
      the objective of gaining a better understanding of humanitarian needs and
      assistance priorities. Findings suggest that interventions that increase access
      to non-food items, food, medication and education should be prioritized where
      cost was the primary barrier to accessing goods and services. Cash transfer
      programs and direct provision of material assistance should be considered, though
      the most appropriate assistance modality is likely to vary by sector, location
      and the preferences and prior experience of donors and implementing
      organizations. Renewed international commitment to funding humanitarian
      assistance efforts in Syria and neighboring countries where the burden of
      refugees is greatest is essential from both a human rights perspective and in
      terms of maintaining stability in the region. 

PMID- 25821648
TI  - Correction: challenges for resuming normal life after earthquake: a qualitative
      study on rural areas of iran.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI:
      10.1371/currents.dis.b4e84b942500e2f8f260f3471b7ee815.]. 

PMID- 25821649
TI  - Adapting SugarWatch to manage metabolic syndrome in a partial hospitalization
      program: a feasibility study.
AB  - A successful worksite diabetes prevention program, SugarWatch,was adapted for a
      seriously mentally ill patient population in a partial hospitalization program in
      Hawai'i. A feasibility study was implemented using an intervention with 3
      components: SugarWatch curriculum, structured physical activity,and Create a
      Plate lunch. Twenty participants completed the three month intervention. Only
      systolic blood pressure showed statistically significant improvement. However,
      trends in improvement were also seen with diastolic blood pressure and total
      cholesterol. Despite minimal improvement in physiological measures, the project
      changed practice in the setting to align with the 2004 American Diabetes
      Association and American Psychiatric Association Guidelines for the prevention of
      metabolic syndrome and better management of patients taking second generation
      antipsychotic medications.

PMID- 25821650
TI  - A discrete system simulation study in scheduling and resource allocation for the
      John A. Burns School of Medicine Clinical Skills Center.
AB  - The Center for Clinical Skills (CCS) at the University of Hawai'i's John A. Burns
      School of Medicine (JABSOM) trains medical students in a variety of medical
      practice education experiences aimed at improving patient care skills of history
      taking, physical examination, communication, and counseling. Increasing class
      sizes accentuate the need for efficient scheduling of faculty and students for
      clinical skills examinations. This research reports an application of a discrete
      simulation methodology, using a computerized commercial business simulation
      optimization software package Arena(r) by Rockwell Automation Inc, to model the
      flow of students through an objective structure clinical exam (OSCE) using the
      basic physical examination sequence (BPSE). The goal was to identify the most
      efficient scheduling of limited volunteer faculty resources to enable all student
      teams to complete the OSCE within the allocated 4 hours. The simulation models 11
      two-person student teams, using resources of 10 examination rooms where physical
      examination skills are demonstrated on fellow student subjects and assessed by
      volunteer faculty. Multiple faculty availability models with constrained time
      parameters and other resources were evaluated. The results of the discrete event
      simulation suggest that there is no statistical difference in the baseline model
      and the alternative models with respect to faculty utilization, but statistically
      significant changes in student wait times. Two models significantly reduced
      student wait times without compromising faculty utilization. 

PMID- 25821651
TI  - Comparing the utility of the non-mydriatic fundus camera to the direct
      ophthalmoscope for medical education.
AB  - Visualization of the fundus is an important component of any ophthalmologic exam.
      Students are taught to visualize the fundus using a direct handheld
      ophthalmoscope. However, this device has many limitations, which may be a
      detriment to medical education and patient care. The invention of the non
      mydriatic automatic fundus camera could significantly improve medical education.
      Our study examined the ability of a group of 5 medical students to visualize
      pathology and form a diagnosis with a traditional handheld ophthalmoscope and an
      automatic fundus camera. With the direct ophthalmoscope, none of the students
      were able to visualize the macula, a crucial aspect of the ophthalmologic exam.
      With the automatic fundus camera, all students were able to visualize the fundus.
      The latter modality also increased the proportion of students that was able to
      correctly diagnose the patients with diabetic retinopathy, 100% vs 40%. On
      average, students were also more confident in their ability to visualize basic
      retinal anatomy with the automatic fundus camera, 9.6/10 vs 6.4/10. Thus,
      incorporating the non-mydriatic automatic fundus camera into medical education,
      alongside the handheld ophthalmoscope, has the potential to improve both learning
      outcomes and patient care. 

PMID- 25821652
TI  - The evolution of the Japanese medical education system: a historical perspective.
AB  - The Japanese Medical Education system has been influenced by political events
      throughout the country's history. From long periods of isolation from the western
      world to the effect of world wars, Japan's training system for physicians has had
      to adapt in many ways and will continue to change. The Japanese medical education
      system was recently compared to the "Galapagos Islands" for its unusual and
      singular evolution, in a speech by visiting professor Dr. Gordon L. Noel at the
      University of Tokyo International Research center.1 Japanese medical schools are
      currently working to increase their students' clinical hours or else these
      students may not be able to train in the United States for residencies. Knowing
      the history of the Japanese Medical education system is paramount to
      understanding the current system in place today. Studying the historical
      foundation of this system will also provide insight on how the system must change
      in order to produce better clinicians. This article provides a glimpse into the
      medical system of another nation that may encourage needed reflection on the
      state of current healthcare training in the United States. 

PMID- 25821653
TI  - Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies: awareness and perceptions of existing
      breastfeeding and postpartum depression support among parents and perinatal
      health care providers in Hawai'i.
AB  - Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai'i (HMHB) is a local nonprofit
      organization dedicated to eliminating health disparities and improving Hawai'i's
      maternal, child, and family health though collaborative efforts in public
      education, advocacy, and partner development. A review of HMHB services revealed
      overwhelming requests for both breastfeeding and postpartum depression (PPD)
      support. The purpose of this article is to present the findings of two surveys
      that highlight the awareness of existing breastfeeding and PPD resources based on
      both parents and health care providers; perceptions of where and how care is
      accessed; and whether mothers throughout Hawai'i have equitable access to
      support. Results helped assess gaps in resources and determine barriers to care,
      as well as provide suggestions for new services or resources. Web-based surveys
      were sent to 450 providers and 2,955 parents with response rates of 8.9% and
      4.0%, respectively. Less than half of parent participants reported that their
      health provider discussed PPD with them. Participants identified a number of
      barriers to increasing access and utilization of PPD support resources,
      including: not feeling like symptoms were server enough, feeling embarrassed to
      seek help, not knowing where to find support/information, and not able to afford
      or insurance wouldn't cover PPD support. Only 40% of providers reported screening
      for PPD and 33% felt they had not received adequate training. Barriers identified
      by providers were a lack of trained providers, lack of PPD specific support
      groups, cultural stigma, and lack of PPD awareness among providers. Of the women
      who did not exclusively breastfeed for the full six-month recommendation, the
      most common breastfeeding concerns included: perceptions of low milk supply; lack
      of lactation support; medical reasons; and pain. Providers described an
      environment of uneven distribution of resources, general lack of awareness of
      available resources, along with a widespread lack of support for breastfeeding
      efforts. Recommendations for future efforts include comprehensive breastfeeding
      and PPD training for health care providers enhanced support groups, and improving
      awareness and access to information and support resources. 

PMID- 25821655
TI  - Academic pharmacy strikes Hawai'i. Part 2.
AB  - In partnership with the Hawai'i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, the Daniel
      K. Inouye College of Pharmacy (DKICP) is pleased to provide Scripts on a regular
      basis. In the inaugural "Script," a brief history of the profession in Hawai'i
      was presented up to the founding of the DKICP, Hawai'i's only academic pharmacy
      program. In this second part of the inaugural article, we describe some key
      accomplishments to date. The mission of the College is to educate pharmacy
      practitioners and leaders to serve as a catalyst for innovations and discoveries
      in pharmaceutical sciences and practice for promoting health and well-being, and
      to provide community service, including quality patient care. Examples are given
      to support the stated goals of the mission. With 341 graduates to date, and a 96%
      pass rate on the national licensing board exams, the college has played a
      significant role in improving healthcare in Hawai'i and throughout the Pacific
      Region. Additionally, a PhD program with substantial research programs in both
      pharmacy practice and the pharmaceutical science has been launched. Considerable
      extramural funding has been garnered from organizations such as the National
      Institutes of Health and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The economic
      impact of the College is estimated to be over $50 million each year. With over
      200 signed clinical affiliation agreements within the state as well as nationally
      and internationally, the DKICP has helped to ameliorate the shortage of
      pharmacists in the state, and has enhanced the profile and practice standard of
      the pharmacist's role on interprofessional health care teams. 

PMID- 25821654
TI  - Pilot study for the establishment of biomarkers for radiation damage after
      computed tomography in children.
AB  - Computed tomography (CT) is an imaging modality that exposes patients to ionizing
      radiation (IR). We review and report findings from our pilot study evaluating
      whether blood markers are altered in 17 children undergoing medically indicated
      CT scans. Blood was drawn before ('pre-CT') and 1 hour after ('post-CT' CT scans.
      Plasma carotenoids, tocopherols, Q10, ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA) were
      analyzed by RP-HPLC with diode-array and electrochemical detection.
      Dehydroascorbic acid (DHAA) was calculated by subtraction from total AA. Total
      antioxidant capacity (TAC) was measured using the ORAC assay. Cytokines were
      quantified using a multiplex immunoassay. gamma-H2AX foci were visualized using
      immunofluorescence. Mean pre- and post-CT changes were compared using t-tests; P
      levels < .05 indicated significance. All major plasma lipid soluble antioxidant
      levels were lower post- vs pre-CT (P < .05) possibly from the scavenging of free
      radicals formed by CT-induced IR. Average AA levels increased (134%) while DHAA
      levels were decreased (29%) post-CT, probably due to intracellular recycling of
      AA from DHAA. TAC levels in lipophilic and hydrophilic extracts were unchanged,
      suggesting that other antioxidants may have assisted in free radical quenching,
      which would corroborate their lower concentrations post-CT. Cytokine levels were
      unchanged and dose-dependent increases in gamma-H2AX foci, a measure of double
      strand DNA breaks, were observed (P = .046, n = 3 children). Our results suggest
      that CT-derived IR can influence the antioxidant system and may elicit
      detrimental responses on the cellular level of young children. When possible and
      if appropriate non-IR based techniques such as ultrasound or magnetic resonance
      imaging should be used. 

PMID- 25821657
TI  - Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency.
AB  - Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is an effective approach for the
      treatment of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). However, SCID is not a
      homogeneous disease, and the treatment required for successful transplantation
      varies significantly between SCID subtypes and the degree of HLA mismatch between
      the best available donor and the patient. Recent studies are beginning to more
      clearly define this heterogeneity and how outcomes may vary. With a more detailed
      understanding of SCID, new approaches can be developed to maximize immune
      reconstitution, while minimizing acute and long-term toxicities associated with
      chemotherapy conditioning.

PMID- 25821658
TI  - Reenvisioning Clinical Science: Unifying the Discipline to Improve the Public
      Health.
AB  - We present a vision of clinical science, based on a conceptual framework of
      intervention development endorsed by the Delaware Project. This framework is
      grounded in an updated stage model that incorporates basic science questions of
      mechanisms into every stage of clinical science research. The vision presented is
      intended to unify various aspects of clinical science toward the common goal of
      developing maximally potent and implementable interventions, while unveiling new
      avenues of science in which basic and applied goals are of equally high
      importance. Training in this integrated, translational model may help students
      learn how to conduct research in every domain of clinical science and at each
      stage of intervention development. This vision aims to propel the field to
      fulfill the public health goal of producing implementable and effective treatment
      and prevention interventions.

PMID- 25821659
TI  - Affective and Self-Esteem Instability in the Daily Lives of People with
      Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder.
AB  - Research on affect and self-esteem in social anxiety disorder (SAD) has focused
      on trait or average levels, but we know little about the dynamic patterns of
      these experiences in the daily lives of people with SAD. We asked 40 adults with
      SAD and 39 matched healthy controls to provide end-of-day reports on their affect
      and self-esteem over two weeks. Compared to healthy adults, participants with SAD
      exhibited greater instability of negative affect and self-esteem, though the self
      esteem effect was driven by mean level differences. The SAD group also
      demonstrated a higher probability of acute changes in negative affect and self
      esteem (i.e., from one assessment period to the next), as well as difficulty
      maintaining positive states and improving negative states (i.e., dysfunctional
      self-regulation). Our findings provide insights on the phenomenology of SAD, with
      particular attention to the temporal dependency, magnitude of change, and
      directional patterns of psychological experiences in everyday life.

PMID- 25821661
TI  - Land and cryosphere products from Suomi NPP VIIRS: Overview and status.
AB  - [1] The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument was launched
      in October 2011 as part of the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (S-NPP).
      The VIIRS instrument was designed to improve upon the capabilities of the
      operational Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and provide observation
      continuity with NASA's Earth Observing System's Moderate Resolution Imaging
      Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Since the VIIRS first-light images were received in
      November 2011, NASA- and NOAA-funded scientists have been working to evaluate the
      instrument performance and generate land and cryosphere products to meet the
      needs of the NOAA operational users and the NASA science community. NOAA's focus
      has been on refining a suite of operational products known as Environmental Data
      Records (EDRs), which were developed according to project specifications under
      the National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System. The NASA S-NPP
      Science Team has focused on evaluating the EDRs for science use, developing and
      testing additional products to meet science data needs, and providing MODIS data
      product continuity. This paper presents to-date findings of the NASA Science
      Team's evaluation of the VIIRS land and cryosphere EDRs, specifically Surface
      Reflectance, Land Surface Temperature, Surface Albedo, Vegetation Indices,
      Surface Type, Active Fires, Snow Cover, Ice Surface Temperature, and Sea Ice
      Characterization. The study concludes that, for MODIS data product continuity and
      earth system science, an enhanced suite of land and cryosphere products and
      associated data system capabilities are needed beyond the EDRs currently
      available from the VIIRS.

PMID- 25821660
TI  - Polygenic risk for externalizing disorders: Gene-by-development and gene-by
      environment effects in adolescents and young adults.
AB  - In this project, we aimed to bring large-scale gene identification findings into
      a developmental psychopathology framework. Using a family-based sample, we tested
      whether polygenic scores for externalizing disorders-based on single nucleotide
      polymorphism weights derived from genome-wide association study results in adults
      (n = 1,249)-predicted externalizing disorders, subclinical externalizing
      behavior, and impulsivity-related traits adolescents (n = 248) and young adults
      (n = 207), and whether parenting and peer factors in adolescence moderated
      polygenic risk to predict externalizing disorders. Polygenic scores predicted
      externalizing disorders in adolescents and young adults, even after controlling
      for parental externalizing disorder history. Polygenic scores also predicted
      subclinical externalizing behavior and impulsivity traits in the adolescents and
      young adults. Adolescent parental monitoring and peer substance use moderated
      polygenic scores to predict externalizing disorders. This illustrates how state
      of the science genetics can be integrated with psychological science to identify
      how genetic risk contributes to the development of psychopathology.

PMID- 25821662
TI  - North-south cross sections of the vertical aerosol distribution over the Atlantic
      Ocean from multiwavelength Raman/polarization lidar during Polarstern cruises.
AB  - Shipborne aerosol lidar observations were performed aboard the research vessel
      Polarstern in 2009 and 2010 during three north-south cruises from about 50
      degrees N to 50 degrees S. The aerosol data set provides an excellent opportunity
      to characterize and contrast the vertical aerosol distribution over the Atlantic
      Ocean in the polluted northern and relatively clean southern hemisphere. Three
      case studies, an observed pure Saharan dust plume, a Patagonian dust plume east
      of South America, and a case of a mixed dust/smoke plume west of Central Africa
      are exemplarily shown and discussed by means of their optical properties. The
      meridional transatlantic cruises were used to determine the latitudinal cross
      section of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT). Profiles of particle backscatter
      and extinction coefficients are presented as mean profiles for latitudinal belts
      to contrast northern- and southern-hemispheric aerosol loads and optical effects.
      Results of lidar observations at Punta Arenas (53 degrees S), Chile, and
      Stellenbosch (34 degrees S), South Africa, are shown and confirm the lower
      frequency of occurrence of free-tropospheric aerosol in the southern hemisphere
      than in the northern hemisphere. The maximum latitudinal mean AOT of 0.27 was
      found in the northern tropics (0- 15 degrees N) in the Saharan outflow region.
      Marine AOT is typically 0.05 +/- 0.03. Particle optical properties are presented
      separately for the marine boundary layer and the free troposphere. Concerning the
      contrast between the anthropogenically influenced midlatitudinal aerosol
      conditions in the 30- 60 degrees N belt and the respective belt in the southern
      hemisphere over the remote Atlantic, it is found that the AOT and extinction
      coefficients for the vertical column from 0-5km (total aerosol column) and 1-5km
      height (lofted aerosol above the marine boundary layer) are a factor of 1.6 and 2
      higher at northern midlatitudes than at respective southern midlatitudes, and a
      factor of 2.5 higher than at the clean marine southern-hemispheric site of Punta
      Arenas. The strong contrast is confined to the lowermost 3km of the atmosphere.

PMID- 25821663
TI  - Recent climate tendencies on an East Antarctic ice shelf inferred from a shallow
      firn core network.
AB  - : Nearly three decades of stable isotope ratios and surface mass balance (SMB)
      data from eight shallow firn cores retrieved at Fimbul Ice Shelf, East
      Antarctica, in the Austral summers 2009-2011 have been investigated. An
      additional longer core drilled in 2000/2001 extends the series back to the early
      eighteenth century. Isotope ratios and SMB from the stacked record of all cores
      were also related to instrumental temperature data from Neumayer Station on
      Ekstrom Ice Shelf. Since the second half of the twentieth century, the SMB shows
      a statistically significant negative trend, whereas the delta18O of the cores
      shows a significant positive trend. No trend is found in air temperature at the
      nearest suitable weather station, Neumayer (available since 1981). This does not
      correspond to the statistically significant positive trend in Southern Annular
      Mode (SAM) index, which is usually associated with a cooling of East Antarctica.
      SAM index and SMB are negatively correlated, which might be explained by a
      decrease in meridional exchange of energy and moisture leading to lower
      precipitation amounts. Future monitoring of climate change on the sensitive
      Antarctic ice shelves is necessary to assess its consequences for sea level
      change. KEY POINTS: Mass balance and stable oxygen isotope ratios from shallow
      firn coresDecreasing trend in surface mass balance, no trend in stable
      isotopesNegative correlation between SAM and SMB.

PMID- 25821664
TI  - Remote sensing of aerosols in the Arctic for an evaluation of global climate
      model simulations.
AB  - : In this study Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua
      retrievals of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at 555 nm are compared to Sun
      photometer measurements from Svalbard for a period of 9 years. For the 642 daily
      coincident measurements that were obtained, MODIS AOT generally varies within the
      predicted uncertainty of the retrieval over ocean (DeltaAOT = +/-0.03 +/- 0.05 .
      AOT). The results from the remote sensing have been used to examine the accuracy
      in estimates of aerosol optical properties in the Arctic, generated by global
      climate models and from in situ measurements at the Zeppelin station, Svalbard.
      AOT simulated with the Norwegian Earth System Model/Community Atmosphere Model
      version 4 Oslo global climate model does not reproduce the observed seasonal
      variability of the Arctic aerosol. The model overestimates clear-sky AOT by
      nearly a factor of 2 for the background summer season, while tending to
      underestimate the values in the spring season. Furthermore, large differences in
      all-sky AOT of up to 1 order of magnitude are found for the Coupled Model
      Intercomparison Project phase 5 model ensemble for the spring and summer seasons.
      Large differences between satellite/ground-based remote sensing of AOT and AOT
      estimated from dry and humidified scattering coefficients are found for the
      subarctic marine boundary layer in summer. KEY POINTS: Remote sensing of AOT is
      very useful in validation of climate models.

PMID- 25821665
TI  - View angle dependence of MODIS liquid water path retrievals in warm oceanic
      clouds.
AB  - : We investigated the view angle dependence of domain mean Moderate Resolution
      Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) liquid water path (LWP) and that of
      corresponding cloud optical thickness, effective radius, and liquid cloud
      fraction as proxy for plane-parallel retrieval biases. Independent Advanced
      Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS LWP was used to corroborate that the observed
      variations with sun-view geometry were not severely affected by
      seasonal/latitudinal changes in cloud properties. Microwave retrievals showed
      generally small (<10%) cross-swath variations. The view angle (cross-swath)
      dependence of MODIS optical thickness was weaker in backscatter than forward
      scatter directions and transitioned from mild ? shape to stronger ? shape as
      heterogeneity, sun angle, or latitude increased. The 2.2 um effective radius
      variations always had a ? shape, which became pronounced and asymmetric toward
      forward scatter in the most heterogeneous clouds and/or at the lowest sun. Cloud
      fraction had the strongest and always ?-shaped view angle dependence. As a
      result, in-cloud MODIS cloud liquid water path (CLWP) showed surprisingly good
      view angle (cross-swath) consistency, usually comparable to that of microwave
      retrievals, due to cancelation between optical thickness and effective radius
      biases. Larger (20-40%) nadir-relative increases were observed in the most
      extreme heterogeneity and sun angle bins, that is, typically in the polar
      regions, which, however, constituted only 3-8% of retrievals. The good
      consistency of MODIS in-cloud CLWP was lost for gridbox mean LWP, which was
      dominated by the strong cloud fraction increase with view angle. More worryingly,
      MODIS LWP exhibited significant and systematic absolute increases with
      heterogeneity and sun angle that is not present in microwave LWP. KEY POINTS:
      Microwave LWP shows small overall and cross-swath variationsMODIS in-cloud LWP
      also shows good view angle consistency in most casesMODIS retrievals show strong
      overall increase with heterogeneity and sun angle.

PMID- 25821666
TI  - The effect of surface charge on nonspecific uptake and cytotoxicity of CdSe/ZnS
      core/shell quantum dots.
AB  - In this work, cytotoxicity and cellular impedance response was compared for
      CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (QDs) with positively charged cysteamine-QDs,
      negatively charged dihydrolipoic acid-QDs and zwitterionic D-penicillamine-QDs
      exposed to canine kidney MDCKII cells. Pretreatment of cells with pharmacological
      inhibitors suggested that the uptake of nanoparticles was largely due to receptor
      independent pathways or spontaneous entry for carboxylated and zwitterionic QDs,
      while for amine-functionalized particles involvement of cholesterol-enriched
      membrane domains is conceivable. Cysteamine-QDs were found to be the least
      cytotoxic, while D-penicillamine-QDs reduced the mitochondrial activity of MDCKII
      by 20-25%. Although the cell vitality appeared unaffected (assessed from the
      changes in mitochondrial activity using a classical MTS assay after 24 h of
      exposure), the binding of QDs to the cellular interior and their movement across
      cytoskeletal filaments (captured and characterized by single-particle tracking),
      was shown to compromise the integrity of the cytoskeletal and plasma membrane
      dynamics, as evidenced by electric cell-substrate impedance sensing. 

PMID- 25821667
TI  - Green preparation and spectroscopic characterization of plasmonic silver
      nanoparticles using fruits as reducing agents.
AB  - Chemicals typically available in plants have the capability to reduce silver and
      gold salts and to create silver and gold nanoparticles. We report the preparation
      of silver nanoparticles with sizes between 10 and 300 nm from silver nitrate
      using fruit extract collected from pineapples and oranges as reducing agents. The
      evolvement of a characteristic surface plasmon extinction spectrum in the range
      of 420 nm to 480 nm indicates the formation of silver nanoparticles after mixing
      silver nitrate solution and fruit extract. Shifts in plasmon peaks over time
      indicate the growth of nanoparticles. Electron microscopy shows that the shapes
      of the nanoparticles are different depending on the fruit used for preparation.
      The green preparation process can result in individual nanoparticles with a very
      poor tendency to form aggregates with narrow gaps even when aggregation is forced
      by the addition of NaCl. This explains only modest enhancement factors for near
      infrared-excited surface enhanced Raman scattering. In addition to the surface
      plasmon band, UV-visible absorption spectra show features in the UV range which
      indicates also the presence of small silver clusters, such as Ag4 (2+). The
      increase of the plasmon absorption correlates with the decrease of absorption
      band in the UV. This confirms the evolution of silver nanoparticles from silver
      clusters. The presence of various silver clusters on the surface of the "green"
      plasmonic silver nanoparticles is also supported by a strong multicolor luminesce
      signal emitted by the plasmonic particles during 473 nm excitation. 

PMID- 25821669
TI  - Tunable white light emission by variation of composition and defects of
      electrospun Al2O3-SiO2 nanofibers.
AB  - Composite nanofibers consisting of Al2O3-SiO2 were prepared by electrospinning in
      combination with post-calcination in air. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron
      microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy were used to investigate the
      crystalline phase and microstructure of the composite nanofibers.
      Photoluminescence experiments indicated that the resulting white light emission
      can be tuned by the relative intensity of the individual spectral components,
      which are related to the individual defects such as: violet-blue emission from O
      defects, green emission from =Si(Al)-O-C?=O, and red emission from intersystem
      radiative crossing. White light emission was realized at a Al/(Al-Si) ratio of 40
      and 60 mol %. This research may offer a deeper understanding of the preparation
      of efficient and environmentally friendly, white luminescence materials. 

PMID- 25821668
TI  - Comparative evaluation of the impact on endothelial cells induced by different
      nanoparticle structures and functionalization.
AB  - In the research field of nanoparticles, many studies demonstrated a high impact
      of the shape, size and surface charge, which is determined by the
      functionalization, of nanoparticles on cell viability and internalization into
      cells. This work focused on the comparison of three different nanoparticle types
      to give a better insight into general rules determining the biocompatibility of
      gold, Janus and semiconductor (quantum dot) nanoparticles. Endothelial cells were
      subject of this study, since blood is the first barrier after intravenous
      nanoparticle application. In particular, stronger effects on the viability of
      endothelial cells were found for nanoparticles with an elongated shape in
      comparison to spherical ones. Furthermore, a positively charged nanoparticle
      surface (NH2, CyA) leads to the strongest reduction in cell viability, whereas
      neutral and negatively charged nanoparticles are highly biocompatible to
      endothelial cells. These findings are attributed to a rapid internalization of
      the NH2-functionalized nanoparticles in combination with the damage of
      intracellular membranes. Interestingly, the endocytotic pathway seems to be a
      size-dependent process whereas nanoparticles with a size of 20 nm are
      internalized by caveolae-mediated endocytosis and nanoparticles with a size of 40
      nm are taken up by clathrin-mediated internalization and macropinocytosis. Our
      results can be summarized to formulate five general rules, which are further
      specified in the text and which determine the biocompatibility of nanoparticles
      on endothelial cells. Our findings will help to design new nanoparticles with
      optimized properties concerning biocompatibility and uptake behavior with respect
      to the respective intended application. 

PMID- 25821670
TI  - Strain distribution due to surface domains: a self-consistent approach with
      respect to surface elasticity.
AB  - Elastically mediated interactions between surface domains are classically
      described in terms of point forces. Such point forces lead to local strain
      divergences that are usually avoided by introducing a poorly defined cut-off
      length. In this work, we develop a self-consistent approach in which the strain
      field induced by the surface domains is expressed as the solution of an integral
      equation that contains surface elastic constants, S ij . For surfaces with
      positive S ij the new approach avoids the introduction of a cut-off length. The
      classical and the new approaches are compared in case of 1-D periodic ribbons. 

PMID- 25821671
TI  - Synthesis, characterization, monolayer assembly and 2D lanthanide coordination of
      a linear terphenyl-di(propiolonitrile) linker on Ag(111).
AB  - As a continuation of our work employing polyphenylene-dicarbonitrile molecules
      and in particular the terphenyl derivative 1 (TDCN), we have synthesized a novel
      ditopic terphenyl-4,4"-di(propiolonitrile) (2) linker for the self-assembly of
      organic monolayers and metal coordination at interfaces. The structure of the
      organic linker 2 was confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis
      (XRD). On the densely packed Ag(111) surface, the terphenyl-4,4"
      di(propiolonitrile) linkers self-assemble in a regular, molecular chevron
      arrangement exhibiting a Moire pattern. After the exposure of the molecular
      monolayer to a beam of Gd atoms, the propiolonitrile groups get readily involved
      in metal-ligand coordination interactions. Distinct coordination motifs evolve
      with coordination numbers varying between three and six for the laterally-bound
      Gd centers. The linker molecules retain an overall flat adsorption geometry.
      However, only networks with restricted local order were obtained, in marked
      contrast to previously employed, simpler polyphenylene-dicarbonitrile 1 linkers. 

PMID- 25821672
TI  - Nanoporous Ge thin film production combining Ge sputtering and dopant
      implantation.
AB  - In this work a novel process allowing for the production of nanoporous Ge thin
      films is presented. This process uses the combination of two techniques: Ge
      sputtering on SiO2 and dopant ion implantation. The process entails four
      successive steps: (i) Ge sputtering on SiO2, (ii) implantation preannealing,
      (iii) high-dose dopant implantation, and (iv) implantation postannealing.
      Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were used to
      characterize the morphology of the Ge film at different process steps under
      different postannealing conditions. For the same postannealing conditions, the Ge
      film topology was shown to be similar for different implantation doses and
      different dopants. However, the film topology can be controlled by adjusting the
      postannealing conditions. 

PMID- 25821673
TI  - Carrier multiplication in silicon nanocrystals: ab initio results.
AB  - One of the most important goals in the field of renewable energy is the
      development of original solar cell schemes employing new materials to overcome
      the performance limitations of traditional solar cell devices. Among such
      innovative materials, nanostructures have emerged as an important class of
      materials that can be used to realize efficient photovoltaic devices. When these
      systems are implemented into solar cells, new effects can be exploited to
      maximize the harvest of solar radiation and to minimize the loss factors. In this
      context, carrier multiplication seems one promising way to minimize the effects
      induced by thermalization loss processes thereby significantly increasing the
      solar cell power conversion. In this work we analyze and quantify different types
      of carrier multiplication decay dynamics by analyzing systems of isolated and
      coupled silicon nanocrystals. The effects on carrier multiplication dynamics by
      energy and charge transfer processes are also discussed. 

PMID- 25821674
TI  - Exploiting the hierarchical morphology of single-walled and multi-walled carbon
      nanotube films for highly hydrophobic coatings.
AB  - Self-assembled hierarchical solid surfaces are very interesting for wetting
      phenomena, as observed in a variety of natural and artificial surfaces. Here, we
      report single-walled (SWCNT) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) thin films
      realized by a simple, rapid, reproducible, and inexpensive filtration process
      from an aqueous dispersion, that was deposited at room temperature by a dry
      transfer printing method on glass. Furthermore, the investigation of carbon
      nanotube films through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals the multi-scale
      hierarchical morphology of the self-assembled carbon nanotube random networks.
      Moreover, contact angle measurements show that hierarchical SWCNT/MWCNT composite
      surfaces exhibit a higher hydrophobicity (contact angles of up to 137 degrees )
      than bare SWCNT (110 degrees ) and MWCNT (97 degrees ) coatings, thereby
      confirming the enhancement produced by the surface hierarchical morphology. 

PMID- 25821675
TI  - Nanoparticle shapes by using Wulff constructions and first-principles
      calculations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The majority of complex and advanced materials contain nanoparticles.
      The properties of these materials depend crucially on the size and shape of these
      nanoparticles. Wulff construction offers a simple method of predicting the
      equilibrium shape of nanoparticles given the surface energies of the material.
      RESULTS: We review the mathematical formulation and the main applications of
      Wulff construction during the last two decades. We then focus to three recent
      extensions: active sites of metal nanoparticles for heterogeneous catalysis,
      ligand-protected nanoparticles generated as colloidal suspensions and
      nanoparticles of complex metal hydrides for hydrogen storage. CONCLUSION: Wulff
      construction, in particular when linked to first-principles calculations, is a
      powerful tool for the analysis and prediction of the shapes of nanoparticles and
      tailor the properties of shape-inducing species.

PMID- 25821677
TI  - Biological responses to nanoscale particles.

PMID- 25821676
TI  - Dynamic force microscopy simulator (dForce): A tool for planning and
      understanding tapping and bimodal AFM experiments.
AB  - We present a simulation environment, dForce, which can be used for a better
      understanding of dynamic force microscopy experiments. The simulator presents the
      cantilever-tip dynamics for two dynamic AFM methods, tapping mode AFM and bimodal
      AFM. It can be applied for a wide variety of experimental situations in air or
      liquid. The code provides all the variables and parameters relevant in those
      modes, for example, the instantaneous deflection and tip-surface force, velocity,
      virial, dissipated energy, sample deformation and peak force as a function of
      time or distance. The simulator includes a variety of interactions and contact
      mechanics models to describe AFM experiments including: van der Waals, Hertz,
      DMT, JKR, bottom effect cone correction, linear viscoelastic forces or the
      standard linear solid viscoelastic model. We have compared two numerical
      integration methods to select the one that offers optimal accuracy and speed. The
      graphical user interface has been designed to facilitate the navigation of non
      experts in simulations. Finally, the accuracy of dForce has been tested against
      numerical simulations performed during the last 18 years. 

PMID- 25821678
TI  - Hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells: polymeric nanoparticle uptake and
      lineage differentiation.
AB  - The combination of stem cell therapy and nanoparticles promises to enhance the
      effect of cellular therapies by using nanocarriers as drug delivery devices to
      guide the further differentiation or homing of stem cells. The impact of
      nanoparticles on primary cell types remains much more elusive as most groups
      study the nanoparticle-cell interaction in malignant cell lines. Here, we report
      on the influence of polymeric nanoparticles on human hematopoietic stem cells
      (hHSCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). In this study we systematically
      investigated the influence of polymeric nanoparticles on the cell functionality
      and differentiation capacity of hHSCs and hMSCs to obtain a deeper knowledge of
      the interaction of stem cells and nanoparticles. As model systems of
      nanoparticles, two sets of either bioinert (polystyrene without carboxylic groups
      on the surface) or biodegradable (PLLA without magnetite) particles were
      analyzed. Flow cytometry and microscopy analysis showed high uptake rates and no
      toxicity for all four tested particles in hMSCs and hHSCs. During the
      differentiation process, the payload of particles per cell decreased. The PLLA-Fe
      particle showed a significant increase in the IL-8 release in hMSCs but not in
      hHSCs. We assume that this is due to an increase of free intracellular iron ions
      but obviously also depends on the cell type. For hHSCs and hMSCs, lineage
      differentiation into erythrocytes, granulocytes, and megakaryocytes or
      adipocytes, osteocytes and chondrocytes, was not influenced by the particles when
      analyzed with lineage specific cluster of differentiation markers. On the other
      hand qPCR analysis showed significant changes in the expression of some (but not
      all) investigated lineage markers for both primary cell types. 

PMID- 25821679
TI  - Electrical response of liquid crystal cells doped with multi-walled carbon
      nanotubes.
AB  - The inclusion of nanoparticles modifies a number of fundamental properties of
      many materials. Doping of nanoparticles in self-organized materials such as
      liquid crystals may be of interest for the reciprocal interaction between the
      matrix and the nanoparticles. Elongated nanoparticles and nanotubes can be
      aligned and reoriented by the liquid crystal, inducing noticeable changes in
      their optical and electrical properties. In this work, cells of liquid crystal
      doped with high aspect ratio multi-walled carbon nanotubes have been prepared,
      and their characteristic impedance has been studied at different frequencies and
      excitation voltages. The results demonstrate alterations in the anisotropic
      conductivity of the samples with the applied electric field, which can be
      followed by monitoring the impedance evolution with the excitation voltage.
      Results are consistent with a possible electric contact between the coated
      substrates of the LC cell caused by the reorientation of the nanotubes. The
      reversibility of the doped system upon removal of the electric field is quite
      low. 

PMID- 25821680
TI  - Influence of size, shape and core-shell interface on surface plasmon resonance in
      Ag and Ag@MgO nanoparticle films deposited on Si/SiO x.
AB  - Ag and Ag@MgO core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) with a diameter of d = 3-10 nm were
      obtained by physical synthesis methods and deposited on Si with its native
      ultrathin oxide layer SiO x (Si/SiO x ). Scanning electron microscopy and
      transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of bare Ag NPs revealed the
      presence of small NP aggregates caused by diffusion on the surface and
      agglomeration. Atomic resolution TEM gave evidence of the presence of crystalline
      multidomains in the NPs, which were due to aggregation and multitwinning
      occurring during NP growth in the nanocluster source. Co-deposition of Ag NPs and
      Mg atoms in an oxygen atmosphere gave rise to formation of a MgO shell matrix
      surrounding the Ag NPs. The behaviour of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR)
      excitation in surface differential reflectivity (SDR) spectra with p-polarised
      light was investigated for bare Ag and Ag@MgO NPs. It was shown that the presence
      of MgO around the Ag NPs caused a red shift of the plasmon excitation, and served
      to preserve its existence after prolonged (five months) exposure to air,
      realizing the possibility of technological applications in plasmonic devices. The
      Ag NP and Ag@MgO NP film features in the SDR spectra could be reproduced by
      classical electrodynamics simulations by treating the NP-containing layer as an
      effective Maxwell Garnett medium. The simulations gave results in agreement with
      the experiments when accounting for the experimentally observed aggregation. 

PMID- 25821681
TI  - A surface acoustic wave-driven micropump for particle uptake investigation under
      physiological flow conditions in very small volumes.
AB  - Static conditions represent an important shortcoming of many in vitro experiments
      on the cellular uptake of nanoparticles. Here, we present a versatile
      microfluidic device based on acoustic streaming induced by surface acoustic waves
      (SAWs). The device offers a convenient method for introducing fluid motion in
      standard cell culture chambers and for mimicking capillary blood flow. We show
      that shear rates over the whole physiological range in sample volumes as small as
      200 MUL can be achieved. A precise characterization method for the induced flow
      profile is presented and the influence of flow on the uptake of Pt-decorated CeO2
      particles by endothelial cells (HMEC-1) is demonstrated. Under physiological flow
      conditions the particle uptake rates for this system are significantly lower than
      at low shear conditions. This underlines the vital importance of the fluidic
      environment for cellular uptake mechanisms. 

PMID- 25821682
TI  - Influence of spurious resonances on the interaction force in dynamic AFM.
AB  - The quantification of the tip-sample interaction in amplitude modulation atomic
      force microscopy is challenging, especially when measuring in liquid media. Here,
      we derive formulas for the tip-sample interactions and investigate the effect of
      spurious resonances on the measured interaction. Highlighting the differences
      between measuring directly the tip position or the cantilever deflection, and
      considering both direct and acoustic excitation, we show that the cantilever
      behavior is insensitive to spurious resonances as long as the measured signal
      corresponds to the tip position, or if the excitation force is correctly
      considered. Since the effective excitation force may depend on the presence of
      such spurious resonances, only the case in which the frequency is kept constant
      during the measurement is considered. Finally, we show the advantages that result
      from the use of a calibration method based on the acquisition of approach-retract
      curves. 

PMID- 25821683
TI  - Palladium nanoparticles anchored to anatase TiO2 for enhanced surface plasmon
      resonance-stimulated, visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity.
AB  - Freely assembled palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) on titania (TiO2) nano
      photocatalysts were successfully synthesized through a photodeposition method
      using natural sunlight. This synthesized heterogeneous photocatalyst (Pd/TiO2)
      was characterized through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM),
      high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction
      (XRD), BET surface area, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-DRS), Raman and
      photoluminescence (PL) analyses. The simple and smart synthesis anchored well the
      deposition with controlled Pd NPs size ranging between 17 and 29 nm onto the
      surface of TiO2. Thus, it gives the characteristic for Pd NPs to absorb light in
      the visible region obtained through localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPRs).
      Apparently, the photocatalytic activity of the prepared photocatalysts was
      evaluated by degrading the endocrine disrupting compound (EDC) amoxicillin (AMX)
      excited under an artificial visible light source. In the preliminary run, almost
      complete degradation (97.5%) was achieved in 5 h with 0.5 wt % Pd loading and the
      degradation followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The reusability trend proved
      the photostability of the prepared photocatalysts. Hence, the study provides a
      new insight about the modification of TiO2 with noble metals in order to enhance
      the absorption in the visible-light region for superior photocatalytic
      performance. 

PMID- 25821684
TI  - In situ scanning tunneling microscopy study of Ca-modified rutile TiO2(110) in
      bulk water.
AB  - Despite the rising technological interest in the use of calcium-modified TiO2
      surfaces in biomedical implants, the Ca/TiO2 interface has not been studied in an
      aqueous environment. This investigation is the first report on the use of in situ
      scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to study calcium-modified rutile TiO2(110)
      surfaces immersed in high purity water. The TiO2 surface was prepared under
      ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) with repeated sputtering/annealing cycles. Low energy
      electron diffraction (LEED) analysis shows a pattern typical for the surface
      segregation of calcium, which is present as an impurity on the TiO2 bulk. In situ
      STM images of the surface in bulk water exhibit one-dimensional rows of
      segregated calcium regularly aligned with the [001] crystal direction. The in
      situ-characterized morphology and structure of this Ca-modified TiO2 surface are
      discussed and compared with UHV-STM results from the literature. Prolonged
      immersion (two days) in the liquid leads to degradation of the overlayer,
      resulting in a disordered surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, performed
      after immersion in water, confirms the presence of calcium. 

PMID- 25821685
TI  - Electrical properties of single CdTe nanowires.
AB  - Ion track, nanoporous membranes were employed as templates for the preparation of
      CdTe nanowires. For this purpose, electrochemical deposition from a bath
      containing Cd and Te ions was employed. This process leads to high aspect ratio
      CdTe nanowires, which were harvested and placed on a substrate with
      lithographically patterned, interdigitated electrodes. Focused ion beam-induced
      metallization was used to produce individual nanowires with electrical contacts
      and electrical measurements were performed on these individual nanowires. The
      influence of a bottom gate was investigated and it was found that surface
      passivation leads to improved transport properties. 

PMID- 25821686
TI  - A scanning probe microscope for magnetoresistive cantilevers utilizing a nested
      scanner design for large-area scans.
AB  - We describe an atomic force microscope (AFM) for the characterization of self
      sensing tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) cantilevers. Furthermore, we achieve a
      large scan-range with a nested scanner design of two independent piezo scanners:
      a small high resolution scanner with a scan range of 5 * 5 * 5 MUm(3) is mounted
      on a large-area scanner with a scan range of 800 * 800 * 35 MUm(3). In order to
      characterize TMR sensors on AFM cantilevers as deflection sensors, the AFM is
      equipped with a laser beam deflection setup to measure the deflection of the
      cantilevers independently. The instrument is based on a commercial AFM controller
      and capable to perform large-area scanning directly without stitching of images.
      Images obtained on different samples such as calibration standard, optical
      grating, EPROM chip, self-assembled monolayers and atomic step-edges of gold
      demonstrate the high stability of the nested scanner design and the performance
      of self-sensing TMR cantilevers. 

PMID- 25821687
TI  - Fundamental edge broadening effects during focused electron beam induced
      nanosynthesis.
AB  - The present study explores lateral broadening effects of 3D structures fabricated
      through focused electron beam induced deposition using MeCpPt(IV)Me3 precursor.
      In particular, the scaling behavior of proximity effects as a function of the
      primary electron energy and the deposit height is investigated through
      experiments and validated through simulations. Correlated Kelvin force microscopy
      and conductive atomic force microscopy measurements identified conductive and non
      conductive proximity regions. It was determined that the highest primary electron
      energies enable the highest edge sharpness while lower energies contain a complex
      convolution of broadening effects. Moreover, it is demonstrated that intermediate
      energies lead to even more complex proximity effects that significantly reduce
      lateral edge sharpness and thus should be avoided if desiring high lateral
      resolution. 

PMID- 25821688
TI  - Conformal SiO2 coating of sub-100 nm diameter channels of polycarbonate etched
      ion-track channels by atomic layer deposition.
AB  - Polycarbonate etched ion-track membranes with about 30 um long and 50 nm wide
      cylindrical channels were conformally coated with SiO2 by atomic layer deposition
      (ALD). The process was performed at 50  degrees C to avoid thermal damage to the
      polymer membrane. Analysis of the coated membranes by small angle X-ray
      scattering (SAXS) reveals a homogeneous, conformal layer of SiO2 in the channels
      at a deposition rate of 1.7-1.8 A per ALD cycle. Characterization by infrared and
      X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirms the stoichiometric composition of
      the SiO2 films. Detailed XPS analysis reveals that the mechanism of SiO2
      formation is based on subsurface crystal growth. By dissolving the polymer, the
      silica nanotubes are released from the ion-track membrane. The thickness of the
      tube wall is well controlled by the ALD process. Because the track-etched
      channels exhibited diameters in the range of nanometres and lengths in the range
      of micrometres, cylindrical tubes with an aspect ratio as large as 3000 have been
      produced. 

PMID- 25821689
TI  - Raman spectroscopy as a tool to investigate the structure and electronic
      properties of carbon-atom wires.
AB  - Graphene, nanotubes and other carbon nanostructures have shown potential as
      candidates for advanced technological applications due to the different
      coordination of carbon atoms and to the possibility of pi-conjugation. In this
      context, atomic-scale wires comprised of sp-hybridized carbon atoms represent
      ideal 1D systems to potentially downscale devices to the atomic level. Carbon
      atom wires (CAWs) can be arranged in two possible structures: a sequence of
      double bonds (cumulenes), resulting in a 1D metal, or an alternating sequence of
      single-triple bonds (polyynes), expected to show semiconducting properties. The
      electronic and optical properties of CAWs can be finely tuned by controlling the
      wire length (i.e., the number of carbon atoms) and the type of termination (e.g.,
      atom, molecular group or nanostructure). Although linear, sp-hybridized carbon
      systems are still considered elusive and unstable materials, a number of
      nanostructures consisting of sp-carbon wires have been produced and characterized
      to date. In this short review, we present the main CAW synthesis techniques and
      stabilization strategies and we discuss the current status of the understanding
      of their structural, electronic and vibrational properties with particular
      attention to how these properties are related to one another. We focus on the use
      of vibrational spectroscopy to provide information on the structural and
      electronic properties of the system (e.g., determination of wire length).
      Moreover, by employing Raman spectroscopy and surface enhanced Raman scattering
      in combination with the support of first principles calculations, we show that a
      detailed understanding of the charge transfer between CAWs and metal
      nanoparticles may open the possibility to tune the electronic structure from
      alternating to equalized bonds. 

PMID- 25821690
TI  - Hollow plasmonic antennas for broadband SERS spectroscopy.
AB  - The chemical environment of cells is an extremely complex and multifaceted system
      that includes many types of proteins, lipids, nucleic acids and various other
      components. With the final aim of studying these components in detail, we have
      developed multiband plasmonic antennas, which are suitable for highly sensitive
      surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and are activated by a wide range of
      excitation wavelengths. The three-dimensional hollow nanoantennas were produced
      on an optical resist by a secondary electron lithography approach, generated by
      fast ion-beam milling on the polymer and then covered with silver in order to
      obtain plasmonic functionalities. The optical properties of these structures have
      been studied through finite element analysis simulations that demonstrated the
      presence of broadband absorption and multiband enhancement due to the unusual
      geometry of the antennas. The enhancement was confirmed by SERS measurements,
      which showed a large enhancement of the vibrational features both in the case of
      resonant excitation and out-of-resonance excitation. Such characteristics
      indicate that these structures are potential candidates for plasmonic enhancers
      in multifunctional opto-electronic biosensors. 

PMID- 25821691
TI  - Correction: Carbon-based smart nanomaterials in biomedicine and neuroengineering.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.3762/bjnano.5.196.]. 

PMID- 25821692
TI  - Synergic combination of the sol-gel method with dip coating for plasmonic
      devices.
AB  - Biosensing technologies based on plasmonic nanostructures have recently attracted
      significant attention due to their small dimensions, low-cost and high
      sensitivity but are often limited in terms of affinity, selectivity and
      stability. Consequently, several methods have been employed to functionalize
      plasmonic surfaces used for detection in order to increase their stability.
      Herein, a plasmonic surface was modified through a controlled, silica platform,
      which enables the improvement of the plasmonic-based sensor functionality. The
      key processing parameters that allow for the fine-tuning of the silica layer
      thickness on the plasmonic structure were studied. Control of the silica coating
      thickness was achieved through a combined approach involving sol-gel and dip
      coating techniques. The silica films were characterized using spectroscopic
      ellipsometry, contact angle measurements, atomic force microscopy and dispersive
      spectroscopy. The effect of the use of silica layers on the optical properties of
      the plasmonic structures was evaluated. The obtained results show that the silica
      coating enables surface protection of the plasmonic structures, preserving their
      stability for an extended time and inducing a suitable reduction of the
      regeneration time of the chip. 

PMID- 25821693
TI  - Filling of carbon nanotubes and nanofibres.
AB  - The reliable production of carbon nanotubes and nanofibres is a relatively new
      development, and due to their unique structure, there has been much interest in
      filling their hollow interiors. In this review, we provide an overview of the
      most common approaches for filling these carbon nanostructures. We highlight that
      filled carbon nanostructures are an emerging material for biomedical
      applications. 

PMID- 25821694
TI  - Pulmonary surfactant augments cytotoxicity of silica nanoparticles: Studies on an
      in vitro air-blood barrier model.
AB  - The air-blood barrier is a very thin membrane of about 2.2 um thickness and
      therefore represents an ideal portal of entry for nanoparticles to be used
      therapeutically in a regenerative medicine strategy. Until now, numerous studies
      using cellular airway models have been conducted in vitro in order to investigate
      the potential hazard of NPs. However, in most in vitro studies a crucial alveolar
      component has been neglected. Before aspirated NPs encounter the cellular air
      blood barrier, they impinge on the alveolar surfactant layer (10-20 nm in
      thickness) that lines the entire alveolar surface. Thus, a prior interaction of
      NPs with pulmonary surfactant components will occur. In the present study we
      explored the impact of pulmonary surfactant on the cytotoxic potential of
      amorphous silica nanoparticles (aSNPs) using in vitro mono- and complex coculture
      models of the air-blood barrier. Furthermore, different surface
      functionalisations (plain-unmodified, amino, carboxylate) of the aSNPs were
      compared in order to study the impact of chemical surface properties on aSNP
      cytotoxicity in combination with lung surfactant. The alveolar epithelial cell
      line A549 was used in mono- and in coculture with the microvascular cell line ISO
      HAS-1 in the form of different cytotoxicity assays (viability, membrane
      integrity, inflammatory responses such as IL-8 release). At a distinct
      concentration (100 ug/mL) aSNP-plain displayed the highest cytotoxicity and IL-8
      release in monocultures of A549. aSNP-NH2 caused a slight toxic effect, whereas
      aSNP-COOH did not exhibit any cytotoxicity. In combination with lung surfactant,
      aSNP-plain revealed an increased cytotoxicity in monocultures of A549, aSNP-NH2
      caused a slightly augmented toxic effect, whereas aSNP-COOH did not show any
      toxic alterations. A549 in coculture did not show any decreased toxicity
      (membrane integrity) for aSNP-plain in combination with lung surfactant. However,
      a significant augmented IL-8 release was observed, but no alterations in
      combination with lung surfactant. The augmented aSNP toxicity with surfactant in
      monocultures appears to depend on the chemical surface properties of the aSNPs.
      Reactive silanol groups seem to play a crucial role for an augmented toxicity of
      aSNPs. The A549 cells in the coculture seem to be more robust towards aSNPs,
      which might be a result of a higher differentiation and polarization state due
      the longer culture period. 

PMID- 25821695
TI  - Structural, optical, opto-thermal and thermal properties of ZnS-PVA nanofluids
      synthesized through a radiolytic approach.
AB  - This work describes a fast, clean and low-cost approach to synthesize ZnS-PVA
      nanofluids consisting of ZnS nanoparticles homogeneously distributed in a PVA
      solution. The ZnS nanoparticles were formed by the electrostatic force between
      zinc and sulfur ions induced by gamma irradiation at a dose range from 10 to 50
      kGy. Several experimental characterizations were conducted to investigate the
      physical and chemical properties of the samples. Fourier transform infrared
      spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to determine the chemical structure and bonding
      conditions of the final products, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for
      determining the shape morphology and average particle size, powder X-ray
      diffraction (XRD) for confirming the formation and crystalline structure of ZnS
      nanoparticles, UV-visible spectroscopy for measuring the electronic absorption
      characteristics, transient hot wire (THW) and photoacoustic measurements for
      measuring the thermal conductivity and thermal effusivity of the samples, from
      which, for the first time, the values of specific heat and thermal diffusivity of
      the samples were then calculated. 

PMID- 25821696
TI  - Silica micro/nanospheres for theranostics: from bimodal MRI and fluorescent
      imaging probes to cancer therapy.
AB  - Nano-theranostics offer remarkable potential for future biomedical technology
      with simultaneous applications for diagnosis and therapy of disease sites.
      Through smart and careful chemical modifications of the nanoparticle surface,
      these can be converted to multifunctional tiny objects which in turn can be used
      as vehicle for delivering multimodal imaging agents and therapeutic material to
      specific target sites in vivo. In this sense, bimodal imaging probes that
      simultaneously enable magnetic resonance imaging and fluorescence imaging have
      gained tremendous attention because disease sites can be characterized quick and
      precisely through synergistic multimodal imaging. But such hybrid nanocomposite
      materials have limitations such as low chemical stability (magnetic component)
      and harsh cytotoxic effects (fluorescent component) and, hence, require a
      biocompatible protecting agent. Silica micro/nanospheres have shown promise as
      protecting agent due to the high stability and low toxicity. This review will
      cover a full description of MRI-active and fluorescent multifunctional silica
      micro/nanospheres including the design of the probe, different characterization
      methods and their application in imaging and treatment in cancer. 

PMID- 25821697
TI  - Chains of carbon atoms: A vision or a new nanomaterial?
AB  - Linear strings of sp(1)-hybridized carbon atoms are considered as a possible
      phase of carbon since decades. Whereas the debate about the stability of the
      corresponding bulk phase carbyne continues until today, the existence of isolated
      chains of carbon atoms has meanwhile been corroborated experimentally. Since
      graphene, as the two-dimensional sp(2)-bonded allotrope of carbon, has become a
      vast field, the question about the importance of one-dimensional carbon became of
      renewed interest. The present article gives an overview of the work that has been
      carried out on chains of carbon atoms in the past one or two decades. The review
      concentrates on isolated chains of carbon atoms and summarizes the experimental
      observations to date. While the experimental information is still very limited,
      many calculations of the physical and chemical properties have been published in
      the past years. Some of the most important theoretical studies and their
      importance in the present experimental situation are reviewed. 

PMID- 25821698
TI  - Novel ZnO:Ag nanocomposites induce significant oxidative stress in human
      fibroblast malignant melanoma (Ht144) cells.
AB  - The use of photoactive nanoparticles (NPs) such as zinc oxide (ZnO) and its
      nanocomposites has become a promising anticancer strategy. However, ZnO has a low
      photocatalytic decomposition rate and the incorporation of metal ions such as
      silver (Ag) improves their activity. Here different formulations of ZnO:Ag (1, 3,
      5, 10, 20 and 30% Ag) were synthesized by a simple co-precipitation method and
      characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy,
      Rutherford back scattering and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for their
      structure, morphology, composition and optical band gap. The NPs were
      investigated with regard to their different photocatalytic cytotoxic effects in
      human malignant melanoma (HT144) and normal (HCEC) cells. The ZnO:Ag
      nanocomposites killed cancer cells more efficiently than normal cells under
      daylight exposure. Nanocomposites having higher Ag content (10, 20 and 30%) were
      more toxic compared to low Ag content (1, 3 and 5%). For HT144, under daylight
      exposure, the IC50 values were ZnO:Ag (10%): 23.37 MUg/mL, ZnO:Ag (20%): 19.95
      MUg/mL, and ZnO:Ag (30%): 15.78 MUg/mL. ZnO:Ag (30%) was toxic to HT144 (IC50:
      23.34 MUg/mL) in dark as well. The three nanocomposites were further analyzed
      with regard to their ability to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and induce
      lipid peroxidation. The particles led to an increase in levels of ROS at
      cytotoxic concentrations, but only HT144 showed strongly induced MDA level.
      Finally, NPs were investigated for the ROS species they generated in vitro. A
      highly significant increase of (1)O2 in the samples exposed to daylight was
      observed. Hydroxyl radical species, HO(*), were also generated to a lesser
      extent. Thus, the incorporation of Ag into ZnO NPs significantly improves their
      photo-oxidation capabilities. ZnO:Ag nanocomposites could provide a new
      therapeutic option to selectively target cancer cells. 

PMID- 25821699
TI  - Entropy effects in the collective dynamic behavior of alkyl monolayers tethered
      to Si(111).
AB  - Dynamic properties of n-alkyl monolayers covalently bonded to Si(111) were
      studied by broadband admittance spectroscopy as a function of the temperature and
      the applied voltage using rectifying Hg/C12H25/n-type Si junctions. Partial
      substitution of methyl end groups by polar (carboxylic acid) moieties was used to
      enhance the chain end relaxation response. Two thermally activated dissipation
      mechanisms (B1 and B2, with f B1 < f B2) are evidenced for all reverse bias
      values. The strong decrease of both relaxation frequencies with increasing
      reverse dc bias reveals increasing motional constraints, attributed to
      electrostatic pressure applied to the densely-packed nanometer-thick monolayer.
      Spectral decomposition of the frequency response shows a power-law dependence of
      their activation energies on |V DC|. A large reverse bias reversibly increases
      the B2 response attributed to the distribution of gauche defects, in contrast
      with the constant strength of the acid dipole loss (B1). A trans-gauche
      isomerization energy of 50 meV is derived from the temperature dependence of the
      B2 dipolar strength. For both dissipation mechanisms, the observed linear
      correlation between activation energy and logarithm of pre-exponential factor is
      consistent with a multi-excitation entropy model, in which the molecular
      reorientation path is strongly coupled with a large number of low energy
      excitations (here the n-alkyl bending vibrational mode) collected from the
      thermal bath. This collective dynamic behavior of alkyl chains tethered to Si is
      also confirmed by the asymmetric relaxation peak shape related to many-body
      interactions in complex systems. 

PMID- 25821700
TI  - Overview of nanoscale NEXAFS performed with soft X-ray microscopes.
AB  - Today, in material science nanoscale structures are becoming more and more
      important. Not only for the further miniaturization of semiconductor devices like
      carbon nanotube based transistors, but also for newly developed efficient energy
      storage devices, gas sensors or catalytic systems nanoscale and functionalized
      materials have to be analysed. Therefore, analytical tools like near-edge X-ray
      absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy has to be applied on single
      nanostructures. Scanning transmission X-ray microscopes (STXM) as well as full
      field transmission X-ray microscopes (TXM) allow the required spatial resolution
      to study individual nanostructures. In the soft X-ray energy range only STXM was
      used so far for NEXAFS studies. Due to its unique setup, the TXM operated by the
      Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) at the electron storage ring BESSY II is the first
      one in the soft X-ray range which can be used for NEXAFS spectroscopy studies
      which will be shown in this review. Here we will give an overview of the
      different microscopes used for NEXAFS studies and describe their advantages and
      disadvantages for different samples. 

PMID- 25821701
TI  - Tm-doped TiO2 and Tm2Ti2O7 pyrochlore nanoparticles: enhancing the photocatalytic
      activity of rutile with a pyrochlore phase.
AB  - Tm-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized using a water-controlled hydrolysis
      reaction. Analysis was performed in order to determine the influence of the
      dopant concentration and annealing temperature on the phase, crystallinity, and
      electronic and optical properties of the resulting material. Various
      characterization techniques were utilized such as X-ray diffraction, Raman
      spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy. For the
      samples annealed at 773 and 973 K, anatase phase TiO2 was obtained, predominantly
      internally doped with Tm(3+). ICP-AES showed that a doping concentration of up to
      5.8 atom % was obtained without reducing the crystallinity of the samples. The
      presence of Tm(3+) was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-vis
      spectroscopy: the incorporation of Tm(3+) was confirmed by the generation of new
      absorption bands that could be assigned to Tm(3+) transitions. Furthermore, when
      the samples were annealed at 1173 K, a pyrochlore phase (Tm2Ti2O7) mixed with
      TiO2 was obtained with a predominant rutile phase. The photodegradation of
      methylene blue showed that this pyrochlore phase enhanced the photocatalytic
      activity of the rutile phase. 

PMID- 25821703
TI  - A versatile strategy towards non-covalent functionalization of graphene by
      surface-confined supramolecular self-assembly of Janus tectons.
AB  - Two-dimensional (2D), supramolecular self-assembly at surfaces is now well
      mastered with several existing examples. However, one remaining challenge to
      enable future applications in nanoscience is to provide potential functionalities
      to the physisorbed adlayer. This work reviews a recently developed strategy that
      addresses this key issue by taking advantage of a new concept, Janus tecton
      materials. This is a versatile, molecular platform based on the design of three
      dimensional (3D) building blocks consisting of two faces linked by a cyclophane
      type pillar. One face is designed to steer 2D self-assembly onto C(sp(2))-carbon
      based flat surfaces, the other allowing for the desired functionality above the
      substrate with a well-controlled lateral order. In this way, it is possible to
      simultaneously obtain a regular, non-covalent paving as well as supramolecular
      functionalization of graphene, thus opening interesting perspectives for
      nanoscience applications. 

PMID- 25821702
TI  - Self-assembled anchor layers/polysaccharide coatings on titanium surfaces: a
      study of functionalization and stability.
AB  - Composite materials based on a titanium support and a thin, alginate hydrogel
      could be used in bone tissue engineering as a scaffold material that provides
      biologically active molecules. The main objective of this contribution is to
      characterize the activation and the functionalization of titanium surfaces by the
      covalent immobilization of anchoring layers of self-assembled bisphosphonate
      neridronate monolayers and polymer films of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and
      biomimetic poly(dopamine). These were further used to bind a bio-functional
      alginate coating. The success of the titanium surface activation, anchoring layer
      formation and alginate immobilization, as well as the stability upon immersion
      under physiological-like conditions, are demonstrated by different surface
      sensitive techniques such as spectroscopic ellipsometry, infrared reflection
      absorption spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The changes in
      morphology and the established continuity of the layers are examined by scanning
      electron microscopy, surface profilometry and atomic force microscopy. The
      changes in hydrophilicity after each modification step are further examined by
      contact angle goniometry. 

PMID- 25821704
TI  - Simple approach for the fabrication of PEDOT-coated Si nanowires.
AB  - The synthesis of a conformal poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) layer on Si
      nanowires was demonstrated using a pulsed electrodeposition technique. N-type Si
      nanowire (SiNWs) arrays were synthesized using an electroless metal-assisted
      chemical etching technique. The dependence of the SiNW reflection on the
      concentration of the AgNO3 solution was identified. A reflection of less than 2%
      over the entire visible spectral range was obtained for these structures,
      evidencing their excellent antireflective properties. The etched SiNWs
      nanostructures can be further modified by using a tapering technique, which
      further preserves the strong light trapping effect. P-type PEDOT was grown on
      these SiNWs using electrochemical methods. Since the polymerization reaction is a
      very fast process with regards to monomer diffusion along the SiNW, the conformal
      deposition by classical, fixed potential deposition was not favored. Instead, the
      core-shell heterojunction structure was finally achieved by a pulsed deposition
      method. An extremely large shunt resistance was exhibited and determined to be
      related to the diffusion conditions occurring during polymerization. 

PMID- 25821706
TI  - In situ observation of biotite (001) surface dissolution at pH 1 and 9.5 by
      advanced optical microscopy.
AB  - Laser confocal differential interference contrast microscopy (LCM-DIM) allows for
      the study of the reactivity of surface minerals with slow dissolution rates
      (e.g., phyllosilicates). With this technique, it is possible to carry out in situ
      inspection of the reacting surface in a broad range of pH, ionic strength and
      temperature providing useful information to help unravel the dissolution
      mechanisms of phyllosilicates. In this work, LCM-DIM was used to study the
      mechanisms controlling the biotite (001) surface dissolution at pH 1 (11 and 25 
      degrees C) and pH 9.5 (50  degrees C). Step edges are the preferential sites of
      dissolution and lead to step retreat, regardless of the solution pH. At pH 1,
      layer swelling and peeling takes place, whereas at pH 9.5 fibrous structures
      (streaks) form at the step edges. Confocal Raman spectroscopy characterization of
      the reacted surface could not confirm if the formation of a secondary phase was
      responsible for the presence of these structures. 

PMID- 25821705
TI  - Influence of gold, silver and gold-silver alloy nanoparticles on germ cell
      function and embryo development.
AB  - The use of engineered nanoparticles has risen exponentially over the last decade.
      Applications are manifold and include utilisation in industrial goods as well as
      medical and consumer products. Gold and silver nanoparticles play an important
      role in the current increase of nanoparticle usage. However, our understanding
      concerning possible side effects of this increased exposure to particles, which
      are frequently in the same size regime as medium sized biomolecules and
      accessorily possess highly active surfaces, is still incomplete. That
      particularly applies to reproductive aspects, were defects can be passed onto
      following generations. This review gives a brief overview of the most recent
      findings concerning reprotoxicological effects. The here presented data elucidate
      how composition, size and surface modification of nanoparticles influence
      viablility and functionality of reproduction relevant cells derived from various
      animal models. While in vitro cultured embryos displayed no toxic effects after
      the microinjection of gold and silver nanoparticles, sperm fertility parameters
      deteriorated after co-incubation with ligand free gold nanoparticles. However,
      the effect could be alleviated by bio-coating the nanoparticles, which even
      applies to silver and silver-rich alloy nanoparticles. The most sensitive test
      system appeared to be in vitro oocyte maturation showing a dose-dependent
      response towards protein (BSA) coated gold-silver alloy and silver nanoparticles
      leading up to complete arrest of maturation. Recent biodistribution studies
      confirmed that nanoparticles gain access to the ovaries and also penetrate the
      blood-testis and placental barrier. Thus, the design of nanoparticles with
      increased biosafety is highly relevant for biomedical applications. 

PMID- 25821707
TI  - Mandibular gnathobases of marine planktonic copepods - feeding tools with complex
      micro- and nanoscale composite architectures.
AB  - Copepods are dominant members of the marine zooplankton. Their diets often
      comprise large proportions of diatom taxa whose silicified frustules are
      mechanically stable and offer protection against grazers. Despite of this
      protection, many copepod species are able to efficiently break even the most
      stable frustule types. This ability requires specific feeding tools with
      mechanically adapted architectures, compositions and properties. When ingesting
      food, the copepods use the gnathobases of their mandibles to grab and, if
      necessary, crush and mince the food items. The morphology of these gnathobases is
      related to the diets of the copepods. Gnathobases of copepod species that mainly
      feed on phytoplankton feature compact and stable tooth-like structures, so-called
      teeth. In several copepod species these gnathobase teeth have been found to
      contain silica. Recent studies revealed that the siliceous teeth are complex
      microscale composites with silica-containing cap-like structures located on
      chitinous exoskeleton sockets that are connected with rubber-like bearings formed
      by structures with high proportions of the soft and elastic protein resilin. In
      addition, the silica-containing cap-like structures exhibit a nanoscale composite
      architecture. They contain some amorphous silica and large proportions of the
      crystalline silica type alpha-cristobalite and are pervaded by a fine chitinous
      fibre network that very likely serves as a scaffold during the silicification
      process. All these intricate composite structures are assumed to be the result of
      a coevolution between the copepod gnathobases and diatom frustules in an
      evolutionary arms race. The composites very likely increase both the performance
      of the siliceous teeth and their resistance to mechanical damage, and it is
      conceivable that their development has favoured the copepods' dominance of the
      marine zooplankton observed today. 

PMID- 25821708
TI  - Electromagnetic enhancement of ordered silver nanorod arrays evaluated by
      discrete dipole approximation.
AB  - The enhancement factor (EF) of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) from two
      dimensional (2D) hexagonal silver nanorod (AgNR) arrays were investigated in
      terms of electromagnetic (EM) mechanism by using the discrete dipole
      approximation (DDA) method. The dependence of EF on several parameters, i.e.,
      structure, length, excitation wavelength, incident angle and polarization, and
      gap size has been investigated. "Hotspots" were found distributed in the gaps
      between adjacent nanorods. Simulations of AgNR arrays of different lengths
      revealed that increasing the rod length from 374 to 937 nm (aspect ratio from 2.0
      to 5.0) generated more "hotspots" but not necessarily increased EF under both 514
      and 532 nm excitation. A narrow lateral gap (in the incident plane) was found to
      result in strong EF, while the dependence of EF on the diagonal gap (out of the
      incident plane) showed an oscillating behavior. The EF of the array was highly
      dependent on the angle and polarization of the incident light. The structure of
      AgNR and the excitation wavelength were also found to affect the EF. The EF of
      random arrays was stronger than that of an ordered one with the same average gap
      of 21 nm, which could be explained by the exponential dependence of EF on the
      lateral gap size. Our results also suggested that absorption rather than
      extinction or scattering could be a good indicator of EM enhancement. It is
      expected that the understanding of the dependence of local field enhancement on
      the structure of the nanoarrays and incident excitations will shine light on the
      optimal design of efficient SERS substrates and improved performance. 

PMID- 25821709
TI  - Manipulation of magnetic vortex parameters in disk-on-disk nanostructures with
      various geometry.
AB  - Magnetic nanostructures in the form of a sandwich consisting of two permalloy
      (Py) disks with diameters of 600 and 200 nm separated by a nonmagnetic interlayer
      are studied. Magnetization reversal of the disk-on-disk nanostructures depends on
      the distance between centers of the small and big disks and on orientation of an
      external magnetic field applied during measurements. It is found that
      manipulation of the magnetic vortex chirality and the trajectory of the vortex
      core in the big disk is only possible in asymmetric nanostructures.
      Experimentally studied peculiarities of a motion path of the vortex core and
      vortex parameters by the magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) magnetometer are
      supported by the magnetic force microscopy imaging and micromagnetic simulations.

PMID- 25821710
TI  - Observation of a photoinduced, resonant tunneling effect in a carbon nanotube
      silicon heterojunction.
AB  - A significant resonant tunneling effect has been observed under the 2.4 V
      junction threshold in a large area, carbon nanotube-silicon (CNT-Si)
      heterojunction obtained by growing a continuous layer of multiwall carbon
      nanotubes on an n-doped silicon substrate. The multiwall carbon nanostructures
      were grown by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique on a 60 nm thick,
      silicon nitride layer, deposited on an n-type Si substrate. The heterojunction
      characteristics were intensively studied on different substrates, resulting in
      high photoresponsivity with a large reverse photocurrent plateau. In this paper,
      we report on the photoresponsivity characteristics of the device, the
      heterojunction threshold and the tunnel-like effect observed as a function of
      applied voltage and excitation wavelength. The experiments are performed in the
      near-ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelength range. The high conversion
      efficiency of light radiation into photoelectrons observed with the presented
      layout allows the device to be used as a large area photodetector with very low,
      intrinsic dark current and noise. 

PMID- 25821711
TI  - Electroburning of few-layer graphene flakes, epitaxial graphene, and turbostratic
      graphene discs in air and under vacuum.
AB  - Graphene-based electrodes are very promising for molecular electronics and
      spintronics. Here we report a systematic characterization of the electroburning
      (EB) process, leading to the formation of nanometer-spaced gaps, on different
      types of few-layer graphene (namely mechanically exfoliated graphene on SiO2,
      graphene epitaxially grown on the C-face of SiC and turbostratic graphene discs
      deposited on SiO2) under air and vacuum conditions. The EB process is found to
      depend on both the graphene type and on the ambient conditions. For the
      mechanically exfoliated graphene, performing EB under vacuum leads to a higher
      yield of nanometer-gap formation than working in air. Conversely, for graphene on
      SiC the EB process is not successful under vacuum. Finally, the EB is possible
      with turbostratic graphene discs only after the creation of a constriction in the
      sample using lithographic patterning. 

PMID- 25821712
TI  - Morphological and structural characterization of single-crystal ZnO nanorod
      arrays on flexible and non-flexible substrates.
AB  - We report a facile synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod arrays using an
      optimized, chemical bath deposition method on glass, PET and Si substrates. The
      morphological and structural properties of the ZnO nanorod arrays were
      investigated using various techniques such as field emission scanning electron
      microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, which revealed the
      formation of dense ZnO nanorods with a single crystal, hexagonal wurtzite
      structure. The aspect ratio of the single-crystal ZnO nanorods and the growth
      rate along the (002) direction was found to be sensitive to the substrate type.
      The lattice constants and the crystallite size of the fabricated ZnO nanorods
      were calculated based on the XRD data. The obtained results revealed that the
      increase in the crystallite size is strongly associated with the growth
      conditions with a minor dependence on the type of substrate. The Raman
      spectroscopy measurements confirmed the existence of a compressive stress in the
      fabricated ZnO nanorods. The obtained results illustrated that the growth of high
      quality, single-crystal ZnO nanorods can be realized by adjusting the synthesis
      conditions. 

PMID- 25821713
TI  - Graphene quantum interference photodetector.
AB  - In this work, a graphene quantum interference (QI) photodetector was simulated in
      two regimes of operation. The structure consists of a graphene nanoribbon, Mach
      Zehnder interferometer (MZI), which exhibits a strongly resonant transmission of
      electrons of specific energies. In the first regime of operation (that of a
      linear photodetector), low intensity light couples two resonant energy levels,
      resulting in scattering and differential transmission of current with an external
      quantum efficiency of up to 5.2%. In the second regime of operation, full current
      switching is caused by the phase decoherence of the current due to a strong
      photon flux in one or both of the interferometer arms in the same MZI structure.
      Graphene QI photodetectors have several distinct advantages: they are of very
      small size, they do not require p- and n-doped regions, and they exhibit a high
      external quantum efficiency. 

PMID- 25821714
TI  - Production, detection, storage and release of spin currents.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Quantum rings connected to ballistic circuits couple strongly to
      external magnetic fields if the connection is not symmetric. Moreover, properly
      connected rings can be used to pump currents in the wires giving raise to a
      number of interesting new phenomena. At half filling using a time-dependent
      magnetic field in the plane of the ring one can pump a pure spin current, excited
      by the the spin-orbit interaction in the ring. RESULTS: Such a magnetic current
      is even under time reversal and produces an electric field instead of the usual
      magnetic field. Numerical simulations show that one can use magnetizable bodies
      as storage units to concentrate and save the magnetization in much the same way
      as capacitors operating with charge currents store electric charge. The
      polarization obtained in this way can then be used on command to produce spin
      currents in a wire. These currents show interesting oscillations while the
      storage units exchange their polarizations. CONCLUSION: The magnetic production
      of spin currents can be a useful alternative to optical excitation and electric
      field methods.

PMID- 25821715
TI  - Recreational Water and Infection: A Review of Recent Findings.
AB  - This paper reviews the latest evidence provided by epidemiological studies and
      quantitative microbial risk assessments (QMRAs) of infection risk from
      recreational water use. Studies for review were selected following a PubMed
      search for articles published between January 2010 and April 2014.
      Epidemiological studies show a generally elevated risk of gastrointestinal
      illness in bathers compared to non-bathers but often no clear association with
      water quality as measured by faecal indicator bacteria; this is especially true
      where study sites are impacted by non-point source pollution. Evidence from QMRAs
      support the lack of a consistent water quality association for non-point source
      impacted beaches. It is suggested that source attribution, through quantified
      microbial source apportionment, linked with appropriate use of microbial source
      tracking methods should be employed as an integral part of future epidemiological
      surveys. 

PMID- 25821716
TI  - Microbial Contamination of Drinking Water and Human Health from Community Water
      Systems.
AB  - A relatively short list of reference viral, bacterial and protozoan pathogens
      appears adequate to assess microbial risks and inform a system-based management
      of drinking waters. Nonetheless, there are data gaps, e.g. human enteric viruses
      resulting in endemic infection levels if poorly performing disinfection and/or
      distribution systems are used, and the risks from fungi. Where disinfection is
      the only treatment and/or filtration is poor, cryptosporidiosis is the most
      likely enteric disease to be identified during waterborne outbreaks, but
      generally non-human-infectious genotypes are present in the absence of human or
      calf fecal contamination. Enteric bacteria may dominate risks during major fecal
      contamination events that are ineffectively managed. Reliance on culture-based
      methods exaggerates treatment efficacy and reduces our ability to identify
      pathogens/indicators; however, next-generation sequencing and polymerase chain
      reaction approaches are on the cusp of changing that. Overall, water-based
      Legionella and non-tuberculous mycobacteria probably dominate health burden at
      exposure points following the various societal uses of drinking water. 

PMID- 25821717
TI  - Sleep and oligodendrocyte functions.
AB  - Transcriptomic studies have revealed that the brains of sleeping and awake
      animals differ significantly at the molecular level, with hundreds of brain
      transcripts changing their expression across behavioral states. However, it was
      unclear how sleep affects specific cells types, such as oligodendrocytes, which
      make myelin in the healthy brain and in response to injury. In this review, I
      summarize the recent findings showing that several genes expressed at higher
      levels during sleep are involved in the synthesis/maintenance of all membranes
      and of myelin in particular. In addition, I will discuss the effect of sleep and
      wake on oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), providing a working hypothesis on
      the function of REM sleep and acetylcholine in OPC proliferation.

PMID- 25821718
TI  - Molecular Imaging in Optical Coherence Tomography.
AB  - Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a medical imaging technique that provides
      tomographic images at micron scales in three dimensions and high speeds. The
      addition of molecular contrast to the available morphological image holds great
      promise for extending OCT's impact in clinical practice and beyond. Fundamental
      limitations prevent OCT from directly taking advantage of powerful molecular
      processes such as fluorescence emission and incoherent Raman scattering. A wide
      range of approaches is being researched to provide molecular contrast to OCT.
      Here we review those approaches with particular attention to those that derive
      their molecular contrast directly from modulation of the OCT signal. We also
      provide a brief overview of the multimodal approaches to gaining molecular
      contrast coincident with OCT.

PMID- 25821719
TI  - Detecting Significant Changes in Protein Abundance.
AB  - We review and demonstrate how an empirical Bayes method, shrinking a protein's
      sample variance towards a pooled estimate, leads to far more powerful and stable
      inference to detect significant changes in protein abundance compared to ordinary
      t-tests. Using examples from isobaric mass labeled proteomic experiments we show
      how to analyze data from multiple experiments simultaneously, and discuss the
      effects of missing data on the inference. We also present easy to use open source
      software for normalization of mass spectrometry data and inference based on
      moderated test statistics.

PMID- 25821720
TI  - Are hospitals "keeping up with the Joneses"?: Assessing the spatial and temporal
      diffusion of the surgical robot.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The surgical robot has been widely adopted in the United States in
      spite of its high cost and controversy surrounding its benefit. Some have
      suggested that a "medical arms race" influences technology adoption. We wanted to
      determine whether a hospital would acquire a surgical robot if its nearest
      neighboring hospital already owned one. METHODS: We identified 554 hospitals
      performing radical prostatectomy from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project
      Statewide Inpatient Databases for seven states. We used publicly available data
      from the website of the surgical robot's sole manufacturer (Intuitive Surgical,
      Sunnyvale, CA) combined with data collected from the hospitals to ascertain the
      timing of robot acquisition during year 2001 to 2008. One hundred thirty four
      hospitals (24%) had acquired a surgical robot by the end of 2008. We geocoded the
      address of each hospital and determined a hospital's likelihood to acquire a
      surgical robot based on whether its nearest neighbor owned a surgical robot. We
      developed a Markov chain method to model the acquisition process spatially and
      temporally and quantified the "neighborhood effect" on the acquisition of the
      surgical robot while adjusting simultaneously for known confounders. RESULTS:
      After adjusting for hospital teaching status, surgical volume, urban status and
      number of hospital beds, the Markov chain analysis demonstrated that a hospital
      whose nearest neighbor had acquired a surgical robot had a higher likelihood
      itself acquiring a surgical robot. (OR=1.71, 95% CI: 1.07-2.72, p=0.02).
      CONCLUSION: There is a significant spatial and temporal association for hospitals
      acquiring surgical robots during the study period. Hospitals were more likely to
      acquire a surgical robot during the robot's early adoption phase if their nearest
      neighbor had already done so.

PMID- 25821721
TI  - Whole Exome Sequencing Reveals DYSF, FKTN, and ISPD Mutations in Congenital
      Muscular Dystrophy Without Brain or Eye Involvement.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Congenital muscular dystrophies (CMDs) are a genetically and
      clinically heterogeneous group of neuromuscular disorders. Several genes encoding
      extracellular matrix, nuclear envelope, sarcolemmal proteins and glycosylation
      enzymes have been implicated in CMDs. The large overlap of clinical presentations
      due to mutations in different genes poses a challenge for clinicians in
      determining disease etiology for each patient. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the use
      of whole exome sequencing (WES) in identifying the genetic cause of disease in 5
      CMD patients from 3 families who presented with highly similar clinical features,
      including early-onset rapidly progressive weakness without brain or eye
      abnormalities. METHODS: Whole exome sequencing was performed on DNA from affected
      individuals. Potential functional impacts of mutations were investigated by
      immunostaining on available muscle biopsies. RESULTS: Pathogenic mutations in 3
      different genes, DYSF, FKTN, and ISPD were identified in each family. Mutation in
      DYSF led to absence of dysferlin protein in patient muscle. Mutations in ISPD led
      to impaired ISDP function, as demonstrated by deficiency of alpha-dystroglycan
      glycosylation in patient muscle. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the benefit
      of unbiased genomic approaches in molecular diagnosis of neuromuscular disorders
      with high clinical heterogeneity, such as the phenotypes observed in our
      patients. Our results suggest that dysferlin deficiency should be in the
      differential diagnosis of congenital and rapidly progressive muscular dystrophy,
      and therefore dysferlin antibody should be in the standard immunohistochemistry
      panel for muscle biopsies in cases with suspected CMD.

PMID- 25821722
TI  - Short-term, daily exposure to cold temperature may be an efficient way to prevent
      muscle atrophy and bone loss in a microgravity environment.
AB  - Microgravity induces less pressure on muscle/bone, which is a major reason for
      muscle atrophy as well as bone loss. Currently, physical exercise is the only
      countermeasure used consistently in the U.S. human space program to counteract
      the microgravity-induced skeletal muscle atrophy and bone loss. However, the
      routinely almost daily time commitment is significant and represents a potential
      risk to the accomplishment of other mission operational tasks. Therefore,
      development of more efficient exercise programs (with less time) to prevent
      astronauts from muscle atrophy and bone loss are needed. Consider the two types
      of muscle contraction: exercising forces muscle contraction and prevents
      microgravity-induced muscle atrophy/bone loss, which is a voluntary response
      through the motor nervous system; and cold temperature exposure-induced muscle
      contraction is an involuntary response through the vegetative nervous system, we
      formed a new hypothesis. The main purpose of this pilot study was to test our
      hypothesis that exercise at 4  degrees C is more efficient than at room
      temperature to prevent microgravity-induced muscle atrophy/bone loss and,
      consequently reduces physical exercise time. Twenty mice were divided into two
      groups with or without daily short-term (10 min * 2, at 12 h interval) cold
      temperature (4  degrees C) exposure for 30 days. The whole bodyweight, muscle
      strength and bone density were measured after terminating the experiments. The
      results from the one-month pilot study support our hypothesis and suggest that it
      would be reasonable to use more mice, in a microgravity environment and observe
      for a longer period to obtain a conclusion. We believe that the results from such
      a study will help to develop efficient exercise, which will finally benefit
      astronauts' heath and NASA's missions.

PMID- 25821723
TI  - Frameless single-isocenter intensity modulated stereotactic radiosurgery for
      simultaneous treatment of multiple intracranial metastases.
AB  - PURPOSE: Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is well accepted treatment for patients
      with intracranial metastases, but the role of frameless radiosurgery is not well
      defined. Here, we describe our clinical experience applying a novel single
      isocenter technique to frameless intensity modulated stereotactic radiosurgery
      (IMRS) for simultaneous treatment of multiple intracranial metastases. METHODS
      AND MATERIALS: Between 2006 and 2012, 100 consecutive patients received frameless
      IMRS for multiple intracranial metastases using a single, centrally-located
      isocenter. Among these, 29 patients were treated for progressive or recurrent
      intracranial disease. A total of 465 metastases (median, 4 per patient, range, 2
      18) were treated to a median dose of 20 Gy (range, 15-50 Gy). Follow-up including
      clinical examination and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) occurred every 3
      months. RESULTS: Median follow-up for all patients was 4.3 months (range, 0.2
      58.3 months), with 83 patients (83.0%) followed until their death. For the
      remaining 17 patients alive at the time of analysis, median follow-up was 9.2
      months (range, 2.2-58.3 months). Overall survival at 6 months was 49.5% [95%
      confidence interval (CI), 35.3-63.6%]. Local control at 6 and 12 months was 88.9%
      (95% CI, 79.1-98.6%) and 81.5% (95% CI, 65.2-97.7%), respectively. Regional
      failure was observed in 39 patients (39%), and 25 patients (25%) received salvage
      therapy. Grade 3 or greater treatment-related toxicity was observed in 4 patients
      (4%) and included intracranial hemorrhage, seizure, and radionecrosis. Median
      total treatment time was 17.2 minutes (range, 2.8-55.3 minutes). CONCLUSIONS:
      Single-isocenter IMRS for multiple intracranial metastases can produce clinical
      outcomes comparable to those of conventional radiosurgery techniques.

PMID- 25821724
TI  - Nail as a window of systemic diseases.
AB  - Certain nail changes are specific for various dermatological disorders. In
      addition, examination of nails may also provide an insight into more sinister
      systemic manifestations in the form of both subtle as well as specific changes.
      These findings may present as a defect of various anatomical components of the
      nail unit; nail matrix, nail plate and/or nail bed or vasculature. This article
      is an attempt to equip the dermatologists with a foresight to suspect and
      diagnose the unapparent systemic connotations that may be possible by a simple
      but detailed nail examination. 

PMID- 25821725
TI  - A comparative study of 10% KOH solution and 5% imiquimod cream for the treatment
      of Molluscum contagiosum in the pediatric age group.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although Molluscum contagiosum (MC) is a self-limiting condition,
      active therapy could prevent further spread and improve cosmesis. Most of the
      available treatment modalities traumatize the lesions and have to be undertaken
      in the hospital, therefore evoking panic in children. In the quest for an
      alternative therapy, this study comparing 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution
      and 5% imiquimod cream was taken up. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy
      and tolerability of 10% KOH and 5% imiquimod in the treatment of MC. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: This comparative study was conducted over a period of 18 months from
      October 2011 to March 2013, 40 patients between the age group of 1-18 years with
      clinically diagnosed MC were divided into two groups (lottery method), 20
      patients were treated with 5% imiquimod cream (Group A) and the other 20 were
      treated with 10% KOH solution (Group B). Patients were followed up on the 4(th),
      8(th) and 12(th) week of treatment. RESULTS: At the end of 12 weeks, out of 20
      patients who received 10% KOH, 17 patients showed complete disappearance, whereas
      out of 20 patients who received 5% imiquimod, only 10 patients showed total
      clearance of the lesions. Adverse events were more frequent with 10% KOH,
      pigmentary disturbances being the most common. CONCLUSION: With only minor
      adverse effects, 10% KOH is an inexpensive and efficient modality for the
      treatment of MC in the pediatric age group. Although 5% imiquimod was effective
      in clearing the lesions with minimal adverse effects, the longer duration
      required for its efficacy may deter its wider use.

PMID- 25821726
TI  - Comparison of levels of serum copper, zinc, albumin, globulin and alkaline
      phosphatase in psoriatic patients and controls: A hospital based casecontrol
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic, immune-mediated skin disease with unknown
      etiology, with an epidermal turnover time of <10 days compared to a normal
      turnover time of 4-8 weeks. This epidermal hyperproliferation accounts for many
      of the metabolic abnormalities including alteration in the serum levels of
      proteins and some trace elements. AIM: The aim was to detect any statistically
      significant difference in the serum levels of zinc, copper, albumin, globulin and
      alkaline phosphatase between psoriasis patients and healthy controls. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Hundred cases of psoriasis and 100 age and sex matched controls were
      enrolled in a hospital based case-control study. The serum levels of zinc,
      copper, albumin, globulin and alkaline phosphatase were calculated and compared
      among the cases and controls and evaluated statistically. RESULTS: Serum zinc
      levels were significantly low in the psoriasis group as compared with controls
      (mean 80.028 MUg/dl vs. 109.179 MUg/dl, P < 0.0001). Serum copper levels were
      significantly raised among cases as compared with controls (mean 167.317 MUg/dl
      vs. 133.884 MUg/dl P < 0.0001). Serum albumin levels were significantly decreased
      (3.762 g/dl vs. 4.103 g/dl, P < 0.001), whereas serum globulin levels were raised
      (3.296 g/dl vs. 2.596 g/dl, P = 0.0014) among cases as compared with controls,
      respectively. Serum alkaline phosphatase levels were comparable between the two
      groups. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show significant alterations in the
      serum levels of copper, zinc, albumin, and globulin in psoriatic patients. This
      paper aims at highlighting the possible role of trace metals copper and zinc in
      the aetiopathogenesis of psoriasis and also provides a proposed interplay of
      factors involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis.

PMID- 25821727
TI  - Retinoic acid and glycolic acid combination in the treatment of acne scars.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Acne is a prevalent condition in society affecting nearly 80-90% of
      adolescents often resulting in secondary damage in the form of scarring. Retinoic
      acid (RA) is said to improve acne scars and reduce postinflammatory
      hyperpigmentation while glycolic acid (GA) is known for its keratolytic
      properties and its ability to reduce atrophic acne scars. There are studies
      exploring the combined effect of retinaldehyde and GA combination with positive
      results while the efficacy of retinoic acid and GA (RAGA) combination remains
      unexplored. AIM: The aim of this study remains to retrospectively assess the
      efficacy of RAGA combination on acne scars in patients previously treated for
      active acne. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective assessment of 35 patients
      using topical RAGA combination on acne scars was done. The subjects were 17-34
      years old and previously treated for active acne. Case records and photographs of
      each patient were assessed and the acne scars were graded as per Goodman and
      Baron's global scarring grading system (GSGS), before the start and after 12
      weeks of RAGA treatment. The differences in the scar grades were noted to assess
      the improvement. RESULTS: At the end of 12 weeks, significant improvement in acne
      scars was noticed in 91.4% of the patients. CONCLUSION: The RAGA combination
      shows efficacy in treating acne scars in the majority of patients, minimizing the
      need of procedural treatment for acne scars.

PMID- 25821728
TI  - Association of anti-phospholipid antibodies with connective tissue diseases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The antiphospholipid antibodies (APLA) are directed against
      phospholipids and their binding proteins and are frequently found in association
      with connective tissue disorders. Systemic lupus erythematoses (SLE) with APLA
      may cause a diagnostic dilemma as there are several manifestations like
      haemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, neurologic manifestations, leg ulcerations,
      serositis proteinuria which overlap in both these conditions. We conducted a
      study to find out the association of antiphospholipid antibodies with connective
      tissue diseases and compared the clinical and laboratory parameters between
      antiphoshpolipid antibody positive and antiphoshpolipid antibody negative group.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was carried out in 102 patients diagnosed with
      connective tissue diseases. APLA testing was done at baseline and for those
      positive, the test was repeated after 12 weeks. RESULTS: 14.7 % of patients with
      connective tissue diseases tissue had positive antiphoshpolipid antibodies.
      Positive antiphoshpolipid antibody was detected in 73.3% of patients with SLE
      group, 13.3% of patients with mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) and 13.3% of
      patients with systemic sclerosis. APLA positivity was seen in SLE patients with
      leg ulcers (87.2%), neurologic manifestation (72.7%), hemolytic anemia (62.3%),
      thrombocytopenia (72.7%), serositis (27.8%) and proteinuria(19.6%). CONCLUSIONS:
      Antiphoshpolipid antibodies should be tested in all patients with connective
      tissue disease.

PMID- 25821729
TI  - The nondermatophyte molds: Emerging as leading cause of onychomycosis in south
      east Rajasthan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Onychomycosis is a fungal disease of the nail apparatus caused by
      both dermatophytic and nondermatophytic strains. Treatment involves long duration
      antifungal therapy. However, long treatment duration without identifying the
      causative species may lead to resistance. Confirmation of diagnosis and
      speciation by culture before administering antifungal therapy is ideal. AIMS: To
      study the clinical and epidemiological aspects of onychomycosis in Hadoti region
      (south-east Rajasthan) and identify various mycological strains and predisposing
      factors causing onychomycosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective study of
      clinically diagnosed cases of onychomycosis attending the outpatient Department
      of Dermatology in our institute conducted from June 2012 to May 2013. The
      clippings were subjected to potassium hydroxide (KOH) examination and culture in
      the appropriate medium. RESULTS: A total of 150 cases were enrolled in our study.
      There were 110 males (73.33%) and 40 females (26.66%) and male to female ratio
      was 2.75:1. The total dystrophic onychomycosis was the most common presentation
      seen in the majority of cases (46%) followed by distal lateral subungual
      onychomycosis in 52 cases (34.6%), mixed onychomycosis in 16 cases (10.66%),
      superficial white onychomycosis in 11 cases (7.33%), and proximal subungual
      onychomycosis in 2 cases. None had the endonyx variant. Direct microscopic
      examination of the nail clipping mounted with 40% KOH demonstrated fungal
      elements in 83 (55.33%) cases. Rate of isolation of organisms by culture was 64%.
      Nondermatophytes were isolated in 53 (35.33%), dermatophytes in 28 (18.66%), and
      yeasts in 15 (10%) of cases. The most commonly isolated species was Aspergillus
      in 45 (30%) cases. Aspergillus flavus was more commonly isolated compared to
      Aspergillus niger. CONCLUSION: The nondermatophyte molds appear to be more common
      causative agents of onychomycosis compared to usual dermatophyte species in south
      east Rajasthan. Our study re-emphasizes the importance of culture for diagnosis
      of onychomycosis in every suspected case prior to therapy.

PMID- 25821730
TI  - Fibromatosis over the dorsa of both feet: An unusual presentation.
AB  - Fibromatosis is benign fibrous tissue condition intermediate between benign
      fibroma and metastasizing fibrosarcoma. The lesion tends to infiltrate and recur
      when removed, but do not metastasize. The lesion may be single or multiple, and
      the likelihood of recurrence after surgical removal varies with location of the
      lesion and age. A 40-year-old female presented with multiple raised lesions over
      both feet since 4 years, they were multiple well-defined firm nodules coalescing
      to form lobulated plaques distributed in a symmetrical pattern over the dorsum of
      both feet. Histopathology of skin showed epidermis with hyperkeratosis,
      acanthosis, mild parakeratosis, and prominent granular layer. Superficial dermis
      was unremarkable and deep dermis showed thick bundles of irregular collagen and
      fibroblastic proliferation, suggestive of fibromatosis. This case is being
      reported for its unusual presentation of fibromatosis over the dorsum of both
      feet. 

PMID- 25821731
TI  - Porokeratosis - Head to toe: An unusual presentation.
AB  - Porokeratosis is a disorder of epidermal proliferation in which many different
      clinical variants can be distinguished. Herein we report a rare case of
      porokeratosis involving almost all parts of the body with simultaneous occurrence
      of various forms of the disease in the same individual (classical porokeratosis
      of Mibelli, disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis, hypertrophic
      porokeratosis, and genital porokeratosis). 

PMID- 25821732
TI  - A case of dyschromatosis universalis hereditaria with adermatoglyphia: A rare
      association.
AB  - Dyschromatosis universalis hereditaria (DUH) is a rare, autosomal dominant
      genodermatosis with a peculiar reticulate pigmentary change, consisting of
      hyperpigmented macules mingled with hypopigmented lesions to give an overall
      impression of mottling. We herein report a case of DUH with adermatoglyphia in a
      young male with family history of the disorder. 

PMID- 25821733
TI  - Nonfamilial acrokeratosis verruciformis of Hopf.
AB  - Acrokeratosis verruciformis (AKV) of Hopf is an autosomal dominant genodermatosis
      with unknown etiology. It is characterized by multiple flat-topped keratotic
      papules resembling planar warts located mainly on the dorsum of hands and feet.
      Superficial ablation is the treatment of choice. A 41-year-old female presented
      with multiple hyperpigmented, hyperkeratotic papules and plaques over flexor
      aspect of both forearms, extensors of both legs and dorsum of the feet.
      Histopathology showed changes of AKV. Patient was treated with a combination of
      topical corticosteroids and cryotherapy with no visible improvement. 

PMID- 25821734
TI  - Palpable purpura with foot drop: Common presentations in an uncommon disease.
AB  - Churg-Strauss syndrome is a rare disease manifested by hypereosinophilia,
      vasculitis and tissue infiltration. This report describes the case of a 45-year
      old man who presented with a history of fever, difficulty in breathing, reddish
      lesions over the extremities and inability to walk since two weeks. The cutaneous
      features prompted us to conduct serial lab investigations which led to an early,
      potentially life saving diagnosis. 

PMID- 25821735
TI  - Porokeratotic eccrine ostial and dermal duct nevus.
AB  - Porokeratotic eccrine ostial and dermal duct nevus (PEODDN) is a rare nevoid
      condition characterized by asymptomatic grouped keratotic papules and plaques
      with a linear pattern on the extremities, having distinct porokeratotic
      histopathological features. The lesions usually present at birth or in childhood.
      We present here a case of late-onset PEODDN in a 23-year-old man who had lesions
      on the palm, forearm, arm and the chest along the lines of Blaschko, strictly
      localized to the left side of the body. 

PMID- 25821736
TI  - Sporotrichoid lupus vulgaris: A rare presentation.
AB  - Lupus vulgaris is the most common presentation of cutaneous tuberculosis in India
      and can present as papular, nodular, plaque, ulcerative, vegetating, and tumid
      forms. Unusual variants include the frambesiform, gangrenous, ulcerovegetating,
      lichen simplex chronicus, myxomatous, and sporotrichoid types. We describe a rare
      sporotrichoid presentation of lupus vulgaris on the leg of a 28-year-old female
      of 12 years duration. 

PMID- 25821737
TI  - Porocarcinoma with perineural invasion.
AB  - Herein we present the case of a 58 year old woman with porocarcinoma of the left
      forehead with perineural invasion, diagnosed after recurrence of previously
      excised benign poroma. This case serves as a reminder of the potential of
      malignant degeneration within long-standing benign adnexal tumors as well as the
      spectrum of histological features that may be seen in porocarcinoma. 

PMID- 25821738
TI  - A lady presenting with segmental anhidrosis and heat intolerance.

PMID- 25821739
TI  - Bier spots: An uncommon cause of mottled skin.

PMID- 25821740
TI  - Porokeratotic eccrine ostial and dermal duct nevus: A noteworthy presentation.

PMID- 25821741
TI  - Solitary painful ulcerated plaque on the sole.

PMID- 25821742
TI  - Linear dermatoses over the hand and foot.

PMID- 25821743
TI  - Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia.

PMID- 25821745
TI  - Crusted scabies presenting as palmoplantar psoriasis in Down's syndrome.

PMID- 25821744
TI  - Dermatitis neglecta-to be remembered, not neglected!

PMID- 25821746
TI  - Tuberous sclerosis.

PMID- 25821747
TI  - Development and validation of osteoporosis prescreening model for Iranian
      postmenopausal women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies have indicated that the commonly used osteoporosis
      prescreening tools are not appropriate for use in every nation. This study was
      designed to develop and validate a prescreening model for bone mineral
      densitometry among Iranian postmenopausal women. METHODS: From 13613 individuals
      who were referred for bone mineral densitometry in Shariati hospital in Tehran,
      8644 postmenopausal women were considered for the study after excluding men and
      premenopausal women. Questionnaires regarding the risk factors for osteoporosis
      were filled for each individual. Bone mineral density at the lumbar vertebrae (L2
      L4), femoral neck and total femur was measured by dual X-ray absorptiometry.
      Using holdout validation, the study sample was divided into two parts; training
      set (5705) and test set (2939). Logistic regression analysis was performed on the
      training set. A scoring model was developed and tested in the test set. RESULTS:
      Based on the training set, a seven-variable model named OPMIP (Osteoporosis
      Prescreening Model for Iranian Postmenopausal women) was developed with C
      statistics (area under curve) of 0.72. Using a cut-off of -2.5 for the model, the
      sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value
      were 72%, 59.5%, 64% and 69% respectively. The model performance was tested in
      the test set. OPMIP correctly classified 67.10% of cases with a sensitivity and
      specificity of 73.2% and 61%. CONCLUSIONS: In order to appropriately refer
      patients for a bone mineral densitometry, OPMIP can be used as a prescreening
      tool in Iranian Postmenopausal women.

PMID- 25821748
TI  - Fixed drug eruption to sitagliptin.
AB  - Fixed drug eruption is a common adverse effect seen with various drugs notably
      antibiotics, antiepileptics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Herein we
      report a case of Sitagliptin induced fixed drug eruption in a 46 year old female
      who developed circumscribed, erythematous macules all over the body within one
      week of initiation of Sitagliptin. The lesions resolved with residual
      hyperpigmentation on cessation of the drug. The diagnosis was confirmed by an
      oral provocation test which led to a reactivation of the lesions. To the best of
      our knowledge, this is the first case of fixed drug eruption to Sitagliptin
      reported in the literature. 

PMID- 25821749
TI  - Transition zone prostate specific antigen density improves prostate cancer
      detection in Iranian men.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prostate specific antigen (PSA) as a tumor marker has extensively
      changed the diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa). With the advent of PSA, the
      majority of patients are diagnosed with nonpalpable early stage PCa. However, PSA
      lacks specificity and many patients undergo unnecessary biopsies due to an
      elevated serum PSA level. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the sensitivity
      and specificity of transition zone PSA density (TZPSAD) in detection of PCa.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was performed on 1712 men underwent trans-rectal
      ultrasound guided prostate biopsy in our institution between March 2008 and March
      2013. A total of 1120 men with PSA < 20 ng/mL and normal digital rectal exam were
      selected for evaluation. Transition zone PSA density was calculated in all
      patients and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to
      analyze the accuracy of TZPSAD for the diagnosis of PCa. RESULTS: Among 1120 men
      who were eligible for enrolment, prostate cancer was detected in 265 patients.
      Mean serum PSA levels were 9.7 +/- 4.3 ng/mL and 8.5 +/- 3.7 ng/mL in patients
      with and without PCa, respectively (P < 0.001). Mean value for TZPSAD was 1.18 +/
      1.19 ng/mL/mL in patients with PCa, whereas it was 0.55 +/- 0.84 ng/mL in men
      without cancer (P < 0.001). Optimal cut-off value for TZPSAD was 0.32 ng/mL. At
      this cut-off value, the sensitivity and specificity values for TZPSAD were 85%
      and 45%, respectively. Applying the TZPSAD for PCa screening decreased 50% of
      unnecessary biopsies. CONCLUSIONS: Using TZPSAD as an adjunct to PSA may improve
      the specificity of PSA in the diagnosis of PCa and decrease the number of
      unnecessary prostatic biopsies in Iranian men with serum PSA level < 20 ng/mL.

PMID- 25821750
TI  - Prescription drugs, alcohol, and illicit substance use and their correlations
      among medical sciences students in iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Substance use among young people is a major public health problem in
      Iran. OBJECTIVES: The aims of the present study were to determine the prevalence
      of substance misuse and its determinants in medical sciences students in Tehran,
      Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed on a randomly
      selected sample of 1992 medical sciences students during 2012-2013. Anonymous,
      structured questionnaires were distributed among the students in each selected
      class. Substance misuse was defined according to cultural and epidemiological
      features. Data analysis was performed using chi-squared test, Fisher's exact
      test, and binary logistic regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of prescription
      drug misuse, last year alcohol use, and ever illicit substance use was 4.9%,
      6.9%, and 2.9%, respectively. The result of multiple logistic regression model
      showed that being a male (OR = 4.0), hookah use in the last year (OR = 3.2),
      prescription drug misuse (OR = 3.2), and alcohol use in the last year (OR = 3.3)
      were associated with the students' illicit substance use. Last year alcohol use
      (OR = 5.3), ever illicit substance use (OR = 3.2), and illicit substance use in
      friends (OR = 2.6) were associated with prescription drug misuse. CONCLUSIONS:
      Our results suggested that the prevalence of prescription drugs, alcohol and
      illicit substance use was relatively low, though still significant, among Iranian
      students, which was strongly associated with family and friends' use. The
      findings of this research can be used for planning and evaluating interventions
      by considering the risk factors and protective factors in Universities.

PMID- 25821752
TI  - Adult dental patients with avoidance behaviours.

PMID- 25821751
TI  - The effect of methadone-maintenance therapy with and without interactive
      treatment on improving emotion-regulation strategies and resilience among opiate
      dependent clients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Due to the chronic and recurrent nature of addiction, many people who
      quit drug addiction may slip back into the pattern of using drugs shortly after
      the detoxification period. Emotion-regulation strategies and resilience play an
      important role in preventing the recurrences of substance abuse. OBJECTIVES: This
      study aimed to compare the effects of methadone-maintenance therapy (MMT) and
      interactive therapy (a combination of MMT and cognitive-behavioral therapy) on
      improving emotion-regulation strategies and resilience among opiate-dependent
      clients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study was
      performed on 60 patients with substance abuse admitted to Methadone Addiction
      Treatment Centers and Detox Centers in Sari within three months of therapy for
      their addiction (from October to December 2013). Then, the participants were
      randomly assigned to two different groups (n = 30) were examined in two groups of
      30 people targeted to be available in the selected population. Participants in
      all three groups, before and after the intervention, filled out the
      questionnaires of Schutte emotional intelligence scale and Connor-Davidson
      resiliency questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance
      method. RESULTS: The results showed that an interactive therapy would be
      significantly more effective than the MMT on improving emotion-regulation
      strategies and promoting the resilience level among opiate-dependent clients.
      Moreover, the results showed that cognitive- behavior therapy combined with MMT
      may improve emotion-regulation strategies, and promote the amount of resiliency
      and recovery. CONCLUSIONS: The cognitive-behavior therapy combined with MMT can
      improve emotion-regulation strategies and resiliency and thus prevent the
      substance-abuse relapse.

PMID- 25821753
TI  - Mechanical ventilation in chest trauma.

PMID- 25821754
TI  - Factors affecting the decision to quit smoking of the participants of a hospital
      based smoking cessation program in Greece.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that
      affect people who are in the process of quitting smoking. METHODS: A randomly
      selected sample of 110 participants in a smoking cessation program (SCP) of a
      hospital in Thessaloniki Greece. Instruments of data collection were: i) the
      Demographic Data Lifestyle Questionnaire and ii) the Fragerstrom Tolerance
      Questionnaire. ANOVA tests between the Demographic Data Lifestyle Questionnaire
      and the Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire relating to the smokers' determination
      to quit smoking applied. RESULTS: Work satisfaction was related to whether the
      participants had difficulty to smoke in places that prohibited smoking and to how
      many cigarettes they smoked per day. If a non-smoker partner was urging the
      participant to quit smoking, it affected the hours of the day when the
      respondents smoked more cigarettes. Pressure from a non-smoking spouse was a
      deterrent from smoking many cigarettes during morning hours. Those participants
      who consumed alcohol smoked cigarettes containing higher levels of nicotine.
      CONCLUSION: Smoking cessation is a difficult process which is influenced by many
      factors such as educational level, work satisfaction and the presence of a
      partner.

PMID- 25821755
TI  - Mothers' strategies in handling the prematurely born infant: a qualitative study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Family, especially mother, is faced with numerous challenges by
      experiencing a premature birth. Since knowing about mother's efforts regarding
      prematurely born infant helps us in our comprehensive understanding of the impact
      of this incident on the family system and its performance. The present study was
      carried out to explore the mothers' strategies regarding prematurely born infant.
      METHODS: In a conventional qualitative content analysis, data was collected
      through purposive sampling by semi-structured deep interviews with 18 mothers who
      had prematurely born infant during 2012-2013 in the teaching hospitals of the
      north and northwest of Iran. All the interviews were recorded, typed, and finally
      analyzed. RESULTS: Data analysis resulted in the extraction of categories of
      "asking for help, elevating capacity and reducing personal responsibilities and
      commitments". These categories were revealed in mothers respectively by the
      different sub-categories of "religious appeal and relying on beliefs, seeking
      information from the treatment and caring team, participating in infant's care,
      companionship and support of family and friends","focusing on positive thinking
      and imagination, patience and strength " and "ignoring some routine affairs and
      reducing role-related activities and duties". CONCLUSION: Considering the
      uniqueness of the mother's role in responding to the needs of infants, healthcare
      system should consider mothers as real target in the intervention strategies in
      order to promote health and quality of life, so maybe this way, the burden of
      care and management of critical situations caused by a premature birth on the
      mother can be reduced.

PMID- 25821756
TI  - Going beyond-the-routines view in nursing: a qualitative study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Nurses' practice of beyond-the-routine view leads to a better
      treatment process and higher professional status for nurses. However, most
      studies show that such care is ignored in nursing. The objective of the present
      study is to analyze nurses' experiences with regard to beyond-the-routine care in
      order to know this type of better care and encourage nurses to practice it.
      METHODS: This is a qualitative study based on conventional content analysis.
      Eighteen nurses participated in the study. Data collection was based on
      purposive, snowball and theoretical sampling. The data was collected through
      comprehensive interviews conducted in various wards at the university hospitals
      of Urmia and Tabriz, Iran. The collected data was analyzed according to
      qualitative content analysis and by using the software MAXQDA. RESULTS: The
      results showed that the categories of attempting to identify the patients'
      problems and listening to one's inner voice are effective factors in going beyond
      the routines in providing care which can in turn lead to more satisfactory care
      plans. CONCLUSION: Effective communicative skills, sufficient nursing knowledge,
      strong religious and professional principles will encourage nurses to provide
      beyond-the-routine care. Accordingly, it is necessary to emphasize these factors
      during education in order for nurses to practice this type of caring.

PMID- 25821757
TI  - The Effect of Vitamin D and Calcium plus Vitamin D during Pregnancy on Pregnancy
      and Birth Outcomes: a Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Evidence suggests a high prevalence of calcium and vitamin D
      deficiencies exists in both pregnant women and babies. Adequate intake of
      micronutrients has great importance especially during pregnancy and lactation
      period. Thus, the present study aimed at assessing the effect of vitamin D and
      calcium-vitamin D on pregnancy and birth outcomes (including duration of
      pregnancy, type of delivery and infant anthropometric indicators). METHODS: A
      randomized, controlled, clinical, triple-blind trial conducted on 126 pregnant
      women referring to Tabriz health centers in 2013-14. Subjects were allocated into
      three groups using block randomization. Interventional groups received vitamin D,
      calcium-vitamin D and placebo pills daily for 60 days. ANCOVA and Chi-square
      tests were used for data analysis. RESULTS: By controlling BMI before and during
      pregnancy, there were no significant differences between the group in average
      neonatal weight, height and head circumference, duration of pregnancy, type of
      delivery and gestational age at the time of delivery. CONCLUSION: The results
      show that calcium-vitamin D and vitamin D have no effect on duration of
      pregnancy, type of delivery and infant anthropometric indicators.

PMID- 25821758
TI  - Nurses' knowledge regarding hand hygiene and its individual and organizational
      predictors.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Based on recommendations from World Health Organization, hand
      hygiene is the most important way to control the hospital infections. Due to the
      critical role of nurses in patient care, they should have essential and updated
      information regarding hand hygiene. So this study aims at determining the
      knowledge of hand hygiene and its individual and organizational predictors among
      nurses in neonatal units. METHODS: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was
      conducted in neonatal units in the hospitals affiliated to Tabriz University of
      Medical Sciences. The participants surveyed in this study were 150 nurses who
      were invited by census sampling method. A researcher prepared questionnaire that
      investigated the knowledge of participants about hand hygiene and was used after
      approving its validity and reliability. The quantitative analysis of this study
      used Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS version 13 by descriptive
      statistics and pearson correlation test, independent samples t-test, One-way
      ANOVA. For multivariable explanation of nurses' knowledge based on independent
      variables multiple linear regressions was used. RESULTS: Most of participants
      have an acceptable level of knowledge regarding hand hygiene. The highest score
      was for infection control domain and the lowest score was for definition of hand
      hygiene domain. Multivariable analysis showed that work experience and history of
      previous training were the most important predictors of participants' knowledge
      about hand hygiene. CONCLUSION: It is recommended that infection control
      committees should revise their educational methods and give more emphasis on
      update guidelines regarding hand hygiene. Also, more experienced nurses should be
      employed in neonatal units.

PMID- 25821759
TI  - Nursing students' perception of instructors' caring behaviors in tabriz
      university of medical sciences.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Caring behaviors of clinical teachers is one of the most important
      and influential factors in the process of clinical instruction, so far has not
      been paid enough attention. In other words, there has been so little research
      done in this area, so that the researchers couldn't present the clear image of
      caring dimensions. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine
      nursing students' perception of instructors' caring behavior. METHODS: This
      descriptive study was performed on 240 nursing students in Tabriz University of
      Medical Sciences, Iran. The participants were selected through stratified random
      sampling method. The data were collected using Wade's inventory for nursing
      students' perception of instructor caring (NSPIC). Data were analyzed using
      descriptive statistics in SPSS13 software. RESULTS: The level of nursing
      instructors' caring behavior during teaching students was medium to high with the
      mean and standard deviation of 4.65 (0.93), as the highest level belonged to the
      respectful sharing, and then respectively, instill confidence through caring,
      appreciation of life meanings, supportive learning climate, and control versus
      flexibility. CONCLUSION: The results obtained in this study demonstrate that
      there is a gap in some dimension in order to achieve optimum about instructors'
      caring behaviors. Examining and identifying the influential factors in this
      regard, and applying effective strategies by relevant authorities will be
      effective in qualitative promotion of clinical teaching.

PMID- 25821760
TI  - Effect of Lavender Cream with or without Foot-bath on Anxiety, Stress and
      Depression in Pregnancy: a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Psychological disorders are associated with maternal and neonatal
      morbidities. We aimed to evaluate the effect of Lavender cream with or without
      foot-bath on depression, anxiety and stress of pregnant women. METHODS: In this
      trial, 141 women at 25 to 28 weeks gestation were randomly assigned into three
      groups (47 at each group); receiving Lavender cream with foot-bath, only Lavender
      cream, or placebo, 2g every night for two months. Depression, anxiety and stress
      were assessed at baseline, and 4(th) and 8(th) weeks after intervention, using
      DASS-21. General linear model was used to compare the groups. RESULTS: There were
      three losses to follow-up at the 4(th) and one more at the 8(th) week. Scores of
      all three outcomes in both Lavender and foot-bath and only Lavender groups were
      significantly lower than those in the placebo group at the 8(th) week; adjusted
      difference of depression score -3.3, 95% confidence interval -4.6 to -1.9;-2.4, 
      3.7 to -1.0, respectively, anxiety score -1.4, -2.6 to -0.2; -1.7,-2.9 to -0.5
      and stress score -3.1, -4.7 to -1.5; -2.7, -4.3 to -1.1. At the 4(th) week, only
      score of anxiety in the lavender group (-2.3, -3.9 to -0.8) and stress in the
      both groups (-2.3, -4.1 to -0.5; -1.9, -3.7 to -0.1) were significantly less than
      those in the placebo group. There were not statistically significant differences
      between the two experimental groups in terms of the outcomes. CONCLUSION:
      Lavender cream with foot-bath or alone can be used for pregnant women for
      reducing their stress, anxiety and depression.

PMID- 25821761
TI  - Attitude toward Child Abuse among Mothers Referring Health Centers of Tabriz.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Parental attitude is an important factor in prediction of child
      abuse. Awareness of people's attitudes is important in the prediction of their
      behavior and controlling it. This study was conducted to determine the mothers'
      attitudes toward child abuse. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 261 mothers
      referred to the 13 health centers of Tabriz with children aged 2-12, they were
      selected by a multistage method and their attitudes were assessed using a
      questionnaire within 2 months. Higher score were representing more negative
      attitudes. RESULTS: The results showed that the mean score of total attitude
      toward child abuse was significantly higher than the middle and was significantly
      associated with mothers' educational level, employment status, attendance status,
      number of children they have, and economic status. CONCLUSION: The results showed
      that although the mothers' attitudes toward child abuse were negative, because of
      the relationship between mothers' attitudes with their demographic
      characteristics, it is necessary to enhance mothers' quality of life, and their
      social and spiritual support to improve their attitudes and prevent the child
      abuse.

PMID- 25821762
TI  - The effect of two educational methods on knowledge and adherence to treatment in
      hemodialysis patients: clinical trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Patients with chronic renal disease (CRD) deal with many potential
      problems with hemodialysis for all their life. Regarding the importance of
      preventing dialysis adverse effects, which are in close connection with lack of
      knowledge and report on how to train the patients? This study aims at comparing
      the impact of two methods of face to face training and training pamphlet on
      complying and informing of hemodialysis treatments. METHODS: This clinical trial
      study was conducted on 58 hemodialysis patients who visited Shahid Rahnemun
      Teaching hospital, Yazd, Iran, and had required conditions of the research. Data
      were collected through a questionnaire including personal-social information,
      several questions to assess the level of compliance and to inform the treatment
      method. The quantitative analysis of this study used the Statistical Package for
      Social Sciences SPSS version 13 and descriptive (frequency, mean, standard
      deviation) and inferential (Chi-square, paired t-test, ANOVA, ANCOVA) statistics
      were employed. RESULTS: The mean scores for informing both groups (face to face
      and training pamphlet) were significantly increased. The mean score for adherence
      to treatments was also significant. CONCLUSION: In this research, face to face
      training was found to be more effective than training pamphlet. It seemed to have
      more strong effect on increasing the level of information and adherence to
      treatment. To train these people, face to face training should be, thus,
      preferred.

PMID- 25821763
TI  - Toxic epidermal necrolysis in hemodialysis patient.
AB  - Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a rare and life-threatening allergic drug
      reaction. We report a 26-year-old young female with end-stage renal disease on
      maintenance hemodialysis developing TEN while on filgrastim and phenytoin. It was
      successfully treated with intravenous immunoglobulins and steroids. 

PMID- 25821764
TI  - Comparison the effects of paracetamol with sufentanil infusion on postoperative
      pain control after craniotomy in patients with brain tumor.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients experience severe pain after craniotomy surgery that leads
      to discomfort. Our target in this study that performed in interventional method
      is an evaluation of sufentanil and paracetamol effect on postoperative pain
      control in patients undergone craniotomy surgery at Urmia Imam Khomeini Hospital.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Totally, 45 patients between the ages 18 and 65 were
      studied. The effect of sufentanil and paracetamol medicines in pain management,
      hemodynamic stability, and side effects compared with control group that were
      receiving morphine (subcutaneous [SC]) in 3 groups of 15 people at time 0, 2, 4,
      12 and 24-h were evaluated. Collected data were included and monitoring blood
      pressure, O2 Sat, heart rate (HR) and pain, nausea, vomiting and use of morphine.
      RESULTS: According to the analysis of results, there was a significant difference
      between 3 groups on postoperative pain (P < 0.05). In patients that used
      sufentanil, pain score of visual analog scale (VAS) is lowest and in the
      paracetamol group the highest VAS score was seen. There was a significant
      difference in HR between 3 groups (P < 0.05). Maximum average of HR was observed
      in the paracetamol group. There was a significant difference in mean arterial
      pressure between 3 groups (P < 0.05). In paracetamol group, there was the highest
      value (99.3). There was no significant difference in Glasgow Coma scale and SPO2
      between 3 groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Sufentanil compared to morphine (which
      is routinely used for patients pain control after craniotomy surgery) has better
      pain control, less nausea and vomiting, and better hemodynamic stability.
      Although paracetamol has the least nausea and vomiting, it has the lowest quality
      of pain relief.

PMID- 25821765
TI  - Surgically assisted rapid palatal expansion with tent screws and a custom-made
      palatal expander: a case report.
AB  - Rapid palatal expansion(RPE) with the tooth-born appliance is not sufficient to
      apply to the patients with periodontal problem or insufficient tooth anchorage,
      and it leads to tipping of the anchorage teeth and increasing teeth mobility and
      root resorption. To avoid these disadvantages, we present the case using palatal
      screws and custommade palatal expander. A 23-year-old patient underwent
      surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion with the Hyrax expansion using 4
      tent screws. The study models were used to measure the pre-/-post surgical width
      of the anterior and posterior dental arches with a digital sliding caliper. In
      the result, the custom-made palatal expander with 4 tent screws is suitable for
      delivering a force to the mid-palatal suture expansion. And it is low cost, small
      sized and simply applied. The results indicated that maxillary expansion with the
      custom-made palatal anchorage device is predictable and stable technique without
      significant complications in patients.

PMID- 25821766
TI  - Evaluating the effect of polytetrafluoroethylene and extractum cepae-heparin
      allantoin gel in peripheral nerve injuries in a rat model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Peripheral nerves can be injured by congenital, mechanical, thermal
      or chemical causes. Peripheral nerve injuries are increasing in frequency,
      particularly in countries that are becoming more industrialized. Nerve and
      extremity injuries result in work loss and high treatment costs, and can lead to
      separation of patients from their social environment. Failure of nerve repair
      causes muscle functional losses, sensory losses and painful neuropathies.
      OBJECTIVES: To compare the effects of condensed polytetrafluoroethylene (cPTFE)
      and cPTFE-extractum cepae-heparin-allantoin (cPTFE-EHA) gel compound on nerve and
      functional recovery, and the prevention of adhesion and scar tissue formation
      after total peripheral nerve injury repaired by primary suture in a rat model.
      RESULTS: cPTFE alone and cPTFE-EHA gel was found to provide better functional
      recovery and nerve regeneration compared with primary repair only. In the
      macroscopic evaluation, the cPTFE-EHA gel was found to have no negative effect on
      wound healing and, despite increasing extra-neural scar tissue and adhesions, it
      had no negative effect on nerve function; in addition, it facilitated functional
      recovery. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the cPTFE application alone, the application
      of perineural cPTFE-EHA gel during peripheral nerve surgery appeared to provide
      better functional recovery without causing any significant changes in epineural
      and extraneural scar tissue formation.

PMID- 25821767
TI  - Impact of liposome bupivacaine on the adequacy of pain management and patient
      experiences following aesthetic surgery: Results from an observational study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the efficacy of opioid analgesics for postsurgical pain, they
      are associated with side effects that may complicate recovery. Liposome
      bupivacaine is a prolonged-release formulation of bupivacaine approved for
      intraoperative administration at the surgical site for postsurgical analgesia.
      OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of a single intraoperative administration of
      liposome bupivacaine on postsurgical pain, opioid use and opioid-related side
      effects in subjects undergoing breast surgery and/or abdominoplasty. METHODS: In
      the present phase IV, multicentre, prospective observational study, subjects
      received a single intraoperative administration (266 mg) of liposome bupivacaine.
      Rescue analgesia was available to all subjects as needed. Outcome measures,
      assessed through postoperative day 3, included postsurgical pain intensity (11
      point numerical rating scale), opioid consumption and overall benefit of
      analgesic score. Results were evaluated comparing investigators' previous
      experience with similar surgeries. RESULTS: Forty-nine subjects entered the
      study: 34 underwent breast surgery only and 15 underwent abdominoplasty with or
      without breast surgery (six underwent breast surgery in addition to
      abdominoplasty). Mean numerical rating scale pain scores remained <=4.3 from
      discharge through postoperative day 3. Median daily oral opioid consumption was
      approximately 1.0 tablet postoperatively on the day of surgery and was
      approximately 2.0 tablets by postoperative day 3. Mean overall benefit of
      analgesic score ranged between 2.8 and 4.9 throughout the study. CONCLUSION: In
      this particular subject population, liposome bupivacaine was associated with low
      pain intensity scores and reduced opioid consumption compared with the
      investigators' previous experiences. Subjects' satisfaction with postsurgical
      analgesia was high, with a low burden of opioid-related side effects.

PMID- 25821768
TI  - Intraoperative tissue expansion in the surgical correction of craniosynostosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Wound healing complications can occur after calvarial vault expansion
      due to tension on the scalp flaps. OBJECTIVES: To compare wound healing outcomes
      in patients with craniosynostosis undergoing calvarial vault expansion with and
      without intraoperative tissue expansion of the scalp. METHODS: The present
      analysis was an institutional review board-approved, retrospective cohort study
      involving 40 consecutive patients at the University of Missouri Hospitals and
      Clinics (Columbia, Missouri, USA) who underwent calvarial vault expansion for
      nonsyndromic craniosynostosis between June 1, 2009 and June 30, 2012. Patients
      were divided into two sequential cohorts: the first 20 underwent calvarial vault
      expansion without intraoperative tissue expansion; the second 20 underwent
      calvarial vault expansion with intraoperative tissue expansion. The main outcome
      measures included presence or absence of wound healing complications (persistent
      scabbing or slow-healing wounds, hardware exposure, need for operative wound
      revision or healed but widened scars), with documented postoperative follow-up of
      at least three months. The primary end point was the presence of a well-healed
      scar; the secondary end point was the need for an operative revision. RESULTS:
      Patients in the intraoperative tissue expansion group had a higher percentage of
      well-healed scars (73.6%) than those in the nonexpansion group (42.1%)
      (P=0.0487). This difference was primarily due to scar widening in the
      nonexpansion group. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated that the use of
      intraoperative tissue expansion in patients with nonsyndromic craniosynostosis
      who underwent calvarial vault expansion resulted in a greater likelihood of a
      well-healed incision with a lower rate of poor scarring.

PMID- 25821769
TI  - Isolated limb infusion: Efficacy, toxicity and an evolution in the management of
      in-transit melanoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Isolated limb infusion (ILI) delivers low-flow chemotherapy via
      percutaneous catheters to treat melanoma in-transit metastases. OBJECTIVE: To
      describe the experience of two regional referral centres with ILI. METHODS: A
      retrospective review of patients who underwent ILI between 2002 and 2012 was
      performed. Outcomes were measured using the WHO criteria for response, the
      Wieberdink toxicity score and long-term limb function using the Toronto Extremity
      Salvage Score (TESS). RESULTS: Fifty-two patients (mean age 66 years [range 27 to
      90 years], female sex 65%, and lower [treated] limb in 86%) with 54 ILIs were
      reviewed. Wieberdink toxicity score was >=3 in 21 (39%) procedures. Median follow
      up was 18 months (range one to 117 months). Initial complete response (CR) was
      29%, partial response 27%, stable disease 18% and progressive disease 27%.
      Predictors of better initial response were low disease burden and previous
      treatment. One or more treatments after ILI were common (65%). At 12 months, 19%
      of ILI patients had died from melanoma but 44% of surviving patients experienced
      limb CR. At 24 months, 57% of surviving patients experienced limb CR. The quality
      of life in the surviving, contactable patients according to the Toronto Extremity
      Salvage Score was 89%. CONCLUSION: Even if ILI does not result in CR for melanoma
      intransit metastases. it may slow disease progression as a single therapy, but
      more frequently in combination with other modalities.

PMID- 25821770
TI  - Analysis of individualized education programs to quantify long-term educational
      needs following surgical intervention for single-suture craniosynostosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Single-suture craniosynostosis (SSC) is a common craniofacial
      condition with potential neurocognitive sequelae. OBJECTIVE: To quantify any long
      term functional academic and behavioural difficulties of children with SSC as
      indicated by the need for individualized education programs (IEPs), despite
      having undergone surgical treatment. METHODS: Records of all school-age patients
      from 1992 to 2011 who underwent operative intervention for SSC were identified.
      Fifty-nine patients' guardians were contacted by telephone to provide informed
      consent for completion of a mailed standardized questionnaire querying
      demographic information as well as information regarding the patient's health,
      family and educational history; specifically whether the patient had ever been
      provided educational support as delineated in an IEP. The primary outcome measure
      was the history of the patient being assigned educational support as delineated
      in an IEP. RESULTS: Thirty-seven consenting guardians completed and returned the
      standardized questionnaire (response rate 62.7%). Twenty-one patients were male
      and 16 were female, with an age range of five to 14 years (mean age 10.2 years).
      Eleven (29.7%) patients had a previous history of or currently were receiving
      educational support delineated in an IEP. CONCLUSIONS: A higher proportion of
      school-age patients with a history of SSC (status postsurgical intervention) in
      the present study received educational support delineated in an IEP than the
      proportion of IEPs in the general student population of the United States
      (11.3%).

PMID- 25821771
TI  - Inhibitory effects of low-level laser therapy on skin-flap survival in a rat
      model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although several studies have demonstrated the effects of low-level
      laser therapy (LLLT) on skin flap viability, the role of higher doses has been
      poorly investigated. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the inhibitory effect of the LLLT
      (lambda=670 nm) on the viability of random skin flaps in a rat model using an
      irradiation energy of 2.79 J at each point. METHODS: Sixteen Wistar rats were
      randomly assigned into two groups: sham laser irradiation (n=8); and active laser
      irradiation (n=8). Animals in the active laser irradiation group were irradiated
      with a 670 nm diode laser with an energy of 2.79 J/point, a power output 30 mW, a
      beam area of 0.028 cm(2), an energy density of 100 J/cm(2), an irradiance of 1.07
      W/cm(2) for 93 s/point. Irradiation was performed in 12 points in the cranial
      skin flap portion. The total energy irradiated on the tissue was 33.48 J. The
      necrotic area was evaluated on postoperative day 7. RESULTS: The sham laser
      irradiation group presented a mean (+/- SD) necrotic area of 47.96+/-3.81%,
      whereas the active laser irradiation group presented 62.24+/-7.28%. There was a
      significant difference in skin-flap necrosis areas between groups (P=0.0002).
      CONCLUSION: LLLT (lambda=670 nm) increased the necrotic area of random skin flaps
      in rats when irradiated with an energy of 2.79 J (100 J/cm(2)).

PMID- 25821772
TI  - The Le Fort system revisited: Trauma velocity predicts the path of Le Fort I
      fractures through the lateral buttress.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of trauma velocity on the pattern of Le Fort I
      facial fractures. METHOD: A retrospective medical record review was conducted on
      a consecutive cohort of craniofacial traumas surgically treated by a single
      surgeon between 2007 and 2011 (n=150). Of these cases, 39 Le Fort fractures were
      identified. Patient demographic information, method of trauma and velocity of
      impact were reviewed for these cases. Velocity of impact was expressed
      categorically as either 'high' or 'low': high-velocity fractures were those
      caused by a fall from >1 story or a motor vehicle collision; low-velocity
      fractures were the result of assaults with a blunt weapon, closed fist or falls
      from standing height. The vertical position of each fracture was measured at its
      point of entry on the lateral buttress and its point of exit on the piriform
      aperture. To allow for comparison across individuals, values were expressed as
      ratios based on their location on the face relative to these landmarks. A
      Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare the fracture heights caused by high-
      and low-velocity trauma. RESULTS: The results revealed that high-velocity traumas
      to the face create Le Fort I fractures at a higher point in the lateral buttress
      compared with low-velocity traumas. There was no difference between heights at
      the piriform aperture. CONCLUSION: High-velocity trauma resulted in higher Le
      Fort I fracture patterns compared with low-velocity trauma.

PMID- 25821773
TI  - Exposure to plastic surgery during undergraduate medical training: A single
      institution review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Applications to surgical residency programs have declined over the
      past decade. Even highly competitive programs, such as plastic surgery, have
      begun to witness these effects. Studies have shown that early surgical exposure
      has a positive influence on career selection. OBJECTIVE: To review plastic
      surgery application trends across Canada, and to further investigate medical
      student exposure to plastic surgery. METHODS: To examine plastic surgery
      application trends, national data from the Canadian Resident Matching Service
      database were analyzed, comparing 2002 to 2007 with 2008 to 2013. To evaluate
      plastic surgery exposure, a survey of all undergraduate medical students at the
      University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario) during the 2012/2013 academic year was
      conducted. RESULTS: Comparing 2002 to 2007 and 2008 to 2013, the average number
      of national plastic surgery training positions nearly doubled, while first-choice
      applicants decreased by 15.3%. The majority of Canadian academic institutions
      experienced a decrease in first-choice applicants; 84.7% of survey respondents
      indicated they had no exposure to plastic surgery during their medical education.
      Furthermore, 89.7% believed their education had not provided a basic
      understanding of issues commonly managed by plastic surgeons. The majority of
      students indicated they receive significantly less plastic surgery teaching than
      all other surgical subspecialties. More than 44% of students not considering
      plastic surgery as a career indicated they may be more likely to with increased
      exposure. CONCLUSION: If there is a desire to grow the specialty through future
      generations, recruiting tactics to foster greater interest in plastic surgery
      must be altered. The present study suggests increased and earlier exposure for
      medical students is a potential solution.

PMID- 25821774
TI  - Accuracy and completeness of electronic medical records obtained from referring
      physicians in a Hamilton, Ontario, plastic surgery practice: A prospective
      feasibility study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of auditing electronic medical records
      (EMRs) in plastic surgery for future large-scale research studies. The secondary
      objective was to ascertain the accuracy and completeness of EMRs accompanying
      referral requests by physicians for plastic surgery consultation between July and
      December 2013. METHODS: EMRs of 30 patients were reviewed and crosschecked
      independently by two reviewers and subsequently verified by a third reviewer
      using predefined criteria to determine whether they were accurate and/or
      complete. Descriptive analysis was performed to calculate the frequency of
      inaccuracies and incompleteness for each EMR information field. Information
      fields were compared to assess whether the frequency of inaccuracies and
      incompleteness varied. RESULTS: Of the 270 information fields reviewed, four
      (1.48%) were inaccurate and 66 (24.4%) were incomplete. The most common field of
      inaccuracy was current medications, followed by medical history and medical
      allergies. The most common field of incompleteness was history of presenting
      illness followed by surgical history. CONCLUSION: Despite their purported
      benefits, inaccuracies and incompleteness are a frequently occurring problem in
      EMRs. A large-scale study may be beneficial in determining the efficacy of EMRs
      in the future.

PMID- 25821775
TI  - Long-term outcomes and patient satisfaction following wrist ganglion aspiration.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is a strong body of evidence addressing short-term outcomes
      following wrist ganglion aspiration; however, few studies have investigated long
      term outcomes and patient satisfaction. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate patient
      satisfaction and the long-term rate of recurrence following wrist ganglion
      aspiration. METHODS: Charts of all patients with a wrist ganglion treated by a
      single surgeon from 2001 to 2011 were reviewed. Demographic and clinical data
      were retrieved from patient charts. Patients were contacted by telephone and
      asked to complete a questionnaire addressing recurrence, satisfaction and symptom
      improvement. Improvement was assessed using a Likert scale, with 1 indicating
      'significantly worse' and 5 indicating 'significantly improved'. Statistical
      analysis was performed using Pearson chi(2), Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon and Fisher's
      exact tests. RESULTS: Forty-one consecutive patients were identified using
      hospital records; 21 (51%) consented to the telephone questionnaire. There were
      no differences in demographic or clinical data between patients who completed the
      telephone questionnaire and those who did not. The mean age at treatment was 45.3
      years, mean time to follow-up was 6.3 years and 52.4% of ganglions recurred.
      Overall, 95% (20 of 21) of patients were satisfied with their treatment and would
      proceed again given the option; satisfaction was independent of recurrence.
      Following treatment, there was improvement in pain, function, range of motion and
      appearance; improvement in symptoms was independent of recurrence. CONCLUSIONS:
      Long-term recurrence of ganglions treated with aspiration appeared to be similar
      to the short-term rates reported in the literature. Independent of recurrence,
      patients remained satisfied with aspiration and reported improvement in symptoms.

PMID- 25821776
TI  - Trochanteric pressure sore / Intra-oral squamous cell carcinoma.

PMID- 25821777
TI  - The current decline in oil: Investment and macroeconomic considerations.

PMID- 25821778
TI  - The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Conditions of Trust among Leaders at the
      Kentucky Department for Public Health.
AB  - There has been limited leadership research on emotional intelligence and trust in
      governmental public health settings. The purpose of this study was to identify
      and seek to understand the relationship between trust and elements of emotional
      intelligence, including stress management, at the Kentucky Department for Public
      Health (KDPH). The KDPH serves as Kentucky's state governmental health
      department. KDPH is led by a Commissioner and composed of seven primary divisions
      and 25 branches within those divisions. The study was a non-randomized cross
      sectional study utilizing electronic surveys that evaluated conditions of trust
      among staff members and emotional intelligence among supervisors. Pearson
      correlation coefficients and corresponding p-values are presented to provide the
      association between emotional intelligence scales and the conditions of trust.
      Significant positive correlations were observed between supervisors' stress
      management and the staff members' trust or perception of supervisors' loyalty (r
      = 0.6, p = 0.01), integrity (r = 0.5, p = 0.03), receptivity (r = 0.6, p = 0.02),
      promise fulfillment (r = 0.6, p = 0.02), and availability (r = 0.5, p = 0.07).
      This research lays the foundation for emotional intelligence and trust research
      and leadership training in other governmental public health settings, such as
      local, other state, national, or international organizations. This original
      research provides metrics to assess the public health workforce with attention to
      organizational management and leadership constructs. The survey tools could be
      used in other governmental public health settings in order to develop tailored
      training opportunities related to emotional intelligence and trust organizations.

PMID- 25821779
TI  - The emerging role of complex modifications of tRNALysUUU in signaling pathways.

PMID- 25821780
TI  - Phylogenomic and molecular demarcation of the core members of the polyphyletic
      pasteurellaceae genera actinobacillus, haemophilus, and pasteurella.
AB  - The genera Actinobacillus, Haemophilus, and Pasteurella exhibit extensive
      polyphyletic branching in phylogenetic trees and do not represent coherent
      clusters of species. In this study, we have utilized molecular signatures
      identified through comparative genomic analyses in conjunction with genome based
      and multilocus sequence based phylogenetic analyses to clarify the phylogenetic
      and taxonomic boundary of these genera. We have identified large clusters of
      Actinobacillus, Haemophilus, and Pasteurella species which represent the "sensu
      stricto" members of these genera. We have identified 3, 7, and 6 conserved
      signature indels (CSIs), which are specifically shared by sensu stricto members
      of Actinobacillus, Haemophilus, and Pasteurella, respectively. We have also
      identified two different sets of CSIs that are unique characteristics of the
      pathogen containing genera Aggregatibacter and Mannheimia, respectively. It is
      now possible to demarcate the genera Actinobacillus sensu stricto, Haemophilus
      sensu stricto, and Pasteurella sensu stricto on the basis of discrete molecular
      signatures. The other members of the genera Actinobacillus, Haemophilus, and
      Pasteurella that do not fall within the "sensu stricto" clades and do not contain
      these molecular signatures should be reclassified as other genera. The CSIs
      identified here also provide useful diagnostic targets for the identification of
      current and novel members of the indicated genera. 

PMID- 25821781
TI  - Reduced Representation Libraries from DNA Pools Analysed with Next Generation
      Semiconductor Based-Sequencing to Identify SNPs in Extreme and Divergent Pigs for
      Back Fat Thickness.
AB  - The aim of this study was to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that
      could be associated with back fat thickness (BFT) in pigs. To achieve this goal,
      we evaluated the potential and limits of an experimental design that combined
      several methodologies. DNA samples from two groups of Italian Large White pigs
      with divergent estimating breeding value (EBV) for BFT were separately pooled and
      sequenced, after preparation of reduced representation libraries (RRLs), on the
      Ion Torrent technology. Taking advantage from SNAPE for SNPs calling in sequenced
      DNA pools, 39,165 SNPs were identified; 1/4 of them were novel variants not
      reported in dbSNP. Combining sequencing data with Illumina PorcineSNP60 BeadChip
      genotyping results on the same animals, 661 genomic positions overlapped with a
      good approximation of minor allele frequency estimation. A total of 54 SNPs
      showing enriched alleles in one or in the other RRLs might be potential markers
      associated with BFT. Some of these SNPs were close to genes involved in obesity
      related phenotypes. 

PMID- 25821783
TI  - Inhibitory and apoptosis-inducing effects of Newcastle disease virus strain
      AF2240 on mammary carcinoma cell line.
AB  - Breast cancer is the malignant tumour that developed from cells of the breast and
      is the first leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide. Surgery,
      radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are the available treatments for breast cancer,
      but these were reported to have side effects. Newcastle disease virus (NDV) known
      as Avian paramyxovirus type-1 (APMV1) belongs to the genus Avulavirus in a family
      Paramyxoviridae. NDV is shown to be a promising anticancer agent, killing tumour
      cells while sparing normal cells unharmed. In this study, the oncolytic and
      cytotoxic activities of NDV AF2240 strain were evaluated on MDA-MB-231, human
      mammary carcinoma cell line, using MTT assay, and its inhibitory effects were
      further studied using proliferation and migration assays. Morphological and
      apoptotic-inducing effects of NDV on MD-MB-231 cells were observed using phase
      contrast and fluorescence microscopes. Detection of DNA fragmentation was done
      following terminal deoxyribonucleotide transferase-mediated Br-dUTP nick end
      labeling staining (TUNEL) assay, which confirmed that the mode of death was
      through apoptosis and was quantified by flow cytometry. Furthermore, analysis of
      cellular DNA content demonstrated that the virus caused an increase in the sub-G1
      phase (apoptotic peak) of the cell cycle. It appears that NDV AF2240 strain is a
      potent anticancer agent that induced apoptosis in time-dependent manner. 

PMID- 25821784
TI  - Comparative myocardial deformation in 3 myocardial layers in mice by speckle
      tracking echocardiography.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) using dedicated high
      resolution ultrasound is a relatively new technique that is useful in assessing
      myocardial deformation in 3 myocardial layers in small animals. However,
      comparative studies of STE parameters acquired from murine are limited. METHODS:
      A high-resolution rodent ultrasound machine (VSI Vevo 2100) and a clinically
      validated ultrasound machine (GE Vivid 7) were used to consecutively acquire
      echocardiography images from standardized parasternal long axis and short axis at
      midpapillary muscle level from 13 BALB/c mice. Speckle tracking strain
      (longitudinal, circumferential, and radial) from endocardial, myocardial, and
      epicardial layers was analyzed using vendor-specific offline analysis software.
      RESULTS: Intersystem differences were not statistically significant in the global
      peak longitudinal strain (-16.8 +/- 1.7% versus -18.7 +/- 3.1%) and radial strain
      (46.8 +/- 14.2% versus 41.0 +/- 9.5%), except in the global peak circumferential
      strain (-16.9 +/- 3.1% versus 27.0 +/- 5.2%, P < 0.05). This was corroborated by
      Bland Altman analysis that revealed a weak agreement in circumferential strain
      (mean bias +/- 1.96 SD of -10.12 +/- 6.06%) between endocardium and
      midmyocardium. However, a good agreement was observed in longitudinal strain
      between midmyocardium/endocardium (mean bias +/- 1.96 SD of -1.88 +/- 3.93%) and
      between midmyocardium/epicardium (mean bias +/- 1.96 SD of 3.63 +/- 3.91%).
      Radial strain (mean bias +/- 1.96 SD of -5.84 +/- 17.70%) had wide limits of
      agreement between the two systems that indicated an increased variability.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that there is good reproducibility and agreement in
      longitudinal deformation of the 3 myocardial layers between the two ultrasound
      systems. Directional deformation gradients at endocardium, myocardium, and
      epicardium observed in mice were consistent to those reported in human subjects,
      thus attesting the clinical relevance of STE findings in murine cardiovascular
      disease models.

PMID- 25821785
TI  - Recent developments of carbonic anhydrase inhibitors as potential drugs.

PMID- 25821782
TI  - Roles of autophagy induced by natural compounds in prostate cancer.
AB  - Autophagy is a homeostatic mechanism through which intracellular organelles and
      proteins are degraded and recycled in response to increased metabolic demand or
      stress. Autophagy dysfunction is often associated with many diseases, including
      cancer. Because of its role in tumorigenesis, autophagy can represent a new
      therapeutic target for cancer treatment. Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most
      common cancers in aged men. The evidence on alterations of autophagy related
      genes and/or protein levels in PCa cells suggests a potential implication of
      autophagy in PCa onset and progression. The use of natural compounds,
      characterized by low toxicity to normal tissue associated with specific
      anticancer effects at physiological levels in vivo, is receiving increasing
      attention for prevention and/or treatment of PCa. Understanding the mechanism of
      action of these compounds could be crucial for the development of new therapeutic
      or chemopreventive options. In this review we focus on the current evidence
      showing the capacity of natural compounds to exert their action through autophagy
      modulation in PCa cells. 

PMID- 25821787
TI  - An open-label uncontrolled, multicenter study for the evaluation of the efficacy
      and safety of the dermal filler Princess VOLUME in the treatment of nasolabial
      folds.
AB  - The dermal filler Princess VOLUME is a highly cross-linked, viscoelastic
      hyaluronic acid injectable gel implant used for aesthetic treatment. To evaluate
      the efficacy and safety of Princess VOLUME in the treatment of nasolabial folds,
      an open-label uncontrolled, multicenter study was conducted. Forty-eight subjects
      were recruited who had moderate to deep wrinkles, according to the Modified
      Fitzpatrick Wrinkle Scale (MFWS). Subjects received Princess VOLUME in both
      nasolabial folds at Day 0. Nasolabial fold severity was evaluated at 30, 90, 180,
      and 270 days after treatment, using the MFWS and the Global Aesthetic Improvement
      Scale (GAIS). Adverse events and treatment site reactions were recorded. Among
      the 48 subjects, 93.8% were female with a median age of 52 years. There were
      significant improvements (P < 0.0001) in the MFWS scores at 30, 180, and 270 days
      after treatment compared with those at baseline, with a mean decrease of 1.484
      (+/-0.408), 1.309 (+/-0.373), and 1.223 (+/-0.401), respectively; hence the
      primary endpoint was achieved and clinical efficacy demonstrated. Princess VOLUME
      was well tolerated, and most adverse events were injection site reactions of mild
      to moderate severity. Subject satisfaction (97.9%), subject recommendation of the
      treatment (93.6%), and investigators GAIS scores (97.9% improvement) were high.

PMID- 25821786
TI  - Ox-LDL induces dysfunction of endothelial progenitor cells via activation of NF
      kappaB.
AB  - Dyslipidemia increases the risks for atherosclerosis in part by impairing
      endothelial integrity. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are thought to
      contribute to endothelial recovery after arterial injury. Oxidized low-density
      lipoprotein (ox-LDL) can induce EPC dysfunction, but the underlying mechanism is
      not well understood. Human EPCs were cultured in endothelial growth medium
      supplemented with VEGF (10 ng/mL) and bFGF (10 ng/mL). The cells were treated
      with ox-LDL (50 ug/mL). EPC proliferation was assayed by using CCK8 kits.
      Expression and translocation of nuclear factor-kabba B (NF-kappaB) were
      evaluated. The level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells was measured using
      H2DCF-DA as a fluorescence probe. The activity of NADPH oxidase activity was
      determined by colorimetric assay. Ox-LDL significantly decreased the
      proliferation, migration, and adhesion capacity of EPCs, while significantly
      increased ROS production and NADPH oxidase expression. Ox-LDL induced NF-kappaB
      P65 mRNA expression and translocation in EPCs. Thus ox-LDL can induce EPC
      dysfunction at least by increasing expression and translocation of NF-kappaB P65
      and NADPH oxidase activity, which represents a new mechanism of lipidemia-induced
      vascular injury.

PMID- 25821788
TI  - Cytotoxicity of cyclodipeptides from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 leads to
      apoptosis in human cancer cell lines.
AB  - Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen of plants and animals, which
      produces virulence factors in order to infect or colonize its eukaryotic hosts.
      Cyclodipeptides (CDPs) produced by P. aeruginosa exhibit cytotoxic properties
      toward human tumor cells. In this study, we evaluated the effect of a CDP mix,
      comprised of cyclo(L-Pro-L-Tyr), cyclo(L-Pro-L-Val), and cyclo(L-Pro-L-Phe) that
      were isolated from P. aeruginosa, on two human cancer cell lines. Our results
      demonstrated that the CDP mix promoted cell death in cultures of the HeLa
      cervical adenocarcinoma and Caco-2 colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines in a dose
      dependent manner, with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 0.53 and 0.66
      mg/mL, for HeLa and Caco-2 cells, respectively. Flow cytometric analysis, using
      annexin V and propidium iodide as apoptosis and necrosis indicators,
      respectively, clearly showed that HeLa and Caco-2 cells exhibited apoptotic
      characteristics when treated with the CDP mix at a concentration <0.001 mg/mL.
      IC50 values for apoptotic cells in HeLa and Caco-2 cells were 6.5 * 10(-5) and
      1.8 * 10(-4) mg/mL, respectively. Our results indicate that an apoptotic pathway
      is involved in the inhibition of cell proliferation caused by the P. aeruginosa
      CDP mix.

PMID- 25821789
TI  - Combined epidermal growth factor receptor and Beclin1 autophagic protein
      expression analysis identifies different clinical presentations, responses to
      chemo- and radiotherapy, and prognosis in glioblastoma.
AB  - Dysregulated EGFR in glioblastoma may inactivate the key autophagy protein
      Beclin1. Each of high EGFR and low Beclin1 protein expression, independently, has
      been associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis. High (H) compared to
      low (L) expression of EGFR and Beclin1 is here correlated with main clinical data
      in 117 patients after chemo- and radiotherapy. H-EGFR correlated with low
      Karnofsky performance and worse neurological performance status, higher incidence
      of synchronous multifocality, poor radiological evidence of response, shorter
      progression disease-free (PDFS), and overall survival (OS). H-Beclin1 cases
      showed better Karnofsky performance status, higher incidence of objective
      response, longer PDFS, and OS. A mutual strengthening effect emerges in
      correlative power of stratified L-EGFR and H-Beclin1 expression with incidence of
      radiological response after treatment, unifocal disease, and better prognosis,
      thus identifying an even longer OS group (30 months median OS compared to 18
      months in L-EGFR, 15 months in H-Beclin1, and 11 months in all GBs) (P = 0.0001).
      Combined L-EGFR + H-Beclin1 expression may represent a biomarker in identifying
      relatively favorable clinical presentations and prognosis, thus envisaging
      possible EGFR/Beclin1-targeted therapies. 

PMID- 25821790
TI  - A low-dose combination of fluvastatin and valsartan: a new "drug" and a new
      approach for decreasing the arterial age.
AB  - We have developed a new "drug" and approach that appear to be effective in
      reducing arterial age. This "drug" represents a low, subtherapeutic dose of
      statin and sartan and particularly their low-dose combination. The improvement of
      arterial wall characteristics, also reflecting in a decrease of arterial age, was
      achieved after a short period of treatment (one month) with the above-mentioned
      drugs. In addition, we have also implemented a new, innovative therapeutic
      approach, consisting of intermittent (cyclic) treatment-alternating short
      "treatment" periods and much longer "rest" periods (when the beneficial effects
      are still present but gradually decline). This new "drug" and approach both merit
      further investigation in order to confirm their antiaging efficacy. 

PMID- 25821791
TI  - Incidence and risk factors of postoperative pulmonary complications in noncardiac
      Chinese patients: a multicenter observational study in university hospitals.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs)
      in Chinese inpatients, and to develop a brief predictive risk index. METHODS:
      Between August 6, 2012, and August 12, 2012, patients undergoing noncardiac
      operations in four university hospitals were enrolled. The cohort was divided
      into two subsamples, cohort 1 to develop a predictive risk index of PPCs and
      cohort 2 to validate it. RESULTS: 1673 patients were enrolled. PPCs were recorded
      for 163 patients (9.7%), of whom the hospital length of stay (LOS) was longer (P
      < 0.001). The mortality was 1.84% in patients with PPCs and 0.07% in those
      without. Logistic Regression modeling in cohort 1 identified nine independent
      risk factors, including smoking, respiratory infection in the last month,
      preoperative antibiotic use, preoperative saturation of peripheral oxygen,
      surgery site, blood lost, postoperative blood glucose, albumin, and ventilation.
      The model was validated within cohort 2 with an area under the receiver operating
      characteristic curve of 0.90 (95% CI 0.86 to 0.94). CONCLUSIONS: PPCs are common
      in noncardiac surgical patients and are associated with prolonged LOS in China.
      The current study developed a risk index, which can be used to assess individual
      risk of PPCs and guide individualized perioperative respiratory care.

PMID- 25821792
TI  - Recent development in production and biotechnological application of microbial
      enzymes.

PMID- 25821794
TI  - Validation of new and existing decision rules for the estimation of beat-to-beat
      pulse transit time.
AB  - Pulse transit time (PTT) is a pivotal marker of vascular stiffness. Because the
      actual PTT duration in vivo is unknown and the complicated variation in waveform
      may occur, the robust determination of characteristic point is still a very
      difficult task in the PTT estimation. Our objective is to devise a method for
      real-time estimation of PTT duration in pulse wave. It has an ability to reduce
      the interference caused by both high- and low-frequency noise. The
      reproducibility and performance of these methods are assessed on both artificial
      and clinical pulse data. Artificial data are generated to investigate the
      reproducibility with various signal-to-noise ratios. For all artificial data, the
      mean biases obtained from all methods are less than 1 ms; collectively, this
      newly proposed method has minimum standard deviation (SD, <1 ms). A set of data
      from 33 participants together with the synchronously recorded continuous blood
      pressure data are used to investigate the correlation coefficient (CC). The
      statistical analysis shows that our method has maximum values of mean CC
      (0.5231), sum of CCs (17.26), and median CC (0.5695) and has the minimum SD of
      CCs (0.1943). Overall, the test results in this study indicate that the newly
      developed method has advantages over traditional decision rules for the PTT
      measurement.

PMID- 25821793
TI  - Predictors of mortality for nursing home-acquired pneumonia: a systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Current risk stratification tools, primarily used for CAP, are
      suboptimal in predicting nursing home acquired pneumonia (NHAP) outcome and
      mortality. We conducted a systematic review to evaluate current evidence on the
      usefulness of proposed predictors of NHAP mortality. METHODS: PubMed (MEDLINE),
      EMBASE, and CINAHL databases were searched for articles published in English
      between January 1978 and January 2014. The literature search elicited a total of
      666 references; 580 were excluded and 20 articles met the inclusion criteria for
      the final analysis. RESULTS: More studies supported the Pneumonia Severity Index
      (PSI) as a superior predictor of NHAP severity. Fewer studies suggested CURB-65
      and SOAR (especially for the need of ICU care) as useful predictors for NHAP
      mortality. There is weak evidence for biomarkers like C-reactive protein and
      copeptin as prognostic tools. CONCLUSION: The evidence supports the use of PSI as
      the best available indicator while CURB-65 may be an alternative prognostic
      indicator for NHAP mortality. Overall, due to the paucity of information,
      biomarkers may not be as effective in this role. Larger prospective studies are
      needed to establish the most effective predictor(s) or combination scheme to help
      clinicians in decision-making related to NHAP mortality.

PMID- 25821795
TI  - Macrophage migration inhibitory factor polymorphism is associated with
      susceptibility to inflammatory coronary heart disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflammatory
      cytokine. This study explored the association of 173G/C polymorphism of the MIF
      gene with coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS: Sequencing was carried out after
      polymerase chain reaction with DNA specimens from 186 volunteers without CHD and
      70 patients with CHD. Plasma MIF levels on admission were measured by ELISA.
      Patients were classified into either stable angina pectoris (SAP) or unstable
      angina pectoris (UAP). Genotype distribution between cases and controls and the
      association of patients' genotypes with MIF level and plaque stability were
      statistically evaluated (ethical approval number: 2012-01). RESULTS: The
      frequency of the C genotype was higher in CHD patients than in the control (P =
      0.014). The frequency of the 173*CC genotype was higher in CHD patients than in
      the control (P = 0.005). The plasma MIF level was higher in MIF173*C carriers
      than in MIF173*G carriers (P = 0.033). CHD patients had higher plasma MIF levels
      than the control (P = 0.000). Patients with UAP had higher plasma MIF levels than
      patients with SAP (P = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that MIF -173G/C
      polymorphism may be related to the development of CHD in a Chinese population.
      Plasma MIF level is a predictor of plaque stability. This trial is registered
      with NCT01750502.

PMID- 25821796
TI  - Serum levels of anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies, interleukin-6, tumor
      necrosis factor-alpha, and C-reactive protein are associated with increased
      carotid intima-media thickness: a cross-sectional analysis of a cohort of
      rheumatoid arthritis patients without cardiovascular risk factors.
AB  - The main cause of death in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is cardiovascular events. We
      evaluated the relationship of anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP)
      antibody levels with increased carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in RA
      patients. METHODS: Forty-five anti-CCP positive and 37 anti-CCP negative RA
      patients, and 62 healthy controls (HC) were studied. All groups were assessed for
      atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and cIMT. Anti-CCP, C-reactive protein (CRP),
      and levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)
      were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The anti-CCP
      positive RA patients showed increased cIMT compared to HC and anti-CCP negative
      (P < 0.001). Anti-CCP positive versus anti-CCP negative RA patients, had
      increased AIP, TNFalpha and IL-6 (P < 0.01), and lower levels of high density
      lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) (P = 0.02). The cIMT correlated with levels of
      anti-CCP (r = 0.513, P = 0.001), CRP (r = 0.799, P < 0.001), TNFalpha (r = 0.642,
      P = 0.001), and IL-6 (r = 0.751, P < 0.001). In multiple regression analysis,
      cIMT was associated with CRP (P < 0.001) and anti-CCP levels (P = 0.03).
      CONCLUSIONS: Levels of anti-CCP and CRP are associated with increased cIMT and
      cardiovascular risk supporting a clinical role of the measurement of cIMT in RA
      in predicting and preventing cardiovascular events.

PMID- 25821797
TI  - Calcium homeostasis and ER stress in control of autophagy in cancer cells.
AB  - Autophagy is a basic catabolic process, serving as an internal engine during
      responses to various cellular stresses. As regards cancer, autophagy may play a
      tumor suppressive role by preserving cellular integrity during tumor development
      and by possible contribution to cell death. However, autophagy may also exert
      oncogenic effects by promoting tumor cell survival and preventing cell death, for
      example, upon anticancer treatment. The major factors influencing autophagy are
      Ca(2+) homeostasis perturbation and starvation. Several Ca(2+) channels like
      voltage-gated T- and L-type channels, IP3 receptors, or CRAC are involved in
      autophagy regulation. Glucose transporters, mainly from GLUT family, which are
      often upregulated in cancer, are also prominent targets for autophagy induction.
      Signals from both Ca(2+) perturbations and glucose transport blockage might be
      integrated at UPR and ER stress activation. Molecular pathways such as IRE 1-JNK
      Bcl-2, PERK-eIF2alpha-ATF4, or ATF6-XBP 1-ATG are related to autophagy induced
      through ER stress. Moreover ER molecular chaperones such as GRP78/BiP and
      transcription factors like CHOP participate in regulation of ER stress-mediated
      autophagy. Autophagy modulation might be promising in anticancer therapies;
      however, it is a context-dependent matter whether inhibition or activation of
      autophagy leads to tumor cell death. 

PMID- 25821798
TI  - Hydroxyapatite whisker reinforced 63s glass scaffolds for bone tissue
      engineering.
AB  - Bioactive glass (BG) is widely used for bone tissue engineering. However, poor
      mechanical properties are the major shortcomings. In the study, hydroxyapatite
      nanowhisker (HANw) was used as a reinforcement to improve the mechanical
      properties. 63s glass/HANw scaffolds were successfully fabricated by selective
      laser sintering (SLS). It was found that the optimal compressive strength and
      fracture toughness were achieved when 10 wt.% HANw was added. This led to 36%
      increase in compressive strength and 83% increase in fracture toughness,
      respectively, compared with pure 63s glass scaffolds. Different reinforcement
      mechanisms were analyzed based on the microstructure investigation. Whisker
      bridging and whisker pulling-out were efficient in absorbing crack propagating
      energy, resulting in the improvement of the mechanical properties. Moreover,
      bioactivity and biocompatibility of the scaffolds were evaluated in vitro. The
      results showed that composite scaffolds with 10 wt.% HANw exhibited good apatite
      forming ability and cellular affinity.

PMID- 25821799
TI  - Is visual registration equivalent to semiautomated registration in prostate
      biopsy?
AB  - In magnetic resonance iimaging- (MRI-) ultrasound (US) guided biopsy, suspicious
      lesions are identified on MRI, registered on US, and targeted during biopsy. The
      registration can be performed either by a human operator (visual registration) or
      by fusion software. Previous studies showed that software registration is fairly
      accurate in locating suspicious lesions and helps to improve the cancer detection
      rate. Here, the performance of visual registration was examined for ability to
      locate suspicious lesions defined on MRI. This study consists of 45 patients. Two
      operators with differing levels of experience (<1 and 18 years) performed visual
      registration. The overall spatial difference by the two operators in 72
      measurements was 10.6 +/- 6.0 mm. Each operator showed a spatial difference of
      9.4 +/- 5.1 mm (experienced; 39 lesions) and 12.1 +/- 6.6 mm (inexperienced; 33
      lesions), respectively. In a head-to-head comparison of the same 16 lesions from
      12 patients, the spatial differences were 9.7 mm +/- 4.9 mm (experienced) and
      13.4 mm +/- 7.4 mm (inexperienced). There were significant differences between
      the two operators (unpaired, P value = 0.042; paired, P value = 0.044). The
      substantial differences by the two operators suggest that visual registration
      could improperly and inaccurately target many tumors, thereby potentially leading
      to missed diagnosis or false characterization on pathology.

PMID- 25821800
TI  - Controversial indications for sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer
      patients.
AB  - Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) emerged in the 1990s as a new technique in the
      surgical management of the axilla for patients with early breast cancer,
      resulting in lower complication rates and better quality of life than axillary
      lymph node dissection (ALND). Today SLNB is firmly established in the
      armamentarium of clinicians treating breast cancer, but several questions remain.
      The goal of this paper is to review recent work addressing 4 questions that have
      been the subject of debate in the use of SLNB in the past few years: (a) What is
      the implication of finding micrometastases in the sentinel nodes? (b) Is ALND
      necessary in all patients who have a positive SLNB? (c) How accurate is SLNB
      after neoadjuvant therapy? (d) Can SLNB be used to stage the axilla in locally
      recurrent breast cancer following breast surgery with or without prior axillary
      surgery? 

PMID- 25821801
TI  - Elevated serum levels of cysteine and tyrosine: early biomarkers in asymptomatic
      adults at increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome.
AB  - As there is effective intervention for delaying or preventing metabolic diseases,
      which are often present for years before becoming clinically apparent, novel
      biomarkers that would mark metabolic complications before the onset of metabolic
      disease should be identified. We investigated the role of fasting serum amino
      acids and their associations with inflammatory markers, adipokines, and metabolic
      syndrome (MetS) components in subjects prior to the onset of insulin resistance
      (IR). Anthropometric measurements, food records, adipokines, biochemical markers,
      and serum levels of amino acids were determined in 96 asymptomatic subjects aged
      25-49 years divided into three groups according to the number of MetS components
      present. Cysteine and tyrosine were significantly higher already in group with
      one component of MetS present compared to subjects without MetS components. Serum
      amino acid levels correlated with markers of inflammation and adipokines. Alanine
      and glycine explained 10% of insulin resistance variability. The role of tyrosine
      and cysteine, that were higher already with 1 component of MetS present, should
      be further investigated as they might point to future insulin disturbances. 

PMID- 25821802
TI  - Gene network exploration of crosstalk between apoptosis and autophagy in chronic
      myelogenous leukemia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Gene expression levels change to adapt the stress, such as
      starvation, toxin, and radiation. The changes are signals transmitted through
      molecular interactions, eventually leading to two cellular fates, apoptosis and
      autophagy. Due to genetic variations, the signals may not be effectively
      transmitted to modulate apoptotic and autophagic responses. Such aberrant
      modulation may lead to carcinogenesis and drug resistance. The balance between
      apoptosis and autophagy becomes very crucial in coping with the stress. Though
      there have been evidences illustrating the apoptosis-autophagy interplay, the
      underlying mechanism and the participation of the regulators including
      transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) remain unclear. RESULTS: Gene
      network is a graphical illustration for exploring the functional linkages and the
      potential coordinate regulations of genes. Microarray dataset for the study of
      chronic myeloid leukemia was obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus. The
      expression profiles of those genes related to apoptosis and autophagy, including
      MCL1, BCL2, ATG, beclin-1, BAX, BAK, E2F, cMYC, PI3K, AKT, BAD, and LC3, were
      extracted from the dataset to construct the gene networks. CONCLUSION: The
      network analysis of these genes explored the underlying mechanisms and the roles
      of TFs and miRNAs for the crosstalk between apoptosis and autophagy.

PMID- 25821803
TI  - Localized and sustained delivery of erythropoietin from PLGA microspheres
      promotes functional recovery and nerve regeneration in peripheral nerve injury.
AB  - Erythropoietin (EPO) has been demonstrated to exert neuroprotective effects on
      peripheral nerve injury recovery. Though daily intraperitoneal injection of EPO
      during a long period of time was effective, it was a tedious procedure. In
      addition, only limited amount of EPO could reach the injury sites by general
      administration, and free EPO is easily degraded in vivo. In this study, we
      encapsulated EPO in poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres. Both in vitro
      and in vivo release assays showed that the EPO-PLGA microspheres allowed
      sustained release of EPO within a period of two weeks. After administration of
      such EPO-PLGA microspheres, the peripheral nerve injured rats had significantly
      better recovery compared with those which received daily intraperitoneal
      injection of EPO, empty PLGA microspheres, or saline treatments. This was
      supported by the functional, electrophysiological, and histological evaluations
      of the recovery done at week 8 postoperatively. We conclude that sustained
      delivery of EPO could be achieved by using EPO-PLGA microspheres, and such
      delivery method could further enhance the recovery function of EPO in nerve
      injury recovery. 

PMID- 25821804
TI  - Use of a robotic device for the rehabilitation of severe upper limb paresis in
      subacute stroke: exploration of patient/robot interactions and the motor recovery
      process.
AB  - This pioneering observational study explored the interaction between subacute
      stroke inpatients and a rehabilitation robot during upper limb training. 25
      stroke survivors (age 55 +/- 17 years; time since stroke, 52 +/- 21 days) with
      severe upper limb paresis carried out 16 sessions of robot-assisted
      shoulder/elbow training (InMotion 2.0, IMT, Inc., MA, USA) combined with standard
      therapy. The values of 3 patient/robot interaction parameters (a guidance
      parameter: Stiffness, a velocity-related parameter: Slottime, and Robotic Power)
      were compared between sessions 1 (S1), 4 (S4), 8 (S8), 12 (S12), and 16 (S16).
      Pre/post Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) scores were compared in 18 patients.
      Correlations between interaction parameters and clinical and kinematic outcome
      measures were evaluated. Slottime decreased at S8 (P = 0.003), while Guidance
      decreased at S12 (P = 0.008). Robotic Power tended to decrease until S16. FMA
      scores improved from S1 to S16 (+49%, P = 0.002). Changes in FMA score were
      correlated with the Stiffness parameter (R = 0.4, P = 0.003). Slottime was
      correlated with movement velocity. This novel approach demonstrated that a
      robotic device is a useful and reliable tool for the quantification of
      interaction parameters. Moreover, changes in these parameters were correlated
      with clinical and kinematic changes. These results suggested that robot-based
      recordings can provide new insights into the motor recovery process. 

PMID- 25821805
TI  - Thermal tomography imaging in photonic traditional Chinese medicine information
      therapy with holistic effect for health whole nursing.
AB  - A photonic traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) information therapy was developed
      that has applications in whole health nursing including the prevention and
      treatment of ischemic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases as well as the
      conditioning of the subhealth state. This therapy utilizes the beam of a 630 nm
      LED light to irradiate the oropharynx, while simultaneously employing two beams
      of 650 nm LED light to irradiate corresponding acupuncture points resulting in a
      synergistic outcome. This method was named "1 + 2 phototherapy." The principle
      mechanism of the therapy is a series of photon induced biological effects that
      are triggered by stimulating the photosensitive tissues of the oropharynx. This
      tissue includes the oral mucosa, capillaries, lymph nodes, saliva glands, nerves,
      and Jingluo and is stimulated by light beams of certain photon energy and
      imitative acupuncture information. Thermal tomography imaging shows that the
      average temperature of the upper-body was improved significantly after
      oropharyngeal irradiation under irradiation of "Futu point": the heat radiation
      of the spine, as well as chest, shoulders, arms, and clavicle, increased under
      irradiation of "Hoku," whereas the overall average temperature was below the
      temperature before irradiation. The experiment indicates that this therapy can
      promote blood circulation, regulate varied physiological parameters, and have
      holistic effects in whole health nursing.

PMID- 25821806
TI  - The relationship of CSF and plasma cytokine levels in HIV infected patients with
      neurocognitive impairment.
AB  - Although HAD is now rare due to HAART, the milder forms of HAND persist in HIV
      infected patients. HIV-induced systemic and localized inflammation is considered
      to be one of the mechanisms of HAND. The levels of cytokines in CSF were
      associated with neurocognitive impairment in HIV infection. However, the changes
      of cytokines involved in cognition impairment in plasma have not been shown, and
      their relationships between CSF and plasma require to be addressed. We compared
      cytokine levels in paired CSF and plasma samples from HIV-infected individuals
      with or without neurocognitive impairment. Cytokine concentrations were measured
      by Luminex xMAP. In comparing the expression levels of cytokines in plasma and
      CSF, IFN-alpha2, IL-8, IP-10, and MCP-1 were significantly higher in CSF. Eotaxin
      was significantly higher in plasma, whereas G-CSF showed no difference between
      plasma and CSF. G-CSF (P = 0.0079), IL-8 (P = 0.0223), IP-10 (P = 0.0109), and
      MCP-1 (P = 0.0497) in CSF showed significant difference between HIV-CI and HIV-NC
      group, which may indicate their relationship to HIV associated neurocognitive
      impairment. In addition, G-CSF (P = 0.0191) and IP-10 (P = 0.0377) in plasma were
      significantly higher in HIV-CI than HIV-NC. The consistent changes of G-CSF and
      IP-10 in paired plasma and CSF samples might enhance their potential for
      predicting HAND. 

PMID- 25821807
TI  - The epidemiology and economic burden of Clostridium difficile infection in Korea.
AB  - The prevalence of Clostridium difficile infection and the associated burden have
      recently increased in many countries. While the main risk factors for C.
      difficile infection include old age and antibiotic use, the prevalence of this
      infection is increasing in low-risk groups. These trends highlight the need for
      research on C. difficile infection. This study pointed out the prevalence and
      economic burden of C. difficile infection and uses the representative national
      data which is primarily from the database of the Korean Health Insurance Review
      and Assessment Service, for 2008-2011. The annual economic cost was measured
      using a prevalence approach, which sums the costs incurred to treat C. difficile
      infection. C. difficile infection prevalence was estimated to have increased from
      1.43 per 100,000 in 2008 to 5.06 per 100,000 in 2011. Moreover, mortality
      increased from 69 cases in 2008 to 172 in 2011. The economic cost increased
      concurrently, from $2.4 million in 2008 to $7.6 million, $10.5 million, and $15.8
      million in 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively. The increasing economic burden of
      C. difficile infection over the course of the study period emphasizes the need
      for intervention to minimize the burden of a preventable illness like C.
      difficile infection. 

PMID- 25821810
TI  - Prediction of cardiovascular disease risk among low-income urban dwellers in
      metropolitan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
AB  - We aimed to predict the ten-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among low
      income urban dwellers of metropolitan Malaysia. Participants were selected from a
      cross-sectional survey conducted in Kuala Lumpur. To assess the 10-year CVD risk,
      we employed the Framingham risk scoring (FRS) models. Significant determinants of
      the ten-year CVD risk were identified using General Linear Model (GLM).
      Altogether 882 adults (>=30 years old with no CVD history) were randomly
      selected. The classic FRS model (figures in parentheses are from the modified
      model) revealed that 20.5% (21.8%) and 38.46% (38.9%) of respondents were at high
      and moderate risk of CVD. The GLM models identified the importance of education,
      occupation, and marital status in predicting the future CVD risk. Our study
      indicated that one out of five low-income urban dwellers has high chance of
      having CVD within ten years. Health care expenditure, other illness related costs
      and loss of productivity due to CVD would worsen the current situation of low
      income urban population. As such, the public health professionals and policy
      makers should establish substantial effort to formulate the public health policy
      and community-based intervention to minimize the upcoming possible high mortality
      and morbidity due to CVD among the low-income urban dwellers. 

PMID- 25821809
TI  - Antioxidant strategies in the management of diabetic neuropathy.
AB  - Chronic hyperglycaemia (an abnormally high glucose concentration in the blood)
      resulting from defects in insulin secretion/action, or both, is the major
      hallmark of diabetes in which it is known to be involved in the progression of
      the condition to different complications that include diabetic neuropathy.
      Diabetic neuropathy (diabetes-induced nerve damage) is the most common diabetic
      complication and can be devastating because it can lead to disability. There is
      an increasing body of evidence associating diabetic neuropathy with oxidative
      stress. Oxidative stress results from the production of oxygen free radicals in
      the body in excess of its ability to eliminate them by antioxidant activity.
      Antioxidants have different mechanisms and sites of actions by which they exert
      their biochemical effects and ameliorate nerve dysfunction in diabetes by acting
      directly against oxidative damage. This review will examine different strategies
      for managing diabetic neuropathy which rely on exogenous antioxidants. 

PMID- 25821811
TI  - Protective and curative effects of the sea cucumber Holothuria atra extract
      against DMBA-induced hepatorenal diseases in rats.
AB  - Oxidative stress is a common mechanism contributing to the initiation and
      progression of hepatic damage. Hence there is a great demand for the development
      of agents with potent antioxidant effect. The aim of the present study is to
      evaluate the efficacy of Holothuria atra extract (HaE) as an antioxidant against
      7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene- (DMBA-) induced hepatorenal dysfunction.
      Experimental animals were divided into two main groups: protective and curative.
      Each group was then divided into five subgroups pre- or posttreated either with
      distilled water (DMBA subgroups) or with HaE (200 mg/kg body weight) for seven
      and fourteen days. Single oral administration of DMBA (15 mg/kg body weight) to
      Wistar rats resulted in a significant increase in the serum liver enzymes and
      kidney function's parameters. DMBA increased level of liver malondialdehyde
      (MDA), decreased levels of reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione-S-transferase
      (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) in the liver tissue, and
      induced liver histopathological alterations. Pre- or posttreatment with HaE
      orally for 14 days significantly reversed the hepatorenal alterations induced
      following DMBA administration. In conclusion, HaE exhibits good hepatoprotective,
      curative, and antioxidant potential against DMBA-induced hepatorenal dysfunction
      in rats that might be due to decreased free radical generation. 

PMID- 25821808
TI  - Triggers, inhibitors, mechanisms, and significance of eryptosis: the suicidal
      erythrocyte death.
AB  - Suicidal erythrocyte death or eryptosis is characterized by erythrocyte
      shrinkage, cell membrane blebbing, and cell membrane scrambling with
      phosphatidylserine translocation to the erythrocyte surface. Triggers of
      eryptosis include Ca(2+) entry, ceramide formation, stimulation of caspases,
      calpain activation, energy depletion, oxidative stress, and dysregulation of
      several kinases. Eryptosis is triggered by a wide variety of xenobiotics. It is
      inhibited by several xenobiotics and endogenous molecules including NO and
      erythropoietin. The susceptibility of erythrocytes to eryptosis increases with
      erythrocyte age. Phosphatidylserine exposing erythrocytes adhere to the vascular
      wall by binding to endothelial CXC-Motiv-Chemokin-16/Scavenger-receptor for
      phosphatidylserine and oxidized low density lipoprotein (CXCL16).
      Phosphatidylserine exposing erythrocytes are further engulfed by phagocytosing
      cells and are thus rapidly cleared from circulating blood. Eryptosis eliminates
      infected or defective erythrocytes thus counteracting parasitemia in malaria and
      preventing detrimental hemolysis of defective cells. Excessive eryptosis,
      however, may lead to anemia and may interfere with microcirculation. Enhanced
      eryptosis contributes to the pathophysiology of several clinical disorders
      including metabolic syndrome and diabetes, malignancy, cardiac and renal
      insufficiency, hemolytic uremic syndrome, sepsis, mycoplasma infection, malaria,
      iron deficiency, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, glucose 6-phosphate
      dehydrogenase deficiency, and Wilson's disease. Facilitating or inhibiting
      eryptosis may be a therapeutic option in those disorders. 

PMID- 25821812
TI  - Prokinetic activity of Prunus persica (L.) Batsch flowers extract and its
      possible mechanism of action in rats.
AB  - The peach tree, Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, is widely cultivated in China, and
      its flowers have been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine to treat
      gut motility disorders. But few studies have explored the pharmacological effect
      of Prunus persica (L.) Batsch flowers on gastrointestinal motility. In this
      study, the activities of different extracts from Prunus persica (L.) Batsch
      flowers on the smooth muscle contractions were evaluated using isolated colon
      model, and the ethyl acetate extract (EAE) showed the strongest effects in vitro.
      EAE (10(-8)-10(-5) g/mL) caused a concentration-dependent stimulatory effect in
      rat colonic tissue. Additionally, ketotifen (100 uM), cimetidine (10 uM), and
      pyrilamine (1 uM) produced a significant inhibition of contractions caused by
      EAE. Furthermore, immunofluorescence and toluidine blue staining revealed
      increased numbers of mast cells in the EAE group, and EAE increased histamine
      release from the colonic tissues. These data indicate that EAE has significant
      prokinetic activity and acts by a mechanism that mainly involves mast cell
      degranulation. Our study provides a pharmacological basis for the use of an
      extract of Prunus persica (L.) Batsch flowers in the treatment of gut motility
      disorders.

PMID- 25821813
TI  - Prediction of drug indications based on chemical interactions and chemical
      similarities.
AB  - Discovering potential indications of novel or approved drugs is a key step in
      drug development. Previous computational approaches could be categorized into
      disease-centric and drug-centric based on the starting point of the issues or
      small-scaled application and large-scale application according to the diversity
      of the datasets. Here, a classifier has been constructed to predict the
      indications of a drug based on the assumption that interactive/associated drugs
      or drugs with similar structures are more likely to target the same diseases
      using a large drug indication dataset. To examine the classifier, it was
      conducted on a dataset with 1,573 drugs retrieved from Comprehensive Medicinal
      Chemistry database for five times, evaluated by 5-fold cross-validation, yielding
      five 1st order prediction accuracies that were all approximately 51.48%.
      Meanwhile, the model yielded an accuracy rate of 50.00% for the 1st order
      prediction by independent test on a dataset with 32 other drugs in which drug
      repositioning has been confirmed. Interestingly, some clinically repurposed drug
      indications that were not included in the datasets are successfully identified by
      our method. These results suggest that our method may become a useful tool to
      associate novel molecules with new indications or alternative indications with
      existing drugs. 

PMID- 25821814
TI  - Substance P receptor antagonism: a potential novel treatment option for viral
      myocarditis.
AB  - Viral-myocarditis is an important cause of heart failure for which no specific
      treatment is available. We previously showed the neuropeptide substance P (SP) is
      associated with the pathogenesis of murine myocarditis caused by
      encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV). The current studies determined if
      pharmacological inhibition of SP-signaling via its high affinity receptor, NK1R
      and downstream G-protein, Ras homolog gene family, member-A (RhoA), will be
      beneficial in viral-myocarditis. Aprepitant (1.2 mg/kg), a SP-receptor
      antagonist, or fasudil (10 mg/kg), a RhoA inhibitor, or saline control was
      administered daily to mice orally for 3 days, prior to, or 5 days following,
      intraperitoneal infection with and without 50 PFU of EMCV, following which
      disease assessment studies, including echocardiogram and cardiac Doppler were
      performed in day 14 after infection. Pretreatment and posttreatment with
      aprepitant significantly reduced mortality, heart and cardiomyocyte size, and
      cardiac viral RNA levels (P < 0.05 all, ANOVA). Only aprepitant pretreatment
      improved heart functions; it significantly decreased end systolic diameter,
      improved fractional shortening, and increased peak aortic flow velocity (P < 0.05
      all, ANOVA). Pre- or posttreatment with fasudil did not significantly impact
      disease manifestations. These findings indicate that SP contributes to cardiac
      remodeling and dysfunction following ECMV infection via its high affinity
      receptor, but not through the Rho-A pathway. These studies suggest that SP
      receptor antagonism may be a novel therapeutic-option for patients with viral
      myocarditis.

PMID- 25821815
TI  - Expression of MMP-9 and VEGF in meningiomas and their correlation with
      peritumoral brain edema.
AB  - Meningiomas constitute up to 13% of all intracranial tumors. The predictive
      factors for meningioma have not been unambiguously defined; however some limited
      data suggest that the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF) may be associated with the presence of
      peritumoral brain edema (PTBE) and worse clinical outcome. The aim of this study
      was to analyze the expressions of MMP-9 and VEGF in a group of meningiomas of
      various grades and to study associations between these two markers and PTBE. The
      study included patients with supratentorial meningiomas. The patients were
      divided into low- (G1) and high-grade meningiomas (G2 and G3). PTBE was assessed
      on MRI. The expressions of VEGF and MMP-9 were determined immunohistochemically.
      The expression of MMP-9 was observed significantly more often in G3 meningiomas
      than in lower grade tumors. The presence of stage II or III PTBE was associated
      with a significant increase in MMP-9 expression. The expression of VEGF did not
      differ across the PTBE stages. Our findings point to a significant role of MMP-9
      and VEGF in the pathogenesis of peritumoral brain edema in low- and high-grade
      meningiomas. 

PMID- 25821816
TI  - Evaluating LRRK2 genetic variants with unclear pathogenicity.
AB  - Mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) have been known to be a
      major genetic component affecting Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the
      pathogenicity of many of the LRRK2 variants is unclear because they have been
      detected in single patients or also in patients and controls. Here, we selected 5
      exonic variants (L1165P, T1410M, M1646T, L2063X, and Y2189C) from each of the
      protein domain of LRRK2 and analysed their possible association with
      pathogenicity using in vitro functional assays. Point mutations representing each
      of these variants were incorporated into the LRRK2 gene, and functional aspects
      such as the percentage of cell survival upon application of stress and kinase
      activity were measured. Our results showed that all 5 variants had a
      significantly negative effect on the survival of cells, in both presence and
      absence of stress, as compared to the wild-type. In addition, there was also a
      slight increase in kinase activity in most of the variants in comparison to the
      wild-type. A negative correlation between cell survival and kinase activity was
      observed. These data suggest that most of the variants despite being located in
      different domains of LRRK2 appear to exert a potential pathogenic effect possibly
      through an increased kinase activity, supporting a gain of function mechanism. 

PMID- 25821817
TI  - Etoposide incorporated into camel milk phospholipids liposomes shows increased
      activity against fibrosarcoma in a mouse model.
AB  - Phospholipids were isolated from camel milk and identified by using high
      performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
      (GC/MS). Anticancer drug etoposide (ETP) was entrapped in liposomes, prepared
      from camel milk phospholipids, to determine its activity against fibrosarcoma in
      a murine model. Fibrosarcoma was induced in mice by injecting benzopyrene (BAP)
      and tumor-bearing mice were treated with various formulations of etoposide,
      including etoposide entrapped camel milk phospholipids liposomes (ETP-Cam
      liposomes) and etoposide-loaded DPPC-liposomes (ETP-DPPC-liposomes). The tumor
      bearing mice treated with ETP-Cam-liposomes showed slow progression of tumors and
      increased survival compared to free ETP or ETP-DPPC-liposomes. These results
      suggest that ETP-Cam-liposomes may prove to be a better drug delivery system for
      anticancer drugs. 

PMID- 25821818
TI  - Nucleofection of rat pheochromocytoma PC-12 cells with human mutated beta-amyloid
      precursor protein gene (APP-sw) leads to reduced viability, autophagy-like
      process, and increased expression and secretion of beta amyloid.
AB  - Pheochromocytoma PC-12 cells are immune to physiological stimuli directed to
      evoke programmed cell death. Besides, metabolic inhibitors are incapable of
      sensitizing PC-12 cells to extrinsic or intrinsic apoptosis unless they are used
      in toxic concentrations. Surprisingly, these cells become receptive to cell
      deletion after human APP-sw gene expression. We observed reduced cell viability
      in GFP vector + APP-sw-nucleofected cells (drop by 36%) but not in GFP vector -
      or GFP vector + APP-wt-nucleofected cells. Lower viability was accompanied by
      higher expression of Abeta 1-16 and elevated secretion of Abeta 1-40 (in average
      53.58 pg/mL). At the ultrastructural level autophagy-like process was
      demonstrated to occur in APP-sw-nucleofected cells with numerous autophagosomes
      and multivesicular bodies but without autolysosomes. Human APP-sw gene is harmful
      to PC-12 cells and cells are additionally driven to incomplete autophagy-like
      process. When stimulated by TRAIL or nystatin, CLU protein expression accompanies
      early phase of autophagy. 

PMID- 25821819
TI  - Effectiveness of the lower eyelid suspension using fascia lata graft for the
      treatment of lagophthalmos due to facial paralysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate of functional and cosmetic effectiveness of lower eyelid
      sling technique with fascia lata graft in patients with lagophthalmos due to
      facial paralysis. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Ten patients with a mean age of 55.1 +/-
      19.77 years who underwent lower eyelid sling surgery with a fascia lata graft
      between September 2011 and January 2014 were included in this prospective study.
      Preoperatively and postoperatively patients were evaluated in terms of corneal
      epithelial defects, Schirmer's test, and tear break-up time (TBUT). Cosmetically,
      vertical eyelid aperture, margin reflex distances 1 and 2 (MRD1 and MRD2) and
      scleral show were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively. RESULTS: One
      patient had facial paralysis on the right side whereas the other 9 patients had
      facial paralysis on the left side. Preoperatively, 3 patients were detected with
      corneal ulcer, whereas 7 patients were detected with persistent corneal
      epithelial defects localized in the lower half of the cornea. In the 3 patients
      with preoperative corneal ulcer, the ulcer recovered with corneal opacity,
      whereas in the 7 patients with punctate epitheliopathy, postoperative corneal
      transparency was obtained. DISCUSSION: Lower eyelid sling technique with fascia
      lata graft is an effective technique for the repositioning of the lower eyelid
      and preventing the corneal complications.

PMID- 25821820
TI  - Cloning and expression of synthetic genes encoding the broad antimicrobial
      spectrum bacteriocins SRCAM 602, OR-7, E-760, and L-1077, by recombinant Pichia
      pastoris.
AB  - We have evaluated the cloning and functional expression of previously described
      broad antimicrobial spectrum bacteriocins SRCAM 602, OR-7, E-760, and L-1077, by
      recombinant Pichia pastoris. Synthetic genes, matching the codon usage of P.
      pastoris, were designed from the known mature amino acid sequence of these
      bacteriocins and cloned into the protein expression vector pPICZalphaA. The
      recombinant derived plasmids were linearized and transformed into competent P.
      pastoris X-33, and the presence of integrated plasmids into the transformed cells
      was confirmed by PCR and sequencing of the inserts. The antimicrobial activity,
      expected in supernatants of the recombinant P. pastoris producers, was purified
      using a multistep chromatographic procedure including ammonium sulfate
      precipitation, desalting by gel filtration, cation exchange-, hydrophobic
      interaction-, and reverse phase-chromatography (RP-FPLC). However, a measurable
      antimicrobial activity was only detected after the hydrophobic interaction and RP
      FPLC steps of the purified supernatants. MALDI-TOF MS analysis of the
      antimicrobial fractions eluted from RP-FPLC revealed the existence of peptide
      fragments of lower and higher molecular mass than expected. MALDI-TOF/TOF MS
      analysis of selected peptides from eluted RP-FPLC samples with antimicrobial
      activity indicated the presence of peptide fragments not related to the amino
      acid sequence of the cloned bacteriocins. 

PMID- 25821821
TI  - Recent developments in vascular imaging techniques in tissue engineering and
      regenerative medicine.
AB  - Adequate vascularisation is key in determining the clinical outcome of stem cells
      and engineered tissue in regenerative medicine. Numerous imaging modalities have
      been developed and used for the visualization of vascularisation in tissue
      engineering. In this review, we briefly discuss the very recent advances aiming
      at high performance imaging of vasculature. We classify the vascular imaging
      modalities into three major groups: nonoptical methods (X-ray, magnetic
      resonance, ultrasound, and positron emission imaging), optical methods (optical
      coherence, fluorescence, multiphoton, and laser speckle imaging), and hybrid
      methods (photoacoustic imaging). We then summarize the strengths and challenges
      of these methods for preclinical and clinical applications. 

PMID- 25821822
TI  - Phytochemical analysis and modulation of antibiotic activity by Luehea paniculata
      Mart. & Zucc. (Malvaceae) in multiresistant clinical isolates of Candida spp.
AB  - The high incidence of fungal infections has led to the continuous search for new
      drugs. Extracts of Luehea paniculata, a tree of multiple medicinal uses, were
      evaluated for anti-Candida activity, as well as its modulator potential of the
      Fluconazole antibiotic. Chemical prospecting of ethanol extracts of leaf and bark
      was carried out, the quantification of total phenols and flavonoids,
      characterized by the HPLC-DAD technique. The rosmarinic acid and the vitexin
      flavonoid were observed as major constituents in ELELP and ESWELP, respectively.
      Antioxidant activity was also evaluated by the method of scavenging the free
      radical DPPH, and quercetin was used as standard, obtaining IC50 values: 0.341
      (mg/mL) for ELELP and 0.235 (mg/mL) for ESWELP. The microdilution assay was
      performed for antifungal activity against strains of Candida albicans, C. krusei,
      and C. tropicalis and showed minimum inhibitory concentrations values >=1024
      MUg/mL. In the modulator action of extracts on Fluconazole against multiresistant
      clinical isolates of Candida (subinhibitory concentration minimum of 128 MUg/mL),
      a significant synergism was observed, indicating that the extracts potentiated
      the antifungal effect against C. tropicalis, where antioxidant flavonoids could
      be responsible. This is the first report about modifying activity of the
      antibiotic action of a species of the genus Luehea.

PMID- 25821823
TI  - Topical anti-inflammatory effects of isorhamnetin glycosides isolated from
      Opuntia ficus-indica.
AB  - Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) has been widely used in Mexico as a food and for the
      treatment of different health disorders such as inflammation and skin aging. Its
      biological properties have been attributed to different phytochemicals such as
      the isorhamnetin glycosides which are the most abundant flavonoids. Moreover,
      these compounds are considered a chemotaxonomic characteristic of OFI species.
      The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of OFI extract and its
      isorhamnetin glycosides on different inflammatory markers in vitro and in vivo.
      OFI extract was obtained by alkaline hydrolysis of OFI cladodes powder and pure
      compounds were obtained by preparative chromatography. Nitric oxide (NO),
      cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) alpha, and interleukin-
      (IL-) 6 production were measured. NO production was tested in lipopolysaccharide
      stimulated RAW 264.7 cells while in vivo studies were carried on croton oil
      induced ear edema model. OFI extract and diglycoside isorhamnetin-glucosyl
      rhamnoside (IGR) at 125 ng/mL suppressed the NO production in vitro (73.5 +/-
      4.8% and 68.7 +/- 5.0%, resp.) without affecting cell viability. Likewise, IGR
      inhibited the ear edema (77.4 +/- 5.7%) equating the indomethacin effects (69.5
      +/- 5.3%). Both IGR and OFI extract significantly inhibited the COX-2, TNF-alpha,
      and IL-6 production. IGR seems to be a suitable natural compound for development
      of new anti-inflammatory ingredient.

PMID- 25821824
TI  - Proteomic analysis of human brain microvascular endothelial cells reveals
      differential protein expression in response to enterovirus 71 infection.
AB  - 2D DIGE technology was employed on proteins prepared from human brain
      microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC), to study the differentially expressed
      proteins in cells at 0 h, 1 h, 16 h, and 24 h after infection. Proteins found to
      be differentially expressed were identified with matrix-assisted laser
      desorption/ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight mass spectrometry
      (MALDITOF/TOF MS) analysis. We identified 43 spots showing changes of at least
      2.5 fold up- or downregulated expressions in EV71-infected cells at different
      time when comparing to control, and 28 proteins could be successfully identified
      by MALDI TOF/TOF mass spectrometry analysis. 4 proteins were significantly
      upregulated, and 6 proteins were downregulated, another 18 proteins were
      different expression at different incubation time. We identified changes in the
      expression of 12 cellular metabolism-related proteins, 5 molecules involved in
      cytoskeleton, 3 molecules involved in energy metabolism, 2 molecules involved in
      signal transduction, 1 molecule involved in the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, 1
      molecule involved in cell cycle, 1 molecule involved in apoptosis-related
      protein, 1 molecular chaperone, and 2 unknown proteins. These findings build up a
      comprehensive profile of the HBMEC proteome and provide a useful basis for
      further analysis of the pathogenic mechanism that underlies EV71 infections to
      induce severe neural complications.

PMID- 25821825
TI  - Aging and cardiovascular risk.

PMID- 25821826
TI  - Morphological study of the lingula in adult human mandibles of Brazilians
      individuals and clinical implications.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this research was to study, in macerated adult human
      mandibles, the height of the lingula and provide morphometric data for its
      location considering aspects such as shape of the lingula, gender, and race.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: 132 macerated mandibles of Brazilian adult individuals,
      both sexes, Amerindian and Caucasian, were used. The distances: from mandibular
      notch to lingula; from anterior margin of ramus of mandible to lingula; from
      posterior margin of ramus of mandible to lingula; from mandibular base to
      lingula, and the height of lingula were obtained. To perform these measurements
      we used a digital caliper. The variables such as gender and race were analyzed.
      RESULTS: The mean values found for the height of lingula and its location were
      determined according to the gender, race, and the lingula shape. CONCLUSION: This
      research provides additional data on height of the lingula and morphometric data
      for its location considering aspects such as shape of the lingula, gender, and
      race, information that had not been reported in the literature to date. We
      emphasize that a careful study considering gender and ethnic group makes
      procedures involving the region of lingula safer.

PMID- 25821827
TI  - Alterations of dendritic cells in sepsis: featured role in immunoparalysis.
AB  - Sepsis, the leading cause of mortality in intensive care unit, is characterized
      by hyperinflammatory response in the early stage and followed by a period of
      immunosuppression. This immune disorder is believed to be the potent factor that
      is tightly associated with high mortality in sepsis. Dendritic cells (DCs) serve
      as professional antigen-presenting cells that play a vital role in immune
      response by activating T lymphocytes. During the progression of sepsis, DCs have
      been reported to take part in the aberrant immune response and be necessary for
      survival. Therefore, a better understanding of the DCs pathology will be
      undoubtedly beneficial for resolving the problems occurring in sepsis. This
      review discusses effects of sepsis on DCs number and function, including surface
      molecules expression, cytokines secretion, and T cell activation, and the
      underlying mechanism as well as some potential therapeutic strategies. 

PMID- 25821828
TI  - Retrograde intrarenal surgery versus percutaneous lithotripsy to treat renal
      stones 2-3 cm in diameter.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) performed using a flexible
      ureterorenoscope marked the beginning of a new era in urology. Today, even
      staghorn stones are successfully treated via RIRS. The recommended treatment for
      larger stones is percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL). However, the question of
      whether PNL or RIRS should be the first-line treatment option for larger stones
      remains controversial. In this study, we contribute to the debate by comparing
      the success and complication rates of PNL and RIRS that were used to treat renal
      pelvis stones 2-3 cm in diameter. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of
      154 patients (74 PNL, 80 RIRS) were retrospectively evaluated. PNL patients were
      placed in Group 1 and RIRS patients in Group 2. RESULTS: The complete stone-free
      rates were 95.5% in the PNL group and 80.6% in the RIRS group 1 month
      postoperatively (P = 0.061). The respective complication rates (evaluated using
      the Clavien system) were 13.5% and 8.8% (P = 0.520). CONCLUSIONS: RIRS affords a
      comparable success rate, causes fewer complications than PNL, and seems to be a
      promising alternative to PNL when larger stones are to be treated. Prospective
      randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm these findings.

PMID- 25821829
TI  - Elaborating the role of natural products-induced autophagy in cancer treatment:
      achievements and artifacts in the state of the art.
AB  - Autophagy is a homeostatic process that is highly conserved across different
      types of mammalian cells. Autophagy is able to relieve tumor cell from nutrient
      and oxidative stress during the rapid expansion of cancer. Excessive and
      sustained autophagy may lead to cell death and tumor shrinkage. It was shown in
      literature that many anticancer natural compounds and extracts could initiate
      autophagy in tumor cells. As summarized in this review, the tumor suppressive
      action of natural products-induced autophagy may lead to cell senescence, provoke
      apoptosis-independent cell death, and complement apoptotic cell death by robust
      or target-specific mechanisms. In some cases, natural products-induced autophagy
      could protect tumor cells from apoptotic death. Technical variations in detecting
      autophagy affect data quality, and study focus should be made on elaborating the
      role of autophagy in deciding cell fate. In vivo study monitoring of autophagy in
      cancer treatment is expected to be the future direction. The clinical-relevant
      action of autophagy-inducing natural products should be highlighted in future
      study. As natural products are an important resource in discovery of lead
      compound of anticancer drug, study on the role of autophagy in tumor suppressive
      effect of natural products continues to be necessary and emerging. 

PMID- 25821830
TI  - Survival of Mexican children with acute myeloid leukaemia who received early
      intensification chemotherapy and an autologous transplant.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In Mexico and other developing countries, few reports of the survival
      of children with acute leukaemia exist. Objective. We aimed at comparing the
      disease-free survival of children with acute myeloid leukaemia who, in addition
      to being treated with the Latin American protocol of chemotherapy and an
      autologous transplant, either underwent early intensified chemotherapy or did not
      undergo such treatment. PROCEDURE: This was a cohort study with a historical
      control group, forty patients, less than 16 years old. Group A (20 patients),
      diagnosed in the period 2005-2007, was treated with the Latin American protocol
      of chemotherapy with an autologous transplant plus early intensified
      chemotherapy: high doses of cytarabine and mitoxantrone. Group B (20 patients),
      diagnosed in the period 1999-2004, was treated as Group A, but without the early
      intensified chemotherapy. RESULTS: Relapse-free survival for Group A was 90%
      whereas that for Group B it was 60% (P = 0.041). Overall survival for Group A
      (18, 90%) was higher than that for Group B (60%). Complete remission continued
      for two years of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Relapse-free survival for paediatric
      patients treated with the Latin American protocol of chemotherapy with an
      autologous transplant plus early intensified chemotherapy was higher than that
      for those who did not receive early intensified chemotherapy.

PMID- 25821831
TI  - Ankylosing spondylitis and posture control: the role of visual input.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the motor control during quiet stance in patients with
      established ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and to evaluate the effect of visual
      input on the maintenance of a quiet posture. METHODS: 12 male AS patients (mean
      age 50.1 +/- 13.2 years) and 12 matched healthy subjects performed 2 sessions of
      3 trials in quiet stance, with eyes open (EO) and with eyes closed (EC) on a
      baropodometric platform. The oscillation of the centre of feet pressure (CoP) was
      acquired. Indices of stability and balance control were assessed by the sway path
      (SP) of the CoP, the frequency bandwidth (FB1) that includes the 80% of the area
      under the amplitude spectrum, the mean amplitude of the peaks (MP) of the sway
      density curve (SDC), and the mean distance (MD) between 2 peaks of the SDC.
      RESULTS: In severe AS patients, the MD between two peaks of the SDC and the SP of
      the center of feet pressure were significantly higher than controls during both
      EO and EC conditions. The MP was significantly reduced just on EC. CONCLUSIONS:
      Ankylosing spondylitis exerts negative effect on postural stability, not
      compensable by visual inputs. Our findings may be useful in the rehabilitative
      management of the increased risk of falling in AS.

PMID- 25821832
TI  - cspA influences biofilm formation and drug resistance in pathogenic fungus
      Aspergillus fumigatus.
AB  - The microbial cell wall plays a crucial role in biofilm formation and drug
      resistance. cspA encodes a repeat-rich glycophosphatidylinositol-anchored cell
      wall protein in the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus. To determine whether
      cspA has a significant impact on biofilm development and sensitivity to
      antifungal drugs in A. fumigatus, a DeltacspA mutant was constructed by targeted
      gene disruption, and we then reconstituted the mutant to wild type by homologous
      recombination of a functional cspA gene. Deletion of cspA resulted in a rougher
      conidial surface, reduced biofilm formation, decreased resistance to antifungal
      agents, and increased internalization by A549 human lung epithelial cells,
      suggesting that cspA not only participates in maintaining the integrity of the
      cell wall, but also affects biofilm establishment, drug response, and
      invasiveness of A. fumigatus. 

PMID- 25821833
TI  - Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide protects glomerular podocytes
      from inflammatory injuries.
AB  - Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a leading cause of end-stage kidney disease;
      however, there are few treatment options. Inflammation plays a crucial role in
      the initiation and/or progression of DN. Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating
      polypeptide (PACAP) is a neuropeptide, which was originally isolated from the
      ovine hypothalamus and reportedly has diverse biological functions. It has been
      reported that PACAP has renoprotective effects in different models of kidney
      pathology. However, the specific cell types within the kidney that are protected
      by PACAP have not yet been reported. In this study, we localized VPAC1, one of
      the PACAP receptors, to glomerular podocytes, which also reportedly has crucial
      roles not only in glomerular physiology but also in pathology. PACAP was
      effective in the downregulation of proinflammatory cytokines, such as monocyte
      chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and interleukin-6, which had been induced by
      the activation of toll-like receptor (TLR) with lipopolysaccharide. PACAP also
      had downregulated the expression of MCP-1 through the protein kinase A signaling
      pathway; this led to the attenuation of the activation of extracellular signal
      regulated kinase and nuclear factor-kappa B signaling. Our results suggested that
      PACAP could be a possible treatment option for DN through the use of anti
      inflammation effects on glomerular podocytes. 

PMID- 25821834
TI  - Use of Drosophila as an evaluation method reveals imp as a candidate gene for
      type 2 diabetes in rat locus Niddm22.
AB  - Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is one of the most common human diseases. QTL analysis of
      the diabetic Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats has identified
      numerous hyperglycemic loci. However, molecular characterization and/or gene
      identification largely remains to be elucidated due mostly to the weak genetic
      variances contributed by each locus. Here we utilized Drosophila melanogaster as
      a secondary model organism for functional evaluation of the candidate gene. We
      demonstrate that the tissue specific knockdown of a homologue of igf2bp2 RNA
      binding protein leads to increased sugar levels similar to that found in the
      OLETF rat. In the mutant, the expression of two of the insulin-like peptides
      encoded in the fly genome, dilp2 and dilp3, were found to be downregulated.
      Consistent with previous reports of dilp mutants, the imp mutant flies exhibited
      an extension of life span; in contrast, starvation tolerance was reduced. These
      results further reinforce the possibility that imp is involved in sugar
      metabolism by modulating insulin expression. 

PMID- 25821835
TI  - Intestinal microbiota as modulators of the immune system.

PMID- 25821836
TI  - Significance of circulating and crevicular matrix metalloproteinase-9 in
      rheumatoid arthritis-chronic periodontitis association.
AB  - In the recent years, statistically significant associations between rheumatoid
      arthritis (RA) and periodontal disease have been identified. Emerging as a
      chronic inflammatory joint disease, RA displays various features and pathogenetic
      events similar to chronic periodontitis (CP). The purpose of this study was to
      evaluate the utility of determining systemic and crevicular levels of
      metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) as potential biomarkers for association between RA
      and CP. A total of fifty-six patients were included in the study. The subjects
      were categorized into four groups as follows: healthy-control (n = 21), active RA
      (n = 16), CP (n = 14), and RA-CP association (n = 12). Assessment of serum and
      crevicular concentrations of total MMP-9 (active and pro-MMP-9) was based on
      ELISA technique. The results of this study showed statistically significant
      differences of serum MMP-9 between patients groups and control. Serum levels of
      MMP-9 were similar in RA and RA-CP associated patients. Gingival crevicular fluid
      (GCF) recorded increased MMP-9 levels in RA-CP association subjects as compared
      to CP. Considering that RA-CP association is characterized by a disregulation of
      the inflammatory response, MMP-9 may play a role in the pathogenesis of RA-CP
      association. MMP-9 is therefore a sensitive tool in the diagnosis and management
      of patients affected by this binomial association. 

PMID- 25821838
TI  - How the provenance of electronic health record data matters for research: a case
      example using system mapping.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The use of electronic health records (EHRs) for research is
      proceeding rapidly, driven by computational power, analytical techniques, and
      policy. However, EHR-based research is limited by the complexity of EHR data and
      a lack of understanding about data provenance, meaning the context under which
      the data were collected. This paper presents system flow mapping as a method to
      help researchers more fully understand the provenance of their EHR data as it
      relates to local workflow. We provide two specific examples of how this method
      can improve data identification, documentation, and processing. BACKGROUND: EHRs
      store clinical and administrative data, often in unstructured fields. Each
      clinical system has a unique and dynamic workflow, as well as an EHR customized
      for local use. The EHR customization may be influenced by a broader context such
      as documentation required for billing. METHODS: We present a case study with two
      examples of using system flow mapping to characterize EHR data for a local
      colorectal cancer screening process. FINDINGS: System flow mapping demonstrated
      that information entered into the EHR during clinical practice required
      interpretation and transformation before it could be accurately applied to
      research. We illustrate how system flow mapping shaped our knowledge of the
      quality and completeness of data in two examples: (1) determining colonoscopy
      indication as recorded in the EHR, and (2) discovering a specific EHR form that
      captured family history. DISCUSSION: Researchers who do not consider data
      provenance risk compiling data that are systematically incomplete or incorrect.
      For example, researchers who are not familiar with the clinical workflow under
      which data were entered might miss or misunderstand patient information or
      procedure and diagnostic codes. CONCLUSIONS: Data provenance is a fundamental
      characteristic of research data from EHRs. Given the diversity of EHR platforms
      and system workflows, researchers need tools for evaluating and reporting data
      availability, quality, and transformations. Our case study illustrates how system
      mapping can inform researchers about the provenance of their data as it pertains
      to local workflows.

PMID- 25821837
TI  - Viruses and the Microbiota.
AB  - Every surface of the human body is colonized by a diverse microbial community
      called the microbiota, yet the impact of microbiota on viruses is unclear. Recent
      research has advanced our understanding of how microbiota influence viral
      infection. Microbiota inhibit infection of some viruses and promote infection of
      other viruses. These effects can occur through direct and/or indirect effects on
      the host and/or virus. This review examines the known effects and mechanisms by
      which the microbiota influence mammalian virus infections. Furthermore, we
      suggest strategies for future research on how microbiota impact viruses. Overall,
      microbiota may influence a wide array of viruses through diverse mechanisms,
      making the study of virus-microbiota interactions a fertile area for future
      investigation.

PMID- 25821839
TI  - Erratum: Recurrent ZFX mutations in human sporadic parathyroid adenomas.
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. 360 in vol. 1, PMID: 25594030.]. 

PMID- 25821840
TI  - The "virgin birth", polyploidy, and the origin of cancer.
AB  - Recently, it has become clear that the complexity of cancer biology cannot fully
      be explained by somatic mutation and clonal selection. Meanwhile, data have
      accumulated on how cancer stem cells or stemloids bestow immortality on tumour
      cells and how reversible polyploidy is involved. Most recently, single polyploid
      tumour cells were shown capable of forming spheroids, releasing EMT-like
      descendents and inducing tumours in vivo. These data refocus attention on the
      centuries-old embryological theory of cancer. This review attempts to reconcile
      seemingly conflicting data by viewing cancer as a pre-programmed phylogenetic
      life-cycle-like process. This cycle is apparently initiated by a meiosis-like
      process and driven as an alternative to accelerated senescence at the DNA damage
      checkpoint, followed by an asexual syngamy event and endopolyploid-type embryonal
      cleavage to provide germ-cell-like (EMT) cells. This cycle is augmented by
      genotoxic treatments, explaining why chemotherapy is rarely curative and drives
      resistance. The logical outcome of this viewpoint is that alternative treatments
      may be more efficacious - either those that suppress the endopolyploidy
      associated 'life cycle' or, those that cause reversion of embryonal malignant
      cells into benign counterparts. Targets for these opposing strategies are
      components of the same molecular pathways and interact with regulators of
      accelerated senescence. 

PMID- 25821841
TI  - Exosomal lipids induce human pancreatic tumoral MiaPaCa-2 cells resistance
      through the CXCR4-SDF-1alpha signaling axis.
AB  - We previously reported that exosomes secreted by human pancreatic tumor cells
      induce cell death through the inhibition of the Notch-1 survival pathway
      (Ristorcelli et al., 2009). We demonstrated that exosomal lipids evoked apoptosis
      of human pancreatic cancer SOJ-6 cells. Based on the lipid composition of
      efficient exosomes we designed Synthetic Exosome-Like Nanoparticles (SELN) in
      which the ratio ordered lipids versus disordered lipids was equal to 6.0
      (SELN6.0). These SELN decreased SOJ-6 cells survival by inhibiting the Notch-1
      pathway. However MiaPaCa-2 cells were resistant to exosomes (Ristorcelli et al.,
      2008) and to SELN6.0 (Beloribi et al.,2012). In this paper we aimed at
      deciphering the reason(s) of this resistance. We observed, in presence of
      SELN6.0, that the expression of the Notch IntraCytoplasmic Domain (NICD)
      decreases in MiaPaCa-2 cells but neither Hes-1, the nuclear target of NICD, nor
      the ratio Bax/Bcl-2 were affected. We further showed that in MiaPaCa-2 cells
      SELN6.0 induced the activation of NF-kB, which promotes the expression and the
      secretion of SDF-1alpha. This chemokine interacts with its receptor CXCR4 on
      MiaPaCa-2 cells and activates the Akt survival pathway protecting cells from
      death. This activation process promoted by exosomal lipids could have
      implications in tumor progression and drug resistance. 

PMID- 25821842
TI  - P2Y12 expression and function in alternatively activated human microglia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate and measure the functional significance of altered
      P2Y12 expression in the context of human microglia activation. METHODS: We
      performed in vitro and in situ experiments to measure how P2Y12 expression can
      influence disease-relevant functional properties of classically activated (M1)
      and alternatively activated (M2) human microglia in the inflamed brain. RESULTS:
      We demonstrated that compared to resting and classically activated (M1) human
      microglia, P2Y12 expression is increased under alternatively activated (M2)
      conditions. In response to ADP, the endogenous ligand of P2Y12, M2 microglia have
      increased ligand-mediated calcium responses, which are blocked by selective P2Y12
      antagonism. P2Y12 antagonism was also shown to decrease migratory and
      inflammatory responses in human microglia upon exposure to nucleotides that are
      released during CNS injury; no effects were observed in human monocytes or
      macrophages. In situ experiments confirm that P2Y12 is selectively expressed on
      human microglia and elevated under neuropathologic conditions that promote Th2
      responses, such as parasitic CNS infection. CONCLUSION: These findings provide
      insight into the roles of M2 microglia in the context of neuroinflammation and
      suggest a mechanism to selectively target a functionally unique population of
      myeloid cells in the CNS.

PMID- 25821843
TI  - A 41-year-old woman with acute weakness and encephalopathy associated with MOG
      antibodies.

PMID- 25821845
TI  - The equivalency between logic Petri workflow nets and workflow nets.
AB  - Logic Petri nets (LPNs) can describe and analyze batch processing functions and
      passing value indeterminacy in cooperative systems. Logic Petri workflow nets
      (LPWNs) are proposed based on LPNs in this paper. Process mining is regarded as
      an important bridge between modeling and analysis of data mining and business
      process. Workflow nets (WF-nets) are the extension to Petri nets (PNs), and have
      successfully been used to process mining. Some shortcomings cannot be avoided in
      process mining, such as duplicate tasks, invisible tasks, and the noise of logs.
      The online shop in electronic commerce in this paper is modeled to prove the
      equivalence between LPWNs and WF-nets, and advantages of LPWNs are presented. 

PMID- 25821844
TI  - MOG cell-based assay detects non-MS patients with inflammatory neurologic
      disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To optimize sensitivity and disease specificity of a myelin
      oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody assay. METHODS: Consecutive sera (n =
      1,109) sent for aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody testing were screened for MOG
      antibodies (Abs) by cell-based assays using either full-length human MOG (FL-MOG)
      or the short-length form (SL-MOG). The Abs were initially detected by Alexa Fluor
      goat anti-human IgG (H + L) and subsequently by Alexa Fluor mouse antibodies to
      human IgG1. RESULTS: When tested at 1:20 dilution, 40/1,109 sera were positive
      for AQP4-Abs, 21 for SL-MOG, and 180 for FL-MOG. Only one of the 40 AQP4-Ab
      positive sera was positive for SL-MOG-Abs, but 10 (25%) were positive for FL-MOG
      Abs (p = 0.0069). Of equal concern, 48% (42/88) of sera from controls (patients
      with epilepsy) were positive by FL-MOG assay. However, using an IgG1-specific
      secondary antibody, only 65/1,109 (5.8%) sera were positive on FL-MOG, and AQP4
      Ab- positive and control sera were negative. IgM reactivity accounted for the
      remaining anti-human IgG (H + L) positivity toward FL-MOG. The clinical diagnoses
      were obtained in 33 FL-MOG-positive patients, blinded to the antibody data. IgG1
      Abs to FL-MOG were associated with optic neuritis (n = 11), AQP4-seronegative
      neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (n = 4), and acute disseminated
      encephalomyelitis (n = 1). All 7 patients with probable multiple sclerosis (MS)
      were MOG-IgG1 negative. CONCLUSIONS: The limited disease specificity of FL-MOG
      Abs identified using Alexa Fluor goat anti-human IgG (H + L) is due in part to
      detection of IgM-Abs. Use of the FL-MOG and restricting to IgG1-Abs substantially
      improves specificity for non-MS demyelinating diseases. CLASSIFICATION OF
      EVIDENCE: This study provides Class II evidence that the presence of serum IgG1-
      MOG-Abs in AQP4-Ab-negative patients distinguishes non-MS CNS demyelinating
      disorders from MS (sensitivity 24%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 9%-45%;
      specificity 100%, 95% CI 88%-100%).

PMID- 25821846
TI  - Study of research and development processes through Fuzzy Super FRM model and
      optimization solutions.
AB  - The aim of this study is to measure resources for R&D (research and development)
      at the regional level in Romania and also obtain primary data that will be
      important in making the right decisions to increase competitiveness and
      development based on an economic knowledge. As our motivation, we would like to
      emphasize that by the use of Super Fuzzy FRM model we want to determine the state
      of R&D processes at regional level using a mean different from the statistical
      survey, while by the two optimization methods we mean to provide optimization
      solutions for the R&D actions of the enterprises. Therefore to fulfill the above
      mentioned aim in this application-oriented paper we decided to use a
      questionnaire and for the interpretation of the results the Super Fuzzy FRM
      model, representing the main novelty of our paper, as this theory provides a
      formalism based on matrix calculus, which allows processing of large volumes of
      information and also delivers results difficult or impossible to see, through
      statistical processing. Furthermore another novelty of the paper represents the
      optimization solutions submitted in this work, given for the situation when the
      sales price is variable, and the quantity sold is constant in time and for the
      reverse situation. 

PMID- 25821847
TI  - A two-stage method to determine optimal product sampling considering dynamic
      potential market.
AB  - This paper develops an optimization model for the diffusion effects of free
      samples under dynamic changes in potential market based on the characteristics of
      independent product and presents a two-stage method to figure out the sampling
      level. The impact analysis of the key factors on the sampling level shows that
      the increase of the external coefficient or internal coefficient has a negative
      influence on the sampling level. And the changing rate of the potential market
      has no significant influence on the sampling level whereas the repeat purchase
      has a positive one. Using logistic analysis and regression analysis, the global
      sensitivity analysis gives a whole analysis of the interaction of all parameters,
      which provides a two-stage method to estimate the impact of the relevant
      parameters in the case of inaccuracy of the parameters and to be able to
      construct a 95% confidence interval for the predicted sampling level. Finally,
      the paper provides the operational steps to improve the accuracy of the parameter
      estimation and an innovational way to estimate the sampling level. 

PMID- 25821848
TI  - Understanding transferable supply chain lessons and practices to a "high-tech"
      industry using guidelines from a primary sector industry: a case study in the
      food industry supply chain.
AB  - Flexibility and innovation at creating shapes, adapting processes, and modifying
      materials characterize composites materials, a "high-tech" industry. However, the
      absence of standard manufacturing processes and the selection of materials with
      defined properties hinder the configuration of the composites materials supply
      chain. An interesting alternative for a "high-tech" industry such as composite
      materials would be to review supply chain lessons and practices in "low-tech"
      industries such as food. The main motivation of this study is to identify lessons
      and practices that comprise innovations in the supply chain of a firm in a
      perceived "low-tech" industry that can be used to provide guidelines in the
      design of the supply chain of a "high-tech" industry, in this case composite
      materials. This work uses the case study/site visit with analogy methodology to
      collect data from a Spanish leading producer of fresh fruit juice which is sold
      in major European markets and makes use of a cold chain. The study highlights
      supply base management and visibility/traceability as two elements of the supply
      chain in a "low-tech" industry that can provide guidelines that can be used in
      the configuration of the supply chain of the composite materials industry. 

PMID- 25821849
TI  - Salivary fluoride levels after use of high-fluoride dentifrice.
AB  - The aim of the study was to evaluate salivary fluoride (F) availability after
      toothbrushing with a high-F dentifrice. Twelve adult volunteers took part in this
      crossover and blind study. F concentration in saliva was determined after
      brushing with a high-F dentifrice (5000 ug F/g) or with a conventional F
      concentration dentifrice (1100 ug F/g) followed by a 15 mL distilled water rinse.
      Samples of nonstimulated saliva were collected on the following times: before
      (baseline), and immediately after spit (time = 0) and after 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10,
      15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 min. F analysis was performed with a fluoride
      sensitive electrode and the area under curve of F salivary concentration * time
      (ug F/mL * min(-1)) was calculated. At baseline, no significant difference was
      found among dentifrices (P > 0.05). After brushing, both dentifrices caused an
      elevated fluoride level in saliva; however salivary F concentration was
      significantly higher at all times, when high-F dentifrice was used (P < 0.01).
      Even after 120 min, salivary F concentration was still higher than the baseline
      values for both dentifrices (P < 0.001). High-F dentifrice enhanced the
      bioavailability of salivary F, being an option for caries management in patients
      with high caries risk.

PMID- 25821850
TI  - Prospective evaluation of cases of discharge against medical advice in Abuja,
      Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Discharge against medical advice (DAMA) is a global clinical
      phenomenon contributing significantly to adverse patients' outcome. Literatures
      abound on self-discharges in specific medical subpopulations. However,
      multidisciplinary studies on this subject in our region are few. AIM: To
      prospectively evaluate cases of DAMA in a wholesale multidisciplinary perspective
      at Federal Staff Medical Centre, Abuja, and suggest strategies to reduce it.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: All consecutive patients who DAMA from our medical centre
      between June 2013 and May 2014 were included in the study. Data harvested from
      the standard proforma were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 19.0. RESULTS: We
      recorded an overall DAMA rate of 2.1%. The majority of the patients were
      paediatric cases (n = 63, 44.6%) while closed long bone fractures represented the
      leading diagnosis (n = 35, 24.8%). The most commonly cited reasons for leaving
      the hospital were financial constraints (n = 46, 32.6%) and seeking alternative
      therapy (n = 25, 17.7%). CONCLUSION: The DAMA rate in our study is comparable to
      some urban hospitals elsewhere. However, the leading reasons for this phenomenon
      are unacceptable in the current medical best practice. Thus, strengthening the
      Health Insurance Scheme, strict control of traditional medical practices, and
      focused health education are recommended strategies to reduce DAMA.

PMID- 25821852
TI  - FPGA techniques based new hybrid modulation strategies for voltage source
      inverters.
AB  - This paper corroborates three different hybrid modulation strategies suitable for
      single-phase voltage source inverter. The proposed method is formulated using
      fundamental switching and carrier based pulse width modulation methods. The main
      tale of this proposed method is to optimize a specific performance criterion,
      such as minimization of the total harmonic distortion (THD), lower order
      harmonics, switching losses, and heat losses. The proposed method is articulated
      using fundamental switching and carrier based pulse width modulation methods.
      Thus, the harmonic pollution in the power system will be reduced and the power
      quality will be augmented with better harmonic profile for a target fundamental
      output voltage. The proposed modulation strategies are simulated in MATLAB r2010a
      and implemented in a Xilinx spartan 3E-500 FG 320 FPGA processor. The feasibility
      of these modulation strategies is authenticated through simulation and
      experimental results. 

PMID- 25821851
TI  - Performance of PRP associated with porous chitosan as a composite scaffold for
      regenerative medicine.
AB  - This study aimed to evaluate the in vitro performance of activated platelet-rich
      plasma associated with porous sponges of chitosan as a composite scaffold for
      proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of human adipose tissue-derived
      mesenchymal stem cells. The sponges were prepared by controlled freezing (-20, 
      80, or -196 degrees C) and lyophilization of chitosan solutions (1, 2, or 3%
      w/v). The platelet-rich plasma was obtained from controlled centrifugation of
      whole blood and activated with calcium and autologous serum. The composite
      scaffolds were prepared by embedding the sponges with the activated platelet-rich
      plasma. The results showed the performance of the scaffolds was superior to that
      of activated platelet-rich plasma alone, in terms of delaying the release of
      growth factors and increased proliferation of the stem cells. The best
      preparation conditions of chitosan composite scaffolds that coordinated the
      physicochemical and mechanical properties and cell proliferation were 3% (w/v)
      chitosan and a -20 degrees C freezing temperature, while -196 degrees C favored
      osteogenic differentiation. Although the composite scaffolds are promising for
      regenerative medicine, the structures require stabilization to prevent the
      collapse observed after five days. 

PMID- 25821853
TI  - An extended EPQ-based problem with a discontinuous delivery policy, scrap rate,
      and random breakdown.
AB  - In real supply chain environments, the discontinuous multidelivery policy is
      often used when finished products need to be transported to retailers or
      customers outside the production units. To address this real-life production
      shipment situation, this study extends recent work using an economic production
      quantity- (EPQ-) based inventory model with a continuous inventory issuing
      policy, defective items, and machine breakdown by incorporating a multiple
      delivery policy into the model to replace the continuous policy and investigates
      the effect on the optimal run time decision for this specific EPQ model. Next, we
      further expand the scope of the problem to combine the retailer's stock holding
      cost into our study. This enhanced EPQ-based model can be used to reflect the
      situation found in contemporary manufacturing firms in which finished products
      are delivered to the producer's own retail stores and stocked there for sale. A
      second model is developed and studied. With the help of mathematical modeling and
      optimization techniques, the optimal run times that minimize the expected total
      system costs comprising costs incurred in production units, transportation, and
      retail stores are derived, for both models. Numerical examples are provided to
      demonstrate the applicability of our research results. 

PMID- 25821854
TI  - Integrated DEA models and grey system theory to evaluate past-to-future
      performance: a case of Indian electricity industry.
AB  - The growth of economy and population together with the higher demand in energy
      has created many concerns for the Indian electricity industry whose capacity is
      at 211 gigawatts mostly in coal-fired plants. Due to insufficient fuel supply,
      India suffers from a shortage of electricity generation, leading to rolling
      blackouts; thus, performance evaluation and ranking the industry turn into
      significant issues. By this study, we expect to evaluate the rankings of these
      companies under control of the Ministry of Power. Also, this research would like
      to test if there are any significant differences between the two DEA models:
      Malmquist nonradial and Malmquist radial. Then, one advance model of MPI would be
      chosen to see these companies' performance in recent years and next few years by
      using forecasting results of Grey system theory. Totally, the realistic data 14
      are considered to be in this evaluation after the strict selection from the whole
      industry. The results found that all companies have not shown many abrupt changes
      on their scores, and it is always not consistently good or consistently standing
      out, which demonstrated the high applicable usability of the integrated methods.
      This integrated numerical research gives a better "past-present-future" insights
      into performance evaluation in Indian electricity industry. 

PMID- 25821855
TI  - Association between polymorphism of interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-1 receptor
      antagonist gene and asthma risk: a meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Asthma is a complex polygenic disease in which gene-environment
      interactions are important. A number of studies have investigated the
      polymorphism of IL-1beta -511C/T and IL-1RA genes in relation to asthma
      susceptibility in different populations. However, the results of individual
      studies have been inconsistent. Accordingly, we conducted a comprehensive meta
      analysis to investigate the association between the IL-1beta -511C/T and IL-1RA
      polymorphism and asthma risk. METHODS: Data were collected from the following
      electronic databases: Pub Med, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI),
      Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), ISI Web of Knowledge, and Google
      Scholar Search databases with the last report up to July 2013. Finally, 15
      studies were included in our meta-analysis. We summarized the data on the
      association between IL-1beta -511C/T and IL-1RA polymorphism and risk of asthma
      in the overall population and performed subgroup analyses by ethnicity, mean of
      age, and source of controls. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI)
      were used to evaluate the associations between IL-1beta -511C/T and IL-1RA
      polymorphism and asthma risk. Statistical analysis was performed with Review
      Manager 5.1. RESULTS: A total of 15 case-control studies were included in the
      meta-analysis of IL-1beta -511C/T (1,385 cases and 1,964 controls) and IL-1RA
      (2,800 cases and 6,359 controls) genotypes. No association was found between IL
      1beta -511C/T polymorphism and asthma risk (dominant model: OR = 1.11, 95% CI:
      0.99-1.25, P = 0.07, P Heterogeneity = 0.06; recessive model: OR = 1.04, 95% CI:
      0.91-1.20, P = 0.55, P Heterogeneity = 0.11). Subgroup analysis based on
      ethnicity (Asian and Caucasian), source of controls (population-based controls
      and hospital-based controls), and mean of age (adulthood and childhood) did not
      present any significant association. The overall results showed that the IL-1RA
      polymorphism was related to an increased risk of asthma (homozygote model: OR =
      1.32, 95% CI: 1.12-1.56, P = 0.0009, P Heterogeneity = 0.87; recessive model: OR
      = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.18-1.63, P = 0.0001, P Heterogeneity = 0.82). Similar results
      were found in the subgroup analyses by ethnicity, mean of age, and source of
      controls. Sensitivity analysis did not perturb the results. CONCLUSIONS: This
      meta-analysis provided strong evidence that the IL-1RA polymorphism was a risk
      factor of asthma, especially in Caucasian populations. However, no association
      was found for IL-1beta -511C/T genotype carriers. Larger scale studies are needed
      for confirmation.

PMID- 25821856
TI  - HT-Paxos: high throughput state-machine replication protocol for large clustered
      data centers.
AB  - Paxos is a prominent theory of state-machine replication. Recent data intensive
      systems that implement state-machine replication generally require high
      throughput. Earlier versions of Paxos as few of them are classical Paxos, fast
      Paxos, and generalized Paxos have a major focus on fault tolerance and latency
      but lacking in terms of throughput and scalability. A major reason for this is
      the heavyweight leader. Through offloading the leader, we can further increase
      throughput of the system. Ring Paxos, Multiring Paxos, and S-Paxos are few
      prominent attempts in this direction for clustered data centers. In this paper,
      we are proposing HT-Paxos, a variant of Paxos that is the best suitable for any
      large clustered data center. HT-Paxos further offloads the leader very
      significantly and hence increases the throughput and scalability of the system,
      while at the same time, among high throughput state-machine replication
      protocols, it provides reasonably low latency and response time. 

PMID- 25821857
TI  - A novel ontology approach to support design for reliability considering
      environmental effects.
AB  - Environmental effects are not considered sufficiently in product design.
      Reliability problems caused by environmental effects are very prominent. This
      paper proposes a method to apply ontology approach in product design. During
      product reliability design and analysis, environmental effects knowledge reusing
      is achieved. First, the relationship of environmental effects and product
      reliability is analyzed. Then environmental effects ontology to describe
      environmental effects domain knowledge is designed. Related concepts of
      environmental effects are formally defined by using the ontology approach. This
      model can be applied to arrange environmental effects knowledge in different
      environments. Finally, rubber seals used in the subhumid acid rain environment
      are taken as an example to illustrate ontological model application on
      reliability design and analysis. 

PMID- 25821858
TI  - A seed-based plant propagation algorithm: the feeding station model.
AB  - The seasonal production of fruit and seeds is akin to opening a feeding station,
      such as a restaurant. Agents coming to feed on the fruit are like customers
      attending the restaurant; they arrive at a certain rate and get served at a
      certain rate following some appropriate processes. The same applies to birds and
      animals visiting and feeding on ripe fruit produced by plants such as the
      strawberry plant. This phenomenon underpins the seed dispersion of the plants.
      Modelling it as a queuing process results in a seed-based search/optimisation
      algorithm. This variant of the Plant Propagation Algorithm is described,
      analysed, tested on nontrivial problems, and compared with well established
      algorithms. The results are included. 

PMID- 25821859
TI  - A study of the strategic alliance for EMS industry: the application of a hybrid
      DEA and GM (1, 1) approach.
AB  - Choosing a partner is a critical factor for success in international strategic
      alliances, although criteria for partner selection vary between developed and
      transitional markets. This study aims to develop effective methods to assist
      enterprise to measure the firms' operation efficiency, find out the candidate
      priority under several different inputs and outputs, and forecast the values of
      those variables in the future. The methodologies are constructed by the concepts
      of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and grey model (GM). Realistic data in four
      consecutive years (2009-2012) a total of 20 companies of the Electronic
      Manufacturing Service (EMS) industry that went public are completely collected.
      This paper tries to help target company-DMU1-to find the right alliance partners.
      By our proposed approach, the results show the priority in the recent years. The
      research study is hopefully of interest to managers who are in manufacturing
      industry in general and EMS enterprises in particular. 

PMID- 25821860
TI  - Royal Jelly and its dual role in TNBS colitis in mice.
AB  - Royal Jelly (RJ) is widely consumed in diets throughout the world due to its
      beneficial effects: antioxidant, antitumor and anti-inflammatory. We have
      investigated the role of RJ in the development of TNBS colitis in mice. Colitis
      was induced by a rectal instillation of TNBS at 0.1 mL per mouse. Intestine
      samples of the animals orally treated with RJ (100, 150, and 200 mg/kg) were
      collected for antioxidant assays (GSH and GSH-Px), proinflammatory protein
      quantification (COX-2 and NF-kappaB), and histological analyses. RJ 100 mg/kg
      maintained GSH levels and increased the activity of GSH-Px, downregulated key
      inflammatory mediators (COX-2 and NF-kappaB), and decreased the lesions caused by
      TNBS as shown by the histological analyses. In conclusion, RJ showed anti
      inflammatory and antioxidant properties in experimental colitis, resulting in the
      amelioration of the macroscopic and histological analyses. These results
      corroborate with the RJ supplementation in diets.

PMID- 25821861
TI  - Are We There Yet? Feasibility of Continuous Stress Assessment via Wireless
      Physiological Sensors.
AB  - Stress can lead to headaches and fatigue, precipitate addictive behaviors (e.g.,
      smoking, alcohol and drug use), and lead to cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
      Continuous assessment of stress from sensors can be used for timely delivery of a
      variety of interventions to reduce or avoid stress. We investigate the
      feasibility of continuous stress measurement via two field studies using wireless
      physiological sensors - a four-week study with illicit drug users (n = 40), and a
      one-week study with daily smokers and social drinkers (n = 30). We find that 11+
      hours/day of usable data can be obtained in a 4-week study. Significant learning
      effect is observed after the first week and data yield is seen to be increasing
      over time even in the fourth week. We propose a framework to analyze sensor data
      yield and find that losses in wireless channel is negligible; the main hurdle in
      further improving data yield is the attachment constraint. We show the
      feasibility of measuring stress minutes preceding events of interest and observe
      the sensor-derived stress to be rising prior to self-reported stress and smoking
      events.

PMID- 25821862
TI  - Editorial: medicine and dentistry: different entities?

PMID- 25821863
TI  - More conservative dentistry: clinical long-term results of direct composite resin
      restorations.
AB  - Current treatment protocols and recent developments in composite resin technology
      allow for extended indication of direct composite resin restorations. This
      article presents clinical longterm observations of direct composite resin
      restorations indicated for primary and replacement therapy, repair restorations,
      direct crowns, and composite buildups for the correction of tooth form. 

PMID- 25821865
TI  - [Rare diseases on the trail--the registry for refractory sprue].

PMID- 25821866
TI  - [The clinically and scientifically active doctors--current status and
      perspectives].

PMID- 25821867
TI  - [Joint opinion of the German Society of Gastroenterology, Digestive and Metabolic
      Diseases (DGVS) and the German Society for Internal Medicine (DGIM) to
      Daclatasvir-benefit assessment according to S 35a SGB V the G-BA].

PMID- 25821868
TI  - [Statement of the German Society of Gastroenterology, Digestive and Metabolic
      Diseases (DGVS) for teduglutide-benefit assessment according to S 35a SGB V the G
      BA].

PMID- 25821869
TI  - Metabonomics: methods and protocols: preface.

PMID- 25821871
TI  - Postobstructive diuresis: pay close attention to urinary retention.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To educate primary health care professionals about the diagnosis and
      treatment of postobstructive diuresis (POD), a rare but potentially lethal
      complication associated with the relief of urinary obstructions. SOURCES OF
      INFORMATION: The main concepts and clinical evidence reviewed in this article
      were derived from a literature search of PubMed and Google Scholar. Expert
      opinion was used to supplement recommendations in areas with little evidence.
      MAIN MESSAGE: Urinary retention is a frequently encountered presentation seen by
      all physicians. Most family physicians are comfortable treating these patients,
      initiating investigations, and organizing appropriate follow-up. This article
      reviews a rare but potentially lethal complication known as POD. Postobstructive
      diuresis is a polyuric response initiated by the kidneys after the relief of a
      substantial bladder outlet obstruction. In severe cases this condition can become
      pathologic, resulting in dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, and death if not
      adequately treated. Primary care physicians should be familiar with this
      potential clinical entity, especially as they are generally the first to
      encounter and treat these patients. CONCLUSION: Physicians aware of POD will be
      able to identify patients at risk and arrange the appropriate monitoring after
      relieving a urinary obstruction. Early diagnosis and treatment of pathologic POD
      will prevent mortality.

PMID- 25821870
TI  - Targeted temperature management after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: who, when,
      why, and how?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To provide a succinct review of the evidence, framed for the emergency
      department clinician, for the application of targeted temperature management
      (TTM) for patients after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). SOURCES OF
      INFORMATION: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane database were searched for
      prospective and retrospective studies relevant to the indications of TTM, optimal
      timing of TTM initiation, method of cooling, and target temperature. MAIN
      MESSAGE: Two prospective interventional trials reported improved neurologically
      intact survival with the use of TTM (goal temperatures of 32 degrees C to 34
      degrees C) compared with no temperature management in comatose OHCA patients with
      shockable initial cardiac arrest rhythms. A more recent, high-quality randomized
      controlled trial including OHCA patients with shockable and nonshockable initial
      rhythms compared TTM at 33 degrees C versus TTM at 36 degrees C. Despite the
      study being well powered, superiority of one target temperature over the other
      was not demonstrated. The benefit of TTM in patients with initial nonshockable
      rhythms is not clear; however, some observational studies have suggested benefit.
      There is no evidence that any particular method of temperature regulation is
      superior. The relationship between time and TTM initiation has not been well
      established. CONCLUSION: Targeted temperature management, with a target
      temperature between 32 degrees C and 36 degrees C, as a component of
      comprehensive critical care is a beneficial intervention for comatose patients
      with return of spontaneous circulation after OHCA.

PMID- 25821872
TI  - The MUN Med Gateway Project: marrying medical education and social
      accountability.
AB  - PROBLEM ADDRESSED: Access to a continuum of care from a family physician is an
      essential component of health and well-being; however, refugees have particular
      barriers in accessing medical care. OBJECTIVE OF PROGRAM: To provide access to
      family physicians and continuity of care for newly arrived refugees; to provide
      opportunities for medical students to practise cross-cultural health care; and to
      mentor medical students in advocacy for underserved populations. PROGRAM
      DESCRIPTION: The MUN Med Gateway Project, based at Memorial University of
      Newfoundland in St John's, is a medical student initiative that partners with the
      local refugee settlement agency to provide health care for new refugees to the
      province. Medical students conduct in-depth medical histories, with provision of
      some basic physical screening, while working through an interpreter with
      supervision by a family doctor and settlement public health nurse. Each patient
      or family is matched with a family physician. CONCLUSION: The project's
      adaptation of student-run clinics, which connects refugees with the existing
      mainstream medical system, has been an overwhelming success, making it a model
      for community action as an educational strategy.

PMID- 25821873
TI  - Narcotic tapering in pregnancy using long-acting morphine: an 18-month
      prospective cohort study in northwestern Ontario.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To document the management of and outcomes for patients receiving
      narcotic replacement and tapering with long-acting morphine preparations during
      pregnancy. DESIGN: A prospective cohort study over 18 months. SETTING:
      Northwestern Ontario. PARTICIPANTS: All 600 births at Meno Ya Win Health Centre
      in Sioux Lookout, Ont, from January 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013, including 166
      narcotic-exposed pregnancies. INTERVENTION: Narcotic replacement and tapering of
      narcotic use with long-acting morphine preparations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
      Prenatal management of maternal narcotic use, incidence of neonatal abstinence
      syndrome, and other neonatal outcomes. RESULTS: The incidence of neonatal
      abstinence syndrome fell significantly to 18.1% of pregnancies exposed to
      narcotics (from 29.5% in a previous 2010 study, P = .003) among patients using
      narcotic replacement and tapering with long-acting morphine preparations.
      Neonatal outcomes were otherwise equivalent to those of the nonexposed
      pregnancies. CONCLUSION: In many patients, long-acting morphine preparations can
      be safely used and tapered in pregnancy, with a subsequent decrease in observed
      neonatal withdrawal symptoms.

PMID- 25821874
TI  - Community-wide measures of wellness in a remote First Nations community
      experiencing opioid dependence: evaluating outpatient buprenorphine-naloxone
      substitution therapy in the context of a First Nations healing program.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To document the development of unique opioid-dependence treatment in
      remote communities that combines First Nations healing strategies and
      substitution therapy with buprenorphine-naloxone. DESIGN: Quantitative
      measurements of community wellness and response to community-based opioid
      dependence treatment. SETTING: Remote First Nations community in northwestern
      Ontario. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 140 self-referred opioid-dependent community
      members. INTERVENTION: Community-developed program of First Nations healing,
      addiction treatment, and substitution therapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Community
      wide measures of wellness: number of criminal charges, addiction-related medical
      evacuations, child protection agency cases, school attendance, and attendance at
      community events. RESULTS: The age-adjusted adult rate of opioid-dependence
      treatment was 41%. One year after the development of the in-community healing and
      substitution therapy program for opioid dependence, police criminal charges had
      fallen by 61.1%, child protection cases had fallen by 58.3%, school attendance
      had increased by 33.3%, and seasonal influenza immunizations had dramatically
      gone up by 350.0%. Attendance at community events is now robust, and sales at the
      local general store have gone up almost 20%. CONCLUSION: Community-wide wellness
      measures have undergone dramatic public health changes since the development of a
      First Nations healing program involving opioid substitution therapy with
      buprenorphine-naloxone. Funding for such programs is ad hoc and temporary, and
      this threatens the survival of the described program and other such programs
      developing in this region, which has been strongly affected by an opioid
      dependence epidemic.

PMID- 25821875
TI  - Busting top trauma myths. Exploring best practices for prehospital trauma care.
AB  - Evidence-based medicine will continually change the paradigm in which emergency
      medicine is practiced. Fifteen years ago tourniquets were a last resort and often
      considered a guaranteed way to lose a limb; today they are a gold standard in
      hemorrhage control. Believing in, and having practiced, medicine we later learn
      to be false doesn't make someone a bad provider, nor does it make them wrong. It
      simply means emergency medicine and EMS will continue to develop as a profession,
      and our body of evidence will continue to grow as we learn more about prehospital
      care. As we prepare to retire MAST, backboards and lidocaine, and realize the
      golden hour as a concept rather than a definitive 60 minutes, it's important to
      keep a critical eye out for the next intervention that truly will help patients
      during their prehospital care.

PMID- 25821876
TI  - Earlier than too late: stopping stress & suicide among emergency personnel. First
      responders keep killing themselves--why is that, and what can we do about it?

PMID- 25821877
TI  - The state of pediatric transport.

PMID- 25821878
TI  - A strong test of the maximum entropy theory of ecology.
AB  - The maximum entropy theory of ecology (METE) is a unified theory of biodiversity
      that predicts a large number of macroecological patterns using information on
      only species richness, total abundance, and total metabolic rate of the
      community. We evaluated four major predictions of METE simultaneously at an
      unprecedented scale using data from 60 globally distributed forest communities
      including more than 300,000 individuals and nearly 2,000 species.METE
      successfully captured 96% and 89% of the variation in the rank distribution of
      species abundance and individual size but performed poorly when characterizing
      the size-density relationship and intraspecific distribution of individual size.
      Specifically, METE predicted a negative correlation between size and species
      abundance, which is weak in natural communities. By evaluating multiple
      predictions with large quantities of data, our study not only identifies a
      mismatch between abundance and body size in METE but also demonstrates the
      importance of conducting strong tests of ecological theories.

PMID- 25821879
TI  - Orange-colored Russell bodies by Papanicolaou stain.

PMID- 25821880
TI  - Harry A. Fozzard, MD: 1931-2014.

PMID- 25821882
TI  - Building student community in a hybrid program.
AB  - The concept of student community has been shown to enhance learning, empower
      students, and increase engagement in the learning process. An occupational
      therapy program transformed classroom-based learning to a hybrid platform with
      over 70% of the course content online and expanded from one to two learning
      sites. Based on faculty concerns about occupational therapy students' experience
      of belonging to a community, this study compared student-perceived sense of
      community in the first and final didactic semesters of a hybrid Master's program.
      Using the Classroom and School Community Inventory and a Checklist of 24 Points
      of Contact, faculty found over 90% of students reported a sense of community with
      no significant differences from start to finish of the didactic program, or
      between learning sites. Furthermore, students reported informal, out-of-classroom
      interactions with colleagues, group assignments, and face-to-face classroom
      sessions as the strongest points of contact contributing to a sense of student
      community. 

PMID- 25821881
TI  - Exploring the complexity of the academic fieldwork coordinator role.
AB  - A nation-wide survey was conducted of occupational therapy and occupational
      therapy assistant academic fieldwork coordinators (AFWCs) to describe demographic
      characteristics and tasks of the role. From the data, 10 clusters of role tasks
      of the AFWC are described. AFWCs view the position as a final career goal
      although the majority of respondents reported 5 years or less experience.
      Administrative assistant support and hours dedicated to fieldwork tasks are
      higher at the professional level than for occupational therapy assistant AFWCs.
      AFWCs reported difficulty accomplishing tasks in a 40-h work week and limited
      time for research and scholarship. Recommendations are provided for recruitment
      and retention through development of a systematic training program and
      establishment of a national fieldwork education research agenda. 

PMID- 25821883
TI  - The nature, perception, and impact of e-mentoring on post-professional
      occupational therapy doctoral students.
AB  - This retrospective study employed a descriptive, quantitative design to
      investigate the nature, perception, and impact of the e-mentoring experiences of
      29 graduates of an online post-professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD)
      program. Study results highlight positive features of electronic mentoring (e
      mentoring); how multi-modal e-mentoring supports the accessibility needs of
      participants; and students' preferences to engage in real-time e-mentoring
      communication by web camera or telephone, supplemented with e-mail. E-mentoring
      positively impacted the professional development of participants during and after
      the online OTD program. As online education continues to grow, a better
      understanding of e-mentoring will assist in providing exemplary education to meet
      the needs of adult learners. 

PMID- 25821884
TI  - Candidates' and interviewers' perceptions of multiple-mini interviews for
      admission to an occupational therapy professional program.
AB  - Multiple-Mini Interviews (MMIs) were used to assess professional attributes of
      candidates seeking admission to an occupational therapy professional entry-level
      master's program. Candidates and interviewers were invited to complete a
      questionnaire comprised of quantitative and open-ended questions following the
      MMIs. The MMIs were perceived to be fair, enjoyable, and capable of capturing
      professional attributes. Descriptive analysis of candidates' data revealed
      perceptions regarding logistics, interview station content, process, and
      interviewers. Interviewers commented on the positive and challenging aspects of
      the scenarios and the MMI process. Admissions committees need to consider several
      logistical, content, and process issues when designing and implementing MMIs as a
      selection tool. 

PMID- 25821885
TI  - Interprofessional educational experience to assist in student readiness toward
      neurorehabilitation.
AB  - Occupational and physical therapy professionals are natural partners in
      neurorehabilitation especially in the acute stages of recovery. To enhance
      student-learning experiences from both disciplines, we have developed an
      interprofessional (IP) learning unit that was embedded in neurorehabilitation
      tracks of each respective program. The primary goal of this project was to
      examine interprofessional attitudes and perception toward interprofessional
      learning and practice. A total of 117 occupational therapy (53) and physical
      therapy (64) students completed an IP case-based learning module with the goal of
      developing an IP care plan typically seen in neurorehabilitation. Using a
      sequential explanatory mixed methods design, we collected data pre- and
      postintervention using the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Survey
      (RIPLS). We also utilized a postintervention questionnaire and focus groups
      intended to solicit information regarding IP competencies. At pretest, students
      had high ratings on the RIPLS that led to minimal changes at posttest (p = .157).
      However, common threads from the questionnaire and focus groups showed positive
      effects on student learning and attitudes toward interprofessionalism. Students
      reported positive experiences with the IP module. An IP case-based educational
      module has the potential to facilitate professional development and readiness for
      future IP practice. Students from different disciplines appreciate the value of
      IP education (IPE) in reinforcing their professional identity and understanding
      the professional contributions of others. Our findings are consistent with
      literature on best practices for IPE. 

PMID- 25821886
TI  - Bridging the gap: evaluation of a pilot project to facilitate use of psychosocial
      strategies across an occupational therapy curriculum.
AB  - The integration of psychosocial strategies into pediatric and physical
      disabilities coursework presents an issue of importance to advancing the outcomes
      for both occupational therapy education and practice. After curriculum mapping
      and modification to course content, a retrospective student survey and review of
      educational outcomes were undertaken in one curriculum. The programmatic
      formative evaluation results demonstrated that all students felt moderately
      prepared to use cognitive-behavioral strategies in their future practices,
      preferring behavioral strategies over cognitive strategies for changing client
      thinking. Implications for the importance of integration of psychosocial content
      across curricula and for future study of effective teaching methods within
      classroom learning activities and fieldwork are included. 

PMID- 25821887
TI  - The collaborative model of fieldwork education: a blueprint for group supervision
      of students.
AB  - Historically, occupational therapists have used a traditional one-to-one approach
      to supervision on fieldwork. Due to the impact of managed care on health-care
      delivery systems, a dramatic increase in the number of students needing fieldwork
      placement, and the advantages of group learning, the collaborative supervision
      model has evolved as a strong alternative to an apprenticeship supervision
      approach. This article builds on the available research to address barriers to
      model use, applying theoretical foundations of collaborative supervision to
      practical considerations for academic fieldwork coordinators and fieldwork
      educators as they prepare for participation in group supervision of occupational
      therapy and occupational therapy assistant students on level II fieldwork. 

PMID- 25821888
TI  - Instructing occupational therapy students in use of theory to guide practice.
AB  - We investigated the effectiveness of instructing students in occupational therapy
      practice models to facilitate their competence in applying theory in clinical
      practice. Course evaluation data were gathered and analyzed retrospectively. We
      found that perceived understanding of theory and its application improved
      significantly after instruction. The students' perceived competence in theory use
      predicted their level of confidence in their assessment and intervention skills.
      We concluded that emphasis on instruction of students in the use of occupational
      therapy practice models could be a viable method of improving practice through
      consistent use of theoretical guidelines in clinical reasoning. 

PMID- 25821889
TI  - The entry-level occupational therapy clinical doctorate: advantages, challenges,
      and international issues to consider.
AB  - Internationally, occupational therapy education has gone through several paradigm
      shifts during the last few decades, moving from certificate to diploma to
      bachelors to masters and now in some instances to clinical doctorate as the entry
      level professional credential to practice. In the United States there is a
      recommendation under consideration by the American Occupational Therapy
      Association (AOTA) that by 2025, all occupational therapy university programs
      will move to the clinical doctorate level. It should be noted, however, that the
      AOTA Board can only make recommendations and it is the Accreditation Council for
      Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) who has regulatory authority to approve
      such a change. What are the potential implications for the profession, our
      clients, and funders of occupational therapy services? What are the primary
      drivers for the move towards the clinical doctorate being the educational entry
      point? Is the next step in the evolution of occupational therapy education
      globally a shift to the entry-level clinical doctorate? This article reviews
      current literature and discusses issues about the occupational therapy entry
      level clinical doctorate. The published evidence available about the occupational
      therapy entry-level clinical doctorate is summarized and the perceived or
      frequently cited pros and cons of moving to the clinical doctorate as the
      singular entry point to occupational therapy practice are considered. The
      potential impacts of the introduction of the clinical doctorate as the entry-to
      practice qualification across the United States on the occupational therapy
      community internationally will be briefly discussed. If the United States moves
      toward the entry-level clinical doctorate as the only educational starting point
      for the profession, will other jurisdictions follow suit? Further discourse and
      investigation of this issue both inside and outside of the United States is
      needed so that informed decisions can be made. 

PMID- 25821890
TI  - Teaching interprofessional collaboration: using online education across
      institutions.
AB  - Interdisciplinary courses among students in occupational therapy, physical
      therapy, and speech-language pathology are important for addressing teamwork,
      communication, and understanding of professional roles, especially in pre-service
      training for early intervention and school-based practice where collaboration is
      essential. Although interprofessional education (IPE) as a part of higher
      education in the health sciences has been strongly encouraged, IPE courses are
      difficult to schedule and implement. This article discusses the challenges of
      developing and delivering two IPE courses in an online format, specifically the
      innovation that addresses logistics, time factors, and social presence for the
      IPE courses across two institutions. 

PMID- 25821892
TI  - Capstone projects as scholarship of application in entry-level occupational
      therapy education.
AB  - Capstone projects are integrative student learning experiences used in higher
      education. This article describes the value and merit of capstone projects as
      scholarship of application within an entry-level occupational therapy education
      program. The capstone process is outlined and roles and responsibilities of
      student, faculty members, and community mentors described. Summative curricular
      evaluation from 5 years of capstone projects indicated that project
      characteristics and objectives aligned with the theory and desired outcomes of
      applied scholarship in the areas of student learning, faculty practice and
      development, and community service. Challenges identified can further inform
      development of the capstone experience in occupational therapy education. 

PMID- 25821891
TI  - Process-oriented guided-inquiry learning: a natural fit for occupational therapy
      education.
AB  - After a brief review of the major group cooperative learning strategies, this
      article presents the format and use of Process-Oriented Guided-Inquiry Learning
      (POGIL) as a recommended teaching strategy for occupational therapy classes. This
      recommendation is based upon evidence of effectiveness of this strategy for
      enhancing critical thinking, content retention, and teamwork. Strategies for
      learning the process and suggestions for its use are based upon literature
      evidence and the authors' experiences with this strategy over 4 years in a class
      on evidence-based practice. 

PMID- 25821893
TI  - Zn-catalyzed enantio- and diastereoselective formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition
      involving two electron-deficient partners: asymmetric synthesis of piperidines
      from 1-azadienes and nitro-alkenes.
AB  - We report a catalytic asymmetric synthesis of piperidines through [4 + 2]
      cycloaddition of 1-azadienes and nitro-alkenes. The reaction uses earth abundant
      Zn as catalyst and is highly diastereo- and regioselective. A novel BOPA ligand
      (F-BOPA) confers high reactivity and enantioselectivity in the process. The
      presence of ortho substitution on the arenes adjacent to the bis(oxazolines) was
      found to be particularly impactful, due to limiting the undesired coordination of
      1-azadiene to the Lewis acid and thus allowing the reaction to be carried out at
      lower temperature. A series of secondary kinetic isotope effect studies using a
      range of ligands implicates a stepwise mechanism for the transformation,
      involving an initial Michael-type addition of the imine to the nitro-alkene
      followed by a cyclization event. The stepwise mechanism obviates the electronic
      requirement inherent to a concerted mechanism, explaining the successful
      cycloaddition between two electron-deficient partners. 

PMID- 25821894
TI  - Clinical characterization of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic young patients
      showing signs compatible with dry eye: a pilot study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate and characterize the clinical profile of young asymptomatic
      or minimally symptomatic patients without diagnosis of dry eye but showing signs
      compatible with dry eye syndrome (DES). METHODS: Prospective study including a
      total of 50 consecutive subjects with ages ranging from 18 to 40 years that were
      identified as asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic by means of the Ocular
      Surface Disease Index (OSDI) (score of <22). In all patients, a complete battery
      of tests for the diagnosis of DES was performed including the evaluation of the
      tear film break-up time (TFBUT), the level of corneal and conjunctival staining,
      and the eyelid and Meibomian morphology. RESULTS: The OSDI score was
      significantly higher in women than in men (median: 12.5 vs. 5.3, P=0.01). Low
      grades of ocular surface staining, dysfunction of Meibomian gland expression, and
      alteration of quality of Meibomian secretions were observed in 56%, 58%, and 84%
      of eyes, respectively. More eyes with some dysfunction of Meibomian gland
      expressibility had a TFBUT less than 5 sec (P=0.033). A statistically significant
      difference in the OSDI score was found between patients with and without systemic
      allergies (P=0.036) and between male and female (P=0.01). Likewise, the OSDI
      score was significantly higher in those women wearing contact lenses compared
      with those not wearing them (P=0.012). CONCLUSIONS: Asymptomatic or minimally
      symptomatic young subjects may present low grades of clinical signs compatible
      with DES, with a trend to more symptomatology in women and allergic patients.
      These outcomes should be confirmed in future studies with larger samples.

PMID- 25821895
TI  - Biotransformation of Curcumenol by Mucor polymorphosporus.
AB  - Biocatalysis of curcumenol (1) was performed by Mucor polymorphosporus AS 3.3443.
      Six metabolites including five new compounds were obtained, and their structures
      were elucidated as 10beta-hydroxy-9,10-dihydrocurcumenol (2), 2beta
      hydroxycurcumenol (3), 15-hydroxycurcumenol (4), 12-hydroxycurcumenol (5), 1
      hydroxy-4alphaH-guai-1,6,9-triene-2,8-dione (6), and 5-hydroxycarbonyl-1-oxo-3,7
      dimethylindane (7) by spectroscopic analysis. M. polymorphosporus catalyzed
      unusual degradation and rearrangement reactions to generate a ring-contracted
      metabolite (7) of curcumenol (1). Curcumenol (1) and metabolites 4-7 exhibited
      inhibitory activities against lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production
      in RAW 264.7 macrophages, with 7 exhibiting more potent activity than curcumenol.

PMID- 25821896
TI  - The ameliorative effect of thymol against hydrocortisone-induced hepatic
      oxidative stress injury in adult male rats.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to investigate whether hydrocortisone induces
      oxidative stress in hepatocytes and to evaluate the possible ameliorative effect
      of thymol against such hepatic injury. Twenty-four adult male rats were divided
      into control, thymol, hydrocortisone, and hydrocortisone+thymol groups. The 4
      groups were treated daily for 15 days. Hydrocortisone significantly induced
      oxidative stress in the liver tissues, marked by increased serum levels of
      alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), total oxidative
      capacity (TOC), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) accompanied by marked
      decline of serum levels of total protein, albumin, and total antioxidant capacity
      (TAC). Also, marked elevation in the levels of the thiobarbituric acid reactive
      substances (TBARS) and TNF-alpha, beside significant decrease in the level of
      glutathione (GSH) in hepatic tissues were recorded. These biochemical alterations
      were accompanied by histopathological changes marked by destruction of the normal
      hepatic architecture, in addition to ultrastructural alterations represented by
      degenerative features covering almost all the cytoplasmic organelles of the
      hepatocytes. Supplementation of hydrocortisone-treated rats with thymol reversed
      most of the biochemical, histological, and ultrastructural alterations. The
      results of our study confirm that thymol has strong ameliorative effect against
      hydrocortisone-induced oxidative stress injury in hepatic tissues. 

PMID- 25821897
TI  - Molecular selectivity of graphene-enhanced Raman scattering.
AB  - Graphene-enhanced Raman scattering (GERS) is a recently discovered Raman
      enhancement phenomenon that uses graphene as the substrate for Raman enhancement
      and can produce clean and reproducible Raman signals of molecules with increased
      signal intensity. Compared to conventional Raman enhancement techniques, such as
      surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and tip-enhanced Raman scattering
      (TERS), in which the Raman enhancement is essentially due to the electromagnetic
      mechanism, GERS mainly relies on a chemical mechanism and therefore shows unique
      molecular selectivity. In this paper, we report graphene-enhanced Raman
      scattering of a variety of different molecules with different molecular
      properties. We report a strong molecular selectivity for the GERS effect with
      enhancement factors varying by as much as 2 orders of magnitude for different
      molecules. Selection rules are discussed with reference to two main features of
      the molecule, namely its molecular energy levels and molecular structures. In
      particular, the enhancement factor involving molecular energy levels requires the
      highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital
      (LUMO) energies to be within a suitable range with respect to graphene's Fermi
      level, and this enhancement effect can be explained by the time-dependent
      perturbation theory of Raman scattering. The enhancement factor involving the
      choice of molecular structures indicates that molecular symmetry and substituents
      similar to that of the graphene structure are found to be favorable for GERS
      enhancement. The effectiveness of these factors can be explained by group theory
      and the charge-transfer interaction between molecules and graphene. Both factors,
      involving the molecular energy levels and structural symmetry of the molecules,
      suggest that a remarkable GERS enhancement requires strong molecule-graphene
      coupling and thus effective charge transfer between the molecules and graphene.
      These conclusions are further experimentally supported by the change of the UV
      visible absorption spectra of molecules when in contact with graphene and these
      conclusions are theoretically corroborated by first-principles calculations.
      These research findings are important for gaining fundamental insights into the
      graphene-molecule interaction and the chemical mechanism in Raman enhancement, as
      well as for advancing the role of such understanding both in guiding chemical and
      molecule detection applications and in medical and biological technology
      developments. 

PMID- 25821899
TI  - Polymer Stabilized Fe3O4-Graphene as an Amphiphilic Drug Carrier for Thermo
      Chemotherapy of Cancer.
AB  - In light of the growing interest in the search for cheap and effective solutions
      for cancer treatment, we report a simple one pot synthesis of polymer stabilized
      iron oxide-graphene (PIG) that could be realized on a large scale. The structural
      (Fe3O4 particle size of ~11 nm), functional (various oxygen containing moieties),
      and magnetic (moment of ~43 emu/g) properties of PIG are explored using various
      characterization techniques for possible biomedical applications. PIG shows good
      colloidal stability and is biocompatible even at higher concentrations (2.5
      mg/mL) by virtue of cross-linking polymers. The biocompatibility of the composite
      has been tested using HeLa cell lines by computing the percentage of the reactive
      oxygen species through the 2,7-dichlorofluorescein (DCF) intensity level. PIG has
      the ability to load and release both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs with a
      good loading efficiency and capacity. The dug loading efficiency of PIG is
      measured to be ~87% and ~91% for doxorubicin (DOX) and paclitaxel (PTXL),
      respectively. Under an AC magnetic field, superparamagnetic PIG (2.5 mg/mL) takes
      less than 16 min to reach the stable hyperthermia temperature, suggesting it as a
      good anticancer material. A time-dependent cellular uptake of doxorubicin
      conjugated PIG has been studied to optimize the parameters for thermo
      chemotherapy of cancer. The synergetic effect of both the drug and hyperthermia
      is observed in the killing of the cancerous cells, verified by computing the cell
      apoptotic population using a flow cytometer. However, it has been noticed that,
      even in the absence of chemotherapy, PIG shows good antiproliferative activity
      with thermotherapy alone. 

PMID- 25821898
TI  - Validation of Diagnostic Groups Based on Health Care Utilization Data Should
      Adjust for Sampling Strategy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Valid measurement of outcomes such as disease prevalence using health
      care utilization data is fundamental to the implementation of a "learning health
      system." Definitions of such outcomes can be complex, based on multiple
      diagnostic codes. The literature on validating such data demonstrates a lack of
      awareness of the need for a stratified sampling design and corresponding
      statistical methods. We propose a method for validating the measurement of
      diagnostic groups that have: (1) different prevalences of diagnostic codes within
      the group; and (2) low prevalence. METHODS: We describe an estimation method
      whereby: (1) low-prevalence diagnostic codes are oversampled, and the positive
      predictive value (PPV) of the diagnostic group is estimated as a weighted average
      of the PPV of each diagnostic code; and (2) claims that fall within a low
      prevalence diagnostic group are oversampled relative to claims that are not, and
      bias-adjusted estimators of sensitivity and specificity are generated.
      APPLICATION: We illustrate our proposed method using an example from population
      health surveillance in which diagnostic groups are applied to physician claims to
      identify cases of acute respiratory illness. CONCLUSIONS: Failure to account for
      the prevalence of each diagnostic code within a diagnostic group leads to the
      underestimation of the PPV, because low-prevalence diagnostic codes are more
      likely to be false positives. Failure to adjust for oversampling of claims that
      fall within the low-prevalence diagnostic group relative to those that do not
      leads to the overestimation of sensitivity and underestimation of specificity.

PMID- 25821900
TI  - Development and evaluation of a database of dietary bioaccumulation test data for
      organic chemicals in fish.
AB  - Dietary bioaccumulation tests for fish have been conducted for about 40 years.
      Standardized test guidance has recently been developed. Test metrics of primary
      scientific and regulatory interest are the whole body depuration rate constant
      (kT), whole body growth corrected depuration rate constant (kTg), and
      corresponding chemical half-lives (t1/2 and t1/2g), dietary chemical absorption
      efficiency (AE), and biomagnification factor (BMF). A database of 3032
      measurement end points for 477 discrete organic chemicals including 964 half
      lives, 1199 AEs and 869 BMFs from 19 species (primarily trout and carp) was
      developed from the literature. Biological properties (e.g., organism weight,
      lipid content) and exposure conditions (e.g., temperature, feeding rate, dietary
      lipid content, exposure duration) are documented. Test chemicals range in molar
      mass from 120 to 1423 g.mol(-1) with log octanol-water partition coefficients
      (KOW) ranging from 0.8 to 14.3; 50% of the database entries are for
      polychlorinated biphenyls. The measured end points are derived from various
      protocols and sources of variability are described. The data are evaluated and
      categorized using proposed data quality (confidence) criteria derived from the
      standardized test protocol providing initial guidance for data users. Half-lives
      range from 0.13 to 2600 days; however, approximately 54% have an identifiable
      source of uncertainty. The data suggest that chemicals absorbed from the
      gastrointestinal tract with a log KOW >= ~5 and at least as high as ~9 have
      biomagnification potential in fish. A mechanistic bioaccumulation model is
      compared to the measured data and used to illustrate the influence of growth and
      biotransformation rates on the BMF. 

PMID- 25821901
TI  - Copper(II)-catalyzed direct dioxygenation of alkenes with air and N
      hydroxyphthalimide: synthesis of beta-keto-N-alkoxyphthalimides.
AB  - Copper(II)-catalyzed direct dioxygenation of alkenes using air and a simple N
      hydroxyphthalimide leading to beta-keto-N-alkoxyphthalimides has been developed.
      The reaction system is mild, efficient, and effective at room temperature with
      broad substrate scope and substantial steric hindrance. The radical-trapping and
      (18)O-labeling experiments have been demonstrated. 

PMID- 25821902
TI  - Why have we not yet developed a simple blood test for TBI?
AB  - In recent years, traumatic brain injury (TBI) has emerged as a rapidly growing
      public health challenge. Annually, approximately 1.7 million people will sustain
      a TBI in the USA and WHO has named TBI the leading cause of death and disability
      in young adults worldwide, predicting it will become the third leading cause of
      death in the general population by 2020. The medical community currently relies
      on clinical examination and various neuroimaging modalities for the diagnosis of
      TBI; however, these methodologies are often confounded by altered patient mental
      status and are particularly poor at identifying mild-to-moderate injury. Despite
      decades of basic and clinical research, and the identification of hundreds of
      biochemical markers, presently there is no blood test to objectively assess TBI
      severity. Recent work suggests treatment-induced variance in the brain's
      glymphatic clearance may be responsible for the breakdown between biomarker
      discovery and clinical translation.

PMID- 25821903
TI  - Ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention: the issue is the control of
      oropharyngeal and gut overgrowth.

PMID- 25821904
TI  - Ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention: response to Silvestri et al.

PMID- 25821905
TI  - Response to Spindelboek et al. Oxygen and cardiac arrest: the timepoint matters.

PMID- 25821906
TI  - Predictors of noninvasive ventilation success in children with acute respiratory
      failure.

PMID- 25821907
TI  - Single ion conducting, polymerized ionic liquid triblock copolymer films: high
      capacitance electrolyte gates for n-type transistors.
AB  - There has been impressive progress in the fabrication and characterization of p
      type organic electrolyte-gated transistors (EGTs). Unfortunately, despite the
      importance of n-type organic transistors for complementary circuits, fewer
      investigations have focused on developing electrolytes as gate dielectrics for n
      type organic semiconductors. Here, we present a novel single ion conductor, a
      polymerized ionic liquid (PIL) triblock copolymer (PS-PIL-PS) composed of styrene
      (PS) and 1-[(2-acryloyloxy)ethyl]-3-butylimidazolium
      bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (PIL), that conducts only the TFSI anion. This
      triblock copolymer acts as a gate dielectric to allow low-voltage n-type organic
      EGT operation. Impedance characterization of PS-PIL-PS reveals that there are
      three polarization regions: (1) dipolar relaxation, (2) ion migration, and (3)
      electric double layer (EDL) formation. These polarization regions are controlled
      by film thickness, and rapid EDL formation can be obtained in thinner
      polyelectrolyte films. In particular, a 500 nm-thick polyelectrolyte film
      exhibits a large capacitance of ~1 MUF/cm(2) at 10 kHz. Employing this single ion
      conducting PIL triblock copolymer as the gate insulator, we achieved low voltage
      operation (<1 V supply) of poly{[N,N'-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8
      bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5'-(2,2'-bithiophene)} (P(NDI2OD-T2)) n-type
      organic EGTs (electron mobility of ~0.008 cm(2)/(V.s) and ON/OFF current ratio of
      ~2 * 10(3)) by preventing electrochemical doping. Furthermore, the recognition
      that the performance of n-type organic EGTs is diminished by 3D electrochemical
      doping suggests that it may be necessary to have a unipolar electrolyte to gate n
      type organic semiconductors. Finally, we highlight that the use of PIL block
      copolymer electrolytes as gate insulators opens unique opportunities to explore
      the role of ion penetration in n-type organic EGTs by tuning the extent of
      electrochemical doping. 

PMID- 25821908
TI  - Correction to Catalino, Algoe, & Fredrickson (2014).
AB  - Reports an error in "Prioritizing positivity: An effective approach to pursuing
      happiness" by Lahnna I. Catalino, Sara B. Algoe and Barbara L. Fredrickson
      (Emotion, 2014[Dec], Vol 14[6], 1155-1161). There was an error in Table 2 of the
      Results. There was a negative sign added to .51 in Table 2. The corrected table
      is shown in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared
      in record 2014-48826-003.) A decade of research reveals the benefits of positive
      emotions for mental and physical health; however, recent empirical work suggests
      the explicit pursuit of happiness may backfire. The present study hypothesized
      that the pursuit of happiness is not inherently self-defeating; in particular,
      individuals who seek positivity, as exemplified by how they make decisions about
      how to organize their day-to-day lives, may be happier. This individual
      difference is labeled prioritizing positivity. In a community sample of young to
      older adults (N = 233), prioritizing positivity predicted a host of well-being
      outcomes (positive emotions, depressive symptomology). In addition, people high
      in prioritizing positivity have greater resources, and these links are explained
      by more frequent experiences of positive emotions. In sum, the present study
      suggests that seeking happiness, although a delicate art, may be a worthwhile
      pursuit.

PMID- 25821909
TI  - Disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1 regulates transport of ITPR1 mRNA for synaptic
      plasticity.
AB  - Disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) is a susceptibility gene for major
      psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia. DISC1 has been implicated in
      neurodevelopment in relation to scaffolding signal complexes. Here we used
      proteomic analysis to screen for DISC1 interactors and identified several RNA
      binding proteins, such as hematopoietic zinc finger (HZF), that act as components
      of RNA-transporting granules. HZF participates in the mRNA localization of
      inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor type 1 (ITPR1), which plays a key role in
      synaptic plasticity. DISC1 colocalizes with HZF and ITPR1 mRNA in hippocampal
      dendrites and directly associates with neuronal mRNAs, including ITPR1 mRNA. The
      binding potential of DISC1 for ITPR1 mRNA is facilitated by HZF. Studies of Disc1
      knockout mice have revealed that DISC1 regulates the dendritic transport of Itpr1
      mRNA by directly interacting with its mRNA. The DISC1-mediated mRNA regulation is
      involved in synaptic plasticity. We show that DISC1 binds ITPR1 mRNA with HZF,
      thereby regulating its dendritic transport for synaptic plasticity. 

PMID- 25821910
TI  - Slowly dividing neural progenitors are an embryonic origin of adult neural stem
      cells.
AB  - The mechanism by which adult neural stem cells (NSCs) are established during
      development is unclear. In this study, analysis of cell cycle progression by
      examining retention of a histone 2B (H2B)-GFP fusion protein revealed that, in a
      subset of mouse embryonic neural progenitor cells (NPCs), the cell cycle slows
      between embryonic day (E) 13.5 and E15.5 while other embryonic NPCs continue to
      divide rapidly. By allowing H2B-GFP expressed at E9.5 to become diluted in
      dividing cells until the young adult stage, we determined that a majority of NSCs
      in the young adult subependymal zone (SEZ) originated from these slowly dividing
      embryonic NPCs. The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p57 is highly expressed in
      this embryonic subpopulation, and the deletion of p57 impairs the emergence of
      adult NSCs. Our results suggest that a substantial fraction of adult SEZ NSCs is
      derived from a slowly dividing subpopulation of embryonic NPCs and identify p57
      as a key factor in generating this embryonic origin of adult SEZ NSCs. 

PMID- 25821911
TI  - Family income, parental education and brain structure in children and
      adolescents.
AB  - Socioeconomic disparities are associated with differences in cognitive
      development. The extent to which this translates to disparities in brain
      structure is unclear. We investigated relationships between socioeconomic factors
      and brain morphometry, independently of genetic ancestry, among a cohort of 1,099
      typically developing individuals between 3 and 20 years of age. Income was
      logarithmically associated with brain surface area. Among children from lower
      income families, small differences in income were associated with relatively
      large differences in surface area, whereas, among children from higher income
      families, similar income increments were associated with smaller differences in
      surface area. These relationships were most prominent in regions supporting
      language, reading, executive functions and spatial skills; surface area mediated
      socioeconomic differences in certain neurocognitive abilities. These data imply
      that income relates most strongly to brain structure among the most disadvantaged
      children. 

PMID- 25821912
TI  - GABAergic regulation of cerebellar NG2 cell development is altered in perinatal
      white matter injury.
AB  - Diffuse white matter injury (DWMI), a leading cause of neurodevelopmental
      disabilities in preterm infants, is characterized by reduced oligodendrocyte
      formation. NG2-expressing oligodendrocyte precursor cells (NG2 cells) are exposed
      to various extrinsic regulatory signals, including the neurotransmitter GABA. We
      investigated GABAergic signaling to cerebellar white matter NG2 cells in a mouse
      model of DWMI (chronic neonatal hypoxia). We found that hypoxia caused a loss of
      GABAA receptor-mediated synaptic input to NG2 cells, extensive proliferation of
      these cells and delayed oligodendrocyte maturation, leading to dysmyelination.
      Treatment of control mice with a GABAA receptor antagonist or deletion of the
      chloride-accumulating transporter NKCC1 mimicked the effects of hypoxia.
      Conversely, blockade of GABA catabolism or GABA uptake reduced NG2 cell numbers
      and increased the formation of mature oligodendrocytes both in control and
      hypoxic mice. Our results indicate that GABAergic signaling regulates NG2 cell
      differentiation and proliferation in vivo, and suggest that its perturbation is a
      key factor in DWMI. 

PMID- 25821913
TI  - Brain feminization requires active repression of masculinization via DNA
      methylation.
AB  - The developing mammalian brain is destined for a female phenotype unless exposed
      to gonadal hormones during a perinatal sensitive period. It has been assumed that
      the undifferentiated brain is masculinized by direct induction of transcription
      by ligand-activated nuclear steroid receptors. We found that a primary effect of
      gonadal steroids in the highly sexually dimorphic preoptic area (POA) is to
      reduce activity of DNA methyltransferase (Dnmt) enzymes, thereby decreasing DNA
      methylation and releasing masculinizing genes from epigenetic repression.
      Pharmacological inhibition of Dnmts mimicked gonadal steroids, resulting in
      masculinized neuronal markers and male sexual behavior in female rats.
      Conditional knockout of the de novo Dnmt isoform, Dnmt3a, also masculinized
      sexual behavior in female mice. RNA sequencing revealed gene and isoform variants
      modulated by methylation that may underlie the divergent reproductive behaviors
      of males versus females. Our data show that brain feminization is maintained by
      the active suppression of masculinization via DNA methylation. 

PMID- 25821915
TI  - Internet-based group contingency management to promote smoking abstinence.
AB  - Internet-based group contingencies have been shown to promote brief periods of
      abstinence from cigarette smoking. Under a group contingency, small teams of
      smokers must collectively meet abstinence goals to receive monetary consequences.
      The present study investigated 2 arrangements, 1 in which all team members had to
      meet group treatment goals to receive monetary consequences (full group), and 1
      in which team members had to meet some group goals and some individual goals to
      receive these consequences (mixed group). Motiv8 Systems, an Internet-based
      remote monitoring platform, was used to collect video-recorded breath carbon
      monoxide (CO) samples. All team members could communicate with each other via an
      online discussion forum. During baseline conditions, only 3.3% of CO samples were
      negative for smoking, which suggests that self-monitoring and access to the
      online discussion forum were insufficient to initiate abstinence. When the group
      contingencies were instituted 41.3% of CO samples were negative. There were no
      statistically significant differences between the 2 arrangements in the
      percentage of negative CO samples or point prevalence at the end of treatment or
      at the 3-month follow-up. Participants posted an average of 25 comments on the
      discussion forum, most of which were rated as positive by independent observers.
      The mean cost of vouchers per participant was lower in the full group ($33)
      relative to the mixed group ($190). The present results replicate and extend
      previous findings on group contingencies to promote abstinence and social
      support.

PMID- 25821916
TI  - Direct Measurements of Colloidal Solvophoresis under Imposed Solvent and Solute
      Gradients.
AB  - We describe a microfluidic system that enables direct visualization and
      measurement of diffusiophoretic migration of colloids in response to imposed
      solution gradients. Such measurements have proven difficult or impossible in
      macroscopic systems due to difficulties in establishing solution gradients that
      are sufficiently strong yet hydrodynamically stable. We validate the system with
      measurements of the concentration-dependent diffusiophoretic mobility of
      polystyrene colloids in NaCl gradients, confirming that diffusiophoretic
      migration velocities are proportional to gradients in the logarithm of
      electrolyte concentration. We then perform the first direct measurement of the
      concentration-dependent "solvophoretic" mobility of colloids in ethanol-water
      gradients, whose dependence on concentration and gradient strength was not known
      either theoretically or experimentally, but which our measurements reveal to be
      proportional to the gradient in the logarithm of ethanol mole fraction. Finally,
      we examine solvophoretic migration under a variety of qualitatively distinct
      chemical gradients, including solvents that are miscible or have finite
      solubility with water, an electrolyte for which diffusiophoresis proceeds down
      concentration gradients (unlike for most electrolytes), and a nonelectrolyte
      (sugar). Our technique enables the direct characterization of diffusiophoretic
      mobilities of various colloids under various solvent and solute gradients,
      analogous to the electrophoretic zeta-potential measurements that are routinely
      used to characterize suspensions. We anticipate that such measurements will
      provide the feedback required to test and develop theories for solvophoretic and
      diffusiophoretic migration and ultimately to the conceptual design and
      engineering of particles that respond in a desired way to their chemical
      environments. 

PMID- 25821914
TI  - Synaptic diversity enables temporal coding of coincident multisensory inputs in
      single neurons.
AB  - The ability of the brain to rapidly process information from multiple pathways is
      critical for reliable execution of complex sensory-motor behaviors, yet the
      cellular mechanisms underlying a neuronal representation of multimodal stimuli
      are poorly understood. Here we explored the possibility that the physiological
      diversity of mossy fiber (MF) to granule cell (GC) synapses in the mouse
      vestibulocerebellum may contribute to the processing of coincident multisensory
      information at the level of individual GCs. We found that the strength and short
      term dynamics of individual MF-GC synapses can act as biophysical signatures for
      primary vestibular, secondary vestibular and visual input pathways. Most GCs
      receive inputs from different modalities, which, when coactivated, produced
      enhanced GC firing rates and distinct first spike latencies. Thus, pathway
      specific synaptic response properties permit temporal coding of correlated
      multisensory inputs by single GCs, thereby enriching sensory representation and
      facilitating pattern separation. 

PMID- 25821917
TI  - Questionnaires on Family Satisfaction in the Adult ICU: A Systematic Review
      Including Psychometric Properties.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To perform a systematic review of the literature to determine which
      questionnaires are currently available to measure family satisfaction with care
      on the ICU and to provide an overview of their quality by evaluating their
      psychometric properties. DATA SOURCES: We searched PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane
      Library, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and CINAHL from inception to October 30, 2013.
      STUDY SELECTION: Experimental and observational research articles reporting on
      questionnaires on family satisfaction and/or needs in the ICU were included. Two
      reviewers determined eligibility. DATA EXTRACTION: Design, application mode,
      language, and the number of studies of the tools were registered. With this
      information, the tools were globally categorized according to validity and
      reliability: level I (well-established quality), II (approaching well-established
      quality), III (promising quality), or IV (unconfirmed quality). The quality of
      the highest level (I) tools was assessed by further examination of the
      psychometric properties and sample size of the studies. DATA SYNTHESIS: The
      search detected 3,655 references, from which 135 articles were included. We found
      27 different tools that assessed overall or circumscribed aspects of family
      satisfaction with ICU care. Only four questionnaires were categorized as level I:
      the Critical Care Family Needs Inventory, the Society of Critical Care Medicine
      Family Needs Assessment, the Critical Care Family Satisfaction Survey, and the
      Family Satisfaction in the Intensive Care Unit. Studies on these questionnaires
      were of good sample size (n >= 100) and showed adequate data on face/content
      validity and internal consistency. Studies on the Critical Care Family Needs
      Inventory, the Family Satisfaction in the Intensive Care Unit also contained
      sufficient data on inter-rater/test-retest reliability, responsiveness, and
      feasibility. In general, data on measures of central tendency and sensitivity to
      change were scarce. CONCLUSIONS: Of all the questionnaires found, the Critical
      Care Family Needs Inventory and the Family Satisfaction in the Intensive Care
      Unit were the most reliable and valid in relation to their psychometric
      properties. However, a universal "best questionnaire" is indefinable because it
      depends on the specific goal, context, and population used in the inquiry.

PMID- 25821918
TI  - Mortality in Multicenter Critical Care Trials: An Analysis of Interventions With
      a Significant Effect.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We aimed to identify all treatments that affect mortality in adult
      critically ill patients in multicenter randomized controlled trials. We also
      evaluated the methodological aspects of these studies, and we surveyed
      clinicians' opinion and usual practice for the selected interventions. DATA
      SOURCES: MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, and Embase were searched. Further articles were
      suggested for inclusion from experts and cross-check of references. STUDY
      SELECTION: We selected the articles that fulfilled the following criteria:
      publication in a peer-reviewed journal; multicenter randomized controlled trial
      design; dealing with nonsurgical interventions in adult critically ill patients;
      and statistically significant effect in unadjusted landmark mortality. A
      consensus conference assessed all interventions and excluded those with lack of
      reproducibility, lack of generalizability, high probability of type I error,
      major baseline imbalances between intervention and control groups, major design
      flaws, contradiction by subsequent larger higher quality trials, modified
      intention to treat analysis, effect found only after adjustments, and lack of
      biological plausibility. DATA EXTRACTION: For all selected studies, we recorded
      the intervention and its comparator, the setting, the sample size, whether
      enrollment was completed or interrupted, the presence of blinding, the effect
      size, and the duration of follow-up. DATA SYNTHESIS: We found 15 interventions
      that affected mortality in 24 multicenter randomized controlled trials. Median
      sample size was small (199 patients) as was median centers number (10). Blinded
      trials enrolled significantly more patients and involved more centers.
      Multicenter randomized controlled trials showing harm also involved significantly
      more centers and more patients (p = 0.016 and p = 0.04, respectively). Five
      hundred fifty-five clinicians from 61 countries showed variable agreement on
      perceived validity of such interventions. CONCLUSIONS: We identified 15
      treatments that decreased/increased mortality in critically ill patients in 24
      multicenter randomized controlled trials. However, design affected trial size and
      larger trials were more likely to show harm. Finally, clinicians view of such
      trials and their translation into practice varied.

PMID- 25821919
TI  - Coreactivation of Human Herpesvirus 6 and Cytomegalovirus Is Associated With
      Worse Clinical Outcome in Critically Ill Adults.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Human herpesvirus 6 is associated with a variety of complications in
      immunocompromised patients, but no studies have systematically and
      comprehensively assessed the impact of human herpesvirus 6 reactivation, and its
      interaction with cytomegalovirus, in ICU patients. DESIGN: We prospectively
      assessed human herpesvirus 6 and cytomegalovirus viremia by twice-weekly plasma
      polymerase chain reaction in a longitudinal cohort study of 115 adult,
      immunocompetent ICU patients. The association of human herpesvirus 6 and
      cytomegalovirus reactivation with death or continued hospitalization by day 30
      (primary endpoint) was assessed by multivariable logistic regression analyses.
      SETTING: This study was performed in trauma, medical, surgical, and cardiac ICUs
      at two separate hospitals of a large tertiary care academic medical center.
      PATIENTS: A total of 115 cytomegalovirus seropositive, immunocompetent adults
      with critical illness were enrolled in this study. INTERVENTIONS: None.
      MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Human herpesvirus 6 viremia occurred in 23% of
      patients at a median of 10 days. Human herpesvirus 6B was the species detected in
      eight samples available for testing. Most patients with human herpesvirus 6
      reactivation also reactivated cytomegalovirus (70%). Severity of illness was not
      associated with viral reactivation. Mechanical ventilation, burn ICU, major
      infection, human herpesvirus 6 reactivation, and cytomegalovirus reactivation
      were associated with the primary endpoint in unadjusted analyses. In a
      multivariable model adjusting for mechanical ventilation and ICU type, only
      coreactivation of human herpesvirus 6 and cytomegalovirus was significantly
      associated with the primary endpoint (adjusted odds ratio, 7.5; 95% CI, 1.9-29.9;
      p = 0.005) compared to patients with only human herpesvirus 6, only
      cytomegalovirus, or no viral reactivation. CONCLUSIONS: Coreactivation of both
      human herpesvirus 6 and cytomegalovirus in ICU patients is associated with worse
      outcome than reactivation of either virus alone. Future studies should define the
      underlying mechanism(s) and determine whether prevention or treatment of viral
      reactivation improves clinical outcome.

PMID- 25821920
TI  - Sperm mRNAs and microRNAs as candidate markers for the impact of toxicants on
      human spermatogenesis: an application to tobacco smoking.
AB  - Spermatozoa contain a complex population of RNAs including messenger RNAs (mRNAs)
      and small RNAs such as microRNAs (miRNA). It has been reported that these RNAs
      can be used to understand the mechanisms by which toxicological exposure affects
      spermatogenesis. The aim of our study was to compare mRNA and miRNA profiles in
      spermatozoa from eight smokers and eight non-smokers, and search for potential
      relationships between mRNA and miRNA variation. All men were selected based on
      their answers to a standard toxic exposure questionnaire, and sperm parameters.
      Using mRNA and miRNA microarrays, we showed that mRNAs from 15 genes were
      differentially represented between smokers and non-smokers (p<0.01): five had
      higher levels and 10 lower levels in the smokers. For the microRNAs, 23 were
      differentially represented: 16 were higher and seven lower in the smokers
      (0.004<=p<0.01). Quantitative RT-PCR confirmed the lower levels in smokers
      compared to non-smokers for hsa-miR-296-5p, hsa-miR-3940, and hsa-miR-520d-3p.
      Moreover, we observed an inverse relationship between the levels of microRNAs and
      six potential target mRNAs (B3GAT3, HNRNPL, OASL, ODZ3, CNGB1, and PKD2). Our
      results indicate that alterations in the level of a small number of microRNAs in
      response to smoking may contribute to changes in mRNA expression in smokers. We
      conclude that large-scale analysis of spermatozoa RNAs can be used to help
      understand the mechanisms by which human spermatogenesis responds to toxic
      substances including those in tobacco smoke.

PMID- 25821921
TI  - Dielectric and phase behavior of dipolar spheroids.
AB  - The Stockmayer fluid, composed of dipolar spheres, has a well-known isotropic
      ferroelectric phase transition at high dipole densities. However, there has been
      little investigation of the ferroelectric transition in nearly spherical fluids
      at dipole densities corresponding to those found in many polar solvents and in
      guest-host organic electro-optic materials. In this work, we examine the
      transition to ordered phases of low-aspect-ratio spheroids under both unperturbed
      and poled conditions, characterizing both the static dielectric response and
      thermodynamic properties of spheroidal systems. Spontaneous ferroelectric
      ordering was confined to a small region of aspect ratios about unity, indicating
      that subtle changes in sterics can have substantial influence on the behavior of
      coarse-grained liquid models. Our results demonstrate the importance of molecular
      shape in obtaining even qualitatively correct dielectric responses and provide an
      explanation for the success of the Onsager model as a phenomenological
      representation for the dielectric behavior of polar organic liquids. 

PMID- 25821922
TI  - Treatment escalation in the intensive care unit among patients with preexisting
      treatment limitations: best-laid plans gone awry?

PMID- 25821923
TI  - Glyburide for gestational diabetes: time for a pause for thought.

PMID- 25821924
TI  - Facial expression recognition in crested macaques (Macaca nigra).
AB  - Facial expressions are a main communication channel used by many different
      species of primate. Despite this, we know relatively little about how primates
      discriminate between different facial expressions, and most of what we do know
      comes from a restricted number of well-studied species. In this study, three
      crested macaques (Macaca nigra) took part in matching-to-sample tasks where they
      had to discriminate different facial expressions. In a first experiment, the
      macaques had to match a photograph of a facial expression to another exemplar of
      the same expression produced by a different individual, against examples of one
      of three other types of expressions and neutral faces. In a second experiment,
      they had to match a dynamic video recording of a facial expression to a still
      photograph of another exemplar of the same facial expression produced by another
      individual, also against one of four other expressions. The macaques performed
      above chance in both tasks, identifying expressions as belonging to the same
      category regardless of individual identity. Using matrix correlations and
      multidimensional scaling, we analysed the pattern of errors to see whether
      overall similarity between facial expressions and/or specific morphological
      features caused the macaques to confuse facial expressions. Overall similarity,
      measured with the macaque facial action coding system (maqFACS), did not
      correlate with performances. Instead, functional similarities between facial
      expressions could be responsible for the observed pattern of error. These results
      expand previous findings to a novel primate species and highlight the potential
      of using video stimuli to investigate the perception and categorisation of visual
      signals in primates. 

PMID- 25821925
TI  - Making Inferences: Comprehension of Physical Causality, Intentionality, and
      Emotions in Discourse by High-Functioning Older Children, Adolescents, and Adults
      with Autism.
AB  - Studies investigating inferential reasoning in autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
      have focused on the ability to make socially-related inferences or inferences
      more generally. Important variables for intervention planning such as whether
      inferences depend on physical experiences or the nature of social information
      have received less consideration. A measure of bridging inferences of physical
      causation, mental states, and emotional states was administered to older
      children, adolescents, and adults with and without ASD. The ASD group had more
      difficulty making inferences, particularly related to emotional understanding.
      Results suggest that individuals with ASD may not have the stored experiential
      knowledge that specific inferences depend upon or have difficulties accessing
      relevant experiences due to linguistic limitations. Further research is needed to
      tease these elements apart. 

PMID- 25821926
TI  - Incorporating Preliminary Mental Health Assessment in the Initial Healthcare for
      Refugees in New Jersey.
AB  - The study aims to assess the feasibility of introducing a mental health screening
      tool into the initial health care assessment for refugees in New Jersey, US. A
      semi-structured interview was conducted with a convenience sample of
      professionals providing refugee health care in New Jersey and in a number of
      other states. There is a widespread appreciation of the need to consider the
      mental and emotional issues of the refugees as a priority in healthcare services.
      A mental health screening tool is required for practice in NJ. Community
      resources should be coupled with early screening for better refugee mental health
      outcomes. 

PMID- 25821927
TI  - Access to and Use of the Internet by Veterans with Serious Mental Illness.
AB  - This study evaluated internet use among 239 veterans with serious mental illness
      who completed questionnaires assessing demographics and internet use in 2010
      2011. The majority of individuals (70 %) reported having accessed the internet
      and among those, 79 % had accessed it within the previous 30 days. Those who were
      younger and more educated were more likely to have accessed the internet, as were
      those with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, or major
      depressive disorder, compared to individuals with PTSD. Veterans with serious
      mental illness commonly use the internet, including to obtain health information,
      though use varies across demographic characteristics and clinical diagnosis.

PMID- 25821928
TI  - Investigating Vulnerability for Developing Eating Disorders in a Multi
      confessional Population.
AB  - The present study aimed to examine the vulnerability to eating disorders (ED)
      among 949 Lebanese female young adults as well as its association with stress,
      anxiety, depression, body image dissatisfaction (BID), dysfunctional eating, body
      mass index, religious affiliation (Christian, Muslim, Druze or Other),
      religiosity and activity level. Results showed that anxiety had the greatest
      effect on increasing the predisposition to ED, followed by stress level, BID,
      depression and restrained eating. Affiliating as Christian was found to
      significantly decrease the vulnerability to developing an ED. Furthermore, the
      interaction of anxiety with intrinsic religiosity was found to have a protective
      role on reducing ED. The current study emphasized a buffering role of intrinsic
      religiosity against anxiety and ED vulnerability.

PMID- 25821929
TI  - Automated multiplexed ECL Immunoarrays for cancer biomarker proteins.
AB  - Point-of-care diagnostics based on multiplexed protein measurements face
      challenges of simple, automated, low-cost, and high-throughput operation with
      high sensitivity. Herein, we describe an automated, microprocessor-controlled
      microfluidic immunoarray for simultaneous multiplexed detection of small protein
      panels in complex samples. A microfluidic sample/reagent delivery cassette was
      coupled to a 30-microwell detection array to achieve sensitive detection of four
      prostate cancer biomarker proteins in serum. The proteins are prostate specific
      antigen (PSA), prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), platelet factor-4 (PF
      4), and interlukin-6 (IL-6). The six channel system is driven by integrated
      micropumps controlled by an inexpensive programmable microprocessor. The reagent
      delivery cassette and detection array feature channels made by precision-cut 0.8
      mm silicone gaskets. Single-wall carbon nanotube forests were grown in printed
      microwells on a pyrolytic graphite detection chip and decorated with capture
      antibodies. The detection chip is housed in a machined microfluidic chamber with
      a steel metal shim counter electrode and Ag/AgCl reference electrode for
      electrochemiluminescent (ECL) measurements. The preloaded sample/reagent cassette
      automatically delivers samples, wash buffers, and ECL RuBPY-silica-antibody
      detection nanoparticles sequentially. An onboard microcontroller controls
      micropumps and reagent flow to the detection chamber according to a preset
      program. Detection employs tripropylamine, a sacrificial reductant, while
      applying 0.95 V vs Ag/AgCl. Resulting ECL light was measured by a CCD camera.
      Ultralow detection limits of 10-100 fg mL(-1) were achieved in simultaneous
      detection of the four protein in 36 min assays. Results for the four proteins in
      prostate cancer patient serum gave excellent correlation with those from single
      protein ELISA. 

PMID- 25821930
TI  - Cutaneous Chromoblastomycosis Caused by Veronaea botryosa in a Patient with
      Pemphigus Vulgaris and Review of Published Reports.
AB  - Chromoblastomycosis and phaeohyphomycosis represent two poles of a disease
      spectrum caused by melanized fungi. Veronaea botryosa belongs to a small genus of
      saprobic fungi that occasionally cause human infections. To date, 11 cases of V.
      botryosa-induced cutaneous phaeohyphomycosis have been actually reported since
      1990 after exclusion of 2 duplicated cases. We report the first case to our
      knowledge of cutaneous chromoblastomycosis caused by V. botryosa in a patient
      with pemphigus vulgaris. A 61-year-old man with 5-year history of pemphigus
      vulgaris and long-term treatment of corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents
      developed multiple nodules on the dorsum of right wrist and hand after wrist
      trauma. Skin biopsy showed numerous brown muriform cells and a few septate hyphae
      in the tissue. Veronaea botryosa was isolated from the biopsy samples and then
      identified based on morphologic observation and DNA sequencing. The patient
      underwent immediate withdrawal of cyclophosphamide and gradual decrease in
      prednisone. Skin lesions healed after 5-month itraconazole therapy with an
      interval of 1-month terbinafine and one cycle of liquid nitrogen cryotherapy. Our
      results demonstrate that V. botryosa could induce both chromoblastomycosis and
      phaeohyphomycosis. Combined use of itraconazole and cryotherapy may be preferable
      to treat this infection.

PMID- 25821931
TI  - Estimated human absorbed dose for (68)Ga-ECC based on mice data: comparison with
      (67)Ga-ECC.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Nowadays, the efficacies of (68)Ga-based tracers are comparable to
      that of (18)F-based agents and have stimulated researchers to investigate the
      potential of (68)Ga-based positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agents. In
      this study, the human absorbed dose of (68)Ga labeled with ethylenecysteamine
      cysteine (68)Ga-ECC and (67)Ga-ECC was estimated based on biodistribution data in
      mice by the medical internal radiation dose (MIRD) method. METHODS: For
      biodistribution of (67)Ga/(68)Ga-ECC, three mice were killed by CO2 asphyxiation
      at each selected times after injection (15, 30, 45, 60, 120 min for (68)Ga-ECC
      and 0.5, 2 and 48 h for (67)Ga-ECC), and then the tissue (heart, lung, brain,
      intestine, skin, stomach, kidneys, liver, muscle and bone) was removed. RESULTS:
      (68)Ga-ECC as a new PET renal imaging agent was prepared with radiochemical
      purity of >97 % in less than 30 min. The biodistribution data for (68)Ga-ECC
      showed that the most of the activity extracted from the urinary tract very fast.
      Comparison between human absorbed dose estimation for these two agents indicated
      that the absorbed dose of the most organs after injection of (67)Ga-ECC is
      approximately tenfold higher than the amount after (68)Ga-ECC injection.
      CONCLUSION: The results showed that (68)Ga-ECC is a more appropriate agent rather
      than (67)Ga-ECC and generally can be a good candidate for PET renal imaging
      applications.

PMID- 25821932
TI  - Prediction of the maximum temperature for life based on the stability of
      metabolites to decomposition in water.
AB  - The components of life must survive in a cell long enough to perform their
      function in that cell. Because the rate of attack by water increases with
      temperature, we can, in principle, predict a maximum temperature above which an
      active terrestrial metabolism cannot function by analysis of the decomposition
      rates of the components of life, and comparison of those rates with the
      metabolites' minimum metabolic half-lives. The present study is a first step in
      this direction, providing an analytical framework and method, and analyzing the
      stability of 63 small molecule metabolites based on literature data. Assuming
      that attack by water follows a first order rate equation, we extracted
      decomposition rate constants from literature data and estimated their statistical
      reliability. The resulting rate equations were then used to give a measure of
      confidence in the half-life of the metabolite concerned at different
      temperatures. There is little reliable data on metabolite decomposition or
      hydrolysis rates in the literature, the data is mostly confined to a small number
      of classes of chemicals, and the data available are sometimes mutually
      contradictory because of varying reaction conditions. However, a preliminary
      analysis suggests that terrestrial biochemistry is limited to environments below
      ~150-180  degrees C. We comment briefly on why pressure is likely to have a small
      effect on this. 

PMID- 25821933
TI  - Bending elasticity modulus of giant vesicles composed of aeropyrum pernix k1
      archaeal lipid.
AB  - Thermally induced shape fluctuations were used to study elastic properties of
      giant vesicles composed of archaeal lipids C25,25-archetidyl (glucosyl) inositol
      and C25,25-archetidylinositol isolated from lyophilised Aeropyrum pernix K1
      cells. Giant vesicles were created by electroformation in pure water environment.
      Stroboscopic illumination using a xenon flash lamp was implemented to remove the
      blur effect due to the finite integration time of the camera and to obtain an
      instant picture of the fluctuating vesicle shape. The mean weighted value of the
      bending elasticity modulus kc of the archaeal membrane determined from the
      measurements meeting the entire set of qualification criteria was (1.89 +/- 0.18)
      * 10-19 J, which is similar to the values obtained for a membrane composed of the
      eukaryotic phospholipids SOPC (1.88 +/- 0.17) * 10-19 J and POPC (2.00 +/- 0.21)
      ' 10-19 J. We conclude that membranes composed of archaeal lipids isolated from
      Aeropyrum pernix K1 cells have similar elastic properties as membranes composed
      of eukaryotic lipids. This fact, together with the importance of the elastic
      properties for the normal circulation through blood system, provides further
      evidence in favor of expectations that archaeal lipids could be appropriate for
      the design of drug delivery systems. 

PMID- 25821934
TI  - Enhancing alkane production in cyanobacterial lipid droplets: a model platform
      for industrially relevant compound production.
AB  - Cyanobacterial lipid droplets (LDs) are packed with hydrophobic energy-dense
      compounds and have great potential for biotechnological expression and the
      compartmentalization of high value compounds. Nostoc punctiforme normally
      accumulates LDs containing neutral lipids, and small amounts of heptadecane,
      during the stationary phase of growth. In this study, we further enhanced
      heptadecane production in N. punctiforme by introducing extrachromosomal copies
      of aar/adc genes, and report the discovery of a putative novel lipase encoded by
      Npun_F5141, which further enhanced alkane production. Extra copies of all three
      genes in high light conditions resulted in a 16-fold higher accumulation of
      heptadecane compared to the wild type strain in the exponential phase. LD
      accumulation during exponential phase also increased massively to accommodate the
      heptadecane production. A large number of small, less fluorescent LDs were
      observed at the cell periphery in exponential growth phase, whereas fewer number
      of highly fluorescent, much larger LDs were localized towards the center of the
      cell in the stationary phase. These advances demonstrate that cyanobacterial LDs
      are an ideal model platform to make industrially relevant compounds, such as
      alkanes, during exponential growth, and provide insight into LD formation in
      cyanobacteria. 

PMID- 25821935
TI  - A histological evaluation of development and axis formation in freshwater fish
      ectoparasite Argulus bengalensis Ramakrishna, 1951 (Crustacea: Branchiura).
AB  - The present investigation was carried out to underscore the developmental events
      of a crustacean ectoparasite of fish, Argulus bengalensis. Serial histological
      sections of the embryo were made at lateral, sagittal and longitudinal planes to
      explain its cleavage, gastrulation and axis specification. The centrolecithal egg
      of A. bengalensis underwent meroblastic superficial cleavage. The cleavage
      initiated at the future dorsal side of the egg within 5 h to 5 h and 30 min of
      incubation. Consequently, a small mass of energids appeared superficially at the
      future dorsal side within 6 h. Later, energids were found at the future ventral
      and lateral sides. A syncytial blastoderm was formed around the centrally placed
      yolk material which was transformed into a cellular blastoderm within 30 h of
      incubation. In the blastoderm, two cell masses were formed at the dorsal and
      ventral part which initially extended towards each other and later spread out
      though future anterior-posterior direction. The pressure exerted by the cell flow
      displaced the entire yolk material at the future postero-ventral side. At the
      time of egg laying, a prototype of the embryonic axes is determined. The
      substratum side of the egg formed the dorsal part, whilst the side facing water
      turned to the ventral part. The broader end of the egg formed the anterior side
      and the narrow end formed the posterior side of the embryo. The anterior
      posterior axis formation was initiated within 72 to 96 h of incubation when the
      blastodermal cells displaced the yolk material at the future posterior end.
      Within 120 h of incubation, the germ layers of the embryo were determined. The
      study reveals that the cleavage pattern of A. bengalensis shows close
      similarities with that of the Malacostraca amongst the crustaceans and dipteran
      and hymenopteran amongst the insects.

PMID- 25821936
TI  - Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA): its history, composition, and clinical
      applications.
AB  - Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) has been a revolutionary material in
      endodontics. Since its introduction in the 1990s several studies have
      demonstrated its use in various clinical applications. MTA has been extensively
      studied and is currently used for perforation repairs, apexifications,
      regenerative procedures, apexogenesis, pulpotomies, and pulp capping. This
      article will review the history, composition, research findings, and clinical
      applications of this versatile endodontic material.

PMID- 25821937
TI  - Root canal irrigants: a review of their interactions, benefits, and limitations.
AB  - Endodontic treatment success depends on a combination of appropriate
      instrumentation, effective irrigation and decontamination of root canal spaces to
      apices, and obturation of the root canals. Irrigation of the root canal is
      paramount in determining periapical tissue healing. This article reviews
      presently available root canal irrigants, their interactions, advantages, and
      limitations. For this review, the authors performed a Medline search for all
      English language articles published through January 2014 with "root canal
      irrigants" and "endodontic irrigants" as keywords.

PMID- 25821938
TI  - Transitional bonding for segmented treatment: a two-phase restorative approach.
AB  - When extensive dental therapy is needed, as in cases of severe attrition, interim
      restorations are useful in determining whether or not the proposed treatment will
      be successful. Transitional resin bonding is one type of interim method. In this
      case report, a 60-year-old patient presented with severely worn maxillary and
      mandibular anterior teeth; he desired treatment to be done in a timely fashion so
      as to be ready to attend an important wedding. Due to the urgency in timing and
      the complexity of the case, the treatment plan was a two-phase approach that
      included an initial esthetic and occlusal design to create a diagnostic wax-up
      followed by placement of transitional composite resin bonding, and then placement
      of indirect porcelain restorations. This transitional bonding approach allowed
      comprehensive treatment to be completed at a pace suitable to the patient's
      needs.

PMID- 25821939
TI  - Minimizing shrinkage of interdental papilla height when treating multiple Miller
      Class III gingival recession defects.
AB  - Miller Class III and IV gingival recession defects have interdental bone and soft
      tissue loss that limit root coverage. Given the importance of the interdental
      papilla, protecting the integrity of this structure would seem prudent. Tunnel
      techniques have been successfully used to protect the interdental papilla. This
      article discusses the results of two cases in which multiple Miller Class III
      gingival recession defects were treated using tunnel-grafting techniques and an
      acellular dermal matrix. In both cases, root coverage was achieved while
      protecting the interdental papilla height.

PMID- 25821940
TI  - Vonlays: a conservative esthetic alternative to full-coverage crowns.
AB  - Porcelain veneers have long been a popular restorative option that have evolved
      into a well-accepted treatment that can be fabricated in various ways. Onlays are
      another common treatment modality used in contemporary dentistry to restore large
      areas of decay and to replace old restorations. With the availability of newer
      high-strength materials such as lithium disilicate and processing technologies
      like CAD/CAM and heat pressing, dental professionals are now able to produce
      highly esthetic, high-strength restorations that blend seamlessly with the
      natural dentition while also withstanding posterior occlusal forces. This has
      resulted in innovative methods of providing minimally invasive dentistry. One
      such approach is a combination restoration the authors call a "vonlay," which, as
      demonstrated in this case report, can be used as an alternative to coverage
      crowns to restore damaged posterior teeth.

PMID- 25821941
TI  - Dental implant uncovering techniques with emphasis on increasing keratinized
      mucosa.
AB  - The focus in implantology today is on the need to achieve results that are not
      only functional but also long-lasting and highly esthetic. Increased width and
      thickness of keratinized mucosa (KM) around dental implants, which is now widely
      recognized to be associated with better long-term success than implants without
      KM, addresses these goals. This is especially important in the esthetic zone,
      where marginal recession can be of concern. The author describes the following
      methods of implant uncovering that emphasize enhancement of the keratinized
      mucosa: the punch technique; buccally advanced flap; roll flap; tissue
      preservation technique; free connective tissue graft; and pedicle flap.

PMID- 25821942
TI  - The dental handpiece: technology continues to impact everyday practice.
AB  - One of the most fundamental devices used in dentistry, the handpiece can enhance
      the efficiency of everyday dental tasks. Through the years, handpieces have
      gradually been redesigned and upgraded to become the highly accurate and
      sophisticated tools they are today. Technological advances continue to improve
      these indispensable instruments. 

PMID- 25821943
TI  - Dengue virus infection in Croatia: seroprevalence and entomological study.
AB  - During 2011-2012, a total of 1,180 sera samples were collected from residents of
      seven Croatian counties located on the Adriatic Coast and four counties in
      northeastern Croatia and tested for the presence of dengue virus (DENV) IgG
      antibodies using ELISA. Reactive samples were further tested by IFA. Seven
      samples (0.59%) tested positive for DENV antibodies. Seroprevalence rates by
      county varied from 0-2.21%. The highest seropositivity rate (2.21%) was found in
      the Dubrovnik-Neretva County where autochthonous dengue cases were recorded in
      2010. Additionally,3,699 mosquitoes were collected from 126 localities along the
      Adriatic coast in August-September, 2011. Aedes albopictus was the most prevalent
      species (81.37%). No evidence of DENV RNA was detected by RT-PCR among 1,748
      female mosquitoes. 

PMID- 25821944
TI  - Maternal dietary patterns and gestational diabetes mellitus: a large prospective
      cohort study in China.
AB  - Few studies have explored the relationship between dietary patterns and the risk
      of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Evidence from non-Western areas is
      particularly lacking. In the present study, we aimed to examine the associations
      between dietary patterns and the risk of GDM in a Chinese population. A total of
      3063 pregnant Chinese women from an ongoing prospective cohort study were
      included. Data on dietary intake were collected using a FFQ at 24-27 weeks of
      gestation. GDM was diagnosed using a 75 g, 2 h oral glucose tolerance test.
      Dietary patterns were determined by principal components factor analysis. A log
      binomial regression model was used to examine the associations between dietary
      pattern and the risk of GDM. The analysis identified four dietary patterns:
      vegetable pattern; protein-rich pattern; prudent pattern; sweets and seafood
      pattern. Multivariate analysis showed that the highest tertile of the vegetable
      pattern was associated with a decreased risk of GDM (relative risk (RR) 0.79, 95%
      CI 0.64, 0.97), compared with the lowest tertile, whereas the highest tertile of
      the sweets and seafood pattern was associated with an increased risk of GDM (RR
      1.23, 95% CI 1.02, 1.49). No significant association was found for either the
      protein-rich or the prudent pattern. The protective effect of a high vegetable
      pattern score was more evident among women who had a family history of diabetes
      (P for interaction=0.022). These findings suggest that the vegetable pattern was
      associated with a decreased risk of GDM, while the sweets and seafood pattern was
      associated with an increased risk of GDM. These findings may be useful in dietary
      counselling during pregnancy.

PMID- 25821945
TI  - Performance of synchronized fins in biomimetic propulsion.
AB  - By using a two-dimensional model of ray fins, we numerically investigate the
      thrust generation by closely-coupled fins with an immersed boundary approach. The
      concentration is on the performance enhancement through fin-fin interactions and
      the underlying vortex control mechanisms in three representative systems, a two
      fin tandem configuration, a two-fin parallel configuration, and a three-fin
      triangular configuration. In all these systems the thrust generation can be
      significantly increased in comparison with single fins. Unlike previous studies
      of tandem fins, in which the gap and phase lag between the two fins were
      considered separately, our study shows that the dynamics of the system is
      determined by a parameter that combines these two (the global phase difference).
      The optimal performance occurs as this parameter is around pi (destructive mode),
      and the worst performance occurs when it is around 0 (constructive mode).
      Interestingly, contrary to the vorticity cancellation scenario implied by its
      name, our simulations show that in the destructive mode there is in fact a wake
      re-organization mechanism, during which vortices with the same rotational
      direction shed from the two fins are attracted towards each other and merge.
      Subsequently, the wake downstream becomes a strong and well-organized reverse
      Karman vortex street, which explains the increased thrust. In the parallel
      system, the best performance occurs in cases when the two fins are in opposites
      phases. Both the thrust and efficiency increase as the gap between the fins
      decreases, until a symmetry-breaking instability occurs in the wake and the
      efficiency starts plunging due to the increase in lateral force generation. In
      the triangular formation, the highest thrust generation also occurs in the
      destructive mode. However, no further increase in performance is observed
      compared with the tandem system. 

PMID- 25821946
TI  - Rap1 is indispensable for TRF2 function in etoposide-induced DNA damage response
      in gastric cancer cell line.
AB  - The telomeric protein TRF2, involving in telomeric and extratelomeric DNA damage
      response, has been previously reported to facilitate multidrug resistance (MDR)
      in gastric cancer cells by interfering ATM-dependent DNA damage response induced
      by anticancer drugs. Rap1 is the TRF2-interacting protein in the shelterin
      complex. Complex formation between Rap1 and TRF2 is essential for their function
      in telomere and end protection. Here we focus on the effects of Rap1 on TRF2
      function in DNA damage response induced by anticancer drugs. Both Rap1 and TRF2
      expression were upregulated in SGC7901 and its MDR variant SGC7901/VCR after
      etoposide treatment, which was more marked in SGC7901/VCR than in SGC7901. Rap1
      silencing by siRNA in SGC7901/VCR partially reversed the etoposide resistance.
      And Rap1 silencing partially reversed the TRF2-mediated resistance to etoposide
      in SGC7901. Rap1 silencing did not affect the TRF2 upregulation induced by
      etoposide, but eliminated the inhibition effect of TRF2 on ATM expression and ATM
      phosphorylation at serine 1981 (ATM pS1981). Furthermore, phosphorylation of ATM
      targets, including gammaH2AX and serine 15 (S15) on p53, were increased in Rap1
      silencing cells in response to etoposide. Thus, we confirm that Rap1, interacting
      with TRF2 in the shelterin complex, also has an important role in TRF2-mediated
      DNA damage response in gastric cancer cells treated by etoposide. 

PMID- 25821947
TI  - Inhibiting phosphorylation of the oncogenic PAX3-FOXO1 reduces alveolar
      rhabdomyosarcoma phenotypes identifying novel therapy options.
AB  - Patients with translocation-positive alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS), an
      aggressive childhood tumor primarily characterized by the PAX3-FOXO1 oncogenic
      fusion protein, have a poor prognosis because of lack of therapies that
      specifically target ARMS tumors. This fact highlights the need for novel
      pharmaceutical interventions. Posttranslational modifications such as
      phosphorylation are becoming attractive biological targets for the development of
      such interventions. Along these lines, we demonstrated that PAX3-FOXO1 is
      phosphorylated at three specific sites and that its pattern of phosphorylation is
      altered relative to wild-type Pax3 throughout early myogenesis and in ARMS tumor
      cells. However, little work has been performed examining the effect of directly
      inhibiting phosphorylation at these sites on ARMS development. To address this
      gap in knowledge, we used small molecule inhibitors or mutational analysis to
      specifically inhibit phosphorylation of PAX3-FOXO1 to investigate how altering
      phosphorylation of the oncogenic fusion protein affects ARMS phenotypes. We found
      that inhibiting the phosphorylation of PAX3-FOXO1 at Ser201 significantly reduced
      migration, invasion and proliferation in two independent ARMS tumor cell lines.
      Further, we found that inhibition of phosphorylation at Ser205 also decreased
      proliferation and anchorage-independent growth. Consistent with these in vitro
      results, we demonstrate for the first time that PAX3-FOXO1 is phosphorylated at
      Ser201 and Ser205 in a primary tumor sample and in tumor cells actively invading
      the surrounding normal tissue. This report is the first to demonstrate that the
      direct inhibition of PAX3-FOXO1 phosphorylation reduces ARMS tumor phenotypes in
      vitro and that these phosphorylation events are present in primary human ARMS
      tumors and invading tumor cells. These results identify phosphorylation of PAX3
      FOXO1, especially at Ser201, as a novel biological target that can be explored as
      a promising avenue for ARMS therapies. 

PMID- 25821948
TI  - Single-destination navigation in a multiple-destination environment: a new "later
      destination attractor" bias in route choice.
AB  - People choose different routes depending on the size of the environment. However,
      the size of the environment is often confounded by cognitive load. The current
      study investigated whether changes in route choice varied as a function of memory
      load while keeping the size of the environment constant. Also, a new situation
      was used: route choice to a single destination as a function of the location of
      follow-up destinations. Critically, there were two routes of equal length to the
      first destination. The results showed that route choice to the first destination
      was influenced by the locations of later destinations. This (new) "later
      destination attractor" bias is the tendency to take a route to the first
      destination that begins in the direction of subsequent destinations even when the
      route to the first destination is logically independent of the locations of
      subsequent destinations. In Experiment 1, all destinations were visible, and the
      bias was seen for both second and third subsequent destinations. In Experiments 2
      and 3, only the first destination was visible, and the locations of the
      subsequent destinations were indicated on a diagram and had to be remembered by
      participants. In Experiment 3, the diagrams were misaligned by 180 degrees. Route
      choice to the first destination was still influenced by later destinations, but
      only by the nearer, second destination, and the extent of the bias was reduced as
      memory load increased. Indications are that differences in route choice between
      small- and large-scale environments may be due more to cognitive load than to
      environmental size. 

PMID- 25821950
TI  - One Example of a Model Humanitarian Mission.
AB  - This paper describes a model humanitarian mission to Guyana; it illustrates the
      value of excellent ongoing care in collaboration with local physicians and
      surgeons, cooperation with local government and medical officials, and frequent
      periodic follow-up missions (always to the same hospital, working with the same
      staff). This effort has largely avoided the so-called "Seven Sins of Humanitarian
      Medicine". 

PMID- 25821951
TI  - Invitation and a warm welcome to the 41th Annual Meeting of the Society for
      Neuropediatrics.

PMID- 25821949
TI  - Patterns of Use and Short-Term Outcomes of Minimally Invasive Surgery for
      Malignant Pheochromocytoma: A Population-Level Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Malignant pheochromocytoma is rare, and there is a scarcity of data
      on the use of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for treatment. The aims of this
      study were to analyze patterns of use of MIS for malignant pheochromocytoma in
      the U.S. and compare short-term outcomes to those of open adrenalectomy. METHODS:
      Patients with malignant pheochromocytoma undergoing MIS, including laparoscopy,
      robotic assisted, laparoscopy converted to open, or open adrenalectomy, were
      culled from the National Cancer Database, from 1998 to 2011. Data were examined
      using simple summary statistics, Chi2 and student's t tests, Mann-Whitney test,
      and logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 36 MIS and 67 open adrenalectomies
      were identified in 2010-2011. No significant differences were observed between
      the two treatment groups in demographic characteristics or comorbidities.
      Preoperative diagnosis of malignancy was made in 52.8% of MIS and 48.5% of open
      patients (p=NS). MIS and open adrenalectomies did not differ with respect to
      lymph node metastases, vascular invasion, extra-adrenal-extension, and distant
      metastases (all p=NS). MIS tended to more often be used to perform partial
      adrenalectomy (38.9 vs. 20.4% open, p=0.061); surgical margins, 30-day
      readmission and mortality rates were similar to open adrenalectomy (all p=NS).
      Tumors removed via MIS were smaller (48.7 vs. 73.3 mm open, p=0.003) and
      associated with a shorter length of stay. CONCLUSIONS: A significant proportion
      of patients with malignant pheochromocytomas underwent MIS, with short-term
      outcomes which are comparable to those of open surgery. Further studies focused
      on long-term survival and recurrence are needed to assess the role of MIS in the
      management of these rare tumors.

PMID- 25821952
TI  - Correction: Discovery of a novel, monocationic, small-molecule inhibitor of
      scrapie prion accumulation in cultured sheep microglia and Rov cells.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051173.]. 

PMID- 25821954
TI  - A new method to quantify and compare the multiple components of fitness--a study
      case with kelp niche partition by divergent microstage adaptations to
      temperature.
AB  - POINT 1: Management of crops, commercialized or protected species, plagues or
      life-cycle evolution are subjects requiring comparisons among different
      demographic strategies. The simpler methods fail in relating changes in vital
      rates with changes in population viability whereas more complex methods lack
      accuracy by neglecting interactions among vital rates. POINT 2: The difference
      between the fitness (evaluated by the population growth rate lambda) of two
      alternative demographies is decomposed into the contributions of the differences
      between the pair-wised vital rates and their interactions. This is achieved
      through a full Taylor expansion (i.e. remainder = 0) of the demographic model.
      The significance of each term is determined by permutation tests under the null
      hypothesis that all demographies come from the same pool. POINT 3: An example is
      given with periodic demographic matrices of the microscopic haploid phase of two
      kelp cryptic species observed to partition their niche occupation along the
      Chilean coast. The method provided clear and synthetic results showing
      conditional differentiation of reproduction is an important driver for their
      differences in fitness along the latitudinal temperature gradient. But it also
      demonstrated that interactions among vital rates cannot be neglected as they
      compose a significant part of the differences between demographies. POINT 4: This
      method allows researchers to access the effects of multiple effective changes in
      a life-cycle from only two experiments. Evolutionists can determine with
      confidence the effective causes for changes in fitness whereas population
      managers can determine best strategies from simpler experimental designs.

PMID- 25821953
TI  - Lpg0393 of Legionella pneumophila is a guanine-nucleotide exchange factor for
      Rab5, Rab21 and Rab22.
AB  - Legionella pneumophila, a human intracellular pathogen, encodes about 290
      effector proteins that are translocated into host cells through a secretion
      machinery. Some of these proteins have been shown to manipulate or subvert
      cellular processes during infection, but functional roles of a majority of them
      remain unknown. Lpg0393 is a newly identified Legionella effector classified as a
      hypothetical protein. Through X-ray crystallographic analysis, we show that
      Lpg0393 contains a Vps9-like domain, which is structurally most similar to the
      catalytic core of human Rabex-5 that activates the endosomal Rab proteins Rab5,
      Rab21 and Rab22. Consistently, Lpg0393 exhibited a guanine-nucleotide exchange
      factor activity toward the endosomal Rabs. This work identifies the first example
      of a bacterial guanine-nucleotide exchange factor that is active towards the Rab5
      sub-cluster members, implying that the activation of these Rab proteins might be
      advantageous for the intracellular survival of Legionella. 

PMID- 25821955
TI  - Polarity-dependent asymmetric distribution and MEX-5/6-mediated translational
      activation of the Era-1 mRNA in C. elegans embryos.
AB  - The early C. elegans embryo is an attractive model system to investigate
      fundamental developmental processes. With the exception of mex-3 mRNA, maternally
      contributed mRNAs are thought to be distributed uniformly in the one-cell embryo.
      Here, we report and characterize the striking distribution of the mRNA encoding
      the novel protein ERA-1. We found that era-1 mRNA is enriched in the anterior of
      the one-cell embryo and present solely in anterior blastomeres thereafter.
      Although era-1 is not an essential gene, we uncovered that era-1 null mutant
      embryos are sensitive to slight impairment of embryonic polarity. We found that
      the asymmetric distribution of era-1 mRNA depends on anterior-posterior polarity
      cues and on the era-1 3'UTR. Similarly to the era-1 mRNA, the YFP-ERA-1 protein
      is enriched in anterior blastomeres. Interestingly, we found that the RNA-binding
      protein MEX-5 is required for era-1 mRNA asymmetry. Furthermore, we show that MEX
      5, together with its partially redundant partner MEX-6, are needed to activate
      era-1 mRNA translation in anterior blastomeres. These findings lead us to propose
      that MEX-5/6-mediated regulation of era-1 mRNA contributes to robust embryonic
      development. 

PMID- 25821956
TI  - Baseline survey of root-associated microbes of Taxus chinensis (Pilger) Rehd.
AB  - Taxol (paclitaxel) a diterpenoid is one of the most effective anticancer drugs
      identified. Biosynthesis of taxol was considered restricted to the Taxus genera
      until Stierle et al. discovered that an endophytic fungus isolated from Taxus
      brevifolia could independently synthesize taxol. Little is known about the
      mechanism of taxol biosynthesis in microbes, but it has been speculated that its
      biosynthesis may differ from plants. The microbiome from the roots of Taxus
      chinensis have been extensively investigated with culture-dependent methods to
      identify taxol synthesizing microbes, but not using culture independent
      methods.,Using bar-coded high-throughput sequencing in combination with a
      metagenomics approach, we surveyed the microbial diversity and gene composition
      of the root-associated microbiomefrom Taxus chinensis (Pilger) Rehd. High
      throughput amplicon sequencing revealed 187 fungal OTUs which is higher than any
      previously reported fungal number identified with the culture-dependent method,
      suggesting that T. chinensis roots harbor novel and diverse fungi. Some
      operational taxonomic units (OTU) identified were identical to reported microbe
      strains possessing the ability to synthesis taxol and several genes previously
      associated with taxol biosynthesis were identified through metagenomics analysis.

PMID- 25821957
TI  - Copolymer-1 promotes neurogenesis and improves functional recovery after acute
      ischemic stroke in rats.
AB  - Stroke triggers a systemic inflammatory response that exacerbates the initial
      injury. Immunizing with peptides derived from CNS proteins can stimulate
      protective autoimmunity (PA). The most renowned of these peptides is copolymer-1
      (Cop-1) also known as glatiramer acetate. This peptide has been approved for use
      in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Cop-1-specific T cells cross the blood
      brain barrier and secrete neurotrophins and anti-inflammatory cytokines that
      could stimulate proliferation of neural precursor cells and recruit them to the
      injury site; making it an ideal therapy for acute ischemic stroke. The aim of
      this work was to evaluate the effect of Cop-1 on neurogenesis and neurological
      recovery during the acute phase (7 days) and the chronic phase of stroke (60
      days) in a rat model of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAo). BDNF
      and NT-3 were quantified and infarct volumes were measured. We demonstrated that
      Cop-1 improves neurological deficit, enhances neurogenesis (at 7 and 60 days) in
      the SVZ, SGZ, and cerebral cortex through an increase in NT-3 production. It also
      decreased infarct volume even at the chronic phase of tMCAo. The present
      manuscript fortifies the support for the use of Cop-1 in acute ischemic stroke. 

PMID- 25821958
TI  - Impact of cerebrospinal fluid shunting for idiopathic normal pressure
      hydrocephalus on the amyloid cascade.
AB  - The aim of this study was to determine whether the improvement of cerebrospinal
      fluid (CSF) flow dynamics by CSF shunting, can suppress the oligomerization of
      amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta), by measuring the levels of Alzheimer's disease (AD)
      related proteins in the CSF before and after lumboperitoneal shunting. Lumbar CSF
      from 32 patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) (samples
      were obtained before and 1 year after shunting), 15 patients with AD, and 12
      normal controls was analyzed for AD-related proteins and APLP1-derived Abeta-like
      peptides (APL1beta) (a surrogate marker for Abeta). We found that before
      shunting, individuals with iNPH had significantly lower levels of soluble amyloid
      precursor proteins (sAPP) and Abeta38 compared to patients with AD and normal
      controls. We divided the patients with iNPH into patients with favorable
      (improvement >= 1 on the modified Rankin Scale) and unfavorable (no improvement
      on the modified Rankin Scale) outcomes. Compared to the unfavorable outcome
      group, the favorable outcome group showed significant increases in Abeta38, 40,
      42, and phosphorylated-tau levels after shunting. In contrast, there were no
      significant changes in the levels of APL1beta25, 27, and 28 after shunting. After
      shunting, we observed positive correlations between sAPPalpha and sAPPbeta,
      Abeta38 and 42, and APL1beta25 and 28, with shifts from sAPPbeta to sAPPalpha,
      from APL1beta28 to 25, and from Abeta42 to 38 in all patients with iNPH. Our
      results suggest that Abeta production remained unchanged by the shunt procedure
      because the levels of sAPP and APL1beta were unchanged. Moreover, the shift of
      Abeta from oligomer to monomer due to the shift of Abeta42 (easy to aggregate) to
      Abeta38 (difficult to aggregate), and the improvement of interstitial-fluid flow,
      could lead to increased Abeta levels in the CSF. Our findings suggest that the
      shunting procedure can delay intracerebral deposition of Abeta in patients with
      iNPH. 

PMID- 25821959
TI  - The role of zinc and iron-folic acid supplementation on early child temperament
      and eating behaviors in rural Nepal: a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - Child eating behaviors play an important role in nutrient intake, ultimately
      affecting child growth and later outcomes in adulthood. The study assessed the
      effects of iron-folic acid and zinc supplementation on child temperament and
      child eating behaviors in rural Nepal. Children (N = 569) aged 4-17 months in
      Sarlahi district, southern Nepal were randomized to receive daily supplements of
      placebo, iron-folic acid, zinc, or zinc plus iron-folic acid and followed for
      approximately 1 year. At baseline and four follow-up visits mothers completed
      questionnaires including information on demographic characteristics and child
      temperament and eating behaviors. The main effects of zinc and iron-folic acid
      supplementation on temperament and eating behaviors were assessed through crude
      and adjusted differences in mean cumulative score changes between visits 1 and 5.
      The adjusted rate-of-change for these outcomes was modeled using generalized
      estimating equations. Mean changes in temperament scores and in eating behavior
      scores between visits 1 and 5 were not significant in either the zinc or non-zinc
      group. Children in the iron-folic acid group increased temperament scores by 0.37
      points over 5 visits (95% CI 0.02, 0.7), which was not significant after
      adjustment. Neither the adjusted rate-of-change in temperament scores between
      zinc and non-zinc (beta = -0.03, 95% CI -0.3, 0.2) or iron-folic acid and non
      iron-folic acid (beta = 0.08, 95% CI -0.2, 0.3) were significantly different.
      Adjusted rate of change analysis showed no significant difference between zinc
      and non-zinc (beta = -0.14, 95% CI -0.3, 0.04) or between iron and non-iron
      eating behavior scores (beta = -0.11, 95% CI -0.3, 0.1). Only among children with
      iron-deficiency anemia at baseline was there a significant decrease in eating
      behavior score, indicating better eating behaviors, when supplemented with zinc
      (beta = -0.3, 95% CI -0.6, -0.01), Ultimately, this effect of zinc on eating
      behaviors was the only effect we observed after approximately one year of
      micronutrient supplementation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov
      NCT00109551.

PMID- 25821960
TI  - A comparison between multiple regression models and CUN-BAE equation to predict
      body fat in adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Because the accurate measure of body fat (BF) is difficult, several
      prediction equations have been proposed. The aim of this study was to compare
      different multiple regression models to predict BF, including the recently
      reported CUN-BAE equation. METHODS: Multi regression models using body mass index
      (BMI) and body adiposity index (BAI) as predictors of BF will be compared. These
      models will be also compared with the CUN-BAE equation. For all the analysis a
      sample including all the participants and another one including only the
      overweight and obese subjects will be considered. The BF reference measure was
      made using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis. RESULTS: The simplest models
      including only BMI or BAI as independent variables showed that BAI is a better
      predictor of BF. However, adding the variable sex to both models made BMI a
      better predictor than the BAI. For both the whole group of participants and the
      group of overweight and obese participants, using simple models (BMI, age and sex
      as variables) allowed obtaining similar correlations with BF as when the more
      complex CUN-BAE was used (rho = 0:87 vs. rho = 0:86 for the whole sample and rho
      = 0:88 vs. rho = 0:89 for overweight and obese subjects, being the second value
      the one for CUN-BAE). CONCLUSIONS: There are simpler models than CUN-BAE equation
      that fits BF as well as CUN-BAE does. Therefore, it could be considered that CUN
      BAE overfits. Using a simple linear regression model, the BAI, as the only
      variable, predicts BF better than BMI. However, when the sex variable is
      introduced, BMI becomes the indicator of choice to predict BF.

PMID- 25821961
TI  - Hemodynamic changes of the middle hepatic vein in patients with pulmonary
      hypertension using echocardiography.
AB  - The aim of this study was to analyze the changes of the middle hepatic vein (MHV)
      spectra in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) caused by congenital heart
      disease (CHD) and determine the proper parameters of MHV to predict PH. Eighty
      patients with CHD were included, whose pulmonary artery pressure was measured via
      right heart catheterization, and the MHV spectra were detected via
      echocardiography. The peak value of velocity (V) and velocity time integral (VTI)
      of the waves, including S wave, D wave and A wave, were measured at the end of
      inspiration. The values of the MHV parameters that were predictive of PH were
      evaluated and their cut-off points were determined. Compared with the control
      group, V of S wave (S), VTI of S wave (SVTI), V of D wave (D), VTI of D wave
      (DVTI) decreased and V of A wave (A), VTI of A wave (AVTI), A/S, AVTI/SVTI,
      A/(S+D), AVTI/ (SVTI+DVTI) increased in the PH group. These differences were
      statistically significant (P<0.05). A correlation analysis determined that the
      ratios of A/S, A/(S+D), AVTI/(SVTI+DVTI) were positively correlated with
      pulmonary artery mean pressure (r=0.529,0.575,0.438,P<0.001). An ROC curve
      analysis determined that the diagnostic effect of A/(S+D) was superior to the
      other two parameters. On the ROC curve, when the ratio of A/(S+D) was 0.30, the
      sensitivity was 85.37% and specificity was 75.00% for predicting PH. The spectral
      parameters of MHV, including the ratios of A/S, A/(S+D) and AVTI/(SVTI+DVTI),
      increased with increasing pulmonary pressure in CHD patients. When the ratio of
      A/(S+D) was 0.30 in MHV spectra, it had sufficient sensitivity and specificity
      for diagnosing PH, and this method could be used as a new non-invasive
      complementary echocardiographic parameter for predicting PH. 

PMID- 25821962
TI  - Comparison of oral microbial profiles between children with severe early
      childhood caries and caries-free children using the human oral microbe
      identification microarray.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Early childhood caries (ECC) has become a prevalent public health
      problem among Chinese preschool children. The bacterial microflora is considered
      to be an important factor in the formation and progress of dental caries.
      However, high-throughput and large-scale studies of the primary dentition are
      lacking. The present study aimed to compare oral microbial profiles between
      children with severe ECC (SECC) and caries-free children. METHODS: Both saliva
      and supragingival plaque samples were obtained from children with SECC (n = 20)
      and caries-free children (n = 20) aged 3 to 4 years. The samples were assayed
      using the Human Oral Microbe Identification Microarray (HOMIM). RESULTS: A total
      of 379 bacterial species were detected in both the saliva and supragingival
      plaque samples from all children. Thirteen (including Streptococcus) and two
      (Streptococcus and Actinomyces) bacterial species in supragingival plaque and
      saliva, respectively, showed significant differences in prevalence between the
      two groups. Of these, the frequency of Streptococcus mutans detection was
      significantly higher in both saliva (p = 0.026) and plaque (p = 0.006) samples
      from the SECC group than in those from the caries-free group. CONCLUSIONS: The
      findings of our study revealed differences in the oral microbiota between the
      SECC and caries-free groups Several genera, including Streptococcus,
      Porphyromonas, and Actinomyces, are strongly associated with SECC and can be
      potential biomarkers of dental caries in the primary dentition.

PMID- 25821963
TI  - Week 120 efficacy of tenofovir, lamivudine and lopinavir/r-based second-line
      antiretroviral therapy in treatment-experienced HIV patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tenofovir (TDF) and ritonavir-boosted lopinavir (LPV/r) were not
      introduced to China as second-line medications until 2009. The efficacy and
      safety of TDF/3TC/LPV/r based second-line regimen have not been evaluated in
      Chinese HIV patients who failed first-line regimens. METHODS: This was a
      multicenter cohort study recruiting patients from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong,
      and Henan provinces between November 2008 and January 2010. Eighty HIV infected
      patients failing first-line regimens with serum creatinine lower than 1.5 times
      the upper limit of normal received TDF+ lamivudine (3TC)+ LPV/r were followed up
      for 120 weeks. CD4 cell count, viral load, and estimated glomerular filtration
      rate (eGFR) were monitored at each visit. RESULTS: At baseline, 31.2% and 48.8%
      of patients had moderate/high-level resistance to TDF and 3TC, respectively;
      while 2.5% of patients had only low-level resistance to LPV/r. During 120 weeks
      of follow-up, virological suppression rate reached over 70% (<40 copies/ml) and
      90% (<400 copies/ml), and median CD4 cell count increased from 157 cells/MUL at
      baseline to 307 cells/MUL at week 120. Baseline drug-resistance mutations had no
      impact on the efficacy of second-line antiretroviral therapy. Median eGFR dropped
      from 104.7 ml/min/1.73m2 at baseline to 95.6 ml/min/1.73m2 at week 24 and then
      recovered after week 96. CONCLUSION: This study for the first time demonstrated
      that TDF+ 3TC+ LPV/r was efficacious as second-line regimen with acceptable
      nephrotoxicity profiles in patients who failed zidovudine or stavudine based
      first-line regimens in China. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00872417.

PMID- 25821964
TI  - Hedging your bets: intermediate movements as optimal behavior in the context of
      an incomplete decision.
AB  - Existing theories of movement planning suggest that it takes time to select and
      prepare the actions required to achieve a given goal. These theories often appeal
      to circumstances where planning apparently goes awry. For instance, if reaction
      times are forced to be very low, movement trajectories are often directed between
      two potential targets. These intermediate movements are generally interpreted as
      errors of movement planning, arising either from planning being incomplete or
      from parallel movement plans interfering with one another. Here we present an
      alternative view: that intermediate movements reflect uncertainty about movement
      goals. We show how intermediate movements are predicted by an optimal feedback
      control model that incorporates an ongoing decision about movement goals.
      According to this view, intermediate movements reflect an exploitation of
      compatibility between goals. Consequently, reducing the compatibility between
      goals should reduce the incidence of intermediate movements. In human subjects,
      we varied the compatibility between potential movement goals in two distinct
      ways: by varying the spatial separation between targets and by introducing a
      virtual barrier constraining trajectories to the target and penalizing
      intermediate movements. In both cases we found that decreasing goal compatibility
      led to a decreasing incidence of intermediate movements. Our results and theory
      suggest a more integrated view of decision-making and movement planning in which
      the primary bottleneck to generating a movement is deciding upon task goals.
      Determining how to move to achieve a given goal is rapid and automatic. 

PMID- 25821965
TI  - Pre-existing mutations in reverse transcriptase of hepatitis B virus in treatment
      naive Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B.
AB  - High rate of viral replication and lacking of proofreading activity in hepatitis
      B virus (HBV) polymerase lead to the generation of mutations in HBV virus.
      Mutations in the reverse transcriptase (RT) region of HBV polymerase are
      demonstrated to be strongly associated with drug resistance during antiviral
      treatment. However, the presence of mutations as well as its clinical
      significance in treatment-naive hepatitis patients (defined as pre-existing
      mutations) need to be further investigated. In the present study, a total of 168
      serum samples from treatment-naive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients were
      collected, and the RT region of HBV polymerase was sequenced. The results showed
      that pre-existing mutations in the RT region of HBV polymerase were detected in
      43 of 168 (25.6%) treatment-naive CHB patients within which there were no well
      characterized primary nucleotide analogs (NAs) resistance sites. Three dominant
      sites at rt191, rt207 and rt226 were found mutant in 7(16.28%), 8(18.60%), and
      14(32.56%) samples respectively among these 43 patients. No significant
      correlation was found between pre-existing mutations and gender, age, HBV
      genotype, ALT, HBeAg or HBV DNA loads. However, patients with pre-existing RT
      mutations under HBeAg sero-negative status exhibited decreased HBV DNA loads,
      which contributed to the decreased HBV DNA loads in the total HBeAg sero-negative
      patients. The above investigation indicated that there was a prevalence of pre
      existing mutations in RT region of HBV polymerase which might affect the serum
      HBV DNA level in treatment-naive CHB patients. Its effects on the occurrence of
      NAs resistance and the prognosis after treatment need to be further investigated.

PMID- 25821966
TI  - Effect of anti-ApoA-I antibody-coating of stents on neointima formation in a
      rabbit balloon-injury model.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Since high-density lipoprotein (HDL) has pro-endothelial and
      anti-thrombotic effects, a HDL recruiting stent may prevent restenosis. In the
      present study we address the functional characteristics of an apolipoprotein A-I
      (ApoA-I) antibody coating in vitro. Subsequently, we tested its biological
      performance applied on stents in vivo in rabbits. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The
      impact of anti ApoA-I- versus apoB-antibody coated stainless steel discs were
      evaluated in vitro for endothelial cell adhesion, thrombin generation and
      platelet adhesion. In vivo, response to injury in the iliac artery of New Zealand
      white rabbits was used as read out comparing apoA-I-coated versus bare metal
      stents. RESULTS: ApoA-I antibody coated metal discs showed increased endothelial
      cell adhesion and proliferation and decreased thrombin generation and platelet
      adhesion, compared to control discs. In vivo, no difference was observed between
      ApoA-I and BMS stents in lumen stenosis (23.3+/-13.8% versus 23.3+/-11.3%,
      p=0.77) or intima surface area (0.81+/-0.62 mm2 vs 0.84+/-0.55 mm2, p=0.85).
      Immunohistochemistry also revealed no differences in cell proliferation, fibrin
      deposition, inflammation and endothelialization. CONCLUSION: ApoA-I antibody
      coating has potent pro-endothelial and anti-thrombotic effects in vitro, but
      failed to enhance stent performance in a balloon injury rabbit model in vivo.

PMID- 25821967
TI  - Sustained endothelial expression of HoxA5 in vivo impairs pathological
      angiogenesis and tumor progression.
AB  - HoxA5 is expressed in quiescent endothelial cells (EC), but absent in activated
      angiogenic EC. To examine the efficacy of targeting HoxA5 therapeutically to
      quell pathologic or tumor angiogenesis, we generated an inducible, transgenic
      mouse model of sustained HoxA5 expression in ECs. During pathologic angiogenesis,
      sustained HoxA5 regulates expression several angiogenic effector molecules,
      notably increased expression of TSP-2 and reduced expression of VEGF, thus
      leading to inhibition of pathological angiogenesis in tissues. To evaluate if
      this impressive reduction of vascularization could also impact tumor
      angiogenesis, HoxA5 mice were bred with a mouse model of de novo squamous
      carcinogenesis, e.g., K14-HPV16 mice. Activation of EC-HoxA5 significantly
      reduced infiltration by mast cells into neoplastic skin, an early hallmark of
      progression to dysplasia, reduced angiogenic vasculature, and blunted
      characteristics of tumor progression. To evaluate HoxA5 as a therapeutic, topical
      application of a HoxA5 transgene onto early neoplastic skin of K14-HPV16 mice
      similarly resulted in a significant impairment of angiogenic vasculature and
      progression to dysplasia to a similar extent as observed with genetic delivery of
      HoxA5. Together these data indicate that HoxA5 represents a novel molecule for
      restricting pathological and tumorigenic angiogenesis. 

PMID- 25821968
TI  - Structural and immunological effects of skin cryoablation in a mouse model.
AB  - Cryoablation is therapeutically applied for various disorders in several organs,
      and skin diseases are typical targets as this cryotherapy has been widely used
      for viral warts, benign tumors, and actinic keratosis. The main mechanisms of
      cryoablation consist of direct freezing effect on skin constituents, thrombosis
      formation in microcirculation, and subsequent immunological responses. Among
      them, however, the immunological mechanism remains unelucidated, and it is an
      issue how the direct freezing injury induces immunological consequences. We
      established a mouse cryoablation model with liquid nitrogen applied to the shaved
      back skin, and used this system to study the immunological excitement. After
      application of liquid nitrogen, the thermal decrease ratio was -25 degrees C/sec
      or less and the lowest temperature was less than -100 degrees C, which was
      sufficient to induce ulceration. Destruction of cornified layer and necrosis of
      epidermal cells were observed in transmission electron microscopy image, and
      increased transepidermal water loss and skin permeability were detected by the
      functional measurements. By flow cytometry, antigen-presenting dendritic cells
      (DCs), including PDCA1+B220+CD19- plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) and CD11c+ myeloid DCs,
      as well as neutrophils and macrophages were increased in subcutaneous tissue. In
      parallel, the mRNA expressions of interferon alpha1 which are known as pDC
      producing cytokines, was elevated. We also found marked degranulation of mast
      cells, providing a possibility that released histamine attracts pDCs. Finally,
      FITC migration assay revealed that pDCs and CD11c+ DCs emigrated from the
      cryoablated skin to the draining lymph nodes. Our study suggests that
      cryoablation induces destruction of the barrier/epidermis, accumulation of pDCs
      and CD11c+ DCs to the skin, and migration of DCs to regional lymph nodes. Viral
      elements or tumor cell lysates released from damaged keratinocytes may stimulate
      the DCs, thereby leading to antiviral or antitumor effect. 

PMID- 25821969
TI  - Methylation levels of SLC23A2 and NCOR2 genes correlate with spinal muscular
      atrophy severity.
AB  - Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a monogenic neurodegenerative disorder
      subdivided into four different types. Whole genome methylation analysis revealed
      40 CpG sites associated with genes that are significantly differentially
      methylated between SMA patients and healthy individuals of the same age. To
      investigate the contribution of methylation changes to SMA severity, we compared
      the methylation level of found CpG sites, designed as "targets", as well as the
      nearest CpG sites in regulatory regions of ARHGAP22, CDK2AP1, CHML, NCOR2,
      SLC23A2 and RPL9 in three groups of SMA patients. Of notable interest, compared
      to type I SMA male patients, the methylation level of a target CpG site and one
      nearby CpG site belonging to the 5'UTR of SLC23A2 were significantly
      hypomethylated 19-22% in type III-IV patients. In contrast to type I SMA male
      patients, type III-IV patients demonstrated a 16% decrease in the methylation
      levels of a target CpG site, belonging to the 5'UTR of NCOR2. To conclude, this
      study validates the data of our previous study and confirms significant
      methylation changes in the SLC23A2 and NCOR2 regulatory regions correlates with
      SMA severity. 

PMID- 25821970
TI  - A framework for the monitoring and evaluation of international surgical
      initiatives in low- and middle-income countries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An estimated two billion people worldwide lack adequate access to
      surgical care. To address this humanitarian emergency, an increasing number of
      international surgical partnerships are emerging between developed and low- and
      middle-income countries (LMICs). At present, there are no clear indicators that
      may be used to assess the effectiveness of such initiatives. STUDY DESIGN: We
      conducted an international qualitative study of 31 surgeons from developed and
      LMICs involved in international partnerships across a variety of subspecialties.
      Thematic analysis and grounded theory were applied in order to develop a
      practical framework that may be applied to monitor and evaluate global surgical
      initiatives. RESULTS: Several themes emerged from the study: (i) there is a large
      unmet need to establish and maintain prospective databases in LMICs to inform the
      monitoring and evaluation of international surgical partnerships; (ii) assessment
      of initiatives must occur longitudinally over the span of several years; (ii) the
      domains of assessment are contextual and encompass cultural, institutional and
      regional factors; and (iv) evaluation strategies should explore broader impact
      within the community and country. Based on thematic analysis within the domains
      of inputs, outputs and outcomes, a framework for the monitoring and evaluation of
      international surgical initiatives, the Framework for the Assessment of
      InteRNational Surgical Success (FAIRNeSS) is proposed. CONCLUSIONS: In response
      to the increasing number of surgical partnerships between developed and LMICs, we
      propose a framework to monitor and evaluate international surgical initiatives.

PMID- 25821971
TI  - Diosmin protects against ethanol-induced gastric injury in rats: novel anti-ulcer
      actions.
AB  - Alcohol consumption has been commonly associated with gastric mucosal lesions
      including gastric ulcer. Diosmin (DIO) is a natural citrus flavone with
      remarkable antioxidant and anti-inflammatory features that underlay its
      protection against cardiac, hepatic and renal injuries. However, its impact on
      gastric ulcer has not yet been elucidated. Thus, the current study aimed to
      investigate the potential protective effects of DIO against ethanol-induced
      gastric injury in rats. Pretreatment with DIO (100 mg/kg p.o.) attenuated the
      severity of ethanol gastric mucosal damage as evidenced by lowering of ulcer
      index (UI) scores, area of gastric lesions, histopathologic aberrations and
      leukocyte invasion. These actions were analogous to those exerted by the
      reference antiulcer sucralfate. DIO suppressed gastric inflammation by curbing of
      myeloperoxidase (MPO) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) levels along
      with nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) p65 expression. It also augmented the
      anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 (IL-10) levels. Meanwhile, DIO halted gastric
      oxidative stress via inhibition of lipid peroxides with concomitant enhancement
      of glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and the total antioxidant
      capacity (TAC). With respect to gastric mucosal apoptosis, DIO suppressed caspase
      3 activity and cytochrome C (Cyt C) with enhancement of the anti-apoptotic B cell
      lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) in favor of cell survival. These favorable actions were
      associated with upregulation of the gastric cytoprotective prostaglandin E2
      (PGE2) and nitric oxide (NO). Together, these findings accentuate the
      gastroprotective actions of DIO in ethanol gastric injury which were mediated via
      concerted multi-pronged actions, including suppression of gastric inflammation,
      oxidative stress and apoptosis besides boosting of the antioxidant and the
      cytoprotective defenses. 

PMID- 25821972
TI  - Transcriptome analysis of post-hatch breast muscle in legacy and modern broiler
      chickens reveals enrichment of several regulators of myogenic growth.
AB  - Agriculture provides excellent model systems for understanding how selective
      pressure, as applied by humans, can affect the genomes of plants and animals. One
      such system is modern poultry breeding in which intensive genetic selection has
      been applied for meat production in the domesticated chicken. As a result, modern
      meat-type chickens (broilers) exhibit enhanced growth, especially of the skeletal
      muscle, relative to their legacy counterparts. Comparative studies of modern and
      legacy broiler chickens provide an opportunity to identify genes and pathways
      affected by this human-directed evolution. This study used RNA-seq to compare the
      transcriptomes of a modern and a legacy broiler line to identify differentially
      enriched genes in the breast muscle at days 6 and 21 post-hatch. Among the 15,945
      genes analyzed, 10,841 were expressed at greater than 0.1 RPKM. At day 6 post
      hatch 189 genes, including several regulators of myogenic growth and development,
      were differentially enriched between the two lines. The transcriptional profiles
      between lines at day 21 post-hatch identify 193 genes differentially enriched and
      still include genes associated with myogenic growth. This study identified
      differentially enriched genes that regulate myogenic growth and differentiation
      between the modern and legacy broiler lines. Specifically, differences in the
      ratios of several positive (IGF1, IGF1R, WFIKKN2) and negative (MSTN, ACE)
      myogenic growth regulators may help explain the differences underlying the
      enhanced growth characteristics of the modern broilers. 

PMID- 25821975
TI  - Rhizodeposition of nitrogen and carbon by mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) and its
      contribution to intercropped oats (Avena nuda L.).
AB  - Compounds released by mungbean roots potentially represent an enormous source of
      nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) in mungbean-oat intercropping systems. In this study,
      an in situ experiment was conducted using a 15N - 13C double stem-feeding method
      to measure N and C derived from the rhizodeposition (NdfR and CdfR) of mungbean
      and their transfer to oats in an intercropping system. Mungbean plants were sole
      cropped (S) or intercropped (I) with oat. The plants were labeled 5 weeks after
      planting and were harvested at the beginning of pod setting (Ip and Sp) and at
      maturity (Im and Sm). More than 60% and 50% of the applied 15N and 13C,
      respectively, were recovered in each treatment, with 15N and 13C being quite
      uniformly distributed in the different plant parts. NdfR represented 9.8% (Sp),
      9.2% (Ip), 20.1% (Sm), and 21.2% (Im) of total mungbean plant N, whereas CdfR
      represented 13.3% (Sp), 42.0% (Ip), 15.4% (Sm), and 22.6% (Im) of total mungbean
      plant C. When considering the part of rhizodeposition transferred to associated
      oat, intercropping mungbean released more NdfR and CdfR than mungbean alone.
      About 53.4-83.2% of below-ground plant N (BGP-N) and 58.4-85.9% of BGP-C
      originated from NdfR and CdfR, respectively. The N in oats derived from mungbean
      increased from 7.6% at the pod setting stage to 9.7% at maturity, whereas the C
      in oats increased from 16.2% to 22.0%, respectively. Only a small percentage of
      rhizodeposition from mungbean was transferred to oats in the intercropping
      systems, with a large percentage remaining in the soil. This result indicates
      that mungbean rhizodeposition might contribute to higher N and C availability in
      the soil for subsequent crops. 

PMID- 25821973
TI  - Transgenic expression of the dicotyledonous pattern recognition receptor EFR in
      rice leads to ligand-dependent activation of defense responses.
AB  - Plant plasma membrane localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) detect
      extracellular pathogen-associated molecules. PRRs such as Arabidopsis EFR and
      rice XA21 are taxonomically restricted and are absent from most plant genomes.
      Here we show that rice plants expressing EFR or the chimeric receptor EFR::XA21,
      containing the EFR ectodomain and the XA21 intracellular domain, sense both
      Escherichia coli- and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo)-derived elf18 peptides
      at sub-nanomolar concentrations. Treatment of EFR and EFR::XA21 rice leaf tissue
      with elf18 leads to MAP kinase activation, reactive oxygen production and defense
      gene expression. Although expression of EFR does not lead to robust enhanced
      resistance to fully virulent Xoo isolates, it does lead to quantitatively
      enhanced resistance to weakly virulent Xoo isolates. EFR interacts with OsSERK2
      and the XA21 binding protein 24 (XB24), two key components of the rice XA21
      mediated immune response. Rice-EFR plants silenced for OsSERK2, or overexpressing
      rice XB24 are compromised in elf18-induced reactive oxygen production and defense
      gene expression indicating that these proteins are also important for EFR
      mediated signaling in transgenic rice. Taken together, our results demonstrate
      the potential feasibility of enhancing disease resistance in rice and possibly
      other monocotyledonous crop species by expression of dicotyledonous PRRs. Our
      results also suggest that Arabidopsis EFR utilizes at least a subset of the known
      endogenous rice XA21 signaling components. 

PMID- 25821974
TI  - Identification of real microRNA precursors with a pseudo structure status
      composition approach.
AB  - Containing about 22 nucleotides, a micro RNA (abbreviated miRNA) is a small non
      coding RNA molecule, functioning in transcriptional and post-transcriptional
      regulation of gene expression. The human genome may encode over 1000 miRNAs.
      Albeit poorly characterized, miRNAs are widely deemed as important regulators of
      biological processes. Aberrant expression of miRNAs has been observed in many
      cancers and other disease states, indicating they are deeply implicated with
      these diseases, particularly in carcinogenesis. Therefore, it is important for
      both basic research and miRNA-based therapy to discriminate the real pre-miRNAs
      from the false ones (such as hairpin sequences with similar stem-loops).
      Particularly, with the avalanche of RNA sequences generated in the postgenomic
      age, it is highly desired to develop computational sequence-based methods in this
      regard. Here two new predictors, called "iMcRNA-PseSSC" and "iMcRNA-ExPseSSC",
      were proposed for identifying the human pre-microRNAs by incorporating the global
      or long-range structure-order information using a way quite similar to the pseudo
      amino acid composition approach. Rigorous cross-validations on a much larger and
      more stringent newly constructed benchmark dataset showed that the two new
      predictors (accessible at http://bioinformatics.hitsz.edu.cn/iMcRNA/)
      outperformed or were highly comparable with the best existing predictors in this
      area.

PMID- 25821976
TI  - Oxidative stress as a pharmacological target for medicinal chemistry: synthesis
      and evaluation of compounds with redox activity - part 4.

PMID- 25821978
TI  - Correction: Temporal evolution of ischemic lesions in nonhuman primates: a
      diffusion and perfusion MRI study.

PMID- 25821979
TI  - Correction: transcriptional evidence for the role of chronic venlafaxine
      treatment in neurotrophic signaling and neuroplasticity including also
      Glutatmatergic- and insulin-mediated neuronal processes.

PMID- 25821977
TI  - Influence of a non-hospital medical care facility on antimicrobial resistance in
      wastewater.
AB  - The global widespread use of antimicrobials and accompanying increase in
      resistant bacterial strains is of major public health concern. Wastewater systems
      and wastewater treatment plants are considered a niche for antibiotic resistance
      genes (ARGs), with diverse microbial communities facilitating ARG transfer via
      mobile genetic element (MGE). In contrast to hospital sewage, wastewater from
      other health care facilities is still poorly investigated. At the instance of a
      nursing home located in south-west Germany, in the present study, shotgun
      metagenomics was used to investigate the impact on wastewater of samples
      collected up- and down-stream in different seasons. Microbial composition, ARGs
      and MGEs were analyzed using different annotation approaches with various
      databases, including Antibiotic Resistance Ontologies (ARO), integrons and
      plasmids. Our analysis identified seasonal differences in microbial communities
      and abundance of ARG and MGE between samples from different seasons. However, no
      obvious differences were detected between up- and downstream samples. The results
      suggest that, in contrast to hospitals, sewage from the nursing home does not
      have a major impact on ARG or MGE in wastewater, presumably due to much less
      intense antimicrobial usage. Possible limitations of metagenomic studies using
      high-throughput sequencing for detection of genes that seemingly confer
      antibiotic resistance are discussed. 

PMID- 25821980
TI  - Building trust with people receiving supported employment and housing first
      services.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The developing literature on supported employment for people who have
      a mental illness and recent history of homelessness has yet to explore the
      relationship between clients and their employment specialists. The objective of
      the present article is to explore and understand the way in which service users
      experience supported employment services and how these experiences differ from
      those receiving usual services. METHOD: Semistructured qualitative interviews
      were conducted with 27 people from a randomized controlled trial of supported
      employment, 14 receiving supported employment, and 13 receiving usual services.
      Thematic content analysis was used to generate themes and compare experiences
      between the 2 groups. RESULTS: Trust emerged as an important facilitator to
      development of a collaborative relationship. It developed with time and featured
      in the narratives of participants who found jobs. Lack of trust and communication
      was associated with greater difficulty finding work. People receiving usual
      services rarely had repeated contact with service providers and therefore did not
      develop working alliances to the same extent as people receiving supported
      employment. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Without the support of an employment
      specialist, participants receiving usual services relied more on internal
      motivation to search for employment opportunities. Programs assisting people to
      reach their employment goals must be sensitive to homelessness-specific
      experiences that may make establishing trust difficult. Vocational services
      should be designed to allow clients to deal exclusively with 1 service provider
      to permit the development of a working alliance.

PMID- 25821981
TI  - Stigma of taking psychiatric medications among psychiatric outpatient veterans.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Service members and veterans underutilize mental health services due
      to stigma. The study investigated stigma of taking psychiatric medications, and
      its relationship to internalized stigma of mental illness, gender, age, service
      era, duration of taking medications, and their perceived helpfulness. METHOD: Of
      the 200 veterans completing an anonymous questionnaire in an outpatient mental
      health waiting room, data are presented on the 159 who reported taking
      psychiatric medications. RESULTS: Medication stigma was related to internalized
      stigma and was common: over one half reported feeling uncomfortable disclosing or
      feeling judged, and about one fifth reported feeling embarrassed. Medication
      stigma was not related to gender, duration, or helpfulness. Younger age was
      associated with feeling judged, and more recent service era was associated with
      shame. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Medication stigma among
      veterans is common and warrants further study. Discomfort disclosing and feeling
      judged might be particularly worthy targets of discussion in shared decisions
      about medication.

PMID- 25821982
TI  - Modeling stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and intentions to seek behavioral
      healthcare in a clinical military sample.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationship between public and self-stigma of
      seeking behavioral health services, and help-seeking attitudes and intent in a
      sample of active duty military personnel currently being assessed for traumatic
      brain injuries in a military health center. Although it has been suggested that
      many military personnel in need of care do not seek services due to concerns with
      stigma it is not fully clear what role different types of stigma play in the
      process. METHOD: Using previously collected data from a clinical sample of 97
      military personnel, we conducted path analyses to test the mediation effects of
      self-stigma on the relationship between public stigma and attitudes toward and
      intentions to seek behavioral health care. RESULTS: In contrast to a model of
      military stigma but in line with research with civilian samples, results from
      this study indicate that self-stigma fully mediates the relationship between
      public stigma and help-seeking attitudes and intentions. CONCLUSIONS AND
      IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: These results indicate that programming aimed at
      increasing mental health care use in the military might best focus on reducing
      self-stigma associated with seeking mental health services.

PMID- 25821983
TI  - The chromatin remodelers RSC and ISW1 display functional and chromatin-based
      promoter antagonism.
AB  - ISWI family chromatin remodelers typically organize nucleosome arrays, while
      SWI/SNF family remodelers (RSC) typically disorganize and eject nucleosomes,
      implying an antagonism that is largely unexplored in vivo. Here, we describe two
      independent genetic screens for rsc suppressors that yielded mutations in the
      promoter-focused ISW1a complex or mutations in the 'basic patch' of histone H4
      (an epitope that regulates ISWI activity), strongly supporting RSC-ISW1a
      antagonism in vivo. RSC and ISW1a largely co-localize, and genomic nucleosome
      studies using rsc isw1 mutant combinations revealed opposing functions: promoters
      classified with a nucleosome-deficient region (NDR) gain nucleosome occupancy in
      rsc mutants, but this gain is attenuated in rsc isw1 double mutants. Furthermore,
      promoters lacking NDRs have the highest occupancy of both remodelers, consistent
      with regulation by nucleosome occupancy, and decreased transcription in rsc
      mutants. Taken together, we provide the first genetic and genomic evidence for
      RSC-ISW1a antagonism and reveal different mechanisms at two different promoter
      architectures. 

PMID- 25821984
TI  - Oxyntomodulin regulates resetting of the liver circadian clock by food.
AB  - Circadian clocks coordinate 24-hr rhythms of behavior and physiology. In mammals,
      a master clock residing in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is reset by the
      light-dark cycle, while timed food intake is a potent synchronizer of peripheral
      clocks such as the liver. Alterations in food intake rhythms can uncouple
      peripheral clocks from the SCN, resulting in internal desynchrony, which promotes
      obesity and metabolic disorders. Pancreas-derived hormones such as insulin and
      glucagon have been implicated in signaling mealtime to peripheral clocks. In this
      study, we identify a novel, more direct pathway of food-driven liver clock
      resetting involving oxyntomodulin (OXM). In mice, food intake stimulates OXM
      secretion from the gut, which resets liver transcription rhythms via induction of
      the core clock genes Per1 and 2. Inhibition of OXM signaling blocks food-mediated
      resetting of hepatocyte clocks. These data reveal a direct link between gastric
      filling with food and circadian rhythm phasing in metabolic tissues. 

PMID- 25821985
TI  - Rab6 regulation of the kinesin family KIF1C motor domain contributes to Golgi
      tethering.
AB  - Most kinesins transport cargoes bound to their C-termini and use N-terminal motor
      domains to move along microtubules. We report here a novel function for KIF1C: it
      transports Rab6A-vesicles and can influence Golgi complex organization. These
      activities correlate with KIF1C's capacity to bind the Golgi protein Rab6A
      directly, both via its motor domain and C-terminus. Rab6A binding to the motor
      domain inhibits microtubule interaction in vitro and in cells, decreasing the
      amount of motile KIF1C. KIF1C depletion slows protein delivery to the cell
      surface, interferes with vesicle motility, and triggers Golgi fragmentation.
      KIF1C can protect Golgi membranes from fragmentation in cells lacking an intact
      microtubule network. Rescue of fragmentation requires sequences that enable KIF1C
      to bind Rab6A at both ends, but not KIF1C motor function. Rab6A binding to
      KIF1C's motor domain represents an entirely new mode of regulation for a kinesin
      motor, and likely has important consequences for KIF1C's cellular functions. 

PMID- 25821986
TI  - Genetic basis of sRNA quantitative variation analyzed using an experimental
      population derived from an elite rice hybrid.
AB  - We performed a genetic analysis of sRNA abundance in flag leaf from an
      immortalized F2 (IMF2) population in rice. We identified 53,613,739 unique sRNAs
      and 165,797 sRNA expression traits (s-traits). A total of 66,649 s-traits mapped
      40,049 local-sQTLs and 30,809 distant-sQTLs. By defining 80,362 sRNA clusters,
      22,263 sRNA cluster QTLs (scQTLs) were recovered for 20,249 of all the 50,139
      sRNA cluster expression traits (sc-traits). The expression levels for most of s
      traits from the same genes or the same sRNA clusters were slightly positively
      correlated. While genetic co-regulation between sRNAs from the same mother genes
      and between sRNAs and their mother genes was observed for a portion of the sRNAs,
      most of the sRNAs and their mother genes showed little co-regulation. Some sRNA
      biogenesis genes were located in distant-sQTL hotspots and showed correspondence
      with specific length classes of sRNAs suggesting their important roles in the
      regulation and biogenesis of the sRNAs. 

PMID- 25821987
TI  - Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells regulate the regeneration of their niche
      by secreting Angiopoietin-1.
AB  - Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are maintained by a perivascular niche in bone
      marrow but it is unclear whether the niche is reciprocally regulated by HSCs.
      Here, we systematically assessed the expression and function of Angiopoietin-1
      (Angpt1) in bone marrow. Angpt1 was not expressed by osteoblasts. Angpt1 was most
      highly expressed by HSCs, and at lower levels by c-kit(+) hematopoietic
      progenitors, megakaryocytes, and Leptin Receptor(+) (LepR(+)) stromal cells.
      Global conditional deletion of Angpt1, or deletion from osteoblasts, LepR+ cells,
      Nes-cre-expressing cells, megakaryocytes, endothelial cells or hematopoietic
      cells in normal mice did not affect hematopoiesis, HSC maintenance, or HSC
      quiescence. Deletion of Angpt1 from hematopoietic cells and LepR(+) cells had
      little effect on vasculature or HSC frequency under steady-state conditions but
      accelerated vascular and hematopoietic recovery after irradiation while
      increasing vascular leakiness. Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and LepR(+)
      stromal cells regulate niche regeneration by secreting Angpt1, reducing vascular
      leakiness but slowing niche recovery. 

PMID- 25821989
TI  - The self-organization of grid cells in 3D.
AB  - Do we expect periodic grid cells to emerge in bats, or perhaps dolphins,
      exploring a three-dimensional environment? How long will it take? Our self
      organizing model, based on ring-rate adaptation, points at a complex answer. The
      mathematical analysis leads to asymptotic states resembling face centered cubic
      (FCC) and hexagonal close packed (HCP) crystal structures, which are calculated
      to be very close to each other in terms of cost function. The simulation of the
      full model, however, shows that the approach to such asymptotic states involves
      several sub-processes over distinct time scales. The smoothing of the initially
      irregular multiple fields of individual units and their arrangement into
      hexagonal grids over certain best planes are observed to occur relatively
      quickly, even in large 3D volumes. The correct mutual orientation of the planes,
      though, and the coordinated arrangement of different units, take a longer time,
      with the network showing no sign of convergence towards either a pure FCC or HCP
      ordering. 

PMID- 25821990
TI  - Chemistry and anticarcinogenic mechanisms of glycoalkaloids produced by
      eggplants, potatoes, and tomatoes.
AB  - Inhibition of cancer can occur via apoptosis, a genetically directed process of
      cell self-destruction that involves numerous biomarkers and signaling pathways.
      Glycoalkaloids are nitrogen-containing secondary plant metabolites found in
      numerous Solanaceous plants including eggplants, potatoes, and tomatoes. Exposure
      of cancer cells to glycoalkaloids produced by eggplants (alpha-solamargine and
      alpha-solasonine), potatoes (alpha-chaconine and alpha-solanine), and tomatoes
      (alpha-tomatine) or their hydrolysis products (mono-, di-, and trisaccharide
      derivatives and the aglycones solasodine, solanidine, and tomatidine) inhibits
      the growth of the cells in culture (in vitro) as well as tumor growth in vivo.
      This overview comprehensively surveys and consolidates worldwide efforts to
      define the following aspects of these natural compounds: (a) their prevalence in
      the three foods; (b) their chemistry and structure-activity relationships; (c)
      the reported factors (biomarkers, signaling pathways) associated with apoptosis
      of bone, breast, cervical, colon, gastric, glioblastoma, leukemia, liver, lung,
      lymphoma, melanoma, pancreas, prostate, and squamous cell carcinoma cell lines in
      vitro and the in vivo inhibition of tumor formation and growth in fish and mice
      and in human skin cancers; and (d) future research needs. The described results
      may make it possible to better relate the structures of the active compounds to
      their health-promoting function, individually, in combination, and in food, and
      allow the consumer to select glycoalkaloid-containing food with the optimal
      content of nontoxic beneficial compounds. The described findings are expected to
      be a valuable record and resource for further investigation of the health
      benefits of food-related natural compounds. 

PMID- 25821988
TI  - G-protein-coupled receptors regulate autophagy by ZBTB16-mediated ubiquitination
      and proteasomal degradation of Atg14L.
AB  - Autophagy is an important intracellular catabolic mechanism involved in the
      removal of misfolded proteins. Atg14L, the mammalian ortholog of Atg14 in yeast
      and a critical regulator of autophagy, mediates the production PtdIns3P to
      initiate the formation of autophagosomes. However, it is not clear how Atg14L is
      regulated. In this study, we demonstrate that ubiquitination and degradation of
      Atg14L is controlled by ZBTB16-Cullin3-Roc1 E3 ubiquitin ligase complex.
      Furthermore, we show that a wide range of G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)
      ligands and agonists regulate the levels of Atg14L through ZBTB16. In addition,
      we show that the activation of autophagy by pharmacological inhibition of GPCR
      reduces the accumulation of misfolded proteins and protects against behavior
      dysfunction in a mouse model of Huntington's disease. Our study demonstrates a
      common molecular mechanism by which the activation of GPCRs leads to the
      suppression of autophagy and a pharmacological strategy to activate autophagy in
      the CNS for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. 

PMID- 25821991
TI  - Charge-enhanced acidity and catalyst activation.
AB  - Acidities are commonly measured in polar solvents but catalytic reactions are
      typically carried out in nonpolar media. IR spectra of a series of phenols in
      CCl4 and 1% CD3CN/CCl4 provide relative acidities. Nonprotonated charged
      substituents with an appropriate counterion are found to enhance their Bronsted
      acidities and improve catalyst performance by orders of magnitude. 

PMID- 25821992
TI  - Meeting abstracts - 27th annual meeting expo.
AB  - Abstracts provide a forum through which authors can share their insights and
      outcomes of advanced managed care practice through publication in AMCP's Journal
      of Managed Care Specialty Pharmacy (JMCP). Of the abstracts accepted for
      publication, most are presented as posters, so interested AMCP meeting attendees
      can review the findings and query authors. The main poster presentation is
      Thursday, April 9, 2015; posters are also displayed on Friday, April 10, 2015.
      The AMCP 2015 Annual Meeting Expo in San Diego, California, is expected to
      attract more than 3,500 managed care pharmacists and other health care
      professionals who manage and evaluate drug therapies, develop and manage
      networks, and work with medical managers and information specialists to improve
      the care of all individuals enrolled in managed care programs. 

PMID- 25821993
TI  - Femtosecond laser ablation molecular isotopic spectrometry for zirconium isotope
      analysis.
AB  - Laser ablation molecular isotopic spectrometry (LAMIS) for rapid isotopic
      analysis of zirconium at atmospheric pressure was studied with a femtosecond
      laser system operated under high repetition rate (1 kHz) and low pulse energy
      (160 MUJ). The temporal evolution of zirconium neutral-atomic and ionic lines, as
      well as zirconium oxide molecular bands, were studied. Six molecular bands,
      belonging to the d(3)Delta-a(3)Delta (i.e., the alpha system) and E(1)Sigma(+)
      X(1)Sigma(+) transitions, were observed with appreciable isotopic shifts. The
      assignments of the isotopic bandheads were first based on theoretical predictions
      of the band origins and the associated isotopic shifts of various dipole-allowed
      ZrO electronic transitions, followed by an experimental confirmation with a
      (94)Zr-enriched ZrO2 sample. In this work, the alpha(0,1) band from the
      d(3)Delta3-a(3)Delta3 subsystem was utilized for Zr isotope analysis based on a
      compromise between the magnitude of isotopic shifts in emission wavelengths,
      emission strengths, signal-to-background ratios, and spectral interferences. The
      analysis was performed in a standardless calibration approach; the isotopic
      information was extracted from the experimentally measured molecular spectra
      through theoretical spectral fitting. The results demonstrate the feasibility to
      obtain isotopic information for a spectrally complicated element like zirconium,
      without the need to use isotopically labeled calibration standards. The
      availability of comprehensive molecular constants will further improve the
      analytical accuracy of this standardless calibration approach. 

PMID- 25821994
TI  - A highly tunable and fully biocompatible silk nanoplasmonic optical sensor.
AB  - Novel concepts for manipulating plasmonic resonances and the biocompatibility of
      plasmonic devices offer great potential in versatile applications involving real
      time and in vivo monitoring of analytes with high sensitivity in biomedical and
      biological research. Here we report a biocompatible and highly tunable plasmonic
      bio/chemical sensor consisting of a natural silk protein and a gold
      nanostructure. Our silk plasmonic absorber sensor (SPAS) takes advantage of the
      strong local field enhancement in the metal-insulator-metal resonator in which
      silk protein is used as an insulating spacer and substrate. The silk insulating
      spacer has hydrogel properties and therefore exhibits a controllable swelling
      when exposed to water-alcohol mixtures. We experimentally and numerically show
      that drastic spectral shifts in reflectance minima arise from the changing
      physical volume and refractive index of the silk spacer during swelling.
      Furthermore, we apply this SPAS device as a glucose sensor with a very high
      sensitivity of 1200 nm/RIU (refractive index units) and high relative intensity
      change. 

PMID- 25821995
TI  - Staphylococcus epidermidis Affinity for Fibrinogen-Coated Surfaces Correlates
      with the Abundance of the SdrG Adhesin on the Cell Surface.
AB  - Staphylococcus epidermidis is a world-leading pathogen in healthcare facilities,
      mainly causing medical device-associated infections. These nosocomial diseases
      often result in complications such as bacteremia, fibrosis, or peritonitis. The
      virulence of S. epidermidis relies on its ability to colonize surfaces and
      develop thereupon in the form of biofilms. Bacterial adherence on biomaterials,
      usually covered with plasma proteins after implantation, is a critical step
      leading to biofilm infections. The cell surface protein SdrG mediates adhesion of
      S. epidermidis to fibrinogen (Fg) through a specific "dock, lock, and latch"
      mechanism, which results in greatly stabilized protein-ligand complexes. Here, we
      combine single-molecule, single-cell, and whole population assays to investigate
      the extent to which the surface density of SdrG determines the ability of S.
      epidermidis clinical strains HB, ATCC 35984, and ATCC 12228 to bind to Fg-coated
      surfaces. Strains that showed enhanced adhesion on Fg-coated polydimethylsiloxane
      (PDMS) were characterized by increased amounts of SdrG proteins on the cell
      surface, as observed by single-molecule analysis. Consistent with previous
      reports showing increased expression of SdrG following in vivo exposure, this
      work provides direct evidence that abundance of SdrG on the cell surface of S.
      epidermidis strains dramatically improves their ability to bind to Fg-coated
      implanted medical devices. 

PMID- 25821996
TI  - Work modification as a treatment for low-back pain.

PMID- 25821997
TI  - Exposure of Microcystis aeruginosa to Hydrogen Peroxide under Light: Kinetic
      Modeling of Cell Rupture and Simultaneous Microcystin Degradation.
AB  - The effect of hydrogen peroxide on the cell integrity of a cyanobacterium,
      Microcystis aeruginosa, and on the release and degradation of microcystins (MCs)
      under simulated sunlight was investigated. The cyanobacterium was exposed to H2O2
      in the range of 0-60 mg.L(-1) for 3.5 h. Production of OH radical in the solution
      was estimated by a chemical probe method. More than 99% (2 log) of the M.
      aeruginosa cells were ruptured or damaged by 3 h for all the treatments. Loss of
      cell integrity over time revealed two distinct phases. Cells retained their
      integrity during the initial lag phase and rapidly ruptured following first-order
      reaction afterward. A linear relationship was found between the duration of the
      lag phase and the steady-state concentration of OH radical. Release of MCs was
      closely correlated with the loss of cell integrity. Sequential reaction models
      were developed to simulate the release and degradation of MCs. These models were
      able to quantitatively describe the kinetics of all reactions under different
      H2O2 doses and extended exposure time. In particular, the models successfully
      predicted the concentration change of MCs using independently measured
      parameters. These models provide a simple and quantitative means to estimate the
      interaction of oxidants and cells and the consequent release of metabolites
      during oxidation treatment of cyanobacterium-laden waters. 

PMID- 25821998
TI  - Transition-metal-catalyzed C-N bond forming reactions using organic azides as the
      nitrogen source: a journey for the mild and versatile C-H amination.
AB  - Owing to the prevalence of nitrogen-containing compounds in functional materials,
      natural products and important pharmaceutical agents, chemists have actively
      searched for the development of efficient and selective methodologies allowing
      for the facile construction of carbon-nitrogen bonds. While metal-catalyzed C-N
      cross-coupling reactions have been established as one of the most general
      protocols for C-N bond formation, these methods require starting materials
      equipped with functional groups such as (hetero)aryl halides or their
      equivalents, thus generating stoichiometric amounts of halide salts as
      byproducts. To address this aspect, a transition-metal-catalyzed direct C-H
      amination approach has emerged as a step- and atom-economical alternative to the
      conventional C-N cross-coupling reactions. However, despite the significant
      recent advances in metal-mediated direct C-H amination reactions, most available
      procedures need harsh conditions requiring stoichiometric external oxidants. In
      this context, we were curious to see whether a transition-metal-catalyzed mild C
      H amination protocol could be achieved using organic azides as the amino source.
      We envisaged that a dual role of organic azides as an environmentally benign
      amino source and also as an internal oxidant via N-N2 bond cleavage would be key
      to develop efficient C-H amination reactions employing azides. An additional
      advantage of this approach was anticipated: that a sole byproduct is molecular
      nitrogen (N2) under the perspective catalytic conditions. This Account mainly
      describes our research efforts on the development of rhodium- and iridium
      catalyzed direct C-H amination reactions with organic azides. Under our initially
      optimized Rh(III)-catalyzed amination conditions, not only sulfonyl azides but
      also aryl- and alkyl azides could be utilized as facile amino sources in reaction
      with various types of C(sp(2))-H bonds bearing such directing groups as pyridine,
      amide, or ketoxime. More recently, a new catalyst system using Ir(III) species
      was developed for the direct C-H amidation of arenes and alkenes with acyl azides
      under exceptionally mild conditions. As a natural extension, amidation of primary
      C(sp(3))-H bonds could also be realized on the basis of the superior activity of
      the Cp*Ir(III) catalyst. Mechanistic investigations revealed that a catalytic
      cycle is operated mainly in three stages: (i) chelation-assisted metallacycle
      formation via C-H bond cleavage; (ii) C-N bond formation through the in situ
      generation of a metal-nitrenoid intermediate followed by the insertion of an
      imido moiety to the metal carbon bond; (iii) product release via
      protodemetalation with the concomitant catalyst regeneration. In addition, this
      Account also summarizes the recent advances in the ruthenium- and cobalt
      catalyzed amination reactions using organic azides, developed by our own and
      other groups. Comparative studies on the relative performance of those catalytic
      systems are briefly described. 

PMID- 25821999
TI  - Polydiacetylene-embedded microbeads for colorimetric and volumetric sensing of
      hydrocarbons.
AB  - Rational design of a hydrocarbon sensor that enables visual differentiation of
      saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons (SAHCs) is very difficult owing to the lack of
      useful functional groups that can interact with the sensor system. Here, we
      report a microbead embedded with polydiacetylene that undergoes faster swelling
      and faster blue-to-red color change in response to the hydrocarbons of shorter
      alkyl chains. Accordingly, visual differentiation among n-pentane, n-heptane, n
      nonane, and n-undecane was readily achieved. By taking advantage of the
      collective effect, construction of a sensor system with amplified response was
      possible. Combination of microfluidic technology (for bead preparation), PDMS
      (swellable polymeric matrix), and polydiacetylene (colorimetric material) was key
      to enabling this unique hydrocarbon sensor. 

PMID- 25822000
TI  - Electron-induced growth mechanism of conducting polymers: a coupled experimental
      and computational investigation.
AB  - Pulse radiolysis was used to study the mechanism of HO(*)-induced polymerization
      of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PEDOT, in aqueous solution. A step-by-step
      mechanism has been found which involves a recurrent oxidation process by HO(*)
      hydroxyl radicals produced by water radiolysis. Furthermore, the cation radical,
      EDOT(*)(+), has been proposed as the promoter of the first step of
      polymerization. The determination of rate constants values and the attribution of
      transient and stable species were confirmed by molecular simulations and
      spectrokinetic analysis. Moreover, applying a series of electron pulses enabled
      in situ PEDOT polymerization. These polymers, which were characterized in
      solution or after deposition, form globular self-assembled structures with
      interesting conducting properties. Such a synthesis initiated for the first time
      by an electron accelerator gives us a glimpse of future promising industrial
      applications in the field of conducting polymers synthesis. 

PMID- 25822001
TI  - Rh(III) and Ru(II)-catalyzed site-selective C-H alkynylation of quinolones.
AB  - C2- and C5-alkynylated quinolone scaffolds are core structures of numerous
      biologically active molecules. Utilizing TIPS-EBX as an alkynylating agent, we
      have developed an efficient and site-selective C5 alkynylation of 4-quinolones
      that is directed by the weakly coordinating carbonyl group. In addition, Ru(II)
      catalyzed C2-selective alkynylation was successfully realized via N-pyrimidyl
      group-directed cross-couplings to access valuable C2-alkynylated 4-quinolones.
      This strategy provides direct access to the C2 or C5 alkynylated 4-quinolones.
      Furthermore, the reaction was applied to isoquinolones for C3-selective
      alkynylation. 

PMID- 25822002
TI  - Intakes of caffeine, coffee and tea and risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis:
      Results from five cohort studies.
AB  - Caffeine is thought to be neuroprotective by antagonizing the adenosine A2A
      receptors in the brain and thereby protecting motor neurons from excitotoxicity.
      We examined the association between consumption of caffeine, coffee and tea and
      risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Longitudinal analyses based on over
      1,010,000 males and females in five large cohort studies (the Nurses' Health
      Study, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, the Cancer Prevention Study II
      Nutrition Cohort, the Multiethnic Cohort Study, and the National Institutes of
      Health-AARP Diet and Health Study). Cohort-specific multivariable-adjusted risk
      ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) estimates of ALS incidence or death
      were estimated by Cox proportional hazards regression and pooled using random
      effects models. Results showed that a total of 1279 cases of ALS were documented
      during a mean of 18 years of follow-up. Caffeine intake was not associated with
      ALS risk; the pooled multivariable-adjusted RR comparing the highest to the
      lowest quintile of intake was 0.96 (95% CI 0.81-1.16). Similarly, neither coffee
      nor tea was associated with ALS risk. In conclusion, the results of this large
      study do not support associations of caffeine or caffeinated beverages with ALS
      risk. 

PMID- 25822003
TI  - Epidemiology and surveillance of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in two large
      metropolitan areas in California.
AB  - Our objective was to provide demographic profiles and incidence estimates of
      amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in two diverse California metropolitan areas:
      Los Angeles County (LA) and the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA). Data were
      retrospectively collected from multiple sources. Case eligibility criteria
      included residency in SFBA or LA, and treatment for or diagnosis of ALS between 1
      January 2009 and 31 December 2011. Overall incidence rates as well as age-,
      gender-, race- and ethnicity-specific rates were calculated. We identified 539
      ALS cases in SFBA and 545 in LA; 618 were incident cases. Cases were more likely
      to be male and white. There were considerably more cases (p < 0.05) in LA who
      were foreign-born (LA, 22%; SFBA, 15%), black (LA, 10%; SFBA, 6%) or Hispanic
      (LA, 19%; SFBA, 10%). Conversely, the age adjusted incidence rates (per 100,000)
      were higher in SFBA for whites (LA, 1.40; SFBA, 2.49) and Hispanics (LA, 0.66;
      SFBA, 1.57) compared with LA. General case demographics and incidence rates in
      these two areas were similar to published studies. However, the differences
      between the two areas raise questions about how factors such as geography, access
      to care, and referral patterns may affect case ascertainment and diagnosis. 

PMID- 25822004
TI  - Identification of factors integral to designing community-based CPR interventions
      for high-risk neighborhood residents.
AB  - BACKGROUND: High-risk neighborhoods can be identified as census tracts in which
      cardiac arrest incidence is high and bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation
      (CPR) prevalence is low. However, little is known about how best to tailor
      community CPR training to high-risk neighborhood residents. The objective of this
      study was to identify factors integral to the design and implementation of
      community-based CPR intervention programs targeted to these areas. METHODS: Using
      qualitative methods, six focus groups with 42 participants were conducted in high
      risk neighborhoods in Columbus, Ohio during January and February 2011 to elicit
      resident views on how best to design community-based CPR educational programs for
      these neighborhoods. Snowball and purposeful sampling by community liaisons was
      used to recruit participants. Three reviewers analyzed the data in an iterative
      process to identify recurrent and unifying themes. RESULTS: Focus group
      participants identified four principal considerations for the design of community
      based CPR interventions: 1) identifying lay people to serve as motivated leaders
      while targeting both senior citizens and school children to increase reach, 2)
      finding appropriate community-based locations to hold CPR training, 3) providing
      incentives to encourage more people to participate, and 4) identifying and
      addressing barriers to participation. CONCLUSION: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
      is a particular risk for minority and low-income communities. By working together
      with the community key factors integral to designing community-based CPR within
      these high-risk communities can be identified and implemented.

PMID- 25822005
TI  - Effect of Lactobacillus plantarum NCU116 on loperamide-induced constipation in
      mice.
AB  - Lactobacillus plantarum, as a probiotic, has many functional properties in human
      intestinal tract. This study examined the effects of L. plantarum NCU116 on
      loperamide-induced constipation in a mouse model. Loperamide (5 mg kg(-1)) was
      injected subcutaneously to induce constipation. Animals were divided to five
      groups: normal group, constipation group, constipation plus three doses of L.
      plantarum NCU116 groups (NCU116-L, 10(7) CFU/mL; NCU116-M, 10(8) CFU/mL; NCU116
      H, 10(9) CFU/mL; respectively). Mice were treated with the probiotic for 15 d to
      assess the anti-constipation effects. Fecal parameters, intestinal transit ratio
      and the production of fecal short chain fatty acids, histological of colon and
      immunohistochemical in colonic interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) by c-kit were
      all improved in L. plantarum NCU116-treated mice as compared to the constipation
      group. These results demonstrate that L. plantarum NCU116 enhanced
      gastrointestinal transit and alleviated in mice with loperamide-induced
      constipation. 

PMID- 25822006
TI  - Activity of 30 different cheeses on cholesterol plasma levels and Oxidative
      Balance Risk Index (OBRI) in a rat model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cheese is considered to increase the total cholesterol levels (CH)
      due to the high-saturated fat content. New models are needed to measure the
      relationship between cholesterol and cheese. METHODS: Thirty different cheeses
      produced in Val Brembana, Italy ("furmai da mut", "caprino" and "stracchino"),
      were added to the diet of 30 groups of 4 rats. Cheeses were analyzed to
      differentiate the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the cholesterol content
      (Ch(f)). The body weight, CH, urine volume and oxidative balance were measured.
      Three new indexes in relation to CH were calculated: OI (oxidative index), PI
      (protective index) and OBRI (oxidative balance risk index). RESULTS: None of the
      cheeses increased CH. Some of the "furmai de mut" were significantly decreasing
      CH and improved the oxidative balance. Ch(f) was not affecting the CH levels in
      plasma. In terms of VOCs, the acetic acid content was correlated (p < 0.05) with
      the CH reduction and PI improvement. OBRI was reduced mainly in the "stracchino
      group". CONCLUSIONS: The model shows that some cheese can reduce significantly CH
      levels and improve the antioxidant capacity.

PMID- 25822007
TI  - Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of a pomegranate (Punica
      granatum L.) extract rich in ellagitannins.
AB  - Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) has been used for centuries for the treatment of
      inflammatory diseases. However, there is a lack of comprehensive information
      focused on the properties of a certain pomegranate (poly)phenolic profile to cure
      pain and gastric injury induced by anti-inflammatory drugs. This study
      investigated the systemic effects of different doses of a HPLC-characterized
      pomegranate extract on the formalin-induced nociceptive behavior in mice. The
      effect of the extract against gastric injury caused by non-steroidal anti
      inflammatory drugs and ethanol was also assessed. Pomegranate reduced nociception
      in both phases of the formalin test, suggesting central and peripheral activities
      to inhibit nociception. Indomethacin-induced gastric injury was not produced in
      the presence of pomegranate, which also protected against ethanol-induced gastric
      lesions. The present results reinforce the benefits of pomegranate
      (poly)phenolics in the treatment of pain as well as their anti-inflammatory
      properties. 

PMID- 25822008
TI  - [Quality of Care in Certified Lung Cancer Centers].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Since 2008, lung cancer centers can be certified in accordance with
      the criteria set out by the German Cancer Society (Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft).
      This paper reports on the certification program for lung cancer centers and
      presents data on 18 quality indicators collected during certification. METHODS:
      After checks for plausibility and completeness, data on quality indicators for
      the 2011 and 2012 patient cohorts as well as data of the treating centers were
      analyzed descriptively (relative/absolute frequencies, means, site medians).
      PATIENTS: 23,222 patients with ICD-10 diagnoses C33 und C34 from 35 (2012) and 24
      operating sites (2011), respectively. RESULTS: From 2011 to 2012, both the number
      of certified sites and the number of patients treated increased. Fulfillment of
      the certification requirements is already high and improved slightly from 2011 to
      2012. The implementation of indicators without target values is less advanced.
      CONCLUSION: Thanks to the medical and professional associations as well as the
      oncologic medical experts, the lung cancer certification program is evolving
      continuously. There has been a steady increase both in the number of patients
      treated and the number of lung cancer centers; certification requirements are
      also being increasingly fulfilled.

PMID- 25822009
TI  - [Gender-Specific Differences in Obstructive Lung Diseases].
AB  - Asthma is a common disease with increasing prevalence worldwide. Sex differences
      in asthma vary with age. The prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
      (COPD) in females appears to be increasing.There is increasing clinical evidence
      for sex differences in incidence, morbidity, and mortality of obstructive lung
      disease. The purpose of this review is to define sex differences in epidemiology,
      symptom profiles, and management. This provides valuable information which could
      aid the management of asthma and COPD. There is still a high amount of research
      in gender medicine to do. 

PMID- 25822010
TI  - Effect of 2 psychotherapies on depression and disease activity in pediatric
      Crohn's disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Crohn's disease (CD) is associated with depression. It is unclear if
      psychosocial interventions offer benefit for depressive symptoms during active
      CD. In this secondary analysis of a larger study of treating depression in
      pediatric inflammatory bowel disease, we assessed whether cognitive behavioral
      therapy (CBT) would differentiate from supportive nondirective therapy in
      treating depression and disease activity in youth with CD. We also explored
      whether somatic depressive symptoms showed a different pattern of response in the
      overall sample and the subset with active inflammatory bowel disease. METHODS:
      Youth with depression and CD (n = 161) were randomized to 3 months of CBT
      (teaching coping skills) or supportive nondirective therapy (supportive
      listening). Depressive severity was measured using the Children's Depression
      Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R) with the somatic depressive subtype consisting of
      those CDRS-R items, which significantly correlated with CD activity. Disease
      activity was measured by the Pediatric Crohn's disease Activity Index. Given the
      potential confound of higher dose steroids, subanalyses excluded subjects on >20
      mg/d prednisone equivalent (n = 34). RESULTS: Total CDRS-R scores in the overall
      sample significantly decreased over time after both treatments (P < 0.0001).
      Treatment with CBT was associated with a significantly greater improvement in the
      Pediatric Crohn's disease Activity Index (P = 0.05) and somatic depressive
      subtype (P = 0.03) in those with active inflammatory bowel disease (n = 95)
      compared with supportive nondirective therapy. After excluding those on steroids
      (n = 34), there was a significant improvement in total CDRS-R (P = 0.03) and in
      Pediatric Crohn's disease Activity Index (P = 0.03) after CBT. CONCLUSIONS:
      Psychotherapy may be a useful adjunct to treat depression in the context of CD
      related inflammation in youth who are not concurrently on higher dose steroids.

PMID- 25822011
TI  - Body fat composition assessment using analytic morphomics predicts infectious
      complications after bowel resection in Crohn's disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Decisions between medical and surgical management of Crohn's disease
      (CD) incorporate risk assessments for potential complications of each therapy.
      Analytic morphomics is a novel method of image analysis providing quantifiable
      measurements of body tissue composition, characterizing body fat more
      comprehensively than body mass index alone. The aim of this study was to
      determine the risk factors associated with postoperative complications in CD,
      incorporating fat composition analysis using analytic morphomics. METHODS: We
      performed a retrospective review of adults undergoing bowel resection for CD
      between 2004 and 2011 at a single center. Computed tomography obtained within 30
      days prior to surgery underwent morphomic analysis for fat characterization.
      Postoperative infectious complications were defined as the need for a
      postoperative abdominal drain, intravenous antibiotics, or reoperation within 30
      days. Bivariate and multivariate analyses using logistic regression were used to
      generate a prediction model of infectious complications. RESULTS: A total of 269
      subjects met selection criteria; 27% incurred postoperative infectious
      complications. Bivariate analysis showed hemoglobin, albumin, surgical urgency,
      high-dose prednisone use, and subcutaneous-to-visceral fat volume distribution as
      predictors of complications. Body mass index, anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha
      therapies, and immunomodulator use were not predictors of complication.
      Multivariate modeling demonstrated a c-statistic of 0.77 and a negative
      predictive value of 81.1% with surgical urgency (odds ratio = 2.78; 95%
      confidence interval, 1.46-6.02; P = 0.004), subcutaneous-to-visceral fat
      distribution (odds ratio = 2.01; 95% confidence interval, 1.20-3.19; P = 0.006),
      and hemoglobin (odds ratio = 0.69; 95% confidence interval, 0.55-0.85; P = 0.001)
      as predictors of infectious complication. CONCLUSIONS: Fat subtype and
      distribution are predictive of postoperative infectious complications after bowel
      resection for CD. Analytic morphomics provides additional body composition detail
      not captured by body mass index.

PMID- 25822012
TI  - Downregulation of FoxC2 Increased Susceptibility to Experimental Colitis:
      Influence of Lymphatic Drainage Function?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although inflammation-induced expansion of the intestinal lymphatic
      vasculature (lymphangiogenesis) is known to be a crucial event in limiting
      inflammatory processes, through clearance of interstitial fluid and immune cells,
      considerably less is known about the impact of an impaired lymphatic clearance
      function (as seen in inflammatory bowel diseases) on this cascade. We aimed to
      investigate whether the impaired intestinal lymphatic drainage function observed
      in FoxC2 mice would influence the course of disease in a model of experimental
      colitis. METHODS: Acute dextran sodium sulfate colitis was induced in wild-type
      and haploinsufficient FoxC2 mice, and survival, disease activity, colonic
      histopathological injury, neutrophil, T-cell, and macrophage infiltration were
      evaluated. Functional and structural changes in the intestinal lymphatic vessel
      network were analyzed, including submucosal edema, vessel morphology, and
      lymphatic vessel density. RESULTS: We found that FoxC2 downregulation in FoxC2
      mice significantly increased the severity and susceptibility to experimental
      colitis, as displayed by lower survival rates, increased disease activity,
      greater histopathological injury, and elevated colonic neutrophil, T-cell, and
      macrophage infiltration. These findings were accompanied by structural (dilated
      torturous lymphatic vessels) and functional (greater submucosal edema, higher
      immune cell burden) changes in the intestinal lymphatic vasculature. CONCLUSIONS:
      These results indicate that sufficient lymphatic clearance plays a crucial role
      in limiting the initiation and perpetuation of experimental colitis and those
      disturbances in the integrity of the intestinal lymphatic vessel network could
      intensify intestinal inflammation. Future therapies might be able to exploit
      these processes to restore and maintain adequate lymphatic clearance function in
      inflammatory bowel disease.

PMID- 25822013
TI  - Escherichia coli LF82 differentially regulates ROS production and mucin
      expression in intestinal epithelial T84 cells: implication of NOX1.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production is associated with
      inflamed ileal lesions in Crohn's disease colonized by pathogenic adherent
      invasive Escherichia coli LF82. We investigated whether such ileal bacteria can
      modulate ROS production by epithelial cells, thus impacting on inflammation and
      mucin expression. METHODS: Ileal bacteria from patients with Crohn's disease were
      incubated with cultured epithelial T84 cells, and ROS production was assayed
      using the luminol-amplified chemiluminescence method. The gentamicin protection
      assay was used for bacterial invasion of T84 cell. The expression of NADPH
      oxidase (NOX) subunits, mucin, and IL-8 was analyzed by quantitative real-time
      PCR and Western blots. Involvement of NOX and ROS was analyzed using
      diphenyleneiodonium (DPI) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC). RESULTS: Among different
      bacteria tested, only LF82 induced an increase of ROS production by T84 cells in
      a dose-dependent manner. This response was inhibited by DPI and NAC. Heat- or
      ethanol-attenuated LF82 bacteria and the mutant LF82DeltaFimA, which does not
      express pili type 1 and poorly adheres to epithelial cells, did not induce the
      oxidative response. The LF82-induced oxidative response coincides with its
      invasion in T84 cells, and both processes were inhibited by DPI. Also, we
      observed an increased expression of NOX1 and NOXO1 in response to LF82 bacteria
      versus the mutant LF82DeltaFimA. Furthermore, LF82 inhibited mucin gene
      expression (MUC2 and MUC5AC) in T84 cells while increasing the chemotactic IL-8
      expression, both in a DPI-sensitive manner. CONCLUSIONS: Adherent-invasive E.
      coli LF82 induced ROS production by intestinal NADPH oxidase and altered mucin
      and IL-8 expression, leading to perpetuation of inflammatory lesions in Crohn's
      disease.

PMID- 25822014
TI  - Beneficial Effects of Probiotics, Prebiotics, Synbiotics, and Psychobiotics in
      Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
AB  - Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of diseases characterized by
      inflammation of the small and large intestine and primarily includes ulcerative
      colitis and Crohn's disease. Although the etiology of IBD is not fully
      understood, it is believed to result from the interaction of genetic,
      immunological, and environmental factors, including gut microbiota. Recent
      studies have shown a correlation between changes in the composition of the
      intestinal microbiota and IBD. Moreover, it has been suggested that probiotics
      and prebiotics influence the balance of beneficial and detrimental bacterial
      species, and thereby determine homeostasis versus inflammatory conditions. In
      this review, we focus on recent advances in the understanding of the role of
      prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics in functions of the gastrointestinal tract
      and the induction and maintenance of IBD remission. We also discuss the role of
      psychobiotics, which constitute a novel class of psychotropic agents that affect
      the central nervous system by influencing gut microbiota. 

PMID- 25822015
TI  - Reliability and reproducibility of a handheld videorefractor.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the performance of the 2Win eccentric videorefractor in
      relation to subjective refraction and table-mounted autorefraction. METHODS:
      Eighty-six eyes of 86 adults (46 male and 40 female subjects) aged between 20 and
      25 years were examined. Subjective refraction and autorefraction using the table
      mounted Topcon KR8800 and the handheld 2Win videorefractor were carried out in a
      randomized fashion by three different masked examiners. Measurements were
      repeated about 1 week after to assess instrument reproducibility, and the
      intertest variability was compared between techniques. Agreement of the 2Win
      videorefractor with subjective refraction and autorefraction was assessed for
      sphere and for cylindrical vectors at 0 degrees (J0) and 45 degrees (J45).
      RESULTS: Reproducibility coefficients for sphere values measured by subjective
      refraction, Topcon KR8800, and 2Win (+/-0.42, +/-0.70, and +/-1.18, respectively)
      were better than their corresponding J0 (+/-1.0, +/-0.85, and +/-1.66) and J45
      (+/-1.01, +/-0.87, and +/-1.31) vector components. The Topcon KR8800 showed the
      most reproducible values for mean spherical equivalent refraction and the J0 and
      J45 vector components, whereas reproducibility of spherical component was best
      for subjective refraction. The 2Win videorefractor measurements were the least
      reproducible for all measures. All refractive components measured by the 2Win
      videorefractor did not differ significantly from those of subjective refraction,
      in both sessions (p > 0.05). The Topcon KR8800 autorefractometer and the 2Win
      videorefractor measured significantly more positive spheres and mean spherical
      equivalent refraction (p < 0.0001), but the J0 and J45 vector components were
      similar (p > 0.05), in both sessions. CONCLUSIONS: The 2Win videorefractor
      compares well, on average, with subjective refraction. The reproducibility values
      for the 2Win videorefractor were considerably worse than either subjective
      refraction or autorefraction. The wide limits of reproducibility of the 2Win
      videorefractor probably limit its usefulness as a primary screening device.

PMID- 25822016
TI  - Posterior segment toxicity after gemcitabine and docetaxel chemotherapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report outer retinal disruption and uveal effusion after gemcitabine
      and docetaxel combination therapy. CASE REPORT: A 78-year-old woman presented
      with blurry vision after two cycles of gemcitabine and docetaxel combination
      chemotherapy for stage IV sarcoma. At presentation, visual acuity was finger
      counting and 20/25 in the right and left eyes, respectively. Slit-lamp
      examination and B-scan ultrasonography revealed severe uveal effusion in the
      right eye and choroidal folds in the left eye. Spectral domain optical coherence
      tomography showed disruption of photoreceptor inner segment ellipsoid band in the
      right eye. The patient was monitored weekly with ophthalmic examination and B
      scan ultrasonography, while continuing with gemcitabine monotherapy. At 8 weeks
      follow-up, uveal effusion improved considerably and visual acuity was 20/40 and
      20/20 in the right and left eyes, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Uveal effusion and
      outer retinal disruption were reported after gemcitabine and docetaxel
      chemotherapy. Early detection and close ophthalmic monitoring may allow
      concurrent cancer treatment and prevention of possible chemotherapy-induced
      ocular side effects.

PMID- 25822017
TI  - Early-Onset Candida glabrata Interface Keratitis after Deep Anterior Lamellar
      Keratoplasty.
AB  - PURPOSE: Fungal interface keratitis by Candida species can occur several weeks to
      several months after deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK). Here, we report
      a case of early-onset fungal interface keratitis by Candida glabrata after DALK.
      CASE REPORT: A 31-year-old Chinese man complained of decreased vision 4 days
      after an uneventful DALK for keratoconus. White to cream-colored interface
      deposits were identified under slit-lamp examination. The confocal scan disclosed
      clusters of hyperreflective granular deposits of 2 to 4 MUm at the interface,
      without evidence of inflammation or hyphae-like structures. The graft was then
      removed, along with interface irrigation, and another graft was sutured. Finally,
      a penetrating keratoplasty was performed because the interface opacities recurred
      and deteriorated after graft replacement. Histopathological examination disclosed
      yeast-like structures at the retrocorneal side. The microbiologic results of both
      corneal scrapings taken from the recipient stromal bed and the removed half
      cornea button showed C. glabrata. CONCLUSIONS: Candida glabrata interface
      keratitis can occur early after DALK, which can only be effectively treated with
      penetrating keratoplasty. Confocal microscopy is a promising tool to diagnose
      this rare complication. The importance of donor corneoscleral rim cultures should
      be emphasized during DALK.

PMID- 25822019
TI  - Biomarkers on patient T cells diagnose active tuberculosis and monitor treatment
      response.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The identification and treatment of individuals with tuberculosis
      (TB) is a global public health priority. Accurate diagnosis of pulmonary active
      TB (ATB) disease remains challenging and relies on extensive medical evaluation
      and detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in the patient's sputum.
      Further, the response to treatment is monitored by sputum culture conversion,
      which takes several weeks for results. Here, we sought to identify blood-based
      host biomarkers associated with ATB and hypothesized that immune activation
      markers on Mtb-specific CD4+ T cells would be associated with Mtb load in vivo
      and could thus provide a gauge of Mtb infection. METHODS: Using polychromatic
      flow cytometry, we evaluated the expression of immune activation markers on Mtb
      specific CD4+ T cells from individuals with asymptomatic latent Mtb infection
      (LTBI) and ATB as well as from ATB patients undergoing anti-TB treatment.
      RESULTS: Frequencies of Mtb-specific IFN-gamma+CD4+ T cells that expressed immune
      activation markers CD38 and HLA-DR as well as intracellular proliferation marker
      Ki-67 were substantially higher in subjects with ATB compared with those with
      LTBI. These markers accurately classified ATB and LTBI status, with cutoff values
      of 18%, 60%, and 5% for CD38+IFN-gamma+, HLA-DR+IFN-gamma+, and Ki-67+IFN-gamma+,
      respectively, with 100% specificity and greater than 96% sensitivity. These
      markers also distinguished individuals with untreated ATB from those who had
      successfully completed anti-TB treatment and correlated with decreasing
      mycobacterial loads during treatment. CONCLUSION: We have identified host blood
      based biomarkers on Mtb-specific CD4+ T cells that discriminate between ATB and
      LTBI and provide a set of tools for monitoring treatment response and cure. TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: Registration is not required for observational studies. FUNDING:
      This study was funded by Emory University, the NIH, and the Yerkes National
      Primate Center.

PMID- 25822018
TI  - Specific molecular signatures predict decitabine response in chronic
      myelomonocytic leukemia.
AB  - Myelodysplastic syndromes and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) are
      characterized by mutations in genes encoding epigenetic modifiers and aberrant
      DNA methylation. DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DMTis) are used to treat these
      disorders, but response is highly variable, with few means to predict which
      patients will benefit. Here, we examined baseline differences in mutations, DNA
      methylation, and gene expression in 40 CMML patients who were responsive or
      resistant to decitabine (DAC) in order to develop a molecular means of predicting
      response at diagnosis. While somatic mutations did not differentiate responders
      from nonresponders, we identified 167 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) of
      DNA at baseline that distinguished responders from nonresponders using next
      generation sequencing. These DMRs were primarily localized to nonpromoter regions
      and overlapped with distal regulatory enhancers. Using the methylation profiles,
      we developed an epigenetic classifier that accurately predicted DAC response at
      the time of diagnosis. Transcriptional analysis revealed differences in gene
      expression at diagnosis between responders and nonresponders. In responders, the
      upregulated genes included those that are associated with the cell cycle,
      potentially contributing to effective DAC incorporation. Treatment with CXCL4 and
      CXCL7, which were overexpressed in nonresponders, blocked DAC effects in isolated
      normal CD34+ and primary CMML cells, suggesting that their upregulation
      contributes to primary DAC resistance. 

PMID- 25822020
TI  - Parkin cooperates with GDNF/RET signaling to prevent dopaminergic neuron
      degeneration.
AB  - Parkin and the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) receptor RET
      have both been independently linked to the dopaminergic neuron degeneration that
      underlies Parkinson's disease (PD). In the present study, we demonstrate that
      there is genetic crosstalk between parkin and the receptor tyrosine kinase RET in
      two different mouse models of PD. Mice lacking both parkin and RET exhibited
      accelerated dopaminergic cell and axonal loss compared with parkin-deficient
      animals, which showed none, and RET-deficient mice, in which we found moderate
      degeneration. Transgenic expression of parkin protected the dopaminergic systems
      of aged RET-deficient mice. Downregulation of either parkin or RET in neuronal
      cells impaired mitochondrial function and morphology. Parkin expression restored
      mitochondrial function in GDNF/RET-deficient cells, while GDNF stimulation
      rescued mitochondrial defects in parkin-deficient cells. In both cases, improved
      mitochondrial function was the result of activation of the prosurvival NF-kappaB
      pathway, which was mediated by RET through the phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)
      pathway. Taken together, these observations indicate that parkin and the RET
      signaling cascade converge to control mitochondrial integrity and thereby
      properly maintain substantia nigra pars compacta dopaminergic neurons and their
      innervation in the striatum. The demonstration of crosstalk between parkin and
      RET highlights the interplay in the protein network that is altered in PD and
      suggests potential therapeutic targets and strategies to treat PD. 

PMID- 25822021
TI  - MEL-18 loss mediates estrogen receptor-alpha downregulation and hormone
      independence.
AB  - The polycomb protein MEL-18 has been proposed as a tumor suppressor in breast
      cancer; however, its functional relevance to the hormonal regulation of breast
      cancer remains unknown. Here, we demonstrated that MEL-18 loss contributes to the
      hormone-independent phenotype of breast cancer by modulating hormone receptor
      expression. In multiple breast cancer cohorts, MEL-18 was markedly downregulated
      in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). MEL-18 expression positively correlated
      with the expression of luminal markers, including estrogen receptor-alpha (ER
      alpha, encoded by ESR1). MEL-18 loss was also associated with poor response to
      antihormonal therapy in ER-alpha-positive breast cancer. Furthermore, whereas MEL
      18 loss in luminal breast cancer cells resulted in the downregulation of
      expression and activity of ER-alpha and the progesterone receptor (PR), MEL-18
      overexpression restored ER-alpha expression in TNBC. Consistently, in vivo
      xenograft experiments demonstrated that MEL-18 loss induces estrogen-independent
      growth and tamoxifen resistance in luminal breast cancer, and that MEL-18
      overexpression confers tamoxifen sensitivity in TNBC. MEL-18 suppressed
      SUMOylation of the ESR1 transactivators p53 and SP1, thereby driving ESR1
      transcription. MEL-18 facilitated the deSUMOylation process by inhibiting BMI
      1/RING1B-mediated ubiquitin-proteasomal degradation of SUMO1/sentrin-specific
      protease 1 (SENP1). These findings demonstrate that MEL-18 is a SUMO-dependent
      regulator of hormone receptors and suggest MEL-18 expression as a marker for
      determining the antihormonal therapy response in patients with breast cancer. 

PMID- 25822022
TI  - Ex vivo analysis identifies effective HIV-1 latency-reversing drug combinations.
AB  - Reversal of HIV-1 latency by small molecules is a potential cure strategy. This
      approach will likely require effective drug combinations to achieve high levels
      of latency reversal. Using resting CD4+ T cells (rCD4s) from infected
      individuals, we developed an experimental and theoretical framework to identify
      effective latency-reversing agent (LRA) combinations. Utilizing ex vivo assays
      for intracellular HIV-1 mRNA and virion production, we compared 2-drug
      combinations of leading candidate LRAs and identified multiple combinations that
      effectively reverse latency. We showed that protein kinase C agonists in
      combination with bromodomain inhibitor JQ1 or histone deacetylase inhibitors
      robustly induce HIV-1 transcription and virus production when directly compared
      with maximum reactivation by T cell activation. Using the Bliss independence
      model to quantitate combined drug effects, we demonstrated that these
      combinations synergize to induce HIV-1 transcription. This robust latency
      reversal occurred without release of proinflammatory cytokines by rCD4s. To
      extend the clinical utility of our findings, we applied a mathematical model that
      estimates in vivo changes in plasma HIV-1 RNA from ex vivo measurements of virus
      production. Our study reconciles diverse findings from previous studies,
      establishes a quantitative experimental approach to evaluate combinatorial LRA
      efficacy, and presents a model to predict in vivo responses to LRAs. 

PMID- 25822023
TI  - CCN1 induces hepatic ductular reaction through integrin alphavbeta5-mediated
      activation of NF-kappaB.
AB  - Liver cholestatic diseases, which stem from diverse etiologies, result in liver
      toxicity and fibrosis and may progress to cirrhosis and liver failure. We show
      that CCN1 (also known as CYR61), a matricellular protein that dampens and
      resolves liver fibrosis, also mediates cholangiocyte proliferation and ductular
      reaction, which are repair responses to cholestatic injury. In cholangiocytes,
      CCN1 activated NF-kappaB through integrin alphavbeta5/alphavbeta3, leading to
      Jag1 expression, JAG1/NOTCH signaling, and cholangiocyte proliferation. CCN1 also
      induced Jag1 expression in hepatic stellate cells, whereupon they interacted with
      hepatic progenitor cells to promote their differentiation into cholangiocytes.
      Administration of CCN1 protein or soluble JAG1 induced cholangiocyte
      proliferation in mice, which was blocked by inhibitors of NF-kappaB or NOTCH
      signaling. Knock-in mice expressing a CCN1 mutant that is unable to bind
      alphavbeta5/alphavbeta3 were impaired in ductular reaction, leading to massive
      hepatic necrosis and mortality after bile duct ligation (BDL), whereas treatment
      of these mice with soluble JAG1 rescued ductular reaction and reduced hepatic
      necrosis and mortality. Blockade of integrin alphavbeta5/alphavbeta3, NF-kappaB,
      or NOTCH signaling in WT mice also resulted in defective ductular reaction after
      BDL. These findings demonstrate that CCN1 induces cholangiocyte proliferation and
      ductular reaction and identify CCN1/alphavbeta5/NF-kappaB/JAG1 as a critical axis
      for biliary injury repair. 

PMID- 25822024
TI  - Noninvasive detection of tumor-infiltrating T cells by PET reporter imaging.
AB  - Adoptive transfer of tumor-reactive T cells can successfully reduce tumor burden;
      however, in rare cases, lethal on-target/off-tumor effects have been reported. A
      noninvasive method to track engineered cells with high sensitivity and resolution
      would allow observation of correct cell homing and/or identification of dangerous
      off-target locations in preclinical and clinical applications. Human
      deoxycytidine kinase triple mutant (hdCK3mut) is a nonimmunogenic PET reporter
      that was previously shown to be an effective tool to monitor whole-body
      hematopoiesis. Here, we engineered a construct in which hdCK3mut is coexpressed
      with the anti-melanoma T cell receptor F5, introduced this construct into human
      CD34 cells or PBMCs, and evaluated this approach in multiple immunotherapy
      models. Expression of hdCK3mut allowed engrafted cells to be visualized within
      recipient bone marrow, while accumulation of [18F]-L-FMAU in hdCK3mut-expressing
      T cells permitted detection of intratumoral homing. Animals that received T cells
      coexpressing hdCK3mut and the anti-melanoma T cell receptor had demonstrably
      higher signals in HLA-matched tumors compared with those in animals that received
      cells solely expressing hdCK3mut. Engineered T cells caused cytotoxicity in
      HLA/antigen-matched tumors and induced IFN-gamma production and activation.
      Moreover, hdCK3mut permitted simultaneous monitoring of engraftment and tumor
      infiltration, without affecting T cell function. Our findings suggest that
      hdCK3mut reporter imaging can be applied in clinical immunotherapies for whole
      body detection of engineered cell locations. 

PMID- 25822025
TI  - IRX1 hypomethylation promotes osteosarcoma metastasis via induction of CXCL14/NF
      kappaB signaling.
AB  - Osteosarcoma is a common malignant bone tumor with a propensity to metastasize to
      the lungs. Epigenetic abnormalities have been demonstrated to underlie
      osteosarcoma development; however, the epigenetic mechanisms that are involved in
      metastasis are not yet clear. Here, we analyzed 2 syngeneic primary human
      osteosarcoma cell lines that exhibit disparate metastatic potential for
      differences in epigenetic modifications and expression. Using methylated DNA
      immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) and microarray expression analysis to screen for
      metastasis-associated genes, we identified Iroquois homeobox 1 (IRX1). In both
      human osteosarcoma cell lines and clinical osteosarcoma tissues, IRX1
      overexpression was strongly associated with hypomethylation of its own promoter.
      Furthermore, experimental modulation of IRX1 in osteosarcoma cell lines
      profoundly altered metastatic activity, including migration, invasion, and
      resistance to anoikis in vitro, and influenced lung metastasis in murine models.
      These prometastatic effects of IRX1 were mediated by upregulation of CXCL14/NF
      kappaB signaling. In serum from osteosarcoma patients, the presence of IRX1
      hypomethylation in circulating tumor DNA reduced lung metastasis-free survival.
      Together, these results identify IRX1 as a prometastatic gene, implicate IRX1
      hypomethylation as a potential molecular marker for lung metastasis, and suggest
      that epigenetic reversion of IRX1 activation may be beneficial for controlling
      osteosarcoma metastasis. 

PMID- 25822026
TI  - Multiple genome segments determine virulence of bluetongue virus serotype 8.
AB  - Bluetongue virus (BTV) causes bluetongue, a major hemorrhagic disease of
      ruminants. In order to investigate the molecular determinants of BTV virulence,
      we used a BTV8 strain minimally passaged in tissue culture (termed BTV8L in this
      study) and a derivative strain passaged extensively in tissue culture (BTV8H) in
      in vitro and in vivo studies. BTV8L was pathogenic in both IFNAR(-/-) mice and in
      sheep, while BTV8H was attenuated in both species. To identify genetic changes
      which led to BTV8H attenuation, we generated 34 reassortants between BTV8L and
      BTV8H. We found that partial attenuation of BTV8L in IFNAR(-/-) mice was achieved
      by simply replacing genomic segment 2 (Seg2, encoding VP2) or Seg10 (encoding
      NS3) with the BTV8H homologous segments. Fully attenuated viruses required at
      least two genome segments from BTV8H, including Seg2 with either Seg1 (encoding
      VP1), Seg6 (encoding VP6 and NS4), or Seg10 (encoding NS3). Conversely, full
      reversion of virulence of BTV8H required at least five genomic segments of BTV8L.
      We also demonstrated that BTV8H acquired an increased affinity for
      glycosaminoglycan receptors during passaging in cell culture due to mutations in
      its VP2 protein. Replication of BTV8H was relatively poor in interferon (IFN)
      competent primary ovine endothelial cells compared to replication of BTV8L, and
      this phenotype was determined by several viral genomic segments, including Seg4
      and Seg9. This study demonstrated that multiple viral proteins contribute to BTV8
      virulence. VP2 and NS3 are primary determinants of BTV pathogenesis, but VP1,
      VP5, VP4, VP6, and VP7 also contribute to virulence. IMPORTANCE: Bluetongue is
      one of the major infectious diseases of ruminants, and it is listed as a
      notifiable disease by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). The
      clinical outcome of BTV infection varies considerably and depends on
      environmental and host- and virus-specific factors. Over the years, BTV
      serotypes/strains with various degrees of virulence (including nonpathogenic
      strains) have been described in different geographical locations. However, no
      data are available to correlate the BTV genotype to virulence. This study shows
      that BTV virulence is determined by different viral genomic segments. The data
      obtained will help to characterize thoroughly the pathogenesis of bluetongue. The
      possibility to determine the pathogenicity of virus isolates on the basis of
      their genome sequences will help in the design of control strategies that fit the
      risk posed by new emerging BTV strains.

PMID- 25822027
TI  - HIV-1 Nef and Vpu Interfere with L-Selectin (CD62L) Cell Surface Expression To
      Inhibit Adhesion and Signaling in Infected CD4+ T Lymphocytes.
AB  - Leukocyte recirculation between blood and lymphoid tissues is required for the
      generation and maintenance of immune responses against pathogens and is crucially
      controlled by the L-selectin (CD62L) leukocyte homing receptor. CD62L has
      adhesion and signaling functions and initiates the capture and rolling on the
      vascular endothelium of cells entering peripheral lymph nodes. This study reveals
      that CD62L is strongly downregulated on primary CD4(+) T lymphocytes upon
      infection with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Reduced cell surface
      CD62L expression was attributable to the Nef and Vpu viral proteins and not due
      to increased shedding via matrix metalloproteases. Both Nef and Vpu associated
      with and sequestered CD62L in perinuclear compartments, thereby impeding CD62L
      transport to the plasma membrane. In addition, Nef decreased total CD62L protein
      levels. Importantly, infection with wild-type, but not Nef- and Vpu-deficient,
      HIV-1 inhibited the capacity of primary CD4(+) T lymphocytes to adhere to
      immobilized fibronectin in response to CD62L ligation. Moreover, HIV-1 infection
      impaired the signaling pathways and costimulatory signals triggered in primary
      CD4(+) T cells by CD62L ligation. We propose that HIV-1 dysregulates CD62L
      expression to interfere with the trafficking and activation of infected T cells.
      Altogether, this novel HIV-1 function could contribute to virus dissemination and
      evasion of host immune responses. IMPORTANCE: L-selectin (CD62L) is an adhesion
      molecule that mediates the first steps of leukocyte homing to peripheral lymph
      nodes, thus crucially controlling the initiation and maintenance of immune
      responses to pathogens. Here, we report that CD62L is downmodulated on the
      surfaces of HIV-1-infected T cells through the activities of two viral proteins,
      Nef and Vpu, that prevent newly synthesized CD62L molecules from reaching the
      plasma membrane. We provide evidence that CD62L downregulation on HIV-1-infected
      primary T cells results in impaired adhesion and signaling functions upon CD62L
      triggering. Removal of cell surface CD62L may predictably keep HIV-1-infected
      cells away from lymph nodes, the privileged sites of both viral replication and
      immune response activation, with important consequences, such as systemic viral
      spread and evasion of host immune surveillance. Altogether, we propose that Nef-
      and Vpu-mediated subversion of CD62L function could represent a novel determinant
      of HIV-1 pathogenesis.

PMID- 25822028
TI  - The efficacy of physiotherapy for the prevention and treatment of prenatal
      symptoms: a systematic review.
AB  - Several studies have described the evidence of prenatal physiotherapy for one
      symptom, but none has made an overview. We provided a systematic review on the
      effectiveness of prenatal physiotherapy. A full search was conducted in three
      electronic databases (Embase, PubMed/MEDLINE and PEDro), selecting randomized
      controlled trials concerning prenatal physiotherapy. Methodological quality was
      assessed using the PEDro scale. We identified 1,249 studies and after exclusions
      54 studies were included concerning the evidence of prenatal physiotherapy. The
      majority of studies indicated a preventative effect for low back pain/pelvic
      girdle pain, weight gain, incontinence, and perineal massage. For leg edema,
      fear, and prenatal depression, the efficacy was only based on one study per
      symptom. No preventative effect was found for gestational diabetes, while
      literature concerning gestational hypertensive disorders was inconclusive.
      Regarding the treatment of low back pain/pelvic girdle pain and weight gain, most
      therapies reduced pain and weight respectively. Evidence regarding exercises for
      diabetes was contradictory and only minimally researched for incontinence. Foot
      massage and stockings reduced leg edema and leg symptoms respectively. Concerning
      gestational hypertensive disorders, perineal pain, fear, and prenatal depression
      no treatment studies were performed. The majority of studies indicated that
      prenatal physiotherapy played a preventative role for low back pain/pelvic girdle
      pain, weight gain, incontinence, and pelvic pain. Evidence for the remaining
      symptoms was inclusive or only minimally investigated. Regarding treatment, most
      studies indicated a reduction of low back pain/pelvic girdle pain, weight gain,
      incontinence, and the symptoms of leg edema. 

PMID- 25822029
TI  - Can 3D power Doppler identify levator ani vascularization at its pubic insertion?
AB  - INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The levator ani is the most important muscle in the
      pelvic floor. This pilot study using 3D power Doppler aimed to identify normal
      vascularization of the puborectalis/pubovisceralis muscle at its insertion in
      nulliparous and premenopausal women. METHODS: Forty nulliparous and premenopausal
      women were evaluated at the Gynecological Unit of a tertiary hospital. All women
      underwent a translabial ultrasound (US) with 3D power Doppler. Pubic insertion of
      the puborectalis/pubovisceralis muscle was assessed in the axial plane, and
      vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI), and vascularization-flow index (VFI)
      were calculated bilaterally. Volumes were analyzed offline by two independent
      observers, and interobserver agreement and correlation between variables was
      calculated. RESULTS: A high, statistically significant, correlation was found
      between the three US indices on each side (p < 0.005). No correlation was found
      between the US index and either of the demographic parameters of body mass index
      [(BMI), p > 0.241], or age (p > 0.398). The degree of correlation between the
      same index on the different sides was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION:
      Puborectalis/pubovisceralis muscle vascularization at its insertion can be
      identified using 3D Doppler US, but values differ substantially from those of the
      contralateral side.

PMID- 25822030
TI  - An integrative approach to slow pathway modulation in AVNRT using a novel ultra
      high-density electroanatomical mapping system.

PMID- 25822031
TI  - Intracranial hemorrhage during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: does family
      history play a role?

PMID- 25822032
TI  - Volitional personality trait change: Can people choose to change their
      personality traits?
AB  - Previous research has found that most people want to change their personality
      traits. But can people actually change their personalities just because they want
      to? To answer this question, we conducted 2, 16-week intensive longitudinal
      randomized experiments. Across both studies, people who expressed goals to
      increase with respect to any Big Five personality trait at Time 1 tended to
      experience actual increases in their self-reports of that trait-as well as trait
      relevant daily behavior-over the subsequent 16 weeks. Furthermore, we tested 2
      randomized interventions designed to help participants attain desired trait
      changes. Although 1 of the interventions was inefficacious, a second intervention
      that trained participants to generate implementation intentions catalyzed their
      ability to attain trait changes. We also tested several theoretical processes
      through which volitional changes might occur. These studies suggest that people
      may be able to change their self-reported personality traits through volitional
      means, and represent a first step toward understanding the processes that enable
      people to do so.

PMID- 25822033
TI  - Psychosocial effects of perceived emotional synchrony in collective gatherings.
AB  - In a classic theory, Durkheim (1912) predicted that because of the social sharing
      of emotion they generate, collective gatherings bring participants to a stage of
      collective effervescence in which they experience a sense of union with others
      and a feeling of empowerment accompanied by positive affect. This would lead them
      to leave the collective situation with a renewed sense of confidence in life and
      in social institutions. A century after Durkheim's predictions of these effects,
      though, they remained untested as a whole. This article reports 4 studies, 2
      correlational, 1 semilongitudinal, and 1 experimental, assessing the positive
      effects of participation in either positively valenced (folkloric marches) or
      negatively valenced (protest demonstrations) collective gatherings. Results
      confirmed that collective gatherings consistently strengthened collective
      identity, identity fusion, and social integration, as well as enhancing personal
      and collective self-esteem and efficacy, positive affect, and positive social
      beliefs among participants. In line with a central tenet of the theory, emotional
      communion, or perceived emotional synchrony with others mediated these effects.
      Higher perceived emotional synchrony was associated with stronger emotional
      reactions, stronger social support, and higher endorsement of social beliefs and
      values. Participation in symbolic collective gatherings also particularly
      reinforced identity fusion when perceived emotional synchrony was high. The
      respective contributions of perceived emotional synchrony and flow, or optimal
      experience, were also assessed. Whereas perceived emotional synchrony emerged as
      strongly related to the various social outcomes, flow was observed to be related
      first to collective efficacy and self-esteem, and thus, to encompass mainly
      empowerment effects.

PMID- 25822034
TI  - Not all inequality is created equal: Effects of status versus power hierarchies
      on competition for upward mobility.
AB  - Although hierarchies are thought to be beneficial for groups, empirical evidence
      is mixed. We argue and find in 7 studies spanning methodologies and samples that
      different bases of hierarchical differentiation have distinct effects on lower
      ranking group members' disruptive competitive behavior because status hierarchies
      are seen as more mutable than are power hierarchies. Greater mutability means
      that more opportunity exists for upward mobility, which motivates individuals to
      compete in hopes of advancing their placement in the hierarchy. This research
      provides further evidence that different bases of hierarchy can have different
      effects on individuals and the groups of which they are a part and explicates a
      mechanism for those effects.

PMID- 25822035
TI  - Narcissism and the use of personal pronouns revisited.
AB  - [Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 109(3) of
      Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2015-37773-002). The
      authors erroneously reported the overall correlation, first stated in the
      abstract, between Narcissism and total first-person-singular use as .02 (.017)
      instead of .01 (.010). The misreporting of the overall correlation between
      Narcissism and total use of first-person singular does not change the results or
      interpretation in any way (i.e., the near-zero association between Narcissism and
      I-talk). The online version of this article has been corrected.] Among both
      laypersons and researchers, extensive use of first-person singular pronouns
      (i.e., I-talk) is considered a face-valid linguistic marker of narcissism.
      However, the assumed relation between narcissism and I-talk has yet to be
      subjected to a strong empirical test. Accordingly, we conducted a large-scale (N
      = 4,811), multisite (5 labs), multimeasure (5 narcissism measures) and dual
      language (English and German) investigation to quantify how strongly narcissism
      is related to using more first-person singular pronouns across different
      theoretically relevant communication contexts (identity-related, personal,
      impersonal, private, public, and stream-of-consciousness tasks). Overall (r =
      .02, 95% CI [-.02, .04]) and within the sampled contexts, narcissism was
      unrelated to use of first-person singular pronouns (total, subjective, objective,
      and possessive). This consistent near-zero effect has important implications for
      making inferences about narcissism from pronoun use and prompts questions about
      why I-talk tends to be strongly perceived as an indicator of narcissism in the
      absence of an underlying actual association between the 2 variables. (PsycINFO
      Database Record 

PMID- 25822036
TI  - Deployment of a Short, Single-Opening Endoscopic Clip Versus a Long, Reopening
      Endoscopic Clip in Clinical Practice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Endoscopic clips vary in their designs and costs. Clip wastage is a
      common problem, and this is dependent on the success of its deployment. AIMS: The
      aim of this study is to compare the rates of successful deployment between two
      different commonly used endoscopic clips. METHODS: A single-center, retrospective
      study was conducted. Endoscopy reports of patients with clips deployed over 24
      months were reviewed. We compared a long-pronged, reopening endoscopic clip (type
      A: Resolution clip; Boston Scientific, Natick, MA, USA) versus a short-pronged,
      single-opening clip (type B: QuickClip2; Olympus Medical Systems Corp, Japan).
      The main outcome was clip deployment success rate. Secondary outcomes were
      predictors of successful deployment, cost, and wastage. RESULTS: Of 14,690
      endoscopic cases, 472 clips (171 type A and 301 type B) were deployed in 262
      procedures. Type A clips had a significantly higher successful deployment rate
      (147/171, 86.0 %) than type B clips (221/301, 73.4 %) (p = 0.002). On
      multivariate analysis, variables independently associated with successful
      deployment included using type A clips (OR 2.07, 95 % CI 1.20-3.55; p = 0.009)
      and clips placed in the lower gastrointestinal tract (OR 3.48, 95 % CI 1.64-7.40;
      p = 0.001). The cost of using type A clips was higher than type B clips (p <
      0.001). Type B clips were associated with more wastage (p = 0.049). CONCLUSIONS:
      Long-pronged, reopening clips (type A) have a better deployment rate than short
      pronged, single-opening clips (type B). Although type A clips had less wastage,
      the cost per procedure was higher.

PMID- 25822037
TI  - The impact of chronic opioid use on colonoscopy outcomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Endoscopic procedures are frequently performed on patients
      chronically on opioids, raising concerns about the safety and efficacy of
      conventional sedation. AIMS: We hypothesized that chronic opioid use is
      associated with longer procedure times, higher dosages of sedation medications,
      and an increase in adverse effects. METHODS: This is a retrospective review from
      June 2012 to June 2013. Patients on chronic opioids (opioids use >= 12 weeks)
      were compared to randomly selected patients matched for age, race, and sex.
      Multivariate regression analysis was performed to identify factors that were
      independently predictive of longer procedure times. RESULTS: Patients on chronic
      opioids required higher doses of fentanyl (122.0 +/- 45.3 vs. 105.8 +/- 47.2 ug;
      P < 0.0001) and midazolam (5.3 +/- 5.3 vs. 4.4 +/- 2 mg; P = 0.0037) and were
      more likely to receive diphenhydramine (42.8 vs. 22.6 %; P < 0.001). The
      induction period (11.3 +/- 8.8 vs. 7.5 +/- 4.0 min), duration of procedure (39.1
      +/- 17.5 vs. 33.4 +/- 14.1 min), and recovery times (38.7 +/- 15.3 vs. 33.8 +/-
      12.1 min) were significantly longer for patients on chronic opioids. In the
      multivariate regression analysis, opioid use was an independent predictor of
      longer procedure duration (P < 0.05). Hypotensive episodes did not differ between
      groups (2.8 vs. 2.7 %; P = 0.8). However, patients on chronic opioids experienced
      more pain (13.4 vs. 5.9 %; P 0.001) and hypertensive episodes (8.1 vs. 2.8 %; P
      0.002). CONCLUSION: Patients on chronic opioids represent a high-risk population
      with longer procedural times and more discomfort, despite higher dosages of
      sedative agents. Prospective studies are required to define the risks and
      benefits of more costly alternative sedation strategies for patients on chronic
      opioids.

PMID- 25822038
TI  - Diagnostic evaluation and risk factors for drug allergies in children: from
      clinical history to skin and challenge tests.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Parent or self-reported drug allergy claims frequently overestimate
      the real incidence of hypersensitivity reactions. A detailed and algorithmic
      diagnostic evaluation of drug reactions may allow a proper diagnosis. OBJECTIVE:
      The aim of this study was to determine the confirmation rates and risk factors
      for confirmed allergic drug reactions in children. SETTING: Mersin University
      Hospital in Turkey. METHOD: The study consisted of children between ages of 8
      months and 18 years with the history of suspected drug allergy as reported by the
      clinician or the patients. Parents were interviewed by a clinician to complete
      questionnaires that included questions about demographic data and characteristics
      of index drug reaction. Immediate reactions (IRs) were assessed with immediate
      reading skin prick (SPT) and intradermal tests (IDT). Nonimmediate reactions
      (NIRs) were assessed with SPT, both early and delayed reading of IDT and patch
      tests. In case of negative skin tests, drug provocation tests were performed. The
      possible risk factors for confirmed drug allergy in univariate analysis (p < 0.1)
      were entered into the multivariate logistic regression analysis to determine
      independent predictors. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: (1) Confirmation rates of drug
      allergy (2) Risk factors related to confirmed drug allergy in children. RESULTS:
      We evaluated a total of 180 suspected drug allergy reactions in 97 children,
      mainly to antibiotics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and
      anticonvulsants. Among all suspected allergic drug reactions, 97 (53.9 %) were
      immediate type and 83 (46.1 %) were non-immediate type. The average time interval
      between the reaction and allergologic work-up was 5 months. Drug allergy
      confirmation rates were 30.1 % for beta-lactams, 27.2 % for non-betalactams, 21.1
      % for NSAIDs and 30 % for anticonvulsants. Eight of 54 confirmed NIRs showed
      positivity on immediate skin tests. Regulatory T cells, TGF-beta and IL-10 levels
      were not different between groups with and without confirmed drug allergy. A
      strong family and personal history of drug allergy were found to be significantly
      related to the confirmed allergic drug reactions. CONCLUSION: Parent or self
      reported drug allergy should be evaluated with a standardized diagnostic work-up
      before strict prohibitions are made. In addition, family and personal histories
      of drug allergy were significant risk factors related to allergic drug reactions
      in children.

PMID- 25822040
TI  - South Asian and Middle Eastern patients' perspectives on medicine-related
      problems in the United Kingdom.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There has been little research which specifically examines medicine
      use among South Asian (SA) and Middle Eastern (ME) groups, although evidence
      suggests that medicine-related needs may be poorly met for these groups.
      OBJECTIVE: To describe medicine-related problems (MRPs) experienced by SA and ME
      patients from their perspectives and identify possible contributory factors that
      may be specific to their cultures. SETTING: The data were collected in seven
      pharmacies in London, United Kingdom (UK). METHOD: The study was a qualitative
      study. Patients were from SA and ME origins, aged over 18 and prescribed three or
      more regular medicines. Patients were identified when presenting with a
      prescription. The data were collected in 80 face-to-face semi-structured
      interviews using Gordon's MRPs tool. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed
      verbatim and analysed thematically using Gordon's coding frame and Nvivo 10
      software. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Describing MRPs experienced by SA and ME patients
      from their perspectives and identifying possible contributory factors that may be
      specific to their cultures. Results Eighty participants (61 % male) had mean (SD)
      age 58 (13.4) years and a mean (SD) of 8 (4) medicines. Interviews revealed that
      several factors contributed to the development of MRPs; some appeared to be
      specific to SA and ME cultures and others were similar to the general population.
      The factors that were reported to be specific to SA and ME groups comprised
      religious practices and beliefs, use of non-prescription medicines, extent of
      family support, and travelling abroad--to patient's homeland or to take religious
      journeys. Illiteracy, language and communication barriers, lack of translated
      resources, perceptions of healthcare providers, and difficulty consulting a
      doctor of the same gender may also contribute to the problems. Many of these
      factors could be expected to influence patient's safety, adherence, and informed
      decision-making. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that SA and ME patients have
      their own problems and needs regarding both medicine use and service access. By
      uncovering particular problems experienced by these groups, the study can inform
      healthcare professionals to support SA and ME patients in the use of their
      medicines.

PMID- 25822039
TI  - Promoting weight management services in community pharmacy: perspectives of the
      pharmacy team in Scotland.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obesity has reached pandemic levels with more than 1.4 billion adults
      affected worldwide. While there is a need to systematically develop and evaluate
      community pharmacy based models of weight management, it is imperative to
      describe and understand the perspectives of pharmacy staff. In the UK, trained
      and accredited community pharmacy medicines counter assistants (MCAs) are
      commonly the front line staff involved in patient consultations and sale of over
      the-counter medicines. OBJECTIVE: To explore the beliefs and experiences of
      pharmacists and MCAs in the North-East of Scotland on community pharmacy weight
      management. SETTING: All 135 community pharmacies in the North-East of Scotland.
      METHOD: A qualitative approach of semi-structured telephone interviews with 31
      pharmacists and 20 MCAs in the North-East of Scotland. The semi-structured
      interview schedule was developed with reference to key domains describing
      professional practice (i.e. awareness and knowledge, skills, practicalities,
      motivation, acceptance and beliefs) and contextualised with policy documents and
      published research on community pharmacy based weight management. Interviews were
      audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE:
      Pharmacists' and MCAs' beliefs and experiences with delivering weight management
      services in community pharmacy. RESULTS: There were mixed responses from
      pharmacists and MCAs around pharmacy based weight management services from
      positive views of providing the service in community pharmacy to those more
      reticent who would always favour patients visiting their physician. While all
      described similar services e.g. measurement of weight, healthy eating advice,
      supply of products, they acknowledged that support was often opportunistic at the
      request of customers, with little integration of other providers. Roles described
      varied from pharmacist only functions to any staff member. While pharmacists
      generally felt comfortable and confident, MCAs gave more diverse responses. Both
      Pharmacist and MCAs highlighted the need for a practice model which is
      systematically developed and suggested a scheme akin to the successful smoking
      cessation 12-week nicotine replacement therapy service already available in
      community pharmacies in Scotland. CONCLUSION: Pharmacists and MCAs interviewed in
      this study reported their perceptions of benefits to providing community pharmacy
      based weight management as part of a wider public health function. They described
      services as opportunistic and customer driven based on ease of access. There was
      a notable variation in pharmacist and MCA training, reflected in their levels of
      comfort and confidence. There is a clear need to systematically develop and
      provide evidence of effectiveness and cost effectiveness for a pharmacy based
      practice model with key roles and functions for the full pharmacy team.

PMID- 25822041
TI  - Role of high-dose levetiracetam as add-on therapy for intractable epilepsy: case
      report and brief review of the literature.
AB  - CASE: We discuss the case of a 5-year-old long-standing epileptic woman, who
      received oxcarbazepine 2.1 g/day, and levetiracetam 3 g/day (started in 2005 and
      up-titrated according to response). In October/2008, due to poor seizure control,
      patient consent was obtained and levetiracetam up-titrated to 6 g/day, remaining
      invariable for 72 months; zonisamide was added in July/2009 and up-titrated to
      500 mg/day. This combination achieved seizure frequency reduction >=50 %,
      however, the patient ultimately necessitated temporal lobectomy for complete
      remission. Occasional agitation and moderate depression were the main side
      effects. CONCLUSION: Three anti-epileptic drugs (including levetiracetam 6 g/day)
      achieved statistically-significant seizure frequency reduction >=50 % compared
      with lower doses, but not seizure freedom. Low-dose risperidone was initiated due
      to transient dose-dependent agitation, although it did not lead to
      discontinuation. This report provides insightful information on the use of high
      dose levetiracetam in focal refractory epilepsy. The concomitance of anti
      epileptics may have contributed to both efficacy and toxicity. Therefore, the
      risk/benefit ratio must be individually weighed until larger studies are
      available.

PMID- 25822042
TI  - Pharmacists' role in handling problems with prescriptions for antithrombotic
      medication in Belgian community pharmacies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Community pharmacists have an important task in the follow-up of
      patients treated with antithrombotics. When delivering these medicines,
      pharmacists can encounter drug-related problems (DRPs) with substantial clinical
      and economic impact. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the amount and type of
      antithrombotic related DRPs as well as how community pharmacists handled these
      DRPs. SETTING: Belgian community pharmacies. METHODS: MSc pharmacy students of
      six Belgian universities collected data about all DRPs encountered by a
      pharmacist during ten half days of their pharmacy internship. Data were
      registered about DRPs detected at delivery and in an a posteriori setting, when
      consulting the medical history of the patient. Classification of the DRP, cause
      of the DRP, intervention and result of the intervention were registered. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASURE: Amount and type of antotrombitocs related DRPs occurring in
      community pharmacies, as well as how community pharmacists handled these DRPs.
      RESULTS: 3.1 % of the 15,952 registered DRPs concerned antithrombotics. 79.3 % of
      these DRPs were detected at delivery and 20.7 % were detected a posteriori. Most
      antithrombotic-related DRPs concerned problems with the choice of the drug
      (mainly because of drug-drug interactions) or concerned logistic problems. Almost
      80 % of the antithrombotic-related DRPs were followed by an intervention of the
      pharmacist, mainly at the patient's level, resulting in 90.1 % of these DRPs
      partially or totally solved. CONCLUSION: Different DRPs with antithrombotic
      medication occurred in Belgian community pharmacies. About 20 % was detected in
      an a posteriori setting, showing the benefit of medication review. Many of the
      encountered DRPs were of technical nature (60.7 %). These DRPs were time
      consuming for the pharmacist to resolve and should be prevented. Most of the DRPs
      could be solved, demonstrating the added value of the community pharmacist as
      first line healthcare provider.

PMID- 25822044
TI  - A step towards mobile arsenic measurement for surface waters.
AB  - Surface modified quantum dots (QDs) are studied using a bio-inspired cysteine
      rich ligand (glutathione, GSH) and their quenching response and selectivity to
      arsenic examined. As predicted from As(3+) binding with highly crosslinked
      phytochelatin-(PCn)-like molecules, better arsenic selectivity is obtained for a
      thicker more 3-dimensional GSH surface layer, with exposed sulfhydryl groups. A
      detection limit of at least 10 MUM can be achieved using CdSe/ZnS core-shell QDs
      capped with this GSH structure. The system is also demonstrated using a mobile
      phone camera to record the measurement, producing a detection limit of 5 MUM.
      However, copper remains the main interferent of concern. Water-soluble CdTe QDs
      show little sensitivity to As(3+) even with a GSH surface, but they remain
      sensitive to Cu(2+), allowing a copper baseline to be established from the CdTe
      measurement. Despite anticipating that spectrally non overlapping fluorescence
      would be required from the two types of QDs to achieve this, a method is
      demonstrated using RGB channels from a mobile phone and processing the raw data
      for CdTe QDs, with an emission wavelength of 600 nm, and CdSe/ZnS QDs, with
      emission maximum of 630 nm. It is shown that As(3+) measurement remains feasible
      at the WHO guideline value of 10 MUg L(-1) up to a copper concentration of around
      0.3 MUM Cu(2+), which corresponds to the highest recorded level in a selection of
      large rivers world-wide. 

PMID- 25822043
TI  - Impact of Japanese regulatory action on metformin-associated lactic acidosis in
      type II diabetes patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The March 2012 regulatory action issued by the Japanese government
      signalled the rare but serious complication of lactic acidosis that can occur
      during metformin treatment, especially with the high dose formulation, h
      metformin, and in those above 75 years old. OBJECTIVE: To assess quantitatively
      the impact of this regulatory action on patient management using a medical
      information database (MID). SETTING: Eight hospitals in Japan. METHOD: Using a
      commercial MID, we collected data on adult outpatients treated with metformin,
      including h-metformin, during a 2-year study period between April 1, 2011 and
      March 31, 2013. The 2-year study period spanned 1 year before and after the
      regulatory action. The frequencies of lactate measurement in all metformin users,
      h-metformin users, and new users (started on metformin during the study period)
      were compared between the periods before and after the regulatory action, using
      generalized estimating equations. Trends in metformin prescription for elderly
      patients were analysed month-wise by regression analysis using an interrupted
      time series design. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The rate ratios (RR) of lactate testing
      before and after the regulatory action. RESULTS: Of 4347 metformin users, 784
      patients were >75 years old. A significant increase in lactate measurement was
      observed after the regulatory action than before in the overall study population,
      with an adjusted RR of 2.14 (95 % confidence interval 1.24-3.68). No significant
      change was found in h-metformin users and new users because lactate measurements
      were being performed as frequently in these subgroups before the regulatory
      action. There were no meaningful changes in the proportion of elderly metformin
      users in the overall population. CONCLUSION: The regulatory action led to
      increased lactate measurement in the overall metformin users, but did not affect
      metformin prescription rate in the elderly patients. Our findings probably
      reflect the doctors' judgement that the benefits of metformin use outweigh the
      risk of lactic acidosis if lactate testing is performed regularly.

PMID- 25822045
TI  - Emergency Health Care Use among Sociodemographic Groups of Children Presenting to
      Emergency Departments for Self-Harm in Alberta.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine sociodemographic variations among children <18 years in (1)
      rates of self-harm visits to emergency departments (EDs) and (2) physician follow
      up after the self-harm visit in Alberta. METHODS: A retrospective, population
      based cohort (2002-2011) of ED visits for self-harm by individuals <18 years was
      conducted using administrative databases from Alberta, Canada. Individuals were
      grouped by First Nations status or type of health care premium subsidy (family
      receipt of government subsidy, human services program subsidy, no subsidy
      received). Visits from 104 EDs were summarized by crude and directly standardized
      visit rates (DSVRs) per 100,000 individuals. Kaplan-Meier estimates for median
      estimated time to physician follow-up were calculated with 95% confidence
      intervals (CIs). RESULTS: During the study period, visit rates decreased with the
      exception of children from families receiving government-sponsored program
      subsidy (DSVRs 163/100,000 to 250/100,000; p=0.032). First Nations children had
      disproportionately fewer follow-up visits compared to other children. The median
      time to follow-up for First Nations children was 39 days (95% CI: 32, 48)
      compared to 16 days for children from families receiving no subsidy (95% CI: 14,
      19), who had the shortest follow-up time after an ED visit. CONCLUSIONS:
      Sociodemographic differences were evident in ED visit rates as well as the number
      of and time to physician follow-up visit. The disparities experienced by First
      Nations children in the follow-up period highlight an opportunity for culturally
      grounded risk and needs assessment in the ED to determine and facilitate timely
      and appropriate follow-up care.

PMID- 25822047
TI  - The fate of patients with acute myeloid leukemia not undergoing induction
      chemotherapy.
AB  - Advances in chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have resulted in the
      exclusion of patients not undergoing induction chemotherapy from research
      studies. To examine in detail the clinical experience of such patients, we
      retrospectively analyzed the outcomes of consecutive patients diagnosed with AML
      at our hospital from 2004 to 2012. Of 158 AML patients, 43 (27 %) did not undergo
      induction chemotherapy. Their median survival duration was 1.5 months, with 11,
      six, and four patients surviving more than 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively. As
      expected, their survival was worse than that of those treated with intensive or
      less-intensive induction therapy (14, 74, and 47 % at 1 year, and 0, 40, and 10 %
      at 4 years, respectively). Low white blood cell count at AML diagnosis and prior
      history of myelodysplastic syndrome were significantly associated with longer
      survival. Our findings suggest that modern supportive care measures do not
      prolong survival for AML patients not undergoing induction chemotherapy, although
      certain patients show relatively long survival. These data should prove helpful
      in discussing treatment pathways with patients for cases in which palliative or
      supportive therapy alone may be a viable treatment option.

PMID- 25822048
TI  - Qualitative health psychology research: diversity, power, and impact.
AB  - This special issue showcases a range of qualitative research projects conducted
      by health psychologists with a view to promoting greater uptake and development
      of qualitative research methods in the field. It is timely because qualitative
      methods have become prominent across psychology and health research and because
      major health research funders are now inviting qualitative research to help give
      voice to patient experiences. As a whole, the papers demonstrate the diversity,
      power, and impact of qualitative research conducted in health-related settings
      and show how traditional health psychology methods and concepts can be enriched
      in the process.

PMID- 25822046
TI  - Computational and biophysical approaches to protein-protein interaction
      inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum AMA1/RON2 complex.
AB  - Invasion of the red blood cell by Plasmodium falciparum parasites requires
      formation of an electron dense circumferential ring called the Moving Junction
      (MJ). The MJ is anchored by a high affinity complex of two parasite proteins:
      Apical Membrane Antigen 1 (PfAMA1) displayed on the surface of the parasite and
      Rhoptry Neck Protein 2 that is discharged from the parasite and imbedded in the
      membrane of the host cell. Structural studies of PfAMA1 revealed a conserved
      hydrophobic groove localized to the apical surface that coordinates RON2 and
      invasion inhibitory peptides. In the present work, we employed computational and
      biophysical methods to identify competitive P. falciparum AMA1-RON2 inhibitors
      with the goal of exploring the 'druggability' of this attractive antimalarial
      target. A virtual screen followed by molecular docking with the PfAMA1 crystal
      structure was performed using an eight million compound collection that included
      commercial molecules, the ChEMBL malaria library and approved drugs. The
      consensus approach resulted in the selection of inhibitor candidates. We also
      developed a fluorescence anisotropy assay using a modified inhibitory peptide to
      experimentally validate the ability of the selected compounds to inhibit the AMA1
      RON2 interaction. Among those, we identified one compound that displayed
      significant inhibition. This study offers interesting clues to improve the
      throughput and reliability of screening for new drug leads. 

PMID- 25822049
TI  - Social networking and young adults' drinking practices: innovative qualitative
      methods for health behavior research.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Understandings of health behaviors can be enriched by using
      innovative qualitative research designs. We illustrate this with a project that
      used multiple qualitative methods to explore the confluence of young adults'
      drinking behaviors and social networking practices in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
      METHOD: Participants were 18-25 year old males and females from diverse ethnic,
      class, and occupational backgrounds. In Stage 1, 34 friendship focus group
      discussions were video-recorded with 141 young adults who talked about their
      drinking and social networking practices. In Stage 2, 23 individual interviews
      were conducted using screen-capture software and video to record participants
      showing and discussing their Facebook pages. In Stage 3, a database of Web-based
      material regarding drinking and alcohol was developed and analyzed. RESULTS: In
      friendship group data, young adults co-constructed accounts of drinking practices
      and networking about drinking via Facebook as intensely social and pleasurable.
      However, this pleasure was less prominent in individual interviews, where there
      was greater explication of unpleasant or problematic experiences and practices.
      The pleasure derived from drinking and social networking practices was also
      differentiated by ethnicity, gender, and social class. Juxtaposing the Web-based
      data with participants' talk about their drinking and social media use showed the
      deep penetration of online alcohol marketing into young people's social worlds.
      CONCLUSIONS: Multiple qualitative methods, generating multimodal datasets,
      allowed valuable nuanced insights into young adults' drinking practices and
      social networking behaviors. This knowledge can usefully inform health policy,
      health promotion strategies, and targeted health interventions.

PMID- 25822050
TI  - Responsible men, blameworthy women: Black heterosexual men's discursive
      constructions of safer sex and masculinity.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Although Black heterosexual men (BHM) in the United States rank among
      those most affected by HIV, research about how safer sex messages shape their
      safer sex behaviors is rare, highlighting the need for innovative qualitative
      methodologies such as critical discursive psychology (CDP). This CDP study
      examined how: (a) BHM construct safer sex and masculinity; (b) BHM positioned
      themselves in relation to conventional masculinity; and (c) discursive context
      (individual interview vs. focus group) shaped talk about safer sex and
      masculinity. METHOD: Data included individual interviews (n = 30) and 4 focus
      groups (n = 26) conducted with 56 self-identified Black/African American
      heterosexual men, ages 18 to 44. RESULTS: Analyses highlighted 5 main
      constructions: (a) condoms as signifiers of "safe" women; (b) blaming women for
      STI/responsibility for safer sex; (c) relationship/trust/knowledge; (d) condom
      mandates; and (e) public health safer sex. Discourses positioned BHM in terms of
      conventional masculinity when talk denied men's agency for safer sex and/or
      contraception, or positioned women as deceitful, or apathetic about sexual risk
      and/or pregnancy. Notably, discourses also spotlighted alternative masculinities
      relevant to taking responsibility for safer sex or sexual exclusivity. Discursive
      context, namely the homosocial nature of focus group discussions, shaped how
      participants conversed about safer sex, and masculinity but not the content of
      that talk. CONCLUSION: In denying BHM's responsibility for safer sex, BHM's
      discourses about safer sex and masculinity often mirror public health messages,
      underscoring a critical need to sync these discourses to reduce sexual risk, and
      develop gender-transformative safer sex interventions for BHM.

PMID- 25822051
TI  - Using qualitative methods within a mixed-methods approach to developing and
      evaluating interventions to address harmful alcohol use among young people.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This article illustrates how qualitative methods can be used in the
      development and evaluation of behavior change interventions. Although many
      campaigns advise young people to drink responsibly, few clarify how to convert
      this general advice into specific behavioral strategies. Resilience-based
      approaches argue that treating young non-drinkers and moderate drinkers as
      "experts" in responsible alcohol use may facilitate co-creation of acceptable
      interventions that focus on how to change behavior. METHOD: Four distinct phases
      of intervention development were linked to past research and future developments.
      RESULTS: First, analysis of correlates of alcohol use using data from a survey of
      1,412 people aged 16-21 indicated that alcohol harm-reduction interventions
      should help young people to develop skills and strategies to resist alcohol.
      Second, interpretative phenomenological analysis of 25 interviews with people
      purposively selected from among the survey sample identified general strategies
      and specific tactics used by young people to manage opportunities to drink.
      Third, insights from the first 2 phases and past qualitative research guided
      development of video resources to be use in school-based alcohol education to
      illustrate strategies and tactics for moderate or non-use of alcohol. Fourth, 18
      focus groups with students and teachers were used to evaluate the video:
      structured thematic analysis indicated that after revision the video would be a
      valuable addition to school-based alcohol education. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from
      the 4 phases highlight the value of using different qualitative and quantitative
      methods as part of a program of work designed to inform the development,
      refinement, and evaluation of health psychology interventions.

PMID- 25822052
TI  - Developing an intervention to equip nurses for acute life threatening events
      (ALTEs) in hospital: a phenomenological approach to healthcare research.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To understand staff's experiences of acute life threatening events
      (ALTEs) in a pediatric hospital setting. These data will inform an intervention
      to equip nurses with clinical and emotional skills for dealing with ALTEs.
      METHOD: A mixed design was used in the broader research program; this paper
      focuses on phenomenon-focused interviews analyzed using interpretative
      phenomenological analysis (IPA). RESULTS: Emerging themes included staff's
      relationships with patients and the impact of personhood on their ability to
      perform competently in an emergency. More experienced nurses described
      "automatic" competence generated through increased exposure to ALTEs and were
      able to recognize "fumbling and shaking" as a normal stress response. Designating
      a role was significant to staff experience of effectiveness. Key to nurses'
      learning experience was reflection and identifying experiences as "teachable
      moments." Findings were considered alongside existing theories of self-efficacy,
      reflective thought, and advocacy inquiry to create an experiential learning
      intervention involving a series of clinical and role-related scenarios.
      CONCLUSION: The phenomenological work facilitated an in-depth reading of
      experience. It accentuated the importance of exposure to ALTEs giving nurses
      experiential knowledge to prepare them for the impact of these events. Challenges
      included bracketing the personhood of child patients, shifting focus to clinical
      tasks during the pressured demands of managing an ALTE, normalizing the
      physiological stress response, and the need for a forum and structure for
      reflection and learning. An intervention will be designed to provide experiential
      learning and encourage nurses to realize and benefit from their embodied
      knowledge.

PMID- 25822053
TI  - Applying discursive approaches to health psychology.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to outline the contribution of two strands of
      discursive research, glossed as 'macro' and 'micro,' to the field of health
      psychology. A further goal is to highlight some contemporary debates in
      methodology associated with the use of interview data versus more naturalistic
      data in qualitative health research. METHOD: Discursive approaches provide a way
      of analyzing talk as a social practice that considers how descriptions are put
      together and what actions they achieve. RESULTS: A selection of recent examples
      of discursive research from one applied area of health psychology, studies of
      diet and obesity, are drawn upon in order to illustrate the specifics of both
      strands. 'Macro' discourse work in psychology incorporates a Foucauldian focus on
      the way that discourses regulate subjectivities, whereas the concept of
      interpretative repertoires affords more agency to the individual: both are useful
      for identifying the cultural context of talk. Both 'macro' and 'micro' strands
      focus on accountability to varying degrees. 'Micro' Discursive Psychology,
      however, pays closer attention to the sequential organization of constructions
      and focuses on naturalistic settings that allow for the inclusion of an analysis
      of the health professional. CONCLUSION: Diets are typically depicted as an
      individual responsibility in mainstream health psychology, but discursive
      research highlights how discourses are collectively produced and bound up with
      social practices.

PMID- 25822055
TI  - Painting pain: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of representations of
      living with chronic pain.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study examines patients' pictorial representations of their
      chronic pain, alongside their accounts of those images, in order to help our
      understanding of their lived experience of the condition. METHOD: The sample
      comprises 7 women in middle adulthood from southern England. They began by
      drawing what their pain felt like and were then interviewed about their
      portrayals. The interviews were analyzed with interpretative phenomenological
      analysis. RESULTS: The participants produce strong, vivid, abstract pictures. In
      many of the pictures, the pain is objectified as punitive and sinister. This is
      enhanced through the use of stark colors of red and black. Paintings also often
      have a temporal element, showing either the movement from self before pain to
      self since the pain had started, or pointing to aspirations for the possible
      relief of pain in the future. The analysis of the images is grounded in the
      participants' accounts of them. CONCLUSION: The images and accounts provide a
      powerful insight into the internal world of the pain sufferer and the subjective
      experience of chronic pain. We link this work to other attempts to represent
      patients' pain and point to the particular contribution our work makes. We make
      some suggestions for subsequent research following on from what is presented here
      and we also argue that the methodology outlined in the article offers
      considerable potential for research on other health conditions.

PMID- 25822054
TI  - Reducing youth screen time: qualitative metasynthesis of findings on barriers and
      facilitators.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: An integrated perspective on the relevant qualitative findings on the
      experience of screen time in youth can inform the development of hypotheses to be
      tested in future research and can guide the development of interventions to
      decrease sedentary behavior. The purpose of this qualitative metasynthesis was to
      explore parent, youth, and educational professionals' perceptions of barriers to,
      and facilitators of, reducing youth screen time. METHOD: Qualitative
      metasynthesis techniques were used to analyze and synthesize 15 qualitative
      studies of screen time among youth (11-18 years) meeting inclusion criteria. The
      phrases, quotes, and/or author interpretations (i.e., theme or subtheme) were
      recorded in a data display matrix to facilitate article comparisons. Codes were
      collapsed into 23 categories of similar conceptual meaning and 3 overarching
      themes were derived using thematic analysis procedures. RESULTS: Study sample
      sizes ranged from 6 to 270 participants from 6 countries. Data collection methods
      included focus groups (n = 6), interviews (n = 4), focus group and interviews (n
      = 4), and naturalistic observation (n = 1) with youth and/or parents. Data
      analysis techniques included thematic analysis (n = 9), content analysis (n = 3),
      grounded theory (n = 1), observation (n = 1), and interpretive phenomenological
      analysis (n = 1). Three thematic categories were identified: (a) youth's norms
      screen time is an integral part of daily life, and facilitates opportunities for
      entertainment, social interaction, and escapism; (b) family dynamics and parental
      roles-parents are conflicted and send mixed messages about the appropriate uses
      and amounts of screen time; and, (c) resources and environment-engagement in
      screen time is dependent on school, community, neighborhood, and home
      environmental contexts. CONCLUSIONS: Screen time is an established norm in many
      youth cultures, presenting barriers to behavior change. Parents recognize the
      importance of reducing youth screen time, but model and promote engagement
      themselves. For youth and parents, mutually agreed rules, limits, and parental
      monitoring of screen time were perceived as likely to be effective.

PMID- 25822056
TI  - "My bus is here": a phenomenological exploration of "living-with-dying".
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This article has 2 aims. The first is to demonstrate how the
      application of an innovative qualitative methodology generated novel insights
      into the experience of living with advanced cancer. The article's second aim is
      to challenge the idea that the identification of shared themes provides the
      researcher with access to the meaning and significance of the experience of
      "living-with-dying." METHOD: The research used object elicitation together with
      existentially informed hermeneutic phenomenological analysis. The analysis is
      based on 10 semistructured interviews with people who are living with advanced
      cancer. RESULTS: Three brief case studies demonstrate the variability in accounts
      that characterizes the data set as a whole. This is followed by reflections on
      the way in which, despite striking individual differences, all participants
      seemed to experience living-with-dying as an existential challenge that demands
      that the individual concerned finds a way of coming to terms with the very
      parameters of human existence. CONCLUSION: A thoroughly idiographic approach that
      advocates staying with the diversity that characterizes the experience of living
      with advanced cancer. It is argued that to make sense of the remarkable
      differences between the research participants' accounts of their experiences of
      living with a diagnosis of advanced cancer, a focus on process (i.e., What
      happens when people encounter their mortality?) and meaning (i.e., What does it
      mean to them?) helps us to understand these as different responses to the
      challenge of death awareness.

PMID- 25822057
TI  - Renegotiating sexual intimacy in the context of altered embodiment: the
      experiences of women with breast cancer and their male partners following
      mastectomy and reconstruction.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Breast cancer diagnosis and treatments can have a profound impact upon
      women's well-being, body image, and sexual functioning, but less is known about
      the relational context of their coping and the impact upon their intimate
      partners. Our study focuses upon couples' experiences of breast cancer surgery,
      and its impact on body image and sexual intimacy. METHOD: Utilizing a dyadic
      design, we conducted 8 semistructured individual interviews, with 4 long-term
      heterosexual couples, after the women had undergone mastectomy with
      reconstruction. Interviews explored both partners' experiences of diagnosis,
      decision-making, and experiences of body image and sexual intimacy.
      Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was adopted; this is a qualitative
      research approach characterized by in-depth analysis of the personal meaning of
      experiences. RESULTS: Findings illustrate the positive acceptance that partners
      may express toward their wives' postsurgical bodies. They illuminate ways in
      which gendered coping styles and normative sexual scripts may shape couples'
      negotiations of intimacy around "altered embodiment." Reciprocal communication
      styles were important for couples' coping. The management of expectations
      regarding breast reconstruction may also be helpful. CONCLUSIONS: The insights
      from the dyadic, multiple perspective design suggest that psychologists must
      situate the meaning of supportive relationships and other protective factors in
      the context of complex life events and histories, in order to understand and
      support people's developing responses to distress.

PMID- 25822058
TI  - The parents' ability to attend to the "voice of their child" with incurable
      cancer during the palliative phase.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In pediatric oncology, parents want, and are expected, to act and
      decide in the best interest of their child. A recent qualitative study (PRESENCE
      study) indicated that parents had difficulty in doing so. The aim of this
      subanalysis was to describe and offer an explanation for the parents' actions in
      expressing and handling of "the voice of the child." METHOD: A multicenter,
      qualitative research study comprising 37 interviews conducted with 34 parents of
      17 children with incurable cancer, cared for at home, during the palliative
      phase. A thematic analysis was conducted. RESULTS: The "voice of the child"
      becomes manifest in the parents' expressions of the child's needs and
      perceptions. Parents who actively searched to understand their child's inner
      perspective used direct and indirect strategies. Parents preferred indirect
      strategies when their child avoided talking or when they considered the
      conversation as threatening for the child, or for themselves. Even if the parents
      show an intense involvement in the care and support of their child; they can
      still have difficulty acknowledging the child's perspective. An inability to take
      into account the child's perspective was largely due to the parents' own struggle
      to cope with loss. CONCLUSIONS: Whether or not the voice of children approaching
      the end-of- life is heard, often depends on their parents' ability to give them a
      voice. Professional caregivers have a difficult task in supporting parents in
      giving their child his or her voice, while at the same time preserving their, and
      their parents', ability to cope.

PMID- 25822059
TI  - Meaning making during parent-physician bereavement meetings after a child's
      death.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to identify and describe types of meaning-making
      processes that occur among parents during bereavement meetings with their child's
      intensive care physician after their child's death in a pediatric intensive care
      unit. METHODS: Fifty-three parents of 35 deceased children participated in a
      bereavement meeting with their child's physician 14.5 +/- 6.3 weeks after the
      child's death. One meeting was conducted per family. Meetings were video recorded
      and transcribed verbatim. Using a directed content analysis, an interdisciplinary
      team analyzed the transcripts to identify and describe meaning-making processes
      that support and extend extant meaning-making theory. RESULTS: Four major meaning
      making processes were identified: (1) sense making, (2) benefit finding, (3)
      continuing bonds, and (4) identity reconstruction. Sense making refers to seeking
      biomedical explanations for the death, revisiting parents' prior decisions and
      roles, and assigning blame. Benefit finding refers to exploring positive
      consequences of the death, including ways to help others, such as giving feedback
      to the hospital, making donations, participating in research, volunteering, and
      contributing to new medical knowledge. Continuing bonds refers to parents'
      ongoing connection with the deceased child manifested by reminiscing about the
      child, sharing photographs and discussing personal rituals, linking objects, and
      community events to honor the child. Identity reconstruction refers to changes in
      parents' sense of self, including changes in relationships, work, home, and
      leisure. CONCLUSIONS: Parent-physician bereavement meetings facilitate several
      types of meaning-making processes among bereaved parents. Further research should
      evaluate the extent to which meaning making during bereavement meetings affects
      parents' health outcomes.

PMID- 25822060
TI  - A conceptual model of morphogenesis and regeneration.
AB  - This paper is devoted to computer modelling of the development and regeneration
      of multicellular biological structures. Some species (e.g. planaria and
      salamanders) are able to regenerate parts of their body after amputation damage,
      but the global rules governing cooperative cell behaviour during morphogenesis
      are not known. Here, we consider a simplified model organism, which consists of
      tissues formed around special cells that can be interpreted as stem cells. We
      assume that stem cells communicate with each other by a set of signals, and that
      the values of these signals depend on the distance between cells. Thus the signal
      distribution characterizes location of stem cells. If the signal distribution is
      changed, then the difference between the initial and the current signal
      distribution affects the behaviour of stem cells-e.g. as a result of an
      amputation of a part of tissue the signal distribution changes which stimulates
      stem cells to migrate to new locations, appropriate for regeneration of the
      proper pattern. Moreover, as stem cells divide and form tissues around them, they
      control the form and the size of regenerating tissues. This two-level
      organization of the model organism, with global regulation of stem cells and
      local regulation of tissues, allows its reproducible development and
      regeneration. 

PMID- 25822061
TI  - Impact of anatomic location on locally recurrent rectal cancer: superior outcome
      for intraluminal tumour recurrence.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Local recurrence of rectal cancer after curative surgery predicts
      patients' prognosis. The correlation between the exact anatomic location of
      tumour recurrence and patients' survival is still under debate. Thus, this study
      aimed to investigate the impact of the exact location of recurrent rectal cancer
      on post-operative morbidity and survival. METHODS: This is a retrospective study
      including 90 patients with locally recurrent rectal cancer. The location of
      tumour recurrence was classified into intraluminal and extraluminal recurrence.
      Univariate and multivariable Cox regression analyses were used to determine the
      impact on post-operative morbidity and survival. RESULTS: Patients' survival with
      intraluminal recurrence was significantly longer compared to patients with
      extraluminal recurrence (p = 0.027). Curative resection was associated with
      prolonged survival in univariate and multivariable analyses (p = 0.0001) and was
      more often achieved in patients with intraluminal recurrence (p = 0.024).
      Survival of curative resected patients with intraluminal recurrence was
      significantly longer compared to curatively resected patients with extraluminal
      recurrence (p = 0.0001). The rate of post-operative morbidity between
      intraluminal and extraluminal recurrence was not statistically different (p =
      0.59). CONCLUSION: Based on the present investigation, intraluminal recurrence is
      associated with superior outcome. Post-operative morbidity did not differ
      significantly between both groups.

PMID- 25822062
TI  - Transcatheter Arterial Embolization of Ruptured Inferior Phrenic Artery
      Pseudoaneurysm Following Completion Gastrectomy.
AB  - A 56-year-old man underwent completion gastrectomy and regional lymphadenectomy
      for adenocarcinoma of the remnant stomach. Postoperatively, he developed an
      esophagojejunal anastomotic insufficiency associated with leakage of activated
      pancreatic juice, resulting in pseudoaneurysm arising from the inferior phrenic
      artery (IPA) with massive bleeding. Emergency angiography was performed, and the
      artery was successfully embolized using N-butyl cyanoacrylate. Pseudoaneurysm of
      the IPA is an extremely rare entity, and transcatheter arterial embolization is
      an effective treatment method because of its advantages over surgery. 

PMID- 25822063
TI  - Outcome for Asymptomatic Recurrence Following Laparoscopic Repair of Very Large
      Hiatus Hernia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Radiological follow-up following repair of large hiatus hernias have
      identified recurrence rates of 20-30%, although most are small and asymptomatic.
      Whether patients will eventually develop clinical problems is uncertain. This
      study evaluated the outcome for individuals identified with an asymptomatic
      hiatus hernia following previous repair vs. asymptomatic controls. METHODS: One
      hundred fifteen asymptomatic patients who had previously undergone sutured repair
      of a large hiatus hernia and then underwent barium meal X-ray 6-60 months after
      surgery within a clinical trial were identified and divided into two cohorts:
      with (n = 41) vs. without (n = 74) an asymptomatic hernia. Heartburn, dysphagia,
      and satisfaction with surgery were assessed prospectively using a standardized
      questionnaire applying analogue scales. Consumption of antisecretory medication
      and revision surgery were also determined. To determine the natural history of
      asymptomatic recurrent hiatus hernia, outcomes for the two groups were compared
      at 1 and 5 years and at most recent (late) follow-up. RESULTS: Outcomes were
      available at 1 year for 98.2% and 5 years or the latest follow-up (range 6-237
      months) for 100%. Heartburn and dysphagia scores were low and satisfaction scores
      high in both groups at all follow-up points, but heartburn scores and medication
      use were higher in the recurrent hernia group. At late follow-up, 94.6% of the
      recurrent hernia group vs. 98.5% without a hernia regarded their original
      decision for surgery to be correct. Two patients in recurrent hernia group
      underwent revision surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with an initially asymptomatic
      recurrent hiatus hernia are more likely to report heartburn and use antisecretory
      medication at later follow-up than controls. However, overall clinical outcomes
      remain good, with high satisfaction and low surgical revision rates. Additional
      interventions to reduce the risk of recurrence might not be warranted.

PMID- 25822064
TI  - Patients with ocular symptoms referred for electrodiagnosis: how many of them
      suffer from myasthenia gravis?
AB  - The aim of this study was the diagnosis of patients with isolated ocular
      manifestations (ptosis and/or diplopia) referred for electrophysiological
      evaluation to the electrodiagnostic laboratory of a University Neurological
      Department. Examination was performed either in inpatient status or in outpatient
      basis. We analyzed the clinical, electrophysiological and other laboratory data
      in 79 subjects. Myasthenia gravis (MG) was diagnosed in 38 %, 45.6 % in other
      diseases (Graves disease, blepharospasm, IIId cranial verve palsy, multiple
      sclerosis, stroke, etc.), while in 16.5 %, the cause remained unidentified.
      Symptoms fluctuation was significantly more frequent in the myasthenic patients,
      compared to patients with other diseases. The presence of both diplopia and
      ptosis are more likely due to MG rather than other pathology.

PMID- 25822065
TI  - A 90 day safety assessment of genetically modified rice expressing Cry1Ab/1Ac
      protein using an aquatic animal model.
AB  - In fields of transgenic Bt rice, frogs are exposed to Bt proteins through
      consumption of both target and nontarget insects. In the present study, we
      assessed the risk posed by transgenic rice expressing a Cry1Ab/1Ac fusion protein
      (Huahui 1, HH1) on the development of Xenopus laevis. For 90 days, froglets were
      fed a diet with 30% HH1 rice, 30% parental rice (Minghui 63, MH63), or no rice as
      a control. Body weight and length were measured every 15 days. After sacrificing
      the froglets, we performed a range of biological, clinical, and pathological
      assessments. No significant differences were found in body weight (on day 90:
      27.7 +/- 2.17, 27.4 +/- 2.40, and 27.9 +/- 1.67 g for HH1, MH63, and control,
      respectively), body length (on day 90: 60.2 +/- 1.55, 59.3 +/- 2.33, and 59.7 +/-
      1.64 mm for HH1, MH63, and control, respectively), animal behavior, organ weight,
      liver and kidney function, or the microstructure of some tissues between the
      froglets fed on the HH1-containing diet and those fed on the MH63-containing or
      control diets. This indicates that frog development was not adversely affected by
      dietary intake of Cry1Ab/1Ac protein. 

PMID- 25822067
TI  - Cognitive predictors and age-based adverse impact among business executives.
AB  - Age differences on measures of general mental ability and specific cognitive
      abilities were examined in 2 samples of job applicants to executive positions as
      well as a mix of executive/nonexecutive positions to determine which predictors
      might lead to age-based adverse impact in making selection and advancement
      decisions. Generalizability of the pattern of findings was also investigated in 2
      samples from the general adult population. Age was negatively related to general
      mental ability, with older executives scoring lower than younger executives. For
      specific ability components, the direction and magnitude of age differences
      depended on the specific ability in question. Older executives scored higher on
      verbal ability, a measure most often associated with crystallized intelligence.
      This finding generalized across samples examined in this study. Also, consistent
      with findings that fluid abilities decline with age, older executives scored
      somewhat lower on figural reasoning than younger executives, and much lower on a
      letter series test of inductive reasoning. Other measures of inductive reasoning,
      such as Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, also showed similar age group mean
      differences across settings. Implications for employee selection and adverse
      impact on older job candidates are discussed.

PMID- 25822066
TI  - C. elegans outside the Petri dish.
AB  - The roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has risen to the status of a top model
      organism for biological research in the last fifty years. Among laboratory
      animals, this tiny nematode is one of the simplest and easiest organisms to
      handle. And its life outside the laboratory is beginning to be unveiled. Like
      other model organisms, C. elegans has a boom-and-bust lifestyle. It feasts on
      ephemeral bacterial blooms in decomposing fruits and stems. After resource
      depletion, its young larvae enter a migratory diapause stage, called the dauer.
      Organisms known to be associated with C. elegans include migration vectors (such
      as snails, slugs and isopods) and pathogens (such as microsporidia, fungi,
      bacteria and viruses). By deepening our understanding of the natural history of
      C. elegans, we establish a broader context and improved tools for studying its
      biology. 

PMID- 25822068
TI  - Stargazing: an integrative conceptual review, theoretical reconciliation, and
      extension for star employee research.
AB  - Stars--employees with disproportionately high and prolonged (a) performance, (b)
      visibility, and (c) relevant social capital--have garnered attention in
      economics, sociology, and management. However, star research is often isolated
      within these research disciplines. Thus, 3 distinct star research streams are
      evolving, each disconnected from the others and each bringing siloed theoretical
      perspectives, terms, and assumptions. A conceptual review of these perspectives
      reveals a focus on the expost effects that stars exert in organizations with
      little explanation of who a star is and how one becomes a star. To synthesize the
      stars literature across these 3 disciplines, we apply psychological theories,
      specifically motivation theories, to create an integrative framework for stars
      research. Thus, we present a unified stars definition and extend theory on the
      making, managing, and mobility of stars. We extend research about how and why
      employees may be motivated to become stars, how best to manage stars and their
      relationships with colleagues, and how to motivate star retention. We then
      outline directions for future research.

PMID- 25822069
TI  - Taking it to another level: do personality-based human capital resources matter
      to firm performance?
AB  - Drawing on the attraction-selection-attrition perspective, strategic human
      resource management (SHRM) scholarship, and recent human capital research, this
      study explores organization-level emergence of personality (i.e., personality
      based human capital resources) and its direct, interactive, and (conditional)
      indirect effects on organization-level outcomes based on data from 6,709 managers
      across 71 firms. Results indicate that organization-level mean emotional
      stability, extraversion, and conscientiousness are positively related to
      organization-level managerial job satisfaction and labor productivity but not to
      financial performance. Furthermore, organization-level mean and variance in
      emotional stability interact to predict all three organization-level outcomes,
      and organization-level mean and variance in extraversion interact to predict firm
      financial performance. Specifically, the positive effects of organization-level
      mean emotional stability and extraversion are stronger when organization-level
      variance in these traits is lower. Finally, organization-level mean emotional
      stability, extraversion, and conscientiousness are all positively related to firm
      financial performance indirectly via labor productivity, and the indirect effects
      are more positive when organization-level variance in those personality traits is
      lower. Overall, the findings suggest that personality-based human capital
      resources demonstrate tangible effects on organization-level outcomes.
      Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed along with
      study limitations and future research directions.

PMID- 25822070
TI  - Understanding organizational commitment: A meta-analytic examination of the roles
      of the five-factor model of personality and culture.
AB  - We examined the relationships between the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality
      traits and three forms of organizational commitment (affective, normative, and
      continuance commitment) and their variability across individualistic and
      collectivistic cultures. Meta-analytic results based on 55 independent samples
      from 50 studies (N = 18,262) revealed that (a) all FFM traits had positive
      relationships with affective commitment; (b) all FFM traits had positive
      relationships with normative commitment; and (c) Emotional Stability,
      Extraversion, and Openness to Experience had negative relationships with
      continuance commitment. In particular, Agreeableness was found to be the trait
      most strongly related to both affective and normative commitment. The results
      also showed that Agreeableness had stronger relationships with affective and
      normative commitment in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures.
      We provide theoretical and practical implications of these findings for
      personality, job attitudes, and employee selection and retention.

PMID- 25822071
TI  - Ideal, nonideal, and no-marker variables: The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)
      marker technique works when it matters.
AB  - A persistent concern in the management and applied psychology literature is the
      effect of common method variance on observed relations among variables. Recent
      work (i.e., Richardson, Simmering, & Sturman, 2009) evaluated 3 analytical
      approaches to controlling for common method variance, including the confirmatory
      factor analysis (CFA) marker technique. Their findings indicated significant
      problems with this technique, especially with nonideal marker variables (those
      with theoretical relations with substantive variables). Based on their simulation
      results, Richardson et al. concluded that not correcting for method variance
      provides more accurate estimates than using the CFA marker technique. We
      reexamined the effects of using marker variables in a simulation study and found
      the degree of error in estimates of a substantive factor correlation was
      relatively small in most cases, and much smaller than error associated with
      making no correction. Further, in instances in which the error was large, the
      correlations between the marker and substantive scales were higher than that
      found in organizational research with marker variables. We conclude that in most
      practical settings, the CFA marker technique yields parameter estimates close to
      their true values, and the criticisms made by Richardson et al. are overstated.

PMID- 25822073
TI  - Charge Transport across DNA-Based Three-Way Junctions.
AB  - DNA-based molecular electronics will require charges to be transported from one
      site within a 2D or 3D architecture to another. While this has been shown
      previously in linear, pi-stacked DNA sequences, the dynamics and efficiency of
      charge transport across DNA three-way junction (3WJ) have yet to be determined.
      Here, we present an investigation of hole transport and trapping across a DNA
      based three-way junction systems by a combination of femtosecond transient
      absorption spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations. Hole transport across
      the junction is proposed to be gated by conformational fluctuations in the ground
      state which bring the transiently populated hole carrier nucleobases into better
      aligned geometries on the nanosecond time scale, thus modulating the pi-pi
      electronic coupling along the base pair sequence. 

PMID- 25822072
TI  - Lactobacillus rhamnosus lowers zebrafish lipid content by changing gut microbiota
      and host transcription of genes involved in lipid metabolism.
AB  - The microbiome plays an important role in lipid metabolism but how the
      introduction of probiotic communities affects host lipid metabolism is poorly
      understood. Using a multidisciplinary approach we addressed this knowledge gap
      using the zebrafish model by coupling high-throughput sequencing with
      biochemical, molecular and morphological analysis to evaluate the changes in the
      intestine. Analysis of bacterial 16S libraries revealed that Lactobacillus
      rhamnosus was able to modulate the gut microbiome of zebrafish larvae, elevating
      the abundance of Firmicutes sequences and reducing the abundance of
      Actinobacteria. The gut microbiome changes modulated host lipid processing by
      inducing transcriptional down-regulation of genes involved in cholesterol and
      triglycerides metabolism (fit2, agpat4, dgat2, mgll, hnf4alpha, scap, and cck)
      concomitantly decreasing total body cholesterol and triglyceride content and
      increasing fatty acid levels. L. rhamnosus treatment also increased microvilli
      and enterocyte lengths and decreased lipid droplet size in the intestinal
      epithelium. These changes resulted in elevated zebrafish larval growth. This
      integrated system investigation demonstrates probiotic modulation of the gut
      microbiome, highlights a novel gene network involved in lipid metabolism,
      provides an insight into how the microbiome regulates molecules involved in lipid
      metabolism, and reveals a new potential role for L. rhamnosus in the treatment of
      lipid disorders. 

PMID- 25822074
TI  - Dual colorimetric and fluorescent sensor based on semiconducting polymer dots for
      ratiometric detection of lead ions in living cells.
AB  - Recently, semiconducting polymer dots (Pdots) have become a novel type of
      ultrabright fluorescent probes which hold great promise in biological imaging and
      analytical detection. Here we developed a visual sensor based on Pdots for Pb(2+)
      detection. We first embedded near-infrared (NIR) dyes into the matrix of
      poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorene)-co-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-co-4,7-di(thiophen-2-yl)
      2,1,3-benzothiadiazole] (PFBT-DBT) polymer and then capped the Pdots with
      polydiacetylenes (PDAs), in which parts of the PDAs were prefunctionalized with
      15-crown-5 moieties to form Pdots. The high selectivity of these Pdots for lead
      ions is attributed to the formation of 2:1 15-crown-5-Pb(2+)-carboxylate sandwich
      complex on the Pdot surface. After Pb(2+) chelation, the conjugation system of
      the PDA was perturbed and strained, causing a chromatic change of the PDA from
      blue to red. At the same time, the encapsulated NIR dyes were liable to leach out
      that resulted in an emission variation of the Pdots. Accordingly, lead ions can
      be recognized by either color change or emission variation of the Pdots. We also
      loaded these nanoprobes into live HeLa cells through endocytosis, and then
      monitored changes in Pb(2+) levels within cells, demonstrating their utility for
      use in cellular and bioimaging applications. In addition, we fabricated easy-to
      prepare test strips impregnated with Pdot-poly(vinyl alcohol) films to identify
      Pb(2+) in real samples, which proved their applicability for in situ on-site
      detection. Our results suggest that this Pdot-based visual sensor shows promising
      potential for advanced environmental and biological applications. 

PMID- 25822076
TI  - Long- versus Short-Range Scattering in Doped Epitaxial Graphene.
AB  - Tuning the electronic properties of graphene by adatom deposition unavoidably
      introduces disorder into the system, which directly affects the single-particle
      excitations and electrodynamics. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
      (ARPES) we trace the evolution of disorder in graphene by thallium adatom
      deposition and probe its effect on the electronic structure. We show that the
      signatures of quasiparticle scattering in the photoemission spectral function can
      be used to identify thallium adatoms, although charged, as efficient short-range
      scattering centers. Employing a self-energy model for short-range scattering, we
      are able to extract a delta-like scattering potential delta = -3.2 +/- 1 eV.
      Therefore, isolated charged scattering centers do not necessarily act just as
      good long-range (Coulomb) scatterers but can also act as efficient short-range
      (delta-like) scatterers; in the case of thallium, this happens with almost equal
      contributions from both mechanisms. 

PMID- 25822077
TI  - Colorectal cancer incidence by age among patients undergoing surveillance
      colonoscopy.

PMID- 25822075
TI  - Protolytic cleavage of Hg-C bonds induced by 1-methyl-1,3-dihydro-2H
      benzimidazole-2-selone: synthesis and structural characterization of mercury
      complexes.
AB  - Multinuclear ((1)H, (77)Se, and (199)Hg) NMR spectroscopy demonstrates that 1
      methyl-1,3-dihydro-2H-benzimidazole-2-selone, H(sebenzim(Me)), a structural
      analogue of the selenoamino acid, selenoneine, binds rapidly and reversibly to
      the mercury centers of HgX2 (X = Cl, Br, I), while X-ray diffraction studies
      provide evidence for the existence of adducts of composition
      [H(sebenzim(Me))]xHgX2 (X = Cl, x = 2, 3, 4; X = I, x = 2) in the solid state.
      H(sebenzim(Me)) also reacts with methylmercury halides, but the reaction is
      accompanied by elimination of methane resulting from protolytic cleavage of the
      Hg-C bond, an observation that is of relevance to the report that selenoneine
      demethylates CysHgMe, thereby providing a mechanism for mercury detoxification.
      Interestingly, the structures of [H(sebenzim(Me))]xHgX2 exhibit a variety of
      different hydrogen bonding patterns resulting from the ability of the N-H groups
      to form hydrogen bonds with chlorine, iodine, and selenium. 

PMID- 25822078
TI  - Anti-inflammatory screening and molecular modeling of some novel coumarin
      derivatives.
AB  - Coumarin and their derivatives have drawn much attention in the pharmacological
      and pharmaceutical fields due to their broad range and diverse biological
      activities. In the present work, starting from the 6-amino-7-hydroxy-4-methyl-2H
      chromen-2-one, a series of 6-(substituted benzylamino)-7-hydroxy-4-methyl-2H
      chromen-2-ones 1-11 was synthesized and assessed for their anti-inflammatory
      activity using the carrageenan-induced hind paw edema method. Compounds 2, 3, 4
      and 9 showed significant (p < 0.001) reduction of rat paw edema volume after 1 h
      from the administration of the carrageenan compared to the reference drug,
      indomethacin. On the other hand, compounds 4 and 8 showed the highest anti
      inflammatory activity, surpassing indomethacin after 3 h with 44.05% and 38.10%
      inhibition, respectively. Additionally, a molecular docking study was performed
      against the COX enzyme using the MOE 10.2010 software. 

PMID- 25822079
TI  - New 1-(3-nitrophenyl)-5,6-dihydro-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,5]benzodiazepines:
      synthesis and computational study.
AB  - Triazole derivatives constitute an important group of heterocyclic compounds have
      have been the subject of extensive study in the recent past. These compounds have
      shown a wide range of biological and pharmacological activities. In this work,
      new fused tricyclic 1-(3-nitrophenyl)-5,6-dihydro-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,5]
      benzodiazepines have been synthesized by the thermal cyclization of N'-(2,3
      dihydro-1H-1,5-benzodiazepin-4-yl)-3-nitrobenzohydrazides. After screening
      ethanol, toluene and 1-butanol as solvents, butanol-1 was found to be the best
      choice for the cyclization reaction in order to obtain the highest yields of
      tricyclic derivatives. The chemical structures of the synthesized compounds were
      elucidated by the analysis of their IR, 1H- and 13C-NMR spectral data. For
      tentative rationalization of the reaction processes, the global and local
      reactivity indices of certain compounds, taking part in the reaction pathway,
      were assessed by means of quantum mechanical calculations using the conceptual
      density functional theory (DFT) approach. This work could be useful for the
      synthesis of new heterocyclic compounds bearing a fused triazole ring. 

PMID- 25822080
TI  - Formylation of electron-rich aromatic rings mediated by dichloromethyl methyl
      ether and TiCl4: scope and limitations.
AB  - Here the aromatic formylation mediated by TiCl4 and dichloromethyl methyl ether
      previously described by our group has been explored for a wide range of aromatic
      rings, including phenols, methoxy- and methylbenzenes, as an excellent way to
      produce aromatic aldehydes. Here we determine that the regioselectivity of this
      process is highly promoted by the coordination between the atoms present in the
      aromatic moiety and those in the metal core. 

PMID- 25822082
TI  - Correction: Huang, W.-H., et al. Anticancer activities of polyynes from the root
      bark of Oplopanax horridus and their acetylated derivatives. Molecules 2014, 19,
      6142-6162.

PMID- 25822081
TI  - Dereplication of known nucleobase and nucleoside compounds in natural product
      extracts by capillary electrophoresis-high resolution mass spectrometry.
AB  - Nucleobase and nucleoside compounds exist widely in various organisms. An often
      occurring problem in the discovery of new bioactive compounds from natural
      products is reisolation of known nucleobase and nucleoside compounds. To resolve
      this problem, a capillary electrophoresis-high resolution mass spectrometry (CE
      HR-MS) method providing both rapid separation and accurate mass full-scan MS data
      was developed for the first time to screen and dereplicate known nucleobase and
      nucleoside compounds in crude extracts of natural products. Instrumental
      parameters were optimized to obtain optimum conditions for CE separation and
      electrospray ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF/MS) detection.
      The proposed method was verified to be precise, reproducible, and sensitive.
      Using this method, known nucleobase and nucleoside compounds in different marine
      medicinal organisms including Syngnathus acus Linnaeus; Hippocampus japonicus
      Kaup and Anthopleura lanthogrammica Berkly were successfully observed and
      identified. This work demonstrates that CE-HR-MS combined with an accurate mass
      database may be used as a powerful tool for dereplicating known nucleobase and
      nucleoside compounds in different types of natural products. Rapid dereplication
      of known nucleobase and nucleoside compounds allows researchers to focus on other
      leads with greater potential to yield new substances. 

PMID- 25822083
TI  - Parental absence from clinic predicts human immunodeficiency virus treatment
      failure in adolescents.

PMID- 25822084
TI  - Linear Dependence of Photoluminescence in Mixed Ln-MOFs for Color Tunability and
      Barcode Application.
AB  - Multicolored photoluminescence tuning in a single-phase material has invaluable
      potential in display and security applications. By deliberate design of a
      multifunctional antenna ligand and precise control of mixed metal ionic
      compositions in lanthanide metal-organic frameworks (Ln-MOFs), we achieved
      dichromatic fine-tuning among red, green, or blue primary colors through growth
      of a series of isomorphous Ln-MOF crystals.solvents of formula [LnnLn'1
      n(TTP)2.H2O]Cl3 (Ln = Ln' = Eu, Tb, and Gd, 1-3; Ln = Eu, Ln' = Tb, 4-8; Ln = Gd,
      Ln' = Eu, 9-11; Ln = Gd, Ln' = Tb, 12-14; 0 < n < 1; TTP = 1',1"-(2,4,6
      trimethylbenzene-1,3,5-triyl)tris(methylene)tris(pyridine-4(1H)-one)). The linear
      dependence of the emissions were analyzed, and the mathematical matrix models
      were established, which are useful to control the synthetic conditions and to
      predict the color chromaticity coordinates under varied excitation wavelengths.
      The potential relevance of these multicolored photoluminescent Ln-MOFs to
      barcoded materials was demonstrated. 

PMID- 25822085
TI  - Photovoltaic Conversion Enhancement of a Carbon Quantum Dots/p-Type CuAlO2/n-Type
      ZnO Photoelectric Device.
AB  - Carbon quantum dots (C QDs)/p-type CuAlO2/n-type ZnO photoelectric bilayer film
      composites were prepared by a simple route, through which ZnO films were
      sputtered on crystal quartz substrates and CuAlO2 films were prepared by sol-gel
      on ZnO films and then these bilayer films were composited with C QDs on their
      surface. The characterization results indicated that C QDs were well combined
      with the surface of the CuAlO2 films. The photovoltage and photocurrent of these
      bilayer film composites were investigated under illumination and darkness
      switching, which demonstrated to be significantly enhanced compared with those of
      the CuAlO2/ZnO bilayer films. Through analysis, this enhancement of the
      photoconductivity was mainly attributed to C QDs with unique up-converted
      photoluminescence behavior. 

PMID- 25822086
TI  - Enzyme-mimetic activity of Ce-intercalated titanate nanosheets.
AB  - Colloidal solutions of Ce-doped titanate nanosheets (Ce-TNS) with tiny dimensions
      (<10 nm) were fabricated through a hydrolysis reaction of titanium
      tetraisopropoxide and Ce(NO3)3, and their annihilation activity for reactive
      oxygen species (ROS) was investigated. The obtained Ce-TNS had an akin crystal
      structure to layered tetratitanate (Ti4O9(2-)) and Ce ions occupied interlayer
      space between the host layers with a negative charge. The Ce-TNS possessed a
      superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimetic activity for disproportionation of superoxide
      anion radicals (O2(-)) as target ROS. It was explained that the annihilation of
      O2(-) caused a valence fluctuation of Ce ions existing in the interlayer.
      Moreover, the activity of Ce-TNS exceeded that of CeO2 nanoparticles recently
      attracting much attention as an inorganic SOD mimic. The superior performance was
      explained mainly by a high dispersion stability of the Ce-TNS bringing about a
      huge reaction area. Moreover, the Ce-TNS protected DNA molecules from ultraviolet
      light induced oxidative damage, demonstrating effectiveness as one of the new
      inorganic protecting agents for biomolecules and tissues. 

PMID- 25822087
TI  - Cooperative loss of RAS feedback regulation drives myeloid leukemogenesis.
AB  - RAS network activation is common in human cancers, and in acute myeloid leukemia
      (AML) this activation is achieved mainly through gain-of-function mutations in
      KRAS, NRAS or the receptor tyrosine kinase FLT3. We show that in mice,
      premalignant myeloid cells harboring a Kras(G12D) allele retained low levels of
      Ras signaling owing to negative feedback involving Spry4 that prevented
      transformation. In humans, SPRY4 is located on chromosome 5q, a region affected
      by large heterozygous deletions that are associated with aggressive disease in
      which gain-of-function mutations in the RAS pathway are rare. These 5q deletions
      often co-occur with chromosome 17 alterations involving the deletion of NF1
      (another RAS negative regulator) and TP53. Accordingly, combined suppression of
      Spry4, Nf1 and p53 produces high levels of Ras signaling and drives AML in mice.
      Thus, SPRY4 is a tumor suppressor at 5q whose disruption contributes to a lethal
      AML subtype that appears to acquire RAS pathway activation through a loss of
      negative regulators. 

PMID- 25822088
TI  - Exome sequencing of hepatocellular carcinomas identifies new mutational
      signatures and potential therapeutic targets.
AB  - Genomic analyses promise to improve tumor characterization to optimize
      personalized treatment for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Exome
      sequencing analysis of 243 liver tumors identified mutational signatures
      associated with specific risk factors, mainly combined alcohol and tobacco
      consumption and exposure to aflatoxin B1. We identified 161 putative driver genes
      associated with 11 recurrently altered pathways. Associations of mutations
      defined 3 groups of genes related to risk factors and centered on CTNNB1
      (alcohol), TP53 (hepatitis B virus, HBV) and AXIN1. Analyses according to tumor
      stage progression identified TERT promoter mutation as an early event, whereas
      FGF3, FGF4, FGF19 or CCND1 amplification and TP53 and CDKN2A alterations appeared
      at more advanced stages in aggressive tumors. In 28% of the tumors, we identified
      genetic alterations potentially targetable by US Food and Drug Administration
      (FDA)-approved drugs. In conclusion, we identified risk factor-specific
      mutational signatures and defined the extensive landscape of altered genes and
      pathways in HCC, which will be useful to design clinical trials for targeted
      therapy.

PMID- 25822090
TI  - Testing for genetic associations in arbitrarily structured populations.
AB  - We present a new statistical test of association between a trait and genetic
      markers, which we theoretically and practically prove to be robust to arbitrarily
      complex population structure. The statistical test involves a set of parameters
      that can be directly estimated from large-scale genotyping data, such as those
      measured in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). We also derive a new set of
      methodologies, called a 'genotype-conditional association test' (GCAT), shown to
      provide accurate association tests in populations with complex structures,
      manifested in both the genetic and non-genetic contributions to the trait. We
      demonstrate the proposed method on a large simulation study and on the Northern
      Finland Birth Cohort study. In the Finland study, we identify several new
      significant loci that other methods do not detect. Our proposed framework
      provides a substantially different approach to the problem from existing methods,
      such as the linear mixed-model and principal-component approaches. 

PMID- 25822089
TI  - Targeted disruption of DNMT1, DNMT3A and DNMT3B in human embryonic stem cells.
AB  - DNA methylation is a key epigenetic modification involved in regulating gene
      expression and maintaining genomic integrity. Here we inactivated all three
      catalytically active DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) in human embryonic stem cells
      (ESCs) using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to further investigate the roles and
      genomic targets of these enzymes. Disruption of DNMT3A or DNMT3B individually as
      well as of both enzymes in tandem results in viable, pluripotent cell lines with
      distinct effects on the DNA methylation landscape, as assessed by whole-genome
      bisulfite sequencing. Surprisingly, in contrast to findings in mouse, deletion of
      DNMT1 resulted in rapid cell death in human ESCs. To overcome this immediate
      lethality, we generated a doxycycline-responsive tTA-DNMT1* rescue line and
      readily obtained homozygous DNMT1-mutant lines. However, doxycycline-mediated
      repression of exogenous DNMT1* initiates rapid, global loss of DNA methylation,
      followed by extensive cell death. Our data provide a comprehensive
      characterization of DNMT-mutant ESCs, including single-base genome-wide maps of
      the targets of these enzymes.

PMID- 25822091
TI  - Electrostatic kinetic barriers in the threading/dethreading motion of a rotaxane
      like complex.
AB  - A new rigid cationic thread, based on the 1,2-bis(bipyridinium)ethane motif, and
      a 24-crown-8 anionic macrocycle self-assemble into a pseudo-rotaxane complex in
      aqueous solution. The presence of pH-responsive end groups on the thread, remote
      from the recognition motif, allows controlling the threading/dethreading rate
      without perturbing the complex structure or stability. The difference in the rate
      is attributed to the activation or deactivation of electrostatic barriers on the
      thread during the sliding process at different pH values. 

PMID- 25822092
TI  - Patient dependant on ventriculo-atrial shunt after 49 years.
AB  - The insertion of ventriculo-atrial (VA) shunts has been performed for the
      treatment of hydrocephalus since the 1950s. Thrombosis, infection, pulmonary
      hypertension, tricuspid stenosis, shunt nephritis, intra-cardiac migration due to
      displacement or fracture are reported complications. (1) We present the case of a
      49-year-old female who had a VA shunt as a baby, that was never revised, who
      presented with a neck abscess related to the shunt tubing. 

PMID- 25822093
TI  - 3D printing of patient-specific anatomy: A tool to improve patient consent and
      enhance imaging interpretation by trainees.
AB  - We report the use of three-dimensional or 3D printed, patient-specific anatomy as
      a tool to improve informed patient consent and patient understanding in a case of
      posterior lumbar fixation. Next, we discuss its utility as an educational tool to
      enhance imaging interpretation by neurosurgery trainees. 

PMID- 25822094
TI  - Intermittent visual field defects caused by a dilated Virchow-Robin space close
      to the optic radiation: Therapeutic and pathomechanical considerations.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Virchow-Robin spaces (VRSs) are extensions of subarachnoid spaces that
      accompany vessels entering the brain. T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging
      detects VRS in about 95 percent of patients in a recent study. VRSs are
      considered a normal variant with benign prognosis. Occasionally, VRS might become
      symptomatic causing neurological deficits depending on their location. CASE
      DESCRIPTION: We report the case of a 55-year-old female patient with dilated VRS
      presenting with visual field disturbances and cognitive deficits. The patient
      underwent endoscopic fenestration of a large periventricular VRS located next to
      the visual radiation into the posterior horn of the right lateral ventricle.
      During the postoperative course, visual field disturbances were resolved but
      cognitive deficits remained unchanged. CONCLUSION: Dilated VRSs can cause a
      variety of neurological deficits depending on their size and location. Therefore,
      patients harboring dilated VRS should undergo early close inspection and in case
      of progressive neurological deficits, an operative therapy should be done; as
      valve mechanisms can cause a reduction of size when brain scans are conducted and
      later lead to occurrence of severe neurological deficits during phase of
      dilation.

PMID- 25822096
TI  - A vaccine against an explosively spreading virus.

PMID- 25822095
TI  - Detection of Rheumatoid Arthritis-Interstitial Lung Disease Is Enhanced by Serum
      Biomarkers.
AB  - RATIONALE: Interstitial lung disease (ILD), a leading cause of morbidity and
      mortality in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), is highly prevalent, yet RA-ILD is
      underrecognized. OBJECTIVES: To identify clinical risk factors, autoantibodies,
      and biomarkers associated with the presence of RA-ILD. METHODS: Subjects enrolled
      in Brigham and Women's Hospital Rheumatoid Arthritis Sequential Study (BRASS) and
      American College of Rheumatology (ACR) cohorts were evaluated for ILD. Regression
      models were used to assess the association between variables of interest and RA
      ILD. Receiver operating characteristic curves were generated in BRASS to
      determine if a combination of clinical risk factors and autoantibodies can
      identify RA-ILD and if the addition of investigational biomarkers is informative.
      This combinatorial signature was subsequently tested in ACR. MEASUREMENTS AND
      MAIN RESULTS: A total of 113 BRASS subjects with clinically indicated chest
      computed tomography scans (41% with a spectrum of clinically evident and
      subclinical RA-ILD) and 76 ACR subjects with research or clinical scans (51% with
      a spectrum of RA-ILD) were selected. A combination of age, sex, smoking,
      rheumatoid factor, and anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies was strongly
      associated with RA-ILD (areas under the curve, 0.88 for BRASS and 0.89 for ACR).
      Importantly, a combinatorial signature including matrix metalloproteinase 7,
      pulmonary and activation-regulated chemokine, and surfactant protein D
      significantly increased the areas under the curve to 0.97 (P = 0.002, BRASS) and
      1.00 (P = 0.016, ACR). Similar trends were seen for both clinically evident and
      subclinical RA-ILD. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical risk factors and autoantibodies are
      strongly associated with the presence of clinically evident and subclinical RA
      ILD on computed tomography scan in two independent RA cohorts. A biomarker
      signature composed of matrix metalloproteinase 7, pulmonary and activation
      regulated chemokine, and surfactant protein D significantly strengthens this
      association. These findings may facilitate identification of RA-ILD at an earlier
      stage, potentially leading to decreased morbidity and mortality.

PMID- 25822097
TI  - Pre-entry screening for tuberculosis: the need for better evidence.

PMID- 25822098
TI  - Enrolment trends in a comprehensive HIV programme in rural north-central Nigeria:
      improved care indices, but declining quality of clinical data over time.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Vanderbilt University affiliate Friends in Global Health was funded
      in 2008 to support comprehensive HIV/AIDS services in north-central Nigeria. We
      summarise programme characteristics and trends in enrolment and quality of data
      collection in this rural, resource-limited environment. METHODS: We used
      routinely collected programme data in supported sites from June 1 2009 to
      September 30, 2013.Baseline characteristics were defined as those collected
      closest to a 90-day window period before and after enrolment. Summary
      characteristics were compared by site and enrolment year. RESULTS: We enrolled
      3,960 HIV-infected patients into care (68% women), median age of 32 years
      [interquartile range (IQR): 27-40]. Most clients were married (79%) and
      unemployed (60%). At enrolment, median CD4+ cell count was 230 cells/MUL (IQR:
      114-390) and haemoglobin was 10.7 g/dL (IQR: 9.3-11.9). Advanced clinical disease
      [World Health Organization (WHO) clinical stage III/IV] at enrolment was
      documented in 29% of clients. Cumulative enrolment increased from 377 patients in
      2009 to 3,960 patients by 2013.With each successive year, more clients were
      enrolled at earlier stages of disease; in 2009, 37% of patients were identified
      as WHO clinical stage I, while in 2013, 55% of patients were so classified. While
      documentation of clinical staging remained stable, the completeness of CD4+ cell
      count and haemoglobin data declined with time. CONCLUSION: Expanded testing in a
      comprehensive HIV programme in rural Nigeria brought persons to care at earlier
      stages of illness. Yet, as clinical services expanded, data collection quality
      declined. The paradox of successful scaling up HIV services but deteriorating
      quality of data underscores the importance of data management training and
      quality improvement efforts.

PMID- 25822099
TI  - Simultaneous modulated accelerated radiotherapy in cervical cancer with
      retroperitoneal lymph node metastasis after radical hysterectomy and pelvic
      lymphadenectomy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the dosimetry, toxicity, and efficacy of simultaneous
      modulated accelerated radiotherapy (SMART) with 3-dimensional conformal
      radiotherapy (3DCRT) in cervical cancer with retroperitoneal lymph node
      metastasis after radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy. METHODS: Total
      32 patients who underwent SMART were retrospectively evaluated. Daily fractions
      of 2.2 to 2.4 Gy and 1.8 to 2 Gy were prescribed and delivered to gross tumor
      volume and clinical target volume to a total dose of 63.8 and 52.2 Gy,
      respectively. A 3DCRT plan was designed for the SMART group and planned to
      deliver the same prescribed dose. The doses of organs at risk (OARs) were
      compared. Thirty-six patients who received 3DCRT were used to compare the target
      dose, toxicities, and efficacy with 32 cases who received SMART. RESULTS: The
      mean doses delivered to gross tumor volume and clinical target volume were
      significantly higher in the SMART group than in the 3DCRT group (63.8 vs 55.2 Gy
      [P < 0.01] and 52.5 vs 48.6 Gy [P < 0.01], respectively). For SMART plan, the
      doses of OARs were significantly lower than that of 3DCRT plans (small intestine:
      25.1 vs 30.9 Gy [P < 0.01], bladder: 35.3 vs 46.3 [P < 0.01], and rectum: 31.7 vs
      43.7 [P = 0.002], respectively). The patients experienced less acute and late
      toxicities in the SMART group (acute toxicities: enteroproctitis, P = 0.019;
      cystitis, P = 0.013; leukopenia, P = 0.025; late toxicities: enteroproctitis, P =
      0.007; and cystitis, P = 0.026, respectively). No significant difference was
      found for 1-year survival (78.7% vs 67.7%, P = 0.222), but SMART group had a
      higher 2-year survival rate (2-year: 63.1% vs 39.1%, P = 0.029). CONCLUSIONS:
      Simultaneous modulated accelerated radiotherapy plans yielded higher dose to the
      targets and better sparing of OARs than did 3DCRT in cervical cancer with
      retroperitoneal lymph node metastasis after radical hysterectomy and pelvic
      lymphadenectomy. Simultaneous modulated accelerated radiotherapy provided better
      clinical outcomes than did 3DCRT. Long-term follow-up and studies involving more
      patients are needed to confirm our results.

PMID- 25822100
TI  - Changes of Dietary Fat and Carbohydrate Content Alter Central and Peripheral
      Clock in Humans.
AB  - CONTEXT: The circadian clock coordinates numerous metabolic processes with light
      dark and feeding regimens. However, in humans it is unknown whether dietary
      patterns influence circadian rhythms. OBJECTIVE: We examined the effects of
      switching from a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet to a low-carbohydrate, high fat
      (LC/HFD) isocaloric diet on the central and peripheral circadian clocks in
      humans. DESIGN: Diurnal patterns of salivary cortisol and gene expression were
      analyzed in blood monocytes of 29 nonobese healthy subjects before and 1 and 6
      weeks after the dietary switch. For this, we established a method of rhythm
      prediction by 3-time point data. RESULTS: The centrally driven cortisol rhythm
      showed a phase delay 1 and 6 weeks after the dietary switch to a LC/HFD as well
      as an amplitude increase. The dietary switch altered diurnal oscillations of core
      clock genes (PER1, PER2, PER3, and TEF) and inflammatory genes (CD14, CD180,
      NFKBIA, and IL1B). The LC/HFD also affected the expression of nonoscillating
      genes contributing to energy metabolism (SIRT1) and fat metabolism (ACOX3 and
      IDH3A). Expression of clock genes but not of salivary cortisol in monocytes
      tightly correlated with levels of blood lipids and with expression of metabolic
      and inflammatory genes. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the modulation of
      the dietary fat and carbohydrate content alters the function of the central and
      peripheral circadian clocks in humans.

PMID- 25822101
TI  - Clinical Outcome, Hormonal Status, Gonadotrope Axis, and Testicular Function in
      219 Adult Men Born With Classic 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency. A French National
      Survey.
AB  - CONTEXT: Outcomes of congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to classic 21-hydroxylase
      deficiency (21OHD) have been widely studied in children and women, but less so in
      men. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to analyze data from a network of metropolitan
      French teaching hospitals on the clinical outcome of classic 21OHD in a large
      sample of congenital adrenal hyperplasia/21OHD-genotyped adult men, and
      particularly the impact of 21OHD on the gonadotrope axis, testicular function,
      and fertility. METHODS: From April 2011 to June 2014, tertiary endocrinology
      departments provided data for 219 men with 21OHD (ages, 18-70 y; 73.6% salt
      wasters, 26.4% simple virilizers). Testicular sonography was performed in 164
      men, and sperm analysis was performed in 71 men. RESULTS: Mean final height was
      7.8 cm lower than in a reference population. Obesity was more common, and mean
      blood pressure was lower than in the reference population. None of the patients
      were diabetic, and lipid status was generally normal. Blood electrolyte status
      was normal in the vast majority of men, despite markedly elevated ACTH and renin
      levels. Serum progesterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, and androstenedione levels
      were above normal in the vast majority of cases. Hormonal profiling variously
      showed a normal gonadotrope-testicular axis, gonadotropin deficiency, or primary
      testicular insufficiency. Testicular sonography revealed testicular adrenal rest
      tumors (TARTs) in 34% of 164 men. Serum inhibin B and FSH levels were
      significantly lower and higher, respectively, in patients with TARTs. Severe
      oligospermia or azoospermia was found in 42% of patients and was significantly
      more prevalent in men with TARTs (70%) than in men with normal testes (3.6%; P <
      .0001). Among men living with female partners, TARTs were significantly more
      prevalent in those who had not fathered children. CONCLUSION: We report the
      spectrum of testicular/gonadotrope axis impairment in the largest cohort of 21OHD
      men studied to date. Our results suggest that French men with 21OHD managed in
      specialized centers frequently have impaired exocrine testicular function but
      that its reproductive implications are often overlooked.

PMID- 25822102
TI  - Primary Aldosteronism and ARMC5 Variants.
AB  - CONTEXT: Primary aldosteronism is one of the leading causes of secondary
      hypertension, causing significant morbidity and mortality. A number of genetic
      defects have recently been identified in primary aldosteronism, whereas we
      identified mutations in ARMC5, a tumor-suppressor gene, in cortisol-producing
      primary macronodular adrenal hyperplasia. OBJECTIVE: We investigated a cohort of
      56 patients who were referred to the National Institutes of Health for evaluation
      of primary aldosteronism for ARMC5 defects. METHODS: Patients underwent step-wise
      diagnosis, with measurement of serum aldosterone and plasma renin activity
      followed by imaging, saline suppression and/or oral salt loading tests, plus
      adrenal venous sampling. Cortisol secretion was also evaluated; unilateral or
      bilateral adrenalectomy was performed, if indicated. DNA, protein, and
      transfection studies in H295R cells were conducted by standard methods. RESULTS:
      We identified 12 germline ARMC5 genetic alterations in 20 unrelated and two
      related individuals in our cohort (39.3%). ARMC5 sequence changes in 6 patients
      (10.7%) were predicted to be damaging by in silico analysis. All affected
      patients carrying a variant predicted to be damaging were African Americans (P =
      .0023). CONCLUSIONS: Germline ARMC5 variants may be associated with primary
      aldosteronism. Additional cohorts of patients with primary aldosteronism and
      metabolic syndrome, particularly African Americans, should be screened for ARMC5
      sequence variants because these may underlie part of the known increased
      predisposition of African Americans to low renin hypertension.

PMID- 25822103
TI  - [Adjustment to a Stressful Event in the Couple: Depression of the Partner as Risk
      for Adjustment Disorder].
AB  - Maladaptive reactions on stressful experiences justifying a diagnosis of
      adjustment disorder have high prevalence. Little is known about the possible risk
      for clinically significant maladaptation that results from the social context.
      The literature on the effects of depression on communication and altered support
      conditions in couples is suggesting this. Aim of this study was to investigate
      whether clinically significant depression in the romantic partner is a risk
      factor for adjustment disorder following a concept of stress-response disorder.
      Furthermore, from a dimensional point of view a possible positive association
      between depressive symptoms in the partner and own adjustment symptom was
      studied. Thereby, own depressive symptoms were controlled for in order to exclude
      mere depressive contagion and isolate stress-related responses. In an online
      couple-study N=294 participants (N=147 couples) reported whether or not they had
      experienced a stressful event that is still bothering them. N=152 participants
      reported such an event. N=28 of this group reached the threshold of a possible
      diagnosis with the screening questionnaire "Adjustment disorder New Module". N=14
      romantic partners reported depressive symptoms above the cut-off of the CES-D.
      The risk for an adjustment disorder is elevated if the female partner reports a
      clinically significant level of depressive symptoms (OR 7.13). This was only true
      when female partners were depressed, the depression of male partners did not show
      any significant associations. Accordingly, dimensionally there is a positive
      association between depressive symptoms of the female partner and adjustment
      symptoms of preoccupation (stressor-related repetitive negative thoughts).
      Depression of the romantic partner seems to be a significant risk factor for
      maladaptive reactions on a stressful event. This was particularly true for male
      participants of the study. To sum up, results encourage taking up an
      interpersonal perspective in research and clinical interventions. 

PMID- 25822104
TI  - Long-term persistence with anti-osteoporosis drugs after fracture.
AB  - Long-term persistence with anti-osteoporosis drugs and determinants for
      discontinuation among fracture patients were examined. Persistence was 75.0 and
      45.3 % after 1 and 5 years, respectively. Those aged >=80 years were at increased
      risk of early discontinuation. Within 1 year after discontinuation, 24.3 %
      restarted therapy, yet 47.0 % persisted for 1 year. INTRODUCTION: The risk of
      osteoporotic fracture can effectively be reduced with use of anti-osteoporosis
      drugs. However, little is known about persistence with these drugs after fracture
      where subsequent fracture risk is high. The aims were to determine long-term
      persistence with anti-osteoporosis drugs among fracture patients, including its
      determinants, and to describe restart and subsequent persistence. METHODS: A
      cohort study was conducted within the Dutch PHARMO Database Network. Patients
      aged >=50 years (n = 961) who received anti-osteoporosis drugs within 1 year
      after fracture, but not in the preceding year, were included (2002-2011).
      Persistence (defined as the proportion on treatment) and the proportion
      restarting after discontinuation were estimated using Kaplan-Meier analyses. Time
      dependent Cox regression was used to identify determinants of non-persistence
      including age, sex, initial dosage regime, fracture type, comorbidities, and drug
      use. RESULTS: Persistence with anti-osteoporosis drugs was 75.0 % (95 %
      confidence interval (CI) 72.0-77.7) and 45.3 % (95 % CI 40.4-50.0) after 1 and 5
      years, respectively. A significant determinant of non-persistence was age >=80
      years (reference 50-59 years: adjusted hazard ratio [adj. HR] 1.65; 95 % CI 1.15
      2.38). This effect was not constant over time (<=360 days following initiation:
      adj. HR 2.07; 95 % CI 1.27-3.37; >360 days: adj. HR 1.08; 95 % CI 0.62-1.88).
      Within 1 year after discontinuation, 24.3 % (95 % CI 20.1-29.2) restarted
      therapy, yet 47.0 % persisted for 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified
      suboptimal persistence with anti-osteoporosis drugs among fracture patients.
      Major target groups for measures aimed to improve persistence may be those aged
      >80 years and those restarting therapy.

PMID- 25822105
TI  - Simple and rapid in vitro assay for detecting human thyroid peroxidase
      disruption.
AB  - A simple and rapid luminometric assay for the detection of chemical inhibitors of
      human thyroid peroxidase (hTPO) activity was developed and validated with 10
      model compounds. hTPO was derived from the human thyroid follicular cell line
      Nthy-ori 3-1 and its activity was quantified by measuring the oxidation of
      luminol in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which results in the
      emission of light at 428 nm. In this assay,hTPO activity was shown to be
      inhibited by 5 known TPO inhibitors and not inhibited by 5 non-inhibitors.
      Similar results were obtained with porcine TPO (pTPO).The inhibition of hTPO by
      the model compounds was also tested with guaiacol and Ampliflu Red as alternative
      indicator substrates. While all substrates allowed the detection of pTPO activity
      and its inhibition, only the Ampliflu Red and luminol-based methods were
      sensitive enough to allow the quantification of hTPO activity from Nthy-ori 3-1
      cell lysates. Moreover, luminol gave results with a narrower 95% confidence
      interval and therefore more reliable data.Whole extracts of fast-growing Nthy-ori
      3-1 cells circumvent the need for animal-derived thyroid organs,thereby reducing
      costs, eliminating potential contamination and providing the possibility to study
      human instead of porcine TPO. Overall, the application of luminol and Nthy-ori 3
      1 cell lysate for the detection of the disruption of hTPO activity was found to
      represent a valuable in vitro alternative and a possible candidate for inclusion
      within a high throughput integrated testing strategy for the detection of
      compounds that potentially interfere with normal thyroid function in vivo.

PMID- 25822106
TI  - Efficacy of palonosetron and 1-day dexamethasone in moderately emetogenic
      chemotherapy compared with fosaprepitant, granisetron, and dexamethasone: a
      prospective randomized crossover study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although palonosetron (PALO) and NK1 receptor antagonist both reduce
      chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, no comparison trial in moderately
      emetogenic chemotherapy (MEC) had been reported. The purpose of this study was to
      find out which drug combinations are preferable for patients receiving MEC.
      METHODS: Chemotherapy-naive patients receiving MEC were randomized to two groups;
      group A first received PALO therapy [PALO plus 1-day dexamethasone (DEX)], and
      group B first received fosaprepitant (FAPR) therapy [FAPR, granisetron (GRAN),
      and DEX]. Patients were re-allocated to the other therapy, respectively, for the
      second cycle of chemotherapy. We administered intravenous PALO (0.75 mg) and DEX
      (9.9 mg) to the PALO therapy group, and FAPR (150 mg), DEX (4.95 mg), and GRAN (3
      mg) to the FAPR therapy group, on Day 1. Complete response (CR) was the primary
      endpoint; complete control (CC), total control (CT), and the therapy chosen by
      the patients for their third and following cycles of antiemetic therapy were the
      secondary endpoints. We evaluated CR, CC, and TC in the acute phase, in the
      delayed phase, and over the whole period. RESULTS: A total of 35 patients and 70
      cycles of therapy was evaluable for analysis. No significant difference was found
      at all evaluation points. Overall CR rates for PALO and FAPR therapy were 74 vs
      69 % (P = 0.567), CC rates 66 vs 69 % (P = 0.521), and TC rates 46 vs 60 % (P =
      0.235), respectively. Patients also showed no clear preference for their third
      and following cycles of chemotherapy, choosing both regimens almost equally often
      (PALO 10 vs FAPR 13). CONCLUSIONS: PALO and 1-day DEX is almost equivalent to
      FAPR, GRAN, and DEX for MEC.

PMID- 25822107
TI  - Nutritional profile and obesity: results from a random-sample population-based
      study in Cordoba, Argentina.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Obesity is a chronic, heterogeneous, multifactorial disease, which
      has sharply increased in prevalence in both developed and developing countries.
      This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of obesity and to identify socio
      demographic risk factors associated with it, with special emphasis on diet.
      METHODS: Nutritional status, demographic characteristics, lifestyle habits, and
      food consumption patterns derived from a Food Frequency Questionnaire were
      investigated. Exhaustive exploratory analyses were performed in order to describe
      dietary patterns, and logistic regression models were used for odds ratio
      estimation. RESULTS: The study included 4328 subjects, over 18 years old and
      resident in Cordoba city. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 34 and 17
      %, respectively, with 60 % in men and 45 % in women of BMI >= 25. Obesity risk
      factors were high intake of sodium, refined grains, starchy vegetables, and
      snacks. A lower risk of overweight and obesity was associated with an adequate,
      moderate intake of meats, eggs, alcoholic beverages, sugar and sweets, milk,
      yogurt, and pulses. CONCLUSIONS: A high intake of snacks, refined grains, starchy
      vegetables and sodium and low intake of yogurt, milk, pulses, and whole grains
      seem to be associated with the emergence and high prevalence of obesity in
      Cordoba, Argentina.

PMID- 25822108
TI  - Attachment history as a moderator of the alliance outcome relationship in
      adolescents.
AB  - The role of the alliance in predicting treatment outcome is robust and long
      established. However, much less attention has been paid to mechanisms of change,
      including moderators, particularly for youth. This study examined the moderating
      role of pretreatment adolescent-caregiver attachment and its impact on the
      working alliance-treatment outcome relationship. One hundred adolescents and
      young adults with primary substance dependence disorders were treated at a
      residential facility, with a cognitive-behavioral emphasis. The working alliance
      and clinical symptoms were measured at regular intervals throughout treatment. A
      moderator hypothesis was tested using a path analytic approach. Findings
      suggested that attachment to the primary caregiver moderated the impact of the
      working alliance on treatment outcome, such that for youth with the poorest
      attachment history, working alliance had a stronger relationship with outcome.
      Conversely, for those with the strongest attachment histories, alliance was not a
      significant predictor of symptom reduction. This finding may help elucidate
      alliance-related mechanisms of change, lending support for theories of corrective
      emotional experience as one function of the working alliance in youth
      psychotherapy.

PMID- 25822109
TI  - Xilonix, a novel true human antibody targeting the inflammatory cytokine
      interleukin-1 alpha, in non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients were treated as
      part of a Phase I dose escalation and expansion study evaluating a true human
      monoclonal antibody targeting IL-1alpha (Xilonix), which is intended to modulate
      the malignant phenotype-inhibiting tumor growth, spread and offering relief of
      symptoms. METHODS: Sixteen NSCLC patients were included. Patients failed a median
      of 4 chemotherapy regimens, including 10/16 failing anti-EGFR therapy. Disease
      progression was evaluated using a multi-modal approach: tumor response, patient
      reported outcomes (EORTC-QLQC30), and lean body mass (LBM). Patients received
      infusions every 2 or 3 weeks until progression, and were followed 24 months to
      assess survival. RESULTS: There were no infusion reactions, dose-limiting
      toxicities, or deaths due to therapy. Albeit not statistically significant, there
      was a trend in IL-6 (-2.6 +/- 18.5 (0.1 [-2.8-2.4]), platelet counts (-11 +/- 54
      (-4[-36.0-1.0]), CRP (-3.3 +/- 30.2 (0.4 [-10.7-1.8]) and LBM (1.0 +/- 2.5 (0.4 [
      0.5-2.6]). Self-reported outcomes revealed reductions in pain, fatigue and
      improvement in appetite. Median survival was 7.6 (IQR 4.4-11.5) months,
      stratification based on prior anti-EGFR therapy revealed a median survival of 9.4
      months (IQR 7.6-12.5) for those pretreated (N = 10) versus a survival of 4.8
      months (IQR 4.3-5.7) for those without (N = 6, logrank p = 0.187). CONCLUSION:
      Xilonix was well tolerated, with gains in LBM and improvement in symptoms
      suggesting a clinically important response. Although not statistically
      significant, the survival outcomes observed for patients with and without prior
      anti-EGFR therapy raises intriguing questions about the potential synergy of IL
      1alpha blockade and anti-EGFR therapy. Further study for this agent in NSCLC is
      warranted.

PMID- 25822110
TI  - Inhibition of human vascular endothelial cell migration and capillary-like tube
      formation by the microtubule-stabilizing agent peloruside A.
AB  - Peloruside A is a microtubule-stabilizing agent that is currently under
      investigation as a potential anticancer agent. Peloruside A binds to a site on
      beta-tubulin that is distinct to that of the taxanes (paclitaxel and docetaxel)
      and the epothilones. An attractive clinical quality of microtubule-stabilizing
      agents is their ability to target multiple mechanisms of tumour growth. In
      addition to inducing tumour cell apoptosis by arresting cells in mitosis,
      microtubule-stabilizing agents also inhibit angiogenesis, a process needed by
      tumor cells for growth and metastasis. In this study, the effects of peloruside A
      on endothelial cell processes important for angiogenesis were assessed in
      comparison to docetaxel. Both peloruside A and docetaxel potently inhibited the
      proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells, with IC50 values of 1.4
      and 1.7 nM, respectively. Peloruside also potently blocked endothelial cell
      migration during wound closure and the three-dimensional organization of the
      endothelial cells into capillary-like tubes. In the wound scratch assay,
      peloruside A inhibited wound recovery with an IC50 of 6.3 nM after 18 h.
      Docetaxel was approximately 3-fold more potent than peloruside A. The number of
      capillary-like tubes that formed after 16 h culture in MatrigelTM was also
      inhibited in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 of 4.5 nM. Docetaxel was about
      2-fold more potent than peloruside A in preventing tube formation. This
      inhibition of endothelial cell function occurred at relatively non-cytotoxic
      concentrations over the 16-18 h incubations for both stabilizing agents,
      suggesting that anti-angiogenic effects are likely to occur before
      therapeutically relevant doses begin to inhibit tumor growth or adverse side
      effects develop.

PMID- 25822111
TI  - A diagnostic pitfall in IgG4-related hypophysitis: infiltration of IgG4-positive
      cells in the pituitary of granulomatosis with polyangiitis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Immunoglobulin (Ig) G4-related hypophysitis is an emerging clinical
      entity, which is characterized by an elevated serum IgG4 concentration and
      infiltration of IgG4-positive plasma cells in the pituitary. Although some
      criteria for its diagnosis have been proposed, they have not been fully
      established. In particular, differential diagnosis from secondary chronic
      inflammation including granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) is difficult in
      some cases. We describe central diabetes insipidus with pituitary swelling
      exhibiting infiltration of IgG4-positive cells. PATIENT: A 43-year-old woman in
      the remission stage of GPA presented with sudden-onset polyuria and polydipsia.
      Pituitary magnetic resonance imaging revealed swelling of the anterior and
      posterior pituitary and stalk, with heterogeneous gadolinium enhancement and
      disappearance of the high signal intensity of the posterior pituitary. Evaluation
      of biochemical markers for GPA suggested that the disease activity was well
      controlled. Endocrinological examination revealed the presence of central
      diabetes insipidus and growth hormone deficiency. Pituitary biopsy specimen
      showed IgG4-positive cells, with a 43% IgG4(+)/IgG(+) ratio, which met the
      criteria for IgG4-related hypophysitis. However, substantial infiltration of
      polymorphonuclear neutrophils with giant cells was also noted, resulting in a
      final diagnosis of pituitary involvement of GPA. CONCLUSION: These results
      suggest that pituitary involvement of GPA should be taken into account for the
      differential diagnosis of IgG4-related hypophysitis.

PMID- 25822113
TI  - Community psychology and the capabilities approach.
AB  - What makes for a good life? The capabilities approach to this question has much
      to offer community psychology, particularly with respect to marginalized groups.
      Capabilities are freedoms to engage in valued social activities and roles-what
      people can do and be given both their capacities, and environmental opportunities
      and constraints. Economist Amartya Sen's focus on freedoms and agency resonates
      with psychological calls for empowerment, and philosopher Martha Nussbaum's
      specification of requirements for a life that is fully human provides an
      important guide for social programs. Community psychology's focus on mediating
      structures has much to offer the capabilities approach. Parallels between
      capabilities, as enumerated by Nussbaum, and settings that foster positive youth
      development, as described in a National Research Council Report (Eccles and
      Gootman (Eds) in Community programs to promote youth development. National
      Academy Press, Washington, 2002) suggest extensions of the approach to children.
      Community psychologists can contribute to theory about ways to create and modify
      settings to enhance capabilities as well as empowerment and positive youth
      development. Finally, capabilities are difficult to measure, because they involve
      freedoms to choose but only choices actually made or enacted can be observed. The
      variation in activities or goals across members of a setting provides a measure
      of the capabilities that the setting fosters.

PMID- 25822112
TI  - Post-Discharge Adverse Events Among Urban and Rural Patients of an Urban
      Community Hospital: A Prospective Cohort Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There has been little research to examine post-discharge adverse
      events (AEs) in rural patients discharged from community hospitals. OBJECTIVE: We
      aimed to determine the rate of post-discharge AEs, classify the types of post
      discharge AEs, and identify risk factors for post-discharge AEs in urban and
      rural patients. DESIGN: This was a prospective cohort study of patients at risk
      for post-discharge adverse events from December 2011 through October 2012.
      PATIENTS: Six hundred and eighty-four patients who were under the care of
      hospitalist physicians and were being discharged home, spoke English, and could
      be contacted after discharge, were admitted to the medical service. Patients were
      stratified as urban/rural using zip code of residence. Rural patients were
      oversampled to ensure equal enrollment of urban and rural patients. MAIN
      MEASURES: The main outcome of the study was post-discharge AEs based on
      structured telephone interviews, health record review, and adjudication by two
      blinded, trained physicians using a previously established methodology. RESULTS:
      Over 28% of 684 patients experienced post-discharge AEs, most of which were
      either preventable or ameliorable. There was no difference in the incidence of
      post-discharge AEs in urban versus rural patients (ARR 1.04 95% CI 0.82-1.32 ),
      but post-discharge AEs were associated with hypertension, type 2 diabetes
      mellitus, and number of secondary discharge diagnoses only in urban patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: Post-discharge AEs were common in both urban and rural patients and
      many were preventable or ameliorable. Potentially different risk factors for AEs
      in urban versus rural patients suggests the need for further research into the
      underlying causes. Different interventions may be required in urban versus rural
      patients to improve patient safety during transitions in care.

PMID- 25822114
TI  - Detecting mismatches of bird migration stopover and tree phenology in response to
      changing climate.
AB  - Migratory birds exploit seasonal variation in resources across latitudes, timing
      migration to coincide with the phenology of food at stopover sites. Differential
      responses to climate in phenology across trophic levels can result in
      phenological mismatch; however, detecting mismatch is sensitive to methodology.
      We examined patterns of migrant abundance and tree flowering, phenological
      mismatch, and the influence of climate during spring migration from 2009 to 2011
      across five habitat types of the Madrean Sky Islands in southeastern Arizona,
      USA. We used two metrics to assess phenological mismatch: synchrony and overlap.
      We also examined whether phenological overlap declined with increasing difference
      in mean event date of phenophases. Migrant abundance and tree flowering generally
      increased with minimum spring temperature but depended on annual climate by
      habitat interactions. Migrant abundance was lowest and flowering was highest
      under cold, snowy conditions in high elevation montane conifer habitat while bird
      abundance was greatest and flowering was lowest in low elevation riparian habitat
      under the driest conditions. Phenological synchrony and overlap were unique and
      complementary metrics and should both be used when assessing mismatch. Overlap
      declined due to asynchronous phenologies but also due to reduced migrant
      abundance or flowering when synchrony was actually maintained. Overlap declined
      with increasing difference in event date and this trend was strongest in riparian
      areas. Montane habitat specialists may be at greatest risk of mismatch while
      riparian habitat could provide refugia during dry years for phenotypically
      plastic species. Interannual climate patterns that we observed match climate
      change projections for the arid southwest, altering stopover habitat condition. 

PMID- 25822115
TI  - Light-level geolocators reveal covariation between winter plumage molt and
      phenology in a trans-Saharan migratory bird.
AB  - Contingent individual performance can depend on the environment experienced at
      previous life-stages. Migratory birds are especially susceptible to such carry
      over effects as they periodically travel between breeding ranges and 'wintering'
      areas where they may experience broadly different ecological conditions. However,
      the study of carry-over effects is hampered by the difficulty of tracking vagile
      organisms throughout their annual life-cycle. Using information from light-level
      geolocators on the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica), we tested if feather growth
      bar width (GBW), a proxy of feather growth rate which depends on individual
      condition, and wing isometric size and shape predict the phenology of subsequent
      migration. GBW did not predict duration of wintering but negatively predicted the
      duration of spring migration and arrival date to the breeding sites, suggesting
      that migration phenology is not constrained by molt, and individuals in prime
      condition achieve both faster molt and earlier arrival. Wing morphology did not
      predict migration duration, as expected if wing shape were optimized for
      foraging, rather than migration performance, in this aerially foraging,
      insectivorous bird. Thus, we showed for the first time that migration phenology
      in a long-distance migratory bird covaries with body condition during wintering,
      as reflected by the growth rate of feathers. 

PMID- 25822116
TI  - Impact of melanoma genetic test reporting on perceived control over melanoma
      prevention.
AB  - To determine whether receiving melanoma genetic test results undermines perceived
      control over melanoma prevention, control-related beliefs were examined among 60
      adults from melanoma-prone families receiving CDKN2A/p16 test results (27
      unaffected noncarriers, 15 unaffected carriers, 18 affected carriers; response
      rate at 2 years = 64.9 % of eligible respondents). Multilevel modeling of
      perceived control ratings over a 2-year period revealed significant variation in
      individual trajectories: most participants showed increases (45 %) or no change
      (38.3 %), while 16.7 % showed decreases. At the group level, noncarriers reported
      sustained increases through the 2-year follow-up (ps < .05); unaffected carriers
      reported significant short-term increases (ps < .05); and affected carriers
      reported no change. Participants in all groups continued to rate photoprotection
      as highly effective in reducing melanoma risk and reported decreased beliefs that
      carrying the p16 mutation would inevitably lead to the development of melanoma.
      Qualitative responses immediately following counseling and test reporting
      corroborated these findings, as 93 % indicated it was possible to either prevent
      (64.9 %) or decrease the likelihood (28.1 %) of future melanomas. Thus, genetic
      test reporting does not generally undermine perceived control over melanoma
      prevention, though variability in response to positive results warrants future
      study. 

PMID- 25822117
TI  - Field experiment of a very brief worksite intervention to improve nutrition among
      health care workers.
AB  - Despite the potential of worksite interventions to boost productivity and save
      insurance costs, they tend to be costly and tested in nonrandomized trials. The
      aim of the present study was to test the ability of a very brief worksite
      intervention based on implementation intentions to improve nutrition among health
      care workers. Seventy-nine health care workers were randomly allocated to a
      control condition or to form implementation intentions using standard
      instructions or with a supporting tool. Fruit intake and metacognitive processing
      (operationalized as awareness of standards, self-monitoring and self-regulatory
      effort) were measured at baseline and follow-up. Participants who formed
      implementation intentions ate significantly more fruit and engaged in
      significantly more metacognitive processing at follow-up than did participants in
      the control condition (ds > .70). The findings support the efficacy of
      implementation intentions for increasing fruit intake in health care workers and
      preliminary support for the utility of a tool to support implementation intention
      formation.

PMID- 25822118
TI  - Purpose in life and incidence of sleep disturbances.
AB  - Purpose in life has been linked with better mental health, physical health, and
      health behaviors, but the association between purpose and sleep is understudied.
      Sleep disturbances increase with age and as the number of older adults rapidly
      increases, it is ever more important to identify modifiable factors that are
      associated with reduced incidence of sleep disturbances. We used multiple
      logistic regression models and data from the Health and Retirement Study, a
      nationally representative panel study of American adults over the age of 50, to
      examine whether higher purpose was linked with a reduced incidence of sleep
      disturbances. Among 4144 respondents reporting minimal or no sleep disturbances
      at baseline, higher purpose was associated with a lower incidence of sleep
      disturbances over the 4-year follow-up. After adjusting for sociodemographic
      factors, each unit increase in purpose (on a six-point scale) was associated with
      a 16 % reduced odds of developing sleep disturbances (OR 0.84, 95 % CI 0.77
      0.92). The association between purpose and sleep disturbances remained after
      adjusting for sociodemographic, behavioral, psychological, and health covariates.
      Should future research replicate our findings, this area of research may lead to
      innovative efforts that improve the quality of sleep in older adults.

PMID- 25822119
TI  - Cellular signaling in sinecatechins-treated external genital and perianal warts:
      unraveling the mechanism of action of a botanical therapy.

PMID- 25822120
TI  - Rolling back malaria.

PMID- 25822121
TI  - The issue of 'informed consent' in medical student introductions.

PMID- 25822122
TI  - Who can do without patients?

PMID- 25822123
TI  - User reception of a simple online multisource feedback tool for residents.
AB  - Receiving feedback on daily clinical activities, in whatever form, is crucial for
      the development of clinical proficiency. Multisource or 360-degree feedback
      procedures have been recommended to include various co-workers as sources of
      feedback. In 2008, a web-based multisource feedback (MSF) tool for medical
      residents was developed at the University Medical Center Utrecht and launched
      nationally in the Netherlands and has been widely used since then. In 2012, an
      evaluation was carried out to collect opinions on its use, on the quality of the
      instrument and on its experienced effectiveness. We approached 408 residents and
      59 residency programme directors with an anonymous online survey.Completed
      surveys were received from 108 residents (26 %) and 22 programme directors (37
      %). The tool was well received among the respondents and proved to be a simple,
      efficient and effective instrument to prepare for information-rich progress
      interviews of programme directors with their residents. Despite a relatively low
      response rate, indications were found for the effectiveness of MSF use at four
      levels of Kirkpatrick's hierarchy based on user impressions: reaction, learning,
      behaviour change, and impact. This MSF tool, designed for effective formative
      feedback, was found to meet its purpose and was well received. 

PMID- 25822124
TI  - What is more effective: a daily or a weekly formative test?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Exams in anatomy courses are traditionally summative. Formative
      testing induces retrieval practice, provides feedback and enhances learning
      results. We investigated the optimal frequency for retrieval practice during an
      anatomy course. METHOD: During a first-year course, students were offered four
      online daily quizzes a week that assessed thoracic anatomy. Once a week they
      received a quiz about abdominal anatomy. Students immediately received feedback
      afterwards. In the fourth course week, a survey about participation and
      satisfaction was taken. 424 students participated in the final summative exam.
      Trunk wall questions were used as a control. Relationship between participation
      and test results was investigated with a one-way ANOVA. RESULTS: More frequent
      participation in formative tests was correlated to higher scores in the summative
      exam with no difference between daily and weekly quizzes. This effect was found
      for thorax-abdomen and 'control' trunk wall questions. Participation in weekly
      quizzes was higher (p < 0.001). All survey responses showed a significant
      difference in favour of the weekly quiz (p < 0.001). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:
      Participation in formative quizzes was correlated to summative exam scores. This
      correlation was not specific for the material tested, probably because of
      diligence. Student participation and preference were much higher in weekly
      quizzes.

PMID- 25822125
TI  - Room temperature quantum spin Hall insulators with a buckled square lattice.
AB  - Two-dimensional (2D) topological insulators (TIs), also known as quantum spin
      Hall (QSH) insulators, are excellent candidates for coherent spin transport
      related applications because the edge states of 2D TIs are robust against
      nonmagnetic impurities since the only available backscattering channel is
      forbidden. Currently, most known 2D TIs are based on a hexagonal (specifically,
      honeycomb) lattice. Here, we propose that there exists the quantum spin Hall
      effect (QSHE) in a buckled square lattice. Through performing global structure
      optimization, we predict a new three-layer quasi-2D (Q2D) structure, which has
      the lowest energy among all structures with the thickness less than 6.0 A for the
      BiF system. It is identified to be a Q2D TI with a large band gap (0.69 eV). The
      electronic states of the Q2D BiF system near the Fermi level are mainly
      contributed by the middle Bi square lattice, which are sandwiched by two inert
      BiF2 layers. This is beneficial since the interaction between a substrate and the
      Q2D material may not change the topological properties of the system, as we
      demonstrate in the case of the NaF substrate. Finally, we come up with a new
      tight-binding model for a two-orbital system with the buckled square lattice to
      explain the low-energy physics of the Q2D BiF material. Our study not only
      predicts a QSH insulator for realistic room temperature applications but also
      provides a new lattice system for engineering topological states such as quantum
      anomalous Hall effect. 

PMID- 25822126
TI  - Interligand Interactions Dictate the Regioselectivity of trans-Hydrometalations
      and Related Reactions Catalyzed by [Cp*RuCl]. Hydrogen Bonding to a Chloride
      Ligand as a Steering Principle in Catalysis.
AB  - Reactions of internal alkynes with R3M-H (M = Si, Ge, Sn) follow an
      unconventional trans-addition mode in the presence of [Cp*Ru(MeCN)3]PF6 (1) as
      the catalyst; however, the regioselectivity is often poor with unsymmetrical
      substrates. This problem can be solved upon switching to a catalyst comprising a
      [Ru-Cl] bond, provided that the acetylene derivative carries a protic functional
      group. The R3M unit is then delivered with high selectivity to the alkyne-C atom
      proximal to this steering substituent. This directing effect originates from the
      ability of the polarized [Ru-Cl] bond to engage in hydrogen bonding with the
      protic substituent, which helps upload, activate, and lock the alkyne within the
      coordination sphere. An additional interligand contact of the chloride with the 
      MR3 center positions the incoming reagent in a matching orientation that
      translates into high regioselectivity. The proposed secondary interactions within
      the loaded catalyst are in line with a host of preparative and spectral data and
      with the structures of the novel ruthenium pi-complexes 10 and 11 in the solid
      state. Moreover, the first X-ray structure of a [Ru(sigma-stannane)] complex
      (12a) is presented, which indeed features peripheral Ru-Cl...MR3 contacts; this
      adduct also corroborates that alkyne trans-addition chemistry likely involves
      sigma-complexes as reactive intermediates. Finally, it is discussed that
      interligand cooperativity might constitute a more general principle that extends
      to mechanistically distinct transformations. The presented data therefore make an
      interesting case for organometallic chemistry that provides inherently better
      results when applied to substrates containing unprotected rather than protected 
      OH, -NHR, or -COOH groups. 

PMID- 25822129
TI  - Low-temperature conditioning alleviates chilling injury in loquat fruit and
      regulates glycine betaine content and energy status.
AB  - The influence of low-temperature conditioning (LTC) treatment on chilling injury,
      glycine betaine content, and energy metabolism in loquat fruit at 1  degrees C
      storage was investigated. The results indicated that LTC treatment significantly
      reduced chilling injury index, ion leakage, and malondialdehyde content in loquat
      fruit. Betaine aldehyde hydrogenase (BADH) activity and endogenous glycine
      betaine (GB) content in loquats treated with LTC were significantly higher than
      those in control fruit. Moreover, LTC treatment induced activities of energy
      metabolism-associated enzymes, including H(+)-adenosine triphosphatase, Ca(2+)
      adenosine triphosphatase, succinic dehydrogenase, and cytochrome c oxidase. LTC
      treatment triggered obviously higher levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
      content and energy charge in loquat fruit. These results showed that LTC possibly
      alleviated chilling injury and enhanced chilling tolerance of loquat fruit by
      enhancing endogenous GB content and energy status. 

PMID- 25822130
TI  - Sleep and motor learning: Is there room for consolidation?
AB  - It is widely believed that sleep is critical to the consolidation of learning and
      memory. In some skill domains, performance has been shown to improve by 20% or
      more following sleep, suggesting that sleep enhances learning. However, recent
      work suggests that those performance gains may be driven by several factors that
      are unrelated to sleep consolidation, inviting a reconsideration of sleep's
      theoretical role in the consolidation of procedural memories. Here we report the
      first comprehensive investigation of that possibility for the case of motor
      sequence learning. Quantitative meta-analyses involving 34 articles, 88
      experimental groups and 1,296 subjects confirmed the empirical pattern of a large
      performance gain following sleep and a significantly smaller gain following
      wakefulness. However, the results also confirm strong moderating effects of 4
      previously hypothesized variables: averaging in the calculation of prepost gain
      scores, build-up of reactive inhibition over training, time of testing, and
      training duration, along with 1 supplemental variable, elderly status. With those
      variables accounted for, there was no evidence that sleep enhances learning.
      Thus, the literature speaks against, rather than for, the enhancement hypothesis.
      Overall there was relatively better performance after sleep than after
      wakefulness, suggesting that sleep may stabilize memory. That effect, however,
      was not consistent across different experimental designs. We conclude that sleep
      does not enhance motor learning and that the role of sleep in the stabilization
      of memory cannot be conclusively determined based on the literature to date. We
      discuss challenges and opportunities for the field, make recommendations for
      improved experimental design, and suggest approaches to data analysis that
      eliminate confounds due to averaging over online learning. (PsycINFO Database
      Record 

PMID- 25822131
TI  - Cognitive aspects of young children's experience of economic disadvantage.
AB  - Economic disadvantage is a well-studied risk factor for poorer behavioral and
      academic functioning in young children. Although the mechanisms by which
      disadvantage impacts children have long been of interest to researchers, studies
      to date have predominantly focused on mechanisms that are external to the child
      (e.g., parental depression, marital conflict). Very few studies have examined the
      internal, cognitive aspects of the experience of economic disadvantage, and
      almost none have considered how the effects of disadvantage on children's
      functioning might be mediated through cognitive processes. This article provides
      a framework for research into cognitive and social-cognitive mediators of
      economic disadvantage operating in early-to-middle childhood. The initial section
      of the article briefly reviews and summarizes the extant literature on childhood
      poverty and its effects. The second section reviews the evidence that preschool
      aged children have the requisite cognitive abilities to recognize social
      inequality in their environments, to be aware of stereotypes related to social
      class, and to connect these social concepts to their own experience. The third
      section reviews and evaluates the small literature on children's appraisals,
      attributions, stereotypes, and perceptions of or about poverty and inequality.
      The fourth section defines and evaluates the literature on 2 social-cognitive
      processes-stereotype threat and status anxiety-that are hypothesized to mediate
      the effects of economic disadvantage on children's functioning. The article
      concludes with a series of proposed questions and hypotheses for future research,
      and elaborates on the potential implications of the proposed area of research.
      (PsycINFO Database Record 

PMID- 25822132
TI  - Divisions of the physical world: Concepts of objects and substances.
AB  - Our concepts of the physical world distinguish objects, such as chairs, from
      substances, such as quantities of wood, that constitute them. A particular chair
      might consist of a single chunk of wood, yet we think about the chair and the
      wood in different ways. For example, part of the wood is still wood, but part of
      the chair is not a chair. In this article we examine the basis of the
      object/substance distinction. We draw together for the first time relevant
      experiments widely dispersed in the cognitive literature, and view these findings
      in the light of theories in linguistics and metaphysics. We outline a framework
      for the difference between objects and substances, based on earlier ideas about
      form and matter, describing the psychological evidence surrounding it. The
      framework suggests that concepts of objects include a relation of unity and
      organization governing their parts, whereas concepts of substances do not. We
      propose, as a novel twist on this framework, that unity and organization for
      objects is a function of causal forces that shape the objects. In agreement with
      this idea, results on the identification of an item as an object depend on clues
      about the presence of the shaping relation, clues provided by solidity,
      repetition of shape, and other factors. We also look at results from human
      infants about the source of the object/substance distinction and conclude that
      the data support an early origin for both object and substance knowledge.
      (PsycINFO Database Record 

PMID- 25822133
TI  - The relation between short-term emotion dynamics and psychological well-being: A
      meta-analysis.
AB  - Not only how good or bad people feel on average, but also how their feelings
      fluctuate across time is crucial for psychological health. The last 2 decades
      have witnessed a surge in research linking various patterns of short-term
      emotional change to adaptive or maladaptive psychological functioning, often with
      conflicting results. A meta-analysis was performed to identify consistent
      relationships between patterns of short-term emotion dynamics-including patterns
      reflecting emotional variability (measured in terms of within-person standard
      deviation of emotions across time), emotional instability (measured in terms of
      the magnitude of consecutive emotional changes), and emotional inertia of
      emotions over time (measured in terms of autocorrelation)-and relatively stable
      indicators of psychological well-being or psychopathology. We determined how such
      relationships are moderated by the type of emotional change, type of
      psychological well-being or psychopathology involved, valence of the emotion, and
      methodological factors. A total of 793 effect sizes were identified from 79
      articles (N = 11,381) and were subjected to a 3-level meta-analysis. The results
      confirmed that overall, low psychological well-being co-occurs with more variable
      (overall rho = -.178), unstable (overall rho = -.205), but also more inert
      (overall rho = -.151) emotions. These effect sizes were stronger when involving
      negative compared with positive emotions. Moreover, the results provided evidence
      for consistency across different types of psychological well-being and
      psychopathology in their relation with these dynamical patterns, although
      specificity was also observed. The findings demonstrate that psychological
      flourishing is characterized by specific patterns of emotional fluctuations
      across time, and provide insight into what constitutes optimal and suboptimal
      emotional functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record 

PMID- 25822134
TI  - Types of subtalar joint facets.
AB  - Articular facets of the clinical subtalar joint (CSTJ) were analyzed using a
      total of 118 (right 57, left 61) dry, paired calcanei and tali from 68 Korean
      adult cadavers. The CSTJ facets were classified into the following three types
      depending on their continuity: type A, all three facets are separated; type B,
      the anterior and middle facets are partially connected; and type C, the anterior
      and middle facets are fused to form a single facet. The continuity between the
      anterior and middle facets was represented by the degree of separation (DS),
      which ranged between 2.00 (type A) and 1.00 (type C). Type A was most common
      (39.0 %) in calcanei and rarest (11.0 %) in tali. Matching of calcaneus-talus
      pairs yielded five combined types: A-A (11.0 %), A-B (28.0 %), B-B (18.6 %), B-C
      (13.6 %), and C-C (28.8 %). The mean DS was slightly greater in calcanei (1.53)
      than in tali (1.32), and decreased in the order of types A-A, A-B, B-B, B-C, and
      C-C. The intersecting angles between the anterior and middle facets, which are
      related to the mobility of the CSTJ, were inversely related to the DS. These
      findings indicate that the anterior and middle facets are fused more frequently
      in tali than in calcanei, and combinations of different CSTJ facet types (A-B, B
      C) exist over 40 % of feet. Our results indicate that types with a smaller DS
      (such as B-C and C-C) are relatively mobile but less stable compared to those
      with a greater DS (such as A-A and A-B).

PMID- 25822135
TI  - Breakdown of Bose-Einstein distribution in photonic crystals.
AB  - In the last two decades, considerable advances have been made in the
      investigation of nano-photonics in photonic crystals. Previous theoretical
      investigations of photon dynamics were carried out at zero temperature. Here, we
      investigate micro/nano cavity photonics in photonic crystals at finite
      temperature. Due to photonic-band-gap-induced localized long-lived photon
      dynamics, we discover that cavity photons in photonic crystals do not obey Bose
      Einstein statistical distribution. Within the photonic band gap and in the
      vicinity of the band edge, cavity photons combine the long-lived non-Markovain
      dynamics with thermal fluctuations together to form photon states that memorize
      the initial cavity state information. As a result, Bose-Einstein distribution is
      completely broken down in these regimes, even if the thermal energy is larger or
      much larger than the cavity detuning energy. In this investigation, a crossover
      phenomenon from equilibrium to nonequilibrium steady states is also revealed. 

PMID- 25822136
TI  - Semisynthetic tRNA complement mediates in vitro protein synthesis.
AB  - Genetic code expansion is a key objective of synthetic biology and protein
      engineering. Most efforts in this direction are focused on reassigning
      termination or decoding quadruplet codons. While the redundancy of genetic code
      provides a large number of potentially reassignable codons, their utility is
      diminished by the inevitable interaction with cognate aminoacyl-tRNAs. To address
      this problem, we sought to establish an in vitro protein synthesis system with a
      simplified synthetic tRNA complement, thereby orthogonalizing some of the sense
      codons. This quantitative in vitro peptide synthesis assay allowed us to analyze
      the ability of synthetic tRNAs to decode all of 61 sense codons. We observed
      that, with the exception of isoacceptors for Asn, Glu, and Ile, the majority of
      48 synthetic Escherichia coli tRNAs could support protein translation in the cell
      free system. We purified to homogeneity functional Asn, Glu, and Ile tRNAs from
      the native E. coli tRNA mixture, and by combining them with synthetic tRNAs, we
      formulated a semisynthetic tRNA complement for all 20 amino acids. We further
      demonstrated that this tRNA complement could restore the protein translation
      activity of tRNA-depleted E. coli lysate to a level comparable to that of total
      native tRNA. To confirm that the developed system could efficiently synthesize
      long polypeptides, we expressed three different sequences coding for superfolder
      GFP. This novel semisynthetic translation system is a powerful tool for tRNA
      engineering and potentially enables the reassignment of at least 9 sense codons
      coding for Ser, Arg, Leu, Pro, Thr, and Gly. 

PMID- 25822138
TI  - Hydration Enthalpies of Ba(2+)(H2O)x, x = 1-8: A Threshold Collision-Induced
      Dissociation and Computational Investigation.
AB  - The sequential bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of Ba(2+)(H2O)x complexes, where
      x = 1-8, are determined using threshold collision-induced dissociation (TCID) in
      a guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometer. The electrospray ionization source
      generates complexes ranging in size from x = 6 to x = 8 with smaller complexes, x
      = 1-5, formed by an in-source fragmentation technique. The only products observed
      result from sequential loss of water ligands. Charge separation, a process in
      which both hydrated singly charged barium hydroxide and hydronium ion are formed,
      was not observed except for Ba(2+)(H2O)3 yielding BaOH(+) + H5O2(+). Modeling of
      the kinetic energy-dependent cross sections, taking into account the number of
      collisions, energy distributions, and lifetime effects for both primary and
      secondary water loss, provides 0 K BDEs. Experimental thermochemistry for the x =
      1-3 complexes is obtained here for the first time. Hydration enthalpies and
      reaction coordinate pathways for charge separation are also examined
      computationally at several levels of theory. Our experimental and computational
      work are in excellent agreement in the x = 1-6 range. The present experimental
      values and theoretical calculations are also in reasonable agreement with the
      available literature values for experiment, x = 4-8, and theory, x = 1-6. Of the
      numerous calculations performed in the current study, B3LYP/DHF/def2-TZVPP
      calculations including counterpoise corrections reproduce our experimental values
      the best, although MP2(full)/DHF/def2-TZVPP//B3LYP/DHF/def2-TZVPP results are
      comparable. 

PMID- 25822137
TI  - Association between apple consumption and physician visits: appealing the
      conventional wisdom that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Fruit consumption is believed to have beneficial health effects, and
      some claim, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." OBJECTIVE: To examine the
      relationship between eating an apple a day and keeping the doctor away. DESIGN,
      SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A cross-sectional study of a nationally representative
      sample of the noninstitutionalized US adult population. A total of 8728 adults 18
      years and older from the 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition
      Examination Survey completed a 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire and reported
      that the quantity of food they ate was reflective of their usual daily diet.
      EXPOSURES: Daily apple eaters (consuming the equivalent of at least 1 small apple
      daily, or 149 g of raw apple) vs non-apple eaters, based on the reported quantity
      of whole apple consumed during the 24-hour dietary recall period. MAIN OUTCOMES
      AND MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was success at "keeping the doctor
      away," measured as no more than 1 visit (self-reported) to a physician during the
      past year; secondary outcomes included successful avoidance of other health care
      services (ie, no overnight hospital stays, visits to a mental health
      professional, or prescription medications). RESULTS: Of 8399 eligible study
      participants who completed the dietary recall questionnaire, we identified 753
      adult apple eaters (9.0%)--those who typically consume at least 1 small apple per
      day. Compared with the 7646 non-apple eaters (91.0%), apple eaters had higher
      educational attainment, were more likely to be from a racial or ethnic minority,
      and were less likely to smoke (P<.001 for each comparison). Apple eaters were
      more likely, in the crude analysis, to keep the doctor (and prescription
      medications) away: 39.0% of apple eaters avoided physician visits vs 33.9% of non
      apple eaters (P=.03). After adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related
      characteristics, however, the association was no longer statistically significant
      (OR, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.93-1.53; P=.15). In the adjusted analysis, apple eaters also
      remained marginally more successful at avoiding prescription medications (odds
      ratio, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.00-1.63). There were no differences seen in overnight
      hospital stay or mental health visits. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Evidence does
      not support that an apple a day keeps the doctor away; however, the small
      fraction of US adults who eat an apple a day do appear to use fewer prescription
      medications.

PMID- 25822139
TI  - A noncontact FMCW radar sensor for displacement measurement in structural health
      monitoring.
AB  - This paper investigates the Frequency Modulation Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar
      sensor for multi-target displacement measurement in Structural Health Monitoring
      (SHM). The principle of three-dimensional (3-D) displacement measurement of civil
      infrastructures is analyzed. The requirements of high-accuracy displacement and
      multi-target identification for the measuring sensors are discussed. The
      fundamental measuring principle of FMCW radar is presented with rigorous
      mathematical formulas, and further the multiple-target displacement measurement
      is analyzed and simulated. In addition, a FMCW radar prototype is designed and
      fabricated based on an off-the-shelf radar frontend and data acquisition (DAQ)
      card, and the displacement error induced by phase asynchronism is analyzed. The
      conducted outdoor experiments verify the feasibility of this sensing method
      applied to multi-target displacement measurement, and experimental results show
      that three targets located at different distances can be distinguished
      simultaneously with millimeter level accuracy. 

PMID- 25822140
TI  - A distributed transmission rate adjustment algorithm in heterogeneous CSMA/CA
      networks.
AB  - Distributed transmission rate tuning is important for a wide variety of IEEE
      802.15.4 network applications such as industrial network control systems. Such
      systems often require each node to sustain certain throughput demand in order to
      guarantee the system performance. It is thus essential to determine a proper
      transmission rate that can meet the application requirement and compensate for
      network imperfections (e.g., packet loss). Such a tuning in a heterogeneous
      network is difficult due to the lack of modeling techniques that can deal with
      the heterogeneity of the network as well as the network traffic changes. In this
      paper, a distributed transmission rate tuning algorithm in a heterogeneous IEEE
      802.15.4 CSMA/CA network is proposed. Each node uses the results of clear channel
      assessment (CCA) to estimate the busy channel probability. Then a mathematical
      framework is developed to estimate the on-going heterogeneous traffics using the
      busy channel probability at runtime. Finally a distributed algorithm is derived
      to tune the transmission rate of each node to accurately meet the throughput
      requirement. The algorithm does not require modifications on IEEE 802.15.4 MAC
      layer and it has been experimentally implemented and extensively tested using
      TelosB nodes with the TinyOS protocol stack. The results reveal that the
      algorithm is accurate and can satisfy the throughput demand. Compared with
      existing techniques, the algorithm is fully distributed and thus does not require
      any central coordination. With this property, it is able to adapt to traffic
      changes and re-adjust the transmission rate to the desired level, which cannot be
      achieved using the traditional modeling techniques. 

PMID- 25822141
TI  - A naked eye refractive index sensor with a visible multiple peak metamaterial
      absorber.
AB  - We report a naked eye refractive index sensor with a visible metamaterial
      absorber. The visible metamaterial absorber consisting of a silver
      dendritic/dielectric/metal structure shows multiple absorption peaks. By
      incorporating a gain material (rhodamine B) into the dielectric layer, the
      maximal magnitude of the absorption peak can be improved by about 30%. As the
      metamaterial absorber is sensitive to the refractive index of glucose solutions,
      it can function as a sensor that quickly responds to variations of the refractive
      index of the liquid. Meanwhile, since the response is presented via color
      changes, it can be clearly observed by the naked eyes. Further experiments have
      confirmed that the sensor can be used repeatedly. 

PMID- 25822142
TI  - A survey on the feasibility of sound classification on wireless sensor nodes.
AB  - Wireless sensor networks are suitable to gain context awareness for indoor
      environments. As sound waves form a rich source of context information, equipping
      the nodes with microphones can be of great benefit. The algorithms to extract
      features from sound waves are often highly computationally intensive. This can be
      problematic as wireless nodes are usually restricted in resources. In order to be
      able to make a proper decision about which features to use, we survey how sound
      is used in the literature for global sound classification, age and gender
      classification, emotion recognition, person verification and identification and
      indoor and outdoor environmental sound classification. The results of the
      surveyed algorithms are compared with respect to accuracy and computational load.
      The accuracies are taken from the surveyed papers; the computational loads are
      determined by benchmarking the algorithms on an actual sensor node. We conclude
      that for indoor context awareness, the low-cost algorithms for feature extraction
      perform equally well as the more computationally-intensive variants. As the
      feature extraction still requires a large amount of processing time, we present
      four possible strategies to deal with this problem. 

PMID- 25822143
TI  - Synthesis and charge-transfer dynamics in a ferrocene-containing organoboryl aza
      BODIPY donor-acceptor triad with boron as the hub.
AB  - A N,N'-bis(ferroceneacetylene)boryl complex of 3,3'
      diphenylazadiisoindolylmethene was synthesized by the reaction of an N,N'
      difluoroboryl complex of 3,3'-diphenylazadiisoindolylmethene and
      ferroceneacetylene magnesium bromide. The novel diiron complex was characterized
      by a variety of spectroscopic techniques, electrochemistry, and ultrafast time
      resolved methods. Spectroscopy and redox behavior was correlated with the density
      functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT calculations. An unexpected degree
      of coupling between the two Fc ligands was observed. Despite a lack of
      conjugation between the donor and acceptor, the complex undergoes very rapid (tau
      = 1.7 +/- 0.1 ps) photoinduced intramolecular charge separation followed by
      subpicosecond charge recombination to form a triplet state with a lifetime of 4.8
      +/- 0.1 MUs. 

PMID- 25822144
TI  - Trends in Energy Intakes by Type of Fast Food Restaurant Among US Children From
      2003 to 2010.

PMID- 25822145
TI  - Comparative Study of Potential Applications of Graphene, MoS2, and Other Two
      Dimensional Materials in Energy Devices, Sensors, and Related Areas.
AB  - Novel properties of graphene have been well documented, whereas the importance of
      nanosheets of MoS2 and other chalcogenides is increasingly being recognized over
      the last two to three years. Borocarbonitrides, BxCyNz, with insulating BN and
      conducting graphene on either side are new materials whose properties have been
      attracting attention. These two-dimensional (2D) materials contain certain common
      features. Thus, graphene, MoS2, and borocarbonitrides have all been used in
      supercapacitor applications, oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs), and lithium-ion
      batteries. It is instructive, therefore, to make a comparative study of some of
      the important properties of these layered materials. In this article, we discuss
      properties related to energy devices at length. We examine the hydrogen evolution
      reaction facilitated by graphene, MoS2, and related materials. We also discuss
      gas and radiation sensors based on graphene and MoS2 as well as gas storage
      properties of graphene and borocarbonitrides. The article should be useful in
      making a judicious choice of which 2D material to use for a particular
      application. 

PMID- 25822146
TI  - Apocytolysis, a proposed mechanism of blister formation in epidermolysis bullosa
      simplex.
AB  - Epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS) is caused by keratin 5 and 14 mutations. In
      vitro studies revealed that susceptibility to caspase 8-mediated apoptosis is
      increased in keratin 14 mutated keratinocytes. We aimed to investigate the role
      of apoptotic/inflammatory pathways in the pathogenesis of EBS by studying the
      expression of caspase 8 in lesional and non-lesional skin compared to controls.
      Ten EBS patients proved by electron microscopy and five age and sex matched
      healthy volunteers were the subjects of this case control study. Caspase 8
      expression was studied by immunohistochemistry. Caspase 8 expression in lesional
      and non-lesional skin was significantly higher than in controls (p < 0.01 and p =
      0.013, respectively) with no significant difference between lesional and non
      lesional skin. Lesional skin had significantly higher density of dermal
      infiltrate (p = 0.02). Caspase 8 expression in lesional skin was significantly
      correlated with the extent of the disease, rate of blistering, and density of
      dermal infiltrate (r = 0.835; p = 0.003, r = 0.889; p = 0.001 and r = 0.776; p =
      0.008 respectively). Caspase 8-mediated apoptosis is an integral component of an
      orchestra of events conducted by keratin mutation. Apo-cytolysis is proposed to
      better describe the mechanism of blistering in EBS. The small number of cases is
      a limitation.

PMID- 25822148
TI  - A stochastic model for detecting overlapping and hierarchical community
      structure.
AB  - Community detection is a fundamental problem in the analysis of complex networks.
      Recently, many researchers have concentrated on the detection of overlapping
      communities, where a vertex may belong to more than one community. However, most
      current methods require the number (or the size) of the communities as a priori
      information, which is usually unavailable in real-world networks. Thus, a
      practical algorithm should not only find the overlapping community structure, but
      also automatically determine the number of communities. Furthermore, it is
      preferable if this method is able to reveal the hierarchical structure of
      networks as well. In this work, we firstly propose a generative model that
      employs a nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) formulization with a l(2,1) norm
      regularization term, balanced by a resolution parameter. The NMF has the nature
      that provides overlapping community structure by assigning soft membership
      variables to each vertex; the l(2,1) regularization term is a technique of group
      sparsity which can automatically determine the number of communities by
      penalizing too many nonempty communities; and hence the resolution parameter
      enables us to explore the hierarchical structure of networks. Thereafter, we
      derive the multiplicative update rule to learn the model parameters, and offer
      the proof of its correctness. Finally, we test our approach on a variety of
      synthetic and real-world networks, and compare it with some state-of-the-art
      algorithms. The results validate the superior performance of our new method.

PMID- 25822149
TI  - Canakinumab: a review of its use in the management of systemic juvenile
      idiopathic arthritis.
AB  - Subcutaneous canakinumab (Ilaris((r))) is a human monoclonal anti-human
      interleukin (IL)-1beta antibody of the immunoglobulin G1/kappa isotype that binds
      with high affinity and specificity to human IL-1beta, blocking its interaction
      with IL-1 receptors. It is approved in the EU as monotherapy or in combination
      with methotrexate for the treatment of patients aged >=2 years with active
      systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA) who have responded inadequately to
      previous therapy with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and systemic
      corticosteroids. In the USA, it is indicated for the treatment of patients aged
      >=2 years with active SJIA. In two placebo-controlled, multinational, phase III
      studies in patients aged 2-19 years with SJIA, canakinumab rapidly reduced
      disease activity, permitted the tapering of glucocorticoid therapy and delayed
      the time to disease flare. The efficacy of canakinumab was sustained at a median
      follow-up of 49 weeks in an ongoing extension study. In clinical studies,
      canakinumab had an acceptable tolerability profile that was comparable with that
      observed in patients with cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes. In general,
      adverse events were mild or moderate in intensity, with nasopharyngitis, cough,
      pyrexia, vomiting, diarrhoea and upper respiratory tract infection the most
      frequently reported treatment-emergent adverse events. Thus, current evidence
      suggests subcutaneous canakinumab extends the treatment options currently
      available for patients aged >=2 years with SJIA.

PMID- 25822147
TI  - Properties of neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells of Gaucher
      disease type 2 patient fibroblasts: potential role in neuropathology.
AB  - Gaucher disease (GD) is caused by insufficient activity of acid beta-glucosidase
      (GCase) resulting from mutations in GBA1. To understand the pathogenesis of the
      neuronopathic GD, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were generated from
      fibroblasts isolated from three GD type 2 (GD2) and 2 unaffected (normal and GD
      carrier) individuals. The iPSCs were converted to neural precursor cells (NPCs)
      which were further differentiated into neurons. Parental GD2 fibroblasts as well
      as iPSCs, NPCs, and neurons had similar degrees of GCase deficiency. Lipid
      analyses showed increases of glucosylsphingosine and glucosylceramide in the GD2
      cells. In addition, GD2 neurons showed increased alpha-synuclein protein compared
      to control neurons. Whole cell patch-clamping of the GD2 and control iPSCs
      derived neurons demonstrated excitation characteristics of neurons, but
      intriguingly, those from GD2 exhibited consistently less negative resting
      membrane potentials with various degree of reduction in action potential
      amplitudes, sodium and potassium currents. Culture of control neurons in the
      presence of the GCase inhibitor (conduritol B epoxide) recapitulated these
      findings, providing a functional link between decreased GCase activity in GD and
      abnormal neuronal electrophysiological properties. To our knowledge, this study
      is first to report abnormal electrophysiological properties in GD2 iPSC-derived
      neurons that may underlie the neuropathic phenotype in Gaucher disease. 

PMID- 25822150
TI  - Scale-dependence of processes structuring dung beetle metacommunities using
      functional diversity and community deconstruction approaches.
AB  - Community structure is driven by mechanisms linked to environmental, spatial and
      temporal processes, which have been successfully addressed using metacommunity
      framework. The relative importance of processes shaping community structure can
      be identified using several different approaches. Two approaches that are
      increasingly being used are functional diversity and community deconstruction.
      Functional diversity is measured using various indices that incorporate distinct
      community attributes. Community deconstruction is a way to disentangle species
      responses to ecological processes by grouping species with similar traits. We
      used these two approaches to determine whether they are improvements over
      traditional measures (e.g., species composition, abundance, biomass) for
      identification of the main processes driving dung beetle (Scarabaeinae) community
      structure in a fragmented mainland-island landscape in southern Brazilian
      Atlantic Forest. We sampled five sites in each of four large forest areas, two on
      the mainland and two on the island. Sampling was performed in 2012 and 2013. We
      collected abundance and biomass data from 100 sampling points distributed over 20
      sampling sites. We studied environmental, spatial and temporal effects on dung
      beetle community across three spatial scales, i.e., between sites, between areas
      and mainland-island. The gamma-diversity based on species abundance was mainly
      attributed to beta-diversity as a consequence of the increase in mean alpha- and
      beta-diversity between areas. Variation partitioning on abundance, biomass and
      functional diversity showed scale-dependence of processes structuring dung beetle
      metacommunities. We identified two major groups of responses among 17 functional
      groups. In general, environmental filters were important at both local and
      regional scales. Spatial factors were important at the intermediate scale. Our
      study supports the notion of scale-dependence of environmental, spatial and
      temporal processes in the distribution and functional organization of
      Scarabaeinae beetles. We conclude that functional diversity may be used as a
      complementary approach to traditional measures, and that community deconstruction
      allows sufficient disentangling of responses of different trait-based groups. 

PMID- 25822151
TI  - Correlation between decrease of CRP and resolution of airway inflammatory
      response, improvement of health status, and clinical outcomes during severe acute
      exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - Circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) plays an important role in mediating extra
      pulmonary complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The aim
      of this study was to investigate the relationship between changes in high
      sensitivity (hs)-CRP levels and the resolution of airway inflammatory markers and
      clinical health status during the recovery period after an acute exacerbation of
      COPD (AECOPD). Consecutive patients hospitalized for AECOPD were recruited. Serum
      hs-CRP, airway inflammatory markers, and COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score were
      evaluated at admission prior to treatment and at days 4, 7, and 14. Adverse
      outcomes were recorded. The relationship between changes in airway inflammatory
      markers, CAT score, and hs-CRP during the recovery period was studied. A total of
      135 patients were enrolled. Serum hs-CRP levels at admission of patients with
      adverse outcomes were marginally higher than those without an adverse outcome
      (7.6 [4.8, 16.7] vs. 6.6 [4.7, 9.3], p = 0.061). Compared with patients without
      cardiovascular complications, patients with cardiovascular complications had
      higher serum hs-CRP levels at admission (11.6 [6.7, 16.7] vs. 6.6 [4.4, 10.0], p
      = 0.001). Sputum neutrophils were positively correlated to hs-CRP at admission (r
      = 0.474, p < 0.001). A decreasing hs-CRP level was positively related to
      decreasing sputum neutrophils at day 4 and 7 (r = 0.455, p < 0.001; r = 0.504, p
      < 0.001, respectively). Significant correlations between decreasing hs-CRP and
      CAT at all time-points were noted. Hs-CRP may be useful in monitoring airway
      inflammation resolution and improvement of health status during AECOPD treatment.

PMID- 25822152
TI  - Overexpression of TFAM or twinkle increases mtDNA copy number and facilitates
      cardioprotection associated with limited mitochondrial oxidative stress.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number decreases in animal and human
      heart failure (HF), yet its role in cardiomyocytes remains to be elucidated.
      Thus, we investigated the cardioprotective function of increased mtDNA copy
      number resulting from the overexpression of human transcription factor A of
      mitochondria (TFAM) or Twinkle helicase in volume overload (VO)-induced HF.
      METHODS AND RESULTS: Two strains of transgenic (TG) mice, one overexpressing TFAM
      and the other overexpressing Twinkle helicase, exhibit an approximately 2-fold
      equivalent increase in mtDNA copy number in heart. These TG mice display similar
      attenuations in eccentric hypertrophy and improved cardiac function compared to
      wild-type (WT) mice without any deterioration of mitochondrial enzymatic
      activities in response to VO, which was accompanied by a reduction in matrix
      metalloproteinase (MMP) activity and reactive oxygen species after 8 weeks of VO.
      Moreover, acute VO-induced MMP-2 and MMP-9 upregulation was also suppressed at 24
      h in both TG mice. In isolated rat cardiomyocytes, mitochondrial reactive oxygen
      species (mitoROS) upregulated MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression, and human TFAM (hTFAM)
      overexpression suppressed mitoROS and their upregulation. Additionally, mitoROS
      were equally suppressed in H9c2 rat cardiomyoblasts that overexpress hTFAM or rat
      Twinkle, both of which exhibit increased mtDNA copy number. Furthermore, mitoROS
      and mitochondrial protein oxidation from both TG mice were suppressed compared to
      WT mice. CONCLUSIONS: The overexpression of TFAM or Twinkle results in increased
      mtDNA copy number and facilitates cardioprotection associated with limited
      mitochondrial oxidative stress. Our findings suggest that increasing mtDNA copy
      number could be a useful therapeutic strategy to target mitoROS in HF.

PMID- 25822153
TI  - Nafamostat mesilate for prevention of post-ERCP pancreatitis: a meta-analysis of
      prospective, randomized, controlled trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of nafamostat on the prevention of
      post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) pancreatitis (PEP).
      METHODS: Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Web
      of Science were searched until April 18, 2014. RESULTS: Seven randomized
      controlled trials and 2956 patients met the search criteria. When compared with
      nonnafamostat, the incidence of PEP was reduced to 53% in the patients who
      received nafamostat (risk ratio [RR], 0.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.34
      0.63). Further analyses were conducted based on the different risk
      classifications (n = 641 in patients with high risks: RR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.30-0.96
      and n = 944 with low risks: RR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.17-0.56), PEP severities (n =
      1654: RR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.25-0.59 for mild; RR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.15-0.96 for
      moderate; RR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.13-6.38 for severe), and nafamostat doses (n =
      1902: RR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.28-0.63 for 20 mg; n = 1150: RR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.25
      0.63 for 50 mg). However, there was no reduction of the incidence of post-ERCP
      hyperamylasemia (n = 1585; 95% CI, 0.68-1.45) or cannulation difficulty (n =
      1585; 95% CI, 0.91-1.23). CONCLUSIONS: Pooled analyses from current randomized
      controlled trials support the effectiveness of nafamostat for prophylaxis of PEP.

PMID- 25822154
TI  - Circulating tumor cells found in patients with localized and advanced pancreatic
      cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) holds the promise of
      diagnosing and molecular profiling cancers from a blood sample. Here, we test a
      simple new low-cost filtration device for CTC isolation in patients with
      pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). METHODS: Peripheral blood samples drawn
      from healthy donors and PDAC patients were filtered using ScreenCell devices,
      designed to capture CTCs for cytologic and molecular analysis. Giemsa-stained
      specimens were evaluated by a pancreatic cytopathologist blinded to the
      histological diagnosis. Circulating tumor cell DNA was subjected to KRAS
      mutational analysis. RESULTS: Spiking experiments demonstrated a CTC capture
      efficiency as low as 2 cells/mL of blood. Circulating tumor cells were identified
      by either malignant cytology or presence of KRAS mutation in 73% of 11 patients
      (P = 0.001). Circulating tumor cells were identified in 3 of 4 patients with
      early (<=American Joint Committee on Cancer stage IIB) and in 5 of 7 patients
      with advanced (>= American Joint Committee on Cancer stage III) PDAC. No CTCs
      were detected in blood from 9 health donors. CONCLUSIONS: Circulating tumor cells
      can be found in most patients with PDAC of any stage, whether localized, locally
      advanced, or metastatic. The ability to capture, cytologically identify, and
      genetically analyze CTCs suggests a possible tool for the diagnosis and
      characterization of genetic alterations of PDAC.

PMID- 25822155
TI  - Calcium signaling in a genetically engineered human pancreatic beta-cell line.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The use of primary human beta-cells for studying Ca signaling is
      limited by the scarcity of human pancreatic islets. Rodent insulinoma cell lines
      are widely used, but it is difficult to extrapolate results obtained from rodent
      cells to human. Recently, a genetically engineered human beta-cell line EndoC-BH1
      has been developed. We have examined whether the EndoC-BH1 cells could be used as
      a model for studying Ca signaling in the beta-cells. METHODS: We used microscope
      based fluorometry to measure cytoplasmic-free Ca concentration from fura-2-loaded
      single EndoC-BH1 cells cultured on glass cover slips. Ca responses to different
      agonists of insulin secretion were studied. Insulin secretion was measured by
      radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: EndoC-BH1 cells secreted insulin in response to
      glucose in a dose-dependent manner, and the secretion was enhanced by GLP-1
      (glucagon-like peptide 1). Glucose, potassium chloride, carbachol, L-arginine,
      and tolbutamide increased cytoplasmic-free Ca concentration in the EndoC-BH1
      cells. We found that GLP-1 was essential for Ca response to glucose and
      tolbutamide. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that the EndoC-BH1 cells can be used as
      model cells to study Ca signaling and stimulus-secretion coupling in the human
      beta-cells.

PMID- 25822156
TI  - Acyl azolium fluorides for room temperature nucleophilic aromatic fluorination of
      chloro- and nitroarenes.
AB  - The reaction of acid fluorides with N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) produces
      anhydrous acyl azolium fluorides. With appropriate selection of acid fluoride and
      NHC, these salts can be used for the room temperature SNAr fluorination of a
      variety of aryl chlorides and nitroarenes. 

PMID- 25822157
TI  - Hymenobacter humi sp. nov., a bacterium isolated from soil.
AB  - A red-pink coloured, Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium designated as strain
      DG31A(T) was isolated from soil collected in Seoul, South Korea. The isolate was
      found to grow optimally at 25  degrees C on R2A agar. The highest degrees of 16S
      rRNA gene sequence similarities of the strain were found with Hymenobacter
      arizonensis JCM 13504(T) (98.0 %), Hymenobacter glaciei VUG-A130(T) (96.1 %),
      Hymenobacter soli PB17(T) (95.2 %), Hymenobacter antarcticus VUG-A42aa(T) (94.7
      %) and Hymenobacter chitinivorans Txc1(T) (92.8 %). The DNA G+C content of the
      novel strain, DG31A(T), was determined to be 60.8 mol%. Chemotaxonomic data
      revealed that the major fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C16:1 omega7c and/or
      C16:1 omega6c; 26.7 %), C16:1 omega5c (18.9 %) and anteiso-C15:0 (12.9 %); the
      major polar lipid was identified as phosphatidylethanolamine; the polyamine
      pattern was found to contain sym-homospermidine; and the major quinone was
      identified as MK-7. The DNA-DNA relatedness of strain DG31A(T) with respect to H.
      arizonensis JCM 13504(T) was 19.5 +/- 2.9 % (reciprocal, 19.3 +/- 0.6 %). Based
      on these data, strain DG31A(T) should be classified within the genus Hymenobacter
      as a novel species for which the name Hymenobacter humi sp. nov. is proposed,
      with the type strain DG31A(T) (=KCTC 32523(T) = JCM 19635(T)). 

PMID- 25822158
TI  - Simultaneous determination of chlorantraniliprole and cyantraniliprole in fruits,
      vegetables and cereals using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem
      mass spectrometry with the isotope-labelled internal standard method.
AB  - A reliable and sensitive isotope-labelled internal standard method for
      simultaneous determination of chlorantraniliprole and cyantraniliprole in fruits
      (apple and grape), vegetables (cucumber and tomato) and cereals (rice and wheat)
      using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was
      developed. Isotope-labelled internal standards were effective in compensating for
      the loss in the pretreatment and overcoming the matrix effect. The analytes were
      extracted with acetonitrile and cleaned up with different kinds of sorbents. The
      determination of the target compounds was achieved in less than 4 min using a T3
      column combined with an electrospray ionization source in positive mode. The
      overall average relative recoveries in all matrices at three spiking levels (10,
      20 and 50 MUg kg(-1)) ranged from 95.5 to 106.2 %, with all relative standard
      deviations being less than 14.4 % for all analytes. The limits of detection did
      not exceed 0.085 MUg kg(-1) and the limits of quantification were below 0.28 MUg
      kg(-1) in all matrices. The method was demonstrated to be convenient and accurate
      for the routine monitoring of chlorantraniliprole and cyantraniliprole in fruits,
      vegetables and cereals.

PMID- 25822159
TI  - Quantification of tocopherols and tocotrienols in soybean oil by supercritical
      fluid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry.
AB  - For the most effective analytical strategies, development and validation include
      optimization of such analytical variables as resolution, detectability,
      sensitivity, simplicity, cost effectiveness, flexibility, and speed. However,
      other aspects concerning operator safety and environmental impact are not
      considered at the same level. The result has been many unintended negative
      effects of analytical methods developed to investigate different kinds of sample,
      especially hydrophobic compounds that generate a large amount of chemical waste
      and have a strong negative environmental impact. In this context, quantification
      of tocopherols and tocotrienols, i.e. the vitamin E family, is usually achieved
      by normal-phase liquid chromatography using large volumes of toxic organic
      solvents, or reversed-phase liquid chromatography using a high percentage of
      methanol for elution. We propose here a "greener" analytical strategy, including
      the hyphenation of supercritical-fluid chromatography, using CO2 and ethanol as
      mobile phase, NH2 as stationary phase, and mass spectrometry for the detection
      and quantification of vitamin E congeners in soybean oil. An atmospheric-pressure
      photoionization (APPI) source seemed significantly more sensitive and robust than
      electrospray or atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization (APCI). This method led
      to shortened analysis time (less than 5 min) and was revealed to be as sensitive
      as more traditional approaches, with limits of detection and quantification in
      the tens of MUg L(-1).

PMID- 25822160
TI  - Semi-quantitative determination of monocarboxylate forms of ginkgolide B in
      plasma by UPLC-MS.
AB  - Ginkgolide B (GB) has a unique structure incorporating three gamma-lactones that
      may be hydrolyzed in aquae as carboxylate forms. However, the determinations of
      them are challenging because there is no way to prepare the standards of any
      hydrolyzed products of GB in the solid state. In this report, a semi-quantitative
      method was developed to determine the monocarboxylate forms of GB in plasma. UPLC
      coupled with selected ion monitoring (SIR) of m/z 423 and m/z 441 were employed
      to detect the trilactone and monocarboxylates in assistances with the frozen
      method and the recovered method, which were, respectively, used to stabilize the
      hydrolyzed states and fully recover the monocarboxylates as the trilactone in
      samples. Two monocarboxylates were detected in pH 7.4 potassium phosphate buffers
      (PPB) after incubations, while only one was found in plasma in vitro and in vivo.
      The identifications of them require further studies. Following the bioanalytical
      validation of the trilactone, critical issues of the relative responses of the
      monocarboxylates in contrast to the trilactone, matrix effects, and stabilities
      were carefully investigated with subtly designed measures. The validation results
      supported the quantifications of monocarboxylates in PPB or plasma directly by
      using the corresponding calibration curve of the trilactone. The applications of
      this method presented a clear disparity between the hydrolysis kinetics of GB in
      plasma and PPB. Based on the quantification results and method applications, it
      was concluded that the present method was suitable to study the complex
      hydrolysis mechanisms of GB in vitro and in vivo.

PMID- 25822161
TI  - Enzyme-free and isothermal detection of microRNA based on click-chemical ligation
      assisted hybridization coupled with hybridization chain reaction signal
      amplification.
AB  - An enzyme-free and isothermal microRNA (miRNA) detection method has been
      developed based on click-chemical ligation-assisted hybridization coupled with
      hybridization chain reaction (HCR) on magnetic beads (MBs). The click-chemical
      ligation between an azide-modified probe DNA and a dibenzocyclooctyne-modified
      probe DNA occurred through the hybridization of target miRNA (miR-141). HCR on
      MBs was performed by the addition of DNA hairpin monomers (H1 and H2). After
      magnetic separation and denaturation/rehybridization of HCR products ([H1/H2] n
      ), the resulting HCR products were analyzed by the fluorescence emitted from an
      intercalative dye, allowing amplification of the fluorescent signal. The proposed
      assay had a limit of detection of 0.55 fmol, which was 230-fold more sensitive
      than that of the HCR on the MBs coupled with a conventional sandwich
      hybridization assay (without click-chemical ligation) (limit of detection 127
      fmol). Additionally, the proposed assay could discriminate between miR-141 and
      other miR-200 family members. In contrast to quantitative reverse transcription
      polymerase chain reaction techniques using enzymes and thermal cycling, this is
      an enzyme-free assay that can be conducted under isothermal conditions and can
      specifically detect miR-141 in fetal bovine serum.

PMID- 25822162
TI  - Multidimensional mass spectrometry-based shotgun lipidomics analysis of vinyl
      ether diglycerides.
AB  - Diglycerides play a central role in lipid metabolism and signaling in mammalian
      cells. Although diacylglycerol molecular species comprise the majority of
      cellular diglycerides that are commonly measured using a variety of approaches,
      identification of extremely low abundance vinyl ether diglycerides has remained
      challenging. In this work, representative molecular species from the three
      diglyceride subclasses (diacyl, vinyl ether, and alkyl ether diglycerides;
      hereafter referred to as diradylglycerols) were interrogated by mass
      spectrometric analysis. Product ion mass spectra of the synthesized
      diradylglycerols with varied chain lengths and degrees of unsaturation
      demonstrated diagnostic fragmentation patterns indicative of each subclass.
      Multidimensional mass spectrometry-based shotgun lipidomics (MDMS-SL) analysis of
      mouse brain and heart lipid extracts were performed using the identified
      informative signature product ions. Through an array of tandem mass spectrometric
      analyses utilizing the orthogonal characteristics of neutral loss scanning and
      precursor ion scanning, the differential fragmentation of each subclass was
      exploited for high-yield structural analyses. Although molecular ion mass spectra
      readily identified diacylglycerol molecular species directly from the hexane
      fractions of tissue extracts enriched in nonpolar lipids, molecular ion peaks
      corresponding to ether-linked diglycerides were not observable. The power of MDMS
      SL utilizing the tandem mass spectrometric array analysis was demonstrated by
      identification and profiling of individual molecular species of vinyl ether
      diglycerides in mouse brain and heart from their undetectable molecular ion peaks
      during MS(1) analysis. Collectively, this technology enabled the identification
      and profiling of previously inaccessible vinyl ether diglyceride molecular
      species in mammalian tissues directly from extracts of biologic tissues.

PMID- 25822163
TI  - GMO detection in food and feed through screening by visual loop-mediated
      isothermal amplification assays.
AB  - Isothermal DNA/RNA amplification techniques are the primary methodology for
      developing on-spot rapid nucleic acid amplification assays, and the loop-mediated
      isothermal amplification (LAMP) technique has been developed and applied in the
      detection of foodborne pathogens, plant/animal viruses, and genetically modified
      (GM) food/feed contents. In this study, one set of LAMP assays targeting on eight
      frequently used universal elements, marker genes, and exogenous target genes,
      such as CaMV35S promoter, FMV35S promoter, NOS, bar, cry1Ac, CP4 epsps, pat, and
      NptII, were developed for visual screening of GM contents in plant-derived food
      samples with high efficiency and accuracy. For these eight LAMP assays, their
      specificity was evaluated by testing commercial GM plant events and their limits
      of detection were also determined, which are 10 haploid genome equivalents (HGE)
      for FMV35S promoter, cry1Ac, and pat assays, as well as five HGE for CaMV35S
      promoter, bar, NOS terminator, CP4 epsps, and NptII assays. The screening
      applicability of these LAMP assays was further validated successfully using
      practical canola, soybean, and maize samples. The results suggested that the
      established visual LAMP assays are applicable and cost-effective for GM screening
      in plant-derived food samples. 

PMID- 25822164
TI  - Does diabetes prevention pay for itself? Evaluation of the M.O.B.I.L.I.S. program
      for obese persons.
AB  - In response to the growing burden of obesity, public primary prevention programs
      against obesity have been widely recommended. Several studies have estimated the
      cost-effectiveness of diabetes-prevention trials for different countries.
      Nevertheless, it is still controversial if prevention conducted in more real
      world settings and among people with increased risk but not yet exhibiting
      increased glucose tolerance can be a cost-saving strategy to cope with the
      obesity epidemic. We examine this question in a simulation model based on the
      results of the M.O.B.I.L.I.S program, a German lifestyle intervention to reduce
      obesity, which is directed on the high-risk group of people who are already
      obese. The contribution of this paper is the use of 4-year follow-up data on the
      intervention group and a comparison with a control group formed by SOEP
      respondents as inputs in a Markov model of the long-term cost savings through
      this intervention due to the prevention of type 2 diabetes. We show that from the
      point of view of a health insurer, these programs can pay for themselves. 

PMID- 25822165
TI  - Investigating the effects of ICT on innovation and performance of European
      hospitals: an exploratory study.
AB  - Hospitals are making big investments in various types of ICT, so it is important
      to investigate their effects on innovation and performance. This paper presents
      an empirical study in this direction, based on data for 743 hospitals from 18
      European countries. We specified and estimated econometrically five equations:
      one for product innovation, one for process innovation and three equations for
      the three different dimensions of (ICT-enabled) hospital performance. All five
      equations included various ICT-related variables reflecting ICT infrastructure
      and a series of important ICT applications, some of them hospital-specific, and
      some others of general business use, and also ICT personnel (viewed as a kind of
      'soft' ICT investment), while the performance equations also included the two
      innovation measures. 

PMID- 25822166
TI  - Correction: the relationship between bipolar disorder and cannabis use in daily
      life: an experience sampling study.

PMID- 25822167
TI  - Effect of rhizosphere enzymes on phytoremediation in PAH-contaminated soil using
      five plant species.
AB  - A pot experiment was performed to study the effectiveness of remediation using
      different plant species and the enzyme response involved in remediating PAH
      contaminated soil. The study indicated that species Echinacea purpurea, Festuca
      arundinacea Schred, Fire Phoenix (a combined F. arundinacea), and Medicago sativa
      L. possess the potential for remediation in PAH-contaminated soils. The study
      also determined that enzymatic reactions of polyphenol oxidase (except Fire
      Phoenix), dehydrogenase (except Fire Phoenix), and urease (except Medicago sativa
      L.) were more prominent over cultivation periods of 60d and 120d than 150d.
      Urease activity of the tested species exhibited prominently linear negative
      correlations with alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen content after the tested plants
      were cultivated for 150d (R2 = 0.9592). The experiment also indicated that
      alkaline phosphatase activity in four of the five tested species (Echinacea
      purpurea, Callistephus chinensis, Festuca arundinacea Schred and Fire Phoenix)
      was inhibited during the cultivation process (at 60d and 120d). At the same time,
      the study determined that the linear relationship between alkaline phosphatase
      activity and effective phosphorus content in plant rhizosphere soil exhibited a
      negative correlation after a growing period of 120d (R2 = 0.665).
      Phytoremediation of organic contaminants in the soil was closely related to
      specific characteristics of particular plant species, and the catalyzed reactions
      were the result of the action of multiple enzymes in the plant rhizosphere soil. 

PMID- 25822168
TI  - The biochemical properties of the Arabidopsis ecto-nucleoside triphosphate
      diphosphohydrolase AtAPY1 contradict a direct role in purinergic signaling.
AB  - The Arabidopsis E-NTPDase (ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase)
      AtAPY1 was previously shown to be involved in growth and development, pollen
      germination and stress responses. It was proposed to perform these functions
      through regulation of extracellular ATP signals. However, a GFP-tagged version
      was localized exclusively in the Golgi and did not hydrolyze ATP. In this study,
      AtAPY1 without the bulky GFP-tag was biochemically characterized with regard to
      its suggested role in purinergic signaling. Both the full-length protein and a
      soluble form without the transmembrane domain near the N-terminus were produced
      in HEK293 cells. Of the twelve nucleotide substrates tested, only three--GDP, IDP
      and UDP--were hydrolyzed, confirming that ATP was not a substrate of AtAPY1. In
      addition, the effects of pH, divalent metal ions, known E-NTPDase inhibitors and
      calmodulin on AtAPY1 activity were analyzed. AtAPY1-GFP extracted from transgenic
      Arabidopsis seedlings was included in the analyses. All three AtAPY1 versions
      exhibited very similar biochemical properties. Activity was detectable in a broad
      pH range, and Ca(2+), Mg(2+) and Mn(2+) were the three most efficient cofactors.
      Of the inhibitors tested, vanadate was the most potent one. Surprisingly,
      sulfonamide-based inhibitors shown to inhibit other E-NTPDases and presumed to
      inhibit AtAPY1 as well were not effective. Calmodulin stimulated the activity of
      the GFP-tagless membranous and soluble AtAPY1 forms about five-fold, but did not
      alter their substrate specificities. The apparent Km values obtained with AtAPY1
      GFP indicate that AtAPY1 is primarily a GDPase. A putative three-dimensional
      structural model of the ecto-domain is presented, explaining the potent
      inhibitory potential of vanadate and predicting the binding mode of GDP. The
      found substrate specificity classifies AtAPY1 as a nucleoside diphosphatase
      typical of N-terminally anchored Golgi E-NTPDases and negates a direct function
      in purinergic signaling.

PMID- 25822169
TI  - The experience of pain and redness in patients with moderate to severe plaque
      psoriasis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The Psoriasis Symptom Inventory is a patient-reported outcome
      instrument that assesses severity of psoriasis signs and symptoms. In early
      qualitative research, patients reported pain related to psoriasis skin lesions
      and redness of affected areas of skin as key symptoms. METHODS: Individual
      concept elicitation interviews and cognitive interviews were conducted in adults
      with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Interviews were audio-recorded and
      transcribed. Concepts were identified, coded and grouped by similar content using
      Atlas.ti software. Results were evaluated using qualitative research methods.
      RESULTS: Of 30 patients recruited, 20 patients participated in concept
      elicitation interviews and 10 participated in cognitive interviews. Concept codes
      for skin pain and descriptions of color comprised 11% and 15%, respectively, of
      all symptom-related expressions. Of 90 pain-related expressions, 22 were about
      pain related to unconscious scratching and 68 were about pain from the psoriasis
      lesions. Of 199 color-related expressions, 72 were about red or reddish lesion
      color. Patients with darker skin tones were found to interpret redness
      consistently. DISCUSSION: These results provide further support to content
      validity of pain and redness concepts in the Psoriasis Symptom Inventory.
      CONCLUSIONS: Symptoms of skin pain and redness are highly relevant to patients
      with psoriasis.

PMID- 25822170
TI  - Trends in the use of percutaneous ventricular assist devices: analysis of
      national inpatient sample data, 2007 through 2012.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Percutaneous ventricular assist devices (PVADs) provide robust
      hemodynamic support compared with intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABPs), but
      clinical use patterns are unknown. OBJECTIVE: To examine contemporary patterns in
      PVAD use in the United States and compare them with use of IABPs. DESIGN,
      SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective study of adults older than 18 years who
      received a PVAD or IABP while hospitalized in the United States (2007-2012). MAIN
      OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Temporal trends in utilization, patient and hospital
      characteristics, in-hospital mortality, and cost of PVAD use compared with IABP.
      RESULTS: During 2007 through 2012, utilization of PVADs increased 30-fold (4.6
      per million discharges in 2007 to 138 per million discharges in 2012; P for trend
      < .001) while utilization of IABPs decreased from 1738 per million discharges in
      2008 to 1608 per million discharges in 2012 (P for trend = .02). In 2007, an
      estimated 72 hospitals used PVADs, increasing to 477 in 2011 (P for trend <
      .001). The number of hospitals with an annual volume of 10 or more PVAD
      procedures per year increased from 0 in 2007 to 102 in 2011 (21.4% of PVAD-using
      hospitals; P for trend < .001). Among PVAD recipients, 67.3% had a diagnosis of
      cardiogenic shock or acute myocardial infarction (AMI). There was a temporal
      increase in the use of PVADs in older patients and patients with AMI,
      hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney disease (P for trend < .001
      for all). Overall, mortality in PVAD recipients was 28.8%, and mean (SE)
      hospitalization cost was $85,580 ($4165); both were significantly higher in PVAD
      recipients with cardiogenic shock (mortality, 47.5%; mean [SE] cost, $113,695
      [$6260]; P < .001 for both). The PVAD recipients were less likely than IABP
      recipients to have cardiogenic shock (34.3% vs 41.2%; P = .001), AMI (48.0% vs
      68.6%; P < .001), and undergo coronary artery bypass graft surgery (6.2% vs
      43.2%; P < .001), but more likely to undergo percutaneous coronary intervention
      (70.9% vs 40.4%; P < .001). In propensity-matched analysis, PVADs were associated
      with higher mortality compared with IABP (odds ratio, 1.23 [95% CI, 1.06-1.43]; P
      = .007). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: There has been a substantial increase in the
      use of PVADs in recent years with an accompanying decrease in the use of IABPs.
      Given the high mortality, associated cost, and uncertain evidence for a clear
      benefit, randomized clinical trials are needed to determine whether use of PVADs
      leads to improved patient outcomes.

PMID- 25822171
TI  - Strategies to increase the ownership and use of insecticide-treated bednets to
      prevent malaria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic disease and 40% of the
      world's population lives in areas affected by malaria. Insecticide-treated
      bednets (ITNs) effectively prevent malaria, however, barriers to their use have
      been identified. OBJECTIVES: To assess the evidence on the effectiveness of
      available strategies that focus on delivery and appropriate use of ITNs. SEARCH
      METHODS: We searched the EPOC Register of Studies, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE,
      HealthStar, CINAHL, PubMed, Science Citation Index, ProQuest Dissertations and
      Theses, African Index Medicus (AIM), World Health Organization Library and
      Information Networks for Knowledge (WHOLIS), LILACS, Virtual Health Library
      (VHL), and the World Health Organization Library Information System (WHOLIS).
      Initial searches were conducted in May 2011, updated in March 2012 and February
      2013. Authors contacted organizations and individuals involved in ITN
      distribution programs or research to identify current initiatives, studies or
      unpublished data, and searched reference lists of relevant reviews and studies.
      SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomized controlled trials, non-randomized controlled
      trials, controlled before-after studies, and interrupted time series evaluating
      interventions focused on increasing ITN ownership and use were considered. The
      populations of interest were individuals in malaria-endemic areas. DATA
      COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently screened studies to be
      included. They extracted data from the selected studies and assessed the risk of
      bias. When consensus was not reached, any disagreements were discussed with a
      third author. The magnitude of effect and quality of evidence for each outcome
      was assessed. MAIN RESULTS: Of the 3032 records identified, 10 studies were
      included in this review. Effect of ITN cost on ownership:Four studies including
      4566 households and another study comprising 424 participants evaluated the
      effect of ITN price on ownership. These studies suggest that providing free ITNs
      probably increases ITN ownership when compared to subsidized ITNs or ITNs offered
      at full market price. Effect of ITN Cost on appropriate use of ITNs:Three studies
      including 9968 households and another study comprising 259 individuals found that
      there is probably little or no difference in the use of ITNs when they are
      provided free, compared to providing subsidized ITNs or ITNs offered at full
      market price. Education:Five studies, including 12,637 households, assessed
      educational interventions regarding ITN use and concluded that education may
      increase the number of adults and children using ITNs (sleeping under ITNs)
      compared to no education.One study, including 519 households, assessed the
      effects of providing an incentive (an undisclosed prize) to promote ITN ownership
      and use, and found that incentives probably lead to little or no difference in
      ownership or use of ITNs, compared to not receiving an incentive.None of the
      included studies reported on adverse effects. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Five studies
      examined the effect of price on ITN ownership and found moderate-certainty
      evidence that ownership was highest among the groups who received the ITN free
      versus those who purchased the ITN at any cost. In economic terms, this means
      that demand for ITNs is elastic with regard to price. However, once the ITN is
      supplied, the price paid for the ITN probably has little to no effect on its use;
      the four studies addressing this outcome failed to confirm the hypothesis that
      people who purchase nets will use them more than those who receive them at no
      cost. Educational interventions for promoting ITN use have an additional positive
      effect. However, the impact of different types or intensities of education is
      unknown.

PMID- 25822173
TI  - Correction: Characterization of the RelBbu regulon in Borrelia burgdorferi
      reveals modulation of glycerol metabolism by (p)ppGpp.

PMID- 25822172
TI  - Remodeling of the residual gastric mucosa after roux-en-y gastric bypass or
      vertical sleeve gastrectomy in diet-induced obese rats.
AB  - Whereas the remodeling of intestinal mucosa after bariatric surgeries has been
      the matter of numerous studies to our knowledge, very few reported on the
      remodeling of the residual gastric mucosa. In this study, we analyzed remodeling
      of gastric mucosa after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and vertical sleeve
      gastrectomy (VSG) in rats. Diet-induced obese rats were subjected to RYGB, VSG or
      sham surgical procedures. All animals were assessed for food intake, body-weight,
      fasting blood, metabolites and hormones profiling, as well as insulin and glucose
      tolerance tests before and up to 5 weeks post-surgery. Remodeling of gastric
      tissues was analyzed by routine histology and immunohistochemistry studies, and
      qRT-PCR analyses of ghrelin and gastrin mRNA levels. In obese rats with impaired
      glucose tolerance, VSG and RYGB caused substantial weight loss and rats greatly
      improved their oral glucose tolerance. The remaining gastric mucosa after VSG and
      gastric pouch (GP) after RYGB revealed a hyperplasia of the mucous neck cells
      that displayed a strong immunoreactivity for parietal cell H+/K+-ATPase. Ghrelin
      mRNA levels were reduced by 2-fold in remaining fundic mucosa after VSG and 10
      fold in GP after RYGB. In the antrum, gastrin mRNA levels were reduced after VSG
      in line with the reduced number of gastrin positive cells. This study reports
      novel and important observations dealing with the remaining gastric mucosa after
      RYGB and VSG. The data demonstrate, for the first time, a hyperplasia of the
      mucous neck cells, a transit cell population of the stomach bearing
      differentiating capacities into zymogenic and peptic cells. 

PMID- 25822174
TI  - Correction: Tractography of the spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) corpus callosum
      using diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging.

PMID- 25822175
TI  - Development of a rapid, simple method for detecting Naegleria fowleri visually in
      water samples by loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP).
AB  - Naegleria fowleri is the causative agent of the fatal disease primary amebic
      meningoencephalitis. Detection of N. fowleri using conventional culture and
      biochemical-based assays is time-consuming and laborious, while molecular
      techniques, such as PCR, require laboratory skills and expensive equipment. We
      developed and evaluated a novel loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)
      assay targeting the virulence-related gene for N. fowleri. Time to results is
      about 90 min and amplification products were easily detected visually using
      hydroxy naphthol blue. The LAMP was highly specific after testing against related
      microorganisms and able to detect one trophozoite, as determined with spiked
      water and cerebrospinal fluid samples. The assay was then evaluated with a set of
      80 water samples collected during the flooding crisis in Thailand in 2011, and 30
      natural water samples from border areas of northern, eastern, western, and
      southern Thailand. N. fowleri was detected in 13 and 10 samples using LAMP and
      PCR, respectively, with a Kappa coefficient of 0.855. To the best of our
      knowledge, this is the first report of a LAMP assay for N. fowleri. Due to its
      simplicity, speed, and high sensitivity, the LAMP method described here might be
      useful for quickly detecting and diagnosing N. fowleri in water and clinical
      samples, particularly in resource-poor settings. 

PMID- 25822177
TI  - Bradykinin release avoids high molecular weight kininogen endocytosis.
AB  - Human H-kininogen (120 kDa) plays a role in many pathophysiological processes and
      interacts with the cell surface through protein receptors and proteoglycans,
      which mediate H-kininogen endocytosis. In the present work we demonstrate that H
      kininogen containing bradykinin domain is internalized and different endogenous
      kininogenases are present in CHO-K1 cells. We used CHO-K1 (wild type) and CHO-745
      (mutant deficient in proteoglycans biosynthesis) cell lines. H-kininogen
      endocytosis was studied using confocal microscopy, and its hydrolysis by cell
      lysate fraction was determined by immunoblotting. Bradykinin release was also
      measured by radioimmunoassay. H-kininogen interaction with the cell surface of
      CHO-745 cells resulted in bradykinin release by serine proteases. In CHO-K1
      cells, which produce heparan and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans,
      internalization of H-kininogen through its bradykinin domain can occur on lipid
      raft domains/caveolae. Nevertheless bradykinin-free H-kininogen was not
      internalized by CHO-K1 cells. The H-kininogen present in acidic endosomal
      vesicles in CHO-K1 was approximately 10-fold higher than the levels in CHO-745.
      CHO-K1 lysate fractions were assayed at pH 5.5 and intact H-kininogen was totally
      hydrolyzed into a 62 kDa fragment. By contrast, at an assay pH 7.4, the remained
      fragments were 115 kDa, 83 kDa, 62 kDa and 48 kDa in size. The antipain-Sepharose
      chromatography separated endogenous kininogenases from CHO-K1 lysate fraction. No
      difference was detected in the assays at pH 5.5 or 7.4, but the proteins in the
      fraction bound to the resin released bradykinin from H-kininogen. However, the
      proteins in the unbound fraction cleaved intact H-kininogen at other sites but
      did not release bradykinin. H-kininogen can interact with extravascular cells,
      and is internalized dependent on its bradykinin domain and cell surface
      proteoglycans. After internalization, H-kininogen is proteolytically processed by
      intracellular kininogenases. The present data also demonstrates that serine or
      cysteine proteases in lipid raft domains/caveolae on the CHO cell can hydrolyze H
      kininogen, thus releasing kinins. 

PMID- 25822176
TI  - Lower mutation frequency of BCP/precore regions in e antigen-negative chronic HBV
      infected children instead of adults patients.
AB  - To describe the Hepatitis B e antigen(HBeAg) seroconversion related mutation
      profiles of the basal core promoter(BCP)/precore regions in e antigen
      seroconverted child patients, a cohort of 245 child patients with CHB and a
      control patients group of 92 adult patients with CHB were recruited. The mutation
      frequencies of six nucleotides or nucleotide combinations including nucleotide
      (nt)1896, nt1762/1764, nt1752, nt1846, nt1899 and nt1753 showed significant
      differences between HBeAg positive and HBeAg-negative child patients groups. The
      frequencies of these HBeAg seroconversion-related mutations were significantly
      lower in HBeAg-negative children with CHB than in HBeAg-negative adults with CHB,
      especially for the mutation G1896A (41.1% vs 91.7%, P<0.001), and the average
      number of BCP/precore region mutations in samples from HBeAg-negative child
      patients was also obviously lower than in HBeAg-negative adult patients(3.62+/
      3.03 vs 4.89+/-2.09, P<0.001), suggesting less impact of mutations in the
      BCP/precore region on HBeAg seroconversion in child patients than adult patients.

PMID- 25822179
TI  - The Role of Ubiquitination in Regulation of Innate Immune Signaling.
AB  - Ubiquitination, also denoted ubiquitylation, is a posttranslational modification
      that has been implicated in the regulation of both innate and adaptive immune
      responses. Ubiquitination plays crucial roles in innate immune signaling by
      ensuring the proper orchestration of several signaling mediators that constitute
      a functional immune response. Herein, we briefly summarize the latest discoveries
      concerning the molecular ubiquitination-related machinery that senses, assembles,
      and disassembles innate immune signaling mediators.

PMID- 25822178
TI  - Dose-dependent dual role of PIT-1 (POU1F1) in somatolactotroph cell proliferation
      and apoptosis.
AB  - To test the role of wtPIT-1 (PITWT) or PIT-1 (R271W) (PIT271) in somatolactotroph
      cells, we established, using inducible lentiviral vectors, sublines of GH4C1
      somatotroph cells that allow the blockade of the expression of endogenous PIT-1
      and/or the expression of PITWT or PIT271, a dominant negative mutant of PIT-1
      responsible for Combined Pituitary Hormone Deficiency in patients. Blocking
      expression of endogenous PIT-1 induced a marked decrease of cell proliferation.
      Overexpressing PITWT twofold led also to a dose-dependent decrease of cell
      proliferation that was accompanied by cell death. Expression of PIT271 induced a
      strong dose-dependent decrease of cell proliferation accompanied by a very
      pronounced cell death. These actions of PIT271 are independent of its
      interaction/competition with endogenous PIT-1, as they were unchanged when
      expression of endogenous PIT-1 was blocked. All these actions are specific for
      somatolactotroph cells, and could not be observed in heterologous cells. Cell
      death induced by PITWT or by PIT271 was accompanied by DNA fragmentation, but was
      not inhibited by inhibitors of caspases, autophagy or necrosis, suggesting that
      this cell death is a caspase-independent apoptosis. Altogether, our results
      indicate that under normal conditions PIT-1 is important for the maintenance of
      cell proliferation, while when expressed at supra-normal levels it induces cell
      death. Through this dual action, PIT-1 may play a role in the
      expansion/regression cycles of pituitary lactotroph population during and after
      lactation. Our results also demonstrate that the so-called "dominant-negative"
      action of PIT271 is independent of its competition with PIT-1 or a blockade of
      the actions of the latter, and are actions specific to this mutant variant of PIT
      1. 

PMID- 25822180
TI  - The role of psychological resilience and mTBI as predictors of postconcussional
      syndrome symptomatology.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Resilience is 1 of several factors that are thought to contribute to
      outcome following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). This study explored the
      predictors of the postconcussional syndrome (PCS) symptoms that can occur
      following mTBI. We hypothesized that a reported recent mTBI and lower
      psychological resilience would predict worse reported PCS symptomatology. METHOD:
      233 participants completed the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) and the
      Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). Three NSI scores were used to define PCS
      symptomatology. A total of 35 participants reported an mTBI (as operationally
      defined by the World Health Organization) that was sustained between 1 and 6
      months prior to their participation (positive mTBI history); the remainder
      reported having never had an mTBI. RESULTS: Regression analyses revealed that a
      positive reported recent mTBI history and lower psychological resilience were
      significant independent predictors of reported PCS symptomatology. These results
      were found for the 3 PCS scores from the NSI, including using a stringent
      caseness criterion, p < .05. Demographic variables (age and gender) were not
      related to outcome, with the exception of education in some analyses. CONCLUSION:
      The results demonstrate that: (a) both perceived psychological resilience and
      mTBI history play a role in whether or not PCS symptoms are experienced, even
      when demographic variables are considered, and (b) of these 2 variables, lower
      perceived psychological resilience was the strongest predictor of PCS-like
      symptomatology.

PMID- 25822181
TI  - Coping among individuals with multiple sclerosis: Evaluating a goodness-of-fit
      model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic illness involving both
      controllable and uncontrollable stressors. The goodness-of-fit hypothesis posits
      that managing stressors effectively requires the use of different coping
      approaches in the face of controllable and uncontrollable stressors. To test the
      applicability of the goodness-of-fit model in a sample of adults with MS, we
      evaluated the ratio of 2 types of coping (an active problem-solving approach and
      an emotion-based meaning-focused approach) as a moderator of the relations
      between stress uncontrollability and mental health outcomes. METHODS:
      Participants were veterans with MS (N = 90) receiving medical services through
      the Veterans Health Administration who completed telephone-based interviews.
      Regression analyses tested the interaction of stress uncontrollability and the
      problem- and meaning-focused coping ratio on anxious and depressive symptoms.
      Significant interactions were probed at 1 SD above the mean of coping (use of
      predominantly problem-focused coping) and 1 SD below the mean of coping (use of
      predominantly meaning-focused coping). RESULTS: Findings largely supported the
      goodness-of-fit hypothesis. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were elevated when
      participants used more problem-focused strategies relative to meaning-focused
      strategies in the face of perceived uncontrollable stress. Conversely, symptoms
      of anxiety and depression were lower when uncontrollable stress was met with
      predominantly meaning-focused coping; however, the relations did not reach
      statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of uncontrollable stressors on
      mental health outcomes for individuals with MS may vary depending on the degree
      to which problem-focused versus meaning-focused coping strategies are employed,
      lending support to the goodness-of-fit model.

PMID- 25822182
TI  - New toxicity mechanism of silver nanoparticles: promoting apoptosis and
      inhibiting proliferation.
AB  - Silver nanoparticles are increasingly recognized for their utility in biological
      applications, especially antibacterial effects. Herein, we confirmed the
      antibacterial effect of silver nanoparticles on Escherichia coli using the
      conventional optical density (OD) and colony-forming units (CFU) method and used
      flow cytometry (FC), TEM and BrdU ELISA to investigate the mechanisms of this
      effect. From the results, we conclude that AgNPs can simultaneously induce
      apoptosis and inhibit new DNA synthesis in the cells in a positive concentration
      dependent manner. This study presents the first induction of apoptosis in these
      bacteria by AgNPs in this field. Our findings may provide a new strategy for the
      use of silver nanoparticles in antibacterial applications. 

PMID- 25822183
TI  - Biological, Serological, and Molecular Characterization of a Highly Divergent
      Strain of Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 4 Causing Grapevine Leafroll
      Disease.
AB  - The complete genome sequence of a highly divergent strain of Grapevine leafroll
      associated virus 4 (GLRaV-4) was determined using 454 pyrosequencing technology.
      This virus, designated GLRaV-4 Ob, was detected in Vitis vinifera 'Otcha bala'
      from our grapevine virus collection at Agroscope. The GLRaV-4 Ob genome length
      and organization share similarities with members of subgroup II in the genus
      Ampelovirus (family Closteroviridae). Otcha bala was graft-inoculated onto
      indicator plants of cultivar Gamay to evaluate the biological properties of this
      new strain, and typical leafroll symptoms were induced. A monoclonal antibody for
      the rapid detection of GLRaV-4 Ob by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is
      available, thus facilitating large-scale diagnostics of this virus. Based on the
      relatively small size of the coat protein, the reduced amino acid identity and
      the distinct serological properties, our study clearly shows that GLRaV-4 Ob is a
      divergent strain of GLRaV-4. Furthermore, molecular and serological data revealed
      that the AA42 accession from which GLRaV-7 was originally reported is in fact co
      infected with GLRaV-4 Ob and GLRaV-7. This finding challenges the idea that GLRaV
      7 is a leafroll-causing agent. 

PMID- 25822184
TI  - Predicting Cereal Root Disease in Western Australia Using Soil DNA and
      Environmental Parameters.
AB  - Root diseases have long been prevalent in Australian grain-growing regions, and
      most management decisions to reduce the risk of yield loss need to be implemented
      before the crop is sown. The levels of pathogens that cause the major root
      diseases can be measured using DNA-based services such as PreDicta B. Although
      these pathogens are often studied individually, in the field they often occur as
      mixed populations and their combined effect on crop production is likely to vary
      across diverse cropping environments. A 3-year survey was conducted covering most
      cropping regions in Western Australia, utilizing PreDicta B to determine
      soilborne pathogen levels and visual assessments to score root health and
      incidence of individual crop root diseases caused by the major root pathogens,
      including Rhizoctonia solani (anastomosis group [AG]-8), Gaeumannomyces graminis
      var. tritici (take-all), Fusarium pseudograminearum, and Pratylenchus spp. (root
      lesion nematodes) on wheat roots for 115, 50, and 94 fields during 2010, 2011,
      and 2012, respectively. A predictive model was developed for root health
      utilizing autumn and summer rainfall and soil temperature parameters. The model
      showed that pathogen DNA explained 16, 5, and 2% of the variation in root health
      whereas environmental parameters explained 22, 11, and 1% of the variation in
      2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. Results showed that R. solani AG-8 soil
      pathogen DNA, environmental soil temperature, and rainfall parameters explained
      most of the variation in the root health. This research shows that interactions
      between environment and pathogen levels before seeding can be utilized in
      predictive models to improve assessment of risk from root diseases to assist
      growers to plan more profitable cropping programs. 

PMID- 25822186
TI  - Winter Conditions Correlate with Phytophthora alni Subspecies Distribution in
      Southern Sweden.
AB  - During the last century, the number of forest pathogen invasions has increased
      substantially. Environmental variables can play a crucial role in determining the
      establishment of invasive species. The objective of the present work was to
      determine the correlation between winter climatic conditions and distribution of
      two subspecies of the invasive forest pathogen Phytophthora alni: P. alni subspp.
      alni and uniformis killing black alder (Alnus glutinosa) in southern Sweden. It
      is known from laboratory experiments that P. alni subsp. alni is more pathogenic
      than P. alni subsp. uniformis, and that P. alni subsp. alni is sensitive to low
      temperatures and long frost periods. By studying the distribution of these two
      subspecies at the northern limit of the host species, we could investigate
      whether winter conditions can affect the geographical distribution of P. alni
      subsp. alni spreading northward. Sixteen major river systems of southern Sweden
      were systematically surveyed and isolations were performed from active cankers.
      The distribution of the two studied subspecies was highly correlated with winter
      temperature and duration of periods with heavy frost. While P. alni subsp.
      uniformis covered the whole range of temperatures of the host, P. alni subsp.
      alni was recovered in areas subjected to milder winter temperatures and shorter
      frost periods. Our observations suggest that winter conditions can play an
      important role in limiting P. alni subsp. alni establishment in cold locations,
      thus affecting the distribution of the different subspecies of P. alni in boreal
      regions. 

PMID- 25822185
TI  - Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN), an Emerging Threat to Maize-Based Food Security in
      Sub-Saharan Africa.
AB  - In sub-Saharan Africa, maize is a staple food and key determinant of food
      security for smallholder farming communities. Pest and disease outbreaks are key
      constraints to maize productivity. In September 2011, a serious disease outbreak,
      later diagnosed as maize lethal necrosis (MLN), was reported on maize in Kenya.
      The disease has since been confirmed in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of
      Congo, and similar symptoms have been reported in Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan,
      and Ethiopia. In 2012, yield losses of up to 90% resulted in an estimated grain
      loss of 126,000 metric tons valued at $52 million in Kenya alone. In eastern
      Africa, MLN was found to result from coinfection of maize with Maize chlorotic
      mottle virus (MCMV) and Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), although MCMV alone
      appears to cause significant crop losses. We summarize here the results of
      collaborative research undertaken to understand the biology and epidemiology of
      MLN in East Africa and to develop disease management strategies, including
      identification of MLN-tolerant maize germplasm. We discuss recent progress,
      identify major issues requiring further research, and discuss the possible next
      steps for effective management of MLN. 

PMID- 25822187
TI  - Species or Genotypes? Reassessment of Four Recently Described Species of the
      Ceratocystis Wilt Pathogen, Ceratocystis fimbriata, on Mangifera indica.
AB  - Ceratocystis wilt is among the most important diseases on mango (Mangifera
      indica) in Brazil, Oman, and Pakistan. The causal agent was originally identified
      in Brazil as Ceratocystis fimbriata, which is considered by some as a complex of
      many cryptic species, and four new species on mango trees were distinguished from
      C. fimbriata based on variation in internal transcribed spacer sequences. In the
      present study, phylogenetic analyses using DNA sequences of mating type genes,
      TEF-1alpha, and beta-tubulin failed to identify lineages corresponding to the
      four new species names. Further, mating experiments found that the mango isolates
      representing the new species were interfertile with each other and a tester
      strain from sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), on which the name C. fimbriata is
      based, and there was little morphological variation among the mango isolates.
      Microsatellite markers found substantial differentiation among mango isolates at
      the regional and population levels, but certain microsatellite genotypes were
      commonly found in multiple populations, suggesting that these genotypes had been
      disseminated in infected nursery stock. The most common microsatellite genotypes
      corresponded to the four recently named species (C. manginecans, C. acaciivora,
      C. mangicola, and C. mangivora), which are considered synonyms of C. fimbriata.
      This study points to the potential problems of naming new species based on
      introduced genotypes of a pathogen, the value of an understanding of natural
      variation within and among populations, and the importance of phenotype in
      delimiting species. 

PMID- 25822188
TI  - Genomes of 'Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum' Haplotype A from New Zealand
      and the United States Suggest Significant Genome Plasticity in the Species.
AB  - 'Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum' contains two solanaceous crop-infecting
      haplotypes, A and B. Two haplotype A draft genomes were assembled and compared
      with ZC1 (haplotype B), revealing inversion and relocation genomic
      rearrangements, numerous single-nucleotide polymorphisms, and differences in
      phage-related regions. Differences in prophage location and sequence were seen
      both within and between haplotype comparisons. OrthoMCL and BLAST analyses
      identified 46 putative coding sequences present in haplotype A that were not
      present in haplotype B. Thirty-eight of these loci were not found in sequences
      from other Liberibacter spp. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays
      designed to amplify sequences from 15 of these loci were screened against a panel
      of 'Ca. L. solanacearum'-positive samples to investigate genetic diversity. Seven
      of the assays demonstrated within-haplotype diversity; five failed to amplify
      loci in at least one haplotype A sample while three assays produced amplicons
      from some haplotype B samples. Eight of the loci assays showed consistent A-B
      differentiation. Differences in genome arrangements, prophage, and qPCR results
      suggesting locus diversity within the haplotypes provide more evidence for
      genetic complexity in this emerging bacterial species. 

PMID- 25822189
TI  - Population Structure, Pathogenicity, and Mating Type Distribution of Magnaporthe
      oryzae Isolates from East Africa.
AB  - Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the emergent threats to rice
      production in East Africa (EA), where little is known about the population
      genetics and pathogenicity of this pathogen. We investigated the genetic
      diversity and mating type (MAT) distribution of 88 isolates of M. oryzae from EA
      and representative isolates from West Africa (WA) and the Philippines (Asia)
      using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers and mating-type-specific
      primer sets. In addition, the aggressiveness of each isolate was evaluated by
      inoculating on the susceptible Oryza sativa indica 'Co39', scoring the disease
      severity and calculating the disease progress. Hierarchical analysis of molecular
      variance revealed a low level of genetic differentiation at two levels (FST 0.12
      and FCT 0.11). No evidence of population structure was found among the 65
      isolates from EA, and gene flow among EA populations was high. Moreover, pairwise
      population differentiation (GST) in EA populations ranged from 0.03 to 0.04,
      suggesting that >96% of genetic variation is derived from within populations.
      However, the populations from Asia and WA were moderately differentiated from EA
      ones. The spatial analysis of principal coordinates and STRUCTURE revealed
      overlapping between individual M. oryzae isolates from EA, with limited
      distinctness according to the geographic origin. All the populations were clonal,
      given the positive and significant index of association (IA) and standardized
      index of association (rd), which indicates a significant (P<0.001) departure from
      panmixia (IA and rd=0). Both MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 were detected. However, MAT1-1 was
      more prevalent than MAT1-2. Pathogenicity analysis revealed variability in
      aggressiveness, suggesting a potential existence of different races. Our data
      suggest that either M. oryzae populations from EA could be distributed as a
      single genetic population or gene flow is exerting a significant influence,
      effectively swamping the action of selection. This is the first study of genetic
      differentiation of rice-infecting M. oryzae strains from EA, and may guide
      further studies on the pathogen as well as resistance breeding efforts.

PMID- 25822191
TI  - Synthesis, Photophysical and Redox Properties of the D-pi-A Type Pyrimidine Dyes
      Bearing the 9-Phenyl-9H-Carbazole Moiety.
AB  - Novel donor-pi-acceptor dyes bearing the pyrimidine unit as an electron
      withdrawing group have been synthesized by using combination of two processes,
      based on the microwave-assisted Suzuki cross-coupling reaction and nucleophilic
      aromatic substitution of hydrogen. Spectral properties of the obtained dyes in
      six aprotic solvents of various polarities have been studied by ultraviolet
      visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. In contrast to the absorption spectra,
      fluorescence emission spectra displayed a strong dependence from their solvent
      polarities. The nature of the observed long wavelength maxima has been elucidated
      by means of quantum chemical calculations. The electrochemical properties of
      these dyes have been investigated by using cyclic voltammetry, while their
      photovoltaic performance was evaluated by a device fabrication study. The
      experimental and calculation data show that all of the dyes can be regarded as
      potentially good photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells. 

PMID- 25822190
TI  - Highly Selective and Sensitive Detection of Hg(II) from HgCl2 by a Simple
      Rhodamine-Based Fluorescent Sensor.
AB  - N-acryloyl rhodamine B hydrazide, a non-responsive control of a colorimetric
      Cu(2+) sensor, was used as a turn-on fluorescent sensor for Hg(II) from HgCl2 in
      the presence of AgNO3. The detection was highly selective and sensitive, and a
      large number of environmentally and biologically relevant metal ions, such as
      Na(+), K(+), Ca(2+), Mg(2+), Fe(3+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+), Cr(3+), Pb(2+), Ni(2+),
      Fe(2+), Mn(2+), Co(2+), Cd(2+), including Hg(II) from the easy dissociated salts,
      did not show significant interference. The fluorescence of the sensor (10 MUM)
      was enhanced 74 folds by 10 equiv. of Hg(II) from HgCl2 in THF/HAc-NaAc (1/1,
      v/v, pH = 6) aqueous buffer solution containing 20 equiv. of AgNO3. The maximal
      fluorescence intensity increased linearly with the concentration of Hg(II) in the
      range of 0-70 MUM. The detection limit of Hg(II) was 0.59 MUM. The sensing
      mechanism was explored by Job's plot experiment, reversible experiment, mass
      spectrum analysis, spectroscopic analysis, and thin-layer chromatography. 

PMID- 25822192
TI  - Correction: Sensitivity of genome-wide-association signals to phenotyping
      strategy: the PROP-TAS2R38 taste association as a benchmark.

PMID- 25822193
TI  - Genomic DNA hypomethylation is associated with neural tube defects induced by
      methotrexate inhibition of folate metabolism.
AB  - DNA methylation is thought to be involved in the etiology of neural tube defects
      (NTDs). However, the exact mechanism between DNA methylation and NTDs remains
      unclear. Herein, we investigated the change of methylation in mouse model of NTDs
      associated with folate dysmetabolism by use of ultraperformance liquid
      chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS), liquid chromatography
      electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), microarray, matrix
      assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and Real
      time quantitative PCR. Results showed that NTD neural tube tissues had lower
      concentrations of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MeTHF, P = 0.005), 5
      formyltetrahydrofolate (5-FoTHF, P = 0.040), S-adenosylmethionine (SAM, P =
      0.004) and higher concentrations of folic acid (P = 0.041), homocysteine (Hcy, P
      = 0.006) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH, P = 0.045) compared to control.
      Methylation levels of genomic DNA decreased significantly in the embryonic neural
      tube tissue of NTD samples. 132 differentially methylated regions (35 low
      methylated regions and 97 high methylated regions) were selected by microarray.
      Two genes (Siah1b, Prkx) in Wnt signal pathway demonstrated lower methylated
      regions (peak) and higher expression in NTDs (P<0.05; P<0.05). Results suggest
      that DNA hypomethylation was one of the possible epigenetic variations correlated
      with the occurrence of NTDs induced by folate dysmetabolism and that Siah1b, Prkx
      in Wnt pathway may be candidate genes for NTDs. 

PMID- 25822194
TI  - Inhibition of telomere recombination by inactivation of KEOPS subunit Cgi121
      promotes cell longevity.
AB  - DNA double strand break (DSB) is one of the major damages that cause genome
      instability and cellular aging. The homologous recombination (HR)-mediated repair
      of DSBs plays an essential role in assurance of genome stability and cell
      longevity. Telomeres resemble DSBs and are competent for HR. Here we show that in
      budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae telomere recombination elicits genome
      instability and accelerates cellular aging. Inactivation of KEOPS subunit Cgi121
      specifically inhibits telomere recombination, and significantly extends cell
      longevity in both telomerase-positive and pre-senescing telomerase-negative
      cells. Deletion of CGI121 in the short-lived yku80(tel) mutant restores lifespan
      to cgi121Delta level, supporting the function of Cgi121 in telomeric single
      stranded DNA generation and thus in promotion of telomere recombination.
      Strikingly, inhibition of telomere recombination is able to further slow down the
      aging process in long-lived fob1Delta cells, in which rDNA recombination is
      restrained. Our study indicates that HR activity at telomeres interferes with
      telomerase to pose a negative impact on cellular longevity.

PMID- 25822195
TI  - Functional lung MRI in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: comparison of T1
      mapping, oxygen-enhanced T1 mapping and dynamic contrast enhanced perfusion.
AB  - PURPOSE: Monitoring of regional lung function in interventional COPD trials
      requires alternative endpoints beyond global parameters such as FEV1. T1
      relaxation times of the lung might allow to draw conclusions on tissue
      composition, blood volume and oxygen fraction. The aim of this study was to
      evaluate the potential value of lung Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with native
      and oxygen-enhanced T1 mapping for the assessment of COPD patients in comparison
      with contrast enhanced perfusion MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 20 COPD patients
      (GOLD I-IV) underwent a coronal 2-dimensional inversion recovery snapshot flash
      sequence (8 slices/lung) at room air and during inhalation of pure oxygen, as
      well as dynamic contrast-enhanced first-pass perfusion imaging. Regional
      distribution of T1 at room air (T1), oxygen-induced T1 shortening (DeltaT1) and
      peak enhancement were rated by 2 chest radiologists in consensus using a semi
      quantitative 3-point scale in a zone-based approach. RESULTS: Abnormal T1 and
      DeltaT1 were highly prevalent in the patient cohort. T1 and DeltaT1 correlated
      positively with perfusion abnormalities (r = 0.81 and r = 0.80; p&0.001), and
      with each other (r = 0.80; p<0.001). In GOLD stages I and II DeltaT1 was normal
      in 16/29 lung zones with mildly abnormal perfusion (15/16 with abnormal T1). The
      extent of T1 (r = 0.45; p<0.05), DeltaT1 (r = 0.52; p<0.05) and perfusion
      abnormalities (r = 0.52; p<0.05) showed a moderate correlation with GOLD stage.
      CONCLUSION: Native and oxygen-enhanced T1 mapping correlated with lung perfusion
      deficits and severity of COPD. Under the assumption that T1 at room air
      correlates with the regional pulmonary blood pool and that oxygen-enhanced T1
      reflects lung ventilation, both techniques in combination are principally
      suitable to characterize ventilation-perfusion imbalance. This appears valuable
      for the assessment of regional lung characteristics in COPD trials without
      administration of i.v. contrast.

PMID- 25822196
TI  - Defining the catalytic activity of nanoceria in the P23H-1 rat, a photoreceptor
      degeneration model.
AB  - PURPOSE: Inorganic catalytic nanoceria or cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeNPs) are
      bona fide antioxidants that possess regenerative radical scavenging activities in
      vitro. Previously, we demonstrated that CeNPs had neuroprotective and anti
      angiogenic properties in rodent retinal degeneration and neovascularization
      models. However, the cellular mechanisms and duration of the catalytic activity
      of CeNPs in preventing photoreceptor cell loss are still unknown. In this study,
      we sought to answer these questions using the P23H-1 rat, an autosomal dominant
      retinitis pigmentosa (adRP) model. METHODS: A single dose of either saline or
      CeNPs was delivered intravitreally into the eyes of P23H-1 rats at 2-3 weeks of
      age. Retinal functions were examined at 3 to 7 weeks post injection. We
      quantified retinal proteins by Western blot analyses and counted the number of
      apoptotic (TUNEL+) profiles in the outer nuclear layer (ONL) of retinal sections.
      We measured free 8-isoprostanes to quantify lipid peroxidation in retinal
      tissues. RESULTS: We observed increased rod and cone cell functions up to three
      weeks post injection. Apoptotic cells were reduced by 46%, 56%, 21%, and 24% at
      3, 7, 14, 21 days, respectively, after CeNPs injection compared to saline.
      Additionally, reduction of lipid peroxidation in the retinas of CeNPs-treated vs
      saline-treated animals was detected 14 days post injection. CONCLUSIONS: We
      validated that CeNPs were effective in delaying loss of photoreceptor cell
      function in an adRP rat model. This represents the fourth rodent retinal disease
      model that shows delay in disease progression after a single application of
      CeNPs. We further demonstrated that CeNPs slowed the rate of photoreceptor cell
      death. We deduced that the catalytic activity of CeNPs in vivo in this rat model
      to be undiminished for at least 7 days and then declined over the next 14 days
      after CeNPs administration.

PMID- 25822197
TI  - Early functional postoperative therapy of distal radius fracture with a dynamic
      orthosis: results of a prospective randomized cross-over comparative study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: This study was conducted according to GCP criteria as a prospective
      randomized cross-over study. The primary goal of the study was to determine
      clinical findings and patient satisfaction with postoperative treatment. 29
      patients with a distal radius fracture that was surgically stabilized from volar
      and who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled over a 12-month period. Each
      patient randomly received either a dorsal plaster splint or a vacuum-fit flexible
      but blocked orthosis applied postoperatively in the operating theatre to achieve
      postoperative immobilization. After one week all patients were crossed over to
      the complementary device maintaining the immobilization until end of week 2.
      After week 2 both groups were allowed to exercise wrist mobility with a
      physiotherapist, in the orthosis group the device was deblocked, thus allowing
      limited wrist mobility. After week 4 the devices were removed in both groups.
      Follow-up exams were performed after postoperative weeks 1, 2, 4 and 12. RESULTS
      AND DISCUSSION: Results were determined after week 1 and 2 using SF 36 and a
      personally compiled questionnaire; after weeks 4 and 12 with a clinical check-up,
      calculation of ROM and the DASH Score. Comparison of the two groups showed a
      significant difference in ROM for volar flexion after 4 weeks, but no significant
      differences in DASH Score, duration of disability or x-ray findings. With regard
      to satisfaction with comfort and hygiene, patients were significantly more
      satisfied with the dynamic orthosis, and 23 of the 29 patients would prefer the
      flexible vacuum orthosis in future. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Clinical Trials
      Register (DRKS) DRKS00006097.

PMID- 25822198
TI  - Ligand-enabled cross-coupling of C(sp(3))-H bonds with arylsilanes.
AB  - Pd(II)-catalyzed cross-coupling of C(sp(3))-H bonds with organosilicon coupling
      partners has been achieved for the first time. The use of a newly developed
      quinoline-based ligand is essential for the cross-coupling reactions to proceed. 

PMID- 25822200
TI  - Heavy metals in wild marine fish from South China Sea: levels, tissue- and
      species-specific accumulation and potential risk to humans.
AB  - Heavy metal pollution in marine fish has become an important worldwide concern,
      not only because of the threat to fish in general, but also due to human health
      risks associated with fish consumption. To investigate the occurrence of heavy
      metals in marine fish species from the South China Sea, 14 fish species were
      collected along the coastline of Hainan China during the spring of 2012 and
      examined for species- and tissue-specific accumulation. The median concentrations
      of Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn, Pb and As in muscle tissue of the examined fish species were
      not detectable (ND), 2.02, 0.24, 2.64, 0.025, and 1.13 mg kg(-1) wet weight,
      respectively. Levels of Cu, Zn, Cd and Cr were found to be higher in the liver
      and gills than in muscle, while Pb was preferentially accumulated in the gills.
      Differing from other heavy metals, As did not exhibit tissue-specific
      accumulation. Inter-species differences of heavy metal accumulation were
      attributed to the different habitat and diet characteristics of marine fish.
      Human dietary exposure assessment suggested that the amounts of both Cr and As in
      marine wild fish collected from the sites around Hainan, China were not compliant
      with the safety standard of less than 79.2 g d(-1) for wild marine fish set by
      the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Further research to
      identify the explicit sources of Cr and As in marine fish from South China Sea
      should be established.

PMID- 25822199
TI  - Transcriptomic profiling of Arabidopsis thaliana mutant pad2.1 in response to
      combined cold and osmotic stress.
AB  - The contribution of glutathione (GSH) in stress tolerance, defense response and
      antioxidant signaling is an established fact. In this study transcriptome
      analysis of pad2.1, an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant, after combined osmotic and
      cold stress treatment has been performed to explore the intricate position of GSH
      in the stress and defense signaling network in planta. Microarray data revealed
      the differential regulation of about 1674 genes in pad2.1 amongst which 973 and
      701 were significantly up- and down-regulated respectively. Gene enrichment,
      functional pathway analysis by DAVID and MapMan analysis identified various
      stress and defense related genes viz. members of heat shock protein family,
      peptidyl prolyl isomerase (PPIase), thioredoxin peroxidase (TPX2), glutathione-S
      transferase (GST), NBS-LRR type resistance protein etc. as down-regulated. The
      expression pattern of the above mentioned stress and defense related genes and
      APETALA were also validated by comparative proteomic analysis of combined stress
      treated Col-0 and pad2.1. Functional annotation noted down-regulation of UDP
      glycosyl transferase, 4-coumarate CoA ligase 8, cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase 4
      (CAD4), ACC synthase and ACC oxidase which are the important enzymes of
      phenylpropanoid, lignin and ethylene (ET) biosynthetic pathway respectively.
      Since the only difference between Col-0 (Wild type) and pad2.1 is the content of
      GSH, so, this study suggested that in addition to its association with specific
      stress responsive genes and proteins, GSH provides tolerance to plants by its
      involvement with phenylpropanoid, lignin and ET biosynthesis under stress
      conditions. 

PMID- 25822201
TI  - Distribution, diversity and abundance of bacterial laccase-like genes in
      different particle size fractions of sediments in a subtropical mangrove
      ecosystem.
AB  - This study investigated the diversity and abundance of bacterial lacasse-like
      genes in different particle size fractions, namely sand, silt, and clay of
      sediments in a subtropical mangrove ecosystem. Moreover, the effects of nutrient
      conditions on bacterial laccase-like communities as well as the correlation
      between nutrients and, both the abundance and diversity indices of laccase-like
      bacteria in particle size fractions were also studied. Compared to bulk
      sediments, Bacteroidetes, Caldithrix, Cyanobacteria and Chloroflexi were
      dominated in all 3 particle-size fractions of intertidal sediment (IZ), but
      Actinobacteria and Firmicutes were lost after the fractionation procedures used.
      The diversity index of IZ fractions decreased in the order of bulk > clay > silt
      > sand. In fractions of mangrove forest sediment (MG), Verrucomicrobia was found
      in silt, and both Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes appeared in clay, but no new
      species were found in sand. The declining order of diversity index in MG
      fractions was clay > silt > sand > bulk. Furthermore, the abundance of lacasse
      like bacteria varied with different particle-size fractions significantly (p <
      0.05), and decreased in the order of sand > clay > silt in both IZ and MG
      fractions. Additionally, nutrient availability was found to significantly affect
      the diversity and community structure of laccase-like bacteria (p < 0.05), while
      the total organic carbon contents were positively related to the abundance of
      bacterial laccase-like genes in particle size fractions (p < 0.05). Therefore,
      this study further provides evidence that bacterial laccase plays a vital role in
      turnover of sediment organic matter and cycling of nutrients.

PMID- 25822202
TI  - Characterization and expression of genes involved in the ethylene biosynthesis
      and signal transduction during ripening of mulberry fruit.
AB  - Although ethylene is well known as an essential regulator of fruit development,
      little work has examined the role ethylene plays in the development and
      maturation of mulberry (Morus L.) fruit. To study the mechanism of ethylene
      action during fruit development in this species, we measured the ethylene
      production, fruit firmness, and soluble solids content (SSC) during fruit
      development and harvest. By comparing the results with those from other
      climacteric fruit, we concluded that Morus fruit are probably climacteric. Genes
      associated with the ethylene signal transduction pathway of Morus were
      characterized from M. notabilis Genome Database, including four ethylene receptor
      genes, a EIN2-like gene, a CTR1-like gene, four EIN3-like genes, and a RTE1-like
      gene. The expression patterns of these genes were analyzed in the fruit of M.
      atropurpurea cv. Jialing No.40. During fruit development, transcript levels of
      MaETR2, MaERS, MaEIN4, MaRTE, and MaCTR1 were lower at the early stages and
      higher after 26 days after full bloom (DAF), while MaETR1, MaEIL1, MaEIL2, and
      MaEIL3 remained constant. In ripening fruit, the transcripts of MaACO1 and MaACS3
      increased, while MaACS1 and MaACO2 decreased after harvest. The transcripts of
      MaACO1, MaACO2, and MaACS3 were inhibited by ethylene, and 1-MCP (1
      methylcyclopropene) upregulated MaACS3. The transcripts of the MaETR-like genes,
      MaRTE, and MaCTR1 were inhibited by ethylene and 1-MCP, suggesting that ethylene
      may accelerate the decline of MaETRs transcripts. No significant changes in the
      expression of MaEIN2, MaEIL1, and MaEIL3 were observed during ripening or in
      response to ethylene, while the expressions of MaEIL2 and MaEIL4 increased
      rapidly after 24 h after harvest (HAH) and were upregulated by ethylene. The
      present study provides insights into ethylene biosynthesis and signal
      transduction in Morus plants and lays a foundation for the further understanding
      of the mechanisms underlying Morus fruit development and ripening. 

PMID- 25822203
TI  - Novel mechanism of arenavirus-induced liver pathology.
AB  - Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) encompass a group of diseases with cardinal
      symptoms of fever, hemorrhage, and shock. The liver is a critical mediator of VHF
      disease pathogenesis and high levels of ALT/AST transaminases in plasma correlate
      with poor prognosis. In fact, Lassa Fever (LF), the most prevalent VHF in Africa,
      was initially clinically described as hepatitis. Previous studies in non-human
      primate (NHP) models also correlated LF pathogenesis with a robust proliferative
      response in the liver. The purpose of the current study was to gain insight into
      the mechanism of liver injury and to determine the potential role of
      proliferation in LF pathogenesis. C57Bl/6J mice were infected with either the
      pathogenic (for NHPs) strain of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV, the
      prototypic arenavirus), LCMV-WE, or with the non-pathogenic strain, LCMV-ARM. As
      expected, LCMV-WE, but not ARM, caused a hepatitis-like infection. LCMV-WE also
      induced a robust increase in the number of actively cycling hepatocytes. Despite
      this increase in proliferation, there was no significant difference in liver size
      between LCMV-WE and LCMV-ARM, suggesting that cell cycle was incomplete. Indeed,
      cells appeared arrested in the G1 phase and LCMV-WE infection increased the
      number of hepatocytes that were simultaneously stained for proliferation and
      apoptosis. LCMV-WE infection also induced expression of a non-conventional virus
      receptor, AXL-1, from the TAM (TYRO3/AXL/MERTK) family of receptor tyrosine
      kinases and this expression correlated with proliferation. Taken together, these
      results shed new light on the mechanism of liver involvement in VHF pathogenesis.
      Specifically, it is hypothesized that the induction of hepatocyte proliferation
      contributes to expansion of the infection to parenchymal cells. Elevated levels
      of plasma transaminases are likely explained, at least in part, by abortive cell
      cycle arrest induced by the infection. These results may lead to the development
      of new therapies to prevent VHF progression. 

PMID- 25822204
TI  - Lower inter-partum interval and unhealthy life-style factors are inversely
      associated with n-3 essential fatty acids changes during pregnancy: a prospective
      cohort with Brazilian women.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze serum fatty acids concentrations during healthy pregnancy
      and evaluate whether socioeconomic, demographic, obstetric, nutritional,
      anthropometric and lifestyle factors are associated with their longitudinal
      changes. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective cohort of 225 pregnant women was followed in
      the 5th-13th, 20th-26th and 30th-36th weeks of gestation. Serum samples were
      collected in each trimester of pregnancy and analyzed to determine the fatty
      acids composition using a high-throughput robotic direct methylation method
      coupled with fast gas-liquid chromatography. The independent variables comprised
      the subjects' socioeconomic and demographic status, obstetric history, early
      pregnancy body mass index (BMI), dietary and lifestyle parameters. Analyses were
      performed using linear mixed-effects models. RESULTS: The overall absolute
      concentrations of fatty acids increased from the 1st to the 2nd trimester and
      slightly increased from the 2nd to the 3rd trimester. Early pregnancy BMI, inter
      partum interval and weekly fish intake were the factors associated with changes
      in eicosapentaenoic + docosahexaenoic acids (EPA+DHA) and total n-3
      polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Early pregnancy BMI, age and monthly per
      capita income were inversely associated with the changes in the n-6/n-3 ratio.
      Alcohol consumption was positively associated with the n-6/n-3 ratio. CONCLUSION:
      Early pregnancy BMI was positively associated with EPA+DHA and total n-3 PUFAs,
      while presenting a reduced weekly fish intake and a lower inter-partum interval
      were associated with lower levels of n-3 PUFAs. A lower per-capita family income
      and a drinking habit were factors that were positively associated with a higher n
      6/n-3 ratio.

PMID- 25822206
TI  - On disaggregating between-person and within-person effects with longitudinal data
      using multilevel models.
AB  - This article extends current discussion of how to disaggregate between-person and
      within-person effects with longitudinal data using multilevel models. Our main
      focus is on the 2 issues of centering and detrending. Conceptual and analytical
      work demonstrates the similarities and differences among 3 centering approaches
      (no centering, grand-mean centering, and person-mean centering) and the relations
      and differences among various detrending approaches (no detrending, detrending X
      only, detrending Y only, and detrending both X and Y). Two real data analysis
      examples in psychology are provided to illustrate the differences in the results
      of using different centering and detrending methods for the disaggregation of
      between- and within-person effects. Simulation studies were conducted to further
      compare the various centering and detrending approaches under a wider span of
      conditions. Recommendations of how to perform centering, whether detrending is
      needed or not, and how to perform detrending if needed are made and discussed.

PMID- 25822205
TI  - Mutations of the SL2 dimerization sequence of the hepatitis C genome abrogate
      viral replication.
AB  - Stem-loop SL2 is a self-interacting palindromic sequence that has been identified
      within the hepatitis C virus genome (HCV). While, RNA dimerization of the HCV
      genome has been observed in vitro with short RNA sequences, the role of a
      putative RNA dimerization during viral replication has not been elucidated. To
      determine the effect of genomic dimerization on viral replication, we introduced
      mutations into SL2 predicted to disrupt genomic dimerization. Using surface
      plasmon resonance, we show that mutations within the SL2 bulge impact
      dimerization in vitro. Transfection of Huh7 cells with luciferase-encoding full
      length genomes containing SL2 mutations abolishes viral replication. Luciferase
      expression indicates that viral translation is not or slightly affected and that
      the viral RNA is properly encapsidated. However, RT-qPCR analysis demonstrates
      that viral RNA synthesis is drastically decreased. In vitro synthesis experiments
      using the viral recombinant polymerase show that modifications of intra-molecular
      interactions have no effect on RNA synthesis, while impairing inter-molecular
      interactions decreases polymerase activity. This confirms that dimeric templates
      are preferentially replicated by the viral polymerase. Altogether, these results
      indicate that the dimerization of the HCV genomic RNA is a crucial step for the
      viral life cycle especially for RNA replication. RNA dimerization could explain
      the existence of HCV recombinants in cell culture and patients reported recently
      in other studies. 

PMID- 25822207
TI  - Meaningful aspects of change as novel random coefficients: a general method for
      reparameterizing longitudinal models.
AB  - A fundamental goal of longitudinal modeling is to obtain estimates of model
      parameters that reflect meaningful aspects of change over time. Often, a linear
      or nonlinear model may be sensible from a theoretical perspective, yet may have
      parameters that are difficult to interpret in a way that sheds light on
      substantive hypotheses. Fortunately, such models may be reparameterized to yield
      more easily interpretable parameters. This article has 3 goals. First, we provide
      theoretical background and elaboration on Preacher and Hancock's (2012) 4-step
      method for reparameterizing growth curve models. Second, we extend this method by
      providing a user-friendly modification of the structured latent curve model in
      the third step that enables fitting models that are not estimable with the
      original method. This modification also allows researchers to specify the mean
      structure without having to determine which parameters enter nonlinearly and
      without needing to solve complex matrix expressions. Third, we illustrate how
      this general reparameterization method allows researchers to treat the average
      rate of change, half-life, and knot (transition point) as random coefficients;
      these aspects of change have not before been treated as random coefficients in
      structural equation modeling. We supply Mplus code for illustrative examples in
      an online supplement. Our core message is that growth curve models are
      considerably more flexible than most researchers may suspect. Virtually any
      parameter can be treated as a random coefficient that varies across individuals.
      Alternative parameterizations of a given model may yield unique insights that are
      not available with traditional parameterizations.

PMID- 25822208
TI  - A critique of the cross-lagged panel model.
AB  - The cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) is believed by many to overcome the problems
      associated with the use of cross-lagged correlations as a way to study causal
      influences in longitudinal panel data. The current article, however, shows that
      if stability of constructs is to some extent of a trait-like, time-invariant
      nature, the autoregressive relationships of the CLPM fail to adequately account
      for this. As a result, the lagged parameters that are obtained with the CLPM do
      not represent the actual within-person relationships over time, and this may lead
      to erroneous conclusions regarding the presence, predominance, and sign of causal
      influences. In this article we present an alternative model that separates the
      within-person process from stable between-person differences through the
      inclusion of random intercepts, and we discuss how this model is related to
      existing structural equation models that include cross-lagged relationships. We
      derive the analytical relationship between the cross-lagged parameters from the
      CLPM and the alternative model, and use simulations to demonstrate the spurious
      results that may arise when using the CLPM to analyze data that include stable,
      trait-like individual differences. We also present a modeling strategy to avoid
      this pitfall and illustrate this using an empirical data set. The implications
      for both existing and future cross-lagged panel research are discussed.

PMID- 25822210
TI  - Correction to Imai et al. (2014).

PMID- 25822209
TI  - The cusp catastrophe model as cross-sectional and longitudinal mixture structural
      equation models.
AB  - Catastrophe theory (Thom, 1972, 1993) is the study of the many ways in which
      continuous changes in a system's parameters can result in discontinuous changes
      in 1 or several outcome variables of interest. Catastrophe theory-inspired models
      have been used to represent a variety of change phenomena in the realm of social
      and behavioral sciences. Despite their promise, widespread applications of
      catastrophe models have been impeded, in part, by difficulties in performing
      model fitting and model comparison procedures. We propose a new modeling
      framework for testing 1 kind of catastrophe model-the cusp catastrophe model-as a
      mixture structural equation model (MSEM) when cross-sectional data are available;
      or alternatively, as an MSEM with regime-switching (MSEM-RS) when longitudinal
      panel data are available. The proposed models and the advantages offered by this
      alternative modeling framework are illustrated using 2 empirical examples and a
      simulation study.

PMID- 25822211
TI  - Effect of ultrafiltration on sleep apnea and sleep structure in patients with end
      stage renal disease.
AB  - RATIONALE: In end-stage renal disease (ESRD), a condition characterized by fluid
      overload, both obstructive and central sleep apnea (OSA and CSA) are common. This
      observation suggests that fluid overload is involved in the pathogenesis of OSA
      and CSA in this condition. OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that fluid removal
      by ultrafiltration (UF) will reduce severity of OSA and CSA in patients with
      ESRD. METHODS: At baseline, on a nondialysis day, patients with ESRD on thrice
      weekly hemodialysis underwent overnight polysomnography along with measurement of
      total body extracellular fluid volume (ECFV), and ECFV of the neck, thorax, and
      right leg before and after sleep. The following week, on a nondialysis day,
      subjects with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) greater than or equal to 20 had fluid
      removed by UF, followed by repeat overnight polysomnography with fluid
      measurements. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Fifteen patients (10 men) with an
      AHI greater than or equal to 20 (10 OSA; 5 CSA) participated. Mean age was 53.5
      +/- 10.4 years and mean body mass index was 25.3 +/- 4.8 kg/m(2). Following
      removal of 2.17 +/- 0.45 L by UF, the AHI decreased by 36% (43.8 +/- 20.3 to 28.0
      +/- 17.7; P < 0.001) without affecting uremia. The reduction in AHI correlated
      with the reduction in total body ECFV (r = 0.567; P = 0.027) and was associated
      with reductions in ECFV of the right leg (P = 0.001), overnight change in ECFV of
      the right leg (P = 0.044), ECFV of the thorax (P = 0.001), and ECFV of the neck
      (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that fluid overload contributes
      to the pathogenesis of OSA and CSA in ESRD, and that fluid removal by UF
      attenuates sleep apnea without altering uremic status.

PMID- 25822212
TI  - Bupropion injection resulting in tissue necrosis and psychosis: previously
      undocumented complications of intravenous bupropion use disorder.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There have been several reports of bupropion insufflation since
      2002 and 2 cases of intravenous bupropion use disorder since 2013. There are no
      documented cases of bupropion injection associated with tissue necrosis or
      psychosis. CASE PRESENTATION: We report 2 cases of habitual intravenous bupropion
      injection by individuals with polysubstance use disorder and comorbid mental
      illness. The patients obtained bupropion as a result of physician deception,
      diversion or crime, and injected it to achieve a high. Both individuals
      experienced tissue and vascular complications, including tissue necrosis,
      cellulitis, and compartment syndrome in 1 patient. The other patient reported
      visual hallucinations and persecutory ideation that persisted for 3 days after
      his last use of the drug. DISCUSSION: Bupropion seems to have addictive effects,
      particularly when administered intravenously or intranasally. Individuals who
      inject high doses of bupropion may be at risk of tissue necrosis, seizures, or
      psychosis. Prescribers should be aware of uncontrolled medications with emerging
      potential for abuse and popularity among recreational drug users. We identify a
      need for policy on clinical strategies to minimize the abuse and diversion of
      bupropion and other uncontrolled prescription drugs.

PMID- 25822213
TI  - Abuse and Intentional Misuse of Promethazine Reported to US Poison Centers: 2002
      to 2012.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Promethazine abuse has been reported. The objective was to investigate
      promethazine abuse/misuse in the United States. METHODS: An 11-year retrospective
      review was conducted of promethazine abuse and intentional misuse cases without
      co-ingestants in persons 10 years and older reported to the National Poison Data
      System. Data were stratified by product (promethazine-alone [PA] or co
      formulation [PC]) and evaluated for demographics, toxicity, management sites, and
      outcomes. RESULTS: There were 354 single product abuse or misuse exposures-95 PA
      and 259 PC. Over the 11-year timeframe, the annual exposure rate per 100,000
      population doubled. Exposures were most prevalent among 10 to 19 years old and
      young adults (20s), accounting for 69.5% of PA and 57.5% of PC cases. Clinical
      effects due to PA included drowsiness (43.2%), tachycardia (7.4%), agitation
      (13.7%), confusion (13.7%), slurred speech (12.6%), hallucinations (7.4%),
      dizziness (7.4%), and hypertension (5.3%). Drowsiness (53.4%) and tachycardia
      (20.8%) were more frequent with PC. There were significant differences between PA
      and PC in management site (P = 0.0078). Management sites for PA and PC,
      respectively, were emergency department (37.9%, 55.6%), non-health care facility
      (33.7%, 14.7%), critical care unit (8.4%, 11.2%), non-critical care unit (7.4%,
      7.3%), psychiatry (2.1%, 4.2%), and other/unknown (10.5%, 7.0%). Outcomes for PA
      and PC, respectively, were no effect (21.0%, 12.4%), minor (58.9%, 53.7%),
      moderate (17.9%, 32.0%), and major effects (2.1%, 1.9%). CONCLUSIONS:
      Promethazine-alone abuse/misuse most frequently resulted in minor outcomes, and
      less than 20% required medical admission. Abuse/misuse of PC resulted in a higher
      frequency of health care facility treatment and a trend toward more moderate
      outcomes. These differences are most likely attributed to the co-formulate.

PMID- 25822214
TI  - A step forward in the understanding of prefrontal cortical functions.

PMID- 25822215
TI  - Dopaminergic modulation of synaptic plasticity in rat prefrontal neurons.
AB  - The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to store the traces for a type of long
      term memory - the abstract memory that determines the temporal structure of
      behavior often termed a "rule" or "strategy". Long-term synaptic plasticity might
      serve as an underlying cellular mechanism for this type of memory. We therefore
      studied the induction of synaptic plasticity in rat PFC neurons, maintained in
      vitro, with special emphasis on the functionally important neuromodulator
      dopamine. First, the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) was facilitated in
      the presence of tonic/background dopamine in the bath, and the dose-dependency of
      this background dopamine followed an "inverted-U" function, where too high or too
      low dopamine levels could not facilitate LTP. Second, the induction of long-term
      depression (LTD) by low-frequency stimuli appeared to be independent of
      background dopamine, but required endogenous, phasically-released dopamine during
      the stimuli. Blockade of dopamine receptors during the stimuli and exaggeration
      of the effect of this endogenously-released dopamine by inhibition of dopamine
      transporter activity both blocked LTD. Thus, LTD induction also followed an
      inverted-U function in its dopamine-dependency. We conclude that PFC synaptic
      plasticity is powerfully modulated by dopamine through inverted-U-shaped dose
      dependency. 

PMID- 25822216
TI  - What can atypical language hemispheric specialization tell us about cognitive
      functions?
AB  - Recent studies have made substantial progress in understanding the interactions
      between cognitive functions, from language to cognitive control, attention, and
      memory. However, dissociating these functions has been hampered by the close
      proximity of regions involved, as in the case in the prefrontal and parietal
      cortex. In this article, we review a series of studies that investigated the
      relationship between language and other cognitive functions in an alternative way
      - by examining their functional (co-)lateralization. We argue that research on
      the hemispheric lateralization of language and its link with handedness can offer
      an appropriate starting-point to shed light on the relationships between
      different functions. Besides functional interactions, anatomical asymmetries in
      non-human primates and those underlying language in humans can provide unique
      information about cortical organization. Finally, some open questions and
      criteria are raised for an ideal theoretical model of the cortex based on
      hemispheric specialization. 

PMID- 25822217
TI  - Prefrontal cortical alpha2A-adrenoceptors and a possible primate model of
      attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.
AB  - Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a prevalent syndrome in
      children worldwide, is characterized by impulsivity, inappropriate inattention,
      and/or hyperactivity. It seriously afflicts cognitive development in childhood,
      and may lead to chronic under-achievement, academic failure, problematic peer
      relationships, and low self-esteem. There are at least three challenges for the
      treatment of ADHD. First, the neurobiological bases of its symptoms are still not
      clear. Second, the commonly prescribed medications, most showing short-term
      therapeutic efficacy but with a high risk of serious side-effects, are mainly
      based on a dopamine mechanism. Third, more novel and efficient animal models,
      especially in nonhuman primates, are required to accelerate the development of
      new medications. In this article, we review research progress in the related
      fields, focusing on our previous studies showing that blockade of prefrontal
      cortical alpha2A-adrenoceptors in monkeys produces almost all the typical
      behavioral symptoms of ADHD. 

PMID- 25822218
TI  - Prefrontal dysfunction and a monkey model of schizophrenia.
AB  - The prefrontal cortex is implicated in cognitive functioning and schizophrenia.
      Prefrontal dysfunction is closely associated with the symptoms of schizophrenia.
      In addition to the features typical of schizophrenia, patients also present with
      aspects of cognitive disorders. Based on these relationships, a monkey model
      mimicking the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia has been made using treatment
      with the non-specific competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist,
      phencyclidine. The symptoms are ameliorated by atypical antipsychotic drugs such
      as clozapine. The beneficial effects of clozapine on behavioral impairment might
      be a specific indicator of schizophrenia-related cognitive impairment. 

PMID- 25822221
TI  - Enhanced Hydrate Nucleation Near the Limit of Stability.
AB  - Clathrate hydrates are crystalline structures composed of small guest molecules
      trapped into cages formed by hydrogen-bonded water molecules. In hydrate
      nucleation, water and the guest molecules may stay in a metastable fluid mixture
      for a long period. Metastability is broken if the concentration of the guest is
      above certain limit. We perform molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of
      supersaturated water-propane solutions close to the limit of stability. We show
      that hydrate nucleation can be very fast in a very narrow range of composition at
      moderate temperatures. Propane density fluctuations near the fluid-fluid demixing
      are coupled with crystallization producing en- hanced nucleation rates. This is
      the first report of propane-hydrate nucleation by MD simulations. We observe
      motifs of the crystalline structure II in line with experiments and new hydrate
      cages not reported in the literature. Our study relates nucleation to the fluid
      fluid spinodal decomposition and demonstration that the enhanced nucleation
      phenomenon is more general than short range attractive interactions as suggested
      in nucleation of proteins.

PMID- 25822220
TI  - Endurance training inhibits insulin clearance and IDE expression in Swiss mice.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Endurance training improves peripheral insulin sensitivity in the
      liver and the skeletal muscle, but the mechanism for this effect is poorly
      understood. Recently, it was proposed that insulin clearance plays a major role
      in both glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity. Therefore, our goal was to
      determine the mechanism by which endurance training improves insulin sensitivity
      and how it regulates insulin clearance in mice. METHODS: Mice were treadmill
      trained for 4 weeks at 70-80% of maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) for 60 min,
      5 days a week. The glucose tolerance and the insulin resistance were determined
      using an IPGTT and an IPITT, respectively, and the insulin decay rate was
      calculated from the insulin clearance. Protein expression and phosphorylation in
      the liver and the skeletal muscle were ascertained by Western blot. RESULTS:
      Trained mice exhibited an increased VO2 max, time to exhaustion, glucose
      tolerance and insulin sensitivity. They had smaller fat pads and lower plasma
      concentrations of insulin and glucose. Endurance training inhibited insulin
      clearance and reduced expression of IDE in the liver, while also inhibiting
      insulin secretion by pancreatic islets. There was increased phosphorylation of
      both the canonical (IR-AKT) and the non-canonical (CaMKII-AMPK-ACC) insulin
      pathways in the liver of trained mice, whereas only the CaMKII-AMPK pathway was
      increased in the skeletal muscle. CONCLUSION: Endurance training improved glucose
      homeostasis not only by increasing peripheral insulin sensitivity but also by
      decreasing insulin clearance and reducing IDE expression in the liver.

PMID- 25822222
TI  - Single-donor granulocyte transfusions for improving the outcome of high-risk
      pediatric patients with known bacterial and fungal infections undergoing stem
      cell transplantation: a 10-year single-center experience.
AB  - Bacterial and fungal infections remain a significant cause of transplant-related
      mortality following allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). Granulocyte
      transfusions (GTs) may reduce the neutropenic period after SCT and prevent
      further progression of the existing infection (that is, therapeutic GT) in
      addition to standard antibacterial and antifungal therapy. A retrospective
      analysis was performed on 28 consecutive pediatric SCT recipients who received at
      least one dose of GT between March 2003 and November 2013 at a single
      institution. All donors were conditioned with G-CSF+dexamethasone with harvest
      performed 12-18 h later. Indications for SCT were acute leukemia in 46% (13/28)
      and severe aplastic anemia in 21% (6/28). The main indications for GT were
      invasive fungal disease in 50%, bacterial infection in 21% and co-morbidities
      with predicted reduced tolerance to sepsis in 18% (5/28). The median number of GT
      was 6 (range 1-14) with a median dose of 3.56 * 10(10) granulocytes infused. The
      median increment in ANC was 1.06 * 10(9)/L and correlated with the granulocyte
      dose infused. Adverse reactions observed were mild and infrequent. Sixty-four
      percent of patients (18/28) are alive with only 2 of the 10 deaths being related
      to progression of infection. In addition there was a low overall incidence of
      grade 3-4 acute mucositis and a very low incidence (7%) of acute GvHD grade 3-4.
      Single-donor GTs afford protection to children undergoing SCT at additional risk
      of infection and may reduce the overall incidence of severe GvHD. 

PMID- 25822224
TI  - Cardiac QTc interval characteristics before and after hematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation: an analysis of 995 consecutive patients at a single center.
AB  - Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) treats disorders affecting
      patients of all ages. We studied the rate-corrected cardiac QT interval (QTc) in
      995 consecutive children and adults undergoing HSCT at the University of
      Minnesota. We sought to (1) describe QTc before and after HSCT; (2) describe the
      change in QTc after HSCT; (3) identify factors affecting QTc and its change; and
      (4) scrutinize an 'at risk' sub-cohort with a long QTc before HSCT. Pre HSCT: 952
      (96%) patients had an evaluable electrocardiography (ECG); median QTc was 426 ms
      and depended upon disease necessitating transplant. Post HSCT: 506 (51%) patients
      had an evaluable ECG; median QTc was 441 ms. Intrapatient QTc change: 490 (49%)
      evaluable patients showed median QTc change (pre to post HSCT) of +16 ms
      (P<0.0001). At risk group: 68 patients were 'at risk' (long pre-HSCT QTc). In
      some, 'at-risk' status trended toward predictive of post-transplant nonrelapse
      mortality. QTc interval prolongation is evident in a large, diverse cohort
      undergoing HSCT at our institution. Prospective studies of this patient
      population may be warranted, particularly for 'at-risk' patients who demonstrate
      significant QTc prolongation both pre and post HSCT.

PMID- 25822223
TI  - Secondary solid cancer screening following hematopoietic cell transplantation.
AB  - Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) recipients have a substantial risk of
      developing secondary solid cancers, particularly beyond 5 years after HCT and
      without reaching a plateau overtime. A working group was established through the
      Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research and the European
      Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation with the goal to facilitate
      implementation of cancer screening appropriate to HCT recipients. The working
      group reviewed guidelines and methods for cancer screening applicable to the
      general population and reviewed the incidence and risk factors for secondary
      cancers after HCT. A consensus approach was used to establish recommendations for
      individual secondary cancers. The most common sites include oral cavity, skin,
      breast and thyroid. Risks of cancers are increased after HCT compared with the
      general population in skin, thyroid, oral cavity, esophagus, liver, nervous
      system, bone and connective tissues. Myeloablative TBI, young age at HCT, chronic
      GVHD and prolonged immunosuppressive treatment beyond 24 months were well
      documented risk factors for many types of secondary cancers. All HCT recipients
      should be advised of the risks of secondary cancers annually and encouraged to
      undergo recommended screening based on their predisposition. Here we propose
      guidelines to help clinicians in providing screening and preventive care for
      secondary cancers among HCT recipients. 

PMID- 25822225
TI  - Immortal person-time bias in the association between herpes zoster and survival
      following autologous stem cell transplantation.

PMID- 25822226
TI  - Comparable outcomes post allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant for patients
      with de novo or secondary acute myeloid leukemia in first remission.
AB  - Secondary AML (sAML) has a poor prognosis with conventional chemotherapy alone.
      Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is beneficial for high-risk
      AML. Data comparing outcomes of transplants for patients with de novo and sAML
      are limited. We compared outcomes of patients transplanted for de novo and sAML
      in first complete remission and investigated the effect of age, HCT comorbidity
      index (HCT-CI) and karyotype in both groups. A total of 264 patients with de novo
      (n=180) and sAML (n=84) underwent allogeneic HCT between 1999 and 2013. Median
      age at transplant was 51 years (range 18-71), median follow-up of survivors was
      77 months. Evaluation of all patients demonstrated no significant difference
      between de novo and sAML for overall survival (P=0.18), leukemia-free survival
      (P=0.17), cumulative incidence of relapse (P=0.51) and non-relapse mortality
      (P=0.42). Multivariable and propensity score analyses confirmed the comparable
      outcomes between de novo and sAML post transplant. Although sAML demonstrates
      outcomes inferior to de novo AML treated with chemotherapy alone, outcomes
      following allogeneic HCT are comparable between the two groups. 

PMID- 25822227
TI  - Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in relapsed ALK+ anaplastic large cell
      lymphoma in children and adolescents: a study on behalf of the SFCE and SFGM-TC.
AB  - Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) is a treatment
      option for relapsed anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) in children, but
      reports on its efficacy in this disease are still limited. We analyzed data
      concerning 34 patients under 18 years of age prospectively registered in the
      French SFGM-TC database, who had undergone an allo-SCT for the treatment of ALK+
      ALCL between 1993 and 2011. At transplant, 28 patients (82.4%) were in CR,
      whereas 6 exhibited detectable disease. Conditioning regimens were mostly myelo
      ablative (n=31). With a median follow-up of 6 years, 5-year overall and event
      free survival rates were 70% (SE=8%) and 58% (SE=9%), respectively. The 5-year
      cumulative incidence of relapse and treatment-related mortality was 18% (SE=7%)
      and 24% (SE=8%), respectively. Six patients had relapsed (median time, 141 days
      (35-235)). A durable CR had been obtained in 4/6 patients after injection of
      donor lymphocytes (n=1) or vinblastine-corticosteroid therapy (n=3). Ten patients
      had died, eight due to transplant toxicity and two due to progressive disease.
      Allo-SCT is an efficient treatment for pediatric patients with high-risk relapsed
      ALK+ ALCL. However, the overall morbidity of allo-SCT raises questions about its
      place, given the efficacy of targeted agents currently under development in this
      disease. 

PMID- 25822228
TI  - Adult non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis is characterised by airway luminal Th17
      pathway activation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Non-cystic fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis is characterised by chronic
      airway infection and neutrophilic inflammation, which we hypothesised would be
      associated with Th17 pathway activation. METHODS: Th17 pathway cytokines were
      quantified in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and gene expression of IL-17A,
      IL-1beta, IL-8 and IL-23 determined from endobronchial biopsies (EBx) in 41
      stable bronchiectasis subjects and 20 healthy controls. Relationships between IL
      17A levels and infection status, important clinical measures and subsequent
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection were determined. RESULTS: BALF levels of all
      Th17 cytokines (median (IQR) pg/mL) were significantly higher in bronchiectasis
      than control subjects, including IL-17A (1.73 (1.19, 3.23) vs. 0.27 (0.24, 0.35),
      95% CI 1.05 to 2.21, p<0.0001) and IL-23 (9.48 (4.79, 15.75) vs. 0.70 (0.43,
      1.79), 95% CI 4.68 to 11.21, p<0.0001). However, BALF IL-17A levels were not
      associated with clinical measures or airway microbiology, nor predictive of
      subsequent P. aeruginosa infection. Furthermore, gene expression of IL-17A in
      bronchiectasis EBx did not differ from control. In contrast, gene expression
      (relative to medians of controls) in bronchiectasis EBx was significantly higher
      than control for IL1beta (4.12 (1.24, 8.05) vs 1 (0.13, 2.95), 95% CI 0.05 to
      4.07, p = 0.04) and IL-8 (3.75 (1.64, 11.27) vs 1 (0.54, 3.89), 95% CI 0.32 to
      4.87, p = 0.02) and BALF IL-8 and IL-1alpha levels showed significant
      relationships with clinical measures and airway microbiology. P. aeruginosa
      infection was associated with increased levels of IL-8 while Haemophilus
      influenzae was associated with increased IL-1alpha. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL
      RELEVANCE: Established adult non-CF bronchiectasis is characterised by luminal
      Th17 pathway activation, however this pathway may be relatively less important
      than activation of non-antigen-specific innate neutrophilic immunity.

PMID- 25822229
TI  - Polysialylation of NCAM characterizes the proliferation period of contractile
      elements during postnatal development of the epididymis.
AB  - Polysialic acid (polySia) attached to the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM)
      regulates inter alia the proliferation and differentiation via the interactions
      with neurotrophins. Since in postnatal epididymis neurotrophins and their
      receptors like the Low-Affinity Nerve Growth Factor Receptor p75 and TrK B
      receptor are expressed, we wanted to analyze if the polysialylation of NCAM is
      also involved during the development of the epididymis. To this end, we monitored
      the developmental changes in the expression of the polysialyltransferases and
      NCAM polysialylation using murine epididymis at different time points during
      postnatal development. Our results revealed that during postnatal development of
      the epididymis both polysialyltransferases, ST8SiaII and ST8SiaIV, were expressed
      and that the expression levels dropped with increasing age. In agreement with the
      expression levels of the polysialyltransferases the highest content of
      polysialylated NCAM was present during the first 10 days after birth.
      Interestingly, proliferating smooth muscle cell populations prevalently expressed
      polysialylated NCAM. Furthermore, we observed that inverse to the decrease in
      polysialylation of smooth muscle cells a strong up-regulation of collagen takes
      place suggesting a functional relationship since collagen was recently described
      to induce the turnover of polysialylated NCAM via an induction of endocytosis in
      cellulo. The same time course of polySia and collagen synthesis was also observed
      in other regions of the male reproductive system e.g. vas deferens and tunica
      albuginea (testis). Together, we identified a spatio-temporal expression pattern
      of polySia-NCAM characterized by high proliferation rate of smooth muscle cells
      and low collagen content. 

PMID- 25822231
TI  - Brachytherapy-based Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation Provides Equivalent 10
      Year Outcomes to Whole Breast Irradiation: A Matched-Pair Analysis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Although whole breast irradiation (WBI) represents the standard
      radiotherapy technique in breast conserving therapy, accelerated partial breast
      irradiation (APBI) has emerged as an option to reduce treatment duration with
      comparable clinical outcomes. The purpose of this analysis is to present long
      term clinical outcomes between WBI and APBI. METHODS: A total of 3009 patients
      were treated with breast conserving therapy at a single institution between 1980
      and 2012. Among them, 2528 patients received WBI and 481 received APBI
      (interstitial or balloon based). A matched-pair analysis was performed with
      patients matched by age (+/-3 years), stage (T-stage vs. T1 vs. T2), and estrogen
      receptor status (+/-). All patients had a minimum of 12 months follow-up. A total
      of 274 matches (ratio 1:1) were made. RESULTS: No differences between groups were
      noted with respect to clinicopathologic features; WBI patients demonstrated a
      trend for slightly larger tumors (1.3 vs. 1.1 cm, P=0.06). At 10 years, no
      differences were noted with respect to rates of ipsilateral breast tumor
      recurrence (4% vs. 4%, P=0.11), regional recurrence (1% vs. 1%, P=0.20),
      contralateral breast failure (9% vs. 3%, P=0.06), or distant metastases (3% vs.
      6%, P=0.47) for WBI and APBI, respectively. In addition, 10-year disease-free
      survival (93% vs. 91%, P=0.10) and overall survival (83% vs. 75%, P=0.34) were
      similar. Long-term cosmesis was good to excellent in 94% of WBI patients versus
      95% of APBI patients (P=0.78). CONCLUSIONS: At 10 years, no differences in
      recurrence or survival were found between patients undergoing WBI or
      brachytherapy-based APBI.

PMID- 25822230
TI  - Selective microRNA-Offset RNA expression in human embryonic stem cells.
AB  - Small RNA molecules, including microRNAs (miRNAs), play critical roles in
      regulating pluripotency, proliferation and differentiation of embryonic stem
      cells. miRNA-offset RNAs (moRNAs) are similar in length to miRNAs, align to miRNA
      precursor (pre-miRNA) loci and are therefore believed to derive from processing
      of the pre-miRNA hairpin sequence. Recent next generation sequencing (NGS)
      studies have reported the presence of moRNAs in human neurons and cancer cells
      and in several tissues in mouse, including pluripotent stem cells. In order to
      gain additional knowledge about human moRNAs and their putative development
      related expression, we applied NGS of small RNAs in human embryonic stem cells
      (hESCs) and fibroblasts. We found that certain moRNA isoforms are notably
      expressed in hESCs from loci coding for stem cell-selective or cancer-related
      miRNA clusters. In contrast, we observed only sparse moRNAs in fibroblasts.
      Consistent with earlier findings, most of the observed moRNAs derived from
      conserved loci and their expression did not appear to correlate with the
      expression of the adjacent miRNAs. We provide here the first report of moRNAs in
      hESCs, and their expression profile in comparison to fibroblasts. Moreover, we
      expand the repertoire of hESC miRNAs. These findings provide an expansion on the
      known repertoire of small non-coding RNA contents in hESCs. 

PMID- 25822232
TI  - Slr2019, lipid A transporter homolog, is essential for acidic tolerance in
      Synechocystis sp. PCC6803.
AB  - Living organisms must defend themselves against various environmental stresses.
      Extracellular polysaccharide-producing cells exhibit enhanced tolerance toward
      adverse environmental stress. In Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 (Synechocystis),
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS) may play a role in this protection. To examine the
      relationship between stress tolerance of Synechocystis and LPS, we focused on
      Slr2019 because Slr2019 is homologous to MsbA in Escherichia coli, which is
      related to LPS synthesis. First, to obtain a defective mutant of LPS, we
      constructed the slr2019 insertion mutant (slr2019) strain. Sodium deoxycholate
      polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated that slr2019 strain did not
      synthesize normal LPS. Second, to clarify the participation of LPS in acid
      tolerance, wild type (WT) and slr2019 strain were grown under acid stress;
      slr2019 strain growth was significantly weaker than WT growth. Third, to examine
      influences on stress tolerance, slr2019 strain was grown under various stresses.
      Under salinity and temperature stress, slr2019 strain grew significantly slower
      than WT. To confirm cell morphology, cell shape and envelope of slr2019 strain
      were observed by transmission electron microscopy; slr2019 cells contained more
      electron-transparent bodies than WT cells. Finally, to confirm whether electron
      transparent bodies are poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), slr2019 strain was stained
      with Nile Blue A, a PHB detector, and observed by fluorescence microscopy. The
      PHB granule content ratio of WT and slr2019 strain grown at BG-11 pH 8.0 was each
      7.18 and 8.41 %. At pH 6.0, the PHB granule content ratio of WT and slr2019
      strain was 2.99 and 2.60 %. However, the PHB granule content ratio of WT and
      slr2019 strain grown at BG-11N-reduced was 10.82 and 0.56 %. Because slr2019
      strain significantly decreased PHB under BG-11N-reduced compared with WT, LPS
      synthesis may be related to PHB under particular conditions. These results
      indicated that Slr2019 is necessary for Synechocystis survival in various
      stresses. 

PMID- 25822233
TI  - Factors associated with participation in research conducted in a pediatric
      emergency department.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of demographic and study characteristics in
      eligible subjects who agree to participate compared with those who did not
      participate in clinical research studies in a pediatric emergency department
      (PED). METHODS: Information for all families approached for participation in PED
      based clinical research studies during a 6-year period was recorded in an
      electronic database. This included demographic factors, decision to participate,
      primary reason for not participating, and study characteristics. Forty studies
      were included in this analysis. Differences in participation rate among
      demographic and study characteristics were examined. Multivariable logistic
      regression was used to predict the likelihood of participation. RESULTS:
      Participation rates were similar with respect to sex (50.1% in male vs 49.9% in
      female), whereas families with younger children were more likely to participate
      (mean age, 8.5 years vs 10.2 years among nonparticipants P < 0.001). White
      patients were more likely to participate than African American patients (54.7% vs
      45.6% in African Americans, P < 0.001). The presence of compensation, brief time
      requirement, and older children was negatively associated with participation for
      moderate to very invasive studies. However, for noninvasive and mildly invasive
      studies, the presence of compensation and the time required were not associated
      with participation. CONCLUSIONS: Study characteristics including invasiveness,
      time required of patients, and whether compensation is offered, along with
      demographic factors, influence participation in clinical studies conducted in the
      PED. When designing a research study in the PED, these, along with novel
      approaches to including all races and ethnicities in PED research, should be
      considered.

PMID- 25822234
TI  - Factors Influencing the Decision to Attend a Pediatric Emergency Department for
      Nonemergent Complaints.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore the factors associated with
      parents' decisions to bring their children to the pediatric emergency department
      (PED) for nonemergent concerns. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey at
      a tertiary-care, pediatric referral center emergency department. We surveyed
      caregivers of children triaged to low-acuity levels using the Pediatric Canadian
      Triage and Acuity Scale. We used descriptive statistics to report the proportion
      of patients who have a primary care physician, who attempted to contact any
      health care providers prior to coming to the PED, and other factors surrounding
      the decision to come to the PED. RESULTS: We approached 340 families, of which
      300 were enrolled (uptake rate, 88.2%). We found that 32% (95% confidence
      interval, 0.26-0.37) attempted to contact another health care provider prior to
      coming to the PED, and 59% (95% confidence interval, 0.48-0.69) of those
      respondents were specifically instructed to come to the PED. The top 3 reasons
      for coming to the British Columbia Children's Hospital PED were (1) that it
      specializes in children, (2) child has medical issues previously managed at the
      same hospital, and (3) closest location to patient. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the
      majority of patients having a primary care physician, less than half of them
      actually contacted these providers (or another health care provider) before
      presenting to the PED for their nonurgent illness or injury. Of these, nearly two
      thirds were specifically instructed to come to the PED by the health care
      provider in the community.

PMID- 25822235
TI  - Empiric Antibiotics for Serious Bacterial Infection in Young Infants:
      Opportunities for Stewardship.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the causative agents of serious bacterial infection (SBI)
      in young infants and the optimal approach to empiric antibiotic therapy for
      infants with SBI. METHODS: From May 1, 2011, to December 1, 2013, pertinent
      clinical data were collected on previously well infants 60 days or younger with
      SBI as defined by a positive bacterial culture from a sterile site. Infants were
      identified by prospective surveillance of admissions and daily review of
      microbiology records. RESULTS: Two hundred sixty-five infants with SBI were
      identified. Mean age was 32 days (SD +/-16.6 days). Twenty-nine infants had
      meningitis, 66 had bacteremia (37 with concomitant urinary tract infection), and
      170 had urinary tract infection alone. No methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
      aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus sp., or penicillin-resistant
      Streptococcus pneumoniae were identified. Four extended-spectrum beta-lactamase
      producing gram-negative bacilli were seen. Empiric therapy was ampicillin and
      gentamicin (n = 116, 44%) or third-generation cephalosporin based (n = 149, 56%).
      Ampicillin and gentamicin, with third-generation cephalosporins reserved for
      cases where meningitis is suspected, would have provided effective coverage for
      98.5% of infants and unnecessarily broad therapy for 4.3%. Third-generation
      cephalosporins with ampicillin would have been effective for 98.5% of infants and
      unnecessarily broad for 83.8%. Third-generation cephalosporin monotherapy was
      less effective than either combination (P < 0.001). Fifty-seven percent of broad
      spectrum empiric therapy was continued despite culture results allowing de
      escalation. CONCLUSIONS: Ampicillin/gentamicin remains an effective empiric
      regimen for infants 60 days or younger with suspected SBI. Use of a third
      generation cephalosporin for suspected meningitis is appropriate, but
      cerebrospinal fluid must be obtained promptly to guide appropriate therapy.

PMID- 25822237
TI  - Protocol for Reducing Time to Antibiotics in Pediatric Patients Presenting to an
      Emergency Department With Fever and Neutropenia: Efficacy and Barriers.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Patients with febrile neutropenia are at high risk of morbidity and
      mortality from infectious causes. Decreasing time to antibiotic (TTA)
      administration is associated with improved patient outcomes. We sought to reduce
      TTA for children presenting to the emergency department with fever and
      neutropenia. METHODS: In a prospective cohort study with historical comparison,
      TTA administration was evaluated in patients with neutropenia presenting to the
      Children's of Alabama Emergency Department. A protocol was established to reduce
      delays in antibiotic administration and increase the percentage of patients who
      receive treatment within 60 minutes of presentation. One hundred pre-protocol
      patient visits between August 2010 and December 2011 were evaluated and 153 post
      protocol visits were evaluated between August 2012 and September 2013. We
      reviewed individual cases to determine barriers to rapid antibiotic
      administration. RESULTS: Antibiotics were administered in 96.9 +/- 57.8 minutes
      in the pre-protocol patient group, and only 35% of patients received antibiotics
      within 60 minutes of presentation and 70% received antibiotics within 120
      minutes. After implementation of the protocol, TTA for neutropenic patients was
      decreased to 64.3 +/- 28.4 minutes (P < 0.0001) with 51.4% receiving antibiotics
      within 60 minutes and 93.2% within 120 minutes. CONCLUSIONS: Implementing a
      standard approach to patients at risk for neutropenia decreased TTA. There are
      numerous challenges in providing timely antibiotics to children with febrile
      neutropenia. Identified delays included venous access (time to effect of topical
      anesthetics, and difficulty obtaining access), physicians waiting on laboratory
      results, and antibiotic availability.

PMID- 25822236
TI  - Blood Pressure Directed Booster Trainings Improve Intensive Care Unit Provider
      Retention of Excellent Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Skills.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Brief, intermittent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training
      sessions, "Booster Trainings," improve CPR skill acquisition and short-term
      retention. The objective of this study was to incorporate arterial blood pressure
      (ABP) tracings into Booster Trainings to improve CPR skill retention. We
      hypothesized that ABP-directed CPR "Booster Trainings" would improve intensive
      care unit (ICU) provider 3-month retention of excellent CPR skills without need
      for interval retraining. METHODS: A CPR manikin creating a realistic relationship
      between chest compression depth and ABP was used for training/testing. Thirty-six
      ICU providers were randomized to brief, bedside ABP-directed CPR manikin skill
      retrainings: (1) Booster Plus (ABP visible during training and testing) versus
      (2) Booster Alone (ABP visible only during training, not testing) versus (3)
      control (testing, no intervention). Subjects completed skill tests pretraining
      (baseline), immediately after training (acquisition), and then retention was
      assessed at 12 hours, 3 and 6 months. The primary outcome was retention of
      excellent CPR skills at 3 months. Excellent CPR was defined as systolic blood
      pressure of 100 mm Hg or higher and compression rate 100 to 120 per minute.
      RESULTS: Overall, 14 of 24 (58%) participants acquired excellent CPR skills after
      their initial training (Booster Plus 75% vs 50% Booster Alone, P = 0.21).
      Adjusted for age, ABP-trained providers were 5.2* more likely to perform
      excellent CPR after the initial training (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.3
      21.2; P = 0.02), and to retain these skills at 12 hours (adjusted odds ratio,
      4.4; 95% CI, 1.3-14.9; P = 0.018) and 3 months (adjusted odds ratio, 4.1; 95% CI,
      1.2-13.9; P = 0.023) when compared to baseline performance. CONCLUSIONS: The ABP
      directed CPR booster trainings improved ICU provider 3-month retention of
      excellent CPR skills without the need for interval retraining.

PMID- 25822238
TI  - Lack of Accuracy of Biomarkers and Physical Examination to Detect Bacterial
      Infection in Febrile Infants.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyze the usefulness of physical
      examination, C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), white blood cell
      (WBC) count, and absolute neutrophils counts (ANCs) for the diagnosis of invasive
      bacterial infections (IBIs) and potentially serious bacterial infections in
      infants younger than the age of 3 months presenting with fever without source
      (FWS) to the emergency department (ED). METHODS: A descriptive retrospective
      study that includes all infants aged younger than 3 months who presented with FWS
      to the ED between July 2008 and January 2012. We evaluated diagnostic performance
      for each test by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Sensitivity,
      specificity, positive likelihood ratio, and negative likelihood ratio were also
      calculated. RESULTS: Three hundred eighteen patients met the inclusion criteria.
      Eleven bacteremia (3.5%) and 76 urinary tract infections (23.9%) were diagnosed.
      To detect IBI, the areas under the curve for the different tests were as follows:
      PCT, 0.77 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.57-0.96); CRP, 0.54 (95% CI, 0.36
      0.73); ANC, 0.53 (95% CI, 0.34-0.71); and WBC, 0.42 (0.24-0.61). To detect
      potentially serious bacterial infections, the areas under the curve were as
      follows: PCT, 0.66 (95% CI, 0.59-0.74); CRP, 0.68 (0.60-0.76); ANC, 0.64 (0.56
      0.71); and WBC, 0.66 (0.58-0.72). CONCLUSIONS: Procalcitonin is better than CRP,
      WBC, and ANC to confirm or dismiss the presence of an IBI in infants aged younger
      than 3 months presenting with FWS to the ED. However, it could not identify
      almost 30% of infants with IBI. Most patients diagnosed with IBI (10 of 11)
      presented abnormal values in at least one of the analytical parameters and/or
      physical appearance. Four of 5 patients with IBI and well appearing presented
      abnormal results in at least one of the analytical parameters. Therefore, the
      development of tools combining different tests including the new biomarkers could
      increase the reliability of the tests for the diagnosis of IBI in these patients.

PMID- 25822240
TI  - Correction: Cerebral circulation time is prolonged and not correlated with EDSS
      in multiple sclerosis patients: a study using digital subtracted angiography.

PMID- 25822239
TI  - Risk profiles for weight gain among postmenopausal women: a classification and
      regression tree analysis approach.
AB  - PURPOSE: Risk factors for obesity and weight gain are typically evaluated
      individually while "adjusting for" the influence of other confounding factors,
      and few studies, if any, have created risk profiles by clustering risk factors.
      We identified subgroups of postmenopausal women homogeneous in their clustered
      modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for gaining >= 3% weight. METHODS:
      This study included 612 postmenopausal women 50-79 years old, enrolled in an
      ancillary study of the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study between
      February 1995 and July 1998. Classification and regression tree and stepwise
      regression models were built and compared. RESULTS: Of 27 selected variables, the
      factors significantly related to >= 3% weight gain were weight change in the past
      2 years, age at menopause, dietary fiber, fat, alcohol intake, and smoking. In
      women younger than 65 years, less than 4 kg weight change in the past 2 years
      sufficiently reduced risk of >= 3% weight gain. Different combinations of risk
      factors related to weight gain were reported for subgroups of women: women 65
      years or older (essential factor: < 9.8 g/day dietary factor), African Americans
      (essential factor: currently smoking), and white women (essential factor: >= 5 kg
      weight change for the past 2 years). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest specific
      characteristics for particular subgroups of postmenopausal women that may be
      useful for identifying those at risk for weight gain. The study results may be
      useful for targeting efforts to promote strategies to reduce the risk of obesity
      and weight gain in subgroups of postmenopausal women and maximize the effect of
      weight control by decreasing obesity-relevant adverse health outcomes.

PMID- 25822241
TI  - A diary-based modification of symptom attributions in pathological health
      anxiety: effects on symptom report and cognitive biases.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine whether a 2-week attribution modification training (AMT)
      changes symptom severity, emotional evaluation of health-threatening stimuli, and
      cognitive biases in pathological health anxiety. METHOD: We randomized 85
      patients with pathological health anxiety into an electronic diary-based AMT
      group (AMTG; n = 42) and a control group without AMT (CG; n = 43). Self-report
      symptom measures, emotional evaluation, attentional bias, and memory bias toward
      symptom and illness words were assessed with an emotional Stroop task, a
      recognition task, and an emotional rating task for valence and arousal. RESULTS:
      After the 2-week period, the AMTG compared with the CG reported lower symptoms of
      pathological health anxiety, F(1, 82) = 10.94, p < .01, eta2p = .12, rated
      symptom, F(1, 82) = 5.56, p = .02, eta2p = .06, and illness words, F(1, 82) =
      4.13, p = .045, eta2p = .05, as less arousing, and revealed a smaller memory
      response bias toward symptom words in the recognition task F(1, 82) = 12.32, p <
      .01, eta2p = .13. However, no specific AMT effect was observed for the
      attentional bias. CONCLUSION: The results support the efficacy of a comparatively
      short cognitive intervention in pathological health anxiety as a possible add-on
      intervention to existing treatment approaches to reduce symptom severity, as well
      as abnormalities in health-related emotional evaluation and memory processes.

PMID- 25822242
TI  - Randomized comparative efficacy study of parent-mediated interventions for
      toddlers with autism.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study compared effects of two parent-mediated interventions on
      joint engagement outcomes as augmentations of an early intervention program for
      toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHOD: Participants included 86
      toddlers (range 22-36 months) with ASD and their primary caregiver. Caregiver
      child dyads were randomized to receive 10 weeks of hands-on parent training in a
      naturalistic, developmental behavioral intervention (joint attention, symbolic
      play, engagement and regulation-JASPER) or a parent-only psychoeducational
      intervention (PEI). Dose was controlled in terms of researcher-parent contact and
      early intervention services received by the child. RESULTS: Results yielded
      significant effects of the JASPER intervention on the primary outcome of joint
      engagement. The treatment effect was large (Cohen's f2 = .69) and maintained over
      the 6-month follow-up. JASPER effects were also found on secondary outcomes of
      play diversity, highest play level achieved, and generalization to the child's
      classroom for child-initiated joint engagement. The PEI intervention was found to
      be effective in reducing parenting stress associated with child characteristics.
      All secondary effects were generally small to moderate. CONCLUSIONS: These data
      highlight the benefit of a brief, targeted, parent-mediated intervention on child
      outcomes. Future studies may consider the combination of JASPER and PEI
      treatments for optimal parent and child outcomes. Trial registry no. NCT00999778.

PMID- 25822243
TI  - The sleeper effect: Artifact or phenomenon-A brief comment on Bell et al. (2013).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Bell, Marcus, and Goodlad (2013) recently conducted a meta-analysis of
      randomized controlled additive trials and found that adding an additional
      component to an existing treatment vis-a-vis the existing treatment produced
      larger effect sizes on targeted outcomes at 6-months follow-up than at
      termination, an effect they labeled as a sleeper effect. One of the limitations
      with Bell et al.'s detection of the sleeper effect was that they did not conduct
      a statistical test of the size of the effect at follow-up versus termination.
      METHOD: To statistically test if the differences of effect sizes between the
      additive conditions and the control conditions at follow-up differed from those
      at termination, we used a restricted maximum-likelihood random-effect model with
      known variances to conduct a multilevel longitudinal meta-analysis (k = 30).
      RESULTS: Although the small effects at termination detected by Bell et al. were
      replicated (ds = 0.17-0.23), none of the analyses of growth from termination to
      follow-up produced statistically significant effects (ds < 0.08; p > .20), and
      when asymmetry was considered using trim-and-fill procedure or the studies after
      2000 were analyzed, magnitude of the sleeper effect was negligible (d = 0.00).
      CONCLUSION: There is no empirical evidence to support the sleeper effect.
      (PsycINFO Database Record

PMID- 25822245
TI  - Mark-recapture and mark-resight methods for estimating abundance with remote
      cameras: a carnivore case study.
AB  - Abundance estimation of carnivore populations is difficult and has prompted the
      use of non-invasive detection methods, such as remotely-triggered cameras, to
      collect data. To analyze photo data, studies focusing on carnivores with unique
      pelage patterns have utilized a mark-recapture framework and studies of
      carnivores without unique pelage patterns have used a mark-resight framework. We
      compared mark-resight and mark-recapture estimation methods to estimate bobcat
      (Lynx rufus) population sizes, which motivated the development of a new "hybrid"
      mark-resight model as an alternative to traditional methods. We deployed a
      sampling grid of 30 cameras throughout the urban southern California study area.
      Additionally, we physically captured and marked a subset of the bobcat population
      with GPS telemetry collars. Since we could identify individual bobcats with
      photos of unique pelage patterns and a subset of the population was physically
      marked, we were able to use traditional mark-recapture and mark-resight methods,
      as well as the new "hybrid" mark-resight model we developed to estimate bobcat
      abundance. We recorded 109 bobcat photos during 4,669 camera nights and
      physically marked 27 bobcats with GPS telemetry collars. Abundance estimates
      produced by the traditional mark-recapture, traditional mark-resight, and
      "hybrid" mark-resight methods were similar, however precision differed depending
      on the models used. Traditional mark-recapture and mark-resight estimates were
      relatively imprecise with percent confidence interval lengths exceeding 100% of
      point estimates. Hybrid mark-resight models produced better precision with
      percent confidence intervals not exceeding 57%. The increased precision of the
      hybrid mark-resight method stems from utilizing the complete encounter histories
      of physically marked individuals (including those never detected by a camera
      trap) and the encounter histories of naturally marked individuals detected at
      camera traps. This new estimator may be particularly useful for estimating
      abundance of uniquely identifiable species that are difficult to sample using
      camera traps alone. 

PMID- 25822246
TI  - Determinants of performance of health systems concerning maternal and child
      health: a global approach.
AB  - AIMS: To assess the association of social determinants on the performance of
      health systems around the world. METHODS: A transnational ecological study was
      conducted with an observation level focused on the country. In order to research
      on the strength of the association between the annual maternal and child
      mortality in 154 countries and social determinants: corruption, democratization,
      income inequality and cultural fragmentation, we used a mixed linear regression
      model for repeated measures with random intercepts and a conglomerate-based
      geographical analysis, between 2000 and 2010. RESULTS: Health determinants with a
      significant association on child mortality(<1year): higher access to water (betaa
      Quartile 4(Q4) vs Quartile 1(Q1) = -6,14; 95%CI: -11,63 to -0,73), sanitation
      systems, (Q4 vs Q1 = -25,58; 95%CI: -31,91 to -19,25), % measles vaccination
      coverage (Q4 vs Q1 = -7.35; 95%CI: -10,18 to -4,52), % of births attended by a
      healthcare professional (Q4 vs Q1 = -7,91; 95%CI: -11,36 to -4,52) and a % of the
      total health expenditure (Q3 vs Q1 = -2,85; 95%CI: -4,93 to -0,7). Ethnic
      fragmentation (Q4 vs Q1 = 9,93; 95%CI: -0.03 to 19.89) had a marginal effect. For
      child mortality<5 years, an association was found for these variables and
      democratization (not free vs free = 11,23; 95%CI: -0,82 to 23,29), out-of-pocket
      expenditure (Q1 vs Q4 = 17,71; 95%CI: 5,86 to 29,56). For MMR (Maternal mortality
      ratio), % of access to water for all the quartiles, % of access to sanitation
      systems, (Q3 vs Q1 = -171,15; 95%CI: -281,29 to -61), birth attention by a
      healthcare professional (Q4 vs Q1 = -231,23; 95%CI: -349,32 to -113,15), and
      having corrupt government (Q3 vs Q1 = 83,05; 95%CI: 33,10 to 133). CONCLUSIONS:
      Improving access to water and sanitation systems, decreasing corruption in the
      health sector must become priorities in health systems. The ethno-linguistic
      cultural fragmentation and the detriment of democracy turn out to be two factors
      related to health results.

PMID- 25822247
TI  - Correction: Rapid, accurate, and non-invasive measurement of zebrafish axial
      length and other eye dimensions using SD-OCT allows longitudinal analysis of
      myopia and emmetropization.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110699.]. 

PMID- 25822248
TI  - Warm ischemic injury is reflected in the release of injury markers during cold
      preservation of the human liver.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Liver transplantation plays a pivotal role in the treatment of
      patients with end-stage liver disease. Despite excellent outcomes, the field is
      strained by a severe shortage of viable liver grafts. To meet high demands,
      attempts are made to increase the use of suboptimal livers by both pretransplant
      recovery and assessment of donor livers. Here we aim to assess hepatic injury in
      the measurement of routine markers in the post-ischemic flush effluent of
      discarded human liver with a wide warm ischemic range. METHODS: Six human livers
      discarded for transplantation with variable warm and cold ischemia times were
      flushed at the end of preservation. The liver grafts were flushed with NaCl or
      Lactated Ringer's, 2 L through the portal vein and 1 L through the hepatic
      artery. The vena caval effluent was sampled and analyzed for biochemical markers
      of injury; lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alanine transaminase (ALT), and alkaline
      phosphatase (ALP). Liver tissue biopsies were analyzed for ATP content and
      histologically (H&E) examined. RESULTS: The duration of warm ischemia in the six
      livers correlated significantly to the concentration of LDH, ALT, and ALP in the
      effluent from the portal vein flush. No correlation was found with cold ischemia
      time. Tissue ATP content at the end of preservation correlated very strongly with
      the concentration of ALP in the arterial effluent (P<0.0007, R2 = 0.96).
      CONCLUSION: Biochemical injury markers released during the cold preservation
      period were reflective of the duration of warm ischemic injury sustained prior to
      release of the markers, as well as the hepatic energy status. As such, assessment
      of the flush effluent at the end of cold preservation may be a useful tool in
      evaluating suboptimal livers prior to transplantation, particularly in situations
      with undeterminable ischemic durations.

PMID- 25822249
TI  - Declining incidence of candidemia and the shifting epidemiology of Candida
      resistance in two US metropolitan areas, 2008-2013: results from population-based
      surveillance.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent reports have demonstrated a decline in bacterial bloodstream
      infections (BSIs) following adherence to central line insertion practices;
      however, declines have been less evident for BSIs due to Candida species.
      METHODS: We conducted active, population-based laboratory surveillance for
      candidemia in metropolitan Atlanta, GA and Baltimore, MD over a 5-year period. We
      calculated annual candidemia incidence and antifungal drug resistance rates.
      RESULTS: We identified 3,848 candidemia cases from 2008-2013. Compared with 2008,
      candidemia incidence per 100,000 person-years decreased significantly by 2013 in
      both locations (GA: 14.1 to 9.5, p<0.001; MD: 30.9 to 14.4, p<0.001). A total of
      3,255 cases (85%) had a central venous catheter (CVC) in place within 2 days
      before the BSI culture date. In both locations, the number of CVC-associated
      cases declined (GA: 473 to 294; MD: 384 to 151). Candida albicans (CA, 36%) and
      Candida glabrata (CG, 27%) were the most common species recovered. In both
      locations, the proportion of cases with fluconazole resistance decreased (GA:
      8.0% to 7.1%, -10%; MD: 6.6% to 4.9%, -25%), while the proportion of cases with
      an isolate resistant to an echinocandin increased (GA: 1.2% to 2.9%, +147%; MD:
      2.0% to 3.5%, +77%). Most (74%) echinocandin-resistant isolates were CG; 17 (<1%)
      isolates were resistant to both drug categories (multidrug resistant [MDR], 16/17
      were CG). The proportion of CG cases with MDR Candida increased from 1.8% to
      2.6%. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a significant decline in the incidence of
      candidemia over a five-year period, and increases in echinocandin-resistant and
      MDR Candida. Efforts to strengthen infection control practices may be preventing
      candidemia among high-risk patients. Further surveillance for resistant Candida
      is warranted.

PMID- 25822250
TI  - Senataxin suppresses the antiviral transcriptional response and controls viral
      biogenesis.
AB  - The human helicase senataxin (SETX) has been linked to the neurodegenerative
      diseases amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS4) and ataxia with oculomotor apraxia
      (AOA2). Here we identified a role for SETX in controlling the antiviral response.
      Cells that had undergone depletion of SETX and SETX-deficient cells derived from
      patients with AOA2 had higher expression of antiviral mediators in response to
      infection than did wild-type cells. Mechanistically, we propose a model whereby
      SETX attenuates the activity of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) at genes stimulated
      after a virus is sensed and thus controls the magnitude of the host response to
      pathogens and the biogenesis of various RNA viruses (e.g., influenza A virus and
      West Nile virus). Our data indicate a potentially causal link among inborn errors
      in SETX, susceptibility to infection and the development of neurologic disorders.

PMID- 25822251
TI  - E-cigarettes and smoking cessation: evidence from a systematic review and meta
      analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: E-cigarettes are currently being debated regarding their possible
      role in smoking cessation and as they are becoming increasingly popular, the
      research to date requires investigation. OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether the
      use of e-cigarettes is associated with smoking cessation or reduction, and
      whether there is any difference in efficacy of e-cigarettes with and without
      nicotine on smoking cessation. DATA SOURCES: A systematic review of articles with
      no limit on publication date was conducted by searching PubMed, Web of Knowledge
      and Scopus databases. METHODS: Published studies, those reported smoking
      abstinence or reduction in cigarette consumption after the use of e-cigarettes,
      were included. Studies were systematically reviewed, and meta-analyses were
      conducted using Mantel-Haenszel fixed-effect and random-effects models. Degree of
      heterogeneity among studies and quality of the selected studies were evaluated.
      RESULTS: Six studies were included involving 7,551 participants. Meta-analyses
      included 1,242 participants who had complete data on smoking cessation. Nicotine
      filled e-cigarettes were more effective for cessation than those without nicotine
      (pooled Risk Ratio 2.29, 95%CI 1.05-4.97). Amongst 1,242 smokers, 224 (18%)
      reported smoking cessation after using nicotine-enriched e-cigarettes for a
      minimum period of six months. Use of such e-cigarettes was positively associated
      with smoking cessation with a pooled Effect Size of 0.20 (95%CI 0.11-0.28). Use
      of e-cigarettes was also associated with a reduction in the number of cigarettes
      used. LIMITATIONS: Included studies were heterogeneous, due to different study
      designs and gender variation. Whilst we were able to comment on the efficacy of
      nicotine vs. non-nicotine e-cigarettes for smoking cessation, we were unable to
      comment on the efficacy of e-cigarettes vs. other interventions for cessation,
      given the lack of comparator groups in the studies included in this meta
      analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Use of e-cigarettes is associated with smoking cessation
      and reduction. More randomised controlled trials are needed to assess
      effectiveness against other cessation methods.

PMID- 25822253
TI  - Association of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes With Glyburide vs Insulin in Women With
      Gestational Diabetes.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Glyburide is thought to be safe for use during pregnancy for
      treatment of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, there are limited data
      on the effectiveness of glyburide when compared with insulin as used in a real
      world setting. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the risk of adverse maternal and neonatal
      outcomes in women with GDM treated with glyburide compared with insulin. DESIGN,
      SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective cohort study of a population-based
      cohort from a nationwide US employer-based insurance claims database from January
      1, 2000, to December 31, 2011. We identified women with GDM and their newborns.
      We excluded those with type 1 or 2 diabetes and those younger than 15 years or
      older than 45 years. EXPOSURES: Treatment with glyburide or insulin during
      pregnancy within 150 days before delivery. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: We used
      binomial regression to estimate risk ratios (RRs) and risk differences with 95%
      confidence intervals for the association of glyburide with diagnosis codes for
      obstetric trauma, cesarean delivery, birth injury, preterm birth, hypoglycemia,
      respiratory distress, jaundice, large for gestational age, and hospitalization in
      the neonatal intensive care unit. Inverse probability of treatment weights were
      used to adjust for maternal characteristics that differed between the treatment
      groups. RESULTS: Among 110,879 women with GDM, 9173 women (8.3%) were treated
      with glyburide (n = 4982) or insulin (n = 4191). After adjusting for differences
      at baseline, newborns of women treated with glyburide were at increased risk for
      neonatal intensive care unit admission (RR = 1.41; 95% CI, 1.23-1.62),
      respiratory distress (RR = 1.63; 95% CI, 1.23-2.15), hypoglycemia (RR = 1.40; 95%
      CI, 1.00-1.95), birth injury (RR = 1.35; 95% CI, 1.00-1.82), and large for
      gestational age (RR = 1.43; 95% CI, 1.16-1.76) compared with those treated with
      insulin; they were not at increased risk for obstetric trauma (RR = 0.92; 95% CI,
      0.71-1.20), preterm birth (RR = 1.06; 95% CI, 0.93-1.21), or jaundice (RR = 0.96;
      95% CI, 0.48-1.91). The risk of cesarean delivery was 3% lower in the glyburide
      group (adjusted RR = 0.97; 95% CI, 0.93-1.00). The risk difference associated
      with glyburide was 2.97% (95% CI, 1.82-4.12) for neonatal intensive care unit
      admission, 1.41% (95% CI, 0.61-2.20) for large for gestational age, and 1.11%
      (95% CI, 0.50-1.72) for respiratory distress. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Newborns
      from privately insured mothers treated with glyburide were more likely to
      experience adverse outcomes than those from mothers treated with insulin. Given
      the widespread use of glyburide, further investigation of these differences in
      pregnancy outcomes is a public health priority.

PMID- 25822252
TI  - Preservation of the blood brain barrier and cortical neuronal tissue by
      liraglutide, a long acting glucagon-like-1 analogue, after experimental traumatic
      brain injury.
AB  - Cerebral edema is a common complication following moderate and severe traumatic
      brain injury (TBI), and a significant risk factor for development of neuronal
      death and deterioration of neurological outcome. To this date, medical approaches
      that effectively alleviate cerebral edema and neuronal death after TBI are not
      available. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) has anti-inflammatory properties on
      cerebral endothelium and exerts neuroprotective effects. Here, we investigated
      the effects of GLP-1 on secondary injury after moderate and severe TBI. Male
      Sprague Dawley rats were subjected either to TBI by Controlled Cortical Impact
      (CCI) or sham surgery. After surgery, vehicle or a GLP-1 analogue, Liraglutide,
      were administered subcutaneously twice daily for two days. Treatment with
      Liraglutide (200 MUg/kg) significantly reduced cerebral edema in pericontusional
      regions and improved sensorimotor function 48 hours after CCI. The integrity of
      the blood-brain barrier was markedly preserved in Liraglutide treated animals, as
      determined by cerebral extravasation of Evans blue conjugated albumin.
      Furthermore, Liraglutide reduced cortical tissue loss, but did not affect tissue
      loss and delayed neuronal death in the thalamus on day 7 post injury. Together,
      our data suggest that the GLP-1 pathway might be a promising target in the
      therapy of cerebral edema and cortical neuronal injury after moderate and severe
      TBI. 

PMID- 25822254
TI  - Ocular inflammation associated with antivascular endothelial growth factor
      treatment.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To describe the diagnosis and management of intraocular
      inflammation following antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections.
      RECENT FINDINGS: Inflammation following intravitreal anti-VEGF injections can
      cause a dramatic reduction in acuity. Differentiating factors from truly
      infectious endophthalmitis include a lack of pain, redness, or hypopyon, although
      none of these factors is diagnostic. A high suspicion of infectious
      endophthalmitis should trigger a prompt vitreous tap and injection of
      intravitreal antibiotics. Conversely, if noninfectious endophthalmitis is
      suspected, close observation with frequent topical steroids is warranted.
      SUMMARY: Most eyes with noninfectious endophthalmitis following anti-VEGF
      injection recover within 1 month to baseline acuity with topical corticosteroid
      treatment. Mechanisms hypothesized to explain postinjection inflammation include
      patient-specific, delivery-specific, and medication-specific factors.

PMID- 25822255
TI  - Current phase 1/2 research for neovascular age-related macular degeneration.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purpose of this review is to provide an update of phase 1
      and 2 clinical trials in neovascular age-related macular degeneration that are
      either currently underway or recently completed by the end of 2014. RECENT
      FINDINGS: Three gene therapy options are currently in early clinical trials,
      administered via intravitreal (AAV2-sFLT01) or subretinal (AVA-101 and
      RetinoStat) injection to express angiogenesis inhibitors. Several eye drops are
      being developed for topical administration for various angiogenic inhibitors,
      including regorafenib, squalamine lactate, and PAN-90806. Early development of
      systemic administration options may be intravenous (iSONEP) or oral (X-82).
      Initial study of local radiation therapy may be via proton beam irradiation or
      stereotactic radiotherapy. Several intravitreal injections are being studied
      including human immuno-conjugate molecule (hl-con1), abicipar pegol, PF582, DE
      120, ESBA 1008, and REGN2176-3. SUMMARY: Numerous treatment options of
      neovascular age-related macular degeneration are in phase 1/2 clinical trials
      including gene therapy, eye drops, systemic dosing, localized irradiation, and
      various intravitreal injections. Future phase 3 trial results will be observed
      closely to determine which of these therapies will be the next novel treatment of
      neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

PMID- 25822256
TI  - Four-Coordinate Iron(II) Diaryl Compounds with Monodentate N-Heterocyclic Carbene
      Ligation: Synthesis, Characterization, and Their Tetrahedral-Square Planar
      Isomerization in Solution.
AB  - The salt elimination reactions of (IPr2Me2)2FeCl2 (IPr2Me2 = 1,3-diisopropyl-4,5
      dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene) with the corresponding aryl Grignard reagents afford
      [(IPr2Me2)2FeAr2] (Ar = Ph, 3; C6H4-p-Me, 4; C6H4-p-(t)Bu, 5; C6H3-3,5-(CF3)2, 6)
      in good yields. X-ray crystallographic studies revealed the presence of both
      tetrahedral and trans square planar isomers for 3 and 6 and the tetrahedral
      structures for 4 and 5. Magnetic susceptibility and (57)Fe Mossbauer spectrum
      measurements on the solid samples indicated the high-spin (S = 2) and
      intermediate-spin (S = 1) nature of the tetrahedral and square planar structures,
      respectively. Solution property studies, including solution magnetic
      susceptibility measurement, variable-temperature (1)H and (19)F NMR, and
      absorption spectroscopy, on 3-6, as well as an (57)Fe Mossbauer spectrum study on
      a frozen tetrahydrofuran solution of tetrahedral [(IPr2Me2)2(57)FePh2] suggest
      the coexistence of tetrahedral and trans square planar structures in solution
      phase. Density functional theory calculations on (IPr2Me2)2FePh2 disclosed that
      the tetrahedral and trans square planar isomers are close in energy and that the
      geometry isomerization can occur by spin-change-coupled geometric transformation
      on four-coordinate iron(II) center. 

PMID- 25822257
TI  - Tetraphenylethene-based star shaped porphyrins: synthesis, self-assembly, and
      optical and photophysical study.
AB  - Supramolecular self-assembly and self-organization are simple and convenient ways
      to design and create controlled assemblies with organic molecules, and they have
      provoked great interest due to their potential applications in various fields,
      such as electronics, photonics, and light-energy conversion. Herein, we describe
      the synthesis of two pi-conjugated porphyrin molecules bearing tetraphenylethene
      moieties with high fluorescence quantum yield. Photophysical and electrochemical
      studies were conducted to understand the physical and redox properties of these
      new materials, respectively. Furthermore, these derivatives were used to
      investigate self-assembly via the solvophobic effect. The self-assembled
      aggregation was performed in nonpolar and polar organic solvents and forms
      nanospheres and ring-like nanostructures, respectively. The solution based
      aggregation was studied by means of UV-vis absorption, emission, XRD, and DLS
      analyses. Self-assembled ring-shape structures were visualized by SEM and TEM
      imaging. This ring-shape morphology of nanosized macromolecules might be a good
      candidate for the creation of artificial light-harvesting nanodevices. 

PMID- 25822258
TI  - The use of global rating scales for OSCEs in veterinary medicine.
AB  - OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examinations) are widely used in health
      professions to assess clinical skills competence. Raters use standardized binary
      checklists (CL) or multi-dimensional global rating scales (GRS) to score
      candidates performing specific tasks. This study assessed the reliability of CL
      and GRS scores in the assessment of veterinary students, and is the first study
      to demonstrate the reliability of GRS within veterinary medical education. Twelve
      raters from two different schools (6 from University of Calgary [UCVM] and 6 from
      Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies [R(D)SVS] were asked to score 12
      students (6 from each school). All raters assessed all students (video
      recordings) during 4 OSCE stations (bovine haltering, gowning and gloving, equine
      bandaging and skin suturing). Raters scored students using a CL, followed by the
      GRS. Novice raters (6 R(D)SVS) were assessed independently of expert raters (6
      UCVM). Generalizability theory (G theory), analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t
      tests were used to determine the reliability of rater scores, assess any between
      school differences (by student, by rater), and determine if there were
      differences between CL and GRS scores. There was no significant difference in
      rater performance with use of the CL or the GRS. Scores from the CL were
      significantly higher than scores from the GRS. The reliability of checklist
      scores were .42 and .76 for novice and expert raters respectively. The
      reliability of the global rating scale scores were .7 and .86 for novice and
      expert raters respectively. A decision study (D-study) showed that once trained
      using CL, GRS could be utilized to reliably score clinical skills in veterinary
      medicine with both novice and experienced raters. 

PMID- 25822259
TI  - Thyroxine differentially modulates the peripheral clock: lessons from the human
      hair follicle.
AB  - The human hair follicle (HF) exhibits peripheral clock activity, with knock-down
      of clock genes (BMAL1 and PER1) prolonging active hair growth (anagen) and
      increasing pigmentation. Similarly, thyroid hormones prolong anagen and stimulate
      pigmentation in cultured human HFs. In addition they are recognized as key
      regulators of the central clock that controls circadian rhythmicity. Therefore,
      we asked whether thyroxine (T4) also influences peripheral clock activity in the
      human HF. Over 24 hours we found a significant reduction in protein levels of
      BMAL1 and PER1, with their transcript levels also decreasing significantly.
      Furthermore, while all clock genes maintained their rhythmicity in both the
      control and T4 treated HFs, there was a significant reduction in the amplitude of
      BMAL1 and PER1 in T4 (100 nM) treated HFs. Accompanying this, cell-cycle
      progression marker Cyclin D1 was also assessed appearing to show an induced
      circadian rhythmicity by T4 however, this was not significant. Contrary to short
      term cultures, after 6 days, transcript and/or protein levels of all core clock
      genes (BMAL1, PER1, clock, CRY1, CRY2) were up-regulated in T4 treated HFs. BMAL1
      and PER1 mRNA was also up-regulated in the HF bulge, the location of HF
      epithelial stem cells. Together this provides the first direct evidence that T4
      modulates the expression of the peripheral molecular clock. Thus, patients with
      thyroid dysfunction may also show a disordered peripheral clock, which raises the
      possibility that short term, pulsatile treatment with T4 might permit one to
      modulate circadian activity in peripheral tissues as a target to treat clock
      related disease. 

PMID- 25822260
TI  - Mitochondrial dynamics protein Drp1 is overexpressed in oncocytic thyroid tumors
      and regulates cancer cell migration.
AB  - Oncocytic cell tumors are characterized by the accumulation of morphologically
      abnormal mitochondria in their cells, suggesting a role for abnormal
      mitochondrial biogenesis in oncocytic cell transformation. Little is known about
      the reason for the dysmorphology of accumulated mitochondria. The proteins
      regulating the morphology of mitochondria, the "mitochondria-shaping" proteins,
      can modulate their size and number; however, nothing is known hitherto about a
      possible involvement of mitochondrial dynamics in oncocytic cell transformation
      in tumors. Our aim was to assess the status of the mitochondria morphology and
      its role in oncocytic cell transformation. We therefore evaluated the expression
      pattern of the main mitochondrial fusion and fission proteins in a series of
      thyroid cell tumor samples, as well as in thyroid tumor cell lines, with and
      without oncocytic cell features. The expression of mitochondrial fusion (Opa1,
      Mfn1 and Mfn2) and fission (Drp1 and Fis1) proteins were evaluated by
      immunohistochemistry (IHC) in a series of 88 human thyroid tumors. In vitro
      studies, for comparative purposes and to deepen the study, were performed using
      TPC1--a papillary thyroid carcinoma derived cell line--and XTC.UC1, an oncocytic
      follicular thyroid carcinoma-derived cell line. Both IHC and in vitro protein
      analyses showed an overall increase in the levels of "mitochondrial-shaping"
      proteins in oncocytic thyroid tumors. Furthermore, overexpression of the pro
      fission protein Drp1 was found to be associated with malignant oncocytic thyroid
      tumors. Interestingly, genetic and pharmacological blockage of Drp1 activity was
      able to influence thyroid cancer cells' migration/invasion ability, a feature of
      tumor malignancy. In this study we show that unbalanced mitochondrial dynamics
      characterize the malignant features of thyroid oncocytic cell tumors, and
      participate in the acquisition of the migrating phenotype.

PMID- 25822261
TI  - Sex ratio meiotic drive as a plausible evolutionary mechanism for hybrid male
      sterility.
AB  - Biological diversity on Earth depends on the multiplication of species or
      speciation, which is the evolution of reproductive isolation such as hybrid
      sterility between two new species. An unsolved puzzle is the exact mechanism(s)
      that causes two genomes to diverge from their common ancestor so that some
      divergent genes no longer function properly in the hybrids. Here we report
      genetic analyses of divergent genes controlling male fertility and sex ratio in
      two very young fruitfly species, Drosophila albomicans and D. nasuta. A majority
      of the genetic divergence for both traits is mapped to the same regions by
      quantitative trait loci mappings. With introgressions, six major loci are found
      to contribute to both traits. This genetic colocalization implicates that genes
      for hybrid male sterility have evolved primarily for controlling sex ratio. We
      propose that genetic conflicts over sex ratio may operate as a perpetual dynamo
      for genome divergence. This particular evolutionary mechanism may largely
      contribute to the rapid evolution of hybrid male sterility and the
      disproportionate enrichment of its underlying genes on the X chromosome--two
      patterns widely observed across animals.

PMID- 25822262
TI  - Measuring and overcoming limits of the Saffman-Delbruck model for soap film
      viscosities.
AB  - We observe tracer particles diffusing in soap films to measure the two
      dimensional (2D) viscous properties of the films. Saffman-Delbruck type models
      relate the single-particle diffusivity to parameters of the film (such as
      thickness h) for thin films, but the relation breaks down for thicker films.
      Notably, the diffusivity is faster than expected for thicker films, with the
      crossover at h/d = 5.2 +/- 0.9 using the tracer particle diameter d. This
      indicates a crossover from purely 2D diffusion to diffusion that is more three
      dimensional. We demonstrate that measuring the correlations of particle pairs as
      a function of their separation overcomes the limitations of the Saffman-Delbruck
      model and allows one to measure the viscosity of a soap film for any thickness. 

PMID- 25822263
TI  - Propagation of damage in brain tissue: coupling the mechanics of oedema and
      oxygen delivery.
AB  - Brain tissue swelling, or oedema, is a dangerous consequence of traumatic brain
      injury and stroke. In particular, a locally swollen region can cause the injury
      to propagate further through the brain: swelling causes mechanical compression of
      the vasculature in the surrounding tissue and so can cut off that tissue's oxygen
      supply. We use a triphasic mathematical model to investigate this propagation,
      and couple tissue mechanics with oxygen delivery. Starting from a fully coupled,
      finite elasticity, model, we show that simplifications can be made that allow us
      to express the volume of the propagating region of damage analytically in terms
      of key parameters. Our results show that performing a craniectomy, to alleviate
      pressure in the brain and allow the tissue to swell outwards, reduces the
      propagation of damage; this finding agrees with experimental observations. 

PMID- 25822266
TI  - Improving quality by doing less: overdiagnosis.

PMID- 25822264
TI  - Mechanical microenvironments and protein expression associated with formation of
      different skeletal tissues during bone healing.
AB  - Uncovering the mechanisms of the sensitivity of bone healing to mechanical
      factors is critical for understanding the basic biology and mechanobiology of the
      skeleton, as well as for enhancing clinical treatment of bone injuries. This
      study refined an experimental method of measuring the strain microenvironment at
      the site of a bone injury during bone healing. This method used a rat model in
      which a well-controlled bending motion was applied to an osteotomy to induce the
      formation of pseudarthrosis that is composed of a range of skeletal tissues,
      including woven bone, cartilage, fibrocartilage, fibrous tissue, and clot tissue.
      The goal of this study was to identify both the features of the strain
      microenvironment associated with formation of these different tissues and the
      expression of proteins frequently implicated in sensing and transducing
      mechanical cues. By pairing the strain measurements with histological analyses
      that identified the regions in which each tissue type formed, we found that
      formation of the different tissue types occurs in distinct strain
      microenvironments and that the type of tissue formed is correlated most strongly
      to the local magnitudes of extensional and shear strains. Weaker correlations
      were found for dilatation. Immunohistochemical analyses of focal adhesion kinase
      and rho family proteins RhoA and CDC42 revealed differences within the
      cartilaginous tissues in the calluses from the pseudarthrosis model as compared
      to fracture calluses undergoing normal endochondral bone repair. These findings
      suggest the involvement of these proteins in the way by which mechanical stimuli
      modulate the process of cartilage formation during bone healing. 

PMID- 25822267
TI  - Alpha blockers to speed ureteral stone passage.

PMID- 25822268
TI  - Buprenorphine Maintenance vs. Methadone Maintenance or Placebo for Opioid Use
      Disorder.

PMID- 25822269
TI  - Teaching Health Center GME Funding Instability Threatens Program Viability.

PMID- 25822270
TI  - Common questions about the initial management of hypertension.
AB  - Hypertension is the most common chronic condition treated by family physicians.
      Elevated blood pressure is associated with an increased risk of heart failure,
      myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular disease, and death. Treatment of
      hypertension reduces the risk of these events. Several lifestyle modifications
      are associated with improvements in blood pressure, including the Dietary
      Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet, sodium restriction, regular exercise, and
      moderate weight loss. There is strong evidence that reducing diastolic blood
      pressure to less than 90 mm Hg is beneficial in adults older than 30 years.
      Although there is good evidence to support reducing systolic blood pressure to
      less than 150 mm Hg in adults older than 60 years, the evidence in younger adults
      is insufficient to recommend a specific goal. Black patients with chronic kidney
      disease who are treated with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or
      angiotensin receptor blocker to a blood pressure of less than 140/90 mm Hg
      experience slower declines in glomerular filtration rates than patients treated
      with other medications. A blood pressure goal of less than 140/90 mm Hg is
      recommended in patients with chronic kidney disease and in those with diabetes
      mellitus. Thiazide diuretics, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors,
      angiotensin receptor blockers, and calcium channel blockers are the preferred
      medications in nonblack patients; thiazide diuretics and calcium channel blockers
      are preferred in black patients. 

PMID- 25822271
TI  - Cesarean delivery: counseling issues and complication management.
AB  - Nearly one-third of all deliveries in the United States are cesarean deliveries.
      Compared with spontaneous vaginal delivery, cesarean delivery is associated with
      increased maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Interventions that
      decrease the chance of a cesarean delivery include avoiding non-medically
      indicated induction of labor, avoiding amniotomy, and having a doula present. In
      North America, the most common reasons for cesarean delivery include elective
      repeat cesarean delivery, dystocia or failure to progress, malpresentation, and
      fetal heart rate tracings that suggest fetal distress. Post-cesarean delivery
      complications include pain, endomyometritis, wound separation/infection, urinary
      tract infection, gastrointestinal problems, deep venous thrombosis, and septic
      thrombophlebitis. Women with no risk factors for deep venous thrombosis other
      than the postpartum state and the operative delivery do not require
      thromboembolism prophylaxis other than early ambulation. A pregnant woman's
      decision to attempt a trial of labor after cesarean delivery or have a planned
      repeat cesarean delivery involves a balancing of maternal and neonatal risks, as
      well as personal preference after counseling by her physician. Approximately 75%
      of attempted trials of labor after cesarean delivery are successful. Provision of
      advanced maternity care practices by family physicians, including serving as
      primary surgeons for cesarean deliveries, is consistent with the goals of the
      patient-centered medical home. 

PMID- 25822272
TI  - Diagnosis and treatment of seborrheic dermatitis.
AB  - Seborrheic dermatitis is a common skin condition in infants, adolescents, and
      adults. The characteristic symptoms-scaling, erythema, and itching-occur most
      often on the scalp, face, chest, back, axilla, and groin. Seborrheic dermatitis
      is a clinical diagnosis based on the location and appearance of the lesions. The
      skin changes are thought to result from an inflammatory response to a common skin
      organism, Malassezia yeast. Treatment with antifungal agents such as topical
      ketoconazole is the mainstay of therapy for seborrheic dermatitis of the face and
      body. Because of possible adverse effects, anti-inflammatory agents such as
      topical corticosteroids and calcineurin inhibitors should be used only for short
      durations. Several over-the-counter shampoos are available for treatment of
      seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp, and patients should be directed to initiate
      therapy with one of these agents. Antifungal shampoos (long-term) and topical
      corticosteroids (short-term) can be used as second-line agents for treatment of
      scalp seborrheic dermatitis. 

PMID- 25822273
TI  - Benzodiazepines and Alzheimer disease.

PMID- 25822274
TI  - Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors vs. Angiotensin Receptor Blockers.

PMID- 25822275
TI  - Vesicular rash in a college student.

PMID- 25822276
TI  - Planning for Labor and Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Delivery: Guidelines from the
      AAFP.

PMID- 25822277
TI  - Prevention of dental caries in children from birth through five years of age:
      recommendation statement.

PMID- 25822278
TI  - Screening for suicide risk in adolescents, adults, and older adults in primary
      care: recommendation statement.

PMID- 25822279
TI  - Treating newly diagnosed high blood pressure.

PMID- 25822280
TI  - Involvement of large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels in chloroquine
      induced force alterations in pre-contracted airway smooth muscle.
AB  - The participation of large-conductance Ca2+ activated K+ channels (BKs) in
      chloroquine (chloro)-induced relaxation of precontracted airway smooth muscle
      (ASM) is currently undefined. In this study we found that iberiotoxin (IbTx, a
      selective inhibitor of BKs) and chloro both completely blocked spontaneous
      transient outward currents (STOCs) in single mouse tracheal smooth muscle cells,
      which suggests that chloro might block BKs. We further found that chloro
      inhibited Ca2+ sparks and caffeine-induced global Ca2+ increases. Moreover,
      chloro can directly block single BK currents completely from the intracellular
      side and partially from the extracellular side. All these data indicate that the
      chloro-induced inhibition of STOCs is due to the blockade of chloro on both BKs
      and ryanodine receptors (RyRs). We also found that low concentrations of chloro
      resulted in additional contractions in tracheal rings that were precontracted by
      acetylcholine (ACH). Increases in chloro concentration reversed the contractile
      actions to relaxations. In the presence of IbTx or paxilline (pax), BK blockers,
      chloro-induced contractions were inhibited, although the high concentrations of
      chloro-induced relaxations were not affected. Taken together, our results
      indicate that chloro blocks BKs and RyRs, resulting in abolishment of STOCs and
      occurrence of contraction, the latter will counteract the relaxations induced by
      high concentrations of chloro. 

PMID- 25822281
TI  - Serum levels of caspase-cleaved cytokeratin-18 in patients with severe traumatic
      brain injury are associated with mortality: a pilot study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: There have been found apoptotic changes in brain tissue samples from
      animals and humans after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The protein cytokeratin
      18 (CK-18), present in epithelial cells, is cleaved by the action of caspases
      during apoptosis, and the resulting fragments are released into the blood as
      caspase-cleaved CK (CCCK)-18. Circulating levels of CCCK-18, as biomarker of
      apoptosis, have been determined in patients with different processes; however, it
      has not been explored in TBI patients. Thus, the objective of this study was to
      determine whether there is an association between serum CCCK-18 levels and
      mortality and whether such levels could be used as a biomarker to predict
      outcomes in TBI patients. METHODS: A prospective, observational, multicenter
      study carried out in six Spanish Intensive Care Units. We included patients with
      severe TBI defined as Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) lower than 9; and were excluded
      those patients with Injury Severity Score (ISS) in non-cranial aspects higher
      than 9. We measured serum CCCK-18 levels at admission. The end-point of the study
      was 30-day mortality. RESULTS: Surviving patients (n = 73) showed lower serum
      CCCK-18 levels (P = 0.003) than non-survivors (n = 27). On ROC analysis, the area
      under the curve (AUC) for serum CCCK-18 levels as predictor of 30-day mortality
      was 0.69 (95% CI = 0.59-0.78; P = 0.006). We found in survival analysis that
      patients with serum CCCK-18 higher than 201 u/L had higher 30-day mortality than
      patients with lower levels (Hazard ratio = 3.9; 95% CI = 1.81-8.34; P<0.001).
      Regression analyses showed that serum CCCK-18 levels higher than 201 u/L were
      associated with 30-day mortality (OR = 8.476; 95% CI = 2.087-34.434; P = 0.003)
      after controlling for age and GCS. CONCLUSIONS: The novel finding of our study
      was that serum CCCK-18 levels are associated with 30-day mortality and could be
      used as a prognostic biomarker in patients with severe TBI.

PMID- 25822282
TI  - Polymer nanofiber-guided uniform lithium deposition for battery electrodes.
AB  - Lithium metal is one of the most promising candidates as an anode material for
      next-generation energy storage systems due to its highest specific capacity (3860
      mAh/g) and lowest redox potential of all. The uncontrolled lithium dendrite
      growth that causes a poor cycling performance and serious safety hazards,
      however, presents a significant challenge for the realization of lithium metal
      based batteries. Here, we demonstrate a novel electrode design by placing a three
      dimensional (3D) oxidized polyacrylonitrile nanofiber network on top of the
      current collector. The polymer fiber with polar surface functional groups could
      guide the lithium ions to form uniform lithium metal deposits confined on the
      polymer fiber surface and in the 3D polymer layer. We showed stable cycling of
      lithium metal anode with an average Coulombic efficiency of 97.4% over 120 cycles
      in ether-based electrolyte at a current density of 3 mA/cm(2) for a total of 1
      mAh/cm(2) of lithium. 

PMID- 25822283
TI  - Pharmacokinetic, Pharmacodynamic, and Drug-Interaction Profile of the Hepatitis C
      Virus NS5B Polymerase Inhibitor Sofosbuvir.
AB  - Sofosbuvir (SOVALDI((r))), a potent, once-daily, orally administered nucleotide
      analog prodrug inhibitor of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5B polymerase is
      approved in the USA, EU, Canada, and other regions for the treatment of HCV
      infection as a component of an antiviral treatment regimen. Sofosbuvir undergoes
      intracellular activation to form GS-461203 (active triphosphate, not detected in
      plasma), and ultimately the inactive, renally eliminated metabolite GS-331007. GS
      331007 was identified as the primary analyte of interest for clinical
      pharmacology studies as it accounted for >90 % of systemic drug-related material
      exposure, and provided comparable exposure-response relationships for viral
      kinetics as observed for sofosbuvir. GS-331007 and sofosbuvir exhibit linear
      pharmacokinetics with minimal accumulation upon multiple dosing. Compared to
      healthy subjects, HCV-infected patients had modestly lower (39 %) GS-331007 area
      under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) and higher sofosbuvir AUC (60 %).
      Sofosbuvir can be administered without dose modification in HCV-infected patients
      with any degree of hepatic impairment or mild to moderate renal impairment.
      Sofosbuvir has a low propensity for clinically significant drug interactions with
      common concomitant medications used by HCV-infected patients. Clinically
      significant alterations in GS-331007 or sofosbuvir exposures are limited to
      potent inducers of intestinal P-glycoprotein that may lower exposure. In HCV
      infected patients, demographic variables do not significantly influence GS-331007
      and sofosbuvir exposures and no consistent exposure-response relationships were
      observed for efficacy or safety. This review focuses on the clinical
      pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic
      relationships of sofosbuvir, and summarizes a number of drug interaction studies
      with important concomitant medications commonly used by HCV-infected patients.

PMID- 25822284
TI  - Primary Results of the Patient-Centered Disease Management (PCDM) for Heart
      Failure Study: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Heart failure (HF) has a major effect on patients' health status,
      including their symptom burden, functional status, and health-related quality of
      life. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of a collaborative care patient
      centered disease management (PCDM) intervention to improve the health status of
      patients with HF. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The Patient-Centered Disease
      Management (PCDM) trial was a multisite randomized clinical trial comparing a
      collaborative care PCDM intervention with usual care in patients with HF. A
      population-based sample of 392 patients with an HF diagnosis from 4 Veterans
      Affairs centers who had a Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) overall
      summary score of less than 60 (heavy symptom burden and impaired functional
      status and quality of life) were enrolled between May 2009 and June 2011.
      INTERVENTIONS: The PCDM intervention included collaborative care by a
      multidisciplinary care team consisting of a nurse coordinator, cardiologist,
      psychiatrist, and primary care physician; home telemonitoring and patient self
      management support; and screening and treatment for comorbid depression. MAIN
      OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was change in the KCCQ overall summary
      score at 1 year (a 5-point change is clinically significant). Mortality,
      hospitalization, and depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire 9) were
      secondary outcomes. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in baseline
      characteristics between patients randomized to the PCDM intervention (n=187) vs
      usual care (n=197); baseline mean KCCQ overall summary scores were 37.9 vs 36.9
      (P=.48). There was significant improvement in the KCCQ overall summary scores in
      both groups after 1 year (mean change, 13.5 points in each group), with no
      significant difference between groups (P=.97). The intervention was not
      associated with greater improvement in the KCCQ overall summary scores when the
      effect over time was estimated using 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month data (P=.74).
      Among secondary outcomes, there were significantly fewer deaths at 1 year in the
      intervention arm (8 of 187 [4.3%]) than in the usual care arm (19 of 197 [9.6%])
      (P = .04). Among those who screened positive for depression, there was a greater
      improvement in the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 scores after 1 year in the
      intervention arm than in the usual care arm (2.1 points lower, P=.01). There was
      no significant difference in 1-year hospitalization rates between the
      intervention arm and the usual care arm (29.4% vs 29.9%, P=.87). CONCLUSIONS AND
      RELEVANCE: This multisite randomized trial of a multifaceted HF PCDM intervention
      did not demonstrate improved patient health status compared with usual care.
      TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00461513.

PMID- 25822285
TI  - The dynamic conformational cycle of the group I chaperonin C-termini revealed via
      molecular dynamics simulation.
AB  - Chaperonins are large ring shaped oligomers that facilitate protein folding by
      encapsulation within a central cavity. All chaperonins possess flexible C-termini
      which protrude from the equatorial domain of each subunit into the central
      cavity. Biochemical evidence suggests that the termini play an important role in
      the allosteric regulation of the ATPase cycle, in substrate folding and in
      complex assembly and stability. Despite the tremendous wealth of structural data
      available for numerous orthologous chaperonins, little structural information is
      available regarding the residues within the C-terminus. Herein, molecular
      dynamics simulations are presented which localize the termini throughout the
      nucleotide cycle of the group I chaperonin, GroE, from Escherichia coli. The
      simulation results predict that the termini undergo a heretofore unappreciated
      conformational cycle which is coupled to the nucleotide state of the enzyme. As
      such, these results have profound implications for the mechanism by which GroE
      utilizes nucleotide and folds client proteins. 

PMID- 25822286
TI  - Rational synthesis of AB-type N-substituted core-functionalized naphthalene
      diimides (cNDIs).
AB  - Acid-mediated transformation of tetraethyl 2,6-diethoxynaphthalene-1,4,5,8
      tetracarboxylate selectively affords the core-substituted naphthalene-anhydride
      ester (cNAE) in quantitative yield. This anhydride can be selectively converted
      into hetero-N-substituted core-functionalized naphthalene diimides (cNDIs)
      through sequential condensation reactions in the presence of the precursor amine
      with very high isolated yields over four steps. The approach can be applied to
      prepare a large variety of heterocyclic, aromatic, and aliphatic heterodiimides. 

PMID- 25822287
TI  - Enhanced photocatalytic activity and charge carrier dynamics of hetero-structured
      organic-inorganic nano-photocatalysts.
AB  - P3HT-coupled CdS heterostructured nanophotocatalysts have been synthesized by an
      inexpensive and scalable chemical bath deposition approach followed by drop
      casting. The presence of amorphous regions corresponding to P3HT in addition to
      the lattice fringes [(002) and (101)] corresponding to hexagonal CdS in the HRTEM
      image confirm the coupling of P3HT onto CdS. The shift of pi* (C?C) and sigma* (C
      C) peaks toward lower energy losses and prominent presence of sigma* (C-H) in the
      case of P3HT-CdS observed in electron energy loss spectrum implies the formation
      of heterostructured P3HT-CdS. It was further corroborated by the shifting of S 2p
      peaks toward higher binding energy (163.8 and 164.8 eV) in the XPS spectrum of
      P3HT-CdS. The current density recorded under illumination for the 0.2 wt % P3HT
      CdS photoelectrode is 3 times higher than that of unmodified CdS and other
      loading concentration of P3HT coupled CdS photoelectrodes. The solar hydrogen
      generation studies show drastic enhancement in the hydrogen generation rate i.e.
      4108 MUmol h(-1)g(-1) in the case of 0.2 wt % P3HT-CdS. The improvement in the
      photocatalytic activity of 0.2 wt % P3HT-CdS photocatalyst is ascribed to
      improved charge separation lead by the unison of shorter lifetime (tau1=0.25 ns)
      of excitons, higher degree of band bending, and increased donor density as
      revealed by transient photoluminescence studies and Mott-Schottky analysis.

PMID- 25822288
TI  - Azaphilones inhibit tau aggregation and dissolve tau aggregates in vitro.
AB  - The aggregation of the microtubule-associated protein tau is a seminal event in
      many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. The inhibition or
      reversal of tau aggregation is therefore a potential therapeutic strategy for
      these diseases. Fungal natural products have proven to be a rich source of useful
      compounds having wide varieties of biological activities. We have previously
      screened Aspergillus nidulans secondary metabolites for their ability to inhibit
      tau aggregation in vitro using an arachidonic acid polymerization protocol. One
      aggregation inhibitor identified was asperbenzaldehyde, an intermediate in
      azaphilone biosynthesis. We therefore tested 11 azaphilone derivatives to
      determine their tau assembly inhibition properties in vitro. All compounds tested
      inhibited tau filament assembly to some extent, and four of the 11 compounds had
      the advantageous property of disassembling preformed tau aggregates in a dose
      dependent fashion. The addition of these compounds to the tau aggregates reduced
      both the total length and number of tau polymers. The most potent compounds were
      tested in in vitro reactions to determine whether they interfere with tau's
      normal function of stabilizing microtubules (MTs). We found that they did not
      completely inhibit MT assembly in the presence of tau. These derivatives are very
      promising lead compounds for tau aggregation inhibitors and, more excitingly, for
      compounds that can disassemble pre-existing tau filaments. They also represent a
      new class of anti-tau aggregation compounds with a novel structural scaffold. 

PMID- 25822289
TI  - Observation and partial targeted surgery in the management of tympano-jugular
      paraganglioma: a contribution to the multioptional treatment.
AB  - The objective of this study was to assess the value of a limited tumor excision
      in tympano-jugular paragangliomas treated with observation with the goal of
      preventing, or repairing, a neural (VII cranial nerve) or brain damage and
      continue an otherwise correct observation. This is a retrospective case review.
      Each patient was submitted to a complete neuro-radiological work-up for diagnosis
      including CT, MRI, and angiography if needed of tympano-jugular paraganglioma
      class C. All the cases were submitted to observation and in 16 cases partial
      targeted surgery was performed. In 10 cases, the procedure involved a targeted
      removal of the tumor growing in contact with, or invading, the Fallopius. In four
      cases, the procedure was a petro-occipital trans-sigmoid approach to remove the
      intradural portion of tumor producing the picture of brain stem compression. In
      two cases, there was the excision of the bleeding tumor surfaces in the outer ear
      canal. Follow-up ranged from 4 to 20 years. Success was considered the
      maintenance of observation without the change of class of tumor extension. In 13
      over 16 cases, the observation could be continued, as it still was the more
      favorable option between natural and surgical morbidity. In the other three
      cases, a newly installed paralysis of the 9-10 cranial nerves due to tumor growth
      involved a correction of the strategy to a radical procedure. Partial targeted
      surgery was directed to cases submitted to observation. It allowed to prevent, or
      repair, an impending, or actual damage to the facial nerve or the brain stem and
      to continue the abstentional treatment by keeping the balance between natural and
      therapy morbidity in favor of observation.

PMID- 25822290
TI  - Totally endoscopic stapes surgery without packing: novel technique bringing most
      comfort to the patients.
AB  - Many difficulties might be encountered during conventional stapes surgery.
      However, the good exposure provided by the endoscope can facilitate this
      procedure. The present study addresses the effectiveness of endoscopic stapes
      surgery with regard to the operation time and patients' convenience and
      satisfaction. 19 patients underwent endoscopic stapes surgery without packing. 15
      patients who experienced the microscopic stapes surgery served as the comparison
      group. Audiometric results and the patients' satisfaction as measured by visual
      analog scale in both group were compared. Audiometric results were similar in
      both groups. Nevertheless, the endoscopic method was accompanied by shorter
      operation time and more comfort for the patients. Totally endoscopic stapes
      surgery can be done in much shorter time without major difficulties and without
      need to pack ear canal after surgery. Far less dissection and incision as well as
      patients' more satisfaction make this technique as a good alternative to the
      microscopic approach to stapes surgery. 

PMID- 25822291
TI  - Primary definitive radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy for squamous cell
      carcinoma of the temporal bone.
AB  - We aimed to evaluate the impact of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) on the
      survival of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the temporal bone. We
      retrospectively analyzed the data of 13 consecutive patients who were treated by
      definitive radiation therapy (RT) or CCRT as the initial treatment between 1999
      and 2012. There were 5 patients with stage II disease, 5 with stage III, and 3
      with stage IV, as classified according to the University of Pittsburgh system.
      Among these, 2, 4, and 3 patients, respectively, were treated by CCRT; whereas
      the remaining (3 patients with stage II and 1 with stage III) were treated by RT
      alone. Median follow-up duration was 39 months (12-106 months) in all cases, and
      61.5 months (17-70 months) in censored cases. The 5-year overall survival (OS)
      rates were 51 % in all patients, and 40, 100, and 0 % in patients with stage II,
      stage III, and stage IV disease, respectively. In patients with stage II and III
      disease, the 5-year OS rates were 80 % in the CCRT group and 50 % in the RT-alone
      group. We found better prognosis in patients with stage II and III disease who
      were treated by CCRT. Only 2 patients treated by CCRT experienced adverse events
      more than grade 3, which were neutropenia and dermatitis. There was no late
      adverse event of bony necrosis. Our study results indicate that CCRT is safe and
      very effective as a first-line treatment for stage II and III squamous cell
      carcinoma of the temporal bone.

PMID- 25822292
TI  - Physiologic and pathophysiologic changes in the right heart in highly trained
      athletes.
AB  - Exercise causes changes in the heart in response to the hemodynamic demands of
      increased systemic and pulmonary requirements during exercise. Understanding
      these adaptations is of great importance, since they may overlap with those
      caused by pathological conditions. Initial descriptions of athlete's heart
      focused mainly on chronic adaptation of the left heart to training. In recent
      years, the substantial structural and functional adaptations of the right heart
      have been documented, highlighting the complex interplay with left heart.
      Moreover, there is evolving evidence of acute and chronic cardiac damage, mainly
      involving the right heart, which may predispose subjects to atrial and
      ventricular arrhythmias, configuring an exercise-induced cardiomyopathy. The aim
      of this article is to review the current knowledge on the physiologic and
      pathophysiologic changes in the right heart in highly trained athletes. 

PMID- 25822293
TI  - Exercise and sports in cardiac patients and athletes at risk: Balance between
      benefit and harm.
AB  - Physical training has a well-established role in the primary and secondary
      prevention of coronary artery disease. Moderate exercise has been shown to be
      beneficial in chronic stable heart failure. Competitive sports, however, is
      contraindicated in most forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), in
      myocarditis, in pericarditis, and in right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia.
      In most European countries, the recommendations of medical societies or public
      bodies state that these diseases have to be ruled out by prescreening before an
      individual can take up competitive sports. But the intensity and quality of this
      health check vary considerably from country to country, from the type of sports
      activity, and from the individuals who want to participate in sports.
      Prescreening on an individual basis should also be considered for leisure sports,
      particularly in people who decide to start training in middle age after years of
      physical inactivity to regain physical fitness. In leisure sports the initiative
      for a medical check-up lies primarily in the hands of the "healthy" individual.
      If she or he plans to participate in extreme forms of endurance sports with
      excessive training periods such as a marathon or ultramarathon and competitive
      cycling or rowing, they should be aware that high-intensity endurance sports can
      lead to structural alterations of the heart muscle even in healthy individuals.
      Physical exercise in patients with heart disease should be accompanied by regular
      medical check-ups. Most rehabilitation programs in Europe perform physical
      activity and training schedules according to current guidelines. Little is known
      about athletes who are physically handicapped and participate in competitive
      sports or the Paralympics, and even less is known about individuals with
      intellectual disabilities (ID) who participate in local, regional, international
      competitions or the Special Olympics or just in leisure sport activities. 

PMID- 25822294
TI  - Neuroplasticity and the edentulous patient- toward a paradigm shift in oral
      rehabilitation.

PMID- 25822295
TI  - Digitally planned and fabricated mandibular fixed complete dentures. Part 2.
      Prosthodontic phase.
AB  - Part 1 of this patient report described a prosthetically driven protocol that
      used computer-aided engineering for the fabrication of a mandibular conversion
      denture and maxillary provisional complete denture using the AvaDent Digital
      Denture system. The report demonstrated that this system combined with
      NobelClinician implant-planning software can be used to efficiently convert a
      digital denture into an immediately loaded provisional implant-supported fixed
      complete denture (hybrid prosthesis). Part 2 of the patient report describes the
      technique and steps involved in the fabrication of a digitally planned and
      fabricated mandibular fixed complete denture with incorporated titanium milled
      bar opposed by a definitive computer-aided design/computer-assisted manufacture
      milled maxillary complete denture. 

PMID- 25822296
TI  - First diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis in a patient with temporomandibular
      disorder: a case report.
AB  - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic disease of unknown etiology, characterized
      by synovitis of the diarthroidal joints, gradual bone erosion, and cartilage
      destruction. Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) arthritis is frequent in patients with
      RA, but it is seldom the first joint to be affected. This report presents a case
      of a female patient with undiagnosed RA who first presented with signs and
      symptoms of the disease in the TMJs. It highlights the importance of professional
      awareness and provides a roadmap for clinical and radiologic examination followed
      by biochemical and genetic monitoring for early diagnosis of RA. 

PMID- 25822297
TI  - Screw- versus cement-retained implant prostheses: a systematic review of
      prosthodontic maintenance and complications.
AB  - PURPOSE: This systematic review aimed to identify different prosthodontic
      outcomes between screw- and cement-retained implant prostheses. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: The relevant articles were retrieved from the following electronic
      databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed (using medical subject headings), and the
      Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL). The search was
      performed up to December 31, 2013, and was restricted to studies on human
      subjects reported in English. A further search was conducted through the
      reference lists of the articles found as well as from early online articles.
      Reviewed studies were those on fixed implant prostheses using different retention
      mechanisms such as screws or cement. Information on types of screws and
      mechanisms of preloading, as well as different luting cements, was collected in
      correlation with prosthodontic maintenance/complication issues seen in the
      clinical studies. RESULTS: Sixty-two papers met the review criteria. There were
      only six randomized controlled trials and none of them included an equivalent
      number of screw- and cement-retained single implant crowns for comparison.
      Studies used different types of screws and only a few reported the preloading
      procedure for the prosthetic screws. Other studies involving cement-retained
      implant prostheses used a range of dental cements; however, some did not specify
      the type used. Studies reported various prosthodontic maintenance/complication
      issues such as screw loosening, porcelain fracture, loss of retention, and
      esthetic concerns. Five studies did not report any prosthodontic maintenance
      issues during their observation periods. More recent studies also did not report
      any incidence of screw loosening. Only two studies stated the standardized
      criteria for reporting their prosthodontic maintenance/ complication issues.
      CONCLUSIONS: With inadequate information and various study designs, it was
      difficult to compare the prosthodontic outcomes between screw and cement-retained
      fixed implant prostheses. Both retention mechanisms showed prosthodontic
      maintenance/complication issues that must be considered and this review showed
      that the introduction of newer implant components may assist in minimizing these
      issues. It is also recommended that standardized criteria be used when reporting
      prosthodontic maintenance/complication issues to allow better comparison of data.

PMID- 25822298
TI  - The oral health of institutionalized older adults in Malta.
AB  - PURPOSE: Studies on the oral health status of institutionalized older adults are
      less prevalent than those of community-dwelling older adults, as
      institutionalized older adults tend to be frailer. Poor oral health in older
      adults has a negative impact on the quality of life and self-confidence of older
      people and potentially poses a financial burden on both the older adult and
      society in general. The objective of this study was to assess and compare the
      oral health status of state institutionalized older adults in Malta with that of
      their European counterparts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 278 older adults
      with an average age of 83.6 +/- 6.5 years from nine state institutions in Malta
      were randomly selected. Participants were clinically examined for caries,
      periodontal disease, oral mucosal lesions, and prosthetic status. RESULTS: The
      oral health status of state institutionalized older adults was poor, with a very
      low routine dental attendance (29.3%) and, consequently, a high level of
      treatment need (44.4% of dentate individuals required extractions and 42.1% of
      dentate individuals required restorations). Only 2% of dentate individuals had
      healthy periodontal tissues with no clinical attachment loss over 4 mm.
      Edentulism among state institutionalized older adults stood at 41%. CONCLUSIONS:
      Institutionalized older adults from Malta have a poor oral health status
      comparable to institutionalized older adults from Europe in general, which poses
      fiscal and cultural challenges that need to be addressed by the dental community.

PMID- 25822299
TI  - The effectiveness of polishing kits: influence on surface roughness of zirconia.
AB  - This study investigated the effectiveness of intraoral and technical polishing
      kits. Zirconia specimens were sintered, ground, and polished with 14 different
      two-step or three-step polishing kits. Surface roughness (Ra, Rz) after each
      treatment step was determined, and scanning electron micrographs were made.
      Except for one system, all polishing kits were effective in reducing the surface
      roughness of ground zirconia. Differences in surface roughness were high after
      the first polishing step but were reduced to Ra/Rz values similar to or lower
      than those of the sintered reference after the final polishing step. Achieving
      smooth surfaces depended on a sequential application of all polishing steps. 

PMID- 25822300
TI  - Zirconia-based crowns up to 5 years in function: a retrospective clinical study
      and evaluation of prosthetic restorations and failures.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the 5-year
      clinical performance and failure rate of single- or multiple-unit zirconia-based
      crowns. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 148 patients (39 men and 109 women,
      mean age: 46.9 +/- 10.6 years) treated in university and private practices with
      618 single- or multiple-unit zirconia-based (Lava) crowns made on natural teeth
      from January 2007 to December 2008 were included. Two hundred fifty-nine anterior
      and 359 posterior crowns were examined. A core and/or veneer fracture that
      required replacement of the restoration was considered to be a failure. The
      cumulative survival rate (CSR) was described with Kaplan-Meier survival
      functions. The crowns replaced for other reasons were deemed lost to follow-up,
      and esthetic, functional, and biologic complications were rated. RESULTS: At the
      5-year follow-up, no zirconia core fractures were observed. Twelve veneer
      fractures that required crown replacement were detected. The CSR was 98.1%. There
      was a statistically significant difference between survival of the anterior and
      posterior restorations (P < .001). In total, 116 crowns experienced biologic and
      technical complications. The most common complications were smooth veneer
      fracture (4, 0.6%), loss of retention (7, 1%), staining because of smoking (24,
      4%), and gingival recession (48, 8%). CONCLUSIONS: According to the 5-year CSR
      (98.1%) observed in this study, zirconia-based single or multiple crowns may be
      considered an acceptable treatment modality for the replacement of anterior and
      posterior teeth. RESULTS from the current study should be supported by additional
      randomized clinical trials.

PMID- 25822301
TI  - Loss of teeth in positions mesially adjacent to implant-supported fixed dentures:
      a retrospective clinical survey.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate the loss of teeth in positions mesially
      adjacent to implant-supported fixed dentures (IFDs) after insertion of IFDs in
      unilateral free-end edentulous spaces in the mandible at dental clinics. There
      were a total of 157 adjacent teeth. Nine adjacent teeth (5.73%, 9 of 157), 9
      opposing teeth (2.59%, 9 of 348), 38 posterior teeth (1.93%, 38 of 1,964), and 3
      anterior teeth (0.22%, 3 of 1,380) were lost during the observation period. The
      percentage of lost adjacent teeth was higher than that of posterior teeth (P =
      .002). Teeth in positions adjacent to the IFDs require more attention than other
      remaining teeth. 

PMID- 25822302
TI  - Does case severity make a difference to clinical improvement following complete
      denture treatment?
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of case severity on
      clinical outcomes when fabricating new complete dentures. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Participants were separated into severe and moderate groups using the index of
      case difficulty for edentulous patients developed by the Japan Prosthodontic
      Society. Before and after treatment, self-assessed masticatory ability and oral
      health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) were examined, and the authors compared
      them according to case severity using the Mann-Whitney U test. To compare
      findings before and after treatment, the authors used the Wilcoxon signed rank
      test. RESULTS: In the severe group, both scores were significantly improved after
      treatment (P < .01). However, in the moderate group, there was no significant
      difference in self-assessed masticatory ability as measured by the food
      acceptance score before and after treatment (P = .11). Before treatment, OHRQoL
      as measured by the Oral Health Impact Profile score was significantly higher in
      the severe group than in the moderate group (P < .01). However, after treatment,
      there was no significant difference between the two groups (P = .92).
      CONCLUSIONS: The authors concluded that case severity makes a difference in the
      edentulous patient's OHRQoL and self-assessed masticatory ability during complete
      denture treatment. Evaluating case severity with the index before treatment is a
      useful tool for patients and clinicians to predict clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25822303
TI  - Decision making for residual palatoalveolar cleft defects: a new classification.
AB  - Oral rehabilitation of adult patients with cleft lip and palate is related to the
      severity of the anatomical and functional alterations that hamper the proper
      closure of the nasopharynx. The ideal treatment is closure by bone graft and
      orthodontics. However, when surgery is not possible or when the patient does not
      wish to undergo surgery, a palatal prosthesis may offer the best solution in most
      clinical situations. The authors of this article propose a new classification to
      help the practitioner with decision making and prosthetic treatment planning for
      residual palatoalveolar cleft defects. 

PMID- 25822304
TI  - The combination of digital surface scanners and cone beam computed tomography
      technology for guided implant surgery using 3Shape implant studio software: a
      case history report.
AB  - The incorporation of virtual engineering into dentistry and the digitization of
      information are providing new perspectives and innovative alternatives for dental
      treatment modalities. The use of digital surface scanners with surgical planning
      software allows for the combination of the radiographic, prosthetic, surgical,
      and laboratory fields under a common virtual scenario, permitting complete
      digital treatment planning. In this article, the authors present a clinical case
      in which a guided implant surgery was performed based on a complete digital
      surgical plan combining the information from a cone beam computed tomography scan
      and the virtual simulation obtained from the 3Shape TRIOS intraoral surface
      scanner. The information was imported to and combined in the 3Shape Implant
      Studio software for guided implant surgery planning. A surgical guide was
      obtained by a 3D printer, and the surgical procedure was done using the
      Biohorizons Guided Surgery Kit and its protocol. 

PMID- 25822305
TI  - Reliability of the impression replica technique.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of the impression replica
      technique with a four-unit zirconia fixed dental prosthesis (FDP). Marginal and
      internal fit were measured by repeatedly placing the FDP on an epoxy cast using
      light-body silicone material corresponding to cement. All measured marginal and
      internal fit points showed varying values. The greatest variations were seen at
      the most distal margin (33 MUm) and at the distal abutment of the FDP (77 MUm).
      The results showed that the technique gives moderate variations and is a useful
      method to evaluate marginal and internal fit. 

PMID- 25822306
TI  - Effects of dentifrices on subsurface dentin tubule occlusion: an in situ study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate, in situ, the penetration of deposits formed within the
      subsurface of dentin samples treated with desensitizing dentifrices designed to
      occlude dentin tubules compared to two controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty
      eight healthy participants wore left and right intraoral appliances, each
      retaining four human dentin samples, for two periods of 4 days. Samples were
      power-brushed, outside the mouth, twice daily with test products (dentifrices
      containing 8% strontium or 8% arginine) or control (1,450 ppm NaF or water) and
      subjected to an agitated grapefruit juice acid challenge on days 3 and 4.
      Eighteen dentin samples were randomly selected from each treatment group and were
      dry fractured for scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive x-ray
      spectroscopy analysis. RESULTS: The proportion of cross-sectioned dentin tubules
      with subsurface occlusion (occluded to a mean of 5 +/- 2 MUm, range: 1 to 9 MUm
      below the surface) for the 8% strontium group on days 1 and 2 (pre-acid) was 82%
      (SD: 9%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 78% to 86%) and on days 3 and 4 (post
      acid) was 88% (SD: 10%, CI = 83% to 93%). For 8% arginine on days 3 and 4 (post
      acid), the proportion was 78% (SD: 8%, CI = 74% to 82%). These results were
      statistically significant compared to those for controls (P < .01). The 8%
      arginine on days 1 and 2 (pre-acid) and water and control paste on all days
      revealed no subsurface deposit. CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitations of this
      study, cross-sectional SEM analysis suggested strontium and arginine dentifrices
      occlude tubules subsurface in dentin compared to negative controls following acid
      challenge. The desensitizing dentifrices elicit subsurface changes that may
      potentiate their effects for the management of dentin hypersensitivity,
      particularly for patients who consume acidic beverages.

PMID- 25822307
TI  - Metal reinforcement of a complete maxillary denture without a palate: a
      preliminary report.
AB  - This preliminary study examined laboratory-simulated differences between
      maxillary complete dentures with and without a palate (palateless) as well as the
      effect of reinforcement of the latter design. Five types of experimental dentures
      and three types of reinforcements were made. Strain gauges were attached, and a
      vertical load was applied. The strain was statistically compared using analysis
      of variance (P = .05). Strain recordings on the palatal side of palateless
      dentures without reinforcement were significantly higher than in complete
      dentures and palateless dentures with reinforcement (P < .05). These preliminary
      observations suggest that such reinforcement with a palatal bar or metal-based
      palate may reduce the risk of fracture and deformation. 

PMID- 25822308
TI  - Bending properties of Ce-TZP/A nanocomposite clasps for removable partial
      dentures.
AB  - PURPOSE: Ceria-stabilized zirconia/alumina nanocomposite (Ce-TZP/A) has excellent
      fracture toughness and bending strength that could be useful for partial denture
      framework application. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of
      three-dimensional (3D) geometry on the bending and fatigue properties of a model
      simulation of Ce-TZP/A clasps. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Half oval-shaped Ce-TZP/A
      rods were prepared in six 3D designs. Specimens were either of standard (width
      divided by thickness: 2.0/1.0 mm) or flat type (2.5/0.8 mm) cross-sectional areas
      with taper ratios of 1.0, 0.8, or 0.6. As a comparison, cobalt-chromium (Co-Cr)
      alloy rods of the same shape as the Ce-TZP/A standard shape rod were prepared.
      All specimens were subjected to the cantilever test and loaded until fracture.
      They were also cyclically loaded 106 times with various constant displacements,
      and the maximum displacement prior to fracture was determined for each specimen.
      Three-dimensional finite element analysis (3D FEA), simulating the cantilever
      test, was performed to determine the stress distribution during loading. RESULTS:
      Specimens with the standard cross-sectional shape exhibited higher rigidity and
      higher fracture loads than the flat specimens by the cantilever test. In
      addition, lower taper ratios were consistently associated with larger
      displacements at fracture. Fatigue tests revealed that the maximum displacement
      prior to fracture of Ce-TZP/A specimens was comparable to that of Co-Cr alloy
      specimens. The 3D FEA showed that specimens with a taper ratio of 0.6 had the
      least stress concentration. CONCLUSIONS: Ce-TZP/A clasp specimens with a standard
      cross-sectional shape and a 0.6 taper ratio exhibited the best bending properties
      among those tested.

PMID- 25822309
TI  - Prosthetic rehabilitation of edentulism prevents malnutrition in nursing home
      residents.
AB  - To investigate the association between prosthetic rehabilitation and malnutrition
      in institutionalized elders, 255 nursing home residents were recruited for this
      study and underwent a comprehensive dental examination. The body mass index (BMI)
      was administered to estimate the nutritional condition. Participants with BMI <
      20 kg/mc were categorized as malnourished (n = 33), whereas all others were
      categorized as adequately nourished (n = 222). The number of teeth present and
      the prevalence of prosthetic rehabilitation were significantly lower in
      malnourished participants (P < .05). Malnutrition risk was 4.6 times higher for
      participants who were edentulous and did not wear dentures. Adequate replacement
      of teeth is important to prevent malnutrition in institutionalized older people. 

PMID- 25822310
TI  - Phase II study of capecitabine and the oral mTOR inhibitor everolimus in patients
      with advanced pancreatic cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: The combination of an mTOR inhibitor with 5-fluorouracil-based
      anticancer therapy is attractive because of preclinical evidence of synergy
      between these drugs. According to our phase I study, the combination of
      capecitabine and everolimus is safe and feasible, with potential activity in
      pancreatic cancer patients. METHODS: Patients with advanced adenocarcinoma of the
      pancreas were enrolled. Eligible patients had a WHO performance status 0-2 and
      adequate hepatic and renal functions. The treatment regimen consisted of
      capecitabine 1000 mg/m(2) BID day 1-14 and everolimus 10 mg daily (5 mg BID) in a
      continuous 21-day schedule. Tumor assessment was performed with CT-scan every
      three cycles. Primary endpoint was response rate (RR) according to RECIST 1.0.
      Secondary endpoints were progression-free survival, overall survival and 1-year
      survival rate. RESULTS: In total, 31 patients were enrolled. Median (range)
      treatment duration with everolimus was 76 days (1-431). Principal grade 3/4
      toxicities were hyperglycemia (45 %), hand-foot syndrome (16 %), diarrhea (6 %)
      and mucositis (3 %). Prominent grade 1/2 toxicities were anemia (81 %), rash (65
      %), mucositis (58 %) and fatigue (55 %). RR was 6 %. Ten patients (32 %) had
      stable disease resulting in a disease control rate of 38 %. Median overall
      survival was 8.9 months (95 % CI 4.6-13.1). Progression-free survival was 3.6
      months (95 % CI 1.9-5.3). CONCLUSIONS: The oral regimen with the combination of
      capecitabine and everolimus is a moderately active treatment for patients with
      advanced pancreatic cancer, with an acceptable toxicity profile at the applied
      dose level.

PMID- 25822311
TI  - Multidimensional clinical phenotyping of an adult cystic fibrosis patient
      population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a multi-systemic disease resulting from
      mutations in the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Regulator (CFTR) gene and has
      major manifestations in the sino-pulmonary, and gastro-intestinal tracts.
      Clinical phenotypes were generated using 26 common clinical variables to generate
      classes that overlapped quantiles of lung function and were based on multiple
      aspects of CF systemic disease. METHODS: The variables included age, gender, CFTR
      mutations, FEV1% predicted, FVC% predicted, height, weight, Brasfield chest xray
      score, pancreatic sufficiency status and clinical microbiology results. Complete
      datasets were compiled on 211 subjects. Phenotypes were identified using a
      proximity matrix generated by the unsupervised Random Forests algorithm and
      subsequent clustering by the Partitioning around Medoids (PAM) algorithm. The
      final phenotypic classes were then characterized and compared to a similar
      dataset obtained three years earlier. FINDINGS: Clinical phenotypes were
      identified using a clustering strategy that generated four and five phenotypes.
      Each strategy identified 1) a low lung health scores phenotype, 2) a younger,
      well-nourished, male-dominated class, 3) various high lung health score
      phenotypes that varied in terms of age, gender and nutritional status. This
      multidimensional clinical phenotyping strategy identified classes with expected
      microbiology results and low risk clinical phenotypes with pancreatic
      sufficiency. INTERPRETATION: This study demonstrated regional adult CF clinical
      phenotypes using non-parametric, continuous, ordinal and categorical data with a
      minimal amount of subjective data to identify clinically relevant phenotypes.
      These studies identified the relative stability of the phenotypes, demonstrated
      specific phenotypes consistent with published findings and identified others
      needing further study.

PMID- 25822313
TI  - The effects of chronological age and size on toxicity of zinc to juvenile brown
      trout.
AB  - A series of toxicity tests were conducted to investigate the role of
      chronological age on zinc tolerance in juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta). Four
      different incubation temperatures were used to control the maturation of the
      juveniles before zinc exposures. These 96-h exposures used flow-through
      conditions and four chronological ages of fish with weights ranging from 0.148 to
      1.432 g. Time-to-death (TTD) data were collected throughout the exposure along
      with the final mortality. The results indicate that chronological age does not
      play a predictable role in zinc tolerance for juvenile brown trout. However, a
      relationship between zinc tolerance and fish size was observed in all
      chronological age populations, which prompted us to conduct additional
      exploratory data analysis to quantify how much of an effect size had during this
      stage of development. The smallest fish (0.148-0.423 g) were shown to be less
      sensitive than the largest fish (0.639-1.432 g) with LC50 values of 868 and 354
      ug Zn/L, respectively. The Kaplan-Meier product estimation method was used to
      determine survival functions from the TTD data and supports the LC50 results with
      a greater median TTD for smaller fish than larger juvenile fish. These results
      indicate that fish size or a related characteristic may be a significant
      determinant of susceptibility and should be considered in acute zinc toxicity
      tests with specific attention paid to the expected exposure scenario in the
      field. 

PMID- 25822312
TI  - Probing the protective mechanism of poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate against vibriosis
      by using gnotobiotic Artemia franciscana and Vibrio campbellii as host-pathogen
      model.
AB  - The compound poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), a polymer of the short chain fatty
      acid beta-hydroxybutyrate, was shown to protect experimental animals against a
      variety of bacterial diseases, (including vibriosis in farmed aquatic animals),
      albeit through undefined mechanisms. Here we aimed at unraveling the underlying
      mechanism behind the protective effect of PHB against bacterial disease using
      gnotobiotically-cultured brine shrimp Artemia franciscana and pathogenic Vibrio
      campbellii as host-pathogen model. The gnotobiotic model system is crucial for
      such studies because it eliminates any possible microbial interference (naturally
      present in any type of aquatic environment) in these mechanistic studies and
      furthermore facilitates the interpretation of the results in terms of a cause
      effect relationship. We showed clear evidences indicating that PHB conferred
      protection to Artemia host against V. campbellii by a mechanism of inducing heat
      shock protein (Hsp) 70. Additionally, our results also showed that this salutary
      effect of PHB was associated with the generation of protective innate immune
      responses, especially the prophenoloxidase and transglutaminase immune systems -
      phenomena possibly mediated by PHB-induced Hsp70. From overall results, we
      conclude that PHB induces Hsp70 and this induced Hsp70 might contribute in part
      to the protection of Artemia against pathogenic V. campbellii. 

PMID- 25822314
TI  - Serum-free suspension culturing of human cells: adaptation, growth, and
      cryopreservation.
AB  - Human cell lines have attracted great interest because they are capable of
      producing glycosylated proteins that are more similar to native human proteins,
      thereby reducing the potential for immune responses. However, these cells have
      not been extensively characterized and cultured under serum-free suspension
      conditions. In this work, we describe the adaptation, growth, and
      cryopreservation of the human cell lines SK-Hep-1, HepG2, and HKB-11 under serum
      free suspension conditions. The results showed that both HKB-11 and SK-Hep-1
      adapted to serum-free suspension cultures in FreeStyle and SFM II, respectively.
      Kinetic characterization showed that the HKB-11 and SK-Hep-1 cells reached cell
      densities as high as 8.6 * 10(6) and 1.9 * 10(6) cells/mL, respectively. The
      maximum specific growth rates (MU max) were similar for both cells (0.0159/h for
      HKB-11 and 0.0186/h for SK-Hep-1). The growth limitation of adapted cells does
      not appear to be associated with glucose or glutamine depletion, nor with the
      formation of lactate in inhibitory concentrations. However, in both cases,
      ammonia production reached concentrations that are considered inhibitory to
      mammalian cells (2-5 mM). The adapted cells were also successfully cryopreserved
      under serum-free formulations. The SK-HEP-1 and HKB-11 cells that were adapted to
      serum-free suspension conditions might be suitable for use in the manufacturing
      of recombinant proteins, thereby eliminating the potential for the introduction
      of adventitious process contamination and greatly simplifying downstream protein
      purification. 

PMID- 25822315
TI  - Correction to Fox, Meyer, and Vogt (2015).
AB  - Reports an error in "Attitudes about the VA health-care setting, mental illness,
      and mental health treatment and their relationship with VA mental health service
      use among female and male OEF/OIF veterans" by Annie B. Fox, Eric C. Meyer and
      Dawne Vogt (Psychological Services, 2015[Feb], Vol 12[1], 49-58). The
      institutional affiliation in the byline for Annie B. Fox and Dawne Vogt did not
      include the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The online version
      of this article has been corrected. (The following abstract of the original
      article appeared in record 2014-45062-001.) In the present study, the authors
      explored gender differences in attitudinal barriers to and facilitators of care
      for Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans and
      examined the relationship of those factors with VA mental health service use
      among female and male veterans with probable mental health conditions. Data were
      collected as part of a national cross-sectional survey of OEF/OIF veterans; the
      current sample was limited to participants with a probable diagnosis of
      posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, or alcohol abuse (N = 278). Although
      negligible gender differences were observed in attitudes about VA care and
      perceived fit in the VA setting, men reported slightly more negative beliefs
      about mental illness and mental health treatment than women. In addition,
      logistic regressions revealed different associations with VA mental health
      service use for women and men. For women only, positive perceptions of VA care
      were associated with increased likelihood of seeking mental health treatment. For
      men only, perceived similarity to other VA care users and negative beliefs about
      mental health treatment were associated with increased likelihood of service use,
      whereas negative beliefs about mental illness were associated with lower
      likelihood of service use. For both women and men, perceived entitlement to VA
      care was associated with increased likelihood of service use and negative beliefs
      about treatment-seeking were associated with a reduced likelihood of seeking
      mental health care in the past 6 months. Results support the need for tailored
      outreach to address unique barriers to mental health treatment for female and
      male OEF/OIF veterans.

PMID- 25822316
TI  - African American and European American veterans' perspectives on receiving mental
      health treatment.
AB  - Little is known about client attitudes, especially veterans', toward the types of
      structured interventions that are increasingly being offered in public sector and
      U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs mental health clinics, nor is the possible
      impact these attitudes may have on treatment engagement well understood. Previous
      work indicates that attitudes of African Americans and European Americans toward
      treatment may differ in important ways. Attitudes toward treatment have been a
      proposed explanation for lower treatment engagement and higher dropout rates
      among African Americans compared with European Americans. Yet to date, the
      relationship between race and attitudes toward treatment and treatment outcomes
      has been understudied and the findings inconclusive. The purpose of this study
      was to explore African American and European American veteran attitudes toward
      mental health care, especially as they relate to structured treatments. Separate
      focus groups were conducted with 24 African American and 37 European American
      military veterans. In general, both groups reported similar reasons for seeking
      0treatment and similar thoughts regarding the purpose of therapy. Differences
      emerged primarily regarding therapist preferences. In both groups, some
      participants expressed favorable opinions of structured treatments and others
      expressed negative views; treatment preferences did not appear to be influenced
      by race.

PMID- 25822317
TI  - Gender, Ethnicity and Environmental Risk Perception Revisited: The Importance of
      Residential Location.
AB  - Studies in the U.S. have found that white men are less concerned about pollution
      than are women or people of other ethnicity. These studies have not assessed
      respondents' proximity to localized sources of pollution. Our objective was to
      assess lay perceptions of risk from air pollution in an ethnically diverse sample
      in which proximity to a major perceptible source of pollution is known. Cross
      sectional interview study of combined area probability and convenience sample of
      individuals 40 and older in the Boston area, selected according to proximity to
      high traffic controlled access highways. Of 697 respondents 46% were white, 37%
      Asian (mostly Chinese), 6.3% African-American, 6.3% Latino, and 7.6% other
      ethnicity. While white respondents, and particularly white men, were less
      concerned about air pollution than others, this effect disappeared when
      controlling for distance from the highway. White men were slightly less
      supportive than others of government policy to control pollution. The "white
      male" effect may in part be accounted for by the greater likelihood of minority
      respondents to live near perceptible localized sources of pollution.

PMID- 25822318
TI  - Exposure to and health effects of volatile PCBs.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent, lipophilic
      contaminants that are known to increase risk of a number of human diseases.
      Although ingestion of animal fats is a major route of exposure, there is
      increasing evidence that inhalation of vapor-phase PCBs is also important and may
      be as or even more important than ingestion under some circumstances. METHODS:
      The evidence that inhalation of PCBs may cause cancer, heart disease,
      hypertension, and diabetes is reviewed and presented in this report. RESULTS:
      PCBs are known human carcinogens. A husband and wife, occupationally required to
      'smell' PCB-containing oils, both developed thyroid cancer, malignant
      melanoma/severely melanocytic dysplastic nevus (a precursor to malignant
      melanoma) and the husband, a non-smoker, developed and died of lung cancer. The
      serum of both had highly elevated concentrations of lower chlorinated, volatile
      PCB congeners. In other studies, residents living near PCB-containing hazardous
      waste sites, and thus breathing PCB-contaminated air, have elevated rates of
      hospitalization for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and reduced
      cognitive performance, whereas other studies in defined populations show that
      there is an elevated risk of all of these diseases in individuals with elevated
      serum PCBs. CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with the conclusion that
      inhaled PCBs can increase risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension,
      diabetes and reduce cognitive function.

PMID- 25822319
TI  - Development of banana-based weaning food mixes for infants and its nutritional
      quality evaluation.
AB  - Banana-based weaning food mixes were developed from the Nendran variety to study
      the nutritional quality of the mixes and feasibility of marketing on a commercial
      scale. Chemical composition viz., moisture, acid, pH, reducing and total sugars,
      protein and beta-carotene of the developed banana-based weaning mixes were
      analysed. The trypsin inhibitor activity reduced during cooking, and the flatus
      compound could not be measured due to its very meagre gas production. The alpha
      amylase activity and in vitro protein and carbohydrate digestibilities were also
      analysed. A feeding trial of the developed mixes was conducted in infants as a
      supplement to study the nutritional quality of the developed banana-based weaning
      food mixes. Results showed an increase in all the anthropometric measurements
      during the feeding period, and the developed mixes can be prepared on a
      commercial scale to prevent malnutrition and undernutrition during the rapid
      growing period of infants. 

PMID- 25822320
TI  - Association of DDT and heptachlor epoxide in human blood with diabetic
      nephropathy.
AB  - Six organochlorine pesticides and pesticide metabolites in human blood were
      tested to determine their relationships with diabetic nephropathy. The data were
      derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999
      2004 (unweighted, n=2992, population estimate=133,088,752). The six chemicals
      were p,p'-DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), p,p'-DDE
      (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethylene), beta-hexachlorocyclohexane, oxychlordane,
      trans-nonachlor and heptachlor epoxide. In this research, total diabetes included
      diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes (glycohemoglobin, A1c >=6.5%), and nephropathy
      was defined as a urinary albumin to creatinine ratio >30 mg/g, representing
      microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria. The pesticide p,p'-DDT and pesticide
      metabolite heptachlor epoxide were significantly associated with total diabetes
      with nephropathy, with odds ratios of 2.08 (95% CI 1.06-4.11) and 1.75 (95% CI
      1.05-2.93), respectively. Organochlorine pesticides are thought to act through
      the constitutive androstane receptor/pregnane X receptor disease pathway, but
      this is not well established. When p,p'-DDT and heptachlor epoxide were both
      elevated, the odds ratio for diabetic nephropathy was 2.76 (95% CI 1.31-5.81),
      and when six of six organochlorine pesticides and pesticide metabolites, were
      elevated, the odds ratio for diabetic nephropathy was 3.00 (95% CI 1.08-8.36).
      The differences in the odds ratios for these groups appear to be due to
      differences in the mean heptachlor epoxide concentration of each category.
      Organochlorine pesticides and pesticide metabolites are known to have estrogenic,
      antiestrogenic or antiandrogenic activity. The constitutive androstane
      receptor/pregnane X receptor pathway is thought to interact with the aryl
      hydrocarbon receptor pathway, and the associations noted may be due to that
      interaction. 

PMID- 25822321
TI  - The association of first trimester bleeding with preterm delivery.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Preterm birth (PTB) is a predictor of perinatal morbidity and
      mortality, and prematurity continues to burden public healthcare with growing
      expenses. First trimester bleeding (FTB) has a well-known association with PTB;
      however, the relationship with severity of PTB is less obvious. AIM: The primary
      aim of the study was to analyze the influence of FTB on the risk and severity of
      PTB, as well as to assess the connection of FTB and other pregnancy
      complications. METHODS: It was an observational case control study. The material
      consisted of medical records of patients who delivered between 2010 and 2013. Two
      groups were formed - 497 women with FTB and 500 women without bleeding. RESULTS:
      Women with FTB were more likely to deliver preterm in general (OR=2.11; 95% CI
      1.43-3.10). The risk of extremely PTB (<28 weeks) was almost four-fold (OR=3.76;
      95% CI 0.97-17.06) and very PTB (28-31 weeks) more than three-fold (OR=3.41; 95%
      CI 0.86-15.69). FTB increased the risk of placenta previa (OR=4.81; 95% CI 1.29
      20.53; P=0.007). CONCLUSION: FTB is a risk factor of PTB and is associated with
      greater risk of PTB-related pregnancy complications. Management of FTB
      pregnancies should include thorough screening for both preterm delivery and
      placental pathologies.

PMID- 25822322
TI  - A study examining the bias of albumin and albumin/creatinine ratio measurements
      in urine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The objective of the study was to examine the bias of albumin and
      albumin/creatinine (ACR) measurements in urine. METHODS: Pools of normal human
      urine were augmented with purified human serum albumin to generate a series of 12
      samples covering the clinical range of interest for the measurement of ACR.
      Albumin and creatinine concentrations in these samples were analyzed three times
      on each of 3 days by 24 accredited laboratories in Canada and the USA. Reference
      values (RV) for albumin measurements were assigned by a liquid chromatography
      tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) comparative method and gravimetrically. Ten
      random urine samples (check samples) were analyzed as singlets and albumin and
      ACR values reported according to the routine practices of each laboratory.
      RESULTS: Augmented urine pools were shown to be commutable. Gravimetrically
      assigned target values were corrected for the presence of endogenous albumin
      using the LC-MS/MS comparative method. There was excellent agreement between the
      RVs as assigned by these two methods. All laboratory medians demonstrated a
      negative bias for the measurement of albumin in urine over the concentration
      range examined. The magnitude of this bias tended to decrease with increasing
      albumin concentrations. At baseline, only 10% of the patient ACR values met a
      performance limit of RV +/- 15%. This increased to 84% and 86% following post
      analytical correction for albumin and creatinine calibration bias, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: International organizations should take a leading role in the
      standardization of albumin measurements in urine. In the interim, accuracy based
      urine quality control samples may be used by clinical laboratories for monitoring
      the accuracy of their urinary albumin measurements.

PMID- 25822323
TI  - Selective synthesis of ruthenium(II) Metalla[2]catenane via solvent and guest
      dependent self-assembly.
AB  - The coordination-driven self-assembly of an anthracene-functionalized ditopic
      pyridyl donor and a tetracene-based dinuclear Ru(II) acceptor resulted in an
      interlocked metalla[2]catenane, [M2L2]2, in methanol and a corresponding
      monorectangle, [M2L2], in nitromethane. Subsequently, guest template, solvent,
      and concentration effects allowed the self-assembly to be reversibly fine-tuned
      among monorectangle and catenane structures. 

PMID- 25822324
TI  - The History of US: From Bats and Boats to the Bedside and Beyond: RSNA Centennial
      Article.

PMID- 25822325
TI  - Which patients require or can skip biopsy for breast clustered microcysts?
      Predictive findings of breast cancer and mucocele-like tumor.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In order to determine the patients who require biopsy for breast
      clustered microcysts, we retrospectively investigated cases of clustered
      microcysts that were detected by ultrasonography (US) examinations. METHODS: We
      investigated 52 patients in whom clustered microcysts were detected by US and who
      underwent biopsy at our institution between January 2011 and March 2014. These
      patients were divided into two groups according to histopathological findings:
      those with invasive carcinoma (IC), ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), or mucocele
      like tumor (MLT) (Group 1), and those with benign lesions (Group 2). Mammography
      (MG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings were assessed in these two
      groups. RESULTS: There were 12 patients in Group 1 (IC:2, DCIS:6, and MLT:4) and
      40 patients in Group 2. In 51 of the 52 patients, MG was performed before biopsy.
      Since 11 of 12 patients in Group 1 exhibited MG findings (mass, focal asymmetry,
      coarse heterogeneous calcifications and fine pleomorphic calcifications) at the
      same site as the clustered microcysts, and that MG findings had a significant
      probability of detecting clustered microcysts categorized into Group 1 with a
      sensitivity of 91.7 % and negative predictive value (NPV) of 96.8 % (p < 0.001).
      In contrast, MRI was performed in 39 of the 52 patients, and only 3 of the 9
      Group 1 patients (33.3 %) for whom MRI was performed were detected as MRI
      Category 4 or 5 enhancement. CONCLUSION: The patients who exhibit clustered
      microcysts with MG findings (mass, focal asymmetry, coarse heterogeneous
      calcifications and fine pleomorphic calcifications) appear to require biopsy.

PMID- 25822326
TI  - Mental Health Clinicians' Participation in Web-Based Training for an Evidence
      Supported Intervention: Signs of Encouragement and Trouble Ahead.
AB  - Comprehensive scalable clinician training is needed to increase the impact of
      evidence-supported psychotherapies. This study was designed to ascertain
      clinician participation in different low-cost training activities, what predicts
      their training participation, and how participation can be increased. The study
      enrolled 163 clinicians. Of these, 105 completed a follow-up survey and 20
      completed a more in-depth qualitative interview. Some activities (web training)
      attracted greater participation than others (e.g., discussion boards, role
      playing). Key findings include the desirability of self-paced learning and the
      flexibility it afforded practicing clinicians. However, some found the lack of
      accountability insurmountable. Many desired in-person training as a way to
      introduce accountability and motivation. While low-cost, relevant, self-paced
      learning appeals to practicing clinicians, it may need to be combined with
      opportunities for in-person training and accountability mechanisms in order to
      encourage large numbers of clinicians to complete training.

PMID- 25822327
TI  - Cost-minimization analysis of panitumumab compared with cetuximab for first-line
      treatment of patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the costs of first-line treatment with panitumumab + FOLFOX
      in comparison to cetuximab + FOLFIRI among patients with wild-type (WT) RAS
      metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) in the US. METHODS: A cost-minimization model
      was developed assuming similar treatment efficacy between both regimens. The
      model estimated the costs associated with drug acquisition, treatment
      administration frequency (every 2 weeks for panitumumab, weekly for cetuximab),
      and incidence of infusion reactions. Average anti-EGFR doses were calculated from
      the ASPECCT clinical trial, and average doses of chemotherapy regimens were based
      on product labels. Using the medical component of the consumer price index,
      adverse event costs were inflated to 2014 US dollars, and all other costs were
      reported in 2014 US dollars. The time horizon for the model was based on average
      first-line progression-free survival of a WT RAS patient, estimated from
      parametric survival analyses of PRIME clinical trial data. RESULTS: Relative to
      cetuximab + FOLFIRI in the first-line treatment of WT RAS mCRC, the cost
      minimization model demonstrated lower projected drug acquisition, administration,
      and adverse event costs for patients who received panitumumab + FOLFOX. The
      overall cost per patient for first-line treatment was $179,219 for panitumumab +
      FOLFOX vs $202,344 for cetuximab + FOLFIRI, resulting in a per-patient saving of
      $23,125 (11.4%) in favor of panitumumab + FOLFOX. CONCLUSIONS: From a value
      perspective, the cost-minimization model supports panitumumab + FOLFOX instead of
      cetuximab + FOLFIRI as the preferred first-line treatment of WT RAS mCRC patients
      requiring systemic therapy.

PMID- 25822329
TI  - Critical factors and their effects on product maturity in food waste composting.
AB  - Product maturity represents the efficiency of composting performance, and it
      calls for high attention in food waste composting. In this study, a 2(4-1)
      fractional factorial design method combined with well-controlled experiments was
      introduced to characterize the effects of system factors (i.e., C/N ratio,
      aeration rate, starting culture amount, and coal ash amendment) on product
      maturity of food waste composting. The compost maturity was synthetically
      evaluated by developing a Mamdani fuzzy rule-based inference system. Temperature
      index, O2 uptake rate, ammonium, OM loss, C/N ratio, and ash content were chosen
      as indicators of the fuzzy multicriterion maturity evaluation. Evaluation results
      of compost maturity for the eight experiment runs demonstrated that the proposed
      method is capable of evaluating the compost maturity in food waste composting.
      The effect analyses indicated that the starting culture amount and aeration rate
      contributed the most to the compost maturity in this study. The results could
      provide decision support for the process control in food waste composting
      management. 

PMID- 25822330
TI  - Heavy metals in fish from the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean: effect of
      origin, fish species and size and correlation among the metals.
AB  - This study determined the levels of As, Cu, Pb, and Cd in fish from Red Sea,
      Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean by graphite furnace atomic absorption
      spectrophotometry. Metal levels were compared with international standards. The
      levels among fish types and origin, the relationship among metals, and the
      correlation between the levels and fish size were statistically tested. Fish type
      and origin significantly affected the levels. None of the fish contained As, Cu,
      and Pb above the FAO and EU codes. However, Cd exceeded the Jordanian, FAO, and
      EC codes from the three origins. As and Cd positively correlated with each other
      in Arabian Sea fish. As and Pb correlated negatively, but Cu and Cd did not
      correlate with fish size. This study indicates that Cd is common in fish from the
      three origins regardless the fish size. This warrants continuous monitoring for
      heavy metals, especially Cd, in internationally traded fish. 

PMID- 25822331
TI  - Cisplatin release from dual-responsive magnetic nanocomposites.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The combination of hyperthermia and controlled drug delivery is a
      very promising recent effort in cancer therapy. The aim of this study is to
      synthesize and characterize a dual pH/thermal-responsive composite nanoparticle
      that acts as a cisplatin carrier, and to evaluate its release profile at
      different pH and temperature conditions relevant to the physiological and
      cancerous environment during hyperthermia. METHODS: Poly (n-isopropyl acrylamide
      methacrylic acid-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate) (P (NIPAAM-MAA-HEM)) was synthesized
      by emulsion polymerization. Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and cisplatin
      were loaded onto the nanogel, by the swelling method and the conjugation of
      cisplatin with the -COOH group of MAA, respectively. The chemical and
      morphological properties of the drug-loaded composite nanoparticle and its
      profile of drug release at pH levels of 7.4 (physiological pH), 6.8 (tumor
      extracellular pH), and 5.3 (endosomal pH), and at temperatures of 37 degrees C
      (physiological) and 43 degrees C (hyperthermia), were studied. RESULTS: The
      result shows that the synthesized nanogel and nanocomposite were almost pure and
      were of an appropriate size and stability. Magnetic saturation was at a position
      appropriate for the production of enough heat during hyperthermia. A high level
      of drug release under conditions of low pH and high temperature was observed.
      CONCLUSION: This result suggests that the dual pH/temperature-responsive P
      (NIPAAM-MAA-HEM) magnetic nanocomposite can be very effective in hyperthermia and
      controlled cisplatin delivery.

PMID- 25822333
TI  - Characteristics and mid-term follow-up of a single-center population affected by
      Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) is an acute cardiomyopathy
      mimicking acute myocardial infarction. The aim of our study was to define
      clinical and instrumental features of an Italian population of patients with TTC
      and to report their short and mid-term outcome. METHODS: We retrospectively
      evaluated 42 patients admitted to our Department with diagnosis of TTC (100%
      women, age 67 +/- 11 years) using Mayo Clinic-modified criteria. In this
      population, we analyzed the stressful event (if present), the clinical
      presentation, the ECG and echocardiogram at admission and the markers of
      myocardial cytonecrosis, such as troponin I, at admission and during the
      hospitalization. All the patients have been clinically evaluated after 6 months
      and 1 year of follow-up. RESULTS: In this population, a stressful event before
      TTC has been detected in 59% of patients. The most common clinical presentation
      was chest pain (81%) and the major sign was dyspnea (17%). ECG showed negative T
      waves and ST elevation, respectively, in 45 and 38%. Only 10% had a ST depression
      and 7% developed a newly acquired complete left bundle branch block. All of these
      abnormalities disappeared within 1.8 +/- 0.9 days. The mean ejection fraction at
      admission was 35 +/- 7% associated with apical (40%), mid-apical (56%) and mid
      ventricular (4%) wall motion abnormalities. The recovery of these abnormalities
      occurred within 10 +/- 3 days. At 6-month and 1-year follow-up, no patients had
      TTC recurrence, and 10 patients at 6 months and 20 patients at 1 year were re
      hospitalized for a non-cardiac cause. CONCLUSION: Our data describe the
      characteristics of TTC in a small Italian population, which are similarly
      described in Japanese and North American people. TTC was related to a very low
      mortality, both in the short and mid term, but the risk of acute heart failure in
      the acute phase could not be neglected.

PMID- 25822332
TI  - Three-dimensional numerical model of cell morphology during migration in multi
      signaling substrates.
AB  - Cell Migration associated with cell shape changes are of central importance in
      many biological processes ranging from morphogenesis to metastatic cancer cells.
      Cell movement is a result of cyclic changes of cell morphology due to effective
      forces on cell body, leading to periodic fluctuations of the cell length and cell
      membrane area. It is well-known that the cell can be guided by different
      effective stimuli such as mechanotaxis, thermotaxis, chemotaxis and/or
      electrotaxis. Regulation of intracellular mechanics and cell's physical
      interaction with its substrate rely on control of cell shape during cell
      migration. In this notion, it is essential to understand how each natural or
      external stimulus may affect the cell behavior. Therefore, a three-dimensional
      (3D) computational model is here developed to analyze a free mode of cell shape
      changes during migration in a multi-signaling micro-environment. This model is
      based on previous models that are presented by the same authors to study cell
      migration with a constant spherical cell shape in a multi-signaling substrates
      and mechanotaxis effect on cell morphology. Using the finite element discrete
      methodology, the cell is represented by a group of finite elements. The cell
      motion is modeled by equilibrium of effective forces on cell body such as
      traction, protrusion, electrostatic and drag forces, where the cell traction
      force is a function of the cell internal deformations. To study cell behavior in
      the presence of different stimuli, the model has been employed in different
      numerical cases. Our findings, which are qualitatively consistent with well-known
      related experimental observations, indicate that adding a new stimulus to the
      cell substrate pushes the cell to migrate more directionally in more elongated
      form towards the more effective stimuli. For instance, the presence of
      thermotaxis, chemotaxis and electrotaxis can further move the cell centroid
      towards the corresponding stimulus, respectively, diminishing the mechanotaxis
      effect. Besides, the stronger stimulus imposes a greater cell elongation and more
      cell membrane area. The present model not only provides new insights into cell
      morphology in a multi-signaling micro-environment but also enables us to
      investigate in more precise way the cell migration in the presence of different
      stimuli. 

PMID- 25822336
TI  - Correction: What happened if various kinds of postconditioning working on the
      preconditioned ischemic skin flaps.

PMID- 25822334
TI  - Establishment and characterization of rat portal myofibroblast cell lines.
AB  - The major sources of scar-forming myofibroblasts during liver fibrosis are
      activated hepatic stellate cells (HSC) and portal fibroblasts (PF). In contrast
      to well-characterized HSC, PF remain understudied and poorly defined. This is
      largely due to the facts that isolation of rodent PF for functional studies is
      technically challenging and that PF cell lines had not been established. To
      address this, we have generated two polyclonal portal myofibroblast cell lines,
      RGF and RGF-N2. RGF and RGF-N2 were established from primary PF isolated from
      adult rat livers that underwent culture activation and subsequent SV40-mediated
      immortalization. Specifically, Ntpdase2/Cd39l1-sorted primary PF were used to
      generate the RGF-N2 cell line. Both cell lines were functionally characterized by
      RT-PCR, immunofluorescence, immunoblot and bromodeoxyuridine-based proliferation
      assay. First, immortalized RGF and RGF-N2 cells are positive for phenotypic
      myofibroblast markers alpha smooth muscle actin, type I collagen alpha-1, tissue
      inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1, PF-specific markers elastin, type XV collagen
      alpha-1 and Ntpdase2/Cd39l1, and mesenchymal cell marker ecto-5'
      nucleotidase/Cd73, while negative for HSC-specific markers desmin and lecithin
      retinol acyltransferase. Second, both RGF and RGF-N2 cell lines are readily
      transfectable using standard methods. Finally, RGF and RGF-N2 cells attenuate the
      growth of Mz-ChA-1 cholangiocarcinoma cells in co-culture, as previously
      demonstrated for primary PF. Immortalized rat portal myofibroblast RGF and RGF-N2
      cell lines express typical markers of activated PF-derived myofibroblasts, are
      suitable for DNA transfection, and can effectively inhibit cholangiocyte
      proliferation. Both RGF and RGF-N2 cell lines represent novel in vitro cellular
      models for the functional studies of portal (myo)fibroblasts and their
      contribution to the progression of liver fibrosis. 

PMID- 25822338
TI  - Accurate Time-Dependent Wave Packet Calculations for the O(+) + H2 -> OH(+) + H
      Ion-Molecule Reaction.
AB  - Accurate quantum reactive scattering time-dependent wave packet close-coupling
      calculations have been carried out to determine total reaction probabilities and
      integral cross sections for the O(+) + H2 -> OH(+) + H reaction in a range of
      collision energies from 10(-3) eV up to 1.0 eV for the H2 rovibrational states (v
      = 0; j = 0, 1, 2) and (v = 1; j = 0) using the potential energy surface (PES) by
      Martinez et al. As expected for a barrierless reaction, the reaction cross
      section decays rapidly with collision energy, Ec, following a behavior that
      nearly corresponds to that predicted by the Langevin model. Rotational excitation
      of H2 into j = 1, 2 has a very moderate effect on reactivity, similarly to what
      happens with vibrational excitation below Ec ~ 0.3 eV. However, at higher
      collision energies the cross section increases notably when H2 is promoted to v =
      1. This effect is explained by resorting to the effective potentials in the
      entrance channel. The integral cross sections have been used to calculate rate
      constants in the temperature range 200-1000 K. A good overall agreement has been
      found with the available experimental data on integral cross sections and rate
      constants. In addition, time-independent quantum mechanical and quasi-classical
      trajectory (QCT) calculations have been performed on the same PES aimed to
      compare the various methodologies and to discern the detailed mechanism of the
      title reaction. In particular, the analysis of individual trajectories has made
      it possible to explain, in terms of the coupling between reagent relative
      velocity and the topography of the PES, the presence of a series of alternating
      maxima and minima in the collision energy dependence of the QCT reaction
      probabilities for the reactions with H2(v=0,1,j=0), which are absent in the
      quantum mechanical calculations. 

PMID- 25822337
TI  - Conantokin-G attenuates detrimental effects of NMDAR hyperactivity in an ischemic
      rat model of stroke.
AB  - The neuroprotective activity of conantokin-G (con-G), a naturally occurring
      antagonist of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR), was neurologically and
      histologically compared in the core and peri-infarct regions after
      ischemia/reperfusion brain injury in male Sprague-Dawley rats. The contralateral
      regions served as robust internal controls. Intrathecal injection of con-G, post
      middle carotid artery occlusion (MCAO), caused a dramatic decrease in brain
      infarct size and swelling at 4 hr, compared to 26 hr, and significant recovery of
      neurological deficits was observed at 26 hr. Administration of con-G facilitated
      neuronal recovery in the peri-infarct regions as observed by decreased
      neurodegeneration and diminished calcium microdeposits at 4 hr and 26 hr. Intact
      Microtubule Associated Protein (MAP2) staining and neuronal cytoarchitecture was
      observed in the peri-infarct regions of con-G treated rats at both timepoints.
      Con-G restored localization of GluN1 and GluN2B subunits in the neuronal soma,
      but not that of GluN2A, which was perinuclear in the peri-infarct regions at 4 hr
      and 26 hr. This suggests that molecular targeting of the GluN2B subunit has
      potential for reducing detrimental consequences of ischemia. Overall, the data
      demonstrated that stroke-induced NMDAR excitoxicity is ameliorated by con-G
      mediated repair of neurological and neuroarchitectural deficits, as well as by
      reconstituting neuronal localization of GluN1 and GluN2B subunits in the peri
      infarct region of the stroked brain. 

PMID- 25822339
TI  - Involvement of tumor suppressors PTEN and p53 in the formation of multiple
      subtypes of liposarcoma.
AB  - Liposarcoma (LPS) is a type of soft tissue sarcoma that mostly occurs in adults,
      and in humans is characterized by amplifications of MDM2 and CDK4. The molecular
      pathogenesis of this malignancy is still poorly understood and, therefore, we
      developed a mouse model with conditional inactivation of PTEN and p53 to
      investigate these pathways in the progression of the disease. We show that
      deletion of these two tumor suppressors cooperate in the formation of multiple
      subtypes of LPS (from well-differentiated LPS to pleomorphic LPS). In addition,
      progression of the tumors is further characterized by the expression of D cyclins
      and CDK4/6, which allow for continued cell division. Microarray analysis also
      revealed novel genes that are differentially expressed between different subtypes
      of LPS, which could aid in understanding the disease and to unravel potential new
      therapeutic targets. 

PMID- 25822340
TI  - Notch signaling in response to excitotoxicity induces neurodegeneration via
      erroneous cell cycle reentry.
AB  - Neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke and epilepsy are
      currently marred by the lack of effective treatments to prevent neuronal death.
      Erroneous cell cycle reentry (CCR) is hypothesized to have a causative role in
      neurodegeneration. We show that forcing S-phase reentry in cultured hippocampal
      neurons is sufficient to induce neurodegeneration. We found that kainic-acid
      treatment in vivo induces erroneous CCR and neuronal death through a Notch
      dependent mechanism. Ablating Notch signaling in neurons provides neuroprotection
      against kainic acid-induced neuronal death. We further show that kainic-acid
      treatment activates Notch signaling, which increases the bioavailability of
      CyclinD1 through Akt/GSK3beta pathway, leading to aberrant CCR via activation of
      CyclinD1-Rb-E2F1 axis. In addition, pharmacological blockade of this pathway at
      critical steps is sufficient to confer resistance to kainic acid-induced
      neurotoxicity in mice. Taken together, our results demonstrate that
      excitotoxicity leads to neuronal death in a Notch-dependent manner through
      erroneous CCR. 

PMID- 25822342
TI  - Differential response of fish assemblages to coral reef-based seaweed farming.
AB  - As the global demand for seaweed-derived products drives the expansion of seaweed
      farming onto shallow coral ecosystems, the effects of farms on fish assemblages
      remain largely unexplored. Shallow coral reefs provide food and shelter for
      highly diverse fish assemblages but are increasingly modified by anthropogenic
      activities. We hypothesized that the introduction of seaweed farms into degraded
      shallow coral reefs had potential to generate ecological benefits for fish by
      adding structural complexity and a possible food source. We conducted 210
      transects at 14 locations, with sampling stratified across seaweed farms and
      sites adjacent to and distant from farms. At a seascape scale, locations were
      classified by their level of exposure to human disturbance. We compared sites
      where (1) marine protected areas (MPAs) were established, (2) neither MPAs nor
      blast fishing was present (hence "unprotected"), and (3) blast fishing occurred.
      We observed 80,186 fish representing 148 species from 38 families. The negative
      effects of seaweed farms on fish assemblages appeared stronger in the absence of
      blast fishing and were strongest when MPAs were present, likely reflecting the
      positive influence of the MPAs on fish within them. Species differentiating fish
      assemblages with respect to seaweed farming and disturbance were typically small
      but also included two key target species. The propensity for seaweed farms to
      increase fish diversity, abundance, and biomass is limited and may reduce MPA
      benefits. We suggest that careful consideration be given to the placement of
      seaweed farms relative to MPAs. 

PMID- 25822341
TI  - Activation of sirtuin 1 as therapy for the peroxisomal disease
      adrenoleukodystrophy.
AB  - Oxidative stress and mitochondrial failure are prominent factors in the axonal
      degeneration process. In this study, we demonstrate that sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a key
      regulator of the mitochondrial function, is impaired in the axonopathy and
      peroxisomal disease X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD). We have restored SIRT1
      activity using a dual strategy of resveratrol treatment or by the moderate
      transgenic overexpression of SIRT1 in a X-ALD mouse model. Both strategies
      normalized redox homeostasis, mitochondrial respiration, bioenergetic failure,
      axonal degeneration and associated locomotor disabilities in the X-ALD mice.
      These results indicate that the reactivation of SIRT1 may be a valuable strategy
      to treat X-ALD and other axonopathies in which the control of redox and energetic
      homeostasis is impaired. 

PMID- 25822343
TI  - Inferring social status and rich club effects in enterprise communication
      networks.
AB  - Social status, defined as the relative rank or position that an individual holds
      in a social hierarchy, is known to be among the most important motivating forces
      in social behaviors. In this paper, we consider the notion of status from the
      perspective of a position or title held by a person in an enterprise. We study
      the intersection of social status and social networks in an enterprise. We study
      whether enterprise communication logs can help reveal how social interactions and
      individual status manifest themselves in social networks. To that end, we use two
      enterprise datasets with three communication channels--voice call, short message,
      and email--to demonstrate the social-behavioral differences among individuals
      with different status. We have several interesting findings and based on these
      findings we also develop a model to predict social status. On the individual
      level, high-status individuals are more likely to be spanned as structural holes
      by linking to people in parts of the enterprise networks that are otherwise not
      well connected to one another. On the community level, the principle of
      homophily, social balance and clique theory generally indicate a "rich club"
      maintained by high-status individuals, in the sense that this community is much
      more connected, balanced and dense. Our model can predict social status of
      individuals with 93% accuracy.

PMID- 25822345
TI  - Shrinking the gap between research and practice: tailoring and testing youth
      psychotherapies in clinical care contexts.
AB  - Most youth psychotherapy research involves conditions quite unlike the clinical
      practice it is designed to strengthen. Most studies have not tested interventions
      with clinically referred youths and practicing clinicians in clinical care
      settings, nor have they tested whether new treatments produce better outcomes
      than usual practice. Limited exposure to real-world conditions and questions may
      partially explain why empirically supported treatments show such modest effects
      when tested under more representative conditions, against usual care. Our
      deployment-focused model calls for intervention development and testing with the
      kinds of participants (e.g., clients and clinicians) and in the contexts (e.g.,
      clinics) for which the interventions are ultimately intended, and for randomized
      comparisons to usual clinical care. Research with the Child STEPs (system and
      treatment enhancement projects) treatment approach illustrates the methods and
      potential benefits of the deployment-focused model. Findings supporting Child
      STEPs are but one part of a rich research matrix needed to shrink the gap between
      intervention research and clinical practice. 

PMID- 25822346
TI  - Surgical interventions for treating distal tibial metaphyseal fractures in
      adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The distal tibial metaphysis is located in the lower (distal) part of
      the tibia (shin bone). Fractures of this part of the tibia are most commonly due
      to a high energy injury in young men and to osteoporosis in older women. The
      optimal methods of surgical intervention for a distal tibial metaphyseal fracture
      remain uncertain. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects (benefits and harms) of
      surgical interventions for distal tibial metaphyseal fractures in adults. We
      planned to compare surgical versus non-surgical (conservative) treatment, and
      different methods of surgical intervention. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the
      Cochrane Bone, Joint and Muscle Trauma Group Specialised Register (9 December
      2014), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (2014, Issue 12),
      MEDLINE (1946 to November Week 3 2014), EMBASE (1980 to 2014 Week 48), the Airiti
      Library (1967 to 2014 Week 8), China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database (1915
      to 2014 Week 8), ClinicalTrials.gov (February 2014) and reference lists of
      included studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised and quasi-randomised
      controlled clinical studies comparing surgical versus non-surgical (conservative)
      treatment or different surgical interventions for treating distal tibial
      metaphyseal fractures in adults. Our primary outcomes were patient-reported
      function and the need for secondary or revision surgery or substantive
      physiotherapy because of adverse outcomes. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two
      authors independently selected studies, assessed the risk of bias in each study
      and extracted data. We resolved disagreement by discussion and, where necessary,
      in consultation with a third author. Where appropriate we pooled data using the
      fixed-effect model. MAIN RESULTS: We included three randomised trials that
      evaluated intramedullary nailing versus plating in 213 participants, with useable
      data from 173 participants of whom 112 were male. The mean age of participants in
      individual studies ranged from 41 to 44 years. There were no trials comparing
      surgery with non-surgical treatment. The three included trials were at high risk
      of performance bias, with one trial also being at high risk of selection,
      detection and attrition bias. Overall, the quality of available evidence was
      rated as very low for all outcomes, meaning that we are very unsure about the
      estimates for all outcomes.The results of two large ongoing trials of nailing
      versus plating are likely to provide sufficient evidence to address this issue in
      a future update. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Overall, there is either no or
      insufficient evidence to draw definitive conclusions on the use of surgery or the
      best surgical intervention for distal tibial metaphyseal fractures in adults. The
      available evidence, which is of very low quality, found no clinically important
      differences in function or pain, and did not confirm a difference in the need for
      re-operation or risk of complications between nailing and plating.The addition of
      evidence from two ongoing trials of nailing versus plating should inform this
      question in future updates. Further randomised trials are warranted on other
      issues, but should be preceded by research to identify priority questions.

PMID- 25822347
TI  - Role of swi7H4 mutant allele of DNA polymerase alpha in the DNA damage checkpoint
      response.
AB  - Besides being a mediator of initiation of DNA replication, DNA polymerase alpha
      plays a key role in chromosome maintenance. Swi7H4, a novel temperature sensitive
      mutant of DNA polymerase alpha was shown to be defective in transcriptional
      silencing at the mating type centromere and telomere loci. It is also required
      for the establishment of chromatin state that can recruit the components of the
      heterochromatin machinery at these regions. Recently the role of DNA polymerase
      alpha in the S-phase alkylation damage response in S. pombe has also been
      studied. Here we investigate whether defects generated by swi7H4, a mutant allele
      of DNA polymerase alpha can activate a checkpoint response. We show that swi7H4
      exhibit conditional synthetic lethality with chk1 null mutant and the double
      mutant of swi7H4 with chk1 deletion aggravate the chromosome segregation defects.
      More importantly swi7H4 mutant cells delay the mitotic progression at non
      permissive temperature that is mediated by checkpoint protein kinase Chk1. In
      addition we show that, in the swi7H4 mutant background, cells accumulate DNA
      damage at non permissive temperature activating the checkpoint kinase protein
      Chk1. Further, we observed synthetic lethality between swi7H4 and a number of
      genes involved in DNA repair pathway at semi permissive temperature. We summarize
      that defects in swi7H4 mutant results in DNA damage that delay mitosis in a Chk1
      dependent manner that also require the damage repair pathway for proper recovery.

PMID- 25822348
TI  - Collecting psycholinguistic response time data using Amazon mechanical Turk.
AB  - Researchers in linguistics and related fields have recently begun exploiting
      online crowd-sourcing tools, like Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT), to gather
      behavioral data. While this method has been successfully validated for various
      offline measures--grammaticality judgment or other forced-choice tasks--its use
      for mainstream psycholinguistic research remains limited. This is because
      psycholinguistic effects are often dependent on relatively small differences in
      response times, and there remains some doubt as to whether precise timing
      measurements can be gathered over the web. Here we show that three classic
      psycholinguistic effects can in fact be replicated using AMT in combination with
      open-source software for gathering response times client-side. Specifically, we
      find reliable effects of subject definiteness, filler-gap dependency processing,
      and agreement attraction in self-paced reading tasks using approximately the same
      numbers of participants and/or trials as similar laboratory studies. Our results
      suggest that psycholinguists can and should be taking advantage of AMT and
      similar online crowd-sourcing marketplaces as a fast, low-resource alternative to
      traditional laboratory research.

PMID- 25822349
TI  - Appropriate measures.

PMID- 25822350
TI  - 2014 section on pediatrics knowledge translation lecture: clinicians and
      researchers on the same path toward facilitating family goals for mobility and
      participation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The knowledge translation (KT) lecture at the Combined Sections
      Meeting 2014 was a personal perspective from a researcher who had been a
      therapist and a longtime clinician, now a PhD candidate. OBJECTIVE: To better
      integrate research and clinical care, KT is a seamless rather than separate
      process. KEY POINTS: Knowledge translation can be enhanced by improved
      receptivity to evidence, and increasing use of research designs that encourage
      and even require clinician involvement, from single-subject designs to large
      scale pragmatic trials. Clinical practice databases and hiring therapists to
      provide intervention in research efforts also serve to integrate research and
      clinical care. Limitations of applying mean group research results to an
      individual patient were also discussed and suggest an important unanswered topic
      for future research. CONCLUSION: We all need to assume responsibility for the
      researcher-clinician partnership, making our jobs more joyful and fulfilling, and
      hopefully the biggest beneficiaries will be our current and future patients.

PMID- 25822344
TI  - Biological and psychosocial predictors of postpartum depression: systematic
      review and call for integration.
AB  - Postpartum depression (PPD) adversely affects the health and well being of many
      new mothers, their infants, and their families. A comprehensive understanding of
      biopsychosocial precursors to PPD is needed to solidify the current evidence base
      for best practices in translation. We conducted a systematic review of research
      published from 2000 through 2013 on biological and psychosocial factors
      associated with PPD and postpartum depressive symptoms. Two hundred fourteen
      publications based on 199 investigations of 151,651 women in the first postpartum
      year met inclusion criteria. The biological and psychosocial literatures are
      largely distinct, and few studies provide integrative analyses. The strongest PPD
      risk predictors among biological processes are hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal
      dysregulation, inflammatory processes, and genetic vulnerabilities. Among
      psychosocial factors, the strongest predictors are severe life events, some forms
      of chronic strain, relationship quality, and support from partner and mother.
      Fully integrated biopsychosocial investigations with large samples are needed to
      advance our knowledge of PPD etiology. 

PMID- 25822351
TI  - Measuring joint hypermobility using the Beighton scale in children with
      intellectual disability.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the feasibility and reliability of using the 9-point
      Beighton Hypermobility Score (9-BHS) with youth with intellectual disabilities
      using a least to most prompting technique. METHOD: One hundred one youth (5-18
      years old) enrolled in the study. Two separate evaluations, separated by 3 to 4
      weeks, were performed on 25 participants. RESULTS: Ninety assented to the test,
      and 85 performed all 9-BHS maneuvers. Scores were not significantly different for
      age and gender, but participants with Down syndrome had significantly higher
      scores. Test-retest scores showed 80% to 90% agreement (n = 25). Cohen kappa
      ranged from moderate (0.41-0.60) to perfect (1.0) for the 9 maneuvers, and an ICC
      of 0.88 was found for total scores. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate that the
      use of the 9-BHS in youth with intellectual disabilities in the manner described
      is feasible and reliable.

PMID- 25822352
TI  - Commentary on "Measuring joint hypermobility using the Beighton scale in children
      with intellectual disability".

PMID- 25822353
TI  - PT graduates' perceptions of a higher education early intervention training
      program on employment and practice.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe physical therapist graduates'
      perceptions of a higher education early intervention (EI) training program on
      postgraduation employment and practice. METHODS: Using a mixed methods approach,
      13 graduates responded to an online survey and 14 participated in a telephone
      interview. Descriptive statistics and qualitative methods were used for analysis.
      RESULTS: More than 80% of survey respondents pursued state EI certification
      following graduation and had practiced in EI. Participants reported that the EI
      training increased their marketability for employment and preparation for EI
      practice. Reported challenges included embracing the diverse role of an EI
      service provider and limited mentoring by another PT. CONCLUSIONS: Results
      provide important program feedback and highlight the need for curriculum review.
      This study further informs the national discussion about EI training, pediatric
      physical therapy curriculum, new graduate practice in EI, and entry-level versus
      advanced practice.

PMID- 25822354
TI  - Commentary on "PT graduates' perceptions of a higher education early intervention
      training program on employment and practice".

PMID- 25822355
TI  - Provision of school-based physical therapy services: a survey of current practice
      patterns.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare current patterns of school system practice with "best
      practice" recommendations in the literature. Additional variables examined were
      the effects of perceived barriers to inclusion, years of practice, and rural
      location. METHOD/SUBJECTS: A survey was developed, and a link was e-mailed to
      members of the APTA's Section on Pediatrics members of the School-Based Special
      Interest Group, and to personal contacts of the researchers. RESULTS: A total of
      226 clinicians responded to more than 50% of survey questions. Respondents
      reported they practiced inclusively and integrated/inclusive practice patterns
      were beneficial, yet a high incidence of "private therapy room" use was reported.
      Wide variability was noted in use of standardized assessments as well as
      inconsistencies in clinician definition of inclusive/integrated services.
      CONCLUSION: Further research is needed to examine aide/teacher training;
      clinicians' understanding of "inclusion"; as well as practice patterns versus
      years of experience, rural versus urban/suburban districts; and private therapy
      room use.

PMID- 25822356
TI  - Commentary on "Provision of school-based physical therapy services: a survey of
      current practice patterns".

PMID- 25822357
TI  - A therapeutic skating intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a highly
      structured therapeutic skating intervention on motor outcomes and functional
      capacity in 2 boys with autism spectrum disorder aged 7 and 10 years. METHODS:
      This multiple-baseline, single-subject study assigned participants to three 1
      hour skating sessions per week for 12 weeks focusing on skill and motor
      development. Multiple data points assessed (a) fidelity to the intervention and
      (b) outcomes measures including the Pediatric Balance Scale, Timed Up and Go,
      floor to stand, Six-Minute Walk Test, goal attainment, and weekly on-ice testing.
      RESULTS: Improvements were found in balance, motor behavior, and functional
      capacity by posttest with gains remaining above pretest levels at follow-up.
      CONCLUSIONS: Therapeutic skating may produce physical benefits for children with
      autism spectrum disorder and offer a viable, inexpensive community-based
      alternative to other forms of physical activity.

PMID- 25822358
TI  - Commentary on "A therapeutic skating intervention for children with autism
      spectrum disorder".

PMID- 25822359
TI  - Innovation in pediatric clinical education: application of the essential
      competencies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: At the Section on Pediatrics Education Summit in July 2012, consensus
      was achieved on 5 essential core competencies (ECCs) that represent a knowledge
      base essential to all graduates of professional physical therapist education
      programs. KEY POINTS: This article offers suggestions for how clinical
      instructors (CIs) might use the ECCs to identify student needs and guide student
      learning during a pediatric clinical education experience. Pediatric CIs
      potentially might choose to use the ECCs as a reference tool in clinical
      education to help (1) organize and develop general, clinic-specific clinical
      education objectives, (2) develop and plan individualized student learning
      experiences, (3) identify student needs, and (4) show progression of student
      learning from beginner to intermediate to entry level. CONCLUSIONS: The ECCs may
      offer CIs insights into the role of pediatric clinical education in professional
      physical therapist education.

PMID- 25822360
TI  - Update of the core set of exercise tests for children and adolescents with
      cerebral palsy.

PMID- 25822361
TI  - Gait recovery in a girl with ischemic spinal cord stroke.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This case report describes an aggressive, task-specific
      program for the recovery of gait in a girl with a spinal cord stroke. CASE
      DESCRIPTION: The 11-year-old girl sustained a spinal cord stroke resulting in a
      T4 motor-incomplete lesion. Therapy was initiated 6 months after onset when she
      was not ambulating. INTERVENTION: The focus of all interventions was on the
      restoration of gait. Locomotor treadmill training and over ground walking were
      the primary practice interventions. Walking was facilitated by orthoses,
      neuromuscular electrical stimulation, laser treatments, and strengthening.
      Treatment continued for 18 months. OUTCOMES: At the conclusion of therapy, the
      client was able to walk independently in the community with a single ankle foot
      orthosis and reverse rolling walker. DISCUSSION: The outcome was not anticipated
      for this client, given the type and level of her injury and the delay in starting
      gait training.

PMID- 25822362
TI  - Functional movement, strength, and intervention for an adolescent with cerebral
      palsy.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This case report describes the examination, intervention,
      and outcome of a 3-month episode of physical therapy (PT) using combined
      functional training and progressive resistance exercise for an adolescent with
      cerebral palsy. SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS: The patient presented with a long history
      of PT intervention and strength impairments that limited functional and
      transitional movement, agility, and peer-level participation in school and the
      community. Functional strength, aerobic conditioning, and anaerobic power were
      examined and addressed during intervention. STATEMENT OF CONCLUSIONS: Lower
      extremity strength was improved. Improvements in functional strength, agility,
      and anaerobic power generation were clinically insignificant. Most importantly,
      patient defined participation improved and was accompanied by achievement of new
      transitional and functional movements. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE:
      Outcomes described support the use of progressive resistance exercise and
      functional training to improve strength and functional mobility in an adolescent
      with cerebral palsy.

PMID- 25822364
TI  - Do social networks influence small-scale fishermen's enforcement of sea tenure?
AB  - Resource systems with enforced rules and strong monitoring systems typically have
      more predictable resource abundance, which can confer economic and social
      benefits to local communities. Co-management regimes demonstrate better social
      and ecological outcomes, but require an active role by community members in
      management activities, such as monitoring and enforcement. Previous work has
      emphasized understanding what makes fishermen comply with rules. This research
      takes a different approach to understand what influences an individual to enforce
      rules, particularly sea tenure. We conducted interviews and used multiple
      regression and Akaike's Information Criteria model selection to evaluate the
      effect of social networks, food security, recent catch success, fisherman's age
      and personal gear investment on individual's enforcement of sea tenure. We found
      that fishermen's enforcement of sea tenure declined between the two time periods
      measured and that social networks, age, food security, and changes in gear
      investment explained enforcement behavior across three different communities on
      Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast, an area undergoing rapid globalization. 

PMID- 25822363
TI  - Metabolite responses to exogenous application of nitrogen, cytokinin, and
      ethylene inhibitors in relation to heat-induced senescence in creeping bentgrass.
AB  - The exogenous application of ethylene inhibitors, cytokinins, or nitrogen has
      previously been shown to suppress heat-induced senescence and improve heat
      tolerance in cool-season grasses. The objectives of this study were to examine
      metabolic profiles altered by exogenous treatment of creeping bentgrass with an
      ethylene inhibitor, cytokinin or nitrogen under heat stress and to determine
      metabolic pathways regulated by those compounds in association with their
      effectiveness for improving heat tolerance. Creeping bentgrass (Agostis
      stolonifera) plants (cv. Penncross) were foliar sprayed with 18 mM
      carbonyldiamide (N source), 25 MUM aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG, ethylene
      inhibitor), 25 MUM zeatin riboside (ZR, cytokinin), or a water control, and then
      exposed to 20/15 degrees C (day/night) or 35/30 degrees C (heat stress) in growth
      chambers. All three exogenous treatments suppressed leaf senescence, as
      manifested by increased turf quality and chlorophyll content, and reduced
      electrolyte leakage under heat stress. Polar metabolite profiling identified
      increases in the content of certain organic acids (i.e. citric and malic acid),
      sugar alcohols, disaccharides (sucrose), and decreased accumulations of
      monosaccharides (i.e. glucose and fructose) with exogenous treatment of N, AVG,
      or ZR at the previously mentioned concentrations when compared to the untreated
      control under heat stress. Nitrogen stimulated amino acid accumulation whereas
      AVG and ZR reduced amino acid accumulation compared to the untreated control
      under heat stress. These results revealed that the alleviation of heat-induced
      leaf senescence by N, AVG, and ZR could be due to changes in the accumulation of
      metabolites involved in osmoregulation, antioxidant metabolism, carbon and
      nitrogen metabolism, as well as stress signaling molecules.

PMID- 25822365
TI  - Correction: Analysis of structural flexibility of damaged DNA using thiol
      tethered oligonucleotide duplexes.

PMID- 25822366
TI  - DOT1L inhibits SIRT1-mediated epigenetic silencing to maintain leukemic gene
      expression in MLL-rearranged leukemia.
AB  - Rearrangements of MLL (encoding lysine-specific methyltransferase 2A and
      officially known as KMT2A; herein referred to as MLL to denote the gene
      associated with mixed-lineage leukemia) generate MLL fusion proteins that bind
      DNA and drive leukemogenic gene expression. This gene expression program is
      dependent on the disruptor of telomeric silencing 1-like histone 3 lysine 79
      (H3K79) methyltransferase DOT1L, and small-molecule DOT1L inhibitors show promise
      as therapeutics for these leukemias. However, the mechanisms underlying this
      dependency are unclear. We conducted a genome-scale RNAi screen and found that
      the histone deacetylase SIRT1 is required for the establishment of a
      heterochromatin-like state around MLL fusion target genes after DOT1L inhibition.
      DOT1L inhibits chromatin localization of a repressive complex composed of SIRT1
      and the H3K9 methyltransferase SUV39H1, thereby maintaining an open chromatin
      state with elevated H3K9 acetylation and minimal H3K9 methylation at MLL fusion
      target genes. Furthermore, the combination of SIRT1 activators and DOT1L
      inhibitors shows enhanced antiproliferative activity against MLL-rearranged
      leukemia cells. These results indicate that the dynamic interplay between
      chromatin regulators controlling the activation and repression of gene expression
      could provide novel opportunities for combination therapy. 

PMID- 25822367
TI  - Targeting the MLL complex in castration-resistant prostate cancer.
AB  - Resistance to androgen deprivation therapies and increased androgen receptor (AR)
      activity are major drivers of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).
      Although prior work has focused on targeting AR directly, co-activators of AR
      signaling, which may represent new therapeutic targets, are relatively
      underexplored. Here we demonstrate that the mixed-lineage leukemia protein (MLL)
      complex, a well-known driver of MLL fusion-positive leukemia, acts as a co
      activator of AR signaling. AR directly interacts with the MLL complex via the
      menin-MLL subunit. Menin expression is higher in CRPC than in both hormone-naive
      prostate cancer and benign prostate tissue, and high menin expression correlates
      with poor overall survival of individuals diagnosed with prostate cancer.
      Treatment with a small-molecule inhibitor of menin-MLL interaction blocks AR
      signaling and inhibits the growth of castration-resistant tumors in vivo in mice.
      Taken together, this work identifies the MLL complex as a crucial co-activator of
      AR and a potential therapeutic target in advanced prostate cancer. 

PMID- 25822368
TI  - Transcriptomic analysis of the primary roots of Alhagi sparsifolia in response to
      water stress.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Alhagi sparsifolia is a typical desert phreatophyte and has evolved
      to withstand extreme dry, cold and hot weather. While A. sparsifolia represents
      an ideal model to study the molecular mechanism of plant adaption to abiotic
      stress, no research has been done in this aspect to date. Here we took advantage
      of Illumina platform to survey transcriptome in primary roots of A. sparsifolia
      under water stress conditions in aim to facilitate the exploration of its genetic
      basis for drought tolerance. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We sequenced
      four primary roots samples individually collected at 0, 6, 24 and 30h from the A.
      sparsifolia seedlings in the course of 24h of water stress following 6h of
      rehydration. The resulting 38,763,230, 67,511,150, 49,259,804 and 54,744,906
      clean reads were pooled and assembled into 33,255 unigenes with an average length
      of 1,057 bp. All-unigenes were subjected to functional annotation by searching
      against the public databases. Based on the established transcriptome database, we
      further evaluated the gene expression profiles in the four different primary
      roots samples, and identified numbers of differently expressed genes (DEGs)
      reflecting the early response to water stress (6h vs. 0h), the late response to
      water stress (24h vs. 0h) and the response to post water stress rehydration (30h
      vs. 24h). Moreover, the DEGs specifically regulated at 6, 24 and 30h were
      captured in order to depict the dynamic changes of gene expression during water
      stress and subsequent rehydration. Functional categorization of the DEGs
      indicated the activation of oxidoreductase system, and particularly emphasized
      the significance of the 'Glutathione metabolism pathway' in response to water
      stress. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first description of the genetic makeup of A.
      sparsifolia, thus providing a substantial contribution to the sequence resources
      for this species. The identified DEGs offer a deep insight into the molecular
      mechanism of A. sparsifolia in response to water stress, and merit further
      investigation.

PMID- 25822369
TI  - Normalized lactate load is associated with development of acute kidney injury in
      patients who underwent cardiopulmonary bypass surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Cardiac surgery associated acute kidney injury is a
      major postoperative complication and has long been associated with adverse
      outcomes. However, the association of lactate and AKI has not been well
      established. The study aimed to explore the association of normalized lactate
      load with AKI in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. METHODS: This was a
      prospective observational cohort study conducted in a 47-bed ICU of a tertiary
      academic teaching hospital from July 2012 to January 2014. All patients
      undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass surgery were included. Normalized lactate load
      (L) was calculated by the equation: [Formula: see text], where ti was time point
      for lactate measurement and vi was the value of lactate. L was transformed by
      natural log (Lln) to improve its normality. Logistic regression model was fitted
      by using stepwise method. Scale of Lln was examined by using fractional
      polynomial approach and potential interaction terms were explored. RESULTS: A
      total of 117 patients were included during study period, including 17 AKI
      patients and 100 non-AKI patients. In univariate analysis Lln was significantly
      higher in AKI as compared with non-AKI group (1.43+/-0.38 vs 1.01+/-0.45, p =
      0.0005). After stepwise selection of covariates, the main effect logistic model
      contained variables of Lln (odds ratio: 11.1, 95% CI: 1.22-101.6), gender, age,
      baseline serum creatinine and fluid balance on day 0. Although the two-term
      fractional polynomial model was the best-fitted model, it was not significantly
      different from the linear model (Deviance difference = 6.09, p = 0.107). There
      was no significant interaction term between Lln and other variables in the main
      effect model. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that Lln is independently
      associated with postoperative AKI in patients undergoing CPB. There is no
      significant interaction with early postoperative fluid balance.

PMID- 25822370
TI  - Protocols and programs for high-throughput growth and aging phenotyping in yeast.
AB  - In microorganisms, and more particularly in yeasts, a standard phenotyping
      approach consists in the analysis of fitness by growth rate determination in
      different conditions. One growth assay that combines high throughput with high
      resolution involves the generation of growth curves from 96-well plate
      microcultivations in thermostated and shaking plate readers. To push the
      throughput of this method to the next level, we have adapted it in this study to
      the use of 384-well plates. The values of the extracted growth parameters (lag
      time, doubling time and yield of biomass) correlated well between experiments
      carried out in 384-well plates as compared to 96-well plates or batch cultures,
      validating the higher-throughput approach for phenotypic screens. The method is
      not restricted to the use of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as shown
      by consistent results for other species selected from the Hemiascomycete class.
      Furthermore, we used the 384-well plate microcultivations to develop and validate
      a higher-throughput assay for yeast Chronological Life Span (CLS), a parameter
      that is still commonly determined by a cumbersome method based on counting
      "Colony Forming Units". To accelerate analysis of the large datasets generated by
      the described growth and aging assays, we developed the freely available software
      tools GATHODE and CATHODE. These tools allow for semi-automatic determination of
      growth parameters and CLS behavior from typical plate reader output files. The
      described protocols and programs will increase the time- and cost-efficiency of a
      number of yeast-based systems genetics experiments as well as various types of
      screens. 

PMID- 25822371
TI  - Melanopsin-derived visual responses under light adapted conditions in the mouse
      dLGN.
AB  - A direct projection from melanopsin-expressing intrinsically photosensitive
      retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) reaches the primary visual thalamus (dorsal
      lateral geniculate nucleus; dLGN). The significance of this melanopsin input to
      the visual system is only recently being investigated. One unresolved question is
      the degree to which neurons in the dLGN could use melanopsin to track dynamic
      changes in light intensity under light adapted conditions. Here we set out to
      address this question. We were able to present full field steps visible only to
      melanopsin by switching between rod-isoluminant 'yellow' and 'blue' lights in a
      mouse lacking cone function (Cnga3-/-). In the retina these stimuli elicited
      melanopsin-like responses from a subset of ganglion cells. When presented to
      anaesthetised mice, we found that ~25-30% of visually responsive neurones in the
      contralateral dLGN responded to these melanopsin-isolating steps with small
      increases in firing rate. Such responses could be elicited even with fairly
      modest increases in effective irradiance (32% Michelson contrast for melanopsin).
      These melanopsin-driven responses were apparent at bright backgrounds
      (corresponding to twilight-daylight conditions), but their threshold irradiance
      was strongly dependent upon prior light exposure when stimuli were superimposed
      on a spectrally neutral ramping background light. While both onset and offset
      latencies were long for melanopsin-derived responses compared to those evoked by
      rods, there was great variability in these parameters with some cells responding
      to melanopsin steps in <1 s. These data indicate that a subset of dLGN units can
      employ melanopsin signals to detect modest changes in irradiance under photopic
      conditions. 

PMID- 25822372
TI  - Smoking, antioxidant supplementation and dietary intakes among older adults with
      age-related macular degeneration over 10 years.
AB  - We aimed to compare the micronutrient usage and other lifestyle behaviors over 10
      years among those with and without age-related macular degeneration (AMD). 1612
      participants aged 49+ years at baseline were re-examined over 10 years, west of
      Sydney, Australia. AMD was assessed from retinal photographs. Dietary data were
      collected using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Smoking status
      was self-reported. 56 participants had any AMD at baseline, of these 25% quit
      smoking at 5 years and were still not smoking at 10-year follow-up. Among
      participants who had below the recommended intake of vitamins A, C or E
      supplements at baseline, those who did compared to those who did not develop late
      AMD over 10 years were more likely to report vitamins A (total), C or E
      supplement intake above the recommended intake at 10-year follow-up:
      multivariable-adjusted OR 4.21 (95% CI 1.65-10.73); OR 6.52 (95% CI 2.76-15.41);
      and OR 5.71 (95% CI 2.42-13.51), respectively. Participants with compared to
      without AMD did not appreciably increase fish, fruit and vegetable consumption
      and overall diet quality. Adherence to smoking and dietary recommendations was
      poor among older adults with AMD. However, uptake of antioxidant supplements
      increased significantly among those with late AMD. 

PMID- 25822373
TI  - Hip fracture in the elderly: a re-analysis of the EPIDOS study with causal
      Bayesian networks.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Hip fractures commonly result in permanent disability,
      institutionalization or death in elderly. Existing hip-fracture predicting tools
      are underused in clinical practice, partly due to their lack of intuitive
      interpretation. By use of a graphical layer, Bayesian network models could
      increase the attractiveness of fracture prediction tools. Our aim was to study
      the potential contribution of a causal Bayesian network in this clinical setting.
      A logistic regression was performed as a standard control approach to check the
      robustness of the causal Bayesian network approach. SETTING: EPIDOS is a
      multicenter study, conducted in an ambulatory care setting in five French cities
      between 1992 and 1996 and updated in 2010. The study included 7598 women aged 75
      years or older, in which fractures were assessed quarterly during 4 years. A
      causal Bayesian network and a logistic regression were performed on EPIDOS data
      to describe major variables involved in hip fractures occurrences. RESULTS: Both
      models had similar association estimations and predictive performances. They
      detected gait speed and mineral bone density as variables the most involved in
      the fracture process. The causal Bayesian network showed that gait speed and bone
      mineral density were directly connected to fracture and seem to mediate the
      influence of all the other variables included in our model. The logistic
      regression approach detected multiple interactions involving psychotropic drug
      use, age and bone mineral density. CONCLUSION: Both approaches retrieved similar
      variables as predictors of hip fractures. However, Bayesian network highlighted
      the whole web of relation between the variables involved in the analysis,
      suggesting a possible mechanism leading to hip fracture. According to the latter
      results, intervention focusing concomitantly on gait speed and bone mineral
      density may be necessary for an optimal prevention of hip fracture occurrence in
      elderly people.

PMID- 25822374
TI  - Formation mechanism of nanostructured metal carbides via salt-flux synthesis.
AB  - Nanostructured metal carbides are of particular interest because of their
      potential as high surface area, low-cost catalysts. By taking advantage of a salt
      flux synthesis method, multiple carbide compounds were synthesized at low
      temperatures providing a pathway to nanosized materials. To better understand the
      reaction mechanism, vanadium carbide (V8C7) synthesis was monitored by quenching
      samples at 100  degrees C intervals and analyzed by multiple spectroscopic
      methods. The reaction was determined to occur through the formation of metal
      halide and acetylide carbide intermediates, which were repeatedly observed by X
      ray diffraction and further supported by IR and Raman spectroscopies. Control
      experiments were also employed to further verify this mechanism of formation by
      using different salt compositions and a solid-state metathesis reaction. The
      reaction mechanism was also verified by applying these techniques to other metal
      carbide systems, which produced similar intermediate compounds.

PMID- 25822375
TI  - Treatment of elderly patients with glioblastoma: a systematic evidence-based
      analysis.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Despite improvements in survival with aggressive chemoradiation,
      outcomes for patients diagnosed as having glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remain
      poor. Survival is further limited in elderly patients, who are often unable to
      tolerate multimodality therapy. The appropriate treatment approach for elderly
      patients (aged >65 years) with GBM remains unclear. While the literature supports
      the use of standard radiotherapy (60 Gy), several recent studies have suggested
      that treatment with temozolomide monotherapy or short-course radiotherapy may be
      a reasonable alternative. OBJECTIVE: To review literature reporting survival data
      related to treatment of elderly patients with GBM using either temozolomide alone
      or radiotherapy alone. EVIDENCE REVIEW: We performed a systematic review to
      identify articles from the temozolomide era (2005-present) that reported survival
      data related to treatment of elderly patients with GBM using either temozolomide
      alone or radiotherapy alone, with consideration of O6-methylguanine-DNA
      methyltransferase gene (MGMT) promoter methylation status. PubMed was searched
      for articles between January 1, 2005, and August 31, 2013, using the search terms
      glioblastoma, elderly, temozolomide, radiation, hypofractionated, and survival,
      and references from relevant articles were searched. Selected articles reported
      overall survival data associated with either temozolomide alone or radiotherapy
      alone in elderly patients (aged >=60 years) with GBM; articles were excluded if
      they did not report survival data from radiotherapy alone or temozolomide alone,
      were not restricted to an elderly population, did not report original data, were
      not restricted to patients with primary GBM, were a subgroup analysis of a prior
      article, were a case report, or could not be located in entirety. Articles were
      interrogated as per the criteria designated by the Oxford Centre for Evidence
      Based Medicine to determine the level of evidence presented, and data from level
      1 and 2 studies were used for analysis. From a review of 185 articles, 23 were
      selected for inclusion and final analysis. From these, we identified 2 level 1
      studies and 1 level 2 study that reported overall survival in elderly patients
      treated with temozolomide alone, and 4 level 1 studies and 2 level 2 studies that
      reported overall survival in elderly patients treated with radiotherapy alone.
      FINDINGS: This review of the literature revealed several limitations. First,
      there is a paucity of randomized clinical studies comparing temozolomide alone
      with radiotherapy alone in elderly patients with GBM. Second, there is a lack of
      coherence in the literature for the definition of elderly. Third, the treatment
      paradigms used are not consistent from study to study. Regardless, the available
      data did allow the formulation of a recommendation based on level 1 and 2 data.
      CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The literature supports the use of hypofractionated
      radiotherapy or temozolomide monotherapy in the treatment of elderly patients
      with GBM. In patients with MGMT promoter methylation, temozolomide monotherapy
      may have greater benefit than radiotherapy.

PMID- 25822376
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25393092.

PMID- 25822377
TI  - Electron-rich triphenylamine-based sensors for picric acid detection.
AB  - This paper demonstrates the role of solvent in selectivity and sensitivity of a
      series of electron-rich compounds for the detection of trace amounts of picric
      acid. Two new electron-rich fluorescent esters (6, 7) containing a triphenylamine
      backbone as well as their analogous carboxylic acids (8, 9) have been synthesized
      and characterized. Fluorescent triphenylamine coupled with an ethynyl moiety
      constitutes pi-electron-rich selective and sensitive probes for electron
      deficient picric acid (PA). In solution, the high sensitivity of all the sensors
      toward PA can be attributed to a combined effect of the ground-state charge
      transfer complex formation and resonance energy transfer between the sensor and
      analyte. The acids 8 and 9 also showed enhanced sensitivity for nitroaromatics in
      the solid state, and their enhanced sensitivity could be attributed to exciton
      migration due to close proximity of the neighboring acid molecules, as evident
      from the X-ray diffraction study. The compounds were found to be quite sensitive
      for the detection of trace amount of nitroaromatics in solution, solid, and
      contact mode. 

PMID- 25822378
TI  - Large-scale hydrological modeling for calculating water stress indices:
      implications of improved spatiotemporal resolution, surface-groundwater
      differentiation, and uncertainty characterization.
AB  - Physical water scarcities can be described by water stress indices. These are
      often determined at an annual scale and a watershed level; however, such scales
      mask seasonal fluctuations and spatial heterogeneity within a watershed. In order
      to account for this level of detail, first and foremost, water availability
      estimates must be improved and refined. State-of-the-art global hydrological
      models such as WaterGAP and UNH/GRDC have previously been unable to reliably
      reflect water availability at the subbasin scale. In this study, the Soil and
      Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was tested as an alternative to global models, using
      the case study of the Mississippi watershed. While SWAT clearly outperformed the
      global models at the scale of a large watershed, it was judged to be unsuitable
      for global scale simulations due to the high calibration efforts required. The
      results obtained in this study show that global assessments miss out on key
      aspects related to upstream/downstream relations and monthly fluctuations, which
      are important both for the characterization of water scarcity in the Mississippi
      watershed and for water footprints. Especially in arid regions, where scarcity is
      high, these models provide unsatisfying results. 

PMID- 25822379
TI  - Cancer risk should prompt hepatitis B surveillance for patients.

PMID- 25822380
TI  - Lidocaine is an option for treating postmenopausal dyspareunia.

PMID- 25822383
TI  - Risk of venous thromboembolism with use of combined oral contraceptives.

PMID- 25822384
TI  - Improving quality by doing less: overtreatment.

PMID- 25822385
TI  - Practical selection of antiemetics in the ambulatory setting.
AB  - Nausea and vomiting are mediated primarily by three neurotransmitter pathways:
      visceral stimulation releases dopamine and serotonin; vestibular and central
      nervous system activation release histamine and acetylcholine; and chemoreceptor
      trigger zone activation releases dopamine and serotonin. Clinicians can improve
      the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of treatments by targeting the
      appropriate pathways. Antihistamines and anticholinergics are most effective in
      patients with vestibular-mediated nausea secondary to vertigo. Serotonin
      antagonists block serotonin in the intestines and chemoreceptor trigger zone, and
      are most effective for treating gastroenteritis. Dopamine antagonists block
      dopamine in the intestines and chemoreceptor trigger zone; indications for these
      agents are similar to those for serotonin antagonists. For treatment of mild
      pregnancy-induced nausea, pyridoxine with or without doxylamine is recommended,
      and ginger may also be effective. In patients with migraine headache-associated
      nausea, metoclopramide improves response to oral anti-migraine agents.
      Ondansetron reduces nausea and vomiting in children with acute gastroenteritis
      and in women with hyperemesis gravidarum. 

PMID- 25822386
TI  - Diagnosis and management of sodium disorders: hyponatremia and hypernatremia.
AB  - Hyponatremia and hypernatremia are common findings in the inpatient and
      outpatient settings. Sodium disorders are associated with an increased risk of
      morbidity and mortality. Plasma osmolality plays a critical role in the
      pathophysiology and treatment of sodium disorders. Hyponatremia and hypernatremia
      are classified based on volume status (hypovolemia, euvolemia, and hypervolemia).
      Sodium disorders are diagnosed by findings from the history, physical
      examination, laboratory studies, and evaluation of volume status. Treatment is
      based on symptoms and underlying causes. In general, hyponatremia is treated with
      fluid restriction (in the setting of euvolemia), isotonic saline (in
      hypovolemia), and diuresis (in hypervolemia). A combination of these therapies
      may be needed based on the presentation. Hypertonic saline is used to treat
      severe symptomatic hyponatremia. Medications such as vaptans may have a role in
      the treatment of euvolemic and hypervolemic hyponatremia. The treatment of
      hypernatremia involves correcting the underlying cause and correcting the free
      water deficit. 

PMID- 25822387
TI  - Evaluation and treatment of infertility.
AB  - Infertility is defined as the inability to achieve pregnancy after one year of
      regular, unprotected intercourse. Evaluation may be initiated sooner in patients
      who have risk factors for infertility or if the female partner is older than 35
      years. Causes of infertility include male factors, ovulatory dysfunction, uterine
      abnormalities, tubal obstruction, peritoneal factors, or cervical factors. A
      history and physical examination can help direct the evaluation. Men should
      undergo evaluation with a semen analysis. Abnormalities of sperm may be treated
      with gonadotropin therapy, intrauterine insemination, or in vitro fertilization.
      Ovulation should be documented by serum progesterone level measurement at cycle
      day 21. Evaluation of the uterus and fallopian tubes can be performed by
      hysterosalpingography in women with no risk of obstruction. For patients with a
      history of endometriosis, pelvic infections, or ectopic pregnancy, evaluation
      with hysteroscopy or laparoscopy is recommended. Women with anovulation may be
      treated in the primary care setting with clomiphene to induce ovulation.
      Treatment of tubal obstruction generally requires referral for subspecialty care.
      Unexplained infertility in women or men may be managed with another year of
      unprotected intercourse, or may proceed to assisted reproductive technologies,
      such as intrauterine insemination or in vitro fertilization. 

PMID- 25822388
TI  - FPIN's Clinical Inquiries. Obesity and joint injuries in children.

PMID- 25822389
TI  - Blisters over the buttocks.

PMID- 25822395
TI  - Information from Your Family Doctor. Infertility: what women should know.

PMID- 25822396
TI  - Comparison of Two Deformable Registration Algorithms in the Presence of
      Radiologic Change Between Serial Lung CT Scans.
AB  - We evaluated the image registration accuracy achieved using two deformable
      registration algorithms when radiation-induced normal tissue changes were present
      between serial computed tomography (CT) scans. Two thoracic CT scans were
      collected for each of 24 patients who underwent radiation therapy (RT) treatment
      for lung cancer, eight of whom experienced radiologically evident normal tissue
      damage between pre- and post-RT scan acquisition. For each patient, 100 landmark
      point pairs were manually placed in anatomically corresponding locations between
      each pre- and post-RT scan. Each post-RT scan was then registered to the pre-RT
      scan using (1) the Plastimatch demons algorithm and (2) the Fraunhofer MEVIS
      algorithm. The registration accuracy for each scan pair was evaluated by
      comparing the distance between landmark points that were manually placed in the
      post-RT scans and points that were automatically mapped from pre- to post-RT
      scans using the displacement vector fields output by the two registration
      algorithms. For both algorithms, the registration accuracy was significantly
      decreased when normal tissue damage was present in the post-RT scan. Using the
      Plastimatch algorithm, registration accuracy was 2.4 mm, on average, in the
      absence of radiation-induced damage and 4.6 mm, on average, in the presence of
      damage. When the Fraunhofer MEVIS algorithm was instead used, registration errors
      decreased to 1.3 mm, on average, in the absence of damage and 2.5 mm, on average,
      when damage was present. This work demonstrated that the presence of lung tissue
      changes introduced following RT treatment for lung cancer can significantly
      decrease the registration accuracy achieved using deformable registration.

PMID- 25822397
TI  - Detection of Hard Exudates in Colour Fundus Images Using Fuzzy Support Vector
      Machine-Based Expert System.
AB  - Diabetic retinopathy is a major cause of vision loss in diabetic patients.
      Currently, there is a need for making decisions using intelligent computer
      algorithms when screening a large volume of data. This paper presents an expert
      decision-making system designed using a fuzzy support vector machine (FSVM)
      classifier to detect hard exudates in fundus images. The optic discs in the
      colour fundus images are segmented to avoid false alarms using morphological
      operations and based on circular Hough transform. To discriminate between the
      exudates and the non-exudates pixels, colour and texture features are extracted
      from the images. These features are given as input to the FSVM classifier. The
      classifier analysed 200 retinal images collected from diabetic retinopathy
      screening programmes. The tests made on the retinal images show that the proposed
      detection system has better discriminating power than the conventional support
      vector machine. With the best combination of FSVM and features sets, the area
      under the receiver operating characteristic curve reached 0.9606, which
      corresponds to a sensitivity of 94.1% with a specificity of 90.0%. The results
      suggest that detecting hard exudates using FSVM contribute to computer-assisted
      detection of diabetic retinopathy and as a decision support system for
      ophthalmologists.

PMID- 25822398
TI  - Poly(vinyl alcohol)/cellulose nanofibril hybrid aerogels with an aligned
      microtubular porous structure and their composites with polydimethylsiloxane.
AB  - Superhydrophobic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/cellulose nanofibril (CNF) aerogels
      with a unidirectionally aligned microtubular porous structure were prepared using
      a unidirectional freeze-drying process, followed by the thermal chemical vapor
      deposition of methyltrichlorosilane. The silanized aerogels were characterized
      using various techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier
      transform infrared spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements. The structure of
      the aerogels fully filled with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was confirmed by SEM
      and optical microscopy. The mechanical properties of the resulting PDMS/aerogel
      composites were examined using both compressive and tensile tests. The
      compressive and tensile Young's moduli of the fully filled PDMS/aerogel
      composites were more than 2-fold and 15-fold higher than those of pure PDMS. This
      study provides a novel alternative approach for preparing high performance
      polymer nanocomposites with a bicontinuous structure. 

PMID- 25822399
TI  - Polarity-Driven Quasi-3-Fold Composition Symmetry of Self-Catalyzed III-V-V
      Ternary Core-Shell Nanowires.
AB  - A quasi-3-fold composition symmetry has for the first time been observed in self
      catalyzed III-V-V core-shell nanowires. In GaAsP nanowires, phosphorus-rich
      sheets on radial {110} planes originating at the corners of the hexagonal core
      were observed. In a cross section, they appear as six radial P-rich bands that
      originate at the six outer corners of the hexagonal core, with three of them
      higher in P content along ?112?A direction and others along ?112?B, forming a
      quasi-3-fold composition symmetry. We propose that these P-rich bands are caused
      by a curvature-induced high surface chemical potential at the small corner
      facets, which drives As adatoms away more efficiently than P adatoms. Moreover,
      their polarity related P content difference can be explained by the different
      adatom bonding energies at these polar corner facets. These results provide
      important information on the further development of shell growth in the self
      catalyzed core-shell NW structure and, hence, device structure for multicomponent
      material systems. 

PMID- 25822400
TI  - Epidemiology of adverse drug reactions in Europe: a review of recent
      observational studies.
AB  - Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) cause considerable mortality and morbidity but no
      recent reviews are currently available for the European region. Therefore, we
      performed a review of all epidemiological studies quantifying ADRs in a European
      setting that were published between 1 January 2000 and 3 September 2014. Included
      studies assessed the number of patients who were admitted to hospital due to an
      ADR, studies that assessed the number of patients who developed an ADR during
      hospitalization, and studies that measured ADRs in the outpatient setting. In
      total, 47 articles were included in the final review. The median percentage of
      hospital admissions due to an ADR was 3.5 %, based on 22 studies, and the median
      percentage of patients who experienced an ADR during hospitalization was 10.1 %,
      based on 13 studies. Only five studies were found that assessed ADRs occurring in
      the outpatient setting. These results indicate that the occurrence of ADRs in the
      European hospital setting-both ADRs that result in hospitalization and ADRs that
      occur during the hospital stay-is significant. Furthermore, the limited number of
      studies that were performed in the outpatient setting identify a lack of
      information regarding the epidemiology of ADRs in this setting. 

PMID- 25822401
TI  - Hands-off preparation of monodisperse emulsion droplets using a
      poly(dimethylsiloxane) microfluidic chip for droplet digital PCR.
AB  - A fully autonomous method of creating highly monodispersed emulsion droplets with
      a low sample dead volume was realized using a degassed poly(dimethylsiloxane)
      (PDMS) microfluidic chip possessing a simple T-junction channel geometry with two
      inlet reservoirs for oil and water to be loaded and one outlet reservoir for the
      collection of generated droplets. Autonomous transport of oil and water phases in
      the channel was executed by permeation of air confined inside the outlet
      reservoir into the degassed PDMS. The only operation required for droplet
      creation was simple pipetting of oil and aqueous solutions into the inlet
      reservoirs. Long-lasting fluid transport in the current system enabled us to
      create ca. 51,000 monodispersed droplets (with a coefficient of variation of <3%
      for the droplet diameter) in 80 min with a maximum droplet generation rate of ca.
      12 Hz using a PDMS chip that had been degassed overnight. With multiple time
      course measurements, the reproducibility in the current method of droplet
      preparation was confirmed, with tunable droplet sizes achieved simply by changing
      the cross-sectional dimensions of the microchannel. Furthermore, it was verified
      that the resultant droplets could serve as microreactors for digital polymerase
      chain reactions. This hands-free technique for preparing monodispersed droplets
      in a very facile and inexpensive fashion is intended for, but not limited to,
      bioanalytical applications and is also applicable to material syntheses. 

PMID- 25822402
TI  - Variability Among US Intensive Care Units in Managing the Care of Patients
      Admitted With Preexisting Limits on Life-Sustaining Therapies.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Although the end-of-life care patients receive is known to vary
      across nations, regions, and centers, these differences are best explored within
      a group of patients with presumably similar care preferences. OBJECTIVE: To
      examine the proportions of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU)
      with limitations on life-sustaining treatments and the proportions of such
      patients who receive aggressive care across individual ICUs. DESIGN, SETTINGS,
      AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective cohort study using the Project IMPACT database
      (from April 1, 2001, to December 31, 2008) including 141 ICUs in 105 hospitals in
      the United States and 277,693 ICU patient visits. We used logistic regression
      analysis models adjusted for available patient characteristics and clustered
      visits by individual ICU. The full analysis was last performed in October 2014.
      MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Outcomes included the provision of (1)
      cardiopulmonary resuscitation, (2) new forms of life support, and the (3)
      addition or (4) reversal of treatment limitations. RESULTS: Of the ICU admissions
      evaluated, 4.8% (95% CI, 4.7%-4.9%) had previously established treatment
      limitations. Patients admitted with treatment limitations were more likely to be
      older with more functional limitations and comorbidities. Among patients who
      survived to hospital discharge, more experienced reversals of existing treatment
      limitations during the ICU stay (17.8% [95% CI, 17.0%-18.7%]) than additions of
      new limits (11.7% [95% CI, 11.1%-12.4%]) (P < .01). Among patients who died,
      15.7% (95% CI, 14.7-16.8%) had received cardiopulmonary resuscitation. After risk
      adjustment, ICUs varied widely in the proportions of patients admitted with
      treatment limitations (median, 4.0%; range, <1.0%-20.9%), the proportions of
      those who received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (37.7% [95% CI, 3.8%-92.4%]),
      the proportions of new forms of life support (30.0% [95% CI, 6.0%-84.2%]), and,
      among survivors, the proportion who had new treatment limitations established
      (11.2% [95% CI, 1.9%-57.3%]) and reversal of treatment limitations during or
      following ICU admission (20.2% [95% CI, 1.8%-76.2%]). The observed variability
      could not be consistently explained using measurable center-level
      characteristics. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Intensive care units vary
      dramatically in how they manage care for patients admitted with treatment
      limitations. Among patients who survive, escalations in the aggressiveness of
      care are more common during the ICU stay than are de-escalations in
      aggressiveness. This study cannot directly measure whether care received was
      consistent with patients' preferences but suggests that ICU culture and
      physicians' practice styles contribute to the aggressiveness of care.

PMID- 25822403
TI  - Universal adhesives: the next evolution in adhesive dentistry?
AB  - Every so often a new material, technique, or technological breakthrough spurs a
      paradigm shift in the way dentistry is practiced. The development and evolution
      of reliable enamel and dentin bonding agents is one such example. Indeed, the so
      called "cosmetic revolution" in dentistry blossomed in large part due to dramatic
      advances in adhesive technology. It is the ability to bond various materials in a
      reasonably predictable fashion to both enamel and dentin substrates that enables
      dentists to routinely place porcelain veneers, direct and indirect composites,
      and a plethora of other restorative and esthetic materials. In fact, the
      longevity and predictability of many (if not most) current restorative procedures
      is wholly predicated on the dentist's ability to bond various materials to tooth
      tissues. Adhesive systems have progressed from the largely ineffective systems of
      the 1970s and early 1980s to the relatively successful total- and self-etching
      systems of today. The latest players in the adhesive marketplace are the so
      called "universal adhesives." In theory, these systems have the potential to
      significantly simplify and expedite adhesive protocols and may indeed represent
      the next evolution in adhesive dentistry. But what defines a universal system,
      and are all these new systems truly "universal" and everything they are claimed
      to be? This article will examine the origin, chemistry, strengths, weaknesses,
      and clinical relevance of this new genre of dental adhesives. 

PMID- 25822404
TI  - Current all-ceramic systems in dentistry: a review.
AB  - This article describes the ceramic systems and processing techniques available
      today in dentistry. It aims to help clinicians understand the advantages and
      disadvantages of a myriad of ceramic materials and technique options. The
      microstructural components, materials' properties, indications, and names of
      products are discussed to help clarify their use. Key topics will include
      ceramics, particle-filled glasses, polycrystalline ceramics, CAD/CAM, and
      adhesive cementation.

PMID- 25822405
TI  - Use of a resin-modified glass-ionomer (RMGI) liner in conservative direct
      treatment of deep caries.
AB  - Liners and bases are a class of dental materials that provide added protection
      for the health and well-being of a tooth being restored. They help prevent
      postoperative sensitivity resulting from an incomplete dentinal seal. Some
      practitioners use them, while others choose not to. In this case report, a resin
      modified glass-ionomer (RMGI) liner was utilized in deep restorations on
      premolars that had old, existing amalgam restorations and were experiencing
      microleakage and sensitivity problems. The materials and technique used allowed
      for conservative treatment while delivering an esthetic and functionally pleasing
      result.

PMID- 25822406
TI  - Bonding a veneered zirconia anterior fixed partial denture.
AB  - This case report documents the rationale and procedure for bonding a veneered
      zirconia restoration. A three-unit zirconia fixed partial denture (FPD) was
      fabricated with facial and incisal porcelain veneering. The intaglio surface of
      the prosthesis was abraded with 50-MUm aluminum oxide (Al2O3) particles and
      coated with one layer of a 10-methacryloxydecyl dihydrogen phosphate (MDP)
      primer. The FPD was tried into the mouth and occlusal adjustment was performed
      with a fine grit diamond, and then it was polished with zirconia polishing
      points. The intaglio surfaces of the abutment crowns were cleaned with 37%
      phosphoric acid and rinsed. A self-etch adhesive was applied to the tooth
      preparations and light-cured, and the crowns were filled with cement and seated.
      Excess cement was immediately wiped away with a brush, followed by spot-curing of
      the margins. The case demonstrates that, when properly designed, veneered
      zirconia restorations offer acceptable esthetic and mechanical properties for
      anterior FPDs.

PMID- 25822407
TI  - Provisional materials: advances lead to extensive options for clinicians.
AB  - The progression of provisional materials to bis-acrylics has lead to such
      improvements as easier handling, improved compressive and tensile strength, less
      water sorption, and less shrinkage. The end-result is more options for clinicians
      for high-quality chairside provisional restorations. Newer provisional materials
      are easy to manipulate and bring increased comfort to the patient. This review of
      current products affirms that the choices of provisional materials available for
      the dental professional today are quite extensive and have advanced the quality
      of interim restorations.

PMID- 25822408
TI  - Dental repair material: a resin-modified glass-ionomer bioactive ionic resin
      based composite.
AB  - This report documents treatment and repair of three carious teeth that were
      restored with a new dental repair material that features the characteristics of
      both resin-modified glass-ionomer restorative cement (RMGI) and resin-based
      composite (RBC). The restorative products presented are reported by the
      manufacturer to be the first bioactive dental materials with an ionic resin
      matrix, a shock-absorbing resin component, and bioactive fillers that mimic the
      physical and chemical properties of natural teeth. The restorative material and
      base/liner, which feature three hardening mechanisms, could prove to be a notable
      advancement in the adhesive dentistry restorative materials continuum.

PMID- 25822409
TI  - Dental laser utility expanding as research supports innovation.

PMID- 25822410
TI  - High prevalence of lower extremity peripheral artery disease in type 2 diabetes
      patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
AB  - Little is known about the relationship between lower extremity peripheral
      arterial disease (PAD) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) in type 2
      diabetes (T2D). Here, we explored the relationship between sight-threatening PDR
      and PAD. We screened for diabetic retinopathy (DR) and PAD in hospitalized
      patients with T2D. Patients with a diabetic duration of more than 10 years, HbA1c
      >=7.5%, eGFR >=60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and with PDR or with no diabetic retinopathy
      (NDR) were eligible for this cross-sectional study. Severities of DR were graded
      by digital retinal photographs according to the Early Treatment Diabetic
      Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) scale. We assessed PAD by measuring Ankle Brachial
      Index (ABI), Toe Brachial Index (TBI) and Doppler ultrasound. Statistical
      analyses were performed using SPSS 17.0 software. Of the 1544 patients, 169
      patients with extreme eye (57 PDR and 112 NDR) phenotypes met the inclusion
      criteria. Patients with PDR had a significantly higher proportion of low ABI
      (<=0.99) and high ABI (>=1.3) than patients with NDR (28.1% and 15.8% vs. 14.3%
      and 6.2% respectively, P<0.05). PDR patients also had lower TBI than NDR patients
      (0.56+/-0.09 vs. 0.61+/-0.08, P<0.01). The proportion of patients with abnormal
      duplex ultrasound was higher in PDR than in NDR (21.1% vs. 9.8%, P<0.001). This
      showed that PDR associated with PAD could be defined in multiple ways: abnormal
      ABI (<=0.9) (OR = 3.61, 95% CI: 1.15-11.26), abnormal TBI (OR = 2.84, 95% CI:
      1.19-6.64), abnormal duplex (OR = 3.28, 95% CI: 1.00-10.71), and critical limb
      ischemia (OR = 5.52, 95% CI: 2.14-14.26). Moreover, PDR was a stronger
      independent correlation factor for PAD than a diabetic duration of 10 years. In
      conclusion, PAD is more common in PDR than in NDR. It implies that PDR and PAD
      are mostly concomitant in T2D. We should focus on screening PAD in patients with
      PDR in clinical practice.

PMID- 25822411
TI  - Combinatorial control of light induced chromatin remodeling and gene activation
      in Neurospora.
AB  - Light is an important environmental cue that affects physiology and development
      of Neurospora crassa. The light-sensing transcription factor (TF) WCC, which
      consists of the GATA-family TFs WC1 and WC2, is required for light-dependent
      transcription. SUB1, another GATA-family TF, is not a photoreceptor but has also
      been implicated in light-inducible gene expression. To assess regulation and
      organization of the network of light-inducible genes, we analyzed the roles of
      WCC and SUB1 in light-induced transcription and nucleosome remodeling. We show
      that SUB1 co-regulates a fraction of light-inducible genes together with the WCC.
      WCC induces nucleosome eviction at its binding sites. Chromatin remodeling is
      facilitated by SUB1 but SUB1 cannot activate light-inducible genes in the absence
      of WCC. We identified FF7, a TF with a putative O-acetyl transferase domain, as
      an interaction partner of SUB1 and show their cooperation in regulation of a
      fraction of light-inducible and a much larger number of non light-inducible
      genes. Our data suggest that WCC acts as a general switch for light-induced
      chromatin remodeling and gene expression. SUB1 and FF7 synergistically determine
      the extent of light-induction of target genes in common with WCC but have in
      addition a role in transcription regulation beyond light-induced gene expression.

PMID- 25822412
TI  - Galphaq protein carboxyl terminus imitation polypeptide GCIP-27 improves cardiac
      function in chronic heart failure rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Galphaq protein carboxyl terminus imitation polypeptide (GCIP)-27 has
      been shown to alleviate pathological cardiomyocyte hypertrophy induced by various
      factors. Pathological cardiac hypertrophy increases the morbidity and mortality
      of cardiovascular diseases while it compensates for poor heart function. This
      study was designed to investigate the effects of GCIP-27 on heart function in
      rats with heart failure induced by doxorubicin. METHODS AND RESULTS: Forty-eight
      rats were randomly divided into the following six groups receiving vehicle
      (control), doxorubicin (Dox), losartan (6 mg/kg, i.g.) and three doses of GCIP-27
      (10, 30, 90 MUg/kg; i.p., bid), respectively. Heart failure was induced by Dox,
      which was administered at a 20 mg/kg cumulative dose. After 10 weeks of
      treatment, we observed that GCIP-27 (30, 90 MUg/kg) significantly increased
      ejection fraction, fraction shortening, stroke volume and sarcoplasmic reticulum
      Ca2+ ATPase activity of Dox-treated hearts. Additionally, GCIP-27 decreased
      myocardial injury, heart weight index and left ventricular weight index, fibrosis
      and serum cardiac troponin-I concentration in Dox-treated mice.
      Immunohistochemistry, western blotting and real-time PCR experiments indicated
      that GCIP-27 (10-90 MUg/kg) could markedly upregulate the protein expression of
      myocardial alpha-myosin heavy chain (MHC), Bcl-2, protein kinase C (PKC) epsilon
      and phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK) 1/2 as well as
      the mRNA expression of alpha-MHC, but downregulated the expression of beta-MHC,
      Bax and PKC betaII, and the mRNA expression levels of beta-MHC in Dox-treated
      mice. It was also found that GCIP-27 (30, 90 MUg/L) decreased cell size and
      protein content of cardiomyocytes significantly in vitro by comparison of Dox
      group. CONCLUSIONS: GCIP-27 could effectively ameliorate heart failure
      development induced by Dox. PKC-ERK1/2 signaling might represent the underlying
      mechanism of the beneficial effects of GCIP-27.

PMID- 25822414
TI  - Elucidating the impact of molecular packing and device architecture on the
      performance of nanostructured perylene diimide solar cells.
AB  - The performance of organic photovoltaic devices (OPV) with nanostructured
      polymer:perylene diimide (PDI) photoactive layers approaches the levels of the
      corresponding polymer:fullerene systems. Nevertheless, a coherent understanding
      of the difficulty for PDI-based OPV devices to deliver high power conversion
      efficiencies remains elusive. Here we perform a comparative study of a set of
      four different polymer:PDI OPV model systems. The different device performances
      observed are attributed to differences in the nanostructural motif of these
      composites, as determined by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) measurements.
      Long-range structural order in the PDI domain dictates (i) the stabilization
      energy and (ii) the concentration of the PDI excimers in the composites. The
      quenching of the PDI excimer photoluminescence (PL) is found to be insensitive to
      the former, but it depends on the latter. High PL quenching occurs for the low
      concentration of PDI excimers that are formed in PDI columns with a length
      comparable to the PDI excimer diffusion length. The stabilization of the PDI
      excimer state increases as the long-range order in the PDI domains improves. The
      structural order of the PDI domains primarily affects charge transport. Electron
      mobility reduces as the size of the PDI domain increases, suggesting that well
      ordered PDI domains suffer from poor electronic connectivity. WAXS further
      reveals the presence of additional intermolecular PDI interactions, other than
      the direct face-to-face intermolecular coupling, that introduce a substantial
      energetic disorder in the polymer:PDI composites. Conventional device
      architectures with hole-collecting ITO/PEDOT:PSS bottom electrodes are compared
      with inverted device architectures bearing bottom electron-collecting electrodes
      of ITO/ZnO. In all cases the ZnO-functionalized devices surpass the performance
      of the conventional device analogues. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy explains
      that in PEDOT: PSS-functionalized devices, the PDI component preferentially
      segregates closer to the hydrophilic PEDOT: PSS electrode, thus impeding the
      efficient charge extraction and limiting device photocurrent.

PMID- 25822413
TI  - Higher protein kinase C zeta in fatty rat liver and its effect on insulin actions
      in primary hepatocytes.
AB  - We previously showed the impairment of insulin-regulated gene expression in the
      primary hepatocytes from Zucker fatty (ZF) rats, and its association with
      alterations of hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism. However, the molecular
      mechanism is unknown. A preliminary experiment shows that the expression level of
      protein kinase C zeta (PKCzeta), a member of atypical PKC family, is higher in
      the liver and hepatocytes of ZF rats than that of Zucker lean (ZL) rats. Herein,
      we intend to investigate the roles of atypical protein kinase C in the regulation
      of hepatic gene expression. The insulin-regulated hepatic gene expression was
      evaluated in ZL primary hepatocytes treated with atypical PKC recombinant
      adenoviruses. Recombinant adenovirus-mediated overexpression of PKCzeta, or the
      other atypical PKC member PKCiota/lambda, alters the basal and impairs the
      insulin-regulated expressions of glucokinase, sterol regulatory element-binding
      protein 1c, the cytosolic form of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, the
      catalytic subunit of glucose 6-phosphatase, and insulin like growth factor
      binding protein 1 in ZL primary hepatocytes. PKCzeta or PKCiota/lambda
      overexpression also reduces the protein level of insulin receptor substrate 1,
      and the insulin-induced phosphorylation of AKT at Ser473 and Thr308.
      Additionally, PKCiota/lambda overexpression impairs the insulin-induced Prckz
      expression, indicating the crosstalk between PKCzeta and PKCiota/lambda. We
      conclude that the PKCzeta expression is elevated in hepatocytes of insulin
      resistant ZF rats. Overexpressions of aPKCs in primary hepatocytes impair insulin
      signal transduction, and in turn, the down-stream insulin-regulated gene
      expression. These data suggest that elevation of aPKC expression may contribute
      to the hepatic insulin resistance at gene expression level. 

PMID- 25822415
TI  - CRISPathBrick: Modular Combinatorial Assembly of Type II-A CRISPR Arrays for
      dCas9-Mediated Multiplex Transcriptional Repression in E. coli.
AB  - Programmable control over an addressable global regulator would enable
      simultaneous repression of multiple genes and would have tremendous impact on the
      field of synthetic biology. It has recently been established that CRISPR/Cas
      systems can be engineered to repress gene transcription at nearly any desired
      location in a sequence-specific manner, but there remain only a handful of
      applications described to date. In this work, we report development of a vector
      possessing a CRISPathBrick feature, enabling rapid modular assembly of natural
      type II-A CRISPR arrays capable of simultaneously repressing multiple target
      genes in Escherichia coli. Iterative incorporation of spacers into this
      CRISPathBrick feature facilitates the combinatorial construction of arrays, from
      a small number of DNA parts, which can be utilized to generate a suite of complex
      phenotypes corresponding to an encoded genetic program. We show that
      CRISPathBrick can be used to tune expression of plasmid-based genes and repress
      chromosomal targets in probiotic, virulent, and commonly engineered E. coli
      strains. Furthermore, we describe development of pCRISPReporter, a fluorescent
      reporter plasmid utilized to quantify dCas9-mediated repression from endogenous
      promoters. Finally, we demonstrate that dCas9-mediated repression can be
      harnessed to assess the effect of downregulating both novel and computationally
      predicted metabolic engineering targets, improving the yield of a heterologous
      phytochemical through repression of endogenous genes. These tools provide a
      platform for rapid evaluation of multiplex metabolic engineering interventions. 

PMID- 25822417
TI  - Module-based association analysis for omics data with network structure.
AB  - Module-based analysis (MBA) aims to evaluate the effect of a group of biological
      elements sharing common features, such as SNPs in the same gene or metabolites in
      the same pathways, and has become an attractive alternative to traditional single
      bio-element approaches. Because bio-elements regulate and interact with each
      other as part of network, incorporating network structure information can more
      precisely model the biological effects, enhance the ability to detect true
      associations, and facilitate our understanding of the underlying biological
      mechanisms. However, most MBA methods ignore the network structure information,
      which depicts the interaction and regulation relationship among basic functional
      units in biology system. We construct the connectivity kernel and the topology
      kernel to capture the relationship among bio-elements in a module, and use a
      kernel machine framework to evaluate the joint effect of bio-elements. Our
      proposed kernel machine approach directly incorporates network structure so to
      enhance the study efficiency; it can assess interactions among modules, account
      covariates, and is computational efficient. Through simulation studies and real
      data application, we demonstrate that the proposed network-based methods can have
      markedly better power than the approaches ignoring network information under a
      range of scenarios.

PMID- 25822416
TI  - Bilaterally reduced claustral volumes in schizophrenia and major depressive
      disorder: a morphometric postmortem study.
AB  - Multiple brain structural abnormalities have been reported in schizophrenia and
      major depressive disorder. A majority of disease-affected brain regions act as
      relay nodes within neural networks, which are known to be impaired in
      neuropsychiatric diseases. One of these regions is the claustrum, which has the
      highest connectivity in the human brain by regional volume. Its possible
      involvement in disturbed connectivity is yet incompletely explored, however. The
      present study aimed at searching for possible structural deviations of the
      claustrum in neuropsychiatric disorders. We found bilaterally reduced claustral
      volumes both in schizophrenia and in major depressive disorder. These structural
      impairments may have different, disease-related consequences: In patients with
      schizophrenia, they may contribute to sensory processing impairments, and in
      patients with major depressive disorder to disturbances in salience. 

PMID- 25822418
TI  - [Diagnosis and therapy of heart failure].

PMID- 25822419
TI  - [Epidemiology and prognosis of heart failure].
AB  - Heart failure (HF) is a major and growing health problem in western communities.
      Recent data indicate that more than 50% of patients with the clinical syndrome of
      HF have a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (HF with preserved
      ejection fraction, HFpEF). In contrast to the calculated expectations, the
      observed incidence of HF is rising. Despite the fact that the relative proportion
      of patients with preserved left ventricular function is also increasing, other
      factors, such as ageing of the population and the concomitant change of compound
      risk factors may also contribute to the actual rise in the incidence of HF.
      Patients with HF suffer from reduced exercise capacity, impaired quality of life
      and also from recurrent hospitalization due to HF. Over the past decades, an
      increase of recurrent HF events has been documented. In contrast to earlier
      reports in which HFpEF was considered to be more benign than HF with reduced
      ejection fraction (HFrEF), recent data suggest that once hospitalized for HF,
      patients with HFpEF and those with HFrEF have a comparable prognosis in terms of
      morbidity and mortality. Despite increasing clinical and economic relevance, no
      treatment has yet been shown to convincingly reduce mortality in HFpEF. In
      contrast, strategies for improving survival have now been established for HFrEF.
      The problem of HF will continue to be major challenge for the healthcare systems
      in western communities; therefore, consolidated clinical research is necessary to
      further improve therapeutic strategies for HFrEF and to generally establish
      treatment options for HFpEF. 

PMID- 25822420
TI  - [Interventional therapy of heart valve diseases: future perspectives].
AB  - Transcatheter procedures have been adopted as novel treatment strategy for
      patients with valvular heart disease, particularly for those who are inoperable
      or at high risk for surgical valve procedures. Significant technological advances
      have resulted in an improvement of devices for transcatheter aortic valve
      replacement (TAVI) with downsizing of crossing profiles, reduction in the rate of
      paravalvular leakage and conduction abnormalities as well as a lower short- and
      mid-term mortality and a higher patient acceptance. In the near future, TAVI may
      potentially develop as first-line treatment for the majority of patients with
      aortic valve disease. For patients with mitral and pulmonary stenosis, balloon
      valvuloplasty is effective and well established and should be preferred over
      valve replacement, last but not least also for economic reasons. For treatment of
      mitral regurgitation, several transcatheter devices aiming to restore or replace
      mitral valve function are currently under investigation. This review summarizes
      the current state of interventional treatment of valvular heart disease along
      with implications for the future. 

PMID- 25822421
TI  - [Ventricular long-term support with implantable continuous flow pumps: on the way
      to a gold standard in the therapy of terminal heart failure].
AB  - Mechanical circulatory support nowadays represents an important option in the
      treatment of patients with advanced heart insufficiency. Once developed as a
      bridging to heart transplantation, it is now a valuable option for permanent
      support in patients for whom a heart transplantation is not possible due to
      contraindications or a lack of available organs. Furthermore, it can be used as a
      bridging to myocardial recovery and explantation. The number of implantations of
      left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) has clearly increased in recent years and
      approximately one half of these implantations is already carried out in centers
      not specialized in transplantations. This development necessitates that every
      practicing physician is aware of the basic principles of mechanical circulatory
      support and with the possible complications. This article gives a summary of the
      current state of the technology and treatment of patients with long-term VADs. 

PMID- 25822422
TI  - [Infective endocarditis].
AB  - Colonization of native cardiac valves or polymer implants, e.g. valves, conduits,
      rings, electrode leads and polymer-associated endocarditis (PIE), by
      microorganisms, primarily gram-positive bacteria (infective endocarditis),
      constitutes a severe, prognostically unfavorable disease. Fever and in the
      majority of cases development of a valve regurgitant murmur are clinical landmark
      findings. The white blood cell count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C
      reactive protein (CRP) are regularly elevated. With a normal CRP level, infective
      endocarditis is extremely unlikely. Irrespective of body temperature, at least
      three blood cultures (aerobic and anaerobic) should be taken and if initiation of
      antimicrobial therapy is urgent, 1 h apart before therapy is initiated.
      Identification of the pathogen to the species level and testing antimicrobial
      susceptibility to antibiotics by a quantitative hemodilution test, not with agar
      diffusion tests, are obligatory. A minimum inhibitory concentration should be
      administered for antibiotics and usual combinations of antibiotics with an
      expected synergistic potential. Streptococci, staphylococci and enterococci are
      the most frequent causative organisms. Immediate initiation of transthoracic
      echocardiography (TTE) is mandatory followed by transesophageal echocardiography
      if imaging quality is poor, involvement of intracardiac implants is possible or
      TTE is insufficient to establish the diagnosis. An insufficiently long
      antimicrobial therapy promotes recurrent infections, thus a 4-week treatment is
      standard, while in special cases (e.g. PIE) treatment for 6 weeks should be the
      rule. If typical complications of infective endocarditis, such as uncontrolled
      local infection, systemic thromboembolism, central nervous involvement,
      development of a severe valve incompetence or mitral kissing vegetation in
      primary aortic valve endocarditis occur, urgent surgical intervention should be
      considered. If cardiac implants are involved, early surgical removal followed by
      a 6-week antimicrobial treatment is the rule. Adequate and timely diagnosis and
      treatment are the key to improve the overall prognosis.

PMID- 25822423
TI  - Network catastrophe: self-organized patterns reveal both the instability and the
      structure of complex networks.
AB  - Critical events in society or biological systems can be understood as large-scale
      self-emergent phenomena due to deteriorating stability. We often observe peculiar
      patterns preceding these events, posing a question of-how to interpret the self
      organized patterns to know more about the imminent crisis. We start with a very
      general description - of interacting population giving rise to large-scale
      emergent behaviors that constitute critical events. Then we pose a key question:
      is there a quantifiable relation between the network of interactions and the
      emergent patterns? Our investigation leads to a fundamental understanding to: 1.
      Detect the system's transition based on the principal mode of the pattern
      dynamics; 2. Identify its evolving structure based on the observed patterns. The
      main finding of this study is that while the pattern is distorted by the network
      of interactions, its principal mode is invariant to the distortion even when the
      network constantly evolves. Our analysis on real-world markets show common self
      organized behavior near the critical transitions, such as housing market collapse
      and stock market crashes, thus detection of critical events before they are in
      full effect is possible. 

PMID- 25822424
TI  - Malignancy presenting as multiple lesions in a cirrhotic liver: not always
      hepatocellular carcinoma.

PMID- 25822425
TI  - Association between chronic HCV hepatitis, membranoproliferative glomerulopathy
      and cutaneous sarcoidosis.

PMID- 25822426
TI  - Cocaine capsules in the colon: the internal concealment of illicit drugs.

PMID- 25822427
TI  - Right upper quadrant pain in a young female.

PMID- 25822428
TI  - CAP: a novel era to better quantitate fatty liver?

PMID- 25822429
TI  - Prevalence of anemia and iron deficiency in Romanian patients with inflammatory
      bowel disease: a prospective multicenter study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Anemia is the most frequent systemic complication in
      inflammatory bowel diseases. It affects the quality of life and can interact with
      working capacity. Our objectives were to identify the prevalence of anemia, its
      main causes and its management in patients with inflammatory bowel disease from
      Romania. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter prospective study from March 2013 to
      August 2014. We enrolled 291 patients from three referral centers: 115 (39.52%)
      with Crohn's disease (CD) and 176 (60.48%) with ulcerative colitis (UC). We
      defined anemia according to the WHO criteria. RESULTS: Median age of the patients
      was 41 years and the median time period since diagnosis was 3 years (0.75-7). The
      median activity index for UC (UCAI) was 4 and the median CD activity index (CDAI)
      was 96. More patients with CD were on antiTNFalpha therapy (p < 0.01),
      corticosteroids (p =0.18) or azathioprine (p=0.05) and required surgery for their
      underlying disease at study enrollment (p < 0.01). Anemia was present in 31.27%
      of the patients, more often in those with CD (35.65%) than with UC (28.41%) (not
      statistically significant); 53.26% of the patients had iron deficiency while
      4.12% had folic acid and 8.59% vitamin B12 deficiency; 9.62% of the patients had
      received anti-anemic therapy at inclusion in the study or in the last three
      months prior to study enrollment. CONCLUSIONS: About one in three Romanian
      patients with inflammatory bowel disease has anemia, which is frequently
      associated with iron deficiency. About 30% of the patients with anemia are under
      therapy and the most frequent route for iron supplementation is the oral one.
      This might contribute to the high prevalence of iron deficiency and the low level
      of compliance.

PMID- 25822430
TI  - Saccharomyces boulardii for the prevention of hospital onset Clostridium
      difficile infection.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Probiotics, including Saccharomyces boulardii, have been
      advocated for the prevention of Clostridium difficile infection. The aim of this
      project was to evaluate the effects of the removal of S. boulardii from an
      automatic antibiotic order set and hospital formulary on hospital onset C.
      difficile infection rates. DESIGN: A retrospective chart review was performed on
      all patients with hospital onset C. difficile infection during the 13 months
      prior (control group) and the 13 months after (study group) removal of an
      automatic order set linking S. boulardii capsules to certain broad spectrum
      antibiotics. SETTING: A large 800+ bed tertiary hospital. RESULTS: Among all
      hospitalized patients, the rate of hospital onset C. difficile infection was 0.99
      per 1000 patient days while the S. boulardii protocol was active compared with
      1.04 per 1000 patient days (p=0.10) after S. boulardii was removed from the
      formulary. No difference in the rate of hospital onset C. difficile infection was
      detected in patients receiving the linked broad spectrum antibiotics during and
      after the removal of the protocol (1.25% vs. 1.51%, respectively; p=0.70).
      CONCLUSIONS: Removal of S. boulardii administration to patients receiving broad
      spectrum antibiotics and the hospital formulary did not impact the rate of
      hospital onset C. difficile infection in either the hospital population or
      patients receiving broad spectrum antibiotics.

PMID- 25822431
TI  - Autoimmune liver diseases and antiphospholipid antibodies positivity: a meta
      analysis of literature studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Several studies reported an association between autoimmune
      liver diseases (AiLD) and antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) positivity. We
      performed a meta-analysis of studies evaluating the association of primary
      biliary cirrhosis (PBC), autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), and primary sclerosing
      cholangitis (PSC) with aPL positivity and with aPL-related thrombotic events.
      METHODS: Studies evaluating the association of AiLD with aPL (anticardiolipin
      [aCL], anti-beta2 glycoprotein-I [anti-beta2GPI], lupus anticoagulant [LA]
      antibodies) and with aPL-related thrombotic complications were systematically
      searched in the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and EMBASE databases. RESULTS: A
      total of 10 studies (750 patients with AiLD and 1,244 healthy controls) were
      included in the analysis on the prevalence of aPL and showed that AiLD are
      significantly associated with the presence of aCL and anti-beta2GPI. The
      association with aCL positivity was consistently confirmed in PBC (OR: 13.93,
      95%CI: 4.69-41.38), AIH (OR: 23.50, 95%CI: 4.28-129.13), and PSC (OR: 18.21,
      95%CI: 7.05-47.08). Similarly, anti-beta2GPI were found more frequently in PBC
      (OR: 25.10, 95%CI: 4.77-132.11), AIH (OR: 48.57, 95%CI: 11.07-213.09), and PSC
      (OR: 36.30, 95%CI: 6.55-201.31). These findings are confirmed when separately
      analyzing IgM, IgG, and IgA directed against phospholipids. Two of the 10
      included articles and 1 further study (67 cases and 75 controls) showed a trend -
      not achieving statistical significance - towards a higher prevalence of
      thrombotic complications in AIH patients with aPL as compared to those with only
      AIH (OR: 1.67, 95%CI: 0.46-6.05). CONCLUSION: PBC, AIH, and PSC are significantly
      associated with aPL positivity. The association with aPL-related thrombotic
      complications should be further studied.

PMID- 25822432
TI  - Diagnostic accuracy of controlled attenuation parameter measured by transient
      elastography for the non-invasive assessment of liver steatosis: a prospective
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A novel non-invasive tool based on the evaluation of
      ultrasound attenuation using transient elastography (TE) has been developed,
      called controlled attenuation parameter (CAP). We aim to establish the
      histopathological parameters that significantly influence CAP, the cutoff values
      and their performance in predicting each steatosis grade on a group of biopsied
      patients with chronic liver diseases (CLD) from Romania. METHODS: We
      prospectively analyzed 201 consecutive CLD patients who underwent CAP
      measurements using TE. Steatosis, liver fibrosis and necroinflammatory activity
      were staged and graded during the pathological analysis of bioptic specimens.
      Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were applied to identify the
      variables correlated with CAP values. The diagnostic performance of CAP for
      steatosis prediction was assessed using an AUC analysis. RESULTS: Among the
      histopathological factors correlating with CAP, the multivariate analysis found
      steatosis as the only factor independently influencing CAP values (p < 0.001).
      Maximal diagnostic accuracy (DA) was obtained for the prediction of >= 34-66%
      (S2) fatty load and of 67-100% (S3) fatty load (82.06%, respectively 81.59%)
      while, for the prediction of >= 11-33% (S1) fatty load, DA reached only 76.11%.
      The negative predictive value for the exclusion of >= S2 and S3 was 93.5% and
      98.7%, respectively. AUCs calculated between each two steatosis grades were:
      0.772 (S0 vs S1), 0.874 (S0 vs S2), 0.904 (S0 vs S3), 0.659 (S1 vs S2), 0.777 (S1
      vs S3), and 0.665 (S2 vs S3). CONCLUSION: Steatosis is the only histopathological
      factor independently influencing CAP. Maximal DA could be obtained for the
      prediction of >= S2 and S3 (82.06% and 81.59%), while for the prediction of S1,
      the accuracy reached only 76.11%.

PMID- 25822433
TI  - Plasma lipidomic fingerprinting to distinguish among hepatitis C-related
      hepatocellular carcinoma, liver cirrhosis, and chronic hepatitis C using MALDI
      TOF mass spectrometry: a pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Hepatitis C (HC) is a major cause of hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC), and a late diagnosis is the main factor for the poor survival of
      patients. There is an urgent need for identifying sensitive and specific
      biomarkers for HCC diagnosis. In the present study, plasma lipid patterns of
      patients with HC-HCC, HC-liver cirrhosis (LC), and chronic HC (CHC) were assessed
      by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS).
      METHODS: Plasma samples of 25 patients with HC-HCC, 15 patients with HC-LC, and
      25 patients with CHC were evaluated by MALDI-MS using a Q-ToF premier (Synapt)
      mass spectrometer (Waters, Manchester, UK) equipped with a 200-Hz solid-state
      laser in the mass range between m/z (mass-to-charge ratio) of 700-1200. RESULTS:
      A total of 2205 ions were initially obtained and 7 ions (m/z) were highlighted as
      corresponding to the most important lipids to differentiate HCC patients from LC
      and CHC patients. The specific lipidomic expression signature generated resulted
      in an overall predictive accuracy of 93% of HC-HCC and HC-LC, and 100% of HC-HCC
      and CHC. The 7-peak algorithm distinguished HCC from LC with a sensitivity of 96%
      and a specificity of 87%, and HCC from CHC with both sensitivity and specificity
      of 100%. CONCLUSION: MALDI-MS-specific signature peaks accurately distinguished
      patients with HC-HCC from those with HC-LC and CHC. The results indicate the
      potential of MALDI-MS and the selected peaks to improve HCC surveillance in
      patients with viral C cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis C.

PMID- 25822434
TI  - Association between portal vein thrombosis and survival of liver transplant
      recipients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) increases the technical
      complexity of liver transplantation (LT). This systematic review and meta
      analysis aim to analyze the association of pre-LT PVT with the overall survival
      after LT. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane library databases were used to
      search for papers related to the association between pre-LT PVT and survival of
      LT recipients. The differences in the survival rates between the LT recipients
      with and without pre-LT PVT were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) with 95%
      confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Twenty-seven papers were included. Overall
      meta-analysis showed that the total LT recipients with pre-LT PVT had a
      significantly lower 1-year survival rate than those without pre-LT PVT (OR=0.733,
      95%CI=0.621-0.865; P=0.0002). But no statistically significant difference was
      observed in the in-hospital (OR=0.713, 95%CI=0.343-1.482; P=0.365), 1-month
      (OR=0.679, 95%CI=0.345-1.333; P=0.261), or 5-year survival rate (OR=0.788,
      95%CI=0.587-1.058; P=0.113). Additionally, the 1-year survival rate was
      significantly lower in the LT recipients with complete PVT than in those without
      PVT (OR=0.503, 95%CI=0.295-0.858; P=0.012). However, no statistically significant
      difference in the 1-year survival rate between them was observed in the meta
      analysis of high-quality studies (OR=0.899, 95%CI=0.657-1.230; P=0.505) or that
      of studies in which LT was performed after 2000 (OR=0.783, 95%CI=0.566-1.083;
      P=0.140). CONCLUSION: Pre-LT PVT, especially complete PVT, decreased the 1-year
      survival rate after LT. However, the detrimental effect of pre-LT PVT on the
      survival of LT recipients became inconclusive in high-quality studies.
      Additionally, further well-designed cohort studies should validate the
      association in patients undergoing LT during the latter years.

PMID- 25822435
TI  - Serum immunoreactive collagen IV detected by monoclonal antibodies as a marker of
      severe fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
      is increasing worldwide. We evaluated serum collagen IV as a direct non-invasive
      marker of severe liver fibrosis in NAFLD. METHODS: The study included 148 NAFLD
      and 187 chronic hepatitis C patients in whom histological severity of liver
      fibrosis was evaluated. The utility of serum collagen IV measured by immune
      mediated agglutination using two types of monoclonal antibodies for
      distinguishing severe fibrosis (>= stage 3 and >= F3) from non-to-moderate
      fibrosis in NAFLD or chronic hepatitis C was assessed in comparison to serum
      hyaluronic acid or other indirect fibrosis markers. RESULTS: Multiple logistic
      regression analysis showed that serum collagen IV was significantly associated
      with severe fibrosis in NAFLD (odds ratio: 1.21, p<0.001) but not in chronic
      hepatitis C. For distinguishing severe fibrosis in NAFLD, collagen IV showed the
      largest area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (0.827, 95%CI:
      0.746-0.908) followed by FIB-4 (0.805, 95%CI: 0.728-0.890); in chronic hepatitis
      C, those for FIB-4 (0.813, 95%CI: 0.748-0.878) and collagen IV (0.770, 95%CI:
      0.683-0.857) were the largest and smallest, respectively. To detect severe
      fibrosis in NAFLD, a cutoff of collagen IV > 177 exhibited 77.1% sensitivity,
      84.0% specificity, 76.5% positive predictive value, and 84.0% negative predictive
      value. Combined with a cutoff of FIB-4 > 2.09, the negative and positive
      predictive values, and specificity for detecting severe fibrosis in NAFLD
      increased further. CONCLUSION: Collagen IV is a reliable marker for
      distinguishing severe liver fibrosis from non-to-moderate fibrosis in NAFLD but
      not chronic hepatitis C.

PMID- 25822436
TI  - Diagnostic performance of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)/endoscopic ultrasound--fine
      needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) cytology in solid and cystic pancreatic
      neuroendocrine tumours.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Our study aimed to assess the sensitivity of EUS and EUS-FNA
      for pancreatic neuro-endocrine tumors (pNETs) and compare performance over two
      consecutive 4 year 2 month periods, to investigate the comparative performance
      between solid and cystic pNETs and determine the incremental yield of EUS +/- FNA
      in individuals with a mass not diagnosed as a pNET after cross-sectional imaging.
      METHODS: A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database was
      carried out to identify all pNET patients who underwent EUS-FNA between April
      2003 and September 2011. RESULTS: A final diagnosis of solid and cystic pNETs was
      made in 43 and 10 patients, respectively. Overall, the yield of combined EUS
      imaging and cytology was significantly higher than that of CT and/or MRI (p<
      0.05) across all groups [solid (83.7% vs. 41.8%), cystic (70% vs. 10%) and
      combined solid-cystic (81.1% vs. 35.8%)]. The yield of combined EUS imaging and
      cytology was significantly better than EUS imaging alone (p<0.05) in the solid
      (83.7% vs. 58%) and combined pNET cohort (81.1% vs. 52.8%) of patients. After a
      non-diagnostic CT and or MRI, EUS/EUS-FNA confirmed pNET in 19 out of 25 patients
      (76.0%) with solid pNETs and 6 out of 9 patients (66.7%) with cystic pNETs.
      CONCLUSION: EUS and EUS-FNA had a significant clinical impact in the 25/34 of
      cases where pNET was not suspected after initial cross-sectional imaging.

PMID- 25822438
TI  - The role of colonoscopy in managing diverticular disease of the colon.
AB  - Diverticulosis of the colon is frequently found on routine colonoscopy, and the
      incidence of diverticular disease and its complications appears to be increasing.
      The role of colonoscopy in managing this disease is still controversial.
      Colonoscopy plays a key role in managing diverticular bleeding. Several
      techniques have been effectively used in this field, but band ligation seems to
      be the best in preventing rebleeding. Colonoscopy is also effective in posing a
      correct differential diagnosis with other forms of chronic colitis involving
      colon harbouring diverticula (in particular with Crohn's disease or Segmental
      Colitis Associated with Diverticulosis). The role of colonoscopy to confirm
      diagnosis of uncomplicated diverticulitis is still under debate, since the risk
      of advanced colonic neoplasia in patients admitted for acute uncomplicated
      diverticulitis is not increased as compared to the average-risk population. On
      the contrary, colonoscopy is mandatory if patients complain of persistent
      symptoms or after resolution of an episode of complicated diverticulitis.
      Finally, a recent endoscopic classification, called Diverticular Inflammation and
      Complications Assessment (DICA), has been developed and validated. This
      classification seems to be a promising tool for predicting the outcome of the
      colon harboring diverticula, but further, prospective studies have to confirm its
      predictive role on the outcome of the disease. 

PMID- 25822437
TI  - The Lauren classification highlights the role of epithelial-to-mesenchymal
      transition in gastric carcinogenesis: an immunohistochemistry study of the STAT3
      and adhesion molecules expression.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Despite some recent advances, gastric cancer remains an
      important cause of death at world level. This indicates an absence of therapeutic
      options, stemming from the limited understanding of the molecular mechanisms
      involved in carcinogenesis. Nearly fifty years ago Lauren classified gastric
      cancers, according to the morphological aspect, as intestinal or diffuse. The
      phenotype of the cells indicates the presence of different molecular mechanisms,
      which can be approached in the light of recent data and identified with the help
      of current techniques. The best described are the germline/somatic mutations or
      the hypermethylations of the E-cadherin 1 CDH1 gene promotor. METHODS: We
      analyzed 195 gastric tumors,120 intestinal and 75 diffuse type, using
      immunohistochemistry (tissue microarray TMA method) for pStat3Tyr705, E-cadherin,
      alpha-catenin and beta-catenin; 985 spots of gastric tumors, distributed on 4 TMA
      blocks were analyzed. For pStat3Tyr705 we took the nuclear staining into account
      and for the adhesion molecules, membrane staining. RESULTS: In our study, in the
      diffuse type gastric cancer, pStat3Tyr705 nuclear expression was statistically
      significantly increased (p=0.003). Also we observed a decreased expression of the
      adhesion molecules in the same type of gastric cancer (E-cadherin p<0.0001, alpha
      catenin p<0.0001, beta-catenin p<0.0001), suggesting that epithelial-to
      mesenchymal transition (EMT) may be involved not only in gastric carcinogenesis,
      but also in resistance to treatment. CONCLUSION: The Stat3 role has been recently
      highlighted in carcinogenesis of the diffuse type of gastric cancer. We found
      that the morphological features of the diffuse type also suggest the involvement
      of EMT in this type of gastric cancer. Therefore, targeting the key molecules
      involved in this process may interfere with EMT process in the diffuse type of
      gastric cancer.

PMID- 25822439
TI  - A systematic review on drugs absorption modifications after eradication in
      Helicobacter pylori positive patients undergoing replacement therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection has been suggested
      as a cause of impaired drug absorption. This infection leads to alteration of the
      gastric acid secretion that may change the conformational characteristics of
      drugs and their intestinal absorption leading to uncertainties about the dose to
      administer and the therapeutic results. A systematic review was undertaken to
      clarify the implications of drug absorption during the administration of
      replacement therapies. METHODS: Electronic databases such as MEDLINE/Pubmed,
      EMBASE and The Cochrane Library [which includes Cochrane Database of Systematic
      Review (CDSR), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the
      Database of Abstract of Reviews of Effect (DARE)] were searched. Grey literature
      databases (e.g. the International clinical trials registry platform, Trials
      Register, Clinical Trials.gov, Controlled Trials and TrialsCentral), Theses
      database, Government publication and LILACS database were also searched. No
      language restriction was applied. RESULTS: Infection and altered drug absorption
      were evaluated in patients under replacement therapies with iron, thyroxin and L
      dopa. In all, seven studies included an improvement in drug absorption after
      eradication and an existing inverse correlation between the grade of gastric
      inflammation and indices of drug absorption were noticed. CONCLUSION: This
      systematic review confirmed the presence of an interaction between infection and
      drug absorption of orally administered replacement therapies. Gastric acid
      reduction and subsequent alteration of drug composition seem to lead this
      mechanism. Clinicians should be aware of this possible interaction when starting
      a replacement therapy in patients and when evaluating poor clinical response.

PMID- 25822440
TI  - Primary biliary cirrhosis--autoimmune hepatitis overlap syndrome associated with
      dermatomyositis, autoimmune thyroiditis and antiphospholipid syndrome.
AB  - Autoimmune liver diseases may be associated with extrahepatic autoimmune
      pathology. We report the case of a 52-year old woman who initially presented to
      the gastroenterology department for extreme fatigue, pale stools, dark urine and
      pruritus. Laboratory tests showed significant cholestasis and elevation of
      aminotransferase levels. Immunological tests revealed positive antinuclear
      (ANA=1:320) and antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA=1:40) with negative anti-smooth
      muscle and liver kidney microsomal type 1 antibodies. The biopsy was compatible
      with overlap syndrome type 1. The patient was commenced on immunosuppressive
      therapy according to standard of care (azathioprine 50mg, ursodeoxycholic acid
      and prednisone 0.5mg/kg), with moderate biochemical improvement. She subsequently
      developed proximal symmetrical weakness and cutaneous involvement and was
      diagnosed with biopsy-proven dermatomyositis. The immunosuppressive regimen was
      intensified to 150 mg azathioprine. At the three-month follow-up, her symptoms
      subsided and aminotransferases and muscle enzymes normalized. Upon further
      investigation the patient was diagnosed with autoimmune thyroiditis and
      antiphospholipid syndrome. To our knowledge, this is the first case of primary
      biliary cirrhosis - autoimmune hepatitis overlap syndrome associated with
      dermatomyositis, autoimmune thyroiditis and antiphospholipid syndrome. 

PMID- 25822441
TI  - Open biopsy guided by endoscopic ultrasonography from a gastric submucosal tumor
      growing outside the stomach.
AB  - Submucosal tunneling bloc biopsy for submucosal tumors growing inside the gastric
      wall is a safe and reliable method. However, it is difficult for an endoscopist
      to perform submucosal tunneling bloc biopsy and detect the demarcation line
      between the proper muscular layer and the capsule layer of submucosal tumors
      growing outside the gastric wall. A submucosal tumor in the lesser curvature of
      the stomach was identified in a 74-year-old man by esophagogastroduodenoscopy.
      Computed tomography revealed hetero-density with partial calcification of the
      tumor growing outside the gastric wall, that connected to approximately 10 mm of
      the muscular layer. Almost all of the tumor body was located outside the stomach.
      After the small connecting area was detected by endoscopic ultrasonography, two
      markings were placed at the opposite ends of the tumor. The tumor was removed via
      snare resection between the markings located immediately above the top of the
      tumor. After the biopsy site was reconfirmed using endoscopic ultrasonography, a
      large bloc biopsy was conducted. This new "open biopsy under endoscopic
      ultrasonography" is a simple, safe, and reliable method to obtain samples from
      any type of submucosal tumor growing inside or outside the stomach. 

PMID- 25822442
TI  - Gangliocytic paraganglioma: a rare cause of gastrointestinal bleeding.
AB  - Duodenal neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are rare tumors, consisting of five
      different types of tumors. In many cases, they may be asymptomatic, leading to
      delay in diagnosis. Clinical symptoms are related to local tumor growth and
      mucosal ulceration. We report a 38-year old man with duodenal gangliocytic
      paraganglioma causing overt upper gastrointestinal bleeding and anemia. We
      describe specific clinical and histopathological features of the tumor, and
      review the diagnostic and therapeutic strategy. Gangliocytic paragangliomas are
      regarded as benign tumors. However, the disease recurrence and the malignant
      potential of the tumor have also been reported. 

PMID- 25822443
TI  - Paroxysmal postprandial atrial fibrilation suppressed by laparoscopic repair of a
      giant paraesophageal hernia compressing the left atrium.
AB  - We present the case of a patient with a giant paraesophageal hernia associated
      with paroxysmal postprandial atrial fibrillation that was suppressed after
      surgery. The imaging investigations showed the intrathoracic displacement of a
      large part of the stomach, which pushed the left atrial wall causing atrial
      fibrillation. The laparoscopic surgical repair acted as sole treatment for this
      condition. 

PMID- 25822444
TI  - Romanian guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of exocrine pancreatic
      insufficiency.
AB  - In assessing exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), its diverse etiologies and
      the heterogeneous population affected should be considered. Diagnosing this
      condition remains a challenge in clinical practice especially for mild-to
      moderate EPI, with the support of the time-consuming breath test or the
      coefficient of fat absorption. The fecal elastase-1 test, less precise for the
      diagnosis, cannot be useful for assessing treatment efficacy. Pancreatic enzyme
      replacement therapy (PERT) is the mainstay of treatment, whereby enteric-coated
      mini-microspheres are taken with every meal, in progressive doses based on an
      individual's weight and clinical symptoms. The main indication for PERT is
      chronic pancreatitis, in patients who have clinically relevant steatorrhea,
      abnormal pancreatic function test or abnormal function tests associated with
      symptoms of malabsorption such as weight loss or meteorism. While enzyme
      replacement therapy is not recommended in the initial stages of acute
      pancreatitis, pancreatic exocrine function should be monitored for at least 6-18
      months. In the case of unresectable pancreatic cancer, replacement enzyme therapy
      helps to maintain weight and improve overall quality of life. It is also
      indicated in patients with celiac disease, who have chronic diarrhea (in spite of
      gluten-free diet), and in patients with cystic fibrosis with proven EPI. 

PMID- 25822445
TI  - The relationship between inflammatory bowel disease and type 1 diabetes mellitus:
      a study of relative prevalence in comparison with population controls.

PMID- 25822446
TI  - Does anatomical distribution of colorectal polyps show a rightward shift?
      Analysis of 2,372 colorectal polyps in 1,558 patients from Turkey.

PMID- 25822447
TI  - Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in Crohn's disease patients predicts sustained
      response to infliximab 52-week therapy.

PMID- 25822448
TI  - Appendiceal mucocele in ulcerative colitis: a rare association and a crucial
      preoperative diagnosis.

PMID- 25822449
TI  - Comment to the article Gastric cat scratch--an upper endoscopy finding?

PMID- 25822450
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25531988.

PMID- 25822451
TI  - Territorial pattern formation in the absence of an attractive potential.
AB  - Territoriality is a phenomenon exhibited throughout nature. On the individual
      level, it is the processes by which organisms exclude others of the same species
      from certain parts of space. On the population level, it is the segregation of
      space into separate areas, each used by subsections of the population. Proving
      mathematically that such individual-level processes can cause observed population
      level patterns to form is necessary for linking these two levels of description
      in a non-speculative way. Previous mathematical analysis has relied upon assuming
      animals are attracted to a central area. This can either be a fixed geographical
      point, such as a den- or nest-site, or a region where they have previously
      visited. However, recent simulation-based studies suggest that this attractive
      potential is not necessary for territorial pattern formation. Here, we construct
      a partial differential equation (PDE) model of territorial interactions based on
      the individual-based model (IBM) from those simulation studies. The resulting PDE
      does not rely on attraction to spatial locations, but purely on conspecific
      avoidance, mediated via scent-marking. We show analytically that steady-state
      patterns can form, as long as (i) the scent does not decay faster than it takes
      the animal to traverse the terrain, and (ii) the spatial scale over which animals
      detect scent is incorporated into the PDE. As part of the analysis, we develop a
      general method for taking the PDE limit of an IBM that avoids destroying any
      intrinsic spatial scale in the underlying behavioral decisions. 

PMID- 25822452
TI  - beta-Ecdysone Augments Peak Bone Mass in Mice of Both Sexes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: One of the strongest predictors for osteoporosis is peak bone mass.
      Interventions to augment peak bone mass have yet to be developed. beta-Ecdysone
      (betaEcd), a natural steroid-like compound produced by arthropods to initiate
      metamorphosis, is believed to have androgenic effects and so may be used to
      augment bone mass. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: The purpose of this study was to use both
      male and female (1) gonadal-sufficient; and (2) -insufficient mice to investigate
      sex differences in terms of bone development and structure after betaEcd
      administration. METHODS: Two-month-old male and female Swiss-Webster mice were
      randomized to receive either vehicle or betaEcd (0.5 mg/kg) for 3 weeks. In a
      separate experiment to evaluate the effects of betaEcd on sex hormone-deficient
      mice, gonadectomy was performed in male (orchiectomy [ORX]) and female mice
      (ovariectomy [OVX]). Sham-operated and the ORX/OVX mice were then treated for 3
      weeks with betaEcd. Primary endpoints for the study were trabecular bone
      structure and bone strength. RESULTS: In male mice, the trabecular bone volume
      was 0.18+/-0.02 in the placebo-treated (PL) and 0.23+/-0.02 in the betaEcd
      treated group (p<0.05 versus PL); and 0.09+/-0.01 in the ORX group (p<0.05 versus
      PL) and 0.12+/-0.01 in the ORX+betaEcd group. Vertebral bone strength (maximum
      load) was 43+/-2 in PL and 51+/-1 in the betaEcd-treated group (p<0.05 versus
      PL); and 30+/-4 in the ORX group (p<0.05 versus PL) and 37+/-3 in the ORX+betaEcd
      group. In female mice, trabecular bone volume was 0.23+/-0.02 in PL and 0.26+/
      0.02 in the betaEcd-treated group (p<0.05 versus PL); and 0.15+/-0.01 in the OVX
      group (p<0.05 versus PL) and 0.14+/-0.01 in the OVX+betaEcd group. Maximum load
      of the vertebrae was 45+/-2 in PL and 48+/-4 in the betaEcd-treated group; and
      39+/-4 in the OVX group (p<0.05 versus PL) and 44+/-4 in the OVX+betaEcd group.
      CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest the potential use of betaEcd in the
      augmentation of bone mass in growing male and female mice. It may also partially
      prevent the detrimental effects of gonadectomy on trabecular bone. CLINICAL
      RELEVANCE: Our results support the potential use of betaEcd or nature products
      that are rich in betaEcd to augment peak bone mass. betaEcd may differ from the
      other anabolic hormone treatments that may have severe side effects such as
      serious cardiac complications. However, its effects on humans remain to be
      determined.

PMID- 25822453
TI  - To What Degree Do Pain-coping Strategies Affect Joint Stiffness and Functional
      Outcomes in Patients with Hand Fractures?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with hand fractures often have pain, swelling, and stiffness
      in the joints of the hand, which may lead them to protect their hands, resulting
      in more stiffness and in delayed recovery. However, the effects of pain-coping
      strategies and catastrophization (the tendency to expect the worst to occur when
      pain is present, an approach that can be thought of as the opposite of "coping")
      on functional recovery after hand fractures have not been investigated in depth.
      QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: Are preoperative catastrophization and anxiety in patients
      with hand fractures associated with (1) decreased grip strength; (2) decreased
      range of motion; and (3) increased disability at 3 and 6 months after surgical
      treatment for a hand fracture? Secondarily, we asked if there are other patient
      and injury factors that are associated with these outcomes at 3 and 6 months.
      METHODS: A total of 93 patients with surgically treated hand fractures were
      enrolled in this prospective study. Preoperative assessments measured coping
      strategies evaluated by measuring catastrophic thinking with the Pain
      Catastrophizing Scale and pain anxiety with the Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale. At 3
      and 6 months postoperatively, grip strength, total active range of motion, and
      disability (Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand score) were
      assessed. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify patient
      demographic, injury, and coping skills factors that accounted for outcomes of
      strength, motion, and disability. RESULTS: Decreased grip strength was associated
      with catastrophic thinking (beta = -1.29 [95% confidence interval, -1.67 to 
      0.89], partial R(2) = 11%, p < 0.001) and anxiety (beta = -0.83 [-1.16 to -0.50],
      partial R(2) = 7%, p = 0.007) at 3 months, but by 6 months, only anxiety (beta = 
      0.74 [-1.04 to -0.44], partial R(2) = 7%, p = 0.010) remained an important
      factor. Decreased total active range of motion was associated with pain
      catastrophizing (beta = -0.63 [-0.90 to -0.36], partial R(2) = 6 %, p = 0.024)
      and anxiety (beta = -0.28 [-0.42 to -0.14], partial R(2) = 3%, p = 0.035) at 3
      months but not at 6 months. Similarly, increased disability was associated with
      pain catastrophizing (beta = 1.09 [1.39-0.79], partial R(2) = 12%, p < 0.001) and
      anxiety (beta = 0.93 [1.21-0.65], partial R(2) = 11%, p = 0.001) at 3 months;
      these factors failed to be associated for 6-month outcomes. CONCLUSIONS:
      Preoperative poor coping skills as measured by high catastrophization and anxiety
      were associated with a weaker grip strength, decreased range of motion, and
      increased disability after surgical treatment for a hand fracture at 3 months.
      However, poor coping skills did not show persistent effects beyond 6 months. More
      research may be needed to show interventions to improve coping skills will
      enhance treatment outcome in patients after acute hand fractures. LEVEL OF
      EVIDENCE: Level III, prognostic study.

PMID- 25822454
TI  - Bone Regeneration Is Promoted by Orally Administered Bovine Lactoferrin in a
      Rabbit Tibial Distraction Osteogenesis Model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lactoferrin, an iron-binding glycoprotein which belongs to the
      transferrin family, has been shown to promote bone growth. However, reports
      regarding effects of lactoferrin on bone regeneration during distraction
      osteogenesis are limited. Our study was designed to investigate the effect of
      bovine lactoferrin treatment on bone formation of the distracted callus.
      QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: We asked whether bovine lactoferrin enhances bone formation
      of the distraction callus as determined by (1) radiographic and histologic
      appearances; (2) dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) analysis of bone mineral
      composition and bone mineral density; (3) micro-CT measures of trabecular
      architecture; and (4) biomechanical strength of the healing bone. Additionally,
      serology, reverse transcription (RT)-PCR, and immunohistochemistry were used to
      explore the possible mechanisms of bovine lactoferrin use on bone formation
      during distraction osteogenesis. METHODS: Unilateral tibial osteodistraction was
      performed on 80 New Zealand White rabbits with a distraction rate of 1 mm per day
      for 10 days. Animals then were divided randomly into two groups: (1) vehicle and
      (2) bovine lactoferrin. At 4 and 8 weeks after completion of distraction, the
      animals were sacrificed. Lengthened tibias and serum samples were obtained and
      subjected to radiologic, DXA, micro-CT, histologic, and biomechanical
      examinations, and serum, RT-PCR and immunohistochemical analyses. RESULTS:
      Radiologic, DXA, micro-CT, histologic, and biomechanical examinations indicated
      that bovine lactoferrin treatment not only accelerated bone formation at early
      stages of distraction osteogenesis but also promoted bone consolidation at late
      stages. The ultimate force of the distracted calluses was increased by 37% (118.8
      +/- 6.65 N in the lactoferrin group and 86.5 +/- 5.47 N in the vehicle group; p <
      0.001) and 84% (384.8 +/- 18.4 N in the lactoferrin group and 209.0 +/- 15.2 N in
      the vehicle group; p < 0.001) at 4 and 8 weeks, respectively. Moreover, serum
      analysis showed that bovine lactoferrin treatment significantly increased serum
      levels of bone alkaline phosphatase and decreased serum levels of tartrate
      resistant acid phosphatase 5b. In addition, RT-PCR and immunohistochemical
      analyses suggested that bovine lactoferrin treatment induced a lower receptor
      activator of nuclear factor-kappaB (RANK) ligand/osteoprotegerin (RANKL/OPG)
      ratio in the distracted callus. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study suggest
      that bovine lactoferrin treatment could promote bone regeneration during
      distraction osteogenesis in the rabbit. The results indicate that the
      OPG/RANKL/RANK system might be a major mechanism for increased bone formation and
      decreased bone resorption in distraction osteogenesis with bovine lactoferrin
      treatment. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Oral administration of bovine lactoferrin may
      provide a feasible approach for promoting osteogenesis during distraction
      osteogenesis.

PMID- 25822455
TI  - Bioburden Increases Heterotopic Ossification Formation in an Established Rat
      Model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Heterotopic ossification (HO) develops in a majority of combat
      related amputations wherein early bacterial colonization has been considered a
      potential early risk factor. Our group has recently developed a small animal
      model of trauma-induced HO that incorporates many of the multifaceted injury
      patterns of combat trauma in the absence of bacterial contamination and
      subsequent wound colonization. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: We sought to determine if (1)
      the presence of bioburden (Acinetobacter baumannii and methicillin-resistant
      Staphylococcus aureus [MRSA]) increases the magnitude of ectopic bone formation
      in traumatized muscle after amputation; and (2) what persistent effects bacterial
      contamination has on late microbial flora within the amputation site. METHODS:
      Using a blast-related HO model, we exposed 48 rats to blast overpressure, femur
      fracture, crush injury, and subsequent immediate transfemoral amputation through
      the zone of injury. Control injured rats (n = 8) were inoculated beneath the
      myodesis with phosphate-buffered saline not containing bacteria (vehicle) and
      treatment rats were inoculated with 1 * 10(6) colony-forming units of A baumannii
      (n = 20) or MRSA (n = 20). All animals formed HO. Heterotopic ossification was
      determined by quantitative volumetric measurements of ectopic bone at 12-weeks
      postinjury using micro-CT and qualitative histomorphometry for assessment of new
      bone formation in the residual limb. Bone marrow and muscle tissue biopsies were
      collected from the residual limb at 12 weeks to quantitatively measure the
      bioburden load and to qualitatively determine the species-level identification of
      the bacterial flora. RESULTS: At 12 weeks, we observed a greater volume of HO in
      rats infected with MRSA (68.9 +/- 8.6 mm(3); 95% confidence interval [CI], 50.52
      85.55) when compared with A baumannii (20.9 +/- 3.7 mm(3); 95% CI, 13.61-28.14; p
      < 0.001) or vehicle (16.3 +/- 3.2 mm(3); 95% CI, 10.06-22.47; p < 0.001). Soft
      tissue and marrow from the residual limb of rats inoculated with A baumannii
      tested negative for A baumannii infection but were positive for other strains of
      bacteria (1.33 * 10(2) +/- 0.89 * 10(2); 95% CI, -0.42 * 10(2)-3.08 * 10(2) and
      1.25 * 10(6) +/- 0.69 * 10(6); 95% CI, -0.13 * 10(6)-2.60 * 10(6) colony-forming
      units in bone marrow and muscle tissue, respectively), whereas tissue from MRSA
      infected rats contained MRSA only (4.84 * 10(1) +/- 3.22 * 10(1); 95% CI, -1.47 *
      10(1)-11.1 * 10(1) and 2.80 * 10(7) +/- 1.73 * 10(7); 95% CI, -0.60 * 10(7)-6.20
      * 10(7) in bone marrow and muscle tissue, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our
      findings demonstrate that persistent infection with MRSA results in a greater
      volume of ectopic bone formation, which may be the result of chronic soft tissue
      inflammation, and that early wound colonization may be a key risk factor.
      CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Interventions that mitigate wound contamination and
      inflammation (such as early debridement, systemic and local antibiotics) may also
      have a beneficial effect with regard to the mitigation of HO formation and should
      be evaluated with that potential in mind in future preclinical studies.

PMID- 25822456
TI  - Cartilage Thickness and Cyst Volume Are Unchanged 10 Years After Periacetabular
      Osteotomy in Patients Without Hip Symptoms.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) may affect cartilage thickness and
      cyst volume in patients with hip dysplasia. However, as no studies randomizing
      patients to either PAO or conservative treatment have been performed, to our
      knowledge, it is unknown if PAO directly affects the development or progression
      of osteoarthritis in patients with hip dysplasia. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: We
      investigated (1) changes of cartilage thickness in the hip after PAO; (2) how
      many patients had subchondral bone cysts in the acetabulum or femoral head; (3)
      changes in cyst volume; and (4) patients' hip function and pain after PAO.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this prospective study, 26 patients (22 women and four
      men) with hip dysplasia were enrolled with the goal of having MRI of the hip
      before undergoing PAO and again at 1, 21/2, and 10 years after PAO. Of the 26
      patients, 17 (65%) underwent complete followup 10 years after PAO, whereas nine
      could not be included. Of those nine, three had undergone THA, three had
      substantial hip symptoms, and three were lost to followup. Thickness of
      acetabular and femoral cartilage and volume of subchondral bone cysts were
      estimated in the remaining 17 patients. Ten years postoperatively, the patients'
      Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Scores (HOOS) were collected. RESULTS:
      Preoperatively, the mean thickness of the acetabular cartilage was 1.38+/-0.14 mm
      compared with 1.43+/-0.07 mm 10 years postoperatively (p=0.73). The mean
      thickness of the femoral cartilage preoperatively was 1.37+/-0.20 mm compared
      with 1.30+/-0.07 mm 10 years postoperatively (p=0.24). Seven patients had an
      increase in cyst volume, six had a decrease, and four had no cysts to start with
      and remained without cysts. Preoperatively, the median total cyst volume per
      patient was 6.0 cm3 (range, 1.6-188.3 cm3) compared with 2.9 cm3 (range, 0.7-8.2
      cm3) (p=0.18) at 10 years followup. At 10 years, the mean subscores for the HOOS
      were: pain, 79+/-16; symptoms, 73+/-17; activities of daily living, 85+/-14;
      sport/recreation, 68+/-22; and quality of life, 61+/-19. CONCLUSIONS: Ten years
      after PAO, approximately 25% of the patients who have the procedure will have
      substantial hip pain and/or undergo hip arthroplasty. Of the patients who do not
      have substantial hip pain or an arthroplasty, cartilage thickness appears to be
      preserved. Future studies are needed to help us decide which patients are most
      likely to succeed with PAO at long-term followup. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level II,
      therapeutic study.

PMID- 25822457
TI  - Sequence variation within the KIV-2 copy number polymorphism of the human LPA
      gene in African, Asian, and European populations.
AB  - Amazingly little sequence variation is reported for the kringle IV 2 copy number
      variation (KIV 2 CNV) in the human LPA gene. Apart from whole genome sequencing
      projects, this region has only been analyzed in some detail in samples of
      European populations. We have performed a systematic resequencing study of the
      exonic and flanking intron regions within the KIV 2 CNV in 90 alleles from Asian,
      European, and four different African populations. Alleles have been separated
      according to their CNV length by pulsed field gel electrophoresis prior to
      unbiased specific PCR amplification of the target regions. These amplicons
      covered all KIV 2 copies of an individual allele simultaneously. In addition,
      cloned amplicons from genomic DNA of an African individual were sequenced. Our
      data suggest that sequence variation in this genomic region may be higher than
      previously appreciated. Detection probability of variants appeared to depend on
      the KIV 2 copy number of the analyzed DNA and on the proportion of copies
      carrying the variant. Asians had a high frequency of so-called KIV 2 type B and
      type C (together 70% of alleles), which differ by three or two synonymous
      substitutions respectively from the reference type A. This is most likely
      explained by the strong bottleneck suggested to have occurred when modern humans
      migrated to East Asia. A higher frequency of variable sites was detected in the
      Africans. In particular, two previously unreported splice site variants were
      found. One was associated with non-detectable Lp(a). The other was observed at
      high population frequencies (10% to 40%). Like the KIV 2 type B and C variants,
      this latter variant was also found in a high proportion of KIV 2 repeats in the
      affected alleles and in alleles differing in copy numbers. Our findings may have
      implications for the interpretation of SNP analyses in other repetitive loci of
      the human genome. 

PMID- 25822458
TI  - Characterization of calmodulin-free murine inducible nitric-oxide synthase.
AB  - Nitric-Oxide Synthase (NOS), that produces the biological signal molecule Nitric
      Oxide (NO), exists in three different isoforms called, neuronal (nNOS),
      endothelial (eNOS) and inducible (iNOS). All NOS isoforms require post
      translational interaction with the calcium-binding protein, calmodulin (CaM) for
      manifesting their catalytic activity. However, CaM has been suggested to control
      the translational assembly of the enzyme as well, particularly in helping its
      inducible isoform, iNOS assume a stable, heme-replete, dimeric and active form.
      Expression of recombinant murine iNOS in E.coli in the absence of CaM has been
      previously shown to give extremely poor yield of the enzyme which was claimed to
      be absolutely heme-free, devoid of flavins, completely monomeric and
      catalytically inactive when compared to the heme-replete, active, dimeric iNOS,
      generated through co-expression with CaM. In contrast, we found that although
      iNOS expressed without CaM does produce significantly low amounts of the CaM-free
      enzyme, the iNOS thus produced, is not completely devoid of heme and is neither
      entirely monomeric nor absolutely bereft of catalytic activity as reported
      before. In fact, iNOS synthesized in the absence of CaM undergoes compromised
      heme incorporation resulting in extremely poor dimerization and activity compared
      to its counterpart co-expressed with CaM. Moreover, such CaM-free iNOS has
      similar flavin content and reductase activity as iNOS co-expressed with CaM,
      suggesting that CaM may not be as much required for the functional assembly of
      the iNOS reductase domain as its oxygenase domain. LC-MS/MS-based peptide mapping
      of the CaM-free iNOS confirmed that it had the same full-length sequence as the
      CaM-replete iNOS. Isothermal calorimetric measurements also revealed high
      affinity for CaM binding in the CaM-free iNOS and thus the possible presence of a
      CaM-binding domain. Thus CaM is essential but not indispensible for the assembly
      of iNOS and such CaM-free iNOS may help in elucidating the role of CaM on iNOS
      catalysis. 

PMID- 25822459
TI  - The Number of GT(n) Repeats in the Hemeoxygenase-1 Gene Promoter is Increased in
      Pediatric Heart Failure but is Unrelated to Renal, Antioxidant and Anti
      inflammatory Markers.
AB  - Products of hemeoxygenase (HO)-1 have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant
      functions. The HO-1 promoter has a variable number of GT(n) repeats: A low number
      (n < 23) is associated with high transcriptional activity in response to
      oxidative stress. We hypothesized that the frequency of GT(n) repeats in
      pediatric heart failure (HF) reflects plasma biomarkers of different disease
      processes: the soluble receptor for advance glycation end products (sRAGE,
      marking cellular activation), oxLDL (oxidative stress), NGAL (impaired renal
      function), HIF-1alpha (hypoxia) and hsCRP (inflammation). Sixty HF children [aged
      4-14 years, 30 with HF due to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM), 30 due to
      chronic renal failure (CRF)] were compared to 20 healthy controls (HC). Leukocyte
      HO-1 GT(n) repeats were determined by PCR, plasma markers by ELISA or
      nephelometry. The number of GT(n) repeats in the HF patients was higher than the
      number of repeats in the controls, with no difference between the patient groups
      (p < 0.001). sRAGE, oxLDL, HIF-1alpha, NGAL and hsCRP were higher in both HF
      groups compared to HC (all p < 0.01). IDCM had higher sRAGEs and HIF-1alpha
      compared to CRF patients (p < 0.01). NGAL was higher in CRF compared to IDCM (p <
      0.01). None of the plasma/serum markers correlated with the number of GT(n)
      repeats in any group. The number of HO-1 promoter GT(n) polymorphism is increased
      in both IDCM and CRF children with HF, but is unrelated to plasma markers of
      different pathological processes. This casts doubts on the clinical value of the
      number of GT(n) repeats in pediatric HF.

PMID- 25822460
TI  - In-depth phenotyping of a Donnai-Barrow patient helps clarify proximal tubule
      dysfunction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The megalin/cubilin/amnionless complex is essential for albumin and
      low molecular weight (LMW) protein reabsorption by renal proximal tubules (PT).
      Mutations of the LRP2 gene encoding megalin cause autosomal recessive Donnai
      Barrow/facio-oculo-acoustico-renal syndrome (DB/FOAR), which is characterized by
      LMW proteinuria. The pathophysiology of DB/FOAR-associated PT dysfunction remains
      unclear. CLINICAL CASE: A 3-year-old girl presented with growth retardation and
      proteinuria. Clinical examination was unremarkable, except for a still-opened
      anterior fontanel and myopia. Psychomotor development was delayed. At 6, she
      developed sensorineural hearing loss. Hypertelorism was noted when she turned 12.
      Blood analyses, including renal function parameters, were normal. Urine sediment
      was bland. Proteinuria was significant and included albumin and LMW proteins.
      Immunoblotting analyses detected cubilin and type 3 carbonic anhydrase (CA3) in
      the urine. Renal ultrasound was unremarkable. Optical examination of a renal
      biopsy did not disclose any tubular or glomerular abnormality. Electron
      microscopy revealed that PT apical endocytic apparatus was significantly less
      developed. Immunostaining for megalin showed a faint signal in PT cytosol
      contrasting with the distribution of cubilin at the apical membrane. The
      diagnostic procedure led to identifying two mutations of the LRP2 gene.
      CONCLUSIONS: The functional loss of megalin in DB/FOAR causes PT dysfunction
      characterized by increased urinary shedding of CA3 and cubilin.

PMID- 25822461
TI  - Searching for explanations: How the Internet inflates estimates of internal
      knowledge.
AB  - As the Internet has become a nearly ubiquitous resource for acquiring knowledge
      about the world, questions have arisen about its potential effects on cognition.
      Here we show that searching the Internet for explanatory knowledge creates an
      illusion whereby people mistake access to information for their own personal
      understanding of the information. Evidence from 9 experiments shows that
      searching for information online leads to an increase in self-assessed knowledge
      as people mistakenly think they have more knowledge "in the head," even seeing
      their own brains as more active as depicted by functional MRI (fMRI) images.

PMID- 25822462
TI  - The propagation of self-control: Self-control in one domain simultaneously
      improves self-control in other domains.
AB  - [Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 144(3) of
      Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (see record 2015-24174-008). The
      affiliations for co-authors Kuangjie Zhang and Steven Sweldens were incorrect.
      All versions of this article have been corrected.] A rich tradition in self
      control research has documented the negative consequences of exerting self
      control in 1 task for self-control performance in subsequent tasks. However,
      there is a dearth of research examining what happens when people exert self
      control in multiple domains simultaneously. The current research aims to fill
      this gap. We integrate predictions from the most prominent models of self-control
      with recent neuropsychological insights in the human inhibition system to
      generate the novel hypothesis that exerting effortful self-control in 1 task can
      simultaneously improve self-control in completely unrelated domains. An internal
      meta-analysis on all 18 studies we conducted shows that exerting self-control in
      1 domain (i.e., controlling attention, food consumption, emotions, or thoughts)
      simultaneously improves self-control in a range of other domains, as demonstrated
      by, for example, reduced unhealthy food consumption, better Stroop task
      performance, and less impulsive decision making. A subset of 9 studies
      demonstrates the crucial nature of task timing-when the same tasks are executed
      sequentially, our results suggest the emergence of an ego depletion effect. We
      provide conservative estimates of the self-control facilitation (d = |0.22|) as
      well as the ego depletion effect size (d = |0.17|) free of data selection and
      publication biases. These results (a) shed new light on self-control theories,
      (b) confirm recent claims that previous estimates of the ego depletion effect
      size were inflated due to publication bias, and (c) provide a blueprint for how
      to handle the power issues and associated file drawer problems commonly
      encountered in multistudy research projects.

PMID- 25822463
TI  - Movement cues aid face recognition in developmental prosopagnosia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Seeing a face in motion can improve face recognition in the general
      population, and studies of face matching indicate that people with face
      recognition difficulties (developmental prosopagnosia; DP) may be able to use
      movement cues as a supplementary strategy to help them process faces. However,
      the use of facial movement cues in DP has not been examined in the context of
      familiar face recognition. This study examined whether people with DP were better
      at recognizing famous faces presented in motion, compared to static. METHODS:
      Nine participants with DP and 14 age-matched controls completed a famous face
      recognition task. Each face was presented twice across 2 blocks: once in motion
      and once as a still image. Discriminability (A) was calculated for each block.
      RESULTS: Participants with DP showed a significant movement advantage overall.
      This was driven by a movement advantage in the first block, but not in the second
      block. Participants with DP were significantly worse than controls at identifying
      faces from static images, but there was no difference between those with DP and
      controls for moving images. CONCLUSIONS: Seeing a familiar face in motion can
      improve face recognition in people with DP, at least in some circumstances. The
      mechanisms behind this effect are unclear, but these results suggest that some
      people with DP are able to learn and recognize patterns of facial motion, and
      movement can act as a useful cue when face recognition is impaired.

PMID- 25822464
TI  - An exploratory study of the association of acute posttraumatic stress,
      depression, and pain to cognitive functioning in mild traumatic brain injury.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Few studies have examined whether psychological distress and pain
      affect cognitive functioning in the acute to subacute phase (up to 30 days
      postinjury) following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The current study
      explored whether acute posttraumatic stress, depression, and pain were associated
      with performance on a task of selective and sustained attention completed under
      conditions of increasing cognitive demands (standard, auditory distraction, and
      dual-task), and on tests of working memory, memory, processing speed, reaction
      time (RT), and verbal fluency. METHOD: At a mean of 2.87 days (SD = 2.32)
      postinjury, 50 adult mTBI participants, consecutive admissions to a Level 1
      trauma hospital, completed neuropsychological tests and self-report measures of
      acute posttraumatic stress, depression, and pain. A series of canonical
      correlation analyses was used to explore the relationships of a common set of
      psychological variables to various sets of neuropsychological variables. RESULTS:
      Significant results were found on the task of selective and sustained attention.
      Strong relationships were found between psychological variables and speed (r(c) =
      .56, p = .02) and psychological variables and accuracy (r(c) = .68, p = .002).
      Pain and acute posttraumatic stress were associated with higher speed scores
      (reflecting more correctly marked targets) under standard conditions. Acute
      posttraumatic stress was associated with lower accuracy scores across all task
      conditions. Moderate but nonsignificant associations were found between
      psychological variables and most cognitive tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Acute
      posttraumatic stress and pain show strong associations with selective and
      sustained attention following mTBI.

PMID- 25822465
TI  - Cervical total disc replacement is superior to anterior cervical decompression
      and fusion: a meta-analysis of prospective randomized controlled trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite being considered the standard surgical procedure for
      symptomatic cervical disc disease, anterior cervical decompression and fusion
      invariably accelerates adjacent segment degeneration. Cervical total disc
      replacement is a motion-preserving procedure developed as a substitute to fusion.
      Whether cervical total disc replacement is superior to fusion remains unclear.
      METHODS: We comprehensively searched PubMed, EMBASE, Medline, and the Cochrane
      Library in accordance with the inclusion criteria to identify possible studies.
      The retrieved results were last updated on December 12, 2014. We classified the
      studies as short-term and midterm follow-up. RESULTS: Nineteen randomized
      controlled trials involving 4516 cases were identified. Compared with anterior
      cervical decompression and fusion, cervical total disc replacement had better
      functional outcomes (neck disability index [NDI], NDI success, neurological
      success, neck pain scores reported on a numerical rating scale [NRS], visual
      analog scales scores and overall success), greater segmental motion at the index
      level, fewer adverse events and fewer secondary surgical procedures at the index
      and adjacent levels in short-term follow-up (P < 0.05). With midterm follow-up,
      the cervical total disc replacement group indicated superiority in the NDI,
      neurological success, pain assessment (NRS), and secondary surgical procedures at
      the index level (P < 0.05). The Short Form 36 (SF-36) and segmental motion at the
      adjacent level in the short-term follow-up showed no significant difference
      between the two procedures, as did the secondary surgical procedure rates at the
      adjacent level with midterm follow-up (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Cervical total
      disc replacement presented favorable functional outcomes, fewer adverse events,
      and fewer secondary surgical procedures. The efficacy and safety of cervical
      total disc replacement are superior to those of fusion. Longer-term, multicenter
      studies are required for a better evaluation of the long-term efficacy and safety
      of the two procedures.

PMID- 25822466
TI  - Hierarchically structured hematite architectures achieved by growth in a silica
      hydrogel.
AB  - Biomineralization strategies include the use of hydrogels to direct the formation
      of composite, single-crystal-like structures with unique structure-property
      profiles. Application of similar synthetic approaches to transition-metal oxides
      has the promise to yield low-temperature routes to hierarchically structured
      crystals that are optimized for a range of applications. Here, growth of hematite
      (alpha-Fe2O3) within a silica hydrogel resulted in hierarchical, mosaic crystals
      preferentially expressing catalytically active {110} facets, which are absent in
      solution-grown controls. Quantitative structural and compositional analysis
      reveals architectural changes that begin with the incorporation of silicon into
      the hematite lattice and propagate through to the nanoscale domain structure and
      assembly, leading to microscale morphologies that show improved photocatalytic
      performance. This work demonstrates the potential of applying bioinspired
      crystallization techniques to design functional oxides with multiscale
      architectural features. 

PMID- 25822467
TI  - A phenomenographic study of students' conception of learning for a written
      examination.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We investigated students' conception of learning for an examination in
      internal medicine, infectious diseases and dermatology-venereology, in three
      separate examinations versus a single integrated one. METHODS: The study was
      carried out during a curricular change, with one cohort belonging to a new
      integrated examination and the other to the former non-integrated examination.
      Forty-eight interviews were carried out among medical undergraduates regarding
      the role of the examination in the learning process. The interviews were analyzed
      according to the phenomenographic approach to identify the students' conception
      of learning. RESULTS: The learning approaches could be categorized in 47 of the
      48 students into 4 major groups: application directed, holistic, comprehensive
      and tactical memorizing learning. The result indicated that comprehensive
      learning was the most common approach among students following either examination
      form; tactical memorizing learning was more prevalent among students following
      the non-integrated examination and holistic learning was applied more frequently
      among students following the integrated examination. Nine of the 47 students
      changed their approaches over time, the majority switching to a comprehensive
      approach. No significant gender difference was observed. CONCLUSIONS:
      Comprehensive learning was the most common strategy employed and students who
      changed during the course most often switched to this. However, only a minor
      change in approach was observed after a switching to an integrated examination,
      i.e. it takes more than just an integrated examination to change the student's
      conception of learning.

PMID- 25822468
TI  - Assessing the potential threat landscape of a proposed reintroduction site for
      carnivores.
AB  - This study provides a framework to assess the feasibility of reintroducing
      carnivores into an area, using African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) as an example.
      The Great Fish River Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa,
      has been identified as a potential reserve to reintroduce wild dogs, and we
      applied this framework to provide a threat assessment of the surrounding area to
      determine potential levels of human-wildlife conflict. Although 56% of
      neighbouring landowners and local communities were positive about a wild dog
      reintroduction, data collected from questionnaire surveys revealed that human
      wild dog conflict is a potential threat to wild dog survival in the area.
      Additional potential threats include diseases, snaring, poaching and hunting wild
      dogs for the use of traditional medicine. A threat index was developed to
      establish which properties harboured the greatest threats to wild dogs. This
      index was significantly influenced by the respondent's first language (isiXhosa
      had more positive indices), education level (poorer education was synonymous with
      more positive threat indices), land use (wildlife ranching being the most
      negative) and land tenure (community respondents had more positive indices than
      private landowners). Although threats are present, they can be effectively
      mitigated through strategies such as carnivore education programs, vaccination
      campaigns and anti-snare patrols to promote a successful reintroduction of this
      endangered canid. 

PMID- 25822469
TI  - Stent-assisted Coil Placement for the Treatment of 211 Acutely Ruptured Wide
      necked Intracranial Aneurysms: A Single-Center 11-Year Experience.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the safety and angiographic and clinical outcome of stent
      assisted coil placement (SACP) for acutely ruptured wide-necked intracranial
      aneurysms treated in a single center during an 11-year period. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: According to an institutional review board-approved protocol, the
      angiographic and clinical data of 211 patients (52 men, 159 women; median age, 56
      years; age range, 31-83 years) with acutely ruptured wide-necked intracranial
      aneurysms (neck > 4 mm and/or dome-to-neck ratio <= 2) treated with SACP from
      September 2000 to December 2011 were reviewed retrospectively. Baseline
      characteristics, procedure-related complications, angiographic follow-up results,
      and clinical outcome were analyzed statistically. A Mann-Whitney U test was
      performed for non-normally distributed continuous variables. A Pearson chi(2) or
      Fisher exact test was performed for categorical variables. Univariate analysis
      and logistic regression analysis were performed to determine the association of
      procedure-related complications and clinical outcome with potential risk factors.
      RESULTS: Procedure-related complications occurred in 30 patients (14.2%). They
      were more common in the anterior communicating artery (26.7%, 12 of 45) and
      middle cerebral artery bifurcation (40%, four of 10) aneurysms than in aneurysms
      at other locations (9.0%, 14 of 156). Clinical outcome (median, 33 months) was
      good in 175 patients (82.9%) with a modified Rankin Scale score of up to 2. Older
      age (P = .013, odds ratio = 1.054) and higher Hunt and Hess grade (P < .001, odds
      ratio = 15.876) were independent risk factors for unfavorable outcome. One
      hundred fifty-two of 190 patients who survived (80%) underwent angiographic
      follow-up at least once (median, 12 months). The complete occlusion rate improved
      from an immediate 45.5% to 75.7% at follow-up (115 of 152 patients). CONCLUSION :
      Angiographic and clinical outcomes in our series were comparable to those
      reported by using coil placement alone or balloon-assisted coil placement
      techniques. SACP for the treatment of acutely ruptured middle cerebral artery
      bifurcation and anterior communicating artery aneurysms was associated with a
      significantly higher incidence of complications than was the case for treatment
      of aneurysms at other locations.

PMID- 25822471
TI  - Hepatic Parenchymal Heterogeneity on Contrast-enhanced CT Scans Following
      Oxaliplatin-based Chemotherapy: Natural History and Association with Clinical
      Evidence of Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the natural history and contrast material-enhanced computed
      tomographic (CT) features of postoxaliplatin heterogeneity of liver parenchyma
      (POHL) and to investigate the association of POHL with clinical factors and
      biomarkers of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The
      retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board, and informed
      consent was waived. Two hundred seventy patients (159 men, 111 women; age range,
      31-92 years) who underwent oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy (OBC) and serial
      contrast-enhanced CT were consecutively registered. POHL severity was
      independently scored by two abdominal imagers, who were blinded to the clinical
      data, using a six-point scale (POHL presence, >=4), followed by a consensus
      review. Complete radiologic remission was determined by consensus on the
      disappearance of heterogeneity on CT images. The association of POHL severity
      score with CT-based quantitative (ie, change in spleen size and blood-free
      hepatic parenchymal attenuation) and laboratory values (ie, aspartate
      aminotransferase, alanine transaminase, and platelet count), as well as time to
      complete radiologic remission, were evaluated with the Spearman rank test.
      Multivariate analysis was performed to determine the association between clinical
      factors of SOS (ie, age, sex, number of OBC sessions, chemotherapy regimen,
      bevacizumab use, and presence of concomitant hepatic metastasis) and POHL
      development. RESULTS Interobserver agreement was excellent (kappa = 0.90). POHL
      was present in 167 (61.9%) of 270 patients, and the number of OBC sessions was
      significantly associated with POHL development (odds ratio, 1.138; 95% confidence
      interval: 1.039, 1.245; P = .005). POHL severity score was correlated with
      quantitative CT and laboratory values (P < .05 for all statistical analysis).
      Peripheral distribution (103 of 167, 61.7%) and right lobar predominance (103 of
      165, 62.4%) were the most common POHL features. The mean time to complete
      radiologic remission, which was correlated with POHL severity score, was 82.5
      days +/- 68.8 after OBC discontinuation. CONCLUSION: POHL development is
      associated with increased number of OBC sessions, and POHL severity was
      correlated with various biomarkers of SOS.

PMID- 25822472
TI  - Radiofrequency Ablation: Inflammatory Changes in the Periablative Zone Can Induce
      Global Organ Effects, including Liver Regeneration.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the kinetics of innate immune and hepatic response to the
      coagulation necrosis area that remains in situ after radiofrequency (RF)
      ablation, the cytokine profile of this response, and its local and global effect
      on the whole organ in a small-animal model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A standardized
      RF ablation dose (70 degrees C for 5 minutes) was used to ablate more than 7% of
      the liver in 91 C57BL6 mice (wild type) according to a protocol approved by the
      animal care committee. The dynamic cellular response in the border zone
      surrounding ablation-induced coagulation and in the ablated lobe and an untreated
      lobe were characterized with immunohistochemistry 24 hours, 72 hours, 7 days, and
      14 days after ablation (the time points at which cells migrate to necrotic
      tissues). After characterization of the cellular populations that reacted to the
      RF treatment, cytokines secreted by these cells were blocked, either by using
      interleukin-6 knockout mice (n = 24) or c-met inhibitor PHA 665752 (n = 15), to
      elucidate the key factors facilitating the wound healing response to RF ablation.
      Statistical significance was assessed with nonparametric analysis of variance.
      RESULTS: RF ablation induces a strong time-dependent immunologic response at the
      perimeter of the necrotic zone. This includes massive accumulation of
      neutrophils, activated myofibroblasts, and macrophages peaking at 24 hours, 7
      days, and 14 days after ablation, respectively. In correlation with myofibroblast
      accumulation, RF ablation induced hepatocyte proliferation in both the ablated
      lobe and an untreated lobe (mean, 165.15 and 230.4 cyclin-dependent kinase 47
      positive cells per *20 field, respectively, at day 7; P < .02). Blockade of
      either IL-6 or c-met significantly reduced global hepatocyte proliferation (P <
      .05 for both), with the former reducing the accumulation of both macrophages and
      myofibroblasts surrounding the coagulation necrosis area (42.9 and 113.6 vs 7.3
      and 46.6 macrophages and activated myofibroblasts per *20 field, respectively; P
      < .036 for both). CONCLUSION: Hepatic RF ablation induces not only a local
      periablational inflammatory zone but also more global proliferative effects on
      the liver. These IL-6- and/or c-met-mediated changes could potentially account
      for some of the local and distant tumor recurrence observed after treatment.

PMID- 25822473
TI  - Commentary on "E. Mugnaini and A. Floris, the unipolar brush cell: a neglected
      neuron of the mammalian cerebellar cortex. J Comp Neurol, 339:174-180, 1994".

PMID- 25822474
TI  - Beholder and Beheld: A Multilevel Model of Perceived Sexual Appeal.
AB  - When individuals (observers) assess how appealing they find sexual stimuli
      (targets), which factors matter and to whom? The present study examined how
      observer and target characteristics interact and impact perceived sexual appeal.
      Participants were 302 men (206 heterosexual, 96 gay) and 289 women (196
      heterosexual, 93 lesbian) between the ages of 18 and 67 years, who viewed 34
      photographs of targets of their preferred gender and rated each target for sexual
      appeal, masculinity-femininity, and estimated age. Participants also rated their
      own masculinity-femininity. A baseline model indicated that roughly 30 % of the
      variance in sexual appeal ratings was at the observer level (between observers)
      and 70 % of the variance was at the target level (within observers). In the final
      model, five characteristics of the participant observers (gender, sexual
      orientation, age, race/ethnicity, and self-described masculinity-femininity) and
      six characteristics of the target photographs (gender, whether the photographs
      were taken from heterosexual versus gay/lesbian media, race/ethnicity, perceived
      masculinity-femininity, and estimated age) were independently and interactively
      related to observer ratings of target sexual appeal. Observers displayed
      preferences for similar targets in terms of race/ethnicity and masculinity
      femininity, while also displaying a general preference for target youth.
      Variation in the strength of these preferences occurred according to observers'
      own gender, race/ethnicity, masculinity-femininity, and sexual orientation.

PMID- 25822476
TI  - Increased risk for colorectal adenomas and cancer in mono-allelic MUTYH mutation
      carriers: results from a cohort of North-African Jews.
AB  - Bi-allelic MUTYH gene mutations are associated with a clinical phenotype of
      multiple colorectal adenomas and an increased risk for colorectal cancer (CRC).
      It is unclear whether mono-allelic MUTYH gene carriers (heterozygotes) are also
      at increased risk for even few adenomas or cancer. In order to clarify an
      association between MUTYH heterozygotes and adenomas, we evaluated the frequency
      and types of MUTYH mutations and variants in 72 North-African Jews having few
      (>=3) colorectal adenomas with or without early onset (<50 years) CRC compared to
      29 healthy controls. Germ-line DNA was analyzed for a panel of 6 MUTYH mutations
      and variants, and Sanger sequencing of the entire MUTYH gene was performed for
      mono-allelic MUTYH mutation carriers. APC gene mutations and Lynch syndrome were
      excluded in the relevant cases according to accepted clinical criteria. Twenty
      two of the 72 adenoma subjects (30.5%) had MUTYH mutations or variants. Nine were
      homozygotes or compound heterozygotes: all had >10 adenomas and one had CRC.
      Thirteen others were mono-allelic carriers (heterozygotes) of a single MUTYH
      mutation: six had more than ten adenomas and seven had less than ten adenomas; of
      these 13 mono-allelic carriers, six had a neoplasm: three CRCs and three extra
      intestinal tumors. Eleven of the thirteen mono-allelic carriers with adenomas had
      a family history of cancer in first or second degree relatives. A multivariable
      model showed positive correlation between G396D, Y179C and 1186 ins GG mutations
      and number of adenomas (OR 8.6, 10.2 and 14.4, respectively). The Q324H variant
      was negatively associated with the number of adenomatous polyps (OR -5.23). In
      conclusion, MUTYH mutations are prevalent among Jews of North-African origin with
      colorectal adenomas with or without early onset CRC. Mono-allelic MUTYH carriers
      with a family history of cancer had a clinical phenotype that varied from having
      only few adenomas to multiple (>10) adenomas. These findings support MUTYH
      testing in patients with even few adenomas and suggest the consideration of
      increased surveillance in mono-allelic carriers with a family history of cancer.

PMID- 25822477
TI  - A Conceptual Framework for Improving Critical Care Patient Flow and Bed Use.
AB  - RATIONALE: High demand for intensive care unit (ICU) services and limited bed
      availability have prompted hospitals to address capacity planning challenges.
      Simulation modeling can examine ICU bed assignment policies, accounting for
      patient acuity, to reduce ICU admission delays. OBJECTIVES: To provide a
      framework for data-driven modeling of ICU patient flow, identify key measurable
      outcomes, and present illustrative analysis demonstrating the impact of various
      bed allocation scenarios on outcomes. METHODS: A description of key inputs for
      constructing a queuing model was outlined, and an illustrative simulation model
      was developed to reflect current triage protocol within the medical ICU and step
      down unit (SDU) at a single tertiary-care hospital. Patient acuity, arrival rate,
      and unit length of stay, consisting of a "service time" and "time to transfer,"
      were estimated from 12 months of retrospective data (n = 2,710 adult patients)
      for 36 ICU and 15 SDU staffed beds. Patient priority was based on acuity and
      whether the patient originated in the emergency department. The model simulated
      the following hypothetical scenarios: (1) varied ICU/SDU sizes, (2) reserved ICU
      beds as a triage strategy, (3) lower targets for time to transfer out of the ICU,
      and (4) ICU expansion by up to four beds. Outcomes included ICU admission wait
      times and unit occupancy. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: With current bed
      allocation, simulated wait time averaged 1.13 (SD, 1.39) hours. Reallocating all
      SDU beds as ICU decreased overall wait times by 7.2% to 1.06 (SD, 1.39) hours and
      increased bed occupancy from 80 to 84%. Reserving the last available bed for
      acute patients reduced wait times for acute patients from 0.84 (SD, 1.12) to 0.31
      (SD, 0.30) hours, but tripled subacute patients' wait times from 1.39 (SD, 1.81)
      to 4.27 (SD, 5.44) hours. Setting transfer times to wards for all ICU/SDU
      patients to 1 hour decreased wait times for incoming ICU patients, comparable to
      building one to two additional ICU beds. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital queuing and
      simulation modeling with empiric data inputs can evaluate how changes in ICU bed
      assignment could impact unit occupancy levels and patient wait times. Trade-offs
      associated with dedicating resources for acute patients versus expanding capacity
      for all patients can be examined.

PMID- 25822478
TI  - Fluoxetine associated with thrombocytopenia and treatment with reboxetine: 3
      cases.

PMID- 25822479
TI  - HTR1A Gene Polymorphisms and 5-HT1A Receptor Partial Agonist Antipsychotics
      Efficacy in Schizophrenia.
AB  - Individual differences in serotonin 1A (5-HT1A) receptor may result in variable
      response to antipsychotics with 5-HT1A receptor partial agonism. We investigated
      the relationship between 5-HT1A receptor gene (HTR1A) single nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs) and efficacy of antipsychotics with 5-HT1A receptor partial
      agonism in Japanese patients with schizophrenia. Perospirone or aripiprazole was
      administered to 100 patients with schizophrenia in a randomized controlled study.
      Candidate SNPs were rs6295 (which affects HTR1A expression and function),
      rs1364043, rs878567, and rs10042486. Efficacy at week 12 of treatment was
      evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) 5-factor
      subscales (excitement/hostility, depression/anxiety, cognition, positive, and
      negative). Rs1364043 T allele was correlated with the percent change in the PANSS
      5-factor negative score (P < 0.01). Haplotype analysis showed that the rs10042486
      rs6295-rs1364043 T-C-G haplotype was correlated with worse negative score
      improvement (haplotype frequency, 0.675; P = 0.014), and the relatively rare T-G
      T haplotype correlated with better efficacy (haplotype frequency, 0.05; P =
      0.031). This is the first study to show that rs10042486-rs6295-rs1364043 HTR1A
      variants may be correlated with the improvement of the PANSS 5-factor negative
      score during treatment with 5-HT1A partial agonist antipsychotics. Studies with
      larger sample sizes and in different ethnic groups are warranted. 

PMID- 25822480
TI  - Directional analysis of the storm surge from Hurricane Sandy 2012, with
      applications to Charleston, New Orleans, and the Philippines.
AB  - Hurricane Sandy in late October 2012 drove before it a storm surge that rose to
      4.28 meters above mean lower low water at The Battery in lower Manhattan, and
      flooded the Hugh L. Carey automobile tunnel between Brooklyn and The Battery.
      This study examines the surge event in New York Harbor using the Weather Research
      and Forecasting (WRF) atmospheric model and the Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-
      Sediment Transport/Regional Ocean Modeling System (COAWST/ROMS). We present a new
      technique using directional analysis to calculate and display maps of a
      coastline's potential for storm surge; these maps are constructed from wind
      fields blowing from eight fixed compass directions. This analysis approximates
      the surge observed during Hurricane Sandy. The directional analysis is then
      applied to surge events at Charleston, South Carolina, New Orleans, Louisiana,
      and Tacloban City, the Philippines. Emergency managers could use these
      directional maps to prepare their cities for an approaching storm, on planning
      horizons from days to years.

PMID- 25822481
TI  - SIP metagenomics identifies uncultivated Methylophilaceae as dimethylsulphide
      degrading bacteria in soil and lake sediment.
AB  - Dimethylsulphide (DMS) has an important role in the global sulphur cycle and
      atmospheric chemistry. Microorganisms using DMS as sole carbon, sulphur or energy
      source, contribute to the cycling of DMS in a wide variety of ecosystems. The
      diversity of microbial populations degrading DMS in terrestrial environments is
      poorly understood. Based on cultivation studies, a wide range of bacteria
      isolated from terrestrial ecosystems were shown to be able to degrade DMS, yet it
      remains unknown whether any of these have important roles in situ. In this study,
      we identified bacteria using DMS as a carbon and energy source in terrestrial
      environments, an agricultural soil and a lake sediment, by DNA stable isotope
      probing (SIP). Microbial communities involved in DMS degradation were analysed by
      denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, high-throughput sequencing of SIP
      gradient fractions and metagenomic sequencing of phi29-amplified community DNA.
      Labelling patterns of time course SIP experiments identified members of the
      Methylophilaceae family, not previously implicated in DMS degradation, as
      dominant DMS-degrading populations in soil and lake sediment. Thiobacillus spp.
      were also detected in (13)C-DNA from SIP incubations. Metagenomic sequencing also
      suggested involvement of Methylophilaceae in DMS degradation and further
      indicated shifts in the functional profile of the DMS-assimilating communities in
      line with methylotrophy and oxidation of inorganic sulphur compounds. Overall,
      these data suggest that unlike in the marine environment where
      gammaproteobacterial populations were identified by SIP as DMS degraders,
      betaproteobacterial Methylophilaceae may have a key role in DMS cycling in
      terrestrial environments. 

PMID- 25822482
TI  - Polar freshwater cyanophage S-EIV1 represents a new widespread evolutionary
      lineage of phages.
AB  - Cyanobacteria are often the dominant phototrophs in polar freshwater communities;
      yet, the phages that infect them remain unknown. Here, we present a genomic and
      morphological characterization of cyanophage S-EIV1 that was isolated from
      freshwaters on Ellesmere Island (Nunavut, High Arctic Canada), and which infects
      the polar Synechococcus sp., strain PCCC-A2c. S-EIV1 represents a newly
      discovered evolutionary lineage of bacteriophages whose representatives are
      widespread in aquatic systems. Among the 130 predicted open reading frames (ORFs)
      there is no recognizable similarity to genes that encode structural proteins
      other than the large terminase subunit and a distant viral morphogenesis protein,
      indicating that the genes encoding the structural proteins of S-EIV1 are distinct
      from other viruses. As well, only 19 predicted coding sequences on the 79 178 bp
      circularly permuted genome have homology with genes encoding proteins of known
      function. Although S-EIV1 is divergent from other sequenced phage isolates, it
      shares synteny with phage genes captured on a fosmid from the deep-chlorophyll
      maximum in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as with an incision element in the
      genome of Anabaena variabilis (ATCC 29413). Sequence recruitment of metagenomic
      data indicates that S-EIV1-like viruses are cosmopolitan and abundant in a wide
      range of aquatic systems, suggesting they have an important ecological role. 

PMID- 25822484
TI  - Dihydrogen bond intermediated alcoholysis of dimethylamine-borane in nonaqueous
      media.
AB  - Dimethylamine-borane (DMAB) acid/base properties, its dihydrogen-bonded (DHB)
      complexes and proton transfer reaction in nonaqueous media were investigated both
      experimentally (IR, UV/vis, NMR, and X-ray) and theoretically (DFT, NBO, QTAIM,
      and NCI). The effects of DMAB concentration, solvents polarity and temperature on
      the degree of DMAB self-association are shown and the enthalpy of association is
      determined experimentally for the first time (-DeltaH degrees assoc = 1.5-2.3
      kcal/mol). The first case of "improper" (blue-shifting) NH...F hydrogen bonds was
      observed in fluorobenzene and perfluorobenzene solutions. It was shown that
      hydrogen-bonded complexes are the intermediates of proton transfer from alcohols
      and phenols to DMAB. The reaction mechanism was examined computationally taking
      into account the coordinating properties of the reaction media. The values of the
      rate constants of proton transfer from HFIP to DMAB in acetone were determined
      experimentally [(7.9 +/- 0.1) * 10(-4) to (1.6 +/- 0.1) * 10(-3) mol(-1).s(-1)]
      at 270-310 K. Computed activation barrier of this reaction DeltaG(?theor)298
      K(acetone) = 23.8 kcal/mol is in good agreement with the experimental value of
      the activation free energy DeltaG(?exp)270 K = 21.1 kcal/mol. 

PMID- 25822483
TI  - Metatranscriptomic census of active protists in soils.
AB  - The high numbers and diversity of protists in soil systems have long been
      presumed, but their true diversity and community composition have remained
      largely concealed. Traditional cultivation-based methods miss a majority of taxa,
      whereas molecular barcoding approaches employing PCR introduce significant biases
      in reported community composition of soil protists. Here, we applied a
      metatranscriptomic approach to assess the protist community in 12 mineral and
      organic soil samples from different vegetation types and climatic zones using
      small subunit ribosomal RNA transcripts as marker. We detected a broad diversity
      of soil protists spanning across all known eukaryotic supergroups and revealed a
      strikingly different community composition than shown before. Protist communities
      differed strongly between sites, with Rhizaria and Amoebozoa dominating in forest
      and grassland soils, while Alveolata were most abundant in peat soils. The
      Amoebozoa were comprised of Tubulinea, followed with decreasing abundance by
      Discosea, Variosea and Mycetozoa. Transcripts of Oomycetes, Apicomplexa and
      Ichthyosporea suggest soil as reservoir of parasitic protist taxa. Further,
      Foraminifera and Choanoflagellida were ubiquitously detected, showing that these
      typically marine and freshwater protists are autochthonous members of the soil
      microbiota. To the best of our knowledge, this metatranscriptomic study provides
      the most comprehensive picture of active protist communities in soils to date,
      which is essential to target the ecological roles of protists in the complex soil
      system. 

PMID- 25822486
TI  - Lessons learned from implementing a wet laboratory molecular training workshop
      for beach water quality monitoring.
AB  - Rapid molecular testing methods are poised to replace many of the conventional,
      culture-based tests currently used in fields such as water quality and food
      science. Rapid qPCR methods have the benefit of being faster than conventional
      methods and provide a means to more accurately protect public health. However,
      many scientists and technicians in water and food quality microbiology
      laboratories have limited experience using these molecular tests. To ensure that
      practitioners can use and implement qPCR techniques successfully, we developed a
      week long workshop to provide hands-on training and exposure to rapid molecular
      methods for water quality management. This workshop trained academic professors,
      government employees, private industry representatives, and graduate students in
      rapid qPCR methods for monitoring recreational water quality. Attendees were
      immersed in these new methods with hands-on laboratory sessions, lectures, and
      one-on-one training. Upon completion, the attendees gained sufficient knowledge
      and practice to teach and share these new molecular techniques with colleagues at
      their respective laboratories. Key findings from this workshop demonstrated: 1)
      participants with no prior experience could be effectively trained to conduct
      highly repeatable qPCR analysis in one week; 2) participants with different
      desirable outcomes required exposure to a range of different platforms and sample
      processing approaches; and 3) the collaborative interaction amongst newly trained
      practitioners, workshop leaders, and members of the water quality community
      helped foster a cohesive cohort of individuals which can advocate powerful cohort
      for proper implementation of molecular methods. 

PMID- 25822487
TI  - Apoptotic cells induce NF-kappaB and inflammasome negative signaling.
AB  - As they undergo phagocytosis, most early apoptotic cells negatively regulate
      proinflammatory signaling and were suggested as a major mechanism in the
      resolution of inflammation. The dextran sulfate sodium model is generally viewed
      as an epithelial damage model suited to investigate innate immune responses.
      Macrophages primed with LPS and subsequently exposed to DSS secrete high levels
      of IL-1beta in an NLRP3-, ASC-, and caspase-1-dependent manner. The aim of this
      research was to test the therapeutic effect of a single dose of apoptotic cells
      in a DSS-colitis model and to explore possible mechanisms. Primary peritoneal
      macrophages, the DSS mice model, and Nlrp3-deficient mice, were used to assess
      the effect apoptotic cells on colitis. Immunohistochemistry, flow-cytometer, and
      western blots helped to explore the effect and mechanisms. Using a variety of
      NLRP3 triggering mechanisms, we show that apoptotic cells negatively regulate NF
      kappaB and NLRP3 activation in primary peritoneal macrophages, at pre- and post
      transcription levels, via inhibition of reactive oxygen species, lysosomal
      stabilization, and blocking K+ efflux. This property of apoptotic cells is
      demonstrated in a dramatic clinical, histological, and immunological amelioration
      of DSS colitis in Balb/c and B6 mice following a single administration of
      apoptotic cells. 

PMID- 25822488
TI  - Multicolor whole-cell bacterial sensing using a synchronous fluorescence
      spectroscopy-based approach.
AB  - The wide collection of currently available fluorescent proteins (FPs) offers new
      possibilities for multicolor reporter gene-based studies of bacterial functions.
      However, the simultaneous use of multiple FPs is often limited by the bleed
      through of their emission spectra. Here we introduce an original approach for
      detection and separation of multiple overlapping fluorescent signals from
      mixtures of bioreporters strains. The proposed method relies on the coupling of
      synchronous fluorescent spectroscopy (SFS) with blind spectral decomposition
      achieved by the Canonical Polyadic (CP) decomposition (also known as
      Candecomp/Parafac) of three-dimensional data arrays. Due to the substantial
      narrowing of FP emission spectra and sensitive detection of multiple FPs in a one
      step scan, SFS reduced spectral overlap and improved the selectivity of the CP
      unmixing procedure. When tested on mixtures of labeled E. coli strains, the
      SFS/CP approach could easily extract the contribution of at least four
      overlapping FPs. Furthermore, it allowed to simultaneously monitor the expression
      of three iron responsive genes and pyoverdine production in P. aeruginosa.
      Implemented in a convenient microplate format, this multiplex fluorescent
      reporter method provides a useful tool to study complex processes with different
      variables in bacterial systems. 

PMID- 25822489
TI  - Minutia tensor matrix: a new strategy for fingerprint matching.
AB  - Establishing correspondences between two minutia sets is a fundamental issue in
      fingerprint recognition. This paper proposes a new tensor matching strategy.
      First, the concept of minutia tensor matrix (simplified as MTM) is proposed. It
      describes the first-order features and second-order features of a matching pair.
      In the MTM, the diagonal elements indicate similarities of minutia pairs and non
      diagonal elements indicate pairwise compatibilities between minutia pairs.
      Correct minutia pairs are likely to establish both large similarities and large
      compatibilities, so they form a dense sub-block. Minutia matching is then
      formulated as recovering the dense sub-block in the MTM. This is a new tensor
      matching strategy for fingerprint recognition. Second, as fingerprint images show
      both local rigidity and global nonlinearity, we design two different kinds of
      MTMs: local MTM and global MTM. Meanwhile, a two-level matching algorithm is
      proposed. For local matching level, the local MTM is constructed and a novel
      local similarity calculation strategy is proposed. It makes full use of local
      rigidity in fingerprints. For global matching level, the global MTM is
      constructed to calculate similarities of entire minutia sets. It makes full use
      of global compatibility in fingerprints. Proposed method has stronger description
      ability and better robustness to noise and nonlinearity. Experiments conducted on
      Fingerprint Verification Competition databases (FVC2002 and FVC2004) demonstrate
      the effectiveness and the efficiency. 

PMID- 25822490
TI  - Exploration of the association between obesity and semen quality in a 7630 male
      population.
AB  - This study aimed to explore the association between body mass index (BMI), other
      anthropometric indexes and semen quality in a general male population in Taiwan.
      In this cross-sectional cohort study, the study cohort consisted of 7941 healthy
      male individuals aged 18 years or older who participated in a standard medical
      screening program run by a private firm from January 2008 to May 2013. Semen
      parameters including sperm concentration (SC), total sperm motility (TSM),
      progressive motility (PRM), and normal sperm morphology (NSM) were recorded.
      Anthropometric indexes including BMI, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference
      (HC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and body fat
      percentage were measured. A total of 7630 men were enrolled for the final
      analysis, of whom 68.5% had a normal weight distribution and 31.4% were
      overweight or obese. Total sperm motility, progressive motility, normal sperm
      morphology and sperm concentration showed a statistically linear decline with
      increasing age (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001 and p = 0.004). Sperm
      concentration showed a significantly negatively linear association with BMI (p =
      0.005), and normal sperm morphology showed an inverse association with BMI and
      waist-to-height ratio (p < 0.001 and p = 0.004). The prevalence of abnormal total
      sperm motility, progressive motility, normal sperm morphology and sperm
      concentration increased with increasing age (p = 0.011, p < 0.001, p < 0.001 and
      p = 0.002). Lower normal sperm morphology and sperm concentration were associated
      with increasing body adiposity (p<0.05). No relationship between obesity and
      sperm motility was identified. 

PMID- 25822491
TI  - Correction: morphometry, bite-force, and paleobiology of the late miocene caiman
      Purussaurus brasiliensis.

PMID- 25822493
TI  - Correction: First clinical experience of intra-operative high intensity focused
      ultrasound in patients with colorectal liver metastases: a phase I-IIa study.

PMID- 25822492
TI  - Moving towards routine evaluation of quality of inpatient pediatric care in
      Kenya.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Regular assessment of quality of care allows monitoring of progress
      towards system goals and identifies gaps that need to be addressed to promote
      better outcomes. We report efforts to initiate routine assessments in a low
      income country in partnership with government. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey
      undertaken in 22 'internship training' hospitals across Kenya that examined
      availability of essential resources and process of care based on review of 60
      case-records per site focusing on the common childhood illnesses (pneumonia,
      malaria, diarrhea/dehydration, malnutrition and meningitis). RESULTS:
      Availability of essential resources was 75% (45/61 items) or more in 8/22
      hospitals. A total of 1298 (range 54-61) case records were reviewed. HIV testing
      remained suboptimal at 12% (95% CI 7-19). A routinely introduced structured
      pediatric admission record form improved documentation of core admission symptoms
      and signs (median score for signs 22/22 and 8/22 when form used and not used
      respectively). Correctness of penicillin and gentamicin dosing was above 85% but
      correctness of prescribed intravenous fluid or oral feed volumes for severe
      dehydration and malnutrition were 54% and 25% respectively. Introduction of Zinc
      for diarrhea has been relatively successful (66% cases) but use of artesunate for
      malaria remained rare. Exploratory analysis suggests considerable variability of
      the quality of care across hospitals. CONCLUSION: Quality of pediatric care in
      Kenya has improved but can improve further. The approach to monitoring described
      in this survey seems feasible and provides an opportunity for routine assessments
      across a large number of hospitals as part of national efforts to sustain
      improvement. Understanding variability across hospitals may help target
      improvement efforts.

PMID- 25822494
TI  - Estimating annual soil carbon loss in agricultural peatland soils using a
      nitrogen budget approach.
AB  - Around the world, peatland degradation and soil subsidence is occurring where
      these soils have been converted to agriculture. Since initial drainage in the mid
      1800s, continuous farming of such soils in the California Sacramento-San Joaquin
      Delta (the Delta) has led to subsidence of up to 8 meters in places, primarily
      due to soil organic matter (SOM) oxidation and physical compaction. Rice (Oryza
      sativa) production has been proposed as an alternative cropping system to limit
      SOM oxidation. Preliminary research on these soils revealed high N uptake by rice
      in N fertilizer omission plots, which we hypothesized was the result of SOM
      oxidation releasing N. Testing this hypothesis, we developed a novel N budgeting
      approach to assess annual soil C and N loss based on plant N uptake and fallow
      season N mineralization. Through field experiments examining N dynamics during
      growing season and winter fallow periods, a complete annual N budget was
      developed. Soil C loss was calculated from SOM-N mineralization using the soil
      C:N ratio. Surface water and crop residue were negligible in the total N uptake
      budget (3 - 4 % combined). Shallow groundwater contributed 24 - 33 %, likely
      representing subsurface SOM-N mineralization. Assuming 6 and 25 kg N ha-1 from
      atmospheric deposition and biological N2 fixation, respectively, our results
      suggest 77 - 81 % of plant N uptake (129 - 149 kg N ha-1) was supplied by SOM
      mineralization. Considering a range of N uptake efficiency from 50 - 70 %,
      estimated net C loss ranged from 1149 - 2473 kg C ha-1. These findings suggest
      that rice systems, as currently managed, reduce the rate of C loss from organic
      delta soils relative to other agricultural practices. 

PMID- 25822495
TI  - Stably expressed housekeeping genes across developmental stages in the two
      spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae.
AB  - Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) is a reliable and reproducible technique for
      measuring mRNA expression. To facilitate gene expression studies and obtain more
      accurate qRT-PCR analysis, normalization relative to stable housekeeping genes is
      mandatory. In this study, ten housekeeping genes, including beta-actin (Actin) ,
      elongation factor 1 alpha (EF1A) , glyceralde hyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase
      (GAPDH) , ribosomal protein L13 (RPL13) , ribosomal protein 49 (RP49) , alpha
      tubulin (Tubulin) , vacuolar-type H+-ATPase (v-ATPase) , succinate dehydrogenase
      subunit A (SDHA) , 28S ribosomal RNA (28S) , and 18S ribosomal RNA (18S) from the
      two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, were selected as the candidate
      reference genes. Four algorithms, geNorm, Normfinder, BestKeeper, and the DeltaCt
      method, were used to evaluate the performance of these candidates as endogenous
      controls across different developmental stages. In addition, RefFinder, which
      integrates the above-mentioned software tools, provided the overall ranking of
      the stability/suitability of these candidate reference genes. Among them, PRL13
      and v-ATPase were the two most stable housekeeping genes across different
      developmental stages. This work is the first step toward establishing a
      standardized qRT-PCR analysis in T. urticae following the MIQE guideline. With
      the recent release of the T. urticae genome, results from this study provide a
      critical piece for the subsequent genomics and functional genomics research in
      this emerging model system. 

PMID- 25822497
TI  - Correction: A cell-based systems biology assessment of human blood to monitor
      immune responses after influenza vaccination.

PMID- 25822496
TI  - Identification and analysis of the paulomycin biosynthetic gene cluster and titer
      improvement of the paulomycins in Streptomyces paulus NRRL 8115.
AB  - The paulomycins are a group of glycosylated compounds featuring a unique paulic
      acid moiety. To locate their biosynthetic gene clusters, the genomes of two
      paulomycin producers, Streptomyces paulus NRRL 8115 and Streptomyces sp. YN86,
      were sequenced. The paulomycin biosynthetic gene clusters were defined by
      comparative analyses of the two genomes together with the genome of the third
      paulomycin producer Streptomyces albus J1074. Subsequently, the identity of the
      paulomycin biosynthetic gene cluster was confirmed by inactivation of two genes
      involved in biosynthesis of the paulomycose branched chain (pau11) and the ring A
      moiety (pau18) in Streptomyces paulus NRRL 8115. After determining the gene
      cluster boundaries, a convergent biosynthetic model was proposed for paulomycin
      based on the deduced functions of the pau genes. Finally, a paulomycin high
      producing strain was constructed by expressing an activator-encoding gene (pau13)
      in S. paulus, setting the stage for future investigations. 

PMID- 25822498
TI  - The punctum fixum-punctum mobile model: a neuromuscular principle for efficient
      movement generation?
AB  - According to the "punctum fixum-punctum mobile model" that was introduced in
      prior studies, for generation of the most effective intentional acceleration of a
      body part the intersegmental neuromuscular onset succession has to spread
      successively from the rotation axis (punctum fixum) toward the body part that
      shall be accelerated (punctum mobile). The aim of the present study was to
      investigate whether this principle is, indeed, fundamental for any kind of
      efficient rotational accelerations in general, independent of the kind of
      movements, type of rotational axis, the current body position, or movement
      direction. Neuromuscular onset succession was captured by surface
      electromyography of relevant muscles of the anterior and posterior muscle chain
      in 16 high-level gymnasts during intentional accelerating movement phases while
      performing 18 different gymnastics elements (in various body positions to forward
      and backward, performed on high bar, parallel bars, rings and trampoline), as
      well as during non-sport specific pivot movements around the longitudinal axis.
      The succession patterns to generate the acceleration phases during these
      movements were described and statistically evaluated based on the onset time
      difference between the muscles of the corresponding muscle chain. In all the
      analyzed movement phases, the results clearly support the hypothesized succession
      pattern from punctum fixum to punctum mobile. This principle was further
      underlined by the finding that the succession patterns do change their direction
      running through the body when the rotational axis (punctum fixum) has been
      changed (e.g., high bar or rings [hands] vs. floor or trampoline [feet]). The
      findings improve our understanding of intersegmental neuromuscular coordination
      patterns to generate intentional movements most efficiently. This could help to
      develop more specific methods to facilitate such patterns in particular contexts,
      thus allowing for shorter motor learning procedures of context-specific key
      movement sequences in different disciplines of sports, as well as during non
      sport specific movements. 

PMID- 25822499
TI  - Dose- and time-dependent association of smoking and its cessation with glycemic
      control and insulin resistance in male patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus:
      the Fukuoka Diabetes Registry.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Cigarette smoking is an important modifiable risk factor for
      cardiovascular diseases. However, the effect of smoking and its cessation on
      glycemic control in diabetic patients has not been fully examined yet. The aim of
      the present study was to examine the association of smoking status with glycemic
      level and markers of insulin resistance and secretion in patients with type 2
      diabetes mellitus. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 2,490 Japanese male
      patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus aged >=20 years were divided according to
      smoking status, amount of cigarettes smoked and years since quitting. The
      associations with glycemic level and markers of insulin resistance and secretion
      were examined cross-sectionally. RESULTS: HbA1c levels increased progressively
      with increases in both number of cigarettes per day and pack-years of cigarette
      smoking compared with never smokers (P for trend = 0.001 and <0.001,
      respectively), whereas fasting plasma glucose did not. On the other hand, HbA1c,
      but not fasting plasma glucose, decreased linearly with increase in years after
      smoking cessation (P for trend <0.001). These graded relationships persisted
      significantly after controlling for the confounders, including total energy
      intake, current drinking, regular exercise, depressive symptoms, and BMI. In
      addition, a homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance and high
      sensitivity C-reactive protein also showed similar trends. CONCLUSIONS: Smoking
      and its cessation showed dose- and time-dependent relationship with glycemic
      control and insulin resistance in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. These
      findings may highlight the importance of smoking cessation in the clinical
      management of diabetes mellitus.

PMID- 25822500
TI  - Classifying ten types of major cancers based on reverse phase protein array
      profiles.
AB  - Gathering vast data sets of cancer genomes requires more efficient and autonomous
      procedures to classify cancer types and to discover a few essential genes to
      distinguish different cancers. Because protein expression is more stable than
      gene expression, we chose reverse phase protein array (RPPA) data, a powerful and
      robust antibody-based high-throughput approach for targeted proteomics, to
      perform our research. In this study, we proposed a computational framework to
      classify the patient samples into ten major cancer types based on the RPPA data
      using the SMO (Sequential minimal optimization) method. A careful feature
      selection procedure was employed to select 23 important proteins from the total
      of 187 proteins by mRMR (minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance Feature Selection)
      and IFS (Incremental Feature Selection) on the training set. By using the 23
      proteins, we successfully classified the ten cancer types with an MCC (Matthews
      Correlation Coefficient) of 0.904 on the training set, evaluated by 10-fold cross
      validation, and an MCC of 0.936 on an independent test set. Further analysis of
      these 23 proteins was performed. Most of these proteins can present the hallmarks
      of cancer; Chk2, for example, plays an important role in the proliferation of
      cancer cells. Our analysis of these 23 proteins lends credence to the importance
      of these genes as indicators of cancer classification. We also believe our
      methods and findings may shed light on the discoveries of specific biomarkers of
      different types of cancers. 

PMID- 25822501
TI  - Interacted QTL mapping in partial NCII design provides evidences for breeding by
      design.
AB  - The utilization of heterosis in rice, maize and rapeseed has revolutionized crop
      production. Although elite hybrid cultivars are mainly derived from the F1
      crosses between two groups of parents, named NCII mating design, little has been
      known about the methodology of how interacted effects influence quantitative
      trait performance in the population. To bridge genetic analysis with hybrid
      breeding, here we integrated an interacted QTL mapping approach with breeding by
      design in partial NCII mating design. All the potential main and interacted
      effects were included in one full model. If the number of the effects is huge,
      bulked segregant analysis were used to test which effects were associated with
      the trait. All the selected effects were further shrunk by empirical Bayesian, so
      significant effects could be identified. A series of Monte Carlo simulations was
      performed to validate the new method. Furthermore, all the significant effects
      were used to calculate genotypic values of all the missing F1 hybrids, and all
      these F1 phenotypic or genotypic values were used to predict elite parents and
      parental combinations. Finally, the new method was adopted to dissect the genetic
      foundation of oil content in 441 rapeseed parents and 284 F1 hybrids. As a
      result, 8 main-effect QTL and 37 interacted QTL were found and used to predict 10
      elite restorer lines, 10 elite sterile lines and 10 elite parental crosses.
      Similar results across various methods and in previous studies and a high
      correlation coefficient (0.76) between the predicted and observed phenotypes
      validated the proposed method in this study. 

PMID- 25822503
TI  - Comparison of newly diagnosed and relapsed patients with acute promyelocytic
      leukemia treated with arsenic trioxide: insight into mechanisms of resistance.
AB  - There is limited data on the clinical, cellular and molecular changes in relapsed
      acute promyeloytic leukemia (RAPL) in comparison with newly diagnosed cases
      (NAPL). We undertook a prospective study to compare NAPL and RAPL patients
      treated with arsenic trioxide (ATO) based regimens. 98 NAPL and 28 RAPL were
      enrolled in this study. RAPL patients had a significantly lower WBC count and
      higher platelet count at diagnosis. IC bleeds was significantly lower in RAPL
      cases (P=0.022). The ability of malignant promyelocytes to concentrate ATO
      intracellularly and their in-vitro IC50 to ATO was not significantly different
      between the two groups. Targeted NGS revealed PML B2 domain mutations in 4
      (15.38%) of the RAPL subset and none were associated with secondary resistance to
      ATO. A microarray GEP revealed 1744 genes were 2 fold and above differentially
      expressed between the two groups. The most prominent differentially regulated
      pathways were cell adhesion (n=92), cell survival (n=50), immune regulation
      (n=74) and stem cell regulation (n=51). Consistent with the GEP data,
      immunophenotyping revealed significantly increased CD34 expression (P=0.001) in
      RAPL cases and there was in-vitro evidence of significant microenvironment
      mediated innate resistance (EM-DR) to ATO. Resistance and relapse following
      treatment with ATO is probably multi-factorial, mutations in PML B2 domain while
      seen only in RAPL may not be the major clinically relevant cause of subsequent
      relapses. In RAPL additional factors such as expansion of the leukemia initiating
      compartment along with EM-DR may contribute significantly to relapse following
      treatment with ATO based regimens. 

PMID- 25822504
TI  - Energy and cost associated with ventilating office buildings in a tropical
      climate.
AB  - Providing sufficient amounts of outdoor air to occupants is a critical building
      function for supporting occupant health, well-being and productivity. In tropical
      climates, high ventilation rates require substantial amounts of energy to cool
      and dehumidify supply air. This study evaluates the energy consumption and
      associated cost for thermally conditioning outdoor air provided for building
      ventilation in tropical climates, considering Singapore as an example locale. We
      investigated the influence on energy consumption and cost of the following
      factors: outdoor air temperature and humidity, ventilation rate (L/s per person),
      indoor air temperature and humidity, air conditioning system coefficient of
      performance (COP), and cost of electricity. Results show that dehumidification of
      outdoor air accounts for more than 80% of the energy needed for building
      ventilation in Singapore's tropical climate. Improved system performance and/or a
      small increase in the indoor temperature set point would permit relatively large
      ventilation rates (such as 25 L/s per person) at modest or no cost increment.
      Overall, even in a thermally demanding tropical climate, the energy cost
      associated with increasing ventilation rate up to 25 L/s per person is less than
      1% of the wages of an office worker in an advanced economy like Singapore's. This
      result implies that the benefits of increasing outdoor air ventilation rate up to
      25 L/s per person--which is suggested to provide for productivity increases,
      lower sick building syndrome symptom prevalence, and reduced sick leave--can be
      much larger than the incremental cost of ventilation.

PMID- 25822502
TI  - A role for the budding yeast separase, Esp1, in Ty1 element retrotransposition.
AB  - Separase/Esp1 is a protease required at the onset of anaphase to cleave cohesin
      and thereby enable sister chromatid separation. Esp1 also promotes release of the
      Cdc14 phosphatase from the nucleolus to enable mitotic exit. To uncover other
      potential roles for separase, we performed two complementary genome-wide genetic
      interaction screens with a strain carrying the budding yeast esp1-1 separase
      mutation. We identified 161 genes that when mutated aggravate esp1-1 growth and
      44 genes that upon increased dosage are detrimental to esp1-1 viability. In
      addition to the expected cell cycle and sister chromatid segregation genes that
      were identified, 24% of the genes identified in the esp1-1 genetic screens have a
      role in Ty1 element retrotransposition. Retrotransposons, like retroviruses,
      replicate through reverse transcription of an mRNA intermediate and the resultant
      cDNA product is integrated into the genome by a conserved transposon or
      retrovirus encoded integrase protein. We purified Esp1 from yeast and identified
      an interaction between Esp1 and Ty1 integrase using mass spectrometry that was
      subsequently confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation analysis. Ty1 transposon
      mobility and insertion upstream of the SUF16 tRNA gene are both reduced in an
      esp1-1 strain but increased in cohesin mutant strains. Securin/Pds1, which is
      required for efficient localization of Esp1 to the nucleus, is also required for
      efficient Ty1 transposition. We propose that Esp1 serves two roles to mediate Ty1
      transposition - one to remove cohesin and the second to target Ty1-IN to
      chromatin. 

PMID- 25822505
TI  - Mapping forest fuels through vegetation phenology: the role of coarse-resolution
      satellite time-series.
AB  - Traditionally fuel maps are built in terms of 'fuel types', thus considering the
      structural characteristics of vegetation only. The aim of this work is to derive
      a phenological fuel map based on the functional attributes of coarse-scale
      vegetation phenology, such as seasonality and productivity. MODIS NDVI 250 m
      images of Sardinia (Italy), a large Mediterranean island with high frequency of
      fire incidence, were acquired for the period 2000-2012 to construct a mean annual
      NDVI profile of the vegetation at the pixel-level. Next, the following procedure
      was used to develop the phenological fuel map: (i) image segmentation on the
      Fourier components of the NDVI profiles to identify phenologically homogeneous
      landscape units, (ii) cluster analysis of the phenological units and post-hoc
      analysis of the fire-proneness of the phenological fuel classes (PFCs) obtained,
      (iii) environmental characterization (in terms of land cover and climate) of the
      PFCs. Our results showed the ability of coarse-resolution satellite time-series
      to characterize the fire-proneness of Sardinia with an adequate level of
      accuracy. The remotely sensed phenological framework presented may represent a
      suitable basis for the development of fire distribution prediction models, coarse
      scale fuel maps and for various biogeographic studies.

PMID- 25822506
TI  - Laplacian Estrada and normalized Laplacian Estrada indices of evolving graphs.
AB  - Large-scale time-evolving networks have been generated by many natural and
      technological applications, posing challenges for computation and modeling. Thus,
      it is of theoretical and practical significance to probe mathematical tools
      tailored for evolving networks. In this paper, on top of the dynamic Estrada
      index, we study the dynamic Laplacian Estrada index and the dynamic normalized
      Laplacian Estrada index of evolving graphs. Using linear algebra techniques, we
      established general upper and lower bounds for these graph-spectrum-based
      invariants through a couple of intuitive graph-theoretic measures, including the
      number of vertices or edges. Synthetic random evolving small-world networks are
      employed to show the relevance of the proposed dynamic Estrada indices. It is
      found that neither the static snapshot graphs nor the aggregated graph can
      approximate the evolving graph itself, indicating the fundamental difference
      between the static and dynamic Estrada indices. 

PMID- 25822507
TI  - Transcriptome analysis of the Capra hircus ovary.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Capra hircus is an important economic livestock animal, and
      therefore, it is necessary to discover transcriptome information about their
      reproductive performance. In this study, we performed de novo transcriptome
      sequencing to produce the first transcriptome dataset for the goat ovary using
      high-throughput sequencing technologies. The result will contribute to research
      on goat reproductive performance. METHOD AND RESULTS: RNA-seq analysis generated
      more than 38.8 million clean paired end (PE) reads, which were assembled into
      80,069 unigenes (mean size = 619 bp). Based on sequence similarity searches,
      64,824 (60.6%) genes were identified, among which 29,444 and 11,271 unigenes were
      assigned to Gene Ontology (GO) categories and Clusters of Orthologous Groups
      (COG), respectively. Searches in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes
      pathway database (KEGG) showed that 27,766 (63.4%) unigenes were mapped to 258
      KEGG pathways. Furthermore, we investigated the transcriptome differences of goat
      ovaries at two different ages using a tag-based digital gene expression system.
      We obtained a sequencing depth of over 5.6 million and 5.8 million tags for the
      two ages and identified a large number of genes associated with reproductive
      hormones, ovulatory cycle and follicle. Moreover, many antisense transcripts and
      novel transcripts were found; clusters with similar differential expression
      patterns, enriched GO terms and metabolic pathways were revealed for the first
      time with regard to the differentially expressed genes. CONCLUSIONS: The
      transcriptome provides invaluable new data for a functional genomic resource and
      future biological research in Capra hircus, and it is essential for the in-depth
      study of candidate genes in breeding programs.

PMID- 25822508
TI  - Differential responses to virus challenge of laboratory and wild accessions of
      australian species of nicotiana, and comparative analysis of RDR1 gene sequences.
AB  - Nicotiana benthamiana is a model plant utilised internationally in plant virology
      because of its apparent hyper-susceptibility to virus infection. Previously,
      others showed that all laboratory accessions of N. benthamiana have a very narrow
      genetic basis, probably originating from a single source. It is unknown if
      responses to virus infection exhibited by the laboratory accession are typical of
      the species as a whole. To test this, 23 accessions of N. benthamiana were
      collected from wild populations and challenged with one to four viruses.
      Additionally, accessions of 21 other Nicotiana species and subspecies from
      Australia, one from Peru and one from Namibia were tested for susceptibility to
      the viruses, and for the presence of a mutated RNA-dependent RNA polymerase I
      allele (Nb-RDR1m) described previously from a laboratory accession of N.
      benthamiana. All Australian Nicotiana accessions tested were susceptible to virus
      infections, although there was symptom variability within and between species.
      The most striking difference was that plants of a laboratory accession of N.
      benthamiana (RA-4) exhibited hypersensitivity to Yellow tailflower mild mottle
      tobamovirus infection and died, whereas plants of wild N. benthamiana accessions
      responded with non-necrotic symptoms. Plants of certain N. occidentalis
      accessions also exhibited initial hypersensitivity to Yellow tailflower mild
      mottle virus resembling that of N. benthamiana RA-4 plants, but later recovered.
      The mutant Nb-RDR1m allele was identified from N. benthamiana RA-4 but not from
      any of 51 other Nicotiana accessions, including wild accessions of N.
      benthamiana, demonstrating that the accession of N. benthamiana used widely in
      laboratories is unusual. 

PMID- 25822511
TI  - Seeing is believing: why including tables and figures matters to the
      effectiveness of your publications.

PMID- 25822510
TI  - An exploration of parent-child dyadic asthma management influences on quality of
      life.
AB  - Most studies of childhood asthma management use data from a single family
      reporter and fail to capture the parent-child dyadic influences. In this
      descriptive exploratory study with 183 parent-child dyads, data were collected
      from both parents and children. Using structural equation modeling, the
      relationships of parents' and children's asthma knowledge, self-efficacy to
      manage asthma, and asthma management on the child's quality of life were
      examined. Direct significant relationships from knowledge to self-efficacy to
      asthma management were found for each member of the dyad. The associations
      between parents' and children's self-efficacy and asthma management were not
      statistically significant. Only the children's self-efficacy to manage asthma was
      significantly associated with children's asthma-related quality of life. 

PMID- 25822509
TI  - Properties of protein drug target classes.
AB  - Accurate identification of drug targets is a crucial part of any drug development
      program. We mined the human proteome to discover properties of proteins that may
      be important in determining their suitability for pharmaceutical modulation. Data
      was gathered concerning each protein's sequence, post-translational
      modifications, secondary structure, germline variants, expression profile and
      drug target status. The data was then analysed to determine features for which
      the target and non-target proteins had significantly different values. This
      analysis was repeated for subsets of the proteome consisting of all G-protein
      coupled receptors, ion channels, kinases and proteases, as well as proteins that
      are implicated in cancer. Machine learning was used to quantify the proteins in
      each dataset in terms of their potential to serve as a drug target. This was
      accomplished by first inducing a random forest that could distinguish between its
      targets and non-targets, and then using the random forest to quantify the drug
      target likeness of the non-targets. The properties that can best differentiate
      targets from non-targets were primarily those that are directly related to a
      protein's sequence (e.g. secondary structure). Germline variants, expression
      levels and interactions between proteins had minimal discriminative power.
      Overall, the best indicators of drug target likeness were found to be the
      proteins' hydrophobicities, in vivo half-lives, propensity for being membrane
      bound and the fraction of non-polar amino acids in their sequences. In terms of
      predicting potential targets, datasets of proteases, ion channels and cancer
      proteins were able to induce random forests that were highly capable of
      distinguishing between targets and non-targets. The non-target proteins predicted
      to be targets by these random forests comprise the set of the most suitable
      potential future drug targets, and should therefore be prioritised when building
      a drug development programme. 

PMID- 25822512
TI  - End-of-life-care in the NICU.

PMID- 25822514
TI  - Newborn physiological immaturity: a concept analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Most standardized nursing care plans for healthy neonates include
      multiple nursing diagnoses to reflect nurses' judgments on the infant's status;
      however scientific literature concerning this issue is scarce. Newborn
      physiological immaturity is a concept in the ATIC terminology (architecture,
      terminology, interface, information, nursing [infermeria], and knowledge
      [coneixement]) to represent the natural status of vulnerability of the healthy
      neonate. PURPOSE: To identify the essential attributes of the concept and provide
      its conceptual and operational definition, using the Wilsonian approach.
      FINDINGS: The concept under analysis embeds a natural cluster of vulnerabilities
      and environmental interactions that enhance the evolving maturation process.
      IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The use of this diagnosis may simplify the process of
      charting the nursing care plans and reduce time needed for documentation while
      maintaining the integrity of the information. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH:
      Consistent development and use of nursing concepts is essential for knowledge
      building. Studies on the actual use of nursing diagnoses are needed to inform
      decision making.

PMID- 25822515
TI  - Oxygen administration to preterm neonates in the delivery room: minimizing
      oxidative stress.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neonatal resuscitation continues to be challenged by evolving
      research on the best approach to resuscitating preterm infants while minimizing
      potential health risks. The actions of the resuscitation team in the first
      minutes of transition to extrauterine life can have a lasting impact on the
      growth and development of the preterm infant. PURPOSE: This article reviews the
      most current literature on the use of oxygen in the delivery room and discusses
      the implications related to nursing and the multidisciplinary care team.
      FINDINGS: Oxygen saturation monitoring in the delivery room through the use of
      pulse oximetry in conjunction with oxygen titration via a blended oxygen source
      is an appropriate intervention to decrease the risk of free radical damage to the
      tissues. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Ensure delivery room providers are educated
      to resuscitation standards and ensure delivery rooms are appropriately supplied
      with a compressed air source, oxygen blenders, and pulse oximeters to minimize
      the free radical damage to the tissues. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: Future studies
      should be focused on pulse oximetry use in the delivery room and its effect on
      long-term outcomes for preterm infants, safe oxygen saturation target ranges for
      the preterm infant in the delivery room, and effective resuscitation procedures
      for extremely preterm infants.

PMID- 25822516
TI  - Promoting family-centered care in the NICU through a parent-to-parent manager
      position.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Family-Centered Care (FCC) committee had formulated multiple
      ideas for projects but was unable to fully carry out and sustain many of the
      initiatives. The committee felt that to implement the proposed FCC projects
      someone would need to devote full attention to the task. The parent-to-parent
      (PTP) position was created to develop and sustain initiatives of our
      institution's NICU Family Support Program. PURPOSE: The purpose of this article
      is to describe the process of creating a PTP manager position and the effects it
      can have in the NICU for the family. Program outcomes were assessed in 3 areas
      that align with core principles of FCC: (1) emotional support and parent
      empowerment, (2) a welcoming environment with supportive policies, and (3)
      education for staff and families. The assessment of the program included review
      and attendance of parent support offerings, review and revision of parent
      material, and survey evaluation of staff education. FINDINGS/RESULTS: In the
      first year, the program reached over 800 families, provided 136 parent education
      hours, and organized social activities that reached 847 families. IMPLICATIONS
      FOR PRACTICE: The creation of a PTP manager position has been instrumental in the
      development and management of multiple initiatives to offer families and staff
      continued support and education. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: Further evaluation of
      programs and strategies for PTP support in the NICU setting is needed.

PMID- 25822517
TI  - Evidence of developmental continuity from birth to 1 year: sleep, temperament,
      problem solving, and recognition memory.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Research evidence is limited regarding developmentally appropriate
      care. Variations exits with respect to test procedure type, infant age at
      testing, and test relatedness. PURPOSE: To assess developmental continuity using
      multiple developmental measures from birth to 12 months in a single cohort of
      term infants. METHODS: A secondary analysis, longitudinal, correlational design
      was used to assess developmental continuity in a single cohort of infants (n 27).
      Measures included: sleep, using the Motility Monitoring System (first 48 hours of
      life); temperament, using the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ, 6
      months) and the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (RITQ, 12 months);
      problem-solving, using the Willatts Infant Planning Test (PS, 9 and 12 months);
      and the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (FTII, 6 and 9 months). RESULTS: Using
      Spearmen correlation, significant correlations included: (1) Sleep and ICQ:
      transitional sleep and "unpredictable" (r 0.455, P .017), "unadaptable" (r 0.420,
      P .026), and "dull" (r 0.416, P .028); (2) ICQ and FTII 6 months (r -0.512, P
      .008); (3) RITQ "approachability" and quiet sleep (r 0.662, P .005); (4) arousals
      in active sleep and PS at 9 months (r -0.528, P .016). IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE:
      Given our reported continuity between early sleep and later developmental
      measures, sleep-wake state should be considered in caregiving and environmental
      control to support sleep. Parental education on facilitating sleep-wake
      regulation in the home environment is essential. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: These
      data support the existence of continuity between early sleep and later
      developmental milestones warranting a larger-scale investigation. Specific focus
      on development of care strategies for facilitating sleep immediately following
      birth is warranted.

PMID- 25822518
TI  - When is it safe to initiate breastfeeding for preterm infants?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Breast milk is the gold standard of nutrition for preterm infants.
      Yet, initiation of direct breastfeeding before 32 weeks' postconceptional age
      (PCA) is not common practice in many neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Our
      clinical question was, "In preterm infants, when is it safe to initiate
      breastfeeding in infants <32 weeks PCA receiving enteral feedings?" SEARCH
      STRATEGY: A review of the literature was compiled between February 2013 and
      January 2015 by using the following databases: CINAHL, Cochrane Systematic
      Review, Scopus, and PubMed. Articles found were written in English and published
      after 1985. Key words were utilized during searches and references were hand
      checked. RESULTS: Our review revealed that stable preterm infants maintain their
      physiological status during exposure to the breast as early as 27 to 28 weeks'
      PCA. Several studies demonstrated infants during breastfeeding compared with
      bottle-feeding experienced minimal variation in oxygen saturation and heart rate
      during feeding. Some infants exposed to the breast before 30 weeks' PCA were
      exclusively breastfeeding (direct breastfeeding and breast milk) at 32.8 weeks'
      PCA. Skin-to-skin mother-infant contact is crucial to the successful transition
      to direct breastfeeding. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE AND RESEARCH: The transition
      from enteral feedings to direct, exclusive breastfeeding should involve frequent
      mother-infant skin-to-skin contact requiring support and guidance from the NICU
      staff. Future research should involve creating standard protocols within NICUs to
      facilitate breastfeeding transition and exploring barriers that may prevent the
      preterm infant from achieving direct, exclusive breastfeeding.

PMID- 25822519
TI  - Multisensory intervention for preterm infants improves sucking organization.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Premature infants are at risk for difficulties in feeding, social
      interaction, and growth. Many premature infants exhibit a lower capacity for self
      regulation, resulting in less behavioral alertness and hypersensitivity to
      stimulation. Feeding is critically important because it is a primary factor for
      infant growth and a major concern for both parents and clinicians. PURPOSE: The
      aim of this randomized controlled trial was to evaluate sucking organization in
      premature infants following a preterm infant multisensory intervention, the
      Auditory, Tactile, Visual, and Vestibular (ATVV) intervention. METHODS: A
      convenience sample of 183 healthy premature infants born 29-34 weeks
      postmenstrual age (PMA) enrolled. Sucking organization was measured at baseline,
      then weekly, during the infant's hospital stay. RESULTS: A quadratic trend was
      observed for number of sucks, sucks per burst, and maturity index with the
      intervention group increasing significantly faster by day 7 (model estimates for
      group * day: beta= 13.69, P < .01; beta = 1.16, P < .01; and beta= 0.12, P < .05,
      respectively). Sucking pressure increased linearly over time, with significant
      between-group differences at day 14 (beta= 45.66, P < .01). IMPLICATIONS FOR
      PRACTICE: The ATVV infants exhibited improved sucking organization during
      hospitalization, suggesting that the ATVV intervention improves maturation of
      oral feeding. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: Further research that includes 2 or more
      tests, delivered the same day and/or over consecutive days, will provide
      researchers and clinicians a more sensitive indicator of maturational changes in
      feeding behaviors.

PMID- 25822521
TI  - An efficiently cleaved HIV-1 clade C Env selectively binds to neutralizing
      antibodies.
AB  - An ideal HIV-1 Env immunogen is expected to mimic the native trimeric
      conformation for inducing broadly neutralizing antibody responses. The native
      conformation is dependent on efficient cleavage of HIV-1 Env. The clade B
      isolate, JRFL Env is efficiently cleaved when expressed on the cell surface.
      Here, for the first time, we report the identification of a native clade C Env, 4
      2.J41 that is naturally and efficiently cleaved on the cell surface as confirmed
      by its biochemical and antigenic characteristics. In addition to binding to
      several conformation-dependent neutralizing antibodies, 4-2.J41 Env binds
      efficiently to the cleavage-dependent antibody PGT151; thus validating its native
      cleaved conformation. In contrast, 4-2.J41 Env occludes non-neutralizing
      epitopes. The cytoplasmic-tail of 4-2.J41 Env plays an important role in
      maintaining its conformation. Furthermore, codon optimization of 4-2.J41 Env
      sequence significantly increases its expression while retaining its native
      conformation. Since clade C of HIV-1 is the prevalent subtype, identification and
      characterization of this efficiently cleaved Env would provide a platform for
      rational immunogen design. 

PMID- 25822524
TI  - Territory tenure increases with repertoire size in brownish-flanked bush warbler.
AB  - Song repertoire size is often cited as a classic example of a secondary sexual
      trait in birds. Models of sexual selection and empirical tests of their
      predictions have often related secondary sexual traits to longevity. However, the
      relationship between repertoire size and longevity is unclear. Using capture-mark
      recapture studies in two populations of the brownish-flanked bush warbler Cettia
      fortipes, we found that males with a repertoire size of three maintained
      territory tenure for a longer duration than did males with a repertoire size of
      two. These results provide evidence that even a minimal difference in repertoire
      size can serve as a potential signal of territory tenure capability. 

PMID- 25822522
TI  - Differential gene expression in the liver of the African lungfish, Protopterus
      annectens, after 6 months of aestivation in air or 1 day of arousal from 6 months
      of aestivation.
AB  - The African lungfish, Protopterus annectens, can undergo aestivation during
      drought. Aestivation has three phases: induction, maintenance and arousal. The
      objective of this study was to examine the differential gene expression in the
      liver of P. annectens after 6 months (the maintenance phase) of aestivation as
      compared with the freshwater control, or after 1 day of arousal from 6 months
      aestivation as compared with 6 months of aestivation using suppression
      subtractive hybridization. During the maintenance phase of aestivation, the mRNA
      expression of argininosuccinate synthetase 1 and carbamoyl phosphate synthetase
      III were up-regulated, indicating an increase in the ornithine-urea cycle
      capacity to detoxify ammonia to urea. There was also an increase in the
      expression of betaine homocysteine-S-transferase 1 which could reduce and prevent
      the accumulation of hepatic homocysteine. On the other hand, the down-regulation
      of superoxide dismutase 1 expression could signify a decrease in ROS production
      during the maintenance phase of aestivation. In addition, the maintenance phase
      was marked by decreases in expressions of genes related to blood coagulation,
      complement fixation and iron and copper metabolism, which could be strategies
      used to prevent thrombosis and to conserve energy. Unlike the maintenance phase
      of aestivation, there were increases in expressions of genes related to nitrogen,
      carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and fatty acid transport after 1 day of arousal
      from 6 months aestivation. There were also up-regulation in expressions of genes
      that were involved in the electron transport system and ATP synthesis, indicating
      a greater demand for metabolic energy during arousal. Overall, our results
      signify the importance of sustaining a low rate of waste production and
      conservation of energy store during the maintenance phase, and the dependence on
      internal energy store for repair and structural modification during the arousal
      phase, of aestivation in the liver of P. annectens. 

PMID- 25822526
TI  - Menopausal status and physical performance in middle aged women: a cross
      sectional community-based study in Northeast Brazil.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between menopausal status and physical
      performance in middle-aged women from the Northeast region of Brazil. METHODS:
      Cross-sectional study of women between 40 to 65 years old living in Parnamirim.
      Women were recruited by advertisements in primary care neighborhood centers
      across the city. Physical performance was assessed by grip strength, gait speed
      and chair stands. Menopausal status was determined using the Stages of
      Reproductive Aging Workshop classification and women were classified in:
      premenopausal, perimenopausal or postmenopausal. Multiple linear regression
      analyses were performed to model the effect of menopausal status on each physical
      performance measure, adjusting for covariates (age, family income, education,
      body mass index, parity and age at first birth). RESULTS: The premenopausal women
      were significantly stronger and performed better in chair stands than
      perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Gait speed did not vary significantly by
      menopausal status. In multivariate analyses, menopausal status remained
      statistically significant only for grip strength. In fully adjusted analyses,
      premenopausal women had grip strength mean of 2.226 Kgf (95% CI: 0.361 - 4.091)
      higher than the postmenopausal group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides further
      evidence for the associations between menopause and physical performance in
      middle-aged women, since grip strength is weaker in peri and postmenopausal women
      compared to premenopausal, even adjusted for age and other covariates.

PMID- 25822523
TI  - Vinpocetine reduces carrageenan-induced inflammatory hyperalgesia in mice by
      inhibiting oxidative stress, cytokine production and NF-kappaB activation in the
      paw and spinal cord.
AB  - Vinpocetine is a safe nootropic agent used for neurological and cerebrovascular
      diseases. The anti-inflammatory activity of vinpocetine has been shown in cell
      based assays and animal models, leading to suggestions as to its utility in
      analgesia. However, the mechanisms regarding its efficacy in inflammatory pain
      treatment are still not completely understood. Herein, the analgesic effect of
      vinpocetine and its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant mechanisms were addressed
      in murine inflammatory pain models. Firstly, we investigated the protective
      effects of vinpocetine in overt pain-like behavior induced by acetic acid, phenyl
      p-benzoquinone (PBQ) and formalin. The intraplantar injection of carrageenan was
      then used to induce inflammatory hyperalgesia. Mechanical and thermal
      hyperalgesia were evaluated using the electronic von Frey and the hot plate
      tests, respectively, with neutrophil recruitment to the paw assessed by a
      myeloperoxidase activity assay. A number of factors were assessed, both
      peripherally and in the spinal cord, including: antioxidant capacity, reduced
      glutathione (GSH) levels, superoxide anion, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF
      alpha) and interleukin 1 beta (IL-1beta) levels, as well as nuclear factor kappa
      B (NF-kappaB) activation. Vinpocetine inhibited the overt pain-like behavior
      induced by acetic acid, PBQ and formalin (at both phases), as well as the
      carrageenan-induced mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia and associated neutrophil
      recruitment. Both peripherally and in the spinal cord, vinpocetine also
      inhibited: antioxidant capacity and GSH depletion; increased superoxide anion; IL
      1beta and TNF-alpha levels; and NF-kappaB activation. As such, vinpocetine
      significantly reduces inflammatory pain by targeting oxidative stress, cytokine
      production and NF-kappaB activation at both peripheral and spinal cord levels. 

PMID- 25822525
TI  - Secoisolariciresinol diglucoside abrogates oxidative stress-induced damage in
      cardiac iron overload condition.
AB  - Cardiac iron overload is directly associated with cardiac dysfunction and can
      ultimately lead to heart failure. This study examined the effect of
      secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG), a component of flaxseed, on iron overload
      induced cardiac damage by evaluating oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis
      in H9c2 cardiomyocytes. Cells were incubated with 50 MU5M iron for 24 hours
      and/or a 24 hour pre-treatment of 500 MU M SDG. Cardiac iron overload resulted in
      increased oxidative stress and gene expression of the inflammatory mediators
      tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-10 and interferon gamma, as well as
      matrix metalloproteinases-2 and -9. Increased apoptosis was evident by increased
      active caspase 3/7 activity and increased protein expression of Forkhead box O3a,
      caspase 3 and Bax. Cardiac iron overload also resulted in increased protein
      expression of p70S6 Kinase 1 and decreased expression of AMP-activated protein
      kinase. Pre-treatment with SDG abrogated the iron-induced increases in oxidative
      stress, inflammation and apoptosis, as well as the increased p70S6 Kinase 1 and
      decreased AMP-activated protein kinase expression. The decrease in superoxide
      dismutase activity by iron treatment was prevented by pre-treatment with SDG in
      the presence of iron. Based on these findings we conclude that SDG was
      cytoprotective in an in vitro model of iron overload induced redox-inflammatory
      damage, suggesting a novel potential role for SDG in cardiac iron overload. 

PMID- 25822528
TI  - Correction: The extracellular loop 2 (ECL2) of the human histamine H4 receptor
      substantially contributes to ligand binding and constitutive activity.

PMID- 25822527
TI  - Single domain antibodies as a powerful tool for high quality surface plasmon
      resonance studies.
AB  - Single domain antibodies are recombinantly expressed functional antibodies devoid
      of light chains. These binding elements are derived from heavy chain antibodies
      found in camelids and offer several distinctive properties for applications in
      biotechnology such as small size, stability, solubility, and expression in high
      yields. In this study we demonstrated the potential of using single domain
      antibodies as capturing molecules in biosensing applications. Single domain
      antibodies raised against green fluorescent protein were anchored onto biosensor
      surfaces by using several immobilization strategies based on
      Ni2+:nitrilotriacetic acid-polyhistidine tag, antibody-antigen, biotin
      streptavidin interactions and amine-coupling chemistry. The interaction with the
      specific target of the single domain antibodies was characterized by surface
      plasmon resonance. The immobilized single domain antibodies show high affinities
      for their antigens with KD = 3-6 nM and outperform other antibody partners as
      capturing molecules facilitating also the data analysis. Furthermore they offer
      high resistance and stability to a wide range of denaturing agents. These unique
      biophysical properties and the production of novel single domain antibodies
      against affinity tags make them particularly attractive for use in biosensing and
      diagnostic assays. 

PMID- 25822530
TI  - Computational studies of ion pairing. 10. Ion pairing between tetrabutylammonium
      ion and inorganic ions: a general motif confirmed.
AB  - Until recently, little has been known about the nature of the factors governing
      the stereochemistry of the interactions between organic ions, even though such
      information should be directly relative to issues of molecular recognition and
      supermolecular self-assembly. The present study of the preferred structures of
      the ion pairs between tetrabutylammonium and 22 common inorganic ions, a
      continuation of previous studies in this series, brings to 93 the number of such
      species that have been examined in this way. In every one of these ion pairs, the
      minimum energy orientation of the cation relative to the anion is the same,
      reinforcing the conclusion that this structural motif is completely general. This
      is the first such pattern to be identified for the mode of association between
      organic cations and polar species in solution. 

PMID- 25822529
TI  - A color-coded tape for uterine height measurement: a tool to identify preterm
      pregnancies in low resource settings.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Neonatal mortality associated with preterm birth can be reduced
      with antenatal corticosteroids (ACS), yet <10% of eligible pregnant women in low
      middle income countries. The inability to accurately determine gestational age
      (GA) leads to under-identification of high-risk women who could receive ACS or
      other interventions. To facilitate better identification in low-resource
      settings, we developed a color-coded tape for uterine height (UH) measurement and
      estimated its accuracy identifying preterm pregnancies. METHODS: We designed a
      series of colored-coded tapes with segments corresponding to UH measurements for
      20-23.6 weeks, 24.0-35.6 weeks, and >36.0 weeks GA. In phase 1, UH measurements
      were collected prospectively in the Democratic Republic of Congo, India and
      Pakistan, using distinct tapes to address variation across regions and
      ethnicities. In phase 2, we tested accuracy in 250 pregnant women with known GA
      from early ultrasound enrolled at prenatal clinics in Argentina, India, Pakistan
      and Zambia. Providers masked to the ultrasound GA measured UH. Receiver operating
      characteristics (ROC) analysis was conducted. RESULTS: 1,029 pregnant women were
      enrolled. In all countries the tapes were most effective identifying pregnancies
      between 20.0-35.6 weeks, compared to the other GAs. The ROC areas under the
      curves and 95% confidence intervals were: Argentina 0.69 (0.63, 0.74); Zambia
      0.72 (0.66, 0.78), India 0.84 (0.80, 0.89), and Pakistan 0.83 (0.78, 0.87). The
      sensitivity and specificity (and 95% confidence intervals) for identifying
      pregnancies between 20.0-35.6 weeks, respectively, were: Argentina 87% (82%-92%)
      and 51% (42%-61%); Zambia 91% (86%-95%) and 50% (40%-60%); India 78% (71%-85%)
      and 89% (83%-94%); Pakistan 63% (55%-70%) and 94% (89%-99%). CONCLUSIONS: We
      observed moderate-good accuracy identifying pregnancies <= 35.6 weeks gestation,
      with potential usefulness at the community level in low-middle income countries
      to facilitate the preterm identification and interventions to reduce preterm
      neonatal mortality. Further research is needed to validate these findings on a
      population basis.

PMID- 25822531
TI  - Exploring new gene integration sites for gene knock-in by gene-trapping strategy.
AB  - The knock-in mouse is a powerful tool for biological research, but the stability
      of expression of an integrated gene strongly depends on where it is integrated in
      the mouse genome. At present, there are an insufficient number of loci suitable
      for gene knock-in, such as the Rosa26 locus. Therefore, in this study, we
      developed an efficient strategy for identifying genome loci suitable for gene
      knock-in and characterized the properties of such loci for gene integration. For
      efficient discovery and characterization, we constructed a new gene-trapping
      vector that enables monitoring of the expression of both trapped and integrated
      genes using fluorescence. We successfully obtained fluorescent-positive mouse
      embryonic stem cell (mESC) clones with the vector. Thorough analysis of the
      expression of fluorescent proteins in chimera embryos generated with the obtained
      mESC clones, some of the gene-trapped chimera embryos showed stable and
      ubiquitous expression of the integrated gene. Furthermore, adult mice derived
      from one of the gene-trapped mESC clones showed ubiquitous expression of the
      integrated gene in various tissues without any unusual phenotype. This indicated
      that the identified locus possesses high potential for foreign gene integration.
      Our strategy allows for efficient discovery and characterization of mouse genome
      loci for gene integration. 

PMID- 25822533
TI  - Correction: Local and global limits on visual processing in schizophrenia.

PMID- 25822532
TI  - Transgenic tobacco simultaneously overexpressing glyphosate N-acetyltransferase
      and 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase are more resistant to glyphosate
      than those containing one gene.
AB  - 5-Enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) and glyphosate N
      acetyltransferase (GAT) can detoxify glyphosate by alleviating the suppression of
      shikimate pathway. In this study, we obtained transgenic tobacco plants
      overexpressing AM79 aroA, GAT, and both of them, respectively, to evaluate
      whether overexpression of both genes could confer transgenic plants with higher
      glyphosate resistance. The transgenic plants harboring GAT or AM79 aroA,
      respectively, showed good glyphosate resistance. As expected, the hybrid plants
      containing both GAT and AM79 aroA exhibited improved glyphosate resistance than
      the transgenic plants overexpressing only a single gene. When grown on media with
      high concentration of glyphosate, seedlings containing a single gene were
      severely inhibited, whereas plants expressing both genes were affected less. When
      transgenic plants grown in the greenhouse were sprayed with glyphosate, less
      damage was observed for the plants containing both genes. Metabolomics analysis
      showed that transgenic plants containing two genes could maintain the metabolism
      balance better than those containing one gene after glyphosate treatment.
      Glyphosate treatment did not lead to a huge increase of shikimate contents of
      tobacco leaves in transgenic plants overexpressing two genes, whereas significant
      increase of shikimate contents in transgenic plants containing only a single gene
      was observed. These results demonstrated that pyramiding both aroA and GAT in
      transgenic plants can enhance glyphosate resistance, and this strategy can be
      used for the development of transgenic glyphosate-resistant crops. 

PMID- 25822534
TI  - What drives farmers to make top-down or bottom-up adaptation to climate change
      and fluctuations? A comparative study on 3 cases of apple farming in Japan and
      South Africa.
AB  - Agriculture is one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. Farmers have
      been exposed to multiple stressors including climate change, and they have
      managed to adapt to those risks. The adaptation actions undertaken by farmers and
      their decision making are, however, only poorly understood. By studying
      adaptation practices undertaken by apple farmers in three regions: Nagano and
      Kazuno in Japan and Elgin in South Africa, we categorize the adaptation actions
      into two types: farmer initiated bottom-up adaptation and institution led top
      down adaptation. We found that the driver which differentiates the type of
      adaptation likely adopted was strongly related to the farmers' characteristics,
      particularly their dependence on the institutions, e.g. the farmers' cooperative,
      in selling their products. The farmers who rely on the farmers' cooperative for
      their sales are likely to adopt the institution-led adaptation, whereas the
      farmers who have established their own sales channels tend to start innovative
      actions by bottom-up. We further argue that even though the two types have
      contrasting features, the combinations of the both types of adaptations could
      lead to more successful adaptation particularly in agriculture. This study also
      emphasizes that more farm-level studies for various crops and regions are
      warranted to provide substantial feedbacks to adaptation policy. 

PMID- 25822535
TI  - Complex of rutin with beta-cyclodextrin as potential delivery system.
AB  - This study aimed to obtain and characterize an RU-beta-CD complex in the context
      of investigating the possibility of changes in the solubility, stability,
      antioxidative and microbiological activity as well as permeability of complexated
      rutin as against its free form. The formation of the RU-beta-CD complex via a co
      grinding technique was confirmed by using DSC, SEM, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy,
      and its geometry was assessed through molecular modeling. It was found that the
      stability and solubility of the so-obtained complex were greater compared to the
      free form; however, a slight decrease was observed inits antibacterial potency.
      An examination of changes in the EPR spectra of thecomplex excluded any reducing
      effect of complexation on the antioxidative activity of rutin. Considering the
      prospect of preformulation studies involving RU-beta-CD complexes, of
      significance is also the observed possibility of prolongedly releasing rutin from
      the complex at a constant level over along period of 20 h, and the fact that
      twice as much complexated rutin was able topermeate compared to its free form. 

PMID- 25822537
TI  - Coligand and solvent effects on the architectures and spin-crossover properties
      of (4,4)-connected Iron(II) coordination polymers.
AB  - The self-assemblies of 1,4-bis(pyrid-4-yl)benzene (bpb) and Fe(NCX)2 (X = S, Se,
      BH3) afforded six coordination polymers with the general formula of
      [Fe(bpb)2(NCX)2].Y (X = S and Y = 3C2H5OH.2.5H2O for complex 4, X = S and Y =
      2C2H5OH for 5, X = Se and Y = 2C2H5OH.H2O for 6, X = Se and Y =
      0.67CH2Cl2.1.33C2H5OH.0.67H2O for 7, X = BH3 and Y = 3C2H5OH.2H2O for 8, X = BH3
      and Y = 2CH2Cl2.2C2H5OH for 9). The frameworks of complexes 4 and 5 with the NCS(
      ) anion as coligand are supramolecular isomers, of which complex 4 features a
      threefold self-interpenetrated three-dimensional (3D) CdSO4-type topological
      structure with a Schlafli symbol of 6(5).8, and complex 5 is a two-dimensional
      (2D) 4(4) rhombic grid network. These two complexes are purely high-spin systems.
      Complexes 6 and 7 with the NCSe(-) anion as coligand, both having the 3D 6(5).8
      CdSO4-type framework, show gradual and incomplete spin-crossover behaviors with
      transition temperature T1/2 being equal to 86 and 96 K, respectively. The usage
      of NCBH3(-) anion as coligand leads to the formation of 2D 4(4) rhombic grid
      networks for both complexes 8 and 9, which undergo relatively abrupt, complete
      spin crossover with T1/2 being equal to 247 and 189 K, respectively. The
      structural divergences are attributed to the coligands NCX(-) (X = S, Se, BH3)
      and solvent molecules. Meanwhile, a significant coligand effect is observed on
      the spin-crossover behaviors of these complexes, and the completeness and
      transition temperature of spin-state conversion depends on the nature of the
      coligand, that is, T1/2(NCS(-)) < T1/2(NCSe(-)) < T1/2(NCBH3(-)). These results
      further facilitate the design and synthesis of spin-crossover complexes with spin
      state conversion. 

PMID- 25822538
TI  - Personality change and gait dysfunction.

PMID- 25822536
TI  - Protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection offered by a new
      multistage subunit vaccine correlates with increased number of IFN-gamma+ IL-2+
      CD4+ and IFN-gamma+ CD8+ T cells.
AB  - Protein subunit vaccines present a compelling new area of research for control of
      tuberculosis (TB). Based on the interaction between Mycobacterium tuberculosis
      and its host, five stage-specific antigens of M. tuberculosis that participate in
      TB pathogenesis--Rv1813, Rv2660c, Ag85B, Rv2623, and HspX--were selected. These
      antigens were verified to be recognized by T cells from a total of 42 whole blood
      samples obtained from active TB patients, patients with latent TB infections
      (LTBIs), and healthy control donors. The multistage polyprotein A1D4 was
      developed using the selected five antigens as a potentially more effective novel
      subunit vaccine. The immunogenicity and protective efficacy of A1D4 emulsified in
      the adjuvant MTO [monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL), trehalose-6,6'-dibehenate (TDB),
      components of MF59] was compared with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) in C57BL/6
      mice. Our results demonstrated that A1D4/MTO could provide more significant
      protection against M. tuberculosis infection than the PBS control or MTO adjuvant
      alone judging from the A1D4-specific Th1-type immune response; however, its
      efficacy was inferior to BCG as demonstrated by the bacterial load in the lung
      and spleen, and by the pathological changes in the lung. Antigen-specific single
      IL-2-secreting cells and different combinations with IL-2-secreting CD4+ T cells
      were beneficial and correlated with BCG vaccine-induced protection against TB.
      Antigen-specific IFN-gamma+ IL-2+ CD4+ T cells were the only effective biomarker
      significantly induced by A1D4/MTO. Among all groups, A1D4/MTO immunization also
      conferred the highest number of antigen-specific single IFN-gamma+ and IFN-gamma+
      TNF-alpha+ CD4+ T cells, which might be related to the antigen load in vivo, and
      single IFN-gamma+ CD8+ T cells by mimicking the immune patterns of LTBIs or
      curable TB patients. Our strategy seems promising for the development of a TB
      vaccine based on multistage antigens, and subunit antigen A1D4 suspended in MTO
      adjuvant warrants preclinical evaluation in animal models of latent infection and
      may boost BCG vaccination.

PMID- 25822539
TI  - An Atomically Layered InSe Avalanche Photodetector.
AB  - Atomically thin photodetectors based on 2D materials have attracted great
      interest due to their potential as highly energy-efficient integrated devices.
      However, photoinduced carrier generation in these media is relatively poor due to
      low optical absorption, limiting device performance. Current methods for
      overcoming this problem, such as reducing contact resistances or back gating,
      tend to increase dark current and suffer slow response times. Here, we realize
      the avalanche effect in a 2D material-based photodetector and show that avalanche
      multiplication can greatly enhance the device response of an ultrathin InSe-based
      photodetector. This is achieved by exploiting the large Schottky barrier formed
      between InSe and Al electrodes, enabling the application of a large bias voltage.
      Plasmonic enhancement of the photosensitivity, achieved by patterning arrays of
      Al nanodisks onto the InSe layer, further improves device efficiency. With an
      external quantum efficiency approaching 866%, a dark current in the picoamp
      range, and a fast response time of 87 MUs, this atomic layer device exhibits
      multiple significant advances in overall performance for this class of devices. 

PMID- 25822540
TI  - Environment-friendly cathodes using biopolymer chitosan with enhanced
      electrochemical behavior for use in lithium ion batteries.
AB  - The biopolymer chitosan has been investigated as a potential binder for the
      fabrication of LiFePO4 cathode electrodes in lithium ion batteries. Chitosan is
      compared to the conventional binder, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). Dispersion
      of the active material, LiFePO4, and conductive agent, Super P carbon black, is
      tested using a viscosity analysis. The enhanced structural and morphological
      properties of chitosan are compared to the PVDF binder using X-ray diffraction
      analysis (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Using an
      electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis, the LiFePO4 electrode with
      the chitosan binder is observed to have a high ionic conductivity and a smaller
      increase in charge transfer resistance based on time compared to the LiFePO4
      electrode with the PVDF binder. The electrode with the chitosan binder also
      attains a higher discharge capacity of 159.4 mAh g(-1) with an excellent capacity
      retention ratio of 98.38% compared to the electrode with the PVDF binder, which
      had a discharge capacity of 127.9 mAh g(-1) and a capacity retention ratio of
      85.13%. Further, the cycling behavior of the chitosan-based electrode is
      supported by scrutinizing its charge-discharge behavior at specified intervals
      and by a plot of dQ/dV. 

PMID- 25822541
TI  - Germline-transmitted genome editing in Arabidopsis thaliana Using TAL-effector
      nucleases.
AB  - Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) are custom-made bi
      partite endonucleases that have recently been developed and applied for genome
      engineering in a wide variety of organisms. However, they have been only scarcely
      used in plants, especially for germline-modification. Here we report the
      efficient creation of small, germline-transmitted deletions in Arabidopsis
      thaliana via TALENs that were delivered by stably integrated transgenes. Using
      meristem specific promoters to drive expression of two TALEN arms directed at the
      CLV3 coding sequence, we observed very high phenotype frequencies in the T2
      generation. In some instances, full CLV3 loss-of-function was already observed in
      the T1 generation, suggesting that transgenic delivery of TALENs can cause highly
      efficient genome modification. In contrast, constitutive TALEN expression in the
      shoot apical meristem (SAM) did not cause additional phenotypes and genome re
      sequencing confirmed little off-target effects, demonstrating exquisite target
      specificity. 

PMID- 25822542
TI  - Bulk-fill materials: simplify restorations, reduce chairtime.
AB  - Newer bulk-fill composite materials are being developed for preparation depths of
      up to 5 mm in an effort to simplify and improve placement of direct composite
      posterior restorations. Depth of cure for any dental composite is a critical
      issue, and especially so for bulk-fill composites. This article discusses factors
      involved in determining adequate depth of cure. Additionally, a case report
      depicting occlusal decay describes how a highly filled bulk-fill material was
      used to achieve an esthetic and functional restoration while eliminating
      incremental composite layering, thereby saving considerable time.

PMID- 25822543
TI  - KAST Study: The Kiva System As a Vertebral Augmentation Treatment-A Safety and
      Effectiveness Trial: A Randomized, Noninferiority Trial Comparing the Kiva System
      With Balloon Kyphoplasty in Treatment of Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression
      Fractures.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: The KAST (Kiva Safety and Effectiveness Trial) study was a pivotal,
      multicenter, randomized control trial for evaluation of safety and effectiveness
      in the treatment of patients with painful, osteoporotic vertebral compression
      fractures (VCFs). OBJECTIVE: The objective was to demonstrate noninferiority of
      the Kiva system to balloon kyphoplasty (BK) with respect to the composite primary
      endpoint. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Annual incidence of osteoporotic VCFs is
      prevalent. Optimal treatment of VCFs should address pain, function, and
      deformity. Kiva is a novel implant for vertebral augmentation in the treatment of
      VCFs. METHODS: A total of 300 subjects with 1 or 2 painful osteoporotic VCFs were
      randomized to blindly receive Kiva (n = 153) or BK (n = 147). Subjects were
      followed through 12 months. The primary endpoint was a composite at 12 months
      defined as a reduction in fracture pain by at least 15 mm on the visual analogue
      scale, maintenance or improvement in function on the Oswestry Disability Index,
      and absence of device-related serious adverse events. Secondary endpoints
      included cement usage, extravasation, and adjacent level fracture. RESULTS: A
      mean improvement of 70.8 and 71.8 points in the visual analogue scale score and
      38.1 and 42.2 points in the Oswestry Disability Index was noted in Kiva and BK,
      respectively. No device-related serious adverse events occurred. Despite
      significant differences in risk factors favoring the control group at baseline,
      the primary endpoint demonstrated noninferiority of Kiva to BK. Analysis of
      secondary endpoints revealed superiority with respect to cement use and site
      reported extravasation and a positive trend in adjacent level fracture warranting
      further study. CONCLUSION: The KAST study successfully established that the Kiva
      system is noninferior to BK based on a composite primary endpoint assessment
      incorporating pain-, function-, and device-related serious adverse events for the
      treatment of VCFs due to osteoporosis. Kiva was shown to be noninferior to BK and
      revealed a positive trend in several secondary endpoints. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 1.

PMID- 25822544
TI  - Pathogenesis of Vertebral Anterior Wedge Deformity: A 2-Stage Process?
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Biomechanical and radiographical study on cadaveric spines.
      OBJECTIVE: To explain the pathogenesis of vertebral "anterior wedge" deformity,
      which causes senile kyphosis. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: This deformity arises
      with minimal trauma and is difficult to reproduce in cadaveric spines. We
      hypothesize that wedging is created by a 2-stage process. First, excessive
      loading damages a vertebral endplate and decompresses the adjacent intervertebral
      disc. This alters load sharing between the vertebral body cortex and trabeculae
      so that subsequent cyclic loading causes progressive collapse of the unsupported
      anterior cortex. METHODS: Thirty-four cadaveric thoracolumbar "motion segments,"
      aged 70 to 98 years, were positioned in flexion and overloaded in compression.
      Physiologically reasonable cyclic compressive loading was then applied to each
      flexed specimen, at progressively higher loads, for up to 2 hours. Before and
      after initial overload and again after cyclic loading, the distribution of
      loading on the vertebra was assessed from measurements of compressive stress
      within the adjacent disc. These "stress profiles" were repeated in the neutral,
      flexed, and extended postures. Progressive vertebral body deformity was assessed
      radiographically. RESULTS: Compressive overload induced endplate fracture at an
      average force of 2.31 kN. There was minimal anterior wedging, but pressure in the
      adjacent disc nucleus (in flexion) fell by an average of 55% and neural arch load
      bearing increased by 166%. Subsequent cyclic loading exaggerated these changes
      and concentrated compressive stress within the anterior annulus. After both
      stages, height of the anterior and posterior vertebral cortexes was reduced by
      32% and 12%, respectively, so that anterior wedging of the vertebral body
      increased from 5.0 degrees  to 11.4 degrees  on average. All changes were highly
      significant (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Anterior wedge deformities can be created
      consistently by a 2-stage process involving initial endplate damage, followed by
      progressive collapse of the anterior cortex. Detecting initial endplate damage
      may be important to minimize vertebral deformity in patients with osteoporosis.
      LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: N/A.

PMID- 25822546
TI  - Medicare Charges and Payments for Cervical Spine Surgery: Association With
      Hospital Characteristics.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective analysis. OBJECTIVE: To determine the association of
      hospital and patient population characteristics with charges and payments for
      Medicare patients undergoing cervical spine surgery. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA:
      Third-party payers such as Medicare pay negotiated rates for health care services
      that represent a substantial savings from hospitals' list prices. Previous
      research has shown geographical variation in hospital charges. However, the
      association with other hospital and patient population characteristics is poorly
      understood. METHODS: We determined the association of hospital characteristics
      (hospital size, ownership, location, teaching status, procedure volume, and
      geographical region) and patient population characteristics (proportion female,
      nonwhite, or with >=1 comorbid conditions) with excess charges (difference
      between hospital charges and payments) and cost-to-charge ratio (ratio of
      payments to hospital charges) for Medicare patients undergoing cervical spine
      fusion without complication (MS-DRG 473). Significance levels were set at a P
      value less than 0.05. RESULTS: The median excess charge was $59,799
      (interquartile range, $41,668, $69,576) and cost-to-charge ratio was 25.8%
      (interquartile range, 20.4%, 32.7%). Higher excess charges were observed for
      urban hospitals (P = 0.003). There was an association between excess charges and
      procedure volume (P = 0.034) and proportion of patients with 1 or more comorbid
      conditions (P = 0.008). There were no differences based on hospital size,
      ownership, teaching status, geographical region, or proportion of female or
      nonwhite patients.Private hospitals had higher cost-to-charge ratios than
      government hospitals (P = 0.017). There was no association with hospital size,
      teaching status, geographical region, procedure volume, or proportion of patients
      who were female, nonwhite, or who had 1 or more comorbid conditions. CONCLUSION:
      The relationship between hospital charges and payments for cervical spine surgery
      without complication is associated with certain hospital and patient population
      characteristics. Further study is needed to determine whether these differences
      are associated with health outcomes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3.

PMID- 25822547
TI  - Arabidopsis BREVIPEDICELLUS interacts with the SWI2/SNF2 chromatin remodeling
      ATPase BRAHMA to regulate KNAT2 and KNAT6 expression in control of inflorescence
      architecture.
AB  - BREVIPEDICELLUS (BP or KNAT1), a class-I KNOTTED1-like homeobox (KNOX)
      transcription factor in Arabidopsis thaliana, contributes to shaping the normal
      inflorescence architecture through negatively regulating other two class-I KNOX
      genes, KNAT2 and KNAT6. However, the molecular mechanism of BP-mediated
      transcription regulation remains unclear. In this study, we showed that BP
      directly interacts with the SWI2/SNF2 chromatin remodeling ATPase BRAHMA (BRM)
      both in vitro and in vivo. Loss-of-function BRM mutants displayed inflorescence
      architecture defects, with clustered inflorescences, horizontally orientated
      pedicels, and short pedicels and internodes, a phenotype similar to the bp
      mutants. Furthermore, the transcript levels of KNAT2 and KNAT6 were elevated in
      brm-3, bp-9 and brm-3 bp-9 double mutants. Increased histone H3 lysine 4 tri
      methylation (H3K4me3) levels were detected in brm-3, bp-9 and brm-3 bp-9 double
      mutants. Moreover, BRM and BP co-target to KNAT2 and KNAT6 genes, and BP is
      required for the binding of BRM to KNAT2 and KNAT6. Taken together, our results
      indicate that BP interacts with the chromatin remodeling factor BRM to regulate
      the expression of KNAT2 and KNAT6 in control of inflorescence architecture. 

PMID- 25822548
TI  - Pain Management in Patients with ADPKD.

PMID- 25822549
TI  - Vitamin D supplementation in premature infants.

PMID- 25822553
TI  - What to Do at Well-Child Visits: The AAFP's Perspective.

PMID- 25822554
TI  - Diagnosis and management of kawasaki disease.
AB  - Kawasaki disease is an acute, systemic vasculitis that predominantly affects
      patients younger than five years. It represents the most prominent cause of
      acquired coronary artery disease in childhood. In the United States, 19 per
      100,000 children younger than five years are hospitalized with Kawasaki disease
      annually. According to U.S. and Japanese guidelines, Kawasaki disease is a
      clinical diagnosis. Classic (typical) Kawasaki disease is diagnosed based on the
      presence of a fever lasting five or more days, accompanied by four out of five
      findings: bilateral conjunctival injection, oral changes such as cracked and
      erythematous lips and strawberry tongue, cervical lymphadenopathy, extremity
      changes such as erythema or palm and sole desquamation, and polymorphous rash.
      Incomplete (atypical) Kawasaki disease occurs in persons with fever lasting five
      or more days and with two or three of these findings. Transthoracic
      echocardiography is the diagnostic imaging modality of choice to screen for
      coronary aneurysms, although other techniques are being evaluated for diagnosis
      and management. Treatment for acute disease is intravenous immunoglobulin and
      aspirin. If there is no response to treatment, patients are given a second dose
      of intravenous immunoglobulin with or without corticosteroids or other adjunctive
      treatments. The presence and severity of coronary aneurysms and obstruction at
      diagnosis determine treatment options and the need, periodicity, and intensity of
      long-term cardiovascular monitoring for potential atherosclerosis.

PMID- 25822555
TI  - Common questions about infectious mononucleosis.
AB  - Epstein-Barr is a ubiquitous virus that infects 95% of the world population at
      some point in life. Although Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections are often
      asymptomatic, some patients present with the clinical syndrome of infectious
      mononucleosis (IM). The syndrome most commonly occurs between 15 and 24 years of
      age. It should be suspected in patients presenting with sore throat, fever,
      tonsillar enlargement, fatigue, lymphadenopathy, pharyngeal inflammation, and
      palatal petechiae. A heterophile antibody test is the best initial test for
      diagnosis of EBV infection, with 71% to 90% accuracy for diagnosing IM. However,
      the test has a 25% false-negative rate in the first week of illness. IM is
      unlikely if the lymphocyte count is less than 4,000 mm3. The presence of EBV
      specific immunoglobulin M antibodies confirms infection, but the test is more
      costly and results take longer than the heterophile antibody test. Symptomatic
      relief is the mainstay of treatment. Glucocorticoids and antivirals do not reduce
      the length or severity of illness. Splenic rupture is an uncommon complication of
      IM. Because physical activity within the first three weeks of illness may
      increase the risk of splenic rupture, athletic participation is not recommended
      during this time. Children are at the highest risk of airway obstruction, which
      is the most common cause of hospitalization from IM. Patients with
      immunosuppression are more likely to have fulminant EBV infection.

PMID- 25822556
TI  - Diagnosis and treatment of temporomandibular disorders.
AB  - Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are a heterogeneous group of musculoskeletal
      and neuromuscular conditions involving the temporomandibular joint complex, and
      surrounding musculature and osseous components. TMD affects up to 15% of adults,
      with a peak incidence at 20 to 40 years of age. TMD is classified as intra
      articular or extra-articular. Common symptoms include jaw pain or dysfunction,
      earache, headache, and facial pain. The etiology of TMD is multifactorial and
      includes biologic, environmental, social, emotional, and cognitive triggers.
      Diagnosis is most often based on history and physical examination. Diagnostic
      imaging may be beneficial when malocclusion or intra-articular abnormalities are
      suspected. Most patients improve with a combination of noninvasive therapies,
      including patient education, self-care, cognitive behavior therapy,
      pharmacotherapy, physical therapy, and occlusal devices. Nonsteroidal anti
      inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants are recommended initially, and
      benzodiazepines or antidepressants may be added for chronic cases. Referral to an
      oral and maxillofacial surgeon is indicated for refractory cases.

PMID- 25822557
TI  - Screening for oral cancer.

PMID- 25822558
TI  - Asymptomatic, evolving lesion on the upper arm.

PMID- 25822565
TI  - Temporomandibular disorders.

PMID- 25822566
TI  - Detachable strong cation exchange monolith, integrated with capillary zone
      electrophoresis and coupled with pH gradient elution, produces improved
      sensitivity and numbers of peptide identifications during bottom-up analysis of
      complex proteomes.
AB  - A detachable sulfonate-silica hybrid strong cation-exchange monolith was
      synthesized in a fused silica capillary, and used for solid phase extraction with
      online pH gradient elution during capillary zone electrophoresis-tandem mass
      spectrometry (CZE-MS/MS) proteomic analysis. Tryptic digests were prepared in 50
      mM formic acid and loaded onto the strong cation-exchange monolith. Fractions
      were eluted using a series of buffers with lower concentration but higher pH
      values than the 50 mM formic acid background electrolyte. This combination of
      elution and background electrolytes results in both sample stacking and formation
      of a dynamic pH junction and allows use of relatively large elution buffer
      volumes while maintaining reasonable peak efficiency and resolution. A series of
      five pH bumps were applied to elute E. coli tryptic peptides from the monolith,
      followed by analysis using CZE coupled to an LTQ-Orbitrap Velos mass
      spectrometer; 799 protein groups and 3381 peptides were identified from 50 ng of
      the digest in a 2.5 h analysis, which approaches the identification rate for this
      organism that was obtained with an Orbitrap Fusion. We attribute the improved
      numbers of peptide and protein identifications to the efficient fractionation by
      the online pH gradient elution, which decreased the complexity of the sample in
      each elution step and improved the signal intensity of low abundance peptides. We
      also performed a comparative analysis using a nanoACQUITY UltraPerformance LCH
      system. Similar numbers of protein and peptide identifications were produced by
      the two methods. Protein identifications showed significant overlap between the
      two methods, whereas peptide identifications were complementary. 

PMID- 25822567
TI  - A Review of Barriers to Minorities' Participation in Cancer Clinical Trials:
      Implications for Future Cancer Research.
AB  - To enhance nurses' awareness and competencies in practice and research by
      reporting the common barriers to participation of minorities in cancer clinical
      trials and discussing facilitators and useful strategies for recruitment. Several
      databases were searched for articles published in peer reviewed journals. Some of
      the barriers to minorities' participation in clinical trials were identified
      within the cultural social-context of cancer patients. The involvement of
      community networking was suggested as the most effective strategy for the
      recruitment of minorities in cancer clinical trials. Using culturally sensitive
      approaches to enhance ethnic minorities' participation is important for advancing
      cancer care and eliminating health disparities. Awareness of barriers and
      potential facilitators to the enrollment of ethnic minority cancer patients may
      contribute to enhancing nurses' competencies of recruiting ethnic minorities in
      nursing research, playing efficient roles in cancer clinical trials team, and
      providing culturally competent quality care. 

PMID- 25822568
TI  - Erratum to: Acculturation and Depressive Symptoms in Hispanic Older Adults: Does
      Perceived Ethnic Density Moderate their Relationship?

PMID- 25822569
TI  - Prevalence of Sleep-disordered Breathing in Obese Patients with Chronic
      Hypoxemia. A Cross-Sectional Study.
AB  - RATIONALE: Hypoxemia in obese patients is likely to be associated with a high
      prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing. Supplemental oxygen is commonly used to
      treat chronic hypoxemia but carries some risk in obese individuals due to
      unrecognized comorbid obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and obesity hypoventilation
      syndrome (OHS). OBJECTIVES: The first step in the estimation of this risk is to
      determine the prevalence of OSA and OHS in obese individuals with chronic, awake
      hypoxemia. METHODS: A single-center retrospective cohort study was performed to
      assess the prevalence and severity of OSA and OHS among obese individuals with
      hypoxemia. One hundred eighty-four individuals underwent arterial blood gas
      testing and polysomnography. One hundred fifty-eight of these individuals also
      had spirometry. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The prevalence of OSA was 80%, and
      the prevalence of OHS was 51%. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was
      confirmed by spirometry in 49% of the cohort, and OSA was found in 69% of those
      individuals. The severity of hypoxemia in this cohort was not statistically
      related to COPD, OSA, or OHS. CONCLUSIONS: OSA and OHS are highly prevalent in
      obese patients with chronic awake hypoxemia, and OSA frequently coexists with
      COPD. Evaluation of chronic, awake hypoxemia solely based on arterial blood gas
      measurements and pulmonary function testing is not sufficient to identify OSA and
      OHS. Further diagnostic sleep testing should be performed to identify those who
      could benefit from alternative therapies and to avoid potential harm from
      treatment with supplemental oxygen alone.

PMID- 25822570
TI  - Correction to Armenta et al. (2013).
AB  - Reports an error in "Where are you from? A validation of the Foreigner
      Objectification Scale and the psychological correlates of foreigner
      objectification among Asian Americans and Latinos" by Brian E. Armenta, Richard
      M. Lee, Stephanie T. Pituc, Kyoung-Rae Jung, Irene J. K. Park, Jose A. Soto, Su
      Yeong Kim and Seth J. Schwartz (Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority
      Psychology, 2013[Apr], Vol 19[2], 131-142). There were errors in the author note
      and the Measures section. The omitted information in the author note and the
      corrected version of the last sentence in paragraph two of the Measures section
      are provided. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record
      2013-14946-002.) Many ethnic minorities in the United States consider themselves
      to be just as American as their European American counterparts. However, there is
      a persistent cultural stereotype of ethnic minorities as foreigners (i.e., the
      perpetual foreigner stereotype) that may be expressed during interpersonal
      interactions (i.e., foreigner objectification). The goal of the present study was
      to validate the Foreigner Objectification Scale, a brief self-report measure of
      perceived foreigner objectification, and to examine the psychological correlates
      of perceived foreigner objectification. Results indicated that the Foreigner
      Objectification Scale is structurally (i.e., factor structure) and metrically
      (i.e., factor loadings) invariant across foreign-born and U.S.-born Asian
      Americans and Latinos. Scalar (i.e., latent item intercepts) invariance was
      demonstrated for the two foreign-born groups and the two U.S.-born groups, but
      not across foreign-born and U.S.-born individuals. Multiple-group structural
      equation models indicated that, among U.S.-born individuals, perceived foreigner
      objectification was associated with less life satisfaction and more depressive
      symptoms, and was indirectly associated with lower self-esteem via identity
      denial, operationalized as the perception that one is not viewed by others as
      American. Among foreign-born individuals, perceived foreigner objectification was
      not significantly associated directly with self-esteem, life satisfaction, or
      depressive symptoms. However, perceived foreigner objectification was positively
      associated with identity denial, and identity denial was negatively associated
      with life satisfaction. This study illustrates the relevance of perceived
      foreigner objectification to the psychological well-being of U.S.-born Asian
      Americans and Latinos.

PMID- 25822571
TI  - Comprehensive mapping infection-enhancing epitopes of dengue pr protein using
      polyclonal antibody against prM.
AB  - Dengue vaccine development is considered a global public health priority, but the
      antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) issues have critically restricted vaccine
      development. Recent findings have demonstrated that pre-membrane (prM) protein
      was involved in dengue virus (DENV) infection enhancement. Although the
      importance of prM antibodies have been well characterized, only a few epitopes in
      DENV prM protein have ever been identified. In this study, we screened five
      potential linear epitopes located at positions pr1 (1-16aa), pr3 (13-28aa), pr4
      (19-34aa), pr9 (49-64aa), and pr10 (55-70aa) in pr protein using peptide scanning
      and comprehensive bioinformatics analysis. Then, we found that only pr4 (19-34aa)
      could elicit high-titer antibodies in Balb/c mice, and this epitope could react
      with sera from DENV2-infected patients, suggesting that specific antibodies
      against epitope peptide pr4 were elicited in both DENV-infected mice and human.
      In addition, our data demonstrated that anti-pr4 sera showed limited neutralizing
      activity but significant ADE activity toward standard DENV serotypes and imDENV.
      Hence, it seems responsible to hypothesize that anti-pr4 serum was infection
      enhancing antibody and pr4 was infection-enhancing epitope. In conclusion, we
      characterized a novel infection-enhancing epitope on dengue pr protein, a finding
      that may provide new insight into the pathogenesis of DENV infection and
      contribute to dengue vaccine design.

PMID- 25822572
TI  - Evaluation of the benefit of corticosteroid injection before exercise therapy in
      patients with osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized clinical trial.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is the most frequent form of
      arthritis and a cause of pain and disability. Combined nonpharmacologic and
      pharmacologic treatments are recommended as the optimal treatment approach, but
      no evidence supports the recommendation. OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical
      benefits of an intra-articular corticosteroid injection given before exercise
      therapy in patients with OA of the knee. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We
      performed a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluating the
      benefit of intra-articular corticosteroid injection vs placebo injection given
      before exercise therapy at an OA outpatient clinic from October 1, 2012, through
      April 2, 2014. The participants had radiographic confirmation of clinical OA of
      the knee, clinical signs of localized inflammation in the knee, and knee pain
      during walking (score >4 on a scale of 0 to 10). INTERVENTIONS: Participants were
      randomly allocated (1:1) to an intra-articular 1-mL injection of the knee with
      methylprednisolone acetate (Depo-Medrol), 40 mg/mL, dissolved in 4 mL of
      lidocaine hydrochloride (10 mg/mL) (corticosteroid group) or a 1-mL isotonic
      saline injection mixed with 4 mL of lidocaine hydrochloride (10 mg/mL) (placebo
      group). Two weeks after the injections, all participants started a 12-week
      supervised exercise program. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was
      change in the Pain subscale of the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score
      (KOOS) questionnaire (range, 0-100; higher scores indicate greater improvement)
      at week 14. Secondary outcomes included the remaining KOOS subscales and
      objective measures of physical function and inflammation. Outcomes were measured
      at baseline, week 2 (exercise start), week 14 (exercise stop), and week 26
      (follow-up). RESULTS: One hundred patients were randomized to the corticosteroid
      group (n = 50) or the placebo group (n = 50); 45 and 44 patients, respectively,
      completed the trial. The mean (SE) changes in the KOOS Pain subscale score at
      week 14 were 13.6 (1.8) and 14.8 (1.8) points in the corticosteroid and placebo
      groups, respectively, corresponding to a statistically insignificant mean
      difference of 1.2 points (95% CI, -3.8 to 6.2; P = .64). We found no
      statistically significant group differences in any of the secondary outcomes at
      any time point. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: No additional benefit results from
      adding an intra-articular injection of 40 mg of corticosteroid before exercise in
      patients with painful OA of the knee. Further research is needed to establish
      optimal and potentially synergistic combinations of conservative treatments.
      TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrialsregister.eu Identifier: 2012-002607-18;
      clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01945749.

PMID- 25822573
TI  - Tobacco smoking, family history, and the risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a case
      referent study in Hong Kong Chinese.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the associations of tobacco smoking and
      family history of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) with the risk of NPC in Hong
      Kong Chinese. METHODS: Between June 2010 and December 2012, we conducted a case
      referent study with 352 incident cases and 410 referents in Hong Kong. We
      collected information on tobacco smoking and family history of NPC via face-to
      face interviews. RESULTS: There were 174 (49.4%) and 131 (32.0%) ever-smokers
      among cases and referents, respectively. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) for NPC
      related to current smoking was 1.67 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06, 2.61].
      Exposure-response relationships were observed between years and total pack-years
      of smoking, and NPC risk (p = 0.001 and p = 0.018, respectively). History of NPC
      in first-degree relatives was associated with an increased NPC risk (adjusted OR
      = 4.52, 95% CI 2.39, 8.55). The increased NPC risk associated with sibling
      history (adjusted OR = 6.80, 95% CI 2.63, 17.56) was higher than that for
      parental history (adjusted OR = 3.04, 95% CI 1.27, 7.25). The adjusted OR for
      ever-smokers with family history using never-smokers without family history as
      the reference was 4.54 (95% CI 1.67, 12.34). CONCLUSIONS: This study verified the
      important roles of tobacco smoking and family history on NPC risk among Hong Kong
      Chinese. The provided evidence supported the knowledge that both environmental
      exposures and inherited susceptibility contributed to the risk of NPC.

PMID- 25822574
TI  - Prostate cancer screening: contrasting trends.
AB  - PURPOSE: Our previously published data showed rapidly increasing rates of
      prostate cancer screening in men aged 50-74, which rose from 36% in 2005 to 48%
      in 2008. Based on men's reported intentions at that time, this was expected to
      rise to 70% in 2011. Here we report the actual rate of prostate cancer screening.
      METHOD: Three nationwide observational telephone surveys (EDIFICE opinion polls)
      were conducted in 2005, 2008, and 2011. The overall target was a representative
      sample of > 1,500 individuals living in France and aged 40-75 years, including
      481 men aged 50-74 years. RESULTS: Within this male population, the rate of
      screening reported remained stable between 2008 and 2011 (48 and 49%,
      respectively). However, comparison of privileged versus disadvantaged populations
      showed significant differences, with a relative decrease in screening among those
      of higher socioprofessional status (p = 0.03) and from higher-income groups (p =
      0.02). For households with a monthly income above 2,500?, the screening rate
      decreased from 61% in 2008 to 51% in 2011 (p = 0.05), while for those with an
      income below 2,500?, it increased from 36% in 2008 to 44 % in 2011 (p = 0.18).
      CONCLUSION: A plateau or even a reduction in prostate cancer screening is
      currently being observed; this is possibly due to progressive recognition among
      the population at large of the controversy surrounding prostate cancer screening,
      whereas this speculation was formerly limited to health-care professionals. After
      previously being more likely to undergo prostate cancer screening, it is the
      younger, wealthier populations that are currently showing the most noteworthy
      step backwards.

PMID- 25822575
TI  - Optical coherence tomography errors in glaucoma: preanalytical errors.

PMID- 25822576
TI  - Response to comment on the article entitled "effect of improper scan alignment on
      retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurements using stratus optical coherence
      tomograph" by Vizzeri G, et al published in J Glaucoma. 2008;17: 341-349.

PMID- 25822578
TI  - Experimental and Kinetic Modeling Study of 2-Methyl-2-Butene: Allylic Hydrocarbon
      Kinetics.
AB  - Two experimental studies have been carried out on the oxidation of 2-methyl-2
      butene, one measuring ignition delay times behind reflected shock waves in a
      stainless steel shock tube, and the other measuring fuel, intermediate, and
      product species mole fractions in a jet-stirred reactor (JSR). The shock tube
      ignition experiments were carried out at three different pressures, approximately
      1.7, 11.2, and 31 atm, and at each pressure, fuel-lean (phi = 0.5),
      stoichiometric (phi = 1.0), and fuel-rich (phi = 2.0) mixtures were examined,
      with each fuel/oxygen mixture diluted in 99% Ar, for initial postshock
      temperatures between 1330 and 1730 K. The JSR experiments were performed at
      nearly atmospheric pressure (800 Torr), with stoichiometric fuel/oxygen mixtures
      with 0.01 mole fraction of 2M2B fuel, a residence time in the reactor of 1.5 s,
      and mole fractions of 36 different chemical species were measured over a
      temperature range from 600 to 1150 K. These JSR experiments represent the first
      such study reporting detailed species measurements for an unsaturated, branched
      hydrocarbon fuel larger than iso-butene. A detailed chemical kinetic reaction
      mechanism was developed to study the important reaction pathways in these
      experiments, with particular attention on the role played by allylic C-H bonds
      and allylic pentenyl radicals. The results show that, at high temperatures, this
      olefinic fuel reacts rapidly, similar to related alkane fuels, but the pronounced
      thermal stability of the allylic pentenyl species inhibits low temperature
      reactivity, so 2M2B does not produce "cool flames" or negative temperature
      coefficient behavior. The connections between olefin hydrocarbon fuels, resulting
      allylic fuel radicals, the resulting lack of low-temperature reactivity, and the
      gasoline engine concept of octane sensitivity are discussed. 

PMID- 25822577
TI  - Serotonin (5-HT)2A/2C receptor agonist (2,5-dimethoxy-4-idophenyl)-2-aminopropane
      hydrochloride (DOI) improves voiding efficiency in the diabetic rat.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To examine the effects of the serotonin (5-HT)2A/2C receptor agonist
      (2,5-dimethoxy-4-idophenyl)-2-aminopropane hydrochloride (DOI) on micturition in
      rats with diabetes mellitus (DM). METHODS: Female Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 16)
      were divided into two groups: rats with Type 1 DM and age-matched control rats.
      DM was induced by i.p. injection of streptozotocin (65 mg/kg) and detailed
      cystometrogram (CMG) studies were performed 8 weeks post-injection in all rats
      under urethane anaesthesia. The selective 5-HT2A antagonist ketanserin was
      administered after each DOI dose-response curve was plotted. All drugs were
      administered i.v. RESULTS: Compared with controls, comprehensive urodynamic
      studies showed that DM rats had a higher bladder capacity and post-void residual
      urine volume (PVR), and a markedly lower voiding efficiency. In DM rats, DOI
      (0.01-0.3 mg/kg) induced significant dose-dependent increases in micturition
      volume and reductions in PVR, resulting in greater voiding efficiency. CMG
      measurements showed a dose-dependent increase in high-frequency oscillation (HFO)
      activity, evidenced by an increased duration of HFOs per voiding. This correlated
      with the improved voiding efficiency. Ketanserin (0.1 mg/kg) partially or
      completely reversed the DOI-induced changes. CONCLUSIONS: The HFOs observed in
      the present study seem to correlate with external urethral sphincter bursting
      activity during voiding. Bladder voiding efficiency was reduced in DM rats. The 5
      HT2A receptor agonist can enhance HFO activity and improves voiding efficiency,
      and so may represent a new strategy to improve voiding efficiency after DM in
      experimental studies.

PMID- 25822579
TI  - Narrow Band Ultraviolet B Treatment for Human Vitiligo Is Associated with
      Proliferation, Migration, and Differentiation of Melanocyte Precursors.
AB  - In vitiligo, the autoimmune destruction of epidermal melanocytes produces white
      spots that can be repigmented by melanocyte precursors from the hair follicles,
      following stimulation with UV light. We examined by immunofluorescence the
      distribution of melanocyte markers (C-KIT, DCT, PAX3, and TYR) coupled with
      markers of proliferation (KI-67) and migration (MCAM) in precursors and mature
      melanocytes from the hair follicle and the epidermis of untreated and narrow band
      UVB (NBUVB)-treated human vitiligo skin. NBUVB was associated with a significant
      increase in the number of melanocytes in the infundibulum and with restoration of
      the normal melanocyte population in the epidermis, which was lacking in the
      untreated vitiligo. We identified several precursor populations (melanocyte stem
      cells, melanoblasts, and other immature phenotypes), and progressively
      differentiating melanocytes, some with putative migratory and/or proliferative
      abilities. The primary melanocyte germ was present in the untreated and treated
      hair follicle bulge, whereas a possible secondary melanocyte germ composed of C
      KIT+ melanocytes was found in the infundibulum and interfollicular epidermis of
      UV-treated vitiligo. This is an exceptional model for studying the mobilization
      of melanocyte stem cells in human skin. Improved understanding of this process is
      essential for designing better treatments for vitiligo, ultimately based on
      melanocyte stem cell activation and mobilization. 

PMID- 25822580
TI  - Interferon-Gamma Enhances TLR3 Expression and Anti-Viral Activity in
      Keratinocytes.
AB  - Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize specific microbial products in the innate
      immune response. TLR3, a double-stranded RNA sensor, is thought to have an
      important role in viral infections, but the regulation of TLR3 expression and its
      function in keratinocytes are not fully understood. Here we show the Th1 cytokine
      IFN-gamma increased the TLR3 expression via STAT1 in cultured normal human
      epidermal keratinocytes (NHEKs). Co-stimulation with IFN-gamma and the TLR3
      ligand poly (I:C) synergistically increased the expression of IFN-beta, IL-6, IL
      8, and human beta-defensin-2 in NHEKs compared with poly (I:C) or IFN-gamma
      alone. These synergistic inductions were significantly inhibited by an endosomal
      acidification inhibitor, chloroquine, and by TLR3 siRNA. Co-stimulation with IFN
      gamma and poly (I:C) also significantly enhanced the anti-viral activity against
      herpes simplex virus type-1 in NHEKs compared with poly (I:C) or IFN-gamma alone.
      In addition to the in vitro findings, an immunohistochemical analysis revealed
      IFN-gamma-positive cells surrounding herpetic vesicles. These findings indicate
      that IFN-gamma might contribute to the innate immune response to cutaneous viral
      infections by enhancing TLR3 expression and function in keratinocytes. 

PMID- 25822581
TI  - Transient global amnesia and broken heart syndrome: two faces of one pathology.
AB  - We present a case of a 57-year-old female patient with transient global amnesia,
      who later developed broken heart syndrome also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
      The present case underlines that co-occurrence of both pathologies might still be
      an under-recognized clinical problem. 

PMID- 25822582
TI  - Correction to Kyllingsbaek, Markussen, and Bundesen (2012).

PMID- 25822583
TI  - Versatile wedge-based system for the construction of unidirectional collagen
      scaffolds by directional freezing: practical and theoretical considerations.
AB  - Aligned unidirectional collagen scaffolds may aid regeneration of those tissues
      where alignment of cells and extracellular matrix is essential, as for instance
      in cartilage, nerve bundles, and skeletal muscle. Pores can be introduced by ice
      crystal formation followed by freeze-drying, the pore architecture reflecting the
      ice crystal morphology. In this study we developed a wedge-based system allowing
      the production of a wide range of collagen scaffolds with unidirectional pores by
      directional freezing. Insoluble type I collagen suspensions were frozen using a
      custom-made wedge system, facilitating the formation of a horizontal as well as a
      vertical temperature gradient and providing a controlled solidification area for
      ice dendrites. The system permitted the growth of aligned unidirectional ice
      crystals over a large distance (>2.5 cm), an insulator prolonging the freezing
      process and facilitating the construction of crack-free scaffolds. Unidirectional
      collagen scaffolds with tunable pore sizes and pore morphologies were constructed
      by varying freezing rates and suspension media. The versatility of the system was
      indicated by the construction of unidirectional scaffolds from albumin,
      poly(vinyl alcohol) (a synthetic polymer), and collagen-polymer blends producing
      hybrid scaffolds. Macroscopic observations, temperature measurements, and
      scanning electron microscopy indicated that directed horizontal ice dendrite
      formation, vertical ice crystal nucleation, and evolutionary selection were the
      basis of the aligned unidirectional ice crystal growth and, hence, the aligned
      unidirectional pore structure. In conclusion, a simple, highly adjustable
      freezing system has been developed allowing the construction of large (hybrid)
      bioscaffolds with tunable unidirectional pore architecture. 

PMID- 25822584
TI  - [Panorama of dermatological practice].

PMID- 25822585
TI  - [Music dermatology].

PMID- 25822586
TI  - [Quality of life in dermatology. From measurement to practical implementation].
AB  - Health-related quality of life has not only been established as an important
      patient-reported outcome measure in patient care but has been defined as an
      evaluation criterion for therapies in the German Code of Social Law as well as in
      the guidelines of the American Food and Drug Administration and of the European
      Medicines Agency (EMA). Quality of life can be measured in a standardised manner.
      Validated questionnaires are available for recording specific problems of
      patients with, for example, skin diseases. Measuring quality of life has not yet
      been implemented into daily dermatological routine, although (1) studies have
      confirmed that the measurement of quality of life offers major benefits for the
      treatment of skin diseases, and (2) first experiences in implementing quality of
      life measurement into practice have been positive. The further implementation of
      systemically measuring quality of life requires advancements in automated
      measurement and the assumption of cost by social health insurances. 

PMID- 25822587
TI  - Comparative pharmacokinetics of oxytetracycline in blunt-snout bream (Megalobrama
      amblycephala) with single and multiple-dose oral administration.
AB  - Research into the pharmacokinetics and residue elimination of oxytetracycline
      (OTC) is important both to determine the optimal dosage regimens and to establish
      a safe withdrawal time in fish. A depletion study is presented here for OTC in
      Megalobrama amblycephala with a single-dose (100 mg/kg) and multiple-dose (100
      mg/kg for five consecutive days) oral administration. The study was conducted at
      25  degrees C. As a result, a one-compartment model was developed. For the single
      dose, the absorption half-life was 5.79, 9.40, 6.96, and 8.06 h in the plasma,
      liver, kidney, and muscle, respectively. However, the absorption half-life was
      3.62, 7.33, 4.59, and 6.02 h with multiple-dose oral administration. The
      elimination half-time in the plasma, liver, kidney, and muscle was 58.63, 126.43,
      65.1, and 58.85 h when M. amblycephala was treated with a single dose. However,
      the elimination half-time changed to 91.75, 214.87, 126.22, and 135.84 h with
      multiple-dose oral administration. 

PMID- 25822588
TI  - Regulation of Bacterial Gene Expression by Protease-Alleviated Spatial
      Sequestration (PASS).
AB  - In natural microbial systems, conditional spatial sequestration of transcription
      factors enables cells to respond rapidly to changes in their environment or
      intracellular state by releasing presynthesized regulatory proteins. Although
      such a mechanism may be useful for engineering synthetic biology technologies
      ranging from cell-based biosensors to biosynthetic platforms, to date it remains
      unknown how or whether such conditional spatial sequestration may be engineered.
      In particular, based upon seemingly contradictory reports in the literature, it
      is not clear whether subcellular spatial localization of a transcription factor
      within the cytoplasm is sufficient to preclude regulation of cognate promoters on
      plasmid-borne or chromosomal loci. Here, we describe a modular, orthogonal
      platform for investigating and implementing this mechanism using protease
      alleviated spatial sequestration (PASS). In this system, expression of an
      exogenous protease mediates the proteolytic release of engineered transcriptional
      regulators from the inner face of the Escherichia coli cytoplasmic membrane. We
      demonstrate that PASS mediates robust, conditional regulation of either
      transcriptional repression, via tetR, or transcriptional activation, by the
      lambda phage CI protein. This work provides new insights into a biologically
      important facet of microbial gene expression and establishes a new strategy for
      engineering conditional transcriptional regulation for the microbial synthetic
      biology toolbox. 

PMID- 25822589
TI  - Computational analysis of kilohertz frequency spinal cord stimulation for chronic
      pain management.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Kilohertz frequency spinal cord stimulation (KHFSCS) is an emerging
      therapy for treating refractory neuropathic pain. Although KHFSCS has the
      potential to improve the lives of patients experiencing debilitating pain, its
      mechanisms of action are unknown and thus it is difficult to optimize its
      development. Therefore, the goal of this study was to use a computer model to
      investigate the direct effects of KHFSCS on specific neural elements of the
      spinal cord. METHODS: This computer model consisted of two main components: (1)
      finite element models of the electric field generated by KHFSCS and (2)
      multicompartment cable models of axons in the spinal cord. Model analysis
      permitted systematic investigation into a number of variables (e.g., dorsal
      cerebrospinal fluid thickness, lead location, fiber collateralization, and fiber
      size) and their corresponding effects on excitation and conduction block
      thresholds during KHFSCS. RESULTS: The results of this study suggest that direct
      excitation of large-diameter dorsal column or dorsal root fibers require high
      stimulation amplitudes that are at the upper end or outside of the range used in
      clinical KHFSCS (i.e., 0.5 to 5 mA). Conduction block was only possible within
      the clinical range for a thin dorsal cerebrospinal fluid layer. CONCLUSIONS:
      These results suggest that clinical KHFSCS may not function through direct
      activation or conduction block of dorsal column or dorsal root fibers. Although
      these results should be validated with further studies, the authors propose that
      additional concepts and/or alternative hypotheses should be considered when
      examining the pain relief mechanisms of KHFSCS.

PMID- 25822590
TI  - An unknown enemy: Drugs sought against EV-68 as paralysis link is explored.

PMID- 25822591
TI  - Internal in vitro dosimetry for fish using hydroxyapatite-based EPR detectors.
AB  - A number of aquatic ecosystems were exposed to ionizing radiation as a result of
      the activities of the Mayak Production Association in the Southern Urals, former
      Soviet Union, in the 1950s. Currently, fishes inhabiting contaminated lakes are
      being actively studied. These investigations need dosimetric support. In the
      present paper the results of a pilot study for elaborating an EPR dosimeter which
      can be used for internal dosimetry in vitro are described. Biological
      hydroxyapatite is proposed here to be used as a detecting substance. More
      specifically, small hydroxyapatite grains are proposed for use as point detectors
      fixed in a solid matrix. After having been pelletized, the detectors were covered
      by Mylar and placed in the body of a fish to be stored in the fridge for several
      months. Application of the detectors for internal fish dosimetry demonstrated
      that the enamel sensitivity is sufficient for passive detection of ionizing
      radiation in fishes inhabiting contaminated lakes in the Southern Urals. 

PMID- 25822592
TI  - Letter to the Editor concerning "A less invasive surgical approach in the lumbar
      lateral recess stenosis: direct approach to the medial wall of the pedicle" by A.
      Colak et al. (2008) Eur Spine J;17:1745-51.

PMID- 25822593
TI  - Answer to the Letter to the Editor of Hue Zhang concerning "A less invasive
      surgical approach in the lumbar lateral recess stenosis: direct approach to the
      medial wall of the pedicle" by A. Colak et al. (2008) Eur Spine J; 17:1745-1751.

PMID- 25822594
TI  - A mechanism for nano-titanium dioxide-induced cytotoxicity in HaCaT cells under
      UVA irradiation.
AB  - Nano-TiO2 has been reported to be an efficient photocatalyst, which is able to
      produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) under UVA irradiation. In this study, we
      investigated the effects of nano-TiO2 on the cytotoxicity, induction of
      apoptosis, and the putative pathways of its actions in HaCaT cells. We show that
      nano-TiO2 is a potent inducer of apoptosis and that it transduces the apoptotic
      signal via ROS generation, thereby inducing mitochondrial permeability transition
      (MPT) and activating Caspase-3 from HaCaT cells. ROS production, mitochondrial
      alteration, and subsequent apoptotic cell death in nano-TiO2-treated cells were
      blocked by the MPT pore-blocker cyclosporin A. Taken together, our data indicate
      that nano-TiO2 induces the ROS-mediated MPT and resultant Caspase-3 activation.

PMID- 25822595
TI  - A laser-engraved glass duplicating the structure, mechanics and performance of
      natural nacre.
AB  - Highly mineralized biological materials such as nacre (mother of pearl), tooth
      enamel or conch shell boast unique and attractive combinations of stiffness,
      strength and toughness. The structures of these biological materials and their
      associated mechanisms are now inspiring new types of advanced structural
      materials. However, despite significant efforts, no bottom up fabrication method
      could so far match biological materials in terms of microstructural organization
      and mechanical performance. Here we present a new 'top down' strategy to tackling
      this fabrication problem, which consists in carving weak interfaces within a
      brittle material using a laser engraving technique. We demonstrate the method by
      fabricating and testing borosilicate glasses containing nacre-like
      microstructures infiltrated with polyurethane. When deformed, these materials
      properly duplicate the mechanisms of natural nacre: combination of controlled
      sliding of the tablets, accompanied with geometric hardening, strain hardening
      and strain rate hardening. The nacre-like glass is composed of 93 volume % (vol%)
      glass, yet 700 times tougher and breaks at strains as high as 20%. 

PMID- 25822596
TI  - [Molecular pathology of soft tissue tumors: Contribution to diagnosis and therapy
      prediction].
AB  - Soft tissue tumors are often challenging for pathologists on the basis of
      morphology alone; therefore, tumor-specific chromosomal aberrations, such as
      translocations and fusions, amplifications or deletions can be diagnostically
      useful. Fluorescence in situ hybridization is widely used for the detection of
      most aberrations in routine diagnostics. Furthermore, reverse transcriptase PCR,
      sequencing and specific immunohistochemical assays are also applied. Next
      generation sequencing has already contributed to the identification of hitherto
      unknown aberrations. Molecular pathology is mainly used in sarcomas to
      discriminate between different tumor entities. In terms of personalized therapy
      and targeted treatment, molecular pathology can be utilized to detect predictive
      markers. 

PMID- 25822597
TI  - Dephosphorization of High-Phosphorus Iron Ore Using Different Sources of
      Aspergillus niger Strains.
AB  - High-phosphorus iron ore is traditionally dephosphorized by chemical process with
      inorganic acids. However, this process is not recommended nowadays because of its
      high cost and consequent environmental pollution. With the current tendency for
      development of a low-cost and eco-friendly process, dephosphorization of high
      phosphorus iron ore through microbial process with three different sources of
      Aspergillus niger strains was studied in this study. Results show that the three
      strains of A. niger could grow well in the broth, and effectively remove
      phosphate from high-phosphorus iron ore during the experiments. Meanwhile, the
      total iron in the broth was also increased. Acidification of the broth seemed to
      be the major mechanism for the dephosphorization by these strains. High-pressure
      liquid chromatography analysis indicated that various organic acids were secreted
      in the broth, which caused a significant drop of the broth pH. Scanning electron
      microscopy of ore residues revealed that the high-phosphorus iron ore was
      obviously destroyed by the actions of these strains. Ore residues by energy
      dispersive X-ray microanalysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
      indicated that the phosphate was obviously removed from the high-phosphorus iron
      ore. The optimization of the dephosphorization by these strains was also
      investigated, and the maximum percentages of phosphate removal were recorded at
      temperature 27-30  degrees C, initial pH 5.0-6.5, particle size 0.07-0.1 mm, and
      pulp density of 2-3% (w/v), respectively. The fungus A. niger was found to have
      good potential for the dephosphorization of high-phosphorus iron ore, and this
      microbial process seems to be economic and effective in the future industrial
      application.

PMID- 25822598
TI  - The ProFHER (PROximal Fracture of the Humerus: Evaluation by Randomisation) trial
      - a pragmatic multicentre randomised controlled trial evaluating the clinical
      effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of surgical compared with non-surgical
      treatment for proximal fracture of the humerus in adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Proximal humeral fractures account for 5-6% of all fractures in
      adults. There is considerable variation in whether or not surgery is used in the
      management of displaced fractures involving the surgical neck. OBJECTIVE: To
      evaluate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of surgical compared
      with non-surgical treatment of the majority of displaced fractures of the
      proximal humerus involving the surgical neck in adults. DESIGN: A pragmatic
      parallel-group multicentre randomised controlled trial with an economic
      evaluation. Follow-up was for 2 years. SETTING: Recruitment was undertaken in the
      orthopaedic departments of 33 acute NHS hospitals in the UK. Patient care
      pathways included outpatient and community-based rehabilitation. PARTICIPANTS:
      Adults (aged >= 16 years) presenting within 3 weeks of their injury with a
      displaced fracture of the proximal humerus involving the surgical neck.
      INTERVENTIONS: The choice of surgical intervention was left to the treating
      surgeons, who used techniques with which they were experienced. Non-surgical
      treatment was initial sling immobilisation followed by active rehabilitation.
      Provision of rehabilitation was comparable in both groups. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
      The primary outcome was the Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS) assessed at 6, 12 and 24
      months. Secondary outcomes were the 12-item Short Form health survey, surgical
      and other shoulder fracture-related complications, secondary surgery to the
      shoulder or increased/new shoulder-related therapy, medical complications during
      inpatient stay and mortality. European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions data and
      treatment costs were also collected. RESULTS: The mean age of the 250 trial
      participants was 66 years and 192 (77%) were female. Independent assessment using
      the Neer classification identified 18 one-part fractures, 128 two-part fractures
      and 104 three- or four-part fractures. OSS data were available for 215
      participants at 2 years. We found no statistically or clinically significant
      differences in OSS scores between the two treatment groups (scale 0-48, with a
      higher score indicating a better outcome) over the 2-year period [difference of
      0.75 points in favour of the surgery group, 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.33 to
      2.84; p = 0.479; data from 114 surgery and 117 non-surgery participants] or at
      individual time points. We found no statistically significant differences between
      surgical and non-surgical group participants in SF-12 physical or mental
      component summary scores; surgical or shoulder fracture-related complications (30
      vs. 23 respectively); those undergoing further shoulder-related therapy, either
      surgery (11 vs. 11 respectively) or other therapy (seven vs. four respectively);
      or mortality (nine vs. five respectively). The base-case economic analysis showed
      that, at 2 years, the cost of surgical intervention was, on average, L1780.73
      more per patient (95% CI L1152.71 to L2408.75) than the cost of non-surgical
      intervention. It was also slightly less beneficial in terms of utilities,
      although this difference was not statistically significant. The net monetary
      benefit associated with surgery is negative. There was only a 5% probability of
      surgery achieving the criterion of costing < L20,000 to gain a quality-adjusted
      life-year, which was confirmed by extensive sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS:
      Current surgical practice does not result in a better outcome for most patients
      with displaced fractures of the proximal humerus involving the surgical neck and
      is not cost-effective in the UK setting. Two areas for future work are the
      setting up of a national database of these fractures, including the collection of
      patient-reported outcomes, and research on the best ways of informing patients
      with these and other upper limb fractures about initial self-care. TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN50850043. FUNDING: This project was
      funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published
      in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 19, No. 24. See the NIHR Journals
      Library website for further project information.

PMID- 25822602
TI  - Overcoming the educational disadvantages of poor children: How much do teacher
      preparation, workload, and expectations matter.
AB  - This article reviews data on aspects of the learning environment most closely
      associated with successful development of early academic competence, compares
      children from low socioeconomic backgrounds to children with higher socioeconomic
      status (SES) on access to academically auspicious environments, and uses the
      findings to identify promising targets for social innovations aimed at improving
      the educational prospects of poor children.

PMID- 25822599
TI  - Pyrosequencing reveals a shift in symbiotic bacteria populations across life
      stages of Bactrocera dorsalis.
AB  - Bactrocera dorsalis is one of the most economically important fruit flies around
      the world. In this study, 454 pyrosequencing was used to identify the bacteria
      associated with different developmental stages of B. dorsalis. At >= 97%
      nucleotide similarity, total reads could be assigned to 172 Operational Taxonomic
      Units belonging to six phyla. Proteobacteria dominated in immature stages while
      Firmicutes dominated in adult stages. The most abundant families were
      Enterococcaceae and Comamondaceae. The genus Comamonas was most abundant in pupae
      whereas completely absent in adults. Some identified species had low sequence
      similarity to reported species indicating the possibility of novel taxa. However,
      a majority sequence reads were similar to sequences previously identified to be
      associated with Bactrocera correcta, suggesting a characteristic microbial fauna
      for this insect genus. The type and abundance of different bacterial groups
      varied across the life stages of B. dorsalis. Selection pressure exerted by the
      host insect as a result of its habitat and diet choices could be the reason for
      the observed shift in the bacteria groups. These findings increase our
      understanding of the intricate symbiotic relationships between bacteria and B.
      dorsalis and provide clues to develop potential biocontrol techniques against
      this fruit fly. 

PMID- 25822603
TI  - Examining the role of methamphetamine in permanency: A competing risks analysis
      of reunification, guardianship, and adoption.
AB  - Parental methamphetamine use has drawn significant attention in recent years.
      Despite prior research that shows that parental substance abuse is a risk factor
      for lengthy foster care stay, little is known about the effect of specific types
      of substance use on permanency. This study sought to compare the impact of
      parental methamphetamine use to alcohol use, other drug use, and polysubstance
      use on the timing of 3 types of permanency: reunification, guardianship, and
      adoption. Using an entry cohort of 16,620 children who had entered foster care
      during a 5-year period, competing risks event history models were conducted for
      each permanency type. Findings showed that, after controlling for several case
      characteristics, parent illicit drug use significantly impacted the timing of the
      3 types of permanency, but alcohol use did not. Methamphetamine, other drug, and
      polysubstance with methamphetamine use were associated with lower rates of
      reunification and higher rates of adoption. Guardianship was also predicted by
      other drug and polysubstance use without methamphetamine; however,
      methamphetamine use was not associated with guardianship. Notably, the
      methamphetamine groups comprised the youngest children and had the shortest
      median time to adoption. Results suggest that type of parental substance use is
      predictive of permanency exits and that parental illicit drug use may require
      tailored strategies for improving permanency outcomes. Further implications of
      the findings are discussed.

PMID- 25822604
TI  - How people evaluate others with social anxiety disorder: A comparison to
      depression and general mental illness stigma.
AB  - Despite the availability of effective interventions, most individuals with social
      anxiety disorder do not seek treatment. Given their fear of negative evaluation,
      socially anxious individuals might be especially susceptible to stigma concerns,
      a recognized barrier for mental health treatment. However, very little is known
      about the stigma specific to social anxiety disorder. In a design similar to
      Feldman and Crandall (2007), university undergraduate students read vignettes
      about target individuals with a generic mental illness label, major depressive
      disorder, and social anxiety disorder. Subjects rated each of 3 people in the
      vignettes on social distance and 17 dimensions including dangerousness,
      heritability and prevalence of the disorder, and gender ratio. Results indicated
      that being male and not having experience with mental health treatment was
      associated with somewhat greater preferred social distance. Multiple regression
      analyses revealed that being embarrassed by the disorder and dangerousness
      predicted social distance across all 3 vignettes. The vignette for social anxiety
      disorder had the most complex model and included work impairment, more common
      among women, and more avoidable. These results have implications for
      understanding the specific aspects of the stigma associated with social anxiety
      disorder. Public service messages to reduce stigma should focus on more accurate
      information about dangerousness and mental illness, given this is an established
      aspect of mental illness stigma. More nuanced messages about social anxiety might
      be best incorporated into the treatment referral process and as part of
      treatment.

PMID- 25822605
TI  - University students' identification of stigmatizing schizophrenia in Italian
      newspapers.
AB  - Stigma associated with mental disorders represents one main obstacle to receive
      appropriate care for people with mental disorders. Compared to adults, university
      students have higher levels of stigmatizing attitudes toward patients with
      schizophrenia. The primary aim of this case-control study was to assess
      university students' ability to identify stigma toward schizophrenia in Italian
      newspapers. Secondary aims were: a) to explore differences in stigmatizing
      attitudes among two different groups of university students (health professionals
      [HP] and nonhealth professionals [n-HP]) and b) to compare the attitudes of these
      two groups with those of a sample of expert psychiatrists. The electronic
      archives of two Italian newspapers were searched using the term "schizo" (as a
      word or part of it). One hundred seventy articles published between January and
      December 2011 were identified. Students from the HP group and expert
      psychiatrists had a higher ability to detect stigmatizing attitudes in
      newspapers. Students from the n-HP group had a higher concordance with the
      experts on the topics "characteristics of the article" and "services and rights."
      Our findings highlight the importance of targeting university students with
      correct and updated information about schizophrenia and its psychosocial
      consequences.

PMID- 25822606
TI  - Childhood victimization, attachment, psychological distress, and substance use
      among women on probation and parole.
AB  - The present analysis was guided by a gendered pathways-based theoretical model
      and examined relationships between childhood victimization and current
      attachment, psychological distress, and substance use among 406 women with
      histories of victimization who were on probation and parole in an urban Kentucky
      county. Structural equation modeling examined relationships among childhood
      victimization, attachment, psychological distress, and substance use.
      Additionally, we examined the mediational role that attachment plays in
      relationships between childhood victimization and both psychological distress and
      substance use. The data fit the models properly. Psychological distress was
      significantly predicted by childhood victimization, and adult attachment
      partially mediated this relationship. Childhood victimization did not
      significantly predict substance use; however, attachment did. The findings
      suggest that attachment may be an important factor to further understand and
      address in relation to psychological distress and substance use among women with
      histories of victimization who are involved in the criminal justice system.

PMID- 25822607
TI  - Normative identity construction among women diagnosed with a gambling disorder.
AB  - Women with a gambling problem bear a negative social stigma. Based on the theory
      of symbolic interactionism, this study examined the construction of social
      identities by 17 Israeli women diagnosed with a gambling disorder. Interpretive
      interactionist analysis revealed how they construct their identity through
      correspondence with patterns of behavior that are perceived as normative, and
      identified 3 major themes: "I'm not actually a gambler" (the presentation of a
      multidimensional identity comprising other identities besides that of a gambler);
      "Staying normative during gambling"; and "I have changed" (reformed gamblers'
      presentation of themselves as having changed for the better). The findings
      underscore the complex dialogue behind the identity construction put forward by
      women with a gambling problem, their yearning to be perceived by society as
      normative women and to fit in despite their stigmatized behavior, and the tension
      they feel in society's relationship toward them. The findings also suggest that
      practitioners who work with women gamblers may want to pay attention to the power
      relations shaping identity construction in an interview setting, and look more
      closely at the women's awareness of the stigma they bear and the complex
      processes that make up their multidimensional identity.

PMID- 25822608
TI  - Respecting our elders: Evaluation of an educational program for adolescent
      students to promote respect toward older adults.
AB  - The current project explored issues related to respect for older people, and then
      developed, implemented, and evaluated an educational intervention program for
      adolescents to raise understanding and improve attitudes toward older people. In
      Study 1, 46 focus groups were conducted, with participants (n = 211) drawn from
      older people, carers of older people, and adolescents to inform on issues related
      to the expression of respect to older people. The emergent themes were used to
      inform the design of the educational program delivered to adolescents and
      evaluated in Study 2. A total of 118 year-9 students were allocated to an
      intervention or control condition. The intervention group participated in 4
      educational sessions focused on developing understanding of and respect for older
      adults, and promoting positive interactions with older people. Participants in
      both conditions completed measures of knowledge and attitudes to aging to
      determine whether the intervention had effected change at post-program and at 6
      months follow-up. Analyses indicated significant improvements in knowledge,
      attitudes, and social skills related to older people in the intervention group
      compared to the control group. The findings from these studies provide a better
      understanding of what constitutes respect for older people, and a method for
      improving this in adolescents.

PMID- 25822609
TI  - Family functioning and posttraumatic growth among parents and youth following
      wildfire disasters.
AB  - A conceptual model was used to investigate how demographic characteristics,
      perceived fire stress, aspects of the recovery environment (life stressors since
      the disaster, social support), mental health, and coping influences parent and
      youth reports of family functioning and posttraumatic growth (PTG) following
      multiple wildfires. Participants included 50 parent-youth dyads (M = 14.5 years)
      who had been evacuated because of the fire, many of whom had homes that were
      damaged (60%) or destroyed (30%). For youth, younger age, being female, greater
      fire stress, more life stressors, and those using more positive reappraisal
      coping reported greater PTG. For parents, family type and perceived fire stress
      were positively related to PTG, and positive reappraisal approached significance.
      For family functioning, only the youth model was significant. Younger age and
      more life stressors were negatively related, and positive reappraisal coping was
      positively related, to family functioning. Overall, the results support the
      important role of positive reappraisal in postdisaster outcomes.

PMID- 25822610
TI  - Modified Regulatory Pathways to Approve Generic Drugs in the US and a Systematic
      Review of Their Outcomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Generic drugs are approved on the basis of pharmaceutical equivalence
      and bioequivalence. Some drug products have unique structural or functional
      attributes, necessitating modified approaches to bioequivalence determinations.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review was to identify studies that
      evaluated laboratory or clinical outcomes of six drugs approved via modified
      bioequivalence approaches. DATA SOURCES: We conducted a systematic review of
      articles published through February 2014 in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and International
      Pharmaceutical Abstracts related to six recent drugs subject to modified
      regulatory approaches: venlafaxine extended release tablet (Effexor XR), acarbose
      (Precose), enoxaparin (Lovenox), vancomycin capsules (Vancocin), sodium ferric
      gluconate (Ferrlecit), and calcitonin salmon nasal spray (Miacalcin NS). We
      included all empirical evaluations (whether in vivo or in vitro) and excluded
      case studies, qualitative analyses, and pharmacoeconomic evaluations. Studies
      were summarized and evaluated on their methodological quality and assessed for
      bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool. Articles were divided into
      studies of US FDA-approved generics and non-FDA-approved generics available in
      non-US locations. DATA EXTRACTION: We extracted drug(s) studied, study design,
      setting, sample size, population characteristics, study endpoints and results,
      and source of funding. DATA SYNTHESIS: After retrieving 1408 articles and
      searching through the full text of 106 articles, we found 26 articles that met
      our inclusion criteria-8 examining FDA-approved versions and 18 examining non-FDA
      approved versions. Among FDA-approved generics, five studies of enoxaparin showed
      minor variations in biologic activities of unclear clinical importance, and no
      publications involved acarbose, venlafaxine ER, or vancomycin capsules. Among non
      FDA-approved generics, nine studies of enoxaparin supported generic
      bioequivalence, despite three showing minor variations in drug activity. Four of
      six studies of venlafaxine ER supported generic bioequivalence, while two found a
      lack of bioequivalence with a Canadian generic version of the drug. Most studies
      were either highly susceptible to bias (12/26) or were not able to be assessed
      for bias (13/26), in part because eight studies were abstracts/posters without
      full reports. CONCLUSIONS: Pharmaceutical manufacturers sometimes raise
      scientific concerns related to potential generic versions of their drugs;
      however, in the six cases we reviewed, these companies did not follow up the pre
      approval concerns they raised with any methodologically rigorous post-approval
      testing using clinical endpoints. Despite their pre-approval controversy,
      experience with these generic drugs provides reassurance of their clinical
      interchangeability. Systematized post-approval study of certain generic drug
      bioequivalence determinations is needed.

PMID- 25822611
TI  - Human gastroenteropancreatic expression of melatonin and its receptors MT1 and
      MT2.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: The largest source of melatonin, according to animal studies,
      is the gastrointestinal (GI) tract but this is not yet thoroughly characterized
      in humans. This study aims to map the expression of melatonin and its two
      receptors in human GI tract and pancreas using microarray analysis and
      immunohistochemistry. METHOD: Gene expression data from normal intestine and
      pancreas and inflamed colon tissue due to ulcerative colitis were analyzed for
      expression of enzymes relevant for serotonin and melatonin production and their
      receptors. Sections from paraffin-embedded normal tissue from 42 individuals,
      representing the different parts of the GI tract (n=39) and pancreas (n=3) were
      studied with immunohistochemistry using antibodies with specificity for
      melatonin, MT1 and MT2 receptors and serotonin. RESULTS: Enzymes needed for
      production of melatonin are expressed in both GI tract and pancreas tissue.
      Strong melatonin immunoreactivity (IR) was seen in enterochromaffin (EC) cells
      partially co-localized with serotonin IR. Melatonin IR was also seen in pancreas
      islets. MT1 and MT2 IR were both found in the intestinal epithelium, in the
      submucosal and myenteric plexus, and in vessels in the GI tract as well as in
      pancreatic islets. MT1 and MT2 IR was strongest in the epithelium of the large
      intestine. In the other cell types, both MT2 gene expression and IR were
      generally elevated compared to MT1. Strong MT2, IR was noted in EC cells but not
      MT1 IR. Changes in gene expression that may result in reduced levels of melatonin
      were seen in relation to inflammation. CONCLUSION: Widespread
      gastroenteropancreatic expression of melatonin and its receptors in the GI tract
      and pancreas is in agreement with the multiple roles ascribed to melatonin, which
      include regulation of gastrointestinal motility, epithelial permeability as well
      as enteropancreatic cross-talk with plausible impact on metabolic control.

PMID- 25822613
TI  - Delocalization of charge and electron density in the humulyl cation-implications
      for terpene biosynthesis.
AB  - The stabilizing features of a macrocyclic sesquiterpene-derived cation were
      explored using quantum mechanical calculations. The monocyclic humulyl cation,
      the product of 11,1-cyclization of farnesyl diphosphate, is the product of the
      first committed step in the enzymatic synthesis of a range of structurally
      diverse sesquiterpenes, including humulene (monocyclic); caryophyllene
      (bicyclic); and protoilludene, pentalenene, and isocomene (tricyclic). These
      natural products are formed via carbocation cascades that are directed in part by
      the conformation of the humulyl cation. Understanding the mechanistic details of
      product formation requires an understanding of the conformational preferences of
      this fundamental intermediate. Replacing the carbocation with borane (preserving
      pi-accepting capabilities), ammonium (preserving positive charge), and methylene
      (preserving neither pi-accepting capabilities nor charge) provides a systematic
      method to distinguish electrostatic and orbital effects on structure and internal
      stabilization. Several modes of internal stabilization-hyperconjugation,
      transannular pi(alkene)...C(+) and transannular C-H...C(+) interactions-were
      uncovered, confirming and extending previous studies on this and similar systems.

PMID- 25822612
TI  - Association of body composition with outcome of docetaxel chemotherapy in
      metastatic prostate cancer: a retrospective review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Docetaxel, a lipophilic drug, is indicated for castration-resistant
      metastatic prostate cancer. Most men with such disease would have had androgen
      deprivation therapy, which decreases muscle and increases body fat. Obesity and
      body composition changes may influence the outcomes of docetaxel therapy.
      METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of 333 patients with metastatic
      prostate cancer treated with docetaxel at a comprehensive cancer center between
      October 7, 2004 and December 31, 2012. Body composition parameters were measured
      based on the areas of muscle and adipose tissues in the visceral and subcutaneous
      compartments on CT images at L3-4 levels. Dose calculations, toxicity and adverse
      reaction profiles, and overall survival were analyzed. RESULTS: Obese patients
      were younger at the diagnosis of prostate cancer and had a shorter duration from
      diagnosis to docetaxel therapy. Analysis of body composition found that a high
      visceral fat-to-subcutaneous fat area ratio (VSR) was associated with poor
      prognosis but a high visceral fat-to-muscle area ratio (VMR) and high body mass
      index were associated with increased duration from starting docetaxel to death,
      allowing such men to catch up with patients with normal body mass index in
      overall survival from cancer diagnosis to death. Cox proportional hazard
      regression showed that age >=65 years, high VSR, abnormal serum alkaline
      phosphatase, and >10% reduction of initial dosage were significant predictors of
      shorter time between starting docetaxel and death, and that high VMR, obesity,
      and weekly regimens were significant predictors of longer survival after
      docetaxel. CONCLUSION: Obese and overweight patients may benefit more from weekly
      docetaxel regimens using the reference dosage of 35 mg/m2 without empirical
      dosage reduction.

PMID- 25822614
TI  - Antipyretic therapy in critically ill patients with sepsis: an interaction with
      body temperature.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The effect of antipyretic therapy on mortality in
      patients with sepsis remains undetermined. The present study aimed to investigate
      the role of antipyretic therapy in ICU patients with sepsis by using a large
      clinical database. METHODS: The multiparameter intelligent monitoring in
      intensive care II (MIMIC- II) database was employed for the study. Adult patients
      with sepsis were included for analysis. Antipyretic therapy included antipyretic
      medication and external cooling. Multivariable model with interaction terms were
      employed to explore the association of antipyretic therapy and mortality risk.
      MAIN RESULTS: A total of 15,268 patients fulfilled inclusion criteria and were
      included in the study. In multivariable model by treating temperature as a
      continuous variable, there was significant interaction between antipyretic
      therapy and the maximum temperature (Tmax). While antipyretic therapy had no
      significant effect on mortality in low temperature quintiles, antipyretic therapy
      was associated with increased risk of death in the quintile with body temperature
      >39 degrees C (OR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.04-1.61). CONCLUSION: Our study shows that
      there is no beneficial effect on reducing mortality risk with the use of
      antipyretic therapy in ICU patients with sepsis. External cooling may even be
      harmful in patients with sepsis.

PMID- 25822616
TI  - Should simultaneous ureteral reimplantation be performed during sigmoid bladder
      augmentation to reduce vesicoureteral reflux in neurogenic bladder cases?
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the necessity of performing simultaneous collateral
      reimplantation during sigmoid bladder augmentation (SBA) to reduce vesicoureteral
      reflux (VUR) in low-compliance neuropathic bladder with associated VUR. METHODS:
      We retrospectively identified 31 patients who underwent SBA alone or with
      simultaneous ureteral reimplantation at our hospital. The video urodynamics data,
      VUR status, renal function, and clinical symptoms were studied during follow-up.
      RESULTS: The mean follow-up time was 57 months (range 12-117). All patients
      displayed significantly increased safe cystometric capacity (P < 0.001) and
      bladder compliance (P < 0.001) and decreased creatinine (P < 0.01) and urea
      nitrogen (P < 0.05) compared with preoperative levels. High-grade VUR was
      resolved in only 7 of 15 patients (47%) in Group A (simultaneous ureteral
      reimplantation), whereas low-grade VUR was resolved in 13 of 16 patients (81%) in
      Group B (SBA alone). The other 11 patients still displaying VUR after SBA had
      larger safe bladder volumes due to augmentation. The patients' improving renal
      function benefited most from the enlarged bladder and partly from increased
      antireflux resistance of vesico-ureter anastomosis. Twelve (38.7%) had recurrent
      febrile urinary tract infection after SBA, and one (3.2%) suffered from vesico
      ureter anastomosis contracture after ureteral reimplantation. CONCLUSIONS: A
      preoperative intravesical VUR pressure of 20 cmH2O is not an effective cutoff
      point for whether ureteral reimplantation should be simultaneously performed
      during SBA. Augmentation appears to be more important than reimplantation for
      protecting kidney from damage due to febrile urinary tract infection after SBA.
      Simultaneous reimplantation may be not necessary during SBA in neurogenic
      bladder.

PMID- 25822615
TI  - Effects of cyclic tensile strain on chondrocyte metabolism: a systematic review.
AB  - Chondrocytes reorganize the extracellular matrix of articular cartilage in
      response to externally applied loads. Thereby, different loading characteristics
      lead to different biological responses. Despite of active research in this area,
      it is still unclear which parts of the extracellular matrix adapt in what ways,
      and how specific loading characteristics affect matrix changes. This review
      focuses on the influence of cyclic tensile strain on chondrocyte metabolism in
      vitro. It also aimed to identify anabolic or catabolic chondrocyte responses to
      different loading protocols. The key findings show that loading cells up to 3%
      strain, 0.17 Hz, and 2 h, resulted in weak or no biological responses. Loading
      between 3-10% strain, 0.17-0.5 Hz, and 2-12 h led to anabolic responses; and
      above 10% strain, 0.5 Hz, and 12 h catabolic events predominated. However, this
      review also discusses that various other factors are involved in the remodeling
      of the extracellular matrix in response to loading, and that parameters like an
      inflammatory environment might influence the biological response. 

PMID- 25822618
TI  - Correction: Ewing sarcoma Ewsa protein regulates chondrogenesis of Meckel's
      cartilage through modulation of Sox9 in zebrafish.

PMID- 25822617
TI  - Statistical detection of EEG synchrony using empirical bayesian inference.
AB  - There is growing interest in understanding how the brain utilizes synchronized
      oscillatory activity to integrate information across functionally connected
      regions. Computing phase-locking values (PLV) between EEG signals is a popular
      method for quantifying such synchronizations and elucidating their role in
      cognitive tasks. However, high-dimensionality in PLV data incurs a serious
      multiple testing problem. Standard multiple testing methods in neuroimaging
      research (e.g., false discovery rate, FDR) suffer severe loss of power, because
      they fail to exploit complex dependence structure between hypotheses that vary in
      spectral, temporal and spatial dimension. Previously, we showed that a
      hierarchical FDR and optimal discovery procedures could be effectively applied
      for PLV analysis to provide better power than FDR. In this article, we revisit
      the multiple comparison problem from a new Empirical Bayes perspective and
      propose the application of the local FDR method (locFDR; Efron, 2001) for PLV
      synchrony analysis to compute FDR as a posterior probability that an observed
      statistic belongs to a null hypothesis. We demonstrate the application of Efron's
      Empirical Bayes approach for PLV synchrony analysis for the first time. We use
      simulations to validate the specificity and sensitivity of locFDR and a real EEG
      dataset from a visual search study for experimental validation. We also compare
      locFDR with hierarchical FDR and optimal discovery procedures in both simulation
      and experimental analyses. Our simulation results showed that the locFDR can
      effectively control false positives without compromising on the power of PLV
      synchrony inference. Our results from the application locFDR on experiment data
      detected more significant discoveries than our previously proposed methods
      whereas the standard FDR method failed to detect any significant discoveries.

PMID- 25822619
TI  - Assessing human diet and movement in the Tongan maritime chiefdom using isotopic
      analyses.
AB  - The rise of stratified societies fundamentally influences the interactions
      between status, movement, and food. Using isotopic analyses, we assess
      differences in diet and mobility of individuals excavated from two burial mounds
      located at the 'Atele burial site on Tongatapu, the main island of the Kingdom of
      Tonga (c. 500 - 150 BP). The first burial mound (To-At-1) was classified by some
      archaeologists as a commoner's mound while the second burial mound (To-At-2) was
      possibly used for interment of the chiefly class. In this study, stable isotope
      analyses of diet (delta13C, delta15N, and delta34S; n = 41) are used to asses
      paleodiet and 87Sr/86Sr ratios (n = 30) are analyzed to investigate individual
      mobility to test whether sex and social status affected these aspects of life.
      Our results show significant differences in diet between burial mounds and sexes.
      Those interred in To-At-2 displayed lower delta13C values, indicating they ate
      relatively more terrestrial plants (likely starchy vegetable staples) compared
      with To-At-1 individuals. Females displayed significantly lower delta15N values
      compared with males within the entire assemblage. No differences in delta34S
      values were observed between sexes or burial mound but it is possible that sea
      spray or volcanism may have affected these values. One individual displayed the
      strontium isotopic composition representative of a nonlocal immigrant (outside
      2SD of the mean). This suggests the hegemonic control over interisland travel,
      may have prevented long-term access to the island by non-Tongans exemplifying the
      political and spiritual importance of the island of Tongatapu in the maritime
      chiefdom. 

PMID- 25822620
TI  - Correction: Effects of a high-fat diet on spontaneous metastasis of Lewis lung
      carcinoma in plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 deficient and wild-type mice.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110869.]. 

PMID- 25822621
TI  - Genetic structure of capelin (Mallotus villosus) in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.
AB  - Capelin (Mallotus villosus) is a commercially exploited, key forage-fish species
      found in the boreal waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. We
      examined the population structure of capelin throughout their range in the
      Canadian northwest Atlantic Ocean using genetic-based methods. Capelin collected
      at ten beach and five demersal spawning locations over the period 2002 through
      2008 (N = 3,433 fish) were genotyped using six polymorphic microsatellite loci.
      Temporally distinct samples were identified at three beach spawning locations:
      Chance Cove, Little Lawn and Straitsview, Newfoundland. Four capelin stocks are
      assumed for fisheries management in the northwest Atlantic Ocean based on
      meristics, morphometrics, tag returns, and seasonal distribution patterns. Our
      results suggested groupings that were somewhat different than the assumed
      structure, and indicate at least seven genetically defined populations arising
      from two ancestral populations. The spatial mosaic of capelin from each of the
      two basal cluster groups explains much of the observed geographic variability
      amongst neighbouring samples. The genetic-defined populations were resolved at
      Jost's Dest >= 0.01 and were composed of fish collected 1) in the Gulf of St.
      Lawrence, 2) along the south and east coasts of Newfoundland, 3) along coastal
      northern Newfoundland and southern Labrador, 4) along coastal northern Labrador,
      5) near the Saguenay River, and at two nearshore demersal spawning sites, 6) one
      at Grebes Nest off Bellevue Beach on the east coast of Newfoundland, and 7) one
      off the coast of Labrador at Domino Run. Moreover, the offshore demersal spawners
      on the Scotian Shelf and Southeast Shoal appeared to be related to the inshore
      demersal spawners at Grebes Nest and in Domino Run and to beach spawners from the
      Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

PMID- 25822622
TI  - The effect of exon 7 deletion during the evolution of TRIMCyp fusion proteins on
      viral restriction, cytoplasmic body formation and multimerization.
AB  - TRIMCyp is a fusion protein consisting of the TRIM5 gene product and
      retrotransposed Cyclophilin A (CypA). Two primate TRIMCyp fusion proteins with
      varying anti-HIV-1 activities independently evolved in owl monkeys and Old World
      monkeys. In addition, Old World monkey TRIMCyps lack exon7, which encodes amino
      acids in the Linker2 region. Previous studies on TRIM5alpha indicated that this
      region affects anti-retroviral activity, cytoplasmic body formation, and
      multimerization. The effects of exon7 deletion on the functions of the TRIMCyp
      are unclear. In this study, we found that the cytoplasmic bodies and multimers of
      owl monkey TRIMCyp (omTRIMCyp) are different from those of northern pig-tailed
      macaque TRIMCyp (npmTRIMCyp). In addition, we demonstrated that exon7 deletion
      affected cytoplasmic body formation and multimerization. Moreover, we
      unexpectedly found two chimeric proteins of omTRIMCyp and npmTRIMCyp that failed
      to block HIV-1 replication, despite the presence of CypA in omTRIMCyp. Further
      studies indicated that the cytoplasmic bodies and spontaneous multimerization
      were not responsible for TRIMCyp anti-HIV-1 activity. Moreover, potent viral
      restriction is associated with higher amounts of monomeric TRIMCyp when the CypA
      domain is able to recognize and bind to the HIV-1 capsid. Our results suggested
      that the deletion of exon7 during the evolution of TRIMCyp affected its function.

PMID- 25822623
TI  - DUPA conjugation of a cytotoxic indenoisoquinoline topoisomerase I inhibitor for
      selective prostate cancer cell targeting.
AB  - Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is overexpressed in most prostate
      cancer cells while being present at low or undetectable levels in normal cells.
      This difference provides an opportunity to selectively deliver cytotoxic drugs to
      prostate cancer cells while sparing normal cells that lack PSMA, thus improving
      potencies and reducing toxicities. PSMA has high affinity for 2-[3-(1,3
      dicarboxypropyl)ureido]pentanedioic acid (DUPA) (Ki = 8 nM). After binding to a
      DUPA-drug conjugate, PSMA internalizes, unloads the conjugate, and returns to the
      surface. In the present studies, an indenoisoquinoline topoisomerase I inhibitor
      was conjugated to DUPA via a peptide linker and a drug-release segment that
      facilitates intracellular cleavage to liberate the drug cargo. The DUPA
      indenoisoquinoline conjugate exhibited an IC50 in the low nanomolar range in
      22RV1 cell cultures and induced a complete cessation of tumor growth with no
      toxicity, as determined by loss of body weight and death of treated mice. 

PMID- 25822624
TI  - Effect of endobronchial valve therapy on pulmonary perfusion and ventilation
      distribution.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Endoscopic lung volume reduction (ELVR) is an emerging therapy for
      emphysematous COPD. However, any resulting changes in lung perfusion and
      ventilation remain undetermined. Here, we report ELVR-mediated adaptations in
      lung perfusion and ventilation, as investigated by means of pulmonary
      scintigraphy. METHODS: In this observational study, we enrolled 26 patients (64.9
      +/- 9.4 yrs, 57.7% male) with COPD heterogeneous emphysema undergoing ELVR with
      endobronchial valves (Zephyr, Pulmonx, Inc.). Mean baseline FEV1 and RV were
      32.9% and 253.8% predicted, respectively. Lung scintigraphy was conducted prior
      to ELVR and eight weeks thereafter. Analyses of perfusion and ventilation shifts
      were performed and complemented by correlation analyses between paired zones.
      RESULTS: After ELVR, target zone perfusion showed a mean relative reduction of
      43.32% (p<0.001), which was associated with a significant decrease in target zone
      ventilation (p<0.001). Perfusion of the contralateral untreated zone and of the
      contralateral total lung exhibited significant increases post-ELVR (p = 0.002 and
      p = 0.005, respectively); both correlated significantly with the corresponding
      target zone perfusion adaptations. Likewise, changes in target zone ventilation
      correlated significantly with ventilatory changes in the contralateral untreated
      zone and the total contralateral lung (Pearson's r: -0.42, p = 0.04 and Pearson's
      r: -0.42, p = 0.03, respectively). These effects were observed in case of
      clinical responsiveness to ELVR, as assessed by changes in the six-minute walk
      test distance. DISCUSSION: ELVR induces a relevant decrease in perfusion and
      ventilation of the treated zone with compensatory perfusional and ventilatory
      redistribution to the contralateral lung, primarily to the non-concordant,
      contralateral zone.

PMID- 25822625
TI  - Is radon emission in caves causing deletions in satellite DNA sequences of cave
      dwelling crickets?
AB  - The most stable isotope of radon, 222Rn, represents the major source of natural
      radioactivity in confined environments such as mines, caves and houses. In this
      study, we explored the possible radon-related effects on the genome of
      Dolichopoda cave crickets (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae) sampled in caves with
      different concentrations of radon. We analyzed specimens from ten populations
      belonging to two genetically closely related species, D. geniculata and D.
      laetitiae, and explored the possible association between the radioactivity dose
      and the level of genetic polymorphism in a specific family of satellite DNA
      (pDo500 satDNA). Radon concentration in the analyzed caves ranged from 221 to
      26,000 Bq/m3. Specimens coming from caves with the highest radon concentration
      showed also the highest variability estimates in both species, and the increased
      sequence heterogeneity at pDo500 satDNA level can be explained as an effect of
      the mutation pressure induced by radon in cave. We discovered a specific category
      of nuclear DNA, the highly repetitive satellite DNA, where the effects of the
      exposure at high levels of radon-related ionizing radiation are detectable,
      suggesting that the satDNA sequences might be a valuable tool to disclose harmful
      effects also in other organisms exposed to high levels of radon concentration.

PMID- 25822626
TI  - Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii from Serbia: revision of CarO
      classification.
AB  - Carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii present a significant therapeutic challenge for
      the treatment of nosocomial infections in many European countries. Although it is
      known that the gradient of A. baumannii prevalence increases from northern to
      southern Europe, this study provides the first data from Serbia. Twenty-eight
      carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii clinical isolates were collected at a Serbian
      pediatric hospital during a 2-year period. The majority of isolates (67.68%)
      belonged to the sequence type Group 1, European clonal complex II. All isolates
      harbored intrinsic OXA-51 and AmpC cephalosporinase. OXA-23 was detected in 16
      isolates (57.14%), OXA-24 in 23 isolates (82.14%) and OXA-58 in 11 isolates
      (39.29%). Six of the isolates (21.43%) harbored all of the analyzed
      oxacillinases, except OXA-143 and OXA-235 that were not detected in this study.
      Production of oxacillinases was detected in different pulsotypes indicating the
      presence of horizontal gene transfer. NDM-1, VIM and IMP were not detected in
      analyzed clinical A. baumannii isolates. ISAba1 insertion sequence was present
      upstream of OXA-51 in one isolate, upstream of AmpC in 13 isolates and upstream
      of OXA-23 in 10 isolates. In silico analysis of carO sequences from analyzed A.
      baumannii isolates revealed the existence of two out of six highly polymorphic
      CarO variants. The phylogenetic analysis of CarO protein among Acinetobacter
      species revised the previous classification CarO variants into three groups based
      on strong bootstraps scores in the tree analysis. Group I comprises four variants
      (I-IV) while Groups II and III contain only one variant each. One half of the
      Serbian clinical isolates belong to Group I variant I, while the other half
      belongs to Group I variant III. 

PMID- 25822628
TI  - Bifunctional reactivity of amidoximes observed upon nucleophilic addition to
      metal-activated nitriles.
AB  - Treatment of the aromatic nitrile complexes trans-[PtCl2(RC6H4CN)2] (R = p-CF3
      NC1, H NC2, o-Cl NC3) with the aryl amidoximes p-R'C6H4C(NH2)=NOH (R' = Me AO1, H
      AO2, Br AO3, CF3 AO4, NO2 AO5) in all combinations, followed by addition of 1
      equiv of AgOTf and then 5 equiv of Et3N, leads to the chelates
      [PtCl{HN=C(RC6H4)ON=C(C6H4R'-p)NC(RC6H4)?NH}] (1-15; 15 examples; yields 71-88%
      after column chromatography) derived from the platinum(II)-mediated coupling
      between metal-activated nitriles and amidoximes. The mechanism of this reaction
      was studied experimentally by trapping and identification of the reaction
      intermediates, and it was also investigated theoretically at the DFT level of
      theory. The combined experimental and theoretical results indicate that the
      coupling with the nitrile ligands involves both the HON and monodeprotonated NH2
      groups of the amidoximes, whereas in the absence of the base, the NH2
      functionality is inactive toward the coupling. The observed reaction represents
      the first example of bifunctional nucleophilic behavior of amidoximes. The
      complexes 1-16 were characterized by elemental analyses (C, H, N), high
      resolution ESI(+)-MS, FTIR, and (1)H NMR techniques, whereas unstable 17 was
      characterized by HRESI(+)-MS and FTIR. In addition, 8.C4H8O2, 12, and 16.CHCl3
      were studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.

PMID- 25822627
TI  - Diagnostic performance of echocardiography for the detection of acute cardiac
      allograft rejection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Many studies have addressed the diagnostic performance of
      echocardiography to evaluate acute cardiac allograft rejection compared with
      endomyocardial biopsy. But the existence of heterogeneity limited its clinical
      application. Thus, we conducted a comprehensive, systematic literature review and
      meta-analysis for the purpose. METHODS: Studies prior to September 1, 2014
      identified by Medline/PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrance were examined by two
      independent reviews. We conducted meta-analysis by using Meta-DiSc 1.4 software.
      An assessment tool of QUADAS-2 was applied to evaluate the risk of bias and
      applicability of the studies. RESULTS: Thirty studies met the inclusion criteria
      of meta-analysis. The four parameters of pressure half time, isovolumic
      relaxation time, index of myocardial performance and late diastolic mitral
      annular motion velocity were included in the meta-analysis, with a pooled
      diagnostic odds ratio of 10.43, 6.89, 15.95 and 5.68 respectively, and the area
      under the summary receiver operating characteristic curves value of 0.829, 0.599,
      0.871 and 0.685 respectively. CONCLUSION: The meta-analysis and systematic review
      demonstrate that no single parameter of echocardiography showed a reliable
      diagnostic performance for acute cardiac allograft rejection. A result of
      echocardiography for ACAR should be comprehensively considered by physicians in
      the context of clinical presentations and imaging feature.

PMID- 25822629
TI  - Probing the interactions of intrinsically disordered proteins using nanoparticle
      tags.
AB  - The structural plasticity of intrinsically disordered proteins serves as a rich
      area for scientific inquiry. Such proteins lack a fix three-dimensional structure
      but can interact with multiple partners through numerous weak bonds.
      Nevertheless, this intrinsic plasticity possesses a challenging hurdle in their
      characterization. We underpin the intermolecular interactions between
      intrinsically disordered neurofilaments in various hydrated conditions, using
      grafted gold nanoparticle (NP) tags. Beyond its biological significance, this
      approach can be applied to modify the surface interaction of NPs for the creation
      of future tunable "smart" hybrid biomaterials. 

PMID- 25822630
TI  - DJ-1 knockout augments disease severity and shortens survival in a mouse model of
      ALS.
AB  - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, lethal, neurodegenerative
      disorder, characterized by the degeneration of motor neurons. Oxidative stress
      plays a central role in the disease progression, in concert with an enhanced
      glutamate excitotoxicity and neuroinflammation. DJ-1 mutations, leading to the
      loss of functional protein, cause familial Parkinson's disease and motor neuron
      disease in several patients. DJ-1 responds to oxidative stress and plays an
      important role in the cellular defense mechanisms. We aimed to investigate
      whether loss of functional DJ-1 alters the disease course and severity in an ALS
      mouse model. To this end we used mice that express the human SOD1G93A mutation,
      the commonly used model of ALS and knockout of DJ-1 mice to generate SOD1 DJ-1 KO
      mice. We found that knocking out DJ-1in the ALS model led to an accelerated
      disease course and shortened survival time. DJ-1 deficiency was found to increase
      neuronal loss in the spinal cord associated with increased gliosis in the spinal
      cord and reduced antioxidant response that was regulated by the Nrf2
      mechanism.The importance of DJ-1 in ALS was also illustrated in a motor neuron
      cell line that was exposed to glutamate toxicity and oxidative stress. Addition
      of the DJ-1 derived peptide, ND-13, enhanced the resistance to glutamate and SIN
      1 induced toxicity. Thus, our results maintain that DJ-1 plays a role in the
      disease process and promotes the necessity of further investigation of DJ-1 as a
      therapeutic target for ALS. 

PMID- 25822631
TI  - Pulse pressure in relation to tau-mediated neurodegeneration, cerebral
      amyloidosis, and progression to dementia in very old adults.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Increased pulse pressure associated with age-related arterial
      stiffening increases risk for Alzheimer dementia but the mechanism responsible
      for this association remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: To determine the relationship
      between pulse pressure and cerebral spinal fluid biomarker profiles of
      preclinical Alzheimer disease, investigate whether observed relationships are
      stronger in adults with more advanced arterial age (>=80 years of age), and
      examine the relationship between pulse pressure and progression to dementia.
      DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this retrospective cohort study, 877
      participants without dementia (55-91 years of age) from the Alzheimer's Disease
      Neuroimaging Initiative underwent baseline health assessment, including blood
      pressure assessment and lumbar puncture for determination of cerebral spinal
      fluid phosphorylated tau (P-tau) and beta-amyloid 1-42. Participants have been
      followed up longitudinally since 2005. The last date of examination was October
      15, 2013. Clinical follow-up between 6 and 96 months tracked progression to
      dementia. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Regression and analysis of covariance
      analyses investigated relationships between pulse pressure and distinct cerebral
      spinal fluid biomarker profiles. Very old participants (80 years or older) were
      compared with younger participants (55-79 years of age) on clinical measures and
      pulse pressure * age group interactions were investigated. Survival analysis
      examined the effect of baseline pulse pressure on progression to dementia.
      Covariates were age, sex, apolipoprotein E genotype, body mass index, vascular
      risk factors, and antihypertensive medication use. RESULTS: Individuals with a P
      tau-positive biomarker profile exhibited mean (SD) elevated pulse pressure
      regardless of age (62.0 [15.6] mm Hg for a P-tau-positive biomarker vs 57.4
      [14.0] mm Hg for P-tau-negative biomarker; P = .04). In very old participants, a
      further increase in pulse pressure was observed in those exhibiting both P-tau
      elevation and beta-amyloid 1-42 reduction vs either biomarkers alone (69.7 [16.0]
      mm Hg for both positive biomarkers vs 63.18 [13.0] mm Hg for P-tau alone vs 60.1
      [16.4] mm Hg for beta-amyloid 1-42 alone vs 56.6 [14.5] mm Hg for negative
      biomarkers; P = .003). Those with higher baseline pulse pressure progressed to
      dementia more rapidly (95% CI, 1.000-1.048; P = .05; hazard ratio = 1.024).
      Systolic pressure exhibited similar relationships with Alzheimer disease
      biomarkers and progression to dementia in the very old subgroup (P < .05) but
      showed no associations in the young old subgroup (P > .10). Diastolic pressure
      was reduced in young old participants with isolated phosphorylated tau elevation
      (P = .04). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Pulse pressure, an index of vascular aging,
      was associated with neurodegenerative change prior to the onset of dementia
      across a broad age range. Among those with more advanced age, higher pulse
      pressure was also associated with cerebral amyloidosis in the presence of
      neurodegeneration and more rapid progression to dementia. Diastolic contributions
      to these biomarker associations were limited to young old participants whereas
      systolic contributions were found only in very old participants.

PMID- 25822632
TI  - Hydrogen sulfide promotes adipogenesis in 3T3L1 cells.
AB  - The effect of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on differentiation of 3T3L1-derived
      adipocytes was examined. Endogenous H2S was increased after 3T3L1
      differentiation. The expression of the H2S-synthesising enzymes, cystathionine
      gamma-lyase (CSE), cystathionine beta-synthase (CBS) and 3-mercaptopyruvate
      sulfurtransferase (3-MST), was increased in a time-dependent manner during 3T3L1
      differentiation. Expression of genes associated with adipogenesis related genes
      including fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4/aP2), a key regulator of this
      process, was increased by GYY4137 (a slow-releasing H2S donor compound) and
      sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS, a classical H2S donor) but not by ZYJ1122 or time
      expired NaHS. Furthermore expression of these genes were reduced by
      aminooxyacetic acid (AOAA, CBS inhibitor), DL-propargylglycine (PAG, CSE
      inhibitor) as well as by CSE small interference RNA (siCSE) and siCBS. The size
      and number of lipid droplets in mature adipocytes was significantly increased by
      both GYY4137 and NaHS, which also impaired the ability of CL316,243 (beta3
      agonist) to promote lipolysis in these cells. In contrast, AOAA and PAG had the
      opposite effect. Taken together, we show that the H2S-synthesising enzymes CBS,
      CSE and 3-MST are endogenously expressed during adipogenesis and that both
      endogenous and exogenous H2S modulate adipogenesis and adipocyte maturation. 

PMID- 25822633
TI  - Corrugated paraffin nanocomposite films as large stroke thermal actuators and
      self-activating thermal interfaces.
AB  - High performance active materials are of rapidly growing interest for
      applications including soft robotics, microfluidic systems, and morphing
      composites. In particular, paraffin wax has been used to actuate miniature pumps,
      solenoid valves, and composite fibers, yet its deployment is typically limited by
      the need for external volume constraint. We demonstrate that compact, high
      performance paraffin actuators can be made by confining paraffin within
      vertically aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) films. This large-stroke vertical
      actuation is enabled by strong capillary interaction between paraffin and CNTs
      and by engineering the CNT morphology by mechanical compression before capillary
      driven infiltration of the molten paraffin. The maximum actuation strain of the
      corrugated CNT-paraffin films (~0.02-0.2) is comparable to natural muscle, yet
      the maximum stress is limited to ~10 kPa by collapse of the CNT network. We also
      show how a CNT-paraffin film can serve as a self-activating thermal interface
      that closes a gap when it is heated. These new CNT-paraffin film actuators could
      be produced by large-area CNT growth, infiltration, and lamination methods, and
      are attractive for use in miniature systems due to their self-contained design. 

PMID- 25822634
TI  - The development of a novel Mycobacterium-Escherichia coli shuttle vector system
      using pMyong2, a linear plasmid from Mycobacterium yongonense DSM 45126T.
AB  - The Mycobacterium-Escherichia coli shuttle vector system, equipped with the
      pAL5000 replicon, is widely used for heterologous gene expression and gene
      delivery in mycobacteria. Despite its extensive use, this system has certain
      limitations, which has led to the development of alternative mycobacterial vector
      systems. The present study describes the molecular structure and expression
      profiles of a novel 18-kb linear plasmid, pMyong2, from Mycobacterium yongonense.
      Sixteen open reading frames and a putative origin of replication were identified,
      and the compatibility of the pMyong2 and pAL5000 vector systems was demonstrated.
      In recombinant Mycobacterium smegmatis (rSmeg), the pMyong2 vector system showed
      a copy number that was approximately 37 times greater than that of pAL5000.
      Furthermore, pMyong2 increased the mRNA and protein expression of the human
      macrophage migration inhibitory factor (hMIF) over pAL5000 levels by
      approximately 10-fold and 50-fold, respectively, demonstrating the potential
      utility of the pMyong2 vector system in heterologous gene expression in
      mycobacteria. Successful delivery of the EGFP gene into mammalian cells via rSmeg
      carrying the pMyong2 vector system was also observed, demonstrating the
      feasibility of this system for DNA delivery. In conclusion, the pMyong2 vector
      system could be effectively used not only for the in vivo delivery of recombinant
      protein and DNA but also for mycobacterial genetic studies as an alternative or a
      complement to the pAL5000 vector system. 

PMID- 25822636
TI  - Clinical management of acute orofacial infections.
AB  - Management of acute dental infections requires an understanding of microbiology,
      anatomy, pharmacology, wound healing, and oral surgery. Recognizing early signs
      of inflammation and differentiating them from characteristics of an infection
      facilitates timely intervention and avoids further complications. This article
      addresses various aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of acute oral
      infections. Suggestions are made to help differentiate between swelling
      associated with an infection and edema related to inflammation of nonpathogenic
      origin. In addition, discussion focuses on how to distinguish between an abscess
      and cellulitis, when to culture, and which antibiotics to select to resolve an
      infection. Protocols for managing an infection with and without fluctuance are
      reviewed. Finally, the consequences of spreading cellulitis are discussed, and
      signs indicating the need for referral of a patient are delineated.

PMID- 25822637
TI  - Use of opioid pain relievers following extraction of third molars.
AB  - Following extraction of third molars, it is common practice for oral and
      maxillofacial surgeons to provide a prescription for an opioid-containing
      analgesic such as hydrocodone with acetaminophen. Because the instructions for
      use most often indicate that these analgesics are to be taken "as needed for
      pain," it is unknown how many of the prescribed postoperative analgesic tablets
      are needed and actually taken. Therefore, an assessment of patient pain
      experiences and actual opioid analgesic usage was carried out using structured
      telephone interviews of patients performed 1 and 7 days following their
      thirdmolar extraction surgery. Forty-eight adolescents and young adults, ages 15
      to 30 years, participated in this assessment. A review of the surgeon's notes
      indicated that the median number of prescribed opioid-containing analgesics (ie,
      Vicodin(r), Norco(r), Lorcet(r), Percocet(r)) was 20 tablets (range 10 to 40).
      The median consumption during the first 24 hours was reported to be three tablets
      (range 0 to 10), and the total consumption for all 7 days was eight tablets
      (range 0 to 34). Four patients reported nausea or vomiting in the first 24 hours,
      and six patients reported nausea or vomiting during the following 6 days of
      recovery. The initial prescriptions provided adequate relief for 45 of the 48
      patients. Higher consumption of opioid pain relievers (OPRs) was associated with
      a longer duration of surgery and the occurrence of postoperative infections.

PMID- 25822635
TI  - Chemical and thermal unfolding of a global staphylococcal virulence regulator
      with a flexible C-terminal end.
AB  - SarA, a Staphylococcus aureus-specific dimeric protein, modulates the expression
      of numerous proteins including various virulence factors. Interestingly, S.
      aureus synthesizes multiple SarA paralogs seemingly for optimizing the expression
      of its virulence factors. To understand the domain structure/flexibility and the
      folding/unfolding mechanism of the SarA protein family, we have studied a
      recombinant SarA (designated rSarA) using various in vitro probes. Limited
      proteolysis of rSarA and the subsequent analysis of the resulting protein
      fragments suggested it to be a single-domain protein with a long, flexible C
      terminal end. rSarA was unfolded by different mechanisms in the presence of
      different chemical and physical denaturants. While urea-induced unfolding of
      rSarA occurred successively via the formation of a dimeric and a monomeric
      intermediate, GdnCl-induced unfolding of this protein proceeded through the
      production of two dimeric intermediates. The surface hydrophobicity and the
      structures of the intermediates were not identical and also differed
      significantly from those of native rSarA. Of the intermediates, the GdnCl
      generated intermediates not only possessed a molten globule-like structure but
      also exhibited resistance to dissociation during their unfolding. Compared to the
      native rSarA, the intermediate that was originated at lower GdnCl concentration
      carried a compact shape, whereas, other intermediates owned a swelled shape. The
      chemical-induced unfolding, unlike thermal unfolding of rSarA, was completely
      reversible in nature. 

PMID- 25822638
TI  - Guided full-arch immediate-function treatment modality for the edentulous and
      terminal dentition patient.
AB  - This article reviews the rationale, techniques, and advantages of a guided full
      arch immediatefunction implant treatment modality that includes placement of a
      prefabricated, bar-supported, monolithic polymethyl methacrylate acrylic (PMMA)
      prosthesis for edentulous and terminal dentition patients. A case presentation
      depicting the protocol shows it to be an effective and predictable approach to
      providing fullarch immediate fixed teeth, particularly when compared to
      conventional denture conversion techniques.

PMID- 25822639
TI  - Post-traumatic treatment of maxillary incisors by immediate dentoalveolar
      restoration with long-term follow-up.
AB  - Replacing both missing maxillary anterior teeth is particularly challenging,
      especially in compromised sockets. This case report describes the management of
      an 18-year-old female patient, who suffered avulsion of both maxillary central
      incisors at 7 years of age. This multidisciplinary implant technique, called
      Immediate Dentoalveolar Restoration (IDR), included extraction of the injured
      teeth and a single procedure for immediate implant placement and restoration of
      the compromised sockets after root fracture and periapical lesion development
      were detected during orthodontic treatment. Successful esthetic and functional
      outcomes and reestablishment of the alveolar process after bone reconstruction
      were observed during the 3-year follow-up period. The predictable esthetic
      outcomes and soft- and hard-tissue stability that can be achieved following IDR
      are demonstrated.

PMID- 25822640
TI  - Using functional analysis to determine if esthetically driven treatment requires
      comprehensive care for long-term success.
AB  - This article reviews the case of a male patient with esthetic concerns about a
      large diastema between teeth Nos. 8 and 9. Through functional analysis, the
      clinician determined that the patient had a mild temporomandibular disorder, as
      well as a constriction in his anterior envelope of function. These issues will
      affect the prognosis of treatment if only orthodontics is used to close the
      diastema. The clinician determined that implementing a systematic treatment
      planning approach was critical in achieving a successful outcome, which was
      accomplished with a combination of orthodontics, occlusal deprogramming, and
      complex prosthodontics restorations.

PMID- 25822641
TI  - A two-dimensional gauge and protocol for fitting oral appliances used in treating
      sleep breathing disorders.
AB  - The authors tested whether a novel dental gauge that adjusts the mandibular
      position in both anterior-posterior (A-P) and vertical directions would improve
      the airway opening. A pilot study of nine patients with sleep breathing disorder
      used a snoring sound to guide mandibular vertical and protrusion positions with
      an adjustable mandibular positioning gauge (AMPG). Volumetric airway changes were
      confirmed by 2-dimensional (2-D) and 3-dimensional (3-D) measurements taken from
      cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans. Patients experienced a significant
      average improvement in airway volumetric increase of 50%. The authors concluded
      that the AMPG device along with employing a snore sound technique as feedback can
      be used to ensure an improved awake state airway patency and may prove to be a
      means to optimize fit for oral appliances in treating obstructive sleep apnea.

PMID- 25822642
TI  - Safety of a water flosser: a literature review.
AB  - Since their introduction more than 50 years ago, water flossers (also known as
      oral irrigators) have been subject to numerous studies on their safety, efficacy,
      and delivery of antimicrobial agents, particularly in relation to their ability
      to impact clinical parameters such as plaque, bleeding, gingivitis, pocket depth,
      and calculus. Evidence based on such studies and decades of use by the public
      continues to support their safety and efficacy and disproves suggestions of
      possible detrimental effects on the attachment, junctional epithelium, or pocket
      depth.

PMID- 25822643
TI  - Clinicians reaping benefits of new concepts in impressioning.
AB  - While conventional elastomeric impression materials are still being used to
      generate excellent impressions, the future of impression-taking is undoubtedly
      with digital intraoral scanners. Advances in scanning systems are making this
      technology easier to use and more practical for dentists.

PMID- 25822644
TI  - Correction: Towards a quantitative theory of epidermal calcium profile formation
      in unwounded skin.

PMID- 25822646
TI  - Comparison of Psychophysical and Physical Measurements of Real Ear to Coupler
      Differences.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study is to compare real ear to coupler difference
      (RECD) curves based on physical and psychophysical measures. For the physically
      measured RECD, the RECD was measured with real ear and coupler measurements for
      the ear simulator and HA1- and HA2 2-cc couplers. The psychophysically measured
      RECDs were derived from audiogram measures. DESIGN: RECDs were measured in 19
      normally hearing subjects. The coupler measurement was done with the probe
      microphone and the coupler microphone itself. Psychophysically measured RECDs
      were derived for all subjects by measuring the audiogram in sound field and with
      an ER-3A insert phone. RESULTS: Reference data were obtained for the three
      coupler types. It was possible to derive the RECD curve with psychophysical
      methods. There was no overall statistical difference between the physically and
      psychophysically measured RECD curves for the HA2 2-cc coupler and the ear
      simulator. The standard deviation was, however, much higher for the
      psychophysically derived RECD, indicating that physically measured RECDs are more
      precise than psychophysically derived RECDs. CONCLUSIONS: For the physical RECD
      measurements, the coupler microphone should be used for the coupler measurement.
      Physically measured RECDs were validated on group level by the reliable
      derivation of the RECD curve from audiogram measures.

PMID- 25822645
TI  - BILBO1 is a scaffold protein of the flagellar pocket collar in the pathogen
      Trypanosoma brucei.
AB  - The flagellar pocket (FP) of the pathogen Trypanosoma brucei is an important
      single copy structure that is formed by the invagination of the pellicular
      membrane. It is the unique site of endo- and exocytosis and is required for
      parasite pathogenicity. The FP consists of distinct structural sub-domains with
      the least explored being the annulus/horseshoe shaped flagellar pocket collar
      (FPC). To date the only known component of the FPC is the protein BILBO1, a
      cytoskeleton protein that has a N-terminus that contains an ubiquitin-like fold,
      two EF-hand domains, plus a large C-terminal coiled-coil domain. BILBO1 has been
      shown to bind calcium, but in this work we demonstrate that mutating either or
      both calcium-binding domains prevents calcium binding. The expression of deletion
      or mutated forms of BILBO1 in trypanosomes and mammalian cells demonstrate that
      the coiled-coil domain is necessary and sufficient for the formation of BILBO1
      polymers. This is supported by Yeast two-hybrid analysis. Expression of full
      length BILBO1 in mammalian cells induces the formation of linear polymers with
      comma and globular shaped termini, whereas mutation of the canonical calcium
      binding domain resulted in the formation of helical polymers and mutation in both
      EF-hand domains prevented the formation of linear polymers. We also demonstrate
      that in T. brucei the coiled-coil domain is able to target BILBO1 to the FPC and
      to form polymers whilst the EF-hand domains influence polymers shape. This data
      indicates that BILBO1 has intrinsic polymer forming properties and that binding
      calcium can modulate the form of these polymers. We discuss whether these
      properties can influence the formation of the FPC. 

PMID- 25822647
TI  - The Gap Detection Test: Can It Be Used to Diagnose Tinnitus?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Animals with induced tinnitus showed difficulties in detecting silent
      gaps in sounds, suggesting that the tinnitus percept may be filling the gap. The
      main purpose of this study was to evaluate the applicability of this approach to
      detect tinnitus in human patients. The authors first hypothesized that gap
      detection would be impaired in patients with tinnitus, and second, that gap
      detection would be more impaired at frequencies close to the tinnitus frequency
      of the patient. DESIGN: Twenty-two adults with bilateral tinnitus, 20 age-matched
      and hearing loss-matched subjects without tinnitus, and 10 young normal-hearing
      subjects participated in the study. To determine the characteristics of the
      tinnitus, subjects matched an external sound to their perceived tinnitus in pitch
      and loudness. To determine the minimum detectable gap, the gap threshold, an
      adaptive psychoacoustic test was performed three times by each subject. In this
      gap detection test, four different stimuli, with various frequencies and
      bandwidths, were presented at three intensity levels each. RESULTS: Similar to
      previous reports of gap detection, increasing sensation level yielded shorter gap
      thresholds for all stimuli in all groups. Interestingly, the tinnitus group did
      not display elevated gap thresholds in any of the four stimuli. Moreover, visual
      inspection of the data revealed no relation between gap detection performance and
      perceived tinnitus pitch. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that tinnitus in
      humans has no effect on the ability to detect gaps in auditory stimuli. Thus, the
      testing procedure in its present form is not suitable for clinical detection of
      tinnitus in humans.

PMID- 25822648
TI  - Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis With Allogeneic Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem
      Cells: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent joint disease and a common cause
      of joint pain, functional loss, and disability. Conventional treatments
      demonstrate only modest clinical benefits without lesion reversal. Autologous
      mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) treatments have shown feasibility, safety, and
      strong indications for clinical efficacy. We performed a randomized, active
      control trial to assess the feasibility and safety of treating osteoarthritis
      with allogeneic MSCs, and we obtain information regarding the efficacy of this
      treatment. METHODS: We randomized 30 patients with chronic knee pain unresponsive
      to conservative treatments and showing radiological evidence of osteoarthritis
      into 2 groups of 15 patients. The test group was treated with allogeneic bone
      marrow MSCs by intra-articular injection of 40 * 10(6) cells. The control group
      received intra-articular hyaluronic acid (60 mg, single dose). Clinical outcomes
      were followed for 1 year and included evaluations of pain, disability, and
      quality of life. Articular cartilage quality was assessed by quantitative
      magnetic resonance imaging T2 mapping. RESULTS: Feasibility and safety were
      confirmed and indications of clinical efficacy were identified. The MSC-treated
      patients displayed significant improvement in algofunctional indices versus the
      active controls treated with hyaluronic acid. Quantification of cartilage quality
      by T2 relaxation measurements showed a significant decrease in poor cartilage
      areas, with cartilage quality improvements in MSC-treated patients. CONCLUSIONS:
      Allogeneic MSC therapy may be a valid alternative for the treatment of chronic
      knee osteoarthritis that is more logistically convenient than autologous MSC
      treatment. The intervention is simple, does not require surgery, provides pain
      relief, and significantly improves cartilage quality.

PMID- 25822649
TI  - Freeze enrichment protocol based on voltammetric probing of liquid-phase growth
      in frozen aqueous electrolyte solutions.
AB  - Voltammetry of the reversible redox couple, Fe(CN)6(4-)/Fe(CN)6(3-), using a
      microdisc electrode, is employed to probe the dynamic process of the growth of
      the liquid phase (LP) in frozen aqueous NaCl solutions. Critical factors are the
      temperature history of a frozen sample and a freeze-concentration ratio. When the
      temperature is directly set to the working temperature after freezing at -25.0 
      degrees C, CV measurements are often impossible at high concentration ratios.
      Even if measurements are possible, the shapes of the CVs and the currents change
      with time over 3 h. Combined measurements of CV and chronoamperometry clearly
      indicate that the growth of the LP near the working electrode is responsible for
      these phenomena. The development of an LP along the electrode surface leads to a
      change in the shape of the CV due to an increase in the contribution from the
      radial diffusion. When the LP mainly grows orthogonal to the electrode surface,
      the peak-shaped CV representing linear diffusion is maintained over several
      hours. In contrast, when the temperature of a frozen sample increases up to -2.0 
      degrees C for annealing, reproducible cyclic voltammograms (CVs) are always
      measured at temperatures higher than -18  degrees C. This procedure allows us to
      handle frozen solutions as a deterministic system rather than a stochastic one.
      The present results strongly suggest that annealing of frozen samples is critical
      for successful uses of the freeze enrichment of trace solutes. Up to 1000-fold
      enrichments for voltammetric measurements are demonstrated by the proposed
      procedure involving an annealing step. 

PMID- 25822650
TI  - Erratum to "Adipokines at the crossroad between obesity and cardiovascular
      disease" (Thromb Haemost 2015; 113: 553-566).

PMID- 25822651
TI  - PDF-based heterogeneous multiscale filtration model.
AB  - Motivated by modeling of gasoline particulate filters (GPFs), a probability
      density function (PDF) based heterogeneous multiscale filtration (HMF) model is
      developed to calculate filtration efficiency of clean particulate filters. A new
      methodology based on statistical theory and classic filtration theory is
      developed in the HMF model. Based on the analysis of experimental porosimetry
      data, a pore size probability density function is introduced to represent
      heterogeneity and multiscale characteristics of the porous wall. The filtration
      efficiency of a filter can be calculated as the sum of the contributions of
      individual collectors. The resulting HMF model overcomes the limitations of
      classic mean filtration models which rely on tuning of the mean collector size.
      Sensitivity analysis shows that the HMF model recovers the classical mean model
      when the pore size variance is very small. The HMF model is validated by
      fundamental filtration experimental data from different scales of filter samples.
      The model shows a good agreement with experimental data at various operating
      conditions. The effects of the microstructure of filters on filtration efficiency
      as well as the most penetrating particle size are correctly predicted by the
      model. 

PMID- 25822652
TI  - Model-based assessment of erlotinib effect in vitro measured by real-time cell
      analysis.
AB  - Real time cell analysis (RTCA) is an impedance-based technology which tracks
      various living cell characteristics over time, such as their number, morphology
      or adhesion to the extra cellular matrix. However, there is no consensus about
      how RTCA data should be used to quantitatively evaluate pharmacodynamic
      parameters which describe drug efficacy or toxicity. The purpose of this work was
      to determine how RTCA data can be analyzed with mathematical modeling to explore
      and quantify drug effect in vitro. The pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic erlotinib
      concentration profile predicted by the model and its effect on the human
      epidermoid carcinoma cell line A431 in vitro was measured through RTCA output,
      designated as cell index. A population approach was used to estimate model
      parameter values, considering a plate well as the statistical unit. The model
      related the cell index to the number of cells by means of a proportionality
      factor. Cell growth was described by an exponential model. A delay between
      erlotinib pharmacokinetics and cell killing was described by a transit
      compartment model, and the effect potency, by an E max function of erlotinib
      concentration. The modeling analysis performed on RTCA data distinguished drug
      effects in vitro on cell number from other effects likely to modify the
      relationship between cell index and cell number. It also revealed a time
      dependent decrease of erlotinib concentration over time, described by a mono
      exponential pharmacokinetic model with nonspecific binding. 

PMID- 25822653
TI  - The effectiveness of the problem-based learning teaching model for use in
      introductory Chinese undergraduate medical courses: a systematic review and meta
      analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although the problem-based learning (PBL) emerged in 1969 and was
      soon widely applied internationally, the rapid development in China only occurred
      in the last 10 years. This study aims to compare the effect of PBL and lecture
      based learning (LBL) on student course examination results for introductory
      Chinese undergraduate medical courses. METHODS: Randomized and nonrandomized
      controlled trial studies on PBL use in Chinese undergraduate medical education
      were retrieved through PubMed, the Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Chinese
      National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and VIP China Science and Technology
      Journal Database (VIP-CSTJ) with publication dates from 1st January 1966 till 31
      August 2014. The pass rate, excellence rate and examination scores of course
      examination were collected. Methodological quality was evaluated based on the
      modified Jadad scale. The I-square statistic and Chi-square test of heterogeneity
      were used to assess the statistical heterogeneity. Overall RRs or SMDs with their
      95% CIs were calculated in meta-analysis. Meta-regression and subgroup meta
      analyses were also performed based on comparators and other confounding factors.
      Funnel plots and Egger's tests were performed to assess degrees of publication
      bias. RESULTS: The meta-analysis included 31studies and 4,699 subjects. Fourteen
      studies were of high quality with modified Jadad scores of 4 to 6, and 17 studies
      were of low quality with scores of 1 to 3. Relative to the LBL model, the PBL
      model yielded higher course examination pass rates [RR = 1.09, 95%CI (1.03,
      1.17)], excellence rates [RR = 1.66, 95%CI (1.33, 2.06)] and examination scores
      [SMD = 0.82, 95%CI (0.63, 1.01)]. The meta-regression results show that course
      type was the significant confounding factor that caused heterogeneity in the
      examination-score meta-analysis (t = 0.410, P<0.001). The examination score SMD
      in "laboratory course" subgroup [SMD = 2.01, 95% CI: (1.50, 2.52)] was higher
      than that in "theory course" subgroup [SMD = 0.72, 95% CI: (0.56, 0.89)].
      CONCLUSIONS: PBL teaching model application in introductory undergraduate medical
      courses can increase course examination excellence rates and scores in Chinese
      medical education system. It is more effective when applied to laboratory courses
      than to theory-based courses.

PMID- 25822654
TI  - The Relationship of Educational Attainment with Pulmonary Emphysema and Airway
      Wall Thickness.
AB  - RATIONALE: Low educational attainment is a risk factor of chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease (COPD). There is limited knowledge on the relationship between
      educational level and computed tomography measures of emphysema and airway wall
      thickness (AWT). OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized that low educational attainment is
      associated with increased emphysema and AWT in ever-smokers with and without
      COPD. METHODS: We included 462 and 485 ever-smokers with and without COPD in a
      cross-sectional study, aged 40-86 years. The sample was divided into groups
      reflecting educational attainment: primary, secondary, and university. We
      performed linear regression to examine associations between educational
      attainment and both emphysema and AWT separately for those with and without COPD.
      We adjusted for sex, age, smoking status, age of onset of smoking, pack-years,
      height, and body mass index. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Compared with
      university education, in subjects with COPD, primary education was associated
      with a 68.1% (95% confidence interval = 14.2-147.6%; P = 0.01) relative increase
      in emphysema and secondary education was associated with a 50.6% (95% confidence
      interval = 5.7-114.6%; P = 0.02) relative increase. There was a nonsignificant
      trend toward an association between lower educational attainment and increased
      emphysema among those without COPD (P = 0.18), yet greater age appeared to modify
      this association (P = 0.01). We did not detect significant linear relationships
      between educational attainment and AWT in subjects with or without COPD.
      CONCLUSIONS: Lower educational attainment was associated with increased emphysema
      among adults with COPD. Among those without COPD, this association was more
      pronounced with increasing age. No significant linear relationship between
      educational attainment and AWT was found. Clinicians treating adults with
      emphysema should keep in mind that factors related to low education beyond that
      of smoking and occupational dust exposure might be of importance to the disease.

PMID- 25822655
TI  - Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy with (90)Y/ (177)Lu-labelled peptides for
      inoperable head and neck paragangliomas (glomus tumours).
AB  - PURPOSE: Head and neck paragangliomas (HNPGLs) are rare tumours arising from
      autonomic nervous system ganglia. Although surgery offers the best chance of
      complete cure, there is associated morbidity due to the crucial location of these
      tumours. Radiotherapy arrests tumour growth and provides symptomatic improvement,
      but has long-term consequences. These tumours express somatostatin receptors
      (SSTR) and hence peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) is now a treatment
      option. We assessed the molecular, morphological and clinical responses of
      inoperable HNPGLs to PRRT. METHODS: Nine patients with inoperable HNPGL assessed
      between June 2006 and June 2014 were included. Four patients had a solitary
      lesion, four had multifocal involvement and one had distant metastases (bone and
      lungs). The patients were treated with PRRT using (90)Y/(177)Lu-labelled peptides
      after positive confirmation of SSTR expression on (68)Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT. All
      patients received two to four courses of PRRT. Subsequent serial imaging with
      (68)Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT was carried out every 6 months to assess response to
      treatment. Clinical (symptomatic) response was also assessed. RESULTS: Based on
      molecular response (EORTC) criteria, four of the nine patients showed a partial
      molecular response to treatment seen as significant decreases in SUVmax,
      accompanied by a reduction in tumour size. Five patients showed stable disease on
      both molecular and morphological criteria. Six out of nine patients were
      symptomatic at presentation with manifestations of cranial nerve involvement,
      bone destruction at the primary site and metastatic bone pain. Molecular
      responses were correlated with symptomatic improvement in four out of these six
      patients; while two patients showed small reductions in tumour size and SUVmax.
      The three asymptomatic patients showed no new lesions or symptomatic worsening.
      CONCLUSION: PRRT was effective in all patients, with no disease worsening seen,
      either in the form of neurological symptoms or distant spread. Though these are
      preliminary results, PRRT shows promise as a good treatment option for HNPGL, and
      hence study in a larger patient cohort is essential to establish its place in the
      management algorithm.

PMID- 25822656
TI  - Delivering medical abortion at scale: a study of the retail market for medical
      abortion in Madhya Pradesh, India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Medical abortion (mifepristone and misoprostol) has the potential to
      contribute to reduced maternal mortality but little is known about the provision
      or quality of advice for medical abortion through the private retail sector. We
      examined the availability of medical abortion and the practices of pharmacists in
      India, where abortion has been legal since 1972. METHODS: We interviewed 591
      pharmacists in 60 local markets in city, town and rural areas of Madhya Pradesh.
      One month later, we returned to 359 pharmacists with undercover patients who
      presented themselves unannounced as genuine customers seeking a medical abortion.
      RESULTS: Medical abortion was offered to undercover patients by 256 (71.3%)
      pharmacists and 24 different brands were identified. Two thirds (68.5%) of
      pharmacists stated that abortion was illegal in India. Only 106 (38.5%)
      pharmacists asked clients the timing of the last menstrual period and 38 (13.8%)
      requested to see a doctor's prescription - a legal requirement in India. Only 59
      (21.5%) pharmacists correctly advised patients on the gestational limit for
      medical abortion, 97 (35.3%) provided correct information on how many and when to
      take the tablets in a combination pack, and 78 (28.4%) gave accurate advice on
      where to seek care in case of complications. Advice on post-abortion family
      planning was almost nonexistent. CONCLUSIONS: The retail market for medical
      abortion is extensive, but the quality of advice given to patients is poor.
      Although the contribution of medical abortion to women's health in India is
      poorly understood, there is an urgent need to improve the practices of
      pharmacists selling medical abortion.

PMID- 25822657
TI  - Intra-aortic Balloon Pump Therapy for Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Meta
      analysis.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) therapy is a widely used
      intervention for acute myocardial infarction with cardiogenic shock. Guidelines,
      which previously strongly recommended it, have recently undergone substantial
      change. OBJECTIVE: To assess IABP efficacy in acute myocardial infarction. DATA
      SOURCES: Human studies found in Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane libraries through
      December 2014 and in reference lists of selected articles. Search strings were
      "myocardial infarction" or "acute coronary syndrome" and "intra-aortic balloon
      pump" or "counterpulsation." STUDY SELECTION: Randomized clinical trials (RCTs)
      and observational studies comparing use of IABP with no IABP in patients with
      acute myocardial infarction. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Two reviewers
      independently extracted the data, and risk of bias in RCTs was assessed using the
      Cochrane risk of bias tool. We conducted separate meta-analyses of the RCTs and
      observational studies. Data were quantitatively synthesized using random-effects
      meta-analysis. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Thirty-day mortality. RESULTS: There
      were 12 eligible RCTs randomizing 2123 patients. In the RCTs, IABP use had no
      statistically significant effect on mortality (odds ratio [OR], 0.96 [95% CI,
      0.74-1.24]), with no significant heterogeneity among trials (I2 = 0%; P = .52).
      This result was consistent when studies were stratified by the presence (OR, 0.94
      [95% CI, 0.69-1.28]; P = .69, I2 = 0%) or absence (OR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.57-1.69];
      P = .95, I2 = 17%) of cardiogenic shock. There were 15 eligible observational
      studies totaling 15 530 patients. Their results were mutually conflicting
      (heterogeneity I2 = 97%; P < .001), causing wide uncertainty in the summary
      estimate for the association with mortality (OR, 0.96 [95% CI, 0.54-1.70]). A
      simple index of baseline risk marker imbalance in the observational studies
      appeared to explain much of the heterogeneity in the observational data (R2meta =
      46.2%; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Use of IABP was not found to improve
      mortality among patients with acute myocardial infarction in the RCTs, regardless
      of whether patients had cardiogenic shock. The observational studies showed a
      variety of mutually contradictory associations between IABP therapy and
      mortality, much of which was explained by the differences between studies in the
      balance of risk factors between IABP and non-IABP groups.

PMID- 25822658
TI  - Long-distance interdisciplinarity leads to higher scientific impact.
AB  - Scholarly collaborations across disparate scientific disciplines are challenging.
      Collaborators are likely to have their offices in another building, attend
      different conferences, and publish in other venues; they might speak a different
      scientific language and value an alien scientific culture. This paper presents a
      detailed analysis of success and failure of interdisciplinary papers--as
      manifested in the citations they receive. For 9.2 million interdisciplinary
      research papers published between 2000 and 2012 we show that the majority (69.9%)
      of co-cited interdisciplinary pairs are "win-win" relationships, i.e., papers
      that cite them have higher citation impact and there are as few as 3.3% "lose
      lose" relationships. Papers citing references from subdisciplines positioned far
      apart (in the conceptual space of the UCSD map of science) attract the highest
      relative citation counts. The findings support the assumption that
      interdisciplinary research is more successful and leads to results greater than
      the sum of its disciplinary parts.

PMID- 25822659
TI  - Imaging unruptured giant aneurysm of right sinus of Valsalva by 320-row dynamic
      volume computed tomography (CT): a case report.
AB  - Multi-detector computed tomography with ECG-synchronized data acquisition allows
      detailed analysis of cardiac anatomy of the heart with excellent spatial
      resolution. Sinus of Valsalva aneurysms occurs rarely in the western world, but
      the incidence in Asian populations is higher (Goldberg and Krasnow in Clin
      Cardiol 13:831-836, 1990). We present the case of a patient with an unruptured
      giant aneurysm of right sinus of Valsalva. 

PMID- 25822660
TI  - Ocular Myasthenia Gravis Associated With Thymic Amyloidosis.
AB  - A 45-year-old woman with ptosis and diplopia was found to have myasthenia gravis
      (MG) associated with amyloidosis of the thymus gland. Systemic MG is frequently
      associated with thymomas or thymic hyperplasia but has only once previously been
      reported in association with amyloidosis of the thymus. This case demonstrates
      that isolated ocular MG rarely may also be associated with amyloidosis of the
      thymus. 

PMID- 25822661
TI  - Keratin dynamics: modeling the interplay between turnover and transport.
AB  - Keratin are among the most abundant proteins in epithelial cells. Functions of
      the keratin network in cells are shaped by their dynamical organization. Using a
      collection of experimentally-driven mathematical models, different hypotheses for
      the turnover and transport of the keratin material in epithelial cells are
      tested. The interplay between turnover and transport and their effects on the
      keratin organization in cells are hence investigated by combining mathematical
      modeling and experimental data. Amongst the collection of mathematical models
      considered, a best model strongly supported by experimental data is identified.
      Fundamental to this approach is the fact that optimal parameter values associated
      with the best fit for each model are established. The best candidate among the
      best fits is characterized by the disassembly of the assembled keratin material
      in the perinuclear region and an active transport of the assembled keratin. Our
      study shows that an active transport of the assembled keratin is required to
      explain the experimentally observed keratin organization. 

PMID- 25822662
TI  - Mechanism and kinetics of low-temperature oxidation of a biodiesel surrogate:
      methyl propanoate radicals with oxygen molecule.
AB  - This paper presents a computational study on the low-temperature mechanism and
      kinetics of the reaction between molecular oxygen and alkyl radicals of methyl
      propanoate (MP), which plays an important role in low-temperature oxidation
      and/or autoignition processes of the title fuel. Their multiple reaction pathways
      either accelerate the oxidation process via chain branching or inhibit it by
      forming relatively stable products. The potential energy surfaces of the
      reactions between three primary MP radicals and molecular oxygen, namely,
      C(*)H2CH2COOCH3 + O2, CH3C(*)HCOOCH3 + O2, and CH3CH2COOC(*)H2 + O2, were
      constructed using the accurate composite CBS-QB3 method. Thermodynamic properties
      of all species as well as high-pressure rate constants of all reaction channels
      were derived with explicit corrections for tunneling and hindered internal
      rotations. Our calculation results are in good agreement with a limited number of
      scattered data in the literature. Furthermore, pressure- and temperature
      dependent rate constants for all reaction channels on the multiwell-multichannel
      potential energy surfaces were computed with the quantum Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel
      (QRRK) and the modified strong collision (MSC) theories. This procedure resulted
      in a thermodynamically consistent detailed kinetic submechanism for low
      temperature oxidation governed by the title process. A simplified mechanism,
      which consists of important reactions, is also suggested for low-temperature
      combustion at engine-like conditions. 

PMID- 25822663
TI  - Unsaturation of very-long-chain ceramides protects plant from hypoxia-induced
      damages by modulating ethylene signaling in Arabidopsis.
AB  - Lipid remodeling is crucial for hypoxic tolerance in animals, whilst little is
      known about the hypoxia-induced lipid dynamics in plants. Here we performed a
      mass spectrometry-based analysis to survey the lipid profiles of Arabidopsis
      rosettes under various hypoxic conditions. We observed that hypoxia caused a
      significant increase in total amounts of phosphatidylserine, phosphatidic acid
      and oxidized lipids, but a decrease in phosphatidylcholine (PC) and
      phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). Particularly, significant gains in the
      polyunsaturated species of PC, PE and phosphatidylinositol, and losses in their
      saturated and mono-unsaturated species were evident during hypoxia. Moreover,
      hypoxia led to a remarkable elevation of ceramides and hydroxyceramides.
      Disruption of ceramide synthases LOH1, LOH2 and LOH3 enhanced plant sensitivity
      to dark submergence, but displayed more resistance to submergence under light
      than wild type. Consistently, levels of unsaturated very-long-chain (VLC)
      ceramide species (22:1, 24:1 and 26:1) predominantly declined in the loh1, loh2
      and loh3 mutants under dark submergence. In contrast, significant reduction of
      VLC ceramides in the loh1-1 loh3-1 knockdown double mutant and lacking of VLC
      unsaturated ceramides in the ads2 mutants impaired plant tolerance to both dark
      and light submergences. Evidence that C24:1-ceramide interacted with recombinant
      CTR1 protein and inhibited its kinase activity in vitro, enhanced ER-to-nucleus
      translocation of EIN2-GFP and stabilization of EIN3-GFP in vivo, suggests a role
      of ceramides in modulating CTR1-mediated ethylene signaling. The dark submergence
      sensitive phenotypes of loh mutants were rescued by a ctr1-1 mutation. Thus, our
      findings demonstrate that unsaturation of VLC ceramides is a protective strategy
      for hypoxic tolerance in Arabidopsis. 

PMID- 25822664
TI  - Social inhibitory control in five lemur species.
AB  - We tested five lemur species-ring-tailed lemurs, ruffed lemurs, mongoose lemurs,
      black lemurs, and Coquerel's sifakas-(N = 52) in an experiment that evaluated
      skills for inhibitory control in a social context. First, two human experimenters
      presented identical food rewards; the "generous" experimenter allowed the subject
      to eat from her hand, whereas the "competitive" experimenter always withheld the
      reward. Lemurs quickly learned to approach the generous experimenter and avoid
      the competitive one. In the inhibition test phase, we endowed the competitive
      experimenter with a more valuable food reward but the competitive experimenter
      continued to withhold food from the subject. Thus, lemurs were required to
      inhibit approaching the more desirable reward in favor of the lesser but
      obtainable reward presented by the generous experimenter. In test trials, lemurs'
      tendency to approach the competitive experimenter increased from the reputation
      phase, demonstrating sensitivity to the experimental manipulation. However,
      subjects approached the larger reward less frequently in test trials compared
      with pretest food-preference trials, evidencing some capacity for inhibitory
      control in this context. Despite differences in sociality and ecology, the five
      lemur species did not differ in this ability. Although the study did not uncover
      species differences, this experimental task may provide a useful measure of
      social inhibition in broader comparative studies. 

PMID- 25822665
TI  - Short-term costs and benefits of grooming in Japanese macaques.
AB  - This study investigated the short-term consequences of giving grooming in
      Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in order to obtain information on its
      immediate costs and benefits. Giving grooming was associated with increased
      aggression received from groomees and decreased aggression received from third
      parties (but only as long as the groomer maintained proximity to the groomee).
      Grooming was also associated with decreased scratching rates. These results
      emphasize the unpredictable outcome of individual grooming interactions and the
      difficulties of social decision-making for monkeys living in despotic societies. 

PMID- 25822668
TI  - Assessing the Sporicidal Activity of Oligo-p-phenylene Ethynylenes and Their Role
      as Bacillus Germinants.
AB  - A wide range of oligo-p-phenylene ethynylenes has been shown to exhibit good
      biocidal activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. While
      cell death may occur in the dark, these biocidal compounds are far more effective
      in the light as a result of their ability to sensitize the production of cell
      damaging reactive oxygen species. In these studies, the interactions of a
      specific cationic oligo-p-phenylene ethynylene with spore-forming Bacillus
      atrophaeus and Bacillus anthracis Sterne have been investigated. Flow cytometry
      assays are used to rapidly monitor cell death as well as spore germination. This
      compound effectively killed Bacillus anthracis Sterne vegetative cells (over 4
      log reduction), presumably by severe perturbations of the bacterial cell wall and
      cytoplasmic membrane, while also acting as an effective spore germinant in the
      dark. While 2 log reduction of B. anthracis Sterne spores was observed, it is
      hypothesized that further killing could be achieved through enhanced germination.

PMID- 25822669
TI  - Polymer-Enriched 3D Graphene Foams for Biomedical Applications.
AB  - Graphene foams (GFs) are versatile nanoplatforms for biomedical applications
      because of their excellent physical, chemical, and mechanical properties.
      However, the brittleness and inflexibility of pristine GF (pGF) are some of the
      important factors restricting their widespread application. Here, a chemical
      vapor-deposition-assisted method was used to synthesize 3D GFs, which were
      subsequently spin-coated with polymer to produce polymer-enriched 3D GFs with
      high conductivity and flexibility. Compared to pGF, both poly(vinylidene
      fluoride)-enriched GF (PVDF/GF) and polycaprolactone-enriched GF (PCL/GF)
      scaffolds showed improved flexibility and handleability. Despite the presence of
      the polymers, the polymer-enriched 3D GF scaffolds retained high levels of
      electrical conductivity because of the presence of microcracks that allowed for
      the flow of electrons through the material. In addition, polymer enrichment of GF
      led to an enhancement in the formation of calcium phosphate (Ca-P) compounds when
      the scaffolds were exposed to simulated body fluid. Between the two polymers
      tested, PCL enrichment of GF resulted in a higher in vitro mineralization
      nucleation rate because the oxygen-containing functional group of PCL had a
      higher affinity for Ca-P deposition and formation compared to the polar carbon
      fluorine (C-F) bond in PVDF. Taken together, our current findings are a stepping
      stone toward future applications of polymer-enriched 3D GFs in the treatment of
      bone defects as well as other biomedical applications. 

PMID- 25822667
TI  - Cavin-1 and Caveolin-1 are both required to support cell proliferation, migration
      and anchorage-independent cell growth in rhabdomyosarcoma.
AB  - Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a childhood soft tissue tumor with broad expression of
      markers that are typically found in skeletal muscle. Cavin-1 is a recently
      discovered protein actively cooperating with Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) in the
      morphogenesis of caveolae and whose role in cancer is drawing increasing
      attention. Using a combined in silico and in vitro analysis here we show that
      Cavin-1 is expressed in myogenic RMS tumors as well as in human and primary mouse
      RMS cultures, exhibiting a broad subcellular localization, ranging from nuclei
      and cytosol to plasma membrane. In particular, the coexpression and plasma
      membrane interaction between Cavin-1 and Cav-1 characterized the proliferation of
      human and mouse RMS cell cultures, while a downregulation of their expression
      levels was observed during the myogenic differentiation. Knockdown of Cavin-1 or
      Cav-1 in the human RD and RH30 cells led to impairment of cell proliferation and
      migration. Moreover, loss of Cavin-1 in RD cells impaired the anchorage
      independent cell growth in soft agar. While the loss of Cavin-1 did not affect
      the Cav-1 protein levels in RMS cells, Cav-1 overexpression and knockdown
      triggered a rise or depletion of Cavin-1 protein levels in RD cells,
      respectively, in turn reflecting on increased or decreased cell proliferation,
      migration and anchorage-independent cell growth. Collectively, these data
      indicate that the interaction between Cavin-1 and Cav-1 underlies the cell growth
      and migration in myogenic tumors. 

PMID- 25822670
TI  - Obesity as a Socially Defined Disease: Philosophical Considerations and
      Implications for Policy and Care.
AB  - Obesity has generated significant worries amongst health policy makers and has
      obtained increased attention in health care. Obesity is unanimously defined as a
      disease in the health care and health policy literature. However, there are
      pragmatic and not principled reasons for this. This warrants an analysis of
      obesity according to standard conceptions of disease in the literature of
      philosophy of medicine. According to theories and definitions of disease
      referring to (abnormal functioning of) internal processes, obesity is not a
      disease. Obesity undoubtedly can result in disease, making it a risk factor for
      disease, but not a disease per se. According to several social conceptions of
      disease, however, obesity clearly is a disease. Obesity can conflict with
      aesthetic, moral, or other social norms. Making obesity a "social disease" may
      very well be a wise health policy, assuring and improving population health,
      especially if we address the social determinants of obesity, such as the food
      supply and marketing system. However, applying biomedical solutions to social
      problems may also have severe side effects. It can result in medicalization and
      enhance stigmatization and discrimination of persons based on appearance or
      behavior. Approaching social problems with biomedical means may also serve
      commercial and professionals' interests more than the health and welfare of
      individuals; it may make quick fix medical solutions halt more sustainable
      structural solutions. This urges health insurers, health care professionals, and
      health policy makers to be cautious. Especially if we want to help and respect
      persons that we classify and treat as obese. 

PMID- 25822666
TI  - Hepatitis B virus genotype distribution and genotype-specific BCP/preCore
      substitutions in acute and chronic infections in Argentina.
AB  - AIM: In order to assess Hepatitis B Virus genotype (g) and subgenotype (sg)
      implications in the course of infection, 234 HBsAg positive patients in different
      infection stages were characterized (66 acute infections, 63 HBeAg positive
      chronic infections and 105 anti-HBe positive chronic infections). RESULTS:
      Overall, sgA2 (17.9%), gD (20.9%), sgF1b (34.2%) and sgF4 (19.7%) were the most
      prevalent. Subgenotype F1b was overrepresented in acute and chronic HBeAg
      infections (56.1%), whereas gD was the most frequent (40.0%) in anti-HBe positive
      chronic infections. Among chronic infections, HBeAg positivity rates were 50.0,
      12.5, 62.8 and 35.3% for sgA2, gD, sgF1b and sgF4, respectively (p <0.05). A bias
      toward BCP/preCore mutations was observed among genotypes. In anti-HBe positive
      chronic infections, sgF1b was more prone to have A1762T/G1764A mutation than
      sgA2, sgF4 and gD (75.0, 40.0, 33.3 and 31.8%, p<0.005), whereas in the pC
      region, gD and sgF4 were more likely to have G1896A than sgA2 and sgF1b (81.0,
      72.7, 0.0 and 31.3%, p <0.001). The unexpected low frequency of the G1896A
      mutation in the sgF1b (despite carrying 1858T) prompted us to perform a further
      analysis in order to identify genotype-specific features that could justify the
      pattern mutations observed. A region encompassing nucleotides 1720 to 1920 showed
      the higher dissimilarity between sgF1b and sgF4. Genotypes and subgenotypes
      carrying the 1727G, 1740C and 1773T polymorphisms were prevented to mutate
      position 1896. DISCUSSION: HBeAg seroconversion is a critical event in the
      natural history of HBV infection. Differences in the HBeAg positivity rate might
      be relevant since different studies have observed that delayed HBeAg
      seroconversion is associated with a more severe clinical course of infection,
      highlighting the critical role that genotypes/subgenotypes might play in the
      progression of HBV infection. Polymorphisms in the regions 1720 to 1920 could be
      involved in the molecular mechanisms underlying seroconversion of each
      genotype/subgenotype.

PMID- 25822671
TI  - Generating Systems Biology Markup Language Models from the Synthetic Biology Open
      Language.
AB  - In the context of synthetic biology, model generation is the automated process of
      constructing biochemical models based on genetic designs. This paper discusses
      the use cases for model generation in genetic design automation (GDA) software
      tools and introduces the foundational concepts of standards and model annotation
      that make this process useful. Finally, this paper presents an implementation of
      model generation in the GDA software tool iBioSim and provides an example of
      generating a Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML) model from a design of a 4
      input AND sensor written in the Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL). 

PMID- 25822673
TI  - Organ Failure and Infection in Necrotizing Pancreatitis: What Are the Predictors
      of Mortality?

PMID- 25822672
TI  - Prospective Validation of a Low Rectal Cancer Magnetic Resonance Imaging Staging
      System and Development of a Local Recurrence Risk Stratification Model: The
      MERCURY II Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to validate a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
      staging classification that preoperatively assessed the relationship between
      tumor and the low rectal cancer surgical resection plane (mrLRP). BACKGROUND: Low
      rectal cancer oncological outcomes remain a global challenge, evidenced by high
      pathological circumferential resection margin (pCRM) rates and unacceptable
      variations in permanent colostomies. METHODS: Between 2008 and 2012, a
      prospective, observational, multicenter study (MERCURY II) recruited 279 patients
      with adenocarcinoma 6 cm or less from the anal verge. MRI assessed the following:
      mrLRP "safe or unsafe," venous invasion (mrEMVI), depth of spread, node status,
      tumor height, and tumor quadrant. MRI-based treatment recommendations were
      compared against final management and pCRM outcomes. RESULTS: Overall pCRM
      involvement was 9.0% [95% confidence interval (CI), 5.9-12.3], significantly
      lower than previously reported rates of 30%. Patients with no adverse MRI
      features and a "safe" mrLRP underwent sphincter-preserving surgery without
      preoperative radiotherapy, resulting in a 1.6% pCRM rate. The pCRM rate increased
      5-fold for an "unsafe" compared with "safe" preoperative mrLRP [odds ratio (OR) =
      5.5; 95% CI, 2.3-13.3)]. Posttreatment MRI reassessment indicated a "safe" ymrLRP
      in 33 of 113 (29.2%), none of whom had ypCRM involvement. In contrast, persistent
      "unsafe" ymrLRP posttherapy resulted in 17.5% ypCRM involvement. Further
      independent MRI assessed risk factors were EMVI (OR = 3.8; 95% CI, 1.5-9.6),
      tumors less than 4.0 cm from the anal verge (OR = 3.4; 95% CI, 1.3-8.8), and
      anterior tumors (OR = 2.8; 95% CI, 1.1-6.8). CONCLUSIONS: The study validated MRI
      low rectal plane assessment, reducing pCRM involvement and avoiding overtreatment
      through selective preoperative therapy and rationalized use of permanent
      colostomy. It also highlights the importance of posttreatment restaging.

PMID- 25822674
TI  - The Value of Isosulfan Blue Dye in Addition to Isotope Scanning in the
      Identification of the Sentinel Lymph Node in Breast Cancer Patients With a
      Positive Lymphoscintigraphy: A Randomized Controlled Trial (ISRCTN98849733).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has become the gold standard for
      axillary staging. Debate remains as to the optimal method of SLN detection.
      OBJECTIVES: Determine whether patients undergoing an SLNB required the addition
      of isosulfan blue dye to radioisotope when an SLN was identified on a
      preoperative lymphoscintigram. METHODS: A prospective randomized controlled trial
      comparing the combination of radioisotope and blue dye versus radioisotope alone
      was performed between March 2010 and September 2012. The trial protocol was
      registered with Current Controlled Trials. Women with clinically and
      radiologically node-negative breast cancer with a positive preoperative
      lymphoscintigram were eligible for inclusion. RESULTS: A total of 667 patients
      were included in the analysis with 342 patients receiving the combination (blue
      dye and radioisotope) and 325 patients receiving radioisotope alone. The groups
      were evenly matched both demographically and pathologically. The mean age was 48
      years (48.3 vs 47.7 years; P = 0.47), the mean tumour size was 24.2 mm (24.3 mm
      vs 24.1 mm; P = 0.7) and there was no statistically significant difference in the
      grade of the tumors between the 2 groups (P = 0.58). There was no difference in
      the identification rate, nor was that in the number of nodes retrieved between
      the 2 groups (P = 0.30). There was no difference in the number of positive lymph
      nodes that were identified between the 2 groups (23.8% vs 22.1%; P = 0.64).
      CONCLUSIONS: This study failed to demonstrate an advantage with the addition of
      isosulfan blue dye to radioisotope in the identification of the SLN in the
      presence of a positive preoperative lymphoscintigram.

PMID- 25822677
TI  - Primary Hyperparathyroidism With Negative Imaging: A Significant Clinical
      Problem.

PMID- 25822675
TI  - Prospective Study of Surgical Decision-making Processes for Contralateral
      Prophylactic Mastectomy in Women With Breast Cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We prospectively examined the psychosocial predictors and the decision
      making process regarding contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) among women
      with sporadic breast cancer. BACKGROUND: Increasing numbers of women with breast
      cancer are seeking CPM. Data are limited about the surgical decision-making
      process and the psychosocial factors that influence interest in CPM. METHODS:
      Women with early-stage unilateral breast cancer (n = 117) were recruited before
      their first surgical visit at MD Anderson and completed questionnaires assessing
      knowledge of and interest in CPM and associated psychosocial factors. After the
      appointment, women and their surgeons completed questions about the extent that
      various surgical options (including CPM) were discussed; also, the women rated
      their perceived likelihood of having CPM and the surgeons rated the
      appropriateness of CPM. RESULTS: Before their first visit, 50% of women were
      moderately to extremely interested in CPM and 12 (10%) of women had CPM at the
      time of their primary breast cancer surgery. Less knowledge about breast cancer
      (P = 0.02) and greater cancer worry (P = 0.03) predicted interest in CPM. Greater
      cancer worry predicted who had CPM (P = 0.02). Interest in CPM before surgical
      visit and the likelihood of having CPM after the visit differed (P <= 0.001).
      Surgeons' rating of the appropriateness of CPM and the patient's reported
      likelihood of having CPM were not significantly different (P = 0.49).
      CONCLUSIONS: Interest in CPM is common among women with sporadic breast cancer.
      The informational and emotional aspects of CPM may affect the decision to have
      CPM and should be addressed when discussing surgical options.

PMID- 25822678
TI  - Oncologic Outcomes of Single-incision Laparoscopic Surgery Compared With
      Conventional Laparoscopy for Colon Cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to document perioperative results and mid
      term oncologic outcomes of single-incision laparoscopic (SIL) colectomy compared
      to conventional laparoscopic (CL) colectomy. BACKGROUND: SIL surgery is an
      advance in minimally invasive operative techniques and is widely accepted for
      various types of surgery. METHODS: We prospectively collected data from 767
      patients who underwent radical colectomy (250 SIL colectomy and 517 CL colectomy)
      between 2010 and 2011 due to primary colon cancer and retrospectively analyzed
      these patients with propensity score matching. RESULTS: Before matching, patients
      with CL surgery had a significantly higher percentage of comorbidities (49.2% vs
      57.8%, P = 0.024). Tumor location significantly differed between 2 groups: SIL
      surgery was performed more frequently in patients with right colon cancer. After
      propensity score matching, each group included 239 patients, and there was no
      difference between the SIL and CL surgery groups. Estimated blood loss was more
      in the patients with SIL colectomy, but the rate itself of intraoperative
      complications was not statistically different (P = 0.662). The median follow-up
      period was 37 months. There were 20 recurrences in the SIL surgery group (8.4%),
      including 3 locoregional recurrences and 18 (7.5%) in the CL surgery group.
      Disease-free survival at 48 months did not differ significantly between the SIL
      and CL surgery groups (89.8% vs 89.9%, P = 0.548). CONCLUSIONS: SIL colectomy for
      colon cancer shows probably higher, but an acceptable complication rate and can
      provide resection and oncologic outcomes equal to those of CL colectomy.

PMID- 25822684
TI  - Rat Reflux Model of Esophageal Cancer and Its Implication in Human Disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The epidemiologic shift in esophageal cancer from squamous cell
      carcinoma to esophageal adenocarcinoma coincided with popularization of proton
      pump inhibitors and has focused attention on gastroesophageal reflux disease as a
      causative factor in this shift. The aim of this study is to review the literature
      on the rat reflux model in an effort to elucidate this phenomenon. METHODS: An
      extensive online literature review (PubMed) was carried out to identify all
      seminal contributions to the study of esophageal adenocarcinoma using the rat
      reflux model. RESULTS: The rat reflux model is a validated reproducible model for
      the development of Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma. Esophageal
      reflux of an admixture of gastric acid and duodenal juice induces Barrett's
      esophagus followed by adenocarcinoma. A high-pH environment created by surgical
      gastrectomy or proton pump inhibitor therapy in combination with a high-fat diet
      seems to potentiate the development of Barrett's esophagus and adenocarcinoma.
      Early surgical intervention to prevent reflux reduces the progression toward
      esophageal adenocarcinoma. Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and nitrate-trapping
      agents reduce the incidence of tumorigenesis. CONCLUSIONS: As in the rat so also
      in humans, reflux of an admixture of gastric acid and duodenal juice in a high-pH
      environment induces the development of Barrett's esophagus followed by esophageal
      adenocarcinoma. This has led to the hypothesis that to prevent Barrett's
      esophagus and subsequent esophageal adenocarcinoma in humans, the reflux of an
      admixture of acid and bile must be controlled before the development of Barrett's
      esophagus by methods other than acid-suppression therapy.

PMID- 25822687
TI  - Validation of the 2012 International Consensus Guidelines Using Computed
      Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Branch Duct and Main Duct Intraductal
      Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms of the Pancreas.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To validate the 2012 guidelines for intraductal papillary mucinous
      neoplasm (IPMN) of the pancreas and to compare diagnostic performances of
      computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for differentiating
      malignant from benign IPMN. BACKGROUND: As IPMN has variable risks of malignancy
      and management of this entity is closely related to its malignant potential, it
      is important to predict risks of IPMN malignancy. METHODS: This retrospective
      study included 158 patients with surgically confirmed IPMN of the pancreas who
      underwent both preoperative CT and MRI. Two radiologists evaluated the "high-risk
      stigmata" and "worrisome features" of the 2012 guidelines for branch duct (BD)
      IPMN and main duct (MD)-IPMN. Univariate and multivariable analyses were used to
      identify significant predictors of malignancy in IPMN. The diagnostic performance
      was compared between CT and MRI. RESULTS: Malignant IPMN was seen in 8 of 60
      patients (13.3%) with BD-IPMN and 44 of 98 patients (44.9%) with MD-IPMN.
      Presence of mural nodule was the most important predictor in BD-IPMN and MD-IPMN
      (odds ratios, 9.2 and 7.6, respectively, P = 0.01 on CT; and odds ratios, 5.7 and
      13.3, respectively, P <= 0.04 on MRI), whereas mural nodule size and
      lymphadenopathy were significant only in MD-IPMN (P < 0.05). The diagnostic
      performance of CT and MRI for significant findings was not statistically
      different in both types of IPMN (P > 0.34). CONCLUSIONS: The presence of mural
      nodule was the most important predictor of malignancy in both types of IPMN.
      Mural nodule size and lymphadenopathy were also significant predictors in MD
      IPMN. Computed tomography and MRI showed similar diagnostic performances for
      differentiating malignant from benign IPMN.

PMID- 25822686
TI  - IGFBP-3 Gene Methylation in Primary Tumor Predicts Recurrence of Stage II
      Colorectal Cancers.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the influence of IGFBP-3 methylation on recurrence in
      patients with stage II colorectal cancer (CRC) from 2 independent cohorts.
      BACKGROUND: The relationship between IGFBP-3 methylation in primary tumors (PTs)
      or lymph nodes (LNs) and risk of recurrence in patients with stage II CRC treated
      with surgery alone is unknown. METHODS: IGFBP-3 methylation of DNA from 115 PTs
      and 1641 LNs in patients with stage II CRC from 2 independent cohorts was
      analyzed. Forty patients developed recurrence, whereas 75 matched patients
      remained recurrence free for more than 2 years after surgery. Cox proportional
      hazard models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) of recurrence, adjusted
      for patient and tumor characteristics. RESULTS: Methylation of IGFBP-3 in PTs was
      identified to be significantly associated with risk of recurrence in the training
      set. The signature was tested in a validation set and classified 40.7% of
      patients as high risk. Five-year recurrence-free survival rates were 76.4% and
      58.3% for low- and high-risk patients, respectively, with an HR of 2.21 (95%
      confidence interval, 1.04-4.68; P = 0.039). In multivariate analysis, the
      signature remained the most significant prognostic factor, with an HR of 2.40
      (95% confidence interval, 1.10-5.25; P = 0.029). A combined analysis of 1641 LNs
      from the 2 sets identified IGFBP-3 methylation in LNs was not associated with
      risk of recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Detection of IGFBP-3 methylation in PTs, but not
      in LNs, provides a powerful tool for the identification of patients with stage II
      CRC at high risk of recurrence.

PMID- 25822689
TI  - Reduced Hospital Mortality With Surgical Ligation of Patent Ductus Arteriosus in
      Premature, Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants: A Propensity Score-matched Outcome
      Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate outcomes after surgical ligation (SL) of patent ductus
      arteriosus (PDA) in premature, extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants.
      BACKGROUND: Optimal management of PDA in this specialized population remains
      undefined. Currently, surgical therapy is largely reserved for infants failing
      medical management. To date, a large-scale, risk-matched population-based study
      has not been performed to evaluate differences in mortality and resource
      utilization. METHODS: Data on identified premature (<37 weeks) and ELBW (<1000 
      g) infants with PDA (International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision,
      Clinical Modification, 747.0) and respiratory distress (769) were obtained from
      Kids' Inpatient Database (2003-2009). RESULTS: Overall, 12,470 cases were
      identified, with 3008 undergoing SL. Propensity score-matched analysis of 1620 SL
      versus 1584 non-SL found reduced mortality (15% vs 26%) and more routine
      disposition (48% vs 41%) for SL (P < 0.001). SL had longer length of stay and
      higher total cost (P < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, SL mortality predictors
      were necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC; surgical odds ratio, 5.95; medical odds
      ratio, 4.42) and sepsis (3.43) (P < 0.006). Length of stay increased with
      bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD; 1.77), whereas total cost increased with
      surgical NEC (1.82) and sepsis (1.26) (P < 0.04). Non-SL mortality predictors
      were NEC (surgical, 76.3; medical, 6.17), sepsis (2.66), and intraventricular
      hemorrhage (1.97) (P < 0.005). Length of stay increased with BPD (2.92) and NEC
      (surgical, 2.04; medical, 1.28) (P < 0.03). Total cost increased with surgical
      NEC (2.06), medical NEC (1.57), sepsis (1.43), and BPD (1.30) (P < 0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: Propensity score-matched analysis demonstrates reduced mortality in
      premature/ELBW infants with SL for PDA. NEC and sepsis are predictors of
      mortality and resource utilization.

PMID- 25822691
TI  - Comprehensive Surgical Coaching Enhances Surgical Skill in the Operating Room: A
      Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to determine whether individualized coaching
      improved surgical technical skill in the operating room to a higher degree than
      current residency training. BACKGROUND: Clinical training in the operating room
      is a valuable opportunity for surgeons to acquire skill and knowledge; however,
      it often remains underutilized. Coaching has been successfully used in various
      industries to enhance performance, but its role in surgery has been
      insufficiently investigated. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial was
      conducted at one surgical training program. Trainees undergoing a minimally
      invasive surgery rotation were randomized to either conventional training (CT) or
      comprehensive surgical coaching (CSC). CT included ward and operating room
      duties, and regular departmental teaching sessions. CSC comprised performance
      analysis, debriefing, feedback, and behavior modeling. Primary outcome measures
      were technical performance as measured on global and procedure-specific rating
      scales, and surgical safety parameters, measured by error count. Operative
      performance was assessed by blinded video analysis of the first and last cases
      recorded by the participants during their rotation. RESULTS: Twenty residents
      were randomized and 18 completed the study. At posttraining the CSC group (n = 9)
      scored significantly higher on a procedure-specific skill scale compared with the
      CT group (n = 9) [median, 3.90 (interquartile range, 3.68-4.30) vs 3.60 (2.98
      3.70), P = 0.017], and made fewer technical errors [10 (7-13) vs 18 (13-21), P =
      0.003]. Significant within-group improvements for all skill metrics were only
      noted in the CSC group. CONCLUSIONS: Comprehensive surgical coaching enhances
      surgical training and results in skill acquisition superior to conventional
      training.

PMID- 25822692
TI  - Memoryless self-reinforcing directionality in endosomal active transport within
      living cells.
AB  - In contrast to Brownian transport, the active motility of microbes, cells,
      animals and even humans often follows another random process known as truncated
      Levy walk. These stochastic motions are characterized by clustered small steps
      and intermittent longer jumps that often extend towards the size of the entire
      system. As there are repeated suggestions, although disagreement, that Levy walks
      have functional advantages over Brownian motion in random searching and transport
      kinetics, their intentional engineering into active materials could be useful.
      Here, we show experimentally in the classic active matter system of intracellular
      trafficking that Brownian-like steps self-organize into truncated Levy walks
      through an apparent time-independent positive feedback such that directional
      persistence increases with the distance travelled persistently. A molecular model
      that allows the maximum output of the active propelling forces to fluctuate
      slowly fits the experiments quantitatively. Our findings offer design principles
      for programming efficient transport in active materials. 

PMID- 25822693
TI  - Biodegradable silicon nanoneedles delivering nucleic acids intracellularly induce
      localized in vivo neovascularization.
AB  - The controlled delivery of nucleic acids to selected tissues remains an
      inefficient process mired by low transfection efficacy, poor scalability because
      of varying efficiency with cell type and location, and questionable safety as a
      result of toxicity issues arising from the typical materials and procedures
      employed. High efficiency and minimal toxicity in vitro has been shown for
      intracellular delivery of nuclei acids by using nanoneedles, yet extending these
      characteristics to in vivo delivery has been difficult, as current interfacing
      strategies rely on complex equipment or active cell internalization through
      prolonged interfacing. Here, we show that a tunable array of biodegradable
      nanoneedles fabricated by metal-assisted chemical etching of silicon can access
      the cytosol to co-deliver DNA and siRNA with an efficiency greater than 90%, and
      that in vivo the nanoneedles transfect the VEGF-165 gene, inducing sustained
      neovascularization and a localized sixfold increase in blood perfusion in a
      target region of the muscle. 

PMID- 25822694
TI  - The impact of intensified training with a high or moderate carbohydrate feeding
      strategy on resting and exercise-induced oxidative stress.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study investigated the impact of intensified training (IT) and
      carbohydrate (CHO) supplementation on resting and exercise-induced oxidative
      stress. METHODS: Male cyclists (n = 13, mean +/- SD: age 25 +/- 6 years;
      [Formula: see text] 72 +/- 5 ml/kg/min) undertook two 9 day periods of endurance
      based IT. In a counter-balanced, crossover and double-blinded study design,
      participants completed IT whilst ingesting high (H-CHO) or moderate (M-CHO) CHO
      beverages before (H-CHO: 24 g vs. M-CHO: 2 g), during (H-CHO: 60 g/h vs. M-CHO:
      20 g/h) and after training sessions (H-CHO: 44 g vs. M-CHO: 10 g). Participants
      completed fasted performance trials without CHO on days 2, 6 and 10. Blood
      samples were taken before and immediately after exercise to assess plasma
      oxidative stress. RESULTS: Resting thiol (-SH) and catalase (CAT) activities
      decreased following 6 days of IT, independent of CHO condition [-SH (MUM oxidised
      NADPH): H-CHO-14.0 +/- 18.8, M-CHO-20.4 +/- 20.3 and CAT (nmol/min/ml): H-CHO
      12.5 +/- 12.5, M-CHO 6.0 +/- 4.5; all p < 0.05]. Resting total antioxidant
      capacity (TAC) was reduced after IT in M-CHO. All exercise bouts elicited
      significant increases in CAT, TAC, protein carbonylation (PC) and lipid
      hydroperoxides (LOOH), independent of CHO condition (p < 0.05). The magnitude of
      increase in PC and LOOH was greater on days 6 and 10 compared to day 2 in both
      conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term IT caused reductions in resting antioxidant
      capacity in trained cyclists. Exercise-induced increases in PC and LOOH were
      exaggerated as a result of IT; however, these responses were independent of
      carbohydrate intake before, during and after the preceding IT sessions.

PMID- 25822695
TI  - Rapid detection of copper chlorophyll in vegetable oils based on surface-enhanced
      Raman spectroscopy.
AB  - The addition of copper chlorophyll and its derivatives (Cu-Chl) to vegetable oils
      to disguise them as more expensive oils, such as virgin olive oils, would not
      only create public confusion, but also disturb the olive oil market. Given that
      existing detection methods of Ch-Chl in oils, such as LC-MS are costly and time
      consuming, it is imperative to develop economical and fast analytical techniques
      to provide information quickly. This paper demonstrates a rapid analytical method
      based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to detect Cu-Chl in vegetable
      oils; the spectroscopic markers of Cu-Chl are presented and a detection limit of
      5 mg kg(-1) is demonstrated. The analysis of a series of commercial vegetable
      oils is undertaken with this method and the results verified by a government
      agency. This study shows that a SERS-based assessment method holds high potential
      for quickly pinpointing the addition of minute amounts of Cu-Chl in vegetable
      oils.

PMID- 25822696
TI  - Ultra-HPLC method for quality and adulterant assessment of steviol glycosides
      sweeteners - Stevia rebaudiana and stevia products.
AB  - Stevia products are advertised as a zero-calorie sweetener. Glucose should not be
      an intrinsic component of this product, but it has been identified from some of
      stevia products in a preliminary study. An UHPLC-UV method was developed for the
      quantitative determination of glucose from stevia products. After stevia products
      reacted with 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (PMP), PMP derivatives were analysed
      and glucose was found in seven out of 35 products in the range 0.3-91.5% (w/w).
      Two products, SPR-12 and SPR-27, showed remarkable amounts of glucose at 61.6%
      and 91.5%, respectively. In addition, an UHPLC-UV-evaporative light-scattering
      detector (ELSD) method was developed for the quantitative determination of
      rebaudioside A, stevioside, rebaudioside D, dulcoside A and steviolbioside from
      Stevia rebaudiana and related products. In a 12 min run, five steviol glycosides
      were baseline-separated. ELSD and ultraviolet (UV) detections showed comparable
      results. The LC methods were validated for linearity, repeatability, accuracy,
      limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ). For steviol
      glycosides, the LODs and LOQs were found to be less than 10 and 30 MUg ml(-1),
      respectively. The RSD for intra- and inter-day analyses was less than 2.5%, and
      the recovery was 90-94%. For PMP derivative of glucose, the LOD and LOQ were 0.01
      and 0.05 MUg ml(-1), respectively. Repeatability (RSD) was less than 2.6%;
      recovery was 98.6-101.7%. The methods are useful for the identification, quality
      assurance, and adulterant assessment of S. rebaudiana and steviol glycosides
      sweeteners (stevia products).

PMID- 25822697
TI  - A quantum dot-based immunoassay for screening of tylosin and tilmicosin in edible
      animal tissues.
AB  - A rapid, indirect competitive fluorescence-linked immunosorbent assay (ic-FLISA)
      based on quantum dots (QDs) as the fluorescent marker was developed for the
      detection of tylosin and tilmicosin in edible animal tissues. The end point
      fluorescent detection system was carried out using QDs conjugated with goat anti
      mouse secondary antibody. The limits of detection (LODs) for the determination of
      tylosin and tilmicosin were 0.02 and 0.04 MUg kg(-1), respectively. This
      detection method was used to analyse spiked samples and the recoveries ranged
      from 83.5% to 98.7% for tylosin and from 81.8% to 98.2% for tilmicosin. In real
      porcine tissue sample analysis, the results of ic-FLISA were similar to those
      obtained from an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ic
      ELISA) to an HPLC method indicating its potential for tylosin and tilmicosin
      screening in edible animal tissues.

PMID- 25822698
TI  - Onward.

PMID- 25822699
TI  - Acute fractures of the pediatric foot and ankle.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Injuries around the foot and ankle are challenging. There is a
      paucity of literature, outside that of specialist orthopedic journals, that
      focuses on this subject in the pediatric population. DATA SOURCES: In this
      review, we outline pediatric foot and ankle fractures in an anatomically oriented
      manner from the current literature. Our aim is to aid the emergency department
      doctor to manage these challenging injuries more effectively in the acute
      setting. RESULTS: These injuries require a detailed history and examination to
      aid the diagnosis. Often, plain radiographs are sufficient, but more complex
      injuries require the use of magnetic resonance imaging. Treatment is dependent on
      the proximity to skeletal maturity and the degree of displacement of fracture.
      Children have a marked ability to remodel after fractures and therefore mainstay
      treatment is immobilization by a cast or splint. Operative fixation, although
      uncommon in this population, may be necessary with adolescents, certain unstable
      injuries or in cases with displaced articular surface. In the setting of severe
      foot trauma, skin compromise and compartment syndrome of the foot must be
      excluded. CONCLUSION: The integrity of the physis, articular surface and soft
      tissues are all equally important in treating these injuries.

PMID- 25822700
TI  - Pathogenesis of childhood idiopathic nephrotic syndrome: a paradigm shift from T
      cells to podocytes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nephrotic syndrome is the most common cause of kidney disease in
      children, but its pathogenesis remains unclear. This article reviews the novel
      aspects of the mechanisms underlying massive proteinuria in minimal-change
      disease, which is the most common form of childhood nephrotic syndrome. DATA
      SOURCES: This article integrates the findings of a PubMed database search for
      English language articles published in the past 40 years (from September 1974 to
      February 2014) using the key words "pathogenesis", "minimal change nephrotic
      syndrome" or "idiopathic nephrotic syndrome". RESULTS: Unknown humoral factors
      associated with T-cell dysfunction have been thought to play an important role in
      the pathogenesis of minimal-change disease. However, recent findings are changing
      this paradigm, i.e., visceral glomerular epithelial cells (podocytes) may be
      involved via expression of molecules such as CD80 and angiopoietin-like 4.
      CONCLUSIONS: Recent evidence suggests that minimal-change disease results from
      interactions between humoral factors and dysfunctional podocytes. In addition to
      immunosuppressant drugs that target lymphocytes, a biological agent such as an
      antibody against the abnormal molecule(s) expressed by podocytes may provide
      novel drug treatment for minimal-change disease.

PMID- 25822702
TI  - Double trisomy 48,XXX,+18 with multiple dysmorphic features.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chromosomal abnormality is a common cause of congenital anomalies,
      psychiatric disorders, and mental retardation. However, the double trisomy
      48,XXX,+18 is a rare chromosome abnormality. METHODS: Case report and literature
      review. RESULTS: A 7-hour-old girl presented to our unit because of poor response
      after birth. She presented with multiple dysmorphic features, including small for
      gestational age infant, flat nasal bridge, widely-spaced eyes, the left thumb
      deformities, flat facial profile, raised sternum, ventricular septal defect, the
      third lateral brain ventricle enlargement, and small liver. This case expands the
      spectrum of malformations reported in association with the double trisomy
      48,XXX,+18. The literature on 16 fetuses or infants with the 48,XXX,+18 were also
      reviewed. CONCLUSION: These data suggested that in patients with clinical
      features similar to trisomy 18, especially with anomalies of the ears and/or
      reproductive malformations, double trisomy (48,XXX,+18) should be considered and
      karyotyping should be performed although it is a rare disease.

PMID- 25822701
TI  - Investigation of the status of interhospital transport of critically ill
      pediatric patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With the unequal distribution of medical resources in developing
      countries, critically ill children need to be transferred to tertiary hospitals
      from primary hospitals with limited resources. Although a large number of
      critically ill children are transferred each day in China, the standard process
      of inter-hospital transport is not formulated. METHODS: We retrospectively
      analyzed the data collected during transport. A total number of 9231 patients
      (<=14 years) who had been transferred to the Hunan Children's Hospital by a
      specialized team from primary hospitals from January 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012
      were included in the study. RESULTS: Nearly half of the critically ill children
      were neonates (48.72%) and two thirds of the children were suffering from
      respiratory, neurological and cardiac diseases. Multivariate adjusted odds ratios
      (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using unconditional
      logistic regression. Mobilization time in non-working hours was longer than the
      working hours (OR=1.186, 95% CI=1.059-1.329). Our study showed that mobilization
      time for neonates was shorter than that for older children (OR=0.801, 95%
      CI=0.692-0.928). The mobilization time of referral cases was shorter in areas
      within a radius of 50 km than in those within a radius of over 250 km (OR=0.427,
      95% CI=0.350-0.521). Referred patients in summer needed a significantly shorter
      mobilization time than in winter (OR=0.705, 95% CI=0.616-0.806). CONCLUSION:
      Standardized processes and guidelines for inter-hospital transport would be
      essential to ensure effective transport of patients and reduce the mobilization
      activation time.

PMID- 25822703
TI  - Aluminum exposure and toxicity in neonates: sources, absorption, and retention.

PMID- 25822704
TI  - Aluminum exposure and toxicity inneonates: sources, absorption, and retention.

PMID- 25822705
TI  - Predictive role of free prostate-specific antigen in a prospective active
      surveillance program (PRIAS).
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the utility of percentage of free serum PSA (%fPSA) as a
      predictor of adverse rebiopsy findings, treatment change and radical
      prostatectomy (RP) findings in a prospective active surveillance (AS) trial.
      METHODS: Patients enrolled in the global PRIAS study with baseline %fPSA
      available were included. Putative baseline predictors (e.g. PSA, %fPSA) of
      adverse rebiopsy findings were explored using logistic regression analysis.
      Association of variables with treatment change and RP findings over time were
      evaluated with Cox regression analysis. Active treatment-free survival was
      assessed with a Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Of 3701 patients recruited to
      PRIAS, 939 had %fPSA measured at study entry. Four hundred and thirty-eight of
      them had %fPSA available after 1 year. Median follow-up was 17.2 months. First
      rebiopsy results were available for 595 patients and of those, 144 (24.2 %) had
      adverse findings. A total of 283 (30.1 %) patients discontinued surveillance, of
      those 181 (64.0 %) due to protocol-based reasons. Although median %fPSA values
      were significantly lower in patients who changed treatment, according to the
      multivariate regression analysis, initial %fPSA value was not predictive for
      treatment change or adverse rebiopsy findings. However, the probability of
      discontinuing AS was significantly lower in patients with "favourable" initial
      %fPSA characteristics and %fPSA during follow-up (initial %fPSA >=15 and positive
      %fPSA velocity) compared to those with "adverse" %fPSA characteristics (initial
      %fPSA <15 and negative %fPSA velocity). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic %fPSA provides no
      additional prognostic value when compared to other predictors already in use in
      AS protocols. However, %fPSA velocity during surveillance may aid in predicting
      the probability for future treatment change.

PMID- 25822706
TI  - Differences in practice patterns between urologists and radiation oncologists in
      the management of localized prostate cancer: a cross-sectional survey.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Through a cross-sectional survey, we tried to assess whether
      practices of urologists and radiation oncologists are uniform when faced with
      similar clinical situations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A self-administered
      questionnaire was mailed to all French urologists and radiation oncologists.
      Respondents were asked about their practices through 11 case scenarios. The
      scenarios cover most of localized prostate cancer situations and were gradually
      organized depending on prostate cancer progression risk and the age of the
      patient. The eight first scenarios address the situation of treatment-naive
      patients, and the last cases were about the management of patients after radical
      prostatectomy. Physicians were asked to choose a treatment modality for each
      case. The responses were first stratified according to the intention to treat:
      either curative-intent treatment or palliative. The curative-treatment modality
      chosen were afterward assessed. The responses to clinical scenarios were compared
      between the two specialties. RESULTS: Concerning the intention to treat, practice
      patterns were overall consistent except in one case. Indeed, a higher rate of
      radiation oncologists prefer curative-intent treatment for intermediate-risk
      prostate cancer in aged patients: 57.4 versus 14.6 % (p < 0.001). Each medical
      specialist prefers the treatment that he himself delivers (p < 0.005). For
      intermediate-risk prostate cancer in 65-year-old patient: 96.5 % of urologists
      chose radical prostatectomy versus 37.7 % of radiation oncologists (p < 0.001).
      Fewer urologists (almost 14 %) compared to radiation oncologists (47.5 %) would
      prescribe adjuvant treatment after radical prostatectomy for T3a R0 prostate
      cancer with post-operative PSA undetectable (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Significant
      differences were found in therapeutic approach between the two main specialties
      that deal with localized prostate cancer.

PMID- 25822707
TI  - Retroperitoneal laparoscopic ureterolithotomy in comparison with ureteroscopic
      lithotripsy in the management of impacted upper ureteral stones larger than 12
      mm.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the results of ureteroscopic lithotripsy (URSL) with
      retroperitoneal laparoscopic ureterolithotomy (RPLU) as two minimally invasive
      techniques in the management of proximal ureteral stones larger than 12 mm.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: From January 2009 to October 2013, patients with impacted
      unilateral upper ureteral stones larger than 12 mm were enrolled including 182
      males and 93 females with a medium age of 40 years (22-72 years). Patients were
      randomized to receive URSL (139 cases) with semirigid ureteroscope or RPLU (136
      cases). RESULTS: Stone size was similar in RPLU and URSL groups (13.8 +/- 1.9 vs
      13.6 +/- 1.4 mm, P = 0.312). Operating time and hospitalizing days in URSL group
      were significantly shorter than those in RPLU group (P < 0.001), whereas stone
      clearance rate was significantly higher in RPLU group (97.1 vs 89.9 %, P =
      0.017). Ureteral strictures happened higher in URSL group (5 patients, 3.6 %)
      than RPLU group (2 patients, 1.5 %) with no statistical significance, while the
      strictures requiring surgical intervention were significantly higher in URSL
      group (4 cases) (2.9 vs 0 %, P = 0.046). CONCLUSION: RPLU could provide better
      stone clearance rate than semirigid URSL for upper ureteral impacted stones
      larger than 12 mm. It may also reduce the chance of surgical intervention for
      postoperative ureteral stricture.

PMID- 25822708
TI  - Mechatronic design and locomotion control of a robotic thunniform swimmer for
      fast cruising.
AB  - This paper presents mechatronic design and locomotion control of a biomimetic
      robotic fish that swims using thunniform kinematics for fast cruising. Propulsion
      of the robotic fish is realized with a parallel four-bar propulsive mechanism
      that delivers combined translational and rotational motion to a lunate caudal
      fin. A central pattern generator controller, composed of two unidirectionally
      coupled Hopf oscillators, is employed to generate robust, smooth and coordinated
      oscillatory control signals for the tail joints. In order to maintain correct
      phase relation between joints during fast tail beating, a novel phase adjusting
      mechanism is proposed and incorporated into the controller. The attitude of the
      robotic fish in fast swimming is stabilized using an attitude and heading
      reference system unit and a pair of pitching pectoral fins. The maximum speed of
      the robotic fish can reach 2.0 m s(-1), which is the fastest speed that robotic
      fishes have achieved. Its outstanding swimming performance presents possibilities
      for deployment to real-world exploration, probe and survey missions. 

PMID- 25822709
TI  - Homocysteine and cognitive disorders of postmenopausal women measured by a
      battery of computer tests--central nervous system vital signs.
AB  - The purpose of the study was the analysis of cognitive functions in
      postmenopausal women having different status of homocysteine levels by a battery
      of computer tests-central nervous system vital signs (CNS-VS). We examined
      whether homocysteine increases the risk of cognitive decline and which cognitive
      domains are more affected. We showed that the considerably better neurocognitive
      index was obtained by women with low homocysteine levels in comparison with those
      with hyperhomocysteinemia (p = 0.0017). Similarly, results were obtained in the
      field of executive functioning (p = 0.0011), complex attention (p = 0.0106),
      cognitive flexibility (p = 0.0016), and memory (p = 0.0145). Verbal memory and
      visual memory did not differ considerably among the studied groups. Also, we
      demonstrated that epsilon4/epsilon4 genotype was the most common (15.5 %) in
      women with hyperhomocysteinemia than in groups of patients with low (0 %) or
      normal (1.9 %) homocysteine levels. In summary, hyperhomocysteinemia was related
      with increased risk of decline in executive functioning, complex attention,
      cognitive flexibility, and memory in postmenopausal women. 

PMID- 25822710
TI  - Different perceptions of stress, coping styles, and general well-being among
      pregnant Chinese women: a structural equation modeling approach.
AB  - Few studies have examined different perceptions of stress or explored the
      positive aspects of well-being among pregnant Chinese women, so there is a need
      to explore these phenomena in order to fill the research gap. The aim of this
      study was to examine the relationships among the different perceptions of stress,
      coping styles, and general well-being using a structural equation modeling
      approach. We examined a hypothetical model among 755 pregnant Chinese women based
      on the integration of theoretical models. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the
      Trait Coping Styles Questionnaire (TCSQ), and the General Well-Being Schedule
      (GWB) were used to measure perceived stress, coping styles, and general well
      being, respectively. A structural equation model showed that positive and
      negative perceptions of stress significantly influenced positive and negative
      coping styles, respectively. Different perceptions of stress were significantly
      associated with general well-being, but different coping styles had no
      significant effects on general well-being. The model had a good fit to the data
      (IFI = 0.910, TLI = 0.904, CFI = 0.910, and RMSEA = 0.038). Different perception
      of stress was able to predict significant differences in coping styles and
      general well-being.

PMID- 25822711
TI  - Novel role of mitochondrial manganese superoxide dismutase in STAT3 dependent
      pluripotency of mouse embryonic stem cells.
AB  - Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF)/Signal transducer and activator of transcription
      3 (STAT3) signaling pathway maintains the stemness and pluripotency of mouse
      embryonic stem cells (mESCs). Detailed knowledge on key intermediates in this
      pathway as well as any parallel pathways is largely missing. We initiated our
      study by investigating the effect of small molecule Curcumin on various
      signalling pathways essential for self-renewal. Curcumin sustained the LIF
      independent self-renewal of mESCs and induced pluripotent stem cells (miPSCs) in
      a STAT3 activity dependent manner. Gene expression analysis showed LIF/STAT3 and
      redox signaling components to be majorly modulated. Amongst ROS genes, expression
      of Manganese Superoxide Dismutase (MnSOD) specifically relied on STAT3 signaling
      as evidenced by STAT3 inhibition and reporter assay. The silencing of MnSOD, but
      not Cu-ZnSOD expression, resulted in the loss of mESC pluripotency in presence of
      LIF, and the overexpression of MnSOD is sufficient for maintaining the expression
      of pluripotent genes in the absence of STAT3 signaling. Finally, we demonstrate
      MnSOD to stabilize the turnover of pluripotent proteins at the post-translational
      level by modulating proteasomal activity. In conclusion, our findings unravel a
      novel role of STAT3 mediated MnSOD in the self-renewal of mESCs. 

PMID- 25822712
TI  - Why Can dl-Sotalol Prolong the QT Interval In Vivo Despite Its Weak Inhibitory
      Effect on hERG K(+) Channels In Vitro? Electrophysiological and Pharmacokinetic
      Analysis with the Halothane-Anesthetized Guinea Pig Model.
AB  - In order to bridge the gap of action of dl-sotalol between the human ether-a-go
      go-related gene (hERG) K(+) channel inhibition in vitro and QT-interval
      prolongation in vivo, its electropharmacological effect and pharmacokinetic
      property were simultaneously studied in comparison with those of 10 drugs having
      potential to prolong the QT interval (positive drugs: bepridil, haloperidol, dl
      sotalol, terfenadine, thioridazine, moxifloxacin, pimozide, sparfloxacin,
      diphenhydramine, imipramine and ketoconazole) and four drugs lacking such
      property (negative drugs: enalapril, phenytoin, propranolol or verapamil) with
      the halothane-anesthetized guinea pig model. A dose of each drug that caused 10 %
      prolongation of Fridericia-corrected QT interval (QTcF) was calculated, which was
      compared with respective known hERG K(+) IC50 value and currently obtained
      heart/plasma concentration ratio. Each positive drug prolonged the QTcF in a dose
      related manner, whereas such effect was not observed by the negative drugs. Drugs
      with more potent hERG K(+) channel inhibition showed higher heart/plasma
      concentration ratio, resulting in more potent QTcF prolongation in vivo. The
      potency of dl-sotalol for QTcF prolongation was flat middle, although its hERG
      K(+) channel inhibitory property as well as heart/plasma concentration ratio was
      the smallest among the positive drugs, which may be partly explained by its lack
      of binding to plasma protein. 

PMID- 25822713
TI  - Lysophosphatidic acid alters the expression profiles of angiogenic factors,
      cytokines, and chemokines in mouse liver sinusoidal endothelial cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a multi-function
      glycerophospholipid. LPA affects the proliferation of hepatocytes and stellate
      cells in vitro, and in a partial hepatectomy induced liver regeneration model,
      the circulating LPA levels and LPA receptor (LPAR) expression levels in liver
      tissue are significantly changed. Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (Lsecs) play
      an important role during liver regeneration. However, the effects of LPA on Lsecs
      are not well known. Thus, we investigated the effects of LPA on the expression
      profiles of angiogenic factors, cytokines, and chemokines in Lsecs. METHODS:
      Mouse Lsecs were isolated using CD31-coated magnetic beads. The mRNA expression
      levels of LPAR's and other target genes were determined by quantitative RT-PCR.
      The protein levels of angiogenesis factors, cytokines, and chemokines were
      determined using protein arrays and enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Critical LPAR
      related signal transduction was verified by using an appropriate chemical
      inhibitor. RESULTS: LPAR1 and LPAR3 mRNA's were expressed in mouse LPA-treated
      Lsecs. Treating Lsecs with a physiological level of LPA significantly enhanced
      the protein levels of angiogenesis related proteins (cyr61 and TIMP-1), cytokines
      (C5/C5a, M-CSF, and SDF-1), and chemokines (MCP-5, gp130, CCL28, and CXCL16). The
      LPAR1 and LPAR3 antagonist ki16425 significantly inhibited the LPA-enhanced
      expression of cyr61, TIMP-1, SDF-1, MCP-5, gp130, CCL28, and CXCL16, but not that
      of C5/C5a or M-CSF. LPA-induced C5/C5a and M-CSF expression may have been through
      an indirect regulation mechanism. CONCLUSION: LPA regulated the expression
      profiles of angiogenic factors, cytokines, and chemokines in Lsecs that was
      mediated via LPAR1 and LPAR3 signaling. Most of the factors that were enhanced by
      LPA have been found to play critical roles during liver regeneration. Thus, these
      results may prove useful for manipulating LPA effects on liver regeneration.

PMID- 25822714
TI  - Pharmacological and Morphological Evidence of AMPK-Mediated Energy Sensing in the
      Lower Brain Stem Ependymocytes to Control Reproduction in Female Rodents.
AB  - Ependymocytes are one of the energy-sensing cells that regulate animal
      reproduction through their responsiveness to changes in extracellular glucose
      levels and the expression of pancreatic-type glucokinase and glucose transporter
      2, which play a critical role in sensing blood glucose levels in pancreatic beta
      cells. Molecular mechanisms underlying glucose sensing in the ependymocytes
      remain poorly understood. The AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a
      serine/threonine kinase highly conserved in all eukaryotic cells, has been
      suggested to be an intracellular fuel gauge that detects cellular energy status.
      The present study aims to clarify the role AMPK of the lower brainstem
      ependymocytes has in sensing glucose levels to regulate reproductive functions.
      First, we will show that administration of 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-beta
      D-ribofuranoside, an AMPK activator, into the 4th ventricle suppressed pulsatile
      LH release in female rats. Second, we will demonstrate the presence of AMPK
      catalytic subunit immunoreactivities in the rat lower brainstem ependymocytes.
      Third, transgenic mice were generated to visualize the ependymocytes with Venus,
      a green fluorescent protein, expressed under the control of the mouse vimentin
      promoter for further in vitro study. The Venus-labeled ependymocytes taken from
      the lower brainstem of transgenic mice revealed that AMPK activation by 5
      aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-beta-D-ribofuranoside, an AMPK activator,
      increased in vitro intracellular calcium concentrations. Taken together,
      malnutrition-induced AMPK activation of ependymocytes of the lower brainstem
      might be involved in suppression of GnRH/LH release and then gonadal activities. 

PMID- 25822715
TI  - The GHKL ATPase MORC1 Modulates Species-Specific Plant Immunity in Solanaceae.
AB  - The microrchidia (MORC) proteins, a subset of the GHKL ATPase superfamily, were
      recently described as components involved in transcriptional gene silencing and
      plant immunity in Arabidopsis. To assess the role of MORC1 during resistance to
      Phytophthora infestans in solanaceous species, we altered the expression of the
      corresponding MORC1 homologs in potato, tomato, and Nicotiana benthamiana. Basal
      resistance to P. infestans was compromised in StMORC1-silenced potato and
      enhanced in overexpressing lines, indicating that StMORC1 positively affects
      immunity. By contrast, silencing SlMORC1 expression in tomato or NbMORC1
      expression in N. benthamiana enhanced basal resistance to this oomycete pathogen.
      In addition, silencing SlMORC1 further enhanced resistance conferred by two
      resistance genes in tomato. Transient expression of StMORC1 in N. benthamiana
      accelerated cell death induced by infestin1 (INF1), whereas SlMORC1 or NbMORC1
      suppressed it. Domain-swapping and mutational analyses indicated that the C
      terminal region dictates the species-specific effects of the solanaceous MORC1
      proteins on INF1-induced cell death. This C-terminal region also was required for
      homodimerization and phosphorylation of recombinant StMORC1 and SlMORC1, and its
      transient expression induced spontaneous cell death in N. benthamiana. Thus, this
      C-terminal region likely plays important roles in both determining and modulating
      the biological activity of MORC1 proteins. 

PMID- 25822716
TI  - Evaluation of health promotion training for the Western Australian Aboriginal
      maternal and child health sector.
AB  - ISSUE ADDRESSED: The evaluation of health promotion training for the Western
      Australian (WA) Aboriginal maternal and child health (MCH) sector. METHODS: Fifty
      one MCH professionals from five regions in WA who attended one of three health
      promotion short courses in 2012-2013 were invited to complete an online survey or
      a telephone interview, between 4 to 17 months post-course. Respondents were asked
      how they had utilised the information and resources from the training and to
      identify the enabling factors or barriers to integrating health promotion into
      their work practices subsequently. RESULTS: Overall response rate was 33% (n=17);
      94% of respondents reported they had utilised the information and resources from
      the course and 76% had undertaken health promotion activities since attending the
      course. Building contacts with other MCH providers and access to planning tools
      were identified as valuable components of the course. Barriers to translating
      knowledge into practice included financial constraints and lack of organisational
      support for health promotion activity. CONCLUSIONS: Health promotion training
      provides participants with the skills and confidence to deliver health promotion
      strategies in their communities. The training presents an opportunity to build
      health professionals' capacity to address some determinants of poor health
      outcomes among pregnant Aboriginal women and their babies. SO WHAT?: Training
      would be enhanced if accompanied by ongoing support for participants to integrate
      health promotion into their work practice, organisational development including
      health promotion training for senior management, establishing stronger referral
      pathways among partner organisations to support continuity of care and embedding
      training into MCH workforce curricula.

PMID- 25822717
TI  - Macrophages support splenic erythropoiesis in 4T1 tumor-bearing mice.
AB  - Anemia is a common complication of cancer; a role of spleen in tumor-stress
      erythropoiesis has been suggested. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in
      the splenic erythropoiesis following tumor maintenance remain poorly understood.
      Here we show that tumor development blocks medullar erythropoiesis by granulocyte
      colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and then causes anemia in murine 4T1 breast
      tumor-bearing mice. Meanwhile, tumor-stress promotes splenic erythropoiesis.
      Splenectomy worsened tumor-induced anemia, and reduced tumor volume and tumor
      weight, indicating the essential role of spleen in tumor-stress erythropoiesis
      and tumor growth. Tumor progression of these mice led to increased amounts of
      bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) in spleen. The in vivo role of macrophages in
      splenic erythropoiesis under tumor-stress conditions was investigated. Macrophage
      depletion by injecting liposomal clodronate decreased the expression of BMP4,
      inhibited splenic erythropoiesis, aggravated the tumor-induced anemia and
      suppressed tumor growth. Our results provide insight that macrophages and BMP4
      are positive regulators of splenic erythropoiesis in tumor pathological
      situations. These findings reveal that during the tumor-stress period, the
      microenvironment of the spleen is undergoing changes, which contributes to adopt
      a stress erythropoietic fate and supports the expansion and differentiation of
      stress erythroid progenitors, thereby replenishing red blood cells and promoting
      tumor growth. 

PMID- 25822718
TI  - Lesion of the olfactory epithelium accelerates prion neuroinvasion and disease
      onset when prion replication is restricted to neurons.
AB  - Natural prion diseases of ruminants are moderately contagious and while the
      gastrointestinal tract is the primary site of prion agent entry, other mucosae
      may be entry sites in a subset of infections. In the current study we examined
      prion neuroinvasion and disease induction following disruption of the olfactory
      epithelium in the nasal mucosa since this site contains environmentally exposed
      olfactory sensory neurons that project directly into the central nervous system.
      Here we provide evidence for accelerated prion neuroinvasion and clinical onset
      from the olfactory mucosa after disruption and regeneration of the olfactory
      epithelium and when prion replication is restricted to neurons. In transgenic
      mice with neuron restricted replication of prions, there was a reduction in
      survival when the olfactory epithelium was disrupted prior to intranasal
      inoculation and there was >25% decrease in the prion incubation period. In a
      second model, the neurotropic DY strain of transmissible mink encephalopathy was
      not pathogenic in hamsters by the nasal route, but 50% of animals exhibited brain
      infection and/or disease when the olfactory epithelium was disrupted prior to
      intranasal inoculation. A time course analysis of prion deposition in the brain
      following loss of the olfactory epithelium in models of neuron-restricted prion
      replication suggests that neuroinvasion from the olfactory mucosa is via the
      olfactory nerve or brain stem associated cranial nerves. We propose that
      induction of neurogenesis after damage to the olfactory epithelium can lead to
      prion infection of immature olfactory sensory neurons and accelerate prion spread
      to the brain. 

PMID- 25822719
TI  - Evaluation of two influenza surveillance systems in South Africa.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The World Health Organisation recommends outpatient influenza-like
      illness (ILI) and inpatient severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) surveillance.
      We evaluated two influenza surveillance systems in South Africa: one for ILI and
      another for SARI. METHODOLOGY: The Viral Watch (VW) programme has collected
      virological influenza surveillance data voluntarily from patients with ILI since
      1984 in private and public clinics in all 9 South African provinces. The SARI
      surveillance programme has collected epidemiological and virological influenza
      surveillance data since 2009 in public hospitals in 4 provinces by dedicated
      personnel. We compared nine surveillance system attributes from 2009-2012.
      RESULTS: We analysed data from 18,293 SARI patients and 9,104 ILI patients. The
      annual proportion of samples testing positive for influenza was higher for VW
      (mean 41%) than SARI (mean 8%) and generally exceeded the seasonal threshold from
      May to September (VW: weeks 21-40; SARI: weeks 23-39). Data quality was a major
      strength of SARI (most data completion measures >90%; adherence to definitions:
      88-89%) and a relative weakness of the VW programme (62% of forms complete, with
      limited epidemiologic data collected; adherence to definitions: 65-82%).
      Timeliness was a relative strength of both systems (e.g. both collected >93% of
      all respiratory specimens within 7 days of symptom onset). ILI surveillance was
      more nationally representative, financially sustainable and expandable than the
      SARI system. Though the SARI programme is not nationally representative, the high
      quality and detail of SARI data collection sheds light on the local burden and
      epidemiology of severe influenza-associated disease. CONCLUSIONS: To best monitor
      influenza in South Africa, we propose that both ILI and SARI should be under
      surveillance. Improving ILI surveillance will require better quality and more
      systematic data collection, and SARI surveillance should be expanded to be more
      nationally representative, even if this requires scaling back on information
      gathered.

PMID- 25822721
TI  - Molecular and quantitative genetic differentiation in Sitobion avenae populations
      from both sides of the Qinling Mountains.
AB  - Quantitative trait differences are often assumed to be correlated with molecular
      variation, but the relationship is not certain, and empirical evidence is still
      scarce. To address this issue, we sampled six populations of the cereal aphid
      Sitobion avenae from areas north and south of the Qinling Mountains, and
      characterized their molecular variation at seven microsatellite loci and
      quantitative variation at nine life-history traits. Our results demonstrated that
      southern populations had slightly longer developmental times of nymphs but much
      higher lifetime fecundity, compared to northern populations. Of the nine tested
      quantitative characters, eight differed significantly among populations within
      regions, as well as between northern and southern regions. Genetic
      differentiation in neutral markers was likely to have been caused by founder
      events and drift. Increased subdivision for quantitative characters was found in
      northern populations, but reduced in southern populations. This phenomenon was
      not found for molecular characters, suggesting the decoupling between molecular
      and quantitative variation. The pattern of relationships between FST and QST
      indicated divergent selection and suggested that local adaptation play a role in
      the differentiation of life-history traits in tested S. avenae populations,
      particularly in those traits closely related to reproduction. The main role of
      natural selection over genetic drift was also supported by strong structural
      differences in G-matrices among S. avenae populations. However, cluster analyses
      did not result in two groups corresponding to northern and southern regions.
      Genetic differentiation between northern and southern populations in neutral
      markers was low, indicating considerable gene flow between them. The relationship
      between molecular and quantitative variation, as well as its implications for
      differentiation and evolution of S. avenae populations, was discussed. 

PMID- 25822720
TI  - Short-term heart rate variability--influence of gender and age in healthy
      subjects.
AB  - In the recent years, short-term heart rate variability (HRV) describing complex
      variations of beat-to-beat interval series that are mainly controlled by the
      autonomic nervous system (ANS) has been increasingly analyzed to assess the ANS
      activity in different diseases and under various conditions. In contrast to long
      term HRV analysis, short-term investigations (<30 min) provide a test result
      almost immediately. Thus, short-term HRV analysis is suitable for ambulatory
      care, patient monitoring and all those applications where the result is urgently
      needed. In a previous study, we could show significant variations of 5-min HRV
      indices according to age in almost all domains (linear and nonlinear) in 1906
      healthy subjects from the KORA S4 cohort. Based on the same group of subjects,
      general gender-related influences on HRV indices are to be determined in this
      study. Short-term 5-min HRV indices from linear time and frequency domain and
      from nonlinear methods (compression entropy, detrended fluctuation analysis,
      traditional and segmented Poincare plot analysis, irreversibility analysis,
      symbolic dynamics, correlation and mutual information analysis) were determined
      from 782 females and 1124 males. First, we examined the gender differences in two
      age clusters (25-49 years and 50-74 years). Secondly, we investigated the gender
      specific development of HRV indices in five age decade categories, namely for
      ages 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 and 65-74 years. In this study, significant
      modifications of the indices according to gender could be obtained, especially in
      the frequency domain and correlation analyses. Furthermore, there were
      significant modifications according to age in nearly all of the domains. The
      gender differences disappeared within the last two age decades and the age
      dependencies disappeared in the last decade. To summarize gender and age
      influences need to be considered when performing HRV studies even if these
      influences only partly differ. 

PMID- 25822722
TI  - Transcriptome analysis of resistant and susceptible alfalfa cultivars infected
      with root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita.
AB  - Nematodes are one of the major limiting factors in alfalfa production. Root-knot
      nematodes (RKN, Meloidogyne spp.) are widely distributed and economically
      important sedentary endoparasites of agricultural crops and they may inflict
      significant damage to alfalfa fields. As of today, no studies have been published
      on global gene expression profiling in alfalfa infected with RKN or any other
      plant parasitic nematode. Very little information is available about molecular
      mechanisms that contribute to pathogenesis and defense responses in alfalfa
      against these pests and specifically against RKN. In this work, we performed root
      transcriptome analysis of resistant (cv. Moapa 69) and susceptible (cv. Lahontan)
      alfalfa cultivars infected with RKN Meloidogyne incognita, widespread root-knot
      nematode species and a major pest worldwide. A total of 1,701,622,580 pair-end
      reads were generated on an Illumina Hi-Seq 2000 platform from the roots of both
      cultivars and assembled into 45,595 and 47,590 transcripts in cvs Moapa 69 and
      Lahontan, respectively. Bioinformatic analysis revealed a number of common and
      unique genes that were differentially expressed in susceptible and resistant
      lines as a result of nematode infection. Although the susceptible cultivar showed
      a more pronounced defense response to the infection, feeding sites were
      successfully established in its roots. Characteristically, basal gene expression
      levels under normal conditions differed between the two cultivars as well, which
      may confer advantage to one of the genotypes toward resistance to nematodes.
      Differentially expressed genes were subsequently assigned to known Gene Ontology
      categories to predict their functional roles and associated biological processes.
      Real-time PCR validated expression changes in genes arbitrarily selected for
      experimental confirmation. Candidate genes that contribute to protection against
      M. incognita in alfalfa were proposed and alfalfa-nematode interactions with
      respect to resistance are discussed.

PMID- 25822723
TI  - Generating Inner Ear Organoids from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells.
AB  - This protocol describes a three-dimensional culture method for generating inner
      ear sensory epithelia, which comprises sensory hair cells and a concurrently
      arising neuronal population. Mouse embryonic stem cells are initially plated in
      96-well plates with differentiation media; following aggregation, Matrigel is
      added in order to promote epithelialization. A series of small molecule
      applications is then used over the first 14 days of culture to guide
      differentiation towards an otic lineage. After 16-20 days, vesicles containing
      inner ear sensory hair cells and supporting cells arise from the cultured
      aggregates. Aggregates may be analyzed using immunohistochemistry and
      electrophysiology techniques. This system serves as a simple and relatively
      inexpensive in vitro model of inner ear development. 

PMID- 25822724
TI  - Definitive Endoderm Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells Combined with
      Selective Elimination of Undifferentiated Cells by Methionine Deprivation.
AB  - Human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) show a characteristic feature in that they are
      highly dependent on methionine metabolism. Undifferentiated human ESCs cannot
      survive under the condition that methionine is deprived from culture medium. We
      describe here a procedure for definitive endoderm differentiation from human
      ESCs, in which human ESCs are subject to 10 days (d) differentiation combined
      with methionine deprivation between differentiation day (d) 8 to d10. Methionine
      deprivation results in elimination of undifferentiated cells from the culture
      with no significant loss of definitive endoderm cells, as compared to those
      cultured under complete condition throughout the whole culture period. 

PMID- 25822725
TI  - Delivering Antisense Morpholino Oligonucleotides to Target Telomerase Splice
      Variants in Human Embryonic Stem Cells.
AB  - Morpholino oligonucleotides (MO) are an innovative tool that provides a means for
      examining and modifying gene expression outcomes by antisense interaction with
      targeted RNA transcripts. The site-specific nature of their binding facilitates
      focused modulation to alter splice variant expression patterns. Here we describe
      the steric-blocking of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) Deltaalpha
      and Deltabeta splice variants using MO to examine cellular outcomes related to
      pluripotency and differentiation in human embryonic stem cells. 

PMID- 25822727
TI  - No-needle, single-visit adult male circumcision with Unicirc: a multi-centre
      field trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is a priority HIV
      preventive intervention. Current adult circumcision methods need improvement.
      METHODS: Field trial in 3 primary care centres. Minimally invasive VMMC using the
      Unicirc instrument following topical lidocaine/prilocaine anesthetic. Men were
      followed up at 1 and 4 weeks. RESULTS: We circumcised 110 healthy volunteers. Two
      men complained of transient burning pain during circumcision, but none required
      injectable anaesthesia. Median blood loss was 1ml and median procedure time was
      9.0 min. There were 7 (6.3%) moderate complications (5 (4.5%) post-operative
      bleeds requiring suture and 2 (1.8%) post-operative infections) affecting 7 men.
      No men experienced significant wound dehiscence. 90.4% of men were fully healed
      at 4 weeks of follow-up and all were highly satisfied. CONCLUSIONS: Use of
      topical anaesthesia obviates the need for injectable anesthetic and makes the
      Unicirc procedure nearly painless. Unicirc is rapid, easy to learn, heals by
      primary intention with excellent cosmetic results, obviates the need for a return
      visit for device removal, and is potentially cheaper and safer than other
      methods. Use of this method will greatly facilitate scale-up of mass circumcision
      programs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02091726.

PMID- 25822726
TI  - Biosorption of Cr(VI) by Ceratocystis paradoxa MSR2 using isotherm modelling,
      kinetic study and optimization of batch parameters using response surface
      methodology.
AB  - This study is focused on the possible use of Ceratocystis paradoxa MSR2 native
      biomass for Cr(VI) biosorption. The influence of experimental parameters such as
      initial pH, temperature, biomass dosage, initial Cr(VI) concentration and contact
      time were optimized using batch systems as well as response surface methodology
      (RSM). Maximum Cr(VI) removal of 68.72% was achieved, at an optimal condition of
      biomass dosage 2 g L(-1), initial Cr(VI) concentration of 62.5 mg L(-1) and
      contact time of 60 min. The closeness of the experimental and the predicted
      values exhibit the success of RSM. The biosorption mechanism of MSR2 biosorbent
      was well described by Langmuir isotherm and a pseudo second order kinetic model,
      with a high regression coefficient. The thermodynamic study also revealed the
      spontaneity and exothermic nature of the process. The surface characterization
      using FT-IR analysis revealed the involvement of amine, carbonyl and carboxyl
      groups in the biosorption process. Additionally, desorption efficiency of 92% was
      found with 0.1 M HNO3. The Cr(VI) removal efficiency, increased with increase in
      metal ion concentration, biomass concentration, temperature but with a decrease
      in pH. The size of the MSR2 biosorbent material was found to be 80 MUm using
      particle size analyzer. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) visualizes the distribution
      of Cr(VI) on the biosorbent binding sites with alterations in the MSR2 surface
      structure. The SEM-EDAX analysis was also used to evaluate the binding
      characteristics of MSR2 strain with Cr(VI) metals. The mechanism of Cr(VI)
      removal of MSR2 biomass has also been proposed.

PMID- 25822728
TI  - Correction: Integrated analysis of residue coevolution and protein structures
      capture key protein sectors in HIV-1 proteins.

PMID- 25822729
TI  - Conservation and losses of non-coding RNAs in avian genomes.
AB  - Here we present the results of a large-scale bioinformatics annotation of non
      coding RNA loci in 48 avian genomes. Our approach uses probabilistic models of
      hand-curated families from the Rfam database to infer conserved RNA families
      within each avian genome. We supplement these annotations with predictions from
      the tRNA annotation tool, tRNAscan-SE and microRNAs from miRBase. We identify 34
      lncRNA-associated loci that are conserved between birds and mammals and validate
      12 of these in chicken. We report several intriguing cases where a reported
      mammalian lncRNA, but not its function, is conserved. We also demonstrate
      extensive conservation of classical ncRNAs (e.g., tRNAs) and more recently
      discovered ncRNAs (e.g., snoRNAs and miRNAs) in birds. Furthermore, we describe
      numerous "losses" of several RNA families, and attribute these to either genuine
      loss, divergence or missing data. In particular, we show that many of these
      losses are due to the challenges associated with assembling avian
      microchromosomes. These combined results illustrate the utility of applying
      homology-based methods for annotating novel vertebrate genomes. 

PMID- 25822730
TI  - Effectiveness of surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis: a systematic review and meta
      analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The management of spinal stenosis by surgery has increased rapidly in
      the past two decades, however, there is still controversy regarding the efficacy
      of surgery for this condition. Our aim was to investigate the efficacy and
      comparative effectiveness of surgery in the management of patients with lumbar
      spinal stenosis. METHODS: Electronic searches were performed on MEDLINE, EMBASE,
      AMED, CINAHL, Web of Science, LILACS and Cochrane Library from inception to
      November 2014. Hand searches were conducted on included articles and relevant
      reviews. We included randomised controlled trials evaluating surgery compared to
      no treatment, placebo/sham, or to another surgical technique in patients with
      lumbar spinal stenosis. Primary outcome measures were pain, disability, recovery
      and quality of life. The PEDro scale was used for risk of bias assessment. Data
      were pooled with a random-effects model, and the GRADE approach was used to
      summarise conclusions. RESULTS: Nineteen published reports (17 trials) were
      included. No trials were identified comparing surgery to no treatment or
      placebo/sham. Pooling revealed that decompression plus fusion is not superior to
      decompression alone for pain (mean difference -3.7, 95% confidence interval -15.6
      to 8.1), disability (mean difference 9.8, 95% confidence interval -9.4 to 28.9),
      or walking ability (risk ratio 0.9, 95% confidence interval 0.4 to 1.9).
      Interspinous process spacer devices are slightly more effective than
      decompression plus fusion for disability (mean difference 5.7, 95% confidence
      interval 1.3 to 10.0), but they resulted in significantly higher reoperation
      rates when compared to decompression alone (28% v 7%, P < 0.001). There are no
      differences in the effectiveness between other surgical techniques for our main
      outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The relative efficacy of various surgical options for
      treatment of spinal stenosis remains uncertain. Decompression plus fusion is not
      more effective than decompression alone. Interspinous process spacer devices
      result in higher reoperation rates than bony decompression.

PMID- 25822731
TI  - Tunable collagen I hydrogels for engineered physiological tissue micro
      environments.
AB  - Collagen I hydrogels are commonly used to mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM)
      for tissue engineering applications. However, the ability to design collagen I
      hydrogels similar to the properties of physiological tissues has been elusive.
      This is primarily due to the lack of quantitative correlations between multiple
      fabrication parameters and resulting material properties. This study aims to
      enable informed design and fabrication of collagen hydrogels in order to reliably
      and reproducibly mimic a variety of soft tissues. We developed empirical
      predictive models relating fabrication parameters with material and transport
      properties. These models were obtained through extensive experimental
      characterization of these properties, which include compression modulus, pore and
      fiber diameter, and diffusivity. Fabrication parameters were varied within
      biologically relevant ranges and included collagen concentration, polymerization
      pH, and polymerization temperature. The data obtained from this study elucidates
      previously unknown fabrication-property relationships, while the resulting
      equations facilitate informed a priori design of collagen hydrogels with
      prescribed properties. By enabling hydrogel fabrication by design, this study has
      the potential to greatly enhance the utility and relevance of collagen hydrogels
      in order to develop physiological tissue microenvironments for a wide range of
      tissue engineering applications. 

PMID- 25822732
TI  - MicroPET Evaluation of a Hydroxamate-Based MMP Inhibitor, [(18)F]FB-ML5, in a
      Mouse Model of Cigarette Smoke-Induced Acute Airway Inflammation.
AB  - Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are the main proteolytic enzymes involved in the
      pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A radiolabeled MMP
      inhibitor, [(18)F]FB-ML5, was prepared, and its in vivo kinetics were tested in a
      mouse model of pulmonary inflammation. BALB/c mice were exposed for 4 days to
      cigarette smoke (CS) or air. On the fifth day, a dynamic microPET scan was made
      with [(18)F]FB-ML5. Standardized uptake values (PET-SUVmean) were 0.19 +/- 0.06
      in the lungs of CS-exposed mice (n = 6) compared to 0.11 +/- 0.03 (n = 5) in air
      exposed controls (p < 0.05), 90 min post-injection MMP-9 levels in
      bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were increased from undetectable level to
      4615 +/- 1963 pg/ml by CS exposure. Increased MMP expression in a COPD mouse
      model was shown to lead to increased retention of [(18)F]FB-ML5. 

PMID- 25822733
TI  - Co-inheritance of G6PD and PK deficiencies in a neonate carrying a Novel UGT1A1
      genotype associated to Crigler-Najjar type II syndrome.

PMID- 25822734
TI  - Changed clonal growth form induced by sand burial facilitates the acclimation of
      Carex brevicuspis to competition.
AB  - Both competition and burial are important factors that influence plant growth and
      structuring plant communities. Competition intensity may decline with increased
      burial stress. However, experimental evidence is scarce. The aim of this study
      was to elucidate the role of burial stress in influencing plant competition by
      investigating biomass accumulation, biomass allocation, and clonal growth
      performance of Carex brevicuspis, one of the dominant species in the Dongting
      Lake wetland in China. The experiment was conducted with two typical wetland
      species, C. brevicuspis (target plant) and Polygonum hydropiper (neighbor plant),
      in a target-neighbor design containing three densities (0, 199, and 398 neighbor
      plants m-2) and two burial depths (0 and 12 cm). The biomass accumulation of C.
      brevicuspis decreased with increment of P. hydropiper density in the 0 cm burial
      treatment. However, in the 12 cm burial treatment, biomass accumulation of C.
      brevicuspis did not change under medium and high P. hydropiper densities. The
      relative neighbor effect index (RNE) increased with enhancement of P. hydropiper
      density but decreased with increasing burial depth. The shoot mass fraction
      decreased with P. hydropiper density in the 12 cm burial treatments, but the root
      mass fraction was only affected by burial depth. However, the rhizome mass
      fraction increased with both P. hydropiper density and burial depth. The number
      of ramets decreased with increasing P. hydropiper density. With increasing burial
      depth and density, the proportion of spreading ramets increased from 34.23% to
      80.44%, whereas that of clumping ramets decreased from 65.77% to 19.56%.
      Moreover, increased P. hydropiper density and burial depth led to greater spacer
      length. These data indicate that the competitive effect of P. hydropiper on C.
      brevicuspis was reduced by sand burial, which was reflected by different patterns
      of biomass accumulation and RNE at the two burial depth treatments. A change from
      a phalanx to a guerrilla growth form and spacer elongation induced by sand burial
      helped C. brevicuspis to acclimate to competition. 

PMID- 25822735
TI  - Phototautomerization in pyrrolylphenylpyridine terphenyl systems.
AB  - [4-(2-Pyrrolyl)phenyl]pyridines 2-4 were synthesized and their photophysical
      properties and reactivity in phototautomerization reactions investigated by
      fluorescence spectroscopy and laser flash photolysis (LFP). The pKa for the
      protonation of the pyridine nitrogen in 2-4 was determined by UV-vis and
      fluorescence titration (pKa = 5.5 for 4). On excitation in polar protic solvents,
      2-4 populate charge-transfer states leading to an enhanced basicity of the
      pyridine (pKa* ~ 12) and enhanced acidity of pyrrole (pKa* ~ 8-9) enabling
      excited-state proton transfer (ESPT). ESPT gives rise to phototautomers and
      significantly quenches the fluorescence of 2-4. Phototautomers 2-T and 4-T were
      detected by LFP with strong transient absorption maxima at 390 nm. Phototautomers
      2-T and 4-T decayed by competing uni- and bimolecular reactions. However, at pH
      11 the decay of 4-T followed exponential kinetics with a rate constant of 4.2 *
      10(6) s(-1). The pyridinium salt 4H(+) forms a stable complex with
      cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) with 1:1 stoichiometry (beta11 = (1.0 +/- 0.2) * 10(5) M(
      1), [Na(+)] = 39 mM). Complexation to CB[7] increased the pKa for 4H(+) (pKa =
      6.9) and changed its photochemical reactivity. Homolytic cleavage of the pyrrole
      NH leads to the formation of an N-radical because of the decreased acidity of the
      pyrrole in the inclusion complex. 

PMID- 25822736
TI  - Bespoke SnAP reagents for the synthesis of C-substituted spirocyclic and bicyclic
      saturated N-heterocycles.
AB  - The precise placement of C-substituents on bicyclic and spirocyclic N
      heterocycles is readily achieved by the combination of aldehydes and new SnAP
      reagents. The substituted SnAP reagents are readily prepared from simple starting
      materials and couple with a variety of aromatic and heteroaromatic aldehydes at
      room temperature under operationally simple conditions to deliver substituted
      morpholine and piperazine products. 

PMID- 25822738
TI  - The identification of loci for immune traits in chickens using a genome-wide
      association study.
AB  - The genetic improvement of disease resistance in poultry continues to be a
      challenge. To identify candidate genes and loci responsible for these traits,
      genome-wide association studies using the chicken 60k high density single
      nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array for six immune traits, total serum
      immunoglobulin Y (IgY) level, numbers of, and the ratio of heterophils and
      lymphocytes, and antibody responses against Avian Influenza Virus (AIV) and Sheep
      Red Blood Cell (SRBC), were performed. RT-qPCR was used to quantify the relative
      expression of the identified candidate genes. Nine significantly associated SNPs
      (P < 2.81E-06) and 30 SNPs reaching the suggestively significant level (P < 5.62E
      05) were identified. Five of the 10 SNPs that were suggestively associated with
      the antibody response to SRBC were located within or close to previously reported
      QTL regions. Fifteen SNPs reached a suggestive significance level for AIV
      antibody titer and seven were found on the sex chromosome Z. Seven suggestive
      markers involving five different SNPs were identified for the numbers of
      heterophils and lymphocytes, and the heterophil/lymphocyte ratio. Nine
      significant SNPs, all on chromosome 16, were significantly associated with serum
      total IgY concentration, and the five most significant were located within a
      narrow region spanning 6.4kb to 253.4kb (P = 1.20E-14 to 5.33E-08). After testing
      expression of five candidate genes (IL4I1, CD1b, GNB2L1, TRIM27 and ZNF692)
      located in this region, changes in IL4I1, CD1b transcripts were consistent with
      the concentrations of IgY, while abundances of TRIM27 and ZNF692 showed
      reciprocal changes to those of IgY concentrations. This study has revealed 39
      SNPs associated with six immune traits (total serum IgY level, numbers of, and
      the ratio of heterophils and lymphocytes, and antibody responses against AIV and
      SRBC) in Beijing-You chickens. The narrow region spanning 247kb on chromosome 16
      is an important QTL for serum total IgY concentration. Five candidate genes
      related to IgY level validated here are novel and may play critical roles in the
      modulation of immune responses. Potentially useful candidate SNPs for marker
      assisted selection for disease resistance are identified. It is highly likely
      that these candidate genes play roles in various aspects of the immune response
      in chickens.

PMID- 25822739
TI  - Selective Inhibitors of Cyclin G Associated Kinase (GAK) as Anti-Hepatitis C
      Agents.
AB  - Cyclin G associated kinase (GAK) emerged as a promising drug target for the
      treatment of viral infections. However, no potent and selective GAK inhibitors
      have been reported in the literature to date. This paper describes the discovery
      of isothiazolo[5,4-b]pyridines as selective GAK inhibitors, with the most potent
      congeners displaying low nanomolar binding affinity for GAK. Cocrystallization
      experiments revealed that these compounds behaved as classic type I ATP
      competitive kinase inhibitors. In addition, we have demonstrated that these
      compounds exhibit a potent activity against hepatitis C virus (HCV) by inhibiting
      two temporally distinct steps in the HCV life cycle (i.e., viral entry and
      assembly). Hence, these GAK inhibitors represent chemical probes to study GAK
      function in different disease areas where GAK has been implicated (including
      viral infection, cancer, and Parkinson's disease). 

PMID- 25822742
TI  - Interpreting effects of structure variations induced by temperature and pressure
      on luminescence spectra of platinum(II) bis(dithiocarbamate) compounds.
AB  - Luminescence spectra of two square-planar dithiocarbamate complexes of
      platinum(II) with different steric bulk, platinum(II)
      bis(dimethyldithiocarbamate) (Pt(MeDTC)2) and platinum(II) bis(di(o
      pyridyl)dithiocarbamate) (Pt(dopDTC)2), are presented at variable temperature and
      pressure. The spectra show broad d-d luminescence transitions with maxima at
      approximately 13500 cm(-1) (740 nm). Variations of the solid-state spectra with
      temperature and pressure reveal intrinsic differences due to subtle variations of
      molecular and crystal structures, reported at 100 and 296 K for Pt(dopDTC)2.
      Luminescence maxima of Pt(MeDTC)2 shift to higher energy as temperature increases
      by +320 cm(-1) for an increase by 200 K, mainly caused by a bandwidth increase
      from 3065 to 4000 cm(-1) on the high-energy side of the band over the same
      temperature range. Luminescence maxima of Pt(dopDTC)2 shift in the opposite
      direction by -460 cm(-1) for a temperature increase by 200 K. The bandwidth of
      approximately 2900 cm(-1) does not vary with temperature. Both ground and
      emitting-state properties and subtle structural differences between the two
      compounds lead to this different behavior. Luminescence maxima measured at
      variable pressure show shifts to higher energy by +47 +/- 3 and +11 +/- 1 cm(
      1)/kbar, for Pt(MeDTC)2 and Pt(dopDTC)2, respectively, a surprising difference by
      a factor of 4. The crystal structures indicate that decreasing intermolecular
      interactions with increasing pressure are likely to contribute to the
      exceptionally high shift for Pt(MeDTC)2. 

PMID- 25822741
TI  - Effects of puerarin on lipid accumulation and metabolism in high-fat diet-fed
      mice.
AB  - In order to investigate the mechanisms by which puerarin from kudzu root extract
      regulates lipid metabolism, fifty mice were randomly assigned to five groups:
      normal diet, high-fat diet (HFD), and HFD containing 0.2%, 0.4% or 0.8% puerarin
      for 12 weeks. Body weight, intraperitioneal adipose tissue (IPAT) weight, serum
      biochemical parameters, and hepatic and feces lipids were measured. Activity and
      mRNA and protein expressions of hepatic lipid metabolism-related enzymes were
      analyzed. Compared with HFD, 0.4% and 0.8% puerarin significantly decreased body
      and IPAT weight. There was a significant decrease in the serum and hepatic
      concentrations of total cholesterol, triglycerides and leptin in mice fed the
      0.4% and 0.8% puerarin diets compared with HFD. Fatty acid synthase activity was
      suppressed in mice fed the 0.4% and 0.8% puerarin diets, while the activities of
      AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), carnitine acyltransferase (CAT) and hormone
      sensitive lipase (HSL) were increased. mRNA expression of peroxisome proliferator
      activated receptor gamma 2 (PPARgamma 2) was down-regulated in liver of mice fed
      the 0.8% diet compared with HFD, while mRNA expression of CAT and HSL was
      considerably up-regulated by 0.4% and 0.8% puerarin diets. The protein expression
      of PPARgamma2 in liver was decreased and those of p-AMPK, HSL and p-HSL were
      increased in mice fed 0.4% and 0.8% puerarin diets. These results suggest that >
      0.4% puerarin influenced the activity, mRNA and protein levels of hepatic lipid
      metabolism-related enzymes, decreasing serum and liver lipids, body weight gain
      and fat accumulation. Puerarin might be beneficial to prevent lifestyle-related
      diseases. 

PMID- 25822740
TI  - Telomerase inhibition decreases alpha-fetoprotein expression and secretion by
      hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines: in vitro and in vivo study.
AB  - Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a diagnostic marker for hepatocellular carcinoma
      (HCC). A direct relationship between poor prognosis and the concentration of
      serum AFP has been observed. Telomerase, an enzyme that stabilizes the telomere
      length, is expressed by 90% of HCC. The aim of this study was to investigate the
      effect of telomerase inhibition on AFP secretion and the involvement of the
      PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Proliferation and viability tests were performed
      using tetrazolium salt. Apoptosis was determined through the Annexin V assay
      using flow cytometry. The concentrations of AFP were measured using ELISA kits.
      The AFP mRNA expression was evaluated using RT-PCR, and cell migration was
      evaluated using a Boyden chamber assay. The in vivo effect of costunolide on AFP
      production was tested in NSG mice. Telomerase inhibition by costunolide and BIBR
      1532 at 5 and 10 MUM decreased AFP mRNA expression and protein secretion by
      HepG2/C3A cells. The same pattern was obtained with cells treated with hTERT
      siRNA. This treatment exhibited no apoptotic effect. The AFP mRNA expression and
      protein secretion by PLC/PRF/5 was decreased after treatment with BIBR1532 at 10
      MUM. In contrast, no effect was obtained for PLC/PRF/5 cells treated with
      costunolide at 5 or 10 MUM. Inhibition of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway
      decreased the AFP concentration. In contrast, the MAPK/ERK pathway appeared to
      not be involved in HepG2/C3A cells, whereas ERK inhibition decreased the AFP
      concentration in PLC/PRF/5 cells. Modulation of the AFP concentration was also
      obtained after the inhibition or activation of PKC. Costunolide (30 mg/kg)
      significantly decreased the AFP serum concentration of NSG mice bearing HepG2/C3A
      cells. Both the inhibition of telomerase and the inhibition of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR
      signaling pathway decreased the AFP production of HepG2/C3A and PLC/PRF/5 cells,
      suggesting a relationship between telomerase and AFP expression through the
      PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. 

PMID- 25822743
TI  - Changes in patient satisfaction and masticatory efficiency during adaptation to
      new dentures.
AB  - Because adapting to new conventional dentures is highly variable, there is
      uncertainty as to how long dissatisfied patients should wait before choosing a
      treatment with dental implants. The authors investigated whether changes in
      patient satisfaction and masticatory efficiency may be observed between 3 and 6
      months after the insertion of new conventional complete dentures. The study
      included 24 edentulous patients requiring new complete dentures. Masticatory
      efficiency and patient satisfaction were evaluated at 3 and 6 months post
      insertion. Masticatory efficiency was evaluated through the colorimetric method,
      with the beads as the artificial test food. A method for quantifying overall
      satisfaction of complete-denture wearers was used. Subjects were asked to respond
      to questions with three-grade answers concerning 12 factors: chewing, tasting,
      speech, esthetics, pain, fit, retention, and comfort (maxillary and mandibular
      evaluations were done for each of the last four factors). The results of patient
      satisfaction and masticatory efficiency at 3 and 6 months post-insertion were
      compared using the paired-samples t test (alpha = 0.05). Significant reductions
      in mandibular pain (P less than 0.05) and improvements in mandibular fit (P less
      than 0.05) were observed at 6 months. No difference was found for patient overall
      satisfaction, chewing, tasting, speech, maxillary pain, esthetics, maxillary fit,
      retention, comfort, and masticatory efficiency. The authors concluded that
      reduction in pain and improvements in adaptation of the lower denture may be
      observed between 3 and 6 months after insertion of new conventional complete
      dentures. This period of adaptation should be considered before choosing a
      treatment with dental implants.

PMID- 25822744
TI  - Prosthetic management of gingival recession around implants: lessons learned from
      staged-approach treatment planning.
AB  - Complex implant rehabilitations can include procedures requiring multiple phases
      of treatment, commonly referred to as staged approaches. The reasons for staged
      approaches are varied but usually involve serial extraction of hopeless teeth.
      These treatment plans both enable the patient to avoid removable prostheses by
      keeping natural teeth during healing phases, and circumvent the immediate loading
      of some implants placed in grafted bone. One major disadvantage to serial
      extraction in a staged approach is the potential for gingival changes. These
      changes include gingival recession around abutments that can affect the gingival
      profile around the finished case. This article discusses varying approaches for
      dealing with these gingival changes and suggests protocol modifications during
      the implant treatment-planning phase.

PMID- 25822737
TI  - Nonlinear Association Between Cerebrospinal Fluid and Florbetapir F-18 beta
      Amyloid Measures Across the Spectrum of Alzheimer Disease.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and positron emission tomographic (PET)
      amyloid biomarkers have been proposed for the detection of Alzheimer disease (AD)
      pathology in living patients and for the tracking of longitudinal changes, but
      the relation between biomarkers needs further study. OBJECTIVE: To determine the
      association between CSF and PET amyloid biomarkers (cross-sectional and
      longitudinal measures) and compare the cutoffs for these measures. DESIGN,
      SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Longitudinal clinical cohort study from 2005 to 2014
      including 820 participants with at least 1 florbetapir F-18 (hereafter referred
      to as simply florbetapir)-PET scan and at least 1 CSF beta-amyloid 1-42 (Abeta1
      42) sample obtained within 30 days of each other (501 participants had a second
      PET scan after 2 years, including 150 participants with CSF Abeta1-42
      measurements). Data were obtained from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging
      Initiative database. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Four different PET scans
      processing pipelines from 2 different laboratories were compared. The PET cutoff
      values were established using a mixture-modeling approach, and different
      mathematical models were applied to define the association between CSF and PET
      amyloid measures. RESULTS: The values of the CSF Abeta1-42 samples and
      florbetapir-PET scans showed a nonlinear association (R2 = 0.48-0.66), with the
      strongest association for values in the middle range. The presence of a larger
      dynamic range of florbetapir-PET scan values in the higher range compared with
      the CSF Abeta1-42 plateau explained the differences in correlation with cognition
      (R2 = 0.36 and R2 = 0.25, respectively). The APOE genotype significantly modified
      the association between both biomarkers. The PET cutoff values derived from an
      unsupervised classifier converged with previous PET cutoff values and the
      established CSF Abeta1-42 cutoff levels. There was no association between
      longitudinal Abeta1-42 levels and standardized uptake value ratios during follow
      up. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The association between both biomarkers is limited
      to a middle range of values, is modified by the APOE genotype, and is absent for
      longitudinal changes; 4 different approaches in 2 different platforms converge on
      similar pathological Abeta cutoff levels; and different pipelines to process PET
      scans showed correlated but not identical results. Our findings suggest that both
      biomarkers measure different aspects of AD Abeta pathology.

PMID- 25822745
TI  - Case report using the "H" abutment: achieving esthetics, strength, and
      predictability for the anterior implant.
AB  - Replacing an anterior tooth using a dental implant has long been a challenge for
      most clinicians. Implant abutment selection is a crucial aspect of maximizing
      esthetics, strength, and customization. The author has experienced significant
      success in this regard over a period of more than 7 years using a lithium
      disilicate "H" ("Hybrid") abutment. In this case presentation, a procedure is
      described for providing these highly esthetic abutment-supported restorations,
      which may offer significant advantages over traditional options.

PMID- 25822746
TI  - Multidisciplinary treatment of anterior worn dentition: a staged approach.
AB  - This case involving a male patient with long-standing wear on his anterior teeth
      demonstrates the importance of an accurate risk profile and prognosis. It also
      shows an example of a patient who, as is frequently the case, was aware of his
      problem but chose not to address it until after many years, being finally
      motivated by a change in marital status. Upon examination, it was determined that
      the severe attrition was due to the position of the teeth, and the functional
      diagnosis was a constricted chewing pattern. Orthodontic therapy was a central
      aspect of the treatment plan, followed initially by a composite trial restoration
      of the anterior teeth, and, finally, placement of porcelain crowns. Careful
      communication among the treating dentist, orthodontist, and the dental laboratory
      at specific phases of the treatment proved to play a pivotal role in achieving an
      exceptional esthetic result and stable functional bite. 

PMID- 25822747
TI  - Effect of curing light and restoration location on energy delivered.
AB  - This study determined how long it would take skilled operators to deliver 16
      J/cm2 to an anterior or a posterior restoration using different light-curing
      units (LCUs). Three skilled operators used the following LCUs at two locations in
      the MARC-patient simulator: Optilux 501 standard mode for 20 s; Sapphire Supreme
      for 5 s; EliparTM S10 for 5 s and 20 s; DemiTM Plus standard mode for 5 s;
      SmartLite(r) Max boost mode for 5 s and continuous mode for 20 s; Radii Plus for
      30 s; Valo (main version) in standard mode for 20 s and Xtra Power mode for 3 s;
      and Valo Cordless in standard mode for 20 s and Xtra Power mode for 3 s. The
      three MARCtrained operators made 30 readings with each light over 7 days. The
      energy (J/cm2) delivered to the anterior Class III and posterior Class I
      simulated restorations in MARC was recorded using a laboratory-grade
      spectroradiometer, and the time each light would take to deliver 16 J/cm2
      calculated. ANOVA and Fisher's PLSD tests compared differences in the time to
      deliver 16 J/cm2 of energy, alpha = 0.05. Three-way ANOVA showed there was no
      significant difference between the operators, but there was a difference between
      the lights and locations. The Valo main and Valo Cordless in the Xtra Power mode
      delivered 16 J/cm2 in the shortest time at both locations. The Radii Plus took
      the longest to deliver 16 J/cm2, taking twice as long in the posterior location.

PMID- 25822748
TI  - Dental unit waterline contamination: a review of research and findings from a
      clinic setting.
AB  - The interior of small-diameter tubing in dental unit waterlines (DUWLs) creates
      an attractive environment for the growth of biofilm and bacteria. Substantial
      research shows that troublesome and potentially pathogenic bacteria have been
      found in DUWLs, and scant peer-reviewed information from which to evaluate
      chemical treatment options has been historically available. The authors' research
      compares three DUWL cleaners-an alkaline peroxide product, a freshly mixed
      chlorine dioxide product, and a buffer-stabilized chlorine dioxide product-in 16
      dental units with self-contained water systems over a 10-day working period to
      determine the optimal chemical treatment option. The study found chlorine dioxide
      waterline cleaners to be most effective in containing DUWL contaminations.

PMID- 25822749
TI  - Today's CAD/CAM: flexible digital technologies expanding workflow options.
AB  - CAD/CAM and digital scanning technologies have become essential components of
      dentistry. Digital impression scanning, restoration design, and manufacturing
      techniques yield greater treatment predictability, high-level esthetics, and
      functional accuracy using a variety of materials. 

PMID- 25822750
TI  - Aleutian mink disease virus in free-ranging mink from Sweden.
AB  - Aleutian mink disease (AMD) is a chronic viral disease in farmed mink and the
      virus (AMDV) has been found in many free-ranging mink (Neovison vison)
      populations in Europe and North America. In this study, AMDV DNA and AMDV
      antibodies were analysed in 144 free-ranging mink hunted in Sweden. Associations
      between being AMDV infected (defined as positive for both viral DNA and
      antibodies) and the weight of the spleen, liver, kidneys, adrenal glands and body
      condition were calculated and the sequences of ten AMDV isolates were analysed in
      order to characterize the genetic relationships. In total, 46.1% of the mink were
      positive for AMDV antibodies and 57.6% were positive for AMDV DNA. Twenty-two
      percent of the mink tested on both tests (n = 133) had dissimilar results. The
      risk of having AMDV antibodies or being positive for AMDV DNA clearly increased
      with age and the majority of the mink that were two years or older were infected.
      Few macroscopic changes were found upon necropsy. However, the relative weight of
      the spleen was sexually dimorphic and was found to be slightly, but significantly
      (p = 0.006), heavier in AMDV infected male mink than uninfected. No association
      between AMDV infection and body condition, weight of the kidneys, liver or
      adrenal glands were found. Several different strains of AMDV were found across
      the country. Two of the AMDV sequences from the very north of Sweden did not
      group with any of the previously described groups of strains. In summary, AMDV
      seems to be prevalent in wild mink in Sweden and may subtly influence the weight
      of the spleen. 

PMID- 25822751
TI  - Endothelial-mesenchymal transition of brain endothelial cells: possible role
      during metastatic extravasation.
AB  - Cancer progression towards metastasis follows a defined sequence of events
      described as the metastatic cascade. For extravasation and transendothelial
      migration metastatic cells interact first with endothelial cells. Yet the role of
      endothelial cells during the process of metastasis formation and extravasation is
      still unclear, and the interaction between metastatic and endothelial cells
      during transendothelial migration is poorly understood. Since tumor cells are
      well known to express TGF-beta, and the compact endothelial layer undergoes a
      series of changes during metastatic extravasation (cell contact disruption,
      cytoskeletal reorganization, enhanced contractility), we hypothesized that an
      EndMT may be necessary for metastatic extravasation. We demonstrate that primary
      cultured rat brain endothelial cells (BEC) undergo EndMT upon TGF-beta1
      treatment, characterized by the loss of tight and adherens junction proteins,
      expression of fibronectin, beta1-integrin, calponin and alpha-smooth muscle actin
      (SMA). B16/F10 cell line conditioned and activated medium (ACM) had similar
      effects: claudin-5 down-regulation, fibronectin and SMA expression. Inhibition of
      TGF-beta signaling during B16/F10 ACM stimulation using SB-431542 maintained
      claudin-5 levels and mitigated fibronectin and SMA expression. B16/F10 ACM
      stimulation of BECs led to phosphorylation of Smad2 and Smad3. SB-431542
      prevented SMA up-regulation upon stimulation of BECs with A2058, MCF-7 and MDA
      MB231 ACM as well. Moreover, B16/F10 ACM caused a reduction in transendothelial
      electrical resistance, enhanced the number of melanoma cells adhering to and
      transmigrating through the endothelial layer, in a TGF-beta-dependent manner.
      These effects were not confined to BECs: HUVECs showed TGF-beta-dependent SMA
      expression when stimulated with breast cancer cell line ACM. Our results indicate
      that an EndMT may be necessary for metastatic transendothelial migration, and
      this transition may be one of the potential mechanisms occurring during the
      complex phenomenon known as metastatic extravasation.

PMID- 25822752
TI  - Statistical analysis methods for meta-analysis of times to emergence.

PMID- 25822754
TI  - Impacts of discarded plastic bags on marine assemblages and ecosystem
      functioning.
AB  - The accumulation of plastic debris is a global environmental problem due to its
      durability, persistence, and abundance. Although effects of plastic debris on
      individual marine organisms, particularly mammals and birds, have been
      extensively documented (e.g., entanglement and choking), very little is known
      about effects on assemblages and consequences for ecosystem functioning. In
      Europe, around 40% of the plastic items produced are utilized as single-use
      packaging, which rapidly accumulate in waste management facilities and as litter
      in the environment. A range of biodegradable plastics have been developed with
      the aspiration of reducing the persistence of litter; however, their impacts on
      marine assemblages or ecosystem functioning have never been evaluated. A field
      experiment was conducted to assess the impact of conventional and biodegradable
      plastic carrier bags as litter on benthic macro- and meio-faunal assemblages and
      biogeochemical processes (primary productivity, redox condition, organic matter
      content, and pore-water nutrients) on an intertidal shore near Dublin, Ireland.
      After 9 weeks, the presence of either type of bag created anoxic conditions
      within the sediment along with reduced primary productivity and organic matter
      and significantly lower abundances of infaunal invertebrates. This indicates that
      both conventional and biodegradable bags can rapidly alter marine assemblages and
      the ecosystem services they provide. 

PMID- 25822755
TI  - Detection of the carcinogenic water pollutant benzo[a]pyrene with an electro
      switchable biosurface.
AB  - The toxic nature of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), in particular
      benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), neccessitates the monitoring of PAH contamination levels
      in food and the environment. Here we introduce an indirect immunoassay format
      using electro-switchable biosurfaces (ESB) for the detection of B[a]P in water.
      The association of anti-B[a]P antibodies to microelectrodes is analyzed in real
      time by measuring changes in the oscillation dynamics of DNA nanolever probes,
      which are driven to switch their orientations by high-frequency electrical
      actuation. From the association kinetics, the active concentration of anti-B[a]P,
      and hence the B[a]P contamination of the sample, can be determined with picomolar
      sensitivity. The detection limit of the assay improves with measurement time
      because increasingly accurate analyses of the binding kinetics become possible.
      It is demonstrated that an exceedance of the permissible 10 ng/L (40 pM) limit
      for B[a]P is detectable in an unprecedented short assay time (<1 h), using a
      simple three-step workflow involving minimal sample preparation. The
      reproducibility was satisfying with standard deviations below 5%. Further, the
      utility of the assay for practical applications is exemplified by analyzing a
      river water sample. 

PMID- 25822757
TI  - Hyperbranched quasi-1D TiO2 nanostructure for hybrid organic-inorganic solar
      cells.
AB  - The performance of hybrid solar cells is strongly affected by the device
      morphology. In this work, we demonstrate a poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl)/TiO2
      hybrid solar cell where the TiO2 photoanode comprises an array of tree-like
      hyperbranched quasi-1D nanostructures self-assembled from the gas phase. This
      advanced architecture enables us to increase the power conversion efficiency to
      over 1%, doubling the efficiency with respect to state of the art devices
      employing standard mesoporous titania photoanodes. This improvement is attributed
      to several peculiar features of this array of nanostructures: high interfacial
      area; increased optical density thanks to the enhanced light scattering; and
      enhanced crystallization of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) inside the quasi-1D
      nanostructure. 

PMID- 25822756
TI  - A signal-on fluorosensor based on quench-release principle for sensitive
      detection of antibiotic rapamycin.
AB  - An antibiotic rapamycin is one of the most commonly used immunosuppressive drugs,
      and also implicated for its anti-cancer activity. Hence, the determination of its
      blood level after organ transplantation or tumor treatment is of great concern in
      medicine. Although there are several rapamycin detection methods, many of them
      have limited sensitivity, and/or need complicated procedures and long assay time.
      As a novel fluorescent biosensor for rapamycin, here we propose "Q'-body", which
      works on the fluorescence quench-release principle inspired by the antibody-based
      quenchbody (Q-body) technology. We constructed rapamycin Q'-bodies by linking the
      two interacting domains FKBP12 and FRB, whose association is triggered by
      rapamycin. The fusion proteins were each incorporated position-specifically with
      one of fluorescence dyes ATTO520, tetramethylrhodamine, or ATTO590 using a cell
      free translation system. As a result, rapid rapamycin dose-dependent fluorescence
      increase derived of Q'-bodies was observed, especially for those with ATTO520
      with a lowest detection limit of 0.65 nM, which indicates its utility as a novel
      fluorescent biosensor for rapamycin. 

PMID- 25822753
TI  - Identification of a peptide-pheromone that enhances Listeria monocytogenes escape
      from host cell vacuoles.
AB  - Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive facultative intracellular bacterial
      pathogen that invades mammalian cells and escapes from membrane-bound vacuoles to
      replicate within the host cell cytosol. Gene products required for intracellular
      bacterial growth and bacterial spread to adjacent cells are regulated by a
      transcriptional activator known as PrfA. PrfA becomes activated following L.
      monocytogenes entry into host cells, however the signal that stimulates PrfA
      activation has not yet been defined. Here we provide evidence for L.
      monocytogenes secretion of a small peptide pheromone, pPplA, which enhances the
      escape of L. monocytogenes from host cell vacuoles and may facilitate PrfA
      activation. The pPplA pheromone is generated via the proteolytic processing of
      the PplA lipoprotein secretion signal peptide. While the PplA lipoprotein is
      dispensable for pathogenesis, bacteria lacking the pPplA pheromone are
      significantly attenuated for virulence in mice and have a reduced efficiency of
      bacterial escape from the vacuoles of nonprofessional phagocytic cells.
      Mutational activation of PrfA restores virulence and eliminates the need for
      pPplA-dependent signaling. Experimental evidence suggests that the pPplA peptide
      may help signal to L. monocytogenes its presence within the confines of the host
      cell vacuole, stimulating the expression of gene products that contribute to
      vacuole escape and facilitating PrfA activation to promote bacterial growth
      within the cytosol. 

PMID- 25822758
TI  - Salience Effects: L2 Sentence Production as a Window on L1 Speech Planning.
AB  - Salience influences grammatical structure during production in a language
      dependent manner because different languages afford different options to satisfy
      preferences. During production, speakers may always try to satisfy all syntactic
      encoding preferences (e.g., salient entities to be mentioned early, themes to be
      assigned the syntactic function of object) and adjust when this is not possible
      (e.g., a salient theme in English) or, alternatively, they may learn early on to
      associate particular conceptual configurations with particular syntactic frames
      (e.g., salient themes with passives). To see which of these alternatives is
      responsible for the production of passives when dealing with a salient theme, we
      looked at the second language effects of salience for English-speaking learners
      of Spanish, where the two preferences can be satisfied simultaneously by fronting
      the object (Prat-Sala and Branigan in J Mem Lang 42:168-182, 2000). In accordance
      with highly incremental models of language production, English speakers appear to
      quickly make use of the alternatives in the second language that allow observance
      of more processing preferences. 

PMID- 25822759
TI  - Utility of ADAMTS13 assays in diagnosing thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

PMID- 25822760
TI  - Utility of ADAMTS13 assays in diagnosing thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. In
      reply.

PMID- 25822761
TI  - The essential role of pathologists in health care and health policy.

PMID- 25822762
TI  - A new ever-evolving paradigm.

PMID- 25822763
TI  - A triple stain of reticulin, glypican-3, and glutamine synthetase: a useful aid
      in the diagnosis of liver lesions.
AB  - CONTEXT: The correct histologic diagnosis of mass lesions of the liver can be
      difficult, especially in biopsy samples. Reticulin, glypican-3, and glutamine
      synthetae are stains that can help distinguish hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatic
      adenoma, and focal nodular hyperplasia. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the utility of a
      triple stain of reticulin, glypican-3, and glutamine synthetae in distinguishing
      hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatic adenoma, and focal nodular hyperplasia. DESIGN:
      Whole tissue sections and tissue microarrays were evaluated with a triple stain
      of reticulin, followed by glutamine synthetae (diaminobenzidine, brown chromogen)
      and glypican-3 (alkaline phosphatase, red chromogen). The 109 cases evaluated
      included whole tissue section hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 16), tissue
      microarray hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 19), whole tissue section hepatic
      adenoma (n = 15), tissue microarray hepatic adenoma (n = 13), whole tissue
      section focal nodular hyperplasia (n = 13; 12%), tissue microarray focal nodular
      hyperplasia (n = 13), as well as nonmalignant liver parenchyma adjacent to
      hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 20). All cases were scored for reticulin being
      intact or lost, positive or negative staining for glypican-3, and diffuse,
      maplike, perivenular, or negative staining for glutamine synthetae. RESULTS: The
      combination of intact reticulin with either glypican-3 negativity or negative
      glutamine synthetae was 92% sensitive and 95% specific in the distinction of
      tissue microarray hepatic adenoma from hepatocellular carcinoma. For the
      distinction of tissue microarray focal nodular hyperplasia and hepatic adenoma,
      maplike glutamine synthetae was most useful and was 85% sensitive and 100%
      specific. CONCLUSIONS: The triple stain of reticulin, glypican-3, and glutamine
      synthetae is useful in the differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatic
      adenoma, and focal nodular hyperplasia on biopsy specimens. Furthermore, this
      triple stain is advantageous to single stains and can help when aberrant staining
      patterns are observed.

PMID- 25822764
TI  - Diagnostic utility of PHOX2B in primary and treated neuroblastoma and in
      neuroblastoma metastatic to the bone marrow.
AB  - CONTEXT: Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extracranial tumor of childhood.
      Although most cases have a distinctive histology, a subset of primitive cases
      require immunohistochemical studies to distinguish them from other small round
      blue cell tumors of childhood. Immunohistochemistry is also used to detect small
      amounts of tumor metastatic to the bone marrow and in posttreatment samples with
      obscuring fibrosis, calcification, or inflammation. The transcription factor
      PHOX2B is essential for the differentiation and survival of sympathetic neurons
      and chromaffin cells, and therefore is highly specific for the peripheral
      autonomic nervous system. OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic utility of
      PHOX2B immunohistochemistry as a marker of primary, treated, and metastatic NB.
      DESIGN: Neuroblastoma tissue microarrays were stained with PHOX2B, CD57, and
      synaptophysin. Arrays containing rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and Wilms tumor
      were stained with PHOX2B, and negative bone marrow samples were stained with
      PHOX2B and CD57. RESULTS: PHOX2B and CD57 were similar to synaptophysin in their
      ability to detect NB. PHOX2B and CD57 similarly showed robust staining in
      posttreatment NB and NB metastatic to the bone marrow. In contrast to the
      cytoplasmic staining pattern seen with synaptophysin and CD57, clear and strong
      nuclear PHOX2B permitted identification of individual tumor cells. PHOX2B
      staining was absent in all cases of rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and Wilms
      tumor, and in the negative bone marrow. CONCLUSIONS: PHOX2B and CD57 are useful
      markers of NB. PHOX2B is specific for NB in its differential diagnosis with other
      small round cell tumors, and its nuclear staining may be helpful for accurate
      bone marrow tumor quantification.

PMID- 25822765
TI  - Renal dysplasia.
AB  - Renal dysplasia is an aberrant developmental disease usually diagnosed during the
      perinatal and childhood years. Prevalence is estimated at 0.1% of infants (via
      ultrasound screening) and 4% of fetuses and infants (via autopsy study).
      Occurrences may be combined with abnormalities in the collecting system or
      associated with complex syndromes. Histopathology shows primitive tubules
      surrounded by a fibromuscular collar. The differential diagnosis includes renal
      dysplasia, hypoplasia, and renal atrophy. Immunohistochemical expression of the
      paired box genes 2 and 8 (PAX2/8) and Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) is increased in the
      primitive ducts and fibromuscular collar, respectively. Renal dysplasia
      pathogenesis is not well understood, but may be caused by a nephron-inductive
      deficit due to ampullary inactivity or abnormal budding of the ureteric bud from
      the mesonephric duct. Either the PAX2 mutation only or cross-talk with the p53
      pathway is involved in this deficit. Nephrectomy is the treatment of choice for
      symptomatic renal dysplasia.

PMID- 25822766
TI  - Low-grade fibromatosis-like spindle cell carcinoma of the breast.
AB  - Low-grade fibromatosis-like spindle cell carcinoma is a rare tumor in the breast,
      and represents a variant of the very heterogeneous group of metaplastic
      carcinomas of the breast. These tumors warrant distinction because of their
      resemblance to pure fibromatosis, their propensity for local recurrence, and
      their favorable prognosis among the metaplastic carcinomas of the breast. The
      diagnosis is potentially challenging, particularly on core needle biopsies,
      because of the morphologic overlap with other low-grade spindle cell lesions.
      Recognition of a proliferation of cytologically bland spindle cells with areas of
      epithelial differentiation in combination with immunohistochemistry using
      antibodies against cytokeratins and myoepithelial markers should aid in producing
      a definitive diagnosis. These tumors can be locally aggressive with an increased
      incidence of local recurrence, but the potential for lymph node or distant
      metastasis is low. Complete excision with adequate margins is considered curative
      in the majority of cases.

PMID- 25822767
TI  - A combined approach of human leukocyte antigen ligandomics and immunogenicity
      analysis to improve peptide-based cancer immunotherapy.
AB  - The breakthrough development of immune checkpoint inhibitors as clinically
      effective novel therapies demonstrates the potential of cancer immunotherapy. The
      identification of suitable targets for specific immunotherapy, however, remains a
      challenging task. Most peptides previously used for vaccination in clinical
      trials were able to elicit strong immunological responses but failed with regard
      to clinical benefit. This might, at least partly, be caused by an inadequate
      peptide selection, usually derived from established tumor-associated antigens
      which are not necessarily presented as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) ligands.
      Recently, HLA ligandome analysis revealed cancer-associated peptides, which have
      been used in clinical trials showing encouraging impact on survival. To improve
      peptide-based cancer immunotherapy, our group established a combined approach of
      HLA ligandomics and immunogenicity analysis for the identification of vaccine
      peptides. This approach is based on the identification of naturally presented HLA
      ligands on tumor samples, the selection of tumor-associated/tumor-specific HLA
      ligands and their subsequent testing for immunogenicity in vitro. In this review,
      we want to present our pipeline for the identification of vaccine peptides,
      focusing on ovarian cancer, and want to discuss differences to other approaches.
      Furthermore, we want to give a short outlook of a potential multi-peptide
      vaccination trial using the novel identified peptides. 

PMID- 25822768
TI  - Impairment of lymphocyte function following yttrium-90 DOTATOC therapy.
AB  - The radiolabeled somatostatin analogue, yttrium-90 DOTA-D-Phe(1)-Tyr(3)
      octreotide (DOTATOC), is currently applied to treat advanced somatostatin
      receptor-positive tumors, e.g., neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas, lung or
      gut. However, effects of this treatment on antimicrobial immune responses are not
      yet defined. In 20 patients treated with DOTATOC, cellular in vitro immune
      function was determined. Their antimicrobial lymphocyte responses were assessed
      by lymphocyte transformation test and enzyme-linked immunospot-measuring
      lymphocyte proliferation and on a single cell level production of pro- and anti
      inflammatory cytokines (interferon-gamma and interleukin-10)-prior to therapy, at
      day 1, day 7 and day 90 post-therapy. Proliferative lymphocyte responses and
      interferon-gamma production after in vitro stimulation with microbial antigens
      were non-significantly suppressed at day 1 and significantly (p < 0.05) at day 7
      versus pre-therapy. In vitro immune responses did not fully recover until day 90.
      In contrast, at day 1 interleukin-10 production was significantly (p < 0.05)
      increased. Taken together, we observed a decrease in pro-inflammatory immune
      responses after DOTATOC therapy. Patients with versus without bone metastases
      displayed significantly (p < 0.05) lower cellular immune responses toward several
      microbial antigens. Progressive disease and higher tumor burden could also be
      defined as factors associated with impaired immune function. Spearman correlation
      analysis indicated that cellular in vitro immunity was positively correlated with
      kidney function; better kidney function led to stronger immune responses. In
      conclusion, DOTATOC therapy caused a decrease in in vitro immune responses
      against microorganisms. The clinical impact needs to be evaluated in further
      studies. 

PMID- 25822769
TI  - Temporal coherence for complex signals in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)
      and humans (Homo sapiens).
AB  - The auditory scene is filled with an array of overlapping acoustic signals, yet
      relatively little work has focused on how animals are able to perceptually
      isolate different sound sources necessary for survival. Much of the previous work
      on auditory scene analysis has investigated how sequential pure tone stimuli are
      perceived, but how temporally overlapping complex communication signals are
      segregated has been largely ignored. In this study, budgerigars and humans were
      tested using psychophysical procedures to measure their perception of
      synchronous, asynchronous, and partially overlapping complex signals, including
      bird calls and human vowels. Segregation thresholds for complex stimuli were
      significantly lower than those for pure tone stimuli in both humans and birds.
      Additionally, a species effect was discovered such that relative to humans,
      budgerigars required significantly less temporal separation between 2 sounds in
      order to segregate them. Overall, and similar to previous behavioral results
      investigating temporal coherence, the results from this experiment illustrate
      that temporal cues are particularly important for auditory scene analysis across
      multiple species and for both simple and complex acoustic signals.

PMID- 25822770
TI  - The importance of cognitive assessment before ventricular device placement: a
      teachable moment.

PMID- 25822771
TI  - Ginkgo Biloba Extract Enhances Differentiation and Performance of Neural Stem
      Cells in Mouse Cochlea.
AB  - Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) has been widely used for treatment of neural damage
      and disorders. Neural stem cells (NSCs) hold promise as a treatment of hearing
      loss caused by neural damage. However, the biological functions of GBE in
      modulating NSC behaviors in the cochlea are still largely elusive. In this study,
      we sought to explore the effects of GBE on the differentiation and performance of
      NSCs from mouse cochlea. Our data showed that GBE treatment promotes cell
      survival and NSC proliferation. In addition, GBE treatment also increases NSC
      differentiation to neurons and enhances the performance of mature neural networks
      evident by the increased frequency of calcium oscillation. Moreover, neurite
      outgrowth is also dramatically increased upon GBE treatment. Overall, our study
      demonstrates the positive regulatory role of GBE in NSC proliferation and
      differentiation into functional neurons in vitro, supporting the potential
      therapeutic use of GBE in hearing loss recovery. 

PMID- 25822772
TI  - Single cell transcriptome amplification with MALBAC.
AB  - Recently, Multiple Annealing and Looping-Based Amplification Cycles (MALBAC) has
      been developed for whole genome amplification of an individual cell, relying on
      quasilinear instead of exponential amplification to achieve high coverage. Here
      we adapt MALBAC for single-cell transcriptome amplification, which gives
      consistently high detection efficiency, accuracy and reproducibility. With this
      newly developed technique, we successfully amplified and sequenced single cells
      from 3 germ layers from mouse embryos in the early gastrulation stage, and
      examined the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program among cells in the
      mesoderm layer on a single-cell level. 

PMID- 25822773
TI  - Feeding soy protein isolate and n-3 PUFA affects polycystic liver disease
      progression in a PCK rat model of autosomal polycystic kidney disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In polycystic liver disease (PCLD), multiple cysts cause liver
      enlargement, structural damage, and loss of function. Soy protein and dietary
      omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) have been found to decrease cyst
      proliferation and inflammation in polycystic kidney disease. Therefore, the aim
      of the study was to investigate whether soy protein and n-3 PUFA supplementation
      attenuates PCLD. METHODS: Young (age 28 days) female PCK rats were fed (n = 12
      per group) either casein + corn oil (casein + CO), casein + soybean oil (casein +
      SO), soy protein isolate + soybean oil (SPI + SO), or SPI + 1:1 soybean/salmon
      oil blend (SPI + SB) diet for 12 weeks. Liver histology, gene expression by real
      time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and serum markers of liver injury
      were determined. RESULTS: Diet had no effect on PCLD progression as indicated by
      no significant differences in liver weight and hepatic proliferation gene
      expression between diet groups. PCK rats fed SPI + SB diet, however, had the
      greatest (P < 0.05) histological evidence of hepatic cyst obstruction, portal
      inflammation, steatosis, and upregulation (P = 0.03) of fibrosis-related genes.
      Rats fed SPI + SB diet also had the lowest (P < 0.001) serum cholesterol and
      higher (P < 0.05) serum alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin concentrations.
      CONCLUSIONS: Feeding young female PCK rats SPI and n-3 PUFA failed to attenuate
      PCLD progression. Furthermore, feeding SPI + SB diet resulted in complications of
      hepatic steatosis attributable to cysts obstruction of bile duct and hepatic
      vein. Based on the results, it was concluded that diet intervention alone was not
      effective at attenuating PCLD associated with autosomal recessive polycystic
      kidney disease.

PMID- 25822774
TI  - A methodological approach to fecal microbial transplant via nasogastric tube for
      active pediatric ulcerative colitis.

PMID- 25822775
TI  - Author's Response.

PMID- 25822776
TI  - Adding alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency to the newborn screen.

PMID- 25822777
TI  - Author's response.

PMID- 25822778
TI  - Prediction model for critically ill patients with acute respiratory distress
      syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a major
      cause respiratory failure in intensive care unit (ICU). Early recognition of
      patients at high risk of death is of vital importance in managing them. The aim
      of the study was to establish a prediction model by using variables that were
      readily available in routine clinical practice. METHODS: The study was a
      secondary analysis of data obtained from the NHLBI Biologic Specimen and Data
      Repository Information Coordinating Center. Patients were enrolled between August
      2007 and July 2008 from 33 hospitals. Demographics and laboratory findings were
      extracted from dataset. Univariate analyses were performed to screen variables
      with p<0.3. Then these variables were subject to automatic stepwise forward
      selection with significance level of 0.1. Interaction terms and fractional
      polynomials were examined for variables in the main effect model. Multiple
      imputations and bootstraps procedures were used to obtain estimations of
      coefficients with better external validation. Overall model fit and logistic
      regression diagnostics were explored. MAIN RESULT: A total of 282 ARDS patients
      were included for model development. The final model included eight variables
      without interaction terms and non-linear functions. Because the variable
      coefficients changed substantially after exclusion of most poorly fitted and
      influential subjects, we estimated the coefficient after exclusion of these
      outliers. The equation for the fitted model was: g(Chi)=0.06*age(in
      years)+2.23(if on vasopressor)+1.37*potassium (mmol/l)-0.007*platelet count
      (*109)+0.03*heart rate (/min)-0.29*Hb(g/dl)-0.67*T( degrees C)+0.01*PaO_2+13, and
      the probability of death pi(Chi)=eg(Chi)/(1+eg(Chi)). CONCLUSION: The study
      established a prediction model for ARDS patients requiring mechanical
      ventilation. The model was examined with rigorous methodology and can be used for
      risk stratification in ARDS patients.

PMID- 25822779
TI  - The quality analysis of literature retrievals of systematic reviews for
      traditional Chinese medicine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The literature retrievals are still the main problems which limit the
      quality of systematic review (SR) for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and
      there were still no comprehensive analyses for these problems. The aim of this
      study is to analyze these problems to guide future SRs for TCM. METHODS: The
      Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2009) and the Chinese BioMedical Database (CBM, 1978-
      2009.7.31) were comprehensively searched to identify the SRs of TCM. The native
      literature retrieval rate of the first author, the characteristics of the
      included databases, the number of the included database, the reporting of
      literature retrieval strategy, and the reporting of adjuvant search for both the
      SRs from the CBM and Cochrane Library were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 341 SRs
      were included in our analyses, including 245 from the CBM and 96 from the CL. The
      Chinese-authored SRs ranked the first in median retrieval rate (100%). The
      Cochrane SRs were significantly superior than the CBM SRs: more searched
      databases (media: 4 vs. 6, P < 0.001), more precision of retrieval time, more
      conducting gray literatures searches (47.92% vs. 20.41%) and handing searches
      (57.29% vs. 54.69%), and more reported retrieval strategies (66.67% vs. 8.16%).
      CONCLUSIONS: There were significant problems in the literature retrieval of SRs
      for TCM. In future, when performing any SRs for TCM, sufficient and proper
      databases, clearly searching strategies and times, proper adjuvant retrievals
      should be reported. Cochrane SRs might be a better choice.

PMID- 25822780
TI  - Superior orthonasal but not retronasal olfactory skills in congenital blindness.
AB  - Sight is undoubtedly important for finding and appreciating food, and cooking.
      Blind individuals are strongly impaired in finding food, limiting the variety of
      flavours they are exposed to. We have shown before that compared to sighted
      controls, congenitally blind individuals have enhanced olfactory but reduced
      taste perception. In this study we tested the hypothesis that congenitally blind
      subjects have enhanced orthonasal but not retronasal olfactory skills. Twelve
      congenitally blind and 14 sighted control subjects, matched in age, gender and
      body mass index, were asked to identify odours using grocery-available food
      powders. Results showed that blind subjects were significantly faster and tended
      to be better at identifying odours presented orthonasally. This was not the case
      when odorants were presented retronasally. We also found a significant group x
      route interaction, showing that although both groups performed better for
      retronasally compared to orthonasally presented odours, this gain was less
      pronounced for blind subjects. Finally, our data revealed that blind subjects
      were more familiar with the orthonasal odorants and used the retronasal odorants
      less often for cooking than their sighted counterparts. These results confirm
      that orthonasal but not retronasal olfactory perception is enhanced in congenital
      blindness, a result that is concordant with the reduced food variety exposure in
      this group. 

PMID- 25822781
TI  - Hemodynamic Stability During Pheochromocytoma Resection: Lessons Learned Over the
      Last Two Decades.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ideal perioperative management of pheochromocytomas/paragangliomas
      (pheo) is a subject of debate and can be highly variable. The purpose of this
      study was to identify potential predictive factors of hemodynamic instability
      during pheo resection. METHODS: A retrospective review of pheo resections from
      1992 to 2013 was undertaken. Intraoperative hemodynamics, patient demographics,
      tumor characteristics, and perioperative management were examined. Postoperative
      intensive-care admission, myocardial infarction, stroke, and 30-day mortality
      were reviewed. Linear regression was used to analyze factors influencing
      intraoperative hemodynamics. RESULTS: During the 20-year study period, 100
      patients underwent pheo resection. Postoperative morbidity and mortality was
      significantly reduced (p = 0.003) in the last 10 years of practice, and there was
      a trend towards greater morbidity and mortality with intraoperative hemodynamic
      instability (p = 0.06). The preoperative dose of phenoxybenzamine and the number
      of laparoscopic procedures has increased in the last decade [59 mg (95 % CI 32
      108) to 106 mg (95 % CI 91-124), p = 0.008, and 27 vs. 54 %, p = 0.05,
      respectively]. Increased preoperative phenoxybenzamine dose was a significant
      predictor of improved intraoperative hemodynamic stability (p = 0.01). Lack of
      intraoperative magnesium use resulted in greater hemodynamic instability as
      preoperative systolic blood pressure increased (p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS:
      Postoperative outcomes following pheo resection have improved over the last two
      decades. Preoperative alpha-blockade plays a significant role in improving
      intraoperative hemodynamics and post-op outcomes. Increased doses of
      phenoxybenzamine and utilization of laparoscopic approaches have likely
      contributed to improved outcomes in the last decade. Intraoperative magnesium use
      may provide protection against hemodynamic instability and warrants further
      study.

PMID- 25822782
TI  - Outcomes of Gastric Cancer Resection in Octogenarians: A Multi-institutional
      Study of the U.S. Gastric Cancer Collaborative.
AB  - BACKGROUND: As the U.S. population ages, an increasing number of elderly patients
      with gastric adenocarcinoma are being evaluated for surgical resection. This
      study aimed to describe the short- and long-term outcomes after gastric cancer
      resection for patients 80 years of age or older. METHODS: Patients who underwent
      gastrectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma from 2000 to 2012 at seven U.S. academic
      institutions were analyzed. The main outcome measures included postoperative
      morbidity, mortality, survival, and failure to rescue (defined as death after any
      complication). RESULTS: Of 953 patients who underwent distal or total gastrectomy
      during the 12-year study period, 127 (13 %) were 80 years of age or older.
      Although the type of postoperative complications did not differ between the two
      groups, octogenarians had a higher incidence of any (54 vs 41 %; p = 0.006) and
      of major (28 vs 17 %; p = 0.006) postoperative complications. This translated
      into higher 30-day (10.2 vs 3.6 %; p = 0.001) and 90-day mortality (19.7 vs 7.9
      %; p = 0.001) rates, with correspondingly higher failure-to-rescue rates (17.4 vs
      8 %; p = 0.015). However, disease-specific survival after resection was
      equivalent between the two groups (5-year survival: 46 vs 53 %; p = 0.676). In
      the multivariate analysis, age of 80 years or older, blood transfusion, and
      albumin and creatinine levels all were independent predictors of 90-day
      mortality. Stage, tumor grade, race, blood transfusion, and adjuvant therapy, but
      not age, were independently associated with disease-specific survival.
      CONCLUSION: Perioperative mortality and failure-to-rescue from complications is
      substantial for octogenarians undergoing gastric cancer resection. However, if
      the operation can be performed safely, the long-term cancer-specific outcome
      appears similar to that for younger patients.

PMID- 25822784
TI  - Liquid Crystal Foams Generated by Pressure-Driven Microfluidic Devices.
AB  - Thermotropic liquid crystals possess superior foaming capability without the aid
      of surfactants because of the anisotropic molecular structures. We developed a T
      junction microfluidic device to inject gas bubbles of uniform size into a liquid
      crystal in the nematic and the smectic phases. The bubble size is primarily
      determined by the dimension of microfluidic channel regardless of the phase, and
      air bubbles of a few tens of micrometer diameter were stably injected at the rate
      up to 110 Hz to the close packing density with a polydispersity less than 4%. It
      is shown that an efficient path to fabricate stable liquid crystal foams is to
      inject bubbles in the nematic phase, where the highest injection rate is
      possible, and promptly cool it down to the smectic phase. 

PMID- 25822783
TI  - Truthiness and falsiness of trivia claims depend on judgmental contexts.
AB  - When people rapidly judge the truth of claims presented with or without related
      but nonprobative photos, the photos tend to inflate the subjective truth of those
      claims--a "truthiness" effect (Newman et al., 2012). For example, people more
      often judged the claim "Macadamia nuts are in the same evolutionary family as
      peaches" to be true when the claim appeared with a photo of a bowl of macadamia
      nuts than when it appeared alone. We report several replications of that effect
      and 3 qualitatively new findings: (a) in a within-subjects design, when people
      judged claims paired with a mix of related, unrelated, or no photos, related
      photos produced truthiness but unrelated photos had no significant effect
      relative to no photos; (b) in a mixed design, when people judged claims paired
      with related (or unrelated) and no photos, related photos produced truthiness and
      unrelated photos produced "falseness;" and (c) in a fully between design, when
      people judged claims paired with either related, unrelated, or no photos, neither
      truthiness nor falsiness occurred. Our results suggest that photos influence
      people's judgments when a discrepancy arises in the expected ease of processing,
      and also support a mechanism in which-against a backdrop of an expected standard
      related photos help people generate pseudoevidence to support claims.

PMID- 25822785
TI  - Improving axial resolution in confocal microscopy with new high refractive index
      mounting media.
AB  - Resolution, high signal intensity and elevated signal to noise ratio (SNR) are
      key issues for biologists who aim at studying the localisation of biological
      structures at the cellular and subcellular levels using confocal microscopy. The
      resolution required to separate sub-cellular biological structures is often near
      to the resolving power of the microscope. When optimally used, confocal
      microscopes may reach resolutions of 180 nm laterally and 500 nm axially,
      however, axial resolution in depth is often impaired by spherical aberration that
      may occur due to refractive index mismatches. Spherical aberration results in
      broadening of the point-spread function (PSF), a decrease in peak signal
      intensity when imaging in depth and a focal shift that leads to the distortion of
      the image along the z-axis and thus in a scaling error. In this study, we use the
      novel mounting medium CFM3 (Citifluor Ltd., UK) with a refractive index of 1.518
      to minimize the effects of spherical aberration. This mounting medium is
      compatible with most common fluorochromes and fluorescent proteins. We compare
      its performance with established mounting media, harbouring refractive indices
      below 1.500, by estimating lateral and axial resolution with sub-resolution
      fluorescent beads. We show furthermore that the use of the high refractive index
      media renders the tissue transparent and improves considerably the axial
      resolution and imaging depth in immuno-labelled or fluorescent protein labelled
      fixed mouse brain tissue. We thus propose to use those novel high refractive
      index mounting media, whenever optimal axial resolution is required. 

PMID- 25822786
TI  - Trends, correlates, and disease patterns of antidepressant use among elderly
      persons in Taiwan.
AB  - PURPOSE: The population-based National Health Insurance database was used to
      investigate the trends, correlates, and disease patterns for elderly people in
      Taiwan who use antidepressants. METHODS: The National Health Research Institute
      provided a database of 1000,000 random subjects for study. We created a sample of
      subjects who were older than 65 years from 1997 to 2005. Trends, prevalence, and
      associated factors of antidepressant use were detected. We also examined the
      proportion of antidepressant use for psychiatric and medical disorders. RESULTS:
      The one-year prevalence of antidepressant use in elderly persons increased from
      5.8 % in 1997 to 9.8 % in 2005. The one-year prevalence rates of tricyclic
      antidepressant (TCA), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), serotonin
      norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), serotonin modulator, and other
      antidepressant use in 2005 were 5.3, 2.6, 0.4, 2.9, and 0.6 %, respectively.
      Overall antidepressant use was higher for those in the 75- to 84-year-old age
      group, females, and those with higher Charlson Comorbidity Index scores. Among
      subjects using TCAs, 77.6 % users did not have a psychiatric diagnosis.
      Psychiatric disorders were commonly found in most SSRI and SNRI users (85.1 and
      90.1 %, respectively). Subjects using SSRIs and SNRIs had higher proportions of
      psychiatric disorders such as neurotic depression, major depression, senile and
      presenile organic psychotic conditions, and anxiety. CONCLUSION: The prevalence
      of antidepressant use among elderly persons increased greatly from 1997 to 2005.
      SSRIs, SNRIs, and other antidepressants were used mostly by subjects with
      psychiatric disorders, whereas TCAs were used mostly by subjects with
      nonpsychiatric disorders.

PMID- 25822787
TI  - Delithation, Exfoliation, and Transformation of Rock-Salt-Structured Li2TiO3 to
      Highly Exposed {010}-Faceted Anatase.
AB  - {010}-Facet-exposed anatase TiO2 crystals exhibit the highest photoreactivity
      among the exposed facets. To obtain a higher exposure rate of this facet, the
      work investigated the transformation of the nanosheets with cavities within the
      layers derived from a rock-salt-structured Li2TiO3 precursor. All the lithium
      ions were extracted from the precursor by H+/Li+ ion exchange in HCl aqueous
      solutions, and after tetramethylammonium ions were intercalated, the precursor
      can delaminated into the nanosheets. The [TiO3]2- nanosheets were hydrothermally
      treated under different temperatures and pH values. The results showed that the
      anatase phase was formed in a wider range of pH and temperature, compared with
      using nanoribbons of [Ti4O9]2- and nanosheets of [Ti1.73O4]1.07-. At low pH,
      [111]-faceted nanorod-shaped anatase nanocrystals were formed preferentially, and
      the nanocrystals preferentially grow along the [001] direction with the increase
      of solution pH, leading to a large percentage of {010} facets on their surface.
      The photocatalytic activity increases with the increase of exposure rate of {010}
      facets.

PMID- 25822788
TI  - IL-17-producing gammadelta T cells and neutrophils conspire to promote breast
      cancer metastasis.
AB  - Metastatic disease remains the primary cause of death for patients with breast
      cancer. The different steps of the metastatic cascade rely on reciprocal
      interactions between cancer cells and their microenvironment. Within this local
      microenvironment and in distant organs, immune cells and their mediators are
      known to facilitate metastasis formation. However, the precise contribution of
      tumour-induced systemic inflammation to metastasis and the mechanisms regulating
      systemic inflammation are poorly understood. Here we show that tumours maximize
      their chance of metastasizing by evoking a systemic inflammatory cascade in mouse
      models of spontaneous breast cancer metastasis. We mechanistically demonstrate
      that interleukin (IL)-1beta elicits IL-17 expression from gamma delta
      (gammadelta) T cells, resulting in systemic, granulocyte colony-stimulating
      factor (G-CSF)-dependent expansion and polarization of neutrophils in mice
      bearing mammary tumours. Tumour-induced neutrophils acquire the ability to
      suppress cytotoxic T lymphocytes carrying the CD8 antigen, which limit the
      establishment of metastases. Neutralization of IL-17 or G-CSF and absence of
      gammadelta T cells prevents neutrophil accumulation and downregulates the T-cell
      suppressive phenotype of neutrophils. Moreover, the absence of gammadelta T cells
      or neutrophils profoundly reduces pulmonary and lymph node metastases without
      influencing primary tumour progression. Our data indicate that targeting this
      novel cancer-cell-initiated domino effect within the immune system--the
      gammadelta T cell/IL-17/neutrophil axis--represents a new strategy to inhibit
      metastatic disease.

PMID- 25822789
TI  - Branch-specific dendritic Ca(2+) spikes cause persistent synaptic plasticity.
AB  - The brain has an extraordinary capacity for memory storage, but how it stores new
      information without disrupting previously acquired memories remains unknown. Here
      we show that different motor learning tasks induce dendritic Ca(2+) spikes on
      different apical tuft branches of individual layer V pyramidal neurons in the
      mouse motor cortex. These task-related, branch-specific Ca(2+) spikes cause long
      lasting potentiation of postsynaptic dendritic spines active at the time of spike
      generation. When somatostatin-expressing interneurons are inactivated, different
      motor tasks frequently induce Ca(2+) spikes on the same branches. On those
      branches, spines potentiated during one task are depotentiated when they are
      active seconds before Ca(2+) spikes induced by another task. Concomitantly,
      increased neuronal activity and performance improvement after learning one task
      are disrupted when another task is learned. These findings indicate that
      dendritic-branch-specific generation of Ca(2+) spikes is crucial for establishing
      long-lasting synaptic plasticity, thereby facilitating information storage
      associated with different learning experiences. 

PMID- 25822790
TI  - Two disparate ligand-binding sites in the human P2Y1 receptor.
AB  - In response to adenosine 5'-diphosphate, the P2Y1 receptor (P2Y1R) facilitates
      platelet aggregation, and thus serves as an important antithrombotic drug target.
      Here we report the crystal structures of the human P2Y1R in complex with a
      nucleotide antagonist MRS2500 at 2.7 A resolution, and with a non-nucleotide
      antagonist BPTU at 2.2 A resolution. The structures reveal two distinct ligand
      binding sites, providing atomic details of P2Y1R's unique ligand-binding modes.
      MRS2500 recognizes a binding site within the seven transmembrane bundle of P2Y1R,
      which is different in shape and location from the nucleotide binding site in the
      previously determined structure of P2Y12R, representative of another P2YR
      subfamily. BPTU binds to an allosteric pocket on the external receptor interface
      with the lipid bilayer, making it the first structurally characterized selective
      G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) ligand located entirely outside of the helical
      bundle. These high-resolution insights into P2Y1R should enable discovery of new
      orthosteric and allosteric antithrombotic drugs with reduced adverse effects. 

PMID- 25822792
TI  - Self-similar fragmentation regulated by magnetic fields in a region forming
      massive stars.
AB  - Most molecular clouds are filamentary or elongated. For those forming low-mass
      stars (<8 solar masses), the competition between self-gravity and turbulent
      pressure along the dynamically dominant intercloud magnetic field (10 to 100
      parsecs) shapes the clouds to be elongated either perpendicularly or parallel to
      the fields. A recent study also suggested that on the scales of 0.1 to 0.01
      parsecs, such fields are dynamically important within cloud cores forming massive
      stars (>8 solar masses). But whether the core field morphologies are inherited
      from the intercloud medium or governed by cloud turbulence is unknown, as is the
      effect of magnetic fields on cloud fragmentation at scales of 10 to 0.1 parsecs.
      Here we report magnetic-field maps inferred from polarimetric observations of NGC
      6334, a region forming massive stars, on the 100 to 0.01 parsec scale. NGC 6334
      hosts young star-forming sites where fields are not severely affected by stellar
      feedback, and their directions do not change much over the entire scale range.
      This means that the fields are dynamically important. The ordered fields lead to
      a self-similar gas fragmentation: at all scales, there exist elongated gas
      structures nearly perpendicular to the fields. Many gas elongations have density
      peaks near the ends, which symmetrically pinch the fields. The field strength is
      proportional to the 0.4th power of the density, which is an indication of
      anisotropic gas contractions along the field. We conclude that magnetic fields
      have a crucial role in the fragmentation of NGC 6334. 

PMID- 25822791
TI  - Defining fundamental steps in the assembly of the Drosophila RNAi enzyme complex.
AB  - Small RNAs such as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) silence
      the expression of their complementary target messenger RNAs via the formation of
      effector RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs), which contain Argonaute (Ago)
      family proteins at their core. Although loading of siRNA duplexes into Drosophila
      Ago2 requires the Dicer-2-R2D2 heterodimer and the Hsc70/Hsp90 (Hsp90 also known
      as Hsp83) chaperone machinery, the details of RISC assembly remain unclear. Here
      we reconstitute RISC assembly using only Ago2, Dicer-2, R2D2, Hsc70, Hsp90, Hop,
      Droj2 (an Hsp40 homologue) and p23. By following the assembly of single RISC
      molecules, we find that, in the absence of the chaperone machinery, an siRNA
      bound to Dicer-2-R2D2 associates with Ago2 only transiently. The chaperone
      machinery extends the dwell time of the Dicer-2-R2D2-siRNA complex on Ago2, in a
      manner dependent on recognition of the 5'-phosphate on the siRNA guide strand. We
      propose that the chaperone machinery supports a productive state of Ago2,
      allowing it to load siRNA duplexes from Dicer-2-R2D2 and thereby assemble RISC. 

PMID- 25822793
TI  - The 39th international conference of the EURO working group on operational
      research applied to health services: ORAHS 2013 special issue.

PMID- 25822794
TI  - Risk profiling of hookworm infection and intensity in southern Lao People's
      Democratic Republic using Bayesian models.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Among the common soil-transmitted helminth infections, hookworm
      causes the highest burden. Previous research in the southern part of Lao People's
      Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) revealed high prevalence rates of hookworm
      infection. The purpose of this study was to predict the spatial distribution of
      hookworm infection and intensity, and to investigate risk factors in the
      Champasack province, southern Lao PDR. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional
      parasitological and questionnaire survey was conducted in 51 villages. Data on
      demography, socioeconomic status, water, sanitation, and behavior were combined
      with remotely sensed environmental data. Bayesian mixed effects logistic and
      negative binomial models were utilized to investigate risk factors and spatial
      distribution of hookworm infection and intensity, and to make predictions for non
      surveyed locations. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A total of 3,371 individuals were
      examined with duplicate Kato-Katz thick smears and revealed a hookworm prevalence
      of 48.8%. Most infections (91.7%) were of light intensity (1-1,999 eggs/g of
      stool). Lower hookworm infection levels were associated with higher socioeconomic
      status. The lowest infection levels were found in preschool-aged children.
      Overall, females were at lower risk of infection, but women aged 50 years and
      above harbored the heaviest hookworm infection intensities. Hookworm was
      widespread in Champasack province with little evidence for spatial clustering.
      Infection risk was somewhat lower in the lowlands, mostly along the western bank
      of the Mekong River, while infection intensity was homogeneous across the
      Champasack province. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Hookworm transmission seems to
      occur within, rather than between villages in Champasack province. We present
      spatial risk maps of hookworm infection and intensity, which suggest that control
      efforts should be intensified in the Champasack province, particularly in
      mountainous areas.

PMID- 25822795
TI  - Role of Interleukin-1 in Radiation-Induced Cardiomyopathy.
AB  - Thoracic X-ray therapy (XRT), used in cancer treatment, is associated with
      increased risk of heart failure. XRT-mediated injury to the heart induces an
      inflammatory response leading to cardiomyopathy. The aim of this study was to
      determine the role of interleukin (IL)-1 in response to XRT injury to the heart
      and on the cardiomyopathy development in the mouse. Female mice with genetic
      deletion of the IL-1 receptor type I (IL-1R1 knockout mice [IL-1R1 KO]) and
      treatment with recombinant human IL-1 receptor antagonist anakinra, 10 mg/kg
      twice daily for 7 d, were used as independent approaches to determine the role of
      IL-1. Wild-type (wt) or IL-1R1 KO mice were treated with a single session of XRT
      (20 or 14 gray [Gy]). Echocardiography (before and after isoproterenol challenge)
      and left ventricular (LV) catheterization were performed to evaluate changes in
      LV dimensions and function. Masson's trichrome was used to assess myocardial
      fibrosis and pericardial thickening. After 20 Gy, the contractile reserve was
      impaired in wt mice at d 3, and the LV ejection fraction (EF) was reduced after 4
      months when compared with sham-XRT. IL-1R1 KO mice had preserved contractile
      reserve at 3 d and 4 months and LVEF at 4 months after XRT. Anakinra treatment
      for 1 d before and 7 d after XRT prevented the impairment in contractile reserve.
      A significant increase in LV end-diastolic pressure, associated with increased
      myocardial interstitial fibrosis and pericardial thickening, was observed in wt
      mice, as well as in IL-1R1 KO-or anakinra-treated mice. In conclusion, induction
      of IL-1 by XRT mediates the development of some, such as the contractile
      impairment, but not all aspects of the XRT-induced cardiomyopathy, such as
      myocardial fibrosis or pericardial thickening. 

PMID- 25822796
TI  - Genetic Determinants of Epigenetic Patterns: Providing Insight into Disease.
AB  - The field of epigenetics and our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate
      the establishment, maintenance and heritability of epigenetic patterns continue
      to grow at a remarkable rate. This information is providing increased
      understanding of the role of epigenetic changes in disease, insight into the
      underlying causes of these epigenetic changes and revealing new avenues for
      therapeutic intervention. Epigenetic modifiers are increasingly being pursued as
      therapeutic targets in a range of diseases, with a number of agents targeting
      epigenetic modifications already proving effective in diseases such as cancer.
      Although it is well established that DNA mutations and aberrant expression of
      epigenetic modifiers play a key role in disease, attention is now turning to the
      interplay between genetic and epigenetic factors in complex disease etiology. The
      role of genetic variability in determining epigenetic profiles, which can then be
      modified by environmental and stochastic factors, is becoming more apparent.
      Understanding the interplay between genetic and epigenetic factors is likely to
      aid in identifying individuals most likely to benefit from epigenetic therapies.
      This goal is coming closer to realization because of continual advances in
      laboratory and statistical tools enabling improvements in the integration of
      genomic, epigenomic and phenotypic data. 

PMID- 25822797
TI  - CD40-CD40 Ligand Pathway is a Major Component of Acute Neuroinflammation and
      Contributes to Long-term Cognitive Dysfunction after Sepsis.
AB  - Sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) is associated with an increased rate of
      morbidity and mortality. It is not understood what the exact mechanism is for the
      brain dysfunction that occurs in septic patients, but brain inflammation and
      oxidative stress are a possible theory. Such events can occur through the
      alteration of molecules that perpetuate the inflammatory response. Thus, it is
      possible to postulate that CD40 may be involved in this process. The aim of this
      work is to evaluate the role of CD40-CD40L pathway activation in brain
      dysfunction associated with sepsis in an animal model. Microglia activation
      induces the upregulation of CD40-CD40L, both in vitro and in vivo. The inhibition
      of microglia activation decreases levels of CD40-CD40L in the brain and decreases
      brain inflammation, oxidative damage and blood brain barrier dysfunction. Despite
      this, anti-CD40 treatment does not improve mortality in this model. However, it
      is able to improve long-term cognitive impairment in sepsis survivors. In
      conclusion, there is a major involvement of the CD40-CD40L signaling pathway in
      long-term brain dysfunction in an animal model of sepsis. 

PMID- 25822798
TI  - Diversity of the expression profiles of late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) protein
      encoding genes in the anhydrobiotic midge Polypedilum vanderplanki.
AB  - MAIN CONCLUSION: In the anhydrobiotic midge Polypedilum vanderplanki , LEA family
      proteins are likely to play distinct temporal and spatial roles in the larvae
      throughout the process of desiccation and rehydration. The larvae of the
      anhydrobiotic midge, P. vanderplanki, which can tolerate almost complete
      desiccation, accumulate late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins in response to
      drying. Using complete genome data of the midge, we have identified 27 PvLea1
      like genes based on the similarity to previously characterized PvLea1 gene
      belonging to group 3 LEA proteins. Generally, group 3 LEA proteins are
      characterized by several repetitions of an 11-mer motif. However, some PvLea
      genes lack the canonical motif in their sequences. We performed the detailed
      characterization of all 27 PvLea genes in terms of biochemical and biophysical
      properties and conserved motifs. The motif analysis among their amino acid
      sequences revealed that all 27 PvLEA proteins have at least one of two types of
      motifs (motif 1: G AKDTTKEKLGE AKDATAEKLG or motif 2: KD ILExAKDKLxD AKDAVKEKL),
      indicating the presence of at least two repeated 11-mer LEA motifs. Most of PvLEA
      proteins were localized to the cytosol. We also performed quantitative real-time
      PCR of all 27 PvLea genes in detail during the process of desiccation and
      rehydration. The expression of these genes was upregulated at the beginning of
      dehydration, the latter phase of the desiccation process and on rehydration
      process. These data suggested that each LEA protein is likely to play distinct
      temporal and spatial roles in the larvae throughout the process of desiccation
      and rehydration.

PMID- 25822799
TI  - High-speed label-free functional photoacoustic microscopy of mouse brain in
      action.
AB  - We present fast functional photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) for three-dimensional
      high-resolution, high-speed imaging of the mouse brain, complementary to other
      imaging modalities. We implemented a single-wavelength pulse-width-based method
      with a one-dimensional imaging rate of 100 kHz to image blood oxygenation with
      capillary-level resolution. We applied PAM to image the vascular morphology,
      blood oxygenation, blood flow and oxygen metabolism in both resting and
      stimulated states in the mouse brain. 

PMID- 25822801
TI  - The Chhattisgarh state screening programme for the sickle cell gene: a cost
      effective approach to a public health problem.
AB  - In India, the Chhattisgarh State screening programme for sickle haemoglobin
      focuses on children aged 3-15 years and has screened over 1,050,440 subjects over
      the last 6 years. Commencing in the District around the capital Raipur, this
      programme has now completed screening in 7 of the 27 Districts of Chhattisgarh
      State. Screening is initially performed by solubility tests on fingerprick
      samples in the field and those with positive tests have venipunctures for
      haemoglobin electrophoresis. The frequency of the sickle cell trait was 9.64 %
      and of the SS phenotype 0.29 % with only two Districts in Hardy-Weinberg
      equilibrium, most Districts showing an excess of the SS 'phenotype' most readily
      explained by symptomatic selection. The estimated costs were US$0.28 (solubility
      tests alone) and US$0.60 (haemoglobin electrophoresis). Of the social groupings
      commonly used in India, the OBC's (other backward classes) had the highest
      frequencies of the sickle cell gene mutations, followed by the Scheduled Tribes
      and the Scheduled Castes. The objectives of the programme were the detection of
      sickle cell disease for prospective clinical management and of the sickle cell
      trait for purposes of genetic counselling. The former objective is being met for
      diagnosis although the success of referral to clinic services requires audit. The
      objective of genetic counselling is compromised by the failure of the screening
      test to detect other genes of potential clinical significance such as HbD Punjab
      and the beta thalassaemia trait. Despite these exceptions, the detection of HbS
      appears relatively robust and could be another condition factored into the
      traditions of partner selection amongst the underprivileged communities of this
      state. Overall, the Chhattisgarh programme seeks to address the daunting
      challenges of large populations carrying the sickle cell gene and maybe a useful
      model for elsewhere. 

PMID- 25822800
TI  - Robust enumeration of cell subsets from tissue expression profiles.
AB  - We introduce CIBERSORT, a method for characterizing cell composition of complex
      tissues from their gene expression profiles. When applied to enumeration of
      hematopoietic subsets in RNA mixtures from fresh, frozen and fixed tissues,
      including solid tumors, CIBERSORT outperformed other methods with respect to
      noise, unknown mixture content and closely related cell types. CIBERSORT should
      enable large-scale analysis of RNA mixtures for cellular biomarkers and
      therapeutic targets (http://cibersort.stanford.edu/). 

PMID- 25822803
TI  - Editorial.

PMID- 25822802
TI  - Down-regulated E-cadherin expression is associated with poor five-year overall
      survival in bone and soft tissue sarcoma: results of a meta-analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic role of E-cadherin
      expression in bone and soft tissue sarcomas. METHODS: The PubMed, EMBASE, and Web
      of Science databases were searched using terms related to E-cadherin, sarcoma,
      and prognosis for all articles published in English before March 2014. Pooled
      effect was calculated from the available data to evaluate the association between
      negative E-cadherin expression and 5-year overall survival and tumor
      clinicopathological features in sarcoma patients. Pooled odds ratios (OR) and
      risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using a fixed
      effects model. RESULT: Eight studies met the selection criteria and reported on
      812 subjects. A total of 496 subjects showed positive E-cadherin expression
      (59.9%). Negative E-cadherin expression in bone and soft tissue sarcomas was
      correlated with lower 5-year overall survival (OR = 3.831; 95% CI: 2.246-6.534),
      and was associated with higher clinical stage (RR = 1.446; 95% CI: 1.030-2.028)
      and with male sex (RR = 0.678; 95% CI: 0.493-0.933). CONCLUSION: In the E
      cadherin negative group, 5-year overall survival was significantly worse than in
      the E-cadherin positive group. However, further studies are required to confirm
      these results.

PMID- 25822805
TI  - Effect of resveratrol and orchidectomy on the vasorelaxing influence of
      perivascular adipose tissue.
AB  - Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) releases several adipo(cyto)kines. Some are
      vasoactive substances that elicit a net beneficial anticontractile effect.
      Resveratrol and testosterone are known to modulate adipo(cyto)kine release from
      adipose tissue and could therefore influence the anticontractile effect of PVAT.
      In vitro tension measurements were performed using thoracic aorta segments with
      and without adipose tissue from sham-operated or orchidectomized male Swiss mice.
      Concentration-response curves to norepinephrine (NOR) were constructed in the
      presence and absence of resveratrol (10 MUM, 15 min) or the relaxant effect of
      resveratrol (10-100 MUM) was investigated after inducing tone with NOR (5 MUM).
      Aortas with PVAT displayed significantly attenuated contractions to NOR compared
      with aortas without PVAT. In aortas without PVAT, resveratrol (10 MUM)
      significantly decreased NOR responses and elicited concentration-dependent (10
      100 uM) relaxations. However, in aortas with adherent PVAT, resveratrol (10 MUM)
      neither decreased NOR responses, nor did resveratrol (10-100 uM) induce arterial
      relaxations. The anticontractile effect of PVAT was less pronounced in the
      presence of resveratrol and unaltered by orchidectomy. Orchidectomy did not
      influence contractions induced by NOR. Orchidectomy does not modulate the
      anticontractile capacity of PVAT, while resveratrol decreases the vasorelaxing
      influence of PVAT. The positive effects associated with resveratrol addition are
      neutralized by the presence of PVAT. This is thought to result from a dual effect
      of resveratrol: (1) inhibition of the influence of vasodilatory adipo(cyto)kines
      and (2) a direct relaxant effect on the vascular smooth muscle. Overall, the
      beneficial relaxing effect of resveratrol is lost in mice thoracic aorta
      surrounded by PVAT.

PMID- 25822804
TI  - World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for
      Biological Treatment of Schizophrenia. Part 3: Update 2015 Management of special
      circumstances: Depression, Suicidality, substance use disorders and pregnancy and
      lactation.
AB  - These updated guidelines are based on the first edition of the World Federation
      of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) guidelines for biological treatment
      of schizophrenia published in the years 2005 and 2006. For this 2015 revision,
      all available publications pertaining to the biological treatment of
      schizophrenia were reviewed systematically to allow for an evidence-based update.
      These guidelines provide evidence-based practice recommendations which are
      clinically and scientifically relevant. They are intended to be used by all
      physicians diagnosing and treating patients with schizophrenia. Based on the
      first version of these guidelines a systematic review, as well as a data
      extraction from national guidelines have been performed for this update. The
      identified literature was evaluated with respect to the strength of evidence for
      its efficacy and subsequently categorised into six levels of evidence (A-F) and
      five levels of recommendation (1-5). This third part of the updated guidelines
      covers the management of the following specific treatment circumstances: comorbid
      depression, suicidality, various comorbid substance use disorders (legal and
      illegal drugs), and pregnancy and lactation. These guidelines are primarily
      concerned with the biological treatment (including antipsychotic medication and
      other pharmacological treatment options) of patients with schizophrenia. 

PMID- 25822806
TI  - Diabetes is a predictor of coronary artery stenosis in patients hospitalized with
      heart failure.
AB  - In patients with heart failure, coronary artery disease is the most common
      underlying heart disease, and is associated with increased mortality. However,
      estimating the presence or absence of coronary artery disease in patients with
      heart failure is sometimes difficult without coronary imaging. We reviewed 155
      consecutive patients hospitalized with heart failure who underwent coronary
      angiography. The patients were divided into two groups: patients with (N = 59)
      and without (N = 96) coronary artery stenosis. The clinical characteristics and
      blood sampling data were compared between the two groups. The patients with
      coronary artery stenosis were older than those without. The prevalence of
      diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidemia and a history of revascularization was
      higher in the patients with coronary artery stenosis. Patients with coronary
      artery stenosis tended to have wall motion asynergy more frequently than those
      without. On the other hand, the prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) was lower
      in patients with coronary artery stenosis. The serum hemoglobin level and
      estimated glomerular filtration rate were lower in patients with coronary artery
      stenosis than in those without. In the multivariate analysis, DM (odds ratio
      3.517, 95 % CI 1.601-7.727) was found to be the only the predictor of the
      presence of coronary artery stenosis in patients with heart failure. In
      conclusion, coronary imaging is strongly recommended for heart failure patients
      with DM to confirm the presence of coronary artery stenosis. 

PMID- 25822807
TI  - The development of a MU-biomimetic uncooled IR-Sensor inspired by the infrared
      receptors of Melanophila acuminata.
AB  - The beetle Melanophila acuminata uses a specialized organ to detect infrared
      radiation. The organ consists of about 100 individual sensilla. The main
      component of the sensillum is a pressure chamber. Upon absorption of radiation,
      the pressure increases, and the tip of a dendrite is deformed. A unique feature
      of the organ is a compensation mechanism that prevents large pressures. The
      beetle uses this organ to detect forest fires and to navigate inside burning
      woods. However, the sensitivity is part of a long-lasting discussion, providing
      thresholds between [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. To end the decade
      long discussion and to provide a novel type of infrared sensor, we are developing
      an uncooled MU-biomimetic infrared (IR) sensor inspired by Melanophila acuminata
      using MEMS technology. Here, we present the development of a MU-capacitor that is
      used to detect pressure changes and the characterization of the compensation
      mechanism. We describe the microtechnological fabrication process for air-filled
      capacitors with a ratio of diameter-to-electrode distance of 1000 and a technique
      to fill the sensor bubble-free with water. Finally, we estimate the sensitivity
      of the beetle using a theoretical model of the sensillum. 

PMID- 25822808
TI  - EPR and NMR spectroscopies provide input on the coordination of Cu(I) and Ag(I)
      to a disordered methionine segment.
AB  - Methionine motifs are methionine-rich metal-binding segments found in many human,
      yeast, and bacterial proteins involved in the transportation of copper ion to
      other cellular pathways, and in protecting copper from oxidation. Methionine
      motifs are found to bind Ag(I) and Cu(I) ions. Proteins or peptides that can bind
      different metal ions should have the ability to differentiate between them, to be
      able to shuttle them to various pathways in the cell. This study utilizes
      electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy together with circular dichroism and
      nuclear magnetic resonance to probe structural changes in the methionine segment
      upon coordinating Cu(I) and Ag(I) metal ions. The data collected here indicate
      that methionine segments experience structural changes while coordinating Cu(I)
      and Ag(I), however, the differences between the coordination of Cu(I) vs. Ag(I)
      to the methionine segment are mild. Since Cu(I) and Ag(I) metal ions are pretty
      similar in their nature and charge, the minor structural changes reported here
      are significant towards the understanding of the differences in the transport
      mechanism of these two metal ions in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

PMID- 25822809
TI  - Fullerene mixing effect on carrier formation in bulk-hetero organic solar cell.
AB  - Organic solar cells (OSCs) with a bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) are promising energy
      conversion devices, because they are flexible and environmental-friendly, and can
      be fabricated by low-cost roll-to-roll process. Here, we systematically
      investigated the interrelations between photovoltaic properties and the domain
      morphology of the active layer in OSCs based on films of poly-(9,9
      dioctylfluorene-co-bithiophene) (F8T2)/[6,6]-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester
      (PC71BM) blend annealed at various temperatures (Tan). The scanning transmission
      X-ray microscopy (STXM) revealed that fullerene mixing (PhiFullerene) in the
      polymer matrix decreases with increase in Tan while the domain size (L) is nearly
      independent of Tan. The TEM-S mapping image suggests that the polymer matrix
      consist of polymer clusters of several nm and fullerene. We found that the charge
      formation efficiency (PhiCF), internal quantum efficiency (PhiIQ), and power
      conversion efficiency (PCE) are dominantly determined by PhiFullerene. We
      interpreted these observations in terms of the polymer clusters within the
      polymer matrix. 

PMID- 25822810
TI  - Modelling and Analysis of Electrical Potentials Recorded in Microelectrode Arrays
      (MEAs).
AB  - Microelectrode arrays (MEAs), substrate-integrated planar arrays of up to
      thousands of closely spaced metal electrode contacts, have long been used to
      record neuronal activity in in vitro brain slices with high spatial and temporal
      resolution. However, the analysis of the MEA potentials has generally been mainly
      qualitative. Here we use a biophysical forward-modelling formalism based on the
      finite element method (FEM) to establish quantitatively accurate links between
      neural activity in the slice and potentials recorded in the MEA set-up. Then we
      develop a simpler approach based on the method of images (MoI) from
      electrostatics, which allows for computation of MEA potentials by simple formulas
      similar to what is used for homogeneous volume conductors. As we find MoI to give
      accurate results in most situations of practical interest, including anisotropic
      slices covered with highly conductive saline and MEA-electrode contacts of
      sizable physical extensions, a Python software package (ViMEAPy) has been
      developed to facilitate forward-modelling of MEA potentials generated by
      biophysically detailed multicompartmental neurons. We apply our scheme to
      investigate the influence of the MEA set-up on single-neuron spikes as well as on
      potentials generated by a cortical network comprising more than 3000 model
      neurons. The generated MEA potentials are substantially affected by both the
      saline bath covering the brain slice and a (putative) inadvertent saline layer at
      the interface between the MEA chip and the brain slice. We further explore
      methods for estimation of current-source density (CSD) from MEA potentials, and
      find the results to be much less sensitive to the experimental set-up.

PMID- 25822811
TI  - Estimating Intracranial Volume in Brain Research: An Evaluation of Methods.
AB  - Intracranial volume (ICV) is a standard measure often used in morphometric
      analyses to correct for head size in brain studies. Inaccurate ICV estimation
      could introduce bias in the outcome. The current study provides a decision aid in
      defining protocols for ICV estimation across different subject groups in terms of
      sampling frequencies that can be optimally used on the volumetric MRI data, and
      type of software most suitable for use in estimating the ICV measure. Four groups
      of 53 subjects are considered, including adult controls (AC, adults with
      Alzheimer's disease (AD), pediatric controls (PC) and group of pediatric epilepsy
      subjects (PE). Reference measurements were calculated for each subject by
      manually tracing intracranial cavity without sub-sampling. The reliability of
      reference measurements were assured through intra- and inter- variation analyses.
      Three publicly well-known software packages (FreeSurfer Ver. 5.3.0, FSL Ver. 5.0,
      SPM8 and SPM12) were examined in their ability to automatically estimate ICV
      across the groups. Results on sub-sampling studies with a 95 % confidence showed
      that in order to keep the accuracy of the inter-leaved slice sampling protocol
      above 99 %, sampling period cannot exceed 20 mm for AC, 25 mm for PC, 15 mm for
      AD and 17 mm for the PE groups. The study assumes a priori knowledge about the
      population under study into the automated ICV estimation. Tuning of the
      parameters in FSL and the use of proper atlas in SPM showed significant reduction
      in the systematic bias and the error in ICV estimation via these automated tools.
      SPM12 with the use of pediatric template is found to be a more suitable candidate
      for PE group. SPM12 and FSL subjected to tuning are the more appropriate tools
      for the PC group. The random error is minimized for FS in AD group and SPM8
      showed less systematic bias. Across the AC group, both SPM12 and FS performed
      well but SPM12 reported lesser amount of systematic bias.

PMID- 25822812
TI  - Genetic association study of phosphodiesterase 8B gene with subclinical
      hypothyroidism in pregnant women.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore whether phosphodiesterase 8B (PDE8B) gene is involved in
      the etiology of subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) in pregnant women. METHODS: A
      total of 180 pregnant patients with SCH and 311 healthy, pregnant control
      subjects were recruited in this study to detect 4 (rs4704397, rs6885099,
      rs2046045, and rs12514694 in PDE8B) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
      Univariate associations were studied using Pearson's chi(2) test for categorical
      variables and Student t/ANOVA tests for continuous ones. Nonparametric Kruskal
      Wallis test were used to study the associations of TSH level in different
      genotypes. Genotyping of SNPs was performed by the MassARRAY((r)) iPLEX((r)) Gold
      SNP genotyping analysis technique. The SHEsis program was used to analyze the
      genotyping data. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in the rate of high
      TSH in three genotypes of rs4704397 in all pregnant women. After adjusting for
      multiple testing by the program SNPSpD, allelic frequencies of rs4704397 (p =
      0.016, OR = 1.692), rs6885099 (p = 0.031, OR = 0.621), and rs2046045 (p = 0.023,
      OR = 0.602) in PDE8B gene showed significant differences between patients with
      SCH and control subjects. There were no significant differences of genotype
      frequencies between patients and controls at any of the analyzed SNPs (p >
      0.05).The haplotypes ''A G C G'' (p = 0.002; OR, 1.533; 95% CI, 1.172-2.006) and
      "G A A G" (p = 0.014; OR, 0.576; 95% CI, 0.369-0.899) in PDE8B were observed to
      be significantly associated with SCH in pregnant women. CONCLUSION: Genetic
      variation of the PDE8B gene may be involved in the etiology of SCH in pregnant
      women.

PMID- 25822813
TI  - Anxiolytic effects of sesamin in mice with chronic inflammatory pain.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Sesamin is known for its role in antioxidant, antiproliferative,
      antihypertensive, and neuroprotective activities. However, little is known about
      the role of sesamin in the development of emotional disorders. Here we
      investigated persistent inflammatory pain hypersensitivity and anxiety-like
      behaviors in the mouse suffering chronic pain. METHODS: Chronic inflammatory pain
      was induced by hind paw injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Levels of
      protein were detected by Western blot. RESULTS: Administration of sesamin could
      induce anxiolytic activities but had no effect on analgesia. In the basolateral
      amygdala, a structure involving the anxiety development, sesamin attenuated the
      up-regulation of NR2B-containing N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors, GluR1 subunit of
      the alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor as well as
      phosphorylation of GluR1 at Ser831 (p-GluR1-Ser831), and Ca(2+)/calmodulin
      dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII-alpha) in the hind paw CFA-injected mice. In
      the same model, we found that the sesamin blocked the down-regulation of gamma
      aminobutyric acid A (GABAA-alpha-2) receptors. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that
      sesamin reduces anxiety-like behaviors induced by chronic pain at least partially
      through regulating the GABAergic and glutamatergic transmission in the amygdala
      of mice.

PMID- 25822814
TI  - [Excess mortality of schizophrenia].
AB  - Patients with schizophrenia have a diminished life expectancy of 15-20 years
      compared to the general population. Over the last decades excess mortality of
      suicide has decreased, whereas excess mortality of physical illness, especially
      cardiovascular disease has increased. Focus attends current somatic co-morbidity,
      side effects to medication and poor lifestyle. Further actions to prevent excess
      mortality of physical illness are needed. 

PMID- 25822815
TI  - [Autoimmune hepatitis preceded by hepatitis A].
AB  - Autoimmune hepatitis is characterized by unresolving inflammation and fibrosis of
      the liver, which untreated may lead to cirrhosis. The pathogenesis remains
      unclear and reflects a complex interaction between autoantigens, genetic
      predisposition, triggering factors and immune regulation. In rare cases, acute
      hepatitis A has been suspected as a triggering factor. We describe a case of a 66
      year-old woman who two months after a resolving acute hepatitis A presented with
      fatigue, pale stools and elevated levels of transaminases. A liver biopsy showed
      histological changes compatible with autoimmune hepatitis. 

PMID- 25822816
TI  - [Frovatriptan possibly causing acute myocardial infarction].
AB  - Globally migraine affects more than 10% of the adult population and it is treated
      with simple analgesics, combined with a triptan for a stronger treatment effect.
      Triptans cause arterial vasoconstriction, and this is a case report of vasospasm
      induced acute myocardial infarction in a 61-year-old woman with frequent episodic
      migraine attacks treated with triptans. She was possibly also suffering from
      medication overuse headache. We suggest that regular frovatriptan use may have
      contributed to the myocardial infarction and that long-term triptan use may have
      caused the medication overuse headache. 

PMID- 25822817
TI  - [Metastatic adenocarcinoma in preputium of a patient with oesophageal cancer].
AB  - Secondary or acquired phimosis usually occurs as part of a benign disease. We
      present a case of secondary phimosis caused by metastasis from a newly diagnosed
      oesophageal adenocarcinoma. The patient presented with clinical suspicion of
      infection in the preputial space, but histopathology revealed dilated lymphatic
      vessels with peripheral embolisms of epithelial tumour cells. This case report
      emphasizes the importance of establishing the cause of secondary phimosis by
      histopath-ological examination for possible malignancy. 

PMID- 25822818
TI  - [Spontaneous bilateral tubal pregnancy following caesarean section].
AB  - We describe a rare case of bilateral tubal pregnancy following natural conception
      in a woman with no other known risk factor than two former caesarean sections.
      Intraabdominal adhesions following the caesarean sections complicated the
      salpingectomy thus diminishing certainty of a healthy contralateral tube. The
      woman was readmitted three weeks later and had an additional salpingectomy on
      behalf of an unrecognized tubal pregnancy. Considering the rising caesarean
      section rates clinicians need to be certain of no additional ectopic pregnancy
      while performing the primary operation. 

PMID- 25822819
TI  - Investigation of hydrogen sulfide exposure and lung function, asthma and chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease in a geothermal area of New Zealand.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Results have been conflicting whether long-term ambient hydrogen
      sulfide (H2S) affects lung function or is a risk factor for asthma or chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Rotorua city, New Zealand, has the world's
      largest population exposed to ambient H2S-from geothermal sources. OBJECTIVES: We
      investigated associations of H2S with lung function, COPD and asthma in this
      population. METHODS: 1,204 of 1,639 study participants, aged 18-65 years during
      2008-2010, provided satisfactory spirometry results. Residences, workplaces and
      schools over the last 30 years were geocoded. Exposures were estimated from data
      collected by summer and winter H2S monitoring networks across Rotorua. Four
      metrics for H2S exposure, representing both current and long-term (last 30 years)
      exposure, and also time-weighted average and peak exposures, were calculated.
      Departures from expected values for pre-bronchodilator lung function, calculated
      from prediction equations, were outcomes for linear regression models using
      quartiles of the H2S exposure metrics. Separate models examined participants with
      and without evidence of asthma or COPD, and never- and ever-smokers. Logistic
      regression was used to investigate associations of COPD (a post-bronchodilator
      FEV1/FVC < 70% of expected) and asthma (doctor-diagnosed or by FEV1 response to
      bronchodilator) with H2S exposure quartiles. RESULTS: None of the exposure
      metrics produced evidence of lung function decrement. The logistic regression
      analysis showed no evidence that long-term H2S exposure at Rotorua levels was
      associated with either increased COPD or asthma risk. Some results suggested that
      recent ambient H2S exposures were beneficially associated with lung function
      parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The study found no evidence of reductions in lung
      function, or increased risk of COPD or asthma, from recent or long-term H2S
      exposure at the relatively high ambient concentrations found in Rotorua.
      Suggestions of improved lung function associated with recent ambient H2S
      exposures require confirmation in other studies.

PMID- 25822820
TI  - Effect and Tolerability of Agalsidase Alfa in Patients with Fabry Disease Who
      Were Treatment Naive or Formerly Treated with Agalsidase Beta or Agalsidase Alfa.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: In a multicenter, open-label, treatment protocol (HGT-REP-059;
      NCT01031173), clinical effects and tolerability of agalsidase alfa (agalalpha;
      0.2 mg/kg every other week) were evaluated in patients with Fabry disease who
      were treatment naive or switched from agalsidase beta (switch). Over 24 months,
      data were collected on the safety profile; renal and cardiac parameters were
      assessed using estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), left ventricular mass
      index (LVMI), and midwall fractional shortening (MFS). RESULTS: Enrolled patients
      included 71 switch (median [range] age, 46.6 [5-84] years; male to female [M:F],
      40:31) and 29 treatment naive (38.7 [12-74] years; M:F, 14:15). Adverse events
      (AEs) were consistent with the known safety profile of agalalpha. Two switch
      patients had hospitalization due to possibly/probably drug-related serious AEs
      (one with transient ischemic attack, one with infusion-related AEs). One switch
      and two treatment-naive patients discontinued treatment because of AEs. Three
      patients (one each switch, treatment naive, and previous agalalpha) died; no
      deaths were considered drug-related. There was no significant change from
      baseline in LVMI or MFS in either group. Similarly, eGFR remained stable; mean +/
      standard error annualized change in eGFR (mL/min/1.73 m(2)) was -2.40 +/- 1.04
      in switch and -1.68 +/- 2.21 in treatment-naive patients. CONCLUSIONS: This is
      the largest cohort of patients with Fabry disease who were started on or switched
      to agalalpha in an FDA-accepted protocol during a worldwide supply shortage of
      agalsidase beta. Because this protocol was primarily designed to provide access
      to agalalpha, there were limitations, including not having stringent selection
      criteria and the lack of a placebo group.

PMID- 25822821
TI  - The Kuvan((r)) Adult Maternal Paediatric European Registry (KAMPER) Multinational
      Observational Study: Baseline and 1-Year Data in Phenylketonuria Patients
      Responsive to Sapropterin.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Sapropterin dihydrochloride (Kuvan((r))), a synthetic 6R
      diastereoisomer of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), is approved in Europe for the
      treatment of patients aged >=4 years with hyperphenylalaninaemia (HPA) due to BH4
      responsive phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) deficiency, in conjunction with a
      phenylalanine-restricted diet, and also for the treatment of patients with BH4
      deficiency. AIMS/METHODS: KAMPER is an ongoing, observational, multicentre
      registry with the primary objective of providing information over 15 years on
      long-term safety of sapropterin dihydrochloride treatment in patients with HPA.
      Here we report initial data on characteristics from patients recruited by the
      time of the third interim analysis and results at 1 year. RESULTS: Overall, 325
      patients from 55 sites in seven European countries were included in the analysis:
      296 (91.1%) patients with PAH deficiency (median [Q1, Q3] age, 10.3 [7.2, 15.0]
      years) and 29 (8.9%) with BH4 deficiency (12.8 [6.6, 18.9] years). Fifty-nine
      patients (18.2%) were aged >=18 years; 4 patients were pregnant. No elderly
      patients (aged >=65 years) or patients with renal or hepatic insufficiency were
      enroled in the study. Twelve-month data were available for 164 patients with PAH
      deficiency and 16 with BH4 deficiency. No new safety concerns were identified as
      of May 2013. CONCLUSIONS: Initial data from KAMPER show that sapropterin
      dihydrochloride has a favourable safety profile. Registry data collected over
      time will provide insight into the management and outcomes of patients with PAH
      deficiency and BH4 deficiency, including long-term safety, impact on growth and
      neurocognitive outcomes and the effect of sapropterin dihydrochloride treatment
      on populations of special interest.

PMID- 25822822
TI  - Pyrroloquinoline-quinone suppresses liver fibrogenesis in mice.
AB  - Liver fibrosis represents the consequences of a sustained wound healing response
      to chronic liver injuries, and its progression toward cirrhosis is the major
      cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, anti-fibrotic
      treatment remains an unconquered area for drug development. Accumulating evidence
      indicate that oxidative stress plays a critical role in liver fibrogenesis. In
      this study, we found that PQQ, a natural anti-oxidant present in a wide variety
      of human foods, exerted potent anti-fibrotic and ROS-scavenging activity in
      Balb/C mouse models of liver fibrosis. The antioxidant activity of PQQ was
      involved in the modulation of multiple steps during liver fibrogenesis, including
      chronic liver injury, hepatic inflammation, as well as activation of hepatic
      stellate cells and production of extracellular matrix. PQQ also suppressed the up
      regulation of RACK1 in activated HSCs in vivo and in vitro. Our data suggest that
      PQQ suppresses oxidative stress and liver fibrogenesis in mice, and provide
      rationale for the clinical application of PQQ in the prevention and treatment of
      liver fibrosis. 

PMID- 25822823
TI  - Expression of 1N3R-Tau isoform inhibits cell proliferation by inducing S phase
      arrest in N2a cells.
AB  - Tau is a microtubule-associated protein implicated in neurodegenerative
      tauopathies. Six tau isoforms are generated from a single gene through
      alternative splicing of exons 2, 3 and 10 in human brain. Differential expression
      of tau isoforms has been detected in different brain areas, during
      neurodevelopment and in neurodegenerative disorders. However, the biological
      significance of different tau isoforms is not clear. Here, we investigated the
      individual effect of six different isoforms of tau on cell proliferation and the
      possible mechanisms by transient expression of eGFP-labeled tau isoform plasmid
      in N2a cells. Our study showed the transfection efficiency was comparable between
      different isoforms of tau by examining GFP expression. Compared with other
      isoforms, we found expression of 1N3R-tau significantly inhibited cell
      proliferation by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and BrdU incorporation. Flow cytometry
      analysis further showed expression of 1N3R-tau induced S phase arrest. Compared
      with the longest isoform of tau, expression of 1N3R-tau induced cyclin E
      translocation from the nuclei to cytoplasm, while it did not change the level of
      cell cycle checkpoint proteins. These data indicate that 1N3R-tau inhibits cell
      proliferation through inducing S phase arrest. 

PMID- 25822824
TI  - Milk matrix effects on antibody binding analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent
      assay and biolayer interferometry.
AB  - Biolayer interferometry (BLI) was employed to study the impact of the milk matrix
      on the binding of ricin to asialofetuin (ASF) and to antibodies. This optical
      sensing platform used ligands immobilized covalently or via biotin-streptavidin
      linkage, and the results were compared to those obtained by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In sandwich ELISA, the binding of ricin to ASF was
      dramatically decreased when galactose was present during the analyte or detection
      antibody binding step. Low concentrations of milk (1%, v/v) produced a similar
      reduction in ricin binding to ASF but not to a high-affinity monoclonal antibody
      (mAb), increasing the dissociation rate of ASF-ricin complexes up to 100-fold.
      The effect of milk on the binding of ricin to ASF was ascribable to dialyzable
      factors, and milk sugar can account for these effects. The use of high-affinity
      mAbs in ELISA effectively limits the milk matrix effect on ricin analysis. 

PMID- 25822825
TI  - "Selling" value: the influence of language on willingness-to-accept.
AB  - In behavioral economics, the "endowment effect" describes the robust finding that
      prices people are willing to accept (WTA) for a good exceed prices people are
      willing to pay (WTP) for the same good. The increase in WTA values is often
      explained by the sellers' negative hedonic response to losing their item. Recent
      studies, however, show that subtle cues may change participants' perspective,
      influencing their valuations. We hypothesized that implicit connotations of
      instructional language may be one of those cues. To test this hypothesis we
      manipulated the wording of instructions in two conditions: in the Sell condition,
      subjects were endowed with a set of pens and asked to select an amount of money
      for which they would sell the pens back and in the Take condition, subjects were
      endowed with the pens and asked to select an amount of money they would take for
      the pens. Participants in each condition also estimated the market value of the
      pens. Consistent with our hypothesis, WTA in the Sell condition was higher than
      in the Take condition, though there were no differences in market values between
      conditions. These findings show that instructional language does influence
      participant valuations. Furthermore, we suggest that those being asked to "sell"
      use their market estimations as the salient reference point in the transaction. 

PMID- 25822826
TI  - Correction: New insights into phosphorus mobilisation from sulphur-rich
      sediments: time-dependent effects of salinisation.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111106.]. 

PMID- 25822827
TI  - The cost of perfection with apparent ease: Theoretical foundations and
      development of the Effortless Perfectionism Scale.
AB  - Effortless perfection is a term used to describe an intense pressure to be
      perfect without visible effort (Yee, 2003), and is thought to be linked to
      several indicators of maladjustment among college-age youth (Ruane, 2012; Yee,
      2003). Although effortless perfectionism (EP) is a phenomenon referenced in
      popular culture, empirical support for this construct is needed. In addition to
      conceptualizing and discussing the theoretical underpinnings of EP, this paper
      describes the development of an instrument to assess EP: the 10-item Effortless
      Perfectionism scale (EPS). The responses of a large sample of students from a
      Midwestern university (N = 1,270) were used to develop a 1-factor measurement
      model for the EPS. The EPS showed good internal consistency and test-retest
      reliability, and demonstrated convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity
      in relation to other perfectionism scales, as a predictor of psychosocial
      adjustment, and as a mediator of the effects of gender on adjustment. The present
      study supports the reliability and construct validity of the EPS as a self-report
      measure of EP, a distinct type of perfectionism that warrants future
      investigation.

PMID- 25822828
TI  - Self-regulation assessment among preschoolers with externalizing behavior
      problems.
AB  - This study examined the construct validity and clinical utility of a brief self
      regulation assessment (Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders, HTKS) among a clinical sample
      of children with externalizing behavior problems (EBP). Participants for this
      study included 101 preschool children (72% male; Mage = 5.10 years; 79% Hispanic)
      with at-risk or clinically elevated levels of EBP. Self-regulation measures
      included the HTKS task, 4 standardized subtests from the Automated Working Memory
      Assessment (AWMA), parent and teacher reports of children's executive functioning
      (EF), and children's self-regulation performance across a series of executive
      functioning classroom games conducted as part of a summer treatment camp.
      Additional outcomes included school readiness as measured by standardized
      achievement tests, and parent and teacher reports of kindergarten readiness and
      behavioral impairment related to academic functioning. Performance on the HTKS
      task was moderately correlated with children's performance on the standardized
      working memory tasks and observed self-regulation performance in the classroom.
      Low to moderate correlations were observed between performance on the HTKS task
      and parent report of children's EF difficulties, as well as parent and teacher
      reports of children's kindergarten readiness and behavioral impairment related to
      academic functioning. Moderate to high correlations were observed between
      performance on the HTKS task and standardized academic outcomes. These findings
      highlight the promise of the HTKS task as a brief, ecologically valid, and
      integrative EF task tapping into both behavioral and cognitive aspects of self
      regulation that are important for children with EBP's success in school.

PMID- 25822829
TI  - Associations between DSM-5 section III personality traits and the Minnesota
      Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) scales in a
      psychiatric patient sample.
AB  - Our aim in the current study was to evaluate the convergence between Diagnostic
      and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5) Section III
      dimensional personality traits, as operationalized via the Personality Inventory
      for DSM-5 (PID-5), and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2-Restructured
      Form (MMPI-2-RF) scale scores in a psychiatric patient sample. We used a sample
      of 346 (171 men, 175 women) patients who were recruited through a university
      affiliated psychiatric facility in Toronto, Canada. We estimated zero-order
      correlations between the PID-5 and MMPI-2-RF substantive scale scores, as well as
      a series of exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) analyses to examine
      how these scales converged in multivariate latent space. Results generally showed
      empirical convergence between the scales of these two measures that were
      thematically meaningful and in accordance with conceptual expectations.
      Correlation analyses showed significant associations between conceptually
      expected scales, and the highest associations tended to be between scales that
      were theoretically related. ESEM analyses generated evidence for distinct
      internalizing, externalizing, and psychoticism factors across all analyses. These
      findings indicate convergence between these two measures and help further
      elucidate the associations between dysfunctional personality traits and general
      psychopathology.

PMID- 25822831
TI  - A Bayesian approach to mixed group validation of performance validity tests.
AB  - Mental health professionals often use structured assessment tools to help detect
      individuals who are feigning or exaggerating symptoms. Yet estimating the
      accuracy of these tools is problematic because no "gold standard" establishes
      whether someone is malingering or not. Several investigators have recommended
      using mixed group validation (MGV) to estimate the accuracy of malingering
      measures, but simulation studies show that typical implementations of MGV may
      yield vague, biased, or logically impossible results. In this article we describe
      a Bayesian approach to MGV that addresses and avoids these limitations. After
      explaining the concepts that underlie our approach, we use previously published
      data on the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM; Tombaugh, 1996) to illustrate how
      our method works. Our findings concerning the TOMM's accuracy, which include
      insights about covariates such as study population and litigation status, are
      consistent with results that appear in previous publications. Unlike most
      investigations of the TOMM's accuracy, our findings neither rely on possibly
      flawed assumptions about subjects' intentions nor assume that experimental
      simulators can duplicate the behavior of real-world examinees. Our conceptual
      approach may prove helpful in evaluating the accuracy of many assessment tools
      used in clinical contexts and psycholegal determinations.

PMID- 25822830
TI  - Is the Short Form of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) a better screening
      instrument for dementia in older primary care patients than the original MMSE?
      Results of the German study on ageing, cognition, and dementia in primary care
      patients (AgeCoDe).
AB  - The aim of the study was to investigate the psychometric properties of a Short
      Form of the Mini-Mental State Examination (SMMSE) for the screening of dementia
      in older primary care patients. Data were obtained from a large longitudinal
      cohort study of initially nondemented individuals recruited via primary care
      chart registries and followed at 18-month intervals. Item and scale parameters
      for MMSE and SMMSE scores were analyzed and cross-validated for 2 follow-up
      assessments (n1 = 2,657 and n2 = 2,274). Binary logistic regression and receiver
      operating-characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were conducted in order to assess
      diagnostic accuracy parameters for MMSE and SMMSE scores. Cross-sectional
      differentiation between dementia-free and dementia patients yielded moderate to
      good results for MMSE and SMMSE scores. With regard to most diagnostic accuracy
      parameters, SMMSE scores did not outperform the MMSE scores. The current study
      provides first evidence regarding the psychometric properties of the SMMSE score
      in a sample of older primary care patients. However, our findings do not confirm
      previous findings that the SMMSE is a more accurate screening instrument for
      dementia than the original MMSE. Further studies are needed in order to assess
      and to develop short, reliable and valid instruments for routine cognitive
      screening in clinical practice and primary care settings.

PMID- 25822832
TI  - Cross-cultural validation of a behavioral screener for executive functions:
      Guidelines for clinical use among Colombian children with and without ADHD.
AB  - Garcia-Barrera, Kamphaus, and Bandalos (2011) derived a 25-item executive
      functioning screener from the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC),
      measuring 4 latent executive constructs: problem solving, attentional control,
      behavioral control, and emotional control. The current study included a cross
      cultural examination of this screener in Colombian children with and without
      attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). BASC teacher ratings were
      collected for Colombian children ages 6-11 years (848 healthy children [53% boys]
      and 155 children with ADHD [76% boys]). To examine the psychometric properties of
      the screener, a multistep procedure was implemented, including (a) confirmatory
      factor analysis (CFA) and factorial invariance testing across gender, age group
      (6-8 years, 9-11 years), and ADHD status to replicate and extend the original
      derivation; (b) item response theory (IRT) analysis to evaluate the information
      provided by individual items; and (c) given IRT results, a repeated CFA and
      invariance testing after the exclusion of 1 item from the problem-solving factor.
      The 24-item 4-factor model fit was adequate for controls and for ADHD
      participants. Results support the use of the 24-item executive functioning
      screener in a cross-cultural context. In turn, in supplemental material,
      normative data for the Colombian sample are reported along with bilingual
      guidelines (i.e., Spanish/English) for implementing the screener in clinical
      practice. Even though the screener is useful when examining executive functions,
      it was not designed as a diagnostic measure for developmental disorders such as
      ADHD; as such, it should only inform about status of executive functioning.

PMID- 25822833
TI  - Parsing the heterogeneity of impulsivity: A meta-analytic review of the
      behavioral implications of the UPPS for psychopathology.
AB  - The construct of impulsivity is implicated in a wide variety of psychopathology.
      However, the heterogeneous factors or subcomponents that differentially predict
      outcomes are still in the process of being parsed. The present review and meta
      analysis focuses on the psychopathological correlates of the Negative Urgency,
      (lack of) Premeditation, (lack of) perseverance, Sensation Seeking, and Positive
      Urgency (UPPS/UPPS-P; Whiteside & Lynam, 2001). which provides a relatively new
      model of impulsivity that posits 5 potentially overlapping pathways to impulsive
      action. The present meta-analysis included 115 studies that used the UPPS, with a
      total of 40,432 participants. Findings suggested that the Negative Urgency
      pathway to impulsivity demonstrated the greatest correlational effect sizes
      across all forms of psychopathology, with the Positive Urgency pathway
      demonstrating a pattern of correlations similar to that of Negative Urgency.
      These findings raise questions regarding the conceptual and practical
      separability of these pathways. Lack of Premeditation and Lack of Perseverance
      also demonstrated similar correlational patterns, suggesting that further
      investigation of the distinctiveness of these pathways is warranted.

PMID- 25822835
TI  - Test-retest reliability of the Tower of London Planning Task (TOL-F).
AB  - Test-retest reliability is difficult to establish for measures of executive
      functioning that rely on task novelty. Correspondingly, evidence on the test
      retest reliability of the commonly used Tower of London (TOL) planning task is,
      as yet, equivocal and only based on indices of relative consistency, rather than
      absolute agreement of individual scores. Further, the stability of planning
      latencies over repeated testing has not been investigated. The present study
      assessed test-retest reliability of planning performance measures using a
      structurally balanced problem set implemented in the TOL-Freiburg version (TOL
      F). The TOL-F was administered in 2 structurally identical versions to a sample
      of young, healthy adults over a 1-week interval. For planning accuracy, the
      Pearson correlation and intraclass correlation coefficient for relative
      consistency were adequate (r = .739 and .734), with the intraclass correlation
      coefficient for absolute agreement only slightly decreased (r = .690). For
      initial thinking and movement execution times, relative consistency and absolute
      agreement reliability indices were uniformly low (all r between .274 and .519).
      Given adequate planning accuracy test-retest reliability, the TOL-F can be
      reliably used to measure planning ability in group-based studies and with
      individual participants, as is important for clinical testing. Planning
      latencies, however, should only be used as complementary, but not sole measures
      of planning ability, particularly for normative evaluations in clinical
      assessment. In sum, TOL-F planning accuracy possesses adequate absolute and
      relative test-retest reliability for experimental utility. Future studies should
      assess whether this indeed translates into clinical utility of the TOL-F for
      measuring planning ability in patients.

PMID- 25822834
TI  - Development of an abbreviated form of the Penn Line Orientation Test using large
      samples and computerized adaptive test simulation.
AB  - Visuospatial processing is a commonly assessed neurocognitive domain with
      deficits linked to dysfunction in right posterior regions of the brain. With the
      growth of large-scale clinical research studies, there is an increased need for
      efficient and scalable assessments of neurocognition, including visuospatial
      processing. The purpose of the current study was to use a novel method that
      combines item response theory (IRT) and computerized adaptive testing (CAT)
      approaches to create an abbreviated form of the computerized Penn Line
      Orientation Test (PLOT). The 24-item PLOT was administered to 8,498 youths (aged
      8-21 years) as part of the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort study and, by
      Web-based data collection, in an independent sample of 4,593 adults from Great
      Britain as part of a TV documentary. IRT-based CAT simulations were used to
      select the best PLOT items for an abbreviated form by performing separate
      simulations in each group and choosing only items that were selected as useful
      (i.e., high item discrimination and in the appropriate difficulty range) in at
      least 1 of the simulations. Fifteen items were chosen for the final, short form
      of the PLOT, indicating substantial agreement among the models in how they
      evaluated each item's usefulness. Moreover, this abbreviated version performed
      comparably to the full version in tests of sensitivity to age and sex effects.
      This abbreviated version of the PLOT cuts administration time by 50% without
      detectable loss of information, which points to its feasibility for large-scale
      clinical and genomic studies.

PMID- 25822836
TI  - Home mechanical ventilation in childhood-onset hereditary neuromuscular diseases:
      13 years' experience at a single center in Korea.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Children with hereditary neuromuscular diseases (NMDs) are at a
      high risk of morbidity and mortality related to respiratory failure. The use of
      home mechanical ventilation (HMV) has saved the lives of many children with NMD
      but, due to a lack of studies, dependable guidelines are not available. We drew
      upon our experience to compare the various underlying NMDs and to evaluate HMV
      with regard to respiratory morbidity, the proper indications and timing for its
      use, and to develop a policy to improve the quality of home noninvasive
      ventilation (NIV). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 57
      children with childhood-onset hereditary NMDs in whom HMV was initiated between
      January 2000 and May 2013 at Seoul National University Children's Hospital. The
      degree of respiratory morbidity was estimated by the frequency and duration of
      hospitalizations caused by respiratory distress. RESULTS: The most common NMD was
      spinal muscular atrophy (SMA, n = 33). Emergent mechanical ventilation was
      initiated in 44% of the patients before the confirmed diagnosis, and the
      indicators of pre-HMV respiratory morbidity (e.g., extubation trials, hypoxia,
      hospitalizations, and intensive care unit stay) were greater in these patients
      than in others. The proportion of post-HMV hospitalizations (range, 0.00-0.52;
      median, 0.01) was lower than that of pre-HMV hospitalizations (0.02-1.00; 0.99)
      (P < 0.001). Eight patients were able to maintain home NIV. The main causes of
      NIV failure were air leakage and a large amount of airway secretions.
      CONCLUSIONS: The application of HMV helped reduce respiratory morbidity in
      children with childhood-onset hereditary NMD. Patients with SMA type I can
      benefit from an early diagnosis and the timely application of HMV. The choice
      between invasive and noninvasive HMV should be based on the patient's age and NIV
      trial tolerance. Systematic follow-up guidelines provided by a multidisciplinary
      team are needed.

PMID- 25822837
TI  - Embryonic and larval development and early behavior in grass carp,
      Ctenopharyngodon idella: implications for recruitment in rivers.
AB  - With recent findings of grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella in tributaries of the
      Great Lakes, information on developmental rate and larval behavior is critical to
      efforts to assess the potential for establishment within the tributaries of that
      region. In laboratory experiments, grass carp were spawned and eggs and larvae
      reared at two temperature treatments, one "cold" and one "warm", and tracked for
      developmental rate, egg size, and behavior. Developmental rate was quantified
      using Yi's (1988) developmental stages and the cumulative thermal units method.
      Grass carp had a thermal minimum of 13.5 degrees C for embryonic stages and 13.3
      degrees C for larval stages. Egg size was related to temperature and maternal
      size, with the largest eggs coming from the largest females, and eggs were
      generally larger in warmer treatments. Young grass carp larvae exhibited upward
      and downward swimming interspersed with long periods of lying on the bottom.
      Swimming capacity increased with ontogeny, and larvae were capable of horizontal
      swimming and position holding with gas bladder emergence. Developmental rates,
      behavior, and egg attributes can be used in combination with physical parameters
      of a river to assess the risk that grass carp are capable of reproduction and
      recruitment in rivers. 

PMID- 25822838
TI  - Use of composite protein database including search result sequences for mass
      spectrometric analysis of cell secretome.
AB  - Mass spectrometric (MS) data of human cell secretomes are usually run through the
      conventional human database for identification. However, the search may result in
      false identifications due to contamination of the secretome with fetal bovine
      serum (FBS) proteins. To overcome this challenge, here we provide a composite
      protein database including human as well as 199 FBS protein sequences for MS data
      search of human cell secretomes. Searching against the human-FBS database
      returned more reliable results with fewer false-positive and false-negative
      identifications compared to using either a human only database or a human-bovine
      database. Furthermore, the improved results validated our strategy without
      complex experiments like SILAC. We expect our strategy to improve the accuracy of
      human secreted protein identification and to also add value for general use. 

PMID- 25822840
TI  - Correction: Analysis of the transient response of a dual-fed RC transmission
      line.

PMID- 25822839
TI  - Cognitive functions and stereopsis in patients with Parkinson's disease and
      Alzheimer's disease using 3-dimensional television: a case controlled trial.
AB  - Stereopsis or depth perception is an awareness of the distances of objects from
      the observer, and binocular disparity is a necessary component of recognizing
      objects through stereopsis. In the past studies, patients with neurodegenerative
      disease (Alzheimer dementia, AD; Parkinson's disease IPD) have problems of
      stereopsis but they did not have actual stimulation of stereopsis. Therefore in
      this study, we used a 3-dimensional (3D) movie on 3D television (TV) for actual
      stereopsis stimulation. We propose research through analyzing differences between
      the three groups (AD, IPD, and Controls), and identified relations between the
      results from the Titmus Stereo Fly Test, and the 3D TV test. The study also
      looked into factors that affect the 3D TV test. Before allowing the patients to
      watch TV, we examined Titmus stereo Fly Test and cognitive test. We used the 3D
      version of a movie, of 17 minutes 1 second duration, and carried out a
      questionnaire about stereopsis. The scores of the stereopsis questionnaire were
      decreased in AD patients, compared with in IPD and controls, although they did
      not have any difference of Titmus Stereo Fly Test scores. In IPD patients,
      cognitive function (Montreal cognitive assessment, MoCA) scores were correlated
      with the scores of the stereopsis questionnaire. We could conclude that Titmus
      fly test could not distinguish between the three groups and cognitive dysfunction
      contributes to actual stereopsis perception in IPD patients. Therefore the 3D TV
      test of AD and IPD patients was more effective than Titmus fly test. 

PMID- 25822841
TI  - Calculation of permissible load capacity and establishment of total amount
      control in the Wujin River Catchment--a tributary of Taihu Lake, China.
AB  - The deterioration of water quality in Taihu Lake, China, has caused widespread
      concern in recent years. The primary pollution sources of Taihu Lake are its
      inflow rivers. Effective environmental water management strategies need to be
      implemented in these rivers to improve the water quality of Taihu Lake and to
      promote sustainable development in the region. In this study, the QUAL2K model is
      used in conjunction with the trial and error approach to assess permissible load
      capacities for the Wujin River (a major tributary of Taihu Lake) in terms of COD,
      NH3-N, TN, and TP. Results show that permissible annual loads for these
      pollutants are 5216.31, 491.71, 948.53, and 104.38 t, respectively. This suggests
      that COD, NH3-N, TN, and TP loads in the Wujin River catchment need to be reduced
      by 13.35, 27.26, 47.75, and 37.08 %, respectively, to satisfy national water
      quality objectives. Total amount control measures are proposed to control and
      reduce pollution loads of the Wujin River catchment. The method applied in this
      study should provide a sound basis for water environmental management decision
      making. 

PMID- 25822842
TI  - Fast formation of supergene Mn oxides/hydroxides under acidic conditions in the
      oxic/anoxic transition zone of a shallow aquifer.
AB  - Extensive uranium mining in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) in
      eastern Thuringia and Saxony took place during the period of 1946-1990. During
      mining activities, pelitic sediments rich in organic carbon and uranium were
      processed and exposed to oxygen. Subsequent pyrite oxidation and acidic leaching
      lead to partial contamination of the area with heavy metals and acid mine
      drainage (AMD) even few years after completion of remediation. One of those areas
      is the former heap Gessen (Ronneburg, Germany) were the residual contamination
      can be found 10 m under the base of the former heap containing partly permeable
      drainage channels. Actually, in such a system, a rapid but locally restricted
      mineralization of Mn oxides takes place under acidic conditions. This formation
      can be classified as a natural attenuation process as certain heavy metals, e.g.,
      Cd (up to 6 MUg/g), Ni (up to 311 MUg/g), Co (up to 133 MUg/g), and Zn (up to 104
      MUg/g) are bound to this phases. The secondary minerals occur as colored layers
      close to the shallow aquifer in glacial sediments and could be identified as
      birnessite and todorokite as Mn phase. The thermodynamic model shows that even
      small changes in the system are sufficient to shift either the pH or the Eh in
      the direction of stable Mn oxide phases in this acidic system. As a consequence
      of 9-15-year-long formation process (or even less), the supergene mineralization
      provides a cost-efficient contribution for remediation (natural attenuation)
      strategies of residual with heavy metals (e.g., Cd, Co, Ni, Zn) contaminated
      substrates.

PMID- 25822843
TI  - Comparison of the antennal sensilla ultrastructure of two cryptic species in
      Bemisia tabaci.
AB  - Bemisia tabaci is an important agricultural pest with worldwide distribution and
      host preference. Therefore, understanding the biology of this pest is important
      to devise specific pest control strategies. The antennae of herbivorous insects
      play an important role in the identification of hosts using plant volatiles. To
      understand the features of antennae in B. tabaci MEAM 1(formerly known as biotype
      'B') and MED (formerly known as biotype 'Q'), the morphology and distribution of
      the antennal sensilla were examined using scanning electron micrographs. The
      results showed that the average antennae length in MEAM 1 was longer than MED. No
      differences were observed in the number and distribution of antennal sensilla in
      MEAM 1 and MED antennae; each antenna had nine different types of sensilla. Both
      cryptic species possessed Microtrichia, Grooved surface trichodea sensilla,
      Chaetae sensilla, Coeloconic sensillaIandII, Basiconic sensilla I, II and III and
      Finger-like sensilla. This is the first report of Grooved surface trichodea
      sensilla and Basiconic sensilla II on B. tabaci flies. The numbers of Chaetae
      sensilla were different in the females and males of MEAM 1 and MED, which females
      having 5 and males containing 7. The surface structure of Basiconic sensilla I
      was different with MEAM 1 showing a multiple-pitted linen surface and MED showing
      a multiple-pitted pocking surface. Basiconic sensillaII were double in one socket
      with the longer one having a multiple-pitted surface and the shorter one with a
      smooth surface. Basiconic III and Finger-like sensillae were longer in MEAM 1
      antennae than in MED antennae. Our results are expected to further the studies
      that link morphological characteristics to insect behavior and help devise
      strategies to control insect pests. 

PMID- 25822844
TI  - Estimates of the live births, natural losses, and elective terminations with Down
      syndrome in the United States.
AB  - The present and future live birth prevalence of Down syndrome (DS) is of
      practical importance for planning services and prioritizing research to support
      people living with the condition. Live birth prevalence is influenced by changes
      in prenatal screening technologies and policies. To predict the future impact of
      these changes, a model for estimating the live births of people with DS is
      required. In this study, we combine diverse and robust datasets with validated
      estimation techniques to describe the non-selective and live birth prevalence of
      DS in the United States from 1900-2010. Additionally, for the period 1974-2010,
      we estimate the impact of DS-related elective pregnancy terminations (following a
      prenatal diagnosis of DS) on the live births with DS. The live birth prevalence
      for DS in the most recent years (2006-2010) was estimated at 12.6 per 10,000 (95%
      CI 12.4-12.8), with around 5,300 births annually. During this period, an
      estimated 3,100 DS-related elective pregnancy terminations were performed in the
      U.S. annually. As of 2007, the estimated rates at which live births with DS were
      reduced as a consequence of DS-related elective pregnancy terminations were 30%
      (95% CI: 27.3-31.9) for the U.S. as a whole. Our results and our model provide
      data on the impact of elective pregnancy terminations on live births with DS and
      may provide a baseline from which future trends for live births with DS can be
      estimated.

PMID- 25822845
TI  - Inverse association of serum vitamin D in relation to carotid intima-media
      thickness in Chinese postmenopausal women.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum vitamin
      D level and carotid intima-media thickness (C-IMT) in Chinese postmenopausal
      women. METHODS: Nine hundred and twenty six Chinese postmenopausal women without
      carotid artery plaque or history of cardiovascular disease were selected for
      analysis. Measurements of serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) concentration and
      C-IMT were made by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay and B-mode ultrasound,
      respectively. Trend analysis was conducted according to tertiles of C-IMT.
      RESULTS: The median serum 25(OH)D3 level was 11.03 ng/mL, with an interquartile
      range of 8.22-14.70. A decreasing trend of serum 25(OH)D3 level was accompanied
      by increased C-IMT tertiles (P for trend = 0.001). Correlation analysis found an
      inverse relationship between serum 25(OH)D3 level and C-IMT (r = -0.113, P =
      0.001). After adjustment for confounding factors, multiple regression analysis
      showed that serum 25(OH)D3 level independently and negatively associated with C
      IMT (Standard beta = -0.112, P < 0.001). Moreover, the inverse correlation of
      serum 25(OH)D3 with C-IMT was also found in a subgroup of women with normal
      glucose tolerance, blood pressure and body mass index, and without undergoing
      lipid-lowering therapy (standard beta = -0.140, P = 0.018). CONCLUSIONS: Serum
      25(OH)D3 level was inversely correlated with C-IMT in Chinese postmenopausal
      women.

PMID- 25822846
TI  - Synthesis of a Tight Intramolecular OH...Olefin Interaction, Probed by IR, (1)H
      NMR, and Quantum Chemistry.
AB  - We have synthesized a molecule containing a tight hydrogen-bonding interaction
      between an alcohol and a nonconjugated pi-system. The strength of this hydrogen
      bond results in a large red shift, nearly 189 cm(-1), on the alcohol stretching
      frequency in the IR spectrum in comparison to a free alcohol control. The
      interaction is notable in that it possesses a better defined intramolecular
      hydrogen bond compared to the usual molecules for which it is noted, such as syn
      7-norbornenol. This interaction was studied through the use of IR and NMR
      spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, and molecular modeling calculations. 

PMID- 25822847
TI  - Nickel-catalyzed direct thiolation of C(sp(3))-H bonds in aliphatic amides.
AB  - Nickel-catalyzed thiolation of the inactivated methyl C(sp(3))-H bonds of
      aliphatic amides with disulfide is described. It is a novel strategy for the
      synthesis of thioethers with the ultimate goal of generating thioether carboxylic
      acids with various functional groups. 

PMID- 25822848
TI  - Improving the safety of epidural steroid injections.

PMID- 25822849
TI  - Invertebrate and vertebrate class III myosins interact with MORN repeat
      containing adaptor proteins.
AB  - In Drosophila photoreceptors, the NINAC-encoded myosin III is found in a complex
      with a small, MORN-repeat containing, protein Retinophilin (RTP). Expression of
      these two proteins in other cell types showed NINAC myosin III behavior is
      altered by RTP. NINAC deletion constructs were used to map the RTP binding site
      within the proximal tail domain of NINAC. In vertebrates, the RTP ortholog is
      MORN4. Co-precipitation experiments demonstrated that human MORN4 binds to human
      myosin IIIA (MYO3A). In COS7 cells, MORN4 and MYO3A, but not MORN4 and MYO3B, co
      localize to actin rich filopodia extensions. Deletion analysis mapped the MORN4
      binding to the proximal region of the MYO3A tail domain. MYO3A dependent MORN4
      tip localization suggests that MYO3A functions as a motor that transports MORN4
      to the filopodia tips and MORN4 may enhance MYO3A tip localization by tethering
      it to the plasma membrane at the protrusion tips. These results establish
      conserved features of the RTP/MORN4 family: they bind within the tail domain of
      myosin IIIs to control their behavior. 

PMID- 25822850
TI  - Lung cancer incidence trends by gender, race and histology in the United States,
      1973-2010.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lung cancer (LC) incidence in the United States (US) continues to
      decrease but with significant differences by histology, gender and race. Whereas
      squamous, large and small cell carcinoma rates have been decreasing since the mid
      80s, adenocarcinoma rates remain stable in males and continue to increase in
      females, with large racial disparities. We analyzed LC incidence trends by
      histology in the US with an emphasis on gender and racial differences. METHODS:
      LC incidence rates from 1973-2010 were obtained from the SEER cancer registry.
      Age-adjusted incidence trends of five major histological types by gender and race
      were evaluated using joinpoint regression. Trends of LC histology and stage
      distributions from 2005-2010 were analyzed. RESULTS: US LC incidence varies by
      histology. Squamous, large and small cell carcinoma rates continue to decrease
      for all gender/race combinations, whereas adenocarcinoma rates remain relatively
      constant in males and increasing in females. An apparent recent increase in the
      incidence of squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma since 2005 can be
      explained by a concomitant decrease in the number of cases classified as other
      non-small cell carcinoma. Black males continue to be disproportionally affected
      by squamous LCs, and blacks continue to be diagnosed with more advanced cancers
      than whites. CONCLUSIONS: LC incidence by histology continues to change over
      time. Additional variations are expected as screening becomes disseminated. It is
      important to continue to monitor LC rates to evaluate the impact of screening on
      current trends, assess the continuing benefits of tobacco control, and focus
      efforts on reducing racial disparities.

PMID- 25822852
TI  - Discovery of Small Molecules for Up-Regulating the Translation of
      Antiamyloidogenic Secretase, a Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase 10 (ADAM10), by
      Binding to the G-Quadruplex-Forming Sequence in the 5' Untranslated Region (UTR)
      of Its mRNA.
AB  - Up-regulation of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase 10 (ADAM10) to prevent the
      formation of beta-amyloid (Abeta) peptides might be a promising strategy to treat
      Alzheimer's disease (AD). RNA G-quadruplex motif within the 5'-UTR of the ADAM10
      mRNA is an inhibitory element for ADAM10 translation. Thus, mitigation of the
      suppressive effect of this motif using an RNA G-quadruplex-forming G-rich
      sequence (QGRS) binder might be a new approach for AD therapy. Herein, a series
      of new methylquinolinium derivatives were synthesized and screened by surface
      plasmon resonance (SPR) and the dual-luciferase reporter assay. Among them,
      compound 24 showed selective affinity for the QGRS of ADAM10 and could strongly
      up-regulate the translation of it. Moreover, treatment with 24 led to a
      significant increase of the secretion of sAPPalpha, consequently decreasing the
      Abeta40 in cellular. These results illustrate that the interaction between the
      RNA QGRS and a small molecule may be a new molecular strategy to modulate the
      translation of ADAM10. 

PMID- 25822853
TI  - Alkane C-H functionalization and oxidation with molecular oxygen.
AB  - The application of environmentally benign, cheap, and economically viable
      oxidation procedures is a key challenge of homogeneous, oxidative alkane
      functionalization. The typically harsh reaction conditions and the propensity of
      dioxygen for radical reactivity call for extraordinary robust catalysts. Mainly
      three strategies have been applied. These are (1) the combination of a catalyst
      responsible for C-H activation with a cocatalyst responsible for dioxygen
      activation, (2) transition-metal catalysts, which react with both hydrocarbons
      and molecular oxygen, and (3) the introduction of very robust main-group element
      catalysts for C-H functionalization chemistry. Herein, these three approaches
      will be assessed and exemplified by the reactivity of chelated palladium (N
      heterocyclic carbene) catalysts in combination with a vanadium cocatalyst, the
      methane functionalization by cobalt catalysts, and the reaction of group XVII
      compounds with alkanes. 

PMID- 25822851
TI  - MRI-based intelligence quotient (IQ) estimation with sparse learning.
AB  - In this paper, we propose a novel framework for IQ estimation using Magnetic
      Resonance Imaging (MRI) data. In particular, we devise a new feature selection
      method based on an extended dirty model for jointly considering both element-wise
      sparsity and group-wise sparsity. Meanwhile, due to the absence of large dataset
      with consistent scanning protocols for the IQ estimation, we integrate multiple
      datasets scanned from different sites with different scanning parameters and
      protocols. In this way, there is large variability in these different datasets.
      To address this issue, we design a two-step procedure for 1) first identifying
      the possible scanning site for each testing subject and 2) then estimating the
      testing subject's IQ by using a specific estimator designed for that scanning
      site. We perform two experiments to test the performance of our method by using
      the MRI data collected from 164 typically developing children between 6 and 15
      years old. In the first experiment, we use a multi-kernel Support Vector
      Regression (SVR) for estimating IQ values, and obtain an average correlation
      coefficient of 0.718 and also an average root mean square error of 8.695 between
      the true IQs and the estimated ones. In the second experiment, we use a single
      kernel SVR for IQ estimation, and achieve an average correlation coefficient of
      0.684 and an average root mean square error of 9.166. All these results show the
      effectiveness of using imaging data for IQ prediction, which is rarely done in
      the field according to our knowledge. 

PMID- 25822854
TI  - Oral rehabilitation and psychosocial evaluation of a patient with bulimia nervosa
      following Teeth in a Day(r) immediate loading protocol.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this patient report is to accurately portray the clinical
      experience of treating an active bulimic patient by employing an immediately
      loaded dental implant protocol to provide the patient with an expedited esthetic
      and functional result. Implementation of a psychometric component statistically
      quantifies the psychological effects of the oral rehabilitation. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A 34-year-old woman presented with severe dental perimolysis (erosion)
      resulting from a 28-year history of bulimic behaviors. Clinical and radiographic
      evaluation of the existing dentition indicated advanced dental erosion and
      previous restoration attempts in a state of failure. The patient's existing teeth
      were extracted and treated with full maxillary and mandibular implant-supported
      prostheses, following the Teeth in a Day(r) (TIAD) immediate functional loading
      protocol. Psychometric assessment was conducted through administration of a 20
      item questionnaire, as seen in previous literature. RESULTS: Radiographic and
      clinical analysis suggested all implant fixtures to be viable and accompanied by
      normal levels of alveolar bone 7 months into treatment. Questionnaire results at
      the new-patient presentation (T1) resulted in a composite score of 4.0 (SD = 2.9;
      P = 0.004), indicating severe body-image dysphoria. At 3 months postoperative
      (T2), the questionnaire score was 0.4 (SD = -1.7; P = 0.09). The final
      psychometric questionnaire at 7 months (T3) resulted in a score of 0.5 (SD = 
      1.5; P = 0.12). The patient was followed for a total of 7 years following implant
      placement. CONCLUSION: In this patient report, oral rehabilitation using the TIAD
      protocol provided an expedited and predictable alternative method for restoring
      functional abilities, esthetics, and self-esteem to a severely depressed bulimic
      patient. Psychometrically, at the postoperative (T2) and final testing period
      (T3), the patient's body image profile was no longer considered to be
      significantly different from established normative values.

PMID- 25822855
TI  - Acute gastrointestinal bleeding - a new approach to clinical and endoscopic
      management.
AB  - Overt or occult gastrointestinal bleeding is a frequently observed condition in
      routine gastroenterological practice. Occult gastrointestinal bleeding is usually
      a purely incidental finding, based on the discovery of iron deficiency anemia in
      the laboratory or blood in stool (a positive Hemoccult test). However, overt
      bleeding accompanied by the clinical features of tarry stool, hematemesis, or
      hematochezia may be a life-threatening condition, calling for immediate emergency
      management. In contrast to traumatology, algorithms of emergency and intensive
      medicine are not sufficiently validated yet for acute life-threatening bleeding.
      The purpose of this review was to present all established and new endoscopic
      hemostasis techniques and to evaluate their efficacy, as well as to provide the
      treating endoscopist with practical advice on how he/she could incorporate these
      procedures into acute medical management. The recommendations are based on
      inspection of the study results in the recent published literature, as well as
      emergency medicine algorithms in traumatology. 

PMID- 25822856
TI  - Adenocarcinomas at different positions at the gastro-oesophageal junction show
      distinct association with gastritis and gastric preneoplastic conditions.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Adenocarcinomas at the gastro-oesophageal junction (GOJ) are currently
      stratified by tumour location. This retrospective study examines the association
      of preneoplastic conditions and inflammation of the gastric mucosa with GOJ
      cancer at different locations and compares them with nonjunctional gastric
      cancers. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 520 patients with junctional and
      nonjunctional gastric cancer were assessed for the presence and degree of
      intestinal metaplasia, glandular atrophy and inflammation in the stomach.
      Histopathological data were complete for 428 patients (68.9% men, median age 67.7
      years), including 172 patients with GOJ cancer (GOJ1: 1-5 cm proximal to the
      junction, GOJ2: 'true' junctional, GOJ3: 2-5 cm distal to the junction). Gastric
      inflammation and preneoplastic conditions were scored according to the updated
      Sydney classification and further stratified into respective operative link on
      gastritis assessment (OLGA) and operative link on gastritis assessment on
      intestinal metaplasia (OLGIM) stages. RESULTS: The prevalence and degree of
      gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia were significantly lower in GOJ1 than
      GOJ3 (P<0.01). Preneoplastic conditions in the stomach were similar in GOJ3
      compared with nonjunctional gastric cancer. GOJ1 were almost exclusively (98.4%)
      of the intestinal type, whereas GOJ2 and GOJ3 were the diffuse type in 22.6 and
      22.4% of the patients (P<0.001). Of all patients, only 8.5 and 12.7% presented
      with stage III/IV according to OLGA and OLGIM, respectively. However, data for
      OLGA and OLGIM staging were only available in 61.2 and 67.9% of patients,
      respectively. CONCLUSION: GOJ1 are less likely to be associated with gastric
      pathology compared with GOJ3 or nonjunctional gastric cancer. OLGA or OLGIM
      staging in patients with advanced gastro-oesophageal cancer seems to be of
      limited value.

PMID- 25822857
TI  - Long-term dynamics of gastric biomarkers after eradication of Helicobacter pylori
      infection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Secretion of pepsinogen I (PgI), pepsinogen II (PgII), fasting
      gastrin-17 (fG-17) and stimulated gastrin-17 (sG-17) changes after Helicobacter
      pylori eradication. Few data are available on the long-term dynamics of gastric
      biomarkers after H. pylori eradication.The aim of this study was to investigate
      the dynamics of gastric biomarkers in H. pylori-positive patients after
      eradication over a 3-year period and to compare the levels with initially H.
      pylori-negative patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Blood samples for the detection
      of gastric biomarkers were obtained from dyspeptic patients coming for upper
      gastrointestinal endoscopy. In H. pylori-positive patients, after eradication
      therapy, three follow-up blood samples were drawn after 12, 24 and 36 months; in
      H. pylori-negative patients, two samples were taken - at 12 and after 30 months.
      Median values of biomarkers in follow-up samples were compared with the baseline
      sample. RESULTS: The final sample included 110 patients (median age 67 years, M/F
      ratio 27/83). In patients after H. pylori eradication (n=83) PgI, PgII, fG-17 and
      sG-17 had decreased significantly during a 36-month period, whereas the PgI/PgII
      ratio had increased significantly from 5.59 to 11.64. CONCLUSION: In H. pylori
      positive dyspeptic patients, after eradication therapy, a decrease in PgI, PgII,
      fG-17 and sG-17 was observed after 36 months whereas an increase in the PgI/II
      ratio suggested an improvement in gastric atrophy. The median levels of gastric
      biomarkers in patients after H. pylori eradication therapy may become similar to
      biomarker levels among initially H. pylori-negative individuals.

PMID- 25822858
TI  - PPI-responsive esophageal eosinophilia cannot be distinguished from eosinophilic
      esophagitis by endoscopic signs.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic antigen-mediated disease
      histologically characterized by eosinophil-predominant inflammation. One-third of
      patients respond to proton pump inhibitor (PPI) treatment; this group is
      identified as having PPI-responsive esophageal eosinophilia (PPI-REE). If we
      could predict the response to PPIs on the basis of endoscopic signs, futile
      treatment efforts and additional endoscopies to assess treatment response can be
      prevented. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether endoscopic signs can distinguish PPI
      REE from EoE. METHODS: Endoscopic images of 30 EoE and 30 PPI-REE patients were
      included. Baseline characteristics were compared between groups. Complete
      clinical remission after a PPI trial for at least 8 weeks was classified as PPI
      REE. Per patient, at least three depersonalized images were incorporated into a
      slideshow. These images were scored by two experienced endoscopists according to
      a validated classification system. RESULTS: Characteristics were highly
      comparable between EoE and PPI-REE patients. Endoscopic signs were similar and
      did not enable differentiation between EoE and PPI-REE [presence of: rings
      (P=0.893), white exudates (P=0.209), furrows (P=0.371), edema (P=0.554), crepe
      paper esophagus (P=1.000), and strictures (P=0.071)]. CONCLUSION: Endoscopic
      signs at baseline endoscopy cannot distinguish EoE from PPI-REE before a PPI
      trial; the demographic and clinical characteristics in both groups are similar.
      Endoscopic features do not enable differentiation between PPI-REE and EoE.

PMID- 25822859
TI  - Outpatient management of low-risk patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding:
      can we safely extend the Glasgow Blatchford Score in clinical practice?
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: The Glasgow Blatchford Score (GBS) is a validated prognostic
      score for patients presenting with upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding (UGIB).
      The score predicts the need for therapeutic intervention or death, and studies
      have suggested that outpatient management is safe for patients with a GBS of
      zero. Our aim was to assess whether we could safely extend the threshold for
      outpatient management to patients with GBS<=1. METHODS: Following assessment of
      our historical data, our UGIB protocol was changed to recommend outpatient
      management for patients with a GBS<=1, unless required for other reasons. Data on
      all patients presenting with UGIB over the following 12 months were prospectively
      recorded, including GBS and clinical Rockall scores. Adverse outcomes were
      defined by a 30-day combined endpoint of death, endotherapy, interventional
      radiology, surgery or transfusion. Negative predictive value (NPV) of GBS<=1 for
      adverse outcomes in UGIB was calculated. RESULTS: A total of 514 patients
      presented with UGIB in the 12 month study period. Of the patients, 183 (35.6%)
      had GBS<=1 (111, GBS=0; 72, GBS=1). Of these, 88 (48.1%) were managed as
      outpatients, and none had an adverse outcome. Of the 95 (51.9%) patients with
      GBS<=1 managed as inpatients, 80 (84.2%) had comorbidities requiring inpatient
      care. Within this admitted group with GBS<=1, one patient required transfusion
      and one died from a nongastrointestinal malignancy. GBS<=1 had an NPV of 99.45%
      (95% confidence interval 95.53-99.97%) in predicting adverse outcomes within 30
      days. CONCLUSION: GBS<=1 has a high NPV for adverse outcomes in UGIB. This
      suggests outpatient management of patients with UGIB and that GBS<=1 is safe in
      our population.

PMID- 25822860
TI  - Clinical, metabolic, and psychological characteristics in patients with
      gastroesophageal reflux disease overlap with irritable bowel syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and irritable bowel syndrome
      (IBS) are highly prevalent in the general population, with significant symptom
      overlap, whereas the interaction between both remains poorly understood. We aim
      to identify the clinical and psychological factors that contribute toward the
      overlap of GERD and IBS. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We carried out a case-control
      study among 806 GERD and 176 IBS patients from a health check-up cohort (n=2604).
      All participants were evaluated using the Reflux Disease Questionnaire score, the
      Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score, the Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire
      score, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory score. Endoscopic findings were
      classified according to the Los Angeles classification. IBS was diagnosed on the
      basis of Rome III criteria, and metabolic syndrome was defined by the National
      Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III definition. RESULTS:
      Among the study population, 727 individuals had GERD, 97 individuals had IBS, and
      79 individuals had a diagnosis of both GERD and IBS (GERD-I). GERD-I patients had
      more severe GERD symptoms compared with patients with GERD or IBS alone
      (P<0.0001). Moreover, GERD-I patients had more frequent healthcare-seeking
      behavior, decreased quality of sleep, and higher depression scores than patients
      with GERD (P<0.0001) or IBS alone (P<0.05). In addition, GERD-I patients had
      lower blood pressure, waist-to-hip ratio, and higher serum high-density
      lipoprotein levels than those with GERD alone (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: GERD patients
      overlapping with IBS have different clinical and psychological profiles than
      those with GERD or IBS alone. Our study suggests that awareness of these symptom
      presentations will help optimize the treatment of these conditions.

PMID- 25822861
TI  - Acceptability and efficacy of a gel hypotonic oral rehydration solution in
      children with acute gastroenteritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Oral rehydration solution remains the mainstay of acute
      gastroenteritis therapy. The aim of this study was to investigate the
      acceptability of a new zinc-containing hypotonic super-oral rehydration solution
      (ORS) in a gel formulation and its efficacy in reducing the duration and severity
      of diarrhea in children. METHODS: This was a randomized-controlled trial of
      children (5-36 months of age) observed for diarrhea lasting less than 24 h.
      Children were randomized to receive standard hypotonic ORS (group 1) or a gel
      hypotonic super-ORS containing zinc (group 2). The main study outcome was ORS
      intake in the first 24 h. ORS intake at 4 h, rate of diarrhea resolution at 72 h
      of treatment, total duration and severity of diarrhea, hospitalization, and
      adverse effects were also evaluated. RESULTS: Eighty-three children were enrolled
      (group 1: 40; group 2: 43). The amount of ORS consumed at 24 h was significantly
      higher in group 2 than in group 1. A similar result was observed at 4 h. The
      number of children who refused ORS (<10 ml/kg/day) was lower in group 2 versus
      group 1 (P=0.001). The number of children presenting diarrhea after 72 h of
      treatment was lower in group 2 versus group 1 (P=0.028). Also, the mean duration
      of diarrhea was shorter in group 2 than in group 1 (P=0.001). The hypotonic super
      ORS containing zinc in a gel formulation had a positive effect on the severity of
      diarrhea. No patient required hospitalization. No adverse events were observed in
      either of the two study groups. CONCLUSION: The new zinc-containing hypotonic
      super-ORS in a gel formulation is effective in the management of childhood acute
      gastroenteritis.

PMID- 25822862
TI  - The value of serum chromogranin A as a predictor of tumor burden, therapeutic
      response, and nomogram-based survival in well-moderate nonfunctional pancreatic
      neuroendocrine tumors with liver metastases.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the usefulness of serum chromogranin A (CgA) for the
      prediction of tumor burden, therapeutic response, and nomogram-based survival in
      well-moderate nonfunctional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NF-PNETs) with
      liver metastases (LMs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study included 51
      NF-PNETs of LMs patients, 134 other neuroendocrine tumors, and 125 controls.
      Serum CgA levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay at baseline
      and after treatment. LMs tumor burden was computed simultaneously from computed
      tomography/MRI scan with thin slices using a semiquantitative three-dimensional
      reconstruction approach. Predictive CgA for therapeutic response was assessed
      using the response evaluation criteria in solid tumors criteria. A nomogram to
      predict the prognostic value of CgA with variables selected in the multivariate
      Cox proportional hazards model was constructed; the accuracy of the nomogram was
      quantified by the (concordance index) C-index and a calibration plot. RESULTS:
      Considering NF-PNETs, CgA correlated with the tumor grade and differentiation
      (P<0.05). There was a nonlinear exponential regression between LMs tumor burden
      and CgA levels (P<0.001). The alteration in CgA correlated with therapeutic
      response (P<0.001). Increased CgA presented significantly lower progression-free
      survival than the stable/decreased CgA subgroup (P<0.001). For overall survival,
      a baseline CgA increase greater than 2.5 upper limit of normal level was
      predictive of a poor prognosis (P<0.001). Baseline CgA level, LMs tumor burden,
      and Ki-67 were selected as independent factors for the nomogram to predict
      overall survival; the nomogram showed fitting calibration with a C-index of 0.87
      (95% confidence interval, 0.82-0.92). CONCLUSION: Serum CgA could be used to
      reflect tumor burden, evaluate the therapeutic response, and predict the survival
      outcomes for NF-PNETs with LMs. An effective nomogram including CgA was proposed
      for prediction.

PMID- 25822864
TI  - Nationwide large survey on hepatitis B surface antigen quantification use in real
      life clinical practice.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Hepatitis B surface antigen quantification (qHBsAg) is a
      relevant biomarker assay in the therapeutic management of hepatitis B virus
      infected patients; however, little is known about its use in France. The aim of
      this study was to describe the knowledge of qHBsAg use and the indications for
      the prescription of qHBsAg in France. METHODS: From March 2014 to May 2014, 135
      questionnaires were sent to hepatologists and gastroenterologists from several
      health centers (private practice, public practice, and outlying health centers).
      There were 20 items in each questionnaire on the use of qHBsAg. RESULTS: Seventy
      six percent of the practitioners had previously used qHBsAg, among whom 88% had
      prescribed the use of qHBsAg before treatment, 73% had prescribed the use of
      qHBsAg in combination with hepatitis B virus viral load, 64% had prescribed the
      use of qHBsAg at week 12 or week 24 of treatment, 62% had prescribed the use of
      qHBsAg for stopping rules, and 49% had prescribed the use of qHBsAg to identify
      inactive carriers. The reason for nonprescription of qHBsAg was mainly because of
      difficulty accessing the test (50% of the practitioners), followed by
      nonreimbursement of the test (27%); 97% of the practitioners who did not
      prescribe qHBsAg indicated an interest in accessing the test. CONCLUSION: This
      survey describes the characteristics of the prescription of qHBsAg in France.
      More than three out of four practitioners have previously used qHBsAg. The use of
      the qHBsAg just before treatment was the main reason for prescription. The main
      reason for nonprescription was because of difficulty in accessing the test.

PMID- 25822865
TI  - Hepatic progenitor cells in children with chronic hepatitis C: correlation with
      histopathology, viremia, and treatment response.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) are bipotential stem cells that can
      differentiate towards the hepatocytic and cholangiocytic lineages. Many studies
      have investigated HPCs in adults with hepatitis C virus infection; however, none
      has been carried out in the pediatric population. Therefore, this work aimed to
      investigate HPCs expansion in children with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and its
      correlation with histopathology, viremia, and treatment response. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: Eighty children with CHC, 73 of whom received interferon-based therapy,
      were recruited. Sections of their liver biopsies were prepared for immunostaining
      of HPCs using cytokeratin-7 antibody. RESULTS: HPCs were expanded in most
      children (81.3%) with CHC. Expansion occurred in two forms: intraparenchymal
      isolated hepatic progenitor cell form and periportal ductular reaction form.
      There was a significant increase in HPCs expansion in higher stages of fibrosis
      (50, 81.8, and 100% in no, mild, and moderate fibrosis, respectively, with
      P=0.029). Also, HPCs expansion increased with increased grade of
      necroinflammatory activity (0, 77.8, 81.8, and 100%, in no, minimal, mild, and
      moderate activity, respectively), although this was statistically insignificant.
      Moreover, a significant positive correlation was found between the isolated
      hepatic progenitor cell number and ductular reaction grade (r=0.755, P<0.0001),
      and both were significantly correlated with the level of viremia and the grade of
      necroinflammatory activity. Finally, HPCs expansion was not related to the
      treatment response. CONCLUSION: The relationship of HPCs with both the severity
      of hepatitis and the stage of fibrosis may be because of a role of HPCs in their
      pathogenesis.

PMID- 25822866
TI  - Effect of long-term acid gastric inhibition on bacterial translocation in
      cirrhotic rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bacterial translocation (BT) related to intestinal bacterial
      overgrowth (IBO) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of bacterial
      infections in cirrhosis. Inhibition of acid gastric secretion promotes IBO and
      might favor BT. We evaluated the effect of long-term inhibition of acid gastric
      secretion on BT in cirrhotic rats. METHODS: Cirrhotic rats with and without
      ascites induced by oral CCl4 and controls were randomized to treatment with a
      daily subcutaneous injection of placebo, ranitidine (50 mg/kg), or pantoprazole
      (8 mg/kg) during 2 weeks. Continuous pH-metry was performed for 2 h before and at
      the end of treatment; thereafter, a laparotomy to obtain samples of blood,
      mesenteric lymph nodes, ascites, spleen, liver, and cecal stools was performed.
      RESULTS: Ranitidine and pantoprazole increased gastric pH as compared with
      placebo (P<0.001). However, antisecretory drugs increased the incidence of BT
      only in ascitic rats treated with ranitidine (P<0.05) or pantoprazole (P=0.07)
      when compared with placebo-treated ascitic rats or cirrhotic rats without ascites
      treated with the same drug. Cirrhotic ascitic rats treated with pantoprazole
      showed a trend toward an increased incidence of IBO (P=0.08), a higher ileal
      malondialdehyde level (P<0.01), and an increased production of tumor necrosis
      factor-alpha (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Although inhibition of acid gastric secretion
      increased gastric pH in all animals, the incidence of BT increased only in
      ascitic rats, and it was associated with a trend toward an increase in IBO
      incidence, a higher ileal malondialdehyde level, and an increased production of
      serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Therefore, antisecretory drugs should be
      carefully administered to cirrhotic ascitic patients.

PMID- 25822868
TI  - Risk factors for first-year hospital readmission after liver transplantation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the frequency of and the risk factors for hospital
      readmission within the first year after liver transplantation (LT). MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Between January 1999 and August 2013, LTs were performed in 890 adult
      patients at our center. We collected medical data from the Chinese Liver
      Transplant Registry and performed a retrospective review of the medical records
      of these patients. We aimed to identify the factors that contribute toward
      readmission during the first year after LT. We also first investigated the
      relationship between the number and severity of post-transplant complications and
      the risk of readmission. The survival outcomes of patients with and without
      readmission were also studied. RESULTS: A total of 165 rehospitalizations
      occurred in 142 patients (18.0%) within 1 year after discharge from their index
      admissions. The risk factors included hepatic malignancy as an indication for LT
      (P=0.01), previous abdominal surgery (P=0.03), the occurrence of any
      complications (P<0.001), biliary complications (P<0.001), vascular complications
      (P=0.005), rejection (P<0.001), pulmonary complications (P<0.001), infection
      (P<0.001), returning to the operating room (P<0.001), and other complications
      (P<0.001). First-year readmission rates increased as the number (P<0.01) and
      severity (P<0.01) of post-LT complications increased. Patients requiring
      readmission had decreased survival compared with those not requiring readmission
      during the first year of discharge after LT (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Our study
      identified the factors that place LT recipients at a high risk for readmission.
      This knowledge could help prevent and minimize rehospitalizations during the
      first year after LT.

PMID- 25822867
TI  - Reappraisal of upper age limit for adult living-donor liver transplantation using
      right lobe grafts: an outcome analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Increasingly more elderly recipients are being evaluated for liver
      transplant nowadays. Reported outcomes of deceased donor liver transplant in
      elderly recipients have varied in different eras. Little was reported on the
      outcome of living donor liver transplant (LDLT) in elderly patients, and the
      upper age limit for consideration for LDLT is variable from center to center.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed our database for LDLT
      procedures performed for recipients 60 years of age or older. Procedures
      performed for retransplantation or left lobe liver transplants were excluded.
      Patients were divided into two groups: group A included recipients at least 60
      and younger than 65 years old and group B included recipients at least 65 years
      old. RESULTS: A total of 55 liver transplants were included in our study. Group A
      included 30 patients, whereas group B included 25 patients. There was a trend
      toward more vascular complications, more frequent rejections, and hepatitis B
      virus recurrence in younger patients. This was only significant for hepatitis B
      virus recurrence. However, there was a trend toward more biliary complications,
      incisional hernias, and longer ICU/hospital stay in older patients. None of the
      latter variables reached statistical significance. Older recipients had better
      patient survival, which was more evident at 3 and 5 years of follow-up. However,
      graft and disease-free survivals did not differ significantly between both
      groups. CONCLUSION: LDLT using right lobe grafts for recipients aged 65 years or
      older is safe and feasible.

PMID- 25822869
TI  - Regression tree for choledocholithiasis prediction.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to develop and compare the predictive
      accuracy of classification and regression tree (CART) analysis with logistic
      regression (LR) for predicting common bile duct stones (CBDS) in patients
      subjected to laparoscopic cholecystectomy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We prospectively
      collected preoperative (demographic, biochemical, ultrasonographic) and
      intraoperative (intraoperative cholangiography, cystic duct diameter) data for
      154 patients considered for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy at the
      department of General Surgery at Gornji Milanovac from 2013 through 2014.
      Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to determine
      independent predictors of CBDS. The CART analysis was carried out using the
      predictors identified by LR analysis. Various measures for the assessment of risk
      prediction models were determined, such as predictive ability, accuracy, the area
      under the receiver operating characteristic curve, and clinical utility using
      decision curve analysis. RESULTS: The most decisive variable at the time of
      classification was the cystic duct diameter category, the alkaline phosphatase,
      and dangerous stones. The CART model was shown to have good discriminatory
      ability (93.9%). Accuracy was similar in both models, ranging from 92.9% in the
      CART model and 93.5% in the LR model. In decision curve analysis, the CART model
      outperformed the LR model. CONCLUSION: We developed a user-friendly risk model
      that can successfully predict the presence of choledocholithiasis in patients
      planned for elective cholecystectomy. However, before recommending its use in
      clinical practice, a larger and more complete database should be used to further
      clarify the differences between models in terms of prediction of the CBDS.

PMID- 25822863
TI  - Hepatogastroenterologists' knowledge of inactive carriers and immunotolerant
      hepatitis B virus patients in France: results of a practice survey.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Before the 2012 revision of the EASL guidelines for the management of
      hepatitis B virus infection, we conducted a survey to determine how French
      nonacademic hepatogastroenterologists defined inactive hepatitis B virus carriers
      and immunotolerant patients. METHODS: We asked 680 hepatogastroenterologists to
      complete a simple survey consisting of 11 multiple-choice questions. RESULTS: The
      participation rate was 32%. HBeAg positivity was not identified as a key
      criterion for the diagnosis of immunotolerance by 61.9% of the respondents. A
      total of 82.5 and 75.9% of the respondents identified repeatedly normal alanine
      transaminase levels and repeatedly low viremia (<2000 IU/ml), respectively, as
      relevant criteria for the HBsAg inactive carrier state. The question on the
      biological monitoring of inactive carriers and immunotolerant patients was
      answered by 78% of the respondents, 97% of whom considered determinations of
      alpha-fetoprotein concentration and viremia every 6 (n=58, 35%) or 12 months
      (n=105, 63%) to be useful. Overall, 19% of the respondents declared never having
      treated an immunotolerant patient; 81% reported that they had treated such
      patients under some circumstances: 73% before immunosuppression or chemotherapy,
      54% treated pregnant women in their third trimester when viremia was greater than
      7 log IU/ml, 49% treated health professionals to prevent contamination, and 31%
      before medically assisted procreation. CONCLUSION: The definition of 'inactive
      carrier state' seems to have been well assimilated, but immunotolerance remains
      poorly understood. Biological monitoring was frequently carried out for inactive
      carriers and immunotolerant patients, but the diversity of the responses obtained
      highlights the lack of clear recommendations for the follow-up of these
      populations.

PMID- 25822871
TI  - Deposition of Mercury in Forests along a Montane Elevation Gradient.
AB  - Atmospheric mercury (Hg) deposition varies along elevation gradients and is
      influenced by both orographic and biological factors. We quantified total Hg
      deposition over a 2 year period at 24 forest sites at Whiteface Mountain, NY,
      USA, that ranged from 450 to 1450 m above sea level and covered three distinct
      forest types: deciduous/hardwood forest (14.1 MUg/m2-yr), spruce/fir forest (33.8
      MUg/m2-yr), and stunted growth alpine/fir forest (44.0 MUg/m2-yr). Atmospheric Hg
      deposition increased with elevation, with the dominant deposition pathways
      shifting from litterfall in low-elevation hardwoods to throughfall in
      midelevation spruce/fir to cloudwater in high-elevation alpine forest. Soil Hg
      concentrations (ranging from 69 to 416 ng/g for the Oi/Oe and 72 to 598 ng/g for
      the Oa horizons) were correlated with total Hg deposition, but the weakness of
      the correlations suggests that additional factors such as climate and tree
      species also contribute to soil Hg accumulation. Meteorological conditions
      influenced Hg deposition pathways, as cloudwater Hg diminished in 2010 (dry
      conditions) compared to 2009 (wet conditions). However, the dry conditions in
      2010 led to increased Hg dry deposition and subsequent significant increases in
      throughfall Hg fluxes compared to 2009. These findings suggest that elevation,
      forest characteristics, and meteorological conditions are all important drivers
      of atmospheric Hg deposition to montane forests.

PMID- 25822872
TI  - Resistance training regulates cardiac function through modulation of miRNA-214.
AB  - AIMS: To determine the effects of resistance training (RT) on the expression of
      microRNA (miRNA)-214 and its target in sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase
      (SERCA2a), and on the morphological and mechanical properties of isolated left
      ventricular myocytes. MAIN METHODS: Male Wistar rats were divided into two groups
      (n = 7/group): Control (CO) or trained (TR). The exercise-training protocol
      consisted of: 4 * 12 bouts, 5*/week during 8 weeks, with 80% of one repetition
      maximum. KEY FINDINGS: RT increased the left ventricular myocyte width by 15% and
      volume by 12%, compared with control animals (p < 0.05). The time to half
      relaxation and time to peak were 8.4% and 4.4% lower, respectively, in cells from
      TR group as compared to CO group (p < 0.05). RT decreased miRNA-214 level by
      18.5% while its target SERCA2a expression were 18.5% higher (p < 0.05).
      SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings showed that RT increases single left ventricular
      myocyte dimensions and also leads to faster cell contraction and relaxation.
      These mechanical adaptations may be related to the augmented expression of
      SERCA2a which, in turn, may be associated with the epigenetic modification of
      decreased miRNA-214 expression.

PMID- 25822873
TI  - Exploring the balance between folding and functional dynamics in proteins and
      RNA.
AB  - As our understanding of biological dynamics continues to be refined, it is
      becoming clear that biomolecules can undergo transitions between ordered and
      disordered states as they execute functional processes. From a computational
      perspective, studying disorder events poses a challenge, as they typically occur
      on long timescales, and the associated molecules are often large (i.e., hundreds
      of residues). These size and time requirements make it advantageous to use
      computationally inexpensive models to characterize large-scale dynamics, where
      more highly detailed models can provide information about individual sub-steps
      associated with function. To reduce computational demand, one often uses a coarse
      grained representation of the molecule or a simplified description of the
      energetics. In order to use simpler models to identify transient disorder in RNA
      and proteins, it is imperative that these models can accurately capture
      structural fluctuations about folded configurations, as well as the overall
      stability of each molecule. Here, we explore a class of simplified model for
      which all non-hydrogen atoms are explicitly represented. We find that this model
      can provide a consistent description of protein folding and native-basin dynamics
      for several representative biomolecules. We additionally show that the native
      basin fluctuations of tRNA and the ribosome are robust to variations in the
      model. Finally, the extended variable loop in tRNAIle is predicted to be very
      dynamic, which may facilitate biologically-relevant rearrangements. Together,
      this study provides a foundation that will aid in the application of simplified
      models to study disorder during function in ribonucleoprotein (RNP) assemblies. 

PMID- 25822874
TI  - Tumour cell membrane poration and ablation by pulsed low-intensity electric field
      with carbon nanotubes.
AB  - Electroporation is a physical method to increase permeabilization of cell
      membrane by electrical pulses. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can potentially act like
      "lighting rods" or exhibit direct physical force on cell membrane under
      alternating electromagnetic fields thus reducing the required field strength. A
      cell poration/ablation system was built for exploring these effects of CNTs in
      which two-electrode sets were constructed and two perpendicular electric fields
      could be generated sequentially. By applying this system to breast cancer cells
      in the presence of multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs), the effective pulse amplitude was
      reduced to 50 V/cm (main field)/15 V/cm (alignment field) at the optimized pulse
      frequency (5 Hz) of 500 pulses. Under these conditions instant cell membrane
      permeabilization was increased to 38.62%, 2.77-fold higher than that without
      CNTs. Moreover, we also observed irreversible electroporation occurred under
      these conditions, such that only 39.23% of the cells were viable 24 h post
      treatment, in contrast to 87.01% cell viability without presence of CNTs. These
      results indicate that CNT-enhanced electroporation has the potential for tumour
      cell ablation by significantly lower electric fields than that in conventional
      electroporation therapy thus avoiding potential risks associated with the use of
      high intensity electric pulses. 

PMID- 25822875
TI  - Anti-inflammatory effect of Streptochlorin via TRIF-dependent signaling pathways
      in cellular and mouse models.
AB  - Streptochlorin, a small compound derived from marine actinomycete, has been shown
      to have anti-angiogenic, anti-tumor, and anti-allergic activities. However, the
      anti-inflammatory effects and underlying mechanisms have not yet been reported.
      In the present study, we investigated the effect of streptochlorin on
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory responses in vitro and in vivo.
      Streptochlorin attenuated the production of proinflammatory mediators such as
      nitric oxide, cyclooxygenase-2, pro-interleukin (IL)-1beta, and IL-6 in LPS
      stimulated RAW264.7 cells through inhibition of the Toll/interleukin-1 receptor
      (TIR)-domain-containing adapter-inducing interferon-beta (TRIF)-dependent
      signaling pathway. Furthermore, streptochlorin suppressed the infiltration of
      immune cells such as neutrophils into the lung and proinflammatory cytokine
      production such as IL-6 and TNF-alpha in broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in
      the LPS-induced acute lung injury (ALI) mouse model. Streptochlorin has potent
      anti-inflammatory effects through regulating TRIF-dependent signaling pathways,
      suggesting that streptochlorin may provide a valuable therapeutic strategy in
      treating various inflammatory diseases. 

PMID- 25822876
TI  - Functionalization of magnetite nanoparticles as oil spill collector.
AB  - In the present study, a new magnetic powder based on magnetite can be used as a
      petroleum crude oil collector. Amidoximes based on rosin as a natural product can
      be prepared from a reaction between hydroxylamine and rosin/acrylonitrile
      adducts. The produced rosin amidoximes were used as capping agents for magnetite
      nanoparticles to prepare hydrophobic coated magnetic powders. A new class of
      monodisperse hydrophobic magnetite nanoparticles was prepared by a simple and
      inexpensive co-precipitation method. Iron ions and iodine were prepared by the
      reaction between ferric chloride and potassium iodide. The structure and
      morphology of magnetite capped with rosin amidoxime were characterized by Fourier
      transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission
      electron microscopy (TEM), zeta potential, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and
      dynamic light scattering (DLS). The magnetic properties were determined from
      vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analyses. These prepared magnetite
      nanoparticles were tested as bioactive nanosystems and their antimicrobial
      effects were investigated. The prepared nanomaterials were examined as a crude
      oil collector using magnetic fields. The results show promising data for the
      separation of the petroleum crude oil from aqueous solution in environmental
      pollution cleanup. 

PMID- 25822878
TI  - Virtual colorimetric sensor array: single ionic liquid for solvent
      discrimination.
AB  - There is a continuing need to develop high-performance sensors for monitoring
      organic solvents, primarily due to the environmental impact of such compounds. In
      this regard, colorimetric sensors have been a subject of intense research for
      such applications. Herein, we report a unique virtual colorimetric sensor array
      based on a single ionic liquid (IL) for accurate detection and identification of
      similar organic solvents and mixtures of such solvents. In this study, we employ
      eight alcohols and seven binary mixtures of ethanol and methanol as analytes to
      provide a stringent test for assessing the capabilities of this array. The UV
      visible spectra of alcoholic solutions of the IL used in this study show two
      absorption bands. Interestingly, the ratio of absorbance for these two bands is
      found to be extremely sensitive to alcohol polarity. A virtual sensor array is
      created by using four different concentrations of IL sensor, which allowed
      identification of these analytes with 96.4-100% accuracy. Overall, this virtual
      sensor array is found to be very promising for discrimination of closely related
      organic solvents. 

PMID- 25822877
TI  - Multi-layer electrospun membrane mimicking tendon sheath for prevention of tendon
      adhesions.
AB  - Defect of the tendon sheath after tendon injury is a main reason for tendon
      adhesions, but it is a daunting challenge for the biomimetic substitute of the
      tendon sheath after injury due to its multi-layer membrane-like structure and
      complex biologic functions. In this study, a multi-layer membrane with celecoxib
      loaded poly(l-lactic acid)-polyethylene glycol (PELA) electrospun fibrous
      membrane as the outer layer, hyaluronic acid (HA) gel as middle layer, and PELA
      electrospun fibrous membrane as the inner layer was designed. The anti-adhesion
      efficacy of this multi-layer membrane was compared with a single-layer use in
      rabbit flexor digitorum profundus tendon model. The surface morphology showed
      that both PELA fibers and celecoxib-loaded PELA fibers in multi-layer membrane
      were uniform in size, randomly arrayed, very porous, and smooth without beads.
      Multi-layer membrane group had fewer peritendinous adhesions and better gliding
      than the PELA membrane group and control group in gross and histological
      observation. The similar mechanical characteristic and collagen expression of
      tendon repair site in the three groups indicated that the multi-layer membrane
      did not impair tendon healing. Taken together, our results demonstrated that such
      a biomimetic multi-layer sheath could be used as a potential strategy in clinics
      for promoting tendon gliding and preventing adhesion without poor tendon healing.

PMID- 25822879
TI  - Tunable and robust phosphite-derived surface film to protect lithium-rich
      cathodes in lithium-ion batteries.
AB  - A thin, uniform, and highly stable protective layer tailored using
      tris(trimethylsilyl) phosphite (TMSP) with a high tendency to donate electrons is
      formed on the Li-rich layered cathode, Li1.17Ni0.17Mn0.5Co0.17O2. This approach
      inhibits severe electrolyte decomposition at high operating voltages during
      cycling and dramatically improves the interfacial stability of the cathode. The
      TMSP additive in the LiPF6-based electrolyte is found to preferentially eliminate
      HF, which promotes the dissolution of metal ions from the cathode. Our
      investigation revealed that the TMSP-derived surface layer can overcome the
      significant capacity fading of the Li-rich cathode by structural instability
      ascribed to an irreversible phase transformation from layered to spinel-like
      structures. Moreover, the superior rate capability of the Li-rich cathode is
      achieved because the TMSP-originated surface layer allows facile charge transport
      at high C rates for the lithiation process. 

PMID- 25822880
TI  - The Influence of God and Providence on Happiness and the Quality of Life of
      Patients Benefiting from Aesthetic Medicine Treatments in Poland.
AB  - The research reveals the impact of a belief in god and god's Providence on the
      happiness and quality of life of patients benefiting from aesthetic medicine
      treatments in Poland (country where over 90 % of society declare to be deeply
      devout). The work also examines age and sex of the patients benefiting from
      beauty treatments (botulinum toxin, fillers, medical peels and needle
      mesotherapy), their quality of life and also the impact of various factors,
      including God and Divine Providence on their happiness. The research shows the
      analysis of factors influencing the successes or failures in the past year and
      presents the comparison of patients who have benefited from the aesthetic
      medicine treatments (cosmetic medicine) to the common average Polish citizens. 

PMID- 25822881
TI  - A Model of Spirituality for Ageing Muslims.
AB  - Spirituality's influence on general well-being and its association with healthy
      ageing has been studied extensively. However, a different perspective has to be
      brought in when dealing with spirituality issues of ageing Muslims. Central to
      this perspective is the intertwining of religion and spirituality in Islam. This
      article will contribute to the understanding of the nature of Islamic
      spirituality and its immense importance in the life of a practicing ageing
      Muslim. Consequently, it will help care providers to include appropriate
      spiritual care in the care repertoire of a Muslim care recipient. It is assumed
      that the framework for a model of spirituality based on Islamic religious beliefs
      would help contextualise the relationship between spirituality and ageing
      Muslims. Not only challenges, but also the opportunities that old age provides
      for charting the spiritual journey have underpinned this model. 

PMID- 25822883
TI  - The role of statins in inflammatory vasculitides.
AB  - While the statins are best known for their cholesterol lowering capabilities,
      they also appear to have anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and endothelial
      repairing properties that have raised the question as to whether this class of
      drugs can be of benefit in non-atherosclerotic, acute and chronic vasculitides.
      These effects, independent of the lipid-lowering effects, make the statins a
      class of drugs that are primed for repurposing and being used in disease states
      where innate and adaptive immunity and endothelial damage play a key role. Thus
      far, statins have been used in Behcet's, rheumatoid arthritis and Kawasaki
      disease with some promising results. Further study is needed to better understand
      the innate and adaptive immunological response to statins in cardiovascular
      diseases as well as the full potential of statins in acute and chronic
      inflammatory vasculitides. 

PMID- 25822884
TI  - Correction: Proteomic profile and in silico analysis in metastatic melanoma with
      and without BRAF mutation.

PMID- 25822882
TI  - Fine specificities of natural regulatory T cells after IVIG therapy in patients
      with Kawasaki disease.
AB  - The activation of natural regulatory T cells (nTreg) recognizing the heavy
      constant region (Fc) of IgG is an important mechanism of action of intravenous
      immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy in Kawasaki disease (KD). Lack of circulating Fc
      specific nTreg in the sub-acute phase of KD is correlated with the development of
      coronary artery abnormalities (CAA). Here, we characterize the fine specificity
      of nTreg in sub-acute (2- to 8-week post-IVIG) and convalescent (1- to 10-year
      post-IVIG) KD subjects by testing the immunogenicity of 64 peptides, 15 amino
      acids in length with a 10 amino acid-overlap spanning the entire Fc protein.
      About 12 Fc peptides (6 pools of 2 consecutive peptides) were recognized by nTreg
      in the cohorts studied, including two patients with CAA. To test whether IVIG
      expands the same nTreg populations that maintain vascular homeostasis in healthy
      subjects, we compared these results with results obtained in healthy adult
      controls. Similar nTreg fine specificities were observed in KD patients after
      IVIG and in healthy donors. These results suggest that T cell fitness rather than
      T cell clonal deletion or anergy is responsible for the lack of Fc-specific nTreg
      in KD patients who develop CAA. Furthermore, we found that adolescents and adults
      who had KD during childhood without developing CAA did not respond to the Fc
      protein in vitro, suggesting that the nTreg response induced by IVIG in KD
      patients is short-lived. Our results support the concept that peptide epitopes
      may be a viable therapeutic approach to expand Fc-specific nTreg and more
      effectively prevent CAA in KD patients. 

PMID- 25822886
TI  - Drivers of coastal shoreline change: case study of hon dat coast, Kien Giang,
      Vietnam.
AB  - Coastal shorelines are naturally dynamic, shifting in response to coastal
      geomorphological processes. Globally, land use change associated with coastal
      urban development and growing human population pressures is accelerating coastal
      shoreline change. In southern Vietnam, coastal erosion currently is posing
      considerable risks to shoreline land use and coastal inhabitants. The aim of this
      paper is to quantify historical shoreline changes along the Hon Dat coast between
      1995 and 2009, and to document the relationships between coastal mangrove
      composition, width and density, and rates of shoreline change. The generalized
      linear mixed-effects models were used to quantify the major biophysical and land
      use factors influencing shoreline change rates. Most significant drivers of the
      rates of change are cutting of mangroves, the dominant mangrove genus, changes in
      adjacent shoreline land use, changes of shoreline land cover, and width of
      fringing mangroves. We suggest that a possible and inexpensive strategy for
      robust mangrove shoreline defense is direct mangrove planting to promote mangrove
      density with the presence of breakwater structures. In the shorter term,
      construction of coastal barriers such as fence-structured melaleuca poles in
      combination with mangrove restoration schemes could help retain coastal sediments
      and increase the elevation of the accretion zone, thereby helping to stabilize
      eroding fringe shorelines. It also is recommended that implementation of a system
      of payments for mangrove ecosystem services and the stronger regulation of
      mangrove cutting and unsustainable land-use change to strengthen the
      effectiveness of mangrove conservation programs and coastal land-use management. 

PMID- 25822885
TI  - The clinical and etiological characteristics of influenza-like illness (ILI) in
      outpatients in Shanghai, China, 2011 to 2013.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Clinical and etiological characteristics of influenza-like illness
      (ILI) in outpatients is poorly understood in the southern temperate region of
      China. We conducted laboratory-based surveillance of viral etiology for ILI
      outpatients in Shanghai from January 2011 to December 2013. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Clinical and epidemiological data from ILI outpatients, both children
      and adults, were collected. A total of 1970 nasopharyngeal swabs were collected
      and tested for 12 respiratory viruses using multiplex RT-PCR, and the data were
      analyzed anonymously. RESULTS: All 12 respiratory viruses were detected in the
      specimens. At least one virus was detected in 32.4% of 1970 specimens analyzed,
      with 1.1% showing co-infections. The most frequently detected agents were
      influenza A (11.7%), influenza B (9.6%), and rhinoviruses (3.1%).Other viruses
      were present at a frequency less than 3.0%. We observed a winter peak in the
      detection rate in ILI patients during 3 years of surveillance and a summer peak
      in 2012. HCoV, HADV, and HMPV were detected more frequently in children than in
      adults. Patients infected with influenza virus experienced higher temperatures,
      more coughs, running noses, headaches and fatigue than patients infected with
      other viruses and virus-free patients (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The spectrum,
      seasonality, age distribution and clinical associations of respiratory virus
      infections in children and adults with influenza-like illness were analyzed in
      this study for the first time. To a certain extent, the findings can provide
      baseline data for evaluating the burden of respiratory virus infection in
      children and adults in Shanghai. It will also provide clinicians with helpful
      information about the etiological patterns of outpatients presenting with
      complaints of acute respiratory syndrome, but further studies should be
      conducted, and longer-term laboratory-based surveillance would give a better
      picture of the etiology of ILI.

PMID- 25822887
TI  - More of the same: high functional redundancy in stream fish assemblages from
      tropical agroecosystems.
AB  - In this study, we investigated the influence of environmental variables
      (predictor variables) on the species richness, species diversity, functional
      diversity, and functional redundancy (response variables) of stream fish
      assemblages in an agroecosystem that harbor a gradient of degradation. We
      hypothesized that, despite presenting high richness or diversity in some
      occasions, fish communities will be more functionally redundant with stream
      degradation. Species richness, species diversity, and functional redundancy were
      predicted by the percentage of grass on the banks, which is a characteristic that
      indicates degraded conditions, whereas the percentage of coarse substrate in the
      stream bottom was an important predictor of all response variables and indicates
      more preserved conditions. Despite being more numerous and diverse, the groups of
      species living in streams with an abundance of grass on the banks perform similar
      functions in the ecosystem. We found that riparian and watershed land use had low
      predictive power in comparison to the instream habitat. If there is any interest
      in promoting ecosystem functions and fish diversity, conservation strategies
      should seek to restore forests in watersheds and riparian buffers, protect
      instream habitats from siltation, provide wood debris, and mitigate the
      proliferation of grass on stream banks. Such actions will work better if they are
      planned together with good farming practices because these basins will continue
      to be used for agriculture and livestock in the future. 

PMID- 25822888
TI  - What is Novel About Novel Ecosystems: Managing Change in an Ever-Changing World.
AB  - Influenced by natural climatic, geological, and evolutionary changes, landscapes
      and the ecosystems within are continuously changing. In addition to these natural
      pressures, anthropogenic drivers have increasingly influenced ecosystems. Whether
      affected by natural or anthropogenic processes, ecosystems, ecological
      communities, and ecosystem functioning are dynamic and can lead to "novel" or
      "emerging" ecosystems. Current literature identifies several definitions of these
      ecosystems but lacks an unambiguous definition and framework for categorizing
      what constitutes a novel ecosystem and for informing decisions around best
      management practices. Here we explore the various definitions used for novel
      ecosystems, present an unambiguous definition, and propose a framework for
      identifying the most appropriate management option. We identify and discuss three
      approaches for managing novel ecosystems: managing against, tolerating, and
      managing for these systems, and we provide real-world examples of each approach.
      We suggest that this framework will allow managers to make thoughtful decisions
      about which strategy is most appropriate for each unique situation, to determine
      whether the strategy is working, and to facilitate decision-making when it is
      time to modify the management approach. 

PMID- 25822889
TI  - Changes in Microbial Community Structure and Soil Biological Properties in Mined
      Dune Areas During Re-vegetation.
AB  - The aim of this study was to describe the impact of re-vegetation on the
      restoration of microbial community structure and soil microbiological properties
      in sand dunes that had been affected by mining activity. Soil samples were
      collected during the dry and rainy seasons from a chronosequence (1, 9, 21 years)
      of re-vegetated dunes using a single preserved dune as a reference. The
      composition of the fatty acid methyl esters and soil microbial properties were
      evaluated. The results showed that the changes in microbial community structure
      were related to seasonal variations: biomarkers of Gram-positive bacteria were
      higher than Gram-negative bacteria during the dry season, showing that this group
      of organisms is more tolerant to these stressful conditions. The microbial
      community structure in the natural dune was less affected by seasonal variation
      compared to the re-vegetated areas, whereas the opposite was observed for
      microbiological properties. Thus, in general, the proportion of saprobic fungi
      was higher in the natural dune, whereas Gram-negative bacteria were
      proportionally more common in the younger areas. Although over time the re
      vegetation allows the recovery of the microbial community and the soil functions,
      these communities and functions are different from those found in the undisturbed
      areas. 

PMID- 25822890
TI  - The burden and etiology of community-onset pneumonia in the aging Japanese
      population: a multicenter prospective study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The increasing burden of pneumonia in adults is an emerging health
      issue in the era of global population aging. This study was conducted to
      elucidate the burden of community-onset pneumonia (COP) and its etiologic
      fractions in Japan, the world's most aged society. METHODS: A multicenter
      prospective surveillance for COP was conducted from September 2011 to January
      2013 in Japan. All pneumonia patients aged >= 15 years, including those with
      community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and health care-associated pneumonia (HCAP),
      were enrolled at four community hospitals on four major islands. The COP burden
      was estimated based on the surveillance data and national statistics. RESULTS: A
      total of 1,772 COP episodes out of 932,080 hospital visits were enrolled during
      the surveillance. The estimated overall incidence rates of adult COP,
      hospitalization, and in-hospital death were 16.9 (95% confidence interval, 13.6
      to 20.9), 5.3 (4.5 to 6.2), and 0.7 (0.6 to 0.8) per 1,000 person-years (PY),
      respectively. The incidence rates sharply increased with age; the incidence in
      people aged >= 85 years was 10-fold higher than that in people aged 15-64 years.
      The estimated annual number of adult COP cases in the entire Japanese population
      was 1,880,000, and 69.4% were aged >= 65 years. Aspiration-associated pneumonia
      (630,000) was the leading etiologic category, followed by Streptococcus
      pneumoniae-associated pneumonia (530,000), Haemophilus influenzae-associated
      pneumonia (420,000), and respiratory virus-associated pneumonia (420,000),
      including influenza-associated pneumonia (30,000). CONCLUSIONS: A substantial
      portion of the COP burden occurs among elderly members of the Japanese adult
      population. In addition to the introduction of effective vaccines for S.
      pneumoniae and influenza, multidimensional approaches are needed to reduce the
      pneumonia burden in an aging society.

PMID- 25822892
TI  - The role of states in improving price transparency in health care.

PMID- 25822891
TI  - Spatiotemporal analysis of hepatitis C virus infection.
AB  - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) entry, translation, replication, and assembly occur with
      defined kinetics in distinct subcellular compartments. It is unclear how HCV
      spatially and temporally regulates these events within the host cell to
      coordinate its infection. We have developed a single molecule RNA detection assay
      that facilitates the simultaneous visualization of HCV (+) and (-) RNA strands at
      the single cell level using high-resolution confocal microscopy. We detect (+)
      strand RNAs as early as 2 hours post-infection and (-) strand RNAs as early as 4
      hours post-infection. Single cell levels of (+) and (-) RNA vary considerably
      with an average (+):(-) RNA ratio of 10 and a range from 1-35. We next developed
      microscopic assays to identify HCV (+) and (-) RNAs associated with actively
      translating ribosomes, replication, virion assembly and intracellular virions.
      (+) RNAs display a defined temporal kinetics, with the majority of (+) RNAs
      associated with actively translating ribosomes at early times of infection,
      followed by a shift to replication and then virion assembly. (-) RNAs have a
      strong colocalization with NS5A, but not NS3, at early time points that correlate
      with replication compartment formation. At later times, only ~30% of the
      replication complexes appear to be active at a given time, as defined by (-)
      strand colocalization with either (+) RNA, NS3, or NS5A. While both (+) and (-)
      RNAs colocalize with the viral proteins NS3 and NS5A, only the plus strand
      preferentially colocalizes with the viral envelope E2 protein. These results
      suggest a defined spatiotemporal regulation of HCV infection with highly varied
      replication efficiencies at the single cell level. This approach can be
      applicable to all plus strand RNA viruses and enables unprecedented sensitivity
      for studying early events in the viral life cycle. 

PMID- 25822893
TI  - Examining the associations between daily caregiving discontinuity and children's
      social-emotional outcomes.
AB  - Many child care centers temporarily move children and teachers in and out of
      their assigned classrooms throughout the day. Such practices create frequent
      discontinuity in children's experiences in child care, including discontinuity in
      their peer and teacher relationships. This study examined the prevalence and
      patterns of teacher and child movement between classrooms, the characteristics of
      teachers and children who were more likely to move between classrooms on a daily
      basis, and the associations between children's and teachers' rate of daily
      movement between classrooms with children's social-emotional outcomes. A moderate
      to high prevalence of child and teacher movement between classrooms was observed
      (29% and 83%, respectively). Children who were younger, considered solitary, and
      who had been enrolled in their classroom for shorter periods of time were less
      likely to transition between classrooms. Children's rate of movement was a
      positive predictor of teachers' perceived conflict with children in their care,
      and a negative predictor of teachers' perceived closeness. In addition, the more
      frequently teachers moved, the less children were inclined to indicate liking
      their teachers or centers. However, the more frequently children moved, the more
      likely children were to indicate liking their peers and for their peers to
      indicate liking them. Results are interpreted in light of additional research
      avenues that can inform sensible daily teacher continuity practices.

PMID- 25822894
TI  - The utility of the prototype/willingness model in predicting alcohol use among
      North American Indigenous adolescents.
AB  - In the present study, we considered the utility of the prototype/willingness
      model in predicting alcohol use among North-American Indigenous adolescents.
      Specifically, using longitudinal data, we examined the associations among
      subjective drinking norms, positive drinker prototypes, drinking expectations (as
      a proxy of drinking willingness), and drinking behavior among a sample of
      Indigenous adolescents from ages 12 to 14 years. Using an autoregressive cross
      lagged analysis, our results showed that subjective drinking norms and positive
      drinker prototypes at 12 years of age were associated with increased drinking
      expectations at 13 years of age, and that greater drinking expectations at 13
      years of age were associated with increased drinking behavior at 14 years of age.
      Our results provide initial evidence that the prototype/willingness model may
      generalize to Indigenous adolescents, a population that has received little
      attention within the psychological sciences. Our results also highlight some
      potential ways in which existing prevention efforts aimed at reducing substance
      use among Indigenous adolescents may be enhanced.

PMID- 25822895
TI  - Predictors of child-to-parent aggression: A 3-year longitudinal study.
AB  - Although we rarely hear about it, children sometimes aggress against their
      parents. This is a difficult topic to study because abused parents and abusive
      children are both reluctant to admit the occurrence of child-to-parent
      aggression. There are very few research studies on this topic, and even fewer
      theoretical explanations of why it occurs. We predicted that exposure to violence
      in the home (e.g., parents aggressing against each other) and ineffective
      parenting (i.e., parenting that is overly permissive or lacks warmth) influences
      cognitive schemas of how children perceive themselves and the world around them
      (i.e., whether aggression is normal, whether they develop grandiose self-views,
      and whether they feel disconnected and rejected), which, in turn, predicts child
      to-parent aggression. In a 3-year longitudinal study of 591 adolescents and their
      parents, we found that exposure to violence in Year 1 predicted child-to-parent
      aggression in Year 3. In addition, parenting characterized by lack of warmth in
      Year 1 was related to narcissistic and entitled self-views and disconnection and
      rejection schemas in Year 2, which, in turn, predicted child-to-mother and child
      to-father aggression in Year 3. Gender comparisons indicated that narcissism
      predicted child-to-parent aggression only in boys and that exposure to violence
      was a stronger predictor of child-to-father violence in boys. This longitudinal
      study increases our understanding of the understudied but important topic of
      child-to-parent aggression, and will hopefully stimulate future research.

PMID- 25822896
TI  - Cognitive control of speech perception across the lifespan: A large-scale cross
      sectional dichotic listening study.
AB  - The ability to use cognitive-control functions to regulate speech perception is
      thought to be crucial in mastering developmental challenges, such as language
      acquisition during childhood or compensation for sensory decline in older age,
      enabling interpersonal communication and meaningful social interactions
      throughout the entire life span. Although previous studies indicate that
      cognitive control of speech perception is subject to developmental changes, its
      exact developmental trajectory has not been described. Thus, examining a sample
      of 2,988 participants (1,119 women) with an age range from 5 to 89 years, the aim
      of the present cross-sectional study was to examine the development of cognitive
      control of speech perception across the life span using age as continuous
      predictor. Based on data collected with the forced-attention consonant-vowel
      dichotic listening paradigm, the data analysis revealed an inverted U-shaped
      association of age and performance level: A steep increase in performance level
      was seen throughout childhood and adolescence, reaching highest performance in
      the early 20s, and was followed by a monotonous, continuous decline into late
      adulthood. Thus, cognitive control of speech perceptions shows similar life span
      developmental trajectories as observed regarding cognitive-control functions in
      other domains, for example, as assessed in the visual domain.

PMID- 25822897
TI  - Further examination of the immediate impact of television on children's executive
      function.
AB  - Three studies examined the short-term impact of television (TV) on children's
      executive function (EF). Study 1 (N = 160) showed that 4- and 6-year-olds' EF is
      impaired after watching 2 different fast and fantastical shows, relative to that
      of children who watched a slow, realistic show or played. In Study 2 (N = 60), 4
      year-olds' EF was as depleted after watching a fast and fantastical educational
      show as it was after a fast and fantastical entertainment 1, relative to that of
      children who read a book based on the educational show. Study 3 (N = 80) examined
      whether show pacing or fantasy was more influential, and found that only
      fantastical shows, regardless of their pacing, disrupted 4-year-olds' EF. Taken
      together, these studies show that 10-20 min watching televised fantastical
      events, relative to other experiences, results in lower EF in young children.

PMID- 25822898
TI  - Correction: Polymorphisms of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system gene in Chinese
      Han patients with nonfamilial atrial fibrillation.

PMID- 25822899
TI  - Growth pattern of colorectal liver metastasis as a marker of recurrence risk.
AB  - Despite improved therapy of advanced colorectal cancer, the median overall
      survival (OS) is still low. A surgical removal has significantly improved
      survival, if lesions are entirely removed. The purpose of this retrospective
      explorative study was to evaluate the prognostic value of histological growth
      patterns (GP) in chemonaive and patients receiving neo-adjuvant therapy. Two
      hundred-fifty-four patients who underwent liver resection of colorectal liver
      metastases between 2007 and 2011 were included in the study. Clinicopathological
      data and information on neo-adjuvant treatment were retrieved from patient and
      pathology records. Histological GP were evaluated and related to recurrence free
      and OS. Kaplan-Meier curves, log-rank test and Cox regression analysis were used.
      The 5-year OS was 41.8% (95% CI 33.8-49.8%). Growth pattern evaluation of the
      largest liver metastasis was possible in 224 cases, with the following
      distribution: desmoplastic 63 patients (28.1%); pushing 77 patients (34.4%);
      replacement 28 patients (12.5%); mixed 56 patients (25.0%). The Kaplan-Meier
      analyses demonstrated that patients resected for liver metastases with
      desmoplastic growth pattern had a longer recurrence free survival (RFS) than
      patients resected for non-desmoplastic liver metastases (p=0.05). When patients
      were stratified according to neo-adjuvant treatment in the multivariate Cox
      regression model, hazard ratios for RFS compared to desmoplastic were: pushing
      (HR=1.37, 95% CI 0.93-2.02, p=0.116), replacement (HR=2.16, 95% CI 1.29-3.62,
      p=0.003) and mixed (HR=1.70, 95% CI 1.12-2.59, p=0.013). This was true for
      chemonaive patients as well as for patients who received neo-adjuvant treatment.

PMID- 25822900
TI  - Vitamin D deficiency and its predictors in a country with thirteen months of
      sunshine: the case of school children in central Ethiopia.
AB  - Studies examining vitamin D status among children living in sunny climates
      indicated that children did not receive adequate vitamin D, however, this has not
      been looked at among children living in Ethiopia. In this study, we determined
      vitamin D deficiency and its predictors among school children aged 11-18 years,
      examining circulating 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH)D]. The school-based cross
      sectional study was conducted in schools in Adama Town (n = 89) and in rural
      Adama (n = 85) for a total sample of 174. Students were randomly selected using
      multi-stage stratified sampling method from both settings. Socioeconomic status
      of parents and demographic, anthropometric, sun exposure status and blood 25(OH)D
      levels were obtained. Vitamin D deficiency, defined as circulating levels of
      25(OH)D <50 nmol/L, was found in 42% of the entire study participants. Prevalence
      of deficiency was significantly higher among students in urban setting compared
      to rural (61.8% vs 21.2%, respectively, p<0.001). After controlling for potential
      confounders using multivariable logistic regression model, duration of exposure
      to sunlight, amount of body part exposed to sunlight, place of residence,
      maternal education, body fatness, having TV/computer at home and socioeconomic
      status were significant predictors of vitamin D deficiency. The findings suggest
      that Vitamin D deficiency was prevalent in healthy school children living both in
      urban and rural areas of a country with abundant year round sunshine providing
      UVB, with the prevalence of deficiency being significantly higher among urban
      school children who were less exposed to sunlight. Behaviour change communication
      to enhance exposure to ultraviolet light is critical to prevent vitamin D
      deficiency in tropical country like Ethiopia. Further study is required to assess
      the deleterious effect of its deficiency on bone mineral homeostasis of growing
      children in Ethiopia during their most critical period of bone development. 

PMID- 25822901
TI  - Prevalence of Elevated Blood Lead Levels and Risk Factors Among Residents Younger
      Than 6 Years, Puerto Rico--2010.
AB  - CONTEXT: Limited data exist about blood lead levels (BLLs) and potential
      exposures among children living in Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Department of
      Health has no formal blood lead surveillance program. OBJECTIVES: We assessed the
      prevalence of elevated BLLs (>=5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood),
      evaluated household environmental lead levels, and risk factors for BLL among
      children younger than 6 years of age living in Puerto Rico in 2010. METHODS: We
      used a population-based, cross-sectional sampling strategy to enroll an island
      representative sample of Puerto Rican children younger than 6 years. We estimated
      the island-wide weighted prevalence of elevated BLLs and conducted bivariable and
      multivariable linear regression analyses to ascertain risk factors for elevated
      BLLs. RESULTS: The analytic data set included 355 households and 439 children
      younger than 6 years throughout Puerto Rico. The weighted geometric mean BLL of
      children younger than 6 years was 1.57 MUg/dL (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27
      1.88). The weighted prevalence of children younger than 6 years with BLLs of 5
      MUg/dL or more was 3.18% (95% CI, 0.93-5.43) and for BLLs of 10 MUg/dL or more
      was 0.50% (95% CI, 0-1.31). Higher mean BLLs were significantly associated with
      data collection during the summer months, a lead-related activity or hobby of
      anyone in the residence, and maternal education of less than 12 years. Few
      environmental lead hazards were identified. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of
      elevated BLLs among Puerto Rican children younger than 6 years is comparable with
      the most recent (2007-2010) US national estimate (BLLs >=5 MUg/dL = 2.6% [95% CI
      = 1.6-4.0]). Our findings suggest that targeted screening of specific higher-risk
      groups of children younger than 6 years can replace island-wide or insurance
      specific policies of mandatory blood lead testing in Puerto Rico.

PMID- 25822902
TI  - The Tobacco Control Network's Policy Readiness and Stage of Change Assessment:
      What the Results Suggest for Moving Tobacco Control Efforts Forward at the State
      and Territorial Levels.
AB  - CONTEXT: The Tobacco Control Network (TCN) is comprised of the tobacco control
      programs in the health departments of states, territories, and the District of
      Columbia. During the assessment period, the TCN was managed by the Tobacco
      Technical Assistance Consortium at Emory University. OBJECTIVE: To assess the
      readiness of state and territory tobacco control programs to work on evidence
      based, promising policy and system change strategies aimed at preventing and
      reducing tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure. DESIGN: The Policy Readiness
      and Stage of Change Assessment was a Web-based survey fielded in September 2013,
      which was based on the Community Readiness Model. SETTING: Fifty-nine
      comprehensive tobacco control programs. PARTICIPANTS: State and territory tobacco
      control program managers and their internal and external partners. INTERVENTION:
      The TCN's 2012 Policy Platform recommendations were used as the basis to assess
      state/territory readiness to adopt and implement evidence-based and promising
      tobacco control policy/system change strategies. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sixteen
      tobacco control strategies were rated on: (1) implementation status, (2)
      readiness, (3) stage of change, and (4) the appropriate level of action for work
      on the strategy. RESULTS: The 3 strategies with the highest readiness scores were
      as follows: (1) 100% smoke-free air in workplaces (64%), (2) tobacco-free schools
      (61%), and (3) $1.50 or less cigarette tax with funds to tobacco control (53%).
      The 3 strategies with lowest readiness scores were: 1) coupon redemption (17%),
      2) tobacco mitigation fee (14%), and 3) disclosure or sunshine laws (8%).
      CONCLUSION: Readiness to work on tobacco control strategies varied by region and
      strategy. Many states/territories are ready to work on strategies for which there
      is less evidence of a population-level impact for reducing tobacco use, but which
      contribute to denormalizing tobacco use. Working toward less impactful policies
      may build support, capacity, and policy success, laying an important foundation
      to achieve more impactful strategies.

PMID- 25822903
TI  - Learning from New York City : a case study of public health policy practice in
      the Bloomberg administration.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To ascertain any lessons learned about how public health reforms
      undertaken in New York City during the Bloomberg Administration were shepherded
      through the public policy and administration gauntlet. The question is, how
      feasible is this approach and would it work outside of New York City?
      DESIGN/SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Using a theoretically grounded case study approach,
      3 initiatives were examined that were proposed and/or implemented during a 10
      year period of the Mayoralty of Michael Bloomberg (2002-2011): transfats
      restrictions, clean bus transportation policies, and a sugar-sweetened beverages
      tax (as a counterfactual). The investigation began by performing a comprehensive
      public documents search and was followed with interviews of 27 individuals
      involved in the selected policy initiatives. Interviews were coded in Nvivo using
      an iterative, grounded methodology. RESULTS: Using a theoretical lens, the case
      study illustrates that the multifaceted role of leadership was not confined to
      the executives in the City or the Agency. Instead, leadership extended to other
      administrative officials within the agency and the Board of Health. Second, New
      York City used reorganization and coordinative mechanisms strategically to ensure
      achievement of their goals. This included creation of new departments/bureaus and
      coordinating structures across the City. Evidence of the explicit use of
      incentives, as initially anticipated from the theoretical framework, was not
      found. CONCLUSIONS: While some aspects of this case study are unique to the
      context of New York City, 2 approaches used in New York City are feasible for
      other jurisdictions: harnessing the full scope and breadth of authority of the
      agency and its associated boards and commissions, and remobilizing existing
      workforce to explicitly focus on and coordinate targeted policies for issues of
      concern. Questions for further consideration are posed at the conclusion of the
      article.

PMID- 25822904
TI  - Public health initiatives in New York City during the Bloomberg administration.

PMID- 25822906
TI  - Deficiency of angulin-2/ILDR1, a tricellular tight junction-associated membrane
      protein, causes deafness with cochlear hair cell degeneration in mice.
AB  - Tricellular tight junctions seal the extracellular spaces of tricellular
      contacts, where the vertices of three epithelial cells meet, and are required for
      the establishment of a strong barrier function of the epithelial cellular sheet.
      Angulins and tricellulin are known as specific protein components of tricellular
      tight junctions, where angulins recruit tricellulin. Mutations in the genes
      encoding angulin-2/ILDR1 and tricellulin have been reported to cause human
      hereditary deafness DFNB42 and DFNB49, respectively. To investigate the
      pathogenesis of DFNB42, we analyzed mice with a targeted disruption of Ildr1,
      which encodes angulin-2/ILDR1. Ildr1 null mice exhibited profound deafness. Hair
      cells in the cochlea of Ildr1 null mice develop normally, but begin to degenerate
      by two weeks after birth. Tricellulin localization at tricellular contacts of the
      organ of Corti in the cochlea was retained in Ildr1 null mice, but its
      distribution along the depth of tricellular contacts was affected. Interestingly,
      compensatory tricellular contact localization of angulin-1/LSR was observed in
      the organ of Corti in Ildr1 null mice although it was hardly detected in the
      organ of Corti in wild-type mice. The onset of hair cell degeneration in Ildr1
      null mice was earlier than that in the reported Tric mutant mice, which mimic one
      of the tricellulin mutations in DFNB49 deafness. These results indicate that the
      angulin-2/ILDR1 deficiency causes the postnatal degenerative loss of hair cells
      in the cochlea, leading to human deafness DFNB42. Our data also suggest that
      angulin family proteins have distinct functions in addition to their common roles
      of tricellulin recruitment and that the function of angulin-2/ILDR1 for hearing
      cannot be substituted by angulin-1/LSR. 

PMID- 25822905
TI  - Micronutrient intakes and potential inadequacies of community-dwelling older
      adults: a systematic review.
AB  - Micronutrient deficiencies and low dietary intakes among community-dwelling older
      adults are associated with functional decline, frailty and difficulties with
      independent living. As such, studies that seek to understand the types and
      magnitude of potential dietary inadequacies might be beneficial for guiding
      future interventions. We carried out a systematic review following the Preferred
      Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Observational
      cohort and longitudinal studies presenting the habitual dietary intakes of older
      adults (>=65 years) were included. Sex-specific mean (and standard deviation)
      habitual micronutrient intakes were extracted from each article to calculate the
      percentage of older people who were at risk for inadequate micronutrient intakes
      using the estimated average requirement (EAR) cut-point method. The percentage at
      risk for inadequate micronutrient intakes from habitual dietary intakes was
      calculated for twenty micronutrients. A total of thirty-seven articles were
      included in the pooled systematic analysis. Of the twenty nutrients analysed, six
      were considered a possible public health concern: vitamin D, thiamin, riboflavin,
      Ca, Mg and Se. The extent to which these apparent inadequacies are relevant
      depends on dynamic factors, including absorption and utilisation, vitamin and
      mineral supplement use, dietary assessment methods and the selection of the
      reference value. In light of these considerations, the present review provides
      insight into the type and magnitude of vitamin and mineral inadequacies.

PMID- 25822908
TI  - Self-Assembling of Tetradecylammonium Chain on Swelling High Charge Micas (Na
      Mica-3 and Na-Mica-2): Effect of Alkylammonium Concentration and Mica Layer
      Charge.
AB  - A family of tetradecylammonium micas is synthesized using synthetic swelling
      micas with high layer charge (Na(n)Si(8-n)Al(n)Mg6F4O20.XH2O, where n = 2 and 3)
      exchanged with tetradecylammonium cations. The molecular arrangement of the
      surfactant is elucidated on the basis of XRD patterns and DTA. The ordering
      conformation of the surfactant molecules into the interlayer space of micas is
      investigated by IR/FT, (13)C, (27)Al, and (29)Si MAS NMR. The structural
      arrangement of the tetradecylammonium cation in the interlayer space of high
      charge micas is more sensitive to the effect of the mica layer charge at high
      concentration. The surfactant arrangement is found to follow the bilayer-paraffin
      model for all values of layer charge and surfactant concentration. However, at
      initial concentration below the mica CEC, a lateral monolayer is also observed.
      The amount of ordered conformation all-trans is directly proportional to the
      layer charge and surfactant concentration.

PMID- 25822907
TI  - Hockey STAR: A Methodology for Assessing the Biomechanical Performance of Hockey
      Helmets.
AB  - Optimizing the protective capabilities of helmets is one of several methods of
      reducing brain injury risk in sports. This paper presents the experimental and
      analytical development of a hockey helmet evaluation methodology. The Summation
      of Tests for the Analysis of Risk (STAR) formula combines head impact exposure
      with brain injury probability over the broad range of 227 head impacts that a
      hockey player is likely to experience during one season. These impact exposure
      data are mapped to laboratory testing parameters using a series of 12 impact
      conditions comprised of three energy levels and four head impact locations, which
      include centric and non-centric directions of force. Injury risk is determined
      using a multivariate injury risk function that incorporates both linear and
      rotational head acceleration measurements. All testing parameters are presented
      along with exemplar helmet test data. The Hockey STAR methodology provides a
      scientific framework for manufacturers to optimize hockey helmet design for
      injury risk reduction, as well as providing consumers with a meaningful metric to
      assess the relative performance of hockey helmets. 

PMID- 25822909
TI  - [Individualized knee arthroplasty].

PMID- 25822910
TI  - [Morphological and functional cartilage imaging].
AB  - Excellent morphological imaging of cartilage is now possible and allows the
      detection of subtle cartilage pathologies. Besides the standard 2D sequences, a
      multitude of 3D sequences are available for high-resolution cartilage imaging.
      The first part therefore deals with modern possibilities of morphological
      imaging. The second part deals with functional cartilage imaging with which it is
      possible to detect changes in cartilage composition and thus early osteoarthritis
      as well as to monitor biochemical changes after therapeutic interventions.
      Validated techniques such as delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance
      imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC) and T2 mapping as well the latest techniques, such
      as the glycosaminoglycan chemical exchange-dependent saturation transfer
      (gagCEST) technique will be discussed.

PMID- 25822911
TI  - Improved Dielectric Properties and Energy Storage Density of Poly(vinylidene
      fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) Nanocomposite with Hydantoin Epoxy Resin Coated
      BaTiO3.
AB  - Energy storage materials are urgently demanded in modern electric power supply
      and renewable energy systems. The introduction of inorganic fillers to polymer
      matrix represents a promising avenue for the development of high energy density
      storage materials, which combines the high dielectric constant of inorganic
      fillers with supernal dielectric strength of polymer matrix. However,
      agglomeration and phase separation of inorganic fillers in the polymer matrix
      remain the key barriers to promoting the practical applications of the composites
      for energy storage. Here, we developed a low-cost and environmentally friendly
      route to modifying BaTiO3 (BT) nanoparticles by a kind of water-soluble hydantoin
      epoxy resin. The modified BT nanoparticles exhibited homogeneous dispersion in
      the ferroelectric polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (P(VDF
      HFP)) matrix and strong interfacial adhesion with the polymer matrix. The
      dielectric constants of the nanocomposites increased significantly with the
      increase of the coated BT loading, while the dielectric loss of the
      nanocomposites was still as low as that of the pure P(VDF-HFP). The energy
      storage density of the nanocomposites was largely enhanced with the coated BT
      loading at the same electric field. The nanocomposite with 20 vol % BT exhibited
      an estimated maximum energy density of 8.13 J cm(-3), which was much higher than
      that of pure P(VDF-HFP) and other dielectric polymers. The findings of this
      research could provide a feasible approach to produce high energy density
      materials for practical application in energy storage. 

PMID- 25822912
TI  - Dissociated roles of the inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal sulcus in
      audiovisual processing: top-down and bottom-up mismatch detection.
AB  - Visual inputs can distort auditory perception, and accurate auditory processing
      requires the ability to detect and ignore visual input that is simultaneous and
      incongruent with auditory information. However, the neural basis of this auditory
      selection from audiovisual information is unknown, whereas integration process of
      audiovisual inputs is intensively researched. Here, we tested the hypothesis that
      the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal sulcus (STS) are involved
      in top-down and bottom-up processing, respectively, of target auditory
      information from audiovisual inputs. We recorded high gamma activity (HGA), which
      is associated with neuronal firing in local brain regions, using
      electrocorticography while patients with epilepsy judged the syllable spoken by a
      voice while looking at a voice-congruent or -incongruent lip movement from the
      speaker. The STS exhibited stronger HGA if the patient was presented with
      information of large audiovisual incongruence than of small incongruence,
      especially if the auditory information was correctly identified. On the other
      hand, the IFG exhibited stronger HGA in trials with small audiovisual
      incongruence when patients correctly perceived the auditory information than when
      patients incorrectly perceived the auditory information due to the mismatched
      visual information. These results indicate that the IFG and STS have dissociated
      roles in selective auditory processing, and suggest that the neural basis of
      selective auditory processing changes dynamically in accordance with the degree
      of incongruity between auditory and visual information. 

PMID- 25822913
TI  - One-step site-specific modification of native proteins with 2
      pyridinecarboxyaldehydes.
AB  - The chemical modification of proteins is an enabling technology for many
      scientific fields, including chemical biology, biophysics, bioengineering and
      materials science. These methods allow the attachment of strategically selected
      detection probes, polymers, drug molecules and analysis platforms. However,
      organic reactions that can proceed under conditions mild enough to maintain
      biomolecular function are limited. Even more rare are chemical strategies that
      can target a single site, leading to products with uniform properties and optimal
      function. We present a versatile method for the selective modification of protein
      N termini that does not require any genetic engineering of the protein target.
      This reaction is demonstrated for 12 different proteins, including the soluble
      domain of the human estrogen receptor. The function of this protein was confirmed
      through the binding of a fluorescent estrogen mimic, and the modified protein was
      explored as a prototype for the detection of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in
      water. 

PMID- 25822914
TI  - Impeding the interaction between Nur77 and p38 reduces LPS-induced inflammation.
AB  - Sepsis, a hyperinflammatory response that can result in multiple organ
      dysfunctions, is a leading cause of mortality from infection. Here, we show that
      orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 (also known as TR3) can enhance resistance to
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced sepsis in mice by inhibiting NF-kappaB activity
      and suppressing aberrant cytokine production. Nur77 directly associates with p65
      to block its binding to the kappaB element. However, this function of Nur77 is
      countered by the LPS-activated p38alpha phosphorylation of Nur77. Dampening the
      interaction between Nur77 and p38alpha would favor Nur77 suppression of the
      hyperinflammatory response. A compound, n-pentyl 2-[3,5-dihydroxy-2-(1-nonanoyl)
      phenyl]acetate, screened from a Nur77-biased library, blocked the Nur77-p38alpha
      interaction by targeting the ligand-binding domain of Nur77 and restored the
      suppression of the hyperinflammatory response through Nur77 inhibition of NF
      kappaB. This study associates the nuclear receptor with immune homeostasis and
      implicates a new therapeutic strategy to treat hyperinflammatory responses by
      targeting a p38alpha substrate to modulate p38alpha-regulated functions. 

PMID- 25822915
TI  - A pentose bisphosphate pathway for nucleoside degradation in Archaea.
AB  - Owing to the absence of the pentose phosphate pathway, the degradation pathway
      for the ribose moieties of nucleosides is unknown in Archaea. Here, in the
      archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis, we identified a metabolic network that links
      the pentose moieties of nucleosides or nucleotides to central carbon metabolism.
      The network consists of three nucleoside phosphorylases, an ADP-dependent ribose
      1-phosphate kinase and two enzymes of a previously identified NMP degradation
      pathway, ribose-1,5-bisphosphate isomerase and type III ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate
      carboxylase/oxygenase. Ribose 1,5-bisphosphate and ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate are
      intermediates of this pathway, which is thus designated the pentose bisphosphate
      pathway. 

PMID- 25822916
TI  - Bioconjugation: How to pick a single amine?

PMID- 25822917
TI  - Preventing the Development of Observationally Learnt Fears in Children by
      Devaluing the Model's Negative Response.
AB  - Vicarious learning has become an established indirect pathway to fear
      acquisition. It is generally accepted that associative learning processes
      underlie vicarious learning; however, whether this association is a form of
      conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus (CS-US) learning or stimulus-response
      (CS-CR) learning remains unclear. Traditionally, these types of learning can be
      dissociated in a US revaluation procedure. The current study explored the effects
      of post-vicarious learning US revaluation on acquired fear responses. Ninety-four
      children (46 males and 48 females) aged 6 to 10 years first viewed either a fear
      vicarious learning video or a neutral vicarious learning video followed by random
      allocation to one of three US revaluation conditions: inflation; deflation; or
      control. Inflation group children were presented with still images of the adults
      in the video and told that the accompanying sound and image of a very fast heart
      rate monitor belonged to the adult. The deflation group were shown the same
      images but with the sound and image of a normal heart rate. The control group
      received no US revaluation. Results indicated that inflating how scared the
      models appeared to be did not result in significant increases in children's fear
      beliefs, avoidance preferences, avoidance behavior or heart rate for animals
      above increases caused by vicarious learning. In contrast, US devaluation
      resulted in significant decreases in fear beliefs and avoidance preferences.
      Thus, the findings provide evidence that CS-US associations underpin vicarious
      learning and suggest that US devaluation may be a successful method for
      preventing children from developing fear beliefs following a traumatic vicarious
      learning episode with a stimulus. 

PMID- 25822919
TI  - The prescription is laughter.

PMID- 25822918
TI  - Refugia persistence of Qinghai-Tibetan plateau by the cold-tolerant bird
      Tetraogallus tibetanus (Galliformes: Phasianidae).
AB  - Most of the temperate species are expected to have moved to lower altitudes
      during the glacial periods of the Quaternary. Here we tested this hypothesis in a
      cold-tolerant avian species Tibetan snowcock (Tetraogallus tibetanus) using two
      segments of mitochondrial gene (a 705bp Cytochrome-b; abbrev. Cyt-b and an 854 bp
      Control Region; abbrev. CR) and eight microsatellite loci by characterizing
      population differentiation and gene flow across its range. Combined (Cyt-b + CR)
      datasets detected several partially lineages with poor support. Microsatellite
      data, however, identified two distinct lineages congruent with the geographically
      separated western and central regions of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). The
      phylogeographic patterns that we observed might be explained by a combination of
      vicariance events that led to local isolation of T. tibetanus during warm periods
      and range expansions and population intermixing during cold periods. The results
      of this study add to our knowledge of population differentiation and connectivity
      in high altitude mountain ecosystems. 

PMID- 25822920
TI  - Cue-type manipulation dissociates two types of task set inhibition: backward
      inhibition and competitor rule suppression.
AB  - Backward inhibition (BI) reflects the suppression of a recently abandoned task
      set to allow for smooth transition to a new task even when the rules do not
      generate a response conflict. Competitor rule suppression (CRS) reflects the
      inhibition/suppression of irrelevant task rules when these rules generate a
      response conflict even if they have not recently been abandoned. We assessed
      whether BI and CRS are differentially affected by the difficulty in retrieving
      category-response mappings from memory. Retrieval demands were manipulated via
      the information provided by the task cues, which either indicated the relevant
      dimension (dimension cues; "color") or the relevant dimension with its category
      to-key mapping (mapping cues; "red green", indicating that "red" and "green" go
      with the left/right responses, respectively). CRS was larger with dimension
      compared to mapping cues when cue-type varied between groups and was larger after
      trials involving dimension cues when cue-type varied on a trial-by-trial basis.
      In contrast, BI was not influenced by cue-type. These results suggest that task
      switching involve at least two distinct inhibitory processes, with CRS being
      related to the ease of retrieval of category-response mappings from memory. 

PMID- 25822921
TI  - An exploratory cohort study comparing prothrombin complex concentrate and fresh
      frozen plasma for the treatment of coagulopathy after complex cardiac surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Administration of coagulation factor concentrates to treat bleeding
      after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass might be a strategy for
      reducing allogeneic blood transfusions, particularly for patients treated with
      warfarin preoperatively. We performed an exploratory analysis on whether the use
      of prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC) is safe and effective compared with
      fresh frozen plasma (FFP) to treat coagulopathy after pulmonary endarterectomy
      surgery with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. METHODS: Consecutive adult
      patients who underwent pulmonary endarterectomy surgery between January 2010 and
      September 2012 and received PCC or FFP to treat coagulopathy were studied. Blood
      loss during the first 12 hours of admission to the intensive care unit and
      patient outcomes were compared with propensity score adjustment. RESULTS: Three
      hundred fifty-one patients underwent pulmonary endarterectomy surgery, all of
      whom had warfarin discontinued for up to 5 days before surgery; bleeding
      complications requiring transfusion of blood products were observed in 108 (31%)
      patients. Of those, 55 received only FFP and 45 received only PCC, whereas 8
      received both. Blood loss was significantly greater in the FFP group compared
      with the PCC group after 12 hours (median [interquartile range], 650 mL [325
      1075] vs 277 mL [175-608], P = 0.008). However, there was no difference in the
      frequency of patients receiving a red blood cell transfusion (number [percent],
      44 [80%] vs 34 [76%], P = 0.594) or in the number of units of red blood cells
      transfused (median [interquartile range], 2 [1-4] vs 3 [1-5] units, P = 0.181).
      The final propensity score included preoperative international normalized ratio,
      postoperative activated partial thromboplastin time, and postoperative platelet
      count. After inclusion of the propensity score in the regression analyses, there
      were no differences between patients receiving only PCC and patients receiving
      only FFP in the need for renal replacement therapy (odds ratio [OR] 2.39, 95%
      confidence interval [CI] 0.51-11.20, P = 0.27), 30-day-mortality (OR 0.32, 95% CI
      0.03-3.36, P = 0.35), intracranial hemorrhage (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.14-3.89, P =
      0.71), hospital length of stay (hazard ratio 0.77, 95% CI 0.50-1.19, P = 0.24),
      or duration of intensive care stay (hazard ratio 0.91, 95% CI 0.59-1.40, P =
      0.66). CONCLUSIONS: This retrospective analysis suggests that PCC may be an
      alternative to FFP in patients previously treated with warfarin who are
      coagulopathic after major cardiac surgery. Randomized controlled studies powered
      to evaluate efficacy and important postoperative outcomes for patients receiving
      PCC versus FFP for coagulopathic bleeding after cardiopulmonary bypass are
      warranted.

PMID- 25822922
TI  - The Contractile Effects of Oxytocin, Ergonovine, and Carboprost and Their
      Combinations: an In Vitro Study on Human Myometrial Strips.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to compare the in vitro contractile
      effects of the combination of oxytocin (low dose and high dose) with either
      ergonovine or carboprost in myometrial strips from women undergoing cesarean
      delivery (CD), and to study the effect of oxytocin pretreatment on these
      contractions. We hypothesized that the use of ergonovine or carboprost in
      combination with oxytocin would improve contractility compared with oxytocin
      alone. METHODS: Myometrial samples obtained from women undergoing elective CD
      were pretreated in organ bath chambers with either oxytocin 10 M (experimental)
      or physiological salt solution (control) for 2 hours. They were then washed and
      subjected to dose-response testing with oxytocin, ergonovine, or carboprost (10
      to 10 M), either alone or in combination with a fixed low-dose (10 M) (LDOx) or
      high-dose (10 M) (HDOx) oxytocin. The amplitude, frequency, area under the curve,
      and motility index (amplitude * frequency) of contractions during the dose
      response period were analyzed with linear regression models, and compared among
      the groups. The primary outcome was the motility index across the study groups.
      RESULTS: One hundred sixty-nine experiments were done in samples obtained from 56
      women. The mean square root of the motility index [standard error]
      (?g.contractions/10 min) of oxytocin was significantly higher in the control
      (3.40 [0.24]) versus experimental group (2.02 [0.15]) (P < 0.001). When all
      control groups were compared, the motility index of oxytocin (3.21 [0.25]) was
      higher than that of ergonovine (2.13 [0.30], P < 0.001 [multiple comparisons
      adjusted P value, P < 0.001]), carboprost (1.88 [0.10], P < 0.001 [P < 0.001]),
      ergonovine + LDOx (2.07 [0.15], P < 0.001 [P < 0.001]), and carboprost + LDOx
      (1.82 [0.15], P < 0.001 [P < 0.001]) and was not different than that of
      ergonovine + HDOx (3.39 [0.32], P = 0.68 [P = 0.99]) and carboprost + HDOx (2.68
      [0.30], P = 0.20 [P = 0.60]). However, in oxytocin-pretreated groups, carboprost
      + LDOx (motility index: 2.53 [0.08], P = 0.001 [multiple comparisons adjusted P
      value, P = 0.002]) and ergonovine + HDOx (2.82 [0.15], P < 0.001 [P < 0.001])
      exhibited significantly superior contractility response compared with oxytocin
      alone, while ergonovine + LDOx (2.47 [0.13], P = 0.01 [P = 0.08]) and carboprost
      + HDOx (2.51 [0.20], P = 0.05 [P = 0.24]) showed higher mean contractility
      response compared with oxytocin alone but failed to reach statistical
      significance in adjusted analyses. CONCLUSIONS: The attenuation of oxytocin
      induced contractility in oxytocin-pretreated myometrial strips is in keeping with
      the previously established oxytocin-receptor desensitization phenomenon. Oxytocin
      is the most effective of the uterotonics tested if the myometrium is not
      preexposed to oxytocin. However, in the oxytocin-pretreated myometrium, a
      synergistic response is evident, and the combination of oxytocin with either
      ergonovine or carboprost produces superior response compared with oxytocin alone.
      Further in vivo studies in humans are necessary to determine whether these
      differences identified in vitro are clinically significant.

PMID- 25822923
TI  - Will the Real Benefits of Single-Shot Interscalene Block Please Stand Up? A
      Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Interscalene block (ISB) can provide pain relief after shoulder
      surgery, but a reliable quantification of its analgesic benefits is lacking. This
      meta-analysis examines the effect of single-shot ISB on analgesic outcomes during
      the first 48 hours after shoulder surgery. METHODS: We retrieved randomized and
      quasirandomized controlled trials examining the analgesic benefits of ISB
      compared with none in shoulder surgery. Severity of postoperative pain measured
      on a visual analog scale (10 cm scale, 0 = no pain, 10 = worst pain) at rest at
      24 hours was the designated primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included pain
      severity at rest and with motion at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 32, 36, 40, and 48 hours
      postoperatively. Opioid consumption, postoperative nausea and vomiting, patient
      satisfaction with pain relief, and postanesthesia care unit and hospital
      discharge time were also assessed. RESULTS: A total of 23 randomized controlled
      trials, including 1090 patients, were analyzed. Patients in the ISB group had
      more severe postoperative pain at rest by a weighed mean difference (95%
      confidence interval) of 0.96 cm (0.08-1.83; P = 0.03) at 24 hours compared with
      no ISB, but there was no difference in pain severity beyond that point. The
      duration of pain relief at rest and with motion after ISB were 8 and 6 hours,
      respectively, with a corresponding weighed mean difference in visual analog scale
      pain scores (99% confidence interval) of -1.59 cm (-2.60 to -0.58) and -2.20 cm (
      4.34 to -0.06), respectively, with no additional pain relief benefits beyond
      these points. ISB reduced postoperative opioid consumption up to 12 hours,
      decreased postoperative nausea and vomiting at 24 hours, and expedited
      postanesthesia care unit and hospital discharge. The type, dose, and volume of
      local anesthetic used did not affect the results. CONCLUSIONS: ISB can provide
      effective analgesia up to 6 hours with motion and 8 hours at rest after shoulder
      surgery, with no demonstrable benefits thereafter. Patients who receive an ISB
      can suffer rebound pain at 24 hours but later experience similar pain severity
      compared with those who do not receive an ISB. ISB can also provide an opioid
      sparing effect and reduce opioid-related side effects in the first 12 and 24
      hours postoperatively, respectively. These findings are useful to inform
      preoperative risk-benefit discussions regarding ISB for shoulder surgery.

PMID- 25822924
TI  - A comparative evaluation of nebulized dexmedetomidine, nebulized ketamine, and
      their combination as premedication for outpatient pediatric dental surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study was designed to evaluate and compare the efficacy and
      safety of nebulized dexmedetomidine, nebulized ketamine, and the combination of
      these drugs for premedication in pediatric outpatient dental surgeries. METHODS:
      A prospective, randomized, double-blinded study was conducted in the Alexandria
      Main University Hospital after approval of the Medical Ethics Committee. Informed
      written consent was obtained from the patient's parents. Sixty children
      classified as ASA physical status I and II and aged 3 to 6 years were enrolled in
      the study. Patients were randomly categorized into 3 equal groups. Group K was
      premedicated with nebulized ketamine (2 mg/kg), group D was premedicated with
      nebulized dexmedetomidine (2 MUg/kg), and group DK was premedicated with combined
      nebulized dexmedetomidine and ketamine (1 MUg/kg + 1 mg/kg). The primary end
      point was the level of sedation when the child was first seen in the operating
      room 30 minutes after sedation. The secondary end points were tolerance of mask
      induction, hemodynamic changes, analgesia, sedation at emergence, and wake-up
      behavior. RESULTS: Studied groups were comparable as regards demographic data
      (age, weight, sex, and ASA physical status, all P > 0.226) and patients'
      acceptance of drugs (P = 0.968). Level of sedation at 30 minutes was
      significantly greater in group DK than in either group K (P = 0.003) or group D
      (P = 0.009). Group DK had the briefest recovery times, followed in order by group
      K and group D with progressively longer recovery times. Recovery times were
      significantly briefer in group DK than in either group K (P = 0.039) or group D
      (P < 0.001). Group DK had significantly briefer discharge times than group D (P <
      0.001). Postoperative analgesia was significantly better in group DK compared
      with group K (P = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: A nebulized combination of low-dose
      ketamine and dexmedetomidine produced more satisfactory sedation and provided a
      smoother induction of general anesthesia than nebulized ketamine or
      dexmedetomidine alone, with more rapid recovery and no significant side effects.

PMID- 25822925
TI  - Development of Rapidly Metabolized and Ultra-Short-Acting Ketamine Analogs.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ketamine is a well-established, rapidly acting dissociative
      anesthetic. Clinical use is limited by prolonged psychotomimetic phenomena on
      emergence, often requiring the coadministration of additional hypnotic drugs. We
      hypothesized that the development of ketamine ester analogs with ultrashort
      offset times might markedly reduce the dysphoric emergence phenomena and, hence,
      increase the utility of a ketamine-like hypnotic and analgesic. Here, we describe
      the results of studies that seek to define the pharmacology of 5 esters of ((1-(2
      chlorophenyl)-2-oxocyclohexyl)amino)pentanoate hydrochloride, the first ketamine
      analogs designed to be susceptible to ultrarapid metabolism. METHODS: Five
      norketamine ester analogs (R1-R5) were compared by ability to produce loss of
      righting and nociceptive blunting in rats. Toxicity testing was performed for 2
      analogs (R1, R5) with 50% lethal dose (LD50) estimation in rats. In vitro
      metabolic stability was tested in rabbit plasma and whole blood by high
      performance liquid chromatography. Behavioral and hemodynamic effects were
      observed in rabbits. We estimated the pharmacokinetics of these analogs in
      rabbits. RESULTS: All 5 norketamine esters produced rapid loss of righting reflex
      and diminished pedal withdrawal with ultrarapid offset in the models studied
      (return of righting reflex 87 seconds [interquartile range (IQR) 78-131] R1 vs
      996 seconds [IQR 840-1304] ketamine in rats; P < 0.01). The LD50 was comparable
      to that of ketamine (LD50 R1 50.2 mg/kg [95% confidence interval, 30-63]). For
      all analogs, hydrolysis to sole carboxylic acid derivatives was most rapid in
      vivo (clearance 1.61 L/kg/min R1 [IQR 0.40-2.42]), followed by whole blood and
      then plasma. Analog R5 demonstrated relatively greater nociceptive blunting than
      hypnotic effect (P < 0.001; pedal withdrawal score comparison with R1).
      CONCLUSIONS: The 5 norketamine ester analogs retain the hypnotic characteristics
      of the parent compound, yet display rapid offset due to ultrarapid metabolism.

PMID- 25822926
TI  - Guiding principles in the design of molecular bioconjugates for vaccine
      applications.
AB  - Antigen- and adjuvant-based bioconjugates that can stimulate the immune system
      play an important role in vaccine applications. Bioconjugates have demonstrated
      unique physicochemical and biological properties, enabling vaccines to be
      delivered to key immune cells, to target specific intracellular pathways, or to
      mimic immunogenic properties of natural pathogens. In this Review we highlight
      recent advances in such molecular immunomodulators, with an emphasis on the
      structure-function relationships that provide the foundation for rational design
      of safe and effective vaccines and immunotherapies. 

PMID- 25822927
TI  - Mass Spectrometry Imaging and GC-MS Profiling of the Mammalian Peripheral Sensory
      Motor Circuit.
AB  - Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging
      (MSI) has evolved to become an effective discovery tool in science and clinical
      diagnostics. Here, chemical imaging approaches are applied to well-defined
      regions of the mammalian peripheral sensory-motor system, including the dorsal
      root ganglia (DRG) and adjacent nerves. By combining several MSI approaches,
      analyte coverage is increased and 195 distinct molecular features are observed.
      Principal component analysis suggests three chemically different regions within
      the sensory-motor system, with the DRG and adjacent nerve regions being the most
      distinct. Investigation of these regions using gas chromatography-mass
      spectrometry corroborate these findings and reveal important metabolic markers
      related to the observed differences. The heterogeneity of the structurally,
      physiologically, and functionally connected regions demonstrates the intricate
      chemical and spatial regulation of their chemical composition. 

PMID- 25822928
TI  - Profiling and Imaging Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Cholesterol and
      7-Dehydrocholesterol in Cells Via Sputtered Silver MALDI.
AB  - Profiling and imaging of cholesterol and its precursors by mass spectrometry (MS)
      are important in a number of cholesterol biosynthesis disorders, such as in Smith
      Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS), where 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC) is accumulated in
      affected individuals. SLOS is caused by defects in the enzyme that reduces 7-DHC
      to cholesterol. However, analysis of sterols is challenging because these
      hydrophobic olefins are difficult to ionize for MS detection. We report here
      sputtered silver matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-ion mobility
      MS (IM-MS) analysis of cholesterol and 7-DHC. In comparison with liquid-based
      AgNO3 and colloidal Ag nanoparticle (AgNP), sputtered silver NP (10-25 nm)
      provided the lowest limits-of-detection based on the silver coordinated
      [cholesterol + Ag](+) and [7-DHC + Ag](+) signals while minimizing
      dehydrogenation products ([M + Ag-2H](+)). When analyzing human fibroblasts that
      were directly grown on poly-L-lysine-coated ITO glass plates with this technique,
      in situ, the 7-DHC/cholesterol ratios for both control and SLOS human fibroblasts
      are readily obtained. The m/z of 491 (specific for [7-DHC + (107)Ag](+)) and 495
      (specific for [cholesterol + (109)Ag](+)) were subsequently imaged using MALDI-IM
      MS. MS images were co-registered with optical images of the cells for metabolic
      ratio determination. From these comparisons, ratios of 7-DHC/cholesterol for SLOS
      human fibroblasts are distinctly higher than in control human fibroblasts. Thus,
      this strategy demonstrates the utility for diagnosing/assaying the severity of
      cholesterol biosynthesis disorders in vitro. 

PMID- 25822929
TI  - In situ conversion of porphyrin microbubbles to nanoparticles for multimodality
      imaging.
AB  - Converting nanoparticles or monomeric compounds into larger supramolecular
      structures by endogenous or external stimuli is increasingly popular because
      these materials are useful for imaging and treating diseases. However, conversion
      of microstructures to nanostructures is less common. Here, we show the conversion
      of microbubbles to nanoparticles using low-frequency ultrasound. The microbubble
      consists of a bacteriochlorophyll-lipid shell around a perfluoropropane gas. The
      encapsulated gas provides ultrasound imaging contrast and the porphyrins in the
      shell confer photoacoustic and fluorescent properties. On exposure to ultrasound,
      the microbubbles burst and form smaller nanoparticles that possess the same
      optical properties as the original microbubble. We show that this conversion is
      possible in tumour-bearing mice and could be validated using photoacoustic
      imaging. With this conversion, our microbubble can potentially be used to bypass
      the enhanced permeability and retention effect when delivering drugs to tumours. 

PMID- 25822930
TI  - Theranostic agents: From micro to nano in seconds.

PMID- 25822931
TI  - Inertial imaging with nanomechanical systems.
AB  - Mass sensing with nanoelectromechanical systems has advanced significantly during
      the last decade. With nanoelectromechanical systems sensors it is now possible to
      carry out ultrasensitive detection of gaseous analytes, to achieve atomic-scale
      mass resolution and to perform mass spectrometry on single proteins. Here, we
      demonstrate that the spatial distribution of mass within an individual analyte
      can be imaged--in real time and at the molecular scale--when it adsorbs onto a
      nanomechanical resonator. Each single-molecule adsorption event induces discrete,
      time-correlated perturbations to all modal frequencies of the device. We show
      that by continuously monitoring a multiplicity of vibrational modes, the spatial
      moments of mass distribution can be deduced for individual analytes, one-by-one,
      as they adsorb. We validate this method for inertial imaging, using both
      experimental measurements of multimode frequency shifts and numerical
      simulations, to analyse the inertial mass, position of adsorption and the size
      and shape of individual analytes. Unlike conventional imaging, the minimum
      analyte size detectable through nanomechanical inertial imaging is not limited by
      wavelength-dependent diffraction phenomena. Instead, frequency fluctuation
      processes determine the ultimate attainable resolution. Advanced
      nanoelectromechanical devices appear capable of resolving molecular-scale
      analytes.

PMID- 25822932
TI  - Mapping protein binding sites on the biomolecular corona of nanoparticles.
AB  - Nanoparticles in a biological milieu are known to form a sufficiently long-lived
      and well-organized 'corona' of biomolecules to confer a biological identity to
      the particle. Because this nanoparticle-biomolecule complex interacts with cells
      and biological barriers, potentially engaging with different biological pathways,
      it is important to clarify the presentation of functional biomolecular motifs at
      its interface. Here, we demonstrate that by using antibody-labelled gold
      nanoparticles, differential centrifugal sedimentation and various imaging
      techniques it is possible to identify the spatial location of proteins, their
      functional motifs and their binding sites. We show that for transferrin-coated
      polystyrene nanoparticles only a minority of adsorbed proteins exhibit functional
      motifs and the spatial organization appears random, which is consistent, overall,
      with a stochastic and irreversible adsorption process. Our methods are applicable
      to a wide array of nanoparticles and can offer a microscopic molecular
      description of the biological identity of nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25822933
TI  - Infratentorial ependymomas--a study of the centre in Katowice.
AB  - The aim of the study was to assess the correlation of the results of the
      treatment of infratentorial ependymomas with the degree of resection and
      histopathological diagnosis. The study was conducted on a group of 19 patients,
      13 boys and 6 girls aged 3 months to 16 years, with infratentorial ependymoma
      treated at the Department of Paediatric Neurosurgery of the Medical University of
      Silesia in Katowice from January 2000 until December 2008. The most significant
      factor having an impact on overall survival and progression-free survival was
      totality of tumour resection. There has been no statistically significant
      influence of the histopathological type of ependymoma on the result of treatment.
      The tendency to report better results of treatment of non-anaplastic ependymoma
      seems to derive from a statistically higher frequency of total removal of tumours
      of this type. 

PMID- 25822934
TI  - Spinal extradural arachnoid cyst presenting as recurrent abdominal pain.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Spinal arachnoid cysts are an infrequently reported cause of
      abdominal pain in children. In this report, we describe the unusual case of an
      extradural arachnoid cyst presenting as recurrent abdominal pain in a pediatric
      patient without any signs of cord or nerve root compression. CASE REPORT: A 14
      year-old girl with recurrent abdominal pain as the only symptom of a spinal
      extradural arachnoid cyst is reported. The patient was incidentally diagnosed
      with an intraspinal mass on abdominal computed tomography (CT) during the course
      of investigating her abdominal pain. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging confirmed
      the diagnosis of a T11-L2 extradural arachnoid cyst. After resection of the T11
      L2 arachnoid cyst, the patient's abdominal pain resolved. To our knowledge, this
      is the first report describing abdominal pain as the sole presenting feature of a
      spinal arachnoid cyst in the pediatric population. CONCLUSION: This case
      illustrates that abdominal pain may be the first and only presentation of spinal
      arachnoid cysts in children. Spinal pathology should be considered in the
      differential diagnosis of unexplained abdominal pain, even when there are no
      other symptoms of spinal disease.

PMID- 25822935
TI  - Application of the polystyrene model made by 3-D printing rapid prototyping
      technology for operation planning in revision lumbar discectomy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of 3-D rapid
      prototyping technology in revision lumbar discectomy. 3-D rapid prototyping
      technology has not been reported in the treatment of revision lumbar discectomy.
      METHODS: Patients with recurrent lumbar disc herniation who were preparing to
      undergo revision lumbar discectomy from a single center between January 2011 and
      2013 were included in this analysis. Patients were divided into two groups. In
      group A, 3-D printing technology was used to create subject-specific lumbar
      vertebral models in the preoperative planning process. Group B underwent lumbar
      revision as usual. Preoperative and postoperative clinical outcomes were compared
      between groups included operation time, perioperative blood loss, postoperative
      complications, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Japan Orthopaedics Association
      (JOA) scores, and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores for back pain and leg pain.
      RESULTS: A total of 37 patients were included in this study (Group A = 15, Group
      B = 22). Group A had a significantly shorter operation time (106.53 +/- 11.91 vs.
      131.92 +/- 10.81 min, P < 0.001) and significantly less blood loss (341.67 +/-
      49.45 vs. 466.77 +/- 71.46 ml, P < 0.001). There was no difference between groups
      for complication rate. There were also no differences between groups for any
      clinical metric. CONCLUSION: Using the 3-D printing technology before revision
      lumbar discectomy may reduce the operation time and the perioperative blood loss.
      There does not appear to be a benefit to using the technology with respect to
      clinical outcomes. Future prospective studies are needed to further elucidate the
      efficacy of this emerging technology.

PMID- 25822937
TI  - Differential network analysis with multiply imputed lipidomic data.
AB  - The importance of lipids for cell function and health has been widely recognized,
      e.g., a disorder in the lipid composition of cells has been related to
      atherosclerosis caused cardiovascular disease (CVD). Lipidomics analyses are
      characterized by large yet not a huge number of mutually correlated variables
      measured and their associations to outcomes are potentially of a complex nature.
      Differential network analysis provides a formal statistical method capable of
      inferential analysis to examine differences in network structures of the lipids
      under two biological conditions. It also guides us to identify potential
      relationships requiring further biological investigation. We provide a recipe to
      conduct permutation test on association scores resulted from partial least square
      regression with multiple imputed lipidomic data from the LUdwigshafen RIsk and
      Cardiovascular Health (LURIC) study, particularly paying attention to the left
      censored missing values typical for a wide range of data sets in life sciences.
      Left-censored missing values are low-level concentrations that are known to exist
      somewhere between zero and a lower limit of quantification. To make full use of
      the LURIC data with the missing values, we utilize state of the art multiple
      imputation techniques and propose solutions to the challenges that incomplete
      data sets bring to differential network analysis. The customized network analysis
      helps us to understand the complexities of the underlying biological processes by
      identifying lipids and lipid classes that interact with each other, and by
      recognizing the most important differentially expressed lipids between two
      subgroups of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients, the patients that had a
      fatal CVD event and the ones who remained stable during two year follow-up. 

PMID- 25822936
TI  - Changes in rodent abundance and weather conditions potentially drive hemorrhagic
      fever with renal syndrome outbreaks in Xi'an, China, 2005-2012.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Increased risks for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS)
      caused by Hantaan virus have been observed since 2005, in Xi'an, China. Despite
      increased vigilance and preparedness, HFRS outbreaks in 2010, 2011, and 2012 were
      larger than ever, with a total of 3,938 confirmed HFRS cases and 88 deaths in
      2010 and 2011. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Data on HFRS cases and weather were
      collected monthly from 2005 to 2012, along with active rodent monitoring. Wavelet
      analyses were performed to assess the temporal relationship between HFRS
      incidence, rodent density and climatic factors over the study period. Results
      showed that HFRS cases correlated to rodent density, rainfall, and temperature
      with 2, 3 and 4-month lags, respectively. Using a Bayesian time-series Poisson
      adjusted model, we fitted the HFRS outbreaks among humans for risk assessment in
      Xi'an. The best models included seasonality, autocorrelation, rodent density 2
      months previously, and rainfall 2 to 3 months previously. Our models well
      reflected the epidemic characteristics by one step ahead prediction, out-of
      sample. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to a strong seasonal pattern, HFRS incidence was
      correlated with rodent density and rainfall, indicating that they potentially
      drive the HFRS outbreaks. Future work should aim to determine the mechanism
      underlying the seasonal pattern and autocorrelation. However, this model can be
      useful in risk management to provide early warning of potential outbreaks of this
      disease.

PMID- 25822938
TI  - Preferred supramolecular organization and dimer interfaces of opioid receptors
      from simulated self-association.
AB  - Substantial evidence in support of the formation of opioid receptor (OR) di
      /oligomers suggests previously unknown mechanisms used by these proteins to exert
      their biological functions. In an attempt to guide experimental assessment of the
      identity of the minimal signaling unit for ORs, we conducted extensive coarse
      grained (CG) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of different combinations of the
      three major OR subtypes, i.e., MU-OR, delta-OR, and kappa-OR, in an explicit
      lipid bilayer. Specifically, we ran multiple, independent MD simulations of each
      homomeric MU-OR/MU-OR, delta-OR/delta-OR, and kappa-OR/kappa-OR complex, as well
      as two of the most studied heteromeric complexes, i.e., delta-OR/MU-OR and delta
      OR/kappa-OR, to derive the preferred supramolecular organization and dimer
      interfaces of ORs in a cell membrane model. These simulations yielded over 250
      microseconds of accumulated data, which correspond to approximately 1 millisecond
      of effective simulated dynamics according to established scaling factors of the
      CG model we employed. Analysis of these data indicates similar preferred
      supramolecular organization and dimer interfaces of ORs across the different
      receptor subtypes, but also important differences in the kinetics of receptor
      association at specific dimer interfaces. We also investigated the kinetic
      properties of interfacial lipids, and explored their possible role in modulating
      the rate of receptor association and in promoting the formation of filiform
      aggregates, thus supporting a distinctive role of the membrane in OR
      oligomerization and, possibly, signaling. 

PMID- 25822939
TI  - Tight junction protein claudin-6 inhibits growth and induces the apoptosis of
      cervical carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Claudin-6, a member of claudin family integral membrane proteins, has recently
      been reported to be a tumor suppressor for breast cancer. However, whether it
      plays a role in other types of cancer remains unclear. In the present study, we
      showed that the expression of claudin-6 is down-regulated in cervical carcinoma
      tissues as revealed by immunohistochemistry. Through over-expressing claudin-6 in
      HeLa and C33A cervical carcinoma cells, we found that claudin-6 is localized at
      plasma membrane and it increases transepithelial electrical resistance of the
      cells. Gain of claudin-6 expression suppresses cell proliferation, colony
      formation in vitro, and tumor growth in vivo. The effects are accompanied and
      potentially caused by promotion of tumor cell apoptosis. Taken together, these
      results suggest that claudin-6 may function as a tumor suppressor and loss of
      claudin-6 contributes to enhanced tumorigenic properties of cervical carcinoma
      cells. 

PMID- 25822940
TI  - High prevalence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis in patients with polycystic ovary
      syndrome: does the imbalance between estradiol and progesterone play a role?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Some similar factors, such as genetic susceptibility and
      subinflammation/autoimmunity, contribute to development of both polycystic ovary
      syndrome (PCOS) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), suggesting a potential
      pathogenic link between the two common disorders. In this study, we investigated
      the relationship between PCOS and HT, considering the possible effect of PCOS
      related hormonal and metabolic factors on thyroid autoimmunity. METHODS: Eighty
      six reproductive-age women diagnosed with PCOS according to Rotterdam criteria
      and 60 age-BMI matched control women were included in the study. All subjects had
      thyroid function tests, thyroid peroxidase anti-body (anti-TPO), thyroglobulin
      anti-body (anti-Tg), LH, FSH, estradiol, progesterone, androgens, fasting
      glucose, insulin, lipid, homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA
      IR) levels, thyroid and pelvic ultrasounds. RESULTS: TSH, anti-TPO (p = 0.017),
      anti-Tg (p = 0.014), LH, DHEAS, testosterone, and HOMA-IR levels were
      significantly higher and progesterone were lower in PCOS women than in controls.
      Free T4, free T3, FSH, estradiol levels and thyroid volume were similar between
      the two groups. A higher percentage of PCOS patients had elevated TSH (26.7 and
      5%; p = 0.001), anti-TPO (26.7 and 6.6%; p = 0.002), and anti-Tg (16.2 and 5%; p
      = 0.039). HT was more common in PCOS patients compared to controls (22.1 and 5%;
      p = 0.004). Estradiol (p = 0.003) were higher in anti-TPO positive PCOS women
      than anti-TPO negative ones. Anti-TPO was correlated positively with estradiol,
      estradiol/progesterone ratio, and TSH. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated a
      higher prevalence of HT, elevated TSH, anti-TPO, and anti-Tg levels in PCOS
      patients. Increased estrogen and estrogen/progesterone ratio seem to be directly
      involved in high anti-TPO levels in PCOS patients.

PMID- 25822941
TI  - Different Resistance-Training Regimens Evoked a Similar Increase in Myostatin
      Inhibitors Expression.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of different
      resistance-training regimens (S or P) on the expression of genes related to the
      MSTN signaling pathway in physically-active men. 29 male subjects with at least 2
      years of experience in strength training were assigned to either a strength
      training group (S; n=11) or a power-training group (P; n=11). The control group
      (C; n=7) was composed of healthy physically-active males. The S and the P groups
      performed high- and low-intensity squats, respectively, 3 times per week, for 8
      weeks. Muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis muscle were collected before and
      after the training period. No change was observed in MSTN, ACTIIB, GASP-1 and
      FOXO-3 A gene expression after the training period. A similar increase in the
      gene expression of the inhibitory proteins of the MSTN signaling pathway, FLST
      (S: 4.2 fold induction and P: 3.7 fold induction, p<0.01) and FL-3 (S: 5.6 fold
      induction and P: 5.6 fold induction, p<0.01), was detected after the training
      period. SMAD-7 gene expression was similarly augmented after both training
      protocols (S: 2.5 fold induction; P: 2.8 fold induction; p<0.05). In conclusion,
      the resistance-training regimens (S and P) activated the expression of inhibitors
      of the MSTN signaling pathway in a similar manner. 

PMID- 25822942
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25822943
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25822944
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25822945
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25822946
TI  - [Constructive learning theories and clinical apprenticeship].
AB  - The article introduces how constructive learning theories as Constructive
      Alignment, Situated Learning and Cognitive Apprenticeship can explain learning
      during medical students' clinical placements and points out why Cognitive
      Apprenticeship can be particularly applicable in clinical psychiatry. This
      results in a discussion of the time frame, the organization of the placement in
      psychiatry at University of Copenhagen. 

PMID- 25822947
TI  - [Emphysematous pyelonephritis in a non-diabetic patient with a kidney tumour].
AB  - Emphysematous pyelonephritis (EPN) is a potentially life-threatening infection,
      where gas produced by bacteria accumulates in the kidney and the surrounding
      tissue. Although EPN usually presents in diabetic women, it is also associated
      with urinary tract obstruction and kidney tumours in non-diabetic patients. We
      present a case of EPN in a non-diabetic patient with a known kidney tumour,
      successfully treated with double-J catheter, antibiotics and delayed nephrectomy.

PMID- 25822948
TI  - [Hepato-pericardial fistula caused by radiofrequency ablation of colorectal liver
      metastases].
AB  - Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of colorectal liver metastases is a well tolerated
      minimally invasive procedure. Various complications can occur but most of these
      are self-limiting if diagnosed and treated in time. This case report describes a
      serious and rare complication following RFA treatment: hepato-pericardial fistula
      caused by several RFA procedures aiming to cure colorectal liver metastases.
      Complications to RFA treatment vary and can be difficult to diagnose. We
      recommend that RFA procedures and management of complications take place in
      highly specialised multidisciplinary departments. 

PMID- 25822949
TI  - [A large abdomen can camouflage the symptoms of an ovarian tumour].
AB  - Mucinous cystadenomas of the ovaries are benign tumours which can grow to
      sometimes gigantic proportions. Symptoms may be vague and due to complications
      hence the tumour can go undiagnosed for several years. This is a case report of a
      48-year-old woman with a 40-kg ovarian tumour developed through 19 years. In
      spite of discomfort and complaints of the very large abdomen she had not received
      thorough examination previously. A large abdomen and discomfort should always
      lead to transabdominal ultrasound when transvaginal ultrasound - as in this case 
      does not diagnose the condition. 

PMID- 25822950
TI  - [Tuberculous meningitis presented by altered mental state and hydrocephalus].
AB  - Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) denotes infection of the meninges with Mycobacterium
      tuberculosis complex. In Denmark, TBM is rare, but requires correct handling and
      rapid treatment. We describe a case of TBM in a previously healthy 19-year-old
      man from Somalia, whose primary symptoms were fever, headache and altered mental
      state. 

PMID- 25822951
TI  - Development of an in vitro assay and demonstration of Plasmodium berghei liver
      stage inhibition by TRAP-specific CD8+ T cells.
AB  - The development of an efficacious vaccine against the Plasmodium parasite remains
      a top priority. Previous research has demonstrated the ability of a prime-boost
      virally vectored sub-unit vaccination regimen, delivering the liver-stage
      expressed malaria antigen TRAP, to produce high levels of antigen-specific T
      cells. The liver-stage of malaria is the main target of T cell-mediated immunity,
      yet a major challenge in assessing new T cell inducing vaccines has been the lack
      of a suitable pre-clinical assay. We have developed a flow-cytometry based in
      vitro T cell killing assay using a mouse hepatoma cell line, Hepa1-6, and
      Plasmodium berghei GFP expressing sporozoites. Using this assay, P. berghei TRAP
      specific CD8+ T cell enriched splenocytes were shown to inhibit liver-stage
      parasites in an effector-to-target ratio dependent manner. Further development of
      this assay using human hepatocytes and P. falciparum would provide a new method
      to pre-clinically screen vaccine candidates and to elucidate mechanisms of
      protection in vitro. 

PMID- 25822952
TI  - Dissociation of eIF4E-binding protein 2 (4E-BP2) from eIF4E independent of
      Thr37/Thr46 phosphorylation in the ischemic stress response.
AB  - Eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4E-binding proteins (4E-BPs) are translational
      repressors that bind specifically to eIF4E and are critical in the control of
      protein translation. 4E-BP2 is the predominant 4E-BP expressed in the brain, but
      their role is not well known. Here, we characterized four forms of 4E-BP2
      detected by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DGE) in brain. The form with
      highest electrophoretic mobility was the main form susceptible to phosphorylation
      at Thr37/Thr46 sites, phosphorylation that was detected in acidic spots. Cerebral
      ischemia and subsequent reperfusion induced dephosphorylation and phosphorylation
      of 4E-BP2 at Thr37/Thr46, respectively. The induced phosphorylation was in
      parallel with the release of 4E-BP2 from eIF4E, although two of the
      phosphorylated 4E-BP2 forms were bound to eIF4E. Upon long-term reperfusion,
      there was a decrease in the binding of 4E-BP2 to eIF4E in cerebral cortex,
      demonstrated by cap binding assays and 4E-BP2-immunoprecipitation experiments.
      The release of 4E-BP2 from eIF4E was without changes in 4E-BP2 phosphorylation or
      other post-translational modification recognized by 2-DGE. These findings
      demonstrated specific changes in 4E-BP2/eIF4E association dependent and
      independent of 4E-BP2 phosphorylation. The last result supports the notion that
      phosphorylation may not be the uniquely regulation for the binding of 4E-BP2 to
      eIF4E under ischemic stress. 

PMID- 25822953
TI  - Accuracy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the identification and
      characterization of traumatic solid organ lesions in children: a retrospective
      comparison with baseline US and CE-MDCT.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Localized low-energy abdominal trauma is very frequent in the
      pediatric population. The findings of several studies have shown that
      ultrasonography (US) can represent a useful and cost-effective tool in the
      evaluation of blunt abdominal trauma both in adults and children. However, many
      parenchymal injuries are not correctly visualized at baseline US examination. The
      introduction of specific US contrast agents contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS)
      has enabled a better identification of traumatic organ injuries. The correct use
      of CEUS could therefore identify and select the children who need further
      diagnostic investigation computed tomography (CT), avoiding unnecessary radiation
      and iodinated contrast medium exposure. The purpose of our study was to assess
      the sensibility and feasibility of CEUS in the assessment of low-energy abdominal
      trauma compared to baseline US in pediatric patients, using contrast-enhanced
      MDCT as the reference standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively
      reviewed 73 children (51 M and 22 F; mean age 8.7 +/- 2.8 years) who presented in
      our Emergency Department between October 2012 and October 2013, with history of
      minor abdominal trauma according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale and who
      underwent US, CEUS, and CE-MDCT. Inclusion criteria were: male or female, aged 0
      16, hemodynamically stable patients with a history of minor blunt abdominal
      trauma. Exclusion criteria were adulthood, hemodynamical instability, history of
      major trauma. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy were determined
      for US and CEUS compared to MDCT. RESULTS: 6/73 patients were negative at US,
      CEUS, and MDCT for the presence of organ injuries. In the remaining 67 patients,
      US depicted 26/67 parenchymal lesions. CEUS identified 67/67 patients (67/67)
      with parenchymal lesions: 21 lesions of the liver (28.8 %), 26 lesions of the
      spleen (35.6 %), 7 lesions of right kidney (9.6 %), 13 lesions of left kidney.
      MDCT confirmed all parenchymal lesions (67/67). Thus, the diagnostic performance
      of CEUS was better than that of US, as sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and
      accuracy were 100, 100, 100, 100, and 100 % for CEUS and 38.8, 100, 100, 12.8,
      and 44 % for US. In some patients CEUS identified also prognostic factors as
      parenchymal active bleeding in 8 cases, partial devascularization in 1 case; no
      cases of vascular bleeding, no cases of urinoma. MDCT confirmed all parenchymal
      lesions. Parenchymal active bleeding was identified in 16 cases, vascular
      bleeding in 2 cases, urinoma in 2 cases, partial devascularization in 1 case.
      CONCLUSIONS: CEUS is more sensitive and accurate than baseline US and almost as
      sensitive as CT in the identification and characterization of solid organs
      lesions in blunt abdominal trauma. CT is more sensitive and accurate than CEUS in
      identifying prognostic indicators, as active bleeding and urinoma. CEUS should be
      considered as a useful tool in the assessment and monitoring of blunt abdominal
      trauma in children.

PMID- 25822954
TI  - Performance of computer vision in vivo flow cytometry with low fluorescence
      contrast.
AB  - Detection and enumeration of circulating cells in the bloodstream of small
      animals are important in many areas of preclinical biomedical research, including
      cancer metastasis, immunology, and reproductive medicine. Optical in vivo flow
      cytometry (IVFC) represents a class of technologies that allow noninvasive and
      continuous enumeration of circulating cells without drawing blood samples. We
      recently developed a technique termed computer vision in vivo flow cytometry (CV
      IVFC) that uses a high-sensitivity fluorescence camera and an automated computer
      vision algorithm to interrogate relatively large circulating blood volumes in the
      ear of a mouse. We detected circulating cells at concentrations as low as 20
      cells/mL. In the present work, we characterized the performance of CV-IVFC with
      low-contrast imaging conditions with (1) weak cell fluorescent labeling using
      cell-simulating fluorescent microspheres with varying brightness and (2) high
      background tissue autofluorescence by varying autofluorescence properties of
      optical phantoms. Our analysis indicates that CV-IVFC can robustly track and
      enumerate circulating cells with at least 50% sensitivity even in conditions with
      two orders of magnitude degraded contrast than our previous in vivo work. These
      results support the significant potential utility of CV-IVFC in a wide range of
      in vivo biological models.

PMID- 25822955
TI  - Imaging of nanoparticle-labeled stem cells using magnetomotive optical coherence
      tomography, laser speckle reflectometry, and light microscopy.
AB  - Cell transplantation and stem cell therapy are promising approaches for
      regenerative medicine and are of interest to researchers and clinicians
      worldwide. However, currently, no imaging technique that allows three-dimensional
      in vivo inspection of therapeutically administered cells in host tissues is
      available. Therefore, we investigate magnetomotive optical coherence tomography
      (MM-OCT) of cells labeled with magnetic particles as a potential noninvasive cell
      tracking method. We develop magnetomotive imaging of mesenchymal stem cells for
      future cell therapy monitoring. Cells were labeled with fluorescent iron oxide
      nanoparticles, embedded in tissue-mimicking agar scaffolds, and imaged using a
      microscope setup with an integrated MM-OCT probe. Magnetic particle-induced
      motion in response to a pulsed magnetic field of 0.2 T was successfully detected
      by OCT speckle variance analysis, and cross-sectional and volumetric OCT scans
      with highlighted labeled cells were obtained. In parallel, fluorescence
      microscopy and laser speckle reflectometry were applied as two-dimensional
      reference modalities to image particle distribution and magnetically induced
      motion inside the sample, respectively. All three optical imaging modalities were
      in good agreement with each other. Thus, magnetomotive imaging using iron oxide
      nanoparticles as cellular contrast agents is a potential technique for enhanced
      visualization of selected cells in OCT.

PMID- 25822956
TI  - The Year that Was-commentaries.

PMID- 25822957
TI  - Growth, maturation and exercise.

PMID- 25822958
TI  - Aerobic fitness and training in children.

PMID- 25822959
TI  - Resistance training in children.

PMID- 25822960
TI  - Elite youth sports.

PMID- 25822961
TI  - Physical activity, inactivity, and health.

PMID- 25822962
TI  - Psychosocial aspects of exercise and physical activity in childhood.

PMID- 25822963
TI  - Endocrinology and metabolism.

PMID- 25822964
TI  - Biomechanics and exercise.

PMID- 25822965
TI  - Cardiovascular physiology and disease in youth.

PMID- 25822966
TI  - Childhood obesity, physical activity, and exercise.

PMID- 25822967
TI  - Chronic diseases, exercise, and physical activity in childhood: off the beaten
      track.

PMID- 25822968
TI  - PYY3-36 and hunger responses to exercise in obese adolescent girls: which effects
      on effective energy intake?

PMID- 25822969
TI  - Lipopolysaccharide does not alter small airway reactivity in mouse lung slices.
AB  - The bacterial endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been associated with
      occupational airway diseases with asthma-like symptoms and in acute exacerbations
      of COPD. The direct and indirect effects of LPS on small airway reactivity have
      not been fully elucidated. We tested the hypothesis that both in vitro and in
      vivo LPS treatment would increase contraction and impair relaxation of mouse
      small airways. Lung slices were prepared from naive Balb/C mice and cultured in
      the absence or presence of LPS (10 MUg/ml) for up to 48 h for measurement of
      TNFalpha levels in conditioned media. Alternatively, mice were challenged with
      PBS or LPS in vivo once a day for 4 days for preparation of lung slices or for
      harvest of lungs for Q-PCR analysis of gene expression of pro-inflammatory
      cytokines and receptors involved in airway contraction. Reactivity of small
      airways to contractile agonists, methacholine and serotonin, and bronchodilator
      agents, salbutamol, isoprenaline and rosiglitazone, were assessed using phase
      contrast microscopy. In vitro LPS treatment of slices increased TNFalpha release
      6-fold but did not alter contraction or relaxation to any agonists tested. In
      vivo LPS treatment increased lung gene expression of TNFalpha, IL-1beta and
      ryanodine receptor isoform 2 more than 5-fold. However there were no changes in
      reactivity in lung slices from these mice, even when also incubated with LPS ex
      vivo. Despite evidence of LPS-induced inflammation, neither airway
      hyperresponsiveness or impaired dilator reactivity were evident. The increase in
      ryanodine receptor isoform 2, known to regulate calcium signaling in vascular
      smooth muscle, warrants investigation. Since LPS failed to elicit changes in
      small airway reactivity in mouse lung slices following in vitro or in vivo
      treatment, alternative approaches are required to define the potential
      contribution of this endotoxin to altered small airway reactivity in human lung
      diseases. 

PMID- 25822970
TI  - Evaluation of Hs-CRP levels and interleukin 18 (-137G/C) promoter polymorphism in
      risk prediction of coronary artery disease in first degree relatives.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is clearly a multifactorial disease
      that develops from childhood and ultimately leads to death. Several reports
      revealed having a First Degree Relatives (FDRS) with premature CAD is a
      significant autonomous risk factor for CAD development. C - reactive protein
      (CRP) is a member of the pentraxin family and is the most widely studied
      proinflammatory biomarker. IL-18 is a pleiotrophic and proinflammatory cytokine
      which is produced mainly by macrophages and plays an important role in the
      inflammatory cascade. METHODS AND RESULTS: Hs-CRP levels were estimated by ELISA
      and Genotyping of IL-18 gene variant located on promoter -137 (G/C) by Allele
      specific PCR in blood samples of 300 CAD patients and 300 controls and 100 FDRS.
      Promoter Binding sites and Protein interacting partners were identified by
      Alibaba 2.1 and Genemania online tools respectively. Hs-CRP levels were
      significantly high in CAD patients followed by FDRS when compared to controls. In
      IL-18 -137 (G/C) polymorphism homozygous GG is significantly associated with
      occurrence of CAD and Hs-CRP levels were significantly higher in GG genotype
      subjects when compared to GC and CC. IL-18 was found to be interacting with 100
      protein interactants. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that Hs-CRP levels and IL
      18-137(G/C) polymorphism may help to identify risk of future events of CAD in
      asymptomatic healthy FDRS.

PMID- 25822972
TI  - The effect of iron ion on the specificity of photodynamic therapy with 5
      aminolevulinic acid.
AB  - Recently, photodynamic therapy using 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA-PDT) has been
      widely used in cancer therapy. ALA administration results in tumor-selective
      accumulation of the photosensitizer protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) via the heme
      biosynthetic pathway. Although ALA-PDT has selectivity for tumor cells, PpIX is
      accumulated into cultured normal cells to a small extent, causing side effects.
      The mechanism of tumor-selective PpIX accumulation is not well understood. The
      purpose of the present study was to identify the mechanism of tumor-selective
      PpIX accumulation after ALA administration. We focused on mitochondrial labile
      iron ion, which is the substrate for metabolism of PpIX to heme. We investigated
      differences in iron metabolism between tumor cells and normal cells and found
      that the amount of mitochondrial labile iron ion in cancer was lower than that in
      normal cells. This finding could be because of the lower expression of
      mitoferrins, which are the mitochondrial iron transporters. Accordingly, we added
      sodium ferrous citrate (SFC) with ALA as a source of iron. As a result, we
      observed the accumulation of PpIX only in tumor cells, and only these cells
      showed sensitivity to ALA-PDT. Taken together, these results suggest that the
      uptake abilities of iron ion into mitochondria play a key role in tumor-selective
      PpIX accumulation. Using SFC as a source of iron might thus increase the
      specificity of ALA-PDT effects. 

PMID- 25822971
TI  - Transcriptomics of maternal and fetal membranes can discriminate between
      gestational-age matched preterm neonates with and without cognitive impairment
      diagnosed at 18-24 months.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neurocognitive impairment among children born preterm may arise from
      complex interactions between genes and the intra-uterine environment. OBJECTIVES:
      (1) To characterize the transcriptomic profiles of chorioamniotic membranes in
      preterm neonates with and without neurocognitive impairment via microarrays and
      (2) to determine if neonates with neurocognitive impairment can be identified at
      birth. MATERIALS/METHODS: A retrospective case-control study was conducted to
      examine the chorioamniotic transcriptome of gestational-age matched very preterm
      neonates with and without neurocognitive impairment at 18-24 months' corrected
      age defined by a Bayley-III Cognitive Composite Score <80 (n = 14 each). Pathway
      analysis with down-weighting of overlapping genes (PADOG) was performed to
      identify KEGG pathways relevant to the phenotype. Select differentially expressed
      genes were profiled using qRT-PCR and a multi-gene disease prediction model was
      developed using linear discriminant analysis. The model's predictive performance
      was tested on a new set of cases and controls (n = 19 each). RESULTS: 1) 117
      genes were differentially expressed among neonates with and without subsequent
      neurocognitive impairment (p<0.05 and fold change >1.5); 2) Gene ontology
      analysis indicated enrichment of 19 biological processes and 3 molecular
      functions; 3)PADOG identified 4 significantly perturbed KEGG pathways: oxidative
      phosphorylation, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's
      disease (q-value <0.1); 4) 48 of 90 selected differentially expressed genes were
      confirmed by qRT-PCR, including genes implicated in energy metabolism, neuronal
      signaling, vascular permeability and response to injury (e.g., up-regulation of
      SEPP1, APOE, DAB2, CD163, CXCL12, VWF; down-regulation of HAND1, OSR1)(p<0.05);
      and 5) a multi-gene model predicted 18-24 month neurocognitive impairment (using
      the ratios of OSR1/VWF and HAND1/VWF at birth) in a larger, independent set
      (sensitivity = 74%, at specificity = 83%). CONCLUSIONS: Gene expression patterns
      in the chorioamniotic membranes link neurocognitive impairment in preterm infants
      to neurodegenerative disease pathways and might be used to predict neurocognitive
      impairment. Further prospective studies are needed.

PMID- 25822973
TI  - Idealized computational models for auditory receptive fields.
AB  - We present a theory by which idealized models of auditory receptive fields can be
      derived in a principled axiomatic manner, from a set of structural properties to
      (i) enable invariance of receptive field responses under natural sound
      transformations and (ii) ensure internal consistency between spectro-temporal
      receptive fields at different temporal and spectral scales. For defining a time
      frequency transformation of a purely temporal sound signal, it is shown that the
      framework allows for a new way of deriving the Gabor and Gammatone filters as
      well as a novel family of generalized Gammatone filters, with additional degrees
      of freedom to obtain different trade-offs between the spectral selectivity and
      the temporal delay of time-causal temporal window functions. When applied to the
      definition of a second-layer of receptive fields from a spectrogram, it is shown
      that the framework leads to two canonical families of spectro-temporal receptive
      fields, in terms of spectro-temporal derivatives of either spectro-temporal
      Gaussian kernels for non-causal time or a cascade of time-causal first-order
      integrators over the temporal domain and a Gaussian filter over the logspectral
      domain. For each filter family, the spectro-temporal receptive fields can be
      either separable over the time-frequency domain or be adapted to local glissando
      transformations that represent variations in logarithmic frequencies over time.
      Within each domain of either non-causal or time-causal time, these receptive
      field families are derived by uniqueness from the assumptions. It is demonstrated
      how the presented framework allows for computation of basic auditory features for
      audio processing and that it leads to predictions about auditory receptive fields
      with good qualitative similarity to biological receptive fields measured in the
      inferior colliculus (ICC) and primary auditory cortex (A1) of mammals. 

PMID- 25822974
TI  - The influence of diabetes, glycemic control, and diabetes-related comorbidities
      on pulmonary tuberculosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To assess the influence of diabetes mellitus (DM), glycemic control,
      and diabetes-related comorbidities on manifestations and outcome of treatment of
      pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Culture positive
      pulmonary TB patients notified to health authorities in three hospitals in Taiwan
      from 2005-2010 were investigated. Glycemic control was assessed by glycated
      haemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) and diabetic patients were categorized into 3 groups:
      HbA1C<7%, HbA1C 7-9%, HbA1C>9%. 1,473 (705 with DM and 768 without DM) patients
      were enrolled. Of the 705 diabetic patients, 82 (11.6%) had pretreatment
      HbA1C<7%, 152 (21.6%) 7%-9%, 276 (39.2%) >9%, and 195 (27.7%) had no information
      of HbA1C. The proportions of patients with any symptom, cough, hemoptysis,
      tiredness and weight loss were all highest in diabetic patients with HbA1C>9%. In
      multivariate analysis adjusted for age, sex, smoking, and drug resistance,
      diabetic patients with HbA1C>9% (adjOR 3.55, 95% CI 2.40-5.25) and HbA1C 7-9%
      (adjOR 1.62, 95% CI 1.07-2.44) were significantly more likely to be smear
      positive as compared with non-diabetic patients, but not those with HbA1C<7%
      (adjOR 1.16, 95% CI 0.70-1.92). The influence of DM on outcome of TB treatment
      was not proportionately related to HbA1C, but mainly mediated through diabetes
      related comorbidities. Patients with diabetes-related comorbidities had an
      increased risk of unfavorable outcome (adjOR 3.38, 95% CI 2.19-5.22, p<0.001) and
      one year mortality (adjOR 2.80, 95% CI 1.89-4.16). However, diabetes was not
      associated with amplification of resistance to isoniazid (p = 0.363) or to
      rifampicin (p = 0.344). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Poor glycemic control is
      associated with poor TB treatment outcome and improved glycemic control may
      reduce the influence of diabetes on TB.

PMID- 25822975
TI  - High prevalence of nickel allergy in an overweight female population: a pilot
      observational analysis.
AB  - CONTEXT: In our Allergy Unit, we incidentally observed that a low Nickel diet,
      prescribed for delayed allergy to Nickel sulfate, reduced body mass index (BMI)
      and waist circumference in overweight patients. OBJECTIVES: This pilot cross
      sectional analysis was undertaken to compare the prevalence of Nickel allergy of
      overweight individuals versus the general population. We also had the chance to
      report the efficacy of a low Nickel diet on BMI and waist circumference in Nickel
      sensitive overweight subjects. METHODS: Eighty-seven overweight subjects, with a
      BMI > 26 Kg/m2, were consecutively enrolled in a health prevention program, and
      screened for the presence of Nickel allergy. The enrolled population was mostly
      females (72/87) (82.8%). Forty-three overweight women and two men showed a Nickel
      allergy and started a low Nickel diet. After 6-months of dieting, 24 overweight
      allergic women could be traced and changes in BMI and waist circumference were
      calculated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Prevalence of Nickel allergy in
      overweight. RESULTS: Prevalence of Nickel allergy in overweight female was 59.7%,
      compared with a prevalence rate of 12.5% in the general population. A significant
      reduction in BMI was observed in 24 out of 43 overweight females with Nickel
      allergy after 24 weeks of a low Nickel diet. Relative to baseline, mean BMI
      decrease was 4.2 +/- 0.5 (P < 0.001) and the mean decline in waist circumference
      was 11.7 +/- 0.6 cm (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This pilot observational analysis
      showed a substantially higher prevalence of Nickel allergy among overweight
      females, especially those with metabolic syndrome and fatty liver disease. A
      normocaloric low Nickel diet was effective in reducing BMI in this population.
      Further research is strongly needed to confirm these preliminary findings.

PMID- 25822976
TI  - Correction: Deep mRNA sequencing of the Tritonia diomedea brain transcriptome
      provides access to gene homologues for neuronal excitability, synaptic
      transmission and peptidergic signalling.

PMID- 25822977
TI  - Effect of C282Y genotype on self-reported musculoskeletal complications in
      hereditary hemochromatosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Arthropathy that mimics osteoarthritis (OA) and osteoporosis (OP) is
      considered a complication of hereditary hemochromatosis (HH). We have limited
      data comparing OA and OP prevalence among HH patients with different
      hemochromatosis type 1 (HFE) genotypes. We investigated the prevalence of OA and
      OP in patients with HH by C282Y homozygosity and compound heterozygosity
      (C282Y/H63D) genotype. METHODS: A total of 306 patients with HH completed a
      questionnaire. Clinical and demographic characteristics and presence of OA, OP
      and related complications were compared by genotype, adjusting for age, sex, body
      mass index (BMI), current smoking and menopausal status. RESULTS: In total, 266
      of the 306 patients (87%) were homozygous for C282Y, and 40 (13%) were compound
      heterozygous. The 2 groups did not differ by median age [60 (interquartile range
      [IQR] 53 to 68) vs. 61 (55 to 67) years, P=0.8], sex (female: 48.8% vs. 37.5%,
      P=0.18) or current smoking habits (12.4% vs. 10%, P=0.3). As compared with
      compound heterozygous patients, C282Y homozygous patients had higher median serum
      ferritin concentration at diagnosis [1090 (IQR 610 to 2210) vs. 603 (362 to 950)
      ug/L, P<0.001], higher median transferrin saturation [80% (IQR 66 to 91%) vs. 63%
      (55 to 72%), P<0.001]) and lower median BMI [24.8 (22.1 to 26.9) vs. 26.2 (23.5
      to 30.3) kg/m2, P<0.003]. The overall prevalence of self-reported OA was
      significantly higher with C282Y homozygosity than compound heterozygosity (53.4%
      vs. 32.5%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.4 [95% confidence interval 1.2-5.0]), as
      was self-reported OP (25.6% vs. 7.5%; aOR 3.5 [1.1-12.1]). CONCLUSION: Patients
      with C282Y homozygosity may be at increased risk of musculoskeletal complications
      of HH.

PMID- 25822978
TI  - Patient characteristics associated with measurement of routine diabetes care: an
      observational study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Non-modifiable patient characteristics, including age, gender,
      ethnicity as well as the occurrence of multi-morbidities, are associated with
      processes and outcomes of diabetes care. Information on these factors can be used
      in case mix adjustment of performance measures. However, the practical relevance
      of such adjustment is not clear. The aim of this study was to assess the strength
      of associations between patient factors and diabetes care processes and outcomes.
      METHODS: We performed an observational study based on routinely collected data of
      12,498 diabetes patients in 59 Dutch primary care practices. Data were collected
      on patient age, gender, whether the patient lived in a deprived area, body mass
      index and the co-occurrence of cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease, depression or anxiety. Outcomes included 6 dichotomous
      measures (3 process and 3 outcome related) regarding glycosylated hemoglobin,
      systolic blood pressure and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol. We performed
      separate hierarchical logistic mixed model regression models for each of the
      outcome measures. RESULTS: Each of the process measure models showed moderate
      effect sizes, with pooled areas under the curve that varied between 0.66 and
      0.76. The frequency of diabetes related consultations as a measure of patient
      compliance to treatment showed the strongest association with all process
      measures (odds ratios between 5.6 and 14.5). The effect sizes of the outcome
      measure models were considerably smaller than the process measure models, with
      pooled areas under the curve varying from 0.57 to 0.61. CONCLUSIONS: Several non
      modifiable patient factors could be associated with processes and outcomes of
      diabetes care. However, associations were small. These results suggest that case
      mix correction or stratification in assessing diabetes care has limited practical
      relevance.

PMID- 25822979
TI  - Chronic testosterone replacement exerts cardioprotection against cardiac ischemia
      reperfusion injury by attenuating mitochondrial dysfunction in testosterone
      deprived rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although testosterone deficiency is associated with increased risks
      of heart disease, the benefits of testosterone therapy are controversial.
      Moreover, current understanding on the cardiac effect of testosterone during
      cardiac ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) periods is unclear. We tested the hypothesis
      that testosterone replacement attenuates the impairment of left ventricular (LV)
      function and heart rate variability (HRV), and reduces the infarct size and
      arrhythmias caused by I/R injury in orchiectomized (ORX) rats. METHODOLOGY: ORX
      or sham-operated male Wistar rats (n = 24) were randomly divided and received
      either testosterone (2 mg/kg, subcutaneously administered) or the vehicle for 8
      weeks. The ejection fraction (EF) and HRV were determined at baseline and the 4th
      and 8th week. I/R was performed by left anterior descending coronary artery
      ligation for 30 minutes, followed by a 120-minute reperfusion. LV pressure,
      arrhythmia scores, infarct size and cardiac mitochondrial function were
      determined. RESULTS: Prior to I/R, EF and HRV were impaired in the ORX group, but
      were restored in the testosterone-treated group. During I/R, arrhythmia scores
      and the infarct size were greater, and cardiac mitochondrial function was
      impaired, whereas the time to 1st VT/VF onset and the LV end-systolic pressure
      were decreased in the ORX group when compared to the sham group. Testosterone
      replacement attenuated the impairment of these parameters in ORX rats during I/R
      injury, but did not show any benefit or adverse effect in non-ORX rats.
      CONCLUSIONS: Testosterone replacement restores cardiac function and autonomic
      regulation, and exerts cardioprotective effects during the I/R period via
      mitochondrial protection in ORX rats.

PMID- 25822980
TI  - Overexpression of AtTTP affects ARF17 expression and leads to male sterility in
      Arabidopsis.
AB  - Callose synthesis is critical for the formation of the pollen wall pattern. CalS5
      is thought to be the major synthethase for the callose wall. In the Arabidopsis
      anther, ARF17 regulates the expression of CalS5 and is the target of miR160.
      Plants expressing miR160-resistant ARF17 (35S:5mARF17 lines) with increased ARF17
      mRNA levels display male sterility. Here we report a zinc finger family gene,
      AtTTP, which is involved in miR160 maturation and callose synthesis in
      Arabidopsis. AtTTP is expressed in microsporocytes, tetrads and tapetal cells in
      the anther. Over-expression lines of AtTTP (AtTTP-OE line) exhibited reduced male
      fertility. CalS5 expression was tremendously reduced and the tetrad callose wall
      became much thinner in the AtTTP-OE line. Northern blotting hybridization and
      quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that miR160 was decreased, while the
      expression of ARF17 was increased in the AtTTP-OE line. Based on these results,
      we propose that AtTTP associates with miR160 in order to regulate the ARF17
      expression needed for callose synthesis and pollen wall formation. 

PMID- 25822982
TI  - Nonaqueous System of Iron-Based Ionic Liquid and DMF for the Oxidation of
      Hydrogen Sulfide and Regeneration by Electrolysis.
AB  - To improve the hydrogen sulfide removal efficiency with the application of an
      iron-based imidazolium chloride ionic liquid (Fe(III)-IL) as desulfurizer, Fe(II)
      and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) are introduced to Fe(III)-IL to construct a new
      nonaqueous desulfurization system (Fe(III/II)-IL/DMF). Following desulfurization,
      the system can be regenerated using the controlled-potential electrolysis method.
      The addition of Fe(II) in Fe(III)-IL is beneficial for the hydrogen sulfide
      removal and the electrochemical regeneration of the desulfurizer. The addition of
      DMF in Fe(III/II)-IL does not change the structure of Fe(III/II)-IL but clearly
      decreases the acidity, increases the electrolytic current, and decreases the
      stability of the Fe-Cl bond in Fe(III/II)-IL. Fe(III/II)-IL/DMF can remove
      hydrogen sulfide and can be regenerated through an electrochemical method more
      efficiently than can Fe(III/II)-IL. After six cycles, the desulfurization
      efficiency remains higher than 98%, and the average conversion rate of Fe(II) is
      essentially unchanged. No sulfur peroxidation occurs, and the system remains
      stable. Therefore, this new nonaqueous system has considerable potential for
      removing H2S in pollution control applications. 

PMID- 25822981
TI  - Examining the species-specificity of rhesus macaque cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) in
      cynomolgus macaques.
AB  - Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a highly species-specific virus that has co-evolved with
      its host over millions of years and thus restricting cross-species infection. To
      examine the extent to which host restriction may prevent cross-species research
      between closely related non-human primates, we evaluated experimental infection
      of cynomolgus macaques with a recombinant rhesus macaque-derived CMV (RhCMV
      eGFP). Twelve cynomolgus macaques were randomly allocated to three groups: one
      experimental group (RhCMV-eGFP) and two control groups (UV-inactivated RhCMV-eGFP
      or media alone). The animals were given two subcutaneous inoculations at week 0
      and week 8, and a subset of animals received an intravenous inoculation at week
      23. No overt clinical or haematological changes were observed and PBMCs isolated
      from RhCMV-eGFP inoculated animals had comparable eGFP- and IE-1-specific
      cellular responses to the control animals. Following inoculation with RhCMV-eGFP,
      we were unable to detect evidence of infection in any blood or tissue samples up
      to 4 years post-inoculation, using sensitive viral co-culture, qPCR, and Western
      blot assays. Co-culture of urine and saliva samples demonstrated the presence of
      endogenous cynomolgus CMV (CyCMV) cytopathic effect, however no concomitant eGFP
      expression was observed. The absence of detectable RhCMV-eGFP suggests that the
      CyCMV-seropositive cynomolgus macaques were not productively infected with RhCMV
      eGFP under these inoculation conditions. In a continued effort to develop CMV as
      a viral vector for an HIV/SIV vaccine, these studies demonstrate that CMV is
      highly restricted to its host species and can be highly affected by laboratory
      cell culture. Consideration of the differences between lab-adapted and primary
      viruses with respect to species range and cell tropism should be a priority in
      evaluating CMV as vaccine vector for HIV or other pathogens at the preclinical
      development stage. 

PMID- 25822984
TI  - Forces and straw cutting performance of double disc furrow opener in no-till
      paddy soil.
AB  - Conservation tillage is an energy efficient and low cost tillage system to
      improve soil environment compared with conventional tillage systems. However, the
      rice residue management becomes an "impossible to achieve" task due to high soil
      moisture content at harvest time and the thickness of rice straw. Disc type
      furrow openers are used for both seed drilling as well as straw cutting during no
      tillage sowing. A study was conducted to evaluate the draft requirement and straw
      cutting performances of different sized furrow openers in no-till paddy soil
      conditions. Double disc furrow opener was tested on an in-field traction bench
      for three working depths, i.e. 30, 60 and 90 mm, and three forwarding speeds,
      i.e. 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 m/s. The draft and vertical forces on the disc were
      recorded with load cells. These sensors were connected to a data acquisition
      system developed with hardware and software. The results revealed that the size
      of the furrow opener, operating depth and the forwarding speed had significant
      effects (P<0.05) on the horizontal and vertical forces, and the straw cutting
      performance. Mean values of the draft were 648.9, 737.2 and 784.6 N for the
      opener with diameters of 330, 450 and 600 mm respectively, and the vertical
      forces for similar openers were 904.7, 1553.9 and 1620.4 N, respectively.
      Furthermore, the mean straw cutting efficiencies for the double disc opener with
      diameters of 330, 450 and 600 mm were 39.36, 78.47 and 65.46%, respectively. The
      opener with 450 mm diameter provided higher straw cutting efficiency as compared
      to 600 mm diameter disc, while lowest straw cutting efficiency was observed with
      330 mm diameter disc. The 450 mm diameter opener provided the highest straw
      cutting efficiency (88.6%) at 90 mm working depth and expressed optimum
      performance compared with other furrow openers. 

PMID- 25822983
TI  - Development of colloidal gold immunochromatographic strips for detection of
      Riemerella anatipestifer.
AB  - Riemerella anatipestifer is one of the most important bacterial pathogen of ducks
      and causes a contagious septicemia. R. anatipestifer infection causes serositis
      syndromes similar to other bacterial infections in ducks, including infection by
      Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica and Pasteurella multocida. Clinically
      differentiating R. anatipestifer infections from other bacterial pathogen
      infections is usually difficult. In this study, MAb 1G2F10, a monoclonal antibody
      against R. anatipestifer GroEL, was used to develop a colloidal gold
      immunochromatographic strip. Colloidal gold particles were prepared by chemical
      synthesis to an average diameter of 20 +/- 5.26 nm by transmission electron
      microscope imaging. MAb 1G2F10 was conjugated to colloidal gold particles and the
      formation of antibody-colloidal gold conjugates was monitored by UV/Vis
      spectroscopy. Immunochromatographic strips were assembled in regular sequence
      through different accessories sticked on PVC plate. Strips specifically detected
      R. anatipestifer within 10 min, but did not detect E. coli, S. enterica and P.
      multocida. The detection limit for R. anatipestifer was 1 * 10(6) colony forming
      units, which was 500 times higher than a conventional agglutination test.
      Accuracy was 100% match to multiplex PCR. Assay stability and reproducibility
      were excellent after storage at 4 degrees C for 6 months. The
      immunochromatographic strips prepared in this study offer a specific, sensitive,
      and rapid detection method for R. anatipestifer, which is of great importance for
      the prevention and control of R. anatipestifer infections.

PMID- 25822985
TI  - Sulcus-based MR analysis of focal cortical dysplasia located in the central
      region.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Focal cortical dysplasias (FCDs) are mainly located in the frontal
      region, with a particular tropism for the central sulcus. Up to 30% of lesions
      are undetected (magnetic resonance [MR]-negative FCD patients) or belatedly
      diagnosed by visual analysis of MR images. We propose an automated sulcus-based
      method to analyze abnormal sulcal patterns associated with central FCD, taking
      into account the normal interindividual sulcal variability. METHODS: We
      retrospectively studied 29 right-handed patients with FCD in the central region
      (including 12 MR negative histologically-confirmed cases) and 29 right-handed
      controls. The analysis of sulcal abnormalities from T1-weighted MR imaging (MRI)
      was performed using a graph-based representation of the cortical folds and an
      automated sulci recognition system, providing a new quantitative criterion to
      describe sulcal patterns, termed sulcus energy. RESULTS: Group analysis showed
      that the central sulcus in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the FCD exhibited an
      abnormal sulcal pattern compared with controls (p = 0.032). FCDs were associated
      with abnormal patterns of the central sulci compared with controls (p = 0.006), a
      result that remained significant when MR-negative and MR-positive patients were
      considered separately, while the effects of sex, age and MR-field were not
      significant. At the individual level, sulcus energy alone failed to detect the
      FCD lesion. We found, however, a significant association between maximum z-scores
      and the site of FCD (p = 0.0046) which remained significant in MR-negative (p =
      0.024) but not in MR-positive patients (p = 0.058). The maximum z-score pointed
      to an FCD sulcus in four MR-negative and five MR-positive patients. CONCLUSIONS:
      We identified abnormal sulcal patterns in patients with FCD of the central region
      compared with healthy controls. The abnormal sulcal patterns ipsilateral to the
      FCD and the link between sulcus energy and the FCD location strengthen the
      interest of sulcal abnormalities in FCD patients.

PMID- 25822987
TI  - Relative abundance of and composition within fungal orders differ between
      cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata)-associated
      soils.
AB  - Nonnative Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) is decimating sagebrush steppe, one of the
      largest ecosystems in the Western United States, and is causing regional-scale
      shifts in the predominant plant-fungal interactions. Sagebrush, a native
      perennial, hosts arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), whereas cheatgrass, a winter
      annual, is a relatively poor host of AMF. This shift is likely intertwined with
      decreased carbon (C)-sequestration in cheatgrass-invaded soils and alterations in
      overall soil fungal community composition and structure, but the latter remain
      unresolved. We examined soil fungal communities using high throughput amplicon
      sequencing (ribosomal large subunit gene) in the 0-4 cm and 4-8 cm depth
      intervals of six cores from cheatgrass- and six cores from sagebrush-dominated
      soils. Sagebrush core surfaces (0-4 cm) contained higher nitrogen and total C
      than cheatgrass core surfaces; these differences mirrored the presence of
      glomalin related soil proteins (GRSP), which has been associated with AMF
      activity and increased C-sequestration. Fungal richness was not significantly
      affected by vegetation type, depth or an interaction of the two factors. However,
      the relative abundance of seven taxonomic orders was significantly affected by
      vegetation type or the interaction between vegetation type and depth.
      Teloschistales, Spizellomycetales, Pezizales and Cantharellales were more
      abundant in sagebrush libraries and contain mycorrhizal, lichenized and basal
      lineages of fungi. Only two orders (Coniochaetales and Sordariales), which
      contain numerous economically important pathogens and opportunistic saprotrophs,
      were more abundant in cheatgrass libraries. Pleosporales, Agaricales, Helotiales
      and Hypocreales were most abundant across all libraries, but the number of genera
      detected within these orders was as much as 29 times lower in cheatgrass relative
      to sagebrush libraries. These compositional differences between fungal
      communities associated with cheatgrass- and sagebrush-dominated soils warrant
      future research to examine soil fungal community composition across more sites
      and time points as well as in association with native grass species that also
      occupy cheatgrass-invaded ecosystems.

PMID- 25822986
TI  - Low doses of imatinib induce myelopoiesis and enhance host anti-microbial
      immunity.
AB  - Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) inhibits Abl1, c-Kit, and related protein tyrosine
      kinases (PTKs) and serves as a therapeutic for chronic myelogenous leukemia and
      gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Imatinib also has efficacy against various
      pathogens, including pathogenic mycobacteria, where it decreases bacterial load
      in mice, albeit at doses below those used for treating cancer. We report that
      imatinib at such low doses unexpectedly induces differentiation of hematopoietic
      stem cells and progenitors in the bone marrow, augments myelopoiesis but not
      lymphopoiesis, and increases numbers of myeloid cells in blood and spleen.
      Whereas progenitor differentiation relies on partial inhibition of c-Kit by
      imatinib, lineage commitment depends upon inhibition of other PTKs. Thus,
      imatinib mimics "emergency hematopoiesis," a physiological innate immune response
      to infection. Increasing neutrophil numbers by adoptive transfer sufficed to
      reduce mycobacterial load, and imatinib reduced bacterial load of Franciscella
      spp., which do not utilize imatinib-sensitive PTKs for pathogenesis. Thus,
      potentiation of the immune response by imatinib at low doses may facilitate
      clearance of diverse microbial pathogens. 

PMID- 25822988
TI  - The A allele of cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36) SNP 1761667 associates with
      decreased lipid taste perception in obese Tunisian women.
AB  - Recent studies have suggested that excessive intake of dietary fat is associated
      with obesity. Some obese subjects have been reported to exhibit high thresholds
      for the gustatory detection of lipids via lipid receptors, such as cluster of
      differentiation 36 (CD36). We studied lingual detection thresholds for emulsions
      containing oleic acid in obese Tunisian women (n 203) using a three-alternative
      forced choice (3-AFC) method. Genotyping of the TNF-alpha (rs1800629), IL-6
      (rs1800795) and CD36 (rs1761667) genes was performed to associate with lipid
      taste perception thresholds. The CD36 genotype distribution was as follows: GG (n
      42), AG (n 102) and AA (n 59). Women with the CD36 GG genotype exhibited oral
      detection thresholds for oleic acid that were more than three times lower than
      those with the CD36 AA genotype. The present study confirms a high threshold of
      gustatory fat detection in obese women with the CD36 AA genotype, but there is no
      significant association with the IL-6 and TNF-alpha gene polymorphisms. 

PMID- 25822990
TI  - High-risk medical devices: why do we not better understand effectiveness and
      safety?

PMID- 25822989
TI  - Sprouty2 in the dorsal hippocampus regulates neurogenesis and stress
      responsiveness in rats.
AB  - Both the development and relief of stress-related psychiatric conditions such as
      major depression (MD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been linked
      to neuroplastic changes in the brain. One such change involves the birth of new
      neurons (neurogenesis), which occurs throughout adulthood within discrete areas
      of the mammalian brain, including the dorsal hippocampus (HIP). Stress can
      trigger MD and PTSD in humans, and there is considerable evidence that it can
      decrease HIP neurogenesis in laboratory animals. In contrast, antidepressant
      treatments increase HIP neurogenesis, and their efficacy is eliminated by
      ablation of this process. These findings have led to the working hypothesis that
      HIP neurogenesis serves as a biomarker of neuroplasticity and stress resistance.
      Here we report that local alterations in the expression of Sprouty2 (SPRY2), an
      intracellular inhibitor of growth factor function, produces profound effects on
      both HIP neurogenesis and behaviors that reflect sensitivity to stressors. Viral
      vector-mediated disruption of endogenous Sprouty2 function (via a dominant
      negative construct) within the dorsal HIP of adult rats stimulates neurogenesis
      and produces signs of stress resilience including enhanced extinction of
      conditioned fear. Conversely, viral vector-mediated elevation of SPRY2 expression
      intensifies the behavioral consequences of stress. Studies of these manipulations
      in HIP primary cultures indicate that SPRY2 negatively regulates fibroblast
      growth factor-2 (FGF2), which has been previously shown to produce antidepressant
      and anxiolytic-like effects via actions in the HIP. Our findings strengthen the
      relationship between HIP plasticity and stress responsiveness, and identify a
      specific intracellular pathway that could be targeted to study and treat stress
      related disorders. 

PMID- 25822991
TI  - Elicitation of expert prior opinion: application to the MYPAN trial in childhood
      polyarteritis nodosa.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Definitive sample sizes for clinical trials in rare diseases are
      usually infeasible. Bayesian methodology can be used to maximise what is learnt
      from clinical trials in these circumstances. We elicited expert prior opinion for
      a future Bayesian randomised controlled trial for a rare inflammatory paediatric
      disease, polyarteritis nodosa (MYPAN, Mycophenolate mofetil for polyarteritis
      nodosa). METHODS: A Bayesian prior elicitation meeting was convened. Opinion was
      sought on the probability that a patient in the MYPAN trial treated with
      cyclophosphamide would achieve disease remission within 6-months, and on the
      relative efficacies of mycophenolate mofetil and cyclophosphamide. Expert opinion
      was combined with previously unseen data from a recently completed randomised
      controlled trial in ANCA associated vasculitis. RESULTS: A pan-European group of
      fifteen experts participated in the elicitation meeting. Consensus expert prior
      opinion was that the most likely rates of disease remission within 6 months on
      cyclophosphamide or mycophenolate mofetil were 74% and 71%, respectively. This
      prior opinion will now be taken forward and will be modified to formulate a
      Bayesian posterior opinion once the MYPAN trial data from 40 patients randomised
      1:1 to either CYC or MMF become available. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that the
      methodological template we propose could be applied to trial design for other
      rare diseases.

PMID- 25822992
TI  - Atomic structure of the Y complex of the nuclear pore.
AB  - The nuclear pore complex (NPC) is the principal gateway for transport into and
      out of the nucleus. Selectivity is achieved through the hydrogel-like core of the
      NPC. The structural integrity of the NPC depends on ~15 architectural proteins,
      which are organized in distinct subcomplexes to form the >40-MDa ring-like
      structure. Here we present the 4.1-A crystal structure of a heterotetrameric core
      element ('hub') of the Y complex, the essential NPC building block, from
      Myceliophthora thermophila. Using the hub structure together with known Y-complex
      fragments, we built the entire ~0.5-MDa Y complex. Our data reveal that the
      conserved core of the Y complex has six rather than seven members. Evolutionarily
      distant Y-complex assemblies share a conserved core that is very similar in shape
      and dimension, thus suggesting that there are closely related architectural codes
      for constructing the NPC in all eukaryotes. 

PMID- 25822993
TI  - Atomic structures of a bactericidal contractile nanotube in its pre- and
      postcontraction states.
AB  - R-type pyocins are representatives of contractile ejection systems, a class of
      biological nanomachines that includes, among others, the bacterial type VI
      secretion system (T6SS) and contractile bacteriophage tails. We report atomic
      models of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa precontraction pyocin sheath and tube, and
      the postcontraction sheath, obtained by cryo-EM at 3.5-A and 3.9-A resolutions,
      respectively. The central channel of the tube is negatively charged, in contrast
      to the neutral and positive counterparts in T6SSs and phage tails. The sheath is
      interwoven by long N- and C-terminal extension arms emanating from each subunit,
      which create an extensive two-dimensional mesh that has the same connectivity in
      the extended and contracted state of the sheath. We propose that the contraction
      process draws energy from electrostatic and shape complementarities to insert the
      inner tube through bacterial cell membranes to eventually kill the bacteria. 

PMID- 25822994
TI  - Genome-wide survey and expression analysis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii U-box E3
      ubiquitin ligases (CrPUBs) reveal a functional lipid metabolism module.
AB  - E3 ubiquitin ligases determine the substrate specificity of ubiquitination. Plant
      U-box (PUB) E3 ligases, with a typical 70-amino acid U-box domain, participate in
      plant developmental processes and environmental responses. Thus far, 64 PUB
      proteins have been identified in Arabidopsis and 77 PUB proteins have been
      identified in Oryza. However, detailed studies on U-box genes in the model
      microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii are lacking. Here, we present a
      comprehensive analysis of the genes encoding U-box family proteins in C.
      reinhardtii. Following BLASTP analysis, 30 full-length U-box genes were
      identified in the C. reinhardtii genome sequence. Bioinformatics analyses of
      CrPUB genes were performed to characterize the phylogenetic relationships,
      chromosomal locations and gene structures of each member. The 30 identified CrPUB
      proteins are clustered into 3 distinct subfamilies, and the genes for these
      proteins are unevenly distributed among 14 chromosomes. Furthermore, the
      quantitative real-time RT-PCR or semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of 30 CrPUB
      mRNA abundances under nitrogen starvation showed that 18 CrPUB genes were induced
      by N starvation and that 7 genes were repressed in the N-poor environment. We
      selected five CrPUB genes exhibiting marked changes in expression under N-free
      conditions for further analysis in RNAi experiments and examined the oil content
      of these gene-silenced transgenic strains. The silencing of CrPUB5 and CrPUB14,
      which are typically down-regulated under N starvation, induced 9.8%-45.0% and
      14.4%-61.8% lipid accumulation, respectively. In contrast, the silencing of
      CrPUB11, CrPUB23 and CrPUB28, which are markedly up-regulated under N-free
      conditions, decreased the lipid content by 5.5%-27.8%, 8.1%-27.3% and 6.6%-27.9%,
      respectively. These results provide a useful reference for the identification and
      functional analysis of this gene family and fundamental information for
      microalgae lipid metabolism research. 

PMID- 25822995
TI  - Individual polyp detection rate in routine daily endoscopy practice depends on
      case-mix.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The adenoma detection rate (ADR), a marker of endoscopic quality,
      is confounded by selection bias. It is not known what the ADR is in normal daily
      practice. AIM: To study the polyp detection rate (PDR) in different endoscopists
      in the course of years. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All consecutive endoscopies of the
      colon done in 11 years were included. Endoscopies in the regular surveillance
      programme after polyp removal and after surgery because of colorectal cancer or
      diverticular disease were scored separately. The number of yearly procedures per
      endoscopist and presence of polyps, anastomoses, surveillance and cancer were
      noted. RESULTS: In the period of 11 years, 14,908 consecutive endoscopies of
      colon and rectum were done by four endoscopists. Two endoscopists had a
      significantly lower PDR than the other two (p < 0.001), these two had the longest
      careers in endoscopy. The two younger endoscopists did significantly less often
      procedures in patients with anastomoses and because of surveillance (p < 0.001,
      respectively). One endoscopist detected significantly less colorectal cancers
      than the other three endoscopists (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study presents
      the PDR in normal routine daily endoscopy practice. It can be concluded that the
      PDR, implicating the ADR, in unselected patients can be lower in individual
      endoscopists than recommended in the literature. This highly depends on the case
      mix of patients presented for endoscopy. This result debates the use of the ADR
      as quality indicator for individual endoscopists.

PMID- 25822996
TI  - Patient-reported outcomes in ANCA-associated vasculitis. A comparison between
      Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score and routine assessment of patient index data
      3.
AB  - The objective of this study was to determine health-related quality of life
      (HRQoL) in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) as measured by the
      "routine assessment of patient index data 3" (RAPID3) and whether RAPID3 is
      correlated with disease activity as determined by the Birmingham Vasculitis
      Activity Score (BVAS). Data from patients at an academic institution vasculitis
      clinic seen between Jan 2010 and Jan 2012 were collected using chart review. BVAS
      and RAPID3 scores were calculated at each patient visit. RAPID3 was compared
      between patients in remission (BVAS = 0) and patients with active disease (BVAS >
      =1) at all visits for four consecutive visits, when data available, at least 3
      months apart during the period mentioned. Robust generalized estimating equations
      (GEE) in linear regression models evaluated associations between the RAPID3 and
      BVAS over all available observations, adjusting for intra-subject correlations.
      Thirty-four patients were included in the study, 26 had granulomatosis with
      polyangiitis (GPA), five microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), and three eosinophilic
      granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA). Patients at first visit had impaired
      HRQoL as measured by RAPID3 [6.8 (3.1-12.6)]. The median RAPID3 scores were
      higher in patients with active disease as compared to patients in remission (7.0
      vs. 3.0, p = 0.115; 8.8 vs. 1.0, p = 0.011; 6.1 vs. 2.0, p = 0.032; and 11.7 vs.
      2.0, p = 0.128 for visits 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively). In longitudinal GEE
      models incorporating all observations there was a strong association between the
      RAPID3 (per 1 unit) and BVAS (per 1 unit) [beta 0.21 (0.10, 0.32) p < 0.001].
      RAPID3 can be used to measure HRQoL in patients with AAV. RAPID3 correlated
      significantly with BVAS. RAPID3 can discriminate between disease states in AAV.
      This instrument may help document patient experience and add to clinical
      decisions.

PMID- 25822997
TI  - Commercial cow milk contains physically stable extracellular vesicles expressing
      immunoregulatory TGF-beta.
AB  - SCOPE: Extracellular vesicles, including exosomes, have been identified in all
      biological fluids and rediscovered as an important part of the intercellular
      communication. Breast milk also contains extracellular vesicles and the proposed
      biological function is to enhance the antimicrobial defense in newborns. It is,
      however, unknown whether extracellular vesicles are still present in commercial
      milk and, more importantly, whether they retained their bioactivity. Here, we
      characterize the extracellular vesicles present in semi-skimmed cow milk
      available for consumers and study their effect on T cells. METHODS AND RESULTS:
      Extracellular vesicles from commercial milk were isolated and characterized. Milk
      derived extracellular vesicles contained several immunomodulating miRNAs and
      membrane protein CD63, characteristics of exosomes. In contrast to RAW 267.4
      derived extracellular vesicles the milk-derived extracellular vesicles were
      extremely stable under degrading conditions, including low pH, boiling and
      freezing. Milk-derived extracellular vesicles were easily taken up by murine
      macrophages in vitro. Furthermore, we found that they can facilitate T cell
      differentiation towards the pathogenic Th17 lineage. Using a (CAGA)12-luc
      reporter assay we showed that these extracellular vesicles carried bioactive TGF
      beta, and that anti-TGF-beta antibodies blocked Th17 differentiation. CONCLUSION:
      Our findings show that commercial milk contains stable extracellular vesicles,
      including exosomes, and carry immunoregulatory cargo. These data suggest that the
      extracellular vesicles present in commercial cow milk remains intact in the
      gastrointestinal tract and exert an immunoregulatory effect.

PMID- 25822998
TI  - Insights into the skeletonization, lifestyle, and affinity of the unusual
      Ediacaran fossil Corumbella.
AB  - The Ediacaran fossil Corumbella is important because it is hypothesized to be a
      scyphozoan cnidarian, and thus might be one of the rare examples of bona fide
      Neoproterozoic animals. Unfortunately, its mode of life, style of
      skeletonization, and taxonomic affinity have been very controversial. Here, we
      use X-ray micro-CT, SEM, and taphonomic analysis to compare preservational modes
      of Corumbella, in order to better understand the symmetry, mode of construction,
      preservational style, and taxonomy of this group. Results suggest that
      articulated and disarticulated specimens of Corumbella from the Ediacaran of
      Brazil, Paraguay, and the United States, although sometimes preserved very
      differently, represent the same taxon--Corumbella werneri. Corumbellids had a
      thick but flexible theca and probably lived with their basalmost part anchored in
      the sediment, much like Conotubus. When considered together, these results
      suggest that Corumbella was one of the first animals to build a skeleton,
      employing a lamellar microfabric similar to conulariids.

PMID- 25822999
TI  - Coiled coil rich proteins (Ccrp) influence molecular pathogenicity of
      Helicobacter pylori.
AB  - Pathogenicity of the human pathogen Helicobacter pylori relies on its capacity to
      adapt to a hostile environment and to escape the host response. Although there
      have been great advances in our understanding of the bacterial cytoskeleton,
      major gaps remain in our knowledge of its contribution to virulence. In this
      study we have explored the influence of coiled coil rich proteins (Ccrp)
      cytoskeletal elements on pathogenicity factors of H. pylori. Deletion of any of
      the ccrp resulted in a strongly decreased activity of the main pathogenicity
      factor urease. We further investigated their role using in vitro co-culture
      experiments with the human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line AGS modeling H.
      pylori - host cell interactions. Intriguingly, host cell showed only a weak
      "scattering/hummingbird" phenotype, in which host cells are transformed from a
      uniform polygonal shape into a severely elongated state characterized by the
      formation of needle-like projections, after co-incubation with any ccrp deletion
      mutant. Furthermore, co-incubation with the ccrp59 mutant resulted in reduced
      type IV secretion system associated activities, e.g. IL-8 production and CagA
      translocation/phosphorylation. Thus, in addition to their role in maintaining the
      helical cell shape of H. pylori Ccrp proteins influence many cellular processes
      and are thereby crucial for the virulence of this human pathogen. 

PMID- 25823000
TI  - Identifying and tracking simulated synaptic inputs from neuronal firing: insights
      from in vitro experiments.
AB  - Accurately describing synaptic interactions between neurons and how interactions
      change over time are key challenges for systems neuroscience. Although
      intracellular electrophysiology is a powerful tool for studying synaptic
      integration and plasticity, it is limited by the small number of neurons that can
      be recorded simultaneously in vitro and by the technical difficulty of
      intracellular recording in vivo. One way around these difficulties may be to use
      large-scale extracellular recording of spike trains and apply statistical methods
      to model and infer functional connections between neurons. These techniques have
      the potential to reveal large-scale connectivity structure based on the spike
      timing alone. However, the interpretation of functional connectivity is often
      approximate, since only a small fraction of presynaptic inputs are typically
      observed. Here we use in vitro current injection in layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons
      to validate methods for inferring functional connectivity in a setting where
      input to the neuron is controlled. In experiments with partially-defined input,
      we inject a single simulated input with known amplitude on a background of
      fluctuating noise. In a fully-defined input paradigm, we then control the
      synaptic weights and timing of many simulated presynaptic neurons. By analyzing
      the firing of neurons in response to these artificial inputs, we ask 1) How does
      functional connectivity inferred from spikes relate to simulated synaptic input?
      and 2) What are the limitations of connectivity inference? We find that
      individual current-based synaptic inputs are detectable over a broad range of
      amplitudes and conditions. Detectability depends on input amplitude and output
      firing rate, and excitatory inputs are detected more readily than inhibitory.
      Moreover, as we model increasing numbers of presynaptic inputs, we are able to
      estimate connection strengths more accurately and detect the presence of
      connections more quickly. These results illustrate the possibilities and outline
      the limits of inferring synaptic input from spikes. 

PMID- 25823001
TI  - Fatigue performance of medical Ti6Al4V alloy after mechanical surface treatments.
AB  - Mechanical surface treatments have a long history in traditional engineering
      disciplines, such as the automotive or aerospace industries. Today, they are
      widely applied to metal components to increase the mechanical performance of
      these. However, their application in the medical field is rather rare. The
      present study aims to compare the potential of relevant mechanical surface
      treatments on the high cycle fatigue (R = 0.1 for a maximum of 10 million cycles)
      performance of a Ti6Al4V standard alloy for orthopedic, spinal, dental and trauma
      surgical implants: shot peening, deep rolling, ultrasonic shot peening and laser
      shock peening. Hour-glass shaped Ti6Al4V specimens were treated and analyzed with
      regard to the material's microstructure, microhardness, residual stress depth
      profiles and the mechanical behavior during fatigue testing. All treatments
      introduced substantial compressive residual stresses and exhibited considerable
      potential for increasing fatigue performance from 10% to 17.2% after laser shock
      peening compared to non-treated samples. It is assumed that final mechanical
      surface treatments may also increase fretting wear resistance in the modular
      connection of total hip and knee replacements. 

PMID- 25823002
TI  - Imbalance of pro- vs. anti-coagulation factors in Chinese patients with Budd
      Chiari syndrome and non-cirrhotic portal vein thrombosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: The coagulation abnormalities in non-cirrhotic Budd-Chiari
      syndrome (NC-BCS) and non-cirrhotic portal vein thrombosis (NC-PVT) are unclear.
      We conducted this case-control study to investigate the coagulation profile of NC
      BCS and NC-PVT in Chinese patients. METHODS: We measured the levels of factors
      II, V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, protein C (PC), protein S (PS) and antithrombin
      (AT) in blood samples from 37 NC-BCS patients, 74 NC-PVT patients, and 100
      healthy controls. The levels and ratios of pro- and anti-coagulation factors were
      compared between patients with NC-BCS and healthy controls, between different
      types of NC-BCS and between NC-PVT and healthy controls. RESULTS: In patients
      with NC-BCS, factor VIII (P<0.001) was significantly elevated; factor V
      (P<0.001), VII (P<0.001), IX (P = 0.003), X (P<0.001), XI (P<0.001), XII
      (P<0.001), PC (P<0.001) and AT (P<0.001) were significantly decreased; and no
      difference was observed for factor II (P = 0.088) and PS (P = 0.199) compared
      with healthy controls. Factor VIII-to-PC (P = 0.008), factor VIII-to-PS (P =
      0.037) and factor VIII-to-AT (P = 0.001) were significantly increased; other
      ratios were significantly reduced or did not show any difference. No differences
      were observed between different types of NC-BCS for individual pro- and anti
      coagulation factors or the ratios between them. Among patients with NC-PVT,
      factor VIII (P<0.001) was significantly elevated and other factors were
      significantly decreased. Factor II-to-PC (P<0.001), factor VIII-to-PC (P<0.001),
      factor IX-to-PC (P<0.001), factor VIII-to-PS (P<0.001), factor II-to-AT
      (P<0.001), factor VIII-to-AT (P<0.001) and factor IX-to-AT (P<0.001) were
      significantly increased; all other ratios for NC-PVT were significantly reduced
      or did not show any significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: NC-BCS and NC-PVT are
      associated with elevated levels of factor VIII and the decreased levels of PC and
      AT were probably the most significant features of coagulation imbalance.
      Additionally, NC-PVT was associated with decreased levels of PS.

PMID- 25823003
TI  - Hierarchical gene selection and genetic fuzzy system for cancer microarray data
      classification.
AB  - This paper introduces a novel approach to gene selection based on a substantial
      modification of analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The modified AHP systematically
      integrates outcomes of individual filter methods to select the most informative
      genes for microarray classification. Five individual ranking methods including t
      test, entropy, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, Wilcoxon and signal
      to noise ratio are employed to rank genes. These ranked genes are then considered
      as inputs for the modified AHP. Additionally, a method that uses fuzzy standard
      additive model (FSAM) for cancer classification based on genes selected by AHP is
      also proposed in this paper. Traditional FSAM learning is a hybrid process
      comprising unsupervised structure learning and supervised parameter tuning.
      Genetic algorithm (GA) is incorporated in-between unsupervised and supervised
      training to optimize the number of fuzzy rules. The integration of GA enables
      FSAM to deal with the high-dimensional-low-sample nature of microarray data and
      thus enhance the efficiency of the classification. Experiments are carried out on
      numerous microarray datasets. Results demonstrate the performance dominance of
      the AHP-based gene selection against the single ranking methods. Furthermore, the
      combination of AHP-FSAM shows a great accuracy in microarray data classification
      compared to various competing classifiers. The proposed approach therefore is
      useful for medical practitioners and clinicians as a decision support system that
      can be implemented in the real medical practice. 

PMID- 25823004
TI  - Soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 and 2 predict outcomes in advanced
      chronic kidney disease: a prospective cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors 1 (sTNFR1) and 2 (sTNFR2)
      have been associated to progression of renal failure, end stage renal disease and
      mortality in early stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD), mostly in the context
      of diabetic nephropathy. The predictive value of these markers in advanced stages
      of CKD irrespective of the specific causes of kidney disease has not yet been
      defined. In this study, the relationship between sTNFR1 and sTNFR2 and the risk
      for adverse cardiovascular events (CVE) and all-cause mortality was investigated
      in a population with CKD stage 4-5, not yet on dialysis, to minimize the
      confounding by renal function. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In 131 patients, CKD stage 4
      5, sTNFR1, sTNFR2 were analysed for their association to a composite endpoint of
      all-cause mortality or first non-fatal CVE by univariate and multivariate Cox
      proportional hazards models. In the multivariate models, age, gender, CRP, eGFR
      and significant comorbidities were included as covariates. RESULTS: During a
      median follow-up of 33 months, 40 events (30.5%) occurred of which 29 deaths
      (22.1%) and 11 (8.4%) first non-fatal CVE. In univariate analysis, the hazard
      ratios (HR) of sTNFR1 and sTNFR2 for negative outcome were 1.49 (95% confidence
      interval (CI): 1.28-1.75) and 1.13 (95% CI: 1.06-1.20) respectively. After
      adjustment for clinical covariables (age, CRP, diabetes and a history of
      cardiovascular disease) both sTNFRs remained independently associated to outcomes
      (HR: sTNFR1: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.30-1.77; sTNFR2: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.06-1.20). A
      subanalysis of the non-diabetic patients in the study population confirmed these
      findings, especially for sTNFR1. CONCLUSION: sTNFR1 and sTNFR2 are independently
      associated to all-cause mortality or an increased risk for cardiovascular events
      in advanced CKD irrespective of the cause of kidney disease.

PMID- 25823005
TI  - A standardized method for the construction of tracer specific PET and SPECT rat
      brain templates: validation and implementation of a toolbox.
AB  - High-resolution anatomical image data in preclinical brain PET and SPECT studies
      is often not available, and inter-modality spatial normalization to an MRI brain
      template is frequently performed. However, this procedure can be challenging for
      tracers where substantial anatomical structures present limited tracer uptake.
      Therefore, we constructed and validated strain- and tracer-specific rat brain
      templates in Paxinos space to allow intra-modal registration. PET [18F]FDG,
      [11C]flumazenil, [11C]MeDAS, [11C]PK11195 and [11C]raclopride, and SPECT
      [99mTc]HMPAO brain scans were acquired from healthy male rats. Tracer-specific
      templates were constructed by averaging the scans, and by spatial normalization
      to a widely used MRI-based template. The added value of tracer-specific templates
      was evaluated by quantification of the residual error between original and
      realigned voxels after random misalignments of the data set. Additionally, the
      impact of strain differences, disease uptake patterns (focal and diffuse lesion),
      and the effect of image and template size on the registration errors were
      explored. Mean registration errors were 0.70 +/- 0.32 mm for [18F]FDG (n = 25),
      0.23 +/- 0.10mm for [11C]flumazenil (n = 13), 0.88 +/- 0.20 mm for [11C]MeDAS (n
      = 15), 0.64 +/- 0.28 mm for [11C]PK11195 (n = 19), 0.34 +/- 0.15 mm for
      [11C]raclopride (n = 6), and 0.40 +/- 0.13 mm for [99mTc]HMPAO (n = 15). These
      values were smallest with tracer-specific templates, when compared to the use of
      [18F]FDG as reference template (p<0.001). Additionally, registration errors were
      smallest with strain-specific templates (p<0.05), and when images and templates
      had the same size (p <= 0.001). Moreover, highest registration errors were found
      for the focal lesion group (p<0.005) and the diffuse lesion group (p = n.s.). In
      the voxel-based analysis, the reported coordinates of the focal lesion model are
      consistent with the stereotaxic injection procedure. The use of PET/SPECT strain-
      and tracer-specific templates allows accurate registration of functional rat
      brain data, independent of disease specific uptake patterns and with registration
      error below spatial resolution of the cameras. The templates and the SAMIT
      package will be freely available for the research community [corrected].

PMID- 25823007
TI  - Correction to tailoring the interface quality between HfO2 and GaAs via in situ
      ZnO passivation using atomic layer deposition.

PMID- 25823006
TI  - Impact of routine cerebral CT angiography on treatment decisions in infective
      endocarditis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Infective endocarditis (IE) is commonly complicated by cerebral
      embolization and hemorrhage secondary to intracranial mycotic aneurysms (ICMAs).
      These complications are associated with poor outcome and may require diagnostic
      and therapeutic plans to be modified. However, routine screening by brain CT and
      CT angiography (CTA) is not standard practice. We aimed to study the impact of
      routine cerebral CTA on treatment decisions for patients with IE. METHODS: From
      July 2007 to December 2012, we prospectively recruited 81 consecutive patients
      with definite left-sided IE according to modified Duke's criteria. All patients
      had routine brain CTA conducted within one week of admission. All patients with
      ICMA underwent four-vessel conventional angiography. Invasive treatment was
      performed for ruptured aneurysms, aneurysms >= 5 mm, and persistent aneurysms
      despite appropriate therapy. Surgical clipping was performed for leaking
      aneurysms if not amenable to intervention. RESULTS: The mean age was 30.43 +/-
      8.8 years and 60.5% were males. Staph aureus was the most common organism
      (32.3%). Among the patients, 37% had underlying rheumatic heart disease, 26% had
      prosthetic valves, 23.5% developed IE on top of a structurally normal heart and
      8.6% had underlying congenital heart disease. Brain CT/CTA revealed that 51
      patients had evidence of cerebral embolization, of them 17 were clinically
      silent. Twenty-six patients (32%) had ICMA, of whom 15 were clinically silent.
      Among the patients with ICMAs, 11 underwent endovascular treatment and 2
      underwent neurovascular surgery. The brain CTA findings prompted different
      treatment choices in 21 patients (25.6%). The choices were aneurysm treatment
      before cardiac surgery rather than at follow-up, valve replacement by biological
      valve instead of mechanical valve, and withholding anticoagulation in patients
      with prosthetic valve endocarditis for fear of aneurysm rupture. CONCLUSIONS:
      Routine brain CT/CTA resulted in changes in the treatment plan in a significant
      proportion of patients with IE, even those without clinically evident
      neurological disease. Routine brain CT/CTA may be indicated in all hospitalized
      patients with IE.

PMID- 25823009
TI  - Correction: Ecological change, sliding baselines and the importance of historical
      data: lessons from combing observational and quantitative data on a temperate
      reef over 70 years.

PMID- 25823008
TI  - Leukocyte inclusion within a platelet rich plasma-derived fibrin scaffold
      stimulates a more pro-inflammatory environment and alters fibrin properties.
AB  - One of the main differences among platelet-rich plasma (PRP) products is the
      inclusion of leukocytes that may affect the biological efficacy of these
      autologous preparations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the
      addition of leukocytes modified the morphological, biomechanical and biological
      properties of PRP under normal and inflammatory conditions. The release of pro
      inflammatory cytokines from plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF) and leukocyte
      platelet rich plasma (L-PRP) scaffolds was determined by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and was significantly increased under an inflammatory
      condition when leukocytes were included in the PRP. Fibroblasts and osteoblasts
      treated with L-PRP, under an inflammatory situation, underwent a greater
      activation of NFKB pathway, proliferated significantly less and secreted a higher
      concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines. These cellular events were assessed
      through Western blot and fluorimetric and ELISA methods, respectively. Therefore,
      the inclusion of leukocytes induced significantly higher pro-inflammatory
      conditions. 

PMID- 25823010
TI  - Fault diagnosis for the heat exchanger of the aircraft environmental control
      system based on the strong tracking filter.
AB  - The aircraft environmental control system (ECS) is a critical aircraft system,
      which provides the appropriate environmental conditions to ensure the safe
      transport of air passengers and equipment. The functionality and reliability of
      ECS have received increasing attention in recent years. The heat exchanger is a
      particularly significant component of the ECS, because its failure decreases the
      system's efficiency, which can lead to catastrophic consequences. Fault diagnosis
      of the heat exchanger is necessary to prevent risks. However, two problems hinder
      the implementation of the heat exchanger fault diagnosis in practice. First, the
      actual measured parameter of the heat exchanger cannot effectively reflect the
      fault occurrence, whereas the heat exchanger faults are usually depicted by
      utilizing the corresponding fault-related state parameters that cannot be
      measured directly. Second, both the traditional Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and
      the EKF-based Double Model Filter have certain disadvantages, such as sensitivity
      to modeling errors and difficulties in selection of initialization values. To
      solve the aforementioned problems, this paper presents a fault-related parameter
      adaptive estimation method based on strong tracking filter (STF) and Modified
      Bayes classification algorithm for fault detection and failure mode
      classification of the heat exchanger, respectively. Heat exchanger fault
      simulation is conducted to generate fault data, through which the proposed
      methods are validated. The results demonstrate that the proposed methods are
      capable of providing accurate, stable, and rapid fault diagnosis of the heat
      exchanger. 

PMID- 25823011
TI  - Toll-like receptor 4 mediates the inflammatory responses and matrix protein
      remodeling in remote non-ischemic myocardium in a mouse model of myocardial
      ischemia and reperfusion.
AB  - The signaling mechanism that mediates inflammatory responses in remote non
      ischemic myocardium following regional ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) remains
      incompletely understood. Myocardial Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) can be activated
      by multiple proteins released from injured cells and plays a role in myocardial
      inflammation and injury expansion. We tested the hypothesis that TLR4 occupies an
      important role in mediating the inflammatory responses and matrix protein
      remodeling in the remote non-ischemic myocardium following regional I/R injury.
      METHODS AND RESULTS: TLR4-defective (C3H/HeJ) and TLR4-competent (C3H/HeN) mice
      were subjected to coronary artery ligation (30 min) and reperfusion for 1, 3, 7
      or 14 days. In TLR4-competent mice, levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein -1
      (MCP-1), keratinocyte chemoattractant (KC), intercellular adhesion molecule 1
      (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) were elevated in the
      remote non-ischemic myocardium at day 1, 3, and 7 of reperfusion. Levels of
      collagen I, collagen IV, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2 and MMP 9 were
      increased in the remote non-ischemic myocardium at day 7 and 14 of reperfusion.
      MMP 2 and MMP 9 activities were also increased. TLR4 deficiency resulted in a
      moderate reduction in myocardial infarct size. However, it markedly downgraded
      the changes in the levels of chemokines, adhesion molecules and matrix proteins
      in the remote non-ischemic myocardium. Further, left ventricular function at day
      14 was significantly improved in TLR4-defective mice. In conclusion, TLR4
      mediates the inflammatory responses and matrix protein remodeling in the remote
      non-ischemic myocardium following regional myocardial I/R injury and contributes
      to the mechanism of adverse cardiac remodeling.

PMID- 25823012
TI  - Identifying the association of contrast enhancement with vascular endothelia
      growth factor expression in anaplastic gliomas: a volumetric magnetic resonance
      imaging analysis.
AB  - Contrast enhancement is a crucial radiologic feature of malignant brain tumors,
      which are associated with genetic changes of the tumor. The purpose of the
      current study was to investigate the potential relationship among tumor contrast
      enhancement with MR imaging, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)
      expression, and survival outcome in anaplastic gliomas. MR images from 240
      patients with histologically confirmed anaplastic gliomas were retrospectively
      analyzed. The volumes of T2 hyperintense, contrast enhanced regions and necrotic
      regions on postcontrast T1-weighted images were measured. The ratio of the
      enhanced volume to necrotic volume was compared between patients with high versus
      low levels of VEGF expression and was further used in the survival analysis. The
      volumetric ratio of enhancement to necrosis was significantly higher in patients
      with low VEGF expression than in those with high VEGF expression (Mann-Whitney, p
      = 0.009). In addition, the enhancement/necrosis ratio was identified as a
      significant predictor of progression-free survival (Cox regression model, p =
      0.004) and overall survival (Cox regression model, p = 0.006) in the multivariate
      analysis. These results suggest that the volumetric ratio of enhancement to
      necrosis could serve as a noninvasive radiographic marker associated with VEGF
      expression and that this ratio is an independent predictor for progression-free
      survival and overall survival in patients with anaplastic gliomas. 

PMID- 25823013
TI  - A system for creating stable cell lines that express a gene of interest from a
      bidirectional and regulatable herpes simplex virus type 1 promoter.
AB  - Expression systems used to study the biological function of a gene of interest
      can have limited utility due to three major factors: i) weak or heterogeneous
      gene expression; ii) poorly controlled gene expression; and iii) low efficiencies
      of stable integration and persistent expression. We envisioned that the ideal
      system should be tightly controlled and coupled with the ability to efficiently
      create and identify stable cell lines. Herein, we describe a system based upon a
      bidirectional Herpes simplex virus type 1 promoter that is naturally responsive
      to the VP16 transactivator and modified to permit tetracycline-regulated
      transcription on one side while maintaining constitutive activity on the other
      side. Incorporation of this element into the Sleeping Beauty transposon resulted
      in a novel bidirectional system with the capacity for high-efficiency stable
      integration. Using this system, we created stable cell lines in which expression
      of a gene of interest was tightly and uniformly controlled across a broad range
      of levels via a novel combination of doxycycline-sensitive de-repression and VP16
      mediated sequence-specific induction. The unique characteristics of this system
      address major limitations of current methods and provide an excellent strategy to
      investigate the effects of gene dosing in mammalian models. 

PMID- 25823015
TI  - Correction: The acetate/ACSS2 switch regulates HIF-2 stress signaling in the
      tumor cell microenvironment.

PMID- 25823014
TI  - An in vivo metabolic approach for deciphering the product specificity of
      glycerate kinase proves that both E. coli's glycerate kinases generate 2
      phosphoglycerate.
AB  - Apart from addressing humanity's growing demand for fuels, pharmaceuticals,
      plastics and other value added chemicals, metabolic engineering of microbes can
      serve as a powerful tool to address questions concerning the characteristics of
      cellular metabolism. Along these lines, we developed an in vivo metabolic
      strategy that conclusively identifies the product specificity of glycerate
      kinase. By deleting E. coli's phosphoglycerate mutases, we divide its central
      metabolism into an 'upper' and 'lower' metabolism, each requiring its own carbon
      source for the bacterium to grow. Glycerate can serve to replace the upper or
      lower carbon source depending on the product of glycerate kinase. Using this
      strategy we show that while glycerate kinase from Arabidopsis thaliana produces 3
      phosphoglycerate, both E. coli's enzymes generate 2-phosphoglycerate. This
      strategy represents a general approach to decipher enzyme specificity under
      physiological conditions. 

PMID- 25823016
TI  - Preoperative axillary staging with 3.0-T breast MRI: clinical value of diffusion
      imaging and apparent diffusion coefficient.
AB  - The axillary staging in newly diagnosed breast cancer is under major evolution.
      The aims of this study were to define the diagnostic performance of 3.0-T
      diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the detection of axillary metastases in newly
      diagnosed breast cancer, to assess apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) for
      histopathologically confirmed metastatic lymph nodes in a clinical setting.
      Altogether 52 consecutive breast cancer patients underwent magnetic resonance
      imaging and DWI in addition to axillary ultrasound. ADCs of axillary lymph nodes
      were analysed by two breast radiologists and ultrasound-guided core biopsies were
      taken. In a separate reading by one radiologist two types of region of interests
      were used for a smaller group of patients. Altogether 56 axillae (121 lymph
      nodes) were included in the statistical analysis. Metastatic axillae (51.8%) had
      significantly lower ADCs (p<0.001). Mean ADCs were 0.663-0.676 x 10(-3) mm2/s for
      the histologically confirmed metastatic LNs and 1.100-1.225 x 10(-3) mm2/s for
      the benign. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of DWI were 72.4%, 79.6%,
      and 75.9%, respectively with threshold ADC 0.812 x 10(-3) mm2/s. Region of
      interest with information on the minimum value increased the diagnostic
      performance (area under the curve 0.794 vs. 0.619). Even though ADCs are
      significantly associated with histopathologically confirmed axillary metastases
      the diagnostic performance of axillary DWI remains moderate and ultrasound-guided
      core biopsies or sentinel lymph node biopsies cannot be omitted.

PMID- 25823017
TI  - Pre-analytical sample quality: metabolite ratios as an intrinsic marker for
      prolonged room temperature exposure of serum samples.
AB  - Advances in the "omics" field bring about the need for a high number of good
      quality samples. Many omics studies take advantage of biobanked samples to meet
      this need. Most of the laboratory errors occur in the pre-analytical phase.
      Therefore evidence-based standard operating procedures for the pre-analytical
      phase as well as markers to distinguish between 'good' and 'bad' quality samples
      taking into account the desired downstream analysis are urgently needed. We
      studied concentration changes of metabolites in serum samples due to pre-storage
      handling conditions as well as due to repeated freeze-thaw cycles. We collected
      fasting serum samples and subjected aliquots to up to four freeze-thaw cycles and
      to pre-storage handling delays of 12, 24 and 36 hours at room temperature (RT)
      and on wet and dry ice. For each treated aliquot, we quantified 127 metabolites
      through a targeted metabolomics approach. We found a clear signature of
      degradation in samples kept at RT. Storage on wet ice led to less pronounced
      concentration changes. 24 metabolites showed significant concentration changes at
      RT. In 22 of these, changes were already visible after only 12 hours of storage
      delay. Especially pronounced were increases in lysophosphatidylcholines and
      decreases in phosphatidylcholines. We showed that the ratio between the
      concentrations of these molecule classes could serve as a measure to distinguish
      between 'good' and 'bad' quality samples in our study. In contrast, we found
      quite stable metabolite concentrations during up to four freeze-thaw cycles. We
      concluded that pre-analytical RT handling of serum samples should be strictly
      avoided and serum samples should always be handled on wet ice or in cooling
      devices after centrifugation. Moreover, serum samples should be frozen at or
      below -80 degrees C as soon as possible after centrifugation. 

PMID- 25823018
TI  - Bursting regimes in a reaction-diffusion system with action potential-dependent
      equilibrium.
AB  - The equilibrium Nernst potential plays a critical role in neural cell dynamics. A
      common approximation used in studying electrical dynamics of excitable cells is
      that the ionic concentrations inside and outside the cell membranes act as charge
      reservoirs and remain effectively constant during excitation events. Research
      into brain electrical activity suggests that relaxing this assumption may provide
      a better understanding of normal and pathophysiological functioning of the brain.
      In this paper we explore time-dependent ionic concentrations by allowing the ion
      specific Nernst potentials to vary with developing transmembrane potential. As a
      specific implementation, we incorporate the potential-dependent Nernst shift into
      a one-dimensional Morris-Lecar reaction-diffusion model. Our main findings result
      from a region in parameter space where self-sustaining oscillations occur without
      external forcing. Studying the system close to the bifurcation boundary, we
      explore the vulnerability of the system with respect to external stimulations
      which disrupt these oscillations and send the system to a stable equilibrium. We
      also present results for an extended, one-dimensional cable of excitable tissue
      tuned to this parameter regime and stimulated, giving rise to complex
      spatiotemporal pattern formation. Potential applications to the emergence of
      neuronal bursting in similar two-variable systems and to pathophysiological
      seizure-like activity are discussed. 

PMID- 25823019
TI  - Dietary Njavara rice bran oil reduces experimentally induced
      hypercholesterolaemia by regulating genes involved in lipid metabolism.
AB  - The present study was carried out to evaluate the anti-atherogenic effect of
      Njavara rice bran oil (NjRBO) on atherosclerosis by modulating enzymes and genes
      involved in lipid metabolism in rats fed a high-cholesterol diet (HCD). Adult
      male rats (Sprague-Dawley strain, weighing 100-120 g) were divided into three
      groups of nine animals each. Group I served as the control, group II were fed a
      HCD and group III were fed a HCD and NjRBO (100 mg/kg body weight). The study
      duration was 60 d. Serum and tissue lipid profile, atherogenic index, enzymes of
      lipid metabolism, plasma C-reactive protein levels, serum paraoxonase and
      arylesterase activities, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, gene and
      protein expression of paraoxonase 1 (PON1), PPARalpha, ATP-binding cassette
      transporter A1 (ABCA1), apoB and apoA1 in the liver were quantified. Total
      cholesterol, TAG, phospholipid, NEFA, LDL-cholesterol concentrations in the serum
      and liver, lipogenic enzyme activities, hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA
      reductase activity and atherogenic index were significantly increased in HCD-fed
      rats, but they decreased after treatment with NjRBO. HDL-cholesterol level and
      lecithin cholesterol acyl transferase activity were increased in the NjRBO
      treated group, but decreased in the HCD-fed group. The expression levels of
      ABCA1, apoA1, PON1 and PPARalpha were found to be significantly increased in
      NjRBO-treated group compared with the HCD-fed group; however, the expression
      level of apoB was found to be higher in HCD-fed group and lower in the NjRBO
      treated group. These data suggest that NjRBO possesses an anti-atherogenic
      property by modulating lipid metabolism and up-regulating genes involved in
      reverse cholesterol transport and antioxidative defence mechanism through the
      induction of the gene expression PON1. 

PMID- 25823020
TI  - Cancer whole-genome sequencing: present and future.
AB  - Recent explosive advances in next-generation sequencing technology and
      computational approaches to massive data enable us to analyze a number of cancer
      genome profiles by whole-genome sequencing (WGS). To explore cancer genomic
      alterations and their diversity comprehensively, global and local cancer genome
      sequencing projects, including ICGC and TCGA, have been analyzing many types of
      cancer genomes mainly by exome sequencing. However, there is limited information
      on somatic mutations in non-coding regions including untranslated regions,
      introns, regulatory elements and non-coding RNAs, and rearrangements, sometimes
      producing fusion genes, and pathogen detection in cancer genomes remain widely
      unexplored. WGS approaches can detect these unexplored mutations, as well as
      coding mutations and somatic copy number alterations, and help us to better
      understand the whole landscape of cancer genomes and elucidate functions of these
      unexplored genomic regions. Analysis of cancer genomes using the present WGS
      platforms is still primitive and there are substantial improvements to be made in
      sequencing technologies, informatics and computer resources. Taking account of
      the extreme diversity of cancer genomes and phenotype, it is also required to
      analyze much more WGS data and integrate these with multi-omics data, functional
      data and clinical-pathological data in a large number of sample sets to interpret
      them more fully and efficiently. 

PMID- 25823021
TI  - Fibulin-3 is a novel TGF-beta pathway inhibitor in the breast cancer
      microenvironment.
AB  - Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is an important regulator of breast
      cancer progression. However, how the breast cancer microenvironment regulates TGF
      beta signaling during breast cancer progression remains largely unknown. Here, we
      identified fibulin-3 as a secreted protein in the breast cancer microenvironment,
      which efficiently inhibits TGF-beta signaling in both breast cancer cells and
      endothelial cells. Mechanistically, fibulin-3 interacts with the type I TGF-beta
      receptor (TbetaRI) to block TGF-beta induced complex formation of TbetaRI with
      the type II TGF-beta receptor (TbetaRII) and subsequent downstream TGF-beta
      signaling. Fibulin-3 expression decreases during breast cancer progression, with
      low fibulin-3 levels correlating with a poorer prognosis. Functionally, high
      fibulin-3 levels inhibited TGF-beta-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition
      (EMT), migration, invasion and endothelial permeability, while loss of fibulin-3
      expression/function promoted these TGF-beta-mediated effects. Further, restoring
      fibulin-3 expression in breast cancer cells inhibited TGF-beta signaling, breast
      cancer cell EMT, invasion and metastasis in vivo. These studies provide a novel
      mechanism for how TGF-beta signaling is regulated by the tumor microenvironment,
      and provide insight into targeting the TGF-beta signaling pathway in human breast
      cancer patients. 

PMID- 25823022
TI  - Mitochondrial ATAD3A combines with GRP78 to regulate the WASF3 metastasis
      promoting protein.
AB  - AAA domain containing 3A (ATAD3A) is an integral mitochondrial membrane protein
      with unknown function, although we now show that high-level expression is
      associated with poor survival in breast cancer patients. Using a mass
      spectrometry approach we have demonstrated that ATAD3A interacts with the WASF3
      metastasis-promoting protein. Knockdown of ATAD3A leads to decreased WASF3
      protein levels in breast and colon cancer cells. Silencing ATAD3A also results in
      loss of both cell anchorage-independent growth and invasion and suppression of
      tumor growth and metastasis in vivo using immuno-compromised mice. HSP70 is
      responsible for stabilizing WASF3 in the cytoplasm, but inactivation of HSP70
      does not lead to the loss of WASF3 stability at the mitochondrial membrane, where
      presumably it is protected through its interaction with ATAD3A. In response to
      endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, increases in the GRP78 protein level leads to
      increased WASF3 protein levels. We also show that ATAD3A was present in a WASF3
      GRP78 complex, and suppression of GRP78 led to destabilization of WASF3 at the
      mitochondrial membrane, which was ATAD3A dependent. Furthermore, ATAD3A-mediated
      suppression of CDH1/E-cadherin occurs through its regulation of GRP78-mediated
      WASF3 stability. Proteolysis experiments using isolated mitochondria demonstrates
      the presence of the N-terminal end of WASF3 within the mitochondria, which is the
      interaction site with the N-terminal end of ATAD3A. It appears, therefore, that
      stabilization of WASF3 function occurs through its interaction with ATAD3A and
      GRP78, which may provide a bridge between the ER and mitochondria, allowing
      communication between the two organelles. These findings also suggest that
      pharmacologic inhibition of ATAD3A could be an effective therapeutic strategy to
      treat human cancer. 

PMID- 25823024
TI  - ATM-mediated KDM2A phosphorylation is required for the DNA damage repair.
AB  - The ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) protein is a key signaling molecule that
      modulates the DNA damage response. However, the exact mechanism by which ATM
      regulates DNA damage repair has not yet been elucidated. Here, we report that ATM
      regulates the DNA damage response by phosphorylating lysine-specific demethylase
      2A (KDM2A), a histone demethylase that acts at sites of H3K36 dimethylation. ATM
      interacts with KDM2A, and their interaction significantly increases in response
      to DNA double-stranded, but not single-stranded, breaks. ATM specifically
      phosphorylates KDM2A at threonine 632 (T632) following DNA damage, as
      demonstrated by a mutagenesis assay and mass spectrometric analysis. Although
      KDM2A phosphorylation does not alter its own demethylase activity, T632
      phosphorylation of KDM2A largely abrogates its chromatin-binding capacity, and
      H3K36 dimethylation near DNA damage sites is significantly increased.
      Consequently, enriched H3K36 dimethylation serves as a platform to recruit the
      MRE11 complex to DNA damage sites by directly interacting with the BRCT2 domain
      of NBS1, which results in efficient DNA damage repair and enhanced cell survival.
      Collectively, our study reveals a novel mechanism for ATM in connecting histone
      modifications with the DNA damage response. 

PMID- 25823023
TI  - Lineage factors and differentiation states in lung cancer progression.
AB  - Lung cancer encompasses a heterogeneous group of malignancies. Here we discuss
      how the remarkable diversity of major lung cancer subtypes is manifested in their
      transforming cell of origin, oncogenic dependencies, phenotypic plasticity,
      metastatic competence and response to therapy. More specifically, we review the
      increasing evidence that links this biological heterogeneity to the deregulation
      of cell lineage-specific pathways and the transcription factors that ultimately
      control them. As determinants of pulmonary epithelial differentiation, these
      poorly characterized transcriptional networks may underlie the etiology and
      biological progression of distinct lung cancers, while providing insight into
      innovative therapeutic strategies. 

PMID- 25823025
TI  - Oncogenic c-Myc-induced lymphomagenesis is inhibited non-redundantly by the
      p19Arf-Mdm2-p53 and RP-Mdm2-p53 pathways.
AB  - The multifaceted oncogene c-Myc plays important roles in the development and
      progression of human cancer. Recent in vitro and in vivo studies have shown that
      the p19Arf-Mdm2-p53 and the ribosomal protein (RP)-Mdm2-p53 pathways are both
      essential in preventing oncogenic c-Myc-induced tumorigenesis. Disruption of each
      pathway individually by p19Arf deletion or by Mdm2(C305F) mutation, which
      disrupts RP-Mdm2 binding, accelerates EMU-myc transgene-induced pre-B/B-cell
      lymphoma in mice at seemingly similar paces with median survival around 10 and 11
      weeks, respectively, compared to 20 weeks for EMU-myc transgenic mice. Because
      p19Arf can inhibit ribosomal biogenesis through its interaction with
      nucleophosmin (NPM/B23), RNA helicase DDX5 and RNA polymerase I transcription
      termination factor (TTF-I), it has been speculated that the p19Arf-Mdm2-p53 and
      the RP-Mdm2-p53 pathways might be a single p19Arf-RP-Mdm2-p53 pathway, in which
      p19Arf activates p53 by inhibiting RP biosynthesis; thus, p19Arf deletion or
      Mdm2(C305F) mutation would result in similar consequences. Here, we generated
      mice with concurrent p19Arf deletion and Mdm2(C305F) mutation and investigated
      the compound mice for tumorigenesis in the absence and the presence of oncogenic
      c-Myc overexpression. In the absence of EMU-myc transgene, the Mdm2(C305F)
      mutation did not elicit spontaneous tumors in mice, nor did it accelerate
      spontaneous tumors in mice with p19Arf deletion. In the presence of EMU-myc
      transgene, however, Mdm2(C305F) mutation significantly accelerated p19Arf
      deletion-induced lymphomagenesis and promoted rapid metastasis. We found that
      when p19Arf-Mdm2-p53 and RP-Mdm2-p53 pathways are independently disrupted,
      oncogenic c-Myc-induced p53 stabilization and activation is only partially
      attenuated. When both pathways are concurrently disrupted, however, c-Myc-induced
      p53 stabilization and activation are essentially obliterated. Thus, the p19Arf
      Mdm2-p53 and the RP-Mdm2-p53 are non-redundant pathways possessing similar
      capabilities to activate p53 upon c-Myc overexpression. 

PMID- 25823026
TI  - PPM1D phosphatase, a target of p53 and RBM38 RNA-binding protein, inhibits p53
      mRNA translation via dephosphorylation of RBM38.
AB  - PPM1D phosphatase, also called wild-type p53-induced phosphatase 1, promotes
      tumor development by inactivating the p53 tumor suppressor pathway. RBM38 RNA
      binding protein, also called RNPC1 and a target of p53, inhibits p53 messenger
      RNA (mRNA) translation, which can be reversed by GSK3 protein kinase via
      phosphorylation of RBM38 at serine 195. Here we showed that ectopic expression of
      RBM38 increases, whereas knockdown of RBM38 inhibits, PPM1D mRNA translation.
      Consistent with this, we found that RBM38 directly binds to PPM1D 3'-untranslated
      region (3'-UTR) and promotes expression of a heterologous reporter gene that
      carries PPM1D 3'-UTR in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, we showed that
      PPM1D directly interacts with and dephosphorylates RBM38 at serine 195.
      Furthermore, we showed that PPM1D modulates p53 mRNA translation and p53
      dependent growth suppression through dephosphorylation of RBM38. These findings
      provide evidence that the crosstalk between PPM1D and RBM38, both of which are
      targets and modulators of p53, has a critical role in p53 expression and
      activity.

PMID- 25823027
TI  - Disruption of NCOA2 by recurrent fusion with LACTB2 in colorectal cancer.
AB  - Whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing were used to discover novel gene
      fusions in a case of colon cancer. A tumor-specific LACTB2-NCOA2 fusion
      originating from intra-chromosomal rearrangement of chromosome 8 was identified
      at both DNA and RNA levels. Unlike conventional oncogenic chimeric proteins, the
      fusion product lacks functional domain from respective genes, indicative of an
      amorphic rearrangement. This chimeric LACTB2-NCOA2 transcript was detected in 6
      out of 99 (6.1%) colorectal cancer (CRC) cases, where NCOA2 was significantly
      downregulated. Enforced expression of wild-type NCOA2 but not the LACTB2-NCOA2
      fusion protein impaired the pro-tumorigenic phenotypes of CRC cells, whereas
      knockdown of endogenous NCOA2 in normal colonocytes had opposite effects.
      Mechanistically, NCOA2 inhibited Wnt/beta-catenin signaling through
      simultaneously upregulating inhibitors and downregulating stimulators of Wnt/beta
      catenin pathway. Collectively, our data supports that NCOA2 is a novel negative
      growth regulatory gene repressing the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway in CRC, where
      recurrent fusion with LACTB2 contributes to its disruption. 

PMID- 25823028
TI  - CD133 and DNA-PK regulate MDR1 via the PI3K- or Akt-NF-kappaB pathway in
      multidrug-resistant glioblastoma cells in vitro.
AB  - Chemotherapy is an adjuvant treatment for glioblastomas, however, chemotherapy
      remains palliative because of the development of multidrug resistance (MDR).
      Following prolonged chemotherapy, MDR protein 1 (MDR1) and CD133 increase in
      recurrent glioblastomas. CD133 positive (CD133+) glioma cancer stem-like cells
      (GCSCs) markedly promote drug resistance and exhibit increased DNA damage repair
      capability; thus they have a key role in determining tumor chemosensitivity.
      Although CD133, DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), and MDR1 are elevated in
      CD133+ GCSCs, the relationship among these molecules has not been elucidated. In
      this study, MDR glioblastoma cell lines were created in response to prolonged
      doxorubicin chemotherapy. CD133, DNA-PK and MDR1 were markedly elevated in these
      cells. CD133 and DNA-PK may increase MDR1 via the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase
      (PI3K)-Akt signal pathway. PI3K downstream targets Akt and nuclear factor (NF)
      kappaB, which interacts with the MDR1 promoter, were also elevated in these
      cells. Downregulation of CD133 and DNA-PK by small interfering RNA, or inhibition
      of PI3K or Akt, decreased Akt, NF-kappaB and MDR1 expression. The results
      indicate that CD133 and DNA-PK regulate MDR1 through the PI3K- or Akt-NF-kappaB
      signal pathway. Consequently, a novel chemotherapeutic regimen targeting CD133
      and DNA-PK in combination with traditional protocols may increase
      chemotherapeutic efficacy and improve prognosis for individuals who present with
      glioblastoma. 

PMID- 25823030
TI  - Optimization of Single-Trial Detection of Event-Related Potentials Through
      Artificial Trials.
AB  - GOAL: Many brain-computer interface (BCI) classification techniques rely on a
      large number of labeled brain responses to create efficient classifiers. A large
      database representing all of the possible variability in the signal is impossible
      to obtain in a short period of time, and prolonged calibration times prevent
      efficient BCI use. We propose to improve BCIs based on the detection of event
      related potentials (ERPs) in two ways. METHODS: First, we increase the size of
      the training database by considering additional deformed trials. The creation of
      the additional deformed trials is based on the addition of Gaussian noise, and on
      the variability of the ERP latencies. Second, we exploit the variability of the
      ERP latencies by combining decisions across multiple deformed trials. These new
      methods are evaluated on data from 16 healthy subjects participating in a rapid
      serial visual presentation task. RESULTS: The results show a significant increase
      in the performance of single-trial detection with the addition of artificial
      trials, and the combination of decisions obtained from altered trials. When the
      number of trials to train a classifier is low, the proposed approach allows us
      improve performance from an AUC of 0.533+/-0.080 to 0.905+/-0.053. This
      improvement represents approximately an 80% reduction in classification error.
      CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that artificially increasing the training
      dataset leads to improved single-trial detection. SIGNIFICANCE: Calibration
      sessions can be shortened for BCIs based on ERP detection.

PMID- 25823029
TI  - Activation of nuclear PTEN by inhibition of Notch signaling induces G2/M cell
      cycle arrest in gastric cancer.
AB  - Mutation in PTEN has not yet been detected, but its function as a tumor
      suppressor is inactivated in many cancers. In this study we determined that,
      activated Notch signaling disables PTEN by phosphorylation and thereby
      contributes to gastric tumorigenesis. Notch inhibition by small interfering RNA
      or gamma-secretase inhibitor (GSI) induced mitotic arrest and apoptosis in
      gastric cancer cells. Notch inhibition induced dephosphorylation in the C
      terminal domain of PTEN, which led to PTEN nuclear localization. Overexpression
      of activated Notch1-induced phosphorylation of PTEN and reversed GSI-induced
      mitotic arrest. Dephosphorylated nuclear PTEN caused prometaphase arrest by
      interaction with the cyclin B1-CDK1 complex, resulting in their accumulation in
      the nucleus and subsequent apoptosis. We found a correlation between high
      expression levels of Notch1 and low survival rates and, similarly, between
      reduced nuclear PTEN expression and increasing the TNM classification of
      malignant tumours stages in malignant tissues from gastric cancer patients. The
      growth of Notch1-depleted gastric tumors was significantly retarded in
      xenografted mice, and in addition, PTEN deletion restored growth similar to
      control tumors. We also demonstrated that combination treatment with GSI and
      chemotherapeutic agents significantly reduced the orthotopically transplanted
      gastric tumors in mice without noticeable toxicity. Overall, our findings suggest
      that inhibition of Notch signaling can be employed as a PTEN activator, making it
      a potential target for gastric cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25823031
TI  - Diseased Region Detection of Longitudinal Knee Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data.
AB  - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become an important imaging technique for
      quantifying the spatial location and magnitude/direction of longitudinal
      cartilage morphology changes in patients with osteoarthritis (OA). Although
      several analytical methods, such as subregion-based analysis, have been developed
      to refine and improve quantitative cartilage analyses, they can be suboptimal due
      to two major issues: the lack of spatial correspondence across subjects and time
      and the spatial heterogeneity of cartilage progression across subjects. The aim
      of this paper is to present a statistical method for longitudinal cartilage
      quantification in OA patients, while addressing these two issues. The 3D knee
      image data is preprocessed to establish spatial correspondence across subjects
      and/or time. Then, a Gaussian hidden Markov model (GHMM) is proposed to deal with
      the spatial heterogeneity of cartilage progression across both time and OA
      subjects. To estimate unknown parameters in GHMM, we employ a pseudo-likelihood
      function and optimize it by using an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. The
      proposed model can effectively detect diseased regions in each OA subject and
      present a localized analysis of longitudinal cartilage thickness within each
      latent subpopulation. Our GHMM integrates the strengths of two standard
      statistical methods including the local subregion-based analysis and the ordered
      value approach. We use simulation studies and the Pfizer longitudinal knee MRI
      dataset to evaluate the finite sample performance of GHMM in the quantification
      of longitudinal cartilage morphology changes. Our results indicate that GHMM
      significantly outperforms several standard analytical methods. 

PMID- 25823033
TI  - Approximation and compression with sparse orthonormal transforms.
AB  - We propose a new transform design method that targets the generation of
      compression-optimized transforms for next-generation multimedia applications. The
      fundamental idea behind transform compression is to exploit regularity within
      signals such that redundancy is minimized subject to a fidelity cost. Multimedia
      signals, in particular images and video, are well known to contain a diverse set
      of localized structures, leading to many different types of regularity and to
      nonstationary signal statistics. The proposed method designs sparse orthonormal
      transforms (SOTs) that automatically exploit regularity over different signal
      structures and provides an adaptation method that determines the best
      representation over localized regions. Unlike earlier work that is motivated by
      linear approximation constructs and model-based designs that are limited to
      specific types of signal regularity, our work uses general nonlinear
      approximation ideas and a data-driven setup to significantly broaden its reach.
      We show that our SOT designs provide a safe and principled extension of the
      Karhunen-Loeve transform (KLT) by reducing to the KLT on Gaussian processes and
      by automatically exploiting non-Gaussian statistics to significantly improve over
      the KLT on more general processes. We provide an algebraic optimization framework
      that generates optimized designs for any desired transform structure
      (multiresolution, block, lapped, and so on) with significantly better n -term
      approximation performance. For each structure, we propose a new prototype codec
      and test over a database of images. Simulation results show consistent increase
      in compression and approximation performance compared with conventional methods. 

PMID- 25823032
TI  - Persistent Homology in Sparse Regression and Its Application to Brain
      Morphometry.
AB  - Sparse systems are usually parameterized by a tuning parameter that determines
      the sparsity of the system. How to choose the right tuning parameter is a
      fundamental and difficult problem in learning the sparse system. In this paper,
      by treating the the tuning parameter as an additional dimension, persistent
      homological structures over the parameter space is introduced and explored. The
      structures are then further exploited in drastically speeding up the computation
      using the proposed soft-thresholding technique. The topological structures are
      further used as multivariate features in the tensor-based morphometry (TBM) in
      characterizing white matter alterations in children who have experienced severe
      early life stress and maltreatment. These analyses reveal that stress-exposed
      children exhibit more diffuse anatomical organization across the whole white
      matter region. 

PMID- 25823034
TI  - Robust representation and recognition of facial emotions using extreme sparse
      learning.
AB  - Recognition of natural emotions from human faces is an interesting topic with a
      wide range of potential applications, such as human-computer interaction,
      automated tutoring systems, image and video retrieval, smart environments, and
      driver warning systems. Traditionally, facial emotion recognition systems have
      been evaluated on laboratory controlled data, which is not representative of the
      environment faced in real-world applications. To robustly recognize the facial
      emotions in real-world natural situations, this paper proposes an approach called
      extreme sparse learning, which has the ability to jointly learn a dictionary (set
      of basis) and a nonlinear classification model. The proposed approach combines
      the discriminative power of extreme learning machine with the reconstruction
      property of sparse representation to enable accurate classification when
      presented with noisy signals and imperfect data recorded in natural settings. In
      addition, this paper presents a new local spatio-temporal descriptor that is
      distinctive and pose-invariant. The proposed framework is able to achieve the
      state-of-the-art recognition accuracy on both acted and spontaneous facial
      emotion databases. 

PMID- 25823035
TI  - Density maximization for improving graph matching with its applications.
AB  - Graph matching has been widely used in both image processing and computer vision
      domain due to its powerful performance for structural pattern representation.
      However, it poses three challenges to image sparse feature matching: 1) the
      combinatorial nature limits the size of the possible matches; 2) it is sensitive
      to outliers because its objective function prefers more matches; and 3) it works
      poorly when handling many-to-many object correspondences, due to its assumption
      of one single cluster of true matches. In this paper, we address these challenges
      with a unified framework called density maximization (DM), which maximizes the
      values of a proposed graph density estimator both locally and globally. DM leads
      to the integration of feature matching, outlier elimination, and cluster
      detection. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that it significantly boosts the
      true matches and enables graph matching to handle both outliers and many-to-many
      object correspondences. We also extend it to dense correspondence estimation and
      obtain large improvement over the state-of-the-art methods. We further
      demonstrate the usefulness of our methods using three applications: 1) instance
      level image retrieval; 2) mask transfer; and 3) image enhancement. 

PMID- 25823036
TI  - PM-PM: PatchMatch with Potts Model for object segmentation and stereo matching.
AB  - This paper presents a unified variational formulation for joint object
      segmentation and stereo matching, which takes both accuracy and efficiency into
      account. In our approach, depth-map consists of compact objects, each object is
      represented through three different aspects: 1) the perimeter in image space; 2)
      the slanted object depth plane; and 3) the planar bias, which is to add an
      additional level of detail on top of each object plane in order to model depth
      variations within an object. Compared with traditional high quality solving
      methods in low level, we use a convex formulation of the multilabel Potts Model
      with PatchMatch stereo techniques to generate depth-map at each image in object
      level and show that accurate multiple view reconstruction can be achieved with
      our formulation by means of induced homography without discretization or
      staircasing artifacts. Our model is formulated as an energy minimization that is
      optimized via a fast primal-dual algorithm, which can handle several hundred
      object depth segments efficiently. Performance evaluations in the Middlebury
      benchmark data sets show that our method outperforms the traditional integer
      valued disparity strategy as well as the original PatchMatch algorithm and its
      variants in subpixel accurate disparity estimation. The proposed algorithm is
      also evaluated and shown to produce consistently good results for various real
      world data sets (KITTI benchmark data sets and multiview benchmark data sets). 

PMID- 25823037
TI  - Online temporally consistent indoor depth video enhancement via static structure.
AB  - In this paper, we propose a new method to online enhance the quality of a depth
      video based on the intermediary of a so-called static structure of the captured
      scene. The static and dynamic regions of the input depth frame are robustly
      separated by a layer assignment procedure, in which the dynamic part stays in the
      front while the static part fits and helps to update this structure by a novel
      online variational generative model with added spatial refinement. The dynamic
      content is enhanced spatially while the static region is otherwise substituted by
      the updated static structure so as to favor the long-range spatiotemporal
      enhancement. The proposed method both performs long-range temporal consistency on
      the static region and keeps necessary depth variations in the dynamic content.
      Thus, it can produce flicker-free and spatially optimized depth videos with
      reduced motion blur and depth distortion. Our experimental results reveal that
      the proposed method is effective in both static and dynamic indoor scenes and is
      compatible with depth videos captured by Kinect and time-of-flight camera. We
      also demonstrate that excellent performance can be achieved by the proposed
      method in comparison with the existing spatiotemporal approaches. In addition,
      our enhanced depth videos and static structures can act as effective cues to
      improve various applications, including depth-aided background subtraction and
      novel view synthesis, showing satisfactory results with few visual artifacts.

PMID- 25823038
TI  - Using Functional Electrical Stimulation Mediated by Iterative Learning Control
      and Robotics to Improve Arm Movement for People With Multiple Sclerosis.
AB  - Few interventions address multiple sclerosis (MS) arm dysfunction but robotics
      and functional electrical stimulation (FES) appear promising. This paper
      investigates the feasibility of combining FES with passive robotic support during
      virtual reality (VR) training tasks to improve upper limb function in people with
      multiple sclerosis (pwMS). The system assists patients in following a specified
      trajectory path, employing an advanced model-based paradigm termed iterative
      learning control (ILC) to adjust the FES to improve accuracy and maximise
      voluntary effort. Reaching tasks were repeated six times with ILC learning the
      optimum control action from previous attempts. A convenience sample of five pwMS
      was recruited from local MS societies, and the intervention comprised 18 one-hour
      training sessions over 10 weeks. The accuracy of tracking performance without FES
      and the amount of FES delivered during training were analyzed using regression
      analysis. Clinical functioning of the arm was documented before and after
      treatment with standard tests. Statistically significant results following
      training included: improved accuracy of tracking performance both when assisted
      and unassisted by FES; reduction in maximum amount of FES needed to assist
      tracking; and less impairment in the proximal arm that was trained. The system
      was well tolerated by all participants with no increase in muscle fatigue
      reported. This study confirms the feasibility of FES combined with passive robot
      assistance as a potentially effective intervention to improve arm movement and
      control in pwMS and provides the basis for a follow-up study.

PMID- 25823039
TI  - A Non-Magnetic Rotating Disk Stimulator for the Study of Neuromagnetic Correlates
      of Sensorimotor Interaction.
AB  - Fine motor skills in humans require close interaction between the motor and the
      sensory systems. It is still not fully understood, how sensory feedback modulates
      motor commands. This is due to the fact, that there is no approach for
      investigating the sensorimotor cortical-interaction in sufficient detail. The
      fast and precise communication between the sensory and motor-systems requires
      measurements of cortical activity with high temporal and spatial resolution.
      Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is capable of both. Previously, we showed that
      sensory responses, can be observed by repetitive tactile stimulation. Further,
      motor cortex responses can be generated by periodical increase and decrease of
      muscle tone. Utilizing both observations we have designed an MEG and magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI) compatible stimulator allowing for the study of brain
      activity related to sensorimotor integration. The stimulator consists of a
      rotating disk with an elevation such that subject senses with his finger the
      speed of the disk. With the force applied by the finger onto the disk, the
      subject can control its speed. During the experiment the subject is asked to keep
      the speed of the disk constant while the driving torque is systematically
      manipulated. This closed-loop design is especially useful to analyze the fast and
      continuous information flow between the two systems. In a single case pilot study
      using MEG, we could show that a detailed analysis of the sensorimotor-network is
      possible. In contrast to existing paradigms this setup allows separate time
      locked analysis of the sensory- and motor-component independently and therefore
      the calculation of latency parameters for both systems. In the future this method
      will help to understand the interaction between the two systems in much greater
      detail.

PMID- 25823040
TI  - Nanowire-imposed geometrical control in studies of actomyosin motor function.
AB  - Recently, molecular motor gliding assays with actin and myosin from muscle have
      been realized on semiconductor nanowires coated with Al2O3. This opens for unique
      nanotechnological applications and novel fundamental studies of actomyosin motor
      function. Here, we provide a comparison of myosin-driven actin filament motility
      on Al2O3 to both nitrocellulose and trimethylchlorosilane derivatized surfaces.
      We also show that actomyosin motility on the less than 200 nm wide tips of arrays
      of Al2O3-coated nanowires can be used to control the number, and density, of
      myosin-actin attachment points. Results obtained using nanowire arrays with
      different inter-wire spacing are consistent with the idea that the actin filament
      sliding velocity is determined both by the total number and the average density
      of attached myosin heads along the actin filament. Further, the results are
      consistent with buckling of long myosin-free segments of the filaments as a
      factor underlying reduced velocity. On the other hand, the findings do not
      support a mechanistic role in decreasing velocity, of increased nearest neighbor
      distance between available myosin heads. Our results open up for more advanced
      studies that may use nanowire-based structures for fundamental investigations of
      molecular motors, including the possibility to create a nanowire-templated bottom
      up assembly of 3D, muscle-like structures.

PMID- 25823041
TI  - Optimal Communication Network-Based Hinfinity Quantized Control With Packet
      Dropouts for a Class of Discrete-Time Neural Networks With Distributed Time
      Delay.
AB  - This paper is concerned with optimal communication network-based Hinfinity
      quantized control for a discrete-time neural network with distributed time delay.
      Control of the neural network (plant) is implemented via a communication network.
      Both quantization and communication network-induced data packet dropouts are
      considered simultaneously. It is assumed that the plant state signal is quantized
      by a logarithmic quantizer before transmission, and communication network-induced
      packet dropouts can be described by a Bernoulli distributed white sequence. A new
      approach is developed such that controller design can be reduced to the
      feasibility of linear matrix inequalities, and a desired optimal control gain can
      be derived in an explicit expression. It is worth pointing out that some new
      techniques based on a new sector-like expression of quantization errors, and the
      singular value decomposition of a matrix are developed and employed in the
      derivation of main results. An illustrative example is presented to show the
      effectiveness of the obtained results. 

PMID- 25823042
TI  - Learning Subspace-Based RBFNN Using Coevolutionary Algorithm for Complex
      Classification Tasks.
AB  - Many real-world classification problems are characterized by samples of a complex
      distribution in the input space. The classification accuracy is determined by
      intrinsic properties of all samples in subspaces of features. This paper proposes
      a novel algorithm for the construction of radial basis function neural network
      (RBFNN) classifier based on subspace learning. In this paper, feature subspaces
      are obtained for every hidden node of the RBFNN during the learning process. The
      connection weights between the input layer and the hidden layer are adjusted to
      produce various subspaces with dominative features for different hidden nodes.
      The network structure and dominative features are encoded in two subpopulations
      that are cooperatively coevolved using the coevolutionary algorithm to achieve a
      better global optimality for the estimated RBFNN. Experimental results illustrate
      that the proposed algorithm is able to obtain RBFNN models with both better
      classification accuracy and simpler network structure when compared with other
      learning algorithms. Thus, the proposed model provides a more flexible and
      efficient approach to complex classification tasks by employing the local
      characteristics of samples in subspaces. 

PMID- 25823043
TI  - Robust Adaptive Neural Tracking Control for a Class of Stochastic Nonlinear
      Interconnected Systems.
AB  - In this paper, an adaptive neural decentralized control approach is proposed for
      a class of multiple input and multiple output uncertain stochastic nonlinear
      strong interconnected systems. Radial basis function neural networks are used to
      approximate the packaged unknown nonlinearities, and backstepping technique is
      utilized to construct an adaptive neural decentralized controller. The proposed
      control scheme can guarantee that all signals of the resulting closed-loop system
      are semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded in the sense of fourth moment, and
      the tracking errors eventually converge to a small neighborhood around the
      origin. The main feature of this paper is that the proposed approach is capable
      of controlling the stochastic systems with strong interconnected nonlinearities
      both in the drift and diffusion terms that are the functions of all states of the
      overall system. Simulation results are used to illustrate the effectiveness of
      the suggested approach. 

PMID- 25823044
TI  - Observer-Based Adaptive Neural Network Control for Nonlinear Systems in Nonstrict
      Feedback Form.
AB  - This paper focuses on the problem of adaptive neural network (NN) control for a
      class of nonlinear nonstrict-feedback systems via output feedback. A novel
      adaptive NN backstepping output-feedback control approach is first proposed for
      nonlinear nonstrict-feedback systems. The monotonicity of system bounding
      functions and the structure character of radial basis function (RBF) NNs are used
      to overcome the difficulties that arise from nonstrict-feedback structure. A
      state observer is constructed to estimate the immeasurable state variables. By
      combining adaptive backstepping technique with approximation capability of radial
      basis function NNs, an output-feedback adaptive NN controller is designed through
      backstepping approach. It is shown that the proposed controller guarantees
      semiglobal boundedness of all the signals in the closed-loop systems. Two
      examples are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. 

PMID- 25823045
TI  - Synchronization and State Estimation of a Class of Hierarchical Hybrid Neural
      Networks With Time-Varying Delays.
AB  - This paper addresses the problems of synchronization and state estimation for a
      class of discrete-time hierarchical hybrid neural networks (NNs) with time
      varying delays. The hierarchical hybrid feature consists of a higher level
      nondeterministic switching and a lower level stochastic switching. The latter is
      used to describe the NNs subject to Markovian modes transitions, whereas the
      former is of the average dwell-time switching regularity to model the supervisory
      orchestrating mechanism among these Markov jump NNs. The considered time delays
      are not only time-varying but also dependent on the mode of NNs on the lower
      layer in the hierarchical structure. Despite quantization and random data
      missing, the synchronized controllers and state estimators are designed such that
      the resulting error system is exponentially stable with an expected decay rate
      and has a prescribed Hinfinity disturbance attenuation level. Two numerical
      examples are provided to show the validity and potential of the developed
      results. 

PMID- 25823046
TI  - Symmetrical compression distance for arrhythmia discrimination in cloud-based big
      data services.
AB  - The current development of cloud computing is completely changing the paradigm of
      data knowledge extraction in huge databases. An example of this technology in the
      cardiac arrhythmia field is the SCOOP platform, a national-level scientific cloud
      based big data service for implantable cardioverter defibrillators. In this
      scenario, we here propose a new methodology for automatic classification of
      intracardiac electrograms (EGMs) in a cloud computing system, designed for
      minimal signal preprocessing. A new compression-based similarity measure (CSM) is
      created for low computational burden, so-called weighted fast compression
      distance, which provides better performance when compared with other CSMs in the
      literature. Using simple machine learning techniques, a set of 6848 EGMs
      extracted from SCOOP platform were classified into seven cardiac arrhythmia
      classes and one noise class, reaching near to 90% accuracy when previous patient
      arrhythmia information was available and 63% otherwise, hence overcoming in all
      cases the classification provided by the majority class. Results show that this
      methodology can be used as a high-quality service of cloud computing, providing
      support to physicians for improving the knowledge on patient diagnosis. 

PMID- 25823047
TI  - Instrumental Assessment of Bradykinesia: A Comparison Between Motor Tasks.
AB  - Bradykinesia, a common symptom in psychiatry, is characterized by reduced
      movement speed and amplitude. Monitoring for bradykinesia is important, as it has
      been associated with reductions in quality of life and medication compliance.
      Subtle forms of bradykinesia have been associated with treatment response in
      antipsychotic-naive first episode patients. Therefore, accurate and reliable
      assessment is of clinical importance. Several mechanical and electronic
      instruments have been developed for this purpose. However, their content validity
      is limited. This study investigated which tasks, or combinations thereof, are
      most suitable for assessing bradykinesia instrumentally. Eleven motor tasks were
      assessed using inertial sensors. Their capability of distinguishing bradykinetic
      patients with schizophrenia ( n = 6) from healthy controls ( n = 5) was
      investigated. Seven tasks significantly discriminated patients from controls. The
      combination of tasks considered most feasible for the instrumental assessment of
      bradykinesia was the gait, pronation/supination, leg agility and
      flexion/extension of elbow tasks (effect size = 2.9). 

PMID- 25823048
TI  - Infant Brain Extraction in T1-Weighted MR Images Using BET and Refinement Using
      LCDG and MGRF Models.
AB  - In this paper, we propose a novel framework for the automated extraction of the
      brain from T1-weighted MR images. The proposed approach is primarily based on the
      integration of a stochastic model [a two-level Markov-Gibbs random field (MGRF)]
      that serves to learn the visual appearance of the brain texture, and a geometric
      model (the brain isosurfaces) that preserves the brain geometry during the
      extraction process. The proposed framework consists of three main steps: 1)
      Following bias correction of the brain, a new three-dimensional (3-D) MGRF having
      a 26-pairwise interaction model is applied to enhance the homogeneity of MR
      images and preserve the 3-D edges between different brain tissues. 2) The
      nonbrain tissue found in the MR images is initially removed using the brain
      extraction tool (BET), and then the brain is parceled to nested isosurfaces using
      a fast marching level set method. 3) Finally, a classification step is applied in
      order to accurately remove the remaining parts of the skull without distorting
      the brain geometry. The classification of each voxel found on the isosurfaces is
      made based on the first- and second-order visual appearance features. The first
      order visual appearance is estimated using a linear combination of discrete
      Gaussians (LCDG) to model the intensity distribution of the brain signals. The
      second-order visual appearance is constructed using an MGRF model with
      analytically estimated parameters. The fusion of the LCDG and MGRF, along with
      their analytical estimation, allows the approach to be fast and accurate for use
      in clinical applications. The proposed approach was tested on in vivo data using
      300 infant 3-D MR brain scans, which were qualitatively validated by an MR
      expert. In addition, it was quantitatively validated using 30 datasets based on
      three metrics: the Dice coefficient, the 95% modified Hausdorff distance, and
      absolute brain volume difference. Results showed the capability of the proposed
      approach, outperforming four widely used BETs: BET, BET2, brain surface
      extractor, and infant brain extraction and analysis toolbox. Experiments
      conducted also proved that the proposed framework can be generalized to adult
      brain extraction as well.

PMID- 25823049
TI  - An Implantable RFID Sensor Tag toward Continuous Glucose Monitoring.
AB  - This paper presents a wirelessly powered implantable electrochemical sensor tag
      for continuous blood glucose monitoring. The system is remotely powered by a
      13.56-MHz inductive link and utilizes an ISO 15693 radio frequency identification
      (RFID) standard for communication. This paper provides reliable and accurate
      measurement for changing glucose level. The sensor tag employs a long-term
      glucose sensor, a winding ferrite antenna, an RFID front-end, a potentiostat, a
      10-bit sigma-delta analog to digital converter, an on-chip temperature sensor,
      and a digital baseband for protocol processing and control. A high-frequency
      external reader is used to power, command, and configure the sensor tag. The only
      off-chip support circuitry required is a tuned antenna and a glucose microsensor.
      The integrated chip fabricated in SMIC 0.13-MUm CMOS process occupies an area of
      1.2 mm *2 mm and consumes 50 MUW. The power sensitivity of the whole system is -4
      dBm. The sensor tag achieves a measured glucose range of 0-30 mM with a
      sensitivity of 0.75 nA/mM.

PMID- 25823050
TI  - Wireless gigabit data telemetry for large-scale neural recording.
AB  - Implantable wireless neural recording from a large ensemble of simultaneously
      acting neurons is a critical component to thoroughly investigate neural
      interactions and brain dynamics from freely moving animals. Recent researches
      have shown the feasibility of simultaneously recording from hundreds of neurons
      and suggested that the ability of recording a larger number of neurons results in
      better signal quality. This massive recording inevitably demands a large amount
      of data transfer. For example, recording 2000 neurons while keeping the signal
      fidelity ( > 12 bit, > 40 KS/s per neuron) needs approximately a 1-Gb/s data
      link. Designing a wireless data telemetry system to support such (or higher) data
      rate while aiming to lower the power consumption of an implantable device imposes
      a grand challenge on neuroscience community. In this paper, we present a wireless
      gigabit data telemetry for future large-scale neural recording interface. This
      telemetry comprises of a pair of low-power gigabit transmitter and receiver
      operating at 60 GHz, and establishes a short-distance wireless link to transfer
      the massive amount of neural signals outward from the implanted device. The
      transmission distance of the received neural signal can be further extended by an
      externally rendezvous wireless transceiver, which is less power/heat-constraint
      since it is not at the immediate proximity of the cortex and its radiated signal
      is not seriously attenuated by the lossy tissue. The gigabit data link has been
      demonstrated to achieve a high data rate of 6 Gb/s with a bit-error-rate of 10(
      12) at a transmission distance of 6 mm, an applicable separation between
      transmitter and receiver. This high data rate is able to support thousands of
      recording channels while ensuring a low energy cost per bit of 2.08 pJ/b. 

PMID- 25823051
TI  - Toward noninvasive quantification of brain radioligand binding by combining
      electronic health records and dynamic PET imaging data.
AB  - Quantitative analysis of positron emission tomography (PET) brain imaging data
      requires a metabolite-corrected arterial input function (AIF) for estimation of
      distribution volume and related outcome measures. Collecting arterial blood
      samples adds risk, cost, measurement error, and patient discomfort to PET
      studies. Minimally invasive AIF estimation is possible with simultaneous
      estimation (SIME), but at least one arterial blood sample is necessary. In this
      study, we describe a noninvasive SIME (nSIME) approach that utilizes a
      pharmacokinetic input function model and constraints derived from machine
      learning applied to an electronic health record database consisting of "long
      tail" data (digital records, paper charts, and handwritten notes) that were
      collected ancillary to the PET studies. We evaluated the performance of nSIME on
      95 [(11)C]DASB PET scans that had measured AIFs. The results indicate that nSIME
      is a promising alternative to invasive AIF measurement. The general framework
      presented here may be expanded to other metabolized radioligands, potentially
      enabling quantitative analysis of PET studies without blood sampling. A glossary
      of technical abbreviations is provided at the end of this paper. 

PMID- 25823052
TI  - Understanding user intents in online health forums.
AB  - Online health forums provide a convenient way for patients to obtain medical
      information and connect with physicians and peers outside of clinical settings.
      However, large quantities of unstructured and diversified content generated on
      these forums make it difficult for users to digest and extract useful
      information. Understanding user intents would enable forums to find and recommend
      relevant information to users by filtering out threads that do not match
      particular intents. In this paper, we derive a taxonomy of intents to capture
      user information needs in online health forums and propose novel pattern-based
      features for use with a multiclass support vector machine (SVM) classifier to
      classify original thread posts according to their underlying intents. Since no
      dataset existed for this task, we employ three annotators to manually label a
      dataset of 1192 HealthBoards posts spanning four forum topics. Experimental
      results show that a SVM using pattern-based features is highly capable of
      identifying user intents in forum posts, reaching a maximum precision of 75%, and
      that a SVM-based hierarchical classifier using both pattern and word features
      outperforms its SVM counterpart that uses only word features. Furthermore,
      comparable classification performance can be achieved by training and testing on
      posts from different forum topics. 

PMID- 25823053
TI  - Finite Time Control Design for Bilateral Teleoperation System With Position
      Synchronization Error Constrained.
AB  - Due to the cognitive limitations of the human operator and lack of complete
      information about the remote environment, the work performance of such
      teleoperation systems cannot be guaranteed in most cases. However, some practical
      tasks conducted by the teleoperation system require high performances, such as
      tele-surgery needs satisfactory high speed and more precision control results to
      guarantee patient' health status. To obtain some satisfactory performances, the
      error constrained control is employed by applying the barrier Lyapunov function
      (BLF). With the constrained synchronization errors, some high performances, such
      as, high convergence speed, small overshoot, and an arbitrarily predefined small
      residual constrained synchronization error can be achieved simultaneously.
      Nevertheless, like many classical control schemes only the asymptotic/exponential
      convergence, i.e., the synchronization errors converge to zero as time goes
      infinity can be achieved with the error constrained control. It is clear that
      finite time convergence is more desirable. To obtain a finite-time
      synchronization performance, the terminal sliding mode (TSM)-based finite time
      control method is developed for teleoperation system with position error
      constrained in this paper. First, a new nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode
      (NFTSM) surface with new transformed synchronization errors is proposed. Second,
      adaptive neural network system is applied for dealing with the system
      uncertainties and the external disturbances. Third, the BLF is applied to prove
      the stability and the nonviolation of the synchronization errors constraints.
      Finally, some comparisons are conducted in simulation and experiment results are
      also presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. 

PMID- 25823054
TI  - Control Synthesis of Discrete-Time T-S Fuzzy Systems via a Multi-Instant
      Homogenous Polynomial Approach.
AB  - This paper deals with the problem of control synthesis of discrete-time Takagi
      Sugeno fuzzy systems by employing a novel multiinstant homogenous polynomial
      approach. A new multiinstant fuzzy control scheme and a new class of fuzzy
      Lyapunov functions, which are homogenous polynomially parameter-dependent on both
      the current-time normalized fuzzy weighting functions and the past-time
      normalized fuzzy weighting functions, are proposed for implementing the object of
      relaxed control synthesis. Then, relaxed stabilization conditions are derived
      with less conservatism than existing ones. Furthermore, the relaxation quality of
      obtained stabilization conditions is further ameliorated by developing an
      efficient slack variable approach, which presents a multipolynomial dependence on
      the normalized fuzzy weighting functions at the current and past instants of
      time. Two simulation examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and
      benefits of the results developed in this paper. 

PMID- 25823055
TI  - Optimized Assistive Human-Robot Interaction Using Reinforcement Learning.
AB  - An intelligent human-robot interaction (HRI) system with adjustable robot
      behavior is presented. The proposed HRI system assists the human operator to
      perform a given task with minimum workload demands and optimizes the overall
      human-robot system performance. Motivated by human factor studies, the presented
      control structure consists of two control loops. First, a robot-specific neuro
      adaptive controller is designed in the inner loop to make the unknown nonlinear
      robot behave like a prescribed robot impedance model as perceived by a human
      operator. In contrast to existing neural network and adaptive impedance-based
      control methods, no information of the task performance or the prescribed robot
      impedance model parameters is required in the inner loop. Then, a task-specific
      outer-loop controller is designed to find the optimal parameters of the
      prescribed robot impedance model to adjust the robot's dynamics to the operator
      skills and minimize the tracking error. The outer loop includes the human
      operator, the robot, and the task performance details. The problem of finding the
      optimal parameters of the prescribed robot impedance model is transformed into a
      linear quadratic regulator (LQR) problem which minimizes the human effort and
      optimizes the closed-loop behavior of the HRI system for a given task. To obviate
      the requirement of the knowledge of the human model, integral reinforcement
      learning is used to solve the given LQR problem. Simulation results on an x - y
      table and a robot arm, and experimental implementation results on a PR2 robot
      confirm the suitability of the proposed method. 

PMID- 25823056
TI  - [Protocol of the 500th jubilee meeting of the Society of Oncologists, devoted to
      the theme of "Hormone-dependent tumors -- pathogenesis and therapy," May 12,
      2014].

PMID- 25823057
TI  - [Jubilee of Iu. S. Sidorenko, member of the Russian National Academy of
      Sciences].

PMID- 25823058
TI  - [Sergei Fedorovich Goncharov].

PMID- 25823059
TI  - [Igor' Borisovich Ushakov].

PMID- 25823060
TI  - [Vladimir Petrovich Kharchenko].

PMID- 25823061
TI  - [Anastasiya Pavlovna Shitskova].

PMID- 25823062
TI  - [Laureates of the Palladin Prize of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
      (2005, 2007 years)].

PMID- 25823063
TI  - [Laureates of the Palladin Prize of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
      (2008, 2011)].

PMID- 25823064
TI  - Foreword. Medical accidents.

PMID- 25823065
TI  - Preface.Patients with end-stage renal disease.

PMID- 25823066
TI  - Enrollment tops HHS goal as consumers face tax penalties.

PMID- 25823067
TI  - Colleagues in disaster recovery. Hospital CEO humbled by outpouring of support
      following tornado.

PMID- 25823068
TI  - Excellence in governance 2015. Using lessons from Disney, board chair leads
      Orlando Health turnaround.

PMID- 25823069
TI  - Board chair puts practice on hold to steer hospital.

PMID- 25823070
TI  - Seasoned executive guides staff through ownership changes.

PMID- 25823071
TI  - Leader forges partnerships to improve care.

PMID- 25823073
TI  - Round 2: no win for the ACA.

PMID- 25823072
TI  - Geisinger's second century of innovation. Health system spreading best practices
      through new company.

PMID- 25823074
TI  - Lessons from 'Main Street' doc practices.

PMID- 25823075
TI  - Using volunteers to improve discharges.

PMID- 25823076
TI  - 'Imagine if healthcare were priced to consumers'.

PMID- 25823077
TI  - Largest behavioral-health providers. Ranked by net patient revenue in 2013, based
      on CMS Hospital Cost Report data.

PMID- 25823078
TI  - Jewish dermatologists in Nazi Germany.

PMID- 25823080
TI  - Radiation-associated atypical vascular lesions: vascular lesions with endothelial
      cell atypia presenting in the radiation port of breast cancer patients.
AB  - Atypical vascular lesions are an uncommon adverse sequela to the radiotherapy of
      tumors. Many characteristics are shared between atypical vascular lesions caused
      by radiation port and well-differentiated radiation-induced angiosarcomas. The
      authors retrospectively reviewed the medical literature using PubMed, searching
      the terms acquired, atypical, benign, lymphangioma, lymphangioendothelioma,
      lymphangiomatous, lesion, papules, progressive, and vascular. Patient reports and
      previous reviews of the subject were critically assessed and the salient features
      are presented. Atypical vascular lesions associated with the radiation port
      present as clinically innocuous flesh-colored to erythematous papules or plaques.
      The condition presents within the radiation field, approximately 3 years after
      initial treatment. While the exact me chanism remains to be elucidated, growing
      evidence supports an association between radiation-associated atypical vascular
      lesions and radiation-induced angiosarcomas. Atypical vascular lesions within a
      radiation port are suggested to be in a state of morphologic continuum, which may
      progress into the more aggressive, malignant angiosarcoma. The authors recommend
      consideration for biopsy of new skin lesions within or adjacent to radiation.
      While it is clear that atypical vascular lesions caused by radiation are not
      equivalent to angiosarcoma, growing evidence supports that radiation-associated
      atypical vascular lesions may progress to angiosarcoma in some patients;
      therefore, the authors recommend excision of the lesion with margins depending on
      clinical judgment and the lesion encountered.

PMID- 25823079
TI  - Scleredema Adultorum of Buschke.

PMID- 25823081
TI  - Cutaneous inflammatory lipid mediators.
AB  - Inflammation is the physiological response of the organism to different stimuli
      such as infection, trauma, or immunological mechanisms. Lipid mediators play a
      major role in skin inflammation and are known as "local mediators" acting in the
      intercellular microenvironments, where they reach considerable levels. A complex
      family of lipid mediators regulates a wide variety of physiological responses and
      pathological processes. Lipid mediators are produced by all human tissues,
      differing widely in the amounts of the various enzymes they contain and,
      therefore, in the relative proportions and amounts of products. The authors
      emphasize the effects and roles of lipid mediators in skin inflammation, focusing
      particularly on evidence provided by recently published studies. In the future,
      pharmacologic manipulation of lipid mediators and their receptors may provide a
      novel approach for controlling inflammation.

PMID- 25823083
TI  - Dalbavancin (Dalvance) for the treatment of acute bacterial skin infection.

PMID- 25823082
TI  - Footwear dermatitis: historical background, epidemiology, clinical connotation
      Part II.
AB  - Footwear dermatitis is a disabling condition that is identified by blistering
      and/or weeping feet that may become secondarily infected and painful. Fissuring
      is a common feature, resulting in an inability to walk, and it may prevent the
      wearing of footwear, especially when shoes are the cause of the dermatosis. In
      the absence of adequate care and therapy, footwear dermatitis may turn into a
      chronic distressing disease that largely effects the daily quality of life of
      patients.

PMID- 25823084
TI  - Don't blow your top: protecting the information trail in epidermis--fragile skin
      biopsies.

PMID- 25823085
TI  - Eosinophilic annular erythema: attention must be paid.

PMID- 25823086
TI  - Physical modalities in dermatology: 1870-1975.

PMID- 25823087
TI  - Centrally located acquired bilateral nevus of ota-like macules: a bizarre
      pattern.
AB  - A 22-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for pigmented lesions located on
      her face. These had gradually increased during the past 4 years. Computed
      tomography (CT) of her head revealed no significant parenchymal abnormalities of
      temporal, maxillary and sphenoid bones or of either parietal bone. Further
      screening, including neurologic, ophthalmologic, orthopedic, and visceral
      investigations, did not reveal any abnormalities. There was no family history of
      abnormal cutaneous pigmentation.

PMID- 25823088
TI  - The clinical challenges in the management of deep lymphangioma of the foot.
AB  - A 12-year-old girl presented with swelling on the lateral aspect of the left foot
      since early childhood, progressively increasing in size and now causing pain on
      walking. Pain was relieved with medication only. There was also history of a
      single episode of blood-tinged discharge from the swelling 3 years prior. There
      was no history of trauma, diabetes, or hypertension.

PMID- 25823089
TI  - The preterminal arterioles in the pulmonary circulation of high-altitude natives.

PMID- 25823090
TI  - Some hemodynamic problems in transposition of the great vessels.

PMID- 25823091
TI  - Adaptation to exercise in angina pectoris. The electrocardiogram during treadmill
      walking and coronary angiographic findings.
AB  - Twelve patients with angina pectoris manifested an ability to adapt to exercise
      during treadmill stress testing with electrocardiographic monitoring. Three
      patterns of adaptation were seen. Nine subjects had the ability to continue
      walking after the onset of angina with eventual disappearance or lessening of
      anginal pain and the associated ischemic ST-segment depression; anginal pain and
      ST depression began to diminish during a steady state of blood pressure and heart
      rate in those cases in which these factors were measured. Four subjects were able
      to continue walking for long periods of time during a state of angina and
      ischemic ST depression. Three subjects demonstrated an increase in exercise
      capacity after being warmed up by a preceding bout of exercise-induced angina;
      blood pressures and heart rates during the initial, "warming-up" effort tended to
      be higher than those during the early stages of the second effort. In three
      subjects more than one of these patterns of adaptation were demonstrated. Five of
      the subjects showed striking subjective and objective improvement in exercise
      tolerance while on a program of regular walking exercise. Selective coronary
      cineangiography was performed in eight of these patients and two patterns of
      coronary disease were seen: (1) occlusion of a major coronary vessel with good
      collateral channels circumventing the obstruction; (2) strategically placed,
      proximal, stenotic lesions in major coronary vessels without frank occlusion and
      without discernible collateral development. Some diagnostic and therapeutic
      implications of these findings are discussed.

PMID- 25823092
TI  - Infarction patterns in endocardial fibroelastosis.
AB  - Three cases of endocardial fibroelastosis with vectorcardiographic findings
      suggestive of an anterior myocardial infarct are presented. It had been
      previously reported that such vectorcardiographic features were diagnostic of
      anomalous origin of the left coronary artery. We conclude that the two diseases
      can not be differentiated on the basis of electrocardiography or
      vectorcardiography alone. Two of the cases presented were in identical twins;
      serial scalar electrocardiograms and vectorcardiograms were obtained during the
      development and progression of endocardial fibroelastosis.

PMID- 25823093
TI  - Bacterial endocarditis following aortic valve replacement. Clinical and
      pathologic correlations.
AB  - The clinical and pathologic findings in three patients with bacterial infection
      at the sites of prosthetic aortic valves are described. Each presented typical
      clinical features of acute bacterial endocarditis followed by the sudden
      development of severe and ultimately fatal aortic regurgitation. Pathologically
      the infectious process was characterized by extensive necrosis of the aortic
      annulus, disruption of the aortic wall, and the formation of abscesses in the
      periaortic tissues. In two patients the prosthetic valve was partially detached
      from the annulus, whereas in the other it was totally dislodged and impacted in
      the aortic arch shortly before death. In all, secondary operative intervention
      would have been fruitless because of the extent of the infection and the
      character of the tissue at the aortic root. In one patient fatal staphylococcal
      endocarditis followed dental extractions despite penicillin prophylaxis. A more
      comprehensive antibiotic regimen for patients with prosthetic cardiac valves is
      suggested.

PMID- 25823094
TI  - Evaluation of the severity of mitral stenosis and regurgitation.
AB  - Indices have been developed that provide an improved means for evaluation of the
      degrees of severity of mitral stenosis and regurgitation. The severity of
      anatomic mitral valve disease found at surgery or autopsy was considered to be
      the determinant of the state of the valve. An index of the time for the diastolic
      atrioventricular pressure gradient to fall to half its value multiplied by 100
      and divided by the cardiac index was shown to be comparable to the severity of
      anatomic stenosis. This index ranged from 5.7 to 10 in mitral stenosis, 0.4 to
      0.8 in normal subjects, and 0.6 to 2.0 in patients with predominant mitral
      regurgitation. Mitral regurgitation was estimated by an index of the rate of the
      atrial pressure rise during ventricular systole in mm. Hg/0.02 second multiplied
      by 10, and divided by the cardiac index. In predominant mitral regurgitation,
      this index ranged from 8.0 to 15; in mitral stenosis these values were 3.7 to
      6.3, and normal subjects had an index varying from 2.5 to 3.7. Both indices were
      significantly elevated in patients in whom stenosis and regurgitation were
      present at surgery. Mitral stenosis complicated by a mild degree of regurgitation
      gave significantly elevated stenotic indices, while the regurgitation indices
      were normal or slightly elevated. These indices facilitate the evaluation of
      either mitral stenosis or regurgitation even when both processes are present
      together. The significance of these indices in the evaluation of the degree of
      invalidism in patients with valvular disease is also discussed.

PMID- 25823095
TI  - Intercoronary anastomoses in congenital heart disease.
AB  - Thirty-five cases of congenital heart disease were investigated for the frequency
      and size of intercoronary anastomoses. Studies of control hearts showed normal
      intercoronary anastomoses to range to 74 MU in diameter. In those congenital
      hearts not subjected to surgical procedures, the anastomoses did not differ in
      size from the control group, even in the presence of anemia, cardiac hypertrophy,
      and cyanosis. However, the mean age of the cyanotic group was significantly less
      than the acyanotic group. Even though the size and frequency of the anastomoses
      were significantly increased in the operated group, surgical trauma alone was an
      unlikely stimulus, since the size and frequency of anastomoses in those dying
      within 48 hours of operation and in those surviving for more than 5 weeks were
      similar. There was also a significant increase in the frequency and size of the
      intercoronary anastomoses in cases greater than 5 years of age, implying that
      intercoronary communications in congenital heart disease increase in size with
      increasing age.

PMID- 25823096
TI  - Transposition of the great vessels. Pathophysiologic considerations based upon a
      study of the lungs.
AB  - A microscopic study of the lungs of 106 patients with transposition of the great
      vessels has revealed early and severe hypertensive alterations in the pulmonary
      arteries. These striking changes, associated in almost all instances with normal
      pulmonary veins, indicate a state of high resistance of the arterial bed.
      Pulmonary arterial damage was, in general, most advanced in the patients with a
      large ventricular septal defect, but in spite of this these were the patients who
      lived longest. It seemed obvious, therefore, that their relatively favorable
      course was due to a greater beneficial than damaging effect of the ventricular
      septal defect. Consideration of these findings in the light of known physiologic
      data has led to a clarification of the physiologic variations of the
      transposition circulation. Using the recognized physiologic definitions of flows
      and shunts the transposition circulation is characterized by a diminished
      effective flow and a bidirectional but predominantly left-to-right shunt. The
      effect of a large intracardiac communication is to increase the effective flow
      and to lessen the shunts. With increasing size of the intracardiac communication
      the spectrum is completed when the circulatory characteristics of a single
      ventricle are reached in which the anatomic position of the great vessels becomes
      physiologically insignificant. The effect of a common systolic ejectile force in
      patients with a large ventricular septal defect will be similar in the
      transposition circulation and in the normal circulation. Three physiologic states
      are possible which depend upon the relative magnitude of the systemic and
      pulmonary resistances. The early appearance and malignant nature of the
      hypertensive alterations in the pulmonary arteries of patients with transposition
      of the great vessels suggest that the impact upon the lungs of high blood flow
      and pressure is aggravated by arterial vasoconstriction. This may be initiated by
      anoxia and a lowered blood pH. Elevation of pulmonary venous pressure and the
      increased viscosity of the blood due to polycythemia may add to the damage.
      Prominence of the bronchial arteries noted in the lung sections suggests that an
      expanded bronchial circulation augments the effective flow in these patients. If
      the bronchial venous drainage leads to systemic veins, the bronchial circulation
      could act as an accessory pulmonary circulation and could improve the effective
      flow without having to cross the already overloaded intracardiac communications.
      The anatomic findings and physiologic considerations reported in this study
      reveal several aspects of the early and severely damaging cardiopulmonary effect
      of transposition of the great vessels and indicate an urgent necessity of
      surgical therapy in early life.

PMID- 25823097
TI  - Percutaneous suprasternal puncture (Radner technique) of the pulmonary artery in
      transposition of the great vessels.
AB  - Introduction of a cardiac catheter into the pulmonary artery from the right heart
      is not possible in a substantial proportion of patients with transposition of the
      great vessels. It is necessary to obtain the pulmonary artery pressure and oxygen
      saturation value to evaluate the degree of pulmonary stenosis and the pulmonary
      vascular resistance. Twenty-three patients are described in whom this was
      accomplished by percutaneous suprasternal puncture. There was no mortality and
      there were no significant complications. The technique appears to be safe and
      reliable.

PMID- 25823098
TI  - Pulmonary pressure, cardiac output, and arterial oxygen saturation during
      exercise at high altitude and at sea level.
AB  - The response elicited by exercise on pulmonary pressure, cardiac output, and
      arterial oxygen saturation in 35 lifetime residents of high altitude has been
      studied at high altitude (14,900 feet above sea level), and 22 residents of low
      altitude have been studied at sea level. A procedure combining cardiac
      catheterization, arterial cannulation, and spirometry was carried out. The
      exercise was moderate and was performed in supine position using a bicycle
      ergometer, the work load being 300 kg-m/min/m2 and the average increase of the
      oxygen uptake being 4.7 times at sea level and 4.8 times at high altitude. Both
      at .sea level and at high altitude the cardiac output augmented during exercise
      proportionally to the increase in oxygen uptake, and thus followed the pattern of
      response described by other authors. The cardiac output as well as the oxygen
      intake, for the magnitude of exertion performed in this study, was almost the
      same at sea level and at high altitude. The cardiac output rose during exercise
      almost exclusively as a result of an increase in the heart rate, with the stroke
      volume remaining practically constant. Despite similar increase in cardiac
      output, the response of pulmonary pressure was smaller for sea-level subjects
      than for the high-altitude subjects. Increments of mean pulmonary pressure bf
      nearly 50% and 100% were observed on exercise at sea level and at high altitude,
      respectively. During exercise the arterial oxygen saturation did not change in
      the sea-level studies, but decreased significantly in the high-altitude studies.
      The decrement observed in high-altitude residents is related to a fall in
      arterial pO2 which at resting conditions is placed on the steep part of the
      oxygen dissociation curve.

PMID- 25823099
TI  - The assessment of operative results in congenital heart disease by intraoperative
      indicator-dilution curves.
AB  - In 260 patients with intracardiac shunts, indicator-dilution curves were recorded
      immediately after corrective operations. In every patient, the effectiveness of
      the repair was also determined at late postoperative cardiac catheterization or
      necropsy. In 248 patient (96 per cent) the presence or absence of a shunt,
      determined from the intraoperative curves, was confirmed by the findings at post
      operative study. The intraoperative curves were normal in 213 patients, 209 of
      whom had no residual communication at late evaluation; in four patients, the
      studies indicated initial complete correction followed by recurrence of the
      shunt. Abnormal intraoperative curves were recorded in 47 patients, eight of whom
      died. In 17 of the 39 surviving patients, postoperative catheterization revealed
      persistent residual shunts comparable in magnitude to those present before
      operation. Fourteen patients had residual shunts that did not necessitate
      reoperation, and in eight patients, shunts present at the conclusion of the
      operation were shown to close in the postoperative period. The study indicates
      that the recording of intraoperative indicator-dilution curves provides a
      reliable objective method for evaluating the effectiveness of operation in
      patients with circulatory shunts. If normal curves are recorded, no residual
      shunt may be expected in 98 per cent of patients, and postoperative
      catheterization may be unnecessary unless other hemodynamic data are required. If
      abnormal intraoperative curves are recorded, however, postoperative study is
      mandatory, since the shunt will persist in 80 per cent of patients, in many of
      whom a second operation will be indicated.

PMID- 25823100
TI  - Epidemiological study of the electrocardiographic diagnosis of left ventricular
      hypertrophy.
AB  - Electrocardiograms from 5,129 examined persons, 2,449 men and 2,680 women, 16
      years of age or older, were classified according to the Minnesota code of
      Blackburn and associates. The R wave amplitude criteria for possible left
      ventricular hypertrophy were fulfilled in 193 tracings from 135 men and 58 women.
      Age and sex matched controls were randomly selected from the remainder of the
      examined population for similar measurement. Those with high amplitude R waves
      and their controls were grouped according to age, sex, and possible cause for
      anatomical left ventricular enlargement. Precise measurements were made of all
      the amplitudes and intervals necessary for the application of a variety of other
      differential items from current diagnostic criteria. The prevalence of the
      various differential items in the high amplitude and control groups and the
      frequency with which each was associated with a cause for enlargement indicated
      their relative sensitivity and specificity. Among the individuals with
      electrocardiographic evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy according to the
      Minnesota criteria, there were more persons in the upper and lower quintiles of
      the relative weight distributions, more hypertensives, more persons with
      roentgenographic evidence of cardiomegaly, and fewer persons in congestive heart
      failure than among the controls, but the differences were slight. Most QRS
      amplitude items were too nonspecific to be of much diagnostic value among young
      men, and the same items apparently lack sensitivity when applied to the tracings
      from older women. The items which constitute the Minnesota criteria are useful
      for screening purposes. Single items are unreliable for the detection of left
      ventricular hypertrophy and certain combinations are suggested to improve
      diagnostic accuracy. Still the electrocardiogram is often an inexact method for
      the recognition of left ventricular hypertrophy and the diagnosis should be based
      on careful physical and roentgenographic examinations as well.

PMID- 25823101
TI  - Recurrent "pericardial pain" after pericardiectomy for recurrent acute benign
      pericarditis.
AB  - Two cases-of recurrent acute benign pericarditis are presented. Both were
      characterized by recurrent "pericardial type" pain after nearly total
      pericardiectomy, a previously unreported occurrence. A plausible explanation for
      this paradox is presented.

PMID- 25823102
TI  - Plasma cephalins of patients with acute myocardial infarction.
AB  - In the plasma of patients with acute myocardial infarction the values for
      phosphatidyl ethanolamine are on the average 50% to 100% higher than in patients
      with chronic coronary heart disease and up to 400% higher than in normal
      individuals. Those for phosphatidyl serine are about 50% higher than in patients
      with chronic coronary heart disease and up to 300% higher than in normal
      individuals. Expressed in percentages of total phospholipids, the share of
      phosphatidyl ethanolamine in acute myocardial infarction is about twice as high
      as in chronic coronary heart disease and three times as high as in healthy
      persons. The share of phosphatidyl serine is about 50% higher than in patients
      with chronic coronary heart disease and also almost 300% higher than in healthy
      persons. Following the acute incident the values for the cephalins, both
      phosphatidyl ethanolamine and phosphatidyl serine, decrease slowly. Phosphatidyl
      ethanolamine reaches the level found in patients with chronic coronary heart
      disease in about 4 weeks, phosphatidyl serine in about 1 week.

PMID- 25823103
TI  - Fistula from circumflex coronary artery to superior vena cava.

PMID- 25823104
TI  - Studies of the retinal circulation in man. Observations on vessel diameter,
      arteriovenous oxygen difference, and mean circulation time.
AB  - By photographic techniques measurements have been made in the human retina of
      vessel size, arteriovenous oxygen difference across the retina, and mean retinal
      circulation time. By combination of these methods estimates can be made of
      relative changes in retinal blood flow rate and in the rate of oxygen delivery
      from the retinal vascular system. Observations are presented on the response of
      the normal and diseased retinal circulation to a variety of stimuli, particularly
      changes in blood oxygen and carbon dioxide tensions.

PMID- 25823105
TI  - Congenital anomalies involving the coronary sinus.
AB  - A classification is presented of anomalies involving the coronary sinus. These
      anomalies are classified into four anatomic groups on the basis of (1)
      enlargement of the coronary sinus, (2) absence of the coronary sinus, (3) atresia
      of the right atrial coronary sinus ostium, and (4) hypoplasia of the coronary
      sinus. Anomalies involving the coronary sinus often are associated with other
      venous anomalies, either of the systemic or the pulmonary circulation. In some
      there is no basic disturbance of the circulation. Those conditions involving the
      coronary sinus which are of major functional significance participate in shunts,
      either left-to-right or right-to-left in nature. Enlargement of the coronary
      sinus in the absence of a shunt usually indicates that a systemic venous channel
      joins the coronary sinus anomalously.

PMID- 25823106
TI  - Lung cancer screening in India: along way to go.

PMID- 25823107
TI  - Pulmonary rehabilitation in chronic respiratory diseases.

PMID- 25823108
TI  - Clinical experience on use of oral EGFR-TKIs as first-line treatment of advanced
      NSCLC from a tertiary care centre in North India and implications of skin rash.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Limited data are available from India on treatment outcomes with oral
      epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in
      newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We studied the demographic
      profile and treatment outcomes of patients with NSCLC, receiving first-line
      treatment with oral EGFR-TKIs. METHODS: Retrospective study of newly diagnosed
      NSCLC patients treated with oral EGFR-TKIs over a 4-year period at a tertiary
      care institute in North India. RESULTS: Of 76 patients studied, females and non
      smokers constituted 32.9% and 48.7%, respectively. Majority of patients had
      adenocarcinoma (59.2%), stage IV (64.5%) disease and Karnofsky performance status
      <= 70 (74.5%). Gefitinib was the most frequently used EGFR-TKI (92.1%). Most
      common indication for the use of EGFR-TKIs was poor performance status (65.8%).
      Among assessable patients, disease control and progressive disease were evident
      in 66% and 34%, respectively. Most common side effects were skin rash (17%) and
      diarrhoea (10.6%). Patients with and without skin rash differed significantly in
      relation to objective response to treatment (100% versus 23.1%) and overall
      survival (median not reached versus 178 days). On multivariate logistic
      regression analysis, malignant pleural effusion was associated with occurrence of
      rash (odds ratio = 0.19; 95% confidence interval = 0.04-0.95; p = 0.04).
      CONCLUSIONS: Oral EGFR-TKIs appear to be useful for the treatment of clinically
      selected patients with advanced NSCLC. Occurrence of skin rash was independently
      associated with treatment response and better survival in the current study.

PMID- 25823109
TI  - Community acquired pneumonia and cardiac diseases: a fatal association.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a common disease condition
      attributing to a significant mortality and morbidity worldwide. Acute cardiac
      events (ACEs) are one of the most life-threatening complications in patients with
      severe pneumonia. METHODS: Retrospective study of burden of ACE in 105 patients
      admitted with CAP. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients with (CURB-65) score ranging
      between 0 - 2 did not require intensive care unit (ICU) admission and were
      admitted in the ward and high dependency unit. Of these, 12 developed ACE and 4
      required to be shifted to the ICU for further management. Eighty patients with a
      CURB-65 score of greater than 3 were admitted to the ICU. Of the patients
      admitted to the ICU, 10 with ACE died; 2 patients without ACE also died.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our observations suggest that ACE constitute an important cause of
      morbidity and mortality in patients with CAP requiring hospitalisition.

PMID- 25823110
TI  - Role of magnetic resonance imaging cephalometry in obstructive sleep apnoea.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is one of the most common public
      health problems in adults. Patients with OSA are prone for excessive adipose
      tissue deposition in the neck, which in turn, increases the upper airway
      narrowing. Of the imaging modalities available for assessing the upper airway,
      magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is found to be useful technique for defining
      soft tissue abnormalities. METHODS: We prospectively studied 50 patients
      presenting with OSA and 50 normal controls to evaluate the role of MRI
      cephalometry in the diagnosis of OSA and compared the cross-sectional area and
      antero-posterior diameter of the upper airway in the retro-palatal airway and
      retro-glossal areas by MRI cephalometry. RESULTS: In comparison with controls,
      cases had a significantly lower cross-sectional area and antero-posterior
      diameter of the upper airway in the retro-palatal airway and retro-glossal areas.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our observations suggest that MRI cephalometry is a sensitive
      technique for the diagnosis of OSA.

PMID- 25823111
TI  - Smoking cessation: an update.
AB  - Intervention for smoking cessation has become on urgent need because of
      increasing tobacco use and health hazards, especially in developing countries.
      Smoking cessation will be at different states of readiness. The states may be:
      (i) not ready (pre-contemplation), (ii) unsure (contemplation), (iii) ready
      (preparation), (iv) action, and (v) maintenance. Counselling and behavioural
      management is important. The '5 A's-based intervention in the form of Ask,
      Advise, Assess, Assist and Arrange is implemented. Pharmacologic management is
      based on first-line treatment in the form of nicotine replacement therapy,
      bupropion and varinicline and second-line treatment as clonidine and
      nortriptalin. Every health professional has obligation to help their patients to
      quit and the intervention should be diagnostic and therapeutic. The best results
      are obtained by behavioural and social support combined with pharmacotherapy
      whenever needed. The paper highlights the important component of intervention in
      smoking cessation.

PMID- 25823112
TI  - Congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation of the left lung presenting in an
      adult.

PMID- 25823113
TI  - Spontaneous oesophago-pleural fistula.

PMID- 25823114
TI  - A rare case of primary adenoid cystic carcinoma of lung.
AB  - A 33-year-old male presented with repeated episodes of blood-streaked sputum for
      last one-and half-year. Chest radiograph showed consolidation in the right lower
      zone. Fibreoptic bronchoscopy revealed an endoluminal growth in the right lower
      lobe bronchus. Histopathological examination of bronchoscopic biopsy specimen
      confirmed adenoid cystic carcinoma.

PMID- 25823115
TI  - Giant mediastinal haemangiopericytoma: an uncommon case.
AB  - Haemangiopericytoma is a rare soft tissue tumour characterised by tightly packed
      tumour cells situated around thin walled endothelial lined vascular channels,
      ranging from capillary sized vessels to large gaping sinusoidal spaces. The
      tumour cells are surrounded by reticulin and are negative for muscle, nerve and
      epithelial markers. The diagnosis of extra-pulmonary intra-thoracic, extra
      pleural mediastinal mass is difficult. It constitutes only 6% of all primary
      tumours and cysts of the mediastinum. We report the rare occurrence of primary
      intra-thoracic, extra-pulmonary mediastinal haemangiopericytoma of mesenchymal
      origin with perivascular localisation. The patient underwent right postero
      lateral thoracotomy and post-operatively received chemotherapy with adriamycin
      (60 mg/m2) on day 1 and ifosfamide (1.5 g/m2) on day 1 to 3. Thirty-seven months
      after the operation, the patient has been well with evidence of a single
      recurrence in the left lower lobe.

PMID- 25823116
TI  - Ancient schwannoma of vagus nerve mimicking hamartoma.
AB  - Schwannomas arising from vagus nerve sheath are rare mediastinal neurogenic
      tumours. Schwannomas usually arise from left hemithorax. Unlike a hamartoma,
      radiologically, calcification is rarely seen in schwannomas. We present the rare
      case of an ancient schwannoma arising from vagus nerve sheath from the right
      hemithorax presenting with gross calcification.

PMID- 25823117
TI  - Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica: a rare cause of difficult intubation.
AB  - Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica is a rare benign airway disorder which
      is characterised by submucosal nodules projecting into the tracheo-bronchial
      lumen usually involving the cartilaginous portions of the tracheo-bronchial tree
      or larynx. The condition is usually asymptomatic but can rarely present with
      difficulty during endotracheal intubation or rarely with obstructive airway
      complications. Bronchoscopic appearance is usually sufficient to make the
      diagnosis, and tissue biopsies are seldom required. No specific treatment is
      required in asymptomatic patients. However, interventional bronchoscopy
      procedures or surgery may be helpful in symptomatic cases.

PMID- 25823118
TI  - Poland's syndrome with unusual hand and chest anomalies: a rare case report.
AB  - Poland's syndrome is a rare congenital anomaly consisting of a unilateral absence
      of the pectoralis major, ipsilateral muscle, hand anomaly and occasionally
      associated other malformations of the chest wall and breast. Many structural and
      functional abnormalities have been described in association with this syndrome.
      We report an incidentally diagnosed case in a 27-year-old male patient who
      presented to us with symbrachydactyly. In addition to this, anterior depression
      of 2nd, 3rd and 4th ribs and bifid (forked) 5th rib was present on radiological
      investigations. The body of sternum was short and deformed on the right side with
      absence of xiphoid process. All middle phalanges were absent on righthand. It is
      a rare variant of Poland's syndrome.

PMID- 25823119
TI  - Clinical profile of pneumonia and its association with rain wetting in patients
      admitted at a tertiary care institute during pandemic of influenza A (H1N1) pdm09
      virus infection.

PMID- 25823120
TI  - The Author's reply.

PMID- 25823121
TI  - [Focus in the diagnosis and treatment of thoracolumbar spine fracture].

PMID- 25823122
TI  - [Semicircular decompression for the treatment of old thoracolumbar fractures and
      intractable neuropathic pain].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical outcomes of semicircular decompression in
      treating old thoracolumbar fractures and intractable neuropathic pain. METHODS:
      From September 2009 to September 2013, 21 patients with old thoracolumbar
      fracture and intractable neuropathic pain were treated with semicircular
      decompression. Among initial surgery, posterior pedicle screw fixation was used
      in these patients, with or without laminectomy. All patients were male, range in
      age from 20 to 28 years old with an average of (25.00+/-2.38) years. Vertebral
      body residual bone block resulted in intra-spinal placeholder more than 50%. All
      patients were complete spinal cord injury (ASIA grade) or cauda equina injury.
      VAS scores was from 6 to 10 points with the mean of 7.14+/-0.91. In these
      patients, MRI, CT, X-rays were performed; denomination and dosage of analgesics
      were recorded; nerve function and pain status were respectively evaluated by ASIA
      grade and VAS score before and after operation. RESULTS: All patients were
      followed up from 8 to 32 months with an average of (17.29+/-6.02) months. All
      bone fragments of spinal canal were removed and spinal cord decompressions were
      achieved. At final follow-up, VAS scores were from 0 to 8 points with an average
      of (2.43+/-2.46) points, and were obviously reduced than peroperative data
      (P<0.05). Eleven cases of them stopped analgesic intake and 7 cases reduced
      using. Three patients' symptoms and VAS scores were not improved. CONCLUSION: Old
      thoracolumbar fractures and intractable neuropathic pain need receive imaging
      examination as soon as possible and consider semicircular decompression therapy
      if bone fragments were in vertebral canal and spinal canal stenosis existed. This
      therapy can effectively relieve pain and profit nerve functional recovery.

PMID- 25823123
TI  - [Short-segment posterior pedicle screw combined with vertebral arch bone grafting
      for thoracolumbar burst fractures].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical effects of short-segment posterior pedicle
      screw combined with transpedicle vertebral bone grafting in treating
      thoracolumbar burst fractures. METHODS: From March 2008 to March 2013, 62
      patients with thoracolumbar burst fractures were treated with short-segment
      posterior pedicle screw combined with transpedicle vertebral bone grafting.
      Including 40 males and 22 females, the age from 17 to 65 years old with an
      average of 38 years. According to AO classification, 34 cases were type A3.1, 7
      cases were type A3.2 and 21 cases were type A3.3. Load-sharing scores were from 4
      to 6 points with an average of 5.4 points. According to ASIA grade, 2 cases were
      grade C, 5 cases were grade D and 55 cases were grade E. Preoperative,
      postoperative at 3 d and final follow-up, the Cobb angle, the relative height of
      anterior vertebral body and the encroachment rate of spinal canal were measured
      by X-ray films and computed tomography (CT) scan, meanwhile, the information of
      bone healing and spinal nerves recovery were observed. RESULTS: All patients were
      followed up from 11 to 14 months with an average of 12.2 months. The duration of
      removing internal fixation were from 9 to 13 months (averaged, 11.5 months). One
      suffered from infection and was cured by debridement. Two cases had mild pain of
      back. At 6 months after operation, according to ASIA grade to evaluate never
      function, 1 case was grade C, 3 cases were grade D and 58 cases were grade E. X
      ray and CT showed the fractures obtained good union at final follow-up. The Cobb
      angle, the relative height of anterior vertebral body and the encroachment rate
      of spinal canal had obviously improved at 3 days after operation (P<0.05); but
      there was no significant differences between postoperative at 3 d and final
      follow-up (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Short-segment posterior pedicle screw combined
      with transpedicle vertebral bone grafting is an effective method to treat
      thoracolumbar burst fractures. It can reduce the loss of postoperative correction
      and prevent the internal fixation failure.

PMID- 25823124
TI  - [Long-term effects on health-related quality of life after short-segment pedicle
      fixation of thoracolumbar fractures without neurologic injury].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects on health-related quality of life after short
      segment pedicle fixation of thoracolumbar fractures without neurologic injury.
      METHODS: A total of 55 patients suffered from thoracolumbar fractures without
      neurological deficit from January 2007 to October 2010 were included in this
      retrospective study. Of the 55 patients, 35 were male and 20 were female. The
      mean age was (44.0+/-10.5) years old (ranged, 7 to 75). Preoperatively, the main
      clinical symptoms in patients were thoracolumbar pain without neurologic injury
      and the imaging findings mainly showed that the injured vertebra became wedging
      or flat with the loss of height. Three questionnaires (ODI, EQ-5D and SF-36) were
      applied to follow-up in this study. RESULTS: All operations were successful and
      incisions got primary healing. The function of thoracolumbar spine fully or
      basiclly restored and postoperative imagings showed fractures healed without
      loose screws, broken screws or broken rods. The completion rates of all the
      queasionnaires were 100% while the mean follow-up period was 4.2 years (ranged, 3
      to 6). The ODI scores were 25.8+/-18.7, which were statistically higher than
      those of the general population in our country (P<0.05). The EQ-5D index scores
      were 0.70, which were statistically lower than those of the normal Chinese
      population (P<0.05). Compared with the normal scores in our country, the scores
      of 8 items in the SF-36 questionnaire were obviously lower with significant
      difference (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared with the normal Chinese population, it
      should be paid more attention to that the health-related quality of life in
      patients after short-segment pedicle fixation of thoracolumbar fractures without
      neurologic injury because of lower scores.

PMID- 25823125
TI  - [Internal fixation combined with bone grafting through the injured pedicle for
      the treatment of thoracolumbar burst fractures via a paraspinal intermuscular
      approach under MAST Quadrant retractor].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study clinical effects of short-segment fixation and injured
      vertebra bone grafting through injured pedicle for the treatment of thoracolumbar
      burst fractures under MAST Quadrant retractor via a paraspinal muscle approach.
      METHODS: The data of 42 patients with thoracolumbar burst fractures treated from
      June 2009 to September 2012 were reviewed. There were 19 males and 23 females,
      with an average age of (55.2+/-11.9) years old. The mean injury time was (5.8+/
      4.3) days. Fracture segments included T10 in 3 cases, T11 in 6 cases, T12 in 13
      cases, L1 in 9 cases, L2 in 7 cases, and L3 in 4 cases. According to Denis
      classification, 9 patients were type A, 21 patients were type B, 5 patiens were
      type C, 5 patients were type D, and 2 patients were type E. All the patients were
      treated with short-segment pedicle screw-rod system fixation under MAST Quadrant
      via the paraspinal muscle approach. The operative time, blood loss, complications
      and the height of vertebra, kyphosis Cobb angle, VAS scores, JOA scores were
      measured before and after treatment. RESULTS: After treatment, the vertebral
      height and kyphosis Cobb angle were restored. Compared with preoperative results,
      postoperative vertebral height and kyphosis Cobb angle, VAS scores and JOA scores
      were all improved. But there was no statistically significance in vertebral
      height, kyphosis Cobb angle between postoperative at 1 week and 1 year.
      CONCLUSION: Internal fixation combined with injured vertebra bone grafting
      through the injured pedicle for the treatment of thoracolumbar burst fractures
      via the paraspinal intermuscular approach under MAST Quadrant is a safe,
      minimally invasive, effective and satisfactory method.

PMID- 25823126
TI  - [Analysis of clinical effects of cervical artificial disc replacement or anterior
      cervical decompression and fusion for the treatment of single cervical disc
      herniation].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical effects of Mobi-C cervical artificial disc
      replacement (CADR) and anterior cervical decompression and fusion (ACDF) in
      treating single cervical disc herniation. METHODS: From June 2009 to June 2012,
      the clinical data of 27 patients with single cervical disc herniation were
      retrospectively analyzed. There were 18 males and 9 females, aged from 30 to 62
      years old with an average of 46.7 years. Of them, 12 patients were treated with
      CADR (CADR group) and 15 patients with ACDF (ACDF group). All patients had pain
      and numbness in neck, shoulder and upper limbs, and courses of disease was from 1
      to 13 months with an average of 2.4 months. The data of clinical evaluation and
      questionnaire survey about quality of life were collected before operation,
      postoperative at 1 week and final follow-up. Odom criterion was used to evaluate
      postoperative effect. Visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to record pain levels.
      Neck disability index (NDI) and health questionnaire SF-36 were used to assess
      the quality of life. RESULTS: No complications about nerve and blood vessel were
      found and the patients were followed up from 6 to 30 months, with an average of
      16 months. One week after operation, 10 cases got excellent results and 2 good in
      CADR group; 5 cases got excellent results and 10 good in ACDF group; there was
      significant difference between two groups (P<0.05). At final follow-up, 10 cases
      got excellent results and 2 good in CADR group; 12 cases got excellent results
      and 3 good in ACDF group; there was no significant difference between two groups
      (P> 0.05). Pain of upper limbs had obviously relieved between two groups at 1
      week after operation and final follow-up (P<0.05). VAS of neck and NDI in CADR
      group had decreased respectively from preoperative 3.58+/-0.79, 23.42+/-6.36 to
      0.58+/-0.51, 5.42+/-1.68 at 1 week after operation (P<0.05); but the index in
      ACDF group was no obvious at 1 week after operation. At final follow-up, VAS of
      neck and NDI and SF-36 score were obviously improved than preoperation (P<0.05)
      between two groups. CONCLUSION: Mobi-C CADR retains the movement unit in the
      decompression segment and can quickly recover normal action for patients. Using
      CADR method has a good curative effect in the early phase, and the clinical
      effect is reliable, may improve the quality of life.

PMID- 25823127
TI  - [Clinical study of a cervical anterior Hybrid technique with posterior
      longitudinal ligament retained for cervical spondylosis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical effects and significances of a cervical
      anterior Hybrid technique with posterior longitudinal ligament retained in
      treating cervical spondylosis. METHODS: The clinical data of 138 patients with
      cervical spondylosis underwent cervical anterior Hybrid surgery were
      retrospectively analyzed from March 2009 to March 2013. There were 52 males and
      86 females,the age ranged from 36 to 58 years old with an average of 45.3 years.
      Course of disease was from 3 to 16 months. Cervical spondylosis classification
      included 22 cases with nerve root type, 68 cases with myelopathic type, 48 cases
      with mixed type. All patients were treated with the primary Hybrid surgery and
      their cervical posterior longitudinal ligaments were retained in anterior
      decompression. JOA score and image examination were used to evaluate clinical
      effect, and image examination included range of motion of the replacement
      segment, range of motion of the whole cervical spine, the sagittal diameter of
      the spinal cord before and after operation. RESULTS: All operations were
      successful and operation time was 60 to 125 min (averaged 90.6 min),
      perioperative bleeding was 10 to 60 ml (averaged 30.1 ml). All patients were
      followed up from 12 to 48 months with an average of 22.2 months. All pathological
      segments obtained fully decompression, reserved posterior longitudinal ligament
      had no obvious hypertrophy, proliferation and calcification. The prosthesis had
      good location and the incision healed well without complications. Upper limbs
      root symptoms were completely relieved in the patients with cervical spondylotic
      radiculopathy, muscle strengths and sensations got different recovery in the
      patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy. JOA score was increased from
      preoperative 8.62+/-1.22 to final follow-up 14.26+/-1.47 (P<0.05). Artificial
      intervertebral discs were stabilized in the patients, the replacement segment and
      range of motion of whole cervical spine were respectively (14.2+/- 5.6) degrees 
      and (33.8+/-10.3) degrees , there was no significant differences between
      preoperative and postoperative (P>0.05). Spinal cord sagittal diameter was
      increased from preoperative (5.2+/-1.3) mm to postoperative (8.8+/-0.5) mm
      (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Anterior cervical Hybrid surgery with posterior
      longitudinal ligament retained can achieve fully decompression and good clinical
      efficacy, we recommend retaining the normal posterior longitudinal ligament in
      surgery as complete as possible.

PMID- 25823128
TI  - [Sustentaculum tali screw fixation for the treatment of Sanders type II and III
      calcaneal fractures].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical outcomes of open reduction and internal
      fixation with calcaneal locking plates in treating Sanders type II and III
      calcaneal fractures. METHODS: From January 2010 and October 2012, 38 calcaneal
      fractures with Sanders type II or III were treated with open reduction and
      internal fixation with calcaneal locking plate. According to the Sanders
      classification, 15 fractures were classified as type II, 23 fractures as type
      III. The patients were divided into two groups (group A and B) according to the
      different fixed methods. Sustentaculum tali was fixed with one screw in group A,
      including 13 males and 5 females, with a mean age of (38.56+/-8.03) years old
      (ranged, 25 to 55). And sustentaculum tali was not fixed in group B, including 16
      males and 4 females, with a mean age of (42.35+/-8.29) years old (ranged, 29 to
      53). Clinical effects were evaluated according to the changes of Bohler's angle
      and the Maryland Foot Score and VAS score. RESULTS: All patients were followed up
      from 12 to 20 months with a mean of 14 months. Bohler's angles and subtalar
      joints obtained satisfactory reconstruction in all patients. One year after
      operation, the mean Maryland Foot Score was 88.61+/-7.59 in group A; and was
      82.40+/-9.24 in group B; Maryland Foot Score of group A was higher and foot
      functional rehabilitation was better than group B. The mean VAS score was 13.39+/
      11.47 in group A; and was 22.50+/-13.10 in group B; VAS score of group A was
      lower and foot pain was less than group B. CONCLUSION: Sustentaculum tall screw
      fixation has advantages of strong fixed strength, high stability, less
      postoperative pain, rapid functional recovery in treating Sanders type II and III
      calcaneal fractures.

PMID- 25823129
TI  - [Anterior cervical intervertebral space decompression under microscope for
      cervical spondylotic myelopathy in elderly patients].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical effects of anterior cervical
      intervertebral space decompression under microscope in treating cervical
      spondylotic myelopathy in elderly patients. METHODS: From June 2009 to March
      2012, 43 patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy were treated with anterior
      cervical intervertebral space decompression and intervertebral fusion under
      microscope. There were 26 males and 17 females, aged from 60 to 72 years old with
      an average of (64.9+/-3.7) years. Japanese Orthopaedic Association System (JOA)
      score was from 7 to 12 points with an average of (9.5+/-1.8) points before
      operation. The function of nerves was assessed before and after operation
      according to JOA. RESULTS: All patients were followed up from 10 to 18 months
      with an average of (14.7+/-1.6) months. Postoperative JOA score was (13.81+/
      1.44) points (ranged, 10 to 16), had significantly higher than preoperative
      (P<0.01). According to the rate of the improved JOA score, 9 cases got excellent
      results, 26 good, 7 fair, 1 poor. CONCLUSION: Anterior cervical intervertebral
      space decompression under microscope for cervical spondylotic myelopathy in
      elderly patients is safe and effective.

PMID- 25823130
TI  - [Pathomorphological change of the atlanto-occipital segment of vertebral artery
      related with cervical vertigo].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the pathomorphological change of the atlanto-occipital
      segment of vertebral artery (V3 part) related with cervical vertigo. METHODS:
      From June 1999 to November 2011, the pathomorphological change of the atlanto
      occipital segment of vertebral artery were observed in 1680 patients with
      cervical vertigo using 3D-CTA technology. The clinical data of these patients
      were analyzed. There were 783 males and 897 females, aged from 22 to 70 years old
      with an average of 52.8 years old. Doppler examination showed vertebral basilar
      artery flow velocity to speed up or slow down. RESULTS: The blood vessel of 3360
      branches were detected in 1680 patients and 2778 branches were detected out
      vascular anomaly. And 829 branches were in V1 segment, 421 were in V2, 328 were
      in V3, 1190 were in V4. The pathomorphological changes in the atlanto-occipital
      segment (V3) of vertebral artery included angiospasm, congenital absence,
      abnormal exit, localized stenosis. CONCLUSION: There are 4 kinds of
      pathomorphological changes in the atlanto-occipital segment of vertebral artery
      related with cervical vertigo. The 3D-CTA result can be used to judge prognosis
      and adopt reasonable treatment for the patients.

PMID- 25823131
TI  - [Early effect of induced membrane technique for the reconstruction of chronic
      osteomyelitis defects in limbs of adult patients].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the early clinical efficacy of induced membrane
      technique for reconstruction of large bone defects after debridement in adults
      with chronic osteomyelitis of limbs. METHODS: From March 2010 to March 2012,a
      total of 23 adult patients with chronic osteomyelitis of limbs were treated in
      our department. There were 15 males and 8 females, with a mean age 35.2 years old
      (ranged from 26 to 49 years old). Sixteen patients had open fracture history.
      According to the lesion site, there were 12 cases of tibia, 7 cases of femur, 3
      cases of humerus, and 1 case of both radius and ulna. Among them, 19 patients had
      diseases in diaphysis and 4 patients in the metaphysis. The mean interval from
      infection to operation was 6.9 months (ranged from 4 to 13 months). All the
      patients were treated by using induced membrane technique. The follow-up
      evaluation included clinical complications, time of bone healing and limbs
      function. The Chinese version of SF-36 scores was used in the assessment of
      quality of life pre- and post-operation. RESULTS: The average duration of follow
      up was (27.6 +/- 5.3) months (ranged from 18 to 43 months). Two patients had
      postoperative flap edge necrosis, 1 patient had superficial iliac incision
      infection, no obvious complications were recorded. Twenty patients obtained
      radiological union at a mean time of 4.6 months (ranged from 3 to 7 months).
      Among them, 16 patients treated with lower limbs surgery achieved full weight
      bearing at about 5.2 months (ranged from 4 to 8 months) postoperatively. Four
      patients suffered from reinfection during follow-up, but 3 of them achieved
      complete bone healing after the second surgeries with induced membrane technique.
      At the final follow-up, there was a substantial improvement in each dimension
      scores and total scores of SF-36 as compared with those before surgery.
      CONCLUSION: When treating with adult chronic osteomyelitis of limbs, the induced
      membrane technique can effectively reconstruct large bone defects after
      debridement, significantly shorten treatment cycle, provide satisfactory results
      with minimal complications, promote good recovery of limbs function and require
      relatively simple operation technique.

PMID- 25823132
TI  - [Treatment of tibial avulsion fracture at the insertion of the posterior cruciate
      ligament through a minimally posteromedial transverse incision in the hip knee
      flexion].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the methods and outcomes of a minimally posteromedial
      transverse incision in the hip knee flexion for the treatment of tibial avulsion
      fracture at the insertion of posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). METHODS: Twenty
      one patients with tibial avulsion fracture at the insertion of PCL treated with a
      minimally posteromedial transverse incision in the hip knee flexion by cannulated
      screw fixation from March 2010 to March 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. There
      were 13 males and 8 females with an average age of 35.1 years old (ranged, 20 to
      56 years). Eleven cases caused by traffic accident, 3 caused by falling, 4 caused
      by sport, 3 caused by heavy pounds. The injury duration ranged from 3 hours to 9
      days with a mean of 3.5 days. The results of posterior drawer test were positive
      in all patients. Lysholm score was used to evaluated knee joint function.
      RESULTS: All operations were successful without infection, vessel and nerve
      injuries and all incisions healed by first intention with the mean length of 5.8
      cm (ranged, 5 to 6 cm). All patients were followed up from 7 to 23 months with an
      average of 12.7 months. The results of posterior drawer test were negative in all
      patients. X-ray films showed that all fractures healed. The Lysholm score was
      improved from preoperative 40.76+/-9.55 to 95.86+/-2.33 final follow-up (t=30.07,
      P=0.000). CONCLUSION: Treatment of tibial avulsion fracture at the insertion of
      the posterior cruciate ligament through a minimally posteromedial transverse
      incision in the hip knee flexion with cannulated screw fixation is a better
      surgical procedure with the advantages of minimal incision, sufficient exposure,
      effective fixation, small scar and satisfactory effects.

PMID- 25823133
TI  - [The impingement of sciatic nerve by acetabular prosthesis after revision hip
      arthroplasty: a case report].

PMID- 25823134
TI  - [Delayed postoperative infection in deep site of fracture of lumbar vertebrae
      treated through anterior approach: a case report].

PMID- 25823135
TI  - [Clinical study of cervical anterior and posterior decompression and internal
      fixation in the revision of anterior cervical fixation failure].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical effects and prevent the complications of
      posterior and anterior decompression and internal fixation in the revision of
      cervical anterior internal fixation failure. METHODS: From 2008 January to 2011
      December, 17 patients with cervical anterior internal fixation failure were
      treated with posterior and anterior decompression and internal fixation. There
      were 12 males and 5 females, aged from 26 to 68 years old with an average of 44.1
      years. The lower screw loosening was found in 6 cases, the upper screw loosening
      in 5 cases, titanium mesh caving in 3 cases, the upper screw breakage in 2 cases,
      the lower screw breakage in 1 case. Informations of bone fusion were observed by
      X-ray, CT, MRI. Clinical effects were evaluated by modified JOA score. RESULTS:
      All the revision operations were successfully completed. One case with poor blood
      coagulation function before operation resulted in postoperative hematoma and
      occurred neurological symptoms; after hematoma removal and fresh frozen plasma
      infusion later, neurological symptoms of the patient disappeared. All patients
      were followed up from 6 to 38 months with an average of (22.4+/-10.0) months.
      Postoperative at 2 weeks, 3 months, and final follow-up, JOA score had obviously
      improved and respectively was 13.1+/-1.6, 13.4+/-1.6, 14.2+/-1.5. All internal
      fixation locations were good after revision,and obtained bone fusion at 10 months
      after operation, with an average fusion time of 6 months. CONCLUSION: The
      combined posterior and anterior decompression and internal fixation in the
      revision of cervical anterior internal fixation failure is safe, can achieve
      thoroughly decompression, maintain the cervical curvature, reconstruct the three
      column stability, and it may be used for the patients of cervical anterior
      fixation failure.

PMID- 25823136
TI  - [A randomized controlled trials on treatment of cervicogenic sudden hearing loss
      with chiropractic].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical effect and safety of chiropractic in
      treating cervicogenic sudden hearing loss. METHODS: From January 2011 to October
      2013, 90 patients with cervicogenic sudden hearing loss were randomly divided
      into treatment group and control group according to the random number table
      produced by SPSS 19.0 software. In the treatment group, there were 17 males and
      28 females, aged from 31 to 62 years old with an average of (47.57+/-9.43) years;
      course of disease was from 1 to 3 days with an average of (1.43+/-0.68) days;
      pure-tone audiometry score was from 46.5 to 77.8 dB with the mean of (61.20+/
      9.83) dB; Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) score was from 17 to 31
      scores with an average of (23.46+/-7.18) scores. In the control group, there were
      15 males and 30 females, aged from 28 to 64 years old with an average of (45.77+/
      6.99) years; course of disease was from 1 to 3 days with an average of (1.50+/
      0.73) days; pure-tone audiometry score was from 48.1 to 75.0 dB with the mean of
      (63.91+/-8.05) dB; Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) score was from 20
      to 29 scores with an average of (25.61+/-10.43) scores. The patients of control
      group were treated with dexamethasone intravenous drip of 10 mg, 3 days later,
      decreased to 5 mg, 3 days again. And with the methycobal intravenous drip of 500
      MUg, treatment continued for 10 days. The patients of treatment group were
      treated with chiropractic additionally except for the therapeutic methods of
      control group. Chiropractic included local muscle loosening, attacking point,
      bilateral pulling atlanto-axial joint, and continuous treatment for 10 days. The
      pure-tone audiometry score and NPQ score were compared between two groups after
      treatment. RESULTS: After the treatment, pure-tone audiometry score and NPQ score
      in treatment group improved to (40.23+/- 8.14) dB and (12.70+/-8.29) scores
      respectively, which were obviously better than that of control group's (37.70+/
      10.61) dB and (21.24+/-11.13) scores (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared with routine
      method for cervicogenic sudden hearing loss, additional chiropractic can improve
      hearing and relieve neck pain effectively.

PMID- 25823137
TI  - [Clinical significance of PCT, CRP, ESR, WBC count as predictors in postoperative
      early infectious complications with fever after posterior lumbar internal
      fixation].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role of serum level of procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive
      protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and white blood cell count
      (WBC) as predictors in postoperative early infectious complications with fever
      after posterior lumbar internal fixation (PLIF). METHODS: A retrospective study
      was conducted from January 2012 to January 2014. Fifty-two patients with fever in
      the early stage(within 10 days) after the PLIF were collected in the study. They
      were divided into infection group and non-infection group (group A and group B)
      according to the results of postoperative blood culture. There were 26 patients
      in group A and 32 patients in group B. The values of PCT, CRP, ESR, and WBC count
      were compared and analyzed between two groups. RESULTS: The values of PCT, CRP,
      and ESR in group A were higher than those of group B. Meanwhile, CRP and ESR in
      group B were still higher than the normal range. Among the 26 patients with
      infections (group A), PCT was superior to CRP and ESR, had a good ability in
      discriminating different kinds of postoperative infections. The area under the
      ROC curve of serum PCT levels was the largest (CI 95% was 0.81 to 0.98) in the
      indexs; and ROC curve of WBC count was no statistically significant. When the cut
      off points of each predictors were evaluated, the higher sensitive was CRP and
      reached at 90.27% and the higher specific was ESR and reached at 88.50%.
      CONCLUSION: For the patients with fever at the early stage after the PLIF should
      be paid attention and reasonable choosing predictors are helpful to identify
      postoperative infection in the early stage. The CRP and ESR may be influenced by
      the surgery, and the PCT level is helpful to differentiate infection type.

PMID- 25823138
TI  - [Relations of synovial angiogenesis and PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in rats
      with adjuvant arthritis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To observe the change of PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway hypoxia-inducible
      factor (HIF-1alpha), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in rats with
      adjuvant arthritis and to explore the mechanism of neovasculization in rheumatoid
      arthritis. METHODS: Thirty rats were randomly divided into normal control group
      and model control group. The model control group were established the model of
      adjuvant arthritis using Freund's complete adjuvant. At 19 days after modeling,
      the expression of microvascular density (MVD), HIF-1alpha, VEGF were detected by
      ELISA assay and PTEN, PI3K, AKT were detected by Werstern Blotting. RESULTS:
      Compared with the normal control group, paw swelling, arthritic index were
      increased, and the expression of MVD, VEGF, HIF-1alpha of serum, PI3K, AKT of
      synovial tissue were significantly increased, PTEN was significantly decreased in
      model control group. PI3K, HIF-1alpha were positively correlated with MVD; VEGF,
      AKT were positively correlated with paw swelling; PTEN was negatively correlated
      with the arthritis index; HIF-1alpha was positively correlated with VEGF; PI3K
      was positively correlated with AKT, PTEN was negatively correlated with PI3K,
      AKT, VEGF. CONCLUSION: Imbalance of PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway in rats with adjuvant
      arthritis is one of the mechanisms of synovial neovasculization.

PMID- 25823139
TI  - [Experimental research on substance P content of hypothalamus and dorsal root
      ganglia in rats with lumbar vertebrae Gucuofeng model].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To detect the effects of lumbar vertebrae Gucuofeng on the substance P
      content of hypothalamus and dorsal root ganglia in rat models. METHODS: A hundred
      and twenty SPF level SD male rats with the weight of 350 to 450 g were randomly
      divided into rotary fixation group (RF group), simple fixation group (SF group)
      and sham-operation group (Sham group). The external link fixation system was
      implanted into the L4-L6 of rats in RF group and SF group; and in RF group, that
      the L5 spinous process was rotated to the right resulted in L4, L5, L6 spinous
      process not collinear; in SF group, the external link fixation system was simply
      implanted and not rotated. The rats of Sham group were not implanted the external
      link fixation system and only open and suture. The substance P content of
      hypothalamus and dorsal root ganglia were detected at 1, 4, 8, 12 weeks after
      operation. RESULTS: Substance P content of hypothalamus in RF group and SF group
      was lower than Sham group at 1, 4, 8 weeks after operation (P<0.05). Substance P
      content of dorsal root ganglia was higher than Sham group at 1, 4, 8, 12 weeks
      after operation (P<0.05). There was no significant differences in the substance P
      content of hypothalamus among three groups at 12 weeks after operation (P>0.05).
      CONCLUSION: Lumbar vertebrae Gucuofeng can inhibit the analgesic activity of
      substance P in hypothalamus and promote the synthesis and transmission of
      substance P in dorsal root ganglia, so as to cause or aggravate the pain.

PMID- 25823140
TI  - [Surgical treatment for Forestier disease: a report of 8 cases].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical effects and operative options for the
      treatment of Forestier disease. METHODS: From June 2005 to May 2012, 8 patients
      with progressive dysphagia due to Forestier disease were treated through anterior
      approach, their clinical data were retrospective analyzed. There were 6 males and
      2 females, aged from 65 to 83 years old with an average of 73 years. Among the
      patients, osteophytes removal was performed in 3 cases, osteophytes removal with
      discectomy and fusion was performed in 2 cases, osteophytes removal with
      corpectomy and fusion was performed in 3 cases. According to Bazaz dysphagia
      score to assess the improvement of the patients' symptoms before and after
      operation. RESULTS: All patients were followed up from 12 to 40 months with the
      mean of 18.5 months. Seven cases were asymptomatic and 1 case had mild symptom in
      the last follow-up. Radiographs showed the space enlargement between vertebral
      body and trachea. CONCLUSION: It is effective to treat patients with progressive
      dysphagia due to Forestier disease through surgical method. And the operative
      options depend on the stability of cervical spine and the neurological symptoms
      of the patients.

PMID- 25823141
TI  - [Progress on early diagnosis of spinal tuberculosis].
AB  - Researching on a large relevant literature of spinal tuberculosis, this paper
      discussed characteristics of spinal tuberculosis and its early diagnosis method.
      If spinal tuberculosis can be found and treated earlier, prognosis will be
      better. The early diagnosis of spinal tuberculosis has become hot spot at
      present. There are many different diagnostic methods including clinical
      manifestation, laboratory examination, imaging examination, etc. The newest
      standpoint showed that immunization has closely correlation with tuberculosis and
      it will become the focus and developmental direction of future research in spinal
      tuberculosis. In addition, we should know the differential diagnosis of spinal
      tuberculosis to avoid the misdiagnosis.

PMID- 25823142
TI  - [Progress on pain control during the perioperative period of shoulder
      arthroscopy].
AB  - Successful pain management of perioperative shoulder arthroscopy may allow
      patients to go home earlier, improve the quality of life in perioperative period,
      and facilitate rehabilitation. A comprehensive method to perioperative pain
      control has three stages including preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative
      phase. Successful pain reduction should begin preoperatively because of an
      excellent communication between patient and physician, moreover, preoperative
      analgesia also should be administered. Intraoperative efforts should include
      local wound infiltration and the administration of anesthetic medication intra
      articularly. Postoperative management should include oral analgesics, constant
      infusion devices, Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA), sedative-hypnotic drug,
      continuous cryotherapy and vicarious treatment.

PMID- 25823143
TI  - [Progress on establishment of animal model of osteoarthritis by intra-articular
      injection].
AB  - Osteoarthritis (Osteoarthritis, OA) is a common clinical degenerative joint
      disease with increased incidence rate in recent years. Animal experiment is one
      of the important ways to explore pathogenesis and treatment of OA, while induced
      animal model is the most important part in animal experiment. Intra-articular
      injection of drugs is a classical method for establishing animal model of OA.
      Choose of animal should follows the principle of correlation, appropriateness and
      practicability, injections should perform in accordance with experimental
      purposes and subject, detections means and evaluation methods also should
      corresponding to experimental reality. The gold standard of OA animal model and
      intra-articular injections has not build, need further study.

PMID- 25823144
TI  - The Frax tool: still under utilized.

PMID- 25823145
TI  - Differential expression of phophatase and tensin homologue in normal,
      hyperplastic and neoplastic endometrium.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To observe the differential expression of phophatase and tensin
      homologue in normal proliferative, hyperplastic and malignant endometrial
      lesions. METHODS: .The retrospective study was based on the analysis of
      endometrial samples, both hysterectomies and curettage, received at the
      department of pathology Basic Medical Sciences Institute at the Jinnah
      Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2010.
      A total of 55 endometrial samples were analysed for morphological features and
      results of immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: Of the 55 samples, 25 (45.45%)
      were malignant endometrial lesions, 6 (10.9%) complex hyperplasias with atypia,
      14(25.45%) complex hyperplasias without atypia hyperplasia, 6 (10.9%) simple
      hyperplasias without atypia, and 4 (7.27%) normal proliferative endometrium.
      Among malignant endometrial lesions, 12 (48%) showed complete loss of phophotase
      and tensin homologue expression out of which majority were endometroid
      adenocarcinoma. Five (83.3%) cases of complex hyperplasias with atypia and 9
      (64.28%) cases of complex hyperplasia without atypia showed complete loss of or
      diminished expression of phophotase and tensin homologue. CONCLUSION: Loss of
      phophotase and tensin homologue expression was seen in a significant number of
      well differentiated endometrial adenocarcinomas and complex hyperplasias with
      atypia suggesting loss of PTEN expression as an early event in endometrial
      carcinogenesis.

PMID- 25823146
TI  - The role of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin in identifying contrast
      induced nephropathy development in the emergency department.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic significance of neutrophil gelatinase
      associated lipocalin in detecting the development of contrast-induced nephropathy
      in patients undergoing contrast imaging in an emergency department setting.
      METHODS: The case-control study was conducted at the emergency department of
      Uludag University, Turkey, between January 1 and July 1, 2012, and comprised
      patients who underwent a diagnostic thoracic or abdominal Computed Tomography
      examination with contrast agent. At 2 hours and 72 hours after the scan, control
      urea, creatinine, and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin values were
      recorded. Plasma lipocalin measurement was performed using fluorescence-detected
      immunoassay method. An increase in serum creatinine of more than 0.5 mg/dl or 25%
      elevation from the basal level was considered to be a marker for the occurrence
      of contrast-induced nephropathy. SPSS 13 was used for statistical analysis.
      RESULTS: Of the 80 subjects in the study, 60 (75%) were cases and 20 (25%) were
      controls. Contrast-induced nephropathy did not develop in any of the patients,
      and, accordingly, no significant increase of plasma urea, creatinine, or
      neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin levels was observed. A significant
      positive relationship was found between urea and creatinine levels at 2 hours (p
      < 0.009) and at 72 hours (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic contrast computed
      tomography examination in patients with normal renal function did not lead to
      Contrast-induced nephropathy or increased neutrophil gelatinase-associated
      lipocalin levels, an accepted early indicator of kidney injury.

PMID- 25823147
TI  - Study guide usability survey: perception of students and teachers of an
      undergraduate medical college.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To explore the perception about usability of study guide from
      students and teachers of an undergraduate medical college. METHODS: The cross
      sectional study was done at Bahria University Medical and Dental College,
      Karachi, in May 2012 and comprised 2nd, 3rd and 4th year medical students and
      faculty members. Data was analysed on SPSS 16. Analysis of variance was used for
      looking at differences in perceptions of the three groups of students and among
      different cadres of faculty, while tukeys test was used for individual
      differences. RESULTS: Of the 300 students initially enrolled, 257 (85.6%)
      represented the final study sample. There were 147 (57.2%) females and 110
      (42.8%) males. Reliability of the questionnaire by Cronbach's alpha was 0.889.
      Besides, 150 (58.3%) students agreed that layout and content of the study guide
      helped in self-directed learning, while 128 (50%) said that information about
      books and resources was not mentioned in it. The faculty overall appreciated the
      study guide except on information about identification of resources in it.
      CONCLUSION: The perception about the usability of study guide was well
      appreciated by both students and teachers Their content will be reviewed and
      improved based on the results of this study.

PMID- 25823148
TI  - Effect of age on uterine and ovarian morphology with polycystic ovaries.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To measure the outcome of age on ovarian and uterine morphology in
      primary infertile women with polycystic ovaries. METHODS: The observational cross
      sectional study was conducted from January 2009 to March 2010, and the subjects
      were recruited from Ziauddin Hospital, Nazimabad, Karachi. The primary infertile
      subjects with polycystic ovaries were subdivided into two age groups: 20-30 years
      (group I), and 31-40 years (group II). Both groups had equal number of subjects.
      The ovarian volume, follicles count and size, uterine area and endometrial
      thickness were determined by transabdominal and transvaginal scans. Shapiro
      Wilk's test and Mann-Whitney test were applied, with p < 0.05 being significant.
      RESULTS: There were 200 female subjects in the study who were divided into two
      equal age-based groups of 100 (50%) each. The mean age of group I was 26.46 +/-
      3.55 years and that of group II was 36.73 +/- 3.19. An increase in uterine area
      from 89.99 +/- 5.83 to 119.0 +/- 23.33 (p < 0.03) and endometrial thickness from
      0.48 +/- 0.11 to 0.59 +/- 0.13 (p = 0.01) was observed in group II. A decline in
      follicular count and size was also noticed in group II (p < 0.02, p = 0.001).
      Ovarian volume declined from 15.36 +/- 2.56 to 10.57 +/- 1.29 (p = 0.001) in
      group II. A positive correlation of age with uterine area (r = 0.202; p < 0.003)
      and endometrial thickness (r = 0153; p < 0.025) was noticed. CONCLUSION: Ovarian
      morphology decreased in the elder infertile group of women with polycystic
      ovaries, but the uterine morphology variables showed an increase in area with
      thickening of the endometrium in the elder group.

PMID- 25823149
TI  - A multivariate analysis of factors associated with infant mortality in South-East
      of Iran.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the causes and risk factors of infant mortality.
      METHODS: The population-based case-control study in 2011 comprised infants under
      one-year-old who had died at Ali-ebn-Abitaleb Hospital in Zahedan, Iran, during
      2011 who were taken as the case group, while infants selected randomly through
      multistage sampling from various health centres formed the control group. Data
      were analysed using logistic regression model. RESULTS: There were 186 cases
      including 103 (55.7%) boys, and 29 (15.6%) incidents of multiple births. The
      other group had 300 healthy infants including 139 (46.5%) boys, and 4 (1.3%)
      incidents of multiple births. According to the multivariate model, chance of
      death in neonates with birth weight under 2500 gram, less than 4 antenatal
      visits, lack of exclusive breast feeding, delivering at home and abortion history
      among mothers was 46.3%, 27.4%, 13.2%, 9.4% and 7.0% respectively compared to
      42.1%, 15.3%, 4.5%, 5.8% and 3.0% respectively in the post-neonatal period. For
      post-neonatal period, lack of complete vaccination also increased the chance of
      death by 14.9%. CONCLUSION: Most of the factors related to infant mortality can
      be controlled by providing sufficient information and healthcare to pregnant
      mothers which will result in reduced infant mortality rate.

PMID- 25823150
TI  - Effects of hepatitis C virus gene NS2 on the expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax in
      HepG2 cells.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of hepatitis C virus gene nonstructural protein 2
      on the expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax in liver hepatocellular cells. METHOD: The
      study was conducted at the Department of Infectious Diseases, the First
      Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China,
      from March 2012 to April 2013. Negative controls pEGFP-C3-NS2, pEGFP-C3-C and
      pEGFP-C3 were transiently transfected into liver hepatocellular cells and
      expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax were detected by Western blot 24 h post
      transfection. SPSS 13 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: After
      transfected with NS2 gene, expression of Bcl-2 in liver hepatocellular cells was
      slightly higher than the non-transfected cells, and the expression of Bax was
      significantly higher than the non-transfected cells. CONCLUSION: Hepatitis C
      virus non-structural protein 2 gene plays a role in adjusting the proto-oncogene
      Bcl-2 and tumour suppressor gene Bax.

PMID- 25823151
TI  - Predictive validity of medical and dental colleges' entrance test in Punjab: the
      way forward.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current selection
      process for admissions to public medical colleges being followed in the province
      of Punjab and to suggest changes. METHODS: The prospective study comprised
      candidates sitting the Medical and Dental Colleges Entrance Tests administered by
      the University of Health Sciences, Lahore, from 2008 to 2011. The marks of pre-
      and post-admission examinations were entered in SPSS 17 and performance of
      candidates in different examinations up to 2012 was compared using parametric
      statistical tests. P <= 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
      Reliability of the entrance test question paper was calculated through Cronbach's
      Alpha. RESULTS: Overall 1,01,273 candidates sat in the entrance test during the
      study period, and of them 14, 995 (14.8%) students were admitted to public and
      private medical colleges in Punjab affiliated with the University of Health
      Sciences, Lahore. Cronbach's Alpha showed excellent internal consistency
      reliability of the question paper of 220 items for all these four years. Overall,
      students scored significantly lower marks (p < 0.05) in all their MBBS
      Professional Examinations than their pre-admission tests. A similar pattern of
      difference was seen in entrance test marks in different geographical localities
      as in the case with MBBS Professional Examination. Students from Islamabad and
      Rawalpindi regions scored significantly higher marks in all MBBS examinations as
      well as in the entrance test and aptitude test, but lower in the Higher Secondary
      School Certificate examination. Internal consistency reliability of the aptitude
      test was found to be 0.83. Linear regression analysis showed that Estimated
      Regression Coefficient of the Higher Secondary School Certificate marks was
      negative, but positive for entrance test and indicated that the latter results
      were a good positive predictor for the post-selection performance. In the sub
      components, only the Biology and Chemistry regression coefficient section was
      found to be positive. CONCLUSIONS: Entrance and aptitude tests in Punjab were
      found to be valid and reliable with incremental predictive validity at least for
      performance in the pre-clinical years. It is suggested that Higher Secondary
      School Certificate-marks should have little, if any, weightage in the selection
      process.

PMID- 25823152
TI  - Frequency of severe vitamin-D deficiency in patients presenting to a tertiary
      care hospital in Islamabad.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the frequency of severe vitamin D deficiency in patients
      presenting in a tertiary care hospital in Islamabad and its possible causes.
      METHODS: The cross-sectional study involving 351 consecutive patients was
      conducted at the out-patient department of General Medicine, Federal Government
      Services Hospital, Islamabad, from September 2011 to June 2012.Both male and
      female patients between the ages of 13 and 65 were included in the study, while
      those having renal or liver failure and using drugs that could potentially cause
      a decrease in vitamin D3 were excluded. SPSS 17 was used for statistical
      analyses. RESULTS: Of the 351 subjects, 221 (62.9%) were females and 123 (37.1%)
      were male. The overall mean age was 46.03 +/- 16.18 years. There were 251 (71.5)
      subjects from Islamabad, followed by 51 (14.6%) from Peshawar, 26 (7.3%) from
      Rawalpindi, 7(2%) from Abbottabad while 16 (4.6%)were from other parts of
      Pakistan. Overall, 225 (64%) were aware of the importance of vitamin D, whereas
      126 (36%) were not; 246 (70%) knew about the role of vitamin D in normal bone
      development, and 105 (30%) did not know; 344 (98%) didn't know what was meant by
      fortified food containing vitamin D, while 168 (48%)experienced generalised body
      aches and pains and none of the patients had a fracture in the preceding one
      year. Vitamin D3 levels were decreased in 291 (82.8%) subjects and the mean
      vitamin D3 level was 14.09 +/- 12.93 ng/dL. CONCLUSION: Undiagnosed vitamin D
      deficiency is prevalent in the community. With the magnitude of deficiency that
      is seen in our healthy population, fortification of food items is required.

PMID- 25823153
TI  - Magnetic resonance spectroscopy of enhancing cerebral lesions: analysis of 78
      histopathology proven cases.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the efficacy of magnetic resonance spectroscopy in
      differentiating various types of neoplastic and non-neoplastic enhancing cerebral
      lesions. METHODS: The prospective study was conducted from January 2007 to
      December 2009 at the Department of Radiology, Aga Khan University Hospital,
      Karachi. All patients with enhancing brain lesions on magnetic resonance imaging
      who underwent magnetic resonance spectroscopy and a biopsy with histopathological
      analysis were included in study. The lesions were categorised into neoplastic and
      non-neoplastic lesions on the basis of spectroscopy findings. The sensitivity,
      specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic
      accuracy of magnetic resonance spectroscopy were calculated. Predicted
      probabilities were computed and comparison of median values of metabolites and
      their ratios was analysed using non-parametric Mann Whitney U test to
      differentiate between neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions. RESULTS: Of the 102
      patients enrolled, 78 (76.5%) comprised the final study sample. There were 53
      (68%) male and 25 (32%) female patients with an overall mean age of 40.21 +/-
      17.69 years (range: 4-76 years). The mean overall size of the lesion was 4.01 +/-
      1.79 cm, and 61(78%) lesions were neoplastic and 17 (22%) were non-neoplastic.
      The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive
      value and diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonance spectroscopy in
      differentiating neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions were 90.16%, 64.70%,
      90.16%, 64.70% and 78.20% respectively. A cut-off value of 2.55 of Choline/N
      Acetyl Aspartate ratio depicted sensitivity of 70% in differentiating the
      lesions. CONCLUSION: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a highly sensitive
      technique in addition to conventional magnetic resonance imaging in
      characterising and differentiating between neoplastic and non-neoplastic cerebral
      lesions.

PMID- 25823154
TI  - Risk factors for intraventricular haemorrhage in preterm infants from a tertiary
      care hospital of Karachi, Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of Intraventricular Haemorrhage in pre-term
      infants, along with adverse neonatal outcomes associated with the disease.
      METHODS: The retrospective case control study was conducted at Aga Khan
      University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised patients' records from January 2004
      to December 2009 of preterm babies from 26-35 weeks of gestation who had
      Intraventricular Haemorrhage of any grade. The diagnosis was confirmed by
      ultrasound scan. Controls were preterm births matched with the cases according to
      gestational age (+/-1 week) and birth weight (+/-150 grams). SPSS 19 was used for
      statistical analysis. RESULT: Of the total 201 preterm babies in the study, there
      were 67(33.33%) cases and 134(66.66%) controls; the respective ratio being
      1:2.The incidence of Intraventricular Haemorrhage in the study population was
      22.1 per 1000 live births.The odds of developing Intraventricular Haemorrhage was
      substantially higher in babies with respiratory distress syndrome (odds ratio:
      3.77; 95% Confidence Interval: 1.52-9.37; p < 0.004) and who were given
      mechanical ventilation (odds ratio: 23.6; 95% Confidence Interval: 5.09-109.5; p
      < 0.001). There was a four-fold increase in risk of Intraventricular Haemorrhage
      in babies who received surfactant administration (odds ratio: 4.26; 95%
      Confidence Interval: 1.77-10.22; p < 0.001). Out of 67 cases, 50 (74.6%) re
      demonstrated the same grade, 13 (19.4%) were resolved, and 4 (6%) progressed.
      Overall, there were 38 death; the mortality rate being 56.71. CONCLUSION: The
      risk of Intraventricular Haemorrhage was substantially higher in preterm neonates
      with respiratory distress syndrome, etc., and the mortality rate was higher in
      babies with severe disease.

PMID- 25823155
TI  - The effects of magnesium sulphate on succinylcholine-induced fasciculation during
      induction of general anaesthesia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of magnesium sulphate on succinylcholine
      induced fasciculation in patients during the induction of general anaesthesia.
      METHODS: The double-blind randomised clinical trial was conducted in 2012 at
      Tohid and Besat Hospitals in Sanandaj, Iran, on patients who were candidates for
      surgery under general anaesthesia. Patients were selected and divided into two
      equal groups of cases and controls using block randomisation. The cases received
      magnesium sulphate, while the controls received normal saline. SPSS 18 was used
      for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 100 subjects in the study, 49 (49%)
      were men and 51 (51%) were women (p < 0.072). The mean age of the two groups were
      37.5 +/- 12.2 years and 37.7 +/- 12 years (p < 0.9). There was significant
      difference between the two groups in terms of the degree of fasciculation and
      muscle fasciculation (p< 0.001). The difference between potassium levels in the
      two groups was not significant before anaesthesia (p > 0.05), but it was
      significant after anaesthesia (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Magnesium sulphate can
      prevent and reduce the degree of fasciculation after anaesthesia. Therefore it
      can be used to prevent fasciculation.

PMID- 25823156
TI  - Four-site skinfolds and body fat percentage references in 6-to-17-year old
      Turkish children and adolescents.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: As skinfolds from four-sites (triceps, biceps, subscapular,
      suprailiac) and body fat percentage in 6-17 years is lacking in Turkey. This
      study was undertaken to produce references for four-site skinfolds and body fat
      percentage in children and adolescents. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was
      conducted between September 2007-May 2008 in Kayseri, Turkey, after approval by
      ethics committee of Erciyes University and local educational authority. Data were
      obtained from the Determination of Anthropometric Measures of Turkish Children
      and Adolescents Study-II. Using multistage sampling method, 4285 children were
      selected from the schools representing city centre, rural and urban areas of the
      province. Skinfolds were measured from four sites and body fat percentage was
      calculated according to Westrate and Deurenberg equation. LMS Chart Maker Pro
      version 2.3 software was used to obtain skinfold references. RESULTS: There were
      1914 (44.6%) boys, 2371 (55.3%) girls in the study; the age range being 6-17
      years. The peripheral skinfolds increased with age for girls (7.2 mm at age 10
      versus 8.7 mm at age 17), while this was true for boys until 10 years (6.2 mm at
      age 10 versus 4.2 mm at age 17) after which the values gradually decreased. In
      terms of central skinfolds, girls had higher numbers in each age (11.7 mm for
      boys versus 12.8 mm for girls at age 6; 24.9 mm versus 26.3 mm at age 17).
      CONCLUSION: Skinfolds and body fat percentage provide information that helps
      monitor secular trends in obesity in Turkey and may be used to make national and
      international comparisons in the future.

PMID- 25823157
TI  - Pedestrian injuries and fatalities by patterns in reported road traffic crashes-
      Islamabad.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To find the main cause behind pedestrian injuries and fatalities and
      to categorise the information on the basis of key indicators. METHODS: The
      retrospective study was conducted in Islamabad, Pakistan, and was based on the
      officially-lodged First Information Reports of roadside accidents involving
      pedestrians over a period of 3 years from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2010.
      The reports were collected from the Islamabad Police Department and relevant
      information was extracted on a pre-designed questionnaire having 40 kinds of
      variables. This study is limited only to causative factors and presentation of
      data according to age, gender, day and month which was analysed using simple
      descriptive percentage technique in SPSS 17. RESULTS: During the period covered
      by the study, there were 250 reported fatal traffic accidents causing 270
      fatalities. Pedestrians were involved in 141 (56%) of these accidents in which
      there were 144 (53.3%) fatalities. Among the fatalities, there were 114 (79%)
      males and 30 (21%) females. Fatal accidents on midweek Wednesday were 27 (19%)
      which was more than the other days of the week. The highest number of pedestrian
      related fatal accidents occurred in December 19 (13.5%). Over-speeding was the
      major causing factor 42 (29.8%) behind the fatalities. CONCLUSION: Drivers are
      not giving the right of way to pedestrians and the pedestrians also did not use
      facilities like footpaths, zebra crossings etc.

PMID- 25823158
TI  - Patterns of care and outcomes of adult osteosarcoma in a tertiary care cancer
      centre in Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To present our experience of treatment outcomes in adult osteosarcoma
      patients. METHODS: The retrospective study was conducted at the Shaukat Khanum
      Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan, and comprised
      data related to 74 adult patients with osteosarcoma from 1995 to 2009. The
      treatment plan consisted of surgery preceded by neo-adjuvant chemotherapy
      followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis.
      RESULTS: Of the 74 patients in the study, 58 (78%) were in the 18-29 age group
      with an overall male-to-female ratio of 3:1. The commonest site of disease was
      femur, 30 (43%). Of the 66 (89%) patients undergoing definitive surgery, 59
      (89.4%) had amputation. The remaining 7 (10.6%) limb salvage operations were in
      the neo-adjuvant chemotherapy group. Good histopathological response rates in
      high-dose methotrexate containing regimens and other regimens were similar with
      an overall good response rate of 18/51 (35%). The commonest site of relapse was
      lung.Twelve out of 27 (44%) patients with lung-only metastases underwent
      successful metastatectomy. For patients with localised disease at presentation 3
      year event-free survival was 30%, and 3-year overall survival was 71%. For
      patients with metastases at presentation 3-year overall survival was 45%. Median
      overall survival for patients receiving high-dose methotrexate and other regimens
      was 1.7 years vs 2.9 years. CONCLUSION: Adult osteosarcoma treated with
      cisplatin/doxorubicin based chemotherapy and surgery had good outcomes. The role
      of high-dose methotrexate in adult osteosarcoma remains uncertain.

PMID- 25823159
TI  - Clinically significant Coagulase Negative Staphylococci and their antibiotic
      resistance pattern in a tertiary care hospital.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To identify various species of coagulase negative staphylococci
      involved in neonatal septicaemia and determine their antimicrobial resistance
      pattern. METHODS: The prospective descriptive study was carried out from January
      2012 to October 2013, at Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, and
      comprised clinical isolates of coagulase negative staphylococci recovered from
      the blood of neonates at Maternity and Children Hospital, Makkah..The
      identification of species and antibiotic sensitivity for each isolate was done
      using Microscan Walk Away system. RESULTS: Of the 190 clinical isolates S.
      epidermidis was the most common species found 144(75.8%).The overall drug
      resistance among the species ranged from 1.6% to 99.5% to all the drugs tested,
      except to vancomycin and linezolid which were 100% sensitive.The highest drug
      resistance was exhibited by penicillin 189 (99.5%), ampicillin 188 (99%),
      oxacillin 178 (93.6%) and augmentin 177 (93%). The minimum drug resistance was
      shown by synercid 4 (2.2%) and daptomycin 3 (1.6%). All species were 100%
      resistant to penicillin and ampicillin, except S. hyicus and one isolate of S.
      hominis-homin which was sensitive to ampicillin. CONCLUSION: High rates of
      antibiotic resistance was seen among coagulase negative staphylococci to commonly
      used antibiotics and majority of them were methicillin-resistant. The newer drugs
      tested can be used as an alternative.

PMID- 25823160
TI  - Determinants of caesarean section in a tertiary hospital.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyse the different indications and frequency of caesarean
      sections in order to reduce such deliveries in a tertiary hospital. METHODS: The
      retrospective study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and
      Gynaecology, Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, from January 1 to December 31,
      2011. It comprised review of clinical records of all patients who underwent
      caesarean section during the period. This included booked, un-booked or referred
      cases and data regarding the indications, type of caesarean deliveries and
      demographic features as well as outcomes. SPSS 13 was used statistical analysis.
      RESULTS: During the study period, there were 1491 deliveries out of which 669
      (44.8) were caesarean. Emergency caesarean section was performed on 392 (58.5%)
      and elective caesarean section was performed on 277 (41.4%) patients. Overall,
      523 (78.2%) cases were booked and 146 (21.8%) were un-booked or referred cases.
      Most of the caesarean sections were carried out due to previous caesarean
      sections 207 (30.9%) followed by foetal distress 102 (15.2%), non-progress of
      labour 93 (13.9%), malpresentation 44 (6.57%), placental abruption 21 (3.13%) and
      placenta previa 19 (2.84%). CONCLUSION: Audit and feedback is the best way to
      judge clinical practice and to reduce the frequency of caesarean section in any
      tertiary setup. Previous caesareans were the most common indication of repeat
      procedure in the study.

PMID- 25823161
TI  - Changes in brain metabolites in experimental cerebral malaria infection with
      plasmodium berghei ANKA: a literature review.
AB  - In this paper, we have collected the findings of available literature focusing on
      brain metabolites by spectroscopy in the murine model of cerebral malaria
      disease. The literature search for experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) and
      spectroscopy using National Institute of Health's PubMed database provided us
      with 9 peer-reviewed publications. These publications have used mice infected
      with Plasmodium Berghei (PbA) Antwerpen-Kasapa (ANKA) strain to mimic the human
      infection with Plasmodium falciparum. Brain ischaemia, as depicted by increased
      lactate and alanine concentrations, as well as decreased aspartate and adenosine
      triphosphate levels, play a key role in ECM. Lowering the lactate levels by using
      dichloroacetate has been shown to improve survival. Significant cellular injury
      has also been documented through decreased N-acetylaspartate and
      glycerophosphocholine levels. The advantage of using spectroscopic technique
      provide important functional information which helps determine the aetiology,
      pathogenesis, progression, and monitoring of treatment as well as predicting
      prognosis in the clinical setting of cerebral malaria.

PMID- 25823162
TI  - Serum adiponectin levels in diabetes, obesity and gender in Punjabi subjects from
      Faisalabad, Pakistan.
AB  - Adiponectin has been associated with common metabolic disorders. The current
      study was conducted to measure and compare levels of adiponectin with obesity,
      type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and gender in Punjabi subjects from Faisalabad,
      Pakistan. Serum adiponectin was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
      (ELISA) along with measurements of some clinically important analytes (fasting
      blood glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides) as well as body mass index (BMI) in 80
      subjects. The main results were significantly (p < 0.003) decreased serum
      adiponectin level in T2DM patients (n = 40) compared to non-diabetic controls (n
      = 40). In obese subjects, (n = 40) also, there was a decrease, but it was not
      significant. Adiponectin levels in the subgroups of diabetic and obese patients
      were also observed, but no significant gender-based differences were found.

PMID- 25823163
TI  - Hepatotoxicity associated with the ingestion of Papaver Rhoease.
AB  - Liver injury appears to be associated with the use of herbal products and wild
      plants.This paper presents what is to our knowledge the first case report in the
      world of acute liver toxicity caused by Papaver Rhoease. A 17-year- old woman
      from eastern Turkey ingested Papaver Rhoease which is known as "poppy flower"
      among the local inhabitants. Her liver function tests were initially 10- 15 fold
      higher than normal. She was hospitalised in intensive care unit and on day 2 of
      hospitalisation, the results of her liver function tests showed about a hundred
      fold increase compared to the normal level. Her general status deteriorated and
      she was transferred to another medical centre for liver transplantation.

PMID- 25823164
TI  - A chronic eosinophilic pneumonia case with long exposure to isocyanates.
AB  - Chronic eosinophilic pneumonia (CEP) is a disease with unknown etiology,
      characterized by peripheral blood eosinophilia and abnormal eosinophil
      accumulation in the lungs. A 43-year-old male with 30 years history of exposure
      to isocyanates was admitted with the complaint of sputum, cough, progressive
      dyspnoea, and weight loss. Physical examination revealed bilaterally decreased
      breath sounds and extensive rales. On laboratory analysis; leukocytosis (12.3
      10(3)/proportional variant L), hypereosinophilia (30%), elevated CRP and RF (1000
      IU/ml), and IgE levels (1160 IU/ml) in the serum were observed. Chest radiograph
      and computed tomography on admission showed reticulonodular pattern at both lung
      fields. Pulmonary function tests assumed a restrictive pattern and a low
      diffusing capacity. Bronchoalveolar lavage revealed a marked eosinophilia (50%).
      Transbronchial lung biopsy indicated eosinophilic pneumonia. In this case we
      aimed to describe a rare case of CEP probably caused by exposure to isocyanate.

PMID- 25823166
TI  - Prolonged mania in a case of bipolar affective disorder.
AB  - Bipolar disorder, which often has its onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is
      characterised by marked variations in mood, ranging from major depressive
      episodes to manic exacerbations. Compared to depressive episodes, manic
      recurrences are often brief and usually respond to anti-manic medications within
      a few weeks. Infrequently bipolar patients get badly affected by protracted manic
      symptoms that exhibit resistance to the usual anti-manic agents. As mania is a
      very disruptive condition with severe and adverse consequences for the patient,
      every effort should be made to bring it under control as soon as possible.
      Nonetheless, an occasional patient may require prolonged and persistent treatment
      to attain remission. In a case where manic symptoms are showing resistance, an
      evidence-based pharmacotherapuetic approach by the treating physician is
      essential. The provision of psychological and social support to the patient is
      vital in conjunction with biological measures for optimal management.

PMID- 25823165
TI  - Transient cortical blindness: a benign but devastating complication after
      coronary angiography and graft study.
AB  - Transient cortical blindness after coronary angiography and bypass graft is a
      very rare complication. In this report we present the case of a 63-year-old man
      who developed transient cortical blindness within 30 minutes of coronary
      angioplasty and graft study, but subsequently recovered within 72 hours without
      any neurological deficit. A plain computed tomography brain scan showed bilateral
      symmetrical subarachnoid hyperdensities in the posterior cerebral circulation
      area suspicious of subarachnoid bleed. However, magnetic resonance imaging and
      magnetic resonance angiography scans were normal. Excess contrast volume causing
      direct neurotoxicity seems to be the most probable cause, but the exact mechanism
      is unclear.

PMID- 25823167
TI  - Anthrax: a case report.
AB  - Anthrax is a zoonotic disease caused by a bacterium called Bacillus Anthracis. In
      humans, it causes a cutaneous, gastro-intestinal and inhalation form of disease.
      The in-cutaneous form progresses along with skin necrosis and oedema. Since the
      necroses in the skin are not quite superficial, they can affect the tendon
      sheaths progressing close to the skin. Therefore, in surgical treatment, the
      closure in the areas where tendons are surfaced must be provided by a flap
      instead of a graft.The repair on the existing patient was performed with a graft
      since the flap repair was not accepted, and thus, restrictions in hand movements
      occurred during the post-operative period.

PMID- 25823168
TI  - Sodium glucose transporter 2 (sglt2) inhibitors: Current status in clinical
      practice.
AB  - Sodium glucose transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors including dapagliflozin,
      canagliflozin and empagliflozin act by a novel insulin-independent mechanism by
      blocking glucose reabsorption in the proximal convoluted tubules resulting in
      markedly increased glycosuria, a mechanism not limited by the degree of insulin
      resistance or beta-cell dysfunction, and which results in weight loss due to loss
      of 300 to 400kcal/day. Currently dapagliflozin, canagliflozin and empagliflozin
      are the three primary drugs, which represent this group. They have comparable
      efficacy in HbA1c reduction as compared to metformin, sulfonylureas and slightly
      better than gliptins. They have additional beneficial effects on blood pressure
      and lipids. Their use is not limited by the degree of insulin resistance or beta
      cell dysfunction, and hence can be used at any stage of diabetes, along with a
      potential for use in type-1 diabetes. Long term safety and impact on
      microvascular and macrovascular complications is likely to be favourable, data on
      which should be available in the next few years.

PMID- 25823169
TI  - Early magnetic resonance imaging in transient ischaemic attack and minor stroke.

PMID- 25823170
TI  - How to write an introduction and methods of a systematic review of literature.

PMID- 25823171
TI  - Rotavirus vaccine--a new hope.
AB  - Diarrhoea due to Rotavirus is the leading cause of mortality among children less
      than 5 years of age in developing countries. Though Rotavirus vaccine has been
      approved by FDA since 2006 it has not been incorporated in the EPI schedule of
      Pakistan. Objective of our study was to explore the clinical efficacy, cost
      effectiveness and safety of Rotavirus vaccine in infants and children against
      diarrhoea caused by Rotavirus. Online search yielded a total of 103 articles out
      of which 31 articles were included for perusal. Newly-developed vaccines have
      been found to have combined efficacy of 61.2-64.6% in African Countries and 82.1
      84.7% in Europe and Latin America against Rotavirus-induced diarrhoea. Rotavirus
      vaccine is a very effective option in terms of efficacy, cost and safety against
      viral diarrhoea caused by Rotavirus. Consideration should be given to include
      this vaccine in EPI programme of developing countries.

PMID- 25823172
TI  - The decrepit state of trauma care in under-developed healthcare settings.

PMID- 25823173
TI  - Nanotechnology and its implication in medical science.

PMID- 25823174
TI  - Effect of an intervention on attitudes towards domestic violence among Iranian
      girls.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of an intervention based on the Precede-Proceed
      Model on attitudes towards prevention of Domestic Violence among Iranian girls.
      METHODS: The randomised controlled trial was conducted during 2010-11 at 10 high
      schools in District 17 ofTehran Municipality in Iran. The subjects were divided
      into two equal groups of cases and controls. Components of the Precede-Proceed
      Model for planning, implementation and evaluation of the study. After need
      assessment, an appropriate environmental and educational intervention was
      implemented in the intervention group. Changes in predisposing, reinforcing,
      enabling factors and especially attitudes towards prevention of Domestic Violence
      immediately and two months after the intervention were assessed in by
      questionnaires based on the Precede-Proceed Model. SPSS 18 was used for
      statistical analyses. RESULTS: There were 510 students who comprised the study
      population, with 255 individuals in each of the two groups. The intervention had
      significantly positive effect on predisposing, enabling and reinforcing factors
      immediately and two months after the intervention (p < 0.05). Repeated measures
      analysis of variance showed a significant positive increase in attitude score in
      the intervention group from baseline to two months (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The
      Precede-Proceed Model is one of the most widely used health planning models for
      identifying factors that influence health behaviours associated with domestic
      violence. Implementation of an educational programme based on the model among
      young girls was effective in changing attitude towards domestic violence.

PMID- 25823175
TI  - Intellectual wellness awareness: a neglected area in medical universities of
      Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the presence of intellectual wellness awareness in students
      of public and private sector medical colleges in a metropolitan city. METHODS:
      The cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted from March to
      November 2011 at Bahria University Medical and Dental College, Karachi, and
      overall covered five private and 3 public sector medical colleges of the city.The
      study randomly selected 800 medical students.The responses - never, sometimes,
      mostly and always (numbered 0-4)--were analysed in terms of frequency, proportion
      and percentages using Predictive Analysis Software version 18. RESULTS: Of the
      800 forms distributed, 736 (92%) completed forms were analysed. Among the
      respondents, 526 (71.5%) were females. Besides, 450 (61%) belonged to private
      medical colleges and 236 (39) were from public medical colleges. The participants
      of private medical colleges had taken part in intellectual discussions actively
      compared to those from public colleges (p < 0.001). Habit of reading books to
      acquire knowledge was found in 126 (44%) private college students compared to 149
      (33%) in public colleges (p < 0.004). The importance of creative mental
      activities (p = 0.954) and current information about local and international
      affairs (p < 0.564) was deficient in both sets of students. CONCLUSION: Students
      of private medical colleges were better in terms of presence of intellectual
      wellness awareness, took active participation in class discussions, had good
      reading habits and carefully selected television programmes and movies.

PMID- 25823176
TI  - Assessment of internet addiction and loneliness in secondary and high school
      students.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of Internet addiction and loneliness in
      secondary and high school students. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was
      conducted between May 7 and June 8, 2012, among secondary and high school
      students in Sivrihisar, which is a district in rural part of Anatolia, Turkey.
      The study group consisted of 1157 students. Young Internet Addiction Scale was
      used to assess the internet addiction. University of California, Los Angeles
      Loneliness Scale was used for the evaluation of the level of loneliness. SPSS 15
      was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 1157 students, there were 636
      (55.0%) male and 521 (45.0%) female aged 11 to 19 years (mean: 15.13 +/- 1.71
      years). According to the Internet Addiction Scale, 91 (7.9%) of the subjects were
      addicted to the internet. Obesity (odds ratio: 9.57), "Type A" personality (odds
      ratio: 1.83), first time usage of internet before age 12 (odds ratio: 2.18),
      using the internet every day (odds ratio: 2.47) and use the internet more than 2
      hours a day (odds ratio: 4.96) were risk factors of internet addiction (p <
      0.05). A positive correlation was found between the internet addiction and
      loneliness (rs = 0.121; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Internet addiction was found to
      be a major health problem in middle and high school students. A positive
      correlation between loneliness and internet addiction was also found.

PMID- 25823177
TI  - Intralesional triamcinolone alone and in combination with 5-fluorouracil for the
      treatment of keloid and hypertrophic scars.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the use of intralesional triamcinolone acetonide and its
      combination with 5 flourouracil in the treatment of keloid and hypertrophic scars
      in terms of reduction in initial height of the scar. METHODS: The randomised
      controlled trial was conducted at the Department of Plastic Surgery, King Edward
      Medical University, Lahore, from March 2011 to December 2012. It comprised
      patients of both genders having keloids or hypertrophic scars (1 cm to 5 cm in
      size) having no history of treatment for the scars in preceding 6 months. Those
      who were pregnant, planning pregnancy or lactating were excluded. The subjects
      were divided into two groups: Group A received intralesional triamcinolone
      acetonide alone; and Group B received triamcinolone acetonide + 5 flourouracil.
      Eight injections were given at weekly interval. Scars were assessed 4 weeks after
      the completion of treatment on a five-point scale. SPSS 16 was used for
      statistical analysis. RESULTS: The 150 subjects in the study were divided into
      two equal groups of 75 (50%) each. Good to excellent results were seen in 51
      (68%) cases in Group A compared to 63 (84%) in Group B. Frequency of
      complications was 18 (24%) and 6 (8%) in Group A and Group B respectively.
      CONCLUSION: Combination of triamcinolone acetonide and 5 flourouracil is superior
      to triamcinolone acetonide therapy in the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic
      scars.

PMID- 25823178
TI  - Pre-natal genetic counseling in a resource limited country--a single center
      geneticist's perspectives.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the needs related to prenatal genetic counselling in a
      developing country. METHODS: The prospective observational study was conducted at
      the Prenatal-Genetic Counselling Clinic of Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi,
      from October 2007 to September 2010. In-depth interviews were conducted and the
      data was stored in the form of patient charts. Information was then extracted
      from the charts and entered into a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Of the 93
      couples in the study, 49 (53%) were in the self-referral group and 44 (47%) were
      in the physician- referral group. Diagnosis was not given for previously affected
      children by the paediatrician or by obstetrician for recurrent miscarriages in 68
      (73%)cases. Besides, 20 (22%) couples had voluntarily terminated a pregnancy
      without any tests because of the fear of having a diseased child. Eleven (12%)
      couples were looking for amniocentensis or chorionic villus sampling. Death in
      previous children was the main reason to seek genetic counselling and was seen in
      57 (61%) couples. Consanguinity was seen in 77 (83%) couples. CONCLUSION: A clear
      deficiency of knowledge of genetics was seen among the non-genetic healthcare
      providers. Demand of antenatal genetic testing among the public was also seen,
      highlighting the need of diagnostic facility for genetic and metabolic disorders.
      However, this needs to be explored in the context of the existing healthcare
      infrastructure.

PMID- 25823179
TI  - Outcome of primigravida with high head at term.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the progress of labour, need of medical and surgical
      intervention and foetal and maternal outcome in primigravida with high head at
      term METHODS: The prospective descriptive study was conducted at the Department
      of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences,
      Nawabshah, Pakistan, from Jan 1 to June30, 2011, and comprised 100 primigravida
      with unengaged head at term and at onset of labour. Detailed history was taken in
      each case and general, systemic and obstetric examination was done. Pelvic
      assessment and ultrasonography was performed. SPSS 16 was used for statistical
      analysis. RESULT: Of the 100 women in the study, 70 (70%) were aged between 20-30
      years.The most common identified cause of non-engaged head was deflexed head in
      28 (28%), while no cause was found in 45(45%) women. Further, 45 (45%) women
      presented with spontaneous labour, while labour had to be induced with
      prostaglandin in the rest. Vaginal delivery occurred in 59 (59%) cases and
      caesarean section was performed in 41 (41%).The duration of labour was < 12 hours
      in 32 (32%) cases. Postpartum haemorrhage affected 10 (10%) patients, wound
      infection was seen in 7 (7%), and perineal tear in 2 (2%). Apgar score at 5
      minutes was 7-10 in 75 (75%), 4-6 in (20%), 3 and below in 5 (5%) of neonates.

PMID- 25823180
TI  - Outcome of one stage combined open reduction, pelvic and derotation femoral
      osteotomy in congenital dislocated hips of children younger than three years age.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the outcome of one-stage combined operative management of
      congenital dislocation of hips in children aged 18-36 months. METHODS: The
      descriptive case series study was conducted at the Department of Orthopaedic
      Surgery, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, from January 2005 to
      December 2011. Children aged 18-36 months suffering from congenital dislocation
      of hips were included. Those with Tonnis stage III and IV were managed with one
      stage operative procedure without preliminary traction. The operative procedure
      included adductor tenotomy, open reduction, capsulorraphy, Salter's osteotomy and
      a femoral derotation osteotomy. Catteral's 'Test of Stability' was used after
      open reduction as an indicator for need of pelvic and femoral osteotomies. Follow
      up ranged between 1 and 7 years. The patients were evaluated clinically on
      McKay's criteria and radiologically on Severin's criteria. Klisic's overall
      rating was used to know mean of the assessments. RESULTS: There were 38 patients
      with 50 congenital dislocations of hip. There were 26 (68.42%) females and 12
      (31.57%) males with a female-to-male ratio of 2:1. Mean age at the time of
      operation was 24.26 +/- 7.6 months. Of the total, 12 (31.57%) patients had
      bilateral involvement, 11 (28.94%) had right-sided and 15 (39.47%) had left-sided
      involvement. Right side to Left ratio was 1:1.2. At the time of last follow-up,
      25 (50%) hips behaved excellent on McKay's criteria. According to radiographic
      classification on Severin's criteria, 24 (48%) hips were in excellent class.
      Avascular necrosis of femoral head was noted in 3 (6%) hips, re-subluxation/re
      dislocations were observed in 3 (6%) hips and 1 (2.6%) patient had 1 cm femoral
      lengthening. CONCLUSION: One-stage open reduction, capsulorrapyhy, Salter's
      osteotomy and femoral derotation osteotomy without preliminary traction to re
      locate congenital dislocation of hips in late presenting children is a safe and
      highly effective method. It produces a low rate of complication and need for
      repeat surgery. It reduces the cost of treatment, minimises socio-economic burden
      and psychological trauma incurred by lengthy hospitalisation of treatment with
      traction followed by closed reduction.

PMID- 25823181
TI  - Role of dissection in light of students' perceptions.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To observe students' perception of gross anatomy dissection. METHODS:
      The qualitative study comprised second year medical students of Army Medical
      College, Rawalpindi, and was conducted in July, 2013. Data was collected over
      three weeks through quota sampling. Focus group discussions were held with four
      groups having 15 students each.The sessions were audio-recorded which were
      transcribed and interpreted. RESULTS: On the basis of FGDs, four themes were
      identified: Prossected specimen as an introductory teaching tool; emotional
      reaction on specimen handling; practical concerns during specimen handling; and
      experience of learning anatomy. Trends were identified within these broader
      themes. CONCLUSION: There were differences in terms of attitudes and dissection
      hall experiences of medical students connected with the learning.

PMID- 25823182
TI  - Evaluation of the awareness and perception of professional students in medicine,
      business and law schools of Karachi, regarding the use of (recreational)
      cannabis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the awareness and perception of students attending
      professional medicine, law and business schools regarding recreational use of
      cannabis. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted between June 2010 and
      November 2010. Using convenience sampling, 150 students from medical, business
      and law schools from both private and public sectors were enrolled. Government
      institutions included, Sindh Medical College, Institute of Business
      Administration and S.M. Law College, private schools were Ziauddin Medical
      College, SZABIST and Lecole for advanced studies. Data was collected through self
      administered questionnaire. SPSS 17 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: A
      total of 250 students were approached out of which 150(60%) filled the
      questionnaire. Of them 91(60.7%) were males and the overall mean age of the
      respondents was 22 +/- 2 years. A total of 68 (45.3%) students were from the
      medical field, 53 (35.3%) from business and 29 (19.3%) from law. The private and
      public sectors were equally represented at 75 (50%) each. Overall, 93 (62%)
      agreed that hashish is a serious problem concerning student population. When
      asked to identify factors encouraging abstinence, 67 (44.7%) respondents each
      cited religion and health risks. CONCLUSION: Our youth is not only concerned
      about the menace of hashish and but want proper awareness to be provided.

PMID- 25823183
TI  - A qualitative study on menopause described from the man's perspective.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To look at menopause from men's point of view and to provide a better
      understanding of this phase to improve the care delivered to menopausal women.
      METHODS: The study was conducted at the health centre of a single district of
      Istanbul, from April 2013 to June 2013, which serves as the research and training
      area of the Marmara University and which receives migrations from mainly southern
      and eastern regions of Turkey.The study sample included 33 married men.
      Qualitative in-depth interviews were performed individually and main themes were
      noted down for analysis. RESULTS: The age range of the study population was 40-77
      years. The subjects lacked basic knowledge about both menstruation and menopause.
      Most of the participants defined menopause as loss of fecundity, increased
      weight, and loss of beauty.The most important concern voiced was men's own sexual
      life. None of the men had heard about treatment modalities available for
      menopause. CONCLUSION: Interventions are needed to increase men's awareness
      regarding menopause in order to help these men to be able to better support their
      spouses so that they can both have a smooth transition into postmenopausal years.

PMID- 25823184
TI  - Determining the diagnostic value of endogenous carbon monoxide in chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether endogenous carbon monoxide levels in
      exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease patients were higher
      compared to healthy individuals and to investigate alteration of carbon monoxide
      levels across the three different severity stages of Global Initiative for
      Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease criteria related to Chronic Obstructive
      Pulmonary Disease exacerbations. METHODS: The prospective study was conducted
      from January to March 2011 at two medical institutions in Ankara, Turkey, and
      comprised patients of acute Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease exacerbations.
      The severity of the exacerbations was based on the Global Initiative for Chronic
      Obstructive Lung Disease criteria. Patients with active tobacco smoking,
      suspicious carbon monoxide poisoning and uncertain diagnosis were excluded.
      healthy control subjects who did not have any comorbid diseases and smoking
      habitus were also enrolled to compare the differences between carboxyhaemoglobin
      levels A two-tailed Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction was done
      following a Kruskal-Wallis test for statistical purposes. RESULTS: There were 90
      patients and 81 controls in the study. Carboxyhaemoglobin levels were higher in
      the patients than the controls (p < 0.001). As for the three severity stages,
      Group 1 had a median carboxyhaemoglobin of 1.6 (0.95- 2.00). The corresponding
      levels in Group 2 (1.8 [1.38-2.20]) and Group 3 (1.9 [1.5-3.0]) were higher than
      the controls (p < 0.001 and p < 0.005 respectively). No statistically significant
      difference between Group 1 and the controls (1.30 [1.10-1.55]) was observed (p <
      0.434). CONCLUSION: Carboxyhaemoglobin levels were significantly higher in
      exacerbations compared with the normal population. Also, in more serious
      exacerbations, carboxyhaemoglobin levels were significantly increased compared
      with healthy individuals and mild exacerbations.

PMID- 25823185
TI  - Causes of poisoning in patients evaluated in a hospital emergency department in
      Konya, Turkey.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with
      poisoning at a community hospital. METHODS: The retrospective study comprised
      records of patients who were admitted to the emergency department of Konya Numune
      Hospital, Turkey, because of poisoning between January 1, 2009, and December 31,
      2011. Data was evaluated for age, gender, educational status, occupation, arrival
      time, mechanism of intoxication , body temperature, pulse, respiratory rate,
      Glasgow Coma Scale score, treatment applied, duration of hospital stay, duration
      of follow-up, test results, final diagnosis, clinical disposition, and outcome.
      Agents causing the poisoning were also determined. RESULTS: Records of 1036
      patients were evaluated. Of them, 764(74%) were female and 272(26%) were male.
      The predominant age range was 15-24 years in 617(60%) patients. The median time
      from substance exposure to admission to the emergency department was 2 hours. The
      most common cause of poisoning was attempted suicide in 955 [92%] patients and
      drug intoxication was the agent involved in 932 (90%). In the 15-24 year age
      range, there were 469 (76%) female patients. Of the total female population in
      the study, 716 (94%) attempted suicide. The median hospital stay was 24 hours.
      There were 908 (88%) patients who were advised to seek further evaluation at the
      psychiatry clinic, and 9 (0.9%) patients were admitted to the psychiatry
      inpatient units after medical treatment. In patients who were hospitalized and
      followed up, 1 (0.1%) died because of multiple drug poisoning. CONCLUSION: Most
      admissions to the emergency department for poisoning related to young women had
      used drugs during a suicide attempt.

PMID- 25823186
TI  - Dyslipidaemia in woman with polycystic ovarian syndrome: a case control study in
      tertiary care hospital of Karachi.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare lipid profile in lean and obese women with polycystic ovary
      syndrome with normal weight and obese controls. METHOD: The case-control study
      was conducted at the Department of Chemical Pathology, Liaquat National Hospital,
      Karachi, from March 2006 to April 2007. It comprised 50 cases of polycystic ovary
      syndrome along with 50 healthy controls matching for age, gender and weight. SPSS
      14 was used for statistical analysis. RESULT: The mean fasting levels of
      triglyceride and Low density lipoprotein cholesterol were considerably higher in
      women with polycystic ovary syndrome than those in the control group (p < 0.05),
      while high-density lipoprotein cholesterolwas significantly low in patients than
      the controls (p <0.001). Obese patients had high triglyceride value (p < 0.05).
      There was significant interaction between polycystic ovary syndrome, obesity and
      triglyceride levels (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Polycystic ovary syndrome is
      associated with a more pronounced atherogenic lipid profile. Lipid parameters
      were adversely affected in a subgroup that was obese. As such, women with
      polycystic ovary syndrome are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease
      due to the presence of dyslipidaemia.

PMID- 25823187
TI  - Effects of aerobic exercise training on maternal and neonatal outcome: a
      randomized controlled trial on pregnant women in Iran.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of aerobic exercise training on maternal and
      neonatal outcome METHODS: The case-control study was conducted between January
      and July, 2011 . It was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Toyserkan
      Azad University, and data was collected at prenatal clinics and delivery centres
      located in Hamedan, Iran. It comprised 80 pregnant women between 20-26 weeks of
      gestation randomly assigned to two equal and matching groups of cases and
      controls. The intervention group did exercise continuously on a bicycle ergometre
      for 15 minutes, three times a week; the intensity being 50-60% of maximal heart
      rate. The control group did not do any exercise training. All information was
      obtained from the clinics, delivery centres, and from the reports of delivery
      room midwives. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was found between
      the two groups in gestational weight gain, pregnancy length, mode of delivery,
      first and second stage of labour, perineal tear, and 1st and 5th min Apgar score.
      Mean neonatal weight was significantly less in the intervention group than the
      control group (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Exercising on a bicycle ergometer during
      pregnancy seems to be safe for the mother and the neonate.

PMID- 25823188
TI  - Farsi version of the multidimensional health locus of control and God locus of
      health control scales: validity and reliability study among Iranian women with a
      family history of breast cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the Persian version's reliability and validity of the
      Multidimensional Health Locus of Control and God Health Locus of Control scales
      among women with family history of breast cancer. METHODS: The cross-sectional
      study was conducted in Sabzevar, Iran, in 2012. It randomly selected women with
      family members affected by breast cancer. Predesigned questionnaires were
      completed through interviews. Content and face validity was evaluated using the
      opinions of a panel of experts, and construct validity was confirmed by applying
      confirmatory factor analysis.The instruments' reliability was assessed using
      Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability. RESULTS: There were 200 women in
      the study with their age ranging between 18 and 69 years and revealed the
      following; root mean square error of approximation for Multidimensional Health
      Locus of Control Scale = 0.013, and God Locus of Health Control Scale = 0.077;
      comparative fit index = 0.999, 0.998; incremental fit index = 0.999, 0.998;Tucker
      Lewis fit index = 0.998, 0.998; and normed fit index = 0.983, 0.997 respectively.
      Cronbach's alpha was 0.61 for Internal Health Locus of Control, 0.8 for Chance
      Health Locus of Control, 0.68 for Power Health Locus of Control and 0.9 for God
      Locus Health Control. CONCLUSION: The Persian version of the subscales supported
      the main version.

PMID- 25823189
TI  - Frequency of hyper-homocysteinaemia in ischaemic stroke patients of Karachi.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To find out the frequency of hyper-homocysteinaemia in ischaemic
      stroke patients and its relation with other risk factors. METHODS: The cross
      sectional study based on convenience sampling was conducted at the Civil
      Hospital, Karachi, from May to July 2012. It comprised ischaemic stroke patients
      selected from the Out Patient Department and Emergency Department. An overnight 8
      hour fasting venous blood sample (4 ml in ethylenediamminetetraacetate) was drawn
      for analysis. Rest of the data was collected through a structured proforma and
      was analysed using SPSS 17.0. RESULTS: The mean age of the 96 patients in the
      study was 64.9 +/- 10.9 years (range: 40-85). Overall, 56 (58.3%) cases had hyper
      homocysteinemia.The frequency was significantly high in the age 60-79 age group
      (p < 0.007). CONCLUSION: Hyper-homocysteinaemia, a modifiable risk factor, is
      associated with a high number of ischaemic stroke patients. Hence, steps should
      be taken to minimise this risk factor by screening and early intervention.

PMID- 25823190
TI  - Pender's health promotion model in medical research.
AB  - This review shows how researchers use pander's health promotion model. We
      included all articles in which Pender's health promotion has been used for
      theoretical framework. Eligible articles were selected according to review of
      abstracts. Search was conducted using the electronic database from 1990 to 2012.
      Based on our search, 74 articles with various methodologies were relevant for
      review. Their aims of these studies were to predict effective factors/barriers in
      health promotion behaviours, to detect effects of intervention programme for
      improving health promotion behaviours, test the model, identify quality of life
      and health promotion behaviour, predict stage of change in related factors that
      affect health promotion behaviour, prevent the events that interfere with health
      promotion behaviour, develop another model similar to this model, compare this
      model with another model, determine the relationship of variables associated to
      health promotion behaviours.

PMID- 25823191
TI  - Coexistence of hepatocelluler carcinoma and cyst hydatid disease of the liver.
AB  - The evidence suggests that both delta hepatitis-related hepatocellular carcinoma
      (HCC) and cyst hydatid disease (CHD) are frequently seen separately in people who
      live in the rural areas of Asia. However, there are still a few case reports
      about coexistence of these different diseases in the same liver. The current case
      illustrates a number of clinical problems that physicians face in the diagnosis
      of patients with basically different liver masses.

PMID- 25823192
TI  - Mad honey intoxication mimicking acute coronary syndrome.
AB  - Mad honey intoxication or grayanotoxin poisoning is caused by consumption of
      grayanotoxin-containing toxic honey produced from leaves and flowers of the
      Rhododendron family. Despite the rarity of intoxication cases, the correct
      diagnosis and treatment are required because of the significance of haemodynamic
      disturbance and confounding of symptoms for disease identification. We report
      herein a case of a patient with mad honey intoxication mimicking acute non-ST
      segment elevation myocardial infarction and review the pathophysiology and
      diagnostic considerations.

PMID- 25823193
TI  - Persistent metabolic acidosis and severe diarrhoea due to Artemisia absinthium
      poisoning.
AB  - Herbs have long been used in the treatment of various disorders in traditional
      medicine since ancient age. Artemisia absinthium, one of these herbs, has
      traditionally been used in different societies for antibiotic, antiparasitic,
      antifungal and antipyretic purposes. Here, we report a poisoning case of a 10
      month-old male infant progressing with severe diarrhoea and persistent metabolic
      acidosis after ingesting home-prepared Artemisia absinthium extract which was
      given for the treatment of common cold.

PMID- 25823194
TI  - Mediastinal enteric cyst.
AB  - A 20-year-old female presented with complaints of right-sided chest pain, cough,
      fever and shortness of breath for the preceding one-and-a-half year. Air entry
      was decreased over the middle and lower chest. Computed tomography scan of the
      chest revealed a cystic lesion with thick margins present in the right hemi
      thorax. The cyst was excised by posterolateral thoracotomy. Histopathology
      revealed it to be mediastinal enteric cyst with intestinal and pancreatic tissue.

PMID- 25823195
TI  - A rare cause of lower urinary tract symptoms: retrovesical hydatid cyst.
AB  - Retrovesical cysts are extremely rare. For differential diagnosis radiologic
      findings and serologic tests can be used. In this article, we aimed to report our
      approach to diagnose and to treat a primary huge hydatid cyst in retrovesical
      space, between sigmoid colon and bladder. A 34-year old patient presented to our
      hospital with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Abdominal ultrasound reported
      a 14x8 cm cystic lesion adjacent to the posterior wall of the bladder.
      Computerized tomography revealed a 14 x 8 cm cystic mass adjacent to bladder
      posteriorly and prostate and seminal vesicle anteriorly in the retrovesical
      space. Patient received albendazole prophylaxis and intervention was planned by
      transperitoneal approach. In a two-year of follow-up patient did not encounter
      any recurrences. Retrovesical cysts may cause LUTS. With patients suffering from
      LUTS, hydatid cyst should be kept in mind.

PMID- 25823196
TI  - Hypoglycaemia in diabetes.
AB  - Hypoglycaemia is perhaps the most common complication of diabetes management.
      Often fatal, this condition can easily be prevented and managed. This paper
      reviews recent advances in understanding the causes of iatrogenic hypoglycaemia
      in diabetes, and the clinical risk factors associated with it. It provides a
      simple framework to help classify and asses these causative and risk factors.
      Also discussed are relevant non- pharmacological and pharmacological strategies
      to help prevent and manage hypoglycaemia.

PMID- 25823197
TI  - The impact of green tea and coffee consumption on risk of stroke in Japanese
      population.

PMID- 25823198
TI  - Clinical trials--discussing your findings.
AB  - Discussing findings of a clinical trial gives an opportunity to the investigator
      to elaborate the meaning of the findings of the trial. It should consist of the
      major findings, interpretation of the results in light of the available
      literature, theory and practice, limitations, generalizability of the findings
      and its implication, and way forwards for future research. One should avoid
      repetition of results in the discussion and give critical appraisal of the
      findings in such a way as to give a true picture of the internal and external
      validity of the clinical trial.

PMID- 25823199
TI  - Choroidal neo-vascularization presentation in younger age group (pre-senile).
AB  - Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is the most common cause of permanent
      visual loss in the elderly. Advancing age, as the name suggests, is a major risk
      factor. Vascular endothelial growth factor. (VEGF) along with other factors could
      be responsible for the dramatic damage in the eyes. Although uncommon in pre
      senile group, this disorder can also occur unrelated to age, such as pathologic
      myopia in which Fuch's spots can classically be seen. It can also occur following
      traumatic disruption of the Bruch's membrane. Herein we report a case of a 20
      year-old healthy female with no known co-morbidities who presented with
      complaints of sudden central visual loss in her left eye over the course of a few
      days (one week) with no preceding history of traumatic event or predisposing
      factor. To investigate the cause, Optical Coherence Tomography/Fluorescein
      angiography (OCT/FFA) was ordered which exhibited the classical signs of
      choroidal neo-vascularization.

PMID- 25823200
TI  - IORT: possible change in early breast cancer management?

PMID- 25823201
TI  - Hospitals face closures as 'a new day in healthcare' dawns.

PMID- 25823202
TI  - Endoscope contagion raises questions about FDA oversight.

PMID- 25823203
TI  - Plaintiffs avoid legal standing issue in King case.

PMID- 25823205
TI  - Hospital prices drop for the first time.

PMID- 25823204
TI  - Rate battle peaks as Advantage plans grow.

PMID- 25823206
TI  - Telehealth services surging despite questions about value.

PMID- 25823207
TI  - The rise of the specialty emergency department.

PMID- 25823208
TI  - Drug firms and insurers move to center stage in the cost debate.

PMID- 25823209
TI  - Health entrepreneurship's moment.

PMID- 25823210
TI  - Kaiser tests video visits to cut waits.

PMID- 25823211
TI  - Troubled by health plans' high cost-sharing for drugs.

PMID- 25823212
TI  - Largest children's hospitals. Ranked by number of staffed beds in 2013.

PMID- 25823213
TI  - Preface. London tap water experiment.

PMID- 25823214
TI  - Mechanisms for the defects in phospholipid signal transduction in diabetic
      cardiomyopathy.
AB  - Although diabetic cardiomyopathy is associated with heart dysfunction and
      disturbance in cardiac sarcolemmal membrane phospholipid composition, the role of
      the different phospholipases and their related signaling mechanisms to altered
      function of the heart in diabetes is not completely understood. Thus,
      understanding the pathophysiology of cardiovascular abnormalities in diabetes, as
      well as identifying defects in various components of the phospholipid signaling
      pathways, that could serve as therapeutic targets, is warranted. Accordingly,
      this review provides an outline of the role of and the mechanisms for the defects
      in phospholipase A2, C and D-mediated signal transduction in the diabetic heart.
      In addition, the potential of different phospholipases as targets for drug
      development for the prevention/treatment of heart disease in diabetes is
      discussed.

PMID- 25823215
TI  - Implications of fundamental signalling alterations in diabetes mellitus
      associated cardiovascular disease .
AB  - The chronic diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular
      disease. The incidence of cardiovascular disease might be a foremost cause of
      morbidity and mortality in patients afflicted with DM. In fact, DM is associated
      with multi-factorial cardiovascular signalling alterations via significant
      modulation of expression pattern, activation or release of PI3K, PKB, eNOS, EDRF,
      NADPH oxidase, EDHF, CGRP, adenosine, iNOS, ROCK, PKC-beta2, CaMKII, microRNA
      (miR)-126 and miR-130a, which could result in inadequate maintenance of
      cardiovascular physiology and subsequent development of cardiovascular pathology.
      This review highlights the possible adverse implications of fundamental
      cardiovascular signalling alteration in DM-associated cardiovascular disease
      pathology.

PMID- 25823216
TI  - Vascular aneurysms: a perspective.
AB  - Aneurysms develop as a result of chronic inflammation of vascular bed, where
      progressive destruction of structural proteins, especially elastin and collagen
      of smooth muscle cells has been shown to manifest. The underlying mechanisms are
      an increase in local production of proinflammatory cytokines and subsequent
      increase in proteases, especially matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that degrade
      the structural proteins. The plasminogen system: urokinase-type PA (u-PA), tissue
      type PA (t-PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and the MMPs system
      MMPs and TIMPs contribute to the progression and development of aneurysms. Recent
      studies suggest that aneurysms may be genetically determined. To date, most
      observable candidate genes for aneurysm (elastin, collagen, fibrillin, MMPs and
      TIMPs) have been explored with little substantiation of the underlying cause and
      effect. Recently, overexpression of the MMP-2 gene has been suggested as an
      important phenomenon for aneurysm formation. Along with MMPs, matrix formation
      also depends on JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase) as its activation plays important
      role in downregulating several genes of matrix production. Under stress,
      activation of JNK by various stimuli, such as angiotensin II, tumor necrosis
      factor-alpha and interleukin-1beta has been noted significantly in vascular
      smooth muscle cells. Several therapeutic indications corroborate that inhibition
      of MMP-2 and JNK is useful in preventing progression of vascular aneurysms. This
      review deals with the role of proteases in the progression of vascular aneurysm.

PMID- 25823217
TI  - Involvement of the early growth response protein 1 in vascular pathophysiology:
      an overview.
AB  - Hyperactivation of proliferative and growth promoting pathways underlies the
      progression of vessel remodeling, leading to vascular dysfunction. An
      upregulation of early growth response protein 1 (Egr-1), a zinc finger
      transcription factor has been observed in several models of vascular diseases. In
      the vasculature, Egr-1 expression can be induced by multiple hormonal, metabolic
      and external stimuli, such as growth factors, cytokines, reactive oxygen species,
      hyperglycaemia and stretch-induced stress. The structure of the Egr-1 promoter
      allows both its auto-regulation and its binding with several regulatory
      transcription cofactors like the serum response factor and the cAMP response
      element binding protein. Pharmacological and genetic studies have revealed the
      involvement of several signaling pathways that contribute to the expression of
      Egr-1. Among them, the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway has emerged as a
      predominant signaling cascade that regulates Egr-1 transcription in response to
      various stimuli. Moreover, targeted deletion of Egr-1 by DNAzymes, antisense
      oligonucleotides or RNA interference has also helped in defining the importance
      of Egr-1 in the pathophysiology of vascular diseases. Neointimal formation and
      expression of genes directly linked with proinflammatory processes have been
      demonstrated to be enhanced by Egr-1 expression and activity. This review
      provides an overview on the signaling components implicated in Egr-1 expression
      and discusses its potential involvement in vascular pathophysiology.

PMID- 25823218
TI  - Regulation of Gialpha protein expression by vasoactive peptides in hypertension:
      molecular mechanisms.
AB  - Guanine nucleotide regulatory proteins (G proteins) play a key role in the
      regulation of various signal transduction systems, including adenylyl
      cyclase/cAMP and phospholipase C (PLC)/phosphatidyl inositol (PI) turnover, which
      are implicated in the modulation of a variety of physiological functions, such as
      platelet functions, including platelet aggregation, secretion, and clot formation
      and cardiovascular functions, including arterial tone and reactivity. Several
      abnormalities in adenylyl cyclase activity, cAMP levels and G proteins have been
      shown to be responsible for the altered cardiac performance and vascular
      functions observed in cardiovascular disease states. The enhanced or unaltered
      levels of inhibitory G proteins (Gialpha) and mRNA have been reported in
      different models of hypertension, whereas Gsalpha levels are shown to be
      unaltered. The enhanced levels of Gialpha proteins precede the development of
      blood pressure and suggest that overexpression of Gi proteins may be one of the
      contributing factors for the pathogenesis of hypertension. The levels of
      vasoactive peptides including ET-1 and Ang II and growth factors are augmented in
      hypertension and contribute to the enhanced expression of Gialpha proteins in
      hypertension. In addition, oxidative stress due to enhanced levels of Ang II and
      ET-1 is enhanced in hypertension and may also be responsible for the enhanced
      expression of Gialpha proteins observed in hypertension. Furthermore, Ang II- and
      ET-1-induced transactivation of growth factor receptor through the activation of
      MAP kinase signaling is also shown to contribute to the augmented levels of
      Gialpha in hypertension. Thus, it appears that the enhanced levels of vasoactive
      peptides by increasing oxidative stress and transactivation growth factor
      receptors enhance MAP kinase activity that contribute to the enhanced expression
      of Gialpha proteins responsible for the pathogenesis of hypertension. In this
      review, we describe the role of vasoactive peptides and the signaling mechanisms
      responsible for the enhanced expression of Gialpha proteins in hypertension.

PMID- 25823219
TI  - Signaling mechanisms regulating fibroblast activation, phenoconversion and
      fibrosis in the heart.
AB  - Cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) maintain the cardiac extracellular matrix (ECM) through
      myocardial remodelling. The remodelling process can become dysregulated during
      various forms of heart disease which leads to an overall accumulation of ECM.
      This results in cardiac fibrosis which increases the risk of heart failure in
      many patients. During heart disease, quiescent CFs undergo phenoconversion to an
      activated cell type called cardiac myofibroblasts (CMFs). Factors influencing
      phenoconversion include transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) which via
      SMADs (small mothers against decapentaplegic) activates the myofibroblast marker
      gene alphaSMA (alpha smooth muscle actin). Signaling molecules as diverse as
      NAD(P)H oxidase 4 (Nox4) and Wnt have been found to interact with TGF-beta
      signalling via SMADs. Pathways, including FAK/TAK/JNK and PI3K/Akt/rac have also
      been implicated in activating phenoconversion of fibroblasts. Another major
      contributor is mechanical stress exerted on CFs by ECM changes, which involves
      activation of ERK and subsequent alphaSMA expression. Other factors, such as the
      mast cell protease tryptase and the seeding density also affect the
      phenoconversion of fibroblast cultures in vitro. Further, reversal of
      myofibroblast phenotype has been reported by a negative regulator of TGF-beta,
      Ski, as well as the hormone relaxin and the second messenger cAMP. Targeting the
      signaling molecules involved in promoting phenoconversion of CFs to CMFs presents
      a possible method of controlling cardiac fibrosis. Here, we provide a brief
      review of signaling mechanisms responsible for phenoconversion and identify
      critical targets for the treatment of cardiac fibrosis.

PMID- 25823220
TI  - Regulation of cardiac beta3-adrenergic receptors in hyperglycemia.
AB  - Beta-adrenoceptors (beta-AR), members of the G protein-coupled receptors play
      important roles in the regulation of heart function. A positive inotropic action
      of catecholamines is mediated through their interaction with beta-AR, located on
      the sarcolemma, while they can also mediate some deleterious effects, such as
      cardiac arrhythmias or myocardial apoptosis. The well-known beta-AR-associated
      signaling in heart is composed of a coupled mechanism among both beta1- and beta2
      AR and stimulatory G protein (G(s)). This coupled mechanism further leads to the
      activation of adenylyl cyclase and thereby increases in intracellular cAMP level.
      However, recent studies have emphasized the contribution of constitutive beta3-AR
      coupling to G(i) proteins, thereby initiating additional signal transduction
      pathways, particularly under physiopathological conditions. Diabetic
      cardiomyopathy, as a distinct entity is recognized due to its diminished
      responsiveness to beta1-AR agonist stimulation in the heart from diabetic rats
      with no important changes in the responses mediated with beta2-AR. Furthermore,
      an upregulation of beta3-AR has been shown in diabetic rat heart with a strong
      negative inotropic effect on left ventricular function. Experimental data provide
      evidences that the mechanisms for the negative inotropic effect with beta3-AR
      activation appear to involve a pertussis toxin (PTX)-sensitive G protein and the
      activation of a nitric oxide synthase pathway. On the other hand, beta-blockers
      demonstrate marked beneficial effects in heart dysfunction with scavenging free
      radicals and/or acting as an antioxidant with both sex- and dose-dependent
      manner. However, further investigations are needed to clarify the roles of both
      altered expression and/or responsiveness of beta-AR and the benefits with beta
      blocker treatment in diabetes. This review discusses the role of beta-AR
      activation, particularly beta3-AR in cardiac pathological remodeling under
      hyperglycemia.

PMID- 25823221
TI  - Insulin signaling network in cancer.
AB  - The primary function of insulin is viewed as a hormone that controls blood
      glucose level. However, there is growing evidence that aberrant insulin level and
      insulin-mediated signaling can lead to cancer development and progression. The
      insulin-cancer relationship has stemmed from various observational and
      epidemiological studies, which linked higher incidence of cancer with central
      obesity, type II diabetes and other conditions associated with increased levels
      of circulating insulin, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemic states. Increased
      risk of developing a range of cancers is also seen with a certain treatment
      options used to lower blood glucose level in diabetic patients. While metformin
      monotherapy has the lowest risk of developing cancer, in comparison, treatment
      with insulin or insulin secretagogues shows more likelihood to develop solid
      cancers. Cellular signaling initiated by insulin provides a clue regarding these
      diverse cellular outcomes. This review discusses how the insulin enacts such
      diverse physiological effects and the insulin-cancer relationship, with focus on
      the role of insulin signaling in cancer.

PMID- 25823222
TI  - Lung retinoid metabolism and signaling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - There are a number of sites that are required for the production and/or action of
      all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA). In particular, interruption of different
      components of the chain of trafficking and metabolism has been associated with
      cancers arising in numerous organs of the body. Preliminary work suggests that
      such interruptions may be a factor in lung disorders induced by the smoke
      exposure. The active metabolite of retinoid, ATRA offers a therapeutic strategy
      to protect against functional abnormality in the lung, including chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This review deals with the lung retinoid
      metabolism and mediators of retinoid trafficking and signaling with special
      emphasis on their roles in health and disease.

PMID- 25823223
TI  - Regulation of N-myristoyltransferase by the calpain and caspase systems.
AB  - N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) is an essential eukaryotic enzyme which catalyzes
      the transfer of the myristoyl group to the terminal glycine residue of a number
      of proteins including those involved in signal transduction and apoptotic
      pathways. In higher eukaryotes, two isoforms of NMT have been identified (NMT1
      and NMT2) which share about 76% amino acid sequence identity in humans. Protein
      protein interactions of NMTs reveal that m-calpain interacts with NMT1 whereas
      caspase-3 interacts with NMT2. These findings reveal differential interactions of
      both isoforms of NMT with various signaling molecules. This minireview provides
      an overview of the regulation of N-myristoyltransferase by calpain and caspase
      systems.

PMID- 25823224
TI  - Phospholipid remodeling and eicosanoid signaling in colon cancer cells.
AB  - Phospholipid remodeling and eicosanoid synthesis are central to lipid-based
      inflammatory reactions. Studies have revealed that membrane phospholipid
      remodeling by fatty acids through deacylation/reacylation reactions increases the
      risk of colorectal cancers (CRC) by allowing the cells to produce excess
      inflammatory eicosanoids, such as prostaglandins, thromboxanes and leukotrienes.
      Over the years, efforts have been made to understand the lipid remodeling
      pathways and to design anti-cancer drugs targeting the enzymes of eicosanoid
      biosynthesis. Here, we discuss the recent progress in phospholipid remodeling and
      eicosanoid biosynthesis in CRC.

PMID- 25823225
TI  - Signaling pathways in insulin- and IGF-I mediated oocyte maturation in lower
      vertebrates.
AB  - The endocrine control of oocyte maturation in fish and amphibians has proved to
      be a valuable model for investigating the rapid and non-genomic steroid actions
      at the cell surface. Considerable progress has made over the last decade in
      elucidating signaling pathways in steroid-induced oocyte maturation. In addition
      to steroids, various growth factors have also been reported to be involved in
      this process and progress being made to elucidate their mechanism of actions.
      Exposure of fully-grown oocytes to steroids or growth factors (insulin/IGFs)
      initiates various signaling cascade, leading to formation and activation of
      maturation-promoting factor (MPF), a key enzyme that catalyzes entry into M-phase
      of meiosis I and II. Whereas the function of MPF in promoting oocyte maturation
      is ubiquitous, there are differences in signaling pathways between steroids- and
      growth factors-induced oocyte maturation in amphibian and fish. Here, we have
      reviewed the recent advances on the signaling pathways in insulin- and IGF-I
      induced oocyte maturation in these two groups of non-mammalian vertebrates. New
      findings demonstrating the involvement of PI3 kinase and MAP kinase in induction
      of oocyte maturation by insulin and IGF-I are presented.

PMID- 25823226
TI  - Challenges of ionizing radiation in tumor treatment and role of angiogenesis.
AB  - Ionizing radiation is a non-specific, but most widely used therapeutic method for
      cancer treatment. However, a minor fraction of tumor cell population manages to
      survive after radiation. Radiation efficacy depends on adequate oxygen supply.
      Rapid growing tumors cause hypoxia that upregulates many pro-survival pathways.
      At clinical doses, radiation activates inflammatory pathways and causes oxidative
      stress that plays a positive role during angiogenesis. Selective targeting of
      signaling mechanisms may radiosensitize tumors.

PMID- 25823227
TI  - TLR4-mediated activation of MyD88 signaling induces protective immune response
      and IL-10 down-regulation in Leishmania donovani infection.
AB  - In visceral leishmaniasis, a fragmentary IL-12 driven type 1 immune response
      along with the expansion of IL-10 producing T-cells correlates with parasite
      burden and pathogenesis. Successful immunotherapy involves both suppression of IL
      10 production and enhancement of IL-12 and nitric oxide (NO) production. As
      custodians of the innate immunity, the toll-like receptors (TLRs) constitute the
      first line of defense against invading pathogens. The TLR-signaling cascade
      initiated following innate recognition of microbes shapes the adaptive immune
      response. Whereas numerous studies have correlated parasite control to the
      adaptive response in Leishmania infection, growing body of evidence suggests that
      the activation of the innate immune response also plays a pivotal role in disease
      pathogenicity. In this study, using a TLR4 agonist, a Leishmania donovani (LD)
      derived 29 kDa beta 1,4 galactose terminal glycoprotein (GP29), we demonstrated
      that the TLR adaptor myeloid differentiation primary response protein-88 (MyD88)
      was essential for optimal immunity following LD infection. Treatment of LD
      infected cells with GP29 stimulated the production of IL-12 and NO while
      suppressing IL-10 production. Treatment of LD-infected cells with GP29 also
      induced the degradation of IKB and the nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB, as
      well as rapid phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and p54/56 JNK. Knockdown of TLR4 or
      MYD88 using siRNA showed reduced inflammatory response to GP29 in LD-infected
      cells. Biochemical inhibition of p38 MAPK, JNK or NF-kappaB, but not p42/44 ERK,
      reduced GP29-induced IL-12 and NO production in LD-infected cells. These results
      suggested a potential role for the TLR4-MyD88-IL-12 pathway to induce adaptive
      immune responses to LD infection that culminated in an effective control of
      intracellular parasite replication.

PMID- 25823229
TI  - Influence of ultraviolet C bystander effect on inflammatory response in A375 cell
      on subsequent exposure to ultraviolet C or hydrogen peroxide.
AB  - Ultraviolet C (UVC) irradiation (lambda: 200-280 nm) causes release of several
      secretory cytokines responsible for inflammation. Our objective was to
      investigate whether inflammatory response was also induced in bystander cells.
      For this purpose, the conditioned medium containing the released factors from UVC
      irradiated A375 cells was used in this study to evaluate the expression of
      inflammatory markers, such as tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha), nuclear
      factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NFkappaB) and p38 mitogen
      activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) in its bystander cells. Inflammatory
      responses in bystander cells subjected to further irradiation by UVC or other
      damaging agent like H2O2 were also examined. It was observed that TNFalpha,
      NFkappaB and p38 MAPK were not induced in UVC-bystander cells, but their
      expression was suppressed in the UVC-bystander cells treated with UVC or H2O2.
      This lowering in inflammatory response might be due to smaller depletion in the
      reduced glutathione (GSH) content present in these treated bystander cells. The
      study indicated that UVC-induced bystander effect was an intrinsic protective
      response in cells, capable of suppressing inflammation induced in cells on
      exposure to damaging agents.

PMID- 25823228
TI  - Leishmania donovani secretory serine protease alters macrophage inflammatory
      response via COX-2 mediated PGE-2 production.
AB  - Leishmania parasites determine the outcome of the infection by inducing
      inflammatory response that suppresses macrophage's activation. Defense against
      Leishmania is dependent on Th1 inflammatory response by turning off macrophages'
      microbicidal property by upregulation of COX-2, as well as immunosuppressive PGE
      2 production. To understand the role of L. donovani secretory serine protease
      (pSP) in these phenomena, pSP was inhibited by its antibody and serine protease
      inhibitor, aprotinin. Western blot and TAME assay demonstrated that pSP antibody
      and aprotinin significantly inhibited protease activity in the live Leishmania
      cells and reduced infection index of L. donovani-infected macrophages.
      Additionally, ELISA and RT-PCR analysis showed that treatment with pSP antibody
      or aprotinin hold back COX-2-mediated immunosuppressive PGE-2 secretion with
      enhancement of Th1 cytokine like IL-12 expression. This was also supported in
      Griess test and NBT assay, where inhibition of pSP with its inhibitors elevated
      ROS and NO production. Overall, our study implies the pSP is involved in down
      regulation of macrophage microbicidal activity by inducing host inflammatory
      responses in terms of COX-2-mediated PGE-2 release with diminished reactive
      oxygen species generation and thus suggests its importance as a novel drug target
      of visceral leishmaniasis.

PMID- 25823230
TI  - Lys-413 of S-phase mRNA cycling sequence binding protein from Leishmania donovani
      (LdCSBP) is modified through monoubiquitination that is responsible for
      inhibition of its riboendonuclease activity.
AB  - In addition to well-known process of proteasome-mediated degradation of
      polyubiquitinated proteins, monoubiquitination of proteins is also an important
      post-translational modification that regulates various non-degradative cellular
      processes like protein trafficking, cellular signalling, DNA replication and DNA
      repair. We have previously characterized a multi-domain cycling sequence binding
      protein LdCSBP from Leishmania donovani, which binds specifically to a conserved
      CAUAGAAG octamer containing RNAs via its uniquely arranged CCCH type Zn-fingers
      and degrades them using its Smr endonuclease domain, indicative of its potential
      role in the turnover of the S-phase mRNAs. Remarkably, its riboendonuclease
      activity is inhibited due to the incorporation of a monoubiquitin residue in the
      ZnF domain, though the target Lys residue remains unknown. Here, we report
      through systematic mutation of Lys residue to Ala that Lys-413 in LdCSBP is the
      site of monoubiquitination. However, the amino acid motif around the target Lys
      in LdCSBP is not consensus with any previously known monoubiquitination site,
      though partial homology is observed with a subset of recently identified
      mammalian ubiquitination target sites. Interestingly, Lys-413 of LdCSBP is
      conserved in the homologous annotated proteins from the related kinetoplastida
      parasites, suggesting similar monoubiquitination-mediated regulation of RNA
      endonuclease activity in the organisms.

PMID- 25823231
TI  - Herbicide paraquat induces sex-specific variation of neuroinflammation and
      neurodegeneration in Drosophila melanogaster.
AB  - There are several reports on herbicide paraquat (PQ)-induced Parkinsonian-like
      pathology in different animal models, including Drosophila melanogaster. Also,
      the role of some inflammatory factors, such as nitric oxide is reported in PQ
      induced neuroinflammation of Drosophila. Although invertebrate model is valuable
      to study the conserved inflammatory pathway at the time of neurodegeneration, but
      neuroinflammation during PQ-mediated neurodegeneration has not been studied
      explicitly in Drosophila. In this study, the inflammatory response was examined
      in Drosophila model during PQ-induced neurodegeneration. We found that after
      exposure to PQ, survivability and locomotion ability were affected in both sexes
      of Drosophila. Behavioural symptoms indicated similar physiological features of
      Parkinson's disease (PD) in different animal models, as well as in humans. Our
      study revealed alteration in proinflamatory factor, TNF-alpha and Eiger (the
      Drosophila homologue in TNF superfamily) was changed in PQ-treated Drosophila
      both at protein and mRNA level during neurodegeneration. To ensure the occurrence
      of neurodegeneration, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) positive neuronal cell loss was
      considered as a hallmark of PD in the fly brain. Thus, our result revealed the
      conserved inflammatory events in terms of expression of TNF-alpha and Eiger
      present during a sublethal dose of PQ-administered neurodegeneration in male and
      female Drosophila with significant variation in proinflammatory factor level
      among both the sexes.

PMID- 25823232
TI  - [Polymorphism frequency of fibrinogen Bbeta-chain 448Arg and Lys, and the
      differences of plasma fibrinogen level and clotting function with three genotypes
      in Japanese].
AB  - The 448th residue in the fibrinogen Bbeta-chain molecule is known to be
      polymorphic (Arg/Lys, R/K), and its allele frequency was previously estimated to
      be R: 0.85 and K: 0.15 in the US. In the present study, we collected blood
      samples from 64 healthy individuals and examined the frequency of the fibrinogen
      Bbeta-chain 448 polymorphism in the Japanese population as well as the
      relationship between polymorphic types and the function and levels of fibrinogen.
      The polymorphic site was confirmed by MnlI restriction analysis and direct
      sequencing analysis for amplified 860 bp PCR products containing the Bbeta 448
      residue. Fibrinogen plasma levels were estimated based on functional and
      immunological methods. Functional analyses were performed on the R/R, R/K, and
      K/K types using thrombin-catalyzed fibrin polymerization. The R/R type was
      detected in 48 out of 64 subjects, R/K in 15, and K/K in one. Therefore, the
      allele frequency was found to be R: 0.87 and K: 0.13 for the Bbeta 448 site,
      which was similar to that reported previously in the US. The polymorphism did not
      affect fibrinogen plasma levels. The results of the analysis on fibrin
      polymerization of the three types suggested that lateral aggregation may be
      significantly slower in the fibrinogen Bbeta-chain 448R/K and K/K types than in
      the R/R type. (Original).

PMID- 25823233
TI  - Detection of metallo-beta-lactamase genes in clinically isolated Klebsiella
      pneumoniae and Klebsiella oxytoca.
AB  - We detected and characterized metallo-beta-lactamase genes (blaIMP-1 and blaIMP
      11) in third generation cephalosporin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae and
      Klebsiella oxytoca isolated at Showa University Hospital between January 1, 2011
      and December 31, 2012. The cephalosporin-resistant K pneumoniae strains were
      frequently isolated from the urine, while one strain of K. pneumoniae, which was
      resistant to carbapenem, was isolated from the stool. We analyzed the phenotypes
      and genotypes of the metallo-beta-lactamase genes from the 16 strains of
      cephalosporin-resistant-K pneumoniae and 6 strains of -K. oxytoca isolated from
      the same ward. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of imipenem were below 4
      ug/ml in 21 out of the 22 isolated strains. The double disc synergy test using
      ceftazidime and sodium mercaptoacetic acid revealed enlargements in the
      inhibitory zones of 14 of the 16 strains of K. pneumoniae and all 6 strains of K.
      oxytoca. Metallo-beta-lactamase genes were detected in all of the tested strains,
      with blaIMP-1 in 3 K. pneumoniae and 1 K. oxytoca, blaIMP-11 in 13 K pneumoniae
      and 4 K. oxytoca, and both blaIMP-1 and blaIMP-11 in one K. oxytoca. Our results
      indicate that third generation cephalosporin-resistant and imipenem-susceptible
      K. pneumoniae and K. oxytoca possess the metallo-beta-lactamase gene. The active
      surveillance of metallo-beta-lactamase genes should be performed in clinical
      laboratories. (Original).

PMID- 25823234
TI  - [A first case report of empyema caused by Tetratrichomonas species in Japan].
AB  - Trichomonad is a type of flagellate that parasitizes the human oral cavity,
      intestine, or vagina. However, respiratory infection is rare. We report a patient
      with pyothorax related to Tetratrichomonas species, which is the first reported
      case in Japan. The patient was a 66-year-old female. She consulted the Emergency
      Outpatient Unit of our hospital with fever, dyspnea, and the retention of pleural
      effusion. The appearance of the pleural effusion collected by thoracic drainage
      was brown, fetid pus. On microscopy, Trichomonad was detected in the pleural
      effusion. On a gene test, Tetratrichomonas sp. was identified. Based on this
      experience, we propose that non-stained specimens should be examined to detect
      Trichomonad on a puncture fluid test. (Case report).

PMID- 25823235
TI  - [Clinical laboratory tests supporting respiratory disease treatment--chairman's
      introductory remarks].
AB  - The symposium consisted of four parts: history of lung function tests, nitric
      oxide for diagnosis and monitoring of bronchial asthma, radiological and
      functional changes of the lung in COPD, and combined pulmonary fibrosis and
      emphysema (CPFE) occasionally showing almost normal results in lung function
      tests. The history of lung function tests was presented by Dr. Naoko Tojo of the
      Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Nitric oxide tests in clinical use for
      diagnosis and monitoring of bronchial asthma were presented by Dr. Hiroyuki
      Nagase of Teikyo University. Radiological and functional changes of the lung in
      COPD were presented by Dr. Shigeo Muro of Kyoto University. Clinical features of
      combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema and their associated lung function were
      presented by Dr. Daiya Takai of the University of Tokyo. I hope that discussing
      the history of lung function tests until the present was useful for many medical
      technologists. (Review).

PMID- 25823236
TI  - [Pulmonary function testing: history up to the present].
AB  - The main roles of pulmonary function testing are: aiding in the diagnosis,
      assessing disease severity, and monitoring the progress and effects of treatment.
      The spirometric measurements of highest clinical value are the vital capacity(VC)
      and forced expiratory volume in one second(FEV1). Measurements of VC were
      reported in both healthy subjects and patients with respiratory disease during
      the mid-19th century. The VC, however, was little used in clinical medicine until
      the second half of the 20th century. The FEV1, FEV1/VC ratio, and/or FEV1/forced
      vital capacity (FVC) ratio all came into existence after 1950. Pulmonary function
      testing evolved over time into a more complex set of lung function measurements
      using various techniques and devices. If the variability of the results can be
      minimized and the measurement accuracy can be improved, abnormalities will be
      more easily detected. In 2005, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and European
      Respiratory Society (ERS) together published an updated set of standards for
      pulmonary function testing that could be applied more widely. These standards are
      structured to cover definitions, equipment, and patient-related procedures
      commonly applied for many methods of lung function testing. In 2004, the Japanese
      Respiratory Society issued an initial set of recommendations for the standardized
      measurement of VC, FVC, and the single-breath carbon monoxide-diffusing capacity.
      These recommendations have not been updated, and the prediction equations for
      pulmonary function testing have not been fully established. The statements need
      to be periodically updated in accordance with new developments. (Review).

PMID- 25823237
TI  - [The role of pulmonary function and computer-assisted tomography imaging in COPD
      clinics].
AB  - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by the presence of
      airflow limitation caused by a loss of elastic recoil of the lung and/or small
      airway remodeling. Emphysema is the major pathological lesion in COPD, defined as
      the abnormal and permanent enlargement of distal airspaces and destruction of
      alveolar walls. Emphysema correlates most closely with a loss of elastic recoil
      of the lung and is associated with both airflow limitation and loss of diffusion
      capacity, while the airway component contributes mainly to airflow limitation.
      Pulmonary functions reflect these pathological changes and are standard indices
      for "lung physiological abilities", so that these seem to be appropriate to
      evaluate the general lung status in vivo. In CT, emphysema is identified as low
      attenuation and airway wall thickening, and airway lumen narrowing can also be
      quantified. These CT indices shows the morphological changes/abnormalities that
      correspond to pathological changes. Thus, CT indices reflect pathological
      abnormality more precisely and have several advantages over pulmonary functions
      because those can give us regional information that pulmonary function tests
      cannot offer. Through the rigorous investigation of COPD pathophysiology using
      these CT indices, some aspects of the COPD course, such as emphysema progression,
      and the relationship between COPD pathophysiology and systemic manifestations are
      becoming clear. (Review).

PMID- 25823238
TI  - [Combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE)--limitation of usual lung
      function test and challenge at practice].
AB  - Spirometry and the flow-volume curve test are commonly performed lung function
      tests. However, a unique clinical entity occasionally shows almost normal data in
      these tests, and is therefore missed on screening tests. The clinical entity of
      combined pulmonary emphysema and pulmdoary fibrosis was recognized and documented
      in the 90's in Japan, the USA, and Europe. Typical emphysema shows obstructive
      disorders, and pulmonary fibrosis shows restrictive disorders. Thus, the
      combination of both should lead to a combined disorder pattern in lung function
      tests, but this is not the case. In 2005, Cottin reported and redefined this
      combination of emphysema and fibrosis of the lung as "Combined Pulmonary Fibrosis
      and Emphysema" (CPFE). The patients are typically heavily smoking males who show
      an almost normal lung function. The upper lobe of these patients usually shows
      severe emphysema, which contributes to a static volume and a late phase in the
      forced volume test. On the other hand their lower lobe shows fibrotic change. The
      fibrotic portion contributes to early phase flow in the flow-volume curve. These
      mechanisms are a reason for the normal pattern appearance in lung function tests
      in CPFE patients. As a matter of course, these patients have damaged upper and
      lower lobes: their diffusing capacity of the lung shows a low performance, their
      saturation of blood hemoglobin decreases soon after light exercise, and their KL
      6 (a blood marker of pulmonary fibrosis) usually shows a high value. They are
      considered a high risk group regarding complications of post-surgical treatment.
      Thus, when medical technologists identify suspicious cases, they should advise
      doctors to add diffusing capacity and KL-6 tests. (Review).

PMID- 25823239
TI  - [The role of fractional nitric oxide in exhaled breath (FeNO) in clinical
      practice of asthma].
AB  - The measurement of FeNO (fractional nitric oxide concentration in exhaled breath)
      is a noninvasive method to assess airway inflammation. The elevated level of FeNO
      in asthma patients was first reported in 1993, and measurement has been covered
      by insurance in Japan since April 2013. NO is generated through the conversion of
      L-arginine to L-citrulline by the action of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and iNOS
      is highly expressed in asthmatic airways. FeNO is expiratory flow-ependent, and
      measurement at 50 mL/s is recommended. As a nitrate-rich diet and the
      contamination of nasal NO increase, and smoking and spirometry decrease FeNO,
      these factors should be avoided or taken into account when measuring FeNO. For
      clinical application, FeNO may be used for the diagnosis or as a guide to treat
      asthma. Although FeNO correlates well with eosinophilic airway inflammation, it
      is not present in all asthma patients, and eosinophilic bronchitis or a part of
      COPD also shows eosinophilic inflammation. Thus, FeNO may be used as an adjunct
      for asthma diagnosis, and in ATS guideline, it is recommended to use FeNO for the
      diagnosis of eosinophilic airway inflammation and determining the likelihood of
      responsiveness to steroids. Several studies attempted to use FeNO to determine
      the dose of ICS (inhaled corticosteroids) and compared FeNO with traditional
      guideline-based management. The results were inconsistent, and the Cochrane
      review found that FeNO-based treatment did not lead to a reduction in the ICS
      dose or improved asthma outcomes. Nevertheless, a study of a pregnant woman
      showed reduced exacerbations with a refined algorithm, and further research will
      shed light on the appropriate application of FeNO measurement for asthma
      management. In this paper, the mechanism of NO generation, background and method
      of FeNO measurement, and clinical application will be reviewed and an outline of
      the official ATS clinical practice guideline will be introduced.

PMID- 25823240
TI  - [Laboratory tests of serum lipid molecules using mass spectrometry].
AB  - Serum lipids have a variety of molecular frameworks and fatty acid side chains,
      and these molecules include various metabolites and derivatives. Lipid molecules
      influence the physicochemical properties of the plasma membrane and intracellular
      transport, and their metabolites are often bioactive substances. Fatty acid
      molecules are also precursors of lipid mediators, and are involved in the
      regulation of inflammatory reactions. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization
      time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is used in various fields in the
      clinical laboratory. Serum phosphatidylcholine (PC), lysoPCGSphingomyelin,
      triglycerides, cholesterol ester, sulfatide, phosphatidylethanolamine, and
      phosphatidylglycerol can be analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS. We devised an analytical
      procedure for serum ceramide and glycolipids from partially purified serum
      lipids. Investigation of lipid molecular species is used for the characterization
      of disorders of lipid metabolism. MS methods for use in routine laboratory tests
      require both precise and accurate measurement, and sample preparation procedures
      should be both simple and quick. (Review).

PMID- 25823241
TI  - ["How can hospitals develop a beneficial relationship with laboratory testing
      companies?" - Chairmen's introductory remarks].
AB  - The symposium was held with the Japanese Society of Laboratory Medicine and
      JACLaP to discuss the way to develop a beneficial relationship between hospitals
      and laboratory testing companies with co-chairing by Seiji Kawano, Kobe
      University and Toshisuke Morita, Toho University. Clinical testing is considered
      to be essential for medical diagnosis and treatment; however, it is difficult for
      a hospital to perform all clinical testing for various reasons, including cost
      effectiveness. In this session, 4 guest speakers gave a talk from their
      viewpoints. Doctor Kawano talked about the results of a questionnaire filled out
      by 114 university hospitals on how to develop a beneficial relationship between
      hospitalsoand laboratory testing companies. Next, Mr. Shinji Ogawa, president and
      CEO of SRL, talked about favorable ways to utilize laboratory testing companies,
      sayingthat such companies, which have a variety of skills, are expected to offer
      new and advanced technologies to hospitals continuously, and abundant data which
      laboratory testing companies have should be used for the advancement of community
      medicine. Professor Koshiba, Hyogo Medical School, expressed his apprehension to
      develop a so-called branch lab. in university hospitals from his own experience,
      and concluded that a beneficial relationship with companies to perform tasks
      required by hospitals should be sought. The last speaker, Yuichi Setoyama,
      Mitsubishi Chemical Medience, talked about the new relationship between hospitals
      and laboratory testing companies, and emphasized that hospitals and such
      companies should know the strong and weak points of each other and build a
      mutually complementary system. After all presentations were over, a discussion
      with participants was held. Doctors of clinics said that the role of laboratory
      testing companies for large hospitals is different from that for small clinics,
      and such companies are indispensable for his everyday medical activities. Each
      medical institute has its own medical mission, and, therefore, what constitutes a
      beneficial relationship varies with each medical institute. The key to the
      success of building a win-win relationship with laboratory testing companies is
      held by each hospital. (Review).

PMID- 25823242
TI  - [How do hospital clinical laboratories and laboratory testing companies cooperate
      and build reciprocal relations?].
AB  - As the 2nd Joint Symposium of the Japanese Society of Laboratory Medicine and the
      Japanese Association of Laboratory Pathologists, the symposium on clinical test
      out-sourcing and branch laboratories was held at the 60th General Meeting of the
      Japanese Society of Laboratory Medicine on November 2nd, 2013 in Kobe. For the
      symposium, we conducted a questionnaire survey on the usage of clinical test out
      sourcing and the introduction of branch laboratories to clinical laboratories of
      Japanese university hospitals, both private and public, between July 25th and
      August 20th, 2013. Seventy-two hospitals responded to the questionnaire survey,
      consisting of 41 public medical school hospitals and 31 private ones. According
      to the survey, the selection of each clinical test for out-sourcing was mainly
      determined by the capacities of hospital clinical laboratories and their
      equipment, as well as the profitability of each test. The main concerns of
      clinical laboratory members of university hospitals involved the continuity of
      measurement principles, traceability, and standardization of reference values for
      each test. They strongly requested the interchangeability and computerization of
      test data between laboratory testing companies. A branch laboratory was
      introduced to six hospitals, all of which were private medical college hospitals,
      out of 72 university hospitals, and eight of the other hospitals were open to its
      introduction. The merits and demerits of introducing a branch laboratory were
      also discussed. (Review).

PMID- 25823243
TI  - [Quality use of commercial laboratory for clinical testing services - considering
      laboratory's role].
AB  - The number of commercial laboratories for clinical testing in Japan run privately
      has decreased to about 30 companies, and their business is getting tougher.
      Branch Lab. and FMS businesses have not expanded recently due to the new
      reimbursement system which adds an additional sample management fee, becoming
      effective in 2010. This presentation gives an outline of each role for hospital
      and commercial laboratories, and their pros & cons considering the current
      medical situation. Commercial laboratories have investigated how to utilize ICT
      systems for sharing test information between hospitals and our facilities. It
      would be very helpful to clarify issues for each hospital. We will develop and
      create new values for clinical laboratory testing services and forge mutually
      beneficial relationships with medical institutions. (Review).

PMID- 25823244
TI  - [Discussing the usefulness of companion diagnostics - introductory remarks by
      chairpersons].
AB  - Personalized medicine has been expected to be utilized in daily practice since
      the international human genome project completed sequencing of the entire genome
      in 2003. The aim of personalized medicine is to treat patients effectively and
      safely based on the genome characteristics of each patient, or to choose the
      right drug for the right patient at the right time and at the right dose.
      Regulatory agencies such as the United States Food and Drug Administration(FDA)
      and Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), Japan implemented guidance
      to facilitate the co-development of drugs and companion diagnostics. For the
      practice of personalized medicine, companion diagnostic tests are essential,
      although their availability is limited.

PMID- 25823245
TI  - [Team approaches to critical bleeding (massive bleeding and transfusion) -
      chairmen's introductory remarks. Questionnaire survey on current status of
      hospital clinical laboratories evaluating critical hemorrhage].
AB  - In 2007, "the Guidelines for Actions against Intraoperative Critical Hemorrhage"
      were established by the Japanese Society of Anaesthesiologists and the Japanese
      Society of Blood transfusion and Cell Therapy. The documentation of in-hospital
      procedures for critical hemorrhage, especially about how to select RBC units, has
      widely standardized hospital practice. Patients with intraoperative critical
      hemorrhage sometimes suffer from massive blood loss. In this situation, some
      patients develop coagulopathy. To treat them, we need to evaluate their
      coagulation status based on laboratory test results. So, we performed a
      nationwide questionnaire survey on the current status of hospital clinical
      laboratories evaluating critical hemorrhage. From the results of this survey, it
      was recommended that central hospital laboratories should try to reduce the turn
      around time required to test for coagulation parameters as much as possible for
      appropriate substitution therapy. (Review).

PMID- 25823246
TI  - [Present status of critical hemorrhage and its management in the operating room].
AB  - Hemorrhage is a major cause of cardiac arrest in the operating room. Many human
      factors, including surgical procedures, transfusion practices, blood supply, and
      anesthetic management, are involved in the process that leads to hemorrhage
      developing into a critical situation. It is desirable for hospital transfusion
      committees to prepare hospital-based regulations on 'actions to be taken to
      manage critical hemorrhage', and practice the implementation of these regulations
      with simulated drills. If intraoperative hemorrhage may become critical, a state
      of emergency should immediately be declared to the operating room staff, the
      blood transfusion service staff, and blood bank staff in order to organize a
      systematic approach to the ongoing problem and keep all responsible staff working
      outside the operating room informed of events developing in the room. To rapidly
      deal with critical hemorrhage, not only cooperation between anesthesiologists and
      surgeons but also linkage of operating rooms with blood transfusion services and
      a blood bank are important. When time is short, cross-matching tests are omitted,
      and ABO-identical red blood cells are used. When supplies of ABO-identical red
      blood cells are not available, ABO-compatible, non-identical red blood cells are
      used. Because a systematic, not individual, approach is required to prevent and
      manage critical hemorrhage, whether or not a hospital can establish a procedure
      to deal with it depends on the overall capability of critical and crisis
      management of the hospital. (Review).

PMID- 25823247
TI  - [Management of massive transfusion - the role of the blood transfusion service].
AB  - Massive transfusion (hemorrhage) is defined as blood transfusion exceeding the
      circulatory blood volume within 24 hours. Here, we investigated cases of massive
      transfusion, defined as transfusion of more than 21 units of red blood cells
      within 24 hours, in our institution in the period from August 2005 to March 2013.
      Massive transfusion accounted for approximately 1% of all blood transfusions in
      our institution, and the majority were cardiac surgery cases (75%), with 80% of
      the cases receiving blood transfusion irtfhe operating theater. Brain-dead heart
      and liver transplantations were started in our hospital in 2006. Due to the
      revision of the Organ Transplantation Law in July 2010, brain-dead organ
      donations increased in Japan. Massive transfusion was required in approximately
      47% of heart and 41% of liver transplants, with 44% of the transplants being
      conducted on holidays, and 47% at night. Therefore, the implementation of a 24
      hour duty system for medical technologists, including holidays, is essential for
      the prompt testing and supply of blood products. For improvement of the safety of
      blood supply, a computer network system, connecting the blood control system of
      the blood transfusion service, the anesthetic system of the operating theater,
      and the hospital general medical system, was implemented in our hospital in March
      2007. In the operating theater, anesthetists can request blood products, order
      new blood products, cross-check the provided blood products, and register their
      use, using this system. At the blood transfusion service, the blood products to
      be provided are cross- checked against the anesthetists' requests. Through this
      system, the anesthetists and blood transfusion service staff can check the list
      of blood products available for the surgical patient as well as those already
      transfused, on a real-time basis. For analysis of the improvements achieved, we
      compared the number of non-used blood units, i.e., the number of those provided
      minus the number of transfused units in the surgical theater, in the period after
      (2009-2012) and before (2005-2006) the implementation of this computer network
      system. In the period after its implementation, the number of non-used units
      decreased from 17.4 units to 7.5 units (P<0.001), leading us to conclude that
      this system helped avoid the excessive ordering of blood products by the
      anesthetists. (Review).

PMID- 25823248
TI  - [Contribution of central hospital laboratory to critical bleeding].
AB  - It has been reported that fibrinogen products, such as fibrinogen concentrates,
      cryoprecipitate (CRYO), and fresh frozen plasma, are beneficial for treating
      coagulopathy due to massive blood transfusion. For the appropriate use of these
      products, it is necessary to evaluate the status of coagulopathy and determine
      the trigger level of the fibrinogen concentration for the administration of
      fibrinogen products. In our institution, we established a treatment procedure for
      coagulopathy due to massive transfusion in 2011. This procedure includes
      determination of the trigger level for administration of CRYO (150 mg/dL), timing
      of sample collection for the evaluation of coagulation parameters (prothrombin
      time, activated partial thromboplastin time, and fibrinogen) and concentration
      status during the operation, and a method for rapid coagulation testing
      (turnaround time within 15 minutes) in critical bleeding. Since 2011, we have
      performed 56 rapid coagulation tests for patients suffering from critical
      bleeding. The average turnover time was 13 minutes. According to the rapid
      coagulation test results, CRYO was administered to 27 patients. These results are
      satisfactory for treating critical bleeding patients. We stress the need for the
      establishment of a rapid coagulation test system in the central hospital
      laboratory. (Review).

PMID- 25823249
TI  - [How to establish a medical team for patients with critical bleeding].
AB  - The medical guidelines for critical bleeding were published by several medical
      societies, and they declared the importance of approaches by teams composed of
      various kinds of medical staff. A medical team dealing with critical bleeding is
      characterized as an ad hoc type team, since the team is inactivated after its
      individual work is finished. Its characteristics are: 1)it is hard to predict
      when to be organized, 2) extremely rapid responses are required, and 3) staff
      outside the hospital,such as the Red Cross Society, are involved. To promote
      medical teams, it is very important: 1)to standardize the public guidelines for
      individual hospitals, 2) to define the roles of staff with their affiliations,
      posts, and phone numbers, 3) to simulate events, and 4) to have irregular but
      continuous meetings. Furthermore, it is important to involve manufacturers in our
      activities for innovating new test apparatuses or systems, and also to stress the
      significance of such team approaches to the nation and government, such as the
      Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, in order to secure additional points in
      the health insurance payment system. (Review).

PMID- 25823250
TI  - Push to modify payment must overcome strong fee-for-service legacy system.

PMID- 25823251
TI  - Endoscope infections at Virginia Mason prompt broader safety fears.

PMID- 25823252
TI  - CMS' dialysis-clinic ratings won't help patients, critics charge.

PMID- 25823253
TI  - 2017 is new goal for interoperability.

PMID- 25823254
TI  - Enrollers bank on late Obamacare surge.

PMID- 25823255
TI  - Indiana Medicaid expansion may spur other state cost-sharing proposals.

PMID- 25823256
TI  - Backers of mental health overhaul see bigger role for inpatient care. Re
      institutionalization push.

PMID- 25823257
TI  - Making healthcare environments safer for seniors.

PMID- 25823258
TI  - Beware vaporware on value-based care.

PMID- 25823259
TI  - Data-driven medicine requires infrastructure investment and regulatory reform.

PMID- 25823260
TI  - Dedicated panel sets executive pay.

PMID- 25823261
TI  - Partnerships can be effective in building your network.

PMID- 25823262
TI  - Largest U.S. teaching hospitals. Ranked by total number of residents and interns
      based on Medicare cost report data, 2013.

PMID- 25823263
TI  - [Prevention of noncommunicable diseases in a local therapist's practice: content,
      problems, solution ways, and prospects].
AB  - High-risk and secondary prevention strategies for noncommunicable diseases in
      primary health care are mainly implemented by local therapists. The large-scale
      clinical examination of an adult population (a high-risk strategy), which has
      been launched in the country since 2013 to solve the problems of detecting people
      with noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors and making a prevention
      counseling, is simultaneously a mechanism for the formation of a full therapeutic
      area passport to identify follow-up groups (a secondary prevention strategy).
      Currently, there is an obviously insufficient follow-up of inadequate quality.
      The reasons for this situation are a lack of regular training of local doctors in
      follow-up in addition to staff shortages. Medical teachers and professional
      communities working on the basis of common guidelines must be attracted to solve
      this problem. The actual introduction of a local therapist's efficient
      performance measures, the setting up of special structures in charge of primary
      care prevention in the health authorities, and the active involvement of medical
      prevention and health centers (for people at high risk in the absence of proven
      non-communicable diseases) in this process will be able to enhance the efficiency
      of a follow-up. Information technologies, including a tele-follow-up, are an
      important reserve in implementing the high-risk and secondary prevention
      strategies.

PMID- 25823264
TI  - [Russian and regional performance indices of local therapists].
AB  - AIM: To analyze the statistical indicators of a local therapist's performance in
      the Russian Federation and its districts in the 2008- 2012 period. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: The authors analyzed staffing and understaffing in the federal districts
      with respect to the Russian Federation, a doctor's actual function and its
      deviation ratio, staffing of local therapists, secondary employment coefficient,
      and the total number of physician visits with the ratio of the number of
      home/polyclinic ones. RESULTS: The staffing of local therapists was steady-state
      in the country as a whole in the period analyzed. At the same time, there was a
      decline in staffing. The performance of doctors everywhere is greater than the
      recommended one since 2009. There was a reduction in the number of visits to
      local therapists in both the country as a whole and its regions, with more visits
      being made by rural dwellers. CONCLUSION: The current approach to the standards
      for the load and number of physicians should determine needs for specialists of
      this profile and become a major part to solve the problem of delivering available
      and high-quality primary outpatient care to the population of Russia.

PMID- 25823265
TI  - [Gender differences in health awareness and attitudes as a subjective-objective
      health index in the population of Russia/Siberia (WHO MONICA-psychosocial
      program, HAPIEE project)].
AB  - AIM: To establish gender differences in health attitudes and awareness of risk
      factors for cardiovascular diseases in an open 25-64-year-old population of
      Russia/Siberia. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A representative sample from the population
      of a Novosibirsk district was examined using the 1988 WHO MONICA-MOPSY (847 women
      and 739 men aged 25-64 years) and the 2003 HAPIEE (1074 women and 576 men aged 45
      64 years) programs. The health awareness and attitudes questionnaire was used.
      RESULTS: The number of persons who considered perfectly healthy was minimal (2%)
      in the open Siberian population aged 25-64 years. The view of health in the women
      proved to be more pessimistic than that in the men. The fact that two thirds of
      the population could fall ill with a serious disease in the coming 5-10 years was
      accepted. Mainly the men took the view that modern medicine might prevent heart
      disease. The men were regularly examined 2 to 3 times more often than the women.
      The latter versus the men were less frequently inclined to stop work if they felt
      not quite well on-site, with the difference being more marked in old age groups.
      The majority of the study participants considered preventive examination to be
      useful for health. At the same time only a small portion of the population itself
      undergoes examination. CONCLUSION: The changed socioeconomic situation in the
      country leads to the need to alter the established stereotypes of conscience and
      behavior of the population in health and to realize the need for personal
      responsibility for health.

PMID- 25823266
TI  - [The frequency of potentially inappropriate medication use according to the
      Beers' criteria in elderly people at the therapy departments of a
      multidisciplinary hospital].
AB  - AIM: To analyze the frequency of potentially inappropriate medication use
      according to the Beers' criteria in elderly people at the therapy departments of
      a hospital. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Case histories of 150 patients over 65 years of
      age (47 men and 103 women at the age of 79.0 +/- 15.5 years) treated at the
      therapy department of a multidisciplinary hospital were analyzed to estimate the
      frequency of potentially inappropriate medication use in elderly people according
      to the Beers' criteria in the 4-month period: from March to June 2013. Each
      treatment sheet was checked against the so-called Beers' list (supported by the
      American Geriatric Associated in 2012) to reveal the use of potentially
      inappropriate medications. RESULTS: An average of 6.4 +/- 4.0 drugs was
      simultaneously used in the patients. In 61 (40.67%) patients, the treatment
      sheets showed 78 potentially inappropriate medications that should be avoided by
      the elderly. Twenty-one (14%) patients were noted to use 24 potentially
      inappropriate drugs that should be avoided by elderly patients with definite
      diseases and syndromes. Fifty (33.3%) patients were observed to have taken the
      drugs that should be used with great caution. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest
      that the elderly patients frequently receive potentially inappropriate
      medications; as a result their benefits can be overweighed by the risk.

PMID- 25823267
TI  - [Identification of circulatory diseases and their risk during medical examination
      of an adult population: methodological aspects].
AB  - AIM: To study the efficiency of a methodology for the active detection of
      coronary heart disease (CHD) and cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) during medical
      examination and to determine the need and possible ways of its improvement.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The medical examinations of 19.4 million people (94.6% of
      all the citizens who had undergone medical examinations in all the regions of
      Russia in 2013) were analyzed and the methodological aspects of identification of
      the circulatory diseases (CDs) that were induced by coronary and cerebral vessel
      atherosclerosis and had common risk factors, primarily CHD and CVD, were
      assessed. RESULTS: The medical examinations revealed 2,915,445 cases of CDs and
      their suspicions, during which its clinical diagnosis was established in 57.2%.
      The suspected disease requiring that its diagnosis should be further specified;
      off-medical examinations revealed hypertension in more than 770,000 cases, CHD in
      232,000, and CVD in 146,000. The proportion of stable angina pectoris of all
      angina cases was much higher at a young age (25.6%) than at middle (15.6%) and
      elderly (11.3%) ages. Brachiocephalic artery stenoses were detected in almost
      13,000 cases. According to the official health statistics, within the years
      preceding the introduction of large-scale medical examinations, there was a
      slight rise in new CD cases among the adult population of Russia, which was more
      significant in 2013 (according to the preliminary data) than in 2012. CONCLUSION:
      The methodology for the active detection of CDs through a two-step medical
      examination, which is used during a follow-up, makes it possible to substantially
      increase detection rates for CDs. There has been shown to be a need for the
      better quality and completeness of diagnostic examination in real practice.

PMID- 25823268
TI  - [Refralon (niferidil) is a new class III antiarrhythmic agent for pharmacological
      cardioversion for persistent atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter].
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of refralon (niferidil), a new class III
      antiarrhythmic agent whose activity is related to the block of delayed rectifying
      potassium current and to the prolongation of atrial and ventricular action
      potential and refractory periods, when it is used as an agent for pharmacological
      cardioversion for atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial flutter (AFL). SUBJECTS AND
      METHODS: The efficacy of the drug as 3 intravenous boluses of 10 MUg/kg was
      evaluated in 134 patients (90 men; 57.8 +/- 11 years) with a mean AF duration of
      3 (1.5; 6) months. Its effect was controlled by 24-hour Holter ECG monitoring.
      The criterion for its antiarrhythmic effect was 24-hour sinus rhythm (SR)
      recovery. RESULTS: Niferidil restored SR in 47.7% of the patients with AF after
      administration of bolus 1, in 62% after bolus 2, and in 84.6% after bolus 3. SR
      was restored in all 100% patients with AFL. With the AF duration of less than 3
      months, the efficacy of niferidil was 91.8%. There was nonsustained polymorphic
      ventricular tachycardia (VT) (torsade de pointes) in 1 (0.7%) patient and
      nonsustained monomorphic VT was stated in 5 (3.7%) patients. CONCLUSION>
      Pharmacological cardioversion with niferidil for persistent AF and VT may be
      regarded as a possible alternative to electrical cardioversion.

PMID- 25823269
TI  - [Impact of bosentan therapy on stress-induced pulmonary hypertension in patients
      with systemic sclerosis].
AB  - AIM: To describe hemodynamic and clinical changes in patients with elevated mean
      pulmonary artery pressure (MPAP) > 30 mm Hg during exercise and the impact of
      bosentan therapy on stress-induced pulmonary hypertension (SIPH). SUBJECTS AND
      METHODS: The study included 19 patients with systemic sclerosis (SDS) in whom
      possible causes of pulmonary hypertension (PH) (lung and left heart injuries and
      thromboembolism) were excluded. All the patients underwent pulmonary artery
      catheterization at rest and during exercise. The hemodynamic (right atrial
      pressure (RAP), systolic and diastolic pressure, MPAP, pulmonary artery wedge
      pressure (PAWP), cardiac output (CO) by a thermodilution technique), clinical
      (demographic, immunological, and instrumental) parameters were analyzed and the
      risk of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) was also calculated; 5 patients
      with SIPH received 16-week bosentan therapy according to the conventional
      regimen. RESULTS: Ten of the 19 patients were at increased risk for PAH in
      accordance with the DETECT scale, but no signs of PH at resting catheterization
      were found in anybody. In 5 patients, MPAP, was in the range from 21 to 24 mm Hg;
      in 9 (47%) patients were found to have SIPH, a median MPAP of 35 (32; 41) mm Hg.
      Seven patients had no diagnostic changes during exercise; 3 patients could not
      perform an exercise test. There were correlations between MPAP and DETECT risk
      scores (p < 0.05). The patients with SIPH had significantly higher levels of
      resting MPAP and exercise pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and PAWP. The
      calculated DETECT risk was significantly higher in the SIPH group. The level of
      uric acid was also higher in the SIPH group (p < 0.05). There were no changes in
      NT-proBNP levels, telangiectasias and anti-centromere antibodies, and EchoCG and
      lung test results. During 16-week bosentan therapy, there was a significant
      decrease in MPAP and transpulmonary gradient during exercise, but PVR, MPAP/CO
      ratio and NT-proBNP levels tended to decrease. CONCLUSION: In the patients with
      SDS, SIPH may be a stage of pulmonary vasculopathy that precedes the development
      of clinical PAH. The use of current PAH-specific drugs used at the preclinical
      stage of the disease may substantially improve lifetime prognosis in patients
      with SDS-associated PAH.

PMID- 25823270
TI  - [Prevalence of some modified cardiovascular risk factors among young students].
AB  - AIM: To estimate the prevalence of some modified cardiovascular risk factors
      (RFs) among the students of two Moscow higher education institutions to further
      test the technology of individual medical prevention counseling. SUBJECTS AND
      METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1912 first-year students
      (boys and girls, mean age 17.7 years) from 2 Moscow higher education institutions
      to reveal physical activity levels, smoking status, alcohol abuse, and food
      addictions. RESULTS: Almost one third of the students (mainly girls) lead a
      sedentary lifestyle. The mean age at onset of smoking is 14.8 years. At the
      moment, the smoking students are 22% (28% of boys and 18% of girls). 12.2% of the
      respondents have moderate and high nicotine dependence. Most smokers demonstrate
      low motivation to give up smoking. The mean age for alcohol consumption is 15.8
      years. 60% of the students use alcohol. There are no great differences in the
      drinking of alcoholic beverages between the girls and boys. 18% of the study
      sample students eat irregularly. Nearly 50% of the students add salt to cooked
      foods. 17% of the students eat too much sugar; more than 50% take sugar- and fat
      laden foods. 54% of the students use vegetables and fruits insufficiently.
      CONCLUSION: Among all the modified cardiovascular RFs, alcohol use and irrational
      nutrition are most common among the students. Smoking and low physical activity
      are also relevant problems although these indicators among the students of Moscow
      are lower than among those in other regions of the Russian Federation. The found
      patterns call for the increased attention of the administrations of higher
      education institutions.

PMID- 25823271
TI  - [Clinicoeconomic effectiveness of using psychotherapy to treat patients with
      essential hypertension].
AB  - AIM: To assess the expediency of psychotherapy in patients with essential
      hypertension (EH) from clinical and economic standpoints. SUBJECTS AND METHODS:
      Seventy-five (37 men, 38 women) with grades 1-2 EH (blood pressure (BP) was
      140/90 to 179/109 mm Hg) and the verified psychosomatic background of the
      disease) were examined and randomized into 2 groups (the mean age in Groups 1 and
      2 was 48.5 +/- 3.69 and 47.5 +/- 4.2 years, respectively). All the patients
      received medical therapy using the same regimen; however, Group 1 patients had
      additionally psychotherapy. The decrease in BP and the average number of visits
      required to reach goal BP were estimated as a criterion for therapeutic
      effectiveness. A pharmacoeconomic analysis of antihypertensive therapy was made
      in each group. RESULTS: The average cost for 24 weeks was 349.67 rbl per person
      in Group 1 and 435.9 rbl in Group 2, which was 19.78% cheaper. The costs of
      reductions in systolic-BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were also lower in Group 1
      (-22.108 and -39.534 rbl, respectively). At the same time, goal BP was achieved
      more rapidly in Group 1 (in Groups 1 and 2, the reduction in SBP was 5.28 and
      3.38 mm Hg weekly and that in DBP was 2.51 and 1.73 mm Hg weekly, respectively).
      This makes it possible to lower a physicians' load and to save timing budget (p >
      0.032). CONCLUSION: The treatment policy in Group 1 surpassed that in Group 2 in
      the rate of BP normalization and the number of required visits to a physician and
      showed significant economic benefits.

PMID- 25823272
TI  - [Association of cognitive impairments with carbohydrate and lipid metabolic
      parameters in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients undergoing coronary bypass
      surgery].
AB  - AIM. To comparatively analyze neuropsychological parameters in patients with
      coronary artery disease (CAD) depending on the presence of type 2 diabetes
      mellitus (DM) and to evaluate their relationship to carbohydrate and lipid
      metabolic parameters. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Fifty-two male patients with type 2
      DM (mean age 58.0 +/- 5.7 years) and 46 male patients without this condition
      (mean age 57.1 +/- 6.2 years) were examined. Besides standard clinical
      examination, neurophysiological testing and determinations of glycated hemoglobin
      (HbA(1c),) and insulin concentrations, QUICKI index, and blood lipid profile were
      made. RESULTS: The patients with DM differed from those without DM in the lower
      speeds of sensorimotor reactions during neurodynamic testing and in worse
      attention values. In the patients with type 2 DM, the worse neuropsychological
      status was associated with the higher plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin,
      HbA(1c), total cholesterol, low-density lipoproteins, and triglycerides and with
      the lower levels of high-density lipoproteins. These relationships were not
      observed in the patients without DM. CONCLUSION: The patients with CAD concurrent
      with DM had a worse neurophysiological status than those without DM. Only the DM
      group demonstrated a relationship between cognitive impairments and carbohydrate
      metabolic markers. Carbohydrate and lipid metabolic disturbances may be assumed
      to make a negative contribution to the development of cognitive impairments in
      patients with CAD concurrent with type 2 DM.

PMID- 25823273
TI  - [Cardiovascular diseases in the population of industrial towns and environmental
      factors].
AB  - AIM: To study the influence of environmental factors (EFs) on the development of
      cardiovascular diseases in the population of industrial towns of the Republic of
      Kazakhstan. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The investigation covered an 18-59-year-old
      adult population who had been living in the urbanized areas of the Republic of
      Kazakhstan for at least 10 years, who worked in harmless conditions and were
      unregistered as having chronic diseases. At Stage 1, screening (a therapist's
      examination, blood general and immunological tests, and electrocardiography) was
      carried out for risk group persons who underwent in-depth clinical examination
      (blood biochemical test) at Stage 2. RESULTS: Multivariate statistical analysis
      has revealed that the development of hypertension is associated with the high
      concentration of sulfur dioxide in atmospheric air, copper in dust sediments, and
      zinc in soil and that of coronary heart disease (CHD) is related to the high
      levels of nitrogen dioxide in atmospheric air and zinc in dust sediments.
      CONCLUSION: Based on pathogenetic and statistical data and information available
      in the literature, hypertension and CHD are referred to as the diseases that may
      result from the influence of EFs.

PMID- 25823274
TI  - [Lung ultrasonography for the diagnosis of pneumonia in pregnant women with blood
      system tumors].
AB  - AIM: To estimate the informative value of ultrasonography (USG) in the diagnosis
      of lung injuries in pregnant women with blood system tumors. SUBJECTS AND
      METHODS: Lung ultrasound was performed in 5 pregnant patients with blood cancers.
      The women's age was 29-38 years; gestational age was 14-33 weeks. Four women had
      different types of acute leukemia; one had primary mediastinal large B-cell
      lymphoma. All the women received chemotherapy for blood cancer. When there were
      signs of lung injury, USG was conducted, the results of which necessitated
      therapy or bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). RESULTS: Three patients developed acute
      respiratory failure; 2 of them required noninvasive ventilation. Based on the
      detection of consolidation with a dynamic air bronchogram and pleural effusion,
      the authors diagnosed bilateral pneumonia and alveolar-interstitial syndrome in 1
      patient, right-sided pneumonia in 1, left-sided one in 1, and transfusion-related
      pulmonary edema in 1. Lung ultrasound did not verify the diagnosis of pneumonia
      in 1 patient. According to USG data, BAL procedures were performed in 2 patients;
      one of them was diagnosed as having Pneumocystis pneumonia; the other was found
      to have no pathogens in lavage fluid. Treatment resulted in clinical improvements
      and normalization of the lung ultrasound pattern in all the pregnant women. Later
      on, 4 women delivered via cesarean section done at 32-34 weeks' gestation and
      gave birth to healthy babies. One patient died from infectious complications
      after chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: Lung sound may be used to diagnose lung injury in
      pregnant women with blood cancers.

PMID- 25823275
TI  - [Clinical efficacy of arbidol (umifenovir) in the therapy of influenza in adults:
      preliminary results of the multicenter double-blind randomized placebo-controlled
      study ARBITR].
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Arbidol (umifenovir) in adult
      patients with influenza. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The analysis of the preliminary
      results of the multicenter double-blind randomized placebo-controlled post
      marketing study ARBITR was performed. A total of 293 adults aged 18 to 65 years
      with influenza or acute respiratory tract infection of no more than 36 hours'
      duration were enrolled in the study. Individuals were randomized into 2 treatment
      groups: oral umifenovir 200 mg four times daily for 5 days or placebo four times
      daily for 5 days. The efficacy endpoints were time to resolution of all symptoms,
      severity of symptoms and illness, durations of virus shedding. RESULTS: The
      efficacy of umifenovir was evaluated in the group of 119 (40.6%) patients with
      influenza: 45 patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza and 74 patients whom
      diagnosis of influenza was made based on clinical and epidemiological data.
      Umifenovir had influence on the time to resolution of all symptoms. All symptoms
      were resolved within the first 60 hours after therapy initiation in 23.8%
      patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza in the umifenovir group and it was
      5.7 times greater compared to placebo group (4.2%) (p < 0.05). Severity of
      illness, catarrhal symptoms and intoxication was reduced with umifenovir compared
      to placebo, reducing of severity was most evidently observed within the first 2-3
      days following the therapy initiation. Umifenovir had a significant effect on
      viral shedding. The proportion of patients still shedding influenza virus on day
      4 was significantly reduced in the umifenovir group compared to placebo (25 vs
      53%, respectively; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: It was found that the effect of
      umifenovir in the treatment of influenza in adults is most pronounced in the
      acute stage of the disease and appears in the reduction of time to resolution of
      all symptoms of the disease, reducing the severity of symptoms of the disease and
      durations of virus shedding.

PMID- 25823276
TI  - [Common variable hypogammaglobulinemia: the author's observation].
AB  - The paper gives a case history of a patient with common variable
      hypogammaglobulinemia (CVHGG). Its clinical picture was characterized by frequent
      inflammatory airway diseases, pansinusitis, and periodic rises in temperature up
      to febrile ones. The diagnosis was established on the basis of the decreased
      serum concentrations of immunoglobulins (IG) A, M, and G, the unusual small
      intestinal (SI) wall relief created by large lymphoid follicles, as well as the
      characteristic sign of CVHGG, namely, the lack of plasma cells in the lamina
      propria of the SI mucosa. Antibacterial therapy was noted to have a good effect
      that confirmed the leading role of excessive bacterial growth in the pathogenesis
      of chronic diarrhea and fever, which are the major clinical manifestations of
      CVHGG in this patient.

PMID- 25823277
TI  - [Arterial hypertension: an expanding pathogenic continuum and therapeutic
      limitations].
AB  - The paper considers the role of the immune system, endoplasmic network stress,
      metabolic dysregulation, and epigenetic mechanisms in the pathogenesis of
      essential hypertension, as well as the limited possibilities of therapy with
      existing antihypertensive agents.

PMID- 25823278
TI  - [Renal dysfunction in patients with myocardial infarction concurrent with type 2
      diabetes mellitus].
AB  - Carbohydrate metabolic disturbances are an independent risk factor for not only
      the development, but also poor course of cardiovascular diseases, particularly
      those concurrent with renal dysfunction (RD). This factor acquires particular
      relevance due to the fact that the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus
      significantly continues to rise worldwide. The review considers the main
      mechanisms and common components of the pathogenesis of RD, as well as the
      constituents forming its basis in the presence of carbohydrate metabolic
      disturbances. Moreover, it highlights the timely detection of RD, a search for
      new biomarkers of prognostic value for cardiovascular events, and the early
      diagnosis of RD. The review unveils the present view of optimal diagnostic and
      management tactics for patients with myocardial infarction concurrent with
      background diseases.

PMID- 25823279
TI  - [Specific features of neurological complications developing in patients with type
      2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome: possibility for correction and
      prevention].
AB  - The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and preceding metabolic
      disturbances has reached epidemic proportions. Oxidative stress plays a
      significant role in the development of micro- and macrovascular complications in
      patients with DM. The accumulation of free radicals is responsible for the
      development of systemic and vascular inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and
      hypercoagulable and ischemic states. Since vascular and nervous system damages do
      not level off even under adequate glycemic control, there is a need for complex
      pathogenetic treatment strategies. Antioxidant therapy using mexidol is one of
      the compulsory components of combination therapy for complications of DM.

PMID- 25823280
TI  - [Significance of surfactant proteins in the diagnosis of therapeutic diseases].
AB  - The lung provides not only respiration, but also the functioning of innate
      immunity mechanisms. The hydrophilic proteins SP-A and SP-D are responsible for
      the regulation of the latter. In the literature, there is evidence for elevated
      serum SP-A and SP-D levels in respiratory diseases accompanied by enhanced
      mucosal inflammation of the lung or its parenchymal injury and their association
      with age and cardiovascular diseases has been recently found. Studies of the
      efficiency of using SP-A and SP-D as specific markers for inflammatory lung
      diseases are presently worthwhile.

PMID- 25823281
TI  - [An important stage in the development of field therapy (on the 70th anniversary
      of victory in the Great Patriotic War)].
AB  - Much previous experience accumulated by physicians in various wars and local
      military conflicts provides strong evidence that it is necessary to set up a
      harmonious system to deliver therapeutic care during wartime, which is based on
      the unity of views on the origin, course, and treatment of pathological processes
      having regard to the specific conditions under which armed forces are involved in
      combat operations. This all has given rise to the new branch of therapy--field
      therapy. The Great Patriotic War was the most important stage in the development
      of Russian field therapy, which was characterized by the setting up of the
      effective and scientifically ground system to deliver therapeutic care to the
      wounded and patients, which was based on the tenets of a uniform field medical
      doctrine.

PMID- 25823282
TI  - [Changes in the expression of Bcl-2 antiapoptotic protein in rat neocortex and
      hippocampus under the influence of various modes of hypobaric hypoxia].
AB  - Using immunocytochemical method, the level of expression of Bcl-2 antiapoptotic
      factor was studied in neurons of the neocortex and hippocampus in 72 male Wistar
      rats exposed to damaging severe hypoxia (SH), moderate hypobaric hypoxia (MHH),
      as well as their combination. After SH (180 mmHg) Bcl-2 expression in the neurons
      of the brain regions examined was reduced or. unchanged. The effect of
      preconditioning with one trial of MHH (360 mmHg) on Bcl-2 expression was similar
      to that seen after SH. In contrast, preconditioning with repeated exposures to
      MHH significantly up-regulated Bcl-2 expression levels 3-24 h after SH that
      apparently protected neurons from SH-induced injury. MHH alone, not followed by
      SH, significantly increased Bcl-2 expression only after multiple (three or six)
      exposures whereas single MHH exposure had no effect on Bcl content. Hence, up
      regulation of Bcl-2 seen in response to multiple MHH trials appears to be
      important for the formation of the mechanisms of brain neuronal tolerance to
      damaging factors.

PMID- 25823283
TI  - [Expression of BDNF neurotrophin in the hippocampus and neocortex of rats during
      the development of post-stress anxiety and its correction by hypoxic
      postconditioning].
AB  - Using quantitative immunohistochemistry, changes in the expression of the BDNF
      (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) were studied in the hippocampus and neocortex
      of 24 male Wistar rats during the development of post-stress-related anxiety
      state in the experimental model of posttraumatic stress disorder, and its
      correction by hypoxic postconditioning (PC). For the induction of anxiety state,
      combined severe psychoemotional stress was applied (immobilization, forced
      swimming, ether stress followed 7 days later by repeated immobilization -
      restress). Correction of the anxiety state was achieved by application of hypoxic
      PC, which included three sessions of mild hypobaric hypoxia (360 mm Hg, 2 h,
      daily). The formation of the anxiety pathology was accompanied by a significant
      reduction in the expression of immunoreactive BDNF in dorsal (CA1) and ventral
      (dentate gyrus) hippocampus and neocortex, while hypoxic PC resulted in partial
      (hippocampus) or complete (neocortex) restoration of BDNF expression. The results
      indicate that the neurotrophic factors, and BDNF in particular, seem to play an
      important role in the pathogenesis of the anxiety-depressive disorders as well as
      in mechanisms of proadaptive and neuroprotective effects of hypoxic PC.

PMID- 25823284
TI  - [Ultrastructural changes in brain histaminergic neurons under the influence of
      alcohol].
AB  - The aim of the present study was to investigate the ultrastructural changes
      developing in histaminergic neurons of the brain of 24 outbred albino male rats
      after administration of ethanol in the acute experiment (single intraperitoneal
      dose of 1 and 4 g/kg), subacute exposure (as the sole source of drinking at a
      dose of 4 g/kg for 7 days), or chronic administration (at a dose of 2-3 g/kg/day
      for 6 months). After alcohol administration histaminergic neurons were found to
      develop various ultrastructural changes of their nucleus and organelles. They
      reflect the processes of neuron destruction, as well as adaptive changes aimed at
      restoring and maintaining their functions. These changes were nonspecific and 
      depended on the dose, time after injection and duration of alcohol
      administration. In general they corresponded to the structural and histochemical
      changes observed at light-microscopic level.

PMID- 25823285
TI  - [Organization of the pallidal projections of the rostromedial tegmental nucleus
      in the dog brain].
AB  - The method of retrograde and anterograde transport of horse-radish peroxidase was
      used to study the organization of the projections of the rostromedial tegmental
      nucleus (RMTN) to functionally distinct regions of pallidal structures of brain
      in dogs (n = 13). It was found that the fibers formed by the neurons of the
      limbic medial segments of RMTN rostral and caudal regions projected to the limbic
      pallidal regions--ventral globus pallidus and ventral pallidum. The reciprocal
      projections were detected between the ventral pallidum and medial segment of the
      rostral RMTN. These data indicate the possibility of the segregated conduction of
      the limbic information in the examined projection systems. However, in the
      majority of the pallidal structures, the convergence of the projection fibers
      originating from the neurons of functionally different parts of RMTN was
      observed. Thus, the projection fibers formed by the neurons of motor lateral and
      limbic medial parts of RMTN are directed to the limbic ventral segment of the
      globus pallidus and to the entopeduncular nucleus, which is innervated by the
      fibers formed by the neurons of functionally diverse structures. The possible
      pathways for conduction of functionally different information and its integration
      in the projection systems investigated are discussed.

PMID- 25823286
TI  - [Architectonics of gastric arterial bed in norm, after Nissen fundoplication, and
      its different combination with splenectomy and left gastric artery ligation].
AB  - A comparative study of the effect of the combination of Nissen fundoplication,
      different variants of splenectomy ligation of left gastric artery on stomach wall
      arterial bed blood fillability was carried out on 40 human corpses in 6 research
      series. The red lead paint suspension was used for the injection of arterial bed.
      It was shown that combination of Nissen operation andligation of stomach short
      arteries during splenectomy and left gastric artery trunk in its intraligamental
      part resulted in the impairment of the stomach wall blood supply. In the gastric
      fundus area avascular zones measuring from 2.5 x 3.0 to 5.0 x 10.0 cm and larger,
      were detected. The stomach wall of the given areas is potentially prone to
      necrosis. Avascular zones in the stomach wall were not observed when short
      gastric arteries were preserved.

PMID- 25823287
TI  - [Morphological and immunohistochemical characteristics of the thymus during
      chemical carcinogenesis induced by 1,2-dimethylhydrazine administration].
AB  - The aim of the study was to examine the histological and immunohistochemical
      characteristics of the thymus 5 months after the intraperitoneal administration
      of the carcinogen (1,2-dimethylhydrazine in the dose of 20 mg/kg once a week for
      2 weeks). The study was conducted on 50 outbred albino male rats. Paraffin
      sections of the thymus were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and were processed by
      an immunohistochemical method using antibodies against CD3, CD30, CD68,
      synaptophysin, S-100 protein, p53, bcl-2, Ki-67, as well as against IgM and IgG.
      It was found that carcinogen administration resulted in the increased number of
      thymic cells expressing bcl-2, S-100 and Ki-67, active T-lymphocytes and
      thymopoietic microenvironment cells, as well as in the change of the correlation
      between medullary and cortical CD3(+)-thymocytes with a predominance of the
      latter. Thus, the malignant tumor, developing in the colon, on the one hand,
      inhibits the supply of the precursors of thymopoiesis to the thymus, while on the
      other--enhances the proliferation and differentiation of thymocytes into mature
      forms.

PMID- 25823288
TI  - [Liver, lung, kidney and spleen macrophages in rats after intravenous
      administration of the modified magnetite nanoparticles].
AB  - Using the immunohistochemical method, mononuclear phagocytes (MNPs) were detected
      in the liver, lung, kidneys and spleen of rats after a single intravenous
      injection of a suspension of magnetoliposomes and magnetic microspheres prepared
      on the basis of nanoscale magnetite particles of (NMPs). The dynamics of the of
      the number and topography of CD68(+)- and CD163(+)-cells in liver, lung and
      kidneys was characterized during 120 days after the intravenous injection of the
      suspension of modified NMPs. It was shown that NMPs surface modification reduced
      the degree and duration of macrophage activation. Signs of MNPs activation after
      the infusion of nanomaterial decreased in the following series: unmodified NMPs,
      magnetoliposomes, magnetic microspheres.

PMID- 25823289
TI  - [Structural reorganization of the dermis of dog tibia during its elongation by
      the method of transosseous distraction osteosynthesis].
AB  - Using the methods of light, scanning and transmission electron microscopy,
      immunohistochemistry and morphometry the status of the various components of the
      dermis was studied in the experiment performed on 16 adult mongrel dogs that had
      their shank extended by 17% of its original length using the method of
      transosseous distraction osteosynthesis with a daily rate of 1 mm for 4 steps.
      During the period of distraction, a reduction in the thickness of the dermis,
      change of the architectonics of its fibrous component, active collageno- and
      elastogenesis, cell proliferation, and the expressiveness of heteromorphism of
      fibroblast and macrophage cell populations were detected. In postdistraction
      period, all the indices were gradually approaching the norm. The data obtained
      may serve as criteria for the estimation of the stages of the reparative process
      developing under the created conditions and should be considered in the
      development of new technologies aimed at optimizing reparative-regenerative
      processes during tibial lengthening.

PMID- 25823290
TI  - [Peculiarities of the morphological structure of the inorganic component of human
      dental enamel and dentin at nano-level].
AB  - Using the polished sections of 20 permanent human molars and premolars, the
      regimes of probe atomic force microscopy were assessed that permit the definition
      of the size, shape, spatial configuration of the structure-forming hydroxyapatite
      crystals of enamel and dentin inorganic component. It was found that the major
      part of enamel crystals had the size of 40-60 nm and were more flattened. Dentin
      crystal average size was equal to 60-80 nm. Microspaces between them had the
      shape of rotational ellipsoid sized 120 nm by 60 nm.

PMID- 25823291
TI  - [Comparative characteristics of the morphometric peculiarities of the structure
      of bone tissue of the dentoalveolar segments of maxillary premolars].
AB  - The morphometric parameters of bone tissue structure were studied in 168
      dentoalveolar segments of maxillar premolars relative to the conventional median
      vertical median line. It was found that height, width and area indices were not
      significantly different in the 1st and the 2nd premolar dentoalveolar segments.
      At the same time, the dependence of the thickness of compact and cancellous bone
      on the side (vestibular, palatal) and part (upper, middle, base) of the segment
      was detected. It was also found that while the thickness of the compact substance
      increased from the upper part of the segments toward the base independently on
      their part, the thickness of the cancellous substance, conversely, was
      significantly decreased on vestibular side, and was increased on the palatal
      side.

PMID- 25823292
TI  - [Structural reorganization of the main joint components during the experimental
      modeling of osteoarthrosis with reduced blood supply].
AB  - The reactive changes in the knee synovium, articular cartilage, and subchondral
      bone during osteoarthrosis modeling were studied in dogs (n = 5). The results of
      histomorphometry, scanning electron microscopy, and electron probe microanalysis
      have demonstrated that the osteoarthrosis model used (femoral artery ligation and
      the knee immobilization) lead to marked synovitis, axonal atrophy and nerve fiber
      degeneration in subsynovial nerves, as well as synovial membrane
      hypovascularization. Subchondral bone vascularization was shown to deteriorate,
      while calcium content was reduced. Destructive changes were detected in the
      articular cartilage. Chondrocytes of the intermediate zone which were equidistant
      from vascular and synovial sources of supply appeared to be the most vulnerable.
      The changes described are the consequences of the disturbed interactions of the
      main joint components indicating the reduction of synthesis with a predominance
      of catabolic processes.

PMID- 25823293
TI  - [The relationship between the parameters of mineral density of bone tissue and
      somatotype in women residing in the Republic of Karelia].
AB  - Comprehensive anthropometric and densitometric study using the dual x-ray
      absorptiometry was conducted to determine the relationship between the mineral
      density of bone tissue and somatotype in 360 women aged 20 to 87 years,
      permanently residing in the Republic of Karelia. Significant direct correlation
      was detected between the somatotype and the amount of mineral substances in the
      vertebrae, bone mineral density and the area of the lumbar vertebrae. Bone
      mineral density level of the lumbar vertebrae was higher in women with
      europlastic and athletic somatotypes, which were characterized by high values of
      body mass and length, body muscle and fat mass. Low values of bone mineral
      density of vertebrae were identified in women belonging to subathletic,
      mesoplastic and stenoplastic somatotypes. The risk of developing osteopenia and
      osteoporosis is increased in women with low body muscle mass.

PMID- 25823294
TI  - [Nestin expression in ependymal cells of lateral ventricles of the rat brain in
      aging].
AB  - It is known that during development of the brain, with the progress of
      ependendymocyte differentiation from radial gliocytes, the synthesis of nestin is
      stopped. However, it was shown that in the ependyma of the lateral brain
      ventricles nestin synthesis was resumed in response to ischemic injury. The aim
      of the present study was to test the hypothesis of possible re-expression of
      nestin in the ependyma in aging. The study was performed on male Wistar rats aged
      4 (n = 4) and 28 months (n = 3). In older animals the expression of nestin was
      demonstrated in the ependyma of the lateral ventricles of the brain. It was also
      found that the area of the medial and upper walls of the lateral ventricle
      contained the regions of ependyma, in which all cells had intense cytoplasmic
      staining. The causes of the phenomenon described remain unclear.

PMID- 25823295
TI  - [Demonstration of the glomeruli in human cerebellum using synaptophysin
      immunohistochemistry and confocal laser microscopy].
AB  - The aim of the study was to develop the methodologic approaches for the
      demonstration of the complex synaptic groups (glomeruli) in human cerebellum
      using synaptophysin immunocytochemistry. The protocols presented in the paper
      allow to obtain of high qualify prepartaions for conventional light and confocal
      laser microscopy in which individual glomeruli and intraglomerular axonal
      terminals could be distinctly identified. The preparations obtained are suitable
      for a quantitative analysis.

PMID- 25823296
TI  - [The role of E-cadherin cell adhesion molecule in human ontogenesis in norm and
      pathology].
AB  - E-cadherin is one of the most important cell adhesion molecules, which plays a
      key role in embryogenesis and adult tissues under normal conditions and during
      tumor development. Molecules of E-cadherin are located at the epitheliocyte
      surface and take part in the adhesion contacts formation which are a
      characteristic feature of epithelial tissues. The role of E-cadherin is not only
      in the maintenance of intercellular adhesion, but also in provision of cell
      proliferation and differentiation through participation in the realization of a
      number of signaling pathways, the main of which is the canonical Wnt signaling
      pathway. This review provides basic information regarding the role of E-cadherin
      in human ontogenesis in norm and pathology.

PMID- 25823297
TI  - [Regulation of hair follicle cycle].
AB  - This review is devoted to the control of hair growth. The hair follicle undergoes
      cyclic transformation from the resting phase (telogen) to the growth phase
      (anagen). The latter phase is characterized by rapid proliferation of follicular
      keratinocytes and elongation and thickening of the hair shaft. The regression
      phase (catagen) leads to the involution of the hair follicle. These cyclic
      changes include rapid remodeling of both the epithelial and the dermal
      components. They are controlled by numerous different factors: sex hormones,
      neurotrophins, FGF, TGF, BMP, VEGF, Sonic Hedgehog, and other signaling pathways.

PMID- 25823298
TI  - [250 years of the Department of Human Anatomy of the I. M. Sechenov First Moscow
      State Medical University (1764-2014)].

PMID- 25823299
TI  - [70 years of S.S. Mikhailov Department of Operative Surgery and Clinical Anatomy
      of Orenburg State Medical Academy].

PMID- 25823300
TI  - [United XII Congress of the International Association of Morphologists and VII
      Congress of Russian Scientific Medical Society of Anatomists, Histologists and
      Embryologists (Tiumen', May, 28-31, 2014)].

PMID- 25823301
TI  - [Problems of Theoretical and Medical Embryology (Inter-University Conference, St.
      Petersburg, April 24, 2014)].

PMID- 25823302
TI  - [Yakov Vasil'evich Villie (1768-1854)--surgeon-public health official of Russian
      medical corps].

PMID- 25823303
TI  - [Dopplerographic predictors of cognitive status dynamics of patients after
      carotid angioplasty with stenting].
AB  - The authors present dopplerographic predictors of cognitive status dynamics of
      patients undergoing carotid angioplasty with stenting. It was stated that the
      cognitive status dynamics depended on the initial condition of patients and
      reactivity coefficient on hypercapnia in target vascular pool.

PMID- 25823304
TI  - [Prevalence of esophageal syndromes of gastroesophageal reflux disease in
      population of Leningrad region (according to esophagogastroduodenoscopy
      findings)].
AB  - The article presents an analysis of 34.903 esophagoscopy results performed for
      population of Leningrad region at the period from 2007 to 2013. A prevalence of
      erosive esophagitis was 4.9%, peptic strictures--0.18%, columnar-celled
      metaplasias--1.43% and esophageal adenocarcinoma--0.645%. The data obtained
      showed a high prevalence of GERD-associated syndromes with injury of mucous coat
      of esophagus in the local population of Russians.

PMID- 25823305
TI  - [Endoscopic and roentgenovascular interventions in treatment of patients with
      bleeding from a gastroduodenal ulcer].
AB  - The authors analyzed the results of treatment of 965 patients with bleeding from
      gastroduodenal ulcers. The endoscopic hemostasis was carried out in 20.2%
      patients, however a recurrence of bleeding was noted in 12.8% cases. The combined
      endoscopic hemostasis was performed in 76.9% patients, though the relapse of
      bleeding had only 4.2% and 49 patients were safe. A surgery was required for 3.2%
      patients.

PMID- 25823306
TI  - [Choice of the way of pancreaticodigestive fistula in pancreaticoduodenal
      resection].
AB  - The author offered an algorithm of definition of optimal ways of
      pancreaticodigestive fistula formation in pancreaticoduodenal resection. It is
      based on the following factors such as tissue conditions of the pancreas gland
      stump, a diameter of pancreatic duct and compliance with cut dimensions of gland
      stump of anastomotic loop of the jejunum. A comparative analysis of
      pancreaticodigestive fistulas performance was made in 2 groups. An algorithm of
      choice of pancreaticodigestive anastomosis was applied in the main group (n =
      35). An inconsistency of pancreaticodigestive fistula was noted in the main group
      (5.7%) and in the comparative group (n = 59)--17% (p = 0.205). There weren't any
      cases of destructive pancreatitis and lethality, which were directly specified by
      pancreaticodigestive anastomosis in the main group. Destructive pacreatitis
      developed in 10.1% cases in the comparative group. The lethality consisted of
      5.1%. The results obtained confirmed the efficacy of individualized approach to
      formation of pancreaticodigestive fistulas and showed the practical value of
      investigation in this way.

PMID- 25823307
TI  - [Ways of stump processing of appendix vermiformis in modern conditions].
AB  - The authors analyzed the experience of 517 appendectomies during last three
      years. There weren't any differences in postoperative course in patients with
      immersion and ligature methods of stump processing of appendix vermiformis. The
      ligature method should be considered as leading method in appendectomy in
      consideration of long-term experience in surgery. The immersion method would be
      used in presence of contraindications to the ligature method.

PMID- 25823308
TI  - [Treatment of the parastomal hernias].
AB  - The article presents the results of 16 operations for the parastomal hernias. The
      operations were differentiated: the colostomy was relocated to the left
      retroperitoneal space and in case of hernioplasty it was performed with use of
      mesh transplant. The fascial defects were closed using the mesh transplant. There
      weren't any complications in early postoperative period. Long-term five-year
      results showed no recurrence.

PMID- 25823309
TI  - [Exenteration of the small pelvis in treatment of local tumors].
AB  - The authors analyzed the experience at the period from September 2000 to January
      2014. The total exenterations of the small pelvis were performed on 23 patients
      (12 men and 11 women) at the age from 37 to 71 years old. Supralevator total
      exenterations with full visceral reconstruction were carried out in 13 cases out
      of 23. Total infralevator pelvic exenterations were used in 10 cases. There
      wasn't the intraoperative lethality. Patients (3 cases) died in postoperative
      period. Postoperative complications developed in 10 patients, though serious
      complications, which required an application of surgical strategy were noted only
      in 3 cases. The mean life span consisted of 29 months. The performance of total
      exenteration of the small pelvis considerably increased the life span of the
      patients and in case of application of reconstructive methods allowed restoration
      of quality of life to high level and obtaining moral, psychological and social
      rehabilitation.

PMID- 25823310
TI  - [Surgical correction of dislipodemia in patients with obesity].
AB  - The results of surgical treatment of 139 patients with metabolic syndrome,
      obesity and dislipodemia were analyzed. Modern bariatric operations (4 types)
      were performed by using laparoscopic method. There were regulated bandages of the
      stomach (RBS), lengthwise gastric resections (LGR), biliopancreatic and stomach
      bypass surgeries (BBS, SBS). Results of five-year follow-up indicated that
      restrictive operations on the stomach (RBS, LGR) aimed to correct overweight and
      dislipodemia had some limitations to application in a varying degree. The RBS
      operation should be appropriate to use for women of the young age group, when an
      initial body-weight index wasn't more than 43 kg/m2. The LGR operation was
      effective for men of the young age group and women in case of moderately
      expressed dislipodemia and in case when the initial body-weight index didn't
      exceed more than 45 kg/m2. Combined bariatric operations (BBS, SBS) were most
      likely effective on body weight and dislipodemia.

PMID- 25823311
TI  - [Clinical picture and treatment results in patients with secondary
      hyperparathyroidism].
AB  - The secondary hyperparathyroidism was observed in 23 patients using a program
      hemodialysis. The parathyroidectomy was applied as a medical aid. A relapse was
      noted in one case. Clinical signs of hyperparathyroidism were completely
      terminated by 6 months.

PMID- 25823312
TI  - [Long-term results of surgical treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in
      patients using a program hemodialysis].
AB  - The efficacy of total parathyroidectomy was shown in 18 patients with renal
      hyperparathyroidism after 6-12 years period after operation. The authors accepted
      the total parathyroidectomy as a reasonable way for treatment of secondary
      hyperthyroidism in patients with long-term dialysis therapy.

PMID- 25823313
TI  - [Experience of the use of endovideotechnology in surgical treatment of esophageal
      cancer].
AB  - An investigation included 33 patients with cancer of thoracal section of the
      esophagus at the age from 42 to 74 years old. A surgical method of treatment was
      applied as only one in 13 patients and methods of nonadjuvant chemoradiation
      therapy were used for 20 patients. A hybrid minimally invasive esophagectomy
      (laparoscopic mobilization of the stomach and right-side thoracotomy) was
      performed on 16 patients. The rate of postoperative complications consisted of
      31%. The minimally invasive esophagectomy (performed by totally endovideosurgical
      approach) was carried out in 15 cases. Postoperative complications developed in
      53% of follow-up patients. There weren't cases of lethality. The experience of
      minimally invasive methods indicated the satisfactory results of application of
      given methods in patient treatment of esophageal cancer. The use of
      endovideosurgical approaches allowed performing oncologically adequate volume of
      operative interventions.

PMID- 25823314
TI  - [Antibiotic prophylaxis and therapy of pancreatonecrosis in multifield surgical
      hospital].
AB  - The article is based on an analysis of results of complex treatment of 497
      patients with pancreatonecrosis at the period from 2010 to 2014. All patients
      were admitted to the surgical departments of Republican hospital No 2 and Centre
      of Emergency Medicine of Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The investigation allowed
      adaptation and development of antibiotic prophylaxis and therapy management in
      pancreatonecrosis in multifield surgical hospital. More than 80% of patients
      avoided a contamination of necrotic destruction zones. The level of lethality was
      reduced in group of patients with infectious complications of pancreatonecrosis
      from 45.8% to 37.7%.

PMID- 25823315
TI  - [Rare observation of giant Askin's tumor with localization in anterior
      mediastinum].

PMID- 25823316
TI  - [Experience of treatment of female with disseminated cancer of the colon in
      consideration of predictive markers of sensitivity to cytostatic agent and
      bevatsizumab].

PMID- 25823317
TI  - [Favorable result of the use of bioplastic material for closing an ulcerous
      defect in patient with diabetic foot syndrome].

PMID- 25823318
TI  - [Emergency oncology--ways of solving the problem].

PMID- 25823319
TI  - [Discovery of intravenous anaesthesia].

PMID- 25823320
TI  - [Professors A. A. Kiter and S.M. Yanovich-Chainskiy--founders of phlebosclerosing
      therapy in Russia (to 150th anniversary of history of the question)].

PMID- 25823321
TI  - [Modern approach to problem of diagnostics and treatment of patients with thyroid
      cancer].

PMID- 25823322
TI  - [Features of spontaneous pneumothorax in female].

PMID- 25823323
TI  - [Simultaneous operations on abdominal organs: controversial and obvious aspects
      of the problem].

PMID- 25823324
TI  - [Organ-preserving and segmental resections of the head of the pancreas: anatomic
      substantiation and surgical technique].

PMID- 25823325
TI  - [In commemoration of professor Vladimir Viktorovich Gritsenko (1938-2014)
      (collective of authors)].

PMID- 25823326
TI  - [In commemoration of professor Igor Aleksandrovich Eryukhin (1936-2014)
      (Samokhvalov I.M., Tynyankin N.A].

PMID- 25823327
TI  - [Academician Fedor Grigorevich Uglov. Patriarch of national and world surgery
      (commemorating the 110th anniversary of birthday) (collective of authors)].

PMID- 25823328
TI  - [Optimization of prophylaxis of hypercoagulation complications in oncological
      surgery].
AB  - The authors investigate the results of prophylaxis of venous thromboembolic
      complications (VTC) during 24 years in onco- logical surgery. The multicentric
      study shows that common frequency of occurrence of such VTC was reduced due to
      period of routine prophylaxis of VTC to 3.4%. The strategy of active revision and
      escalation of preventive measures in the third period of study in comparison with
      the second period resulted in the decrease of VTC. Patients with moderate risk
      degree had the results from 3.2% to 1%, patients with high risk degree moved from
      4.1% to 13%. The fatal thromboembolism of the lung artery was 0.1%.

PMID- 25823329
TI  - [Complex approach to assessment of condition severity in patients with
      pyoinflammatory odontogenous diseases].
AB  - Dynamics of mean value indices and mean dispersion doesn't exclude the feedback
      (Mayanskiy D.N., 2008) in process of study the disease according to cooperative
      processes using system leukocyte-monocyte-lymphocyte (L+M+LM). The authors
      investigated a dynamic balance between these cell substratums and collagen
      formation. Acute inflammatory processes in tissues of maxillofacial area
      accompanied by leukemoid response of peripheral blood in the form of leukocytosis
      (10 x 10(9)-15 x 10(9)/l and more). The authors completely agree with the opinion
      of M.M. Solov'yov (2012) and N.K. Artyushenko (2008) that mechanism of this
      reaction is associated with both the leukocyte redistribution in the inflammation
      zone and with changes of hematopoietic rostock which aimed to balance the
      affected compensatory mechanisms of nonspecific resistance.

PMID- 25823330
TI  - [Electrocardiotherapy using pericardoscopy].
AB  - The standard transvenous electrocardiostimulation (ECS) is currently used in many
      specialized hospitals. The authors offered and launched systematic application of
      simple but available technique of epymiocardiac ECS using pericardoscopy since
      middle of 80th. According to this principle, the authors developed some
      diversities of manipulation which are distinctive due to their availability,
      reliability and supersafety. The method could be recommended for wide-spread
      usage in practice because of high efficacy, few complications and absence of
      fatal outcomes in correct intervention. Described methods used in treatment of
      considerable quantity of patients and adapted to real work conditions of public
      health hospitals.

PMID- 25823331
TI  - [Genetical aspects of surgical treatment in patients with hereditary breast
      cancer].
AB  - Numerous available results of investigations confirmed the important role of
      prophylactic bilateral laparoscopic salpingo-oophorectomy and contralateral
      prophylactic subcutaneous mastectomy in decrease of risks of malignant tumors of
      the reproductive system when mutation carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 presented.
      Recommendations to surgical treatment of hereditary breast cancer are considered
      as a very difficult task which should be based on risks and advantages of
      prophylactic surgical interventions. Presented surgical operations could be
      applied in mutation carriers of reparation DNA genes and patients with hereditary
      breast cancer aimed to improve the indices of general survival rate and quality
      of life.

PMID- 25823332
TI  - [Assessment of risk factors of operations on the lung and pulmonary arteries in
      patients with accompanied diseases].

PMID- 25823333
TI  - [Choice of the method of surgical treatment of chronic pancreatitis].
AB  - An analysis of surgical treatment of 187 patients with chronic pancreatitis was
      made during 3-year period in the department of surgery clinic of Byelorussian
      Medical Academy of Post-Graduate Education. Drainage operations were performed on
      28 patients, resection-drainage operations were carried out on 130 patients and
      resection operations had 19 patients. The laser beam technologies were
      successfully applied during operations on the pancreas in 43 patients.
      Postoperative complications (14.8%) were analyzed and structured. Methods of
      corrections and ways of prophylaxis of complication development were provided. On
      the basis of the complication analysis and new conception concerning peripheral
      pancreatic hypertension the authors offered the rational approaches to choice of
      operations on the pancreas in case of chronic pancreatitis. The authors developed
      the classification of pancreatoductolitiasis, pancreatic hypertension and a new
      strategy of surgical management of chronic pancreatitis.

PMID- 25823334
TI  - [Comparative rate of regional metastasis of high differentiated carcinoma of the
      thyroid gland].
AB  - The rate of metastasis of high differentiated carcinoma of the thyroid glands to
      the neck lymph nodes was studied in people of Kemerovo Region. The metastatic
      lesions of pretracheal lymph nodes (VI group) were detected in 49.5% patients
      with papillary carcinoma and 21.0% of patients with follicular cancer. Metastases
      in jungular lymph nodes were revealed in 37.3% patients with papillary carcinoma.
      It was noted that an extension of metastatic lesions of regional lymph nodes was
      observed in the case of primary tumour foci spread beyond borders of the capsula
      glandularis in patients with papillary carcinoma. There wasn't such a relation in
      a case of follicular cancer. Metastases in regional lymph nodes were detected
      more often (67.6%) in the case of papillary carcinoma in uncontaminated zone of
      the thyroid gland compared with other thyroid pathology (31.7%).

PMID- 25823335
TI  - [Early enteral infussions in complex treatment of severe combined chest trauma].
AB  - On the basis of study and treatment of 98 victims it was stated that the
      absorption of isotonic glucose electrolytes solutions in the small intestine was
      saved even increased in case of large hemorrhage in severe polytrauma with chest,
      abdominal injury and other regions trauma. An application of early enteral
      infusions allowed reducing of the volume of parenteral introduction solutions and
      facilitated to a reliable decrease of development frequency of nosocomial
      pneumonia of attributive lethality.

PMID- 25823336
TI  - [Optimization of surgical strategy in complications after thoracic operations
      demanding recurrent surgical interventions].
AB  - A frequency of postoperative complications varied from 1-2% after endoscopic
      thoracal operations to 4-12% after open operations using thoracotomic access.
      There isn't any common approach to indications and terms of the recurrent
      endoscopic intervention. An analysis of postoperative complications was made
      after 2795 thoracothomies and 3632 videothoracoscopies required the recurrent
      operation in 139 patients (2.2%). The rethoracoscopies were performed on 62
      patients (44.6%), thoracoscopies were carried out after thoracotomies in 40 cases
      (28.8%) and rethoracotomies were in 37 cases (26.6%). The more frequent
      indication to recurrent operation was bleeding (26.6%), pleural empyema (20.9%),
      fragmented pleuritis (11.5%). It was shown that thoracoscopy was an alternative
      to rethoracotomy as the rethoracoscopy in case of nonmassive intrapleural
      bleeding, clotted hemothorax, postoperative fragmented pleuritis, non-sanitized
      empyema region, the presence of sequestrums in this area, limited postoperative
      pleuritis, chylothorax, bronchopleural fistula of the size of 1-2 mm, leakage of
      the lung, a foreign body in pleural cavity. The lethality consisted of 35.1%
      after rethoracotomies and it was 12.7% after recurrent endoscopic operations.

PMID- 25823337
TI  - [Laparoscopic interventions in left sections colon cancer complicated by
      obturation intestinal obstruction].
AB  - On the basis of an analysis of 2200 cases of left sections colon cancer
      complicated by obturation intestinal obstruction the authors showed the
      possibility and reasonability of two-step operation performance. The first
      operation formed unloading part and the second was the radical operation in one
      hospitalization. Given method allowed improvement of the results and quality of
      life of the patients.

PMID- 25823338
TI  - [Features of angenesis against the background of negative pressure wound therapy
      in patients with neuropathic and neuroischemic forms of diabetic foot ulcers].
AB  - The authors analyzed clinical (size, tissue oxygenation), histological (light
      microscopy) and immunohistochemical (CD68, MMP-9, TIMP-1) features of reparative
      processes of soft tissue of lower extremities in patients with diabetes mellitus
      against the background of vacuum therapy in comparison with standard local
      treatment. Patients (31 cases) with diabetic foot ulcers were followed-up after
      surgical d-bridement and before plastic closure of the wound. During
      perioperative period 13 patients obtained the negative pressure wound therapy
      (NPWT of 90-120 mmHg) and 18 patients had the standard care. Given results
      supported higher efficacy of NPWT as compared with standard local care. The
      therapy caused rapid reduction of wound and its depth, increased local
      microcirculation and reduced inflammation. These data were confirmed by the
      histological and immunohistochemical studies. The high efficacy of the method of
      local treatment could significantly reduce the time of wound preparation for the
      next step of surgical treatment.

PMID- 25823339
TI  - [Apparatus for external fixation of the hand].
AB  - The authors offered the apparatus for external fixation of the hand. A medical
      plastic is used for making the support of an improvised apparatus. The pins
      "sealed" in plastic and fixed bone fragments. The proposed apparatus has a number
      of advantages in comparison with analogous devices and could be useful for
      surgeons who provide emergency care for the patients with hand injuries.

PMID- 25823340
TI  - [Method of detection of residual tissues in recurrent operations on the thyroid
      gland].
AB  - A search of residual tissues is complicated in recurrent operations on the
      thyroid gland. The Saint-Petersburg Centre of Surgery of the Endocrine System and
      Oncology developed the method of detection of residual tissues of the thyroid
      gland with the aim of preoperative chromothyroidolymphography under control of
      ultrasound. The method consisted of US performance during 15-20 minutes before
      the operation and an introduction of 1% sterile water solution of methylene blue
      in revealed residual tissues of the thyroid gland. The volume of injected
      coloring agent was 0.5-2 ml in the residual tissue volume smaller than 9 cm3 and
      2-3 ml injected in case of more than 9 cm3. The residual tissues of the thyroid
      gland accurately visualized during the following operation. Described method
      gives the possibility to detect all regions of residual tissues which should be
      removed and at the same time it shortens a revision and surgery trauma.

PMID- 25823341
TI  - [False incarceration of hernia of linea alba with phlegmon of hernia sac caused
      by acute gangrenous appendicitis].

PMID- 25823342
TI  - [Vladimir Nikolaevich Derevenko (1879-1936). Perm' period of work (commemorating
      the 135th anniversary of birthday)].

PMID- 25823343
TI  - [Influence of structural features on clinical results of transcatheter aortic
      valve implantation].

PMID- 25823344
TI  - [Surgery of chronic pancreatitis].

PMID- 25823345
TI  - [Recent clinical developments in prophylaxis of postoperative intra-abdominal
      adhesions].

PMID- 25823347
TI  - [Professor Valeriy Mikhailovich Sedov (to the 70th anniversary of birthday)].

PMID- 25823348
TI  - [Pathways from initial symptoms to psychiatric treatment in patients with
      schizophrenia].
AB  - Early intervention is essential for improving the long-term prognosis of
      schizophrenic patients. With the objective of contributing to early treatment in
      communities in the future, we retrospectively investigated patient data,
      including the pathway to psychiatric care, the course prior to consultation, and
      initial symptoms. An interview survey was conducted involving a total of 125
      patients receiving treatment for a diagnosis of schizophrenia and 74 family
      members using two questionnaire sheets to collect data on the pathway to
      psychiatric care, age at onset, time between onset and the initiation of
      treatment, initial symptoms, and the necessary information. For the pathway to
      psychiatric care, facilities were classified into : psychiatric clinic,
      psychiatric hospital, psychiatric department of a general hospital, and general
      practices, and tendencies were investigated. As for the initial symptoms,
      differences between those recognized by the patients themselves and their
      families were investigated. The results showed that approximately 80% of patients
      had first visited medical facilities, while the remaining patients had consulted
      psychologists, school nurses, teachers, or public health centers. The mean time
      from onset to initial psychiatric consultation was 24.7 +/- 3.3 months, with a
      median period of 6.0 months. This duration was particularly long among patients
      who first visited general practitioners. As the initial symptoms, 70% of patients
      had psychiatric symptoms as subjective symptoms, and more than 70% of family
      members equally noticed psychiatric symptoms. On the other hand, 40% of patients
      had positive symptoms, but only 20% of family members had noticed the positive
      symptoms. A total of 30% of patients had been aware of somatic symptoms, and
      these patients were significantly more likely to initially visit physicians in a
      department other than the psychiatric department. As for delay in consultation,
      patients who had onsets at an early age tended to take longer to make the initial
      visit. The above findings confirmed the necessity of disease education at
      schools, given that onset can occur in school-age children, as well as the
      establishment of a mental health network, understanding of psychiatric diseases
      among primary care physicians and their cooperation with psychiatrists, and
      increased public awareness regarding psychiatric diseases.

PMID- 25823349
TI  - [Introduction of British guidelines in perinatal mental healthcare--towards
      enhancing the function of perinatal mental healthcare in Japan].
AB  - Professionals in many different occupations, from psychiatrists, obstetricians,
      and pediatricians to nurses, midwives, pharmacists, clinical psychologists,
      public health nurses, and psychiatric social workers, are involved in perinatal
      mental healthcare. In order to enhance the function of such healthcare, it is
      necessary both to provide specialized training in each occupation and form a
      system and to smoothly conduct medical collaboration between different
      occupations. A deficiency in the medical function of perinatal mental healthcare
      greatly influences the mother and child's health, mental hygiene, and social life
      later in life. Therefore, a demand is seen for specialized staff and system
      formation capable of the following: 1) responding with appropriate perinatal
      management of female patients taking psychotropic drugs; 2) providing support and
      pregnancy consultation to female patients who wish to have children; and 3)
      properly handling postpartum mental disorder management, possibility of
      breastfeeding, and various issues that arise in mother-child relationships during
      upbringing. In the UK, the clinical guideline (NICE Clinical Guideline 45) for
      perinatal mental healthcare, which was created by the National Institute for
      Clinical Excellence (NICE), provides important guidelines on how to handle
      perinatal mental health. Aside from the NICE guideline, the Maudsley Prescribing
      Guidelines in Psychiatry indicates basic guidelines on prescribing perinatal drug
      therapy. In Japan, however, the current situation of perinatal mental healthcare
      is such that it has yet to be systemically developed. In this paper, we introduce
      the basic content in these British guidelines that should be noted. In addition,
      we consider the current status and future disposition of Japan's perinatal mental
      healthcare, with consideration for the differences in healthcare circumstances
      between Japan and the UK.

PMID- 25823350
TI  - [Comparison of care for perinatal mental health between Japan and other
      countries].
AB  - Various types of mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorder are seen in the perinatal
      period. Recently, evidence regarding risk factors and the onset time of such
      psychiatric disorders has been reported. Local care service systems that can
      predict or detect high-risk women early are desirable. Furthermore, a specialist
      multidisciplinary perinatal mental health service should be established in each
      locality, providing regular services, consultation, and advice to promote
      maternity, other mental health, and community services.

PMID- 25823351
TI  - [Current evaluation of teratogenic and fetotoxic effects of psychotropic drugs].
AB  - Psychiatric disorders are equally common among pregnant and non-pregnant women,
      and many of these conditions are treated with psychotropic medications. The use
      of psychotropic medicines during pregnancy, especially antidepressants, became
      increasingly prevalent in the early 2000's, although many physicians prefer not
      to prescribe drugs for pregnant women due to concerns about teratogenicity.
      Current data on the risks of in utero exposure to psychotropic medications are
      limited, leaving women and physicians to make difficult decisions regarding the
      initiation or maintenance of treatment during pregnancy without a complete
      knowledge of the risks. Of all the psychotropics, antidepressant use in pregnancy
      has been relatively well studied. However, available studies have not yet
      adequately controlled for other factors that may influence birth outcomes,
      including maternal illness or problematic health-related behaviors such as
      smoking and alcohol use during pregnancy. This review focuses on the use of
      selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy, the
      antidepressants most commonly used to treat depression. In the evaluation of
      medication during pregnancy, teratogenicity and fetotoxicity must be considered.
      Most studies on the use of SSRIs during the first trimester of pregnancy have not
      shown an increase in the overall risk of major malformations, although several
      studies have suggested that SSRIs may be associated with a small increased risk
      of cardiovascular malformations, mainly involving ventricular and atrial septal
      defects. In addition to structural malformations, drugs were also observed to
      induce other adverse effects. Since SSRIs readily cross the placenta, concern has
      been raised about the short- or long-term effects of prenatal exposure to SSRIs
      on the developing offspring. Epidemiological studies have documented that 10-30%
      of neonates exposed to SSRIs near term had poor neonatal adaptation syndrome
      (PNAS). Some studies reported that persistent pulmonary hypertension of the
      newborn (PPHN) is weakly associated with in utero antidepressant exposure, while
      no association has been reported in other studies. Recent studies have raised
      questions about possible associations with antidepressant use during pregnancy
      and long-term effects on neurobehavioral development. Some individual studies
      have suggested associations between prenatal exposure to antidepressants and
      autism spectrum disorder; however, other studies identified no associations. On
      the other hand, depressive symptoms during pregnancy are also associated with
      increased risks of preterm delivery, fetal growth retardation, and postpartum
      depression. Therefore, the effects of untreated maternal depression on both
      maternal and child outcomes must be taken into consideration when making
      treatment decisions. Future research needs to focus on large prospective studies
      with adequate adjustments for key potential confounding factors, including
      maternal mental illness, other exposures, and an adequate length of follow-up, in
      order to obtain accurate child developmental outcomes.

PMID- 25823352
TI  - [Psychosocial aspects of perinatal mental health: research and clinical
      settings].
AB  - The perinatal period is not free from psychological maladjustment. A variety of
      mood and anxiety disorders are seen in this period. In addition, psychological
      problems specific to this life stage are also observed, including bonding
      disorders and infant abuse. Psychosocial aetiologies have been identified.
      Psychological treatment is more important than pharmacotherapy. In recent years,
      efforts for the prevention of postnatal depression heve increased.

PMID- 25823353
TI  - [Impact of psychotropic drugs on breast-fed Infants: international perspective].
AB  - The benefit of breast-feeding has been established, and it has recently been
      strongly encouraged internationally. However, new mothers have more risks of
      developing psychiatric symptoms than in any other period of their life, and some
      of them require psychopharmacotherapy. There are some clinical dilemmas regarding
      the benefit of such therapy and possible adverse effects on infants when mothers
      want to breast-feed their infants. Most drugs are transferred to breast-milk and,
      eventually, low levels of maternal daily doses can be taken by breast-fed
      infants. Having considered this issue and based on several studies, the authors
      of studies report that breast-feeding can be carried out by mothers who take
      psychotropic drugs. More research data accumulation, including individual case
      observations and follow-ups, is necessary to guarantee the safety of breast
      feeding by a mother on medication; however, in the current clinical setting,
      decision-making is essential to plan treatment. Such mothers are allowed to
      breast-feed infants who can be monitored by pediatricians. The critical matter is
      that clinicians should not hesitate to prescribe optimal doses to mothers for
      effective treatment.

PMID- 25823354
TI  - [Specified expectant mother, Child Welfare Act, and community cooperation: the
      role of psychiatrists].
AB  - In 2009, the amended provisions of Article 6 of the Child Welfare Act defined
      "Specified Expectant Mother" (Tokutei-ninpu) as an expectant mother with the need
      for potential support in nurturing her baby before its delivery. This term was
      subsequently supplemented with relevant notices and manuals of the Ministry of
      Health, Labor, and Welfare; it then became a new target of the community network
      built for the prevention of child abuse. The two notices issued on November 30,
      2012 are of great significance. One notice indicates that pregnant females should
      be screened for psychiatric disorders as well as some other risk factors by
      officers of their municipalities as a precaution against child abuse. The other
      states that in the context of Article 5 of the Child Abuse Prevention Law,
      medical service workers are immunized from sanctions if they divulge privileged
      information about a "Specified Expectant Mother" with the potential risk for
      child abuse to municipalities without patient approval. As a result of the latter
      notice, medical staff must judge whether the privacy of a parent or health of an
      unborn child with potential risk is more worthy of protection. However, the
      official criteria for judging the potential for child abuse and those who fall
      into the category of "Specified Expectant Mother" have yet to be specified. Fetal
      abuse, as defined by Condon in 1986, serves as a suitable surrogate marker for
      possible harmful actions that would justify public community cooperation without
      patient approval. Parenting capacity has rarely been discussed in the field of
      child abuse and neglect in Japan. The capacity is a legal requirement for
      custody. Considering the capacity of a "Specified Expectant Mother" to prevent
      child abuse and neglect, health care workers supporting pregnant women with
      psychiatric disorders or intellectual disabilities should deliberate, first,
      their capacities to appreciate their situations and, then, their parenting
      capacities. A custody substitution system for children of incompetent parents is
      clearly indicated for minors in the Civil Code (Article 833 and 867); however, it
      ignores psychiatric disorders and intellectual disabilities. The rights of
      children, which are lost in this omission, must be guaranteed by competent
      persons, usually by child guardians. Contributions of psychiatrists are essential
      for applying legal protections. Without these contributions, their rights are
      voided of all substance. Advocacy for such pregnant females requires wide and
      precise knowledge of relevant laws and ethics.

PMID- 25823355
TI  - Pneumocephalus, hearing loss, and vertigo after airline flight in a patient with
      superior canal dehiscence. In reply.

PMID- 25823356
TI  - Silencing the double-stranded RNA binding protein DGCR8 inhibits ovarian cancer
      cell proliferation, migration, and invasion.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of DiGeorge Critical Region 8 (DGCR8), a key
      component of miRNA biogenesis pathway in ovarian cancer. METHODS: The expression
      of DGCR8 in ovarian cancer was detected by immunostaining and DGCR8 knockdown in
      ovarian cancer cells was achieved using lentiviral shRNA. Differential expression
      of miRNAs was determined using Nanostring miRNA arrays and validated by real-time
      RT-PCR. RESULTS: DGCR8 was highly expressed in ovarian cancer. Knockdown of DGCR8
      expression inhibits cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, as well as
      sensitizes cells to apoptosis induced by the chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin.
      Cellular survival pathways including ERK1/2 mitogen-activated protein kinase and
      phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT were attenuated in DGCR8 knockdown cells. DGCR8
      knockdown results in dysregulated miRNA gene expression. miR-27b was identified
      as the most highly down-regulated miRNA in DGCR8 knockdown cells and promoted
      cell proliferation in ovarian cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: DGCR8 functions as an
      oncogene in ovarian cancer, which is in part mediated by miR-27b.

PMID- 25823357
TI  - [Vitreoretinal interface/vascular tumors].

PMID- 25823358
TI  - Author's response.

PMID- 25823359
TI  - Mary Frances Lyon (1925-2014).

PMID- 25823360
TI  - Dietary sodium modulation of aldosterone  activation and renal function during
      the  progression of experimental heart failure.
AB  - AIMS: Aldosterone activation is central to the sodium-fluid retention that marks
      the progression of heart failure (HF). The actions of dietary sodium restriction,
      a mainstay in HF management, on cardiorenal and neuroendocrine adaptations during
      the progression of HF are poorly understood. The study aim was to assess the role
      of dietary sodium during the progression of experimental HF. METHODS AND RESULTS:
      Experimental HF was produced in a canine model by rapid right ventricular pacing
      which evolves from early mild HF to overt, severe HF. Dogs were fed one of three
      diets: (i) high sodium [250 mEq (5.8 g) per day, n =6]; (ii) standard sodium [58
      mEq (1.3 g) per day, n =6]; and (iii) sodium restriction [11 mEq (0.25 g) per
      day, n =6]. During the 38-day study, haemodynamics, renal function, plasma renin
      activity (PRA), and aldosterone were measured. Changes in haemodynamics at 38
      days were similar in all three groups, as were changes in renal function.
      Aldosterone activation was demonstrated in all three groups; however, dietary
      sodium restriction, in contrast to high sodium, resulted in early (10 days)
      activation of PRA and aldosterone. High sodium demonstrated significant
      suppression of aldosterone activation over the course of HF progression.
      CONCLUSIONS: Excessive dietary sodium restriction particularly in early stage HF
      results in early aldosterone activation, while normal and excess sodium intake
      are associated with delayed or suppressed activation. These findings warrant
      evaluation in humans to determine if dietary sodium manipulation, particularly
      during early stage HF, may have a significant impact on neuroendocrine disease
      progression.

PMID- 25823361
TI  - Reduced inotropic reserve is predictive of  further degradation in left
      ventricular ejection  fraction in patients with Duchenne muscular  dystrophy.
AB  - AIMS: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), an inherited X-linked muscular disease,
      is associated with dilated cardiomyopathy that is responsible for death in 40% of
      patients. Our objective was to determine whether inotropic reserve is predictive
      of LV trend over time. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 69 DMD patients (age
      12.2+/-2.3 years) were investigated. At baseline, LVEF and the presence of
      inotropic reserve (defined as an increase in LVEF >10% during dobutamine
      infusion) were investigated using radionuclide ventriculography. During follow-up
      (FU), LVEF was remeasured after a mean 29+/-19 months delay. In the whole
      population, mean LVEF was 58+/-8% at baseline and declined to 54+/-11% during FU
      (P =0.004). At baseline, 21 patients (30.4%) had LVEF <55% and 38 had no LV
      inotropic reserve. LVEF declined in the 38 patients (55.1%) without LV inotropic
      reserve (58+/-8% to 52+/-10%, P =0.001), and not in the other patients (58+/-8%
      to 57+/-11%, P =0.516) (P =0.042 for trends in LVEF between groups after
      adjustment for age, FU duration, and baseline LVEF). Fewer patients with vs.
      without inotropropic reserve at baseline show a depressed LVEF <55% during follow
      up(35.5% vs. 63.2%, respectively, P =0.030). Similar findings were observed in
      the subgroups of patients with LVEF >45% or 55% at baseline. CONCLUSION:
      Inotropic reserve assessment allows the distinction of DMD patients who will vs.
      those who will not show a deterioration in LVEF, thus offering a sensitive
      approach for delineating the presence and progression of cardiovascular disease
      in these patients.

PMID- 25823362
TI  - [Not Available].

PMID- 25823363
TI  - [Treatment of coma in diabetic ketoacidosis. Author reply].

PMID- 25823364
TI  - Response: research-enriching your journey.

PMID- 25823365
TI  - Bone marrow aspiration in resource poor environment: our experience in Kenya.
AB  - Bone marrow aspiration examination is performed mainly to evaluate haematological
      disorders. Several bone marrow aspiration needles are available that include the
      Salah, Klima, Jamshidi and Islam. However, cost is an issue in our local
      environment as most of our patients are not medically insured. We describe our
      experience of bone marrow aspiration using an 18-gauge lumbar puncture needle at
      the posterior superior iliac spine. The technique is safe and cost effective and
      the site is easily accessible, even in obese patients. The crush preparations
      provide good morphology, therefore avoiding repeats. Additional training is not
      required for the procedural technique. We recommend this technique for use in
      resource challenged settings. 

PMID- 25823367
TI  - Which whistleblower is more vulnerable: the Indian doctor or nurse?

PMID- 25823366
TI  - Identification of acquired coagulation disorders and effects of target-controlled
      coagulation factor substitution on the incidence and severity of spontaneous
      intracranial bleeding during veno-venous ECMO therapy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Intracranial haemorrhage is a redoubtable complication during
      extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy. The underlying mechanisms of
      haemorrhagic diathesis are still not completely understood. This study was
      performed to evaluate a coagulation protocol for the regular analysis of acquired
      coagulation disorders and the systematic substitution of coagulation factors to
      reach predefined target values. We hypothesised that using this strategy would
      lead to the identification of acquired bleeding disorders which cannot be
      monitored with standard coagulation tests and that substitution of the respective
      factors in a target-controlled approach could have an impact on the incidence and
      severity of intracranial haemorrhage. METHODS: A protocol for the analysis of
      acquired coagulation disorders and the subsequent administration of associated
      factor concentrates was introduced. Previously, coagulation management was mainly
      based on clinical bleeding signs as the trigger for the administration of blood
      products. In this investigation, nineteen consecutive patients before (control
      group) and twenty consecutive patients after the implementation of the protocol
      (intervention group) have been included in the study. RESULTS: Eighty-eight
      percent of the patients developed factor XIII deficiency, 79% acquired von
      Willebrand syndrome, 40% fibrinogen deficiency and 54% of the patients showed a
      decline in platelet count >20% within the first 24 hours of ECMO therapy. In 6
      out of 19 (31%) patients in the control group and in 2 patients out of 20 (10%)
      in the intervention group, intracranial haemorrhage was detected. Whilst 5 of 6
      patients in the control group died because of fatal bleeding, both of the
      patients in the intervention group recovered with a favourable neurologic
      outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Veno-venous ECMO therapy leads to thrombocytopenia, factor
      XIII and fibrinogen deficiency as well as acquired von Willebrand syndrome. The
      implementation of a coagulation protocol including a standardized determination
      and target-controlled substitution of coagulation factors may have a beneficial
      impact on the incidence and severity of intracranial haemorrhage.

PMID- 25823368
TI  - A novel operant-based behavioral assay of mechanical allodynia in the orofacial
      region of rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Detecting behaviors related to orofacial pain in rodent models often
      relies on subjective investigator grades or methods that place the animal in a
      stressful environment. In this study, an operant-based behavioral assay is
      presented for the assessment of orofacial tactile sensitivity in the rat. NEW
      METHODS: In the testing chamber, rats are provided access to a sweetened
      condensed milk bottle; however, a 360 degrees  array of stainless steel wire
      loops impedes access. To receive the reward, an animal must engage the wires
      across the orofacial region. Contact with the bottle triggers a motor, requiring
      the animal to accept increasing pressure on the face during the test. To evaluate
      this approach, tolerated bottle distance was measured for 10 hairless Sprague
      Dawley rats at baseline and 30 min after application of capsaicin cream (0.1%) to
      the face. The experiment was repeated to evaluate the ability of morphine to
      reverse this effect. RESULTS: The application of capsaicin cream reduced
      tolerated bottle distance measures relative to baseline (p<0.05). As long as
      morphine did not cause reduced participation due to sedation, subcutaneous
      morphine dosing reduced the effects of capsaicin (p<0.001). Comparison with
      existing method: For behavioral tests, experimenters often make subjective
      decisions of an animal's response. Operant methods can reduce these effects by
      measuring an animal's selection in a reward-conflict decision. Herein, a method
      to measure orofacial sensitivity is presented using an operant system.
      CONCLUSIONS: This operant device allows for consistent measurement of heightened
      tactile sensitivity in the orofacial regions of the rat.

PMID- 25823369
TI  - Airbrush Formation of Liquid Crystal/Polymer Fibers.
AB  - A homogeneous solution of a low-molecular-weight liquid crystal and a polymer
      spontaneously phase separates during airbrushing to form uniform fibers with a
      fluid liquid-crystal core surrounded by a solid polymer sheath. This structure
      forms because it effectively minimizes the interfacial energy of the phase
      separated components while minimizing the elastic energy of the liquid-crystal
      core. These fibers incorporate the sensitive stimuli response of liquid crystals
      while maintaining the structural integrity, flexibility, and large surface-area
      to-volume ratios inherent in fibers. We demonstrate the electro- and thermo
      optical response of the resulting fibers. They may find use as biological and
      chemical sensors. The resulting fibers have the potential to shape the future of
      flexible/wearable electronics and sensors. 

PMID- 25823370
TI  - Mechanical force-induced specific MicroRNA expression in human periodontal
      ligament stem cells.
AB  - It remains unclear how the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in human periodontal
      ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) might respond to mechanical stretch. To investigate
      specific miRNA expression in stretched PDLSCs, we used a Flexcell(r) FX-5000TM
      tension system to achieve external mechanical stimulation. Then, a custom
      designed microarray assay was performed to investigate and describe the genome
      wide differential expression of miRNAs in normal and stretched PDLSCs. Finally,
      we implemented integrative miRNA target prediction and network analysis
      approaches to construct an interaction network of the key miRNAs and their
      putative targets. We found that stretching induced morphological changes and
      increased alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, runt-related transcription factor
      2 (RUNX2), osteocalcin (OCN), and bone sialoprotein (BSP) expression in PDLSCs.
      The microarray data showed that 53 miRNAs were differentially expressed with
      stretching. With an interaction network, we examined the connections between 10
      selected key miRNAs and their putative target genes, which were related to
      mechanical force. The results from the interaction network provided a basis for
      postulating the functional roles of miRNAs in PDLSCs.

PMID- 25823371
TI  - The effect of maternal hypothyroidism on cardiac function and tolerance to
      ischemia-reperfusion injury in offspring male and female rats.
AB  - PURPOSE: Accumulating evidence indicates that intrauterine evolution disturbance
      can contribute to myocardial ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury; in addition,
      thyroid hormones (THs) have a crucial role in the development of different
      systems during fetal life. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of
      TH deficiency during fetal life on tolerance of isolated heart to ischemia during
      adulthood in both genders. METHODS: Hypothyroidism was induced in pregnant Wistar
      rats by administrating 0.025 % 6-propyl-2-thiouracil in drinking water throughout
      pregnancy. Offspring of rats with maternal hypothyroidism (MH) and control groups
      were tested in adulthood. Isolated hearts were perfused with Langendorff setup
      and exposed to 30 min of ischemia, followed by 45 min of reperfusion. Baseline
      values of the left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), left ventricular
      developed pressure (LVDP), heart rate (HR), and peak rates of positive and
      negative changes in left ventricular pressure (+/-dp/dt) were recorded. RESULTS:
      In the MH groups the baseline levels of LVDP (male: 23 %, female: 33 %), HR
      (male: 31 %, female: 26 %), and +/-dp/dt were significantly (p < 0.01) lower,
      compared to controls. After ischemia, hearts from male rats with MH had less
      tolerance to IR injury as assessed in terms of reductions in recovery of
      hemodynamic parameters compared to controls, while in female rats there were no
      significant differences between MH and controls. CONCLUSIONS: MH decreases
      hemodynamic parameters in the heart of both male and female offspring in
      adulthood; in addition, hearts of male rats with MH show less tolerance to
      ischemia, compared to those of females.

PMID- 25823372
TI  - Multifocal extraparotid Warthin's tumours mimicking metastatic squamous cell
      carcinoma of the upper neck.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Warthin's tumours can show features of pseudo-neoplasia. They do not
      usually cause problems for diagnosis and management when present within the
      parotid gland. However, extraparotid Warthin's tumours that are associated with
      pseudo-neoplasia upon cytological analysis can mimic metastatic malignant
      disease. The case of a patient presenting with multifocal extraparotid Warthin's
      tumours is described. CASE REPORT: A 57-year-old male smoker presented with
      rapidly growing upper neck lumps. Fine needle aspiration cytology, magnetic
      resonance imaging and positron emission tomography findings were compatible with
      metastatic squamous cell carcinoma secondary to either an unknown primary upper
      aerodigestive or a parotid malignancy. The patient subsequently underwent total
      conservative parotidectomy and modified radical neck dissection. Final histology
      findings revealed multifocal benign Warthin's tumours with four extraparotid
      components. CONCLUSION: Warthin's tumours may present outside the parotid gland,
      present with multifocal lesions and mimic metastatic disease. Frozen section
      examination prior to radical resection should be considered to guide management.

PMID- 25823373
TI  - MR CLEAN: past the tipping point of clinical equipoise.

PMID- 25823374
TI  - Prostate cancer: CYP17A1 inhibitor failure-lessons for future drug development.

PMID- 25823375
TI  - Prostate cancer: Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts prostate cancer prognosis.

PMID- 25823376
TI  - Prostate cancer: New ligand-receptor targets.

PMID- 25823378
TI  - Utilisation of water soluble iridium catalysts for signal amplification by
      reversible exchange.
AB  - The catalytic hyperpolarisation of pyridine, 3-hydroxypyridine and oxazole by the
      Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange (SABRE) process is achieved by a
      series of water soluble iridium phosphine and N-heterocyclic carbene dihydride
      complexes. While the efficiency of the SABRE process in methanol-d4 solution or
      ethanol-d6 solution is high, with over 400-fold (1)H polarisation of pyridine
      being produced by [Ir(H)2(NCMe)(py)(IMes)(monosulfonated-triphenylphosphine)]BF4,
      changing to a D2O or a D2O-ethanol solvent mixture leads to dramatically reduced
      activity which is rationalised in terms of low H2 solubility. 

PMID- 25823377
TI  - ERK7 regulates ciliogenesis by phosphorylating the actin regulator CapZIP in
      cooperation with Dishevelled.
AB  - Cilia are essential for embryogenesis and maintenance of homeostasis, but little
      is known about the signalling pathways that regulate ciliogenesis. Here, we
      identify ERK7, an atypical mitogen-activated protein kinase, as a key regulator
      of ciliogenesis. ERK7 is strongly expressed in ciliated tissues of Xenopus
      embryos. ERK7 knockdown markedly diminishes both the number and the length of
      cilia in multiciliated cells, and it inhibits the apical migration of basal
      bodies. Moreover, ERK7 knockdown results in a loss of the apical actin meshwork,
      which is required for the proper migration of basal bodies. We find that the
      actin regulator CapZIP, which has been shown to regulate ciliogenesis in a
      phosphorylation-dependent manner, is an ERK7 substrate, and that Dishevelled,
      which has also been shown to regulate ciliogenesis, facilitates ERK7
      phosphorylation of CapZIP through binding to both ERK7 and CapZIP. Collectively,
      these results identify an ERK7/Dishevelled/CapZIP axis that regulates
      ciliogenesis. 

PMID- 25823379
TI  - Striking a balance.

PMID- 25823380
TI  - Partial kilovoltage cone beam computed tomography, complete kilovoltage cone beam
      computed tomography, and electronic portal images for breast radiation therapy: A
      dose-comparison study.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare absorbed dose with the treated
      breast and organs at risks (OARs) with weekly image guidance using electronic
      portal imaging (EPI), complete kilovoltage cone beam computed tomography (kV
      CBCT), and partial kV CBCT. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Using a thorax female phantom,
      we determined absorbed doses to treated and contralateral breast, ipsilateral and
      contralateral lung, heart, and skin for tangential EPI, complete kV CBCT, and
      partial kV CBCT. Doses were measured by use of ionization chambers and compared
      with treatment planning system calculations. With simulation of breast tangential
      irradiation to a standard dose of 50 Gy in 25 fractions, dose to each organ was
      measured for each image guidance technique. RESULTS: Use of weekly EPI was
      associated with a significantly increased dose to the treated breast compared
      with weekly complete and partial kV CBCT (4.44 +/- 0.04 vs 1.00 +/- 0.07 vs 0.576
      +/- 0.003 cGy, respectively). Dose to the contralateral breast, ipsilateral and
      contralateral lung, heart, and contralateral skin was lower with EPI than with
      either complete or partial kV CBCT (0.042 +/- 0.004 vs 0.36 +/- 0.01 vs 0.23 +/-
      0.01 cGy, 0.06 +/- 0.04 vs 0.42 +/- 0.02 vs 0.31 +/- 0.01 cGy, 0.004 +/- 0.002 vs
      0.29 +/- 0.01 vs 0.22 +/- 0.01 cGy, 0.03 +/- 0.08 vs 0.36 +/- 0.02 vs 0.25 +/-
      0.01 cGy, and 0.20 +/- 0.02 vs 0.80 +/- 0.06 vs 0.40 +/- 0.03 cGy, respectively).
      Compared with complete CBCT, the use of partial CBCT allowed dose reductions of
      42%, 37%, 27%, 24%, and 28% to the ipsilateral breast, contralateral breast,
      ipsilateral lung, contralateral lung, and heart, respectively. Additional dose
      from weekly CBCT was significantly lower than treatment-related scatter dose for
      all OARs. CONCLUSIONS: Use of CBCT was associated with decreased dose to
      ipsilateral breast and increased dose to all OARs compared with EPI. Significant
      dose reduction can be achieved with the use of partial CBCT, while generally
      maintaining image quality.

PMID- 25823381
TI  - Utility and validation of biomechanical deformable image registration in low
      contrast images.
AB  - PURPOSE: The application of a biomechanical deformable image registration
      algorithm has been demonstrated to overcome the potential limitations in the use
      of intensity-based algorithms on low-contrast images that lack prominent
      features. Because validation of deformable registration is particularly
      challenging on such images, the dose distribution predicted via a biomechanical
      algorithm was evaluated using the measured dose from a deformable dosimeter.
      METHODS AND MATERIALS: A biomechanical model-based image registration algorithm
      registered computed tomographic (CT) images of an elastic radiochromic dosimeter
      between its undeformed and deformed positions. The algorithm aligns the external
      boundaries of the dosimeter, created from CT contours, and the internal
      displacements are solved by modeling the physical material properties of the
      dosimeter. The dosimeter was planned and irradiated in its deformed position, and
      subsequently, the delivered dose was measured with optical CT in the undeformed
      position. The predicted dose distribution, created by applying the deformable
      registration displacement map to the planned distribution, was then compared with
      the measured optical CT distribution. RESULTS: Compared with the optical CT
      distribution, biomechanical image registration predicted the position and size of
      the deformed dose fields with mean errors of <=1 mm (maximum, 3 mm). The accuracy
      did not differ between cross sections with a greater or lesser deformation
      magnitude despite the homogenous CT intensities throughout the dosimeter. The
      overall 3-dimensional voxel passing rate of the predicted distribution was
      gamma3%/3mm = 91% compared with optical CT. CONCLUSIONS: Biomechanical
      registration accurately predicted the deformed dose distribution measured in a
      deformable dosimeter, whereas previously, evaluations of a commercial intensity
      based algorithm demonstrated substantial errors. The addition of biomechanical
      algorithms to the collection of adaptive radiation therapy tools would be
      valuable for dose accumulation, particularly in feature-poor images such as cone
      beam CT and organs such as the liver.

PMID- 25823382
TI  - Early palliative radiation therapy in patients with newly diagnosed cancer:
      Reasons, clinical practice, and survival.
AB  - PURPOSE: To analyze indications for early palliative radiation therapy (RT) (ie,
      start within 1 month from cancer diagnosis), regimens used in clinical practice,
      rate of treatment completion and treatment in the last 30 days of life, and
      overall survival. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Retrospective uni- and multivariate
      analyses covering a 4.5-year inclusion period. RESULTS: Seventeen percent of all
      palliative RT courses were administered in the specified time frame (n = 100
      patients, 30 Gy in 10 fractions in 49%). Common indications were bone and brain
      metastases, whereas metastatic spinal cord compression or other emergencies
      comprised a minority. Only 14% of patients had no distant metastases. Most
      patients had non-small cell lung cancer (51%), whereas other high-incidence
      primary tumors such as breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer combined comprised
      10%. Failure to complete RT occurred in 6%. Median survival was 3.6 months. A
      startling high rate of RT in the last 30 days of life was observed (19%). Risk
      correlated significantly with performance status and extent of metastatic
      disease. CONCLUSIONS: The study population of patients who received early
      palliative RT is not identical to the general population described in previous
      studies, which covered the entire disease trajectory. Median survival was
      relatively short and rate of RT in the last 30 days of life higher than expected.
      Need for early palliative RT might be caused by large symptom burden and/or
      contraindication(s) for other management options, and might in many cases also be
      associated with adverse prognostic features and aggressive disease.

PMID- 25823383
TI  - Feasibility of magnetic resonance imaging-guided liver stereotactic body
      radiation therapy: A comparison between modulated tri-cobalt-60 teletherapy and
      linear accelerator-based intensity modulated radiation therapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the dosimetric feasibility
      of liver stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) using a teletherapy system
      equipped with 3 rotating (60)Co sources (tri-(60)Co system) and a built-in
      magnetic resonance imager (MRI). We hypothesized tumor size and location would be
      predictive of favorable dosimetry with tri-(60)Co SBRT. METHODS AND MATERIALS:
      The primary study population consisted of 11 patients treated with SBRT for
      malignant hepatic lesions whose linear accelerator (LINAC)-based SBRT plans met
      all mandatory Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 1112 organ-at-risk (OAR)
      constraints. The secondary study population included 5 additional patients whose
      plans did not meet the mandatory constraints. Patients received 36 to 60 Gy in 3
      to 5 fractions. Tri-(60)Co system SBRT plans were planned with ViewRay system
      software. RESULTS: All patients in the primary study population had tri-(60)Co
      SBRT plans that passed all RTOG constraints, with similar planning target volume
      coverage and OAR doses to LINAC plans. Mean liver doses and V10Gy to the liver,
      although easily meeting RTOG 1112 guidelines, were significantly higher with tri
      (60)Co plans. When the 5 additional patients were included in a univariate
      analysis, the tri-(60)Co SBRT plans were still equally able to pass RTOG
      constraints, although they did have inferior ability to pass more stringent liver
      and kidney constraints (P < .05). A multivariate analysis found the ability of a
      tri-(60)Co SBRT plan to meet these constraints depended on lesion location and
      size. Patients with smaller or more peripheral lesions (as defined by distance
      from the aorta, chest wall, liver dome, and relative lesion volume) were
      significantly more likely to have tri-(60)Co plans that spared the liver and
      kidney as well as LINAC plans did (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: It is dosimetrically
      feasible to perform liver SBRT with a tri-(60)Co system with a built-in MRI.
      Patients with smaller or more peripheral lesions are more likely to have optimal
      liver and kidney sparing, with the added benefit of MRI guidance, when receiving
      tri-(60)Co-based SBRT.

PMID- 25823385
TI  - MISUNDERSTANDING, THREATS, AND FEAR, OF THE LAW IN CONFLICTS OVER CHILDREN'S
      HEALTHCARE: IN THE MATTER OF ASHYA KING [2014] EWHC 2964.
AB  - This commentary critically examines the role of the law in the conflict over the
      post-operative care of five-year-old Ashya King. It argues that misunderstanding,
      threats, and fear of the law contributed to the deteriorating relationship
      between his parents and the professionals caring for him. The commentary analyses
      the judgment, in wardship proceedings, of Baker J arguing that too much weight
      was placed upon the responsibilities of Ashya's parents and an insufficient
      account provided of his best interests or of the principled basis for preferring
      innovative and, as yet, unproven therapy only available, privately funded, abroad
      to conventional treatment for a child with a life-threatening condition. 

PMID- 25823386
TI  - Licochalcone F alleviates glucose tolerance and chronic inflammation in diet
      induced obese mice through Akt and p38 MAPK.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Licochalcone (lico) F is a novel synthetic retrochalcone. In
      this study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of lico F in vitro, and
      its effects on obesity-induced chronic inflammation, glucose intolerance, and
      fatty liver in vivo. METHODS: The inhibitory effects of lico F on TNFalpha
      induced inflammation were investigated using NF-kappaB luciferase reporter assay
      and RT-PCR. Diet-induced obese mice were treated orally, once per day, with
      vehicle or lico F (10 mg/kg/day), for 3 weeks, and blood, liver, and adipose
      tissues were analyzed. RESULTS: Lico F inhibited TNFalpha-induced NF-kappaB
      activation and mRNA expression of TNFalpha, COX-2, IL-6, IL-1beta, and NOS2. In
      obese mice, lico F administration significantly alleviated glucose tolerance
      without changes in body weight gain and food intake. Lico F reduced adipocyte
      size and macrophage infiltration into white adipose tissue and improved hepatic
      lesions, by decreasing fat droplets and glycogen deposition. The mRNA expression
      levels of TNFalpha, MCP-1, and CD68 in white adipose tissue also decreased
      markedly. Moreover, lico F enhanced Akt signaling, but reduced p38 MAPK signaling
      in white adipose tissue. CONCLUSIONS: Lico F had anti-inflammatory effects and
      showed beneficial effects on glucose metabolism, which could be partially caused
      by activation of the Akt signal pathway and obesity-induced chronic inflammation,
      probably by downregulating p38 signal pathway. Moreover, lico F could be used as
      a potential novel therapeutic compound against type 2 diabetes and obesity
      induced chronic inflammation without the deleterious effects of body weight gain
      and fatty liver.

PMID- 25823388
TI  - A comparative study of 18F-FDG PET/CT and ultrasonography in the diagnosis of
      breast cancer and axillary lymph node metastasis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic value of 18F-FDG
      PET/CT (PET/CT) with ultrasonography (US) in detection of primary breast cancer
      and axillary lymph nodes (ALN) metastasis of breast cancer. METHODS: One hundred
      and sixty four patients with breast carcinoma were recruited and analyzed
      retrospectively. All patients underwent PET-CT and US. The PET/CT scan results
      for the diagnosis of primary breast cancer were compared with US. The diagnostic
      accuracy of PET/CT in detecting ALN metastasis was compared with histopathology.
      RESULTS: In 164 patients with cytologically established breast carcinoma, the
      sensitivity of PET/CT and US in the diagnosis of breast cancer were 86%
      (141/164), 91% (149/164), respectively. The sensitivity, specificity of PET/CT
      and US in ALN staging were 46% and 54%, 91% and 91%, respectively. The diagnostic
      accuracy of PET/CT correlated with the ALN size, the SUVmax of primary breast
      cancer (P=0.02 and 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: PET/CT is very expensive, and not superior
      to US in detection of primary breast cancer and in ALN staging, but superior in
      detecting distant metastases. PET/CT cannot be recommended as a primary
      diagnostic procedure in early breast cancer. US should still remain the first
      line for the diagnosis of stage I breast cancer. In relation to the detection of
      axillary node metastases, both PET/CT and ultrasonography have poor sensitivity,
      and cannot replace staging by using the sentinel node procedure.

PMID- 25823387
TI  - Higher visceral adiposity is associated with an enhanced early thermogenic
      response to carbohydrate-rich food.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies examining the dynamics of the thermic effect of feeding (TEF)
      of specific food items and the relationship of TEF to visceral adiposity are
      limited. METHODS: We measured resting energy expenditure (REE) and early-TEF (40
      min postprandial, e-TEF) after 8-h fast by indirect calorimetry in 40 obese men,
      and imaged abdominal fat tissues by magnetic resonance imaging. Each participant
      was examined on two occasions, 3-weeks apart. At each examination we measured
      fasting REE and then postprandial REE following the isocaloric [~380 kcal]
      consumption of either 56 gr walnuts [(8% carbohydrates; 84% fat, of which 72%
      polyunsaturated fat)], or 5-slices (150gr) of whole-grain bread (48%
      carbohydrates; 32% fat). e-TEF was calculated as the area under the curve between
      the fasting and postprandial tests. RESULTS: Participants had a mean age of 45 +/
      8 years, body-mass-index (BMI) = 31.1 +/- 3.8 kg/m(2), total abdominal fat area
      = 901.4 +/- 240 cm(2), visceral fat area (VAT) = 260 +/- 102.9 cm(2), fasting REE
      = 1854 +/- 205 kcal, REE/kg = 19.39 +/- 1.73 kcal/kg, and respiratory quotient
      (RQ, CO2 eliminated/O2 consumed) = 0.82 +/- 0.04. Individuals who exhibited
      increased e-TEF (top DeltaAUC median) to bread had higher VAT (299 cm(2) vs. 223
      cm(2); p = 0.024) and higher BMI (32.4 kg/m(2) vs. 30.0 kg/m(2); p = 0.013),
      compared to their peers with the lower e-TEF response (DeltaAUC below median). As
      expected, postprandial e-TEF was higher after whole-grain bread consumption
      [DeltaAUC = +14 kcal/40min] compared to walnuts [DeltaAUC = -2 kcal/40 min; p <
      0.001]. CONCLUSIONS: Higher early thermic effect of high-carbohydrate food,
      likely reflecting digestion, early absorption and/or sympathetic tone (rather
      than metabolic utilization (oxidation)), associates with visceral adiposity.
      Future studies are required to determine if this association represents an added
      causality between early carbohydrate processing and visceral fat accumulation.

PMID- 25823389
TI  - Is there a role for a handheld gamma camera (TReCam) in the SNOLL breast cancer
      procedure?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sentinel node and occult lesion localization (SNOLL) calls for a
      combination of two specific procedures: intraoperative detection of sentinel
      lymph node (SLN) and radio--guided occult lesion localization (ROLL). The safety
      and benefits of radio--guided localization in the surgical treatment of non-
      palpable breast cancer have been confirmed. The aim of this study was to evaluate
      the potential role for an intra--operative handheld gamma camera (TreCam) in the
      SNOLL procedure. METHODS: Fifteen patients were enrolled. The SNOLL procedure was
      performed in all patients with conventional lymphoscintigraphy (LS). TReCam was
      used to obtain nuclear imaging in the operating theater. Concordance between LS
      and TreCam images, duration of use and assessment of difficulties in data
      acquisition with TReCam were reported. RESULTS: Concordance for tumor
      localization between single--detector gamma probe and TReCam was excellent
      (15/15). The number of radioactive SLNs visualized between LS and TReCam was
      equivalent in 53.3% of cases (8/15). TreCam was considered to be very easy--to-
      use (12/15) or easy--to--use (3/15). Average duration of acquisition with TReCam
      was 4 min 45 s for the SLN procedure and 2 min 10 s for lumpectomy. CONCLUSION:
      This study suggests that TReCam is easy--to--use and does not increase operative
      time. Its exact role in radio--guided surgery needs to be clearly defined in a
      larger study. However, its usefulness and benefits in radio--guided breast
      surgery seem to be promising.

PMID- 25823390
TI  - Molecular dynamics simulation and conformational analysis of some catalytically
      active peptides.
AB  - The design of stable and inexpensive artificial enzymes with potent catalytic
      activity is a growing field in peptide science. The first step in this design
      process is to understand the key factors that can affect the conformational
      preference of an enzyme and correlate them with its catalytic activity. In this
      work, molecular dynamics simulations in explicit water of two catalytically
      active peptides (peptide 1: Fmoc-Phe1-Phe2-His-CONH2; peptide 2: Fmoc-Phe1-Phe2
      Arg-CONH2) were performed at temperatures of 300, 400, and 500 K. Conformational
      analysis of these peptides using Ramachandran plots identified the secondary
      structures of the amino acid residues involved (Phe1, Phe2, His, Arg) and
      confirmed their conformational flexibility in solution. Furthermore, Ramachandran
      maps revealed the intrinsic preference of the constituent residues of these
      compounds for a helical conformation. Long-range interaction distances and radius
      of gyration (R g) values obtained during 20 ns MD simulations confirmed their
      tendency to form folded conformations. Results showed a decrease in side-chain
      (Phe1, Phe2, His ring, and Arg) contacts as the temperature was raised from 300
      to 400 K and then to 500 K. Finally, the radial distribution functions (RDF) of
      the water molecules around the nitrogen atoms in the catalytically active His and
      Arg residues of peptide 1 and peptide 2 revealed that the strongest water-peptide
      interaction occurred with the arginine nitrogen atoms in peptide 2. Our results
      highlight differences in the secondary structures of the two peptides that can be
      explained by the different arrangement of water molecules around the nitrogen
      atoms of Arg in peptide 2 as compared to the arrangement of water molecules
      around the nitrogen atoms of His in peptide 1. The results of this work thus
      provide detailed insight into peptide conformations which can be exploited in the
      future design of peptide analogs. 

PMID- 25823391
TI  - Symmetric nested complexes of fullerenes.
AB  - Large fullerenes such as C180 and C116 can be used as hosts for other molecules
      of the same family. Based on this idea, two complexes were designed, one in which
      C180 accepts a C60 molecule as a guest and the other in which C20 was placed
      inside C116. The behavior of these new assemblies was closer to that of a large
      endohedral complex rather than onion-like. There were marked differences between
      the systems. In the first system, there was minor interaction between the two
      cages but the association resulted in a more stable thermodynamic state. In the
      second system, there was strong electronic interchange between the cages, and the
      thermodynamic results suggest that such a combination might be useful for forming
      stable C20. 

PMID- 25823392
TI  - Synthesis and evaluation of 7alpha-(3-[(18)F]fluoropropyl) estradiol.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Several lines of evidence suggest that C-7alpha-substituted
      estradiol derivatives are well tolerated by estrogen receptor (ER). In line with
      this hypothesis, we are interested in the design and synthesis of C-7alpha
      substituted estrogens as molecular probes to visualize ER function. METHODS: We
      have synthesized 7alpha-(3-[(18)F]fluoropropyl) estradiol (C3-7alpha-[(18)F]FES)
      as a potential radiopharmaceutical for ER imaging by positron emission tomography
      (PET). In vitro receptor binding and in vivo biodistribution and blocking studies
      in mature female mice, and in vivo metabolite analysis were carried out.
      Furthermore, in vivo ER-selective uptake was confirmed using ER-positive T-47D
      and ER-negative MDA-MB-231 tumor-bearing mice. We also compared the in vivo
      biodistribution of C3-7alpha-[(18)F]FES with 16alpha-[(18)F]FES. RESULTS: C3
      7alpha-[(18)F]FES was produced in moderate yields (30.7%+/-15.1%, decay
      corrected) with specific activity of 32.0+/-18.1GBq/MUmol (EOS). The in vitro
      binding affinity of C3-7alpha-FES to the ERalpha isoform was sufficient and
      equivalent to that of estradiol. C3-7alpha-[(18)F]FES showed selective uptake in
      ER-rich tissues, such as the uterus (4.7%ID/g+/-1.2%ID/g at 15minutes) and ovary
      (4.0%ID/g+/-1.0%ID/g at 5minutes). The tissue time activity curves of these
      organs showed reversible kinetics, indicating suitability for quantitative
      analysis. The highest contrast was obtained at 120minutes after injection of C3
      7alpha-[(18)F]FES in the uterus (uterus/blood=18, uterus/muscle=17.3) and ovary
      (ovary/blood=6.3, ovary/muscle=6.0). However, the level of selective uptake of C3
      7alpha-[(18)F]FES was significantly lower than that of 16alpha-[(18)F]FES. Most
      radioactivity in the uterus was detected in unchanged form, although peripherally
      C3-7alpha-[(18)F]FES was rapidly degraded to hydrophilic metabolites. In
      accordance with this peripheral metabolism, gradual increases in bone
      radioactivity were observed, indicating defluorination. Coinjection with
      estradiol dose-dependently inhibited C3-7alpha-[(18)F]FES uptake in the uterus
      and ovary. The in vivo IC50 values of estradiol in the uterus and ovary were 34.4
      and 38.5nmol/kg, respectively. Furthermore, in vivo tumor uptake of C3-7alpha
      [(18)F]FES was significantly higher (unpaired t test with Welch's correction;
      p=0.015) in ER-positive T-47D tumors (2.3%ID/g+/-0.4%ID/g) than ER-negative MDA
      MB-231 tumors (0.9%ID/g+/-0.1%ID/g). CONCLUSIONS: Although extensive metabolism
      was observed in rodents, C3-7alpha-[(18)F]FES showed promising results for
      quantitative analysis of ER density in vivo. However, the selective uptake of C3
      7alpha-[(18)F]FES was lower than that of 16alpha-[(18)F]FES. Further
      optimizations and structure-activity relationship studies of the C-7alpha
      substituted estradiol are needed.

PMID- 25823393
TI  - [(18)F]FDG is not transported by P-glycoprotein and breast cancer resistance
      protein at the rodent blood-brain barrier.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Transport of 2-[(18)F]fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose ([(18)F]FDG) by the
      multidrug efflux transporters P-glycoprotein (ABCB1) and breast cancer resistance
      protein (ABCG2) at the blood-brain barrier (BBB) may confound the interpretation
      of [(18)F]FDG brain PET data. Aim of this study was to assess the influence of
      ABCB1 and ABCG2 at the BBB on brain distribution of [(18)F]FDG in vivo by
      performing [(18)F]FDG PET scans in wild-type and transporter knockout mice and by
      evaluating changes in [(18)F]FDG brain distribution after transporter inhibition.
      METHODS: Dynamic small-animal PET experiments (60min) were performed with
      [(18)F]FDG in groups of wild-type and transporter knockout mice (Abcb1a/b((-/-)),
      Abcg2((-/-)) and Abcb1a/b((-/-))Abcg2((-/-))) and in wild-type rats without and
      with i.v. pretreatment with the known ABCB1 inhibitor tariquidar (15mg/kg, given
      at 2h before PET). Blood was sampled from animals from the orbital sinus vein at
      the end of the PET scans and measured in a gamma counter. Brain uptake of
      [(18)F]FDG was expressed as the brain-to-blood radioactivity concentration ratio
      in the last PET time frame (Kb,brain). RESULTS: Kb,brain values of [(18)F]FDG
      were not significantly different between different mouse types both without and
      with tariquidar pretreatment. The blood-to-brain transfer rate constant of
      [(18)F]FDG was significantly lower in tariquidar-treated as compared with vehicle
      treated rats (0.350+/-0.025mL/min/g versus 0.416+/-0.024mL/min/g, p=0.026, paired
      t-test) but Kb,brain values were not significantly different between both rat
      groups. CONCLUSION: Our results show that [(18)F]FDG is not transported by Abcb1
      at the mouse and rat BBB in vivo. In addition we found no evidence for Abcg2
      transport of [(18)F]FDG at the mouse BBB. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE AND IMPLICATIONS
      FOR PATIENT CARE: Our findings imply that functional activity of ABCB1 and ABCG2
      at the BBB does not need to be taken into account when interpreting brain
      [(18)F]FDG PET data.

PMID- 25823394
TI  - Role of calcium in the regulation of bone morphogenetic protein 2, runt-related
      transcription factor 2 and Osterix in primary renal tubular epithelial cells by
      the vitamin D receptor.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of 1,25(OH)2D3/vitamin
      D receptor (VDR) and calcium on the expression levels of osteogenic factors in
      primary renal tubular epithelial cells (RTECs) using genetic hypercalciuric rats.
      The basal levels of osteogenic factors were detected in Sprague Dawley and
      genetic hypercalciuric rats. The gene and protein levels of bone morphogenetic
      protein 2 (BMP2), runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) and osterix were
      detected in the RTECs transduced with Lenti-VDR-sh and were incubated with
      calcium. Using the o-cresolphthalein complexone method, the calcium levels of the
      primary RTECs cultured with Lenti-VDR-sh and with 1,25(OH)2D3 were assessed. The
      basal levels of BMP2, Runx2 and Osterix in the cells were significantly higher in
      the genetic hypercalciuric rats compared with the control rats. VDR knockdown in
      the RTECs reduced the expression levels of BMP2, Runx2 and Osterix. The calcium
      depositions in the primary RTECs were also decreased following exposure to Lenti
      VDR-sh, but increased following treatment with 1,25(OH)2D3. The expression levels
      of BMP2, Runx2 and Osterix were markedly increased in the cells incubated with
      calcium compared with the cells treated with normal saline and the untreated
      cells. These findings indicated that osteogenic factors, including BMP2, Runx2
      and Osterix may be important in renal stone formation in idiopathic
      hypercalciuria. VDR may mediate the increased expression levels of BMP2, Runx2
      and Osterix by positively regulating calcium levels in primary RTECs.

PMID- 25823395
TI  - Accuracy of in vivo palpation-guided acromioclavicular joint injection assessed
      with contrast material and fluoroscopic evaluations.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of in vivo
      acromioclavicular (AC) joint injections without fluoroscopic guidance and assess
      whether patient demographics affected the accuracy of injections. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A consecutive cohort of patients who presented with painful
      acromioclavicular joints was prospectively evaluated. All patients had clinical
      and radiographic evidence of AC arthritis, had failed conservative measures, and
      thus had received intraarticular corticosteroid injections. All injections were
      performed by experienced fellowship-trained musculoskeletal radiologists and by
      blinded digital palpation technique. Accuracy of injections was assessed with
      biplanar fluoroscopic views. RESULTS: Forty-one AC injections in 22 males and 16
      females with a mean age of 51 years (range 18 to 78) were identified. Twenty
      three injections were in the right shoulder and 18 in the left. Only 15
      injections were confirmed to be in the intraarticular AC joint, yielding an
      accuracy of 36.5%. There were no significant differences in the mean age (54 vs.
      52 years; p = 0.58), male-to-female ratio (p = 0.73), and side of the injection
      between the accurate and inaccurate injections, respectively. CONCLUSION: Based
      on the findings of the present study, the authors encourage the use of image
      guidance for corticosteroid treatment of the AC joint. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level
      IV Therapeutic Case Series.

PMID- 25823396
TI  - CALU polymorphism A29809G affects calumenin availability involving vascular
      calcification.
AB  - Calumenin inhibits gamma-carboxylation of matrix-Gla-protein preventing BMP2
      dependent calcification. Our aim was to explore the clinical relevance and
      functionality of the CALU polymorphism rs1043550, and the relationship of
      calumenin time-dependent expression profile with the active calcification of
      human vascular smooth muscle cells (hVSMC). Coronary artery calcium score and
      lesion severity were assessed by cardiac computed tomography in 139 consecutive
      low-risk patients genotyped for rs1043550. Polymorphic (G) allele carriage was
      associated with lower calcium (OR: 6.19, p=0.042). Calcified arteries from CALU
      'A' allele carriers undergoing cardiovascular surgery exhibited higher residual
      calcification, higher calumenin immunostaining and lower matrix-Gla-protein,
      contrary to 'G' allele carriers. In a luciferase reporter system in vascular
      cells, polymorphic 'G' allele reduced the mRNA stability by 30% (p < 0.05).
      Osteogenic high-phosphate media induced active differentiation of hVSMC onto
      functional osteoblast-like cells as demonstrated by extracellular matrix
      mineralization and osteoblast markers expression. Calumenin was early over
      expressed at day 3 (p < 0.05), but decreased thereafter (mRNA and protein) with
      implications on gamma-carboxylation system. Calumenin was found released and co
      localizing with extracellular matrix calcifications. The CALU polymorphism
      rs1043550 affects mRNA stability and tissue availability of calumenin thus
      supporting the protective clinical significance. Calumenin shows a time-dependent
      profile during induced calcification. These data demonstrate a novel association
      of vascular calcification with the VSMC phenotypic transition into osteoblast
      like cells. Moreover, hyperphosphatemic stimuli render calumenin accumulation in
      the mineralized extracellular matrix.

PMID- 25823397
TI  - A comparison of high-frequency jet ventilation and synchronised intermittent
      mandatory ventilation in preterm lambs.
AB  - PURPOSE: Synchronised intermittent mandatory ventilation (SIMV) and high
      frequency jet ventilation (HFJV) are accepted ventilatory strategies for
      treatment of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in preterm babies. We
      hypothesised that SIMV and HFJV both facilitate adequate oxygenation and
      ventilation but that HFJV is associated with less lung injury. RESULTS: There
      were no differences in arterial oxygenation or partial pressure of carbon dioxide
      despite lower mean airway pressure during SIMV for most of the study. There were
      no consistent significant differences in end systolic and end diastolic PBF, lung
      injury data and static lung compliance. METHODS: Preterm lambs of anaesthetised
      ewes were instrumented, intubated and delivered by caesarean section after
      intratracheal suction and instillation of surfactant. Each lamb was managed for 3
      hr according to a predetermined algorithm for ventilatory support consistent with
      open lung ventilation. Pulmonary blood flow (PBF) was measured continuously and
      pulsatility index was calculated. Ventilatory parameters were recorded and
      arterial blood gases were measured at intervals. At postmortem, in situ pressure
      volume deflation curves were recorded, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and lung
      tissue were obtained to assess inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: SIMV and HFJV have
      comparable clinical efficacy and ventilator pressure requirements when applied
      with a targeted lung volume recruitment strategy.

PMID- 25823398
TI  - Glycinamide prevents MK-801-induced hyperactivity and deficits in object
      recognition memory in an animal model of positive and cognitive symptoms of
      schizophrenia.

PMID- 25823399
TI  - Creativity and positive symptoms in schizophrenia revisited: Structural
      connectivity analysis with diffusion tensor imaging.
AB  - Both creativity and schizotypy are suggested to be manifestations of the
      hyperactivation of unusual or remote concepts/words. However, the results of
      studies on creativity in schizophrenia are diverse, possibly due to the
      multifaceted aspects of creativity and difficulties of differentiating adaptive
      creativity from pathological schizotypy/positive symptoms. To date, there have
      been no detailed studies comprehensively investigating creativity, positive
      symptoms including delusions, and their neural bases in schizophrenia. In this
      study, we investigated 43 schizophrenia and 36 healthy participants using
      diffusion tensor imaging. We used idea, design, and verbal (semantic and
      phonological) fluency tests as creativity scores and Peters Delusions Inventory
      as delusion scores. Subsequently, we investigated group differences in every
      psychological score, correlations between fluency and delusions, and
      relationships between these scores and white matter integrity using tract-based
      spatial statistics (TBSS). In schizophrenia, idea and verbal fluency were
      significantly lower in general, and delusion score was higher than in healthy
      controls, whereas there were no group differences in design fluency. We also
      found positive correlation between phonological fluency and delusions in
      schizophrenia. By correlation analyses using TBSS, we found that the anterior
      part of corpus callosum was the substantially overlapped area, negatively
      correlated with both phonological fluency and delusion severity. Our results
      suggest that the anterior interhemispheric dysconnectivity might be associated
      with executive dysfunction, and disinhibited automatic spreading activation in
      the semantic network was manifested as uncontrollable phonological fluency or
      delusions. This dysconnectivity could be one possible neural basis that
      differentiates pathological positive symptoms from adaptive creativity. 

PMID- 25823400
TI  - Insight in paranoia: The role of experiential avoidance and internalized stigma.
AB  - Evidence suggests that insight in psychosis has been related to treatment
      adherence, recovery and good prognosis, but also to depression, low self-esteem,
      and diminished quality of life. Thus, insight might not be advantageous under all
      circumstances. Internalized-stigma (i.e. self-acceptance of stigmatizing images
      of illness) and experiential avoidance (i.e. unwillingness to experience negative
      private events) have been proposed as moderating variables between insight, and
      psychological health variables and/or distress. We investigated the patterns of
      association of insight with satisfaction with life, self-esteem, depression,
      anxiety and psychotic psychopathology as moderated by self-stigmatizing beliefs
      and experiential avoidance, in a sample of 47 participants with persecutory
      beliefs and diagnosed with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder. Moderation
      analyses confirm the importance of internalized-stigma and experiential
      avoidance. The presence of insight was associated with more depression when there
      were high levels of self-stigma. Whereas, the absence of insight was associated
      with a greater life satisfaction when there were high levels of experiential
      avoidance. To summarize, our results help understand the complex relationship
      between insight, psychological health variables and emotional distress, pointing
      to a differential pattern of moderation for negative and positive outcomes. We
      discuss the implications of these results for research and treatment of paranoia.

PMID- 25823401
TI  - Spanish version of the social network questionnaire in schizophrenia patients'
      caregivers.

PMID- 25823402
TI  - Management of Apical Periodontitis: Healing of Post-treatment Periapical Lesions
      Present 1 Year after Endodontic Treatment.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Post-treatment periapical lesions present 1 year after treatment
      may heal during the second year or later. The aim of this study was to assess
      second-year volumetric changes in post-treatment periapical radiolucencies
      detected 1 year after treatment. METHODS: Post-treatment periapical
      radiolucencies were detected on cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) scans
      obtained from 93 single-rooted teeth 1 year after endodontic treatment. The
      outcome of these teeth was evaluated 2 years after treatment. Two examiners
      independently measured the volume of the radiolucencies on CBCT images twice. A
      Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to assess the 1- and 2-year post-treatment
      volumes. RESULTS: The intraclass correlation coefficients for the CBCT volumetric
      measurements were 0.971 and 0.998 for the 2 examiners, and the interexaminer
      correlation coefficient was 0.998. Of the 93 teeth with post-treatment
      radiolucencies at 1 year, 61were examined at the second-year evaluation. The
      overall size of the radiolucencies significantly decreased during the second year
      (P = .01); the volume decreased in 38 teeth (63%), remained unchanged in 20
      (33%), and increased in 2 (3%). CONCLUSIONS: The volume of post-treatment
      periapical radiolucencies detected 1 year after treatment was significantly
      reduced after the second year in 63% of teeth.

PMID- 25823403
TI  - Effect of different endodontic regeneration protocols on wettability, roughness,
      and chemical composition of surface dentin.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: We investigated the changes in physiochemical properties of dentin
      surfaces after performing different endodontic regeneration protocols. METHODS:
      Human dentin slices were randomized into 4 treatment groups and 1 untreated
      control group (n = 10). One treatment group was irrigated with sodium
      hypochlorite (NaOCl) for 5 minutes followed by EDTA for 10 minutes. The other 3
      treatment groups were irrigated with NaOCl; treated for 4 weeks with triple
      antibiotic paste (TAP), diluted triple antibiotic paste (DTAP), or calcium
      hydroxide (Ca[OH]2); and then irrigated with EDTA. After treatment, contact
      angles between a blood analog and dentin surfaces were evaluated. Surface
      roughness and chemical composition were characterized using optical profilometry
      and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, respectively. One-way analysis of
      variance followed by Fisher least significant difference tests were used for
      statistical analyses. RESULTS: All treatment groups showed a significant
      reduction in wettability and a significant increase in surface roughness when
      compared with untreated dentin. Dentin treated with Ca(OH)2 had significantly
      lower wettability compared with all other groups. No significant difference in
      wettability was found between dentin treated with DTAP and TAP protocols. Dentin
      treated with TAP had significantly higher surface roughness compared with all
      other groups. Untreated dentin and NaOCl + EDTA-treated dentin had significantly
      higher calcium and phosphorus as well as significantly lower carbon compared with
      dentin treated with Ca(OH)2, DTAP, and TAP. CONCLUSIONS: Endodontic regeneration
      protocols had a significant effect on wettability, surface roughness, and
      chemical composition of surface dentin. The Ca(OH)2 protocol caused a significant
      reduction in dentin wettability compared with TAP or DTAP protocols.

PMID- 25823404
TI  - [A rare cause of abdominal pain in a healthy child].

PMID- 25823405
TI  - [It's not pneumonia, it's a diaphragmatic hernia].

PMID- 25823406
TI  - [Comfort and noise level in infants with helmet interface].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate comfort and noise intensity using the COMFORT scale in
      infants who receive respiratory support with a helmet interface. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: An observational descriptive study was conducted on all infants (1 to 12
      months of age) admitted to a PICU from November 1st 2013 to March 31st 2014 and
      who received non-invasive ventilation with a helmet interface. Tolerance to the
      interface was assessed by use of the COMFORT scale. The intensity of the noise to
      which the infants were exposed was measured with a TES1350A HIBOK 412 sound-level
      meter. Three measurements were made every day. RESULTS: Twenty seven patients
      with bronchiolitis (median age: 54 days; range: 10 to 256) were included. Median
      COMFORT score in the first day was 21 points (14 - 28). An increase in patient
      comfort was found with a gradual decrease in the scores, with a maximum reduction
      of 22% from the first hours (score of 22) to the fifth day (score of 18). The
      minimum sound intensity registered was 42dB, and the maximum was 78dB. Background
      noise intensity was associated with noise intensity in the helmet. No differences
      were observed in COMFORT score and noise intensity between ventilator devices.
      CONCLUSIONS: Helmet interface was well tolerated by infants. COMFORT score
      results are an indicator that infants were comfortable or very comfortable. The
      measured noise intensity was in the safe range permitted by World Health
      Organization.

PMID- 25823407
TI  - Pandemic influenza: an evolutionary concept analysis.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this paper was to provide a concept analysis of 'pandemic
      influenza'. BACKGROUND: Pandemic influenza can have a devastating impact as
      individuals have little to no immunity towards the newly encountered virus. It is
      a persistent societal threat due to the advancement of multiple technological
      processes. Nurses work in multiple roles in pandemics. As such, a thorough
      understanding of the concept and its implications from a nursing perspective is
      required. DESIGN: Rodgers' Evolutionary Method was used to conduct the concept
      analysis of the term 'pandemic influenza'. DATA SOURCES: Forty-nine papers were
      examined from the disciplines of public health, medicine, law, bioethics and
      healthcare policy. Papers were found from the PubMed, CINAHL and Google Scholar
      databases all dates up to December 2013. Limits were set to include peer
      reviewed, English language articles. METHODS: Identified papers were critically
      analyzed to explore the concept's antecedents, attributes and consequences.
      Surrogate and related terms, and an exemplar, were identified. RESULTS:
      Attributes of pandemic include original viral structure, increased human
      susceptibility, younger vulnerable populations and unpredictable time frames.
      Antecedents include processes that enable the increased geographical transmission
      of a newly created influenza. Consequences include higher morbidity and mortality
      rates and the need for an efficient pandemic response. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis
      identified the attributes of pandemic influenza through a synthesis of the
      current pandemic literature. However, no articles were identified as specifically
      nursing in nature. Therefore, more research is required to examine the impact of
      a pandemic declaration on the nursing profession.

PMID- 25823408
TI  - The colon shuffle: A modified urinary diversion.
AB  - AIM: To assess the results of a urinary diversion in patients who already have a
      colostomy or simultaneously require a (rectum) colon resection. The diversion is
      created from the distal part of the transected colon with a simultaneously
      created new colostomy contra-laterally (if necessary). This procedure is known in
      our institute as the 'colon shuffle'. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients who
      underwent a colon shuffle in the period of 2003 and 2013 in our institute
      (Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital) were identified.
      Comorbidity was scored using the Charlson comorbidity index. Local or systemic
      treatment prior to surgery was reported (e.g. external beam radiotherapy,
      systemic chemotherapy). Surgical complications were reported according to the
      Clavien-Dindo classification. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients (14 male; 7 female)
      underwent a colon shuffle procedure in our institute, with a mean age of 61.5
      years. The majority (90.4%) of these patients had been subjected to radiotherapy
      on the pelvic region in the past. Although short-term complications (<30 days)
      were seen in 52.4% of these patients, major complications such as anastomotic
      leakage of the bowel and fecal peritonitis were not seen in this high-risk group
      of patients. CONCLUSION: The colon shuffle offers an elegant solution for
      patients who require a urinary diversion simultaneously with a colostomy or for
      patients who already have a colostomy from previous surgery.

PMID- 25823409
TI  - How gene expression in fast-proliferating cells keeps pace.
AB  - The development of living organisms requires a precise coordination of all basic
      cellular processes, in space and time. Early embryogenesis of most species with
      externally deposited eggs starts with a series of extremely fast cleavage cycles.
      These divisions have a strong influence on gene expression as mitosis represses
      transcription and pre-mRNA processing. In this review, we will describe the
      distinct adaptations for efficient gene expression and discuss the emerging role
      of the multifunctional NineTeen Complex (NTC) in gene expression and genomic
      stability during fast proliferation. 

PMID- 25823410
TI  - Proteomics beyond trypsin.
AB  - Peptide-centered shotgun analysis of proteins has been the core technology in
      mass spectrometry based proteomics and has enabled numerous biological
      discoveries, such as the large-scale charting of protein-protein interaction
      networks, the quantitative analysis of protein post-translational modifications
      and even the first drafts of the human proteome. The conversion of proteins into
      peptides in these so-called bottom-up approaches is nearly uniquely done by using
      trypsin as a proteolytic reagent. Here, we argue that our view of the proteome
      still remains incomplete and this is partially due to the nearly exclusive use of
      trypsin. Newly emerging alternative proteases and/or multi-protease protein
      digestion aim to increase proteome sequence coverage and improve the
      identification of post-translational modifications, through the analysis of
      complementary and often longer peptides, introducing an approach termed middle
      down proteomics. Of pivotal importance for this purpose is the identification of
      proteases beneficial for use in proteomics. Here, we describe some of the
      shortcomings of the nearly exclusive use of trypsin in proteomics and review the
      properties of other proteomics-appropriate proteases. We describe favorable
      protease traits with an emphasis on middle-down proteomics and suggest potential
      sources for the discovery of new proteases. We also highlight a few examples
      wherein the use of other proteases than trypsin enabled the generation of more
      comprehensive data sets leading to previously unexplored knowledge of the
      proteome. 

PMID- 25823411
TI  - Identification of pivotal markers in vascular dementia based on proteomics data.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyze protein expression profiles of
      vascular dementia (VaD) subjects for investigating the underlying therapeutic
      markers. METHODS: Protein expression profile data were acquired from a
      quantitative clinical proteomic study, including 10 nondemented elderly controls
      and 10 age-matched VaD subjects. Differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were
      identified between VaD subjects and controls, followed by function prediction
      using DAVID (Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery).
      Then, a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by comparing it
      with the STRING (Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes) database,
      and the pathway crosstalk analysis was conducted based on overlapping PPI network
      and enriched pathways. Furthermore, the subpathway was screened and analyzed by
      the iSubpathwayMiner package in R. RESULTS: A total of 144 DEPs were screened
      from VaD subjects and the controls. They were significantly enriched in many
      pathways. High-degree proteins were detected in the PPI network, such as ATP5B
      (ATP synthase subunit beta). Furthermore, 'metabolic pathways' and 'Alzheimer's
      disease' were the significant pathways screened in the crosstalk analysis. At
      last, upregulated proteins were enriched in 2 subpathways of 1 pathway, while
      downregulated proteins were enriched in 162 subpathways of 36 pathways.
      CONCLUSION: By analyzing the differential expressions of proteins, the potential
      underlying therapeutic markers and mechanism of VaD might be elucidated.

PMID- 25823412
TI  - Alcohol intake measured by phosphatidylethanol in blood and the lifetime drinking
      history interview are correlated with the extent of psoriasis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Psoriasis has been reported to be associated with alcohol
      consumption. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the level of alcohol intake in individuals
      with psoriasis and correlate intake with the extent of disease and pruritus.
      METHODS: Twenty-nine outpatients (15 females and 14 males) with stable chronic
      plaque psoriasis of moderate severity were recruited. The Psoriasis Area and
      Severity Index (PASI) and the degree of pruritus (visual analogue scale) were
      compared with measures of drinking habits as determined by the Lifetime Drinking
      History (LDH), the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and whole-blood
      phosphatidylethanol (PEth), an alcohol-specific biomarker. RESULTS: The majority
      of patients were social drinkers with moderate alcohol consumption as determined
      by PEth and LDH. Alcohol consumption correlated significantly with the PASI
      score. There was no correlation between alcohol use and pruritus. CONCLUSION: The
      level of alcohol consumption is correlated with the extent of psoriasis.

PMID- 25823413
TI  - Long-Term Outcomes and Patterns of Failure After Surgical Resection of Small-Cell
      Lung Cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The role of surgical resection as a treatment option for early-stage
      small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is controversial, and few data exist regarding the
      patterns of treatment failure in these patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The
      medical records of all patients receiving definitive surgical management of SCLC
      at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) from January 1, 1985 to December 31, 2012 were
      reviewed. Estimates of survival and recurrence risk were recorded using the
      Kaplan-Meier method, and comparative analyses were performed with Cox regression
      analysis. RESULTS: A total of 54 patients were identified. The median follow-up
      period was 5.9 years. At 5 years, overall survival was 37% and recurrence-free
      survival 44%. Intrathoracic recurrence, the most frequent treatment failure,
      occurred in 14 patients, with an estimated intrathoracic recurrence-free survival
      at 3 years of 64.4%. Patients undergoing wedge resection or segmentectomy, rather
      than lobectomy or pneumonectomy, had an increased risk of intrathoracic
      recurrence (hazard ratio, 3.5; P = .01). Overall survival was improved at 5 years
      after lobectomy or pneumonectomy compared with wedge resection or segmentectomy
      (48% vs. 15%, respectively; P = .03). CONCLUSION: Surgical resection of SCLC can
      achieve reasonable treatment outcomes and can be considered for well-selected
      patients with clinical early-stage disease. Intrathoracic recurrence is the most
      common site of treatment failure. Caution should be taken with patients who are
      unable to tolerate at least lobectomy, because they are at a high risk of local
      recurrence.

PMID- 25823414
TI  - Microtubule teardrop patterns.
AB  - Several strategies for controlling microtubule patterns are developed because of
      the rigidity determined from the molecular structure and the geometrical
      structure. In contrast to the patterns in co-operation with motor proteins or
      associated proteins, microtubules have a huge potential for patterns via their
      intrinsic flexural rigidity. We discover that a microtubule teardrop pattern
      emerges via self-assembly under hydrodynamic flow from the parallel bundles
      without motor proteins. In the growth process, the bundles ultimately bend
      according to the critical bending curvature. Such protein pattern formation
      utilizing the intrinsic flexural rigidity will provide broad understandings of
      self-assembly of rigid rods, not only in biomolecules, but also in
      supramolecules. 

PMID- 25823415
TI  - Hearing function after intratympanic application of gadolinium-based contrast
      agent: A long-term evaluation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term
      influence of intratympanic gadolinium-based contrast agent on hearing function in
      patients with possible Meniere's disease and normal auditory thresholds who were
      undergoing locally enhanced magnetic resonance imaging scans. STUDY DESIGN:
      Prospective observational cohort study in a tertiary referral university hospital
      ear, nose, and throat department. METHODS: Between 2009 and 2012, 17 patients
      with possible or probable Meniere's disease and a four-tone pure-tone average
      baseline of <25 dB were recruited for our study. Before undergoing intratympanic
      injection of gadolinium-based contrast agent, all patients underwent a complete
      audiological evaluation. The study population was then invited back after at
      least 6 months postinjection for a follow-up auditory evaluation. This consisted
      of comprehensive clinical and audiological tests on both sides and were evaluated
      according to the ototoxicity guidelines. RESULTS: A long-term evaluation of our
      study group revealed no significant difference in the air-conduction pure-tone
      average. Furthermore, no statistical difference at individual frequencies
      compared to baseline was found. There was no evidence of ototoxicity in the
      injected ear. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term hearing function assessment after
      intratympanic application of gadolinium-based agent showed no evidence of
      ototoxicity. The use of intratympanic gadolinium-based agent in the diagnosis of
      Menieres disease is currently a helpful tool, and seems to be a safe method,
      especially with regard to auditory function. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.

PMID- 25823416
TI  - Crystal growth of four oxovanadium(IV) tartrates prepared via a mild two-step
      hydrothermal method: observation of spin-dimer behavior and second harmonic
      generation.
AB  - Four new oxovanadium(IV) tartrates, namely,
      A2[(VO)2(C4H4O6)(C4H2O6)(H2O)2].(H2O)2, where A = Cs, 1, Rb, 2;
      K2[(VO)2(C4H2O6)2(H2O)2].(H2O)2, 3; and Na2[(VO)2(C4H4O6)(C4H2O6)(H2O)7].(H2O)2,
      4, were prepared utilizing a two-step, mild hydrothermal route involving l-(+)
      tartaric acid as the reducing agent. All four compounds were structurally
      characterized by single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction methods and were
      found to crystallize in the non-centrosymmetric orthorhombic space groups P212121
      for 1, 2, and 4 and C2221 for 3. The temperature dependence of the magnetic
      susceptibility of these compounds was measured, and 1, 2, and 4 were found to be
      paramagnetic down to 2 K, while 3 was found to exhibit spin-dimer behavior.
      Compounds 1, 2, and 3 were found to be second harmonic generation active. All
      compounds were further characterized by IR and UV-vis spectroscopies. 

PMID- 25823417
TI  - Which is worse in psoriasis - skin or joints?

PMID- 25823418
TI  - Additional evidence that PGAP1 loss of function causes autosomal recessive global
      developmental delay and encephalopathy.

PMID- 25823419
TI  - Potential Motivators and Barriers for Encouraging Health Screening for
      Cardiovascular Disease Among Latino Men in Rural Communities in the Northwestern
      United States.
AB  - Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death across all races and
      ethnicities. In particular, Latino men suffer disproportionately from conditions
      that lead to CVD such as hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes. There are
      easy and inexpensive ways to screen for certain cardiovascular conditions, yet
      Latino men are not benefiting from these. It is important to identify motivators
      and barriers to screening among this population. The purpose of this qualitative,
      descriptive study was to determine what motivates Latino men to participate in
      health screening for diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Self
      identified Latino men (n = 17) were interviewed following a community health
      screening targeting Latinos. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted
      in either Spanish or English after giving written consent. Trained interpreters
      were used for Spanish interviews. Emerging themes include motivating factors and
      barriers to participate in screening. Data findings direct future studies and
      provide culturally meaningful and relevant strategies to reduce health
      disparities. 

PMID- 25823420
TI  - Facile synthesis of benzoindoles and naphthofurans through carbonaceous material
      catalyzed cyclization of naphthylamines/naphthols with nitroolefins in water.
AB  - A facile and efficient approach has been established for the synthesis of
      benzoindole and naphthofuran derivatives via the metal-free cyclization reaction
      of nitroolefins with naphthylamines/naphthols. Various substituted benzoindoles
      and naphthofurans are obtained in good to excellent yields. Moreover, the ability
      to recycle the carbonaceous material makes this method quite cost-effective and
      environmentally benign compared to traditional acid-catalyzed methods.
      Theoretical studies indicated that the reaction between naphthylamine and
      nitroolefin catalyzed by this solid acid was thermodynamically controlled at 60 
      degrees C, resulting in the formation of the benzoindoles. 

PMID- 25823421
TI  - Structure and mechanism leading to formation of the cysteine sulfinate product
      complex of a biomimetic cysteine dioxygenase model.
AB  - Cysteine dioxygenase is a unique nonheme iron enzyme that is involved in the
      metabolism of cysteine in the body. It contains an iron active site with an
      unusual 3-His ligation to the protein, which contrasts with the structural
      features of common nonheme iron dioxygenases. Recently, some of us reported a
      truly biomimetic model for this enzyme, namely a trispyrazolylborato iron(II)
      cysteinato complex, which not only has a structure very similar to the enzyme
      substrate complex but also represents a functional model: Treatment of the model
      with dioxygen leads to cysteine dioxygenation, as shown by isolating the cysteine
      part of the product in the course of the work-up. However, little is known on the
      conversion mechanism and, so far, not even the structure of the actual product
      complex had been characterised, which is also unknown in case of the enzyme. In a
      multidisciplinary approach including density functional theory calculations and X
      ray absorption spectroscopy, we have now determined the structure of the actual
      sulfinato complex for the first time. The Cys-SO2 (-) functional group was found
      to be bound in an eta(2) -O,O-coordination mode, which, based on the excellent
      resemblance between model and enzyme, also provides the first support for a
      corresponding binding mode within the enzymatic product complex. Indeed, this is
      again confirmed by theory, which had predicted a eta(2) -O,O-binding mode for
      synthetic as well as the natural enzyme. 

PMID- 25823422
TI  - Genetic variation and effects of candidate-gene polymorphisms on coagulation
      properties, curd firmness modeling and acidity in milk from Brown Swiss cows.
AB  - The aims of this study were to estimate the genetic variation of traditional milk
      coagulation properties (MCPs), milk acidity, curd firmness (CF) modeled on time t
      (CF(t) ; comprising: RCT(eq), rennet coagulation time estimated from the
      equation; CF(P), the asymptotic potential curd firmness; k(CF), the curd firming
      instant rate constant; and k(SR), the syneresis instant rate constant) and
      maximum CF traits (MCF; comprising CF(max), the maximum CF value; and tmax, the
      time of attainment). Furthermore, we investigated 96 single nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs) from 54 candidate genes, testing their associations with the
      above-listed traits. Milk and blood samples were collected from 1271 cows (each
      sampled once) from 85 herds. Genotyping was performed using a custom Illumina
      VeraCode GoldenGate approach. A Bayesian linear animal model (including the
      effects of herd, days in milk, parity and additive polygenic effects) was used to
      estimate the genetic parameters of the studied traits. The same model with the
      addition of the SNP genotype effect was used for our association analysis. The
      heritability estimates of CF t and the MCF traits (RCT(eq)=0.258; k(CF)=0.230;
      CF(max)=0.191; t(max)=0.278) were similar to those obtained using traditional
      MCPs (0.187 to 0.267), except for the lower estimates for CF(P) (0.064) and k(SR)
      (0.077). A total of 13 of the 51 tested SNPs had relevant additive effects on at
      least one trait. We observed associations between MCPs and SNPs in the genes
      encoding ATP-binding cassette sub-family G member 2 (ABCG2), chemokine ligand 2
      (CCL2), growth hormone 1 (GH1), prolactin (PRL) and toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2).
      Whereas, CF(t) and the MCF traits were associated with polymorphisms in the alpha
      s1-casein (CSN1S1), beta-casein (CSN2), GH1, oxidized low-density lipoprotein
      receptor 1 (OLR1), phospholipase C beta1 (PLCB1), PRL and signal transducer and
      activator of transcription 5A (STAT5A) genes.

PMID- 25823423
TI  - Pilot study comparing multi-family therapy to single family therapy for adults
      with anorexia nervosa in an intensive eating disorder program.
AB  - Multi-family therapy (MFT) has yet to be evaluated in families of adults with
      anorexia nervosa (AN). The study aims were: (i) assess the feasibility of MFT for
      AN; and, (ii) assess whether MFT is associated with improved outcomes for
      families compared with single-family therapy (SFT). Adult patients with AN
      consecutively referred to an eating disorder treatment program were assigned (non
      randomly) to receive eight sessions of SFT or MFT. Assessment occurred pre
      therapy, immediately post-therapy, and at 3-month follow-up. A total of 37 female
      patients (13 SFT, 24 MFT) and 45 family members (16 SFT, 29 MFT) completed
      treatment. There were significant time effects for patients' BMI, eating disorder
      related psychopathology and multiple family outcome measures. There were no
      differences between MFT and SFT on family outcome measures at end of treatment
      and 3 months post treatment. MFT is a feasible intervention that can be used in
      adult intensive treatment for those with AN.

PMID- 25823425
TI  - The urokinase lock-therapy for hemodialysis occluded central venous catheters.

PMID- 25823424
TI  - FK-3000 isolated from Stephania delavayi Diels. inhibits MDA-MB-231 cell
      proliferation by decreasing NF-kappaB phosphorylation and COX-2 expression.
AB  - The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that cancer is one of the most
      prevalent diseases and a leading cause of death worldwide. Many anticancer drug
      development studies have been pursued over the last few decades and several
      viable drugs have been discovered, such as paclitaxel, topotecan and irinotecan.
      Previously, our research group uncovered the cytocidal and cytostatic effects of
      the plant Stephania delavayi Diels. In this study, we determined the active
      chemical to be 6,7-di-O-acetylsinococuline (FK-3000). The FK-3000 half maximal
      inhibitory concentration (IC50) in MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma cells at 48 h was
      0.52 ug/ml and it induced apoptosis in a dose- and time-dependent manner. FK-3000
      suppressed NF-kappaB nuclear translocation, decreased NF-kappaB phosphorylation,
      and decreased COX-2 protein expression. MDA-MB-231 xenografted mice were treated
      with FK-3000, Taxol, or their combination for 21 days. The tumor size was
      smallest in the co-treatment group, indicating that FK-3000 may have a
      synergistic effect with Taxol. FK-3000 treatment showed no adverse effects on
      blood cell counts, serum protein levels, or pathology. These studies demonstrate
      that FK-3000, isolated from S. delavayi Diels., is a promising, pathway-specific
      anticancer agent that exhibits low toxicity.

PMID- 25823426
TI  - Fatigue in immune thrombocytopenia.
AB  - Fatigue is an important aspect of health-related quality of life from the patient
      perspective and can have significant socio-economic consequences. It is a common
      feature of chronic illnesses and a significant number of both adults and children
      with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) suffer from fatigue. Reliable, validated
      fatigue scales have been developed for use in ITP. These will facilitate future
      investigation of its pathogenesis and the effectiveness of intervention. Acute
      inflammation acts on neural and endocrine systems resulting in 'sickness
      behaviour', an adaptive response to infection and injury. Inflammation is also
      thought to cause fatigue in chronic disease and immune dysregulation in ITP
      appears to have a number of pro-inflammatory components. Clinicians should
      consider fatigue when assessing the burden of disease. Although effective ITP
      directed therapy can improve fatigue, a number of fatigue-directed strategies may
      also need to be considered. 

PMID- 25823428
TI  - Smart tools and orthogonal click-like reactions onto small unilamellar vesicles.
AB  - Click-based reactions were conducted at the surface of small unilamellar vesicles
      (SUVs) to provide onto-vesicle chemistry with efficient innovative ready-for-use
      tools. For that purpose, four amphiphilic molecules were designed to insert into
      bilayers while presenting a reactive functional head. In this manner, a
      dioleylglycero-ethoxy-ethoxy-ethoxy-ethanamine (DOG-PEG4-NH2) was chosen as a
      common platform while the reactive amine head was converted into several
      electrophilic functions. Thus, two dioleylglycerol-based cyclooctyne anchors were
      prepared: cyclooct-1-yn-3-glycolic acid-based anchor (DOG-COA) and 1
      fluorocyclooct-2-ynecarboxylic acid-based anchor (DOG-FCOA). The last one
      differed from the first one in that a fluorine atom reinforces the electrophilic
      properties of the unsaturated bond. In addition, a third dioleylglycerol-based
      triphenylphosphine (DOG-PPh3) was synthesized for the first time. These three
      innovative amphiphilic anchors were designed to react with any azide-based
      biomolecule following copper-free Huisgen 1,4-cycloaddition and Staudinger
      ligation, respectively. A fourth anchor bearing a 3,4-dibromomaleimide ring (DOG
      DBM) was also unprecedentedly synthesized, to be further substituted by two
      thiols. Model reactions conducted in solution with either model biotinyl azide or
      model biotinyl disulfide gave good to total conversions and excellent isolated
      yields. The four new anchors were inserted into SUVs whose formula is classically
      used in in vivo biology. Stability and surface overall electrostatic charge were
      in the expected range and constant over the study. Then, the functionalized
      liposomes were ligated to biotin-based reagents and the experimental conditions
      were finely tuned to optimize the conversion. The biotinyl liposomes were
      demonstrated functional and totally accessible in an affinity test based on
      biotin scaffold quantification. Finally, DOG-FCOA's reactivity was confronted to
      that of DOG-DBM in a 'one-pot' orthogonal reaction. (Biotin-S)2 and TAMRA-N3
      (tetramethylcarboxyrhodamine azide) were successively conjugated to the liposome
      suspension in a successful manner. These data implement and reinforce the
      interest of bioorthogonal click-like reactions onto lipid nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25823429
TI  - Lyle T. Sinor, PhD: May 24, 1957-January 12, 2015.

PMID- 25823427
TI  - Does Caspase-6 Have a Role in Perinatal Brain Injury?
AB  - Apoptotic mechanisms are centre stage for the development of injury in the
      immature brain, and caspases have been shown to play a pivotal role during brain
      development and in response to injury. The inhibition of caspases using broad
      spectrum agents such as Q-VD-OPh is neuroprotective in the immature brain.
      Caspase-6, an effector caspase, has been widely researched in neurodevelopmental
      disorders and found to be important following adult stroke, but its function in
      the neonatal brain has yet to be detailed. Furthermore, caspases may be important
      in microglial activation; microglia are required for optimal brain development
      and following injury, and their close involvement during neuronal cell death
      suggests that apoptotic cues such as caspase activation may be important in
      microglial activation. Therefore, in this study we aimed to investigate the
      possible apoptotic and non-apoptotic functions caspase-6 may have in the immature
      brain in response to hypoxia-ischaemia. We examined whether caspases are involved
      in microglial activation. We assessed cleaved caspase-6 expression following
      hypoxia-ischaemia and conducted primary microglial cultures to assess whether the
      broad-spectrum inhibitor Q-VD-OPh or caspase-6 gene deletion affected
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated microglial activation and phenotype. We
      observed cleaved caspase-6 expression to be low but present in the cell body and
      cell processes in both a human case of white matter injury and 72 h following
      hypoxia-ischaemia in the rat. Gene deletion of caspase-6 did not affect the
      outcome of brain injury following mild (50 min) or severe (60 min) hypoxia
      ischaemia. Interestingly, we did note that cleaved caspase-6 was co-localised
      with microglia that were not of apoptotic morphology. We observed that mRNA of a
      number of caspases was modulated by low-dose LPS stimulation of primary
      microglia. Q-VD-OPh treatment and caspase-6 gene deletion did not affect
      microglial activation but modified slightly the M2b phenotype response by
      changing the time course of SOCS3 expression after LPS administration. Our
      results suggest that the impact of active caspase-6 in the developing brain is
      subtle, and we believe there are predominantly other caspases (caspase-2, -3, -8,
      -9) that are essential for the cell death processes in the immature brain.

PMID- 25823430
TI  - Evaluation of Treatment Integrity: The Treatment Specificity Index.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To differentiate between treatments in a randomized controlled trial
      (RCT), therapies need to display not only high purity but also high specificity.
      The aim of this study was to demonstrate the benefits of calculating a treatment
      specificity index for the evaluation of treatment differentiation. METHOD: Based
      on an RCT of relapse prevention in depression, comparing a cognitive with a
      psychoeducational treatment, the specificity and the purity index were
      calculated. RESULTS: As indicated by the specificity index, both conditions
      differed in their levels of implemented specific and common interventions. A
      significant relationship was found between symptom change before a therapy
      session and treatment specificity. CONCLUSIONS: The specificity index is an
      appropriate method for enhancing the internal validity of RCTs in evaluating
      treatment integrity.

PMID- 25823431
TI  - Regional radiotherapy in high-risk breast cancer: is the issue solved?
AB  - Adjuvant radiotherapy is the treatment standard for breast cancer with lymph node
      metastases after breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy. The inclusion of
      regional lymph nodes into the treatment volumes has been a question in recent
      clinical trials. Their impact on treatment standards and open questions is
      discussed. 

PMID- 25823433
TI  - Resultant vertical prism in toric soft contact lenses.
AB  - PURPOSE: Rotational stability of toric soft contact lenses (TSCLs) is achieved
      using a range of designs. Designs utilising prism or peripheral ballast may
      result in residual prism in the optic zone. This study quantifies the vertical
      prism in the central 6mm present in TSCLs with various stabilisation methods.
      METHOD: Vertical prism was computed using published refractive index and vertical
      thickness changes in the central optic zone on a full lens thickness map.
      Thickness maps were measured using scanning transmission microscopy. Designs
      tested were reusable, silicone hydrogel and hydrogel TSCLs: SofLens((r)) Toric,
      PureVision((r))2 for Astigmatism, PureVision((r)) Toric, Biofinity((r)) Toric,
      Avaira((r)) Toric, clariti((r)) toric, AIR OPTIX((r)) for ASTIGMATISM and ACUVUE
      OASYS((r)) for ASTIGMATISM; with eight parameter combinations for each lens (
      6.00DS to +3.00DS, -1.25DC, 90 degrees  and 180 degrees  axes). RESULTS: All TSCL
      designs evaluated had vertical prism in the optic zone except one which had
      virtually none (0.01Delta). Mean prism ranged from 0.52Delta to 1.15Delta, with
      three designs having prism that varied with sphere power. Vertical prism in
      ACUVUE OASYS((r)) for ASTIGMATISM was significantly lower than all other TSCLs
      tested. CONCLUSIONS: TSCL designs utilising prism-ballast and peri-ballast for
      stabilisation have vertical prism in the central optic zone. In monocular
      astigmats fitted with a TSCL or those wearing a mix of toric designs, vertical
      prism imbalance could create or exacerbate disturbances in binocular vision
      function. Practitioners should be aware of this potential effect when selecting
      which TSCL designs to prescribe, particularly for monocular astigmats with pre
      existing binocular vision anomalies, and when managing complaints of asthenopia
      in monocular astigmats.

PMID- 25823434
TI  - Hemodynamic and Arterial Stiffness Parameters in Ambulatory Blood Pressure
      Phenotypes and the Clinical Scenario of Polypharmacy and Comorbidities.

PMID- 25823435
TI  - Single perforator greater saphenous neuro-veno-fasciocutaneous propeller flaps
      for lower extremity reconstructions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The lack of soft tissue that is available for medial leg and foot
      defect reconstructions presents a challenge for plastic surgeons. The saphenous
      neurofasciocutaneous perforator flap application presents an effective
      alternative to local flap transfers. However, the venous flow and pedicle
      twisting problems are still disputed. Here, we present our experiences with
      modified cutaneous pedicles with a single perforator pedicle, which improves the
      venous flow and the pedicle twisting problem. METHODS: This study was conducted
      from June 2007 through September 2011, and a total of 15 patients with lower
      medial leg and foot defects were included. There were 11 men and four women. An
      asymmetric 'propeller' flap was planned around a perforator that was adjacent to
      the defects, which was preoperatively confirmed by Doppler. The perforator was
      sufficiently dissociated to allow for the flap to be turned towards the defects.
      We preserved some distal skin and subcutaneous tissue from the short side of the
      'propeller' to cover some donor site regions, and other regions were covered with
      split thickness skin grafts. The follow-up period ranged from 3 to 12 months.
      RESULTS: An infection occurred in one case. Partial flap necrosis was noted in
      two cases. The other 12 flaps completely survived and matched the recipient sites
      with regard to colour, texture and thickness. CONCLUSION: The single perforator
      greater saphenous neuro-veno-fasciocutaneous propeller flap is an effective
      solution for medial leg and foot defects, and it has a large rotation arc and a
      satisfactory aesthetic result.

PMID- 25823436
TI  - Trunk Muscle Coordination During Upward and Downward Reaching in Stroke
      Survivors.
AB  - In this study, we investigated deficits in coordination of trunk muscle modes
      involved in the stabilization of the trunk's trajectory for reaching upward and
      downward beyond functional arm length. Trunk muscle activity from 10 stroke
      survivors (8 men, 2 women; 64.1 +/- 10.5 years old) and 9 healthy control
      subjects (7 men, 2 women; 59.3 +/- 9.3 years old) was analyzed. Coordination of
      trunk muscle modes to stabilize the trunk trajectory was investigated using the
      uncontrolled manifold (UCM) analysis. The UCM analysis decomposes the variability
      of muscle modes into good and bad variability. The good variability does not
      affect the control of trunk motion, whereas the bad variability does. In stroke
      survivors, deficits in the ability to flexibly combine trunk muscle modes was
      associated with reduced ability to minimize those combinations of trunk muscle
      modes that led to an error in trunk trajectory (bad variability), and this had a
      greater effect on reaching upward. This reduced coordination of trunk muscle
      modes during reaching was correlated with a clinical measure of trunk impairment.

PMID- 25823437
TI  - Dominant and Protective Role of the CYTH4 Primate-Specific GTTT-Repeat Longer
      Alleles Against Neurodegeneration.
AB  - Primate-specific genes and regulatory mechanisms could provide insight into human
      brain functioning and disease. In a genome-scale analysis of the entire protein
      coding genes listed in the GeneCards database, we have recently reported human
      genes that contain "exceptionally long" short tandem repeats (STRs) in their core
      promoter, which may be of adaptive/selective evolutionary advantage in this
      species. The longest tetra-nucleotide repeat identified in a human gene core
      promoter belongs to the CYTH4 gene. This GTTT-repeat is specific to Hominidae and
      Old World monkeys, and the shortest allele of this repeat, (GTTT)6, is linked
      with neural dysfunction and type I bipolar disorder in human. In the present
      study, we sought a possibly broader role for the CYTH4 gene core promoter GTTT
      repeat in neural functioning and investigated its allelic distribution in a total
      of 949 human subjects, consisting of two neurodegenerative disorders, multiple
      sclerosis (MS) (n = 272) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) (n = 257), and controls (n
      = 420). The range of the alleles of this GTTT-repeat in the human sample studied
      was between 6- and 9-repeats. The shortest allele, (GTTT)6, was significantly in
      excess in the MS and AD patients in comparison with the controls (p < 0.004). The
      6/6, 6/7, and 7/7 genotypes were in excess in the MS and AD patients, whereas the
      overall frequency of all other genotypes (consisting of at least one longer
      allele, i.e., 8- or 9-repeat) was higher in the controls (p < 0.005), indicating
      a dominant and protective effect for the longer alleles against
      neurodegeneration. This is the first indication of the involvement of a primate
      specific STR in neurodegeneration in humans. We propose an adaptive evolutionary
      role for the expansion of the CYTH4 gene core promoter GTTT-repeat in the human
      brain, which is supported by a link between the shortest allele of this repeat
      with neuropsychiatric disorders.

PMID- 25823438
TI  - The Unexposed Secrets of Prion Protein Oligomers.
AB  - According to the "protein-only" hypothesis, the misfolding and conversion of host
      derived cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) into pathogenically misfolded PrP are
      believed to be the key procedure in the pathogenesis of prion diseases.
      Intermediate, soluble oligomeric prion protein (PrP) aggregates were considered a
      critical process for prion diseases. Several independent studies on PrP oligomers
      gained insights into oligomers' formation, biophysical and biochemical
      characteristics, structure conversion, and neurotoxicity. PrP oligomers are rich
      in beta-sheet structure and slightly resistant to proteinase K digestion. PrP
      oligomers exhibited more neurotoxicity and induced neuronal apoptosis in vivo
      and/or in vitro. In this review, we summarized recent studies regarding PrP
      oligomers and the relationship between misfolded PrP aggregates and neuronal
      death in the course of prion diseases. 

PMID- 25823439
TI  - Regulation of atherosclerotic plaque inflammation.
AB  - The immune reactions that regulate atherosclerotic plaque inflammation involve
      chemokines, lipid mediators and costimulatory molecules. Chemokines are a family
      of chemotactic cytokines that mediate immune cell recruitment and control cell
      homeostasis and activation of different immune cell types and subsets. Chemokine
      production and activation of chemokine receptors form a positive feedback
      mechanism to recruit monocytes, neutrophils and lymphocytes into the
      atherosclerotic plaque. In addition, chemokine signalling affects immune cell
      mobilization from the bone marrow. Targeting several of the chemokines and/or
      chemokine receptors reduces experimental atherosclerosis, whereas specific
      chemokine pathways appear to be involved in plaque regression. Leukotrienes are
      lipid mediators that are formed locally in atherosclerotic lesions from
      arachidonic acid. Leukotrienes mediate immune cell recruitment and activation
      within the plaque as well as smooth muscle cell proliferation and endothelial
      dysfunction. Antileukotrienes decrease experimental atherosclerosis, and recent
      observational data suggest beneficial clinical effects of leukotriene receptor
      antagonism in cardiovascular disease prevention. By contrast, other lipid
      mediators, such as lipoxins and metabolites of omega-3 fatty acids, have been
      associated with the resolution of inflammation. Costimulatory molecules play a
      central role in fine-tuning immunological reactions and mediate crosstalk between
      innate and adaptive immunity in atherosclerosis. Targeting these interactions is
      a promising approach for the treatment of atherosclerosis, but immunological side
      effects are still a concern. In summary, targeting chemokines, leukotriene
      receptors and costimulatory molecules could represent potential therapeutic
      strategies to control atherosclerotic plaque inflammation. 

PMID- 25823440
TI  - New scoring system for the differentiation of chronic obstructive pulmonary
      disease and asthma.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: It remains difficult to differentiate between chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma in clinical practice, especially
      in a primary care setting. The purpose of this study was to develop a new scoring
      system for differentiating between COPD and asthma, and to evaluate its
      effectiveness. METHODS: First, to identify important variables differentiating
      COPD from asthma, the data of 197 patients with COPD and 138 patients with asthma
      were assessed retrospectively. Secondly, a scoring system that was based on these
      variables was then developed, and its performance was internally validated using
      a bootstrapping-based method. Thirdly, the scoring system was externally
      validated using prospectively collected data from patients with COPD (n = 104) or
      asthma (n = 96). RESULTS: The final scoring system was composed of the four
      variables: age of onset of breathlessness (<40 years, 0 points; 40-60 years, 2
      points; >60 years, 4 points), continuous breathlessness (no, 0 points; yes, 1
      point), diurnal variation of breathlessness (yes, 0 points; no, 1 point) and
      emphysematous change in chest X-ray (no, 0 points; yes, 1 point). The patients
      were classified by their total score into three categories: 0-2 points, probable
      asthma; 3-4 points, difficult-to-differentiate; 5-7 points, probable COPD. The
      new scoring system performed well in the external validation dataset (area under
      the curve, 0.86; 95% confidence interval: 0.813-0.911; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS:
      The new scoring system that was developed in this study may be a useful tool for
      differentiating between COPD and asthma in primary care.

PMID- 25823441
TI  - Long-Term (24 Months) Carcinogenicity Study of D-004, a Lipid Extract From
      Roystonea regia Fruits, in Sprague Dawley Rats.

PMID- 25823442
TI  - Clinical Aspects of Syphilis Reinfection in HIV-Infected Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The incidence of HIV-syphilis co-infection has risen since 2000,
      especially among men having sex with men (MSM). Syphilis reinfection can occur,
      but the clinical features of such events remain poorly characterized. OBJECTIVE:
      To compare the cutaneous lesions seen with syphilis reinfections with those of
      first episodes in HIV-infected patients. METHODS: In a cohort of HIV-infected
      patients, syphilis reinfection was established both clinically and biologically
      by evaluating changes in Venereal Disease Research Laboratory titers. Photographs
      and medical records were studied in order to determine the type of skin lesions
      and their quantification. RESULTS: Among 533 HIV-infected patients, 42 (8%)
      experienced a first syphilis infection. Thirteen episodes of reinfection occurred
      in 12/42 (28%) patients, all MSM. In 78% of cases, reinfections were less
      symptomatic than first episodes. All patients presented classical syphilis
      lesions. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a high rate of reinfection, but with less
      severe skin manifestations during reinfection episodes.

PMID- 25823443
TI  - Pain reduction in patients after applying a nitrous oxide/oxygen mixture
      (Livopan) during photodynamic therapy: study protocol for an observational study
      (Livopan study).
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an effective treatment option for
      extensively photodamaged skin with multiple actinic kerastosis. However, the main
      drawback of PDT is the intensive pain experienced during its application, which
      makes it frequently necessary to interrupt or even terminate the process
      resulting in incomplete treatment. Several strategies for controlling pain during
      PDT have been studied but few effective methods are currently available.
      Alternative options are urgently needed. Livopan, a nitrous oxide/oxygen mixture,
      is indicated for the treatment of short-term pain conditions when rapid analgesic
      onset and offset effects are wanted. But so far, there are no studies evaluating
      the effect of Livopan on pain intensity during PDT. Therefore, it remains unclear
      whether patients benefit from this inhalation analgesia. Within the Livopan
      study, this issue will be evaluated for the first time. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The
      Livopan study is a prospective, single-centre, explorative, controlled,
      observational study to investigate the pain reduction in patients after applying
      a nitrous oxide/oxygen mixture (Livopan) during PDT according to the visual
      analogue scale in 60 patients. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval was
      provided by the ethics committee of the medical faculty of the University of
      Heidelberg. Ethics approval number S-169/2014. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: German
      Clinical Trial Register (DRKS): DRKS00006054.

PMID- 25823444
TI  - Practice guidelines for sedation and analgesia management of critically ill
      children: a pilot study evaluating guideline impact and feasibility in the PICU.
AB  - AIMS: The aim of this study was to develop and implement guidelines for sedation
      and analgesia management in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and
      evaluate the impact, feasibility and acceptability of these as part of a
      programme of research in this area and as a prelude to future trial work. METHOD:
      This pilot study used a pre-post design using a historical control. SETTING: Two
      PICUs at different hospitals in an Australian metropolitan city. PARTICIPANTS:
      Patients admitted to the PICU and ventilated for >=24 h, aged more than 1 month
      and not admitted for seizure management or terminal care. INTERVENTION:
      Guidelines for sedation and analgesia management for critically ill children
      including algorithm and assessment tools. OUTCOME VARIABLES: In addition to key
      outcome variables (ventilation time, medication dose and duration, length of
      stay), feasibility outcomes data (recruitment, data collection, safety) were
      evaluated. Guideline adherence was assessed through chart audit and staff were
      surveyed about merit and the use of guidelines. RESULTS: The guidelines were
      trialled for a total of 12 months on 63 patients and variables compared with the
      historical control group (n=75). Analysis revealed differences in median Morphine
      infusion duration between groups (pretest 3.63 days (87 h) vs post-test 2.83 days
      (68 h), p=0.05) and maximum doses (pretest 120 MUg/kg/h vs post-test 97.5
      MUg/kg/h) with no apparent change to ventilation duration. Chart audit revealed
      varied use of tools, but staff were positive about the guidelines and their use
      in practice. CONCLUSIONS: The sedation guidelines impacted on the duration and
      dosage of agents without any apparent impact on ventilation duration or length of
      stay. Furthermore, the guidelines appeared to be feasible and acceptable in
      clinical practice. The results of the study have laid the foundation for follow
      up studies in withdrawal from sedation, point prevalence and longitudinal studies
      of sedation practices as well as drug trial work.

PMID- 25823445
TI  - The Chromatin and Transcriptional Landscape of Native Saccharomyces cerevisiae
      Telomeres and Subtelomeric Domains.
AB  - Saccharomyces cerevisiae telomeres have been a paradigm for studying telomere
      position effects on gene expression. Telomere position effect was first described
      in yeast by its effect on the expression of reporter genes inserted adjacent to
      truncated telomeres. The reporter genes showed variable silencing that depended
      on the Sir2/3/4 complex. Later studies examining subtelomeric reporter genes
      inserted at natural telomeres hinted that telomere position effects were less
      pervasive than previously thought. Additionally, more recent data using the
      sensitive technology of chromatin immunoprecipitation and massively parallel
      sequencing (ChIP-Seq) revealed a discrete and noncontinuous pattern of
      coenrichment for all three Sir proteins at a few telomeres, calling the
      generality of these conclusions into question. Here we combined the ChIP-Seq of
      the Sir proteins with RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in wild
      type and in SIR2, SIR3, and SIR4 deletion mutants to characterize the chromatin
      and transcriptional landscape of all native S. cerevisiae telomeres at the
      highest achievable resolution. Most S. cerevisiae chromosomes had subtelomeric
      genes that were expressed, with only ~6% of subtelomeric genes silenced in a SIR
      dependent manner. In addition, we uncovered 29 genes with previously unknown cell
      type-specific patterns of expression. These detailed data provided a
      comprehensive assessment of the chromatin and transcriptional landscape of the
      subtelomeric domains of a eukaryotic genome. 

PMID- 25823446
TI  - Massively Parallel Functional Analysis of BRCA1 RING Domain Variants.
AB  - Interpreting variants of uncertain significance (VUS) is a central challenge in
      medical genetics. One approach is to experimentally measure the functional
      consequences of VUS, but to date this approach has been post hoc and low
      throughput. Here we use massively parallel assays to measure the effects of
      nearly 2000 missense substitutions in the RING domain of BRCA1 on its E3
      ubiquitin ligase activity and its binding to the BARD1 RING domain. From the
      resulting scores, we generate a model to predict the capacities of full-length
      BRCA1 variants to support homology-directed DNA repair, the essential role of
      BRCA1 in tumor suppression, and show that it outperforms widely used biological
      effect prediction algorithms. We envision that massively parallel functional
      assays may facilitate the prospective interpretation of variants observed in
      clinical sequencing. 

PMID- 25823447
TI  - Shortening delivery times of intensity modulated proton therapy by reducing
      proton energy layers during treatment plan optimization.
AB  - PURPOSE: To shorten delivery times of intensity modulated proton therapy by
      reducing the number of energy layers in the treatment plan. METHODS AND
      MATERIALS: We have developed an energy layer reduction method, which was
      implemented into our in-house-developed multicriteria treatment planning system
      "Erasmus-iCycle." The method consisted of 2 components: (1) minimizing the
      logarithm of the total spot weight per energy layer; and (2) iteratively
      excluding low-weighted energy layers. The method was benchmarked by comparing a
      robust "time-efficient plan" (with energy layer reduction) with a robust
      "standard clinical plan" (without energy layer reduction) for 5 oropharyngeal
      cases and 5 prostate cases. Both plans of each patient had equal robust plan
      quality, because the worst-case dose parameters of the standard clinical plan
      were used as dose constraints for the time-efficient plan. Worst-case robust
      optimization was performed, accounting for setup errors of 3 mm and range errors
      of 3% + 1 mm. We evaluated the number of energy layers and the expected delivery
      time per fraction, assuming 30 seconds per beam direction, 10 ms per spot, and
      400 Giga-protons per minute. The energy switching time was varied from 0.1 to 5
      seconds. RESULTS: The number of energy layers was on average reduced by 45%
      (range, 30%-56%) for the oropharyngeal cases and by 28% (range, 25%-32%) for the
      prostate cases. When assuming 1, 2, or 5 seconds energy switching time, the
      average delivery time was shortened from 3.9 to 3.0 minutes (25%), 6.0 to 4.2
      minutes (32%), or 12.3 to 7.7 minutes (38%) for the oropharyngeal cases, and from
      3.4 to 2.9 minutes (16%), 5.2 to 4.2 minutes (20%), or 10.6 to 8.0 minutes (24%)
      for the prostate cases. CONCLUSIONS: Delivery times of intensity modulated proton
      therapy can be reduced substantially without compromising robust plan quality.
      Shorter delivery times are likely to reduce treatment uncertainties and costs.

PMID- 25823448
TI  - ZRBA1, a Mixed EGFR/DNA Targeting Molecule, Potentiates Radiation Response
      Through Delayed DNA Damage Repair Process in a Triple Negative Breast Cancer
      Model.
AB  - PURPOSE: ZRBA1 is a combi-molecule designed to induce DNA alkylating lesions and
      to block epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) TK domain. Inasmuch as ZRBA1
      downregulates the EGFR TK-mediated antisurvival signaling and induces DNA damage,
      we postulated that it might be a radiosensitizer. The aim of this study was to
      further investigate the potentiating effect of ZRBA1 in combination with
      radiation and to elucidate the possible mechanisms of interaction between these 2
      treatment modalities. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The triple negative human breast MDA
      MB-468 cancer cell line and mouse mammary cancer 4T1 cell line were used in this
      study. Clonogenic assay, Western blot analysis, and DNA damage analysis were
      performed at multiple time points after treatment. To confirm our in vitro
      findings, in vivo tumor growth delay assay was performed. RESULTS: Our results
      show that a combination of ZRBA1 and radiation increases the radiation
      sensitivity of both cell lines significantly with a dose enhancement factor of
      1.56, induces significant numbers of DNA strand breaks, prolongs higher DNA
      damage up to 24 hours after treatment, and significantly increases tumor growth
      delay in a syngeneic mouse model. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the higher
      efficacy of this combination could be partially due to increased DNA damage and
      delayed DNA repair process and to the inhibition of EGFR. The encouraging results
      of this combination demonstrated a significant improvement in treatment
      efficiency and therefore could be applicable in early clinical trial settings.

PMID- 25823449
TI  - Submandibular gland transfer for the prevention of postradiation xerostomia in
      patients with head and neck cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Submandibular gland transfer has been widely used to prevent
      postradiation xerostomia in head-and-neck cancers. However, there are still some
      controversies. METHODS: Six databases were searched, data extraction was
      performed and the risk of bias was assessed by 2 reviewers independently. The
      meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager, version 5.2. RESULTS: A total
      of 7 trials (12 articles) and 369 participants were included. CONCLUSIONS: The
      present clinical evidence suggests that submandibular gland transfer might be
      highly effective to prevent postradiation xerostomia in head-and-neck cancers
      without serious adverse events. However, more randomized controlled trials are
      still needed to confirm this conclusion.

PMID- 25823450
TI  - Immune response to gut Escherichia coli and susceptibility to adjuvant arthritis
      in the rats.
AB  - We have investigated the humoral immune response to antigens of predominant gut
      aerobic bacterial strains (i.e. Escherichia coli) over the course of adjuvant
      arthritis and oil-induced arthritis in two inbred rat strains: Dark Agouti (DA)
      and Albino Oxford (AO). We report the presence of antibodies specific to proteins
      of E. coli in molecular weight range between 20-30 kDa in sera of diseased DA
      rats, and the absence of these antibodies in the sera of AO rats. In DA rats, CFA
      and IFA provoked a stronger antibody response to E. coli, especially of the IgG2b
      antibody class. Intramuscular administration of E. coli preceding the adjuvant
      arthritis induction had no effect on the development and course of disease, as
      well as on the activation of T cells in the draining inguinal lymph nodes. Higher
      serum levels of natural and induced IgA antibodies, combined with a higher
      CD3+CD26+ cell percentage were found in AO rats. The observed correlation between
      the serologic response to commensal flora and rats' genetic background as a
      defining factor for arthritis susceptibility may contribute to the process of
      creating a favorable (or less favorable) milieu for arthritis development. 

PMID- 25823451
TI  - Retrovesical hydatidosis associated with urinary tract pathology - case report.
AB  - Cystic hydatidosis (CH) is a worldwide distributed parasitic zoonosis. It is
      considered one of the 17 neglected parasitic tropical diseases, among
      cysticercosis and soil transmitted helminthiases. CH is caused by the larval
      stage of Echinococcus granulosus, a tapeworm that usually infects dogs and other
      carnivorous animals as definitive hosts and herbivorous animals and rarely humans
      as intermediate hosts. Main primary localizations are the liver and the lung. In
      less than 3% they can primarily be present in the spleen. Treatment is mainly
      surgical, in some cases resulting in reoccurrence. In this paper we present the
      case of a male 55 years old patient who underwent a surgical intervention on his
      spleen for a solitary hydatid cyst as primary localization. Fifteen years after
      the operation the patient presented macroscopic haematuria; routine laboratory
      findings presented soft eosinophilia, 5%, without any other modification. There
      was found no palpable tumour in the pelvis by rectal examination. Abdominal
      ultrasound investigation revealed a 2*1 cm formation in the urinary bladder at
      the base of the left bladder-wall and a retrovesical, inhomogeneous 10*10 cm
      tumour with multiple septa and transonic zones. Computed tomography (CT) scan
      strongly suggested the presence of a bladder tumour and a hydatid cyst. The
      symptoms caused by the bladder tumour revealed the co-existing non-symptomatic
      retrovesical secondary CH, which is a rare complication of splenic Echinococcus
      granulosus infection. Close follow-up and a proper pre- and postoperative anti
      parasitic medication of the patient could have prevented reoccurrence of CH. 

PMID- 25823452
TI  - Infections and antimicrobial use among institutionalized residents in Hungary:
      increasing need of microbiological surveillance.
AB  - As a result of the age-related changes, more elders live in long-term care
      facilities (LTCFs). Due to their susceptibility, infections and excess use of
      antimicrobials are common. The aim was to estimate the burden of infections and
      antimicrobial use in Hungarian LTCFs in order to increase the attention given to
      the prevention. European-wide point prevalence survey was conducted between April
      and May 2013. For each resident who had a signs and symptoms of an infection
      and/or treated with an antibacterial for systemic use a resident questionnaire
      was completed. Descriptive statistics were used to present the data. In total, 91
      LTCFs with 11,823 residents were selected in this survey. The 252 residents had a
      sign/symptom of an infection (2.1%) and 156 received antimicrobial (1.3%). Skin
      and soft tissues (36.5%) was the most frequent infection. However, antimicrobials
      were mostly prescribed for respiratory tract infections (40.4%). The most common
      therapeutic antimicrobial agent (97.5%) belonged to the quinolone antibacterials
      (34.2%). Our results emphasise the need for targeted improvement of antimicrobial
      use including: reducing the use of quinolone antibacterials in order to prevent
      the spread of Clostridium difficile and other antimicrobial resistant
      microorganisms among institutionalized residents. 

PMID- 25823453
TI  - Evaluating synergy between marbofloxacin and gentamicin in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
      strains isolated from dogs with otitis externa.
AB  - The aim of this study was to determine antimicrobial susceptibility of
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains to marbofloxacin and gentamicin, and investigate
      the possible synergistic, additive, indifferent or antagonistic effects between
      the two agents. P. aeruginosa strains can develop resistance quickly against
      certain antibiotics if used alone, thus the need emerges to find synergistic
      combinations. A total of 68 P. aeruginosa strains isolated from dogs were
      examined. In order to describe interactions between marbofloxacin and gentamicin
      the checkerboard microdilution method was utilized. The MICs (minimum inhibitory
      concentrations) for marbofloxacin and gentamicin were in the range 0.25-64 mg/L
      and 0.25-32 mg/L, respectively. The combination of marbofloxacin and gentamicin
      was more effective with a MIC range of 0.031-8 mg/L and a MIC90 of 1 mg/L,
      compared to 16 mg/L for marbofloxacin alone and 8 mg/L for gentamicin alone. The
      FIC (fractional inhibitory concentration) indices ranged from 0.0945 (pronounced
      synergy) to 1.0625 (indifference). Synergy between marbofloxacin and gentamicin
      was found in 33 isolates. The mean FIC index is 0.546, which represents a partial
      synergistic/additive effect close to the full synergy threshold. In vitro results
      indicate that marbofloxacin and gentamicin as partially synergistic agents may
      prove clinically useful in combination therapy against P. aeruginosa infections.
      Although marbofloxacin is not used in the human practice, the interactions
      between fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides may have importance outside the
      veterinary field. 

PMID- 25823454
TI  - Ubiquiter circovirus sequences raise challenges in laboratory diagnosis: the case
      of honey bee and bee mite, reptiles, and free living amoebae.
AB  - Circoviruses of pigs and birds are established pathogens, however, the exact role
      of other, recently described circoviruses and circovirus-like viruses remains to
      be elucidated. The aim of this study was the detection of circoviruses in
      neglected host species, including honey bees, exotic reptiles and free-living
      amoebae by widely used broad-spectrum polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays
      specific for the replication initiation protein coding gene of these viruses. The
      majority of sequences obtained from honey bees were highly similar to canine and
      porcine circoviruses, or, were distantly related to dragonfly cycloviruses. Other
      rep sequences detected in some honey bees, reptiles and amoebae showed
      similarities to various rep sequences deposited in the GenBank. Back-to-back PCR
      primers designed for the amplification of whole viral genomes failed to work that
      suggested the existence of integrated rep-like elements in many samples. Rolling
      circle amplification and exonuclease treatment confirmed the absence of small
      circular DNA genomes in the specimens analysed. In case of honey bees Varroa mite
      DNA contamination might be a source of the identified endogenous rep-like
      elements. The reptile and amoebae rep-like sequences were nearly identical with
      each other and with sequences detected in chimpanzee feces raising the
      possibility that detection of novel or unusual rep-like elements in some host
      species might originate from the microbial community of the host. Our results
      indicate that attention is needed when broad-spectrum rep gene specific
      polymerase chain reaction is chosen for laboratory diagnosis of circovirus
      infections. 

PMID- 25823455
TI  - Comparative study of antibody levels developed by vaccination against polio virus
      in population after vaccine type alteration.
AB  - During clinical trials, samples from Hungarian patients of different age groups
      were tested for antibodies against all 3 serotypes of poliovirus, a member of
      Picornaviridae family. During the virus neutralization serological test, blood
      samples were titrated using permanent virus concentration. Based on the
      cythopathic effect observed under a light microscope, the antibody level of the
      patient was assessed. The 100 people examined were classified into 5 groups based
      on age and type of original vaccine: I. Newborns, no vaccination given; II.
      Immunosuppressed patients; III. Born before 1986, received only OPV vaccine; IV.
      Born between 1992-2005, received a combination of OPV and IPV vaccines; V. Born
      after 2006, received only IPV vaccine. Results show that vaccination coverage
      meets all the criteria. None of the immunized persons was seronegative to all
      three polioviruses. Both IPV and OPV vaccines are effective against poliovirus.
      Blood samples from newborn babies with no immunization were also examined.
      Results show that most newborns have maternal antibodies in their blood. Results
      of group II show that immunosuppression does not have a negative influence on
      blood antibody levels against polioviruses. In spite of the low number of
      samples, our results show that seroconversion after immunization in the Hungarian
      population is adequate. For more accurate results about vaccination coverage in
      the population, further trials would be necessary. 

PMID- 25823456
TI  - Modulation of ConA-induced inflammatory ascites by histamine - short
      communication.
AB  - The early phase of the ConA-induced inflammatory ascites was studied, with
      special reference to histamine. Concanavalin A (ConA), a cell-surface binding
      lectin was injected i.p. (25 mg/kg bw) to mice. After 1 h the animals were
      killed, the ascitic fluid collected and measured. Other agents were injected
      s.c., 10 min before the ConA-challenge. Exogenous histamine markedly inhibited
      the ConA-induced ascites. Release of endogenous vasoactive agents from the mast
      cells by Compound 48/80 had a similar, but slight effect. Cromolyn, a mast cell
      stabilizing agent, and chloropyramine, a histamine H1 receptor antagonist was
      ineffective. Although histamine increases endothelial permeability, it did not
      enhance the formation of ascitic fluid, on the contrary, it inhibited the ConA
      induced ascites, presumably due to its known hypotonic effect. It is concluded
      that ConA-induced ascites is not mediated by mast cell histamine. 

PMID- 25823457
TI  - Associations between ADRB1 and CYP2D6 gene polymorphisms and the response to beta
      blocker therapy in hypertension.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the associations between beta1-adrenergic receptor
      (ADRB1) and cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) gene polymorphisms and beta-blocker
      treatment outcomes in patients with hypertension. METHODS: Chinese patients with
      essential hypertension were treated with the beta-blocker metoprolol and followed
      up for 12 weeks. xTAG(r) liquid-chip technology was used for CYP2D6 100 C > T and
      ADRB1 1165G > C genotyping. Associations between gene polymorphisms and
      antihypertensive therapy outcomes were assessed by generalized linear model
      fitting. A decrease of >= 10 mmHg in systolic blood pressure indicated an
      effective treatment outcome. RESULTS: A total of 93 patients were included in the
      study. Mutant allele frequencies of 61.29% and 58.60% were obtained for ADRB1 and
      CYP2D6, respectively. There was no significant interaction between the effects of
      ADRB1 and CYP2D6 gene polymorphisms on treatment outcome. Patients homozygous for
      the mutant ADRB1 genotype (CC) had better treatment outcomes than those
      heterozygous for the mutation (GC). Interestingly, beta-blocker treatment
      duration was an independent factor associated with treatment outcome.
      CONCLUSIONS: The ADRB1 1165G > C gene polymorphism and beta-blocker treatment
      duration are independent factors associated with beta-blocker treatment outcome.
      These findings suggest that the selection of antihypertensive therapy should take
      into consideration the patient's genotype.

PMID- 25823458
TI  - Cerebral perivascular spaces visible on magnetic resonance imaging: development
      of a qualitative rating scale and its observer reliability.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Perivascular spaces (PVS) are an important component of cerebral
      small vessel disease (SVD), several inflammatory disorders, hypertension and
      blood-brain barrier breakdown, but are difficult to quantify. A recent
      international collaboration of SVD experts has highlighted the need for a robust,
      easy-to-use PVS rating scale for the effective investigation of the diagnostic
      and prognostic significance of PVS. The purpose of the current study was to
      develop and extend existing PVS scales to provide a more comprehensive scale for
      the measurement of PVS in the basal ganglia, centrum semiovale and midbrain, and
      to test its intra- and inter-rater agreement, assessing reasons for discrepancy.
      METHODS: We reviewed previously published PVS scales, including site of PVS
      assessed, rating method, and size and morphological criteria. Retaining key
      features, we devised a more comprehensive scale in order to improve the
      reliability of PVS rating. Two neuroradiologists tested the new scale in MRI
      brain scans of 60 patients from two studies (stroke, ageing population), chosen
      to represent a full range of PVS, and demonstrating concomitant features of SVD
      such as lacunes and white matter hyperintensities. We rated basal ganglia,
      centrum semiovale, and midbrain PVS. Basal ganglia and centrum semiovale PVS were
      rated 0 (none), 1 (1-10), 2 (11-20), 3 (21-40) and 4 (>40), and midbrain PVS were
      rated 0 (none visible) or 1 (visible). We calculated kappa statistics for rating,
      assessed consistency in use of PVS categories (Bhapkar test) and reviewed sources
      of discrepancy. RESULTS: Intra- and inter-rater kappa statistics were highest for
      basal ganglia PVS (range 0.76-0.87 and 0.8-0.9, respectively) than for centrum
      semiovale PVS (range 0.68-0.75 and 0.61-0.8, respectively) or midbrain PVS (inter
      rater range 0.51-0.52). Inter-rater consistency was better for basal ganglia
      compared to centrum semiovale PVS (Bhapkar statistic 2.49-3.72, compared to 6.79
      21.08, respectively). Most inter-rater disagreements were due to very faint PVS,
      coexisting extensive white matter hyperintensities (WMH) or the presence of
      lacunes. CONCLUSIONS: We developed a more inclusive and robust visual PVS rating
      scale allowing rating of all grades of PVS severity on structural brain imaging.
      The revised PVS rating scale has good observer reliability for basal ganglia and
      centrum semiovale PVS, best for basal ganglia PVS, and moderate reliability for
      midbrain PVS. Agreement is influenced by PVS severity and the presence of
      background features of SVD. The current scale can be used in further studies to
      assess the clinical implications of PVS.

PMID- 25823459
TI  - Plasma and ovarian oestradiol and the variability in the LH surge induced in ewes
      by the ram effect.
AB  - The proportion of anoestrous ewes ovulating after exposure to a sexually active
      ram is variable mainly due to whether an LH surge is induced. The aim of this
      study was to determine the role of oestradiol (E2) in the ram-induced LH surge.
      In one study, we measured the plasma concentrations of E2 in ewes of different
      breeds before and after the 'ram effect' and related these patterns to the
      presence and latency of the LH surge, while another compared ovarian responses
      with the 'ram effect' following exposure to rams for 2 or 12 h. In all ewes, the
      concentration of E2 increased 2-4 h after rams were introduced and remained
      elevated for 14.5 +/- 0.86 h. The quantity of E2 secreted before the LH surge
      varied among breeds as did the mean concentration of E2. The granulosa cells of
      IF ewes collected after 12 h exposure to rams secreted more E2 and progesterone
      and had higher levels of StAR than the 2 h group but in MV ewes there was no
      differences between these groups for any of these parameters. These results
      demonstrate that the LH surge induced by the rams is a result of increased E2
      secretion associated with increased levels of STAR in granulosa cells and that
      these responses varied among breeds. The results suggest that the variable
      occurrence of a LH surge and ovulation may be the result of variable ovarian
      responses to the 'ram effect' and insensitivity of the hypothalamus to the E2
      positive feedback signal.

PMID- 25823461
TI  - Immigrant patients with dementia and memory impairment in primary health care in
      Norway: a national registry study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Immigrants comprise a growing proportion of the elderly population.
      However, knowledge about the diagnosis and management of dementia and memory
      impairment among immigrants is scarce in Norway and elsewhere. AIMS: To compare
      proportions of Norwegians and immigrants aged >=50 years with a diagnosis of
      dementia or memory impairment in primary health care and to study the demographic
      characteristics, utilization of primary health care services and pharmacological
      treatment of Norwegians and immigrants with either of the two diagnoses in 2008.
      METHOD: This is a registry-based study using linked data at the individual level
      from 4 national Norwegian registers. RESULTS: A significantly lower proportion of
      immigrants, especially those from other than high-income countries, had a
      diagnosis of dementia or memory impairment. Among patients with such diagnoses,
      anti-dementia medication was purchased 20-50% more often by Norwegians than by
      immigrants, although the differences remained significant only for immigrants
      from other than high-income countries after adjustment for several variables.
      CONCLUSION: The lower proportions of immigrants with a dementia diagnosis and
      lower proportions of patients receiving treatment might indicate a lower
      prevalence or milder forms of dementia among immigrants. However, the cultural
      validity of the assessment tools, linguistic barriers and challenges for general
      practitioners should be further investigated.

PMID- 25823463
TI  - Transfusion strategies in patients with traumatic brain injury: which is the
      optimal hemoglobin target?
AB  - Robertson et al. (JAMA 2014; 312:36-47) investigated the effects of two different
      thresholds of hemoglobin (Hb) to guide red blood cells transfusions (RBCT; 7 g/dL
      vs. 10 g/dL) in patients suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI). In a two
      center, controlled, open-label trial (from May 2006 and August 2012), comatose
      patients with a closed TBI were randomized within 6 hours since initial
      resuscitation to one of the two RBCT strategies and, in a factorial design (2x2),
      to receive erythropoietin (EPO) or placebo. Patients were excluded if they had a
      Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 3 with fixed and dilated pupils, penetrating
      trauma, pregnancy, life-threatening systemic injuries and severe preexisting
      diseases. A total of 200 patients (7 g/dL with [N.=49] or without EPO [N. =50];
      10 g/dL with [N.=53] or without EPO [N.=48]) were enrolled among 598 who were
      screened. There was no interaction between EPO and Hb thresholds on the primary
      outcome, which was the occurrence of favorable neurological outcome, assessed
      using the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) at 6 months after the injury (favorable=GOS
      4-5). Favorable outcome was similar between patients included in the 7 g/dL
      (37/87-43%) and the 10 g/dL group (31/94-33%) as if receiving EPO or placebo,
      even after adjustment for several covariates. Thromboembolic events were
      significantly more frequent in the group transfused at 10 g/dL (22/101 [22%] vs.
      8/99 [8%]; P=0.009). We discussed how theses results might influence the
      management of such patients as well as the methodological limitations that
      underline the need for further investigations. 

PMID- 25823462
TI  - 2'-O-Methylation within Bacterial RNA Acts as Suppressor of TLR7/TLR8 Activation
      in Human Innate Immune Cells.
AB  - Microbial RNA is an important stimulator of innate immune responses. Differences
      in posttranscriptional RNA modification profiles enable the immune system to
      discriminate between self and non-self nucleic acids. This principle may be
      exploited by certain bacteria to circumvent immune cell activation. In this
      regard, 2'-O-methylation of Escherichia coli tRNATyr at position 18 (Gm18) has
      recently been described to inhibit TLR7-mediated IFN-alpha production in human
      plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). Extending these findings, we now demonstrate
      that Gm18 also potently inhibits TLR7-independent human monocyte activation by
      RNA derived from a variety of bacterial strains. The half minimal inhibitory
      concentration values were similar to those found for IFN-alpha inhibition in
      pDCs. Mechanistically, 2'-O-methylated RNA impaired upstream signalling events,
      including MAP kinase and NFx03BA;B activation. Our results suggest that
      antagonizing effects of Gm18-modified RNA are due to competition with stimulatory
      RNA for receptor binding. The antagonistic effect was specific for RNA because
      the small molecule TLR7/8 agonist R848 was not inhibited. Despite the striking
      phenotype in human cells, 2'-O-methylated RNA did not interfere with TLR13
      activation by bacterial 23S rRNA in murine DC and BMDM. Thus, we identify here
      Gm18 in E. coli tRNA(Tyr) as a universal suppressor of innate immune activation
      in the human but not the murine system.

PMID- 25823460
TI  - Accurate typing of short tandem repeats from genome-wide sequencing data and its
      applications.
AB  - Short tandem repeats (STRs) are implicated in dozens of human genetic diseases
      and contribute significantly to genome variation and instability. Yet profiling
      STRs from short-read sequencing data is challenging because of their high
      sequencing error rates. Here, we developed STR-FM, short tandem repeat profiling
      using flank-based mapping, a computational pipeline that can detect the full
      spectrum of STR alleles from short-read data, can adapt to emerging read-mapping
      algorithms, and can be applied to heterogeneous genetic samples (e.g., tumors,
      viruses, and genomes of organelles). We used STR-FM to study STR error rates and
      patterns in publicly available human and in-house generated ultradeep plasmid
      sequencing data sets. We discovered that STRs sequenced with a PCR-free protocol
      have up to ninefold fewer errors than those sequenced with a PCR-containing
      protocol. We constructed an error correction model for genotyping STRs that can
      distinguish heterozygous alleles containing STRs with consecutive repeat numbers.
      Applying our model and pipeline to Illumina sequencing data with 100-bp reads, we
      could confidently genotype several disease-related long trinucleotide STRs.
      Utilizing this pipeline, for the first time we determined the genome-wide STR
      germline mutation rate from a deeply sequenced human pedigree. Additionally, we
      built a tool that recommends minimal sequencing depth for accurate STR
      genotyping, depending on repeat length and sequencing read length. The required
      read depth increases with STR length and is lower for a PCR-free protocol. This
      suite of tools addresses the pressing challenges surrounding STR genotyping, and
      thus is of wide interest to researchers investigating disease-related STRs and
      STR evolution.

PMID- 25823464
TI  - Preschool oscillometry and lung function at adolescence in asthmatic children.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Reduced lung function in early childhood is associated with
      persistent symptoms and low lung function later in life. Impulse oscillometry
      (IOS) is feasible for assessing lung function also in preschool children, and
      some of the parameters, such as respiratory resistance at 5 Hz (Rrs5) and the
      frequency dependence of resistance (dRrs/df), have been suggested to reflect
      small airway dysfunction. Whether changes in preschool IOS predict later lung
      function remains unknown. METHODS: The medical data of 154 asthmatic children
      with IOS performed at 2-7 years and spirometry at 12-18 years were analyzed. IOS
      and post-bronchodilator spirometry parameters were compared, and the association
      was estimated in a multivariate model. RESULTS: Measured at preschool age,
      particularly Rrs5 and dRrs/df were significantly correlated with post
      bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) at adolescence (Rrs5: r =
      -0.223, P = 0.005; dRrs/df: r = 0.234, P = 0.004). Although the number of
      children with decreased FEV1 was low, associations of increased Rrs5 (odds ratio
      (OR) 5.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7; 20.9) and decreased dRrs/df (OR 8.2,
      95% CI 1.7; 39.6) with decreased FEV1 remained significant in multivariate
      analyses. Similar findings were observed also with other spirometric parameters.
      CONCLUSION: In asthmatic children, preschool IOS is associated with spirometric
      lung function at adolescence, but the scatter is wide. Normal preschool IOS seems
      to indicate favourable lung function outcome, whereas in some individuals IOS
      could potentially be of clinical use, at a younger age than spirometry, to screen
      lung function deficits and increased risk for later lung function impairment.

PMID- 25823465
TI  - Galectin-9 suppresses the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma via apoptosis in
      vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Galectin-9, a soluble beta-galactoside-binding animal lectin, evokes apoptosis in
      various human cancer cell lines. The galectin-9 antitumor effect against
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is, however, unknown. We investigated whether
      galectin-9 suppresses HCC growth in vitro and in vivo. We assessed the antitumor
      effect of galectin-9 on HCC cells by conducting WST-8 assay in vitro and
      xenograft model analysis in vivo. Galectin-9-induced apoptosis was evaluated by
      FACS and ELISA in vitro and by TUNEL stain in vivo. Cell cycle alteration was
      profiled by FACS. Caspases were profiled by colorimetry. MicroRNAs related to the
      galectin-9 antitumor effects were determined using microarrays, and their
      antitumor effect was confirmed in a transfection study in vitro. The expression
      levels of the target proteins of the miRNAs extracted above were analyzed by
      western blot analysis. To summarize the results, galectin-9 inhibited the growth
      of the HCC cell lines HLE and Li-7 in vitro and Li-7 in vivo inducing apoptosis.
      Cell cycle turnover was not arrested in HLE and Li-7 cells in vitro. miR-1246 was
      similarly extracted both in vitro and in vivo, which sensitized Li-7 cells to
      apoptosis when transfected into the cells. DYRK1A, a target protein of miR-1246
      was downregulated in Li-7 cells. Caspase-9 was upregulated in Li-7 cells in vitro
      and in vivo. In conclusion, galectin-9 inhibited the growth of HCC cells by
      apoptosis, but not cell cycle arrest, in vitro and in vivo. miR-1246 mediated
      signals of galectin-9, possibly through miR-1246-DYRK1A-caspase-9 axis. Galectin
      9 might be a candidate agent for HCC chemotherapy.

PMID- 25823466
TI  - Impact of vascular calcifications on arteriovenous fistula survival in
      hemodialysis patients: a five-year follow-up.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Vascular calcifications are frequently found among dialysis
      patients, and the calcification process may influence the patient's outcome. The
      aim of the present study was to determine the role that vascular calcifications
      may have on autologous arteriovenous fistula (AVF) survival. METHODS: This study
      included 90 patients (49 males, mean age 62 +/- 11) with a native AVF treated by
      chronic hemodialysis (HD) for more than one year. The overall vascular
      calcification scores ranged from 0-11 (Adragao score + vascular access
      calcification score); patients were categorized into mild (score 0-3; n = 36),
      moderate (score 4-7; n = 24) and severe (score 8-11; n = 30) calcification
      groups. AVF survival was then followed for 5 years after calcification
      measurement or until the patient's death/transplantation. RESULTS: Patients with
      more pronounced vascular calcifications were more frequently diabetic and male.
      Multiple linear regression analysis showed a significant relationship between
      calcification score and male gender, diabetes mellitus, previous duration of AVF,
      low dialysis flow rate and intact parathormone (iPTH) values. After multivariate
      adjustment for basal differences, Cox proportional analysis revealed a graded
      impact of calcification scores on AVF failure: moderate scores (were associated
      with a hazard rate (HR) of 3.82 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10-13.23) and
      severe scores with an HR of 4.65 (CI 0.97-22.38). CONCLUSION: Vascular
      calcifications are associated with worse survival of native arteriovenous
      hemodialysis fistulas.

PMID- 25823467
TI  - BDNF Val66Met is Associated With Performance in a Computerized Visual-Motor
      Tracking Test In Healthy Adults.
AB  - The brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene (BDNF) is known to play an important
      role in neuroplasticity and cognitive processes. We explored the association of
      BDNF Val66Met polymorphism with performance in a visual-motor tracking test. One
      hundred and sixty-seven young, healthy Colombian adults completed a computerized
      version of the Pursuit Rotor Task, using the Psychology Experiment Building
      Language (PEBL) platform. DNA genotyping was performed by allele-specific
      polymerase chain reaction. We found that BDNF Val/Met and Met/Met subjects
      performed better in the pursuit rotor task (p = .03). Our findings suggest that
      the BDNF gene is essential to understand differences in motor performance in
      healthy participants in different populations. This approach could be useful for
      future fine mapping of genetic modifiers for neuropsychiatric diseases. 

PMID- 25823468
TI  - The stem cell potential and multipotency of human adipose tissue-derived stem
      cells vary by cell donor and are different from those of other types of stem
      cells.
AB  - Human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AT-MSCs) from various sites
      are applied in tissue engineering and cell therapy. The condition of AT-MSCs
      depends on the donor's age, body mass index (BMI), and gender. AT-MSCs from 66
      human donors were analyzed, and the cells were sorted according to donor age (10
      19 years: n = 1; 20-29 years: n = 5; 30-39 years: n = 12; 40-49 years: n = 22; 50
      59 years: n = 12; 60-69 years: n = 9, and 70 years or older: n = 5), BMI (under
      25, 25-30, and over 30), and gender (19 males and 48 females). Additionally, AT
      MSCs were compared to bone marrow MSCs and chorionic tissue-derived MSCs. We
      measured the MSC yield, growth rate, colony-forming units, multipotency, and
      surface antigens. AT-MSC proliferation was greater in cells isolated from
      individuals aged less than 30 years compared to the proliferation of AT-MSCs from
      those over 50 years old. BMI was correlated with osteogenic differentiation
      potency; increased BMI enhanced osteogenesis. Adipogenic differentiation was more
      strongly induced in cells isolated from donors aged less than 30 years compared
      to those isolated from other age groups. Also, a BMI above 30 was associated with
      enhanced adipogenic differentiation compared to cells isolated from individuals
      with a BMI below 25. Bone marrow MSCs were strongly induced to differentiate
      along both osteogenic and adipogenic lineages, whereas AT-MSCs predominantly
      differentiated into the chondrogenic lineage. Therefore, the type of regeneration
      required and variations among potential donors must be carefully considered when
      selecting MSCs for use in applied tissue engineering or cell therapy.

PMID- 25823470
TI  - Catching genomic rearrangements in the act: Integrating DNA breakage models and
      functional genomics data: (comment on DOI 10.1002/bies.201400174).

PMID- 25823469
TI  - Adipocyte hypoxia promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related gene
      expression and estrogen receptor-negative phenotype in breast cancer cells.
AB  - The development of breast cancer is linked to the loss of estrogen receptor (ER)
      during the course of tumor progression, resulting in loss of responsiveness to
      hormonal treatment. The mechanisms underlying dynamic ERalpha gene expression
      change in breast cancer remain unclear. A range of physiological and biological
      changes, including increased adipose tissue hypoxia, accompanies obesity. Hypoxia
      in adipocytes can establish a pro-malignancy environment in breast tissues.
      Epidemiological studies have linked obesity with basal-like breast cancer risk
      and poor disease outcome, suggesting that obesity may affect the tumor phenotype
      by skewing the microenvironment toward support of more aggressive tumor
      phenotypes. In the present study, human SGBS adipocytes were co-cultured with ER
      positive MCF7 cells for 24 h. After co-culture, HIF1alpha, TGF-beta, and lectin
      type oxidized LDL receptor 1 (LOX1) mRNA levels in the SGBS cells were increased.
      Expression levels of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-inducing
      transcription factors FOXC2 and TWIST1 were increased in the co-cultured MCF7
      cells. In addition, the E-cadherin mRNA level was decreased, while the N-cadherin
      mRNA level was increased in the co-cultured MCF7 cells. ERalpha mRNA levels were
      significantly repressed in the co-cultured MCF7 cells. ERalpha gene expression in
      the MCF7 cells was decreased due to increased HIF1alpha in the SGBS cells. These
      results suggest that adipocytes can modify breast cancer cell ER gene expression
      through hypoxia and also can promote EMT processes in breast cancer cells,
      supporting an important role of obesity in aggressive breast cancer development.

PMID- 25823471
TI  - Cribriform adenocarcinoma of the tongue and minor salivary gland: transoral
      robotic surgical resection.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cribriform adenocarcinoma of the tongue and minor salivary gland
      (CATMSG) is a rare, locally invasive, and poorly recognized tumor, typically
      occurring on the base of the tongue. This case report describes the previously
      unreported use of transoral robotic surgery (TORS) for the local resection of
      CATMSG in a novel location, the palatine tonsil, and leverages follow-up
      information to compare TORS to conventional surgical approaches. METHODS: We
      performed transoral radical tonsillectomy, limited pharyngectomy, and base-of
      tongue resection with staged left selective neck dissection. RESULTS: Tumor
      pathology revealed an infiltrating salivary gland carcinoma with perineural
      invasion and a histologically similar adenocarcinoma in 1 of 64 left neck lymph
      nodes. TORS was performed with no perioperative complications, and the patient
      was subsequently discharge on postoperative day 3 with a Dobhoff tube.
      Postoperatively, the Dobhoff tube was removed at 1 month, the patient was
      advanced to soft foods by mouth at 2 months, and 3-month positron emission
      tomography-computed tomography scan showed no evidence of distant metastases and
      evolving postsurgical changes in the left tonsillectomy bed. CONCLUSIONS: This
      case report highlights the use of TORS resection with minimal acute and long-term
      morbidity compared to conventional approaches for the resection of this rare,
      locally invasive salivary gland carcinoma in the palatine tonsil.

PMID- 25823472
TI  - Introducing robotic surgery into an endometrial cancer service--a prospective
      evaluation of clinical and economic outcomes in a UK institution.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We have assessed how the introduction of robotics in a publicly
      funded endometrial cancer service affects clinical and economic outcomes.
      METHODS: The study included 196 women. Costs were divided into those for wards,
      high dependency, staffing, theatres, pharmacy, blood products, imaging, pathology
      and rehabilitation. Capital depreciation was included. RESULTS: Prior to the
      introduction of robotics, 78/130 (60.0%) cases were performed open, compared to
      17/66 (25.8%) afterwards (p < 0.0001). The median operative time increased 37 min
      (95% CI 17-55 min; p = 0.0002); the median blood loss was 55 ml lower (95% CI 0
      150 ml; p = 0.0181); the stay was 2 days shorter (95% CI 1-3; p < 0.0001).
      Complications reduced from 64/130 (49.2%) to 19/66 (28.8%) (p = 0.0045). Costs
      reduced from L11 476 to L10 274 (p = 0.0065). Conversions for 'straight stick'
      surgery were 18.2% (14/77) compared to 0.0% (0/24) for robotics (p = 0.0164).
      CONCLUSIONS: Introducing robotics resulted in fewer laparotomies, shorter stays,
      fewer complications and lower costs.

PMID- 25823473
TI  - Multiple sclerosis-associated CLEC16A controls HLA class II expression via late
      endosome biogenesis.
AB  - C-type lectins are key players in immune regulation by driving distinct functions
      of antigen-presenting cells. The C-type lectin CLEC16A gene is located at 16p13,
      a susceptibility locus for several autoimmune diseases, including multiple
      sclerosis. However, the function of this gene and its potential contribution to
      these diseases in humans are poorly understood. In this study, we found a strong
      upregulation of CLEC16A expression in the white matter of multiple sclerosis
      patients (n = 14) compared to non-demented controls (n = 11), mainly in
      perivascular leukocyte infiltrates. Moreover, CLEC16A levels were significantly
      enhanced in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of multiple sclerosis patients (n
      = 69) versus healthy controls (n = 46). In peripheral blood mononuclear cells,
      CLEC16A was most abundant in monocyte-derived dendritic cells, in which it
      strongly co-localized with human leukocyte antigen class II. Treatment of these
      professional antigen-presenting cells with vitamin D, a key protective
      environmental factor in multiple sclerosis, downmodulated CLEC16A in parallel
      with human leukocyte antigen class II. Knockdown of CLEC16A in distinct types of
      model and primary antigen-presenting cells resulted in severely impaired
      cytoplasmic distribution and formation of human leucocyte antigen class II
      positive late endosomes, as determined by immunofluorescence and electron
      microscopy. Mechanistically, CLEC16A participated in the molecular machinery of
      human leukocyte antigen class II-positive late endosome formation and trafficking
      to perinuclear regions, involving the dynein motor complex. By performing co
      immunoprecipitations, we found that CLEC16A directly binds to two critical
      members of this complex, RILP and the HOPS complex. CLEC16A silencing in antigen
      presenting cells disturbed RILP-mediated recruitment of human leukocyte antigen
      class II-positive late endosomes to perinuclear regions. Together, we identify
      CLEC16A as a pivotal gene in multiple sclerosis that serves as a direct regulator
      of the human leukocyte antigen class II pathway in antigen-presenting cells.
      These findings are a first step in coupling multiple sclerosis-associated genes
      to the regulation of the strongest genetic factor in multiple sclerosis, human
      leukocyte antigen class II. 

PMID- 25823475
TI  - Magnetization transfer ratio measures in normal-appearing white matter show
      periventricular gradient abnormalities in multiple sclerosis.
AB  - In multiple sclerosis, there is increasing evidence that demyelination, and
      neuronal damage occurs preferentially in cortical grey matter next to the outer
      surface of the brain. It has been suggested that this may be due to the effects
      of pathology outside the brain parenchyma, in particular meningeal inflammation
      or through cerebrospinal fluid mediated factors. White matter lesions are often
      located adjacent to the ventricles of the brain, suggesting the possibility of a
      similar outside-in pathogenesis, but an investigation of the relationship of
      periventricular normal-appearing white matter abnormalities with distance from
      the ventricles has not previously been undertaken. The present study investigates
      this relationship in vivo using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging and
      compares the abnormalities between secondary progressive and relapsing remitting
      multiple sclerosis. Forty-three patients with relapsing remitting and 28 with
      secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, and 38 healthy control subjects were
      included in this study. T1-weighted volumetric, magnetization transfer and proton
      density/T2-weighted scans were acquired for all subjects. From the magnetization
      transfer data, magnetization transfer ratio maps were prepared. White matter
      tissue masks were derived from SPM8 segmentations of the T1-weighted images.
      Normal-appearing white matter masks were generated by subtracting white matter
      lesions identified on the proton density/T2 scan, and a two-voxel perilesional
      ring, from the SPM8 derived white matter masks. White matter was divided in
      concentric bands, each ~1-mm thick, radiating from the ventricles toward the
      cortex. The first periventricular band was excluded from analysis to mitigate
      partial volume effects, and normal-appearing white matter and lesion
      magnetization transfer ratio values were then computed for the 10 bands nearest
      to the ventricles. Compared with controls, magnetization transfer ratio in the
      normal-appearing white matter bands was significantly lower in patients with
      multiple sclerosis. In controls, magnetization transfer ratio was highest in the
      band adjacent to the ventricles and declined with increasing distance from the
      ventricles. In the multiple sclerosis groups, relative to controls, reductions in
      magnetization transfer ratio were greater in the secondary progressive multiple
      sclerosis compared with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis group, and these
      reductions were greatest next to the ventricles and became smaller with distance
      from them. White matter lesion magnetization transfer ratio reductions were also
      more apparent adjacent to the ventricle and decreased with distance from the
      ventricles in both the relapsing remitting and secondary progressive multiple
      sclerosis groups. These findings suggest that in people with multiple sclerosis,
      and more so in secondary progressive than relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis,
      tissue structural abnormalities in normal-appearing white matter and white matter
      lesions are greatest near the ventricles. This would be consistent with a
      cerebrospinal fluid or ependymal mediated pathogenesis. 

PMID- 25823477
TI  - How should unmatched otolaryngology applicants proceed?
AB  - OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: To determine the attitudes of otolaryngology residency
      program directors and chairpersons toward unmatched residency applicants,
      including whether a surgical internship or research year is preferred in
      considering repeat applicants. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. METHODS:
      Approval was obtained from the Colorado Multiple Institution Review Board. A 12
      question Web-based survey was sent to otolaryngology residency program directors
      and chairpersons three times over a 6-week period. Responses collected from
      respondents were anonymous, with no identifying characteristics. RESULTS: Forty
      five percent of those contacted responded to the survey. The most commonly
      recommended course of action for an unmatched applicant was completion of a
      general surgery intern year (43%) or a year of research (31%). Program directors
      were more likely than chairpersons to recommend a year of research (P value
      0.014). Ninety-seven percent of the respondents felt it was important or
      essential to obtain new letters of recommendation. Respondents ranked poor
      interview skills as the most common reason for applicants remaining unmatched
      (29%). CONCLUSION: Otolaryngology residency match is even more competitive for
      previously unmatched applicants. Unmatched applicants should be advised to
      proceed with either a research year or postgraduate year 1 general surgery year.
      Before applying again, applicants should obtain new letters of recommendation,
      and the importance of improving poor interviewing skills should be emphasized by
      advisors. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: N/A.

PMID- 25823476
TI  - Imidazole-containing phthalazine derivatives inhibit Fe-SOD performance in
      Leishmania species and are active in vitro against visceral and mucosal
      leishmaniasis.
AB  - The in vitro leishmanicidal activity of a series of imidazole-containing
      phthalazine derivatives 1-4 was tested on Leishmania infantum, Leishmania
      braziliensis and Leishmania donovani parasites, and their cytotoxicity on J774.2
      macrophage cells was also measured. All compounds tested showed selectivity
      indexes higher than that of the reference drug glucantime for the three
      Leishmania species, and the less bulky monoalkylamino substituted derivatives 2
      and 4 were clearly more effective than their bisalkylamino substituted
      counterparts 1 and 3. Both infection rate measures and ultrastructural
      alterations studies confirmed that 2 and 4 were highly leishmanicidal and induced
      extensive parasite cell damage. Modifications to the excretion products of
      parasites treated with 2 and 4 were also consistent with substantial cytoplasmic
      alterations. On the other hand, the most active compounds 2 and 4 were potent
      inhibitors of iron superoxide dismutase enzyme (Fe-SOD) in the three species
      considered, whereas their impact on human CuZn-SOD was low. Molecular modelling
      suggests that 2 and 4 could deactivate Fe-SOD due to a sterically favoured
      enhanced ability to interact with the H-bonding net that supports the antioxidant
      features of the enzyme. 

PMID- 25823478
TI  - Pd/C-Catalyzed Cyclizative Cross-Coupling of Two ortho-Alkynylanilines under
      Aerobic Conditions: Synthesis of 2,3'-Bisindoles.
AB  - A palladium-catalyzed cyclizative cross-coupling of two o-alkynylanilines to 2,3'
      bisindoles under aerobic oxidative conditions was developed. Mechanistic studies
      suggested that the two catalytic cycles, namely the formation of 3-alkynylindoles
      8 and their subsequent cyclization to bisindoles 5, are temporally separated. The
      aminopalladation of 3-alkynylindoles 8 occurred only after all the N,N-dialkyl-o
      alkynylanilines were consumed. The solid support (activated charcoal) played a
      crucial role in the second intramolecular aminopalladation process. 

PMID- 25823474
TI  - Roles of microglia in brain development, tissue maintenance and repair.
AB  - The emerging roles of microglia are currently being investigated in the healthy
      and diseased brain with a growing interest in their diverse functions. In recent
      years, it has been demonstrated that microglia are not only immunocentric, but
      also neurobiological and can impact neural development and the maintenance of
      neuronal cell function in both healthy and pathological contexts. In the disease
      context, there is widespread consensus that microglia are dynamic cells with a
      potential to contribute to both central nervous system damage and repair. Indeed,
      a number of studies have found that microenvironmental conditions can selectively
      modify unique microglia phenotypes and functions. One novel mechanism that has
      garnered interest involves the regulation of microglial function by microRNAs,
      which has therapeutic implications such as enhancing microglia-mediated
      suppression of brain injury and promoting repair following inflammatory injury.
      Furthermore, recently published articles have identified molecular signatures of
      myeloid cells, suggesting that microglia are a distinct cell population compared
      to other cells of myeloid lineage that access the central nervous system under
      pathological conditions. Thus, new opportunities exist to help distinguish
      microglia in the brain and permit the study of their unique functions in health
      and disease. 

PMID- 25823479
TI  - Oral Health Knowledge of Pregnant Women on Pregnancy Gingivitis and Children's
      Oral Health.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Pregnancy gingivitis and early childhood caries remain prevalent in
      Hong Kong. The aim of this study was to assess pregnant women's knowledge and
      beliefs related to pregnancy gingivitis and children's oral health. STUDY DESIGN:
      An outreach survey was carried out in a clinic that provided antenatal
      examination. A written oral health questionnaire related to pregnancy gingivitis
      and early childhood caries was administered to pregnant women. Of the 106
      pregnant women who enrolled in the study, 100 completed the questionnaires.
      RESULTS: Among the 100 subjects, only 39% correctly identified that hormonal
      changes contribute to pregnancy gingivitis. Only 36% identified red and swollen
      gums as signs of gingivitis. Furthermore, 53% of the surveyed pregnant women were
      not sure about the amount of toothpaste to administer to a child aged 18 months
      to 5 years. Almost 50% assumed that a replanted avulsed tooth would probably not
      survive within a short extra-alveolar period of less than 60 minutes. CONCLUSION:
      Prenatal women generally lack knowledge of a common oral disease that occurs
      during pregnancy and of what constitutes adequate oral health care for children.
      Oral health care education should be implemented as part of a prenatal care
      program.

PMID- 25823481
TI  - Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy evaluation of demineralized human enamel
      after titanium tetrafluoride application.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the presence of a titanium dioxide layer after application of
      titanium tetrafluoride on human permanent tooth enamel. STUDY DESIGN: The sample
      consisted of unerupted third molars. After the removal of the roots, each tooth
      was mesiodistally divided into 2 fragments, one reserved for the experimental
      group and the other for the control group. Before the treatments the fragments
      were artificially demineralized. The experimental group (n=5) received an
      application of 4% titanium tetrafluoride, for one minute and the control group
      (n=5) did not receive any treatment. The samples were sputter-coated with a 20
      30nm gold layer as the energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer analysis was carried
      out in a scanning electron microscope and the results were descriptively
      analyzed. RESULTS: The titanium dioxide layer was present on all experimental
      samples with a titanium peak varying between 6.82 and 26.37%. This layer was not
      found in the control group. Fluoride and calcium fluoride precipitates were
      present in the samples treated with titanium tetrafluoride. CONCLUSION: Titanium
      dioxide layer was formed after one titanium tetrafluoride application, but it was
      not uniform. Further studies should be carried out so that both the morphology
      and thickness of such layers can be better understood.

PMID- 25823480
TI  - Efficacy and tolerance of papain gel with conventional drilling method: a clinico
      microbiological study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Conventional methods of caries removal are commonly associated with
      pain, fear and discomfort. Chemomechanical methods were introduced to instill a
      positive dental attitude. Agents like GK-101, Caridex, Carisolv did not prove
      effective alternatives owing to their high cost, need of special instruments and
      taste of chlorine. A new chemomechanical agent, Papacarie(r), has been introduced
      to overcome these deficiencies. OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to compare the
      effectiveness and tolerance of Papacarie(r) with the conventional method. METHOD:
      25 children with at least two primary teeth with broad cavitated occlusal or
      cervical lesion were selected. One carious tooth from each patient was randomly
      treated with each of Papacarie(r) and conventional drilling method, one after the
      other. Time taken for caries excavation, child's pain perception, change in
      anxiety levels, microbial flora and child's preference of treatment were recorded
      separately for both the methods. RESULT: Although the mean time taken for caries
      removal by the Papacarie(r) method was slightly longer (P?0.05) but it led to
      reduction in pain and anxiety (p<0.05). The viable bacterial counts were
      significantly reduced by either of the two methods (P <0?0001). More patients
      preferred Papacarie(r) over conventional method of treatment (P<0.05).
      CONCLUSION: Papacarie(r) method seems to be a better alternative to conventional
      method of caries removal.

PMID- 25823482
TI  - Salivary Cortisol Levels and its Implication on Behavior In Children with Autism
      during Dental Treatment.
AB  - The aim of the study was to estimate the diurnal variations of salivary cortisol
      in children with autism and healthy children and it's implication on behavior
      during non-invasive dental procedures. STUDY DESIGN: 50 children with autism and
      50 healthy children in the age group between 6 to 12 years of both genders with
      the need for dental treatment were included in the study. Whole unstimulated
      saliva was collected from them during early hours of the day and during evenings
      for 2 consecutive days . The collected saliva was then subjected to
      electrochemiluminescence assay . Minimum invasive dental procedures like hand
      scaling, pit and fissure sealants and glass ionomer cement restorations were
      performed for the participants each time after the saliva sample collection and
      their behavior during the procedures was rated using Frankl's Behavior Rating
      Scale. RESULTS: Significant correlation was seen between cortisol levels and
      behavior in children with autism. As cortisol levels increased in children with
      autism, behavior worsened and as the cortisol levels decreased they showed
      positive behaviour. CONCLUSION: Cortisol acts as a stress marker and studying the
      diurnal variations of salivary cortisol can help us in attaining better knowledge
      about the behavior pattern and thereby assist us in modifying the behavior
      modification procedures and treatment planning in this group of special children.

PMID- 25823483
TI  - Effect of ethanol wet bonding technique on the durability of resin- dentin bond
      with contemporary adhesive systems.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of ethanol wet bonding technique on the
      immediate and long term bond strength of simplified etch and rinse adhesive
      systems to dentin. STUDY DESIGN: 96 extracted human permanent molars were ground
      to expose the flat dentin surface. The teeth were divided into four groups (n=24)
      according to the adhesives used, either Tetric N Bond or Solobond M and bonding
      techniques i.e. water wet bonding or ethanol wet bonding (EWB). Composite
      cylinder was bonded to each specimen using the respective adhesive technique. Ten
      samples from each group were then tested immediately for shear bond strength
      evaluation and two samples for SEM analysis. The remaining samples (12) were
      tested after 6 month storage in distilled water. RESULTS: Upon immediate testing,
      there was no significant difference in the mean shear bond strength of the groups
      regardless of the bonding technique or adhesive used. The bond strength fell
      dramatically in the water wet bonded specimens after 6 months water storage,
      while the bond strength of both the adhesives was maintained when EWB technique
      was used. SEM observation revealed good interfacial adaptation in EWB groups even
      after six months. CONCLUSION: For both simplified etch and rinse adhesives used,
      ethanol wet bonding technique led to significant preservation of the resin dentin
      bond over 6 months.

PMID- 25823484
TI  - Bond strength of different restorative materials to light-curable mineral
      trioxide aggregate.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to evaluate the bond strength of methacrylate
      based (MB) composites, silorane-based (SB) composites, and glass-ionomer cement
      (GIC) in comparison to TheraCal and to compare those findings with the reference
      pulp capping material (MTA). STUDY DESIGN: A total of 90 acrylic blocks were
      prepared. Each of the blocks were prepared as 15 mm high and 10 mm diameter and
      the blocks had a 2 mm high and a 5 mm diameter central hole. In 45 of the
      samples, the holes were fully filled with TheraCal and in the other 45 samples,
      the holes were fully filled with MTA. The TheraCal and the MTA samples were
      randomly divided into 3 subgroups of 15 specimens each: Group-1: Methacrylate
      based (MB) composite; Group-2: Silorane-based (SB) composite; and Group-3: Glass
      ionomer cement (GIC). For the shear bond strength (SBS) test, each block was
      secured in a universal testing machine. After the SBS test, the fractured
      surfaces were examined under a stereomicroscope at *25 magnification. RESULTS:
      The analysis of variance that compared the experimental groups revealed the
      presence of significant differences among the groups (P < 0.001). The highest
      (19.3 MPa) and the lowest (3.4 MPa) bond strength value were recorded for the MB
      composite-TheraCal and the GIC-TheraCal, respectively.There were significant
      differences in bond strength between the TheraCal and the MTA groups for the MB
      composite subgroup (P < 0.001) and the SB composite subgroup (P < 0.05); however,
      there was no significant difference in bond strength for the GIC subgroup (P ?
      0.05). Conlusions: The results from this in vitro study suggest that the new pulp
      capping material, known as light-curable MTA, showed clinically acceptable and
      higher shear bond scores compared to MTA when used with the MB composite.

PMID- 25823485
TI  - Effect of three different pastes on remineralization of initial enamel lesion: an
      in vitro study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Dental caries in enamel is unique as enamel is both acellular and
      avascular. Fluoride is one of the most effective remineralizing agents in caries
      prevention. The purpose of the study was to assess whether nano-hydroxyapatite
      and CPP-ACP can be used as an alternative to fluoride for remineralization of
      early carious lesions. STUDY DESIGN: Initial artificial carious lesions were
      prepared in enamel with demineralization solution. The treatment materials used
      as remineralizing agents were Nano-hydroxyapatite (10%), CPP - ACP (10%), NaF
      (1000 ppm) and Deionized water (negative control). Surface microhardness (SMH)
      measurements were performed before/after demineralization and after 3, 6, 9 and
      12 days of pH cycling and the percentage surface microhardness recovery (%SMHR)
      was calculated. The specimens were then examined by scanning electron microscope.
      RESULTS: Percentage surface microhardness recovery of nano-hydroxyapatite and
      fluoride was significantly greater than CPP - ACP and negative control. There was
      no significant difference of %SMHR between n-HA and fluoride at different time
      periods in the pH cycling. SEM analysis revealed n-HA particles were deposited on
      the demineralized enamel surface which formed a new surface layer. When observed
      under SEM CPP - ACP failed to show any significant surface remineralization while
      surface globular crystal depositions with multiple discrete porosities were
      evident with fluoride. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that nano-hydroxyapatite and
      fluoride had the potential to remineralize initial enamel lesions. CPP - ACP can
      be used as an effective adjunct to fluoride therapy but cannot be used as an
      alternative to fluoride.

PMID- 25823486
TI  - A spectroscopic and surface microhardness study on enamel exposed to beverages
      supplemented with lower iron concentrations.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare the in vitro mineral loss and surface
      microhardness (SMH) changes in human enamel specimens following supplementation
      of acidic carbonated beverages with low iron concentrations than when treated
      without. STUDY DESIGN: 180 enamel blocks each from primary and permanent teeth
      were prepared and equally subdivided (n=10) for their respective treatments in
      Group 1 (Coca Cola and Sprite without iron supplementation) and Group 2
      (beverages supplemented with 2/5 mmol/L FeSO4.7H2O). Following initial SMH
      estimation, the blocks were subjected to 3 treatment cycles of 5/20 minute
      incubation periods, equally interspaced by a 5-min treatment in artificial
      saliva. The calcium and phosphate released after each cycle were analyzed
      spectrophotometrically and the final SMH was recorded. The results were tested
      using student's T test, One-way ANOVA and Kruskal Walli's test (p<0.05). RESULTS:
      Two and five mmol/L FeSO4.7H2O supplementation produced a highly significant SMH
      change and calcium and phosphate reduction than when treated without (p<.0005).
      Both the enamel specimens showed similar patterns of mineral loss and SMH
      reduction, with pronounced effects in the twenty minute incubation cycles.
      CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that 2 mmol/L FeSO4.7H2O supplementation to
      acidic beverages is beneficial in reducing mineral loss and preserving surface
      microhardness of human enamel.

PMID- 25823487
TI  - Oral manifestations of neurofibromatosis type 1 in children with facial plexiform
      neurofibroma: report of three cases.
AB  - Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a common autosomal genetic disorder with a
      prevalence of 1 in 3,000 births. NF1 is a complex syndrome characterized by many
      abnormalities and may affect all organ systems. Oral manifestations of NF1 occur
      frequently, but reports including NF1 children with facial plexiform
      neurofibromas and oral alterations are scant. Facial plexiform neurofibroma may
      cause asymmetry, disfigurement and usually arises from the trigeminal nerve. The
      aim of this paper is to to report three pediatric NF1 cases with facial plexiform
      neurofibroma presenting with oral manifestations, which were evaluated clinically
      and radiographically, and also to briefly review the literature. Patients
      presented with changes in the oral soft tissues, jaws, and teeth ipsilateral to
      the tumor. 

PMID- 25823488
TI  - Treatment considerations in hutchinson-gilford progeria syndrome: a case report.
AB  - Hutchinson-Guilford progeria syndrome is an extremely rare condition classified
      as one of the premature ageing syndromes. This case presents a 16-year-old
      Israeli female patient, suffering from a variant of Hutchinson-Guilford progeria
      with a history of treatment with oral biphosphnates. The patient presented with
      typical cranial and facial features of the syndrome including delayed teeth
      eruption and root development probably due to insufficient jaw growth and severs
      retrognatic position of the maxilla and mandible. Orthodontic treatment
      considerations are described along with those required in light of the previous
      treatment by oral biphosphonates.All primary teeth were extracted in three
      appointments while creating as minimal trauma as possible to the surrounding
      tissue and alveolar bone. For now, the patient refuses to begin the orthodontic
      treatment course. There are no limitations to conduct any dental procedures in
      progeria patients, however, extreme caution must be exercised during oral surgery
      due to the inelasticity of tissues and dermal atrophy. Orthodontic procedure
      commencement should be early enough to manage the delayed development and
      eruption of teeth. Patients taking oral biphosphonates should be advised of this
      potential complication. If orthodontic treatment is considered appropriate, plans
      should be assessed and modified to include compromises. 

PMID- 25823489
TI  - Clinical Usefulness of Proseal Laryngeal Mask Airway for Anesthesia during Dental
      Procedures in Children.
AB  - AIM: Although the Proseal laryngeal mask airway (PLMA) has been widely used in
      anesthesia, little is known about its clinical effectiveness during dental
      procedures. We describe the clinical feasibility of the PLMA for managing airways
      in the field of pediatric dentistry. . STUDY DESIGN: We reviewed the medical
      records of children who underwent airway management with the use of the PLMA from
      January 2011 to December 2012 at an outpatient facility at Seoul National Dental
      University Hospital. RESULTS: During the study period, the airways of 19 children
      were managed with the PLMA for dental procedures. During its placement, blood
      pressure and heart rate were stably maintained. There were no interruptions of
      the dental procedures. None of the children experienced oxygen desaturation or
      ventilation difficulty. In one patient, the PLMA was dislodged for a short time,
      but the problem was easily solved with repositioning. After transferring to the
      post-anesthetic care unit, there were no incidences of oxygen desaturation or
      vomiting. All of the children were discharged from the hospital without
      complications. CONCLUSION: The PLMA can be successfully used in airway management
      during dental treatment in children.

PMID- 25823491
TI  - Orthodontic Treatment of Skeletal Class II Adolescent with Anterior Open Bite
      using Mini-Screws and Modified Palatal Anchorage Plate.
AB  - This article presents a non-extraction orthodontic treatment case using mini
      screws and a modified palatal anchorage plate (MPAP) to intrude the maxillary
      posterior teeth, and distalize the whole arch dentition and control the extrusion
      of the maxillary posterior dentition during distalization. 

PMID- 25823490
TI  - Maxillary dental anomalies in patients with cleft lip and palate: a cone beam
      computed tomography study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the frequency of maxillary dental anomalies in patients
      affected by unilateral (UCLP) and bilateral (BCLP) cleft lip with palate and to
      determine whether statistical differences were present or not between cleft and
      normal sides in UCLP group by using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). In
      addition, the frequency of those dental anomalies was compared with previous
      studies presenting the same population without cleft Study Design: Fifty non
      syndromic patients affected by UCLP (28 patients) and BCLP (22 patients) were
      selected for analysis of dental anomalies by means of CBCT. The frequency of
      maxillary dental anomalies including tooth agenesis, microdontia of lateral
      incisor, ectopic eruption and impaction of canine and supernumerary tooth were
      examined. Pearson chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were performed for
      statistical comparisons. RESULTS: All patients affected by UCLP and BCLP were
      found to have at least one maxillary dental anomaly. The most frequently observed
      dental anomaly was tooth agenesis (92.5% and 86.4%, respectively) in UCLP and
      BCLP groups. Tooth agenesis and canine impaction were observed more commonly in
      the cleft side (75.0% and 35.7%, respectively) than in the normal side (57.1% and
      14.3%, respectively) in UCLP group (p?0.05). All dental anomalies were found to
      be higher in both cleft groups than in general populations not affected by cleft.
      CONCLUSION: Since patients affected by UCLP and BCLP had at least one dental
      anomaly and higher dental anomaly frequency as compared to patients without
      cleft, those patients should be examined carefully prior to orthodontic
      treatment.

PMID- 25823492
TI  - Synthesis of polybenzoquinolines as precursors for nitrogen-doped graphene
      nanoribbons.
AB  - Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) represent promising materials for the next generation
      of nanoscale electronics. However, despite substantial progress towards the
      bottom-up synthesis of chemically and structurally well-defined all-carbon GNRs,
      strategies for the preparation of their nitrogen-doped analogs remain at a
      nascent stage. This scarce literature precedent is surprising given the
      established use of substitutional doping for tuning the properties of electronic
      materials. Herein, we report the synthesis of a previously unknown class of
      polybenzoquinoline-based materials, which have potential as GNR precursors. Our
      scalable and facile approach employs few synthetic steps, inexpensive commercial
      starting materials, and straightforward reaction conditions. Moreover, due to the
      importance of quinoline derivatives for a variety of applications, the reported
      findings may hold implications across a diverse range of chemical and physical
      disciplines. 

PMID- 25823493
TI  - Contralesional thalamic surface atrophy and functional disconnection 3 months
      after ischemic stroke.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Remote structural and functional changes have been previously
      described after stroke and may have an impact on clinical outcome. We aimed to
      use multimodal MRI to investigate contralesional subcortical structural and
      functional changes 3 months after anterior circulation ischemic stroke. METHODS:
      Fifteen patients with acute ischemic stroke had multimodal MRI imaging (including
      high resolution structural T1-MPRAGE and resting state fMRI) within 1 week of
      onset and at 1 and 3 months. Seven healthy controls of similar age group were
      also imaged at a single time point. Contralesional subcortical structural volume
      was assessed using an automated segmentation algorithm in FMRIB's Integrated
      Registration and Segmentation Tool (FIRST). Functional connectivity changes were
      assessed using the intrinsic connectivity contrast (ICC), which was calculated
      using the functional connectivity toolbox for correlated and anticorrelated
      networks (Conn). RESULTS: Contralesional thalamic volume in the stroke patients
      was significantly reduced at 3 months compared to baseline (median change -2.1%,
      interquartile range [IQR] -3.4-0.4, p = 0.047), with the predominant areas
      demonstrating atrophy geometrically appearing to be the superior and inferior
      surface. The difference in volume between the contralesional thalamus at baseline
      (mean 6.41 ml, standard deviation [SD] 0.6 ml) and the mean volume of the 2
      thalami in controls (mean 7.22 ml, SD 1.1 ml) was not statistically significant.
      The degree of longitudinal thalamic atrophy in patients was correlated with
      baseline stroke severity with more severe strokes being associated with a greater
      degree of atrophy (Spearman's rho -0.54, p = 0.037). There was no significant
      difference between baseline contralesional thalamic ICC in patients and control
      thalamic ICC. However, in patients, there was a significant linear reduction in
      the mean ICC of the contralesional thalamus over the imaging time points (p =
      0.041), indicating reduced connectivity to the remainder of the brain.
      CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of remote brain areas, such
      as the contralesional thalamus, in stroke recovery. Similar methods have the
      potential to be used in the prediction of stroke outcome or as imaging biomarkers
      of stroke recovery.

PMID- 25823494
TI  - Case formulation and the therapeutic alliance in contemporary problem-solving
      therapy (PST).
AB  - In addition to providing psychoeducation and sharing clinical explanations and
      treatment goals, case formulation serves as a potential mechanism by which
      therapists may facilitate an alliance with their patients. This article
      illustrates how a case formulation shared with a patient early in the process of
      contemporary problem-solving therapy (PST) may yield both a road map to treatment
      and a means to build and adapt a therapeutic alliance based on patient
      attributes. We provide a description of a clinical case in which PST was carried
      out with a woman who, in the midst of alcohol recovery, experienced symptoms of
      anxiety, depression, and binge eating. 

PMID- 25823495
TI  - Response to Disodium Etidronate Treatment in Three Siblings with Pulmonary
      Alveolar Microlithiasis.
AB  - Pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis (PAM) is a rare chronic genetic lung disease in
      childhood with no proven therapy. It is characterized by the deposition of
      calcium phosphate microliths within the alveolar air spaces. The effect of
      disodium etidronate (DE) treatment on PAM is controversial. We report 3 siblings
      (an 11-year-old boy and 4-year-old twin girls) with PAM diagnosed by chest X-ray,
      thoracic high-resolution computed tomography, technetium-99m bone scan and
      bronchoalveolar lavage fluid findings. After the administration of DE (200
      mg/day) for a 1-year period, 2 siblings showed radiological improvement, while 1
      sibling did not. No drug side effects were observed within the treatment period.

PMID- 25823496
TI  - The algorithmic level is the bridge between computation and brain.
AB  - Every scientist chooses a preferred level of analysis and this choice shapes the
      research program, even determining what counts as evidence. This contribution
      revisits Marr's (1982) three levels of analysis (implementation, algorithmic, and
      computational) and evaluates the prospect of making progress at each individual
      level. After reviewing limitations of theorizing within a level, two strategies
      for integration across levels are considered. One is top-down in that it attempts
      to build a bridge from the computational to algorithmic level. Limitations of
      this approach include insufficient theoretical constraint at the computation
      level to provide a foundation for integration, and that people are suboptimal for
      reasons other than capacity limitations. Instead, an inside-out approach is
      forwarded in which all three levels of analysis are integrated via the
      algorithmic level. This approach maximally leverages mutual data constraints at
      all levels. For example, algorithmic models can be used to interpret brain
      imaging data, and brain imaging data can be used to select among competing
      models. Examples of this approach to integration are provided. This merging of
      levels raises questions about the relevance of Marr's tripartite view. 

PMID- 25823497
TI  - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community governance of health research:
      Turning principles into practice.
AB  - PROBLEM: Gaps exist in researchers' understanding of the 'practice' of community
      governance in relation to research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
      peoples. DESIGN: We examine Aboriginal community governance of two rural NSW
      research projects by applying principles-based criteria from two independent
      sources. SETTING: One research project possessed a strong Aboriginal community
      governance structure and evaluated a 2-year healthy lifestyle program for
      children; the other was a 5-year cohort study examining factors influencing the
      mental health and well-being of participants. KEY MEASURES FOR IMPROVEMENT: The
      National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia's 'Values and ethics:
      guidelines for ethical conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research'
      and 'Ten principles relevant to health research among Indigenous Australian
      populations' described by experts in the field. STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE: Adopt
      community-based participatory research constructs. Develop clear governance
      structures and procedures at the beginning of the study and allow sufficient time
      for their establishment. Capacity-building must be a key component of the
      research. Ensure sufficient resources to enable community engagement, conduct of
      research governance procedures, capacity-building and results dissemination.
      EFFECTS OF CHANGE: The implementation of governance structures and procedures
      ensures research addresses the priorities of the participating Aboriginal and
      Torres Strait Islander communities, minimises risks and improves outcomes for the
      communities. LESSONS LEARNT: Principles-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait
      Islander community governance of research is very achievable. Next steps include
      developing a comprehensive evidence base for appropriate governance structures
      and procedures, and consolidating a suite of practical guides for structuring
      clear governance in health research.

PMID- 25823498
TI  - Does Dopamine Replacement Medication Affect Postural Sequence Learning in
      Parkinson's Disease?
AB  - Deficits in sequence-specific learning (SSL) may be a product of Parkinson's
      disease (PD) but this deficit could also be related to dopamine replacement. The
      purpose of this study was to determine whether dopamine replacement affected
      acquisition and retention of a standing Continuous Tracking Task in individuals
      with PD. SSL (difference between random/repeated Root Mean Square Error across
      trials) was calculated over 2 days of practice and 1 day of retention for 4
      groups; 10 healthy young (HY), 10 healthy elders, 10 individuals with PD on, 9
      individuals with PD off their usual dosage of dopamine replacement. Improvements
      in acquisition were observed for all groups; however, only the HY demonstrated
      retention. Therefore, age appeared to have the largest effect on SSL with no
      significant effect of medication. Additional research is needed to understand the
      influence of factors such as practice amount, task difficulty, and dopamine
      replacement status on SSL deficits during postural tasks. 

PMID- 25823499
TI  - Long-term outcome of endoscopic radiofrequency ablation for ingrowth thyroglossal
      duct cyst.
AB  - AIMS: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of endoscopic radiofrequency (RF)
      ablation to treat ingrowth thyroglossal duct cysts (TGDCs). METHODS: Between
      September 2008 and October 2013, 9 patients with ingrowth TGDCs underwent
      endoscopic RF ablation at our hospital. Their operative time, blood loss, time
      until recovery of normal diet, postoperative hospitalization time, and recurrence
      were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: In the study, 8 patients underwent an RF
      procedure of less than 60 min. All patients resumed a normal diet within 48 h
      after the operation. The operative blood loss was <10 ml in 2 patients, and
      between 10 and 20 ml in 7 patients. The postoperative pain value was 2 (n = 2)
      and 3 or 4 (n = 7). Seven patients were discharged home on postoperative day 2 or
      3, and 2 patients on postoperative day 4. The postoperative follow-up period was
      from 14 to 32 months. Only 1 patient suffered recurrence and underwent a modified
      Sistrunk procedure as a remedy. All patients reported complete resolution of the
      symptoms in their last follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic RF ablation can be
      considered the preferred choice for treating ingrowth TGDCs because of minimal
      morbidity and rapid postoperative recovery. However, for lesions involving
      complicated branches, the modified Sistrunk procedure may be necessary.

PMID- 25823500
TI  - Advantages of fecal lactoferrin measurement during granulocyte and monocyte
      adsorptive apheresis therapy in ulcerative colitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fecal lactoferrin has been introduced as a useful tool for the
      diagnosis and monitoring of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of this
      study was to assess if fecal lactoferrin can be employed to predict or estimate
      the effect of granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis (GMA) in ulcerative
      colitis (UC). METHODS: This was a prospective study involving 21 patients with
      UC. Patients with moderately-to-severely active UC who were scheduled to undergo
      GMA were recruited. Changes in fecal lactoferrin concentration were compared
      between the GMA-responder and -nonresponder groups. RESULTS: In the GMA-responder
      group, fecal lactoferrin significantly increased 1 week after the introduction of
      GMA and then significantly decreased after GMA sessions. Fecal lactoferrin
      concentrations were significantly higher in the GMA-responder group than in the
      GMA-nonresponder group at 1 and 2 weeks after the introduction of GMA.
      Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that fecal lactoferrin
      concentration 1 week after the introduction of GMA was the most contributing
      factor for the effectiveness of GMA in patients with UC. CONCLUSIONS: In the GMA
      responder group, fecal lactoferrin concentration significantly increased 1 week
      after the introduction of GMA. Fecal lactoferrin may be beneficial for predicting
      clinical response of GMA in patients with UC at an early stage of GMA treatment.

PMID- 25823502
TI  - Semi-automatic cone beam CT segmentation of in vivo pre-clinical subcutaneous
      tumours provides an efficient non-invasive alternative for tumour volume
      measurements.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of using cone beam CT (CBCT)
      scans obtained in radiation studies using the small-animal radiation research
      platform to perform semi-automatic tumour segmentation of pre-clinical tumour
      volumes. METHODS: Volume measurements were evaluated for different anatomical
      tumour sites, the flank, thigh and dorsum of the hind foot, for a variety of
      tumour cell lines. The estimated tumour volumes from CBCT and manual calliper
      measurements using different volume equations were compared with the "gold
      standard", measured by weighing the tumours following euthanasia and tumour
      resection. The correlation between tumour volumes estimated with the different
      methods, compared with the gold standard, was estimated by the Spearman's rank
      correlation coefficient, root-mean-square deviation and the coefficient of
      determination. RESULTS: The semi-automatic CBCT volume segmentation performed
      favourably compared with manual calliper measures for flank tumours <=2 cm(3) and
      thigh tumours <=1 cm(3). For tumours >2 cm(3) or foot tumours, the CBCT method
      was not able to accurately segment the tumour volumes and manual calliper
      measures were superior. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that tumour volumes of flank
      and thigh tumours, obtained as a part of radiation studies using image-guided
      small-animal irradiators, can be estimated more efficiently and accurately using
      semi-automatic segmentation from CBCT scans. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This is the
      first study evaluating tumour volume assessment of pre-clinical subcutaneous
      tumours in different anatomical sites using on-board CBCT imaging. We also
      compared the accuracy of the CBCT method to manual calliper measures, using
      various volume calculation equations.

PMID- 25823501
TI  - Evolutionary dynamics of metazoan TRP channels.
AB  - Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are unusual among cation channels
      because of their diverse cation selectivities and activation mechanisms. TRP
      channels thus play major roles in various sensory perceptions by functioning as
      multimodal signal integrators. Some TRP subfamily members are also implicated in
      acute and chronic pain and inflammation. So far, most TRP channel studies have
      been targeted to human and model organisms within a limited evolutionary context.
      Classification of TRP channels in various animal genomes has revealed extensive
      gene gain and loss events across animal species. Furthermore, the chemical
      activation profiles of some orthologous TRP channels were different between
      species such as human and mouse. Amino acid substitutions must underlie such
      differences, and the crucial amino acid residues have been identified in some
      cases. These changes represent the evolution of TRP channels at the amino acid
      sequence level. There is also evidence that TRP channels have obtained species
      diversity through alternative splicing and possibly cis-regulatory element
      mutations. All of the above demonstrate the dynamic and plastic evolutionary
      history of metazoan TRP channels at multiple levels, possibly in conjunction with
      the specific habitats and life histories of individual species. 

PMID- 25823503
TI  - Eukaryotic initiation factor 3C silencing inhibits cell proliferation and
      promotes apoptosis in human glioma.
AB  - Eukaryotic initiation factor 3, subunit c (eIF3c), an oncogene overexpressed in
      human cancers, plays an important role in cell tumorigenesis and proliferation.
      However, studies assessing its function in gliomas are scarce. The present study
      evaluated for the first time, the role of eIF3c in gliomas. Immunohistochemistry
      was carried out to assess eIF3c expression in 95 human glioma samples and normal
      brain tissues. Then, the eIF3c mRNA levels were detected in tumor and normal
      brain specimens by quantitative RT-PCR. In addition, eIF3c mRNA levels were
      assessed in four glioma cell lines (U87, U251, A172 and U373) by semi
      quantitative RT-PCR. The RNA interference (RNAi) technology was employed to knock
      down the eIF3c gene in the U251 cells. Western blot analysis, BrdU assay and flow
      cytometry were used to measure eIF3c protein levels, cell proliferation, cell
      apoptosis and cell cycle, respectively. The eIF3c protein was overexpressed in
      the human glioma specimens. In agreement, the eIF3c mRNA expression levels were
      significantly higher in the human glioma tissues compared with the normal brain
      samples (P<0.0001). In addition, eIF3c mRNA was detected in all the glioma cell
      lines. Silencing the eIF3c gene in the U251 cells by RNAi significantly
      suppressed cell proliferation (P<0.01) and increased apoptosis (P<0.01). Finally,
      a stark decrease was observed in the G1 phase cell number (P<0.01), while the S
      and G2 phase cells were significantly increased (P<0.01) after eIF3c knockdown.
      These findings suggest that eIF3c is overexpressed in human gliomas and essential
      for their proliferation and survival. Therefore, inhibiting eIF3c expression may
      constitute an effective therapy for human glioma.

PMID- 25823504
TI  - Timing of cholecystectomy in acute biliary pancreatitis: is it still reasonable
      to wait?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute gallstone-related pancreatitis is a potentially life
      threatening condition, and its adequate therapy is represented by
      cholecystectomy. The aim of this study was to analyze the best surgical strategy,
      and the optimal timing. METHODS: All cases of acute pancreatitis of biliary
      origin occurred between January 2007 and December 2013 in Gradenigo Hospital
      (Turin, Italy) undergone to a surgical procedure, were reviewed. Patients were
      divided in two groups, based on the timing of cholecystectomy, and compared.
      RESULTS: Out of 2233 cholecystectomies performed in the mentioned time interval,
      we have identified 79 patients that fulfill the selection criteria. 24 patients
      were treated with an index-stay procedure, while 55 with a delayed approach.
      Length of stay was significantly lower in patients that underwent to an early
      laparoscopic cholecystectomy (9 vs. 13 days, P=0.003), while no differences were
      found in terms of length of intervention, intraoperative complications,
      postoperative stay and mortality. Patients treated with delayed surgery had a
      28.6% recurrence rate of acute pancreatitis, with an odds ratio of 10.28
      (P=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Early laparoscopic cholecystectomy should be performed in
      suitable patients in the index admission, reducing overall risks, avoiding or at
      least minimizing recurrencies, and rationalizing the scarce economic resources.

PMID- 25823505
TI  - A Modified Nerve-Sparing Panhysterectomy for Benign Uterine Diseases: Techniques
      and Evaluation of Postoperative Pelvic Dysfunctions.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe a modified nerve-sparing panhysterectomy and to
      investigate the feasibility and impact of this nerve-sparing technique in
      improving postoperative pelvic visceral dysfunctions of benign uterine disease
      patients. METHODS: From January 2008 to January 2010, a total of 300 patients
      diagnosed with benign uterine diseases at the Second Affiliated Hospital of
      Nantong University were enrolled. Of those, 150 randomly selected patients
      underwent modified panhysterectomy (research group), while the other 150 patients
      underwent conventional panhysterectomy (control group). The surgery-related
      parameters, including operation time, intraoperative blood loss, length of
      hospital stay, postoperative indwelling catheter time, and first voiding and
      defecation time were compared between the two groups. The extent of nerve damage
      in both groups was examined using the nerve-specific marker S-100 via
      immunohistochemistry. Besides, postoperative assessments of bladder and bowel
      functions were conducted within 1 year after the operation. RESULTS: The surgery
      related parameters in the two groups showed no significant difference (p > 0.05).
      Immunohistochemistry results showed significantly reduced damage of the nerves in
      the research group. We also found a better bladder and bowel function in the
      research group (p < 0.05) and in younger patients (p < 0.05) compared with that
      in the control group. Recovery trends of the bladder and bowel function were
      found in both groups (chi(2) = 7.512, p = 0.006 in the research group; chi(2) =
      7.299, p = 0.007 in the control group). CONCLUSION: Modified panhysterectomy for
      benign uterine diseases seems feasible and safe, with the main advantage of
      improving postoperative urocystic and rectal dysfunctions through the
      preservation of the pelvic autonomic nerves.

PMID- 25823507
TI  - Evaluation of Blood Alcohol Concentrations after Oral Administration of a Fixed
      Combination of Thyme Herb and Primrose Root Fluid Extract to Children with Acute
      Bronchitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The application of alcohol-containing medicinal products to children
      has been a subject of discussion for many years. A safety threshold of 0.1250/00
      blood alcohol concentration following the administration of a single dose has
      been recommended by the European Medicines Agency.The aim of this clinical study
      was to prove the safety of administering a fixed combination of thyme herb and
      primrose root fluid extract (Bronchicum((r)) Elixir) containing 4.9% ethanol.
      METHODS: The herbal drug was administered for a period of 7-9 days to 16 children
      (ages 1-12 years) suffering from acute bronchitis for <= 48 h. After 3-5 days, a
      blood sample was taken 45 min (children >= 5 years: also 0 and 90 min) after
      application of the drug. The efficacy was assessed using the Bronchitis Severity
      Score. Global efficacy and tolerability were rated by the investigator and
      patients. RESULTS: All measured blood ethanol concentrations were below the
      threshold (mean value after 45 min: 0.0029 +/- 0.00570/00 and after 90 min:
      0.0051 +/- 0.00780/00). The Bronchitis Severity Score decreased from 6.6 +/- 1.0
      to 0.9 +/- 1.6 points. Global efficacy was assessed as "very good" and "good" in
      60% (investigator) and 80% (patients) of cases. Global tolerability was rated as
      "very good" and "good" in more than 90% of cases. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, oral
      administration of the drug containing 4.9% ethanol to children (age 1-12 years)
      demonstrated a favourable risk/benefit ratio of the drug.

PMID- 25823508
TI  - Tricyclic Neovibsanin Scaffold (TCNS) as an Effective Antidepressant Agent.
AB  - Neovibsanin type natural products were found to display neurite outgrowth
      activity in PC12 cells. This suggests that such type of compounds could be
      promising candidates for the development of novel therapeutic agents to treat
      neurological diseases. In the present study rats after chronic mild stress (CMS)
      were treated with tricyclic neovibsanin scaffold (TCNS) to study its effect on
      depression. The results revealed that 15 mg/kg doses of TCNS reduced the duration
      of immobility in CMS model of depression. It led to a significant increase in
      neurite outgrowths which increased the synaptic and structural plasticity of
      neurons. Treatment with TCNS decreased the levels of MAO-A and caspase-3
      expression both of which were found to be higher in CMS. TCNS also led to an
      increase in expression of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) in the hippocampus. These
      findings suggest that TCNS possesses antidepressant activity in CMS model of
      depression. Therefore the relief in depression by TCNS may be due to suppression
      of MAO-A expression and the apoptosis cascade by increased expression of Hsp70.

PMID- 25823509
TI  - Toxicity Study of a Self-nanoemulsifying Drug Delivery System Containing N-methyl
      pyrrolidone.
AB  - Recently within the lipid based formulation category, Self-nanoemulsifying drug
      delivery system (SNEDDS) has received considerable attention in the enhancement
      of bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs. Self-emulsifying formulation
      should have good solvent properties to allow appropriate solubility of the drug
      in the formulation. Drug incorporated in the formulation should also be readily
      dissolved as clear and monophasic liquid at ambient temperature when introduced
      to aqueous phase. N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) is one of the main pharmaceutical
      cosolvents and is a solubilizing excipient used in parenteral and oral
      medications. Marketed Leuprolide acetate (Sanofi-aventis, Quebec, Canada) is
      formulated as a solution composed of 55-66% NMP and 34-45% poly(DL-lactide-co
      glycolide). Self-emulsifying oral formulation of fenofibrate containing NMP as
      solubilizer has been patented. Based on these reports we successfully developed
      SNEDDS formulation using NMP as cosolvent and found ~ 4 fold improvement in
      apparent permeability coefficient of model drug. To ensure the safety of the
      developed SNEDDS formulation, in the present study we further investigated its
      toxicity studies in mice and evaluated for various parameter. From the results it
      can be concluded that oral administration of SNEDDS formulation containing NMP
      did not exhibit significant toxicity in mice and further detail toxicity study is
      required so as to ensure the safety of this system in oral drug delivery.

PMID- 25823510
TI  - Participants' Perceptions of a Violence Prevention Curriculum for Middle School
      Students: Was It Relevant and Useful?
AB  - School-based youth violence prevention programs, particularly those focused on
      middle school students, have generally had limited effects that are often not
      sustained over time. Although many interventions focus on teaching social
      cognitive skills, few studies have explored the extent to which students master
      these skills, actually use them, and find them effective in dealing with problem
      situations. This study examined these issues based on interviews with 141
      students attending one county and two urban middle schools in classrooms where
      the Second Step violence prevention program had been implemented. We coded
      interviews to assess participants' general reactions to the interventions, use of
      skills, and effectiveness of skills. We also asked participants to describe
      outcomes they experienced when they used specific skills taught in the
      intervention in response to problem situations. Participants had generally
      positive reactions to the intervention. Their suggestions for improving the
      intervention primarily concerned improving its relevance. Participants described
      changes they had made based on the intervention, particularly controlling anger
      and improving relations with others. Their responses indicated that they
      sometimes misunderstood or misused specific intervention skills, especially
      problem solving and empathy. Students' descriptions of the outcomes they
      experienced when using intervention skills were not uniformly positive. This was
      especially true for situations involving peers such as peer pressure and
      bullying. These results underscore the need for more intensive efforts to ensure
      that students master intervention skills and are able to use them correctly. In
      addition, interventions should address the broader social context (e.g., peers,
      school) to maximize the effectiveness of skills. 

PMID- 25823511
TI  - Stability and Reproducibility Underscore Utility of RT-QuIC for Diagnosis of
      Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.
AB  - Real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) allows the amplification of
      miniscule amounts of scrapie prion protein (PrP(Sc)). Recent studies applied the
      RT-QuIC methodology to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for diagnosing human prion
      diseases. However, to date, there has not been a formal multi-centre assessment
      of the reproducibility, validity and stability of RT-QuIC in this context, an
      indispensable step for establishment as a diagnostic test in clinical practice.
      In the present study, we analysed CSF from 110 prion disease patients and 400
      control patients using the RT-QuIC method under various conditions. In addition,
      "blinded" ring trials between different participating sites were performed to
      estimate reproducibility. Using the previously established cut-off of 10,000
      relative fluorescence units (rfu), we obtained a sensitivity of 85% and a
      specificity of 99%. The multi-centre inter-laboratory reproducibility of RT-QuIC
      revealed a Fleiss' kappa value of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.40-1.00) indicating an almost
      perfect agreement. Moreover, we investigated the impact of short-term CSF storage
      at different temperatures, long-term storage, repeated freezing and thawing
      cycles and the contamination of CSF with blood on the RT-QuIC seeding response.
      Our data indicated that the PrP(Sc) seed in CSF is stable to any type of storage
      condition but sensitive to contaminations with blood (>1250 erythrocytes/MUL),
      which results in a false negative RT-QuIC response. Fresh blood-contaminated
      samples (3 days) can be rescued by removal of erythrocytes. The present study
      underlines the reproducibility and high stability of RT-QuIC across various CSF
      storage conditions with a remarkable sensitivity and specificity, suggesting RT
      QuIC as an innovative and robust diagnostic method.

PMID- 25823512
TI  - Streptozotocin Induced Neurotoxicity Involves Alzheimer's Related Pathological
      Markers: a Study on N2A Cells.
AB  - Intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of streptozotocin (STZ) in rat brain
      causes prolonged impairment of brain energy metabolism and oxidative damage and
      leads to cognitive dysfunction; however, its mechanistic specific effects on
      neurons are not known. The present study was conducted to investigate the STZ
      induced cellular and molecular alterations in mouse neuronal N2A cells. The N2A
      cells were treated with STZ (10, 50, 100, 1000 MUM) for 48 h, and different
      assays were performed. STZ treatment caused significant decrease in cell
      viability, choline levels, increased acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, tau
      phosphorylation and amyloid aggregation. STZ treatment also led to low levels of
      glucose uptake, elevated mitochondrial stress, translocation of cytochrome c in
      cytosol, phosphatidylserine externalization, increased expression of caspase-3
      and DNA damage. Co-treatment of clinically used drug donepezil (1 MUM) offered
      significant protection against STZ induced neurotoxicity. Donepezil treatment
      significantly inhibited the STZ induced neurotoxicity, altered choline level,
      AChE activity, lowered glucose uptake and mitochondrial stress. However, the
      caspase-3 expression remains unaltered with co-treatment of donepezil. In
      conclusion, findings showed that STZ treated N2A cells exhibited the Alzheimer's
      disease (AD) related pathological markers which are attenuated with co-treatment
      of donepezil. Findings of the study suggested the potent use of STZ treated N2A
      cells as in vitro experimental test model to study the disease mechanism at
      cellular level.

PMID- 25823513
TI  - Role of MicroRNA Let-7 in Modulating Multifactorial Aspect of Neurodegenerative
      Diseases: an Overview.
AB  - The multifactorial aspect of neurodegenerative diseases has posed challenges in
      terms of understanding various mechanistic cues behind these ailments. The fact
      that single microRNA (miRNA) molecules can regulate multiple genes and associated
      pathways makes these molecules interesting for studies within the area of age
      associated neurodegenerative diseases. miRNAs are endogenous, evolutionarily
      conserved, 20-23 nucleotide non-coding RNAs, which were first discovered in
      Caenorhabditis elegans. They play a key role in gene regulation and are known to
      be deregulated in many disease conditions. Steady regulations of miRNAs are
      required for normal biological processes. One of the crucial miRNA molecules let
      7 is highly conserved and is known to be required for development and viability.
      It acts as a regulator for oncogenes and insulin-PI3K-mTOR pathway genes.
      Upregulation of let-7 impairs glucose homeostasis and results in degeneration of
      neurons, while its downregulation leads to cancer. Maturation of let-7 in cancer
      subjects is inhibited by lin-28, an RNA-binding protein inhibitor. This
      highlights the importance of let-7 miRNAs in various diseases and developmental
      processes. This article provides an overview on the functions of let-7 and its
      probable association with various neurodegenerative diseases.

PMID- 25823514
TI  - Revisiting the Serotonin Hypothesis: Implications for Major Depressive Disorders.
AB  - Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a heritable neuropsychiatric disease
      associated with severe changes at cellular and molecular levels. Its diagnosis
      mainly relies on the characterization of a wide range of symptoms including
      changes in mood and behavior. Despite the availability of antidepressant drugs,
      10 to 30 % of patients fail to respond after a single or multiple treatments, and
      the recurrence of depression among responsive patients is very high. Evidence
      from the past decades suggests that the brain neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT)
      is incriminated in MDD, and that a dysfunction of 5-HT receptors may play a role
      in the genesis of this disease. The 5-HT membrane transporter protein (SERT),
      which helps regulate the serotonergic transmission, is also implicated in MDD and
      is one of the main targets of antidepressant therapy. Although a number of
      behavioral tests and animal models have been developed to study depression,
      little is known about the neurobiological bases of MDD. Understanding the role of
      the serotonergic pathway will significantly help improve our knowledge of the
      pathophysiology of depression and may open up avenues for the development of new
      antidepressant drugs. The overarching goal of this review is to present recent
      findings from studies examining the serotonergic pathway in MDD, with a focus on
      SERT and the serotonin 1A (5-HT1A), serotonin 1B (5-HT1B), and serotonin 2A (5
      HT2A) receptors. This paper also describes some of the main molecules involved in
      the internalization of 5-HT receptors and illustrates the changes in 5-HT
      neurotransmission in knockout mice and animal model of depression.

PMID- 25823515
TI  - Sex chromosome conservation, DMRT1 phylogeny and gonad morphology in diploid
      Palearctic green toads (Bufo viridis subgroup).
AB  - Due to the prevailing sex chromosome homomorphy and large genome size, the
      knowledge on sex determination systems, sex chromosomes and sex-determining genes
      in amphibians remains scarce. Using 3 cross-amplifying sex-linked microsatellite
      markers, we uncover sex determination systems and sex chromosomes in purebred,
      diploid Palearctic green toads (Bufo viridis subgroup), which had so far only
      been characterized in laboratory-bred hybrids. Our data support an XY system in
      B. balearicus, B. viridis and B. variabilis. While females show recombination, it
      is strongly suppressed (or not detectable) in males. Markers corroborate the
      largest chromosome pair 1 (homologous to linkage group 1 of Xenopus tropicalis)
      to represent the sex chromosomes in diploid species of the B. viridis subgroup
      (B. siculus, B. shaartusiensis, B. balearicus, B. turanensis, B. variabilis, B.
      viridis, and probably B. boulengeri). This chromosome harbors DMRT1, a key gene
      of the sexual pathway in deeply divergent animal taxa. However, our phylogenetic
      analysis of a 600-bp fragment of that gene in diploid green toad taxa reveals
      that X and Y alleles cluster by species and not by gametolog. This suggests that
      XY-sequence similarity stems from occasional XY recombination within DMRT1, and
      we preliminarily reject its role as the master sex determination gene, pending
      future extension of this evidence to the entire DMRT1 gene. We further create a
      chain of evidence, which supports the hypothesis that linkage group 1 of X.
      tropicalis appears to be maintained as the largest chromosome (1), and thus is
      homologous in anuran karyotype evolution from pipid to hylid, bufonid and ranid
      anurans.

PMID- 25823516
TI  - Does varus alignment adversely affect implant survival and function six years
      after kinematically aligned total knee arthroplasty?
AB  - PURPOSE: We report the six year implant survivorship, tibial component alignment
      and knee and limb function measured by the Oxford Knee Score and Western Ontario
      and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index ((WOMAC) score after kinematically
      aligned total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and tested the hypothesis that varus
      alignment of the tibial component, knee, or limb does not adversely affect
      implant survival and function. METHODS: We prospectively followed 214 consecutive
      patients (219 knees) treated with a kinematically aligned TKA in 2007. Kaplan
      Meier survival analysis and revision rate per 100 component years determined
      implant failure. The Oxford Knee Score (0 worst, 48 best) and WOMAC score (0
      worst, 100 best) were used to measure function. We categorised tibial component
      alignment as in-range (<= 0 degrees ) or varus (>0 degrees ), knee alignment as
      in-range (between -2.5 degrees  and -7.4 degrees ), varus (>-2.5 degrees ), or
      valgus (<-7.4 degrees ), and limb alignment as in-range (0 degrees  +/- 3 degrees
      ), varus (>3 degrees ) or valgus (<-3 degrees ). RESULTS: At a mean of 6.3 years
      (range, 5.8-7.2), implant survivorship was 97.5 % and revision-rate per 100
      component years 0.40. Three implants had been revised (deep infection one, loose
      tibial component one and patella instability [1); two loose patella components
      were pending revision and considered failures. The average Oxford Knee Score was
      43 and WOMAC 91. Function of tibial components (80 %), knees (31 %) and limbs (7
      %) that were aligned in varus was similar to patients aligned in-range.
      CONCLUSIONS: At a mean of 6.3 years after kinematically aligned TKA, varus
      alignment of the tibial component, knee and limb did not adversely affect implant
      survival or function, which supports the consideration of kinematic alignment as
      an alternative to mechanical alignment for performing primary TKA. Level of
      evidence, III; therapeutic study.

PMID- 25823517
TI  - Predictors of pain and disability outcomes in one thousand, one hundred and eight
      patients who underwent lumbar discectomy surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A key component toward improving surgical outcomes is proper patient
      selection. Improved selection can occur through exploration of prognostic studies
      that identify variables which are associated with good or poorer outcomes with a
      specific intervention, such as lumbar discectomy. To date there are no guidelines
      identifying key prognostic variables that assist surgeons in proper patient
      selection for lumbar discectomy. The purpose of this study was to identify
      baseline characteristics that were related to poor or favourable outcomes for
      patients who undergo lumbar discectomy. In particular, we were interested in
      prognostic factors that were unique to those commonly reported in the
      musculoskeletal literature, regardless of intervention type. METHODS: This
      retrospective study analysed data from 1,108 patients who underwent lumbar
      discectomy and had one year outcomes for pain and disability. All patient data
      was part of a multicentre, multi-national spine repository. Ten relatively
      commonly captured data variables were used as predictors for the study: (1) age,
      (2) body mass index, (3) gender, (4) previous back surgery history, (5) baseline
      disability, unique baseline scores for pain for both (6) low back and (7) leg
      pain, (8) baseline SF-12 Physical Component Summary (PCS) scores, (9) baseline SF
      12 Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores, and (10) leg pain greater than back
      pain. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were run against
      one year outcome variables of pain and disability. RESULTS: For the multivariate
      analyses associated with the outcome of pain, older patients, those with higher
      baseline back pain, those with lesser reported disability and higher SF-12 MCS
      quality of life scores were associated with improved outcomes. For the
      multivariate analyses associated with the outcome of disability, presence of leg
      pain greater than back pain and no previous surgery suggested a better outcome.
      CONCLUSIONS: For this study, several predictive variables were either unique or
      conflicted with those advocated in general prognostic literature, suggesting they
      may have value for clinical decision making for lumbar discectomy surgery. In
      particular, leg pain greater than back pain and older age may yield promising
      value. Other significant findings such as quality of life scores and prior
      surgery may yield less value since these findings are similar to those that are
      considered to be prognostic regardless of intervention type.

PMID- 25823518
TI  - Open reduction and internal fixation versus radial head arthroplasty in the
      treatment of adult closed comminuted radial head fractures (modified Mason type
      III and IV).
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of our study was to compare the outcome of radial head
      fractures (modified Mason type III and IV) treated by open reduction and internal
      fixation (ORIF) versus radial head arthroplasty (RHA). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A
      retrospective review of 36 patients with closed comminuted radial head fractures
      treated either by ORIF or RHA with an average of 15-months' follow-up was
      undertaken. The primary outcome was the QuickDASH, the shortened version of the
      Dissabilities of the Arm, Shouler and Hand score. Other outcomes included regain
      of functional range of motion (ROM) of the elbow and duration of surgery.
      Surgical complications were noted. RESULTS: Thirty-six patients with a mean age
      of 36 years were evaluated. Nineteen patients underwent ORIF and 17 RHA. The two
      treatment groups were comparable with regards to gender, side of injury, Mason
      type and mechanism of injury. Patients who underwent RHA were slightly older (p <
      0.001). At follow-up, the QuickDASH score was similar between groups (p = 0.58).
      Regain of functional ROM of the elbow (p = 0.13) and complication rate (p = 0.57)
      were similar. CONCLUSION: The treatment of closed comminuted radial head fracture
      (modified Mason type III and IV) with ORIF and RHA demonstrates similar findings
      despite less surgical time for performing RHA.

PMID- 25823519
TI  - Reliability and Validity of the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist in
      Turkish.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim was to investigate and evaluate validity and reliability of the
      Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) in Turkey. METHODS: A cross
      sectional study design was used. Fifty-nine patients in an intensive care unit
      for longer than 24 hr were included in this study. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha
      coefficient indicated that the ICDSC was a reliable test with high internal
      consistency (specialist nurse min: 0.720, max: 0.855; primary nurse min: 0.728,
      max: 0.830). The sensitivity and specificity were high. CONCLUSION: The findings
      showed that the sensitivity and specificity of the ICDSC are high for Turkish
      patients. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: The ICDSC provides fast and
      effective evaluations of the patients for delirium. So, ICDSC may be easily
      integrated into routine nursing practice.

PMID- 25823520
TI  - Youth physical activity self-efficacy: a concept analysis.
AB  - AIM: To report an analysis of the concept of youth physical activity self
      efficacy. BACKGROUND: Physical activity self-efficacy is a concept that has been
      frequently examined as a key variable in research aimed at increasing physical
      activity among youth. Different conceptual definitions and empirical measures
      indicate the need for concept analysis to advance knowledge of the concept.
      DESIGN: Rodger's evolutionary method of concept analysis was used to collect and
      analyse the data. Social cognitive theory guided the analysis. DATA SOURCES: The
      PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PsychInfo,
      Educational Resources Information Center and Sociological Abstracts databases
      were searched for publications from 1990-2013. Search terms included self
      efficacy, physical activity, youth, children, adolescent and teen. REVIEW
      METHODS: A total of 276 articles were identified. Fifty-five articles meeting
      inclusion criteria were included in the review. Data were analysed with
      particular focus on the attributes, antecedents and consequences of the concept.
      RESULTS: Defining attributes of physical activity self-efficacy were identified
      as personal cognition/perception, self-appraisal process, related action, power
      to choose physical activity, dynamic state and bi-dimensional nature. Antecedents
      and consequences were consistent with social cognitive theory. Youth physical
      activity self-efficacy is defined as a youth's belief in his/her capability to
      participate in physical activity and to choose physical activity despite existing
      barriers. CONCLUSIONS: This concept analysis provided an in-depth analysis and
      clarification of youth physical activity self-efficacy. Future research should be
      aimed at establishing consistency in conceptual definitions and empirical
      measurement to further develop the concept across disciplines.

PMID- 25823521
TI  - Oxidative stress damage in the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is inhibited
      by Cyclosporin A.
AB  - Cyclosporin A (CsA) specifically inhibits the mitochondrial permeability
      transition pore (mPTP). Opening of the mPTP, which is triggered by high levels of
      matrix [Ca2+] and/or oxidative stress, leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and
      thus to cell death by either apoptosis or necrosis. In the present study, we
      analysed the response of Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigote parasites to oxidative
      stress with 5 mm H2O2, by studying several features related to programmed cell
      death and the effects of pre-incubation with 1 MU m of CsA. We evaluated TcPARP
      cleavage, DNA integrity, cytochrome c translocation, Annexin V/propidium iodide
      staining, reactive oxygen species production. CsA prevented parasite oxidative
      stress damage as it significantly inhibited DNA degradation, cytochrome c
      translocation to cytosol and TcPARP cleavage. The calcein-AM/CoCl2 assay, used as
      a selective indicator of mPTP opening in mammals, was also performed in T. cruzi
      parasites. H2O2 treatment decreased calcein fluorescence, but this decline was
      partially inhibited by pre-incubation with CsA. Our results encourage further
      studies to investigate if there is a mPTP-like pore and a mitochondrial
      cyclophilin involved in this protozoan parasite. 

PMID- 25823523
TI  - Medically unexplained dyspnoea and panic.
AB  - Medically unexplained dyspnoea in the pulmonary setting is often accompanied by
      considerable levels of anxiety, suggestive of psychopathology, in particular
      panic disorder (PD). This pilot study investigates the value of the
      Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile as a tool to facilitate identification of a
      specific dyspnoea profile suggestive of comorbid PD. The verbal descriptors,
      feeling depressed, air hunger and concentrating on breathing, significantly
      differentiated between the two groups of patients with pulmonary disease with and
      without PD. 

PMID- 25823524
TI  - Sarcoidosis presenting as non-scarring non-scalp alopecia.
AB  - In this article we describe a 39-year-old man who presented with non-scarring non
      scalp alopecia of his limbs as the initial presentation of sarcoidosis. Alopecia
      is a rare cutaneous manifestation of sarcoidosis. A literature review has found
      only one other example of sarcoidosis presenting as non-scarring non-scalp
      alopecia in an area other than the scalp in a patient who was otherwise
      asymptomatic. Several reported cases have described scarring alopecia of the
      scalp, which is the area of skin most commonly affected by sarcoidosis. There has
      been one documented case of sarcoidosis manifesting as total body non-scarring
      alopecia in a patient who had systemic symptoms of sarcoidosis. Other cases have
      presented rare cutaneous manifestations of sarcoidosis but in all these cases
      several other organ systems have been involved, and the patient has had systemic
      symptoms on presentation or the cutaneous presentation did not include non-scalp
      non-scarring alopecia. 

PMID- 25823525
TI  - Elevated whole blood viscosity is associated with insulin resistance and non
      alcoholic fatty liver.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidences demonstrate that abnormalities in whole blood
      viscosity (WBV) have been implicated in insulin resistance which may lead to non
      alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, epidemiological studies exploring
      the association between WBV and NAFLD were not available. OBJECTIVE: Our
      objective was to evaluate the association between WBV levels and risk of
      prevalent NAFLD. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional population-based study
      performed in Shanghai, China. PATIENTS: A total of 8673 participants aged 40
      years or older were included. MEASUREMENTS: WBV was calculated from haematocrit
      and plasma protein concentration, at a shear rate of 208(-1) s, by a validated
      equation. NAFLD was diagnosed by hepatic ultrasound after the exclusion of
      alcohol abuse and other liver diseases. Insulin resistance (IR) was assessed by
      homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR). RESULTS: The overall prevalence of NAFLD
      was 30.2% in this population. With the increase of WBV level, participants have
      larger waist circumference (WC), more severe insulin resistance and the
      prevalence of NAFLD increased significantly with elevated WBV quartiles. Compared
      with those in the lowest quartiles, adults in the highest quartile of WBV levels
      have higher prevalence of NAFLD (adjusted odds ratio 1.77, 95% confidence
      interval [CI] 1.48-2.13) and IR (2.72, 95% CI 2.26-3.27). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated
      WBV is associated with prevalence of NAFLD and IR in middle-aged and elderly
      Chinese population.

PMID- 25823526
TI  - From respiratory adaptation at birth to early markers of childhood respiratory
      health.
AB  - Assessing lung function in the newborn relates to the need for early markers of
      chronic respiratory diseases such as cystic fibrosis or asthma. Non-invasive
      respiratory measurements of forced oscillations mechanics are recently shown to
      be possible in unsedated babies. The bronchodilator effect of catecholamine
      release at birth, and the respiratory muscle contribution to respiratory
      mechanical impedance resulting in sometimes excessive variability suggest that
      measurements should be performed beyond the first 24 hr of life.

PMID- 25823527
TI  - A highly sensitive room temperature H2S gas sensor based on SnO2 multi-tube
      arrays bio-templated from insect bristles.
AB  - A tin oxide multi-tube array (SMTA) with a parallel effect was fabricated through
      a simple and promising method combining chemosynthesis and biomimetic techniques;
      a biomimetic template was derived from the bristles on the wings of the Alpine
      Black Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio maackii). SnO2 tubes are hollow and porous
      structures with micro-pores regularly distributed on the wall. The morphology,
      the delicate microstructure and the crystal structure of this SMTA were
      characterized by super resolution digital microscopy, scanning electron
      microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The SMTA
      exhibits a high sensitivity to H2S gas at room temperature. It also exhibits a
      short response/recovery time, with an average value of 14/30 s at 5 ppm. In
      particular, heating is not required for the SMTA in the gas sensitivity
      measurement process. On the basis of these results, SMTA is proposed as a
      suitable new material for the design and fabrication of room-temperature H2S gas
      sensors. 

PMID- 25823522
TI  - Making thawed universal donor plasma available rapidly for massively bleeding
      trauma patients: experience from the Pragmatic, Randomized Optimal Platelets and
      Plasma Ratios (PROPPR) trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Pragmatic, Randomized Optimal Platelets and Plasma Ratios
      (PROPPR) trial was a randomized clinical trial comparing survival after
      transfusion of two different blood component ratios for emergency resuscitation
      of traumatic massive hemorrhage. Transfusion services supporting the study were
      expected to provide thawed plasma, platelets, and red blood cells within 10
      minutes of request. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: At the 12 Level 1 trauma centers
      participating in PROPPR, blood components transfused and delivery times were
      tabulated, with a focus on universal donor (UD) plasma management. The adequacy
      of site plans was assessed by comparing the bedside blood availability times to
      study goals and the new American College of Surgeons guidelines. RESULTS: Eleven
      of 12 sites were able to consistently deliver 6 units of thawed UD plasma to
      their trauma-receiving unit within 10 minutes and 12 units in 20 minutes. Three
      sites used blood group A plasma instead of AB for massive transfusion without
      complications. Approximately 4700 units of plasma were given to the 680 patients
      enrolled in the trial. No site experienced shortages of AB plasma that limited
      enrollment. Two of 12 sites reported wastage of thawed AB plasma approaching 25%
      of AB plasma prepared. CONCLUSION: Delivering UD plasma to massively hemorrhaging
      patients was accomplished consistently and rapidly and without excessive wastage
      in high-volume trauma centers. The American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality
      Improvement Program guidelines for massive transfusion protocol UD plasma
      availability are practicable in large academic trauma centers. Use of group A
      plasma in trauma resuscitation needs further study.

PMID- 25823528
TI  - Self-Assembly of a Designed Alternating Arginine/Phenylalanine Oligopeptide.
AB  - A model octapeptide peptide consisting of an alternating sequence of arginine
      (Arg) and phenylalanine (Phe) residues, namely, [Arg-Phe]4, was prepared, and its
      self-assembly in solution studied. The simple alternating [Arg-Phe]4 peptide
      sequence allows for unique insights into the aggregation process and the
      structure of the self-assembled motifs. Fluorescence and UV-vis assays were used
      to determine critical aggregation concentrations, corresponding to the formation
      of oligomeric species and beta-sheet rich structures organized into both
      spheroidal aggregates and highly ordered fibrils. Electron and atomic force
      microscopy images show globular aggregates and long unbranched fibers with
      diameters ranging from ~4 nm up to ~40 nm. Infrared and circular dichroism
      spectroscopy show the formation of beta-sheet structures. X-ray diffraction on
      oriented stalks show that the peptide fibers have an internal lamellar structure,
      with an orthorhombic unit cell with parameters a ~ 27.6 A, b ~ 9.7 A, and c ~ 9.6
      A. In situ small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) shows the presence of low
      molecular weight oligomers in equilibrium with mature fibers which are likely
      made up from 5 or 6 intertwined protofilaments. Finally, weak gel solutions are
      probed under gentle shear, suggesting the ability of these arginine-rich fibers
      to form networks. 

PMID- 25823529
TI  - Re-evaluation casts doubt on the pathogenicity of homozygous USH2A p.C759F.
AB  - Mutations in USH2A are a common cause of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). Among the
      most frequently reported USH2A variants, c.2276G>T (p.C759F) has been found in
      both affected and healthy individuals. The pathogenicity of this variant remains
      controversial since it was detected in homozygosity in two healthy siblings of a
      Spanish family (S23), eleven years ago. The fact that these individuals remain
      asymptomatic today, prompted us to study the presence of other pathogenic
      variants in this family using targeted resequencing of 26 retinal genes in one of
      the affected individuals. This approach allowed us to identify one novel
      pathogenic homozygous mutation in exon 13 of PDE6B (c.1678C>T; p.R560C). This
      variant cosegregated with the disease and was absent in 200 control individuals.
      Remarkably, the identified variant in PDE6B corresponds to the mutation
      responsible of the retinal degeneration in the naturally occurring rd10 mutant
      mice. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the identification of the
      rd10 mice mutation in a RP family. These findings, together with a review of the
      literature, support the hypothesis that homozygous p.C759F mutations are not
      pathogenic and led us to exclude the implication of p.C759F in the RP of family
      S23. Our results indicate the need of re-evaluating all families genetically
      diagnosed with this mutation.

PMID- 25823530
TI  - Robotic vs laparoscopic radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer: a meta
      analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To evaluate whether the safety and efficacy of robotic radical
      hysterectomy (RRH) in patients with cervical cancer (CC) are equivalent to those
      of laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (LRH). METHODS: The Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane
      Library, Ovid and Web of Science databases were searched. Studies documenting a
      comparison of RRH with LRH for CC were selected. Operative and recovery outcomes,
      common morbidity, and oncological parameters were evaluated. RESULTS: Compared
      with LRH, RRH was associated with less blood loss and shorter hospital stay.
      There were no significant differences in operative time, complications,
      mortality, transfusion, conversions, number of retrieved lymph nodes, recurrence
      or disease-free survival between the two groups. CONCLUSION: RRH for CC is safe
      and feasible and may be an alternative treatment for CC. More multicentre
      randomized controlled trials investigating the long-term oncological outcomes are
      required to determine the advantages of RRH over LRH in CC.

PMID- 25823531
TI  - Historical classics.

PMID- 25823532
TI  - Vapor-phase transport deposition, characterization, and applications of large
      nanographenes.
AB  - Recently, chemical synthesis of a range of large nanographene molecules with
      various shapes and sizes opened a new path to utilize them in various
      applications and devices. However, due to their extended aromatic cores and high
      molecular weight, film formation of large nanographene molecules, bearing more
      than 90 sp(2) carbon atoms in aromatic cores, is very challenging, which has
      prevented their applications such as in thin-film transistors. Here, we developed
      an effective approach to prepare films of such large nanographene molecules using
      a vapor-phase transport (VPT) technique based on molecule sublimation. The VPT of
      these molecules was made possible by combining the molecules and the target
      substrate in a small confinement of vacuum-sealed glass tube, so that a small
      amount of sublimation can be utilized to create films. Surprisingly, such heavy
      and large molecules can be deposited on any substrate by this method to create
      films of assembled large nanographene molecules while maintaining their aromatic
      cores intact, which was confirmed using mass spectrometry measurements. Moreover,
      field-effect transistors based on these films are depleted and show significantly
      improved current on/off ratio compared to previous large nanographene-based
      transistors fabricated using liquid-phase-based process. Our work shows that VPT
      deposition can be a viable technique to prepare films based on large nanographene
      molecules and potentially other high molecular weight compounds, which may find
      exciting applications in electronics and optoelectronics. 

PMID- 25823533
TI  - Reply: To PMID 24954365.

PMID- 25823534
TI  - Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor improves cardiac function by attenuating adverse
      cardiac remodelling in rats with chronic myocardial infarction.
AB  - NEW FINDINGS: What is the central question of this study? Although
      cardioprotective effects of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors have been
      demonstrated, their cardiac effects in chronic myocardial infarction (MI) are
      unclear. We determined the effects of a DPP-4 inhibitor on cardiac function and
      remodelling in rats with chronic MI. What is the main finding and its importance?
      We demonstrated, for the first time, that DPP-4 inhibitor, but not metformin,
      exerted similar efficacy in improving cardiac function and attenuating cardiac
      fibrosis compared with enalapril in rats with chronic MI. These findings reveal
      benefits additional to the glycaemic control by the DPP-4 inhibitor in chronic
      MI, and it might become the new drug of choice for MI in patients with diabetes
      mellitus. Adverse cardiac remodelling after myocardial infarction (MI) leads to
      progressive heart failure. Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors are new
      antidiabetic drugs that exert cardioprotection. However, their role in cardiac
      function and remodelling in chronic MI is unclear. We hypothesized that the DPP-4
      inhibitor vildagliptin reduces adverse cardiac remodelling and improves cardiac
      function in rats with chronic MI. These effects were also compared with enalapril
      and metformin. Male Wistar rats (n = 36) with chronic MI induced by ligation of
      the left anterior descending coronary artery were divided into six groups to
      receive vehicle, vildagliptin (3 mg kg(-1)  day(-1) ), metformin (30 mg kg(-1) 
      day(-1) ), enalapril (10 mg kg(-1)  day(-1) ), combined metformin and enalapril
      or combined vildagliptin and enalapril for 8 weeks. At the end of the study,
      plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), heart rate variability (HRV), left ventricular (LV)
      function, pathological and biochemical studies of cardiac remodelling were
      investigated. Our study demonstrated that rats with chronic MI had increased
      oxidative stress levels, depressed HRV, adverse cardiac remodelling, indicated by
      cardiac fibrosis, and LV dysfunction. Treatment with vildagliptin or enalapril
      significantly decreased oxidative stress, attenuated cardiac fibrosis and
      improved HRV and LV function. We conclude that vildagliptin exerts similar
      cardioprotective effects to enalapril in attenuating oxidative stress and cardiac
      fibrosis and improving cardiac function in rats with chronic MI. Metformin does
      not provide these benefits in this model. Moreover, addition of either metformin
      or vildagliptin to enalapril does not provide additional benefit in attenuating
      cardiac remodelling or improving LV function compared with enalapril alone.

PMID- 25823535
TI  - Carbonic anhydrase-IX score is a novel biomarker that predicts recurrence and
      survival for high-risk, nonmetastatic renal cell carcinoma: Data from the phase
      III ARISER clinical trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: With a limited number of prognostic and predictive
      biomarkers available, carbonic anhydrase-IX (CAIX) has served as an important
      prognostic biomarker for patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).
      However, studies have recently called into question the role of CAIX as a
      biomarker for ccRCC. To investigate this uncertainty, we quantified the
      association of CAIX with lymphatic involvement and survival using data from
      ARISER study (WX-2007-03-HR)--a prospective trial involving subjects with high
      risk nonmetastatic ccRCC. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We reviewed the records of 813
      patients enrolled in the ARISER study. Central review of histology, grade, and
      CAIX staining (frequency and intensity) was performed. CAIX score was derived by
      multiplying the staining intensity (1-3) by percent positive cells (0%-100%),
      yielding a range of 0 to 300. We quantified the association of CAIX expression
      and score with lymphatic spread and survival (disease-free survival [DFS] and
      overall survival [OS]) using Kaplan-Meier and multivariable propensity score
      adjusted Cox regression analyses. RESULTS: Median follow-up of the cohort was
      54.2 months. Although 56% of subjects with lymphatic involvement had CAIX>85%,
      only 33% had CAIX score >= 200. On multivariable analysis, CAIX>85% was not a
      statistically significant predictor of DFS and OS (P = 0.06 and P = 0.15,
      respectively). However, CAIX score >= 200, when compared with CAIX score <= 100,
      was associated with improved DFS and OS (P = 0.01 and P = 0.01, respectively) on
      multivariable analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The largest, multicenter, prospective
      analysis of patients with high-risk nonmetastatic ccRCC demonstrates the utility
      of CAIX score as a statistically significant prognostic biomarker for survival.
      We recommend that CAIX score be quantified for all patients with high-risk
      disease after nephrectomy.

PMID- 25823536
TI  - Hot water-promoted cyclopropylcarbinyl rearrangement facilitates construction of
      homoallylic alcohols.
AB  - In refluxing 9 : 1 (v/v) H2O-1,4-dioxane and without an additional catalyst, the
      rearrangements of various types of cyclopropyl carbinols were attempted. It was
      found that the reactions generally gave homoallylic alcohols in good to very high
      chemical yields. Rearrangements of bicyclic or tricyclic cyclopropyl carbinols
      readily gave the desired ring-expanded cyclic homoallylic alcohols which are
      difficult to synthesize by other means. 

PMID- 25823537
TI  - Is fluid resuscitation with high-volume hydroxyethyl starch safe for the kidney
      in trauma patients?

PMID- 25823540
TI  - Understanding and using enactments to further clinical work: a case study of a
      man unable to experience intimacy.
AB  - This article examines the value of working within enactments-affectively charged,
      unconscious remnants of painful, past experiences played out in the novel context
      of the therapeutic relationship-to further the work of psychodynamically oriented
      therapy in the treatment of a HIV-positive Hispanic gay male in his early 30s
      with a history of relational trauma. Through clinical vignettes, I highlight how
      relational uncertainty and its vicissitudes-vulnerability, doubt, safety, and
      trust-have triggered mutual dissociation in the context of enactment. At times,
      this has disrupted our ability to communicate honestly and relate
      intersubjectively. By working within affectively charged enactments, we have
      expanded our capacities to accommodate to relational uncertainty and used the
      tension of ambiguity within our relationship to permit the emergence of a shared
      space for recognition and self-discovery. 

PMID- 25823539
TI  - Visual deficits in Nepalese patients with oculocutaneous albinism.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Albinism poses a significant threat to visual functions and causes
      remarkable ocular morbidity often resulting in visual disabilities. The study
      aimed at describing the visual status in patients with diagnosed cases of
      complete oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) attending to a tertiary eye hospital in
      Nepal. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive hospital-based study of
      all diagnosed oculocutaneous albinotic cases (16 males and 9 females; mean age of
      16 years) who visited the Department of Ophthalmology at the Institute of
      Medicine, for ocular consultation between September 1, 2011 and December 1, 2013.
      RESULTS: Twenty-five cases (50 eyes) with OCA were enrolled in the study. All the
      participants had maximally reduced visual acuity (mean: 1.24+/-0.50logMAR).
      Myopic astigmatism was the most common refractive error (n=17; 34%). 58% of all
      participants had with-the-rule astigmatism. Considering the spherical equivalent
      power, most of the eyes (n=30; 60%) had myopia, with overall mean SE refractive
      error of -1.59+/-5.39D. Visual acuity improved significantly with refractive
      correction in place (paired sample t-test, p<0.05). Horizontal pendular nystagmus
      was the most common nystagmus (n=34 eyes; 68%). Alternating esotropia and
      alternating exotropia each were observed in 16% of participants who had
      strabismus (40% of all cases). The diaphanous iris, foveal hypoplasia and
      poliosis were the most consistent clinical features. CONCLUSION: Patients with
      OCA present with a broad spectrum of visual deficits that impair the visual
      functions. Significant improvement in visual acuity following optical correction
      serves as an impetus to the reduction of visual disabilities in individuals with
      albinism.

PMID- 25823541
TI  - Volatile sedation with sevoflurane in intensive care patients with acute stroke
      or subarachnoid haemorrhage using AnaConDa(r): an observational study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The anaesthetic conserving device, AnaConDa((r)), allows use of
      inhaled anaesthetics for sedation in the intensive care unit. We prospectively
      measured cerebral and cardiopulmonary parameters in patients with acute stroke or
      subarachnoid haemorrhage during a switch from i.v. to inhalative sedation.
      METHODS: 25 patients were switched from i.v. to an indefinite period of inhaled
      sedation with sevoflurane. Mean arterial (MAP), intracranial (ICP), and cerebral
      perfusion pressure (CPP), middle cerebral artery mean flow velocity (MFV) and
      fractional tissue oxygen extraction (FTOE), systemic cardiopulmonary parameters,
      and administered drugs were assessed before and after the change (-6 to +12 h).
      RESULTS: In 8 patients, critically reduced MAP or ICP crisis led to premature
      termination of sevoflurane sedation. In the other 17 patients, after the first
      hour, mean ICP increased [2.4 (4.5) mm Hg; P=0.046], MAP decreased [7.8 (14.1) mm
      Hg; P=0.036] and thus CPP decreased also [-10.2 (15.1) mm Hg; P=0.014]. MFV and
      FTOE did not change. Over a 12 hour post switch observational period, [Formula:
      see text] increased slightly [0.3 (0.8) kPa; P=0.104], ICP did not change [0.2
      (3.9) mm Hg; P=0.865], but MAP [-6 (6.9) mm Hg; P=0.002] and thus CPP decreased [
      6 (8.5) mm Hg; P=0.010]. CONCLUSION: Sevoflurane led to sufficient sedation, but
      decreased MAP and CPP in a selected cerebrovascular neurocritical care
      population. In about a third of these patients, severe adverse reactions,
      including intolerable ICP increases, were observed.

PMID- 25823542
TI  - The humanistic and economic burden of providing care for a patient with
      schizophrenia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia is a debilitating disorder that often requires the
      affected individual to receive part- or full-time care from a caregiver. AIMS:
      The purpose of this study was to examine the humanistic and economic burden of
      caring for an individual with Schizophrenia with regard to the measures of
      quality of life (QoL), work productivity, healthcare resource use and estimated
      economic costs. METHODS: Data for this study came from the 2012 US National
      Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS; n = 71,149). Specifically, this analysis
      focused on those individuals in the survey who indicated that they were currently
      the primary caregiver for an individual with Schizophrenia (C-SCZ; n = 174).
      These individuals were matched via two separate 1:2 propensity score matches with
      both caregivers of other disorders (C-Other; n = 294) and non-caregivers (Non-C;
      n = 294) on significant covariates. Individuals were then compared across the
      outcomes of QoL, work productivity, healthcare resource use and estimated
      economic costs. RESULTS: C-SCZ respondents had worse outcomes on all outcomes
      measured than C-Other respondents and Non-C respondents even when controlling for
      significant differences between the groups on sociodemographic characteristics.
      However, due to the small sample sizes, these comparisons were only significant
      in most cases for the C-SCZ to Non-C comparisons. CONCLUSION: Results indicate
      that caregivers of those with Schizophrenia experience a heightened humanistic
      and economic burden, especially relative to the burden experienced by non
      caregivers. The fact that Schizophrenia not only affects the individual but also
      those who care for that individual is underscored by these results.

PMID- 25823543
TI  - Pulmonary oedema: an unusual aetiology.

PMID- 25823545
TI  - The Nursing Diagnosis Disturbed Thought Processes in Psychiatric Patients:
      Prevalence and Associated Characteristics.
AB  - PURPOSE: To analyze the frequency of the nursing diagnosis disturbed thought
      processes (DTP) (00130) in a sample of psychiatric and psychogeriatric patients
      in medium- and long-term units and to describe those factors associated with its
      presence. METHODS: A secondary analysis of the data obtained in a multicentric
      and cross-sectional study developed in Spain was undertaken. FINDINGS: The total
      sample was 624 patients, from which 39.4% (n = 246) had the nursing diagnosis
      DTP. A statistically significant relationship between the presence of DTP and
      different variables was found. CONCLUSIONS: The nursing diagnosis DTP is very
      frequent among psychiatric and psychogeriatric institutionalized patients.
      IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Patients with DTP may require a more complex
      nursing attention as its presence is associated with specific care needs.

PMID- 25823544
TI  - Rapid Blood Pressure Lowering According to Recovery at Different Time Intervals
      after Acute Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Pooled Analysis of the INTERACT Studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Early intensive blood pressure (BP) lowering has been
      shown to improve functional outcome in acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), but
      the treatment effect is modest and without a clearly defined underlying
      explanatory mechanism. We aimed at more reliably quantifying the benefits of this
      treatment according to different time periods in the recovery of participants in
      the Intensive Blood Pressure Reduction in Acute Cerebral Hemorrhage Trial
      (INTERACT) studies. METHODS: Pooled analysis of the pilot INTERACT1 (n = 404) and
      main INTERACT2 (n = 2,839) involving patients with spontaneous ICH (<6 h) and
      elevated systolic BP (SBP 150-220 mm Hg) who were randomized to intensive (target
      SBP <140 mm Hg) or guideline-recommended (target SBP <180 mm Hg) BP lowering
      treatment. Treatment effects were examined according to repeated measures
      analysis of an ordinal ('shift') across all 7 levels of the modified Rankin Scale
      (mRS) assessed during follow-up at 7, 28, and 90 days, post-randomization.
      CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION INFORMATION: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov,
      NCT00226096 and NCT00716079. RESULTS: Intensive BP lowering resulted in a
      significant favorable distribution of mRS scores for better functioning (odds
      ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 1.00-1.26; p = 0.042) over 7, 28 and 90 days,
      and the effect was consistency for early (7-28 days) and later (28-90 days) time
      periods (p homogeneity 0.353). Treatment effects were also consistent across
      several pre-specified patient characteristic subgroups, with trends favoring
      those randomized early, and with higher SBP and milder neurological severity at
      baseline. CONCLUSIONS: Intensive BP lowering provides beneficial effects on
      physical functioning that manifests consistently through the early and later
      phases of recovery from ICH.

PMID- 25823546
TI  - Electrochemical assay to detect influenza viruses and measure drug
      susceptibility.
AB  - An electrochemical assay has been designed to rapidly diagnose influenza viruses.
      Exposure of a glucose-bearing substrate to influenza viruses or its enzyme,
      neuraminidase (NA), releases glucose, which was detected amperometrically. Two
      methods were used to detect released glucose. First, we used a standard glucose
      blood meter to detect two viral NAs and three influenza strains. We also
      demonstrated drug susceptibility of two antivirals, Zanamivir and Oseltamivir,
      using the assay. Finally, we used disposable test strips to detect nineteen H1N1
      and H3N2 influenza strains using this assay in one hour. The limit and range of
      detection of this first generation assay is 10(2) and 10(2)-10(8) plaque forming
      units (pfu), respectively. Current user-friendly glucose meters can be repurposed
      to detect influenza viruses.

PMID- 25823547
TI  - Bladder Tumor Heterogeneity: The Impact on Clinical Treatment.
AB  - Bladder cancer relapse and treatment failure in most patients have often been
      attributed to chemoresistance in tumor cells and metastasis. Emerging evidence
      indicates that tumor heterogeneity may play an equally important role and extends
      to virtually all measurable properties of cancer cells. Although the idea of
      tumor heterogeneity is not new, little attention has been paid to applying it to
      understand and control bladder cancer progression. With the development of
      biotechnology, such as Gene sequencing, recent advances in understanding its
      generation model, original basis, consequent problems, and derived therapies
      provide great potential for tumor heterogeneity to be considered a new insight in
      the treatment of bladder cancers.

PMID- 25823548
TI  - A real time Taqman RT-PCR for the detection of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2
      (RHDV2).
AB  - A specific real time RT-PCR for the detection of RHDV2 was developed and
      validated using RHDV and RHDV2 RNA preparations from positive field samples. The
      system was designed to amplify a 127 nucleotide-long RNA region located within
      the vp60 gene, based on the alignment of six sequences originated in Portugal,
      obtained in our laboratory, and 11 sequences from France and Italy. The primers
      and probe target sequences are highly conserved in the vast majority of the RHDV2
      sequences presently known. In the sequences showing variability, only one
      mismatch is found per strain, usually outlying the 3' end of the primer or probe
      hybridization sequences. The specificity of the method was demonstrated in vitro
      with a panel of common rabbit pathogens. Standardization was performed with RNA
      transcripts obtained from a recombinant plasmid harboring the target sequence.
      The method was able to detected nine RNA molecules with an efficiency of 99.4%
      and a R(2) value of 1. Repeatability and reproducibility of the method were very
      high, with coefficients of variation lower than 2.40%. The assay was proven a
      valuable tool to diagnose most of RDVH2 circulating strains, and may be also
      useful to monitor viral loads, and consequently, disease progression and
      vaccination efficacy. 

PMID- 25823549
TI  - Imaging of omphalomesenteric duct remnants and related pathologies in children.
AB  - The omphalomesenteric duct (OMD) or the vitelline duct (VD) is the embryologic
      communication between the yolk sac and the primitive midgut. OMD or VD anomalies
      are a group of defects resulting from failure of involution of the OMD. Meckel
      diverticulum is the most common anomaly that results from failure of resorption
      of the OMD. Other less common anomalies seen in children include OMD fibrous
      band, fistula, sinus tract, cyst, and umbilical polyps. These OMD remnants can
      have variable clinical manifestations such as umbilical discharge, small bowel
      obstruction, gastrointestinal tract bleeding, or acute abdomen. This pictorial
      essay reviews the clinical presentation and imaging findings of the common and
      not so common complications of OMD remnants in the pediatric population. 

PMID- 25823550
TI  - Atypical magnetic resonance imaging findings in hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is currently the modality of choice to evaluate
      liver lesions in patients with cirrhosis and hepatitis B and C. Hepatocellular
      carcinoma demonstrates typical imaging findings on contrast-enhanced MRI, which
      are usually diagnostic. Unfortunately, a subgroup of hepatocellular carcinoma
      presents with atypical imaging features, and awareness of these atypical
      presentations is important in ensuring early diagnosis and optimal patient
      outcomes. Herein, we review some of the more common atypical presentations with a
      focus on MRI. 

PMID- 25823551
TI  - Integrating telehealth services into a remote allied health service: A pilot
      study.
AB  - PROBLEM: The continuity of care for people with neurological conditions in a
      remote northwest Queensland town as services are currently only available
      intermittently. DESIGN: Mixed methods design using questionnaires and staff
      review of the program and processes. SETTING: Intermittent community
      rehabilitation service for clients with neurological conditions has been offered
      in Mount Isa and is supported by a similar fulltime service in Townsville. Both
      services use a unique client-centred, student-assisted, interprofessional model
      of care. KEY MEASURES FOR IMPROVEMENT: Understanding participant experiences by
      obtaining feedback from clients, students and allied health professionals (AHPs)
      regarding their experiences of using telehealth in this setting. STRATEGY FOR
      CHANGE: Previous clients of the North West Community Rehabilitation service were
      offered a review assessment using telehealth by an interprofessional team.
      EFFECTS OF CHANGE: Using telehealth enabled the client, remote AHP and students
      in Mount Isa to be connected to expert assistance in Townsville. LESSONS LEARNT:
      The findings suggest that telehealth was useful in a community rehabilitation
      setting to provide review services for clients. This improved continuity of care
      for these clients because without this telehealth assessment, the clients would
      have had to wait up to 12 months for the next service period in Mount Isa or
      travel to a major urban centre to access a similar service. Feedback from
      clients, students and AHPs was positive; however, some challenges were
      identified. Recommendations for future service delivery using telehealth are
      outlined in the paper.

PMID- 25823552
TI  - Incompleteness, aesthetic sensitivity, and the obsessive-compulsive need for
      symmetry.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The "need for symmetry" is a well recognized yet
      little understood feature of obsessive-compulsive (OC) experience. In light of
      the strong associations between the OC-related trait of incompleteness and
      symmetry-related behaviors and symptoms, and between perceptual symmetry and
      aesthetic judgments, this study examined whether trait incompleteness is
      associated with enhanced natural aesthetic skill and/or aesthetic sensitivity,
      particularly as they pertain to visual symmetry. METHODS: A quasi-experimental
      design was used to compare the responses of nonclinical individuals with high
      versus average levels of trait incompleteness on self-report measures and two
      performance measures of aesthetic judgment. RESULTS: Compared to controls,
      participants high in incompleteness reported higher levels of self-perceived
      symmetry-related concerns and behaviors, and displayed greater aesthetic
      sensitivity in the form of substantially heightened preferences for symmetry in
      images. Contrary to the hypothesis relating to aesthetic skill, however, the two
      groups did not differ in their capacity to estimate accurately the objective
      aesthetic value of images. Nor did they differ in self-reported aesthetics
      interests and background. LIMITATIONS: A clinical sample was not included.
      CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide evidence that high trait incompleteness is
      associated not just with symptomatic symmetry-related concerns but with a
      nonspecific heightened preference for visual symmetry. Conceptual implications
      are discussed, particularly the potential value of the perceptual fluency theory
      of symmetry and aesthetic response for explaining the association between
      incompleteness and symmetry preferences and symptoms.

PMID- 25823553
TI  - An ATPase-deficient variant of the SNF2 family member HELLS shows altered
      dynamics at pericentromeric heterochromatin.
AB  - The HELLS (helicase, lymphoid specific, also known as lymphoid-specific helicase)
      protein is related to the SNF2 (sucrose non-fermentable 2) family of chromatin
      remodeling ATPases. It is required for efficient DNA methylation in mammals,
      particularly at heterochromatin-located repetitive sequences. In this study, we
      investigated the interaction of HELLS with chromatin and used an ATPase-deficient
      HELLS variant to address the role of ATP hydrolysis in this process. Chromatin
      fractionation experiments demonstrated that, in the absence of the ATPase
      activity, HELLS is retained at the nuclear matrix compartment, defined in part by
      lamin B1. Microscopy studies revealed a stronger association of the ATPase
      deficient mutant with heterochromatin. These results were further supported by
      fluorescence recovery after photobleaching measurements, which showed that, at
      heterochromatic sites, wild-type HELLS is very dynamic, with a recovery half-time
      of 0.8s and a mobile protein fraction of 61%. In contrast, the ATPase-deficient
      mutant displayed 4.5-s recovery half-time and a reduction in the mobile fraction
      to 30%. We also present evidence suggesting that, in addition to the ATPase
      activity, a functional H3K9me3 signaling pathway contributes to an efficient
      release of HELLS from pericentromeric chromatin. Overall, our results show that a
      functional ATPase activity is not required for the recruitment of HELLS to
      heterochromatin, but it is important for the release of the enzyme from these
      sites.

PMID- 25823554
TI  - The secretion patterns and roles of cardiac and circulating arginine vasopressin
      during the development of heart failure.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate local cardiac and circulating
      AVP secretion during heart failure and to determine whether AVP mediates
      ventricular remodeling. METHODS: We assessed cardiac function and AVP levels of
      post-myocardial infarction (MI) heart-failure rats 3 weeks (n = 10), 4 weeks (n =
      10), 6 weeks (n = 10), 9 weeks (n = 15) after the proximal left anterior
      descending coronary artery (LAD) ligation. Ten sham-operated rats were used as
      the control group. In vitro, cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs) were
      initiated from isolated Wistar rat hearts and subjected to Ang II to induce AVP
      expression and secretion. Besides, the effects of AVP stimulation on CMECs and
      cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) were studied using methylthiazol tetrazolium assay,
      Western blotting and real-time PCR. RESULTS: With cardiac dysfunction, plasma and
      local cardiac AVP, aldosterone levels increased over time, peaking at 9 weeks
      post-MI. AVP levels were negatively correlated with serum Na(+) and LVEF but
      positively correlated with LVEDD and myocardial hydroxyproline. In CMECs treated
      with Ang II, AVP mRNA and protein expression increased. In addition, AVP promoted
      CFs proliferation and up-regulated the expression of endothelin-1 and connective
      tissue growth factor. CONCLUSION: CMECs are the cellular sources of elevated
      local heart AVP stimulated with Ang II/AT1. An intrinsic cardiac AVP system
      exists. Local cardiac and circulating AVP secretion were enhanced by
      deteriorating cardiac function. AVP may promote ventricular remodeling. Thus, AVP
      could be an important mediator of myocardial fibrosis in late-stage heart
      failure.

PMID- 25823555
TI  - HMGA2 expression pattern and TERT mutations in tumors of the vulva.
AB  - Malignant tumors of the vulva account for only 5% of cancers of the female
      genital tract in the USA. The most frequent cancers of the vulva are squamous
      cell carcinoma (SCC) and malignant melanoma (MM). Little is known about the
      genetic aberrations carried by these tumors. We report a detailed study of 25
      vulva tumors [22 SCC, 2 MM, 1 atypical squamous cell hyperplasia (AH)] analyzed
      for expression of the high-mobility group AT-hook family member genes HMGA2 and
      HMGA1, for mutations in the IDH1, IDH2 and TERT genes, and for methylation of the
      MGMT promoter. The RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry analyses showed that HMGA2 was
      expressed in the great majority of analyzed samples (20 out of 24; SCC as well as
      MM) but not in the normal controls. HMGA1, on the other hand, was expressed in
      both tumors and normal tissues. Five of the 24 tumors (all SCC) showed the C228T
      mutation in the TERT promoter. Our results showed that HMGA2 and TERT may be of
      importance in the genesis and/or the progression of tumors of the vulva.

PMID- 25823556
TI  - Sarcocystis chloropusae (protozoa: Sarcocystidae) n. sp. from the common moorhen
      (Gallinula chloropus) from Egypt.
AB  - A new name Sarcocystis chloropusae is proposed for a parasite previously found in
      two of 25 common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) from Brolos Lake, Egypt.
      Sarcocysts were microscopic, up to 650 MUm long, the cyst wall was up to 4.5 MUm
      thick, and contained villar protrusions that were up to 4 MUm long and up to 2
      MUm wide. The villar protrusions were crowded, contained vesicles but lacked
      microtubules. The ground substance layer was smooth. The bradyzoites were up to
      12 MUm long and up to 2 MUm wide. Molecular characterization and phylogenetic
      analysis of the (ITS-1) supported the conclusion that the Sarcocystis in G.
      chloropus is a distinct species.

PMID- 25823557
TI  - A new performance measurement system for maternal and child health in the United
      States.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant is the
      linchpin for US MCH services. The first national performance measures (NPMs) for
      MCH were instituted in 1997. Changing trends in MCH risk factors, outcomes,
      health services, data sources, and advances in scientific knowledge, in
      conjunction with budgetary constraints led the Maternal and Child Health Bureau
      (MCHB) to design a new performance measurement system. METHODS: A workgroup was
      formed to develop a new system. The following guiding principles were used: (1)
      Afford States more flexibility and reduce the overall reporting burden; (2)
      Improve accountability to better document Title V's impact; (3) Develop NPMs that
      encompass measures in: maternal and women's health, perinatal health, child
      health, children with special health care needs, adolescent health, and cross
      cutting areas. RESULTS: A three-tiered performance measurement system was
      proposed with national outcome measures (NOMs), NPMs and evidence-based/informed
      strategy measures (ESMs). NOMs are the ultimate goals that MCHB and States are
      attempting to achieve. NPMs are measures, generally associated with processes or
      programs, shown to affect NOMs. ESMs are evidence-based or informed measures that
      each State Title V program develops to affect the NPMs. There are 15 NPMs from
      which States select eight, with at least one from each population area. MCHB will
      provide the data for the NOMs and NPMs, when possible. CONCLUSIONS: The new
      performance measurement system increases the flexibility and reduces the
      reporting burden for States by allowing them to choose 8 NPMs to target, and
      increases accountability by having States develop actionable ESMs. SIGNIFICANCE:
      The new national performance measure framework for maternal and child health will
      allow States more flexibility to address their areas of greatest need, reduce
      their data reporting burden by having the Maternal and Child Health Bureau
      provide data for the National Outcome and Performance Measures, yet afford States
      the opportunity to develop measurable strategies to address their selected
      performance measures.

PMID- 25823558
TI  - Ureteroscopy for Paediatric Renal Tract Stones - Outcomes from a Tertiary
      European Centre.
AB  - AIMS: The use of ureteroscopy in treating paediatric stone disease has risen in
      recent years. We retrospectively reviewed the results of ureteroscopic stone
      management for our regional paediatric stone service. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      Between April 2010 and October 2013, consecutive patients undergoing ureteroscopy
      and stone fragmentation were identified. Data were recorded from electronic
      records for patient demographics, pre-operative assessment, stone
      characteristics, and intra- and post-operative complications. RESULTS: Twenty-one
      patients (mean age 8.6 years; range: 1.4-16) had 32 procedures in our series (13
      males and 8 females). Five (24%) had a metabolic abnormality and 8 (38%) had an
      anatomical abnormality. The mean initial stone size was 9.6 mm (range: 5-20) and
      10 were left sided. Of the 32 procedures, 18 (56%) had a pre-operative stent. A
      positive pre-operative urine culture was seen in 4 (13%). CT was used in 6 (19%)
      with the rest having a combination of USS and/or plain KUB. Of these 21 patients,
      13 (62%) were stone free after the first procedure, 17 (81%) after a second and
      20 (95%) after a third (mean 1.5 procedures/patient). One patient with a 6-mm
      residual fragment chose to have surveillance. Eighteen (50%) had post-operative
      stent insertion. The mean length of stay was 1.5 days (range: 0-5). A minor
      complication (Clavien 1) was observed in 1 patient. No other complications were
      recorded. CONCLUSIONS: Ureteroscopy for stone disease in children is feasible
      with a low complication rate and high stone-free rate.

PMID- 25823559
TI  - The fusion of Toxoplasma gondii SAG1 vaccine candidate to Leishmania infantum
      heat shock protein 83-kDa improves expression levels in tobacco chloroplasts.
AB  - Chloroplast transformation technology has emerged as an alternative platform
      offering many advantages over nuclear transformation. SAG1 is the main surface
      antigen of the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii and a promising candidate
      to produce an anti-T. gondii vaccine. The aim of this study was to investigate
      the expression of SAG1 using chloroplast transformation technology in tobacco
      plants. In order to improve expression in transplastomic plants, we also
      expressed the 90-kDa heat shock protein of Leishmania infantum (LiHsp83) as a
      carrier for the SAG1 antigen. SAG1 protein accumulation in transplastomic plants
      was approximately 0.1-0.2 MUg per gram of fresh weight (FW). Fusion of SAG1 to
      LiHsp83 significantly increased the level of SAG1 accumulation in tobacco
      chloroplasts (by up to 500-fold). We also evaluated the functionality of the
      chLiHsp83-SAG1. Three human seropositive samples reacted with SAG1 expressed in
      transplastomic chLiHsp83-SAG1 plants. Oral immunization with chLiHsp83-SAG1
      elicited a significant reduction of the cyst burden that correlated with an
      increase of SAG1-specific antibodies. We propose the fusion of foreign proteins
      to LiHsp83 as a novel strategy to increase the expression level of the
      recombinant proteins using chloroplast transformation technology, thus addressing
      one of the current challenges for this approach in antigen protein production.

PMID- 25823560
TI  - The Effect of Cognitive-Task Type and Walking Speed on Dual-Task Gait in Healthy
      Adults.
AB  - In a number of studies in which a dual-task gait paradigm was used, researchers
      reported a relationship between cognitive function and gait. However, it is not
      clear to what extent these effects are dependent on the type of cognitive and
      walking tasks used in the dual-task paradigm. This study examined whether stride
      time variability (STV) and trunk range of motion (RoM) are affected by the type
      of cognitive task and walking speed used during dual-task gait. Participants
      walked at both their preferred walking speed and at 25% of their preferred
      walking speed and performed a serial subtraction and a working memory task at
      both speeds. Although both tasks significantly reduced STV at both walking
      speeds, there was no difference between the two tasks. Trunk RoM was affected by
      the walking speed and type of cognitive task used during dual-task gait:
      Mediolateral trunk RoM was increased at the slow walking speed, and anterior
      posterior trunk RoM was higher only when performing the serial subtraction task
      at the slow walking speed. The reduction of STV, regardless of cognitive-task
      type, suggests that healthy adults may redirect cognitive processes away from
      gait toward cognitive-task performance during dual-task gait. 

PMID- 25823561
TI  - Evaluation of the efficacy of an exercise program for pregnant women with low
      back and pelvic pain: a prospective randomized controlled trial.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the effect of exercise programs on pregnant women with pregnancy
      related low back and pelvic pain. BACKGROUND: Low back and pelvic pain during
      pregnancy is a major health problem due to its frequent occurrence and such pain
      can limit pregnant women in many of their daily activities. DESIGN: A randomized
      trial with a control group (n = 48) and an intervention group (n = 48). Trial
      registration number NCT02189356. METHODS: Department of Obstetrics and
      Gynecology, between December 2011-May 2012, an Education and Research Hospital in
      Turkey. Based on the intention-to-treat principle, all pregnant women were
      analysed according to the group they were assigned to, regardless of whether they
      received the intervention or not. Participants in the intervention group received
      health counselling and exercised regarding low back and pelvic pain for four
      weeks. The pregnant women in the control group received usual care, comprised of
      routine clinical practice for pregnancy-related low back and pelvic pain.
      RESULTS: According to Mann-Whitney U test analysis results, there was a
      statistically significant difference between the control and intervention groups'
      Visual Analogue Scale during relaxation scores and Visual Analogue Scale during
      activity scores at the end of the study. According to Mann-Whitney U test
      analysis results, the change in the mean Oswestry Disability Index score for the
      intervention group and the difference in the mean scores between the two groups
      was statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: A four-week exercise program
      including individualized health counselling to relieve low back and pelvic pain
      improved the functional status in pregnant women.

PMID- 25823562
TI  - PLAGL1 protein is differentially expressed in the nephron segments and collecting
      ducts in human kidney.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: PLAGL1 (pleiomorphic adenoma gene-like 1) is a C2H2-type zinc
      finger transcription factor associated with the regulation of cell growth and
      development. Although PLAGL1 expression in kidney was assessed by biochemical
      methods, the exact localization of the PLAGL1 protein in human kidney has not yet
      been described. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Macroscopically unchanged specimens of
      kidney tissue were collected from 39 patients undergoing nephrectomy due to renal
      cell carcinoma. H & E staining of paraffin sections was used to assess histology
      of the kidney whereas immunohistochemistry was used to localize PLAGL1 protein in
      kidney compartments. In addition, database sequences search for putative PLAGL1
      binding sites among the kidney-related genes was performed. RESULTS: PLAGL1
      staining intensity differed depending on the kidney compartment. Strong PLAGL1
      immunoreactivity was found in thick ascending limbs of Henle's loop, distal
      tubules and collecting ducts, whereas PLAGL1 expression in proximal tubules and
      renal corpuscles (including podocytes) was moderate and weak, respectively. By
      the in sillico screening of promoter sequences for PLAGL1 specific DNA-binding
      sites GGG-GCCCC we designated 43 candidate genes for PLAGL1-regulated genes.
      Analysis of their functional annotations identified three significantly over
      represented gene sets: inositol phosphate metabolic processes (GO), endocrine and
      other factor-regulated calcium reabsorption (KEGG) and calcium signaling pathways
      (KEGG). CONCLUSION: Differences in the renal expression of PLAGL1 suggest that
      this protein may be involved in the regulation of several cellular pathways both
      as transcriptional factor and coactivator/corepressor of other tran-scription
      factors reflecting its role in the cell type-specific control of gene expression.

PMID- 25823563
TI  - Low-pH-induced apoptosis: role of endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced calcium
      permeability and mitochondria-dependent signaling.
AB  - The acidic microenvironment around tumor cells is a major determinant in cancer
      growth, metabolism, and metastasis. However, its role in cancer physiology is
      still not clearly understood. In the present investigation, an attempt has been
      made to explore the effect of acidic environment on physiology of cancer cells.
      Exposure of Raji cells to extracellular acidic environment was associated with
      enhanced cytosolic calcium level and endoplasmic reticulum stress response. X-box
      binding protein 1 (XBP1) splicing, CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous
      protein (CHOP), and glucose-regulated protein 78 kDa (GRP78) upregulation
      suggested endoplasmic reticulum stress generation. On the other hand, real-time
      based upregulation of Bax gene expression and flow cytometric analysis of
      cytochrome c release as well as enhanced active caspase-3 further confirmed
      mitochondrion-mediated events leading to induction of apoptosis. The expression
      of TP53 and p21 was upregulated. These observations collectively strongly suggest
      that both endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated calcium release and Bax targeting
      might be altering mitochondrion membrane potential which in turn could induce
      secondary apoptotic signals; subsequently, endoplasmic reticulum stress can also
      lead to nuclear localization of Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) which in turn
      favors p53 mediated apoptotic signals. 

PMID- 25823564
TI  - Association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in MPO and COX genes with oral
      lichen planus.
AB  - Oral lichen planus (OLP) is an intractable, chronic inflammatory disorder, and
      its pathogenesis is still largely unknown. Some literatures supported that genes
      involved in both oxidative stress and prostaglandin metabolism play an important
      role in the process of inflammation. To explore their association with OLP, we
      investigated four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from myeloperoxidase
      (MPO) and cyclooxygenase (COX) genes in 475 Chinese individuals (242 case and 233
      controls) by MassArray. Although the genotype distributions had no significant
      differences between the patients and controls, we found that in different gender,
      rs2243828 from MPO displayed the statistically significant variance genotype
      frequencies between patients and controls (P = 0.018 in females, P = 0.035 in
      males). Moreover, for the major allele recessive model, this SNP also showed a
      significant difference between case and control groups in males (P = 0.015). In
      this study, we first observed significant association with MPO polymorphism and
      OLP risk in different gender groups in Chinese, suggesting MPO polymorphism is a
      gender-specific risk factor of OLP probably by influencing sex hormone-sensitive
      elements to regulate inflammatory gene expression networks, and we further
      revealed that oxidative stress was actually involved in the pathogenesis of this
      disease. Moreover, these findings inspire us some constructive solutions to the
      treatment of this disease.

PMID- 25823565
TI  - Education programs are likely to improve health, but will they improve health
      equity?

PMID- 25823566
TI  - A survey of intestinal parasites including associated risk factors in humans in
      Panama.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intestinal parasitic infections are among the most common infections
      worldwide, leading to illness with serious and long lasting implications in
      children and immunocompromised people. Transmission of intestinal parasites is
      more frequent in tropical and sub-tropical areas where sanitation is poor and
      socioeconomic conditions are deficient. Panama is a country where climate and
      social conditions could be reflected in a high number of people infected with
      intestinal parasites. The presence, prevalence, and distribution of intestinal
      parasites in this country have been approached to date only in very restricted
      areas and population groups, but the impact of intestinal parasite infections at
      the national level is unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted a
      cross-sectional survey between 2008 and 2010 to determine the prevalence of
      intestinal parasites across Panama. Overall, 14 municipalities in seven provinces
      of Panama were surveyed. The presence of eggs, cysts, and larvae was assessed by
      microscopy in 1123 human fecal samples using a concentration technique. A
      questionnaire to identify risk factors associated with the frequency of
      intestinal parasites in the study population was also prepared and performed.
      Overall, 47.4% of human samples presented parasites. Variables including
      community type, age group, occupation, co-presence of commensals and
      socioeconomic factors (use of shoes and type of sanitation) were significantly
      associated with intestinal parasites (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The
      preliminary data obtained in the current study, showing a high prevalence of
      fecal-oral transmitted parasites in Panama, place intestinal parasitism as a
      major health problem in this country. Specific interventions should be planned
      for the indigenous population, the group most afflicted by intestinal parasites.

PMID- 25823567
TI  - Regulation of the oncogenic function of distal-less 4 by microRNA-122 in
      hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Distal-less 4 (DLX4) is a member of the DLX family of homeobox genes. Recent
      reports have suggested that abnormal expression of DLX4 is present in several
      types of human tumors, including breast cancer, leukemia and colon cancer.
      However, the function and the mechanistic regulation of DLX4 in hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC) are elusive. In the present study, a proportion of hepatocellular
      carcinomas were identified to exhibit upregulated DLX4 expression. This study
      proposed that the overexpression of DLX4 is associated with the downregulation of
      miR-122, an underexpressed miRNA in human HCC. Functional studies have
      demonstrated that the downregulation of DLX4 in hepatocellular carcinoma cell
      lines is regulated by miR-122 through binding to its 3'UTR. Furthermore, a DLX4
      overexpression vector lacking the 3'UTR was shown to abolish miR-122-induced
      inhibition of proliferation in the HCC cell line Hep3B. These results gave new
      insight into the mechanism of the miR-122/DLX4 axis in HCC.

PMID- 25823568
TI  - Cutaneous Sarcoidosis: Preamble of a Paucisymptomatic Systemic Disease.
AB  - Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease with a wide range of clinical
      manifestations. Skin involvement is an early, frequent and accessible location
      for a histopathological study. Several risk factors have been described to
      determine the likelihood of systemic involvement of an apparent cutaneous
      condition. Early diagnosis and systemic treatment could prevent future
      complications. A series of three cases is presented in which the initial
      diagnosis was cutaneous sarcoidosis, but it was actually the first manifestation
      of a systemic disease. A review of this topic is also presented. 

PMID- 25823569
TI  - Chemotherapeutic effects on circulating tumor cells in bladder cancer.

PMID- 25823571
TI  - Correlative in-resin super-resolution and electron microscopy using standard
      fluorescent proteins.
AB  - We introduce a method for correlative in-resin super-resolution fluorescence and
      electron microscopy (EM) of biological structures in mammalian culture cells.
      Cryo-fixed resin embedded samples offer superior structural preservation,
      performing in-resin super-resolution, however, remains a challenge. We identified
      key aspects of the sample preparation procedure of high pressure freezing, freeze
      substitution and resin embedding that are critical for preserving fluorescence
      and photo-switching of standard fluorescent proteins, such as mGFP, mVenus and
      mRuby2. This enabled us to combine single molecule localization microscopy with
      transmission electron microscopy imaging of standard fluorescent proteins in cryo
      fixed resin embedded cells. We achieved a structural resolution of 40-50 nm (~17
      nm average single molecule localization accuracy) in the fluorescence images
      without the use of chemical fixation or special fluorophores. Using this approach
      enabled the correlation of fluorescently labeled structures to the ultrastructure
      in the same cell at the nanometer level and superior structural preservation. 

PMID- 25823570
TI  - Identification of myopia-associated WNT7B polymorphisms provides insights into
      the mechanism underlying the development of myopia.
AB  - Myopia can cause severe visual impairment. Here, we report a two-stage genome
      wide association study for three myopia-related traits in 9,804 Japanese
      individuals, which was extended with trans-ethnic replication in 2,674 Chinese
      and 2,690 Caucasian individuals. We identify WNT7B as a novel susceptibility gene
      for axial length (rs10453441, Pmeta=3.9 * 10(-13)) and corneal curvature
      (Pmeta=2.9 * 10(-40)) and confirm the previously reported association between
      GJD2 and myopia. WNT7B significantly associates with extreme myopia in a case
      control study with 1,478 Asian patients and 4,689 controls (odds ratio
      (OR)meta=1.13, Pmeta=0.011). We also find in a mouse model of myopia
      downregulation of WNT7B expression in the cornea and upregulation in the retina,
      suggesting its possible role in the development of myopia. 

PMID- 25823572
TI  - Combination therapy with infliximab and thiopurine compared to infliximab
      monotherapy in maintaining remission of postoperative Crohn's disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Infliximab is an efficacious agent used for the induction
      and maintenance of remission in Crohn's disease (CD), and recent studies
      suggested that it may also prevent the recurrence of this disease after surgery.
      The present study was performed to assess the efficacy and safety of infliximab
      in the postoperative setting, and to identify whether combination treatment with
      thiopurines had any additional beneficial effect as compared to mono-therapy.
      METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study to compare the efficacy of
      infliximab mono-therapy and combination treatment with a thiopurine in preventing
      recurrence after surgery. RESULTS: Forty-one patients who received infliximab as
      maintenance treatment following surgery from May 2002 to April 2010 were
      identified. Twenty-four were naive to infliximab, and 17 who underwent surgery
      during infliximab treatment were continued on it following surgery. The median
      follow-up period was 27 months (range 12-66 months). All patients continued
      infliximab as maintenance treatment, but 10 required dose intensification due to
      clinical recurrence. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that the use of
      concomitant thiopurine was correlated with the continuation of infliximab
      treatment at an 8-week interval (log-rank test p = 0.018). The rate of adverse
      event was 9.8% with no patient experiencing severe adverse reactions. CONCLUSION:
      Infliximab appears to be safe and it prevented clinical recurrence after surgery.
      Concomitant thiopurine use predicted response toward continuation of therapy at
      an 8-week interval. Prospective controlled studies to assess the efficacy of
      combination treatment in the postoperative setting are warranted.

PMID- 25823573
TI  - Initial Results of Image-Guided Percutaneous Ablation as Second-Line Treatment
      for Symptomatic Vascular Anomalies.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility, safety, and
      early effectiveness of percutaneous image-guided ablation as second-line
      treatment for symptomatic soft-tissue vascular anomalies (VA). MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: An IRB-approved retrospective review was undertaken of all patients who
      underwent percutaneous image-guided ablation as second-line therapy for treatment
      of symptomatic soft-tissue VA during the period from 1/1/2008 to 5/20/2014. US/CT
      or MRI-guided and monitored cryoablation or MRI-guided and monitored laser
      ablation was performed. Clinical follow-up began at one-month post-ablation.
      RESULTS: Eight patients with nine torso or lower extremity VA were treated with
      US/CT (N = 4) or MRI-guided (N = 2) cryoablation or MRI-guided laser ablation (N
      = 5) for moderate to severe pain (N = 7) or diffuse bleeding secondary to
      hemangioma-thrombocytopenia syndrome (N = 1). The median maximal diameter was 9.0
      cm (6.5-11.1 cm) and 2.5 cm (2.3-5.3 cm) for VA undergoing cryoablation and laser
      ablation, respectively. Seven VA were ablated in one session, one VA initially
      treated with MRI-guided cryoablation for severe pain was re-treated with MRI
      guided laser ablation due to persistent moderate pain, and one VA was treated in
      a planned two-stage session due to large VA size. At an average follow-up of 19.8
      months (range 2-62 months), 7 of 7 patients with painful VA reported symptomatic
      pain relief. There was no recurrence of bleeding at five-year post-ablation in
      the patient with hemangioma-thrombocytopenia syndrome. There were two minor
      complications and no major complications. CONCLUSION: Image-guided percutaneous
      ablation is a feasible, safe, and effective second-line treatment option for
      symptomatic VA.

PMID- 25823574
TI  - Use of Spider Filter Embolic Protection Device During Endovascular
      Revascularization of Acute Thromboembolic Occlusion of Superficial Femoral
      Artery.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Spider
      filter embolic protection device (EPD) in protecting patients from distal
      migration of thromboemboli during revascularization of acute superficial femoral
      artery (SFA) occlusion secondary to thromboemboli. METHODS: Data from all
      patients at our institution who had EPD placement for embolic protection during
      endovascular revascularization for acute thromboembolic occlusion of the SFA were
      analyzed. RESULTS: From April 2007 to June 2014, a total of 14 patients had EPD
      placement during endovascular revascularization for acute SFA occlusion secondary
      to thromboemboli. All patients presented with acute onset of limb ischemia, and
      further work-up with imaging studies demonstrated thromboembolic occlusions. The
      duration from onset of symptoms to revascularization was 7.0 +/- 2.7 h (range 2
      14 h). An aspiration technique for thrombectomy was used in all 14 cases
      (aspiration alone, 6 cases; aspiration plus urokinase, 7 cases; additional
      angioplasty after urokinase, 1 case). Spider filter EPDs were successfully placed
      at the target in all 14 cases, and the thromboemboli were captured in 13/14
      (92.9%) cases. Successful reestablishment of the SFA flow without distal branch
      embolism occurred in all 14 cases. There were no EPD-related complications.
      During a mean 32.2 +/- 20.2 months of follow-up, 13 patients remained
      asymptomatic; one patient who underwent PTA during the procedure reported limb
      coolness and fatigue 6 months later because of recurrent atherosclerotic
      stenosis. CONCLUSION: The Spider filter EPD can be safe and effective in
      protecting patients from distal branch embolism when they undergo an endovascular
      thrombectomy procedure.

PMID- 25823575
TI  - Prophylactic embolization of the cystic artery prior to radioembolization of
      liver malignancies--an evaluation of necessity.
AB  - PURPOSE: Prior to radioembolization (RE) of hepatic tumors, many centers
      prophylactically occlude the cystic artery (CA) during evaluation angiography
      (EVA) to prevent radiation-induced cholecystitis. There is no conclusive evidence
      for the protective effect of CA embolization and it bears the risk of inducing
      ischemic cholecystitis. The aim of this study is to evaluate the justification
      for CA embolization by comparing clinical and morphologic imaging parameters
      between patients undergoing coil occlusion of the cystic artery (COCA) and those
      with uncoiled CA (UCCA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective comparison of 37
      patients with UCCA versus 68 patients with COCA in terms of clinical findings
      (CRP, leukocyte count, body temperature, upper abdominal pain) and morphologic
      imaging parameters associated with cholecystitis (gallbladder (GB) wall
      thickness, free fluid in GB bed, bremsstrahlung SPECT) after EVA, after RE, and
      at 6-week follow-up. RESULTS: At none of the 3 time points (EVA, RE, 6-week
      follow-up) was there any significant difference in CRP, leukocyte count, body
      temperature, or upper abdominal pain between the UCCA and COCA group. There was
      also no significant difference between the two groups with regard to GB wall
      thickness, fluid in the GB bed, and bremsstrahlung in SPECT. One patient of the
      UCCA group and two patients of the COCA developed cholecystitis requiring
      treatment. CONCLUSION: Comparison of clinical and imaging findings between
      patients with and without CA embolization prior to RE identified no predictors of
      radiogenic or ischemic cholecystitis after RE. Our study provides no evidence for
      a benefit of prophylactic CA embolization before RE.

PMID- 25823576
TI  - Th2 cytokines enhance TrkA expression, upregulate proliferation, and downregulate
      differentiation of keratinocytes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nerve growth factor (NGF), a neurotrophin that plays a critical role
      in developmental neurobiology, is released by proliferating keratinocytes and
      induces proliferation. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the
      role of tyrosine kinase receptor A (TrkA), a high-affinity receptor of NGF, in
      human keratinocytes. METHODS: Expression of TrkA and NGF in skin diseases was
      investigated by immunohistochemistry. Expression of TrkA in cells was examined by
      Western blotting and RT-PCR. Cell proliferation was assessed by BrdU assay.
      RESULTS: We first determined the expression of TrkA and NGF in skin samples from
      patients with atopic dermatitis, prurigo nodularis, psoriasis vulgaris, and
      seborrheic keratosis. TrkA was only expressed in proliferating basal cells, and
      its expression was enhanced in atopic dermatitis samples. NGF expression was
      enhanced in atopic dermatitis and prurigo nodularis samples and in some samples
      from seborrheic keratosis patients. Investigation of the role of TrkA in vitro
      using normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK) revealed that TrkA was
      significantly enhanced by the T helper type 2 (Th2) cytokines interleukin (IL)-4
      and IL-13 but not by other inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1beta, tumor
      necrosis factor alpha, interferon gamma, or epidermal growth factor. On the other
      hand, expression of NGF was not altered by Th2 cytokines. Notably, inhibition of
      TrkA significantly reversed the effects of IL-4 on proliferation and
      differentiation. Furthermore, overexpression of TrkA enhanced proliferation of
      NHEK. These results indicate that IL-4-induced TrkA expression in keratinocytes
      modulates proliferation and differentiation of these cells. CONCLUSION: Increased
      TrkA expression in keratinocytes in atopic dermatitis may contribute to the
      observed epidermal hyperproliferation in these patients.

PMID- 25823577
TI  - Incentivising effort in governance of public hospitals: Development of a
      delegation-based alternative to activity-based remuneration.
AB  - This paper is a first examination of the development of an alternative to
      activity-based remuneration in public hospitals, which is currently being tested
      at nine hospital departments in a Danish region. The objective is to examine the
      process of delegating the authority of designing new incentive schemes from the
      principal (the regional government) to the agents (the hospital departments). We
      adopt a theoretical framework where, when deciding about delegation, the
      principal should trade off an initiative effect against the potential cost of
      loss of control. The initiative effect is evaluated by studying the development
      process and the resulting incentive schemes for each of the departments.
      Similarly, the potential cost of loss of control is evaluated by assessing the
      congruence between focus of the new incentive schemes and the principal's
      objectives. We observe a high impact of the effort incentive in the form of
      innovative and ambitious selection of projects by the agents, leading to nine
      very different solutions across departments. However, we also observe some
      incongruence between the principal's stated objectives and the revealed private
      interests of the agents. Although this is a baseline study involving high
      uncertainty about the future, the findings point at some issues with the
      delegation approach that could lead to inefficient outcomes. 

PMID- 25823579
TI  - [Title Unavailable].

PMID- 25823578
TI  - Adoption of health information technologies by physicians for clinical practice:
      The Andalusian case.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We investigated the level of adoption of Health Information
      Technologies (HIT) services, and the factors that influence this, amongst
      specialised and primary care physicians; in Andalusia, Spain. METHODS: We
      analysed the physicians' responses to an online survey. First, we performed a
      statistical descriptive analysis of the data; thereafter, a principal component
      analysis; and finally an order logit model to explain the effect of the use in
      the adoption and to analyse which are the existing barriers. RESULTS: The
      principal component analysis revealed three main uses of Health Information
      Technologies: Electronic Health Records (EHR), ePrescription and patient
      management and telemedicine services. Results from an ordered logit model showed
      that the frequency of use of HIT is associated with the physicians' perceived
      usefulness. Lack of financing appeared as a common barrier to the adoption of the
      three types of services. For ePrescription and patient management, the
      physician's lack of skills is still a barrier. In the case of telemedicine
      services, lack of security and lack of interest amongst professionals are the
      existing barriers. CONCLUSIONS: EHR functionalities are fully adopted, in terms
      of perceived usefulness. EPrescription and patient management are almost fully
      adopted, while telemedicine is in an early stage of adoption.

PMID- 25823580
TI  - Research priorities in epilepsy for the Asia-Oceanian region.
AB  - The Asia-Oceanian region is the most populous region in the world. Although there
      has been substantial economic development and improvement in health services in
      recent years, epilepsy remains generally an underrecognized and understudied
      condition. To help promote research in the region, the Commission on Asian and
      Oceanian Affairs (CAOA) of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE)
      appointed the Research Task Force (RTF) to facilitate the development of research
      priorities for the region. Research that focuses on issues that are unique or of
      particular importance in the Asia-Oceanian region is encouraged, and that
      captures the impact of the dynamic socioeconomic changes taking place in the
      region is emphasized. Based on these considerations, we propose research
      "dimensions" as priorities within the Asia-Oceanian region. These are studies (1)
      that would lead to fuller appreciation of the health burden of epilepsy,
      particularly the treatment gap; (2) that would lead to better understanding of
      the causes of epilepsy; (3) that would alleviate the psychosocial consequences of
      epilepsy; (4) that would develop better therapies and improved therapeutic
      outcomes; and (5) that would improve the research infrastructure. 

PMID- 25823581
TI  - Propensity of red blood cells to undergo P2X7 receptor-mediated
      phosphatidylserine exposure does not alter during in vivo or ex vivo aging.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure facilitates the removal of red blood
      cells (RBCs) from the circulation, potentially contributing to the loss of stored
      RBCs after transfusion, as well as senescent RBCs. Activation of the P2X7
      receptor by extracellular adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) can induce PS exposure
      on freshly isolated human RBCs, but whether this process occurs in stored RBCs or
      changes during RBC aging is unknown. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: RBCs were
      processed and stored according to Australian blood banking guidelines. PS
      exposure was determined by annexin V binding and flow cytometry. Efficacy of P2X
      antagonists was assessed by flow cytometric measurements of ATP-induced ethidium+
      uptake in RPMI 8226 cells. Osmotic fragility was assessed by lysis in hypotonic
      saline. RBCs were fractionated by discontinuous density centrifugation. RESULTS:
      ATP (1 mmol/L) induced PS exposure on RBCs stored for less than 1 week. This
      process was near-completely inhibited by the P2X7 antagonists A438079 and
      AZ10606120 and the P2X1/P2X7 antagonist MRS2159 but not the P2X1 antagonist
      NF499. ATP-induced PS exposure on RBCs was not dependent on K+, Na+, or Cl-
      fluxes. ATP did not alter the osmotic fragility of stored RBCs. ATP-induced PS
      exposure was similar between RBCs of different densities. ATP-induced PS exposure
      was also similar between RBCs stored for less than 1 week or for 6 weeks.
      CONCLUSION: The propensity of RBCs to undergo P2X7-mediated PS exposure does not
      alter during in vivo and ex vivo aging. Thus, P2X7 activation is unlikely to be
      involved in the removal of senescent RBCs or stored RBCs after transfusion.

PMID- 25823582
TI  - Flowering time of butterfly nectar food plants is more sensitive to temperature
      than the timing of butterfly adult flight.
AB  - 1. Variation among species in their phenological responses to temperature change
      suggests that shifts in the relative timing of key life cycle events between
      interacting species are likely to occur under climate warming. However, it
      remains difficult to predict the prevalence and magnitude of these shifts given
      that there have been few comparisons of phenological sensitivities to temperature
      across interacting species. 2. Here, we used a broad-scale approach utilizing
      collection records to compare the temperature sensitivity of the timing of adult
      flight in butterflies vs. flowering of their potential nectar food plants (days
      per  degrees C) across space and time in British Columbia, Canada. 3. On average,
      the phenology of both butterflies and plants advanced in response to warmer
      temperatures. However, the two taxa were differentially sensitive to temperature
      across space vs. across time, indicating the additional importance of
      nontemperature cues and/or local adaptation for many species. 4. Across butterfly
      plant associations, flowering time was significantly more sensitive to
      temperature than the timing of butterfly flight and these sensitivities were not
      correlated. 5. Our results indicate that warming-driven shifts in the relative
      timing of life cycle events between butterflies and plants are likely to be
      prevalent, but that predicting the magnitude and direction of such changes in
      particular cases is going to require detailed, fine-scale data.

PMID- 25823583
TI  - Diagnostic evaluation for interventional bronchoscopists and radiologists in lung
      cancer practice.
AB  - The global epidemic of lung cancer shows no signs of abating. It is generally
      accepted that accurate and cost-efficient diagnostic evaluation is the first
      important step to achieve the best outcomes of treatment. This is true in the
      context of disease confirmation, treatment planning, treatment monitoring,
      detection of and management of treatment failure or prognostication. Fortunately,
      major advances in the diagnostic evaluation of lung cancer have been made in the
      past three decades allowing more patients to get the appropriate treatment at the
      right time. This paper outlines how computed tomography, positron emission
      tomography/computed tomography and endobronchial ultrasound contribute to lung
      cancer management and discuss their strengths and weaknesses and their
      complimentary roles at different stages of lung cancer management. Due to
      financial constraint and reimbursement restrictions, not all clinically important
      advances in the diagnostic evaluation of lung cancer have been readily accepted
      into routine clinical care. This enforces the need to maintain ongoing dialogue
      between cancer clinicians, imaging specialists and health-care economists. 

PMID- 25823584
TI  - Structural and quantitative analysis of Equisetum alkaloids.
AB  - Equisetum palustre L. is known for its toxicity for livestock. Several studies in
      the past addressed the isolation and identification of the responsible alkaloids.
      So far, palustrine (1) and N(5)-formylpalustrine (2) are known alkaloids of E.
      palustre. A HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method in combination with simple sample work-up was
      developed to identify and quantitate Equisetum alkaloids. Besides the two known
      alkaloids six related alkaloids were detected in different Equisetum samples. The
      structure of the alkaloid palustridiene (3) was derived by comprehensive 1D and
      2D NMR experiments. N(5)-Acetylpalustrine (4) was also thoroughly characterized
      by NMR for the first time. The structure of N(5)-formylpalustridiene (5) is
      proposed based on mass spectrometry results. Twenty-two E. palustre samples were
      screened by a HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method after development of a simple sample work-up
      and in most cases the set of all eight alkaloids were detected in all parts of
      the plant. A high variability of the alkaloid content and distribution was found
      depending on plant organ, plant origin and season ranging from 88 to 597mg/kg
      dried weight. However, palustrine (1) and the alkaloid palustridiene (3) always
      represented the main alkaloids. For the first time, a comprehensive
      identification, quantitation and distribution of Equisetum alkaloids was
      achieved. 

PMID- 25823585
TI  - Unravelling the architecture and dynamics of tropane alkaloid biosynthesis
      pathways using metabolite correlation networks.
AB  - The tropane alkaloid spectrum in Solanaceae is highly variable within and between
      species. Little is known about the topology and the coordination of the
      biosynthetic pathways leading to the variety of tropine and pseudotropine derived
      esters in the alkaloid spectrum, or about the metabolic dynamics induced by
      tropane alkaloid biosynthesis stimulating conditions. A good understanding of the
      metabolism, including all ramifications, is however necessary for the development
      of strategies to increase the abundance of pharmacologically interesting
      compounds such as hyoscyamine and scopolamine. The present study explores the
      tropane alkaloid metabolic pathways in an untargeted approach involving a
      correlation-based network analysis. Using GC-MS metabolite profiling, the
      variation and co-variation among tropane alkaloids and primary metabolites was
      monitored in 60 Datura innoxia Mill. individuals, of which half were exposed to
      tropane alkaloid biosynthesis stimulating conditions by co-culture with
      Agrobacterium rhizogenes. Considerable variation was evident in the relative
      proportions of the tropane alkaloids. Remodeling of the tropane alkaloid spectrum
      under co-culture with A. rhizogenes involved a specific and strong increase of
      hyoscyamine production and revealed that the accumulation of hyoscyamine, 3
      tigloyloxy-6,7-epoxytropane, and 3-methylbutyryloxytropane was controlled
      independently of the majority of tropane alkaloids. Based on correlations between
      metabolites, we propose a biosynthetic origin of hygrine, the order of
      esterification of certain di-oxygenated tropanes, and that the rate of
      acetoxylation contributes to control of hyoscyamine production. Overall, this
      study shows that the biosynthesis of tropane alkaloids may be far more complex
      and finely controlled than previously expected. 

PMID- 25823586
TI  - Single-Cell Based Quantitative Assay of Chromosome Transmission Fidelity.
AB  - Errors in mitosis are a primary cause of chromosome instability (CIN), generating
      aneuploid progeny cells. Whereas a variety of factors can influence CIN, under
      most conditions mitotic errors are rare events that have been difficult to
      measure accurately. Here we report a green fluorescent protein-based quantitative
      chromosome transmission fidelity (qCTF) assay in budding yeast that allows
      sensitive and quantitative detection of CIN and can be easily adapted to high
      throughput analysis. Using the qCTF assay, we performed genome-wide quantitative
      profiling of genes that affect CIN in a dosage-dependent manner and identified
      genes that elevate CIN when either increased (icCIN) or decreased in copy number
      (dcCIN). Unexpectedly, qCTF screening also revealed genes whose change in copy
      number quantitatively suppress CIN, suggesting that the basal error rate of the
      wild-type genome is not minimized, but rather, may have evolved toward an optimal
      level that balances both stability and low-level karyotype variation for
      evolutionary adaptation. 

PMID- 25823587
TI  - Gene Network Reconstruction by Integration of Prior Biological Knowledge.
AB  - With the development of high-throughput genomic technologies, large, genome-wide
      datasets have been collected, and the integration of these datasets should
      provide large-scale, multidimensional, and insightful views of biological
      systems. We developed a method for gene association network construction based on
      gene expression data that integrate a variety of biological resources. Assuming
      gene expression data are from a multivariate Gaussian distribution, a graphical
      lasso (glasso) algorithm is able to estimate the sparse inverse covariance matrix
      by a lasso (L1) penalty. The inverse covariance matrix can be seen as direct
      correlation between gene pairs in the gene association network. In our work,
      instead of using a single penalty, different penalty values were applied for gene
      pairs based on a priori knowledge as to whether the two genes should be
      connected. The a priori information can be calculated or retrieved from other
      biological data, e.g., Gene Ontology similarity, protein-protein interaction,
      gene regulatory network. By incorporating prior knowledge, the weighted graphical
      lasso (wglasso) outperforms the original glasso both on simulations and on data
      from Arabidopsis. Simulation studies show that even when some prior knowledge is
      not correct, the overall quality of the wglasso network was still greater than
      when not incorporating that information, e.g., glasso. 

PMID- 25823588
TI  - Assessment of attitudes towards sun-protective behaviour in Australians: A cross
      sectional study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour towards sun
      protection measures in a sample of Australian adults. METHODS: A multicentre,
      cross-sectional study was undertaken during 2014 using a population-based survey
      of 416 individuals over the age of 18. The knowledge, behaviour and attitudes
      towards sun protection measures in this group of adults were assessed. The impact
      of educational level and employment status on responses was also evaluated.
      RESULTS: Sunscreen is the most common sun-protective measure. Daily sunscreen use
      is below 20%. Forgetfulness was the largest barrier to sunscreen use. A total of
      85% of respondents did not apply a sufficient amount of sunscreen. Only 32% of
      individuals reapplied sunscreen every 2 hours and 20% never reapplied it. In the
      preceding year, one or more sun burns were suffered by 46% of the participants in
      the survey. In all, 36% of individuals rarely or never check their sunscreens
      expiry date and less than 50% of individuals replaced their sunscreen each year.
      Furthermore, 65% were unaware that sunscreens stored above 25 degrees C were less
      effective than when stored correctly as per manufactures labelling. CONCLUSIONS:
      This study highlights a number of significant deficiencies that future sun
      protection programmes could target in order to improve the general public's
      knowledge and attitudes towards sun protection. There is also a need for this to
      be translated into the public's sun-protection behaviour.

PMID- 25823589
TI  - Intermediate-risk differentiated thyroid carcinoma patients who were surgically
      ablated do not need adjuvant radioiodine therapy: long-term outcome study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The mute question is whether patients with DTC of intermediate risk of
      recurrence, second most common presentation, who were surgically ablated in the
      first place, ever needed adjuvant RAI therapy? This study exclusively evaluated
      the long-term outcome in intermediate-risk patients with DTC. DESIGN: Two-arm
      retrospective cohort study conducted between years 1991 and 2012. SETTING:
      Institutional practice. PATIENTS: Intermediate-risk DTC patients, with
      pathologically proven T1/2 N1 M0, T3 with/without N1 M0 disease, with a minimum
      follow-up of 12 months, were included. Of 254 patients who fulfilled the
      inclusion/exclusion criteria, 125 patients were surgically ablated (Gr-I) and 129
      patients had significant remnant and/nodal disease (Gr-II). No radioiodine in Gr
      I and adjuvant RAI therapy was administered in Gr-II patients. MEASUREMENTS:
      Baseline characteristics were compared and overall survival, event-free survival,
      disease-free survival/overall remission rates and recurrence rates were
      calculated for both the groups. RESULTS: All baseline patient characteristics
      were comparable except 24-h RAIU between two groups. Depending on adjuvant
      radioiodine therapy outcome, Gr-II patients were subclassified as Gr-IIa
      (ablated) and Gr-IIb (not ablated). With a median follow-up duration of 10.3
      years (range: 1-21 years), 12/125 (9.6%) patients had disease recurrence and 10
      (8%) showed persistent disease in Gr-I. In Gr-IIa, 6/102 (5.9%) patients recurred
      but only one of them was successfully ablated with (131) I, and 5 (4.9%) had
      persistent disease. However, in Gr-IIb, 27 patients who failed first-dose
      adjuvant RAI therapy, 8/27 (29.6%) showed persistent disease (P = 0.000). Overall
      survival was 100%; however, disease-free survival rates were 92% and 90%, in Gr-I
      and Gr-II, respectively. CONCLUSION: Intermediate-risk surgically ablated
      patients do not need adjuvant RAI therapy and patients who failed to achieve
      ablation with first dose of (131) I may be dynamically risk stratified as high
      risk category and managed aggressively.

PMID- 25823590
TI  - Predictors of need for mechanical ventilation at discharge after tracheostomy in
      the PICU.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to determine factors predictive of
      need for mechanical ventilation (MV) upon discharge from the pediatric intensive
      care unit (PICU) among patients who receive a tracheostomy during their stay.
      METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study using the Virtual PICU Systems
      (VPS) database. Patients <18 years old admitted between 2009-2011 who required MV
      for at least 3 days and received a tracheostomy during their PICU stay were
      included. RESULTS: A total of 680 pediatric patients from 74 PICUs were included,
      of whom 347 (51%) remained on MV at the time of PICU discharge. Neonates (30/38,
      79%) and infants (129/203, 64%) required MV at PICU discharge after tracheostomy
      more often than adolescents (66/141, 47%) and children (122/298, 41%). Time on MV
      pre-tracheostomy was longer among those who required MV at discharge (median 18.3
      vs. 13.8 days, P < 0.0001); however, number of failed extubations was similar
      (median 1 for both groups, P = 0.97). On mixed-effects multivariable regression
      analysis, the age categories of neonate (OR 2.9, 95%CI 1.1-7.6, P = 0.03), and
      infant (OR 1.7, 95%CI 1.1-2.8, P = 0.03), and ventilator days prior to
      tracheostomy (OR 1.01, 95%CI 1.0-1.02, P = 0.01) were significantly associated
      with increased odds of MV upon PICU discharge, while being a trauma admission was
      associated with decreased odds (OR 0.45, 95%CI 0.28-0.73, P = 0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: Younger patients and those with prolonged courses of MV prior to
      tracheostomy are more likely to continue to need MV upon PICU discharge.

PMID- 25823592
TI  - The advantages of covalently attaching organometallic catalysts to a carbon black
      support: recyclable Rh(i) complexes that deliver enhanced conversion and product
      selectivity.
AB  - Pure carbon black (CB) was covalently attached to a bidentate nitrogen
      coordination motif with a carbon-carbon bond by spontaneous reaction with an in
      situ generated ligand precursor. The functionalized support was treated with
      [Rh(CO)2(MU-Cl)]2 to form a heterogeneous carbon-based support covalently linked
      to a well defined Rh(i) coordination complex. The hybrid material was
      characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric
      analysis (TGA), Infrared (IR) spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass
      spectrometry (ICP-MS). The CB-supported Rh(i) catalyst was active in both
      hydroamination and dihydroalkoxylation reactions achieving turnover numbers
      approaching 1000 and was readily recycled. The selectivity of an intramolecular
      dihydroalkoxylation reaction was significantly improved by covalently anchoring
      the catalyst to the CB surface. 

PMID- 25823591
TI  - FIB-SEM tomography of human skin telocytes and their extracellular vesicles.
AB  - We have shown in 2012 the existence of telocytes (TCs) in human dermis. TCs were
      described by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) as interstitial cells located
      in non-epithelial spaces (stroma) of many organs (see www.telocytes.com). TCs
      have very long prolongations (tens to hundreds micrometers) named Telopodes
      (Tps). These Tps have a special conformation with dilated portions named podoms
      (containing mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and caveolae) and very thin
      segments (below resolving power of light microscopy), called podomers. To show
      the real 3D architecture of TC network, we used the most advanced available
      electron microscope technology: focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy
      (FIB-SEM) tomography. Generally, 3D reconstruction of dermal TCs by FIB-SEM
      tomography revealed the existence of Tps with various conformations: (i) long,
      flattened irregular veils (ribbon-like segments) with knobs, corresponding to
      podoms, and (ii) tubular structures (podomers) with uneven calibre because of
      irregular dilations (knobs) - the podoms. FIB-SEM tomography also showed numerous
      extracellular vesicles (diameter 438.6 +/- 149.1 nm, n = 30) released by a human
      dermal TC. Our data might be useful for understanding the role(s) of TCs in
      intercellular signalling and communication, as well as for comprehension of
      pathologies like scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, etc.

PMID- 25823593
TI  - An atypical 0.73 MB microduplication of 22q11.21 and a novel SALL4 missense
      mutation associated with thumb agenesis and radioulnar synostosis.
AB  - We describe a 0.73 Mb duplication of chromosome 22q11.21 between LCR-B and LCR-D
      and a missense mutation in a conserved C2H2 zinc finger domain of SALL4 in a
      cognitively normal patient with multiple skeletal anomalies including radioulnar
      synostosis, thumb aplasia, butterfly vertebrae, rib abnormalities, and hypoplasia
      of the humeral and femoral epiphyses. 22q11.21 is a common site for
      microdeletions and their reciprocal microduplications as a result of non-allelic
      homologous recombination between its multiple low copy repeat regions (LCR).
      DiGeorge /Velocardiofacial syndrome (DG/VCFS) is classically caused by a 3 Mb
      deletion between LCR-A and LCR-D or a 1.5 Mb deletion between LCR-A and LCR-B.
      The reciprocal syndrome to DG/VCFS is the recently described 22q11.2
      microduplication, which usually presents with the typical 3 Mb or 1.5 Mb
      duplication. Numerous atypical deletions and duplications have been reported
      between other LCRs. Typically, SALL4-related Duane-radial ray syndrome is caused
      by deletions or nonsense mutations; the only missense SALL4 mutation described
      prior was thought to result in gain of function and produced cranial midline
      defects. The skeletal anomalies presented in this report have not been previously
      described in association with 22q11.2 microduplication nor SALL4 mutations.

PMID- 25823594
TI  - Pain in cochlear implant recipients: an uncommon, yet serious, consequence of
      cochlear implantation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: We describe pain around the receiver/stimulator [RS]
      presenting months to years after implantation. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective
      chart review. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of all cochlear
      implant recipients complaining of pain around their RS through the years 2009
      through 2013, with a follow-up of at least 6 months. Excluded from the study were
      patients with an identifiable cause for their pain such as trauma, local
      infection, or skin breakdown. The therapy regimen and outcomes were reviewed.
      RESULTS: Thirty patients complained of delayed pain over their RS, representing
      2.8% of 1,044 implantations performed at the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer,
      Israel, as of 2013. The time from implantation to the presentation of pain ranged
      from 3 months to 12 years. The pain was perceptible even when the external magnet
      and processor were not used, and was usually most obvious in specific points
      around the RS. Seventy-seven percent of our patients responded well to
      conservative therapy. Fifteen (50%) responded to prolonged antibiotic treatment.
      Five patients (17%) responded to antiinflammatories alone. One patient (3%)
      responded to deactivation of two electrodes. Six patients (20%) required
      reimplantation, after which the pain resolved in all. At explantation, no signs
      of infection, foreign body reaction, or obvious device damage were found.
      CONCLUSION: Delayed pain around the RS that is unrelated to use is a serious
      consequence of cochlear implantation, and in some cases, those necessitating
      reimplantation, should be considered a major complication. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.

PMID- 25823595
TI  - Self-assembly of molecule-like nanoparticle clusters directed by DNA nanocages.
AB  - Analogous to the atom-molecule relationship, nanoparticle (NP) clusters (or NP
      molecules) with defined compositions and directional bonds could potentially
      integrate the properties of the component individual NPs, leading to emergent
      properties. Despite extensive efforts in this direction, no general approach is
      available for assembly of such NP-molecules. Here we report a general method for
      building this type of structures by encapsulating NPs into self-assembled DNA
      polyhedral wireframe nanocages, which serve as guiding agents for further
      assembly. As a demonstration, a series of NP-molecules have been assembled and
      validated. Such NP-molecules will, we believe, pave a way to explore new
      nanomaterials with emergent functions/properties that are related to, but do not
      belong to the individual component nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25823596
TI  - True and false interindividual differences in the physiological response to an
      intervention.
AB  - NEW FINDINGS: What is the topic of this review? In 'personalized medicine',
      various plots and analyses are purported to quantify individual differences in
      intervention response, identify responders/non-responders and explore response
      moderators or mediators. What advances does it highlight? We highlight the impact
      of within-subject random variation, which is inevitable even with 'gold-standard'
      measurement tools/protocols and sometimes so substantial that it explains all
      apparent individual response differences. True individual response differences
      are quantified only by comparing the SDs of changes between intervention and
      comparator arms. When these SDs are similar, true individual response differences
      are clinically unimportant and further analysis unwarranted. Within the 'hot
      topic' of personalized medicine, we scrutinize common approaches for presenting
      and quantifying individual differences in the physiological response to an
      intervention. First, we explain how popular plots used to present individual
      differences in response are contaminated by random within-subject variation and
      the regression to the mean artefact. Using a simulated data set of blood pressure
      measurements, we show that large individual differences in physiological response
      can be suggested by some plots and analyses, even when the true magnitude of
      response is exactly the same in all individuals. Second, we present the
      appropriate designs and analysis approaches for quantifying the true
      interindividual variation in physiological response. It is imperative to include
      a comparator arm/condition (or derive information from a prior relevant
      repeatability study) to quantify true interindividual differences in response.
      The most important statistic is the SD of changes in the intervention arm, which
      should be compared with the same SD in the comparator arm or from a prior
      repeatability study in the same population conducted over the same duration as
      the particular intervention. Only if the difference between these SDs is
      clinically relevant is it logical to go on to explore any moderators or mediators
      of the intervention effect that might explain the individual response. To date,
      very few researchers have compared these SDs before making claims about
      individual differences in physiological response and their importance to
      personalized medicine.

PMID- 25823598
TI  - Effects of Immobilized BMP-2 and Nanofiber Morphology on In Vitro Osteogenic
      Differentiation of hMSCs and In Vivo Collagen Assembly of Regenerated Bone.
AB  - Engineering bone tissue is particularly challenging because of the distinctive
      structural features of bone within a complex biochemical environment. In the
      present study, we fabricated poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) electrospun nanofibers
      with random and aligned morphology immobilized with bone morphogenic protein-2
      (BMP-2) and investigated how these signals modulate (1) in vitro osteogenic
      differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and (2) in vivo bone
      growth rate, mechanical properties, and collagen assembly of newly formed bone.
      The orientation of adherent cells followed the underlying nanofiber morphology;
      however, nanofiber alignment did not show any difference in alkaline phosphate
      activity or in calcium mineralization of hMSCs after 14 days of in vitro culture
      in osteogenic differentiation media. In vivo bone regeneration was significantly
      higher in the nanofiber implanted groups (approximately 65-79%) as compared to
      the defect-only group (11.8 +/- 0.2%), while no significant difference in bone
      regeneration was observed between random and aligned groups. However,
      nanoindentation studies of regenerated bone revealed Young's modulus and contact
      hardness with anisotropic feature for aligned group as compared to random group.
      More importantly, structural analysis of collagen at de novo bone showed the
      ability of nanofiber morphology to guide collagen deposition. SEM and TEM images
      revealed regular, highly ordered collagen assemblies on aligned nanofibers as
      compared to random fibers, which showed irregular, randomly organized collagen
      deposition. Taken together, we conclude that nanofibers in the presence of
      osteoinductive signals are a potent tool for bone regeneration, and nanofiber
      alignment can be used for engineering bone tissues with structurally assembled
      collagen fibers with defined direction.

PMID- 25823599
TI  - A rhodium(I)-catalysed formal intramolecular C-C/C-H bond metathesis.
AB  - Phenylcyclobutanes underwent skeletal reorganisation in the presence of
      Wilkinson's catalyst to afford indanes through a cascade process involving
      chelation-assisted C-C bond cleavage and intramolecular C-H bond cleavage. 

PMID- 25823597
TI  - Bone parameters in relation to attitudes and feelings associated with disordered
      eating in oligo-amenorrheic athletes, eumenorrheic athletes, and nonathletes.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Disordered eating may negatively impact bone in athletes. However, it
      is not known whether this effect is independent of the associated amenorrhea and
      relative hypercortisolemia. We aimed to compare attitudes, feelings, and
      cognitions associated with disordered eating using the Three-Factor Eating
      Questionnaire (TFEQ) and Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) in normal-weight
      oligomenorrheic athletes (OA), eumenorrheic athletes (EA), and nonathletes, and
      determine the associations with bone independent of confounders. METHOD: 109 OA,
      39 EA, and 36 nonathletes (14-25 years) completed the TFEQ and EDI-2. Dual-energy
      X-ray absorptiometry was used to assess spine bone mineral density (BMD), and
      high-resolution pQCT to assess radius microarchitecture. We measured integrated
      cortisol (q 20', 11 PM-7 AM), bone formation (procollagen Type 1 N-terminal
      propeptide, P1NP), and resorption (C-telopeptide, CTX) markers in a subset.
      RESULTS: OA had lower spine BMD Z-scores than EA. Cognitive eating restraint
      (CER), drive for thinness (DT), ineffectiveness, and interoceptive awareness (IA)
      were higher in OA than EA (p < 0.05); CER was higher in OA versus nonathletes (p
      = 0.03). Pulsatile cortisol was positively associated with DT, ineffectiveness,
      and IA (p < 0.03). CER was inversely associated with BMD Z-scores and P1NP, and
      ineffectiveness with radius cross-sectional area even after controlling for age,
      BMI, amenorrhea duration, and cortisol (p < 0.03). DISCUSSION: Higher CER in
      athletes independently predicts lower BMD.

PMID- 25823601
TI  - Colorectal preOperative Surgical Score (CrOSS) for mortality in major colorectal
      surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Colorectal surgery carries a significant mortality risk, with
      reported rates of 1-6% for elective surgery and up to 22% in the emergency
      setting. Both clinicians and patients will benefit from being able to predict the
      likelihood of death before surgery. Recently, we have described and validated two
      risk stratification models for colorectal surgery, the Barwon Health 2012 and
      Association Francaise de Chirurgie models. However, these models are not suitable
      for assessment at patient's bedside. The purpose of this study is to develop a
      simplified preoperative model capable of predicting mortality following
      colorectal surgery. METHODS: The new model is termed Colorectal preOperative
      Surgical Score (CrOSS). The development and internal validation of CrOSS was
      performed using a prospectively maintained colorectal database. External
      validation was performed using retrospective data. Univariate and multivariate
      analyses were performed in model development. Calibration and discrimination were
      used for model validation. RESULTS: There were 474 and 389 consecutive colorectal
      surgeries at Geelong Hospital and Western Hospital. Overall mortality rates were
      5.16% and 1.03%, respectively. Significant predictors for mortality were as
      follows: age >=70, urgent operation, albumin <=30 g/L and congestive heart
      failure (receiver operating characteristic (ROC) = 0.870, calibration P-value =
      0.937). The predicted risk of mortality was stratified according to the risk
      profile of 0.39-66.51%. When validated externally, CrOSS predicted mortality
      accurately (ROC = 0.847, calibration P-value = 0.199). CONCLUSIONS: A robust and
      simple preoperative model has been created to risk-stratify patients for
      colorectal surgery. This was successfully validated at another tertiary hospital.

PMID- 25823602
TI  - Secondary acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is constitutional and probably not
      related to prior therapy.
AB  - Very little is known about secondary acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (s-ALL). This
      retrospective analysis studied a cohort of s-ALL patients treated at a single
      centre between 1994 and 2013, while comparing therapy-associated ALL (t-ALL) and
      antecedent malignancy ALL (am-ALL) patients. Thirty-two patients with s-ALL were
      identified. The overall incidence was 9.4% among ALL adults while T-cell s-ALL
      was rare (12% of s-ALLs). The median time interval between two malignant
      diagnoses was 5.3 years (range: 0.1-28). In contrast to previous reports, most of
      the s-ALLs were CD10 + and without KMT2A (MLL) abnormalities. The overall
      survival (OS) rates of the entire cohort at 12 and 24 months from ALL diagnosis
      was 49% and 25%, respectively. Most patients (n = 23, 72%) received prior chemo
      /radio-therapy for their first malignancy (t-ALL) and only 9 (28%) did not (am
      ALL). No significant difference was found in the incidence of B-/T- lineage ALL,
      extramedullary disease, blood count, and the rate of Philadelphia-positive ALL,
      nor in the rates of complete remission (P = 0.55) and OS (P = 0.97). This
      similarity, together with high incidence of family malignancy in both groups,
      raise the possibility that s-ALL patients may have an inherent predisposition to
      malignancies and a history of previous therapy may be of lesser importance in the
      pathogenesis of s-ALL.

PMID- 25823600
TI  - Analysis of cytokine production by peanut-reactive T cells identifies residual
      Th2 effectors in highly allergic children who received peanut oral immunotherapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Only limited evidence is available regarding the cytokine repertoire
      of effector T cells associated with peanut allergy, and how these responses
      relate to IgE antibodies to peanut components. OBJECTIVE: To interrogate T cell
      effector cytokine populations induced by Ara h 1 and Ara h 2 among peanut
      allergic (PA) children in the context of IgE and to evaluate their modulation
      during oral immunotherapy (OIT). METHODS: Peanut-reactive effector T cells were
      analysed in conjunction with specific IgE profiles in PA children using
      intracellular staining and multiplex assay. Cytokine-expressing T cell
      subpopulations were visualized using SPICE. RESULTS: Ara h 2 dominated the
      antibody response to peanut as judged by prevalence and quantity among a cohort
      of children with IgE to peanut. High IgE (> 15 kU(A)/L) was almost exclusively
      associated with dual sensitization to Ara h 1 and Ara h 2 and was age
      independent. Among PA children, IL-4-biased responses to both major allergens
      were induced, regardless of whether IgE antibodies to Ara h 1 were present. Among
      subjects receiving OIT in whom high IgE was maintained, Th2 reactivity to peanut
      components persisted despite clinical desensitization and modulation of allergen
      specific immune parameters including augmented specific IgG4 antibodies, Th1
      skewing and enhanced IL-10. The complexity of cytokine-positive subpopulations
      within peanut-reactive IL-4(+) and IFN-gamma(+) T cells was similar to that
      observed in those who received no OIT, but was modified with extended therapy.
      Nonetheless, high Foxp3 expression was a distinguishing feature of peanut
      reactive IL-4(+) T cells irrespective of OIT, and a correlate of their ability to
      secrete type 2 cytokines. CONCLUSION: Although total numbers of peanut-reactive
      IL-4(+) and IFN-gamma(+) T cells are modulated by OIT in highly allergic
      children, complex T cell populations with pathogenic potential persist in the
      presence of recognized immune markers of successful immunotherapy.

PMID- 25823603
TI  - Reduction of Acute Shoulder Dislocations in a Remote Environment: A Prospective
      Multicenter Observational Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Acute dislocations of the glenohumeral joint are common in wilderness
      activities. Emergent reduction should take place at the site of trauma to reduce
      the patient's pain and the risk of vascular and neurological complications. A
      limited number of reduction methods are applicable in remote areas. The aim of
      this study is to present our method of reduction of anterior shoulder luxation
      that is easily applicable in remote areas without medication, adjuncts, and
      assistants and is well tolerated by patients. METHODS: A prospective
      observational study was conducted during a 5-year period. The patients included
      underwent closed manual reduction with our technique. After each reduction, the
      physician who performed the reduction completed a standardized detailed history,
      and reexamined the patient (for acute complications). The patients were contacted
      6 months after the trauma to investigate long-term postreduction complications.
      RESULTS: Reduction was achieved with our method in 39 (100.0%) of 39 patients.
      The mean pain felt during our reduction procedure was rated 1.7 +/- 1.4 (on a
      scale of 10) using the visual analog scale scoring system. No complications were
      noted before or after the reduction attempts. We did not find any long-term
      complications. CONCLUSIONS: The reduction method presented in the present study
      is an effective method for the reduction of acute shoulder luxations in remote
      places. Our data suggest that this method could be applied for safe and effective
      reduction of shoulder dislocation.

PMID- 25823604
TI  - Hypothermia Evidence, Afterdrop, and Practical Experience.

PMID- 25823605
TI  - Synthesis of two new enrichable and MS-cleavable cross-linkers to define protein
      protein interactions by mass spectrometry.
AB  - The cross-linking Mass Spectrometry (XL-MS) technique extracts structural
      information from protein complexes without requiring highly purified samples,
      crystallinity, or large amounts of material. However, there are challenges to
      applying the technique to protein complexes in vitro, and those challenges become
      more daunting with in vivo experiments. Issues include effective detection and
      identification of cross-linked peptides from complex mixtures. While MS-cleavable
      cross-linkers facilitate the sequencing and identification of cross-linked
      peptides, enrichable cross-linkers increase their detectability by allowing their
      separation from non-cross-linked peptides prior to MS analysis. Although a number
      of cross-linkers with single functionality have been developed in recent years,
      an ideal reagent would incorporate both capabilities for XL-MS studies.
      Therefore, two new cross-linkers have been designed and prepared that incorporate
      an azide (azide-A-DSBSO) or alkyne (alkyne-A-DSBSO) to enable affinity
      purification strategies based on click chemistry. The integration of an acid
      cleavage site next to the enrichment handle allows easy recovery of cross-linked
      products during affinity purification. In addition, these sulfoxide containing
      cross-linking reagents possess robust MS-cleavable bonds to facilitate fast and
      easy identification of cross-linked peptides using MS analysis. Optimized, gram
      scale syntheses of these cross-linkers have been developed and the azide-A-DSBSO
      cross-linker has been evaluated with peptides and proteins to demonstrate its
      utility in XL-MS analysis. 

PMID- 25823606
TI  - A cross-sectional study of tumor markers during normal and high-risk pregnancies.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine tumor marker concentrations during normal and high-risk
      pregnancies. METHODS: The present cross-sectional study included women attending
      the gynecology outpatient department at All India Institute of Medical Sciences,
      New Delhi, India, between November 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013. Their serum was
      assayed for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), and
      cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3). RESULTS: A total of 251 pregnant women and 31
      nonpregnant women were included. Median CEA value was lower among pregnant women
      than among nonpregnant women (1.2MUg/L vs 1.4MUg/L; P=0.006), whereas that of
      CA15-3 was higher (16.7U/mL vs 12.3U/mL; P=0.03). CA19-9 concentration was higher
      among pregnant women aged 25-29years (7.0U/mL) or 30-34years (7.2U/mL) than among
      those aged 20-24years (4.2U/mL; P=0.01 for both). The CA15-3 level was increased
      during the second (13.0U/mL) and third (60.5U/mL) trimesters compared with the
      first trimester (9.5U/mL) (P<=0.01 for both comparisons). It was also raised in
      high-risk pregnancies (33.7U/mL), specifically pregnancies complicated by
      gestational diabetes mellitus (39.7U/mL), intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy
      (64.3U/mL), or heart disease (54.0U/mL) (P<0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: CA15-3
      concentrations rise during pregnancy, but whether this increase can be attributed
      to physiological changes in breast tissue needs to be investigated further.

PMID- 25823608
TI  - Persistent luminescent sub-10 nm Cr doped ZnGa2O4 nanoparticles by a biphasic
      synthesis route.
AB  - This communication highlights a simple and facile biphasic synthesis of sub-10 nm
      Cr doped ZnGa2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) for the first time. These smallest
      Cr:ZnGa2O4 NPs demonstrate stable persistent luminescence emission more than 40
      min after excitation. This synthesis strategy not only enables the controlled
      synthesis of these mixed metal oxide NPs unprecedentedly with smallest size to
      date but also allows them to be solution processable, which is advantageous for
      relevant applications with feasible and economic device fabrication. 

PMID- 25823609
TI  - Hamate fractures.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper is to present our experience in the
      treatment of the fractures of the hamate and to make a review of the literature
      on this topic. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We retrospectively reviewed 10 patients
      treated in our clinic between 2005-2012 suffering from fractures of the hamate.
      Six cases were fractures of the body and four were fractures of the hamate. Five
      cases were of associated injuries. Diagnostic delay ranged from 30 days to 2
      years. Patient follow-up ranged from 1 to 10 years. Patient satisfaction was
      evaluated using the DASH questionnaire. Five patients with a fracture of the body
      underwent surgery, and one was treated conservatively. Two patients with fracture
      of the hook of the hamate were treated with immobilization, and two more patients
      had the fragment removed. RESULTS: The grip strength and the digital clip were
      reduced in 2 cases. Flexion and extension of the wrist was limited in 3 cases.
      The mobility of the fingers was normal in all the cases, except in one. The
      results obtained from the DASH questionnaire were normal in all the cases, except
      in one case of fracture of the hamate, and in two cases of fracture of the body.
      CONCLUSIONS: The surgical treatment should reduce the dislocation and stabilize
      the injuries with osteosynthesis. The fractures of the hamate are usually
      diagnosed late, and the most recommended treatment is removal of the fragment,
      although it cannot be deduced from this study.

PMID- 25823610
TI  - Connexin50 couples axon terminals of mouse horizontal cells by homotypic gap
      junctions.
AB  - Horizontal cells in the mouse retina are of the axon-bearing B-type and
      contribute to the gain control of photoreceptors and to the center-surround
      organization of bipolar cells by providing feedback and feedforward signals to
      photoreceptors and bipolar cells, respectively. Horizontal cells form two
      independent networks, coupled by dendro-dendritic and axo-axonal gap junctions
      composed of connexin57 (Cx57). In Cx57-deficient mice, occasionally the residual
      tracer coupling of horizontal cell somata was observed. Also, negative feedback
      from horizontal cells to photoreceptors, potentially mediated by connexin
      hemichannels, appeared unaffected. These results point to the expression of a
      second connexin in mouse horizontal cells. We investigated the expression of
      Cx50, which was recently identified in axonless A-type horizontal cells of the
      rabbit retina. In the mouse retina, Cx50-immunoreactive puncta were predominantly
      localized on large axon terminals of horizontal cells. Electron microscopy did
      not reveal any Cx50-immunolabeling at the membrane of horizontal cell tips
      invaginating photoreceptor terminals, ruling out the involvement of Cx50 in
      negative feedback. Moreover, Cx50 colocalized only rarely with Cx57 on horizontal
      cell processes, indicating that both connexins form homotypic rather than
      heterotypic or heteromeric gap junctions. To check whether the expression of Cx50
      is changed when Cx57 is lacking, we compared the Cx50 expression in wildtype and
      Cx57-deficient mice. However, Cx50 expression was unaffected in Cx57-deficient
      mice. In summary, our results indicate that horizontal cell axon terminals form
      two independent sets of homotypic gap junctions, a feature which might be
      important for light adaptation in the retina.

PMID- 25823612
TI  - Risk factors for cytarabine-induced cutaneous toxicity in patients with
      haematological malignancies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The risk factors for cytarabine (Ara-C)-induced cutaneous toxicity
      are unclear. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of patients
      with haematopoietic malignancies treated with Ara-C and examined risk factors for
      Ara-C-induced cutaneous toxicity. RESULTS: We reviewed 114 patients (76 men, 38
      women) and found that 47 patients (41.2%) experienced cutaneous toxicity. In 93
      patients (81.6%) with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and acute myeloid leukaemia
      (AML), the toxicity was significantly associated with the cancer type [AML/NHL:
      odds ratio (OR) = 4.84; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.99-11.81; p = 0.001],
      age (<50/>=50 years: OR = 2.54; 95% CI = 1.08-5.95; p = 0.032) and concurrent
      steroid administration (yes/no: OR = 0.22; 95% CI = 0.09-0.56; p = 0.001). AML
      was the only significant association (OR = 3.83; 95% CI = 1.21-12.06; p = 0.022)
      in the multivariate logistic analysis. CONCLUSION: AML, age <50 years and no
      steroid use are considered to be risk factors for Ara-C-induced cutaneous
      toxicity.

PMID- 25823611
TI  - Generation of Natural Killer Cell Memory during Viral Infection.
AB  - Immunological memory is classically regarded as an attribute of antigen-specific
      T and B lymphocytes of the adaptive immune system. Cells of the innate immune
      system, including natural killer (NK) cells, have been considered short-lived
      cytolytic cells that can rapidly respond against pathogens in an antigen
      independent manner and then die off. However, NK cells have recently been
      described to possess traits of adaptive immunity, such as clonal expansion after
      viral antigen exposure to generate long-lived memory cells. In this review, we
      will discuss the current evidence for viral-induced NK cell memory in both mice
      and humans. 

PMID- 25823613
TI  - Oocyte zona pellucida dysmorphology is associated with diminished in-vitro
      fertilization success.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although irregularities in human zona pellucida (ZP) morphology are
      well described, there is scant literature on the clinical significance of ZP
      dysmorphology. We, therefore, designed a retrospective cohort trial of ZP
      dysmorphology to assess the clinical significance of ZP dysmorphology and its
      affect on IVF outcome. Over the same time period a random sample of 77 cycles of
      77 subjects with all normal oocyte morphology were selected as controls. METHODS:
      Between July 2006 and December 2010, all fresh non-donor cases performed at a
      university hospital IVF center were assessed for ZP dysmorphology. ZP
      dysmorphology included extracytoplasmic abnormalities (dark ZP and large
      perivitelline space) and oocyte shape (oval or irregularly shaped ZP). 136 IVF
      cycles from 119 subjects were identified where a majority of oocytes displayed ZP
      dysmorphology. Over the same time period a random sample of 77 cycles of 77
      subjects with all normal oocyte morphology were selected as controls. IVF
      prognostic and outcome parameters were compared between the patients with
      dysmorphic and normal oocytes. RESULTS: 136/1710 (8.0%) cycles of fresh non-donor
      IVF displayed predominant ZP dysmorphology. Dysmorphic and normal oocytes showed
      no difference in the oocyte quality predictors such as FSH (6.03+/-2.5 vs. 6.8+/
      2.3 IU/L), or AMH (2.5+/-2.0 vs. 2.30+/-1.5 ng/ml levels). ZP dysmorphology was
      associated with markedly diminished clinical pregnancy rates (44% vs. 70%;
      RR:0.62 [0.48, 0.80]; p = 0.0002), implantation rates (.17 vs. .36; IRR: 0.48
      [0.34, 0.68]; p < 0.0001) and live birth rates as compared to non dysmorphic
      oocytes (29% vs. 52%; RR:0.55 [0.39, 0.79]; p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: ZP
      dysmorphology is associated with markedly diminished pregnancy and implantation
      rates in IVF. The poorer outcome appears to be independent of the usual markers
      of ovarian reserve.

PMID- 25823615
TI  - Energetic Materials with Promising Properties: Synthesis and Characterization of
      4,4'-Bis(5-nitro-1,2,3-2H-triazole) Derivatives.
AB  - Using a variety of functionalization strategies, derivatives of 4, 4'-bis(5-nitro
      1,2,3-2H-triazole) were designed, synthesized, and characterized. The isomers
      were separated, their structures were confirmed with single-crystal X-ray
      analysis, and their properties were determined by differential scanning
      calorimetry, density, impact sensitivity, heat of formation, and detonation
      velocity and pressure (calculated by EXPLO5 V6.01). Those materials were found to
      exhibit superior detonation performance when compared with the other fully carbon
      nitrated bis(azoles). 

PMID- 25823614
TI  - Management of obstructive salivary disorders by sialendoscopy: a systematic
      review.
AB  - Our aim was to assess the effectiveness and safety of sialendoscopy as a
      diagnostic and therapeutic technique in the management of obstructive salivary
      disorders. We searched the following databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, ISI Web of
      Knowledge, The Cochrane Library, and the National Health Service Centre for
      Reviews and Dissemination (up to April 2014). References from the studies
      included and from review articles were scanned. A study was eligible for
      inclusion if it was a fully published peer-reviewed report with original data, if
      participants included adult patients with obstructive disease of the major
      salivary glands, if the outcome variables gave information about the success
      rates of the procedure in terms of freedom from symptoms and absence of residual
      obstruction, and if the paper was published in English, French, Italian,
      Portuguese, or Spanish. The data were extracted and summarised in tables of
      evidence. We report weighted pooled proportions, 95% CI, and test results for
      heterogeneity. The weighted pooled proportion of success rates of the
      obstruction's resolution was 76% (95% CI 71 to 82) for 40 studies involving 2654
      patients undergoing sialendoscopy alone, and 91% (95% CI 88 to 94) for the 23
      studies and 1480 procedures made with sialendoscopy and a combined surgical
      approach. In general, few complications were reported and the rate of
      sialadenectomy was low (4.6%). This systematic review suggests that sialendoscopy
      is effective and safe for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with
      obstructive salivary gland disease. 

PMID- 25823616
TI  - Immunostaining of phospho-histone H3 and Ki-67 improves reproducibility of
      recurrence risk assessment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors.
AB  - Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common non-epithelial tumors
      in the digestive tract. Beyond surgery, therapeutic management depends on risk of
      recurrence. Risk evaluation of GIST takes into account location and size of the
      tumor, whether or not the tumor was intact or ruptured and mitotic index. The
      mitotic index lacks in intra- and interobserver reproducibility. In this study,
      we evaluated on 61 GISTs, the reproducibility of mitotic counting using classical
      hematoxylin-eosin-saffron (HES) staining, and its correlation with the mitotic
      count obtained through immunohistochemical staining for phospho-histone H3 (PHH3)
      and the proliferation index based upon Ki-67 immunostaining. Mitotic counts by
      HES and PHH3 staining and Ki-67 proliferation index were evaluated twice by three
      independent observers taking into account interpretation times per tumor for each
      technique. HES-based and PHH3-based mitotic counts and Ki-67 proliferation index
      correlated well and presented good intra- and interobserver reproducibility. PHH3
      staining resulted in a slight but statistically significant difference of about
      two more mitotic figures per 5 mm(2) than the HES-based count, which might have
      put some borderline tumors in a different risk category. Immunohistochemical
      staining for PHH3 and Ki-67 allowed more rapid interpretation than mitotic counts
      based upon HES staining, but only PHH3 staining allows counting of mitoses.
      Immunostaining using anti-PHH3 and anti-Ki-67 antibodies will eventually provide
      improved recurrence risk stratification of GIST and may become effective
      ancillary tools in deciding on optimal therapeutic management.

PMID- 25823617
TI  - Antiviral activities of 15 dengue NS2B-NS3 protease inhibitors using a human cell
      based viral quantification assay.
AB  - The dengue virus is a mosquito-borne pathogen responsible for an estimated 50-100
      million human dengue infections annually. There are currently no approved drugs
      against this disease, resulting in a major unmet clinical need. The dengue viral
      NS2B-NS3 protease has been identified as a plausible drug target due to its
      involvement in viral replication in mammalian host cells. In the past decade, at
      least 20 dengue NS2B-NS3 protease inhibitors have been reported in the literature
      with a range of inhibitory activities in protease assays. However, such assays do
      not shed light on an inhibitor's ability to penetrate human cell membranes where
      the viral protease resides. In this study, we investigated the antiviral
      activities of 15 small-molecule and peptide-based NS2B-NS3 inhibitors on dengue
      serotype 2-infected HuH-7 human hepatocarcinoma cells. Experimental results
      revealed anthraquinone ARDP0006 (compound 5) to be the most potent inhibitor
      which reduced dengue viral titer by more than 1 log PFU/mL at 1 MUM in our cell
      based assays involving HuH-7 and K562 cell lines, suggesting that its scaffold
      could serve as a lead for further medicinal chemistry studies. Compound 5 was
      also found to be non-cytotoxic at 1 MUM over 3 days incubation on HuH-7 cells
      using the Alamar Blue cellular toxicity assay.

PMID- 25823618
TI  - Hepatitis C therapy with interferon-alpha and ribavirin reduces the CD4 cell
      count and the total, 2LTR circular and integrated HIV-1 DNA in HIV/HCV co
      infected patients.
AB  - This study investigated whether treatment with IFN-alpha and ribavirin (RBV)
      reduces 2LTR circular HIV DNA in addition to the total and integrated HIV DNA.
      Two groups of patients were enrolled. Group 1 comprised HIV/HCV co-infected
      patients who were treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), IFN
      alpha and RBV for 48 weeks. After the 48 weeks of treatment, IFN-alpha and RBV
      treatment was discontinued and HAART was continued. Group 2 comprised HIV
      infected patients who were treated with HAART. Real-time polymerase chain
      reaction (RT-PCR) was used to quantify the levels of HIV-1 DNA. We found that
      compared with Group 2 patients, Group 1 patients exhibited an obvious decrease in
      the CD4 cell count and the total DNA, 2LTR circular DNA, and integrated HIV DNA
      after 48 weeks of treatment. After the discontinuation of IFN-alpha and RBV
      treatment in Group 1 patients, the levels of HIV DNA recovered. Therefore, we
      concluded that treatment with IFN-alpha and ribavirin (RBV) reduces 2LTR circular
      HIV DNA.

PMID- 25823619
TI  - The kinase-inhibitor sorafenib inhibits multiple steps of the Hepatitis C Virus
      infectious cycle in vitro.
AB  - Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) chronic infection is a major cause of hepatocellular
      carcinoma. Sorafenib is the only medical treatment that has been approved for the
      treatment of this cancer. It is a multikinase inhibitor with anti-tumor activity
      against a wide variety of cancers. Sorafenib blocks angiogenesis and tumor cell
      proliferation through inhibition of kinases, such as VEGFR2, PDGFR, or the
      serine/threonine kinases RAF. Previous studies have reported an anti-HCV effect
      of sorafenib in vitro, but various mechanisms of action have been described. The
      aim of this study was to clarify the action of sorafenib on the complete HCV
      infectious cycle. In order to examine the action of sorafenib on all steps of the
      HCV infectious cycle, we used a combination of validated cell culture models,
      based on the HuH-7 reference cell line and primary human hepatocytes. We found
      that sorafenib blocks HCV infection by altering the viral entry step and the
      production of viral particles. Moreover, we observed that treatment with
      sorafenib lead to a modification of Claudin-1 expression and localization, which
      could partly be responsible for the anti-HCV effect. Collectively, our findings
      confirm the anti-HCV effect of sorafenib in vitro, while highlighting the
      complexity of the action of sorafenib on the HCV infectious cycle. 

PMID- 25823620
TI  - Effects of nutrition intervention on the nutritional status and outcomes of
      pediatric patients with pneumonia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aims to explore the correlation between nutrient level and
      pneumonia via the analysis and intervention of nutrient levels in pediatric
      patients with pneumonia. METHODS: Nutrient deficient children with pneumonia were
      randomized into intervention and non-intervention groups, and healthy children
      with the same age served as controls. Serum vitamin and trace element levels were
      determined. The nutrient levels, average hospital stay and nutrient deficiency
      rate were compared between groups. RESULTS: The pneumonia group showed
      significantly higher rates of iron, zinc and vitamin A deficiencies than the
      control group. The serum vitamin D level in asthmatic pneumonia group was lower
      than that in non-asthmatic pneumonia group and control group. Serum zinc, iron
      and vitamin A levels in the pneumonia group distinctly increased after
      intervention therapy. After vitamin D supplementation, the serum vitamin D level
      in asthmatic pneumonia group was significantly improved. Children in the
      intervention group had shorter hospital stays than children in the non
      intervention group, whose hospital stays were longer than pediatric patients with
      normal nutrient levels. However, the difference between the intervention and
      normal nutrient groups was insignificant. CONCLUSION: Clinical nutrition
      intervention could improve the efficacy of pneumonia in pediatric patients and
      shorten hospital stay.

PMID- 25823621
TI  - Informative nursery rhymes: a pilot study of children's satisfaction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess, by means of a questionnaire, the
      level of children's satisfaction relating to three informative charts, including
      a nursery rhyme, administered to the patient before a medical procedure. METHODS:
      We created three types of specific informative charts on three medical topics
      with the double function of informing the child before the medical procedure, and
      of distracting him/her by means of a nursery rhyme read aloud by the authors. To
      assess the level of children's satisfaction, we administered the patients a
      questionnaire. RESULTS: According to children's feedback, the charts were funny
      and useful. CONCLUSIONS: The charts conceived in this study seem to be an easily
      applicable and entertaining approach to provide information and distraction to
      children undergoing surgery.

PMID- 25823623
TI  - The effect of anesthesia type on nonsurgical operating room time.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the effect of local-only anesthesia on nonsurgical time
      compared with monitored anesthesia care (MAC)/local and general anesthesia. Our
      hypothesis was that local-only anesthesia cases would have lower nonsurgical
      times compared with MAC/local and general anesthesia. METHODS: We retrospectively
      reviewed the surgical records of 1,179 patients undergoing elective hand surgery.
      For each case, we recorded the type of anesthesia used (general, MAC/local, or
      local-only anesthesia) and in-room presurgical time, in-room postsurgical time,
      and, if relevant, room turnover time. We did not record room turnover times for
      the first case of the day or for cases after procedures that did not meet
      inclusion criteria. We also recorded the presence of any anesthesia providers
      (anesthesiologist vs anesthesia-assistant [certified registered nurse
      anesthetist]). RESULTS: A total of 566 cases performed on 501 patients met
      inclusion criteria. Room turnover times were not calculated for 304 cases. The
      choice of anesthesia had a significant effect on nonsurgical operating room time.
      Local anesthesia cases had significantly less nonsurgical time compared with
      general anesthesia and MAC/local. Cases performed under MAC/local anesthesia also
      had significantly reduced nonsurgical time compared with general anesthesia. The
      presence of a certified anesthesia assistant had no effect on any time metrics
      recorded. CONCLUSIONS: Choice of local anesthesia, when appropriate, may
      facilitate rapid operating room turnover and improve overall facility efficiency
      with lower costs. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic IV.

PMID- 25823622
TI  - Reconstruction of fingertip injuries: surgical tips and avoiding complications.
AB  - The fingertip is the most commonly injured part of the hand. When replantation of
      a fingertip amputation is not possible, flap reconstruction may be necessary for
      a functional and aesthetically pleasing outcome. This paper reviews commonly
      utilized reconstruction techniques with a focus on technical tricks and potential
      complications and how to avoid them, with illustrative cases. 

PMID- 25823624
TI  - Long-term efficacy and safety outcomes of transplantation of induced pluripotent
      stem cell-derived neurospheres with bioabsorbable nerve conduits for peripheral
      nerve regeneration in mice.
AB  - The induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSc) offers great potential for cell-based
      therapy in regenerative medicine. We previously developed tissue-engineered
      bioabsorbable nerve conduits coated with iPSc-derived neurospheres for use in
      peripheral nerve repair. Here, we examine the long-term efficacy and safety of
      using nerve conduits with iPSc technology for peripheral nerve repair in mice.
      The nerve conduit consisted of an outer layer of a poly L-lactide mesh and an
      inner layer of porous sponge composed of 50% L-lactide and 50% epsilon
      caprolactone. Secondary neurospheres were derived from mouse iPScs, resuspended
      and cultured within the conduit for 14 days. Conduits were implanted within
      surgically administered 5-mm defects in the left sciatic nerve of mice (iPSc
      group; n = 14). The defects in the control group (n = 13) were reconstructed
      using the nerve conduit alone. At 4, 8, 12, 24 and 48 weeks postsurgery, motor
      and sensory functional recovery in the iPSc group had improved significantly more
      than in the control group. At 24 and 48 weeks, histological analysis revealed
      axonal regeneration in the nerve conduits of both groups. However, axonal
      regeneration and myelination were significantly enhanced in the iPSc group. No
      teratomas were identified in the iPSc group at any time point. Therefore, we here
      demonstrate that bioabsorbable nerve conduits coated with iPSc-derived
      neurospheres promote enhanced regeneration of peripheral nerves and functional
      recovery without teratoma formation in the long term. This combination of iPSc
      technology and bioabsorbable nerve conduits has the potential to be a safe future
      tool for the treatment of peripheral nerve defects.

PMID- 25823629
TI  - Intensive ketamine use for multiple years: A case report.
AB  - Ketamine is known within the medical field for its anesthetic properties, yet its
      unique psychedelic and antidepressant properties are being increasingly
      recognized. We document the case of a patient with bipolar I disorder and an
      extensive history of substance dependence who used large doses of ketamine (1-3
      g) on a daily basis over a period of 5 years, and described acute antidepressant
      effects as well as diminished cravings for alcohol. While his use was untenable
      and ultimately led to an inpatient admission, it is notable that he did not
      experience a withdrawal syndrome nor did he have any observable cognitive
      deficits upon cessation of use. Such a unique drug profile suggests that further
      exploration of its risks and therapeutic potential in treating mood and addiction
      disorders is warranted.

PMID- 25823630
TI  - Initiating buprenorphine treatment for hospitalized patients with opioid
      dependence: A case series.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Opioid dependent patients are hospitalized frequently.
      We aimed to determine if initiation of buprenorphine treatment during
      hospitalization facilitates entry into treatment following discharge. METHODS:
      Retrospective case series (n = 47). RESULTS: Twenty-two (46.8%) patients
      successfully initiated buprenorphine treatment within 2 months of discharge.
      Those patients obtaining a referral to a specific program were more successful in
      continuing treatment, but this difference did not reach statistical significance
      (59.1% vs 39.1%, p = 0.18). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Hospitalization may be an
      important opportunity to engage opioid dependent patients to initiate
      buprenorphine treatment. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides provisional
      support for utilizing buprenorphine for hospitalized patients.

PMID- 25823631
TI  - The role of opioidergic genes in the treatment outcome of drug addiction
      pharmacotherapy: A systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Drug addiction is a serious illness with deleterious
      functional and social consequences for both the affected individuals, their
      families, and society at large. In spite of the abundant research on substance
      dependence, there are few effective treatments for this disease. Given the
      crucial role of the endogenous opioid system in the development and maintenance
      of substance abuse disorders, this review focuses on the opioidergic system and
      examines the role of opioidergic genes in the treatment outcome of
      pharmacotherapies of alcohol, opioid, and cocaine addiction. METHODS: Scopus (all
      databases) and Pubmed were systematically searched with no language or year
      restrictions, up to July 2014, for studies that focused on the relationship
      between polymorphisms of opioidergic genes and the treatment outcome of
      pharmacotherapies of alcohol, opioid, and cocaine addictions. Selected search
      terms were opioid, gene, polymorphism, drug therapy, substance abuse, and
      response. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The genetic variability of MU-, delta- and
      kappa-opioid receptors genes OPRM1, OPRD1, and OPRK1 modulates the efficacy of
      opioid antagonist treatments such as naltrexone and methadone, as well as the
      cocaine vaccine. Despite the number of promising reports, data from additional
      cohorts are needed to substantiate these findings. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: Gene
      variant profiling could help predict treatment response and assist in developing
      effective treatments for alcohol, opioid, and cocaine addiction.

PMID- 25823632
TI  - Trends in the use of buprenorphine by office-based physicians in the United
      States, 2003-2013.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Despite buprenorphine's promise as a novel therapy for
      opioid dependence, little is known about its clinical adoption. We characterized
      trends in ambulatory use of buprenorphine in the United States. METHODS: Cross
      sectional, descriptive analyses of buprenorphine utilization from 2003 to 2013
      using the IMS Health National Disease and Therapeutic Index, a nationally
      representative audit of ambulatory care. The primary unit of analysis was an
      office visit where buprenorphine was used for opioid dependence (treatment
      visit). RESULTS: Between 2003 and 2013, there was significant uptake of
      buprenorphine in ambulatory treatment visits, from 0.16 million [M] (95%
      confidence interval [CI] 0.10-0.20) visits in 2003 to 2.1M (CI 1.9-2.3M)
      treatment visits during 2013. Approximately 90% involved the use of brand name
      combination buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone), although this percentage decreased
      modestly to 80% by the last quarter of 2013. Buprenorphine prescribing increased
      among all specialties, but the proportion accounted for by primary care
      physicians increased significantly from 6.0% in 2003 to 63.5% in 2013 and
      decreased among psychiatrists from 92.2% to 32.8% over the same time period.
      CONCLUSIONS: The use of buprenorphine products to treat opioid dependence has
      increased significantly in the past 10 years and has shifted to greater use by
      primary care physicians, indicating a rapidly changing face of opioid maintenance
      therapy in the United States.

PMID- 25823633
TI  - The prevalence of substance use disorders in American physicians.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There have been few studies on the prevalence of substance use
      disorders (SUDS) in the physician population at large nor have any studies
      compared the prevalence of SUDS in American physicians by specialty. METHODS: We
      conducted a national study of SUDS in a large sample of U.S. physicians from all
      specialty disciplines using the AMA Physician Masterfile. Substance Use Disorders
      (SUDS) were measured using validated instruments. RESULTS: Of the 27,276
      physicians who received an invitation to participate, 7,288 (26.7%) completed
      surveys. 12.9% of male physicians and 21.4% of female physicians met diagnostic
      criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence. Abuse of prescription drugs and use of
      illicit drugs was rare. Factors independently associated with alcohol abuse or
      dependence were age (OR = .985; p < .0001), hours worked (OR = .994; p = .0094),
      male gender (OR = .597; p < .0001), being married (OR 1.296; p = .0424) or
      partnered (OR 1.989; p = .0003), having children (OR .745; p = .0049), and being
      in any specialty other than internal medicine (OR 1.757; p = .0060). Specialty
      choice was strongly associated with alcohol abuse or dependence (p = .0011).
      Alcohol abuse or dependence was associated with burnout (p < .0001), depression
      (p < .0001), suicidal ideation (p = .0004), lower quality of life (p < .0001),
      lower career satisfaction (p = .0036), and recent medical errors (p = .0011).
      CONCLUSION: Alcohol abuse or dependence is a significant problem among American
      physicians. Since prognosis for recovery of physicians from chemical dependency
      is exceptionally high, organizational approaches for the early identification of
      problematic alcohol consumption in physicians followed by intervention and
      treatment where indicated should be strongly supported.

PMID- 25823634
TI  - Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, underlying affective vulnerabilities,
      and smoking for affect regulation.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is
      overrepresented among cigarette smokers. It has been hypothesized that those with
      PTSD smoke to alleviate negative affect and counteract deficient positive affect
      commonly associated with the disorder; however, limited research has examined
      associations between PTSD symptoms, smoking motives, and affective vulnerability
      factors. In the current study, we examined (1) whether PTSD symptoms were
      associated with positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement smoking
      motives; and (2) whether two affective vulnerability factors implicated in PTSD
      anxiety sensitivity and anhedonia-mediated relationships between PTSD symptoms
      and smoking motives. METHODS: Data were drawn from a community sample of non
      treatment-seeking smokers recruited without regard for trauma history (N = 342;
      10+ cig/day). We used the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian
      Version (PCL-C) to assess overall PTSD symptom severity as well as individual
      PTSD subfactors. RESULTS: Overall, PTSD symptom severity was significantly
      associated with negative reinforcement, but not positive reinforcement, smoking
      motives. Variation in anxiety sensitivity significantly mediated the relation
      between PTSD symptom severity and negative reinforcement smoking motives, whereas
      anhedonia did not. Regarding PTSD subfactors, emotional numbing was the only PTSD
      subfactor associated with smoking rate, while re-experiencing symptoms were
      uniquely associated with both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement
      smoking motives. CONCLUSIONS AND SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: Findings suggest that
      anxiety sensitivity may be an important feature associated with PTSD that
      enhances motivation to smoke for negative reinforcement purposes. Smoking
      cessation interventions that alleviate anxiety sensitivity and enhance coping
      with negative affect may be useful for smokers with elevated PTSD symptoms.

PMID- 25823635
TI  - Objective and subjective memory ratings in cannabis-dependent adolescents.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance
      worldwide, with an estimated 160 million users. Among adolescents, rates of
      cannabis use are increasing, while the perception of detrimental effects of
      cannabis use is declining. Difficulty with memory is one of the most frequently
      noted cognitive deficits associated with cannabis use, but little data exist
      exploring how well users can identify their own memory deficits, if present.
      METHODS: The current secondary analysis sought to characterize objective verbal
      and visual memory performance via a neurocognitive battery in cannabis-dependent
      adolescents enrolled in a pharmacotherapeutic cannabis cessation clinical trial
      (N = 112) and compare this to a single self-reported item assessing difficulties
      with memory loss. Exploratory analyses also assessed dose-dependent effects of
      cannabis on memory performance. RESULTS: A small portion of the study sample
      (10%) endorsed a "serious problem" with memory loss. Those participants reporting
      "no problem" or "serious problem" scored similarly on visual and verbal memory
      tasks on the neurocognitive battery. Exploratory analyses suggested a potential
      relationship between days of cannabis use, amount of cannabis used, and gender
      with memory performance. CONCLUSIONS AND SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: This
      preliminary and exploratory analysis suggests that a sub-set of cannabis users
      may not accurately perceive difficulties with memory. Further work should test
      this hypothesis with the use of a control group, comprehensive self-reports of
      memory problems, and adult populations that may have more years of cannabis use
      and more severe cognitive deficits.

PMID- 25823640
TI  - Concomitant major vessel resection in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
AB  - Increasing evidence has contraindicated extended radical dissection of pancreatic
      adenocarcinoma (PC). With the recent improvement of perioperative management
      techniques and multimodal treatment strategy for PC, concomitant major vessel
      resection and reconstruction has thus been aggressively attempted in association
      with comparatively better pathologically negative surgical margins and
      postoperative survival. We have discussed the clinical relevance of concomitant
      major vessel resection mainly focusing on indications for such resection with
      borderline resectable tumor associated with chemoradiotherapy, distal
      pancreatectomy with en bloc celiac axis resection for pancreatic body and tail
      cancer, and adjuvant surgery for initially unresectable pancreatic cancer. 

PMID- 25823641
TI  - Benign prostatic hyperplasia and urinary symptoms: Evaluation and treatment.
AB  - Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the most common conditions affecting
      middle-aged men. This condition can be microscopic, macroscopic, symptomatic, or
      asymptomatic. Up to 15% to 25% of men aged 50-65 years have lower urinary tract
      symptoms (LUTS) consisting of nocturia, urgency, frequency, a sensation of not
      completely emptying the bladder, stop-start urination, straining to urinate, a
      need to urinate soon after voiding, and weak urinary stream. These symptoms
      usually are associated with benign enlargement of the prostate gland that is of
      sufficient severity to interfere with a man's quality of life. Although LUTS is
      often associated with BPH, LUTS can also be due to various unrelated syndromes
      such as heart failure, urinary tract infections, and diabetes. Most men will have
      benign hyperplasia of the prostate gland and this benign growth compresses the
      urethra resulting in LUTS. This article will discuss the evaluation,
      pharmacological management, minimally invasive treatment, and surgical therapy of
      this common condition affecting millions of American men. 

PMID- 25823642
TI  - A numerical study of the benefits of driving jellyfish bells at their natural
      frequency.
AB  - A current question in swimming and flight is whether or not driving flexible
      appendages at their resonant frequency results in faster or more efficient
      locomotion. It has been suggested that jellyfish swim faster when the bell is
      driven at its resonant frequency. The goal of this study was to determine whether
      or not driving a jellyfish bell at its resonant frequency results in a
      significant increase in swimming velocity. To address this question, the immersed
      boundary method was used to solve the fully coupled fluid structure interaction
      problem of a flexible bell in a viscous fluid. Free vibration numerical
      experiments were used to determine the resonant frequency of the jellyfish bell.
      The jellyfish bells were then driven at frequencies ranging from above and below
      the resonant frequency. We found that jellyfish do swim fastest for a given
      amount of applied force when the bells are driven near their resonant frequency.
      Nonlinear effects were observed for larger deformations, shifting the optimal
      frequency to higher than the resonant frequency. We also found that the benefit
      of resonant forcing decreases for lower Reynolds numbers. 

PMID- 25823643
TI  - Standardized fluorescence in situ hybridization testing based on an appropriate
      panel of probes more effectively identifies common cytogenetic abnormalities in
      myelodysplastic syndromes than conventional cytogenetic analysis: a multicenter
      prospective study of 2302 patients in China.
AB  - In an attempt to establish the advantages of fluorescence in situ hybridization
      (FISH) studies over conventional cytogenetic (CC) analysis, a total of 2302 de
      novo MDS patients from 31 Chinese institutions were prospectively selected in the
      present study for both CC and standardized FISH analysis for +8, -7/7q-, -5/5q-,
      20q- and-Y chromosomal abnormalities. CC analysis was successful in 94.0% of the
      patients; of these patients, 35.9% of the cases were abnormal. FISH analysis was
      successful in all 2302 patients and detected at least one type of common
      cytogenetic abnormality in 42.7% of the cases. The incidences of +8, -7/7q-, 
      5/5q-, 20q- and-Y chromosomal abnormalities by FISH were 4.1% to 8.7% higher than
      those by CC. FISH identified abnormalities in 23.6% of the patients exhibiting
      normal CC results and revealed that 20.7% of the patients with adequate normal
      metaphases (>=20) had abnormal clones. FISH identified cytogenetic abnormalities
      in 50.4% of the patients with failed CC analysis. In summary, our multicenter
      studies emphasised and confirmed the importance of applying standardized FISH
      testing based on an appropriate panel of probes to detect common cytogenetic
      abnormalities in Chinese de novo MDS patients, particularly those with normal or
      failed CC results. 

PMID- 25823644
TI  - Expression of the histone chaperone SET/TAF-Ibeta during the strobilation process
      of Mesocestoides corti (Platyhelminthes, Cestoda).
AB  - The histone chaperone SET/TAF-Ibeta is implicated in processes of chromatin
      remodelling and gene expression regulation. It has been associated with the
      control of developmental processes, but little is known about its function in
      helminth parasites. In Mesocestoides corti, a partial cDNA sequence related to
      SET/TAF-Ibeta was isolated in a screening for genes differentially expressed in
      larvae (tetrathyridia) and adult worms. Here, the full-length coding sequence of
      the M. corti SET/TAF-Ibeta gene was analysed and the encoded protein (McSET/TAF)
      was compared with orthologous sequences, showing that McSET/TAF can be regarded
      as a SET/TAF-Ibeta family member, with a typical nucleosome-assembly protein
      (NAP) domain and an acidic tail. The expression patterns of the McSET/TAF gene
      and protein were investigated during the strobilation process by RT-qPCR, using a
      set of five reference genes, and by immunoblot and immunofluorescence, using
      monospecific polyclonal antibodies. A gradual increase in McSET/TAF transcripts
      and McSET/TAF protein was observed upon development induction by trypsin,
      demonstrating McSET/TAF differential expression during strobilation. These
      results provided the first evidence for the involvement of a protein from the NAP
      family of epigenetic effectors in the regulation of cestode development. 

PMID- 25823647
TI  - Radiation protection in cardiovascular interventions: what can we do?

PMID- 25823645
TI  - Eprobe-mediated screening system for somatic mutations in the KRAS locus.
AB  - Activating mutations in the Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS)
      loci are largely predictive of resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor
      (EGFR) therapy in colorectal cancer (CRC). A highly sensitive detection system
      for the KRAS gene mutations is urgently needed; however, conventional methods
      have issues with feasibility and cost performance. Here, we describe a novel
      detection system using a fluorescence 'Eprobe' capable of detecting low level
      KRAS gene mutations, via real-time PCR, with high sensitivity and simple
      usability. We designed our Eprobes to be complementary to wild-type (WT) KRAS or
      to the commonly mutated codons 12 and 13. The WT Eprobe binds strongly to the WT
      DNA template and suppresses amplification by blocking annealing of the primer
      during PCR. Eprobe-PCR with WT Eprobe shows high sensitivity (0.05-0.1% of
      plasmid DNA, 1% of genomic DNA) for the KRAS mutation by enrichment of the mutant
      type (MT) amplicon. Assay performance was compared to Sanger sequencing using 92
      CRC samples. Discrepancies were analyzed by mutation genotyping via Eprobe-PCR
      with full match Eprobes for 7 prevalent mutations and the next generation
      sequencing (NGS). Significantly, the Eprobe system had a higher sensitivity for
      detecting KRAS mutations in CRC patient samples; these mutations could not be
      identified by Sanger sequencing. Thus, the Eprobe approach provides for highly
      sensitive and convenient mutation detection and should be useful for diagnostic
      applications.

PMID- 25823648
TI  - Focused Ultrasound as a Scalable and Contact-Free Method to Manufacture Protein
      Loaded PLGA Nanoparticles.
AB  - PURPOSE: Although nanomaterials are under investigation for a very broad range of
      medical applications, only a small fraction of these are already commercialized
      or in clinical development. A major challenge for the translation of
      nanomedicines into the clinic is the missing scalability of the available lab
      scale preparation methods and, ultimately, non-identical samples during early and
      late research. METHODS: Protein-loaded PLGA nanoparticles using focused
      ultrasound in an emulsion solvent diffusion method were prepared in different
      batch sizes to evaluate achievable mean size, protein loading, and yield.
      RESULTS: Using the same equipment, nanoparticles could be prepared in batch sizes
      from 1 mg to 2.5 g. Size and yield were directly controllable by the amount of
      incident energy with good reproducibility. The nanoparticles displayed similar
      mean size, protein loading, and nanoparticle yield in batch sizes over three
      orders of magnitude. A scalable purification method based on diafiltration was
      established. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method enables for feasibility studies
      during early research using just a small amount of polymer and protein, while at
      the same time it allows for larger scale production at later stages. As the
      proposed method further relies on contact-free energy transmission, it is
      especially suited for the preparation of clinical research samples.

PMID- 25823649
TI  - Production of Highly Charged Pharmaceutical Aerosols Using a New Aerosol
      Induction Charger.
AB  - PURPOSE: Properly charged particles can be used for effective lung targeting of
      pharmaceutical aerosols. The objective of this study was to characterize the
      performance of a new induction charger that operates with a mesh nebulizer for
      the production of highly charged submicrometer aerosols to bypass the mouth
      throat and deliver clinically relevant doses of medications to the lungs.
      METHODS: Variables of interest included combinations of model drug (albuterol
      sulfate) and charging excipient (NaCl) as well as strength of the charging field
      (1-5 kV/cm). Aerosol charge and size were measured using a modified electrical
      low pressure impactor system combined with high performance liquid
      chromatography. RESULTS: At the approximate mass median aerodynamic diameter
      (MMAD) of the aerosol (~0.4 MUm), the induction charge on the particles was an
      order of magnitude above the field and diffusion charge limit. The nebulization
      rate was 439.3 +/- 42.9 MUl/min, which with a 0.1% w/v solution delivered 419.5
      +/- 34.2 MUg of medication per minute. A new correlation was developed to predict
      particle charge produced by the induction charger. CONCLUSIONS: The combination
      of the aerosol induction charger and predictive correlations will allow for the
      practical generation and control of charged submicrometer aerosols for targeting
      deposition within the lungs.

PMID- 25823650
TI  - Reducing the Visibility of the Vector/DNA Nanocomplexes to the Immune System by
      Elastin-Like Peptides.
AB  - PURPOSE: One of the major hurdles facing nanomedicines is the antibody production
      against nanoparticles that subsequently results in their opsonization and
      clearance by macrophages. The objective of this research was to examine and
      identify the sequence of a low-immunogenic peptide based on recombinant elastin
      like polypeptides (ELPs) that does not evoke IgG response and can potentially be
      used for masking the surfaces of the nanoparticles. METHODS: Biopolymers composed
      of a DNA condensing domain in fusion with anionic, neutral and cationic elastin
      like peptides were genetically engineered. The biopolymers were used to complex
      with plasmid DNA and form ELP-coated nanoparticles. Then, the potential
      immunogenicity of nanoparticles in terms of IgM/IgG response after repeated
      injections was evaluated in Balb/c immunocompetent mice. RESULTS: The results
      revealed the sequence of a non-immunogenic ELP construct that in comparison to
      control group did not elicit any significant IgG response, whereas the vector/DNA
      complexes that were coated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) did elicit significant
      IgG response under the same conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The identification of the
      sequence of an ELP-based peptide that does not induce IgG response opens the door
      to more focused in-depth immunotoxicological studies which could ultimately lead
      to the production of safer and more effective drug/gene delivery systems such as
      liposomes, micelles, polymeric nanoparticles, viruses and antibodies.

PMID- 25823651
TI  - Metabolic syndrome, dyslipidemia and prostate cancer recurrence after primary
      surgery or radiation in a veterans cohort.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been hypothesized to be associated with
      cancer, including prostate cancer (PCa), but the relationship is not well
      characterized. We analyze the relationship between MetS features and localized
      PCa recurrence after treatment. METHODS: Men having primary treatment for
      localized PCa were included from a multi-site regional veteran network.
      Recurrence was defined as nadir PSA +2 ng ml(-1) (radiation) or PSA?0.2 ng ml(-1)
      (prostatectomy). MetS was based on consensus professional society guidelines from
      the American Heart Association and International Diabetes Federation (three of:
      hypertension >130/85 mm Hg, fasting blood glucose ?100 mg dl(-1), waist
      circumference >102 cm, high-density lipoprotein <40 mg dl(-1), triglycerides ?150
      mg dl(-1)). Closely related abnormality in low-density lipoprotein (LDL; >130 mg
      dl(-1)) was also examined. Analysis of PCa recurrence risk included multivariable
      Cox proportional hazards regression with propensity adjustment. RESULTS: Of the
      1706 eligible men, 279 experienced recurrence over a median follow-up period of
      41 months (range 1-120 months). Adjustment variables associated with PCa
      recurrence included: index PSA, Gleason, and tumor stage. Independent variables
      of interest associated with PCa recurrence were hyperglycemia and elevated LDL.
      Elevated LDL was associated with PCa recurrence (multivariable hazard ratio (HR)
      1.34, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03, 1.74; propensity adjusted HR 1.33, 95%
      CI 1.03, 1.72). There was also an association between impaired fasting glucose
      and PCa recurrence in (multivariable HR 1.54, 95% CI 1.10, 2.15; propensity
      adjusted HR 1.41, 95% CI 1.01, 1.95). MetS was not associated with PCa recurrence
      (multivariable: HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.61, 1.50; propensity adjusted HR 1.04, 95% CI
      0.67, 1.62). CONCLUSIONS: PCa recurrence is not associated with MetS but is
      associated with elevated LDL and impaired fasting glucose. If confirmed, these
      data may help provide modifiable targets in preventing recurrence of PCa.

PMID- 25823652
TI  - Xenopus: An in vivo model for imaging the inflammatory response following injury
      and bacterial infection.
AB  - A major goal in regenerative medicine is to identify therapies to facilitate our
      body's innate abilities to repair and regenerate following injury, disease or
      aging. In the past decade it has become apparent that the innate immune system is
      able to affect the speed and quality of the regenerative response through
      mechanisms that are not entirely clear. For this reason there has been a
      resurgent interest in investigating the role of inflammation during tissue repair
      and regeneration. Remarkably, there have only been a handful of such studies
      using organisms with high regenerative capacity. Here we perform a study of the
      inflammatory response following injury in Xenopus larvae, which are able to
      achieve scarless wound healing and to regenerate appendages, as a preamble into
      understanding the role that inflammation plays during tissue repair and
      regeneration in this organism. We characterized the morphology and migratory
      behavior of granulocytes and macrophages following sterile and infected wounding
      regimes, using various transgenic lines that labeled different types of myeloid
      lineages, including granulocytes and macrophages. Using this approach we found
      that the inflammatory response following injury and infection in Xenopus larvae
      is very similar to that seen in humans, suggesting that this model provides an
      easily tractable and medically relevant system to investigate inflammation
      following injury and infection in vivo.

PMID- 25823653
TI  - Peripheral myeloid-derived suppressor and T regulatory PD-1 positive cells
      predict response to neoadjuvant short-course radiotherapy in rectal cancer
      patients.
AB  - Short-course preoperative radiotherapy (SC-RT) followed by total mesorectal
      excision (TME) is one therapeutic option for locally advanced rectal cancer
      (LARC) patients. Since radio-induced DNA damage may affect tumor immunogenicity,
      Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and T regulatory cells (Tregs) were
      evaluated in 13 patients undergoing SC-RT and TME for LARC. Peripheral
      Granulocytic-MDSCs (G-MDSC) [LIN-/HLA-DR-/CD11b+/CD14-/CD15+/CD33+], Monocytic (M
      MDSC) [CD14+/HLA-DR-/lowCD11b+/CD33+] and Tregs [CD4+/CD25hi+/FOXP3+- CTLA-4/PD1]
      basal value was significantly higher in LARC patients compared to healthy donors
      (HD). Peripheral MDSC and Tregs were evaluated at time 0 (T0), after 2 and 5
      weeks (T2-T5) from radiotherapy; before surgery (T8) and 6-12 months after
      surgery (T9, T10). G-MDSC decreased at T5 and further at T8 while M-MDSC cells
      decreased at T5; Tregs reached the lowest value at T5. LARC poor responder
      patients displayed a major decrease in M-MDSC after SC-RT and an increase of Treg
      PD-1. In this pilot study MDSCs and Tregs decrease during the SC-RT treatment
      could represent a biomarker of response in LARC patients. Further studies are
      needed to confirm that the deepest M-MDSC reduction and increase in Treg-PD1
      cells within 5-8 weeks from the beginning of treatment could discriminate LARC
      patients poor responding to SC-RT.

PMID- 25823654
TI  - Up-regulation of CD44 in the development of metastasis, recurrence and drug
      resistance of ovarian cancer.
AB  - The clinical significance of Cluster of Differentiation 44 (CD44) remains
      controversial in human ovarian cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the
      clinical significance of CD44 expression by using a unique tissue microarray, and
      then to determine the biological functions of CD44 in ovarian cancer. In this
      study, a unique ovarian cancer tissue microarray (TMA) was constructed with
      paired primary, metastatic, and recurrent tumor tissues from 26 individual
      patients. CD44 expression in TMA was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Both the
      metastatic and recurrent ovarian cancer tissues expressed higher level of CD44
      than the patient-matched primary tumor. A significant association has been shown
      between CD44 expression and both the disease free survival and overall survival.
      A strong increase of CD44 was found in the tumor recurrence of mouse model.
      Finally, when CD44 was knocked down, proliferation, migration/invasion activity,
      and spheroid formation were significantly suppressed, while drug sensitivity was
      enhanced. Thus, up-regulation of CD44 represents a crucial event in the
      development of metastasis, recurrence, and drug resistance to current treatments
      in ovarian cancer. Developing strategies to target CD44 may prevent metastasis,
      recurrence, and drug resistance in ovarian cancer. 

PMID- 25823655
TI  - miR-93 promotes cell proliferation in gliomas through activation of PI3K/Akt
      signaling pathway.
AB  - The PI3K/Akt signaling pathway is frequently activated in various human cancer
      types and plays essential roles in development and progression of cancers.
      Multiple regulators, such as phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and PH domain
      leucine rich repeat protein phosphatases (PHLPP), have also found to be involved
      in suppression of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. However, how suppressive
      effects mediated by these regulators are concomitantly disrupted in cancers,
      which display constitutively activated PI3K/Akt signaling, remains puzzling. In
      the present study, we reported that the expression of miR-93 was markedly
      upregulated in glioma cell lines and clinical glioma tissues. Statistical
      analysis revealed that miR-93 levels significantly correlated with
      clinicopathologic grade and overall survival in gliomas. Furthermore, we found
      that overexpressing miR-93 promoted, but inhibition of miR-93 reduced, glioma
      cell proliferation and cell-cycle progression. We demonstrated that miR-93
      activated PI3K/Akt signaling through directly suppressing PTEN, PHLPP2 and FOXO3
      expression via targeting their 3'UTRs. Therefore, our results suggest that miR-93
      might play an important role in glioma progression and uncover a novel mechanism
      for constitutive PI3K/Akt activation in gliomas. 

PMID- 25823656
TI  - Loss of beta-catenin in adrenocortical cancer cells causes growth inhibition and
      reversal of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.
AB  - Adrenal carcinoma (ACC) is a rare neoplasm with a poor outcome. Aberrant
      expression of beta-catenin has been found in approximatively 30% of ACC. We
      herein studied its effects on the growth of the human ACC cell line H295R. The
      cells were infected with short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated silencing beta
      catenin. Two shRNAs used induced down-regulation of beta-catenin protein levels.
      The expression of these shRNAs decreased cell growth and increased H295R cells in
      S and G2/M phases. This cytostatic effect is due to a decrease of phosphorylated
      MAPK and to an up-regulation expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors
      p57(KIP2), p21(CIP) and p27(KIP1). In addition, the knockdown of beta-catenin
      decreased phosphorylated Akt and increased apoptosis. Finally, loss of beta
      catenin was sufficient to induce the reversal of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal
      transition. We then transplanted these genetically modified H295R cells in Scid
      mice. Tumor growth suppression was achieved by the two shRNAs showing in vitro
      efficacy. Proliferation was not reduced in silenced tumors. In contrast, p57, p27
      and p21 proteins were found expressed at high levels in silenced tumors along
      with an increase in apoptotic cells. These findings indicate that beta-catenin
      loss in H295R cells inhibits tumor growth by inducing transcriptional and
      functional changes.

PMID- 25823657
TI  - HOTAIR is a therapeutic target in glioblastoma.
AB  - HOTAIR is a negative prognostic factor and is overexpressed in multiple human
      cancers including glioblastoma multiform (GBM). Survival analysis of Chinese
      Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) patient data indicated that high HOTAIR expression was
      associated with poor outcome in GBM patients. NLK (Nemo-like kinase), a negative
      regulator of the beta-catenin pathway, was negatively correlated with HOTAIR
      expression. When the beta-catenin pathway was inhibited, GBM cells became
      susceptible to cell cycle arrest and inhibition of invasion. Introduction of the
      HOTAIR 5' domain in human glioma-derived astrocytoma induced beta-catenin. An
      intracranial animal model was used to confirm that HOTAIR depletion inhibited GBM
      cell migration/invasion. In the orthotopic model, HOTAIR was required for GBM
      formation in vivo. In summary, HOTAIR is a potential therapeutic target in GBM. 

PMID- 25823658
TI  - Modulation of TGFbeta 2 levels by lamin A in U2-OS osteoblast-like cells:
      understanding the osteolytic process triggered by altered lamins.
AB  - Transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) plays an essential role in bone
      homeostasis and deregulation of TGFbeta occurs in bone pathologies. Patients
      affected by Mandibuloacral Dysplasia (MADA), a progeroid disease linked to LMNA
      mutations, suffer from an osteolytic process. Our previous work showed that MADA
      osteoblasts secrete excess amount of TGFbeta 2, which in turn elicits
      differentiation of human blood precursors into osteoclasts. Here, we sought to
      determine how altered lamin A affects TGFbeta signaling. Our results show that
      wild-type lamin A negatively modulates TGFbeta 2 levels in osteoblast-like U2-OS
      cells, while the R527H mutated prelamin A as well as farnesylated prelamin A do
      not, ultimately leading to increased secretion of TGFbeta 2. TGFbeta 2 in turn,
      triggers the Akt/mTOR pathway and upregulates osteoprotegerin and cathepsin K.
      TGFbeta 2 neutralization rescues Akt/mTOR activation and the downstream
      transcriptional effects, an effect also obtained by statins or RAD001 treatment.
      Our results unravel an unexpected role of lamin A in TGFbeta 2 regulation and
      indicate rapamycin analogs and neutralizing antibodies to TGFbeta 2 as new
      potential therapeutic tools for MADA.

PMID- 25823659
TI  - Cytoplasmic accumulation of NCoR in malignant melanoma: consequences of altered
      gene repression and prognostic significance.
AB  - Invasive malignant melanoma (MM) is an aggressive tumor with no curative therapy
      available in advanced stages. Nuclear corepressor (NCoR) is an essential
      regulator of gene transcription, and its function has been found deregulated in
      different types of cancer. In colorectal cancer cells, loss of nuclear NCoR is
      induced by Inhibitor of kappa B kinase (IKK) through the phosphorylation of
      specific serine residues. We here investigate whether NCoR function impacts in
      MM, which might have important diagnostic and prognostic significance. By IHC, we
      here determined the subcellular distribution of NCoR in a cohort of 63 primary
      invasive MM samples, and analyzed its possible correlation with specific clinical
      parameters. We therefore used a microarray-based strategy to determine global
      gene expression differences in samples with similar tumor stage, which differ in
      the presence of cytoplasmic or nuclear NCoR. We found that loss of nuclear NCoR
      results in upregulation of a specific cancer-related genetic signature, and is
      significantly associated with MM progression. Inhibition of IKK activity in
      melanoma cells reverts NCoR nuclear distribution and specific NCoR-regulated gene
      transcription. Analysis of public database demonstrated that inactivating NCoR
      mutations are highly prevalent in MM, showing features of driver oncogene. 

PMID- 25823660
TI  - A pentacyclic triterpene natural product, ursolic acid and its prodrug US597
      inhibit targets within cell adhesion pathway and prevent cancer metastasis.
AB  - Here we showed that ursolic acid (UA), a pentacyclic triterpene natural product,
      and its novel prodrug derivative US597 suppressed cancer cells adhesion, invasion
      and migration. This effect was accompanied by inhibition of focal adhesion
      signaling pathway including alterations in ICAM-1, VCAM-1, E-selectin, P
      selectin, integrin alpha6beta1, FAK, Src, paxillin and PTEN. While oral
      administration of UA or US597 increases survival rate of melanoma lung metastasis
      in C57BL/6 mice, US597 treatment extend the survival rate above that of UA.
      Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that US597 treatment regulates ICAM-1, a
      biomarker of metastasis. We did not detect side effects with US597 in mice such
      as weight loss, viscera tissues toxicity and blood cell abnormalities. Thus, UA
      and US597 are potential drug candidates for preventing cancer metastasis.
      Molecular and cellular study data suggest that UA and US597 modulate expression
      of cell adhesion molecules within focal adhesion signaling pathway leading to
      cancer cell motility. 

PMID- 25823662
TI  - MLH1 V384D polymorphism associates with poor response to EGFR tyrosine kinase
      inhibitors in patients with EGFR L858R-positive lung adenocarcinoma.
AB  - A significant fraction of patients with lung adenocarcinomas harboring activating
      epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations do not experience clinical
      benefits from EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy. Using next-generation
      sequencing, we screened 739 mutation hotspots in 46 cancer-related genes in EGFR
      L858R-mutant lung adenocarcinomas from 29 patients who received EGFR-TKI therapy;
      13 had short (< 3 months) and 16 had long (> 1 year) progression-free survival
      (PFS). We discovered MLH1 V384D as a genetic variant enriched in the group of
      patients with short PFS. Next, we investigated this genetic variation in 158 lung
      adenocarcinomas with the EGFR L858R mutation and found 14 (8.9%) patients had
      MLH1 V384D; available blood or non-tumor tissues from patients were also tested
      positive for MLH1 V384D. Patients with MLH1 V384D had a significantly shorter
      median PFS than those without (5.1 vs. 10.6 months; P= 0.001). Multivariate
      analysis showed that MLH1 V384D polymorphism was an independent predictor for a
      reduced PFS time (hazard ratio, 3.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.7 to 7.2; P=
      0.001). In conclusion, MLH1 V384D polymorphism is associated with primary
      resistance to EGFR-TKIs in patients with EGFR L858R-positive lung adenocarcinoma
      and may potentially be a novel biomarker to guide treatment decisions. 

PMID- 25823661
TI  - The SNP rs6500843 in 16p13.3 is associated with survival specifically among
      chemotherapy-treated breast cancer patients.
AB  - We have utilized a two-stage study design to search for SNPs associated with the
      survival of breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. Our
      initial GWS data set consisted of 805 Finnish breast cancer cases (360 treated
      with adjuvant chemotherapy). The top 39 SNPs from this stage were analyzed in
      three independent data sets: iCOGS (n=6720 chemotherapy-treated cases), SUCCESS-A
      (n=3596), and POSH (n=518). Two SNPs were successfully validated: rs6500843 (any
      chemotherapy; per-allele HR 1.16, 95% C.I. 1.08-1.26, p=0.0001,
      p(adjusted)=0.0091), and rs11155012 (anthracycline therapy; per-allele HR 1.21,
      95% C.I. 1.08-1.35, p=0.0010, p(adjusted)=0.0270). The SNP rs6500843 was found to
      specifically interact with adjuvant chemotherapy, independently of standard
      prognostic markers (p(interaction)=0.0009), with the rs6500843-GG genotype
      corresponding to the highest hazard among chemotherapy-treated cases (HR 1.47,
      95% C.I. 1.20-1.80). Upon trans-eQTL analysis of public microarray data, the
      rs6500843 locus was found to associate with the expression of a group of genes
      involved in cell cycle control, notably AURKA, the expression of which also
      exhibited differential prognostic value between chemotherapy-treated and
      untreated cases in our analysis of microarray data. Based on previously published
      information, we propose that the eQTL genes may be connected to the rs6500843
      locus via a RBFOX1-FOXM1 -mediated regulatory pathway.

PMID- 25823663
TI  - High expression of small GTPase Rab3D promotes cancer progression and metastasis.
AB  - Rab GTPases control exocytic and endocytic membrane trafficking such as exosomes
      release. As a secretory small GTPase, Rab3D is a vital regulator for protein
      secretion. However, the role of Rab3D in cancer was never systematically studied.
      The aim of this study is to examine its function and mechanism in cancer,
      especially metastasis. We detected protein levels of Rab3D in nine cancer cell
      lines and twelve types of clinical cancer specimens. Subsequently, we established
      in vitro migration and in vivo orthotopic metastatic mouse models to study the
      role of Rab3D in tumor metastasis. Here, we reported that the expression levels
      of Rab3D were dysregulated in cancer cells and highly correlated with tumor
      malignancies in the clinical samples. Increased expressions of Rab3D led to tumor
      invasion in vitro and lung metastasis in vivo, whereas Rab3D knockdown suppressed
      the tumor cell motility. Mechanistic studies revealed that Rab3D activated
      intracellular the AKT/GSK3beta signaling to induce the EMT process. In addition,
      it also regulated the extracellular secretion of Hsp90alpha to promote tumor cell
      migration and invasion. These results prove that Rab3D is a key molecule to
      regulate tumor metastasis, suggesting that blocking the Rab3D function can be a
      potential therapeutic approach for cancer metastasis. 

PMID- 25823664
TI  - Ndrg2 promoter hypermethylation triggered by helicobacter pylori infection
      correlates with poor patients survival in human gastric carcinoma.
AB  - N-myc downstream regulated gene 2 (Ndrg2) is a candidate suppressor of cancer
      metastasis. We found that Ndrg2 promoter was frequently hypermethylated in
      gastric cancer cell lines and in 292 gastric tumor tissues. This resulted in down
      regulation of Ndrg2 mRNA and protein. Ndrg2 promoter methylation was associated
      with H. pylori infection and worse prognosis of gastric cancer patients, which is
      an independent prognostic factor for the disease-free survival (DFS). We found
      that H. pylori silenced Ndrg2 by activating the NF-kappaB pathway and up
      regulating DNMT3b, promoting gastric cancer progression. These findings uncover a
      previously unrecognized role for H. pylori infection in gastric cancer. 

PMID- 25823665
TI  - Ghrelin receptor controls obesity by fat burning.

PMID- 25823666
TI  - Spontaneous Age-related Changes of Peripheral Nerves in Cattle: Morphological and
      Biochemical Studies.
AB  - Peripheral nerve function is significantly affected by ageing. During ageing
      process, multiple changes occur on tissue cells and extracellular matrix. The aim
      of this work was to study the ageing-associated changes of peripheral nerves in
      adult and old regularly slaughtered cattle compared with young calves, and
      correlate them to the features reported in humans and laboratory animals. Samples
      of axial dorsal metacarpal nerves from 44 cows were collected immediately after
      slaughtering. Each nerve was dissected and divided into two fragments: one used
      for morphological evaluation (n = 43) and the other one for biochemical analysis
      (n = 31). Axonal degeneration, demyelination, thickness of perineurium and
      endoneurium and increase of mast cells were the most important features detected.
      The mean amount of glycosaminoglycan quantitative content recorded in the samples
      increased with the age. Axonal degeneration, demyelination and thickness of
      endoneurium were positively and significantly correlated with biochemistry. The
      presence of changes affecting the different elements of the peripheral nerves,
      similar to that reported in humans and in laboratory species, the easy
      availability of the nerve tissue in this species, the considerable size of the
      samples and the life conditions more similar to humans than to laboratory
      animals, allows the authors to consider cattle as a potential good model for the
      comparative study of spontaneous ageing nerve lesions.

PMID- 25823667
TI  - Rural-urban disparities in incidence and outcomes of neuroendocrine tumors: A
      population-based analysis of 6271 cases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite their rising incidence, neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) remain a
      poorly understood disease. Living in a rural area (RA) affects the incidence and
      outcomes of other types of cancer. This study compared the incidence and outcomes
      of NETs for patients in RAs and patients in urban areas (UAs). METHODS: A
      population-based cohort study of patients with NETs in Ontario, Canada from 1994
      to 2011 was conducted. An RA was defined as any community with a population <
      10,000 and outside the commuting zone of a metropolitan area. Incidence, advanced
      stage at presentation, distant recurrence-free survival (dRFS), and overall
      survival (OS) were compared between patients who lived in RAs and patients who
      lived in UAs with univariate and multivariate regression analyses. RESULTS: The
      cohort included 6271 patients diagnosed with NETs, of whom 13.5% (n = 846)
      resided in RAs. The incidence of NETs was higher in RAs at 3.01 per 100,000 per
      year versus UAs at 2.82 per 100,000 per year (relative rate, 1.10; P = .04). RA
      living was not associated with an advanced stage at presentation (odds ratio,
      1.15; 95% confidence interval, 0.96-1.38). Patients who lived in RAs had worse 10
      year dRFS (62.8% vs 65.9%, P = .03) and OS (44.6% vs 48.8%, P = .004). RAs were
      independently associated with decreased OS (hazard ratio, 1.16; 95% confidence
      interval, 1.04-1.30). CONCLUSIONS: Patients are more commonly diagnosed with NETs
      in RAs, but they do not present at more advanced stages in comparison with
      patients diagnosed in UAs. Patients living in RAs experience worse cancer
      recurrence and OS, and this is possibly related to variations in socioeconomic
      status, rural environmental factors, and access to specialized health care.

PMID- 25823668
TI  - Modeling and Simulation to Support Phase 2 Dose Selection for RG7652, a Fully
      Human Monoclonal Antibody Against Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9.
AB  - RG7652 is a fully humanized monoclonal antibody targeting human PCSK9, a
      regulator of serum low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc) levels. RG7652
      prevents degradation of the hepatic LDLc receptors by blocking PCSK9 binding and
      thereby resulting in efficient LDLc uptake by hepatocytes. The pharmacokinetics
      of RG7652 have been evaluated in healthy subjects after single and multiple
      subcutaneous doses. Pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) models were
      developed to explain the antibody PK and LDLc time course data. The PK and PD
      models based on data from healthy subjects were used to simulate the effects of
      RG7652 on LDLc levels for a range of potential dose regimens in patients with
      coronary heart disease. A one-compartment PK model combined with an indirect PD
      response model was able to adequately describe the PK and LDLc data. Simulations
      of 400 mg every 4 weeks or 800 mg every 8 weeks regimens show significant LDLc
      reduction and suggest that dosing RG7652 once every month or once every 2 months
      is predicted to be optimal for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. The PK and
      PD model successfully described the PK and LDLc data from healthy subjects in a
      Phase 1 study, and the model-based simulations provided useful insights and
      quantitative understanding for the selection of Phase 2 study doses in patients
      with coronary heart disease. The approach used in the case study demonstrates the
      utility of modeling and simulation in designing dose-ranging studies. 

PMID- 25823669
TI  - Molecular Imaging of Membrane Transporters' Activity in Cancer: a Picture is
      Worth a Thousand Tubes.
AB  - Molecular imaging allows the non-invasive assessment of membrane transporter
      expression and function in living subjects. Such technologies have the potential
      to become diagnostic and prognostic tools, allowing detection, localization, and
      prediction of response of tumors and their metastases to therapy. Beyond tumors,
      imaging can also help understand the role of transporters in adverse drug effects
      and drug clearance. Here, we review molecular imaging technologies that monitor
      transporter-mediated processes. We emphasize emerging probe substrates and
      potential clinical applications of imaging the function of membrane transporters
      in cancer. 

PMID- 25823670
TI  - Peptide Developability at the Discovery-to-Development Interface--Current State
      and Future Opportunities.

PMID- 25823671
TI  - Iatrogenic Medial Patellar Instability: An Avoidable Injury.
AB  - Iatrogenic medial patellar instability is a specific condition that frequently
      causes incapacitating anterior knee pain, severe disability, and serious
      psychological problems. The diagnosis should be suspected in a patient who has
      undergone previous patellar realignment surgery that has made the pain worse. The
      diagnosis can be established by physical examination and simple therapeutic tests
      (e.g., "reverse" McConnell taping) and confirmed by imaging techniques. This
      iatrogenic condition should no longer exist and could almost be eliminated by
      avoiding over-release of the lateral retinaculum. 

PMID- 25823672
TI  - The Addition of Platelet-Rich Plasma to Scaffolds Used for Cartilage Repair: A
      Review of Human and Animal Studies.
AB  - PURPOSE: To review the available literature on studies focusing on platelet-rich
      plasma (PRP)-enhanced scaffolds for cartilage lesion repair in animals and to
      analyze the clinical outcomes of similar biologically augmented cartilage
      regeneration techniques in humans. METHODS: We conducted a literature search and
      subsequent review investigating the potential of PRP to enhance articular
      cartilage repair using scaffolds or bioengineered implants. RESULTS: Of the 14
      animal model studies reviewed, 10 reported positive effects with PRP whereas only
      2 showed negative overall effects. The remaining 2 studies reported no
      significant differences, or neutral results, with the use of PRP. With the
      addition of PRP, the gross appearance and histologic analysis of repair cartilage
      were improved or no difference was seen compared with control (11 of 12 studies
      that looked at this). Human studies of the knee or talar dome showed improvements
      in clinical assessment scores as soon as 6 months after surgery. There was great
      variability in the method of PRP preparation, choice of scaffold, and cell source
      between studies. CONCLUSIONS: PRP-augmented scaffolds have been shown to be
      beneficial in the articular cartilage repair process in animals and humans based
      on macroscopic, histologic, and biochemical analysis and based on clinical
      outcome scores, respectively. Comparison between studies is difficult because
      there is great variability in PRP preparation and administration. LEVEL OF
      EVIDENCE: Level IV, systematic review of Level III and IV studies.

PMID- 25823673
TI  - The Incidence of Propionibacterium acnes in Shoulder Arthroscopy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To document the skin colonization and deep tissue inoculation rates
      associated with arthroscopic shoulder surgery and how these rates differ with
      procedural and demographic factors. METHODS: We prospectively recruited
      outpatient shoulder arthroscopy patients who agreed to participate and met the
      inclusion criteria from February 2013 to May 2014. All patients received routine
      antibiotic prophylaxis intravenously. Initial cultures were obtained before the
      skin preparation by swabbing the skin at the 3 standard portal sites: posterior,
      anterosuperior, and anterolateral. The skin preparation used 4% chlorhexidine
      scrub and 2% chlorhexidine gluconate/70% isopropyl alcohol paint applied to the
      entire shoulder. After completion of the arthroscopic procedure, a second culture
      was obtained through a cannula at the surgical site. All cultures were plated for
      21 days using Brucella medium. RESULTS: We enrolled 51 patients over a 15-month
      period. Cultures showed a 72.5% Propionibacterium acnes superficial colonization
      rate: 46.1% of female and 81.6% of male patients (P = .027). We identified a deep
      culture-positive inoculation rate of 19.6%, all with positive P acnes skin
      colonization. No correlation could be made concerning diagnosis, procedure,
      suture anchor use, age, or sex. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of skin colonization with P
      acnes is high at arthroscopic portals, especially in men. Despite standard skin
      preparation and prophylactic antibiotics, the rate of deep tissue inoculation
      with P acnes in shoulder arthroscopy is much higher than the rate of infection
      reported in the literature. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Shoulder arthroscopy introduces a
      significant amount of P acnes into the deep tissues.

PMID- 25823674
TI  - An in Vivo 3D Computed Tomographic Analysis of Femoral Tunnel Geometry and
      Aperture Morphology Between Rigid and Flexible Systems in Double-Bundle Anterior
      Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Using the Transportal Technique.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare femoral tunnel length, femoral
      graft-bending angle, posterior wall breakage, and femoral aperture morphologic
      characteristics between rigid and flexible systems after double-bundle (DB)
      anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using the transportal (TP)
      technique. METHODS: We evaluated 3-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT)
      results for 54 patients who underwent DB ACL reconstruction using the TP
      technique with either a flexible system (n = 27) or a rigid system (n = 27). The
      femoral tunnel length, femoral graft-bending angle, posterior wall breakage,
      femoral tunnel aperture height to width (H:W) ratio, aperture axis angle, and
      femoral tunnel position were assessed using OsiriX Imaging Software and Geomagic
      Qualify 2012 (Geomagic, Cary, NC). RESULTS: The mean anteromedial (AM) femoral
      tunnel length of the flexible group was significantly longer than that of the
      rigid group (P = .009). The mean femoral graft-bending angles in the flexible
      group were significantly less acute than those in the rigid group (AM, P < .001;
      posterolateral [PL], P = .003]. Posterior wall breakage was observed in both
      groups (P = 1.00). The mean H:W ratios in the rigid group were significantly
      larger (more elliptical) than those of the flexible group (AM, P < .001; PL, P =
      .006). The mean aperture axis angle of the PL femoral tunnel in the rigid group
      was more parallel to the femoral shaft axis than that in the flexible group (P <
      .001). There were no significant differences in femoral tunnel position between
      the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: The AM femoral tunnel length and the AM/PL femoral
      graft-bending angle of the flexible system were significantly longer and less
      acute than those of the rigid system. However, the aperture morphologic
      characteristics of the AM/PL femoral tunnel and the aperture axis angle of the PL
      femoral tunnel in the rigid system were significantly more elliptical and closer
      to parallel to the femoral shaft axis than those of the flexible system. LEVEL OF
      EVIDENCE: Level III, retrospective comparative study.

PMID- 25823675
TI  - Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria in the Diagnosis of Femoroacetabular
      Impingement.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to clarify the criteria for
      femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) by way of a systematic review of FAI-related
      articles, as well as to define more appropriate inclusion or exclusion criteria
      in the diagnosis of FAI. METHODS: A systematic review of FAI-related articles was
      performed using Web of Science. Thirty-two articles met the inclusion and
      exclusion criteria. In these articles we investigated radiographic findings for
      the diagnosis of FAI and the prevalence of each FAI-related finding. RESULTS: The
      crossover sign was used in 22 articles (69%); acetabular index, 9 articles (28%);
      posterior wall sign, 7 articles (22%); and prominence of the ischial spine sign,
      3 articles (7%). Regarding acetabular coverage, the lateral center-edge (LCE)
      angle was described in 13 articles (41%), in which an LCE angle either of more
      than 40 degrees  or of more than 30 degrees  combined with an acetabular index of
      less than 0 degrees  was considered an inclusion criterion for pincer
      impingement. Meanwhile, the alpha angle was used in 28 articles (88%), in which
      50 degrees  or 55 degrees  was recommended as a positive finding of cam
      impingement. CONCLUSIONS: Common findings of pincer or cam deformity were used to
      select FAI patients with sufficient coverage of the acetabulum with an LCE angle
      of more than 25 degrees . Patients with an LCE angle of less than 25 degrees  or
      those with local acetabular deficiency regardless of having a normal LCE angle
      should be excluded from the FAI criteria, even if the FAI-related findings are
      positive. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, systematic review of Level I through IV
      studies.

PMID- 25823676
TI  - Calcitriol ameliorates renal damage in a pre-established proteinuria model.
AB  - Proteinuria is critical in the tubulointerstitial changes that ultimately lead to
      renal insufficiency. Increased protein filtration has direct toxic effects on
      tubular epithelial cells, leading to epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) to a
      myofibroblast phenotype. Angiotensin II and transforming growth factor (TGF)
      beta1 are the main mediators of EMT. Calcitriol may exert a potential
      renoprotective effect by reducing the activity of the renin angiotensin system by
      suppressing renin gene expression and also by inhibiting the proinflammatory
      nuclear factor-kappaB pathway. The present study investigated the benefits of
      calcitriol treatment in a puromycin-induced proteinuric nephropathy model.
      Uninephrectomized adult male Wistar rats received intraperitoneal administration
      of a single dose of puromycin (100 mg/kg) or vehicle. After eight weeks, the
      animals were divided into two groups and received vehicle or calcitriol (0.5
      ug/kg) for four weeks. The vehicle-treated, proteinuric rats developed
      progressive proteinuria and tubulointerstitial fibrosis after 12 weeks. Increased
      collagen deposition and fibrosis were significantly ameliorated by calcitriol
      treatment. Calcitriol was effective in preventing an increase in the EMT markers,
      alpha-smooth muscle actin and fibroblast-specific protein 1, reducing macrophage
      infiltration as evidenced by levels of ED-1. In addition, calcitriol increased
      the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 and reduced the pro-oxidant p47
      phox enzyme. These effects were paralleled by a reduction in TGF-beta/Smad3
      expression. Calcitriol may have therapeutic potential in the proteinuric
      nephropathy model used in the present study by inhibiting the TGF-beta1 axis.

PMID- 25823677
TI  - Acute exacerbation of psychiatric symptoms during influenza treatment with
      oseltamivir in chronic schizophrenia.
AB  - Influenza treatment and prophylaxis with oseltamivir are critically important in
      reducing the morbidity and mortality of patients in chronic psychiatric
      facilities. Abnormal behavior, delusions, perceptual disturbances, mania, and
      depression have all been reported as oseltamivir-related psychiatric side
      effects. We hereby report two chronic schizophrenia patients in Taiwan
      manifesting psychiatric instability who were being treated with oseltamivir for
      suspected influenza infection, and further discuss other potential contributing
      factors. The possibility that oseltamivir can cause psychotic or affective
      symptoms suggests that additional caution is necessary for its use in patients
      with an established psychiatric diagnosis. 

PMID- 25823678
TI  - Comparison of balloon-expandable valves versus self-expandable valves in high
      risk patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement for severe aortic
      stenosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has emerged as an
      alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement for patients with symptomatic
      severe aortic stenosis (AS) who have a high surgical risk. In Taiwan, this is the
      first study reporting TAVI outcomes at a single center offering two different
      transcatheter heart valve technologies via four types of approaches. Our aim was
      to compare 30-day and 6-month Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 (VARC-2)
      outcomes of the two valves. METHODS: We reported the procedural, 30-day, and 6
      month VARC-2 outcomes of high-risk patients who were consecutively treated with
      the Medtronic CoreValve (MCV) or with the Edwards SAPIEN valve or SAPIEN XT valve
      (ESV; Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA, USA) delivered via four types of
      approaches. RESULTS: From May 2010 to December 2013, 30 consecutive patients with
      severe AS underwent TAVI: 15 patients were treated with the MCV and 15 patients
      were treated with the ESV. The transfemoral approach was the most frequently used
      route (13 MCV and 6 ESV), followed by the transapical approach (9 ESV), trans
      subclavian approach (1 MCV), and direct aortic approach (1 MCV). There were no
      procedural deaths. "Device success" was achieved in 29 (96.7%) patients, and is
      defined as the absence of procedural mortality, correct positioning of one
      prosthetic heart valve into the proper anatomical location, and intended
      performance of the heart valve without moderate or severe regurgitation. The VARC
      2-defined combined safety endpoint at 30 days was comparable between patients
      treated with the ESV and the MCV (33.3% vs. 20%, respectively; group, p = 0.409).
      At the 6-month follow up, the combined efficacy endpoint was not significantly
      different between the two groups (13.3% in the ESV group vs. 20% in the MCV
      group; p = 0.624). There was only one (3.3%) patient who required permanent
      pacemaker implantation. CONCLUSION: For the first time in Taiwan, we have
      demonstrated that TAVI using either device is complementary and feasible for
      treating a wide range of patients by using a careful selection of approaches.
      Favorable overall procedural success rates and 30-day and 6-month outcomes were
      achieved with both devices.

PMID- 25823679
TI  - Disseminated Penicillium marneffei mimicking paradoxical response and relapse in
      a non-HIV patient with pulmonary tuberculosis.
AB  - Clinical deterioration during the treatment of tuberculosis remains a diagnostic
      challenge. We describe the case of a 46-year-old man with a history of oral
      cancer status after a radical operation who had pulmonary tuberculosis with
      pleura and neck lymph node involvement. The clinical condition improved after
      antituberculosis therapy. However, the patient suffered from low-grade fever,
      progressive dyspnea, and cough after 7 weeks of the therapy. The findings of
      chest plain films were relapse and progression of left lung haziness. The
      deterioration was caused by disseminated Penicillium marneffei infection.
      Disseminated P. marneffei in a non-HIV patient with tuberculosis is rarely seen,
      and the manifestations are similar to a paradoxical response and relapse of
      pulmonary tuberculosis, thereby making it difficult to establish a diagnosis.

PMID- 25823680
TI  - Endothelial cell dysfunction and preeclampsia.

PMID- 25823681
TI  - Combination of Pharmacophore Matching, 2D Similarity Search, and In Vitro
      Biological Assays in the Selection of Potential 5-HT6 Antagonists from Large
      Commercial Repositories.
AB  - Rapid in silico selection of target-focused libraries from commercial
      repositories is an attractive and cost-effective approach. If structures of
      active compounds are available, rapid 2D similarity search can be performed on
      multimillion compound databases, but the generated library requires further
      focusing. We report here a combination of the 2D approach with pharmacophore
      matching which was used for selecting 5-HT6 antagonists. In the first screening
      round, 12 compounds showed >85% antagonist efficacy of the 91 screened. For the
      second-round (hit validation) screening phase, pharmacophore models were built,
      applied, and compared with the routine 2D similarity search. Three pharmacophore
      models were created based on the structure of the reference compounds and the
      first-round hit compounds. The pharmacophore search resulted in a high hit rate
      (40%) and led to novel chemotypes, while 2D similarity search had slightly better
      hit rate (51%), but lacking the novelty. To demonstrate the power of the virtual
      screening cascade, ligand efficiency indices were also calculated and their
      steady improvement was confirmed. 

PMID- 25823682
TI  - Spermatozoa input concentrations and RNA isolation methods on RNA yield and
      quality in bull (Bos taurus).
AB  - Sperm RNA can be used to understand the past spermatogenic process, future
      successful fertilization, and embryo development. To study the sperm RNA
      composition and function, isolation of good quality RNA with sufficient quantity
      is essential. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of sperm
      input concentrations and RNA isolation methods on RNA yield and quality in bull
      sperm. The fresh semen samples from bulls (n = 6) were snap-frozen in liquid
      nitrogen and stored at -80  degrees C. The sperm RNA was isolated using membrane
      based methods combined with TRIzol (RNeasy+TRIzol and PureLink+TRIzol) and
      conventional methods (TRIzol, Double TRIzol, and RNAzol RT). Based on
      fluorometric quantification, combined methods resulted in significantly (P <
      0.05) higher total RNA yields (800-900 ng/30-40 * 10(6)) as compared with other
      methods and yielded 20 to 30 fg of RNA/spermatozoon. The quality of RNA isolated
      by membrane-based methods was superior to that isolated by conventional methods.
      The sperm RNA was observed to be intact as well as fragmented (50-2000 bp). The
      study revealed that the membrane-based methods with a cocktail of lysis solution
      and an optimal input concentration of 30 to 40 million sperm were optimal for
      maximum recovery of RNA from bull spermatozoa.

PMID- 25823683
TI  - Isothermal titration calorimetry determination of individual rate constants of
      trypsin catalytic activity.
AB  - Determination of individual rate constants for enzyme-catalyzed reactions is
      central to the understanding of their mechanism of action and is commonly
      obtained by stopped-flow kinetic experiments. However, most natural substrates
      either do not fluoresce/absorb or lack a significant change in their spectra
      while reacting and, therefore, are frequently chemically modified to render
      adequate molecules for their spectroscopic detection. Here, isothermal titration
      calorimetry (ITC) was used to obtain Michaelis-Menten plots for the trypsin
      catalyzed hydrolysis of several substrates at different temperatures (278-318K):
      four spectrophotometrically blind lysine and arginine N-free esters, one N
      substituted arginine ester, and one amide. A global fitting of these data
      provided the individual rate constants and activation energies for the acylation
      and deacylation reactions, and the ratio of the formation and dissociation rates
      of the enzyme-substrate complex, leading also to the corresponding free energies
      of activation. The results indicate that for lysine and arginine N-free esters
      deacylation is the rate-limiting step, but for the N-substituted ester and the
      amide acylation is the slowest step. It is shown that ITC is able to produce
      quality kinetic data and is particularly well suited for those enzymatic
      reactions that cannot be measured by absorption or fluorescence spectroscopy. 

PMID- 25823684
TI  - Relationship of leptin with adiposity and inflammation and resistin with disease
      severity in psoriatic patients undergoing anti-TNF-alpha therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Altered secretion patterns of proinflammatory adipokines may
      influence the increased risk of cardiovascular mortality observed in patients
      with chronic inflammatory diseases. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether two
      adipokines, leptin and resistin, correlate with metabolic syndrome features and
      disease severity in psoriatic patients who underwent anti-TNF-alpha therapy.
      METHODS: Prospective study of consecutive non-diabetic patients with moderate-to
      severe psoriasis who completed 6 months of therapy with anti-TNF-alpha-
      adalimumab. Patients with kidney disease, hypertension or body mass index >=35
      Kg/m(2) were excluded. Metabolic and clinical evaluation was performed at the
      onset of anti-TNF-alpha treatment and at month 6. RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients
      were assessed. A correlation between adiposity and leptin was observed (waist
      circumference and leptin levels after 6 months of therapy: r = 0.43; P = 0.030).
      Leptin concentration also correlated with blood pressure before adalimumab onset
      (systolic: r = 0.48; P = 0.013 and diastolic blood pressure: r = 0.50; P = 0.010
      ). A marginally significant negative correlation between insulin sensitivity
      (QUICKI) and leptin levels was also observed. CRP levels correlated with leptin
      prior to the onset of adalimumab (r = 0.45; P = 0.020) and with resistin both
      before (r = 0.45; P = 0.020) and after 6 months of therapy (r = 0.55; P = 0.004).
      A positive association between parameters of disease activity such as BSA (r =
      0.60; P = 0.001) and PASI (r = 0.63; P = 0.001) prior to the onset of adalimumab
      therapy and resistin concentrations was also disclosed. No significant changes in
      leptin and resistin concentrations following the 6-month treatment with
      adalimumab were seen. CONCLUSION: In patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis
      leptin correlates with metabolic syndrome features and inflammation whereas
      resistin correlate with inflammation and disease severity.

PMID- 25823685
TI  - A Case of Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor-Producing Spindle Cell Carcinoma
      of the Breast.

PMID- 25823687
TI  - Genome-wide association study of myelosuppression in non-small-cell lung cancer
      patients with platinum-based chemotherapy.
AB  - Platinum-induced myelosuppression severely impedes successful chemotherapy in non
      small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Hence, it is clinically important to
      identify the patients who are at high risk for severe toxicity to certain
      chemotherapy. We first carried out a genome-wide scan of 906 703 single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to identify genetic variants associated with
      platinum-induced myelosuppression risk in 333 NSCLC patients with chemotherapy.
      Then, we replicated 24 SNPs that had P<1 * 10(-4) in another independent cohort
      of 876 NSCLC patients. With P<0.05 as the criterion of statistical significance,
      we found that rs13014982 at 2q24.3 and rs9909179 at 17p12 exhibited consistently
      significant associations with myelosuppression risk in both the genome-wide
      association studies (GWAS) scan and the replication stage (rs13014982: odds ratio
      (OR)=0.55, 95% confidence intervals (CIs): 0.41-0.74, P=7.29 * 10(-5) for GWAS
      scan and OR=0.77, 95% CI: 0.65-0.93, P=0.006 for replication stage; rs9909179:
      OR=0.51, 95% CI: 0.37-0.70, P=4.60 * 10(-5) for GWAS scan and OR=0.82, 95% CI:
      0.68-0.99, P=0.040 for replication stage; both in additive model). In combined
      samples of genome-wide scan and replication samples, the minor alleles of
      rs13014982 and rs9909179 remained significant associations with the decreased
      risk of myelosuppression (rs13014982: OR=0.71, 95% CI: 0.61-0.83, P =1.36 * 10(
      5); rs9909179: OR=0.76, 95% CI: 0.65-0.89, P=0.001). Rs13014982 at 2q24.3 and
      rs9909179 at 17p12 might be independent susceptibility markers for platinum
      induced myelosuppression risk in NSCLC patients. 

PMID- 25823686
TI  - Triaminopyrimidine is a fast-killing and long-acting antimalarial clinical
      candidate.
AB  - The widespread emergence of Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) strains resistant to
      frontline agents has fuelled the search for fast-acting agents with novel
      mechanism of action. Here, we report the discovery and optimization of novel
      antimalarial compounds, the triaminopyrimidines (TAPs), which emerged from a
      phenotypic screen against the blood stages of Pf. The clinical candidate
      (compound 12) is efficacious in a mouse model of Pf malaria with an ED99 <30 mg
      kg(-1) and displays good in vivo safety margins in guinea pigs and rats. With a
      predicted half-life of 36 h in humans, a single dose of 260 mg might be
      sufficient to maintain therapeutic blood concentration for 4-5 days. Whole-genome
      sequencing of resistant mutants implicates the vacuolar ATP synthase as a genetic
      determinant of resistance to TAPs. Our studies highlight the potential of TAPs
      for single-dose treatment of Pf malaria in combination with other agents in
      clinical development. 

PMID- 25823689
TI  - The impact of a ten-week physical exercise program on health-related quality of
      life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a prospective randomized
      controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Improving health-related quality of life is a primary target of
      therapy for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Physical activity has been
      demonstrated to improve health-related quality of life in several patient
      populations with chronic disease. There are very few studies investigating the
      effects of physical activity on health-related quality of life in inflammatory
      bowel disease. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of
      10 weeks of moderate physical activity on health-related quality of life in
      patients with inflammatory bowel disease. METHODS: Thirty patients with mild to
      moderate IBD (Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) <220 or Rachmilewitz Index
      (RI) <11) were randomized 1:1 to either supervised moderate-intensity running
      thrice a week for 10 weeks or a control group who were not prescribed any
      exercise. Health-related quality of life, symptoms, and inflammation were
      assessed at baseline and after 10 weeks. RESULTS: Participants were 41 +/- 14
      years (73% female), had a body mass index of 22.8 +/- 4.1 kg/m(2), and an average
      CDAI or RI of 66.8 +/- 42.4 and 3.6 +/- 3.1. No adverse events occurred during
      the 10-week training period. Health-related quality of life, reported as IBDQ
      total score, improved 19% in the intervention group and 8% in the control group.
      Scores for the IBDQ social sub-scale were significantly improved in the
      intervention group compared with controls (DeltaIBDQsocial = 6.27 +/- 5.46 vs.
      1.87 +/- 4.76, p = 0.023). CONCLUSION: Patients suffering from moderately active
      IBD are capable of performing symptom-free regular endurance exercise. Our data
      support the assumption that PA is feasible in IBD patients. PA may furthermore
      improve quality of life through improvements in social well-being, and may,
      therefore, be a useful adjunct to IBD therapy.

PMID- 25823688
TI  - The role of Toll-like receptor 4 polymorphisms in vaccine immune response.
AB  - Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a class of pattern recognition receptors that are
      deputed to recognise a range of molecular structures in pathogens. One of the
      most studied members of this family is the TLR4, which is essential for the
      signalling of lipopolysaccharide. The gene encoding for TLR4 is highly
      polymorphic and this genetic variability may explain in part the interindividual
      variability observed in several clinical setting, including the response to
      vaccination. Herein, we review and systematise the available scientific evidence
      about the effect of TLR4 polymorphisms on vaccine response, including approved
      prophylactic, new therapeutic cancer vaccines and recently approved vaccine
      adjuvants. Data reviewed in this analysis indicate that TLR4 polymorphisms
      significantly affect vaccine response. If these results are confirmed by further
      analyses, the use of these genetic biomarkers may become a useful tool to tailor
      vaccination in specific subsets of patients. 

PMID- 25823690
TI  - Toll like receptor-2 regulates production of glial-derived neurotrophic factors
      in murine intestinal smooth muscle cells.
AB  - Gut microbiota-innate immunity axis is emerging as a key player to guarantee the
      structural and functional integrity of the enteric nervous system (ENS).
      Alterations in the composition of the gut microbiota, derangement in signaling of
      innate immune receptors such as Toll-like receptors (TLRs), and modifications in
      the neurochemical coding of the ENS have been associated with a variety of
      gastrointestinal disorders. Indeed, TLR2 activation by microbial products
      controls the ENS structure and regulates intestinal neuromuscular function.
      However, the cellular populations and the molecular mechanisms shaping the
      plasticity of enteric neurons in response to gut microbes are largely unexplored.
      In this study, smooth muscle cells (SMCs), enteric glial cells (EGCs) and
      macrophages/dendritic cells (MPhi/DCs) were isolated and cultured from the ileal
      longitudinal muscle layer of wild-type (WT) and Toll-like receptor-2 deficient
      (TLR2(-/-)) mice. Quantification of mRNA levels of neurotrophins at baseline and
      following stimulation with TLR ligands was performed by RT-PCR. To determine the
      role of neurotrophins in supporting the neuronal phenotype, we performed co
      culture experiments of enteric neurons with the conditioned media of cells
      isolated from the longitudinal muscle layer of WT or TLR2(-/-) mice. The neuronal
      phenotype was investigated evaluating the expression of betaIII-tubulin, HuC/D,
      and nNOS by immunocytochemistry. As detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, SMCs
      expressed mRNA coding TLR1-9. Among the tested cell populations, un-stimulated
      SMCs were the most prominent sources of neurotrophins. Stimulation with TLR2,
      TLR4, TLR5 and TLR9 ligands further increased Gdnf, Ngf, Bdnf and Lif mRNA levels
      in SMCs. Enteric neurons isolated from TLR2(-/-) mice exhibited smaller ganglia,
      fewer HuC/D(+ve) and nNOS(+ve) neurons and shorter betaIII-tubulin axonal
      networks as compared to neurons cultured from WT mice. The co-culture with the
      conditioned media from WT-SMCs but not with those from WT-EGCs or WT-MPhi/DCs
      corrected the altered neuronal phenotype of TLR2(-/-) mice. Supplementation of
      TLR2(-/-) neuronal cultures with GDNF recapitulated the WT-SMC co-culture effect
      whereas the knockdown of GDNF expression in WT-SMCs using shRNA interference
      abolished the effect on TLR2(-/-) neurons. These data revealed that by exploiting
      the repertoire of TLRs to decode gut-microbial signals, intestinal SMCs elaborate
      a cocktail of neurotrophic factors that in turn supports neuronal phenotype. In
      this view, the SMCs represent an attractive target for novel therapeutic
      strategies. 

PMID- 25823691
TI  - Infraorbital canal bilaterally replaced by a lateroantral canal.
AB  - The infraorbital canal (IOC) normally courses above the maxillary sinus in the
      orbit floor. During a retrospective study of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT)
      scans, we found a previously unknown variant of the IOC. The IOCs were absent,
      being replaced by lateroantral canals coursing around and not above the maxillary
      sinus to open at infraorbital foramina which were located above the second upper
      premolar teeth. On coronal multiplanar reconstructions, the lateroantral canals
      were located anatomically at the outer limit of the zygomatic recess of each
      maxillary sinus, while the upper wall of the sinus was devoid of any canal. Such
      rare variant should be kept in mind by dental practitioners and surgeons, as it
      can determine modifications of common procedures. In this regard, the anatomy of
      maxilla, as well as mandible, should be evaluated in CBCT on a case-by-case
      basis. 

PMID- 25823692
TI  - The forgotten foramina: a study of the anterior cribriform plate.
AB  - PURPOSE: The olfactory cleft has garnered interest since the advent of endoscopic
      skull base surgery. Its precise anatomy, however, is still partially unknown.
      According to Rouviere, an "ethmoidal foramen" is located in its antero-medial
      part and contains a process of the dura mater. In a more lateral and anterior
      location, a second foramen, the "cribroethmoidal foramen", contains the anterior
      ethmoidal nerve. The aim of this study was to verify the existence of these
      elements and to establish landmarks for surgery. METHODS: We performed an
      anatomical and histological study of eight olfactory clefts in four cadavers
      using both endonasal endoscopic and endocranial dissection. RESULTS: An ethmoidal
      and a cribroethmoidal foramen were found in, respectively, 100 and 75% of cases.
      Their mean length was, respectively, 4.1 and 1.8 mm. They were located,
      respectively, in mean at 5.3 and 5.8 mm from the anterior ethmoidal artery.
      CONCLUSION: Our anatomical study demonstrates the existence of both foramina. The
      ethmoidal foramen clearly represents an area of least resistance in the anterior
      part of the olfactory cleft, which could predispose to anterior skull base
      cerebrospinal fluid leaks and meningoceles.

PMID- 25823693
TI  - No effect of oral L-tryptophan or alpha-lactalbumin on total tryptophan levels in
      breast milk.
AB  - Postpartum depression (PPD) is the most common complication of childbearing with
      a 13% prevalence rate. Sleep disturbances are also common, particularly during
      early postpartum. In theory, l-tryptophan could improve sleep and reduce
      depressed mood in early postpartum; however, the first step in clinical
      development of tryptophan for use in postpartum is to measure the effect of oral
      l-tryptophan on its concentrations in breast milk, which is presently unknown.
      The aims were to investigate the effect of oral l-tryptophan and alpha
      lactalbumin, a protein with high tryptophan concentration, on total and free
      tryptophan levels in breast milk and plasma, and to compare free tryptophan
      levels in breast milk with those in common infant formulas. Thirty healthy
      breastfeeding women were randomly allocated to receive 2g or 4g of l-tryptophan,
      or, 20g or 40g of alpha-lactalbumin or no supplement. Free tryptophan levels were
      also measured in 12 different infant formulas. Total tryptophan in breast milk
      was unaffected by oral administration of l-tryptophan or alpha-lactalbumin
      (repeated measures of ANOVA (rANOVA), group effect: p=0.93). Both l-tryptophan
      and alpha-lactalbumin were associated with greater free tryptophan levels in
      breast milk (rANOVA, group effect: p<0.001) (representing 2% of total
      tryptophan), but these concentrations were within the range of commonly used
      infant formulas. In contrast to most sleep inducing medications, l-tryptophan
      does not affect its total concentration in breast milk. These results support
      further investigation of dietary l-tryptophan and alpha-lactalbumin as part of a
      dietary supplementation approach to address sleep disturbances in postpartum and
      reduce risk of PPD. 

PMID- 25823694
TI  - Olanzapine depot exposure in male rats: Dose-dependent lipogenic effects without
      concomitant weight gain.
AB  - Treatment with second-generation antipsychotic agents such as olanzapine
      frequently results in metabolic adverse effects, e.g. hyperphagia, weight gain
      and dyslipidaemia in patients of both genders. The molecular mechanisms
      underlying metabolic adverse effects are still largely unknown, and studies in
      rodents represent an important approach in their exploration. However, the
      validity of the rodent model is hampered by the fact that antipsychotics induce
      weight gain in female, but not male, rats. When administered orally, the short
      half-life of olanzapine in rats prevents stable plasma concentrations of the
      drug. We recently showed that a single intramuscular injection of long-acting
      olanzapine formulation yields clinically relevant plasma concentrations
      accompanied by several dysmetabolic features in the female rat. In the current
      study, we show that depot injections of 100-250 mg/kg olanzapine yielded
      clinically relevant plasma olanzapine concentrations also in male rats. In spite
      of transient hyperphagia, however, olanzapine resulted in weight loss rather than
      weight gain. The resultant negative feed efficiency was accompanied by a slight
      elevation of thermogenesis markers in brown adipose tissue for the highest
      olanzapine dose, but the olanzapine-related reduction in weight gain remains to
      be explained. In spite of the absence of weight gain, an olanzapine dose of
      200mg/kg or above induced significantly elevated plasma cholesterol levels and
      pronounced activation of lipogenic gene expression in the liver. These results
      confirm that olanzapine stimulates lipogenic effects, independent of weight gain,
      and raise the possibility that endocrine factors may influence gender specificity
      of metabolic effects of antipsychotics in the rat.

PMID- 25823695
TI  - Hyper-responsivity to stress in rats is associated with a large increase in
      amygdala volume. A 7T MRI study.
AB  - Stress is known to precipitate psychiatric disorders in vulnerable people.
      Individual differences in the stress responsivity can dramatically affect the
      onset of these illnesses. Animal models of repeated stress represent valuable
      tools to identify region-specific volumetric changes in the brain. Here, using
      high resolution 7T MRI, we found that amygdala is the most significant parameter
      for distinction between F344 and SD rats known to have differential response to
      stress. A significant substantial increase (45%) was found in the amygdala volume
      of rats that do not habituate to the repeated stress procedure (F344 rats)
      compared to SD rats. This strain-specific effect of stress was evidenced by a
      significant strain-by-stress interaction. There were no significant strain
      differences in the volumes of hippocampi and prefrontal cortices though stress
      produces significant reductions of smaller amplitude in the medial prefrontal
      cortex (mPFC) (9% and 12%) and dorsal hippocampus (5% and 6%) in both strains.
      Our data further demonstrate the feasibility and relevance of high isotropic
      resolution structural ex vivo 7T MRI in the study of the brain effects of stress
      in small animals. Neuroimaging is a valuable tool to follow up brain volumetric
      reorganization during the stress response and could also be easily used to test
      pharmacological interventions to prevent the deleterious effects of stress. 

PMID- 25823696
TI  - The route to spinal cord cell types: a tale of signals and switches.
AB  - Understanding the mechanisms that control induction and elaboration of the
      vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) requires an analysis of the extrinsic
      signals and downstream transcriptional networks that assign cell fates in the
      correct space and time. We focus on the generation and patterning of the spinal
      cord. We summarize evidence that the origin of the spinal cord is distinct from
      the anterior regions of the CNS. We discuss how this affects the gene regulatory
      networks and cell state transitions that specify spinal cord cell subtypes, and
      we highlight how the timing of extracellular signals and dynamic control of
      transcriptional networks contribute to the correct spatiotemporal generation of
      different neural cell types. 

PMID- 25823697
TI  - Upregulation of axonal HCN current by methylglyoxal: Potential association with
      diabetic polyneuropathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe functional changes of axonal ion channels by a metabolic
      derivative of glucose, methylglyoxal (MGO), and its potential contribution to
      diabetic neuropathy. METHODS: (1) In wild-type male mice, multiple excitability
      measurements of sensory nerves were performed at baseline and 1week after serial
      administration of MGO (50mg/kg). (2) Excitability testing in patients with
      diabetic neuropathy (N=17) and healthy controls (N=12) were also conducted, and
      data were interpreted using mathematical modeling. RESULTS: In the animal study,
      there was a decrease in threshold changes by long hyperpolarization and in
      superexcitability after administration of MGO. In the preliminary human study,
      the threshold changes by long hyperpolarizing current were decreased in patients
      with diabetes. Mathematical modeling showed increased hyperpolarization-activated
      cation current (Ih) in the MGO-treated mice and in patients with diabetes.
      CONCLUSION: Ih was upregulated after MGO administration in normal mice.
      SIGNIFICANCE: MGO is associated with abnormal axonal excitability.
      Hyperexcitability in diabetic polyneuropathy may, at least in part, be caused by
      dysfunctional axonal hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN)
      channels. A future study with a large sample size of the diabetic patients would
      clarify this hypothesis.

PMID- 25823698
TI  - Ongoing cumulative effects of single TMS pulses on corticospinal excitability: An
      intra- and inter-block investigation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of several single TMS pulses, delivered at two
      different inter-trial intervals (ITIs), on corticospinal excitability. METHODS:
      Twelve healthy volunteers participated in two experimental sessions, during which
      TMS pulses were delivered at random or at fixed ITIs. The TMS single pulse
      induced modulation of corticospinal output (motor evoked potential amplitude -
      MEP) was evaluated on-line. Each session began with a baseline block, followed by
      10 blocks, with 20 TMS pulses each. Intra- and inter-block effects were valuated
      using an ANOVA model, through nested random effect on subjects considering the
      subject-specific variability. RESULTS: The delivery of successive TMS pulses
      significantly changed both intra-block and inter-block cortical excitability, as
      demonstrated by an increase in the amplitude of MEPs (p<0.001) and supported
      through trend analyses, showing a perfect linear trend for inter-block levels
      (R(2)=1) and nearly linear trend for intra-block levels (R(2)=0.97). The MEPs
      significantly increased when the TMS pulses were delivered at both random and
      fixed ITIs. CONCLUSIONS: Single TMS pulses induce cumulative changes in neural
      activity during the same stimulation, resulting in a motor cortical excitability
      increase. SIGNIFICANCE: Particular attention should be taken when several single
      TMS pulses are delivered in research and clinical settings for diagnostic and
      therapeutic purposes.

PMID- 25823699
TI  - Therapeutic options for hydrating airway mucus in cystic fibrosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In cystic fibrosis (CF), genetic mutations in the CF transmembrane
      conductance regulator (CFTR) gene cause reduced chloride efflux from ciliated
      airway epithelial cells. This results in a reduction in periciliary liquid (PCL)
      depth of the airway surface liquid due to associated reduced water efflux. PCL
      layer dehydration reduces mucociliary clearance (MCC), leading to airway
      obstruction (reduced airflow and inflammation due to pathogen invasion) with
      mucus plug formation. SUMMARY: Rehydrating mucus increases MCC. Mucus hydration
      can be achieved by direct hydration (administering osmotic agents to set up an
      osmotic gradient), using CFTR modulators to correct dysfunctional CFTR, or it can
      be achieved pharmacologically (targeting other ion channels on airway epithelial
      cells). Key Messages: The molecular mechanisms of several therapies are discussed
      in the context of pre-clinical and clinical trial studies. Currently, only the
      osmotic agent 7% hypertonic saline and the CFTR 'potentiator' VX-770 (ivacaftor)
      are used clinically to hydrate mucus. Emerging therapies include the osmotic
      agent mannitol (Bronchitol), the intracellular Ca(2+)-raising agent
      Moli1901/lancovutide, the CFTR potentiator sildenafil [phosphodiesterase type 5
      (PDE5) inhibitor] and the CFTR 'corrector' VX-809 (lumacaftor). Other CFTR
      correctors (e.g. 'chemical chaperones') are also showing pre-clinical promise.

PMID- 25823700
TI  - Distribution of seizures across the menstrual cycle in women with epilepsy.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to determine whether seizure frequency and cycle
      days with seizure occurrence vary across the menstrual cycle. The subjects were
      the first 100 women with intractable focal onset seizures, 13-45 years old, who
      completed the baseline phase of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
      Progesterone Trial. Each subject recorded seizures and menses during a 3-month
      baseline phase. Data consisted of (1) seizure numbers for each cycle day and (2)
      cycle days with seizure occurrence. Statistical comparisons of seizure frequency
      and days with seizures were performed using generalized estimating equation one
      way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and logistic regression followed by pairwise
      multiple comparisons of days based on the least square means. Seizure numbers and
      cycle days with seizure occurrence varied across the menstrual cycle. There was
      an approximately twofold difference between the highest (day 1) and lowest (day 
      8) values for both seizure frequency and days with occurrence. The demonstration
      of variation in seizure frequency and cycle days with seizure occurrence across
      the menstrual cycle, as well as identification of specific days that have
      substantially higher or lower frequencies than other days, supports the existence
      of catamenial epilepsy.

PMID- 25823701
TI  - Awareness of forensic odontology among dentists in Australia: are they keeping
      forensically valuable dental records?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Forensic odontologists provide an important service to the community
      by identifying unknown deceased people, allowing both legal outcomes and family
      closure. Non-visual identification may be achieved by comparison of post-mortem
      data with ante-mortem dental records provided by oral health practitioners.
      Success is dependent largely on the accuracy and adequacy of data in the dental
      records. METHODS: An online self-administered questionnaire evaluated Australian
      dentists' knowledge and behaviours relevant to forensic odontology. Reported
      record keeping practices were assessed for detail, legibility, accessibility and
      retention. Behaviours were classified according to the frequency of response.
      RESULTS: Dentists reported overall reasonable awareness of the major applications
      of forensic odontology. Personal information and details of restorative treatment
      were recorded at high levels, while tooth anomalies, photography, additional
      patient details and denture marking were recorded inadequately. Legible tooth
      coding was reported at a high level, while other key legibility practices were
      recorded inadequately. Few of the behaviours related to retention or to maximize
      accessibility were recorded at a high level. CONCLUSIONS: Australian dentists
      have high expectations of the forensic value of their dental records; however,
      many processes that would enhance the diagnostic, medico-legal and forensic value
      of dental records are not routinely applied.

PMID- 25823702
TI  - Shape up or ship out: migratory behaviour predicts morphology across spatial
      scale in a freshwater fish.
AB  - 1. Migration is a widespread phenomenon, with powerful ecological and
      evolutionary consequences. Morphological adaptations to reduce the energetic
      costs associated with migratory transport are commonly documented for migratory
      species. However, few studies have investigated whether variation in body
      morphology can be explained by variation in migratory strategy within a species.
      2. We address this question in roach Rutilus rutilus, a partially migratory
      freshwater fish that migrates from lakes into streams during winter. We both
      compare body shape between populations that differ in migratory opportunity (open
      vs. closed lakes), and between individuals from a single population that vary in
      migratory propensity (migrants and residents from a partially migratory
      population). Following hydrodynamic theory, we posit that migrants should have a
      more shallow body depth, to reduce the costs associated with migrating into
      streams with higher flow conditions than the lakes the residents occupy all year
      round. 3. We find evidence both across and within populations to support our
      prediction, with individuals from open lakes and migrants from the partially
      migratory population having a more slender, shallow-bodied morphology than fish
      from closed lakes and all-year residents. 4. Our data suggest that a shallow body
      morphology is beneficial to migratory individuals and our study is one of the
      first to link migratory strategy and intraspecific variation in body shape.

PMID- 25823703
TI  - Statistical models for respiratory disease diagnosis and prognosis.
AB  - Risk prediction equations are used in a variety of healthcare settings to provide
      prognosis for patients with various respiratory conditions. This article provides
      a review of statistical methods for the development, evaluation and
      implementation of respiratory disease prediction models. We also consider a
      second, closely related application of these methods: the creation of equations
      that describe normal lung function in a particular population and the use of such
      equations in the diagnosis of abnormal lung function. The methods are illustrated
      with examples of models that have been developed for use in respiratory medicine
      and research. 

PMID- 25823705
TI  - Brucellosis control in northeast China: a long way to go.

PMID- 25823704
TI  - Lessons from collaborative governance and sociobiology theories for reinforcing
      sustained cooperation: a government food security case study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This research aimed to understand how cooperation and collaboration
      work in interagency arrangements using a case study of the public management of
      food security and nutrition in Bogota, Colombia. STUDY DESIGN: This study
      explored the available scientific literature on Collaborative Governance within
      the Public Management body of knowledge and the literature on Cooperation from
      the Sociobiology field. Then, proposals were developed for testing on the ground
      through an action-research effort that was documented as a case study. Finally,
      observations were used to test the proposals and some analytical generalizations
      were developed. METHODS: To document the case study, several personal interviews,
      file reviews and normative reviews were conducted to generate a case study
      database. RESULTS: Collaboration and cooperation concepts within the framework of
      interagency public management can be understood as a shared desirable outcome
      that unites different agencies in committing efforts and resources to the
      accomplishment of a common goal for society, as seen in obtaining food and
      nutrition security for a specific territory. Collaboration emerges when the
      following conditions exist and decreases when they are absent: (1) a strong
      sponsorship that may come from a central government policy or from a distributed
      interagency consensus; (2) a clear definition of the participating agencies; (3)
      stability of the staff assigned to the coordination system; and (4) a fitness
      function for the staff, some mechanism to reward or punish the collaboration
      level of each individual in the interagency effort. CONCLUSIONS: As this research
      investigated only one case study, the findings must be taken with care and any
      generalization made from this study needs to be analytical in nature.
      Additionally, research must be done to accept these results universally. Food
      security and nutrition efforts are interagency in nature. For collaboration
      between agencies to emerge, a minimum set of characteristics that were
      established during the merging of the public management and sociobiology fields
      of knowledge and validated by means of a case study must be accomplished.

PMID- 25823706
TI  - Comparing levels of social capital in three northern post-industrial UK cities.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A high level of 'excess' mortality (i.e. that seemingly not explained
      by deprivation) has been shown for Scotland compared to England & Wales and, in
      particular, for its largest city, Glasgow, compared to the similarly deprived
      postindustrial English cities of Liverpool and Manchester. The excess has been
      observed across all social classes, but, for premature mortality, has been shown
      to be highest in comparison of those of lowest socio-economic status (SES). Many
      theories have been proposed to explain this phenomenon. One such suggestion
      relates to potential differences in social capital between the cities, given the
      previously evidenced links between social capital and mortality. The aim of this
      study was to ascertain whether any aspects of social capital differed between the
      cities and whether, therefore, this might be a plausible explanation for some of
      the excess mortality observed in Glasgow. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.
      METHODS: A representative survey of Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester was
      undertaken in 2011. Social capital was measured using an expanded version of the
      Office for National Statistics (ONS) core 'Social Capital Harmonised Question
      Set'. Differences between the cities in five sets of social capital topics (views
      about the local area, civic participation, social networks and support, social
      participation, and reciprocity and trust) were explored by means of a series of
      multivariate regression models, while controlling for differences in the
      characteristics (age, gender, SES, ethnicity etc.) of the samples. RESULTS: Some,
      but not all, aspects of social capital were lower among the Glasgow sample
      compared to those in Liverpool and Manchester. A number of these differences were
      greatest among those of higher, rather than lower, SES. Levels of social
      participation, trust and (some measures of) reciprocity were lower in Glasgow,
      particularly in comparison with Liverpool. However, assessment of any potential
      impact of these differences is limited by the cross-sectional nature of the data.
      CONCLUSIONS: The analyses suggest it is at least possible that differences in
      some aspects of social capital could play some part in explaining Glasgow's
      excess mortality, especially among particular sections of its population (e.g.
      those of higher SES). However, in the absence of more detailed longitudinal data,
      this remains speculative.

PMID- 25823707
TI  - Chronic generalized fibrotic skin lesions from disseminated leishmaniasis caused
      by Leishmania martiniquensis in two patients from northern Thailand infected with
      HIV.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Leishmaniasis is a newly emerging infection in Thailand. Most of the
      previous human cases have presented with the clinical features of visceral
      leishmaniasis and were mainly found in southern Thailand. Here we report the
      first two patients from northern Thailand presenting with disseminated cutaneous
      leishmaniasis. OBJECTIVES: To determine the nature of the infection of
      leishmaniasis and to identify the species of parasite responsible. METHODS:
      Clinical investigations included the taking of biopsy samples and histology.
      Parasitological diagnosis was performed by establishment of Leishmania
      promastigote cultures, and identification was performed by DNA sequencing of four
      independent gene loci (ribosomal RNA internal transcribed spacer 1; large subunit
      of RNA polymerase II; heat shock protein 70; RPL23a intergenic sequence).
      RESULTS: Both patients were infected with HIV, and had multiple cutaneous lesions
      and accompanying visceral leishmaniasis. They had similar cutaneous
      manifestations characterized by chronic generalized fibrotic lesions, which were
      more prominent on traumatic areas. In both patients the parasite was identified
      as Leishmania martiniquensis. This is a recently described species that is
      distinct and only distantly related to the classical agents of cutaneous
      leishmaniasis in Asia (Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica) or of visceral
      leishmaniasis (Leishmania donovani and Leishmania infantum). Each patient
      responded well to therapy with intravenous amphotericin B followed by oral
      itraconazole. CONCLUSIONS: Leishmania martiniquensis is a cause of cutaneous
      leishmaniasis in Thailand.

PMID- 25823708
TI  - LC-MS/MS-based method for long-term steroid profiling in human scalp hair.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is the
      method of choice for quantification of steroids. Human scalp hair provides the
      possibility to measure long-term retrospective steroid concentrations, which is
      especially useful for steroids with large time-dependent fluctuations in
      concentration, such as the glucocorticoid cortisol. AIM: We set up and validated
      a LC-MS/MS-based method for long-term steroid profiling, quantifying cortisol,
      cortisone, testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS)
      and 17-alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP). METHOD: Hair locks were cut from the
      posterior vertex of healthy male and female volunteers and washed in isopropanol.
      Steroids were extracted using methanol, and extract was cleaned up by solid-phase
      extraction and measured on a Waters XEVO-TQ-S LC-MS/MS. Lower limit of
      quantification, precision, matrix interference and intra-individual variation
      were determined. RESULTS: The functional sensitivity of our steroid analysis was
      <1.3, <9.3, 2.3, <1.3, <15.9, 1.87 pg/mg hair for cortisol, cortisone,
      testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), and
      17OHP, respectively. Measured over a 9-month period, the inter-run CVs were below
      16% for all steroids. Intra-individual coefficients of variation were below 15%
      for all steroids, except 17OHP (19.7%). CONCLUSION: The authors present a LC
      MS/MS-based method for long-term steroid profiling in human scalp hair,
      potentially providing novel insights by a multitude of clinical and research
      applications in the field of endocrinology.

PMID- 25823709
TI  - Implications of modifying membrane fatty acid composition on membrane oxidation,
      integrity, and storage viability of freeze-dried probiotic, Lactobacillus
      acidophilus La-5.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of altering the fatty acid
      profile of the lipid membrane on storage survival of freeze-dried probiotic,
      Lactobacillus acidophilus La-5, as well as study the membrane integrity and lipid
      oxidation. The fatty acid composition of the lipid membrane of L. acidophilus La
      5 was significantly different upon growth in MRS (containing Tween 80, an oleic
      acid source), or in MRS with Tween 20 (containing C12:0 and C14:0), linoleic, or
      linolenic acid supplemented. Bacteria grown in MRS showed the highest storage
      survival rates. No indications of loss of membrane integrity could be found, and
      membrane integrity could therefore not be connected with loss of viability.
      Survival of bacteria grown with linoleic or linolenic acid was more negatively
      affected by the presence of oxygen, than bacteria grown in MRS or with Tween 20
      supplemented. A small, but significant, loss of linolenic acid during storage
      could be identified, and an increase of volatile secondary oxidation products
      during storage was found for bacteria grown in MRS, or with linoleic, or
      linolenic acid supplemented, but not for bacteria grown with Tween 20. Overall,
      the results indicate that lipid oxidation and loss of membrane integrity are not
      the only or most important detrimental reactions which can occur during storage.
      By altering the fatty acid composition, it was also found that properties of
      oleic acid gave rise to more robust bacteria than more saturated or unsaturated
      fatty acids did.

PMID- 25823711
TI  - A high efficient graphitic-C3N4/BiOI/graphene oxide ternary nanocomposite
      heterostructured photocatalyst with graphene oxide as electron transport buffer
      material.
AB  - It is important to reduce the recombination of electrons and holes and enhance
      charge transfer through fine controlled interfaces for advanced catalyst design.
      In this work, graphene oxide (GO) was composited with graphitic-C3N4 (g-C3N4) and
      BiOI forming GO/g-C3N4 and GO/BiOI heterostructural interfaces, respectively. GO,
      which has a work function between the conducting bands of g-C3N4 and BiOI, is
      used as a buffer material to enhance electron transfer from g-C3N4 to BiOI
      through the GO/g-C3N4 and GO/BiOI interfaces. The increased photocurrent and
      reduced photoluminescence indicate efficient reduction of electron and hole
      recombination under the successful heterostructure design. Accordingly, the
      introduction of GO as a charge transfer buffer material has largely enhanced the
      photocatalytic performance of the composite. Thus, introducing charge transfer
      buffer materials for photocatalytic performance enhancement has proved to be a
      new strategy for advanced photocatalyst design. 

PMID- 25823710
TI  - FGF21 deletion exacerbates diabetic cardiomyopathy by aggravating cardiac lipid
      accumulation.
AB  - Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) plays an important role in energy
      homoeostasis. The unaddressed question of FGF21's effect on the development and
      progression of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is investigated here with FGF21
      knockout (FGF21KO) diabetic mice. Type 1 diabetes was induced in both FGF21KO and
      C57BL/6J wild-type (WT) mice via streptozotocin. At 1, 2 and 4 months after
      diabetes onset, the plasma FGF21 levels were significantly decreased in WT
      diabetic mice compared to controls. There was no significant difference between
      FGF21KO and WT diabetic mice in blood glucose and triglyceride levels. FGF21KO
      diabetic mice showed earlier and more severe cardiac dysfunction, remodelling and
      oxidative stress, as well as greater increase in cardiac lipid accumulation than
      WT diabetic mice. Western blots showed that increased cardiac lipid accumulation
      was accompanied by further increases in the expression of nuclear factor
      (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) and its target protein CD36, along with
      decreases in the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase and the
      expression of hexokinase II and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma
      co-activator 1alpha in the heart of FGF21KO diabetic mice compared to WT diabetic
      mice. Our results demonstrate that FGF21 deletion-aggravated cardiac lipid
      accumulation is likely mediated by cardiac Nrf2-driven CD36 up-regulation, which
      may contribute to the increased cardiac oxidative stress and remodelling, and the
      eventual development of DCM. These findings suggest that FGF21 may be a
      therapeutic target for the treatment of DCM.

PMID- 25823712
TI  - Segmentation and tracking of stem cells in time lapse microscopy to quantify
      dynamic behavioral changes during spheroid formation.

PMID- 25823713
TI  - Activation of the Prostaglandin E2 receptor EP2 prevents house dust mite-induced
      airway hyperresponsiveness and inflammation by restraining mast cells' activity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2 ) has been proposed to exert antiasthmatic
      effects in patients, to prevent antigen-induced airway pathology in murine
      models, and to inhibit mast cells (MC) activity in vitro. OBJECTIVE: To assess in
      a murine model whether the protective effect of PGE2 may be a consequence of its
      ability to activate the E-prostanoid (EP)2 receptor on airway MC. METHODS: Either
      BALB/c or C57BL/6 mice were exposed intranasally (i.n.) to house dust mite (HDM)
      aeroallergens. Both strains were given PGE2 locally (0.3 mg/kg), but only BALB/c
      mice were administered butaprost (EP2 agonist: 0.3 mg/kg), or AH6809 (EP2
      antagonist; 2.5 mg/kg) combined with the MC stabilizer sodium cromoglycate (SCG:
      25 mg/kg). Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and inflammation, along with lung MC
      activity, were evaluated. In addition, butaprost's effect was assessed in MC
      mediated passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) in mice challenged with 2,4
      dinitrophenol (DNP). RESULTS: Selective EP2 agonism attenuated aeroallergen
      caused AHR and inflammation in HDM-exposed BALB/c mice, and this correlated with
      a reduced lung MC activity. Accordingly, the blockade of endogenous PGE2 by means
      of AH6809 worsened airway responsiveness in sensitive BALB/c mice, and such
      worsening was reversed by SCG. The relevance of MC to PGE2 -EP2 driven protection
      was further highlighted in MC-dependent PCA, where butaprost fully prevented MC
      induced ear swelling. Unlike in BALB/c mice, PGE2 did not protect the airways of
      HDM-sensitized C57BL/6 animals, a strain in which we showed MC to be irrelevant
      to aeroallergen-driven AHR and inflammation. CONCLUSIONS & CLINICAL RELEVANCE:
      The beneficial effect of both exogenous and endogenous PGE2 in aeroallergen
      sensitized mice may be attributable to the activation of the EP2 receptor, which
      in turn acts as a restrainer of airway MC activity. This opens a path towards the
      identification of therapeutic targets against asthma along the 'EP2 -MC-airway'
      axis.

PMID- 25823714
TI  - OnabotulinumtoxinA Injections for the Treatment of Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome.
AB  - Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is a disorder characterized by episodes of nausea
      and vomiting lasting 1 to 5 days, followed by asymptomatic periods. The etiology
      and pathophysiology of CVS are unknown, but CVS shares similar characteristics to
      those of migraine headaches. Tricyclic antidepressants have the most evidence and
      are generally effective for prophylaxis of further episodes in patients with CVS.
      Second-line pharmacotherapies typically target specific comorbid symptoms or
      conditions and may include antiepileptic or antimigraine drugs, benzodiazepines,
      antispasmodics, proton pump inhibitors, antiemetics, and analgesics.
      OnabotulinumtoxinA (ONABoNT-A) injections have not been studied in the population
      with CVS but are regarded as a pharmacotherapeutic option for migraine headaches.
      We describe a 45-year-old woman with a 5-year history of CVS who had failed
      previous typical prophylactic migraine and CVS pharmacotherapies and was referred
      to the neurology clinic for management of both of these conditions. On review,
      the neurologist noted a correlation of the patient's headaches with her CVS
      symptoms. ONABoNT-A injections were started at 155 units intramuscularly every 12
      weeks for her migraine headaches, which also dramatically improved her CVS. The
      main adverse effect reported by the patient was numbness and weakness in her left
      shoulder after the injections, which are symptoms consistent with ONABoNT-A
      injection use; however, these symptoms typically resolved a few days later.
      Regarded as a pharmacotherapeutic option for migraine headache prophylaxis,
      ONABoNT-A injections have demonstrated modest efficacy in preventing migraine
      headaches. Clinicians should be aware that ONABoNT-A injections may also have a
      role in the prophylaxis of CVS. 

PMID- 25823715
TI  - Biomimetic Method To Assemble Nanostructured Ag@ZnO on Cotton Fabrics:
      Application as Self-Cleaning Flexible Materials with Visible-Light Photocatalysis
      and Antibacterial Activities.
AB  - A bioinspired mineralization route to prepare self-cleaning cotton fabrics by
      functionalizing their surface with nanostructured Ag@ZnO is demonstrated herein.
      In a polyamine-mediated mineralization process, while the nucleation,
      organization and coating of ZnO is done directly from water-soluble zinc salts
      under mild conditions, the entrapped polyamine in the ZnO matrix acts as reducing
      agent to generate Ag(0) from Ag(I) at room temperature. The Ag@ZnO coated cotton
      fabrics are characterized by FESEM, HRTEM, XRD, and UV-vis-DRS to confirm the
      formation and coating of Ag@ZnO particles on individual threads of the fabric.
      The presence of Ag nanoparticles not only enables the ZnO-coated fabrics
      exhibiting improved photocatalytic property but also allows for visible-light
      driven activities. Furthermore, it exhibits efficient antimicrobial activity
      against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Therefore, besides these
      multifunctional properties, the polyamine-mediated bioinspired approach is
      expected to pave way for functionalization of flexible substrates under mild
      conditions as desirable for the development and fabrication of smart,
      lightweight, and wearable devices for various niche applications. 

PMID- 25823716
TI  - Synthesis of an Amphiphilic Brush Copolymer by a Highly Efficient "Grafting onto"
      Approach via CO2 Chemistry.
AB  - A novel and robust route for the synthesis of a new amphiphilic brush copolymer,
      poly(glycidyl methacrylate)-graft-polyethylene glycol (PGMA-g-PEG), with high
      grafting densities of 97%-98% through a "grafting onto" method via carbon dioxide
      chemistry is reported. PGMA-g-PEG can self-assemble and form stable spherical
      core-shell micelles in aqueous solution. Besides, the obtained PGMA-g-PEG polymer
      contains hydroxyurethane structures as the junction sites between the PGMA
      backbone and PEG side chain, which can be used for further modification. 

PMID- 25823717
TI  - Perovskite solar cells prepared by flash evaporation.
AB  - A simple vacuum deposition method for the preparation of high quality hybrid
      organic-inorganic methylammonium lead iodide perovskite thin films is reported.
      When sandwiched in between organic charge transporting layers, such films lead to
      solar cells with a power conversion efficiency of 12.2%. 

PMID- 25823718
TI  - A tribute to Dr. Raymond Read.

PMID- 25823719
TI  - Dysmenorrhea Management and Coping among Students in Ghana: A Qualitative
      Exploration.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVE: The study sought to gain an in-depth understanding of primary
      dysmenorrhea management and coping strategies for dysmenorrhea among adolescents
      and young adults who were in school. DESIGN: The study adopted a qualitative
      exploratory approach using a descriptive phenomenology to explore the phenomenon
      of interest. SETTING: The study was conducted in two educational institutions in
      Accra, Ghana: a Senior High School (SHS) and a University. PARTICIPANTS AND DATA
      COLLECTION: Sixteen participants were purposively recruited (8 SHS and 8
      University students) through snowball sampling. Individual interviews were
      conducted in English, audio-taped, transcribed and analysed using content
      analysis procedures. Informed consent was obtained from all participants and
      rigor was ensured through prolonged engagement and member checking. RESULTS:
      Participants employed both pharmacologic (orthodox and herbal) and
      nonpharmacologic approaches such as warm compress, exercise, and water and diet
      therapy for their dysmenorrhea. Students' dysmenorrhea was managed at the school
      clinic and the hospital. Health professionals demonstrated negative attitudes
      towards dysmenorrhea management. Students coped with dysmenorrhea by planning
      activities before the onset of pain, receiving social and spiritual support, and
      developing a mind-set to bear pain. CONCLUSIONS: Individualized approaches should
      be employed to enhance dysmenorrhea management. Health professionals should be
      educated on dysmenorrhea to improve their attitude and skills for dysmenorrhea
      management.

PMID- 25823720
TI  - Successful Pregnancy After Sacrectomy Combined With Chemotherapy and Radiation
      for Ewing Sarcoma: Case Report and Literature Review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ewing sarcoma is considered to have a poor prognosis. Recent advances
      in multidisciplinary management have resulted in a marked improvement in long
      term survival. CASE: We describe a case of successful pregnancy in a patient who
      underwent sacrectomy combined with multi-agent chemotherapy and radiotherapy for
      Ewing sarcoma. The patient was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma of the sacrum at the
      age of 16. The ovaries were transposed, the uterus was shielded, and a
      gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist was used during treatment to protect
      ovarian function. The patient spontaneously conceived at the age of 27. After an
      uneventful pregnancy, the patient delivered a healthy neonate at term by cesarean
      section. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: Successful pregnancy and delivery can be
      achieved after multi-modality treatment with pretreatment intervention for
      fertility preservation.

PMID- 25823721
TI  - Massive Hydronephrosis from Ureteropelvic Junction Obstruction Masquerading as a
      Paratubal Cyst in an 11-Year-Old Girl.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The differential diagnosis of a cystic pelvic mass in an adolescent
      girl is broad, and includes gastrointestinal, urologic, and gynecologic
      conditions. CASE: A premenarchal 11-year-old girl presented with abdominal pain.
      On transabdominal ultrasonography, abutting the lateral side of the left ovary
      was a large mass with an appearance compatible with a large paratubal cyst
      measuring 16.7 * 11.9 cm. On exploratory laparotomy, the patient's uterus, tubes
      and ovaries were normal and a massively dilated and displaced left kidney due to
      an ureteropelvic junction obstruction was ultimately diagnosed. SUMMARY AND
      CONCLUSION: A cystic pelvic mass in an adolescent girl may not always be of
      ovarian or mullerian origin. Urinary tract obstruction is often silent; an
      incidental finding of hydronephrosis on ultrasonography may be the first clue of
      the possibility of ureteropelvic junction obstruction as the underlying
      diagnosis. It is always best to know which organ system is involved prior to
      surgery, so that the correct surgical team is present and the correct surgical
      approach is utilized.

PMID- 25823722
TI  - CCR5 gene polymorphism affects the risk of GvHD after haematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation from an unrelated donor.

PMID- 25823723
TI  - The effect of the physical properties of the substrate on the kinetics of cell
      adhesion and crawling studied by an axisymmetric diffusion-energy balance coupled
      model.
AB  - In this paper an analytical approach to study the effect of the substrate
      physical properties on the kinetics of adhesion and motility behavior of cells is
      presented. Cell adhesion is mediated by the binding of cell wall receptors and
      substrate's complementary ligands, and tight adhesion is accomplished by the
      recruitment of the cell wall binders to the adhesion zone. The binders' movement
      is modeled as their axisymmetric diffusion in the fluid-like cell membrane. In
      order to preserve the thermodynamic consistency, the energy balance for the cell
      substrate interaction is imposed on the diffusion equation. Solving the
      axisymmetric diffusion-energy balance coupled equations, it turns out that the
      physical properties of the substrate (substrate's ligand spacing and stiffness)
      have considerable effects on the cell adhesion and motility kinetics. For a rigid
      substrate with uniform distribution of immobile ligands, the maximum ligand
      spacing which does not interrupt adhesion growth is found to be about 57 nm. It
      is also found that as a consequence of the reduction in the energy dissipation in
      the isolated adhesion system, cell adhesion is facilitated by increasing
      substrate's stiffness. Moreover, the directional movement of cells on a substrate
      with gradients in mechanical compliance is explored with an extension of the
      adhesion formulation. It is shown that cells tend to move from soft to stiff
      regions of the substrate, but their movement is decelerated as the stiffness of
      the substrate increases. These findings based on the proposed theoretical model
      are in excellent agreement with the previous experimental observations. 

PMID- 25823724
TI  - Doped In2O3 inverse opals as photoanode for dye sensitized solar cells.
AB  - One promising way to improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of dye
      sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), which have attracted great interest due to their
      low cost, is modifying the working electrode. In this work, Tm and Yb doped as
      well as undoped In2O3 inverse opals (IOs) were synthesized by the sol-gel method.
      DSSCs based on In2O3, In2O3:Tm and In2O3:Yb IOs as photoanodes were fabricated
      and studied. It is observed that the device performance including open-circuit
      voltage (V(oc)) and short-circuit current (J(sc)) increased largely with the
      increasing pore size of the IOs and the introduction of Tm and Yb elements in the
      In2O3 lattices. The PCE of the DSSC was increased from 0.33% to 0.96% when the
      ln2O3 IOs photoanode was substituted by ln2O3:Yb IOs. The electrochemical
      impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements indicate that the modification of band
      gap in the Tm and Yb doped In2O3 IOs is significant for the improved performance,
      which can effectively suppress the charge transfer recombination and improve the
      electron lifetime.

PMID- 25823725
TI  - Highly effective Fe-doped TiO2 nanoparticles photocatalysts for visible-light
      driven photocatalytic degradation of toxic organic compounds.
AB  - This paper reports the synthesis of various molar concentrations of iron (Fe)
      doped TiO2 nanoparticles and their efficient use as potential photocatalysts for
      photocatalytic degradation of toxic and harmful chemical, paranitrophenol. The
      nanoparticles were synthesized by a novel and facile ultrasonic assisted
      hydrothermal method and characterized in detail by various analytical techniques
      in terms of their morphological, structural, compositional, thermal, optical,
      pore size distribution, etc properties. The photocatalytic activities of the as
      prepared Fe-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were examined under visible light
      illumination using para-nitrophenol as target pollutant. By detailed experimental
      findings revealed that the Fe dopant content crucially determines the catalytic
      activity of TiO2 nanoparticles. The maximum degradation rate of para-nitrophenol
      observed was 92% in 5 h when the Fe(3+) molar concentration was 0.05 mol%,
      without addition of any oxidizing reagents. The prepared nanoparticles
      demonstrated excellent photocatalytic response because of their small size,
      excellent crystalline structure, increase in threshold wavelength response and
      maximum separation of photogenerated charge carriers. Further, the determination
      of reaction intermediates has also been carried out and plausible mechanism of
      photocatalytic degradation of para-nitrophenol has been proposed.

PMID- 25823726
TI  - Cooperative adsorption on solid surfaces.
AB  - Adsorptions are commonly of monolayer coverage of adsorbate molecules on
      adsorbent sites, in particular for chemisorptions, where Langmuir adsorption
      isotherm equation and kinetics are adequate. The Langmuir adsorption is termed
      ideal adsorption as the surface active centers are uniformly distributed, the
      molecules are of point-sizes and the interactions between adsorbate molecules and
      the adsorbent are uniform. However, there are more cases where Langmuir
      adsorption isotherm and/or kinetics are inadequate in describing the adsorption
      behavior. Apparent multilayer adsorption has been shown to be descriptive of both
      physisorptions and chemisorptions as a means of idealization to nonideal
      adsorptions. The deviation of adsorption isotherm and/or kinetics from (ideal)
      Langmuir adsorption is due to cooperative adsorption, or interactions between
      adsorbates or between adsorbate and adsorbent caused deviation from "uniform"
      interactions. The multi-layer or apparent multilayer behavior of adsorption is an
      excellent model to describe cooperative adsorption. Adsorption kinetics and
      isotherms have been derived for adsorptions without differentiating the different
      types of adsorptions. The simplistic approach can explain majority of the
      adsorption isotherms and kinetic behaviors. 

PMID- 25823727
TI  - Water defluoridation using a nanostructured diatom-ZrO2 composite synthesized
      from algal biomass.
AB  - Frustules or the rigid amorphous silica cell wall of unicellular, photosynthetic
      microalgae with unique porous architecture has been used to synthesize a
      composite by immobilizing ZrO2 on its surface and in the pores. This was
      effective in water defluoridation. The average diameter of the composite was 80+/
      2 nm and surface area was 140 m(2)/g. The adsorption isotherms followed both
      Langmuir and Freundlich models, and the composite was regenerable. Adsorption
      kinetics followed second order model and the adsorption capacity was as high as
      11.32 mg/g, while the Langmuir maximum adsorption capacity (q(m)) reached 15.53
      mg/g. The research findings highlight the potential of diatoms as hosts for
      nanomaterials for use in water treatment.

PMID- 25823728
TI  - Heterostructures of Ag3PO4/TiO2 mesoporous spheres with highly efficient visible
      light photocatalytic activity.
AB  - Heterostructured Ag3PO4/m-TiO2 (mesoporous sphere) visible-light photocatalyst
      has been synthesized via a facile method. The resultant composite consists of
      numerous Ag3PO4 nanoparticles with diameter less than 10nm, and these
      nanoparticles deposit onto the TiO2 nanoparticles surface forming a
      heterostructure. N2 adsorption-desorption measurements have suggested that the
      composite was porous with relative high surface area. Studies of the
      photocatalytic activity and stability of heterostructured Ag3PO4/m-TiO2 for the
      degradation of methylene blue (MB) have indicated that its visible light
      photocatalytic performance was improved compared with pure Ag3PO4 and Ag3PO4/m
      TiO2, and exhibited excellent photocatalytic stability. The performance was
      improved attributing to three aspects: (1) the large specific surface area
      enhanced the adsorption of MB; (2) numerous pores enlarged the contact area
      between photocatalyst and MB; (3) the most importantly, depositing Ag3PO4 onto
      the surface of TiO2 facilitated the separation of electron and hole pairs, which
      also elevates the photocatalytic performance. Furthermore, the photocatalytic
      mechanism also has been discussed. Compare with Ag3PO4, the Ag weight percent of
      Ag3PO4/m-TiO2 decreases from 77% to 20.8%, significantly reducing the cost of
      photocatalyst. 

PMID- 25823729
TI  - Preparation of new ion-selective cross-linked poly(vinylimidazole-co-ethylene
      glycol dimethacrylate) using a double-imprinting process for the preconcentration
      of Pb2+ ions.
AB  - A new ion-selective cross-linked poly(vinylimidazole-co-ethylene glycol
      dimethacrylate) prepared via a double-imprinting process was developed for the
      recognition and preconcentration of Pb(2+) from water samples. The sorbent was
      characterized by FT-IR, SEM, TGA and textural data. The maximum dynamic sorption
      capacity of Pb(2+) was 42.04 mg Pb(2+) g(-1) of the double-imprinted polymer. The
      sorption kinetics data were described by a pseudo-second-order model. The double
      imprinted polymer exhibited a higher sorption efficiency of Pb(2+) than the blank
      polymer (non-imprinted polymer). The preconcentration procedure involved the
      loading of a Pb(2+) solution at pH 7.25 through 40.0 mg of the double-imprinted
      polymer packed in a mini-column at 5.0 mL min(-1). The selective efficiency of
      proposed method for the Pb(2+) preconcentration was assured by competitive
      sorption using different proportions of Pb(2+)/cations and Pb(2+)/anions. An
      analytical curve was obtained in the range 0.0-300.0 MUg L(-1) (r=0.999) and a
      limit of detection of 2.46 MUg L(-1) was obtained. The preconcentration factor
      was found to be 21, the consumptive index 0.95 mL and the concentration
      efficiency 5.25 min(-1). The preconcentration method was successfully applied to
      the Pb(2+) ions determination in different kinds of water samples with high
      recovery values (91.3-108.9%).

PMID- 25823730
TI  - Study on the condensed state physics of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) nano
      aggregates in aqueous dispersions.
AB  - Narrowly size distributed spherical, ellipsoid-like and lamellae stacked
      poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) nano-aggregates in aqueous dispersions with a
      diameter ranging from about (~) 50 to 330 nm were prepared via nanoprecipitation
      method in the present study. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission
      electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to
      characterize the morphology and size of the PCL nano-aggregates. We investigated
      the melt behaviors of the original (without any thermal treatment after
      preparation) PCL nano-aggregates in aqueous dispersions by nano differential
      scanning calorimetry (nano-DSC). In particular, the condensed state of the
      original ~50 nm PCL nanospheres was demonstrated to be amorphous as a result of
      exhibiting no melting peak in the first nano-DSC heating scan. Furthermore, the
      rubbery<->flow condensed state transition of the amorphous PCL nanospheres was
      explored by fluorescence measurements. Moreover, the confined crystallization of
      the ~50 nm PCL nanospheres from rubbery state in aqueous dispersions was
      investigated via isothermal crystallization process. Enormous supercooling was
      observed during crystallization due to nanoconfinement effect. In addition, when
      the diameter of the original PCL aggregates was increased to more than 150 nm,
      PCL is in semi-crystalline state and the crystallinity increases with the
      diameter.

PMID- 25823731
TI  - Does surveillance imaging after treatment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
      really work?

PMID- 25823732
TI  - Reply to B. O'Sullivan et Al.

PMID- 25823733
TI  - The night before the first day of school.

PMID- 25823734
TI  - You have nothing to lose.

PMID- 25823735
TI  - Cost-effectiveness analysis of routine surveillance imaging of patients with
      diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in first remission.
AB  - PURPOSE: Surveillance imaging of asymptomatic patients with diffuse large B-cell
      lymphoma (DLBCL) in first remission remains controversial. A decision-analytic
      Markov model was developed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of follow-up
      strategies following first-line immunochemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three
      strategies were compared in 55-year-old patient cohorts: routine clinical follow
      up without serial imaging, routine follow-up with biannual computed tomography
      (CT) scans for 2 years, or routine follow-up with biannual [(18)F]
      fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) for
      2 years. The baseline model favored imaging-based strategies by associating
      asymptomatic imaging-detected relapses with improved clinical outcomes. Lifetime
      costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness
      ratios (ICERs) were calculated for each surveillance strategy. RESULTS:
      Surveillance strategies utilizing 2 years of routine CT or PET/CT scans were
      associated with minimal survival benefit when compared with clinical follow-up
      without routine imaging (life-years gained: CT, 0.03 years; PET/CT, 0.04 years).
      The benefit of imaging-based follow-up remained small after quality-of-life
      adjustments (CT, 0.020 QALYs; PET/CT, 0.025 QALYs). Costs associated with imaging
      based surveillance strategies are considerable; ICERs for imaging strategies
      compared with clinical follow-up were $164,960/QALY (95% CI, $116,510 to
      $766,930/QALY) and $168,750/QALY (95% CI, $117,440 to 853,550/QALY) for CT and
      PET/CT, respectively. Model conclusions were robust and remained stable on one
      way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSION: Our cost-effectiveness
      analysis suggests surveillance imaging of asymptomatic DLBCL patients in
      remission offers little clinical benefit at substantial economic costs.

PMID- 25823736
TI  - Reply to B. O'Sullivan et Al.

PMID- 25823737
TI  - Complete regression of metastatic cervical cancer after treatment with human
      papillomavirus-targeted tumor-infiltrating T cells.
AB  - PURPOSE: Metastatic cervical cancer is a prototypical chemotherapy-refractory
      epithelial malignancy for which better treatments are needed. Adoptive T-cell
      therapy (ACT) is emerging as a promising cancer treatment, but its study in
      epithelial malignancies has been limited. This study was conducted to determine
      if ACT could mediate regression of metastatic cervical cancer. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: Patients enrolled onto this protocol were diagnosed with metastatic
      cervical cancer and had previously received platinum-based chemotherapy or
      chemoradiotherapy. Patients were treated with a single infusion of tumor
      infiltrating T cells selected when possible for human papillomavirus (HPV) E6 and
      E7 reactivity (HPV-TILs). Cell infusion was preceded by lymphocyte-depleting
      chemotherapy and was followed by administration of aldesleukin. RESULTS: Three of
      nine patients experienced objective tumor responses (two complete responses and
      one partial response). The two complete responses were ongoing 22 and 15 months
      after treatment, respectively. One partial response was 3 months in duration. The
      HPV reactivity of T cells in the infusion product (as measured by interferon
      gamma production, enzyme-linked immunospot, and CD137 upregulation assays)
      correlated positively with clinical response (P = .0238 for all three assays). In
      addition, the frequency of HPV-reactive T cells in peripheral blood 1 month after
      treatment was positively associated with clinical response (P = .0238).
      CONCLUSION: Durable, complete regression of metastatic cervical cancer can occur
      after a single infusion of HPV-TILs. Exploratory studies suggest a correlation
      between HPV reactivity of the infusion product and clinical response. Continued
      investigation of this therapy is warranted.

PMID- 25823739
TI  - First Site of Failure Analysis Incompletely Addresses Issues of Late and
      Unexpected Metastases in p16-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer.

PMID- 25823738
TI  - Low Serum Vitamin D Levels Are Associated With Inferior Survival in Follicular
      Lymphoma: A Prospective Evaluation in SWOG and LYSA Studies.
AB  - PURPOSE: Recent literature reports a potential association between high vitamin D
      and improved lymphoma prognosis. We evaluated the impact of pretreatment vitamin
      D on follicular lymphoma (FL) outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: SWOG participants
      were previously untreated patients with FL enrolled onto SWOG clinical trials
      (S9800, S9911, or S0016) involving CHOP chemotherapy plus an anti-CD20 antibody
      (rituximab or iodine-131 tositumomab) between 1998 and 2008. Participants
      included in our second independent cohort were also previously untreated patients
      with FL enrolled onto the Lymphoma Study Association (LYSA) PRIMA trial of
      rituximab plus chemotherapy (randomly assigned to rituximab maintenance v
      observation) between 2004 and 2007. Using the gold-standard liquid chromatography
      tandem mass spectrometry method, 25-hydroxyvitamin D was measured in stored
      baseline serum samples. The primary end point was progression-free survival
      (PFS). RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 5.4 years, the adjusted PFS and
      overall survival hazard ratios for the SWOG cohort were 1.97 (95% CI, 1.10 to
      3.53) and 4.16 (95% CI, 1.66 to 10.44), respectively, for those who were vitamin
      D deficient (< 20 ng/mL; 15% of cohort). After a median follow-up of 6.6 years,
      the adjusted PFS and overall survival hazard ratios for the LYSA cohort were 1.50
      (95% CI, 0.93 to 2.42) and 1.92 (95% CI, 0.72 to 5.13), respectively, for those
      who were vitamin D deficient (< 10 ng/mL; 25% of cohort). CONCLUSION: Although
      statistical significance was not reached in the LYSA cohort, the consistent
      estimates of association between low vitamin D levels and FL outcomes in two
      independent cohorts suggests that serum vitamin D might be the first potentially
      modifiable factor to be associated with FL survival. Further investigation is
      needed to determine the effects of vitamin D supplementation in this clinical
      setting.

PMID- 25823740
TI  - Organic nanoparticles of malachite green with enhanced far-red emission: size
      dependence of particle rigidity.
AB  - In tracing the biological processes using fluorescent probes, it is desirable to
      shift the excitation/emission energy to a far-red/near-infrared (FR/NIR) region.
      In this study, we successfully synthesize FR fluorescent organic nanoparticles
      via ion-association between the malachite green (MG) cations and tetrakis(4
      fluorophenyl)borate (TFPB) anions in the presence of a neutral stabilizing
      polymer. Binding of MG with TFPB results in the prominent appearance of an
      absorption band that can be assigned to an H-aggregate of MG. The fluorescence
      intensity as well as the fluorescence lifetime shows a significant increase with
      a decrease in the nanoparticle size. Since the MG dye is known as a local
      viscosity or environmental rigidity probe showing a rotational friction
      dependence of the excited state lifetime, we find that the rigidity of the
      organic nanoparticle is strongly size-dependent; that is, the smaller the size of
      the nanoparticle, the greater the rigidity of the nanoparticle. We also reveal
      that surface regions of the ion-based organic nanoparticles are more rigid than
      inner regions. The presence of H-aggregates that are almost non-fluorescent is
      the major origin of aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) and still avoids the
      enhancement of the fluorescence quantum yield of the MG nanoparticles, so we
      develop a new approach to prevent H-aggregation inside the nanoparticle by
      incorporating photochemically inert, bulky phosphonium cations, which results in
      a 430-fold enhancement of its fluorescence yield. We believe that such a
      methodology will open up an avenue in the development of new types of fluorescent
      nanomaterials for many applications. 

PMID- 25823741
TI  - Processing of Dynamic Affective Information in Adults With ADHD.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: ADHD has been repeatedly linked to problems in social functioning.
      Although some theories assume that the emotion recognition deficits are explained
      by general attentional deficits, mounting evidence suggests that they may
      actually constitute a distinct impairment. However, it remains unclear whether
      the deficient processing affects specific emotional categories or may generalize
      to all basic emotions. The present study aims to investigate these questions by
      assessing the sensitivity to all six basic emotions in adults with ADHD. METHOD:
      The participants judged the emotion onset in animated morph clips displaying
      facial expressions that slowly changed from neutral to emotional. RESULTS: ADHD
      participants exhibited an impaired recognition of sad and fearful facial
      expressions. CONCLUSION: The present findings indicate that ADHD is possibly
      associated with a specific deficit in the recognition of facial emotions
      signaling negative social feedback.

PMID- 25823742
TI  - Is the Theta/Beta EEG Marker for ADHD Inherently Flawed?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Despite advances in our understanding of ADHD as a neurodevelopmental
      disorder, robust biomarkers are yet to be established in clinical practice. More
      than 40 years of electroencephalography (EEG)-based research has culminated in
      the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the theta/beta (EEG
      power) ratio (TBR) as a diagnostic marker of ADHD. METHOD: This review article
      focuses on resting-state EEG power research in ADHD. RESULTS: Inconsistent
      findings in the literature and suggestions of reduced specificity threaten the
      utility of TBR as a biomarker of ADHD. The use of fixed EEG bands may be a
      significant limitation, particularly in youth, and alternative approaches are
      needed. CONCLUSION: We propose that a personalized theta-to-alpha cut point or
      "transition frequency" is a better frame of reference for the measurement of TBR.
      Such an approach is better placed to test maturational lag and cortical
      hypoarousal models of ADHD and may in turn have greater utility in supporting
      diagnosis.

PMID- 25823743
TI  - Attention, Executive Function, Behavior, and Electrocortical Function,
      Significantly Improved With 19-Channel Z-Score Neurofeedback in a Clinical
      Setting: A Pilot Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Neurofeedback (NF) is gaining recognition as an evidence-based
      intervention grounded in learning theory, and 19-channel z-score NF (19ZNF) is a
      new NF model. This pilot study sought to evaluate the efficacy of 19ZNF in a
      clinical setting. METHOD: Outcome measures framed groups such that 19ZNF was
      evaluated, as it relates to the neuropsychological constructs of attention (n =
      10), executive function (n = 12), behavior (n = 14), and electrocortical
      functioning (n = 21). One-tailed t tests compared pre-post difference scores.
      RESULTS: For all pre-post comparisons, the direction of change was in the
      predicted direction, and differences were statistically significant (p = .000 to
      p = .008, effect sizes 1.29 to 3.42). CONCLUSION: Results suggest 19ZNF improved
      attention, executive function, behavior, and electrocortical function. This study
      provides beginning evidence of 19ZNF's efficacy, adds to what is known about
      19ZNF, and offers an innovative approach for using quantitative
      electroencephalographic (QEEG) metrics as outcome measures.

PMID- 25823744
TI  - Do High and Low Extremes of ADHD and ASD Trait Continua Represent Maladaptive
      Behavioral and Cognitive Outcomes? A Population-Based Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum
      disorders (ASD) are thought to reflect the high, symptomatic extreme of
      quantitative trait continua. However, extreme deviations in either direction on
      disorder continua, high and low, may both represent maladaptive behavioral and
      cognitive outcomes. We aimed to test this hypothesis. METHOD: In a population
      sample of 378 children, ADHD and ASD traits were rated by parents on
      questionnaires that provide resolution at high and low extremes of the ADHD and
      ASD trait continua. ADHD and ASD traits were related to parent-ratings of
      internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and tests of cognitive
      functioning using polynomial regression. RESULTS: The low ends of the ADHD and
      ASD trait continua were related to fewer behavior problems and better cognitive
      functioning than symptomatic ends. CONCLUSION: Studying the correlates of the low
      continuum ends may deepen our understanding of the mechanisms underlying adaptive
      behavioral and cognitive outcomes.

PMID- 25823745
TI  - Experimental evidence for the effect of habitat loss on the dynamics of migratory
      networks.
AB  - Migratory animals present a unique challenge for understanding the consequences
      of habitat loss on population dynamics because individuals are typically
      distributed over a series of interconnected breeding and non-breeding sites
      (termed migratory network). Using replicated breeding and non-breeding
      populations of Drosophila melanogaster and a mathematical model, we investigated
      three hypotheses to explain how habitat loss influenced the dynamics of
      populations in networks with different degrees of connectivity between breeding
      and non-breeding seasons. We found that habitat loss increased the degree of
      connectivity in the network and influenced population size at sites that were not
      directly connected to the site where habitat loss occurred. However, connected
      networks only buffered global population declines at high levels of habitat loss.
      Our results demonstrate why knowledge of the patterns of connectivity across a
      species range is critical for predicting the effects of environmental change and
      provide empirical evidence for why connected migratory networks are commonly
      found in nature. 

PMID- 25823746
TI  - Integration of mobile technology in educational materials improves participation:
      creation of a novel smartphone application for resident education.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Traditional education consists of didactics and book learning.
      Recently, technology has been integrated into graduate medical education,
      primarily in the form of simulation. The primary aim of this study was to
      investigate if a novel smartphone application using technology to engage learners
      would improve participation in an educational activity when compared with a daily
      e-mail format and how this use translated to performance on standardized testing.
      DESIGN: The UF Surgery App (App), which is a smartphone application, was
      developed to deliver 2 questions from a general surgery educational database
      every weekday from October to February 2013. The App, developed for iOS, featured
      a notification alarm and a reminder icon to actively engage the learner. Learners
      who used the App responded to multiple-choice questions and were provided
      instantaneous feedback in the form of a correct answer with an explanation. The
      response rate and answers were collected prospectively and compared with the
      American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination score. SETTING: University of
      Florida, College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida, a university teaching
      hospital. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 46 general surgical residents were enrolled in
      a university training program. Participation was voluntary. RESULTS: Overall, 26
      of 46 (57%) residents participated. Of the users, 70% answered more than 20% of
      the questions, while 46% responded to more than 70% of questions. The percentage
      of correct answers on the App was positively correlated with standardized score
      (p = 0.005), percentage correct (p = 0.02), and percentile (p = 0.034) on the
      ABSITE examination. CONCLUSIONS: Technology can be used to actively engage
      residents. Deployment of this novel App improved participation over a daily
      question-answer e-mail format, and answers correlated with standardized test
      performance. The effect of the App on overall education is unclear, and a multi
      institutional study has been initiated.

PMID- 25823747
TI  - A cadaveric training system for the maintenance of basic microsurgical hand
      skill: submersible pump perfusion system.

PMID- 25823748
TI  - Certainty and uncertainty about end of life care nursing practices in New Zealand
      Intensive Care Units: a mixed methods study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With end-of-life (EOL) central to the nursing role in intensive care,
      few studies have been undertaken to explore EOL care in the context of New
      Zealand (NZ) intensive care nursing. OBJECTIVE: To investigate NZ intensive care
      nurses' experiences of, and attitudes towards EOL care. DESIGN: Sequential mixed
      methods study using cross sectional survey with follow-on focus groups. METHODS:
      NZ intensive care nurses (N=465) across four large tertiary intensive care units
      (ICUs) were contacted to complete a 43-item web-based survey. A follow-on focus
      group was conducted in each of the sites to explore specific aspects of the
      survey findings. RESULTS: 203 fully completed surveys were returned (response
      rate 44%) from the four ICUs. Over half of nurses surveyed (55%, n=111) disagreed
      that withholding and withdrawing life support treatment were ethically the same.
      78% (n=159) of nurses stated that withholding treatment was ethically more
      acceptable than withdrawing it. Whilst nurses generally supported reducing
      inspired oxygen to air for ventilated patients at EOL (71%, n=139) this was also
      an area that demonstrated one of the highest levels of uncertainty (21%, n=41).
      Just under a quarter of respondents were also uncertain about the use of
      continued nutritional support, continued passive limb exercises and use of deep
      sedation during EOL. The 18 nurses who participated in follow-on focus groups
      detailed the supportive, culturally sensitive, collaborative environment that EOL
      was conducted in. However diverse opinions and understandings were held on the
      use of passive limb and use of fluids at EOL. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst results from
      this NZ study broadly align with European studies, uncertainty about specific
      areas of EOL practices highlight that further guidance for nurses is required.

PMID- 25823750
TI  - The effect of essential medicines programme on rational use of medicines in
      China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Irrational use of medicines is a serious problem in China and has been
      the primary target of China's national essential medicines programme (NEMP). The
      aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the NEMP on rational use of
      medicines in China. METHODS: A nationwide sample of 3 76 700 prescriptions
      written by primary care providers from 2007 to 2011 was obtained following a
      multistage sampling process. Six prescribing indicators were measured: average
      number of drugs prescribed per prescription, average expenditure per
      prescription, percentage of prescriptions with antibiotics, with injections, with
      two or more antibiotics and with corticosteroids. The pre-post with control study
      design and the difference-in-difference (DID) methodology were employed to
      evaluate the effect of NEMP. RESULTS: Prescriptions from primary care
      institutions with the NEMP implementation were better than those without NEMP
      implementation. Adjusting for the institution's sizes, ownership, economic
      geographic regions and the year of NEMP implementation, the DID estimator was
      statistically significant in all prescribing indicators except for the percentage
      of prescriptions with injection. The number of drugs per prescription decreased
      by 0.2 per prescription [95% confidence interval (CI): -0.3, -0.1] after the NEMP
      was implemented; the percentages of prescriptions with antibiotics, with
      corticosteroids and with two or more antibiotics decreased by 7% (95% CI: -10, 
      4), 1% (95% CI: -2, 0) and 2% (95% CI: -3, 0), respectively; and the average
      expenditure per prescription decreased by eight Renminbi Yuan (95% CI: -14, -2).
      The effect of NEMP on reducing irrational prescribing was greater in public
      institutions than in private institutions (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: China's NEMP
      is effective in promoting rational use of medicines, and the effect is greater in
      public institutions than in private institutions. However, the irrational use is
      still high, pointing to the need for further reforms to tackle the underlying
      causes, such as clinical guidelines and patient education.

PMID- 25823751
TI  - Evolution of health coverage in Mexico: evidence of progress and challenges in
      the Mexican health system.
AB  - To consolidate an effective and efficient universal health care coverage requires
      a deep understanding of the challenges faced by the health care system in
      providing services demanded by population in need. This study analyses the
      dynamics of health insurance coverage and effective access coverage to some
      health interventions in Mexico. It examines the evolution of inequalities and
      heterogeneous performance of the insurance subsystems incorporated under the
      Mexican health care system. Two types of coverage indicators were selected:
      health insurance and effective access to preventive health interventions intended
      for normative population. Data were drawn from National Health and Nutrition
      Surveys 2006 and 2012. The economic inequality was estimated using the
      Standardized Concentration Index by household per capita consumption expenditure
      as socioeconomic-status indicator. Approximately 75% of the population reported
      being covered by one of the existing insurance schemes, representing a huge step
      forward from 2006, when as much as 51.62% of the population had no health
      insurance. About 87% of this growth was attributable to the expansion of Non
      Contributory Health Insurance whereas 7% emanated from the Social Security
      subsystem. The results revealed that inequality in access to health insurance was
      virtually eradicated; however, traces of unequal access persisted in some
      subpopulations groups. Coverage indicators of effective access showed a slight
      improvement in the period analysed, but prenatal care and interventions to
      prevent chronic disease still presented a serious shortage. Furthermore, there
      was no evidence that inequities in coverage of these interventions have decreased
      in recent years. The results provided a mixed picture, generalizable to the
      system as a whole, expansion of insurance status represents one of the most
      remarkable advances that have not been accompanied by a significant improvement
      in effective access. In addition, existing inequalities are part of the most
      important challenges to be faced by the Mexican health system.

PMID- 25823752
TI  - French Nationwide Cohort Temporary Utilization Authorization Survey of
      GranuPAS((r)) in MDR-TB patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Para-aminosalicylic acid (PAS) is again needed for the treatment of
      multidrug and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (M/XDR-TB). The study of a
      new granulated formulation (PAS-GR, 'GranuPAS((r))'), which might have fewer
      adverse events, was made possible by the statutory requirement that data be
      collected regarding its use in France in multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients
      under a 'therapeutic utilization' follow-up for safety and efficacy system called
      'Autorisation Temporaire d'Utilisation' (ATU). METHODS: In May 2011 an ATU cohort
      was established to monitor the named patient use of PAS-GR. All patients were
      included in a follow-up protocol developed by Lucane Pharma and the French
      Medicines Agency (ANSM) which recorded demographics, dosing characteristics,
      concomitant medications, adverse events, and outcome. Following EU marketing
      authorization, the ATU terminated about 3 years after initiation. RESULTS: PAS-GR
      was used for the treatment of 231 MDR-TB patients. PAS-GR was used at 12 g/day in
      114 cases and 8 g/day in 80 cases. PAS-GR-containing combinations resulted in
      sputum conversion in a median of 94 days (IQR 48-143) in the 55 patients with
      information after treatment initiation. Adverse effects of PAS-GR-containing
      combinations were mostly gastrointestinal (GI; 9% of patients experiencing a GI
      event at any time) and led to interrupt PAS-GR in 6% of cases (2.1% GI).
      CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy of PAS-GR appears equivalent to that of PAS, and its
      tolerance improved over earlier PAS formulations, thus supporting the use of PAS
      GR as part of drug combinations for the treatment of MDR and XDR-TB.

PMID- 25823749
TI  - Light-evoked S-nitrosylation in the retina.
AB  - Nitric oxide (NO) synthesis in the retina is triggered by light stimulation. NO
      has been shown to modulate visual signal processing at multiple sites in the
      vertebrate retina, via activation of the most sensitive target of NO signaling,
      soluble guanylate cyclase. NO can also alter protein structure and function and
      exert biological effects directly by binding to free thiol groups of cysteine
      residues in a chemical reaction called S-nitrosylation. However, in the central
      nervous system, including the retina, this reaction has not been considered to be
      significant under physiological conditions. Here we provide immunohistochemical
      evidence for extensive S-nitrosylation that takes place in the goldfish and mouse
      retinas under physiologically relevant light intensities, in an intensity
      dependent manner, with a strikingly similar pattern in both species. Pretreatment
      with N-ethylmaleimide (NEM), which occludes S-nitrosylation, or with 1-(2
      trifluromethylphenyl)imidazole (TRIM), an inhibitor of neuronal NO synthase,
      eliminated the light-evoked increase in S-nitrosylated protein immunofluorescence
      (SNI) in the retinas of both species. Similarly, light did not increase SNI,
      above basal levels, in retinas of transgenic mice lacking neuronal NO synthase.
      Qualitative analysis of the light-adapted mouse retina with mass spectrometry
      revealed more than 300 proteins that were S-nitrosylated upon illumination, many
      of which are known to participate directly in retinal signal processing. Our data
      strongly suggest that in the retina light-evoked NO production leads to extensive
      S-nitrosylation and that this process is a significant posttranslational
      modification affecting a wide range of proteins under physiological conditions.

PMID- 25823753
TI  - Growth Hormone Treatment Improves Cognitive Function in Short Children with
      Growth Hormone Deficiency.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: We investigated the association between cognition and growth
      hormone (GH) status and GH treatment in short prepubertal children with broadly
      ranging GH secretion. METHODS: A total of 99 children (age 3-11 years), 41 with
      GH deficiency (GHD) and 58 with idiopathic short stature (ISS), were randomized
      to a fixed dose (43 ug/kg/day) or a prediction model-guided individualized dose
      (17-100 ug/kg/day) and followed up for 24 months. In a longitudinal and mixed
      within- and between-subjects study, we examined clinical effect size changes,
      measured by Cohen's d, in full-scale IQ (FSIQ) and secondary IQ indices. RESULTS:
      Significant increases giving medium effect size in FSIQ (p = 0.001, Cohen's d =
      0.63), performance IQ (p = 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.65) and processing speed (p =
      0.005, Cohen's d = 0.71) were found in the GH-deficient group. In contrast,
      perceptual organization only increased in the ISS group (p = 0.001, Cohen's d =
      0.53). Baseline IQ was normally distributed with small but significant
      differences between the groups: GH-deficient children had lower FSIQ (p = 0.042)
      and lower performance IQ (p = 0.021). Using multiple regression analysis, 40% of
      the variance in delta processing speed scores (0-24 months) was explained by
      GHmax and IGF-ISDS at baseline. CONCLUSION: IQ, specifically fluid intelligence,
      increased in the GH-deficient children. The pretreatment status of the GH/IGF-I
      axis was significantly predictive for these changes. (c) 2015 S. Karger AG,
      Basel.

PMID- 25823754
TI  - Risk factors of transient and persistent anxiety during pregnancy.
AB  - PURPOSE: chronic poor mental health over the course of pregnancy contributes to
      greater adverse maternal and child outcomes. Identifying women with chronic
      depressive or anxiety symptoms can provide opportunities to reduce distress and
      improve pregnancy outcomes. The objective of this study was to determine risk
      factors of chronic antenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms using a longitudinal
      pregnancy cohort in Alberta, Canada. METHODS: women with singleton pregnancies
      were included (N=3021). Anxiety and depressive symptoms were measured in the
      second and third trimesters using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
      and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, respectively. On the basis of the
      timing and persistence of symptoms, the following three mutually exclusive
      subgroups for each anxiety and depressive symptoms were created: never
      symptomatic, symptomatic only in the second trimester, and symptomatic at both
      time points. Separate logistic regression models were used to derive risk factors
      for each subgroup. FINDINGS: women with chronic anxiety or depressive symptoms
      were distinguished from those with transient symptoms or no symptoms by their
      optimism scores, in which less optimistic pregnant women had a four-fold
      increased risk for developing chronic depressive or anxiety symptoms compared
      with more optimistic women (AOR varied from 4.30 to 4.93). Additionally, high
      perceived stress, low social support, history of mental health issues were common
      predictors of chronic anxiety and depressive symptoms in pregnancy. Partner
      tension was the exclusive predictor of anxiety symptoms (AOR varied from 1.94 to
      2.31) and poor physical health (AOR 2.54; 95% CI 1.32-4.89), unplanned pregnancy
      (AOR 3.05; 95% CI 1.61-5.79), and infertility treatments (AOR 4.98; 95% CI 1.85
      13.39) were unique predictors of chronic depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS:
      knowledge of the risk factors of chronic poor mental health during pregnancy
      might inform the development of effective strategies within the limited resources
      of health-care systems to target populations with greater needs for
      interventions.

PMID- 25823755
TI  - Maternity services are not meeting the needs of immigrant women of non-English
      speaking background: Results of two consecutive Australian population based
      studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: women of non-English speaking background who migrate by choice or
      seek refuge in developed countries such as Australia have notably poorer
      perinatal outcomes than local-born women. Using data collected in two consecutive
      population-based surveys conducted in 2000 and 2008, the objective of this paper
      is to compare the views and experiences of immigrant women of non-English
      speaking background (NESB) giving birth in Victoria, Australia with those of
      women who were born in Australia. METHODS: consecutive population-based surveys
      of women giving birth in Victoria, Australia conducted in 2000 and 2008.
      Questionnaires were distributed to women giving birth in a two-week period in
      2000 and a four-week period in 2008 by hospitals and home birth practitioners.
      Surveys were mailed to women at five to six months post partum. FINDINGS:
      completed surveys were received from 67% of eligible women in 2000 (1616/2412),
      and 51.2% in 2008 (2900/5667). Compared to Australian-born women, immigrant women
      of NESB were more likely to report negative experiences of antenatal, intrapartum
      and postnatal care. In 2008, 47.1% of immigrant women expressed dissatisfaction
      antenatal care compared with 26.8% of Australian born women (Adj OR 2.17, 95% CI
      1.7-2.7). Similarly, 40.5% of immigrant women were dissatisfied with intrapartum
      care compared with 25.5% of Australian born women (Adj OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.4-2.3),
      and 53.5% of immigrant women rated their postnatal care negatively compared with
      41.0% of Australian born women (Adj OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.2-1.9). There was no
      evidence of improvement between the two surveys. Immigrant women were more likely
      than Australian-born women to say that health professionals did not always
      remember them between visits, make an effort to get to know the issues that were
      important to them, keep them informed about what was happening during labour or
      take their wishes into account. CONCLUSION: data from repeated population-based
      surveys of recent mothers provides one of the few avenues for gauging whether
      changes to the organisation of maternity services is making a difference to
      immigrant women's experiences of care. Our findings showing no change over an
      eight year period - during which there were major efforts to increase access to
      midwifery led models of care and provide greater continuity of caregiver -
      suggest that different approaches, more specifically tailored to the needs of
      immigrant families are needed to enhance women's experiences of care and improve
      outcomes.

PMID- 25823756
TI  - A Highly Efficient Gold-Catalyzed Photoredox alpha-C(sp(3))-H Alkynylation of
      Tertiary Aliphatic Amines with Sunlight.
AB  - A new alpha-C(sp(3))H alkynylation of unactivated tertiary aliphatic amines with
      1-iodoalkynes as radical alkynylating reagents in the presence of [Au2(MU
      dppm)2](2+) in sunlight provides propargylic amines. Based on mechanistic
      studies, a C-C coupling of an alpha-aminoalkyl radical and an alkynyl radical is
      proposed for the C(sp(3))-C(sp) bond formation. The mild, convenient, efficient,
      and highly selective C(sp(3))-H alkynylation reaction shows excellent
      regioselectivity and good functional-group compatibility. A scale-up to gram
      quantities is possible with sunlight used as a clean and sustainable energy
      source.

PMID- 25823757
TI  - Less invasive ventilation in extremely low birth weight infants from 1997 to
      2011: survey versus evidence.
AB  - Evidence for target values of arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2), CO2, and pH has
      changed substantially over the last 20 years. A representative survey concerning
      treatment strategies in extremely low-birth-weight infants (ELBW) was sent to all
      German neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) treating ELBW infants in 1997. A
      follow-up survey was conducted in 2011 and sent to all NICUs in Germany, Austria,
      and Switzerland. During the observation period, NICUs targeting SaO2 of 80, 85,
      and 90 % have increased, while units aiming for 94 and 96 % decreased (all p <
      0.001). Similarly, NICUs aiming for pH 7.25 or lower increased, while 7.35 or
      higher decreased (both p < 0.001). Furthermore, more units targeted a CO2 of 50
      mmHg (7.3 kPa) or higher (p < 0.001), while fewer targeted 40 or 35 mmHg (p <
      0.001). Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) was used in 80.2 % of NICUs in 2011. The
      most frequently used ventilation modes were synchronized intermittent mandatory
      ventilation (SIMV) (67.5 %) and intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV)
      (59.7 %) in 1997 and SIMV (77.2 %) and synchronized intermittent positive
      pressure ventilation (SIPPV) (26.8 %) in 2011. NICUs reporting frequent or always
      use of IPPV decreased to 11.0 % (p < 0.001). SIMV (77.2 %) and SIPPV (26.8 %) did
      not change from 1997 to 2011, while high-frequency oscillation (HFO) increased
      from 9.1 to 19.7 % (p = 0.018). Differences between countries, level of care, and
      size of the NICU were minimal. CONCLUSIONS: Target values for SaO2 decreased,
      while CO2 and pH increased significantly during the observation period. Current
      values largely reflect available evidence at time of the surveys. WHAT IS KNOWN:
      * Evidence concerning target values of oxygen saturation, CO 2 , and pH in
      extremely low-birth-weight infants has grown substantially. * It is not known to
      which extent this knowledge is transferred into clinical practice and if
      treatment strategies have changed. WHAT IS NEW: * Target values for oxygen
      saturation in ELBW infants decreased between 1997 and 2011 while target values
      for CO 2 and pH increased. * Similar treatment strategies existed in different
      countries, hospitals of different size, or university versus nonuniversity
      hospitals in 2011.

PMID- 25823758
TI  - Preventing deformational plagiocephaly through parent guidance: a randomized,
      controlled trial.
AB  - Deformational plagiocephaly (DP) occurs frequently in otherwise healthy infants.
      Many infants with DP undergo physiotherapy or helmet therapy, and ample treatment
      related research is available. However, the possibility of preventing DP has been
      left with little attention. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of
      intervention in the newborn's environment, positioning, and handling on the
      prevalence of DP at 3 months and to investigate the causal relationship between
      DP and cervical imbalance. We carried out a randomized controlled trial, with
      healthy newborns randomized into two groups at birth. All families received
      standard positioning instructions to prevent SIDS. Additionally, the intervention
      group received detailed instructions regarding the infant's environment,
      positioning, and handling, with the goal of creating a nonrestrictive environment
      that promotes spontaneous physical movement and symmetrical motor development.
      Two- and three-dimensional photogrammetry served to assess cranial shape and
      goniometry to measure cervical motion. At 3 months, the prevalence of DP was
      lower in the intervention group in both 2D (11 vs 31 %) and 3D analyses (15 vs 33
      %), and the asymmetry was milder in the intervention group. Infants with DP at
      follow-up had also developed more torticollis. CONCLUSION: An early educational
      intervention reduces the prevalence and severity of DP at 3 months. WHAT IS
      KNOWN: *Deformational plagiocephaly, often with associated torticollis, is common
      in healthy infants. *Parental education is frequently recommended for preventing
      deformational plagiocephaly, although information regarding the effectiveness of
      preventive strategies is scarce. WHAT IS NEW: *Early parent guidance effectively
      reduces the prevalence and severity of DP and improves the cervical range of
      motion at three months. *Educating both parents and professionals about proper
      infant positioning on a national scale could help minimize public healthcare
      costs.

PMID- 25823759
TI  - Chronic conditions and coexisting ADHD-a complicated combination in adolescents.
AB  - Adolescents with chronic conditions (CCs) take more health risks than peers.
      However, coexisting ADHD has not sufficiently been considered. The aim of the
      present study was to investigate the impact of different CCs on protective
      factors and health-risk behaviors, taking coexisting ADHD into account. A school
      based study among 6895 15- and 17-year-old students was performed in the county
      of Sormland, Sweden in 2011 (response rate 80 %). The questionnaire explored
      background factors, CCs, protective factors, and health-risk behaviors. CCs were
      reported by 11 %, while 55 % were healthy. Students with CCs more often reported
      coexisting ADHD than healthy students. In adolescents with neurological
      conditions, the odds ratio for having ADHD was 7.34 (95 % CI 3.00-17.99) as
      compared to healthy peers. Few protective factors (<4) and clustered health-risk
      behaviors (>=4) were more common among students with CCs, especially if ADHD or a
      combination including ADHD was reported. CONCLUSION: CCs and coexisting ADHD are
      associated with few protective factors and clustered-health risk behaviors.
      Adolescents with ADHD-in addition to a chronic condition-should be specially
      acknowledged by health care professionals in order to prevent health risk
      behaviors. ADHD should be considered when studying these outcomes in adolescents.
      WHAT IS KNOWN: * Youth with chronic conditions (CCs)-especially ADHD-are reported
      to take more health risks than peers. * In earlier studies of youth with CCs, the
      presence of coexisting ADHD has not been taken into account. WHAT IS NEW: * In
      this study, we showed that ADHD was more prevalent among adolescents with
      different types of CCs. * CCs and coexisting ADHD were associated with few
      protective factors and clustered health-risk behaviors.

PMID- 25823760
TI  - Role of basolateral amygdala dopamine D2 receptors in impulsive choice in acute
      cocaine-treated rats.
AB  - Psychostimulant substances have been found to either increase or inhibit
      impulsive choice (preference to choose small immediate reward over large delayed
      reward) in laboratory animals. Although central dopamine transmission has been
      demonstrated to be involved in impulsivity and drug addiction, little is known
      regarding dopaminergic neurotransmission in addictive drug-induced alteration of
      impulse control. In this study, we used a delay discounting model to measure
      impulsive choice in rats and found that acute cocaine dose-dependently decreased
      impulsive choice in rats. Intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) of D1 receptor
      antagonist SCH23390 (0.02 mg/kg) could increase the impulsive choice but had no
      effect on the inhibition of impulsive choice induced by acute cocaine exposure.
      D2 receptor antagonist eticlopride (0.06 mg/kg) had no effect on the choice
      behavior itself, but it reversed acute cocaine-induced impulse inhibition.
      Moreover, bilateral microinjection of eticlopride (1 MUg/side) into the
      basolateral amygdala (BLA) but not the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core reversed the
      inhibitory effect of acute cocaine on impulsive choice. These data suggest
      important but dissociable roles of dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in impulse
      control. The preference of delayed rewards depends on D1 receptors, whereas acute
      cocaine inhibited impulsive choice by activating D2 receptors in the BLA.

PMID- 25823762
TI  - Ultrasonic vocalizations during intermittent swim stress forecasts resilience in
      a subsequent juvenile social exploration test of anxiety.
AB  - Current behavioral paradigms of stress resilience traditionally employ forms of
      prior manipulation or subsequent testing. Recent work has reported adult rat
      ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) emitted during intermittent swim stress (ISS) may
      serve as a predictor of resilience. ISS-induced USVs predicted resilience on
      several endpoints of behavioral depression and may be considered a forecast of
      innate resilience. However, a potential problem for these previous findings is
      the lack of generalizability to other contexts, because both the stress induction
      and post-stress testing occur in water. The current study tests the
      generalizability of USVs as a predictor of stress resilience in a non-water-based
      post-test, the juvenile social exploration test of anxiety. The results provide
      further support that USVs emitted during ISS predict resilience to depression-
      and anxiety-like behaviors. Extensions of this work to examine the neurobiology
      of innate resilience associated with ISS-induced USVs are discussed with
      comparisons to extant models of learned resilience. 

PMID- 25823761
TI  - Role of whiskers in sensorimotor development of C57BL/6 mice.
AB  - The mystacial vibrissae (whiskers) of nocturnal rodents play a major role in
      their sensorimotor behaviors. Relatively little information exists on the role of
      whiskers during early development. We characterized the contribution of whiskers
      to sensorimotor development in postnatal C57BL/6 mice. A comparison between
      intact and whisker-clipped mice in a battery of behavioral tests from postnatal
      day (P) 4-17 revealed that both male and female pups develop reflexive motor
      behavior even when the whiskers are clipped. Daily whisker trimming from P3
      onwards results in diminished weight gain by P17, and impairment in whisker
      sensorimotor coordination behaviors, such as cliff avoidance and littermate
      huddling from P4 to P17, while facilitation of righting reflex at P4 and grasp
      response at P12. Since active whisker palpation does not start until 2 weeks of
      age, passive whisker touch during early neonatal stage must play a role in
      regulating these behaviors. Around the onset of exploratory behaviors (P12)
      neonatal whisker-clipped pups also display persistent searching movements when
      they encounter cage walls as a compensatory mechanism of sensorimotor
      development. Spontaneous whisker motion (whisking) is distinct from respiratory
      fluttering of whiskers. It is a symmetrical vibration of whiskers at a rate of
      approximately ~8 Hz and begins around P10. Oriented, bundled movements of
      whiskers at higher frequencies of ~12 Hz during scanning object surfaces, i.e.,
      palpation whisking, emerges at P14. The establishment of locomotive body
      coordination before eyes open accompanies palpation whisking, indicating an
      important role in the guidance of exploratory motor behaviors.

PMID- 25823763
TI  - Administration of the inverse benzodiazepine agonist MRK-016 rescues acquisition
      and memory consolidation following peripheral administration of bacterial
      endotoxin.
AB  - Recent evidence suggests that inflammation-induced decrements in cognitive
      function can be mitigated via manipulation of excitatory or inhibitory
      transmission. We tested the ability of the inverse benzodiazepine agonist, MRK
      016 (MRK) to protect against LPS-induced deficits in memory acquisition and
      consolidation, using a contextual fear conditioning (CFC) paradigm. In Experiment
      One, mice received lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and/or MRK injections prior to CFC
      training, and were then tested 24h after training. In Experiment Two, animals
      received similar treatment injections immediately after training, and were tested
      24h later. Additionally, hippocampal samples were collected 4h after LPS
      injections and immediately after testing, to evaluate brain-derived neurotrophic
      factor (BDNF) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) mRNA expression. Results
      indicate that MRK can protect against LPS-induced learning/memory decrements in
      both paradigms. We also found, in both paradigms, that animals treated with
      LPS/Saline expressed significantly less BDNF mRNA when compared to Saline/Saline
      treated animals 4h after LPS administration, but that MRK did not restore BDNF
      expression levels. Further, treatment administrations had no effect on IGF-1 mRNA
      expression at any collection time-point. In summary, MRK-016 can protect against
      LPS-induced deficits in memory acquisition and consolidation, in this hippocampus
      dependent paradigm, though this protection occurs independently of recovery of
      BDNF expression. 

PMID- 25823764
TI  - Effects of age on cognitive control during semantic categorization.
AB  - We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to study age effects of perceptual (basic
      level) vs. perceptual-semantic (superordinate-level) categorization on cognitive
      control using the go/nogo paradigm. Twenty-two younger (11 M; 21 +/- 2.2 years)
      and 22 older adults (9 M; 63 +/- 5.8 years) completed two visual go/nogo tasks.
      In the single-car task (SiC) (basic), go/nogo responses were made based on single
      exemplars of a car (go) and a dog (nogo). In the object animal task (ObA)
      (superordinate), responses were based on multiple exemplars of objects (go) and
      animals (nogo). Each task consisted of 200 trials: 160 (80%) 'go' trials that
      required a response through button pressing and 40 (20%) 'nogo' trials that
      required inhibition/withholding of a response. ERP data revealed significantly
      reduced nogo-N2 and nogo-P3 amplitudes in older compared to younger adults,
      whereas go-N2 and go-P3 amplitudes were comparable in both groups during both
      categorization tasks. Although the effects of categorization levels on behavioral
      data and P3 measures were similar in both groups with longer response times,
      lower accuracy scores, longer P3 latencies, and lower P3 amplitudes in ObA
      compared to SiC, N2 latency revealed age group differences moderated by the task.
      Older adults had longer N2 latency for ObA compared to SiC, in contrast, younger
      adults showed no N2 latency difference between SiC and ObA. Overall, these
      findings suggest that age differentially affects neural processing related to
      cognitive control during semantic categorization. Furthermore, in older adults,
      unlike in younger adults, levels of categorization modulate neural processing
      related to cognitive control even at the early stages (N2).

PMID- 25823765
TI  - A double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled trial of the effect of a radiation
      attenuating drape on radiation exposure to endoscopy staff during ERCP.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is associated
      with radiation exposure to the endoscopist and staff that may be significant in
      high-volume centers. We investigated whether a radiation-attenuating drape over
      the fluoroscopy image intensifier reduces radiation exposure during ERCP.
      METHODS: We performed a prospective, randomized, double-blind trial of 100
      therapeutic ERCPs at a tertiary-care university center. Procedures were randomly
      assigned to groups receiving lead-free radiation-attenuating drapes (n=50) or
      identical sham drapes (n=50). The drapes were suspended around the fluoroscopy
      image intensifier during ERCP. The primary end point was the effective dose of
      radiation measured at the endoscopist's eye and neck, and at the assisting
      nurse's neck. The cumulative annual radiation exposure was also estimated.
      RESULTS: Fluoroscopy time, absorbed radiation dose, and dose area product were
      similar in the study groups. Mean effective dose for sham vs. radiation
      attenuating drape was 0.21+/-0.27 vs. 0.02+/-0.02 mSv at the endoscopist's eye,
      0.35+/-0.44 vs. 0.03+/-0.03 mSv at the endoscopist's neck, and 0.27+/-0.34 vs.
      0.02+/-0.02 mSv at the nurse's neck (P<0.0001 for all comparisons). The relative
      risk reduction in radiation was 90%, 91%, and 93% at the three sites. At a high
      volume center in which an endoscopist performs 500 therapeutic ERCPs per year,
      the estimated cumulative annual effective dose at the endoscopist's eye level is
      126 mSv with conventional protection and 12 mSv with a radiation-attenuating
      drape, with the recommended limit being 20 mSv. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of a
      radiation-attenuating drape around the image intensifier during ERCP
      significantly decreases radiation exposure to endoscopists and staff by ~90%.

PMID- 25823766
TI  - Rapid, accurate, and on-site detection of C. difficile in stool samples.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A rapid test to diagnose Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) on
      hospital wards could minimize common but critical diagnostic delay. Field
      asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) is a portable mass spectrometry
      instrument that quickly analyses the chemical composition of gaseous mixtures
      (e.g., above a stool sample). Can FAIMS accurately distinguish C. difficile
      positive from -negative stool samples? METHODS: We analyzed 213 stool samples
      with FAIMS, of which 71 were C. difficile positive by microbiological analysis.
      The samples were divided into training, test, and validation samples. We used the
      training and test samples (n=135) to identify which sample characteristics
      discriminate between positive and negative samples, and to build machine learning
      algorithms interpreting these characteristics. The best performing algorithm was
      then prospectively validated on new, blinded validation samples (n=78). The
      predicted probability of CDI (as calculated by the algorithm) was compared with
      the microbiological test results (direct toxin test and culture). RESULTS: Using
      a Random Forest classification algorithm, FAIMS had a high discriminatory ability
      on the training and test samples (C-statistic 0.91 (95% confidence interval (CI):
      0.86-0.97)). When applied to the blinded validation samples, the C-statistic was
      0.86 (0.75-0.97). For samples analyzed <=7 days of collection (n=76), diagnostic
      accuracy was even higher (C-statistic: 0.93 (0.85-1.00)). A cutoff value of 0.32
      for predicted probability corresponded with a sensitivity of 92.3% (95% CI: 77.4
      98.6%) and specificity of 86.0% (78.3-89.3%). For even fresher samples,
      discriminatory ability further increased. CONCLUSIONS: FAIMS analysis of
      unprocessed stool samples can differentiate between C. difficile-positive and 
      negative samples with high diagnostic accuracy.

PMID- 25823767
TI  - Evaluation of the ESPGHAN Celiac Guidelines in a North American Pediatric
      Population.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We retrospectively examined the performance of the tissue
      transglutaminase (TTG), endomysial antibody (EMA) tests, and the ESPGHAN
      (European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition)
      nonbiopsy criteria in a pediatric population. METHODS: Consecutive celiac
      serologies and corresponding intestinal biopsy results were obtained on children
      <18 years old over 3.5 years. Patients were classified into three categories:
      positive TTG, negative TTG, and IgA deficiency. RESULTS: Of the 17,505 patients
      with celiac serology performed, 775 had a positive TTG, 574 with a negative TTG
      were biopsied, and 25 were IgA deficient. Of the patients with a TTG >=10 * upper
      limit of normal (ULN), positive EMA, and symptoms, 98.2% had biopsies consistent
      with celiac disease (CD). Four human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DQ2/DQ8-positive
      patients who met the ESPGHAN nonbiopsy criteria did not have CD. In the group
      with a TTG 3-10 * ULN, 75.7% EMA-positive patients and only 40% EMA-negative
      patients had CD (P<0.001). Of those with a TTG 1-3 * ULN, 52.2% EMA-positive
      patients vs. only 13.3% EMA-negative patients had CD (P<0.01). Of the patients
      with bulbar and duodenal biopsies, 9.8% had CD confined only in the bulb,
      especially those with a low titer TTG (P<0.01). CD prevalence in our cohort was
      34.6%. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value of the TTG were
      98.7%, 86.4%, and 79.4%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The TTG is a very sensitive
      screen for CD, but positive predictive value improves with a positive EMA titer.
      To apply the new ESPGHAN guidelines, clinicians must understand the performance
      of their celiac serology tests.

PMID- 25823768
TI  - Randomized controlled trial of transoral incisionless fundoplication vs. proton
      pump inhibitors for treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Transoral incisionless fundoplication (TIF) was developed in an
      attempt to create a minimally invasive endoscopic procedure that mimics
      antireflux surgery. The objective of this trial was to evaluate effectiveness of
      TIF compared with proton pump inhibition in a population consisting of
      gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) patients controlled with proton pump
      inhibitors (PPIs) who opted for an endoscopic intervention over lifelong drug
      dependence. METHODS: Patients with chronic GERD were randomized (2:1) for TIF or
      continuation of PPI therapy. American Society of Anesthesiologists >2, body mass
      index >35 kg/m(2), hiatal hernia >2 cm, and esophageal motility disorders were
      exclusion criteria. Primary outcome measure was GERD-related quality of life.
      Secondary outcome measures were esophageal acid exposure, number of reflux
      episodes, PPI usage, appearance of the gastroesophageal valve, and healing of
      reflux esophagitis. Crossover for the PPI group was allowed after 6 months.
      RESULTS: A total of 60 patients (TIF n=40, PPI n=20, mean body mass index 26
      kg/m(2), 37 male) were included. At 6 months, GERD symptoms were more improved in
      the TIF group compared with the PPI group (P<0.001), with a similar improvement
      of distal esophageal acid exposure (P=0.228) compared with baseline. The pH
      normalization for TIF group and PPI group was 50% and 63%, respectively. All
      patients allocated for PPI treatment opted for crossover. At 12 months, quality
      of life remained improved after TIF compared with baseline (P<0.05), but no
      improvement in esophageal acid exposure compared with baseline was found
      (P=0.171) and normalization of pH was accomplished in only 29% in conjunction
      with deteriorated valve appearances at endoscopy and resumption of PPIs in 61%.
      CONCLUSION: Although TIF resulted in an improved GERD-related quality of life and
      produced a short-term improvement of the antireflux barrier in a selected group
      of GERD patients, no long-term objective reflux control was achieved.

PMID- 25823769
TI  - Evaluation of Mucosal Healing in Ulcerative Colitis by Fecal Calprotectin Vs.
      Fecal Immunochemical Test.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We previously showed that a quantitative fecal immunochemical test
      (FIT) can predict mucosal healing (MH) in ulcerative colitis (UC). Fecal
      calprotectin (Fcal) has also been reported as an important biomarker of UC
      activity. The aim of this study was to compare the predictive ability of these
      two fecal markers for MH in UC. METHODS: FIT and Fcal were examined in stool
      samples from consecutive UC patients who underwent colonoscopy. Mucosal status
      was assessed via the Mayo endoscopic subscore (MES). RESULTS: In total, 105
      colonoscopies in 92 UC patients were evaluated in conjunction with the FIT and
      Fcal results. Both FIT and Fcal results were significantly correlated with MES
      (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient: 0.61 and 0.58, respectively). The
      sensitivity and specificity of the FIT values (<100 ng/ml) for predicting MH (MES
      0 alone) were 0.95 and 0.62, respectively, whereas those of Fcal (<250 MUg/g)
      were 0.82 and 0.62, respectively. The sensitivities became similar when MH was
      defined as MES 0 or 1 (0.86 vs. 0.86). Although the predictability of MH
      evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve was
      similar for the two fecal markers (FIT 0.83 vs. Fcal 0.82 for MES 0 alone), the
      FIT results were relatively robust regardless of the cutoff value selected.
      CONCLUSIONS: Both FIT and Fcal can efficiently predict MH in UC, but FIT appears
      to be more sensitive than Fcal for predicting MES 0 alone.

PMID- 25823770
TI  - Chromoendoscopy for Surveillance in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Does Not Increase
      Neoplasia Detection Compared With Conventional Colonoscopy With Random Biopsies:
      Results From a Large Retrospective Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Randomized trials demonstrated that chromoendoscopy is superior to
      white light endoscopy with random biopsy sampling (WLE) for the detection of
      dysplasia in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Whether implementing
      chromoendoscopy can increase the detection of dysplasia in clinical practice is
      unknown. METHODS: Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD)
      undergoing colonoscopic surveillance between January 2000 and November 2013 in
      three referral centers were identified using the patients' medical records. In
      recent years, the use of high-definition chromoendoscopy was adopted in all three
      centers using segmental pancolonic spraying of 0.1% methylene blue or 0.3% indigo
      carmine (chromoendoscopy group). Previously, surveillance was performed employing
      WLE with random biopsies every 10 cm (WLE group). The percentage of colonoscopies
      with dysplasia was compared between both groups. RESULTS: A total of 440
      colonoscopies in 401 patients were performed using chromoendoscopy and 1,802
      colonoscopies in 772 patients using WLE. Except for a higher number of CD
      patients with extensive disease and more patients with a first-degree relative
      with colorectal cancer (CRC) in the chromoendoscopy group, the known risk factors
      for IBD-associated CRC were comparable between both groups. Dysplasia was
      detected during 48 surveillance procedures (11%) in the chromoendoscopy group as
      compared with 189 procedures (10%) in the WLE group (P=0.80). Targeted biopsies
      yielded 59 dysplastic lesions in the chromoendoscopy group, comparable to the 211
      dysplastic lesions detected in the WLE group (P=0.30). CONCLUSIONS: Despite
      compelling evidence from randomized trials, implementation of chromoendoscopy for
      IBD surveillance did not increase dysplasia detection compared with WLE with
      targeted and random biopsies.

PMID- 25823771
TI  - Forty-Year Analysis of Colonoscopic Surveillance Program for Neoplasia in
      Ulcerative Colitis: An Updated Overview.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study provides an overview of the largest and longest-running
      colonoscopic surveillance program for colorectal cancer (CRC) in patients with
      long-standing ulcerative colitis (UC). METHODS: Data were obtained from medical
      records, endoscopy, and histology reports. Primary end points were defined as
      death, colectomy, withdrawal from surveillance, or censor date (1 January 2013).
      RESULTS: A total of 1,375 UC patients were followed up for 15,234 patient-years
      (median, 11 years per patient). CRC was detected in 72 patients (incidence rate
      (IR), 4.7 per 1,000 patient-years). Time-trend analysis revealed that although
      there was significant decrease in incidence of colectomy performed for dysplasia
      (linear regression, R=-0.43; P=0.007), IR of advanced CRC and interval CRC have
      steadily decreased over past four decades (Pearson's correlation, -0.99; P=0.01
      for both trends). The IR of early CRC has increased 2.5-fold in the current
      decade compared with past decade (chi(2), P=0.045); however, its 10-year survival
      rate was high (79.6%). The IR of dysplasia has similarly increased (chi(2),
      P=0.01), potentially attributable to the recent use of chromoendoscopy that was
      twice more effective at detecting dysplasia compared with white-light endoscopy
      (chi(2), P<0.001). CRCs were frequently accompanied by synchronous CRC or
      spatially distinct dysplasia (37.5%). Finally, the risk of CRC was not
      significantly different between "indefinite" or low-grade dysplasia (log-rank,
      P=0.78). CONCLUSIONS: Colonoscopic surveillance may have a significant role in
      reducing the risk of advanced and interval CRC while allowing more patients to
      retain their colon for longer. Given the ongoing risk of early CRC, patients with
      any grade of dysplasia who are managed endoscopically should be monitored closely
      with advanced techniques.

PMID- 25823772
TI  - Differentiation of benign and malignant lesions of the tongue by using diffusion
      weighted MRI at 3.0 T.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) has been introduced in head and neck
      lesions and adds important information to the findings obtained through
      conventional MRI. The purpose of this study was to assess the role of DWI in
      differentiating benign and malignant lesions of the tongue at 3.0-T field
      strength imaging. METHODS: 78 patients with 78 lingual lesions underwent
      conventional MRI and DWI with b-values of 0 and 1000 s mm(-2) before therapy. The
      apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps were reconstructed, and the ADC values
      of the lingual lesions were calculated and compared between benign and malignant
      lesions of the tongue. RESULTS: The mean ADC values of the malignant tumours,
      benign solid lesions and cystic lesions were (1.08+/-0.16)*10(-3), (1.68+/
      0.33)*10(-3) and (2.21+/-0.35)*10(-3) mm2 s(-1), respectively. The mean ADC
      values of malignant tumours were significantly lower (p<0.001) than those of
      benign solid lesions, and the mean ADC values of benign solid lesions were
      significantly lower (p<0.001) than those of cystic lesions. Receiver operating
      characteristic analysis showed that when an ADC value<.31*10(-3) mm2 s(-1) was
      used for predicting malignancy, the highest accuracy of 95.3%, sensitivity of
      92.6% and specificity of 97.3% were obtained. CONCLUSIONS: ADC values of benign
      and malignant lesions are significantly different at 3.0-T imaging. DWI can be
      applied as a complementary tool in the differentiation of benign and malignant
      lesions of the tongue.

PMID- 25823773
TI  - Clinical images in gastroenterology. Median arcuate ligament syndrome.

PMID- 25823774
TI  - Clinical images in gastroenterology. Eosinophilic colitis: An unusual case.

PMID- 25823775
TI  - Simultaneous primary cancers: Atypical Lynch syndrome?

PMID- 25823776
TI  - Stage-specific effects of fibroblast growth factor 2 on the differentiation of
      dental pulp cells.
AB  - Dentinogenesis is a complex and multistep process, which is regulated by various
      growth factors, including members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family.
      Both positive and negative effects of FGFs on dentinogenesis have been reported,
      but the underlying mechanisms of these conflicting results are still unclear. To
      gain a better insight into the role of FGF2 in dentinogenesis, we used dental
      pulp cells from various transgenic mice, in which fluorescent protein expression
      identifies cells at different stages of odontoblast differentiation. Our results
      showed that the continuous exposure of pulp cells to FGF2 inhibited
      mineralization and revealed both the stimulatory and inhibitory effects of FGF2
      on the expression of markers of dentinogenesis and various transgenes. During the
      proliferation phase of in vitro growth, FGF2 increased the expression of markers
      of dentinogenesis and the percentages of dentin matrix protein 1/green
      fluorescent protein (DMP1-GFP)-positive functional odontoblasts and dentin
      sialophosphoprotein (DSPP)-Cerulean-positive odontoblasts. Additional exposure to
      FGF2 during the differentiation/mineralization phase of in vitro growth decreased
      the extent of mineralization and the expression of markers of dentinogenesis and
      of the DMP1-GFP and DSPP-Cerulean transgenes. Recovery experiments showed that
      the inhibitory effects of FGF2 on dentinogenesis were related to the blocking of
      the differentiation of cells into mature odontoblasts. These observations
      together showed the stage-specific effects of FGF2 on dentinogenesis by dental
      pulp cells, and they provide critical information for the development of improved
      treatments for vital pulp therapy and dentin regeneration.

PMID- 25823777
TI  - Examination of breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) levels, alcohol use disorders
      identification test (AUDIT-C) classification, and intended plans for getting home
      among bar-attending college students.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The college student population is one of the heaviest
      drinking demographic groups in the US and impaired driving is a serious alcohol
      related problem. The objective of this study is to better understand the
      relationship between alcohol-related behaviors and "plans to get home" among a
      sample of college students. METHODS: We conducted four anonymous field studies to
      examine associations between breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) levels, Alcohol
      Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C) classification, and plans for getting
      home among a sample of bar-attending college students (N = 713). RESULTS,
      DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The vast majority of participants in our sample
      (approximately 95%) were not intending to drive and the average BrAC% of those
      intending to drive was .041. Our one-way ANOVAs indicated that (1) participants
      classified by the AUDIT-C as not having an alcohol problem had a significantly
      lower BrAC% than those classified as having a potential problem and (2)
      participants planning to drive had a significantly lower BrAC% than those with a
      plan that did not involve them driving and those without a plan to get home.
      Although it is encouraging that most of our sample was not intending to drive, it
      is important to continue to attempt to reduce impaired driving in this
      population. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: This study helps college health
      professionals and administrators to better understand the relationship between
      alcohol-related behaviors and plans to get home among college students.

PMID- 25823778
TI  - Potential use of auxiliary labels to promote patient awareness of pharmacogenetic
      testing.

PMID- 25823779
TI  - Implementation and evaluation of a CYP2C19 genotype-guided antiplatelet therapy
      algorithm in high-risk coronary artery disease patients.
AB  - AIM: An algorithm that uses clinical factors and CYP2C19 genotype to guide P2Y12
      inhibitor selection in high-risk patients undergoing percutaneous coronary
      intervention was implemented at our institution. We sought to evaluate use of
      this algorithm and identify which factors influenced P2Y12 inhibitor selection.
      PATIENTS & METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included 264 patients
      receiving percutaneous coronary intervention from July-December 2012. RESULTS:
      CYP2C19 genotype was obtained in 229 patients; of these, 30% were intermediate or
      poor metabolizers. CYP2C19 intermediate or poor metabolizer phenotype was among
      the strongest predictors for selecting prasugrel or ticagrelor as maintenance
      therapy (p < 0.001), and was the only significant predictor of a change in
      therapy (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that using CYP2C19
      genotype to guide P2Y12 inhibitor selection is feasible. Original submitted 27
      October 2014; revision submitted 19 December 2014.

PMID- 25823780
TI  - Evaluation of a shared pharmacogenomics curriculum for pharmacy students.
AB  - AIM: This national dissemination study evaluated pharmacy students' self-reported
      overall ability, self-efficacy and attitudes toward applying pharmacogenomics and
      perceptions of Pharmacogenomics Education Program, a shared pharmacogenomics
      curriculum. PATIENTS & METHODS: Following a series of train-the-trainer programs
      for pharmacy faculty, pre- (n = 2674) and post-training surveys (n = 2542) were
      administered to Doctor of Pharmacy students (n = 43 pharmacy schools). RESULTS:
      Students reported increased (pre- vs post-training) overall ability to educate
      patients about pharmacogenomics (17 vs 63%; p < 0.0001) and pharmacogenomic
      testing (11 vs 60%; p < 0.0001) and increased self-efficacy for identifying
      therapeutic areas for which pharmacogenomic testing is required (20 vs 75%; p <
      0.0001). Most (92%) agreed that students at other schools would benefit from
      receiving the same, or similar, pharmacogenomics education. CONCLUSION: A shared
      curriculum is an effective approach for broadscale curricular dissemination.
      Original submitted 17 October 2014; Revision submitted 19 December 2014.

PMID- 25823781
TI  - Human OCT2 variant c.808G>T confers protection effect against cisplatin-induced
      ototoxicity.
AB  - AIM: Assuming that genetic variants of the SLC22A2 and SLC31A1 transporter affect
      patients' susceptibility to cisplatin-induced ototoxicity, we compared the
      distribution of 11 SLC22A2 variants and the SLC31A1 variant rs10981694 between
      patients with and without cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. PATIENTS & METHODS:
      Genotyping was performed in 64 pediatric patients and significant findings were
      re-evaluated in 66 adults. RESULTS: The SLC22A2 polymorphism rs316019 (c.808G>T;
      Ser270Ala) was significantly associated with protection from cisplatin-induced
      ototoxicity in the pediatric (p = 0.022) and the adult cohort (p = 0.048; both:
      Fisher's exact test). This result was confirmed by multiple logistic regression
      analysis accounting for age which was identified as a relevant factor for
      ototoxicity as well (rs316019: OR [G/T vs G/G] = 0.12, p = 0.009; age: OR [per
      year]: 0.84, p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: These results identified rs316019 as
      potential pharmacogenomic marker for cisplatin-induced ototoxicity and point to a
      critical role of SLC22A2 for cisplatin transport in humans and its contribution
      to the organ specific side effects of this drug. Original submitted 17 September
      2014; Revision submitted 19 December 2014.

PMID- 25823782
TI  - FCGR polymorphisms in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with Fc-containing
      TNF inhibitors.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Reproducible association of a functional polymorphism in FCGR2A with
      response to a TNF inhibitor (TNFi) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) led
      us to explore other FcgammaR functional polymorphisms. METHODS: Functional
      polymorphisms FCGR3A F158V, FCGR2B I223T and promoter VNTR in FCGRT were analyzed
      in up to 429 patients with RA. Response to TNFi was recorded during standard care
      at 3, 6 and 12 months of follow-up. Fixed effects meta-analysis of studies
      addressing FCGR3A F158V polymorphism, which is the most studied of these
      polymorphisms, was conducted with inverse variance weighting. RESULTS: None of
      the functional polymorphisms were associated with change in DAS28. Meta-analysis
      of the seven studies (899 patients) with available data addressing association of
      FCGR3A F158V with response to TNFi in RA showed no association (OR: 1.11, 95% CI:
      0.8-1.5; p = 0.5). CONCLUSION: None of the three functional polymorphisms in
      FcgammaR genes showed association with response to TNFi in patients with RA.
      These negative results were obtained in spite of the larger size of this study
      relative to previous studies addressing the same polymorphisms. In addition, meta
      analysis of FCGR3A F158V was also negative against the results provided by
      previous studies. Original submitted 17 September 2014; Revision submitted 9
      December 2014.

PMID- 25823783
TI  - SCN1A, ABCC2 and UGT2B7 gene polymorphisms in association with individualized
      oxcarbazepine therapy.
AB  - AIM: Associations between the effects of SCN1A, SCN2A, ABCC2 and UGT2B7 genetic
      polymorphisms and oxcarbazepine (OXC) maintenance doses in Han Chinese epileptic
      patients were investigated. PATIENTS & METHODS: Genetic polymorphisms were
      detected in 184 epileptic patients receiving OXC monotherapy by high-resolution
      melting curve and TaqMan method. RESULTS: Carriers of the SCN1A IVS5-91G>A,
      UGT2B7 c.802T>C and ABCC2 c.1249G>A variant alleles required significantly higher
      OXC maintenance doses than noncarriers (p < 0.05). Corresponding relative ln
      (concentration-dose ratios) values for SCN1A IVS5-91 variants differed by the
      genotypic order GG > GA > AA. CONCLUSION: SCN1A, UGT2B7 and ABCC2 genetic
      polymorphisms are associated with OXC maintenance doses and may be useful for the
      personalization of OXC therapy in epileptic patients. Further studies are needed.
      Original submitted 6 June 2014; Revision submitted 5 September 2014.

PMID- 25823784
TI  - Association of NADPH oxidase polymorphisms with anthracycline-induced
      cardiotoxicity in the RICOVER-60 trial of patients with aggressive CD20(+) B-cell
      lymphoma.
AB  - AIM: To identify gene variants responsible for anthracycline-induced
      cardiotoxicity. PATIENTS & METHODS: Polymorphisms of the NADPH oxidase subunits
      and of the anthracycline transporters ABCC1, ABCC2 and SLC28A3 were genotyped in
      elderly patients (61-80 years) treated for aggressive CD20(+) B-cell lymphomas
      with CHOP-14 with or without rituximab and followed up for 3 years. RESULTS: The
      accumulation of RAC2 subunit genotypes TA/AA among cases was statistically
      significant upon adjustment for gender, age and doxorubicin dose in a
      multivariate logistic regression analysis (OR: 2.3, p = 0.028; univariate: OR:
      1.8, p = 0.077). RAC2 and CYBA genotypes were significantly associated with
      anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity in a meta-analysis of this and a similar
      previous study. CONCLUSION: Our results support the theory that NADPH oxidase is
      involved in anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity. Original submitted 9 July 2014;
      Revision submitted 19 December 2014.

PMID- 25823785
TI  - FcGR genetic polymorphisms and the response to adalimumab in patients with
      rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - AIM: The aim of our study was to explore the potential of FcGR genetic
      polymorphisms as a predictor of adalimumab efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
      patients. MATERIALS & METHODS: The study population was composed of 302 Dutch RA
      patients receiving adalimumab therapy. The FcGR2A (R131>H; rs1801274) and FcGR3A
      (F158>V; rs396991) genetic variants were genotyped using the TaqMan((r)) allelic
      discrimination technology. Treatment outcome was evaluated with the use of the 28
      joint disease activity score criteria (DAS28) and good response and remission
      were classified according to European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria.
      RESULTS: Comparing allelic frequencies between responders and nonresponders, the
      presence of the FcGR2A*R allele was associated with EULAR good response at 14
      weeks (p = 0.017, odds ratio: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.08-2.17). No significant
      association was found for FcGR3A, with good response or remission. The combined
      effect of both FcGR2A and FcGR3A SNPs showed a trend for association with EULAR
      good response (p-value = 0.041, odds ratio: 1.38, 95% CI: 1.01-1.89). CONCLUSION:
      Our results indicate that FcGR polymorphisms could be a determinant of adalimumab
      efficacy in RA patients. Original submitted 28 July 2014; Revision submitted 19
      December 2014.

PMID- 25823786
TI  - Correlation of genetic polymorphisms with clinical outcomes in pemetrexed-treated
      advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients.
AB  - AIM: Pemetrexed is a commonly used chemotherapeutic agent for lung adenocarcinoma
      patients. We investigated the impact of the genetic polymorphisms on the
      therapeutic efficacy of pemetrexed in lung adenocarcinoma patients. MATERIALS &
      METHODS: We performed genotying of 51 polymorphisms of 13 genes in 243 lung
      adenocarcinoma patients treated with pemetrexed as a single agent for second or
      more line of therapy. RESULTS: Total 12 polymorphisms in six genes were showed
      statistical significances in univariate analysis. After a false-discovery rate
      correction, the associations between GGH rs16930092 (p = 0.034) and rs10464903 (p
      = 0.034), and progression-free survival (PFS) were still conserved. Two
      polymorphisms in ATIC and GGH genes were associated with therapeutic efficacy in
      multivariate analysis: ATIC rs12995526 for tumor response (p = 0.014) and for
      overall survival (p = 0.006), and GGH rs16930092 (p = 0.009) for PFS. CONCLUSION:
      This study shows that polymorphisms on genes related to the metabolic pathway of
      pemetrexed, especially, ATIC and GGH genes, would have a therapeutic implication
      in pemetrexed-treated patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Original submitted 10
      May 2013; Revision submitted 27 June 2014.

PMID- 25823787
TI  - Mechanistic insights into the effect of CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 variants on the 7
      hydroxylation of warfarin.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the impact of CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 variants on binding and
      hydroxylation of warfarin. MATERIALS & METHODS: Multiple linear regression model
      of warfarin pharmacokinetics was developed from the dataset of patients (n =
      199). Pymol based in silico models were developed for the genetic variants.
      RESULTS: CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 variants exhibited high warfarin/7-hydroxywarfarin
      (multiple linear regression model), dose-dependent disruption of hydrogen bonds
      with warfarin, dose-dependent increase in the distance between C7 of S-warfarin
      and Fe-O of CYP2C9, dose-dependent decrease in the glide scores (in silico).
      CONCLUSION: CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 variants result in disruption of hydrogen
      bonding interactions with warfarin and longer distance between C7 and Fe-O thus
      impairing warfarin 7-hydroxylation due to lower binding affinity of warfarin.
      Original submitted 7 May 2014; Revision submitted 30 October 2014.

PMID- 25823788
TI  - Role of dermatology in pharmacogenomics: drug-induced skin injury.
AB  - Different individuals may respond diversely to the same drug, in terms of
      efficacy and toxicity. Adverse drug reactions cause about 6% of all hospital
      admissions and account for up to 9% of hospitalization costs. Drug-induced skin
      injury (DISI) is the most common presentation of adverse drug reactions, ranging
      from maculopapular eruptions to severe adverse cutaneous drug reactions (SCARs)
      with mortality of up to 40%. Specific genetic polymorphisms confer susceptibility
      to different types of DISI. Identifying patients genetically at risk for SCARs is
      one of the goals of pharmacogenomics. In this article, the aspects of clinical
      dermatology relevant to the pharmacogenetics of DISI are reviewed. Many SCARs are
      now preventable, with consequent reduction of morbidity, mortality and healthcare
      costs. 

PMID- 25823789
TI  - Evaluation of association studies and meta-analyses of MTHFR gene polymorphisms
      in colorectal cancer.
AB  - There is a discrepancy between the results of 89 original studies and 15 meta
      analyses investigating the association of MTHFR rs1801133 and rs1801131
      polymorphisms with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. We examined this hypothesis
      through meta-analyses of both loci and their diplotypes as well as evaluation of
      previous meta-analyses. The present meta-analysis showed that rs1801133 and
      rs1801131 might be CRC susceptibility variants in Americans and Australians and
      rs1801133 in Brazilians and Japanese. A strong linkage disequilibrium was
      observed between both loci and their diplotypes were associated with CRC risk.
      Evaluation of 15 meta-analyses showed a high discrepancy among their findings,
      mainly caused by population stratification of original studies and data analysis
      strategies in meta-analysis. Population stratification was more dominant in the
      studies from Australia, America and Brazil leading to false positive or negative
      results. In conclusion, these loci alone might modify the development of CRC in
      some ethnicities. 

PMID- 25823790
TI  - A Stress-Induced Shift From Trace to Delay Conditioning Depends on the
      Mineralocorticoid Receptor.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fear learning in stressful situations is highly adaptive for survival
      by steering behavior in subsequent situations, but fear learning can become
      disproportionate in vulnerable individuals. Despite the potential clinical
      significance, the mechanism by which stress modulates fear learning is poorly
      understood. Memory theories state that stress can cause a shift away from more
      controlled processing depending on the hippocampus toward more reflexive
      processing supported by the amygdala and striatum. This shift may be mediated by
      activation of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) for cortisol. We investigated
      how stress shifts processes underlying cognitively demanding learning versus less
      demanding fear learning using a combined trace and delay fear conditioning
      paradigm. METHODS: In a pharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging
      study, we tested 101 healthy men probing the effects of stress (socially
      evaluated cold pressor vs. control procedure) and MR-availability (400 mg
      spironolactone vs. placebo) in a randomized, placebo-controlled, full-factorial,
      between-subjects design. RESULTS: Effective stress induction and successful
      conditioning were confirmed by subjective, physiologic, and somatic data. In line
      with a stress-induced shift, stress enhanced later recall of delay compared with
      trace conditioning in the MR-available groups as indexed by skin conductance
      responses. During learning, this was accompanied by a stress-induced reduction of
      learning-related hippocampal activity for trace conditioning. The stress-induced
      shift in fear and neural processing was absent in the MR-blocked groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our results are in line with a stress-induced shift in fear
      learning, mediated by the MR, resulting in a dominance of cognitively less
      demanding amygdala-based learning, which might be particularly prominent in
      individuals with high MR sensitivity.

PMID- 25823792
TI  - Lymph Node Yield in Primary Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection for Nonseminoma
      Germ Cell Tumors.
AB  - PURPOSE: The number of lymph nodes removed at surgery for various malignancies
      has diagnostic and prognostic value. However, there are limited data on the
      significance of the number of nodes removed at retroperitoneal lymph node
      dissection performed for testicular nonseminoma germ cell tumors. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: From 1979 to 2012 primary open retroperitoneal lymph node dissection was
      performed by a single experienced surgeon for clinical stage I/II testicular
      nonseminoma germ cell tumor in 157 patients. Node count was available in 111
      cases (71%). Factors associated with total node count and nodes with viable
      cancer were assessed by linear regression. The association between node count and
      time to relapse was assessed by multivariate Cox proportional hazards models
      controlled for adjuvant chemotherapy. RESULTS: The median total lymph node count
      was 28 (IQR 19-38). Patient age, cancer laterality, body mass index, clinical
      stage, time from orchiectomy to retroperitoneal lymph node dissection,
      pathologist and lymph node dissection year were not associated with total lymph
      node count. A viable germ cell tumor was found in 70 patients (63%). Total node
      yield was not associated with nodal cancer metastasis. After lymph node
      dissection 17 patients (16%) received adjuvant chemotherapy. At a median 57-month
      followup 18 cases (17%) relapsed after primary retroperitoneal lymph node
      dissection. Increasing total node count was associated with a decreased risk of
      relapse on univariate and multivariate analysis (HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.92-0.99, p =
      0.03 and HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.89-0.99, p = 0.017, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: No
      analyzed clinical or pathological variable was associated with the node yield of
      primary retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. However, there may be a
      relationship between the total node yield at retroperitoneal lymph node
      dissection and the risk of relapse.

PMID- 25823791
TI  - Randomized Trial of Studer Pouch versus T-Pouch Orthotopic Ileal Neobladder in
      Patients with Bladder Cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: The need to prevent reflux in the construction of an orthotopic ileal
      neobladder is controversial. We designed the USC-STAR trial to determine whether
      the T-pouch neobladder that included an antireflux mechanism was superior to the
      Studer pouch in patients with bladder cancer undergoing radical cystectomy.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: This single center, randomized, controlled trial recruited
      patients with clinically nonmetastatic bladder cancer scheduled to undergo
      radical cystectomy with neobladder. Eligible patients were randomly assigned to
      undergo T-pouch or Studer ileal orthotopic neobladder. Treatment assignment was
      not masked. The primary end point was change in renal function from baseline to 3
      years. The CKD-EPI (Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration) equation
      was used to calculate the estimated glomerular filtration rate. RESULTS: Between
      February 2002 and November 2009, 237 patients were randomly assigned to T-pouch
      ileal orthotopic neobladder and 247 to Studer ileal orthotopic neobladder.
      Baseline characteristics did not differ between the groups. Between baseline and
      3 years the estimated glomerular filtration rate decreased by 6.4 ml/minute/1.73
      m(2) in the Studer group and 6.6 ml/minute/1.73 m(2) in the T-pouch group
      (p=0.35). Multivariable analysis showed that type of ileal orthotopic neobladder
      was not independently associated with 3-year renal function (p=0.63). However,
      baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate, age and urinary tract obstruction
      were independently associated with 3-year decline in renal function. Cumulative
      risk of urinary tract infection and overall late complications were not different
      between the groups, but the T-pouch was associated with an increased risk of
      secondary diversion related surgeries. CONCLUSIONS: T-pouch ileal orthotopic
      neobladder with an antireflux mechanism did not prevent a moderate reduction in
      renal function observed at 3 years compared to the Studer pouch, but did result
      in an increase in diversion related secondary surgical procedures.

PMID- 25823793
TI  - The moderating effect of relationships on intergenerational risk for infant
      neglect by young mothers.
AB  - Infant neglect is the form of child maltreatment that occurs most often, yet has
      been least amenable to prevention. A maternal history of childhood maltreatment
      is a potent risk factor for child neglect, yet most maltreated mothers break
      intergenerational cycles of child abuse and neglect. Little is known about what
      protective factors support discontinuity in intergenerational transmission. This
      study examined whether certain factors (positive childhood care, older maternal
      age, social support) buffer intergenerational risk for neglect among the infants
      of young mothers, a population at high risk of being victimized. For young
      mothers in the sample (<21 years at birth; n=447), the effect of a maternal
      history was assessed separately for different maltreatment types according to
      data on substantiated reports from Child Protective Services. Early risk for
      neglect was assessed using maternal self-report of parenting empathy. The results
      revealed that both infants and their mothers experienced neglect more often than
      any other maltreatment type. However, approximately 77% of maltreated mothers
      broke the cycle with their infants (<30 months). Maternal age moderated the
      relation between a maternal history of neglect and infant neglect, and social
      support moderated the relation between childhood neglect and maternal empathy.
      Neglected mothers had considerably higher levels of parenting empathy when they
      had frequent access to social support than when they had less frequent support,
      whereas the protective effect of social support was not nearly as strong for non
      maltreated mothers. Study findings highlight resilience in parenting despite risk
      for infant neglect, but underscore the context specificity of protective
      processes.

PMID- 25823794
TI  - Confirmatory test of two factors and four subtypes of bipolar disorder based on
      lifetime psychiatric co-morbidity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The first aim was to use confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test a
      hypothesis that two factors (internalizing and externalizing) account for
      lifetime co-morbid DSM-IV diagnoses among adults with bipolar I (BPI) disorder.
      The second aim was to use confirmatory latent class analysis (CLCA) to test the
      hypothesis that four clinical subtypes are detectible: pure BPI; BPI plus
      internalizing disorders only; BPI plus externalizing disorders only; and BPI plus
      internalizing and externalizing disorders. METHOD: A cohort of 699 multiplex BPI
      families was studied, ascertained and assessed (1998-2003) by the National
      Institute of Mental Health Genetics Initiative Bipolar Consortium: 1156 with BPI
      disorder (504 adult probands; 594 first-degree relatives; and 58 more distant
      relatives) and 563 first-degree relatives without BPI. Best-estimate consensus
      DSM-IV diagnoses were based on structured interviews, family history and medical
      records. MPLUS software was used for CFA and CLCA. RESULTS: The two-factor CFA
      model fit the data very well, and could not be improved by adding or removing
      paths. The four-class CLCA model fit better than exploratory LCA models or post
      hoc-modified CLCA models. The two factors and four classes were associated with
      distinctive clinical course and severity variables, adjusted for proband gender.
      Co-morbidity, especially more than one internalizing and/or externalizing
      disorder, was associated with a more severe and complicated course of illness.
      The four classes demonstrated significant familial aggregation, adjusted for
      gender and age of relatives. CONCLUSIONS: The BPI two-factor and four-cluster
      hypotheses demonstrated substantial confirmatory support. These models may be
      useful for subtyping BPI disorders, predicting course of illness and refining the
      phenotype in genetic studies.

PMID- 25823795
TI  - Knockdown of microRNA-1323 restores sensitivity to radiation by suppression of
      PRKDC activity in radiation-resistant lung cancer cells.
AB  - Resistance to radiation is a major problem in cancer treatment. The mechanisms of
      radioresistance remain poorly understood; however, mounting evidence supports a
      role for microRNAs (miRNAs) in the modulation of key cellular pathways mediating
      the response to radiation. The present study aimed to identify specific miRNAs
      and their effect on radioresistant cells. The global miRNA profile of an
      established radioresistant lung cancer cell line and the corresponding control
      cells was determined. Differential expression of the miRNAs was confirmed by
      quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The binding effect of identical novel
      miRNAs and target mRNAs was determined by luciferase assay. Lung cancer cells
      were transfected with miRNA-specific mimics or inhibitors. The DNA-dependent
      protein kinase (DNA-PKcs) protein level was tested by western blot analysis.
      Radiosensitivity of cancer cells was determined using colony formation assay.
      Among the differentially expressed miRNAs, 25 miRNAs were overexpressed while 18
      were suppressed in the radioresistant cells, both basally and in response to
      radiation compared to their control. An miRNA signature miR-1323 exhibited a >5
      fold increase in the radioresistant cells. miR-1323 was demonstrated to bind to
      PRKDC 3'UTR, which is involved in DNA repair. Ectopic expression of miR-1323
      significantly increased the survival fraction of irradiated cancer cells.
      Inhibition of miR-1323 reversed the radioresistance of cancer cells and
      subsequently suppressed the expression of miR-1323-regulated DNA-PKcs protein.
      The present study indicated that miRNAs are involved in the radioresistance of
      human lung cancer cells. A possible mechanism for resistance to radiation was via
      enhanced DNA repair. The present study demonstrated a role for miR-1323 in
      modulating radioresistance and highlights the need for further study
      investigating the potential role of miR-1323 as both a predictive marker of
      response and a novel therapeutic agent with which to enhance the efficacy of
      radiotherapy.

PMID- 25823796
TI  - Co-Occurence of Reciprocal Translocation and COL2A1 Mutation in a Fetus with
      Severe Skeletal Dysplasia: Implications for Genetic Counseling.
AB  - Achondrogenesis type II is an autosomal-dominant disease leading to severe
      micromelic dwarfism. Here, we report on the postmortem identification of a de
      novo heterozygous mutation in the COL2A1 gene (c.1529G>A, p.Gly510Asp) in a fetus
      who presented with generalized hydrops fetalis and severe micromelia during
      prenatal sonographic examinations. Initially, a reciprocal translocation
      t(4;17)(q31;p13) was detected in this fetus by chorionic villus sampling.
      Subsequent chromosomal analysis of maternal and paternal blood showed that the
      patient's mother was carrier of the same reciprocal translocation. SNP array
      analysis of the fetus did not provide evidence for chromosomal imbalances or CNVs
      that could be associated with the fetal phenotype. The coexistence of a
      cytogenetic (reciprocal translocation) and a molecular genetic (COL2A1 mutation)
      abnormality in the fetus carries important implications for genetic counseling.

PMID- 25823797
TI  - Stress-related hormones and glycinebetaine interplay in protection of
      photosynthesis under abiotic stress conditions.
AB  - Plants subjected to abiotic stresses such as extreme high and low temperatures,
      drought or salinity, often exhibit decreased vegetative growth and reduced
      reproductive capabilities. This is often associated with decreased photosynthesis
      via an increase in photoinhibition, and accompanied by rapid changes in
      endogenous levels of stress-related hormones such as abscisic acid (ABA),
      salicylic acid (SA) and ethylene. However, certain plant species and/or genotypes
      exhibit greater tolerance to abiotic stress because they are capable of
      accumulating endogenous levels of the zwitterionic osmolyte-glycinebetaine (GB).
      The accumulation of GB via natural production, exogenous application or genetic
      engineering, enhances plant osmoregulation and thus increases abiotic stress
      tolerance. The final steps of GB biosynthesis occur in chloroplasts where GB has
      been shown to play a key role in increasing the protection of soluble stromal and
      lumenal enzymes, lipids and proteins, of the photosynthetic apparatus. In
      addition, we suggest that the stress-induced GB biosynthesis pathway may well
      serve as an additional or alternative biochemical sink, one which consumes excess
      photosynthesis-generated electrons, thus protecting photosynthetic apparatus from
      overreduction. Glycinebetaine biosynthesis in chloroplasts is up-regulated by
      increases in endogenous ABA or SA levels. In this review, we propose and discuss
      a model describing the close interaction and synergistic physiological effects of
      GB and ABA in the process of cold acclimation of higher plants. 

PMID- 25823798
TI  - Photosynthesis, sucrose metabolism, and starch accumulation in two NILs of winter
      wheat.
AB  - The photosynthetic oxygen evolution rate, Hill reaction activity of seedlings and
      photosynthetic parameter, Pn-Ci curve and some source-sink metabolism-related
      enzyme activities, and substance content of flag leaves were measured by using
      two wheat near isogenic lines with significant differences in the photosynthetic
      rate of the 154 (high photosynthetic rate) and 212 (low photosynthetic rate)
      lines as materials. The results showed that the maximal carboxylation efficiency
      (Vcmax) and Hill reaction activity were higher in line 154 than that of line 212.
      The Pn in flag leaves of line 154 was significantly higher than that of line 212
      during the anthesis to grain-filling stage. Higher leaf sucrose phosphate
      synthase activity, grain sucrose synthase activity, and grain ADPG
      pyrophosphorylase activity ensured that the photosynthate of line 154 could be
      transported to grains and translated into starch in a timely and effective
      manner, which also contributed to the maintenance of its high photosynthetic
      rate. Eventually, all of these factors of line 154 resulted in its higher grain
      yield compared with the low photosynthetic rate of line 212. 

PMID- 25823799
TI  - Can combined aerobic and muscle strength training improve aerobic fitness, muscle
      strength, function and quality of life in people with spinal cord injury? A
      systematic review.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: A systematic review. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this systematic review
      was to establish whether combined aerobic training and muscle strength training
      is effective in improving aerobic fitness, muscle strength, function and/or
      quality of life (QoL) in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). SETTINGS: Faculty
      of Health Sciences. University of Sydney, NSW, Australia. METHODS: A search was
      conducted for randomized controlled trials (RCTs), controlled trials,
      uncontrolled clinical trials, case series and cross-over studies involving
      exercise interventions that included a combination of aerobic and strength
      components, either in circuit-mode or in sequence for people with SCI.
      Methodological quality was independently rated using the PEDro scale and key
      findings were extracted from trials by two reviewers. RESULTS: The search
      identified 7981 abstracts, from which nine trials met the inclusion criteria.
      From the nine selected trials, seven reported aerobic outcomes, two of which
      showed a statistically significant within-group difference in aerobic fitness.
      Five studies reported muscle strength outcomes, four of them showed a
      statistically significant within-group mean difference on at least one outcome
      measure. Two studies looked at QoL, one of them found a statistically significant
      between-group difference on one outcome measure. CONCLUSION: Our systematic
      review showed that literature on SCI population is scarce, of low quality and
      findings of existing studies are inconsistent. Thus, further RCTs with larger
      number of participants are needed to make a definite conclusion about the
      influence of combined aerobic and muscle strength training on aerobic fitness,
      muscle strength and QoL in people with SCI.

PMID- 25823800
TI  - Incidence and aetiology of traumatic spinal cord injury in Cape Town, South
      Africa: a prospective, population-based study.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, regional population-based study. OBJECTIVES: To
      provide the incidence, aetiology and injury characteristics of traumatic spinal
      cord injury (TSCI) in the City of Cape Town, South Africa. SETTING: All
      government-funded hospitals within the City of Cape Town, South Africa. METHODS:
      All survivors of acute TSCI, given that they met the inclusion criteria, were
      prospectively included for a 1-year period. The International Spinal Cord injury
      Core Data Set was used and systematically completed by specialist doctors.
      Further, international standards for neurological classification were adhered to.
      RESULTS: In total, 147 cases of acute TSCI were identified and 145 were included
      in the study. The male to female ratio was 5.9:1 and the mean age was 33.5 years,
      ranging from 18 to 93. The crude incidence rate was 75.6 per million (95% CI:
      64.3-88.8) with assault as the main cause of injury, accounting for 59.3% of the
      cases, followed by motor vehicle accidents (26.3%) and falls (11.7%). Most
      injuries occurred in the cervical spine (53.1%), and American Spinal Injury
      Association Impairment Scale A severity was most common (39.3%) in the cohort.
      CONCLUSION: The incidence rate of TSCI in a region of South Africa was high when
      compared to previously postulated figures for the country. There is a need for
      primary preventative strategies to target younger men that are exposed to violent
      activities. A national study is required to learn whether these findings are only
      locally applicable or generalisable.

PMID- 25823801
TI  - Sexual activity and sexual satisfaction in Korean men with spinal cord injury.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to
      identify and assess the sexual activity and perceived sexual satisfaction of
      Korean males with spinal cord injury (SCI) and to identify factors influencing
      sexuality and satisfaction. SETTING: Community residents with SCI. METHODS: A
      total of 139 male participants with SCI in Korea were eligible for inclusion in
      this study. All participants completed a face-to-face interview regarding
      sexuality and satisfaction, as well as structured questionnaires including items
      on socioeconomic factors, medical conditions and rehabilitation services.
      RESULTS: A total of 90 participants (65%) were engaged in sexual activity. A
      period of 21-25 years since SCI (compared with the initial 5 years since SCI) and
      an experience of direct sexual rehabilitation education were positively
      associated with sexual activity. Among 90 sexually active males with SCI, 8
      (8.9%) and 56 (62.2%) were sexually satisfied and unsatisfied, respectively.
      Lower levels of education were strongly correlated with sexual dissatisfaction.
      CONCLUSION: Korean males with SCI showed low levels of satisfaction regarding
      sexual activities. Results showed that socioeconomic factors (e.g., state of
      employment and direct person-to-person sexual counseling services) had a greater
      impact on sexual activity than the degree of physical impairment. Notably, the
      educational background was the most influential factor on sexual satisfaction.

PMID- 25823802
TI  - Assessment of clinical adherence to the international autonomic standards
      following spinal cord injury.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective chart analysis. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the use of
      the International Autonomic Standards (IAS, 2009 edition) for classification of
      remaining autonomic function following spinal cord injury (SCI) over a 1-year
      period in a rehabilitation center, to determine clinical adherence to use of the
      IAS, and to examine the most common autonomic dysfunctions, as determined by
      using the IAS. SETTING: Tertiary rehabilitation hospital. METHODS: A
      retrospective study was conducted on the use of the IAS at admission and
      discharge over a 1-year period on patients admitted to an in-patient SCI unit in
      a tertiary rehabilitation center. We examined the consistency of the form
      completion, as well as the completion of separate components of the forms.
      Finally, we examined the prevalence of each autonomic impairment. RESULTS: A
      total of 70 patients were admitted to the unit. The clinical adherence to the IAS
      was lower than the International Standards for Neurological Classification of SCI
      (ISNCSCI) at both admission (63% and 93%, respectively) and discharge (39% and
      78%, respectively). Blood pressure dysfunction was most common among the general
      autonomic function disorders. However, urinary, bowel and sexual dysfunctions
      were present in almost all individuals with acute SCI. CONCLUSION: The IAS is in
      the initial stages of being incorporated into routine admission and discharge
      clinical examinations of individuals with SCI. The current results suggest that
      the clinical adherence to the IAS is low; however, it is expected that increased
      education, experience, and accumulating evidence for the IAS will improve its
      use.

PMID- 25823803
TI  - Sexual satisfaction in women with spinal cord injuries.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Structured interview based on a predesigned survey. OBJECTIVE: To
      examine the factors that affect the degree of sexual satisfaction in a sample of
      women with spinal cord injury (SCI). SETTING: The study participants were women
      with SCIs, from the area of the SCI Unit of A Coruna, a reference unit for the
      Community of Galicia in the northwest of Spain. All study participants were
      selected consecutively in the outpatient clinic in 2013. METHODS: The study
      included women with the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) A-D spinal
      injuries, between the ages of 18 and 65 years, who completed rehabilitation
      therapy and live in the community. A total of 32 women formed the final study
      group. RESULTS: When comparing the group of women who were sexually active with
      those who were not, variables such as age, neurological level, time since the
      SCI, ASIA or Spinal Cord Independence Measure score, urinary incontinence,
      chronic pain and spasticity were not related to sexual activity. The only factors
      that we found to be related to sexual activity were not having a stable partner
      (P=0.017) and a lack of sensation in the genital area (P=0.039). CONCLUSION: The
      only variables related to sexual activity were not having a partner and a lack of
      sensation in the genital area. Improving sexual satisfaction, information and
      specific programs during rehabilitation can help women with SCI explore and
      investigate new erotic possibilities, thereby improving their self-esteem and
      social relationships.

PMID- 25823804
TI  - 3D angioarchitecture changes after spinal cord injury in rats using synchrotron
      radiation phase-contrast tomography.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: A basic experiment study. OBJECTIVES: An understanding of the three
      dimensional (3D) angioarchitecture changes that occur after SCI will improve our
      knowledge of the pathogenesis of SCI and aid in the development of valuable
      therapeutic strategies to improve its poor outcomes. Our aim was to visualize the
      normal and traumatized spinal angioarchitecture in 3D using a high-resolution
      synchrotron radiation phase-contrast tomography (SR-PCT) and evaluate its
      diagnostic capability. SETTING: SCI Center of Xiangya Hospital of Central South
      University in China. METHODS: SR-PCT was used as novel high-resolution imaging
      tool to detect 3D morphological alterations in spinal cord microvasculature after
      injury. RESULTS: In a rat model, the morphology of the microvasculature on 2D
      digital slices was matched with histological findings in both the normal and
      injured spinal cord. 3D angioarchitecture changes after SCI were successfully
      obtained via SR-PCT without the use of a contrast agent. Quantitative analysis on
      3D images of the injured spinal cord revealed a significant decrease in the
      number and volume of vascular networks. This was especially relevant to vessels
      with a diameter <50 MUm. CONCLUSION: The 3D local blood supply to the spinal cord
      was severely disrupted after the acute violent injury. Our results indicate that
      the use of SR-PCT may improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of SCI and
      provide a new approach to the morphological investigation of neurovascular
      diseases in preclinical research.

PMID- 25823805
TI  - Residential Transience, Major Depressive Episodes, and the Risk of Suicidal
      Thoughts, Plans, and Attempts.
AB  - The association between past-year residential transience (frequent moving) and
      suicidal ideation among a nationally representative sample of over 190,000 U.S.
      adults was evaluated. Suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts were more prevalent
      among transient adults. Among adults without major depressive episodes (MDE),
      transience was associated with 70% to 90% greater odds of suicidal ideation
      compared to nontransient adults. Among adults with MDE, transience was associated
      with a 60% to 80% increased odds of suicidal ideation compared to nontransient
      adults. Residential transience may be an indicator for increased suicide risk
      even in the absence of depression. 

PMID- 25823806
TI  - The use of EEG parameters as predictors of drug effects on cognition.
AB  - It has been shown to be difficult to predict whether cognition-enhancing effects
      of drugs in animal studies have the same effect in humans. Various issues in
      translating findings from animal to human studies can be identified. Here we
      discuss whether EEG could be considered as a possible tool to translate the
      effects of cognition enhancers across species. Three different aspects of EEG
      measures are evaluated: frequency bands, event-related potentials, and coherence
      analysis. On basis of the comparison of these measures between species, and
      effects of drugs that improve or impair memory performance (mainly cholinergic
      drugs), it appears that event-related potentials and coherence analyses could be
      considered as potential translational tools to study cognition-enhancing drug
      effects in rodents and animals. 

PMID- 25823807
TI  - Animal models of Multiple Sclerosis.
AB  - Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central
      nervous system (CNS) which involves a complex interaction between immune system
      and neural cells. Animal modeling has been critical for addressing MS
      pathogenesis. The three most characterized animal models of MS are (1) the
      experimental autoimmune/allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE); (2) the virally-induced
      chronic demyelinating disease, known as Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus
      (TMEV) infection and (3) the toxin-induced demyelination. All these models, in a
      complementary way, have allowed to reach a good knowledge of the pathogenesis of
      MS. Specifically, EAE is the model which better reflects the autoimmune
      pathogenesis of MS and is extremely useful to study potential experimental
      treatments. Furthermore, both TMEV and toxin-induced demyelination models are
      suitable for characterizing the role of the axonal injury/repair and the
      remyelination process in MS. In conclusion, animal models, despite their
      limitations, remain the most useful instrument for implementing the study of MS. 

PMID- 25823808
TI  - Translational value of animal models of asthma: Challenges and promises.
AB  - Asthma is a heterogeneous disease in which various environmental stimuli as well
      as different genes, cell types, cytokines and mediators are implicated. This
      chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways is estimated to affect as many as
      300 million people worldwide. Animal models of asthma, despite their limitations,
      have contributed greatly to our understanding of disease pathology and the
      identification of key processes, cells and mediators in asthma. However, it is
      less likely to develop an animal model of asthma that takes into account all
      aspects of human disease. The focus in current asthma research is increasingly on
      severe asthma because this group of patients is not well treated today. Recent
      advances in studies of asthma exacerbation are thus considered. We therefore need
      to develop translational model systems for pharmacological evaluation and
      molecular target discovery of severe asthma and asthma exacerbations. In this
      review we attempted to discuss the different animal models of asthma, with
      special emphasis on ovalbumin and house dust mite models, their merits and their
      limitations. 

PMID- 25823809
TI  - DSR-98776, a novel selective mGlu5 receptor negative allosteric modulator with
      potent antidepressant and antimanic activity.
AB  - Modulation of monoaminergic systems has been the main stream of treatment for
      patients with mood disorders. However, recent evidence suggests that the
      glutamatergic system plays an important role in the pathophysiology of these
      disorders. This study pharmacologically characterized a structurally novel
      metabotropic glutamate 5 (mGlu5) receptor negative allosteric modulator, DSR
      98776, and evaluated its effect on rodent models of depression and mania. First,
      DSR-98776 in vitro profile was assessed using intracellular calcium and
      radioligand binding assays. This compound showed dose-dependent inhibitory
      activity for mGlu5 receptors by binding to the same allosteric site as 2-methyl-6
      (phenylethynyl)-pyridine (MPEP), a known mGlu5 inhibitor. The in vivo therapeutic
      benefits of DSR-98776 were evaluated in common rodent models of depression and
      mania. In the rat forced swimming test, DSR-98776 (1-3mg/kg) significantly
      reduced rats immobility time after treatment for 7 consecutive days, while
      paroxetine (3 and 10mg/kg) required administration for 2 consecutive weeks to
      reduce rats immobility time. In the mouse forced swimming test, acute
      administration of DSR-98776 (10-30 mg/kg) significantly reduced immobility time.
      This effect was not influenced by 4-chloro-DL-phenylalanine methyl ester
      hydrochloride-induced 5-HT depletion. Finally, DSR-98776 (30 mg/kg) significantly
      decreased methamphetamine/chlordiazepoxide-induced hyperactivity in mice, which
      reflects this compound antimanic-like effect. These results indicate that DSR
      98776 acts as an orally potent antidepressant and antimanic in rodent models and
      can be a promising therapeutic option for the treatment of a broad range of mood
      disorders with depressive and manic states.

PMID- 25823810
TI  - Reverse translation of failed treatments can help improving the validity of
      preclinical animal models.
AB  - A major challenge in translational research is to reduce the currently high
      proportion of new candidate treatment agents for neuroinflammatory disease, which
      fail to reproduce promising effects observed in animal models when tested in
      patients. This disturbing situation has raised criticism against the currently
      used animal models in preclinical research and calls for improvement of these
      models. This seems a difficult task as the cause of failure is often not known.
      Here we propose a potentially useful strategy for investigating why a promising
      strategy fails as a guidance for improving the validity of the animal model(s). 

PMID- 25823811
TI  - Rodent models for human diseases.
AB  - One of the factors limiting the translation of knowledge from preclinical studies
      to the clinic has been the limitations of in vivo diseases models. Except in the
      case of highly controlled and regulated clinical trials, geneticists and
      scientists do not use humans for their experimental investigations because of the
      obvious risk to life. Instead, they use various animal, fungal, bacterial, and
      plant species as model organisms for their studies. Amongst these model
      organisms, rodent models are the most used due to the easiness for the
      experiments and the possibility to modify genetically these model animals.
      Nevertheless, due to the fact that animal models typically do not contract the
      same genetic diseases as people, so scientists must alter their genomes to induce
      human disease states and to know what kind of mutation causes the disease. In
      this brief review, we will discuss the interests of rodent models that have been
      developed to simulate human pathologies, focusing in models that employ
      xenografts and genetic modification. Within the framework of genetically
      engineered mouse (GEM) models, we will review some of the current genetic
      strategies for modeling diseases. 

PMID- 25823812
TI  - The multifactorial role of the 3Rs in shifting the harm-benefit analysis in
      animal models of disease.
AB  - Ethics on animal use in science in Western society is based on utilitarianism,
      weighing the harms and benefits to the animals involved against those of the
      intended human beneficiaries. The 3Rs concept (Replacement, Reduction,
      Refinement) is both a robust framework for minimizing animal use and suffering
      (addressing the harms to animals) and a means of supporting high quality science
      and translation (addressing the benefits). The ambiguity of basic research
      performed early in the research continuum can sometimes make harm-benefit
      analysis more difficult since anticipated benefit is often an incremental
      contribution to a field of knowledge. On the other hand, benefit is much more
      evident in translational research aimed at developing treatments for direct
      application in humans or animals suffering from disease. Though benefit may be
      easier to define, it should certainly not be considered automatic. Issues related
      to model validity seriously compromise experiments and have been implicated as a
      major impediment in translation, especially in complex disease models where harms
      to animals can be intensified. Increased investment and activity in the 3Rs is
      delivering new research models, tools and approaches with reduced reliance on
      animal use, improved animal welfare, and improved scientific and predictive
      value. 

PMID- 25823813
TI  - The transferability from rat subacute 4-week oral toxicity study to translational
      research exemplified by two pharmaceutical immunosuppressants and two
      environmental pollutants with immunomodulating properties.
AB  - Exposure to chemicals may have an influence on the immune system. Often, this is
      an unwanted effect but in some pharmaceuticals, it is the intended mechanism of
      action. Immune function tests and in depth histopathological investigations of
      immune organs were integrated in rodent toxicity studies performed according to
      an extended OECD test guideline 407 protocol. Exemplified by two
      immunosuppressive drugs, azathioprine and cyclosporine A, and two environmental
      chemicals, hexachlorobenzene and benzo[a]pyrene, results of subacute rat studies
      were compared to knowledge in other species particular in humans. Although immune
      function has a high concordance in mammalian species, regarding the
      transferability from rodents to humans various factors have to be taken into
      account. In rats, sensitivity seems to depend on factors such as strain, sex,
      stress levels as well as metabolism. The two immunosuppressive drugs showed a
      high similarity of effects in animals and humans as the immune system was the
      most sensitive target in both. Hexachlorobenzene gave an inconsistent pattern of
      effects when considering the immune system of different species. In some species
      pronounced inflammation was observed, whereas in primates liver toxicity seemed
      more obvious. Generally, the immune system was not the most sensitive target in
      hexachlorobenzene-treatment. Immune function tests in rats gave evidence of a
      reaction to systemic inflammation rather than a direct impact on immune cells.
      Data from humans are likewise equivocal. In the case of benzo[a]pyrene, the
      immune system was the most sensitive target in rats. In the in vitro plaque
      forming cell assay (Mishell-Dutton culture) a direct comparison of cells from
      different species including rat and human was possible and showed similar
      reactions. The doses in the rat study had, however, no realistic relation to
      human exposure, which occurs exclusively in mixtures and in a much lower range.
      In summary, a case by case approach is necessary when testing immunotoxicity.
      Improvements for the translation from animals to humans related to immune cells
      can be expected from in vitro tests which offer direct comparison with reactions
      of human immune cells. This may lead to a better understanding of results and
      variations seen in animal studies. 

PMID- 25823814
TI  - Ethological concepts enhance the translational value of animal models.
AB  - The translational value of animal models is an issue of ongoing discussion. We
      argue that 'Refinement' of animal experiments is needed and this can be achieved
      by exploiting an ethological approach when setting up and conducting experiments.
      Ethology aims to assess the functional meaning of behavioral changes, due to
      experimental manipulation or treatment, in animal models. Although the use of
      ethological concepts is particularly important for studies involving the
      measurement of animal behavior (as is the case for most studies on neuro
      psychiatric conditions), it will also substantially benefit other disciplines,
      such as those investigating the immune system or inflammatory response. Using an
      ethological approach also involves using more optimal testing conditions are
      employed that have a biological relevance to the animal. Moreover, using a more
      biological relevant analysis of the data will help to clarify the functional
      meaning of the modeled readout (e.g. whether it is psychopathological or adaptive
      in nature). We advocate for instance that more behavioral studies should use
      animals in group-housed conditions, including the recording of their ultrasonic
      vocalizations, because (1) social behavior is an essential feature of animal
      models for human 'social' psychopathologies, such as autism and schizophrenia,
      and (2) social conditions are indispensable conditions for appropriate behavioral
      studies in social species, such as the rat. Only when taking these elements into
      account, the validity of animal experiments and, thus, the translation value of
      animal models can be enhanced. 

PMID- 25823815
TI  - Lyn modulates Claudin-2 expression and is a therapeutic target for breast cancer
      liver metastasis.
AB  - Claudin-2 enhances breast cancer liver metastasis and promotes the development of
      colorectal cancers. The objective of our current study is to define the
      regulatory mechanisms controlling Claudin-2 expression in breast cancer cells. We
      evaluated the effect of several Src Family Kinase (SFK) inhibitors or knockdown
      of individual SFK members on Claudin-2 expression in breast cancer cells. We also
      assessed the potential effects of pan-SFK and SFK-selective inhibitors on the
      formation of breast cancer liver metastases. This study reveals that pan
      inhibition of SFK signaling pathways significantly elevated Claudin-2 expression
      levels in breast cancer cells. In addition, our data demonstrate that pan-SFK
      inhibitors can enhance breast cancer metastasis to the liver. Knockdown of
      individual SFK members reveals that loss of Yes or Fyn induces Claudin-2
      expression; whereas, diminished Lyn levels impairs Claudin-2 expression in breast
      cancer cells. The Lyn-selective kinase inhibitor, Bafetinib (INNO-406), acts to
      reduce Claudin-2 expression and suppress breast cancer liver metastasis. Our
      findings may have major clinical implications and advise against the treatment of
      breast cancer patients with broad-acting SFK inhibitors and support the use of
      Lyn-specific inhibitors.

PMID- 25823816
TI  - Overexpression of mutant Ptch in rhabdomyosarcomas is associated with promoter
      hypomethylation and increased Gli1 and H3K4me3 occupancy.
AB  - Mice with heterozygous loss of the tumor suppressor Patched1 (Ptch) develop
      rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS)-like tumors. However, Ptch transcripts are consistently
      overexpressed in these tumors. We have recently shown that the upregulated
      transcripts are derived from the mutated Ptch allele thus leading to the
      hypothesis that the wild-type allele is repressed during RMS development. Here we
      describe epigenetic changes taking place at the Ptch locus during RMS
      development. We showed a lower degree of DNA-methylation in methylation-sensitive
      CpG regions of the Ptch promoter in RMS compared to normal muscle from
      heterozygous Ptch animals. In agreement with these results, treatment of
      heterozygous Ptch mice with the DNA demethylating agent 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine (5
      aza-dC) between embryonic days E9.5-E11.5 significantly accelerated RMS
      formation. Since Ptch promoter methylation occurs after/around E13.5, the window
      for RMS initiation during embryogenesis, these results provide additional
      evidence that Ptch promoter hypomethylation may contribute to RMS formation. We
      have also demonstrated increased trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4me3)
      and preferential binding of Gli1, a known Ptch activator, to the mutant locus in
      RMS. Together, these findings support an alternative model for RMS formation in
      heterozygous Ptch mice including loss of methylation and concomitant occupancy by
      activating histone marks of mutant Ptch. 

PMID- 25823817
TI  - MicroRNA-155 expression is independently predictive of outcome in chordoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chordoma pathogenesis remains poorly understood. In this study, we
      aimed to evaluate the relationships between microRNA-155 (miR-155) expression and
      the clinicopathological features of chordoma patients, and to evaluate the
      functional role of miR-155 in chordoma. METHODS: The miRNA expression profiles
      were analyzed using miRNA microarray assays. Regulatory activity of miR-155 was
      assessed using bioinformatic tools. miR-155 expression levels were validated by
      reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The relationships between miR
      155 expression and the clinicopathological features of chordoma patients were
      analyzed. Proliferative, migratory and invasive activities were assessed by MTT,
      wound healing, and Matrigel invasion assays, respectively. RESULTS: The miRNA
      microarray assay revealed miR-155 to be highly expressed and biologically active
      in chordoma. miR-155 expression in chordoma tissues was significantly elevated,
      and this expression correlated significantly with disease stage (p = 0.036) and
      the presence of metastasis (p = 0.035). miR-155 expression also correlated
      significantly with poor outcomes for chordoma patients (hazard ratio, 5.32; p =
      0.045). Inhibition of miR-155 expression suppressed proliferation, and the
      migratory and invasive activities of chordoma cells. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown
      miR-155 expression to independently affect prognosis in chordoma. These results
      collectively indicate that miR-155 expression may serve not only as a prognostic
      marker, but also as a potential therapeutic target in chordoma.

PMID- 25823818
TI  - By activating matrix metalloproteinase-7, shear stress promotes chondrosarcoma
      cell motility, invasion and lung colonization.
AB  - Interstitial fluid flow and associated shear stress are relevant mechanical
      signals in cartilage and bone (patho)physiology. However, their effects on
      chondrosarcoma cell motility, invasion and metastasis have yet to be delineated.
      Using human SW1353, HS.819.T and CH2879 chondrosarcoma cell lines as model
      systems, we found that fluid shear stress induces the accumulation of cyclic AMP
      (cAMP) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), which in turn markedly enhance
      chondrosarcoma cell motility and invasion via the induction of matrix
      metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7). Specifically, shear-induced cAMP and IL-1beta
      activate PI3-K, ERK1/2 and p38 signaling pathways, which lead to the synthesis of
      MMP-7 via transactivating NF-kappaB and c-Jun in human chondrosarcoma cells.
      Importantly, MMP-7 upregulation in response to shear stress exposure has the
      ability to promote lung colonization of chondrosarcomas in vivo. These findings
      offer a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying MMP-7 activation in
      shear-stimulated chondrosarcoma cells, and provide insights on designing new
      therapeutic strategies to interfere with chondrosarcoma invasion and metastasis. 

PMID- 25823819
TI  - ANO1/TMEM16A interacts with EGFR and correlates with sensitivity to EGFR
      targeting therapy in head and neck cancer.
AB  - The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) contributes to the pathogenesis of
      head&neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). However, only a subset of HNSCC
      patients benefit from anti-EGFR targeted therapy. By performing an unbiased
      proteomics screen, we found that the calcium-activated chloride channel ANO1
      interacts with EGFR and facilitates EGFR-signaling in HNSCC. Using structural
      mutants of EGFR and ANO1 we identified the trans/juxtamembrane domain of EGFR to
      be critical for the interaction with ANO1. Our results show that ANO1 and EGFR
      form a functional complex that jointly regulates HNSCC cell proliferation.
      Expression of ANO1 affected EGFR stability, while EGFR-signaling elevated ANO1
      protein levels, establishing a functional and regulatory link between ANO1 and
      EGFR. Co-inhibition of EGFR and ANO1 had an additive effect on HNSCC cell
      proliferation, suggesting that co-targeting of ANO1 and EGFR could enhance the
      clinical potential of EGFR-targeted therapy in HNSCC and might circumvent the
      development of resistance to single agent therapy. HNSCC cell lines with
      amplification and high expression of ANO1 showed enhanced sensitivity to
      Gefitinib, suggesting ANO1 overexpression as a predictive marker for the response
      to EGFR-targeting agents in HNSCC therapy. Taken together, our results introduce
      ANO1 as a promising target and/or biomarker for EGFR-directed therapy in HNSCC. 

PMID- 25823820
TI  - A novel small-form NEDD4 regulates cell invasiveness and apoptosis to promote
      tumor metastasis.
AB  - Despite numerous investigations on metastasis, the determinants of metastatic
      processes remain unclear. We aimed to identify the metastasis-associated genes in
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Potent metastatic SK-hep-1 (SK) cells, designated
      'SKM', were generated using Transwell assay followed by selection in a mouse
      model. Genes expressed differentially in SKM and SK cells were identified via
      microarray analyses. A small form of Neural precursor cell-expressed
      developmentally downregulated 4 (sNEDD4) was identified to be overexpressed in
      SKM cells, which was confirmed as a novel transcript using liquid chromatography
      mass spectrometry. In clinical specimens, sNEDD4 was significantly overexpressed
      in tumors and serves as a poor prognostic factor for male patients with HCC (P =
      0.035). Upon subcutaneous introduction of sNEDD4-overexpressing SK cells into
      flanks of nude mice, tumors grew faster than those of the control group.
      Furthermore, sNEDD4-mediated promotion of tumor metastasis was demonstrated in
      the orthotopic mouse model. Overexpression of sNEDD4 increased the invasive
      ability of SK cells through upregulation of matrix metalloproteinase 9 and
      inhibited serum deprivation-induced apoptosis via upregulation of myeloid cell
      leukemia 1. In conclusion, sNEDD4 is a novel metastasis-associated gene, which
      prevents apoptosis under nutrient restriction conditions. The present findings
      clearly support the prognostic potential of sNEDD4 for HCC. 

PMID- 25823821
TI  - Shp2 SUMOylation promotes ERK activation and hepatocellular carcinoma
      development.
AB  - Shp2, an ubiquitously expressed protein tyrosine phosphatase, is essential for
      regulation of Ras/ERK signaling pathway and tumorigenesis. Here we report that
      Shp2 is modified by SUMO1 at lysine residue 590 (K590) in its C-terminus, which
      is reduced by SUMO1-specific protease SENP1. Analysis of wild-type Shp2 and
      SUMOylation-defective Shp2(K590R) mutant reveals that SUMOylation of Shp2
      promotes EGF-stimulated ERK signaling pathway and increases anchorage-independent
      cell growth and xenografted tumor growth of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell
      lines. Furthermore, we find that mutant Shp2(K590R) reduces its binding with the
      scaffolding protein Gab1, and consistent with this, knockdown of SENP1 increased
      the interaction between Shp2 and Gab1. More surprisingly, we show that human Shp2
      (hShp2) and mouse Shp2 (mShp2) have differential effects on ERK activation as a
      result of different SUMOylation level, which is due to the event of K590 at hShp2
      substituted by R594 at mShp2. In summary, our data demonstrate that SUMOylation
      of Shp2 promotes ERK activation via facilitating the formation of Shp2-Gab1
      complex and thereby accelerates HCC cell and tumor growth, which presents a novel
      regulatory mechanism underlying Shp2 in regulation of HCC development.

PMID- 25823822
TI  - Hypomethylation and up-regulation of PD-1 in T cells by azacytidine in MDS/AML
      patients: A rationale for combined targeting of PD-1 and DNA methylation.
AB  - The hypomethylating agents (HMAs) are standard therapy for patients with higher
      risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS); however, the majority of the patients will
      lose their response to HMAs over time due to unknown mechanisms. It has recently
      been shown that T cell expression of the immunoinhibitory receptor PD-1 is
      regulated by DNA methylation. In 12 of 27 patients (44%) PD-1 promoter
      demethylation was observed in sorted peripheral blood T cells isolated over
      consecutive cycles of treatment with 5-azacytidine (5-aza). The PD-1 promoter
      demethylation correlated with an increase in PD-1 expression. Moreover,
      demethylation of the PD-1 promoter correlated with a significantly worse overall
      response rate (8% vs. 60%, p = 0.014), and a trend towards a shorter overall
      survival (p = 0.11) was observed. A significantly higher baseline methylation
      level of the PD-1 promoter was observed in T cells of non-responding patients
      compared to healthy controls (p = 0.023). Accordingly, in addition to their
      beneficial function, HMAs induce PD-1 expression on T cells in the MDS
      microenvironment, thereby likely hampering the immune response against the MDS
      blasts. Thus, we suggest that activation of the PD-1 checkpoint during HMA
      treatment can be a possible resistance mechanism, which may be overcome by
      combination therapy with a PD-1 pathway inhibitor.

PMID- 25823824
TI  - Temporal regulation of HIF-1 and NF-kappaB in hypoxic hepatocarcinoma cells.
AB  - Regulations between NF-kappaB and HIF-1 have not been adequately addressed in
      previous research. Here, we report that hypoxia increased NF-kappaB in
      hepatocellular carcinoma cells. The HIF-1 protein level was rapidly induced by
      protein stabilization (by 2 hours) and then moderately decreased, whereas mRNA
      levels were reciprocally increased. We also found that NF-kappaB p50 and p65
      (RelA), but not c-Rel, bound the HIF-1a promoter, thus increasing its
      transcription. In contrast, miR-199a-5p and miR-93, c-Rel downstream targets,
      decreased HIF-1alpha at both the mRNA and protein levels. Dicer1, a key enzyme in
      miRNA biogenesis, was decreased by acute hypoxia but was later increased by HIF
      1, rather than by the above-mentioned NF-kappaB subunits. Thus, NF-kappaB both
      positively and negatively fine-tuned HIF-1 in hypoxic hepatocarcinoma cells. 

PMID- 25823825
TI  - Detection of K-ras gene mutation by liquid biopsy in patients with pancreatic
      cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in serum has been considered
      to be a useful candidate for noninvasive cancer diagnosis. The current study was
      designed to estimate the clinical usefulness of genetic analysis for ctDNA by
      digital polymerase chain reaction in patients with pancreatic cancer. METHODS:
      The authors compared K-ras mutations detected in endoscopic ultrasound-guided
      fine-needle aspiration biopsy tissue DNA and in ctDNA from 75 patients with
      pancreatic cancer. K-ras mutations in the serum of 66 independent, consecutive
      patients with pancreatic cancer were also analyzed and the authors compared the
      results with survival rates. RESULTS: The frequencies of the mutations in tissue
      samples at G12V, G12D, and G12R in codon 12 were 28 of 75 samples (37.3%), 22 of
      75 samples (29.3%), and 6 of 75 samples (8.0%), respectively. Conversely, the
      rates of the mutations in ctDNA were 26 of 75 samples (34.6%), 29 of 75 samples
      (38.6%), and 4 of 75 samples (5.3%), respectively. Overall, the K-ras mutation
      rates in tissue and ctDNA were 74.7% and 62.6%, respectively, and the concordance
      rate between them was 58 of 75 samples (77.3%). Survival did not appear to differ
      by the presence of K-ras mutations in tissue DNA, but the survival of patients
      with K-ras mutations in ctDNA was significantly shorter than that of patients
      without mutations in both a development set (P = .006) and an independent
      validation set (P = .002). The difference was especially evident in cases with a
      G12V mutation. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of ctDNA is a new useful procedure for
      detecting mutations in patients with pancreatic cancer. This noninvasive method
      may have great potential as a new strategy for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer
      as well as for predicting survival.

PMID- 25823823
TI  - CIP4 promotes metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer and is associated with
      poor patient prognosis.
AB  - Signaling via epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and Src kinase pathways
      promote triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell invasion and tumor metastasis.
      Here, we address the role of Cdc42-interacting protein-4 (CIP4) in TNBC
      metastasis in vivo, and profile CIP4 expression in human breast cancer patients.
      In human TNBC cells, CIP4 knock-down (KD) led to less sustained activation of Erk
      kinase and impaired cell motility compared to control cells. This correlated with
      significant defects in 3D invasion of surrounding extracellular matrix by CIP4 KD
      TNBC cells when grown as spheroid colonies. In mammary orthotopic xenograft
      assays using both human TNBC cells (MDA-MB-231, HCC 1806) and rat MTLn3 cells,
      CIP4 silencing had no overt effect on tumor growth, but significantly reduced the
      incidence of lung metastases in each tumor model. In human invasive breast
      cancers, high CIP4 levels was significantly associated with high tumor stage,
      TNBC and HER2 subtypes, and risk of progression to metastatic disease. Together,
      these results implicate CIP4 in promoting metastasis in TNBCs. 

PMID- 25823826
TI  - No evidence of MERS-CoV in Ghanaian Hajj pilgrims: cautious interpretation is
      needed.

PMID- 25823828
TI  - Curcumin protects renal tubular epithelial cells from high glucose-induced
      epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition through Nrf2-mediated upregulation of heme
      oxygenase-1.
AB  - Curcumin has been observed to exhibit an anti-fibrotic effect in the liver, lung
      and gallbladder. However, the mechanisms underlying the cytoprotective effects of
      curcumin remain to be elucidated. The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)
      of mature tubular epithelial cells in the kidney is considered to contribute to
      the renal accumulation of matrix proteins associated with diabetic nephropathy.
      The EMT is also closely associated with the progression of renal interstitial
      fibrosis and oxidative stress. This process may occur through abrogation of high
      glucose (HG)-induced oxidative stress via activation of nuclear factor (erythroid
      derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in kidney tubular epithelial
      cells. In the present study, the effect of curcumin on HG-induced EMT in the NRK
      52E normal rat kidney tubular epithelial cell line was investigated, and whether
      the effect of curcumin was mediated by the induction of Nrf2 and HO-1 expression
      was examined. The present study revealed that curcumin was able to prevent events
      associated with EMT, including the downregulation of E-cadherin and the increased
      expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin. Further analysis revealed that the
      expression levels of Nrf2 and HO-1 protein were elevated to a greater extent in
      the curcumin pretreated NRK-52E cells compared with those of the control.
      Notably, knockdown of Nrf2 with small interfering RNA prevented the curcumin
      induced elevation in expression of HO-1 and the associated anti-fibrotic effects.
      In conclusion, the present findings suggested that curcumin may be significant in
      cellular antioxidant defense, through the activation of Nrf2 and HO-1, thereby
      protecting the NRK-52E cells from HG-induced EMT.

PMID- 25823829
TI  - [Nutrition and hydration at the end of life].
AB  - At the end of life the pleasure function of alimentation is to be preferred to
      its nutritive function. Artificial nutrition and hydration in an enteral or
      parenteral way are artificial life support techniques. Artificial nutrition and
      hydration are systematically justified for patients in curative phase that
      require it but not for patients in a terminal or agonal phase. The fear of death
      from hunger and thirst is not justified. It is more relevant of a symbolic and
      phantasmic dimension than of an objective reality. The practice of oral care is
      much more effective than installing an artificial hydration to improve the
      comfort of a patient at the very end of life. Withdrawing or withholding an
      artificial nutrition and hydration can prevent an unreasonable obstinacy
      prohibited by law. 

PMID- 25823830
TI  - Multiple sclerosis: From new concepts to updates on management.

PMID- 25823827
TI  - Consensus Paper: Neuroimmune Mechanisms of Cerebellar Ataxias.
AB  - In the last few years, a lot of publications suggested that disabling cerebellar
      ataxias may develop through immune-mediated mechanisms. In this consensus paper,
      we discuss the clinical features of the main described immune-mediated cerebellar
      ataxias and address their presumed pathogenesis. Immune-mediated cerebellar
      ataxias include cerebellar ataxia associated with anti-GAD antibodies, the
      cerebellar type of Hashimoto's encephalopathy, primary autoimmune cerebellar
      ataxia, gluten ataxia, Miller Fisher syndrome, ataxia associated with systemic
      lupus erythematosus, and paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration. Humoral
      mechanisms, cell-mediated immunity, inflammation, and vascular injuries
      contribute to the cerebellar deficits in immune-mediated cerebellar ataxias. 

PMID- 25823831
TI  - New insights and current concepts of the oxidative stress theory of aging.

PMID- 25823833
TI  - Focus on sugar-sweetened beverages.

PMID- 25823832
TI  - The value of postoperative anticoagulants to improve flap survival in the free
      radial forearm flap: a systematic review and retrospective multicentre analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Free radial forearm flap (FRFF) reconstruction is a valuable
      technique in head and neck surgery, which allows closure of large defects while
      striving to maintain functionality. Anticoagulative drugs are often administered
      to improve flap survival, although evidence regarding effectiveness is lacking.
      OBJECTIVE OF REVIEW: To investigate the effectiveness of postoperative
      anticoagulants to improve survival of the FRFF in head and neck reconstruction.
      TYPE OF REVIEW: Systematic review and multicentre, individual patient data meta
      analysis. SEARCH STRATEGY: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and CINAHL were
      searched for synonyms of 'anticoagulants' and 'free flap reconstruction'.
      EVALUATION METHOD: Studies were critically appraised for directness of evidence
      and risk of bias. Authors of the highest quality publications were invited to
      submit their original data for meta-analysis. RESULTS: Five studies were of
      adequate quality, and data from four studies (80%) were available for meta
      analysis, describing 759 FRFF procedures. Anticoagulants used were as follows:
      aspirin (12%), low molecular weight dextran (18.3%), unfractioned heparin
      (28.1%), low molecular weight heparin (49%) and prostaglandin-E1 (2.1%). Thirty
      one per cent did not receive anticoagulants. Flap failure occurred in 40 of 759
      patients (5.3%) On univariate analysis, use of unfractioned heparin was
      associated with a higher rate of flap failure. However, these regimens were often
      administered to patients who had revision surgery of the anastomosis. In
      multivariate logistic regression analysis, anticoagulant use was not associated
      with improved flap survival or flap-related complications. CONCLUSIONS: The
      studied anticoagulative drugs did not improve FRFF survival or lower the rate of
      flap-related complications. In addition, some anticoagulants may cause systemic
      complications.

PMID- 25823834
TI  - Quantitative genetics, spread of genes and genetic improvement: papers in honour
      of John James. Introduction.

PMID- 25823835
TI  - Genetic contributions and their optimization.
AB  - Genetic contributions were first formalized in 1958 by James and McBride (Journal
      of Genetics, 56, 55-62) and have since been shown to provide a unifying framework
      for theories of gain and inbreeding. As such they have underpinned the
      development of methods that provide the most effective combination of maximizing
      gain whilst managing inbreeding and loss of genetic variation. It is shown how
      this optimum contribution technology can be developed from theory and adapted to
      provide practical selection protocols for a wide variety of situations including
      overlapping generations and multistage selection. The natural development of the
      theory to incorporate genomic selection and genomic control of inbreeding is also
      shown. 

PMID- 25823836
TI  - GRAIN: a computer program to calculate ancestral and partial inbreeding
      coefficients using a gene dropping approach.
AB  - GRain is freely available software intended to enable and promote testing of
      hypotheses with respect to purging and heterogeneity of inbreeding depression.
      The program is based on a stochastic approach, the gene dropping method, and
      calculates various coefficients from large and complex pedigrees. GRain
      calculates, together with the 'classical' inbreeding coefficient, ancestral
      inbreeding coefficients proposed by Ballou, (1997) J. Hered., 88, 169 and
      Kalinowski et al., (2000) Conserv. Biol., 14, 1375 as well as an ancestral
      history coefficient (AHC ), defined here for the first time. AHC is defined as
      the number that tells how many times during pedigree segregation (gene dropping)
      a randomly taken allele has been in IBD status. Furthermore, GRain enables
      testing of heterogeneity and/or purging of inbreeding depression with respect to
      different founders/ancestors by calculating partial coefficients for all
      previously obtained coefficients.

PMID- 25823837
TI  - Managing the rate of increase in average co-ancestry in a rolling front tree
      breeding strategy.
AB  - In breeding forest trees, as for livestock, the goal is to capture as much
      genetic gain as possible for the breeding objective, while limiting long- and
      short-term inbreeding. The Southern Tree Breeding Association (STBA) is
      responsible for breeding Australia's two main commercial forest tree species and
      has adopted algorithms and methods commonly used in animal breeding to achieve
      this balance. Discrete generation breeding is the norm for most tree breeding
      programmes. However, the STBA uses an overlapping generation strategy, with a new
      stream of breeding initiated each year. A feature of the species bred by the STBA
      (Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus globulus) is the long interval (up to 7 years)
      between when an individual is mated and when its progeny is first assessed in
      field trials and performance data included in the national performance database.
      Mate selection methods must therefore recognize the large pool of unmeasured
      progeny generated over recent years of crossing. In addition, the substantial
      delay between when an individual is selected in a field trial and when it is
      clonally copied into a mating facility (breeding arboretum) means that selection
      and mating must occur as a two-step process. In this article, we describe
      modifications to preselection and mate selection algorithms that allow unmeasured
      progeny (juveniles) to be recognized. We also demonstrate that the addition of
      hypothetical new progeny to the juvenile pool is important for computing the
      increase in average co-ancestry in the population. Methods outlined in this
      article may have relevance to animal breeding programmes where between mating and
      progeny measurement, new rounds of mating are initiated.

PMID- 25823838
TI  - How old are quantitative trait loci and how widely do they segregate?
AB  - The mutations that cause genetic variation in quantitative traits could be old
      and segregate across many breeds or they could be young and segregate only within
      one breed. This has implications for our understanding of the evolution of
      quantitative traits and for genomic prediction to improve livestock. We
      investigated the age of quantitative trait loci (QTL) for milk production traits
      identified as segregating in Holstein dairy cattle. We use a multitrait method
      and found that six of 11 QTL also segregate in Jerseys. Variants identified as
      Holstein-only QTL were fixed or rare [minor allele frequency (MAF) < 0.05] in
      Jersey. The age of the QTL mutations appears to vary from perhaps 2000 to 50,000
      generations old. The older QTL tend to have high derived allele frequencies and
      often segregate across both breeds. Holstein-only QTL were often embedded within
      longer haplotypes, supporting the conclusion that they are typically younger
      mutations that have occurred more recently than QTL that segregate in both
      breeds. A reference population for genomic prediction using both Holsteins and
      Jersey cattle incorrectly predicted a QTL in Jersey cattle when the QTL only
      segregates in Holsteins. Overcoming this error should help to make genomic
      prediction more accurate in smaller breeds.

PMID- 25823839
TI  - Comparison of breeding objectives across countries with application to sheep
      indexes in New Zealand and Ireland.
AB  - Breeding objectives and selection indexes underpin the direction, the extent and
      the economic implications of selection in livestock populations under specific
      production systems. The objective of this study was to describe the methodology
      to calculate correlations between national selection indexes and gain a deeper
      understanding of the factors influencing responses in economically important
      traits in both the New Zealand and Irish sheep industries. Moderate to strong
      correlations were calculated among indexes within and between countries, with the
      strongest correlation (0.86) between the New Zealand and Irish maternal indexes.
      In both countries, responses to selection in the maternal indexes are largely
      driven by growth traits; each index, however, has a different balance of traits.
      Ewe mature weight also accounts for an important proportion of overall response
      and has significant emphasis in both maternal indexes. The majority of emphasis
      in terminal indexes of both countries is on growth and meat traits. Results from
      this study indicate that differences between national breeding objectives are
      unlikely to be a barrier to exchange of gene stocks among countries. Future
      research should investigate the extent to which genotype-by-environment (G * E)
      interactions exist at the level of individual traits. The methodology presented
      in this study is robust and represents an opportunity to inform the potential
      merits of international exchange of germplasm.

PMID- 25823840
TI  - Community-based livestock breeding programmes: essentials and examples.
AB  - Breeding programmes described as community-based (CBBP) typically relate to low
      input systems with farmers having a common interest to improve and share their
      genetic resources. CBBPs are more frequent with keepers of small ruminants, in
      particular smallholders of local breeds, than with cattle, pigs or chickens with
      which farmers may have easier access to alternative programmes. Constraints that
      limit the adoption of conventional breeding technologies in low-input systems
      cover a range of organizational and technical aspects. The analysis of 8 CBBPs
      located in countries of Latin-America, Africa and Asia highlights the importance
      of bottom-up approaches and involvement of local institutions in the planning and
      implementation stages. The analysis also reveals a high dependence of these
      programmes on organizational, technical and financial support. Completely self
      sustained CBBPs seem to be difficult to realize. There is a need to implement and
      document formal socio-economic evaluations of CBBPs to provide governments and
      other development agencies with the information necessary for creating
      sustainable CBBPs at larger scales. 

PMID- 25823841
TI  - Some aspects of design and analysis of selection programmes in aquaculture
      species.
AB  - The aquaculture industry is one of the fastest growing animal food-producing
      sectors in the world, largely driven by an increasing demand for high-quality
      protein from developing countries. However, the majority of cultured production
      of aquatic species currently relies heavily on the collection of wild animals for
      use as broodstock. Aquatic animal domestication and genetic selection programmes
      in controlled environments are essential to enable the provision of a continued
      supply of high-quality food for an ever-expanding world population. Professor
      John James' significant contributions to the genetic improvement of conventional
      livestock species are well known. By contrast, his contributions to the
      aquaculture industry are less well known, especially in the areas of design and
      conduct of selective breeding programmes in aquatic animal species. In this
      study, we focus on a few aspects of aquaculture genetics to which Professor James
      made substantial contributions. His outstanding ability to comprehend, clarify
      and simplify complex problems with easy-to-understand mathematical derivations is
      clearly demonstrated in the areas of large-scale strain comparisons, genotype-by
      environment interactions (GxE), transformations and interpretation of selection
      response, as well as in the treatment of economic aspects of designing breeding
      programmes. 

PMID- 25823842
TI  - Expected influence of linkage disequilibrium on genetic variance caused by
      dominance and epistasis on quantitative traits.
AB  - Linkage disequilibrium (LD) influences the genetic variation in a quantitative
      trait contributed by two or more loci, with positive LD increasing the variance.
      The magnitude of LD also affects the relative magnitude of dominance and
      epistatic variation. We quantify the extent of the non-additive variance expected
      within populations, deriving analytical expressions for simple models and using
      numerical simulation in finite population more generally. As LD generates non
      independence among loci, a simple partition into additive, dominance and
      epistatic components is not possible, so we merely distinguish between additive
      and non-additive components based on comparing covariances among close relatives,
      such as full sibs, half sibs and offspring-parent. As tight linkage is needed to
      yield substantial LD in outbred populations, we ignore recombination in the
      generation used to estimate components and it is analogous to a multi-allelic
      model. The expected magnitude of the non-additive variance is generally increased
      but not greatly so by the LD in outbred populations. Thus, as found in previous
      studies for unlinked loci, independent of the type and strength of gene
      interaction, the epistatic variance contributes little to the total. 

PMID- 25823843
TI  - Quantitative genetics of disease traits.
AB  - John James authored two key papers on the theory of risk to relatives for binary
      disease traits and the relationship between parameters on the observed binary
      scale and an unobserved scale of liability (James Annals of Human Genetics, 1971;
      35: 47; Reich, James and Morris Annals of Human Genetics, 1972; 36: 163). These
      two papers are John James' most cited papers (198 and 328 citations, November
      2014). They have been influential in human genetics and have recently gained
      renewed popularity because of their relevance to the estimation of quantitative
      genetics parameters for disease traits using SNP data. In this review, we
      summarize the two early papers and put them into context. We show recent
      extensions of the theory for ascertained case-control data and review recent
      applications in human genetics. 

PMID- 25823844
TI  - A lactate and formate transporter in the intraerythrocytic malaria parasite,
      Plasmodium falciparum.
AB  - The intraerythrocytic malaria parasite relies primarily on glycolysis to fuel its
      rapid growth and reproduction. The major byproduct of this metabolism, lactic
      acid, is extruded into the external medium. In this study, we show that the human
      malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum expresses at its surface a member of the
      microbial formate-nitrite transporter family (PfFNT), which, when expressed in
      Xenopus laevis oocytes, transports both formate and lactate. The transport
      characteristics of PfFNT in oocytes (pH-dependence, inhibitor-sensitivity and
      kinetics) are similar to those of the transport of lactate and formate across the
      plasma membrane of mature asexual-stage P. falciparum trophozoites, consistent
      with PfFNT playing a major role in the efflux of lactate and hence in the energy
      metabolism of the intraerythrocytic parasite. 

PMID- 25823845
TI  - Shame Experiences Underlying Depression of Adult Turkish Women.
AB  - Shame is a major component of many mental health problems and affects symptoms,
      coping styles, remission, and therapeutic ruptures. There are few qualitative
      studies aimed at understanding shame and its role for patients diagnosed with
      depression. In this research, we explored the origins of shame, and the coping
      strategies that patients diagnosed with depression employ to cope with shame.
      This qualitative research aimed at an in-depth analysis of shame experiences of
      adult women who had been diagnosed with depression and treated with cognitive
      behavioral psychotherapy in a Women Health Center in Turkey. Purposive sampling
      yielded nine high shame prone adult women who were married and had children. Four
      semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of the nine participants, and
      36 semi-structured interviews were analyzed by Interpretative Phenomenological
      Analysis. According to the results of the analysis, four themes emerged. These
      were "substitution of rage for the feeling of shame and unworthiness,"
      "perfection struggle to overcompensate the belief of being inadequate," "feeling
      shame for their own body and sexual acts," and "need for individuation." The
      results were interpreted by considering the social context and culture of Turkey,
      and the clinical implications were discussed.

PMID- 25823846
TI  - Viewing Focus Groups Through a Critical Incident Lens.
AB  - Scholars often do not describe in detail the complex process of conducting focus
      groups, including what happens when they take unexpected turns. A critical
      incident lens provides a framework for better analyzing and understanding what
      actually happens during focus group sessions. Using a critical incident approach,
      we examine our experiences of carrying out focus groups about the human
      papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine with vaccine-eligible adolescent girls and
      parents/caregivers of vaccine-eligible adolescent girls in New Mexico. The
      critical incident lens allowed us to productively explore the context and
      interactional dynamics of our focus groups and ultimately pushed us to talk
      through the challenges of conducting and analyzing them. We hope this serves as a
      call to qualitative researchers to be attentive to the critical incidents in your
      own research to enrich your analysis and contribute to a broader discussion of
      the realities of focus group conduct. 

PMID- 25823847
TI  - A cell type-specific role of protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2 in
      regulating ER stress signalling.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Genetic polymorphisms within the gene locus encoding protein
      tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2 (PTPN2) have been associated with
      inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A recent study demonstrated that PTPN2
      regulates ER stress signalling in pancreatic beta-cells. Therefore, we
      investigated whether PTPN2 regulates ER stress pathways, apoptosis and cytokine
      secretion in human intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) and monocytes. METHODS: THP
      1 and HT-29 IECs were stimulated with 2 ug/ml tunicamycin (TNM) for the indicated
      periods of time. For knockdown experiments, cells were transfected using a
      mixture of three different PTPN2-specific siRNA oligonucleotides. Cell lysates
      were analysed by Western blot and real-time PCR. Cytokine secretion was studied
      by ELISA measurements of cell culture supernatant. RESULTS: TNM treatment reduced
      PTPN2 protein levels in HT-29 IECs and THP-1 monocytes. Knockdown of PTPN2 in THP
      1 monocytes led to an exaggerated induction of phospho-eIF2alpha, enhanced PARP
      cleavage, indicative of apoptosis, and attenuated IL-8 and TNF secretion upon TNM
      stimulation. In HT-29 cells PTPN2 deficiency caused reduced phosphorylation of
      eIF2alpha and PARP cleavage under ER stress conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Whereas the
      knockdown of PTPN2 made THP-1 cells more susceptible to ER stress, PTPN2
      deficiency reduced ER stress responses in HT-29 IECs. This suggests that PTPN2
      regulates adaptation to ER stress in a cell type-specific manner.

PMID- 25823848
TI  - The expression of DBC1/CCAR2 is associated with poor prognosis of ovarian
      carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent reports have shown that deleted in breast cancer 1
      (DBC1/CCAR2) is an indicator of poor prognosis of various human cancers. However,
      its expression in ovarian carcinoma has not been reported. METHODS: We
      investigated the immunohistochemical expression of DBC1 and BRCA1 and their
      prognostic significance in 104 ovarian carcinomas. Survival analyses were
      performed according to the Kaplan-Meier method, as well as univariate and
      multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. RESULTS: Positive
      expression of DBC1 and BRCA1 were seen in 63% (66/104) and 44% (46/104) of
      overall ovarian carcinomas, respectively. DBC1 expression was significantly
      associated with advanced clinicopathological factors such as high tumor stage,
      latent distant metastasis, platinum-resistance, elevated serum levels of CA125,
      high histologic grade, and BRCA1 expression. In the histological subtypes of
      ovarian carcinomas, DBC1 expression was more common in serous carcinoma (72%,
      54/75) than mucinous carcinoma (15%, 3/20). BRCA1 expression was significantly
      associated with latent distant metastasis, platinum-resistance, and higher
      histologic grade. In addition, DBC1 expression was significantly associated with
      shorter overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) in 104 ovarian
      carcinomas (OS; P < 0.001, RFS; P < 0.001) and 63 high-grade serous carcinomas
      (OS; P = 0.008, RFS; P = 0.023) by univariate analysis. BRCA1 expression was
      significantly associated with OS and RFS in 104 ovarian carcinomas (OS; P =
      0.005, RFS; P = 0.002) and 75 serous carcinomas (OS; P = 0.047, RFS; P = 0.038)
      by univariate analysis. Moreover, DBC1 expression was an independent prognostic
      indicator for OS in both 104 ovarian carcinomas (P = 0.021) and 63 high-grade
      serous carcinomas (P = 0.011) by multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: These
      results indicate that the expression of DBC1 and BRCA1 are closely related with
      in the progression of ovarian carcinomas and may have clinical utility in the
      prediction of prognosis of ovarian carcinomas. Especially, DBC1 expression could
      be employed as a significant prognostic indicator for ovarian carcinomas
      especially in high-grade serous carcinomas.

PMID- 25823849
TI  - Coping with artifact in the analysis of flow cytometric data.
AB  - This article highlights several sources of artifact that interfere with optimal
      analysis of flow cytometric data. Such problems are compounded when flow
      cytometry is performed on mechanically and enzymatically disaggregated solid
      tissues or on cultured cells, where subcellular debris, apoptotic or necrotic
      cells, and highly autofluorescent cells may comprise a substantial proportion of
      acquired events. We provide real-world examples of tissues that pose specific
      analytical challenges (bone marrow, breast cancer, lung cancer and adipose
      tissue) and suggest approaches to improve data analysis. These include the use of
      a sequential or hierarchical gating process, which envisions analysis as
      consisting of three parts: (1) removal of artifact; (2) defining classifying
      populations; and (3) measuring outcomes on the classifying populations. Tools for
      removal of artifact include use of the time parameter to detect and remove
      fluidic perturbations, use of doublet discrimination to avoid analysis of cell
      clusters, measurement of DNA content to remove subcellular debris and late
      apoptotic cells, Boolean gating to recognize and remove auto-fluorescent events,
      and the use of a dump gate (markers known to be negative on the population of
      interest, but expressed on interfering cells). Implementation of these
      strategies, as appropriate, extends the usefulness of flow cytometry to a wider
      range of applications. 

PMID- 25823850
TI  - Physical characterization and profiling of airway epithelial derived exosomes
      using light scattering.
AB  - Exosomes and other extracellular vesicles have been gaining interest during the
      last decade due to their emerging role in biology and, disease pathogenesis and
      their biomarker potential. Almost all published research related to exosomes and
      other extracellular vesicles include some form of physical characterization.
      Therefore, these vesicles should be precisely profiled and characterized
      physically before studying their biological role as intercellular messengers,
      biomarkers or therapeutic tools. Using a combination of light scattering
      techniques, including dynamic light scattering (DLS) and multi-angle laser light
      scattering combined with size exclusion separation (SEC-MALLS), we physically
      characterized and compared distinct extracellular vesicles derived from the
      apical secretions of two different cultured airway epithelial cells. The results
      indicated that epithelial cells release vesicles with distinct physical
      properties and sizes. Human primary tracheobronchial cell culture (HTBE) derived
      vesicles have a hydrodynamic radius (Rh) of approximately 340 nm while their
      radius of gyration (Rg) is approximately 200 nm. Electron microscopy analysis,
      however, revealed that their spherical component is 40-100 nm in size, and they
      carry filamentous, entangled membrane mucins on their surface that increases
      their overall radius. The mucin decoration on the surface defines their size and
      charge as measured using light scattering techniques. Their surface properties
      mirror the properties of the cells from which they are derived. This may provide
      a unique tool for researchers to elucidate the unanswered questions in normal
      airway biology and innate and adaptive defense, including the remodeling of
      airways during inflammation, tumorigenesis and metastasis.

PMID- 25823851
TI  - A hybrid classifier combining Borderline-SMOTE with AIRS algorithm for estimating
      brain metastasis from lung cancer: a case study in Taiwan.
AB  - Classifying imbalanced data in medical informatics is challenging. Motivated by
      this issue, this study develops a classifier approach denoted as BSMAIRS. This
      approach combines borderline synthetic minority oversampling technique (BSM) and
      artificial immune recognition system (AIRS) as global optimization searcher with
      the nearest neighbor algorithm used as a local classifier. Eight electronic
      medical datasets collected from University of California, Irvine (UCI) machine
      learning repository were used to evaluate the effectiveness and to justify the
      performance of the proposed BSMAIRS. Comparisons with several well-known
      classifiers were conducted based on accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and G
      mean. Statistical results concluded that BSMAIRS can be used as an efficient
      method to handle imbalanced class problems. To further confirm its performance,
      BSMAIRS was applied to real imbalanced medical data of lung cancer metastasis to
      the brain that were collected from National Health Insurance Research Database,
      Taiwan. This application can function as a supplementary tool for doctors in the
      early diagnosis of brain metastasis from lung cancer. 

PMID- 25823852
TI  - In vitro and in vivo drug-drug interaction of losartan and glimepiride in rats
      and its possible mechanism.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Losartan and glimepiride are commonly used drugs to treat chronic
      diseases of hypertension and diabetes; they are both substrates of CYP2C9. The
      aim of the present study was to investigate the possible interaction of losartan
      and glimepiride both in vitro (rat liver microsomes) and in vivo (healthy Sprague
      Dawley rats). METHODS: In rat liver microsomes, 1-10 MUmol/l losartan and
      glimepiride were coincubated, and the inhibitory effect was analyzed. In the
      subsequent pharmacokinetic study, 15 healthy Sprague-Dawley rats received
      administrations of 5 mg/kg losartan or 1 mg/kg glimepiride or a coadministration.
      RESULTS: In the rat liver microsome system, glimepiride showed a slight
      inhibition of losartan at concentrations of 1-10 MUmol/l, whereas losartan
      exhibited no inhibitory effect on glimepiride. In vivo, glimepiride did not
      modify the plasma concentration of losartan and its metabolite E-3174. The
      alteration of an increased AUC and Cmax was observed in the pharmacokinetic
      parameters of glimepiride and hydroxy glimepiride. CONCLUSIONS: Glimepiride did
      not affect losartan pharmacokinetics in rats, while losartan potently altered
      glimepiride metabolism; this result was inconsistent with the in vitro outcome.
      The mechanism requires further investigation. In clinical settings, attention
      should be paid to the interaction of these two drugs in the human body as well as
      the possible adverse reactions of glimepiride.

PMID- 25823853
TI  - Microparticle source and tissue factor expression in pregnancy.
AB  - Microparticles (MPs) bearing tissue factor (TF) are potent activators of the
      coagulation system. To investigate whether MPs originating from platelets or
      trophoblast cells contribute to coagulation changes in pregnancy, we aimed to
      characterize whether pregnancy, labor, and delivery are associated with changes
      in the origin and composition of circulating maternal MPs. We performed a
      prospective cohort study. Blood samples were collected in 20 non-pregnant women,
      20 term pregnant women not in labor, and 20 term pregnant women in labor. Two
      samples were collected in the pregnant groups, the first prior to delivery and
      the second 1 h after delivery. MPs from platelets and trophoblasts and MPs
      expressing TF were identified using flow cytometry. Comparisons were made among
      the non-pregnant and pregnant groups, non-laboring and laboring groups, and
      predelivery and postdelivery values within the pregnant groups. Pregnancy was not
      associated with changes in MP origin or number of TF-expressing MPs. Neither
      labor nor delivery was associated with changes in the percentage of trophoblast
      derived MPs in the pregnant groups. The percentage of platelet-derived MPs among
      laboring women increased after delivery (8.5 vs. 20.5 %, p = 0.02), although
      there was no difference with delivery in the non-laboring group. TF expression
      was not associated with delivery in either laboring or non-laboring women. In
      conclusion, pregnancy was not associated with changes in cell origin of
      circulating maternal MPs or in the number of TF-expressing MPs. However, labor
      and delivery appear to be associated with an increase in the number of platelet
      derived MPs. 

PMID- 25823854
TI  - Production of bacterial cellulose membranes in a modified airlift bioreactor by
      Gluconacetobacter xylinus.
AB  - In this study, a novel bioreactor for producing bacterial cellulose (BC) is
      proposed. Traditional BC production uses static culture conditions and produces a
      gelatinous membrane. The potential for using various types of bioreactor,
      including a stirred tank, conventional airlift, and modified airlift with a
      rectangular wire-mesh draft tube, in large-scale production has been
      investigated. The BC obtained from these bioreactors is fibrous or in pellet
      form. Our proposed airlift bioreactor produces a membrane-type BC from
      Gluconacetobacter xylinus, the water-holding capacity of which is greater than
      that of cellulose types produced using static cultivation methods. The Young's
      modulus of the product can be manipulated by varying the number of net plates in
      the modified airlift bioreactor. The BC membrane produced using the proposed
      bioreactor exhibits potential for practical application. 

PMID- 25823855
TI  - Altered organization of face-processing networks in temporal lobe epilepsy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Deficits in social cognition are common and significant in people with
      temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), but the functional and structural underpinnings
      remain unclear. The present study investigated how the side of seizure focus
      impacts face-processing networks in temporal lobe epilepsy. METHODS: We used
      functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of a face-processing paradigm to
      identify face-responsive regions in 24 individuals with unilateral temporal lobe
      epilepsy (left = 15; right = 9) and 19 healthy controls. fMRI signals of face
      responsive regions ipsilateral and contralateral to the side of seizure onset
      were delineated in TLE and compared to the healthy controls with right and left
      sides combined. Diffusion tensor images were acquired to investigate structural
      connectivity between face regions that differed in fMRI signals between the two
      groups. RESULTS: In TLE, activation of the cortical face-processing networks
      varied according to side of seizure onset. In temporal lobe epilepsy, the
      laterality of amygdala activation was shifted to the side contralateral to the
      seizure focus, whereas controls showed no significant asymmetry. Furthermore,
      compared to controls, patients with TLE showed decreased activation of the
      occipital face-responsive region on the ipsilateral side and an increased
      activity of the anterior temporal lobe in the side contralateral to the seizure
      focus. Probabilistic tractography revealed that the occipital face area and
      anterior temporal lobe are connected via the inferior longitudinal fasciculus,
      which in individuals with TLE showed reduced integrity. SIGNIFICANCE: Taken
      together, these findings suggest that brain function and white matter integrity
      of networks subserving face processing are impaired on the side of seizure onset,
      accompanied by altered responses on the side contralateral to the seizure.

PMID- 25823856
TI  - EEG biomarkers of target engagement, therapeutic effect, and disease process.
AB  - Studies suggest that abnormalities in glutamate and GABA signaling contribute to
      deficits in schizophrenia and related conditions and that these neurochemical
      abnormalities produce changes in electroencephalographic (EEG) indices, including
      event-related potentials and event-related power within specific frequency
      ranges. Furthermore, clinical studies suggest that a subset of EEG biomarkers is
      associated with symptoms. This review addresses the relationship between EEG and
      behavior in preclinical models of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor
      hypofunction, as well as how these models can be used to screen therapies. Data
      from schizophrenia patients are juxtaposed with data from animal models, and EEG
      and behavioral data from mice with disruption of NMDA receptors in excitatory
      and/or inhibitory neurons are then compared to the pattern observed in
      schizophrenia. Also discussed are results following exposure to potential
      therapeutic agents, including GABAB agonists. Furthermore, evidence demonstrates
      that elevated resting gamma power is associated with deficits in social
      interactions. Consistent with elevated baseline noise, excitatory neurons from
      transgenic mice show increased intrinsic excitability in in vitro-slice patch
      clamp studies across model systems. GABAB receptor agonists reduce this
      excitability, improve gamma-band responses, and reverse behavioral deficits in
      mice. Data suggest that baseline gamma power is associated with social function
      and GABAB agonists may be useful for schizophrenia. Translational EEG biomarkers
      reflect target engagement and can contribute to the design of more efficient drug
      trials, likely accelerating the development of new therapeutics for central
      nervous system disorders. 

PMID- 25823857
TI  - The Effect of Clothing on the Rate of Decomposition and Diptera Colonization on
      Sus scrofa Carcasses.
AB  - Twenty Sus scrofa carcasses were used to study the effect the presence of
      clothing had on decomposition rate and colonization locations of Diptera species;
      10 unclothed control carcasses were compared to 10 clothed experimental carcasses
      over 58 days. Data collection occurred at regular accumulated degree day
      intervals; the level of decomposition as Total Body Score (TBSsurf ), pattern of
      decomposition, and Diptera present was documented. Results indicated a
      statistically significant difference in the rate of decomposition, (t427  = 2.59,
      p = 0.010), with unclothed carcasses decomposing faster than clothed carcasses.
      However, the overall decomposition rates from each carcass group are too similar
      to separate when applying a 95% CI, which means that, although statistically
      significant, from a practical forensic point of view they are not sufficiently
      dissimilar as to warrant the application of different formulae to estimate the
      postmortem interval. Further results demonstrated clothing provided blow flies
      with additional colonization locations. 

PMID- 25823858
TI  - Early pulmonary inflammation and lung damage in children with cystic fibrosis.
AB  - Individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) suffer progressive airway inflammation,
      infection and lung damage. Airway inflammation and infection are present from
      early in life, often before children are symptomatic. CF gene mutations cause
      changes in the CF transmembrane regulator protein that result in an aberrant
      airway microenvironment including airway surface liquid (ASL) dehydration,
      reduced ASL acidity, altered airway mucin and a dysregulated inflammatory
      response. This review discusses how an altered microenvironment drives CF lung
      disease before overt airway infection, the response of the CF airway to early
      infection, and methods to prevent inflammation and early lung disease. 

PMID- 25823859
TI  - Fluorescein gonioangiography of the normal canine eye using a dSLR camera
      adaptor.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to describe fluorescein gonioangiography (FGA) of
      the normal canine eye using a digital single lens reflex (dSLR) camera adaptor.
      Dogs were anesthetized using intravenous propofol. Imaging was performed using a
      Lovac Barkan goniolens, dSLR camera, dSLR camera adaptor, camera lens, and
      accessory flash. Twelve dogs with a mean age of 2.0 +/- 0.8 years were imaged. No
      characteristic angiographic phases were observed. Leakage from the peri-limbal
      capillary network was a common finding and occurred 7.7 +/- 2.2 s post injection
      in 9 (75%) dogs. In 3 (25%) dogs, filling of the circumferential ciliary artery
      was observed 10.3 +/- 2.8 s post injection. Dye leakage within the iris base and
      into the aqueous humor was demonstrated in 4 (33%) and 6 dogs (50%) respectively.
      No adverse events were noted. This study demonstrates FGA findings in normal
      canine eyes using a cost effective dSLR camera adaptor. 

PMID- 25823861
TI  - Nomenclature for diseases with IgA antikeratinocyte cell surface autoantibodies.

PMID- 25823860
TI  - Comparative studies on proliferation, molecular markers and differentiation
      potential of mesenchymal stem cells from various tissues (adipose, bone marrow,
      ear skin, abdominal skin, and lung) and maintenance of multipotency during serial
      passages in miniature pig.
AB  - Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the ability to differentiate into multi
      lineage cells, which confers great promise for use in regenerative medicine. In
      this study, MSCs were isolated from adipose tissue, bone marrow, ear skin, lung,
      and abdominal skin of miniature pigs (mpMSCs), and the optimal medium (DMEM/F12
      Glutamax) was selected for the culturing of mpMSCs. As a result, proliferation of
      the mpMSCs derived from all tissues was steadily increased when cultured with
      DMEM/F12-Glutamax during 14 consecutive passages. The cells harbored MSC surface
      markers (CD34-, CD45-, CD29+, CD44+, CD90+, and CD105+), whose levels of
      expression differed among the tissue sources and declined over sub-passaging. In
      addition, the expression of stemness markers (Oct4, Sox2, and Nanog) and
      differentiation into mesoderm (adipocytes, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts) were
      clearly represented at early passage; however, expression of stemness markers
      decreased, and differentiation potential was lost over sequential sub-passaging,
      which should be considered in the selection of mpMSC for MSC-based application. 

PMID- 25823862
TI  - Introduction to the theme issue 'Cerebral cartography: a vision of its future'.

PMID- 25823863
TI  - The BRAIN Initiative: developing technology to catalyse neuroscience discovery.
AB  - The evolution of the field of neuroscience has been propelled by the advent of
      novel technological capabilities, and the pace at which these capabilities are
      being developed has accelerated dramatically in the past decade. Capitalizing on
      this momentum, the United States launched the Brain Research through Advancing
      Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative to develop and apply new tools
      and technologies for revolutionizing our understanding of the brain. In this
      article, we review the scientific vision for this initiative set forth by the
      National Institutes of Health and discuss its implications for the future of
      neuroscience research. Particular emphasis is given to its potential impact on
      the mapping and study of neural circuits, and how this knowledge will transform
      our understanding of the complexity of the human brain and its diverse array of
      behaviours, perceptions, thoughts and emotions. 

PMID- 25823864
TI  - Dwelling quietly in the rich club: brain network determinants of slow cortical
      fluctuations.
AB  - For more than a century, cerebral cartography has been driven by investigations
      of structural and morphological properties of the brain across spatial scales and
      the temporal/functional phenomena that emerge from these underlying features. The
      next era of brain mapping will be driven by studies that consider both of these
      components of brain organization simultaneously--elucidating their interactions
      and dependencies. Using this guiding principle, we explored the origin of slowly
      fluctuating patterns of synchronization within the topological core of brain
      regions known as the rich club, implicated in the regulation of mood and
      introspection. We find that a constellation of densely interconnected regions
      that constitute the rich club (including the anterior insula, amygdala and
      precuneus) play a central role in promoting a stable, dynamical core of
      spontaneous activity in the primate cortex. The slow timescales are well matched
      to the regulation of internal visceral states, corresponding to the somatic
      correlates of mood and anxiety. In contrast, the topology of the surrounding
      'feeder' cortical regions shows unstable, rapidly fluctuating dynamics likely to
      be crucial for fast perceptual processes. We discuss these findings in relation
      to psychiatric disorders and the future of connectomics.

PMID- 25823865
TI  - Consciousness: here, there and everywhere?
AB  - The science of consciousness has made great strides by focusing on the
      behavioural and neuronal correlates of experience. However, while such correlates
      are important for progress to occur, they are not enough if we are to understand
      even basic facts, for example, why the cerebral cortex gives rise to
      consciousness but the cerebellum does not, though it has even more neurons and
      appears to be just as complicated. Moreover, correlates are of little help in
      many instances where we would like to know if consciousness is present: patients
      with a few remaining islands of functioning cortex, preterm infants, non
      mammalian species and machines that are rapidly outperforming people at driving,
      recognizing faces and objects, and answering difficult questions. To address
      these issues, we need not only more data but also a theory of consciousness-one
      that says what experience is and what type of physical systems can have it.
      Integrated information theory (IIT) does so by starting from experience itself
      via five phenomenological axioms: intrinsic existence, composition, information,
      integration and exclusion. From these it derives five postulates about the
      properties required of physical mechanisms to support consciousness. The theory
      provides a principled account of both the quantity and the quality of an
      individual experience (a quale), and a calculus to evaluate whether or not a
      particular physical system is conscious and of what. Moreover, IIT can explain a
      range of clinical and laboratory findings, makes a number of testable predictions
      and extrapolates to a number of problematic conditions. The theory holds that
      consciousness is a fundamental property possessed by physical systems having
      specific causal properties. It predicts that consciousness is graded, is common
      among biological organisms and can occur in some very simple systems. Conversely,
      it predicts that feed-forward networks, even complex ones, are not conscious, nor
      are aggregates such as groups of individuals or heaps of sand. Also, in sharp
      contrast to widespread functionalist beliefs, IIT implies that digital computers,
      even if their behaviour were to be functionally equivalent to ours, and even if
      they were to run faithful simulations of the human brain, would experience next
      to nothing. 

PMID- 25823866
TI  - Cerebral hierarchies: predictive processing, precision and the pulvinar.
AB  - This paper considers neuronal architectures from a computational perspective and
      asks what aspects of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology can be disclosed by the
      nature of neuronal computations? In particular, we extend current formulations of
      the brain as an organ of inference--based upon hierarchical predictive coding-
      and consider how these inferences are orchestrated. In other words, what would
      the brain require to dynamically coordinate and contextualize its message passing
      to optimize its computational goals? The answer that emerges rests on the
      delicate (modulatory) gain control of neuronal populations that select and
      coordinate (prediction error) signals that ascend cortical hierarchies. This is
      important because it speaks to a hierarchical anatomy of extrinsic (between
      region) connections that form two distinct classes, namely a class of driving
      (first-order) connections that are concerned with encoding the content of
      neuronal representations and a class of modulatory (second-order) connections
      that establish context-in the form of the salience or precision ascribed to
      content. We explore the implications of this distinction from a formal
      perspective (using simulations of feature-ground segregation) and consider the
      neurobiological substrates of the ensuing precision-engineered dynamics, with a
      special focus on the pulvinar and attention.

PMID- 25823867
TI  - The brain timewise: how timing shapes and supports brain function.
AB  - We discuss the importance of timing in brain function: how temporal dynamics of
      the world has left its traces in the brain during evolution and how we can
      monitor the dynamics of the human brain with non-invasive measurements. Accurate
      timing is important for the interplay of neurons, neuronal circuitries, brain
      areas and human individuals. In the human brain, multiple temporal integration
      windows are hierarchically organized, with temporal scales ranging from
      microseconds to tens and hundreds of milliseconds for perceptual, motor and
      cognitive functions, and up to minutes, hours and even months for hormonal and
      mood changes. Accurate timing is impaired in several brain diseases. From the
      current repertoire of non-invasive brain imaging methods, only
      magnetoencephalography (MEG) and scalp electroencephalography (EEG) provide
      millisecond time-resolution; our focus in this paper is on MEG. Since the
      introduction of high-density whole-scalp MEG/EEG coverage in the 1990s, the
      instrumentation has not changed drastically; yet, novel data analyses are
      advancing the field rapidly by shifting the focus from the mere pinpointing of
      activity hotspots to seeking stimulus- or task-specific information and to
      characterizing functional networks. During the next decades, we can expect
      increased spatial resolution and accuracy of the time-resolved brain imaging and
      better understanding of brain function, especially its temporal constraints, with
      the development of novel instrumentation and finer-grained, physiologically
      inspired generative models of local and network activity. Merging both spatial
      and temporal information with increasing accuracy and carrying out recordings in
      naturalistic conditions, including social interaction, will bring much new
      information about human brain function. 

PMID- 25823868
TI  - The future of human cerebral cartography: a novel approach.
AB  - Cerebral cartography can be understood in a limited, static, neuroanatomical
      sense. Temporal information from electrical recordings contributes information on
      regional interactions adding a functional dimension. Selective tagging and
      imaging of molecules adds biochemical contributions. Cartographic detail can also
      be correlated with normal or abnormal psychological or behavioural data. Modern
      cerebral cartography is assimilating all these elements. Cartographers continue
      to collect ever more precise data in the hope that general principles of
      organization will emerge. However, even detailed cartographic data cannot
      generate knowledge without a multi-scale framework making it possible to relate
      individual observations and discoveries. We propose that, in the next quarter
      century, advances in cartography will result in progressively more accurate
      drafts of a data-led, multi-scale model of human brain structure and function.
      These blueprints will result from analysis of large volumes of neuroscientific
      and clinical data, by a process of reconstruction, modelling and simulation. This
      strategy will capitalize on remarkable recent developments in informatics and
      computer science and on the existence of much existing, addressable data and
      prior, though fragmented, knowledge. The models will instantiate principles that
      govern how the brain is organized at different levels and how different spatio
      temporal scales relate to each other in an organ-centred context. 

PMID- 25823870
TI  - Cerebral cartography and connectomics.
AB  - Cerebral cartography and connectomics pursue similar goals in attempting to
      create maps that can inform our understanding of the structural and functional
      organization of the cortex. Connectome maps explicitly aim at representing the
      brain as a complex network, a collection of nodes and their interconnecting
      edges. This article reflects on some of the challenges that currently arise in
      the intersection of cerebral cartography and connectomics. Principal challenges
      concern the temporal dynamics of functional brain connectivity, the definition of
      areal parcellations and their hierarchical organization into large-scale
      networks, the extension of whole-brain connectivity to cellular-scale networks,
      and the mapping of structure/function relations in empirical recordings and
      computational models. Successfully addressing these challenges will require
      extensions of methods and tools from network science to the mapping and analysis
      of human brain connectivity data. The emerging view that the brain is more than a
      collection of areas, but is fundamentally operating as a complex networked
      system, will continue to drive the creation of ever more detailed and multi-modal
      network maps as tools for on-going exploration and discovery in human
      connectomics. 

PMID- 25823869
TI  - The restless brain: how intrinsic activity organizes brain function.
AB  - Traditionally studies of brain function have focused on task-evoked responses. By
      their very nature such experiments tacitly encourage a reflexive view of brain
      function. While such an approach has been remarkably productive at all levels of
      neuroscience, it ignores the alternative possibility that brain functions are
      mainly intrinsic and ongoing, involving information processing for interpreting,
      responding to and predicting environmental demands. I suggest that the latter
      view best captures the essence of brain function, a position that accords well
      with the allocation of the brain's energy resources, its limited access to
      sensory information and a dynamic, intrinsic functional organization. The nature
      of this intrinsic activity, which exhibits a surprising level of organization
      with dimensions of both space and time, is revealed in the ongoing activity of
      the brain and its metabolism. As we look to the future, understanding the nature
      of this intrinsic activity will require integrating knowledge from cognitive and
      systems neuroscience with cellular and molecular neuroscience where ion channels,
      receptors, components of signal transduction and metabolic pathways are all in a
      constant state of flux. The reward for doing so will be a much better
      understanding of human behaviour in health and disease. 

PMID- 25823872
TI  - Brain/MINDS: brain-mapping project in Japan.
AB  - There is an emerging interest in brain-mapping projects in countries across the
      world, including the USA, Europe, Australia and China. In 2014, Japan started a
      brain-mapping project called Brain Mapping by Integrated Neurotechnologies for
      Disease Studies (Brain/MINDS). Brain/MINDS aims to map the structure and function
      of neuronal circuits to ultimately understand the vast complexity of the human
      brain, and takes advantage of a unique non-human primate animal model, the common
      marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). In Brain/MINDS, the RIKEN Brain Science Institute
      acts as a central institute. The objectives of Brain/MINDS can be categorized
      into the following three major subject areas: (i) structure and functional
      mapping of a non-human primate brain (the marmoset brain); (ii) development of
      innovative neurotechnologies for brain mapping; and (iii) human brain mapping;
      and clinical research. Brain/MINDS researchers are highly motivated to identify
      the neuronal circuits responsible for the phenotype of neurological and
      psychiatric disorders, and to understand the development of these devastating
      disorders through the integration of these three subject areas. 

PMID- 25823873
TI  - Evaluation of risk-factor-based screening for thyroid peroxidase antibody
      positivity in pregnancy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether risk-factor-based screening for thyroid
      dysfunction in pregnancy performs well for detecting thyroid peroxidase
      antibodies (TPOAb), a marker for autoimmune thyroid disease. STUDY DESIGN: We
      prospectively evaluated pregnant women for thyroid dysfunction using The
      Endocrine Society's eleven screening questions. Serum was analysed for TPOAb.
      RESULT: We enrolled 546 women. TPOAb positivity was higher in women with a
      personal (odds ratio (OR) = 8.0; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.7-37.4; P =
      0.02) or family history of thyroid disease (OR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.3-5.7; P =
      0.02). There was no association between the number of positive responses and
      TPOAb positivity (P = 0.41). Risk-factor-based screening missed 18 women (33%)
      with TPOAb. CONCLUSION: One-third of women with TPOAb were missed by the case
      finding method. A personal or family history of thyroid disease was most strongly
      associated with TPOAb positivity.

PMID- 25823871
TI  - A massively asynchronous, parallel brain.
AB  - Whether the visual brain uses a parallel or a serial, hierarchical, strategy to
      process visual signals, the end result appears to be that different attributes of
      the visual scene are perceived asynchronously--with colour leading form
      (orientation) by 40 ms and direction of motion by about 80 ms. Whatever the
      neural root of this asynchrony, it creates a problem that has not been properly
      addressed, namely how visual attributes that are perceived asynchronously over
      brief time windows after stimulus onset are bound together in the longer term to
      give us a unified experience of the visual world, in which all attributes are
      apparently seen in perfect registration. In this review, I suggest that there is
      no central neural clock in the (visual) brain that synchronizes the activity of
      different processing systems. More likely, activity in each of the parallel
      processing-perceptual systems of the visual brain is reset independently, making
      of the brain a massively asynchronous organ, just like the new generation of more
      efficient computers promise to be. Given the asynchronous operations of the
      brain, it is likely that the results of activities in the different processing
      perceptual systems are not bound by physiological interactions between cells in
      the specialized visual areas, but post-perceptually, outside the visual brain.

PMID- 25823874
TI  - Absolute quantification of DcR3 and GDF15 from human serum by LC-ESI MS.
AB  - Biomarkers are widely used in clinical diagnosis, prognosis and therapy
      monitoring. Here, we developed a protocol for the efficient and selective
      enrichment of small and low concentrated biomarkers from human serum, involving a
      95% effective depletion of high-abundant serum proteins by partial denaturation
      and enrichment of low-abundant biomarkers by size exclusion chromatography. The
      recovery of low-abundance biomarkers was above 97%. Using this protocol, we
      quantified the tumour markers DcR3 and growth/differentiation factor (GDF)15 from
      100 MUl human serum by isotope dilution mass spectrometry, using (15) N
      metabolically labelled and concatamerized fingerprint peptides for the both
      proteins. Analysis of three different fingerprint peptides for each protein by
      liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry resulted in
      comparable concentrations in three healthy human serum samples (DcR3: 27.23 +/-
      2.49 fmol/ml; GDF15: 98.11 +/- 0.49 fmol/ml). In contrast, serum levels were
      significantly elevated in tumour patients for DcR3 (116.94 +/- 57.37 fmol/ml) and
      GDF15 (164.44 +/- 79.31 fmol/ml). Obtained data were in good agreement with ELISA
      and qPCR measurements, as well as with literature data. In summary, our protocol
      allows the reliable quantification of biomarkers, shows a higher resolution at
      low biomarker concentrations than antibody-based strategies, and offers the
      possibility of multiplexing. Our proof-of-principle studies in patient sera
      encourage the future analysis of the prognostic value of DcR3 and GDF15 for colon
      cancer patients in larger patient cohorts. 

PMID- 25823875
TI  - A one-dimensional coordination polymer based on Cu3-oximato metallacrowns bridged
      by benzene-1,4-dicarboxylato ligands: structure and magnetic properties.
AB  - A one-dimensional linear coordination polymer {[Cu3(MU3-OH)(2
      pyao)3(bdc)].6(H2O)}n () composed of trinuclear [Cu3(MU3-OH)(2-pyao)3](2+)
      metallacrown cores bridged by bis-carboxylato linkers has been obtained by
      treatment of copper(ii) fluoride with pyridine-2-aldoxime (2-pyaoH) ligand and
      benzene-1,4-dicarboxylic acid (H2bdc). Magnetic susceptibility measurements show
      strong antiferromagnetic interactions between Cu(ii) centers within the
      trinuclear metallacrown core with J = -430 cm(-1). 

PMID- 25823876
TI  - A novel photochemical cross-linking technology to improve luminal gain, vessel
      compliance, and buckling post-angioplasty in porcine arteries.
AB  - Development of substituted 1,8-naphthalimides for photochemical cross-linking of
      biomolecules is the focus of this research. This study describes limited cross
      linking of collagen in the artery wall to control recoil and buckling in arteries
      following balloon angioplasty. Isolated porcine arteries were overstretched (25%)
      with balloon angioplasty (BA) +/- light-activated naphthalimide treatment (NVS).
      Lumen size and recoil were measured as retention of stretch after angioplasty.
      Cross-sectional compliance and distensibility coefficients were measured as slope
      of cross-sectional area versus increasing hydrostatic pressure. Buckling was
      measured, with 30% axial pre-stretch and 200 mmHg, as deviation from the center
      line. Electron microscopy evaluation of collagen fibers was conducted. RESULTS:
      Uninjured arteries have low compliance and low levels of buckling, whereas the BA
      injured arteries demonstrated much greater compliance and buckling behavior.
      Treatment of the injured artery with NVS reduced buckling and demonstrated
      compliance midway between the two groups while retaining the increased luminal
      diameter imparted by angioplasty compared to untreated vessels. In summary,
      limited collagen cross-linking with NVS treatment resulted in lumen retention, as
      well as improved compliance without the accompanying rigidity and stiffness of
      conventional stent therapy or current cross-linking materials. This treatment
      shows great promise for dilation, repair and strengthening of arteries damaged by
      injury or vascular disease.

PMID- 25823877
TI  - Successful use of N-acetylcysteine to treat severe hepatic injury caused by a
      dietary fitness supplement.
AB  - In the absence of adequate premarketing efficacy and safety evaluations, adverse
      events from over-the-counter supplements are emerging as a public health concern.
      Specifically, bodybuilding products are being identified as a frequent cause of
      drug-induced liver injury. We present a case of a 20-year-old Hispanic male who
      presented with acute nausea and vomiting accompanied by severe right upper
      quadrant abdominal pain, shivering, and shortness of breath. Laboratory data
      pointed to mixed cholestatic and hepatocellular damage, and after exclusion of
      known alternate etiologies, the patient was diagnosed with acute drug-induced
      liver injury secondary to the use of "Friction," a bodybuilding supplement.
      Treatment with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) 20% oral solution was initiated empirically
      at a dose of 4000 mg [DOSAGE ERROR CORRECTED] (70 mg/kg) every 4 hours and was
      continued once the diagnosis was made. Within 48 hours of admission to our
      hospital, the patient began to show clinical resolution of right abdominal pain
      and tolerance to oral diet associated with a significant decline toward normal in
      his liver function tests and coagulopathy. The WHO-UMC causality assessment
      system suggested a "certain causality" between exposure to the supplement and the
      acute liver injury. In the event of suspected drug-induced liver injury,
      treatment with NAC should be considered given its favorable risk-benefit profile.

PMID- 25823879
TI  - Fluorescence resonance energy transfer in a binary organic nanoparticle system
      and its application.
AB  - Fluorescent organic nanoparticles have a much better photostability than molecule
      based probes. Here, we report a simple strategy to detect chemicals and
      biomolecules by a binary nanoparticle system based on fluorescence resonance
      energy transfer (FRET). Poly(9,9-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl) (PFO, energy
      donor) and poly [2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV,
      energy acceptor) are utilized to prepare the binary nanoparticle system through a
      reprecipitation method. Since the FRET process is strongly distance-dependent, a
      change in the interparticle distance between the two kinds of nanoparticles after
      introduction of analytes will alter the FRET efficiency. The response of the
      binary nanoparticle system to cationic polyelectrolytes was investigated by
      monitoring the FRET efficiency from PFO to MEH-PPV nanoparticles and the
      fluorescence color of the nanoparticle solutions. Furthermore, the cationic
      polyelectrolyte pretreated binary nanoparticle system can be used to detect DNA
      by desorption of nanoparticles from the polyelectrolyte's chains and the
      detection concentration can go down to 10(-14) M. Thus, the binary nanoparticle
      system shows great promise for applications in chemical sensing or biosensing. 

PMID- 25823878
TI  - Rapid blood group genotyping by allelic discriminative real-time PCR in multiply
      transfused patients.

PMID- 25823880
TI  - Single molecule studies of a ladder type conjugated polymer: vibronic spectra,
      line widths, and energy transfer.
AB  - Confocal fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy are employed to investigate
      single poly(ladder-type pentaphenylene) (LPPentP) molecules dispersed in thin
      poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films at 1.2 K. Emission spectra of single
      chains show single as well as multi-chromophore emission indicating variegated
      communication along the chains. The vibronic structure in the emission spectra
      resembles the one found for other ladder-type polymers. Purely electronic zero
      phonon lines in emission are substantially broadened, most probably due to fast
      spectral diffusion. By surmounting the limitations of emission spectroscopy,
      nonemitting donor chromophores, which transfer their excitation energy in a
      radiationless manner to emitting chromophores, are accessed by excitation
      spectroscopy. Remarkably, by comparing the data of emitting and nonemitting
      chromophores a contribution to the zero-phonon excitation line width has to be
      considered which places a lower limit on the estimated energy transfer time of
      several picoseconds between adjacent chromophores. Finally, the data indicate
      qualitatively a restricted flexibility of LPPentP compared to poly[2-methoxy-5
      (2'-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV).

PMID- 25823883
TI  - Revisiting the assembly of amino ester-based benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamides:
      chiral rods in solution.
AB  - Some benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA) monomers derived from (l) alpha-amino
      esters self-assemble into long rods at millimolar concentrations, and display a
      strong chiral amplification effect. These rods are in competition with dimeric
      species. 

PMID- 25823882
TI  - Analysis of Quality-Related Parameters in Mature Kernels of Polygalacturonase
      Inhibiting Protein (PGIP) Transgenic Bread Wheat Infected with Fusarium
      graminearum.
AB  - Fusarium head blight, caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum, has a
      detrimental effect on both productivity and qualitative properties of wheat. To
      evaluate its impact on wheat flour, we compared its effect on quality-related
      parameters between a transgenic bread wheat line expressing a bean
      polygalacturonase inhibiting protein (PGIP) and its control line. We have
      compared metabolic proteins, the amounts of gluten proteins and their relative
      ratios, starch content, yield, extent of pathogen contamination, and
      deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation. These comparisons showed that Fusarium
      significantly decreases the amount of starch in infected control plants, but not
      in infected PGIP plants. The flour of PGIP plants contained also a lower amount
      of pathogen biomass and DON accumulation. Conversely, both gluten and metabolic
      proteins were not significantly influenced either by the transgene or by fungal
      infection. These results indicate that the transgenic PGIP expression reduces the
      level of infection, without changing significantly the wheat seed proteome and
      other quality-related parameters. 

PMID- 25823884
TI  - Re-evaluating birds' ability to detect Glass patterns.
AB  - Glass patterns (GPs) are static stimuli that consist of randomly positioned dot
      pairs that are spatially integrated to create the perception of a global form.
      However, when multiple independently generated static GPs are presented
      sequentially (termed 'dynamic' GP), observers report a percept of coherent
      motion, and data show an improvement in sensitivity. This increased sensitivity
      has been attributed to a summation of the form signals provided by the individual
      GPs. In Experiment 1, we tested whether pigeons also show a heightened
      sensitivity to dynamic GPs. Our results show that pigeons are significantly
      better at learning to discriminate dynamic GPs from noise compared with static
      GPs. However, in contrast to previous research, we found that pigeons did not
      perform well enough with our static GPs to extract sensitivity measurements. In
      Experiment 2, we compared our static GPs to those that have been used previously.
      We show that the difference in the comparison noise patterns is important. We
      used dipole noise patterns, while previous studies used uniform noise patterns
      that differ in mean dot spacing to the S+. We argue that prior findings from the
      use of GPs in pigeons should be re-evaluated using dynamic GP stimuli with noise
      that consist of dipoles. 

PMID- 25823886
TI  - Ability to work in anaerobic condition is associated with physical performance on
      the six-minute walk test in older patients receiving cardiac rehabilitation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: During maximal incremental exercise, the ability to work in the
      anaerobic condition, expressed by the respiratory exchange ratio, is associated
      with physical performance. Further, peak respiratory exchange ratio is regarded
      as the best non-invasive measure of a patient's actual exercise effort. This
      study examined whether ability to work in the anaerobic condition is also
      associated with physical performance in submaximal constant work rate exercise.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 75 older patients (51 men, 24 women), mean age
      71.1 years (standard deviation 6.7 years), who had recently undergone cardiac
      surgery, performed cardiopulmonary exercise testing in a 6-min walk test before
      and after rehabilitation. RESULTS: The distance walked, steady-state oxygen
      uptake, carbon dioxide output and respiratory exchange ratio increased
      significantly after rehabilitation (p < 0.001 for all). In multivariable models
      predicting the distance walked before and after rehabilitation, higher steady
      state respiratory exchange ratio was independently associated with longer
      distance (p < 0.001 for both). CONCLUSION: In older patients receiving post-acute
      cardiac rehabilitation the ability to work in the anaerobic condition is
      associated with physical performance in submaximal constant work rate exercises.
      Thus the steady-state respiratory exchange ratio might be regarded as a measure
      of the patient's actual exercise effort. This information may prove useful in
      customizing exercise prescription and assessing the effects of rehabilitation.

PMID- 25823887
TI  - In situ investigation of the surface morphology evolution of the bulk ceramic
      Y2Mo3O12 during crystal water release.
AB  - The surface morphology evolution of the bulk ceramic Y2Mo3O12 during the release
      of crystal water is followed in situ for the first time using atomic force
      microscopy. It is found that both the shape and size of individual grains and the
      integration morphology of the sample exhibit dynamic changes with increasing
      temperature. We believe that the surface morphology evolution of the sample with
      increasing temperature is closely correlated with the forces induced by the
      contraction and expansion of the lattice during crystal water release in two
      different stages. 

PMID- 25823885
TI  - Response-adapted therapy for aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphomas based on early
      [18F] FDG-PET scanning: ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group study (E3404).
AB  - A persistently positive positron emission tomography (PET) scan during therapy
      for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is predictive of treatment failure. A
      response-adapted strategy consisting of an early treatment change to four cycles
      of R-ICE (rituximab, ifosfamide, carboplatin, etoposide) was studied in the
      Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group E3404 trial. Previously untreated patients
      with DLBCL stage III, IV, or bulky II, were eligible. PET scan was performed
      after three cycles of R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin,
      vincristine, prednisone) and scored as positive or negative by central review
      during the fourth cycle. PET-positive patients received four cycles of R-ICE, PET
      negative patients received two more cycles of R-CHOP. A >= 45% 2-year progression
      free survival (PFS) for mid-treatment PET-positive patients was viewed as
      promising. Of 74 patients, 16% were PET positive, 79% negative. The PET
      positivity rate was much lower than the 33% expected. Two-year PFS was 70%; 42%
      [90% confidence interval (CI), 19-63%] for PET-positives and 76% (90% CI 65-84%)
      for PET-negatives. Three-year overall survival (OS) was 69% (90% CI 43-85%) and
      93% (90% CI 86-97%) for PET-positive and -negative cases, respectively. The 2
      year PFS for mid-treatment PET-positive patients intensified to R-ICE was 42%,
      with a wide confidence interval due to the low proportion of positive mid
      treatment PET scans. Treatment modification based on early PET scanning should
      remain confined to clinical trials.

PMID- 25823888
TI  - Estimation of pressure-, temperature- and frictional heating-related effects on
      proteins' retention under ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatographic conditions.
AB  - The goal of this work was to evaluate the changes in retention induced by
      frictional heating, pressure and temperature under ultra high pressure liquid
      chromatography (UHPLC) conditions, for four model proteins (i.e. lysozyme,
      myoglobin, fligrastim and interferon alpha-2A) possessing molecular weights
      between 14 and 20kDa. First of all, because the decrease of the molar volume upon
      adsorption onto a hydrophobic surface was more pronounced for large molecules
      such as proteins, the impact of pressure appears to overcome the frictional
      heating effects. Nevertheless, we have also demonstrated that the retention
      decrease due to frictional heating was not negligible with such large
      biomolecules in the variable inlet pressure mode. Secondly, it is clearly shown
      that the modification of retention under various pressure and temperature
      conditions cannot be explained solely by the frictional heating and pressure
      effects. Indeed, some very uncommon van't Hoff plots (concave plots with a
      maximum) were recorded for our model/therapeutic proteins. These maximum
      retention factors values on the van't Hoff plots indicate a probable change of
      secondary structure/conformation with pressure and temperature. Based on these
      observations, it seems that the combination of pressure and temperature causes
      the protein denaturation and this folding-unfolding procedure is clearly protein
      dependent. 

PMID- 25823889
TI  - Patients Older Than 65 Years With Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Are Suitable for Treatment
      With (90)Yttrium-Ibritumumab Tiuxetan: A Single-Institution Experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The mean age of patients included in clinical trials does not reflect
      the current clinical practice for patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B
      NHL). We compared our outcomes for patients with B-NHL aged < 65 and > 65 years
      who were treated with 90-yttrium-ibritumomab tiuxetan therapy ((90)Y-IT).
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 108 patients who had received (90)Y-IT according
      to the hospital protocol (ISCRTN36210045) were eligible. A quality of life (QoL)
      assessment using the Medical Outcomes Study short form 36-item survey was
      performed for patients aged > 65 years. RESULTS: Of the 108 patients, 43 were
      aged > 65 years (mean age, 73.4 years; men 46.15%); 37 had follicular NHL
      (86.0%). Also, 27 patients had previously undergone < 2 therapy regimens (62.8%).
      The mean follow-up period was 45.2 months. The mean progression-free survival
      (PFS) period was 71.3 months, and the mean overall survival was 78.2 months. The
      median values were not reached. The overall response rate was 90.5%, and a
      complete response was observed in 36 of the 43 patients aged > 65 years (85.7%).
      Neutropenia (43.3%) and thrombocytopenia (45.2%) were the most frequent grade 3
      and 4 toxicities. Five patients required a red blood cell transfusion and 11, a
      platelet transfusion. Five patients aged > 65 years (11.6%) developed a second
      tumor. These outcomes were similar to those for the younger patients. The QoL
      assessment showed scores similar to those of general population for general
      health and social functioning. CONCLUSION: This is the largest cohort of NHL
      treated with RIT in a single institution in Spain. We observed a high response
      rate and prolonged PFS in patients with B-NHL, independent of patient age. Thus,
      consolidation RIT offers better outcomes with manageable toxicity.

PMID- 25823890
TI  - Parallel mechanisms of polypyrrole self-discharge in aqueous media.
AB  - In this report we investigate the self-discharge in a positively charged
      polypyrrole-cellulose composite material in water solution. Rate constants for
      the self-discharge reaction are determined by potential step methods and their
      dependence on pH, temperature and applied potential are reported. Based on the
      results, we propose that two fundamentally different self-discharge mechanisms
      operate in parallel; one of faradaic origin with a rate constant increasing
      exponentially with applied potential and one mechanism comprising an initial
      reaction of the charged polymer with hydroxide ions. The second mechanism
      dominates at high pH as the rate constant for this reaction increases
      exponentially with pH whilst the faradaic reaction dominates at low pH. With this
      report we hope to shed light on the complex and elusive nature of self-discharge
      in conducting polymers to serve as guidance for the construction of electrical
      energy storage devices with conducting polymer components. 

PMID- 25823891
TI  - Assessment of immune status using blood transcriptomics and potential
      implications for global health.
AB  - The immune system plays a key role in health maintenance and pathogenesis of a
      wide range of diseases. Leukocytes that are present in the blood convey valuable
      information about the status of the immune system. Blood transcriptomics, which
      consists in profiling blood transcript abundance on genome-wide scales, has
      gained in popularity over the past several years. Indeed, practicality and
      simplicity largely makes up for what this approach may lack in terms of cell
      population-level resolution. An extensive survey of the literature reveals
      increasingly widespread use across virtually all fields of medicine as well as
      across a number of different animal species, including model organisms but also
      animals of economical importance. Dissemination across such a wide range of
      disciplines holds the promise of adding a new perspective, breadth or context, to
      the considerable depth afforded by whole genome profiling of blood transcript
      abundance. Indeed, it is only through such contextualization that a truly global
      perspective will be gained from the use of systems approaches. Also discussed are
      opportunities that may arise for the fields of immunology and medicine from using
      blood transcriptomics as a common denominator for developing interactions and
      cooperation across fields of research that have traditionally been and largely
      remain compartmentalized. Finally, an argument is made for building immunology
      research capacity using blood transcriptomics platforms in low-resource and high
      disease burden settings. 

PMID- 25823892
TI  - Postnatal accumulation of intermediate filaments in the cat and human primary
      visual cortex.
AB  - A principal characteristic of the mammalian visual system is its high capacity
      for plasticity in early postnatal development during a time commonly referred to
      as the critical period. The progressive diminution of plasticity with age is
      linked to the emergence of a collection of molecules called molecular brakes that
      reduce plasticity and stabilize neural circuits modified by earlier visual
      experiences. Manipulation of braking molecules either pharmacologically or though
      experiential alteration enhances plasticity and promotes recovery from visual
      impairment. The stability of neural circuitry is increased by intermediate
      filamentous proteins of the cytoskeleton such as neurofilaments and alpha
      internexin. We examined levels of these intermediate filaments within cat and
      human primary visual cortex (V1) across development to determine whether they
      accumulate following a time course consistent with a molecular brake. In both
      species, levels of intermediate filaments increased considerably throughout early
      postnatal life beginning shortly after the peak of the critical period, with the
      highest levels measured in adults. Neurofilament phosphorylation was also
      observed to increase throughout development, raising the possibility that
      posttranslational modification by phosphorylation reduces plasticity due to
      increased protein stability. Finally, an approach to scale developmental time
      points between species is presented that compares the developmental profiles of
      intermediate filaments between cats and humans. Although causality between
      intermediate filaments and plasticity was not directly tested in this study,
      their accumulation relative to the critical period indicates that they may
      contribute to the decline in plasticity with age, and may also constrain the
      success of treatments for visual disorders applied in adulthood.

PMID- 25823893
TI  - Liquid-Based Cytology Preparation Can Improve Cytological Assessment of
      Endobronchial Ultrasound-Guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether liquid-based cytology (LBC) can
      improve diagnostic values of cytological assessment of endobronchial ultrasound
      guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA). STUDY DESIGN: A cohort of
      600 cases in West China Hospital was prospectively studied from June 2012 to
      September 2013. EBUS-TBNA was carried out in outpatients under local anesthesia
      and moderate sedation. The procedure was performed with an echobronchoscope (BF
      UC160F-OL8, Olympus, Tokyo, Japan). Histological cores were stained with
      hematoxylin and eosin for further study. Additional immunohistological analysis
      was performed for establishing a reliable diagnosis when necessary. Aspirates
      were smeared on glass slides and separate aspirates were processed by the
      monolayer SurePath method. RESULTS: In total, 480 malignant tumors and 120 benign
      lesions were confirmed by histological examination. The sensitivity of SurePath
      liquid-based preparations and conventional smears was 82.1 and 56%, and the
      specificity was 87.5 and 82.5%, respectively. The combined specificity was 100%.
      Positive predictive values of the two groups were 96.3 and 92.8%, whereas
      negative predictive values were 54.9 and 31.9%, respectively. The difference
      between the two groups was significant (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: LBC preparation
      can improve cytological assessment of EBUS-TBNA. Histological study is necessary
      in cases in which the cytological diagnosis is obscure.

PMID- 25823894
TI  - A genetic variant in CHRNB3-CHRNA6 increases risk of esophageal squamous cell
      carcinoma in Chinese populations.
AB  - Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are important regulators of smoking behavior
      and tobacco carcinogenesis. We studied the association of the CHRNB3-A6 variant
      rs13280604 in relation to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in Chinese
      populations. Two independent case-control studies were conducted. The first case
      control study, consisted of 866 ESCC patients and 1621 healthy controls from
      Northern China, and the second case-control study consisted of 853 ESCC patients
      and 860 unrelated controls from Southern China. A logistic regression model was
      used to evaluate the associations of rs13280604 with cancer risk. We found that
      Rs13280604 GG/AG genotypes were significantly associated with increased risk for
      ESCC in both case-control studies from Northern [odds ratio (OR), 1.42, 95%
      confidence interval (CI), 1.19-1.70, P = 1.1*10(-4)], Southern China (OR, 1.56,
      95% CI, 1.26-1.93, P = 5.2*10(-5)), and the combined population of both studies
      (OR, 1.44, 95% CI, 1.26-1.65, P = 8.7*10(-8)), respectively. Our results suggest
      that this CHRNB3-A6 variant confers susceptibility to ESCC risk. However, future
      larger studies are needed to validate our finding. 

PMID- 25823895
TI  - 17beta-estradiol inhibits spreading of metastatic cells from granulosa cell
      tumors through a non-genomic mechanism involving GPER1.
AB  - Granulosa cell tumor (GCT) is a rare and severe form of sex-cord stromal ovarian
      tumor that is characterized by its long natural history and tendency to recur
      years after surgical ablation. Because there is no efficient curative treatment
      beyond surgery, ~20% of patients die of the consequences of their tumor. However,
      very little is known of the molecular etiology of this pathology. About 70% of
      GCT patients present with elevated circulating estradiol (E2). Because this
      hormone is known to increase tumor growth and progression in a number of cancers,
      we investigated the possible role of E2 in GCTs. Cell-based studies with human
      GCT metastases and primary tumor-derived cells, ie KGN and COV434 cells,
      respectively, aimed at evaluating E2 effect on cell growth, migration and
      invasion. Importantly, we found that E2 did not affect GCT cell growth, but that
      it significantly decreased the migration and matrix invasion of metastatic GCT
      cells. Noteworthy, our molecular studies revealed that this effect was
      accompanied by the inhibition through non-genomic mechanisms of extracellular
      signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), which is constitutively activated in GCTs.
      By using pharmacological and RNA silencing approaches, we found that E2 action
      was mediated by G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 (GPER1) signaling pathway.
      Analyses of GPER1 expression on tissue microarrays from human GCTs confirmed its
      expression in ~90% of GCTs. Overall, our study reveals that E2 would act via non
      classical pathways to prevent metastasis spreading in GCTs and also reveals GPER1
      as a possible target in this disease. 

PMID- 25823896
TI  - Leukocyte mitochondrial DNA content: a novel biomarker associated with prognosis
      and therapeutic outcome in colorectal cancer.
AB  - Compelling evidence has indicated a significant association between leukocyte
      mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content and incidence risks of several malignancies in
      a cancer-specific manner. However, to date, whether leukocyte mtDNA content can
      predict clinical outcome of cancer patients has never been investigated. In the
      present study, we measured leukocyte mtDNA content using real-time PCR-based
      method in a total of 598 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and explored its
      prognostic values. To explore potential mechanism, we detected the
      immunophenotypes of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and plasma concentrations
      of several cytokines in CRC patients. We found that patients with high mtDNA
      content showed significantly worse overall survival (OS) and relapse-free
      survival (RFS) than those with low mtDNA content in all patient sets.
      Furthermore, mtDNA content and tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage exhibited a
      notable joint effect in prognosis prediction. Integration of TNM stage and
      leukocyte mtDNA content significantly improved the prognosis prediction efficacy
      for CRC. Importantly, patients with high mtDNA content showed OS and RFS benefits
      from adjuvant chemotherapy. In addition, we found that patients with high mtDNA
      content had a higher frequency of CD4(+)CD25(+)FOXP3(+) regulatory T cells,
      higher plasma interleukin-2 and transforming growth factor-beta1 and lower tumor
      necrosis factor-alpha concentration than those with low mtDNA content, suggesting
      a stronger immunosuppressive phenotype. In conclusion, our study for the first
      time demonstrates that leukocyte mtDNA content is an independent prognostic
      marker complementing TNM stage and associated with immunosuppression in CRC
      patients. Additionally, leukocyte mtDNA content might serve as a potential
      biomarker to select CRC patients who will benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. 

PMID- 25823897
TI  - Phase I/II study of amrubicin and nedaplatin in patients with untreated,
      advanced, non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - A phase I/II study of combination chemotherapy with amrubicin and nedaplatin for
      patients with untreated, advanced, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was
      conducted. Amrubicin was given on days 1-3, with nedaplatin given on day 1. The
      treatment was repeated every 3 weeks. In the phase I trial, the initial amrubicin
      dose of 25 mg/m(2) was escalated in 5-mg/m(2) increments until the maximum
      tolerated dose was reached, with the dose of nedaplatin fixed at 100 mg/m(2). In
      the phase II trial, the primary endpoint was the overall response rate (ORR),
      assuming 20% for a standard therapy and 40% for a target therapy (alpha = 0.05
      and beta = 0.20), and the estimated required total number of patients was 35. In
      the phase I study, nedaplatin 100 mg/m(2) and amrubicin 25 mg/m(2) was
      recommended. In the phase II study, 17 out of 35 patients achieved a partial
      response, and the ORR was 48.6%. Grade 3/4 neutropenia, grade 3 anemia and grade
      3/4 thrombocytopenia occurred in 62.9, 11.4 and 11.4% of cycles, respectively.
      Febrile neutropenia occurred in 5 cycles (3.9%) and all cases were manageable.
      The recommended dose of this combination is well tolerated and effective in
      patients with advanced NSCLC.

PMID- 25823898
TI  - Functional liposomes in the cancer-targeted drug delivery.
AB  - Cancer is considered as one of the most severe health problems and is currently
      the third most common cause of death in the world after heart and infectious
      diseases. Novel therapies are constantly being discovered, developed and trialed.
      Many of the current anticancer agents exhibit non-ideal pharmaceutical and
      pharmacological properties and are distributed non-specifically throughout the
      body. This results in death of the both normal healthy and malignant cells and
      substantially leads to accruing a variety of serious toxic side effects.
      Therefore, the efficient systemic therapy of cancer is almost impossible due to
      harmful side effects of anticancer agents to the healthy organs and tissues.
      Furthermore, several problems such as low bioavailability of the drugs, low drug
      concentrations at the site of action, lack of drug specificity and drug
      resistance also cause many restrictions on clinical applications of these drugs
      in the tumor therapy. Different types of the liposomal formulations have been
      used in medicine due to their distinctive advantages associated with their
      structural flexibility in the encapsulation of various agents with different
      physicochemical properties. They can also mediate delivery of the cargo to the
      appropriate cell type and subcellular compartment, reducing the effective dosage
      and possible side effects which are related to high systemic concentrations.
      Therefore, these novel systems were found very promising and encouraging dosage
      forms for the treatment of different types of cancer by increasing efficiency and
      reducing the systemic toxicity due to the specific drug delivery and targeting. 

PMID- 25823899
TI  - Mechanophores with a reversible radical system and freezing-induced
      mechanochemistry in polymer solutions and gels.
AB  - Visualization and quantitative evaluation of covalent bond scission in polymeric
      materials are highly important for understanding failure, fatigue, and
      deterioration mechanisms and improving the lifetime, durability, toughness, and
      reliability of the materials. The diarylbibenzofuranone-based mechanophore
      radical system enabled, through electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, in
      situ quantitative evaluation of scission of the mechanophores and estimation of
      mechanical energy induced along polymer chains by external forces. The
      coagulation of polymer solutions by freezing probably generated force but did not
      cleave the mechanophores. On the other hand, cross-linking led to efficient
      propagation of the force of more than 80 kJ mol(-1) to some mechanophores,
      resulting their cleavage and generation of colored stable radicals. This
      mechanoprobe concept has the potential to elucidate other debated issues in the
      polymer field as well. 

PMID- 25823900
TI  - Third instar larvae of flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) of forensic
      importance--critical review of characters and key for European species.
AB  - Necrophagous Sarcophagidae are among the insects most frequently reported from
      human corpses. The broad forensic application of flesh flies is restricted by the
      lack of reliable tools for species identification of larval stages and mass
      breeding of collected flesh fly larvae to the adult stage, and more recently DNA
      based methods are usually recommended for precise species identification. To
      overcome this situation, the following study was implemented: (1) original larval
      material was obtained of the European flesh flies of confirmed or potential
      forensic importance; (2) larval morphology was studied and documented using a
      combination of standard light microscopy, image-stacking stereomicroscopy and
      SEM; and (3) larval characters used in previously published keys were critically
      revised. The taxonomic value of the following characters was considered
      insignificant: (1) differences in level of sclerotisation of particular parts of
      the cephaloskeleton, (2) level of sclerotisation of the posterior spiracular
      peritreme and (3) the shape of posterior spiracular slits. A high taxonomic value
      was noticed for the general shape of anterior spiracles, pattern of arrangement
      of their lobes, and distribution and shape of spines/warts on the inter-band area
      of segments. Two character states-long window in the dorsal cornu of
      cephaloskeleton and deep spiracular cavity on anal division-are not found in the
      Miltogramminae and therefore cannot be considered as family-specific for the
      entire Sarcophagidae. As a comprehensive result of our studies, an identification
      key is presented for the third instar larvae of European flesh flies of forensic
      importance. The key is user-friendly and requires no dissections of larvae, as
      soaking the material in methyl salicylate will allow observation of all
      diagnostic details of the cephaloskeleton. A simple stereomicroscope
      (magnification about *50) is sufficient for the observation of all characters
      presented in the key. This key may be systematically extended by the addition of
      species present in adjacent geographical regions. 

PMID- 25823901
TI  - The effect of osteoarthritis on the regional anatomical variation of subchondral
      trabecular bone in the femoral head.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The subchondral trabecular bone is located deep inside the articular
      cartilage, with the subcapital region carrying up to 70% of the diurnal loads
      occurring in the hip joint. This leads to severe regional anatomical variations
      of subchondral trabecular bone in the femoral head and the purpose of this study
      was to examine whether osteoarthritis affects these topographic characteristics.
      METHODS: 60 femoral heads were harvested during hip replacement and studied by
      osteopenetration at 8 pre-defined angles, at a penetration rate of 1mm/s. Twenty
      eight of the donors underwent surgery due to osteoarthritis, whereas the
      remaining were trauma patients with hip fractures. To correlate these
      measurements to non-invasive data, all specimens were scanned by micro Computed
      Tomography (MUCT) prior to experimentation. A cross-sectional area, perpendicular
      to the needle penetration pathway, was analyzed and the deviations compared to
      the recorded osteopenetration energy. FINDINGS: The experiments revealed
      significant topographical deviations in the trabeculae. These were more
      pronounced in the osteoarthritic samples which also required overall higher
      osteopenetration energy. A notable dependency of the directional bone strength to
      its cross-sectional characteristics was observed. Although the effect of "gender"
      on osteopenetration energy was proven to be significant, gender was not
      considered an independent variable in a regression model correlating
      osteopenetration energy to 2D trabecular bone density as this did not improve the
      value of the adjusted R(2). INTERPRETATION: The investigation provided refined
      insight into femoral head load-bearing capacity of patients suffering from
      osteoarthritis, as a comparison of osteoarthritic to healthy samples illustrated
      that subchondral trabecular bone in the femoral head region is subjected to
      increased remodeling and demineralization, reflected in higher osteopenetration
      values.

PMID- 25823902
TI  - The biomechanical characteristics of wearing FitFlopTM sandals highlight
      significant alterations in gait pattern: a comparative study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The net contribution of all muscles that act about a joint can be
      represented as an internal joint moment profile. This approach may be
      advantageous when studying footwear-induced perturbations during walking since
      the contribution of the smaller deeper muscles that cross the ankle joint cannot
      be evaluated with surface electromyography. Therefore, the present study aimed to
      advance the understanding of FitFlopTM footwear interaction by investigating
      lower extremity joint moment, and kinematic and centre of pressure profiles
      during gait. METHODS: 28 healthy participants performed 5 walking trials in 3
      conditions: a FitFlopTM sandal, a conventional sandal and an athletic trainer.
      Three-dimensional ankle joint, and sagittal plane knee and hip joint moments, as
      well as corresponding kinematics and centre of pressure trajectories were
      evaluated. FINDINGS: FitFlopTM differed significantly to both the conventional
      sandal and athletic trainer in: average anterior position of centre of pressure
      trajectory (P<0.0001) and peak hip extensor moment (P=0.001) during early stance;
      average medial position of centre of pressure trajectory during late stance; peak
      ankle dorsiflexion and corresponding range of motion; peak plantarflexor moment
      and total negative work performed at the ankle (all P<0.0001). INTERPRETATION:
      The present findings demonstrate that FitFlopTM footwear significantly alters the
      gait pattern of wearers. An anterior displacement of the centre of pressure
      trajectory during early stance is the primary response to the destabilising
      effect of the mid-sole technology, and this leads to reductions in sagittal plane
      ankle joint range of motion and corresponding kinetics. Future investigations
      should consider the clinical implications of these findings.

PMID- 25823903
TI  - Prioritizing Highway Safety Manual's crash prediction variables using boosted
      regression trees.
AB  - The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) recommends using the empirical Bayes (EB) method
      with locally derived calibration factors to predict an agency's safety
      performance. However, the data needs for deriving these local calibration factors
      are significant, requiring very detailed roadway characteristics information.
      Many of the data variables identified in the HSM are currently unavailable in the
      states' databases. Moreover, the process of collecting and maintaining all the
      HSM data variables is cost-prohibitive. Prioritization of the variables based on
      their impact on crash predictions would, therefore, help to identify influential
      variables for which data could be collected and maintained for continued updates.
      This study aims to determine the impact of each independent variable identified
      in the HSM on crash predictions. A relatively recent data mining approach called
      boosted regression trees (BRT) is used to investigate the association between the
      variables and crash predictions. The BRT method can effectively handle different
      types of predictor variables, identify very complex and non-linear association
      among variables, and compute variable importance. Five years of crash data from
      2008 to 2012 on two urban and suburban facility types, two-lane undivided
      arterials and four-lane divided arterials, were analyzed for estimating the
      influence of variables on crash predictions. Variables were found to exhibit non
      linear and sometimes complex relationship to predicted crash counts. In addition,
      only a few variables were found to explain most of the variation in the crash
      data. 

PMID- 25823904
TI  - Crash risk and aberrant driving behaviors among bus drivers: the role of
      personality and attitudes towards traffic safety.
AB  - Several studies have shown that personality traits and attitudes toward traffic
      safety predict aberrant driving behaviors and crash involvement. However, this
      process has not been adequately investigated in professional drivers, such as bus
      drivers. The present study used a personality-attitudes model to assess whether
      personality traits predicted aberrant self-reported driving behaviors (driving
      violations, lapses, and errors) both directly and indirectly, through the effects
      of attitudes towards traffic safety in a large sample of bus drivers.
      Additionally, the relationship between aberrant self-reported driving behaviors
      and crash risk was also assessed. Three hundred and one bus drivers (mean
      age=39.1, SD=10.7 years) completed a structured and anonymous questionnaire
      measuring personality traits, attitudes toward traffic safety, self-reported
      aberrant driving behaviors (i.e., errors, lapses, and traffic violations), and
      accident risk in the last 12 months. Structural equation modeling analysis
      revealed that personality traits were associated to aberrant driving behaviors
      both directly and indirectly. In particular altruism, excitement seeking, and
      normlessness directly predicted bus drivers' attitudes toward traffic safety
      which, in turn, were negatively associated with the three types of self-reported
      aberrant driving behaviors. Personality traits relevant to emotionality directly
      predicted bus drivers' aberrant driving behaviors, without any mediation of
      attitudes. Finally, only self-reported violations were related to bus drivers'
      accident risk. The present findings suggest that the hypothesized personality
      attitudes model accounts for aberrant driving behaviors in bus drivers, and
      provide the empirical basis for evidence-based road safety interventions in the
      context of public transport. 

PMID- 25823905
TI  - Performance of the RAPS4/RAPS4-QF for DSM-5 compared to DSM-IV alcohol use
      disorders in the general population: Data from the 2000-2010 National Alcohol
      Surveys.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A number of relatively short screening instruments have been
      developed for identifying alcohol use disorders (AUD), but performance has been
      evaluated against the standard Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental and
      Behavior Disorders (DSM) criteria, and it is not known how screening instruments
      may perform based on the newly formulated DSM-5 criteria, which is a radical
      departure from previous versions of the DSM. Analyzed here is the performance of
      the RAPS4/RAPS4-QF against DSM-5 criteria for AUD compared to DSM-IV dependence
      and abuse criteria. METHODS: Sensitivity and specificity are analyzed in a merged
      sample of 21,386 respondents from three National Alcohol Surveys of the U.S.
      general population (2000, 2005, 2010). RESULTS: Sensitivity of the RAPS4 was
      lower for DSM-5 AUD (62.5%) than for DSM-IV dependence (88%), while the RAPS4-QF
      was higher for DSM-5 AUD (90.3%) than for DSM-IV abuse (81.3%), or
      abuse/dependence (85.8%), while maintaining good specificity (84%). Sensitivity
      of the RAPS4-QF was higher for males (92%) compared to females (86.6%) and
      highest for whites (93.8%) followed by Hispanics (84.2%) and blacks (82.4%).
      CONCLUSIONS: Screening instruments may not perform similarly for DSM-5 as for DSM
      IV AUD, and data here suggest the RAPS4-QF may be a good instrument choice for
      identifying those meeting criteria for DSM-5 AUD. These data also suggest the
      need for additional research and a similar evaluation of other commonly used
      screening instruments for DSM-5 AUD.

PMID- 25823906
TI  - Personality and alcohol consumption: Pooled analysis of 72,949 adults from eight
      cohort studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The role of personality as a determinant of alcohol consumption has
      long been debated, but prospective evidence is scarce. METHODS: We performed
      individual participant meta-analysis to examine the association between the Five
      Factor Model personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness,
      conscientiousness, and openness to experience) and alcohol consumption using data
      from eight cohort studies sampled from the USA, UK, Germany, and Australia (total
      n=72,949; mean age=50 years, 54% female). Alcohol consumption was categorized
      into abstinence, moderate consumption, and heavy consumption. RESULTS: After
      adjustment for age, sex, and race, higher extraversion (odds ratio for 1 standard
      deviation's increase in the score; 95% confidence interval: 1.14; 1.01-1.29) and
      lower conscientiousness (0.89; 0.79-1.00) were associated with increased risk of
      transitioning from moderate to heavy alcohol consumption over time, and also with
      heavy alcohol consumption. Lower extraversion (0.91; 0.85-0.98), higher
      agreeableness (1.09; 1.02-1.15), and lower openness (0.90; 0.86-0.95) were
      associated with increased odds of transitioning from moderate consumption to
      abstinence as well as with alcohol abstinence. CONCLUSION: Findings from this
      individual-participant meta-analysis suggest that high and increasing alcohol
      consumption is more common among extraverts and those low on conscientiousness
      whereas high agreeableness and low openness to experience may increase odds of
      reducing alcohol consumption and preferring abstinence.

PMID- 25823907
TI  - Characterizing opioid withdrawal during double-blind buprenorphine
      detoxification.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prescription opioid (PO) abuse has become an urgent public health
      issue in the United States. Detoxification is one important treatment option, yet
      relatively little is known about the time course and severity of opioid
      withdrawal during buprenorphine detoxification. METHODS: This is a secondary
      analysis of data from a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind evaluation
      of 1, 2, and 4-week outpatient buprenorphine tapers among primary prescription
      opioid (PO) abusers. The aim is to characterize the time course and severity of
      buprenorphine withdrawal under rigorous, double-blind conditions, across multiple
      taper durations, and using multiple withdrawal-related measures (i.e., self
      report and observer ratings, pupil diameter, ancillary medication utilization).
      Participants were PO-dependent adults undergoing buprenorphine detoxification and
      biochemically-verified to be continuously abstinent from opioids during their
      taper (N = 28). RESULTS: Participants randomly assigned to the 4-week taper
      regimen experienced a relatively mild and stable course of withdrawal, with few
      peaks in severity. In contrast, the 1- and 2-week taper groups experienced stark
      increases in withdrawal severity during the week following the last buprenorphine
      dose, followed by declines in withdrawal severity thereafter. The 4-week taper
      group also reported significantly fewer disruptions in sleep compared to the
      other experimental groups. When predictors of withdrawal were examined, baseline
      ratings of "Expected Withdrawal Severity" was the most robust predictor of
      withdrawal experienced during the taper. CONCLUSION: Data from this trial may
      inform clinicians about the expected time course, magnitude, and pattern of
      buprenorphine withdrawal and aid efforts to identify patients who may need
      additional clinical support during outpatient buprenorphine detoxification.

PMID- 25823908
TI  - Heavy alcohol use and suicidal behavior among people who use illicit drugs: A
      cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: People who use illicit drugs (PWUD) are known to experience high
      rates of suicidal behavior. While heavy alcohol use has been associated with
      suicide risk, its impact on the suicidal behavior of PWUD has not been well
      characterized. Therefore, we examined the relationship between heavy alcohol use
      and suicidal behavior among PWUD in Vancouver, Canada. METHODS: Data are derived
      from two prospective cohort studies of PWUD in Vancouver, Canada, from 2005 to
      2013. Participants completed questionnaires that elicited information regarding
      sociodemographics, drug use patterns, and mental health problems, including
      suicidal behavior. We used recurrent event survival analyses to estimate the
      independent association between at-risk/heavy drinking (based on National
      Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA] criteria) and risk of incident,
      self-reported suicide attempts. RESULTS: Of 1757 participants, 162 participants
      (9.2%) reported 227 suicide attempts over the 8-year study period, resulting in
      an incidence rate of 2.5 cases per 100 person-years. After adjusting for
      potential confounders, including intensive illicit drug use patterns, heavy
      alcohol use (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] = 1.97; 95% confidence interval [CI] =
      1.39, 2.78) was positively associated with an increased risk of suicidal
      behavior. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a high burden of suicidal behavior among a
      community-recruited sample of PWUD. Heavy alcohol use predicted a higher risk of
      suicide attempt, independent of other drug use patterns. These findings
      demonstrate the need for evidence-based interventions to address suicide risk
      among PWUD, particularly those who are heavy consumers of alcohol.

PMID- 25823909
TI  - Safety and systemic consequences of pleurodesis with three different doses of
      silver nitrate in patients with malignant pleural effusion.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Silver nitrate (SN) is an alternative to talc pleurodesis in patients
      with malignant pleural effusion (MPE). Nevertheless, SN complications have not
      been thoroughly investigated so far. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate frequent adverse
      events (AE) of SN treatment at three different doses for pleurodesis in patients
      with MPE. The secondary objective was to evaluate systemic inflammation, efficacy
      and quality of life in these patients. METHODS: A double-blind, randomized,
      clinical trial was conducted in patients with recurrent MPE at a tertiary
      university hospital. The study patients underwent pleural catheter insertion and
      were randomly assigned to one of the three pleurodesis groups treated with 30 ml
      0.3%, 30 ml 0.5% or 60 ml 0.3% SN. Patients were discharged 3 days after the
      procedure, and returned to follow-up visits on days 10 and 30. During follow-up,
      AE, inflammatory markers, quality of life and CT scans were systematically
      assessed and documented. RESULTS: Sixty patients (11 males and 49 females, median
      age 62.13 years) were included. Overall, 199 AE were observed, including 23
      serious AE. Grade 1/2 metabolic AE, such as increases in creatinine and liver
      enzymes, were the most frequent. Grade 3/4 hypoxia was observed in 13 patients.
      Four patients died, 3 due to disease progression and in 1 patient death was
      possibly related to pleurodesis. C-reactive protein levels increased in a dose
      dependent manner and peaked 48 h after pleurodesis. No significant difference was
      observed among groups regarding quality of life or clinical/radiological
      recurrence. CONCLUSION: Hypoxia was the most significant AE following SN
      pleurodesis; mild metabolic events were very common. SN instillation causes
      substantial dose-dependent systemic inflammatory responses.

PMID- 25823910
TI  - Three different points of view in stroke rehabilitation: patient, caregiver, and
      physiotherapist.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The similarities or differences of the three some (physiotherapists,
      patients, and caregivers) thought about the process of stroke rehabilitation can
      play a key role in the success of rehabilitation. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this
      qualitative study was to investigate the perspectives of the three some, with
      regard to the two themes of the study: (1) What are the problems faced by the
      patients after stroke?; and (2) What does recovery after stroke mean to you?
      METHODS: The qualitative questions and possible answers were prepared by four
      physiotherapists. The answers were matched to International Classification of
      Functioning (ICF) components. Seventy patients who were having treatment as in
      patient rehabilitation centers, their caregivers, and physiotherapists were
      invited to the study. After the questions were asked and the possible response
      choices were presented, subjects were asked to prioritize these response choices.
      RESULTS: One hundred and fifty-nine subjects, including 53 patients, 53
      caregivers, and 53 physiotherapists, were included to the study. When the theme 1
      were examined, we found that the patients' first priority was functional
      abilities (ICF: body function and structure) such as using the hands and feet
      while the caregivers and physiotherapists prioritized self-care problems (ICF:
      activity and participation). The most common response to the theme 2 was "being
      in same health condition before the disease" (ICF: activity and participation)
      among the patients and caregivers and "being able to move arm and leg on the
      affected side" (body function and structure) among the physiotherapists.
      CONCLUSION: As a conclusion, problems faced by the patients, caregivers, and
      physiotherapists were perceived under the same ICF domain and that caregivers'
      and physiotherapists' priorities were the same.

PMID- 25823911
TI  - Guatemalan school food environment: impact on schoolchildren's risk of both
      undernutrition and overweight/obesity.
AB  - Guatemala suffers the double burden of malnutrition with high rates of stunting
      alongside increasing childhood overweight/obesity. This study examines the school
      food environment (SFE) at low-income Guatemalan elementary schools and discusses
      its potential impact on undernutrition and overweight/obesity. From July through
      October 2013, direct observations, in-depth interviews with school principals (n
      = 4) and food kiosk vendors (n = 4, 2 interviews each) and also focus groups
      (FGs) with children (n = 48, 8 FGs) were conducted. The SFE comprises food from
      school food kiosks (casetas); food from home or purchased in the street; and food
      provided by the school (refaccion). School casetas, street vendors and children's
      parents largely provide sandwiches, calorie-rich snacks and sugar-sweetened
      beverages. Refaccion typically serves energy dense atol, a traditional beverage.
      The current school food program (refaccion), the overall SFE and the
      roles/opinions of vendors and principals reveal persistent anxiety concerning
      undernutrition and insufficient concern for overweight/obesity. Predominant
      concern for elementary schoolchildren remains focused on undernutrition. However,
      by the time children reach elementary school (ages 6-12+), food environments
      should encourage dietary behaviors to prevent childhood overweight/obesity. 

PMID- 25823912
TI  - Antipsychotic treatment leading to dopamine supersensitivity persistently alters
      nucleus accumbens function.
AB  - Chronic exposure to some antipsychotic medications can induce supersensitivity to
      dopamine receptor stimulation. This is linked to a worsening of clinical outcome
      and to antipsychotic treatment failure. Here we investigated the role of striatal
      subregions [nucleus accumbens (NAc) and caudate-putamen (CPu)] in the expression
      of antipsychotic-induced dopamine supersensitivity. We treated rats with
      haloperidol (HAL) or olanzapine (OLZ), using regimens that achieve clinically
      relevant kinetics of striatal D2 receptor occupancy. Under these conditions, HAL
      produces dopamine supersensitivity whereas OLZ does not. We then assessed
      behaviors evoked by the dopamine agonist amphetamine (AMPH). We either injected
      AMPH into the striatum or inhibited striatal function with microinjections of
      GABA receptor agonists prior to injecting AMPH systemically. HAL-treated rats
      were dopamine supersensitive, as indicated by sensitization to systemic AMPH
      induced potentiation of both locomotor activity and operant responding for a
      conditioned reward (CR). Intra-CPu injections of AMPH had no effect on these
      behaviors, in any group. Intra-NAc injections of AMPH enhanced operant responding
      for CR in OLZ-treated and control rats, but not in HAL-treated rats. In HAL
      treated rats, inhibition of the NAc also failed to disrupt systemic AMPH-induced
      potentiation of operant responding for CR. Furthermore, while intra-NAc AMPH
      enhanced locomotion in both HAL-treated and control animals, inhibition of the
      NAc disrupted systemic AMPH-induced locomotion only in control rats. Thus,
      antipsychotic-induced dopamine supersensitivity persistently disrupts NAc
      function, such that some behaviors that normally depend upon NAc dopamine no
      longer do so. This has implications for understanding dysfunctions in dopamine
      mediated behaviors in patients undergoing chronic antipsychotic treatment. 

PMID- 25823913
TI  - The cysteine-rich core domain of REIC/Dkk-3 is critical for its effect on
      monocyte differentiation and tumor regression.
AB  - Reduced expression in immortalized cells (REIC)/Dickkopf (Dkk)-3 is a tumor
      suppressor gene and has been studied as a promising therapeutic gene for cancer
      gene therapy. Intratumoral injection of an adenovirus vector carrying the human
      REIC/Dkk-3 gene (Ad-REIC) elicits cancer cell-specific apoptosis and anticancer
      immune responses. The cytokine-like effect of secretory REIC/Dkk-3 on the
      induction of dendritic cell (DC)-like cell differentiation from monocytes plays a
      role in systemic anticancer immunity. In the present study, we generated
      recombinant full-length and N-terminally truncated REIC/Dkk-3 to characterize the
      biological activity of the protein. During the purification procedure, we
      identified a 17 kDa cysteine-rich stable product (C17-REIC) showing limited
      degradation. Further analysis showed that the C17-REIC domain was sufficient for
      the induction of DC-like cell differentiation from monocytes. Concomitant with
      the differentiation of DCs, the REIC/Dkk-3 protein induced the phosphorylation of
      glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK-3beta) and signal transducers and activators
      of transcription (STAT) at a level comparable to that of granulocyte/macrophage
      colony-stimulating factor. In a mouse model of subcutaneous renal adenocarcinoma,
      intraperitoneal injection of full-length and C17-REIC proteins exerted anticancer
      effects in parallel with the activation of immunocompetent cells such as DCs and
      cytotoxic T lymphocytes in peripheral blood. Taken together, our results indicate
      that the stable cysteine-rich core region of REIC/Dkk-3 is responsible for the
      induction of anticancer immune responses. Because REIC/Dkk-3 is a naturally
      circulating serum protein, the upregulation REIC/Dkk-3 protein expression could
      be a promising option for cancer therapy.

PMID- 25823914
TI  - The effects of Rho-associated kinase inhibitor Y-27632 on primary human corneal
      endothelial cells propagated using a dual media approach.
AB  - The global shortage of donor corneas has garnered extensive interest in the
      development of graft alternatives suitable for endothelial keratoplasty using
      cultivated primary human corneal endothelial cells (CECs). We have recently
      described a dual media approach for the propagation of human CECs. In this work,
      we characterize the effects of a Rho-kinase inhibitor Y-27632 on the cultivation
      of CECs propagated using the dual media culture system. Seventy donor corneas
      deemed unsuitable for transplantation were procured for this study. We assessed
      the use of Y-27632 for its effect at each stage of the cell culture process,
      specifically for cell attachment, cell proliferation, and during both regular
      passaging and cryopreservation. Lastly, comparison of donor-matched CEC-cultures
      expanded with or without Y-27632 was also performed. Our results showed that Y
      27632 significantly improved the attachment and proliferation of primary CECs. A
      non-significant pro-survival effect was detected during regular cellular passage
      when CECs were pre-treated with Y-27632, an effect that became more evident
      during cryopreservation. Our study showed that the inclusion of Y-27632 was
      beneficial for the propagation of primary CECs expanded via the dual media
      approach, and was able to increase overall cell yield by between 1.96 to 3.36
      fold. 

PMID- 25823915
TI  - Synchronization of E. coli O157 shedding in a grass-fed beef herd: a longitudinal
      study.
AB  - This study aims to describe in detail the temporal dynamics of E. coli O157
      shedding and risk factors for shedding in a grass-fed beef herd. During a 9-month
      period, 23 beef cows were sampled twice a week (58 sampling points) and E. coli
      O157 was enumerated from faecal samples. Isolates were screened by PCR for
      presence of rfbE, stx 1 and stx 2 . The prevalence per sampling day ranged from
      0% to 57%. This study demonstrates that many members of the herd were
      concurrently shedding E. coli O157. Occurrence of rainfall (P < 0.01), feeding
      silage (P < 0.01) and lactating (P < 0.01) were found to be predictors of
      shedding. Moving cattle to a new paddock had a negative effect on shedding. This
      approach, based on short-interval sampling, confirms the known variability of
      shedding within a herd and highlights that high shedding events are rare. 

PMID- 25823916
TI  - Interferon-lambda: Inters Ferocity or Inter-Ferocities?

PMID- 25823917
TI  - Integration of the full-length HPV16 genome in cervical cancer and Caski and Siha
      cell lines and the possible ways of HPV integration.
AB  - Integration of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) into the host genome is a key
      event for cervical carcinogenesis. Different methods have been used to explore
      the physical states of the HPV genome to reveal the mechanisms for malignant
      transformation of the infected cells. Consensus has been reached that, although
      variable portions of the HPV genome are deleted in the integrated HPV sequences,
      common disruption of the viral E2 gene has been demonstrated in different
      studies. The head-to-tail concatemers of the full-length HPV16 genome is another
      typical integration pattern of HPV16, typically found in Caski cell lines, but
      its prevalence in cervical cancer has never been tested. Here, by introducing a
      modified PCR, we identified this head-to-tail concatemers of full-length HPV
      genomes in advanced cervical cancer with HPV16 single positive. Our results show
      that more than half of the cases contain this integrated head-to-tail concatemers
      of full-length HPV16 genomes. Further studies in two cervical cell lines, Caski
      cells and Siha cells, revealed a correlation between the prevalence of the
      spliced variants of integrated HPV16 sequences and the full-length transcription
      of the integrated head-to-tail concatemers of the full-length HPV16 genome. Based
      on these results, we propose that HPV16 integrated into host cells by two
      mechanisms: one mechanism is shared by other DNA virus and cause integration of
      the head-to-tail concatemers of the viral genome; another is related to the
      reverse transcription process, which the integrated HPV sequence is generated by
      the reverse transcription of the viral mRNA.

PMID- 25823919
TI  - Novel Buccal Film Formulation of Buprenorphine-Naloxone for the Maintenance
      Treatment of Opioid Dependence: A 12-Week Conversion Study.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to provide a preliminary assessment of the
      safety, tolerability, symptom control, and acceptability of buprenorphine
      naloxone buccal film (BBN) for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence in
      patients converted from buprenorphine-naloxone sublingual tablet or film (SLBN),
      as well as to determine the conversion ratio for switching patients from SLBN to
      BBN. METHODS: This open-label study included adult opioid-dependent subjects
      stabilized on 8/2 to 32/8 mg/d of SLBN for a minimum of 30 days. Study subjects
      were converted to a bioequivalent dose of BBN and maintained for 12 weeks.
      FINDINGS: A total of 249 subjects (mean age 38.7 years, 65.9% male) were
      converted from SLBN to a single daily dose of BBN, and 79.1% completed the 12
      week study. Adverse events and withdrawal symptoms led to discontinuation in 2.4%
      and 2.0% of BBN-treated subjects, respectively. Rates of constipation reported at
      baseline declined from 41% just before the initial BBN dose and within 24 hours
      of the last SLBN dose to 13% after 12 weeks of BBN treatment; treatment-emergent
      constipation was reported by 2.8% of BBN-treated subjects. Oral mucosal
      abnormalities were identified in 5% and 0.6% of systematic oral examinations in
      SLBN- and BBN-treated subjects, respectively. A total of 34 subjects had Clinical
      Opiate Withdrawal Scale total scores ranging from 10 to 25 (overall mean, 13.8)
      within 24 hours of taking their last SLBN dose, and scores for these subjects
      were reduced to a range of 0 to 3 (overall mean, 0.7) at 3 hours after the
      initial dose of BBN. Treatment compliance was high (108%); <1% of urine samples
      were buprenorphine-free, and 92.4% of BBN-treated subjects did not have a urine
      sample that tested positive for a non-prescribed opioid. A total of 91.3%
      subjects rated the taste of BBN as pleasant or neutral, and 82.5% rated BBN ease
      of use as easy or neutral. The overall mean final dose of BBN was 8.0/1.4 mg/d,
      yielding a 2:1 buprenorphine conversion ratio. IMPLICATIONS: Although these
      results should be considered preliminary due to the open-label design, BBN was
      overall safe and well tolerated, and seemed to provide adequate symptom control,
      in the treatment of opioid-dependent subjects previously controlled on SLBN for a
      minimum of 30 days. There was good adherence to study medication and favorable
      patient acceptance of the buccal formulation. The SLBN/BBN buprenorphine
      conversion ratio was 2:1. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01666119.

PMID- 25823920
TI  - A Multiple-Channel Model of Task-Dependent Ambiguity Resolution in Sentence
      Comprehension.
AB  - Traxler, Pickering, and Clifton (1998) found that ambiguous sentences are read
      faster than their unambiguous counterparts. This so-called ambiguity advantage
      has presented a major challenge to classical theories of human sentence
      comprehension (parsing) because its most prominent explanation, in the form of
      the unrestricted race model (URM), assumes that parsing is non-deterministic.
      Recently, Swets, Desmet, Clifton, and Ferreira (2008) have challenged the URM.
      They argue that readers strategically underspecify the representation of
      ambiguous sentences to save time, unless disambiguation is required by task
      demands. When disambiguation is required, however, readers assign sentences full
      structure--and Swets et al. provide experimental evidence to this end. On the
      basis of their findings, they argue against the URM and in favor of a model of
      task-dependent sentence comprehension. We show through simulations that the Swets
      et al. data do not constitute evidence for task-dependent parsing because they
      can be explained by the URM. However, we provide decisive evidence from a German
      self-paced reading study consistent with Swets et al.'s general claim about task
      dependent parsing. Specifically, we show that under certain conditions, ambiguous
      sentences can be read more slowly than their unambiguous counterparts, suggesting
      that the parser may create several parses, when required. Finally, we present the
      first quantitative model of task-driven disambiguation that subsumes the URM, and
      we show that it can explain both Swets et al.'s results and our findings.

PMID- 25823918
TI  - The Next Immune-Checkpoint Inhibitors: PD-1/PD-L1 Blockade in Melanoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: Blocking the interaction between the programmed cell death (PD)-1
      protein and one of its ligands, PD-L1, has been reported to have impressive
      antitumor responses. Therapeutics targeting this pathway are currently in
      clinical trials. Pembrolizumab and nivolumab are the first of this anti-PD-1
      pathway family of checkpoint inhibitors to gain accelerated approval from the US
      Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of ipilimumab-refractory
      melanoma. Nivolumab has been associated with improved overall survival compared
      with dacarbazine in patients with previously untreated wild-type serine/threonine
      protein kinase B-raf proto-oncogene BRAF melanoma. Although the most mature data
      are in the treatment of melanoma, the FDA has granted approval of nivolumab for
      squamous cell lung cancer and the breakthrough therapy designation to immune-
      checkpoint inhibitors for use in other cancers: nivolumab, an anti-PD-1
      monoclonal antibody, for Hodgkin lymphoma, and MPDL-3280A, an anti-PD-L1
      monoclonal antibody, for bladder cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Here we
      review the literature on PD-1 and PD-L1 blockade and focus on the reported
      clinical studies that have included patients with melanoma. METHODS: PubMed was
      searched to identify relevant clinical studies of PD-1/PD-L1-targeted therapies
      in melanoma. A review of data from the current trials on clinicaltrial.gov was
      incorporated, as well as data presented in abstracts at the 2014 annual meeting
      of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, given the limited number of
      published clinical trials on this topic. FINDINGS: The anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1
      agents have been reported to have impressive antitumor effects in several
      malignancies, including melanoma. The greatest clinical activity in unselected
      patients has been seen in melanoma. Tumor expression of PD-L1 is a suggestive,
      but inadequate, biomarker predictive of response to immune-checkpoint blockade.
      However, tumors expressing little or no PD-L1 are less likely to respond to PD-1
      pathway blockade. Combination checkpoint blockade with PD-1 plus cytotoxic T
      lymphocyte antigen (CTLA)-4 blockade appears to improve response rates in
      patients who are less likely to respond to single-checkpoint blockade. Toxicity
      with PD-1 blocking agents is less than the toxicity with previous immunotherapies
      (eg, interleukin 2, CTLA-4 blockade). Certain adverse events can be severe and
      potentially life threatening, but most can be prevented or reversed with close
      monitoring and appropriate management. IMPLICATIONS: This family of immune
      checkpoint inhibitors benefits not only patients with metastatic melanoma but
      also those with historically less responsive tumor types. Although a subset of
      patients responds to single-agent blockade, the initial trial of checkpoint
      inhibitor combinations has reported a potential to improve response rates.
      Combination therapies appear to be a means of increasing response rates, albeit
      with increased immune-related adverse events. As these treatments become
      available to patients, education regarding the recognition and management of
      immune-related effects of immune-checkpoint blockade will be essential for
      maximizing clinical benefit.

PMID- 25823921
TI  - Glipizide suppresses embryonic vasculogenesis and angiogenesis through targeting
      natriuretic peptide receptor A.
AB  - Glipizide, a second-generation sulfonylurea, has been widely used for the
      treatment of type 2 diabetes. However, it is controversial whether or not
      glipizide would affect angiogenesis or vasculogenesis. In the present study, we
      used early chick embryo model to investigate the effect of glipizide on
      angiogenesis and vasculogenesis, which are the two major processes for embryonic
      vasculature formation as well as tumor neovascularization. We found that
      Glipizide suppressed both angiogenesis in yolk-sac membrane (YSM) and blood
      island formation during developmental vasculogenesis. Glipizide did not affect
      either the process of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) or mesoderm cell
      migration. In addition, it did not interfere with separation of smooth muscle
      cell progenitors from hemangioblasts. Moreover, natriuretic peptide receptor A
      (NPRA) has been identified as the putative target for glipizide's inhibitory
      effect on vasculogenesis. When NPRA was overexpressed or activated, blood island
      formation was reduced. NPRA signaling may play a crucial role in the effect of
      glipizide on vasculogenesis during early embryonic development. 

PMID- 25823922
TI  - Dual targeting of acute myeloid leukemia progenitors by catalytic mTOR inhibition
      and blockade of the p110alpha subunit of PI3 kinase.
AB  - The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)
      pathways are often aberrantly activated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and play
      critical roles in proliferation and survival of leukemia cells. We provide
      evidence that simultaneous targeting of mTOR complexes with the catalytic mTOR
      inhibitor OSI-027 and of the p110alpha subunit of PI3K with the specific
      inhibitor BYL-719 results in efficient suppression of effector pathways and
      enhanced induction of apoptosis of leukemia cells. Importantly, such a combined
      targeting approach results in enhanced suppression of primitive leukemic
      progenitors from patients with AML. Taken together, these findings raise the
      possibility of combination treatments of mTOR and p110alpha inhibitors as a
      unique approach to enhance responses in refractory AML. 

PMID- 25823923
TI  - WNT5A promotes stemness characteristics in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells leading
      to metastasis and tumorigenesis.
AB  - Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has the highest metastasis rate among head and
      neck cancers with unclear mechanism. WNT5A belongs to the WNT family of cysteine
      rich secreted glycoproteins. Our previous high-throughput gene expression
      profiling revealed that WNT5A was up-regulated in highly metastatic cells. In the
      present study, we first confirmed the elevated expression of WNT5A in metastatic
      NPC tissues at both the mRNA and protein levels. We then found that WNT5A
      promoted epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in NPC cells, induced the
      accumulation of CD24-CD44+ cells and side population, which are believed to be
      cancer stem cell characteristics. Moreover, WNT5A promoted the migration and
      invasion of NPC cells in vitro, while in vivo treatment with recombinant WNT5A
      promoted lung metastasis. Knocking down WNT5A diminished NPC tumorigenesis in
      vivo. When elevated expression of WNT5A coincided with the elevated expression of
      vimentin in the primary NPC, the patients had a poorer prognosis. Among major
      signaling pathways, protein kinase C (PKC) signaling was activated by WNT5A in
      NPC cells. A positive feedback loop between WNT5A and phospho-PKC to promote EMT
      was also revealed. Taken together, these data suggest that WNT5A is an important
      molecule in promoting stem cell characteristics in NPC, leading to tumorigenesis
      and metastasis. 

PMID- 25823924
TI  - NF2 blocks Snail-mediated p53 suppression in mesothelioma.
AB  - Although asbestos causes malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), rising from lung
      mesothelium, the molecular mechanism has not been suggested until now. Extremely
      low mutation rate in classical tumor suppressor genes (such as p53 and pRb) and
      oncogenes (including Ras or myc) indicates that there would be MPM-specific
      carcinogenesis pathway. To address this, we treated silica to mimic mesothelioma
      carcinogenesis in mesothelioma and non-small cell lung cancer cell lines (NSCLC).
      Treatment of silica induced p-Erk and Snail through RKIP reduction. In addition,
      p53 and E-cadherin were decreased by silica-treatment. Elimination of Snail
      restored p53 expression. We found that NF2 (frequently deleted in MPM) inhibited
      Snail-mediated p53 suppression and was stabilized by RKIP. Importantly, GN25, an
      inhibitor of p53-Snail interaction, induced p53 and apoptosis. These results
      indicate that MPM can be induced by reduction of RKIP/NF2, which suppresses p53
      through Snail. Thus, the p53-Snail binding inhibitor such as GN25 is a drug
      candidate for MPM. 

PMID- 25823925
TI  - MicroRNA profiling identifies MiR-195 suppresses osteosarcoma cell metastasis by
      targeting CCND1.
AB  - Metastasis is a leading cause of mortality for osteosarcoma patients. The
      molecular pathological mechanism remains to be elucidated. In the previously
      study, we established two osteosarcoma cell lines with different metastatic
      potentials. Differential expressed genes and proteins regarding metastatic
      ability have been identified. MicroRNAs are important regulators in tumorigenesis
      and tumor progression. In this study, microRNA microarray was used to assess the
      differential expressed miRNAs level between these two cell lines. One of the top
      ranked miRNAs-miR-195 was identified highly expressing in lowly metastatic cells.
      It was showed that over-expression of miR-195 substantially inhibits migration
      and invasion of osteosarcoma cells in vitro and pulmonary metastasis formation in
      vivo. Meanwhile, CCND1 was identified as the target gene of miR-195 and further
      studied. More importantly, using real-time PCR, we evaluated the expression of
      miR-195 and CCND1 in osteosarcoma samples from 107 frozen biopsy tissues and 99
      formalin- or paraformalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues. Results
      indicated lowly expressed miR-195 or highly CCND1 correlated with positive
      overall survival and their expression inversely related to each other. In
      summary, our study suggests miR-195 functions as a tumor metastasis suppressor
      gene by down-regulating CCND1 and can be used as a potential target in the
      treatment of osteosarcoma.

PMID- 25823926
TI  - Macrophages promote benzopyrene-induced tumor transformation of human bronchial
      epithelial cells by activation of NF-kappaB and STAT3 signaling in a bionic
      airway chip culture and in animal models.
AB  - We investigated the role of macrophages in promoting benzopyrene (BaP)-induced
      malignant transformation of human bronchial epithelial cells using a BaP-induced
      tumor transformation model with a bionic airway chip in vitro and in animal
      models. The bionic airway chip culture data showed that macrophages promoted BaP
      induced malignant transformation of human bronchial epithelial cells, which was
      mediated by nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB and STAT3 pathways to induce cell
      proliferation, colony formation in chip culture, and tumorigenicity in nude mice.
      Blockage of interleukin (IL)-6 or tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha signaling or
      inhibition of NF-kappaB, STAT3, or cyclinD1 expression abrogated the effect of
      macrophages on malignant transformation in the bionic airway chip culture. In
      vivo, macrophages promoted lung tumorigenesis in a carcinogen-induced animal
      model. Similarly, blockage of NF-kappaB, STAT3, or cyclinD1 using siRNA
      transfection decreased the carcinogen-induced tumorigenesis in rats. We
      demonstrated that macrophages are critical in promoting lung tumorigenesis and
      that the macrophage-initiated TNF-alpha/NF-kappaB/cyclinD1 and IL
      6/STAT3/cyclinD1 pathways are primarily responsible for promoting lung
      tumorigenesis. 

PMID- 25823928
TI  - Dynamic instability 30 years later: complexities in microtubule growth and
      catastrophe.
AB  - Microtubules are not like other polymers. Whereas polymers such as F-actin will
      grow continuously as long as the subunit concentration is high enough, a steadily
      growing microtubule can suddenly shrink even when there is ample alphabeta
      tubulin around. This remarkable behavior was discovered in 1984 when Tim
      Mitchison and Marc Kirschner deduced that microtubules switch from growth to
      shrinkage when they lose their GTP caps. Here, I review the canonical explanation
      of dynamic instability that was fleshed out in the years after its discovery.
      Many aspects of this explanation have been recently subverted, particularly those
      related to how GTP-tubulin forms polymers and why GTP hydrolysis disrupts them. I
      describe these developments and speculate on how our explanation of dynamic
      instability can be changed to accommodate them.

PMID- 25823929
TI  - Correction.

PMID- 25823927
TI  - Aberrant nuclear factor-kappa B activity in acute myeloid leukemia: from
      molecular pathogenesis to therapeutic target.
AB  - The overall survival of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has not been
      improved significantly over the last decade. Molecularly targeted agents hold
      promise to change the therapeutic landscape in AML. The nuclear factor kappa B
      (NF-kappaB) controls a plethora of biological process through switching on and
      off its long list of target genes. In AML, constitutive NF-kappaB has been
      detected in 40% of cases and its aberrant activity enable leukemia cells to evade
      apoptosis and stimulate proliferation. These facts suggest that NF-kappaB
      signaling pathway plays a fundamental role in the development of AML and it
      represents an attractive target for the intervention of AML. This review
      summarizes our current knowledge of NF-kappaB signaling transduction including
      canonical and non-canonical NF-kappaB pathways. Then we specifically highlight
      what factors contribute to the aberrant activation of NF-kappaB activity in AML,
      followed by an overview of 8 important clinical trials of the first FDA approved
      proteasome inhibitor, Bortezomib (Velcade), which is a NF-kappaB inhibitor too,
      in combination with other therapeutic agents in patients with AML. Finally, this
      review discusses the future directions of NF-kappaB inhibitor in treatment of
      AML, especially in targeting leukemia stem cells (LSCs).

PMID- 25823932
TI  - A critical care network pressure ulcer prevention quality improvement project.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pressure ulcer prevention is an important safety issue, often
      underrated and an extremely painful event harming patients. Critically ill
      patients are one of the highest risk groups in hospital. The impact of pressure
      ulcers are wide ranging, and they can result in increased critical care and the
      hospital length of stay, significant interference with functional recovery and
      rehabilitation and increase cost. AIMS: This quality improvement project had four
      aims: (1) to establish a critical care network pressure ulcer prevention group;
      (2) to establish baseline pressure ulcer prevention practices; (3) to measure,
      compare and monitor pressure ulcers prevalence; (4) to develop network pressure
      ulcer prevention standards. METHODS: The approach used to improve quality
      included strong critical care nursing leadership to develop a cross
      organisational pressure ulcer prevention group and a benchmarking exercise of
      current practices across a well-established critical care Network in the North of
      England. The National Safety Thermometer tool was used to measure pressure ulcer
      prevalence in 23 critical care units, and best available evidence, local
      consensus and another Critical Care Networks' bundle of interventions were used
      to develop a local pressure ulcer prevention standards document. RESULTS: The
      aims of the quality improvement project were achieved. This project was driven by
      successful leadership and had an agreed common goal. The National Safety
      Thermometer tool was an innovative approach to measure and compare pressure ulcer
      prevalence rates at a regional level. A limitation was the exclusion of moisture
      lesions. CONCLUSION: The project showed excellent engagement and collaborate
      working in the quest to prevent pressure ulcers from many critical care nurses
      with the North of England Critical Care Network. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE:
      A concise set of Network standards was developed for use in conjunction with
      local guidelines to enhance pressure ulcer prevention.

PMID- 25823930
TI  - Genome-wide association study identifies common genetic variants associated with
      salivary gland carcinoma and its subtypes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Salivary gland carcinomas (SGCs) are a rare malignancy with unknown
      etiology. The objective of the current study was to identify genetic variants
      modifying the risk of SGC and its major subtypes: adenoid cystic carcinoma and
      mucoepidermoid carcinoma. METHODS: The authors conducted a genome-wide
      association study in 309 well-defined SGC cases and 535 cancer-free controls. A
      single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-level discovery study was performed in non
      Hispanic white individuals followed by a replication study in Hispanic
      individuals. A logistic regression analysis was applied to calculate odds ratios
      (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). A meta-analysis of the results was
      conducted. RESULTS: A genome-wide significant association with SGC in non
      Hispanic white individuals was detected at coding SNPs in CHRNA2 (cholinergic
      receptor, nicotinic, alpha 2 [neuronal]) (OR, 8.55; 95% CI, 4.53-16.13 [P = 3.6 *
      10(-11)]), OR4F15 (olfactory receptor, family 4, subfamily F, member 15) (OR,
      5.26; 95% CI, 3.13-8.83 [P = 3.5 * 10(-10)]), ZNF343 (zinc finger protein 343)
      (OR, 3.28; 95% CI, 2.12-5.07 [P = 9.1 * 10(-8)]), and PARP4 (poly(ADP-ribose)
      polymerase family, member 4) (OR, 2.00; 95% CI, 1.54-2.59 [P = 1.7 * 10(-7)]).
      Meta-analysis of the non-Hispanic white and Hispanic cohorts identified another
      genome-wide significant SNP in ELL2 (meta-OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.48-2.34 [P = 1.3 *
      10(-7)]). Risk alleles were largely enriched in mucoepidermoid carcinoma, in
      which the SNPs in CHRNA2, OR4F15, and ZNF343 had ORs of 15.71 (95% CI, 6.59-37.47
      [P = 5.2 * 10(-10)]), 15.60 (95% CI, 6.50-37.41 [P = 7.5 * 10(-10)]), and 6.49
      (95% CI, 3.36-12.52 [P = 2.5 * 10(-8)]), respectively. None of these SNPs
      retained a significant association with adenoid cystic carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: To
      the best of the authors' knowledge, the current study is the first to identify a
      panel of SNPs associated with the risk of SGC. Confirmation of these findings
      along with functional analysis of identified SNPs are needed.

PMID- 25823931
TI  - Gastric mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma with thyroid transcription factor-1
      positive neuroendocrine component.
AB  - Small cell carcinoma of the stomach, which is considered synonymous with
      neuroendocrine carcinoma, is rare. We encountered a case of mixed
      adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma. Gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a type 0 IIa +
      IIc lesion in the stomach. Biopsy suggested well-differentiated adenocarcinoma.
      Endoscopic submucosal dissection was performed and gastric cancer comprising both
      well to moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma within the mucous membrane and
      small cell carcinoma invading to the submucosa with accompanying vessel invasion
      was found. Mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma was diagnosed and the small cell
      carcinoma was thyroid transcription factor-1 positive. No tumor lesions were
      apparent in other organs, so distal gastrectomy and lymph node dissection were
      performed. Lymph node metastases were not observed. The patient is currently
      alive without recurrence. Thyroid transcription factor-1-positive gastric
      neuroendocrine carcinoma is very rare, and the thyroid transcription factor-1
      positive rate may contribute to the prediction of prognosis and treatment
      selection. Accumulation of cases is thus very important.

PMID- 25823934
TI  - [Techniques and strategy of pathological sampling in the diagnostic and
      therapeutic management of lung cancer].
AB  - Histopathology is key to the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer. This analysis
      requires tissue sampling from primary and/or metastatic lesions. The choice of
      sampling technique is intended to optimize diagnostic yield while avoiding
      unnecessarily invasive procedures. Recent developments in targeted therapy
      require increasingly precise histological and molecular characterization of the
      tumor. Therefore, pathologists must be economical with tissue samples to ensure
      that they have the opportunity to perform all the analyses required. More than
      ever, good communication between clinician, endoscopist or surgeon, and
      pathologist is essential. This is necessary to ensure that all participants in
      the process of lung cancer diagnosis collaborate to ensure that the appropriate
      number and type of biopsies are performed with the appropriate tissue sampling
      treatment. This will allow performance of all the necessary analyses leading to a
      more precise characterization of the tumor, and thus the optimal treatment for
      patients with lung cancer. 

PMID- 25823933
TI  - An integrated analysis of the effects of microRNA and mRNA on esophageal squamous
      cell carcinoma.
AB  - Esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) is an aggressive type of cancer with poor
      prognosis and leading to decreased quality of life. The identification of
      patients at increased risk of esophageal squamous cell cancer may improve current
      understanding of the role of micro (mi)RNA in tumorigenesis, since the miRNA
      pattern of these patients may be associated with tumorigenesis. In the present
      study, the miRNA and mRNA expression profiles of ESCC tissue samples and adjacent
      normal control tissue samples were obtained from two dependent GEO series.
      Bioinformatics analyses, including the use of the Gene Oncology and Kyoto
      Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes databases, were used to identify genes and
      pathways, which were specifically associated with miRNA-associated ESCC oncology.
      A total of 17 miRNAs and 1,670 probes were differentially expressed in the two
      groups, and the differentially expressed miRNA and target interactions were
      analyzed. The mRNA of miRNA target genes were found to be involve 49 GO terms and
      14 pathways. Of the genes differentially expressed between the two groups, miRNA
      181a, miRNA-202, miRNA-155, FNDC3B, BNC2 and MBD2 were the most significantly
      altered and may be important in the regulatory network. In the present study, a
      novel pattern of differential miRNA-target expression was constructed, which with
      further investigation, may provide novel targets for diagnosing and understanding
      the mechanism of ESCC.

PMID- 25823935
TI  - [Continuous positive airways pressure treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea].
AB  - Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) still remains the most frequently used
      and the most efficient treatment for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. However,
      its efficiency is conditioned by healthcare quality depending on many factors
      such as medical specificities of the patients as well as the severity of sleep
      related breathing disorders. In order to optimize CPAP efficiency, it is
      necessary to be aware of the functional abilities of the different devices, and
      to perform a close monitoring of the patients, particularly during the first
      weeks of treatment, by maximally using the data provided by the CPAP apparatus.
      Some questions remain unsolved, such as the impact of nasal CPAP on glucose
      metabolism or cardiovascular prognosis. Furthermore, the strategy of CPAP use
      should be improved according to future results of studies dedicated to the
      interest of home telemonitoring and taking into account the validated mode of
      CPAP initiation. 

PMID- 25823936
TI  - [Does exposure to tabouna (oven garden) increase the risk of small-cell lung
      carcinoma in non-smoking women?].

PMID- 25823937
TI  - Evidence-based versus pathophysiology-based approach to diagnosis and treatment
      of neonatal cardiovascular compromise.
AB  - With the advances in biomedical research and neonatal intensive care, our
      understanding of cardiovascular developmental physiology and pathophysiology has
      significantly improved during the last few decades. Despite this progress, the
      current management of circulatory compromise depends primarily on experts'
      opinions rather than high level of evidence. The lack of reliable, accurate,
      continuous and preferably non-invasive monitoring techniques has further limited
      our ability to collect the information needed for the design and execution of
      more sophisticated clinical trials with a better chance to provide the evidence
      we need. Given the lack of randomized, placebo-controlled trials investigating
      clinically relevant outcomes of novel treatments of neonatal cardiovascular
      compromise, we must now use the available lower level of evidence and our present
      understanding of developmental physiology and pathophysiology when providing
      cardiovascular supportive care to critically ill neonates. However, with recent
      advances in cardiovascular monitoring capabilities, direct and more objective
      assessment of the changes in cardiovascular function, organ blood flow, and
      tissue oxygenation have become possible. These advances have helped in our
      clinical assessment and enabled us to start designing more sophisticated
      interventional clinical trials using clinically relevant endpoints. 

PMID- 25823938
TI  - Predictive monitoring for sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis to prevent shock.
AB  - Despite vigilant clinical assessment of infants in the neonatal intensive care
      unit (NICU), diagnosis of sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis often does not
      occur until an infant has significant hemodynamic compromise. Predictive
      monitoring involves analysis of vital signs and other clinical data to identify
      infants at highest risk and to detect early-stage illness, leading to timelier
      treatment and improved outcomes. The first vital-sign predictive monitoring
      device developed for sepsis detection in babies in the NICU is the heart rate
      characteristics index (HeRO) monitor, which continuously analyzes the
      electrocardiogram signal for low heart rate variability and transient
      decelerations. Use of this monitor in very low birth weight infants (<1500 g) was
      shown in a large multicenter randomized clinical trial to significantly reduce
      mortality. The purpose of this review is (1) to summarize the physiologic changes
      in neonatal sepsis and progression to shock, (2) to review efforts toward risk
      stratification for sepsis shortly after birth based on demographic and
      physiologic scoring systems, (3) to describe development and implementation of
      heart rate characteristics monitoring and other important aspects of sepsis early
      warning systems, and (4) to provide an overview of current research analyzing
      multiple vital signs and other clinical variables in an attempt to develop even
      more effective predictive monitoring devices and systems. 

PMID- 25823939
TI  - Clinical relevance of fetal hemodynamic monitoring: Perinatal implications.
AB  - Comprehensive assessment of fetal wellbeing involves monitoring of fetal growth,
      placental function, central venous pressure, and cardiac function. Ultrasound
      evaluation of the fetus using 2D, color Doppler, and pulse-wave Doppler
      techniques form the foundation of antenatal diagnosis of structural anomalies,
      rhythm abnormalities and altered fetal circulation. Accurate and timely prenatal
      identification of the fetus at risk is critical for appropriate parental
      counseling, antenatal diagnostic testing, consideration for fetal intervention,
      perinatal planning, and coordination of postnatal care delivery. Fetal
      hemodynamic monitoring and serial assessment are vital to ensuring fetal
      wellbeing, particularly in the setting of complex congenital anomalies. A
      complete hemodynamic evaluation of the fetus gives important information on the
      likelihood of a smooth postnatal transition and contributes to ensuring the best
      possible outcome for the neonate. 

PMID- 25823940
TI  - Factors associated with discharge to home versus discharge to institutional care
      after inpatient stroke rehabilitation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine sociodemographic and clinical characteristics independently
      associated with discharge home compared with discharge to a skilled nursing
      facility (SNF) after acute inpatient rehabilitation. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort
      study. SETTING: Three tertiary accredited acute care rehabilitation facilities.
      PARTICIPANTS: Adult patients with stroke (N=2085). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable.
      MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Not applicable. RESULTS: Of 2085 patients with stroke
      treated at 3 centers over a 4-year period, 78.2% (n=1631) were discharged home
      and 21.8% (n=454) discharged to an SNF. Findings from a multivariable logistic
      regression analysis indicated that patients were less likely to be discharged
      home if they were older (odds ratio [OR], .98; 95% confidence interval [CI], .96
      .99), separated or divorced (compared with married; OR, .61; 95% CI, .48-.79), or
      with Medicare health insurance (compared with private insurance; OR, .69; 95% CI,
      .55-.88), or had dysphagia (OR, .83; 95% CI, .71-.98) or cognitive deficits (OR,
      .79; 95% CI, .77-.81). The odds of being discharged home were higher for those
      admitted with a higher motor FIM score (OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.09-1.11). The
      following were not associated with discharge disposition: sex, race, prestroke
      vocational status, availability of secondary health insurance, number of days
      from stroke onset to rehabilitation facility admission, stroke type, impairment
      group, cognitive FIM on admission, other stroke deficits (aphasia, ataxia,
      neglect, or speech disturbance), stroke complications of hyponatremia or urinary
      tract infection, or comorbid conditions. CONCLUSIONS: One in 5 patients with
      stroke were discharged to an SNF after inpatient rehabilitation. On admission,
      several sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were identified that could
      be considered as important factors in early discussions for discharge planning.

PMID- 25823941
TI  - Comparative ex vivo study on humidifying function of three speaking valves with
      integrated heat and moisture exchanger for tracheotomised patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Assessment of humidifying function of tracheotomy speaking valves with
      integrated heat and moisture exchanger. DESIGN: Ex vivo measurement of water
      exchange and storage capacity of three tracheotomy speaking valves: Humidiphon
      Plus, Spiro and ProTrach DualCare (with two different heat and moisture
      exchangers: XtraMoist and Regular). SETTING: Comprehensive Cancer Centre.
      PARTICIPANT: Healthy volunteer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Difference between end
      inspiratory and end-expiratory weight as measure for water exchange capacity,
      weight after 10 min breathing as measure for water storage capacity, weighing at
      1-min intervals to assess residual water exchange potential in speaking mode and
      absolute humidity in mg/L as measure for environmental and respiratory humidity.
      RESULTS: None of the tracheotomy speaking valves provides humidification while in
      speaking mode. Only the ProTrach DualCare allows blocking the speaking valve and
      breathing through the heat and moisture exchanger during inhalation and
      exhalation (heat and moisture exchanger mode). This leads to an increase in
      inspiratory humidity of 2.5 mg (XtraMoist) and 1.6 mg (Regular). There was no
      measurable water storage in speaking mode in any of the three tracheotomy
      speaking valves. In breathing mode, water storage in the DualCare heat and
      moisture exchangers was 47 and 37 mg, respectively. The remaining humidifying
      potential in speaking mode after 10 min breathing in heat and moisture exchanger
      mode for XtraMoist was 38%, 15% and 10% at 1, 2 and 3 min, respectively. For
      Regular, this was 47%, 24% and 13%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Tracheostoma
      valves with integrated heat and moisture exchanger have no humidification
      function in speaking mode. Only ProTrach DualCare, allowing blocking the speaking
      mode, in heat and moisture exchanger mode enables a significant increase in
      humidification. Regular switching between speaking and heat and moisture
      exchanger mode with this latter device prolongs the humidification in speaking
      mode.

PMID- 25823942
TI  - Epigenetic pattern changes in prenatal female Sprague-Dawley rats following
      exposure to androgen.
AB  - Androgen excess is generally considered to be one of the major characteristics of
      polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Evidence from both clinical research and animal
      studies has revealed that this syndrome may have fetal origins, with epigenetics
      being proposed as the underlying mechanism. Our PCOS rat model induced by
      prenatal administration of 3mg testosterone from Embryonic Day (E) 16 to E19
      showed polycystic ovaries, irregular oestrous cycles and endocrine disorders in
      adulthood. The methylation status of 16, 8 and 4 cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG)
      sites in the promoter regions of the androgen receptor (Ar), cytochrome P450
      family 11, subfamily A, polypeptide 1 (Cyp11a1) and cytochrome P450, family 17,
      subfamily A, polypeptide 1 (Cyp17a1) genes, respectively, were measured by
      pyrosequencing. We identified three hypomethylated sites (CpG +58, +65 and +150)
      in Ar and one hypomethylated site (CpG +1016) in Cyp11a1 in peripheral blood
      cells of prenatally androgenised (PNA) rats. In ovarian tissue, five CpG sites of
      Ar (CpG +87, +91, +93, +98, +150) and one single CpG site in Cyp11a1 (CpG +953)
      were significantly hypomethylated in PNA rats, but the modified methylation of
      these two genes may not be sufficient to significantly alter levels of gene
      expression. Furthermore, tissue-specific methylation analysis revealed that both
      Ar and Cyp11a1 exhibited significant hypomethylation in testis in contrast with
      ovary and blood. PNA may lead to methylation pattern changes and the development
      of PCOS, but further studies are required to reveal causal relationships.

PMID- 25823943
TI  - The biodiversity and genetic structure of Balearic sheep breeds.
AB  - The Balearic sheep breeds, Mallorquina, Menorquina, Roja Mallorquina, Ibicenca
      and one possible new genetic group, Formentera, constitute a unique genetic
      resource in the Mediterranean farming landscape, displaying high genetic
      diversity levels and being well differentiated among themselves and with respect
      to the continental sheep breeds. We used a microsatellite panel of markers to
      study genetic diversity and relationships with other Spanish breeds. The results
      reported in this study have important implications for the use, conservation and
      breeding of Balearic sheep stocks. A mean number of 7.59 alleles was found among
      the Balearic sheep breeds for the microsatellites scored. The whole mean value of
      observed heterozygosity amounted to 0.62, whereas the expected heterozygosity
      value was 0.69, suggesting the presence of a great degree of genetic variability,
      although a significant deficit of heterozygotes was detected for some markers.
      Genetic distance estimates showed that Balearic sheep are differentiated from the
      other Spanish breeds and in particular, from the Merino type. The Ibicenca breed
      showed the highest distance value from other breeds. The neighbour-net method of
      analysis clustered the Roja Mallorquina, Menorquina and Mallorquina breeds. The
      Structure results clearly demonstrated the genetic differentiation among the four
      Balearic sheep breeds, with the Ibicenca and Formentera races joined, with slight
      migration among them. Few external genetic influences from the Spanish mainland
      breeds were detected. 

PMID- 25823944
TI  - Aspects of abuse: commercial sexual exploitation of children.
AB  - Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and adolescents is a serious
      worldwide problem. It is, in essence, the sexual abuse of a minor for economic
      gain. In the United States, there is no uniform nationwide database to capture
      the incidence and prevalence of CSEC. Therefore, there is a great variation in
      the estimates, but the actual numbers are unknown. Given the clandestine nature
      of the practice, it is often underreported and underidentified. Healthcare
      providers will often encounter victims of commercial sexual exploitation due to
      mental health, physical health, and sexual health consequences, and therefore
      should be knowledgeable in the signs of possible sexual exploitation. The aim of
      this article is to educate healthcare providers on how vulnerable children may
      become sexually exploited, the health consequences involved with sexual
      exploitation, how to better identify possible victims, and the medical evaluation
      of a victim of sexual exploitation. 

PMID- 25823946
TI  - Editorial overview: tumour immunology.

PMID- 25823945
TI  - Small-molecule inhibitor of Bcl-2 (TW-37) suppresses growth and enhances
      cisplatin-induced apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bcl-2 plays a major role in the pathobiology and drug resistance of
      ovarian cancer, and inhibition of bcl-2 was useful for OC therapy. It has
      previously reported that TW-37, a small-molecule inhibitor of Bcl-2 family
      proteins, inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis in many cancer cells. In
      the present study,we investigate the effect of TW-37 or / and in combination with
      cisplain on several ovarian cancer (OC) cell lines with high bcl-2 expression.
      METHODS: The bcl-2 mRNA and protein expression, and the cisplain (DDP)
      sensitivity of OC cell lines SKOV3, OVCAR3, OV-90 and 3AO and SKOV3DDP were
      determined by Quantitative real-time RT-PCR,Western blot, and 3-(4,5
      dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and fluorescence-activated
      cell sorting (MTT) assays. The effects of TW-37 alone or combined with cisplain
      on growth and apoptosis in bcl-2 overexpressed OVCAR3, OV-90 and SKOV3DDP cells
      was detected by MTT,clonogenic assay, ELISA and terminal deoxynucleotidyl
      transferase-mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. RESULTS: The cell lines
      SKOV3 and 3AO were sensitive, whereas OVCAR3, OV-90 and SKOV3DDP were resistant
      to cisplain. Significant positive correlation was observed between basal bcl-2
      mRNA and protein and cisplain sensitivity. Cisplain treatment did not activate
      bcl-2 in vitro. Treatment with TW-37 inhibited bcl-2 expression in bcl-2
      overexpressed OVCAR3, OV-90 and SKOV3DDP cells , and inhibited growth and induced
      apoptosis ,and increased cisplain killing of the bcl-2 overexpressed cells in a
      does and time-dependant manner in vitro. CONCLUSION: Bcl-2 level positively
      correlated with sensitivity to cisplain. Treatment with TW-37 was effective alone
      and in combination with cisplain in bcl-2 overexpressed OC cell lines in vitro.
      Thus, TW-37 may be a useful therapeutic agent for OCs.

PMID- 25823947
TI  - Association between anemia and multiple sclerosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The relationship between multiple sclerosis (MS) and anemia has
      not been clarified sufficiently. In this retrospective, cross-sectional, case
      control study we evaluated in MS patients: (1) prevalence of anemia relative to
      sex- and age-matched controls; (2) relationships between patients' demographic,
      clinical and drug-related characteristics and anemia; (3) effect of anemia on the
      risk of developing MS. METHODS: 187 consecutive MS patients (51 males, mean age
      (+/-SD) 44.5 +/- 10.7 years) and 200 controls (56 males, mean age 45.5 +/- 12
      years) were included in the study. Anemia was defined as hemoglobin <12 g/dl for
      females and <13 g/dl for males. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in
      the prevalence of anemia between MS patients and controls (35 (18.7%) and 19
      (9.5%), respectively, p = 0.009). We did not find any association between
      patients' characteristics and anemia. The occurrence of anemia increased more
      than twice the risk of developing MS (odds ratio: 2.19, 95% confidence interval
      1.19-4.0). CONCLUSION: Our study showed a consistent association between anemia
      and MS.

PMID- 25823948
TI  - Increased yield of high purity recombinant human brain natriuretic peptide by
      acid hydrolysis of short fusion partner in Escherichia coli.
AB  - Recombinant human B-type natriuretic peptide (rhBNP) is a 32-amino acid peptide
      used to treat congestive heart failure. In this paper, we report a method for the
      increased production of rhBNP in Escherichia coli with high purity. hBNP was
      cloned with a short growth hormone fusion partner coupled with a unique acid
      labile dipeptide linker to cleave the fusion protein to release the rhBNP. The
      recombinant fusion protein was expressed as an inclusion body (IB) and the
      fermentation process was optimized to produce on large scale. The IBs were
      recovered by cell lysis, and the pure IBs were directly treated with diluted acid
      to get the target peptide from the fusion protein and the resultant peptide was
      purified by reversed phase chromatography. The final purity of the rhBNP was more
      than 99% with yield of 50mg per liter of culture, which is ten times higher than
      the previous reports. The purified rhBNP exhibited specific biological activity
      similar to the standard peptide in producing cyclic-guanosine monophosphate. 

PMID- 25823949
TI  - Complementary spin-Hall and inverse spin-galvanic effect torques in a
      ferromagnet/semiconductor bilayer.
AB  - Recently discovered relativistic spin torques induced by a lateral current at a
      ferromagnet/paramagnet interface are a candidate spintronic technology for a new
      generation of electrically controlled magnetic memory devices. The focus of our
      work is to experimentally disentangle the perceived two model physical mechanisms
      of the relativistic spin torques, one driven by the spin-Hall effect and the
      other one by the inverse spin-galvanic effect. Here, we show a vector analysis of
      the torques in a prepared epitaxial transition-metal ferromagnet/semiconductor
      paramagnet single-crystal structure by means of the all-electrical ferromagnetic
      resonance technique. By choice of our structure in which the semiconductor
      paramagnet has a Dresselhaus crystal inversion asymmetry, the system is
      favourable for separating the torques due to the inverse spin-galvanic effect and
      spin-Hall effect mechanisms into the field-like and antidamping-like components,
      respectively. Since they contribute to distinct symmetry torque components, the
      two microscopic mechanisms do not compete but complement each other in our
      system. 

PMID- 25823950
TI  - 2015 golden helix symposium - next generation pharmacogenomics. March 11-13,
      2015, kuala lumpur, malaysia: abstracts.

PMID- 25823952
TI  - Blood transcriptomic markers for major depression: from animal models to clinical
      settings.
AB  - Depression is a heterogeneous disorder and, similar to other spectrum disorders,
      its manifestation varies by age of onset, severity, comorbidity, treatment
      responsiveness, and other factors. A laboratory blood test based on specific
      biomarkers for major depressive disorder (MDD) and its subgroups could increase
      diagnostic accuracy and expedite the initiation of treatment. We identified
      candidate blood biomarkers by examining genome-wide expression differences in the
      blood of animal models representing both the genetic and environmental/stress
      etiologies of depression. Human orthologs of the resulting transcript panel were
      tested in pilot studies. Transcript abundance of 11 blood markers differentiated
      adolescent subjects with early-onset MDD from adolescents with no disorder (ND).
      A set of partly overlapping transcripts distinguished adolescent patients who had
      comorbid anxiety disorders from those with only MDD. In adults, blood levels of
      nine transcripts discerned subjects with MDD from ND controls. Even though
      cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) resulted in remission of some patients, the
      levels of three transcripts consistently signaled prior MDD status. A
      coexpression network of transcripts seems to predict responsiveness to CBT. Thus,
      our approach can be developed into clinically valid diagnostic panels of blood
      transcripts for different manifestations of MDD, potentially reducing diagnostic
      heterogeneity and advancing individualized treatment strategies. 

PMID- 25823951
TI  - Urinary triclosan concentrations are inversely associated with body mass index
      and waist circumference in the US general population: Experience in NHANES 2003
      2010.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Humans are extensively exposed to triclosan, an antibacterial and
      antifungal agent. Triclosan's effects on human health, however, have not been
      carefully investigated. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether triclosan exposure is
      associated with obesity traits. METHODS: This study included 2898 children (6-19
      years old) and 5066 adults (20 years or older) who participated in the National
      Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) 2003-2010 and had a detectable
      level of urinary triclosan. Multiple linear regression models were used to
      examine the association between urinary triclosan and both body mass index (BMI)
      and waist circumference. RESULTS: Each standard deviation increase in urinary
      triclosan was associated with a 0.34 (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.05, 0.64)
      kg/m2 lower level of BMI (P=0.02) and 0.92 (95% CI: 0.09, 1.74)cm smaller waist
      circumference (P=0.03) in boys, and a 0.62 (95% CI: 0.31, 0.94) kg/m2 lower level
      of BMI (P=0.0002) and 1.32 (95% CI: 0.54, 2.09) cm smaller waist circumference in
      girls (P=0.001); a 0.42 (95% CI: 0.06, 0.77) kg/m2 lower level of BMI (P=0.02)
      and 1.35 (95% CI: 0.48, 2.22) cm smaller waist circumference (P=0.003) in men,
      and a 0.71 (95% CI: 0.34, 1.07) kg/m2 lower level of BMI (P=0.0002) and 1.68 (95%
      CI: 0.86, 2.50) cm smaller waist circumference (P=0.0001) in women. In both
      children and adults, there was a consistent trend for lower levels of BMI and
      smaller waist circumference with increasing levels of urinary triclosan, from the
      lowest to the highest quartile of urinary triclosan (P <= 0.001 in all cases).
      CONCLUSION: Triclosan exposure is inversely associated with BMI and waist
      circumference. The biological mechanisms linking triclosan exposure to obesity
      await further investigation.

PMID- 25823953
TI  - The diagnostic role of (18)F fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in
      patients with fever of unknown origin.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Identification of aetiology for fever of unknown origin (FUO) is
      challenging, due to the high rates of undiagnosed cases. The current diagnostic
      approach includes initially first-line procedures such as general examination and
      various laboratory tests and basic imaging techniques followed by second-line
      tests such as more advanced imaging techniques including (18)F fluorodeoxyglucose
      positron emission tomography (FDG PET) and tissue biopsies. If no diagnosis is
      obtained, more invasive measures may be in order such as liver biopsy and
      exploratory laparotomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This review article is based on
      the relative published material found on MEDLINE and PubMed up to August 2014. We
      looked for the terms 'fever of unknown origin, FDG PET' in combination with
      'cancer, infection and autoimmune disease'. RESULTS: Several clinical studies
      have investigated the utility of the FDG PET during the diagnostic approach of
      FUO. Recent evidence suggests that FDG PET has the advantage of total body
      imaging and may depict all common causes of FUO such as infections, noninfectious
      inflammatory causes and tumours because they all exhibit glucose hypermetabolism.
      Depiction of an abnormal lesion on FDG PET could guide clinicians to the next
      diagnostic procedure (another imaging method, culture, biopsy or surgery) to
      establish the diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Emerging evidence suggests that FDG PET,
      when available, may provide critical diagnostic information early during
      evaluation of FUO.

PMID- 25823955
TI  - Investigating the Postmortem Molecular Biology of Cartilage and its Potential
      Forensic Applications.
AB  - This study investigated the postmortem molecular changes that articular cartilage
      undergoes following burial. Fresh pig trotters were interred in 30-cm-deep graves
      at two distinct locations exhibiting dissimilar soil environments for up to 42
      days. Extracts of the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and metatarsophalangeal (MTP)
      joint cartilage from trotters disinterred weekly over 6 weeks were analyzed by
      Western blot against the monoclonal antibody 2-B-6 to assess aggrecan
      degradation. In both soil conditions, aggrecan degradation by-products of
      decreasing molecular size and complexity were observed up to 21 days postmortem.
      Degradation products were undetected after this time and coincided with MCP/MTP
      joint exposure to the soil environment. These results show that cartilage
      proteoglycans undergo an ordered molecular breakdown, the analysis of which may
      have forensic applications. This model may prove useful for use as a human model
      and for forensic investigations concerning crimes against animals and the
      mortality of endangered species. 

PMID- 25823956
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25376643.

PMID- 25823954
TI  - The role of CD8 T lymphocytes in rickettsial infections.
AB  - Arthropod-borne obligately intracellular bacteria pose a difficult challenge to
      the immune system. The genera Rickettsia, Orientia, Ehrlichia, and Anaplasma
      evolved mechanisms of immune evasion, and each interacts differently with the
      immune system. The roles of CD8 T cells include protective immunity and
      immunopathology. In Rickettsia infections, CD8 T cells are protective mediated in
      part by cytotoxicity toward infected cells. In contrast, TNF-alpha overproduction
      by CD8 T cells is pathogenic in lethal ehrlichiosis by induction of
      apoptosis/necrosis in hepatocytes. Yet, CD8 T cells, along with CD4 T cells and
      antibodies, also contribute to protective immunity in ehrlichial infections. In
      granulocytic anaplasmosis, CD8 T cells impact pathogen control modestly but could
      contribute to immunopathology by virtue of their dysfunction. While preliminary
      evidence indicates that CD8 T cells are important in protection against Orientia
      tsutsugamushi, mechanistic studies have been neglected. Valid animal models will
      enable experiments to elucidate protective and pathologic immune mechanisms. The
      public health need for vaccines against these agents of human disease, most
      clearly O. tsutsugamushi, and the veterinary diseases, canine monocytotropic
      ehrlichiosis (Ehrlichia canis), heartwater (Ehrlichia ruminantium), and bovine
      anaplasmosis (A. marginale), requires detailed immunity and immunopathology
      investigations, including the roles of CD8 T lymphocytes. 

PMID- 25823957
TI  - [Perioperative anemia correction in Patient Blood Management programs: Lights and
      shadows].

PMID- 25823958
TI  - Secukinumab in psoriasis: randomized, controlled phase 3 trial results assessing
      the potential to improve treatment response in partial responders (STATURE).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Secukinumab, an anti-interleukin-17A monoclonal antibody, has
      demonstrated rapid and sustained efficacy in phase 3 psoriasis trials.
      OBJECTIVES: To examine whether partial responders could achieve improved
      responses with intravenous (IV) secukinumab vs. the same or a higher subcutaneous
      (SC) dose. METHODS: Forty-three participants with moderate-to-severe psoriasis
      and partial response [Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score improvement
      of >= 50% but < 75%] after 12 weeks of 300 or 150 mg SC secukinumab therapy were
      randomized 1 : 1 to secukinumab 10 mg kg(-1) IV (baseline, weeks 2 and 4,
      respectively) or secukinumab 300 mg SC (baseline, week 4). All participants
      subsequently received secukinumab 300 mg SC every 4 weeks (weeks 8-36). Co
      primary end points were PASI 75 and Investigator's Global Assessment [2011
      modified version (IGA mod 2011)] 0/1 response rates at week 8 (IV vs. SC).
      RESULTS: Higher IGA mod 2011 0/1 response rates (66.7% vs. 33.3%; P = 0.03) and a
      trend towards higher PASI 75 response rates (90.5% vs. 66.7%; P = 0.06) were
      observed with secukinumab IV vs. SC at week 8. The primary objective was not met,
      as the difference was not significant for both co-primary end points. Improved
      responses in both groups were maintained at week 40 in most participants. Safety
      profiles for IV and SC secukinumab were similar. The trial was underpowered owing
      to its small sample size. CONCLUSIONS: Improved response may be attained in
      patients with psoriasis achieving partial response after 12 weeks of SC
      secukinumab treatment by continued dosing with 300 mg SC or treatment with higher
      doses.

PMID- 25823959
TI  - Psychological aspects of hyperandrogenic states in late adolescent and young
      women.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The psychosocial implications of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
      phenotypes have been investigated in different patient populations, but little
      attention was paid to adolescent and young women. The aim of this study was to
      evaluate the psychosocial correlates of PCOS and other hyperandrogenic states in
      a population of late adolescent and young females and to provide a psychological
      characterization of specific clinical hyperandrogenic phenotypes. DESIGN: This
      was a cross-sectional study. PATIENTS: High school female students, aged 16-19
      years. MEASUREMENTS: The study protocol was designed with three possible levels
      of participation characterized by an increased level of commitment. For the
      specific purposes of this investigation, we focused on the subsamples of students
      whose clinical state was assessed by medical examination (n = 835) and for whom
      additional laboratory tests were available (n = 394). Psychological evaluation
      encompassed psychological distress, levels of stress, well-being, illness
      behaviour and quality of life (as measured by the Symptom Questionnaire, the
      Psychosocial Index and the Psychological Well-Being scales). RESULTS:
      Significantly higher levels of psychological distress and impaired well-being and
      quality of life were found among late adolescent and young women with isolated
      clinical hyperandrogenism compared to their normal counterparts. Furthermore,
      females with PCOS showed significantly greater hostility/irritability compared to
      healthy control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of
      early recognizing and adequately managing psychological distress in such
      patients.

PMID- 25823961
TI  - Silver intercalation in SPS dense TiS2: staging and thermoelectric properties.
AB  - Polycrystalline samples in the series AgxTiS2 with x varying from 0 to 0.2 were
      prepared using solid-liquid-vapor reaction and spark plasma sintering. Depending
      on the x content, it is found that different stages can occur with intercalation,
      from the so-called 1T-TiS2 (stage 1) to ordered Ag1/6TiS2 (stage 2). Randomly
      intercalated Ag cations in the van der Waals gap of stage 1 and stage 2 based
      TiS2 structures induce a strong decrease of lattice thermal conductivity through
      structural disorder. A decrease in electrical resistivity and the absolute value
      of the Seebeck coefficient with increasing Ag content supports also the charge
      transfer to the Ti 3d conduction band, enhancing the power factor in the specific
      temperature range. Thus, the combined effects of Ag intercalation are beneficial
      to the improvement in ZT, reaching around 0.45 at 700 K in Ag intercalated
      compounds. 

PMID- 25823960
TI  - Novel mechanism of cardiac protection by valsartan: synergetic roles of TGF-beta1
      and HIF-1alpha in Ang II-mediated fibrosis after myocardial infarction.
AB  - Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 is a known factor in angiotensin II (Ang
      II)-mediated cardiac fibrosis after myocardial infarction (MI). Hypoxia inducible
      factor-1 (Hif-1alpha) was recently demonstrated to involve in the tissue fibrosis
      and influenced by Ang II. However, whether Hif-1alpha contributed to the Ang II
      mediated cardiac fibrosis after MI, and whether interaction or synergetic roles
      between Hif-1alpha and TGF-beta pathways existed in the process was unclear. In
      vitro, cardiac cells were incubated under hypoxia or Ang II to mimic ischaemia.
      In vivo, valsartan was intravenously injected into Sprague-Dawley rats with MI
      daily for 1 week; saline and hydralazine (another anti-hypertensive agent like
      valsartan) was used as control. The fibrosis-related proteins were detected by
      Western blotting. Cardiac structure and function were assessed with multimodality
      methods. We demonstrated in vitro that hypoxia would induce the up-regulation of
      Ang II, TGF-beta/Smad and Hif-1alpha, which further induced collagen
      accumulation. By blocking with valsartan, a blocker of Ang II type I (AT1)
      receptor, we confirmed that the up-regulation of TGF-beta/Smad and Hif-1alpha was
      through the Ang II-mediated pathway. By administering TGF-beta or
      dimethyloxalylglycine, we determined that both TGF-beta/Smad and Hif-1alpha
      contributed to Ang II-mediated collagen accumulation and a synergetic effect
      between them was observed. Consistent with in vitro results, valsartan
      significantly attenuated the expression of TGF-beta/Smad, Hif-1alpha and fibrosis
      related protein in rats after MI. Heart function, infarcted size, wall thickness
      as well as myocardial vascularization of ischaemic hearts were also significantly
      improved by valsartan compared with saline and hydralazine. Our study may provide
      novel insights into the mechanisms of Ang II-induced cardiac fibrosis as well as
      into the cardiac protection of valsartan.

PMID- 25823962
TI  - Design, synthesis, and characterization of SO2-containing
      azabicyclo[3.n.1]alkanes: promising building blocks for drug discovery.
AB  - A set of novel SO2-containing azabicyclo[3.n.1]alkanes has been synthesized by
      the double-Mannich annulation of of the corresponding monocyclic S-ketones. These
      compounds have been rationally designed as 3D-shaped, conformationally restricted
      SO2-containing building blocks for drug discovery. 

PMID- 25823963
TI  - Population pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of piperacillin and tazobactam
      administered by prolonged infusion in obese and nonobese patients.
AB  - The study objective was to evaluate the population pharmacokinetics and
      pharmacodynamics of piperacillin and tazobactam administered by prolonged
      infusion in obese and nonobese patients. Twenty-seven patients (total body weight
      [TBW], 60 to 211 kg; body mass index [BMI], 19.6 to 72.9 kg/m(2) ) received 4.5
      or 6.75 g every 8 hours, infused over 4 hours, and serum concentrations were
      measured at steady state. Population pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated
      using NONMEM, and Monte Carlo simulations were performed for three 4-hour dosing
      regimens to calculate probability of target attainment (PTA) at >=50% fT>MIC.A 1
      compartment linear-elimination model best fit the pharmacokinetic data for
      piperacillin and tazobactam. Creatinine clearance (CRCL), TBW, and BMI were
      significantly associated with piperacillin pharmacokinetics, and CRCL was
      significantly associated with tazobactam pharmacokinetics. Clearance and volume
      of distribution for piperacillin and tazobactam were significantly different
      between obese and nonobese patients (P < .05). At MICs <= 16 mg/L, PTA was >90%
      for dosing regimens >=3.375 g every 8 hours in nonobese patients and >= 4.5 g
      every 8 hours in obese patients. Piperacillin and tazobactam pharmacokinetics are
      altered in obesity, and 4.5 g every 8 hours infused over 4 hours should be
      recommended for empiric therapy in obese patients.

PMID- 25823964
TI  - Surface Segregation in Bimetallic Nanoparticles: A Critical Issue in
      Electrocatalyst Engineering.
AB  - Bimetallic nanoparticles are a class of important electrocatalyst. They exhibit a
      synergistic effect that critically depends on the surface composition, which
      determines the surface properties and the adsorption/desorption behavior of the
      reactants and intermediates during catalysis. The surface composition can be
      varied, as nanoparticles are exposed to certain environments through surface
      segregation. Thermodynamically, this is caused by a difference in surface energy
      between the two metals. It may lead to the enrichment of one metal on the surface
      and the other in the core. The external conditions that influence the surface
      energy may lead to the variation of the thermodynamic steady state of the
      particle surface and, thus, offer a chance to vary the surface composition. In
      this review, the most recent and important progress in surface segregation of
      bimetallic nanoparticles and its impact in electrocatalysis are introduced.
      Typical segregation inducements and surface characterization techniques are
      discussed in detail. It is concluded that surface segregation is a critical issue
      when designing bimetallic catalysts. It is necessary to explore methods to
      control it and utilize it as a way towards producing robust, bimetallic
      electrocatalysts. 

PMID- 25823965
TI  - Evolutionary dynamics of retrotransposons following autopolyploidy in the Buckler
      Mustard species complex.
AB  - Long terminal repeat retrotransposons (LTR-RTs) represent a major fraction of
      plant genomes, but processes leading to transposition bursts remain elusive.
      Polyploidy expectedly leads to LTR-RT proliferation, as the merging of divergent
      diploids provokes a genome shock activating LTR-RTs and/or genetic redundancy
      supports the accumulation of active LTR-RTs through relaxation of selective
      constraints. Available evidence supports interspecific hybridization as the main
      trigger of genome dynamics, but few studies have addressed the consequences of
      intraspecific polyploidy (i.e. autopolyploidy), where the genome shock is
      expectedly minimized. The dynamics of LTR-RTs was thus here evaluated through low
      coverage 454 sequencing of three closely related diploid progenitors and three
      independent autotetraploids from the young Biscutella laevigata species complex.
      Genomes from this early diverging Brassicaceae lineage presented a minimum of 40%
      repeats and a large diversity of transposable elements. Differential abundances
      and patterns of sequence divergence among genomes for 37 LTR-RT families revealed
      contrasted dynamics during species diversification. Quiescent LTR-RT families
      with limited genetic variation among genomes were distinguished from active
      families (37.8%) having proliferated in specific taxa. Specific families
      proliferated in autopolyploids only, but most transpositionally active families
      in polyploids were also differentiated among diploids. Low expression levels of
      transpositionally active LTR-RT families in autopolyploids further supported that
      genome shock and redundancy are non-mutually exclusive triggers of LTR-RT
      proliferation. Although reputed stable, autopolyploid genomes show LTR-RT
      fractions presenting analogies with polyploids between widely divergent genomes. 

PMID- 25823966
TI  - Effects of seasonal changes in dietary energy on body weight of captive Japanese
      macaques (Macaca fuscata).
AB  - Food availability varies seasonally for wild animals, and body weight fluctuates
      accordingly in the wild. In contrast, controlling availability of diet under
      captive condition is difficult from keepers' standpoint, and monotonous diet
      often causes health problems in captive animals. We evaluated the effects of a
      seasonally controlled diet on body weight of captive Japanese macaques (Macaca
      fuscata) in an outside enclosure at Ueno Zoo, Tokyo, Japan. We fed a high-energy
      diet in spring and fall, and a more restricted diet in summer and winter for 3
      years (2011-2013). Seasonal changes in body weight were similar to those that
      occur in wild macaques: for both sexes, body weight was higher in spring and fall
      and lower in winter. A decrease in body weight between fall and winter occurred
      only in adults, which implied that reducing dietary intake in winter had a more
      severe effect on adults than on juveniles. Different from wild populations, the
      body weight of captive macaques did not decrease between spring and summer, which
      we attributed to a lack of movement within the enclosure and to excess energy
      intake in summer. In addition to controlling dietary composition, providing large
      enclosure with complex structure and making efforts of giving unpredictability in
      feeding are necessary to motivate the captive animals to be more active, which
      would cause the macaques to show seasonal change in body weight, which is found
      in wild.

PMID- 25823967
TI  - Torsade de pointes tachycardia in a patient on dronedarone therapy.
AB  - Dronedarone is a promising, relatively new antiarrhythmic agent characterized by
      structural similarities to amiodarone but without amiodarone's severe organ
      toxicity. The proarrhythmic potential of dronedarone, however, is of increasing
      concern. We describe a 76-year-old woman who had been receiving dronedarone 400
      mg twice/day to prevent recurrent atrial tachycardia with rapid ventricular
      response. Several months later, she came to the emergency department with
      decompensated congestive heart failure and episodes of atrial tachycardia;
      digoxin 0.5 mg and furosemide 40 mg were administered intravenously. Thereafter
      nonsustained torsade de pointes (TdP) tachycardia occurred. She was transferred
      to the intensive care unit where a dose of amiodarone 150 mg was administered
      intravenously by mistake. Thereafter, the patient showed sustained TdP
      necessitating cardiac resuscitation. Dronedarone was discontinued, and digoxin
      and amiodarone were not administered again. Under dronedarone a relevant QT
      prolongation was documented that was additionally augmented after concomitant
      treatment with digoxin and amiodarone. Use of the Naranjo adverse drug reaction
      probability scale indicated a probable adverse drug reaction to dronedarone
      (score of 7). To our knowledge, this is the first case report of a patient who
      experienced TdP tachycardias while receiving dronedarone therapy in connection
      with a worsening of heart failure and possible drug interactions with digoxin and
      amiodarone. Clinicians should be aware of this potential adverse drug reaction
      and perform repeated heart rate-corrected QT (QTc) interval measurements as well
      as screening for congestive heart failure in patients receiving dronedarone
      therapy. 

PMID- 25823968
TI  - Oligomer-coated carbon nanotube chemiresistive sensors for selective detection of
      nitroaromatic explosives.
AB  - High-performance chemiresistive sensors were made using a porous thin film of
      single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated with a carbazolylethynylene (Tg-Car)
      oligomer for trace vapor detection of nitroaromatic explosives. The sensors
      detect low concentrations of 4-nitrotoluene (NT), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT),
      and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) vapors at ppb to ppt levels. The sensors also show
      high selectivity to NT from other common organic reagents at significantly higher
      vapor concentrations. Furthermore, by using Tg-Car/CNT sensors and uncoated CNT
      sensors in parallel, differential sensing of NT, TNT, and DNT vapors was
      achieved. This work provides a methodology to create selective CNT-based sensors
      and sensor arrays. 

PMID- 25823969
TI  - Patient perspectives on radiation dose: reporting a survey of patient opinions.
AB  - With the marked increase in the number of CT scans, nuclear medicine tests and
      interventional radiological procedures, it is no longer possible to ignore the
      patients' increasingly vocal question: how much radiation is too much? The
      Powerful Patient conducted a survey of patient opinions in March-May 2014 to
      gather patient input for the International Conference on Radiation Protection in
      Medicine. Patients are eager to work with their physicians and radiology
      professionals to gather the data needed to answer their very real concerns. They
      clearly know and appreciate the value of these applications of radiation but want
      to use them wisely and without long-term consequences. 

PMID- 25823970
TI  - A Straightforward Method for Preparing Well-Defined Responsive Diselenide
      Containing Polymers Based on ATRP.
AB  - Diselenide-containing polymers are facilely synthesized from polymers prepared by
      atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Benefiting from the ATRP technology,
      this protocol provides a flexible route for controlling the polymer structure,
      which allows for a great variety of architectures of selenium-containing polymer
      materials for applications in various fields. The oxidative and reductive
      responsive behavior of the obtained diselenide-containing polymers is also
      investigated. 

PMID- 25823972
TI  - Effect of various levels of dietary curcumin on meat quality and antioxidant
      profile of breast muscle in broilers.
AB  - The aim of this study was to determine the effects of curcumin on meat quality
      and antioxidant profile of breast muscle in broilers. In experiment 1, birds were
      fed basal diet with an additional 0, 50, 100, or 200 mg/kg curcumin,
      respectively. The results showed that dietary curcumin significantly increased
      the redness values of meat, catalase activity, and ABTS radical scavenging
      activity and decreased drip loss at 48 h. In experiment 2, birds reared under
      heat stress were assigned to similar treatments as experiment 1. Significant
      differences in the redox status of breast muscle were observed between the
      control and heat stress groups. The various levels of curcumin significantly
      prevented reactive oxygen species overproduction, enhanced the antioxidant
      defense system, and alleviated the abnormal change of antioxidant-related gene
      expression of muscle in heat-stressed birds. It was concluded that curcumin, as a
      potential antioxidant, improved meat quality and oxidant stability of muscle in
      broilers, whereas the inclusion of 50 and 100 mg/kg would be more efficient. 

PMID- 25823973
TI  - Evidence for hydrophobic catalysis of DNA strand exchange.
AB  - The catalytic role of hydrophobic co-solutes in DNA strand exchange is
      demonstrated by FRET kinetics. Two mechanisms that contribute to this are base
      stacking destabilisation and nucleation-promoted DNA strand invasion. We propose
      that hydrophobic catalysis is involved in the strand-exchange activity of
      recombination enzymes. 

PMID- 25823974
TI  - RHOA mutation in diffuse-type gastric cancer: a comparative clinicopathology
      analysis of 87 cases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent studies have discovered recurrent RHOA mutations in diffuse
      type gastric cancers. These reports show mutant RhoA is an important cancer
      driver and is a potential therapeutic target. This study aims to investigate the
      clinicopathological features of diffuse-type gastric cancers with RHOA mutation.
      METHODS: We performed a thorough review of 87 diffuse-type gastric cancers,
      including 22 RHOA-mutated and 65 RHOA wild-type gastric cancers. RESULTS: Most
      advanced tumors with RHOA mutation appeared as Borrmann type 3 lesions (81 %)
      developing in the middle (50 %) or distal (32 %) third of the stomach.
      Histologically, although all of the tumors were predominantly or exclusively
      composed of poorly cohesive carcinoma, limited tubular differentiation was also
      observed in 73 % of the RHOA-mutated tumors. Notably, RHOA-mutated tumors more
      frequently showed a permeative growth pattern at the edge of the mucosal area (59
      %) compared with RHOA wild-type tumors (29 %, P = 0.0202). Additionally, the size
      ratios of the deeply invasive components to the mucosal components were
      significantly lower in RHOA-mutated tumors [less than 1.45 (median) in 68 % of
      cases] than in RHOA wild-type tumors (less than 1.45 in 42 % of cases, P =
      0.0482). RHOA mutation did not significantly impact survival in this study.
      CONCLUSIONS: These observations suggest that RHOA mutation may be associated with
      the growth patterns of diffuse-type gastric cancer but have a limited prognostic
      impact in isolation. Further studies, including analyses of the other alterations
      involving the RhoA pathways, such as CLDN18-ARHGAP fusion, as well as functional
      studies of mutant RhoA, are necessary to clarify the significance of alterations
      in the RhoA-signaling pathway in diffuse-type gastric cancers.

PMID- 25823976
TI  - Detection of phosphatidyl serine on activated platelets' surface by flow
      cytometry in whole blood: a simpler test for the diagnosis of Scott syndrome.

PMID- 25823975
TI  - Efficacy and safety of perampanel in adolescent patients with drug-resistant
      partial seizures in three double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase III randomized
      clinical studies and a combined extension study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Assess perampanel's efficacy and safety as adjunctive therapy in
      adolescents (ages 12-17) with drug-resistant partial seizures. METHODS:
      Adolescent patients enrolled in multinational, double-blind, placebo-controlled,
      phase III core studies (studies 304, 305, or 306) completed 19-week, double-blind
      phase (6-week titration/13-week maintenance) with once-daily perampanel or
      placebo. Upon completion, patients were eligible for the extension (study 307),
      beginning with 16-week, blinded conversion, during which placebo patients
      switched to perampanel. Patients then entered the open-label treatment. RESULTS:
      Of 1480 patients from the core studies, 143 were adolescents. Pooled adolescent
      data from these core studies demonstrated median percent decreases in seizure
      frequency for perampanel 8 mg (34.8%) and 12 mg (35.6%) were approximately twice
      that of placebo (18.0%). Responder rates increased with perampanel 8 mg (40.9%)
      and 12 mg (45.0%) versus placebo (22.2%). Adolescents receiving concomitant
      enzyme-inducing antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) had smaller reductions in seizure
      frequency (8 mg:31.6%; 12 mg:26.8%) than those taking non-inducing AEDs (8
      mg:54.6%; 12 mg:52.7%). Relative to pre-perampanel baseline, seizure frequency
      and responder rates during the extension (Weeks 1-52) improved with perampanel.
      Most commonly reported adverse events in adolescents during the core studies were
      dizziness (20.4%), somnolence (15.3%), aggression (8.2%), decreased appetite
      (6.1%), and rhinitis (5.1%). Dizziness (13.2%), somnolence (11.6%), and
      aggression (6.6%) most often led to perampanel interruption/dose adjustment
      during the extension. SIGNIFICANCE: Data demonstrated adjunctive perampanel
      treatment in adolescents with drug-resistant partial seizures produced better
      seizure control versus placebo, sustained seizure frequency improvements, and a
      generally favorable safety profile. Results were comparable to the overall study
      population. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifiers: Study
      304: NCT00699972; 305: NCT00699582; 306: NCT00700310; Study 307: NCT00735397.

PMID- 25823977
TI  - Five-day Azithromycin Treatment Regimen for Mycoplasma genitalium Infection Also
      Effectively Eradicates Chlamydia trachomatis.

PMID- 25823978
TI  - Infrared spectroscopy of N2 adsorption on size selected cobalt cluster cations in
      isolation.
AB  - We report IR active N2 stretching frequencies in isolated and size selected
      cobalt cluster nitrogen adsorbate complexes, [Con(N2)1](+) as recorded by virtue
      of InfraRed Photon Dissociation (IRPD) spectroscopy. The observed frequencies of
      the [Con(N2)1](+) complexes (n = 8-17) are significantly redshifted (2180 to 2290
      cm(-1)) with respect to the IR inactive vibrations of free N2 (2359 cm(-1)).
      These bands are assigned to a MU1 head-on type of coordination of the N2 to the
      cobalt cluster surface, revealing remarkable cluster size dependent features to
      interpret. 

PMID- 25823979
TI  - Silica nanoparticle suspensions under confinement of thin liquid films.
AB  - The paper deals with the effect of geometrical confinement on the structuring of
      Silica nanoparticle suspensions in thin films. The confinement is produced by a
      Colloidal Probe AFM. Approaching of the two outer surface leads to oscillatory
      forces. The force profile reflects the pair correlation function and its period
      the average distance between the nanoparticles under confinement. The
      nanoparticle structuring is compared to the particle distribution in bulk by
      small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The SAXS structure factor which presents the
      Fourier transform of the pair correlation function gives the same interparticle
      distance for the bulk as the oscillation period of the AFM force curves. The
      distance scales with particle number density rho as rho(-1/3) and is very robust
      against different suspension parameters (nanoparticle size, ionic strength) and
      parameters of the outer surfaces (surface potential, roughness and elasticity). 

PMID- 25823980
TI  - Tumor necrosis after preventive embolization of large renal angiomyolipomas.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate tumor
      necrosis following preventive embolization in patients with renal angiomyolipoma
      (RAML) at high risk of bleeding. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Arterial embolization was
      performed in 24 patients (22 women, 2 men; mean age, 43+/-13 years) with a total
      of 30 RAMLs (mean volume, 137 cm(3)+/-163) between 1996 and 2012. Two sub-groups
      of patients were identified and further compared based on the presence or not of
      necrosis following arterial embolization. RESULTS: The technical and clinical
      success rates of arterial embolization of RAMLs were 97% and 87%, respectively.
      The mean initial volume of RAMLs differed between the two sub-groups with 331
      cm(3) in the group with tumor necrosis and 88 cm(3) in the group without tumor
      necrosis (P=0.0047). High-fat content RAMLs were predominantly observed in the
      necrosis group and the mean volume reduction observed for high-fat RAMLs was 65%
      whereas it was 36% for low-fat content RAMLs. The six patients who developed RAML
      necrosis had arterial embolization using microspheres (one patient with
      microspheres alone and five with a combination of microspheres and metallic
      coils). All necrotic RAMLs displayed arterial dysplasia. CONCLUSION: The risk of
      tumor necrosis is higher for larger RAMLs. The role of distal arterial
      embolization with microspheres in tumor necrosis in RAML is suggested by the
      results of our study but could not be definitely demonstrated statistically due
      to the limited sample size.

PMID- 25823981
TI  - Primary plasmacytic hepatic lymphoma mimicking hepatocellular tumor on MR
      imaging.

PMID- 25823982
TI  - Imaging of adductor-related groin pain.
AB  - Groin pain is a common condition in athletes and results from various causes.
      Osteitis pubis, adductor dysfunction, inguinal hernia, or a combination of all
      three entities, generally explains the onset of symptoms. Adductor longus
      tendinopathy is the main cause of adductor-related groin pain. It leads to a
      significant reduction of sports participation and can require surgical
      management. Diagnosis is based on ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging.
      Asymptomatic findings (tendinosis, calcifications, cortical erosions) are common
      in athletes and care should be taken when assessing groin pain. The most specific
      sign of tendinopathy is an intratendinous tear of the adductor longus. 

PMID- 25823983
TI  - Magnetic diffusion anomaly at the Neel temperature of pyrrhotite, Fe(1-x)S.
AB  - Cation diffusion is an important rate-limiting process in the growth of
      pyrrhotite (Fe1-xS) in passivating films on steels exposed to sulfidic
      environments, and for proposed synthetic applications of Fe1-xS, for example
      single-phase magnetic switching devices. Above the Neel temperature TN of 315 
      degrees C, where Fe1-xS is paramagnetic and structurally disordered, iron self
      diffusivity *DFe predictably follows a standard, established Arrhenius law with
      temperature. However, we report (57)Fe tracer diffusion measurements below TN,
      obtained using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), that demonstrate a 100
      fold reduction in diffusion coefficient as compared to the extrapolated,
      paramagnetic Arrhenius trend at 150  degrees C. The results can be described by a
      magnetic diffusion anomaly, where the vacancy migration energy for the
      spontaneously-magnetized cation sublattice is increased by approximately 40% over
      the paramagnetic state. These constitute the first set of consistent diffusivity
      data obtained in magnetic pyrrhotite, allowing more accurate prediction of
      pyrrhotite growth rates and determination of magnetic properties for synthetic
      devices. 

PMID- 25823984
TI  - Glial and axonal perikaryal coverage and somatic spines in the posterodorsal
      medial amygdala of male and cycling female rats.
AB  - The posterodorsal medial amygdala (MePD) is a sex-steroid-sensitive area that
      modulates reproductive behavior in rats. The volume of the neuronal cell body,
      density of dendritic spines, and glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactivity
      are sexually dimorphic or affected by gonadal hormones in the MePD. Here we add
      new data to this panorama and describe the ultrastructure of the glial and axonal
      coverage of the perikaryal membrane and the somatic spines in the MePD of males
      and cycling females (in diestrus, early proestrus, late proestrus, and estrus).
      Transmission electron microscopy data (mean values from seven to 11 neurons per
      rat, five or six animals per group) showed that the rat MePD has most of the
      perikaryal membrane covered by glial processes and a relatively large amount (up
      to 40%) of axonal processes contacting the neuronal cell body. No statistically
      significant difference was found between groups for these somatic coverages (P >
      0.5). However, the density of somatic spines along the length of the perikaryal
      membrane was higher in the late proestrus than in estrus (P < 0.05), and somatic
      spines in early and late proestrus showed variable shapes with stubby/wide, thin,
      mushroom-like, ramified, transitional or atypical aspects. These findings add to
      the rapid adjustable synaptic changes in the MePD and in the integrated neural
      circuits that control neuroendocrine secretion and the hormonally modulated
      timely display of social behaviors in rats.

PMID- 25823985
TI  - High Impact of Histopathological Remission for Prognosis after Perioperative
      Chemotherapy with ECF and ECF-Like Regimens for Gastric and Gastroesophageal
      Adenocarcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Perioperative chemotherapy with epirubicin, cisplatin and 5
      fluorouracil (5-FU) (ECF)-like regimens is the European standard for patients
      with adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) or gastric body (GaCa)
      stage UICC II/III (staged according to the Union for International Cancer
      Control). However, limited data exist on the histopathological response and
      relevance of prognosis for patients homogeneously treated with ECF(-like)
      therapies. METHODS: All patients with GEJ/GaCa treated from September 2004 to
      September 2008 by perioperative ECF(-like) chemotherapy were retrospectively
      analyzed. Cisplatin and 5-FU were substituted with oxaliplatin or capecitabine
      when indicated. The histopathological response was assessed using the Becker
      score. RESULTS: Seventy-seven patients were analyzed with a median follow-up of
      72.3 months. R0 resection was achieved in 53 of 68 operated patients. Recurrence
      was observed in 25 (32.5%) of these curatively treated patients, whereas 53/77
      patients (68.8%) died, 39 (50.6%) of whom tumor related. The 5-year overall
      survival (OS) for the intention-to-treat population was 36.3%, and the 5-year
      tumor-specific survival was 42.2%. Pathological complete response (pCR) was seen
      in 10 patients (13.0%) and near pCR in 3 patients (3.9%). Patients with pCR had a
      significantly prolonged 5-year OS of 80.0 versus 29.7% compared to the
      nonhistopathological complete remission group (p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: In our
      retrospective analysis, ECF(-like) pretreatment resulted in a (near) pCR rate of
      16.9%. In line with other regimens, our data suggest that histopathological
      response predicts the OS in patients treated with ECF(-like) regimens.

PMID- 25823986
TI  - The effects of the F-actin inhibitor latrunculin A on the pathogenic yeast
      Cryptococcus neoformans.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This basic research aimed to investigate the effects of the actin
      inhibitor latrunculin A (LA) on the human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, by
      freeze-substitution (FS) and electron microscopy (EM), to determine whether the
      actin cytoskeleton can become a new antifungal target for inhibition of cell
      division. METHODS: Cells treated with LA for 20 h in yeast-extract peptone
      dextrose medium were investigated by phase-contrast and fluorescent microscopy,
      FS and transmission EM, counted in a Burker chamber and the absorbance was then
      measured. RESULTS: The disappearance of actin patches, actin cables and actin
      rings demonstrated the response of the cells of C. neoformans to the presence of
      the actin inhibitor LA. The removal of actin cables and patches arrested
      proliferation and led to the production of cells that had ultrastructural
      disorder, irregular morphology of the mitochondria and thick aberrant cell walls.
      Budding cells lysed in the buds and septa. CONCLUSION: LA exerts fungistatic,
      fungicidal and fungilytic effects on the human pathogenic yeast C. neoformans.

PMID- 25823987
TI  - An unusual cause of pink diapers in an infant: Questions and Answers.

PMID- 25823988
TI  - An unusual cause of "pink diaper" in an infant: Answers.

PMID- 25823990
TI  - meso,beta-Oligohaloporphyrins as Useful Synthetic Intermediates of Diphenylamine
      Fused Porphyrin and meso-to-meso beta-to-beta Doubly Butadiyne-Bridged
      Diporphyrin.
AB  - The chlorination of beta-halo or beta,beta-dihaloporphyrins with 2-chloro-1,3
      bis(methoxycarbonyl)guanidine (Palau'Chlor) proceeded selectively at the
      neighboring unsubstituted meso position to afford meso,beta-dihalo or
      meso,beta,beta-trihaloporphyrins. Such oligohaloporphyrins are useful platforms
      for constructing more-elaborate porphyrin-based extended pi systems. For example,
      meso-chloro-beta,beta-diiodoporphyrin participated in an efficient single-step
      synthesis of a diphenylamine-fused porphyrin. In addition, meso-chloro-beta
      iodoporphyrin was transformed in stepwise fashion into an efficiently conjugated
      meso-to-meso,beta-to-beta doubly butadiyne-linked porphyrin dimer, a system which
      was previously difficult to access without such haloporphyrin precursors. 

PMID- 25823989
TI  - Clinical and laboratory approaches in the diagnosis of renal tubular acidosis.
AB  - In the absence of a gastrointestinal origin, a maintained hyperchloremic
      metabolic acidosis must raise the diagnostic suspicion of renal tubular acidosis
      (RTA). Unlike adults, in whom RTA is usually secondary to acquired causes,
      children most often have primary forms of RTA resulting from an inherited genetic
      defect in the tubular proteins involved in the renal regulation of acid-base
      homeostasis. According to their pathophysiological basis, four types of RTA are
      distinguished. Distal type 1 RTA, proximal type 2 RTA, mixed-type 3 RTA, and type
      4 RTA can be differentiated based on the family history, the presenting
      manifestations, the biochemical profile, and the radiological findings.
      Functional tests to explore the proximal wasting of bicarbonate and the urinary
      acidification capacity are also useful diagnostic tools. Although currently the
      molecular basis of the disease can frequently be discovered by gene analysis,
      patients with RTA must undergo a detailed clinical study and laboratory work-up
      in order to understand the pathophysiology of the disease and to warrant a
      correct and accurate diagnosis. 

PMID- 25823991
TI  - Soluble dietary fiber (Fibersol-2) decreased hunger and increased satiety
      hormones in humans when ingested with a meal.
AB  - We hypothesized that a digestion-resistant maltodextrin, Fibersol-2 (Archer
      Daniels Midland/Matsutani LLC, Decatur, IL, USA) may impact satiety by decreasing
      hunger, prolonging satiation, and/or increasing peripheral satiety signals. In a
      randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study, healthy subjects (9
      men and 10 women) underwent 3 treatments in which they consumed a standardized
      meal with a tea containing 0, 5, or 10 g of Fibersol-2. A visual analog scale
      questionnaire was given in 30-minute intervals to measure subjective appetite and
      satiety. Blood was drawn just before the meal (time 0) and at 30, 60, 90, 120,
      180, and 240 minutes after meal for measurements of plasma ghrelin,
      cholecystokinin, gastrin, peptide YY, gastric inhibitory polypeptide, and
      glucagon-like peptide-1, all by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. There were
      significant delays in hunger and increased satiety for 1.5 to 2 hours after
      treatment with 10 g of Fibersol-2. These delays did not occur after ingesting 0
      or 5 g Fibersol-2 at any time. Control and 5 g Fibersol-2 treatments did not
      suppress increases in hunger postmeal; hunger scores increased and satiety scores
      decreased significantly (P < .05) at all time points relative to the first
      postmeal assessment. Plasma peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide-1 were
      significantly increased by the ingestion of meal with tea containing 10 g
      Fibersol-2 compared with 0 or 5 g Fibersol-2 (P < .05). This study demonstrated
      that 10 g Fibersol-2 with a meal stimulated production of satiety hormones and
      enhanced satiety. 

PMID- 25823992
TI  - Effects of reinnervation of the biarticular shoulder-elbow muscles on joint
      kinematics and electromyographic patterns of the feline forelimb during downslope
      walking.
AB  - Full recovery of the forelimb kinematics during level and upslope walking
      following reinnervation of the biarticular elbow extensor suggests that the
      proprioceptive loss is compensated by other sensory sources or altered central
      drive, yet these findings have not been explored in downslope walking. Kinematics
      and muscle activity of the shoulder and elbow during downslope locomotion
      following reinnervation of the feline long head of the triceps brachii (TLo) and
      biceps brachii (Bi) were evaluated (1) during paralysis and (2) after the motor
      function was recovered but the proprioceptive feedback was permanently disrupted.
      The step cycle was examined in three walking conditions: level (0%), -25% grade (
      14 degrees  downslope) and -50% grade (-26.6 degrees  downslope). Measurements
      were taken prior to and at three time points (2 weeks, and 1 and 12+ months)
      after transecting and suturing the radial and musculocutaneous nerves. There was
      an increase in the yield (increased flexion) at the elbow and less extensor
      activity duration of flexion during stance as the downslope grade increased.
      There were two notable periods of eccentric contractions (active lengthening)
      providing an apparent 'braking' action. Paralysis of the TLo and the Bi resulted
      in uncompensated alterations in shoulder-elbow kinematics and motor activity
      during the stance phase. However, unlike the case for the level and upslope
      conditions, during both paralysis and reinnervation, changes in interjoint
      coordination persisted for the downslope condition. The lack of complete recovery
      in the long term suggests that the autogenic reflexes contribute importantly to
      muscle and joint stiffness during active lengthening.

PMID- 25823993
TI  - The ultimate mix and match: making sense of HLA alleles and peptide repertoires.

PMID- 25823994
TI  - Activation of TGF-beta-induced non-Smad signaling pathways during Th17
      differentiation.
AB  - Although transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) has been shown to positively
      regulate the development of murine T helper type 17 (Th17) cells, which of the
      intracellular signaling pathways are involved is controversial. We examined Smad
      dependent and -independent signaling molecules downstream of the TGF-beta
      receptor (TGFbetaR) involved in Th17 differentiation of naive murine
      CD4(+)CD62L(+) T cells. During Th17 differentiation of wild-type T cells, Smad2/3
      was phosphorylated, indicating activation of the canonical Smad pathway. T cells
      lacking TGFbetaRII did not differentiate into Th17, whereas T cells treated with
      a TGFbetaRI kinase inhibitor (SB-431542) or overexpression of inhibitory Smad7
      retained a low amount of Th17 polarization despite absent Smad2/3
      phosphorylation. Using protein antibody arrays we found an increase of expression
      and phosphorylation of the following Smad-independent signaling molecules in Th17
      polarized wild-type T cells: AKT1(Tyr474), AKT2 (Ser474), ERK1-p44/42
      MAPK(Tyr204), mTOR(Thr2446), p38 MAPK(Thr180), Rac1/cdc42(Ser71),
      SAPK/JNK(Tyr185) and SP1(Thr739). Pharmacological inhibition of AKT/mammalian
      target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling with rapamycin or LY294002 decreased Th17
      differentiation of wild-type T cells, and completely abolished interleukin-17
      production in T cells with overexpression of Smad7. Rapamycin and LY294002 also
      decreased induced regulatory T cell differentiation, but only had minor additive
      effects to Smad7 overexpression. Finally, inhibitors of mitogen-activated protein
      kinase (MAPK) blocked in vitro polarization of Th17 cells. Our data show that
      Smad-dependent and -independent intracellular pathways contribute to murine Th17
      differentiation. 

PMID- 25823996
TI  - Primary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast, a case report with an
      unusual clinical course.
AB  - Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast (NECB) is an extremely rare
      type of breast cancer; little is known about effective chemotherapies, and data
      on pathologic response to treatment are unavailable. We report the case of a 34
      years-old woman with large cell NECB with initial clinical and pathologic
      evidence of treatment response to anthracycline-containing neo-adjuvant therapy.
      Histologic reassessment early during anthracycline chemotherapy revealed cell
      death with necrosis of 50% of the tumor cells seen in the biopsy specimen. After
      completing neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, the patient underwent breast-conserving
      surgery. Pathologic evaluation of the surgical specimen showed a partial response
      but margins were positive for residual carcinoma. Despite repeated neo-adjuvant
      chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgical resection, the tumor grew rapidly
      between surgeries and recurred systemically. Therefore, we review the literature
      on large cell NECB and its treatment options. 

PMID- 25823995
TI  - The functional contribution of calcium ion flux heterogeneity in T cells.
AB  - The role of intracellular calcium ion oscillations in T-cell physiology is being
      increasingly appreciated by studies that describe how unique temporal and spatial
      calcium ion signatures can control different signalling pathways. Within this
      review, we provide detailed mechanisms of calcium ion oscillations, and emphasise
      the pivotal role that calcium signalling plays in directing crucial events
      pertaining to T-cell functionality. We also describe methods of calcium ion
      quantification, and take the opportunity to discuss how a deeper understanding of
      calcium signalling combined with new detection and quantification methodologies
      can be used to better design immunotherapies targeting T-cell responses. 

PMID- 25823997
TI  - Differing ERP patterns caused by suction and puff stimuli.
AB  - The present study compared event-related potential (ERP) patterns for two stimuli
      types, puff and suction, by applying these stimuli to the fingers; ERP patterns
      for the two stimuli were compared at C3, an area related to somatosensory
      perception, and at FC5, an area related to motor function. Participants were 12
      healthy males in their 20s (mean age=23.1+/-2.0 years). One session consisted of
      a Control Phase (3s), a Stimulation Phase (3s), and a Rest Phase (9s). During the
      Stimulation Phase, a 4-psi suction or puff stimulus was applied to the first
      joint of the right index finger. After completion of the session, a subjective
      magnitude test was presented. In all phases, electroencephalography signals were
      recorded. We extracted maximum positive amplitude and minimum negative amplitude
      as well as relevant latency values for C3 and FC5 signals. Suction and puff
      stimuli had similar subjective magnitude scores. For both C3 and FC5, the maximum
      and minimum amplitude latency was reached earlier for the suction stimulus than
      for the puff stimulus. In conclusion, when suction and puff stimuli of the same
      intensity were applied to the fingers, the suction stimulus caused a more
      sensitive response in the somatosensory area (C3) and motor area (FC5) than did
      the puff stimulus. 

PMID- 25823998
TI  - Spontaneous eye blink rate predicts learning from negative, but not positive,
      outcomes.
AB  - A large body of research shows that striatal dopamine critically affects the
      extent to which we learn from the positive and negative outcomes of our
      decisions. In this study, we examined the relationship between reinforcement
      learning and spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR), a cheap, non-invasive, and easy
      to obtain marker of striatal dopaminergic activity. Based on previous findings
      from pharmacological and patient studies, our main prediction was that in healthy
      individuals, low blink rates (and concomitant lower striatal dopamine levels)
      would be associated with better learning from negative choices, while high blink
      rates (and concomitant higher striatal dopamine levels) would be associated with
      learning from positive choices. Behavioral analyses showed that in healthy
      individuals, lower blink rates were indeed associated with greater learning from
      negative outcomes, indicating that lower dopamine levels per se may enhance
      avoidance learning. Yet, higher EBR was not associated with better learning from
      positive outcomes. These observations support the notion that sEBR reflects tonic
      dopamine levels, and suggest that sEBR may specifically relate to dopamine D2
      receptor function, given the importance of the dopaminergic D2 pathway in
      avoidance learning. More generally, these findings highlight the usefulness of
      sEBR as a non-invasive and cheap method for assessing the relationship between
      striatal dopaminergic function and behavior. 

PMID- 25823999
TI  - "I know your name, but not your number"--Patients with verbal short-term memory
      deficits are impaired in learning sequences of digits.
AB  - Studies on verbal learning in patients with impaired verbal short-term memory
      (vSTM) have revealed dissociations among types of verbal information. Patients
      with impaired vSTM are able to learn lists of known words but fail to acquire new
      word forms. This suggests that vSTM is involved in new word learning. The present
      study assessed both new word learning and the learning of digit sequences in two
      patients with impaired vSTM. In two experiments, participants were required to
      learn people's names, ages and professions, or their four digit 'phone numbers'.
      The STM patients were impaired on learning unknown family names and phone
      numbers, but managed to acquire other verbal information. In contrast, a patient
      with a severe verbal episodic memory impairment was impaired across information
      types. These results indicate verbal STM involvement in the learning of digit
      sequences. 

PMID- 25824000
TI  - [Therapy of acute respiratory distress syndrome : Survey of German ARDS centers
      and scientific evidence].
AB  - BACKGROUND: In addition to specific treatment of the underlying cause, the
      therapy of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) consists of lung protective
      ventilation and a range of adjuvant and supportive measures. AIM: A survey was
      conducted to determine the current treatment strategies for ARDS in German ARDS
      centers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The 39 centers listed in the German ARDS network
      in 2011 were asked to complete a questionnaire collecting data on the clinic,
      epidemiology as well as diagnostic and therapeutic measures regarding ARDS
      treatment. RESULTS: Of the centers 25 completed the questionnaire. In 2010 each
      of these centers treated an median of 31 (25-75 percentile range 20-59) patients.
      Diagnostic measures at admission were computed tomography of the thorax (60 % of
      the centers), whole body computed tomography (56 %), chest x-ray (52 %),
      abdominal computed tomography (32 %) and cranial computed tomography (24 %).
      Transesophageal echocardiography was performed in 64 %, pulmonary artery pressure
      was measured in 56 % and cerebral oximetry in 12 %. Sedation was regularly
      interrupted in 92 % of the centers and in 68 % this was attempted at least once a
      day. A median minimum tidal volume of 4 ml/kg (range 2-6) and a maximum tidal
      volume of 6 ml/kg (4-8) were used. Methods to determine the optimal positive end
      expiratory pressure (PEEP) were the best PEEP method (60 %), ARDS network table
      (48 %), empirical (28 %), pressure volume curve (16 %), computed tomography (8
      %), electrical impedance tomography (8 %) and others (8 %). Median minimum and
      maximum PEEPs were 10 cmH2O (range 5-15) and 21 cmH2O (15-25), respectively.
      Median plateau pressure was limited to 30 cmH2O (range 26-45). The respiratory
      rate was set below 20/min in 20 % and below 30/min in 44 %. Controlled ventilator
      modes were generally preferred with 80 % using biphasic positive airway pressure
      (BIPAP/BiLevel), 20 % pressure controlled ventilation (PCV) and 4 % airway
      pressure release ventilation (APRV). Assisted modes were only utilized by 8 % of
      the centers. Recruitment maneuvers were used by 28 %, particularly during the
      early phase of the ARDS. Muscle relaxants were administered by 32 % during the
      early phase of the ARDS. Complete prone positioning was used by 60 % of the
      centers, whereas 88 % utilized incomplete (135 degrees ) prone positioning.
      Continuous axial rotation was utilized by 16 %. Spontaneous breathing tests were
      used in 88 % of the centers with 60 % performing these at least once a day.
      Supportive therapies were frequently applied and mainly consisted of nitrous
      oxide (44 %), prostacycline (48 %) and corticosteroids (52 %). A restrictive
      fluid therapy was used in 48 % and a special nutrition regimen in 28 % of the
      centers. Of the participating centers 22 were able to offer extracorporeal
      membrane oxygenation (ECMO). In this case, respiratory therapy was modified by
      further reducing tidal volumes (91 %), inspiratory pressures (96 %) as well as
      using lower respiratory rates (<= 8/min in 31 %). Only 9 % reduced PEEP during
      ECMO. Regular recruitment maneuvers were used by 14 %. Positioning maneuvers
      during ECMO were used by 82 %. CONCLUSIONS: Lung protective ventilation with
      reduced tidal volumes as well as inspiratory pressures represents the current
      standard of care and was utilized in all network centers. Prone positioning was
      widely used. Promising adjuvant therapies such as the muscle relaxation during
      the early phase of the ARDS, fluid restriction and corticosteroids were used less
      frequently. During ECMO respirator therapy was generally continued with
      ultraprotective ventilator settings.

PMID- 25824001
TI  - Impact of Previous Somatostatin Analogue Use on the Activity of Everolimus in
      Patients with Advanced Neuroendocrine Tumors: Analysis from the Phase III RADIANT
      2 Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The phase III placebo-controlled RADIANT-2 trial investigated
      the efficacy of everolimus plus octreotide long-acting repeatable (LAR) in
      patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors (NET) associated with carcinoid
      syndrome. Here we report a secondary analysis based on the previous somatostatin
      analogue (SSA) exposure status of patients enrolled in RADIANT-2. METHODS:
      Patients were randomly assigned to receive oral everolimus 10 mg/day plus
      octreotide LAR 30 mg intramuscularly (i.m.) or to receive matching placebo plus
      octreotide LAR 30 mg i.m. every 28 days. SSA treatment before study enrollment
      was permitted. Patient characteristics and progression-free survival (PFS) were
      analyzed by treatment arm and previous SSA exposure status. RESULTS: Of the 429
      patients enrolled in RADIANT-2, 339 were previously exposed to SSA (95% received
      octreotide); 173 of 339 patients were in the everolimus plus octreotide LAR arm.
      All patients had a protocol-specified history of secretory symptoms, but analysis
      by type showed that more patients who previously received SSA therapy had a
      history of flushing symptoms (77%), diarrhea (86%), or both (63%) compared with
      SSA-naive patients (62, 62, and 24%, respectively). Patients who received
      everolimus plus octreotide LAR had longer median PFS regardless of previous SSA
      exposure (with: PFS 14.3 months, 95% confidence interval, CI, 12.0-20.1; without:
      25.2 months, 95% CI, 12.0-not reached) compared with patients who received
      placebo plus octreotide LAR (with: 11.1 months, 95% CI, 8.4-14.6; without: 13.6
      months, 95% CI, 8.2-22.7). CONCLUSION: Everolimus in combination with octreotide
      improves PFS in patients with advanced NET associated with carcinoid syndrome,
      regardless of previous SSA exposure.

PMID- 25824002
TI  - Removal of carbamazepine from spiked municipal wastewater using electro-Fenton
      process.
AB  - The electrochemical degradation of carbamazepine (CBZ) in both synthetic
      solutions (CBZo = 12 mg/L) and enriched municipal effluents (CBZo = 60-70 MUg/L)
      was investigated using an electro-Fenton (EF) process. Different operating
      parameters were investigated, including current intensity, pH, reaction time,
      ferrous ion concentration, and the type of anode material. The current intensity,
      the type of anode material, and the concentration of ferrous ions played an
      important role in the CBZ degradation efficiency. The degradation was mainly
      attributed to direct anodic oxidation. The best operating conditions for the
      synthetic sample were obtained at a current density of 0.2 A, a pH of 3.0, and
      120 min of treatment using a boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode in the presence of
      0.25 mM of Fe(2+). Under these conditions, 52% of total organic carbon (TOC) and
      73% of CBZ were removed. The process was also tested as tertiary treatment for a
      municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent, and CBZ was completely removed.

PMID- 25824005
TI  - MicroRNA Screening and the Quest for Biologically Relevant Targets.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of genome-encoded small RNAs that post
      transcriptionally regulate gene expression by repressing target transcripts
      containing partially or fully complementary binding sites.Despite their
      relatively low number, miRNAs have been shown to directly regulate a large
      fraction of the transcriptome. In agreement with their pervasive role in the
      regulation of eukaryotic gene expression, miRNAs have been implicated in
      virtually all biological processes, including different pathologies.The use of
      screening technologies to systematically analyze miRNA function in cell-based
      assays offers a unique opportunity to gain new insights into complex biological
      and disease-relevant processes. Given the low complexity of the miRNome and the
      similarities to small interfering RNA (siRNA) screening experimental approaches,
      phenotypic screening using genome-wide libraries of miRNA mimics or inhibitors is
      not, per se, technically challenging. The identification of miRNA targets and,
      more importantly, the characterization of their mechanisms of action through the
      identification of the key targets underlying observed phenotypes remain the major
      challenges of this approach.This article provides an overview of cell-based
      screenings for miRNA function that were performed in different biological
      contexts. The advantages and limitations of computational and experimental
      approaches commonly used to identify miRNA targets are also discussed. 

PMID- 25824004
TI  - Effect of multiwalled carbon nanotubes on UASB microbial consortium.
AB  - The continuous rise in production and applications of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has
      grown a concern about their fate and toxicity in the environment. After use,
      these nanomaterials pass through sewage and accumulate in wastewater treatment
      plants. Since, such plants rely on biological degradation of wastes; their
      activity may decrease due to the presence of CNTs. This study investigated the
      effect of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on upflow anaerobic sludge
      blanket (UASB) microbial activity. The toxic effect on microbial viability,
      extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), volatile fatty acids (VFA), and biogas
      generation was determined. The reduction in a colony-forming unit (CFU) was 29
      and 58 % in 1 and 100 mg/L test samples, respectively, as compared to control.
      The volatile fatty acids and biogas production was also found reduced. The
      scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and fluorescent microscopy images confirmed
      that the MWCNT mediated microbial cell damage. This damage caused the increase in
      EPS carbohydrate, protein, and DNA concentration. Fourier transform infrared
      (FTIR) spectroscopy results supported the alterations in sludge EPS due to MWCNT.
      Our observations offer a new insight to understand the nanotoxic effect of MWCNTs
      on UASB microflora in a complex environment system.

PMID- 25824003
TI  - Toxicokinetics of chiral polychlorinated biphenyls across different species--a
      review.
AB  - Nineteen polychlorinated biphenyls (chiral or C-PCBs) exist as two stable
      rotational isomers (atropisomers) that are non-superimposable mirror images of
      each other. C-PCBs are released into the environment as racemic (i.e., equal)
      mixtures of both atropisomers and undergo atropisomeric enrichment due to
      biological, but not abiotic, processes. In particular, toxicokinetic studies
      provide important initial insights into atropselective processes involved in the
      disposition (i.e., absorption, distribution, biotransformation, and excretion) of
      C-PCBs. The toxicokinetic of C-PCBs is highly congener and species dependent. In
      particular, at lower trophic levels, abiotic processes play a predominant role in
      C-PCB toxicokinetics. Biotransformation plays an important role in the
      elimination of C-PCBs in mammals. The elimination of C-PCB follows the
      approximate order mammals > birds > amphibians > fish, mostly due to a
      corresponding decrease in metabolic capacity. A few studies have shown
      differences in the toxicokinetics of C-PCB atropisomers; however, more work is
      needed to understand the toxicokinetics of C-PCBs and the underlying biological
      processes. Such studies will not only contribute to our understanding of the fate
      of C-PCBs in aquatic and terrestrial food webs but also facilitate our
      understanding of human exposures to C-PCBs. 

PMID- 25824006
TI  - Epidemic outbreak of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis caused by coxsackievirus
      A24 in Thailand, 2014.
AB  - Acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis outbreaks are often attributed to viral
      infection. In 2014, an unprecedented nationwide outbreak of infectious
      conjunctivitis occurred in Thailand, which affected >300 000 individuals over 3
      months. To identify and characterize the virus responsible for the epidemic, eye
      swab specimens from 119 patients were randomly collected from five different
      provinces. Conserved regions in the enteroviral 5'-UTR and adenovirus hexon gene
      were analysed. Enterovirus was identified in 71.43% (85/119) of the samples,
      while no adenovirus was detected. From enterovirus-positive samples, the
      coxsackievirus A24 variant (70.59%, 84/119) and echovirus (0.84%, 1/119) were
      identified. Additional sequencing of full-length VP1 and 3C genes and subsequent
      phylogenetic analysis revealed that these clinical isolates form a new lineage
      cluster related to genotype IV-C5. In summary, the coxsackievirus A24 variant was
      identified as an aetiological agent for the recent acute haemorrhagic
      conjunctivitis outbreak in Thailand. 

PMID- 25824008
TI  - Effects of Patient-Controlled Epidural Analgesia on Uterine Electromyography
      During Spontaneous Onset of Labor in Term Nulliparous Women.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of patient-controlled epidural analgesia
      (PCEA) on uterine electromyography (EMG) activity in term pregnant women during
      labor. METHODS: Nulliparous pregnant women in spontaneous term labor (N = 30)
      were enrolled (PCEA group, n = 20 and control group, n = 10). Five time periods
      (30 minutes each) were defined for noninvasive abdominal recordings and analysis
      of uterine EMG activity, that is, period I: before PCEA treatment with 2-cm
      cervical dilation; periods II to IV: each period successively at 30, 60, and 120
      minutes after PCEA; and period V: second stage of labor with cervix at 10 cm
      dilation. Control patients without PCEA were monitored during the same times. The
      number of bursts/30 min, power density spectrum peak frequency, mean amplitude,
      and duration of uterine EMG bursts were measured to assess uterine EMG activity.
      Maternal, fetal, and labor characteristics were also recorded. Data were analyzed
      by analysis of variance followed by other tests. RESULTS: Electromyography
      parameters are significantly lower (P < .001) after PCEA (periods II to IV)
      compared to controls but similar between groups by period V (P > .05). Also,
      patients with PCEA have a slower rate of cervical dilation (P < .003, period IV
      only) and longer labor in both stage 1 and stage 2 (P < .05). All patients have
      similar (P > .05) positive labor outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Patient-controlled
      epidural analgesia initially suppresses uterine EMG and slows cervical dilation
      thereby prolonging labor. However, the EMG activity recovers with labor progress
      with no effects on delivery outcomes.

PMID- 25824007
TI  - Autoantibodies targeting glomerular annexin A2 identify patients with
      proliferative lupus nephritis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) frequently develop
      lupus nephritis (LN), a complication frequently leading to end stage kidney
      disease. Immune complex deposition in the glomerulus is central to the
      development of LN. Using a targeted proteomic approach, we tested the hypothesis
      that autoantibodies targeting glomerular antigens contribute to the development
      of LN. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Human podocyte and glomerular proteins were separated
      by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotted with sera from SLE patients with and without LN.
      The regions of those gels corresponding to reactive bands observed with sera from
      LN patients were analyzed using LC-MS/MS. RESULTS: LN reactive bands were seen at
      approximately 50 kDa in podocyte extracts and between 36 and 50 kDa in glomerular
      extracts. Those bands were analyzed by LC-MS/MS and 102 overlapping proteins were
      identified. Bioinformatic analysis determined that 36 of those proteins were
      membrane associated, including a protein previously suggested to contribute to
      glomerulonephritis and LN, annexin A2. By ELISA, patients with proliferative LN
      demonstrated significantly increased antibodies against annexin A2. CONCLUSION
      AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Proteomic approaches identified multiple candidate
      antigens for autoantibodies in patients with LN. Serum antibodies against annexin
      A2 were significantly elevated in subjects with proliferative LN, validating
      those antibodies as potential biomarkers.

PMID- 25824009
TI  - Perinatal Administration of a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Induces
      Impairments in Reproductive Function and Follicular Dynamics in Female Rat
      Offspring.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Up to 10% of pregnant women take antidepressants, of which
      selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most commonly prescribed.
      Using a rodent model, we investigated the reproductive impacts of perinatal SSRI
      treatment on reproductive cyclicity and function in female offspring. METHODS:
      Virgin Wistar rats were given oral vehicle (n = 10) or fluoxetine hydrochloride
      (FLX, 10 mg/kg/d; n = 11) from 2 weeks prior to mating until weaning. Pubertal
      onset and reproductive cyclicity in offspring were assessed. Blood and ovarian
      tissues were collected for measures of reproductive function. RESULTS: Perinatal
      FLX tends to induce irregular reproductive cycles in adult offspring, which most
      commonly manifest as a prolonged estrus phase (FLX 34% vs control [CON] 10%)
      relative to CON offspring. The FLX offspring tended to have longer cycles (P =
      .052), had more secondary follicles (P = .0067), more total follicles (P =
      .0310), and increased apoptotic ovarian cells (P < .001). Prenatally exposed FLX
      offspring demonstrated elevated ovarian messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of ERbeta (P
      = .008), Cry1 (P = .043), and tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (P = .024), independent of
      stage of cycle. Ovarian mRNA levels of brain and muscle Arnt-like protein 1 (P =
      .046) and Pet-1 (P = .021) were increased in FLX offspring a manner that was
      reproductive cycle stage dependent. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to
      investigate the postnatal effects of maternal perinatal exposure to FLX on adult
      offspring reproduction. We show that genes that regulate serotonin signaling and
      action in the ovary are altered in prenatally FLX-exposed offspring, which when
      coupled with increased expression of components of the core Circadian Locomotor
      Output Cycles Kaput (CLOCK) gene regulatory loop may suggest an interaction
      between serotonergic signaling and clock gene signaling pathways leading to the
      altered reproductive phenotype.

PMID- 25824010
TI  - Anti-Mullerian Hormone in Peritoneal Fluid and Plasma From Women With and Without
      Endometriosis.
AB  - Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) has potential local effects on ovarian function and
      endometrial tissue, including endometriosis, but its presence in peritoneal fluid
      is not fully understood. This is a cross-sectional study evaluating AMH in
      peritoneal fluid and plasma from women with endometriosis (N = 61) and from
      control women without endometriosis (N = 36). There was a significant correlation
      between AMH in plasma and peritoneal fluid from both patients with endometriosis
      (r(2) = .767 [P < .001]) and control participants (r(2) = .647 [P < .001]) less
      than 45 years of age. Anti-Mullerian hormone declined with women's increasing age
      in both plasma and peritoneal fluid in women with and without endometriosis.
      There were no differences in the plasma or peritoneal fluid AMH in women with
      endometriosis versus control women. The strong relationship between plasma and
      peritoneal fluid may allow plasma AMH to be a marker for peritoneal AMH in
      studies evaluating the local effects of AMH.

PMID- 25824011
TI  - Gene Expression in Placentas From Nondiabetic Women Giving Birth to Large for
      Gestational Age Infants.
AB  - Gestational diabetes, obesity, and excessive weight gain are known independent
      risk factors for the birth of a large for gestational age (LGA) infant. However,
      only 1 of the 10 infants born LGA is born by mothers with diabetes or obesity.
      Thus, the aim of the present study was to compare placental gene expression
      between healthy, nondiabetic mothers (n = 22) giving birth to LGA infants and
      body mass index-matched mothers (n = 24) giving birth to appropriate for
      gestational age infants. In the whole gene expression analysis, only 29 genes
      were found to be differently expressed in LGA placentas. Top upregulated genes
      included insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1, aminolevulinate delta
      synthase 2, and prolactin, whereas top downregulated genes comprised leptin,
      gametocyte-specific factor 1, and collagen type XVII alpha 1. Two enriched gene
      networks were identified, namely, (1) lipid metabolism, small molecule
      biochemistry, and organismal development and (2) cellular development, cellular
      growth, proliferation, and tumor morphology. 

PMID- 25824012
TI  - Power, opportunism, racism: Human experiments under American slavery.

PMID- 25824013
TI  - Identity From Variation: Representations of Faces Derived From Multiple
      Instances.
AB  - Research in face recognition has tended to focus on discriminating between
      individuals, or "telling people apart." It has recently become clear that it is
      also necessary to understand how images of the same person can vary, or "telling
      people together." Learning a new face, and tracking its representation as it
      changes from unfamiliar to familiar, involves an abstraction of the variability
      in different images of that person's face. Here, we present an application of
      principal components analysis computed across different photos of the same
      person. We demonstrate that people vary in systematic ways, and that this
      variability is idiosyncratic-the dimensions of variability in one face do not
      generalize well to another. Learning a new face therefore entails learning how
      that face varies. We present evidence for this proposal and suggest that it
      provides an explanation for various effects in face recognition. We conclude by
      making a number of testable predictions derived from this framework. 

PMID- 25824014
TI  - Graphene oxide nanoflakes incorporated gelatin-hydroxyapatite scaffolds enhance
      osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells.
AB  - In this study, graphene oxide (GO) nanoflakes (0.5 and 1 wt%) were incorporated
      into a gelatin-hydroxyapatite (GHA) matrix through a freeze drying technique and
      its effect to enhance mechanical strength and osteogenic differentiation was
      studied. The GHA matrix with GO demonstrated less brittleness in comparison to
      GHA scaffolds. There was no significant difference in mechanical strength between
      GOGHA0.5 and GOGHA1.0 scaffolds. When the scaffolds were immersed in phosphate
      buffered saline (to mimic physiologic condition) for 60 days, around 50-60% of GO
      was released in sustained and linear manner and the concentration was within the
      toxicity limit as reported earlier. Further, GOGHA0.5 scaffolds were continued
      for cell culture experiments, wherein the scaffold induced osteogenic
      differentiation of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells without providing
      supplements like dexamethasone, L-ascorbic acid and beta glycerophosphate in the
      medium. The level of osteogenic differentiation of stem cells was comparable to
      those cultured on GHA scaffolds with osteogenic supplements. Thus biocompatible,
      biodegradable and porous GO reinforced gelatin-HA 3D scaffolds may serve as a
      suitable candidate in promoting bone regeneration in orthopaedics. 

PMID- 25824015
TI  - I-123 MIBG Cardiac Imaging.

PMID- 25824016
TI  - Imaging in patients with advanced therapies for heart failure.

PMID- 25824017
TI  - Optimizing FDG-PET/CT imaging of inflammation in atherosclerosis.

PMID- 25824018
TI  - Proceedings of the cardiac PET summit meeting 12 may 2014: Cardiac PET and SPECT
      instrumentation.
AB  - Advances in PET and SPECT and imaging hardware and software are vastly improving
      the noninvasive evaluation of myocardial perfusion and function. PET perfusion
      imaging has benefitted from the introduction of novel detectors that now allow
      true 3D imaging, and precise attenuation correction (AC). These developments have
      also resulted in perfusion images with higher spatial and contrast resolution
      that may be acquired in shorter protocols and/or with less patient radiation
      exposure than traditional PET or SPECT studies. Hybrid PET/CT cameras utilize
      transmission computed tomographic (CT) scans for AC, and offer the additional
      clinical advantages of evaluating coronary calcium and myocardial anatomy but at
      a higher cost than PET scanners that use (68)Ge radioactive line sources. As
      cardiac PET systems continue to improve, dedicated cardiac SPECT systems are also
      undergoing a profound change in their design. The scintillation camera general
      purpose design is being replaced with systems with multiple detectors focused on
      the heart yielding 5 to 10 times the sensitivity of conventional SPECT. As a
      result, shorter acquisition times and/or lower tracer doses produce higher
      quality SPECT images than were possible before. This article reviews these
      concepts and compares the attributes of PET and SPECT instrumentation. 

PMID- 25824019
TI  - Mentorship at Distance: A new initiative of the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology.

PMID- 25824020
TI  - Medical therapy for the treatment of myocardial ischemia.

PMID- 25824021
TI  - Stress protocol and accuracy of myocardial perfusion imaging: Is it better to
      start from the end?

PMID- 25824022
TI  - The significance of automatically measured transient ischemic dilation in
      identifying severe and extensive coronary artery disease in regadenoson, single
      isotope technetium-99m myocardial perfusion SPECT.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The critical threshold and clinical significance of transient
      ischemic dilation (TID) for regadenoson, single-isotope (99m)Tc SPECT myocardial
      perfusion imaging (MPI) are not defined. METHODS: From 100 patients with low
      likelihood of CAD, we derived the abnormal TID threshold (mean + 2 SD). We
      validated the threshold in a cohort of 547 patients who received one-day,
      rest/regadenoson-stress, (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin SPECT-MPI followed by coronary
      angiography within 6 months. Patients were classified into three CAD severity
      strata: no significant CAD, mild to moderate CAD, and severe and extensive CAD.
      RESULTS: The abnormal TID threshold was determined to be 1.31. Though mean TID
      ratios were different between the three CAD severity groups and the derivation
      cohort (P < .001), there was no difference in the mean TID ratios between the
      categories of CAD severity or in the prevalence of severe CAD between TID+ and
      TID- groups (P = .74). By ROC analysis, TID had a poor discriminatory capacity in
      identifying severe and extensive CAD [AUC of 0.55 (95% CI 0.47-0.62, P = .25)].
      Stepwise multivariate logistic analysis demonstrated that adding TID to clinical
      and perfusion data did not provide incremental diagnostic value (P = .87).
      CONCLUSIONS: The clinical utility of TID with regadenoson-stress MPI in this era
      of declining CAD burden is questionable.

PMID- 25824023
TI  - Fruit and vegetable intake and their pesticide residues in relation to semen
      quality among men from a fertility clinic.
AB  - STUDY QUESTION: Is consumption of fruits and vegetables with high levels of
      pesticide residues associated with lower semen quality? SUMMARY ANSWER:
      Consumption of fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residues was
      associated with a lower total sperm count and a lower percentage of
      morphologically normal sperm among men presenting to a fertility clinic. WHAT IS
      KNOWN ALREADY: Occupational and environmental exposure to pesticides is
      associated with lower semen quality. Whether the same is true for exposure
      through diet is unknown. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: Men enrolled in the
      Environment and Reproductive Health (EARTH) Study, an ongoing prospective cohort
      at an academic medical fertility center. Male partners (n = 155) in subfertile
      couples provided 338 semen samples during 2007-2012. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS,
      SETTING, METHODS: Semen samples were collected over an 18-month period following
      diet assessment. Sperm concentration and motility were evaluated by computer
      aided semen analysis (CASA). Fruits and vegetables were categorized as containing
      high or low-to-moderate pesticide residues based on data from the annual United
      States Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program. Linear mixed models were
      used to analyze the association of fruit and vegetable intake with sperm
      parameters accounting for within-person correlations across repeat samples while
      adjusting for potential confounders. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: Total
      fruit and vegetable intake was unrelated to semen quality parameters. High
      pesticide residue fruit and vegetable intake, however, was associated with poorer
      semen quality. On average, men in highest quartile of high pesticide residue
      fruit and vegetable intake (>=1.5 servings/day) had 49% (95% confidence interval
      (CI): 31%, 63%) lower total sperm count and 32% (95% CI: 7%, 58%) lower
      percentage of morphologically normal sperm than men in the lowest quartile of
      intake (<0.5 servings/day) (P, trend = 0.003 and 0.02, respectively). Low-to
      moderate pesticide residue fruit and vegetable intake was associated with a
      higher percentage of morphologically normal sperm (P, trend = 0.04). LIMITATIONS,
      REASONS FOR CAUTION: Surveillance data, rather than individual pesticide
      assessment, was used to assess the pesticide residue status of fruits and
      vegetables. CASA is a useful method for clinical evaluation but may be considered
      less favorable for accurate semen analysis in the research setting. Owing to the
      observational nature of the study, confirmation is required by interventional
      studies as well. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: To our knowledge, this is
      the first report on the consumption of fruits and vegetables with high levels of
      pesticide residue in relation to semen quality. Further confirmation of these
      findings is warranted. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS: Supported by National
      Institutes of Health grants ES009718, ES022955, ES000002, P30 DK046200 and Ruth
      L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award T32 DK007703-16. None of the
      authors has any conflicts of interest to declare.

PMID- 25824024
TI  - Is dietary pesticide exposure related to semen quality? Positive evidence from
      men attending a fertility clinic.

PMID- 25824025
TI  - Adductor Canal Blockade Following Total Knee Arthroplasty-Continuous or Single
      Shot Technique? Role in Postoperative Analgesia, Ambulation Ability and Early
      Functional Recovery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) can be associated with severe pain in early
      postoperative period. Adductor canal block may provide optimal analgesia
      following TKA. However, ideal regimen for administration whether continuous or
      single shot is yet undefined. We prospectively randomized 90 patients in
      continuous and single shot adductor canal blockade groups. Postoperative VAS
      (visual analog scale for pain) score was significantly better at all times in
      continuous than single shot technique (P<0.001). However, ambulation ability
      (Timed Up & Go, 10m walk, 30s chair) and early functional recovery (active SLR,
      ambulation with walker, staircase competency, ambulation distance and maximal
      flexion at discharge) showed no statistical significant difference. Continuous
      adductor canal blockade was superior to single shot block in terms of pain
      control but was similar for early functional recovery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level
      III, therapeutic study.

PMID- 25824026
TI  - Prevention of Periprosthetic Joint Infection.
AB  - Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) has moved into the first place as the cause
      of failure following total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Recent studies have shown
      that PJI results in higher mortality in patients than many cancers. The economic
      burden of treating PJI is likely to exceed $1 billion this year in the US. Thus,
      it is paramount that all efforts are invested to prevent this dreaded
      complication after total joint arthroplasty (TJA). This article summarizes some
      of the most effective and proven strategies for prevention of PJI. It is hoped
      that the article will be of benefit to the readers of the journal. 

PMID- 25824027
TI  - Arsenic trioxide inhibits breast cancer cell growth via microRNA-328/hERG pathway
      in MCF-7 cells.
AB  - Arsenic trioxide (As2O3) has been widely used in the treatment of acute
      promyelocytic leukemia and has been observed to exhibit therapeutic effects in
      various types of solid tumor. In a previous study by this group, it was shown
      that As2O3 induces the apoptosis of MCF-7 breast cancer cells through inhibition
      of the human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) channel. The present study was
      designed to further investigate the effect of As2O3 on breast cancer cells and to
      examine the mechanism underlying the regulation of hERG expression. The present
      study confirmed that As2O3 inhibited tumor growth in vivo, following MCF-7 cell
      implantation into nude mice. Using computational prediction , it was identified
      that microRNA (miR)-328 had a binding site in the 3'-untranslated region of hERG
      mRNA. A luciferase activity assay demonstrated that hERG is a target gene of miR
      328. Further investigation using western blot analysis and reverse transcription
      quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed that As2O3 downregulated hERG
      expression via upregulation of miR-328 expression in MCF-7 cells. In conclusion,
      As2O3 was observed to inhibit breast cancer cell growth, at least in part,
      through the miR-328/hERG pathway.

PMID- 25824028
TI  - Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. From the Editor's desk.

PMID- 25824029
TI  - Relationship between perilipin genes polymorphisms and growth, carcass and meat
      quality traits in pigs.
AB  - The perilipins (PLIN) belong to a family of structural proteins that play a role
      regulating intracellular lipid storage and mobilization. Here, PLIN1 and PLIN2
      have been evaluated as candidate genes for growth, carcass and meat quality
      traits in pigs. A sample of 607 Duroc pigs were genotyped for two single
      nucleotide polymorphisms, one in intron 2 of the PLIN1 gene (JN860199:g.173G>A)
      and the other at the 3' untranslated region of the PLIN2 gene (GU461317:g.98G>A).
      Using a Bayesian approach, we have been able to find evidence of additive,
      dominant and epistatic associations of the PLIN1 and PLIN2 polymorphisms with
      early growth rate and carcass length. However, the major effects were produced by
      the dominant A allele at the PLIN2 polymorphism, which also affected the carcass
      lean weight. Thus, pigs carrying an additional copy of the A allele at the
      g.98G>A PLIN2 polymorphism had a probability of at least 98% of producing
      carcasses with heavier lean weight (+0.41 kg) and ham weight (+0.10 kg). The
      results obtained indicate that the PLIN2 polymorphism could be a useful marker
      for lean growth. In particular, it may help to reduce the undesired negative
      correlated response in lean weight to selection for increased intramuscular fat
      content, a common scenario in some Duroc lines involved in the production of high
      quality pork products. 

PMID- 25824030
TI  - Effects of yoga on brain waves and structural activation: A review.
AB  - Previous research has shown the vast mental and physical health benefits
      associated with yoga. Yoga practice can be divided into subcategories that
      include posture-holding exercise (asana), breathing (pranayama, Kriya), and
      meditation (Sahaj) practice. Studies measuring mental health outcomes have shown
      decreases in anxiety, and increases in cognitive performance after yoga
      interventions. Similar studies have also shown cognitive advantages amongst yoga
      practitioners versus non-practitioners. The mental health and cognitive benefits
      of yoga are evident, but the physiological and structural changes in the brain
      that lead to this remain a topic that lacks consensus. Therefore, the purpose of
      this study was to examine and review existing literature on the effects of yoga
      on brain waves and structural changes and activation. After a narrowed search
      through a set of specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, 15 articles were used
      in this review. It was concluded that breathing, meditation, and posture-based
      yoga increased overall brain wave activity. Increases in graygray matter along
      with increases in amygdala and frontal cortex activation were evident after a
      yoga intervention. Yoga practice may be an effective adjunctive treatment for a
      clinical and healthy aging population. Further research can examine the effects
      of specific branches of yoga on a designated clinical population.

PMID- 25824031
TI  - Analysis of mutants from a genetic screening reveals the control of intestine and
      liver development by many common genes in zebrafish.
AB  - Both the intestine and liver develop from the endoderm, yet little is known how
      these two digestive organs share and differ in their developmental programs, at
      the molecular level. A classical forward genetic screen, with no gene bias, is an
      effective way to address this question by examining the defects of the intestine
      and liver in obtained mutants to assess mutated genes responsible for the
      development of either organ or both. We report here such a screen in zebrafish.
      ENU was used as the mutagen because of its high mutagenic efficiency and no site
      preference. Embryos were collected at 3.5 dpf for RNA whole mount in situ
      hybridization with a cocktail probe of the intestine marker ifabp and the liver
      marker lfabp to check phenotypes and determine their parental heterozygosis. A
      total of 52 F2 putative mutants were identified, and those with general
      developmental defects were aborted. To rule out non-inheritable phenotypes caused
      by high mutation background, F2 putative mutants were outcrossed with wild type
      fish and a re-screen in F3 generations was performed. After complementation tests
      between F3 mutants with similar phenotypes originating from the same F2 families,
      a total of 37 F3 mutant lines originated from 22 F2 families were identified
      after screening 78 mutagenized genomes. Classification of mutant phenotypes
      indicated that 31 out of the 37 mutants showed defects in both the intestine and
      liver. In addition, four "intestine specific mutants" and two "liver specific
      mutants" showed selectively more severe phenotype in the intestine and liver
      respectively. These results suggested that the intestine and liver share a
      substantial number of essential genes during both organs development in
      zebrafish. Further studies of the mutants are likely to shed more insights into
      the molecular basis of the digestive system development in the zebrafish and
      vertebrate.

PMID- 25824032
TI  - Activation of latent metastases in the lung after resection of a metastatic lymph
      node in a lymph node metastasis mouse model.
AB  - Iatrogenic induction of regional and distant cancer metastases is a risk
      associated with clinical resection of tumor-positive sentinel lymph nodes.
      However, there have been no studies of this risk in a mouse model of cancer
      metastasis. Here, we report that resection of a tumor-bearing subiliac lymph node
      (SiLN) enhanced lung metastasis in a mouse model of lymph node metastasis.
      Bioluminescence imaging revealed that metastatic tumor cells in the secondary
      lymph node continued to grow after resection of the SiLN, and that the
      probability of metastasis to the lungs was increased when the interval between
      SiLN inoculation and resection was reduced. Futhermore, histological analysis
      demonstrated that latents in the lung were stimulated to grow after resection of
      the SiLN. Fluorescence imaging indicated that the route of tumor cell
      dissemination from SiLN to the lung was the venous system located over the SiLN.
      We speculate that our mouse model will be useful for studying the mechanisms of
      tumor cell latency, with a view to improving the detection and treatment of
      latent metastases. 

PMID- 25824033
TI  - Arf6 guanine-nucleotide exchange factor cytohesin-2 regulates myelination in
      nerves.
AB  - In postnatal development of the peripheral nervous system (PNS), Schwann cells
      differentiate to insulate neuronal axons with myelin sheaths, increasing the
      nerve conduction velocity. To produce the mature myelin sheath with its multiple
      layers, Schwann cells undergo dynamic morphological changes. While extracellular
      molecules such as growth factors and cell adhesion ligands are known to regulate
      the myelination process, the intracellular molecular mechanism underlying
      myelination remains unclear. In this study, we have produced Schwann cell
      specific conditional knockout mice for cytohesin-2, a guanine-nucleotide exchange
      factor (GEF) specifically activating Arf6. Arf6, a member of the Ras-like protein
      family, participates in various cellular functions including cell morphological
      changes. Cytohesin-2 knockout mice exhibit decreased Arf6 activity and reduced
      myelin thickness in the sciatic nerves, with decreased expression levels of
      myelin protein zero (MPZ), the major myelin marker protein. These results are
      consistent with those of experiments in which Schwann cell-neuronal cultures were
      treated with pan-cytohesin inhibitor SecinH3. On the other hand, the numbers of
      Ki67-positive cells in knockout mice and controls are comparable, indicating that
      cytohesin-2 does not have a positive effect on cell numbers. Thus, signaling
      through cytohesin-2 is required for myelination by Schwann cells, and cytohesin-2
      is added to the list of molecules known to underlie PNS myelination. 

PMID- 25824034
TI  - Folic acid supplementation rescues anomalies associated with knockdown of parkin
      in dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons in Drosophila model of Parkinson's
      disease.
AB  - parkin loss associated early-onset of Parkinson's disease, involves mitochondrial
      dysfunction and oxidative stress as the plausible decisive molecular mechanisms
      in disease pathogenesis. Mitochondrial dysfunction involves several up/down
      regulation of gene products, one of which being p53 is found to be elevated.
      Elevated p53 is involved in mitochondrial mediated apoptosis of neuronal cells in
      Parkinson's patients who are folate deficient as well. The present study
      therefore attempts to examine the effect of Folic acid (FA) supplementation in
      alleviation of anomalies associated with parkin knockdown using RNAi approach,
      specific to Dopaminergic (DA) neurons in Drosophila model system. Here we show
      that FA supplementation provide protection against parkin RNAi associated
      discrepancies, thereby improves locomotor ability, reduces mortality and
      oxidative stress, and partially improves Zn levels. Further, metabolic active
      cell status and ATP levels were also found to be improved thereby indicating
      improved mitochondrial function. To corroborate FA supplementation in
      mitochondrial functioning further, status of p53 and spargel was checked by qRT
      PCR. Here we show that folic acid supplementation enrich mitochondrial
      functioning as depicted from improved spargel level and lowered p53 level, which
      was originally vice versa in parkin knockdown flies cultured in standard media.
      Our data thus support the potential of folic acid in alleviating the behavioural
      defects, oxidative stress, augmentation of zinc and ATP levels in parkin knock
      down flies. Further, folic acid role in repressing mitochondrial dysfunction is
      encouraging to further explore its possible mechanistic role to be utilized as
      potential therapeutics for Parkinson's disease. 

PMID- 25824035
TI  - HO-1 expression control in the rat glomerulus.
AB  - The differential localization of HO-1 in renal cells under conditions of injury,
      and the demonstration that exaggerated HO-1 expression can have detrimental
      rather than beneficial effects, raises the question of whether HO-1 expression in
      these cells is subject to control. The present study identifies a unique HO-1
      expression pattern in the renal glomerulus indicative of presence of HO-1
      expression control following prolonged HO-1 induction. HO-1 and HO-2 expression
      in response to the natural HO substrate/inducer Fe(++) protoporphyrin (PP) IX
      (hemin) was assessed in normal rat glomeruli. Following 18 h incubations with
      hemin (0-200 MUM), HO-1 expression increased in a concentration-dependent manner
      and via a hemopexin (HPX) independent mechanism with no effect on HO-2. In
      incubations with higher hemin concentrations (400 MUM), likely to be encountered
      in hemolytic disorders, HO-1 expression, decreased. This was preceded by a
      prolonged and sustained increase in HO-1 protein and was independent of the
      Fe(++) moiety as incubations with Cobalt protoporphyrin (CoPP) resulted in an
      identical expression pattern. The decrease of HO-1 protein could not be accounted
      for by proteasomal degradation since it was not reversed in co-incubations with
      hemin and the proteasome inhibitor, MG132, at concentrations sufficient to
      increase HO-1 glomerular content when used alone. Moreover, in the presence of
      MG132, a decrease of HO-1 expression also occurred at 100 and 200 MUM hemin. The
      effect of MG132 was mimicked by two additional mechanistically different
      approaches which also raised HO-1 content: a) co-incubations of hemin with ZnPP
      which increased HO-1 protein when used alone, and b) glomerular HO-1 over
      expression achieved by SB transposon mediated transgenesis. In contrast, the
      decrease in HO-1 levels observed at high hemin concentrations was reversed in co
      incubations with hemin and SnPP, which reduced HO-1 content when used alone.
      Expression of NF-E2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) protein, which mediates HO-1
      induction in response to hemin, had a similar expression pattern with that of HO
      1 protein indicating involvement of Nrf2 in the response of HO-1 to hemin. The
      above observations indicate presence of a HO-1 expression control mechanism in
      the glomerulus that may serve to protect it against potentially detrimental
      effects of exaggerated HO-1 expression.

PMID- 25824036
TI  - Co-purification of arrestin like proteins with alpha-enolase from bovine
      myocardial tissues and the possible role in heart diseases as an autoantigen.
AB  - AIM: Previously, we reported that visual arrestin co-purified with glycolytic
      enzymes. The aim of this study was to analyze the co-purification of arrestin
      like proteins (ALP) in bovine cardiac tissues with enolases. METHODS: The soluble
      extract of bovine myocardial tissues from different regions such as left and
      right atriums and ventricles of the bovine heart (n = 3) was analyzed by ACA-34
      gel filtration, immuno-affinity column, SDS-PAGE, ELISA, western blot and a
      sandwich immune assay for quantification of ALP and sequence analysis. RESULTS:
      We observed that; 1) The cardiac muscle contained a 50 kDa ALP at a concentration
      of 751 pg/mg of soluble protein extract, 2) ALP purified, by immunoaffinity,
      contained alpha-enolase of 48 kDa confirmed by protein sequence analysis; 3)
      Cardiomyocyte cells exposed to anti arrestin and anti enolase monoclonal
      antibodies showed decreased proliferation in vitro, 4) High level of
      autoantibodies were detected by ELISA (3.57% for arrestin and 9.12% for alpha
      enolase) in serum of patients with infarcted heart disease. CONCLUSION: We
      suggest a possible interaction between ALP and alpha-enolases yielding a complex
      that may be involved in the induction of cardiac autoimmune diseases.

PMID- 25824037
TI  - Bioenergetic disruption of human micro-vascular endothelial cells by
      antipsychotics.
AB  - Antipsychotics (APs) are widely used medications, however these are not without
      side effects such as disruption of blood brain barrier function (BBB). To
      investigate this further we have studied the chronic effects of the typical APs,
      chlorpromazine (CPZ) and haloperidol (HAL) and the atypical APs, risperidone
      (RIS) and clozapine (CLZ), on the bioenergetics of human micro-vascular
      endothelial cells (HBVECs) of the BBB. Alamar blue (AB) and ATP assays showed
      that these APs impair bioenergenesis in HBVECs in a concentration and time
      dependent manner. However since these effects were incomplete they suggest a
      population of cell bioenergetically heterogeneous, an idea supported by the
      bistable nature by which APs affected the mitochondrial transmembrane potential.
      CPZ, HAL and CLZ inhibited the activity of mitochondrial complexes I and III. Our
      data demonstrates that at therapeutic concentrations, APs can impair the
      bioenergetic status of HBVECs, an action that help explains the adverse side
      effects of these drugs when used clinically. 

PMID- 25824038
TI  - 'Super-perfect' enzymes: Structural stabilities and activities of recombinant
      triose phosphate isomerases from Pyrococcus furiosus and Thermococcus onnurineus
      produced in Escherichia coli.
AB  - Triose phosphate isomerases (TIMs) are considered to be 'kinetically perfect'
      enzymes, limited in their activity only by the rates of diffusion of substrate
      and product molecules. Most studies conducted thus far have been on mesophile
      derived TIMs. Here, we report studies of two extremophile-derived TIMs produced
      in Escherichia coli: (i) TonTIM, sourced from the genome of the thermophile
      archaeon, Thermococcus onnurineus, and (ii) PfuTIM, sourced from the genome of
      the hyperthermophile archaeon, Pyrococcus furiosus (PfuTIM). Although these
      enzymes are presumed to have evolved to function optimally at temperatures close
      to the boiling point of water, we find that TonTIM and PfuTIM display second
      order rate-constants of activity (k(cat)/K(m) values) comparable to mesophile
      derived TIMs, at 25  degrees C. At 90  degrees C, TonTIM and PfuTIM reach maximum
      velocities of reaction of ~ 10(6)-10(7) MUmol/s/mg, and display k(cat)/K(m)
      values in the range of ~ 10(10)-10(11) M(-1) s(-1), which are three orders of
      magnitude higher than those reported for mesophile TIMs. Further, the two enzymes
      display no signs of having undergone any structural unfolding at 90  degrees C.
      Such enzymes could thus probably be called 'super-perfect' enzymes.

PMID- 25824039
TI  - Resolvin D2 recovers neural injury by suppressing inflammatory mediators
      expression in lipopolysaccharide-induced Parkinson's disease rat model.
AB  - Activation of microglial cells have been treated as the main role in the
      pathogenesis of neuropathic inflammation and neurodegenerative disease, including
      Parkinson's disease (PD), prion disease and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Resolvin D2
      (RvD2) is derived from omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid and performs potent
      anti-inflammatory and pro-resolution effects. Here we investigated the effects of
      intrathecal injection of RvD2 for substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) in vivo
      and primary microglia in vitro experiment on pro-inflammatory cytokine expression
      and NF-kappaB activation in Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced PD rat model. The
      total of 30 days experimental period were used for the rats' experiment, the LPS
      induced inflammation in SNpc increase the expression of NO, iNOS, TNF-alpha, IL
      1, IL-18, IL-6, IL-1beta, ROS production, the translocation of NF-kappaB p65,
      IkappaBalpha, and IKKbeta expression in glial cells. After injection of RvD2, the
      treatment prevented development of behavioral defects and TLR4/NF-kappaB pathway
      activation. Therefore, we demonstrated a novel role of RvD2 in treatment of rat
      PD model and LPS activated microglia inflammation. Given the significant potency
      of RvD2 and well-known side effects of microglia inflammatory inhibitors, it may
      represent novel hotspot for treating neurodegenerative disease.

PMID- 25824040
TI  - Nucleotides maintain the activity of Cav1.2 channels in guinea-pig ventricular
      myocytes.
AB  - The activity of Cav1.2 Ca(2+) channels is maintained in the presence of
      calmodulin and ATP, even in cell-free patches, and thus a channel ATP-binding
      site has been suggested. In this study, we examined whether other nucleotides,
      such as GTP, UTP, CTP, ADP and AMP, could be substituted for ATP in guinea-pig
      ventricular myocytes. We found that all the nucleotides tested could re-prime the
      Ca(2+) channels in the presence of 1 MUM calmodulin in the inside-out mode. The
      order of efficacy was ATP > GTP > UTP > ADP > CTP ~ AMP. Thus, the presumed
      nucleotide-binding site in the channel seemed to favor a purine rather than
      pyrimidine base and a triphosphate rather than a di- or mono-phosphate group.
      Furthermore, a high concentration (10 mM) of GTP, UTP, CTP, ADP and AMP had
      inhibitory effects on the channel activity. These results provide information on
      the putative nucleotide-binding site(s) in Cav1.2 Ca(2+) channels.

PMID- 25824041
TI  - An improved flurogenic probe for high-throughput screening of 2-deoxyribose
      aldolases.
AB  - 2-Deoxyribose aldolase-catalyzed C-C bond-forming reactions have become 1 more
      and more important in synthesis of statins and other drug intermediates. Many
      methods have focused on improving the aldolase properties and harvesting new
      aldolases, but a good outcome depends on the efficiency of the high-throughput
      screening system. We have developed a visible green fluorescence probe based on a
      coumarin derivative, which can be reversibly modulated by a retro-aldol reaction
      catalyzed by 2-deoxyribose aldolase for selecting aldolase mutants with high
      activity. This assay system provides a convenient and effective way for high
      throughput screening aldolases as the green fluorescence is sensitively detected
      and daylight-viewable without the need for specialist equipment. We used our
      probe to successfully harvest aldolase mutants with higher activities than the
      parent from a random mutagenesis library.

PMID- 25824042
TI  - Glut4 palmitoylation at Cys223 plays a critical role in Glut4 membrane
      trafficking.
AB  - Recently, we identified Glut4 as a palmitoylated protein in adipocytes. To
      understand the role of Glut4 palmitoylation in Glut4 membrane trafficking, a
      process that is essential for maintenance of whole body glucose homeostasis, we
      have characterized Glut4 palmitoylation. We found that Glut4 is palmitoylated at
      Cys223 and Glut4 palmitoylation at Cys223 is essential for insulin dependent
      Glut4 membrane translocation as substitution of Cys223 with a serine residue in
      Glut4 (C223S Glut4) diminished Glut4 responsiveness to insulin in membrane
      translocation in both adipocytes and CHO-IR cells. We have examined C223S Glut4
      subcellular localization and observed that it was absence from tubular-vesicle
      structure, where insulin responsive Glut4 vesicles were presented. Together, our
      studies uncover a novel mechanism under which Glut4 palmitoylation regulates
      Glut4 sorting to insulin responsive vesicles, thereby insulin-dependent Glut4
      membrane translocation. 

PMID- 25824043
TI  - SphK1 inhibitor II (SKI-II) inhibits acute myelogenous leukemia cell growth in
      vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Previous studies have identified sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) as a potential drug
      target for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In the current study, we
      investigated the potential anti-leukemic activity of a novel and specific SphK1
      inhibitor, SKI-II. We demonstrated that SKI-II inhibited growth and survival of
      human AML cell lines (HL-60 and U937 cells). SKI-II was more efficient than two
      known SphK1 inhibitors SK1-I and FTY720 in inhibiting AML cells. Meanwhile, it
      induced dramatic apoptosis in above AML cells, and the cytotoxicity by SKI-II was
      almost reversed by the general caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk. SKI-II treatment
      inhibited SphK1 activation, and concomitantly increased level of sphingosine-1
      phosphate (S1P) precursor ceramide in AML cells. Conversely, exogenously-added
      S1P protected against SKI-II-induced cytotoxicity, while cell permeable short
      chain ceramide (C6) aggravated SKI-II's lethality against AML cells. Notably, SKI
      II induced potent apoptotic death in primary human AML cells, but was generally
      safe to the human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from
      healthy donors. In vivo, SKI-II administration suppressed growth of U937 leukemic
      xenograft tumors in severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice. These results
      suggest that SKI-II might be further investigated as a promising anti-AML agent. 

PMID- 25824044
TI  - ALS-associated P56S-VAPB mutation restrains 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation.
AB  - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is the most common motor neuron
      disease in adults, is a neurodegenerative disease that involves the selective and
      systematic death of upper and lower motor neurons. In addition to the motor
      neuron death, altered metabolic functions, such as dyslipidemia, have also been
      reported for ALS patients; however, the underlying mechanism remains unknown. In
      the present study, we investigated the effects of ALS-associated P56S-vesicle
      associated membrane proteinassociated protein B (VAPB), P56S-VAPB on 3T3-L1
      preadipocyte differentiation and on the expression of differentiation-associated
      genes and unfolded protein response (UPR)-related genes. Experiments with 3T3-L1
      cells transfected with wild-type (Wt)-VAPB and P56S-VAPB expression vectors
      showed that the size of lipid droplets was markedly smaller in P56S-VAPB
      expressing cells, although fat accumulated intracellularly. In P56S-VAPB
      expressing cells, increased the expression of PPARgamma2, aP2, and C/EBPalpha,
      the genes deeply involved in adipocyte differentiation, was not observed.
      Furthermore, the expression levels of the UPR-related ATF4 and CHOP genes were
      found to be enhanced in the P56S-VAPB-expressing cells. From these results, P56S
      VAPB was found to suppress adipocyte differentiation by promoting the activation
      of the ATF4-CHOP pathway. Given previous reports showing increased ATF4 and CHOP
      expression levels in neurons of ALS patients, results from the present study
      suggest that dyslipidemia is caused by enhanced ATF4-CHOP pathway in the adipose
      tissue of ALS patients. 

PMID- 25824045
TI  - miR-107 and miR-25 simultaneously target LATS2 and regulate proliferation and
      invasion of gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) cells.
AB  - Although a series of oncogenes and tumor suppressors were identified in the
      pathological development of gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC), the underlying molecule
      mechanism were still not fully understood. The current study explored the
      expression profile of miR-107 and miR-25 in GAC patients and their downstream
      regulative network. qRT-PCR analysis was performed to quantify the expression of
      these two miRNAs in serum samples from both patients and healthy controls. Dual
      luciferase assay was conducted to verify their putative bindings with LATS2. MTT
      assay, cell cycle assay and transwell assay were performed to explore how miR-107
      and miR-25 regulate proliferation and invasion of gastric cancer cells. Findings
      of this study demonstrated that total miR-107 or miR-25 expression might be
      overexpressed in gastric cancer patients and they can simultaneously and
      synchronically regulate LATS2 expression, thereby affecting gastric cancer cell
      growth and invasion. Therefore, the miR-25/miR-107-LATS2 axis might play an
      important role in proliferation and invasion of the gastric cancer cells. 

PMID- 25824046
TI  - Brusatol inhibits the response of cultured beta-cells to pro-inflammatory
      cytokines in vitro.
AB  - Brusatol is a natural terpenoid that is capable of inducing a variety of
      biological effects. We presently report that this substance dramatically improves
      beta-cell survival when exposed to pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1beta and
      IFNgamma) in vitro. This was observed in insulin producing rat (RIN-5AH), mouse
      (betaTC6) and human (EndoC-betaH1) beta-cell lines. Brusatol prevented beta-cell
      oxidative stress in response to cytokines and counteracted induction of iNOS on
      the protein level. Brusatol, however, block neither the cytokine-induced increase
      of iNOS mRNA, nor NF-kappaB activation, suggesting that inhibition of iNOS
      protein expression relies on posttranscriptional mechanism. This indicates that
      brusatol acts via a novel protective pathway, which may represent a more
      promising way of improving beta-cell function and survival.

PMID- 25824047
TI  - The rice ent-KAURENE SYNTHASE LIKE 2 encodes a functional ent-beyerene synthase.
AB  - The rice genome contains a family of kaurene synthase-like (OsKSL) genes that are
      responsible for the biosynthesis of various diterpenoids, including gibberellins
      and phytoalexins. While many OsKSL genes have been functionally characterized,
      the functionality of OsKSL2 is still unclear and it has been proposed to be a
      pseudogene. Here, we found that OsKSL2 is drastically induced in roots by methyl
      jasmonate treatment and we successfully isolated a full-length cDNA for OsKSL2.
      Sequence analysis of the OsKSL2 cDNA revealed that the open reading frame of
      OsKSL2 is mispredicted in the two major rice genome databases, IRGSP-RAP and MSU
      RGAP. In vitro conversion assay indicated that recombinant OsKSL2 catalyzes the
      cyclization of ent-CDP into ent-beyerene as a major and ent-kaurene as a minor
      product. ent-Beyerene is an antimicrobial compound and OsKSL2 is induced by
      methyl jasmonate; these data suggest that OsKSL2 is a functional ent-beyerene
      synthase that is involved in defense mechanisms in rice roots.

PMID- 25824048
TI  - Endothelin-1 exacerbates development of hypertension and atherosclerosis in
      modest insulin resistant syndrome.
AB  - Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is known as potent vasoconstrictor, by virtue of its
      mitogenic effects, and may deteriorate the process of hypertension and
      atherosclerosis by aggravating hyperplasia and migration in VSMCs. Our previous
      study demonstrated that insulin infusion caused sequential induction of
      hyperinsulinemia, hyperendothelinemia, insulin resistance, and then hypertension
      in rats. However, the underlying mechanism of ET-1 interfere insulin signaling in
      VSMCs remains unclear. To characterize insulin signaling during modest insulin
      resistant syndrome, we established and monitored rats by feeding high fructose
      diet (HFD) until high blood pressure and modest insulin resistance occurred. To
      explore the role of ET-1/ETAR during insulin resistance, ETAR expression, ET-1
      binding, and insulin signaling were investigated in the HFD-fed rats and cultured
      A-10 VSMCs. Results showed that high blood pressure, tunica medial wall
      thickening, plasma ET-1 and insulin, and accompanied with modest insulin
      resistance without overweight and hyperglycemia occurred in early-stage HFD-fed
      rats. In the endothelium-denuded aorta from HFD-fed rats, ETAR expression, but
      not ETBR, and ET-1 binding in aorta were increased. Moreover, decreasing of
      insulin-induced Akt phosphorylation and increasing of insulin-induced ERK
      phosphorylation were observed in aorta during modest insulin resistance.
      Interestingly, in ET-1 pretreated VSMCs, the increment of insulin-induced Akt
      phosphorylation was decreased whereas the increment of insulin-induced ERK
      phosphorylation was increased. In addition, insulin potentiated ET-1-induced
      VSMCs migration and proliferation due to increasing ET-1 binding. ETAR antagonist
      reversed effects of ET-1 on insulin-induced signaling and VSMCs migration and
      proliferation. In summary, modest insulin resistance syndrome accompanied with
      hyperinsulinemia leading to the potentiation on ET-1-induced actions in aortic
      VSMCs. ET-1 via ETAR pathway suppressed insulin-induced AKT activation, whereas
      remained insulin-induced ERK activation. ET-1 and insulin synergistically
      potentiated migration and proliferation mainly through ETAR/ERK dependent
      pathway, which is dominant in VSMCs during modest insulin resistance syndrome.
      Therefore, ET-1 and ETAR are potential targets responsible for the observed
      synergism effect in the hypertensive atherosclerotic process through enhancement
      of ET-1 binding, ET-1 binding, ETAR expression, and ET-1-induced mitogenic
      actions in aortic VSMCs. 

PMID- 25824049
TI  - MiR-520b suppresses proliferation of hepatoma cells through targeting ten-eleven
      translocation 1 (TET1) mRNA.
AB  - Accumulating evidence indicates that microRNAs are able to act as oncogenes or
      tumor suppressor genes in human cancer. We previously reported that miR-520b was
      down-regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its deregulation was
      involved in hepatocarcinogenesis. In the present study, we report that miR-520b
      suppresses cell proliferation in HCC through targeting the ten-eleven
      translocation 1 (TET1) mRNA. Notably, we identified that miR-520b was able to
      target 3'-untranslated region (3'UTR) of TET1 mRNA by luciferase reporter gene
      assays. Then, we revealed that miR-520b was able to reduce the expression of TET1
      at the levels of mRNA and protein using reverse transcription-polymerase chain
      reaction and Western blotting analysis. In terms of function, 5-ethynyl-2
      deoxyuridine (EdU) incorporation and colony formation assays demonstrated that
      the forced miR-520b expression remarkably inhibited proliferation of hepatoma
      cells, but TET1 overexpression could rescue the inhibition of cell proliferation
      mediated by miR-520b. Furthermore, anti-miR-520b enhanced proliferation of
      hepatoma cells, whereas silencing of TET1 abolished anti-miR-520b-induced
      acceleration of cell proliferation. Then, we validated that the expression levels
      of miR-520b were negatively related to those of TET1 mRNA in clinical HCC
      tissues. Thus, we conclude that miR-520b depresses proliferation of liver cancer
      cells through targeting 3'UTR of TET1 mRNA. Our finding provides new insights
      into the mechanism of hepatocarcinogenesis. 

PMID- 25824050
TI  - Use of aromatase inhibitors in practice of gynecology.
AB  - PURPOSE: The conversion of androgens into estrogens by aromatase is called
      aromatization and is inhibited by aromatase inhibitors (AIs). The aim of this
      article is to evaluate the use of aromatase inhibitors in gynecological diseases
      such as endometriosis, leiomyoma, estrogen- dependent gynecologic neoplasia and
      infertility. METHODS: This is a review of literature combined with experience and
      use of aromatase inhibitors in practice of gynecology. CONCLUSION: AIs are
      promising agents in treatment of estrogen dependent disease. However lack of
      experience, side effects and cost are limiting factors for using these agents in
      infertility treatment. However there is need for larger, well designed randomized
      trials to generate robust data in order to establish the true potential of
      aromatase inhibitors.

PMID- 25824051
TI  - The efficacy of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonists on improving the
      postoperative pain intensity and satisfaction after remifentanil-based anesthesia
      in adults: a meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Remifentanil could induce opioid-induced hyperalgesia and tolerance,
      which would increase pain intensity after the operation. N-methyl-d-aspartate
      (NMDA) receptor antagonists have been used to prevent these adverse effects while
      the efficacy is still controversial. We evaluated the effectiveness of NMDA
      receptor antagonists in reducing postoperative pain and analgesic consumption
      after remifentanil-based anesthesia. METHODS: Full published reports of
      randomized controlled trials on adults investigating the effects of intravenous
      administration of NMDA receptor antagonists compared with placebo for preventing
      remifentanil-induced postoperative hyperalgesia and tolerance were searched in
      PubMed, Embase, Springer, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials.
      Postoperative pain scores, analgesic consumption, time to first analgesic
      request, satisfaction scores, and opioid-related and other adverse effects have
      been evaluated. Results were combined using fix or random-effects model when
      appropriate. RESULTS: A total of 14 randomized controlled trials with 729
      patients were included in the final analysis. Compared with placebo, NMDA
      receptor antagonists reduced the pain scores at 0, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 24 hours
      postoperatively (P < .05), reduced the cumulative analgesic consumption of 0-6, 0
      24, and 0-48 hours after the operation (P < .05), prolonged the first time to
      request analgesic (P < .05), and promoted the satisfaction scores (P < .05).
      There was no difference in the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting,
      psychological adverse effects, and shivering. Subgroup analysis was conducted on
      different interventions (ketamine and magnesium); the results are in line with
      general results. CONCLUSIONS: N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonists can
      prevent the increase of analgesic consumption and pain intensity induced by
      remifentanil, and it can improve the postoperative satisfaction of patients.

PMID- 25824052
TI  - Practical regional blocks for nasal fracture in a child: blockade of infraorbital
      nerve and external nasal branch of anterior ethmoidal nerve.

PMID- 25824053
TI  - Unbounded number of channel uses may be required to detect quantum capacity.
AB  - Transmitting data reliably over noisy communication channels is one of the most
      important applications of information theory, and is well understood for channels
      modelled by classical physics. However, when quantum effects are involved, we do
      not know how to compute channel capacities. This is because the formula for the
      quantum capacity involves maximizing the coherent information over an unbounded
      number of channel uses. In fact, entanglement across channel uses can even
      increase the coherent information from zero to non-zero. Here we study the number
      of channel uses necessary to detect positive coherent information. In all
      previous known examples, two channel uses already sufficed. It might be that only
      a finite number of channel uses is always sufficient. We show that this is not
      the case: for any number of uses, there are channels for which the coherent
      information is zero, but which nonetheless have capacity. 

PMID- 25824054
TI  - Update on the autoimmune pathology of multiple sclerosis: B-cells as disease
      drivers and therapeutic targets.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Collectively, research on the role of B-cells in the pathogenesis of
      multiple sclerosis (MS) illustrates how translational medicine has given rise to
      promising therapeutic approaches for one of the most debilitating chronic
      neurological diseases in young adults. First described in 1935, the experimental
      autoimmune/allergic encephalomyelitis model is a key animal model that has
      provided the foundation for important developments in targeted therapeutics.
      SUMMARY: While additional B-cell therapies for MS are presently being developed
      by the pharmaceutical industry, much remains to be understood about the role
      played by B-cells in MS. The goal of this review is to summarize how B-cells may
      contribute to MS pathogenesis and thereby provide a basis for understanding why B
      cell depletion is so effective in the treatment of this disease. Key Messages: B
      cells are key players in the pathogenesis of MS, and their depletion via B-cell
      targeted therapy ameliorates disease activity. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: In 2008,
      data from the first CD20-targeting B-cell depleting therapeutic trials using
      rituximab in MS were published. Since then, there has been a large body of
      evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of B-cell depletion mediated via anti
      CD20 antibodies. Intense research efforts focusing on the immunopathological
      relevance of B-cells has gained significant momentum and given rise to a
      constellation of promising therapeutic agents for this complex B-cell-driven
      disease, including novel anti-CD20 antibodies, as well as agents targeting CD19
      and BAFF-R.

PMID- 25824055
TI  - Brood care in a 100-million-year-old scale insect.
AB  - Behavior of extinct organisms can be inferred only indirectly, but occasionally
      rare fossils document particular behaviors directly. Brood care, a remarkable
      behavior promoting the survival of the next generation, has evolved independently
      numerous times among animals including insects. However, fossil evidence of such
      a complex behavior is exceptionally scarce. Here, we report an ensign scale
      insect (Hemiptera: Ortheziidae), Wathondara kotejai gen. et sp. nov., from mid
      Cretaceous Burmese amber, which preserves eggs within a wax ovisac, and several
      freshly hatched nymphs. The new fossil is the only Mesozoic record of an adult
      female scale insect. More importantly, our finding represents the earliest
      unequivocal direct evidence of brood care in the insect fossil record and
      demonstrates a remarkably conserved egg-brooding reproductive strategy within
      scale insects in stasis for nearly 100 million years. 

PMID- 25824056
TI  - Flowering time and seed dormancy control use external coincidence to generate
      life history strategy.
AB  - Climate change is accelerating plant developmental transitions coordinated with
      the seasons in temperate environments. To understand the importance of these
      timing advances for a stable life history strategy, we constructed a full life
      cycle model of Arabidopsis thaliana. Modelling and field data reveal that a
      cryptic function of flowering time control is to limit seed set of winter annuals
      to an ambient temperature window which coincides with a temperature-sensitive
      switch in seed dormancy state. This coincidence is predicted to be conserved
      independent of climate at the expense of flowering date, suggesting that
      temperature control of flowering time has evolved to constrain seed set
      environment and therefore frequency of dormant and non-dormant seed states. We
      show that late flowering can disrupt this bet-hedging germination strategy. Our
      analysis shows that life history modelling can reveal hidden fitness constraints
      and identify non-obvious selection pressures as emergent features. 

PMID- 25824057
TI  - Inhibition of Hedgehog signaling pathway impedes cancer cell proliferation by
      promotion of autophagy.
AB  - Multiple lines of evidence implicate that aberrant activation of Hedgehog (Hh)
      signaling is involved in a variety of human cancers. However, the molecular
      mechanisms underlying how cancer cells respond to Hh inhibition remain to be
      elucidated. In this study, we found that blockade of Hh signaling suppresses cell
      proliferation in human cancer cells. Microarray analysis revealed that
      differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in human cancer cells are enriched in
      autophagy pathway in response to the inhibition of Hh signaling. Interestingly,
      inhibition of Hh signaling induced autophagy, whereas activation of Hh signaling
      by ligand treatments prevented the induction of autophagy. In addition,
      inhibition of autophagy by 3-methyladenine (3-MA) partially suppressed
      cytotoxicity induced by inhibition of Hh signaling. Finally, in autophagy
      deficient cells, cytotoxic effect triggered by inhibition of Hh signaling was
      partially reversed, indicating the modulation of autophagy by Hh signaling is
      autophagy-specific. These results suggest that inhibition of Hh signaling impedes
      cancer cell proliferation in part through induction of autophagy. 

PMID- 25824058
TI  - Physiological and psychophysiological responses to an exer-game training
      protocol.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Exer-games and virtual reality offer alternative opportunities to
      provide neuro-rehabilitation and exercise that are fun. Our goal was to determine
      how effective they are in achieving motor learning goals and fitness benefits as
      players gain experience. DESIGN: We employed a repeated measures design to
      determine changes in physical exertion and engagement with training. METHODS:
      Fourteen healthy adults trained on the XBOX Kinect video game Dance Central using
      a skill-based protocol to examine changes in energy expenditure (EE), heart rate
      (HR), METs, limb movement, game proficiency, and player engagement in initial,
      post-training, and transfer-testing of a full-body dance exer-game. Data were
      analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance, p<0.05. RESULTS: Both EE,
      HR, and METs increased from initial (EE 4.89+/-1.35, HR 103+/-18, METs 4.25+/
      0.72) to post-training (EE 5.92+/-1.25, HR 110+/-15, METs 5.05+/-0.75) and were
      greatest during transfer-testing (EE 6.34+/-1.35, HR 115+/-17, METs 5.42+/-0.88,
      p<=0.001). Proficiency, measured by game scores, also increased from initial to
      post-training and transfer-testing (p<=0.002). Limb movement and player
      engagement remained unchanged. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to understand whether
      player physiological and psychophysiological responses change with continued game
      play. Although Dance Central involves whole-body movement, physical exertion
      remained at moderate levels after training. As exer-game and virtual reality
      systems move from their initial novelty, research about how players react to
      continued involvement with a game can guide game developers to maintain a
      freshness through game progression that preserves the participant's attentional
      focus, minimizes attrition and maintains a prescribed level of energy exertion.

PMID- 25824059
TI  - Hinchingbrooke revisited.

PMID- 25824060
TI  - Identifying reasons for delays in acute hospitals using the Day-of-Care Survey
      method.
AB  - This paper describes a new tool called 'Day-of-Care Survey', developed to assess
      inpatient delays in acute hospitals. Using literature review, iterative testing
      and feedback from professional groups, a national multidisciplinary team
      developed the survey criteria and methodology. Review teams working in pairs
      visited wards and used case records and bedside charts to assess the patient's
      status against severity of illness and service intensity criteria. Patients who
      did not meet the survey criteria for acute care were identified and delays were
      categorised. From March 2012 to December 2013, nine acute hospitals across
      Scotland, Australia and England were surveyed. A total of 3,846 adult general
      inpatient beds (excluding intensive care and maternity) were reviewed. There were
      145 empty beds at the time of surveys across the nine sites, with 270 definite
      discharges planned on the day of the survey. The total number of patients not
      meeting criteria for acute care was 798/3,431 (23%, range 18-28%). Six factors
      accounted for 61% (490/798) of the reasons why patients not meeting acute care
      criteria remained in hospital. This survey gives important insights into the
      challenges of managing inpatient flow using system level information as a method
      to target interventions designed to address delay. 

PMID- 25824061
TI  - Compassion.
AB  - The term 'compassion' has been much used and little discussed. I argue that
      compassion is a virtue in the Aristotelian sense, one of a family of other
      regarding properties and belongs to the affective qualities of a moral agent. Its
      exercise is an essential component of good medical care in many situations and
      requires grounding in moral principles. Although our dispositions vary,
      compassion is a quality that can be developed in all of us. 

PMID- 25824062
TI  - False interpretation of diagnostic serology tests for patients treated with
      pooled human immunoglobulin G infusions: a trap for the unwary.
AB  - Therapeutic immunoglobulin G (IgG) products are produced from numerous plasma
      donations, and are infused in many medical conditions. The serological testing of
      patients who have received IgG infusions may well produce falsely positive and
      misleading results from this infused IgG, rather than endogenously produced IgG.
      We present two example cases of clinical situations where this could cause
      concern. We tested multiple IgG products with a range of serological tests
      performed in infective or autoimmune conditions, including hepatitis B, syphilis,
      human immunodeficiency virus, human T-lymphotropic virus, anti-neutrophil
      cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA), anti-nuclear antibody (ANA), anti-cardiolipin
      antibodies and anti-double stranded DNA (dsDNA) antibody. We found positivity
      within these products for hepatitis B surface and core antibody, syphilis, ANCA,
      ANA, anti-cardiolipin IgG and dsDNA antibody, which may result from specific or
      non-specific reactivity. The serological testing of patients who have received
      IgG treatment detects the administered IgG in addition to IgG produced by the
      patient. 

PMID- 25824064
TI  - Teaching a 'good' ward round.
AB  - Ward rounds are a vital part of hospital medicine and junior doctors play a key
      role in their delivery. Despite the importance of ward rounds to patient care and
      experience, we believe that junior doctors may lack the training and skills to
      carry them out most effectively. We designed a simulation-based training session
      focusing on ward round skills themed to key patient safety issues and have
      delivered the training to over 100 learners (medical students and foundation year
      one doctors). Few learners had any prior training in ward rounds. The session was
      highly valued by all participants and surveys completed both before and after the
      session showed statistically significant improvements in confidence in leading
      and documenting ward rounds. In addition, 94% of final year medical students and
      93% of doctors felt such training should be included in the undergraduate
      curriculum. We believe there is a current gap in training around ward round
      skills and would strongly encourage simulation-based ward round training to be
      developed for undergraduates. Further sessions following qualification may then
      consolidate and develop ward round skills adapted to the level of the doctor. 

PMID- 25824063
TI  - Cerebral involvement in IgG4-related disease.
AB  - IgG4-related disease is a recently recognised multi-system disease. Common organ
      involvement includes the pancreas, biliary tree and salivary glands. Central
      nervous system involvement has been infrequently reported. In a single-centre
      cohort of 84 patients, we report cerebral involvement in three (4%) patients.
      Details of cerebral involvement in these patients are outlined, including
      pituitary involvement in two patients and a diffuse autoimmune-like
      encephalopathy in the other. 

PMID- 25824065
TI  - Surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma in a mixed-aetiology UK cohort with
      cirrhosis: does alpha-fetoprotein still have a role?
AB  - Mortality from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in people with cirrhosis is
      increasing whereas mortality from other causes is declining. Surveillance appears
      to reduce mortality but the optimal strategy is uncertain. Current guidelines
      differ by recommending ultrasonography alone or with alpha-fetoprotein (alphaFP).
      Records in three UK hospitals were analysed from 2006 to 2011. Of 111 HCC cases
      identified, 24 (47.1%) of those eligible were under surveillance: 21 (87.5%) were
      under combined ultrasonography-alphaFP, 2 (8.3%) ultrasonography-only and 1
      (4.2%) alphaFP-only surveillance. alphaFP was elevated in 19 (86.4%), and alphaFP
      alone triggered a confirmatory study in 11 (9.9%) overall and 7 (29.1%) under
      surveillance. Surveillance, but not alphaFP, correlated with smaller tumours.
      Survival did not differ significantly between groups. Given that alphaFP use is
      associated with identifying smaller HCCs and that several diagnoses would have
      been delayed without alphaFP in this real-life cohort, these data support ongoing
      alphaFP use. However, further work is necessary with regard to whether alphaFP
      translates into improved clinical outcome and overall cost effects. In our area,
      stopping alphaFP use would also represent a significant change in practice. 

PMID- 25824066
TI  - Vitamin B12 deficiency - A 21st century perspective .
AB  - Vitamin B12 deficiency is a common condition which can present with non-specific
      clinical features, and in severe cases with neurological or haematological
      abnormalities. Although classically caused by pernicious anaemia, this condition
      now accounts for a minority of cases and vitamin B12 deficiency occurs most often
      due to food-bound cobalamin malabsorption. Since missing the diagnosis can result
      in potentially severe complications, including degeneration of the spinal cord
      and pancytopaenia, vitamin B12 deficiency must be diagnosed early and managed
      appropriately. Intramuscular injections have been the mainstay of treatment, but
      oral replacement therapy can be effective in many cases. There is accumulating
      evidence that high vitamin B12 levels (values varied from 350-1,200 pmol/l) are
      associated with haematological and hepatic disorders, in particular with
      malignancy. This review focuses on the developments in the clinical features and
      management of vitamin B12 deficiency over the last decade. 

PMID- 25824067
TI  - Mental health in young adults and adolescents - supporting general physicians to
      provide holistic care.
AB  - In the era of an ageing population, young adults on medical wards are quite rare,
      as only 12% of young adults report a long-term illness or disability. However,
      mental health problems remain prevalent in the younger population. In a recent
      report, mental health and obesity were listed as the most common problems in
      young adults. Teams set up specifically for the needs of younger adults, such as
      early intervention in psychosis services are shown to work better than
      traditional care and have also proven to be cost effective. On the medical wards,
      younger patients may elicit strong emotions in staff, who often feel protective
      and may identify strongly with the young patient's suffering. In order to provide
      holistic care for young adults, general physicians need to recognise common
      presentations of mental illness in young adults such as depression, deliberate
      self-harm, eating disorders and substance misuse. Apart from treating illness,
      health promotion is particularly important for young adults. 

PMID- 25824068
TI  - Drug therapies in older adults (part 2).
AB  - In this, the second of two articles, we continue our evaluation of drug therapies
      in older adults. Having previously described the pharmacokinetic and
      pharmacodynamic consequences of physiological ageing, along with the challenge of
      appropriate prescribing, we proposed four key questions which should be
      considered when prescribing for this cohort of the population. Does this agent
      reflect the priorities of the patient? Are there alternatives - with greater
      efficacy, effectiveness or tolerability - that might be considered? Are the dose,
      frequency and formulation appropriate? How does this prescription relate to
      concurrent medication? We also highlighted the reliance on subgroup analysis to
      demonstrate the efficacy of drug therapies for older adults in osteoporosis and
      the underutilisation of appropriate treatments for patients with Alzheimer's
      disease as a result of flawed guidelines. Here we describe current drug therapies
      in systolic heart failure, noting the limited inclusion of older adults in key
      trials, while also reviewing the pharmacological treatment of orthostatic
      hypotension. In doing so, we advocate the intermittent use of midodrine as a
      first-line treatment for orthostasis in older adults, counter to the generic
      guidelines produced by various learned societies, but in keeping with the scant
      trial data available. 

PMID- 25824069
TI  - Harveian Oration 2014: Stem cells and cell replacement prospects .

PMID- 25824070
TI  - FitzPatrick Lecture: King George III and the porphyria myth - causes,
      consequences and re-evaluation of his mental illness with computer diagnostics.
AB  - Recent studies have shown that the claim that King George III suffered from acute
      porphyria is seriously at fault. This article explores some of the causes of this
      misdiagnosis and the consequences of the misleading claims, also reporting on the
      nature of the king's recurrent mental illness according to computer diagnostics.
      In addition, techniques of cognitive archaeology are used to investigate the
      nature of the king's final decade of mental illness, which resulted in the
      appointment of the Prince of Wales as Prince Regent. The results of this analysis
      confirm that the king suffered from bipolar disorder type I, with a final decade
      of dementia, due, in part, to the neurotoxicity of his recurrent episodes of
      acute mania. 

PMID- 25824071
TI  - Management of patients with Graves' orbitopathy: initial assessment, management
      outside specialised centres and referral pathways.
AB  - Graves' orbitopathy (GO) is uncommon, but responsible for considerable morbidity.
      A coordinated approach between healthcare professionals is required in order to
      meet the needs of patients. Early diagnosis can be achieved by a simple clinical
      assessment. Low-cost effective interventions can be initiated by generalists,
      which may improve outcomes. Moderate-to-severe GO should be referred to
      specialised centres. Recommendations for clinical diagnosis, initial management
      and referral pathways are highlighted. 

PMID- 25824072
TI  - Alcoholic liver disease - the extent of the problem and what you can do about it.
AB  - It takes upwards of ten years for alcohol-related liver disease to progress from
      fatty liver through fibrosis to cirrhosis to acute on chronic liver failure. This
      process is silent and symptom free and can easily be missed in primary care,
      usually presenting with advanced cirrhosis. At this late stage, management
      consists of expert supportive care, with prompt identification and treatment of
      bleeding, sepsis and renal problems, as well as support to change behaviour and
      stop harmful alcohol consumption. There are opportunities to improve care by
      bringing liver care everywhere up to the standards of the best liver units, as
      detailed in the Lancet Commission report. We also need a fundamental rethink of
      the technologies and approaches used in primary care to detect and intervene in
      liver disease at a much earlier stage. However, the most effective and cost
      effective measure would be a proper evidence-based alcohol strategy. 

PMID- 25824073
TI  - Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: when to intervene and with what.
AB  - Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasingly common due to the
      rising prevalence of obesity in both children and adults. It is associated with
      metabolic risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia and hypertension,
      and is associated with increased mortality both from cardiovascular-related and
      liver-related deaths. Identification of those individuals with significant
      inflammation and fibrosis is a critical part of the patient pathway. Current
      treatments for NAFLD include weight loss from lifestyle modification or bariatric
      surgery, management of underlying metabolic risk factors and for those with end
      stage liver disease, liver transplantation. 

PMID- 25824074
TI  - New insights in the management of chronic hepatitis B.
AB  - Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remains a global healthcare challenge, complicated by
      the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, accounting for
      approximately 600,000 deaths per year. Hepatitis B is a DNA virus, which utilises
      a covalently closed circular (ccc) DNA to act as a transcriptional template for
      the virus. The persistence of cccDNA in the nucleus of infected hepatocytes
      accounts for HBV chronicity. Quantitative hepatitis B surface antigen (qHBsAg)
      acts as a surrogate for the level of cccDNA and therefore may provide useful
      information around treatment response and viral immune control. Current antiviral
      therapies are limited in their ability to achieve HBsAg loss, which is considered
      the 'gold-standard' treatment endpoint. This article focuses on the unmet needs
      in CHB today; a better definition of disease phase, the timing of therapeutic
      intervention, optimising treatment strategies with current therapies and the
      development of novel agents; all with HBsAg loss as the therapeutic goal. 

PMID- 25824076
TI  - Management of patients with decompensated cirrhosis.
AB  - During the assessment of a patient with liver disease, finding the patient has
      decompensated cirrhosis, as defined by the presence of jaundice, ascites,
      variceal haemorrhage or hepatic encephalopathy, has major implications regarding
      management and prevention of cirrhosis-related complications, as well as
      consideration for a referral for liver transplantation evaluation. Prognosis is
      markedly worse in patients with decompensated compared with compensated
      cirrhosis. In general, any patient with decompensated cirrhosis should receive
      evaluation and medical care by a hepatologist. Since patients frequently present
      with more than one facet of liver decompensation, such cases pose a complex
      management challenge requiring input from a multidisciplinary team and close
      liaison with a liver transplant centre. 

PMID- 25824075
TI  - Chronic hepatitis C - what do the new drugs offer and who should get them first?
AB  - Until recently in the UK the treatment of HCV depended on combination regimes of
      interferon (IFN) and the antiviral drug ribavirin. These regimes required regular
      injections and were of variable duration (generally for a minimum of 12 weeks),
      and the use of IFN often caused unacceptable side effects (thrombocytopenia,
      leukopenia and depression). Of the common HCV genotypes in the UK, genotype 1
      responded relatively poorly to these regimes (50-60% viral clearance), while most
      (80% plus) of genotype 3 patients responded with sustained viral clearance.
      Patients with severe liver disease (decompensated cirrhosis) tolerated these
      regimens very poorly and often their liver function deteriorated. The recent
      introduction of a series of direct anti-viral agents (DAAs) offers the potential
      to revolutionise treatment, particularly in genotype 1 patients and those with
      advanced liver disease, as drug regimens avoiding IFN have been developed, and
      can be curative in, for example, 95% of genotype 1 patients. The DAAs are
      currently being evaluated and introduced into UK clinical practice. Choice of
      drug regime, and strategies for identifying patient groups suitable for
      treatment, are discussed, as are the prospects for eventual complete control of
      the HCV epidemic. 

PMID- 25824078
TI  - Lesson of the month 1: A rash decision.
AB  - Cellulitis is a common condition and several mimics exist which should be
      considered in patients who fail to respond to antibiotics. We describe the case
      of a patient with anaplastic large cell lymphoma masquerading as a lower leg
      cellulitis. The patient had failed to respond to intravenous antibiotics and a
      skin biopsy confirmed her diagnosis. She received radical radiotherapy to the
      lower leg but later developed shortness of breath and was identified to have
      pulmonary infiltration of the lymphoma. She died shortly afterwards from lobar
      pneumonia. This case highlights the importance of regularly reassessing patients
      with suspected cellulitis and considering alternative diagnoses in cases that
      fail to respond to treatment. 

PMID- 25824079
TI  - Lesson of the month 2: Cough and right hypochondrial discomfort.
AB  - Cystic echinococcosis, commonly known as hydatid disease, is caused by the larval
      stage of the tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus. Humans are an accidental host to
      this rare disease in the UK, with around 10-20 new cases reported each year. Once
      suspected, the diagnosis is confirmed through a combination of relevant history,
      imaging studies and serological testing. This lesson presents a case of hydatid
      disease and outlines the significant management issues when cysts rupture and the
      disease becomes disseminated. 

PMID- 25824080
TI  - Myositis and metastatic melanoma.

PMID- 25824082
TI  - Brucella and Coxiella; if you don't look, you don't find.

PMID- 25824083
TI  - Myasthenia gravis as a 'stroke mimic'.

PMID- 25824084
TI  - Myasthenia gravis as a 'stroke mimic'.

PMID- 25824085
TI  - Diabetes CME.

PMID- 25824086
TI  - Sudden onset postural livedo reticularis, cyanotic toes and multiorgan failure.

PMID- 25824087
TI  - At what cost are resuscitation discussions avoided in general practice?

PMID- 25824088
TI  - Increased risk of ischaemic stroke while initiating warfarin in patients with
      atrial fibrillation.

PMID- 25824089
TI  - CARE - A risk-reduction acronym for clinical communications.

PMID- 25824090
TI  - p-Phenylenediamine exposure in real life - a case-control study on sensitization
      rate, mode and elicitation reactions in the northern Netherlands.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prevalence of p-phenylenediamine (PPD) sensitization is 4% in the
      patch tested population and varies between zero and 1.5% in the general
      population. Hair dye is a recognised sensitization source. OBJECTIVES: To define
      the prevalence rates of PPD sensitization in the general and patch tested
      populations of The Netherlands, and to gain insights into relationships between
      patch test strength and exposure sources. METHODS: Patch test database cases were
      matched with population-based controls. Analyses were performed based on
      demographic details, patch test reactions, and potential PPD exposure. RESULTS:
      PPD sensitization occurred in 3.3% of the patch tested population and in 1.3% of
      the general population. Hairdressers had a 4.4-fold increased chance of being
      sensitized to PPD (p = 0.041), and black henna tattoos showed a tendency for a
      2.3-fold increased chance of sensitization (p = 0.081). Weak elicitation
      reactions were present in hairdressers and consumers. However, cases who had had
      black henna tattoos showed significantly more (extremely) strong patch test
      reactions upon elicitation (p = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence rates in the
      patch tested and general population of The Netherlands are comparable with the
      prevalence rates of other mid-European centres. PPD sensitization is often
      attributed to hair dye. However, this study shows that subjects sensitized by
      black henna tattoos present with very severe elicitation reactions, emphasizing
      the need for more strict policing the prohibition.

PMID- 25824092
TI  - Human Cutaneous Myiasis by the Australian Sheep Blowfly, Lucilia cuprina
      (Diptera: Calliphoridae), in Oklahoma.
AB  - This case report describes an incident of myiasis in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
      Paramedics treated a 53-year-old man in the field when he suffered cardiac
      arrest. He was intubated by the paramedics and transported to an emergency room,
      where he received two stents and a balloon pump. He was found to have a GCS of
      three and remained in the hospital for 7 days before passing away. After his
      death, the breathing tube was removed, revealing the presence of several maggots.
      On closer inspection, the dipteran larvae were found in both the oral and nasal
      cavities. Four of these larvae were reared to adulthood and identified as Lucilia
      cuprina (Weidemann) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), commonly known as the Australian
      sheep blowfly, by the Biology Department of the University of Oklahoma. Based on
      the fly's life cycle and rate of development, the infestation is suspected to be
      hospital acquired. 

PMID- 25824093
TI  - Should safety of non-invasive mechanical ventilation in asthma be considered from
      the evidence or real practice perspective?

PMID- 25824091
TI  - Ecologically driven competence for exogenous DNA uptake in yeast.
AB  - Unlike prokaryotes, eukaryotic organisms do not seem to be equipped with natural
      cell process(es) designated for exogenous DNA uptake. However, it is barely known
      that under laboratory circumstances resembling wild fungal environment(s), at
      least some lower eukaryotes could become naturally competent for exogenous DNA
      uptake. Thus, apart from the known fact that non-manipulated cells of yeast
      Saccharomyces cerevisiae take exogenous DNA by conjugation with certain bacteria,
      there are also mechanical and physiological mechanisms enabling their
      transformation under environmental conditions. This clearly shows that lower
      eukaryotes are amenable to transformation without applying man-made technology
      (i.e., naturally). However, this topic failed to raise critical scientific
      interest. Therefore, this review aims to scrutinize the overall implication of
      the phenomenon stressing its fundamental and applicable importance. It also
      summarizes all axiomatic laboratory circumstances/vehicles hitherto known to
      provoke yeast competence naturally and critically discusses plausible mechanisms
      behind. Possible pathways underlying the phenomenon are emphasized and a unifying
      model is proposed. This story potentially spans several different research
      fields, from evolutionary genetics to genetic transformation technology.

PMID- 25824094
TI  - Femtosecond laser will not be a standard method for cataract extraction ten years
      from now.
AB  - The femtosecond laser was recently introduced to cataract surgery in order to
      replace several highly successful and low risk manual surgical techniques with
      automated laser techniques. Despite the hope that femtosecond laser-assisted
      cataract surgery (FLACS) would lead to safer and more predictable surgical
      outcomes, the literature consistently demonstrates that FLACS has provided no
      advantage over standard phacoemulsification cataract surgery (SP). Yet, the
      disadvantages of FLACS as compared to SP are clear. FLACS is more expensive and
      time-consuming, may increase surgical complications during the surgeon's initial
      learning period, introduces unique risks due to the additional steps of laser
      docking and treatment, and is limited in its scope of use as compared to SP due
      to factors including small pupils and orbital anatomy. While FLACS may one day
      prove to be advantageous for a small subset of patients, such as those with
      corneal endothelial cell dysfunction or zonular instability, these patients have
      not been the targets of this technology, and FLACS will not become the standard
      technique for cataract extraction in the coming decade. 

PMID- 25824095
TI  - Clinical characteristics of polycystic ovary syndrome: investigating differences
      in White and South Asian women.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To understand the phenotypic presentation of women with polycystic
      ovary syndrome (PCOS) of different ethnicities and at different ages. DESIGN:
      Cross-sectional, retrospective data analysis (1988 - 2009). SETTING: Specialist
      clinic in a University Hospital, Leicestershire, UK. PARTICIPANTS: Women with
      PCOS, n = 1310 (mean age 26.2 years), 70.9% White and 29.1% South Asian (SA)
      attending a speciality clinic in Leicester UK. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: Clinical
      and demographic characteristics of women with PCOS including age at first clinic
      appointment, signs and symptoms, body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure (BP).
      RESULTS: Compared to White women, the SA were younger (24.3 vs 27.1 years, P <
      0.001), less likely to smoke (3.7% vs 17.9% P < 0.001) and had a higher
      prevalence of acanthosis nigricans (AN) (16.8% vs 3.1% P < 0.001), type 2
      diabetes (T2DM) (8.1% vs 5.6%, P < 0.01) and hirsutism (88.5% vs 77.4%, P <
      0.001), with lower systolic (126.5 vs 133.0 mmHg, P < 0.001), diastolic BP (71.8
      vs 75.1 mmHg P = 0.008) and BMI (29.3 vs 31.5 kg/m(2) P = 0.002). Differences in
      body weight remained when participants were classified as obese, overweight and
      normal according to ethnicity-specific cut-off points (P = 0.048). In both
      ethnicities, those aged >=30 years old had higher rates of obesity, T2DM,
      hypertension and infertility, and less acne, and oligomenorrhoea. Obesity was
      associated with increased T2DM, AN, systolic/diastolic BP, hirsutism and
      infertility. CONCLUSION: The phenotypic and metabolic presentations of women with
      PCOS appear to be significantly different depending on ethnicity, obesity and
      age. This has implications for management strategies in these groups.

PMID- 25824096
TI  - New grand tree of life study shows a clock-like trend in the emergence of new
      species and diversity.

PMID- 25824097
TI  - Forming a belief: The contribution of comprehension to the evaluation and
      persuasive impact of argumentative text.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Research has shown substantial belief change as a result of reading
      text and the pervasive influence of prior belief in the evaluation of short
      arguments. Both outcomes have been attributed to the depth to which the text or
      the argument has been processed. This study brings together critical thinking and
      text comprehension research by employing an extended argumentative text and
      varying the quality of its arguments. AIM: The study examines the contribution of
      comprehension outcomes to the critical evaluation and persuasive impact of
      argumentative text. SAMPLE: One hundred and sixteen first-year graduate and third
      and fourth-year undergraduate university students. METHOD: Measures of initial
      topic-related beliefs, perceived topic knowledge, and need for cognition were
      obtained. Students read one of two versions of a two-sided, implicitly persuasive
      argumentative text (677 words) varying in argument quality. Post-reading tasks
      included main claim recall, overall recall, inference generation, claim
      agreement, and text evaluation. RESULTS: The text was positively evaluated and
      highly persuasive regardless of argument quality, but half of the students either
      failed to identify the main claim promoted or confused it with individual
      arguments. Despite a modest but positive association between inference generation
      and text evaluation, no comprehension measure had a significant main or
      interactive effect. Need for cognition contributed to positive evaluations in the
      absence of prior topic knowledge regardless of argument quality. CONCLUSIONS: The
      findings suggest a dissociation between the elaboration associated with deep
      comprehension and the elaboration associated with critical evaluation with
      implications for belief formation and the teaching of thinking.

PMID- 25824099
TI  - Two novel 3d-4f heterometallic coordination polymers with infinite
      [Ln4(OH)4]n(8n+) chains involving in situ decarboxylation.
AB  - Two unique heterometallic {Ln4Co} coordination polymers with infinite
      Ln4(OH)4]n(8n+) chains have been successfully assembled, which represent the
      first example of heterometallic Ln-Co coordination polymers containing infinite
      lanthanide hydroxide chains. 

PMID- 25824098
TI  - Prognostic role of the CDNK1B V109G polymorphism in multiple endocrine neoplasia
      type 1.
AB  - CDKN1B encodes the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27/Kip1. CDKN1B mutations
      and polymorphisms are involved in tumorigenesis; specifically, the V109G single
      nucleotide polymorphism has been linked to different tumours with controversial
      results. Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is a rare autosomal dominant
      syndrome, characterized by the development of different types of neuroendocrine
      tumours and increased incidence of other malignancies. A clear genotype-phenotype
      correlation in MEN1 has not been established yet. In this study, we assessed
      whether the CDKN1B V109G polymorphism was associated with the development of
      aggressive tumours in 55 consecutive patients affected by MEN1. The polymorphism
      was investigated by PCR amplification of germline DNA followed by direct
      sequencing. Baseline and follow-up data of tumour types and their severity were
      collected and associated with the genetic data. MEN1-related aggressive and other
      malignant tumours of any origin were detected in 16.1% of wild-type and 33.3% of
      polymorphism allele-bearing patients (P = NS). The time interval between birth
      and the first aggressive tumour was significantly shorter in patients with the
      CDKN1B V109G polymorphism (median 46 years) than in those without (median not
      reached; P = 0.03). Similarly, shorter was the time interval between MEN1
      diagnosis and age of the first aggressive tumour (P = 0.02). Overall survival
      could not be estimated as 96% patients were still alive at the time of the study.
      In conclusion, CDKN1B V109G polymorphism seems to play a role in the development
      of aggressive tumours in MEN1. 

PMID- 25824100
TI  - Efficient isocyanide-less isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions.
AB  - Isocyanides are the "Jekyll and Hyde" of organic chemistry allowing for extremely
      interesting transformations that are not only extremely odorous but also noxious.
      Therefore, an isocyanide-less isocyanide-based multicomponent reaction (IMCR) has
      been developed, and this protocol is expected to replace many of the old
      procedures in the future not only in IMCR but in other areas of organic chemistry
      as well. 

PMID- 25824101
TI  - Interferometric Detection of Single Gold Nanoparticles Calibrated against TEM
      Size Distributions.
AB  - Single nanoparticle analysis: An interferometric optical approach calibrates
      sizes of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) from the interference intensities by
      calibrating their interferometric signals against the corresponding transmission
      electron microscopy measurements. This method is used to investigate whether size
      affects the diffusion behavior of AuNPs conjugated to supported lipid bilayer
      membranes and to multiplex the simultaneous detection of three different AuNP
      labels. 

PMID- 25824102
TI  - Nanostructured vanadium carbide thin films produced by RF magnetron sputtering.
AB  - In this paper, nanostructured vanadium carbide thin films were deposited on glass
      substrates and their optical and surface properties were analyzed. All produced
      samples were transparent in the optical region. Refractive index values were
      calculated using the Drude model. According to contact angle measurements of the
      coated surfaces, the samples show high wettability. The surface free energies of
      the samples were found to be very similar. The influence of the nitrogen content
      in the buffer gas mixture was determined; it was concluded that the
      microstructure, refractive index, surface morphology, surface free energy, and
      thickness of thin films can change in response to the nitrogen concentration of
      the radio frequency (RF) buffer gas.

PMID- 25824104
TI  - Gene targeting by the TAL effector PthXo2 reveals cryptic resistance gene for
      bacterial blight of rice.
AB  - Bacterial blight of rice is caused by the gamma-proteobacterium Xanthomonas
      oryzae pv. oryzae, which utilizes a group of type III TAL (transcription
      activator-like) effectors to induce host gene expression and condition host
      susceptibility. Five SWEET genes are functionally redundant to support bacterial
      disease, but only two were experimentally proven targets of natural TAL
      effectors. Here, we report the identification of the sucrose transporter gene
      OsSWEET13 as the disease-susceptibility gene for PthXo2 and the existence of
      cryptic recessive resistance to PthXo2-dependent X. oryzae pv. oryzae due to
      promoter variations of OsSWEET13 in japonica rice. PthXo2-containing strains
      induce OsSWEET13 in indica rice IR24 due to the presence of an unpredicted and
      undescribed effector binding site not present in the alleles in japonica rice
      Nipponbare and Kitaake. The specificity of effector-associated gene induction and
      disease susceptibility is attributable to a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP),
      which is also found in a polymorphic allele of OsSWEET13 known as the recessive
      resistance gene xa25 from the rice cultivar Minghui 63. The mutation of OsSWEET13
      with CRISPR/Cas9 technology further corroborates the requirement of OsSWEET13
      expression for the state of PthXo2-dependent disease susceptibility to X. oryzae
      pv. oryzae. Gene profiling of a collection of 104 strains revealed OsSWEET13
      induction by 42 isolates of X. oryzae pv. oryzae. Heterologous expression of
      OsSWEET13 in Nicotiana benthamiana leaf cells elevates sucrose concentrations in
      the apoplasm. The results corroborate a model whereby X. oryzae pv. oryzae
      enhances the release of sucrose from host cells in order to exploit the host
      resources. 

PMID- 25824103
TI  - Transcatheter melody valve placement in large diameter bioprostheses and
      conduits: What is the optimal "Landing zone"?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study sought to elucidate the optimal bioprosthetic valve (BPV)
      size prior to Melody valve implantation. BACKGROUND: BPVs provide an ideal
      "landing zone" for future Melody valve insertion. To guide surgical choice of BPV
      size, it is important to understand which BPV size can serve consistently as
      substrates for Melody valve placements. METHODS: A database of all patients who
      underwent Melody implantation at UCLA or Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles from 2010
      to 2014 was analyzed retrospectively. Patients with an existing BPV were
      stratified into those with a valve diameter of >=27 mm or <27 mm. RESULTS: One
      hundred and sixty patients underwent catheterization with the intention to
      implant a Melody valve. Melody valve implantation was performed in the pulmonary
      position in 52 patients with prior BPVs. The immediate procedural success rate
      was 100%. Immediately post-Melody, the right ventricular to pulmonary artery
      gradient was significantly higher in the <27 mm group compared to the >=27 mm
      group (14.3+/-3 vs. 8.6+/-6.8, P=0.006). There was a significantly shorter time
      from prior valve replacement to Melody implantation in the <27 mm group. There
      was one patient in whom transcatheter pulmonary valve implantation was aborted
      due to inadequate landing zone in the <27 mm group, and no patients in the >=27
      mm group (P=NS). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that 27 and 29
      mm BPV provide a superior landing zone for Melody valve implantation with
      excellent immediate and intermediate term hemodynamic results when compared to
      smaller BPVs less than 27 mm.

PMID- 25824105
TI  - Clinical analysis of 1629 newly diagnosed malignant lymphomas in current
      residents of Sichuan province, China.
AB  - Previous studies in other provinces of China (Beijing, Xinjiang, Shanxi, Jiangxi,
      Shanghai, Guangdong, and Taiwan) suggest that the distributions of lymphoma
      subtypes differ compared with Western populations. In order to evaluate the
      characteristics of malignant lymphoma in Sichuan, China, we analyzed case series
      data from incident lymphoma patients diagnosed in 2008 from three hospitals,
      including a total of 1629 cases and including only current residents of Sichuan.
      The median age of diagnosis for cases was 54 years, with a higher proportion of
      male cases compared with female cases. The most commonly diagnosed subtypes
      included diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (40.4%), NK/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL;
      11.8%), mixed cellularity Hodgkin lymphoma (7.0%), mantle cell lymphoma (4.8%),
      and marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (3.9%). Differences in demographic
      characteristics between Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)
      cases were apparent for median age at diagnosis (HL: 34 years; NHL: 57 years),
      and NHLs accounted for nearly all (99.3%) of the 931 cases of extranodal
      lymphoma. These findings indicate a higher proportion of NKTCL cases and a lower
      proportion of follicular lymphoma cases (2.3%) in these hospitals in Sichuan,
      relative to reports from some other provinces within China (e.g., Shanghai and
      Shanxi) and the USA. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID- 25824106
TI  - Energy expenditure and activity among Hadza hunter-gatherers.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Studies of total energy expenditure, (TEE; kcal/day) among
      traditional populations have challenged current models relating habitual physical
      activity to daily energy requirements. Here, we examine the relationship between
      physical activity and TEE among traditional Hadza hunter-gatherers living in
      northern Tanzania. METHODS: Hadza adults were studied at two camps, with minimal
      intervention so as to monitor energy expenditure and activity during normal daily
      life. We measured daily walking distance and walking speed using wearable GPS
      units for 41 adults. For a subset of 30 adults, we measured TEE using doubly
      labeled water, three indices of work load (foraging return rate, maternal status,
      and number of dependent children), and urinary biomarkers of metabolic activity
      and stress (8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, cortisol, and testosterone). RESULTS: Fat
      free mass was the single strongest predictor of TEE among Hadza adults (r(2)  =
      0.66, P < 0.001). Hadza men used greater daily walking distances and faster
      walking speeds compared with that of Hadza women, but neither sex nor any measure
      of physical activity or work load were correlated with TEE in analyses
      controlling for fat-free mass. Compared with developed, industrial populations,
      Hadza adults had similar TEE but elevated levels of metabolic stress as measured
      by 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that daily physical
      activity may not predict TEE within traditional hunter-gatherer populations like
      the Hadza. Instead, adults with high levels of habitual physical activity may
      adapt by reducing energy allocation to other physiological activity.

PMID- 25824108
TI  - Effect of 7H(ch) Hordeum chilense chromosome introgressions on the wheat
      endosperm proteomic profile.
AB  - Hordeum chilense is an excellent genetic resource for wheat breeding due to its
      potential to improve breadmaking quality and nutritional value and provide
      resistance to some biotic and abiotic stresses. Hexaploid wheat lines carrying
      chromosome 7H(ch) introgressions, namely, chromosome additions of the whole
      chromosome 7H(ch) or the 7H(ch)alpha or the 7H(ch)beta chromosome arms, and
      chromosome substitutions of the homeologous chromosomes 7A, 7B, or 7D by
      chromosome 7H(ch) were compared by 2D-PAGE analysis to study the effect of these
      alien introgressions on the wheat endosperm proteome. The addition of the
      7H(ch)alpha chromosome arm did not alter the profile of most glutenins and
      gliadins, but showed higher quantities of puroindolines and lower xylanase
      inhibitors, which might improve also resistance to plant pathogens. On the other
      hand, (7A)7H(ch) or (7D)7H(ch) substitution lines showed enhanced avenin-like b
      proteins and triticin levels but reduced puroindolines, which could be desirable
      to improve dough properties and nutritional value and increase kernel hardness in
      wheat. 

PMID- 25824109
TI  - Possible discrepancy of HbA1c values and its assessment among patients with
      chronic renal failure, hemodialysis and other diseases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and glycated albumin (GA) are frequently
      used as glycemic control markers. However, these markers are influenced by
      alterations in hemoglobin and albumin metabolism. Thus, conditions such as
      anemia, chronic renal failure, hypersplenism, chronic liver diseases,
      hyperthyroidism, hypoalbuminemia, and pregnancy need to be considered when
      interpreting HbA1c or GA values. Using data from patients with normal albumin and
      hemoglobin metabolism, we previously established a linear regression equation
      describing the GA value versus the HbA1c value to calculate an extrapolated HbA1c
      (eHbA1c) value for the accurate evaluation of glycemic control. In this study, we
      investigated the difference between the measured HbA1c and the eHbA1c values for
      patients with various conditions. METHODS: Data sets for a total of 2461
      occasions were obtained from 731 patients whose HbA1c and GA values were
      simultaneously measured. We excluded patients with missing data or changeable
      HbA1c levels, and patients who had received transfusions or steroids within the
      previous 3 months. Finally, we included 44 patients with chronic renal failure
      (CRF), 10 patients who were undergoing hemodialysis (HD), 7 patients with
      hematological malignancies and a hemoglobin level of less than 10 g/dL (HM), and
      12 patients with chronic liver diseases (CLD). RESULTS: In all the groups, the
      eHbA1c values were significantly higher than the measured HbA1c values. The
      median difference was 0.75 % (95 % CI 0.40-1.10 %, P for the difference is
      <0.001) in the CRF group, 0.80 % (95 % CI 0.30-1.65 %, P for the difference is
      0.041) in the HD group, 0.90 % (95 % CI 0.90-1.30 %, P for the difference is
      0.028) in the HM group, and 0.85 % (95 % CI 0.40-1.50 %, P for the difference is
      0.009) in the CLD group. CONCLUSIONS: We found that the measured HbA1c values
      were lower than the eHbA1c values in each of the groups.

PMID- 25824110
TI  - Bilateral conjunctival follicular lymphoma in a child.
AB  - Follicular lymphoma is exceedingly rare in children. We present the case of a 10
      year-old patient with a conjunctival lesion on the left eye who later developed a
      similar lesion on the right eye. Excisional biopsy of the left eye lesion
      revealed follicular lymphoma. The patient was treated with systemic rituximab. To
      our knowledge, only 4 other cases of pediatric conjunctival follicular lymphoma
      have been reported, all of which were isolated lesions that were treated with
      excisional biopsy alone. 

PMID- 25824111
TI  - Proteomic profiling of naive multiple myeloma patient plasma cells identifies
      pathways associated with favourable response to bortezomib-based treatment
      regimens.
AB  - Toward our goal of personalized medicine, we comprehensively profiled pre
      treatment malignant plasma cells from multiple myeloma patients and prospectively
      identified pathways predictive of favourable response to bortezomib-based
      treatment regimens. We utilized two complementary quantitative proteomics
      platforms to identify differentially-regulated proteins indicative of at least a
      very good partial response (VGPR) or complete response/near complete response
      (CR/nCR) to two treatment regimens containing either bortezomib, liposomal
      doxorubicin and dexamethasone (VDD), or lenalidomide, bortezomib and
      dexamethasone (RVD). Our results suggest enrichment of 'universal response'
      pathways that are common to both treatment regimens and are probable predictors
      of favourable response to bortezomib, including a subset of endoplasmic reticulum
      stress pathways. The data also implicate pathways unique to each regimen that may
      predict sensitivity to DNA-damaging agents, such as mitochondrial dysfunction,
      and immunomodulatory drugs, which was associated with acute phase response
      signalling. Overall, we identified patterns of tumour characteristics that may
      predict response to bortezomib-based regimens and their components. These results
      provide a rationale for further evaluation of the protein profiles identified
      herein for targeted selection of anti-myeloma therapy to increase the likelihood
      of improved treatment outcome of patients with newly-diagnosed myeloma. 

PMID- 25824112
TI  - Effective palliation of intractable bleeding from Noonan syndrome-associated
      lymphatic malformations by radiotherapy.

PMID- 25824113
TI  - CH3NH3PbI3 from non-iodide lead salts for perovskite solar cells via the
      formation of PbI2.
AB  - We report the formation of CH3NH3PbI3 from more soluble, non-iodide lead salts
      like Pb(SCN)2 and Pb(NO3)2. When exposed to CH3NH3I vapours, the colourless lead
      salts turned yellow before the formation of the black perovskite. Investigation
      of this yellow intermediate suggests that anion exchange (converting lead salts
      to PbI2) precedes the perovskite formation. PCEs of 7.6% and 8.4% were achieved
      for the devices formed from Pb(SCN)2 and Pb(NO3)2, respectively. 

PMID- 25824115
TI  - Influence of stearic acid coating of the NaCl surface on the reactivity with NO2
      under humidity.
AB  - In the atmosphere, sea salt aerosols, containing mainly NaCl, can accumulate
      fatty acids and undergo heterogeneous chemistry with atmospheric nitrogen oxides.
      The effect of stearic acid (SA) coating on the reactivity of the NaCl(100)
      surface with NO2 under humidity was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM),
      Raman mapping and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to
      highlight processes occurring on NaCl surfaces. The vapor-deposition of SA on the
      NaCl surface generates heterogeneous coating with discontinuous monolayer
      islands. The SA molecules with all-trans conformation stick to the NaCl surface
      through -CO2H groups and are organized in parallel between them and nearly
      perpendicularly to the surface. The SA coating does not prevent the NaNO3
      particle formation when the sample is exposed to NO2 under low humidity
      conditions. The initial abilities of the NaCl surface coated with SA to pick up
      NO2 from the gas phase are correlated with the fraction of bare NaCl area
      evidencing the spatially heterogeneous reactivity of the surface. The role of H2O
      in the NO2 uptake and the catalytic conversion of NaCl to NaNO3 is shown. Under
      humidity (RH = 50%), the H2O uptake by NaNO3 particles on the coated-NaCl surface
      is significantly more important than that adsorbed under analogous conditions
      without the presence of NaNO3 particles. This unusual water absorption initiates
      transitions (i) from solid NaNO3 particles to NaNO3 aqueous solution and (ii)
      from the SA monolayer with well-ordered all trans alkyl chains to the SA gel with
      completely disordered conformation. This mixed SA/NaNO3 layer on the particle
      surface may have significant consequences on the hygroscopic properties and
      reactivity of the sea salt aerosols in the atmosphere. 

PMID- 25824114
TI  - Eating- and weight-related parenting of adolescents in the context of food
      insecurity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Food insecurity is hypothesized to influence mothers' use of
      parenting strategies to regulate children's eating. Little is known about the
      parenting practices directed toward adolescents in food-insecure households.
      OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to examine the differences in use of eating- and weight
      related parenting practices among mothers of adolescents by household food
      security status. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING:
      A sociodemographically diverse sample of mothers and adolescents from the
      Minneapolis/St Paul, MN, metropolitan area who participated in the Eating and
      Activity Among Teens 2010 and Project Families and Eating and Activity Among
      Teens studies in 2009 to 2010 (dyad n=2,087). Seventy percent of mothers
      identified as nonwhite. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We examined mother-reported use of
      parenting practices, including pressuring children to eat, restricting high
      calorie foods, and encouraging dieting. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Logistic
      regression models were used to determine the predicted probabilities of parenting
      practices among food-secure, low food-secure, and very-low food-secure
      households. Sociodemographic characteristics, mothers' body mass index, and
      adolescents' body mass index-for-age percentile were examined as confounders.
      RESULTS: In unadjusted models, food-insecure mothers were more likely than food
      secure mothers to frequently encourage their children to diet, comment on their
      child's weight, be concerned about their child's weight, use restrictive feeding
      practices, and use pressured feeding practices. After adjustment for
      sociodemographic characteristics and mothers' and children's body mass index,
      compared to food-secure mothers, mothers with low food security were more likely
      to frequently comment on their sons' weight (41.5% vs 32.9%, prevalence
      difference=8.6; 95% CI 0.9 to 16.3) and mothers with very low food security were
      more likely to be concerned about their sons' weight (48.8% vs 35.1%; prevalence
      difference=13.7; 95% CI 3.5 to 23.9). Mothers with very low food security were
      more likely to frequently use restrictive feeding practices with their daughters
      compared to food-secure mothers (33.0% vs 20.5%; prevalence difference=12.4; 95%
      CI 4.2 to 20.7). CONCLUSIONS: Interventions to improve food-insecure adolescents'
      eating behaviors may benefit from supporting mothers' use of health-promoting
      parenting practices.

PMID- 25824116
TI  - Renal lesions in cetaceans from Brazil.
AB  - This study reports the occurrence of renal lesions in cetaceans from the coast of
      Brazil subjected to necropsy examination between 1996 and 2011. The animals (n =
      192) were by-caught in fishing nets, were found dead on beaches or died despite
      attempted rehabilitation. Kidney samples were evaluated grossly and
      microscopically and, depending on the histopathological findings,
      immunohistochemical and ultrastructural analyses were conducted. Due to
      autolysis, a diagnosis was reached in only 128 animals, of which 82 (64.1%) had
      kidney lesions. Cystic renal disease was the most common lesion observed in 34
      cases (26.6%) and these were classified as simple cysts in eight cases (6.3%),
      polycystic kidney disease in one rough-toothed dolphin (Steno bredanensis),
      secondary glomerulocystic disease in 16 cases (12.5%) and primary glomerulocystic
      disease in nine cases (7%). Other lesions included membranous glomerulonephritis
      (28 cases; 21.9%), membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (20 cases; 15.6%),
      lymphoplasmacytic interstitial nephritis (21 cases; 16.4%), lipidosis (19 cases;
      14.8%), glomerulosclerosis (8 cases; 6.3%) and pyogranulomatous nephritis(five
      cases; 3.9%); two of the later were associated with the migration of nematode
      larvae. Additionally, tubular adenoma was identified in a Franciscana (Pontoporia
      blainvillei). The pathological implications of these lesions are discussed
      according the cause of death, age or sex of the animals. Furthermore, the lesions
      were compared with those of other marine and terrestrial mammals, including man. 

PMID- 25824117
TI  - Dental and Temporomandibular Joint Pathology of the Northern Fur Seal
      (Callorhinus ursinus).
AB  - Skulls from 145 northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) were examined
      macroscopically according to predefined criteria. The museum specimens were
      acquired from strandings along the west coast of the USA between 1896 and 2008.
      Seventy-one skulls (49.0%) were from male animals, 56 (38.6%) from female animals
      and 18 (12.4%) from animals of unknown sex. Their age varied from juvenile to
      adult, with 58 adult animals (40.0%) and 87 juvenile animals (60.0%). The
      majority of teeth were available for examination (95.1%); 3.4% of teeth were
      artefactually absent, 0.8% were deemed absent due to acquired tooth loss and 0.6%
      were deemed congenitally absent. Males were no more likely than females to have
      either acquired tooth loss (P = 0.054) or congenitally absent teeth (P = 0.919).
      Adults had significantly more acquired tooth loss than juveniles (P = 0.0099).
      Malformations were seen in 11 teeth (0.2% of all 4,699 teeth available for
      examination). Two roots, instead of the typical one root, were found on 14 teeth
      (0.3%). Supernumerary teeth were associated with 14 normal teeth (0.3%) in eight
      specimens (5.5% of the total number of specimens). A total of 22 persistent
      deciduous teeth were found, 19 of which were associated with the maxillary canine
      teeth. Attrition/abrasion was seen on 194 teeth (3.9%); the canine teeth were
      most often affected, accounting for 39.7% of all abraded teeth. Adults were found
      to have a greater prevalence of abraded teeth than juveniles (P <0.0001). No
      significant difference was found in the appearance of attrition/abrasion between
      males and females (P = 0.072). Tooth fractures were found in 24 specimens
      (16.6%), affecting a total of 54 teeth (1.1%). Periapical lesions were found in
      two skulls (1.4%). None of the specimens showed signs of enamel hypoplasia. About
      a fifth (18.6%) of alveoli, either with or without teeth, showed signs of
      alveolar bony changes consistent with periodontitis. A total of 108 specimens
      (74.5%) had at least one tooth associated with mild periodontitis. Lesions
      consistent with temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ-OA) were found in 29
      specimens (20.0%). Both periodontal disease and TMJ-OA were significantly more
      common in adults than in juveniles (P <0.0001). Periodontitis was found to be
      more common in males than in females (P <0.012). Although the significance of the
      high incidence of periodontitis and TMJ-OA in the northern fur seal remains
      unknown, the occurrence and severity of these diseases found in this study may
      play an important role in this species morbidity and mortality. 

PMID- 25824118
TI  - Dental and Temporomandibular Joint Pathology of the Eastern Pacific Harbour Seal
      (Phoca vitulina richardii).
AB  - Skulls from 214 Eastern Pacific harbour seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) were
      examined macroscopically according to predefined criteria. The museum specimens
      were acquired from strandings along the west coast of the USA between 1909 and
      2014. Ninety-eight skulls (45.8%) were from male animals, 108 (50.5%) from female
      animals and eight (3.7%) from animals of unknown sex. Their age varied from
      neonate to adult, with 101 adult animals (47.2%), 93 juvenile animals (43.5%) and
      20 neonatal animals (9.3%). The majority of teeth were available for examination
      (90.0%); 7.5% of teeth were absent artefactually, 2.3% were deemed absent due to
      acquired tooth loss and 0.2% were absent congenitally. Males were no more likely
      than females to have either acquired tooth loss (P = 0.492) or congenitally
      absent teeth (P = 0.494). Adults had significantly more acquired tooth loss than
      juveniles (P <0.0001). All teeth were normal in morphology, except for four teeth
      from one skull that exhibited macrodontia. An unusual number of roots were found
      in most maxillary molar teeth; three roots were counted on six maxillary molar
      teeth and almost all other maxillary molar teeth available for examination had a
      fused root. Only 26 maxillary molar teeth exhibited two roots. Supernumerary
      teeth were associated with 13 normal teeth in nine specimens. The most common
      sites associated with supernumerary teeth were the left and right mandibular
      first premolar teeth (53.9% of all supernumerary teeth). No persistent deciduous
      teeth were found in any of the juvenile or adult specimens. Of the total number
      of teeth available for examination, 22.1% were abraded; six adult specimens
      showed attrition/abrasion on all of their teeth present. Adults were found to
      have a greater prevalence of abraded teeth than juveniles (P <0.0001). No
      significant difference was found in the appearance of attrition/abrasion between
      males and females (P = 0.518). Tooth fractures were uncommon, affecting 11 teeth
      (0.2%) in seven animals. Periapical lesions were found in four skulls (2.1% of
      the total number of specimens). None of the specimens showed signs of enamel
      hypoplasia. More than half (55.6%) of alveoli, either with or without teeth,
      showed signs of alveolar bony changes consistent with periodontitis. A total of
      178 specimens (91.8%) had at least one tooth associated with mild periodontitis.
      Lesions consistent with temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ-OA) were
      found in 67 specimens (34.5%). The most common articular surface to be affected
      was the left mandibular fossa of the temporal bone, with lesions in 44 cases
      (32.8% of all lesions). In 13 specimens (6.7%) all articular surfaces were
      affected. Both periodontal disease and TMJ-OA were significantly more common in
      adults than in juveniles (P <0.0001). Although the significance of the high
      incidence of periodontitis and TMJ-OA in the Eastern Pacific harbor seal remains
      unknown, the occurrence and severity of these diseases as found in this study may
      play an important role in the morbidity and mortality of this species. 

PMID- 25824119
TI  - The Swiss Canine Cancer Registry: a retrospective study on the occurrence of
      tumours in dogs in Switzerland from 1955 to 2008.
AB  - Diagnostic records are a key feature of any cancer epidemiology, prevention or
      control strategy for man and animals. Therefore, the information stored in human
      and animal cancer registries is essential for undertaking comparative
      epidemiological, pathogenic and therapeutic research. This study presents the
      Swiss Canine Cancer Registry, containing case data compiled between 1955 and
      2008. The data consist of pathology diagnostic records issued by three veterinary
      diagnostic laboratories in Switzerland. The tumours were classified according to
      the guidelines of the International Classification of Oncology for Humans on the
      basis of tumour type, malignancy and body location. The dogs were classified
      according to breed, age, sex, neuter status and place of residence. The
      diagnostic data were correlated with data on the Swiss general dog population and
      the incidence of cancer in dogs was thus investigated. A total of 67,943 tumours
      were diagnosed in 121,963 dogs and 47.07% of these were malignant. The most
      common tumour location was the skin (37.05%), followed by mammary glands (23.55%)
      and soft tissue (13.66%). The most common tumour diagnoses were epithelial
      (38.45%), mesenchymal (35.10%) and lymphoid tumours (13.23%). The results are
      compared with data in other canine registries and similarities in tumour
      distribution and incidence are noted. It is hoped that this study will mark the
      beginning of continuous registration of dog tumours in Switzerland, which, in
      turn, will serve as a reference for research in the fields of animal and human
      oncology. 

PMID- 25824120
TI  - Authors' reply.

PMID- 25824121
TI  - Full-dose gemcitabine is a more effective chemotherapeutic agent than 5
      fluorouracil for concurrent chemoradiotherapy as first-line treatment in locally
      advanced pancreatic cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy of full-dose gemcitabine-based concurrent
      chemoradiotherapy (FG-CCRT) and conventional 5-fluorouracil CCRT (5FU-CCRT) for
      locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). METHODS: 109 LAPC cases treated with
      FG-CCRT (n = 89) or 5FU-CCRT (n = 20) were reviewed retrospectively. The FG-CCRT
      group was composed of a full-dose gemcitabine monotherapy (1,000 mg/m(2)) arm and
      a combination therapy with cisplatin (70 mg/m(2)) arm. The 5FU-CCRT group used a
      radiosensitizing dose of 5-FU (500 mg/m(2)) plus leucovorin (20 mg/m(2)).
      Concurrent radiotherapy was targeted at the tumor with a 5-mm margin without
      lymph node irradiation. RESULTS: Objective response rate (ORR) and disease
      control rate (DCR) was significantly higher in the FG-CCRT group (ORR: 32.6 vs.
      5%, p = 0.013; DCR: 79.8 vs. 50.0%, p = 0.006). FG-CCRT showed remarkable
      superiority to 5FU-CCRT for suppressing distant metastasis (18.0 vs. 45.0%, p =
      0.017). Neutropenia (34.8 vs. 10%, p = 0.032) and thrombocytopenia (21.3 vs.
      0.0%, p = 0.021) were more frequent in the FG-CCRT group as originally expected.
      When dividing the FG-CCRT group to gemcitabine monotherapy (GEM) and gemcitabine
      plus cisplatin, toxicities of the GEM subgroup were not different than those of
      the 5FU-CCRT group. CONCLUSION: FG-CCRT, especially full-dose gemcitabine
      monotherapy-based CCRT was more effective for the initial control of LAPC than
      5FU-CCRT, and also relatively safe.

PMID- 25824122
TI  - Rubber yield prediction by meteorological conditions using mixed models and multi
      model inference techniques.
AB  - Linear mixed models were developed and used to predict rubber (Hevea
      brasiliensis) yield based on meteorological conditions to which rubber trees had
      been exposed for periods ranging from 1 day to 2 months prior to tapping events.
      Predictors included a range of moving averages of meteorological covariates
      spanning different windows of time before the date of the tapping events. Serial
      autocorrelation in the latex yield measurements was accounted for using random
      effects and a spatial generalization of the autoregressive error covariance
      structure suited to data sampled at irregular time intervals. Information
      theoretics, specifically the Akaike information criterion (AIC), AIC corrected
      for small sample size (AICc), and Akaike weights, was used to select models with
      the greatest strength of support in the data from a set of competing candidate
      models. The predictive performance of the selected best model was evaluated using
      both leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) and an independent test set. Moving
      averages of precipitation, minimum and maximum temperature, and maximum relative
      humidity with a 30-day lead period were identified as the best yield predictors.
      Prediction accuracy expressed in terms of the percentage of predictions within a
      measurement error of 5 g for cross-validation and also for the test dataset was
      above 99 %. 

PMID- 25824123
TI  - Self-Immolative Poly(4,5-dichlorophthalaldehyde) and its Applications in Multi
      Stimuli-Responsive Macroscopic Plastics.
AB  - End-capped poly(4,5-dichlorophthalaldehyde) (PCl2PA), which is a new self
      immolative CD(r) polymer with the unique capability of depolymerizing
      continuously and completely in the solid state when an end cap is cleaved from
      the polymer by reaction with a specific molecular signal, is described. End
      capped poly(4,5-dichlorophthalaldehyde) is sufficiently stable to enable
      patterning of three-dimensional macroscopic polymeric materials by selective
      laser sintering. These unique materials are capable of 1) autonomously amplifying
      macroscopic changes in the material in response to specific molecular inputs, and
      2) altering their responses depending on the identity of the applied signal.
      Thus, not only does end-capped PCl2PA provide new and unique capabilities
      compared to the small subset of existing CD(r) polymers, but it also provides
      access to a new class of stimuli-responsive materials.

PMID- 25824124
TI  - Gait Speed and Mortality, Hospitalization, and Functional Status Change Among
      Hemodialysis Patients: A US Renal Data System Special Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Slow walk (gait) speed predicts functional decline,
      institutionalization, and mortality risks in the geriatric population. A gait
      speed evidence base for dialysis patient outcomes is needed. STUDY DESIGN:
      Prospective cohort study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: 752 prevalent hemodialysis (HD)
      patients aged 20 to 92 years evaluated in 2009 to 2012 in 7 Atlanta and 7 San
      Francisco clinics in a US Renal Data System special study. PREDICTOR: Usual walk
      speed in meters per second, categorized as >=0.6 m/s (baseline n=575), <0.6 m/s
      (baseline n=94), and unable to perform walk test (baseline n=83). OUTCOMES:
      Survival; hospitalization; activities of daily living (ADL) difficulty; 36-Item
      Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) Physical Function score. MEASUREMENTS: Cox
      proportional hazards models investigated gait speed and mortality over a median
      follow-up of 703 days. Multivariable logistic or linear regression models
      estimated associations of baseline gait speed with hospitalization, need for ADL
      assistance, and SF-36 Physical Function score after 12 months. RESULTS:
      Participants who walked >=0.6 m/s had 53 (9%) deaths, those who walked <0.6 m/s
      had 19 (20%) deaths, and those unable to walk had 37 (44%) deaths. Adjusted
      mortality hazard ratios were 2.17 (95% CI, 1.19-3.98) for participants who walked
      <0.6 m/s and 6.93 (95% CI, 4.01-11.96) for those unable to walk, compared with
      participants walking >=0.6 m/s. After 12 months, compared with baseline walk
      speed >= 1.0 m/s (n=169 participants), baseline walk speed of 0.6 to <0.8 m/s
      (n=116) was associated with increased odds of hospitalization (OR, 2.04; 95% CI,
      1.19-3.49) and ADL difficulty (OR, 3.88; 95% CI, 1.46-10.33) and a -8.20 (95% CI,
      -13.57 to -2.82) estimated change in SF-36 Physical Function score. LIMITATIONS:
      Cohort not highly representative of overall US in-center HD population.
      CONCLUSIONS: Because walking challenges the heart, lungs, and circulatory,
      nervous, and musculoskeletal systems, gait speed provides an informative marker
      of health status. The association of gait speed with HD patients' risk for
      functional decline warrants continued study.

PMID- 25824125
TI  - Association of Adiponectin With Body Composition and Mortality in Hemodialysis
      Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the general population, circulating adiponectin is associated with
      a favorable cardiovascular risk profile (eg, lower triglycerides and body fat)
      and decreased mortality. Hemodialysis (HD) patients have comparatively higher
      adiponectin concentrations, but prior studies examining the adiponectin-mortality
      association in this population have not accounted for body composition or shown a
      consistent relationship. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTINGS &
      PARTICIPANTS: We examined baseline serum adiponectin concentrations in 501 HD
      patients across 13 dialysis centers from the prospective MADRAD (Malnutrition,
      Diet, and Racial Disparities in Chronic Kidney Disease) cohort (entry period,
      October 2011 to February 2013; follow-up through August 2013). PREDICTOR: Serum
      adiponectin concentration in tertiles (tertiles 1, 2, and 3 defined as <=16.1,
      >16.1-<30.1, and >=30.1-100.0 MUg/mL, respectively). Adjustment variables
      included case-mix and laboratory test results (age, sex, race, ethnicity,
      vintage, diabetes, serum albumin, total iron-binding capacity, serum creatinine,
      white blood cell count, phosphate, hemoglobin, and normalized protein catabolic
      rate), body composition surrogates (subcutaneous, visceral, and total-body fat
      and lean body mass), and serum lipid levels (cholesterol, high-density
      lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides). OUTCOMES: All-cause mortality using
      survival (Cox) models incrementally adjusted for case-mix and laboratory test
      results. RESULTS: Among 501 HD patients, 50 deaths were observed during 631.1
      person-years of follow-up. In case-mix- and laboratory-adjusted Cox analyses, the
      highest adiponectin tertile was associated with increased mortality versus the
      lowest tertile (HR, 3.35; 95% CI, 1.50-7.47). These associations were robust in
      analyses that additionally accounted for body composition (HR, 3.18; 95% CI, 1.61
      8.24) and lipid levels (HR, 3.64; 95% CI, 1.34-7.58). LIMITATIONS: Residual
      confounding cannot be excluded. CONCLUSIONS: Higher adiponectin level is
      associated with a 3-fold higher death risk in HD patients independent of body
      composition and lipid levels. Future studies are needed to elucidate underlying
      mechanisms and determine therapeutic targets associated with improved outcomes in
      HD patients.

PMID- 25824126
TI  - Glycine-functionalized Fe3O4@TiO2:Er(3+),Yb(3+) nanocarrier for microwave
      triggered controllable drug release and study on mechanism of loading/release
      process using microcalorimetry.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed at developing microwave-triggered controlled
      release drug delivery systems using glycine-modified Fe3O4@TiO2:Er(3+),Yb(3+)
      multifunctional core-shell nanoparticles. We also studied the drug loading and
      release mechanisms by means of microcalorimetry. METHODS: We used hydrothermal
      method to prepare glycine-functionalized Fe3O4@TiO2:Er(3+),Yb(3+) multifunctional
      nanoparticles. The controlled release of the Fe3O4@TiO2:Er(3+),Yb(3+)-glycine
      VP16 triggered by microwave was determined with ultraviolet-visible spectroscopic
      analysis. We studied the cytotoxicity of the nanocarrier by MTT assay. RESULTS:
      The thermodynamic parameter values (DeltaH = -17.46 kJ mol(-1), DeltaS = -365.20
      kJ mol(-1)) showed that the main interaction between the carrier and drug
      molecules is hydrogen bonding. The molar enthalpy (DeltaH) of the drug-release
      process was 72.01 kJ mol(-1), which indicates an endothermic process. This
      suggests that drug release can be controlled by microwave heating. The release
      profile can be controlled by the duration and number of cycles of microwave
      application. The particles also exhibit good magnetization and upconversion
      luminescence properties, which will allow simultaneous targeting and monitoring
      of the loaded drug. CONCLUSION: The modification of glycine and the introduction
      of absorbing material not only increased the load properties of the composite
      materials but also realized the microwave-stimulated anticancer drug controlled
      release.

PMID- 25824127
TI  - Effects of reinnervation of the triceps brachii on joint kinematics and
      electromyographic patterns of the feline forelimb during level and upslope
      walking.
AB  - Nerve injury in the hindlimb of the cat results in locomotor changes, yet these
      findings have not been explored in a more multifunctional forelimb. Kinematics
      and muscle activity of the shoulder and elbow during level and upslope locomotion
      following reinnervation of the feline long head of the triceps brachii (TLo) were
      evaluated (1) during paralysis [none to minimum motor activity (short-term
      effects)] and (2) after the motor function was recovered but the proprioceptive
      feedback was permanently disrupted (long-term effects). The step cycle was
      examined in three walking conditions: level (0%), 25% grade (14 degrees  upslope)
      and 50% grade (26.6 degrees  upslope). Measurements were taken prior to and at
      three time points (2 weeks, 1 month and 12+ months) after transecting and
      suturing the radial nerve of TLo. There was less of a yield (increased flexion)
      at the elbow joint and more extensor activity during elbow flexion during stance
      (E2) as the grade of walking increased. Substantial short-term effects were
      observed at the elbow joint (increased flexion during E2) as well as increased
      motor activity by the synergistic elbow extensors, and greater shoulder extension
      at paw contact, leading to altered interjoint coordination during stance.
      Forelimb shoulder and elbow kinematics during level and upslope locomotion
      progressed back to baseline at 12 months. The short-term effects can be explained
      by both mechanical and neural factors that are altered by the functional
      elimination of the TLo. Full recovery of the forelimb kinematics during level and
      upslope walking suggests that the proprioceptive length feedback loss is
      compensated by other sensory sources or altered central drive.

PMID- 25824128
TI  - Three-year duration of immunity for feline herpesvirus and calicivirus evaluated
      in a controlled vaccination-challenge laboratory trial.
AB  - Feline vaccination guidelines recommend less frequent boosters for the core
      vaccines (rhinotracheitis, calicivirosis and infectious panleucopenia). Most
      guidelines recommend boosters at 3-yearly intervals after a basic vaccination
      including primary vaccination and revaccination one year later. The objective of
      this study was to assess the duration of immunity induced by PUREVAX((r)) RCPCh
      FeLV, a non-adjuvanted vaccine against feline rhinotracheitis, calicivirosis,
      infectious panleucopenia, chlamydiosis and leukemia. After primary vaccination
      followed by revaccination one year later with a vaccine formulated at minimum
      dose, the cats were kept in a confined environment and challenged 3 years later
      with a virulent heterologous strain of feline calicivirus (FCV) and subsequently
      a virulent strain of feline herpesvirus (FHV). Clinical signs and viral excretion
      were recorded for two weeks after each viral inoculation. Contemporary
      unvaccinated cats and new animals added at the time of challenge were used as
      controls. The vaccination regimen induced a stable and long-lasting humoral
      response. Vaccination resulted in a significant reduction in the severity of the
      disease after FHV challenge and in the frequency of cats showing a severe
      calicivirosis (defined as a combination of systemic clinical symptoms and
      oronasal ulcers). As opposed to the significant reduction of excretion observed a
      few weeks after primo-vaccination or even one year after vaccination for FCV,
      viral shedding was not reduced 3 years after revaccination. This study showed
      that primary vaccination and revaccination one year later with PUREVAX((r)) RCPCh
      FeLV was able to induce 3-year duration of immunity against FCV and FHV. The
      results and conclusion of this study are consistent with current vaccination
      guidelines and will allow the veterinarian to adapt the vaccination regimen to
      the way of life of the cat. 

PMID- 25824129
TI  - Survey on the presence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in ground
      beef from an industrial meat plant.
AB  - Paratuberculosis of ruminants is characterised by chronic enteritis but, at
      advanced stages of the disease, a systemic dissemination of Mycobacterium avium
      subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) in tissues and organs can occur. MAP has been
      recovered from lymph nodes and muscles of clinical and sub-clinical cows. In most
      countries, dairy and beef cattle infected with paratuberculosis are routinely
      sent to slaughter and the consumption of their meat could be a possible route of
      human exposure to MAP. However, few studies on MAP in ground beef are currently
      available. During the period November 2013-March 2014 we carried out a survey on
      the ground beef produced in an industrial meat processing plant. One-hundred and
      forty samples of ground meat were analysed by IS900-qPCR and culture (VersaTrek
      System). The limit of detection (LOD) of qPCR was 630 MAP cells/g (107 CFU/g)
      while the LOD for culture was 170-230 MAP cells/g (62-115 CFU/g). No samples were
      positive by direct IS900 qPCR, while two samples were positive by liquid culture.
      Our data suggest that the presence of live MAP in raw minced meat is possible. In
      order to avoid exposure for humans through the consumption of contaminated meat,
      proper cooking of meat is recommended.

PMID- 25824130
TI  - Virulence, persistence and dissemination of Mycoplasma bovis.
AB  - Bovine mycoplasmosis due to Mycoplasma bovis causes several important bovine
      diseases such as pneumonia, mastitis, arthritis, otitis, genital disorders or
      keratoconjunctivitis. Variable surface lipoproteins, adhesion, invasion of host
      cells, modulation of the host immune system, biofilm formation and the release of
      secondary metabolites like hydrogen peroxide, as well as synergistic infections
      with other bacterial or viral pathogens are among the more significantly studied
      characteristics of the bacterium. The aim of this review is to summarize the
      current knowledge regarding the virulence of M. bovis and additionally, factors
      contributing to the dissemination and persistence of this pathogen in the bovine
      host will be discussed. 

PMID- 25824131
TI  - About left septal fascicular block.

PMID- 25824132
TI  - Response to left septal fascicular block.

PMID- 25824133
TI  - Social defeat stress promotes tumor growth and angiogenesis by upregulating
      vascular endothelial growth factor/extracellular signal-regulated kinase/matrix
      metalloproteinase signaling in a mouse model of lung carcinoma.
AB  - Numerous epidemiological and experimental animal studies have indicated that
      chronic psychological stress may promote tumor development. However, the
      underlying molecular mechanisms by which chronic stress promotes tumorigenesis
      remain to be fully elucidated and animal models have not yet been well
      established. In the present study, an established mouse model of repeated social
      defeat stress (RSDS), was generated and used to investigate the effect of stress
      on tumor growth and metastasis. C57BL/6 mice were exposed to RSDS for 10 days,
      followed by subcutaneousl inoculation with Lewis lung carcinoma cells for seven
      days. The tumor weight and volume as well as the number of the lung metastatic
      nodules were then determined. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) serum
      levels were measured using ELISAs. In addition, expression levels of VEGF
      receptor (VEGFR) and L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM) messenger (m)RNA were
      confirmed using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
      Furthermore, protein expression levels of phosphorlyated extracellular signal
      regulated kinase (pERK), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 were examined
      using western blot analysis. The results showed that RSDS significantly increased
      the weight and the volume of the primary tumor as well as the number of the lung
      metastatic nodules. Serum VEGF levels were significantly higher in the tumor
      stress group compared with those of the unstressed tumor mice. In addition,
      tumors in stressed animals demonstrated markedly enhanced expression of VEGFR-2
      and L1CAM mRNA as well as pERK, MMP-2 and MMP-9 protein expression. In
      conclusion, these results suggested that RSDS contributed to lung cancer
      progression, angiogenesis and metastasis, which was partially associated with
      increased VEGF secretion and therefore the activation of the ERK signaling
      pathway, resulting in the induction of MMP-2 and MMP-9 protein expression.

PMID- 25824134
TI  - Preparation, characterization and in vitro release of Zein-pectin capsules for
      target delivery.
AB  - Targeted drug delivery has been the interest of many researchers to improve drug
      efficiency and reduce side effects. Because of the potential toxicity and
      contamination problems of the current gelatin capsules, plant derived materials
      are selected for the developments of capsules for drug delivery systems. The
      objective of this work is to develop a target drug delivery system using zein and
      pectin. Different ratios of zein and pectin were used to achieve target delivery
      in stomach and small intestine. Zein-pectin capsule for colon-specific delivery
      was also developed. In vitro performance of zeinpectin capsules was examined and
      their structural morphology was characterized using scanning electron microscopy
      (SEM). Chemical interactions between zein and pectin were analyzed using Fourier
      transform infrared spectroscopy equipped with attenuated total reflectance (FTIR
      ATR). Zein and pectin formed complex by hydrogen bonding. The swelling behavior
      of pectin was suppressed by zein in the zein-pectin interacted complex. By
      adjusting the ratio of zein to pectin, the drug release from the capsule in
      simulated gastric solution for 2 hours can be controlled in the range of 0% to
      38%. Zein-pectin capsule for colon-specific delivery had no release in gastric
      and intestinal solutions while gradual release from zein-pectin capsule was
      observed in colonic solution, finally reaching about 80% release. Zein-pectin
      capsule has a potential in developing targeted drug delivery system. 

PMID- 25824135
TI  - [Health status of people with a migrant background and impact of socio-economic
      factors: First results of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for
      Adults (DEGS1)].
AB  - People with a migrant background (PMB) have specific health-related risk factors
      and resources compared to the non-migrant population (NMP). The analysis focuses
      on the relationship between migrant background and health and health-related
      behavior. Moreover, the study analyses whether socio-economic status (SES)
      contributes to the explanation of differences between PMB and the NMP. The
      research is based on the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for
      Adults (DEGS1) (2008-2012, n = 8151). The population for cross-sectional analyses
      contains 1107 PMB (weighted 19.8 %). The research question is addressed on the
      basis of nine exemplary health outcomes. All analyses are gender specific and
      make a distinction between first and second generation PMB. Logistic regression
      is calculated adjusting for age and SES. The results reveal clear gender-specific
      patterns: For women, differences are statistically significant mainly for first
      generation PMB. Compared to the NMP their self-assessed health status is lower,
      they are less physically active, consume less alcohol, feel less informed about
      cancer screening programs and make less use of preventive health services.
      However, daily smoking is more prevalent in second generation women. For men,
      differences are statistically significant for first and second generation PMB.
      Men with a migrant background show more symptoms of depression, consume less
      alcohol and feel less informed about cancer screening programs. After adjusting
      for SES the impact of migrant background on health status and health-related
      behavior largely remains stable. The study shows that the DEGS1 data offers
      valuable results and new insights into the health status of people with a migrant
      background. The use of this data for further research requires a differentiated
      approach to the concept of migrant background and a careful interpretation of
      results.

PMID- 25824136
TI  - [Not Available].

PMID- 25824137
TI  - Influence of music and its genres on respiratory rate and pupil diameter
      variations in cats under general anaesthesia: contribution to promoting patient
      safety.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to recognise if there is any auditory
      sensory stimuli processing in cats under general anaesthesia, and to evaluate
      changes in respiratory rate (RR) and pupillary diameter (PD) in anaesthetised
      patients exposed to different music genres, while relating this to the depth of
      anaesthesia. METHODS: A sample of 12 cats submitted for elective
      ovariohysterectomy was exposed to 2 min excerpts of three different music genres
      (classical [CM], pop [PM] and heavy metal [HM]) at three points during surgery
      (T1 = coeliotomy; T2 = ligature placement and transection of the ovarian pedicle;
      T3 = ligature placement and transection of the uterine body). A multiparametric
      medical monitor was used to measure the RR, and a digital calliper was used for
      PD measurement. Music was delivered through headphones, which fully covered the
      patient's ears. P values   <0.05 were considered to be statistically significant.
      RESULTS: Statistically significant differences between stimuli conditions for
      all surgical points were obtained for RR (T1, P = 0.03; T2, P = 0.00; T3, P =
      0.00) and for PD (T1, P = 0.03; T2, P = 0.04; T3, P = 0.00). Most individuals
      exhibited lower values for RR and PD when exposed to CM, intermediate values to
      PM and higher values to HM. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The results suggest that
      cats under general anaesthesia are likely to perform auditory sensory stimuli
      processing. The exposure to music induces RR and PD variations modulated by the
      genre of music and is associated with autonomic nervous system activity. The use
      of music in the surgical theatre may contribute to allowing a reduced anaesthetic
      dose, minimising undesirable side effects and thus promoting patient safety.

PMID- 25824138
TI  - Incidence of Second Primary Malignancies in Patients with Neuroendocrine Tumours.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An association between neuroendocrine tumours (NET) and increased
      risk of developing second primary malignancies (SPM) has been recognised.
      METHODS: This was a retrospective review of our institutional prospectively
      maintained database of NET patients. We identified patients who had been
      diagnosed with both neuroendocrine and any additional malignancies via
      examination of patient notes. RESULTS: Clinical data for 169 patients were
      analysed. After exclusion of patients known to have hereditary tumour
      predisposition syndromes, 29 SPM were identified in 26 patients (15.38%), the
      commonest being colorectal (n = 6), breast and renal carcinomas (both n = 5). SPM
      were classified as previous, synchronous or subsequent relative to NET diagnosis.
      Rates of SPM in pancreatic and small-bowel NET patients were comparable (15.7 vs.
      19.6%, p = 0.78). A person-year methodology was used to compare observed numbers
      of SPM against expected values generated from age- and sex-specific incidence
      tables, with standardised incidence ratios (SIR) and 95% confidence intervals
      (CI) calculated. SPM incidence was significantly elevated in the synchronous
      subset (SIR 2.732, CI 1.177-5.382) whilst significantly fewer NET patients had a
      cancer history compared to the general population (SIR 0.4, CI 0.241-0.624). No
      overall differences were evident between observed and expected incidences of
      subsequent SPM (SIR 0.36, CI 0.044-1.051). The incidence of synchronous
      colorectal cancers was markedly elevated (SIR 13.079, CI 4.238-30.474).
      CONCLUSIONS: Our data support the use of colonoscopy in the diagnostic work-up of
      NET patients in anticipation of a colorectal SPM. The mechanistic underpinnings
      of this clinical phenomenon require further genetic investigation, and
      consideration of this knowledge in patient management pathways is warranted.

PMID- 25824139
TI  - Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell exosomes enhance angiogenesis through
      the Wnt4/beta-catenin pathway.
AB  - Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hucMSCs) and their exosomes have
      been considered as potential therapeutic tools for tissue regeneration; however,
      the underlying mechanisms are still not well understood. In this study, we
      isolated and characterized the exosomes from hucMSCs (hucMSC-Ex) and demonstrated
      that hucMSC-Ex promoted the proliferation, migration, and tube formation of
      endothelial cells in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, we demonstrated that
      hucMSC-Ex promoted wound healing and angiogenesis in vivo by using a rat skin
      burn model. We discovered that hucMSC-Ex promoted beta-catenin nuclear
      translocation and induced the increased expression of proliferating cell nuclear
      antigen, cyclin D3, N-cadherin, and beta-catenin and the decreased expression of
      E-cadherin. The activation of Wnt/beta-catenin is critical in the induction of
      angiogenesis by hucMSC-Ex, which could be reversed by beta-catenin inhibitor ICG
      001. Wnt4 was delivered by hucMSC-Ex, and the knockdown of Wnt4 in hucMSC-Ex
      abrogated beta-catenin nuclear translocation in endothelial cells. The in vivo
      proangiogenic effects were also inhibited by interference of Wnt4 expression in
      hucMSC-Ex. Taken together, these results suggest that hucMSC-Ex-mediated Wnt4
      induces beta-catenin activation in endothelial cells and exerts proangiogenic
      effects, which could be an important mechanism for cutaneous wound healing. 

PMID- 25824140
TI  - Intra-articular transplantation of atsttrin-transduced mesenchymal stem cells
      ameliorate osteoarthritis development.
AB  - Osteoarthritis (OA) remains an intractable clinical challenge. Few drugs are
      available for reversing this degenerative disease, although some promising
      candidates have performed well in preclinical studies. Tumor necrosis factor
      alpha (TNFalpha) has been identified as a crucial effector modulating OA
      pathogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of
      Atsttrin, a novel TNFalpha blocker, on OA treatment. We developed genetically
      modified mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that expressed recombinant Atsttrin (named
      as MSC-Atsttrin). Expression levels of ADAMTS-5, MMP13, and iNOS of human
      chondrocytes were analyzed when cocultured with MSC-GFP/Atsttrin. OA animal
      models were induced by anterior cruciate ligament transection, and MSC
      GFP/Atsttrin were injected into the articular cavity 1 week postsurgery. The
      results showed that MSC-Atsttrin significantly suppressed TNFalpha-driven up
      regulation of matrix proteases and inflammatory factors. Intra-articular
      injection of MSC-Atsttrin prevented the progression of degenerative changes in
      the surgically induced OA mouse model. Additionally, levels of detrimental matrix
      hydrolases were significantly diminished. Compared with nontreated OA samples at
      8 weeks postsurgery, the percentages of MMP13- and ADAMTS-5-positive cells were
      significantly reduced from 91.33% +/- 9.87% to 24.33% +/- 5.7% (p < .001) and
      from 91.33% +/- 7.1% to 16.67% +/- 3.1% (p < .001), respectively. Our results
      thus indicated that suppression of TNFalpha activity is an effective strategy for
      OA treatment and that intra-articular injection of MSCs-Atsttrin could be a
      promising therapeutic modality. 

PMID- 25824141
TI  - Conditioned medium from human amniotic mesenchymal stromal cells limits infarct
      size and enhances angiogenesis.
AB  - The paracrine properties of human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stromal
      cells (hAMCs) have not been fully elucidated. The goal of the present study was
      to elucidate whether hAMCs can exert beneficial paracrine effects on infarcted
      rat hearts, in particular through cardioprotection and angiogenesis. Moreover, we
      aimed to identify the putative active paracrine mediators. hAMCs were isolated,
      expanded, and characterized. In vitro, conditioned medium from hAMC (hAMC-CM)
      exhibited cytoprotective and proangiogenic properties. In vivo, injection of hAMC
      CM into infarcted rat hearts limited the infarct size, reduced cardiomyocyte
      apoptosis and ventricular remodeling, and strongly promoted capillary formation
      at the infarct border zone. Gene array analysis led to the identification of 32
      genes encoding for the secreted factors overexpressed by hAMCs. Among these,
      midkine and secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine were also upregulated at
      the protein level. Furthermore, high amounts of several proangiogenic factors
      were detected in hAMC-CM by cytokine array. Our results strongly support the
      concept that the administration of hAMC-CM favors the repair process after acute
      myocardial infarction. 

PMID- 25824142
TI  - Amine-free reversible hydrogen storage in formate salts catalyzed by ruthenium
      pincer complex without pH control or solvent change.
AB  - Due to the intermittent nature of most renewable energy sources, such as solar
      and wind, energy storage is increasingly required. Since electricity is difficult
      to store, hydrogen obtained by electrochemical water splitting has been proposed
      as an energy carrier. However, the handling and transportation of hydrogen in
      large quantities is in itself a challenge. We therefore present here a method for
      hydrogen storage based on a CO2 (HCO3 (-) )/H2 and formate equilibrium. This
      amine-free and efficient reversible system (>90 % yield in both directions) is
      catalyzed by well-defined and commercially available Ru pincer complexes. The
      formate dehydrogenation was triggered by simple pressure swing without requiring
      external pH control or the change of either the solvent or the catalyst. Up to
      six hydrogenation-dehydrogenation cycles were performed and the catalyst
      performance remained steady with high selectivity (CO free H2 /CO2 mixture was
      produced). 

PMID- 25824143
TI  - Ultra-thin and smooth transparent electrode for flexible and leakage-free organic
      light-emitting diodes.
AB  - A smooth, ultra-flexible, and transparent electrode was developed from silver
      nanowires (AgNWs) embedded in a colorless polyimide (cPI) by utilizing an
      inverted film-processing method. The resulting AgNW-cPI composite electrode had a
      transparency of >80%, a low sheet resistance of 8 Omega/?, and ultra-smooth
      surfaces comparable to glass. Leveraging the robust mechanical properties and
      flexibility of cPI, the thickness of the composite film was reduced to less than
      10 MUm, which is conducive to extreme flexibility. This film exhibited mechanical
      durability, for both outward and inward bending tests, up to a bending radius of
      30 MUm, while maintaining its electrical performance under cyclic bending
      (bending radius: 500 MUm) for 100,000 iterations. Phosphorescent, blue organic
      light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) were fabricated using these composites as bottom
      electrodes (anodes). Hole-injection was poor, because AgNWs were largely buried
      beneath the composite's surface. Thus, we used a simple plasma treatment to
      remove the thin cPI layer overlaying the nanowires without introducing other
      conductive materials. As a result, we were able to finely control the flexible
      OLEDs' electroluminescent properties using the enlarged conductive pathways. The
      fabricated flexible devices showed only slight performance reductions of <3% even
      after repeated foldings with a 30 MUm bending radius.

PMID- 25824144
TI  - Two Novel Homozygous Desmoplakin Mutations in Carvajal Syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mutations in various desmosomal proteins were shown to cause
      inherited forms of cardiomyopathy. Carvajal syndrome (Online Mendelian
      Inheritance in Man [OMIM] 605676) is characterized by the association of dilated
      cardiomyopathy, striate palmoplantar keratoderma, and woolly hair. It is caused
      by homozygous as well as heterozygous mutations in DSP, which encodes the
      desmosomal plaque protein desmoplakin. An overlapping cardiocutaneous phenotype
      was also described with homozygous mutations in genes encoding two other
      desmosomal proteins; plakoglobin (Naxos disease; OMIM 601214) and desmocollin-2
      (OMIM 610476). METHODS: We performed clinical and molecular workups in two
      consanguineous Arab Palestinian families manifesting an autosomal recessive
      pattern of inheritance of the above mentioned clinical findings. Whole exome
      sequencing was employed in the search for the causing mutation. RESULTS: Affected
      family members suffered from biventricular involvement and arrhythmogenic right
      ventricular dysplasia based on echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging.
      One patient who underwent implantation of an implantable cardioverter
      defibrillator (ICD) is still alive at the age of 59 years. Whole exome sequencing
      revealed two novel homozygous mutations in DSP, each affecting one family.
      CONCLUSIONS: The association of woolly hair with palmoplantar keratoderma in a
      child should lead to a cardiac workup in the search for those at increased risk
      for sudden cardiac death. Early diagnosis and ICD implantation may be lifesaving.
      Whole exome sequencing should be utilized for rapid genetic analysis since the
      cardiocutaneous phenotype may result from mutations in one of several genes.

PMID- 25824145
TI  - Regulatory T cells in human and angiotensin II-induced mouse abdominal aortic
      aneurysms.
AB  - AIMS: Regulatory T cells (Tregs) protect mice from angiotensin II (Ang-II)
      induced abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). This study tested whether AAA patients
      are Treg-insufficient and the Treg molecular mechanisms that control AAA
      pathogenesis. METHODS AND RESULTS: ELISA determined the Foxp3 concentration in
      blood cell lysates from 485 AAA patients and 204 age- and sex-matched controls.
      AAA patients exhibited lower blood cell Foxp3 expression than controls (P <
      0.0001). Pearson's correlation test demonstrated a significant but negative
      correlation between Foxp3 and AAA annual expansion rate before (r = -0.147, P =
      0.007) and after (r = -0.153, P = 0.006) adjustment for AAA risk factors. AAA in
      apolipoprotein E-deficient (Apoe(-/-)) mice that received different doses of Ang
      II exhibited a negative correlation of lesion Foxp3(+) Treg numbers with AAA size
      (r = -0.883, P < 0.0001). Adoptive transfer of Tregs from wild-type (WT) and IL10
      deficient (Il10(-/-)) mice increased AAA lesion Treg content, but only WT mice
      Tregs reduced AAA size, AAA incidence, blood pressure, lesion macrophage and
      CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cell accumulation, and angiogenesis with concurrent increase
      of lesion collagen content. Both AAA lesion immunostaining and plasma ELISA
      demonstrated that adoptive transfer of WT Tregs, but not Il10(-/-) Tregs, reduced
      the expression of MCP-1. In vitro cell culture and aortic ring assay demonstrated
      that only Tregs from WT mice, but not those from Il10(-/-) mice, reduced
      macrophage MCP-1 secretion, macrophage and vascular cell protease expression and
      activity, and aortic ring microvessel formation. CONCLUSION: This study supports
      a protective role of Tregs in human and experimental AAA by releasing IL10 to
      suppress inflammatory cell chemotaxis, arterial wall remodelling, and
      angiogenesis.

PMID- 25824146
TI  - Hypoxia inducible factor-1-dependent up-regulation of BMP4 mediates hypoxia
      induced increase of TRPC expression in PASMCs.
AB  - AIMS: Previously we demonstrated that both hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) and
      bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP4) up-regulate transient receptor potential
      canonical (TRPC) 1 and TRPC6, resulting in increased basal intracellular Ca(2+)
      concentration ([Ca(2+)]i) in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs),
      driving development of chronic hypoxia (CH)-induced pulmonary hypertension
      (CHPH). This study aims to determine whether HIF-1 regulates BMP4, and whether
      BMP4 mediates TRPC and basal [Ca(2+)]i increases in hypoxic PASMCs. METHODS AND
      RESULTS: The level of BMP4 mature protein was increased for ~183% in distal
      pulmonary arterial smooth muscle (PA) from CH (10% O2 for 21 days; CH) exposed
      rats, and 143% in PASMCs cultured under prolonged hypoxia (4% O2 for 60 h). In
      rat PASMCs, HIF-1alpha overexpression up-regulated, whereas HIF-1alpha knockdown
      under hypoxia decreased BMP4 expression; site-mutation identified two functional
      HIF-1-binding sites in Bmp4 gene promoter; noggin or BMP4 siRNA treatment blocked
      hypoxia-induced increases of TRPC1 and TRPC6 expression and basal [Ca(2+)]i.
      Likewise, in mice, exposure to CH increased BMP4 expression in distal PA for
      ~80%, which was absent in HIF-1alpha heterozygous mutant mice. Comparing with
      wild-type littermates, BMP4 heterozygous mutant mice exposed to CH displayed
      lower BMP4 and TRPC levels in PA, decreased basal [Ca(2+)]i in PASMCs, and
      attenuated CHPH. In human PASMCs, HIF-1alpha knockdown attenuated hypoxia-induced
      BMP4 expression and knockdown of either HIF-1alpha or BMP4 abolished hypoxia
      induced TRPC expression and basal [Ca(2+)]i. CONCLUSIONS: BMP4 acts downstream of
      HIF-1 and mediates hypoxia-induced up-regulation of TRPC, leading to increased
      basal [Ca(2+)]i in PASMCs, promoting CHPH pathogenesis.

PMID- 25824147
TI  - MicroRNA-150 protects the mouse heart from ischaemic injury by regulating cell
      death.
AB  - AIMS: Cardiac injury is accompanied by dynamic changes in the expression of
      microRNAs (miRs). For example, miR-150 is down-regulated in patients with acute
      myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, dilated and ischaemic cardiomyopathy
      as well as in various mouse heart failure (HF) models. Circulating miR-150 has
      been recently proposed as a better biomarker of HF than traditional clinical
      markers such as brain natriuretic peptide. We recently showed using the beta
      arrestin-biased beta-blocker, carvedilol that beta-arrestin1-biased beta1
      adrenergic receptor cardioprotective signalling stimulates the processing of miR
      150 in the heart. However, the potential role of miR-150 in ischaemic injury and
      HF is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: Here, we show that genetic deletion of miR
      150 in mice causes abnormalities in cardiac structural and functional remodelling
      after MI. The cardioprotective roles of miR-150 during ischaemic injury were in
      part attributed to direct repression of the pro-apoptotic genes egr2 (zinc
      binding transcription factor induced by ischaemia) and p2x7r (pro-inflammatory
      ATP receptor) in cardiomyocytes. CONCLUSION: These findings reveal a pivotal role
      for miR-150 as a regulator of cardiomyocyte survival during cardiac injury.

PMID- 25824148
TI  - Angiopoietin-1 inhibits toll-like receptor 4 signalling in cultured endothelial
      cells: role of miR-146b-5p.
AB  - AIMS: Bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) induce innate immune inflammatory
      responses in endothelial cells by activating toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)
      signalling. Here, we investigate the effects of angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) on LPS
      induced TLR4 signalling and the role of the miR-146 family of micro RNAs in the
      effects of Ang-1 on TRL4 signalling. METHODS AND RESULTS: Leucocyte adhesion to
      human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was detected using fluorescence
      microscopy. Adhesion molecule, pro-inflammatory cytokine, miR-146a, and miR-146b
      5p expressions in HUVECs were quantified using real-time PCR. TLR4 signalling
      protein levels were measured using immunoblotting. Exposure of HUVECs to LPS for
      4-6 h induces robust inflammatory responses, including enhanced leucocyte
      adhesion, up-regulation of adhesion molecule expression (VCAM1, ICAM1, E
      SELECTIN), enhanced cytokine production (TNFalpha, IL1beta, IL6, and IL8), and
      increased NFkappaB luciferase reporter activity. Addition of Ang-1 to the culture
      medium for 24 h prior to LPS exposure significantly attenuates these responses.
      Prolonged Ang-1 exposure significantly decreases IRAK1 and TRAF6 protein levels
      but has no effect on TLR4, MYD88, IRAK4, or TAK1 expressions. Ang-1 triggers
      significant up-regulation of miR-146b-5p levels but has no effect on miR-146a or
      miR-146b-3p expressions. Transfection of HUVECs with a miR-146b-5p mimic
      significantly attenuates LPS-induced inflammatory responses and IRAK1 and TRAF6
      expressions. In HUVECs transfected with a miR-146b-5p inhibitor, Ang-1 has no
      effect on LPS-induced inflammatory responses or IRAK1 and TRAF6 expressions.
      CONCLUSION: Ang-1 disrupts TLR4 signalling, resulting in inhibition of LPS
      induced inflammatory responses in endothelial cells. This inhibition occurs
      through selective targeting of IRAK1 and TRAF6 proteins by miR-146b-5p.

PMID- 25824149
TI  - NOD1, a new player in cardiac function and calcium handling.
AB  - AIMS: Inflammation is a significant contributor to cardiovascular disease and its
      complications; however, whether the myocardial inflammatory response is
      harmonized after cardiac injury remains to be determined. Some receptors of the
      innate immune system, including the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain
      like receptors (NLRs), play key roles in the host response after cardiac damage.
      Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain containing 1 (NOD1), a member of the
      NLR family, is expressed in the heart, but its functional role has not been
      elucidated. We determine whether selective NOD1 activation modulates cardiac
      function and Ca(2+) signalling. METHODS AND RESULTS: Mice were treated for 3 days
      with the selective NOD1 agonist C12-iE-DAP (iE-DAP), and cardiac function and
      Ca(2+) cycling were assessed. We found that iE-DAP treatment resulted in cardiac
      dysfunction, measured as a decrease in ejection fraction and fractional
      shortening. Cardiomyocytes isolated from iE-DAP-treated mice displayed a decrease
      in the L-type Ca(2+) current, [Ca(2+)]i transients and Ca(2+) load, and decreased
      expression of phospho-phospholamban, sarcoplasmic reticulum-ATPase, and Na(+)
      Ca(2+) exchanger. Furthermore, iE-DAP prompted 'diastolic Ca(2+) leak' in
      cardiomyocytes, resulting from increased Ca(2+) spark frequency and RyR2 over
      phosphorylation. Importantly, these iE-DAP-induced changes in Ca(2+) cycling were
      lost in NOD1(-/-) mice, indicating that iE-DAP exerts its actions through NOD1.
      Co-treatment of mice with iE-DAP and a selective inhibitor of NF-kappaB (BAY11
      7082) prevented cardiac dysfunction and Ca(2+) handling impairment induced by iE
      DAP. CONCLUSION: Our data provide the first evidence that NOD1 activation induces
      cardiac dysfunction associated with excitation-contraction coupling impairment
      through NF-kappaB activation and uncover a new pro-inflammatory player in the
      regulation of cardiovascular function.

PMID- 25824150
TI  - Preemptive antiretroviral therapy modifications for the management of potential
      clinically significant drug interactions with direct acting hepatitis C
      therapies.
AB  - We report a case series of HIV/HCV co-infected patients who underwent preemptive
      antiretroviral therapy modifications to manage clinically significant drug
      interactions with HCV therapy. Among the 15 patients reviewed, all changed to a
      raltegravir-based regimen and none experienced a loss of virologic suppression or
      increase in HIV-RNA. 

PMID- 25824151
TI  - Using Elecsys(r) HIV Combi PT assay to identify acute and early HIV infection in
      a teaching hospital of southwest China.
AB  - This study is the first attempt to evaluate the use of the Elecsys(r) HIV combi
      PT assay in identifying acute and early HIV infection in southwest China. We also
      analyzed the extent of cutoff ratios overlap between false-positive and true
      positive results to aid the identification of HIV infection, using samples from
      the West China Hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan Province from April 2012 to December
      2013. Reactive results from a screening test were retested and all repeatedly
      reactive samples - if available - were confirmed with Western blot, HIV-1 p24
      antigen, or HIV-1 RNA. Of 241,840 samples screened, the Elecsys(r) HIV combi PT
      assay identified 54 patients with acute and early HIV infection; 99.8% cases with
      cutoff index ratios >=50 were proved to be true-positive HIV infection and 95.6%
      cases with cutoff index ratios <15 were falsely positive. In conclusion, the
      Elecsys(r) HIV combi PT assay can identify acute and early HIV infection,
      including those who might have been missed by third-generation HIV screening
      assays and Western blot. However, cutoff index ratios <15 are not always false
      reactive results; a definitive result cannot be attained without further
      confirmation. In resource-poor regions where a HIV-1 nucleic acid test may be
      unaffordable, detection of HIV-1 p24 antigen can be an alternative strategy to
      diagnose HIV infection in individuals with a negative or indeterminate Western
      blot.

PMID- 25824152
TI  - Loss of miR-223 and JNK Signaling Contribute to Elevated Stathmin in Malignant
      Pleural Mesothelioma.
AB  - Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is often fatal, and studies have revealed
      that aberrant miRNAs contribute to MPM development and aggressiveness. Here, a
      screen of miRNAs identified reduced levels of miR-223 in MPM patient specimens.
      Interestingly, miR-223 targets Stathmin (STMN1), a microtubule regulator that has
      been associated with MPM. However, whether miR-223 regulates STMN1 in MPM and the
      functions of miR-223 and STMN1 in this disease are yet to be determined. STMN1 is
      also regulated by c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling, but whether this
      occurs in MPM and whether miR-223 plays a role are unknown. The relationship
      between STMN1, miR-223, and JNK was assessed using MPM cell lines, cells from
      pleural effusions, and MPM tissue. Evidence indicates that miR-223 is decreased
      in all MPM tissue compared with normal/healthy tissue. Conversely, STMN1
      expression was higher in MPM cell lines when compared with primary mesothelial
      cell controls. Following overexpression of miR-223 in MPM cell lines, STMN1
      levels were reduced, cell motility was inhibited, and tubulin acetylation
      induced. Knockdown of STMN1 using siRNAs led to inhibition of MPM cell
      proliferation and motility. Finally, miR-223 levels increased while STMN1 was
      reduced following the re-expression of the JNK isoforms in JNK-null murine
      embryonic fibroblasts, and STMN1 was reduced in MPM cell lines following the
      activation of JNK signaling. IMPLICATIONS: miR-223 regulates STMN1 in MPM, and
      both are in turn regulated by the JNK signaling pathway. As such, miR-223 and
      STMN1 play an important role in regulating MPM cell motility and may be
      therapeutic targets.

PMID- 25824153
TI  - Teenage mothers of black and minority ethnic origin want access to a range of
      mental and physical health support: a participatory research approach.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In high risk, economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods, such as
      those primarily resident by black and minority ethnic groups (BME), teenage
      pregnancies are relatively more frequent. Such families often have limited access
      to and/or knowledge of services, including prenatal and post-partum physical and
      mental health support. OBJECTIVE: To explore preferences held by vulnerable young
      mothers of BME origin and those close to them about existing and desired
      perinatal health services. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Drawing on a
      community-based participatory approach, a community steering committee with local
      knowledge and experience of teenage parenthood shaped and managed an exploratory
      qualitative study. In collaboration with a local agency and academic research
      staff, community research assistants conducted two focus groups with 19 members
      and 21 individual semi-structured interviews with young mothers of BME origin and
      their friends or relatives. These were coded, thematically analysed, interpreted
      and subsequently triangulated through facilitator and participant review and
      discussion. RESULTS: Despite perceptions of a prevalent local culture of mistrust
      and suspicion, a number of themes and accompanying recommendations emerged. These
      included a lack of awareness by mothers of BME origin about current perinatal
      health services, as well as programme inaccessibility and inadequacy. There was a
      desire to engage with a continuum of comprehensive and well-publicized, family
      focused perinatal health services. Participants wanted inclusion of maternal
      mental health and parenting support that addressed the whole family. CONCLUSIONS:
      It is both ethical and equitable that comprehensive perinatal services are
      planned and developed following consultation and participation of knowledgeable
      community members including young mothers of BME origin, family and friends.

PMID- 25824155
TI  - [Frailty in people with intellectual disabilities: operationalization, risks and
      detection].
AB  - Although the population with intellectual disabilities (ID) is increasingly
      growing older, there seems to be an early onset of functional decline in this
      group, which could be explained by frailty. We used data from the Healthy Aging
      and Intellectual Disability study (HA-ID) to measure frailty in people with ID.
      Frailty was measured with an adapted version of the frailty index, consisting of
      50 health and age related deficits. We were the first to measure frailty with a
      frailty index in this population, and therefore its validity, in terms of
      predictive value, needed to be established. In the current article we provide an
      overview of the design of the frailty index and its relation with adverse health
      outcomes. In a nearly representative study population of 982 50-plus older adults
      with ID, we studied the prevalence of frailty and its validity over a 3-year
      follow-up period. Results show that people with ID were earlier and more severely
      frail than people from the general population. Frailty was related to early
      mortality, to disabilities in daily functioning and mobility, to increased
      medication use, and increased care intensity, but not to hospitalization. Using a
      hypothetical model, we identify possible interventions to increase the healthy
      life years in people with ID. 

PMID- 25824156
TI  - Editor's briefing.

PMID- 25824154
TI  - Genomic signatures of human and animal disease in the zoonotic pathogen
      Streptococcus suis.
AB  - Streptococcus suis causes disease in pigs worldwide and is increasingly
      implicated in zoonotic disease in East and South-East Asia. To understand the
      genetic basis of disease in S. suis, we study the genomes of 375 isolates with
      detailed clinical phenotypes from pigs and humans from the United Kingdom and
      Vietnam. Here, we show that isolates associated with disease contain
      substantially fewer genes than non-clinical isolates, but are more likely to
      encode virulence factors. Human disease isolates are limited to a single-virulent
      population, originating in the 1920, s when pig production was intensified, but
      no consistent genomic differences between pig and human isolates are observed.
      There is little geographical clustering of different S. suis subpopulations, and
      the bacterium undergoes high rates of recombination, implying that an increase in
      virulence anywhere in the world could have a global impact over a short
      timescale. 

PMID- 25824157
TI  - Boring but important: the community mental health team.

PMID- 25824158
TI  - Invest in community-based solutions that address individuals' needs: not more
      beds.

PMID- 25824159
TI  - Digital mental health services in general practice.

PMID- 25824160
TI  - Endometriosis in secondary care.

PMID- 25824161
TI  - A journey into the humanitarian side of general practice.

PMID- 25824162
TI  - Compassion or empathy? A way forward to reduce GP stress and burnout.

PMID- 25824163
TI  - How the NCT will bring down the NHS.

PMID- 25824164
TI  - Paracetamol, ethnic health inequalities, cerebral palsy, and pornography.

PMID- 25824165
TI  - A revolution in the making: a suggested model for training NHS doctors.

PMID- 25824166
TI  - International primary care snapshots: Australia and Brazil.

PMID- 25824167
TI  - My personal diagnostic delay: 'Physician, prevent thyself'.

PMID- 25824172
TI  - Are we too narcissistic?

PMID- 25824173
TI  - Setting ground rules for GP trainer groups: potential pitfalls and how to avoid
      them.

PMID- 25824174
TI  - Supporting expert generalist practice: the SAGE consultation model.

PMID- 25824175
TI  - Seeing red in young children: the importance of the red reflex.

PMID- 25824176
TI  - Child health care in general practice: priorities for education and practice.

PMID- 25824177
TI  - Prevention of mental illness must start in childhood: growing up feeling safe and
      protected from harm.

PMID- 25824178
TI  - Improving the effectiveness of self-monitoring of blood glucose in type 2
      diabetes.

PMID- 25824179
TI  - Tools and tables in cardiovascular risk management: doing more harm than good?

PMID- 25824180
TI  - Morbidity matters: challenges for research.

PMID- 25824181
TI  - Childhood urinary tract infection in primary care: a prospective observational
      study of prevalence, diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prevalence of targeted and serendipitous treatment for, and
      associated recovery from, urinary tract infection (UTI) in pre-school children is
      unknown. AIM: To determine the frequency and suspicion of UTI in children who are
      acutely ill, along with details of antibiotic prescribing, its appropriateness,
      and whether that appropriateness impacted on symptom improvement and recovery.
      DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective observational cohort study in primary care sites
      in urban and rural areas in England and Wales. METHOD: Systematic urine sampling
      from children aged <5 years presenting in primary care with acute illness with
      culture in NHS laboratories. RESULTS: Of 6079 children's urine samples, 339
      (5.6%) met laboratory criteria for UTI and 162 (47.9%) were prescribed
      antibiotics at the initial consultation. In total, 576/7101 (8.1%) children were
      suspected of having a UTI prior to urine sampling, including 107 of the 338 with
      a UTI (clinician sensitivity 31.7%). Children with a laboratory-diagnosed UTI
      were more likely to be prescribed antibiotics when UTI was clinically suspected
      than when it was not (86.0% versus 30.3%, P<0.001). Of 231 children with
      unsuspected UTI, 70 (30.3%) received serendipitous antibiotics (that is,
      antibiotics prescribed for a different reason). Overall, 176 (52.1%) children
      with confirmed UTI did not receive any initial antibiotic. Organism sensitivity
      to the prescribed antibiotic was higher when UTI was suspected than when treated
      serendipitously (77.1% versus 26.0%; P<0.001). Children with UTI prescribed
      appropriate antibiotics at the initial consultation improved a little sooner than
      those with a UTI who were not prescribed appropriate antibiotics initially (3.5
      days versus 4.0 days; P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Over half of children with UTI on
      culture were not prescribed antibiotics at first presentation. Serendipitous UTI
      treatment was relatively common, but often inappropriate to the organism's
      sensitivity. Methods for improved targeting of antibiotic treatment in children
      who are acutely unwell are urgently needed.

PMID- 25824182
TI  - Translation of clinical prediction rules for febrile children to primary care
      practice: an observational cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Clinical prediction rules (CPRs) to identify children with serious
      infections lack validation in low-prevalence populations, which hampers their
      implementation in primary care practice. AIM: To evaluate the diagnostic value of
      published CPRs for febrile children in primary care. DESIGN AND SETTING:
      Observational cohort study among febrile children (<16 years) who consulted five
      GP cooperatives (GPCs) in the Netherlands. METHOD: Alarm signs of serious
      infection and clinical management were extracted from routine clinical practice
      data and manually recoded with a structured electronic data-entry program. Eight
      CPRs were selected from literature. CPR-variables were matched with alarm signs
      and CPRs were applied to the GPC-population. 'Referral to emergency department
      (ED)' was used as a proxy outcome measure for 'serious infection'. CPR
      performance was assessed by calibration analyses, sensitivity, specificity, and
      area under the ROC-curve (ROC-area). RESULTS: A total of 9794 GPC-contacts were
      eligible, 54% male, median age 2.3 years (interquartile range 1.0-4.6 years) and
      8.1% referred to ED. Frequencies of CPR-variables varied from 0.5% (cyanosis,
      drowsy) to 25% (temperature >=40 degrees C). Alarm signs frequently included in
      CPRs were 'ill appearance', 'inconsolable', and 'abnormal circulatory or
      respiratory signs'. The height of the CPR's predicted risks generally
      corresponded with being (or not being) referred to the ED in practice. However,
      calibration-slopes indicated that three CPRs underestimated the risk of serious
      infection in the GPC-population. Sensitivities ranged from 42% to 54%,
      specificities from 68% to 89%. ROC-areas ranged from 0.52 to 0.81, with best
      performance of CPRs for children aged <3 months. CONCLUSION: Published CPRs
      performed moderately well in the primary out-of-hours care population. Advice is
      given on how to improve translation of CPRs to primary care practice.

PMID- 25824183
TI  - Child obesity cut-offs as derived from parental perceptions: cross-sectional
      questionnaire.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Overweight children are at an increased risk of premature mortality
      and disease in adulthood. Parental perceptions and clinical definitions of child
      obesity differ, which may lessen the effectiveness of interventions to address
      obesity in the home setting. The extent to which parental and objective weight
      status cut-offs diverge has not been documented. AIM: To compare parental
      perceived and objectively derived assessment of underweight, healthy weight, and
      overweight in English children, and to identify sociodemographic characteristics
      that predict parental under- or overestimation of a child's weight status. DESIGN
      AND SETTING: Cross-sectional questionnaire completed by parents linked with
      objective measurement of height and weight by school nurses, in English children
      from five regions aged 4-5 and 10-11 years old. METHOD: Parental derived cut-offs
      for under- and overweight were derived from a multinomial model of parental
      classification of their own child's weight status against school nurse measured
      body mass index (BMI) centile. RESULTS: Measured BMI centile was matched with
      parent classification of weight status in 2976 children. Parents become more
      likely to classify their children as underweight when they are at the 0.8th
      centile or below, and overweight at the 99.7th centile or above. Parents were
      more likely to underestimate a child's weight if the child was black or South
      Asian, male, more deprived, or the child was older. These values differ greatly
      from the BMI centile cut-offs for underweight (2nd centile) and overweight
      (85th). CONCLUSION: Clinical and parental classifications of obesity are
      divergent at extremes of the weight spectrum.

PMID- 25824184
TI  - Obesity in primary care: a qualitative synthesis of patient and practitioner
      perspectives on roles and responsibilities.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obesity is a top-priority global health issue; however, a clear way
      to address obesity in primary care is not yet in view. AIM: To conduct a meta
      ethnography of patient and primary care practitioner perspectives of roles and
      responsibilities in how to address obesity in the UK, to inform evidence-based
      services that are acceptable to, and appropriate for, patients and practitioners.
      DESIGN AND SETTING: Qualitative synthesis applying meta-ethnographic methods
      according to the Noblit and Hare monograph. Database searches in MEDLINE((r)),
      Social Sciences Citation Index((r)), CINAHL, and Health Management Information
      Consortium were limited to 1997-2012 to examine recent perspectives. METHOD: Full
      articles of practitioner and/or patient perspectives on obesity services in
      primary care were reviewed, and included semi-structured or unstructured
      interviews and focus groups, and participant observations. RESULTS: Nine studies
      were synthesised with perspectives from patients (n = 105) and practitioners (n =
      144). Practitioners believe that patients are responsible for obesity, and that
      primary care should not help, or is poorly equipped to do so. Patients 'take
      responsibility' by 'blaming' themselves, but feel that practitioners should
      demonstrate more leadership. The empowerment of patients to access health
      services is reliant on the empowerment of practitioners to take an unambiguous
      position. CONCLUSION: Primary care has the potential either to perpetuate or
      counter obesity-related stigma. There needs to be a firm decision as to what role
      primary care will take in the prevention and treatment of obesity. To remain
      ambiguous runs the risk of losing patients' confidence and adding to a growing
      sense of futility.

PMID- 25824185
TI  - Experiences of a commercial weight-loss programme after primary care referral: a
      qualitative study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Referral to a commercial weight-loss programme is a cost-effective
      intervention that is already used within the NHS. Qualitative research suggests
      this community-based, non-medical intervention accords with participants' view of
      weight management as a lifestyle issue. AIM: To examine the ways in which
      participants' attitudes and beliefs about accessing a commercial weight
      management programme via their doctor relate to their weight-loss experience, and
      to understand how these contextual factors influence motivation and adherence to
      the intervention. DESIGN AND SETTING: A qualitative study embedded in a
      randomised controlled trial evaluating primary care referral to a commercial
      weight-loss programme in adults who are overweight or obese in England. The study
      took place from June-September 2013. METHOD: Twenty-nine participants (body mass
      index [BMI] >=28 kg/m(2); age >=18 years), who took part in the WRAP (Weight Loss
      Referrals for Adults in Primary Care) trial, were recruited at their 3-month
      assessment appointment to participate in a semi-structured interview about their
      experience of the intervention and weight management more generally. Interviews
      were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed inductively using a
      narrative approach. RESULTS: Although participants view the lifestyle-based, non
      medical commercial programme as an appropriate intervention for weight
      management, the referral from the GP and subsequent clinical assessments frame
      their experience of the intervention as medically pertinent with clear health
      benefits. CONCLUSION: Referral by the GP and follow-up assessment appointments
      were integral to participant experiences of the intervention, and could be
      adapted for use in general practice potentially to augment treatment effects.

PMID- 25824186
TI  - Reduction in self-monitoring of blood glucose in type 2 diabetes: an
      observational controlled study in east London.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) confers no benefit for many
      people with type 2 diabetes not being treated with insulin. It accounts for 21%
      of diabetes prescribing costs. AIM: To improve care quality at reduced cost for
      type 2 diabetes by reducing unnecessary SMBG. DESIGN AND SETTING: Non-randomised,
      observational controlled study in two intervention clinical commissioning groups
      (CCGs) and one control CCG in east London. METHOD: In total, 19,602 people with
      type 2 diabetes not being treated with insulin were recruited from two
      intervention CCGs; 16,033 were recruited from a control CCG. The intervention
      (from 2010 to 2013) comprised implementation of a locally developed guideline,
      including IT support and peer feedback of performance. Data on practice
      prescribing SMBG testing strips were gathered using GP electronic health records.
      Information on costs were obtained via the ePACT electronic database. RESULTS:
      Over 4 years, in all non-insulin type 2 diabetes treatment groups, use of SMBG
      was reduced in the two intervention CCGs from 42.8% to 16.5%, and in the control
      CCG from 56.4% to 47.2%. In people on metformin alone or no treatment,
      intervention CCGs reduced SMBG use from 29.6% to 6.0%, and in the control CCG use
      dropped from 47.1% to 38.7% (P<0.001). From 2009 to 2012 the total cost of all
      SMBG prescribing (type 1 and type 2 diabetes, including users of insulin) was
      reduced by 4.9% (L62,476) in the two intervention CCGs and increased in the
      control CCG by 5.0% (L42,607); in England, the total cost increased by 13.5%
      (L19.4 million). In total, 20% (3865 of 19 602) fewer patients used SMBG in the
      intervention CCGs. CONCLUSION: This low-cost programme demonstrated a major
      reduction in unnecessary prescribing of SMBG, along with cost savings. If
      replicated nationally, this would avoid unnecessary testing in 340 000 people and
      prescribing costs that total L21.8 million.

PMID- 25824187
TI  - Using quantitative risk information in decisions about statins: a qualitative
      study in a community setting.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A large literature informs guidance for GPs about communicating
      quantitative risk information so as to facilitate shared decision making.
      However, relatively little has been written about how patients utilise such
      information in practice. AIM: To understand the role of quantitative risk
      information in patients' accounts of decisions about taking statins. DESIGN AND
      SETTING: This was a qualitative study, with participants recruited and
      interviewed in community settings. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were
      conducted with 34 participants aged >50 years, all of whom had been offered
      statins. Data were analysed thematically, using elements of the constant
      comparative method. RESULTS: Interviewees drew frequently on numerical test
      results to explain their decisions about preventive medication. In contrast, they
      seldom mentioned quantitative risk information, and never offered it as a
      rationale for action. Test results were spoken of as objects of concern despite
      an often-explicit absence of understanding, so lack of understanding seems
      unlikely to explain the non-use of risk estimates. Preventive medication was seen
      as 'necessary' either to treat test results, or because of personalised,
      unequivocal advice from a doctor. CONCLUSION: This study's findings call into
      question the assumption that people will heed and use numerical risk information
      once they understand it; these data highlight the need to consider the ways in
      which different kinds of knowledge are used in practice in everyday contexts.
      There was little evidence from this study that understanding probabilistic risk
      information was a necessary or valued condition for making decisions about statin
      use.

PMID- 25824188
TI  - Views of newly-qualified GPs about their training and preparedness: lessons for
      extended generalist training.
AB  - BACKGROUND: General practice is becoming increasingly complex due to an ageing
      population with multiple morbidities and the shift of services from secondary to
      primary care, yet GP training remains largely the same. Extended training is now
      recommended, initially proposed as a fourth GP specialty trainee year, but more
      recently as a broad-based 4-year specialty training programme. AIM: To explore
      the views of newly-qualified GPs about their training and preparedness for
      specific aspects of the GP's role. DESIGN AND SETTING: Qualitative study with
      newly-qualified GPs who qualified with Severn Deanery between 2007 and 2010.
      METHOD: Semi-structured interviews with 18 GPs between November 2011 and April
      2012. RESULTS: Gaining experience in a variety of primary care environments
      widens insight into patient populations as well as helping GPs develop
      adaptability and confidence, although this is not routinely part of GP training.
      However, alongside variety, having continuity with patients in practice remains
      important. Opportunities to be involved in the management of a practice or to
      take on substantial leadership roles also vary widely and this may limit
      preparedness and development of generalist skills. CONCLUSION: Extended training
      could help prepare GPs for the current challenges of general practice. It could
      ensure all trainees are exposed to a greater variety of primary care settings
      including those outside GP practice, as well as experience of business, finance,
      and leadership roles. Collectively, these changes have the potential to produce
      GPs with both generalist and enhanced skills, who are better prepared to work
      collaboratively across the organisational boundaries between primary, secondary,
      and community care.

PMID- 25824189
TI  - Revisiting screening for type 2 diabetes mellitus: the case for and against using
      HbA1c.

PMID- 25824190
TI  - Increasing the number of inter-arch contacts improves mastication in adults with
      Down syndrome: a prospective controlled trial.
AB  - Feeding difficulties due to their condition have been widely described for
      babies, children and adults with Down syndrome (DS). A previous study
      demonstrated that, compared with wearing a placebo appliance, wearing an occlusal
      appliance increased inter-arch dental contacts, improved the oral health status
      of adults with DS and normalised their mandibular rest position. This
      longitudinal prospective controlled trial aimed to evaluate whether increasing
      inter-arch contacts in adults with DS would lead to improved masticatory
      efficiency. Fourteen subjects with DS (mean age+/-SD: 28.5+/-9.3years) and twelve
      controls without DS (24.6+/-1.0years) were video recorded while chewing samples
      of carrot and peanuts with and without an oral appliance that was designed to
      equalise the number of posterior functional units (PFUs) in both groups. Three
      parameters were collected during mastication for 15cycles and until swallowing:
      food refusals, food bolus granulometry (D50) and kinematic parameters of the
      chewing process (number of cycles, chewing duration and cycle frequency within
      the chewing sequence). In the DS group, increasing the number of PFUs led to a
      decrease in bolus particle size, to fewer masticatory cycles needed to produce a
      bolus ready for swallowing and to a decrease in the occurrence of food refusal,
      while mean chewing frequency did not vary. In the control group, bolus
      granulometry and chewing time increased with appliance wear while mean chewing
      frequency decreased. These changes clearly indicate a functional improvement in
      subjects with DS. This study also demonstrated a causal relationship between the
      number of functional pairs of posterior teeth and improved mastication. Any
      evaluation of feeding behaviour in persons with DS should consider inter-arch
      dental contacts as an explicative variable for feeding problems and their
      nutritional and respiratory consequences. 

PMID- 25824191
TI  - Blunted hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal axis response to predator odor predicts
      high stress reactivity.
AB  - Individuals with trauma- and stress-related disorders exhibit increases in
      avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, heightened anxiety and altered
      neuroendocrine stress responses. Our laboratory uses a rodent model of stress
      that mimics the avoidance symptom cluster associated with stress-related
      disorders. Animals are classified as 'Avoiders' or 'Non-Avoiders' post-stress
      based on avoidance of predator-odor paired context. Utilizing this model, we are
      able to examine subpopulation differences in stress reactivity. Here, we used
      this predator odor model of stress to examine differences in anxiety-like
      behavior and hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis function in animals that
      avoid a predator-paired context relative to those that do not. Rats were exposed
      to predator odor stress paired with a context and tested for avoidance (24h and
      11days), anxiety-like behavior (48h and 5days) and HPA activation following
      stress. Control animals were exposed to room air. Predator odor stress produced
      avoidance in approximately 65% of the animals at 24h that persisted 11days post
      stress. Both Avoiders and Non-Avoiders exhibited a heightened anxiety-like
      behavior at 48h and 5days post-stress when compared to unstressed Controls. Non
      Avoiders exhibited significant increases in circulating adrenocorticotropin
      hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone (CORT) concentrations immediately following
      predator odor stress compared to Controls and this response was significantly
      attenuated in Avoiders. There was an inverse correlation between circulating
      ACTH/CORT concentrations and avoidance, indicating that lower levels of ACTH/CORT
      predicted higher levels of avoidance. These results suggest that stress effects
      on HPA stress axis activation predict long-term avoidance of stress-paired
      stimuli, and build on previous data showing the utility of this model for
      exploring the neurobiological mechanisms of trauma- and stress-related disorders.

PMID- 25824192
TI  - Aesthetic outcome after implant and DIEP flap breast reconstruction: An
      exploratory, prospective comparison of 25 cases.

PMID- 25824193
TI  - Preoperative CT angiography versus Doppler ultrasound mapping of abdominal
      perforator in DIEP breast reconstructions: A randomized prospective study.
AB  - Is there a difference in surgery time and complication rate when Doppler
      ultrasound (US) is used for the preoperative mapping of perforators in comparison
      with computer tomography angiography (CTA)? Women who were candidates for breast
      reconstruction using the deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) free flap
      were enrolled in a prospective randomized study. The operating time was 249 +/-
      62 min (mean +/- SD) in the CTA group (n = 32) and 255 min +/- 75 in the US group
      (n = 31)--hence a difference of 6 min on average. No flaps were lost. Sixteen
      complications occurred in 15 patients: seven in the CTA group and nine in the US
      group. Complications were remedied without delay and all patients came through
      with a favorable reconstruction. Preoperative mapping of perforators with US is
      satisfactory enough provided the microsurgery team has proper experience in
      breast reconstruction with the DIEP flap.

PMID- 25824194
TI  - Redon drainage bottle as a reservoir for fat cell harvesting.

PMID- 25824195
TI  - Masseteric nerve transfer for short-term facial paralysis following skull base
      surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nerve transfers have been widely used to reanimate paralyzed facial
      muscles after irreversible proximal injuries to the facial nerve. The author has
      developed a technique involving masseteric nerve transfer combined with cross
      facial nerve grafting for treating skull base surgery-induced facial paralysis.
      This paper aims to demonstrate that this procedure is effective and causes
      negligible donor site morbidity. METHODS: Seven patients who developed facial
      paralysis after the removal of skull base tumors were treated with masseteric
      nerve transfer combined with cross-facial nerve grafting with the aim of
      reanimating the midface. The mean period of preoperative paralysis was 6 months.
      The follow-up period ranged from 22 to 65 months (mean: 46 months). The patients
      were evaluated with physical examinations and video analysis. RESULTS: Successful
      reanimation of the midface was achieved in all patients except one, whose muscle
      tone recovered. On average, facial motion developed 4 months after the nerve
      transfer. Only minimal coordinated eyelid movement was seen during biting. None
      of the patients experienced impaired masticatory function or visible wasting of
      the masseter muscle. All of the patients who recovered the ability to contract
      their paralyzed muscles were able to close their eyes tightly during biting;
      however, none of the patients have been able to achieve an effortless spontaneous
      smile. CONCLUSIONS: Masseteric nerve transfer is an alternative method for
      selective reanimation of the midface and does not cause donor site morbidity.

PMID- 25824196
TI  - Reconstructive outcomes of Mohs surgery compared with conventional excision: A 13
      month prospective study.
AB  - Established in 2012, the Mersey Regional Centre for Mohs Surgery is the first UK
      Mohs service to be led by a Mohs trained Plastic & Reconstructive surgeon. We
      evaluate the resection requirements and reconstructive techniques of our patient
      group and compare their surgical outcome to that which would have been gained
      with conventional excision (CE) and reconstruction for the same lesions. 157
      patients were analysed over 13 months. Had CE and reconstruction been used, 56%
      of patients would have received a more invasive or cosmetically less desirable
      reconstruction, and 24% of margins would remain incomplete. The outcome was
      unchanged in 20% of patients. A small but significant subgroup (9%) of patients
      would have lost fundamental structures e.g. orbital exenteration, or undergone
      reconstructions unnecessarily crossing aesthetic subunits. Whilst in its infancy,
      the Plastic & Reconstructive Mohs surgery service has provided a valuable
      contribution to the care given to patients in the Mersey and Cheshire Skin Cancer
      Network. Detailed referral criteria, thorough preoperative patient evaluation,
      and appreciation of the abilities and limits of CE have enabled the service to
      produce a demonstrable reconstructive benefit in 80% of patients when compared to
      non-Mohs resection and reconstruction. 

PMID- 25824197
TI  - Free perivascular tissue flap transfer.
AB  - Local flaps and composite grafting are the procedures of choice for
      reconstructing relatively small soft tissue defects. However, despite their
      limited conveyable volume, local flaps sometimes require a wide dissection area
      and long new incisions. Composite grafts also have serious limitations and
      require a well-vascularized recipient bed. To overcome these limitations, we used
      a free vascularized perivascular tissue flap based on the descending branch of
      the lateral femoral circumflex artery. Using this method, we performed
      reconstructions for seven patients (four cases in head and neck region and three
      cases in lower limb) with various soft tissue defects (ranged from 4.0 cm(3) to
      40.0 cm(3)). This flap was easily elevated, without the need for precise
      preoperative flap design, and the flap volume was adjustable regardless of
      whether deep fascia and muscle were included. The flap has a rich vascular
      supply, which allows bone and cartilage tissue to be combined with the transfer
      of soft tissue, and satisfactorily treats chronic wounds with poor blood supply. 

PMID- 25824198
TI  - Preoperative color Doppler ultrasound assessment in planning of SCIP flaps.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Superficial circumflex iliac artery perforator (SCIP) flap is based
      on the perforator of superficial circumflex iliac artery (SCIA) system, and is a
      highly useful surgical tool with a wide variety of clinical applications. The
      SCIA system is associated with considerable anatomical variation, however,
      rendering transfer of a SCIP flap technically difficult. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      Using preoperative color Doppler ultrasound (US), we examined a total of 11 flaps
      of 11 patients who had undergone reconstruction with SCIP flap from April to
      August of 2014. The origin of SCIA from femoral artery and the bifurcation of its
      superficial branch and deep branch were easily identifiable in all patients.
      Perforator courses and their penetration points were marked to guide dissection.
      RESULTS: Although one patient required secondary revision and skin grafting
      because of partial necrosis, there were no serious postoperative complications
      such as total necrosis or resulting absorption of the transferred adiposal flap.
      In all cases, findings from the preoperative color Doppler US were useful in
      delineating the dominant vessel within the groin lesion. CONCLUSION: Using the
      technique described above, difficulties arising from the anatomical variation
      within the SCIA system are easily overcome, simplifying SCIP flap harvest. In
      addition to being relatively easy, the technique is also quick to administer and
      safe.

PMID- 25824199
TI  - Re: 'Combined clearance of pelvic and superficial nodes for clinical groin
      melanoma'.

PMID- 25824200
TI  - Re: 'Enabling the diagnosis of necrotising fasciitis without associated skin
      changes in a paediatric patient with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: The LRINEC
      score'.

PMID- 25824202
TI  - Emergency department intensive care units-Does the evidence support this model of
      care?

PMID- 25824201
TI  - HIV infection is associated with attenuated frontostriatal intrinsic
      connectivity: a preliminary study.
AB  - HIV-associated cognitive impairments are prevalent, and are consistent with
      injury to both frontal cortical and subcortical regions of the brain. The current
      study aimed to assess the association of HIV infection with functional
      connections within the frontostriatal network, circuitry hypothesized to be
      highly vulnerable to HIV infection. Fifteen HIV-positive and 15 demographically
      matched control participants underwent 6 min of resting-state functional magnetic
      resonance imaging (RS-fMRI). Multivariate group comparisons of age-adjusted
      estimates of connectivity within the frontostriatal network were derived from
      BOLD data for dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), dorsal caudate and
      mediodorsal thalamic regions of interest. Whole-brain comparisons of group
      differences in frontostriatal connectivity were conducted, as were pairwise tests
      of connectivity associations with measures of global cognitive functioning and
      clinical and immunological characteristics (nadir and current CD4 count, duration
      of HIV infection, plasma HIV RNA). HIV - associated reductions in connectivity
      were observed between the DLPFC and the dorsal caudate, particularly in younger
      participants (<50 years, N=9). Seropositive participants also demonstrated
      reductions in dorsal caudate connectivity to frontal and parietal brain regions
      previously demonstrated to be functionally connected to the DLPFC. Cognitive
      impairment, but none of the assessed clinical/immunological variables, was also
      associated with reduced frontostriatal connectivity. In conclusion, our data
      indicate that HIV is associated with attenuated intrinsic frontostriatal
      connectivity. Intrinsic connectivity of this network may therefore serve as a
      marker of the deleterious effects of HIV infection on the brain, possibly via HIV
      associated dopaminergic abnormalities. These findings warrant independent
      replication in larger studies.

PMID- 25824203
TI  - In-situ atomic layer deposition of tri-methylaluminum and water on pristine
      single-crystal (In)GaAs surfaces: electronic and electric structures.
AB  - The electronic structure of single-crystal (In)GaAs deposited with tri
      methylaluminum (TMA) and water via atomic layer deposition (ALD) is presented
      with high-resolution synchrotron radiation core-level photoemission and
      capacitance-voltage (CV) characteristics. The interaction of the precursor atoms
      with (In)GaAs is confined at the topmost surface layer. The Ga-vacant site on the
      GaAs(111)A-2 * 2 surface is filled with Al, thereby effectively passivating the
      As dangling bonds. The As-As dimers on the GaAs(001)-2 * 4 surface are entirely
      passivated by one cycle of TMA and water. The presumed layerwise deposition fails
      to happen in GaAs(001)-4 * 6. In In0.20Ga0.80As(001)-2 * 4, the edge row As atoms
      are partially bonded with the Al, and one released methyl then bonds with the In.
      It is suggested that the unpassivated surface and subsurface atoms cause large
      frequency dispersions in CV characteristics under the gate bias. We also found
      that the (In)GaAs surface is immune to water in ALD. However, the momentary
      exposure of it to air (less than one minute) introduces significant signals of
      native oxides. This indicates the necessity of in situ works of high
      kappa/(In)GaAs-related experiments in order to know the precise interfacial
      atomic bonding and thus know the electronic characteristics. The electric CV
      measurements of the ALD-Al2O3 on these (In)GaAs surfaces are correlated with
      their electronic properties. 

PMID- 25824204
TI  - Identification and Optimization of Combinatorial Glucose Metabolism Inhibitors in
      Hepatocellular Carcinomas.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide. The
      expression of glucose transporter isoform 1, a key factor in transporting glucose
      into cancer cells, is overexpressed in several human cancers, including HCC. In
      addition, this has been shown to correlate with a higher proliferation index and
      more advanced stages in HCC, suggesting that inhibition of glucose metabolism is
      a promising therapeutic strategy. Our study used high-content screening (HCS) for
      compounds that target glucose metabolism and effect cell death in HCC cells.
      Specifically, we showed that a fluorescent 2-deoxyglucose analog, 2-[N-(7
      nitrobenz-2- oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino]-2-deoxyglucose, and CellTrace Calcein Red
      Orange AM can be used reliably as readouts for glucose uptake and proliferative
      index, respectively, to identify drug candidates that simultaneously reduce
      glucose uptake and induce cell death in HCC cells. Thus, fluorescent glucose
      uptake bioprobes can be implemented in HCS assays to identify previously unknown
      regulators of glucose metabolism in HCC. In addition, our study also employs the
      use of feedback system control (FSC.II), a platform that optimizes the
      combinations of drugs identified through HCS. The coordinated use of HCS and
      FSC.II can improve the development of drug combinations and uncover previously
      unidentified signaling pathways that govern HCC as well as other cancers. 

PMID- 25824205
TI  - Fully Automated Quantification of Insulin Concentration Using a Microfluidic
      Based Chemiluminescence Immunoassay.
AB  - A fully automated microfluidic-based detection system for the rapid determination
      of insulin concentration through a chemiluminescence immunoassay has been
      developed. The microfluidic chip used in the system is a double-layered
      polydimethylsiloxane device embedded with interconnecting micropumps,
      microvalves, and a micromixer. At a high injection rate of the developing
      solution, the chemiluminescence signal can be excited and measured within a short
      period of time. The integral value of the chemiluminescence light signal is used
      to determine the insulin concentration of the samples, and the results indicate
      that the measurement is accurate in the range from 1.5 pM to 391 pM. The entire
      chemiluminescence assay can be completed in less than 10 min. The fully automated
      microfluidic-based insulin detection system provides a useful platform for rapid
      determination of insulin in clinical diagnostics for diabetes, which is expected
      to become increasingly important for future point-of-care applications. 

PMID- 25824206
TI  - Cone beam computed tomography images fusion in predicting lung ablation volumes:
      a feasibility study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recently different software with the ability to plan ablation volumes
      have been developed in order to minimize the number of attempts of positioning
      electrodes and to improve a safe overall tumor coverage. PURPOSE: To assess the
      feasibility of three-dimensional cone beam computed tomography (3D CBCT) fusion
      imaging with "virtual probe" positioning, to predict ablation volume in lung
      tumors treated percutaneously. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Pre-procedural computed
      tomography contrast-enhanced scans (CECT) were merged with a CBCT volume obtained
      to plan the ablation. An offline tumor segmentation was performed to determine
      the number of antennae and their positioning within the tumor. The volume of
      ablation obtained, evaluated on CECT performed after 1 month, was compared with
      the pre-procedural predicted one. Feasibility was assessed on the basis of
      accuracy evaluation (visual evaluation [VE] and quantitative evaluation [QE]),
      technical success (TS), and technical effectiveness (TE). RESULTS: Seven of the
      patients with lung tumor treated by percutaneous thermal ablation were selected
      and treated on the basis of the 3D CBCT fusion imaging. In all cases the volume
      of ablation predicted was in accordance with that obtained. The difference in
      volume between predicted ablation volumes and obtained ones on CECT at 1 month
      was 1.8 cm(3) (SD +/- 2, min. 0.4, max. 0.9) for MW and 0.9 cm(3) (SD +/- 1.1,
      min. 0.1, max. 0.7) for RF. CONCLUSION: Use of pre-procedural 3D CBCT fusion
      imaging could be useful to define expected ablation volumes. However, more
      patients are needed to ensure stronger evidence.

PMID- 25824207
TI  - Prediction of hard meningiomas: quantitative evaluation based on the magnetic
      resonance signal intensity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: From a surgical perspective, presurgical prediction of meningioma
      consistency is beneficial. PURPOSE: To quantitatively analyze the correlation
      between the magnetic resonance (MR) signal intensity (SI) or apparent diffusion
      coefficient (ADC) and meningioma consistency and to determine which MR sequence
      could help predicting hard meningiomas. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study included
      43 patients with meningiomas who underwent preoperative MR imaging (MRI),
      including T1-weighted (T1W) imaging, T2-weighted (T2W) imaging, fluid-attenuated
      inversion recovery (FLAIR), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), contrast-enhanced
      (CE)-T1W imaging, and CE-fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition
      (FIESTA). A neurosurgeon evaluated the tumor consistency using a visual analog
      scale (VAS) with the anchors "soft" (score = 0) and "hard" (score = 10). The SI
      ratio (tumor to cerebral cortex SI) and ADC value were compared with the tumor
      consistency. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for predicting hard
      meningiomas (VAS score >=8; 9 of 43 patients) were calculated using cutoff values
      for the SI ratio that were obtained in a receiver operating characteristic curve
      analysis. RESULTS: A significant negative correlation was observed between the
      tumor consistency and the SI ratio on T2W imaging, FLAIR, and CE-FIESTA (P <
      0.05) but not on T1W imaging, CE-T1W imaging, and the ADC value. The sensitivity,
      specificity, and accuracy for predicting hard meningiomas were 89%, 79%, and 81%
      with T2W imaging; 89%, 76%, and 79% with FLAIR; and 100%, 74%, and 79% with CE
      FIESTA, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that a quantitative
      assessment using conventional T2W imaging or FLAIR may be a simple and useful
      method for predicting hard meningiomas.

PMID- 25824208
TI  - In vitro activity of ceftazidime-avibactam against 338 molecularly characterized
      gentamicin-nonsusceptible Gram-negative clinical isolates obtained from patients
      in Canadian hospitals.
AB  - The mechanism of aminoglycoside resistance among 338 gentamicin-nonsusceptible
      Gram-negative bacteria (207 Enterobacteriaceae and 131 Pseudomonas aeruginosa)
      was assessed, and the in vitro activity of ceftazidime-avibactam against these
      isolates was determined. Aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes were detected in 91.8%
      of Enterobacteriaceae and 13.7% of P. aeruginosa isolates. A single strain of
      Klebsiella pneumoniae harbored a 16S rRNA methylase (ArmA). The ceftazidime
      avibactam MIC90 values were 0.5 MUg/ml (MIC, <=8 MUg/ml for 100% of isolates) and
      16 MUg/ml (MIC, <=8 MUg/ml for 87.8% of isolates) against gentamicin
      nonsusceptible Enterobacteriaceae and P. aeruginosa isolates, respectively.

PMID- 25824209
TI  - Azole drug import into the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus.
AB  - The fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus causes serious illness and often death
      when it invades tissues, especially in immunocompromised individuals. The azole
      class of drugs is the most commonly prescribed treatment for many fungal
      infections and acts on the ergosterol biosynthesis pathway. One common mechanism
      of acquired azole drug resistance in fungi is the prevention of drug accumulation
      to toxic levels in the cell. While drug efflux is a well-known resistance
      strategy, reduced azole import would be another strategy to maintain low
      intracellular azole levels. Recently, azole uptake in Candida albicans and other
      yeasts was analyzed using [(3)H]fluconazole. Defective drug import was suggested
      to be a potential mechanism of drug resistance in several pathogenic fungi,
      including Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida krusei, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
      We have adapted and developed an assay to measure azole accumulation in A.
      fumigatus using radioactively labeled azole drugs, based on previous work done
      with C. albicans. We used this assay to study the differences in azole uptake in
      A. fumigatus isolates under a variety of drug treatment conditions, with
      different morphologies and with a select mutant strain with deficiencies in the
      sterol uptake and biosynthesis pathway. We conclude that azole drugs are
      specifically selected and imported into the fungal cell by a pH- and ATP
      independent facilitated diffusion mechanism, not by passive diffusion. This
      method of drug transport is likely to be conserved across most fungal species.

PMID- 25824210
TI  - Effect of a high-fat meal on the pharmacokinetics of 300-milligram posaconazole
      in a solid oral tablet formulation.
AB  - Posaconazole in oral suspension must be taken multiple times a day with food
      (preferably a high-fat meal) to ensure adequate exposure among patients. We
      evaluated the effect of food on the bioavailability of a new delayed-release
      tablet formulation of posaconazole at the proposed clinical dose of 300 mg once
      daily in a randomized, open-label, single-dose, two-period crossover study with
      18 healthy volunteers. When a single 300-mg dose of posaconazole in tablet form
      (3 tablets * 100 mg) was administered with a high-fat meal, the posaconazole area
      under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 72 h (AUC0-72) and maximum
      concentration in plasma (Cmax) increased 51% and 16%, respectively, compared to
      those after administration in the fasted state. The median time to Cmax (Tmax)
      shifted from 5 h in the fasted state to 6 h under fed conditions. No serious
      adverse events were reported, and no subject discontinued the study due to an
      adverse event. Six of the 18 subjects reported at least one clinical adverse
      event; all of these events were mild and short lasting. The results of this study
      demonstrate that a high-fat meal only modestly increases the mean posaconazole
      exposure (AUC), ~1.5-fold, after administration of posaconazole tablets, in
      contrast to the 4-fold increase in AUC observed previously for a posaconazole
      oral suspension given with a high-fat meal.

PMID- 25824211
TI  - Population pharmacokinetic analysis for a single 1,200-milligram dose of
      oritavancin using data from two pivotal phase 3 clinical trials.
AB  - Oritavancin is a lipoglycopeptide antibiotic with activity against Gram-positive
      bacteria. Here we describe oritavancin population pharmacokinetics and the impact
      of patient-specific covariates on drug exposure variability. Concentration-time
      data were analyzed from two phase 3 clinical trials, SOLO I and SOLO II, in which
      oritavancin was administered as a single 1,200-mg dose to patients with acute
      bacterial skin and skin structure infections. A total of 1,337 drug
      concentrations from 297 patients (90% of whom had 4 or 5 pharmacokinetic samples)
      were available for analysis. A previously derived population model based on data
      from 12 phase 1, 2, and 3 oritavancin studies was applied to the SOLO data set.
      Alterations to the structural model were made, as necessary, based on model fit.
      Analyses utilized Monte Carlo parametric expectation maximization (S-ADAPT
      1.5.6). The previous population pharmacokinetic model fit the data well (r(2) =
      0.972), and population pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated with acceptable
      precision and lack of bias. Covariate evaluations revealed statistically
      significant relationships between central compartment volume and age and between
      clearance and height; however, these relationships did not indicate a clinically
      relevant impact on oritavancin exposure over the range of age and height observed
      in the SOLO studies. The mean (coefficient of variation [CV]) area under the
      plasma concentration-time curve from time zero to 72 h (AUC0-72) and maximum
      plasma concentration (Cmax) were 1,530 (36.9%) MUg . h/ml and 138 (23%) MUg/ml,
      respectively. The mean (CV) half-life at alpha phase (t1/2alpha), t1/2beta, and
      t1/2gamma were 2.29 (49.8%), 13.4 (10.5%), and 245 (14.9%) hours, respectively.
      These analyses are the first to describe oritavancin pharmacokinetics following a
      single 1,200-mg dose. Covariate analyses suggested that no dose adjustments are
      required for renal impairment (creatinine clearance, >29 ml/min), mild or
      moderate hepatic impairment, age, weight, gender, or diabetes status.

PMID- 25824212
TI  - Population pharmacokinetics of benznidazole in adult patients with Chagas
      disease.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to build a population pharmacokinetic (popPK)
      model to characterize benznidazole (BNZ) pharmacokinetics in adults with chronic
      Chagas disease. This study was a prospective, open-label, single-center clinical
      trial approved by the local ethics committee. Patients received BNZ at 2.5 mg/kg
      of body weight/12 h (Abarax, Elea Laboratory, Argentina) for 60 days. Plasma BNZ
      samples were taken several times during the study and analyzed by high
      performance liquid chromatography with UV-visible detection (HPLC-UV). The popPK
      analysis was done with NONMEMv.7.3. Demographic and biological data were tested
      as covariates. Intraindividual, interoccasion, and residual variabilities were
      modeled. Internal and external validations were completed to assess the
      robustness of the model. Later on, simulations were performed to generate BNZ
      concentration-time course profiles for different dosage regimens. A total of 358
      plasma BNZ concentrations from 39 patients were included in the analysis. A one
      compartment PK model characterized by clearance (CL/F) and the apparent volume of
      distribution (V/F), with first-order absorption (Ka) and elimination, adequately
      described the data (CL/F, 1.73 liters/h; V/F, 89.6 liters; and Ka, 1.15 h(-1)).
      No covariates were found to be significant for CL/F and V/F. Internal and
      external validations of the final model showed adequate results. Data from
      simulations revealed that a dose of 2.5 mg/kg/12 h might lead to overexposure in
      most patients. A lower dose (2.5 mg/kg/24 h) was able to achieve trough BNZ
      plasma concentrations within the accepted therapeutic range of 3 to 6 mg/liter.
      In summary, we developed a population PK model for BNZ in adults with chronic
      Chagas disease. Dosing simulations showed that a BNZ dose of 2.5 mg/kg/24 h will
      adequately keep BNZ trough plasma concentrations within the recommended target
      range for the majority of patients. (This study has been registered at EudraCT
      under number 2011-002900-34 and at ClinicalTrials.gov under number NCT01755403.).

PMID- 25824213
TI  - High prevalence of mupirocin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus isolates from a
      pediatric population.
AB  - Topical mupirocin is used widely to treat skin and soft tissue infections and to
      eradicate nasal carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
      Few studies to date have characterized the rates of S. aureus mupirocin
      resistance in pediatric populations. We retrospectively studied 358 unique S.
      aureus isolates obtained from 249 children seen in a predominantly outpatient
      setting by the Division of Pediatric Dermatology at a major academic center in
      New York City between 1 May 2012 and 17 September 2013. Mupirocin resistance
      rates and the associated risk factors were determined using a logistic regression
      analysis. In our patient population, 19.3% of patients had mupirocin-resistant S.
      aureus isolates at the time of their first culture, and 22.1% of patients with S.
      aureus infection had a mupirocin-resistant isolate at some time during the study
      period. Overall, 31.3% of all S. aureus isolates collected during the study
      period were resistant to mupirocin. Prior mupirocin use was strongly correlated
      (odds ratio [OR] = 26.5; P = <0.001) with mupirocin resistance. Additional risk
      factors for mupirocin resistance included methicillin resistance, atopic
      dermatitis (AD), epidermolysis bullosa (EB), immunosuppression, and residence in
      northern Manhattan and the Bronx. Resistance to mupirocin is widespread in
      children with dermatologic complaints in the New York City area, and given the
      strong association with mupirocin exposure, it is likely that mupirocin use
      contributes to the increased resistance. Routine mupirocin testing may be
      important for MRSA decolonization strategies or the treatment of minor skin
      infections in children.

PMID- 25824214
TI  - Plasma and epithelial lining fluid pharmacokinetics of ceftolozane and tazobactam
      alone and in combination in mice.
AB  - Ceftolozane is a new cephalosporin with activity against Gram-negative and Gram
      positive microorganisms. However, the compound is susceptible to degradation by
      extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs). Tazobactam is an ESBL inhibitor and is
      combined with ceftolozane to broaden its activity. Surprisingly, although
      tazobactam has been available for over 20 years, few if any reliable data exist
      on the tazobactam pharmacokinetic (PK) properties in mice. To evaluate the PK and
      pharmacodynamic (PD) relationships in mice, the PK properties of tazobactam and
      ceftolozane were extensively investigated. Thigh-infected neutropenic CD-1 mice
      were injected intraperitoneally with a single 0.1-ml dose containing ceftolozane,
      tazobactam, or both compounds. Ceftolozane was applied in 2-fold-increasing doses
      of 4 mg/kg of body weight to 64 mg/kg alone or in combination. Tazobactam was
      combined in reverse doses (thus, 64/4 mg/kg, 32/8 mg/kg, etc.) (n = 2 per time
      point). In separate validation experiments, ceftolozane-tazobactam was given
      alone or in combination at 32/8 mg/kg and 8/32 mg/kg (n = 4 per time point).
      Plasma samples (one per mouse) and bronchoalveolar lavage samples were collected
      at up to 12 time points until 6 h after administration. There were no significant
      differences in the ceftolozane and tazobactam PK alone versus combined,
      indicating no PK interaction. The PKs were linear and dose proportional for both
      compounds and showed a good penetration in the epithelial lining fluid. The
      estimated mean (standard deviation) half-life of ceftolozane was 0.287 h (0.031
      h), and that of tazobactam was 0.176 h (0.026), and the V was 0.43 liter/kg and
      1.14 liter/kg, respectively. The estimates of tazobactam parameters can also be
      used to (re)interpret PD data.

PMID- 25824215
TI  - Novel dosing strategies increase exposures of the potent antituberculosis drug
      rifapentine but are poorly tolerated in healthy volunteers.
AB  - Rifapentine is a potent antituberculosis drug currently in phase III trials.
      Bioavailability decreases with increasing dose, yet high daily exposures are
      likely needed to improve efficacy and shorten the tuberculosis treatment
      duration. Further, the limits of tolerability are poorly defined. The phase I
      multicenter trial in healthy adults described here investigated two strategies to
      increase rifapentine exposures: dividing the dose or giving the drug with a high
      fat meal. In arm 1, rifapentine was administered at 10 mg/kg of body weight twice
      daily and 20 mg/kg once daily, each for 14 days, separated by a 28-day washout;
      the dosing sequence was randomized. In arm 2, 15 mg/kg rifapentine once daily was
      given with a high-fat versus a low-fat breakfast. Sampling for pharmacokinetic
      analysis was performed on days 1 and 14. Population pharmacokinetic analyses were
      performed. This trial was stopped early for poor tolerability and because of
      safety concerns. Of 44 subjects, 20 discontinued prematurely; 11 of these
      discontinued for protocol-defined toxicity (a grade 3 or higher adverse event or
      grade 2 or higher rifamycin hypersensitivity). Taking rifapentine with a high-fat
      meal increased the median steady-state area under the concentration-time curve
      from time zero to 24 h (AUC0-24ss) by 31% (relative standard error, 6%) compared
      to that obtained when the drug was taken with a low-fat breakfast. Dividing the
      dose increased exposures substantially (e.g., 38% with 1,500 mg/day). AUC0-24ss
      was uniformly higher in our study than in recent tuberculosis treatment trials,
      in which toxicity was rare. In conclusion, two strategies to increase rifapentine
      exposures, dividing the dose or giving it with a high-fat breakfast, successfully
      increased exposures, but toxicity was common in healthy adults. The limits of
      tolerability in patients with tuberculosis remain to be defined. (AIDS Clinical
      Trials Group study A5311 has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under
      registration no. NCT01574638.).

PMID- 25824216
TI  - Small-plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance is enhanced by increases in plasmid
      copy number and bacterial fitness.
AB  - Plasmids play a key role in the horizontal spread of antibiotic resistance
      determinants among bacterial pathogens. When an antibiotic resistance plasmid
      arrives in a new bacterial host, it produces a fitness cost, causing a
      competitive disadvantage for the plasmid-bearing bacterium in the absence of
      antibiotics. On the other hand, in the presence of antibiotics, the plasmid
      promotes the survival of the clone. The adaptations experienced by plasmid and
      bacterium in the presence of antibiotics during the first generations of
      coexistence will be crucial for the progress of the infection and the maintenance
      of plasmid-mediated resistance once the treatment is over. Here we developed a
      model system using the human pathogen Haemophilus influenzae carrying the small
      plasmid pB1000 conferring resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics to investigate
      host and plasmid adaptations in the course of a simulated ampicillin therapy. Our
      results proved that plasmid-bearing clones compensated for the fitness
      disadvantage during the first 100 generations of plasmid-host adaptation. In
      addition, ampicillin treatment was associated with an increase in pB1000 copy
      number. The augmentation in both bacterial fitness and plasmid copy number gave
      rise to H. influenzae populations with higher ampicillin resistance levels. In
      conclusion, we show here that the modulations in bacterial fitness and plasmid
      copy number help a plasmid-bearing bacterium to adapt during antibiotic therapy,
      promoting both the survival of the host and the spread of the plasmid.

PMID- 25824217
TI  - Efflux as a glutaraldehyde resistance mechanism in Pseudomonas fluorescens and
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms.
AB  - A major challenge in microbial biofilm control is biocide resistance. Phenotypic
      adaptations and physical protective effects have been historically thought to be
      the primary mechanisms for glutaraldehyde resistance in bacterial biofilms.
      Recent studies indicate the presence of genetic mechanisms for glutaraldehyde
      resistance, but very little is known about the contributory genetic factors.
      Here, we demonstrate that efflux pumps contribute to glutaraldehyde resistance in
      Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. The RNA-seq data
      show that efflux pumps and phosphonate degradation, lipid biosynthesis, and
      polyamine biosynthesis metabolic pathways were induced upon glutaraldehyde
      exposure. Furthermore, chemical inhibition of efflux pumps potentiates
      glutaraldehyde activity, suggesting that efflux activity contributes to
      glutaraldehyde resistance. Additionally, induction of known modulators of biofilm
      formation, including phosphonate degradation, lipid biosynthesis, and polyamine
      biosynthesis, may contribute to biofilm resistance and resilience. Fundamental
      understanding of the genetic mechanism of biocide resistance is critical for the
      optimization of biocide use and development of novel disinfection strategies. Our
      results reveal genetic components involved in glutaraldehyde resistance and a
      potential strategy for improved control of biofilms.

PMID- 25824218
TI  - Activity of clarithromycin or rifampin alone or in combination against
      experimental Rhodococcus equi infection in mice.
AB  - Treatment of mice with the combination of clarithromycin with rifampin resulted
      in a significantly lower number of Rhodococcus equi CFU in the organs of mice
      than treatment with either drug alone or placebo. There was no significant
      difference in the number of R. equi CFU between mice treated with clarithromycin
      monotherapy, rifampin monotherapy, or placebo. The combination of clarithromycin
      with rifampin conferred a clear advantage over either drug as monotherapy in this
      model of chronic R. equi infection.

PMID- 25824220
TI  - In vitro antibacterial activity of AZD0914 against human Mycoplasmas and
      Ureaplasmas.
AB  - In this study, susceptibilities were determined for AZD0914, a
      spiropyrimidinetrione DNA gyrase inhibitor, azithromycin, doxycycline, and
      levofloxacin against Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma species. The activity of AZD0914
      was comparable to that of levofloxacin and doxycycline against Mycoplasma
      genitalium and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. The AZD0914 MIC90 against Mycoplasma
      hominis was 8-fold greater than that for levofloxacin. The AZD0914 MIC90 against
      Ureaplasma species was 4-fold less than that for azithromycin and 8-fold less
      than that for levofloxacin and doxycycline.

PMID- 25824219
TI  - Berberine blocks the relapse of Clostridium difficile infection in C57BL/6 mice
      after standard vancomycin treatment.
AB  - Vancomycin is a preferred antibiotic for treating Clostridium difficile infection
      (CDI) and has been associated with a rate of recurrence of CDI of as high as 20%
      in treated patients. Recent studies have suggested that berberine, an alternative
      medical therapy for gastroenteritis and diarrhea, exhibits several beneficial
      effects, including induction of anti-inflammatory responses and restoration of
      the intestinal barrier function. This study investigated the therapeutic effects
      of berberine on preventing CDI relapse and restoring the gut microbiota in a
      mouse model. Berberine was administered through gavage to C57BL/6 mice with
      established CDI-induced intestinal injury and colitis. The disease activity index
      (DAI), mean relative weight, histopathology scores, and levels of toxins A and B
      in fecal samples were measured. An Illumina sequencing-based analysis of 16S rRNA
      genes was used to determine the overall structural change in the microbiota in
      the mouse ileocecum. Berberine administration significantly promoted the
      restoration of the intestinal microbiota by inhibiting the expansion of members
      of the family Enterobacteriaceae and counteracting the side effects of vancomycin
      treatment. Therapy consisting of vancomycin and berberine combined prevented
      weight loss, improved the DAI and the histopathology scores, and effectively
      decreased the mortality rate. Berberine prevented CDIs from relapsing and
      significantly improved survival in the mouse model of CDI. Our data indicate that
      a combination of berberine and vancomycin is more effective than vancomycin alone
      for treating CDI. One of the possible mechanisms by which berberine prevents a
      CDI relapse is through modulation of the gut microbiota. Although this conclusion
      was generated in the case of the mouse model, use of the combination of
      vancomycin and berberine and represent a novel therapeutic approach targeting
      CDI.

PMID- 25824221
TI  - Clinical epidemiology and molecular analysis of extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase
      producing Escherichia coli in Nepal: characteristics of sequence types 131 and
      648.
AB  - Recently, CTX-M-type extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing
      Escherichia coli strains have emerged worldwide. In particular, E. coli with O
      antigen type 25 (O25) and sequence type 131 (ST131), which is often associated
      with the CTX-M-15 ESBL, has been increasingly reported globally; however,
      epidemiology reports on ESBL-producing E. coli in Asia are limited. Patients with
      clinical isolates of ESBL-producing E. coli in the Tribhuvan University teaching
      hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, were included in this study. Whole-genome
      sequencing of the isolates was conducted to analyze multilocus sequence types,
      phylotypes, virulence genotypes, O25b-ST131 clones, and distribution of acquired
      drug resistance genes. During the study period, 105 patients with ESBL-producing
      E. coli isolation were identified, and the majority (90%) of these isolates were
      CTX-M-15 positive. The most dominant ST was ST131 (n = 54; 51.4%), followed by
      ST648 (n = 15; 14.3%). All ST131 isolates were identified as O25b-ST131 clones,
      subclone H30-Rx. Three ST groups (ST131, ST648, and non-ST131/648) were compared
      in further analyses. ST648 isolates had a proportionally higher resistance to non
      beta-lactam antibiotics and featured drug-resistant genes more frequently than
      ST131 or non-ST131/648 isolates. ST131 possessed the most virulence genes,
      followed by ST648. The clinical characteristics were similar among groups. More
      than 38% of ESBL-producing E. coli isolates were from the outpatient clinic, and
      pregnant patients comprised 24% of ESBL-producing E. coli cases. We revealed that
      the high resistance of ESBL-producing E. coli to multiple classes of antibiotics
      in Nepal is driven mainly by CTX-M-producing ST131 and ST648. Their immense
      prevalence in the communities is a matter of great concern.

PMID- 25824222
TI  - Sphingolipids mediate differential echinocandin susceptibility in Candida
      albicans and Aspergillus nidulans.
AB  - The cell wall synthesis-inhibiting echinocandins, including caspofungin and
      micafungin, play important roles in the treatment of candidiasis and
      aspergillosis. Previous studies revealed that, in the haploid yeast Candida
      glabrata, sphingolipid biosynthesis pathway mutations confer caspofungin reduced
      susceptibility (CRS) but micafungin increased susceptibility (MIS). Here, we
      describe one Candida albicans strain (of 10 tested) that similarly yields CRS-MIS
      mutants at relatively high frequency. Mutants demonstrated increased levels of
      long-chain bases (sphingolipid pathway intermediates) and, unique to this strain,
      loss of His104/Pro104 heterozygosity in the TSC13-encoded enoyl reductase. CRS
      MIS was similarly observed in a C. albicans homozygous fen1Delta fen12Delta
      laboratory strain and in diverse wild-type strains following exogenous long-chain
      base treatment. Analogous to these results, CRS-MIS was demonstrated in an
      Aspergillus nidulans basA mutant encoding defective sphingolipid C4-hydroxylase
      and in its wild-type parent exposed to long-chain bases. Sphingolipids likely
      modulate echinocandin interaction with their Fks membrane target in all
      susceptible fungi, with potential implications for optimizing therapy with
      existing antifungals and the development of novel agents.

PMID- 25824223
TI  - PBP1a/LpoA but not PBP1b/LpoB are involved in regulation of the major beta
      lactamase gene blaA in Shewanella oneidensis.
AB  - beta-Lactamase production is one of the most important strategies for Gram
      negative bacteria to combat beta-lactam antibiotics. Studies of the regulation of
      beta-lactamase expression have largely been focused on the class C beta-lactamase
      AmpC, whose induction by beta-lactams requires LysR-type regulator AmpR and
      permease AmpG-dependent peptidoglycan recycling intermediates. In Shewanella,
      which is ubiquitous in aquatic environments and is a reservoir for antibiotic
      resistance, production of the class D beta-lactamase BlaA confers bacteria with
      natural resistance to many beta-lactams. Expression of the blaA gene in the genus
      representative Shewanella oneidensis is distinct from the AmpC paradigm because
      of the lack of an AmpR homologue and the presence of an additional AmpG
      independent regulatory pathway. In this study, using transposon mutagenesis, we
      identify proteins that are involved in blaA regulation. Inactivation of mrcA and
      lpoA, which encode penicillin binding protein 1a (PBP1a) and its lipoprotein
      cofactor, LpoA, respectively, drastically enhances blaA expression in the absence
      of beta-lactams. Although PBP1b and its cognate, LpoB, also exist in S.
      oneidensis, their roles in blaA induction are dispensable. We further show that
      the mrcA-mediated blaA expression is independent of AmpG.

PMID- 25824226
TI  - Identification of a new integron harboring bla(IMP-10) in carbapenem-resistant
      Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolates.

PMID- 25824225
TI  - Polymorphic variation in susceptibility and metabolism of triclosan-resistant
      mutants of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical strains obtained
      after exposure to biocides and antibiotics.
AB  - Exposure to biocides may result in cross-resistance to other antimicrobials.
      Changes in biocide and antibiotic susceptibilities, metabolism, and fitness costs
      were studied here in biocide-selected Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae
      mutants. E. coli and K. pneumoniae mutants with various degrees of triclosan
      susceptibility were obtained after exposure to triclosan (TRI), benzalkonium
      chloride (BKC), chlorhexidine (CHX) or sodium hypochlorite (SHC), and ampicillin
      or ciprofloxacin. Alterations in antimicrobial susceptibility and metabolism in
      mutants were tested using Phenotype MicroArrays. The expression of AcrAB pump and
      global regulators (SoxR, MarA, and RamA) was measured by quantitative reverse
      transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR), and the central part of the fabI gene was sequenced.
      The fitness costs of resistance were assessed by a comparison of relative growth
      rates. Triclosan-resistant (TRI(r)) and triclosan-hypersusceptible (TRI(hs))
      mutants of E. coli and K. pneumoniae were obtained after selection with biocides
      and/or antibiotics. E. coli TRI(r) mutants, including those with mutations in the
      fabI gene or in the expression of acrB, acrF, and marA, exhibited changes in
      susceptibility to TRI, CHX, and antibiotics. TRI(r) mutants for which the TRI MIC
      was high presented improved metabolism of carboxylic acids, amino acids, and
      carbohydrates. In TRI(r) mutants, resistance to one antimicrobial provoked
      hypersusceptibility to another one(s). TRI(r) mutants had fitness costs,
      particularly marA-overexpressing (E. coli) or ramA-overexpressing (K. pneumoniae)
      mutants. TRI, BKC, and CIP exposure frequently yielded TRI(r) mutants exhibiting
      alterations in AraC-like global regulators (MarA, SoxR, and RamA), AcrAB-TolC,
      and/or FabI, and influencing antimicrobial susceptibility, fitness, and
      metabolism. These various phenotypes suggest a trade-off of different selective
      processes shaping the evolution toward antibiotic/biocide resistance and
      influencing other adaptive traits.

PMID- 25824227
TI  - Meropenem-clavulanic acid has high in vitro activity against multidrug-resistant
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
AB  - We investigated the activity of meropenem-clavulanic acid (MEM-CLA) against 68
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates. We included predominantly multi- and
      extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/XDR-TB) isolates, since the activity
      of MEM-CLA for resistant isolates has previously not been studied extensively.
      Using Middlebrook 7H10 medium, all but four isolates showed an MIC distribution
      of 0.125 to 2 mg/liter for MEM-CLA, below the non-species-related breakpoint for
      MEM of 2 mg/liter defined by EUCAST. MEM-CLA is a potential treatment option for
      MDR/XDR-TB.

PMID- 25824224
TI  - Prospective multicenter study of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae from
      83 hospitals in Spain reveals high in vitro susceptibility to colistin and
      meropenem.
AB  - The aim of this study was to determine the impact of carbapenemase-producing
      Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) in Spain in 2013 by describing the prevalence,
      dissemination, and geographic distribution of CPE clones, and their population
      structure and antibiotic susceptibility. From February 2013 to May 2013, 83
      hospitals (about 40,000 hospital beds) prospectively collected nonduplicate
      Enterobacteriaceae using the screening cutoff recommended by EUCAST.
      Carbapenemase characterization was performed by phenotypic methods and confirmed
      by PCR and sequencing. Multilocus sequencing types (MLST) were determined for
      Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. A total of 702 Enterobacteriaceae
      isolates met the inclusion criteria; 379 (54%) were CPE. OXA-48 (71.5%) and VIM-1
      (25.3%) were the most frequent carbapenemases, and K. pneumoniae (74.4%),
      Enterobacter cloacae (10.3%), and E. coli (8.4%) were the species most affected.
      Susceptibility to colistin, amikacin, and meropenem was 95.5%, 81.3%, and 74.7%,
      respectively. The most prevalent sequence types (STs) were ST11 and ST405 for K.
      pneumoniae and ST131 for E. coli. Forty-five (54.1%) of the hospitals had at
      least one CPE case. For K. pneumoniae, ST11/OXA-48, ST15/OXA-48, ST405/OXA-48,
      and ST11/VIM-1 were detected in two or more Spanish provinces. ST11 isolates
      carried four carbapenemases (VIM-1, OXA-48, KPC-2, and OXA-245), but ST405
      isolates carried OXA-48 only. A wide interregional spread of CPE in Spain was
      observed, mainly due to a few successful clones of OXA-48-producing K. pneumoniae
      (e.g., ST11 and ST405). The dissemination of OXA-48-producing E. coli is a new
      finding of public health concern. According to the susceptibilities determined in
      vitro, most of the CPE (94.5%) had three or more options for antibiotic
      treatment.

PMID- 25824228
TI  - In vitro activities of amphotericin B, terbinafine, and azole drugs against
      clinical and environmental isolates of Aspergillus terreus sensu stricto.
AB  - The antifungal susceptibilities of 40 clinical and environmental isolates of A.
      terreus sensu stricto to amphotericin B, terbinafine, itraconazole, and
      voriconazole were determined in accordance with CLSI document M38-A2. All
      isolates had itraconazole and voriconazole MICs lower than epidemiologic cutoff
      values, and 5% of the isolates had amphotericin B MICs higher than epidemiologic
      cutoff values. Terbinafine showed the lowest MICs. No significant differences
      were found when MICs of clinical and environmental isolates were compared.

PMID- 25824229
TI  - Encoded library technology screening of hepatitis C virus NS4B yields a small
      molecule compound series with in vitro replicon activity.
AB  - To identify novel antivirals to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS4B protein, we
      utilized encoded library technology (ELT), which enables purified proteins not
      amenable to standard biochemical screening methods to be tested against large
      combinatorial libraries in a short period of time. We tested NS4B against several
      DNA-encoded combinatorial libraries (DEL) and identified a single DEL feature
      that was subsequently progressed to off-DNA synthesis. The most active of the
      initial synthesized compounds had 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) of 50 to
      130 nM in a NS4B radioligand binding assay and 300 to 500 nM in an HCV replicon
      assay. Chemical optimization yielded compounds with potencies as low as 20 nM in
      an HCV genotype 1b replicon assay, 500 nM against genotype 1a, and 5 MUM against
      genotype 2a. Through testing against other genotypes and genotype 2a-1b chimeric
      replicons and from resistance passage using the genotype 1b replicon, we
      confirmed that these compounds were acting on the proposed first transmembrane
      region of NS4B. A single sequence change (F98L) was identified as responsible for
      resistance, and it was thought to largely explain the relative lack of potency of
      this series against genotype 2a. Unlike other published series that appear to
      interact with this region, we did not observe sensitivity to amino acid
      substitutions at positions 94 and 105. The discovery of this novel compound
      series highlights ELT as a valuable approach for identifying direct-acting
      antivirals to nonenzymatic targets. 

PMID- 25824230
TI  - Efficacy of tigecycline for secondary Acinetobacter bacteremia and factors
      associated with treatment failure.
AB  - We describe the clinical outcome of 17 patients with secondary Acinetobacter
      bacteremia whose isolates had a tigecycline MIC of <=2 mg/liter and who received
      tigecycline within 2 days of bacteremia onset. The 14-day mortality rate of the
      tigecycline cohort was 41.2% (7/17), which was significantly higher than that of
      those receiving other appropriate antimicrobial agents (13.8%, 9/65; P = 0.018).
      However, the percentages of end-stage renal disease and congestive heart failure
      were higher in the tigecycline cohort. The efficacy of tigecycline was contingent
      upon the illness severity and bacterial species. Tigecycline should be applied
      cautiously for treatment of Acinetobacter bacteremia.

PMID- 25824231
TI  - Reduced viral fitness and lack of cross-class resistance with integrase strand
      transfer inhibitor and nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor resistance
      mutations.
AB  - The most common pattern of emergent resistance in the phase III clinical trials
      of coformulated elvitegravir (EVG)-cobicistat (COBI)-emtricitabine (FTC)
      tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) was the EVG resistance substitution E92Q in
      integrase (IN) with the FTC resistance substitution M184V in reverse
      transcriptase (RT), with or without the tenofovir (TFV) resistance substitution
      K65R. In this study, the effect of these IN and RT substitutions alone and in
      combination in the same genome on susceptibility to antiretroviral inhibitors and
      viral replication fitness was characterized. Single resistance substitutions
      (E92Q in IN [IN-E92Q], M184V in RT [RT-M184V], and K65R in RT [RT-K65R])
      specifically affected susceptibility to the corresponding inhibitor classes, with
      no cross-class resistance observed. The IN-E92Q mutant displayed reduced
      susceptibility to EVG (50-fold), which was not impacted by the addition of RT
      M184V or RT-K65R/M184V. Viruses containing RT-M184V had high-level resistance to
      FTC (>1,000-fold) that was not affected by the addition of IN-E92Q or RT-K65R.
      During pairwise growth competitions, each substitution contributed to decreased
      viral fitness, with the RT-K65R/M184V + IN-E92Q triple mutant being the least fit
      in the absence of drug. In the presence of drug concentrations approaching
      physiologic levels, however, drug resistance offset the replication defects,
      resulting in single mutants outcompeting the wild type with one drug present, and
      double and triple mutants outcompeting single mutants with two drugs present.
      Taken together, these results suggest that the reduced replication fitness and
      phenotypic resistance associated with RT and IN resistance substitutions are
      independent and additive. In the presence of multiple drugs, viral growth is
      favored for viruses with multiple substitutions, despite the presence of fitness
      defects.

PMID- 25824232
TI  - Candida albicans Cek1 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling enhances
      fungicidal activity of salivary histatin 5.
AB  - Candida albicans is a major etiological organism for oropharyngeal candidiasis
      (OPC), while salivary histatin 5 (Hst 5) is a human fungicidal protein that
      protects the oral cavity from OPC. C. albicans senses its environment by mitogen
      activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation that can also modulate the activity of
      some antifungal drugs, including Hst 5. We found that phosphorylation of the MAPK
      Cek1, induced either by N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) or serum, or its
      constitutive activation by deletion of its phosphatase Cpp1 elevated the
      susceptibility of C. albicans cells to Hst 5. Cek1 phosphorylation but not hyphal
      formation was needed for increased Hst 5 sensitivity. Interference with the Cek1
      pathway by deletion of its head sensor proteins, Msb2 and Sho1, or by addition of
      secreted aspartyl protease (SAP) cleavage inhibitors, such as pepstatin A,
      reduced Hst 5 susceptibility under Cek1-inducing conditions. Changes in fungal
      cell surface glycostructures also modulated Hst 5 sensitivity, and Cek1-inducing
      conditions resulted in a higher uptake rate of Hst 5. These results show that
      there is a consistent relationship between activation of Cek1 MAPK and increased
      Hst 5 susceptibility in C. albicans.

PMID- 25824233
TI  - Decrease of vancomycin resistance in Enterococcus faecium isolates from
      bloodstream infections in Italy from 2003 to 2013.

PMID- 25824234
TI  - Identification of multiresistance gene cfr in methicillin-resistant
      Staphylococcus aureus from pigs: plasmid location and integration into a
      staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec complex.
AB  - The multiresistance gene cfr was found in 8/231 porcine methicillin-resistant
      Staphylococcus aureus isolates. They were characterized by multilocus sequence
      typing, spa typing, dru typing, and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec
      (SCCmec) typing as ST627-t002-dt12w-IVb, ST6-t304-dt12w-IVb, ST9-t899-dt12w-IVb,
      ST9-t899-dt12ae-IVb, or ST63-t899-dt12v-IVb. Different cfr gene regions were
      detected on plasmids of ca. 35 kb in seven isolates. For the first time, an
      ISEnfa4-cfr-IS256 fragment was found to be inserted upstream of the ccr genes in
      a chromosomal SCCmec IVb element of the remaining isolate.

PMID- 25824235
TI  - Reduced ADAMTS13 activity is associated with thrombotic risk in systemic lupus
      erythematosus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Severe deficiency of ADAMTS13 activity leads to von Willebrand factor
      (VWF) ultralarge multimers with high affinity for platelets, causing thrombotic
      thrombocytopenic purpura. Other pathological conditions with moderate ADAMTS13
      activity exhibit a thrombotic risk. We examined the ADAMTS13 activity in systemic
      lupus erythematosus (SLE) and its value as a thrombotic biomarker. METHODS:
      ADAMTS13 activity, VWF antigen and multimeric structure, and vascular cell
      adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) were measured in plasma samples from 50 SLE patients
      and 50 healthy donors. Disease activity (systemic lupus erythematosus disease
      activity index; SLEDAI) and organ damage (systemic lupus international
      collaborating clinics) scores, thrombotic events, antiphospholipid syndrome (APS)
      and antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) were registered. RESULTS: SLE patients
      showed decreased ADAMTS13 activity and high VWF levels compared with controls (66
      +/- 27% vs. 101 +/- 8%, P < 0.01, and 325 +/- 151% vs. 81 +/- 14%, P < 0.001).
      VCAM-1 levels were higher in SLE patients (P < 0.05). Considering three groups of
      SLE patients depending on ADAMTS13 activity (>60%, 60-40% and <40%), comparative
      analysis showed significant association between ADAMTS13 activity and SLEDAI (P <
      0.05), presence of aPLs (P < 0.001), APS (P < 0.01) and thrombotic events (P <
      0.01). Reduced ADAMTS13 activity together with increased VWF levels were
      especially notable in patients with active disease and with aPLs. CONCLUSION:
      ADAMTS13 activity, in combination with other laboratory parameters, could
      constitute a potential prognostic biomarker of thrombotic risk in SLE.

PMID- 25824236
TI  - What are frailty instruments for?
AB  - Frailty is measured to understand its nature and biology, to aid diagnosis and
      care planning, to measure outcomes and to stratify risk. Such goals oblige two
      types of frailty measures - for screening and for assessment - and recognition
      that not all measures will serve all purposes. When the goal is broad
      identification of people at risk, a dichotomised approach (frailty is present or
      absent ) is appropriate. If, however, the degree of risk varies, strategies to
      test grades of frailty will be required. Frailty measures should be implemented
      and evaluated in relation to the goal for their use. 

PMID- 25824237
TI  - The effects of glucose-lowering therapies on diabetic kidney disease.
AB  - Chronic hyperglycemia and its associated metabolic products are key factors
      responsible for the development and progression of diabetic chronic kidney
      disease (CKD). Endocrinologists are tasked with detection and management of early
      CKD before patients need referral to a nephrologist for advanced CKD or dialysis
      evaluation. Primary care physicians are increasingly becoming aware of the
      importance of managing hyperglycemia to prevent or delay progression of CKD.
      Glycemic control is an integral part of preventing or slowing the advancement of
      CKD in patients with diabetes; however, not all glucose-lowering agents are
      suitable for this patient population. The availability of the latest information
      on treatment options may enable physicians to thwart advancement of serious renal
      complication in patients suffering from diabetes. This review presents clinical
      data that shed light on the risk/benefit profiles of three relatively new
      antidiabetes drug classes, the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, glucagon-like
      peptide-1 analogs, and sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors, particularly
      for patients with diabetic CKD, and summarizes the effects of these therapies on
      renal outcomes and glycemic control for endocrinologists and primary care
      physicians. Current recommendations for screening and diagnosis of CKD in
      patients with diabetes are also discussed. 

PMID- 25824238
TI  - Immunosuppression and Post-transplant Hyperglycemia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Post-transplant diabetes mellitus is a significant risk factor for
      cardiovascular disease in solid organ transplantation. The main underlying
      pathophysiological mechanism of PTDM is pancreatic beta cell dysfunction in the
      context of insulin resistance, but the relative importance of each of these
      important components of glycemic metabolism is under intense debate. METHODS: We
      searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to
      January 15, 2015. We selected systematic reviews and meta-analyses and randomized
      clinical trials. When no such reports were found for a given topic or drug,
      observational studies were included in the assessment. RESULTS: There are agents
      with known diabetogenic effects: corticosteroids, calcineurin inhibitors
      including tacrolimus and cyclosporine, as well as the mammalian target of
      rapamycin inhibitors (sirolimus and everolimus). The association between the use
      of induction agents and PTDM is very scarce. No diabetogenic effects have been
      found with the use of azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil and its derivatives.
      CONCLUSION: Immunosuppression is the major modifiable risk factor for development
      of PTDM but risk versus benefit analysis is required to balance risk of
      developing PTDM versus rejection. Caution is advisable in immunosuppressant
      adjustments in the event that PTDM develops based on current evidence. Physicians
      should choose and use immunosuppression regimens shown to have the best outcome
      for patient and graft survival, irrespective of PTDM risk.

PMID- 25824239
TI  - Does a Culture of Appalachia Truly Exist?
AB  - Some disagreement exists about whether an Appalachian culture exists. Common
      notions about Appalachia's people are tied to myths that disguise truths about
      those that claim a heritage tied to place. Living in the region is different from
      having multiple generations of ancestors and a family legacy associated with
      place. Conclusions suggest that cultural traits of some residents are
      recognizable as unique from others in the nation's mainstream, but they are not
      generalizable to all people living in the Appalachian region. 

PMID- 25824240
TI  - Of mice and men: The factor H protein family and complement regulation.
AB  - For decades immunological research has relied, with variable success, on mouse
      models to investigate diseases and possible therapeutic interventions. With the
      approval of the first therapeutic antibody targeting complement, called
      eculizumab, as therapy in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and more
      recently atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), the viability of targeting
      the complement system was demonstrated. The potent, endogenous complement
      regulators have become of increasing interest as templates for designing and
      developing new therapeutics. Recently, complement inhibitors based on (parts of)
      the human complement regulator factor H (FH) are being examined for therapeutic
      intervention in inflammatory conditions. The first step to evaluate the potency
      of a new drug is often testing it in a mouse model for the target disease.
      However, translating results to human conditions requires a good understanding of
      similarities and, more importantly, differences between the human and mouse
      complement system and particularly regulation. This review will provide a
      comprehensive overview of the complement regulator FH and its closely related
      proteins and current views on their role in mice and men. 

PMID- 25824241
TI  - Dopamine enhances the response of sunitinib in the treatment of drug-resistant
      breast cancer: Involvement of eradicating cancer stem-like cells.
AB  - Growing evidence suggests that the efficacy of sunitinib in breast cancer may be
      limited by increasing the population of cancer stem-like cells (CSCs). Hence the
      concurrent use of CSCs-targeting agents is required. Previous results indicated
      that dopamine receptor (DR) may serve as a potential therapeutic target of anti
      CSCs therapies. This study focused on evaluating the effect of dopamine (an
      agonist of DR) on the enhancement of sunitinib's efficacy in the treatment of
      drug-resistant breast cancer, investigating the involved activation type of DR
      pathway and exploring the underlying anti-CSCs mechanisms. MCF-7 cells, MCF-7/Adr
      cells and breast cancer stem-like cells (BCSCs) were used for in vitro study.
      Moreover, MCF-7/Adr cells and BCSCs were selected as drug-resistant cell lines
      and further used for in vivo development of the xenograft animal models. Our
      results showed that dopamine greatly synergized the inhibitory effect of
      sunitinib in the drug-resistant cells and strikingly enhanced the response of
      sunitinib in both xenograft models. It was found that dopamine significantly down
      regulated the expression of BCSCs markers (CD44(+)/CD24(-)) in vitro and in vivo.
      In addition, dopamine remarkably induced the apoptosis of BCSCs, markedly
      inhibited the Wnt signaling pathway and activated the apoptotic associated
      signals. The activation of dopamine receptor D1 (D1DR) pathway may be involved in
      the underlying mechanism as D1DR's antagonist SCH23390 completely reversed the
      combined effects. In conclusion, dopamine may eradicate CSCs and it significantly
      enhances the response of sunitinib in the treatment of drug-resistant breast
      cancer. 

PMID- 25824242
TI  - Ascorbic acid decomposition into oxalate ions: a simple synthetic route towards
      oxalato-bridged heterometallic 3d-4f clusters.
AB  - Two types of oxalato-bridged heterometallic 3d-4f dodeca- and hexanuclear
      compounds have been obtained by connecting six bi- and, respectively, trinuclear
      moieties through oxalato bridges arising from the slow decomposition of the L
      ascorbic acid.

PMID- 25824243
TI  - Therapeutic effects of growth hormone combined with low-dose stanozolol on growth
      velocity and final height of girls with Turner syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Turner syndrome (TS), which is characterized by short stature and
      gonadal dysfunction, is managed by pharmacotherapy. This study aimed to
      investigate the therapeutic effects of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH)
      combined with low-dose stanozolol on the growth and final adult height (FAH) of
      girls with Turner syndrome (TS). DESIGN: Prospective study. PATIENTS: A total of
      44 girls with TS were treated with rhGH (47.6-52.4 MUg/kg/day) and low-dose
      stanozolol (20-35 MUg/kg/day), starting at a mean age of 12.65 +/- 1.99 year. The
      control group consisted of 22 girls with TS, who did not receive treatment.
      MEASUREMENTS: Subjects' growth velocity (GV) was investigated. Height standard
      deviation score (HtSDS) was calculated relative to healthy Chinese girls (HtSDSN
      or ) as well as untreated Chinese girls with TS (HtSDSTS ). Post-treatment follow
      up was performed until the subjects achieved FAH or near FAH. RESULTS: FAH was
      significantly higher in subjects receiving treatment compared to the untreated
      controls (151.42 vs 137.75 cm, P < 0.001). GV was significantly higher in the
      first to fourth years of treatment compared to baseline values (P < 0.001); it
      was significantly lower in the second to fourth years of treatment compared to
      the first year (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In girls with TS, 9-12 years of age,
      rhGH combined with low-dose stanozolol may effectively increase growth. At least
      a 2-year course of this treatment may effectively improve FAH with proper delay
      of oestrogen-induced development.

PMID- 25824244
TI  - Patient factors contributing to variation in same-hospital readmission rate.
AB  - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Readmission Reduction
      Program and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovations Bundled Payments for
      Care Improvement Initiative hold hospitals accountable for readmissions that
      occur at other hospitals. A few studies have described the extent to which
      hospital readmissions occur at the original place of treatment (i.e., same
      hospital readmissions). This study uses data from 16 states to describe variation
      in same-hospital readmissions by patient characteristics across multiple
      conditions. We found that the majority of 30-day readmissions occur at the same
      hospital, although rates varied considerably by condition. A significant number
      of hospitals had very low rates of same-hospital readmissions, meaning that the
      majority of their readmissions went to other hospitals. Future research should
      examine why some hospitals are able to retain patients for a same-hospital
      readmission and others are not. 

PMID- 25824245
TI  - Blood pressure responses to renal denervation precede and are independent of the
      sympathetic and baroreflex effects.
AB  - It is still largely unknown whether the neuroadrenergic responses to renal
      denervation (RD) are involved in its blood pressure (BP)-lowering effects and
      represent predictors of the BP responses to RD. In 15 treated true resistant
      hypertensives, we measured before and 15 days, 1, 3, and 6 months after RD
      clinic, ambulatory and beat-to-beat BP. Measurements included muscle sympathetic
      nerve traffic (MSNA), spontaneous baroreflex-MSNA sensitivity, and various
      humoral and metabolic variables. Twelve treated hypertensives served as controls.
      BP, which was unaffected 15 days after RD, showed a significant decrease during
      the remaining follow-up period. MSNA and baroreflex did not change at 15-day and
      1-month follow-up and showed, respectively, a decrease and a specular increase at
      3 and 6 months after RD. No relationship, however, was detected between baseline
      MSNA and baroreflex, MSNA changes and BP changes. At the 6-month follow-up, the
      MSNA reduction was similar for magnitude in patients displaying a BP reduction
      greater or lower the median value. Similarly, the BP reduction detected 6 months
      after RD was similar in patients displaying a MSNA reduction greater or lower
      median value. No significant BP and MSNA changes were detected in the control
      group. Thus, the BP reduction associated with RD seems to precede the MSNA
      changes and not to display a temporal, qualitative, and quantitative relationship
      with the MSNA and baroreflex effects. Given the small sample size of the present
      study further investigations are warranted to confirm the present findings.

PMID- 25824246
TI  - Central aortic blood pressure from ultrasound wall-tracking of the carotid artery
      in children: comparison with invasive measurements and radial tonometry.
AB  - Differences between central aortic root (c) and peripheral (p) systolic blood
      pressure (SBP) may be particularly marked in children, but noninvasive methods
      for assessing cSBP in children have not been validated. We compared estimates of
      cSBP obtained from radiofrequency ultrasound wall tracking of the carotid artery
      (ART.LAB system) with that measured directly by a catheter in the aortic root at
      the time of arterial cannulation. Carotid waveforms were calibrated from invasive
      measurements of mean and diastolic pressures. In 9 children aged 10.5 +/- 5.0
      years (mean +/- SD), cSBP obtained from carotid wall tracking was highly
      correlated with invasive measures of cSBP (r=0.99) with mean (+/- SD) difference
      3.9 +/- 2.5 mm Hg. Second, we compared values of cSBP obtained from the carotid
      with those obtained using noninvasive applanation tonometry at the radial artery
      and a radial-to-aortic transfer function (SphygmoCor). Both carotid and radial
      tonometric measurements were calibrated from the same peripheral mean and
      diastolic measurements of blood pressure obtained by sphygmomanometry. In 84
      children aged 13.2 +/- 3.2 years, there was excellent agreement between the 2
      methods (r=0.95; P<0.001) with mean difference 0.71 +/- 3.7 mm Hg (95% confidence
      interval =-1.53 to 1.01). This invasive validation study confirms that cSBP as
      estimated by carotid wall tracking provides an acceptable measurement of true
      cSBP when calibration is from true mean and diastolic pressures. Close agreement
      of cSBP obtained by carotid wall tracking and radial tonometry suggests that
      these provide similar results when calibrated from the same peripheral blood
      pressure measurements.

PMID- 25824247
TI  - Independent associations of circulating galectin-3 concentrations with aortic
      pulse wave velocity and wave reflection in a community sample.
AB  - Although the profibrotic inflammatory substance galectin-3 predicts outcomes in
      the general population, the mechanisms responsible for this effect are uncertain.
      We aimed to determine whether circulating galectin-3 concentrations are
      associated with carotid femoral (aortic) pulse wave velocity and aortic
      reflective wave index (applanation tonometry and SphygmoCor software) in 966
      randomly selected participants from a community sample. Galectin-3 concentrations
      were not independently associated with office (n=966) or 24-hour (n=661) systolic
      (P=0.88-0.92) or diastolic (P=0.65-0.94) blood pressure. In contrast, with
      adjustments for age, sex (in all participants), office or 24-hour mean arterial
      pressure (or systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure), pulse rate, body mass
      index, regular smoking, regular alcohol intake, total cholesterol concentrations,
      diabetes mellitus or an glycohemoglobin >6.1%, treatment for hypertension, and
      estimated glomerular filtration rate, galectin-3 was independently associated
      with aortic pulse wave velocity in all participants (partial r=0.15, P<0.0001)
      and reflective wave index in men (partial r=0.13, P<0.02). In 745 participants
      who had never received antihypertensive therapy, galectin-3 concentrations were
      similarly independently associated with pulse wave velocity in all participants
      (partial=0.16, P<0.0001) and reflective wave index in men (partial r=0.15,
      P<0.02). The blood pressure-independent relations between galectin-3
      concentrations and aortic hemodynamics persisted with further adjustments for C
      reactive protein concentrations (pulse wave velocity in all participants: partial
      r=0.14, P<0.0001; reflective wave index in men: partial r=0.12, P<0.05). In
      conclusion, despite a lack of independent association with brachial blood
      pressure, the profibrotic inflammatory substance galectin-3 may contribute toward
      adverse outcomes through an effect on aortic stiffness, an effect that cannot be
      attributed to general inflammatory changes.

PMID- 25824248
TI  - Randomized sham-controlled trial of renal sympathetic denervation in mild
      resistant hypertension.
AB  - Few data are available with regard to the effectiveness of renal sympathetic
      denervation in patients with resistant hypertension yet only mildly elevated
      blood pressure (BP). Patients with resistant hypertension and slightly elevated
      BP (day-time systolic pressure, 135-149 and diastolic pressure, 90-94 mm Hg on 24
      hour ambulatory measurement) were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to renal sympathetic
      denervation with the Symplicity Flex Catheter (Medtronic) or an invasive sham
      procedure. The primary efficacy end point was the change in 24-hour systolic BP
      at 6 months between groups in the intention to treat population. A total of 71
      patients underwent randomization. Baseline day-time systolic BP was 144.4+/-4.8
      mm Hg in patients assigned to denervation and 143.0+/-4.7 mm Hg in patients
      randomized to the sham procedure. The mean change in 24-hour systolic BP in the
      intention to treat cohort at 6 months was -7.0 mm Hg (95% confidence interval, 
      10.8 to -3.2) for patients undergoing denervation and -3.5 mm Hg (95% confidence
      interval, -6.7 to -0.2) in the sham group (P=0.15). In the per protocol
      population, the change in 24-hour systolic BP at 6 months was -8.3 mm Hg (95%
      confidence interval, -11.7 to -5.0) for patients undergoing denervation and -3.5
      mm Hg (95% confidence interval, -6.8 to -0.2) in the sham group (P=0.042). In
      patients with mild resistant hypertension, renal sympathetic denervation failed
      to show a significant reduction in the primary end point of 24-hour systolic BP
      at 6 months between groups in the intention to treat analysis. CLINICAL TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01656096.

PMID- 25824249
TI  - The Physicochemical and Pharmacokinetic Relationships of Barbiturates - From the
      Past to the Future.
AB  - The pharmacokinetics of different barbiturates have been studied extensively and
      the relationship of their duration of action to their clinical use has been known
      for decades. While these particular compounds have largely been displaced by
      agents with better therapeutic indices, barbiturate use remains relatively common
      and important in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Their mechanism of
      action is to bind to inhibitory GABAA receptors in the CNS causing and
      potentiating the opening of neuronal chloride ion channels thus having a sedative
      and CNS depressant effect. All psychotropic barbiturates feature di-substitution
      at the C5 position of the barbituric acid prototype. This is also the primary
      factor by which physiologically active barbiturates differ from one another and a
      major mediator of lipophilicity and duration of action. However, in this review,
      inconsistencies in certain commonly held notions about the structure-activity
      relationship of barbiturates were found. Commonly accepted chemistry for the
      structure-activity relationship of barbiturates holds that substitution of larger
      alkyl groups, alicyclic, and aromatic groups, as well as branching and
      unsaturation, lead in general to more lipophilic compounds with a shorter
      biological half-life. This rationale may have limitations in the case of
      barbiturates as proposed in this review. There is poor correlation between nine
      clinically used barbiturates' octanol:water partition coefficients (log(P)
      values) and their respective half-lives. However, a strong correlation between
      pKa values and half-life was found. The current clinical relevance of these
      findings is discussed as well as their pertinence to future design and use of
      barbiturates. 

PMID- 25824250
TI  - Role of Rhizomys pruinosus as a natural animal host of Penicillium marneffei in
      Guangdong, China.
AB  - Penicillium marneffei, a dimorphic fungus that can cause penicilliosis marneffei,
      is endemic in Southeast Asia. The only known hosts of P. marneffei are humans and
      bamboo rats. The aim of our study was to explore the distribution of P. marneffei
      in bamboo rats, their associated environment and non-rat-associated environments.
      Totally, 270 samples were collected in Guangdong province of China in 2012; the
      prevalence of P. marneffei was much higher in samples collected from surrounding
      areas of burrows (8.2%) than in the samples obtained from non-rat-associated
      sites (2%) or artificial farms of bamboo rats (0%). There was no difference in P.
      marneffei isolated rate from different areas of Guangdong province. The infection
      is prevalent in all rats, and this fungus could be frequently seen in the rats'
      lungs. This study confirms that bamboo rat is the ecological niche of P.
      marneffei and hypothesizes that bamboo rats become infected by inhaling
      aerosolized conidia originating from environmental sources, rather than by the
      fecal-oral route or transplacental crossing. According to the result of no
      detection of P. marneffei in the artificial farm, the activity of bamboo rats
      might be more relevant to the distribution and dissemination of P. marneffei in
      natural environment. 

PMID- 25824251
TI  - Persistent untreated Riga-Fede disease for 6 years.
AB  - Riga-Fede disease is an uncommon, benign, ulcerative condition due to dental
      trauma that can occur at any age. A 9-year-old boy with a painful tongue is
      presented. Physicians need to recognize Riga-Fede disease and Riga-Fede-like
      disease to intervene early. 

PMID- 25824252
TI  - Livedoid vasculopathy and high levels of lipoprotein (a): response to danazol.
AB  - Livedoid vasculopathy (LV) is a thrombo occlusive disorder presenting with
      recurrent painful ulcers of lower extremities. Association of LV with increased
      level of lipoprotein (a) (LP(a)), a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, has
      been reported. Danazol has been used with success in the management of LV, but
      none of the previous studies looked at the correlation between response to the
      treatment and level of LP(a). The aim of this study was to demonstrate the
      efficacy of low-dose danazol in the treatment of LV and its effects on LP(a). We
      present four cases with LV who were successfully treated with low-dose danazol,
      assessing the clinical characteristics and laboratory tests including the level
      of LP(a). The average age of the patients was 45 years and the mean duration of
      the disease was 19 years. The treatment regime of danazol 200 mg daily led to
      complete healing of ulcers and reduction in pain and a 70% (ranging from 52 to
      87%) reduction in the level of LP(a). The limitation of this study is "small
      sample size." In our patients with LV, low-dose danazol led to clinical
      improvement along with significant reduction in the level of LP(a). 

PMID- 25824253
TI  - Examining the influence of family dynamics on quality of care by informal
      caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's dementia in Argentina.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study examined the pattern of family dynamics of Argentinian
      individuals with dementia that most heavily influences the quality of care
      provided by family caregivers (CGs). METHOD: One hundred and two CGs of
      individuals with Alzheimer's disease in Argentina participated in this study. The
      majority (75%) were female, with an average age of 57.8 years (standard deviation
      = 13.5) and had spent a median of 48 months (interquartile range [IQR]: 36.00
      60.00) providing care to their family member with dementia, devoting a median of
      60 hours (IQR: 50.00-80.00) per week to these duties. Caregivers completed
      Spanish versions of instruments assessing their family dynamics and quality-of
      care provision. RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analyses suggested that higher
      quality of informal care (Provide and Respect) was related to greater levels of
      empathy and reduced levels of overall dysfunction in CGs' families. Higher
      quality of care-Provide was also related to shorter duration of time (in months)
      spent providing care. CONCLUSION: Dementia CG interventions in Latino populations
      would likely benefit from addressing difficulties experienced when providing care
      for a prolonged period of time, as well as programming or techniques to improve
      family dynamics, especially family empathy and general functioning, given the
      strong reciprocal influence of these factors on CG quality of care.

PMID- 25824254
TI  - ACR Appropriateness Criteria Imaging in the Diagnosis of Thoracic Outlet
      Syndrome.
AB  - Thoracic outlet syndrome is a clinical entity characterized by compression of the
      neurovascular bundle, and may be associated with additional findings such as
      venous thrombosis, arterial stenosis, or neurologic symptoms. The goal of imaging
      is to localize the site of compression, the compressing structure, and the
      compressed organ or vessel, while excluding common mimics. A literature review is
      provided of current indications for diagnostic imaging, with discussion of
      potential limitations and benefits of the respective modalities. The ACR
      Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based guidelines for specific clinical
      conditions that are reviewed every 3 years by a multidisciplinary expert panel.
      The guideline development and review include an extensive analysis of current
      medical literature from peer-reviewed journals and the application of a well
      established consensus methodology (modified Delphi) to rate the appropriateness
      of imaging and treatment procedures by the panel. In those instances in which
      evidence is lacking or not definitive, expert opinion may be used to recommend
      imaging or treatment. In this document, we provided guidelines for use of various
      imaging modalities for assessment of thoracic outlet syndrome. 

PMID- 25824255
TI  - Methyl-branched lipids promote the membrane adsorption of alpha-synuclein by
      enhancing shallow lipid-packing defects.
AB  - Alpha-synuclein (AS) is a synaptic protein that is directly involved in
      Parkinson's disease due to its tendency to form protein aggregates. Since AS
      aggregation can be dependent on the interactions between the protein and the cell
      plasma membrane, elucidating the membrane binding properties of AS is of crucial
      importance to establish the molecular basis of AS aggregation into toxic fibrils.
      Using a combination of in vitro reconstitution experiments based on Giant
      Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs), confocal microscopy and all-atom molecular dynamics
      simulations, we have investigated the membrane binding properties of AS, with a
      focus on the relative contribution of hydrophobic versus electrostatic
      interactions. In contrast with previous observations, we did not observe any
      binding of AS to membranes containing the ganglioside GM1, even at relatively
      high GM1 content. AS, on the other hand, showed a stronger affinity for neutral
      flat membranes consisting of methyl-branched lipids. To rationalize these
      results, we used all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the
      influence of methyl-branched lipids on interfacial membrane properties. We found
      that methyl-branched lipids promote the membrane adsorption of AS by creating
      shallow lipid-packing defects to a larger extent than polyunsaturated and
      monounsaturated lipids. Our findings suggest that methyl-branched lipids may
      constitute a remarkably adhesive substrate for peripheral proteins that adsorb on
      membranes via hydrophobic insertions. 

PMID- 25824256
TI  - Guideline on the management of acute chest syndrome in sickle cell disease.

PMID- 25824257
TI  - Spatial dispersion of lone electron pairs?--experimental charge density of cubic
      arsenic(III) oxide.
AB  - The first experimental charge density study of arsenolite, a cubic polymorph of
      arsenic(III) oxide, extended by periodic DFT calculations is reported. The
      presence of weak AsO interactions is confirmed and their topological
      characterization based on experimental electron density is provided. Spatial
      dispersion of arsenic lone electron pairs into three domains is observed in the
      Laplacian of electron density as well as in the electron localization function.
      It results from the clustering of As atomic cores in the crystal structure and/or
      from the presence of strong As-O bonds. A similar phenomenon is recognized in the
      crystal structures of antimonates(III) and bismuthates(III) of alkaline metals
      indicating that this could be a more general feature worthy of further
      investigations.

PMID- 25824258
TI  - Sensitivity and specificity of the AdenoPlus point-of-care system in detecting
      adenovirus in conjunctivitis patients at an ophthalmic emergency department: a
      diagnostic accuracy study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To estimate the diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) of
      the AdenoPlus point-of-care adenoviral test compared to PCR in an ophthalmic
      accident and emergency service. These findings were compared with those of a
      previous study. METHODS: This was a prospective diagnostic accuracy study on 121
      patients presenting to an emergency eye unit with a clinical picture of acute
      adenoviral conjunctivitis. AdenoPlus testing was carried out on one eye of each
      patient and a PCR analysis was also performed on a swab taken from the same eye.
      AdenoPlus and PCR results were interpreted by masked personnel. Sensitivity and
      specificity for the AdenoPlus test were calculated using PCR results as the
      reference standard. RESULTS: 121 patients were enrolled and 109 met the inclusion
      criteria. 43 patients (39.4%) tested positive for adenovirus by PCR analysis. The
      sensitivity of the AdenoPlus swab in detecting adenovirus was 39.5% (17/43, 95%
      CI 26% to 54%) and specificity was 95.5% (63/66, 95% CI 87% to 98%) compared to
      PCR. CONCLUSIONS: The AdenoPlus test has a high specificity for diagnosing
      adenoviral conjunctivitis, but in this clinical setting, we could not reproduce
      the high sensitivity that has been previously published.

PMID- 25824259
TI  - Aqueous penetration of orally and topically administered moxifloxacin.
AB  - AIM: To assess the intraocular penetration of 0.5% moxifloxacin hydrochloride
      into aqueous humour after oral and topical administration. METHODS: A
      prospective, interventional study of 42 patients scheduled to undergo cataract
      surgery was carried out. Out of the 42 subjects, 21 were randomly categorised
      into Group I and received one drop of 0.5% topical moxifloxacin four times, at 15
      min intervals starting 75 min before the surgery. Another 21 subjects were
      categorised into Group II and all subjects in this group were administered a
      single tablet of 400 mg of moxifloxacin, 12 h before the surgery. Estimation of
      moxifloxacin in aqueous samples was carried out using high-performance liquid
      chromatography. Results were analysed using Student unpaired 't' test and
      analysis of variance. The value of p<0.05 was considered to be significant.
      RESULTS: Mean aqueous concentration of moxifloxacin attained in the oral group
      (n=21) was 0.504+/-0.30 MUg/mL while that in the topical group (n=21) was 2.04+/
      0.72 MUg/mL, and this difference in levels was statistically significant
      (p<0.005). The levels attained by both the groups well exceeded the MIC90
      (minimum inhibitory concentration of antibiotic required to inhibit growth of 90%
      of bacteria strains) levels for most of the organisms causing endophthalmitis.
      Penetration of moxifloxacin in aqueous in both the groups was not affected by
      gender, intraocular pressure or comorbidities significantly. However, aqueous
      levels were found to be higher among the younger subjects within the topical
      group. CONCLUSIONS: Moxifloxacin has an impressive spectrum of coverage and this
      pharmacokinetic study reinforces its potential as a prophylactic drug against
      intraocular infections, given the high aqueous levels post topical
      administration.

PMID- 25824260
TI  - Comparison of central and peripheral corneal thickness measurements with scanning
      slit, Scheimpflug and Fourier-domain ocular coherence tomography.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare central, regional and relational corneal thickness values
      obtained with multiple technologies in normal patients and to determine their
      equivalence and interchangeability. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 100 eyes
      from 50 patients evaluated by ultrasound pachymetry (Pachette II), scanning-slit
      (Orbscan II), Scheimpflug (Pentacam HR) and spectral-domain ocular coherence
      tomography (OCT) (RTVue-100) obtained as average values (OCT-A) and point
      measurements (OCT-P). Measurements included central corneal thickness (CCT) for
      all technologies and thinnest corneal thickness for scanning-slit, Scheimpflug
      and OCT. Peripheral thickness measurements were obtained at the 3 mm radius in
      the superior (S), nasal (N), inferior (I) and temporal (T) regions. RESULTS: CCT
      values were: 563.9+/-36.1MU ultrasound, 570.9+/-36.1MU scanning-slit, 552.8+/
      33.8MU Scheimpflug, 550.5+/-32.7MU (OCT-A), 549.4+/-32.7MU (OCT-P). Ultrasound
      and scanning-slit were significantly different from each other (p<0.0001), and
      both were significantly different from all other devices (p<0.0001), while
      Scheimpflug was similar to OCT-A and OCT-P (p=0.4). Differences between CCT and
      thinnest corneal thickness were significantly different from all technologies
      except scanning-slit and OCT-A. For peripheral values, almost all locations'
      measurements were significantly different from one another (p<0.0001). Superior
      inferior values and ratios were also significantly different from one another for
      almost all devices with no consistent patterns detectible. CONCLUSIONS: There are
      significant clinically relevant differences between regional and relational
      thickness measurements obtained with ultrasound, scanning-slit, Scheimpflug and
      OCT devices. Screening metrics devised for one system do not appear directly
      applicable to other measurement systems.

PMID- 25824261
TI  - Superfamily of genes encoding G protein-coupled receptors in the diamondback moth
      Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae).
AB  - G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest and most versatile
      superfamily of cell membrane proteins, which mediate various physiological
      processes including reproduction, development and behaviour. The diamondback
      moth, Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), is one of the most
      notorious insect pests, preferentially feeding on cruciferous plants. P.
      xylostella is not only one of the world's most widespread lepidopteran insects,
      but has also developed resistance to nearly all classes of insecticides. Although
      the mechanisms of insecticide resistance have been studied extensively in many
      insect species, few investigations have been carried out on GPCRs in P.
      xylostella. In the present study, we identified 95 putative GPCRs in the P.
      xylostella genome. The identified GPCRs were compared with their homologues in
      Bombyx mori and Drosophila melanogaster. Our results suggest that GPCRs in
      different insect species may have evolved by a birth-and-death process. One of
      the differences among compared insects is the duplication of short neuropeptide F
      receptor and adipokinetic hormone receptors in P. xylostella and B. mori. Another
      divergence is the decrease in quantity and diversity of the stress-tolerance
      gene, Mth, in P. xylostella. The evolution by the birth-and-death process is
      probably involved in adaptation to the feeding behaviour, reproduction and stress
      responses of P. xylostella. Some of the genes identified in the present study
      could be potential targets for the development of novel pesticides. 

PMID- 25824262
TI  - Loss of FOXF2 Expression Predicts Poor Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
      Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: FOXF2 is a member of the forkhead box (FOX) family of transcription
      factors. FOXF2 plays an important role in several tumors but its expression and
      role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unknown. METHODS: Using
      immunohistochemistry, western blot, and real-time polymerase chain reaction, we
      analyzed FOXF2 expression in 295 clinicopathologically characterized HCC cases.
      Using RNA interference (RNAi), we investigated the effects of FOXF2 depletion on
      tumor cell behavior in vitro. Statistical analyses were used to determine
      associations between FOXF2 levels, tumor features, and patient outcomes. RESULTS:
      FOXF2 downregulation was observed in HCC tissues (p < 0.001) compared with
      peritumorous tissues, and its expression levels were closely correlated with
      overall survival and recurrence-free survival (p = 0.023 and 0.006, respectively)
      in patients with HCC. RNAi-mediated silencing of the FOXF2 gene in the MHCC-97H
      cell line significantly promoted proliferation and anti-apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS:
      The results of the present study indicate that FOXF2 may serve as a prognostic
      biomarker for HCC and may be a promising target in the treatment of patients with
      HCC.

PMID- 25824263
TI  - The role of endoscopy in the diagnosis of gastric gastrointestinal stromal
      tumors.

PMID- 25824264
TI  - Interfacial Electron Transfer Barrier at Compact TiO2 /CH3 NH3 PbI3
      Heterojunction.
AB  - Low-temperature solution-processed CH3 NH3 PbI3 interfaced with TiO2 has recently
      been demonstrated as a highly successful type-II light harvesting heterojunction
      with ~20% efficiency. Therefore, an efficient ultrafast photoexcited electron
      transfer from CH3 NH3 PbI3 to TiO2 is expected. However, by probing the
      photoexcited charge carrier dynamics in CH3 NH3 PbI3 /quartz, CH3 NH3 PbI3 /TiO2
      (compact), and CH3 NH3 PbI3 /PCBM in a comparative study, an electron transfer
      potential barrier between CH3 NH3 PbI3 and the compact TiO2 (prepared with the
      spray pyrolysis method) formed by surface states is uncovered. Consequently, the
      CH3 NH3 PbI3 photoluminescence intensity and lifetime is enhanced when interfaced
      to compact TiO2 . The electron accumulation within CH3 NH3 PbI3 needed to
      overcome this interfacial potential barrier results in the undesirable large
      current-voltage hysteresis observed for CH3 NH3 PbI3 /TiO2 planar
      heterojunctions. The findings in this study indicate that careful surface
      engineering to reduce this potential barrier is key to pushing perovskite solar
      cell efficiencies toward the theoretical limit. 

PMID- 25824265
TI  - Digit ratio (2D:4D), aggression, and dominance in the Hadza and the Datoga of
      Tanzania.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Digit ratio (2D:4D)-a putative marker of prenatal androgen activity
      has been shown to correlate with self-reported physical aggression and dominance
      behavior, especially in male children and adolescents. This evidence is derived
      primarily from the study of Western samples. METHODS: Digit ratios, self-reported
      aggression, and dominance behavior were collected from men and women in two
      traditional, small-scale societies, i.e., the Hadza and the Datoga of Tanzania.
      RESULTS: We found significant differences in physical and verbal aggression,
      anger, and hostility between the two societies with the Datoga reporting higher
      scores on all four measures. Moreover, self-reported dominance in the Datoga was
      higher than in the Hadza. The Datoga showed lower left and right hand 2D:4D
      ratios than the Hadza. Men reported higher physical and verbal aggression and
      dominance, and had lower 2D:4D ratios than women. A significant negative
      association between 2D:4D and dominance was found in Hadza women. CONCLUSIONS: We
      discuss our findings with reference to differences in mating systems between the
      two small-scale societies and previous findings of Western and other small-scale
      societies.

PMID- 25824266
TI  - Hierarchical Vanadium Pentoxide Spheres as High-Performance Anode Materials for
      Sodium-Ion Batteries.
AB  - We report the synthesis of hierarchical vanadium pentoxide (V2 O5 ) spheres as
      anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (Na-ion batteries). Through field
      emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transmission
      electron microscopy characterizations, it was found that the as-prepared V2 O5
      spheres are composed of primary nanoparticles with pores between them. The as
      prepared hierarchical V2 O5 spheres achieved a discharge capacity of 271 mA h g(
      1) at a current density of 40 mA g(-1) , and 177 mA h g(-1) discharge capacity
      after 100 cycles. Even at high current densities, V2 O5 spheres still delivered
      high capacity and superior cyclability (179 and 140 mA h g(-1) discharge
      capacities at 640 and 1280 mA g(-1) current densities, respectively). The
      promising electrochemical performances of V2 O5 spheres should be ascribed to the
      unique architecture of hierarchical spheres and the predominant exposed (110)
      facets, which provides open interlayers for facile sodium ion intercalation. Each
      nanoparticle contains predominantly exposed (110) crystal planes. The ex situ
      FESEM analysis revealed that the pores formed by the primary nanocrystals
      effectively buffer volume changes in the electrode during cycling, contributing
      to the excellent cycling performance.

PMID- 25824267
TI  - Designing a new model for cosmetic adverse reaction monitoring in China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The monitoring of cosmetic adverse reactions (CARs) in China has
      progressed to a new stage of development because of government institutional
      reforms. OBJECTIVE: To discuss and formulate an appropriate model for CAR
      monitoring in China. METHODS: The formulation of a new CAR-monitoring model under
      the administration of the Food and Drug Supervision Department is discussed on
      the basis of China's current national conditions and with reference to the
      previous CAR-monitoring and drug-monitoring models of the organization formerly
      known as the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China. RESULTS: The
      preliminary design of the CAR-monitoring model is considered to be a long-term
      development goal of CAR monitoring. The monitoring model at this stage was
      developed on the basis of China's national conditions; specifically, the
      development of a two-level (national and provincial agencies) monitoring system
      that relies on CAR-monitoring sentinels, and reports that cover CARs with
      definite causal associations. CONCLUSION: This model is developed on both
      theoretical and practical foundations, and can function as a proper monitoring
      model at the initial stage of current CAR monitoring through an appropriate pilot
      programme, exploration, and improvement.

PMID- 25824268
TI  - Changes in Gross Tumor Volume and Organ Motion Analysis During Neoadjuvant
      Radiochemotherapy in Patients With Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer Using an In
      House Analysis System.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: During radiation treatment, movement of the target and
      organs at risks as well as tumor response can significantly influence dose
      distribution. This is highly relevant in patients with pancreatic cancer, where
      organs at risk lie in close proximity to the target. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data
      sets of 10 patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer were evaluated. Gross
      tumor volume deformation was analyzed. Dose changes to organs at risk were
      determined with focus on kidneys both without adaptive radiotherapy compensation
      and with replanning based on weekly acquired computed tomography scans. RESULTS:
      During irradiation, gross tumor volume changes between 0% and 26% and moves
      within a radius of 5 to 16 mm. Required maximal dose to organs at risk for
      kidneys can be met with the current practice of matching computed tomography
      scans during treatment and adjusting patient position accordingly. Comparison of
      the mean doses and V15, V20 volumes demonstrated that weekly replanning could
      bring a significant dose sparing of the left kidney. CONCLUSION: Manual matching
      with focus on bony structures can lead to overall acceptable positioning of
      patients during treatment. Thus, tolerance doses of organs at risk, such as the
      kidneys, can be met. With adequate margins, normal tissue constraints to organs
      at risk can be kept as well. Adaptive radiotherapy approaches (in this case with
      weekly rescanning) reduced dose to organs at risk, which may be especially
      important for hypofractionated approaches.

PMID- 25824269
TI  - Does Imaging Technology Cause Cancer? Debunking the Linear No-Threshold Model of
      Radiation Carcinogenesis.
AB  - In the past several years, there has been a great deal of attention from the
      popular media focusing on the alleged carcinogenicity of low-dose radiation
      exposures received by patients undergoing medical imaging studies such as X-rays,
      computed tomography scans, and nuclear medicine scintigraphy. The media has based
      its reporting on the plethora of articles published in the scientific literature
      that claim that there is "no safe dose" of ionizing radiation, while essentially
      ignoring all the literature demonstrating the opposite point of view. But this
      reported "scientific" literature in turn bases its estimates of cancer induction
      on the linear no-threshold hypothesis of radiation carcinogenesis. The use of the
      linear no-threshold model has yielded hundreds of articles, all of which predict
      a definite carcinogenic effect of any dose of radiation, regardless of how small.
      Therefore, hospitals and professional societies have begun campaigns and policies
      aiming to reduce the use of certain medical imaging studies based on perceived
      risk:benefit ratio assumptions. However, as they are essentially all based on the
      linear no-threshold model of radiation carcinogenesis, the risk:benefit ratio
      models used to calculate the hazards of radiological imaging studies may be
      grossly inaccurate if the linear no-threshold hypothesis is wrong. Here, we
      review the myriad inadequacies of the linear no-threshold model and cast doubt on
      the various studies based on this overly simplistic model. 

PMID- 25824271
TI  - Predicting the optimal entry point for femoral antegrade nailing using a new
      measurement approach.
AB  - PURPOSE: To establish a new reliable approach for measuring proximal femoral
      anatomical parameters and determining the optimal entry point of the antegrade
      intramedullary (IM) nailing. METHODS: A new method for measuring the proximal
      femoral anatomy and locating the optimal entry point for the antegrade nailing
      was developed using Mimics and 3-Matic softwares (Materialise, Haasrode,
      Belgium). After verifying the reliability of the measurement method using 15
      pairs of the femoral models by the intraclass correlation coefficient, the
      anatomical parameters of 200 Chinese femurs were measured, and statistical
      analyses were performed to compare the proximal femoral anatomical parameters
      between different genders or lateralities and determine the most relevant factors
      of the optimal entry point. RESULTS: Reliability study showed that both
      intraobserver reliability and interobserver reliability of the current
      measurement approach were excellent. After independent samples [Formula: see
      text]-test, the proximal femoral anatomical parameters were shown significant
      difference between genders. Stepwise regression statistical analyses showed that
      the most relevant factors of the distances between the optimal entry point and
      the femoral head centre, the femoral neck axis and the tip of the greater
      trochanter were the 3D femoral neck-shaft angle (Pearson's [Formula: see text];
      the model's [Formula: see text]), the femoral radius (Pearson's [Formula: see
      text]; the model's [Formula: see text]) and the femoral length (Pearson's r =
      0.316; the model's [Formula: see text]), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The current
      study provided a new and reliable measurement approach to evaluating the
      anatomical morphology of the proximal femur and revealed the most influential
      factors on the locations of the simulated optimal entry point for the proximal
      femoral antegrade IM nailing. Furthermore, this study was useful for establishing
      methodological basis for future researches and developments of the custom-made IM
      nailing and affiliated surgical instruments.

PMID- 25824272
TI  - Atypical clinicopathologic presentation of primary cutaneous diffuse large B-cell
      lymphoma, leg type.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Primary cutaneous diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, leg type (cDLBCL-LT)
      is a well-defined entity of cutaneous B-cell lymphoma affecting predominantly
      elderly patients, mostly women. The typical clinical presentation is
      characterized by solitary or multiple, rapidly growing plaques or tumors on 1 leg
      (rarely both legs). OBJECTIVE: We sought to describe a new clinical variant of
      cDLBCL-LT that deviates from the conventional one. METHODS: Clinical,
      histopathologic, phenotypical, and molecular features of 3 cases of cDLBCL-LT
      presenting with patches or thin plaques were reviewed (all were women, aged 60,
      62, and 87 years; lesions were located on the leg in all patients). RESULTS:
      These patients presented with patches or thin plaques that represented the first
      manifestation of cDLBCL-LT. All 3 patients reported a history of long-standing
      lesions (present for 6, 9, and 18 months, respectively). Histology revealed
      moderately dense, perivascular infiltrates of small lymphocytes admixed with
      variable numbers of large cells that were CD20(+), Bcl-2(+), and MUM-1(+).
      LIMITATIONS: There were only a small number of cases. CONCLUSIONS: We reported an
      unusual clinical presentation of cDLBCL-LT that deviates from the conventional
      one and that represents a formidable diagnostic challenge. Biopsy specimens of
      unusual patches/thin plaques or annular lesions should be obtained from the legs
      of adult patients if the lesions do not respond to conventional treatment.

PMID- 25824273
TI  - Genital psoriasis is associated with significant impairment in quality of life
      and sexual functioning.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Genital involvement has significant psychosexual implications for
      psoriasis patients. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to ascertain factors
      associated with the development of genital psoriasis and its impact on quality of
      life and sexual functioning. METHODS: This was an observational, multicenter
      study of 354 consecutive psoriasis patients. RESULTS: One hundred thirty-four
      patients (38%) had current genital involvement while 224 (63%) had a current
      and/or previous history of genital involvement. Eighty-seven percent reported
      itch, 39% pain, 42% dyspareunia, 32% a worsening of their genital psoriasis after
      intercourse, and 43% a decreased frequency of intercourse. Younger age of onset
      of psoriasis, male sex, more severe disease, and involvement of the scalp,
      flexures, and nails were associated with the presence of genital disease. There
      was no association with circumcision or obesity. Patients with genital psoriasis
      had more impairment in quality of life and sexual health as determined by the
      Dermatology Life Quality Index (P < .0001), the Center for Epidemiological
      Studies-Depression Scale (P = .01), and the Relationship and Sexuality Scale (P <
      .0001). LIMITATIONS: This was a descriptive study from 2 tertiary referral
      centers where patients were likely to have more severe psoriasis. CONCLUSION:
      This study highlights the high prevalence of genital psoriasis and its profound
      impact on quality of life and sexual health.

PMID- 25824274
TI  - National utilization patterns of Mohs micrographic surgery for invasive melanoma
      and melanoma in situ.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although wide local excision continues to be commonly used for
      melanoma treatment, Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) for the treatment of
      melanomas remains controversial. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine national
      utilization patterns for MMS in the treatment of invasive melanoma and melanoma
      in situ. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of patients receiving surgical
      excision (MMS or wide local excision) for the treatment of invasive melanoma and
      melanoma in situ was performed using data from the National Cancer Institute
      Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program. RESULTS: A total of
      195,768 melanomas were diagnosed from 2003 through 2009 from the 17 SEER
      registries. Utilization of MMS for invasive melanoma and melanoma in situ
      increased by 60% from 2003 to 2008. Of all SEER-captured lesions treated by
      surgical excision in this time period, 3.5% (6872) were excised by MMS.
      LIMITATIONS: Patient insurance status, physician reimbursement practices, and
      health care provider type were not addressed in this article. CONCLUSION: Use of
      MMS for melanoma appears to be increasing. Future studies should explore whether
      this is associated with better outcomes.

PMID- 25824275
TI  - Clinical and dermoscopic characteristics of melanomas on nonfacial chronically
      sun-damaged skin.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Melanomas on chronically sun-damaged skin (CSDS) can be difficult to
      identify and often manifest morphologic features that overlap with benign
      lesions. OBJECTIVE: We describe and analyze the clinical and dermoscopic
      characteristics of melanomas on nonfacial CSDS. METHODS: Melanoma cases on
      nonfacial CSDS were retrospectively identified from the biopsy specimen logs of 6
      melanoma clinics. Clinical and dermoscopic images were combined into 1 database.
      Demographics, clinical, dermoscopic, and histopathologic information were
      analyzed. Descriptive frequencies were calculated. RESULTS: One hundred eighty
      six cases met the inclusion criteria: 142 melanomas in situ (76%) and 39 invasive
      (21%; mean thickness, 0.49 mm). Lentigo maligna was the most common
      histopathologic subtype (n = 76; 40.9%). The most frequent dermoscopic structures
      were granularity (n = 126; 67.7%) and angulated lines (n = 82; 44%). Vascular
      structures were more frequent in invasive melanomas (56% vs 12% of in situ
      melanomas). Most manifested 1 of 3 dermoscopic patterns: patchy peripheral
      pigmented islands, angulated lines, and tan structureless with granularity
      pattern. LIMITATIONS: This was a retrospective study, and evaluators were not
      blinded to the diagnosis. In addition, interobserver concordance and sensitivity
      and specificity for dermoscopic structures were not evaluated. CONCLUSION:
      Outlier lesions manifesting dermoscopic structures, such as granularity,
      angulated lines, or vessels and any of the 3 described dermoscopic patterns
      should raise suspicion for melanoma.

PMID- 25824276
TI  - A Noninvasive and Speculative Method of Visualizing Latent Fingerprint Deposits
      on Thermal Paper.
AB  - Latent fingerprint deposits on thermal paper have been visualized noninvasively
      at visible wavelengths when illuminated with a UV-A light source (peak 365 nm). A
      higher intensity UV source (250 W/m(2) at 0.38 m) gave superior fingerprint
      visibility when compared with a 60 W/m(2) (at 0.4 m) source. Removing the visible
      (blue) component of the light source emission did not adversely affect the
      visibility of the fingerprint. Sample fingerprints from 100 donors, when examined
      24 h after deposition, produced identifiable fingerprints from nearly 34% of
      fingerprint deposits. A mechanism for the observed visibility is proposed based
      on low emission of visible wavelengths from areas of thermal paper coincident
      with the fingerprint deposit, when illuminated with UV. This is likely due to a
      weak color change in the thermal paper dye arising from protonated amino acid
      components of the sweat. This effect was not observed on nonthermal paper. 

PMID- 25824277
TI  - Diffuse brain abnormalities in myotonic dystrophy type 1 detected by 3.0 T proton
      magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
AB  - Patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) (n = 14) were compared with healthy
      controls (n = 13) using 3.0 T proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS)
      to investigate brain pathophysiology. (1)H-MRS imaging revealed reduced N
      acetylaspartate to creatine ratio (NAA/Cr) in multiple brain regions (average
      24%), suggesting diffuse brain abnormalities among patients with DM1. Single
      voxel (1)H-MRS among patients with DM1 showed (1) reduced NAA in both the frontal
      cortex (23%) and frontal white matter (31%) and unaltered myo-inositol,
      suggesting neuronal abnormalities without significant gliosis; and (2) elevated
      glutamine in the frontal cortex (36%) and reduced glutamate in the frontal white
      matter (20%) among patients with DM1, suggesting abnormalities in the
      glutamatergic system in the brain of patients with DM1. We consider that these
      results reflect brain abnormalities that cannot be detected by neuropathological
      assessment in patients with DM1.

PMID- 25824278
TI  - Induction of lcc2 expression and activity by Agaricus bisporus provides defence
      against Trichoderma aggressivum toxic extracts.
AB  - Laccases are used by fungi for several functions including defence responses to
      stresses associated with attack by other fungi. Laccase activity changes and the
      induction of two laccase genes, lcc1 and lcc2, in Agaricus bisporus were measured
      in response to toxic extracts of medium in which Trichoderma aggressivum, the
      cause of green mould disease, was grown. A strain of A. bisporus that shows
      resistance to the extracts showed higher basal levels and greater enzymatic
      activity after extract exposure than did a sensitive strain. Furthermore, pre
      incubation of T. aggressivum extract with laccases reduced toxicity. Faster
      induction and greater numbers of lcc2 transcripts in response to the extract were
      noted in the resistant strain than in the sensitive strain. The timing and
      increase in lcc2 transcript abundance mirrored changes in total laccase activity.
      No correlation between resistance and lcc1 transcription was apparent. Transcript
      abundance in transformants with a siRNA construct homologous to both genes varied
      widely. A strong negative correlation between transcript abundance and
      sensitivity of the transformant to toxic extract was observed in plate assays.
      These results indicated that laccase activity and in particular that encoded by
      lcc2 contributes to toxin metabolism and by extension green mould disease
      resistance. 

PMID- 25824279
TI  - Frequent visualization of thyroglossal duct remnant on post-ablation 131I
      SPECT/CT and its clinical implications.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the frequency of thyroglossal duct remnant (TGDR) uptake on post
      therapy (131)I-scintigraphy in thyroid cancer patients, to analyse the rate of
      persistent TGDR uptake on follow-up combined (131)I-single-photon emission CT/CT
      (SPECT/CT), and to identify the differential clinical characteristics between
      patients with positive and negative TGDR uptake on (131)I-SPECT/CT. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A total of 179 patients treated with total thyroidectomy for thyroid
      cancer were enrolled in the study. At (131)I-whole-body scan (WBS), TGDR uptake
      was defined as an increase in radioactivity at the midline of the neck versus the
      thyroid bed. TGDR uptake on (131)I- SPECT/CT was defined as the presence of
      radioactivity at the expected pathway of the thyroglossal duct without evidence
      of metastatic foci. Persistent TGDR uptake was confirmed when TGDR uptake on
      follow-up (131)I-SPECT/CT corresponded to previous TGDR uptake detected by post
      therapy (131)I-SPECT/CT. RESULTS: At SPECT/CT, TGDR uptake was noted in 86 of 179
      patients. Stimulated thyroglobulin (sTg) levels were significantly higher (p =
      0.02) in patients with positive TGDR uptake. Persistent TGDR uptake on follow-up
      (131)I-SPECT/CT was noted in 15 of 86 patients; sTg levels were significantly
      higher (p = 0.03) in the patients with persistent TGDR uptake. CONCLUSION: TGDR
      uptake is frequently visualized on post-therapy (131)I-SPECT/CT images and can be
      resistant to (131)I ablation. TGDR uptake has the potential to result in an
      elevation of serum thyroglobulin levels. (131)I-SPECT/CT clarifies TGDR uptake
      without additional invasive procedures or imaging studies, eliminating confusion
      among clinicians for managing differentiated thyroid cancer patients.

PMID- 25824280
TI  - Background parenchymal enhancement on breast MRI and mammographic breast density:
      correlation with tumour characteristics.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the relationship between mammographic breast density (MGD)
      and background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) at breast MRI and histopathological
      features of invasive breast cancers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 178 women
      with unilateral invasive breast cancer who preoperatively underwent mammography
      and breast MRI were included in the study. Two radiologists rated MGD and BPE
      according to BI-RADS criteria in consensus. The relationship between MGD and BPE
      was investigated, and compared with histopathological features of invasive breast
      cancers according to the level of MGD and BPE. RESULTS: At MRI, there is no
      significant difference in the distribution of MGD and BPE of the contralateral
      breast in women with invasive breast cancer according to menopausal status
      (p=0.226, 0.384). Women with high MGD (>50% glandular) were more likely to have
      oestrogen-receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer (p=0.045) and progesterone
      receptor (PR)-positive breast cancer (p=0.020). With regard to BPE, PR positivity
      correlated with moderate or marked BPE with borderline significance (p=0.054).
      Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that women with high MGD were
      less likely to have triple-negative (i.e., a cancer that is ER negative, PR
      negative, and human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 [HER2] negative)
      breast cancer compared with ER (+)/HER2 (-) cancer (OR=0.231, 95% CI: 0.070,
      0.760; p=0.016). No association between the histological tumour characteristics
      and BPE was observed. CONCLUSION: In women with invasive breast cancer, high MGD
      is associated with ER positivity of the invasive breast cancer. However, at MRI,
      BPE of the contralateral breast seems to be independent of tumour
      characteristics.

PMID- 25824281
TI  - Transbronchial cryobiopsy in the evaluation of interstitial lung diseases: Time
      for a positioning in the diagnostic work-up approach?

PMID- 25824282
TI  - Potential of lees from wine, beer and cider manufacturing as a source of economic
      nutrients: An overview.
AB  - Lees are the wastes generated during the fermentation and aging processes of
      different industrial activities concerning alcoholic drinks such as wine, cider
      and beer. They must be conveniently treated to avoid uncontrolled dumping which
      causes environmental problems due to their high content of phenols, pesticides,
      heavy metals, and considerable concentrations of nitrogen, phosphate and
      potassium as well as high organic content. The companies involved must seek
      alternative environmental and economic physicochemical and biological treatments
      for their revalorization consisting in the recovery or transformation of the
      components of the lees into high value-added compounds. After describing the
      composition of lees and market of wine, beer and cider industries in Spain, this
      work aims to review the recent applications of wine, beer and cider lees reported
      in literature, with special attention to the use of lees as an endless
      sustainable source of nutrients and the production of yeast extract by autolysis
      or cell disruption. Lees and/or yeast extract can be used as nutritional
      supplements with potential exploitation in the biotechnological industry for the
      production of natural compounds such as xylitol, organic acids, and
      biosurfactants, among others. 

PMID- 25824283
TI  - Brightly Luminescent and Color-Tunable Colloidal CH3NH3PbX3 (X = Br, I, Cl)
      Quantum Dots: Potential Alternatives for Display Technology.
AB  - Organometal halide perovskites are inexpensive materials with desirable
      characteristics of color-tunable and narrow-band emissions for lighting and
      display technology, but they suffer from low photoluminescence quantum yields at
      low excitation fluencies. Here we developed a ligand-assisted reprecipitation
      strategy to fabricate brightly luminescent and color-tunable colloidal CH3NH3PbX3
      (X = Br, I, Cl) quantum dots with absolute quantum yield up to 70% at room
      temperature and low excitation fluencies. To illustrate the photoluminescence
      enhancements in these quantum dots, we conducted comprehensive composition and
      surface characterizations and determined the time- and temperature-dependent
      photoluminescence spectra. Comparisons between small-sized CH3NH3PbBr3 quantum
      dots (average diameter 3.3 nm) and corresponding micrometer-sized bulk particles
      (2-8 MUm) suggest that the intense increased photoluminescence quantum yield
      originates from the increase of exciton binding energy due to size reduction as
      well as proper chemical passivations of the Br-rich surface. We further
      demonstrated wide-color gamut white-light-emitting diodes using green emissive
      CH3NH3PbBr3 quantum dots and red emissive K2SiF6:Mn(4+) as color converters,
      providing enhanced color quality for display technology. Moreover, colloidal
      CH3NH3PbX3 quantum dots are expected to exhibit interesting nanoscale excitonic
      properties and also have other potential applications in lasers,
      electroluminescence devices, and optical sensors. 

PMID- 25824284
TI  - Global analysis of fungal morphology exposes mechanisms of host cell escape.
AB  - Developmental transitions between single-cell yeast and multicellular filaments
      underpin virulence of diverse fungal pathogens. For the leading human fungal
      pathogen Candida albicans, filamentation is thought to be required for immune
      cell escape via induction of an inflammatory programmed cell death. Here we
      perform a genome-scale analysis of C. albicans morphogenesis and identify 102
      negative morphogenetic regulators and 872 positive regulators, highlighting key
      roles for ergosterol biosynthesis and N-linked glycosylation. We demonstrate that
      C. albicans filamentation is not required for escape from host immune cells;
      instead, macrophage pyroptosis is driven by fungal cell-wall remodelling and
      exposure of glycosylated proteins in response to the macrophage phagosome. The
      capacity of killed, previously phagocytized cells to drive macrophage lysis is
      also observed with the distantly related fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.
      This study provides a global view of morphogenetic circuitry governing a key
      virulence trait, and illuminates a new mechanism by which fungi trigger host cell
      death. 

PMID- 25824287
TI  - Necrotising fasciitis secondary to perforated rectal adenocarcinoma presenting as
      a thigh swelling.
AB  - A 62-year-old man was admitted to the medical admissions ward with right thigh
      pain presumed to be a deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Subsequent duplex
      ultrasonography excluded a DVT but noted the presence of a significant amount of
      subcutaneous gas. A plain film radiograph was performed with the same finding
      raising the possibility of necrotising fasciitis (NF). Only at this point was
      digital rectal examination performed revealing a large rectal mass oozing pus and
      blood. CT imaging showed thickening of the rectum consistent with a tumour with
      gas and fluid in the perirectal space extending to the anterolateral right femur.
      Despite aggressive debridement and treatment, the patient deteriorated and died 6
      weeks later. This case should serve as a reminder to consider digital rectal
      examination and the occurrence of a rectal perforation in all patients who
      present with suspicious thigh swellings. 

PMID- 25824286
TI  - Fulminant necrotising fasciitis by community-acquired methicillin-resistant
      Staphylococcus aureus.
AB  - Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is a
      rare cause of necrotising fasciitis (NF), and is usually not fulminant as in
      group A Streptococcus (GAS), the archetypal aetiology. We report an unusually
      fulminant case of NF by CA-MRSA in an immunocompetent patient. A 52-year-old man
      presented to the emergency department with 1 week of progressive left thigh pain
      and swelling. The patient had ecchymoses, bullae and hypoesthesia of the involved
      skin, and CT scan revealed extensive fascial oedema. He was immediately started
      on broad spectrum antibiotics. Within 12 h of presentation, he underwent surgical
      debridement. Despite aggressive supportive care, the patient died less than 24 h
      after presentation. MRSA, with an antibiogram suggestive of a community-acquired
      strain, was recovered from intraoperative specimens and admission blood cultures.
      This case underscores that CA-MRSA, while rarely reported, can cause a fulminant
      presentation of NF similar to GAS in immunocompetent patients. 

PMID- 25824288
TI  - A rash during surgery: rounding up the usual suspects.

PMID- 25824285
TI  - Molecular and physiological effects of environmental UV radiation on fungal
      conidia.
AB  - Conidia are specialized structures produced at the end of the asexual life cycle
      of most filamentous fungi. They are responsible for fungal dispersal and
      environmental persistence. In pathogenic species, they are also involved in host
      recognition and infection. Conidial production, survival, dispersal, germination,
      pathogenicity and virulence can be strongly influenced by exposure to solar
      radiation, although its effects are diverse and often species dependent. UV
      radiation is the most harmful and mutagenic waveband of the solar spectrum.
      Direct exposure to solar radiation for a few hours can kill conidia of most
      fungal species. Conidia are killed both by solar UV-A and UV-B radiation. In
      addition to killing conidia, which limits the size of the fungal population and
      its dispersion, exposures to sublethal doses of UV radiation can reduce conidial
      germination speed and virulence. The focus of this review is to provide an
      overview of the effects of solar radiation on conidia and on the major systems
      involved in protection from and repair of damage induced by solar UV radiation.
      The efforts that have been made to obtain strains of fungi of interest such as
      entomopathogens more tolerant to solar radiation will also be reviewed. 

PMID- 25824289
TI  - Clinical efficacy of autologous stem cell transplantation for the treatment of
      patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AIMS: In this study, we investigate whether bone marrow mononuclear
      cells (BM-MNC) or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PB-MNC) have therapeutic
      efficacy in type 2 diabetes (T2D). METHODS: Search terms included stem cell, bone
      marrow cell, peripheral blood cell, umbilical cord blood and T2D in MEDLINE, the
      Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, EMBASE, the Wanfang Database, the China
      Science and Technology Periodical Database and China Journal Net. RESULTS:
      Fifteen trials met our inclusion criteria (n = 497). One group included 266 cases
      with BM-MNC therapy and the other group contained 231 cases with PB-MNC
      treatment. Glycosylated hemoglobin was decreased after BM-MNC or PB-MNC therapy
      compared with that before (12 months: P < 0.001; 6 months: P < 0.001; 3 months: P
      < 0.05). Fasting plasma glucose was reduced in BM-MNC therapy group compared with
      control after 12-month follow-up (P < 0.001) and after BM-MNC therapy compared
      with that before (9 months: P < 0.001) but was not obvious in other stages.
      Meanwhile, the analysis showed that C-peptide level increased after BM-MNC and PB
      MNC therapy compared with the control therapy (12 months: P < 0.001) and with
      that before therapy (6 months: P < 0.05). Insulin requirement reduction was also
      observed in patients receiving BM-MNC therapy (3, 6, 9 and 12 months: P < 0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: To a certain extent, BM-MNC or PB-MNC therapy for T2D demonstrated
      superiority of glycemic control, increased insulin biosynthesis and elevated
      insulin secretion from existing beta-cells and might prevent islet cell loss.

PMID- 25824292
TI  - Recognizing the importance of new tools and resources for research.

PMID- 25824291
TI  - CaRuby-Nano: a novel high affinity calcium probe for dual color imaging.
AB  - The great demand for long-wavelength and high signal-to-noise Ca(2+) indicators
      has led us to develop CaRuby-Nano, a new functionalizable red calcium indicator
      with nanomolar affinity for use in cell biology and neuroscience research. In
      addition, we generated CaRuby-Nano dextran conjugates and an AM-ester variant for
      bulk loading of tissue. We tested the new indicator using in vitro and in vivo
      experiments demonstrating the high sensitivity of CaRuby-Nano as well as its
      power in dual color imaging experiments. 

PMID- 25824290
TI  - A library of MiMICs allows tagging of genes and reversible, spatial and temporal
      knockdown of proteins in Drosophila.
AB  - Here, we document a collection of ~7434 MiMIC (Minos Mediated Integration
      Cassette) insertions of which 2854 are inserted in coding introns. They allowed
      us to create a library of 400 GFP-tagged genes. We show that 72% of internally
      tagged proteins are functional, and that more than 90% can be imaged in unfixed
      tissues. Moreover, the tagged mRNAs can be knocked down by RNAi against GFP
      (iGFPi), and the tagged proteins can be efficiently knocked down by deGradFP
      technology. The phenotypes associated with RNA and protein knockdown typically
      correspond to severe loss of function or null mutant phenotypes. Finally, we
      demonstrate reversible, spatial, and temporal knockdown of tagged proteins in
      larvae and adult flies. This new strategy and collection of strains allows
      unprecedented in vivo manipulations in flies for many genes. These strategies
      will likely extend to vertebrates. 

PMID- 25824293
TI  - Does low-molecular-weight heparin influence the antimyeloma effects of
      thalidomide? A retrospective analysis of data from the GIMEMA, Nordic and Turkish
      myeloma study groups.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIM: Low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) has been shown to prolong
      survival among patients with solid tumors, but its role among myeloma patients is
      unknown. PATIENTS: Data from the GIMEMA (Gruppo Italiano Malattie Ematologiche
      dell'Adulto), Nordic and Turkish myeloma study groups comparing melphalan and
      prednisolone with (MPT, n: 404) or without thalidomide (MP, n: 393) are analyzed
      for effects of LMWH. Forty percent (159/394) of the patients on MPT and 7.4%
      (29/390) in the MP arm received LMWH. RESULTS: Thalidomide improved response and
      progression-free survival (PFS). Regardless of thalidomide treatment, response
      rate was higher among those receiving LMWH vs. none vs. other anticoagulants
      (58.1 vs. 44.9 vs. 50.4%, p = 0.01). PFS was significantly longer (median 32 vs.
      21 and 17 vs. 17 months, p = 0.004) only among international scoring system (ISS)
      I patients receiving MPT +/- LMWH vs. MP +/- LMWH. The group of MPT patients who
      also received LMWH had a better OS compared to those who did not [45 months, 95%
      confidence interval (CI) 27.7-62.3, vs. 32 months, 95% CI 26.1-37.9; p = 0.034].
      When multivariate analysis was repeated in subgroups, thalidomide was no longer a
      significant factor (response, PFS) among those receiving LMWH. CONCLUSION:
      Addition of LMWH to MPT, in particular in patients with low ISS, suggests
      additive effects, but the results are limited by the retrospective design of our
      study.

PMID- 25824294
TI  - Esophageal and Gastric Cancer Pearl: a nationwide clinical biobanking project in
      the Netherlands.
AB  - Esophageal and gastric cancer is associated with a poor prognosis since many
      patients develop recurrent disease. Treatment requires specific expertise and a
      structured multidisciplinary approach. In the Netherlands, this type of expertise
      is mainly found at the University Medical Centers (UMCs) and a few specialized
      nonacademic centers. Aim of this study is to implement a national infrastructure
      for research to gain more insight in the etiology and prognosis of esophageal and
      gastric cancer and to evaluate and improve the response on (neoadjuvant)
      treatment. Clinical data are collected in a prospective database, which is linked
      to the patients' biomaterial. The collection and storage of biomaterial is
      performed according to standard operating procedures in all participating UMCs as
      established within the Parelsnoer Institute. The collected biomaterial consists
      of tumor biopsies, blood samples, samples of malignant and healthy tissue of the
      resected specimen and biopsies of recurrence. The collected material is stored in
      the local biobanks and is encoded to respect the privacy of the donors. After
      approval of the study was obtained from the Institutional Review Board, the first
      patient was included in October 2014. The target aim is to include 300 patients
      annually. In conclusion, the eight UMCs of the Netherlands collaborated to
      establish a nationwide database of clinical information and biomaterial of
      patients with esophageal and gastric cancer. Due to the national coverage, a high
      number of patients are expected to be included. This will provide opportunity for
      future studies to gain more insight in the etiology, treatment and prognosis of
      esophageal and gastric cancer. 

PMID- 25824295
TI  - Evaluation of bone regeneration with biphasic calcium phosphate substitute
      implanted with bone morphogenetic protein 2 and mesenchymal stem cells in a
      rabbit calvarial defect model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vivo osteogenic potential
      of biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP), bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2), and/or
      mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) composites by using a rabbit calvarial defect model.
      STUDY DESIGN: Bone formation was assessed by using three different kinds of
      implants in rabbit calvarial defects, BCP alone, BCP/recombinant human (rh) BMP
      2, and BCP/rhBMP-2/MSCs composite. The implants were harvested after 2 or 8
      weeks, and the area of new bone formation was quantified by micro-computed
      tomography (micro-CT) and histologic studies. RESULTS: The highest bone formation
      was achieved with the BCP/rhBMP-2/MSCs treatment, and it was significantly higher
      than that achieved with the empty or BCP-alone treatment. The quantity of new
      bone at 8 weeks was greater than at 4 weeks in each group. The relative density
      of osteocalcin immunoreactivity also increased during this interval. CONCLUSIONS:
      These results indicate that the combination of BCP, rhBMP-2, and MSCs
      synergistically enhances osteogenic potential during the early healing period and
      could be used as a bone graft substitute.

PMID- 25824296
TI  - Oral Candida carriage among individuals chewing betel-quid with and without
      tobacco.

PMID- 25824297
TI  - CXCR4 attenuates cardiomyocytes mitochondrial dysfunction to resist ischaemia
      reperfusion injury.
AB  - The chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4 (CXCR4) is expressed on native
      cardiomyocytes and can modulate isolated cardiomyocyte contractility. This study
      examines the role of CXCR4 in cardiomyocyte response to ischaemia-reperfusion
      (I/R) injury. Isolated adult rat ventricular cardiomyocytes were subjected to
      hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) to simulate I/R injury. In response to H/R injury,
      the decrease in CXCR4 expression was associated with dysfunctional energy
      metabolism indicated by an increased adenosine diphosphate/adenosine triphosphate
      (ADP/ATP) ratio. CXCR4-overexpressing cardiomyocytes were used to determine
      whether such overexpression (OE) can prevent bio-energetic disruption-associated
      cell death. CXCR4 OE was performed with adenoviral infection with CXCR4 encoding
      gene or non-translated nucleotide sequence (Control). The increased CXCR4
      expression was observed in cardiomyocytes post CXCR4-adenovirus transduction and
      this OE significantly reduced the cardiomyocyte contractility under basal
      conditions. Although the same extent of H/R-provoked cytosolic calcium overload
      was measured, the hydrogen peroxide-induced decay of mitochondrial membrane
      potential was suppressed in CXCR4 OE group compared with control group, and the
      mitochondrial swelling was significantly attenuated in CXCR4 group, implicating
      that CXCR4 OE prevents permeability transition pore opening exposure to overload
      calcium. Interestingly, this CXCR4-induced mitochondrial protective effect is
      associated with the enhanced signal transducer and activator of transcription 3
      (expression in mitochondria. Consequently, in the presence of H/R, mitochondrial
      dysfunction was mitigated and cardiomyocyte death was decreased to 65% in the
      CXCR4 OE group as compared with the control group. I/R injury leads to the
      reduction in CXCR4 in cardiomyocytes associated with the dysfunctional energy
      metabolism, and CXCR4 OE can alleviate mitochondrial dysfunction to improve
      cardiomyocyte survival. 

PMID- 25824298
TI  - Medial frontal GABA is lower in older schizophrenia: a MEGA-PRESS with
      macromolecule suppression study.
AB  - Gamma-butyric acid (GABA) dysfunction has been implicated in the pathophysiology
      of schizophrenia and its cognitive deficits. Proton magnetic resonance
      spectroscopy (MRS) was used to test the hypothesis that older participants with
      schizophrenia have lower anterior cingulate GABA levels compared with older
      control participants. One-hundred forty-five participants completed this study.
      For detection of GABA, spectra were acquired from the medial frontal/anterior
      cingulate cortex using a macromolecule-suppressed MEGA-PRESS sequence. Patients
      were evaluated for psychopathology and all participants completed
      neuropsychological tests of working memory, processing speed and functional
      capacity. GABA levels were significantly lower in the older participants with
      schizophrenia (n=31) compared with the older control (n=37) group (P=0.003) but
      not between the younger control (n=40) and schizophrenia (n=29) groups (P=0.994).
      Age strongly predicted GABA levels in the schizophrenia group accounting for 42%
      of the variance, but the effect of age was less in the control group accounting
      for 5.7% of the variance. GABA levels were specifically related to working memory
      but not processing speed performance, functional capacity, or positive or
      negative symptom severity. This is the largest MRS study of GABA in schizophrenia
      and the first to examine GABA without macromolecule contamination, a potentially
      significant issue in previous studies. GABA levels more rapidly declined with
      advancing age in the schizophrenia compared with the control group. Interventions
      targeted at halting the decline or increasing GABA levels may improve functional
      outcomes and quality of life as patients with schizophrenia age. 

PMID- 25824299
TI  - Conditional neuroligin-2 knockout in adult medial prefrontal cortex links chronic
      changes in synaptic inhibition to cognitive impairments.
AB  - Abnormal activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is consistently observed
      in neuropsychiatric disorders, but the mechanisms involved remain unclear.
      Chronic aberrant excitation and/or inhibition of mPFC neurons were proposed to
      cause cognitive impairments. However, direct evidence for this hypothesis is
      lacking because it is technically challenging to control synaptic properties in a
      chronic and locally restricted, yet specific, manner. Here, we generated
      conditional knockout (cKO) mice of neuroligin-2 (Nlgn2), a postsynaptic cell
      adhesion molecule of inhibitory synapses linked to neuropsychiatric disorders.
      cKO of Nlgn2 in adult mPFC rendered Nlgn2 protein undetectable after already 2-3
      weeks, but induced major reductions in synaptic inhibition after only 6-7 weeks,
      and caused parallel impairments in anxiety, fear memory and social interaction
      behaviors. Moreover, cKO of Nlgn2 severely impaired behavioral stimulation of
      immediate-early gene expression in the mPFC, suggesting that chronic reduction in
      synaptic inhibition uncoupled the mPFC from experience-dependent inputs. Our
      results indicate that Nlgn2 is required for continuous maintenance of inhibitory
      synapses in the adult mPFC, and that chronic impairment of local inhibition
      disengages the mPFC from its cognitive functions by partially uncoupling the mPFC
      from experience-induced inputs. 

PMID- 25824300
TI  - Cytokine network analysis of cerebrospinal fluid in myalgic
      encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.
AB  - Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome is an unexplained debilitating
      disorder that is frequently associated with cognitive and motor dysfunction. We
      analyzed cerebrospinal fluid from 32 cases, 40 subjects with multiple sclerosis
      and 19 normal subjects frequency-matched for age and sex using a 51-plex cytokine
      assay. Group-specific differences were found for the majority of analytes with an
      increase in cases of CCL11 (eotaxin), a chemokine involved in eosinophil
      recruitment. Network analysis revealed an inverse relationship between
      interleukin 1 receptor antagonist and colony-stimulating factor 1, colony
      stimulating factor 2 and interleukin 17F, without effects on interleukin 1alpha
      or interleukin 1beta, suggesting a disturbance in interleukin 1 signaling. Our
      results indicate a markedly disturbed immune signature in the cerebrospinal fluid
      of cases that is consistent with immune activation in the central nervous system,
      and a shift toward an allergic or T helper type-2 pattern associated with
      autoimmunity. 

PMID- 25824301
TI  - Durable fear memories require PSD-95.

PMID- 25824302
TI  - Whole-genome association analysis of treatment response in obsessive-compulsive
      disorder.
AB  - Up to 30% of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibit an
      inadequate response to serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs). To date, genetic
      predictors of OCD treatment response have not been systematically investigated
      using genome-wide association study (GWAS). To identify specific genetic
      variations potentially influencing SRI response, we conducted a GWAS study in 804
      OCD patients with information on SRI response. SRI response was classified as
      'response' (n=514) or 'non-response' (n=290), based on self-report. We used the
      more powerful Quasi-Likelihood Score Test (the MQLS test) to conduct a genome
      wide association test correcting for relatedness, and then used an adjusted
      logistic model to evaluate the effect size of the variants in probands. The top
      single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was rs17162912 (P=1.76 * 10(-8)), which is
      near the DISP1 gene on 1q41-q42, a microdeletion region implicated in
      neurological development. The other six SNPs showing suggestive evidence of
      association (P<10(-5)) were rs9303380, rs12437601, rs16988159, rs7676822,
      rs1911877 and rs723815. Among them, two SNPs in strong linkage disequilibrium,
      rs7676822 and rs1911877, located near the PCDH10 gene, gave P-values of 2.86 *
      10(-6) and 8.41 * 10(-6), respectively. The other 35 variations with signals of
      potential significance (P<10(-4)) involve multiple genes expressed in the brain,
      including GRIN2B, PCDH10 and GPC6. Our enrichment analysis indicated suggestive
      roles of genes in the glutamatergic neurotransmission system (false discovery
      rate (FDR)=0.0097) and the serotonergic system (FDR=0.0213). Although the results
      presented may provide new insights into genetic mechanisms underlying treatment
      response in OCD, studies with larger sample sizes and detailed information on
      drug dosage and treatment duration are needed. 

PMID- 25824303
TI  - Kraepelin revisited: schizophrenia from degeneration to failed regeneration.
AB  - One hundred years after its conceptual definition as 'Dementia Praecox' by Emil
      Kraepelin, schizophrenia is still a serious psychiatric illness that affects
      young adults and leads to disability in at least half of patients. The key
      treatment issue is partial or non-response, especially of negative symptoms. The
      illness is also associated with different degrees of cognitive dysfunction,
      particularly in verbal and working memory; the resulting functional impairment
      may lead to unemployment and an inability to maintain stable relationships.
      Patients' cognitive dysfunction led Kraepelin to the assumption that
      schizophrenia is a form of juvenile dementia caused by a degenerative process of
      the human brain. Postmortem studies and a plethora of imaging studies do not
      support the notion of a degenerative process, but such a process is supported by
      the recently published, largest genome-wide association study on schizophrenia.
      More than a 100 hits were described, converging on pathways that have a
      significant role in dopamine metabolism in immune modulation, calcium signalling
      and synaptic plasticity. This review suggests that research should focus on
      animal models based on risk genes like transcription factor 4 and study the
      effects of exposure to environmental stressors relevant for schizophrenia. The
      use of relevant end points like pre-pulse inhibition or cognitive dysfunction
      will allow us to gain an understanding of the molecular pathways in schizophrenia
      and consequently result in improved treatment options, especially for the
      disabling aspects of this illness. 

PMID- 25824304
TI  - Dysregulation of soluble epoxide hydrolase and lipidomic profiles in anorexia
      nervosa.
AB  - Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) restrict eating and become emaciated. They
      tend to have an aversion to foods rich in fat. Because epoxide hydrolase 2
      (EPHX2) was identified as a novel AN susceptibility gene, and because its protein
      product, soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH), converts bioactive epoxides of
      polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) to the corresponding diols, lipidomic and
      metabolomic targets of EPHX2 were assessed to evaluate the biological functions
      of EPHX2 and their role in AN. Epoxide substrates of sEH and associated oxylipins
      were measured in ill AN, recovered AN and gender- and race-matched controls. PUFA
      and oxylipin markers were tested as potential biomarkers for AN. Oxylipin ratios
      were calculated as proxy markers of in vivo sEH activity. Several free- and total
      PUFAs were associated with AN diagnosis and with AN recovery. AN displayed
      elevated n-3 PUFAs and may differ from controls in PUFA elongation and
      desaturation processes. Cytochrome P450 pathway oxylipins from arachidonic acid,
      linoleic acid, alpha-linolenic acid and docosahexaenoic acid PUFAs are associated
      with AN diagnosis. The diol:epoxide ratios suggest the sEH activity is higher in
      AN compared with controls. Multivariate analysis illustrates normalization of
      lipidomic profiles in recovered ANs. EPHX2 influences AN risk through in vivo
      interaction with dietary PUFAs. PUFA composition and concentrations as well as
      sEH activity may contribute to the pathogenesis and prognosis of AN. Our data
      support the involvement of EPHX2-associated lipidomic and oxylipin dysregulations
      in AN, and reveal their potential as biomarkers to assess responsiveness to
      future intervention or treatment. 

PMID- 25824306
TI  - Telling true from false: cannabis users show increased susceptibility to false
      memories.
AB  - Previous studies on the neurocognitive impact of cannabis use have found working
      and declarative memory deficits that tend to normalize with abstinence. An
      unexplored aspect of cognitive function in chronic cannabis users is the ability
      to distinguish between veridical and illusory memories, a crucial aspect of
      reality monitoring that relies on adequate memory function and cognitive control.
      Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show that abstinent cannabis
      users have an increased susceptibility to false memories, failing to identify
      lure stimuli as events that never occurred. In addition to impaired performance,
      cannabis users display reduced activation in areas associated with memory
      processing within the lateral and medial temporal lobe (MTL), and in parietal and
      frontal brain regions involved in attention and performance monitoring.
      Furthermore, cannabis consumption was inversely correlated with MTL activity,
      suggesting that the drug is especially detrimental to the episodic aspects of
      memory. These findings indicate that cannabis users have an increased
      susceptibility to memory distortions even when abstinent and drug-free,
      suggesting a long-lasting compromise of memory and cognitive control mechanisms
      involved in reality monitoring. 

PMID- 25824305
TI  - The BDNF gene Val66Met polymorphism as a modifier of psychiatric disorder
      susceptibility: progress and controversy.
AB  - Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has a primary role in neuronal
      development, differentiation and plasticity in both the developing and adult
      brain. A single-nucleotide polymorphism in the proregion of BDNF, termed the
      Val66Met polymorphism, results in deficient subcellular translocation and
      activity-dependent secretion of BDNF, and has been associated with impaired
      neurocognitive function in healthy adults and in the incidence and clinical
      features of several psychiatric disorders. Research investigating the Val66Met
      polymorphism has increased markedly in the past decade, and a gap in integration
      exists between and within academic subfields interested in the effects of this
      variant. Here we comprehensively review the role and relevance of the Val66Met
      polymorphism in psychiatric disorders, with emphasis on suicidal behavior and
      anxiety, eating, mood and psychotic disorders. The cognitive and molecular
      neuroscience of the Val66Met polymorphism is also concisely reviewed to
      illustrate the effects of this genetic variant in healthy controls, and is
      complemented by a commentary on the behavioral neuroscience of BDNF and the
      Val66Met polymorphism where relevant to specific disorders. Lastly, a number of
      controversies and unresolved issues, including small effect sizes, sampling of
      allele inheritance but not genotype and putative ethnicity-specific effects of
      the Val66Met polymorphism, are also discussed to direct future research. 

PMID- 25824308
TI  - Evolocumab (AMG 145) for primary hypercholesterolemia.
AB  - Evolocumab is a fully human monoclonal IgG2 antibody that inhibits proprotein
      convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9, a protein that targets LDL receptors for
      degradation and thereby reduces the liver's ability to remove LDL-C from the
      blood. In Phase II and III trials in more than 6000 subjects with primary
      hypercholesterolemia, evolocumab reduced LDL-C by 50-75% compared with placebo
      and by 35-45% compared with ezetimibe. Evolocumab reduced the proatherogenic
      lipid profile, including Lp(a), and modestly increased HDL-C and ApoA1. In
      subjects with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, evolocumab reduced LDL-C
      by 30%. Safety and tolerability of evolocumab was similar to that of placebo and
      ezetimibe. The ongoing FOURIER trial, anticipated to report in 2017, will provide
      definitive evidence on cardiovascular endpoints and additional long-term safety. 

PMID- 25824307
TI  - Noncoding RNAs and neurobehavioral mechanisms in psychiatric disease.
AB  - The human genome project has revolutionized our understanding of the underlying
      mechanisms in psychiatric disease. It is now abundantly clear that
      neurobehavioral phenotypes are epigenetically controlled by noncoding RNAs
      (ncRNAs). The microRNA (miRNA) class of ncRNAs are ubiquitously expressed
      throughout the brain and govern all major neuronal pathways. The attractive
      therapeutic potential of miRNAs is underscored by their pleiotropic capacities,
      putatively targeting multiple pathways within a single neuron. Many psychiatric
      diseases stem from a multifactorial origin, thus conventional drug targeting of
      single proteins may not prove most effective. In this exciting post-genome
      sequencing era, many new epigenetic targets are emerging for therapeutic
      investigation. Here we review the reported roles of miRNAs, as well as other
      ncRNA classes, in the pathology of psychiatric disorders; there are both common
      and unique ncRNA mechanisms that influence the various diagnoses. Collectively,
      these potent epigenetic regulators may clarify the disrupted signaling networks
      in psychiatric phenotypes. 

PMID- 25824309
TI  - Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound enhances bone formation around miniscrew
      implants.
AB  - Miniscrew implants (MSIs) are currently used to provide absolute anchorage in
      orthodontics; however, their initial stability is an issue of concern.
      Application of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) can promote bone healing.
      Therefore, LIPUS application may stimulate bone formation around MSIs and enhance
      their initial stability. AIM: To investigate the effect of LIPUS exposure on bone
      formation after implantation of titanium (Ti) and stainless steel (SS) MSIs.
      METHODS: MSIs made of Ti-6Al-4V and 316L SS were placed on rat tibiae and treated
      with LIPUS. The bone morphology around MSIs was evaluated by scanning electron
      microscopy and three-dimensional micro-computed tomography. MC3T3-E1 cells
      cultured on Ti and SS discs were treated with LIPUS, and the temporary expression
      of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was examined. RESULTS: Bone-implant contact
      increased gradually from day 3 to day 14 after MSI insertion. LIPUS application
      increased the cortical bone density, cortical bone thickness, and cortical bone
      rate after implantation of Ti and SS MSIs (P<0.05). LIPUS exposure induced ALP
      upregulation in MC3T3-E1 cells at day 3 (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: LIPUS enhanced bone
      formation around Ti and SS MSIs, enhancing the initial stability of MSIs.

PMID- 25824310
TI  - Porphyromonas gingivalis-induced alveolar bone loss is accelerated in the stroke
      prone spontaneously hypertensive rat.
AB  - Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) is one of the prominent periodontal
      pathogens and is the most important bacteria involved in the onset and
      exacerbation of periodontitis. P. gingivalis is an anaerobic, Gram-negative
      coccobacillus that plays a role in the progression of periodontal disease by
      promoting alveolar bone resorption. The aim of the present study was to examine
      P. gingivalis-induced osteoclastic bone resorption in the stroke-prone
      spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRSP), in which oxidative stress induced by
      reactive oxygen species (ROS) is increased. In the present study, we used animals
      orally challenged with P. gingivalis as a chronic inflammation model. Horizontal
      bone loss around the maxillary molars was assessed morphometrically. Animals were
      divided into four groups: (1) P. gingivalis-non-infected Wister Kyoto Rat (WKY),
      (2) orally challenged with P. gingivalis WKY (WKY + Pg), (3) P. gingivalis-non
      infected SHRSP, and (4) orally challenged with P. gingivalis SHRSP (SHRSP + Pg).
      Alveolar bone resorption was significantly increased in the orally challenged
      with P. gingivalis groups, and was accelerated in the SHRSP group. Histological
      analysis revealed that the infiltration of inflammatory cells was absent in all
      groups. However, the infiltration of osteoclasts was observed in the SHRSP + Pg
      and SHRSP groups. We examined P. gingivalis-induced alveolar bone loss in both
      the SHRSP and WKY. The results obtained demonstrated that P. gingivalis-induced
      alveolar bone loss would be involved in hypertension and stroke animal model,
      such as SHRSP and/or periodontal disease.

PMID- 25824311
TI  - Frontline therapy of severe aplastic anaemia with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide
      and ciclosporin.

PMID- 25824312
TI  - epsilon-Caprolactone is not a 50-kDa molecule when applied in micro-chambered
      beads.

PMID- 25824313
TI  - Percutaneous cryoablation of stage T1b renal cell carcinoma: technique
      considerations, safety, and local tumor control.
AB  - PURPOSE: To describe the technical methods, safety, and local tumor control rate
      associated with percutaneous cryoablation of stage T1b renal cell carcinoma
      (RCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of a percutaneous renal
      ablation registry was used to identify 46 patients with a total of 46 biopsy
      proven RCC lesions measuring 4.1-7.0 cm treated with cryoablation between 2003
      and 2011. The main outcome parameters investigated were adjunctive maneuvers,
      complications, and local tumor progression, and cancer-specific survival rates.
      Complication rates were categorized and recorded using the Clavien-Dindo
      classification system. Progression-free and cancer-specific survival rates were
      estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: The mean treated RCC size was
      4.8 cm (range, 4.1-6.4 cm). Prophylactic tumor embolization was performed in 7
      patients (15%), ipsilateral ureteral stents were placed in 7 patients (15%), and
      hydrodisplacement of bowel was performed in the treatment of 16 tumors (35%). A
      single technical failure (2.2%) was observed at the time of ablation. Thirty-six
      tumors (78%) had follow-up imaging at 3 months or later following ablation,
      including a single recurrence at 9 months after ablation. The mean duration of
      follow-up for the 35 RCC tumors that did not recur was 2.0 years (range, 0.3-6.1
      y). Estimated local progression-free survival rate at 3 years was 96.4%. Of the
      46 cryoablation procedures, there were 7 complications (15.2%) of grade II or
      worse. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that cryoablation represents a valid
      treatment alternative for select patients with clinical stage T1b RCC.
      Complications are frequent enough that multidisciplinary patient management
      should be considered.

PMID- 25824314
TI  - Endovascular Management of Deep Vein Thrombosis with Rheolytic Thrombectomy:
      Final Report of the Prospective Multicenter PEARL (Peripheral Use of AngioJet
      Rheolytic Thrombectomy with a Variety of Catheter Lengths) Registry.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report procedural and patient outcomes of endovascular treatment for
      lower-extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT) with rheolytic thrombectomy (RT).
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 32 sites in the United States and Europe
      enrolled patients with DVT in the Peripheral Use of AngioJet Rheolytic
      Thrombectomy with a Variety of Catheter Lengths (PEARL) registry. Patient
      characteristics and outcomes data were collected from consenting patients who
      underwent rheolytic AngioJet thrombectomy at investigative sites from January
      2007 through June 2013. Three hundred twenty-nine patients were enrolled, with
      67% of patients undergoing an AngioJet procedure within 14 days of the onset of
      symptoms. RESULTS: Four treatment approaches using AngioJet thrombectomy were
      identified: RT without lytic agent in 4% of patients (13 of 329),
      pharmacomechanical catheter-directed thrombolysis (PCDT) in 35% (115 of 329),
      PCDT and catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) in 52% (172 of 329), and RT in
      combination with CDT in 9% (29 of 329). Median procedure times for RT alone,
      PCDT, PCDT/CDT, and RT/CDT were 1.4, 2, 22, and 41 hours, respectively (P < .05,
      Kruskal-Wallis test). Procedures were completed in less than 24 hours for 73% of
      patients, with 36% of procedures completed within 6 hours; 86% of procedures
      required no more than 2 catheter laboratory sessions. The 3-, 6-, and 12-month
      freedom from rethrombosis rates were 94%, 87%, and 83%, respectively. Major
      bleeding events occurred in 12 patients (3.6%), but none were related to the
      AngioJet procedure. CONCLUSIONS: PEARL registry data demonstrate that rheolytic
      PCDT treatment of DVT is safe and effective, and can potentially reduce the need
      for concomitant CDT and intensive care.

PMID- 25824315
TI  - The Prognostic Role of Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Patients with
      Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated with Radioembolization.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)
      in patients with unresectable intermediate- or advanced-stage hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC) treated with yttrium-90 radioembolization (RE). MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Retrospective chart review was performed for 176 patients with
      intermediate- or advanced-stage HCC treated with RE between August 2000 and
      November 2012. The appropriate NLR cutoff was determined by receiver operating
      characteristic curves. Demographic, clinical, radiographic, and pathologic
      parameters were compared between patients with a normal NLR (< 5) and those with
      an elevated NLR (>= 5) before RE. Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage
      stratified univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to determine
      variables associated with overall survival. RESULTS: Under univariate analyses,
      patients with a normal NLR were found to have longer survival than individuals
      with a high NLR in intermediate/advanced-disease and advanced-disease cohorts. A
      multivariate Cox proportional-hazards model in the advanced-disease group
      confirmed that elevated NLR, high alpha-fetoprotein level, and low albumin level
      were independent predictors of worse survival. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides
      stage-dependent evidence for the prognostic role of NLR in the radioembolized HCC
      cohort. Patients with BCLC stage C disease with elevated NLR may not derive
      benefit from RE, and other intervening modalities should be explored in this
      subpopulation.

PMID- 25824316
TI  - Comparison of transarterial chemoembolization and hepatic resection for large
      solitary hepatocellular carcinoma: a propensity score analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare long-term survival after hepatic resection and transarterial
      chemoembolization of large solitary hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Analysis of 91 and 68 consecutive patients with large (>= 5 cm)
      solitary HCCs who underwent hepatic resection and transarterial
      chemoembolization, respectively, was performed. Overall survival and time to
      progression (TTP) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using
      the Cox proportional hazards model. To control for treatment-selection bias,
      matched groups of patients were selected using a propensity score matching
      method, and survival analysis was repeated. RESULTS: During the follow-up period
      (median, 60.7 mo; range, 0.5-122.2 mo), 42 (46%) patients in the hepatic
      resection group and 35 (51%) patients in the transarterial chemoembolization
      group died. The 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year overall survival rates of the hepatic
      resection and transarterial chemoembolization groups were 91.1%, 80.0%, and 66.4%
      (hepatic resection group) and 89.8%, 72.8%, and 49.6% (transarterial
      chemoembolization group) (P = .023). TTP was significantly longer in patients who
      underwent hepatic resection (P < .001). Hepatitis B surface antigen positivity
      and the absence of portal hypertension were independent predictors for favorable
      overall survival. For patients with platelet counts <= 100,000/mm(3), Child-Pugh
      score of 6, smaller HCCs (<= 7 cm), or portal hypertension, hepatic resection and
      transarterial chemoembolization yielded similar overall survival rates. After
      propensity score matching, transarterial chemoembolization was comparable to
      hepatic resection in overall survival (P = .293), whereas TTP remained longer in
      patients who underwent hepatic resection (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Transarterial
      chemoembolization can lead to results comparable to hepatic resection in the
      treatment of large solitary HCCs, particularly in patients with clinically
      presumed portal hypertension.

PMID- 25824317
TI  - Calibrated Bioresorbable Microspheres as an Embolic Agent: An Experimental Study
      in a Rabbit Renal Model.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the time frame of resorption and tissue response of newly
      developed bioresorbable microspheres (BRMS) and vessel recanalization after renal
      embolization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Embolization of lower poles of kidneys of 20
      adult rabbits was performed with BRMS (300-500 um). Two rabbits were sacrificed
      immediately after embolization (day 0). Three rabbits were sacrificed after
      follow-up angiography at 3, 7, 10, 14, 21, and 30 days. The pathologic changes in
      the renal parenchyma, BRMS degradation, and vessel recanalization were evaluated
      histologically and angiographically. RESULTS: Embolization procedures were
      successfully performed, and all animals survived without complication. Infarcts
      were observed in all kidneys that received embolization harvested after day 0.
      Moderate degradation of BRMS (score = 1.07 +/- 0.06) was observed by day 3. Of
      BRMS, 95% were resorbed before day 10 with scant BRMS materials remaining in the
      arteries at later time points. Partial vessel recanalization was observed by
      angiography starting on day 3, whereas new capillary formation was first
      identified histologically on day 7. Vascular inflammation associated with BRMS
      consisted of acute, heterophilic infiltrate at earlier time points (day 3 to day
      10); this was resolved with the resorption of BRMS. Inflammation and fibrosis
      within infarcted regions were consistent with progression of infarction.
      CONCLUSIONS: BRMS were bioresorbable in vivo, and most BRMS were resorbed before
      day 10 with a mild tissue reaction. Vessel recanalization occurred secondary to
      the resorption of BRMS.

PMID- 25824318
TI  - Optical coherence tomography of dialysis graft after angioplasty.

PMID- 25824319
TI  - Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter Placement into the Lumen of an
      Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Catheter.

PMID- 25824320
TI  - Multiple censored data in dentistry: A new statistical model for analyzing lesion
      size in randomized controlled trials.
AB  - Caries infiltration is a novel treatment option for proximal caries lesions. The
      idea is to build a diffusion barrier inside the lesion to slow down or stop the
      caries progression. If a lesion still reaches a critical size, restorative
      treatment is required. Clinical trials investigating caries infiltration thus
      produce multiple censored ordinal data. Standard statistical models do not take
      into account this censoring, and we therefore propose the Multiple Ordered Tobit
      (MOT) model. The model is implemented in R and compared with standard approaches.
      Simulation studies demonstrate that for all sample sizes and scenarios the MOT
      model has the largest statistical power among all methods compared, and it is
      robust against heteroscedasticity to some extent. Finally, a comparison with
      dichotomous and ordinal scaled models shows that the use of metric data for the
      lesion size reduces the required sample size considerably.

PMID- 25824321
TI  - Transforming growth factor-beta, insulin-like growth factor I/insulin-like growth
      factor I receptor and vascular endothelial growth factor-A: prognostic and
      predictive markers in triple-negative and non-triple-negative breast cancer.
AB  - In the current study, the prognostic and predictive values of serum transforming
      growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1), insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I)/IGF-I
      receptor (IGF-IR) and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) were
      evaluated in triple-negative and non-triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC and non
      TNBC). The aim was to identify a group of serological biomarkers and to identify
      possible candidates for targeted therapy in patients with TNBC and non-TNBC.
      Protein levels of TGF-beta1, IGF-I/IGF-IR and VEGF-A in the serum were measured
      in 43 TNBC, 53 non-TNBC and 20 normal control participants using quantitative
      ELISA assays. Results were correlated against standard prognostic factors,
      response to treatment and survival. TNBC was identified to be associated with
      poor prognosis and serum levels of VEGF-A and IGF/IGF-IR were significantly
      higher in the TNBC group compared with the non-TNBC group. IGF-IR and VEGF-A
      overexpression was observed to be correlated with TGF-beta1 expression and all of
      the markers investigated were associated with metastasis and disease progression.
      In the multivariate analysis, VEGF-A, IGF-I and IGF-IR were observed to be
      independent predictors for overall survival, whereas TGF-beta1 and lymph node
      status were identified as independent predictors for disease-free survival. The
      overall response rate was significantly lower in patients with TNBC and those
      with high levels of TGF-beta1, IGF-I/IGF-IR and VEGF-A. In view of the present
      results, it was concluded that TGF-beta1, IGF-I/IGF-IR and VEGF-A overexpression
      is associated with the presence of aggressive tumors, which exhibit an increased
      probability of metastasis, a poor response to treatment and reduced survival
      rate. This indicates that VEGF-A, IGF-IR and IGF-I have the potential to be used
      as surrogate biomarkers and are promising candidates for targeted therapy,
      particularly in patients with TNBC.

PMID- 25824322
TI  - Noninvasive mathematical analysis of spectral electrocardiographic components for
      coronary lesions of intermediate to obstructive stenosis severity-relationship
      with classic and functional SYNTAX score.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the
      multifunction cardiogram (MCG), and SYNTAX score (SS) and functional SYNTAX score
      (FSS) in detecting the presence of intermediate to obstructive coronary lesions.
      BACKGROUND: Performing coronary angiography (CAG) and measuring fractional flow
      reserve (FFR) to calculate the SS and FSS is inherently invasive and adds
      complexity. METHODS: The MCG was obtained and analyzed before performing CAG in
      87 consecutive subjects with suspected coronary artery disease who were scheduled
      for elective CAG. The patients were divided into three groups according to risk
      based on high, borderline, and low MCG scores. The SS was determined, as well as
      FSS but only by counting lesions prone to functional ischemia (FFR <= 0.8). The
      relationship between the MCG and the SS and FSS was evaluated. RESULTS: The MCG
      was the only test significantly associated with the SS (odds ratio, 2.92 [1.60 -
      5.31], P < 0.001) and FSS (odds ratio, 3.66 [1.95 - 6.87], P < 0.001). A high MCG
      score had a specificity of 92.6% (89.0-96.2%) and 92.3% (89.0-95.6%), and a
      predictive accuracy of 72.4% (67.6-77.2%) and 82.8% (78.7-86.8%) for the
      prediction of SS and FSS, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The MCG showed high
      specificity and predictive accuracy especially for the FSS, suggesting that it is
      useful not only in identifying functionally significant ischemia but also in
      reducing unnecessary CAGs.

PMID- 25824323
TI  - Noncontrast-enhanced peripheral venography using velocity-selective magnetization
      preparation and transient balanced SSFP.
AB  - PURPOSE: To develop a three-dimensional (3D) noncontrast-enhanced (NCE)
      peripheral magnetic resonance venography (MRV) method and demonstrate its
      feasibility in vivo. METHODS: The proposed MRV pulse sequence consisted of a
      velocity-selective (VS) inversion preparation module, inversion delay time (TI),
      fat inversion pulse, and 3D balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) dummy
      excitations and readout. The VS preparation module inverted arterial blood, which
      recovered close to zero magnetization during TI. The TI and the number of dummy
      excitations (Nnum ) were numerically optimized for maximizing vein-to-background
      contrast and tested in a healthy subject. The proposed MRV of the entire
      peripheral system, using four-station acquisition, was performed in six healthy
      subjects and three peripheral artery patients. RESULTS: The numerical
      optimization yielded TI = 350 ms and Ndum  = 40, which was supported by the
      largest vein contrast among the parameters chosen around the optima on in vivo
      venograms. Four-station peripheral MRV using the optimized parameters well
      visualized all major deep veins with high vein-to-background contrast. The
      relative vein contrast ratios were 0.80 +/- 0.08, 0.75 +/- 0.07, and 0.84 +/-
      0.06 against the arteries, muscle, and fat, respectively. CONCLUSION: The
      proposed NCE MRV using VS preparation and transient bSSFP can generate high
      contrast peripheral venograms directly with a single acquisition.

PMID- 25824324
TI  - Synthesis and radical scavenger properties of novel spirochromenes derived from
      steroid sapogenins.
AB  - Tandem aldol condensation between steroid sapogenins and hydroxylated
      benzaldehydes afforded steroidal spirochromenes. Compounds that bear a phenolic
      hydroxyl group at position C-6', obtained by a reaction with 2,5
      dihydroxybenzaldehyde, showed approximately 80% of maximal radical scavenging
      activity in the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) assay at 288 nM. In
      contrast, the starting steroid sapogenins and the spirochromenes without a
      phenolic group in the side chain proved to be inactive.

PMID- 25824325
TI  - Neuroactive steroids and the peripheral nervous system: An update.
AB  - In the present review we summarize observations to date supporting the concept
      that neuroactive steroids are synthesized in the peripheral nervous system,
      regulate the physiology of peripheral nerves and exert notable neuroprotective
      actions. Indeed, neuroactive steroids have been recently proposed as therapies
      for different types of peripheral neuropathy, like for instance those occurring
      during aging, chemotherapy, physical injury and diabetes. Moreover,
      pharmacological tools able to increase the synthesis of neuroactive steroids
      might represent new interesting therapeutic strategy to be applied in case of
      peripheral neuropathy. 

PMID- 25824326
TI  - Intraoperative fluorescein angiography-guided treatment in children with early
      Coats' disease.
AB  - PURPOSE: To review the anatomic and visual outcomes of a series of children
      diagnosed with Coats' disease and treated on the basis of intraoperative
      fluorescein angiography (FA) findings. DESIGN: Retrospective case series.
      PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five children 2 to 15 years of age diagnosed with early
      Coats' disease and treated after intraoperative FA. METHODS: Retrospective review
      of patients who underwent treatment for stage 2 Coats' disease in a tertiary
      center in the United Kingdom between 2007 and 2012. The children underwent
      treatment to the telangiectatic vessels and associated areas of retinal
      nonperfusion identified on intraoperative FA performed with a wide-angle retinal
      camera (RetCam II). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Anatomic and structural assessment of
      the retina after treatment, visual acuity (VA), and complications related to
      treatment. RESULTS: Twenty children with Coats' disease who underwent
      intraoperative RetCam FA and retinal ablative treatment and who had more than 3
      months of follow-up were identified from clinical records. All had unilateral
      disease. Six eyes were classified as stage 2a, and 14 eyes were classified as
      stage 2b. The median duration of follow-up was 21 months (mean, 26 months).
      Fifteen eyes needed 1 treatment to stabilize the disease, and 5 eyes needed a
      second treatment. None of the patients demonstrated progression of the disease to
      a more severe stage. Twelve eyes had a final VA of 0.4 logarithm of the minimum
      angle of resolution (logMAR) or better, 6 patients had VA between 0.4 and 1.0
      logMAR, and 2 patients had VA worse than 1.0 logMAR. CONCLUSIONS: The treatment
      of retinal telangiectasia and areas of retinal nonperfusion identified by wide
      angle intraoperative FA in children with stage 2 Coats' disease led to good
      anatomic outcome, with preservation of VA in most cases.

PMID- 25824328
TI  - Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine retinopathy: a systematic review evaluating
      the multifocal electroretinogram as a screening test.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the validity of multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) as a
      screening tool for detecting chloroquine (Aralen, Sanofi Aventis, Bridgewater,
      NJ) (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil, Covis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Zug,
      Switzerland) (HCQ) retinal toxicity in patients using these medications. To
      evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of mfERG when compared with automated
      visual fields (AVFs), fundus autofluorescence (FAF), and optical coherence
      tomography (OCT). CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The 2011 American Academy of Ophthalmology
      recommendations on screening for CQ/HCQ retinopathy recommended a shift toward
      more objective testing modalities. Multifocal electroretinography may be
      effective in detecting functional change before irreversible structural damage
      from CQ/HCQ toxicity. METHODS: We performed a search for records reporting the
      use of mfERG for screening CQ/HCQ retinopathy in MEDLINE (PubMed and OVID),
      EMBASE, and Web of Science, and assessed these using the QUADAS-2 risk of bias
      tool. We conducted an analysis of 23 individual studies and their reported
      individual patient data (449 eyes of 243 patients) published from January 2000 to
      December 2014. RESULTS: Multifocal electroretinography had the greatest
      proportion of positive test results, followed by AVF. The pooled sensitivity and
      specificity of mfERG were 90% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.62-0.98) and 52%
      (CI, 0.29-0.74), respectively, with AVF as reference standard (13 studies).
      Sensitivity was high, but specificity was variable when OCT, FAF, and the
      positivity of 2 of 3 tests was used as the reference standard. When verified
      against AVF as the reference test, patients with a false-positive mfERG result
      received higher HCQ cumulative doses (1068 g) than patients with true-negative
      (658 g, P < 0.01) and false-negative (482 g, P < 0.01) results. CONCLUSIONS:
      Multifocal electroretinography was shown to have a high sensitivity but variable
      specificity when verified against AVF, OCT, FAF, and a combination of tests. The
      greater average cumulative dose in the false-positive group compared with the
      true-negative group when mfERG was verified against AVF suggests that mfERG may
      have the ability to detect cases of toxicity earlier than other modalities. There
      is an unclear risk of bias in the available evidence, and future studies should
      adhere to Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy reporting guidelines.

PMID- 25824327
TI  - Influence of the Vitreomacular Interface on Treatment Outcomes in the Comparison
      of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatments Trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of the vitreomacular interface with outcomes
      of eyes treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor drugs for
      neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). DESIGN: Prospective cohort
      study within a multicenter, randomized clinical trial. PARTICIPANTS: Patients
      enrolled in the Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials (CATT). METHODS: Treatment
      was assigned randomly as either ranibizumab or bevacizumab and as 3 different
      regimens for dosing over a 2-year period. Masked readers at a reading center
      assessed optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans at baseline and follow-up for
      vitreomacular traction (VMT) and vitreomacular adhesion (VMA), fluid, and central
      thickness. Visual acuity (VA) was measured by masked, certified examiners. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASURES: Anatomic features and VA at baseline and 1 and 2 years and
      number of treatments. RESULTS: At baseline, 143 patient eyes (12.8%) had VMT or
      VMA. Compared with those with neither (n = 972), patients with VMT or VMA were
      younger (mean +/- standard error, 75.5 +/- 0.6 vs. 79.7 +/- 0.24 years; P <
      0.0001) and more likely to be male (52.4% vs. 36.2%; P = 0.0003), to be cigarette
      smokers (68.5% vs. 55.3%; P = 0.003), and to have subretinal fluid on OCT (86.7%
      vs. 81.0%; P = 0.047). Vitreomacular interface status was not associated with VA
      at baseline or follow-up. Among eyes treated as needed (n = 598) and followed up
      for 2 years (n = 516), the mean number of injections was 15.4 +/- 0.9 for eyes
      having VMT at baseline or during follow-up (n = 60), 13.8 +/- 0.7 for eyes with
      VMA at baseline or follow-up (n = 79), and 12.9 +/- 0.4 (P = 0.02) for eyes
      without VMT or VMA (n = 377). In addition, the mean number of injections in eyes
      treated as needed increased from 13.0 +/- 0.3 when VMT was not observed to 13.6
      +/- 1.3 when observed once and to 17 +/- 1.2 when observed more than once during
      follow-up. At 2 years, geographic atrophy developed in a lower percentage of eyes
      with VMT or VMA at baseline (11.7%) than with neither condition (22.5%; P =
      0.005). CONCLUSIONS: In eyes in the CATT, VMT and VMA were infrequent. At
      baseline and follow-up, VMT or VMA were not associated with VA. Eyes with VMT or
      VMA treated as needed required on average 2 more injections over 2 years.

PMID- 25824329
TI  - Neuroprotection of brain-targeted bioactive dietary artoindonesianin O (AIO) from
      mulberry on rat neurons as a novel intervention for Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - The novel effects of artoindonesianin O, a dietary phenolic compound from
      mulberry, were investigated on oligomer Abeta42-, NMDA- or okadaic-acid-induced
      neurotoxicity and the restorative effect on the oligomer Abeta42-induced synapses
      dysfunction using rat hippocampus neuron cells in vitro. The phenolic compound of
      AIO can exert neuroprotection by blocking oligomer Abeta42- or NMDA-induced
      neurotoxicity and okadaic-acid-induced tau protein hyperphosphorylation through
      inhibiting the expression of kinase p-ERK1/2. Meanwhile, it is also beneficial to
      synaptic plasticity. These interesting results strongly suggest that AIO, which
      is rich in abundant sources of mulberry and other fruits, is suitable and
      possible candidate for the development of general food type neuroprotection on AD
      by protecting against brain damage and memory impairment. 

PMID- 25824330
TI  - Maternal and fetal outcome of pregnancy related hypertension in Mettu Karl
      Referral Hospital, Ethiopia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are the most common causes of
      adverse maternal & perinatal outcomes. Such investigations in resource limited
      settings would help to have great design strategies in preventing maternal and
      perinatal morbidity and mortality. AIM: To determine management outcome and
      factor associated with pregnancy related hypertensive disorder in Mettu Karl
      Referral Hospital, Mettu, Ethiopia. METHOD: A retrospective study deign was
      conducted at Mettu Karl Referral Hospital from 1st January 2010 to December 1st
      2013 by reviewing medical records and logbooks. Descriptive, binary and multiple
      logistic regression analysis were used. A 95% CI and P- value of < 0.05 were
      considered statistically significant. RESULT: The magnitude of pregnancy related
      hypertensive disorder was 2.4%. Majority 82.6% of the mothers were in the age
      range between 18 to 34 year with a mean age and standard deviation (SD) of 24.4
      (SD +/- 5.12). Sever preeclampsia was the most prevalent diagnosis made to 35.5%
      of the mother, followed by 19% cases of eclampsia and 12.4% of HELLP. Fetal
      management outcomes indicates 120.37 perinatal mortality per 1000 deliveries and
      a stillbirth rate of 10.2%, low birth weight of 30.5%, and low APGAR score of
      18.5%, abortion 10.7% and preterm delivery 31.4%. CONCLUSION: In this study
      severe preeclampsia is the most common of all pregnancy related hypertension
      disorders followed by Eclampsia. Fetal complications like low Apgar score and
      preterm deliveries were statistically significant and associated with fetal
      management outcomes.

PMID- 25824331
TI  - Class II functional orthopaedic treatment: a systematic review of systematic
      reviews.
AB  - This Systematic Review (SR) aims to assess the quality of SRs and Meta-Analyses
      (MAs) on functional orthopaedic treatment of Class II malocclusion and to
      summarise and rate the reported effects. Electronic and manual searches were
      conducted until June 2014. SRs and MAs focusing on the effects of functional
      orthopaedic treatment of Class II malocclusion in growing patients were included.
      The methodological quality of the included papers was assessed using the AMSTAR
      (Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews). The design of the primary studies
      included in each SR was assessed with Level of Research Design scoring. The
      evidence of the main outcomes was summarised and rated according to a scale of
      statements. 14 SRs fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The appliances evaluated
      were as follows: Activator (2 studies), Twin Block (4 studies), headgear (3
      studies), Herbst (2 studies), Jasper Jumper (1 study), Bionator (1 study) and
      Frankel-2 (1 study). Four studies reviewed several functional appliances, as a
      group. The mean AMSTAR score was 6 (ranged 2-10). Six SRs included only
      controlled clinical trials (CCTs), three SRs included only randomised controlled
      trials (RCTs), four SRs included both CCTs and RCTs and one SR included also
      expert opinions. There was some evidence of reduction of the overjet, with
      different appliances except from headgear; there was some evidence of small
      maxillary growth restrain with Twin Block and headgear; there was some evidence
      of elongation of mandibular length, but the clinical relevance of this results is
      still questionable; there was insufficient evidence to determine an effect on
      soft tissues. 

PMID- 25824332
TI  - Relationship Between Vertebral Fracture Burden, Height Loss, and Pulmonary
      Function in Postmenopausal Women With Osteoporosis.
AB  - The purpose of this analysis was to assess the association of osteoporosis
      related vertebral fracture burden and pulmonary function. This study also
      examined the relationship between vertebral fracture burden and height loss,
      estimated by arm span - height. This was a single-site and single-visit study.
      Patients had a history of at least 1 moderate or severe vertebral fracture.
      Vertebral fracture burden was quantified using the spinal deformity index (SDI).
      Pulmonary function during inspiration was determined by spirometry. Forty-one
      women aged 70-91 completed the study. Vertebral fracture burden negatively
      correlated with forced inspiratory vital capacity and inspiratory time. For each
      unit increase in SDI, forced inspiratory vital capacity decreased by 1.62%, and
      inspiratory time decreased by 2.39%. There was no correlation between SDI and
      measures of inspiratory flow. For each unit increase in SDI, height decreased by
      about 0.5 cm. Vertebral fractures were associated with decreased lung volume and
      height loss.

PMID- 25824334
TI  - N2 extrusion and CO insertion: a novel palladium-catalyzed carbonylative
      transformation of aryltriazenes.
AB  - A novel procedure for the replacement of N2 with CO of aryltriazenes has been
      developed. Aryltriazenes were converted to the corresponding arylamides catalyzed
      by 1 mol % of PdCl2/P(o-Tol)3 under CO pressure. In this process, aryldiazonium
      salts were generated in the presence of 40 mol % of MeSO3H. Nitrogen was released
      from the substrates and CO formally inserted. Aryl bromides, iodides, alkynes,
      and free hydroxyl groups can be tolerated in this transformation. 

PMID- 25824333
TI  - Effectiveness and Safety of rhIGF-1 Therapy in Children: The European Increlex(r)
      Growth Forum Database Experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: We report data from the EU Increlex(r) Growth Forum Database
      (IGFD) Registry, an ongoing, open-label, observational study monitoring clinical
      practice use of recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-1 (rhIGF-1) therapy
      in children. METHODS: Safety and effectiveness data on rhIGF-1 treatment of 195
      enrolled children with growth failure were collected from December 2008 to
      September 2013. RESULTS: Mean +/- SD (95% CI) height velocity during first year
      of rhIGF-1 treatment was 6.9 +/- 2.2 cm/year (6.5; 7.2) (n = 144); in prepubertal
      patients naive to treatment, this was 7.3 +/- 2.0 cm/year (6.8; 7.7) (n = 81).
      Female sex, younger age at start of rhIGF-1 therapy, and lower baseline height
      SDS predicted first-year change in height SDS. The most frequent targeted
      treatment-emergent adverse events (% patients) were hypoglycemia (17.6%,
      predictors: young age, diagnosis of Laron syndrome, but not rhIGF-1 dose),
      lipohypertrophy (10.6%), tonsillar hypertrophy (7.4%), injection site reactions
      (6.4%), and headache (5.9%). Sixty-one serious adverse events (37 related to
      rhIGF-1 therapy) were reported in 31 patients (16.5%). CONCLUSION: Safety and
      effectiveness data on use of rhIGF-1 in a 'real-world' setting were similar to
      those from controlled randomized trials. Severe growth phenotype and early start
      of rhIGF-1 improved height response and predicted risk of hypoglycemia.

PMID- 25824335
TI  - Efficacy of Carboplatin Alone and in Combination with ABT888 in Intracranial
      Murine Models of BRCA-Mutated and BRCA-Wild-Type Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.
AB  - Patients with breast cancer brain metastases have extremely limited survival and
      no approved systemic therapeutics. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) commonly
      metastasizes to the brain and predicts poor prognosis. TNBC frequently harbors
      BRCA mutations translating to platinum sensitivity potentially augmented by
      additional suppression of DNA repair mechanisms through PARP inhibition. We
      evaluated brain penetrance and efficacy of carboplatin +/- the PARP inhibitor
      ABT888, and investigated gene-expression changes in murine intracranial TNBC
      models stratified by BRCA and molecular subtype status. Athymic mice were
      inoculated intracerebrally with BRCA-mutant: SUM149 (basal), MDA-MB-436 (claudin
      low); or BRCA-wild-type (wt): MDA-MB-468 (basal), MDA-MB-231BR (claudin-low).
      TNBC cells were treated with PBS control [intraperitoneal (IP), weekly],
      carboplatin (50 mg/kg/wk, IP), ABT888 (25 mg/kg/d, oral gavage), or their
      combination. DNA damage (gamma-H2AX), apoptosis (cleaved caspase-3, cC3), and
      gene expression were measured in intracranial tumors. Carboplatin +/- ABT888
      significantly improved survival in BRCA-mutant intracranial models compared with
      control, but did not improve survival in BRCA-wt intracranial models. Carboplatin
      + ABT888 revealed a modest survival advantage versus carboplatin in BRCA-mutant
      models. ABT888 yielded a marginal survival benefit in the MDA-MB-436, but not in
      the SUM149 model. BRCA-mutant SUM149 expression of gamma-H2AX and cC3 proteins
      was elevated in all treatment groups compared with control, whereas BRCA-wt MDA
      MB-468 cC3 expression did not increase with treatment. Carboplatin treatment
      induced common gene-expression changes in BRCA-mutant models. Carboplatin +/-
      ABT888 penetrates the brain and improves survival in BRCA-mutant intracranial
      TNBC models with corresponding DNA damage and gene-expression changes.
      Combination therapy represents a potential promising treatment strategy for
      patients with TNBC brain metastases warranting further clinical investigation.

PMID- 25824337
TI  - 1alpha,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 Inhibits Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
      Progression by Reducing IL6 Signaling.
AB  - The aim of this study was to highlight the role of 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3
      (calcitriol) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The human esophageal
      SCC cell lines CE81T and TE2 were selected for cellular and animal experiments to
      investigate the changes in tumor behavior after calcitriol supplementation and
      the underlying mechanisms. Moreover, we evaluated the relationship between
      calcitriol supplementation, myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) recruitment,
      IL6 levels, and tumor progression by a 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4-NQO)-induced
      esophageal tumor animal model. In this study, we demonstrated that calcitriol
      supplementation inhibited aggressive tumor behavior both in vitro and in vivo.
      The underlying changes included increased cell death, a lower degree of
      epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and inhibited IL6 signaling. In the 4-NQO
      induced esophageal tumor animal model, increased IL6 and MDSC recruitment were
      linked with invasive esophageal tumors. Supplementation with calcitriol
      attenuated the level of IL6, the induction of MDSCs, and the incidence of 4-NQO
      induced invasive tumors. Moreover, the IL6-induced changes in C57 mice, including
      augmented MDSC recruitment, increased levels of ROS and p-Stat3 in MDSCs, and
      higher suppressive function of MDSCs in T-cell proliferation, which were
      abrogated by calcitriol supplementation. On the basis of our results, we
      concluded that calcitriol abrogated the IL6-induced aggressive tumor behavior and
      MDSC recruitment to inhibit esophageal tumor promotion. Therefore, we suggest
      that supplementation with vitamin D3 may be a promising strategy for the
      prevention and treatment of esophageal SCC.

PMID- 25824338
TI  - Childhood epidermolysis bullosa acquisita with underlying coeliac disease.

PMID- 25824339
TI  - New ways to boost molecular dynamics simulations.
AB  - We describe a set of algorithms that allow to simulate dihydrofolate reductase
      (DHFR, a common benchmark) with the AMBER all-atom force field at 160
      nanoseconds/day on a single Intel Core i7 5960X CPU (no graphics processing unit
      (GPU), 23,786 atoms, particle mesh Ewald (PME), 8.0 A cutoff, correct atom
      masses, reproducible trajectory, CPU with 3.6 GHz, no turbo boost, 8 AVX
      registers). The new features include a mixed multiple time-step algorithm
      (reaching 5 fs), a tuned version of LINCS to constrain bond angles, the fusion of
      pair list creation and force calculation, pressure coupling with a "densostat,"
      and exploitation of new CPU instruction sets like AVX2. The impact of Intel's new
      transactional memory, atomic instructions, and sloppy pair lists is also
      analyzed. The algorithms map well to GPUs and can automatically handle most
      Protein Data Bank (PDB) files including ligands. An implementation is available
      as part of the YASARA molecular modeling and simulation program from
      www.YASARA.org.

PMID- 25824336
TI  - Small Molecule MYC Inhibitor Conjugated to Integrin-Targeted Nanoparticles
      Extends Survival in a Mouse Model of Disseminated Multiple Myeloma.
AB  - Multiple myeloma pathogenesis is driven by the MYC oncoprotein, its dimerization
      with MAX, and the binding of this heterodimer to E-Boxes in the vicinity of
      target genes. The systemic utility of potent small molecule inhibitors of MYC-MAX
      dimerization was limited by poor bioavailability, rapid metabolism, and
      inadequate target site penetration. We hypothesized that new lipid-based MYC-MAX
      dimerization inhibitor prodrugs delivered via integrin-targeted nanoparticles
      (NP) would overcome prior shortcomings of MYC inhibitor approaches and prolong
      survival in a mouse model of cancer. An Sn 2 lipase-labile prodrug inhibitor of
      MYC-MAX dimerization (MI1-PD) was developed which decreased cell proliferation
      and induced apoptosis in cultured multiple myeloma cell lines alone (P < 0.05)
      and when incorporated into integrin-targeted lipid-encapsulated NPs (P < 0.05).
      Binding and efficacy of NPs closely correlated with integrin expression of the
      target multiple myeloma cells. Using a KaLwRij metastatic multiple myeloma mouse
      model, VLA-4-targeted NPs (20 nm and 200 nm) incorporating MI1-PD (D) NPs
      conferred significant survival benefits compared with respective NP controls,
      targeted (T) no-drug (ND), and untargeted (NT) control NPs (T/D 200: 46 days vs.
      NT/ND: 28 days, P < 0.05 and T/D 20: 52 days vs. NT/ND: 29 days, P = 0.001). The
      smaller particles performed better of the two sizes. Neither MI1 nor MI1-PD
      provided survival benefit when administered systemically as free compounds. These
      results demonstrate for the first time that a small molecule inhibitor of the MYC
      transcription factor can be an effective anticancer agent when delivered using a
      targeted nanotherapy approach.

PMID- 25824340
TI  - Matched related donor hematopoietic stem cell transplantation results in a long
      term follow-up of a pediatric acquired severe aplastic anemia subset: A stem cell
      source perspective.
AB  - HSCT has substantially improved pediatric acquired SAA patients' outcomes.
      Retrospectively, we attempted to assess the outcome of MRD HSCT in 65 pediatric
      patients referred to a single center from 1992 to 2012. We were particularly
      interested to find out whether source of SC (PB, n = 40 and BM, n = 25)
      significantly impacts EFS and GVHD incidence. With a median follow-up of 45
      months, total EFS was 87.7%; EFS for PB and BM groups was 87.5% and 88%,
      respectively. Acute GVHD (grades 3-4) occurred in 13 patients (PB, n = 10 [25%]
      and BM, n = 3 [12%]), acute GVHD (grades 2-4) occurred in 24 (PB, n = 16 [40%]
      and BM, n = 8 [32%]). Extensive chronic GVHD occurred in five patients (PB, n = 3
      [7.5%] and BM, n = 2 [8%]). Cox regression revealed that elapsed time of <10
      months between diagnosis and HSCT is associated with improved survival (hazard
      ratio, 95% CI = 1.204, 1.010-1.434, p = 0.038). SC source did not significantly
      affect EFS, incidence of acute GVHD (grades 3-4), or extensive chronic GVHD (p =
      0.938, 0.121, and 0.487, respectively). Based on our findings, pediatric acquired
      SAA patients are benefitted most if MRD-HSCT is carried out early in disease
      process and SC source does not affect outcome of MRD-HSCT in these patients.

PMID- 25824341
TI  - The non-steroidal mycoestrogen zeranol suppresses luteinizing hormone secretion
      from the anterior pituitary of cattle via the estradiol receptor GPR30 in a
      rapid, non-genomic manner.
AB  - Picomolar concentrations of estradiol produce rapid suppression of GnRH-induced
      luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion from the anterior pituitary (AP) of cattle via
      G-protein-coupled receptor 30 (GPR30). Zeranol is a strong estrogenic metabolite
      derived from zearalenone, a non-steroidal mycoestrogen produced by Fusarium that
      induces reproductive disorders in domestic animals. The hypothesis was tested
      that zeranol suppresses GnRH-induced LH release from the AP of cattle via GPR30
      in a rapid, non-genomic manner. The AP cells (n=15) were cultured for 3 days in
      steroid-free conditions and then treated them with estradiol (0.001-10nM) or
      zeranol (0.001-100nM) for 5min before GnRH stimulation. Pre-treatment with 0.001
      0.1nM estradiol suppressed GnRH-stimulated LH secretion. Pre-treatment with
      zeranol at concentrations of 0.001nM (P<0.01), 0.01nM (P<0.01), 0.1nM (P<0.05),
      and 1nM (P<0.05), but not at concentrations of 10 and 100nM, also inhibited GnRH
      stimulated LH secretion from AP cells. Pre-treatment for 5min with a GPR30
      specific antagonist, G36, inhibited estradiol or zeranol suppression of LH
      secretion from cultured AP cells. Cyclic AMP measurements and quantitative PCR
      analyses revealed that pre-treatment with small amounts of estradiol (P<0.05) or
      zeranol (P<0.01) decreased cAMP, but not gene expressions of the LHalpha, LHbeta,
      or FSHbeta subunits in the AP cells. Hence, zeranol may suppress luteinizing
      hormone secretion from the AP of cattle via GPR30 in a rapid, non-genomic manner.

PMID- 25824342
TI  - Non-destructive evaluation of anchorage zones by ultrasonics techniques.
AB  - This work aims to evaluate the efficiency and reliability of two Non-Destructive
      Testing (NDT) methods for damage assessment in bridges' anchorages. The Acousto
      Ultrasonic (AU) technique is compared to classical Ultrasonic Testing (UT) in
      terms of defect detection and structural health classification. The AU technique
      is firstly used on single seven-wire strands damaged by artificial defects. The
      effect of growing defects on the waves traveling through the strands is
      evaluated. Thereafter, three specimens of anchorages with unknown defects are
      inspected by the AU and UT techniques. Damage assessment results from both
      techniques are then compared. The structural health conditions of the specimens
      can be then classified by a damage severity criterion. Finally, a damaged
      anchorage socket with mastered defects is controlled by the same techniques. The
      UT allows the detection and localization of damaged wires. The AU technique is
      used to bring out the effect of defects on acoustic features by comparing a
      healthy and damaged anchorage sockets. It is concluded that the UT method is
      suitable for local and crack-like defects, whereas the AU technique enables the
      assessment of the global structural health of the anchorage zones. 

PMID- 25824343
TI  - Cutaneous Disease in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review.
AB  - Dermatologic comorbid symptoms and conditions in persons with autism spectrum
      disorder (ASD) are compelling for several reasons, including problems with
      tactile sensory dysfunction in this population, a large number of syndromes with
      dermatologic findings and high rates of autism, nutritional and hormonal problems
      in ASD and their dermatologic manifestations, and the potential for
      overrepresentation of dermatologic symptoms that are neurobehavioral in nature.
      The current article reviews the available literature on the prevalence of
      comorbid dermatologic symptoms and conditions in children with ASD and identifies
      strategies for diagnosing and managing cutaneous disease in this population. 

PMID- 25824344
TI  - Low dietary diversity and micronutrient adequacy among lactating women in a peri
      urban area of Nepal.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The main objectives were to assess the adequacy of the micronutrient
      intakes of lactating women in a peri-urban area in Nepal and to describe the
      relationships between micronutrient intake adequacy, dietary diversity and
      sociodemographic variables. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey was performed during
      2008-2009. We used 24 h dietary recall to assess dietary intake on three non
      consecutive days and calculated the probability of adequacy (PA) of the usual
      intake of eleven micronutrients and the overall mean probability of adequacy
      (MPA). A mean dietary diversity score (MDDS) was calculated of eight food groups
      averaged over 3 d. Multiple linear regression was used to identify the
      determinants of the MPA. SETTING: Bhaktapur municipality, Nepal. SUBJECTS:
      Lactating women (n 500), 17-44 years old, randomly selected. RESULTS: The mean
      usual energy intake was 8464 (sd 1305) kJ/d (2023 (sd 312) kcal/d), while the
      percentage of energy from protein, fat and carbohydrates was 11 %, 13 % and 76 %,
      respectively. The mean usual micronutrient intakes were below the estimated
      average requirements for all micronutrients, with the exception of vitamin C and
      Zn. The MPA across eleven micronutrients was 0.19 (sd 0.16). The diet was found
      to be monotonous (MDDS was 3.9 (sd 1.0)) and rice contributed to about 60 % of
      the energy intake. The multiple regression analyses showed that MPA was
      positively associated with energy intake, dietary diversity, women's educational
      level and socio-economic status, and was higher in the winter. CONCLUSIONS: The
      low micronutrient intakes are probably explained by low dietary diversity and a
      low intake of micronutrient-rich foods.

PMID- 25824345
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25277410.

PMID- 25824346
TI  - Succession of duodenal polypoid lesion.

PMID- 25824347
TI  - Reply: To PMID 24890443.

PMID- 25824348
TI  - An uncommon cause of abdominal pain and fever in a patient with Crohn's disease.

PMID- 25824349
TI  - Water-assisted colonoscopy.

PMID- 25824351
TI  - An unusual cause of ascites.

PMID- 25824352
TI  - To "B" or not to "B": efficacy of a neonatal hepatitis B vaccination program to
      prevent primary liver cancer and end-stage liver disease.

PMID- 25824353
TI  - An unusual giant duodenal mass lesion.

PMID- 25824354
TI  - Purpura in the duodenum.

PMID- 25824355
TI  - A 9-year-old girl with poor weight gain and postprandial vomiting.

PMID- 25824356
TI  - Mitochondrial metabolomics unravel the primordial trigger of ischemia/reperfusion
      injury.

PMID- 25824357
TI  - Confocal laser endomicroscopy for membrane-bound tumor necrosis factor predicts
      response to therapy in Crohn's disease.

PMID- 25824358
TI  - Unusual chest pain.

PMID- 25824359
TI  - Intestinal permeability in patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel
      syndrome: is there a place for glutamine supplementation?

PMID- 25824360
TI  - An unusual cause of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding.

PMID- 25824361
TI  - An unusual cause of torrential lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

PMID- 25824362
TI  - Chronic Cough and Reflux: An Ongoing Conundrum Possibly Elucidated by Combined pH
      Impedance Monitoring.

PMID- 25824363
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25549238.

PMID- 25824364
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25109844.

PMID- 25824365
TI  - The medical history: form and function.

PMID- 25824366
TI  - Cultural adaptation and validation of the Korean version of the EORTC QLQ-CR29 in
      patients with colorectal cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Korean version
      of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)
      Colorectal Cancer-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-CR29), based on a
      sample of patients with colorectal cancer. METHODS: A total of 123 patients
      treated for colorectal cancer participated in the validation study. Test-retest
      reliability was assessed using intra-class correlations from a random sample.
      Internal consistency reliability was estimated using Cronbach's alpha
      coefficient. Convergent and discriminant validity was analyzed with multi-trait
      scaling. Clinical validity was assessed in terms of clinical differences using
      known-group comparisons. Concurrent validity was determined by correlations with
      the EORTC QLQ-C30, which was a generic core questionnaire to evaluate issues
      common to different cancer sites and treatments. RESULTS: The test-retest,
      administered to 35 patients, showed acceptable reproducibility (0.62-1.00) except
      the constipation scale of the QLQ-C30 (0.43). Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.70
      0.87) exceeded the 0.7 criterion. Multi-trait scaling analysis showed that multi
      item scales met standards of convergent and discriminant validity. The known
      group comparisons showed quality of life (QOL) differences between groups of
      patients based on tumor location, receipt of neoadjuvant therapy, and
      with/without a stoma. Correlations between the scales of the QLQ-CR29 and QLQ-C30
      were low in most areas, whereas correlations in several areas with related
      content were higher. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the Korean version of the
      EORTC QLQ-CR29 is a reliable and valid tool for measuring QOL, as determined by
      application to a sample of Korean colorectal cancer patients.

PMID- 25824367
TI  - Luminescent properties of 2-mercaptobenzothiazolates of trivalent lanthanides.
AB  - A series of lanthanide complexes (Ln = Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd and Yb) with anionic 2
      mercaptobenothiazolate (mbt) ligands were synthesized. Depending on the solvents
      chosen for the synthesis, Ln(mbt)3(THF)2 and Ln(mbt)3(Et2O) complexes were
      precipitated from THF and Et2O solutions respectively. The structure of
      Yb(mbt)3(Et2O) was determined by X-ray analysis. Photophysical properties of the
      complexes were studied. It was found that under photoexcitation Nd and Yb
      derivatives exhibit bright metal-centered luminescence in the NIR region while
      Sm(mbt)3(THF)2 demonstrates intensive visible emission corresponding to (4)G5/2 
      > (6)HJ (J = 5/2, 7/2, 9/2, 11/2) f-f transitions of Sm(3+) along with NIR
      emission of moderate intensity. In the case of europium compounds as well as
      Sm(mbt)3(Et2O) no luminescence was detected. It is assumed that the difference in
      photoluminescence of Yb and Eu complexes can be explained by an intramolecular
      electron transfer process, which efficiently proceeds in these compounds. 

PMID- 25824368
TI  - An animal-specific FSI model of the abdominal aorta in anesthetized mice.
AB  - Recent research has revealed that angiotensin II-induced abdominal aortic
      aneurysm in mice can be related to medial ruptures occurring in the vicinity of
      abdominal side branches. Nevertheless a thorough understanding of the
      biomechanics near abdominal side branches in mice is lacking. In the current work
      we present a mouse-specific fluid-structure interaction (FSI) model of the
      abdominal aorta in ApoE(-/-) mice that incorporates in vivo stresses. The aortic
      geometry was based on contrast-enhanced in vivo micro-CT images, while aortic
      flow boundary conditions and material model parameters were based on in vivo high
      frequency ultrasound. Flow waveforms predicted by FSI simulations corresponded
      better to in vivo measurements than those from CFD simulations. Peak-systolic
      principal stresses at the inner and outer aortic wall were locally increased
      caudal to the celiac and left lateral to the celiac and mesenteric arteries.
      Interestingly, these were also the locations at which a tear in the tunica media
      had been observed in previous work on angiotensin II-infused mice. Our
      preliminary results therefore suggest that local biomechanics play an important
      role in the pathophysiology of branch-related ruptures in angiotensin-II infused
      mice. More elaborate follow-up research is needed to demonstrate the role of
      biomechanics and mechanobiology in a longitudinal setting. 

PMID- 25824369
TI  - Potential Neurogenesis of Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells on Electrospun
      Catalpol-Loaded Composite Nanofibrous Scaffolds.
AB  - Catalpol, a natural active ingredient extracted from the traditional Chinese
      medicine, was verified exhibiting beneficial effects on neural differentiation
      compared with commonly used chemical inducers by our previous studies. The aim of
      this study was to evaluate the effects of catalpol-loaded scaffold on guiding
      neuronal differentiation of human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (hASCs).
      Fabrication technique of catalpol loading into the electrospun poly(lactic-co
      glycolic acid)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes/silk fibroin nanofibrous scaffolds
      was successfully established. The topographical and mechanical properties of the
      nanofibers scaffolds were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and
      tensile instrument, respectively. In vitro catalpol release was studied in
      phosphate-buffered solution at 37  degrees C. Immunnocytochemistry, RT-PCR, and
      western blot assays were performed to estimate hASCs neuronal differentiation,
      and it was shown that catalpol has significantly upregulated the expressions of
      betaIII-tubulin and Nissl. Our experiments demonstrated that catalpol, as a
      traditional Chinese medicine extract, could be encapsulated into composite
      nanofibers and induce differentiation of hASCs into neural-like cells, which
      might offer new avenues in nerve regeneration. 

PMID- 25824370
TI  - Emerging Brain Morphologies from Axonal Elongation.
AB  - Understanding the characteristic morphology of our brain remains a challenging,
      yet important task in human evolution, developmental biology, and neurosciences.
      Mathematical modeling shapes our understanding of cortical folding and provides
      functional relations between cortical wavelength, thickness, and stiffness. Yet,
      current mathematical models are phenomenologically isotropic and typically
      predict non-physiological, periodic folding patterns. Here we establish a
      mechanistic model for cortical folding, in which macroscopic changes in white
      matter volume are a natural consequence of microscopic axonal growth. To
      calibrate our model, we consult axon elongation experiments in chick sensory
      neurons. We demonstrate that a single parameter, the axonal growth rate, explains
      a wide variety of in vitro conditions including immediate axonal thinning and
      gradual thickness restoration. We embed our axonal growth model into a continuum
      model for brain development using axonal orientation distributions motivated by
      diffusion spectrum imaging. Our simulations suggest that white matter anisotropy
      as an emergent property from directional axonal growth-intrinsically induces
      symmetry breaking, and predicts more physiological, less regular morphologies
      with regionally varying gyral wavelengths and sulcal depths. Mechanistic modeling
      of brain development could establish valuable relationships between brain
      connectivity, brain anatomy, and brain function. 

PMID- 25824371
TI  - Current approaches in the management of low risk Hodgkin lymphoma in children and
      adolescents.
AB  - The outcome for children and adolescents with low risk Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is
      excellent, with event-free survival >85% and overall survival >95%. Historically,
      however, treatment has come at the cost of significant long-term toxicity from
      chemotherapy, radiation or a combination of these. Recent treatment strategies
      have focused on maintaining high event-free and overall survival while minimizing
      the use of therapy associated with late effects. The strategies used to achieve
      this vary greatly among paediatric cooperative groups and there is no one
      standard treatment for children with low risk HL. This review summaries recent
      clinical trials in paediatric low risk HL and addresses some of the important
      considerations when comparing trials, including differences in the definition of
      low risk HL, differences in outcome among histological subtypes and varying
      approaches to reduce or eliminate radiation therapy. Recommendations are provided
      for the treatment of children with low risk HL outside the setting of a clinical
      trial. 

PMID- 25824372
TI  - Inhibition of NKp30- and 2B4-mediated NK cell activation by evolutionary
      different human and bovine CEACAM1 receptors.
AB  - Carcinoembryonicantigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) is a receptor
      involved in the regulation of NK-cell function. In most species, the CEACAM1
      cytoplasmic tail possesses a membrane-proximal ITIM paired with a membrane-distal
      immunoreceptor tyrosine-based switch motif (ITSM) signaling motif. Human CEACAM1
      has phylogenetically relatively recently acquired a second ITIM instead of the
      ITSM and was shown to inhibit NKG2D-mediated NK-cell activation. Here, we compare
      the function of bovine and human CEACAM1. We show that in addition to NKG2D,
      human CEACAM1 can inhibit NK-cell activation via NKp30 or 2B4. Bovine CEACAM1,
      possessing an ITIM and an ITSM signaling motif, is also inhibitory. However,
      bovine CEACAM1 inhibition of NKp30-mediated lysis is less pronounced compared
      with its human counterpart. Bovine CEACAM1 inhibition is dependent on the
      membrane-proximal ITIM and our data suggest that also the membrane distal ITSM
      motif contributes to inhibitory signaling. Biochemically, human and bovine
      CEACAM1 can recruit the phosphatases SHP-1 and SHP-2 after receptor
      phosphorylation to a similar extend. Bovine CEACAM1 can additionally recruit the
      adapter molecule Ewing's sarcoma virus-activated transcript-2 (EAT-2), but not
      SLAM-associated protein (SAP). Taken together, we show that although human and
      bovine CEACAM1 are differentially equipped with ITIM and ITSM motifs, both
      receptors can inhibit NKp30 and 2B4 activation of NK cells.

PMID- 25824374
TI  - Laboratory study on OH-initiated degradation kinetics of dehydroabietic acid.
AB  - Dehydroabietic acid (DHAA) is a specific organic tracer for the pyrolysis of
      conifer resin. To understand its atmospheric stability, the degradation behavior
      of particulate DHAA in the presence of hydroxyl radicals (OH) was investigated
      under different environmental conditions using a stainless steel reactor with
      volume of 30 cm(3), in the dark. At 25  degrees C and 40% relative humidity (RH),
      the second-order rate constant (k2) of pure DHAA with OH was measured to be 5.72
      +/- 0.87 * 10(-12) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1). The influence of temperature, RH and
      mixing state on the degradation kinetics of DHAA were also investigated. At 40%
      RH, k2 of pure DHAA increases with increasing temperature and follows the
      Arrhenius equation k2 = (8.9 +/- 1.9) * 10(-10) exp[-(1508.2 +/- 64.2)/T], while
      RH does not have significant impact on k2 at 25  degrees C. At 25  degrees C and
      40% RH, compared with pure DHAA, the corresponding k2 for DHAA mixed with
      (NH4)2SO4 decreased to 4.58 +/- 0.95 * 10(-12) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1), while
      the value was 3.30 +/- 0.79 * 10(-12) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1) when mixed with
      soot. The atmospheric lifetime of DHAA varied from 2.3 +/- 0.2 to 4.4 +/- 0.8
      days under different environmental conditions. This study indicates that
      degradation of DHAA by OH radicals is appreciable, and a significant error in
      source apportionment should be introduced if the contribution of degradation to
      DHAA concentration is not considered during air mass aging. 

PMID- 25824373
TI  - Enriching a cellulose hydrogel with a biologically active marine
      exopolysaccharide for cell-based cartilage engineering.
AB  - The development of biologically and mechanically competent hydrogels is a
      prerequisite in cartilage engineering. We recently demonstrated that a marine
      exopolysaccharide, GY785, stimulates the in vitro chondrogenesis of adipose
      stromal cells. In the present study, we thus hypothesized that enriching our
      silated hydroxypropyl methylcellulose hydrogel (Si-HPMC) with GY785 might offer
      new prospects in the development of scaffolds for cartilage regeneration. The
      interaction properties of GY785 with growth factors was tested by surface plasmon
      resonance (SPR). The biocompatibility of Si-HPMC/GY785 towards rabbit articular
      chondrocytes (RACs) and its ability to maintain and recover a chondrocytic
      phenotype were then evaluated in vitro by MTS assay, cell counting and qRT-PCR.
      Finally, we evaluated the potential of Si-HPMC/GY785 associated with RACs to form
      cartilaginous tissue in vivo by transplantation into the subcutis of nude mice
      for 3 weeks. Our SPR data indicated that GY785 was able to physically interact
      with BMP-2 and TGFbeta. Our analyses also showed that three-dimensionally (3D)
      cultured RACs into Si-HPMC/GY785 strongly expressed type II collagen (COL2) and
      aggrecan transcripts when compared to Si-HPMC alone. In addition, RACs also
      produced large amounts of extracellular matrix (ECM) containing
      glycosaminoglycans (GAG) and COL2. When dedifferentiated RACs were replaced in 3D
      in Si-HPMC/GY785, the expressions of COL2 and aggrecan transcripts were recovered
      and that of type I collagen decreased. Immunohistological analyses of Si
      HPMC/GY785 constructs transplanted into nude mice revealed the production of a
      cartilage-like extracellular matrix (ECM) containing high amounts of GAG and
      COL2. These results indicate that GY785-enriched Si-HPMC appears to be a
      promising hydrogel for cartilage tissue engineering. Copyright (c) 2015 John
      Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID- 25824375
TI  - Strip patch testing does not affect reaction profiles of standard allergens.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It has been hypothesized that positive reactions in the strip patch
      test are irritant rather than allergic. OBJECTIVE: To study reaction profiles of
      the baseline series patch test substances applied routinely on tape-stripped skin
      according to the reaction index (RI) and the positivity ratio (PR). PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: One thousand two hundred and twenty-eight consecutive patients were
      routinely strip patch tested with the baseline series between January 2011 and
      June 2013 (intervention group). On the basis of test reactions at D3/D4, the RI,
      and the PR, 25 standard allergens were analysed, and the results were compared
      with those obtained in 1161 patients patch tested conventionally from July 2008
      to December 2010 (historical control group). RESULTS: Nickel sulfate, fragrance
      mix I, cobalt chloride, Myroxylon pereirae (balsam of Peru) and colophonium
      showed the highest frequencies of positive reactions in both groups, without any
      significant differences. Of 25 patch test substances of the baseline series, 18
      showed good reaction profiles in the intervention group, and 16 in the historical
      control group. CONCLUSIONS: Reaction profiles of baseline series patch test
      substances remained largely unaffected by tape stripping the skin prior to patch
      testing. Thus, if conventional patch test results are presumed to be false
      negative, performance of the strip patch test can be recommended independently of
      the standard allergen.

PMID- 25824378
TI  - Slow ligand-induced conformational switch increases the catalytic rate in
      Plasmodium falciparum hypoxanthine guanine xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase.
AB  - P. falciparum (Pf) hypoxanthine guanine xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase
      (HGXPRT) exhibits a unique mechanism of activation where the enzyme switches from
      a low activity (unactivated) to a high activity (activated) state upon pre
      incubation with substrate/products. Xanthine phosphoribosylation by unactivated
      PfHGXPRT exhibits a lag phase, the duration of which reduces with an increase in
      concentration of the enzyme or substrate, PRPP.Mg(2+). Activated PfHGXPRT does
      not display the lag phase and exhibits a ten-fold drop in the Km value for
      PRPP.Mg(2+). These observations suggest the involvement of ligand-mediated
      oligomerization and conformational changes in the process of activation. The
      dipeptide Leu-Lys in the PPi binding site of human and T. gondii HG(X)PRT that
      facilitates PRPP.Mg(2+) binding by isomerization from trans to cis conformation
      is conserved in PfHGXPRT. Free energy calculations using the well-tempered
      metadynamics technique show the ligand-free enzyme to be more stable when this
      dipeptide is in the trans conformation than in the cis conformation. The high
      rotational energy barrier observed for the conformational change from
      experimental and computational studies permits delineation of the activation
      mechanism. 

PMID- 25824377
TI  - Metabolic profiling-based data-mining for an effective chemical combination to
      induce apoptosis of cancer cells.
AB  - Green tea extract (GTE) induces apoptosis of cancer cells without adversely
      affecting normal cells. Several clinical trials reported that GTE was well
      tolerated and had potential anti-cancer efficacy. Epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate
      (EGCG) is the primary compound responsible for the anti-cancer effect of GTE;
      however, the effect of EGCG alone is limited. To identify GTE compounds capable
      of potentiating EGCG bioactivity, we performed metabolic profiling of 43 green
      tea cultivar panels by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Here, we
      revealed the polyphenol eriodictyol significantly potentiated apoptosis induction
      by EGCG in vitro and in a mouse tumour model by amplifying EGCG-induced
      activation of the 67-kDa laminin receptor (67LR)/protein kinase B/endothelial
      nitric oxide synthase/protein kinase C delta/acid sphingomyelinase signalling
      pathway. Our results show that metabolic profiling is an effective chemical
      mining approach for identifying botanical drugs with therapeutic potential
      against multiple myeloma. Metabolic profiling-based data mining could be an
      efficient strategy for screening additional bioactive compounds and identifying
      effective chemical combinations. 

PMID- 25824379
TI  - A Couple's Colitis.

PMID- 25824380
TI  - Angiotensin converting enzyme and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene
      variations in fibromyalgia syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FM) is a common disease characterized by
      generalized body pain, sensitivity in certain physical areas (sensitive points),
      lowered pain threshold, sleep disorder, and fatigue. The study aimed to determine
      the effects ACE I/D and MTHFR C677T gene polymorphisms in Turkish patients with
      FM and evaluate if there was an association with clinical features. METHODS: This
      study included 200 FM patients and 190 healthy controls recruited from the
      department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Gaziosmanpasa University in
      Tokat, Turkey. ACE I/D polymorphism genotypes were determined by using polymerase
      chain reaction (PCR) by specific primers. The MTHFR C677T mutation was analyzed
      by PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) methods. RESULTS: We
      found a statistically significant relation between ACE polymorphism and FM
      (p<0.001, OR: 1.71, 95% CI: 1.28-2.27). However, this was not the case for ACE
      polymorphism and the clinical characteristics of the disease. There was also no
      statistically significant relation between MTHFR C677T mutation and FMS (p>0.05,
      OR: 1.20, 95% CI: 0.82-1.78), but dry eye and feeling of stiffness which are
      among the clinical characteristics of FMS were significantly related with MTHFR
      C677T mutation (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that there are
      associations of ACE I/D polymorphism with susceptibility of a person for
      development of fibromyalgia syndrome. Also, it is determined an association
      between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and feeling of stiffness and dry eye which are
      among the clinical characteristics of FM. Our study is the first report of ACE
      I/D and MTHFR C677T polymorphisms in fibromyalgia syndrome.

PMID- 25824381
TI  - Mutation and new polymorphisms insight in introns 11 to 14a of CFTR gene of
      northern Iranian cystic fibrosis patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common autosomal recessive disease
      in Caucasians, caused by mutation in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance
      regulator (CFTR). The type and distribution of mutations vary widely between
      different countries and ethnic groups. We therefore aimed to perform a
      comprehensive analysis of the CFTR gene in northern Iranian CF patients. METHODS:
      Forty northern Iranian CF patients were analyzed for mutations in introns 11 to
      14a of their CFTR genes, using sequencing and reverse dot blot methods. Five
      normal subjects were also analyzed as normal control. RESULTS: One mutation and
      seven polymorphisms were identified. Of the eighty alleles studied, c.2043delG in
      exon 13 represented 12.5% of mutant alleles and was associated with two distinct
      haplotypes. rs1042077T>G, rs4148712delAT, rs4148711T>A and rs3808183 T>C with
      frequencies varying between 29.2% and 6.9% for the least common allele, as well
      as three new polymorphisms c.1680-224C>A (11.1%), c.2491-275T>G (14.1%) and
      c.2491-274C>G (35.9%) were detected. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest a founder
      effect for c.2043delG in the Middle East and will assist in genetic counseling,
      prenatal diagnosis and future screening of CF in Iran.

PMID- 25824382
TI  - Association between hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha gene polymorphisms and risk
      of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis in a Chinese
      population: a retrospective case-control study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Our recent study demonstrated a significant association between HIF
      1alpha polymorphisms and hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma
      (HCC). Since chronic hepatitis B (CHB), liver cirrhosis (LC), and HCC are
      progressive stages of chronic HBV infection, the aim of this study is to further
      determine if HIF-1alpha polymorphisms are associated with CHB and HBV-related LC.
      METHODS: Two HIF-1alpha polymorphisms (rs11549465 and rs115494657) were examined
      in 173 healthy controls, 153 patients with CHB, and 132 patients with HBV-related
      LC, using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism
      method. DNA sequencing was also used to validate the genotype results. RESULTS:
      There were no significant differences regarding the HIF-1alpha rs11549465 and
      rs115494657 polymorphisms between the patient groups and the healthy controls, no
      matter the genotypes, alleles, or haplotypes. To exclude the potential influence
      of HBV infection in the association between HIF-1a and HBV-related LC, a
      comparison between the LC patients and HBV infected patients was also conducted,
      but a similar insignificant result was found. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that
      the HIF-1alpha gene polymorphisms might not contribute to the development of CHB
      and HBV-related LC in a Chinese population.

PMID- 25824383
TI  - Development of a simultaneous high resolution typing method for three SLA class
      II genes, SLA-DQA, SLA-DQB1, and SLA-DRB1 and the analysis of SLA class II
      haplotypes.
AB  - The characterization of the genetic variations of major histocompatibility
      complex (MHC) is essential to understand the relationship between the genetic
      diversity of MHC molecules and disease resistance and susceptibility in adaptive
      immunity. We previously reported the development of high-resolution individual
      locus typing methods for three of the most polymorphic swine leukocyte antigens
      (SLA) class II loci, namely, SLA-DQA, SLA-DQB1, and SLA-DRB1. In this study, we
      extensively modified our previous protocols and developed a method for the
      simultaneous amplification of the three SLA class II genes and subsequent
      analysis of individual loci using direct sequencing. The unbiased and
      simultaneous amplification of alleles from the all three hyper-polymorphic and
      pseudogene containing genes such as MHC genes is extremely challenging. However,
      using this method, we demonstrated the successful typing of SLA-DQA, SLA-DQB1,
      and SLA-DRB1 for 31 selected individuals comprising 26 different SLA class II
      haplotypes which were identified from 700 animals using the single locus typing
      methods. The results were identical to the known genotypes from the individual
      locus typing. The new method has significant benefits over the individual locus
      typing, including lower typing cost, use of less biomaterial, less effort and
      fewer errors in handling large samples for multiple loci. We also extensively
      characterized the haplotypes of SLA class II genes and reported three new
      haplotypes. Our results should serve as a basis to investigate the possible
      association between polymorphisms of MHC class II and differences in immune
      responses to exogenous antigens. 

PMID- 25824384
TI  - Auxin crosstalk to plant immune networks: a plant-pathogen interaction
      perspective.
AB  - The plant hormone auxin regulates a whole repertoire of plant growth and
      development. Many plant-associated microorganisms, by virtue of their auxin
      production capability, mediate phytostimulation effects on plants. Recent
      studies, however, demonstrate diverse mechanisms whereby plant pathogens
      manipulate auxin biosynthesis, signaling and transport pathways to promote host
      susceptibility. Auxin responses have been coupled to their antagonistic and
      synergistic interactions with salicylic acid and jasmonate mediated defenses,
      respectively. Here, we discuss that a better understanding of auxin crosstalk to
      plant immune networks would enable us to engineer crop plants with higher
      protection and low unintended yield losses. 

PMID- 25824385
TI  - Abscisic Acid: a versatile phytohormone in plant signaling and beyond.
AB  - As sessile organisms, plants cannot escape from adverse conditions and,
      therefore, they have developed complex responses to the changing environment.
      Plant responses to abiotic cues involve changes in metabolism, photosynthesis,
      gene expression, ion levels, etc., and must be perfectly coordinated by
      phytohormones. The abscisic acid (ABA) is the main phytohormone involved in
      abiotic stress responses although it is nowadays clear that its signaling
      pathways are not isolated but interconnected with other hormone signals in
      complex networks. This article revises molecular mechanisms involved in the
      crosstalks of ABA with other phytohormones in response to different physiological
      processes. Moreover, ABA is not a molecule exclusive from plants but it can be
      found in many other organisms including bacteria, algae, fungi, animals, etc.
      Interestingly, it can be synthesized and secreted by a variety of human cells.
      These aspects that confer to the ABA a range of ubiquitous molecule will be also
      revised in this article. 

PMID- 25824386
TI  - Gibberellins - a multifaceted hormone in plant growth regulatory network.
AB  - Plants tend to acclimatize to unfavourable environs by integrating growth and
      development to environmentally activated signals. Phytohormones strongly regulate
      convergent developmental and stress adaptive procedures and synchronize cellular
      reaction to the exogenous and endogenous conditions within the adaptive signaling
      networks. Gibberellins (GA), a group of tetracyclic diterpenoids, being vital
      regulators of plant growth, are accountable for regulating several aspects of
      growth and development of higher plants. If the element of reproduction is
      considered as an absolute requisite then for a majority of the higher plants GA
      signaling is simply indispensable. Latest reports have revealed unique
      conflicting roles of GA and other phytohormones in amalgamating growth and
      development in plants through environmental signaling. Numerous physiological
      researches have detailed substantial crosstalk between GA and other hormones like
      abscisic acid, auxin, cytokinin, and jasmonic acid. In this review, a number of
      explanations and clarifications for this discrepancy are explored based on the
      crosstalk among GA and other phytohormones. 

PMID- 25824387
TI  - Phytohormone crosstalk research: cytokinin and its crosstalk with other
      phytohormones.
AB  - As signal molecules produced within the plant, phytohormones (plant hormones)
      control plant growth and development through the regulation of gene expression.
      They play also a crucial role in the regulation of cellular activities including
      elongation, cell division and differentiation, organogenesis, pattern formation,
      reproduction and responses to abiotic and biotic stress conditions. Cytokinins,
      auxins, gibberellins, abscisic acid and ethylene are five classic phytohormones
      that had been discovered by the middle of the twentieth century, while
      strigolactones, brassinosteroids, jasmonates and salicylates are of more recently
      characterized phytohormones. Interaction between different phytohormone pathways
      is essential in coordinating tissue outgrowth in response to environmental
      changes. In the past decades, hormone research has focused on elucidating signal
      transduction pathways from hormone perception to response. Such efforts have been
      well paid off by recent discoveries of almost all receptors for major classes of
      phytohormones. While receptors and pathways for individual hormones are being
      illustrated, growing evidence suggests that these signaling pathways are
      interconnected in a complex network. In these pathways, phytohormones not only
      coordinate fundamental developmental cues, but also convey environmental inputs
      by means of synergistic or antagonistic actions referred to as signaling
      crosstalk. Focusing on hormone action and crosstalk, this work suggested
      concentrating on phytohormones signaling, particularly cytokinin crosstalk with
      other hormones, in various plants. Plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses
      are also elucidated regarding the dramatic recent progress in understanding the
      cytokinin-other phytohormones crosstalk. 

PMID- 25824388
TI  - Role of brassinosteroid in plant adaptation to abiotic stresses and its interplay
      with other hormones.
AB  - Brassinosteroids (BRs) are ubiquitous plant steroid hormones, playing diverse
      roles in plant growth, development and stress responses. Defects in BRs
      biosynthesis or signaling result in physiologic and phenotypic abnormalities. To
      date, numerous studies have highlighted BRs-induced stress tolerance to various
      environmental extremes such as high temperature, chilling, drought, salinity and
      heavy metals in a range of plant species. However, the in-depth mechanisms of BRs
      induced stress tolerance still remain largely unknown. It is now clear that BRs
      induced stress responses are strictly concentration dependent and the optimal
      concentration for improving the plant adaptability may vary depending on the
      plant species, developmental stages and environmental conditions as well.
      Conflicting evidences concerning regulation of stress adaptation by BRs demand
      further elucidation of mechanism of BRs action in response to environmental
      stresses in plants. Recent advances in phytohormone research suggest that the
      effect of BRs on stress tolerance relies largely on its interplay with other
      hormones. In this review, we critically analyze the multifaceted roles of BRs in
      various abiotic stresses and its potential crosstalk with other hormones in
      stress adaptation. The discrepancy in the dose and mode of application of BRs
      analogues for stress management is also discussed. 

PMID- 25824389
TI  - Role of various hormones in photosynthetic responses of green plants under
      environmental stresses.
AB  - Environmental stress includes adverse factors like water deficit, high salinity,
      enhanced temperature and heavy metals etc. These stresses alter the normal growth
      and metabolic processes of plants including photosynthesis. Major photosynthetic
      responses under various stresses include inhibition of photosystems (I and II),
      changes in thylakoid complexes, decreased photosynthetic activity and
      modifications in structure and functions of chloroplasts etc. Various defense
      mechanisms are triggered inside the plants in response to these stresses that are
      regulated by plant hormones or plant growth regulators. These phytohormones
      include abscisic acid, auxins, cytokinins, ethylene, brassinosteroids, jasmonates
      and salicylic acid etc. The present review focuses on stress protective effects
      of plants hormones on the photosynthetic responses. 

PMID- 25824390
TI  - Crosstalk among Jasmonate, Salicylate and Ethylene Signaling Pathways in Plant
      Disease and Immune Responses.
AB  - Phytohormone crosstalk is crucial for plant defenses against pathogens and
      insects in which salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), and ethylene (ET) play
      key roles. These low molecular mass signals critically trigger and modulate plant
      resistance against biotrophic as well as necrotrophic pathogens through a complex
      signaling network that even involves participation of other hormones. Crosstalk
      among SA, JA and ET is mediated by different molecular players, considered as
      integral part of these crosscommunicating signal transduction pathways. Recent
      progress has revealed that the positive versus negative interactions among those
      pathways ultimately enable a plant to fine-tune its defense against specific
      aggressors. On the other hand, pathogens have evolved strategies to manipulate
      the signaling network to their favour in order to intensify virulence on host
      plant. Here we review recent advances and current knowledge on the role of
      classical primary defense hormones SA, JA and ET as well as their synergistic and
      antagonistic interaction in plant disease and immune responses. Crosstalk with
      other hormones such as abscisic acid, auxin, brassinosteroids, cytokinins and
      melatonin is also discussed mainly in plant disease resistance. In addition to
      our keen focus on hormonal crosstalk, this review also highlights potential
      implication of positive and negative regulatory interactions for developing an
      efficient disease management strategy through manipulation of hormone signaling
      in plant. 

PMID- 25824391
TI  - The common molecular players in plant hormone crosstalk and signaling.
AB  - Plant growth and development is under the control of mutual interactions among
      plant hormones. The five classical categories of plant hormones include auxins,
      cytokinins, gibberellins, abscisic acid and ethylene. Additionally, newer classes
      of plant hormones have been recognized like brassinosteroids, jasmonic acid,
      salicylic acid and polyamines. These hormones play significant roles in
      regulating the plant growth and development. Various receptors and key signaling
      components of these hormones have been studied and identified. At genetic level,
      crosstalk among the various plant hormones is found to be antagonistic or
      synergistic. In addition, components of signaling pathway of one plant hormone
      interact with the signaling components of other hormone. Thus, an attempt has
      been made to review the literature regarding the role of plant hormones in plant
      physiology and the common molecular players in their signaling and crosstalk. 

PMID- 25824392
TI  - Lower urinary tract cancer.
AB  - Lower urinary tract neoplasia is uncommon in dogs and cats, though transitional
      cell carcinoma (TCC) is the most common tumor of the lower urinary tract in both
      species. Clinical signs are not specific for neoplasia, but neoplasia should be
      considered in patients that are older, have specific risk factors, or have
      persistent, severe, or relapsing signs. Local disease is often the cause of death
      or euthanasia; local control is challenging owing to tumor size and location.
      Systemic therapy is the mainstay of treatment. Prognosis is generally guarded,
      but therapy can result in improvement in clinical signs and quality of life. 

PMID- 25824393
TI  - Micturition disorders.
AB  - Evaluation of dogs and cats with micturition disorders can be challenging. It is
      important to determine the duration, timing, and frequency of the disorder, as
      well as assessing for any additional medical problems, such as neurologic or
      orthopedic disease, that may be affecting micturition. Observation of the patient
      during voiding can be particularly helpful in determining the type of disorder.
      Treatment of micturition disorders is varied and outcome depends on an accurate
      diagnosis. Patient response is also highly variable, even with appropriate
      therapy, and owners' expectations must be set accordingly. 

PMID- 25824394
TI  - Urinary tract infections: treatment/comparative therapeutics.
AB  - Urinary tract infection (UTI) occurs when there is compromise of host defense
      mechanisms and a virulent microbe adheres, multiplies, and persists in a portion
      of the urinary tract. Most commonly, UTI is caused by bacteria, but fungi and
      viruses are possible. Urine culture and sensitivity are the gold standards for
      diagnosis of bacterial UTI. Identifying the location of infection (eg, bladder,
      kidney, prostate) as well as comorbidities (eg, diabetes mellitus,
      immunosuppression) is essential to guide the diagnostic and therapeutic plan.
      Antimicrobial agents are the mainstay of therapy for bacterial UTI and selected
      ideally based on culture and sensitivity. 

PMID- 25824395
TI  - Stabilizing Two Classical Antiaromatic Frameworks: Demonstration of Photoacoustic
      Imaging and the Photothermal Effect in Metalla-aromatics.
AB  - Antiaromatic species are substantially less thermodynamically stable than
      aromatic moieties. Herein, we report the stabilization of two classical
      antiaromatic frameworks, cyclobutadiene and pentalene, by introducing one metal
      fragment through the first [2+2] cycloaddition reaction of a late-transition
      metal carbyne with alkynes. Experimental observations and theoretical
      calculations reveal that the metal fragment decreases the antiaromaticity in
      cyclobutadiene and pentalene simultaneously, leading to air- and moisture-stable
      products. These molecules show broad absorption from the UV to the near-IR
      region, resulting in photoacoustic and photothermal effects for metalla-aromatic
      compounds for the first time. These results will encourage further efforts into
      the exploration of organometallic compounds for photoacoustic-imaging-guided
      photothermal therapy. 

PMID- 25824396
TI  - Development of mature BDNF-specific sandwich ELISA.
AB  - Mature brain-derived neurotrophic factor (mBDNF) plays a vital role in the
      nervous system, whereas proBDNF elicits neurodegeneration and neuronal apoptosis.
      Although current enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been widely used
      to measure BDNF levels, it cannot differentiate mBDNF from proBDNF. As the
      function of proBDNF differs from mBDNF, it is necessary to establish an ELISA
      assay specific for the detection of mBDNF. Therefore, we aimed to establish a new
      mBDNF-specific sandwich ELISA. In this study, we have screened and found a
      combination of antibodies for a sandwich ELISA. A monoclonal antibody and sheep
      anti-BDNF were chosen as capture and detection antibody for sandwich ELISA
      respectively. The new ELISA showed no cross-reactivity to human recombinant NT-3,
      NT-4, nerve growth factor and negligible cross-reactivity (0.99-4.99%) for
      proBDNF compared to commercial ELISA kits (33.18-91.09%). The application of the
      new mBDNF ELISA was shown through the measurement of mBDNF levels in different
      brain regions of rats and in the brain of beta-site amyloid precursor protein
      cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1)(-/-) and WT mice and compared to western blot. Overall,
      this new ELISA will be useful for the measurement of mBDNF levels with high
      specificity. As the function of proBDNF differs from mBDNF (mature BDNF), it is
      necessary to establish an ELISA specific for the detection of mBDNF. Here, we
      present a novel sandwich ELISA which detects mBDNF with high specificity. This
      new ELISA will be useful for the measurement of mBDNF levels with high
      specificity in various human and animal tissues. proBDNF, precursor of BDNF;
      BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor; NT-3, neurotrophin-3; NT-4, neurotrophin
      4; NGF, nerve growth factor. 

PMID- 25824397
TI  - [Complementary therapies in the guidelines for the treatment of irritable bowel
      syndrome].

PMID- 25824398
TI  - [Complementary Medicine in Oncology - difficult to claim effectiveness, quality
      and efficiency].

PMID- 25824399
TI  - [Lymphocyte migration under exposure of homeopathic remedies for periodontal
      inflammation - a controlled pilot study].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several homeopathic remedies are applied in the treatment of
      periodontal inflammation. However, little is known about their basic active
      principles. Therefore, we aimed at investigating the effects of homeopathic drugs
      in periodontal inflammation by observing lymphocyte migration activity in vitro.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: Lymphocytes from blood samples of 3 periodontitis patients
      and 3 matched healthy volunteers were extracted and embedded in collagen matrix
      migration assays together with highly diluted (D12 and C200) aqueous extracts
      from Mercurius solubilis, Silicea, Sulphur, Tuberculinum, or placebo. Lymphocyte
      migration and lymphocyte speed were observed in a 60-min time frame. Statistical
      analysis was performed using univariate statistics and SiZer time series
      analysis. RESULTS: While C-dilutions did not reveal clear differences between
      placebo and substances, strong effects were observed in D-dilutions compared to
      placebo. The strongest effects were achieved in lymphocytes exposed to Sulfur
      D12. While most specific effects were observed in Sulphur D12 showing an
      activating effect on periodontitis patient lymphocytes (mean activity: 11,1%
      (placebo) vs. 23,8% (verum)), there was no effect in healthy volunteers (25,8%
      (placebo) vs. 25,6% (verum)). SiZer analysis confirmed this effect to be
      significant. CONCLUSION: The basic active principles of highly diluted substances
      are still a matter of controversial debate. Although conclusions are limited due
      to low sample size, results from our pilot study might encourage further
      investigations on the role of highly diluted Sulphur in the treatment of
      periodontitis. Apart from a reproduction study with Sulphur, other immunological
      experiments, i.e. the investigation of cell limes via flow cytometry, should be
      performed to underpin these results.

PMID- 25824400
TI  - Homeopathic complex remedy in the treatment of allergic rhinitis: results of a
      prospective, multicenter observational study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR), also known as hay fever, is a
      widespread chronic respiratory disease. In treatment of SAR the use of
      complementary therapies is increasing, but little has been published about
      homeopathic complex remedies so far. Therefore, we think it is time to conduct
      and publish an appropriate observational study. METHODS: Course of single
      symptoms, impairment of quality of life, general efficacy, and tolerability of a
      homeopathic complex remedy containing active substances on a low dilution level
      have been assessed and analyzed. Altogether, 123 patients with a history of
      allergic rhinitis of up to 45 years have been observed for about 4 weeks.
      RESULTS: The majority of symptoms were shown to improve substantially and the
      patients' quality of life increased clearly. The overall symptom score decreased
      significantly from 10.3 +/- 4.7 to 3.9 +/- 3.1 points (p < 0.0001), and reduction
      of impairment of quality of life from 5.7 +/- 2.3 to 1.9 +/- 1.8 score points was
      also significant (p < 0.0001). Rating of efficacy of study medication was
      markedly better than efficacy rating of previous therapies (p = 0.0193). Apart
      from one temporary allergic reaction, the treatment was well tolerated.
      CONCLUSION: The homeopathic complex remedy (Pascallerg(r)) tested in this
      observational study offers a useful option in treatment of SAR in children and
      adults.

PMID- 25824401
TI  - Mind the gap! Lay and medical perceptions of risks associated with the use of
      alternative treatment and conventional medicine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies on the widespread use of complementary and alternative
      medicine (CAM) demonstrate that CAM users base their treatment decisions on both
      subjective, experience-based knowledge and medical knowledge. The aim of this
      study was to explore lay and medical risk perceptions associated with CAM and
      conventional medicine. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this explorative qualitative
      study, we conducted in-depth interviews with 25 Norwegian CAM users with cancer
      or multiple sclerosis and 12 doctors. RESULTS: The interviews revealed
      fundamental differences in risk perceptions influencing treatment decisions and
      risk communication in a clinical setting. While CAM users considered conventional
      medicine as potentially risky and related this to experiences of severe adverse
      effects, CAM was perceived as natural and safe. Doctors' risk perceptions were
      quite the contrary, mainly because of lack of scientific evidence for CAM as a
      safe and beneficial treatment option. CONCLUSION: For the safety of CAM users,
      such divergent risk perceptions may have far-reaching consequences. CAM users
      should be taken seriously with their self-perception as decision-makers
      considering their approaches to experiences, knowledge, and science. An awareness
      of differing lay and medical risk perceptions associated with CAM and
      conventional medicine in research, doctor-patient communication, and education of
      patients and doctors is thus important to optimize patient safety in complex
      health care systems.

PMID- 25824402
TI  - How to handle worsening of condition during treatment - risk assessment in
      homeopathic practice.
AB  - Even though homeopathy is regarded as a harmless intervention, homeopathic
      practice may not be entirely risk-free. Risk in homeopathy can be divided into
      direct and indirect risk. Direct risk refers to traditional adverse effects of an
      intervention; indirect risk is related to adverse effects in a treatment context,
      e.g. the practitioner. Available data suggest that the risk profile of
      homeopathic remedies in ultra-molecular potencies is minor, but there is a
      potential for indirect risk related to homeopathic practice. The concept of
      'homeopathic aggravation' which is unique for homeopathy may impose a particular
      risk as it allows the health status of the patients to deteriorate before there
      is a possible improvement. In that respect it is imperative to distinguish
      homeopathic aggravations from adverse effects. In a general risk evaluation of
      the homeopathic treatment it may be useful to assess the patient's symptoms in
      accordance with the natural course of disease and to evaluate any negative
      deviation from the normal curve as a possible adverse effect of the treatment. It
      is imperative that more emphasis is placed on patient safety during the education
      in homeopathy, and that students are trained to identify serious and red flag
      situations.

PMID- 25824403
TI  - Complementary medicine for cancer patients in general practice: qualitative
      interviews with german general practitioners.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate how general practitioners
      react when their cancer patients show interest in complementary medicine, and how
      their reaction is related to their knowledge in the field. METHODS: We conducted
      semi-structured interviews with 10 German general practitioners. Interviewees
      came from 5 different federal states and varied in terms of urban/rural setting,
      single/joint practice, additional certifications, gender and length of
      professional experience. Interviews were electronically recorded, transcribed and
      then analysed using qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. RESULTS:
      General practitioners feel largely responsible for providing information on
      complementary medicine to their cancer patients. However, uncertainty and a lack
      of knowledge concerning CAM lead mainly to reactive responses to patients' needs,
      and the general practitioners base their recommendations on personal experiences
      and attitudes. They wish to support their cancer patients and thus, in order to
      keep their patients' hopes up and maintain a trusting relationship, sometimes
      support complementary medicine, regardless of their own convictions. CONCLUSION:
      Although general practitioners see themselves as an important source of
      information on complementary medicine for their cancer patients, they also speak
      of their uncertainties and lack of knowledge. General practitioners would profit
      from training in complementary medicine enabling them to discuss this topic with
      their cancer patients in a proactive, open and honest manner.

PMID- 25824404
TI  - Effects of bergamot ( Citrus bergamia (Risso) Wright & Arn.) essential oil
      aromatherapy on mood states, parasympathetic nervous system activity, and
      salivary cortisol levels in 41 healthy females.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bergamot essential oil (BEO) is commonly used against psychological
      stress and anxiety in aromatherapy. The primary aim of the present study was to
      obtain first clinical evidence for these psychological and physiological effects.
      A secondary aim was to achieve some fundamental understanding of the relevant
      pharmacological processes. METHODS: Endocrinological, physiological, and
      psychological effects of BEO vapor inhalation on 41 healthy females were tested
      using a random crossover study design. Volunteers were exposed to 3 experimental
      setups (rest (R), rest + water vapor (RW), rest + water vapor + bergamot
      essential oil (RWB)) for 15 min each. Immediately after each setup, saliva
      samples were collected and the volunteers rested for 10 min. Subsequently, they
      completed the Profile of Mood States, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Fatigue
      Self-Check List. High-frequency (HF) heart rate values, an indicator for
      parasympathetic nervous system activity, were calculated from heart rate
      variability values measured both during the 15 min of the experiment and during
      the subsequent 10 min of rest. Salivary cortisol (CS) levels in the saliva
      samples were analyzed using ELISA. RESULTS: CS of all 3 conditions R, RW, and RWB
      were found to be significantly distinct (p = 0.003). In the subsequent multiple
      comparison test, the CS value of RWB was significantly lower when compared to the
      R setup. When comparing the HF values of the RWB setup during the 10 min of rest
      after the experiment to those of RW, this parameter was significantly increased
      (p = 0.026) in the RWB setup for which scores for negative emotions and fatigue
      were also improved. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that BEO inhaled
      together with water vapor exerts psychological and physiological effects in a
      relatively short time.

PMID- 25824405
TI  - Leech therapy in Iranian traditional medicine.

PMID- 25824407
TI  - Proteomic analysis of the effect of extracellular calcium ions on human
      mesenchymal stem cells: Implications for bone tissue engineering.
AB  - Human mesenchymal stem cells-bone marrow (BM-hMSCs) are considered as the most
      suitable seed cells for bone tissue engineering. Calcium ions (Ca(2+)) forms an
      important component of a number of commercial bone substitutes and support
      materials. For efficient bone tissue engineering, it is crucial to explore the
      effect of extracellular Ca(2+) on the growth and differentiation of BM-hMSCs, and
      to understand their molecular mechanisms. Therefore, in the present study, BM
      hMSCs were cultivated in serum free growth medium or serum free growth medium
      with additional 4 or 6mM Ca(2+) for 3weeks, following which, the proliferation
      and osteoblastic differentiation of these cells were evaluated. Differentially
      expressed proteins were established using iTRAQ labeling coupled with nano-LC
      MS/MS. Our data revealed that Ca(2+) significantly promoted the proliferation of
      BM-hMSCs in the early stage. Furthermore, Ca(2+) showed osteoinduction
      properties. MAPKs signaling pathway might participate in the osteogenic
      differentiation of BM-hMSCs caused by Ca(2+). Certain newly found proteins could
      be potentially important for the osteogenic differentiation of BM-hMSCs and may
      be associated with osteogenesis. 

PMID- 25824408
TI  - Novel roles of ginsenoside Rg3 in apoptosis through downregulation of epidermal
      growth factor receptor.
AB  - Ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3), a pharmacologically active compound from red ginseng, has
      been reported to induce cell death in various cancer cell lines, although the
      specific mechanisms have not been well established. In the present study, Rg3
      treatment to A549 human lung adenocarcinoma led to cell death via not only
      apoptotic pathways but also the downregulation of epidermal growth factor
      receptor (EGFR). We used cross-linker and cell enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays
      to show that Rg3 inhibited EGFR dimerization by EGF stimulation and caused EGFR
      internalization from the cell membrane. Among several important phosphorylation
      sites in cytoplasmic EGFR, Rg3 increased the phosphorylation of tyrosine 1045
      (pY1045) and serine 1046/1047 (pS1046/1047) for EGFR degradation and
      coincidently, attenuated pY1173 and pY1068 for mitogen-activated protein kinase
      activity. These effects were amplified under EGF-pretreated Rg3 stimulation. In
      vivo experiments showed that the average volume of the tumors treated with 30
      mg/kg of Rg3 was significantly decreased by 40% compared with the control.
      Through immunohistochemistry, we detected the fragmentation of DNA, the
      accumulation of Rg3, and the reduction of EGFR expression in the Rg3-treated
      groups. Here, we provide the first description of the roles of Rg3 in the
      reduction of cell surface EGFR, the attenuation of EGFR signal transduction, and
      the eventual activation of apoptosis in A549 human lung adenocarcinoma.

PMID- 25824409
TI  - Gambogic acid sensitizes resistant breast cancer cells to doxorubicin through
      inhibiting P-glycoprotein and suppressing survivin expression.
AB  - The development of resistance to chemotherapeutic agents remains a major
      challenge to breast cancer chemotherapy. Overexpression of drug efflux
      transporters like P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and resistance to apoptosis are the two
      key factors that confer cancer drug resistance. Gambogic acid (GA), a major
      component of Gamboge resin, has potent anticancer effects and can inhibit the
      growth of several types of human cancers. However, the potential and underlying
      mechanisms of GA in reversing cancer resistance remain poorly understood. In the
      present study, we found that GA can markedly sensitize doxorubicin (DOX)
      resistant breast cancer cells to DOX-mediated cell death. GA increased the
      intracellular accumulation of DOX by inhibiting both P-gp expression and
      activity. Meanwhile, the combination effect was associated with the generation of
      intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the suppression of anti-apoptotic
      protein survivin. Scavenging intracellular ROS or overexpression of survivin
      blocked the sensitizing effects of GA in DOX-induced apoptosis. Furthermore, ROS
      mediated activation of p38 MAPK was revealed in GA-mediated suppression of
      survivin expression. This study gives rise to the possibility of applying GA as
      an anticancer agent for the purpose of combating DOX-resistant breast cancer. 

PMID- 25824410
TI  - Protection of radiation induced DNA and membrane damages by total triterpenes
      isolated from Ganoderma lucidum (Fr.) P. Karst.
AB  - The total triterpenes isolated from the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma lucidum was
      examined for its potential to prevent gamma-radiation induced membrane damage in
      rat liver mitochondria and microsomes. The effects of total triterpenes on gamma
      radiation-induced DNA strand breaks in pBR 322 plasmid DNA in vitro and human
      peripheral blood lymphocytes ex vivo were evaluated. The protective effect of
      total triterpenes against gamma-radiation-induced micronuclei formations in mice
      bone marrow cells in vivo were also evaluated. The results indicated the
      significant effectiveness of Ganoderma triterpenes in protecting the DNA and
      membrane damages consequent to the hazardous effects of radiation. The findings
      suggest the potential use of Ganoderma triterpenes in radio therapy. 

PMID- 25824411
TI  - Antitumor activity of 4-O-(2"-O-acetyl-6"-O-p-coumaroyl-beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-p
      coumaric acid against lung cancers via mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis.
AB  - This study was aimed to investigate antitumor activity of 4-O-(2"-O-acetyl-6"-O-p
      coumaroyl-beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-p-coumaric acid (4-ACGC) against lung cancer and
      its mechanisms. The anti-proliferative effects of 4-ACGC on lung cancer cell
      lines including A549, NCI-H1299, HCC827 were evaluated by MTT method and the IC50
      values were calculated, and subsequently a mice xenograft model of A549 was
      established to investigate the antitumor effect of 4-ACGC in vivo. Furthermore,
      the apoptosis of the A549 cells was determined by fluorescence microscope by
      staining with Hoechst 33324 and flow cytometer by staining with FITC conjugated
      Annexin V/PI, and the further mechanisms were investigated by Western blotting.
      Our results demonstrated that 4-ACGC possessed notable anti-tumor activity on
      lung cancer in vivo and in vitro; the mechanisms were involved in inducing
      mitochondria-mediated apoptosis via up-regulations of caspase-3, caspase-9, Bad
      and Bax, and down-regulation of Bcl-2. Collectively, our results indicated that
      the 4-ACGC could be treated as a new candidate for treatment of lung cancer in
      the future.

PMID- 25824413
TI  - Synthesis and structure of Ag(I), Pd(II), Rh(I), Ru(II) and Au(I) NHC-complexes
      with a pendant Lewis acidic boronic ester moiety.
AB  - Bifunctional Ag(I), Pd(II), Rh(I), Ru(II) and Au(I) complexes containing a NHC
      ligand and a pendant trivalent boron moiety have been synthesized in high yields.
      Fine-tuned reaction conditions were used to prevent potential ligand self
      quenching or polymerization due to the eventual co-existence in situ of free NHC
      (Lewis base) and boronic ester (Lewis acid) in the same molecule.

PMID- 25824412
TI  - In vitro and in vivo evaluation of novel cinnamyl sulfonamide hydroxamate
      derivative against colon adenocarcinoma.
AB  - The potential of cinnamic acid as an anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agent has
      been studied previously. In our investigation, novel bio-isosters of cinnamyl
      sulfonamide hydroxamate were synthesized, characterized and confirmed for their
      structure and evaluated for cytotoxicity. Three NCEs namely, NMJ-1, -2 and -3
      showed cell-growth inhibition in 6 human cancer cell lines with IC50 at the range
      of 3.3+/-0.15-44.9+/-2.6 MUM. The hydroxamate derivatives of cinnamyl sulfonamide
      are reported inhibitors of HDAC enzyme. Thus, the effectiveness of these
      molecules was determined by whole cell HDAC assay in HCT 116 cell line. NMJ-2
      (0.41+/-0.01 MUM) exhibited better enzyme inhibition (IC50) compared to SAHA
      (2.63+/-0.07). In order to evaluate induction of apoptosis by treatment, Hoechst
      33342 and AO/EB nuclear staining methods were used. Further, cell cycle analysis,
      Annexin V binding and caspase 3/7 activation assays were performed by flow
      cytometry where NMJ-2 significantly arrested the cell cycle at G2/M phase,
      increased Annexin V binding to the cell surface and activation of caspase-3/7.
      Bax/Bcl-2 ratio was observed by Western blot and showed an increase with NMJ-2
      treatment. This was comparable to standard SAHA. The acute toxicity study (OECD
      425) showed that NMJ-2 was safe up to 2000 mg/kg in rats. 1,2-Dimethyl hydrazine
      (DMH) was used to produce experimental colon adenocarcinoma in Wistar rats. 5-FU
      and NMJ-2 (100 mg/kg p.o. and 10 mg/kg i.p. once daily for 21 days, respectively)
      were administered to the respective groups. Both treatments significantly reduced
      ACFs, adenocarcinoma count, TNF-alpha, IL-6, nitrite and nitrate levels in
      colonic tissue. Our findings indicate that NMJ-2 has potent anti-cancer activity
      against colon cancer, by acting through HDAC enzyme inhibition and activation of
      intrinsic mitochondrial apoptotic pathway, with additional anti-inflammatory
      activity.

PMID- 25824414
TI  - n-Order and maximum fuzzy similarity entropy for discrimination of signals of
      different complexity: Application to fetal heart rate signals.
AB  - This paper presents two new concepts for discrimination of signals of different
      complexity. The first focused initially on solving the problem of setting entropy
      descriptors by varying the pattern size instead of the tolerance. This led to the
      search for the optimal pattern size that maximized the similarity entropy. The
      second paradigm was based on the n-order similarity entropy that encompasses the
      1-order similarity entropy. To improve the statistical stability, n-order fuzzy
      similarity entropy was proposed. Fractional Brownian motion was simulated to
      validate the different methods proposed, and fetal heart rate signals were used
      to discriminate normal from abnormal fetuses. In all cases, it was found that it
      was possible to discriminate time series of different complexity such as
      fractional Brownian motion and fetal heart rate signals. The best levels of
      performance in terms of sensitivity (90%) and specificity (90%) were obtained
      with the n-order fuzzy similarity entropy. However, it was shown that the optimal
      pattern size and the maximum similarity measurement were related to intrinsic
      features of the time series. 

PMID- 25824415
TI  - Year in review 2014: Interstitial lung disease, physiology, sleep and
      ventilation, acute respiratory distress syndrome, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis
      and rare lung disease.

PMID- 25824416
TI  - Normalizing: adolescent experiences living with type 1 diabetes.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this research study was to gain a greater understanding
      of adolescents' experiences living with diabetes and build a theoretical paradigm
      to inform interventional design. METHODS: Classical grounded theory was utilized;
      15 in-depth interviews of 11 subjects were conducted with Caucasian adolescents'
      ages 11 to 15 with type 1 diabetes. Interviews were recorded and transcribed
      verbatim. Data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis. Codes were
      linked to create the paradigm. RESULTS: A theoretical model was developed about
      the concept of "normalizing." Normalizing is defined as the ability of the
      adolescents to integrate diabetes into the background of their daily life by
      creating routines to make diabetes "part of me." Codes identified in normalizing
      included: (1) recognizing life is changing, (2) taking action to prevent a
      crisis, (3) disclosing to engage support, (4) taking on the burden of care, (5)
      accepting the "new normal," and (6) hoping for a normal future. CONCLUSIONS:
      Normal developmental tasks of adolescence were closely related and contribute to
      understanding why adolescents struggle with diabetes. These research findings
      place a different and positive perspective on diabetes management; the focus
      shifts to supporting wellness and maintaining a normal life rather than on
      illness. Findings are expected to be of value to health providers working with
      adolescents with type 1 diabetes, parents, nursing researchers, and adolescents
      facing the challenge of diabetes management.

PMID- 25824417
TI  - Exercise-induced oxygen desaturation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
      patients.

PMID- 25824418
TI  - The Stair-climbing Test. The Quest for Much-needed Simplicity.

PMID- 25824419
TI  - Work-related Accidents, Absenteeism and Productivity in Patients With Sleep
      Apnea. A Future Consideration in Occupational Health Assessments?

PMID- 25824420
TI  - Dose painting to treat single-lobe prostate cancer with hypofractionated high
      dose radiation using targeted external beam radiation: Is it feasible?
AB  - Targeted focal therapy strategies for treating single-lobe prostate cancer are
      under investigation. In this planning study, we investigate the feasibility of
      treating a portion of the prostate to full-dose external beam radiation with
      reduced dose to the opposite lobe, compared with full-dose radiation delivered to
      the entire gland using hypofractionated radiation. For 10 consecutive patients
      with low- to intermediate-risk prostate cancer, 2 hypofractionated, single-arc
      volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans were designed. The first plan
      (standard hypofractionation regimen [STD]) included the entire prostate gland,
      treated to 70 Gy delivered in 28 fractions. The second dose painting plan (DP)
      encompassed the involved lobe treated to 70 Gy delivered in 28 fractions, whereas
      the opposing, uninvolved lobe received 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions. Mean dose to the
      opposing neurovascular bundle (NVB) was considerably lower for DP vs STD, with a
      mean dose of 53.9 vs 72.3 Gy (p < 0.001). Mean penile bulb dose was 18.6 Gy for
      DP vs 19.2 Gy for STD (p = 0.880). Mean rectal dose was 21.0 Gy for DP vs 22.8 Gy
      for STD (p = 0.356). Rectum V70 (the volume receiving >=70 Gy) was 2.01% for DP
      vs 2.74% for STD (p = 0.328). Bladder V70 was 1.69% for DP vs 2.78% for STD (p =
      0.232). Planning target volume (PTV) maximum dose points were 76.5 and 76.3 Gy
      for DP and STD, respectively (p = 0.760). This study demonstrates the feasibility
      of using VMAT for partial-lobe prostate radiation in patients with prostate
      cancer involving 1 lobe. Partial-lobe prostate plans appeared to spare adjacent
      critical structures including the opposite NVB.

PMID- 25824421
TI  - Dosimetric feasibility of an "off-target isocenter" technique for cranial
      intensity-modulated radiosurgery.
AB  - To evaluate the dosimetric effect of placing the isocenter away from the planning
      target volume (PTV) on intensity-modulated radiosurgery (IMRS) plans to treat
      brain lesions. A total of 15 patients who received cranial IMRS at our
      institution were randomly selected. Each patient was treated with an IMRS plan
      designed with the isocenter located at the target center (plan A). A second off
      target isocenter plan (plan B) was generated for each case. In all the plans,100%
      of the prescription dose covered 99% of the target volume. The plans A and B were
      compared for the target dosage (conformity index [CI] and homogeneity index) and
      organs-at-risk (OAR) dose sparing. Peripheral dose falloff was compared by using
      the metrics volume of normal brain receiving more than 12-Gy dose (V12) and CI at
      the level of the 50% of the prescription dose (CI 50%). The values found for each
      metric (plan B vs plan A) were (mean +/- standard deviation [SD]) as follows-CI:
      1.28 +/- 0.15 vs 1.28 +/- 0.15, p = 0.978; homogeneity index (HI): 1.29 +/- 0.14
      vs 1.34 +/- 0.17, p = 0.079; maximum dose to the brainstem: 2.95 +/- 2.11 vs 2.89
      +/- 1.88Gy, p = 0.813; maximum dose to the optical pathway: 2.65 +/- 4.18 vs 2.44
      +/- 4.03Gy, p = 0.195; and maximum dose to the eye lens: 0.33 +/- 0.73 vs 0.33 +/
      0.53Gy, p = 0.970. The values of the peripheral dose falloff were (plan B vs
      plan A) as follows-V12: 5.98 +/- 4.95 vs 6.06 +/- 4.92cm(3), p = 0.622, and CI
      50%: 6.08 +/- 2.77 vs 6.28 +/- 3.01, p = 0.119. The off-target isocenter solution
      resulted in dosimetrically comparable plans as the center-target isocenter
      technique, by avoiding the risk of gantry-couch collision during the cone beam
      computed tomography (CBCT) acquisition. 

PMID- 25824422
TI  - Epitaxial Growth of ZSM-5@Silicalite-1: A Core-Shell Zeolite Designed with
      Passivated Surface Acidity.
AB  - The design of materials with spatially controlled chemical composition has
      potential advantages for wide-reaching applications that span energy to medicine.
      Here, we present a method for preparing a core-shell aluminosilicate zeolite with
      continuous translational symmetry of nanopores and an epitaxial shell of tunable
      thickness that passivates Bronsted acid sites associated with framework Al on
      exterior surfaces. For this study, we selected the commercially relevant MFI
      framework type and prepared core-shell particles consisting of an aluminosilicate
      core (ZSM-5) and a siliceous shell (silicalite-1). Transmission electron
      microscopy and gas adsorption studies confirmed that silicalite-1 forms an
      epitaxial layer on ZSM-5 crystals without blocking pore openings. Scanning
      electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering were used in combination to
      confirm that the shell thickness can be tailored with nanometer resolution (e.g.,
      5-20 nm). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and temperature-programmed desorption
      measurements revealed the presence of a siliceous shell, while probe reactions
      using molecules that were either too large or adequately sized to access MFI
      pores confirmed the uniform shell coverage. The synthesis of ZSM-5@silicalite-1
      offers a pathway for tailoring the physicochemical properties of MFI-type
      materials, notably in the area of catalysis, where surface passivation can
      enhance product selectivity without sacrificing catalyst activity. The method
      described herein may prove to be a general platform for zeolite core-shell design
      with potentially broader applicability to other porous materials. 

PMID- 25824423
TI  - Double Dissociation of the Roles of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 5 and
      Oxytocin Receptor in Discrete Social Behaviors.
AB  - Social interactions in vertebrates are complex phenomena based on affective and
      cognitive processes. Multiple brain regions and neurotransmitter systems are
      involved in the expression of social behaviors, but their individual roles in
      specific aspects of social interactions are not well understood. Here we
      investigated how Gq-protein-coupled metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5)
      and oxytocin receptor (Oxtr) affect social affiliation and social memory. We used
      conditional genetic approaches in which the genes coding for these receptors were
      knocked out in the lateral septum by infusion of recombinant adeno-associated
      viral vectors containing Cre recombinase (AAV-Cre). Social behavior was assessed
      2 weeks later using a three-chamber paradigm for sociability and preference for
      social novelty. Septal deletion of mGluR5 abolished sociability while leaving
      preference for social novelty intact. In contrast, deletion of Oxtr did not
      affect sociability but significantly impaired preference for social novelty.
      Nonsocial behaviors or memories, including novel object recognition or fear
      conditioning, were not affected by these genetic manipulations.
      Immunohistochemical analyses of the distribution of mGluR5 and Oxtr revealed non
      overlapping localization of these receptors within the lateral septum, suggesting
      that not only different neurotransmitters but also different neuronal types
      contribute to sociability versus preference for social novelty. Our findings
      identify highly specialized roles of lateral septal mGluR5 and Oxtr in the the
      regulation of discrete social behaviors, and suggest that deficits in social
      interactions, which accompany many mental illnesses, would benefit from
      comprehensive treatments targeting different components of social functioning. 

PMID- 25824425
TI  - Reading in the operating room.

PMID- 25824424
TI  - Amygdala Reactivity to Emotional Faces in the Prediction of General and
      Medication-Specific Responses to Antidepressant Treatment in the Randomized iSPOT
      D Trial.
AB  - Although the cost of poor treatment outcomes of depression is staggering, we do
      not yet have clinically useful methods for selecting the most effective
      antidepressant for each depressed person. Emotional brain activation is altered
      in major depressive disorder (MDD) and implicated in treatment response.
      Identifying which aspects of emotional brain activation are predictive of general
      and specific responses to antidepressants may help clinicians and patients when
      making treatment decisions. We examined whether amygdala activation probed by
      emotion stimuli is a general or differential predictor of response to three
      commonly prescribed antidepressants, using functional magnetic resonance imaging
      (fMRI). A test-retest design was used to assess patients with MDD in an academic
      setting as part of the International Study to Predict Optimized Treatment in
      Depression. A total of 80 MDD outpatients were scanned prior to treatment and 8
      weeks after randomization to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
      escitalopram and sertraline and the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor,
      venlafaxine-extended release (XR). A total of 34 matched controls were scanned at
      the same timepoints. We quantified the blood oxygen level-dependent signal of the
      amygdala during subliminal and supraliminal viewing of facial expressions of
      emotion. Response to treatment was defined by ?50% symptom improvement on the 17
      item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Pre-treatment amygdala hypo-reactivity to
      subliminal happy and threat was a general predictor of treatment response,
      regardless of medication type (Cohen's d effect size 0.63 to 0.77; classification
      accuracy, 75%). Responders showed hypo-reactivity compared to controls at
      baseline, and an increase toward 'normalization' post-treatment. Pre-treatment
      amygdala reactivity to subliminal sadness was a differential moderator of non
      response to venlafaxine-XR (Cohen's d effect size 1.5; classification accuracy,
      81%). Non-responders to venlafaxine-XR showed pre-treatment hyper-reactivity,
      which progressed to hypo-reactivity rather than normalization post-treatment, and
      hypo-reactivity post-treatment was abnormal compared to controls. Impaired
      amygdala activation has not previously been highlighted in the general vs
      differential prediction of antidepressant outcomes. Amygdala hypo-reactivity to
      emotions signaling reward and threat predicts the general capacity to respond to
      antidepressants. Amygdala hyper-reactivity to sad emotion is involved in a
      specific non-response to a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. The
      findings suggest amygdala probes may help inform the personal selection of
      antidepressant treatments. 

PMID- 25824426
TI  - Black box audio/video recording in the operating room: time for anesthesiologists
      to get with the picture.

PMID- 25824428
TI  - Increased physiologic intensity during walking and running on a non-motorized,
      curved treadmill.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether exercise performed on a non-motorized, curved
      treadmill (NMCT) provides greater physiologic stimulus compared to a standard
      motorized treadmill (SMT). STUDY DESIGN: Crossover. SETTING: Clinical research
      laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: 10 healthy athletic adults. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
      Participants walked (1.34 m s(-1)) for 3 min and ran (2.24 m s(-1)) for 4 min on
      NMCT and SMT (randomized order) while metabolic data and rating of perceived
      exertion (RPE) were collected. Participants then identified preferred easy and
      moderate intensity training paces on each treadmill while blinded to speed.
      Repeated-measures ANOVA and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests were used to compare
      responses between treadmills. RESULTS: Intensity was significantly greater (P <
      0.001) for NMCT than SMT [mean (95% confidence interval): Walking = 5.9(5.3,6.4)
      vs. 3.4(3.0,3.7) METs; Running = 10.7(9,6,11.7) vs. 7.3(6.8,7.8) METs]. Overall
      RPE was significantly greater (P < 0.01) on NMCT than SMT for walking [median
      (inter-quartile range): 7(1) vs. 6(0.8)] and running [11.5(3) vs. 8(2.5)].
      Preferred speed was significantly slower on NMCT than SMT for easy [2.5(2.3,2.7)
      vs. 2.8(2.5,3.1) m s(-1)] and moderate [3.2(3.0,3.4) vs. 3.5(3.1,3.9) m s(-1)]
      intensities. CONCLUSIONS: NMCT elicits greater physiological stimulus than SMT
      with small, though statistically significant, changes in RPE at matched speeds.
      Clinicians must be aware of differences in intensity and RPE when prescribing
      exercise on NMCT.

PMID- 25824427
TI  - Efficacy of Raynaud's phenomenon and digital ulcer pharmacological treatment in
      systemic sclerosis patients: a systematic literature review.
AB  - To evaluate the efficacy of current treatments for the Raynaud phenomenon (RP) in
      patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), a systematic literature search was
      performed using Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled
      Trials (from 1961 to October 2011). We included meta-analyses, systematic
      reviews, clinical trials, and high-quality cohort studies published in English or
      Spanish. Patient populations had to include adults diagnosed with limited
      cutaneous or diffuse SSc who had associated RP and/or digital ulcers under
      pharmacological treatment. Efficacy of treatments was evaluated based on: number
      of RP episodes, RP severity, episode-free time, ulcer improvement/healing, and
      appearance of new ulcers. We used the Jadad scale of methodological quality to
      evaluate the quality of randomized clinical trials, and the 2009 Oxford Centre
      for Evidence-Based Medicine classification for other studies. Of a total of 1617
      studies identified, only 27 fulfilled inclusion criteria. Drugs received the
      following grade recommendations: Grade A for nifedipine, nicardipine, quinapril,
      IV iloprost, bosentan, tadalafil, and MQx-503; Grade B for beraprost, cicaprost,
      DMSO, cyclofenil, and atorvastatin; and Grade C for misoprostol, prazosin, OPC
      2826, enalapril, sildenafil, antioxidant, and stanazolol. Calcium channel
      blockers, prostanoids, tadalafil, and bosentan received the highest
      recommendation level for their effectiveness. However, most systematic reviews
      reviewed just a handful of studies with small sample sizes and short follow-ups.
      Our review shows that the existing evidence on the efficacy of RP treatment in
      SSc patients is inconclusive which calls for further research, especially in the
      form of prospective studies of high quality with long-term follow-ups. 

PMID- 25824429
TI  - The efficacy of therapeutic ultrasound for rotator cuff tendinopathy: A
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of therapeutic ultrasound
      (US) in adults suffering from rotator cuff tendinopathy. A literature search was
      conducted in four databases for randomized controlled trials (RCT) published
      until 12/2013, comparing the efficacy of US to any other interventions in adults
      suffering from rotator cuff tendinopathy. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used
      to evaluate the risk of bias of included studies. Data were summarized
      qualitatively or quantitatively. Eleven RCTs with a low mean methodological score
      (50.0% +/- 15.6%) were included. Therapeutic US did not provide greater benefits
      than a placebo intervention or advice in terms of pain reduction and functional
      improvement. When provided in conjunction with exercise, US therapy is not
      superior to exercise alone in terms of pain reduction and functional improvement
      (pooled mean difference of the Constant-Murley score: -0.26 with 95% confidence
      interval of -3.84 to 3.32). Laser therapy was found superior to therapeutic US in
      terms of pain reduction. Based on low to moderate level evidence, therapeutic US
      does not provide any benefit compared to a placebo or advice, to laser therapy or
      when combined to exercise. More methodologically sound studies on the efficacy of
      therapeutic US are warranted. 

PMID- 25824430
TI  - Association between circulating thrombopoietin levels and cardiovascular risk
      prediction scores in renal transplant recipients.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The 7-year Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events Calculator
      (CRCRTR-MACE) predicts cardiovascular events (CVE) in renal transplant recipients
      (RTR), and thrombopoietin (TPO) is a humoral inflammatory factor implicated in
      cardiovascular disease (CVD). The aim of the study was to determine if
      circulating TPO levels in stable RTR are positively associated with variable(s)
      in the CRCRTR-MACE score. METHODS: CRCRTR-MACE scores were calculated in 95
      stable RTR. TPO levels were measured by multiplexed fluorescent bead-based
      immunoassay in all patients and 48 controls. Multivariate analysis (MVA) was
      performed between TPO and CV risk variables and patient demographics. Stepwise
      regression with backward elimination of insignificant variables estimated the
      impact of risk variables on TPO levels. Significance was defined at p < 0.05.
      Normalized data were presented as mean +/- SD and non-normalized data as median
      (maximum to minimum). RESULTS: The risk of a CVE within 7 years as predicted by
      the median was 9.97% (range 1.93-84.2). The percentage of patients who were above
      20% risk for a CVE was 28.4%. Control TPO level of 170.41 (4.4-995.9) pg/ml was
      significantly lower than that of 237.90 (32.77-1,386.79) pg/ml in RTR (p =
      0.010). TPO level correlated significantly with the total CRCRTR-MACE score (R =
      0.310, p = 0.004), smoking (p = 0.009) and eGFR (R = -0.275, p = 0.012) but not
      with age, diabetes, LDL level or history of CVE. Only the total CRCRTR-MACE score
      (p = 0.013) and smoking (p = 0.009) remained significant in the MVA. Stepwise
      regression estimated that smoking increased TPO levels by 206.28 pg/ml and each
      10% increase in CRCRTR-MACE score increased TPO levels by an additional 44.4
      pg/ml. CONCLUSION: TPO levels are increased in RTR with high CRCRTR-MACE,
      particularly in smokers with diminished eGFR. Circulating TPO may serve as a
      biomarker and treatment target for CVD in RTR.

PMID- 25824431
TI  - Interspecies Transfer and Regulation of Pseudomonas stutzeri A1501 Nitrogen
      Fixation Island in Escherichia coli.
AB  - Until now, considerable effort has been made to engineer novel nitrogen-fixing
      organisms through the transfer of nif genes from various diazotrophs to non
      nitrogen fixers; however, regulatory coupling of the heterologous nif genes with
      the regulatory system of the new host is still not well understood. In this work,
      a 49 kb nitrogen fixation island from P. stutzeri A1501 was transferred into E.
      coli using a novel and efficient transformation strategy, and a series of
      recombinant nitrogen-fixing E. coli strains were obtained. We found that the
      nitrogenase activity of the recombinant E. coli strain EN-01, similar to the
      parent strain P. stutzeri A1501, was dependent on external ammonia concentration,
      oxygen tension, and temperature. We further found that there existed a regulatory
      coupling between the E. coli general nitrogen regulatory system and the
      heterologous P. stutzeri nif island in the recombinant E. coli strain. We also
      provided evidence that the E. coli general nitrogen regulator GlnG protein was
      involved in the activation of the nif-specific regulator NifA via a direct
      interaction with the NifA promoter. To the best of our knowledge, this work plays
      a groundbreaking role in increasing understanding of the regulatory coupling of
      the heterologous nitrogen fixation system with the regulatory system of the
      recipient host. Furthermore, it will shed light on the structure and functional
      integrity of the nif island and will be useful for the construction of novel and
      more robust nitrogen-fixing organisms through biosynthetic engineering. 

PMID- 25824432
TI  - Molecular Analysis of Promoter and Intergenic Region Attenuator of the Vibrio
      vulnificus prx1ahpF Operon.
AB  - Prx1, an AhpF-dependent 2-Cys peroxiredoxin (Prx), was previously identified in
      Vibrio vulnificus, a facultative aerobic pathogen. In the present study,
      transcription of the V. vulnificus prx1ahpF genes, which are adjacently located
      on the chromosome, was evaluated by analyzing the promoter and intergenic region
      of the two genes. Northern blot analyses revealed that transcription of prx1ahpF
      results in two transcripts, the prx1 and prx1ahpF transcripts. Primer extension
      analysis and a point mutational analysis of the promoter region showed that the
      two transcripts are generated from a single promoter. In addition, the 3' end of
      the prx1 transcript at the prx1ahpF intergenic region was determined by a 3'RACE
      assay. These results suggested that the prx1ahpF genes are transcribed as an
      operon, and the prx1 transcript was produced by transcriptional termination in
      the intergenic region. RNA secondary structure prediction of the prx1ahpF
      intergenic region singled out a stem-loop structure without poly(U) tract, and a
      deletion analysis of the intergenic region showed that the atypical stem-loop
      structure acts as the transcriptional attenuator to result in the prx1 and
      prx1ahpF transcripts. The combined results demonstrate that the differential
      expression of prx1 and ahpF is accomplished by the cis-acting transcriptional
      attenuator located between the two genes and thereby leads to the production of a
      high level of Prx1 and a low level of AhpF.

PMID- 25824433
TI  - Asn-Linked Glycosylation Contributes to Surface Expression and Voltage-Dependent
      Gating of Cav1.2 Ca2+ Channel.
AB  - The Cav1.2 Ca2+ channel is essential for cardiac and smooth muscle contractility
      and many physiological functions. We mutated single, double, and quadruple sites
      of the four potential Asn (N)-glycosylation sites in the rabbit Cav1.2 into Gln
      (Q) to explore the effects of Nglycosylation. When a single mutant (N124Q, N299Q,
      N1359Q, or N1410Q) or Cav1.2/WT was expressed in Xenopus oocytes, the biophysical
      properties of single mutants were not significantly different from Cav1.2/WT. In
      comparison, the double mutant N124,299Q showed a positive shift in voltage
      dependent gating. Furthermore, the quadruple mutant (QM; N124,299,1359,1410Q)
      showed a positive shift in voltage-dependent gating as well as a reduction of
      current. We tagged EGFP to the QM, double mutants, and Cav1.2/WT to chase the
      mechanisms underlying the reduced currents of QM. The surface fluorescence
      intensity of QM was weaker than that of Cav1.2/WT, suggesting that the reduced
      current of QM arises from its lower surface expression than Cav1.2/WT.
      Tunicamycin treatment of oocytes expressing Cav1.2/WT mimicked the effects of the
      quadruple mutations. These findings suggest that Nglycosylation contributes to
      the surface expression and voltage-dependent gating of Cav1.2.

PMID- 25824434
TI  - Identification and Characterization of a New Alkaline Thermolysin-Like Protease,
      BtsTLP1, from Bacillus thuringiensis Serovar Sichuansis Strain MC28.
AB  - Thermolysin and its homologs are a group of metalloproteases that have been
      widely used in both therapeutic and biotechnological applications. We here report
      the identification and characterization of a novel thermolysin-like protease,
      BtsTLP1, from insect pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis serovar Sichuansis strain
      MC28. BtsTLP1 is extracellularly produced in Bacillus subtilis, and the active
      protein was purified via successive chromatographic steps. The mature form of
      BtsTLP1 has a molecule mass of 35.6 kDa as determined by mass spectrometry
      analyses. The biochemical characterization indicates that BtsTLP1 has an apparent
      Km value of 1.57 mg/ml for azocasein and is active between 20 degrees C and 80
      degrees C. Unlike other reported neutral gram-positive thermolysin homologs with
      optimal pH around 7, BtsTLP1 exhibits an alkaline pH optimum around 10. The
      activity of BtsTLP1 is strongly inhibited by EDTA and a group of specific
      divalent ions, with Zn(2+) and Cu(2+) showing particular effects in promoting the
      enzyme autolysis. Furthermore, our data also indicate that BtsTLP1 has potential
      in cleaning applications. 

PMID- 25824435
TI  - Enhancing Cellulase Production in Thermophilic Fungus Myceliophthora thermophila
      ATCC42464 by RNA Interference of cre1 Gene Expression.
AB  - The role of CRE1 in a thermophilic fungus, Myceliophthora thermophila ATCC42464,
      was studied using RNA interference. In the cre1-silenced strain C88, the filter
      paper hydrolyzing activity and beta-1,4-endoglucanase activity were 3.76-, and
      1.31-fold higher, respectively, than those in the parental strain when the
      strains were cultured in inducing medium for 6 days. The activities of beta-1,4
      exoglucanase and cellobiase were 2.64-, and 5.59-fold higher, respectively, than
      those in the parental strain when the strains were cultured for 5 days.
      Quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction showed that the gene
      expression of egl3, cbh1, and cbh2 was significantly increased in transformant
      C88 compared with the wild-type strain. Therefore, our findings suggest the
      feasibility of improving cellulase production by modifying the regulator
      expression, and an attractive approach to increasing the total cellulase
      productivity in thermophilic fungi. 

PMID- 25824436
TI  - Feasibility and acceptability of esophageal-directed hypnotherapy for functional
      heartburn.
AB  - Functional heartburn (FH) is a benign but burdensome condition characterized by
      painful, burning epigastric sensations in the absence of acid reflux or symptom
      reflux correlation. Esophageal hypersensitivity and its psychological
      counterpart, esophageal hypervigilance (EHv) drive symptom experience.
      Hypnotherapy (HYP) is an established and preferred intervention for refractory
      symptoms in functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) and could be applied to
      FH. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility, acceptability,
      and clinical utility of 7 weekly sessions of esophageal-directed HYP (EHYP) on
      heartburn symptoms, quality of life, and EHv. Similar to other work in FGIDs and
      regardless of hypnotizability, there were consistent and significant changes in
      heartburn symptoms, visceral anxiety, and quality of life and a trend for
      improvement in catastrophizing. We would recommend EHYP in FH patients who are
      either non-responsive to medications or who would prefer a lifestyle
      intervention. 

PMID- 25824437
TI  - Direct tracheobronchopexy to correct airway collapse due to severe
      tracheobronchomalacia: Short-term outcomes in a series of 20 patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: Tracheobronchomalacia (TBM) is associated with esophageal atresia,
      tracheoesophageal fistulas, and congenital heart disease. TBM results in chronic
      cough, poor mucous clearance, and recurrent pneumonias. Apparent life-threatening
      events or recurrent pneumonias may require surgery. TBM is commonly treated with
      an aortopexy, which indirectly elevates trachea's anterior wall. However,
      malformed tracheal cartilage and posterior tracheal membrane intrusion may limit
      its effectiveness. This study describes patient outcomes undergoing direct
      tracheobronchopexy for TBM. METHODS: The records of patients that underwent
      direct tracheobronchopexy at our institution from January 2011 to April 2014 were
      retrospectively reviewed. Primary outcomes included TBM recurrence and resolution
      of the primary symptoms. Data were analyzed by McNemar's test for matched binary
      pairs and logistic regression modeling to account for the endoscopic presence of
      luminal narrowing over multiple time points per patient. RESULTS: Twenty patients
      were identified. Preoperative evaluation guided the type of tracheobronchopexy.
      30% had isolated anterior and 50% isolated posterior tracheobronchopexies, while
      20% had both. Follow-up was 5 months (range, 0.5-38). No patients had
      postoperative ALTEs, and pneumonias were significantly decreased (p=0.0005).
      Fewer patients had tracheobronchial collapse at postoperative endoscopic exam in
      these anatomical regions: middle trachea (p=0.01), lower trachea (p<0.001), and
      right bronchus (p=0.04). CONCLUSION: The use of direct tracheobronchopexy
      resulted in ALTE resolution and reduction of recurrent pneumonias in our
      patients. TBM was also reduced in the middle and lower trachea and right mainstem
      bronchus. Given the heterogeneity of our population, further studies are needed
      to ascertain longer-term outcomes and a grading scale for TBM severity.

PMID- 25824438
TI  - Cytomegalovirus-associated biliary atresia: An aetiological and prognostic
      subgroup.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Perinatal cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a possible
      cause or trigger of biliary atresia though clinical evidence is scant. We
      hypothesised that CMV IgM+ve biliary atresia is a separate clinical entity
      compared to CMV IgM-ve biliary atresia. METHODS: Prospective single-centre study.
      210 infants with histologically confirmed biliary atresia were treated in our
      institution (Jan. 2004 to Dec. 2011); of these 20 (9.5%) were CMV IgM+ve at
      presentation. We compared these with 111 infants who were CMV IgM-ve (controls)
      for clinical features, biochemistry at presentation and outcome following Kasai
      portoenterostomy (KPE). A blinded comparison of age-matched liver histology was
      also performed. Data are quoted as median (interquartile range). A P value <=
      0.05 was regarded as significant. RESULTS: Infants with CMV IgM+ve biliary
      atresia were older at Kasai portoenterostomy (or laparotomy) [70 (60-80) days vs.
      56 (44-75)days; P = 0.003] and were more jaundiced [175 (147-224) vs. 140 (121
      181) MUmol/L; P = 0.002+ with higher AST*287 (157-403) vs. 180 (133-254) IU/L; P
      = 0.005] and aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index [1.1 (0.79-3.0)
      vs. 0.63 (0.43-0.95)] levels. Liver histology: CMV IgM+ve biliary atresia was
      characterised by a greater degree of inflammation (P < 0.0001) and fibrosis (P =
      0.02), whereas CMV IgM-ve isolated biliary atresia had a higher degree of lobular
      cholestasis (P = 0.001). This effect was independent of the effects of age at
      KPE. OUTCOME: CMV IgM+ve biliary atresia had a poorer outcome with a reduced
      clearance of jaundice (15% vs. 52.2%; P = 0.002), native liver survival (P <
      0.0001) and increased mortality (P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: CMV IgM+ve biliary
      atresia is a distinct clinical and pathological entity with a diminished response
      to Kasai portoenterostomy.

PMID- 25824439
TI  - A risk calculator predicting postoperative adverse events in neonates undergoing
      major abdominal or thoracic surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study sought to demonstrate the feasibility of a risk calculator
      for neonates undergoing major abdominal or thoracic surgery with good
      discriminative ability. METHODS: The American College of Surgeons' National
      Surgical Quality Improvement Program Pediatric (ACS-NSQIP-P) 2011-12 data were
      queried for neonates who underwent major abdominal or thoracic surgery. The
      outcome of interest was the occurrence of any adverse event, including mortality,
      within 30-days postoperatively. The preoperative clinical characteristics
      significantly associated with any adverse event were used to build a multivariate
      model. The model's discriminative ability was assessed with the area under the
      receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). The model was split-set
      validated with 2013 data. RESULTS: A total of 2967 neonates undergoing major
      abdominal or thoracic surgery were identified. The overall rate of adverse events
      was 23.3%. Sixteen variables were found to be associated with adverse events.
      Four variables increased the odds of adverse events at least two-fold: dirty or
      infected wound class [odds ratio (OR)=2.1] dialysis (OR=3.8), hepatobiliary
      disease (OR=2.1), and inotropic agent use (OR=2.6). The AUROC=0.79 for
      development data and 0.77 on split-set validation. CONCLUSION: Preoperatively
      estimating the probability of postoperative adverse events in neonates undergoing
      major abdominal or thoracic surgery with good discrimination is feasible.

PMID- 25824440
TI  - Positive Family History, Infection, Low Absolute Lymphocyte Count (ALC), and
      Absent Thymic Shadow: Diagnostic Clues for All Molecular Forms of Severe Combined
      Immunodeficiency (SCID).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is a syndrome uniformly fatal
      during infancy unless recognized and treated successfully by bone marrow
      transplantation or gene therapy. Because infants with SCID have no abnormal
      physical appearance, diagnosis is usually delayed unless newborn screening is
      performed. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we sought to evaluate the presenting
      features of all 172 patients with SCID transplanted at this institution over the
      past 31 years. METHODS: We reviewed original charts from 172 consecutive patients
      with classic SCID who received either T-cell-depleted HLA-haploidentical (N =
      154) or HLA-identical (N = 18) nonablative related marrow transplants at Duke
      University Medical Center from 1982 to 2013. RESULTS: The mean age at
      presentation was 4.87 months. When there was a family history of early infant
      death or known SCID (37%), the mean presentation age was much earlier, 2.0 months
      compared with 6.6 months. Failure to thrive was common, with 84 patients (50%)
      having a weight less than the 5th percentile. The leading infections included
      oral moniliasis (43%), viral infections (35.5%), and Pneumocystis jiroveci (26%)
      pneumonia. The group mean absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) was 1454/cmm; 88% of
      the infants had an ALC less than 3000/cmm. An absent thymic shadow was seen in
      92% of infants with electronic radiographic data available. An absence of T-cell
      function was found in all patients. CONCLUSIONS: Infants with SCID appear normal
      at birth but later present with failure to thrive and/or recurrent fungal, viral,
      and bacterial infections. Low ALCs and an absent thymic shadow on chest x-ray are
      key diagnostic clues. The absence of T-cell function confirms the diagnosis.

PMID- 25824441
TI  - Combining the Mannitol Test and FeNO in the Assessment of Poorly Controlled
      Asthma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: International guidelines recommend up-titration of anti-inflammatory
      treatment in asthmatic patients with poor symptom control, but patients without
      eosinophilic airway inflammation are less likely to benefit from this. The
      mannitol bronchoprovocation test and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) are
      increasingly used in the diagnostic assessment of asthma, but the utility of
      combining these tests has not been evaluated. AIM: The aim of this study was to
      determine the value of combining FeNO and the mannitol test to assess patients
      with asthma referred for specialist assessment because of poor symptom control.
      METHODS: All patients referred consecutively over a 12-month period for the
      assessment of asthma at the Respiratory Outpatient Clinic at Bispebjerg Hospital
      in Copenhagen were examined with bronchial provocation to mannitol, FeNO, and
      induced sputum. RESULTS: Among asthmatic patients with partly controlled or
      uncontrolled symptoms according to Global Initiative for Asthma criteria, only
      23% had sputum eosinophilia (eosinophils >2.99%). A positive mannitol test did
      not increase the likelihood of airway eosinophilia significantly (positive test:
      32% vs negative test: 18%, P = .12). However, a positive mannitol test combined
      with a FeNO > 25 ppb indicated a high likelihood of airway eosinophilia (73%),
      compared with FeNO > 25 ppb and a negative mannitol test (29%) (P < .05). In
      contrast, in patients with FeNO < 25 ppb, a positive mannitol test was not
      associated with airway eosinophilia (sputum eosinophils > 2.99%: positive
      mannitol test: 0%, negative test: 11%, ns). CONCLUSION: Combining the mannitol
      test and FeNO may aid in the differentiation between eosinophilic and
      noneosinophilic asthma in patients referred for specialist management because of
      poorly controlled asthma symptoms.

PMID- 25824443
TI  - Value of cardiac MRI to evaluate ischemia-related ventricular arrhythmia
      substrates.
AB  - During the course of and after a myocardial ischemia-reperfusion insult,
      ventricular arrhythmia (VA) may have several single or overlapping potential
      substrates. Some of these may not be associated with morphological and functional
      changes, whereas others may have individual susceptibility. Nevertheless, cardiac
      magnetic resonance currently offers a comprehensive and highly effective toolset
      for the evaluation of a risk of VA on a patient basis after a myocardial
      infarction. Indeed, cardiac magnetic resonance has established itself as a
      reference for the evaluation of the myocardial function and properties, using
      respectively, cine and tissue characterization imaging to detect and evaluate the
      extent of acute myocardial injuries, scars and remodeling. This article describes
      and discusses imaging strategies used to evaluate the substrates for VA in the
      setting of a myocardial infarction. 

PMID- 25824442
TI  - Cardiosome mediated regulation of MMP9 in diabetic heart: role of mir29b and
      mir455 in exercise.
AB  - 'Cardiosomes' (exosomes from cardiomyocytes) have recently emerged as
      nanovesicles (30-100 nm) released in the cardiosphere by myocytes and cardiac
      progenitor cells, though their role in diabetes remains elusive. Diabetic
      cardiovascular complications are unequivocally benefitted from exercise; however,
      the molecular mechanisms need exploration. This novel study is based on our
      observation that exercise brings down the levels of activated (Matrix
      Metalloprotease 9) in db/db mice in a model of type 2 diabetes. We hypothesize
      that exosomes that are released during exercise contain microRNAs (mir455,
      mir29b, mir323-5p and mir466) that bind to the 3' region of MMP9 and downregulate
      its expression, hence mitigating the deleterious downstream effects of MMP9,
      which causes extracellular matrix remodeling. First, we confirmed the presence of
      exosomes in the heart tissue and serum by electron microscopy and flow cytometry,
      respectively, in the four treatment groups: (i) db/control, (ii)
      db/control+exercise, (iii) db/db and (iv) db/db+exercise. Use of exosomal markers
      CD81, Flottilin 1, and acetylcholinesterase activity in the isolated exosomes
      confirmed enhanced exosomal release in the exercise group. The microRNAs isolated
      from the exosomes contained mir455, mir29b, mir323-5p and mir466 as quantified by
      qRTPCR, however, mir29b and mir455 showed highest upregulation. We performed 2D
      zymography which revealed significantly lowered activity of MMP9 in the db/db
      exercise group as compared to non-exercise group. The immunohistochemical
      analysis further confirmed the downregulated expression of MMP9 after exercise.
      Since MMP9 is involved in matrix degradation and leads to fibrosis and myocyte
      uncoupling, the present study provides a strong evidence how exercise can
      mitigate these conditions in diabetic patients. 

PMID- 25824444
TI  - One versus Two Breast Density Measures to Predict 5- and 10-Year Breast Cancer
      Risk.
AB  - BACKGROUND: One measure of Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS)
      breast density improves 5-year breast cancer risk prediction, but the value of
      sequential measures is unknown. We determined whether two BI-RADS density
      measures improve the predictive accuracy of the Breast Cancer Surveillance
      Consortium 5-year risk model compared with one measure. METHODS: We included
      722,654 women of ages 35 to 74 years with two mammograms with BI-RADS density
      measures on average 1.8 years apart; 13,715 developed invasive breast cancer. We
      used Cox regression to estimate the relative hazards of breast cancer for age,
      race/ethnicity, family history of breast cancer, history of breast biopsy, and
      one or two density measures. We developed a risk prediction model by combining
      these estimates with 2000-2010 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results
      incidence and 2010 vital statistics for competing risk of death. RESULTS: The two
      measure density model had marginally greater discriminatory accuracy than the one
      measure model (AUC, 0.640 vs. 0.635). Of 18.6% of women (134,404 of 722,654) who
      decreased density categories, 15.4% (20,741 of 134,404) of women whose density
      decreased from heterogeneously or extremely dense to a lower density category
      with one other risk factor had a clinically meaningful increase in 5-year risk
      from <1.67% with the one-density model to >=1.67% with the two-density model.
      CONCLUSION: The two-density model has similar overall discrimination to the one
      density model for predicting 5-year breast cancer risk and improves risk
      classification for women with risk factors and a decrease in density. IMPACT: A
      two-density model should be considered for women whose density decreases when
      calculating breast cancer risk.

PMID- 25824445
TI  - Is tendinopathy research at a crossroads?

PMID- 25824446
TI  - Exercise-associated DNA methylation change in skeletal muscle and the importance
      of imprinted genes: a bioinformatics meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Epigenetics is the study of processes--beyond DNA sequence alteration
      -producing heritable characteristics. For example, DNA methylation modifies gene
      expression without altering the nucleotide sequence. A well-studied DNA
      methylation-based phenomenon is genomic imprinting (ie, genotype-independent
      parent-of-origin effects). OBJECTIVE: We aimed to elucidate: (1) the effect of
      exercise on DNA methylation and (2) the role of imprinted genes in skeletal
      muscle gene networks (ie, gene group functional profiling analyses). DESIGN: Gene
      ontology (ie, gene product elucidation)/meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: 26 skeletal
      muscle and 86 imprinted genes were subjected to g:Profiler ontology analysis.
      Meta-analysis assessed exercise-associated DNA methylation change. DATA
      EXTRACTION: g:Profiler found four muscle gene networks with imprinted loci. Meta
      analysis identified 16 articles (387 genes/1580 individuals) associated with
      exercise. Age, method, sample size, sex and tissue variation could elevate effect
      size bias. DATA SYNTHESIS: Only skeletal muscle gene networks including imprinted
      genes were reported. Exercise-associated effect sizes were calculated by gene.
      Age, method, sample size, sex and tissue variation were moderators. RESULTS: Six
      imprinted loci (RB1, MEG3, UBE3A, PLAGL1, SGCE, INS) were important for muscle
      gene networks, while meta-analysis uncovered five exercise-associated imprinted
      loci (KCNQ1, MEG3, GRB10, L3MBTL1, PLAGL1). DNA methylation decreased with
      exercise (60% of loci). Exercise-associated DNA methylation change was stronger
      among older people (ie, age accounted for 30% of the variation). Among older
      people, genes exhibiting DNA methylation decreases were part of a microRNA
      regulated gene network functioning to suppress cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Imprinted
      genes were identified in skeletal muscle gene networks and exercise-associated
      DNA methylation change. Exercise-associated DNA methylation modification could
      rewind the 'epigenetic clock' as we age. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:
      CRD42014009800.

PMID- 25824447
TI  - Which determinants predict tibiofemoral and patellofemoral osteoarthritis after
      anterior cruciate ligament injury? A systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is an important risk factor
      for development of knee osteoarthritis (OA). To identify those ACL injured
      patients at increased risk for knee OA, it is necessary to understand risk
      factors for OA. AIM: To summarise the evidence for determinants of (1)
      tibiofemoral OA and (2) patellofemoral OA in ACL injured patients. METHODS:
      MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and CINAHL databases were searched up to 20
      December 2013. Additionally, reference lists of eligible studies were manually
      and independently screened by two reviewers. 2348 studies were assessed for the
      following main inclusion criteria: >=20 patients; ACL injured patients treated
      operatively or non-operatively; reporting OA as outcome; description of
      relationship between OA outcome and determinants; and a follow-up period >=2
      years. Two reviewers extracted the data, assessed the risk of bias and performed
      a best-evidence synthesis. RESULTS: Sixty-four publications were included and
      assessed for quality. Two studies were classified as low risk of bias. Medial
      meniscal injury/meniscectomy showed moderate evidence for influencing OA
      development (tibiofemoral OA and compartment unspecified). Lateral meniscal
      injury/meniscectomy showed moderate evidence for no relationship (compartment
      unspecified), as did time between injury and reconstruction (tibiofemoral and
      patellofemoral OA). CONCLUSIONS: Medial meniscal injury/meniscectomy after ACL
      rupture increased the risk of OA development. In contrast, it seems that lateral
      meniscal injury/meniscectomy has no relationship with OA development. Our results
      suggest that time between injury and reconstruction does not influence
      patellofemoral and tibiofemoral OA development. Many determinants showed
      conflicting and limited evidence and no determinant showed strong evidence.

PMID- 25824448
TI  - Piaget and electronic medical record.

PMID- 25824449
TI  - Acute Effects of Pacing at Different Ventricular Sites on Left Ventricular
      Rotational Mechanics in a Porcine Model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the acute effects of pacing
      at different ventricular sites on hemodynamics and left ventricular (LV)
      rotational mechanics using speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) in a porcine
      model. DESIGN: A prospective laboratory investigation. SETTING: University
      research laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Yorkshire pigs. INTERVENTIONS: In 9 pigs,
      after midline sternotomy, epicardial pacing was performed from the right
      ventricular outflow tract (RVOT), right ventricular apex (RVA), and LV free wall.
      MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Two-dimensional STE and conductance catheter
      derived LV pressure-volume measurements were made to determine the impact of
      pacing from various sites on LV rotational parameters (twist/untwist) and
      hemodynamics. RVOT pacing caused the least decrease in end-systolic pressure from
      baseline (-9.5%), when compared with RVA (-19.1%) and LV (-23.4%). Systolic and
      diastolic parameters (Emax, Tau) also were different among RVOT (4.7+/-0.8
      mmHg/mL, 32+/-4 ms), RVA (3.9+/-0.7 mmHg/mL, 37+/-6 ms), and LV sites (3.6+/-0.8
      mmHg/mL, 42+/-7 ms). Similar to the effects of pacing on hemodynamics, RVOT
      pacing better preserved LV twist (11.1+/-1.8 v 8.6+/-1.7, 5.9+/-0.7  degrees )
      and untwisting rate (64.6+/-8.5 v 56.2+/-5.3, 48.2+/-8.5  degrees /s) when
      compared with RV apical pacing and LV pacing. Furthermore, prolongation of
      conduction from LV lateral to anteroseptal at LV base (26.5+/-3.8 v 13.8+/-3.3
      ms, p<0.05) and LV midpapillary muscle level (35.6+/-5.6 v 14.1+/-2.4 ms, p<0.05)
      was observed with LV pacing compared with RVOT pacing. CONCLUSIONS: The present
      data showed that the LV twist/untwist and cardiac systolic and diastolic function
      were least affected by RVOT pacing. This finding may be explained by the
      proximity of this location to the native ventricular conduction system.

PMID- 25824450
TI  - Blood Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio as a Predictor of Hypertension.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a significant global public health challenge. Low
      grade inflammation is known to facilitate the development of essential
      hypertension and target-organ hypertensive damage. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio
      (NLR) is a simple and reliable indicator of inflammation that may also be useful
      in the prediction of hypertension. METHODS: Participants were recruited from
      Tianjin Medical University's General Hospital-Health Management Centre. A total
      of 28,850 initially hypertension-free subjects were followed from 2007 to 2013.
      Adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess
      relationships between NLR categories and incidence of hypertension. RESULTS:
      During the ~6-year follow-up period (median duration of follow-up (interquartile
      range): 2.63 (2.58-2.68)), 1,824 subjects developed hypertension. The hazard
      ratios of hypertension incidence were evaluated in increasing NLR quintiles.
      Compared with participants with the lowest NLR levels, the multivariable-adjusted
      hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) of hypertension were related to
      increasing NLR quintiles and were as follows: 1.08 (0.92, 1.26), 0.97 (0.83,
      1.14), 1.10 (0.94, 1.28), and 1.23 (1.06, 1.43), respectively (P for trend <
      0.01). Similar results also were observed in the white blood cell and neutrophil
      counts, but not lymphocyte counts. CONCLUSIONS: The study is the first to show
      the elevated NLR levels significantly correlate with an increased risk of
      developing hypertension. This result may be useful in elucidating the mechanism
      underlying the development of hypertension. New therapeutic approaches aimed at
      inflammation might be proposed to control hypertension and hypertensive damage.

PMID- 25824452
TI  - Exaggerated Exercise Blood Pressure Response During Treadmill Testing as a
      Predictor of Future Hypertension in Men: A Longitudinal Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate receiver operating
      characteristic curves to identify optimal cutoff values of exercise systolic
      blood pressure (SBP) using both peak SBP and relative SBP (peak SBP minus resting
      SBP) as predictors of future hypertension (HTN). METHODS: Participants were 3,742
      healthy normotensive men who underwent symptom-limited treadmill testing at
      baseline. Incident HTN was defined as SBP/diastolic blood pressure greater than
      140/90 mm Hg and/or diagnosed HTN by a physician. RESULTS: During an average 5
      year follow-up, 364 (9.7%) new cases of HTN were observed. The most
      discriminatory cutoff values for peak SBP and relative SBP for predicting
      incident HTN were 181 mm Hg (areas under the curve (AUC) = 0.644, sensitivity =
      54%, and specificity = 69%) and 52 mm Hg (AUC = 0.549, sensitivity = 64.3%, and
      specificity = 44.6%), respectively. Participants with peak SBP greater than 181
      mm Hg and relative SBP greater than 52 mm Hg had 1.54-fold (95% CI: 1.23-1.93)
      and 1.44-fold (95% CI: 1.16-1.80) risks of developing HTN after adjusting for
      potential confounding variables. When these 2 variables were entered
      simultaneously into the Cox proportional hazards regression model with adjustment
      for potential confounding variables, only peak SBP (relative risk: 1.39, 95% CI:
      1.02-1.89) was a predictor of the development of HTN. CONCLUSIONS: The most
      accurate discriminators for peak and relative SBP during treadmill exercise
      testing to predict incident HTN were greater than 181 and 52 mm Hg, respectively,
      in normotensive men. A peak SBP greater than 181 mm Hg during treadmill exercise
      testing may provide a useful predictor for the development of HTN in clinical
      practice.

PMID- 25824451
TI  - Blood Pressure Reactivity to the Cold Pressor Test Predicts Hypertension Among
      Chinese Adults: The GenSalt Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Blood pressure (BP) hyper-reactivity to the cold pressor test (CPT)
      has been suggested as a predictor of hypertension. We examined whether BP
      reactivity to the CPT was associated with hypertension incidence among the
      Genetic Epidemiology Network of Salt Sensitivity (GenSalt) study participants
      from China. METHODS: A total of 1,961 GenSalt study participants without any
      antihypertensive treatment completed the CPT at the baseline examination.
      Hypertension status was assessed at baseline (2003-2005) and 2 follow-up visits
      (2008-2009 and 2011-2012). RESULTS: After adjustment for multiple covariates,
      both systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP reactivity to the CPT were significantly
      associated with hypertension incidence. For example, the multivariable adjusted
      odds ratios (ORs, 95% CI) of developing hypertension were 0.92 (0.66, 1.29), 1.42
      (1.03, 1.97), and 1.45 (1.05, 2.00) for participants with maximum SBP responses
      of 6.7-12.0, 12.1-19.2, and >=19.3mm Hg, respectively, compared to those with
      responses of <6.7mm Hg (P for trend = 0.006). Likewise, the multivariable
      adjusted ORs (95% CI) of hypertension were 1.12 (0.79, 1.57), 1.62 (1.15, 2.29),
      and 1.82 (1.30, 2.55) for participants with the area under the curve of SBP
      responses of 3.0-16.0, 16.1-29.9, and >= 30.0mm Hg.min, respectively, compared to
      those with responses of < 3.0mm Hg.min (P for trend = 0.0001). The associations
      between BP reactivity variables and the risk of hypertension were not different
      among subgroups of sex, age, and baseline BP levels. CONCLUSIONS: BP
      hyperreactivity to the cold stimulus may predict the risk of hypertension among
      Chinese adults.

PMID- 25824453
TI  - Simultaneous determination of nicotine and its nine metabolites in rat blood
      utilizing microdialysis coupled with UPLC-tandem mass spectrometry for
      pharmacokinetic application.
AB  - To develop a simple and rapid method for the simultaneous determination of
      nicotine and its nine metabolites in rat blood, an in vivo microdialysis sampling
      technique coupled with ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass
      spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was established for quantitation and characterization
      of the pharmacokinetics of nicotine and its metabolites. Microdialysis probes
      were inserted into the jugular vein of Sprague Dawley rats, and dialysates were
      collected after nicotine (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.) administration. Target analytes and
      corresponding deuterated internal standards were separated on a hydrophilic
      interaction liquid chromatography column (HILIC BEH 2.1. * 150 mm, 1.7 MUm) and
      detected by UPLC-MS/MS under multiple reaction monitoring mode. The limits of
      quantification for nicotine and its nine metabolites ranged from 0.039 to 0.46
      ng/mL. Intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy were well within the
      predefined limits of acceptability (<11 %). Pharmacokinetic results showed that
      the mean half-lives of nicotine, cotinine, nornicotine, norcotinine, nicotine-N'
      oxide, cotinine-N'-oxide, trans-3'-hydroxy-cotinine, nicotine-N-glucuronide,
      cotinine-N-glucuronide, and trans-3'-hydroxy-cotinine-O-glucuronide in rat plasma
      were 63, 291, 175, 440, 251, 451, 322, 341, 488, and 516 min, respectively. The
      blood concentration-time profiles of nicotine and its nine metabolites indicate
      that nicotine is rapidly consumed after the administration and subsequently
      cotinine is generated as the main metabolite; meanwhile, cotinine and other eight
      minor metabolites exhibit longer retention times in rat body.

PMID- 25824454
TI  - Figure-ground segregation: A fully nonlocal approach.
AB  - We present a computational model that computes and integrates in a nonlocal
      fashion several configural cues for automatic figure-ground segregation. Our
      working hypothesis is that the figural status of each pixel is a nonlocal
      function of several geometric shape properties and it can be estimated without
      explicitly relying on object boundaries. The methodology is grounded on two
      elements: multi-directional linear voting and nonlinear diffusion. A first
      estimation of the figural status of each pixel is obtained as a result of a
      voting process, in which several differently oriented line-shaped neighborhoods
      vote to express their belief about the figural status of the pixel. A nonlinear
      diffusion process is then applied to enforce the coherence of figural status
      estimates among perceptually homogeneous regions. Computer simulations fit human
      perception and match the experimental evidence that several cues cooperate in
      defining figure-ground segregation. The results of this work suggest that figure
      ground segregation involves feedback from cells with larger receptive fields in
      higher visual cortical areas.

PMID- 25824455
TI  - Immune checkpoint inhibition in lymphoid disease.
AB  - It has long been understood that the immune system has intrinsic anti-tumour
      activity in humans, and that a key mechanism of tumour progression is the ability
      of a tumour to escape this immune surveillance. A number of attempts have been
      made to harness this anti-tumour immunity in both solid tumour oncology and
      haematological malignancies with variable success. Examples include the use of
      allogeneic stem cell transplantation and donor lymphocyte infusion in
      haematological cancer and vaccine studies in solid tumours. Enhanced signalling
      of the Programmed cell death-1 (PDCD1, PD-1)/cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated
      protein 4 (CTLA4) 'immune checkpoint' pathway has emerged recently as a critical
      mechanism by which tumours can escape the natural anti-tumour immune response. As
      such, novel therapies have been developed to help enhance this natural immunity
      by switching off the PDCD1/CTLA4 immune checkpoint pathway. The following review
      will discuss the pathobiology of these pathways and the exciting new data now
      available in lymphoid malignancies. 

PMID- 25824456
TI  - Partial depletion of striatal dopamine enhances penetrance of cognitive deficits
      in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are recognized to coexist on a
      spectrum of neurodegeneration, and it has been proposed that molecular
      interactions among pathogenic proteins are a basis for the overlap between these
      two diseases. We instead hypothesized that degeneration of the nigrostriatal
      dopaminergic system enhances the clinical penetrance of early-stage AD. To
      determine the effect of striatal dopamine (DA) on the pathological effects in an
      experimental model of AD, APPSWE /PS1DeltaE9 mice received striatal injections of
      the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6OHDA). Animals were tested in a Barnes maze
      protocol and in a water T-maze protocol at different ages to determine the onset
      of cognitive impairment. APPSWE /PS1DeltaE9 mice that received 6OHDA injections
      showed significant impairment in Barnes maze performance at an earlier age than
      controls. Additionally, at 12 months of age, APPswe /PS1DeltaE9 + 6OHDA mice
      demonstrated worse behavioral flexibility than other groups in a task-switch
      phase of the water T-maze. To determine the neuroprotective effects of
      dopaminergic neurotransmission against amyloid-beta42 (Abeta42 ) toxicity,
      neuronal branch order and dendrite length were quantified in primary medium spiny
      neuron (MSN) cultures pretreated with increasing doses of the D1 and D2 receptor
      agonists before being exposed to oligomerized Abeta42 . Although there were no
      differences in Abeta peptide levels or plaque burden among the groups, in murine
      MSN culture dopaminergic agonists prevented a toxic response to Abeta42.
      Depletion of DA in the striatum exacerbated the cognitive impairment seen in a
      mouse model of early-stage AD; this may be due to a protective effect of
      dopaminergic innervation against Abeta striatal neurotoxicity.

PMID- 25824458
TI  - Anti-fibrotic effect of plumbagin on CCl4-lesioned rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Our previous studies have shown that plumbagin effectively
      inhibits hepatic stellate cell (HSC) proliferation. Thus, plumbagin-mediated anti
      fibrotic effects in vivo merit further investigation. METHODS: We used rat models
      to assess the potential benefits of plumbagin against CCl4-induced liver
      fibrosis. RESULTS: The results showed that plumbagin lowered the serum
      concentrations of liver functional enzymes (ALT, AST, ALB, TBIL) in CCl4-fibrotic
      rats while reducing inflammatory cytokine levels (IL-6, TNF-alpha). As reflected
      in pathological examinations, rats that were administered plumbagin showed
      decreased collagen markers (HA, LN, PCIII and CIV) in liver tissues and improved
      hepatocellular impairments. In addition, plumbagin contributed to down-regulating
      NF-kappaB and TLR-4 mRNA in CCl4-lesioned livers. As revealed in the
      immunohistochemical assay, plumbagin-administered rats showed reduced levels of
      alpha-SMA and TNF-alpha immunoreactive cells in liver tissue. CONCLUSION:
      Collectively, these findings offer appealing evidence that plumbagin may serve as
      an anti-fibrotic medication through inactivating the NF-kappaB/TLR-4 pathway that
      is associated with inflammatory reactions, thereby mitigating liver fibrosis.

PMID- 25824457
TI  - Calcium sensing receptor regulating smooth muscle cells proliferation through
      initiating cystathionine-gamma-lyase/hydrogen sulfide pathway in diabetic rat.
AB  - AIMS: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) inhibits the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle
      cells (VSMCs). However, how cystathionine-gamma-lyase (CSE), a major enzyme that
      produces H2S, is regulated remains unknown. Whether calcium-sensing receptor
      (CaSR) inhibits the proliferation of VSMCs by regulating the endogenous CSE/H2S
      pathway in diabetic rat has not been previously investigated. METHODS AND
      RESULTS: The morphological and ultrastructure alterations were tested by
      transmission electron microscopy, changes in the H2S concentration and the
      relaxation of the mesenteric secondary artery loop of diabetic rats were
      determined by Multiskan spectrum microplate spectrophotometer and isometric force
      transducer. Additionally, the expression levels of CaSR, CSE and Cyclin D1 in the
      mesenteric arteries of rats were examined by western blotting. The intracellular
      calcium concentration, the expression of p-CaMK II (phospho-calmodulin kinases
      II), CSE activity, the concentration of endogenous H2S and the proliferation of
      cultured VSMCs from rat thoracic aortas were measured by using confocal
      microscope, western blotting, microplate spectrophotometer, MTT and BrdU,
      respectively. The VSMC layer thickened, the H2S concentration dropped, the
      relaxation of the mesenteric secondary artery rings weakened, and the expression
      of CaSR and CSE decreased whereas the expression of Cyclin D1 increased in
      diabetic rats compared with the control group. The [Ca(2+)]i of VSMCs increased
      upon treatment with CaSR agonists (10 uM Calindol and 2.5 mM CaCl2), while it
      decreased upon administration of calhex231, U73122 and 2-APB. The expression of p
      CaMK II and CSE increased upon treatment with CaSR agonists in VSMCs. CSE
      activity and the endogenous H2S concentration decreased in response to high
      glucose, while it increased with treatment of CaSR agonists. The proliferation
      rate increased in response to high glucose, and CaSR agonists or NaHS
      significantly reversed the proliferation of VSMCs caused by high glucose.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that CaSR regulated the endogenous CSE/H2S
      pathway to inhibit the proliferation of VSMCs in both diabetic and high glucose
      models.

PMID- 25824459
TI  - Modest decrease in PGC1alpha results in TAG accumulation but not in insulin
      resistance in L6 myotubes.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: PGC-1alpha is an important cellular protein (coactivator)
      regulating myocyte mitochondria number and function, and therefore whole cellular
      energy status. The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of modest,
      temporary PGC-1alpha knock-down on L6 myotubes insulin resistance in a light of
      cellular lipid metabolism. METHODS: Gas liquid chromatography was applied for
      assessing FAs content and composition. For the expression of mitochondrial
      enzymes, as well as FA and glucose transporters, Western Blot technique was
      adopted. Additionally, radiolabelled glucose and palmitic acid uptake was
      performed to estimate the nutrients cellular influx. RESULTS: Modest (-24%) PGC
      1alpha protein ablation resulted in decreased mitochondrial activity in general
      (reduced Cyt C content) and FAs oxidation in particular (diminished beta-HAD
      expression) without increased FAs cellular influx. The aforementioned
      intervention led to significantly increased TAG cellular level, but not DAG nor
      CER. Consequently, no changes in cellular insulin responsiveness were noticed.
      CONCLUSIONS: Modest (-24%) PGC-1alpha protein depletion results in lipid
      accumulation, without causing insulin resistance. Importantly, it seems that this
      TAG loading is a result of decreased mitochondrial oxidative capacity and/or
      possibly increased lipid biosynthesis but not fatty acid cellular influx.

PMID- 25824460
TI  - TGF-beta regulates hepatocellular carcinoma progression by inducing Treg cell
      polarization.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: TGF-beta plays a key role in the progression of various tumors.
      The main objective of our study was to investigate whether TGF-beta is able to
      regulate N-nitrosodiethylamine (DEN)-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
      progression in a mouse model by inducing Treg cell polarization. METHODS: HCC
      progression, TGF-beta and Foxp3 expression levels, serum TGF-beta, IL10 and GP73
      levels as well as percentage of Treg cells were analyzed in healthy, HCC and
      HCC+SM-16 mouse groups. The effect of TGF-beta on Treg cell polarization in vitro
      was measured by flow cytometric analysis. The expression of TGF-beta and IL10 was
      identified by IHC in HCC patients and the correlation between TGF-beta and IL10
      was also assessed. RESULTS: TGF-beta expression is up-regulated in a DEN-induced
      HCC mouse model. TGF-beta can promote the differentiation of Foxp3(+)CD4(+) T
      cells (Treg cells) in vitro. However, blocking the TGF-beta pathway with a
      specific TGF-beta receptor inhibitor, SM-16, reduced HCC progression and the
      percentage of Treg cells in liver tissue. The correlation between TGF-beta and
      Treg cells was also confirmed in HCC patients and the expression of both TGF-beta
      and IL-10 was shown to be associated with HCC progression. CONCLUSION: TGF-beta
      is necessary for HCC progression, acting by inducing Treg cell polarization.

PMID- 25824461
TI  - Down-regulation of Homer1b/c protects against chemically induced seizures through
      inhibition of mTOR signaling.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Homer is a family of post synaptic density proteins functionally and
      physically attached to target proteins at proline-rich sequences. Reducing
      Homer1b/c expression has been shown in previous studies to be protective against
      excitotoxic insults, implicating Homer1b/c in the physiological regulation of
      aberrant neuronal excitability. METHODS: To test the efficacy of a Homer1b/c
      reducing therapy for disorders with a detrimental hyperexcitability profile in
      mice, we used small interfere RNA (siRNA) to decrease endogenous Homer1b/c
      expression in mouse hippocampus. The baseline motor and cognitive behavior was
      measured by sensorimotor tests, Morris water maze and elevated plus maze tasks.
      The anti-epileptic effects of Homer1b/c knockdown were determined in two
      chemically induced seizure models induced by Picrotoxin (PTX) or
      pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) administration. RESULTS: The results of sensorimotor
      tests, Morris water maze and elevated plus maze tasks showed that Homer1b/c
      reduction had no effect on baseline motor or cognitive behavior. In two
      chemically induced seizure models, mice with reduced Homerb/c protein had less
      severe seizures than control mice. Total Homer1b/c protein levels and seizure
      severity were highly correlated, such that those mice with the most severe
      seizures also had the highest levels of Homer1b/c. In addition, the
      phosphorylation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and its target protein S6
      was significantly inhibited in Homer1b/c down-regulated mice. Homer1b/c knockdown
      induced inhibition of mTOR pathway was partially ablated by the metabotropic
      glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) agonist CHPG. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate
      that endogenous Homer1b/c is integral for regulating neuronal hyperexcitability
      in adult animals and suggest that reduction of Homer1b/c could protect against
      chemically induced seizures through inhibition mTOR pathway.

PMID- 25824462
TI  - Activated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt inhibits the transition of
      endothelial progenitor cells to mesenchymal cells by regulating the forkhead box
      subgroup O-3a signaling.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) differentiate into
      mature endothelial cells and may thus be candidates for ischemic disease therapy;
      however, the transition of EPCs to mesenchymal cells is not fully understood. We
      explored the role of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling in
      endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) induced by transforming growth
      factor beta 1 (TGF-beta1). METHODS: Rat bone marrow-derived EPCs were isolated by
      using Ficoll-Isopaque Plus density-gradient centrifugation. EndMT was induced by
      TGF-beta1 (5 ng/mL). PI3K/Akt signaling was activated by IGF-1 or Lenti-PIK3R2
      shRNA. Additionally, FoxO3a expression was suppressed by a lentiviral vector
      (Lenti-FoxO3a shRNA). Smad3 and FoxO3a co-localization was detected by confocal
      immunofluorescence microscopy. The expressions of molecules involved in EndMT
      were exmined by using Western-blot analysis. RESULTS: EndMT of EPCs was fully
      developed after TGF-beta1 treatment (5 ng/mL) for 7 days. PIK3R2 expression in
      EPCs was driven by TGF-beta1. Lenti-PIK3R2 shRNA blocked alpha-smooth muscle
      actin (alpha-SMA) expression in EPCs treated with TGF-beta1, drove PI3K/Akt
      activation, and increased expression of phosphorylated FoxO3a instead of
      phosphorylated Smad3. The effect of Lenti-PIK3R2 shRNA was reduced by LY294002, a
      specific inhibitor of PI3K. IGF-1 attenuated alpha-SMA protein expression in EPCs
      treated with TGF-beta1. Similar to Lenti-PIK3R2 shRNA, IGF-1 also inhibited and
      elevated the phosphorylation of Smad3 and FoxO3a, respectively. IGF-1 disrupted
      the co-localization of these proteins in EPCs treated with TGF-beta1. Lenti
      FoxO3a shRNA transfection of EPCs suppressed expression of FoxO3a as well as that
      of the mesenchymal markers SM22alpha and alpha-SMA. CONCLUSIONS: Activation of
      PI3K/Akt signaling by Lenti-PIK3R2 shRNA or by exogenous IGF-1 inhibits EndMT in
      EPCs via negative regulation of FoxO3a-dependent signaling.

PMID- 25824463
TI  - Activation of PAR-1/NADPH oxidase/ROS signaling pathways is crucial for the
      thrombin-induced sFlt-1 production in extravillous trophoblasts: possible
      involvement in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.
AB  - BACKGROUNDS/AIMS: Preeclampsia was characterized by excessive thrombin generation
      in placentas and previous researches showed that thrombin could enhance soluble
      Fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) expression in first trimester trophoblasts.
      However, the detailed mechanism for the sFlt-1 over-production induced by
      thrombin was largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to explore the
      possible signaling pathway of thrombin-induced sFlt-1 production in extravillous
      trophoblasts (EVT). METHODS: An EVT cell line (HRT-8/SVneo) was treated with
      various concentrations of thrombin. The mRNA expression and protein secretion of
      sFlt-1 in EVT were detected with real-time polymerase chain reaction and ELISA,
      respectively. The levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS)
      production were determined by DCFH-DA. RESULTS: Exposure of EVT to thrombin
      induced increased intracellular ROS generation and overexpression of sFlt-1 at
      both mRNA and protein levels in a dose dependent manner. Short interfering RNA
      (siRNA) directed against PAR-1 or apocynin (an inhibitor of NADPH oxidase) could
      decrease the intracellular ROS generation and subsequently suppressed the
      production of sFlt-1 at mRNA and protein levels. CONCLUSIONS: Our results
      suggested that thrombin increased sFlt-1 production in EVT via the PAR-1 /NADPH
      oxidase /ROS signaling pathway. This also highlights the PAR-1 / NADPH oxidase /
      ROS pathway might be a potential therapeutic target for the prevention of
      preeclampsia in the future.

PMID- 25824464
TI  - Design, expression and characterization of single chain Fv, Mms13 and the single
      chain Fv-mms13 fusion protein.
AB  - Single chain Fv (scFv) antibodies are attractive as tumor-targeting vehicles due
      to their smaller size compared with intact antibody molecules. Mms13 is a
      putative membrane anchor protein of magnetosome. The present study fused the scFV
      gene of type IV collagenase to mms13 using the splicing by overlap extension
      polymerase chain reaction technique. The genes of scFv, mms13 and the scFv-mms13
      fusion gene were cloned into a pET30a(+) vector to construct pET30a(+)-scFv,
      pET30a(+)-mms13 and pET30a(+)-scFv-mms13 expression vectors. The three protein
      compositions were confirmed by DNA sequencing and western blot analysis, and
      their cellular locations were determined using SDS-PAGE. The results of enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assays and immunofluorescence demonstrated that the ScFv and
      ScFv-mms13 fusion proteins bound to the type IV collagenase and the antigen
      associated cancer cells SMMC-7721, MCF-7 and HepG2 cells, in a dose-dependent and
      saturable manner. Although the immunoreactivities of ScFv-mms13 to the type IV
      collagenase and associated tumor cells were marginally lower than the
      corresponding scFv (3G11), considerable binding ability to the antigen by ScFv
      mms13 remained.

PMID- 25824465
TI  - Copper(II) complexes with the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug tolfenamic
      acid: Structure and biological features.
AB  - Copper(II) complexes with the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug tolfenamic
      acid (Htolf) with the oxygen-donor ligands methanol (MeOH) or N,N
      dimethylformamide (DMF) and/or the nitrogen-donor heterocyclic ligands 2,2'
      bipyridine (bipy), 2,2'-bipyridylamine (bipyam), 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) or
      pyridine (py) were synthesized and characterized. The crystal structures of five
      novel complexes were determined by X-ray crystallography where tolfenamic acid is
      deprotonated being in different binding modes. Equimolar quantities of CuCl2,
      tolf(-1) and bipy led to the formation of [Cu(tolf-O,O')(bipy)Cl] (1), while with
      a 1:2 Cu(II):tolf ratio, complexes [Cu(tolf-O,O')2(bipy)] (2), [Cu(tolf
      O,O')2(bipyam)] . 0.5MeOH (3 0.5MeOH), [Cu(tolf-O,O')(tolf-O)(phen)(MeOH)] (4)
      and [Cu(tolf-O)2(py)2(MeOH)2] (5) were isolated. The interaction of the complexes
      with serum albumin proteins was studied by fluorescence spectroscopy with the
      determined binding constant bearing relative high values. The scavenging ability
      of the complexes towards 1,1-diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl, 2,2'-azinobis(3
      ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) and hydroxyl radicals was investigated and
      the in vitro inhibitory activity against soybean lipoxygenase was evaluated and
      complexes 4 and 5 were the more active compounds among those tested.
      Spectroscopic (UV), electrochemical (cyclic voltammetry) and physicochemical
      (viscosity measurements) techniques were employed in order to study the binding
      mode and strength of the complexes to calf-thymus (CT) DNA suggesting
      intercalation as the most possible mode of binding. Competitive studies with
      ethidium bromide (EB) revealed the ability of the complexes to displace the DNA
      bound EB. The biological properties of complexes 1-5 were evaluated in regard to
      previously reported complex [Cu2(tolf-O,O')4(DMF)2] (6).

PMID- 25824466
TI  - Expanding the family of heteroleptic oxidovanadium(IV) compounds with
      salicylaldehyde semicarbazones and polypyridyl ligands showing anti-Trypanosoma
      cruzi activity.
AB  - Searching for prospective vanadium-based drugs for the treatment of Chagas
      disease, a new series of heteroleptic [V(IV)O(L-2H)(NN)] compounds was developed
      by including the lipophilic 3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (tmp) NN
      ligand and seven tridentate salicylaldehyde semicarbazone derivatives (L1-L7).
      The compounds were characterized in the solid state and in solution. EPR
      spectroscopy suggests that the NN ligand is bidentate bound through both nitrogen
      donor atoms in an axial-equatorial mode. The EPR and (51)V-NMR spectra of aerated
      solutions at room temperature indicate that the compounds are stable to
      hydrolysis and that no significant oxidation of V(IV) to V(V) takes place at
      least in 24h. The complexes are more active in vitro against Trypanosoma cruzi,
      the parasite responsible for Chagas disease, than the reference drug Nifurtimox
      and most of them are more active than previously reported [V(IV)O(L-2H)(NN)]
      complexes of other NN co-ligands. Selectivity towards the parasite was analyzed
      using J-774 murine macrophages as mammalian cell model. Due to both, high
      activity and high selectivity, L2, L4, L5 and L7 complexes could be considered
      new hits for further drug development. Lipophilicity probably plays a relevant
      role in the bioactivity of the new compounds. The [V(IV)O(L-2H)(NN)] compounds
      were designed aiming DNA as potential molecular target. Therefore, the novel L1
      L7 tmp complexes were screened by computational modeling, comparing their DNA
      binding features with those of previously reported [V(IV)O(L-2H)(NN)] compounds
      with different NN co-ligands. Whereas all the complexes interact well with DNA,
      with binding modes and strength tuned in different extents by the NN and
      semicarbazone co-ligands, molecular docking suggests that the observed anti-T.
      cruzi activity cannot be explained upon DNA intercalation as the sole mechanism
      of action. 

PMID- 25824467
TI  - Attitudes and intentions to smoke: a study of young Brazilian children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Children at earlier stages tend to be more susceptible towards
      different types of tobacco messages. These are able to influence attitudes and
      behaviours around smoking. This study examined how these messages are able to
      influence 5- and 6-year olds' attitudes about smokers and their smoking
      intentions. METHODS: Researchers worked one-on-one with 5- and 6-year olds (n =
      398) in Brazil. Children could attribute positive and negative characteristics to
      two different persons in photos as smoker/non-smoker. Children could indicate the
      attribute as of a smoker, a non-smoker, both or none. Children were asked also
      about their smoking intentions. Analysis considered parental smoking, sex, age,
      cigarette and alcohol brand logos, children's location and media characters from
      cartoons. We conducted a path analysis for a multivariate model of children's
      attitudes and intentions about smoking. RESULTS: Overall, children had negative
      attitudes about smokers (M = -4.58, SD = 4.08) and a total of 32 (8.0%) of them
      reported intentions to smoke. The resulting multivariate model indicates that
      parental smoking is a source for a positive image of smokers, while being 6 years
      old, living in rural areas, being aware of alcohol brands and recognizing
      educational cartoons tended to be negatively correlated to children's attitudes.
      Further, 6 year olds were found to be less likely to have smoking intentions,
      while attitude about smokers was positively related with intentions. One's
      attitudes served as a mediator for all of the variables in the model towards
      smoking intentions. The path models differed for each sex. CONCLUSION: Shaped by
      social and environmental influences, very young children have opinions about
      smokers. In turn, these attitudes significantly predict children's smoking
      intentions. To corroborate this research, we recommend that longitudinal designs
      be employed to help model why Brazilian children become smokers.

PMID- 25824468
TI  - Linking vegetable preferences, health and local food systems through community
      supported agriculture.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to explore the influence of
      participation in community-supported agriculture (CSA) on vegetable exposure,
      vegetable intake during and after the CSA season, and preference related to
      locally produced vegetables acquired directly from CSA growers. DESIGN:
      Quantitative surveys were administered at three time points in two harvest
      seasons to four groups of CSA participants: new full-paying, returning full
      paying, new subsidized and returning subsidized members. Questionnaires included
      a vegetable frequency measure and measures of new and changed vegetable
      preference. Comparisons were made between new and returning CSA members and
      between those receiving subsidies and full-paying members. SETTING: The research
      was conducted in a rural county in New York, USA. SUBJECTS: CSA members who
      agreed to participate in the study. RESULTS: Analysis was based on 151 usable
      questionnaires. CSA participants reported higher intake of eleven different
      vegetables during the CSA season, with a sustained increase in some winter
      vegetables. Over half of the respondents reported trying at least one, and up to
      eleven, new vegetables. Sustained preferences for CSA items were reported.
      CONCLUSIONS: While those who choose to join a CSA may be more likely to acquire
      new and expanded vegetable preferences than those who do not, the CSA experience
      has the potential to enhance vegetable exposure, augment vegetable preference and
      increase overall vegetable consumption. Dietary patterns encouraged through CSA
      participation can promote preferences and consumer demand that support local
      production and seasonal availability. Emphasis on fresh and fresh stored locally
      produced vegetables is consistent with sustainable community-based food systems.

PMID- 25824469
TI  - Antioxidant status in peri- and postmenopausal women.
AB  - Menopause is a risk factor for oxidative stress. The aim of our study is to
      assess antioxidant system parameters (alpha-tocopherol, retinol, reduced
      glutathione, total antioxidant activity) in peri- and postmenopausal women. The
      antioxidant defense activity by estimation of total antioxidant activity, alpha
      tocopherol, retinol, oxidized and reduced glutathione levels was studied in women
      of reproductive age (n=37), in perimenopausal (n=41) and postmenopausal women
      (n=41). In our study we used spectrofluorofotometer methods. Statistical analysis
      was performed by non-parametric tests with p<0.05 as the level of significance.
      The results of our study showed the decrease of alpha-tocopherol and retinol
      concentrations and the increase of oxidized glutathione level in blood serum both
      in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, the total antioxidant activity of
      blood serum was decreased in postmenopausal women only. The results of our study
      demonstrate that decrease of antioxidant defense system resources depends on the
      menopausal phase. 

PMID- 25824470
TI  - Facile access to novel [60]fullerenyl diethers and [60]fullerene-sugar conjugates
      via annulation of diol moieties.
AB  - A general and facile annulation of various diol motifs to [60]fullerene has been
      developed. This protocol can afford not only 6- to 10-membered-ring fullerenyl
      diethers in one step from simple acyclic diols but also directly couple
      [60]fullerene with a variety of structurally diverse sugars. The [60]fullerene
      sugar conjugates formed do not require any linker moiety and maintain their
      inherent structural integrity. The electrochemistry of the fullerenyl diethers
      and [60]fullerene-sugar conjugates has also been investigated. 

PMID- 25824471
TI  - Quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccination: a promising treatment for
      recalcitrant cutaneous warts in children.

PMID- 25824472
TI  - Signal-to-noise ratio-enhancing joint reconstruction for improved diffusion
      imaging of mouse spinal cord white matter injury.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the capability of signal-to-noise ratio enhancing
      reconstruction (SER) to reduce the acquisition time for quantitative white matter
      injury assessment. METHODS: Four single-average diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)
      datasets were acquired for each animal from four mouse cohorts: two models of
      spinal cord injury and two control groups. Quantitative parameters (apparent
      diffusion coefficient, relative anisotropy, axial and radial diffusivities) were
      computed from (I) single-average data with traditional reconstruction; (II)
      single-average data with SER; (III) four-average data with traditional
      reconstruction; and (IV) single-average data with optimized multicomponent
      nonlocal means (OMNLM) denoising. These approaches were compared based on
      coefficients of variation (COVs) and whether estimated diffusion parameters were
      sensitive to injury. RESULTS: SER yielded better COVs for diffusivity and
      anisotropy than traditional reconstruction of single-average data, and yielded
      comparable COVs to that achieved with four-average data. In addition, diffusion
      parameters obtained using SER with single-average data had comparable injury
      sensitivity to those obtained from four-average data, while diffusion parameters
      obtained from OMNLM and traditional reconstruction of single-average data had
      limited sensitivity. CONCLUSION: A four-fold reduction in the number of averages
      for quantitative diffusion imaging of small animal white matter injury is
      feasible using SER. Our results also underscore the need to validate nonlinear
      methods using task-based measures on an application-by-application basis.

PMID- 25824473
TI  - Expression of the beta-2 adrenergic receptor (ADRB-2) in human and monkey ovarian
      follicles: a marker of growing follicles?
AB  - BACKGROUND: ADRB-2 was implicated in rodent ovarian functions, including initial
      follicular growth. In contrast, ADRB-2 expression and function in nonhuman
      primate and human ovary were not fully known but innervation and significant
      levels of norepinephrine (NE), which is a ligand at the ADRB-2, were reported in
      the ovary. METHODS: We studied expression of ADRB-2 in human and rhesus monkey
      ovary (RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry; laser micro dissection) and measured levels
      of norepinephrine (NE; ELISA) in monkey follicular fluid (FF). 3D cultures of
      monkey follicles (4 animals) were exposed to NE or the ADRB-2 agonist
      isoproterenol (ISO), and follicular development (size) was monitored. Upon
      termination expression of ADRB-2, FSH receptor and aromatase genes were examined.
      RESULTS: Immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR of either human follicular granulosa
      cells (GCs) obtained by laser micro dissection or isolated monkey follicles
      revealed ADRB-2 in GCs of primordial, primary, secondary and tertiary follicles.
      Staining of GCs in primordial and primary follicles was intense. In large
      preantral and antral follicles the staining was heterogeneous, with positive and
      negative GCs present but GCs lining the antrum of large follicles were generally
      strongly immunopositive. Theca, interstitial, and ovarian surface epithelial
      cells were also positive. NE was detected in FF of preovulatory antral monkey
      follicles (0.37 + 0.05 ng/ml; n = 7; ELISA) but not in serum. We examined
      preantral follicles ranging from 152 to 366 MUm in diameter in a 3D culture in
      media supplemented with follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). Under these
      conditions, neither NE, nor ISO, influenced growth rate in a period lasting up to
      one month. Upon termination of the cultures, all surviving follicles expressed
      aromatase and FSH receptors, but only about half of them also co-expressed ADRB
      2. The ADRB-2 expression was not correlated with the treatment but was positively
      correlated with the follicular size at the beginning and at the end of the
      culture period. Hence, expression of ADRB-2 was found in the largest and fastest
      in vitro growing follicles. CONCLUSIONS: The results imply ADRB-2-mediated
      actions in the development of primate follicles. Drugs interfering with ADRB-2
      are used to treat medical conditions and may have unexplored effects in the human
      ovary.

PMID- 25824475
TI  - Effect of low-level laser therapy on chemoradiotherapy-induced oral mucositis and
      salivary inflammatory mediators in head and neck cancer patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Oral mucositis (OM) is considered a painful and
      debilitating side effect in patients receiving head and neck cancer treatment.
      Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) proved to be effective to prevent and treat
      chemoradiotherapy-induced OM. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of
      LLLT in the severity of OM in patients with head and neck cancer and on the
      release of salivary inflammatory mediators. Clinical (score of OM severity) and
      biochemical parameters (concentration of inflammatory mediators, growth factors,
      and enzymes in saliva) were used. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients were
      randomized into two groups: control and laser. LLLT was performed three times a
      week in the laser group, while control group received sham irradiation. OM
      severity was assessed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and
      National Cancer Institute (NCI) scales. Pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory
      cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-1beta, IL-10, TGF-beta), growth factors (EGF, FGF,
      VEGF), and metalloproteinases (MMP2/TIMP2, MMP9/TIMP2) concentrations were
      assessed using ELISA test. Saliva samples were collected on admission, and at the
      7th, 21st, and 35th sessions of radiotherapy. RESULTS: The laser group showed a
      reduction in the severity of OM, which coursed with significantly diminished
      salivary concentration of EGF and VEGF in the 7th radiotherapy session and of IL
      6 and FGF in the 35th. There was a trend for reduced levels of IL-1beta, TNF
      alpha, IL-10, TGF-beta, MMP2/TIMP2, MMP9/TIMP2 in the laser group compared to the
      control, however, no statistically significant differences were found.
      CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrated that LLLT was effective in reducing the
      severity of chemoradiotherapy-induced OM and was associated with the reduction of
      inflammation and repair.

PMID- 25824474
TI  - Preoperative factors and 3-year weight change in the Longitudinal Assessment of
      Bariatric Surgery (LABS) consortium.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Limited data guide the prediction of weight loss success or failure
      after bariatric surgery according to presurgery factors. There is significant
      variation in weight change after bariatric surgery and much interest in
      identifying preoperative factors that may contribute to these differences. This
      report evaluates the associations of a comprehensive set of baseline factors and
      3-year weight change. SETTING: Ten hospitals in 6 geographically diverse clinical
      centers in the United States. METHODS: Adults undergoing a first bariatric
      surgical procedure as part of clinical care by participating surgeons were
      recruited between 2006 and 2009. Participants completed research assessments
      utilizing standardized and detailed data collection on over 100 preoperative and
      operative parameters for individuals undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB)
      and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB). Weight was measured 3 years
      after surgery. Percent weight change for RYGB or LAGB from baseline to 3 years
      was analyzed as both a continuous and dichotomous outcome with cut points at 25%
      for RYGB and 10% for LAGB. Multivariable linear and logistic regression models
      were used to identify independent baseline predictors of the continuous and
      categorical outcomes, respectively. RESULTS: The median weight loss 3 years after
      surgery for RYGB (n = 1513) participants was 31.5% (IQR: 24.6%-38.4%; range,
      59.2% loss to .9% gain) of baseline weight and 16.0% (IQR: 8.1%-23.1%; range,
      56.1% loss to 12.5% gain) for LAGB (n = 509) participants. The median age was 46
      years for RYGB and 48 years for LAGB; 80% of RYGB participants and 75% of LAGB
      participants were female; and the median baseline body mass index (BMI) was 46
      kg/m(2) for RYGB and 44 kg/m(2) for LAGB. For RYGB, black participants lost 2.7%
      less weight compared with whites and participants with diabetes at baseline had
      3.7% less weight loss at year 3 than those without diabetes at baseline. There
      were small but statistically significant differences in weight change for RYGB in
      those with abnormal kidney function and current or recent smoking. For LAGB
      participants, those with a large band circumference had 75% greater odds of
      experiencing less than 10% weight loss after adjusting for BMI and sex.
      CONCLUSIONS: Few baseline variables were associated with 3-year weight change and
      the effects were small. These results indicate that baseline variables have
      limited predictive value for an individual's chance of a successful weight loss
      outcome after bariatric surgery. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT00465829,
      ClinicalTrials.gov.

PMID- 25824476
TI  - Acute lobar nephronia in children.

PMID- 25824478
TI  - Insect vector-mediated transmission of plant viruses.
AB  - The majority of plant-infecting viruses are transmitted to their host plants by
      vectors. The interactions between viruses and vector vary in duration and
      specificity but some common themes in vector transmission have emerged: 1) plant
      viruses encode structural proteins on the surface of the virion that are
      essential for transmission, and in some cases additional non-structural helper
      proteins that act to bridge the virion to the vector binding site; 2) viruses
      bind to specific sites in or on vectors and are retained there until they are
      transmitted to their plant hosts; and 3) viral determinants of vector
      transmission are promising candidates for translational research aimed at
      disrupting transmission or decreasing vector populations. In this review, we
      focus on well-characterized insect vector-transmitted viruses in the following
      genera: Caulimovirus, Crinivirus, Luteovirus, Geminiviridae, Reovirus,
      Tospovirus, and Tenuivirus. New discoveries regarding these genera have increased
      our understanding of the basic mechanisms of virus transmission by arthropods,
      which in turn have enabled the development of innovative strategies for breaking
      the transmission cycle. 

PMID- 25824477
TI  - Viral quasispecies.
AB  - New generation sequencing is greatly expanding the capacity to examine the
      composition of mutant spectra of viral quasispecies in infected cells and host
      organisms. Here we review recent progress in the understanding of quasispecies
      dynamics, notably the occurrence of intra-mutant spectrum interactions, and
      implications of fitness landscapes for virus adaptation and de-adaptation.
      Complementation or interference can be established among components of the same
      mutant spectrum, dependent on the mutational status of the ensemble. Replicative
      fitness relates to an optimal mutant spectrum that provides the molecular basis
      for phenotypic flexibility, with implications for antiviral therapy. The
      biological impact of viral fitness renders particularly relevant the capacity of
      new generation sequencing to establish viral fitness landscapes. Progress with
      experimental model systems is becoming an important asset to understand virus
      behavior in the more complex environments faced during natural infections. 

PMID- 25824479
TI  - The RNA synthesis machinery of negative-stranded RNA viruses.
AB  - The group of Negative-Stranded RNA Viruses (NSVs) includes many human pathogens,
      like the influenza, measles, mumps, respiratory syncytial or Ebola viruses, which
      produce frequent epidemics of disease and occasional, high mortality outbreaks by
      transmission from animal reservoirs. The genome of NSVs consists of one to
      several single-stranded, negative-polarity RNA molecules that are always
      assembled into mega Dalton-sized complexes by association to many nucleoprotein
      monomers. These RNA-protein complexes or ribonucleoproteins function as templates
      for transcription and replication by action of the viral RNA polymerase and
      accessory proteins. Here we review our knowledge on these large RNA-synthesis
      machines, including the structure of their components, the interactions among
      them and their enzymatic activities, and we discuss models showing how they
      perform the virus transcription and replication programmes. 

PMID- 25824480
TI  - Generation of Bioartificial Salivary Gland Using Whole-Organ Decellularized
      Bioscaffold.
AB  - Salivary gland hypofunction resulting in xerostomia occurs as a result of various
      pathological conditions such as radiotherapy for head and neck cancers, Sjogren's
      syndrome or salivary gland tumor resection. It can induce a large number of
      problems, including dental decay, periodontitis, dysgeusia, difficulty with
      mastication and swallowing and a reduced quality of life. Current therapies for
      xerostomia mostly focus on saliva substitutes, oral lubricants and medications
      which stimulate salivation from residual glands. However, these treatments are
      not sufficient to restore gland secretory function. Tissue engineering-based
      organ regeneration has emerged as a potential therapeutic alternative for end-
      organ failure. Here, we decellularized rat submandibular glands (SMG) by
      detergent immersion. Histological, immunofluorescent, Western blot, DNA and
      collagen quantitative analyses demonstrated that our protocol effectively removed
      cellular components and that extracellular matrix proteins and native structures
      were well preserved. We then reseeded the decellularized SMG as scaffolds with
      rat primary SMG cells in a rotary cell culture system. Histological staining and
      electron microscopy analyses illustrated that the decellularized SMG could
      support cellular adhesion. Furthermore, with immunofluorescent staining, we
      proved that bioartificially generated SMG showed some differentiation markers in
      vitro. Taken together, our findings might provide a potential scaffold for tissue
      engineered regeneration of the salivary glands.

PMID- 25824481
TI  - Optical properties of irradiated imidazolium based room temperature ionic
      liquids: new microscopic insights into the radiation induced mutations.
AB  - Considering the future perspectives of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) in
      areas involving high radiation fields (such as the nuclear fuel cycle and space
      applications), it is essential to probe and have a microscopic understanding of
      the radiation induced perturbations in the molecular structures and the intrinsic
      bonding interactions existing in the ILs. Herein, a focused investigation
      concerning the photophysical behavior of post-irradiated FAP (fluoroalkyl
      phosphate) imidazolium ILs revealed considerable rearrangements and bonding
      realignments of the ionic moieties in the ILs on irradiation, however, their
      physicochemical properties do not change significantly even at high absorbed
      doses. Most interestingly, the well-established excitation wavelength dependent
      fluorescence (FL) behavior of the ILs was considerably perturbed on irradiation
      and this is attributed to the radiation induced decoupling of pre-existing
      different associated structures of ions, and the subsequent formation of
      oligomers and other species containing multiple bond order groups. This was
      further substantiated by vibrational studies, where peaks appearing in the range
      1600-1800 cm(-1) indicated the formation of double bonded products. Furthermore,
      for the hydroxyl functionalized (in the alkyl side chain of the imidazolium
      cation) IL, a blue shift in the O-H stretching frequency was observed for the -OH
      group H-bonded to the FAP anion (nuOH...[FAP](-)), while a red shift was observed
      for the H-bonded -OH groups in the cationic clusters. The FL lifetime values were
      found to increase with irradiation, which clearly indicates the enhancement in
      the rigidity level in the vicinity of the ions, thereby hindering the non
      radiative decay processes. Such studies could contribute to the fundamental
      understanding of the radiation driven perturbations in the structure-property
      relationships, which eventually affect the radiolytic degradation pathways and
      the product distribution in RTILs.

PMID- 25824482
TI  - The learning curve of lateral access lumbar interbody fusion in an Asian
      population: a prospective study.
AB  - PURPOSE: Lateral access lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) is a minimally invasive
      technique that has an increasing popularity. It offers unique advantages and
      circumvents risk of certain serious complications encountered in other
      conventional spinal approaches. This study provides a statistical analysis
      defining the lateral access learning curve in the Asian population. METHODS: This
      prospective study included 32 consecutive patients who underwent LLIF from April
      2012 to August 2014. The surgeries were performed by two senior spine surgeons
      and follow-up was conducted at 6 weeks, 3, 6, 9 months and 1 year post-operation.
      RESULTS: The breakpoint in operating time occurred at the 22nd level operated,
      from a mean of 71 min in the early phase group to a mean of 42 min in the steady
      state group. LLIF at L4/5 level is technically more demanding but technically
      feasible as competency is achieved. CONCLUSIONS: During the learning process,
      there was no compromise of perioperative or clinical outcomes. It should be
      feasibly incorporated into a spine surgeon's repertoire of procedures for the
      lumbar spine.

PMID- 25824483
TI  - JAK1/2 inhibition impairs T cell function in vitro and in patients with
      myeloproliferative neoplasms.
AB  - Ruxolitinib (INCB018424) is the first JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor approved for treatment
      of myelofibrosis. JAK/STAT-signalling is known to be involved in the regulation
      of CD4(+) T cells, which critically orchestrate inflammatory responses. To better
      understand how ruxolitinib modulates CD4(+) T cell responses, we undertook an in
      depth analysis of CD4(+) T cell function upon ruxolitinib exposure. We observed a
      decrease in total CD3(+) cells after 3 weeks of ruxolitinib treatment in patients
      with myeloproliferative neoplasms. Moreover, we found that the number of
      regulatory T cells (Tregs), pro-inflammatory T-helper cell types 1 (Th1) and Th17
      were reduced, which were validated by in vitro studies. In line with our in vitro
      data, we found that inflammatory cytokines [tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF),
      interleukin (IL)5, IL6, IL1B] were also downregulated in T cells from patients
      (all P < 0.05). Finally, we showed that ruxolitinib does not interfere with the T
      cell receptor signalling pathway, but impacts IL2-dependent STAT5 activation.
      These data provide a rationale for testing JAK inhibitors in diseases triggered
      by hyperactive CD4(+) T cells, such as autoimmune diseases. In addition, they
      also provide a potential explanation for the increased infection rates (i.e.
      viral reactivation and urinary tract infection) seen in ruxolitinib-treated
      patients. 

PMID- 25824484
TI  - Rapid optimization of drug combinations for the optimal angiostatic treatment of
      cancer.
AB  - Drug combinations can improve angiostatic cancer treatment efficacy and enable
      the reduction of side effects and drug resistance. Combining drugs is non-trivial
      due to the high number of possibilities. We applied a feedback system control
      (FSC) technique with a population-based stochastic search algorithm to navigate
      through the large parametric space of nine angiostatic drugs at four
      concentrations to identify optimal low-dose drug combinations. This implied an
      iterative approach of in vitro testing of endothelial cell viability and
      algorithm-based analysis. The optimal synergistic drug combination, containing
      erlotinib, BEZ-235 and RAPTA-C, was reached in a small number of iterations.
      Final drug combinations showed enhanced endothelial cell specificity and
      synergistically inhibited proliferation (p < 0.001), but not migration of
      endothelial cells, and forced enhanced numbers of endothelial cells to undergo
      apoptosis (p < 0.01). Successful translation of this drug combination was
      achieved in two preclinical in vivo tumor models. Tumor growth was inhibited
      synergistically and significantly (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively) using
      reduced drug doses as compared to optimal single-drug concentrations. At the
      applied conditions, single-drug monotherapies had no or negligible activity in
      these models. We suggest that FSC can be used for rapid identification of
      effective, reduced dose, multi-drug combinations for the treatment of cancer and
      other diseases.

PMID- 25824485
TI  - IL-3 synergises with basophil-derived IL-4 and IL-13 to promote the alternative
      activation of human monocytes.
AB  - Basophil-derived IL-4 is involved in the alternative activation of mouse
      monocytes, as recently shown in vivo. Whether this applies to human basophils and
      monocytes has not been established yet. Here, we sought to characterise the
      interaction between basophils and monocytes and identify the molecular
      determinants. A basophil-monocyte co-culture model revealed that IL-3 and
      basophil-derived IL-4 and IL-13 induced monocyte production of CCL17, a marker of
      alternative activation. Critically, IL-3 and IL-4 acted directly on monocytes to
      induce CCL17 production through histone H3 acetylation, but did not increase the
      recruitment of STAT5 or STAT6. Although freshly isolated monocytes did not
      express the IL-3 receptor alpha chain (CD123), and did not respond to IL-3 (as
      assessed by STAT5 phosphorylation), the overnight incubation with IL-4
      (especially if associated with IL-3) upregulated CD123 expression. IL-3-activated
      JAK2-STAT5 pathway inhibitors reduced the CCL17 production in response to IL-3
      and IL-4, but not to IL-4 alone. Interestingly, monocytes isolated from allergen
      sensitised asthmatic patients exhibited a higher expression of CD123. Taken
      together, our data show that the JAK2-STAT5 pathway modulates both basophil and
      monocyte effector responses. The coordinated activation of STAT5 and STAT6 may
      have a major impact on monocyte alternative activation in vitro and in vivo.

PMID- 25824487
TI  - Activating and Inhibitory Functions of WNT/beta-Catenin in the Induction of
      Cytochromes P450 by Nuclear Receptors in HepaRG Cells.
AB  - The WNT/beta-catenin signaling pathway has been identified as an important
      endogenous regulator of hepatic cytochrome P450 (P450) expression in mouse liver.
      In particular, it is involved in the regulation of P450 expression in response to
      exposure to xenobiotic agonists of the nuclear receptors constitutive androstane
      receptor (CAR), aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), and Nrf2. To systematically
      elucidate the effect of the WNT/beta-catenin pathway on the regulation and
      inducibility of major human P450 enzymes, HepaRG cells were treated with either
      the WNT/beta-catenin signaling pathway agonist, WNT3a, or with small interfering
      RNA directed against beta-catenin, alone or in combination with a panel of
      activating ligands for AhR [2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD)], CAR [6
      (4-chlorophenyl)imidazo[2,1-b][1,3]thiazole-5-carbaldehyde-O-(3,4
      dichlorobenzyl)oxime (CITCO)], pregnane X receptor (PXR) [rifampicin], and
      peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) alpha [4-chloro-6-(2,3
      xylidino)-2-pyrimidinylthioacetic acid (WY14,643)]. Assessment of P450 gene
      expression and enzymatic activity after downregulation or activation of the
      WNT/beta-catenin pathway revealed a requirement of beta-catenin in the AhR-, CAR
      , and PXR-mediated induction of CYP1A, CYP2B6 and CYP3A4 (for CAR and PXR), and
      CYP2C8 (for PXR) gene expression. By contrast, activation of the WNT/beta-catenin
      pathway prevented PPARalpha-mediated induction of CYP1A, CYP2C8, CYP3A4, and
      CYP4A11 genes, suggesting a dominant-negative role of beta-catenin in PPARalpha
      mediated regulation of these genes. Our data indicate a significant effect of the
      WNT/beta-catenin pathway on the regulation of P450 enzymes in human hepatocytes
      and reveal a novel crosstalk between beta-catenin and PPARalpha signaling
      pathways in the regulation of P450 expression. 

PMID- 25824486
TI  - Assessing allocation of responsibility for health management in pediatric liver
      transplant recipients.
AB  - Given the increased risk for non-adherence and poor health outcomes in late
      adolescence, there is a need for better methods to evaluate and improve the
      transition process as adolescent patients are prepared to be independent adults.
      This study assessed the psychometrics and concurrent validity of a newly
      developed measure of AoR for health management in pediatric liver transplant
      patients. A total of 48 patients and 37 parents completed a 13-item measure of
      AoR. We performed an exploratory PCA on survey results and used component scores
      to assess the relationship between AoR and age, age at transplant, adherence, and
      health outcomes. Two primary components were identified: communication with the
      healthcare system and self-management tasks. Parent perception of adolescent
      responsibility for tasks related to communicating with the healthcare system was
      correlated, in younger patients, with increased non-adherence while
      responsibility for tasks related to self-management was correlated, in older
      patients, with decreased non-adherence. These results support AoR as a two-domain
      construct, and they provide targets for monitoring and intervention as adolescent
      patients advance toward transfer. 

PMID- 25824488
TI  - Quantitative tracking of passage and 3D culture effects on chondrocyte and
      fibrochondrocyte gene expression.
AB  - Success in cartilage and fibrocartilage tissue engineering relies heavily on
      using an appropriate cell source. Many different cell sources have been
      identified, including primary and stem cells, along with experimental strategies
      to obtain the required number of cells or to induce chondrogenesis. However, no
      definitive method exists to quantitatively evaluate the similarity of the
      resulting cell phenotypes to those of the native cells between candidate
      strategies. In this study, we develop an integrative approach to enable such
      evaluations by deriving, from gene expression profiles, two quantitative metrics
      representing the nearest location within the range of native cell phenotypes and
      the deviation from it. As an example application to evaluating potential cell
      sources for cartilage or meniscus tissue engineering, we examine phenotypic
      changes of juvenile and adult articular chondrocytes and fibrochondrocytes across
      multiple passages and subsequent 3D culture. A substantial change was observed in
      cell phenotype due to the isolation process itself, followed by a clear
      progression toward the outer meniscal cell phenotype with passage. The new
      metrics also indicated that 3D culture moderately reduced the passage-induced
      deviation from the native meniscal phenotypes for juvenile chondrocytes and adult
      fibrochondrocytes, which was not obvious through examination of individual gene
      expressions. However, brief 3D culture alone did not move any of the cells
      towards an inner meniscal phenotype, the most relevant target for meniscal tissue
      engineering. This integrative approach of examining and combining multiple gene
      expressions can be used to evaluate various other tissue-engineering strategies
      to direct cells toward the desired phenotype. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley &
      Sons, Ltd.

PMID- 25824490
TI  - Modelling of phase diagrams of nanoalloys with complex metallic phases:
      application to Ni-Sn.
AB  - A method for modelling of size-dependent phase diagrams was developed by
      combining the semiempirical CALPHAD method and ab initio calculations of surface
      stresses for intermetallic phases. A novel approach was devised for the
      calculation of surface energy, free of systematic errors from the selection of
      different parameters of the software (e.g. number of the k-points) and for
      handling layered structures and off-stoichiometric slabs. Our approach allows the
      determination of complex size-dependent phase diagrams of systems with
      intermetallic phases, which was not possible up to now. The method was verified
      for the modelling of the phase diagram of the Ni-Sn system and basic comparison
      with rare experimental results was shown. There is reasonable agreement between
      the calculated and experimental results. The modelling of size-dependent phase
      diagrams of real systems allows the prediction of phase equilibria existing in
      nanosystems and possible changes in material properties. There is a need for such
      knowledge and the existence of reliable data for simpler systems is crucial for
      further application of this approach. This should motivate future experimental
      work. 

PMID- 25824489
TI  - Intravenous Iron Sucrose versus Oral Iron in the Treatment of Pregnancy with Iron
      Deficiency Anaemia: A Systematic Review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intravenous iron sucrose and oral iron therapy are the main therapies
      for iron deficiency anaemia (IDA), but there is still a debate regarding their
      efficacy and especially as to which one is the best choice during pregnancy.
      METHODS: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials comparing patients
      treated with intravenous iron sucrose (intravenous group) with those treated with
      oral iron (oral group) for IDA during pregnancy was performed. The primary
      outcomes of interest were mean maternal haemoglobin and serum ferritin levels at
      the end of treatment. Secondary outcomes were treatment-related adverse events
      and foetal birth weight. RESULTS: Six randomised controlled trials, involving a
      total of 576 women, were included in the present review. Significant increases in
      haemoglobin [mean difference (MD), 0.85; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.31-1.39;
      p = 0.002] and ferritin levels (MD, 63.32; 95% CI, 39.46-87.18; p < 0.00001) were
      observed in the intravenous group. Compared with the oral group, there were fewer
      adverse events in the intravenous group (risk ratio, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.34-0.73; p =
      0.0003). There was no significant difference in birth weight between the two
      groups. CONCLUSION: For pregnant women who could not tolerate the side effects of
      oral treatment or required a rapid replacement of iron stores, intravenous iron
      sucrose was associated with fewer adverse events and was more effective than
      regular oral iron therapy.

PMID- 25824491
TI  - Graphene metascreen for designing compact infrared absorbers with enhanced
      bandwidth.
AB  - We propose a compact, wideband terahertz and infrared absorber, comprising a
      patterned graphene sheet on a thin metal-backed dielectric slab. This graphene
      based nanostructure can achieve a low or negative effective permeability,
      necessary for realizing the perfect absorption. The dual-reactive property found
      in both the plasmonic graphene sheet and the grounded high-permittivity slab
      introduces extra poles into the equivalent circuit model of the system, thereby
      resulting in a dual-band or broadband magnetic resonance that enhances the
      absorption bandwidth. More interestingly, the two-dimensional patterned graphene
      sheet significantly simplifies the design and fabrication processes for achieving
      resonant magnetic response, and allows the frequency-reconfigurable operation via
      electrostatic gating. 

PMID- 25824492
TI  - Drug hypersensitivity in clonal mast cell disorders: ENDA/EAACI position paper.
AB  - Mastocytosis is a clonal disorder characterized by the proliferation and
      accumulation of mast cells (MC) in different tissues, with a preferential
      localization in skin and bone marrow (BM). The excess of MC in mastocytosis as
      well as the increased releasability of MC may lead to a higher frequency and
      severity of immediate hypersensitivity reactions. Mastocytosis in adults is
      associated with a history of anaphylaxis in 22-49%. Fatal anaphylaxis has been
      described particularly following hymenoptera stings, but also occasionally after
      the intake of drugs such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, opioids and
      drugs in the perioperative setting. However, data on the frequency of drug
      hypersensitivity in mastocytosis and vice versa are scarce and evidence for an
      association appears to be limited. Nevertheless, clonal MC disorders should be
      ruled out in cases of severe anaphylaxis: basal serum tryptase determination,
      physical examination for cutaneous mastocytosis lesions, and clinical
      characteristics of anaphylactic reaction might be useful for differential
      diagnosis. In this position paper, the ENDA group performed a literature search
      on immediate drug hypersensitivity reactions in clonal MC disorders using
      MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library, reviewed and evaluated the literature in
      five languages using the GRADE system for quality of evidence and strength of
      recommendation. 

PMID- 25824494
TI  - Childhood obesity: the guideline for primary care should form part of a whole
      system approach.

PMID- 25824493
TI  - Quantifying adhesion mechanisms and dynamics of human hematopoietic stem and
      progenitor cells.
AB  - Using planar lipid membranes with precisely defined concentrations of specific
      ligands, we have determined the binding strength between human hematopoietic stem
      cells (HSC) and the bone marrow niche. The relative significance of HSC adhesion
      to the surrogate niche models via SDF1alpha-CXCR4 or N-cadherin axes was
      quantified by (a) the fraction of adherent cells, (b) the area of tight adhesion,
      and (c) the critical pressure for cell detachment. We have demonstrated that the
      binding of HSC to the niche model is a cooperative process, and the adhesion
      mediated by the CXCR4- SDF1alpha axis is stronger than that by homophilic N
      cadherin binding. The statistical image analysis of stochastic morphological
      dynamics unraveled that HSC dissipated energy by undergoing oscillatory
      deformation. The combination of an in vitro niche model and novel physical tools
      has enabled us to quantitatively determine the relative significance of binding
      mechanisms between normal HSC versus leukemia blasts to the bone marrow niche. 

PMID- 25824495
TI  - Legislation jeopardizes safe injection sites.

PMID- 25824497
TI  - CIHR's commitment to basic science questioned.

PMID- 25824500
TI  - Quebec bill is an attack on doctors' autonomy.

PMID- 25824498
TI  - Recommendations for growth monitoring, and prevention and management of
      overweight and obesity in children and youth in primary care.

PMID- 25824501
TI  - How schools teach our children to be fat.

PMID- 25824502
TI  - Rickets re-emerges in northern Aboriginal children.

PMID- 25824503
TI  - Cognitive decline in an older physician.

PMID- 25824504
TI  - Disentangling mite predator-prey relationships by multiplex PCR.
AB  - Gut content analysis using molecular techniques can help elucidate predator-prey
      relationships in situations in which other methodologies are not feasible, such
      as in the case of trophic interactions between minute species such as mites. We
      designed species-specific primers for a mite community occurring in Spanish
      citrus orchards comprising two herbivores, the Tetranychidae Tetranychus urticae
      and Panonychus citri, and six predatory mites belonging to the Phytoseiidae
      family; these predatory mites are considered to be these herbivores' main
      biological control agents. These primers were successfully multiplexed in a
      single PCR to test the range of predators feeding on each of the two prey
      species. We estimated prey DNA detectability success over time (DS50), which
      depended on the predator-prey combination and ranged from 0.2 to 18 h. These
      values were further used to weight prey detection in field samples to disentangle
      the predatory role played by the most abundant predators (i.e. Euseius stipulatus
      and Phytoseiulus persimilis). The corrected predation value for E. stipulatus was
      significantly higher than for P. persimilis. However, because this 1.5-fold
      difference was less than that observed regarding their sevenfold difference in
      abundance, we conclude that P. persimilis is the most effective predator in the
      system; it preyed on tetranychids almost five times more frequently than E.
      stipulatus did. The present results demonstrate that molecular tools are
      appropriate to unravel predator-prey interactions in tiny species such as mites,
      which include important agricultural pests and their predators.

PMID- 25824506
TI  - Antiplatelet therapy. Long-term ticagrelor use in patients with history of MI.

PMID- 25824507
TI  - Valvular disease. RCTs inform on 5-year outcomes with TAVR and its use in
      patients at low surgical risk.

PMID- 25824508
TI  - Heart failure. BAT safe and effective in patients with HF.

PMID- 25824510
TI  - Coronary artery disease. Drug-eluting stents or CABG?

PMID- 25824512
TI  - Dyslipidaemia. Assessing the efficacy and safety of evolocumab and alirocumab.

PMID- 25824515
TI  - Imaging. Effect of CT coronary angiography on the diagnosis and outcomes of
      patients with CAD.

PMID- 25824517
TI  - Risk factors. Smoking and CAD--what's plaque got to do with it?

PMID- 25824518
TI  - Hypertension. Folic acid reduces stroke risk.

PMID- 25824520
TI  - Anticoagulation therapy. Optimal dosages and genotypes for edoxaban therapy.

PMID- 25824519
TI  - Atrial fibrillation. Weight loss reduces AF burden.

PMID- 25824521
TI  - Nickel in biology.

PMID- 25824522
TI  - Tree nut allergy: risk factors for development, mitigation of reaction risk and
      current efforts in desensitization.
AB  - Allergy to tree nuts has grown widespread among patients, specifically in the
      pediatric population, in recent years. In this review, we evaluate and summarize
      the literature specific to development and treatment of tree nut allergy. The
      cause of tree nut allergy, such as most food allergies, is unknown; there are
      theories regarding maternal dietary factors as well as sensitization related to
      cross-reactivity to peanut allergens. The gold standard for the diagnosis of tree
      nut allergy is the double-blind, placebo-controlled, oral food challenge;
      however, simpler and more cost-effective diagnostic methods, such as the skin
      prick test and serum-specific IgE are often used as a supplement for diagnosis.
      Management of tree nut allergy consists of dietary avoidance and using
      epinephrine to manage serious allergic reactions. Alternative therapeutic
      methods, such as oral and sublingual immunotherapy and modification of allergenic
      proteins are being explored to develop safer, more effective and long-lasting
      management of tree nut allergy. We comment on the current studies involving risk
      factors for sensitization, diagnosis and management of tree nut allergy. 

PMID- 25824523
TI  - A thorium metallacyclopentadiene complex: a combined experimental and
      computational study.
AB  - The synthesis, structure, and reactivity of a thorium metallacyclopentadiene were
      comprehensively studied. The reduction of (eta(5)-C5Me5)2ThCl2 () with potassium
      graphite (KC8) in the presence of diphenylacetylene (PhC[triple bond, length as m
      dash]CPh) yields the first thorium metallacyclopentadiene complex (eta(5)
      C5Me5)2Th(eta(2)-C4Ph4) (). Density functional theory (DFT) studies suggest that
      the 5f orbitals are involved in the bonding of the metallacyclopentadiene Th
      (eta(2)-C[double bond, length as m-dash]C-C[double bond, length as m-dash]C)
      moiety. Compared to the thorium metallacyclopropene, complex shows a
      distinctively different reactivity towards diazoalkanes and organic azides such
      as Me3SiCHN2, 9-diazofluorene and p-tolylN3, leading to the formation of the six
      membered hydrazido complexes (eta(5)-C5Me5)2Th[N(N[double bond, length as m
      dash]CHSiMe3)(C4Ph4)] () and (eta(5)-C5Me5)2Th[N(N[double bond, length as m
      dash]C(C12H8))(C4Ph4)] () and the seven-membered bis(triazenido) complex (eta(5)
      C5Me5)2Th[N(N[double bond, length as m-dash]N(p-tolyl))(C4Ph4)N(N[double bond,
      length as m-dash]N(p-tolyl))] (), respectively. 

PMID- 25824524
TI  - Biodegradable Poly (Lactic-co-Glycolic Acid)-Polyethylene Glycol Nanocapsules: An
      Efficient Carrier for Improved Solubility, Bioavailability, and Anticancer
      Property of Lutein.
AB  - Lutein bioavailability is limited because of its poor aqueous solubility. In this
      study, lutein-poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)-polyethylene glycol (PEG)
      nanocapsules were prepared to improve the solubility, bioavailability, and
      anticancer property of lutein. The scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light
      scattering examination revealed that the nanocapsules are smooth and spherical
      with size ranging from 80 to 500 nm (mean = 200 nm). In vitro lutein release
      profile from nanocapsules showed controlled sustainable release (66%) up to 72 h.
      Aqueous solubility of lutein nanocapsules was much higher by 735-fold than the
      lutein. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses showed no chemical
      interaction among PLGA, PEG, and lutein, indicating possible weak intermolecular
      forces like hydrogen bonds. X-ray diffraction revealed lutein is distributed in a
      disordered amorphous state in nanocapsules. Postprandial plasma kinetics (area
      under the curve) of an oral dose of lutein from nanocapsules was higher by 5.4
      fold compared with that of micellar lutein (control). The antiproliferative
      effect of lutein from nanocapsules (IC50 value, 10.9 MUM) was higher (43.6%) than
      the lutein (IC50 value, 25 MUM). Results suggest that PLGA-PEG nanocapsule is an
      efficient carrier for enhancing hydrophilicity, bioavailability, and anticancer
      property of lipophilic molecules such as lutein.

PMID- 25824525
TI  - Synthesis of each enantiomer of rocaglamide by means of a palladium(0)-catalyzed
      Nazarov-type cyclization.
AB  - A recently reported Pd(0)-catalyzed asymmetric Nazarov-type cyclization has been
      successfully applied in the key step of the first catalytic asymmetric total
      synthesis of (-)-rocaglamide (natural) and (+)-rocaglamide. The stereochemistry
      at the C3 position that controls the stereochemistry of all other stereocenters
      is determined in the cyclization step. This versatile and modular synthesis
      proceeds from simple reagents.

PMID- 25824526
TI  - Tumour lysis syndrome: new territory for a familiar foe?

PMID- 25824527
TI  - Incidence and impact of postoperative atrial fibrillation after minimally
      invasive esophagectomy.
AB  - Atrial fibrillation (AF) following open esophagectomy has been associated with
      increased rates of pulmonary and anastomotic complications, and mortality. This
      study seeks to evaluate effects of AF after minimally invasive esophagectomy
      (MIE). A retrospective review of patients consecutively treated with MIE for
      esophageal carcinoma, dysplasia. and benign disease from November 2006 to
      November 2011 was performed. One hundred twenty-one patients underwent MIE.
      Median age was 65 years (range 26-88) with 85% being male. Thirty-eight (31.4%)
      patients developed AF postoperatively. Of these 38 patients, 7 (18.4%) had known
      AF preoperatively. Patients with postoperative AF were significantly older than
      those without postoperative AF (68.7 vs. 62.8 years, P = 0.008) and more likely
      to be male (94.7% vs. 80.7%, P = 0.04). Neoadjuvant chemoradiation showed a trend
      toward increased risk of AF (73.7% vs 56.6%, P = 0.07). Sixty-day mortality was 2
      of 38 (5.3%) in patients with AF and 4 of 83 (6.0%) in the no AF cohort (P =
      1.00). The group with AF had increased length of hospitalization (13.4 days vs.
      10.6 days P = 0.02). No significant differences in rates of pneumonia (31.6% vs.
      21.7% P = 0.24), stricture (13.2% vs. 26.5% P = 0.10), or leak requiring return
      to operating room (13.2% vs. 8.4% P = 0.51) were noted between groups. We did not
      find an increased rate of AF in our MIE cohort compared with prior reported rates
      in open esophagectomy populations. AF did result in an increased length of stay
      but was not a predictor of other short-term morbidities including anastomotic
      leak, pulmonary complications, stenosis, or 60-day mortality. 

PMID- 25824528
TI  - The role of parkinson's disease-associated receptor GPR37 in the hippocampus:
      functional interplay with the adenosinergic system.
AB  - GPR37 is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor mostly enriched in brain areas such
      as the cerebellum, striatum, and hippocampus. Identified as a substrate of
      parkin, GPR37 has been suggested to play a role in Parkinson's disease.
      Distributed throughout the brain, the function of GPR37, however, remains
      unknown. We now provide the first mapping of GPR37 within the hippocampus, where
      GPR37 is widely expressed and localized at the level of the extrasynaptic plasma
      membrane of dendritic spines, dendritic shafts, and axon terminals. GPR37 per se
      does not appear to play a role in learning and memory, since knocking out GPR37
      (GPR37-KO) did not alter the performance in different hippocampal-related memory
      tasks. This is in agreement with slice electrophysiology experiments showing no
      differences both in short-term plasticity paired-pulse facilitation and long-term
      potentiation between WT and GPR37-KO mice. However, we report a potential
      functional interaction between GPR37 and adenosine A2A receptors (A2 A R) in the
      hippocampus, with A2 A R modulating the GPR37-associated phenotype. Thus, the
      absence of GPR37 appeared to sensitize mice to hippocampal A2 A R-mediated
      signaling, as observed by the effect of the A2 A R antagonist SCH58261 increasing
      synaptic depotentiation, reducing novel object recognition memory and reverting
      the anxiolytic effect of GPR37 deletion. Collectively, these findings afford
      insight into the localization and role of the orphan GPR37 within the hippocampus
      with potential involvement in A2 A R function (i.e., A2 A R sensitization). GPR37
      is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor widely expressed in the hippocampus and
      localized at the level of the extrasynaptic plasma membrane of dendritic spines,
      dendritic shafts and axon terminals. This orphan receptor per se does not appear
      to directly control the learning and memory processes; however knocking-out GPR37
      triggers anxiolytic-like effects and sensitizes mice to hippocampal A2A R
      mediated signalling. 

PMID- 25824529
TI  - Local cooling and warming effects of forests based on satellite observations.
AB  - The biophysical effects of forests on climate have been extensively studied with
      climate models. However, models cannot accurately reproduce local climate effects
      due to their coarse spatial resolution and uncertainties, and field observations
      are valuable but often insufficient due to their limited coverage. Here we
      present new evidence acquired from global satellite data to analyse the
      biophysical effects of forests on local climate. Results show that tropical
      forests have a strong cooling effect throughout the year; temperate forests show
      moderate cooling in summer and moderate warming in winter with net cooling
      annually; and boreal forests have strong warming in winter and moderate cooling
      in summer with net warming annually. The spatiotemporal cooling or warming
      effects are mainly driven by the two competing biophysical effects,
      evapotranspiration and albedo, which in turn are strongly influenced by rainfall
      and snow. Implications of our satellite-based study could be useful for informing
      local forestry policies. 

PMID- 25824530
TI  - IL-22 Produced by T helper Cell 22 as a New player in the Pathogenesis of Immune
      Thrombocytopenia.
AB  - Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) as an autoimmune disease is identified
      by low count platelet due to decreaed platelet production as well as increased
      platelet destruction by autoimmune mechanisms in which platelet autoantigen(s)
      react with the patient's immune system. In ITP a shift toward B cells producing
      autoantibodies together with CD4+ T helper cells have been reported. T helper
      cell 22 (Th22) as a new subset of CD4+ T cells is distinctly apart from Th17 and
      other known CD4+ T cell subsets due to the expression of its specific gene and
      function. Th22 subset show chemokine receptor CCR4+ CCR6+ CCR10+ phenotype and
      its key transcription factor is aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR). In addition,
      Th22 cells can be recognized by secretion of a distinguished profile of effector
      cytokines, including interleukin (IL)- 22, IL- 13, and tumor necrosis factor
      alpha (TNF-alpha). The amount of Th22 and IL-22 is increased in several
      autoimmune disorders and positively related to disease severity. The purpose of
      the present review is to discuss the role of Th22 and its cytokine IL-22 in the
      immunopathogenesis of ITP. 

PMID- 25824531
TI  - Overdiagnosis: epidemiologic concepts and estimation.
AB  - Overdiagnosis of thyroid cancer was propounded regarding the rapidly increasing
      incidence in South Korea. Overdiagnosis is defined as 'the detection of cancers
      that would never have been found were it not for the screening test', and may be
      an extreme form of lead bias due to indolent cancers, as is inevitable when
      conducting a cancer screening programme. Because it is solely an epidemiological
      concept, it can be estimated indirectly by phenomena such as a lack of
      compensatory drop in post-screening periods, or discrepancies between incidence
      and mortality. The erstwhile trials for quantifying the overdiagnosis in
      screening mammography were reviewed in order to secure the data needed to
      establish its prevalence in South Korea. 

PMID- 25824532
TI  - Packing to tamponade severe intracranial hemorrhage in pediatric patients.
AB  - The medical records of all children in whom packing was used to control severe
      intracranial hemorrhage were reviewed. Eight children, with ages ranging from
      newborn to 4 years, met the inclusion criteria and all survived. Five were
      victims of severe closed head trauma, 2 had received penetrating cranial
      injuries, and 1 developed severe bleeding while undergoing surgery for a
      malignant tumor in the posterior fossa. Blood loss at the time of removal of the
      packing was minimal in 7 patients and was surgically controllable in the other.
      Packing is a simple, efficient, and safe maneuver which can very often halt
      intracranial bleeding that is considered to be otherwise uncontrollable, and can
      thereby limit the consequences of prolonged or repeated periods of hypotension
      and possible exsanguination.

PMID- 25824533
TI  - Change in obsessive-compulsive symptoms mediates subsequent change in depressive
      symptoms during exposure and response prevention.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The current study examines the temporal relationship between changes
      in obsessive-compulsive symptoms and changes in depressive symptoms during
      exposure and response prevention (EX/RP) therapy for obsessive-compulsive
      disorder (OCD). METHOD: Participants were 40 adults (53% female) who received
      EX/RP in a randomized controlled trial comparing serotonin reuptake inhibitor
      (SRI) augmentation strategies. Participants completed clinician-administered
      assessments of OCD (Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale) and depressive
      symptoms (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) every four weeks from baseline to 32
      week follow-up. RESULTS: Lagged multilevel mediational analyses indicated that
      change in OCD symptoms accounted for 65% of subsequent change in depressive
      symptoms. In contrast, change in depressive symptoms only partially mediated
      subsequent change in OCD symptoms, accounting for 20% of the variance in outcome.
      CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that reductions in co-morbid depressive symptoms
      during EX/RP for OCD are largely driven by reductions in obsessive-compulsive
      symptoms.

PMID- 25824534
TI  - Protective effect of berberine against myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury:
      role of Notch1/Hes1-PTEN/Akt signaling.
AB  - Berberine (BBR) confers cardioprotective effect against myocardial ischemia
      reperfusion injury (MI/RI). Activation of Notch1/Hairy and enhancer of split 1
      (Hes1) signaling also reduces MI/RI. We hypothesize that BBR may protect against
      MI/RI by modulating Notch1/Hes1-Phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on
      chromosome ten (PTEN)/Akt signaling. In this study, male Sprague-Dawley rats were
      exposed to BBR treatment (200 mg/kg/d) for 2 weeks and then subjected to MI/RI.
      BBR significantly improved cardiac function recovery and decreased myocardial
      apoptosis, infarct size, serum creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase levels.
      Furthermore, in cultured H9c2 cardiomyocytes, BBR (50 MUmol/L) attenuated
      simulated ischemia/reperfusion-induced myocardial apoptosis. Both in vivo and in
      vitro study showed that BBR treatment up-regulates Notch1 intracellular domain,
      Hes1, Bcl-2 expression and p-Akt/Akt ratio, down-regulates Bax Caspase-3 and
      cleaved Caspase-3 expression. However, the anti-apoptotic effect conferred by BBR
      was blocked by Notch1 siRNA, Hes1 siRNA or LY294002 (the specific inhibitor of
      Akt signaling) in the cultured cardiomyocytes. In summary, our results
      demonstrate that BBR treatment attenuates MI/RI by modulating Notch1/Hes1
      PTEN/Akt signaling. 

PMID- 25824535
TI  - GABA-Synthesizing Enzymes in Calbindin and Calretinin Neurons in Monkey
      Prefrontal Cortex.
AB  - Non-overlapping groups of cortical gamma-aminobutyric acid-releasing (GABAergic)
      neurons are identifiable by the presence of calbindin (CB), calretinin (CR), or
      parvalbumin (PV). Boutons from PV neuron subtypes are also distinguishable by
      differences in protein levels of the GABA-synthesizing enzymes GAD65 and GAD67.
      Multilabel fluorescence microscopy was used to determine if this diversity
      extends to boutons of CB and CR neurons in monkey prefrontal cortex. CB and CR
      neurons gave rise to 3 subpopulations of GAD-containing boutons: GAD65+, GAD67+,
      and GAD65/GAD67+. Somatostatin and vasoactive intestinal peptide-expressing
      neurons, subtypes of CB and CR neurons, respectively, also gave rise to these
      distinct bouton subpopulations. At the transcript level, CB and CR neurons
      contained mRNA encoding GAD67-only or both GADs. Thus, the distinct
      subpopulations of CB/GAD+ and CR/GAD+ boutons arise from 2 unique subtypes of CB
      and CR neurons. The different CB and CR GAD-expressing neurons targeted the same
      projection neurons and neuronal structures immunoreactive for PV, CR, or CB.
      These findings suggest that GABA synthesis from CB/GAD67+ and CR/GAD67+ neurons
      would presumably be more vulnerable to disease-associated deficits in GAD67
      expression, such as in schizophrenia, than neurons that also contain GAD65. 

PMID- 25824536
TI  - Fronto-Parietal Network Reconfiguration Supports the Development of Reasoning
      Ability.
AB  - The goal of this fMRI study was to examine how well developmental improvements in
      reasoning ability can be explained by changes in functional connectivity between
      specific nodes in prefrontal and parietal cortices. To this end, we examined
      connectivity within the lateral fronto-parietal network (LFPN) and its relation
      to reasoning ability in 132 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years, 56 of whom
      were scanned twice over the course of 1.5 years. Developmental changes in
      strength of connections within the LFPN were most prominent in late childhood and
      early adolescence. Reasoning ability was related to functional connectivity
      between left rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC) and inferior parietal lobule
      (IPL), but only among 12-18-year olds. For 9-11-year olds, reasoning ability was
      most strongly related to connectivity between left and right RLPFC; this
      relationship was mediated by working memory. For 6-8-year olds, significant
      relationships between connectivity and performance were not observed; in this
      group, processing speed was the primary mediator of improvement in reasoning
      ability. We conclude that different connections best support reasoning at
      different points in development and that RLPFC-IPL connectivity becomes an
      important predictor of reasoning during adolescence. 

PMID- 25824537
TI  - Jikoshu-kyofu in Singapore.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Jikoshu-kyofu (JKF), a condition characterised by a fear of offending
      others through emitting foul body odour, was first described in Japan in the
      1960s. Although initially thought to be a culture-bound syndrome, it has been
      described in other countries. It is well established that there are two variants,
      a non- delusional and a delusional variant. METHOD: We describe two cases of JKF
      who sought treatment from a hospital in Singapore, compare and contrast their
      characteristics, and in view of overlaps with other conditions, discuss
      differential diagnoses. RESULTS: Both cases involved women with fairly similar
      symptomatology except that the first case was younger, had overvalued ideas (but
      not delusions), an earlier age of onset and good treatment response, while the
      other had delusions, late age of onset, became too distressed to continue working
      and was initially resistant to treatment. CONCLUSION: It appears that the
      delusional variant may have a longer symptomatic duration before presentation,
      poorer insight, more resistance to treatment and multiple physician
      consultations, as well as greater impairment of socio-occupational functioning in
      contrast to the non-delusional variant.

PMID- 25824538
TI  - DNA Methylation Inhibitor Zebularine Confers Stroke Protection in Ischemic Rats.
AB  - 5-Aza-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC) confers neuroprotection in ischemic mice by
      inhibiting DNA methylation. Zebularine is another DNA methylation inhibitor, less
      toxic and more stable in aqueous solutions and, therefore more biologically
      suitable. We investigated Zebularine's effects on brain ischemia in a rat middle
      cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) model in order to elucidate its therapeutic
      potential. Male Wistar wild-type (WT) rats were randomly allocated to three
      treatment groups, vehicle, Zebularine 100 MUg, and Zebularine 500 MUg. Saline (10
      MUL) or Zebularine (10 MUL) was administered intracerebroventricularly 20 min
      before 45-min occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. Reperfusion was allowed
      after 45-min occlusion, and the rats were sacrificed at 24-h reperfusion. The
      brains were removed, sliced, and stained with 2% 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium
      chloride (TTC) before measuring infarct size. Zebularine (500 MUg) reduced
      infarct volumes significantly (p < 0.05) by 61% from 20.7 +/- 4.2% in the vehicle
      treated to 8.1 +/- 1.6% in the Zebularine treated. Zebularine (100 MUg) also
      reduced infarct volumes dramatically by 55 to 9.4 +/- 1.2%. The mechanisms behind
      this neuroprotection is not yet known, but the results agree with previous
      studies and support the notion that Zebularine-induced inhibition of DNA
      methyltransferase ameliorates ischemic brain injury in rats.

PMID- 25824539
TI  - BPH: a tell-tale sign of prostate cancer? Results from the Prostate Cancer and
      Environment Study (PROtEuS).
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In a population-based case-control study (PROtEuS), we examined the
      association between prostate cancer (PCa) and (1) benign prostatic hypertrophy
      (BPH) history at any time prior to PCa diagnosis, (2) BPH-history reported at
      least 1 year prior to interview/diagnosis (index date) and (3) exposure to BPH
      medications. METHODS: Cases were 1933 men with incident prostate cancer diagnosed
      across Montreal French hospitals between 2005 and 2009. Population controls were
      1994 men from the same age distribution and residential area. In-person
      interviews collected socio-demographic characteristics and medical history, e.g.,
      BPH diagnosis, duration and treatment, as well as on PCa screening. Logistic
      regression analyses tested overall and grade-specific associations, including
      subgroup analyses with frequent PSA testing. RESULTS: A BPH-history was
      associated with an increased risk of PCa (OR 1.37 [95 % CI 1.16-2.61]), more
      pronounced for low-grade PCa (Gleason <=6: OR 1.54 [1.26-1.87]; Gleason >=7: OR
      1.05 [0.86-1.27]). The association was not significant when BPH-history diagnosis
      was more than 1 year prior to index date, except for low-grade PCa (OR 1.29 [1.05
      1.60]). Exposure to 5alpha reductase inhibitors (5alpha-RI) resulted in a
      decreased risk of overall PCa (OR 0.62 [0.42-0.92]), particularly for
      intermediate- to high-grade PCa (Gleason <=6: OR 0.70 [0.43-1.14]; Gleason >=7:
      OR 0.43 [0.26-0.72]). Adjusting for PSA testing frequency or restricting analyses
      to frequently screened subjects did not affect these results. CONCLUSION: BPH
      history was associated with an increased PCa risk, which disappeared, when BPH
      history did not include BPH diagnosis within the previous year. Our results also
      suggest that 5alpha-RI exposure exerts a protective effect on intermediate and
      high-grade PCa.

PMID- 25824540
TI  - (18)F-choline PET/CT for early detection of metastases in biochemical recurrence
      following radical prostatectomy.
AB  - PURPOSE: Salvage radiotherapy (SRT) for biochemical recurrence (BCR) following
      radical prostatectomy (RP) should if possible be added at a prostate-specific
      antigen (PSA) level of <1-2 ng/mL. The value of positron emission tomography
      combined with computed tomography (PET/CT) at such low PSA values is not defined.
      The purpose was to determine what proportion of a well-defined cohort of hormone
      naive patients who were candidates for early salvage radiotherapy had (18)F
      choline PET/CT findings suggesting metastases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients
      with untreated BCR following RP, PSA <2 ng/mL, and Gleason score >=7 or PSA
      doubling time <=6 months underwent (18)F-choline PET/CT. Focal choline uptake in
      lymph nodes or skeletal sites was recorded. RESULTS: PET/CT indicated metastases
      in 16 (28 %) of 58 patients. In five (9 %) patients, the scans suggested bone
      metastases, and in 11 (19 %) patients, the scans suggested regional lymph node
      metastases only. For patients with PSA levels <1.0 ng/mL, the PET/CT scans
      indicated metastatic recurrence in 25 %. CONCLUSIONS: (18)F-choline PET/CT may be
      valuable for selecting patients with BCR following RP for SRT or experimental
      treatment of oligometastases, even at low PSA values.

PMID- 25824541
TI  - The balancing act of GABAergic synapse organizers.
AB  - GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is the main neurotransmitter at inhibitory
      synapses in the mammalian brain. It is essential for maintaining the excitation
      and inhibition (E/I) ratio, whose imbalance underlies various brain diseases.
      Emerging information about inhibitory synapse organizers provides a novel
      molecular framework for understanding E/I balance at the synapse, circuit, and
      systems levels. This review highlights recent advances in deciphering these
      components of the inhibitory synapse and their roles in the development,
      transmission, and circuit properties of inhibitory synapses. We also discuss how
      their dysfunction may lead to a variety of brain disorders, suggesting new
      therapeutic strategies based on balancing the E/I ratio.

PMID- 25824542
TI  - Comparison of inhospital mortality, length of hospitalization, costs, and
      vascular complications of percutaneous coronary interventions guided by
      ultrasound versus angiography.
AB  - Despite the valuable role of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guidance in
      percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs), its impact on clinical outcomes
      remains debatable. The aim of the present study was to compare the outcomes of
      PCIs guided by IVUS versus angiography in the contemporary era on inhospital
      outcomes in an unrestricted large, nationwide patient population. Data were
      obtained from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2008 to 2011. Hierarchical
      mixed-effects logistic regression models were used for categorical dependent
      variables like inhospital mortality, and hierarchical mixed-effects linear
      regression models were used for continuous dependent variables like length of
      hospital stay and cost of hospitalization. A total of 401,571 PCIs were
      identified, of which 377,096 were angiography guided and 24,475 (weighted n =
      119,102) used IVUS. In a multivariate model, significant predictors of higher
      mortality were increasing age, female gender, higher baseline co-morbidity
      burden, presence of acute myocardial infarction, shock, weekend and emergent
      admission, or occurrence of any complication during hospitalization. Significant
      predictors of reduced mortality were the use of IVUS guidance (odds ratio 0.65,
      95% confidence interval 0.52 to 0.83; p <0.001) for PCI and higher hospital
      volumes (third and fourth quartiles). The use of IVUS was also associated with
      reduced inhospital mortality in subgroup of patients with acute myocardial
      infarction and/or shock and those with a higher co-morbidity burden (Charlson's
      co-morbidity index >=2). In one of the largest studies on IVUS-guided PCIs in the
      drug-eluting stent era, we demonstrate that IVUS guidance is associated with
      reduced inhospital mortality, similar length of hospital stay, and increased cost
      of care and vascular complications compared with conventional angiography-guided
      PCIs.

PMID- 25824543
TI  - Predictors of stroke associated with coronary artery bypass grafting in patients
      with diabetes mellitus and multivessel coronary artery disease.
AB  - This study assesses demographic and clinical variables associated with
      perioperative and late stroke in diabetes mellitus patients after multivessel
      coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Future Revascularization Evaluation in
      Patients with Diabetes Mellitus: Optimal Management of Multivessel Disease
      (FREEDOM) is the largest randomized trial of diabetic patients undergoing
      multivessel CABG. FREEDOM patients had improved survival free of death,
      myocardial infarction, or stroke and increased overall survival after CABG
      compared to percutaneous intervention. However, the stroke rate was greater
      following CABG than percutaneous intervention. We studied predictors of stroke in
      CABG-treated patients analyzing separately overall, perioperative (<=30 days
      after surgery), and late (>30 days after surgery) stroke. For long-term outcomes
      (overall stroke and late stroke), Cox proportional hazards regression was used,
      accounting for time to event, and logistic regression was used for perioperative
      stroke. Independent perioperative stroke predictors were previous stroke (odds
      ratio [OR] 6.96, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.43 to 33.96; p = 0.02), warfarin
      use (OR 10.26, 95% CI 1.10 to 96.03; p = 0.02), and surgery outside the United
      States or Canada (OR 9.81, 95% CI 1.28 to 75.40; p = 0.03). Independent late
      stroke predictors: renal insufficiency (hazard ratio [HR] 3.57, 95% CI 1.01 to
      12.64; p = 0.048), baseline low-density lipoprotein >=105 mg/dl (HR 3.28, 95% CI
      1.19 to 9.02; p = 0.02), and baseline diastolic blood pressure (each 1 mm Hg
      increase reduces stroke hazard by 5%; HR 0.95, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.99; p = 0.03).
      There was no overlap between predictors of perioperative versus late stroke. In
      conclusion, late post-CABG strokes were associated with well-described risk
      factors. Nearly half of the strokes were perioperative. Independent risk factors
      for perioperative stroke: previous stroke, previous warfarin use, and CABG
      performed outside the United States or Canada.

PMID- 25824544
TI  - Single nucleotide polymorphisms of the Fas gene are associated with papillary
      thyroid cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Fas is the prototypic representative of the death receptor subgroup
      of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor family. Recently, single nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs) of the Fas or Fas ligand (FasL) genes have been shown to be
      associated with an increased risk of several cancers and with the prognosis of
      several cancers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association
      between the SNPs of the Fas and FasL genes and papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and
      to assess the relationship between these SNPs and the clinicopathological
      characteristics of PTC. METHODS: Five SNPs located within the two genes of Fas
      and FasL were genotyped using direct sequencing in 94 patients with PTC and 364
      healthy controls. Genetic data were analyzed using commercially available
      software. And, the statistical analyses were performed according to
      clinicopathologic characteristics of PTC. RESULTS: Genotyping analysis
      demonstrated that the intron SNP (rs1571013), promoter SNP (rs1800682) and 3'-UTR
      SNP (rs1468063) of Fas were significantly associated with the development of PTC.
      We also detected a significant difference between patients with PTC and healthy
      controls with respect to Fas gene allele frequencies. Furthermore, we found that
      the 3'-UTR SNP (rs1468063) of Fas was associated with the multifocality of cancer
      [dominant model, OR 0.28, p=0.028; log-additive model, OR 0.43, p=0.033].
      CONCLUSION: We observed a significant association between SNPs of the Fas gene
      and the development of PTC. In addition, there was a significant association
      between a Fas SNP and the multifocality of PTC.

PMID- 25824545
TI  - Surgery for rectal cancer after high-dose radiotherapy for prostate cancer: is
      sphincter preservation relevant?
AB  - AIM: The feasibility and outcome of sphincter-saving resection for rectal cancer
      were assessed in patients previously treated by high-dose radiotherapy for
      prostate cancer. METHOD: Between 2000 and 2012, 1066 patients underwent rectal
      excision for rectal cancer. Of these, 236 were treated by conventional
      radiotherapy (45 Gy) and sphincter-saving resection (Group A) and 12 were treated
      by external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT) for prostate cancer (70 Gy) and sphincter
      saving resection (Group B) of whom five had a metachronous and seven a
      synchronous cancer. The end-points were surgical morbidity, pelvic sepsis,
      reoperation and definitive stoma. RESULTS: Tumour characteristics were similar in
      both groups. Surgical morbidity (67% vs 25%, P = 0.004), anastomotic leakage (50%
      vs 10%, P = 0.001, and reoperation (50% vs 17%, P = 0.011) were significantly
      higher in Group B. Multivariate analyses showed that EBRT for prostate cancer was
      the only independent factor for anastomotic leakage (OR = 5.12; 95% CI 1.45
      18.08; P = 0.011) and definitive stoma (OR = 10.56; 95% CI 3.02-39.92; P <
      0.001). CONCLUSION: High-dose radiotherapy for prostate cancer increases
      morbidity from rectal surgery and the risk of a permanent stoma. This suggests
      that a delayed coloanal anastomosis or a Hartmann procedure should be proposed as
      an alternative to low anterior resection in this population.

PMID- 25824547
TI  - Is acetylation a metabolic rheostat that regulates skeletal muscle insulin
      action?
AB  - Skeletal muscle insulin resistance, which increases the risk for developing
      various metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, is a common metabolic
      disorder in obesity and aging. If potential treatments are to be developed to
      treat insulin resistance, then it is important to fully understand insulin
      signaling and glucose metabolism. While recent large-scale "omics" studies have
      revealed the acetylome to be comparable in size to the phosphorylome, the
      acetylation of insulin signaling proteins and its functional relevance to insulin
      stimulated glucose transport and glucose metabolism is not fully understood. In
      this Mini Review we discuss the acetylation status of proteins involved in the
      insulin signaling pathway and review their potential effect on, and relevance to,
      insulin action in skeletal muscle. 

PMID- 25824549
TI  - Technological innovations in forensic genetics: social, legal and ethical
      aspects.
AB  - This paper discusses the nature of four waves of technological innovations in
      forensic genetics alongside the social, legal and ethical aspect of these
      innovations. It emphasises the way in which technological advances and their
      socio-legal frameworks are co-produced, shaping technology expectations, social
      identities, and legal institutions. It also considers how imagined and actual
      uses of forensic genetic technologies are entangled with assertions about social
      order, affirmations of common values and civil rights, and promises about
      security and justice. Our comments seek to encourage the participation of
      scientific actors in the development of anticipatory governance deliberations
      concerning the widening application of forensic genetics in an increasing number
      of criminal and civil jurisdictions. 

PMID- 25824546
TI  - Upstream regulators and downstream effectors of NADPH oxidases as novel
      therapeutic targets for diabetic kidney disease.
AB  - Oxidative stress has been linked to the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy, the
      complication of diabetes in the kidney. NADPH oxidases of the Nox family, and in
      particular the homologue Nox4, are a major source of reactive oxygen species in
      the diabetic kidney and are critical mediators of redox signaling in glomerular
      and tubulointerstitial cells exposed to the diabetic milieu. Here, we present an
      overview of the current knowledge related to the understanding of the role of Nox
      enzymes in the processes that control mesangial cell, podocyte and
      tubulointerstitial cell injury induced by hyperglycemia and other predominant
      factors enhanced in the diabetic milieu, including the renin-angiotensin system
      and transforming growth factor-beta. The nature of the upstream modulators of Nox
      enzymes as well as the downstream targets of the Nox NADPH oxidases implicated in
      the propagation of the redox processes that alter renal biology in diabetes will
      be highlighted. 

PMID- 25824548
TI  - Expression and preliminary functional profiling of the let-7 family during
      porcine ovary follicle atresia.
AB  - Most follicles in the mammalian ovary undergo atresia. Granulosa cell apoptosis
      is a hallmark of follicle atresia. Our previous study using a microRNA (miRNA)
      microarray showed that the let-7 microRNA family was differentially expressed
      during follicular atresia. However, whether the let-7 miRNA family members are
      related to porcine (Sus scrofa) ovary follicular apoptosis is unclear. In the
      current study, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed that the
      expression levels of let-7 family members in follicles and granulosa cells were
      similar to our microarray data, in which miRNAs let-7a, let-7b, let-7c, and let
      7i were significantly decreased in early atretic and progressively atretic
      porcine ovary follicles compared with healthy follicles, while let-7g was highly
      expressed during follicle atresia. Furthermore, flow cytometric analysis and
      Hoechst33342 staining demonstrated that let-7g increased the apoptotic rate of
      cultured granulosa cells. In addition, let-7 target genes were predicted and
      annotated by TargetScan, PicTar, gene ontology and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes
      and genomes pathways. Our data provide new insight into the association between
      the let-7 miRNA family in granulosa cell programmed death. 

PMID- 25824550
TI  - Kidney-induced cardiac allograft tolerance in miniature swine is dependent on MHC
      matching of donor cardiac and renal parenchyma.
AB  - Kidney allografts possess the ability to enable a short course of
      immunosuppression to induce tolerance of themselves and of cardiac allografts
      across a full-MHC barrier in miniature swine. However, the renal element(s)
      responsible for kidney-induced cardiac allograft tolerance (KICAT) are unknown.
      Here we investigated whether MHC disparities between parenchyma versus
      hematopoietic-derived "passenger" cells of the heart and kidney allografts
      affected KICAT. Heart and kidney allografts were co-transplanted into MHC
      mismatched recipients treated with high-dose tacrolimus for 12 days. Group 1
      animals (n = 3) received kidney and heart allografts fully MHC-mismatched to each
      other and to the recipient. Group 2 animals (n = 3) received kidney and heart
      allografts MHC-matched to each other but MHC-mismatched to the recipient. Group 3
      animals (n = 3) received chimeric kidney allografts whose parenchyma was MHC
      mismatched to the donor heart. Group 4 animals (n = 3) received chimeric kidney
      allografts whose passenger leukocytes were MHC-mismatched to the donor heart.
      Five of six heart allografts in Groups 1 and 3 rejected <40 days. In contrast,
      heart allografts in Groups 2 and 4 survived >150 days without rejection (p <
      0.05). These data demonstrate that KICAT requires MHC-matching between kidney
      allograft parenchyma and heart allografts, suggesting that cells intrinsic to the
      kidney enable cardiac allograft tolerance. 

PMID- 25824551
TI  - Improvement of kidney yang syndrome by icariin through regulating hypothalamus
      pituitary-adrenal axis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether Epimedium brevicornu Maxim (EB) and icariin
      could exert their protective effects on hydrocortisone induced (HCI) rats by
      regulating the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and endocrine system and
      the possible mechanism. METHODS: Male 10-week-old Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were
      allotted to 6 groups (A-F) with 12 each, group A was injected normal saline (NS)
      3 mL/kg day intraperitoneally, group A and B were given NS 6 mL/kg day by
      gastrogavage, group B-F were injected hydrocortisone 15 mg/kg intraperitoneally,
      group C and D were given EB 8 or 5 g/(kg day) by gastrogavage, group E and F were
      given icariin 25 or 50 mg/(kg day) by gastrogavage. Gene expressions of
      hypothalamus corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) and pituitary
      proopiomelanocortin (POMC) were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase
      chain reaction (RT-PCR), and protein of pituitary POMC by Western-blot. RESULTS:
      The serum T4, testosterone, cortisol and POMC mRNA expression were increased
      after treatment with EB or icariin in HCI rats, the serum CRH and the
      hypothalamus CRH mRNA expression released from hypothalamus corticotropin
      decreased compared with group B (P<0.05).The treatment with only icariin
      increased serum adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) compared with group B
      (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: EB and icariin might be therapeutically beneficial in the
      treatment of HCI rats through attuning the HPA axis and endocrine system which
      was involved in the release of CRH in hypothalamic, and the production of POMC
      derived peptide ACTH in anterior pituitary, the secretion of corticosteroids in
      adrenal cortex.

PMID- 25824552
TI  - Jinmaitong alleviates the diabetic peripheral neuropathy by inducing autophagy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To observe the deregulation of autophagy in diabetic peripheral
      neuropathy (DPN) and investigate whether Jinmaitong ( JMT) alleviates DPN by
      inducing autophagy. METHODS: DPN models were established by streptozotocin
      induced diabetic rats and Schwann cells (SCs) cultured in high glucose medium.
      The pathological morphology was observed by the improved Bielschowsky's nerve
      fiber axonal staining and the Luxol fast blue-neutral red myelin staining. The
      ultrastructure was observed by the transmission electron microscopy. Beclin1
      level was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. The proliferation of
      cultured SCs was detected by methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide.
      RESULTS: Diabetic peripheral nerve tissues demonstrated pathological morphology
      and reduced autophagic structure, accompanied with down-regulation of Beclin1.
      JMT apparently alleviated the pathological morphology change and increased the
      autophagy [in vivo, Beclin1 integral optical density (IOD) value of the control
      group 86.6+/-17.7, DM 43.9+/-8.8, JMT 73.3 +/-17.8, P<0.01 or P<0.05, in vitro
      Beclin1 IOD value of the glucose group 0.47+/-0.25 vs the control group 0.88+/
      0.29, P<0.05]. Consequently, inhibition of autophagy by 3-methyladenine resulted
      in a time- and concentration-dependent decrease of the proliferation of SCs
      (P<0.05, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Down-regulation of autophagy in SCs might
      contribute to the pathogenesis of DPN. JMT alleviates diabetic peripheral nerve
      injury at least in part by inducing autophagy.

PMID- 25824553
TI  - Regional differences in use and outcomes of left ventricular assist devices:
      Insights from the Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory
      Support Registry.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We examined whether characteristics, implant strategy, and outcomes
      in patients who receive continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices (CF-LVAD)
      differ across geographic regions in the United States. METHODS: A total of 7,404
      CF-LVAD patients enrolled in the Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted
      Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) from 134 participating institutions were analyzed
      from 4 distinct regions: Northeast, 2,605 (35%); Midwest, 2,210 (30%); West, 973
      (13%); and South, 1,616 (22%). RESULTS: At baseline, patients in the Northeast
      and South were more likely to have INTERMACS risk profiles 1 and 2. A bridge-to
      transplant (BTT) strategy was more common in the Northeast (31.7%; West, 18.5%;
      South, 26.9%; Midwest, 25.5%; p < 0.0001). In contrast, destination therapy (DT)
      was more likely in the South (40.6%; Northeast, 32.3%; Midwest, 27.3%; West,
      27.3%; p < 0.0001). Although all regions showed a high 1-year survival rate, some
      regional differences in long-term mortality were observed. Notably, survival
      beyond 1 year after LVAD implant was significantly lower in the South. However,
      when stratified by device strategy, no significant differences in survival for
      BTT or DT patients were found among the regions. Finally, with the exception of
      right ventricular failure, which was more common in the South, no other
      significant differences in causes of death were observed among the regions.
      CONCLUSIONS: Regional differences in clinical profile and LVAD strategy exist in
      the United States. Despite an overall high survival rate at 1 year, differences
      in mortality among the regions were noted. The lower survival rate in the South
      may be attributed to patient characteristics and higher use of LVAD as DT.

PMID- 25824554
TI  - Effect of racial and ethnic differences in heart transplantation with ABO
      incompatibility.

PMID- 25824555
TI  - WITHDRAWN: Modulation of the kinetics of 3beta-hydroxy-5-oxo-5,6-secocholestan-6
      al/phosphatidylethanolamine Schiff base formation by cholesterol and cholesterol
      crystallization.
AB  - The Publisher regrets that this article is an accidental duplication of an
      article that has already been published,
      http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemphyslip.2015.01.001. The duplicate article has
      therefore been withdrawn. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be
      found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy.

PMID- 25824556
TI  - Effect of magnesium on functional outcome and paraclinical parameters of patients
      undergoing supratentorial craniotomy for brain tumors: a randomized controlled
      trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several studies have demonstrated that magnesium (Mg) plays an
      important role in the prevention and treatment of central nervous system (CNS)
      insults. In this study, we tested the effect of intravenous magnesium sulfate
      (MgSO4) on the outcome of patients with brain tumors who underwent craniotomy.
      The outcome was defined clinically as the Barthel index score and paraclinically
      as blood levels of NSE (neuron-specific enloase) and S100Beta protein. METHODS:
      Sixty patients were randomly divided into two groups of 30 patients: the
      treatment and control groups. In the treatment group, 5 g of MgSO4 in normal
      saline was infused in 6 h 2 days before surgery, and the same dosage was repeated
      the day before and during surgery. The control group received placebo. Serum
      S100Beta and NSE concentrations were measured at baseline before administration
      of magnesium, before surgery, and on the 2nd postoperative day. The Barthel index
      score was evaluated and registered before surgery, 3, and 6 months after the
      operation. RESULTS: The study results showed a significant change in S100Beta
      protein levels before and after surgery (p < 0.05), but we could not find similar
      results for NSE protein and the Barthel index score. There was a correlation
      between NSE protein and the Barthel index. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study
      revealed that administration of intravenous MgSO4 before and during surgery is
      safe and effective in reducing S100B protein levels in patients undergoing
      supratentorial craniotomy for brain tumors. Further studies to elucidate the
      pathophysiology of brain injuries and role of magnesium are warranted.

PMID- 25824557
TI  - Fluorescein sodium-guided resection of cerebral metastases-experience with the
      first 30 patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgical resection is a key element of the multidisciplinary
      treatment of cerebral metastases (CMs). Recent studies have highlighted the
      importance of complete resection of CMs for improving recurrence-free and overall
      survival rates. This study presents the first data on the use of fluorescein
      sodium (FL) under the dedicated surgical microscope filter YELLOW 560 nm (Zeiss
      Meditec, Germany) in patients with CM. METHODS: Thirty patients with CMs of
      different primary cancers were included (15 females, 15 males; mean age 61.1
      years); 200 mg of FL was intravenously injected directly before CM resection. A
      YELLOW 560 nm filter was used for microsurgical tumor resection and resection
      control. Surgical reports were evaluated regarding the degree of fluorescent
      staining, postoperative MRIs regarding the extent of resection [gadolinium (Gd)
      enhanced T1-weighted sequence] and the postoperative courses regarding any
      adverse effects. RESULTS: Most patients (90.0%, n = 27) showed bright fluorescent
      staining, which markedly enhanced tumor visibility. Three patients (10.0%) (two
      with adenocarcinoma of the lung and one with melanoma of the skin) showed no or
      only insufficient FL staining. Another three patients (10.0%) showed residual
      tumor tissue in the postoperative MRI examination. In two other patients,
      radiographic examination could not exclude the possibility of very small areas of
      residual tumor tissue. Thus, gross-total resection was achieved in 83.3% (n = 25)
      of patients. No adverse effects were registered over the postoperative course.
      CONCLUSIONS: FL and the YELLOW 560 nm filter are safe and practical tools for the
      resection of CM, but further prospective research is needed to confirm that this
      advanced technique will improve the quality of CM resection.

PMID- 25824559
TI  - Emphysema and airway disease affect within-breath changes in respiratory
      resistance in COPD patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is
      characterized by a mixture of emphysema and airway disease. The forced
      oscillation technique (FOT) has been applied to COPD patients to clarify changes
      in respiratory mechanics; dynamic changes in respiratory resistance (Rrs) during
      breathing (within-breath changes in Rrs, DeltaRrs) are characteristic of COPD.
      However, the pathophysiological significance of these changes is unknown. The aim
      of this study was to assess how emphysema and airway disease influence DeltaRrs
      in COPD patients. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, stable COPD patients
      were recruited and underwent respiratory impedance measurements with a
      commercially available FOT device. Rrs was recorded during tidal breathing and
      then analyzed as whole-breath Rrs (Rrs at 5 Hz, R5; Rrs at 20 Hz, R20; and their
      difference, R5-R20) or as DeltaRrs, the difference between the expiratory and
      inspiratory Rrs (DeltaR5, DeltaR20 and DeltaR5-R20). The percentage of the low
      attenuation area (LAA%) and airway wall area (WA%) was quantified by computed
      tomography analysis, and their contributions to DeltaRrs were examined. RESULTS:
      Seventy-five COPD patients were recruited. LAA% was negatively correlated with
      DeltaR5 and DeltaR5-R20 (P = 0.0002 and P = 0.0033, respectively); meanwhile, WA%
      in B(10) was positively correlated with DeltaR5 and DeltaR5-R20 (P = 0.0057 and P
      < 0.0001, respectively). Multivariate analysis revealed that the contribution of
      both LAA% and WA% in B(10) to DeltaRrs was independent of the severity of airflow
      limitations. CONCLUSION: This study shows that emphysema suppresses DeltaRrs in
      COPD patients, while airway disease increases DeltaRrs in these patients.

PMID- 25824558
TI  - Nationwide study on the use of intravascular catheters in internal medicine
      departments.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The use of intravascular catheters (IVCs) in intensive care units
      (ICUs) has been well assessed in recent years. However, a high proportion of
      these devices are placed in patients outside the ICU, particularly in internal
      medicine departments (IMDs), where data on the quality of care are scarce. AIM:
      To assess the use and management of IVCs in IMDs in Spain. METHODS: We performed
      a point prevalence study of all adult inpatients on 47 IMDs from hospitals of
      different sizes on one day in June 2013. A local co-ordinator was appointed to
      assess patients and collect data from each site. FINDINGS: Out of the 2080 adult
      patients hospitalized on the study day, 1703 (81.9%) had one or more IVCs (95.4%
      of which were peripheral devices). Infection was detected at the insertion site
      in 92 catheters (5.0%); 87 patients (5.2%) had signs of sepsis, but only one case
      was considered to be catheter-related. The local co-ordinators estimated that 19%
      of the catheters in place were no longer necessary. A daily record of the need
      for a catheter was available in only 40.6% of cases. CONCLUSION: Our study shows
      clear opportunities for improvement regarding catheter use and care in Spanish
      IMDs. Strategies similar to those applied in ICUs should be implemented in IMDs.

PMID- 25824562
TI  - Faecolith migrating from the appendix to produce liver abscess after subhepatic
      laparoscopic appendectomy.
AB  - The subhepatic position of an appendix may lead to difficulty in diagnosis of
      appendicitis, its surgical management as well as bizarre complications. A 'lost'
      appendicular faecolith is not an uncommon complication due to spillage during the
      removal of the appendix or due to perforation. Here we report a case of such a
      faecolith migrating into the liver parenchyma following intraoperative hepatic
      injury, and producing a liver abscess. The calcified lesion seen in the liver
      corresponded to a free-lying faecolith on a preoperative computed tomography
      scan. Liver abscess was presumed to arise from implantation of this foreign
      object into the liver parenchyma. Pigtail drainage of abscess was performed with
      good result. 

PMID- 25824561
TI  - Plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and kidney function decline and
      kidney disease-related clinical events in older women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is still unclear whether serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated
      lipocalin (NGAL), a biomarker of renal tubular injury, is a prognostic marker for
      the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the general population.
      METHODS: A prospective-cohort study of 1,245 women aged >=70 from the general
      population. Associations between plasma NGAL and change in 5-year estimated
      glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), rapid renal decline and 10-year risk of acute
      or chronic renal disease-related hospitalisations and/or mortality were examined.
      RESULTS: Compared to women with above-median plasma NGAL of 76.5 ng/l, women with
      below-median plasma NGAL had a 9.3% reduction in eGFR over a 5-year period. Among
      women with above-median plasma NGAL, there was over a 1.7-fold increased risk of
      rapid renal decline (eGFR decline of >3 ml/min/year) (adjusted odds ratio 1.76,
      95% CI 1.003, 3.102, p = 0.049). Compared to women with baseline eGFR of <60
      ml/min/1.73 m(2), women with above-median plasma NGAL experienced over a 2.5-fold
      increased risk of renal disease events at 10 years (hazard ratio 2.55, 95% CI
      1.13, 5.78, p = 0.025) after adjustment of age, hypertension and diabetes.
      Addition of plasma NGAL in participants with eGFR of <60 ml/min/1.73 m(2)
      significantly improved the accuracy in predicting the 10-year risk of renal
      disease events (adjusted area-under-curve receiver operator characteristics
      without and with NGAL 0.64 and 0.71, respectively; p = 0.027) and reclassified
      13% of women who experienced renal disease events into the higher risk categories
      (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Plasma NGAL is of modest clinical utility in predicting
      the renal function decline and risk of renal disease-related clinical events,
      particularly those with mild to moderate CKD.

PMID- 25824563
TI  - Simple adaptation for dynamic Bogota bag.
AB  - The use of a large Bogota bag tucked well under fascial edges to the colonic
      gutters and easily made elastic bands from Esmarch bandage provides a dynamic
      tension system that decreases subsequent trips to theatre and may allow gradual
      closure of the abdominal wound. 

PMID- 25824564
TI  - Altered mental status is an indicator of mortality and associated with both
      infectious and non-communicable disease in Lilongwe, Malawi.
AB  - Little is known about diseases associated with altered mental status (AMS) in
      resource-limited settings. We studied adult medicine patients presenting with AMS
      in Lilongwe, Malawi and found that AMS and HIV infection were each significantly
      associated with mortality. It is therefore critical that evaluation and
      management in this patient population is improved.

PMID- 25824565
TI  - PARADIGM - HF: The Rise of the Arnis.
AB  - Heart failure remains a widespread commonly encountered clinical condition. It is
      responsible for increased healthcare expenditure, driven by frequent and often
      prolonged hospital admissions associated with an increased mortality. A
      clinically useful classification of the syndrome is, patients with left
      ventricular systolic impairment (Heart Failure and reduced ejection fraction,
      HFREF) and patients with preserved left ventricular systolic function (HFPEF).
      The pharmacological treatment for patients with HFREF has evolved over the last
      twenty five years, focusing on modulation of the neurohormonal activation which
      represents a hallmark of this condition. This has led to the development of a
      stepwise treatment algorithm predominately based on inhibition of the renin
      angiotensin aldosterone pathway and counteracting sympathetic over-activation. In
      particular since the early trials in chronic heart failure (CHF) demonstrated a
      significant mortality benefit with ACE-inhibitors, subsequent studies have been
      conducted in conjunction with these drugs. The rationale being that it would be
      unethical to trial any new agent without the concomitant use of ACE-inhibitors.
      The recent publication of the PARADIGM -HF study has challenged this convention
      by trialling a novel pharmacological agent against an ACE-inhibitor in a landmark
      trial. The review sets out the current pharmacological treatment for patients
      with heart failure and discusses the recent findings with this novel class of
      medication. 

PMID- 25824566
TI  - In vivo measurement reproducibility of femoral neck microarchitectural parameters
      derived from 3T MR images.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the within-day and between-day measurement reproducibility
      of in vivo 3D MRI assessment of trabecular bone microarchitecture of the proximal
      femur. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This Health Insurance Portability and
      Accountability Act (HIPPA)-compliant, Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved
      study was conducted on 11 healthy subjects (mean age = 57.4 +/- 14.1 years) with
      written informed consent. All subjects underwent a 3T MRI hip scan in vivo (0.234
      * 0.234 * 1.5 mm) at three timepoints: baseline, second scan same day
      (intrascan), and third scan 1 week later (interscan). We applied digital
      topological analysis and volumetric topological analysis to compute the following
      microarchitectural parameters within the femoral neck: total bone volume, bone
      volume fraction, markers of trabecular number (skeleton density), connectivity
      (junctions), plate-like structure (surfaces), plate width, and trabecular
      thickness. Reproducibility was assessed using root-mean-square coefficient of
      variation (RMS-CV) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). RESULTS: The
      within-day RMS-CVs ranged from 2.3% to 7.8%, and the between-day RMS-CVs ranged
      from 4.0% to 7.3% across all parameters. The within-day ICCs ranged from 0.931 to
      0.989, and the between-day ICCs ranged from 0.934 to 0.971 across all parameters.
      CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate high reproducibility for trabecular bone
      microarchitecture measures derived from 3T MR images of the proximal femur. The
      measurement reproducibility is within a range suitable for clinical cross
      sectional and longitudinal studies in osteoporosis.

PMID- 25824567
TI  - Florbetaben PET imaging to detect amyloid beta plaques in Alzheimer's disease:
      phase 3 study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Evaluation of brain beta-amyloid by positron emission tomography
      (PET) imaging can assist in the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD) and other
      dementias. METHODS: Open-label, nonrandomized, multicenter, phase 3 study to
      validate the (18)F-labeled beta-amyloid tracer florbetaben by comparing in vivo
      PET imaging with post-mortem histopathology. RESULTS: Brain images and tissue
      from 74 deceased subjects (of 216 trial participants) were analyzed. Forty-six of
      47 neuritic beta-amyloid-positive cases were read as PET positive, and 24 of 27
      neuritic beta-amyloid plaque-negative cases were read as PET negative
      (sensitivity 97.9% [95% confidence interval or CI 93.8-100%], specificity 88.9%
      [95% CI 77.0-100%]). In a subgroup, a regional tissue-scan matched analysis was
      performed. In areas known to strongly accumulate beta-amyloid plaques,
      sensitivity and specificity were 82% to 90%, and 86% to 95%, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: Florbetaben PET shows high sensitivity and specificity for the
      detection of histopathology-confirmed neuritic beta-amyloid plaques and may thus
      be a valuable adjunct to clinical diagnosis, particularly for the exclusion of
      AD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.govNCT01020838.

PMID- 25824569
TI  - Use of jet ventilation in thoracoscopic tracheo-esophageal fistula repair-can
      both surgeons and anesthesiologists be happy?
AB  - Laparoscopic and open thoracic surgery in the neonate typically results in
      hypercapnea and low cardiac output with often poor surgical visualization as the
      anesthesiologist attempts to correct the respiratory derangements usually seen.
      We describe three cases in which jet ventilation provided not only superior
      ventilation with a return to normocapnea but also ideal operating conditions. In
      addition, jet ventilation utilizes lower mean airway pressures which typically
      results in improved cardiac output. 

PMID- 25824570
TI  - Liquid Chromatographic Separation and Thermodynamic Investigation of Mirabegron
      Enantiomers on a Chiralpak AY-H Column.
AB  - Liquid chromatographic separation of mirabegron enantiomers on Chiralpak AY-H, a
      column coated with amylose tris-(5-chloro-2-methylphenylcarbamate) as a chiral
      stationary phase, was studied under normal phase conditions. The influence of
      ethanol content (30-45%) and column temperature (20-40 degrees C) on retention,
      resolution and separation were evaluated. Apparent thermodynamic parameters
      deduced from Van't Hoff plots were used to understand chiral separation
      mechanisms, and the chiral separation was enthalpy driven. The optimized
      chromatographic conditions were using a mixture solution of n-hexane, ethanol and
      diethyl amine (55 : 45 : 0.1, v/v/v) as a mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0
      mL/min. The column temperature and UV detector were set at 35 degrees C and 254
      nm, respectively. The method was validated to be simple, accuracy, sensitive and
      robust according to the ICH guidelines, and it was suitable for the routine
      quality control of mirabegron enantiomers for pharmaceutical industries. 

PMID- 25824571
TI  - A Rapid, Robust and Ultra-Sensitive HPLC Enantioseparation of beta-Amino
      Alcohols.
AB  - Enantioseparation of amino acid analogues racemic beta-amino alcohols has
      hitherto been thought impossible without prior derivatization. Method developers
      of chromatographic enantioseparation often face detection challenge due to low
      ultraviolet (UV) absorbance of these molecules. A new chiral derivatizing
      reagent, benzimidazole-(S)-naproxen amide, was synthesized to provide UV
      detectable chiral moiety for detection of respective diastereomers of eight beta
      amino alcohols (dl-alaninol, dl-leucinol, dl-prolinol, dl-phenylalaninol, dl
      phenylglycinol, dl-valinol, dl-homophenylalaninol and dl-methioninol). An HPLC
      method has been developed and validated and both the diastereomers were separated
      within 31 min runtime. Excellent resolution to a pmol detection limit level was
      achieved. The developed HPLC method for enantioseparation of beta-amino alcohols
      is the first-ever report of its own kind having such a high detection
      sensitivity. 

PMID- 25824568
TI  - Glycopeptide analogues of PSGL-1 inhibit P-selectin in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Blockade of P-selectin (P-sel)/PSGL-1 interactions holds significant potential
      for treatment of disorders of innate immunity, thrombosis and cancer. Current
      inhibitors remain limited due to low binding affinity or by the recognized
      disadvantages inherent to chronic administration of antibody therapeutics. Here
      we report an efficient approach for generating glycosulfopeptide mimics of N
      terminal PSGL-1 through development of a stereoselective route for multi-gram
      scale synthesis of the C2 O-glycan building block and replacement of
      hydrolytically labile tyrosine sulfates with isosteric sulfonate analogues.
      Library screening afforded a compound of exceptional stability, GSnP-6, that
      binds to human P-sel with nanomolar affinity (Kd~22 nM). Molecular dynamics
      simulation defines the origin of this affinity in terms of a number of critical
      structural contributions. GSnP-6 potently blocks P-sel/PSGL-1 interactions in
      vitro and in vivo and represents a promising candidate for the treatment of
      diseases driven by acute and chronic inflammation. 

PMID- 25824572
TI  - Alluaudite Na2Co2Fe(PO4)3 as an electroactive material for sodium ion batteries.
AB  - The electroactive orthophosphate Na2Co2Fe(PO4)3 was synthesized using a solid
      state reaction. Its crystal structure was solved using the combination of powder
      X-ray- and neutron-diffraction data. This material crystallizes according to the
      alluaudite structure (S.G. C2/c). The structure consists of edge sharing [MO6]
      octahedra (M = Fe, Co) resulting in chains parallel to [-101]. These chains are
      linked together via the [PO4] tetrahedra to form two distinct tunnels in which
      sodium cations are located. The electrochemical properties of Na2Co2Fe(PO4)3 were
      evaluated by galvanostatic charge-discharge cycling. During the first discharge
      to 0.03 V, Na2Co2Fe(PO4)3 delivers a specific capacity of 604 mA h g(-1). This
      capacity is equivalent to the reaction of more than seven sodium ions per formula
      unit. Hence, this is a strong indication of a conversion-type reaction with the
      formation of metallic Fe and Co. The subsequent charge and discharge involved the
      reaction of fewer Na ions as expected for a conversion reaction. When discharged
      to 0.9 V, the material intercalated only one Na(+)-ion leading to the formation
      of a new phase Na3Co2Fe(PO4)3. This phase could then be cycled reversibly with an
      average voltage of 3.6 V vs. Na(+)/Na and a capacity of 110 mA h g(-1). This
      result is in good agreement with the theoretical capacity expected from the
      extraction/insertion of two sodium atoms in Na3Co2Fe(PO4)3. 

PMID- 25824573
TI  - [Childhood-onset systemic polyarteritis nodosa and systemic lupus erythematosus:
      an overlap syndrome?]
AB  - We described herein a patient who presented an overlap syndrome of childhood
      onset systemic polyarteritis nodosa (c-PAN) and childhood-onset systemic lupus
      erythematosus (c-SLE). A 9-year-old girl presented tender subcutaneous nodules on
      feet, arterial hypertension, right hemiplegia and dysarthric speech. She was
      hospitalized due to stroke and left foot drop. Brain computer tomography showed
      ischemic stroke. Magnetic resonance angiography revealed stenosis in the middle
      cerebral and internal carotid arteries. Electroneuromyography identified a
      mononeuropathy of left posterior tibial nerve and she fulfilled the c-PAN
      validated criteria. She was treated with intravenous methylprednisolone pulse
      therapy followed by prednisone, that was progressively tapered, six months of
      intravenous cyclophosphamide and after that she received azathioprine for 19
      months. At the age of 14 years and 9 months, she presented malar rash,
      photosensitivity, edema in lower limbs and arterial hypertension. The proteinuria
      was 1.7g/day. Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) were 1/1280 (homogeneous nuclear
      pattern) and anti-dsDNA antibodies were positive. Renal biopsy showed focal
      proliferative and membranous glomerulonephritis. Therefore, she fulfilled the
      American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for SLE and she was
      treated with prednisone, hydroxychloroquine and mycophenolate mofetil. In
      conclusion, we described herein a possible overlap syndrome of two autoimmune
      diseases, where c-PAN occurred five years before the c-SLE diagnosis.

PMID- 25824574
TI  - IL-17 deficiency attenuates allograft injury and prolongs survival in a murine
      model of fully MHC-mismatched renal allograft transplantation.
AB  - IL-17 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine implicated in the pathogenesis of
      inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. However the role of IL-17 in renal
      allograft rejection has not been fully explored. Here, we investigate the impact
      of IL-17 in a fully MHC-mismatched, life-sustaining, murine model of kidney
      allograft rejection using IL-17 deficient donors and recipients (IL-17(-/-)
      allografts). IL-17(-/-) allografts exhibited prolonged survival which was
      associated with reduced expression of the Th1 cytokine IFN-gamma and histological
      attenuation of acute and chronic allograft rejection, as compared to wild-type
      allograft recipients. Results were confirmed in WT allograft recipients treated
      with an IL-17 blocking antibody. Subsequent experiments using either donors or
      recipients deficient in IL-17 showed a trend towards prolongation of survival
      only when recipients were IL-17(-/-) . Administration of a depleting anti-CD25
      antibody to IL-17(-/-) recipients abrogated the survival advantage conferred by
      IL-17 deficiency, suggesting the involvement of a CD4(+) CD25(+) T cell
      regulatory mechanism. Therefore, IL-17 deficiency or neutralization was
      protective against the development of kidney allograft rejection, which may be
      mediated by impairment of Th1 responses and/or enhanced protection by Tregs. 

PMID- 25824575
TI  - Vinexin-beta deficiency protects against cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion injury by
      inhibiting neuronal apoptosis.
AB  - Vinexin-beta is an adaptor protein that regulates cell adhesion, cytoskeletal
      organization and signal transduction. Our previous work showed that Vinexin-beta
      protects against cardiac hypertrophy. However, its function in stroke is largely
      unknown. In the present study, we observed a significant increase in Vinexin-beta
      expression in both human intracerebral haemorrhage and mouse cerebral
      ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury model, indicating that Vinexin-beta is
      involved in stroke. Next, using Vinexin-beta knockout mice, we further
      demonstrated that Vinexin-beta deficiency significantly protected against
      cerebral I/R injury, as demonstrated by a dramatic decrease in the infarct volume
      and an improvement in neurological function. Additionally, immunofluorescence and
      western blotting showed that the deletion of Vinexin-beta attenuated neuronal
      apoptosis. Mechanically, we found that Akt signalling was up-regulated in the
      brains of the Vinexin-beta knockout mice compared with those of the WT control
      mice after ischaemic injury. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the
      deletion of Vinexin-beta potently protects against ischaemic injury by inhibiting
      neuronal apoptosis, and this effect may occur via the up-regulation of Akt
      signalling. Our findings revealed that Vinexin-beta acts as a novel modulator of
      ischaemic injury, suggesting that Vinexin-beta may represent an attractive
      therapeutic target for the prevention of stroke.

PMID- 25824576
TI  - The potential role of benefit and burden finding in school engagement of young
      leukaemia survivors: an exploratory study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Childhood cancer may radically change the daily lives of young
      survivors, particularly in school. Depending on the sense they derive from the
      experience of illness, survivors may go through profound transformations in the
      way they approach life. METHODS: This exploratory study reports on school
      engagement of cancer survivors by examining their perceptions of benefits and
      burdens in relation to their illness. Forty-nine young Quebecers, previously
      diagnosed and treated for leukaemia, completed a questionnaire measuring their
      school engagement and participated in an interview focusing on the impact of
      cancer on their lives. Perceptions with regard to the presence and types of
      benefits and burdens were described and examined in light of participants'
      characteristics. An analysis of variance explored whether the presence/absence of
      benefits and burdens were associated with participants' scores regarding school
      engagement. RESULTS: Most participants mentioned benefits from having had cancer,
      and in particular benefits at an interpersonal level. Half of the participants
      mentioned burdens, mainly of a physical and psychological nature. Significant
      correlations indicated that (i) the older the survivors were, the more likely
      they were to report benefits in terms of qualities and strengths of character;
      (ii) the more time had elapsed since their diagnosis, the more survivors were
      likely to report psychological types of burdens; and (iii) children from single
      parent families reported more frequently having appreciated social or
      recreational activities compared with children from two-parent families. One main
      effect indicated that school engagement was greater for survivors who perceived
      the presence of benefits. An interaction effect revealed that the perception of
      both benefits and burdens predicts the highest scores of school engagement.
      CONCLUSIONS: While the results reveal the promising potential that an optimistic
      yet realistic disposition has in regard to school engagement, more research is
      necessary to further our understanding of such a disposition.

PMID- 25824577
TI  - Governance challenges in the Nepalese primary health care system: time to focus
      on greater community engagement?
AB  - Nepal has seen impressive recent health gains through a successful community
      based health program. However, governance challenges remain within the Nepalese
      primary health care system that include under-staffing and absenteeism, limited
      health facility opening hours, poor supervision and monitoring, and insufficient
      financial management. We propose that these be addressed through expanded
      community engagement and a power shift towards local communities, enhancing
      skills of community representatives in co-managing health facilities and of
      service providers to effectively engage the community, increased quality of
      community participation, and improved documentation of the process and impact of
      engagement on health outcomes. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 

PMID- 25824578
TI  - C-H bonds phosphorylation of ketene dithioacetals.
AB  - C-H bond phosphorylation of ketene dithioacetals was achieved under transition
      metal-free or AgNO3 mediated conditions. Synthetic transformations of the
      coupling product provided promising methods for the construction of highly
      functionalized phosphorylated N-heterocycles and tetrasubstituted alkenes. 

PMID- 25824579
TI  - Synthesis of carbamide derivatives bearing tetrahydroisoquinoline moieties and
      biological evaluation as analgesia drugs in mice.
AB  - Transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) is a ligand-gated non-selective
      cation channel that is considered to be an important pain integrator.
      Tetrahydroisoquinoline, the prototypical antagonist of TRPV1, has a clear
      therapeutic potential. Here, a series of carbamide derivatives of
      tetrahydroisoquinoline were designed and synthesized. Preliminary biological
      tests suggested that the compounds I 1, I 2, and I 9 had favorable TRPV1
      antagonism activity. In further studies, I 1 exhibited better antinociceptive
      activity than the positive control BCTC in diverse pain models. All of these
      results suggested that I 1 can be considered as the lead candidate for the
      further development of antinociceptive drugs.

PMID- 25824580
TI  - All-trans retinoic acid and arsenic combination therapy benefits low-to
      intermediate-risk patients with newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukaemia: a
      long-term follow-up based on multivariate analysis.

PMID- 25824582
TI  - Confocal Microscopic Analysis of the Spindle and Chromosome Configurations of in
      vitro-Matured Oocytes from Different Types of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the meiotic spindle and chromosome distribution of in
      vitro-matured oocytes from infertile nonobese or obese women with polycystic
      ovary syndrome (PCOS) and to compare in vitro maturation (IVM) rates between
      groups. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Hospital-based IVF center. PATIENTS:
      A total of 99 patients (26 obese women with PCOS, 25 nonobese women with PCOS,
      and 48 controls) undergoing stimulated cycles for intracytoplasmic sperm
      injection had immature oocytes for IVM. INTERVENTIONS: Immature oocytes (germinal
      vesicle and metaphase I stages) were collected from obese and nonobese PCOS
      patients and controlled infertile patients. The meiotic spindle and chromosome
      configurations in oocytes matured in vitro were studied by confocal microscopy,
      with fluorescent labeling techniques for visualization of both microtubules and
      chromosomes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Meiotic spindle and associated chromosome
      configurations. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the
      different types of PCOS and the control group with respect to IVM rates (61.8,
      63.8, and 63.2%, respectively), the percentage of spindle abnormalities in
      metaphase II oocytes (40.6, 42.9, and 37.5%, respectively) or chromosome
      abnormalities in metaphase II oocytes (31.2, 34.3, and 33.3%, respectively).
      CONCLUSIONS: In vitro-matured oocytes obtained from stimulated cycles had a high
      ratio of meiotic abnormalities. The different types of PCOS had the same ratio of
      meiotic abnormalities.

PMID- 25824583
TI  - (99m)Tc-MDP SPECT/CT as the one-stop imaging modality for the diagnosis of early
      setting of Kienbock's disease.
AB  - (99m)Tc-Methylene diphosphonate (MDP) triple phase bone scintigraphy (BS) has a
      role in early diagnosis of Kienbock's disease, especially when the X-ray is
      negative. Early diagnosis can result in prompt management of the patient since
      wrist pain in older individuals due to aging may go unnoticed or be due to other
      diagnoses with the production of greater damage and eventually a worse prognosis.
      Herein, we present a case report of a 29-year-old female with Kienbock's disease
      in whom the X-ray was negative and MRI incorrect. The (99m)Tc-MDP SPECT/CT BS
      helped the diagnosis of the disease in an early stage (stage 1) and had a
      clinical impact on the patient's management. 

PMID- 25824584
TI  - Bile ascites after T-tube removal in liver transplantation: A hepatobiliary
      scintigraphy finding.

PMID- 25824581
TI  - The Mineral-Collagen Interface in Bone.
AB  - The interface between collagen and the mineral reinforcement phase, carbonated
      hydroxyapatite (cAp), is essential for bone's remarkable functionality as a
      biological composite material. The very small dimensions of the cAp phase and the
      disparate natures of the reinforcement and matrix are essential to the material's
      performance but also complicate study of this interface. This article summarizes
      what is known about the cAp-collagen interface in bone and begins with
      descriptions of the matrix and reinforcement roles in composites, of the phases
      bounding the interface, of growth of cAp growing within the collagen matrix, and
      of the effect of intra- and extrafibrilar mineral on determinations of
      interfacial properties. Different observed interfacial interactions with cAp
      (collagen, water, non-collagenous proteins) are reviewed; experimental results on
      interface interactions during loading are reported as are their influence on
      macroscopic mechanical properties; conclusions of numerical modeling of
      interfacial interactions are also presented. The data suggest interfacial
      interlocking (bending of collagen molecules around cAp nanoplatelets) and water
      mediated bonding between collagen and cAp are essential to load transfer. The
      review concludes with descriptions of areas where new research is needed to
      improve understanding of how the interface functions. 

PMID- 25824585
TI  - Imprints of function on the folding landscape: functional role for an
      intermediate in a conserved eukaryotic binding protein.
AB  - In the computational characterization of single domain protein folding, the
      effective free energies of numerous microstates are projected onto few collective
      degrees of freedom that in turn serve as well-defined reaction coordinates. In
      this regard, one-dimensional (1D) free energy profiles are widely used mainly for
      their simplicity. Since folding and functional landscapes are interlinked, how
      well can these reduced representations capture the structural and dynamic
      features of functional states while being simultaneously consistent with
      experimental observables? We investigate this issue by characterizing the folding
      of the four-helix bundle bovine acyl-CoA binding protein (bACBP), which exhibits
      complex equilibrium and kinetic behaviours, employing an Ising-like statistical
      mechanical model and molecular simulations. We show that the features of the 1D
      free energy profile are sufficient to quantitatively reproduce multiple
      experimental observations including millisecond chevron-like kinetics and
      temperature dependence, a microsecond fast phase, barrier heights, unfolded state
      movements, the intermediate structure and average phi-values. Importantly, we
      find that the structural features of the native-like intermediate (partial
      disorder in helix 1) are intricately linked to a unique interplay between packing
      and electrostatics in this domain. By comparison with available experimental
      data, we propose that this intermediate determines the promiscuous functional
      behaviour of bACBP that exhibits broad substrate specificity. Our results present
      evidence to the possibility of employing the statistical mechanical model and the
      resulting 1D free energy profile to not just understand folding mechanisms but to
      even extract features of functionally relevant states and their energetic
      origins. 

PMID- 25824586
TI  - Valganciclovir versus valacyclovir prophylaxis for prevention of cytomegalovirus:
      an economic perspective.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Valganciclovir (vGCV) and valacyclovir (vACV) are used in
      cytomegalovirus (CMV) prophylaxis in renal transplant recipients. The aim of this
      study was to compare the economic impact of both regimens during 1-year follow
      up. METHODS: A total of 117 renal transplant recipients at risk for CMV were
      randomized to 3-month prophylaxis either with vGCV (900 mg/day, n = 60) or vACV
      (8 g/day, n = 57) and their data used in a pharmacoeconomic analysis. The
      pharmacoeconomic evaluation involved all direct CMV-related expenses in the first
      year after transplantation. Sensitivity analysis was employed to examine the
      effects of various prices of antiviral drugs and diagnostic procedures on overall
      CMV-related costs. Simulation of the more expensive US healthcare perspective was
      performed, and a scenario involving costs of acute rejection (AR) was examined.
      RESULTS: Overall CMV-related costs were significantly lower in the vACV arm;
      median United States dollars (USD) 3473 (3108-3745) vs. USD 5810 (4409-6757; P <
      0.001) per patient, respectively. Our data showed that the critical determinant
      of the major disparity between the prophylactic regimens was the prophylaxis
      price. Median cost of prophylaxis in the vACV group was USD 1729 (1527-2173)
      compared to USD 3968 (2683-4857) in the vGCV group (P < 0.001). In sensitivity
      analysis of the overall CMV-related costs, the least and the most expensive
      pharmacotherapy and diagnostic scenarios were used; nevertheless, the vACV arm
      remained markedly less expensive. Simulation considering the higher
      physician/nurse and hospitalization fees of the US healthcare system and the
      scenario including expenditure associated with AR episodes also favored vACV.
      CONCLUSION: VACV prophylaxis for CMV is associated with a significant 44% lower
      cost than vGCV at the first year after renal transplantation.

PMID- 25824588
TI  - Erratum.

PMID- 25824587
TI  - Management of immune thrombocytopenia in adults: a population-based analysis of
      the French hospital discharge database from 2009 to 2012.
AB  - The present study describes the current clinical practice and hospital management
      of adults with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) between 2009 and 2012 in France,
      based on the national discharge hospital database. Adult ITP patients were
      managed almost exclusively in public hospitals. A relatively stable number of
      patients, around 3200 per year, were hospitalized for ITP annually over the 4
      year period, about two-thirds of whom were newly-diagnosed ITP. Re
      hospitalizations tended to decrease over the study period. Intravenous
      immunoglobulin administration, concerning half of ITP hospitalized patients, and
      rituximab administration were stable over time, whereas a slight decrease of
      splenectomies was observed. 

PMID- 25824590
TI  - NF1 loss induces senescence during human melanocyte differentiation in an iPSC
      based model.
AB  - Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a frequent genetic disease leading to the
      development of Schwann cell-derived neurofibromas or melanocytic lesions called
      cafe-au-lait macules (CALMs). The molecular mechanisms involved in CALMs
      formation remain largely unknown. In this report, we show for the first time
      pathophysiological mechanisms of abnormal melanocyte differentiation in a human
      NF1(+/-) -induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based model. We demonstrate that
      NF1 patient-derived fibroblasts can be successfully reprogrammed in NF1(+/-)
      iPSCs with active RAS signaling and that NF1 loss induces senescence during
      melanocyte differentiation as well as in patient's-derived CALMs, revealing a new
      role for NF1 in the melanocyte lineage. 

PMID- 25824591
TI  - Impact of cardiovascular complications among patients with Type 2 diabetes
      mellitus: a systematic review.
AB  - Macrovascular and microvascular complications that accompany Type 2 diabetes
      mellitus (T2DM) add to the burden among patients. The purpose of this systematic
      review is to conduct a comprehensive search of the medical literature
      investigating the prevalence of cardiovascular (CV) complications and assess
      their impact on healthcare costs, quality of life and mortality among patients
      with T2DM in the context of microvascular complications. A total of 76 studies
      and reports were used in this systematic review. Hypertension was the most
      prevalent complication among patients with T2DM. The additional cost burden due
      to CV complications was higher than any other complication except end-stage renal
      disease. Quality of life was much lower among patients with CV complications and
      T2DM, and mortality was higher than either illness alone. 

PMID- 25824592
TI  - Regulatory effect of traditional Chinese medicinal formula Zuo-Gui-Wan on the
      Th17/Treg paradigm in mice with bone loss induced by estrogen deficiency.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Bone loss is a common pathological condition
      induced by estrogen deficiency. The Th17/Treg paradigm, which can be skewed by
      estrogen, plays an important role in regulating bone metabolism AIM OF THE STUDY:
      The purpose of this study was to determine the role of the Th17/Treg shift in
      estrogen deficiency-induced bone loss in mouse models and to elucidate the
      immunopharmacologic mechanism of Zuo-Gui-Wan (ZGW) in preventing bone loss in
      this process by regulating Th17/Treg paradigm. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Splenocytes
      of ovariectomized (Ovx) mice and naturally aged mice were isolated and Flow
      cytometry was used to detect the Th17/Treg subsets. In addition, serum estrodiol
      (E2) and serum C-terminal telopeptides of type Iota collagen (CTx) were detected
      by ELISA assay. Bone mineral density (BMD) of the left tibiae was measured by
      dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Moreover, Ovx mice were administrated with
      different doses of ZGW for 12 weeks, and BMD and Th17/Treg subsets were
      determined. Bone histomorphometry was observed by Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)
      staining and serum protein levels of IL-6 were analyzed by ELISA assay. In
      addition, the mRNA and protein expression of RORgammat and Foxp3 were detected by
      RT-PCR and Western blot respectively. RESULT: The Th17/Treg paradigm shifted to
      Th17 in estrogen-deficient mice both in the Ovx mice and the naturally aged mice.
      BMD and E2 levels negatively correlated with the Th17/Treg ratio. After ZGW
      administration, the BMD was enhanced markedly in the Ovx mice as well as in the
      naturally aged mice. Both the mRNA and protein expressions of IL-6 and RORgammat
      were decreased, whereas those of Foxp3 were increased significantly after ZGW
      administration. CONCLUSION: Th17/Treg shift involved in the bone loss induced by
      estrogen deficiency. ZGW prevented bone loss efficiently and skewed Th17/Treg
      paradigm towards Treg without enhancing E2.

PMID- 25824593
TI  - A network pharmacology approach to determine active ingredients and rationality
      of herb combinations of Modified-Simiaowan for treatment of gout.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Modified Simiaowan (MSW) is a traditional Chinese
      medicine (TCM) formula and is widely used as a clinically medication formula for
      its efficiency in treating gouty diseases.To predict the active ingredients in
      MSW and uncover the rationality of herb combinations of MSW. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Three drug-target networks including the "candidate ingredient-target
      network" (cI-cT) that links the candidate ingredients and targets, the "core
      ingredient-target-pathway network" connecting core potential ingredients and
      targets through related pathways, and the "rationality of herb combinations of
      MSW network", which was derived from the cI-cT network, were developed to dissect
      the active ingredients in MSW and relationship between ingredients in herb
      combinations and their targets for gouty diseases. On the other hand, herbal
      ingredients comparisons were also conducted based on six physicochemical
      properties to investigate whether the herbs in MSW are similar in chemicals.
      Moreover, HUVEC viability and expression levels of ICAM-1 induced by monosodium
      urate (MSU) crystals were assessed to determine the activities of potential
      ingredients in MSW. RESULTS: Predicted by the core ingredient-target-pathway
      network, we collected 30 core ingredients in MSW and 25 inflammatory cytokines
      and uric acid synthetase or transporters, which are effective for gouty treatment
      through some related pathways. Experimental results also confirmed that those
      core ingredients could significantly increase HUVEC viability and attenuate the
      expression of ICAM-1, which supported the effectiveness of MSW in treating gouty
      diseases. Moreover, heat-clearing and dampness-eliminating herbs in MSW have
      similar physicochemical properties, which stimulate all the inflammatory and uric
      acid-lowing targets respectively, while the core drug and basic prescription in
      MSW stimulate the major and almost all the core targets, respectively.
      CONCLUSION: Our work successfully predicts the active ingredients in MSW and
      explains the cooperation between these ingredients and corresponding targets
      through related pathways for gouty diseases, and provides basis for an
      alternative approach to investigate the rationality of herb combinations of MSW
      on the network pharmacology level, which might be beneficial to drug development
      and applications.

PMID- 25824594
TI  - Purification and characterisation of an acidic and antifungal chitinase produced
      by a Streptomyces sp.
AB  - An extremely acidic extracellular chitinase produced by a Streptomyces sp. was
      purified 12.44-fold by ammonium sulphate precipitation, ion-exchange
      chromatography and gel-permeation chromatography and further characterised. The
      molecular mass of the enzyme was estimated to be about 40 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The
      optimum pH and temperature of the purified enzyme were pH 2 and 6, and 50 
      degrees C respectively. The enzyme showed high stability in the acidic pH range
      of 2-6 and temperature stability of up to 50  degrees C. Additionally, the effect
      of some cations and other chemical compounds on the chitinase activity was
      studied. The activity of the enzyme was considerably retained under salinity
      conditions of up to 3%. The Km and Vmax values of the enzyme were determined to
      be 6.74 mg mL(-1) and 61.3 U mg(-1) respectively using colloidal chitin. This
      enzyme exhibited antifungal activity against phytopathogens revealing a potential
      biocontrol application in agriculture.

PMID- 25824595
TI  - Direct conversion of chicory flour into L(+)-lactic acid by the highly effective
      inulinase producer Lactobacillus paracasei DSM 23505.
AB  - Highly effective bio-process for lactic acid (LA) production by simultaneous
      saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of chicory flour was developed. The
      strain used, Lactobacillus paracasei DSM 23505 produced natural inulinase (EC
      3.2.1.80) with molecular weight ~130 kDa, located in the cell wall fraction. In
      batch fermentation with optimized medium content and fermentation conditions, a
      complete conversion of 136 g/L chicory flour (89.3% inulin and 10.7% mix of
      sucrose, fructose and glucose) into 123.7 g/L LA was achieved. These yield and
      conversion rate are the highest obtained by SSF for LA production from inulin.
      The high efficiency, the cheap fermentation broth and the simple process
      performance disclose the promising use of the chicory flour in industrial
      biotechnology for LA production.

PMID- 25824596
TI  - The association between somatization and disability in primary care patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patient encounters for medically unexplained physical symptoms are
      common in primary health care. Somatization ('experiencing and reporting
      unexplained somatic symptoms') may indicate concurrent or future disability but
      this may also partly be caused by psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study
      was to examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal association between
      somatization and disability in primary care patients with and without anxiety or
      depressive disorder. METHODS: Data were obtained from 1545 primary care patients,
      participating in the longitudinal Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety
      (NESDA). Somatization was assessed using the somatization scale of the Four
      Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ). Disability was determined by the WHO
      Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHO-DAS II). The relationships between
      somatization and both the total and subdomain scores of the WHO-DAS II were
      measured cross-sectionally and longitudinally after one year of follow-up using
      linear regression analysis. We examined whether anxiety or depressive disorder
      exerted a modifying effect on the somatization-disability association. RESULTS:
      Cross-sectionally and longitudinally, somatization was significantly associated
      with disability. Somatization accounted cross-sectionally for 41.8% of the
      variance in WHO-DAS disability and, longitudinally, for 31.7% of the variance in
      disability after one year of follow-up. The unique contribution of somatization
      to disability decreased to 16.7% cross-sectionally and 15.7% longitudinally, when
      anxiety and/or depressive disorder was added to the model. CONCLUSION:
      Somatization contributes to the presence of disability in primary care patients,
      even when the effects of baseline demographic and health characteristics and
      anxiety or depressive disorder are taken into account.

PMID- 25824597
TI  - Effects of reduced time in bed on daytime sleepiness and recovery sleep in
      fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Fibromyalgia (FM) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are associated with
      sleep disturbance and daytime sleepiness. We sought to determine whether sleep
      homeostatic mechanisms are blunted in FM by assessing the effects of reduced time
      in bed (4h) on next day sleepiness and recovery sleep. METHODS: Fifty women (18
      with FM, 16 with RA, and 16 HC) had a baseline 8h time-in-bed (TIB) and Multiple
      Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) the following day, and 3-7 days later bedtime was
      reduced (4h) followed by MSLT and an 8h TIB recovery night. RESULTS: Following
      reduced bedtime the MSLT was reduced relative to baseline in the FM group by an
      amount (4.3+/-4.8 min) similar to that of the RA (3.1+/-5.2 min) and HC (4.8 +/
      3.1 min) groups. Relative to the baseline on the recovery night the FM group
      showed increased sleep efficiency (83.7+/-7.8 to 88.1+/-9.2%) relative to the RA
      (83.9+/-8.6 to 80.9+/-13.3%) and HC (90.1+/-5.0 to 87.4+/-7.6%) groups due
      primarily to reduced wake after sleep onset. The groups did not differ in
      recovery night sleep stages with the exception that the FM group showed REM
      rebound (21.6+/-6.5 to 25.2+/-6.0%), which was not found in the RA (20.4+/-7.4 to
      17.8+/-6.5%) or HC (16.6+/-6.6 to 17.5+/-6.0%) groups. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to
      RA and HC, people with FM responded to reduced bedtime with a comparable increase
      in sleepiness and greater recovery sleep efficiency, suggesting that homeostatic
      sleep mechanisms are functional in FM. People with FM uniquely showed REM rebound
      on recovery from reduced bedtime suggesting underlying REM pressure.

PMID- 25824598
TI  - Immunostimulatory potential and proteome profiling of Leishmania donovani soluble
      exogenous antigens.
AB  - Isolation of the soluble exogenous antigens (SEAgs), its immune response study
      and proteome profiling is an essential prerequisite for understanding the
      molecular pathogenesis of Leishmania donovani. The immunostimulatory potential of
      L. donovani SEAgs, purified from culture of L. donovani clinical isolate, was
      evaluated for their ability to induce cellular responses in treated/cured
      hamsters. SEAgs induced significant proliferative responses in lymphocytes (SI
      5.6 +/- 2.3; P < 0.01) isolated from cured hamster. In addition, significant NO
      production in response to SEAgs was also noticed in macrophages of hamsters,
      mouse and human cell lines (J774A-1 and THP1). Western blot analyses with
      antibodies against proteophosphoglycan (PPG; surface-expressed and secreted
      molecule) of L. donovani revealed that PPG molecules are also present in L.
      donovani SEAgs. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteome analysis of 12 protein
      bands of SEAgs through MALDI-TOF/TOF endorsed the identification of some Th1
      stimulatory immunogenic proteins. These immunogenic proteins may offer increased
      hope for the discovery of new promising vaccine candidates against visceral
      leishmaniasis (VL). The overall results suggest that immunostimulatory molecules
      are present in the SEAgs, which may be further exploited, for developing a
      subunit vaccine against VL a fatal human disease.

PMID- 25824599
TI  - Relative validity and reproducibility of an FFQ to determine nutrient intakes of
      New Zealand toddlers aged 12-24 months.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The study objective was to determine the relative validity and
      reproducibility of a modified FFQ for ranking the nutrient intakes of New Zealand
      toddlers aged 12-24 months. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Dunedin, New
      Zealand. SUBJECTS: One hundred and fifty-two participants completed a ninety-five
      item FFQ twice, and five days of weighed diet recording (WDR), over one month.
      Validity and reproducibility were assessed for crude data and for data that were
      weighted for total fruit and vegetable intake (FV-adjusted). RESULTS: De
      attenuated correlations between FV-adjusted FFQ data and WDR data ranged from
      0.45 (Zn) to 0.77 (Ca). The percentage classified to the correct WDR quartile by
      the FV-adjusted FFQ data ranged from 34.6% (total fat, Zn) to 50.3% (Fe). Average
      gross misclassification was 3%. Bland-Altman statistics showed crude data had a
      range of 128-178% agreement with the WDR and mean FV-adjusted intakes had 112
      160% agreement. FV-adjusted intra-class correlations, assessing reproducibility,
      ranged from 0.65 (vitamin C) to 0.75 (Ca). CONCLUSIONS: The Eating Assessment in
      Toddlers (EAT) FFQ showed acceptable to good relative validity, and good
      reproducibility, for ranking participants' nutrient intake and is able to
      identify toddlers at extremes of the nutrient intake distribution. It will be a
      useful tool for investigating toddlers' nutrient intakes in studies that require
      a method of dietary assessment with low respondent burden.

PMID- 25824600
TI  - Detection of canine astrovirus in dogs with diarrhea in Japan.
AB  - Canine astrovirus (CAstV) is the causative agent of gastroenteritis in dogs. We
      collected rectal swabs from dogs with or without diarrhea symptoms in Japan and
      examined the feces for the presence of CAstV by RT-PCR with primers based on a
      conserved region of the ORF1b gene. The ORF1b gene of CAstV was not detected in
      the 42 dogs without clinical illness but was present in three pups out of the 31
      dogs with diarrhea symptoms. Based on the full-length capsid protein, the CAstV
      KU-D4-12 strain that we detected in this study shared high homology with the
      novel virulent CAstV VM-2011 strain. 

PMID- 25824601
TI  - Epicutaneous Immunization with Collagen Induces TCRalphabeta Suppressor T Cells
      That Inhibit Collagen-Induced Arthritis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We have shown previously, in an animal model of multiple sclerosis
      and in TNBS-induced colitis, that epicutaneous (EC) immunization with protein
      antigen induces T suppressor cells that strongly inhibit the inflammatory
      response in contact hypersensitivity reactions. METHODS: EC immunization was
      performed by applying to the shaved skin of the mouse dorsum a gauze patch soaked
      with a solution containing various amounts of type II collagen (COLL II) in a
      volume of 100 ul of PBS on days 0 and 4. On day 7 the patches were removed and
      mice were intradermally (i.d.) immunized with COLL II to induce collagen-induced
      arthritis (CIA). RESULTS: Our study shows that EC immunization with 100 or 30 MUg
      of COLL II reduces disease severity, whereas lower doses (10 or 3 MUg) do not
      affect CIA. Decreased disease severity observed after EC immunization with COLL
      II correlates with reduced myeloperoxidase activity in joint tissue and with
      reduced production of anti-citrullinated protein and anti-COLL II IgG2a
      antibodies. Transfer experiments show that EC immunization with COLL II induces
      suppressor cells that belong to the population of TCRalphabeta lymphocytes and
      that EC-induced suppression declines with time. Both in vitro and in vivo
      experiments show that IL-17A plays an important role in EC-induced suppression of
      CIA. EC application of COLL II at the first signs of CIA also results in disease
      suppression. CONCLUSIONS: The suppression of inflammatory responses by T
      suppressor cells induced through EC immunization of a protein antigen may become
      an attractive noninvasive therapeutic method for a variety of clinical
      situations.

PMID- 25824602
TI  - Smoking increases the risk of delirium for older inpatients: a prospective
      population-based study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between smoking in the older
      population and the risk of inpatient delirium, which is common and has adverse
      consequences. METHOD: Participants (N=3754) were insurants aged >=55years of the
      largest German statutory health insurance company, who enrolled in a 6-year
      prospective population-based study. Baseline smoking, adjusted for age, sex,
      depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment and alcohol consumption, was analyzed
      as risk factor of inpatient delirium. Results are presented as hazard ratios
      (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). RESULTS: Three-hundred seventy
      three (10.0%) participants were smokers at baseline, 865 (23.0%) were quitters
      and 2516 (67.0%) were lifelong abstainers. Mean pack-years of smokers and
      quitters were 23.8 (S.D.=22.4). Sixty-one (1.6%) received a diagnosis of
      inpatient delirium. Smokers had an increased risk of delirium compared to
      abstainers in the fully adjusted model (HR=2.87, 95% CI 1.24-6.66). Quitters and
      abstainers did not differ (HR=0.79, 95% CI 0.37-1.72). Comparing smokers and
      quitters, current smoking status (HR=3.22, 95% CI 1.20-8.62) but not pack-years
      [residual chi(2)(1)=0.25, P=.874] were associated with inpatient delirium.
      CONCLUSION: Only current smoking but not being a quitter and the lifetime amount
      smoked were associated with inpatient delirium, indicating that acute nicotine
      withdrawal may represent a relevant pathogenic mechanism.

PMID- 25824603
TI  - CADASIL presenting as schizophreniform organic psychosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe an Asian patient with cerebral autosomal dominant
      arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL)
      presenting with schizophreniform organic psychosis. METHODS: Case report.
      RESULTS: We report a case of CADASIL in an Asian female presenting with frank
      psychotic symptoms. After resolution of her psychosis, she showed persistent
      distractibility, which indicated signs of cognitive impairment. CONCLUSION:
      Although neuropsychiatric symptoms are commonly present in this disorder,
      psychotic symptoms are rare and should be recognized. There is a need for timely
      diagnosis and management of this disorder.

PMID- 25824604
TI  - WITHDRAWN: Two Novel Heterozygous Mutations of CSA Cause Cockayne Syndrome in a
      Chinese Family.
AB  - This article has been withdrawn at the request of the editor. The Publisher
      apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on
      Article Withdrawal can be found at
      http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy.

PMID- 25824605
TI  - Liver-targeted gene therapy: Approaches and challenges.
AB  - The liver plays a major role in many inherited and acquired genetic disorders. It
      is also the site for the treatment of certain inborn errors of metabolism that do
      not directly cause injury to the liver. The advancement of nucleic acid-based
      therapies for liver maladies has been severely limited because of the myriad
      untoward side effects and methodological limitations. To address these issues,
      research efforts in recent years have been intensified toward the development of
      targeted gene approaches using novel genetic tools, such as zinc-finger
      nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases, and clustered
      regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats as well as various nonviral
      vectors such as Sleeping Beauty transposons, PiggyBac transposons, and PhiC31
      integrase. Although each of these methods uses a distinct mechanism of gene
      modification, all of them are dependent on the efficient delivery of DNA and RNA
      molecules into the cell. This review provides an overview of current and emerging
      therapeutic strategies for liver-targeted gene therapy and gene repair.

PMID- 25824607
TI  - Prognostic factors in malignant pleural mesothelioma.
AB  - Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a clinically aggressive tumor originating
      from mesothelial cells, which line the serosal cavities. Recent years have seen
      extensive research aimed at identifying new therapeutic targets, predictive
      markers and prognostic factors in this disease. These include both serum and
      tissue markers, and are related to multiple cellular pathways which affect cell
      survival, proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, interaction with the immune
      response and DNA repair. Several of these molecules may become relevant for
      pathologists as part of the effort to select patient sub-populations for targeted
      therapy in the future. This review summarizes current data in this area and
      discusses their potential clinical relevance. 

PMID- 25824608
TI  - Independent positioning of magnetic nanomotors.
AB  - There is considerable interest in powering and maneuvering nanostructures
      remotely in fluidic media using noninvasive fuel-free methods, for which small
      homogeneous magnetic fields are ideally suited. Current strategies include
      helical propulsion of chiral nanostructures, cilia-like motion of flexible
      filaments, and surface assisted translation of asymmetric colloidal doublets and
      magnetic nanorods, in all of which the individual structures are moved in a
      particular direction that is completely tied to the characteristics of the
      driving fields. As we show in this paper, when we use appropriate magnetic field
      configurations and actuation time scales, it is possible to maneuver
      geometrically identical nanostructures in different directions, and subsequently
      position them at arbitrary locations with respect to each other. The method
      reported here requires proximity of the nanomotors to a solid surface, and could
      be useful in applications that require remote and independent control over
      individual components in microfluidic environments. 

PMID- 25824606
TI  - Pancreatic cancer: from state-of-the-art treatments to promising novel therapies.
AB  - Pancreatic cancer is expected to be the second deadliest malignancy in the USA by
      2020. The survival rates for patients with other gastrointestinal malignancies
      have increased consistently during the past 30 years; unfortunately, however, the
      outcomes of patients with pancreatic cancer have not changed significantly.
      Although surgery remains the only curative treatment for pancreatic cancer,
      therapeutic strategies based on initial resection have not substantially improved
      the survival of patients with resectable disease over the past 25 years;
      presently, more than 80% of patients suffer disease relapse after resection.
      Preclinical evidence that pancreatic cancer is a systemic disease suggests a
      possible benefit for early administration of systemic therapy in these patients.
      In locally advanced disease, the role of chemoradiotherapy is increasingly being
      questioned, particularly considering the results of the LAP-07 trial. Novel
      biomarkers are clearly needed to identify subsets of patients likely to benefit
      from chemoradiotherapy. In the metastatic setting, FOLFIRINOX (folinic acid, 5
      fluorouracil, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin), and nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine
      have yielded only modest improvements in survival. Thus, new treatments are
      urgently needed for patients with pancreatic cancer. Herein, we review the state
      of-the-art of pancreatic cancer treatment, and the upcoming novel therapeutics
      that hold promise in this disease are also discussed. 

PMID- 25824609
TI  - Caloric restriction, resveratrol and melatonin: Role of SIRT1 and implications
      for aging and related-diseases.
AB  - Aging is an inevitable and multifactorial biological process. Free radicals have
      been implicated in aging processes; it is hypothesized that they cause cumulative
      oxidative damage to crucial macromolecules and are responsible for failure of
      multiple physiological mechanisms. However, recent investigations have also
      suggested that free radicals can act as modulators of several signaling pathways
      such as those related to sirtuins. Caloric restriction is a non-genetic
      manipulation that extends lifespan of several species and improves healthspan;
      the belief that many of these benefits are due to the induction of sirtuins has
      led to the search for sirtuin activators, especially sirtuin 1, the most studied.
      Resveratrol, a polyphenol found in red grapes, was first known for its
      antioxidant and antifungal properties, and subsequently has been reported several
      biological effects, including the activation of sirtuins. Endogenously-produced
      melatonin, a powerful free radical scavenger, declines with age and its loss
      contributes to degenerative conditions of aging. Recently, it was reported that
      melatonin also activates sirtuins, in addition to other functions, such as
      regulator of circadian rhythms or anti-inflammatory properties. The fact that
      melatonin and resveratrol are present in various foods, exhibiting possible
      synergistic effects, suggests the use of dietary ingredients to promote health
      and longevity.

PMID- 25824610
TI  - Development of fluorescent probes specific for parallel-stranded G-quadruplexes
      by a library approach.
AB  - A 241-membered cyanine-based library was constructed by the combinatorial
      chemistry strategy. Combined with high-throughput screening, we successfully
      discovered a novel fluorescent probe (CyC-M716) capable of identifying a subset
      of parallel G-quadruplexes with propeller loops stretching across three tetrad
      layers with high sensitivity and selectivity. 

PMID- 25824611
TI  - Phosphorus-modified tungsten nitride/reduced graphene oxide as a high
      performance, non-noble-metal electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction.
AB  - Phosphorus-modified tungsten nitride/reduced graphene oxide (P-WN/rGO) is
      designed as a high-efficient, low-cost electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution
      reaction (HER). WN (ca. 3 nm in size) on rGO is first synthesized by using the
      H3[PO4(W3O9)4] cluster as a W source. Followed by phosphorization, the particle
      size increase slightly to about 4 nm with a P content of 2.52 at %. The
      interaction of P with rGO and WN results in an obvious increase of work function,
      being close to Pt metal. The P-WN/rGO exhibits low onset overpotential of 46 mV,
      Tafel slope of 54 mV dec(-1), and a large exchange current density of 0.35 mA cm(
      2) in acid media. It requires overpotential of only 85 mV at current density of
      10 mA cm(-2), while remaining good stability in accelerated durability testing.
      This work shows that the modification with a second anion is powerful way to
      design new catalysts for HER.

PMID- 25824612
TI  - Prostate Biopsy Core Handling: Comparison of Contemporary Preembedding Methods.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The probability of prostate cancer detection is related to the
      amount of tissue represented. For optimal tissue representation, the specimens
      should preserve their regular cylindrical shape and avoid artefacts and
      deformation caused by fixation and preembedding. The aim of our study was to
      compare contemporary preembedding methods including a new method of using thick
      cardboard. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To compare the preembedding methods, we took 36
      nonfragmented cores from fresh prostatectomy specimens for each method, fixed
      them in formalin and made histological slides. The comparison criteria were a
      core section area in the middle section and the number of fragments per core
      after processing. RESULTS: Two methods (preembedding on the edge of thick
      cardboard and on biplicated paper) provided a bigger section area of specimens.
      The differences in amounts of fragments were very small among the methods
      mentioned above and the preembedding glass with grooves, but preembedding between
      two sponges in a histological cassette showed higher fragmentation. CONCLUSIONS:
      Preembedding on the edge of thick cardboard and on biplicated paper can be
      recommended as effective methods of prostate biopsy core fixation. Paper or
      cardboard for fixation of prostate biopsy cores should be presoaked with formalin
      or normal saline.

PMID- 25824613
TI  - Preservation of mouse ovarian tissue follicle morphology and ultra-structure
      after vitrifying in biotechnological protocols.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to characterize the morphological
      and ultrastractural of mouse ovarian tissue with different cryoprotectant
      solution. OBJECTIVE: Aim of this study, is to demonstrae an improved convetional
      vitrification method on mouse ovarian tissue using different concentrations of
      ethylene glycol (EG) and/or dimetyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and EG. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Mouse ovarian tissue dissected and were randomly assigned to three
      groups: control, conventional vitrification (CV) and toxicity test. Then ovaries
      were vitrified by 5%, 10% EG or DMSO CV1-CV4, 5%, 10% EG plus DMSO CV5-CV6 and EG
      plus DMSO in climbing concentrations CV7. The effect of cryoprotectant solutions
      on ovarian tissue were evaluated by histological examination hematotoxillin &
      eosin stain, H&E, viability assessment trypan blue stain and ultrastructural
      analyses transmission electron microscopy, TEM. RESULTS: Ovarian tissue frozen in
      CV7 solution showed a higher percentage of morphologically normal follicles or
      viable follicles than other cryoprotectant solutions P < 0.05. Ultrastructural
      analysis of ovarian tissue showed that less damage was observed in CV7 and it was
      very similar to the control group. CONCLUSION: Vitrification of ovarian tissue
      with optimal cryoprotectant solutions such as EG plus DMSO is the most effective
      for preserving the structural efficiency of ovarian follicles.

PMID- 25824614
TI  - Enhanced in-plane thermoelectric figure of merit in p-type SiGe thin films by
      nanograin boundaries.
AB  - P-Type polycrystalline silicon-germanium (SiGe) thin films are grown by low
      pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) and their thermoelectric properties
      are characterized from 120 K to 300 K for potential application in integrated
      microscale cooling. The naturally formed grain boundaries are found to play a
      crucial role in determining both the charge and thermal transport properties of
      the films. Particularly, the grain boundaries create energy barriers for charge
      transport which lead to different dependences of charge mobility on doping
      concentration and temperature from the bulk counterparts. Meanwhile, the unique
      columnar grain structures result in remarkable thermal conductivity anisotropy
      with the in-plane thermal conductivities of SiGe films about 50% lower than the
      cross-plane values. By optimizing the growth conditions and doping level, a high
      in-plane figure of merit (ZT) of 0.2 for SiGe films is achieved at 300 K, which
      is about 100% higher than the previous record for p-type SiGe alloys, mainly due
      to the significant reduction in the in-plane thermal conductivity caused by
      nanograin boundaries. The low cost and excellent scalability of LPCVD render
      these high-performance SiGe films ideal candidates for thin-film thermoelectric
      applications. 

PMID- 25824615
TI  - Irbesartan, an angiotensin II receptor antagonist, with selective PPAR-gamma
      modulating activity improves function and structure of chemotherapy-damaged
      ovaries in rats.
AB  - Cyclophosphamide (CYP) is a chemotherapeutic agent with a potent ovarian toxic
      effect. CYP induces granulosa cell apoptosis and oxidative stress. Irbesartan
      (IRB) is a unique ARB with a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma
      (PPAR-gamma) agonistic activity. As PPAR-gamma activation exerts anti
      inflammatory effects and reduces ROS production, IRB may further reduce
      inflammatory chemokine expression and suppress apoptotic cell death. Therefore,
      this study aimed to evaluate the effects of IRB on the development of CYP-induced
      ovarian damage. Rats were divided into four groups: control group, IRB group (100
      mg/kg, orally), CYP group (100 mg/kg, i.p. single injection), and IRB+CYP group
      (IRB administered 9 days before and 6 days after CYP administration). Rats
      sacrificed on day 16 of experiment; estradiol (E2), FSH, and TNF-alpha levels
      were estimated in serum. Reduced glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA),
      superoxide dismutase (SOD) and caspase-3 activities, myeloperoxidase (MPO), and
      IL-10 levels were determined in ovarian tissues. Protein expressions of p53,
      caspase-3, Ki-67, and Rad-51 were estimated by immunohistochemical and Western
      blot techniques. CYP produced ovarian damage as indicated from the decline in
      serum E2; elevation in FSH; unbalance in tissue oxidative stress parameters;
      increase in MPO, TNF-alpha levels, caspase-3 activity/expression, p53, and Rad-51
      expression; and decrease in IL-10 contents, without effect on Ki-67. On the other
      hand, IRB, significantly reduced the toxic effects of CYP as indicted from
      normalization of E2, FSH, oxidative stress, apoptotic, and inflammatory
      mediators. These data were further supported by histopathological studies. Thus,
      co-administration of IRB may be promising in alleviating the ovarian toxic
      effects of CYP.

PMID- 25824616
TI  - HOTAIR is a potential target for the treatment of cisplatin-resistant ovarian
      cancer.
AB  - Previous studies have demonstrated that the presence of Hox transcript antisense
      intergenic RNA (HOTAIR) is correlated with poor survival in several types of
      cancer, including breast cancer, and promotes tumor metastasis. Currently, little
      is known regarding the correlation between HOTAIR and chemoresistance in cancer.
      The current study aimed to investigate the role of HOTAIR in epithelial ovarian
      cancer, and the correlation between HOTAIR and cisplatin resistance. Reverse
      transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was conducted to detect
      HOTAIR expression in the ovarian specimens and ovarian carcinoma cell lines. The
      results indicated that the expression level of HOTAIR was higher in epithelial
      ovarian cancer tissues than the level in the benign ovarian tissues. The
      expression level was also higher in late-stage malignant ovarian tumors compared
      with the level in early-stage tumors. Levels of HOTAIR were also higher in the
      SKOV-3CDDP/R cisplatin-resistant ovarian carcinoma cell line than in the SKOV-3
      cisplatin-sensitive cell line. The knockdown of HOTAIR using siRNAs with
      transfection reagent suppressed cell proliferation, reduced the invasion ability
      of the cells and notably, it restored cisplatin-sensitivity of the cisplatin
      resistant cells specifically by enhancing cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity and
      apoptosis in SKOV-3CDDP/R cells. In conclusion, HOTAIR may be used in the
      development of novel treatments for ovarian cancer, particularly those that are
      resistant to conventional therapies.

PMID- 25824617
TI  - Slow-to-fast transition of hydrogen bond dynamics in acetamide hydration shell
      formation.
AB  - The formation of a hydration shell in acetamide aqueous solution has been
      investigated by means of UV Raman spectroscopy. The experimental results reveal
      the existence of two distinct regimes of water dynamics. At high acetamide
      concentration water molecules show a structural and dynamical behavior consistent
      with the so-called iceberg model. Upon increasing the amount of water we observe
      the formation of a hydration shell marked by fastening of hydrogen-bond dynamics.
      Such a behavior may help to shed light on the scientific debate on how water
      rearranges around the hydrophobic portions of solute molecules (iceberg vs. non
      iceberg models). 

PMID- 25824619
TI  - Dibromoindium(III) cations as a pi-Lewis acid: characterization of
      [IPr.InBr2][SbF6] and its catalytic activity towards alkynes and alkenes.
AB  - [IPr.InBr2][SbF6] (2) (IPr = 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene)
      has been synthesized and characterized in the solid state. This complex proved to
      be a very active catalyst for hydroarylations, transfer hydrogenations, and
      cycloisomerizations.

PMID- 25824620
TI  - HuR keeps interferon-beta mRNA stable.
AB  - The expression of interferon (IFN) beta is highly induced in immune and nonimmune
      cells in response to virus infection. This upregulation is mediated at both
      transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Whereas the signaling pathways
      triggered by innate virus receptors leading to transcription factor activation
      have been extensively studied, the mechanisms by which IFN-beta mRNA stability is
      posttranscriptionally controlled are not fully understood. In this issue of the
      European Journal of Immunology, Herdy et al. [Eur. J. Immunol. 2015 45:1500-1511]
      show that a human RNA-binding protein, embryonic lethal, abnormal vision,
      drosophila-like 1 (ELAVL1)/Hu antigen R (HuR), strongly associates with IFN-beta
      mRNA via AU-rich sequences present in its 3' untranslated region in various human
      cell lines. The authors show that ELAVL1/HuR is required for the stabilization of
      IFN-beta mRNA, and suppression of ELAVL1/HuR by its inhibitor MS-444 leads to
      impaired expression of IFN-beta in response to viral dsRNA treatment. Thus, this
      study uncovers a novel mechanism of posttranscriptional IFN-beta mRNA regulation
      in response to virus infection, through IFN-beta stabilization by ELAVL1/HuR.
      Future studies are expected to identify further regulatory mechanisms of IFN-beta
      stabilization and destabilization in the course of antiviral responses.

PMID- 25824618
TI  - Brain atrophy and white-matter hyperintensities are not significantly associated
      with incidence and severity of postoperative delirium in older persons without
      dementia.
AB  - Postoperative delirium is a common complication in older people and is associated
      with increased mortality, morbidity, institutionalization, and caregiver burden.
      Although delirium is an acute confusional state characterized by global
      impairments in attention and cognition, it has been implicated in permanent
      cognitive impairment and dementia. The pathogenesis of delirium and the
      mechanisms leading to these disabling consequences remain unclear. The present
      study is the first to address the potential predisposing role of brain
      morphologic changes toward postoperative delirium in a large prospective cohort
      of patients undergoing elective surgery using state-of-the-art magnetic resonance
      imaging (MRI) techniques conducted before admission. We investigated the
      association of MRI-derived quantitative measures of white-matter damage, global
      brain, and hippocampal volume with the incidence and severity of delirium.
      Presurgical white-matter hyperintensities (WMHs), whole brain, and hippocampal
      volume were measured in 146 consecutively enrolled subjects, >=70 years old,
      without dementia who were undergoing elective surgery. These 3 presurgical MRI
      indices were tested as predictors of incidence and severity of subsequent
      delirium. Out of 146 subjects, 32 (22%) developed delirium. We found no
      statistically significant differences in WMH, whole brain, or hippocampal volume
      between subjects with and without delirium. Both unadjusted and adjusted (age,
      gender, vascular comorbidity, and general cognitive performance) regression
      analyses demonstrated no statistically significant association between any of the
      MRI measures with respect to delirium incidence or severity. In persons without
      dementia, preexisting cerebral WMHs, general and hippocampal atrophy may not
      predispose to postoperative delirium or worsen its severity.

PMID- 25824621
TI  - Macro- and micro-structural white matter differences correlate with cognitive
      performance in healthy aging.
AB  - Studies have shown that white matter (WM) volumetric reductions and overall
      degradation occur with aging. Nonetheless little is known about the WM
      alterations that may underlie different cognitive status in older individuals.
      The main goal of the present work was to identify and characterize possible macro
      and microstructural WM alterations that could distinguish between older healthy
      individuals with contrasting cognitive profiles (i.e., "poor" vs "good" cognitive
      performers). Structural and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging was performed in
      order to quantify local WM volumes, white matter signal abnormalities (WMSA)
      volume (a measure of lesion burden) and diffusion tensor imaging scalar maps
      known to probe WM microstructure. A battery of neurocognitive/psychological tests
      was administered to assess the cognitive performance. Poor performers showed a
      higher slope for the positive association between WMSA volume and age compared to
      good performers. Even when controlling for WMSA volume, poor performers also
      evidenced lower fractional anisotropy, as well as positive associations with age
      with higher slopes of regression parameters in radial and axial diffusivity.
      Altogether results suggest that cognitive performance is related to differences
      in WM, with poor cognitive performers displaying signs of faster aging in WM. 

PMID- 25824622
TI  - Transferrable superhydrophobic TiO2 nanorods on reduced graphene oxide films
      using block copolymer templates.
AB  - Superhydrophobic surfaces are normally fixed on the chosen materials. Here, we
      report transferrable superhydrophobicity which was enabled by fabricating TiO2
      nanorods on a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) film. Superhydrophobic TiO2 nanorods
      were first synthesized from a nanoporous template of block copolymers (BCPs). The
      controllability over the dimension and shape of nanopores of the BCP template
      allowed for the adjustment of TiO2 nanostructures for superhydrophobicity. Since
      the rGO film provided effective transferring, TiO2 nanorods were conveyed onto a
      flexible polymer film and a metal substrate. Thus, the surface of the designated
      substrate was successfully changed to a superhydrophobic surface without
      alteration of its inherent characteristics. 

PMID- 25824623
TI  - Survival of massive mesenteric infarction through midgut resection and
      duodenocolostomy--a case report.

PMID- 25824624
TI  - Erythrocyte remodeling by Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes in the human host
      interplay.
AB  - The spread of malaria critically relies on the presence of Plasmodium
      transmission stages - the gametocytes - circulating in the blood of an infected
      individual, which are taken up by Anopheles mosquitoes. A striking feature of
      Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes is their long development inside the
      erythrocytes while sequestered in the internal organs of the human host. Recent
      studies of the molecular and cellular remodeling of the host erythrocyte induced
      by P. falciparum during gametocyte maturation are shedding light on how these may
      affect the establishment and maintenance of sequestration of the immature
      transmission stages and the subsequent release and circulation of mature
      gametocytes in the peripheral bloodstream. 

PMID- 25824625
TI  - A possible instance of sexual dimorphism in the tails of two oviraptorosaur
      dinosaurs.
AB  - The hypothesis that oviraptorosaurs used tail-feather displays in courtship
      behavior previously predicted that oviraptorosaurs would be found to display
      sexually dimorphic caudal osteology. MPC-D 100/1002 and MPC-D 100/1127 are two
      specimens of the oviraptorosaur Khaan mckennai. Although similar in absolute size
      and in virtually all other anatomical details, the anterior haemal spines of MPC
      D 100/1002 exceed those of MPC-D 100/1127 in ventral depth and develop a hitherto
      unreported "spearhead" shape. This dissimilarity cannot be readily explained as
      pathologic and is too extreme to be reasonably attributed to the amount of
      individual variation expected among con-specifics. Instead, this discrepancy in
      haemal spine morphology may be attributable to sexual dimorphism. The haemal
      spine form of MPC-D 100/1002 offers greater surface area for caudal muscle
      insertions. On this basis, MPC-D 100/1002 is regarded as most probably male, and
      MPC-D 100/1127 is regarded as most probably female. 

PMID- 25824626
TI  - Ignition's glow: Ultra-fast spread of global cortical activity accompanying local
      "ignitions" in visual cortex during conscious visual perception.
AB  - Despite extensive research, the spatiotemporal span of neuronal activations
      associated with the emergence of a conscious percept is still debated. The debate
      can be formulated in the context of local vs. global models, emphasizing local
      activity in visual cortex vs. a global fronto-parietal "workspace" as the key
      mechanisms of conscious visual perception. These alternative models lead to
      differential predictions with regard to the precise magnitude, timing and
      anatomical spread of neuronal activity during conscious perception. Here we aimed
      to test a specific aspect of these predictions in which local and global models
      appear to differ - namely the extent to which fronto-parietal regions modulate
      their activity during task performance under similar perceptual states. So far
      the main experimental results relevant to this debate have been obtained from non
      invasive methods and led to conflicting interpretations. Here we examined these
      alternative predictions through large-scale intracranial measurements
      (Electrocorticogram - ECoG) in 43 patients and 4445 recording sites. Both ERP and
      broadband high frequency (50-150 Hz - BHF) responses were examined through the
      entire cortex during a simple 1-back visual recognition memory task. Our results
      reveal short latency intense visual responses, localized first in early visual
      cortex followed (at ~200 ms) by higher order visual areas, but failed to show
      significant delayed (300 ms) visual activations. By contrast, oddball image
      repeat events, linked to overt motor responses, were associated with a
      significant increase in a delayed (300 ms) peak of BHF power in fronto-parietal
      cortex. Comparing BHF responses with ERP revealed an additional peak in the ERP
      response - having a similar latency to the well-studied P3 scalp EEG response.
      Posterior and temporal regions demonstrated robust visual category selectivity.
      An unexpected observation was that high-order visual cortex responses were
      essentially concurrent (at ~200 ms) with an ultra-fast spread of signals of lower
      magnitude that invaded selected sites throughout fronto-parietal cortical areas.
      Our results are compatible with local models in demonstrating a clear task
      dependence of the 300 ms fronto-parietal activation. However, they also reveal a
      more global component of low-magnitude and poor content selectivity that rapidly
      spreads into fronto-parietal sites. The precise functional role of this global
      "glow" remains to be elucidated.

PMID- 25824627
TI  - Metal selectivity by the virulence-associated yersiniabactin metallophore system.
AB  - Uropathogenic Escherichia coli secrete siderophores during human infections.
      Although siderophores are classically defined by their ability to bind iron(III)
      ions, the virulence-associated siderophore yersiniabactin was recently found to
      bind divalent copper ions during urinary tract infections. Here we use a mass
      spectrometric approach to determine the extent of non-iron(III) metal
      interactions by yersiniabactin and its TonB-dependent outer membrane importer
      FyuA. In addition to copper, iron and gallium ions, yersiniabactin was also
      observed to form stable nickel, cobalt, and chromium ion complexes. In E. coli,
      copper(II) and all other non-iron(III) yersiniabactin complexes were imported by
      FyuA in a TonB-dependent manner. Among metal-yersiniabactin complexes, copper(II)
      yersiniabactin is predicted to be structurally distinctive and was the only
      complex not to competitively inhibit iron(III) yersiniabactin import. These
      results are consistent with yersiniabactin as part of a metallophore system able
      to prioritize iron(III) complex uptake in high copper environments.

PMID- 25824628
TI  - The structure of WbnH in a near active state.

PMID- 25824630
TI  - Typical biomechanical bias in the perception of congenitally absent hands.

PMID- 25824631
TI  - Do non-human primates cooperate? Evidences of motor coordination during a joint
      action task in macaque monkeys.
AB  - Humans are intensively social primates, therefore many of their actions are
      dedicated to communication and interaction with other individuals. Despite the
      progress in understanding the cognitive and neural processes that allow humans to
      perform cooperative actions, in non-human primates only few studies have
      investigated the ability to interact with a partner in order to reach a common
      goal. These studies have shown that in naturalistic conditions animals engage in
      various types of social behavior that involve forms of mutual coordination and
      cooperation. However, little is known on the capacity of non-human primates to
      actively cooperate in a controlled experimental setting, which allows full
      characterization of the motor parameters underlying individual action and their
      change during motor cooperation. To this aim, we analyzed the behavior of three
      pairs of macaque monkeys trained to perform solo and joint-actions by exerting a
      force on an isometric joystick, as to move an individual or a common cursor
      toward visual targets on a screen. We found that during cooperation monkeys
      reciprocally adapt their behavior by changing the parameters that define the
      spatial and temporal aspects of their action, as to fine tune their joint effort,
      and maximize their common performance. Furthermore the results suggest that when
      acting together the movement parameters that specify each actor's behavior are
      not only modulated during execution, but also during planning. These findings
      provide the first quantitative description of action coordination in non-human
      primates during the performance of a joint action task. 

PMID- 25824629
TI  - The assessment of cytokines in Quantiferon supernatants for the diagnosis of
      latent TB infection in a tribal population of Melghat, India.
AB  - The tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA),
      namely, the QuantiFERON-TB Gold test (QFT), remain the standard immunological
      diagnostic tools for latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI). However, the sub
      optimal detection rates of both of these tests are major impediments in
      recognizing the population at risk. This study was aimed at evaluating additional
      cytokines besides interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) as biomarkers for improving LTBI
      diagnosis in the tribal population of Melghat, India. Seventy-four close TB
      contacts were stratified by QFT and TST results into: (i) QFT+/TST+ (n = 26),
      (ii) QFT+/TST- (n = 12), (iii) QFT-/TST- (n = 35) and (iv) QFT-/TST+ (n = 1)
      groups. A panel of cytokines (IL-6, IL-10, TNF-alpha and IL-2R) was then
      evaluated in antigen-stimulated QFT cell-free culture supernatants using IMMULITE
      1000, an automated immunoassay analyzer. Cytokine estimation showed significantly
      higher levels of IL-6 in the QFT+/TST+ group, while significantly higher levels
      of IL-10 were found in the QFT-/TST- group. Correlation analysis identified a
      positive correlation between IL-6 and the QFT response (r = 0.6723, P < 0.0001),
      while a negative correlation was seen between QFT and IL-10 expression (r = 
      0.3271, P = 0.0044). Similarly, IL-6 was positively correlated with TST levels (r
      = 0.6631, P <0 .0001), and conversely, a negative correlation was found between
      TST and IL-10 expression (r = -0.5698, P < 0.0001). The positive and negative
      predictive values of IL-6 were found to be 92.59 and 93.33%, respectively, and
      the positive and negative predictive values of IL-10 were 96.55 and 91.18%,
      respectively. No significant impact of the demographic characteristics on
      cytokine positivity was observed. Our preliminary results suggest that the
      evaluation of additional cytokines in QFT cell-free culture supernatants may be
      valuable for the identification of LTBI. Combining IL-6 and IL-10 with QFT and/or
      TST could markedly improve the detection accuracy of LTBI. Our observations
      require investigation in larger well-characterized cohorts along with follow-up
      studies to further confirm the study outcome.

PMID- 25824632
TI  - Sodium nitrite provides angiogenic and proliferative effects in vivo and in
      vitro.
AB  - BACKGROUND Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing
      vasculature. Many factors and substances may stimulate angiogenesis and exhibit
      proliferative effect. In this study, we aimed to investigate the angiogenic and
      proliferative effects of sodium nitrite. MATERIAL AND METHODS The angiogenic
      activity of sodium nitrite was examined in vivo in the chick chorioallantoic
      membrane (CAM) model and in vitro in tube formation assay of human umbilical vein
      endothelial cells (HUVECs). The proliferative activity of sodium nitrite was also
      determined through MTT assay on HUVECs. RESULTS In CAM assay, sodium nitrite had
      an angiogenic effect especially at high concentrations compared with the control
      group and this was statistically significant. There was a proliferative effect on
      HUVECs in the presence of sodium nitrite for 24 and 48 h, and this was
      statistically significant (p<0.05). Comparing the tube length/area ratio values,
      there was statistically significant increase in the sodium nitrite group compared
      to the control group (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The results provide evidence that
      sodium nitrite induces angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. 

PMID- 25824633
TI  - A pressure-driven column-based technique for the efficient extraction of DNA from
      respiratory samples.
AB  - Currently molecular techniques are a broadly accepted tool for diagnosis and are
      able to benefit patients in clinical practice. The polymerase chain reaction
      (PCR) has been especially incorporated into practical applications that are
      already in widespread use across the globe. With regard to the initial DNA
      extraction from clinically relevant samples, a number of commercially available
      kits are commonly used and are also designed to be easy to handle and less labor
      intensive. In this study, the pressure system extracting DNA in column-based kit
      was developed, and its utility was compared with the centrifuge method using
      sputum from patients who were diagnosed with pneumonia. Also, due to the compact
      size and rapid processing time, the practical application of the pressure-based
      system incorporated into an automated pipetting machine was evaluated through
      clinical study. Our data suggests that DNA extraction by pressure was capable of
      serving as a substitute for the centrifuge method, and the compact and automatic
      nature of the pressure system device provided rapid and valuable information for
      clinical practice. 

PMID- 25824634
TI  - Possible role of anaerobes in the pathogenesis of nontuberculous mycobacterial
      infection.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Recent advances in cultivation-independent molecular
      biological modalities for detecting bacterial species have indicated that several
      bacterial species may play a role in the pathogenesis of certain infectious
      diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of bacterial flora in
      the pathogenesis of nontuberculous mycobacteriosis (NTM) using a bacterial floral
      analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) with 16S rRNA gene sequencing in
      patients with bronchiectasis. METHODS: Fifty-eight patients with bronchiectasis
      evaluated using chest computed tomography were enrolled. BALF obtained from the
      most affected lung lesions was evaluated using culture and culture-independent
      methodologies. Approximately 600 bp of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene (E341F-E907R)
      was amplified via polymerase chain reaction using universal primers, and clone
      libraries were constructed. Nucleotide sequences of 96 randomly chosen clones for
      each specimen were determined, and the homology was searched using a basic local
      alignment search tool to determine the bacterial phylotypes and their proportions
      (bacterial floral analysis) in each specimen. RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients with
      bronchiectasis were diagnosed with NTM based on culture-based methods using Ogawa
      medium. The molecular method showed a significantly high rate of anaerobes among
      the patients with NTM compared with that observed in the bronchiectasis patients
      without NTM. In addition, findings of collapse/consolidation were significantly
      related to the proportion of Prevotella species in the BALF samples determined
      using the molecular method (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Given the results of the
      present study, anaerobes may play an important role in the pathogenesis of
      bronchiectasis in patients with NTM.

PMID- 25824635
TI  - Severe hypoglycaemia the "tip of the iceberg": an underestimated risk in both
      type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients.

PMID- 25824636
TI  - Maternal peripheral blood natural killer cells incorporate placenta-associated
      microRNAs during pregnancy.
AB  - Although recent studies have demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs)
      regulate fundamental natural killer (NK) cellular processes, including
      cytotoxicity and cytokine production, little is known about the miRNA-gene
      regulatory relationships in maternal peripheral blood NK (pNK) cells during
      pregnancy. In the present study, to determine the roles of miRNAs within gene
      regulatory networks of maternal pNK cells, we performed comprehensive miRNA and
      gene expression profiling of maternal pNK cells using a combination of reverse
      transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR)-based miRNA array and DNA microarray
      analyses and analyzed the differential expression levels between first- and third
      trimester pNK cells. Furthermore, we constructed regulatory networks for miRNA
      mediated gene expression in pNK cells during pregnancy by Ingenuity Pathway
      Analysis (IPA). PCR-based array analysis revealed that the placenta-derived
      miRNAs [chromosome 19 miRNA cluster (C19MC) miRNAs] were detected in pNK cells
      during pregnancy. Twenty-five miRNAs, including six C19MC miRNAs, were
      significantly upregulated in the third- compared to first-trimester pNK cells.
      The rapid clearance of C19MC miRNAs also occurred in the pNK cells following
      delivery. Nine miRNAs, including eight C19MC miRNAs, were significantly
      downregulated in the post-delivery pNK cells compared to those of the third
      trimester. DNA microarray analysis identified 69 NK cell function-related genes
      that were differentially expressed between the first- and third-trimester pNK
      cells. On pathway and network analysis, the observed gene expression changes of
      pNK cells likely contribute to the increase in the cytotoxicity, as well as the
      cell cycle progression of third- compared to first-trimester pNK cells. Thirteen
      of the 69 NK cell function-related genes were significantly downregulated between
      the first- and third-trimester pNK cells. Nine of the 13 downregulated NK
      function-associated genes were in silico target candidates of 12 upregulated
      miRNAs, including C19MC miRNA miR-512-3p. The results of this study suggest that
      the transfer of placental C19MC miRNAs into maternal pNK cells occurs during
      pregnancy. The present study provides new insight into maternal NK cell
      functions.

PMID- 25824637
TI  - Supplementation of n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids for Major Depressive Disorder:
      A Randomized, Double-Blind, 12-Week, Placebo-Controlled Trial in Korea.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Controversy over the efficacy of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids
      (PUFAs) in depression continues to this day. The present study investigated the
      hypothesis that n-3 PUFA supplementation reduces depressive symptoms in Korean
      patients with major depressive disorder. METHODS: In a randomized, double-blind,
      placebo-controlled, 12-week, parallel-group trial, 35 patients with Center for
      Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale Korean version (CES-D-K) scores >=25 and
      depression confirmed by a psychiatrist were assigned to take either 3 capsules of
      n-3 PUFAs (1,140 mg of EPA + 600 mg of DHA; n = 18) or placebo (olive oil +
      safflower oil; n = 17). RESULTS: Supplementation with n-3 PUFAs significantly
      reduced Clinical Global Impression Improvement (CGI-I) scores as compared with
      intake of placebo using intention-to-treat analysis with last-observation-carried
      forward after adjusting for energy, fat, and fish intake. However, the CES-D-K,
      Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17, and Clinical Global Impression Scale scores
      did not significantly differ between the n-3 PUFA and placebo groups. After
      supplementation with n-3 PUFAs, the erythrocyte levels of n-3 PUFAs were
      significantly increased, but n-6 PUFA levels were decreased. CONCLUSIONS: n-3
      PUFAs demonstrated an advantage over placebo that did not reach clinical
      significance, although CGI-I score was significantly decreased in the n-3 PUFA
      group as compared with the placebo group.

PMID- 25824638
TI  - Diagnostic accuracy of diffusion-weighted MRI for differentiation of cervical
      cancer and benign cervical lesions at 3.0T: Comparison with routine MRI and
      dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of routine magnetic resonance imaging
      (MRI) (T1 WI and T2 WI), diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), and DCE-MRI (dynamic
      contrast-enhanced MRI) at 3.0T for differentiation of cervical cancer and benign
      cervical lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cohort of 75 cervical cancer patients,
      26 cervical leiomyoma patients, 22 patients with cervical polyps consecutively
      underwent pelvic MRI scanning on a 3T MR unit. Two radiologists independently
      evaluated images at three imaging settings; routine MRI alone, DWI combined with
      routine MRI (DWI+routine MRI), and DCE-MRI. The apparent diffusion coefficients
      (ADCs) were calculated from b 0, 600 s/mm(2) and b 0, 1000 s/mm(2). RESULTS:
      DWI+routine MRI was significantly better than routine MRI and obtained high
      accuracy (0.95); the diagnostic performance was not significantly different
      between DWI+routine MRI and DCE-MRI. Reader agreement was excellent for both
      DWI+routine MRI (kappa, 0.90) and DCE-MRI (kappa, 0.92). The ADCs of cervical
      cancer were significantly lower than those of benign cervical lesions at both ADC
      maps (P = 0.0001). The diagnostic accuracy was not different at both ADC maps (P
      = 0.375). CONCLUSION: For differentiation of cervical cancer and benign cervical
      lesions, unenhanced MRI with combined diffusion-weighted and routine MRI
      (DWI+routine MRI) at 3T can provide accurate information and may be preferable to
      DCE.

PMID- 25824640
TI  - Molecular analysis of isolated tumor glands from endometrial endometrioid
      adenocarcinomas.
AB  - We studied the extensive molecular alterations of endometrial endometrioid
      adenocarcinoma (EEA) using a crypt isolation method. We analyzed copy number
      variation (CNV) using a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, genetic
      mutations (KRAS, BRAF, p53, PIK3CA), DNA methylation and microsatellite
      instability (MSI) status. In addition, loss of PTEN protein expression was
      examined. Increased chromosome copy numbers of 1q21.2-44 (22%) and 10q11.21-23.31
      (28%) were seen relatively frequently in EEA, and copy-neutral loss of
      heterozygosity (LOH) was also observed in 10q22.1-26.3 (22%). The CNV patterns of
      EEA were classified into four groups through hierarchical cluster analysis.
      Cluster 1 had many CNVs of 10q, and cluster 2 was characterized by MSI status. In
      cluster 3, increased CNVs of 1q were often seen. In cluster 4, p53 mutations were
      detected. KRAS and PIK3CA mutations and reduced PTEN protein expression were
      common to all groups. On the other hand, CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP)
      was rare in all groups. The data indicated an association with chromosomal gain
      of 1q and 10q or 10q copy-neutral LOH in some cases. We suggest that EEA consists
      of four groups that are characterized with molecular alterations. 

PMID- 25824639
TI  - Structural basis for full-spectrum inhibition of translational functions on a
      tRNA synthetase.
AB  - The polyketide natural product borrelidin displays antibacterial, antifungal,
      antimalarial, anticancer, insecticidal and herbicidal activities through the
      selective inhibition of threonyl-tRNA synthetase (ThrRS). How borrelidin
      simultaneously attenuates bacterial growth and suppresses a variety of infections
      in plants and animals is not known. Here we show, using X-ray crystal structures
      and functional analyses, that a single molecule of borrelidin simultaneously
      occupies four distinct subsites within the catalytic domain of bacterial and
      human ThrRSs. These include the three substrate-binding sites for amino acid, ATP
      and tRNA associated with aminoacylation, and a fourth 'orthogonal' subsite
      created as a consequence of binding. Thus, borrelidin competes with all three
      aminoacylation substrates, providing a potent and redundant mechanism to inhibit
      ThrRS during protein synthesis. These results highlight a surprising natural
      design to achieve the quadrivalent inhibition of translation through a highly
      conserved family of enzymes. 

PMID- 25824641
TI  - SERT and uncertainty: serotonin transporter expression influences information
      processing biases for ambiguous aversive cues in mice.
AB  - The long allele variant of the serotonin transporter (SERT, 5-HTT) gene-linked
      polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) is associated with higher levels of 5-HTT
      expression and reduced risk of developing affective disorders. However, little is
      known about the mechanisms underlying this protective effect. One hypothesis is
      that 5-HTT expression influences aversive information processing, with reduced
      negative cognitive bias present in those with higher 5-HTT expression. Here we
      investigated this hypothesis using genetically-modified mice and a novel aversive
      learning paradigm. Mice with high levels of 5-HTT expression (5-HTT over
      expressing, 5-HTTOE mice) and wild-type mice were trained to discriminate between
      three distinct auditory cues: one cue predicted footshock on all trials (CS+); a
      second cue predicted the absence of footshock (CS-); and a third cue predicted
      footshock on 20% of trials (CS20%), and was therefore ambiguous. Wild-type mice
      exhibited equivalently high levels of fear to the CS+ and CS20% and minimal fear
      to the CS-. In contrast, 5-HTTOE mice exhibited high levels of fear to the CS+
      but minimal fear to the CS- and the CS20%. This selective reduction in fear to
      ambiguous aversive cues suggests that increased 5-HTT expression reduces negative
      cognitive bias for stimuli with uncertain outcomes. 

PMID- 25824642
TI  - Spinal pain.
AB  - The spinal pain, and expecially the low back pain (LBP), represents the second
      cause for a medical consultation in primary care setting and a leading cause of
      disability worldwide [1]. LBP is more often idiopathic. It has as most frequent
      cause the internal disc disruption (IDD) and is referred to as discogenic pain.
      IDD refers to annular fissures, disc collapse and mechanical failure, with no
      significant modification of external disc shape, with or without endplates
      changes. IDD is described as a separate clinical entity in respect to disc
      herniation, segmental instability and degenerative disc desease (DDD). The
      radicular pain has as most frequent causes a disc herniation and a canal
      stenosis. Both discogenic and radicular pain also have either a mechanical and an
      inflammatory genesis. For to be richly innervated, facet joints can be a direct
      source of pain, while for their degenerative changes cause compression of nerve
      roots in lateral recesses and in the neural foramina. Degenerative instability is
      a common and often misdiagnosed cause of axial and radicular pain, being also a
      frequent indication for surgery. Acute pain tends to extinguish along with its
      cause, but the setting of complex processes of peripheral and central
      sensitization may influence its evolution in chronic pain, much more difficult to
      treat. The clinical assessment of pain source can be a challenge because of the
      complex anatomy and function of the spine; the advanced imaging methods are often
      not sufficient for a definitive diagnosis because similar findings could be
      present in either asymptomatic and symptomatic subjects: a clinical correlation
      is always mandatory and the therapy cannot rely uniquely upon any imaging
      abnormalities. Purpose of this review is to address the current concepts on the
      pathophysiology of discogenic, radicular, facet and dysfunctional pain, focusing
      on the role of the imaging in the diagnostic setting, to potentially address a
      correct approach also to minimally invasive interventional techniques. Special
      attention will be done to the discogenic pain, actually considered as the most
      frequent cause of chronic low back pain. 

PMID- 25824643
TI  - Feasibility and evaluation of dual-source transmit 3D imaging of the orbits:
      Comparison to high-resolution conventional MRI at 3T.
AB  - PURPOSE: To prospectively compare the image quality and diagnostic performance of
      orbital MR images obtained by using a dual-source parallel transmission (pTX) 3D
      sequence (Sampling Perfection with Application optimized Contrasts using
      different flip angle Evolution, SPACE) with the image quality of conventional
      high-resolution standard protocol for clinical use in patients at 3T. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: After obtaining institutional review board approval and patient
      consent, 32 patients with clinical indication for orbital MRI were examined using
      a high-resolution conventional sequences and 3D pTX SPACE sequences. Quantitative
      measurements, image quality of the healthy orbit, incidence of artifacts, and the
      subjective diagnostic performance to establish diagnosis was rated. Statistical
      significance was calculated by using a Student's t-test and nonparametric
      Wilcoxon signed rank test. RESULTS: Length measurements were comparable in the
      two techniques, 3D pTX SPACE resulted in significant faster image acquisition
      with higher spatial resolution and less motion artifacts as well as better
      delineation of the optic nerve sheath. However, estimated contrast-to-noise and
      signal-to-noise and overall image quality as well as subjective scores of the
      conventional TSE imaging were rated significantly higher. The conventional MR
      sequences were the preferred techniques by the readers. CONCLUSION: This study
      demonstrates the feasibility of 3D pTX SPACE of the orbit resulting in a rapid
      acquisition of isotropic high-resolution images. Although no pathology was missed
      in 3D pTX SPACE, conventional MRI techniques showed the higher diagnostic
      confidence in our study, presumably due to the higher signal-to-noise and
      contrast-to-noise ratios. We observed high-resolution TSE imaging to be the
      preferred technique, 3D pTX SPACE cannot replace conventional MRI so far.

PMID- 25824644
TI  - An unusual case of multiple facial papules?

PMID- 25824645
TI  - Effect of salt intake and potassium supplementation on urinary renalase and serum
      dopamine levels in Chinese adults.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to assess the effects of altered salt and
      potassium intake on urinary renalase and serum dopamine levels in humans.
      METHODS: Forty-two subjects (28-65 years of age) were selected from a rural
      community of northern China. All subjects were sequentially maintained on a low
      salt diet for 7 days (3.0 g/day of NaCl), a high-salt diet for an additional 7
      days (18.0 g/day of NaCl), and a high-salt diet with potassium supplementation
      for a final 7 days (18.0 g/day of NaCl + 4.5 g/day of KCl). RESULTS: Urinary
      renalase excretions were significantly higher during the high-salt diet
      intervention than during the low-salt diet. During high-potassium intake, urinary
      renalase excretions were not significantly different from the high-salt diet,
      whereas they were significantly higher than the low-salt levels. Serum dopamine
      levels exhibited similar trends across the interventions. Additionally, a
      significant positive relationship was observed between the urine renalase and
      serum dopamine among the different dietary interventions. Also, 24-hour urinary
      sodium excretion positively correlated with urine renalase and serum dopamine in
      the whole population. CONCLUSIONS: The present study indicates that dietary salt
      intake and potassium supplementation increase urinary renalase and serum dopamine
      levels in Chinese subjects.

PMID- 25824646
TI  - Sequential O-H/C-H bond insertion of phenols initiated by the gold(I)-catalyzed
      cyclization of 1-bromo-1,5-enynes.
AB  - The development of a sequential O-H/C-H bond functionalization of phenols
      initiated by the cationic gold(I)-catalyzed cyclization of 1-bromo-1,5-enynes to
      produce (2-bromocyclopent-2-en-1-yl)phenols is reported. This unprecedented
      domino transformation efficiently proceeds under mild conditions (5 mol % of (t
      Bu)3PAuNTf2, CH2Cl2, 0-23  degrees C) via an intermediate aryl alkyl ether which
      collapses at ambient temperature to undergo a 1,2-hydride shift followed by C-H
      insertion of the phenol. 

PMID- 25824647
TI  - Spatio-temporal resolution of primary processes of photosynthesis.
AB  - Technical progress in laser-sources and detectors has allowed the temporal and
      spatial resolution of chemical reactions down to femtoseconds and A-units. In
      photon-excitable systems the key to chemical kinetics, trajectories across the
      vibrational saddle landscape, are experimentally accessible. Simple and thus well
      defined chemical compounds are preferred objects for calibrating new
      methodologies and carving out paradigms of chemical dynamics, as shown in several
      contributions to this Faraday Discussion. Aerobic life on earth is powered by
      solar energy, which is captured by microorganisms and plants. Oxygenic
      photosynthesis relies on a three billion year old molecular machinery which is as
      well defined as simpler chemical constructs. It has been analysed to a very high
      precision. The transfer of excitation between pigments in antennae proteins, of
      electrons between redox-cofactors in reaction centres, and the oxidation of water
      by a Mn4Ca-cluster are solid state reactions. ATP, the general energy currency of
      the cell, is synthesized by a most agile, rotary molecular machine. While the
      efficiency of photosynthesis competes well with photovoltaics at the time scale
      of nanoseconds, it is lower by an order of magnitude for crops and again lower
      for bio-fuels. The enormous energy demand of mankind calls for engineered (bio
      mimetic or bio-inspired) solar-electric and solar-fuel devices. 

PMID- 25824648
TI  - Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Some New 2,5-Substituted 1-Ethyl-1H
      benzoimidazole Fluorinated Derivatives as Direct Thrombin Inhibitors.
AB  - A new series of fluorinated 2,5-substituted 1-ethyl-1H-benzimidazole derivatives
      were synthesized from starting compounds 3a-i, which were prepared from acrylic
      acid ethyl ester and the appropriate amines using trifluoromethanesulfonic acid
      as a catalyst. A total of 9 novel derivatives were synthesized through 9 steps.
      All of them were evaluated for thrombin inhibition activity in vitro for the
      first time. We have altered their structures using different substituents on the
      amines to assess their structure-activity relationships as direct thrombin
      inhibitors. All the compounds were effective thrombin inhibitors, with IC50
      values ranging from 3.39 to 23.30 nM. Among the compounds synthesized, compounds
      14a, 14b, 14d, 14e, and 14h exhibited greater anticoagulant activity than
      argatroban (IC50 = 9.36 nM). Furthermore, compound 14h synthesized starting with
      2-amino-pyridine was the most potent thrombin inhibitor with an IC50 value of
      3.39 nM. Molecular modeling studies were performed to determine the probable
      interactions of the most potent compounds 14a, 14e, and 14h with their protein
      receptor (PDB ID: 1KTS). Docking data show that the active compounds inhibit
      thrombin in a similar mode to that of the potent anticoagulant dabigatran.

PMID- 25824649
TI  - H2 O2 activates matrix metalloproteinases through the nuclear factor kappa B
      pathway and Ca(2+) signals in human periodontal fibroblasts.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The mechanisms involved in reactive oxygen species and matrix
      metalloproteinase (MMP)-mediated periodontal tissue breakdown are unknown.
      OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of H2 O2 in MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity, and the
      involvement of nuclear factor kappa B (NFkappaB) and Ca(2+) -mediated signals in
      human periodontal ligament fibroblasts. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Primary cultures
      were characterized for their phenotype and exposed for 24 h to sublethal doses
      (2.5-10 MUm) of H2 O2 or control media. NFkappaB involvement was evaluated
      through immunofluorescence of p65 subunit, using the NFkappaB blocking peptide
      SN50 and catalase. Ca(2+) signals were analyzed by loading the cells with Fluo4
      AM and recording the fluorescence changes in a confocal microscope before and
      after the addition of H2 O2 . 1,2-bis(o-aminophenoxy) ethane-N,N,N',N'
      tetraacetic acid-acetoxymethyl was used to chelate intracellular Ca(2+) . The
      activity and levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were analyzed by gelatin zymogram and
      densitometric scanning, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively.
      Statistical analysis was performed with stata V11.1 software using the ANOVA
      test. RESULTS: H2 O2 at concentrations of 2.5-5 MUm induced Ca(2+) signaling and
      NFkappaB subunit p65 nuclear translocation, whereas catalase, SN50 and BAPTA-AM
      prevented p65 nuclear translocation. H2 O2 at 2.5-5 MUm significantly increased
      MMP-9 and MMP-2 activity, while SN50 resulted in lower MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity
      rates compared with controls. CONCLUSION: Sublethal H2 O2 induces Ca(2+) 
      dependent NFkappaB signaling with an increase in MMP gelatinolytic activity in
      human periodontal ligament.

PMID- 25824650
TI  - Addressing health system barriers to access to and use of skilled delivery
      services: perspectives from Ghana.
AB  - Poor access to and use of skilled delivery services have been identified as a
      major contributory factor to poor maternal and newborn health in sub-Saharan
      African countries, including Ghana. However, many previous studies that examine
      norms of childbirth and care-seeking behaviours have focused on identifying the
      norms of non-use of services, rather than factors, that can promote service use.
      Based on primary qualitative research with a total of 185 expectant and lactating
      mothers, and 20 healthcare providers in six communities in Ghana, this paper
      reports on strategies that can be used to overcome health system barriers to the
      use of skilled delivery services. The strategies identified include expansion and
      redistribution of existing maternal health resources and infrastructure, training
      of more skilled maternity caregivers, instituting special programmes to target
      women most in need, improving the quality of maternity care services provided,
      improving doctor-patient relationships in maternity wards, promotion of choice,
      protecting privacy and patient dignity in maternity wards and building
      partnerships with traditional birth attendants and other non-state actors. The
      findings suggest the need for structural changes to maternity clinics and routine
      nursing practices, including an emphasis on those doctor-patient relational
      practices that positively influence women's healthcare-seeking behaviours.
      Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID- 25824652
TI  - The addition of CD20 monoclonal antibodies to lenalidomide improves response
      rates and survival in relapsed/refractory patients with chronic lymphocytic
      leukaemia relative to lenalidomide monotherapy - the MD Anderson Cancer Center
      experience.

PMID- 25824651
TI  - Comprehensive data resources and analytical tools for pathological association of
      aminoacyl tRNA synthetases with cancer.
AB  - Mammalian cells have cytoplasmic and mitochondrial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases
      (ARSs) that catalyze aminoacylation of tRNAs during protein synthesis. Despite
      their housekeeping functions in protein synthesis, recently, ARSs and ARS
      interacting multifunctional proteins (AIMPs) have been shown to play important
      roles in disease pathogenesis through their interactions with disease-related
      molecules. However, there are lacks of data resources and analytical tools that
      can be used to examine disease associations of ARS/AIMPs. Here, we developed an
      Integrated Database for ARSs (IDA), a resource database including cancer
      genomic/proteomic and interaction data of ARS/AIMPs. IDA includes mRNA
      expression, somatic mutation, copy number variation and phosphorylation data of
      ARS/AIMPs and their interacting proteins in various cancers. IDA further includes
      an array of analytical tools for exploration of disease association of ARS/AIMPs,
      identification of disease-associated ARS/AIMP interactors and reconstruction of
      ARS-dependent disease-perturbed network models. Therefore, IDA provides both
      comprehensive data resources and analytical tools for understanding potential
      roles of ARS/AIMPs in cancers.

PMID- 25824656
TI  - Theoretical prediction of Am(iii)/Eu(iii) selectivity to aid the design of
      actinide-lanthanide separation agents.
AB  - Selective extraction of minor actinides from lanthanides is a critical step in
      the reduction of radiotoxicity of spent nuclear fuels. However, the design of
      suitable ligands for separating chemically similar 4f- and 5f-block trivalent
      metal ions poses a significant challenge. First-principles calculations should
      play an important role in the design of new separation agents, but their ability
      to predict metal ion selectivity has not been systematically evaluated. In this
      work, we examine the ability of several density functional theory methods to
      predict selectivity of Am(iii) and Eu(iii) with oxygen, mixed oxygen-nitrogen,
      and sulfur donor ligands. The results establish a computational method capable of
      predicting the correct order of selectivities obtained from liquid-liquid
      extraction and aqueous phase complexation studies. To allow reasonably accurate
      predictions, it was critical to employ sufficiently flexible basis sets and
      provide proper account of solvation effects. The approach is utilized to estimate
      the selectivity of novel amide-functionalized diazine and 1,2,3-triazole ligands.

PMID- 25824653
TI  - Genome-wide tests for introgression between cactophilic Drosophila implicate a
      role of inversions during speciation.
AB  - Models of speciation-with-gene-flow have shown that the reduction in
      recombination between alternative chromosome arrangements can facilitate the
      fixation of locally adaptive genes in the face of gene flow and contribute to
      speciation. However, it has proven frustratingly difficult to show empirically
      that inversions have reduced gene flow and arose during or shortly after the
      onset of species divergence rather than represent ancestral polymorphisms. Here,
      we present an analysis of whole genome data from a pair of cactophilic fruit
      flies, Drosophila mojavensis and D. arizonae, which are reproductively isolated
      in the wild and differ by several large inversions on three chromosomes. We found
      an increase in divergence at rearranged compared to colinear chromosomes. Using
      the density of divergent sites in short sequence blocks we fit a series of
      explicit models of species divergence in which gene flow is restricted to an
      initial period after divergence and may differ between colinear and rearranged
      parts of the genome. These analyses show that D. mojavensis and D. arizonae have
      experienced postdivergence gene flow that ceased around 270 KY ago and was
      significantly reduced in chromosomes with fixed inversions. Moreover, we show
      that these inversions most likely originated around the time of species
      divergence which is compatible with theoretical models that posit a role of
      inversions in speciation with gene flow.

PMID- 25824655
TI  - Guidelines for the cytopathologic diagnosis of epithelioid and mixed-type
      malignant mesothelioma. Complementary statement from the International
      Mesothelioma Interest Group, also endorsed by the International Academy of
      Cytology and the Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To provide practical guidelines for the cytopathologic diagnosis of
      malignant mesothelioma. DATA SOURCES: Cytopathologists with an interest in the
      field involved in the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG) and the
      International Academy of Cytology (IAC) contributed to this update. Reference
      material includes peer-reviewed publications and textbooks. RATIONALE: This
      article is the result of discussions during and after the IMIG 2012 conference in
      Boston, followed by thorough discussions during the 2013 IAC meeting in Paris.
      Additional contributions have been obtained from cytopathologists and scientists
      who could not attend these meetings, with final discussions and input during the
      IMIG 2014 conference in Cape Town.

PMID- 25824657
TI  - A Cell-Based Assay Reveals Nuclear Translocation of Intracellular Domains
      Released by SPPL Proteases.
AB  - During regulated intramembrane proteolysis (RIP) a membrane-spanning substrate
      protein is cleaved by an ectodomain sheddase and an intramembrane cleaving
      protease. A cytoplasmic intracellular domain (ICD) is liberated, which can
      migrate to the nucleus thereby influencing transcriptional regulation. Signal
      peptide peptidase-like (SPPL) 2a and 2b have been implicated in RIP of type II
      transmembrane proteins. Even though SPPL2a might represent a potential
      pharmacological target for treatment of B-cell-mediated autoimmunity, no specific
      and potent inhibitors for this enzyme are currently available. We report here on
      the first quantitative cell-based assay for measurement of SPPL2a/b activity.
      Demonstrating the failure of standard Gal4/VP16 reporter assays for SPPL2a/b
      analysis, we have devised a novel system employing beta-galactosidase (betaGal)
      complementation. This is based on detecting nuclear translocation of the
      proteolytically released substrate ICDs, which results in specific restoration of
      betaGal activity. Utilizing this potentially high-throughput compatible new
      setup, we demonstrate nuclear translocation of the ICDs from integral membrane
      protein 2B (ITM2B), tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and CD74 and identify secreted
      frizzled-related protein 2 (SFRP2) as potential transcriptional downstream target
      of the CD74 ICD. We show that the presented assay is easily adaptable to other
      intramembrane proteases and therefore represents a valuable tool for the
      functional analysis and development of new inhibitors of this class of enzymes. 

PMID- 25824658
TI  - 'Conditioning the heart' - lessons we have learned from the past and future
      perspectives for new and old conditioning 'drugs'.
AB  - LINKED ARTICLES: This article is part of a themed section on Conditioning the
      Heart - Pathways to Translation. To view the other articles in this section visit
      http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bph.2015.172.issue-8.

PMID- 25824654
TI  - Evidence for a Revised Ion/Substrate Coupling Stoichiometry of GABA Transporters.
AB  - Plasma membrane gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporters (GATs) are
      electrogenic transport proteins that couple the cotranslocation of Na(+), Cl(-),
      and GABA across the plasma membrane of neurons and glia. A fundamental property
      of the transporter that determines its ability to concentrate GABA in cells and,
      hence, regulate synaptic and extra-synaptic GABA concentrations, is the
      ion/substrate coupling stoichiometry. Here, we scrutinized the currently accepted
      2 Na(+):1 Cl(-):1 GABA stoichiometry because it is inconsistent with the measured
      net charge translocated per co-substrate (Na(+), Cl(-), and GABA). We expressed
      GAT1 and GAT3 in Xenopus laevis oocytes and utilized thermodynamic and uptake
      under voltage-clamp measurements to determine the stoichiometry of the GABA
      transporters. Voltage-clamped GAT1-expressing oocytes were internally loaded with
      GABA, and the reversal potential (V rev) of the transporter-mediated current was
      recorded at different external concentrations of Na(+), Cl(-), or GABA. The
      shifts in V rev for a tenfold change in the external Na(+), Cl(-), and GABA
      concentration were 84 +/- 4, 30 +/- 1, and 29 +/- 1 mV, respectively. To
      determine the net charge translocated per Na(+), Cl(-), and GABA, we measured
      substrate fluxes under voltage clamp in cells expressing GAT1 or GAT3. Charge
      flux to substrate flux ratios were 0.7 +/- 0.1 charge/Na(+), 2.0 +/- 0.2
      charges/Cl(-), and 2.1 +/- 0.1 charges/GABA. Altogether, our results strongly
      suggest a 3 Na(+):1 Cl(-):1 GABA coupling stoichiometry for the GABA
      transporters. The revised stoichiometry has important implications for
      understanding the contribution of GATs to GABAergic signaling in health and
      disease. 

PMID- 25824659
TI  - Green Space, Violence, and Crime: A Systematic Review.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the state of evidence on relationships among urban green
      space, violence, and crime in the United States. METHODS AND RESULTS: Major
      bibliographic databases were searched for studies meeting inclusion criteria.
      Additional studies were culled from study references and authors' personal
      collections. Comparison among studies was limited by variations in study design
      and measurement and results were mixed. However, more evidence supports the
      positive impact of green space on violence and crime, indicating great potential
      for green space to shape health-promoting environments. CONCLUSION: Numerous
      factors influence the relationships among green space, crime, and violence.
      Additional research and standardization among research studies are needed to
      better understand these relationships.

PMID- 25824660
TI  - Habitual sleeping position and asymmetric structural and functional loss in
      patients with open angle glaucoma.

PMID- 25824662
TI  - 2'-Hydroxy flavanone derivatives as an inhibitors of pro-inflammatory mediators:
      Experimental and molecular docking studies.
AB  - 2'-Hydroxy flavanone (1) was previously isolated from Mimosa pudica (L.) whole
      plant and was found to exhibit anti-inflammatory effects in vitro. There are also
      reports on anti-inflammatory properties of compounds bearing flavanone/chromone
      nucleus. Taking this into account, fourteen derivatives of 2'-hydroxy flavanone
      (1) were synthesized and evaluated against pro-inflammatory mediators (TNF-alpha,
      IL-1beta and NO) in in vitro and in vivo models. Results directed that among the
      synthesized compounds, four derivatives (11-14) showed profound inhibition of pro
      inflammatory mediators as compared to the lead molecule. Further, 11-14
      demonstrated comparable anti-inflammatory activity with ibuprofen in carrageenan
      induced rat paw edema assay and appreciable inhibition of lipopolysaccharide
      (LPS) induced pro-inflammatory mediators (TNF-alpha and IL-1beta) in Sprague
      Dawley (SD) rats. The synthesized compounds were further subjected to molecular
      docking analysis and in silico prediction of pharmacokinetic properties. 

PMID- 25824661
TI  - Designing synthetic vaccines for HIV.
AB  - Despite three decades of intensive research efforts, the development of an
      effective prophylactic vaccine against HIV remains an unrealized goal in the
      global campaign to contain the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Recent characterization of
      novel epitopes for inducing broadly neutralizing antibodies has fueled research
      in the design and synthesis of new, well-defined antigenic constructs for the
      development of HIV envelope-directed vaccines. The present review will cover
      previous and recent efforts toward the design of synthetic vaccines based on the
      HIV viral envelope glycoproteins, with special emphasis on examples from our own
      laboratories. The biological evaluation of some of the most representative
      vaccine candidates, in terms of their antigenicity and immunogenicity, will also
      be discussed to illustrate the current state-of-the-art toward the development of
      fully synthetic HIV vaccines. 

PMID- 25824663
TI  - Synthesis and biological evaluation of chalcone analogues as protective agents
      against cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity in kidney cells.
AB  - Chalcone analogues were prepared and evaluated for any renoprotective effects on
      cisplatin-treated cultured kidney cells (LLC-PK1); two chalcone analogues
      exhibited a potent renoprotective effect. In an additional study, we demonstrated
      that the blocking of MAPKs-p53-caspase-3 signaling cascade plays an important
      role in mediating the protective effect of these compounds against oxidative
      cytotoxicity in cultured LLC-PK1 cells. 

PMID- 25824664
TI  - Three new fusidic acid derivatives and their antibacterial activity.
AB  - Two steroid acids, cephalosporin P1 and isocephalosporin P1, were isolated from
      Hapsidospora irregularis FERM BP-2511. These compounds are structurally related
      to fusidic acid. Their NMR data were completely assigned on the basis of the 2D
      NMR spectra. Incubation of these two compounds with Microbacterium oxydans CGMCC
      1788 in Luria-Bertani broth yielded the same set of three new 3-dehydrogenated
      products, 3-keto-isocephalosporin P1, 3-keto-cephalosporin P1 and 6-deacetyl-3
      keto-cephalosporin P1. The final pH of the bacterial culture was 9.0. Incubation
      of 3-keto-isocephalosporin P1 or 3-keto-cephalosporin P1 in Tris-HCl buffer (pH
      9.0) revealed that these two compounds can convert to each other by shifting the
      acetyl group between C-6 and C-7. The acetyl group at C-6 or C-7 can also be
      removed by hydrolysis to yield the minor product 6-deacetyl-3-keto-cephalosporin
      P1. These fusidic acid derivatives were tested for the antibacterial activity
      against the Gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. 3-Keto-cephalosporin P1
      showed the highest activity among the five compounds, with a minimal inhibition
      concentration (MIC) of 4 MUg/mL, which is more potent than the substrate
      cephalosporin P1. Both cephalosporin P1 and 3-keto-cephalosporin P1 were active
      against methicillin-resistant S. aureus, with the same MIC of 8 MUg/mL.

PMID- 25824665
TI  - Biocompounds from rapeseed oil industry co-stream as active ingredients for skin
      care applications.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Despite the great number of substances produced by the skincare
      industry, very few of them seem to truly have an effect on the skin. Therefore,
      given the social implications surrounding physical appearance, the search for new
      bioactive compounds to prevent or attenuate skin ageing and enhance self-image is
      a priority of current research. In this context, being rich in valuable
      compounds, such as proteins, phenolics, lipids and vitamins, this study is
      focused on the potential activity of rapeseed press cake hydrolysates to be used
      as raw materials for skincare applications. METHODS: In this study, the protein
      rich press residue from the rapeseed oil industry was converted enzymatically
      into short-chain biologically active peptides using four protease products with
      varying substrate specificity - Alcalase 2.4L FG, Protex 6L, Protamex and
      Corolase 7089. The antioxidant, anti-wrinkle and anti-inflammatory activities of
      the obtained hydrolysates were evaluated in vitro while their biocompatibility
      with human skin fibroblasts was tested. RESULTS: All hydrolysates were
      biocompatible with skin fibroblasts after 24 h of exposure, while the non
      hydrolysed extract induced cell toxicity. Alcalase 2,4L FG and Protex 6L-obtained
      hydrolysates were the most promising extracts showing improved bioactivities
      suitable for skin anti-ageing formulations, namely antioxidant activity,
      inhibiting approximately 80% cellular reactive oxidative species, anti
      inflammatory and anti-wrinkle properties, inhibiting around 36% of
      myeloperoxidase activity and over 83% of elastase activity. CONCLUSION: The
      enzymatic technology applied to the rapeseed oil industry costream results in the
      release of bioactive compounds suitable for skincare applications.

PMID- 25824667
TI  - Trayless cafeterias lead diners to take less salad and relatively more dessert-
      ERRATUM.

PMID- 25824666
TI  - Plasmodium falciparum Werner homologue is a nuclear protein and its biochemical
      activities reside in the N-terminal region.
AB  - RecQ helicases, also addressed as a gatekeeper of genome, are an inevitable
      family of genome scrutiny proteins conserved from prokaryotes to eukaryotes and
      play a vital role in DNA metabolism. The deficiencies of three RecQ proteins out
      of five are involved in genetic abnormalities like Bloom syndrome (BS), Werner
      syndrome (WS), and Rothmund-Thomson syndrome (RTS). It is noteworthy that
      Plasmodium falciparum contains only two members of the RecQ family as opposed to
      five members present in the host Homo sapiens. In the present study, we report
      the biochemical characterization of the homologue of Werner (Wrn) helicase from
      P. falciparum 3D7 strain. Although there are significant sequence conservations
      between Wrn helicases of both H. sapiens and P. falciparum as well as among all
      the other Plasmodium species, they contain some peculiar differences also. In
      silico studies reveal that PfWrn is evolutionarily close to the bacterial RecQ
      protein. The N-terminal fragment (PfWrnN) contains all the helicase motifs along
      with all the functional domains and the predicted structure resembles with the
      human RecQ1 protein, whereas the C-terminal fragment (PfWrnC) contains no
      significant domain. Biochemical characterization further revealed that purified
      recombinant PfWrnN shows ATPase and DNA helicase activity in 3' to 5' direction,
      but PfWrnC lacks the ATPase and helicase activities. Immunofluorescence study
      shows that PfWrn is expressed in all the stages of intraerythrocytic development
      of the P. falciparum 3D7 strain and localizes distinctly in the nucleus. This
      study can be used for further characterization of RecQ helicases that will aid in
      understanding the physiological significance of these helicases in the malaria
      parasite. 

PMID- 25824668
TI  - Antibiotic utilization based on primary treatment of pediatric empyema.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chemical fibrinolysis has been shown to be as effective as surgical
      debridement for the treatment of pediatric empyema. However, no studies
      effectively evaluate antibiotic treatment. We evaluated antibiotic utilization
      among different treatments of pediatric empyema. METHODS: This is a retrospective
      review of 169 empyema patients who underwent chemical and/or mechanical
      fibrinolysis at a dedicated children's hospital from 2005-2013. Data points
      included duration of therapy, cultures, presence of necrosis or abscess, and
      adverse drug reactions. Immunocompromised patients and those with additional foci
      of infection were excluded. RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients underwent video
      assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), 123 had chemical fibrinolysis via tube
      thoracostomy with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), and 19 had tPA followed by
      VATS. The mean (+/- standard deviation) duration of total antibiotic therapy was
      25.7 +/- 6.5 d; following a 24 h afebrile period of 19.4 +/- 6.3 d. Patients who
      had tPA had a significantly shorter duration of parenteral antibiotic therapy
      when compared with primary VATS (9.2 +/- 3.6 d versus 11.6 +/- 5.5 d, P = 0.04)
      and VATS following tPA (9.2 +/- 3.6 d versus 14.3 +/- 8.1 d, P < 0.01). Patients
      with necrosis or abscess (n = 26) had an increased total duration of antibiotics
      (29.3 +/- 5.7 d versus 25.1 +/- 6.4 d, P < 0.01). Seventy patients (41%) had an
      adverse reaction related to antibiotic use. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with empyema
      currently receive a protracted variable course of antibiotic therapy influenced
      by primary treatment and the presence of necrosis or abscess. With a high
      incidence of adverse reactions, a standardized protocol with truncated treatment
      duration should be considered.

PMID- 25824670
TI  - Reactive oxygen species in psoriasis and psoriasis arthritis: relevance to human
      disease.
AB  - Psoriasis (Ps) is a chronic, immune-mediated, skin inflammatory disease affecting
      up to 3% of the population worldwide. Different environmental triggers initiate
      this complex multifactorial syndrome. Many individuals affected by Ps (6-26%)
      develop inflammatory disease in other organs, often in the joints as in psoriasis
      arthritis (PsA). Animal models that reflect the typical Ps syndrome, including
      both skin and joint pathology as in Ps and PsA, are valuable tools for dissecting
      disease pathways leading to clinical manifestations. In this context, we
      developed a new acute Ps and PsA-like disease model that appears after exposure
      to Saccharomyces cerevisiae mannan in certain mouse strains. The disease was
      found to be triggered by mannan-activated macrophages, leading to the activation
      of a pathogenic interleukin-17 pathway involving innate lymphocytes.
      Interestingly, the production of reactive oxygen species protected the mice from
      the triggering of this pathway and ameliorated Ps and PsA development.

PMID- 25824669
TI  - Staging studies have limited utility for newly diagnosed stage I-II breast
      cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For stage I-II breast cancer, routine radiologic staging in the
      absence of symptoms suggesting distant metastasis is not recommended. This study
      aims to determine the yield of these studies at a National Comprehensive Cancer
      Network member institution. METHODS: Patients presenting with clinical stage I-II
      breast cancer between 1998 and 2012 were identified in a prospective database.
      Charts were reviewed to document staging studies (computed tomography, bone scan,
      and positron emission tomography) performed within 6 mo of diagnosis. Results and
      additional diagnostic procedures were recorded. Appropriate statistical tests
      were used for the analysis. RESULTS: A total of 3291 patients were included (2044
      stage I and 1247 stage II). Eight hundred eighty-two patients (27%) received
      computed tomography, bone scan, or positron emission tomography within 6 mo of
      diagnosis. Three hundred twelve patients were stage I (15% of the stage I cohort)
      and 570 patients were stage II (46% of the stage II cohort). Patients receiving
      staging studies were more often younger and had estrogen receptor/progesterone
      receptor-negative or HER2/neu-positive tumors. Of the 882 patients, 194 (22%)
      required additional imaging and/or biopsies to further evaluate abnormalities.
      Only 11 of those (5%) were confirmed to have metastasis (1.2% of the imaged
      patients, 0.3% of the total cohort). Of these, 1 was stage I at presentation and
      10 were stage II. CONCLUSIONS: Identification of distant metastasis among stage I
      II patients was rare. Even among patients judged appropriate for staging, only
      1.2% were diagnosed with metastatic disease. These findings suggest that even at
      a National Comprehensive Cancer Network member institution staging studies are
      overused and lead to additional testing in over 20% of patients.

PMID- 25824671
TI  - Demystifying computer science for molecular ecologists.
AB  - In this age of data-driven science and high-throughput biology, computational
      thinking is becoming an increasingly important skill for tackling both new and
      long-standing biological questions. However, despite its obvious importance and
      conspicuous integration into many areas of biology, computer science is still
      viewed as an obscure field that has, thus far, permeated into only a few of the
      biology curricula across the nation. A national survey has shown that lack of
      computational literacy in environmental sciences is the norm rather than the
      exception [Valle & Berdanier (2012) Bulletin of the Ecological Society of
      America, 93, 373-389]. In this article, we seek to introduce a few important
      concepts in computer science with the aim of providing a context-specific
      introduction aimed at research biologists. Our goal was to help biologists
      understand some of the most important mainstream computational concepts to better
      appreciate bioinformatics methods and trade-offs that are not obvious to the
      uninitiated. 

PMID- 25824672
TI  - Donation after cardiac death liver transplantation: Graft quality evaluation
      based on pretransplant liver biopsy.
AB  - Donation after cardiac death (DCD) liver grafts are associated with inferior
      clinical outcomes and high discard rates because of poor graft quality. We
      investigated the predictive value of DCD liver biopsy for the pretransplant graft
      quality evaluation. DCD liver transplants that took place between October 2010
      and April 2014 were included (n = 127). Histological features of graft biopsy
      samples were analyzed to assess risk factors for graft survival. Macrovesicular
      steatosis >= 20% [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.973; P = 0.045] and sinusoidal
      neutrophilic infiltrate (HR = 6.969; P = 0.005) were confirmed as independent
      risk factors for graft survival; hepatocellular swelling, vacuolation, and
      necrosis failed to show prognostic value. Additionally, a donor serum total
      bilirubin level >= 34.2 MUmol/L was also associated with a lower probability of
      graft survival. Our analysis indicates that macrovesicular steatosis >= 20% and
      sinusoidal neutrophilic infiltrate are novel and useful histological markers for
      DCD liver grafts with unacceptable quality. This finding can be used by
      transplant surgeons to improve DCD liver acceptance protocols.

PMID- 25824673
TI  - Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of well-preserved Middle Pleistocene bone
      collagen from Schoningen (Germany) and their paleoecological implications.
AB  - Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in bone collagen can provide valuable
      information about the diet and habitat of mammal species. However, bone collagen
      degrades in normal circumstances very rapidly, and isotope analyses are therefore
      usually restricted to fossil material with a Late Pleistocene or Holocene age.
      The Middle Pleistocene site of Schoningen, dated to around 300,000 years ago,
      yielded bones and teeth with an exceptionally good state of collagen
      preservation. This allowed us to measure reliable biogenic carbon and nitrogen
      stable isotope ratios for different herbivorous taxa from the families
      Elephantidae, Rhinocerotidae, Equidae, Cervidae, and Bovidae. The results provide
      insights regarding the paleoenvironmental setting in which Middle Pleistocene
      hominins operated. The vegetation consumed by the herbivores from the famous
      spear horizon originates from open environments. During the climatic Reinsdorf
      Interglacial optimum, the landscape seems to have been relatively open as well,
      but certainly included parts that were forested. The results also indicate some
      niche partitioning; different herbivore species used different plant resources.
      For instance, the horses seem to have been predominantly browsers, while the
      straight-tusked elephants were feeding chiefly on grass.

PMID- 25824678
TI  - Therapy: Lenvatinib and radioiodine-refractory thyroid cancers.

PMID- 25824679
TI  - Diabetes: Dextromethorphan stimulates insulin secretion from pancreatic beta
      cells--a new role for an old drug?

PMID- 25824676
TI  - Hypothalamic innate immune reaction in obesity.
AB  - Findings from rodent and human studies show that the presence of inflammatory
      factors is positively correlated with obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Obesity
      associated inflammatory responses take place not only in the periphery but also
      in the brain. The hypothalamus contains a range of resident glial cells including
      microglia, macrophages and astrocytes, which are embedded in highly heterogenic
      groups of neurons that control metabolic homeostasis. This complex neural-glia
      network can receive information directly from blood-borne factors, positioning it
      as a metabolic sensor. Following hypercaloric challenge, mediobasal hypothalamic
      microglia and astrocytes enter a reactive state, which persists during diet
      induced obesity. In established mouse models of diet-induced obesity, the
      hypothalamic vasculature displays angiogenic alterations. Moreover,
      proopiomelanocortin neurons, which regulate food intake and energy expenditure,
      are impaired in the arcuate nucleus, where there is an increase in local
      inflammatory signals. The sum total of these events is a hypothalamic innate
      immune reactivity, which includes temporal and spatial changes to each cell
      population. Although the exact role of each participant of the neural-glial
      vascular network is still under exploration, therapeutic targets for treating
      obesity should probably be linked to individual cell types and their specific
      signalling pathways to address each dysfunction with cell-selective compounds. 

PMID- 25824681
TI  - Dyslipidaemia: Active BAT reduces atherosclerosis.

PMID- 25824680
TI  - Diabetes: Microvascular complications in T1DM and coeliac disease.

PMID- 25824682
TI  - Structural basis for incision at deaminated adenines in DNA and RNA by
      endonuclease V.
AB  - Deamination of the exocyclic amines in adenine, guanine and cytosine forms base
      lesions that may lead to mutations if not removed by DNA repair proteins.
      Prokaryotic endonuclease V (EndoV/Nfi) has long been known to incise DNA 3' to a
      variety of base lesions, including deaminated adenine, guanine and cytosine.
      Biochemical and genetic data implicate that EndoV is involved in repair of these
      deaminated bases. In contrast to DNA glycosylases that remove a series of
      modified/damaged bases in DNA by direct excision of the nucleobase, EndoV cleaves
      the DNA sugar phosphate backbone at the second phosphodiester 3' to the lesion
      without removing the deaminated base. Structural investigation of this unusual
      incision by EndoV has unravelled an enzyme with separate base lesion and active
      site pockets. A novel wedge motif was identified as a DNA strand-separation
      feature important for damage detection. Human EndoV appears inactive on DNA, but
      has been shown to incise various RNA substrates containing inosine. Inosine is
      the deamination product of adenosine and is frequently found in RNA. The
      structural basis for discrimination between DNA and RNA by human EndoV remains
      elusive. 

PMID- 25824684
TI  - A model system of the dynamic loading occurring in synovial joints: the
      biological effect of plowing on pristine cartilage.
AB  - Mechanical stress is listed as a main risk factor for cartilage degradation. The
      aim of this study was to investigate the biological response of cartilage to
      dynamic loading such as plowing. Cartilage strips harvested from bovine nasal
      septum were submitted to plowing using a cylindrical indenter, applying a
      constant normal force in the vertical axis and moving at constant speed in the
      horizontal axis. After plowing, cell viability, gene expression and
      glycosaminoglycan (GAG) release were measured with conventional assays. The cell
      viability assay and qRT-PCR showed that plowing induces cell death and matrix
      metalloproteinase 3 (MMP-3) upregulation. The addition of actinomycin D, before
      or after plowing, confirmed that plowing was responsible for the observed MMP-3
      upregulation. Even if the transcriptions of the tissue inhibitor of
      metalloproteinase (TIMP-1), aggrecan (Agg), collagen type I (Coll1), collagen
      type II (Coll2) and fibronectin (Fn) were not significantly affected by plowing,
      actinomycin D treatment revealed that plowing induces a strong increase in TIMP-1
      and Coll1 messenger RNA content and influences the gene regulation of Agg, Coll2
      and Fn. Furthermore, plowed cartilage explants exhibited enhanced GAG release.
      Application of hydroxamate MMP inhibitor after loading showed that plowing
      induces GAG release via the activation of catabolic enzymes. Plowing causes cell
      death of the chondrocytes closer to the surface as well as matrix damage,
      observed as GAG loss. Moreover, in healthy chondrocytes, plowing promotes the
      production and activation of catabolic enzymes like MMP-3.

PMID- 25824683
TI  - Structural mechanisms of plexin signaling.
AB  - Signaling through plexin, the major cell surface receptor for semaphorin, plays
      critical roles in regulating processes such as neuronal axon guidance,
      angiogenesis and immune response. Plexin is normally kept inactive in the absence
      of semaphorin. Upon binding of semaphorin to the extracellular region, plexin is
      activated and transduces signal to the inside of the cell through its cytoplasmic
      region. The GTPase Activating Protein (GAP) domain in the plexin cytoplasmic
      region mediates the major intracellular signaling pathway. The substrate
      specificity and regulation mechanisms of the GAP domain have only been revealed
      recently. Many intracellular proteins serve as either upstream regulators or
      downstream transducers by directly interacting with plexin. The mechanisms of
      action for some of these proteins also start to emerge from recent studies. We
      review here these advances in the mechanistic understanding of plexin
      intracellular signaling from a structural perspective. 

PMID- 25824686
TI  - meso-Dibenzoporphycene has a Large Bathochromic Shift and a Porphycene Framework
      with an Unusual cis Tautomeric Form.
AB  - meso-Monobenzoporphycene (mMBPc) and meso-dibenzoporphycene (mDBPc), in which one
      or two benzene moieties are fused at ethylene-bridged positions (meso-positions)
      of porphycene, were prepared in an effort to further delocalize the pi-electrons
      within the porphycene molecule. mMBPc and mDBPc were fully characterized by mass
      spectrometry, (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography. The
      longest-wavelength Q-bands of mMBPc and mDBPc are red-shifted by 92 nm and 418
      nm, respectively, compared to that of the unsubstituted porphycene (Pc).
      Electrochemical measurements indicate that the HOMO is destabilized and the LUMO
      is stabilized by the fused benzene moieties at the meso positions. Furthermore,
      both XPS and theoretical studies support the presence of a cis tautomeric form in
      the ground state of mDBPc, despite the fact that essentially all known porphycene
      derivatives adopt the trans tautomeric form.

PMID- 25824685
TI  - Very small embryonic-like stem cells are the elusive mouse endometrial stem cells
      -a pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Endometrium undergoes dramatic growth, breakdown and regeneration
      throughout reproductive period in mammals. Stem cells have been implicated in the
      process however their origin, nature, anatomical localization and
      characterization still remain obscure. Classical concept of presence of stem
      cells in the basal layer of endometrium was recently challenged when side
      population and label retaining cells were found to be distributed throughout
      endometrium. We have earlier reported very small embryonic-like stem cells
      (VSELs) in adult mammalian ovary and testis as a small population of cells with
      nuclear OCT-4 along with progenitors (spermatogonial stem cells and ovarian germ
      stem cells) with cytoplasmic OCT-4. Present study was undertaken to gauge
      presence of VSELs in bilaterally ovariectomized mouse uterus and their modulation
      by hormones. METHODS: Bilaterally ovariectomized mice were subjected to
      sequential estradiol and progesterone treatment in order to induce proliferation,
      differentiation and remodeling (regeneration). Stem cells were studied in tissue
      smears after H & E staining and after sorting using SCA-1 by immuno-localization
      and qRT-PCR studies (Oct-4A, Nanog and Sca-1). Flow cytometry studies were also
      undertaken to confirm the presence of VSELs in mouse uterus. RESULTS: Two
      distinct populations of stem cells with dark stained nucleus and high nucleo
      cytoplasmic ratio were detected in ovariectomized mouse uterus. These cells were
      sorted using SCA-1 and comprised smaller VSELs with nuclear expression of OCT-4
      and slightly bigger, more abundant progenitors termed as endometrial stem cells
      (EnSCs) with cytoplasmic OCT-4. RT-PCR studies showed presence of pluripotent
      transcripts (Oct-4, Sca-1) and flow cytometry confirmed the presence of 0.069% of
      LIN-/CD45-/SCA-1+ VSELs. These stem cells were distinctly regulated during
      endometrial growth, differentiation and regeneration as evidenced by qRT-PCR
      results. CONCLUSIONS: VSELs are present in normal uterus and also under
      conditions of atrophy induced by bilateral ovariectomy. Marked increase in EnSCs
      is associated with endometrial growth and regeneration. Further studies are
      warranted to define the niche for these stem cells and whether EnSCs arising from
      the pluripotent VSELs are common progenitors for epithelial and stromal cells or
      not remains to be addressed. Results of the present study will help in better
      understanding of endometrial pathologies and their management in the future.

PMID- 25824687
TI  - Perivascular deletion of murine Rac reverses the ratio of marrow arterioles and
      sinusoid vessels and alters hematopoiesis in vivo.
AB  - Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are localized within specialized
      microenvironments throughout the BM. Nestin-expressing (Nestin(+)) mesenchymal
      stromal cells (MSCs) are important in the perivascular space. Rac is critical for
      MSC cell shape in vitro, whereas its function in MSCs in vivo remains poorly
      characterized. We hypothesized that deletion of Rac in the Nestin(+) cells would
      perturb the perivascular space, altering HSC localization and hematopoiesis.
      Nestin-Cre-directed excision of Rac1 in Rac3(-/-) mice reduces Nestin(+) cells in
      the marrow. We observed a 2.7-fold decrease in homing of labeled wild-type
      hematopoietic cells into Rac1(Delta/Delta)Rac3(-/-) mice compared with control
      mice. Rac1(Delta/Delta)Rac3(-/-) mice demonstrated a marked decrease in
      arterioles and an increase in the number and volume of venous sinusoids in the
      marrow that was associated with a reduction in the numbers of
      immunophenotypically and functionally-defined long-term HSCs in the marrow, a
      decrease in colony-forming cells and a reduction in circulating progenitors. Rac
      deleted animals demonstrated a significant increase in trabecular bone. These
      data demonstrate that Rac GTPases play an important role in the integrity of
      perivascular space. Increased trabecular bone and sinusoidal space and decreased
      arteriolar volume in this model were associated with decreased HSC, underscoring
      the complexity of regulation of hematopoiesis in the perivascular space. 

PMID- 25824688
TI  - How I treat and manage strokes in sickle cell disease.
AB  - Neurologic complications are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in sickle
      cell disease (SCD). In children with sickle cell anemia, routine use of
      transcranial Doppler screening, coupled with regular blood transfusion therapy,
      has decreased the prevalence of overt stroke from ~11% to 1%. Limited evidence is
      available to guide acute and chronic management of individuals with SCD and
      strokes. Current management strategies are based primarily on single arm clinical
      trials and observational studies, coupled with principles of neurology and
      hematology. Initial management of a focal neurologic deficit includes evaluation
      by a multidisciplinary team (a hematologist, neurologist, neuroradiologist, and
      transfusion medicine specialist); prompt neuro-imaging and an initial blood
      transfusion (simple followed immediately by an exchange transfusion or only
      exchange transfusion) is recommended if the hemoglobin is >4 gm/dL and <10 gm/dL.
      Standard therapy for secondary prevention of strokes and silent cerebral infarcts
      includes regular blood transfusion therapy and in selected cases, hematopoietic
      stem cell transplantation. A critical component of the medical care following an
      infarct is cognitive and physical rehabilitation. We will discuss our strategy of
      acute and long-term management of strokes in SCD. 

PMID- 25824689
TI  - Pak2 restrains endomitosis during megakaryopoiesis and alters cytoskeleton
      organization.
AB  - Megakaryocyte maturation and polyploidization are critical for platelet
      production; abnormalities in these processes are associated with
      myeloproliferative disorders, including thrombocytopenia. Megakaryocyte
      maturation signals through cascades that involve p21-activated kinase (Pak)
      function; however, the specific role for Pak kinases in megakaryocyte biology
      remains elusive. Here, we identify Pak2 as an essential effector of megakaryocyte
      maturation, polyploidization, and proplatelet formation. Genetic deletion of Pak2
      in murine bone marrow is associated with macrothrombocytopenia, altered
      megakaryocyte ultrastructure, increased bone marrow megakaryocyte precursors, and
      an elevation of mature CD41(+) megakaryocytes, as well as an increased number of
      polyploid cells. In Pak2(-/-) mice, platelet clearance rate was increased, as was
      production of newly synthesized, reticulated platelets. In vitro, Pak2(-/-)
      megakaryocytes demonstrate increased polyploidization associated with alterations
      in beta1-tubulin expression and organization, decreased proplatelet extensions,
      and reduced phosphorylation of the endomitosis regulators LIM domain kinase 1,
      cofilin, and Aurora A/B/C. Together, these data establish a novel role for Pak2
      as an important regulator of megakaryopoiesis, polyploidization, and cytoskeletal
      dynamics in developing megakaryocytes. 

PMID- 25824690
TI  - Molecular insights into regulation of JAK2 in myeloproliferative neoplasms.
AB  - The critical role of Janus kinase-2 (JAK2) in regulation of myelopoiesis was
      established 2 decades ago, but identification of mutations in the pseudokinase
      domain of JAK2 in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and in other hematologic
      malignancies highlighted the role of JAK2 in human disease. These findings have
      revolutionized the diagnostics of MPNs and led to development of novel JAK2
      therapeutics. However, the molecular mechanisms by which mutations in the
      pseudokinase domain lead to hyperactivation of JAK2 and clinical disease have
      been unclear. Here, we describe recent advances in the molecular characterization
      of the JAK2 pseudokinase domain and how pathogenic mutations lead to constitutive
      activation of JAK2. 

PMID- 25824693
TI  - Robust Ag nanoplate ink for flexible electronics packaging.
AB  - Nanoinks are currently a topic of heightened interest with respect to low
      temperature bonding processes and printable electronics. We have developed an
      innovative polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-stabilized Ag nanoplate ink amenable to
      very strong low temperature packaging, and investigated the relationship between
      bonding strength and electrical conductivity post-bonding. PVP shell plastic
      deformations observed in failure microcracks with the formation of PVP
      nanofibers, revealed bonding strength at low temperatures (<250  degrees C) was
      primarily due to adhesive bonding. It is found that, utilizing photonic
      sintering, ~ 70  degrees C reduction of transformation temperature from adhesive
      to metallic bonding was achieved compared to that of thermal sintering. A
      numerical simulation was developed to better understand the influences of the
      light-induced heat generation, which demonstrated near-infrared light can
      facilitate sintering. Bonding strengths of 27 MPa were achieved at room
      temperatures, and 29.4 MPa at 210  degrees C with photonic sintering. Moreover,
      the anisotropic resistivity was observed with different thermal dependences.
      These results demonstrate Ag nanoplate inks have potential for low temperature 3D
      interconnections in lead-free microcircuits, flexible electronic packaging, and
      diverse sensing applications.

PMID- 25824695
TI  - Hypoxia regulates the expression and localization of CCAAT/enhancer binding
      protein alpha by hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha in bladder transitional
      carcinoma cells.
AB  - Hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) is overexpressed in various types of
      solid tumor in humans, including bladder cancer. HIF-1alpha regulates the
      expression of a series of genes, which are involved in cell proliferation,
      differentiation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, migration and invasion and represents a
      potential therapeutic target for the treatment of human cancer. Despite extensive
      investigation of the effects of HIF-1alpha in the progression and metastasis of
      bladder cancer, the possible regulatory mechanisms underlying the effects of HIF
      1alpha on bladder cancer cell proliferation and differentiation remain to be
      elucidated. It has been suggested that the transcription factor CCAAT/enhancer
      binding protein alpha (C/EBPalpha) acts as a tumor suppressor in several types of
      cancer cell, which are involved in regulating cell differentiation, proliferation
      and apoptosis. The present study confirmed that, in bladder cancer cells, the
      expression and localization of C/EBPalpha was regulated by hypoxia through an HIF
      1alpha -dependent mechanism, which may be significant in bladder cancer cell
      proliferation and differentiation. The 5637 and T24 bladder cancer cell lines
      were incubated under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. The expression levels of
      HIF-1alpha and C/EBPalpha were detected by reverse transcription-quantitative
      polymerase chain reaction, western blotting and immunofluorescence analysis. The
      results revealed that, under hypoxic conditions, the protein expression levels of
      HIF-1alpha were markedly upregulated, but the mRNA levels were not altered.
      However, the mRNA and protein levels of C/EBPalpha were significantly reduced.
      The present study further analyzed the subcellular localization of C/EBPalpha,
      which was markedly decreased in the nuclei under hypoxic conditions. Following
      HIF-1alpha small interference RNA silencing of HIF-1alpha, downregulation of
      C/EBPalpha was prevented in the bladder cancer cells cultured under hypoxic
      conditions. In addition, groups of cells treated with 3-(5'-hydroxymethyl-2'
      furyl)-1-benzylindazole, which inhibits the expression of HIF-1alpha in hypoxia,
      contributed to the inhibited expression of HIF-1alpha and enhanced expression of
      C/EBPalpha in hypoxic bladder cancer cells. These results suggested that
      C/EBPalpha was a downstream effector regulated by HIF-1alpha in hypoxic bladder
      cancer cells and that this regulatory pathway may represent a potential
      therapeutic target in the treatment of bladder cancer.

PMID- 25824696
TI  - Preparation of Ni@C-Cd(0.8)Zn(0.2)S nanocomposites with highly efficient and
      stable photocatalytic hydrogen production activity.
AB  - A series of carbon-coated Ni (Ni@C)-Cd0.8Zn0.2S nanocomposites were fabricated
      via a facile hydrothermal process using pre-prepared Ni@C as a starting material.
      The obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis diffuse
      reflectance absorption spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and
      electron microscopy. It was found that the introduction of Ni@C nanoparticles can
      improve both the visible light-induced photocatalytic H2 production activity and
      stability of the Cd0.8Zn0.2S solid solution, and the Ni nanoparticles
      encapsulated by several graphite-like carbon layers show high chemical and
      thermal stability. Among those products with various Ni@C contents, the 5 wt%
      Ni@C-Cd0.8Zn0.2S nanocomposite exhibits the maximum photoactivity (969.5 MUmol h(
      1)) for H2 production, which is ~3.10 times higher than that (312.6 MUmol h(-1))
      of pristine Cd0.8Zn0.2S. This significant enhancement in the photoactivity by
      loading Ni@C nanoparticles can be attributed to the metallic Ni in the Ni@C
      acting as a co-catalyst, while the graphite-like carbon shells acting as the
      Cd0.8Zn0.2S nanoparticles' support and electron acceptor, which causes an
      effective photogenerated carrier separation in space and an improvement in the
      photoactivity and stability for H2 production. The present findings demonstrate a
      cost reduction strategy by using a non-noble metal co-catalyst for efficient and
      stable light-to-hydrogen energy conversion. 

PMID- 25824694
TI  - Brain imaging in cooled encephalopathic neonates does not differ between four and
      11 days after birth.
AB  - AIM: The optimal timing of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in encephalopathic
      infants treated with hypothermia is unknown, and this study examined whether
      early scans differed from later scans. METHODS: We assessed paired MRI scans
      carried out on 41 cooled encephalopathic infants at a median of four and 11 days
      using two scoring systems: the Rutherford injury scores for the basal ganglia and
      thalami (BGT), white matter and the posterior limb of the internal capsule, and
      the Bonifacio injury scores for the BGT and watershed area. RESULTS: Both systems
      produced consistent injury severity scores in 37 of 41 infants on both days, with
      Rutherford scores predicting poor outcome in six early scans and seven later
      scans (K = 0.91) and Bonifacio doing the same in seven and nine scans (K = 0.85).
      A white matter/watershed score of two or a BGT score of one indicated severe
      changes by day 11 in three infants, but lower scores did not. CONCLUSION:
      Magnetic resonance imaging scans indicated that the Rutherford and Bonifacio
      systems produced similar scores in 37 of 41 cooled encephalopathic infants at a
      median of four and 11 days. Infants with an early white matter/watershed scores
      of two or a BGT score of one may worsen and should be rescanned.

PMID- 25824691
TI  - Activated protein C: biased for translation.
AB  - The homeostatic blood protease, activated protein C (APC), can function as (1) an
      antithrombotic on the basis of inactivation of clotting factors Va and VIIIa; (2)
      a cytoprotective on the basis of endothelial barrier stabilization and anti
      inflammatory and antiapoptotic actions; and (3) a regenerative on the basis of
      stimulation of neurogenesis, angiogenesis, and wound healing. Pharmacologic
      therapies using recombinant human and murine APCs indicate that APC provides
      effective acute or chronic therapies for a strikingly diverse range of
      preclinical injury models. APC reduces the damage caused by the following:
      ischemia/reperfusion in brain, heart, and kidney; pulmonary, kidney, and
      gastrointestinal inflammation; sepsis; Ebola virus; diabetes; and total lethal
      body radiation. For these beneficial effects, APC alters cell signaling networks
      and gene expression profiles by activating protease-activated receptors 1 and 3.
      APC's activation of these G protein-coupled receptors differs completely from
      thrombin's activation mechanism due to biased signaling via either G proteins or
      beta-arrestin-2. To reduce APC-associated bleeding risk, APC variants were
      engineered to lack >90% anticoagulant activity but retain normal cell signaling.
      Such a neuroprotective variant, 3K3A-APC (Lys191-193Ala), has advanced to
      clinical trials for ischemic stroke. A rich data set of preclinical knowledge
      provides a solid foundation for potential translation of APC variants to future
      novel therapies. 

PMID- 25824692
TI  - Alternative donor hematopoietic cell transplantation for Fanconi anemia.
AB  - Historically, alternative donor hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for
      Fanconi anemia (FA) patients resulted in excessive morbidity and mortality. To
      improve outcomes, we made sequential changes to the HCT conditioning regimen. A
      total of 130 FA patients (median age, 9.0 years; range, 1-48) underwent
      alternative donor HCT at the University of Minnesota between 1995 and 2012. All
      patients received cyclophosphamide (CY), single fraction total body irradiation
      (TBI), and antithymocyte globulin (ATG) with or without fludarabine (FLU),
      followed by T-cell-depleted bone marrow or unmanipulated umbilical cord blood
      transplantation. The addition of FLU enhanced engraftment 3-fold. The incidence
      of grades 2-4 acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease was 20% and 10%,
      respectively. Severe toxicity was highest in patients >10 years of age or those
      with a history of opportunistic infections or transfusions before HCT. Mortality
      was lowest in patients without a history of opportunistic infection or
      transfusions and who received conditioning with TBI 300 cGy, CY, FLU, and ATG.
      These patients had a probability of survival of 94% at 5 years. Alternative donor
      HCT is now associated with excellent survival for patients without prior
      opportunistic infections or transfusions and should be considered for all FA
      patients after the onset of marrow failure. These studies were registered at
      http://www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00005898, NCT00167206, and NCT00352976. 

PMID- 25824697
TI  - High-resolution determination of human immune cell signatures from fine-needle
      liver aspirates.

PMID- 25824698
TI  - An electric field induced reversible single-molecule fluorescence switch.
AB  - We report that by applying an electric field to a single squaraine-derived
      rotaxane (SR) molecule on bare glass, the fluorescence can be completely
      quenched. The molecule undergoes a reversible fluorescence switch between a zero
      field "on" state and a high-field "off" state, which is attributed to
      intramolecular electron transfer within the SR molecule. 

PMID- 25824700
TI  - Arrays of templated TiO2 nanofibres as improved photoanodes for water splitting
      under visible light.
AB  - Arrays of TiO2 nanofibres (NFs) were successfully prepared by template sol-gel
      synthesis, using track-etched polycarbonate membranes as structure directing
      agent. The control of the sol-gel kinetic was crucial in order to homogeneously
      fill the pores with a continuous framework. For this reason acetylacetone was
      added to the sol-gel mixture as chelating agent. The band edge positions of TiO2
      NFs were determined by a Mott-Schottky plot and diffuse reflectance analysis. The
      results support the presence of trace dopants which can act favorably with
      respect to the photoelectrochemical properties. The TiO2 NFs array showed
      enhanced photoelectrochemical activity both under UV light and visible light when
      used as photoanodes for the water splitting reaction. 

PMID- 25824699
TI  - The five steps of comprehensive psychosocial distress screening.
AB  - Despite the growing recognition of the impact psychosocial distress has on the
      quality of life of patients with cancer, the implementation of the National
      Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Distress Management Guidelines and the
      mandate of evidence-based policy for routine distress screening continue to lag.
      To speed adoption of the guideline, the American Psychosocial Oncology Society
      (APOS) and Yale School of Nursing (YSN) launched the Screening for Psychosocial
      Distress Program in 2014. The program resulted in the development of five steps
      necessary to carry out routine psychosocial distress screening. The steps are
      consistent with the NCCN Distress Management Guidelines and the new criterion for
      accreditation by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Commission on Cancer as
      of 2015. These five steps are as follows: (1) screening, (2) evaluating, (3)
      referring, (4) following up, and (5) documenting and quality improvement. The
      purpose of this article is to summarize the detailed procedure of the five steps
      for cancer care professionals-including oncologists, nurses, psychiatrists,
      psychologists, and social workers-so they can manage psychosocial distress
      efficiently in their own clinical environments. 

PMID- 25824702
TI  - Recruiting and retaining plasmapheresis donors: A critical belief analysis.
AB  - This paper identifies critical beliefs underpinning intentions to commence and
      continue plasmapheresis donation. Whole blood (n = 624) and first-time
      plasmapheresis (n = 460) donors completed a cross-sectional survey assessing the
      belief-base of the theory of planned behaviour and rated their plasmapheresis
      donation intentions. While the idea of red blood cells being returned was a key
      deterrent for all donors, critical beliefs underlying commencement and
      continuation in the plasmapheresis donor panel differed and varied as a function
      of blood donation history. Findings will assist the development of targeted
      persuasion messages to optimise recruitment and retention of plasmapheresis
      donors in a non-remunerated context. 

PMID- 25824703
TI  - Update on pathogen inactivation treatment of plasma, with the INTERCEPT Blood
      System: Current position on methodological, clinical and regulatory aspects.
AB  - After the INTERCEPT Blood System for pathogen inactivation (PI) of plasma was
      locally validated and approved and is now in routine use in Portugal, a
      conference was arranged in Portugal, by the IPST, in Coimbra, on 19th November
      2014. One of the presentations informed about the current status of the INTERCEPT
      technology for plasma and a subsequent round table discussion, focused on the
      methodological and logistical aspects as well as on the experience from clinical
      studies and routine therapeutic use of INTERCEPT treated plasma units. Moreover,
      in view of current interests, both the global regulatory issues and hemovigilance
      data obtained were highlighted. This manuscript provides a brief summary of what
      has been discussed during presentations and the Q/A round table session. It was
      agreed between speaker and the moderator of the session to report a consensus
      opinion on the importance of INTERCEPT to improve the safety of plasma products
      in a standardized way in terms of quality indicators of hemostasis and the
      clinical effectiveness as well as the reliability of the technology for plasma
      pathogen inactivation, to be reported as part of a theme section from Portugal
      and to be published in Transfusion Apheresis Science in early 2015. The session
      started showing the beneficial advantages of the INTERCEPT technology, which has
      already become the standard of practice in Portugal and in more than 20 other
      countries, and then highlighted some of the methodological and global
      quality/clinical aspects, which are not usually discussed. We hope the topic
      discussed here would be of interest to readers of Transfusion Apheresis Science. 

PMID- 25824704
TI  - Iron depletion in blood donors - Have extended erythrocyte and reticulocyte
      parameters diagnostic utility?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Blood donation is associated with iron depletion, but donor iron
      status is not usually investigated, as such tests are cumbersome and costly. It
      would therefore be desirable to have simple, fast and inexpensive tests that give
      information on a donor's risk of developing iron depletion. In a pilot study we
      investigated whether novel erythrocyte and reticulocyte parameters can serve this
      goal. METHODS: In regular blood donors extended red cell parameters were measured
      using the Abbott CELL-DYN Sapphire hematology analyzer and conventional
      biochemical tests of iron status. Donors were compared with a regionally matched
      group of non-donating controls. RESULTS: In the controls, the reference ranges of
      extended RBC parameters were well comparable to published data. Donors had
      significantly more microcytic RBC than controls (median 0.9 vs 0.6%), lower serum
      ferritin concentration (median 43 vs 91 mg/L) and higher soluble transferrin
      receptor/ferritin index (median 1.60 vs 1.27). Overall 18-28% of the donors were
      iron depleted. Moreover, 3.3% of donors had iron-restricted erythropoiesis.
      Microcytic RBC and reticulocyte mean cell hemoglobin content predicted iron
      depletion with 70% and 64% sensitivities and specificities of 72% and 78%,
      respectively. When combined these two parameters increased the sensitivity to
      82%. CONCLUSIONS: Our results in Swedish blood donors confirm a high prevalence
      of iron depletion, despite iron supplementation used by about half of the donors.
      Microcytic RBC and MCHr appeared to be helpful in identifying iron-depleted
      donors, who might benefit from iron supplementation. We recommend larger
      prospective investigations in order to confirm and extend the findings of this
      pilot study.

PMID- 25824705
TI  - Donor notification: Streamlining the existing enigmatic process: An experience
      from a tertiary care hospital in central Delhi, India.

PMID- 25824706
TI  - Film bulk acoustic resonators integrated on arbitrary substrates using a polymer
      support layer.
AB  - The film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) is a widely-used MEMS device which can be
      used as a filter, or as a gravimetric sensor for biochemical or physical sensing.
      Current device architectures require the use of an acoustic mirror or a
      freestanding membrane and are fabricated as discrete components. A new
      architecture is demonstrated which permits fabrication and integration of FBARs
      on arbitrary substrates. Wave confinement is achieved by fabricating the
      resonator on a polyimide support layer. Results show when the polymer thickness
      is greater than a critical value, d, the FBARs have similar performance to
      devices using alternative architectures. For ZnO FBARs operating at 1.3-2.2 GHz,
      d is ~9 MUm, and the devices have a Q-factor of 470, comparable to 493 for the
      membrane architecture devices. The polymer support makes the resonators
      insensitive to the underlying substrate. Yields over 95% have been achieved on
      roughened silicon, copper and glass. 

PMID- 25824707
TI  - Complementing reversed-phase selectivity with porous graphitized carbon to
      increase the metabolome coverage in an on-line two-dimensional LC-MS setup for
      metabolomics.
AB  - Efficient and robust separation methods are indispensable in modern LC-MS based
      metabolomics, where high-resolution mass spectrometers are challenged by isomeric
      and isobaric metabolites. The optimization of chromatographic separation hence
      remains an invaluable tool in the comprehensive analysis of the chemically
      diverse intracellular metabolome. While it is widely accepted that a single
      method with comprehensive metabolome coverage does not exist, the potential of
      combining different chromatographic selectivities in two-dimensional liquid
      chromatography is underestimated in the field. Here, we introduce a novel
      separation system combining reversed-phase and porous graphitized carbon liquid
      chromatography in a heart-cut on-line two-dimensional setup for mass
      spectrometry. The proposed experimental setup can be readily implemented using
      standard HPLC equipment with only one additional HPLC pump and a two-position six
      port valve. The method proved to be robust with excellent retention time
      stability (average 0.4%) even in the presence of biological matrix. Testing the
      presented approach on a test mixture of 82 relevant intracellular metabolites,
      the number of metabolites that are retained could be doubled as compared to
      reversed-phase liquid chromatography alone. The presented work further
      demonstrates how the distinct selectivity of porous graphitized carbon
      complements reversed-phase liquid chromatography and extends the metabolome
      coverage of conventional LC-MS based methods in metabolomics to biologically
      important, but analytically challenging compound groups such as sugar phosphates.
      Both metabolic profiling and metabolic fingerprinting benefit from this method's
      increased separation capabilities that enhance sample throughput and the
      biological information content of LC-MS data. An inter-platform comparison with
      GC- and LC-tandem MS analyses confirmed the validity of the presented two
      dimensional approach in the analysis of yeast cell extracts from P. pastoris. 

PMID- 25824708
TI  - Letter regarding Li JS et al. entitled "ERCC polymorphisms and prognosis of
      patients with osteosarcoma".
AB  - With great interest, we read the article "ERCC polymorphisms and prognosis of
      patients with osteosarcoma" (by Li JS et al.), which has reached important
      conclusions about the relationship between ERCC polymorphisms and osteosarcoma
      prognosis. Through quantitative analysis, the meta-analysis showed that ERCC2
      Lys751Gln (ORGG vs. AA = 0.40 (95%CI = 0.1-0.86), P heterogeneity = 0.502; I (2)
      = 0 %) and ERCC5 His46His (ORCC vs. TT = 0.37 (95%CI = 0.15-0.93), P
      heterogeneity = 0.569; I (2) = 0 %) polymorphisms might influence the prognosis
      of patients with osteosarcoma [1]. The meta-analysis results are encouraging.
      Nevertheless, some deficiencies still existed that we would like to raise.

PMID- 25824709
TI  - Dermatological manifestations resulting from 'sadhana': An acting out of delusion
      in a patient of schizophrenia.

PMID- 25824711
TI  - A new method to estimate catheter length for esophageal multichannel intraluminal
      impedance monitoring in children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Multichannel intraluminal impedance combined with pH (MII-pH) is the
      gold standard test for diagnosing gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD). It
      provides an opportunity to study acid and non-acid GOR and temporal association
      between symptoms and reflux. Accurate catheter placement is essential to prevent
      erroneous recording of reflux events. The aims of our study were to assess the
      accuracy of our devised method in predicting the catheter length for MII-pH in
      children (Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) Table) and to compare the results
      with Strobel and Monreau methods. METHODS: Retrospective review of all records of
      infants and children who underwent MII-pH studies between January to October
      2014. Desired catheter position was calculated using Strobel, Monreau and GOSH
      formulas and compared to X ray position. KEY RESULTS: One hundred and forty-four
      children were included; mean age was 5.1 (+/-4.5) years, 73 males and 71 females.
      In the whole group, the correlation between desired catheter position and GOSH
      Table was 0.95, for Strobel was 0.84, and Monreau was 0.85. In the first group
      (age <3 years), the correlation was: GOSH Table 0.91, Strobel 0.56, and Monreau
      0.6; in the second group (3-10 years): GOSH Table 0.78, Strobel 0.82, and Monreau
      0.82; the third group (>10 years): GOSH 0.81, Strobel 0.43, and Monreau 0.43.
      CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES: GOSH Table is an accurate method to estimate the
      insertion length of MII-pH catheters from nares to a point of approximately two
      vertebral bodies above the diaphragm in children. Although radiography is
      required to confirm final catheter position, using GOSH Table will reduce the
      need for repeated catheter manipulation after initial insertion and will reduce
      the use of a mathematically complicated formulae.

PMID- 25824710
TI  - Kif18a is specifically required for mitotic progression during germ line
      development.
AB  - Genome integrity in the developing germ line is strictly required for fecundity.
      In proliferating somatic cells and in germ cells, there are mitotic checkpoint
      mechanisms that ensure accurate chromosome segregation and euploidy. There is
      growing evidence of mitotic cell cycle components that are uniquely required in
      the germ line to ensure genome integrity. We previously showed that the primary
      phenotype of germ cell deficient 2 (gcd2) mutant mice is infertility due to germ
      cell depletion during embryogenesis. Here we show that the underlying mutation is
      a mis-sense mutation, R308K, in the motor domain of the kinesin-8 family member,
      KIF18A, a protein that is expressed in a variety of proliferative tissues and is
      a key regulator of chromosome alignment during mitosis. Despite the conservative
      nature of the mutation, we show that its functional consequences are equivalent
      to KIF18A deficiency in HeLa cells. We also show that somatic cells progress
      through mitosis, despite having chromosome alignment defects, while germ cells
      with similar chromosome alignment defects undergo mitotic arrest and apoptosis.
      Our data provide evidence for differential requirements for chromosome alignment
      in germ and somatic cells and show that Kif18a is one of a growing number of
      genes that are specifically required for cell cycle progression in proliferating
      germ cells. 

PMID- 25824713
TI  - [E. Quarello et F. Jacquemard in reply to the article by M. Constant: Nuchal
      translucency: not so simple! Gynecol Obstet Fertil 2014;42:820-21].

PMID- 25824712
TI  - Comparison of apical microleakage of dual-curing resin cements with fluid
      filtration and dye extraction techniques.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Endodontically treated teeth with excessive loss of tooth structure
      are frequently restored using fiber posts. In this in vitro study, the apical
      leakage of self- and dual-activated curing modes for dual-curing resins cementing
      a translucent fiber post was evaluated using computerized fluid filtration meter
      and dye extraction method. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and four extracted
      human maxillary incisors with single root and canal were used. Experimental
      samples embedded in a closed system were divided into 4 groups (n=20) according
      to 2 dual-curing luting systems, with 2 different curing modes (either with self-
      or light-activation): (1) Panavia F 2.0 with self-cure, (2) Panavia F 2.0 with
      light-activation, (3) Clearfill SA with self-cure, and (4) Clearfill SA with
      light activation. Twenty-four teeth served as negative and positive controls.
      Translucent fiber posts were luted in the roots except in the control groups.
      RESULTS: Statistical analysis indicated no significant difference in leakage
      among groups (p>0.05) with 4.12 * 10(-4) (Panavia self-cure), 4.55 * 10(-4)
      (Clearfill SA self-cure), 5.17 * 10(-4) (Panavia dual-cure), and 5.59 * 10(-4)
      (Clearfill SA dual-cure) in fluid-filtration method. Absorbance values for dye
      extraction method were 266 nanometer (nm) (Panavia self-cure), 268 nm (Clearfill
      SA self-cure), 270 nm (Panavia dual-cure), and 271 nm (Clearfill SA dual-cure),
      in which difference among the groups were not statistically significant (p>0.05).
      When comparing the leakage, assessment methods results showed no statistically
      significant difference between the tested evaluation techniques (p>0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: Light- and self-activation curing modes of Panavia F 2.0 and
      Clearfill SA perform similar to each other in a closed system.

PMID- 25824714
TI  - [Oncogenetics in the management of ovarian cancer: State-of-the art].

PMID- 25824715
TI  - [Maternal obesity and pregnancy outcome].

PMID- 25824716
TI  - Long-term results of incus vibroplasty in patients with moderate-to-severe
      sensorineural hearing loss.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The principal aim of this study was to assess the safety and
      effectiveness of the middle ear implant Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) in patients
      with moderate-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss up to a mean (+/- standard
      deviation) duration of 11.1 +/- 2.1 years (min. = 8.2, max. = 13.9, n = 16) after
      the intervention. DESIGN: This was a retrospective, single-subject repeated
      measurements study over a long-term period. A total of 104 German-speaking adults
      (for 122 implants) were included in this study (54 male, 50 female). The mean age
      at implantation was 54.5 years (min. = 19.0, max. = 80.4). Audiological outcome
      and speech intelligibility were assessed in all VSB patients at different time
      points in non-overlapping groups. RESULTS: Bone conduction (BC) thresholds were
      preserved after the implantation and no indication was found of an increase over
      time of the small air-bone gaps introduced by the implantation. BC and air
      conduction thresholds worsened similarly in both implanted and non-implanted ears
      over time. The decrease in audiological benefit provided by the VSB was moderate
      and the Word Recognition Score in quiet conditions at 65 dB SPL was still largely
      improved with the VSB in the longest observed group. CONCLUSIONS: These results
      confirm that the VSB does not affect the integrity of the inner/middle ear and is
      still beneficial in long-term follow-up.

PMID- 25824717
TI  - The utility of mouse models to provide information regarding the pathomolecular
      mechanisms in human genetic skeletal diseases: The emerging role of endoplasmic
      reticulum stress (Review).
AB  - Genetic skeletal diseases (GSDs) are an extremely diverse and complex group of
      rare genetic diseases that primarily affect the development and homeostasis of
      the osseous skeleton. There are more than 450 unique and well-characterised
      phenotypes that range in severity from relatively mild to severe and lethal
      forms. Although individually rare, as a group of related genetic diseases, GSDs
      have an overall prevalence of at least 1 per 4,000 children. Qualitative defects
      in cartilage structural proteins result in a broad spectrum of both recessive and
      dominant GSDs. This review focused on a disease spectrum resulting from mutations
      in the non-collagenous glycoproteins, cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP)
      and matrilin-3, which together cause a continuum of phenotypes that are amongst
      the most common autosomal dominant GSDs. Pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH) and
      autosomal dominant multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED) comprise a disease
      spectrum characterised by varying degrees of disproportionate short stature,
      joint pain and stiffness and early-onset osteoarthritis. Over the past decade,
      the generation and deep phenotyping of a range of genetic mouse models of the
      PSACH and MED disease spectrum has allowed the disease mechanisms to be
      characterised in detail. Moreover, the generation of novel phenocopies to model
      specific disease mechanisms has confirmed the importance of endoplasmic reticulum
      (ER) stress and reduced chondrocyte proliferation as key modulators of growth
      plate dysplasia and reduced bone growth. Finally, new insight into related
      musculoskeletal complications (such as myopathy and tendinopathy) has also been
      gained through the in-depth analysis of targeted mouse models of the PSACH-MED
      disease spectrum.

PMID- 25824718
TI  - Cadherin-11 involves in synovitis and increases the migratory and invasive
      capacity of fibroblast-like synoviocytes of osteoarthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To detect the expression of cadherin-11 and its correlation with
      synovitis in osteoarthritis (OA), to explore the mechanism of over expression of
      cadherin-11 and its role in migratory or invasive capacity of fibroblast-like
      synoviocytes (FLS). METHODS: Synovitis severity was recorded according to Krenn's
      scoring system in 25 osteoarthritis patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty.
      Cadherin-11 expression in OA synoviums and its correlation with synovitis score
      and systemic inflammation markers were explored. After induction with Interleukin
      1 beta (IL-1beta) or tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha),cadherin-11
      expression on OA FLS was assessed by qPCR and western blot,the capacity of
      migration and invasion of OA FLS was tested by transwell assay, and matrix
      metalloproteinase-2 production was assessed with ELISA as cadherin-11 expression
      was up regulated after infection with cadherin-11 cDNA-containing lentivirus,
      also when cadherin-11 expression was knocked down after infection with cadherin
      11 shRNA containing lentivirus. RESULTS: Cadherin-11 expression in OA synovium
      showed significant differences among different grades of synovitis. Cadherin-11
      in the lining layer was positively correlated with hyperplasia of the lining
      layer, density of the resident cells, inflammatory infiltrate, total synovitis
      score and D-dimer. Cadherin-11 in the sublining layer was positively correlated
      with the density of the resident cells, inflammatory infiltrate, total synovitis
      score and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. IL-1beta or TNF-alpha could up-regulate
      cadherin-11 expression on OA FLS at transcriptional and protein level. Over
      expression of cadherin-11 increased migratory or invasive capacity of OA FLS,
      while cadherin-11 knock down reduced migratory or invasive capacity and MMP-2
      production in OA FLS. CONCLUSION: The over expression of cadherin-11 in
      osteoarthritis is positively correlated with synovitis severity, and can be
      driven by proinflammatory cytokines on OA FLS; cadherin-11 increases migratory or
      invasive capacity and MMP-2 production of fibroblast-like synoviocytes of
      osteoarthritis.

PMID- 25824721
TI  - A Prospective Controlled Nonrandomized Trial of Robotic Versus Open Radical
      Prostatectomy: On Point but Still Missed?

PMID- 25824720
TI  - A Systematic Review of Immunotherapy in Urologic Cancer: Evolving Roles for
      Targeting of CTLA-4, PD-1/PD-L1, and HLA-G.
AB  - CONTEXT: Overexpression of immune checkpoint molecules affects tumor-specific T
      cell immunity in the cancer microenvironment, and can reshape tumor progression
      and metastasis. Antibodies targeting checkpoints could restore antitumor immunity
      by blocking the inhibitory receptor-ligand interaction. OBJECTIVE: To analyze
      data and current trends in immune checkpoint targeting therapy for urologic
      cancers. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Systematic literature search for clinical trials
      in the PubMed and Cochrane databases up to August 2014 according to Preferred
      Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines. Endpoints
      included oncologic results, tumor response rates, safety, and tolerability.
      EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Anti-CTLA-4 monotherapy has demonstrated biochemical
      responses in prostate cancer. One phase 3 trial assessing ipilimumab efficacy in
      castration-resistant disease was negative overall. Nevertheless, ipilimumab may
      significantly improve overall survival compared with placebo in subgroups of
      patients with favorable prognostic features. In renal cancer, phase 1 trials
      showed interesting stabilization or long-lasting objective response rates
      approaching 50% using anti-PD-1/PD-L1 drugs in heavily pretreated metastatic
      patients. In bladder cancer, one phase 2 trial indicated a good safety profile
      for ipilimumab as a neoadjuvant drug before radical cystectomy. Overall, immune
      related effects such as colitis and dermatitis were common and well tolerated.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our systematic review shows that antibodies blocking immune
      checkpoints offer interesting and long-lasting response rates in heavily
      pretreated patients with advanced urologic cancers. More promising results are
      currently provided by anti-CTLA-4 antibodies in prostate cancer and by PD-1/PD-L1
      inhibitors in renal cancer. These should encourage new clinical trials of immune
      therapy combinations and immunotherapy monotherapy combined with conventional
      anticancer drugs. In bladder cancer, the use of targeted immunotherapy still
      remains underevaluated; however, preliminary results reported at recent
      conferences seem encouraging. PATIENT SUMMARY: Data from studies support the
      activity and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors in urologic cancers, alone or
      in combination with conventional cancer therapies. Encouraging data in other
      oncologic fields could translate into interesting responses in urological
      cancers.

PMID- 25824719
TI  - Immune complexes regulate bone metabolism through FcRgamma signalling.
AB  - Autoantibody production and immune complex (IC) formation are frequently observed
      in autoimmune diseases associated with bone loss. However, it has been poorly
      understood whether ICs regulate bone metabolism directly. Here we show that the
      level of osteoclastogenesis is determined by the strength of FcRgamma signalling,
      which is dependent on the relative expression of positive and negative FcgammaRs
      (FcgammaRI/III/IV and IIB, respectively) as well as the availability of their
      ligands, ICs. Under physiological conditions, unexpectedly, FcgammaRIII inhibits
      osteoclastogenesis by depriving other osteoclastogenic Ig-like receptors of
      FcRgamma. Fcgr2b(-/-) mice lose bone upon the onset of a hypergammaglobulinemia
      or the administration of IgG1 ICs, which act mainly through FcgammaRIII. The IgG2
      IC activates osteoclastogenesis by binding to FcgammaRI and FcgammaRIV, which is
      induced under inflammatory conditions. These results demonstrate a link between
      the adaptive immunity and bone, suggesting a regulatory role for ICs in bone
      resorption in general, and not only in inflammatory diseases. 

PMID- 25824722
TI  - Microscopic observation of chemical modification in sections using scanning
      acoustic microscopy.
AB  - A scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) calculates the speed of sound (SOS) through
      tissues and plots the data on the screen to form images. Hard tissues result in
      greater SOS; based on these differences in tissue properties regarding SOS, SAM
      can provide data on tissue elasticity. The present study evaluated whether tissue
      modifications, such as formalin fixation, periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) reactions
      and protein degradation, changed the acoustic properties of the tissues and
      whether SAM could be a useful tool for following chemical changes in sections.
      The fixation process was observable by the increased SOS. During the PAS
      reaction, the glycosylation of tissues was characterized by an increased SOS.
      Mucous or glycogen distribution was visualized and was found to be statistically
      comparable among lesions and states. Protease digestion by pepsin led to a
      decreased SOS. Tissue sensitivity to proteases varied due to the stage, cause and
      duration of inflammation or ageing. Changes in acoustic properties were more
      sensitive than those in optical histology. SAM facilitates the visualisation of
      the time course or distribution of chemical modifications in tissue sections,
      thus aiding their comparison among tissues. SAM may be an effective tool for
      studying changes such as protein cross-linkage, tissue repair and ageing. 

PMID- 25824723
TI  - Effect of orthodontic treatment with preadjusted edgewise appliances on the
      buccolingual inclination of mandibular canines: a CBCT study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of treatment with preadjusted edgewise
      appliances on the buccolingual inclination of mandibular canines and the
      intercanine distance. SETTING AND SAMPLE POPULATION: The Division of Orthodontics
      at the University of Minnesota. Thirty patients whose treatment included
      extraction of mandibular first premolars and 30 patients whose treatment did not
      include extractions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The buccolingual inclination of
      mandibular canines and their linear distance were measured on cone beam computed
      tomograms before and after treatment in both patient groups. Differences between
      extraction and non-extraction groups and between pre- and post-treatment
      measurements were tested for statistical significance, and the correlation
      between the buccolingual inclination and the intercanine distance was computed.
      RESULTS: Post-treatment, the buccolingual inclination of mandibular canines was
      significantly greater in the non-extraction group than in the extraction group.
      In both groups, the canines became more lingually inclined with treatment (non
      extraction group: -2.1 degrees ; extraction group: -4.1 degrees ). The
      intercanine distance increased significantly in the extraction group (+1.2 mm)
      but not in the non-extraction group (-0.5 mm). While there was a significant
      positive correlation between the buccolingual inclination and the mandibular
      intercanine distance in both groups before treatment, after treatment this
      correlation was significant only in the non-extraction group. CONCLUSION:
      Orthodontic treatment with preadjusted edgewise appliances results in more
      lingually inclined mandibular canines together with an increased intercanine
      distance, especially in patients whose treatment involves the extraction of
      mandibular first premolars.

PMID- 25824724
TI  - Genomic diversification and virulence features in SPM-1-producing Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa 13 years later.

PMID- 25824725
TI  - Development and clinical evaluation of a highly accurate dengue NS1 rapid test:
      from the preparation of a soluble NS1 antigen to the construction of an RDT.
AB  - Early diagnosis of dengue virus (DENV) is important. There are numerous products
      on the market claiming to detect DENV NS1, but these are not always reliable. In
      this study, a highly sensitive and accurate rapid diagnostic test (RDT) was
      developed using anti-dengue NS1 monoclonal antibodies. A recombinant NS1 protein
      was produced with high antigenicity and purity. Monoclonal antibodies were raised
      against this purified NS1 antigen. The RDT was constructed using a capturing
      (4A6A10, Kd=7.512+/-0.419*10(-9)) and a conjugating antibody (3E12E6, Kd=7.032+/
      0.322*10(-9)). The diagnostic performance was evaluated with NS1-positive
      clinical samples collected from various dengue endemic countries and compared to
      SD BioLine Dengue NS1 Ag kit. The constructed RDT exhibited higher sensitivity
      (92.9%) with more obvious diagnostic performance than the commercial kit (83.3%).
      The specificity of constructed RDT was 100%. The constructed RDT could offer a
      reliable point-of-care testing tool for the early detection of dengue infections
      in remote areas and contribute to the control of dengue-related diseases. 

PMID- 25824726
TI  - beta3-integrin inhibits lipopolysaccharide-induced autophagy in cardiomyocytes
      via the Akt signaling pathway.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of beta 3 -integrin in lipopolysaccharide
      (LPS)-induced autophagy in cardiomyocytes and its underlying mechanism. METHODS:
      beta 3 -Integrin expression in cardiomyocytes was up- or downregulated by
      adenovirus transfection or cyclic arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (cRGD) peptide
      treatment before LPS stimulation. The expression of autophagy-associated proteins
      (LC3-II, Beclin-1 and Bcl-2) and the activation of Akt were determined using
      Western blotting. Autophagosomes and autophagic vacuoles were observed using
      monodansylcadaverine (MDC) dye and transmission electron microscopy,
      respectively. RESULTS: Downregulation of beta 3 -integrin with cRGD peptide
      resulted in enhanced LC3-II and Beclin-1 and decreased Bcl-2 expression. Low
      Beclin-1 levels were detected after LPS stimulation in adenovirus beta 3 
      integrin-transfected cardiomyocytes. There was no significant difference in LC3
      II levels between control and adenovirus beta 3 -integrin-transfected
      cardiomyocytes. Enhanced accumulation of MDC dye and autophagosomes, which were
      inhibited by beta 3 -integrin overexpression, were detected after LPS treatment.
      The increased phosphorylation of Akt after LPS stimulation was inhibited by cRGD
      and enhanced by beta 3 -integrin overexpression. Furthermore, the Akt inhibitor
      triciribine inhibited the negative effect of beta 3 - integrin on autophagy, as
      shown by LC3-II and Beclin-1 upregulation. CONCLUSIONS: beta 3 -Integrin inhibits
      LPS-induced autophagy in cardiomyocytes. The inhibition of Akt signaling might be
      an important mechanism in this process.

PMID- 25824727
TI  - RET proto oncogene mutation detection and medullary thyroid carcinoma prevention.
AB  - Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine neoplasia. The medullary thyroid
      carcinoma (MTC) is one of the most aggressive forms of thyroid
      malignancy,accounting for up to 10% of all types of this disease. The mode of
      inheritance of MTC is autosomal dominantly and gain of function mutations in the
      RET proto-oncogene are well known to contribute to its development. MTC occurs as
      hereditary (25%) and sporadic (75%) forms. Hereditary MTC has syndromic (multiple
      endocrine neoplasia type 2A, B; MEN2A, MEN2B) and non-syndromic (Familial MTC,
      FMTC) types. Over the last two decades, elucidation of the genetic basis of
      tumorigenesis has provided useful screening tools for affected families. Advances
      in genetic screening of the RET have enabled early detection of hereditary MTCs
      and prophylactic thyroidectomy for relatives who may not show any symptom sof the
      disease. In this review we emphasize the main RET mutations in syndromic and non
      syndromic forms of MTC, and focus on the importance of RET genetic screening for
      early diagnosis and management of MTC patients, based on American Thyroid
      Association guidelines and genotype-phenotype correlation. 

PMID- 25824728
TI  - Coevolution between human's anticancer activities and functional foods from crop
      origin center in the world.
AB  - Cancer is the leading cause of death around the world. Anticancer activities from
      many functional food sources have been reported in years, but correlation between
      cancer prevalence and types of food with anticancer activities from crop origin
      center in the world as well as food source with human migration are unclear.
      Hunger from food shortage is the cause of early human evolution from Africa to
      Asia and later into Eurasia. The richest functional foods are found in crop
      origin centers, housing about 70% in the world populations. Crop origin centers
      have lower cancer incidence and mortality in the world, especially Central Asia,
      Middle East, Southwest China, India and Ethiopia. Asia and Africa with the
      richest anticancer crops is not only the most important evolution base of humans
      and origin center of anticancer functional crop, but also is the lowest mortality
      and incidence of cancers in the world. Cancer prevention of early human
      migrations was associated with functional foods from crop origin centers,
      especially Asia with four centers and one subcenter of crop origin, accounting
      for 58% of the world population. These results reveal that coevolution between
      human's anticancer activities associated with functional foods for crop origin
      centers, especially in Asia and Africa. 

PMID- 25824730
TI  - Multifaceted usage of HPV related tests and products in the management of
      cervical cancer--a review.
AB  - HPV viruses are integral to the development of cervical cancer. The pathogenesis
      has been extensively studied. To date, numerous HPV tests and products have been
      developed and successfully utilized in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of
      cervical cancer. The HPV DNA test, when combined with other routine cervical
      cancer screening and diagnostic tests namely exfoliative cytology, visual
      inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and colposcopy has increased the detection rate
      of cervical cancer. HPV DNA products could also be measured in other body fluids
      like urine, lymph node tissue, and serum. HPV association could also be
      quantified by measuring other parameters like HPV mRNA, viral load, viral
      integration and methylation status. Vaccination against HPV has been found to
      decrease the incidence of cervical cancer. Further, therapeutic vaccines for
      cervical cancer against HPV continue to evolve. All these findings pertaining to
      HPV could possibly decrease the incidence of cervical cancer in the near future.
      This review aims to give an overview of the HPV tests and products in use and
      those under trial currently. 

PMID- 25824729
TI  - Molecular mechanisms of apoptosis and roles in cancer development and treatment.
AB  - Programmed cell death (PCD) or apoptosis is a mechanism which is crucial for all
      multicellular organisms to control cell proliferation and maintain tissue
      homeostasis as well as eliminate harmful or unnecessary cells from an organism.
      Defects in the physiological mechanisms of apoptosis may contribute to different
      human diseases like cancer. Identification of the mechanisms of apoptosis and its
      effector proteins as well as the genes responsible for apoptosis has provided a
      new opportunity to discover and develop novel agents that can increase the
      sensitivity of cancer cells to undergo apoptosis or reset their apoptotic
      threshold. These novel targeted therapies include those targeting anti-apoptotic
      Bcl-2 family members, p53, the extrinsic pathway, FLICE-inhibitory protein (c
      FLIP), inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) proteins, and the caspases. In recent years a
      number of these novel agents have been assessed in preclinical and clinical
      trials. In this review, we introduce some of the key regulatory molecules that
      control the apoptotic pathways, extrinsic and intrinsic death receptors, discuss
      how defects in apoptotic pathways contribute to cancer, and list several agents
      being developed to target apoptosis. 

PMID- 25824731
TI  - Advances in the management of unresectable or metastatic pancreatic
      neuroendocrine tumors: chemotherapy, targeted therapy, hormonal treatment, and
      future directions.
AB  - Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) are rare and heterogenous tumors and
      surgery to remove the primary tumor is the mainstay of treatment for resectable
      disease. However, curative surgery is often not feasible, because half of
      patients with pNET have metastases at the time of diagnosis. Palliative dubulking
      surgery and liver-directed therapies are appropriate options for these patients.
      Streptozocin-based regimens are standard, although temozolamide-based treatments
      are rapidly gaining wide clinical application. Somatostatin analogs are mainly
      indicated in hormonally active tumors to ameliorate symptoms. In addition, anti
      tumoral activity has been proven in well-differentiated NETs. Recently, there has
      been tremendous progress in the molecular biology of pNETs; thereby, the efficacy
      of sunitinib and everolimus in the treatment of patients with metastatic pNETs
      has been proven by large placebo-controlled phase III trials. Currently, there
      are no definitively proven predictive biomarkers to evaluate response to medical
      therapies in patients with pNET. Therefore, further studies are needed to
      individualize and optimize their management. This article reviews systemic
      chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and anti-secretory treatments for the
      management of patients with unresectable or metastatic pNETs, summarized in the
      light of recent advances. 

PMID- 25824732
TI  - Sequence to structure approach of estrogen receptor alpha and ligand
      interactions.
AB  - Estrogen receptors (ERs) are steroid receptors located in the cytoplasm and on
      the nuclear membrane. The sequence similarities of human ERalpha, mouse ERalpha,
      rat ERalpha, dog ERalpha, and cat ERalpha are above 90%, but structures of
      ERalpha may different among species. Estrogen can be agonist and antagonist
      depending on its target organs. This hormone play roles in several diseases
      including breast cancer. There are variety of the relative binding affinity (RBA)
      of ER and estrogen species in comparison to 17beta-estradiol (E2), which is a
      natural ligand of both ERalpha and ERbeta. The RBA of the estrogen species are as
      following: diethyl stilbestrol (DES)>hexestrol>dienestrol>17beta-estradiol
      (E2)>17-estradiol>moxestrol>estriol (E3)>4-OH estradiol>estrone-3-sulfate.
      Estrogen mimetic drugs, selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), have been
      used as hormonal therapy for ER positive breast cancer and postmenopausal
      osteoporosis. In the postgenomic era, in silico models have become effective
      tools for modern drug discovery. These provide three dimensional structures of
      many transmembrane receptors and enzymes, which are important targets of de novo
      drug development. The estimated inhibition constants (Ki) from computational
      model have been used as a screening procedure before in vitro and in vivo
      studies.

PMID- 25824733
TI  - Autophagy in tumorigenesis and cancer treatment.
AB  - Autophagy is a self-digestion process, wrapping cytoplasmic proteins or
      organelles to form vesicles for degradation in lysosomes. The process plays an
      important role in the maintenance of intracellular homostasis. Here we overview
      articles on autophagy and cancer/tumors in Pubmed and found 327 articles.
      Autophagy exists in many tumors and is involved in cell malignant transformation
      and tumor cell growth. In early phases of tumorigenesis, autophagy clears the
      abnormally folded proteins and dysfunctional organelles such as mitochondria.
      Autophagy can also inhibit cell stress responses and prevent genetic damage. When
      a tumor develops, autophagy helps tumor cells survive nutritional deficiencies
      and hypoxic conditions. Studies of autophagy in the occurrence and progression of
      tumors should provide new therapeutic strategies for tumors. 

PMID- 25824734
TI  - The spectrum of genetic mutations in breast cancer.
AB  - Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women around the world. About one
      in 12 women in the West develop breast cancer at some point in life. It is
      estimated that 5%-10% of all breast cancer cases in women are linked to
      hereditary susceptibility due to mutations in autosomal dominant genes. The two
      key players associated with high breast cancer risk are mutations in BRCA 1 and
      BRCA 2. Another highly important mutation can occur in TP53 resulting in a triple
      negative breast cancer. However, the great majority of breast cancer cases are
      not related to a mutated gene of high penetrance, but to genes of low penetrance
      such as CHEK2, CDH1, NBS1, RAD50, BRIP1 and PALB2, which are frequently mutated
      in the general population. In this review, we discuss the entire spectrum of
      mutations which are associated with breast cancer. 

PMID- 25824735
TI  - Cellular protrusions--lamellipodia, filopodia, invadopodia and podosomes--and
      their roles in progression of orofacial tumours: current understanding.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Protrusive structures formed by migrating and invading cells are
      termed lamellipodia, filopodia, invadopodia and podosomes. Lamellipodia and
      filopodia appear on the leading edges of migrating cells and function to command
      the direction of the migrating cells. Invadopodia and podosomes are special F
      actin-rich matrix-degrading structures that arise on the ventral surface of the
      cell membrane. Invadopodia are found in a variety of carcinomatous cells
      including squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck region whereas podosomes are
      found in normal highly motile cells of mesenchymal and myelomonocytic lineage.
      Invadopodia-associated protein markers consisted of 129 proteins belonging to
      different functional classes including WASP, NWASP, cortactin, Src kinase, Arp
      2/3 complex, MT1-MMP and F-actin. To date, our current understanding on the
      role(s) of these regulators of actin dynamics in tumors of the orofacial region
      indicates that upregulation of these proteins promotes invasion and metastasis in
      oral squamous cell carcinoma, is associated with poor/worst prognostic outcome in
      laryngeal cancers, contributes to the persistent growth and metastasis
      characteristics of salivary gland adenoid cystic carcinoma, is a significant
      predictor of increased cancer risk in oral mucosal premalignant lesions and
      enhances local invasiveness in jawbone ameloblastomas.

PMID- 25824736
TI  - High-risk human papillomavirus genotypes in cervical lesions and vaccination
      challenges in China.
AB  - Cervical cancer, mostly progressing from cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, is a
      major cause of morbidity and mortality in Chinese women. This is largely due to
      high prevalence of high-risk human papillomaviruses (hr-HPVs) in the population.
      The prevalence of hr-HPV DNA in women and in cervical lesions women ranged from
      9.9% to 17.% and from 50.5% to 70.9% in different regions of China, respectively.
      The most common genotypes somewhat differ between regions throughout the country
      and from those in many other countries. This may be a challenge to cervical
      cancer screening and prevention in China. Combined detection of particular HPV
      genotypes should be recommended in all geographical regions in China and greater
      attention must be paid to specific hr-HPV types during cervical cancer screening
      and follow-up of cervical lesions. Besides, vaccination for prevention of
      cervical cancer by particular HPV genotypes, has not been introduced to China so
      far. Updated knowledge on prevalent HPV genotypes should be provided to public
      health organizations to help with the development of more effective HPV vaccines,
      which can protect Chinese women against HPV types prevalent in local China and
      thus have a substantial impact on the cervical cancer burden. 

PMID- 25824737
TI  - T-786C, G894T, and intron 4 VNTR (4a/b) polymorphisms of the endothelial nitric
      oxide synthase gene in bladder cancer cases.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to determine whether endothelial nitric oxide
      synthase (eNOS) gene polymorphisms play a role in development of bladder cancer
      in the Turkish population. The study was performed on 75 patients (64 men, 11
      women) with bladder cancer and 143 healthy individuals (107 men, 36 women) with
      any kind of cancer history. Three eNOS gene polymorphisms (T-786C promoter
      region, G894T and intron 4 VNTR 4a/b) were determined with polymerase chain
      reaction and restriction fragment lenght polymorphism methods. In our study, GT
      and TT genotypes for eNOS G894T polymorphism were found to significantly vary
      among patients with bladder cancer and control group (OR: 0.185, CI: 0.078-0.439,
      p=0.0001 and OR: 0.324, CI: 0.106-0.990, p=0.026). Also, the frequency of the
      894T allele was significantly higher in patients with bladder cancer (51%). No
      association was identified for eNOS T-786C and intron 4 VNTR 4a/b polymorphisms
      between patients with bladder cancer and control groups in our Turkish
      population. 

PMID- 25824738
TI  - Evaluation of factors impacting cosmetic outcome of breast conservative surgery-
      a study in Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Breast conservative surgery (BCS) followed by radiotherapy is the
      standard approach in management of stage I-II breast cancer. Several factors can
      affect cosmetic outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cosmetic
      results of BCS and influencing factors in the Iranian Breast Cancer Research
      Center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients who had undergone BCS were included.
      Photographs were taken of both breasts of the patients in three aspects and were
      evaluated by three specialists. The cosmetic scores were calculated based on a
      standard questionnaire. The data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate
      regression for relationships between cosmetic scores and clinical data. RESULTS:
      A total number of 103 patients were included in the study. Mean age and BMI of
      the patients were 46.8+/-8.9 and 28.1+/-3.9, respectively. Breast cup sizes C and
      D accounted for 74.7% of the study group. The mean cosmetic score obtained from
      three referees was 5.72+2.06, consisting of 35.9% excellent-good, 35% moderate,
      and 29.1% unsatisfactory results. Patient BMI, volume of the resected tissue and
      breast cup size (D) showed significant correlation with the cosmetic score. On
      multivariate regression analysis, cosmetic score and BMI (p=0.022,) as well as
      breast cup size (p=0.040), remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: Immediate or
      delayed symmetrization of the breasts is suggested during breast conservative
      surgery, meanwhile performing oncoplastic techniques to improve the results
      significantly. Also it is suggested to discuss anticipation of less satisfactory
      results with patients having higher BMI and large breast cup size.

PMID- 25824739
TI  - Loss of expression of cyclin d2 by aberrant DNA methylation: a potential
      biomarker in vietnamese breast cancer patients.
AB  - DNA methylation of tumor suppressor gene promoters is the most frequent
      phenomenon leading to inactivation of function, consequently driving malignant
      cell transformation. Cyclin D2 is implicated in tumor suppression. In our study,
      we carried out the MSP assay to evaluation the methylation status at CpG islands
      in the cyclin D2 promoter in breast cancer cases from the Vietnamese population.
      The results showed that the frequency of methylation reached 62.1% (59 of 95
      breast cancer tumors), but was low in non-cancer specimens at 10% (2 of 20 non
      cancer specimens). Additionally, with an RR (relative risk) and OR (odd ratios)
      of 6.21 and 14.8, DNA hypermethylation of cyclin D2 increased the possibility of
      malignant transformation. Our results confirmed the cyclin D2 hypermethylation
      could be used as the potential biomarker which could be applied in prognosis and
      early diagnosis of Vietnamese breast cancer patients. 

PMID- 25824740
TI  - Analysis on early detection of lung cancer by PET/CT scan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This systemic analysis was conducted to to evaluate the application
      value of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in early
      diagnosis of lung cancer. METHODS: Clinical studies evaluating the application
      value of PET/CT for patients underwent PET/CT imaging. The histological diagnosis
      served as the standard of truth. RESULTS: Four clinical studies which including
      1330 patients with pulmonary space- occupying lesions were considered eligible
      for inclusion. Systemic analysis suggested that, in all 1330 patients, pooled
      sensitivity was 98.7% (1313.2/1330) and specificity was 58.2%(276.85/476).
      CONCLUSION: This systemic analysis suggests that integrated PET/CT imaging
      provides high sensitivity, and reasonably high specificity, and could be applied
      for early diagnosis of lung cancer.

PMID- 25824741
TI  - Methylated alteration of SHP1 complements mutation of JAK2 tyrosine kinase in
      patients with myeloproliferative neoplasm.
AB  - SHP1 negatively regulates the Janus kinase 2/signal transducer and activator of
      transcription (JAK2/STAT) signaling pathway, which is constitutively activated in
      myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and leukemia. Promoter hypermethylation
      resulting in epigenetic inactivation of SHP1 has been reported in myelomas,
      leukemias and other cancers. However, whether SHP1 hypermethylation occurs in
      MPNs, especially in Chinese patients, has remained unclear. Here, we report that
      aberrant hypermethylation of SHP1 was observed in several leukemic cell lines and
      bone marrow mononuclear cells from MPN patients. About 51 of 118 (43.2%) MPN
      patients including 23 of 50 (46%) polycythaemia vera patients, 20 of 50 (40%)
      essential thrombocythaemia and 8 of 18 (44.4%) idiopathic myelofibrosis showed
      hypermethylation by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. However, SHP1
      methylation was not measured in 20 healthy volunteers. Hypermethylation of SHP1
      was found in MPN patients with both positive (34/81, 42%) and negative (17/37,
      45.9%) JAK2V617F mutation. The levels of SHP1 mRNA were significantly lower in
      hypermethylated samples than unmethylated samples, suggesting SHP1 may be
      epigenetically inactivated in MPN patients. Furthermore, treatment with 5-aza-2'
      deoxycytidine (AZA) in K562 cells showing hypermethylation of SHP1 led to
      progressive demethylation of SHP1, with consequently increased reexpression of
      SHP1. Meanwhile, phosphorylated JAK2 and STAT3 were progressively reduced.
      Finally, AZA increased the expression of SHP1 in primary MPN cells with
      hypermethylation of SHP1. Therefore, our data suggest that epigenetic
      inactivation of SHP1 contributes to the constitutive activation of JAK2/STAT
      signaling. Restoration of SHP1 expression by AZA may contribute to clinical
      treatment for MPN patients. 

PMID- 25824742
TI  - The Fok1 vitamin D receptor gene polymorphism and 25(OH) D serum levels and
      prostate cancer among Jordanian men.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most commonly diagnosed neoplasms
      and the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the Western world. Vitamin
      D (1,25dihydroxy vitamin D) is linked to many biological processes that influence
      oncogenesis but data on relations between its genetic variants and cancer risk
      have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to determine associations
      between a vitamin D genetic polymorphism and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels
      and prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Genomic DNA was extracted from 124
      Jordanian prostate cancer patients and 100 healthy volunteers. Ethical approval
      was granted from the ethical committee at Hashemite University and written
      consent was given by all patients. PCR was used to amplify the vitamin D receptor
      Fok1 polymorphism fragment. 25(OH)D serum levels were measured by competitive
      immunoassay. RESULTS: All genotypes were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Genotype
      frequency for Fok1 genotypes FF, Ff and ff was 30.7%, 61.3% and 8.06%, for
      prostate cancer patients, while frequencies for the control group was 28.0%,
      66.0% and 6.0%, respectively, with no significant differences. Vitamin D serum
      level was significantly lower in prostate cancer patients (mean 7.7 ng/ml)
      compared to the control group (21.8 ng/ml). No significant association was noted
      between 25(OH)D and VDR Fok1 gene polymorphism among Jordanians overall, but
      significant associations were evident among prostate cancer patients (FF, Ff and
      ff : 25(OH)D levels of 6.2, 8.2 and 9.9) and controls (19.0, 22.5 and 26.3,
      respectively). An inverse association was noted between 25(OH)D serum level less
      than 10 ng/ml and prostate cancer risk (OR 35.5 and 95% CI 14.3- 88.0).
      CONCLUSIONS: There is strong inverse association between 25(OH)D serum level less
      than 10 ng/ml level and prostate cancer risk.

PMID- 25824743
TI  - A pilot genome-wide association study of breast cancer susceptibility loci in
      Indonesia.
AB  - Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of the entire genome provide a systematic
      approach for revealing novel genetic susceptibility loci for breast cancer.
      However, genetic association studies have hitherto been primarily conducted in
      women of European ancestry. Therefofre we here performed a pilot GWAS with a
      single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array 5.0 platform from Affymetrix(r) that
      contains 443,813 SNPs to search for new genetic risk factors in 89 breast cancer
      cases and 46 healthy women of Indonesian ancestry. The case-control association
      of the GWAS finding set was evaluated using PLINK. The strengths of allelic and
      genotypic associations were assessed using logistic regression analysis and
      reported as odds ratios (ORs) and P values; P values less than 1.00x10(-8) and
      5.00x10(-5) were required for significant association and suggestive association,
      respectively. After analyzing 292,887 SNPs, we recognized 11 chromosome loci that
      possessed suggestive associations with breast cancer risk. Of these, however,
      there were only four chromosome loci with identified genes: chromosome 2p.12 with
      the CTNNA2 gene [Odds ratio (OR)=1.20, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.13-1.33,
      P=1.08x10(-7)]; chromosome 18p11.2 with the SOGA2 gene (OR=1.32, 95%CI=1.17-1.44,
      P=6.88x10(-6)); chromosome 5q14.1 with the SSBP2 gene (OR=1.22, 95%CI=1.11-1.34,
      P=4.00x10(-5)); and chromosome 9q31.1 with the TEX10 gene (OR=1.24, 95%CI=1.12
      1.35, P=4.68x10(-5)). This study identified 11 chromosome loci which exhibited
      suggestive associations with the risk of breast cancer among Indonesian women.

PMID- 25824744
TI  - Prognostic factors and the role of adjuvant chemotherapy in post-curative surgery
      for Dukes B and C colon cancers and survival outcomes: a Malaysian experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in Dukes C colon cancers post
      curative resection. However, the evidence for a role with Dukes B lesions remains
      unproven despite frequent use for disease characterized by poor prognostic
      features. In view of limited Asia-specific data, this study aimed to determine
      survival outcomes and identify prognostic factors in a tertiary teaching hospital
      in Malaysia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 116 subjects who underwent
      curative surgery with and without adjuvant chemotherapy for Duke B and C primary
      colon adenocarcinomas diagnosed from 2004-2009 were recruited and data were
      collected retrospectively. Five-year overall survival (OS) and disease free
      survival (DFS) were analysed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log-rank
      (Mantel-Cox) test. Prognostic factors were determined using Cox proportional
      hazards regression with both univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: The
      survival analysis demonstrated a 5-year OS of 74.0% for all patients, with 74.9%
      for Dukes C subjects receiving chemotherapy compared to 28.6% in those not
      receiving chemotherapy (p=0.001). For Dukes B disease, the 5-year survival rate
      was 82.6% compared to 75.0% for subjects receiving and not receiving
      chemotherapy, respectively (p=0.17). Independent prognostic factors identified
      included a CEA level more than 3.5 ng/ml (hazard ratio (HR)=4.78; p=0.008),
      serosal involvement (HR=3.75; p=0.028) and completion of chemotherapy (HR= 0.20;
      p=0.007). CONCLUSIONS: In a regional context, this study supports current
      evidence from the West that adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in Dukes C
      colon cancers post curative surgery. However, although a clear benefit has yet to
      be proven for Dukes B disease, our results suggest survival improvement in
      selected cases.

PMID- 25824745
TI  - Prognostic significance of preoperative lymphocyte-monocyte ratio in patients
      with resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The interaction between tumor cells and inflammatory cells has not
      been systematically investigated in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).
      The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether preoperative the lymphocyte
      monocyte ratio (LMR), the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and the platelet
      lymphocyte ratio (PLR) could predict the prognosis of ESCC patients undergoing
      esophagectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Records from 218 patients with
      histologically diagnosed ESCC who underwent attempted curative surgery from
      January 2007 to December 2008 were retrospectively reviewed. Besides
      clinicopathological prognostic factors, we evaluated the prognostic value of the
      LMR, the NLR, and the PLR using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression models.
      RESULTS: The median follow-up was 38.6 months (range 3-71 months). The cut-off
      values of 2.57 for the LMR, 2.60 for the NLR and 244 for the PLR were chosen as
      optimal to discriminate between survival and death by applying receiver operating
      curve (ROC) analysis. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of patients with low
      preoperative LMR demonstrated a significant worse prognosis for DFS (p=0.004) and
      OS (p=0.002) than those with high preoperative LMR. The high NLR cohort had lower
      DFS (p=0.004) and OS (p=0.011). Marginally reduced DFS (p=0.068) and lower OS
      (p=0.039) were found in the high PLR cohort. On multivariate analysis, only
      preoperative LMR was an independent prognostic factor for both DFS (p=0.009,
      HR=1.639, 95% CI 1.129-2.381) and OS (p=0.004, HR=1.759, 95% CI 1.201-2.576) in
      ESCC patients. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative LMR better predicts cancer survival
      compared with the cellular components of systemic inflammation in patients with
      ESCC undergoing esophagectomy.

PMID- 25824747
TI  - Return to work and its relation to financial distress among Iranian cancer
      survivors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Return to work after treatment completion is important for both
      cancer survivors and society. Financial distress is one of the factors that may
      influence the return to work in cancer survivors. However, this relationship has
      not been well investigated. This study aimed to determine the rate of return to
      work and its relation to financial distress among Iranian cancer survivors.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive-correlational study was undertaken among
      165 cancer survivors who completed their initial treatments and had no signs of
      active cancer. The Return to Work questionnaire and Financial Distress/Financial
      Well-Being Scale were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using SPSS
      statistical software. RESULTS: After initial treatments, 120 cancer survivors
      (72%) had returned to work, of which 50 patients (42%) had returned to full-time
      work and 70 (58%) reduced their work hours and returned to part-time work. Cancer
      survivors also reported high levels of financial distress. In addition, the
      financial distress was lower among patients who had returned completely to work,
      in comparison to patients who had quit working for cancer-related reasons
      (p=0.001) or returned to work as part-time workers (p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The
      findings showed that a high percent of Iranian cancer survivors had not returned
      to their jobs or considerably reduced working hours after treatment completion.
      Accordingly, due to high levels of financial distress experienced by participants
      and its relation to return to work, designing rehabilitation programs to
      facilitate cancer survivor return to work should be considered.

PMID- 25824746
TI  - Inhibition of c-FLIP by RNAi enhances sensitivity of the human osteogenic sarcoma
      cell line U2OS to TRAIL-induced apoptosis.
AB  - To study effects of cellular FLICE (FADD-like IL-1beta-converting enzyme)
      inhibitory protein (c-FLIP) inhibition by RNA interference (RNAi) on sensitivity
      of U2OS cells to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand
      (TRAIL)-induced apoptosis, plasmid pSUPER-c-FLIP-siRNA was constructed and then
      transfected into U2OS cells. A stable transfection cell clone U2OS/pSUPER-c-FLIP
      siRNA was screened from the c-FLIP-siRNA transfected cells. RT-PCR and Western
      blotting were applied to measure the expression of c-FLIP at the levels of mRNA
      and protein. The results indicated that the expression of c-FLIP was
      significantly suppressed by the c-FLIP-siRNA in the cloned U2OS/pSUPER-c-FLIP
      siRNA as compared with the control cells of U2OS/pSUPER. The cloned cell line of
      U2OS/pSUPER-c-FLIP-siRNA was further examined for TRAIL- induced cell death and
      apoptosis in the presence of a pan-antagonist of inhibitor of apoptosis proteins
      (IAPs) AT406, with or without 4 hrs pretreatment with rocaglamide, an inhibitor
      of c-FLIP biosynthesis, for 24 hrs. Cell death effects and apoptosis were
      measured by the methods of MTT assay with 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)- 2,5
      diphenyltetrazolium bromide and flow cytometry, respectively. The results
      indicated that TRAIL-induced cell death in U2OS/pSUPER-c-FLIP-siRNA was increased
      compared with control cells U2OS/pSUPER in the presence or absence of AT406. Flow
      cytometry indicated that TRAIL-induced cell death effects proceeded through cell
      apoptosis pathway. However, in the presence of rocaglamide, cell death or
      apoptotic effects of TRAIL were similar and profound in both cell lines,
      suggesting that the mechanism of action for both c-FLIP-siRNA and rocaglamide was
      identical. We conclude that the inhibition of c-FLIP by either c-FLIP-siRNA or
      rocaglamide can enhance the sensitivity of U2OS to TRAIL-induced apopotosis,
      suggesting that inhibition of c-FLIP is a good target for anti-cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25824748
TI  - Association between the XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism and risk of colorectal
      cancer: a meta analysis of 5,193 cases and 6,645 controls.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Many studies have reported associations of the X-ray repair cross
      complementing group 3 (XRCC3) Thr241Met polymorphism with colorectal cancer (CRC)
      risk, but the results remained controversial. Hence, we performed the present
      meta-analysis with different inheritance models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      searched the PubMed and Google scholar databases for studies relating to
      associations between XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism and risk of CRC. 16 studies
      with 5,193 cases and 6,645 controls were finally included into the meta-analysis.
      RESULTS: We found that the XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism was associated with
      increased CRC risk only under a dominant genetic model (CC+CT vs. TT: OR 0.575,
      95%CI 0.498-1.665, p<0.001, Pheterogeneity=0.00, I2=83%). There was a significant
      association between XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism and CRC risk in Caucasian in the
      overall 8 studies under only in the heterozygote genetic model (CT vs. TT:
      OR=0.929, 95%CI=0.806-1.070, P=0.308, Pheterogeneity=0.002, I2=57%). Four studies
      evaluated the XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism and CRC risk in Asians. Two genetic
      models of the XRCC3 polymorphism were significantly correlated with increasing
      risk in Asians (dominant model: CC+CT vs. TT: OR= 0.609, 95%CI=411-0.902,
      P=0.013, Pheterogeneity=0.54, I2=0.00%; Allele model: C vs. T: OR=0.708, 95 %=CI
      0.605-0.829, p=0.000, Pheterogeneity=0.000, I2=92%). The sensitivity analysis
      suggested stability of this meta-analysis and no publication bias was detected.
      CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, this meta-analysis indicates that XRCC3 Thr241Met
      shows an increased CRC risk, particularly in Asians rather than Caucasians.

PMID- 25824749
TI  - Preferences and acceptance of colorectal cancer screening in Thailand.
AB  - Colorectal cancer (CRC) is now common in Thailand with an increase in incidence
      over time. Health authorities are planning to implement a nationwide CRC
      screening program using fecal immunochemical test (FIT) as a primary screening
      tool. This study aimed to estimate preferences and acceptance of FIT and
      colonoscopy, explore factors influencing the acceptance, and investigate reasons
      behind choosing and rejecting to screen before the program was implemented.
      Patients aged 50-69, visiting the primary care unit during the study period, were
      invited to join this study. Patients with a history of cancer or past CRC
      screening were excluded. Face-to-face interviews were conducted. Subjects were
      informed about CRC and the screening tests: FIT and colonoscopy. Then, they were
      asked for their opinions regarding the screening. The total number of subjects
      was 437 (86.7% response rate). Fifty-eight percent were females. The median age
      was 58 years. FIT was accepted by 74.1% of subjects compared to 55.6% for
      colonoscopy. The acceptance of colonoscopy was associated with perceived
      susceptibility to CRC and family history of cancer. No symptoms, unwilling to
      screen, healthy, too busy and anxious about diagnosis were reasons for refusing
      to screen. FIT was preferred for its simplicity and non-invasiveness compared
      with colonoscopy. Those rejecting FIT expressed a strong preference for
      colonoscopy. Subjects chose colonoscopy because of its accuracy; it was refused
      for the process and complications. If the screening program is implemented for
      the entire target population in Thailand, we estimate that 106,546 will have a
      positive FIT, between 8,618 and 12,749 identified with advanced adenoma and
      between 2,645 and 3,912 identified with CRC in the first round of the program. 

PMID- 25824750
TI  - Overexpression of astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) in cervical cancer and its
      correlation with angiogenesis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To explore the expression of astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) in
      cervical cancer and analyze its correlation with microvascular density (MVD),
      nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kB p65) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Immunohistochemical MaxVision method was adopted to detect
      the expression level of AEG-1, NF-kB p65 and VEGF in 45 samples of invading
      cervical cancer and 12 samples of cervicitis from The First Affiliated Hospital
      of Wenzhou Medical University. Tumor microvascular endothelial marker CD34
      combined with Weidner was used to determine the MVD in cervical cancer tissue.
      The positive expression and staining conditions of AEG-1, NF-kB p65 and VEGF in
      cervical cancer tissues were observed under a light microscope. Correlations
      between expression of AEG-1 protein and those of NF-Kb p65 and VEGF, as well as
      MVD, were analyzed using Pearson correlation. RESULTS: The expression levels of
      AEG-1 were 0.186+/-0.043 in cervical cancer and 0.051+/-0.002 in chronic
      cervicitis (p<0.01). Moreover, expression of AEG-1 was related to vascular
      invasion and lymphatic metastasis of cervical cancer (p<0.01), but not with age
      of the patients, differentiation degree, tumour size, pathological type and
      parametrial infiltration (p>0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the
      expression of AEG-1 was linked with NF-kB p65 (r=0.501, p=0.000), VEGF (r=0.718,
      p=0.000) as well as MVD in cervical cancer tissue (r=0.815, p=0.000).
      CONCLUSIONS: AEG-1 is highly expressed in cervical cancer and promotes
      angiogenesis, which might be related to the fact that AEG-1 activating the signal
      pathway of NF-kB could up-regulate the level of VEGF expression.

PMID- 25824752
TI  - Malignant tumors of the central nervous system in Kazakhstan: component analysis
      of incidence dynamics.
AB  - The paper presents the incidence rates of malignant tumors of the central nervous
      system assessed by the component analysis. The data on primary registered cases
      of malignant tumors of the central nervous system in the country were used as the
      material of the study for the period from 2004 to 2011. A general trend of
      increase in the number of patients with malignant tumors of the central nervous
      system in Kazakhstan was determined and the potential of their increase was
      evaluated, which can be due to changes in the morbidity risk and age specifics,
      as well as the increase in population. 

PMID- 25824751
TI  - RASSF1A gene methylation is associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma risk in
      Chinese.
AB  - In order to explore the association between RASSF1A methylation and
      nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) risk of Chinese, we carried out a meta-analysis
      with searches of PubMed, Web of Science, ProQest and Medline databases.
      Ultimately, 14 articles were identified and analysised using R Software (R
      version 3.1.2) including meta packages. Overall, we found a significant
      relationship between RASSF1A methylation and NPC risk (OR 30.7; 95 % CI,
      16.71~56.23; z=11.0591; p<0.0001) in a fixed effects model and (OR 32.1; 95% CI,
      14.27~72.01; z=8.3984; p<0.0001) in a random effects model pooled. In tissue and
      NP brushings groups , similar results were found. Hence, our study identified a
      strong association between RASSF1A methylation and NPC and highlighted a
      promising potential for RASSF1A methylation in NPC risk prediction of Chinese. 

PMID- 25824754
TI  - Roles of white blood cells and subtypes as inflammatory markers in skin cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Skin tumors are the most commonly seen cancer type worldwide.
      Regarding pathogenesis, it is thought that disruption of kinetics through T
      lymphocyte-mediated development of chronic inflammation may be involved. The
      present study was intended to identify role of inflammatory cells such as
      neutrophils, monocytes and lymphocytes in the determination of risk for skin
      cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed charts of 569 cases
      diagnosed as having primary skin tumors. Data regarding age, gender and
      histopathological subtype were recorded. Blood parameters studied on the day
      before surgery including WBCs, neutrophils, and lymphocyte counts,
      neutrophil:lymphocyte and neutrophil:monocyte ratios were also recorded. Two
      hundred and two healthy individuals presented for check-up in an outpatient
      clinic were selected as the control group. Parameters studied in cases with skin
      cancer were compared to those healthy individuals. FINDINGS: Of the cases with
      skin cancer, 401 were basal cell carcinoma (BCC) while 144 were squamous cell
      carcinoma (SCC) and 13 were malignant melanoma (MM). WBC, neutrophil and monocyte
      counts and the neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio were found to be lower in the patient
      group than in the healthy control group (p<0.001) while no significant difference
      was found in other parameters reviewed (p>0.05). No significant difference was
      found in WBC, neutrophil, neutrophil: monocyte ratio according to gender
      (p>0.05). Monocyte count was found to be 0.68+/-0.61 in men and 0.55+/-0.25 in
      women, indicating strong statistical significance (p<0.001). WBC, neutrophil and
      monocyte values were highest in control group while lowest in BCC. When BCC and
      SCC groups were compared to controls, significant differences found (p<0.001).
      There were no significant differences in lymphocyte counts among groups
      (p=0.976). Neutrophil:lymphocyte ratios were 3.24 in BCC, 3.59 in SCC, 3.44 in MM
      and 5.06 in control group (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In our study, it was found that
      there were significant differences in complete blood count, neutrophil, monocyte
      and neutrophil:lymphocyte levels among groups. Neutrophil: lymphocyte ratio was
      found to be lowest in BCC among skin cancers.

PMID- 25824755
TI  - Curcumol induces apoptosis in SPC-A-1 human lung adenocarcinoma cells and
      displays anti-neoplastic effects in tumor bearing mice.
AB  - Curcumol is a sesquiterpene originally isolated from curcuma rhizomes, a
      component of herbal remedies commonly used in oriental medicine. Its beneficial
      pharmacological activities have attract significant interest recently. In this
      study, anti-cancer activity of curcumol was examined with both in vitro and in
      vivo models. It was found that curcumol exhibited time- and concentration
      dependent anti-proliferative effects in SPC-A-1 human lung adenocarcinoma cells
      with cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase while apoptosis-induction was also
      confirmed with flow cytometry and morphological analyses. Interestingly, curcumol
      did not display growth inhibition in MRC-5 human embryonic lung fibroblasts,
      suggesting the anti-proliferative effects of curcumol were specific to cancer
      cells. Anti-neoplastic effects of curcumol were also confirmed in tumor bearing
      mice. Curcumol (60 mg/kg daily) significantly reduced tumor size without causing
      notable toxicity. In conclusion, curcumol appears a favorable anti-cancer
      candidate for further development.

PMID- 25824753
TI  - Feasibility of photodynamic diagnosis for challenging TUR- Bt cases including
      muscle invasive bladder cancer, BCG failure or 2nd-TUR.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite widely adopted standard methods for follow-up including
      cystoscopy plus cytology, recurrence rates of non muscle-invasive bladder cancer
      (NMIBC) have not improved over the past decades, still ranging from 60% through
      70%. Hence, widely acceptable surveillance strategies with excellent sensitivity
      are needed. Early recurrence has led to the development of a novel cystoscopy
      technique utilizing photodynamic diagnosis (PDD). Although, no studies have
      evaluated the efficacy of PDD for patients of MIBC, BCG failure or 2nd
      transurethelial resection (TUR). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was
      performed from October 2012 through May 2013. IRB approved 25 patients initially
      underwent a cystoscopy examination of white light and blue light followed by the
      resection of tumors identified. Resections were performed from bladder mucosa
      areas considered suspicious at PDD, along with PDD negative normal bladder mucosa
      area resected by random biopsy. Specimens were divided into two groups, PDD
      positive and negative. Primary endpoints were sensitivity and specificity.
      RESULTS: A total of 147 specimens extracted from 25 patients were included in the
      analysis. Some 45 out of 92 PDD-positive specimens were confirmed to have bladder
      cancer, and 51 out of PDD-negative 55 specimens were confirmed to be cancer
      negative. The sensitivity of PDD was 91.8% (45/49) and specificity was 52.0%
      (51/98). The sensitivity:specificity was 89.5% (17/19) : 47.6% (30/63) in 12 2nd
      TUR patients, 90.5% (19/21) : 61.1% (11/18) in seven MIBC patients, and 95.0%
      (19/20) : 48.5% (16/33) in eight failed BCG cases. CONCLUSIONS: PDD-TURBT has
      high sensitivity to diagnose BC even for 2nd-TUR, MIBC or BCG failure cases.

PMID- 25824756
TI  - Study on the correlation between extracellular matrix protein-1 and the growth,
      metastasis and angiogenesis of laryngeal carcinoma.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation between extracellular matrix protein-1
      (ECM1) and the growth, metastasis and angiogenesis of laryngeal carcinoma.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-five samples with laryngeal benign and malignant
      tumors confirmed by pathology in Laiwu City People's Hospital from March 2006 to
      March 2011 were collected, in which there were 29 cases with laryngeal carcinoma
      and 16 with benign tumors. The expression of ECM1 and factor VIII-related
      antigens in patients with laryngeal carcinoma and those with benign tumors was
      respectively detected using immunohistochemical method, and the correlation
      between ECM1 staining grade and microvessel density (MVD) was analyzed. RESULTS:
      In laryngeal carcinoma tissue, ECM1 was mainly expressed in cytoplasm, less in
      cytomembrane or intercellular substance. With abundant expression in the tissue
      of laryngeal benign tumors (benign mesenchymoma and hemangioma), ECM1 was
      primarily expressed in the connective tissue, which was different from the
      expression in laryngeal carcinoma tissue. The proportion of positive ECM1
      staining (++) in patients with laryngeal carcinoma was dramatically higher than
      those with benign tumors (p<0.05), and that of strongly-positive ECM1 staining
      (+++) slightly higher. The results of Spearman nonparametric correlation analysis
      revealed that ECM1 staining grade in laryngeal carcinoma tissue had a
      significantly-positive correlation with MVD (r=0.866, p=0.000). CONCLUSIONS: ECM1
      expression in laryngeal carcinoma is closely associated with tumor cell growth,
      metastasis and angiogenesis, which can be considered as an effective predictor in
      the occurrence and postoperative recurrence of laryngeal carcinoma.

PMID- 25824757
TI  - Cost-effectiveness analysis of cervical cancer screening strategies based on the
      Papanicolaou smear test in Korea.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the increasing number of screening examinations performed for
      cervical cancer utilizing the Papanicolaou smear test (Pap test), few studies
      have examined whether this strategy is cost-effective in Korea. OBJECTIVE: This
      study was conducted to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of cervical cancer
      screening strategies incorporating the Pap test based on age at the start and end
      of screening as well as screening interval. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We designed
      four alternative screening strategies based on patient age when screening was
      started (20 or 30 years) and discontinued (lifetime, 79 years). Each strategy was
      assessed at screening intervals of 1, 2, 3, or 5 years. A Markov model was
      developed to determine the cost-effectiveness of the 16 possible cervical cancer
      screening strategies, and this was evaluated from a societal perspective. The
      main outcome measures were average lifetime cost, incremental quality-adjusted
      life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). RESULTS:
      Compared with various strategies comprising younger starting age, discontinuation
      age, and longer screening intervals, strategies employing annual screening for
      cervical cancer starting at a target age of 30 years and above were the most cost
      effective, with an ICER of 21,012.98 dollars per QALY gained (with a Korean
      threshold of 30,000,000 KRW or US$27,272). CONCLUSIONS: We found that annual
      screening for cervical cancer beginning at a target age of 30 years and above is
      most cost-effective screening strategy. Considering the potential economic
      advantages, more intense screening policies for cervical cancer might be
      favorable among countries with high rates of cervical cancer and relatively low
      screening costs.

PMID- 25824758
TI  - GIS-based spatial statistical analysis of risk areas for liver flukes in Surin
      Province of Thailand.
AB  - It is urgently necessary to be aware of the distribution and risk areas of liver
      fluke, Opisthorchis viverrini, for proper allocation of prevention and control
      measures. This study aimed to investigate the human behavior, and environmental
      factors influencing the distribution in Surin Province of Thailand, and to build
      a model using stepwise multiple regression analysis with a geographic information
      system (GIS) on environment and climate data. The relationship between the human
      behavior, attitudes (<50%; X111), environmental factors like population density
      (148-169 pop/km2; X73), and land use as wetland (X64), were correlated with the
      liver fluke disease distribution at 0.000, 0.034, and 0.006 levels, respectively.
      Multiple regression analysis, by equations OV=-0.599+0.005(population density
      (148-169 pop/km2); X73)+0.040 (human attitude (<50%); X111)+0.022 (land used
      (wetland; X64), was used to predict the distribution of liver fluke. OV is the
      patients of liver fluke infection, R Square=0.878, and, Adjust R Square=0.849. By
      GIS analysis, we found Si Narong, Sangkha, Phanom Dong Rak, Mueang Surin, Non
      Narai, Samrong Thap, Chumphon Buri, and Rattanaburi to have the highest
      distributions in Surin province. In conclusion, the combination of GIS and
      statistical analysis can help simulate the spatial distribution and risk areas of
      liver fluke, and thus may be an important tool for future planning of prevention
      and control measures.

PMID- 25824759
TI  - Accuracy of visual inspection with acetic acid in detecting high-grade cervical
      intraepithelial neoplasia in pre- and post-menopausal Thai women with minor
      cervical cytological abnormalities.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the accuracy of visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) in
      detecting high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in pre- and post
      menopausal women with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC
      US) and low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) Papanicolaou (Pap)
      smears. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred women (150 pre-menopausal and 50 post
      menopausal) with ASC- US and LSIL cytology who attended the colposcopy clinic,
      Thammasat University Hospital, between March 2013 and August 2014 were included.
      All women underwent VIA testing and colposcopy by gynecologic oncologists.
      Diagnostic values of VIA testing including sensitivity, specificity, positive
      predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) for detecting high
      grade CIN were determined using the histopathology obtained from colposcopic
      directed biopsy as a gold standard. RESULTS: VIA testing was positive in 54/150
      (36%) pre-menopausal women and 5/50 (10%) post-menopausal women. Out of 54 pre
      menopausal women with positive VIA testing, 15 (27.8%) had high-grade CIN and 39
      (72.2%) had either CIN 1 or insignificant pathology. Ten (10.4%), 43 (44.8%) and
      43 (44.8%) out of the remaining 96 pre-menopausal women with negative VIA testing
      had high- grade CIN, CIN 1 and insignificant pathology, respectively. Out of 5
      post-menopausal women with positive VIA testing, there were 4 (80%) women with
      high-grade CIN, and 1 (20%) women with insignificant pathology. Out of 45 VIA
      negative post-menopausal women, 42 (93.3%) women had CIN 1 and insignificant
      pathology, and 3 (6.7%) had high-grade CIN. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV
      of the VIA testing were 59.4%, 76.2%, 32.2% and 90.8%, respectively (60%, 68.8%,
      27.8% and 89.6% in pre-menopausal women and 57.1%, 97.7%, 80% and 93.3% in post
      menopausal women). CONCLUSIONS: VIA testing may be used as a screening tool for
      detecting high-grade CIN in women with minor cervical cytological abnormalities
      in a low-resource setting in order to lower the rate of colposcopy referral.

PMID- 25824760
TI  - Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma Pro12Ala polymorphism could be a
      risk factor for gastric cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Due to the strong inhibitory effects of PPARgamma gene on the growth
      of cancer cells, the role of Pro12Ala polymorphism in PPARgamma gene has been
      extensively investigated in cancer recently. However, the results were
      inconsistent according to cancer type. The aim of this study was to
      comprehensively evaluate the PPARgamma Pro12Ala polymorphism and gastric cancer
      susceptibility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Search strategies were conducted in
      Pubmed, Medline (Ovid), Chinese biomedical database (CBM), China national
      knowledge infrastructure (CNKI), VIP, and Wanfang database, covering all
      publications, with the last search up to November 01, 2014. The strength of
      association between PPARgamma Pro12Ala polymorphism and gastric cancer risk was
      assessed by OR with 95%CI. RESULTS: A total of 546 cases and 827 controls in 5
      case-control studies were included in this meta-analysis. The results indicated
      that the variant G allele carriers (CG+GG) had a 2.31 times higher risk for
      gastric cancer when compared with the homozygote CC (odds ratio (OR)=2.31, 95%
      confidence interval (CI)=1.67- 3.21 for CG+GG vs. CC). In the subgroup analysis
      by ethnicity, significantly elevated risks were both found in Asians (OR=2.56,
      95% CI=1.42-4.64) and Caucasians (OR=2.20, 95% CI=1.48-3.25). Similarly, in the
      subgroup analysis by H. pylori status, a significantly increased risk was
      identified in H. pylori (+) populations (OR=3.68, 95%CI=2.07-6.52), but not in H.
      pylori(-) populations (OR=1.17, 95%CI=0.58-2.39). CONCLUSIONS: This pooled
      analysis suggested that the PPARgamma Pro12Ala polymorphism could be an
      independent predictive risk factor for gastric cancer especially in H. pylori
      infected populations in Asians and Caucasians. Nevertheless, prospectively
      designed cohort studies are needed to further investigate gene-gene and gene
      environment interactions to confirm the combined effects of PPARgamma Pro12Ala
      polymorphisms and H. pylori infection on gastric cancer risk.

PMID- 25824761
TI  - Survivin gene functions and relationships between expression and prognosis in
      patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
AB  - This study aimed to investigate the relationship between prognosis and protein
      and mRNA expression of an apoptotic inhibitor gene, survivin, in patients with
      nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Furthermore, functions of the survivin gene in the CNE2
      nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line were assessed. Immunohistochemistry and in
      situ hybridization were used in detecting the survivin protein and mRNA in 44
      nasopharyngeal carcinoma specimens, and 30 chronic nasopharyngitis samples as
      controls. Survivin gene expression in CNE2 cell line was suppressed with an shRNA
      (short hairpin RNA). The positive ratios of expression for survivin protein and
      mRNA in nasopharyngeal carcinoma were 79.5% and 75.0% respectively, obviously
      higher than in the control group (p<0.01), and there is very good consistency
      between the two methods. The mean survival time of patients with higher survivin
      protein or mRNA expression was shorter than in patients with lower
      levelsv(p<0.01). Proliferation of the CNE2 cell line was distinctly inhibited by
      the shRNA . The results indicate that overexpression of the survivin gene plays
      an important role in onset and development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and it
      may be helpful for prognostic appraisal. 

PMID- 25824763
TI  - Effects of metformin on cell kinetic parameters of MCF-7 breast cancer cells in
      vitro.
AB  - In this study, the antiproliferative effects of the metformin was evaluated on
      MCF-7 Cells (human breast adenocarcinoma cell line). For this purpose cell
      kinetic parameters including cell proliferation assay, mitotic index and
      labelling index analysis were used. 30 MUM, 65 MUM and 130 MUM Metformin doses
      were applied to cells for 24, 48 and 72 hours. The results showed that there was
      a significant decrease in cell proliferation, mitotic index and labelling index
      for all experimental groups (p<0.05) for all applications. 

PMID- 25824762
TI  - Increased risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) by prenatal and
      postnatal exposure to high voltage power lines: a case control study in Isfahan,
      Iran.
AB  - Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is one of the most common
      hematologic malignancies, accounting for one fourth of all childhood cancer
      cases. Exposure to environmental factors around the time of conception or
      pregnancy can increase the risk of ALL in the offspring.This study aimed to
      evaluted the role of prenatal and postnatal exposure to high voltage power lines
      on the incidence of childhood ALL.This cross-sectional case control study was
      carried out on 22 cases and 100 controls who were born and lived in low
      socioeconomic families in Isfahan and hospitalized for therapeutic purposes in
      different hospitals from 2013-2014.With regard to the underlying risk factors,
      familial history and parental factors were noted but in this age, socioeonomic
      and zonal matched case control study, prenatal and childhood exposure to high
      voltage power lines was considered as the most important environmental risk
      factors of ALL (p=0.006, OR=3.651, CI 95%, 1.692-7.878). As the population was of
      low socioeconomic background, use of mobiles, computers and microwave was
      negligible. Moreover prenatal and postnatal exposure to indoor electrically
      charged objects was not determined to be a significant environmental factor.
      Thus, pre and post natal exposure to high voltage power lines and living in
      pollutant regions as well as familial influence could be described as risk
      factors of ALL for the first time in a low socioeconomic status Iranian
      population. 

PMID- 25824764
TI  - Comparative analysis of the efficacy and safety of oxaliplatin plus 5
      fluorouracil/leucovorin (modified FOLFOX6) with advanced gastric cancer patients
      having a good or poor performance status.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Combination chemotherapy of 5 fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin (LV)
      with oxaliplatin, mainly FOLFOX regimens, has shown considerable antitumor
      activity and a tolerable toxicity profile in gastric cancer. The goal of this
      study was to retrospectively compare the efficacy and toxicity of modified FOLFOX
      6 (mFOLFOX6) regimen in advanced gastric cancer (AGC) patients with good and poor
      performance status (PS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: AGC patients receiving the
      mFOLFOX6 regimen including oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2, bolus of 5-FU 400 mg/m2 and LV
      400 mg/m2 on the first day, followed by 2400mg/m2 of 5- FU as a continious
      infusion over 46 hour for first-line treatment were eligible for the study.
      RESULTS: A total 58 patients with a median age of 59.5 (32-81) were included. The
      median follow up of the study was 9.2 months. Thirty patients (51.7%) with an
      ECOG PS 0-1 were assigned to the good PS arm, while 28 patients (48.3%) with ECOG
      PS 2 were in the poor PS arm. Overall response rates were 36.6 and 28.8%,
      respectively (p=0.91). Median PFS was 6.7 and 6.3 months in good PS and poor PS
      arms (p=0.50) and median OS was 9.6 and 10.4 months (p=0.55). As compared with
      good PS arm, poor PS arm was associated with more grade 3-4 neutropenia and
      anemia. Dose reduction and dose delays were also significantly higher.
      CONCLUSIONS: In this study, mFOLFOX6 was similarly effective in both arms.
      Although hematologic toxicity was significantly higher in patients with poor PS,
      it remained manageable. Our results suggest that this regimen may be an effective
      treatment option for AGC patients with poor PS.

PMID- 25824765
TI  - Value of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in the differential diagnosis of
      enlarged lymph nodes: a meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy studies.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced
      ultrasonography (CEUS) in differentiating between benign and malignant enlarged
      lymph nodes using meta-analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pubmed, Embase, SCI and
      Cochrane databases were searched for studies (up to September 1, 2014) reporting
      the diagnostic performance of CEUS in discriminating between benign and malignant
      lymph nodes. Inclusion criteria were: prospective study; histopathology as the
      reference standard; and sufficient data to construct 2?2 contingency tables.
      Methodological quality was assessed using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic
      Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2). Patient clinical characteristics, sensitivity and
      specificity were extracted. The summary receiver operating characteristic curve
      was used to examine the accuracy of CEUS. A meta-analysis was performed to
      evaluate the clinical utility in identification of benign and malignant lymph
      nodes. Sensitivity analysis was performed after omitting outliers identified in a
      bivariate boxplot and publication bias was assessed with Egger testing. RESULTS:
      The pooled sensitivity, specificity and AUROC were 0.92 (95%CI, 0.85-0.96), 0.91
      (95%CI, 0.82-0.95) and 0.97 (95%CI, 0.95-0.98), respectively. After omitting 3
      outlier studies, heterogeneity decreased. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated no
      disproportionate influences of individual studies. Publication bias was not
      significant. CONCLUSIONS: CEUS is a promising diagnostic modality in
      differentiating between benign and malignant lymph nodes and can potentially
      reduce unnecessary fine-needle aspiration biopsies of benign nodes.

PMID- 25824766
TI  - Role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the management of advanced ovarian cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced ovarian
      cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 107 patients with advanced ovarian
      cancer undergoing cytoreductive surgery were divided into a neoadjuvant
      chemotherapy group (n=61) and a primary debulking group (n=46) and
      retrospectively analyzed. Platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy was applied to
      both groups after cytoreductive surgery ande overall and progression-free
      survival times were calculated. RESULTS: No significant difference was observed
      in duration of hospitalization (20.8+/-6.1 vs. 20.2+/-5.4 days, p>0.05). The
      operation time of neoadjuvant chemotherapy group was shorter than the initial
      surgery group (3.1+/-0.7 vs. 3.4+/-0.8 h, p<0.05). There were no significant
      differences in median overall survival time between neoadjuvant chemotherapy
      group and surgery group (42 vs. 55 months, p>0.05). Similarly, there was no
      difference in median progression-free survival between neoadjuvant chemotherapy
      group and surgery group (16 vs. 17 months, p>0.05). The surgical residual tumor
      size demonstrated no significant difference between initial surgery and
      neoadjuvant chemotherapy groups (p>0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that more
      than 3 cycles of regimen with neoadjuvant chemotherapy was associated with more
      resistance to chemotherapy compared with patients without receiving neoadjuvant
      chemotherapy (OR: 5.962, 95%CI: 1.184-30.030, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Neoadjuvant
      chemotherapy can shorten the operation time. However, it does not improve
      survival rates of advanced ovarian cancer patients.

PMID- 25824767
TI  - Case-control study of diet and prostate cancer in a rural population of
      Faisalabad, Pakistan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The effects of diet on epidemiology of prostate cancer are
      inconclusive. Therefore a hospital- based, case-control study was conducted in a
      rural population of Faisalabad, Pakistan, to examine the impact of dietary
      factors on risk of cancer development. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was
      based on 102 confirmed cases of prostate cancer and 204 normal controls. Logistic
      regression was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for odds
      ratios to evaluate the relationship between prostate cancer and diet. RESULTS:
      Consumption of red meat and fat items significantly increased the prostate cancer
      risk having odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of 3.41; 1.46-7.96 and 2.45;
      1.17-5.15, respectively. On the other hand, more consumption of vegetables, fluid
      intake and fruit significantly decreased the prostate cancer risk (odd ratios and
      corresponding 95% confidence intervals of 0.21; 0.10-0.44, 0.10; 0.05- 0.19 and
      0.09; 0.03- 0.23, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The present study supports the
      hypothesis that frequent consumption of red meat and fat items may increase
      prostate cancer risk while more intake of fruit, vegetables and fluid intake may
      protect against prostate cancer in the relatively low risk group in rural
      Pakistan.

PMID- 25824768
TI  - Cancer incidence and mortality data in Aktobe, west Kazakhstan, 2000-2010.
AB  - The article provides an assessment of the dynamics of cancer incidence and
      mortality in the territory of Aktobe city for the period 2000-2010. The most
      common cancers were found in the lungs, stomach, esophagus and breast throughout
      the period, with slight increase in colon cancer and decrease in esophageal
      cancer being apparent. In an attempt to cast light on effects of environmental
      pollution, the authors also compared data on total emissions of chemicals into
      the air. While preliminary, the findings provide a basic picture of cancer burden
      in this industrialised city in Kazakhstan which should be followed up by more
      comprehensive monitoring. 

PMID- 25824769
TI  - Expression of DDR1 and DVL1 in invasive ductal and lobular breast carcinoma does
      not correlate with histological type, grade and hormone receptor status.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Invasive ductal (IDC) and lobular (ILC) carcinomas are the common
      histological types of breast carcinoma which are difficult to distinguish when
      poorly differentiated. Discoidin domain receptor (DDR1) and Drosophila
      dishevelled protein (DVL1) were recently suggested to differentiate IDC from ILC.
      OBJECTIVES: To assess the expression of DDR1 and DVL1 and their association with
      histological type, grading and hormonal status of IDC and ILC. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: This cross sectional study was conducted on IDC and ILC breast tumours.
      Tumours were immunohistochemically stained for (DDR1) and (DVL1) as well as
      estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and C-erbB2 receptor.
      Demographic data including age and ethnicity were obtained from patient records.
      RESULTS: A total of 51 cases (30 IDCs and 21 ILCs) were assessed. DDR1 and DVL1
      expression was not significantly associated with histological type (p=0.57 and
      p=0.66 respectively). There was no association between DDR1 and DVL1 expression
      and tumour grade (p=0.32 and p=1.00 respectively), ER (p=0.62 and 0.50
      respectively), PR (p=0.38 and p=0.63 respectively) and C-erbB2 expression (p=0.19
      and p=0.33 respectively) in IDC. There was no association between DDR1 and DVL1
      expression and tumour grade (p=0.52 and p=0.33 respectively), ER (p=0.06 and
      p=0.76 respectively), PR (p=0.61 and p=0.43 respectively) and C-erbB2 expression
      (p=0.58 and p=0.76 respectively) in ILC. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that
      DDR1 and DVL1 are present in both IDC and ILC regardless of the tumour
      differentiation. More studies are needed to assess the potential of these two
      proteins in distinguishing IDC from ILC in breast tumours.

PMID- 25824770
TI  - Continuous-infusion ifosfamide and doxorubicin combination as second-line
      chemotherapy for recurrent or refractory osteosarcoma patients in China: a
      retrospective study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the feasibility
      and efficacy of response to continuous-infusion ifosfamide and doxorubicin
      combination as second-line chemotherapy for patients with recurrent or refractory
      osteosarcoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighteen recurrent or refractory
      osteosarcoma patients who were treated with continuous-infusion ifosfamide and
      doxorubicin combination between May 1999 and April 2011 were included in the
      analysis. Ifosfamide at 12 g/m2 was administered by intravenous continuous
      infusion over 3 days, and doxorubicin 60 mg/m2 was administered as an intravenous
      bolus injection on day 1. The combination therapy was repeated every 3 weeks.
      Treatment was continued until evidence of disease progression or unacceptable
      toxicity. RESULTS: The patients (ages 7-53 years) received a total of 42 cycles
      of chemotherapy (median: 2 courses; range: 2-5 courses). The overall response
      rate was 0% and the disease control rate was 22.3%, with four patients having
      stable disease. The median time to progression and overall survival time were 2
      months (range: 2-5 months) and 9 months (range: 3-29 months), respectively. Major
      severe toxicities were leucopenia 7 (38.9%), nausea and vomiting 3 (16.7%) and
      alopecia 9 (50%). There were no treatment-related deaths. CONCLUSIONS: In our
      experience, continuous-infusion ifosfamide and doxorubicin combination therapy at
      this dosage and schedule was found to be well tolerated and moderate effective,
      which could be considered as salvage therapy for patients with recurrent or
      refractory osteosarcoma. Further assessment is necessary to confirm the safety
      and efficacy of this treatment.

PMID- 25824771
TI  - MiR-454 prompts cell proliferation of human colorectal cancer cells by repressing
      CYLD expression.
AB  - Previous studies have shown that miR-454 plays an important role in a variety of
      biological processes in various human cancer cells. However, the underlying
      mechanisms of this microRNA in colorectal cancer (CRC) cells remain largely
      unknown. In the present study, we investigated the miR-454 role in CRC cell
      proliferation. We found that miR-454 expression is markedly upregulated in CRC
      tissues and CRC cells compared with the matched tumor adjacent tissues and the
      FHC normal colonic cell line. Ectopic expression of miR-454 promoted the
      proliferation and anchorage-independent growth of CRC cells, whereas inhibition
      of miR-454 reduced this effect. Bioinformatics analysis further revealed
      cylindromatosis (CYLD), a putative tumor suppressor as a potential target of miR
      454. Data from luciferase reporter assays showed that miR-454 directly binds to
      the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of CYLD mRNA and repressed expression at both
      transcriptional and translational levels. In functional assays, CYLD-silenced in
      miR-454-in-transfected SW480 cells have positive effect to promote cell
      proliferation, suggesting that direct CYLD downregulation is required for miR-454
      induced CRC cell proliferation. In sum, our data provide compelling evidence that
      miR-454 functions as an onco-miRNA, playing a crucial role in the promoting cell
      proliferation in CRC, and its oncogenic effect is mediated chiefly through direct
      suppression of CYLD expression. 

PMID- 25824772
TI  - Stressful life events and risk of colorectal cancer: a case-control study of
      Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Very few analytical studies are available on any association between
      stressful life events (SLE) and colorectal cancer (CRC), at least in Iran. The
      aim of this case control study was to determine the association between stressful
      life events (SLE) and colorectal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was
      conducted in four hospital colonoscopy units in Tabriz city of Iran including 414
      participants aged 40-75 years: 207 cases with CRC confirmed by pathology and
      colonoscopy findings and 207 controls free of neoplastic conditions were selected
      (from the same hospitals at the same period for the cases and after matching for
      age and sex). Stressful life events were assessed using a 43-item Holmes and Rahe
      Life Events Questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate
      adjusted odds ratios for SLE and risk of CRC. RESULTS: The stressful life event
      mean score in the case group was 141.3, in contrast to 63.8 in the control group
      (p<0.011). After adjusting for confounders, death of dear ones increased the risk
      of CRC (OR: 2.49; 95%CI: 1.41-5.13). Other types of stressful life events (family
      and husband disputes, serious occupational problems, unemployment of >6 months,
      and Serious financial problems) were also associated with CRC, but without
      statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: According to our findings, it seems that
      SLE may increase the risk of CRC.

PMID- 25824773
TI  - Utility of peripheral blood parameters in predicting breast cancer risk.
AB  - PURPOSE: We aimed to study the inflammatory parameters of complete blood count in
      breast cancer cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study covered 178
      breast cancer patients and 107 age and body mass index matched healthy women.
      Complete blood count parameters, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/
      lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and MPV/platelet were analyzed. RESULTS: The leukocyte,
      neutrophil and neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio were higher in the patient group (p
      values 0.001, 0.0001 and 0.0001, respectively) while haemoglobin and hematocrit
      were higher in the control group (p=0.0001 for both). Logistic regression
      analysis showed that elevated neutrophils and platelet distribution width (PDW)
      (OR: 0.627, 95%CI: 0.508-0.774, p=0.001 and OR: 1.191 95%CI: 1.057-1.342 p=0.003)
      were independent variables for predicting breast cancer. The cut- off value for
      the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio was 2.56. CONCLUSIONS: According to our study
      results, neutrophil levels as part of complete blood count may be used as an
      independent predictor of breast cancer risk.

PMID- 25824774
TI  - Adjuvant chemotherapy and prognostic factors in stage II colon cancer--Izmir
      Oncology Group Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although adjuvant chemotherapy is a standard treatment in stage III
      colon cancer, its benefit is not as clear for stage II patients. In this
      retrospective analysis, we aimed to evaluate the survival of patients with low
      risk stage II colon cancer, the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy in high-risk
      stage II colon cancer patients, and prognostic factors in stage II disease.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and seventeen patients who were diagnosed with
      stage II colon cancer between January 2006 and December 2011 were included in the
      study. Patients were stratified into two groups as being low-risk and high-risk
      according to risk factors for stage II disease. Adjuvant 5-fluorouracil-based
      chemotherapy were administered to the patients with risk factors. RESULTS: Ninety
      four patients were treated with adjuvant chemotherapy due to high risk factors
      and 23 were monitored without treatment. Median follow-up time was 43 months. In
      terms of disease free survival and overall survival, adjuvant chemotherapy did
      not provide a statistically significant difference. Univariate analysis
      demonstrated that bowel obstruction was the major risk factor for shortened
      disease-free survival, while bowel perforation and perineural invasion were both
      negative prognostic factors for overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: The recommendation
      of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II colon cancer is not clear. In our study, it
      was found that adjuvant chemotherapy did not contribute to survival in high-risk
      stage II patients. Due to the fact that prognosis of stage II patients is good,
      many more patients will be needed for statistically significant differences in
      survival. Adjuvant chemotherapy containing 5 fluorouracil is being used to high
      risk stage II patients although it is not a standard treatment approach.

PMID- 25824775
TI  - Continuous DC-CIK infusions restore CD8+ cellular immunity, physical activity and
      improve clinical efficacy in advanced cancer patients unresponsive to
      conventional treatments.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There are few choices for treatment of advanced cancer patients who
      do not respond to or tolerate conventional anti-cancer treatments. Therefore this
      study aimed to deploy the benefits and clinical efficacy of continuous dendritic
      cell-cytokine induced killer cell infusions in such patients. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A total of 381 infusions (from 67 advanced cases recruited) were
      included in this study. All patients underwent peripheral blood mononuclear cell
      apheresis for the following cellular therapy and dendritic cells-cytokine induced
      killer cells were expanded in vitro. Peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets were
      quantified through flow cytometry to address the cellular immunity status.
      Clinical efficacy and physical activities were evaluated by RECIST criteria and
      Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group scores respectively. Logistic regression model
      was used to estimate the association between cellular infusions and clinical
      benefits. RESULTS: An average of 5.7+/-2.94x10(9) induced cells were infused each
      time and patients were exposed to 6 infusions. Cellular immunity was improved in
      that cytotoxic CD8+CD28+T lymphocytes were increased by 74% and suppressive
      CD8+CD28-T lymphocytes were elevated by 16% (p<0.05). Continuous infusion of
      dendritic cells-cytokine induced killer cells was associated with improvement of
      both patient status and cellular immunity. A median of six infusions were capable
      of reducing risk of progression by 70% (95%CI 0.10-0.91). Every elevation of one
      ECOG score corresponded to a 3.90-fold higher progression risk (p<0.05) and 1%
      increase of CD8+CD28- T cell proportion reflecting a 5% higher risk of
      progression (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In advanced cancer patients, continuous
      dendritic cell-cytokine induced killer cell infusions are capable of recovering
      cellular immunity, improving patient status and quality of life in those who are
      unresponsive to conventional cancer treatment.

PMID- 25824776
TI  - siRNA silencing EZH2 reverses cisplatin-resistance of human non-small cell lung
      and gastric cancer cells.
AB  - Clinical resistance to chemotherapeutic agents is one of the major hindrances in
      the treatment of human cancers. EHZ2 is involved in drug resistance and is
      overexpressed in drug-resistant cancer cell lines. In this study, we investigated
      the effects of EHZ2 on cisplatin -resistance in A549/DDP and AGS/DDP cells. EHZ2
      mRNA and protein were found to be significantly overexpressed in A549/DDP and
      AGS/DDP cells, compared to parental cells. EHZ2 siRNA successfully silenced EHZ2
      mRNA and protein expression. Proliferation was inhibited and drug resistance to
      cisplatin was improved. Flow cytometry showed that silencing of EHZ2 arrested
      A549/DDP and AGS/DDP cells in the G0/G1 phase, increasing apoptosis, rh-123
      fluorescence intensity and caspase-3/8 activities. Silencing of EHZ2 also
      significantly reduced the mRNA and protein expression levels of cyclin D1 and
      MDR1,while up-regulating p15, p21, p27 and miR-218 in A549/DPP cells.
      Furthermore, silencing of EHZ2 also significantly increased the expression level
      of tumor suppressor factor miR-218. We also found down-regulating EHZ2 expression
      increased methylation in A549/DDP and AGS/DDP cells. This study demonstrates that
      drug resistance can be effectively reversed in human cisplatin-resistant lung and
      gastric cancer cells through delivery of siRNAs targeting EHZ2. 

PMID- 25824777
TI  - Colorectal cancer treatment and survival: the experience of major public
      hospitals in south Australia over three decades.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Registry data from four major public hospitals indicate trends in
      clinical care and survival from colorectal cancer over three decades, from 1980
      to 2010. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Kaplan-Meier product- limit estimates and Cox
      proportional hazards models were used to investigate disease-specific survival
      and multiple logistic regression analyses to explore first-round treatment
      trends. RESULTS: Five-year survivals increased from 48% for 1980-1986 to 63% for
      2005-2010 diagnoses. Survival increases applied to each ACPS stage (Australian
      Clinico-Pathological Stage), and particularly stage C (an increase from 38% to
      68%). Risk of death from colorectal cancer halved (hazards ratio: 0.50 (0.45,
      0.56)) over the study period after adjusting for age, sex, stage,
      differentiation, primary sub-site, health administrative region, and measures of
      socioeconomic status and geographic remoteness. Decreases in stage were not
      observed. Survivals did not vary by sex or place of residence, suggesting
      reasonable equity in service access and outcomes. Of staged cases, 91% were
      treated surgically with lower surgical rates for older ages and more advanced
      stage. Proportions of surgical cases having adjuvant therapy during primary
      courses of treatment increased for all stages and were highest for stage C (an
      increase from 5% in 1980-1986 to 63% for 2005-2010). Radiotherapy was more common
      for rectal than colonic cases. Proportions of rectal cases receiving radiotherapy
      increased, particularly for stage C where the increase was from 8% in 1980-1986
      to 60% in 2005-2010. The percentage of stage C colorectal cases less than 70
      years of age having systemic therapy as part of their first treatment round
      increased from 3% in 1980-1986 to 81% by 1995-2010. Based on survey data on
      uptake of adjuvant therapy among those offered this care, it is likely that all
      these younger patients were offered systemic treatment. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude
      that pronounced increases in survivals from colorectal cancer have occurred at
      major public hospitals in South Australia due to increases in stage-specific
      survivals. Use of adjuvant therapies has increased and the patterns of change
      accord with clinical guideline recommendations. Reasons for sub-optimal use of
      radiotherapy for rectal cases warrant further investigation, including the
      potential for limited rural access to impede uptake of treatments at metropolitan
      based radiotherapy centres.

PMID- 25824778
TI  - Malignancy risk scoring of hydatidiform moles.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several risk factors leading to malignant transformation of
      hydatidiform moles have been described previously. Many studies showed that
      prophylactic chemotherapy for high risk hydatidiform moles could significantly
      decrease the incidence of malignancy. Thus, it is essential to discover a
      breakthrough to determine patients with high risk malignancy so that prophylactic
      chemotherapy can be started as soon as possible. OBJECTIVES: Development of a
      scoring system of risk factors as a predictor of hydatidiform mole malignant
      transformation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research is a case control study with
      hydatidiform mole and choriocarcinoma patients as subjects. Multiple logistic
      regression was used to analyze the data. Odds ratios (OR), attributable at risk
      (AR : OR-1) and risk index (ARxbeta) were calculated for develoipment of a
      scoring system of malignancy risk. The optimal cut-off point was determined using
      receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. RESULTS: This study analyzed 34
      choriocarcinoma cases and 68 benign hydatidiform mole cases. Four factors
      significantly increased the risk of malignancy, namely age>=35 years old
      (OR:4.41, 95%CI:1.07- 16.09, risk index 5); gestational age>=12 weeks (OR:11.7,
      95%CI:1.8-72.4, risk index 26); uterine size greater than the gestational age
      (OR:10.2, 95%CI:2.8-36.6, risk index 21); and histopathological grade II-III
      (OR:3.4, 95%CI:1.1-10.6, risk index 3). The lowest and the highest scores for the
      risk factors were zero and 55, respectively. The best cut-off point to decide
      high risk malignancy patients was >=31. CONCLUSIONS: Malignant transformation of
      hydatidiform moles can be predicted using the risk scoring by analyzing the above
      four parameters. Score>=31 implies high risk patients so that prophylactic
      chemotherapy can be promptly administered for prevention.

PMID- 25824779
TI  - Osteopontin levels in patients with papillary thyroid cancer according to the
      presence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Human papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is often associated with
      Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT); their coexistence improves PTC prognosis.
      Osteopontin, a secreted glycoprotein, plays a role in cell survival, immunity,
      and tumor progression, its expression being associated with a poor prognosis and
      metastasis in several malignancies. Osteopontin overexpression correlates with
      aggressive clinicopathological features in PTC. Lymph node metastases and large
      tumor size positively correlate with osteopontin positivity. This study aimed to:
      (1) confirm osteopontin overexpression in human PTC samples; (2) compare
      osteopontin expression levels in PTC cases with and without HT; and (3) identify
      correlations between tumor aggressiveness and osteopontin expression levels.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Plasma osteopontin was assessed in 45 patients with PTC,
      22 patients with PTC and HT, and 24 healthy controls by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay. Thyroid tissue osteopontin mRNA and protein levels were
      analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting,
      respectively. RESULTS: Plasma osteopontin levels were significantly higher in PTC
      patients than in healthy controls. Plasma osteopontin, tissue osteopontin mRNA,
      and tissue osteopontin protein levels were significantly lower in patients with
      PTC and HT than in those with PTC alone. In advanced disease stage cases,
      osteopontin mRNA and protein expression levels were lower in patients with PTC
      and HT than in those with PTC alone. However, the osteopontin expression level
      was not significantly associated with the TNM stage. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma
      osteopontin, tissue osteopontin mRNA, and tissue osteopontin protein levels were
      significantly lower in patients with PTC and HT than in those with PTC alone,
      suggesting that HT attenuates PTC aggressiveness through negative regulation of
      osteopontin expression.

PMID- 25824781
TI  - ZNF217 is overexpressed and enhances cell migration and invasion in colorectal
      carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To investigate the expression and clinical significance of zinc
      finger protein 217 (ZNF217) in human colorectal carcinoma (CRC). MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: The expression of ZNF217 in 60 CRC tissues and matched tumor adjacent
      tissues, collected between January 2013 and June 2014, was assessed
      immunohistochemically. The relationship between the expression of ZNF217 and
      clinicopathlogical features was analyzed by Pearson chi-square test. In addition,
      siRNA was used to down-regulate the expression of ZNF217 in CRC cells. The
      effects of ZNF217 for cell migration and invasion were measured by wound healing
      assay and transwell assay, respectively. RESULTS: The expression level of ZNF217
      was significantly higher in CRC tissues than in tumor adjacent tissues (p<0.05),
      positively correlating with tumor size, lymphatic metastasis and advanced TNM
      stage (p<0.05). Down-regulation of ZNF217 in CRC cells could significantly
      suppress cell migration and invasion. CONCLUSIONS: ZNF217 is overexpressed in
      colorectal carcinoma tissues and is associated with tumor malignant
      clinicopathological features. ZNF217 may promote CRC progression by inducing cell
      migration and invasion.

PMID- 25824780
TI  - XIAP associated factor 1 (XAF1) represses expression of X-linked inhibitor of
      apoptosis protein (XIAP) and regulates invasion, cell cycle, apoptosis, and
      cisplatin sensitivity of ovarian carcinoma cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) associated factor 1
      (XAF1) exhibits aberrantly low or absent expression in various human
      malignancies, closely associated with anti-apoptosis and overgrowth of cancer
      cells. However, limited attention has been directed towards the contribution of
      XAF1 to invasion, apoptosis, and cisplatin (DDP)-resistance of epithelial ovarian
      cancer (EOC) cells. This study aimed to evaluate the potential effects of XAF1 on
      invasion, cell cycle, apoptosis, and cisplatin-resistance by overexpressing XAF1
      in SKOV-3 and SKOV-3/DDP cells. METHODS AND RESULTS: The pEGFP-C1-XAF1 plasmid
      was transfected into SKOV-3 and SKOV-3/DDP cells, and the expression of XAF1 at
      both mRNA and protein levels was analyzed by reverse transcription-PCR and
      Western blotting. Overexpression of XAF1 suppressed XIAP expression in both SKOV
      3 and SKOV-3/DDP cells. Transwell invasion assays demonstrated that XAF1 exerted
      a strong anti-invasive effect in XAF1-overexpressing cells. Moreover, flow
      cytometry analysis revealed that XAF1 overexpression arrested the cell cycle at
      G0/G1 phase, and cell apoptosis analysis showed that overexpression of XAF1
      enhanced apoptosis of SKOV-3 and SKOV-3/DDP cells apparently by activating
      caspase-9 and caspase-3. Furthermore, MTT assay confirmed a dose-dependent
      inhibitory effect of cisplatin in the tested tumor cells, and overexpression of
      XAF1 increased the sensitivity of SKOV-3 and SKOV-3/DDP cells to cisplatin
      mediated anti- proliferative effects. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, our data indicated
      that overexpression of XAF1 could suppress XIAP expression, inhibit invasion,
      arrest cell cycle, promote apoptosis, and confer cisplatin-sensitivity in SKOV-3
      and SKOV-3/DDP cells. Therefore, XAF1 may be further assessed as a potential
      target for the treatment of both cisplatin-resistant and non-resistant EOCs.

PMID- 25824782
TI  - Breast cancer characteristics and survival differences between Maori, Pacific and
      other New Zealand women included in the Quality Audit program of Breast Surgeons
      of Australia and New Zealand.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Quality Audit (BQA) program of the Breast Surgeons of Australia
      and New Zealand (NZ) collects data on early female breast cancer and its
      treatment. BQA data covered approximately half all early breast cancers diagnosed
      in NZ during roll-out of the BQA program in 1998-2010. Coverage increased
      progressively to about 80% by 2008. This is the biggest NZ breast cancer database
      outside the NZ Cancer Registry and it includes cancer and clinical management
      data not collected by the Registry. We used these BQA data to compare socio
      demographic and cancer characteristics and survivals by ethnicity. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: BQA data for 1998-2010 diagnoses were linked to NZ death records using
      the National Health Index (NHI) for linking. Live cases were followed up to
      December 31st 2010. Socio-demographic and invasive cancer characteristics and
      disease-specific survivals were compared by ethnicity. RESULTS: Five-year
      survivals were 87% for Maori, 84% for Pacific, 91% for other NZ cases and 90%
      overall. This compared with the 86% survival reported for all female breast cases
      covered by the NZ Cancer Registry which also included more advanced stages.
      Patterns of survival by clinical risk factors accorded with patterns expected
      from the scientific literature. Compared with Other cases, Maori and Pacific
      women were younger, came from more deprived areas, and had larger cancers with
      more ductal and fewer lobular histology types. Their cancers were also less
      likely to have a triple negative phenotype. More of the Pacific women had
      vascular invasion. Maori women were more likely to reside in areas more remote
      from regional cancer centres, whereas Pacific women generally lived closer to
      these centres than Other NZ cases. CONCLUSIONS: NZ BQA data indicate previously
      unreported differences in breast cancer biology by ethnicity. Maori and Pacific
      women had reduced breast cancer survival compared with Other NZ women, after
      adjusting for socio-demographic and cancer characteristics. The potential
      contributions to survival differences of variations in service access, timeliness
      and quality of care, need to be examined, along with effects of co- morbidity and
      biological factors.

PMID- 25824783
TI  - Dendrosomal curcumin inhibits metastatic potential of human SW480 colon cancer
      cells through Down-regulation of Claudin1, Zeb1 and Hef1-1 gene expression.
AB  - Colon cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-associated death worldwide.
      The prognosis for advanced colorectal cancers remains dismal, mainly due to the
      propensity for metastatic progression. Accordingly, there is a need for effective
      anti-metastasis therapeutic agents. Since a great body of research has indicated
      anticancer effects for curcumin, we investigated the effects of dendrosomal
      curcumin (DNC) on cellular migration and adhesion of human SW480 cells and
      possible molecular mechanisms involved. Different methods were applied in this
      study including MTT, Scratch and adhesion assays as well as real-time PCR and
      transwell chamber assays. Based on the results obtained, DNC inhibits metastasis
      by decreasing Hef 1, Zeb 1 and Claudin 1 mRNA levels and can reduce SW480 cell
      proliferation with IC50values of 15.9, 11.6 and 7.64 MUM at 24, 48 and 72 h post
      treatment. Thus it might be considered as a safe formulation for therapeutic
      purpose in colorectal cancer cases.

PMID- 25824784
TI  - Gemcitabine plus nedaplatin as salvage therapy is a favorable option for patients
      with progressive metastatic urothelial carcinoma after two lines of chemotherapy.
AB  - This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a combination of
      gemcitabine and nedaplatin therapy among patients with metastatic urothelial
      carcinoma previously treated with two lines of chemotherapy. Between February
      2009 and August 2013, 30 patients were treated with gemcitabine and paclitaxel as
      a second-line chemotherapy. All had received a first-line chemotherapy consisting
      of methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin and cisplatin. Ten patients who had
      measurable histologically proven advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma of
      the urinary bladder and upper urinary tract received gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2 on
      days 1, 8 and 15 and nedaplatin 70 mg/m2 on day 2 as a third-line chemotherapy.
      Tumors were assessed by imaging every two cycles. The median number of treatment
      cycles was 3.5. One patient had partial response and three had stable disease.
      The disease-control rate was 40%, the median overall survival was 8.8 months and
      the median progression-free survival was 5.0 months. The median overall survival
      times for the first-line and second-line therapies were 29.1 and 13.9 months,
      respectively. Among disease-controlled patients (n=4), median overall survival
      was 14.2 months. Myelosuppression was the most common toxicity. There were no
      therapy-related deaths. Gemcitabine and nedaplatin chemotherapy is a favorable
      third-line chemotherapeutic option for patients with metastatic urothelial
      carcinoma. Given the safety and benefit profile seen in this study, further
      prospective trials are warranted given the implications of our results with
      regard to strategic chemotherapy for patients with advanced or metastatic
      urothelial carcinoma. 

PMID- 25824785
TI  - Loss of heterozygosity at the calcium regulation gene locus on chromosome 10q in
      human pancreatic cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on chromosomal regions is crucial in
      tumor progression and this study aimed to identify genome-wide LOH in pancreatic
      cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) profiling
      data GSE32682 of human pancreatic samples snap-frozen during surgery were
      downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus database. Genotype console software was
      used to perform data processing. Candidate genes with LOH were screened based on
      the genotype calls, SNP loci of LOH and dbSNP database. Gene annotation was
      performed to identify the functions of candidate genes using NCBI (the National
      Center for Biotechnology Information) database, followed by Gene Ontology,
      INTERPRO, PFAM and SMART annotation and UCSC Genome Browser track to the
      unannotated genes using DAVID (the Database for Annotation, Visualization and
      Integration Discovery). RESULTS: The candidate genes with LOH identified in this
      study were MCU, MICU1 and OIT3 on chromosome 10. MCU was found to encode a
      calcium transporter and MICU1 could encode an essential regulator of
      mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake. OIT3 possibly correlated with calcium binding revealed
      by the annotation analyses and was regulated by a large number of transcription
      factors including STAT, SOX9, CREB, NF-kB, PPARG and p53. CONCLUSIONS: Global
      genomic analysis of SNPs identified MICU1, MCU and OIT3 with LOH on chromosome
      10, implying involvement of these genes in progression of pancreatic cancer.

PMID- 25824786
TI  - Expression and prognostic role of MEKK3 and pERK in patients with renal clear
      cell carcinoma.
AB  - Mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase
      kinase 3 (MEKK3) is an important serine/threonine protein kinase and a member of
      the MAPK family. MEKK3 can effectively activate the MEK/ERK signaling pathway and
      promote an autocrine growth loop critical for tumor genesis, cell proliferation,
      terminal differentiation, apoptosis and survival. To explore the relationship
      between MEKK3 and cell apoptosis, clinicopathology and prognosis, we characterize
      the expression of MEKK3, pERK and FoxP3 in the renal clear cell carcinoma (RCCC).
      Protein expression was detected by tissue microarray and immunochemistry in 46
      cases of RCCC and 28 control cases. Expression levels of CD3+
      ,CD3+CD4+,CD3+CD8+,CD4+CD25+, CD4+CD25+ FoxP3+ were assessed by flow cytometry
      and analyzed for their association with pathological factors, correlation and
      prognosis in RCCC. Expression of MEKK3, pERK and FoxP3 was significantly up
      regulated in RCCC as compared to control levels (p<0.01), associated with
      pathological grade (p<0.05)and clinical stage (p<0.05). CD4+CD25+ Foxp3+ Treg
      cells were also significantly increased in RCCC patients (p<0.05). Cox
      multivariate regression analysis showed that MEKK3, pERK expression and
      patholigical stage were independent prognostic factors in patients with RCCC
      (p<0.05). MEKK3 can be used as an important marker of early diagnosis and
      prognostic evaluation in RCCC. It may be associated with imbalance of anti-tumor
      immunity and overexpression of pERK. Expression of MEKK3 and pERK are
      significantly increased in RCCC, with protein expression and clinical stage
      acting as independent prognostic factors. 

PMID- 25824787
TI  - Level of knowledge and behavior of family health personnel workers in Izmir about
      early diagnosis for breast and cervix cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: The present study was carried out to measure knowledge level and
      behavior of family health personnel (FHP) in Izmir on early diagnosis of breast
      and cervical cancers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population of this cross
      sectional study was not selected. A questionnaire was applied to all FHP to
      measure knowledge level and behavior about cancer. The participation rate was
      88%. Breast examination, mammography analysis, Papanicolaou smear applications
      were determined as dependent variables, and knowledge level about breast and
      cervical cancer, age, professional time as FHP as independent variables. Data
      were evaluated using definitive statistics, chi-square and logistic regression
      tests in SPSS software package for Windows 15.0. RESULTS: A total of 970 family
      health personnel participated in the research. The age range was 20-45 years
      (82.4%). Mean age was 37.9+/-7.4. Response rate was 87.3%. Of the participants,
      88.4% performed breast self-examination. Rate of performing mammography at least
      once was 24.1%. Rate of performing Pap-smear examination at least once was 61.0%.
      In logistic regression analyses, it was determined that people with knowledge on
      breast and cervical cancer were those performing breast self-examination,
      mammography and Pap-smear examinations (p<0.05. CONCLUSIONS: It is essential that
      the knowledge, behavior and manners of health providers on early diagnosis for
      cancer increases awareness in the general population and provides information on
      execution ofthe most effective methods for generating a healthy society.

PMID- 25824788
TI  - Association between alterations in the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d status during
      follow-up and breast cancer patient prognosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Serum vitamin D status can affect the prognosis of breast cancer
      patients. Our aim was to determine the association between alterations in the 25
      hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] status during follow-up and the prognosis of breast
      cancer patients. Additionally, we evaluated the association between the 25(OH)D
      status at the time of diagnosis and the prognosis using a detailed age and stage
      categorization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four hundred and sixty-nine Korean breast
      cancer patients were included. We collected patient clinicopathological data,
      including their serum 25(OH)D concentration at diagnosis and at the annual follow
      up until 4 years after diagnosis. The patients were divided according to their
      25(OH)D status at diagnosis into a deficient (<20 ng/ml) and a non-deficient
      (>=20 ng/ml) group. At follow-up, patients were categorized into the four
      following groups according to 25(OH)D status alterations: persistently deficient,
      improved, deteriorated and persistently non-deficient. RESULTS: At diagnosis, 118
      patients were classified into the deficient group and 351 into the non-deficient
      group. After a median follow-up period of 85.8+/-31.0 months, the patients with
      advanced- stage disease or an older age in the non-deficient group showed a
      significantly better survival compared with the deficient group. Furthermore, at
      the 1-year follow-up of 25(OH)D status, the persistently non-deficient group and
      the improved group had better survival compared with the other two groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that maintaining an optimal 25(OH)D status at
      diagnosis and during the 1-year follow-up period is important for improving
      breast cancer patient survival.

PMID- 25824789
TI  - Knowledge level of working and student nurses on cervical cancer and human
      papilloma virus vaccines.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine knowledge levels of working and student nurses about
      cervical cancer and prophylactic cancer vaccines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This
      study was performed on 259 nursing students in the Department of Nursing and 137
      nurses working in Health Research and Practice Center, approved to participate in
      the study between April-June 2012. The study was performed universally without
      selecting a sample. A questionnaire that was prepared for evaluating
      participants' knowledge and attitudes about human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine
      was distributed to the nurses and data obtained from the forms were transferred
      to SPSS 15.00 program and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: It was found that
      54.8% of the student nurses were between 21-24 years old and 13.1% of working
      students were between 25-28 years old. When student nurses and working nurses
      were compared in terms of their knowledge about the causes of cervical cancer,
      their ideas about prevention from cervical cancer with HPV vaccine, their ideas
      about possible risks of HPV vaccine and conservation ratios of HPV vaccine, it
      was observed that there were no statistically significant differences (p>0.05).
      When student nurses and working nurses were compared in terms of the information
      source about HPV, ways of HPV contamination, awareness about people who are
      susceptible to HPV contamination and age of HPV vaccination, it was determined
      that there was a statistically significant difference (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It
      was found that all nurses had some knowledge about cervical cancer and HPV
      vaccine, but this was not sufficient. Therefore; it is recommended to use verbal,
      written and visual communication tools intensively in order to have topics on
      cervical cancer, early diagnosis and prevention in bachelor and master programs
      for nurses, to inform society about cervical cancer and HPV vaccine for public
      health and to teach precautions for its prevention.

PMID- 25824790
TI  - Virtual non-contrast computer tomography (CT) with spectral CT as an alternative
      to conventional unenhanced CT in the assessment of gastric cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate computed tomography (CT)
      virtual non-contrast (VNC) spectral imaging for gastric carcinoma. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Fifty-two patients with histologically proven gastric carcinomas
      underwent gemstone spectral imaging (GSI) including non-contrast and contrast
      enhanced hepatic arterial, portal venous, and equilibrium phase acquisitions
      prior to surgery. VNC arterial phase (VNCa), VNC venous phase (VNCv), and VNC
      equilibrium phase (VNCe) images were obtained by subtracting iodine from
      iodine/water images. Images were analyzed with respect to image quality, gastric
      carcinoma-intragastric water contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), gastric carcinoma
      perigastric fat CNR, serosal invasion, and enlarged lymph nodes around the
      lesions. RESULTS: Carcinoma-water CNR values were significantly higher in VNCa,
      VNCv, and VNCe images than in normal CT images (2.72, 2.60, 2.61, respectively,
      vs 2.35, p<=0.008). Carcinoma- perigastric fat CNR values were significantly
      lower in VNCa, VNCv, and VNCe images than in normal CT images (7.63, 7.49, 7.32,
      respectively, vs 8.48, p<0.001). There were no significant differences of
      carcinoma-water CNR and carcinoma-perigastric fat CNR among VNCa, VNCv, and VNCe
      images. There was no difference in the determination of invasion or enlarged
      lymph nodes between normal CT and VNCa images. CONCLUSIONS: VNC arterial phase
      images may be a surrogate for conventional non-contrast CT images in gastric
      carcinoma evaluation.

PMID- 25824791
TI  - Evaluation of biochemical recurrence-free survival after radical prostatectomy by
      cancer of the prostate risk assessment post-surgical (CAPRA-S) score.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The cancer of the prostate risk assessment (CAPRA) score has been
      defined to predict prostate cancer recurrence based on the pre-clinical data,
      then pathological data have also been incorporated. Thus, CAPRA post-surgical
      (CAPRA-S) score has been developed based on six criteria (prostate specific
      antigen (PSA) at diagnosis, pathological Gleason score, and information on
      surgical margin, seminal vesicle invasion, extracapsular extension and lymph node
      involvement) for the prediction of post-surgical recurrences. In the present
      study, biochemical recurrence (BCR)-free probabilities after open retropubic
      radical prostatectomy (RP) were evaluated by the CAPRA-S scoring system and its
      three-risk level model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: CAPRA-S scores (0-12) of our 240
      radical prostatectomies performed between January 2000-May 2011 were calculated.
      Patients were distributed into CAPRA-S score groups and also into three-risk
      groups as low, intermediate and high. BCR-free probabilities were assessed and
      compared using Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression.
      Ability of CAPRA-S in BCR detection was evaluated by concordance index (c-index).
      RESULTS: BCR was present in 41 of total 240 patients (17.1%) and the mean follow
      up time was 51.7+/-33.0 months. Mean BCR-free survival time was 98.3 months (95%
      CI: 92.3-104.2). Of the patients in low, intermediate and high risk groups, 5.4%,
      22.0% and 58.8% had BCR, respectively and the difference among the three groups
      was significant (P=0.0001). C-indices of CAPRA-S score and three-risk groups for
      detecting BCR-free probabilities in 5-yr were 0.87 and 0.81, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: Both CAPRA-S score and its three-risk level model well predicted BCR
      after RP with high c-index levels in our center. Therefore, it is a clinically
      reliable post-operative risk stratifier and disease recurrence predictor for
      prostate cancer.

PMID- 25824792
TI  - Young women with breast cancer in the United States and South Korea: comparison
      of demographics, pathology and management.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Breast cancer diagnosed in young women may be more aggressive, with
      higher rates of local and distant recurrence compared to the disease in older
      women. Epidemiologic evidence suggests that Korean women have a lower incidence
      of breast cancer than women in the United States, but that they present at a
      younger age than their American counterparts. We sought to compare risk factors
      and management of young women with breast cancer in Boston, Massachusetts (US)
      with those in Seoul, South Korea (KR). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective
      review was performed of consecutive patients less than 35 years old with a
      diagnosis of breast cancer at academic cancer centers in the US and KR from 2000
      2005. Patient data were obtained by chart review. Demographic, tumor and
      treatment characteristics were compared utilizing Pearson's chi- square or
      Wilcoxon rank-sum tests where appropriate. All differences were assessed as
      significant at the 0.05 level. RESULTS: 205 patients from the US and 309 from KR
      were analyzed. Patients in US were more likely to have hormone receptor positive
      breast cancer, while patients in KR had a higher rate of triple negative lesions.
      Patients in US had a higher mean body mass index and more often reported use of
      birth control pills, while those in the KR were less likely to have a sentinel
      node procedure performed or to receive post mastectomy radiation. CONCLUSIONS:
      Patients under 35 diagnosed with breast cancer in the US and KR differ with
      respect to demographics, tumor characteristics and management. Although rates of
      breast conservation and mastectomy were similar, US patients were more likely to
      receive post mastectomy radiation. The lower use of sentinel node biopsy is
      explained by the later adoption of the technique in KR. Further evaluation is
      necessary to evaluate recurrence rates and survival in the setting of differing
      disease subtypes in these patients.

PMID- 25824793
TI  - Temporal variations of dietary habits in a high-risk area for upper
      gastrointestinal cancers: a population-based study from northern Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nutrition transition is a global health problem, especially in
      developing countries. It is known as an important factor for development of
      different types of health conditions including cancers. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to
      assess the pattern of nutrition transition in a high-risk area for upper
      gastrointestinal cancers in Northern Iran during the last decade. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on households of Golestan
      province, Iran. Data on household food consumption between 2001 and 2010 were
      obtained from the Statistical Center of Iran. The proportions of households with
      medium/high consumption of main foods were calculated for each year. Joint point
      software was used for assessing trends. Annual percent changes (APCs) and 95%CIs
      were calculated. RESULTS: In total, 12,060 households were recruited. The APCs
      (95%CI) of the proportion of households medium/high consumption of cereals,
      vegetables, legumes, fish, dairy products and meats were -3.1 (-4.1 to -2.2), 
      2.9 (-3.8 to -2.1), -2.3 (-3.2 to -1.4), -2.8 (-3.3 to -2.4), -1.9 (-3.0 to -0.9)
      and 2.7 (1.2 to 4.3), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We found significant increase in
      meat consumption among our population between 2001 and 2010. Our results also
      suggested significant decreasing trend in consumption of so-called healthy foods
      including, plant foods, fish, and dairy products. Regarding its correlation with
      health conditions including cancers, nutrition transition should be considered as
      a priority in health policy making in our region as well as other high-risk
      populations. It is recommended to conduct community level interventions to
      increase consumption of plant foods, fish, and dairy products.

PMID- 25824794
TI  - Comparison of infection between internal-external and external percutaneous
      transhepatic biliary drainage in treating patients with malignant obstructive
      jaundice.
AB  - PURPOSE: Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) is a form of
      palliative care for patients with malignant obstructive jaundice. We here
      compared the infection incidence between internal-external and external drainage
      for patients with malignant obstructive jaundice. METHODS: Patients with
      malignant obstructive jaundice without infection before surgery receiving
      internal-external or external drainage from January 2008 to July 2014 were
      recruited. According to percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC), if the
      guide wire could pass through the occlusion and enter the duodenum, we
      recommended internal-external drainage, and external drainage biliary drainage
      was set up if the occlusion was not crossed. All patients with infection after
      procedure received a cultivation of blood and a bile bacteriological test.
      RESULTS: Among 110 patients with malignant obstructive jaundice, 22 (52.4%) were
      diagnosed with infection after the procedure in the internal-external drainage
      group, whereas 19 (27.9%) patients were so affected in the external drainage
      group, the difference being significant (p<0.05). In 8 patients (36.3%) in the
      internal-external group infection was controlled, as compared to 12 (63.1%) in
      the external group (p<0.05). The mortality rate for patients with infection not
      controlled in internal-external group in one month was 42.8%, while this rate in
      external group was 28.6% (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: External drainage is a good
      choice, which could significantly reduce the chance of biliary infection caused
      by bacteria, and decrease the mortality rate at one month and improve the long
      term prognosis.

PMID- 25824795
TI  - Educational intervention on breast cancer early detection: effectiveness among
      target group women in the district of Gampaha, Sri Lanka.
AB  - PURPOSE: The present study concerns the effectiveness of an educational
      intervention for improving knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of breast
      cancer early detection among target group women (TGW) in the district of Gampaha,
      Sri Lanka. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was a community-based intervention.
      Two medical officer of health areas in Gampaha district were selected using
      random sampling as intervention (IA) and control (CA). Public health midwives
      (PHMs) in the IA were exposed to the educational intervention first, conducted
      the same among the TGW through PHMs. KAP was assessed using an interviewer-
      administrated questionnaire among 260 TGW from each area selected using cluster
      sampling before and six months after the intervention. RESULTS: The overall
      median scores for KAP among TGW in IG increased significantly from pre
      intervention level of 54% (IQR: 46-59%), 50% (IQR: 41-59%), and 0% (IQR: 0-20%)
      to post intervention level of 77% (IQR: 72-82%), 68% (IQR: 59- 76 %) and 40%
      (IQR: 20-60%) respectively. In CG, overall median scores for KAP remained almost
      the same at pre intervention 54% (IQR:44-59%), 50% (IQR:36-59%) and 0% (IQR: 0
      20%) and post intervention 54% (IQR:46-59%), 50% (IQR:36-64%) and 0% (IQR: 0-20%)
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The educational intervention was found to be
      effective.

PMID- 25824796
TI  - Effects of TESTIN gene expression on proliferation and migration of the 5-8F
      nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate effects of the TESTIN (TES) gene on proliferation and
      migration of highly metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line 5-8F and the
      related mechanisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The target gene of human
      nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line 5-8F was amplified by PCR and cloned into the
      empty plasmid pEGFP-N1 to construct a eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-N1-TES.
      This was then transfected into 5-8F cells. MTT assays, flow cytometry and scratch
      wound tests were used to detect the proliferation and migration of transfected 5
      8F cells. RESULTS: A cell model with stable and high expression of TES gene was
      successfully established. MTT assays showed that the OD value of 5-8F/TES cells
      was markedly lower than that of 5-8F/GFP cells and 5-8F cells (p<0.05). Flow
      cytometry showed that the apoptosis rate of 5-8F/TES cells was prominently
      increased compared with 5-8F/GFP cells and 5-8F cells (p<0.05). In vitro scratch
      wound assays showed that, the width of the wound area of 5-8F/TES cells narrowed
      slightly, while the width of the wound area of 5-8F/ GFP cells and 5-8F cells
      narrowed sharply, suggesting that the TES overexpression could inhibit the
      migration ability. CONCLUSIONS: TES gene expression remarkably inhibits the
      proliferation of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line 5-8F and reduces its
      migration in vitro. Thus, it may be a potential tumor suppressor gene for
      nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

PMID- 25824797
TI  - Analysis of molecular pathways in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas with a
      bioinformatics approach.
AB  - Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a leading cause of cancer death
      worldwide. Our study aimed to reveal molecular mechanisms. Microarray data of
      GSE15471 (including 39 matching pairs of pancreatic tumor tissues and patient
      matched normal tissues) was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO)
      database. We identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in PDAC tissues
      compared with normal tissues by limma package in R language. Then GO and KEGG
      pathway enrichment analyses were conducted with online DAVID. In addition,
      principal component analysis was performed and a protein-protein interaction
      network was constructed to study relationships between the DEGs through database
      STRING. A total of 532 DEGs were identified in the 38 PDAC tissues compared with
      33 normal tissues. The results of principal component analysis of the top 20 DEGs
      could differentiate the PDAC tissues from normal tissues directly. In the PPI
      network, 8 of the 20 DEGs were all key genes of the collagen family.
      Additionally, FN1 (fibronectin 1) was also a hub node in the network. The genes
      of the collagen family as well as FN1 were significantly enriched in complement
      and coagulation cascades, ECM-receptor interaction and focal adhesion pathways.
      Our results suggest that genes of collagen family and FN1 may play an important
      role in PDAC progression. Meanwhile, these DEGs and enriched pathways, such as
      complement and coagulation cascades, ECM-receptor interaction and focal adhesion
      may be important molecular mechanisms involved in the development and progression
      of PDAC. 

PMID- 25824798
TI  - Cobalt chloride induces necroptosis in human colon cancer HT-29 cells.
AB  - Necroptosis, also known as "programmed necrosis", has emerged as a critical
      factor in a variety of pathological and physiological processes and is considered
      a cell type-specific tightly regulated process with mechanisms that may vary
      rather greatly due to the change of cell line. Here we used HT-29, a human colon
      cancer cell line, to establish a necroptosis model and elucidate associated
      mechanisms. We discovered that cobalt chloride, a reagent that could induce
      hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha(HIF1alpha) expression and therefore mimic the
      hypoxic microenvironment of tumor tissue in some aspects induces necroptosis in
      HT-29 cells when caspase activity is compromised. On the other hand, apoptosis
      appears to be the predominant death form when caspases are functioning normally.
      HT-29 cells demonstrated significantly increased RIPK1, RIPK3 and MLKL expression
      in response to cobalt chloride plus z-VAD treatment, which was accompanied by
      drastically increased IL1alpha and IL6 expression, substantiating the notion that
      necrosis can induce profound immune reactions. The RIPK1 kinase inhibitor
      necrostatin-1 and the ROS scavenger NAC each could prevent necrosis in HT-29
      cells and the efficiency was enhanced by combined treatment. Thus by building up
      a necroptosis model in human colon cancer cells, we uncovered that mechanically
      RIP kinases collaborate with ROS during necrosis promoted by cobalt chloride plus
      z-VAD, which leads to inflammation. Necroptosis may present a new target for
      therapeutic intervention in cancer cells that are resistant to apoptotic cell
      death. 

PMID- 25824799
TI  - Citrus fruits and their bioactive ingredients: leading four horsemen from front.
AB  - Cancer is a multifaceted and genomically complex disease and rapidly accumulating
      high impact research is deepening our understanding related to the mechanisms
      underlying cancer development, progression and resistance to therapeutics.
      Increasingly it is being realized that genetic/epigenetic mutations, inactivation
      of tumor suppressor genes, overexpression of oncogenes, deregulation of
      intracellular signaling cascades and loss of apoptosis are some of the
      extensively studied aspects. Confluence of information suggested that rapidly
      developing resistance to therapeutics is adding another layer of complexity and
      overwhelmingly increasing preclinical studies are identifying different natural
      agents with efficacy and minimal off-target effects. We partition this multi
      component review into citrus fruits and their bioactive ingredients mediating
      rebalancing of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins to induce apoptosis in resistant
      cancer cells. We also discuss how oncogenic protein networks are targeted in
      cancer cells and how these findings may be verified in preclinical studies. 

PMID- 25824800
TI  - Salvage chemotherapy with weekly paclitaxel for metastatic melanoma.

PMID- 25824801
TI  - Regarding 'HPV vaccination for cervical cancer prevention is not cost-effective
      in Japan'.

PMID- 25824802
TI  - Hepatitis C virus associated hepatocellular carcinoma risk.

PMID- 25824803
TI  - Retraction notice to: Epression of MRTF-A and AQP1 plays important roles in
      pathological vascular remodeling.

PMID- 25824804
TI  - Direct effect of streptozotocin on periodontal ligament cells through myeloid
      cell leukemia-1.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that streptozotocin (STZ) has a direct impact on
      periodontal ligament cell (PDL) damage as a potential direct inducer of
      periodontitis. BACKGROUND: Since diabetes was accepted as one of the risk factors
      for the development of periodontal disease, various scientific studies have been
      undertaken in the STZ-induced periodontal disease models. STZ induces beta-cell
      damage and subsequent diabetes development in vivo. Until now, assessment of the
      impacts of STZ-induced experimental diabetes on periodontitis has generally been
      conducted on the fundamental assumption that STZ have no direct action on PDL and
      its function. However, several recent studies suggest that STZ also directly
      affect many different biological functions in various tissues or organs. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: To assess the apoptotic effects of STZ on PDLs, they were treated
      with or without STZ at different concentrations. Qualitative estimation of
      apoptotic cell death was obtained by live/dead assay. The expression levels of
      apoptosis-related proteins were evaluated by western blot analysis. RESULTS: STZ
      inhibits growth and induces apoptosis in PDLs in a dose-dependent manner.
      Furthermore, STZ dramatically induced Mcl-1 downregulation in a proteasome
      dependent manner and thereby induced apoptosis of PDLs through the Bak/Bax
      apoptotic signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: Our results support the hypothesis that
      suppression of the cellular Mcl-1 levels by STZ may be at least partly attributed
      to the development of periodontitis in STZ-induced diabetic animal models.

PMID- 25824805
TI  - Meter-long multiblock copolymer microfibers via interfacial bioorthogonal
      polymerization.
AB  - High-molecular-weight multiblock copolymers are synthesized as robust polymer
      fibers via interfacial bioorthogonal polymerization employing the rapid
      cycloaddition of s-tetrazines with strained trans-cyclooctenes. When cell
      adhesive peptide is incorporated in the tetrazine monomer, the resulting protein
      mimetic polymer fibers provide guidance cues for cell attachment and elongation.

PMID- 25824806
TI  - Clinical and laboratory characterization of 114 cases of Castleman disease
      patients from a single centre: paraneoplastic pemphigus is an unfavourable
      prognostic factor.
AB  - This study retrospectively collected the clinical and laboratory data of 114
      patients with Castleman disease (CD) from a single medical centre. Clinical
      classification identified 62 patients (54.4%) with unicentric Castleman disease
      and 52 (45.6%) with multi-centric Castleman disease. Pathological classification
      revealed 68 cases (59.6%) of hyaline vascular variant, 16 (14.1%) mixed cellular
      variant (Mix) and 30 (26.3%) plasmacytic variant. Clinical complications occurred
      in 69 CD patients, including 37 cases of paraneoplastic pemphigus (PNP) and 25
      cases with renal complications. Haematological involvement, pleural effusion
      and/or ascites and POEMS syndrome (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy,
      monoclonal gammopathy and skin changes) were also found. Univariate analysis
      showed that presence of clinical complications and PNP were both risk factors
      relating to CD patient survival. Prognostic factors showing P < 0.15 in
      univariate analysis and those with clinical significance were subjected to
      multivariate analysis using a Cox regression model. PNP presence and age over 40
      years both significantly adversely affected survival. Thus, only presence of PNP
      was identified as an independent unfavourable survival risk factor in both
      univariate and multivariate analyses. Overall, the present data provide a
      panoramic description of CD cases and emphasize that the presence of PNP is an
      adverse prognostic factor. 

PMID- 25824807
TI  - Sildenafil for the Treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Infants with
      Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia.
AB  - Sildenafil, a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor, is a controversial treatment option
      for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a significant complication of
      bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). The objective of this study was to evaluate the
      use of sildenafil in infants with PAH secondary to BPD. This was a retrospective
      review of medical records of all premature infants with PAH associated with BPD
      treated with sildenafil between January 2009 and May 2013 in a level 3 neonatal
      intensive care unit. The primary outcomes were clinical response (20 % decreases
      in respiratory support score or oxygen requirements) and echocardiographic
      response (20 % decrease in tricuspid regurgitation gradient or change of at least
      1 degrees  of septal flattening). Twenty-three infants were included in the
      study. Significant echocardiographic and clinical responses were, respectively,
      observed in 71 and 35 % of cases. Most clinical responses were observed in the
      first 48 h of treatment, and the median time to an echocardiographic response was
      of 19 days. The median dose of sildenafil used was 4.4 mg/kg/day, with a median
      time to reach the maximum dose of 9 days. Transient hypotension was the primary
      reported side effect, and it was observed in 44 % of our study population.
      Sildenafil treatment in patients with PAH secondary to BPD was associated with an
      echocardiographic improvement in the majority of patients, whereas clinical
      improvement was observed in a minority of patients. Many infants presented with
      transient hypotension during the course of the treatment. Further prospective
      studies are required to better assess safety and efficacy of this treatment in
      this population.

PMID- 25824809
TI  - Frequency-dependent fitness in gynodioecious Lobelia siphilitica.
AB  - Selection is frequency dependent when an individual's fitness depends on the
      frequency of its phenotype. Frequency-dependent selection should be common in
      gynodioecious plants, where individuals are female or hermaphroditic; if the
      fitness of females is limited by the availability of pollen to fertilize their
      ovules, then they should have higher fitness when rare than when common. To test
      whether the fitness of females is frequency dependent, we manipulated the sex
      ratio in arrays of gynodioecious Lobelia siphilitica. To test whether fitness was
      frequency dependent because of variation in pollen availability, we compared open
      pollinated and supplemental hand-pollinated plants. Open-pollinated females
      produced more seeds when they were rare than when they were common, as expected
      if fitness is negatively frequency dependent. However, hand-pollinated females
      also produced more seeds when they were rare, indicating that variation in pollen
      availability was not the cause of frequency-dependent fitness. Instead, fitness
      was frequency dependent because both hand- and open-pollinated females opened
      more flowers when they were rare than when they were common. This plasticity in
      the rate of anthesis could cause fitness to be frequency dependent even when
      reproduction is not pollen limited, and thus expand the conditions under which
      frequency-dependent selection operates in gynodioecious species.

PMID- 25824810
TI  - Outpatient Hysteroscopic Polypectomy: Bipolar Energy System (Versapoint(r))
      versus Mechanical Energy System (TRUCLEAR System(r)) - Preliminary Results.
AB  - HYPOTHESIS: The new hysteroscopic system with mechanical energy is an effective
      outpatient technique for diagnosis and treatment that has certain advantages over
      conventional hysteroscopy in the management of endometrial polyps. OBJECTIVES:
      Our primary objective was to assess the total duration of hysteroscopy and
      polypectomy performed in an outpatient setting comparing the new mechanical
      energy hysteroscopy to the bipolar energy system. Our secondary objective was to
      compare the level of safety of both hysteroscopic techniques using the procedure
      success rate, the need for subsequent referral to surgery, existing
      complications, and comfort experienced by the patient during the procedure.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: This randomized controlled trial included the first 90
      patients with an ultrasound diagnosis of endometrial polyp (>1 cm) who underwent
      an outpatient diagnostic and operative hysteroscopy at the Igualada Hospital
      (Barcelona) and agreed to be included in the study by signing an informed
      consent. RESULTS: We obtained a 91% success rate with the TRUCLEAR System(r)
      compared to a 69% success rate with the Versapoint(r) system. Total operating
      time was 6.36 min in the TRUCLEAR System group versus 10.82 min in the Versapoint
      system group (p < 0.05), with a polypectomy time of 3.06 and 7.91 min,
      respectively (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the two
      techniques when analyzing pain using the visual analogue scale. No complications
      were recorded for either technique. CONCLUSION: The mechanical energy system
      presents a significant decrease in the total duration of polypectomy and
      hysteroscopy when performed both by experienced staff and by staff in training,
      resulting in higher success rates without complications with respect to
      conventional hysteroscopy with bipolar energy.

PMID- 25824812
TI  - Valence properties of Cu and Ru in titanium-substituted LnCu3Ru4O12+delta (Ln =
      La, Pr, Nd) investigated by XANES and TGA.
AB  - In the solid-solution series La(y)Cu(3)RuxTi(4-x)O(12+delta) (0 <=x<= 4) the Cu
      and Ru electronic states are highly correlated. With increasing Ru content x the
      system properties change from a paramagnetic insulator with colossal dielectric
      constant to a heavy-fermion metal. To further elucidate the occurring phase
      transitions, the valences of Cu and Ru have been investigated utilizing XANES
      measurements at the Cu-K and the Ru-K absorption edges. It was found that the Ru
      oxidation number is close to +4 in all samples, while the Cu valence linearly
      decreases from +2 for the titanate (x = 0) to +1.6 for the ruthenate (x = 4).
      Additional thermogravimetric measurements have been used to determine the oxygen
      content and rather high oxygen excesses up to delta~ 0.7 (for x = 0.5) were
      obtained. The additional oxygen for x < 2 is required to compensate the constant
      Ru +4 valence. Our findings are in accordance with the reported phase transitions
      of the magnetic and transport properties. Both the valence shift and the shapes
      of the absorption edges suggest a change from localized to itinerant character of
      the Cu electronic states with increasing x, while the Ru electrons remain
      localized. Analogous results concerning the valences were found for the
      Pr(y)Cu(3)RuxTi(4-x)O(12+delta) and Nd(y)Cu(3)RuxTi(4-x)O(12+delta) solid
      solution series.

PMID- 25824811
TI  - Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) Clinical Guideline #8: the fetus at
      risk for anemia--diagnosis and management.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We sought to provide evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and
      management of fetal anemia. METHODS: A systematic literature review was performed
      using MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library. The search was
      restricted to English-language articles published from 1966 through May 2014.
      Priority was given to articles reporting original research, in particular
      randomized controlled trials, although review articles and commentaries were
      consulted. Abstracts of research presented at symposia and scientific conferences
      were not considered adequate for inclusion. Evidence reports and published
      guidelines were also reviewed, and additional studies were located by reviewing
      bibliographies of identified articles. GRADE (Grading of Recommendations
      Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) methodology was used for defining the
      strength of recommendations and rating the quality of evidence. Consistent with
      US Preventive Task Force guidelines, references were evaluated for quality based
      on the highest level of evidence. RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: We recommend the
      following: (1) middle cerebral artery peak systolic velocity (MCA-PSV) measured
      by ultrasound Doppler interrogation be used as the primary technique to detect
      fetal anemia; (2) amniotic fluid delta OD450 not be used to diagnosis fetal
      anemia; (3) MCA-PSV assessment be reserved for those patients who are at risk of
      having an anemic fetus (proper technique for MCA-PSV evaluation includes
      assessment of the middle cerebral artery close to its origin, ideally at a zero
      degree angle without angle correction); (4) if a fetus is deemed at significant
      risk for severe fetal anemia (MCA greater than 1.5 multiples of the median or
      hydropic), fetal blood sampling be performed with preparation for an intrauterine
      transfusion, unless the pregnancy is at a gestational age when the risks
      associated with delivery are considered to be less than those associated with the
      procedure; (5) if a fetus is deemed at significant risk for severe fetal anemia,
      the patient be referred to a center with expertise in invasive fetal therapy; (6)
      MCA-PSV be considered to determine the timing of a second transfusion in fetuses
      with anemia, and, alternatively, a predicted decline in fetal hemoglobin may be
      used for timing the second procedure; and (7) pregnancies with a fetus at
      significant risk for fetal anemia be delivered at 37-38 weeks of gestation unless
      indications develop prior to this time.

PMID- 25824813
TI  - Benefits and risks of immediately sequential bilateral cataract surgery: a
      literature review.
AB  - Immediately sequential bilateral cataract surgery (ISBCS) is a highly contended
      issue in ophthalmology, mainly due to the risk of bilateral endophthalmitis and
      financial penalties that many ophthalmologists face when performing simultaneous
      cataract surgeries. The purpose of this review is to understand the current
      status of the knowledge of ISBCS, mainly its benefits and risks and how they
      compare with the standard of care, delayed sequential bilateral cataract surgery.
      Evidence, although limited, increasingly supports ISBCS for providing faster
      rehabilitation, improved visual outcomes, and cost and time savings. Evidence
      does not support the fear of bilateral endophthalmitis resulting from the
      simultaneous procedure. However, stronger and greater evidence is needed before
      ISBCSs can be considered the standard of care. Where ISBCS can potentially create
      the most beneficial impact is in public eye health programmes in developing
      countries, but this has not yet been explored. 

PMID- 25824814
TI  - The food industry's current and future role in preventing microbial foodborne
      illness within the United States.
AB  - During the past century, the microbiological safety of the US food supply has
      improved; however, many foodborne illnesses and outbreaks occur annually. Hence,
      opportunities for the food industry to improve the safety of both domestic and
      imported food exist through the adoption of risk-based preventive measures.
      Challenging food safety issues that are on the horizon include demographic
      changes to a population whose immune system is more susceptible to foodborne and
      opportunistic pathogens, climate changes that will shift where food is produced,
      and consumers' preferences for raw and minimally processed foods. Increased
      environmental and product testing and anonymous data sharing by the food industry
      with the public health community would aid in identifying system weaknesses and
      enabling more targeted corrective and preventive actions. Clinicians will
      continue to play a major role in reducing foodborne illnesses by diagnosing and
      reporting cases and in helping to educate the consumer about food safety
      practices. 

PMID- 25824815
TI  - Fatal outbreak of an emerging clone of extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter
      baumannii with enhanced virulence.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Severe Acinetobacter baumannii infections in immunocompetent patients
      are uncommon, and the virulence mechanisms of this organism are not fully
      understood. METHODS: Following an outbreak of fatal A. baumannii infections in a
      cohort of relatively immunocompetent patients (low comorbidity and illness
      severity scores), isolates were investigated with comparative genomics and in
      animal models. RESULTS: Two unrelated A. baumannii clades were associated with
      the outbreak. The clone associated with the majority of patient deaths, clade B,
      is evolutionarily distinct from the 3 international clonal complexes, belongs to
      multilocus sequence type (MLST) 10, and is most closely related to strains
      isolated from the Czech Republic, California, and Germany in 1994, 1997, and
      2003, respectively. In 2 different murine models, clade B isolates were more
      virulent than comparator strains, including the highly virulent reference strain
      AB5075. The most virulent clade B derivative, MRSN 16897, was isolated from the
      patient with the lowest combined comorbidity/illness severity score. Clade B
      isolates possess a unique combination of putative virulence genes involved in
      iron metabolism, protein secretion, and glycosylation, which was leveraged to
      develop a rapid and specific clinical assay to detect this clade that cannot be
      distinguished by MLST. CONCLUSIONS: Clade B warrants continued surveillance and
      investigation.

PMID- 25824808
TI  - Nephrectomy for benign disease in the UK: results from the British Association of
      Urological Surgeons nephrectomy database.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To summarize the practice of UK urologists with regard to nephrectomy
      for benign disease, documenting the indications, procedural techniques and
      outcomes. METHODS: All patients undergoing nephrectomy for a benign condition in
      2012 were identified from the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS)
      nephrectomy database. Recorded variables included the technique of surgery, the
      type of minimally invasive procedure, operating time, blood loss, transfusion
      rate, conversion rate, intra- and postoperative complications and mortality rate.
      Cases were also sub-analysed according to their pathologies to determine the
      differences in complication rate between stone disease, pyelonephritis, non
      functioning kidney and other benign lesions. To contextualize procedural
      complexity, the simple nephrectomy data were compared with those obtained from
      the BAUS stage T1 radical nephrectomy audit. RESULTS: A total of 1 093
      nephrectomies were performed (537 non-functioning kidneys, 142 stone disease, 129
      nephrectomies secondary to pyelonephritis and 285 cases with other benign
      conditions). Of these, 76% were performed laparoscopically. Blood loss >500 mL
      was noted in 74 cases with a 4.8% blood transfusion rate. The intra- and
      postoperative complication rates were 5.2 and 11.9%, respectively. Of the 847
      minimally invasive procedures, the conversion rate was 5.9%. Patients with stone
      disease have the highest intra- and postoperative complications (9.9 and 23.9%,
      respectively) compared with other benign pathologies. The total number of T1
      radical nephrectomies performed was 1 095. In comparison with T1 radical
      nephrectomy, simple nephrectomy carries an increased risk of conversion to an
      open procedure (1.8 times), a higher rate of blood transfusion (4.8 vs 2.8%), and
      a higher risk of intra- and postoperative complications (5.2 vs 3.7% and 11.9 vs
      10%, respectively). CONCLUSION: The present study reports the largest series of
      nephrectomies performed for benign disease and the resultant data now support the
      bespoke preoperative counselling of patients. Furthermore, it confirms the
      commonly held view that simple nephrectomy can be more difficult than its radical
      counterpart. The authors suggest that the term 'simple nephrectomy' is changed to
      'benign nephrectomy'.

PMID- 25824816
TI  - Editorial commentary: the new Acinetobacter equation: hypervirulence plus
      antibiotic resistance equals big trouble.

PMID- 25824817
TI  - Hypoxic preconditioning can reduce injury-induced inflammatory processes in the
      neonatal rat brain.
AB  - Inflammation plays an important role in the pathophysiology of neonatal hypoxic
      ischemic (HI) brain injury. Studies have shown that hypoxic preconditioning (HP)
      can ameliorate brain damage, but its effects on inflammation remain unknown.
      Postnatal day 6 (P6), Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into normoxia and hypoxia
      (8% oxygen, 3h) groups. On P7, some pups underwent a right carotid artery
      occlusion followed by hypoxia (8% oxygen, 3h) while under 1.5% isofluorane
      anesthesia and the remaining pups underwent sham surgery without occlusion.
      Animals were sacrificed 5 days later and fixed tissue was used to examine changes
      in neurons, astrocytes, and microglia in the cortex. Fresh tissue was collected
      to determine cortical levels of proinflammatory cytokines using ELISA. There was
      a significant loss in the number of NeuN positive cells in the cortex following
      HI injury, which was improved when HP was given prior to HI. There was an
      increase in cortical area of astrocyte staining after HI injury compared to
      control. HP before HI was able to reduce area of GFAP staining back to control
      levels. HI caused a large increase in the number of activated microglia compared
      to control and HP was able to significantly reduce this, although not back to
      control levels. HP alone increased microglial activation. Interleukin-1beta
      levels were increased in the cortex 5 days after HI, but HP was not able to
      significantly reduce this change. The neuroprotective effects of HP appear to be
      mediated by affecting cellular inflammatory processes in the brain following HI
      injury. 

PMID- 25824818
TI  - The effects of PBDE-209 exposure during pregnancy on placental ET-1 and eNOS
      expression and the birth weight of offspring.
AB  - Decabrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE-209) is a persistent organic pollutant.
      Gestational exposure to PBDE-209 can accumulate in pregnant women and fetuses via
      the placenta and umbilical cord, affecting perinatal outcome. In this study,
      pregnant Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into five groups and
      intragastrically administered peanut oil (vehicle) 1, 5 and 10mg/kg by body
      weight (b.w.) of PBDE-209, or nothing (control) from day 0 (G0) to day 21 (G21)
      gestation, respectively. Placental samples were collected on G21 by cesarean
      section. The mRNA and protein expressions of ET-1, eNOS and iNOS in the placenta
      were examined using qRT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. Total nitric oxide
      (NO) in the placenta was measured using a specific ELISA kit. Compared with the
      control and vehicle groups, the mRNA expression of ET-1 and iNOS in the placenta
      was gradually and significantly increased after exposure to increasing
      concentrations of PBDE-209 (P<0.05), while the mRNA level of eNOS in the placenta
      was gradually and significantly reduced after exposure to increasing
      concentrations of PBDE-209 (P<0.05). The expression trends of ET-1, eNOS and iNOS
      proteins were consistent with those of mRNA expression. Interestingly, the
      production of total NO was significantly increased after exposure to 5 and
      10mg/kg b.w. PBDE-209 (P<0.05). Finally, the birth weight of the offspring rats
      was significantly reduced after maternal exposure to 5 and 10 mg/kg b.w. PBDE-209
      compared with the control and vehicle groups (P<0.05). These results suggest that
      PBDE-209 exposure during pregnancy upregulates ET-1 and iNOS expression, but
      decreases eNOS expression in the placenta, as well as reduces the birth weight of
      offspring.

PMID- 25824819
TI  - BCL6 orchestrates Tfh cell differentiation via multiple distinct mechanisms.
AB  - Follicular helper T cells (Tfh cells) are required for T cell help to B cells,
      and BCL6 is the defining transcription factor of Tfh cells. However, the
      functions of BCL6 in Tfh cells have largely remained unclear. Here we defined the
      BCL6 cistrome in primary human germinal center Tfh cells to assess mechanisms of
      BCL6 regulation of CD4 T cells, comparing and contrasting BCL6 function in T and
      B cells. BCL6 primarily acts as a repressor in Tfh cells, and BCL6 binding was
      associated with control of Tfh cell migration and repression of alternative cell
      fates. Interestingly, although some BCL6-bound genes possessed BCL6 DNA-binding
      motifs, many BCL6-bound loci were instead characterized by the presence of DNA
      motifs for AP1 or STAT. AP1 complexes are key positive downstream mediators of
      TCR signaling and external stimuli. We show that BCL6 can directly bind AP1, and
      BCL6 depends on AP1 for recruitment to BCL6-binding sites with AP1 motifs,
      suggesting that BCL6 subverts AP1 activity. These findings reveal that BCL6 has
      broad and multifaceted effects on Tfh biology and provide insight into how this
      master regulator mediates distinct cell context-dependent phenotypes. 

PMID- 25824820
TI  - Hematopoietic stem cell quiescence and function are controlled by the CYLD-TRAF2
      p38MAPK pathway.
AB  - The status of long-term quiescence and dormancy guarantees the integrity of
      hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) during adult homeostasis. However the molecular
      mechanisms regulating HSC dormancy remain poorly understood. Here we show that
      cylindromatosis (CYLD), a tumor suppressor gene and negative regulator of NF
      kappaB signaling with deubiquitinase activity, is highly expressed in label
      retaining dormant HSCs (dHSCs). Moreover, Cre-mediated conditional elimination of
      the catalytic domain of CYLD induced dHSCs to exit quiescence and abrogated their
      repopulation and self-renewal potential. This phenotype is dependent on the
      interactions between CYLD and its substrate TRAF2 (tumor necrosis factor
      associated factor 2). HSCs expressing a mutant CYLD with an intact catalytic
      domain, but unable to bind TRAF2, showed the same HSC phenotype. Unexpectedly,
      the robust cycling of HSCs lacking functional CYLD-TRAF2 interactions was not
      elicited by increased NF-kappaB signaling, but instead by increased activation of
      the p38MAPK pathway. Pharmacological inhibition of p38MAPK rescued the phenotype
      of CYLD loss, identifying the CYLD-TRAF2-p38MAPK pathway as a novel important
      regulator of HSC function restricting HSC cycling and promoting dormancy. 

PMID- 25824821
TI  - A single glycan on IgE is indispensable for initiation of anaphylaxis.
AB  - Immunoglobulin epsilon (IgE) antibodies are the primary mediators of allergic
      diseases, which affect more than 1 in 10 individuals worldwide. IgE specific for
      innocuous environmental antigens, or allergens, binds and sensitizes tissue
      resident mast cells expressing the high-affinity IgE receptor, FcepsilonRI.
      Subsequent allergen exposure cross-links mast cell-bound IgE, resulting in the
      release of inflammatory mediators and initiation of the allergic cascade. It is
      well established that precise glycosylation patterns exert profound effects on
      the biological activity of IgG. However, the contribution of glycosylation to IgE
      biology is less clear. Here, we demonstrate an absolute requirement for IgE
      glycosylation in allergic reactions. The obligatory glycan was mapped to a single
      N-linked oligomannose structure in the constant domain 3 (Cepsilon3) of IgE, at
      asparagine-394 (N394) in human IgE and N384 in mouse. Genetic disruption of the
      site or enzymatic removal of the oligomannose glycan altered IgE secondary
      structure and abrogated IgE binding to FcepsilonRI, rendering IgE incapable of
      eliciting mast cell degranulation, thereby preventing anaphylaxis. These results
      underscore an unappreciated and essential requirement of glycosylation in IgE
      biology. 

PMID- 25824822
TI  - Consecutive interactions with HSP90 and eEF1A underlie a functional maturation
      and storage pathway of AID in the cytoplasm.
AB  - Activation-induced deaminase (AID) initiates mutagenic pathways to diversify the
      antibody genes during immune responses. The access of AID to the nucleus is
      limited by CRM1-mediated nuclear export and by an uncharacterized mechanism of
      cytoplasmic retention. Here, we define a conformational motif in AID that
      dictates its cytoplasmic retention and demonstrate that the translation
      elongation factor eukaryotic elongation factor 1 alpha (eEF1A) is necessary for
      AID cytoplasmic sequestering. The mechanism is independent of protein synthesis
      but dependent on a tRNA-free form of eEF1A. Inhibiting eEF1A prevents the
      interaction with AID, which accumulates in the nucleus and increases class switch
      recombination as well as chromosomal translocation byproducts. Most AID is
      associated to unspecified cytoplasmic complexes. We find that the interactions of
      AID with eEF1A and heat-shock protein 90 kD (HSP90) are inversely correlated.
      Despite both interactions stabilizing AID, the nature of the AID fractions
      associated with HSP90 or eEF1A are different, defining two complexes that
      sequentially produce and store functional AID in the cytoplasm. In addition,
      nuclear export and cytoplasmic retention cooperate to exclude AID from the
      nucleus but might not be functionally equivalent. Our results elucidate the
      molecular basis of AID cytoplasmic retention, define its functional relevance and
      distinguish it from other mechanisms regulating AID. 

PMID- 25824825
TI  - Abdominal wall reconstruction using a combination of free tensor fasciae lata and
      anterolateral thigh myocutaneous flap: a prospective study in 16 patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Reconstruction of the abdominal wall continues to be a challenging
      problem for plastic surgeons. Transposition of well-vascularized flap tissue is
      the most effective way to repair composite abdominal wall defects. We
      retrospectively reviewed the treatment of such patients and assessed the
      reconstructive technique using combination of an inlay of bioprosthetic materials
      and a united thigh flap. METHODS: A retrospective review of patients' records in
      the department was carried out. In total, 16 patients who underwent immediate
      abdominal wall reconstruction between 2000 and 2013 were identified. Patients'
      health status, defect sizes, and surgical technique were obtained from medical
      charts. RESULTS: The immediate reconstruction surgery of the abdominal wall was
      successful in all patients. One patient with dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans
      experienced recurrences at the former site. One patient died because of liver
      metastases at 21 months after surgery. No incisional hernia or infection in this
      series of patients was observed. CONCLUSION: Full-thickness, giant defects of the
      complicated abdominal wall can be repaired successfully with relatively minor
      complications using this reconstructive technique.

PMID- 25824824
TI  - The long-acting beta2 -adrenoceptor agonist olodaterol attenuates pulmonary
      inflammation.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: beta2 -adrenoceptor agonists are widely used in the
      management of obstructive airway diseases. Besides their bronchodilatory effect,
      several studies suggest inhibitory effects on various aspects of inflammation.
      The aim of our study was to determine the efficacy of the long-acting beta2 
      adrenoceptor agonist olodaterol to inhibit pulmonary inflammation and to
      elucidate mechanism(s) underlying its anti-inflammatory actions. EXPERIMENTAL
      APPROACH: Olodaterol was tested in murine and guinea pig models of cigarette
      smoke- and LPS-induced lung inflammation. Furthermore, effects of olodaterol on
      the LPS-induced pro-inflammatory mediator release from human parenchymal
      explants, CD11b adhesion molecule expression on human granulocytes TNF-alpha
      release from human whole blood and on the IL-8-induced migration of human
      peripheral blood neutrophils were investigated. KEY RESULTS: Olodaterol dose
      dependently attenuated cell influx and pro-inflammatory mediator release in
      murine and guinea pig models of pulmonary inflammation. These anti-inflammatory
      effects were observed at doses relevant to their bronchodilatory efficacy.
      Mechanistically, olodaterol attenuated pro-inflammatory mediator release from
      human parenchymal explants and whole blood and reduced expression of CD11b
      adhesion molecules on granulocytes, but without direct effects on IL-8-induced
      neutrophil transwell migration. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: This is the first
      evidence for the anti-inflammatory efficacy of a beta2 -adrenoceptor agonist in
      models of lung inflammation induced by cigarette smoke. The long-acting beta2 
      adrenoceptor agonist olodaterol attenuated pulmonary inflammation through
      mechanisms that are separate from direct inhibition of bronchoconstriction.
      Furthermore, the in vivo data suggest that the anti-inflammatory properties of
      olodaterol are maintained after repeated dosing for 4 days.

PMID- 25824823
TI  - T cell lipid peroxidation induces ferroptosis and prevents immunity to infection.
AB  - The selenoenzyme glutathione peroxidase 4 (Gpx4) is a major scavenger of
      phospholipid hydroperoxides. Although Gpx4 represents a key component of the
      reactive oxygen species-scavenging network, its relevance in the immune system is
      yet to be defined. Here, we investigated the importance of Gpx4 for physiological
      T cell responses by using T cell-specific Gpx4-deficient mice. Our results
      revealed that, despite normal thymic T cell development, CD8(+) T cells from
      T(DeltaGpx4/DeltaGpx4) mice had an intrinsic defect in maintaining homeostatic
      balance in the periphery. Moreover, both antigen-specific CD8(+) and CD4(+) T
      cells lacking Gpx4 failed to expand and to protect from acute lymphocytic
      choriomeningitis virus and Leishmania major parasite infections, which were
      rescued with diet supplementation of high dosage of vitamin E. Notably, depletion
      of the Gpx4 gene in the memory phase of viral infection did not affect T cell
      recall responses upon secondary infection. Ex vivo, Gpx4-deficient T cells
      rapidly accumulated membrane lipid peroxides and concomitantly underwent cell
      death driven by ferroptosis but not necroptosis. These studies unveil an
      essential role of Gpx4 for T cell immunity. 

PMID- 25824826
TI  - Big bubble deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty: the collagen layer in the wall of
      the big bubble is unique.
AB  - PURPOSE: In big bubble (BB), deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty intracorneal
      injection of air separates Descemet's membrane (DM) and the pre-Descemet's layer
      (Dua's layer [DL]) to create a type 1 BB. We tested the hypothesis that air
      injection after excision or ablation of DL will fail to produce a BB. METHODS:
      Nine human sclero-corneal discs were used. Three served as controls. In three, a
      type 1 BB was created, the bubble wall was excised and more air injected in an
      attempt to create another BB. In three samples, the DM was removed and 22MU of
      posterior cornea were ablated by phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK). Air was
      injected to induce formation of a BB. Tissue from these experiments was subjected
      to light and electron microscopy. RESULTS: In all three control eyes, a type 1 BB
      (DL + DM) was obtained. Air injection after excision of the type 1 BB wall in
      three samples failed to produce another BB. Following PTK of DL, injection of air
      failed to create a BB in all three samples. Multiple points of air leak from the
      deep stroma were observed in all six samples. Light and electron microscopy
      showed a clear distinction between the ablated and non-ablated areas of cornea.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the hypothesis that a BB cannot be created once
      the DL is excised or ablated. This adds to evidence that DL is unique. It also
      demonstrates that DL is not a random separation of deep stroma of the cornea.

PMID- 25824827
TI  - Recent developments in the sensorial assessment of cosmetic products: a review.
AB  - Cosmetic development is not exclusively guided by notions of rational
      effectiveness but also by notions of sensoriality. Thus, the sensorial properties
      of a cosmetic product are studied using internationally recognized discriminating
      or descriptive methods. Descriptive sensory profiling is an essential tool in
      this process as it allows an experienced panel to assess the qualitative and
      quantitative characteristics of a product. The results obtained with this method
      enable to get a more accurate image of the product. However, given the new
      demands of the industrial world and the new innovation paths (shorter development
      times, complex products or willingness to include the consumers in the process) a
      need to access new methods has arisen. These 'alternative' methods that offer
      product positioning, ratings and attribute citation frequency, can be implemented
      with either a panel of experts or with consumers. The flash profile, the pivot(r)
      profile or the check all that apply (CATA) are just a few of the methods that the
      cosmetic professionals have started to test. This article reviews the methods
      used in the sensory assessment of cosmetic products. The analysis carried out
      shows that the complementarity application of sensory assessment is essential in
      the upstream innovation phase of a product. 

PMID- 25824828
TI  - Characterization of Clostridium perfringens TpeL toxin gene carriage, production,
      cytotoxic contributions, and trypsin sensitivity.
AB  - Large clostridial toxins (LCTs) are produced by at least four pathogenic
      clostridial species, and several LCTs are proven pivotal virulence factors for
      both human and veterinary diseases. TpeL is a recently identified LCT produced by
      Clostridium perfringens that has received relatively limited study. In response,
      the current study surveyed carriage of the tpeL gene among different C.
      perfringens strains, detecting this toxin gene in some type A, B, and C strains
      but not in any type D or E strains. This study also determined that all tested
      strains maximally produce, and extracellularly release, TpeL at the late-log or
      early-stationary growth stage during in vitro culture, which is different from
      the maximal late-stationary-phase production reported previously for other LCTs
      and for TpeL production by C. perfringens strain JIR12688. In addition, the
      present study found that TpeL levels in culture supernatants can be repressed by
      either glucose or sucrose. It was also shown that, at natural production levels,
      TpeL is a significant contributor to the cytotoxic activity of supernatants from
      cultures of tpeL-positive strain CN3685. Lastly, this study identified TpeL,
      which presumably is produced in the intestines during diseases caused by TpeL
      positive type B and C strains, as a toxin whose cytotoxicity decreases after
      treatment with trypsin; this finding may have pathophysiologic relevance by
      suggesting that, like beta toxin, TpeL contributes to type B and C infections in
      hosts with decreased trypsin levels due to disease, diet, or age.

PMID- 25824829
TI  - Chlamydia muridarum induction of glandular duct dilation in mice.
AB  - Although Chlamydia-induced hydrosalpinx in women and mice has been used as a
      surrogate marker for tubal infertility, the medical relevance of nontubal
      pathologies, such as uterine horn dilation, developed in mice following
      chlamydial infection remains unclear. We now report that the uterine horn
      dilation correlates with glandular duct dilation detected microscopically
      following Chlamydia muridarum infection. The dilated glandular ducts pushed the
      uterine horn lumen to closure or dilation and even broke through the myometrium
      to develop extrusion outside the uterine horn. The severity scores of uterine
      horn dilation observed macroscopically correlated well with the number of cross
      sections of the dilated glandular ducts counted under microscopy. Chlamydial
      infection was detected in the glandular epithelial cells, potentially leading to
      inflammation and dilation of the glandular ducts. Direct delivery of C. muridarum
      into the mouse uterus increased both uterine horn/glandular duct dilation and
      hydrosalpinx. However, the chlamydial plasmid, which is essential for the
      induction of hydrosalpinx, was not required for the induction of uterine
      horn/glandular duct dilation. Screening 12 strains of mice for uterine horn
      dilation following C. muridarum infection revealed that B10.D2, C57BL/10J, and
      C57BL/6J mice were most susceptible, followed by BALB/cJ and A/J mice. Deficiency
      in host genes involved in immune responses failed to significantly alter the C.
      muridarum induction of uterine horn dilation. Nevertheless, the chlamydial
      induction of uterine horn/glandular duct dilation may be used to evaluate plasmid
      independent pathogenicity of Chlamydia in susceptible mice.

PMID- 25824830
TI  - The human P-glycoprotein transporter enhances the type I interferon response to
      Listeria monocytogenes infection.
AB  - Human multidrug efflux transporters are known for their ability to extrude
      antibiotics and toxic compounds out of cells, yet accumulating data indicate they
      have additional functions in diverse physiological processes not related to drug
      efflux. Here, we show that the human multidrug transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp)
      (also named MDR1 and ABCB1) is transcriptionally induced in the monocytic cell
      line THP-1 upon infection with the human intracellular bacterial pathogen
      Listeria monocytogenes. Notably, we found that P-gp is important for full
      activation of the type I interferon response elicited against L. monocytogenes
      bacteria. Both inhibition of P-gp function by verapamil and inhibition of its
      transcription using mRNA silencing led to a reduction in the magnitude of the
      type I response in infected cells. This function of P-gp was specific to type I
      interferon cytokines elicited against cytosolic replicating bacteria and was not
      observed in response to cyclic di-AMP (c-di-AMP), a molecule that was shown to be
      secreted by L. monocytogenes during infection and to trigger type I interferons.
      Moreover, P-gp was not involved in activation of other proinflammatory cytokines,
      such as those triggered by vacuolar-restricted L. monocytogenes or
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Taken together, these findings demonstrate a role for P
      gp in proper development of an innate immune response against intracellular
      pathogens, highlighting the complexity in employing therapeutic strategies that
      involve inhibition of multidrug resistance (MDR) efflux pumps.

PMID- 25824831
TI  - Increased ferroportin-1 expression and rapid splenic iron loss occur with anemia
      caused by Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium infection in mice.
AB  - The Gram-negative intracellular bacterium Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium
      causes persistent systemic inflammatory disease in immunocompetent mice.
      Following oral inoculation with S. Typhimurium, mice develop a hematopathological
      syndrome akin to typhoid fever with splenomegaly, microcytic anemia,
      extramedullary erythropoiesis, and increased hemophagocytic macrophages in the
      bone marrow, liver, and spleen. Additionally, there is marked loss of iron from
      the spleen, an unanticipated result, given the iron sequestration reported in
      anemia of inflammatory disease. To establish why tissue iron does not accumulate,
      we evaluated multiple measures of pathology for 4 weeks following oral infection
      in mice. We demonstrate a quantitative decrease in splenic iron following
      infection despite increased numbers of splenic phagocytes. Infected mice have
      increased duodenal expression of the iron exporter ferroportin-1, consistent with
      increased uptake of dietary iron. Liver and splenic macrophages also express high
      levels of ferroportin-1. These observations indicate that splenic and hepatic
      macrophages export iron during S. Typhimurium infection, in contrast to
      macrophage iron sequestration observed in anemia of inflammatory disease. Tissue
      macrophage export of iron occurs concurrent with high serum concentrations of
      interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) and interleukin 12 (IL-12). In individual mice, high
      concentrations of both proinflammatory (tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-alpha])
      and anti-inflammatory (IL-10) cytokines in serum correlate with increased tissue
      bacterial loads throughout 4 weeks of infection. These in vivo observations are
      consistent with previous cell culture studies and suggest that the relocation of
      iron from tissue macrophages during infection may contribute to anemia and also
      to host survival of acute S. Typhimurium infection.

PMID- 25824832
TI  - Bistable expression of CsgD in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium connects
      virulence to persistence.
AB  - Pathogenic bacteria often need to survive in the host and the environment, and it
      is not well understood how cells transition between these equally challenging
      situations. For the human and animal pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar
      Typhimurium, biofilm formation is correlated with persistence outside a host, but
      the connection to virulence is unknown. In this study, we analyzed multicellular
      aggregate and planktonic-cell subpopulations that coexist when S. Typhimurium is
      grown under biofilm-inducing conditions. These cell types arise due to bistable
      expression of CsgD, the central biofilm regulator. Despite being exposed to the
      same stresses, the two cell subpopulations had 1,856 genes that were
      differentially expressed, as determined by transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq).
      Aggregated cells displayed the characteristic gene expression of biofilms,
      whereas planktonic cells had enhanced expression of numerous virulence genes.
      Increased type three secretion synthesis in planktonic cells correlated with
      enhanced invasion of a human intestinal cell line and significantly increased
      virulence in mice compared to the aggregates. However, when the same groups of
      cells were exposed to desiccation, the aggregates survived better, and the
      competitive advantage of planktonic cells was lost. We hypothesize that CsgD
      based differentiation is a form of bet hedging, with single cells primed for host
      cell invasion and aggregated cells adapted for persistence in the environment.
      This allows S. Typhimurium to spread the risks of transmission and ensures a
      smooth transition between the host and the environment.

PMID- 25824833
TI  - Listeria monocytogenes spreads within the brain by actin-based intra-axonal
      migration.
AB  - Listeria monocytogenes rhombencephalitis is a severe progressive disease despite
      a swift intrathecal immune response. Based on previous observations, we
      hypothesized that the disease progresses by intra-axonal spread within the
      central nervous system. To test this hypothesis, neuroanatomical mapping of
      lesions, immunofluorescence analysis, and electron microscopy were performed on
      brains of ruminants with naturally occurring rhombencephalitis. In addition,
      infection assays were performed in bovine brain cell cultures. Mapping of lesions
      revealed a consistent pattern with a preferential affection of certain nuclear
      areas and white matter tracts, indicating that Listeria monocytogenes spreads
      intra-axonally within the brain along interneuronal connections. These results
      were supported by immunofluorescence and ultrastructural data localizing Listeria
      monocytogenes inside axons and dendrites associated with networks of fibrillary
      structures consistent with actin tails. In vitro infection assays confirmed that
      bacteria were moving within axon-like processes by employing their actin tail
      machinery. Remarkably, in vivo, neutrophils invaded the axonal space and the axon
      itself, apparently by moving between split myelin lamellae of intact myelin
      sheaths. This intra-axonal invasion of neutrophils was associated with various
      stages of axonal degeneration and bacterial phagocytosis. Paradoxically, the
      ensuing adaxonal microabscesses appeared to provide new bacterial replication
      sites, thus supporting further bacterial spread. In conclusion, intra-axonal
      bacterial migration and possibly also the innate immune response play an
      important role in the intracerebral spread of the agent and hence the progression
      of listeric rhombencephalitis.

PMID- 25824834
TI  - Staphylococcus aureus MnhF mediates cholate efflux and facilitates survival under
      human colonic conditions.
AB  - Resistance to the innate defenses of the intestine is crucial for the survival
      and carriage of Staphylococcus aureus, a common colonizer of the human gut. Bile
      salts produced by the liver and secreted into the intestines are one such group
      of molecules with potent antimicrobial activity. The mechanisms by which S.
      aureus is able to resist such defenses in order to colonize and survive in the
      human gut are unknown. Here we show that mnhF confers resistance to bile salts,
      which can be abrogated by efflux pump inhibitors. MnhF mediates the efflux of
      radiolabeled cholic acid both in S. aureus and when heterologously expressed in
      Escherichia coli, rendering them resistant. Deletion of mnhF attenuated the
      survival of S. aureus in an anaerobic three-stage continuous-culture model of the
      human colon (gut model), which represents different anatomical areas of the large
      intestine.

PMID- 25824835
TI  - Cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of recombinant subtilase cytotoxin variants of
      shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli.
AB  - In this study, the cytotoxicity of the recently described subtilase variant
      SubAB2-2 of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli was determined and compared to
      the plasmid-encoded SubAB1 and the chromosome-encoded SubAB2-1 variant. The genes
      for the respective enzymatic active (A) subunits and binding (B) subunits of the
      subtilase toxins were amplified and cloned. The recombinant toxin subunits were
      expressed and purified. Their cytotoxicity on Vero cells was measured for the
      single A and B subunits, as well as for mixtures of both, to analyze whether
      hybrids with toxic activity can be identified. The results demonstrated that all
      three SubAB variants are toxic for Vero cells. However, the values for the 50%
      cytotoxic dose (CD50) differ for the individual variants. Highest cytotoxicity
      was shown for SubAB1. Moreover, hybrids of subunits from different subtilase
      toxins can be obtained which cause substantial cytotoxicity to Vero cells after
      mixing the A and B subunits prior to application to the cells, which is
      characteristic for binary toxins. Furthermore, higher concentrations of the
      enzymatic subunit SubA1 exhibited cytotoxic effects in the absence of the
      respective B1 subunit. A more detailed investigation in the human HeLa cell line
      revealed that SubA1 alone induced apoptosis, while the B1 subunit alone did not
      induce cell death.

PMID- 25824836
TI  - Inhibition of outer membrane proteases of the omptin family by aprotinin.
AB  - Bacterial proteases are important virulence factors that inactivate host defense
      proteins and contribute to tissue destruction and bacterial dissemination. Outer
      membrane proteases of the omptin family, exemplified by Escherichia coli OmpT,
      are found in some Gram-negative bacteria. Omptins cleave a variety of substrates
      at the host-pathogen interface, including plasminogen and antimicrobial peptides.
      Multiple omptin substrates relevant to infection have been identified;
      nonetheless, an effective omptin inhibitor remains to be found. Here, we purified
      native CroP, the OmpT ortholog in the murine pathogen Citrobacter rodentium.
      Purified CroP was found to readily cleave both a synthetic fluorescence resonance
      energy transfer substrate and the murine cathelicidin-related antimicrobial
      peptide. In contrast, CroP was found to poorly activate plasminogen into active
      plasmin. Although classical protease inhibitors were ineffective against CroP
      activity, we found that the serine protease inhibitor aprotinin displays
      inhibitory potency in the micromolar range. Aprotinin was shown to act as a
      competitive inhibitor of CroP activity and to interfere with the cleavage of the
      murine cathelicidin-related antimicrobial peptide. Importantly, aprotinin was
      able to inhibit not only CroP but also Yersinia pestis Pla and, to a lesser
      extent, E. coli OmpT. We propose a structural model of the aprotinin-omptin
      complex in which Lys15 of aprotinin forms salt bridges with conserved negatively
      charged residues of the omptin active site.

PMID- 25824837
TI  - The Cpx system regulates virulence gene expression in Vibrio cholerae.
AB  - Bacteria possess signal transduction pathways capable of sensing and responding
      to a wide variety of signals. The Cpx envelope stress response, composed of the
      sensor histidine kinase CpxA and the response regulator CpxR, senses and mediates
      adaptation to insults to the bacterial envelope. The Cpx response has been
      implicated in the regulation of a number of envelope-localized virulence
      determinants across bacterial species. Here, we show that activation of the Cpx
      pathway in Vibrio cholerae El Tor strain C6706 leads to a decrease in expression
      of the major virulence factors in this organism, cholera toxin (CT) and the toxin
      coregulated pilus (TCP). Our results indicate that this occurs through the
      repression of production of the ToxT regulator and an additional upstream
      transcription factor, TcpP. The effect of the Cpx response on CT and TCP
      expression is mostly abrogated in a cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP) mutant,
      although expression of the crp gene is unaltered. Since TcpP production is
      controlled by CRP, our data suggest a model whereby the Cpx response affects CRP
      function, which leads to diminished TcpP, ToxT, CT, and TCP production.

PMID- 25824838
TI  - The CpAL quorum sensing system regulates production of hemolysins CPA and PFO to
      build Clostridium perfringens biofilms.
AB  - Clostridium perfringens strains produce severe diseases, including myonecrosis
      and enteritis necroticans, in humans and animals. Diseases are mediated by the
      production of potent toxins that often damage the site of infection, e.g., skin
      epithelium during myonecrosis. In planktonic cultures, the regulation of
      important toxins, such as CPA, CPB, and PFO, is controlled by the C. perfringens
      Agr-like (CpAL) quorum sensing (QS) system. Strains also encode a functional
      LuxS/AI-2 system. Although C. perfringens strains form biofilm-like structures,
      the regulation of biofilm formation is poorly understood. Therefore, our studies
      investigated the role of CpAL and LuxS/AI-2 QS systems and of QS-regulated
      factors in controlling the formation of biofilms. We first demonstrate that
      biofilm production by reference strains differs depending on the culture medium.
      Increased biomass correlated with the presence of extracellular DNA in the
      supernatant, which was released by lysis of a fraction of the biofilm population
      and planktonic cells. Whereas DeltaagrB mutant strains were not able to produce
      biofilms, a DeltaluxS mutant produced wild-type levels. The transcript levels of
      CpAL-regulated cpa and pfoA genes, but not cpb, were upregulated in biofilms
      compared to planktonic cultures. Accordingly, Deltacpa and DeltapfoA mutants, in
      type A (S13) or type C (CN3685) backgrounds, were unable to produce biofilms,
      whereas CN3685Deltacpb made wild-type levels. Biofilm formation was restored in
      complemented Deltacpa/cpa and DeltapfoA/pfoA strains. Confocal microscopy studies
      further detected CPA partially colocalizing with eDNA on the biofilm structure.
      Thus, CpAL regulates biofilm formation in C. perfringens by increasing levels of
      certain toxins required to build biofilms.

PMID- 25824839
TI  - Oral tolerance failure upon neonatal gut colonization with Escherichia coli
      producing the genotoxin colibactin.
AB  - The intestinal barrier controls the balance between tolerance and immunity to
      luminal antigens. When this finely tuned equilibrium is deregulated, inflammatory
      disorders can occur. There is a concomitant increase, in urban populations of
      developed countries, of immune-mediated diseases along with a shift in
      Escherichia coli population from the declining phylogenetic group A to the newly
      dominant group B2, including commensal strains producing a genotoxin called
      colibactin that massively colonized the gut of neonates. Here, we showed that
      mother-to-offspring early gut colonization by colibactin-producing E. coli
      impairs intestinal permeability and enhances the transepithelial passage of
      luminal antigen, leading to an increased immune activation. Functionally, this
      was accompanied by a dramatic increase in local and systemic immune responses
      against a fed antigen, decreased regulatory T cell population, tolerogenic
      dendritic cells, and enhanced mucosal delayed-type hypersensitivity response.
      Conversely, the abolition of colibactin expression by mutagenesis abrogates the
      alteration of oral tolerance induced by neonatal colonization by E. coli. In
      conclusion, the vertical colonization by E. coli producing the genotoxin
      colibactin enhances intestinal translocation and subsequently alters oral
      tolerance. Thus, early colonization by E. coli from the newly dominant
      phylogenetic group B2, which produces colibactin, may represent a risk factor for
      the development of immune-mediated diseases. 

PMID- 25824840
TI  - Phosphorylation events in the multiple gene regulator of group A Streptococcus
      significantly influence global gene expression and virulence.
AB  - Whole-genome sequencing analysis of ~800 strains of group A Streptococcus (GAS)
      found that the gene encoding the multiple virulence gene regulator of GAS (mga)
      is highly polymorphic in serotype M59 strains but not in strains of other
      serotypes. To help understand the molecular mechanism of gene regulation by Mga
      and its contribution to GAS pathogenesis in serotype M59 GAS, we constructed an
      isogenic mga mutant strain. Transcriptome studies indicated a significant
      regulatory influence of Mga and altered metabolic capabilities conferred by Mga
      regulated genes. We assessed the phosphorylation status of Mga in GAS cell
      lysates with Phos-tag gels. The results revealed that Mga is phosphorylated at
      histidines in vivo. Using phosphomimetic and nonphosphomimetic substitutions at
      conserved phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase regulation domain
      (PRD) histidines of Mga, we demonstrated that phosphorylation-mimicking aspartate
      replacements at H207 and H273 of PRD-1 and at H327 of PRD-2 are inhibitory to Mga
      dependent gene expression. Conversely, non-phosphorylation-mimicking alanine
      substitutions at H273 and H327 relieved inhibition, and the mutant strains
      exhibited a wild-type phenotype. The opposing regulatory profiles observed for
      phosphorylation- and non-phosphorylation-mimicking substitutions at H273 extended
      to global gene regulation by Mga. Consistent with these observations, the H273D
      mutant strain attenuated GAS virulence, whereas the H273A strain exhibited a wild
      type virulence phenotype in a mouse model of necrotizing fasciitis. Together, our
      results demonstrate phosphoregulation of Mga and its direct link to virulence in
      M59 GAS strains. These data also lay a foundation toward understanding how
      naturally occurring gain-of-function variations in mga, such as H201R, may confer
      an advantage to the pathogen and contribute to M59 GAS pathogenesis.

PMID- 25824842
TI  - Parity-dependent recognition of DBL1X-3X suggests an important role of the
      VAR2CSA high-affinity CSA-binding region in the development of the humoral
      response against placental malaria.
AB  - Plasmodium falciparum multidomain protein VAR2CSA stands today as the leading
      vaccine candidate against pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM). Most of the studies
      aiming to decrypt how naturally acquired immunity develops have assessed the
      immune recognition of individual VAR2CSA Duffy-binding-like (DBL) domains, thus
      overlooking the presence of conformational epitopes resulting from the overall
      folding of the full-length protein. In order to characterize the development of
      humoral immunity toward VAR2CSA, we made use of a large cohort of 293 Senegalese
      pregnant women to assess the level of recognition by plasma IgG of the full
      length VAR2CSA protein of the 3D7 parasite strain (3D7-VAR2CSA), the CSA-binding
      multidomains 3D7-DBL1X to -DBL3X (3D7-DBL1X-3X), and the CSA nonbinding
      multidomains 3D7-DBL4epsilon to -DBL6epsilon (3D7-DBL4epsilon-6epsilon), as well
      as individual 3D7-DBL domains. Our results revealed a parity-dependent
      recognition of the full-length 3D7-VAR2CSA and of the CSA-binding region, 3D7
      DBL1X-3X. Indeed, multigravid women possess significantly higher levels of
      antibodies directed against these constructs than primigravidae. Our results
      suggest an important role of antibodies targeting the CSA-binding region in the
      development of immunity against PAM, therefore providing new insights on how
      natural protection might be acquired and further information for the design of
      VAR2CSA-based vaccines.

PMID- 25824841
TI  - Analysis of the effects of cigarette smoke on staphylococcal virulence
      phenotypes.
AB  - Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death, disease, and
      disability worldwide. It is well established that cigarette smoke provokes
      inflammatory activation and impairs antimicrobial functions of human immune
      cells. Here we explore whether cigarette smoke likewise affects the virulence
      properties of an important human pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus, and in
      particular methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), one of the leading causes of
      invasive bacterial infections. MRSA colonizes the nasopharynx and is thus exposed
      to inhalants, including cigarette smoke. MRSA exposed to cigarette smoke extract
      (CSE-MRSA) was more resistant to macrophage killing (4-fold higher survival; P <
      0.0001). CSE-MRSA demonstrated reduced susceptibility to cell lysis (1.78-fold; P
      = 0.032) and antimicrobial peptide (AMP) (LL-37) killing (MIC, 8 MUM versus 4
      MUM). CSE modified the surface charge of MRSA in a dose-dependent fashion,
      impairing the binding of particles with charge similar to that of AMPs by 90% (P
      < 0.0001). These changes persisted for 24 h postexposure, suggesting heritable
      modifications. CSE exposure increased hydrophobicity by 55% (P < 0.0001), which
      complemented findings of increased MRSA adherence and invasion of epithelial
      cells. CSE induced upregulation of mprF, consistent with increased MRSA AMP
      resistance. S. aureus without mprF had no change in surface charge upon exposure
      to CSE. In vivo, CSE-MRSA pneumonia induced higher mouse mortality (40% versus
      10%) and increased bacterial burden at 8 and 20 h postinfection compared to
      control MRSA-infected mice (P < 0.01). We conclude that cigarette smoke-induced
      immune resistance phenotypes in MRSA may be an additional factor contributing to
      susceptibility to infectious disease in cigarette smokers.

PMID- 25824844
TI  - Evaluation of combinations of in vitro sensitization test descriptors for the
      artificial neural network-based risk assessment model of skin sensitization.
AB  - The skin sensitization potential of chemicals has been determined with the use of
      the murine local lymph node assay (LLNA). However, in recent years public concern
      about animal welfare has led to a requirement for non-animal risk assessment
      systems for the prediction of skin sensitization potential, to replace LLNA.
      Selection of an appropriate in vitro test or in silico model descriptors is
      critical to obtain good predictive performance. Here, we investigated the utility
      of artificial neural network (ANN) prediction models using various combinations
      of descriptors from several in vitro sensitization tests. The dataset, collected
      from published data and from experiments carried out in collaboration with the
      Japan Cosmetic Industry Association (JCIA), consisted of values from the human
      cell line activation test (h-CLAT), direct peptide reactivity assay (DPRA), SH
      test and antioxidant response element (ARE) assay for chemicals whose LLNA
      thresholds have been reported. After confirming the relationship between
      individual in vitro test descriptors and the LLNA threshold (e.g. EC3 value), we
      used the subsets of chemicals for which the requisite test values were available
      to evaluate the predictive performance of ANN models using combinations of h
      CLAT/DPRA (N = 139 chemicals), the DPRA/ARE assay (N = 69), the SH test/ARE assay
      (N = 73), the h-CLAT/DPRA/ARE assay (N = 69) and the h-CLAT/SH test/ARE assay (N
      = 73). The h-CLAT/DPRA, h-CLAT/DPRA/ARE assay and h-CLAT/SH test/ARE assay
      combinations showed a better predictive performance than the DPRA/ARE assay and
      the SH test/ARE assay. Our data indicates that the descriptors evaluated in this
      study were all useful for predicting human skin sensitization potential, although
      combinations containing h-CLAT (reflecting dendritic cell-activating ability)
      were most effective for ANN-based prediction.

PMID- 25824845
TI  - Polio vaccination: past, present and future.
AB  - Live attenuated oral polio vaccine (OPV) and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) are
      the tools being used to achieve eradication of wild polio virus. Because OPV can
      rarely cause paralysis and generate revertant polio strains, IPV will have to
      replace OPV after eradication of wild polio virus is certified to sustain
      eradication of all polioviruses. However, uncertainties remain related to IPV's
      ability to induce intestinal immunity in populations where fecal-oral
      transmission is predominant. Although substantial effectiveness and safety data
      exist on the use and delivery of OPV and IPV, several new research initiatives
      are currently underway to fill specific knowledge gaps to inform future
      vaccination policies that would assure polio is eradicated and eradication is
      maintained.

PMID- 25824846
TI  - Case report: clues to the diagnosis of an unsuspected massive levothyroxine
      overdose.
AB  - There is currently little literature pertaining to levothyroxine overdose apart
      from minor or accidental overdoses in the pediatric population. In particular,
      there is little information available on how to confidently differentiate
      levothyroxine overdose from endogenous causes of thyrotoxicosis when there is no
      history available at the time of assessment. We report a levothyroxine (15,800
      mcg) and citalopram (2,460 mg) overdose in a 55-year-old woman presenting with
      seizure and tachycardia in which the diagnosis was not initially suspected.
      Clinical data, including a long history of treated hypothyroidism and lack of a
      goiter; and biochemical findings, such as an incompletely suppressed thyroid
      stimulating hormone (TSH) level, despite a markedly elevated free thyroxine level
      (FT4), a normal sex hormone-binding globulin level at baseline, and an
      undetectable thyroglobulin, supported the diagnosis of thyrotoxicosis due to a
      massive exogenous thyroid hormone overdose. Treatment was given to decrease free
      triiodothyronine (FT3) conversion and increase thyroid hormone clearance with
      dexamethasone and cholestyramine. The patient made a full recovery. Levothyroxine
      overdose can result in subtle symptoms and signs clinically, even when in massive
      quantities. This can make diagnosis challenging. Biochemical features, such as
      the pattern of thyroid hormone elevation and thyroglobulin levels, help
      differentiate exogenous thyroid hormone overdose from endogenous causes of
      thyrotoxicosis. 

PMID- 25824843
TI  - In vitro anti-Plasmodium falciparum properties of the full set of human secreted
      phospholipases A2.
AB  - We have previously shown that secreted phospholipases A2 (sPLA2s) from animal
      venoms inhibit the in vitro development of Plasmodium falciparum, the agent of
      malaria. In addition, the inflammatory-type human group IIA (hGIIA) sPLA2
      circulates at high levels in the serum of malaria patients. However, the role of
      the different human sPLA2s in host defense against P. falciparum has not been
      investigated. We show here that 4 out of 10 human sPLA2s, namely, hGX, hGIIF,
      hGIII, and hGV, exhibit potent in vitro anti-Plasmodium properties with half
      maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) of 2.9 +/- 2.4, 10.7 +/- 2.1, 16.5 +/-
      9.7, and 94.2 +/- 41.9 nM, respectively. Other human sPLA2s, including hGIIA, are
      inactive. The inhibition is dependent on sPLA2 catalytic activity and primarily
      due to hydrolysis of plasma lipoproteins from the parasite culture. Accordingly,
      purified lipoproteins that have been prehydrolyzed by hGX, hGIIF, hGIII, and hGV
      are more toxic to P. falciparum than native lipoproteins. However, the total
      enzymatic activities of human sPLA2s on purified lipoproteins or plasma did not
      reflect their inhibitory activities on P. falciparum. For instance, hGIIF is 9
      fold more toxic than hGV but releases a lower quantity of nonesterified fatty
      acids (NEFAs). Lipidomic analyses of released NEFAs from lipoproteins demonstrate
      that sPLA2s with anti-Plasmodium properties are those that release
      polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), with hGIIF being the most selective enzyme.
      NEFAs purified from lipoproteins hydrolyzed by hGIIF were more potent at
      inhibiting P. falciparum than those from hGV, and PUFA-enriched liposomes
      hydrolyzed by sPLA2s were highly toxic, demonstrating the critical role of PUFAs.
      The selectivity of sPLA2s toward low- and high-density (LDL and HDL,
      respectively) lipoproteins and their ability to directly attack parasitized
      erythrocytes further explain their anti-Plasmodium activity. Together, our
      findings indicate that 4 human sPLA2s are active against P. falciparum in vitro
      and pave the way to future investigations on their in vivo contribution in
      malaria pathophysiology.

PMID- 25824847
TI  - Social support moderates the effects of stress on sleep in adolescents.
AB  - Academic expectations and demands become primary sources of stress during
      adolescence, negatively affecting sleep. To cope with stress, adolescents may
      turn to social support figures. The present study tested the extent of main and
      moderating effects of various sources of social support on the association
      between stress and sleep. Adolescents (n = 202, meanage 14.6 years, standard
      deviation = 0.71) reported on academic stress, sleep, and support using
      questionnaires during a low- and high-stress period, defined by the absence or
      presence of examinations, respectively. Inquiries were made regarding social
      support from parents, friends, and class supervisor. During both stress periods,
      academic stress was associated negatively with sleep quality and positively with
      sleep reduction. Social support increased sleep quality and lowered sleep
      reduction. In addition, social support moderated the effects of academic stress
      on sleep, thus improving sleep quality and lowering sleep reduction. Moderating
      effects were stronger during a period of high stress. The present study showed
      that adolescents can benefit from stress moderation through social support by
      improvements of sleep quality and sleep reduction. Such moderating effects should
      be taken into account when studying stress and sleep. Implications and
      recommendations based on these findings are discussed. 

PMID- 25824848
TI  - "Non-classical" paraneoplastic neurological syndromes associated with well
      characterized antineuronal antibodies as compared to "classical" syndromes - More
      frequent than expected.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (PNSs) are rare disorders in
      association with cancer and sub-divided into "classical" and "non-classical"
      syndromes according to a 2004 consensus paper proposed by a panel of PNS experts.
      "Classical" PNSs are regarded to account for the vast majority of cases. However,
      systematic reports on clinical PNS manifestations are rare. Therefore, we
      analyzed the spectrum of PNS in our clinic. METHODS: We retrospectively
      investigated medical records from consecutive patients diagnosed with definite
      PNS and serological evidence of well-characterized onconeural antibodies (anti
      Hu, Yo, Ri, CV2/CRMP5, Ma1, Ma2, and amphiphysin) analyzed between 1991 and 2014
      in our clinic. RESULTS: Of the 50 patients identified with onconeural antibody
      positive PNS, 28 patients (56.0%) had "classical" PNS, and 22 (44.0%) "non
      classical" PNS. Subacute cerebellar degeneration was the most frequent
      "classical" syndrome, brainstem encephalitis and subacute sensorimotor
      neuronopathy the most frequent "non-classical" syndromes. Anti-Hu antibodies were
      most frequent in both groups. 86.1% of patients developed neurological symptoms
      before the cancer was known. No differences between "classical" and "non
      classical" syndromes were detected with respect to age, tumor entities and median
      time to diagnosis. However, whereas most patients with "classical" syndromes were
      females, there was no gender predominance in patients with "non-classical" PNS
      and the latter had significantly more frequent peripheral neurological syndromes.
      CONCLUSIONS: The so-called "non-classical" PNSs in association with well
      characterized onconeural antibodies were more common in our patient population
      than expected. Therefore, in neurological disorders of unclear etiology with a
      subacute onset and atypical presentation further diagnostic work-up including
      investigation of onconeural antibodies is necessary.

PMID- 25824849
TI  - HLA-DRB1 does not have a role in clinical response to interferon-beta among
      Iranian multiple sclerosis patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: The role of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) in clinical
      response to immunotherapy is not completely known. In this study we evaluated the
      relationship between HLA-DRB1 genotype, which has been proved to be more common
      in Iranian MS patients, and clinical response to interferon-beta (IFNbeta), which
      is the most common immunotherapy for relapsing-remitting MS. DESIGN AND SETTING:
      In this study 68 Iranian patients with confirmed diagnosis of RRMS who had been
      referred to and admitted in Neurology Department of Amiralam and Khatam Hospitals
      in Tehran were selected. Patients were followed prospectively for 2 years since
      initiation of therapy and clinical data, including EDSS scores were recorded
      every 3 months. MRI was performed at the time of diagnosis and each year.
      METHODS: HLA-DRB1 typing was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for all
      patients and data was analyzed by STATA 12th edition. RESULTS: There were 47
      (69.1%) responders and 21 (30.9%) non-responders. These two groups were
      demographically and clinically comparable. Fisher's exact test did not show any
      difference between HLA-DRB1 allele frequencies in responders and non-responders.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirmed the lack of association between HLA-DRB1 and
      clinical response to IFNbeta among MS patients as previous studies had done.

PMID- 25824850
TI  - Fluorescent gold nanodots based sensor array for proteins discrimination.
AB  - A series of dual-ligand cofunctionalized fluorescent gold nanodots with similar
      fluorescence and diverse surface properties has been designed and synthesized to
      build a protein sensing array. Using this "chemical nose/tongue" strategy,
      fluorescence response patterns can be obtained on the array and identified via
      linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Eight proteins have been well distinguished
      at low concentration (A280 = 0.005) based on this sensor array. The
      practicability of this sensor array was further validated by high accuracy (100%)
      examination of 48 unknown protein samples. 

PMID- 25824851
TI  - Additive, modular functionalization of reactive self-assembled monolayers: toward
      the fabrication of multilevel optical storage media.
AB  - We report a novel strategy based on iterative microcontact printing, which
      provides additive, modular functionalization of reactive SAMs by different
      functional molecules. We demonstrate that after printing the molecules form an
      interpenetrating network at the SAM surface preserving their individual
      properties. We exploited the process by fabricating new optical storage media
      that consist of a multilevel TAG. 

PMID- 25824852
TI  - Comparing Effectiveness of Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder in
      Communal Mental Health Care: The Oulu BPD Study.
AB  - The implementation of effective psychotherapies in community mental health care
      is challenging. This study aimed to create a well-structured and easily
      applicable treatment model for patients with severe borderline personality
      disorder (BPD). We integrated a schema therapy based psycho-educational group
      into an available individual therapy. Two groups were formed: (1) community
      treatment by experts (CTBE) patients (n = 24) receiving new treatment and (2)
      treatment as usual (TAU) patients (n = 47). Changes in symptoms were measured by
      Borderline Personality Disorder Severity Index-IV interview and quality of life
      by the 15D health-related quality of life questionnaire. After 1 year the CTBE
      patients showed a significant reduction in a wider range of BPD symptoms and
      better quality of life than TAU patients. The results of this study are
      encouraging. A well-structured treatment model was successfully implemented into
      community mental health care with improved patient adherence to treatment and
      superior treatment outcomes compared to TAU patients. 

PMID- 25824853
TI  - Transplant in haste, repent at your leisure?

PMID- 25824854
TI  - Using a new otologic operating microscope: unexpected complications.
AB  - The present work report cases of auricular burns after routine otologic surgery
      possibly induced by the operating microscope. Single-center retrospective study.
      April 2013 to January 2014, eight children presented with auricular burns after
      otologic surgery. Median age was 10.1 years. Cheloid scar occurred in six cases.
      A small scar was present for the other two patients without any other sequelae.
      No patient had chondritis nor cartilage loss. There was no possibility of
      physical or electrical trauma in the pretragal or retroauricular cutaneous area
      during the operations. Therefore, the only remaining hypothesis to explain these
      burns was thermal damage induced by the operative microscope. 

PMID- 25824855
TI  - Differences in successful treatment completion among pregnant and non-pregnant
      American women.
AB  - The present study explores characteristics of successful substance abuse
      treatment completion of pregnant women through an analysis of retrospective
      outcomes data. Women without prior treatment admissions, aged 18-44, and not in
      methadone maintenance therapy were included (N = 678,782). Chi-square tests
      analyzed significant differences; logistic regression provided predictive
      probabilities; odds ratios (OR) and risk differences with 95 % confidence
      intervals represent the effect sizes and clinically meaningful differences.
      Pregnant women were less likely to successfully complete treatment than non
      pregnant women (chi (2) = 321.33, df = 1, p < 0.0001), though the difference was
      not clinically meaningful (risk difference = 4.75, 95 % confidence interval (CI)
      = 4.23-5.26). Aside from criminal justice agencies, "other community agencies"
      refer the greatest percentage of pregnant women to treatment (risk difference =
      6.37, 95 % CI = 5.89-6.84). Pregnant women successfully complete treatment more
      than non-pregnant women in only non-intensive outpatient settings (chi (2) =
      10,182.48, df = 7, p < 0.0001). Further attention to referral source and
      treatment setting for pregnant women may improve successful treatment completion
      by targeting needs of pregnant women. Referring to non-intensive outpatient and
      residential hospital treatment settings may help to ameliorate prenatal substance
      abuse treatment contingent on the primary problem substance.

PMID- 25824856
TI  - Influence of mouse strain on ovarian tissue recovery after engraftment with
      angiogenic factor.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For women facing gonadotoxic treatment, cryopreservation of ovarian
      tissue with subsequent retransplantation during remission is a promising
      technique for fertility preservation. However, follicle loss within grafted
      ovarian tissue can be caused by ischemia and progressive revascularization.
      Several xenograft models using different immunodeficient rodent lines are
      suitable for studying ovarian tissue survival and follicular viability after
      frozen-thawed ovarian cortex transplantation. SCID mice, which are deficient for
      functional B and T cells, are the most commonly used mice for ovarian xenograft
      studies. However, due to incomplete immunosuppression, NOD-SCID mice displaying
      low NK cell function and an absence of circulating complement might be more
      appropriate. The present study aims to define the most appropriate
      immunodeficient mouse strain for ovarian tissue xenotransplantation by comparing
      ovarian graft recovery in SCID and NOD-SCID mice following engraftment in the
      presence of isoform 111 of vascular endothelial growth factor. METHODS: Sheep
      ovarian cortex fragments were embedded in a collagen matrix, with or without
      VEGF111, before being stitched onto the ovaries of SCID and NOD-SCID mice.
      Transplants were recovered after 3 days to study early revascularization or after
      3 weeks to evaluate follicle preservation and tissue fibrosis through
      histological analyses. RESULTS: At day 3, vessels were largely reorganized in the
      ovarian grafts of both mouse strains. After 3 weeks, the cortical tissue was
      clearly identifiable in SCID mice but not in NOD-SCID mice. Upon VEGF111
      treatment, vascularization was significantly improved 3 days after
      transplantation in SCID mice. This increase in vessel density was correlated with
      better follicular preservation in SCID mice 3 weeks after transplantation.
      Fibrosis was not decreased by VEGF treatment in either mouse strain. CONCLUSIONS:
      Tissue architecture and follicular morphology were better preserved in ovarian
      tissues grafted in SCID mice in comparison with NOD-SCID mice. Moreover, tissue
      revascularization was improved in SCID mice by VEGF111 graft treatment. Thus, we
      consider SCID mice to be the best murine model for studying ovarian tissue
      xenografts.

PMID- 25824857
TI  - Predictors of postoperative morbidity after cytoreduction for advanced ovarian
      cancer: Analysis and management of complications in upper abdominal surgery.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the complication rate and its impact in patients who have
      undergone upper abdominal surgery for treatment of advanced ovarian cancer.
      METHODS: Patients who have undergone upper abdominal surgery including diaphragm
      surgery, splenectomy, distal pancreatectomy, gastric resection, liver resection
      and biliary surgery were considered for the study. Perioperative complications
      were evaluated and graded according to Clavien-Dindo. RESULTS: One hundred and
      twenty one patients were included. Two hundred and twelve surgical procedures
      were performed. Thirty-six patients reported at least one complication, but 61.1%
      of these the complication was mild. Median hospital stay for patients with and
      without complication was 7 vs. 13days respectively (p<0.001). There was a
      significant correlation between post-operative hospital stay and the total number
      of surgical procedures (R=0.445, p<0.001). At multivariate analysis,
      diaphragmatic resection and pancreatic resection were associated with a
      significant increase of postoperative hospital stay, furthermore diaphragmatic
      resection (p=0.004), hepatic resection (p=0.004), pancreatectomy (p=0.011) and
      biliary surgery (p=0.049) were independent predictors of severe (G3-G4)
      complication. CONCLUSIONS: Rate of complications of patients submitted to upper
      abdominal surgery for ovarian cancer is acceptable. Prediction of severe
      complications is the goal for its optimal management. Extensive procedures should
      be avoided with those patients in which optimal residual tumor could not be
      reached.

PMID- 25824858
TI  - Underlying Mechanisms for Coexisting Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea:
      Nocturnal PaCO2 and Poor Sleep Quality Are Key Issues.
AB  - Coexisting central and obstructive sleep apnea is a challenging clinical
      situation. We report a case exhibiting an overnight shift from obstructive to
      central events. The central sleep apnea component was related to sleep
      instability, hyperventilation and low nocturnal PaCO2. Both types of respiratory
      events were successfully treated with adaptive servoventilation.

PMID- 25824859
TI  - Self-assembled sorbitol-derived supramolecular hydrogels for the controlled
      encapsulation and release of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
AB  - A simple supramolecular hydrogel based on 1,3:2,4-di(4-acylhydrazide)benzylidene
      sorbitol (DBS-CONHNH2), is able to extract acid-functionalised anti-inflammatory
      drugs via directed interactions with the self-assembled gel nanofibres. Two
      component hydrogel-drug hybrid materials can be easily formed by mixing and
      exhibit pH-controlled drug release. 

PMID- 25824860
TI  - Deciphering allogeneic antibody response against native and denatured HLA
      epitopes in organ transplantation.
AB  - Anti-HLA donor-specific antibodies are deleterious for organ transplant survival.
      Class I HLA donor-specific antibodies are identified by using the Luminex single
      antigen beads (LSAB) assay, which also detects anti-denatured HLA antibodies
      (anti-dHLAs). Anti-dHLAs are thought to be unable to recognize native HLA (nHLA)
      on the cell surface and therefore to be clinically irrelevant. Acid denaturation
      of nHLA on LSAB allows anti-dHLAs to be discriminated from anti-nHLAs. We
      previously defined a threshold for the ratio between mean fluorescence intensity
      against acid-treated (D for denaturation) and nontreated (N) LSAB, D >= 1.2 N
      identifying the anti-dHLAs. However, some anti-dHLAs remained able to bind nHLA
      on lymphocytes in flow cytometry crossmatches, and some anti-nHLAs conserved
      significant reactivity toward acid-treated LSAB. After depleting serum anti-nHLA
      reactivity with HLA-typed cells, we analyzed the residual LSAB reactivity toward
      nontreated and acid-treated LSABs, and then evaluated the ability of antibodies
      to recognize nHLA alleles individually. We observed that sera can contain
      mixtures of anti-nHLAs and anti-dHLAs, or anti-nHLAs recognizing acid-resistant
      epitopes, all possibly targeting the same allele(s). Therefore, the anti-HLA
      antibody response can be highly complex and subtle, as is the accurate
      identification of pathogenic anti-HLA antibodies in human serum.

PMID- 25824861
TI  - Evaluating the inverse reasoning account of object discovery.
AB  - People routinely make inferences about unobserved objects. A hotel guest with
      welts on his arms, for example, will often worry about bed bugs. The discovery of
      unobserved objects almost always involves a backward inference from some observed
      effects (e.g., welts) to unobserved causes (e.g., bed bugs). The inverse
      reasoning account, which is typically formalized as Bayesian inference, posits
      that the strength of a backward inference is closely connected to the strength of
      the corresponding forward inference from the unobserved causes to the observed
      effects. We evaluated the inverse reasoning account of object discovery in three
      experiments where participants were asked to discover the unobserved "attractors"
      and "repellers" that controlled a "particle" moving within an arena. Experiments
      1 and 2 showed that participants often failed to provide the best explanations
      for various particle motions, even when the best explanations were simple and
      when participants enthusiastically endorsed these explanations when presented
      with them. This failure demonstrates that object discovery is critically
      dependent on the processes that support hypothesis generation-processes that the
      inverse reasoning account does not explain. Experiment 3 demonstrated that people
      sometimes generate explanations that are invalid even according to their own
      forward inferences, suggesting that the psychological processes that support
      forward and backward inference are less intertwined than the inverse reasoning
      account suggests. The experimental findings support an alternative account of
      object discovery in which people rely on heuristics to generate possible
      explanations. 

PMID- 25824863
TI  - Computational analysis identifies invasion-associated genes in pituitary
      adenomas.
AB  - Pituitary adenomas are considered to be benign tumours. However, they can
      infiltrate surrounding tissues, which may cause a failure of complete removal
      during surgical resection. Thus far, no molecular biomarkers have been
      identified, which are able to reliably predict the behaviour of this type of
      tumour. In the present study, a list of differentially expressed genes in
      invasive pituitary adenomas was obtained using a computational bioinformatics
      analysis on the DNA microarray expression profiles. The gene expression datasets
      of a total of 16 samples were retrieved from the National Center for
      Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus database. The gene set
      enrichment analysis was later conducted on the significantly (FDR<0.05)
      differentially expressed genes. A total of 194 genes were identified as
      differentially expressed. The pathway impact analysis revealed that cell adhesion
      molecules may be vital in the progression of pituitary adenoma invasion. A total
      of six genes, claudin 7, contactin associated protein-like 2, integrin alpha6,
      junctional adhesion molecule 3, protein tyrosine phosphatase, receptor type C and
      cadherin-associated protein alpha1 were identified as molecular biomarkers for
      pituitary adenoma invasion. The present study identified six novel molecular
      biomarkers, which may be used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. However,
      further experimental investigations are required to validate the present
      findings.

PMID- 25824864
TI  - Mechanisms, Clinical Strategies, and Promising Treatments of Neurodegenerative
      Diseases. 12th International Conference AD/PD Nice, France, March 18-22, 2015:
      Abstracts.

PMID- 25824862
TI  - Reward and punishment act as distinct factors in guiding behavior.
AB  - Behavior rests on the experience of reinforcement and punishment. It has been
      unclear whether reinforcement and punishment act as oppositely valenced
      components of a single behavioral factor, or whether these two kinds of outcomes
      play fundamentally distinct behavioral roles. To this end, we varied the
      magnitude of a reward or a penalty experienced following a choice using monetary
      tokens. The outcome of each trial was independent of the outcome of the previous
      trial, which enabled us to isolate and study the effect on behavior of each
      outcome magnitude in single trials. We found that a reward led to a repetition of
      the previous choice, whereas a penalty led to an avoidance of the previous
      choice. Surprisingly, the effects of the reward magnitude and the penalty
      magnitude revealed a pronounced asymmetry. The choice repetition effect of a
      reward scaled with the magnitude of the reward. In a marked contrast, the
      avoidance effect of a penalty was flat, not influenced by the magnitude of the
      penalty. These effects were mechanistically described using a reinforcement
      learning model after the model was updated to account for the penalty-based
      asymmetry. The asymmetry in the effects of the reward magnitude and the
      punishment magnitude was so striking that it is difficult to conceive that one
      factor is just a weighted or transformed form of the other factor. Instead, the
      data suggest that rewards and penalties are fundamentally distinct factors in
      governing behavior. 

PMID- 25824865
TI  - Hospitalization rates and utilization among patients with giant cell arteritis: A
      population-based study from 1987 to 2012.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) may experience serious
      vascular and visual complications. It is unknown, however, to what extent the
      difficulties of the disease may lead to hospitalization. The goal of this study
      is to discern whether patients with GCA are at greater risk for all-cause
      hospitalizations when compared to the general population. METHODS: This
      retrospective, population-based cohort study utilized patients with large vessel
      or visual involvement who were diagnosed with GCA (as defined by the 1990 ACR
      criteria) between 1/1/1950 and 12/31/2009, and a reference cohort of patients
      without GCA matched on age, sex, and calendar year. Each patients' medical record
      was examined for hospitalizations from 1987 through 2012. For this analysis,
      follow-up began with the latter of index date or 1/1/1987 and ended at the
      earlier of death, emigration from Olmsted County, or 12/31/2012. Discharge
      diagnoses were grouped together using the Clinical Classifications Software (CCS)
      for ICD-9-CM from Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). Data were
      analyzed using person-year methods and rate ratios comparing GCA to non-GCA.
      RESULTS: The GCA cohort consists of 199 patients with a mean age of 76.2 (79.9%
      female) and follow-up of 8.2 years. The non-GCA cohort is comprised of 194
      patients with a mean age of 75.7 (78.9% female) and follow-up of 8.6 years. The
      patients with GCA had 816 hospitalizations and the non-GCA patients had 737
      hospitalizations. GCA patients proved to be at a marginally greater risk for all
      causes of hospitalization [rate ratio (RR) = 1.13; 95% confidence interval (CI):
      1.02-1.25]; however, the rate of hospitalization for patients with and without
      GCA decreased significantly from 1987 to 2012. Two specific discharge categories
      are of interest. First, transient cerebral ischemia is a greater risk of
      hospitalization for patients with GCA who had 16 hospitalizations compared to
      patients without GCA who only had 5 hospitalizations (RR = 3.06; 95% CI: 1.27
      9.47). Second, patients with GCA (21 hospitalizations) are at greater risk of
      hospitalization for syncope than patients without GCA (5 hospitalizations) (RR =
      3.98; 95% CI: 1.72-12.14). CONCLUSION: In this first ever analysis of all-cause
      hospitalizations in a population-based cohort, patients with GCA appear to be at
      a marginally greater risk for hospitalization than patients without GCA, although
      the rate of hospitalization for GCA patients decreased from 1987 to 2012.
      Patients with GCA are at increased risk of hospitalization for both transient
      cerebral ischemia and syncope.

PMID- 25824866
TI  - Enhanced electrochemical performance and thermal stability of LiNi(0.5)Mn(1.5)O4
      using an electrolyte with sulfolane.
AB  - A sulfide-based SEI layer was formed on the surface of a LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode
      by using a sulfolane-carbonate mixed solvent electrolyte, which led to an
      improvement in the electrochemical performance. Moreover, the thermal stability
      of the LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode was also significantly improved in the presence of
      the SEI layer. ARC (Accelerating Rate Calorimetry) tests showed that the self
      heating rate of the delithiated LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 material in the sulfolane
      carbonate electrolyte was suppressed. 

PMID- 25824867
TI  - Diversity among mandarin varieties and natural sub-groups in aroma volatiles
      compositions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mandarins constitute a large, diverse and important group within the
      Citrus family. Here, we analysed the aroma volatiles compositions of 13 mandarin
      varieties belonging to seven genetically different natural sub-groups that
      included common mandarin (C. reticulata Blanco), clementine (C. clementina Hort.
      ex. Tan), satsuma (C. unshiu Marcovitch), Mediterranean mandarin (C. deliciosa
      Tenore), King mandarin (C. nobilis Loureiro), and mandarin hybrids, such as
      tangor (C. reticulata * C. sinensis) and tangelo (C. reticulata * C. paradisi).
      RESULTS: We found that mandarin varieties among tangors ('Temple', 'Ortanique'),
      tangelos ('Orlando', 'Minneola') and King ('King') had more volatiles, at higher
      levels, and were richer in sesquiterpene and ester volatiles, than other
      varieties belonging to the sub-groups common mandarin ('Ora', 'Ponkan'),
      clementine ('Oroval', 'Caffin'), satsuma ('Okitsu', 'Owari') and Mediterranean
      mandarin ('Avana', 'Yusuf Efendi'). Hierarchical clustering and principal
      component analysis accurately differentiated between mandarin varieties and
      natural sub-groups according to their aroma-volatile profiles. CONCLUSIONS:
      Although we found wide differences in aroma-volatiles compositions among
      varieties belonging to different natural sub-groups, we detected only minor
      differences among varieties within any natural sub-group. These findings suggest
      that selecting appropriate parents would enable manipulation of aroma-volatile
      compositions in future mandarin breeding programmes.

PMID- 25824868
TI  - [Cervical cancer screening: Is active recruitment worth the effort?].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the percentage of women who have had a Pap smear in the
      last 5 years, and the place where it was carried out. To detect cytological
      abnormalities and precursors of cervical cancer in un-screened or inadequately
      screened women and the prevalence of HPV-positive determinations. DESIGN: Cross
      sectional study. SETTING: Natahoyo Health Centre, Gijon (Spain). PARTICIPANTS:
      Women aged 40-50 years living in the area and assigned to the Health Centre.
      METHODS: The information was collected from databases, telephone and home
      surveys. There was active recruitment of unscreened women or inadequately
      screened in Primary Care as well as offering to perform cytology and HPV
      determination. RESULTS: Of the 1420 women aged 40 to 50 years, 1236 (87%) had
      cytology in the last 5 years, and 184 women (13%) had no screening or it was
      inadequate. Of these 184 women, 108 (58.7%) agreed to have cytology and HPV test
      performed. No high-grade cervical dysplasia was diagnosed. The prevalence of HPV
      positive was 8.3%. CONCLUSIONS: In our population there is a high coverage of
      opportunistic screening for cervical cancer. The active recruitment of women who
      were not in the screening program was not useful.

PMID- 25824870
TI  - Population genetics. The peopling of Britain.

PMID- 25824869
TI  - Genetic linkage analysis in the age of whole-genome sequencing.
AB  - For many years, linkage analysis was the primary tool used for the genetic
      mapping of Mendelian and complex traits with familial aggregation. Linkage
      analysis was largely supplanted by the wide adoption of genome-wide association
      studies (GWASs). However, with the recent increased use of whole-genome
      sequencing (WGS), linkage analysis is again emerging as an important and powerful
      analysis method for the identification of genes involved in disease aetiology,
      often in conjunction with WGS filtering approaches. Here, we review the
      principles of linkage analysis and provide practical guidelines for carrying out
      linkage studies using WGS data. 

PMID- 25824871
TI  - Direct Catalytic Asymmetric Aldol Reaction of an alpha-Azido Amide.
AB  - A direct aldol reaction of an alpha-azido 7-azaindolinylamide, promoted by a Cu
      based cooperative catalyst, is documented. Aromatic aldehydes bearing an ortho
      substituent exhibited diastereodivergency depending on the nature of the chiral
      ligands used. Smooth reactions with ynals highlighted the broad substrate scope.
      A vicinal azido alcohol unit in the product allowed direct access to the
      corresponding aziridine and facile hydrolysis of the 7-azaindolinylamide moiety
      furnished enantioenriched beta-hydroxy-alpha-azido carboxylic acid derivatives. 

PMID- 25824872
TI  - Triboelectric sensor as self-powered signal reader for scanning probe surface
      topography imaging.
AB  - We report a self-powered signal reading mechanism for imaging surface topography
      using a triboelectric sensor (TES) without supplying an external power or light
      source. A membrane-structured triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is designed at
      the root of a whisker (probe); the deflection of the whisker causes the two
      contacting surfaces of the TENG to give an electric output current/voltage that
      responds to the bending degree of the whisker when it scans over a rough surface.
      A series of studies were carried out to characterize the performance of the TES,
      such as high sensitivity of 0.45 V mm(-1), favorable repeating of standard
      deviation 8 mV, high Z-direction resolution of 18 MUm, as well as lateral
      resolution of 250 MUm by using a probe of size 11 mm in the length and 120 MUm in
      radius. It not only can recognize the surface feature and size but also can
      perform a surface topography imaging in scanning mode. This work shows the
      potential of a TES as a self-powered tactile sensor for applications at
      relatively low spatial resolution. 

PMID- 25824873
TI  - Improved tibial component rotation in TKA using patient-specific instrumentation.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Patient-specific instrumentation (PSI) was introduced in an attempt
      to reduce positional outliers of components in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). It
      was hypothesized that PSI could help with the positioning of tibial components in
      optimal rotational alignment. METHODS: A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
      analysis of 58 patients following TKA was conducted. Of these, 30 operations were
      performed using PSI and 28 using conventional instrumentation. The rotation of
      the tibial components was determined in MRI using three different reference
      lines: a tangent to the dorsal tibial condyles, the tibial epicondylar line, and
      the tibial tubercle. Deviations >9 degrees  were considered outliers. Also
      internal rotation >1 degrees  was considered an outlier. Data were analyzed
      statistically for positional outliers using the Chi-squared test. RESULTS: There
      was excellent inter- and intraobserver reliability with low standard deviations
      for the determination of tibial component rotation using the tangent to the
      dorsal condyles and the tibial epicondylar line as reference. Using the dorsal
      tangent as reference, there were eight components in excessive external rotation
      (28.6 %) and one component being in relative internal rotation (5.4 degrees ) in
      the conventional group, while there were two components in excessive external
      rotation in the PSI group (6.7 %). Using the tibial epicondyles as reference,
      there were seven components in excessive external rotation (21.4 %) and one
      component being in relative internal rotation (4.4 degrees ) in the conventional
      group; while there were two components in excessive external rotation in the PSI
      group (6.7 %). These differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05).
      Measurements based on the tibial tubercle showed poor reproducibility in terms of
      intra- and interobserver reliability and was of little use in the context of the
      research question. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In this setup, PSI was effective in
      significantly reducing outliers of optimal rotational tibial component alignment
      during TKA. Anatomy of the proximal tibia does not deliver clear landmarks that
      are prominent and consistent. This makes both, MRI analysis as well as cutting
      jig production and intraoperative placement a challenge.

PMID- 25824874
TI  - MPs call for new national patient safety body to lead clinical accident
      investigations.

PMID- 25824875
TI  - How to decide which infant can have robotic surgery? Just do the math.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In pediatric urology, robot-assisted surgery has overcome several
      impediments of conventional laparoscopy. However, workspace has a major impact on
      surgical performance. The limited space in an infant can significantly impede the
      mobility of robotic instruments. There is currently no consensus on which infant
      can undergo robotic intervention and no parameters to help make this decision,
      especially for those surgeons at the start of their learning curve. OBJECTIVE: We
      sought to evaluate our experience with infants to create an objective standard to
      determine which patients may be most suitable for robotic surgery. STUDY DESIGN:
      We prospectively evaluated 45 infants (24 males, 21 females), aged 3-12 months
      old, who underwent a robotic intervention for either upper or lower urinary tract
      pathology. At the preoperative office visit the attending surgeon measured the
      distance between both anterior superior iliac spines (ASIS) as well as the
      puboxyphoid distance (PXD), regardless of whether the approach was for upper or
      lower tract disease. Patients' weights were also noted. During surgery, we
      recorded the number of robotic collisions as well as console time. All surgeries
      were performed utilizing the da Vinci Si Surgical System by a single surgeon.
      RESULTS: There were no differences in ASIS, PXD, collisions or console time when
      stratified by gender, age or weight. When arranging by upper or lower tract
      approach, there was no difference in the number of collisions. There was a strong
      inverse relationship between both ASIS distance and PXD and the number of
      collisions. Additionally, there was a strong correlation between the number of
      collisions and console time (Fig. 1). Using a cutoff of 13 cm for the ASIS, there
      were significantly fewer collisions in the >13 cm group as compared to the <=13
      cm group. This was also true for the PXD using a cutoff of 15 cm: there were
      significantly fewer collisions in the >15 cm group as compared to the <=15 cm
      group. DISCUSSION: Safe proliferation of robotic technology in the infant
      population is, in part, dependent on careful patient selection. Our data
      demonstrated a reduction in instrument collisions and console time with
      increasing anterior superior iliac spine and puboxyphoid distances. Neither age
      nor weight was correlated with these measurements, the number of instrument
      collisions or console time. Limitations include that this is a single institution
      study with all infants being operated on by a single surgeon. Therefore, the
      findings of this study may not be generalizable to a less experienced surgeon.
      Yet, we believe that ASIS and PXD measurements can be used as a guide for the
      novice surgeon who is beginning to perform robotic-assisted surgery in infants.
      CONCLUSION: We found that surgeon ability to perform robotic surgery in an infant
      is restricted by collisions when the infant has an ASIS measurement of 13 cm or
      less or a PXD of 15 cm or less. Objective assessment of anterior superior iliac
      spine and puboxyphoid distance can aid in selecting which infants can safely and
      efficiently undergo robotic intervention with a minimum of instrument collision,
      thereby minimizing operative time.

PMID- 25824876
TI  - The effectiveness of transcutaneous electrical neural stimulation therapy in
      patients with urinary incontinence resistant to initial medical treatment or
      biofeedback.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: While there are many options for children with treatment refractory
      urinary incontinence, there is no single accepted method. This study's aim was to
      prospectively evaluate the effect of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation
      in children with urinary incontinence resistant to standard medical, urological
      therapy and/or biofeedback. PATIENTS & METHODS: This study was performed at a
      university hospital. For inclusion, patients >5 years of age first underwent
      evaluation with urinary ultrasonography, uroflow-electromyogram and voiding
      diaries. Treatment with biofeedback, alpha adrenergic blockers, anticholinergics
      and/or urotherapy was commenced according to uroflow-EMG and voiding diary
      findings. Patients with partial or no response to this standard therapy were then
      included in this study, performed between April 2012 and February 2014. Patients
      with anatomical or neurological causes for urinary incontinence were excluded.
      TENS was performed on S3 dermatome, every day for 3 months. Each session lasted
      20 min with a frequency of 10 Hz and generated pulse of 350 MUs. Intensity was
      determined by the child's sensitivity threshold. Medical treatment and urological
      therapy was continued during TENS. Uroflow parameters (voiding volume as
      percentage of expected bladder capacity, Qmax, Qave, flow and voiding time,
      postvoiding residual urine) and urinary system symptoms (presence of urinary
      tract infection, frequency, urge incontinence, fractionated voiding and
      constipation) were compared immediately before commencement and immediately after
      the completion of 3 months of TENS. RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients were included
      in this study (4 males, 23 females). Patients' average age was 7.2 years, 11 had
      overactive bladder and 16 had dysfunctional voiding. Comparison of urinary system
      symptoms and uroflow parameters before and after TENS are shown in Table. After 3
      months of TENS; a statistically significant decrease was observed in the number
      of patients with frequency, urge incontinence, urinary tract infections and
      constipation. There was a decrease in the number of patients with fractionated
      voiding, although this change was not statistically significant. Similarly, for
      uroflow-EMG parameters; bladder capacity, Qmax, Qave and flow time increased
      while voiding time and PVR decreased. Changes seen in bladder capacity, Qmax and
      PVR were statically significant, while other changes were not. Patients' response
      rates after 3 months of TENS were; complete response in 70.4%, partial response
      in 22.2% and no response in 7.4%. CONCLUSION: This study has shown that
      transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation is a promising treatment option for
      standard-treatment refractory children with urinary incontinence.

PMID- 25824877
TI  - Alternative ileal flap for bladder augmentation if mesentery is short.
AB  - PURPOSE: To date the clam ileocystoplasty is the preferred method of bladder
      augmentation in children when the urodynamic problem is non-compliance and/or
      detrusor overactivity. The key to this technique is the incision of the bladder
      wall deep into the pelvis down to the trigone in order to avoid a diverticulum
      like neobladder and to provide adequate margin for augmentation. The
      detubularised ileum flap therefore has to reach to the bottom of the divided
      bladder on a reliable vascular pedicle without significant tension. A short ileal
      mesentery caused by previous surgery, peritonitis, peritoneal dialysis or
      ventriculo-peritoneal shunt may complicate surgery and compromise outcome. We
      hypothesized we can rely on the communication of the intramural vessels within
      the intestine and can detubularise the ileum adjacent to the mesentery rather
      than along the antimesenteric line and this could be combined with ligation of
      some vasa recta (VR) in order to create alternative ileum flaps, which reach
      further into the pelvis. Our aim was to assess the viability of the alternative
      flaps detubularised along the paramesenteric line and measure how many VR could
      be sacrificed beyond the tertiary arcades. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After ethical
      approval adjacent ileal segments were detubulirased along the antimesenteric line
      (Group 1) and along the paramesenteric line (Group 2) in 5 minipigs in general
      anaesthesia. Ligation of 0,1,2,3 and 4 VR has been performed starting from the
      free end of the segments. The length of the ileal flaps was recorded. The
      microcirculation of flap edges was detected by in vivo microscopy using
      orthogonal polarising spectral imaging (Cytoscan A/R Cytometrics, PA, USA). Clam
      ileocystoplasty was performed with the ileum detubularised along the
      paramesenteric line without ligation of VR. Specimens of the augmented bladder
      were obtained after 4 weeks and stained with Hematoxilin + Eosin. RESULTS: No
      alteration in capillary red blood cell velocity (RBCV) and perfusion rate (PR)
      was observed after paramesenteric detubularisation. The flaps in Group 2 reached
      20.25 +/- 0.5 mm longer vs. CONTROL: This is 98% of the mean bowel width (20.5 +/
      0.57 mm) measured in the animals. Ligation of each VR further increased the
      length of both flaps (mean: 10.59 +/- 3.18 mm) however ligation of more than 2 VR
      gradually decreased the microcirculation in both groups. All animals augmented
      with alternative flap survived, there was no urine leak or suture break down.
      Histology confirmed viable bowel flaps. CONCLUSION: Paramesenteric
      detubularisation of the ileum is fully tolerated and results in longer reaching
      ileal flap vs. CONTROL: Only limited ligation of VR is tolerated. DISCUSSION:
      This study showed the first time that clam ileocystoplasty is feasible with ileal
      flap detubularised along the paramesenteric line. The use of the animal model and
      the relative short postoperative observation are the main limitations of this
      study.

PMID- 25824878
TI  - Response to commentary to 'A comparison of the monti and spiral monti procedures:
      A survival analysis'.

PMID- 25824879
TI  - The roles of serum and urinary carbohydrate antigen 19-9 in the management of
      patients with antenatal hydronephrosis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Serum carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 has been clinically applied as
      a valuable tumor marker for pancreatic and gastrointestinal carcinoma. CA 19-9 is
      expressed in normal excretory epithelium tissues. Increased CA 19-9 has also been
      observed in uroepithelial tumors as well as in nonmalignant conditions including
      hydronephrosis secondary to ureteral stones. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this
      article is to evaluate the role of urinary CA 19-9 as a non-invasive biomarker in
      the postnatal differentiation of obstructive and non-obstructive hydronephrosis
      in patients with unilateral antenatal hydronephrosis. STUDY DESIGN: Infants with
      isolated renal pelvic dilatation, defined as the presence of anteroposterior
      pelvic diameter (APPD) equal to or greater than 7 mm based on antenatal
      ultrasound after 28 weeks' gestation, underwent systematic investigation for
      uropathies and were prospectively followed up. The pyeloplasty group consisted of
      17 patients with ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) obstruction who had undergone
      pyeloplasty. The non-obstructive dilatation (NOD) group consisted of 17 patients
      with non-obstructive hydronephrosis, and the control group consisted of 21
      healthy children. Commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were
      used to measure the urinary and serum CA 19-9 levels. In both hydronephrosis
      groups (pyeloplasty and non-obstructive dilatation), the correlations between
      urinary and serum CA 19-9 levels with the anteroposterior pelvic diameter
      measured at the third trimester and the postnatal initial evaluation and
      differential renal function were investigated. RESULTS: The initial median
      urinary CA 19-9 levels were significantly greater in children who underwent
      pyeloplasty than in both the non-obstructive hydronephrosis (143 +/- 38 vs. 68 +/
      23, respectively; p = 0.007) and the healthy control groups (143 +/- 38 vs. 13
      +/- 3, respectively; p = 0.001) (Figure). Three months after surgery, the urinary
      CA 19-9 levels had decreased significantly according to the preoperative levels
      in the pyeloplasty group (143 +/- 38 vs. 55 +/- 16, p = 0.039). In both the
      pyeloplasty and NOD groups, there was a correlation of urinary CA 19-9 levels
      with differential renal function and a correlation of serum CA 19-9 levels with
      the initial anteroposterior pelvic diameter. Receiver operator characteristic
      (ROC) analysis revealed a better diagnostic profile for the urinary CA 19-9 level
      than for the serum CA 19-9 level in terms of identifying obstruction in the
      hydronephrosis groups (areas under the curve = 0.8 and 0.7, respectively). The
      best cut-off value of for urinary CA 19-9 was 85.5 U/mL with 76% sensitivity, 85%
      specificity. The negative predictive value was 80%. DISCUSSION: The results
      suggest that voided urine CA 19-9 levels seems to be a more useful marker than
      serum CA 19-9 in obstructive dilatation. An appropriate decrease in urinary CA 19
      9 levels after pyeloplasty may be used as a predictor of surgical outcome. In
      addition, the results have a number of important diagnostic implications that
      should be further validated in a larger study population. CONCLUSIONS: Based on
      these results, we suggest that a high urinary CA 19-9 level is a non-invasive
      clinically applicable marker for differentiating between obstruction and non
      obstructive dilatation.

PMID- 25824880
TI  - Screening for depression and anxiety in childhood neurogenic bladder dysfunction.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Patients with chronic illnesses are known to have anxiety disorders
      and are likely to be depressed. Anxiety and depression (A/D) has been studied in
      adults with spina bifida (SB), however, no study has directly screened for A/D in
      pediatric patients with neurogenic bladder (NB) and their caregivers. OBJECTIVE:
      The aims of our study were to determine the prevalence of A/D in caregivers of
      all children with SB and other NB dysfunction and in adolescents with validated
      screening measures. STUDY DESIGN & PATIENTS: This was a preliminary cross
      sectional screening investigation for A/D in pediatric patients with NB and their
      caregivers and adolescents with NB. Pediatric patients were defined as ages birth
      to 19 years and adolescents as ages 10 years-19 years. A caregiver was self
      defined as a primary parent/guardian who took care of the pediatric patient for a
      majority of their time on a daily basis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We contacted 75
      families by mail, of which 15 returned the consent and completed the
      questionnaires. Subsequently, 25 consecutive families whose children were seen
      for routine office appointments by the pediatric urology service at the Albany
      Medical Center in New York participated in person. 22 adolescents completed the
      Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). 47 caregivers completed both the
      HADS and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). RESULTS:
      Depression among adolescents: Of the 22 adolescents who completed the HADS, the
      median HADS score was 5.5 (Inter-quartile range (IQR): 1.75-8.75) for anxiety and
      1.5 (IQR: 0-4.25) for depression; both scores were within the normal range
      (<8/21). Individual abnormal HADS scores (>=8/21) were seen in 6/22 (27%) for
      anxiety and 1/22 (5%) for depression. Anxiety and depression among caregivers: Of
      the 47 caregivers who completed the HADS and CES-D, the median HADS score was 7
      (IQR: 4-11) for anxiety and 4 (IQR: 1-7) for depression; both scores were within
      the normal range. Individual abnormal HADS scores were seen in 23/47 (49%) for
      anxiety and 10/47 (21%) for depression. Abnormal CES-D scores (>15) were seen in
      15/47 (32%). The median CES-D scores were 8 (IQR: 3-19). DISCUSSION: In this
      preliminary screening study, we found considerable anxiety in adolescents with NB
      and both A/D in caregivers. When screening by two validated surveys, adolescents
      with NB had median scores for A/D that were normal; yet 27% of these patients
      exhibited scores for anxiety that outwit the normal range. For the caregivers,
      the median scores were also normal; yet 49% and 32% had scores for A/D,
      respectively, that were abnormal. SB among pediatric patients has been shown to
      result in alterations in daily functioning and to increase the dependency on
      adult care, factors that are associated with altered self-concept, psychological
      distress, including A/D. Our findings underscore such results from previous
      studies. In caregivers, we observed a higher prevalence of anxiety than
      adolescents; similar findings have been reported for caregivers of other chronic
      conditions. Surprisingly, in caregivers, a lower percentage of scores for
      depression was observed. Although we have no data on the cause of this finding
      this may be related to a caregiver's ability to adapt to the demands of the
      situation in chronic illness or perhaps, lower expectations. The cross-sectional
      nature of our study limited us to draw any causal relationships for anxiety or
      depression between neurogenic patients and their caregivers. CONCLUSION: Despite
      our study limitations, the prevalence of anxiety in adolescents and in the
      caregivers is striking. Our data highlight that clinicians should screen for A/D
      more aggressively in pediatric patients with NB dysfunction and in their
      caregivers.

PMID- 25824881
TI  - Anogenital distance and penile width measurements in The Infant Development and
      the Environment Study (TIDES): methods and predictors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anogenital distance (AGD) is an androgen responsive anatomic
      measurement that may have significant utility in clinical and epidemiological
      research studies. We describe development of standardized measurement methods and
      predictors of AGD outcomes. METHODS: We examined infants born to 758 participants
      in The Infant Development and the Environment Study (TIDES cohort) in four
      clinical centers in 2011-2013. We developed and implemented a detailed training
      protocol that incorporated multiple quality control (QC) measures. In males, we
      measured anoscrotal distance (AGDAS), anopenile distance (AGDAP), and penile
      width (PW) and in females, anofourchette distance (AGDAF,) and anoclitoral
      distance (AGDAC). A single examiner obtained three repetitions of all
      measurements, and a second examiner obtained independent measurements for 14% of
      infants. We used the intra-rater ICC to assess within-examiner variability and
      the inter-rater ICC to assess between-examiner variability. We used multivariable
      linear regression to examine predictors of AGD outcomes including: gestational
      age at birth, birth weight, gestational age, several measures of body size, race,
      maternal age, and study center. RESULTS: In the full TIDES cohort, including 758
      mothers and children, significant predictors of AGD and PW included: age at exam,
      gestational age at birth, weight-for-length Z-score, maternal age and study
      center. In 371 males, the mean (SD) AGDAS, AGDAP, and PW were 24.7 (4.5), 49.6
      (5.9), and 10.8 (1.3) mm, respectively. In 387 females, the mean (SD) AGDAF and
      AGDAC were 16.0 (3.2) mm and 36.7 (3.8) mm, respectively. The intra-examiner ICC
      and inter-examiner ICC averaged over all subjects and examiners were between 0.89
      0.92 and 0.69-0.84 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms that with
      appropriate training and quality control measures, AGD and PW measurements can be
      performed reliably and accurately in male and female infants. In order for
      reliable interpretation, these measurements should be adjusted for appropriate
      covariates in epidemiologic analysis.

PMID- 25824882
TI  - Long-term functional outcomes of distal hypospadias repair: a single center
      retrospective comparative study of TIPs, Mathieu and MAGPI.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Tubularized Incised-Plate (TIP) urethroplasty is currently the
      preferred technique for distal hypospadias repair. Nevertheless, concerns have
      been raised on the long-term functionality of the reconstructed neourethra.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate long-term uroflowmetry
      parameters' evolution after TIP surgery over a long-term follow-up including the
      adolescent period. TIP patients were compared to normal children using
      established Miskolc nomograms, as well as to patients who underwent Mathieu and
      Meatal Advancement and Glanuloplasty (MAGPI) surgery repairs for distal
      hypospadias. STUDY DESIGN: Files from patients who underwent primary distal
      hypospadias repair at our institution between January 1, 1997 and January 31,
      2001 were reviewed. Only patients with documented serial postoperative
      uroflowmetry profiles at follow-up visits were included. Comparison between
      surgeries (TIP vs. Mathieu vs. MAGPI) was performed according to the following
      postoperative time interval endpoints: 0-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-24 months, 24
      48 months, 4-6 years, 6-10 years and >10 years. Maximal urinary flow rate (Qmax)
      in relation to Voiding Volume (VV) adjusted for Age or Body Surface Area (BSA)
      were also evaluated in comparison to normal children using established Miskolc
      nomograms and compared between surgery techniques. RESULTS: 153 patients met the
      inclusion criteria: 70 (43%) TIP, 24 (17%) Mathieu and 59 (35%) MAGPI. Overall,
      Qmax increases progressively according to time and age and in particular during
      the period covering adolescence with a similar trend regardless of the type of
      surgery. Uroflowmetry profiles in terms of Qmax, VV and PVR were equivalent
      between surgeries at each examined time point. At 10 years of follow-up
      postopertively, mean Qmax were 17.2 ml/s, 18.8 ml/s and 21.6 ml/s respectively
      with no significant difference detected between groups (p = 0.344). Compared to
      normal children when adjusted for voiding volume and BSA, the proportion of
      obstructive uroflowmetry patterns defined as Qmax< 5th percentile of nomograms
      was more prevalent in patients aged 2-7 years old at 60% but decreased to less
      than 10%in patients aged >13 years for all procedures combined (see abstract
      figure) but without detected differences between surgery types (p = 0.276).
      DISCUSSION: After sub-optimal obstructive maximal urinary flows in the early
      postoperative period, hypospadias patients treated with TIP exhibit favourable
      long-term evolution with age and during adolescence in particular compared to
      normal children. In addition, a similar trend was found for patients treated with
      Mathieu and MAGPI with no significant differences detected between procedures.
      Nevertheless, because of the relatively small sample size we cannot exclude that
      a statistical difference between surgeries would have been detected if the study
      was adequately powered on every endpoint. Nevertheless and also as suggested by
      the values obtained, this potential difference may be quite small and not
      clinically relevant. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the obstructive
      urinary flow pattern observed in patients early on is possibly an intrinsic
      feature associated to the malformation itself and may be less of a consequence of
      the surgical technique.

PMID- 25824883
TI  - Commentary to 'A comparison of the Monti and spiral Monti procedures: A survival
      analysis'.

PMID- 25824884
TI  - Uncovering RNA binding proteins associated with age and gender during liver
      maturation.
AB  - In the present study, we perform an association analysis focusing on the
      expression changes of 1344 RNA Binding proteins (RBPs) as a function of age and
      gender in human liver. We identify 88 and 45 RBPs to be significantly associated
      with age and gender respectively. Experimental verification of several of the
      predicted associations in mice confirmed our findings. Our results suggest that a
      small fraction of the gender-associated RBPs (~40%) are expressed higher in males
      than females. Altogether, these observations show that several of these RBPs are
      important and conserved regulators in maintaining liver function. Further
      analysis of the protein interaction network of RBPs associated with age and
      gender based on the centrality measures like degree, betweenness and closeness
      revealed that several of these RBPs might be prominent players in aging liver and
      impart gender specific alterations in gene expression via the formation of
      protein complexes. Indeed, both age and gender-associated RBPs in liver were
      found to show significantly higher clustering coefficients and network centrality
      measures compared to non-associated RBPs. The compendium of RBPs and this study
      will help us gain insight into the role of post-transcriptional regulatory
      molecules in aging and gender specific expression of genes. 

PMID- 25824885
TI  - Simvastatin combined with aspirin increases the survival time of heart allograft
      by activating CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg cells and enhancing vascular endothelial cell
      protection.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective was to investigate whether the combination of
      simvastatin and aspirin treatment prolongs the survival time of the heart
      allograft in rat and its underlying mechanism. METHODS: Heterotopic heart
      transplantation was performed using Wistar rats as donors and Sprague-Dawley (SD)
      rats as recipients. The SD rats were randomly divided into five groups
      (n=20/group): sham, HT (heart transplantation), HT+simvastatin (HT+S), HT+aspirin
      (HT+A), and HT+aspirin+simvastatin (HT+A+S). After transplantation, at 3, 7, 10,
      15, 20, 30, and 40 days, the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression
      was assessed by immunohistological staining; nitric oxide (NO) levels were
      analyzed by Griess assay; the activation of CD4(+)CD25(+) T regulatory
      lymphocytes (Tregs) was analyzed by flow cytometry; and pathological changes in
      the graft heart were determined by histology. RESULTS: Combined treatment of
      hearts with simvastatin and aspirin significantly prolonged the mean survival
      time of heart allografts [8 +/- 1.2 days (n=18), 20 +/- 3.4 days (n=19), 21 +/-
      2.8 days (n=19), and 39 +/- 5.3 days (n=19) for HT, HT+S, HT+A, and HT+A+S group,
      respectively; HT vs. HT+A+S, P<.001; HT vs. HT+S or HT+A, P<.05]. In addition,
      CONCLUSIONS: Simvastatin given in combination with aspirin delayed the
      development of pathological changes in the myocardium, reduced vascular damage
      and prolonged the survival time of cardiac allograft. The underlying mechanism is
      linked with CD4(+)CD25(+)-Treg-cell-induced immune tolerance and enhanced
      vascular endothelial cell protection.

PMID- 25824886
TI  - Correction: Testing and validating electroanalytical simulations.

PMID- 25824887
TI  - The effect of memory and context changes on color matches to real objects.
AB  - Real-world color identification tasks often require matching the color of objects
      between contexts and after a temporal delay, thus placing demands on both
      perceptual and memory processes. Although the mechanisms of matching colors
      between different contexts have been widely studied under the rubric of color
      constancy, little research has investigated the role of long-term memory in such
      tasks or how memory interacts with color constancy. To investigate this
      relationship, observers made color matches to real study objects that spanned
      color space, and we independently manipulated the illumination impinging on the
      objects, the surfaces in which objects were embedded, and the delay between
      seeing the study object and selecting its color match. Adding a 10-min delay
      increased both the bias and variability of color matches compared to a baseline
      condition. These memory errors were well accounted for by modeling memory as a
      noisy but unbiased version of perception constrained by the matching methods.
      Surprisingly, we did not observe significant increases in errors when
      illumination and surround changes were added to the 10-minute delay, although the
      context changes alone did elicit significant errors. 

PMID- 25824888
TI  - Selection of multiple cued items is possible during visual short-term memory
      maintenance.
AB  - Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that maintenance of a selected object feature
      held in visual short-term/working memory (VSTM/VWM) is supported by the same
      neural mechanisms that encode the sensory information. If VSTM operates by
      retaining "reasonable copies" of scenes constructed during sensory processing
      (Serences, Ester, Vogel, & Awh, 2009, p. 207, the sensory recruitment
      hypothesis), then attention should be able to select multiple items represented
      in VSTM as long as the number of these attended items does not exceed the typical
      VSTM capacity. It is well known that attention can select at least two
      noncontiguous locations at the same time during sensory processing. However,
      empirical reports from the studies that examined this possibility are
      inconsistent. In the present study, we demonstrate that (1) attention can indeed
      select more than a single item during VSTM maintenance when observers are asked
      to recognize a set of items in the manner that these items were originally
      attended, and (2) attention can select multiple cued items regardless of whether
      these items are perceptually organized into a single group (contiguous locations)
      or not (noncontiguous locations). The results also replicate and extend the
      recent finding that selective attention that operates during VSTM maintenance is
      sensitive to the observers' goal and motivation to use the cueing information. 

PMID- 25824889
TI  - Attention modulates specificity effects in spoken word recognition: Challenges to
      the time-course hypothesis.
AB  - Findings in the domain of spoken word recognition have indicated that lexical
      representations contain both abstract and episodic information. It has been
      proposed that processing time determines when each source of information is
      recruited, with increased processing time being required to access lower
      frequency episodic instantiations. The time-course hypothesis of specificity
      effects has thus identified a strong role for retrieval mechanisms mediating the
      use of abstract versus episodic information. Here we conducted three recognition
      memory experiments to examine whether the findings previously attributed to
      retrieval mechanisms might instead reflect attention during encoding. The results
      from Experiment 1 showed that talker-specificity effects emerged when subjects
      attended to the individual speakers, but not when they attended to lexical
      characteristics, during encoding, even though processing times at retrieval were
      equivalent. The results from Experiment 2 showed that talker-specificity effects
      emerged when listeners attended to talker gender but not when they attended to
      syntactic characteristics, even though the processing times at retrieval were
      significantly longer in the latter condition. The results from Experiment 3
      showed no talker-specificity effects when all listeners attended to lexical
      characteristics, even when processing at retrieval was slowed by the addition of
      background noise. Collectively, these results suggest that when processing time
      during retrieval is decoupled from encoding factors, it fails to predict the
      emergence of talker-specificity effects. Rather, attention during encoding
      appears to be the putative variable. 

PMID- 25824890
TI  - Diffuse panbronchiolitis in a 10-year-old boy.
AB  - Diffuse panbronchiolitis is a progressive fatal respiratory disease of unknown
      cause seen predominantly in Southeast Asian adults. We report this condition in a
      10-year-old child of Korean birth because of the uncommon presentation at this
      age and the favorable outcome associated with early diagnosis. Our objective was
      also to demonstrate the gradual but complete resolution of the disease and
      sustained remission from early institution of azithromycin.

PMID- 25824891
TI  - Neonatal seizures-part 2: Aetiology of acute symptomatic seizures, treatments and
      the neonatal epilepsy syndromes.
AB  - Most neonatal epileptic seizures are provoked by an underlying condition or
      problem-'acute symptomatic seizures'. However, a few neonatal epilepsy syndromes
      exist, and these are defined by the constellation of seizure types, EEG findings
      and family history seen. Making an accurate diagnosis of an epilepsy syndrome can
      help direct investigations, treatment options and provide prognostic information.
      This article discusses the investigative approach and treatments for neonatal
      epileptic seizures, including the neonatal epilepsy syndromes. 

PMID- 25824892
TI  - Child health research and social media.

PMID- 25824893
TI  - Neonatal seizures-part 1: Not everything that jerks, stiffens and shakes is a
      fit.
AB  - The neonatal period is the most frequent time of life to have epileptic seizures.
      However, neonates can also exhibit unusual movements that are not epileptic
      seizures. Differentiating between epileptic and non-epileptic movements can be
      difficult. Many neonatal seizures exhibit few or no clinical features at all.
      This article is for the benefit of paediatric trainees and reviews the published
      evidence on which neonatal movements are likely to be epileptic seizures and
      which are not. We also discuss epileptic seizure classification. 

PMID- 25824894
TI  - Spotlight on Express Lane Eligibility (ELE): A Tool to Improve Enrollment and
      Renewal.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We examine a new simplification policy, Express Lane Eligibility
      (ELE), introduced by the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act
      of 2009 (CHIPRA), to understand ELE's effects on enrollment, renewal, and
      administrative costs. METHODS: Beginning in January 2012 and lasting through June
      2013, we conducted 2 rounds of phone interviews with 38 state administrators and
      staff in 8 states that implemented ELE in Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance
      Program (CHIP), or both; we also conducted case studies in these same states,
      resulting in 136 in-person interviews. We collected administrative data on
      enrollments and renewals processed through ELE methods from the 8 states.
      RESULTS: ELE was adopted in different ways; the method of adoption influenced how
      many children were served and administrative savings. Automatic ELE processes,
      which enable states to use eligibility findings from partner agencies to
      automatically enroll or renew children, serve the most children and generate, on
      average, $1 million annually in administrative savings. Given the size of renewal
      caseloads and the recurring nature of renewal, using ELE for renewals holds
      substantial promise for administrative savings and keeping children covered.
      CONCLUSIONS: Automatic ELE processes are a best practice for using ELE. However,
      because Congress has not yet made ELE a permanent policy option, states are
      discouraged from adopting this more efficient method of eligibility determination
      and redeterminations. Making ELE permanent would support states that have already
      adopted the policy; in addition, ELE could support the transition of children to
      Medicaid or exchanges should CHIP not be funded after September 30, 2015.

PMID- 25824895
TI  - Access to Private Coverage for Children Enrolled in CHIP.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To provide updated information on the potential substitution of public
      for private coverage among low-income children by examining the type of coverage
      held by children before they enrolled in Children's Health Insurance Program
      (CHIP) and exploring the extent to which children covered by CHIP had access to
      private coverage while they were enrolled. METHODS: We conducted a major
      household telephone survey in 2012 of enrollees and disenrollees in CHIP in 10
      states. We used the survey responses and Medicaid/CHIP administrative data to
      estimate the coverage distribution of all new enrollees in the 12 months before
      CHIP enrollment and to identify children who may have had access to employer
      coverage through one of their parents while enrolled in CHIP. RESULTS: About 13%
      of new enrollees had any private coverage in the 12 months before enrolling in
      CHIP, and most were found to have lost that coverage as a result of parental job
      loss. About 40% of CHIP enrollees had a parent with an employer-sponsored
      insurance (ESI) policy, but only half reported that the policy could cover the
      child. Approximately 30% of new enrollees had public coverage during the year
      before but were uninsured just before enrolling. CONCLUSIONS: Access to private
      coverage among CHIP enrollees is relatively limited. Furthermore, even when there
      is potential access to ESI, affordability is a serious concern for parents,
      making it possible that many children with access to ESI would remain uninsured
      in the absence of CHIP.

PMID- 25824896
TI  - Primary care provider training in screening, assessment, and treatment of
      adolescent depression.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Adolescent depression is underrecognized and undertreated. Primary
      care providers (PCP) require training to successfully identify adolescents with
      depression. We examined the effects of a PCP training program in the screening,
      assessment, and treatment of adolescent depression (SAT-D) on adolescents'
      reports of PCP screening for adolescent depression at annual well visits and PCP
      SAT-D confidence and knowledge. METHODS: PCP (n = 31) attended one SAT-D training
      program consisting of a 60-minute SAT-D seminar and a 60-minute standardized
      patient session where PCP practiced SAT-D skills. A pre-post design evaluated
      effects of training on PCP depression screening practices as reported by 3 groups
      of adolescent patients at well visits (n = 582 before, n = 525 at 2 to 8 months
      after training, n = 208 at 18 to 24 months after training). A generalized linear
      mixed effects logistic regression controlled for provider and patient
      demographics that may have influenced depression screening. PCP SAT-D self
      reported confidence and objectively tested knowledge were assessed at baseline,
      immediately after training, and at 4 to 6 months after training. RESULTS: On the
      basis of the regression analysis, PCP screening for adolescent depression
      increased significantly from pretraining (49%) to 2 to 8 months after training
      (68%, odds ratio 2.78, 95% confidence interval 2.10-3.68) and 18 to 24 months
      after training (74%, odds ratio 3.17, 95% confidence interval 2.16-4.67; both P <
      .0001). PCP SAT-D confidence and knowledge also significantly improved.
      CONCLUSIONS: PCP SAT-D training resulted in significant increases in primary care
      screening for adolescent depression that were maintained up to 24 months after
      training. Future studies should determine if changes in PCP screening improve
      identification of adolescent depression and patient outcomes for adolescents with
      depression.

PMID- 25824897
TI  - How Well Is CHIP Addressing Health Care Access and Affordability for Children?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We examine how access to care and care experiences under the
      Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) compared to private coverage and being
      uninsured in 10 states. METHODS: We report on findings from a 2012 survey of CHIP
      enrollees in 10 states. We examined a range of health care access and use
      measures among CHIP enrollees. Comparisons of the experiences of established CHIP
      enrollees to the experiences of uninsured and privately insured children were
      used to estimate differences in children's health care. RESULTS: Children with
      CHIP coverage had substantially better access to care across a range of outcomes,
      other things being equal, particularly compared to those with no coverage.
      Compared to being uninsured, CHIP enrollees were more likely to have specialty
      and mental health visits and to receive prescription drugs; and their parents
      were much more likely to feel confident in meeting the child's health care needs
      and were less likely to have trouble finding providers. CHIP enrollees were less
      likely to have unmet needs, but 1 in 4 had at least 1 unmet need. Compared to
      being privately insured, CHIP enrollees had generally similar health care use and
      unmet needs. Additionally, CHIP enrollees had lower financial burden related to
      their health care needs. The findings were generally robust with respect to
      alternative specifications and subgroup analyses, and they corroborated findings
      of previous studies. CONCLUSIONS: Enrolling more of the uninsured children who
      are eligible for CHIP improved their access to a range of care, including
      specialty and mental health services, and reduced the financial burden of meeting
      their health care needs; however, we found room for improvement in CHIP
      enrollees' access to care.

PMID- 25824898
TI  - Macroglossia.

PMID- 25824899
TI  - Integrated analysis of toxicity data of two pharmaceutical immunosuppressants and
      two environmental pollutants with immunomodulating properties to improve the
      understanding of side effects-A toxicopathologist's view.
AB  - Data in a toxicity test are evaluated generally per parameter. Information on the
      response per animal in addition to per parameter can improve the evaluation of
      the results. The results from the six studies in rats, described in the paper by
      Kemmerling, J., Fehlert, E., Ruhl-Fehlert, C., Kuper, C.F., Stropp, G., Vogels,
      J., Krul, C., Vohr, H.-W., 2015. The transferability from rat subacute 4-week
      oral toxicity study to translational research exemplified by two pharmaceutical
      immunosuppressants and two environmental pollutants with immunomodulating
      properties (In this issue), have been subjected to principal component analysis
      (PCA) and principal component discriminant analysis (PC-DA). The two
      pharmaceuticals azathioprine (AZA) and cyclosporine A (CSA) and the two
      environmental pollutants hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) all
      modulate the immune system, albeit that their mode of immunomodulation is quite
      diverse. PCA illustrated the similarities between the two independent studies
      with AZA (AZA1 and AZA2) and CSA (CSA1 and CSA2). The PC-DA on data of the AZA2
      study did not increase substantially the information on dose levels. In general,
      the no-effect levels were lower upon single parameter analysis than indicated by
      the distances between the dose groups in the PCA. This was mostly due to the
      expert judgment in the single parameter evaluation, which took into account
      outstanding pathology in only one or two animals. The PCA plots did not reveal
      sex-related differences in sensitivity, but the key pathology for males and
      females differed. The observed variability in some of the control groups was
      largely a peripheral blood effect. Most importantly, PCA analysis identified
      several animals outside the 95% confidence limit indicating high-responders; also
      low-to-non-responders were identified. The key pathology enhanced the
      understanding of the response of the animals to the four model compounds. 

PMID- 25824900
TI  - Animal models of rheumatoid arthritis: How informative are they?
AB  - Animal models of arthritis are widely used to de-convolute disease pathways and
      to identify novel drug targets and therapeutic approaches. However, the high
      attrition rates of drugs in Phase II/III rates means that a relatively small
      number of drugs reach the market, despite showing efficacy in pre-clinical
      models. There is also increasing awareness of the ethical issues surrounding the
      use of animal models of disease and it is timely, therefore, to review the
      relevance and translatability of animal models of arthritis. In this paper we
      review the most commonly used animal models in terms of their pathological
      similarities to human rheumatoid arthritis as well as their response to drug
      therapy. In general, the ability of animal models to predict efficacy of
      biologics in man has been good. However, the predictive power of animal models
      for small molecules has been variable, probably because of differences in the
      levels of target knockdown achievable in vivo. 

PMID- 25824901
TI  - Automated calcium burden measurement in internal carotid artery plaque with CT: a
      hierarchical adaptive approach.
AB  - AIM: Calcium burden measurement in internal carotid artery (ICA) plaque could
      play an important role in assessing stroke risk and stenosis quantification in
      the ICA. We propose an automatic method for labelling calcified plaques in ICA in
      CT images. METHODS: Our approach builds upon the mean shift paradigm via an
      adaptive thresholding strategy. The data consists of single CT slices from 75
      patients, with variety of plaque sizes and number of calcium regions. The manual
      measurements were carried out by a neuroradiologist for benchmarking. The calcium
      burden was measured as the area of the labelled plaque. Various metrics were
      employed to compare manual and automated measurements including correlation
      coefficient (CC), dice similarity (DS), Jacard Index (JI), polyline distance
      metric (PDM) and precision of merit (PoM). RESULTS: We found that our automated
      method of calcium area characterization performed accurately compared to manual
      measurements with CC=0.978, and PoM=0.915. The PDM, DS, and JI, also indicate a
      good performance with a mean DS=0.85 (SD=0.085), a mean JI=0.747 (SD=0.12), and a
      mean PDM=0.195 (SD=0.177). CONCLUSION: The proposed approach for calcium burden
      measurement, yields reasonably accurate labelling of calcified plaque when
      benchmarked against manual measurements. The approach is independent of the
      number and size of calcium regions, and the prototype design shows encouraging
      results to be adaptable to clinical practice.

PMID- 25824902
TI  - A meta-analysis of immunogenetic Case-Control Association Studies in irritable
      bowel syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To date, genetic-association studies of single nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNP) in selected candidate genes with the symptom phenotype of
      irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have typically involved hundreds to 2000 patients.
      SNPs in immune-related genes, such as cytokine and cytokine receptor encoding
      genes, have been reported to associate with IBS risk. METHODS: We conducted two
      independent case-control studies on 16 SNPs in IL1R1, IL4, IL6, IL8, IL10, IL23R,
      TNFA, and TNFSF15, one from the UK (194 patients and 92 healthy volunteers) and
      one from the USA (137 patients and 96 healthy volunteers). The main aim was to
      examine the relationship between inherited immunological diversity and IBS risk
      in a meta-analysis which included 12 additional, earlier studies. The meta
      analysis comprised a total of 2894 patients (839 IBS-C, 1073 IBS-D, 502 IBS-M),
      and 3138 healthy volunteers with self-reported Caucasian ancestry. KEY RESULTS:
      The association of SNP rs4263839 (TNFSF15) was investigated in four studies and
      confirmed in the meta-analysis: IBS (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.08-1.31), and IBS-C (OR
      1.24, 95% CI 1.08-1.42). No additional SNPs residing in immunogenes associated
      with IBS symptom phenotypes. CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES: Our meta-analysis could
      not confirm a major role of most investigated SNPs, but a moderate association
      between rs4263839 TNFSF15 and IBS, in particular IBS-C. The analysis emphasizes
      the importance of definition and phenotype homogeneity, adequate study size and
      representativeness of the patient and control collective.

PMID- 25824903
TI  - Functional differences between antiviral activities of sulfonated and intact
      intravenous immunoglobulin preparations toward varicella-zoster virus and
      cytomegalovirus.
AB  - Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is used to treat severe viral infection,
      especially varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections. The
      neutralization antibody titers of eleven IVIG preparations from four companies
      were examined using VZV and CMV with and without complement. The neutralizing
      antibody titers of intact IgG preparations were three to six times higher after
      addition of complement. The effectiveness of the sulfonated IgG preparation was
      not enhanced by complement, but desulfonated IgG regained enhanced neutralization
      activity with complement. Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) toward
      VZV-infected cells was observed with both intact and sulfonated IVIG and guinea
      pig splenocytes, but ADCC toward CMV-infected cells was not, although NK cell
      activity toward cells infected with VZV or CMV was detected by splenocytes.
      Sulfonated IVIG had no complement-activated neutralization of VZV and CMV but
      retained ADCC toward VZV with less activity after dilution than with intact IVIG.
      Because sulfonated IVIG is converted to the intact form after intravenous
      administration, it would show complement-enhanced neutralization and ADCC
      activity similar to that of intact IVIG in vivo. In this study we showed the
      effects of intact and sulfonated IgG on the functional activity of IgG against
      VZV and CMV. 

PMID- 25824904
TI  - Vestibular functions of hereditary hearing loss patients with GJB2 mutations.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Mutations in the GJB2 gene have been of particular interest as it is
      the most common causative gene for congenital deafness in all populations.
      Detailed audiological features, including genotype-phenotype correlations, have
      been well documented. However, in spite of abundant gene as well as protein
      expression in the vestibular end organs, neither vestibular symptoms nor
      vestibular functions have yet been elucidated. In the present study, vestibular
      functions were evaluated in patients diagnosed with GJB2-related deafness.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Vestibular functions were evaluated by caloric test and
      cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) testing in 24 patients with
      biallelic GJB2 mutations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Twenty-one of 23 patients
      (91.3%) had normal caloric responses and significantly lower cVEMP amplitudes
      than the control subjects. In the patients who were able to undergo vestibular
      testing, the mostly normal reactions to caloric testing indicated that the
      lateral semicircular canal was intact. However, the majority of GJB2 patients
      showed low cVEMP reactions, indicating a saccular defect.

PMID- 25824905
TI  - DOCK6 mutations are responsible for a distinct autosomal-recessive variant of
      Adams-Oliver syndrome associated with brain and eye anomalies.
AB  - Adams-Oliver syndrome (AOS) is characterized by the association of aplasia cutis
      congenita with terminal transverse limb defects, often accompanied by additional
      cardiovascular or neurological features. Both autosomal-dominant and autosomal
      recessive disease transmission have been observed, with recent gene discoveries
      indicating extensive genetic heterogeneity. Mutations of the DOCK6 gene were
      first described in autosomal-recessive cases of AOS and only five DOCK6-related
      families have been reported to date. Recently, a second type of autosomal
      recessive AOS has been attributed to EOGT mutations in three consanguineous
      families. Here, we describe the identification of 13 DOCK6 mutations, the
      majority of which are novel, across 10 unrelated individuals from a large cohort
      comprising 47 sporadic cases and 31 AOS pedigrees suggestive of autosomal
      recessive inheritance. DOCK6 mutations were strongly associated with structural
      brain abnormalities, ocular anomalies, and intellectual disability, thus
      suggesting that DOCK6-linked disease represents a variant of AOS with a
      particularly poor prognosis.

PMID- 25824907
TI  - The myth of the miracle baby: how neonatal nurses interpret media accounts of
      babies of extreme prematurity.
AB  - Improved life sustaining technology in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)
      has resulted in an increased probability of survival in extremely premature
      babies. Miracle baby stories in the popular press are a regular occurrence and
      these reports are often the first source from which the general public learn
      about extremely premature babies. The research from which this paper is drawn
      sought to explore the care-giving and ethical dilemmas of neonatal nurses when
      caring for extremely premature babies 24 weeks gestation and less. This current
      paper aims to outline the views of neonatal nurses on miracle baby stories in the
      media. Data were collected via a questionnaire to 760 Australian neonatal nurses
      with 414 returned, representing a response rate of 54.4%. Narrative was collected
      from semi-structured interviews with 24 experienced neonatal nurses in NSW,
      Australia. A qualitative approach utilising thematic analysis was utilised to
      analyse the data. The theme the myth of the miracle baby is seen as generating
      myths and unrealistic expectations on the part of vulnerable families and the
      public. Neonatal nurses, as the primary caregivers for tiny babies and their
      families, viewed popular media publications with suspicion, believing published
      reports to be incomplete, inaccurate and biased towards the positive.

PMID- 25824908
TI  - Vortrage.

PMID- 25824906
TI  - A plug-and-play approach to antibody-based therapeutics via a chemoselective dual
      click strategy.
AB  - Although recent methods for the engineering of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)
      have gone some way to addressing the challenging issues of ADC construction,
      significant hurdles still remain. There is clear demand for the construction of
      novel ADC platforms that offer greater stability, homogeneity and flexibility.
      Here we describe a significant step towards a platform for next-generation
      antibody-based therapeutics by providing constructs that combine site-specific
      modification, exceptional versatility and high stability, with retention of
      antibody binding and structure post-modification. The relevance of the work in a
      biological context is also demonstrated in a cytotoxicity assay and a cell
      internalization study with HER2-positive and -negative breast cancer cell lines. 

PMID- 25824909
TI  - Diaklinik (DK) - Interessante Falle aus der Welt der DDG (DK).

PMID- 25824910
TI  - Freie vortrage.

PMID- 25824911
TI  - Poster.

PMID- 25824912
TI  - Autorenindex.

PMID- 25824914
TI  - Inhalt.

PMID- 25824913
TI  - Editors and reviewers.

PMID- 25824915
TI  - Stroke volume adjusted to afterload for assessment of cardiac performance in
      patients with severe aortic stenosis and preserved left ventricular ejection
      fraction.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between
      valvular resistance and stroke volume (SV) and to assess SV adequacy to afterload
      in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) and normal left ventricular ejection
      fraction (LVEF). METHODS: We assessed clinical characteristics and
      echocardiographic parameters in 44 patients with isolated severe AS and preserved
      LVEF. LV end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and LV mean diastolic pressure (LVMDP)
      were measured by cardiac catheterization. SV values were plotted in relation to
      valvular resistance. Patients were divided into 2 groups, with an SV that was
      higher (group 1) or lower (group 2) than the SV calculated by a regression
      equation using valvular resistance as the dependent variable. RESULTS: At the
      same degree of valvular stenosis, the patients in group 1 exhibited better
      contractility as assessed by global longitudinal strain (p < 0.05), higher peak
      (p < 0.01) and mean gradient (p < 0.05), indexed SV (p < 0.001) and transvalvular
      flow (p = 0.01) than the patients in group 2, who had a higher heart rate (HR, p
      < 0.05), shorter ejection time (ET, p < 0.05) and more elevated LVEDP (p < 0.05)
      and LVMDP (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The presence of inappropriately decreased SV
      relative to afterload in patients with severe AS and normal LVEF was associated
      with lower contractility, higher HR, shorter ET and elevated LV diastolic
      pressure, which suggest failed hemodynamic adaptation to afterload.

PMID- 25824916
TI  - Celiac disease, gluten-free diet and health-related quality of life.

PMID- 25824917
TI  - Benefit on health-related quality of life of adherence to gluten-free diet in
      adult patients with celiac disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Celiac disease (CD) affects health-related quality of life (HRQOL)
      of patients suffering it. The exclusion of gluten from the diet (GFD) improves
      HRQOL, but involves difficulties in following the diet that could adversely
      affect HRQOL. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of adherence to the diet on
      HRQOL of adult CD patients. METHODS: A prospective, cross-sectional, multicenter
      study of CD patients treated with a GFD for longer than 1 year. Adherence to the
      GFD was measured using the Morisky scale, and health status using the specific CD
      QOL questionnaire and the generic EuroQol-5D questionnaire. RESULTS: 366 patients
      from 7 hospitals were included: 71.5% of patients reported a perfect treatment
      adherence, 23.5% unintentional poor adherence and 5% intentional poor adherence.
      Good adherence to a GFD was related to a higher mean score onthe CD-QOL (75 vs.
      68, respectively, p < 0.05) and EuroQol-5D (0.9 vs. 0.8, respectively, p < 0.05).
      Ease of adherence to a GFD was also related to a better HRQOL (total CD-QOL score
      of 82 vs. 67 in patients who consider the GFD difficult to follow, p < 0.05).
      Good symptom control was also related to a better HRQOL (total CD-QOL score of 78
      vs. 67 in asymptomatic vs. symptomatic patients, p < 0.01). The worse scored
      dimension of CD-QOL was related to "inadequate treatment". CONCLUSIONS: In CD,
      good adherence to a GFD and adequate symptom control result in improved HRQOL.
      Many patients consider that the lack of therapeutic alternatives to diet worsens
      their quality of life.

PMID- 25824918
TI  - The irritable bowel syndrome care process from the patients' and professionals'
      views.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: This study assessed the experiences of
      irritable bowel syndrome patients with the healthcare system. Specifically, this
      study focused on the barriers that patients found. METHODS: Three focus groups
      were conducted with the participation of 19 patients and 10 healthcare
      professionals. From this information a script of questions was designed and 33
      structured interviews were conducted. Finally, a scale for evaluation of the
      perception of patients was designed for primary care (14 items) and
      gastroenterology (13 items). Internal consistency and construct validity were
      calculated. RESULTS: The difficulties of accessibility, to clarify doubts,
      concerns regarding uncertainty, reduced information about prognosis and its
      social and labour effects were the most cited by patients. Low adherence and
      persistence in the treatment plan were the problems cited most often by
      professionals. The items of the scale for primary care were grouped into 4
      factors (explained variance, 73%), while those for gastroenterology were grouped
      into 3 factors (explained variance, 67%). The internal consistency was 0.84 and
      0.82, respectively. A total of 29 (88%) patients were satisfied with the care
      provided in gastroenterology, while 24 (73%) declared themselves satisfied with
      the primary care physician (Chi-square 2.4, p = 0.21). This study was carried out
      from November 2013 to July 2014. CONCLUSIONS: This study describes the most
      relevant problems in the assistance received by these patients.

PMID- 25824919
TI  - Fecal calprotectin as a biomarker of inflammatory lesions of the small bowel seen
      by videocapsule endoscopy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The levels of calprotectin in the stools are proportional to
      neutrophil activity in the enteric lumen, so fecal calprotectin is a useful
      intestinal inflammatory biomarker. It is an extended tool as predictor of colonic
      pathology but there is scare evidence about its utility in the small bowel.
      OBJECTIVE: To test the yield of fecal calprotectin to detect lesions in the small
      bowel. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We have retrospectively included 71 patients sent
      for small bowel capsule endoscopy in study for suspected inflammatory bowel
      disease. All of them had a determination of fecal calprotectin and had been sent
      to colonoscopy with no findings. Patients have been divided in groups: A, fecal
      calprotectin < 50 microg/g; B, fecal calprotectin: 50-100 microg/g; C, fecal
      calprotectin > 100 microg/g, and we have analyzed which of them presented
      inflammatory lesions in capsule endoscopy studies. RESULTS: The rate of patients
      with signi ficative lesions was 1 out of 10 (10%) in group A, 6 out of 24 (25%)
      in group B, and 21 out of 34 (62%) in group C. If we consider levels over 50 ig/g
      pathologic, fecal calprotectin presents sensitivity: 96%, specificity: 23%, NPV:
      90% and PPV: 56%. If we consider levels over 100 ig/g pathologic these values are
      sensitivity: 75%, specificity: 67%, NPV: 79% and PPV: 62%. CONCLUSIONS: Fecal
      calprotectin has high sensitivity but not so good specificity for predicting
      small bowel lesions after a normal colonoscopy. In daily practice it will be more
      useful to establish in 100 ig/g the limit to indicate capsule endoscopy studies.

PMID- 25824920
TI  - Long-term follow-up of chronic anal fissure (CAF) on diltiazem 2% using a
      telephone questionnaire. Do results change?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Calcium channel blockers have an excellent effectiveness in the
      conservative management of chronic anal fissure (CAF). OBJECTIVES: To assess the
      long-term results of management with diltiazem 2% ointment using a telephone
      questionnaire. METHODS: A descriptive, retrospective study from March 2004 to
      March 2011 in patients with CAF on diltiazem 2%, 3 applications daily for 4-6
      weeks. Starting at 12 months a questionnaire was administered over the phone by
      medical staff outside the surgery department to record socio-demographic data,
      predominant manifestations, and response to diltiazem on a 5-point scale
      measuring symptom relief (1 = poorest, 5 = best). Patients with therapy failure
      were referred to surgery. RESULTS: The study was completed for 166 patients with
      a mean age of 54.1 years. CAF was posterior in 82.3% of subjects. Diltiazem
      tolerability was excellent with only 4 adverse event cases (3 skin irritation, 1
      hypotension). We obtained symptom relief in 62.1% of patients and CAF healing in
      51.2%, and referred 33.7% to surgery. The questionnaire showed that 74.1% of
      patients had used only 2 applications daily, and that results were better with an
      increased number of applications, albeit without statistical significance.
      CONCLUSIONS: The telephone questionnaire showed symptom relief for 62% and
      healing for 51.2% of patients with CAF on diltiazem 2%, which should be
      considered first-choice for the conservative management of this condition.

PMID- 25824921
TI  - Endoscopic ultrasound in the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis.
AB  - Diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis (CP) remains a challenge. Endoscopic ultrasound
      (EUS) can be considered nowadays as the technique of choice for the morphological
      diagnosis of this disease. More than three or four EUS defined criteria of CP
      need to be present for the diagnosis of the disease. The development of the more
      restrictive Rosemont classification aims to standardize the criteria, assigning
      different values to different features but its impact on the EUS-based diagnosis
      of CP is debatable. A combined use of endoscopic function test and EUS has even
      increased the diagnostic yield. Elastography and FNA may be also of help for
      diagnosing CP. EUS also provides with very valuable information on the severity
      of the disease, giving key information that may influence in the treatment.
      Differential diagnosis of solid pancreatic masses in the context of a CP is also
      challenging, EUS plays a key role in this context. It provides with the
      possibility of obtaining specimens for histopathological diagnosis. Nowadays, new
      developed techniques associated to EUS, like elastography and contrast
      enhancement, are also showing promising results for the differentiating between
      these pancreatic lesions. 

PMID- 25824922
TI  - Acute abdomen due to torsion of the wandering spleen.

PMID- 25824923
TI  - Orbital metastasis from hepatocellular carcinoma.

PMID- 25824924
TI  - An elderly woman with obstructive symptoms: a surprising diagnosis.

PMID- 25824925
TI  - Hypercontractile "jackhammer esophagus".

PMID- 25824926
TI  - Is the sinusoidal obstructive syndrome post-liver transplantation a pathologic
      entity with a multifactorial etiology?
AB  - The sinusoidal obstructive syndrome is a complication typically associated with
      hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This syndrome, more commonly known as
      veno-occlusive disease, has also been described after liver transplantation. It
      can have a life-threatening course. Herein, we describe the hepatic graft loss
      secondary to the development of a sinusoidal obstructive syndrome after a severe
      acute cellular rejection and toxic levels of once daily modified released
      tacrolimus (TAC). We discuss the role of the endotheliitis of acute rejection and
      toxic metabolites of some immunosuppressants such as azathioprine and TAC. Based
      on the current scientific evidence, we contemplate the possibility that the
      etiology of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome post-liver transplantation is
      multifactorial. 

PMID- 25824927
TI  - Direct percutaneous endoscopic jejunostomy in pediatric age with a pexies
      triangulation system: report of a case and literature review.
AB  - Direct percutaneous endoscopic jejunostomy (DPEJ) is an infrequent procedure as
      it is not always easy to obtain transillumination, being this the main reason for
      failure of this technique. In patients with previous surgery, this procedure is
      more complex and there are only 6 reported cases in pediatric population. In our
      case, we provide the use of an endoscopic triangulation system with "T" pexies
      not used before in these cases. With this technique, we guarantee not to replace
      the introduction system afterwards, obtaining the placement of a balloon fixation
      system initially. We also provide several improvements that helped us developing
      the procedure: Placement of the jejunostomy through a gastrostomy; use of water
      column to avoid penetration in hollow viscus; use of a guide wire, and a
      triangulation pexy system. 

PMID- 25824928
TI  - [pH-metry/impedance-24 hours pH-metry].

PMID- 25824929
TI  - Herpes zoster following percutaneous liver biopsy.

PMID- 25824930
TI  - Septic shock secondary to colonic fistula as clinical debut of liver hydatid
      cyst.

PMID- 25824931
TI  - Portal vein thrombosis following endoscopic treatment for gastric varices with N
      butyl-2-cyanoacrylate: Management with TIPS.

PMID- 25824932
TI  - Acute liver failure in a patient consuming Herbalife products and Noni juice.

PMID- 25824933
TI  - Hypersensitivity perimyocarditis after the first dose of infliximab.

PMID- 25824934
TI  - Intrahepatic pancreatic pseudocyst: a case report.

PMID- 25824935
TI  - Hepatitis C genotype 1b and 4 cured after telaprevir-based therapy.

PMID- 25824936
TI  - Mesenteric vein thrombosis associated with a cytomegalovirus infection.

PMID- 25824937
TI  - A single inlet two-stage acoustophoresis chip enabling tumor cell enrichment from
      white blood cells.
AB  - Metastatic disease is responsible for most cancer deaths, and hematogenous spread
      through circulating tumor cells (CTC) is a prerequisite for tumor dissemination.
      CTCs may undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition where many epithelial cell
      characteristics are lost. Therefore, CTC isolation systems relying on epithelial
      cell markers are at risk of losing important subpopulations of cells. Here, a
      simple acoustophoresis-based cell separation instrument is presented. Cells are
      uniquely separated while maintained in their initial suspending medium, thus
      eliminating the need for a secondary cell-free medium to hydrodynamically pre
      position them before the separation. When characterizing the system using
      polystyrene particles, 99.6 +/- 0.2% of 7 MUm diameter particles were collected
      through one outlet while 98.8 +/- 0.5% of 5 MUm particles were recovered through
      a second outlet. Prostate cancer cells (DU145) spiked into blood were enriched
      from white blood cells at a sample flow rate of 100 MUL min(-1) providing 86.5 +/
      6.7% recovery of the cancer cells with 1.1 +/- 0.2% contamination of white blood
      cells. By increasing the acoustic intensity a recovery of 94.8 +/- 2.8% of cancer
      cells was achieved with 2.2 +/- 0.6% contamination of white blood cells. The
      single inlet approach makes this instrument insensitive to acoustic impedance
      mismatch; a phenomenon reported to importantly affect accuracy in multi-laminar
      flow stream acoustophoresis. It also offers a possibility of concentrating the
      recovered cells in the chip, as opposed to systems relying on hydrodynamic pre
      positioning which commonly dilute the target cells. 

PMID- 25824938
TI  - T-lymphocyte phenotype and function triggered by Aggregatibacter
      actinomycetemcomitans is serotype-dependent.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Based on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigenicity,
      different Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans serotypes have been described.
      Serotype b strains have demonstrated a stronger capacity to trigger cytokine
      production on dendritic cells (DCs). As DCs regulate the development of T
      lymphocyte lineages, the objective of this investigation was to study the
      response of T lymphocytes after being stimulated with autologous DCs primed with
      different bacterial strains belonging to the most prevalent serotypes of A.
      actinomycetemcomitans in humans: a-c. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Human DCs were primed
      with increasing multiplicity of infection (10(-1) -10(2) ) or the purified LPS
      (10-50 ng/mL) of A. actinomycetemcomitans serotypes a-c and then used to
      stimulate autologous naive CD4(+) T lymphocytes. The T-helper (Th) type 1, Th2,
      Th17 and T-regulatory transcription factors T-bet, GATA-3, RORC2 and Foxp3, which
      are the master-switch genes implied in their specific differentiation, as well as
      T-cell phenotype-specific cytokine patterns were quantified by real-time reverse
      transcription-polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In
      addition, the intracellular expression of T-bet/interferon-gamma, GATA
      3/interleukin-4, RORC2/interleukin-17A and Foxp3/transforming growth factor-beta1
      was analysed by double staining and flow cytometry. RESULTS: All the A.
      actinomycetemcomitans serotypes led to T-lymphocyte activation; however, when T
      lymphocytes were stimulated with DCs primed with the A. actinomycetemcomitans
      serotype b strain or their purified LPS, higher levels of Th1- and Th17
      associated transcription factors and cytokines were detected compared with
      similar experiments with the other serotypes. CONCLUSION: These results
      demonstrate that serotype b of A. actinomycetemcomitans has a higher capacity of
      trigger Th1 and Th17 phenotype and function and it was demonstrated that their
      LPS is a more potent immunogen compared with the other serotypes.

PMID- 25824939
TI  - A hyper-stretchable elastic-composite energy harvester.

PMID- 25824940
TI  - Response to ruxolitinib in patients with intermediate-1-, intermediate-2-, and
      high-risk myelofibrosis: results of the UK ROBUST Trial.
AB  - Myelofibrosis is characterized by splenomegaly and debilitating constitutional
      symptoms that negatively impact patients' quality of life. ROBUST, a UK, open
      label, phase II study, evaluated the safety and efficacy of ruxolitinib in
      patients with myelofibrosis (N = 48), including intermediate-1 risk patients. The
      primary composite endpoint was the proportion of patients achieving treatment
      success [>= 50% reduction in palpable spleen length and/or a >= 50% decrease in
      Myelofibrosis Symptom Assessment Form Total Symptom Score (MF-SAF TSS)] at 48
      weeks. This was the first time that efficacy of ruxolitinib in myelofibrosis has
      been evaluated based on these criteria and the first time the MF-SAF was used in
      a population of patients solely from the United Kingdom. Overall, 50% of patients
      and 57% of intermediate-1 risk patients, achieved treatment success; reductions
      in spleen length and symptoms were observed in all risk groups. The majority of
      patients (66.7%) experienced >= 50% reductions from baseline in spleen length at
      any time. Improvements in MF-SAF TSS were seen in 80.0%, 72.7%, and 72.2% of
      intermediate-1, intermediate-2, and high-risk patients, respectively. Consistent
      with other studies of ruxolitinib, the most common haematological adverse events
      were anaemia and thrombocytopenia. Results indicate that most patients with
      myelofibrosis, including intermediate-1 risk patients, may benefit from
      ruxolitinib treatment.

PMID- 25824941
TI  - The Effect of Controlled Reperfusion in the Prevention of Infertility Caused by
      Ischemia Induced in the Contralateral Ovary in Rats with Unilateral Ovariectomy.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: To investigate the effectiveness of controlled reperfusion (CR)
      on ovarian tissue malondialdehyde, total glutathione and 8-hydroxyguanine levels
      and infertility rates in a rat model of induced ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury
      with unilateral oophorectomy. METHODS: A total of 135 adult female albino Wistar
      rats were divided into 9 groups (n = 15 for each group): unilateral ovariectomy +
      ovarian I/R (OIR), unilateral ovariectomy alone (OEG), a sham operation group
      (SG), and unilateral ovariectomy + CR performed at different intervals (the clips
      were released 10 times for 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 or 1 s and closed again 10 times for
      10, 8, 6, 4, 2 or 1 s; OCR-1-6, respectively). Five rats from each group were
      sacrificed, and their ovaries were removed. RESULTS: Higher ovarian tissue
      malondialdehyde and 8-hydroxyguanine levels and lower ovarian tissue total
      glutathione levels were found in the OIR group compared with the SG, OEG and OCR
      4-6 groups. The number of rats giving birth during the study period was found to
      be similar among the SG (n = 8), OEG (n = 8) and OCR-6 (n = 7) groups.
      CONCLUSION: These results suggest that sterility and ovarian oxidative stress
      caused by I/R injury decreases in parallel to the shortening of CR duration.

PMID- 25824943
TI  - RefSeq microbial genomes database: new representation and annotation strategy.

PMID- 25824942
TI  - RNA editing by T7 RNA polymerase bypasses InDel mutations causing unexpected
      phenotypic changes.
AB  - DNA-dependent T7 RNA polymerase (T7 RNAP) is the most powerful tool for both gene
      expression and in vitro transcription. By using a Next Generation Sequencing
      (NGS) approach we have analyzed the polymorphism of a T7 RNAP-generated mRNA pool
      of the mboIIM2 gene. We find that the enzyme displays a relatively high level of
      template-dependent transcriptional infidelity. The nucleotide misincorporations
      and multiple insertions in A/T-rich tracts of homopolymers in mRNA (0.20 and
      0.089%, respectively) cause epigenetic effects with significant impact on gene
      expression that is disproportionally high to their frequency of appearance. The
      sequence-dependent rescue of single and even double InDel frameshifting mutants
      and wild-type phenotype recovery is observed as a result. As a consequence, a
      heterogeneous pool of functional and non-functional proteins of almost the same
      molecular mass is produced where the proteins are indistinguishable from each
      other upon ordinary analysis. We suggest that transcriptional infidelity as a
      general feature of the most effective RNAPs may serve to repair and/or modify a
      protein function, thus increasing the repertoire of phenotypic variants, which in
      turn has a high evolutionary potential. 

PMID- 25824944
TI  - Heme activation by DNA: isoguanine pentaplexes, but not quadruplexes, bind heme
      and enhance its oxidative activity.
AB  - Guanine-rich, single-stranded, DNAs and RNAs are able to fold to form G
      quadruplexes that are held together by guanine base quartets. G-quadruplexes are
      known to bind ferric heme [Fe(III)-protoporphyrin IX] and to strongly activate
      such bound hemes toward peroxidase (1-electron oxidation) as well as
      oxygenase/peroxygenase (2-electron oxidation) activities. However, much remains
      unknown about how such activation is effected. Herein, we investigated whether G
      quadruplexes were strictly required for heme activation or whether related multi
      stranded DNA/RNA structures such as isoguanine (iG) quadruplexes and pentaplexes
      could also bind and activate heme. We found that iG-pentaplexes did indeed bind
      and activate heme comparably to G-quadruplexes; however, iG-quadruplexes did
      neither. Earlier structural and computational studies had suggested that while
      the geometry of backbone-unconstrained iG-quintets templated by cations such as
      Na(+) or NH4 (+) was planar, that of iG-quartets deviated from planarity. We
      hypothesize that the binding as well as activation of heme by DNA or RNA is
      strongly supported by the planarity of the nucleobase quartet or quintet that
      interacts directly with the heme. 

PMID- 25824945
TI  - Differences in genome-wide repeat sequence instability conferred by proofreading
      and mismatch repair defects.
AB  - Mutation rates are used to calibrate molecular clocks and to link genetic
      variants with human disease. However, mutation rates are not uniform across each
      eukaryotic genome. Rates for insertion/deletion (indel) mutations have been found
      to vary widely when examined in vitro and at specific loci in vivo. Here, we
      report the genome-wide rates of formation and repair of indels made during
      replication of yeast nuclear DNA. Using over 6000 indels accumulated in four
      mismatch repair (MMR) defective strains, and statistical corrections for false
      negatives, we find that indel rates increase by 100 000-fold with increasing
      homonucleotide run length, representing the greatest effect on replication
      fidelity of any known genomic parameter. Nonetheless, long genomic homopolymer
      runs are overrepresented relative to random chance, implying positive selection.
      Proofreading defects in the replicative polymerases selectively increase indel
      rates in short repetitive tracts, likely reflecting the distance over which Pols
      delta and epsilon interact with duplex DNA upstream of the polymerase active
      site. In contrast, MMR defects hugely increase indel mutagenesis in long
      repetitive sequences. Because repetitive sequences are not uniformly distributed
      among genomic functional elements, the quantitatively different consequences on
      genome-wide repeat sequence instability conferred by defects in proofreading and
      MMR have important biological implications. 

PMID- 25824946
TI  - The interaction of mycobacterial protein Rv2966c with host chromatin is mediated
      through non-CpG methylation and histone H3/H4 binding.
AB  - To effectively modulate the gene expression within an infected mammalian cell,
      the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis would need to bring about epigenetic
      modifications at appropriate genomic loci. Working on this hypothesis, we show in
      this study that the mycobacterial protein Rv2966c is a 5-methylcytosine-specific
      DNA methyltransferase that is secreted out from the mycobacterium and gets
      localized to the nucleus in addition to the cytoplasm inside the host cell.
      Importantly, Rv2966c binds to specific DNA sequences, methylates cytosines
      predominantly in a non-CpG context and its methylation activity is positively
      influenced by phosphorylation. Interestingly, like the mammalian DNA
      methyltransferase, DNMT3L, Rv2966c can also interact with histone proteins. Ours
      is the first study that identifies a protein from a pathogenic bacteria with
      potential to influence host DNA methylation in a non-canonical manner providing
      the pathogen with a novel mechanism to alter the host epigenetic machinery. This
      contention is supported by repression of host genes upon M. tuberculosis
      infection correlated with Rv2966c binding and non-CpG methylation. 

PMID- 25824948
TI  - Effects of Hfq on the conformation and compaction of DNA.
AB  - Hfq is a bacterial pleiotropic regulator that mediates several aspects of nucleic
      acids metabolism. The protein notably influences translation and turnover of
      cellular RNAs. Although most previous contributions concentrated on Hfq's
      interaction with RNA, its association to DNA has also been observed in vitro and
      in vivo. Here, we focus on DNA-compacting properties of Hfq. Various experimental
      technologies, including fluorescence microscopy imaging of single DNA molecules
      confined inside nanofluidic channels, atomic force microscopy and small angle
      neutron scattering have been used to follow the assembly of Hfq on DNA. Our
      results show that Hfq forms a nucleoprotein complex, changes the mechanical
      properties of the double helix and compacts DNA into a condensed form. We propose
      a compaction mechanism based on protein-mediated bridging of DNA segments. The
      propensity for bridging is presumably related to multi-arm functionality of the
      Hfq hexamer, resulting from binding of the C-terminal domains to the duplex.
      Results are discussed in regard to previous results obtained for H-NS, with
      important implications for protein binding related gene regulation. 

PMID- 25824947
TI  - Suppression of the E. coli SOS response by dNTP pool changes.
AB  - The Escherichia coli SOS system is a well-established model for the cellular
      response to DNA damage. Control of SOS depends largely on the RecA protein. When
      RecA is activated by single-stranded DNA in the presence of a nucleotide
      triphosphate cofactor, it mediates cleavage of the LexA repressor, leading to
      expression of the 30(+)-member SOS regulon. RecA activation generally requires
      the introduction of DNA damage. However, certain recA mutants, like recA730,
      bypass this requirement and display constitutive SOS expression as well as a
      spontaneous (SOS) mutator effect. Presently, we investigated the possible
      interaction between SOS and the cellular deoxynucleoside triphosphate (dNTP)
      pools. We found that dNTP pool changes caused by deficiencies in the ndk or dcd
      genes, encoding nucleoside diphosphate kinase and dCTP deaminase, respectively,
      had a strongly suppressive effect on constitutive SOS expression in recA730
      strains. The suppression of the recA730 mutator effect was alleviated in a lexA
      deficient background. Overall, the findings suggest a model in which the dNTP
      alterations in the ndk and dcd strains interfere with the activation of RecA,
      thereby preventing LexA cleavage and SOS induction. 

PMID- 25824949
TI  - The hexameric structure of the human mitochondrial replicative helicase Twinkle.
AB  - The mitochondrial replicative helicase Twinkle is involved in strand separation
      at the replication fork of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Twinkle malfunction is
      associated with rare diseases that include late onset mitochondrial myopathies,
      neuromuscular disorders and fatal infantile mtDNA depletion syndrome. We examined
      its 3D structure by electron microscopy (EM) and small angle X-ray scattering
      (SAXS) and built the corresponding atomic models, which gave insight into the
      first molecular architecture of a full-length SF4 helicase that includes an N
      terminal zinc-binding domain (ZBD), an intermediate RNA polymerase domain (RPD)
      and a RecA-like hexamerization C-terminal domain (CTD). The EM model of Twinkle
      reveals a hexameric two-layered ring comprising the ZBDs and RPDs in one layer
      and the CTDs in another. In the hexamer, contacts in trans with adjacent subunits
      occur between ZBDs and RPDs, and between RPDs and CTDs. The ZBDs show important
      structural heterogeneity. In solution, the scattering data are compatible with a
      mixture of extended hexa- and heptameric models in variable conformations.
      Overall, our structural data show a complex network of dynamic interactions that
      reconciles with the structural flexibility required for helicase activity. 

PMID- 25824950
TI  - Nucleosomes undergo slow spontaneous gaping.
AB  - In eukaryotes, DNA is packaged into a basic unit, the nucleosome which consists
      of 147 bp of DNA wrapped around a histone octamer composed of two copies each of
      the histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. Nucleosome structures are diverse not only by
      histone variants, histone modifications, histone composition but also through
      accommodating different conformational states such as DNA breathing and dimer
      splitting. Variation in nucleosome structures allows it to perform a variety of
      cellular functions. Here, we identified a novel spontaneous conformational
      switching of nucleosomes under physiological conditions using single-molecule
      FRET. Using FRET probes placed at various positions on the nucleosomal DNA to
      monitor conformation of the nucleosome over a long period of time (30-60 min) at
      various ionic conditions, we identified conformational changes we refer to as
      nucleosome gaping. Gaping transitions are distinct from nucleosome breathing,
      sliding or tightening. Gaping modes switch along the direction normal to the DNA
      plane through about 5-10 angstroms and at minutes (1-10 min) time scale. This
      conformational transition, which has not been observed previously, may be
      potentially important for enzymatic reactions/transactions on nucleosomal
      substrate and the formation of multiple compression forms of chromatin fibers. 

PMID- 25824951
TI  - Heterogeneous dynamics in DNA site discrimination by the structurally homologous
      DNA-binding domains of ETS-family transcription factors.
AB  - The ETS family of transcription factors exemplifies current uncertainty in how
      eukaryotic genetic regulators with overlapping DNA sequence preferences achieve
      target site specificity. PU.1 and Ets-1 represent archetypes for studying site
      discrimination by ETS proteins because their DNA-binding domains are the most
      divergent in sequence, yet they share remarkably superimposable DNA-bound
      structures. To gain insight into the contrasting thermodynamics and kinetics of
      DNA recognition by these two proteins, we investigated the structure and dynamics
      of site discrimination by their DNA-binding domains. Electrophoretic mobilities
      of complexes formed by the two homologs with circularly permuted binding sites
      showed significant dynamic differences only for DNA complexes of PU.1. Free
      solution measurements by dynamic light scattering showed PU.1 to be more dynamic
      than Ets-1; moreover, dynamic changes are strongly coupled to site discrimination
      by PU.1, but not Ets-1. Interrogation of the protein/DNA interface by DNA
      footprinting showed similar accessibility to dimethyl sulfate for PU.1/DNA and
      Ets-1/DNA complexes, indicating that the dynamics of PU.1/DNA complexes reside
      primarily outside that interface. An information-based analysis of the two
      homologs' binding motifs suggests a role for dynamic coupling in PU.1's ability
      to enforce a more stringent sequence preference than Ets-1 and its proximal
      sequence homologs. 

PMID- 25824952
TI  - Selective inhibition of miR-21 by phage display screened peptide.
AB  - miRNAs are nodal regulators of gene expression and deregulation of miRNAs is
      causally associated with different diseases, including cancer. Modulation of
      miRNA expression is thus of therapeutic importance. Small molecules are currently
      being explored for their potential to downregulate miRNAs. Peptides have shown to
      have better potency and selectivity toward their targets but their potential in
      targeting and modulating miRNAs remain unexplored. Herein, using phage display we
      found a very selective peptide against pre-miR-21. Interestingly, the peptide has
      the potential to downregulate miR-21, by binding to pre-miR-21 and hindering
      Dicer processing. It is selective towards miR-21 inside the cell. By antagonising
      miR-21 function, the peptide is able to increase the expression of its target
      proteins and thereby increase apoptosis and suppress cell proliferation, invasion
      and migration. This peptide can further be explored for its anti-cancer activity
      in vivo and may be even extended to clinical studies. 

PMID- 25824954
TI  - Boosting riboswitch efficiency by RNA amplification.
AB  - Riboswitches are RNA sensors that regulate gene expression in response to binding
      of small molecules. Although they conceptually represent simple on/off switches
      and, therefore, hold great promise for biotechnology and future synthetic biology
      applications, the induction of gene expression by natural riboswitches after
      ligand addition or removal is often only moderate and, consequently, the
      achievable expression levels are not very high. Here, we have designed an RNA
      amplification-based system that strongly improves the efficiency of riboswitches.
      We have successfully implemented the method in a biological system for which
      currently no efficient endogenous tools for inducible (trans)gene expression are
      available: the chloroplasts of higher plants. We further show that an HIV antigen
      whose constitutive expression from the chloroplast genome is deleterious to the
      plant can be inducibly expressed under the control of the RNA amplification
      enhanced riboswitch (RAmpER) without causing a mutant phenotype, demonstrating
      the potential of the method for the production of proteins and metabolites that
      are toxic to the host cell. 

PMID- 25824955
TI  - The most fulminant course of the Marburg variant of multiple sclerosis-autopsy
      findings.
AB  - Multiple sclerosis (MS) is usually a chronic and disabling inflammatory disease.
      Marburg's type of MS is characterized by rapid progression and severe disease
      course that leads to death within one year after the onset of clinical signs. We
      describe a fulminant clinical presentation of this malignant subtype of MS and
      discuss the neuropathological hallmarks as well as differential diagnoses of
      other fulminant demyelinating diseases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the
      most fulminant course of this MS variant reported in the literature. 

PMID- 25824953
TI  - Active displacement of RecA filaments by UvrD translocase activity.
AB  - The UvrD helicase has been implicated in the disassembly of RecA nucleoprotein
      filaments in vivo and in vitro. We demonstrate that UvrD utilizes an active
      mechanism to remove RecA from the DNA. Efficient RecA removal depends on the
      availability of DNA binding sites for UvrD and/or the accessibility of the RecA
      filament ends. The removal of RecA from DNA also requires ATP hydrolysis by the
      UvrD helicase but not by RecA protein. The RecA-removal activity of UvrD is
      slowed by RecA variants with enhanced DNA-binding properties. The ATPase rate of
      UvrD during RecA removal is much slower than the ATPase activity of UvrD when it
      is functioning either as a translocase or a helicase on DNA in the absence of
      RecA. Thus, in this context UvrD may operate in a specialized disassembly mode. 

PMID- 25824957
TI  - Implementation of intersectoral community approaches targeting childhood obesity:
      a systematic review.
AB  - The implementation of intersectoral community approaches targeting childhood
      obesity (IACO) is considered challenging. To help overcome these challenges, an
      overview of the evidence to date is needed. We searched four databases to
      identify papers that reported on the determinants of successful implementation of
      IACOs, resulting in the inclusion of 25 studies. We appraised study quality with
      the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool and the Quality Framework; reported
      implementation outcome indicators were reviewed via narrative synthesis. Quality
      of included studies varied. The most frequently reported indicators of
      implementation success were fidelity and coverage. Determinants related to the
      social-political context and the organization were most often cited as
      influencing implementation, in particular, 'collaboration between community
      partners', 'the availability of (human) resources' and 'time available for
      implementation'. The association between determinants and implementation
      variability was never explicated. We conclude that although some insights into
      the effective implementation of IACOs are present, more research is needed.
      Emphasis should be placed on elucidating the relationship between determinants
      and implementation success. Research should further focus on developing a 'golden
      standard' for evaluating and reporting on implementation research. These actions
      will improve the comparison of study outcomes and may constitute the cumulative
      development of knowledge about the conditions for designing evidence-based
      implementation strategies. 

PMID- 25824958
TI  - Comparison of accelerated 3-D spiral chemical shift imaging and single-voxel
      spectroscopy at 3T in the pediatric age group.
AB  - Single-voxel spectroscopy (SVS) is usually used in the pediatric population when
      a short acquisition time is crucial. To overcome the long acquisition time of 3-D
      phase-encoded chemical shift imaging (CSI) and lack of spatial coverage of single
      voxel spectroscopy, efficient encoding schemes using spiral k-space trajectories
      have been successfully deployed, enabling acquisition of volumetric CSI in <5
      min. We assessed feasibility of using 3-D spiral CSI sequence routinely in
      pediatric clinical settings by comparing its reconstructed spectra against SVS
      spectra. Volumetric spiral CSI obtained spectra from 2-cc isotropic voxels over a
      16*16*10-cm region. SVS acquisition encoded a 3.4-cc (1.5-mm) isotropic voxel.
      Acquisition time was 3 min for every technique. Data were gathered prospectively
      from 11 random pediatric patients. Spectra from left basal ganglia were obtained
      using both techniques and were processed with post-processing software. The
      following metabolite ratios were calculated: N-acetylaspartate/creatine (NAA/Cr),
      choline/creatine (Cho/Cr), lactate/creatine (Lac/Cr) and N-acetylapartate/choline
      (NAA/Cho). We collected data on 11 children ages 4 days to 10 years. In 10/11
      cases, spectral quality of both methods was acceptable. Considering 10/11 cases,
      we found a statistically significant difference between SVS and 3-D spiral CSI
      for all three ratios. However, this difference was fixed and was probably caused
      by a fixed bias. This means that 3-D spiral CSI can be used instead of SVS by
      removing the mean difference between the methods for each ratio. Accelerated 3-D
      CSI is feasible in pediatric patients and can potentially substitute for SVS.

PMID- 25824959
TI  - Smartphone applications in paediatric radiology: availability and authority.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With the widespread ownership of smartphones, many health care
      professionals question the degree to which medically related smartphone
      applications are reliable. OBJECTIVES: To assess the variety of smartphone
      applications relating to paediatric radiology and the presence of health care
      professional involvement in their development. As a secondary objective, we
      explore whether there are gaps within the paediatric radiology app market.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: The most popular smartphone marketplaces (Apple iTunes App
      Store, Blackberry Mobile Market, Google Play Android Market, Nokia Ovi, Samsung
      and Microsoft Windows Marketplace) were searched for terms relating to paediatric
      radiology. Cost, review ratings, number of downloads, health care involvement and
      target audience were recorded. RESULTS: Nine paediatric radiology applications
      were found in the Apple iTunes App Store and nine in the Google Play Android
      Market. The target audiences for all applications were health care professionals.
      None were available for patients or their caregivers. All applications were
      reported to have medical expertise in their development. CONCLUSION: All
      paediatric radiology applications were developed with the aid of a health care
      professional. Due to the small number available online, there is a potential gap
      in the marketplace for further applications in this field, possibly aimed at
      patients and their families.

PMID- 25824960
TI  - Ecological constraint and the evolution of sexual dichromatism in darters.
AB  - It is not known how environmental pressures and sexual selection interact to
      influence the evolution of extravagant male traits. Sexual and natural selection
      are often viewed as antagonistic forces shaping the evolution of visual signals,
      where conspicuousness is favored by sexual selection and crypsis is favored by
      natural selection. Although typically investigated independently, the interaction
      between natural and sexual selection remains poorly understood. Here, we
      investigate whether sexual dichromatism evolves stochastically, independent from,
      or in concert with habitat use in darters, a species-rich lineage of North
      American freshwater fish. We find the evolution of sexual dichromatism is coupled
      to habitat use in darter species. Comparative analyses reveal that mid-water
      darter lineages exhibit a narrow distribution of dichromatism trait space
      surrounding a low optimum, suggesting a constraint imposed on the evolution of
      dichromatism, potentially through predator-mediated selection. Alternatively, the
      transition to benthic habitats coincides with greater variability in the levels
      of dichromatism that surround a higher optimum, likely due to relaxation of the
      predator-mediated selection and heterogeneous microhabitat dependent selection
      regimes. These results suggest a complex interaction of sexual selection with
      potentially two mechanisms of natural selection, predation and sensory drive,
      that influence the evolution of diverse male nuptial coloration in darters. 

PMID- 25824961
TI  - Neuronal activity-dependent regulation of retinal blood flow.
AB  - Blood flow in the retina is intrinsically regulated to meet the metabolic demands
      of its constituent cells. Flickering light or stationary contrast reversals
      induce an increase in blood flow within seconds of the stimulus onset. This
      phenomenon is thought to compensate for an increase in ganglion cell activity and
      energy consumption. Ganglion cell activity is in turn dependent on signals from
      photoreceptors, bipolar cells, horizontal cells and amacrine cells. The
      physiological properties of these neurons determine how each type is affected by
      a particular light characteristic. Neuronal activity then triggers the release of
      signalling molecules that dilate local blood vessels and increase blood flow.
      Nitric oxide has been implicated as an important mediator, but metabolites of
      arachidonic acid may also be involved. Detailed elucidation of these mechanisms,
      together with advances in imaging technology, may facilitate the use of
      neurovascular tests to improve the detection of retinal damage in pathological
      conditions. 

PMID- 25824962
TI  - Unusual near-white electroluminescence of light emitting diodes based on saddle
      shaped porphyrins.
AB  - In contrast to the red electroluminescence emission frequently observed in
      porphyrins based OLED devices, the present devices exhibit a nearly white
      emission with greenish yellow, yellowish green and blue green hues in the case of
      Fe(II)(TCPPBr6) (TCPPBr6 = beta-hexabromo-meso-tetrakis-(4-phenyl carboxyl)
      porphyrinato), Zn(II)(TPPBr6) and Co(II)(TPPBr6), respectively. 

PMID- 25824963
TI  - The rs6060566 of the reactive oxygen species modulator 1 (Romo-1) gene affects
      Romo-1 expression and the development of diabetic retinopathy in Caucasians with
      type 2 diabetes.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine the role of the rs6060566
      polymorphism of the reactive oxygen species modulator 1 (Romo-1) gene in the
      development of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in Caucasians with type 2 diabetes
      (T2DM). Moreover, another aim was to investigate the effect of Romo-1 genotypes
      on Romo-1 expression in fibrovascular membranes from patients with proliferative
      DR. METHODS: A total of 806 subjects with T2DM were enrolled in cross-sectional
      case-control study: 278 patients with DR and 528 subjects without clinical signs
      of DR. Genetical analysis was performed in 806 subjects with T2DM. Moreover,
      immunohistochemical analysis of 40 fibrovascular membranes of patients with
      proliferative DR was performed. The number of positive (labelled) cells per area 
      numerical areal density of the Romo-1-positive cells (the number of positive
      cells/mm(2) ) - was calculated. RESULTS: A significantly higher frequency of the
      CC genotype of the rs6060566 polymorphism of the Romo-1 gene was found in
      subjects with T2DM with DR compared to those without DR (odds ratio=3.3, 95%
      confidence interval=1.1-8.8; p = 0.024). Moreover, the Romo-1 C allele was found
      to effect Romo-1 expression in fibrovascular membranes of patients with
      proliferative DR. CONCLUSIONS: The rs6060566 polymorphism of the Romo-1 gene was
      found to be an independent risk factor for DR in Caucasians with T2DM. Moreover,
      the rs6060566 is most probably functional and its effect might be mediated
      through the increased expression of Romo-1 in the retina.

PMID- 25824964
TI  - Aspirin-induced histone acetylation in endothelial cells enhances synthesis of
      the secreted isoform of netrin-1 thus inhibiting monocyte vascular infiltration.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There are conflicting data regarding whether netrin-1
      retards or accelerates atherosclerosis progression, as it can lead either to
      monocyte repulsion from or retention within plaques depending on its cellular
      source. We investigated the effect of aspirin, which is widely used in
      cardiovascular prophylaxis, on the synthesis of different isoforms of netrin-1 by
      endothelial cells under pro-inflammatory conditions, and defined the net effect
      of aspirin-dependent systemic modulation of netrin-1 on atherosclerosis
      progression. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Netrin-1 synthesis was studied in vitro using
      human endothelial cells stimulated with TNF-alpha, with or without aspirin
      treatment. In vivo experiments were conducted in ApoE(-/-) mice fed with a high
      fat diet (HFD), receiving either aspirin or clopidogrel. KEY RESULTS: TNF-alpha
      induced NF-kappaB activation up-regulated the nuclear isoform of netrin-1, while
      simultaneously reducing secreted netrin-1. Down-regulation of the secreted
      isoform compromised the chemorepellent action of the endothelium against monocyte
      chemotaxis. Aspirin counteracted TNF-alpha-mediated effects on netrin-1 synthesis
      by endothelial cells through COX-dependent inhibition of NF-kappaB and
      concomitant histone hyperacetylation. Administration of aspirin to ApoE(-/-) mice
      on HFD increased blood and arterial wall levels of netrin-1 independently of its
      effects on platelets, accompanied by reduced plaque size and content of
      monocytes/macrophages, compared with untreated or clopidogrel-treated mice. In
      vivo blockade of netrin-1 enhanced monocyte plaque infiltration in aspirin
      treated ApoE(-/-) mice. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Aspirin counteracts down
      regulation of secreted netrin-1 induced by pro-inflammatory stimuli in
      endothelial cells. The aspirin-dependent increase of netrin-1 in ApoE(-/-) mice
      exerts anti-atherogenic effects by preventing arterial accumulation of monocytes.

PMID- 25824965
TI  - [Characteristics of the population hospitalized for advanced and terminal heart
      failure and experiences in palliative caring in the Intensive Care Unit of
      cardiology].
AB  - PURPOSE: Advanced heart failure incidence is in progression. Palliative care
      access remains difficult due to its unpredictable course. The aim of this study
      was to describe the characteristics of patients admitted in Cardiology Intensive
      Care Unit for advanced heart failure who received palliative care and compare
      them to the whole population of acute heart failure hospitalized in the same
      period. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The patients hospitalized for acute heart failure
      were retrospectively included from 2009 to 2013. We identified among them those
      who received palliative care. Specific caring was decided in pluridisciplinary
      meeting. RESULTS: On 940 patients included, 42 patients (4.5%) receive palliative
      care. Ischemic heart disease was the main etiology (n=19; 45.2%). Right
      ventricular dysfunction (n=34; 80.9%) was associated with supra-ventricular
      arrhythmia (n=28; 66.7%). Twenty-eight patients (57.1%) have died in hospital, 9
      (21.4%) were referred to a palliative care unit and 8 (19.1%) was discharged or
      referred to a rehabilitation center. Time between inclusion and death was 6 days
      on average. Intra-hospital mortality in control group was 6.8%. CONCLUSION:
      Palliative care in cardiology is uncommon and has often been too late because of
      its poor adaptability to advanced heart failure. It is, as consequence, necessary
      to identify the prognostic factors of these patients in order to propose a
      personalized care and to adjust the intensity of care ahead of the terminal
      evolution of heart failure.

PMID- 25824966
TI  - Canadian Emergency Medicine Residents' Perspectives on Pediatric Pain Management.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Under-treatment of children's pain in the emergency department (ED)
      can have many detrimental effects. Emergency medicine (EM) residents often manage
      pediatric pain, but their educational needs and perspectives have not been
      studied. METHODS: A novel online survey was administered from May to June 2013 to
      122 EM residents at three Canadian universities using a modified Dillman
      methodology. The survey instrument captured information on training received in
      pediatric acute pain management, approach to common painful presentations, level
      of comfort, perceived facilitators, and barriers and attitudes towards pediatric
      pain. RESULTS: 56 residents participated (46%), 25 of whom (45%) indicated they
      had not received any training in pediatric pain assessment. All levels of
      residents reported they were uncomfortable with pain assessment in 0-2 year olds
      (p=0.07); level of comfort with assessment increased with years of training for
      patients aged 2-12 years (p=0.02). When assessing children with disabilities, 83%
      of respondents (45/54) indicated they were 'extremely' or 'somewhat'
      uncomfortable. Sixty-nine percent (38/55) had received training on how to treat
      pediatric pain. All residents reported they were more comfortable using pain
      medication for a 9 year old, as compared to a 1 year old (oral oxycodone p<0.001,
      oral morphine p<0.001, IV morphine p=0.004). The preferred methods to learn about
      children's pain management were role-modeling (61%) and lectures (57%). The top
      challenges in pain management were with non-verbal, younger, or developmentally
      delayed patients. CONCLUSION: Canadian EM residents report receiving inadequate
      training in pediatric pain management, and are particularly uneasy with younger
      or developmentally disabled children. Post-graduate curricula should be adjusted
      to correct these self-identified weaknesses in children's pain management.

PMID- 25824967
TI  - Analytical approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of aging and aging-related
      disease: redox status and proteomics.
AB  - Basal levels of oxidants are indispensible for redox signaling to produce
      adaptive cellular responses such as vitagenes linked to cell survival; however,
      at higher levels, they are detrimental to cells, contributing to aging and to the
      pathogenesis of numerous age-related diseases. Aging is a complex systemic
      process and the major gap in aging research reminds the insufficient knowledge
      about pathways shifting from normal "healthy" aging to disease-associated
      pathological aging. The major complication of normal "healthy" aging is in fact
      the increasing risk of age-related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases,
      diabetes mellitus, and neurodegenerative pathologies that can adversely affect
      the quality of life in general, with enhanced incidences of comorbidities and
      mortality. In this context, global "omics" approaches may help to dissect and
      fully study the cellular and molecular mechanisms of aging and age-associated
      processes. The proteome, being more close to the phenotype than the transcriptome
      and more stable than the metabolome, represents the most promising "omics" field
      in aging research. In the present study, we exploit recent advances in the redox
      biology of aging and discuss the potential of proteomics approaches as innovative
      tools for monitoring at the proteome level the extent of protein oxidative insult
      and related modifications with the identification of targeted proteins. 

PMID- 25824968
TI  - Chemistry and liquid chromatography methods for the analyses of primary oxidation
      products of triacylglycerols.
AB  - Triacylglycerols (TAGs) are one of the major components of the cells in higher
      biological systems, which can act as an energy reservoir in the living cells. The
      unsaturated fatty acid moiety is the key site of oxidation and formation of
      oxidation compounds. The TAG free radical generates several primary oxidation
      compounds. These include hydroperoxides, hydroxides, epidioxides, hydroperoxy
      epidioxides, hydroxyl epidioxides, and epoxides. The presence of these oxidized
      TAGs in the cell increases the chances of several detrimental processes. For this
      purpose, several liquid chromatography (LC) methods were reported in their
      analyses. This review is therefore focused on the chemistry, oxidation,
      extraction, and the LC methods reported in the analyses of oxidized TAGs. The
      studies on thin-layer chromatography were mostly focused on the total oxidized
      TAGs separation and employ hexane as major solvent. High-performance LC (HPLC)
      methods were discussed in details along with their merits and demerits. It was
      found that most of the HPLC methods employed isocratic elution with methanol and
      acetonitrile as major solvents with an ultraviolet detector. The coupling of HPLC
      with mass spectrometry (MS) highly increases the efficiency of analysis as well
      as enables reliable structural elucidation. The use of MS was found to be helpful
      in studying the oxidation chemistry of TAGs and needs to be extended to the
      complex biological systems. 

PMID- 25824969
TI  - Investigating the widely held belief that men and women with learning
      disabilities receive poor quality healthcare when admitted to hospital: a single
      site study of 30-day readmission rates.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aims to use 30-day readmission rates to investigate the
      presumption that men and women with learning disabilities (LDs, known
      internationally as intellectual disabilities) receive poorer quality hospital
      care than their non-disabled peers. METHOD: A 12-month retrospective audit was
      conducted using Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) at a single acute hospital in
      the East of England. This identified all in-patient admissions; admissions where
      the person concerned was recognised as having a LD; and all emergency
      readmissions within 30 days of discharge. Additionally, the healthcare records of
      all patients identified as having a LD and readmitted within 30 days as a medical
      emergency were examined in order to determine whether or not these readmissions
      were potentially preventable. RESULTS: Over the study period, a total of 66 870
      adults were admitted as in-patients, among whom 7408 were readmitted as medical
      emergencies within 30 days of discharge: a readmission rate of 11%. Of these 66
      870 patients, 256 were identified as having a LD, with 32 of them experiencing at
      least one emergency readmission within 30 days: a readmission rate of 13%. When
      examined, the healthcare records pertaining to these 32 patients who had a total
      of 39 unique 30-day readmissions revealed that 69% (n = 26) of these readmissions
      were potentially preventable. CONCLUSION: Although overall readmission rates were
      similar for patients with LDs and those from the general population, patients
      with LDs had a much higher rate of potentially preventable readmissions when
      compared to a general population estimate from van Walraven et al. This suggests
      that there is still work to be done to ensure that this patient population
      receives hospital care that is both safe and of high quality.

PMID- 25824970
TI  - Ligand-doped liquid crystal sensor system for detecting mercuric ion in aqueous
      solutions.
AB  - We developed a liquid crystal (LC) sensor system for detecting mercuric ion
      (Hg(2+)) in aqueous solutions. In this system, 4-cyano-4'-pentyl biphenyl (5CB)
      was doped with a sulfur- and nitrogen-containing ligand 5-(pyridine-4-yl)-2-(5
      (pyridin-4-yl)thiophen-2-yl)thiazole (ZT) as the Hg(2+) specific LCs. When the
      system was immersed in the solution containing Hg(2+), the complex of ZT and
      Hg(2+) formed, which disrupted the orientation of LC and lead to a dark-to-bright
      transition of the image of LCs. From mercuric binding titrations monitored by UV
      vis spectroscopy, it was found that 1:1 Hg(2+)/ZT complexes were formed. The
      limit of detection (LOD) of the system to Hg(2+) is 10 MUM, and it did not
      respond to Cd(2+), Zn(2+), Cu(2+), Pb(2+), Fe(+), Mg(2+), Ca(2+), Na(+), and
      K(+). Besides, we also demonstrated that this system is capable of detecting
      Hg(2+) in tap water and pond water. Because the signal of this system is colorful
      under ambient light, which is readily understood by normal users, it can be used
      as a portable device to monitor the water quality at any location. 

PMID- 25824971
TI  - Emerging properties of adhesion complexes: what are they and what do they do?
AB  - The regulation of cell adhesion machinery is central to a wide variety of
      developmental and pathological processes and occurs primarily within integrin
      associated adhesion complexes. Here, we review recent advances that have
      furthered our understanding of the composition, organisation, and dynamics of
      these complexes, and provide an updated view on their emerging functions. Key
      findings are that adhesion complexes contain both core and non-canonical
      components. As a result of the dramatic increase in the range of components
      observed in adhesion complexes by proteomics, we comment on newly emerging
      functions for adhesion signalling. We conclude that, from a cellular or tissue
      systems perspective, adhesion signalling should be viewed as an emergent property
      of both the core and non-canonical adhesion complex components. 

PMID- 25824972
TI  - Expression and characterization of hepatitis E virus-like particles and non-virus
      like particles from insect cells.
AB  - The hepatitis E virus (HEV) capsid antigen expressed in insect cell has been
      proposed as a candidate subunit vaccine for the prevention of hepatitis E.
      However, the expression and purification of HEV virus-like particles (VLPs) from
      insect cells have not been explored. We aimed to optimize the procedure to obtain
      HEV VLPs. In this study, two conformations of the HEV capsid proteins were
      expressed in insect cells, VLPs and non-VLPs, and they were purified separately.
      The physicochemical properties and the humoral immune responses induced by the
      two forms were analyzed and compared. We found that HEV VLPs were more
      immunogenic in mice than HEV non-VLPs. Therefore, we optimized the conditions
      that yielded high VLPs expression in insect cell cultures and developed an
      efficient purification method. The results suggest that the distinction and
      isolation of VLPs from non-VLPs are essential to generate a more immunogenic
      vaccine. 

PMID- 25824973
TI  - Retraction note: Gene-gene interaction network analysis of ovarian cancer using
      TCGA data.
AB  - The Publisher and Editor regretfully retract this article (Ying H, Lv J, Ying T,
      Jin S, Shao J, Wang L, et al. Gene-gene interaction network analysis of ovarian
      cancer using TCGA data. J Ovarian Res. 2013;6:88) because the peer-review process
      was inappropriately influenced and compromised. As a result, the scientific
      integrity of the article cannot be guaranteed. A systematic and detailed
      investigation suggests that a third party was involved in supplying fabricated
      details of potential peer reviewers for a large number of manuscripts submitted
      to different journals. In accordance with recommendations from COPE we have
      retracted all affected published articles, including this one. It was not
      possible to determine beyond doubt that the authors of this particular article
      were aware of any third party attempts to manipulate peer review of their
      manuscript.

PMID- 25824974
TI  - Exposure-dependent Ag+ release from silver nanoparticles and its complexation in
      AgS2 sites in primary murine macrophages.
AB  - Silver nanoparticle (AgNP) toxicity is related to their dissolution in biological
      environments and to the binding of the released Ag(+) ions in cellulo; the
      chemical environment of recombined Ag(+) ions is responsible for their
      toxicological outcome, moreover it is indicative of the cellular response to AgNP
      exposure, and can therefore shed light on the mechanisms governing AgNP toxicity.
      This study probes the chemistry of Ag species in primary murine macrophages
      exposed to AgNPs by making use of X-ray Absorption Fine Structure spectroscopy
      under cryogenic conditions: the linear combination analysis of the near-edge
      region of the spectra provides the fraction of Ag(+) ions released from the AgNPs
      under a given exposure condition and highlights their complexation with thiolate
      groups; the ab initio modelling of the extended spectra allows measuring the Ag-S
      bond length in cellulo. Dissolution rates depend on the exposure scenario,
      chronicity leading to higher Ag(+) release than acute exposure; Ag-S bond lengths
      are 2.41 +/- 0.03 A and 2.38 +/- 0.01 A in acute and chronic exposure
      respectively, compatible with digonal AgS2 coordination. Glutathione is
      identified as the most likely putative ligand for Ag(+). The proposed method
      offers a scope for the investigation of metallic nanoparticle dissolution and
      recombination in cellular models. 

PMID- 25824975
TI  - Acute and chronic postsurgical pain after living liver donation: Incidence and
      predictors.

PMID- 25824976
TI  - Locally Advanced Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma: Complete Pathologic Response to
      Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Followed by Left Hepatic Trisectionectomy and Caudate
      Lobectomy.

PMID- 25824977
TI  - Artifacts, Noise and Interference: Much Ado about Ultrasound.

PMID- 25824978
TI  - Measurement of the acute metabolic response to hypoxia in rat tumours in vivo
      using magnetic resonance spectroscopy and hyperpolarised pyruvate.
AB  - PURPOSE: To estimate the rate constant for pyruvate to lactate conversion in
      tumours in response to a hypoxic challenge, using hyperpolarised (13)C1-pyruvate
      and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Hypoxic inspired gas
      was used to manipulate rat P22 fibrosarcoma oxygen tension (pO2), confirmed by
      luminescence decay of oxygen-sensitive probes. Hyperpolarised (13)C1-pyruvate was
      injected into the femoral vein of anaesthetised rats and slice-localised (13)C
      magnetic resonance (MR) spectra acquired. Spectral integral versus time curves
      for pyruvate and lactate were fitted to a precursor-product model to estimate the
      rate constant for tumour conversion of pyruvate to lactate (kpl). Mean arterial
      blood pressure (MABP) and oxygen tension (ArtpO2) were monitored. Pyruvate and
      lactate concentrations were measured in freeze-clamped tumours. RESULTS: MABP,
      ArtpO2 and tumour pO2 decreased significantly during hypoxia. kpl increased
      significantly (p<0.01) from 0.029+/-0.002s(-1) to 0.049+/-0.006s(-1) (mean+/-SEM)
      when animals breathing air were switched to hypoxic conditions, whereas pyruvate
      and lactate concentrations were minimally affected by hypoxia. Both ArtpO2 and
      MABP influenced the estimate of kpl, with a strong negative correlation between
      kpl and the product of ArtpO2 and MABP under hypoxia. CONCLUSION: The rate
      constant for pyruvate to lactate conversion, kpl, responds significantly to a
      rapid reduction in tumour oxygenation.

PMID- 25824979
TI  - Noninvasive pulmonary nodule elastometry by CT and deformable image registration.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To develop a noninvasive method for determining malignant
      pulmonary nodule (MPN) elasticity, and compare it against expert dual-observer
      manual contouring. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We analyzed breath-hold images at
      extreme tidal volumes of 23 patients with 30 MPN treated with stereotactic
      ablative radiotherapy. Deformable image registration (DIR) was applied to the
      breath-hold images to determine the volumes of the MPNs and a ring of surrounding
      lung tissue (ring) in each state. MPNs were also manually delineated on deep
      inhale and exhale images by two observers. Volumes were compared between
      observers and DIR by Dice similarity. Elasticity was defined as the absolute
      value of the volume ratio of the MPN minus one normalized to that of the ring.
      RESULTS: For all 30 tumors the Dice coefficient was 0.79+/-0.07 and 0.79+/-0.06
      between DIR with observers 1 and 2, respectively, close to the inter-observer
      Dice value, 0.81+/-0.1. The elasticity of MPNs was 1.24+/-0.26, demonstrating
      that volume change of the MPN was less than that of the surrounding lung.
      CONCLUSION: We developed a noninvasive CT elastometry method based on DIR that
      measures the elasticity of biopsy-proven MPN. Our future direction would be to
      develop this method to distinguish malignant from benign nodules.

PMID- 25824980
TI  - Processing of bilateral versus unilateral conditions: evidence for the functional
      contribution of the ventral attention network.
AB  - Processing of multiple or bilateral conditions presented simultaneously in both
      hemifields reflects the natural mode of perception in our multi-target
      environment, but is not yet completely understood. While region-of-interest based
      studies in healthy subjects reported single cortical areas as the right inferior
      parietal lobe (IPL) or temporoparietal junction (TPJ) to process bilateral
      conditions, studies in extinction patients with reduced ability in this regard
      suggested the right superior temporal cortex to hold a key role. The present fMRI
      study on healthy subjects aimed at resolving these discrepancies by contrasting
      bilateral versus unilateral visual conditions in a paradigm similar to the bed
      side test for patients with visual extinction on a whole brain level.
      Additionally, reduced attentional capacity in spatial processing was investigated
      in normal aging. Processing of bilateral conditions compared to unilateral ones
      showed to require stronger activation of not one single cortical region but the
      entire right-lateralized ventral attention network, bilateral parietal and visual
      association areas. These results might suggest a conceptual difference between
      unilateral and bilateral spatial processing with the latter depending on
      additional anatomical and functional brain resources. Reduced attentional
      capacity in elderly subjects was associated with compensatory recruitment of
      contralateral functional homologues [left IPL, TPJ, frontal eye field (FEF)].
      These data reveal the functional anatomy of our ability to visually process and
      respond to the entity of the environment and improve our understanding of neglect
      and extinction. Moreover, the data demonstrate that a restriction of the
      attentional capacity is based on processing limitations in the network of high
      level cortical areas and not due to restriction in the primary sensory ones. 

PMID- 25824981
TI  - Electrophysiological evidence of a typical cognitive distortion in bipolar
      disorder.
AB  - Patients suffering from bipolar disorder often report negative thoughts and a
      bias towards negative environmental stimuli. Previous studies show that this mood
      congruent attentional bias could mediated by dysfunctions in anterior limbic
      regions. The Error-Related Negativity (ERN), which originates in the anterior
      cingulate cortex (ACC), has been used to research this negativity bias in
      depressed patients, and could also help to better understand the underlying
      mechanisms causing the negativity bias in bipolar patients. In this study we
      investigated error processing in patients with bipolar disorder. Acute depressive
      bipolar patients (n = 20) and age-matched healthy controls (n = 20) underwent a
      modified Eriksen Flanker Task to assess test performance and two error-related
      event-related potentials (ERPs), i.e., the ERN and Error Positivity (Pe) were
      measured by EEG. Half of the patients were measured again in a euthymic state. We
      found similar ERN amplitudes in bipolar patients as compared to healthy controls,
      but significantly reduced Pe amplitudes. Moreover, acutely depressed bipolar
      patients displayed an ERN and Pe even if they responded accurately or too slow,
      which indicates that correct responses are processed in a way similar to wrong
      responses. This can be interpreted as a psychophysiological correlate of typical
      cognitive distortions in depression, i.e., an erroneous perception of personal
      failures. This biased error perception partially remained when patients were in a
      euthymic state. Together, our data indicate that aberrant error processing of
      bipolar patients may be regarded a trait marker possibly reflecting a risk factor
      for depressive relapses in bipolar disorder. 

PMID- 25824982
TI  - Protective effects of lithium chloride on seizure susceptibility: Involvement of
      alpha2-adrenoceptor.
AB  - For more than 60years, lithium has been the mainstay in the treatment of mental
      disorders as a mood stabilizer. In addition to the antimanic and antidepressant
      responses, lithium also shows some anticonvulsant properties. In spite of the
      ascertained neuroprotective effects of this alkali metal, the underlying
      mechanisms through which lithium regulates behavior are still poorly understood.
      Among different targets, some authors suggest neuromodulatory effects of lithium
      are the consequences of interaction of this agent with the brain
      neurotransmitters including adrenergic system. In order to study the involvement
      of alpha2-adrenergic system in anticonvulsant effect of lithium, we used a model
      of clonic seizure induced by pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) in male NMRI mice.
      Injection of a single effective dose of lithium chloride (30mg/kg, i.p.)
      significantly increased the seizure threshold (p<0.01). The anticonvulsant effect
      of an effective dose of lithium was prevented by pre-treatment with low and per
      se non-effective dose of clonidine [alpha2-adrenoceptor agonist] (0.05, 0.1 and
      0.25mg/kg). On the other hand, yohimbine [alpha2-adrenoceptor antagonist]
      augmented the anticonvulsant effect of sub-effective dose of lithium
      (10mg/kgi.p.) at relatively low doses (0.1, 0.5, 1 and 2.5mg/kg). Moreover,
      UK14304 [a potent and selective alpha2-adrenoceptor agonist] (0.05 and 0.1mg/kg)
      and RX821008 [a potent and selective alpha2D-adrenoceptor antagonist] (0.05, 0.1
      and 0.25mg/kg) repeated the same results confirming that these modulatory effects
      are conducted specifically through the alpha2D-adrenoceptors. In summary, our
      findings demonstrated that alpha2-adrenoceptor pathway could be involved in the
      anticonvulsant properties of lithium chloride in the model of chemically induced
      clonic seizure. 

PMID- 25824983
TI  - Hydroxycinnamic acid amide derivatives of polyamines reverse spermine-induced CNS
      excitation.
AB  - The aim of this study was to examine the acute effect of a range of novel
      hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives of spermine on the development of spermine
      induced CNS excitation and convulsions in female Laca mice, and to assess the
      chronic adverse behavioural effect profile of these compounds over a 5day period.
      Four of the six novel polyamine analogues dose-dependently inhibited body tremor
      and tonic convulsions caused by spermine, when administered centrally (icv) or
      peripherally (ip). BU43b was the most potent analogue tested, but BU31b, 33b, and
      36b were also effective (p<0.01, Mann-Whitney U test). A similar profile of
      effectiveness was seen with peripheral and central administration, indicating
      that the analogues may cross the blood brain barrier. More chronic investigation
      of the adverse effects of the compounds administered alone over 5days of
      observation indicated that the drugs were well tolerated, only causing reduced
      locomotor activity on the first day of the study and mild changes in behaviours
      linked to CNS and ANS function. It is likely that NMDA receptor NR2B subunit
      inhibition is involved in the anticonvulsant effect of these novel analogues, but
      other mechanisms may also be involved. These novel polyamine derivatives warrant
      further investigation of their therapeutic potential in treating epilepsy and CNS
      disorders where excitotoxicity is implicated. 

PMID- 25824984
TI  - Osteopontin is a useful predictor of bone metastasis and survival in patients
      with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
AB  - Bone is the most common metastatic site in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
      Osteopontin (OPN) and bone sialoprotein (BSP) are demonstrated to be involved in
      multiple steps of distant metastasis and correlate with bone metastasis (BM) in
      cancers. We aim to explore the impacts of OPN and BSP on the prognosis of the
      patients with locally advanced NPC. A tissue microarray including 162 locally
      advanced NPC specimens was generated for immunohistochemical evaluation. All of
      the patients received curative treatment. Twenty-two patients developed BM during
      follow-up. The OPN expression level was higher in patients with BM than in those
      without BM (p = 0.005), whereas no significant difference of the BSP expression
      level was noted (p = 0.634). Univariate analysis demonstrated that a higher level
      of OPN expression associated with a poorer 8-year metastasis-free survival (MFS)
      rate (p < 0.001), 8-year bone metastasis-free survival (BMFS) rate (93.6 vs. 87.5
      vs. 64.5% for immunoreactivity score 1, 2 and 3, respectively; p = 0.001) and
      median overall survival (OS) time (p < 0.001). Multivariate Cox analysis
      confirmed that high level of OPN expression was independent factor associated
      with decreased BMFS (p = 0.02), MFS (p < 0.001) and OS (p < 0.001). Our findings
      indicate that OPN is a prognostic biomarker for BM and survival in patients with
      locally advanced NPC, and therefore it is useful in identifying the patients with
      an increased risk of cancer progression and BM to guide tailored therapy. 

PMID- 25824985
TI  - Gallic acid can play a chondroprotective role against AGE-induced osteoarthritis
      progression.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are a group of stable covalent
      compounds generated by proteins, lipids, other macromolecules and sugar through a
      series of non-enzymatic reactions. As reported, AGEs can cause widespread
      pathophysiological responses through activation of AGE receptors (RAGEs) on the
      cell surface, and play an important role in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis
      (OA). We hypothesized that the antioxidant and anti-glycan agent gallic acid (GA)
      can work against the effects of AGEs and can be used as a potential drug for the
      cure of OA. METHODS: The present study first explored the negative functions of
      AGEs via AGE-treated chondrocytes isolated form rabbits. Then, we observed the
      protective role of GA in AGE-treated chondrocytes by measuring the reactive
      oxygen species (ROS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), collagen II, aggrecan, nitric
      oxide synthase (iNOs) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in vitro. Finally, the changes
      in a cartilage lesion in a rabbit model of knee osteoarthritis was observed.
      RESULTS: Exposure of chondrocytes to AGEs resulted in a reduction of ROS, SOD,
      collagen II and aggrecan, and an increase in iNOs and COX-2, which means exposure
      promoted OA lesions in a clinical setting. When AGE-treated chondrocytes were
      pretreated with GA, there were no significant changes in these key components
      compared to the normal chondrocytes. In vivo study showed cartilage degradation
      was reduced by GA as compared to the vehicle group. CONCLUSION: The results of
      this study confirmed the chondroprotective role of GA and provide a potential
      drug for the relief of OA.

PMID- 25824986
TI  - Identification of therapeutic targets for breast cancer using biological
      informatics methods.
AB  - The present study aimed to investigate the modular mechanisms underlying breast
      cancer and identify potential targets for breast cancer treatment. The
      differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between breast cancer and normal cells were
      assessed using microarray data obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus
      database. Gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analyses were performed in
      order to investigate the functions of these DEGs. Subsequently, the protein
      protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using the Cytoscape software.
      The identified subnetworks were further analyzed using the Molecular Complex
      Detection plugin. In total, 571 genes (241 upregulated and 330 downregulated
      genes) were found to be differentially expressed between breast cancer and normal
      cells. The GO terms significantly enriched by DEGs included cell adhesion, immune
      response and extracellular region, while the most significant pathways included
      focal adhesion and complement and coagulation cascade pathways. The PPI network
      was established with 273 nodes and 718 edges, while fibronectin 1 (FN1, degrees
      score, 39), interleukin 6 (IL6; degree score, 96) and c-Fos protein (degree
      score, 32) were identified as the hub proteins in subnetwork 2. These
      dysregulated genes were found to be involved in the development of breast cancer.
      The FN1, IL6 and FOS genes may therefore be potential targets in the treatment of
      breast cancer.

PMID- 25824987
TI  - Overrepresentation of missense mutations in mild hemophilia A patients from
      Belgium: founder effect or independent occurrence?
AB  - Roughly 40% of observed mutations responsible for hemophilia A (HA) are novel and
      present in either a single family or a limited number of unrelated families.
      During routine diagnostic analysis of 73 unrelated Belgian patients with mild HA,
      4 out of 43 different mutations (p.Ser2030Asn, p.Arg2178Cys, p.Arg2178His, and
      p.Pro2311His) were detected in more than one family, representing 35% of total
      identified mutations. To discriminate between an independent recurrence or a
      founder effect, an analysis of intra- and -extragenic single nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs) and short tandem repeats (STRs) flanking the F8 gene was
      conducted. SNP haplotype and microsatellite analysis revealed strong evidence
      that p.Ser2030Asn and p.Pro2311His mutations were probably associated with a
      founder effect. The two other mutations localized in an F8 cytosine-phosphate
      guanine (CpG) site likely resulted from recurrent de novo events. This study
      suggests that missense mutations producing C-to-T or G-to-A substitutions in CpG
      dinucleotide can occur de novo with more repetition than other causal
      substitutions that do not affect the CpG site. Analysis of F8 database implied
      that CpG sites throughout the F8 gene are not all mutated with the same
      frequency. Causes are still unknown and remain to be identified. 

PMID- 25824989
TI  - Gold nanoparticle array formation on dimpled Ta templates using pulsed laser
      induced thin film dewetting.
AB  - Here we show that pulsed laser-induced dewetting (PLiD) of a thin Au metallic
      film on a nano-scale ordered dimpled tantalum (DT) surface results in the
      formation of a high quality Au nanoparticle (NP) array. In contrast to thermal
      dewetting, PLiD does not result in deformation of the substrate, even when the Au
      film is heated to above its melting point. PLiD causes local heating of only the
      metal film and thus thermal oxidation of the Ta substrate can be avoided, also
      because of the high vacuum (low pO2) environment employed. Therefore, this
      technique can potentially be used to fabricate NP arrays composed of high melting
      point metals, such as Pt, not previously possible using conventional thermal
      annealing methods. We also show that the Au NPs formed by PLiD are more spherical
      in shape than those formed by thermal dewetting, likely demonstrating a different
      dewetting mechanism in the two cases. As the metallic NPs formed on DT templates
      are electrochemically addressable, a longer-term objective of this work is to
      determine the effect of NP size and shape (formed by laser vs. thermal dewetting)
      on their electrocatalytic properties. 

PMID- 25824988
TI  - Regulation of EMMPRIN (CD147) on monocyte subsets in patients with symptomatic
      coronary artery disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The role of individual monocyte subsets in inflammatory
      cardiovascular diseases is insufficiently understood. Although the Extracellular
      Matrix Metalloproteinase Inducer (EMMPRIN) regulates important processes for
      inflammation such as MMP-release, its expression and regulation on monocyte
      subsets has not been characterized. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this clinical
      study, blood was obtained from 80 patients with stable coronary artery disease
      (CAD), 49 with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and 34 healthy controls.
      Monocytes were divided into 3 subsets: CD14(++)CD16(-) (low), CD14(++)CD16(+)
      (intermediate), CD14(+)CD16(++) (high) according to phenotypic markers analyzed
      by flow cytometry. Surface expression of EMMPRIN was evaluated and compared with
      CD36 and CD47 expression. RESULTS: In all patients, EMMPRIN expression was
      significantly different among monocyte subsets with the highest expression on
      "classical" CD14(++)CD16(-) monocytes. EMMPRIN was upregulated on all monocyte
      subsets in patients with AMI as compared to patients with stable CAD. Notably,
      neither CD47 nor CD36 revealed a significant difference in patients with AMI
      compared to patients with stable CAD. CONCLUSION: EMMPRIN could serve as a marker
      for classical monocytes, which is upregulated in patients with acute myocardial
      infarction.

PMID- 25824990
TI  - A comparison of juice extraction methods in the pungency measurement of onion
      bulbs.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Onion pungency is estimated by measuring the pyruvic acid content in
      juice extracted from fresh tissues. We compared pyruvic acid content and its
      variation in the juices extracted by the pressing, maceration, blending with no
      water, or blending with water (blend/water) methods. RESULTS: There were
      considerable differences in the pyruvic acid content and coefficient of variation
      (CV) among these methods, and there was an interaction between the onion
      cultivars and the juice extraction methods. The pressing method showed over 30%
      CV in the quartered or composite samples. The blend/water method showed the
      greatest pyruvic acid content in the shortday-type ('TG1015Y' and 'Texas Early
      White') onions, while the pressing method showed the greatest pyruvic acid
      content in the longday-type onions. The blend/water method, which gave ratios
      between 1:1 and 1:4 (w/w), showed the same pyruvic acid content. The blending (no
      water) method had the highest correlation, followed by the maceration method. The
      lowest correlations were found with the pressing method and the blend/water
      method. CONCLUSIONS: Complete homogenisation of tissues with 1:1 or greater
      ratios of water was necessary for the maximum consistency and full development of
      the pyruvic acid reaction for onion pungency measurement.

PMID- 25824991
TI  - [An outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia bacteremia in a hemodialysis unit, Cadiz,
      2014].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In January 2014 a possible outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia
      bacteremia occurred in a hemodialysis center situated in La Linea de la
      Concepcion (Cadiz). An investigation was begun to confirm the outbreak, identify
      the source, and implement control measures. METHODS: A descriptive analysis was
      performed to describe the characteristics of the patients affected with
      Burkholderia cepacia bacteremia from November 2013 to February 2014.
      Environmental samples were taken. A molecular typing study was performed using
      pulsed field gel electrophoresis (SpeI PFGE) and MLST analysis in order to
      determine the genetic similarity between the isolates. RESULTS: The bacterium was
      isolated from blood cultures of 7 patients during the study period. Three of the
      samples (2 of which were also cases) were endoluminal fluid from catheter locks,
      and 4 chlorhexidine bottle samples. The patients were coincident in 2 of the 6
      work shifts. The mean age of the cases was 67 years of whom 57% were women. Human
      samples and an environmental sample was analyzed and found to be genetically
      identical (ST653 clone). CONCLUSIONS: The analysis confirmed the outbreak of
      Burkholderia cepacia, with 7 cases among the patients of the hemodialysis center.
      The outbreak was due to the same strain, probably a common source and secondary
      transmission from person to person.

PMID- 25824992
TI  - [Hip prosthesis infection due to Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. pasteurianus].

PMID- 25824993
TI  - [Microbiological diagnosis of medical device-associated infections].
AB  - The use of surgically implanted medical devices has increased greatly over the
      last few years. Despite surgical advances and improvements in the materials and
      design of devices, infection continues to be a major complication of their use.
      Device-associated infections are produced mainly during their implantation and,
      are caused by microorganisms that are part of the skin flora. Biofilm development
      on device surfaces is the most important factor to explain the pathophysiological
      aspects of infection. Microbiological diagnosis is difficult and can often only
      be achieved after removal of the device. Sonication of the removed device may be
      a useful tool, since this procedure dislodges and disaggregates biofilm bacteria
      from the device. Molecular techniques, especially PCR, applied to the tissues and
      material obtained after sonication have shown to have a high sensitivity and
      specificity for the diagnosis of cardiovascular device infections.

PMID- 25824994
TI  - Restricting access to HIV-related services: a bad public health and economic
      policy.

PMID- 25824995
TI  - Benign outcome among positive cystic fibrosis newborn screen children with non-CF
      causing variants.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Clinical and Functional Translation of CFTR project (CFTR2)
      classified some cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene
      variants as non-cystic fibrosis (CF)-causing. To evaluate this, the clinical
      status of children carrying these mutations was examined. METHODS: We analyzed CF
      disease-defining variables over 2-6 years in two groups of California CF screen-
      positive neonates born from 2007 to 2011: (1) children with two CF-causing
      variants and (2) children with one CF-causing and one non-CF-causing variant, as
      defined by CFTR2. RESULTS: Children carrying non-CF-causing variants had
      significantly higher birth weight, lower immunoreactive trypsinogen and sweat
      chloride values, higher first year growth curves, and a lower rate of persistent
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization compared to children with two CF-causing
      variants. CONCLUSIONS: The outcomes in children 2-6 years of age with the L997F,
      G576A, R1162L, V754M, R668C, R31C, and S1235R variants are consistent with the
      CFTR2 non-CF-causing classification.

PMID- 25824996
TI  - Therapeutic options in oesophageal dysphagia.
AB  - High-resolution manometry enables the categorization of patients with oesophageal
      dysphagia caused by oesophageal motility disorders into diagnostic categories
      according to the Chicago Classification. This Review provides an overview of the
      literature concerning treatment options for patients with dysphagia associated
      with achalasia, hypercontractile disorders and hypocontractility disorders of the
      oesophagus. In achalasia, pharmacotherapy and botulinum toxin are less effective
      than pneumatic dilation or surgical Heller myotomy, which had comparable efficacy
      in the largest controlled trial to date. Peroral endoscopic myotomy is a novel
      therapeutic modality that is currently being evaluated in controlled trials
      versus pneumatic dilation or surgical myotomy. A variety of medical treatments
      have been evaluated in hypermotility disorders, but only botulinum toxin
      injection yielded favourable results in a single controlled trial. Few studies
      have addressed the treatment of dysphagia in patients with oesophageal
      hypomotility. A variety of prokinetic agents have been studied, but there is no
      evidence of clinically relevant efficacy from controlled trials. 

PMID- 25824998
TI  - Therapy: Oral SMAD7 antisense oligonucleotide proves effective for Crohn's
      disease.

PMID- 25824999
TI  - Liver: Reprogramming a hepatocyte's memory of liver disease.

PMID- 25824997
TI  - Towards a more comprehensive concept for prebiotics.
AB  - The essential role of the gut microbiota for health has generated tremendous
      interest in modulating its composition and metabolic function. One of these
      strategies is prebiotics, which typically refer to selectively fermented
      nondigestible food ingredients or substances that specifically support the growth
      and/or activity of health-promoting bacteria that colonize the gastrointestinal
      tract. In this Perspective, we argue that advances in our understanding of diet
      microbiome-host interactions challenge important aspects of the current concept
      of prebiotics, and especially the requirement for effects to be 'selective' or
      'specific'. We propose to revise this concept in an effort to shift the focus
      towards ecological and functional features of the microbiota more likely to be
      relevant for host physiology. This revision would provide a more rational basis
      for the identification of prebiotic compounds, and a framework by which the
      therapeutic potential of modulating the gut microbiota could be more fully
      materialized. 

PMID- 25825000
TI  - Cyclic hypervalent iodine reagents and iron catalysts: the winning team for late
      stage C-H azidation.
AB  - 1+1=3: By combining the exceptional reactivities of cyclic hypervalent iodine
      reagents and iron catalysts, Sharma and Hartwig achieved the azidation of C?H
      bonds with unprecedented efficiency and selectivity. The late-stage introduction
      of azides into complex bioactive molecules will greatly facilitate the synthesis
      of analogues and accelerate the discovery of new chemical entities. 

PMID- 25825001
TI  - Optimization of the excitation frequency for high probe sensitivity in single
      eigenmode and bimodal tapping-mode AFM.
AB  - The cantilever excitation frequency and tip free oscillation amplitude are two
      critical imaging parameters in amplitude-modulation atomic force microscopy (AM
      AFM, often referred to as tapping-mode AFM). In general, the excitation frequency
      is selected to be 'near' the measured resonance frequency of the probe, but there
      is no established systematic approach for making that choice. In this work we
      show that the choice of excitation frequency can play a very significant role in
      the characterization of viscoelastic materials, even when considering small
      deviations with respect to the resonance frequency. Additionally, we offer an
      analytical expression, verified through experiments and numerical simulations,
      which offers guidance for selecting the drive frequency that maximizes probe
      sensitivity. Our approach is illustrated experimentally through single-eigenmode
      and bimodal AFM measurements performed on spin-coated Nafion((r)) proton exchange
      thin films. We find that very often, the phase contrast channel is optimized by
      selecting an excitation frequency that is not necessarily at or near the free
      resonance frequency. 

PMID- 25825002
TI  - Transcranial cortical stimulation in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive
      disorders: efficacy studies.
AB  - Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct
      current stimulation (tDCS) are non-invasive brain stimulation methods that became
      widely used as therapeutic tools during the past two decades especially in cases
      of depression and schizophrenia. Low frequency rTMS and cathodal effect of tDCS
      inhibits cortical functioning while high frequency and anodal effect of tDCS have
      the opposite effect. Prolonged and repetitive application of either methods leads
      to changes in excitability of the human cortex that outlast the period of
      stimulation. Both rTMS and tDCS induce functional changes in the brain-modulating
      neural activity at cortical level. This paper reviews rTMS and tDCS effects in
      clinical trials for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Low frequency rTMS,
      particularly targeting the supplementary motor area and the orbital frontal
      cortex, seems to be the most promising in terms of therapeutic efficacy while
      older studies targeting the prefrontal dorsal cortex were not as successful. tDCS
      clearly needs to be investigated in large scale and sufficiently powered
      randomized control studies. From a general point of view, these non-invasive
      techniques hold promise as novel therapeutic tools for OCD patients. 

PMID- 25825003
TI  - Unrestricted modification search reveals lysine methylation as major modification
      induced by tissue formalin fixation and paraffin embedding.
AB  - Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue is considered as an appropriate
      alternative to frozen/fresh tissue for proteomic analysis. Here we study formalin
      induced alternations on a proteome-wide level. We compared LC-MS/MS data of FFPE
      and frozen human kidney tissues by two methods. First, clustering analysis
      revealed that the biological variation is higher than the variation introduced by
      the two sample processing techniques and clusters formed in accordance with the
      biological tissue origin and not with the sample preservation method. Second, we
      combined open modification search and spectral counting to find modifications
      that are more abundant in FFPE samples compared to frozen samples. This analysis
      revealed lysine methylation (+14 Da) as the most frequent modification induced by
      FFPE preservation. We also detected a slight increase in methylene (+12 Da) and
      methylol (+30 Da) adducts as well as a putative modification of +58 Da, but they
      contribute less to the overall modification count. Subsequent SEQUEST analysis
      and X!Tandem searches of different datasets confirmed these trends. However, the
      modifications due to FFPE sample processing are a minor disturbance affecting 2
      6% of all peptide-spectrum matches and the peptides lists identified in FFPE and
      frozen tissues are still highly similar. 

PMID- 25825004
TI  - The effects of abnormality of cVEMP and oVEMP on rehabilitation outcomes in
      patients with idiopathic benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.
AB  - The presence of utricular and saccular dysfunction impairs quality of life (QoL)
      in patients. The aims of the present study were to examine the effect of
      repositioning maneuvers on QoL of patients with idiopathic benign paroxysmal
      positional vertigo (BPPV) and to describe the effect of cervical vestibular
      evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) or ocular VEMP (oVEMP) abnormalities on patient
      recovery after rehabilitation. Thirty idiopathic BPPV patients with/without
      otolith dysfunctions (n = 15, each group) were included in this clinical trial
      study. Otolith dysfunction was determined using oVEMP and cVEMP abnormalities.
      EcochG and caloric tests were performed to rule out other causes of secondary
      BPPV. The QoL in groups of patients with idiopathic BPPV was assessed using a
      Persian version of the dizziness handicap inventory (DHI-P) before and after
      treatment with Epley's maneuver. Pre-treatment results showed significant
      handicaps in both groups. DHI-P scores were higher in BPPV patients with otolith
      dysfunction (total, functional, emotional, physical score: 34.13, 11.20, 7.06,
      15.86, respectively) than those in patients without otolith dysfunction (total,
      functional, emotional, physical score: 25.46, 7.86, 6.13, 11.46, respectively, P
      < 0.05). After treatment, DHI-P scores decreased in both groups. However, in the
      otolith dysfunction group, DHI-P scores (total, functional, emotional, physical
      score: 9.20, 3.33, 1.33, 4.53, respectively) were higher than those in patients
      without otolith dysfunction (total, functional, emotional, physical score: 4.13,
      0.93, 1.06, 2.00, respectively). In BPPV patients with cVEMP or oVEMP
      abnormalities, QoL is more compromised in comparison with that in BPPV patients
      without these dysfunctions. Otolith dysfunction enhances the negative effects of
      BPPV on QoL.

PMID- 25825005
TI  - Lung consequences in adults born prematurely.
AB  - Although survival has improved significantly in recent years, prematurity remains
      a major cause of infant and childhood mortality and morbidity. Preterm births
      (<37 weeks of gestation) account for 8% of live births representing >50 000 live
      births each year in the UK. Preterm birth, irrespective of whether babies require
      neonatal intensive care, is associated with increased respiratory symptoms,
      partially reversible airflow obstruction and abnormal thoracic imaging in
      childhood and in young adulthood compared with those born at term. Having failed
      to reach their optimal peak lung function in early adulthood, there are as yet
      unsubstantiated concerns of accelerated lung function decline especially if
      exposed to noxious substances leading to chronic respiratory illness; even if the
      rate of decline in lung function is normal, the threshold for respiratory
      symptoms will be crossed early. Few adult respiratory physicians enquire about
      the neonatal period in their clinical practice. The management of these subjects
      in adulthood is largely evidence free. They are often labelled as asthmatic
      although the underlying mechanisms are likely to be very different. Smoking
      cessation, maintaining physical fitness, annual influenza immunisation and a
      general healthy lifestyle should be endorsed irrespective of any symptoms. There
      are a number of clinical and research priorities to maximise the quality of life
      and lung health in the longer term not least understanding the underlying
      mechanisms and optimising treatment, rather than extrapolating from other airway
      diseases.

PMID- 25825006
TI  - Monitoring strategies in children with asthma: a randomised controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Asthma guidelines recommend monitoring of asthma control. However, in
      a substantial proportion of children, asthma is poorly controlled and the best
      monitoring strategy is not known. OBJECTIVES: We studied two monitoring
      strategies for their ability to improve asthma outcomes in comparison with
      standard care (SC): web-based monthly monitoring with the (Childhood) Asthma
      Control Test (ACT or C-ACT) and 4-monthly monitoring of FENO. METHODS: In this
      randomised controlled, partly blinded, parallel group multicentre trial with a 1
      year follow-up, children aged 4-18 with a doctor's diagnosis of asthma treated in
      seven hospitals were randomised to one of the three groups. In the web group,
      treatment was adapted according to ACT obtained via a website at 1-month
      intervals; in the FENO group according to ACT and FENO, and in the SC group
      according to the ACT at 4-monthly visits. The primary endpoint was the change
      from baseline in the proportion of symptom-free days (SFD). RESULTS: Two-hundred
      and eighty children (mean age 10.4 years, 66% boys) were included; 268 completed
      the study. Mean changes from baseline in SFD were similar between the groups: 
      2.1% (web group, n=90), +8.9% (FENO group, n=91) versus 0.15% (SC, n=87), p=0.15
      and p=0.78. Daily dose of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) decreased more in the web
      based group compared with both other groups (-200 MUg/day, p<0.01), while ACT and
      SFD remained similar. CONCLUSIONS: The change from baseline in SFD did not differ
      between monitoring strategies. With web-based ACT monitoring, ICS could be
      reduced substantially while control was maintained. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:
      NTR 1995.

PMID- 25825007
TI  - Access and non-access site bleeding after percutaneous coronary intervention and
      risk of subsequent mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events: systematic
      review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prognostic impact of site-specific major bleeding complications
      after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has yielded conflicting data. The
      aim of this study is to provide an overview of site-specific major bleeding
      events in contemporary PCI and study their impact on mortality and major adverse
      cardiovascular event outcomes. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a meta-analysis
      of PCI studies that evaluated site-specific periprocedural bleeding complications
      and their impact on major adverse cardiovascular events and mortality outcomes. A
      systematic search of MEDLINE and Embase was conducted to identify relevant
      studies and random effects meta-analysis was used to estimate the risk of adverse
      outcomes with site-specific bleeding complications. Twenty-five relevant studies
      including 2,400,645 patients that underwent PCI were identified. Both non-access
      site (risk ratio [RR], 4.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.21-5.14) and access
      site (RR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.37-2.13) related bleeding complications were
      independently associated with an increased risk of periprocedural mortality. The
      prognostic impact of non-access site-related bleeding events on mortality related
      to the source of anatomic bleeding, for example, gastrointestinal RR, 2.78; 95%
      CI, 1.25 to 6.18; retroperitoneal RR, 5.87; 95% CI, 1.63 to 21.12; and
      intracranial RR, 22.71; 95% CI, 12.53 to 41.15. CONCLUSIONS: The prognostic
      impact of bleeding complications after PCI varies according to anatomic source
      and severity. Non-access site-related bleeding complications have a similar
      prevalence to those from the access site but are associated with a significantly
      worse prognosis partly related to the severity of the bleed. Clinicians should
      minimize the risk of major bleeding complications during PCI through judicious
      use of bleeding avoidance strategies irrespective of the access site used.

PMID- 25825008
TI  - Anatomic characteristics and clinical implications of angiographic coronary
      thrombus: insights from a patient-level pooled analysis of SYNTAX, RESOLUTE, and
      LEADERS Trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The distribution of thrombus-containing lesions (TCLs) in an all
      comer population admitted with a heterogeneous clinical presentation (stable,
      ustable angina, or an acute coronary syndrome) and treated with percutaneous
      coronary intervention is yet unclear, and the long-term prognostic implications
      are still disputed. This study sought to assess the distribution and prognostic
      implications of coronary thrombus, detected by coronary angiography, in a
      population recruited in all-comer percutaneous coronary intervention trials.
      METHODS AND RESULTS: Patient-level data from 3 contemporary coronary stent trials
      were pooled by an independent academic research organization (Cardialysis,
      Rotterdam, the Netherlands). Clinical outcomes in terms of major adverse cardiac
      events (major adverse cardiac events, a composite of death, myocardial
      infarction, and repeat revascularization), death, myocardial infarction, and
      repeated revascularization were compared between patients with and without
      angiographic TCL. Preprocedural TCL was present in 257 patients (5.8%) and absent
      in 4193 (94.2%) patients. At 3-year follow-up, there was no difference for major
      adverse cardiac events (25.3 versus 25.4%; P=0.683); all-cause death (7.4 versus
      6.8%; P=0.683); myocardial infarction (5.8 versus 6.0%; P=0.962), and any
      revascularizations (17.5 versus 17.7%; P=0.822) between patients with and without
      TCL. The comparison of outcomes in groups weighing the jeopardized myocardial by
      TCL also did not show a significant difference. TCL were seen more often in the
      first 2 segments of the right (43.6%) and left anterior descending (36.8%)
      coronary arteries. The association of TCL and bifurcation lesions was present in
      40.1% of the prespecified segments. CONCLUSIONS: TCL involved mainly the proximal
      coronary segments and did not have any effect on clinical outcomes. A more
      detailed thrombus burden quantification is required to investigate its prognostic
      implications. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.
      Unique identifiers: NCT00114972, NCT01443104, NCT00617084.

PMID- 25825009
TI  - Cytochrome c biogenesis in Campylobacter jejuni requires cytochrome c6 (CccA;
      Cj1153) to maintain apocytochrome cysteine thiols in a reduced state for haem
      attachment.
AB  - The microaerophilic food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni uses complex
      cytochrome-rich respiratory chains for growth and host colonisation. Cytochrome c
      biogenesis requires haem ligation to reduced apocytochrome cysteines, catalysed
      by the cytochrome c synthase, CcsBA. While ccsBA could not be deleted, we showed
      that the thiol reductase DsbD and the CcsX homologue Cj1207 are involved in, but
      not essential for, cytochromes c biogenesis. Mutant phenotypic analyses and
      biochemical studies with purified proteins revealed that the mono-haem c-type
      cytochromes Cj1153 (CccA) and Cj1020 (CccB) and the di-haem Cj0037 (CccC) are
      electron donors to the cb-oxidase (CcoNOQP), with CccC being more efficient than
      CccA. Remarkably, cccA deletion or site-directed mutagenesis resulted in an
      almost complete loss of all other c-type cytochromes. Cytochrome c structural and
      biogenesis genes were still transcribed in the cccA deletion mutant and the
      quinol oxidase genes (cioAB) were up-regulated. Cytochrome c production could be
      rescued in this mutant by growth with exogenous dithiothreitol or L-cysteine,
      suggesting that in the absence of CccA, apocytochrome c haem binding motifs
      become oxidised, preventing haem attachment. Our results identify CccA, the most
      abundant periplasmic c-type cytochrome in C. jejuni, as a novel and unexpected
      protein required for cytochrome c biogenesis in this pathogen. 

PMID- 25825010
TI  - Subxiphoid single-incision thoracoscopic bilateral ablative sympathectomy for
      hyperhidrosis.
AB  - We describe the first case of severe palmar hyperhidrosis treated with single
      incision subxiphoid thoracoscopic ablative sympathectomy, bilaterally, at T3
      level. The single-incision subxiphoid thoracoscopic approach required only a 2-cm
      incision in the upper abdomen. In addition, the technique does not cause
      postoperative intercostal neuropathy and postoperative pain is minimal as the
      intercostal space is bypassed. Total operative time was ~60 min and the volume of
      blood loss was 10 ml. The patient was discharged from the hospital the next day
      with complete remission of her symptoms. Excess palmar sweating released after
      operation and there was no compensatory sweating after a 6-month follow-up. 

PMID- 25825011
TI  - Bridge-to-recovery strategy using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for
      critical pulmonary hypertension complicated with cardiogenic shock.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Studies on mechanical-medical bridging for decompensated pulmonary
      hypertension (PH) are limited. We analysed the outcomes for critical PH patients
      who underwent extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support using a bridge
      to-recovery (BTR) strategy. This study aimed to identify prognostic factors of
      BTR and evaluate the outcomes of survivors. METHODS: Between 2009 and 2012, 6
      patients who received veno-arterial ECMO due to decompensated PH with cardiogenic
      shock were retrospectively reviewed. All of the patients were managed with an
      aggressive titration of PH therapies and the optimization of right ventricular
      (RV) function to wean them off of ECMO. Three of the patients survived to
      discharge, and the others suffered in-hospital mortality. The differences between
      their baseline characteristics, ECMO set-up, haemodynamic change and
      complications were analysed. RESULTS: The average age was 46.67 +/- 14.07 years,
      with a male-to-female ratio of 1:2. The non-survival group exhibited a higher
      baseline systolic pulmonary artery pressure (127.67 +/- 25.81 vs 67.67 +/- 24.83
      mmHg, P = 0.044) than the survival group before ECMO. All of the non-survivors
      underwent cardiopulmonary-cerebral resuscitation prior to ECMO implantation (100
      vs 0%, P = 0.100). The survivors tended to have received suboptimal PH therapies
      before ECMO and had more readily correctable predisposing factors of right
      ventricular failure. The non-survivors required a longer duration of ECMO and
      suffered more end-organ failure or sepsis, although those differences were not
      statistically significant. Pneumonia developed in 3 of the survivors and caused
      late mortality in 2 after discharge. CONCLUSIONS: ECMO provides a therapeutic
      window for the medical stabilization of critically decompensated PH patients.
      Prompt ECMO intervention before haemodynamic collapse and careful patient
      selection are critical for successful BTR outcomes.

PMID- 25825012
TI  - Synchronized cell attachment triggered by photo-activatable adhesive ligands
      allows QCM-based detection of early integrin binding.
AB  - The Quartz Crystal Microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) technique was applied to
      monitor and quantify integrin-RGD recognition during the early stages of cell
      adhesion. Using QCM-D crystals modified with a photo-activatable RGD peptide, the
      time point of presentation of adhesive ligand at the surface of the QCM-D crystal
      could be accurately controlled. This allowed temporal resolution of early
      integrin-RGD binding and the subsequent cell spreading process, and their
      separate detection by QCM-D. The specificity of the integrin-RGD binding event
      was corroborated by performing the experiments in the presence of soluble
      cyclicRGD as a competitor, and cytochalasin D as inhibitor of cell spreading.
      Larger frequency change in the QCM-D signal was observed for cells with larger
      spread area, and for cells overexpressing integrin alphavbeta3 upon stable
      transfection. This strategy enables quantification of integrin activity which, in
      turn, may allow discrimination among different cell types displaying distinct
      integrin subtypes and expression levels thereof. On the basis of these findings,
      we believe the strategy can be extended to other photoactivatable ligands to
      characterize cell membrane receptors activity, a relevant issue for cancer
      diagnosis (and prognosis) as other several pathologies. 

PMID- 25825013
TI  - Evaluation of weight loss and metabolic changes in diabetic patients treated with
      liraglutide, effect of RS 6923761 gene variant of glucagon-like peptide 1
      receptor.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A polymorphism of GLP-1 R (rs6923761) has potential implications in
      weight loss and metabolic control. We decide to investigate the role of this
      polymorphism on metabolic changes and weight loss secondary to treatment with
      liraglutide. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A population of 90 patients with diabetes
      mellitus type 2 and overweight, unable to achieve glycemic control (HbA1c>7%)
      with metformin alone that require initiation of liraglutide treatment in
      progressive dose to 1.8mg/day subcutaneously, was analyzed. RESULTS: Fifty one
      patients (56.7%) had the genotype GG and 39 (43.3%) patients; GA (30 patients,
      33.3%) or AA (9 patients, 10%) (A allele carriers). In patients with both
      genotypes, body mass index (BMI), weight and fat decreased. The proportion of the
      mentioned reductions was higher in the variant allele carriers; BMI (-0.59+/
      2.5kg/m(2) vs. -1.69+/-3.9kg/m(2); P<0.05), weight (-2.78+/-2.8kg vs. -4.52+/
      4.6kg; P<0.05) and fat mass (-0.59+/-2.5kg vs. -1.69+/-3.9kg; P<0.05). Weight
      reduction after liraglutide treatment was greater in the A-allele carriers by
      2.9kg (95% CI: 0.27-5.64). The decrease of basal glucose, HOMA-R and HbA1c was
      similar in both genotypes. CONCLUSION: Our data showed better anthropometric
      parameters in overweight diabetic subjects with the variant allele (A) of
      rs6923761 GLP-1 R polymorphism. A allele carriers had a greater decrease in
      weight and fat mass after treatment with liraglutide. The present study is a
      preliminary observation, and its results need to be replicated with a higher
      number of patients in different populations.

PMID- 25825014
TI  - Visual Outcomes at 12 Months in Patients Following Implantation of a Diffractive
      Multifocal Intraocular Lens.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to assess distance, intermediate, and
      near visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and patient satisfaction outcomes of a
      multifocal intraocular lens (IOL). METHODS: This multicenter, prospective
      clinical study was conducted at seven study sites in Turkey. Patients who
      underwent bilateral cataract removal and implantation of a diffractive, acrylic,
      hydrophobic, multifocal IOL (Acriva UD Reviol MFB 625; VSY Biotechnology,
      Istanbul, Turkey) were included. The uncorrected and best corrected distance
      visual acuities (UCDVA and BCDVA), uncorrected and best corrected intermediate
      visual acuities (UCIVA and BCIVA), and uncorrected and best corrected near visual
      acuities (UCNVA and BCNVA) were measured preoperatively and at postoperative 1,
      6, and 12 months. Distance and near visual acuity scores (VAS) contrast
      sensitivities were measured at these time points. Quality of life was evaluated
      by visual function-14 (VF-14) questionnaire. RESULTS: Two hundred eyes of 100
      patients were included. Monocular and binocular visual acuities at all distances
      showed improvement at postoperative 12 months compared to preoperative
      measurements (P < 0.001). Monocular and binocular UCIVA and binocular BCIVA at
      postoperative 12 months were significantly improved compared to measurements at 1
      month (P < 0.001). Binocular contrast sensitivity at distance showed significant
      improvement from postoperative 1 month to postoperative 12 months, except for 3
      cycles per degree (cpd; without glare) and 18 cpd (with glare). VAS improved from
      75.96 at postoperative 1 month to 76.85 at postoperative 12 months. VF-14 score
      was 98.2 +/- 4.6. CONCLUSION: The Acriva UD Reviol MFB 625 appears to provide a
      good level of distance and near visual acuity, quality of life, and patient
      satisfaction. Further studies with longer follow-up will provide valuable insight
      into the long-term stability of these visual outcomes.

PMID- 25825015
TI  - Mefloquine at the crossroads? Implications for malaria chemoprophylaxis in
      Europe.
AB  - Since its introduction to the market in 1985, mefloquine has been used for
      malaria chemoprophylaxis by more than 35 million travellers. In Europe, in 2014,
      the European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued recommendations on strengthened
      warnings, prescribing checklists and updates to the product information of
      mefloquine. Some malaria prevention advisors question the scientific basis for
      the restrictions and suggest that this cost-effective, anti-malarial drug will be
      displaced as a first-line anti-malaria medication with the result that vulnerable
      groups such as VFR and long-term travellers, pregnant travellers and young
      children are left without a suitable alternative chemoprophylaxis. This
      commentary looks at the current position of mefloquine prescribing and the
      rationale of the new EMA recommendations and restrictions. It also describes the
      new recommendations for malaria prophylaxis that have been adapted by
      Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy where chemoprophylaxis use is restricted
      to high-risk malaria-endemic areas. 

PMID- 25825017
TI  - War-related extremity injuries in children: 89 cases managed in a combat support
      hospital in Afghanistan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Meeting paediatric needs is among the priorities of western
      healthcare providers working in Afghanistan. HYPOTHESIS: Insufficient information
      is available on paediatric wartime injuries to the extremities. Our objective
      here was to describe these injuries and their management on the field. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed consecutive cases of injuries to the
      extremities in children (< 16 years of age) due to weapons and managed at the
      Kabul International Airport (KaIA) Combat Support Hospital between June 2009 and
      April 2013. We identified 89 patients with a mean age of 10.2 +/- 3.5 years and a
      total of 137 elemental lesions. RESULTS: Explosive devices accounted for most
      injuries (78.6%) and carried a significantly higher risk of multiple lesions.
      There were 54 bone lesions (traumatic amputations and fractures) and 83 soft
      tissue lesions. The amputation rate was 18%. Presence of bone lesions was
      associated with a higher risk of injury to blood vessels and nerves. Of the 89
      patients, four (4.5%) died and eight (9%) were transferred elsewhere. Of the 77
      remaining patients, at last follow-up (median, one month; range, 0.1-16 months),
      73 (95%) had achieved a full recovery (healed wound and/or fracture) or were
      recovering with no expectation that further surgery would be needed. DISCUSSION:
      Despite the absence of paediatric surgeons, the combat support hospital provided
      appropriate care at the limb salvage and reconstruction phases. The highly
      specialised treatments needed to manage sequelae were very rarely provided. These
      treatments probably deserve to be developed in combat support hospitals.

PMID- 25825018
TI  - Judge suggests steps to prevent employers unfairly referring whistleblowers to
      GMC.

PMID- 25825016
TI  - Geographic variations in cystic fibrosis: An analysis of the U.S. CF Foundation
      Registry.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence suggests that the prevalence of pathogens common in
      cystic fibrosis (CF) may be unevenly distributed across the United States (U.S.).
      However, very little is known regarding the U.S. distribution of other CF
      modifiers such as medication usage and patient demographics. Therefore, we sought
      to determine if regional differences exist in the distribution of demographic
      variables and patient disease characteristics in the U.S. that may play a role in
      differential CF outcomes. METHODS: Data were analyzed from the 30,896 subjects in
      the U.S. CF Foundation Patient Registry during the years 2007-2012, via
      geographical grouping of states based upon the Nationwide Inpatient Sample
      classification. RESULTS: Significant differences in racial distribution were
      seen, including half of the total U.S. African-American CF population residing in
      the South. Both African-Americans and Hispanics had increased Medicaid usage
      (52.2%, 41.8%, respectively). Culture-reported pathogens were markedly different
      across the U.S., with the highest percentage of patients with Methicillin
      resistant Staphylococcus aureus (41.9%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (71.2%), and non
      tuberculous mycobacterium (10.0%) in the South. The South region also had the
      lowest mean body mass index and forced expiratory volume in one second. Chronic
      medication usage such as inhaled tobramycin or macrolides followed P. aeruginosa
      distribution, while inhaled dornase alfa was most used in the West (84.7%). Co
      morbid conditions varied, with the highest percentage of depressed subjects in
      the Midwest (18.3%). Mean regional mortality rates were not statistically
      different among regions, although highest in each age grouping of the South.
      CONCLUSIONS: The U.S. has significant regional variations in CF demographics,
      insurance, pathogens, medication usage, and co-morbidities, without an overall
      impact on regional mortality. Regional variations in care practices should be
      studied further based on the findings.

PMID- 25825019
TI  - Targeting the endoplasmic reticulum mediates radiation sensitivity in colorectal
      cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Radiotherapy is an established treatment modality for early and
      locally advanced rectal cancer as part of short course radiotherapy and long
      course chemoradiotherapy. The unfolded protein response (UPR) is a cellular
      stress response pathway often activated in human solid tumours which has been
      implicated in resistance to both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This research has
      investigated whether the UPR pathway is upregulated in ex-vivo samples of human
      colorectal cancer and characterised the interaction between radiotherapy and UPR
      activation in two human colorectal cancer cell lines in vitro. METHODS: In vitro
      UPR expression was determined in response to clinical doses of radiotherapy in
      both the human colorectal adenocarcinoma (HT-29) cell line and a radio-resistant
      clone (HT-29R) using western blotting and quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
      The UPR was induced using a glucose deprivation culture technique before
      irradiation and radiosensitivity assessed using a clonogenic assay. Ex-vivo human
      colorectal cancer tissue was immuno-histochemically analysed for expression of
      the UPR marker glucose regulated protein 78 (GRP-78). RESULTS: The UPR was
      strongly up regulated in ex-vivo human colorectal tumours with 36 of 50 (72.0%)
      specimens demonstrating moderate to strong staining for the classic UPR marker
      GRP-78. In vitro, therapeutic doses of radiotherapy did not induce UPR activation
      in either radiosensitive or radioresistant cell lines. UPR induction caused
      significant radiosensitisation of the radioresistant cell line (HT-29R SF2Gy=0.90
      S.E.M. +/-0.08; HT-29RLG SF2Gy=0.69 S.E.M. +/-0.050). CONCLUSION: This suggests
      that UPR induction agents may be potentially useful response modifying agents in
      patients undergoing therapy for colorectal cancer.

PMID- 25825020
TI  - Anatomically related gray and white matter alterations in the brains of
      functional dyspepsia patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous studies summarized altered brain functional patterns in
      functional dyspepsia (FD) patients, but how the brain structural patterns are
      related to FD remains largely unclear. The objective of this study was to
      determine the brain structural characteristics in FD patients. METHODS: Optimized
      voxel-based morphometry and tract-based spatial statistics were employed to
      investigate the changes in gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) respectively in
      34 FD patients with postprandial distress syndrome and 33 healthy controls based
      on T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted imaging. The Pearson's correlation
      evaluated the link among GM alterations, WM abnormalities, and clinical variables
      in FD patients. The optimal brain structural parameters for identifying FD were
      explored using the receiver operating characteristic curve. KEY RESULTS: Compared
      to controls, FD patients exhibited a decrease in GM density (GMD) in the right
      posterior insula/temporal superior cortex (marked as pINS), right inferior
      frontal cortex (IFC), and left middle cingulate cortex, and an increase in
      fractional anisotropy (FA) in the posterior limb of the internal capsule,
      posterior thalamic radiation, and external capsule (EC). Interestingly, the GMD
      in the pINS was significantly associated with GMD in the IFC and FA in the EC.
      Moreover, the EC adjacent to the pINS provided the best performance for
      distinguishing FD patients from controls. CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES: Our results
      showed pINS-related structural abnormalities in FD patients, indicating that GM
      and WM parameters were not affected independently. These findings would lay the
      foundation for probing an efficient target in the brain for treating FD.

PMID- 25825021
TI  - Influence of uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase inducers and inhibitors
      on the plasma lamotrigine concentration in pediatric patients with refractory
      epilepsy.
AB  - This study evaluated the influence of concomitant antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) on
      the plasma concentration of lamotrigine (LTG) in pediatric patients with
      epilepsy. We retrospectively reviewed 1653 plasma samples from 709 patients (aged
      6 months to 16 years) and compared the concentration-to-dose ratio (CD ratio) of
      LTG among different AED regimens. The median CD ratio of patients receiving LTG
      monotherapy was 1.25 MUg/mL/mg/kg. In patients receiving LTG plus VPA, the CD
      ratio was increased by about 140%. The CD ratio was elevated from a low VPA
      concentration (<40 MUg/mL) and the increase was VPA concentration-dependent. In
      contrast, the median CD ratio of patients treated with LTG plus the inducers
      phenytoin, phenobarbital, and carbamazepine was 0.42, 0.63, and 0.66,
      respectively, and phenytoin significantly reduced the CD ratio in comparison with
      phenobarbital or carbamazepine (p < 0.001). Pediatric patients of all ages beyond
      infancy showed similar susceptibility to VPA or inducers, but infants had higher
      CD ratios compared with the other age groups. Among other AEDs, topiramate,
      ethosuximide, and rufinamide reduced the CD ratio. These findings should be
      useful for estimating interactions between LTG and concomitant AEDs.

PMID- 25825022
TI  - Low abundance of mitochondrial DNA changes mitochondrial status and renders cells
      resistant to serum starvation and sodium nitroprusside insult.
AB  - Mutation or depletion of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can cause severe mitochondrial
      malfunction, originating from the mitochondrion itself, or from the crosstalk
      between nuclei and mitochondria. However, the changes that would occur if the
      amount of mtDNA is diminished are less known. Thus, we generated rat myoblast
      H9c2 cells containing lower amounts of mtDNA via ethidium bromide and uridine
      supplementation. After confirming the depletion of mtDNA by quantitative PCR and
      gel electrophoresis analysis, we investigated the changes in mitochondrial
      physical parameters by using flow cytometry. We also evaluated the resistance of
      these cells to serum starvation and sodium nitroprusside. H9c2 cells with
      diminished mtDNA contents showed decreased mitochondrial membrane potential,
      mass, free calcium, and zinc ion contents as compared to naive H9c2 cells.
      Furthermore, cytosolic and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species levels were
      significantly higher in mtDNA-lowered H9c2 cells than in the naive cells.
      Although the oxygen consumption rate and cell proliferation were decreased, mtDNA
      lowered H9c2 cells were more resistant to serum deprivation and nitroprusside
      insults than the naive H9c2 cells. Taken together, we conclude that the low
      abundance of mtDNA cause changes in cellular status, such as changes in reactive
      oxygen species, calcium, and zinc ion levels inducing resistance to stress. 

PMID- 25825023
TI  - Docosahexaenoic acid inhibits the invasion of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells
      through upregulation of cytokeratin-1.
AB  - Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the main member of the omega-3 essential fatty acid
      family, has been shown to reduce the invasion of the triple-negative breast
      cancer cell line MDA-MB-231, but the mechanism involved remains unclear. In the
      present study, a proteomic approach was used to define changes in protein
      expression induced by DHA. Proteins from crude membrane preparations of MDA-MB
      231 cells treated with 100 uM DHA were separated by two-dimensional
      electrophoresis (2-DE) and differentially expressed proteins were identified
      using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The main changes observed were the
      upregulation of Keratin, type II cytoskeletal 1 (KRT1), catalase and lamin-A/C.
      Immunocytochemistry analyses confirmed the increase in KRT1 induced by DHA.
      Furthermore, in vitro invasion assays showed that siRNA against KRT1 was able to
      reverse the DHA-induced inhibition of breast cancer cell invasion. In conclusion,
      KRT1 is involved in the anti-invasive activity of DHA in breast cancer cells.

PMID- 25825025
TI  - Bullying among nurses and its relationship with burnout and organizational
      climate.
AB  - Workplace bullying is one of the most common work-related psychological problems.
      Bullying costs seem higher for organizations composed of health-care workers who
      perform direct-contact patients-complex tasks. Only a few studies have been
      carried out among nurses in Italy and integrated models of bullying antecedents
      and consequences are particularly missing. The aim of this study was to develop a
      bullying model focused on the interaction between bullying and burnout in the
      setting of a climate-health relationship. Research involved 658 nurses who
      completed a survey on health, burnout, bullying and organizational climate.
      Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis. Results suggest
      that workplace bullying partially mediates the relationship between
      organizational climate and burnout and that bullying does not affect health
      directly, but only indirectly, via the mediation of burnout. Our study
      demonstrates the key-role of workplace bullying and burnout in the climate-health
      relationship in order to understand and to improve nurses' health. 

PMID- 25825026
TI  - An adjustable electron achromat for cathode lens microscopy.
AB  - Chromatic aberration correction in light optics began with the invention of a two
      color-corrected achromatic crown/flint lens doublet by Chester Moore Hall in
      1730. Such color correction is necessary because any single glass shows
      dispersion (i.e. its index of refraction changes with wavelength), which can be
      counteracted by combining different glasses with different dispersions. In
      cathode lens microscopes (such as Photo Electron Emission Microscopy - PEEM) we
      encounter a similar situation, where the chromatic aberration coefficient of the
      cathode lens shows strong dispersion, i.e. depends (non-linearly) on the energy
      with which the electrons leave the sample. Here I show how a cathode lens in
      combination with an electron mirror can be configured as an adjustable electron
      achromat. The lens/mirror combination can be corrected at two electron energies
      by balancing the settings of the electron mirror against the settings of the
      cathode lens. The achromat can be adjusted to deliver optimum performance,
      depending on the requirements of a specific experiment. Going beyond the
      achromat, an apochromat would improve resolution and transmission by a very
      significant margin. I discuss the requirements and outlook for such a system,
      which for now remains a wish waiting for fulfilment. 

PMID- 25825024
TI  - Glycosylation of immunoglobulin G determines osteoclast differentiation and bone
      loss.
AB  - Immunglobulin G (IgG) sialylation represents a key checkpoint that determines the
      engagement of pro- or anti-inflammatory Fcgamma receptors (FcgammaR) and the
      direction of the immune response. Whether IgG sialylation influences osteoclast
      differentiation and subsequently bone architecture has not been determined yet,
      but may represent an important link between immune activation and bone loss. Here
      we demonstrate that desialylated, but not sialylated, immune complexes enhance
      osteoclastogenesis in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we find that the Fc
      sialylation state of random IgG and specific IgG autoantibodies determines bone
      architecture in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In accordance with these
      findings, mice treated with the sialic acid precursor N-acetylmannosamine
      (ManNAc), which results in increased IgG sialylation, are less susceptible to
      inflammatory bone loss. Taken together, our findings provide a novel mechanism by
      which immune responses influence the human skeleton and an innovative treatment
      approach to inhibit immune-mediated bone loss. 

PMID- 25825027
TI  - Field evaporation of insulators and semiconductors: Theoretical insights for ZnO.
AB  - We look at the new challenges associated with Atom Probe Tomography of insulators
      and semiconductors with regard to local fields inside and on the surface of such
      materials. The theoretical discovery that in high fields the band gap in these
      materials is drastically reduced to the point where at the evaporation field
      strength it vanishes will be crucial in our discussion. To understand Atom Probe
      results on the field evaporation of insulators and semiconductors we use density
      functional theory on ZnO clusters to follow the structural and electronic changes
      during field evaporation and to obtain potential energy curves, HOMO-LUMO gaps,
      field distributions, desorption pathways and fragments, dielectric constants, and
      polarizabilities. We also examine the effects of electric field reversal on the
      evaporation of ZnO and compare the results with Si. 

PMID- 25825028
TI  - Automated voxelization of 3D atom probe data through kernel density estimation.
AB  - Identifying nanoscale chemical features from atom probe tomography (APT) data
      routinely involves adjustment of voxel size as an input parameter, through visual
      supervision, making the final outcome user dependent, reliant on heuristic
      knowledge and potentially prone to error. This work utilizes Kernel density
      estimators to select an optimal voxel size in an unsupervised manner to perform
      feature selection, in particular targeting resolution of interfacial features and
      chemistries. The capability of this approach is demonstrated through analysis of
      the gamma / gamma' interface in a Ni-Al-Cr superalloy. 

PMID- 25825029
TI  - Disintegration and field evaporation of thiolate polymers in high electric
      fields.
AB  - High electrostatic fields cause major changes in polymers, structural (e.g.
      electrostriction) and electronic (e.g. reduction of the "band gap" with final
      metallization). Using density functional theory we have studied field effects on
      amino-alkane-thiols and perfluoro-alkane-thiols adsorbed on a metal substrate.
      Our results agree well with the APT fragmentation spectra obtained by Stoffers,
      Oberdorfer and Schmitz and shed light on disintegration pathways. We demonstrate
      that in SAMs the HOMO/LUMO gap is again reduced as a function of the field
      strength and vanishes at evaporation. We also follow the field dependence of the
      dielectric constant and polarizability. 

PMID- 25825030
TI  - Fever Pitch: Northeast Ohio ebola exposure effect on ED visits to a Cleveland
      Hospital.

PMID- 25825031
TI  - The Authors Reply: further consideration in evaluation of right ventricular
      infarction.

PMID- 25825032
TI  - Normal anion gap salicylate poisoning.

PMID- 25825033
TI  - Right lower quadrant abdominal pain, fever, and hypotension: an atypical
      presentation of meningococcemia.

PMID- 25825034
TI  - Withdrawal seizures seen in the setting of synthetic cannabinoid abuse.

PMID- 25825035
TI  - The three-dimensional structure of VIM-31--a metallo-beta-lactamase from
      Enterobacter cloacae in its native and oxidized form.
AB  - The metallo-beta-lactamase VIM-31 differs from VIM-2 by only two Tyr224His and
      His252Arg substitutions. Located close to the active site, the Tyr224His
      substitution is also present in VIM-1, VIM-4, VIM-7 and VIM-12. The VIM-31
      variant was reported in 2012 from Enterobacter cloacae and kinetically
      characterized. It exhibits globally lower catalytic efficiencies than VIM-2. In
      the present study, we report the three-dimensional structures of VIM-31 in its
      native (reduced) and oxidized forms. The so-called 'flapping-loop' (loop 1) and
      loop 3 of VIM-31 were not positioned as in VIM-2 but instead were closer to the
      active site as in VIM-4, resulting in a narrower active site in VIM-31. Also, the
      presence of His224 in VIM-31 disrupts hydrogen-bonding networks close to the
      active site. Moreover, a third zinc-binding site, which also exists in VIM-2
      structures, could be identified as a structural explanation for the decreased
      activity of VIM-MBLs at high zinc concentrations.

PMID- 25825036
TI  - Infection due to travel-related carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae, a
      largely underestimated phenomenon in Belgium.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) are emerging
      worldwide, representing a major threat for public health. Early CPE detection is
      crucial in order to prevent infections and the development of
      reservoirs/outbreaks in hospitals. In 2008, most of the CPE strains reported in
      Belgium were imported from patients repatriated from abroad. Actually, this is no
      longer the case. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: A surveillance was set up in Belgian
      hospitals (2012) in order to explore the epidemiology and determinants of CPE,
      including the link with international travel/hospitalization. The present article
      describes travel-related CPE reported in Belgium. Different other potential
      sources for importation of CPE are discussed. RESULTS: Only 12% of all CPE cases
      reported in Belgium (2012-2013) were travel related (with/without
      hospitalization). This is undoubtedly an underestimation (missing travel data:
      36%), considering the increasing tourism, the immigration from endemic countries,
      the growing number of foreign patients using scheduled medical care in Belgium,
      and the medical repatriations from foreign hospitals. The free movement of
      persons and services (European Union) contributes to an increase in foreign
      healthcare workers (HCW) in Belgian hospitals. Residents from nursing homes
      located at the country borders can be another potential source of dissemination
      of CPE between countries. Moreover, the high population density in Belgium can
      increase the risk for CPE-dissemination. Urban areas in Belgium may cumulate
      these potential risk factors for import/dissemination of CPE. CONCLUSIONS:
      Ideally, travel history data should be obtained from hospital hygiene teams, not
      from the microbiological laboratory. Patients who received medical care abroad
      (whatever the country) should be screened for CPE at admission.

PMID- 25825037
TI  - Soluble CD40 ligand promotes macrophage foam cell formation in the etiology of
      atherosclerosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: High levels of soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) in the circulation have
      been suggested as an important indicator of cardiovascular diseases such as
      atherosclerosis and acute coronary syndromes. In the present study, we explored
      the role of sCD40L in the formation of foam cells. METHODS: Lipid deposition and
      foam cell formation was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography and
      Nile Red staining, respectively. Gene expressions were detected by quantitative
      real-time PCR and Western blot analysis. The interaction between CD40 and sCD40L
      were blocked by CD40 small interfering RNA or anti-CD40 antibody. RESULTS: sCD40L
      significantly increased lipid deposition and foam cell formation associated with
      upregulation of scavenger receptor type A and CD36. Additionally, sCD40L
      increased adipocyte enhancer-binding protein 1 and cholesterol efflux, and
      activated NF-kappaB in macrophages. sCD40L promoted foam cell formation via CD40
      ligation and disruption of the ligation between CD40 and CD40L either by small
      interfering RNA or by a blocking anti-CD40 antibody apparently inhibiting foam
      cell formation in response to sCD40L. CONCLUSION: Our data suggests a novel
      insight into the role of sCD40L in foam cell formation during atherosclerosis,
      which further confirms the importance of sCD40L in atherosclerosis and as a
      target for the treatment of this disease.

PMID- 25825038
TI  - Metabolic engineering in methanotrophic bacteria.
AB  - Methane, as natural gas or biogas, is the least expensive source of carbon for
      (bio)chemical synthesis. Scalable biological upgrading of this simple alkane to
      chemicals and fuels can bring new sustainable solutions to a number of industries
      with large environmental footprints, such as natural gas/petroleum production,
      landfills, wastewater treatment, and livestock. Microbial biocatalysis with
      methane as a feedstock has been pursued off and on for almost a half century,
      with little enduring success. Today, biological engineering and systems biology
      provide new opportunities for metabolic system modulation and give new optimism
      to the concept of a methane-based bio-industry. Here we present an overview of
      the most recent advances pertaining to metabolic engineering of microbial methane
      utilization. Some ideas concerning metabolic improvements for production of
      acetyl-CoA and pyruvate, two main precursors for bioconversion, are presented. We
      also discuss main gaps in the current knowledge of aerobic methane utilization,
      which must be solved in order to release the full potential of methane-based
      biosystems. 

PMID- 25825039
TI  - Role of stress-related hormones in plant defence during early infection of the
      cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii in Arabidopsis.
AB  - Heterodera schachtii, a plant-parasitic cyst nematode, invades host roots and
      induces a specific syncytial feeding structure, from which it withdraws all
      required nutrients, causing severe yield losses. The system H. schachtii
      Arabidopsis is an excellent research model for investigating plant defence
      mechanisms. Such responses are suppressed in well-established syncytia, whereas
      they are induced during early parasitism. However, the mechanisms by which the
      defence responses are modulated and the role of phytohormones are largely
      unknown. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of hormone-based defence
      responses at the onset of nematode infection. First, concentrations of main
      phytohormones were quantified and the expression of several hormone-related genes
      was analysed using quantitative real-time (qRT)-PCR or GeneChip. Further, the
      effects of individual hormones were evaluated via nematode attraction and
      infection assays using plants with altered endogenous hormone concentrations. Our
      results suggest a pivotal and positive role for ethylene during nematode
      attraction, whereas jasmonic acid triggers early defence responses against H.
      schachtii. Salicylic acid seems to be a negative regulator during later syncytium
      and female development. We conclude that nematodes are able to impose specific
      changes in hormone pools, thus modulating hormone-based defence and signal
      transduction in strict dependence on their parasitism stage.

PMID- 25825040
TI  - Surface-tuned electron transfer and electrocatalysis of hexameric tyrosine
      coordinated heme protein.
AB  - Molecular modeling, electrochemical methods, and quartz crystal microbalance were
      used to characterize immobilized hexameric tyrosine-coordinated heme protein
      (HTHP) on bare carbon or on gold electrodes modified with positively and
      negatively charged self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), respectively. HTHP binds to
      the positively charged surface but no direct electron transfer (DET) is found due
      to the long distance of the active sites from the electrode surfaces. At carboxyl
      terminated surfaces, the neutrally charged bottom of HTHP can bind to the SAM.
      For this "disc" orientation all six hemes are close to the electrode and their
      direct electron transfer should be efficient. HTHP on all negatively charged SAMs
      showed a quasi-reversible redox behavior with rate constant ks values between
      0.93 and 2.86 s(-1) and apparent formal potentials ${E{{0{^{?prime }}?hfill ?atop
      {?rm app}?hfill}}}$ between -131.1 and -249.1 mV. On the MUA/MU-modified
      electrode, the maximum surface concentration corresponds to a complete monolayer
      of the hexameric HTHP in the disc orientation. HTHP electrostatically immobilized
      on negatively charged SAMs shows electrocatalysis of peroxide reduction and
      enzymatic oxidation of NADH.

PMID- 25825041
TI  - Ofatumumab retreatment and maintenance in fludarabine-refractory chronic
      lymphocytic leukaemia patients.
AB  - There are limited data on retreatment with monoclonal antibodies (mAb) in
      patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). In a pivotal study, ofatumumab
      (human anti-CD20 mAb) monotherapy demonstrated a 47% objective response rate
      (ORR) in fludarabine refractory CLL patients. From this study, a subset of 29
      patients who had at least stable disease and then progressed were retreated with
      eight weekly ofatumumab infusions (induction treatment period), followed by
      monthly infusions for up to 2 years (maintenance treatment period). The ORR after
      8 weeks of induction retreatment was 45% and 24% had continued disease control
      after maintenance at 52 weeks. Efficacy and safety of the retreated patients were
      compared with their initial results in the pivotal study. Response duration was
      24.1 months vs. 6.8 months; time to next therapy was 14.8 months vs. 12.3 months;
      and progression-free survival was 7.4 months vs. 7.9 months (medians). Upon
      retreatment, 72% had infusion reactions, mostly Grade 1-2. Three patients had
      fatal infections. In summary, ofatumumab retreatment and maintenance therapy was
      feasible in patients with heavily pretreated CLL and appeared to result in more
      durable disease control than initial ofatumumab treatment in this subset of
      patients who may have a more favourable disease profile.

PMID- 25825042
TI  - Genetic and Phenotypic Characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from
      Cystic Fibrosis Patients in Austria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common life-limiting inherited
      disease in Caucasian populations. While pathological changes can be seen in
      various organs, morbidity and mortality are mainly related to the respiratory
      tract, with patients suffering from chronic bronchopulmonary infections with
      characteristic pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus. OBJECTIVES: To date,
      there is only very limited data on the genetic and phenotypic characteristics of
      S. aureus in CF patients. Therefore, in our study, we characterized 58 S. aureus
      isolates collected from CF patients in Austria by spa typing, DNA microarray
      profiling, as well as antimicrobial susceptibility testing in order to determine
      common genomic and antimicrobial resistance features. The tested strain
      collection exhibited high genomic diversity. RESULTS: The 58 isolates were
      assigned to 16 clonal complexes and 48 spa types and differed greatly regarding
      their virulence and resistance gene profiles. The predominant clonal complexes
      were MLST CC30 (22%), CC15 (16%), CC45 (14%), and CC5 (12%), complexes that are
      highly prevalent worldwide among S. aureus strains isolated from humans colonized
      or infected with S. aureus. DNA microarray profiles showed a wide variety of
      genes encoding antimicrobial resistance and virulence factors such as various
      leukocidins, haemolysins, enterotoxins, exfoliative toxins, toxic shock syndrome
      toxin, as well as genes involved in adhesion and immune evasion. CONCLUSIONS:
      While a large number of strains exhibited resistance to one or several
      antimicrobial agents, methicillin-resistant S. aureus was found at a low
      prevalence of 3% (n = 2) only. The two methicillin-resistant S. aureus isolates
      were assigned to CC152/t355 (SCCmecV) and CC5/t001 (SCCmecI). This is the first
      study to genetically characterize S. aureus isolates in CF patients in Austria.

PMID- 25825043
TI  - Mendelian randomization analysis supports the causal role of dysglycaemia and
      diabetes in the risk of coronary artery disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Type 2 diabetes is a strong risk factor for coronary artery disease
      (CAD). However, the absence of a clear reduction in CAD by intensive glucose
      lowering in randomized controlled trials has fuelled uncertainty regarding the
      causal role of dysglycaemia and CAD. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether Mendelian
      randomization supports a causal role of dysglycaemia and diabetes for risk of
      CAD. METHODS: Effect size estimates of common genetic variants associated with
      fasting glucose (FG), glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), and diabetes were obtained
      from the Meta-Analyses of Glucose and Insulin-Related Traits Consortium and
      Diabetes Genetics Replication and Meta-Analysis consortia. The corresponding
      effect estimates of these single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the risk of
      CAD were then evaluated in CARDIOGRAMplusC4D. RESULTS: SNPs associated with HbA1c
      and diabetes were associated with an increased risk of CAD. Using information
      from 59 genetic variants associated with diabetes, the causal effect of diabetes
      on the risk of CAD was estimated at an odds ratio (OR) of 1.63 (95% Confidence
      Interval (CI): 1.23-2.07; P = 0.002). On the other hand, nine genetic variants
      associated with HbA1c were associated with an OR of 1.53 per 1% HbA1c increase
      (95% CI: 1.14-2.05; P = 0.023) in the risk of CAD while this effect was non
      significant among 30 genetic variants associated with FG per mmol/L (OR: 1.18,
      95% CI: 0.97-1.42; P = 0.102). No significant differences were observed when
      categorizing genetic loci according to their effect on either beta-cell
      dysfunction or insulin resistance. CONCLUSIONS: These Mendelian randomization
      analyses support a causal role for diabetes and its associated high glucose
      levels on CAD, and suggest that long-term glucose lowering may reduce CAD events.

PMID- 25825045
TI  - Time to subsequent live birth according to mode of delivery in the first birth.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To estimate the rate and time to next live birth by mode of delivery.
      DESIGN: Hospital-based cohort. SETTING: Aarhus University Hospital (AUH),
      Denmark. POPULATION: All pregnant women attending AUH were invited to enroll in
      the Aarhus Birth Cohort (ABC) study between 1989 and 2010 (n = 91,625). METHODS:
      Women were followed from their first live birth until the subsequent live birth
      or until censoring due to study end using Cox regression models. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Rate and time to subsequent live birth according to mode of delivery.
      RESULTS: 46,162 index live births were identified, of which 22,462 (49%) had a
      subsequent live birth. Women with any type of caesarean had a 6% reduction in the
      rate of subsequent live birth (HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.89, 0.98), which remained
      unchanged in the analysis by type (emergency, HR 0.95, 95% CI 0.89, 1.02;
      elective, HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.85, 0.98) compared with women who had a spontaneous
      vaginal delivery (SVD). Operative vaginal delivery was associated with an 8%
      reduction in subsequent live birth rates (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.86, 0.98) and vaginal
      delivery complicated by shoulder dystocia with a 19% reduction compared with SVD.
      Median time to next birth in days was shortest in women with a first caesarean
      (994 days, 95% CI 973, 1026) and longest in women with a vaginal delivery
      complicated by shoulder dystocia (1065 days, 95% CI 994, 1191). In women with
      planned pregnancies, the shortest median time to second birth was in women with
      breech vaginal deliveries (859 days, 95% CI 737, 1089) and the longest in women
      with vaginal deliveries complicated by shoulder dystocia (1193 days, 95% CI 1028,
      1430). CONCLUSION: The impact of mode of delivery on subsequent rate and time to
      next birth was minimal in this study. The greatest reduction was among women with
      assisted vaginal delivery complicated by shoulder dystocia. This study is
      strengthened by data on pregnancy planning as well as information on
      complications of pregnancy, delivery and neonatal morbidities, all of which may
      influence a woman's decision on subsequent birth.

PMID- 25825044
TI  - Assessment of a standardized algorithm for cardiac pacing in older patients
      affected by severe unpredictable reflex syncopes.
AB  - AIMS: Opinions differ regarding the effectiveness of cardiac pacing in patients
      affected by reflex syncope. We assessed a standardized guideline-based algorithm
      in different forms of reflex syncope. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this prospective,
      multi-centre, observational study, patients aged >40 years, affected by severe
      unpredictable recurrent reflex syncopes, underwent carotid sinus massage (CSM),
      followed by tilt testing (TT) if CSM was negative, followed by implantation of an
      implantable loop recorder (ILR) if TT was negative. Those who had an asystolic
      response to one of these tests received a dual-chamber pacemaker. POPULATION: 253
      patients, mean age 70 +/- 12 years, median 4 (3-6) syncopes, 89% without or with
      short prodromes. Of these patients, 120 (47%) received a pacemaker and 106 were
      followed up for a mean of 13 +/- 7 months: syncope recurred in 10 (9%). The
      recurrence rate was similar in 61 CSM+ (11%), 30 TT+ (7%), and 15 ILR+ (7%)
      patients. The actuarial total syncope recurrence rate was 9% (95% confidence
      interval (CI), 6-12) at 1 year and 15% (95% CI, 10-20) at 2 years and was
      significantly lower than that observed in the group of 124 patients with non
      diagnostic tests who had received an ILR: i.e. 22% (95% CI, 18-26) at 1 year and
      37% (95% CI, 30-43) at 2 years (P = 0.004). CONCLUSION: About half of older
      patients with severe recurrent syncopes without prodromes have an asystolic
      reflex for which cardiac pacing goes along with a low recurrence rate. The study
      supports the clinical utility of the algorithm for the selection of candidates to
      cardiac pacing in everyday clinical practice. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION:
      http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01509534.

PMID- 25825046
TI  - Adult nasolacrimal duct cyst causing epiphora.

PMID- 25825047
TI  - The evolution of parental care in insects: A test of current hypotheses.
AB  - Which sex should care for offspring is a fundamental question in evolution.
      Invertebrates, and insects in particular, show some of the most diverse kinds of
      parental care of all animals, but to date there has been no broad comparative
      study of the evolution of parental care in this group. Here, we test existing
      hypotheses of insect parental care evolution using a literature-compiled
      phylogeny of over 2000 species. To address substantial uncertainty in the insect
      phylogeny, we use a brute force approach based on multiple random resolutions of
      uncertain nodes. The main transitions were between no care (the probable
      ancestral state) and female care. Male care evolved exclusively from no care,
      supporting models where mating opportunity costs for caring males are reduced-for
      example, by caring for multiple broods-but rejecting the "enhanced fecundity"
      hypothesis that male care is favored because it allows females to avoid care
      costs. Biparental care largely arose by males joining caring females, and was
      more labile in Holometabola than in Hemimetabola. Insect care evolution most
      closely resembled amphibian care in general trajectory. Integrating these
      findings with the wealth of life history and ecological data in insects will
      allow testing of a rich vein of existing hypotheses. 

PMID- 25825048
TI  - Antifungal potential of Avicennia schaueriana Stapf & Leech. (Acanthaceae)
      against Cladosporium and Colletotrichum species.
AB  - There is significant interest in research to develop plant extracts with
      fungicidal activities that are less harmful to the environment and human health
      than synthetic fungicides. This study aimed to evaluate the antifungal activity
      of the extracts of Avicennia schaueriana against Colletotrichum and Cladosporium
      species and to identify the compounds responsible for the activity. Leaves and
      stems of A. schaueriana were extracted with ethanol and partitioned with
      petroleum ether, chloroform and ethyl acetate. The antifungal activity of such
      extracts was tested by bioautography against Cladosporium sphaerospermum,
      Cladosporium cladosporioides and Colletotrichum lagenarium. Ethanolic extracts,
      petroleum ether and chloroform fractions of stems had the highest antifungal
      activity with several active bands (Rf = 0.72 and Rf = 0.55). In the agar
      dilution assay, ethanolic extract, petroleum ether and chloroform fractions of
      stems were the most efficacious, presenting 85, 62 and 63% growth inhibition of
      Colletotrichum gloeopsporioides and minimum inhibitory concentration values
      between 1 and 1.5 mg ml(-1) , respectively. Analysis carried out using gas
      chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometry of petroleum ether and chloroform
      fractions allowed the identification of fatty acids methyl esters, lupeol and
      naphthoquinones such as lapachol, alpha-lapachone, naphtho[2,3-b]furan-4,9-dione,
      2-isopropyl- and avicenol-C. We may infer that the antifungal activity of A.
      schaueriana is due to the abundance of these compounds. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT
      OF THE STUDY: This study shows that Avicennia schaueriana extracts have a high
      potential for the growth inhibition of Colletotrichum and Cladosporium ssp. and
      will provide a starting point for discovering new natural products with
      antifungal activity. Their development is of particular interest to organic
      production systems where synthetic fungicides cannot be used.

PMID- 25825049
TI  - Evaluation of simultaneous autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrification
      processes and bacterial community structure analysis.
AB  - This study demonstrated that a combined heterotrophic and autotrophic
      denitrification (HAD) process is highly effective for the simultaneous removal of
      acetate, nitrate, and sulfide at an efficiency of 100, 80, and 100 %,
      respectively. In the HAD system, simultaneous sulfide, acetate, and nitrate
      removals were observed, which indicated that heterotrophic and autotrophic
      denitrification occurred simultaneously. When the sulfide was existed in HAD
      reactor, the main product of sulfide biooxidation was S(0). Once the sulfide was
      exhausted, the sulfate concentration in the HAD reactor increased and became the
      main end product. These results provided an alternative method to control the end
      sulfide biooxidation product by online monitoring sulfide concentration. Nearly
      half (43 %) of the total clones in our mix-trophic reactor were amphitrophy
      denitrifiers. The autotrophic denitrifiers, heterotrophic denitrifiers, and
      amphitrophy denitrifiers coexisted in the HAD reactor to complete the
      denitrification process. Retrieved bacterial 16S rRNA gene clones affiliated with
      uncultured Xanthomonadaceae, Thauera, Thiobacillus, and Chromatiales were
      dominant. 

PMID- 25825050
TI  - Increased intracellular calcium level and impaired nutrient absorption are
      important pathogenicity traits in the chicken intestinal epithelium during
      Campylobacter jejuni colonization.
AB  - Although a high number of chickens carry Campylobacter jejuni, the mechanistic
      action of colonization in the intestine is still poorly understood. The current
      study was therefore designed to investigate the effects of C. jejuni on glucose
      uptake, amino acids availability in digesta, and intracellular calcium [Ca(2+)]i
      signaling in the intestines of broiler chickens. For this, we compared: control
      birds (n = 60) and C. jejuni-infected birds (n = 60; infected orally with 1 *
      10(8) CFU of C. jejuni NCTC 12744 at 14 days of age). Our results showed that
      glucose uptake was reduced due to C. jejuni infection in isolated jejunal, but
      not in cecal mucosa at 14 days postinfection (dpi). The decrease in intestinal
      glucose absorption coincided with a decrease in body weight gain during the 2
      week post-infectious period. A reduction in the amount of the amino acids
      (serine, proline, valine, leucine, phenylalanine, arginine, histidine, and
      lysine) in ileal digesta of the infected birds at 2 and/or 7 dpi was found,
      indicating that Campylobacter utilizes amino acids as a carbon source for their
      multiplication. Applying the cell-permeable Ca(2+) indicator Fluo-4 and two
      photon microscopy, we revealed that [Ca(2+)]i was increased in the jejunal and
      cecal mucosa of infected birds. The muscarinic agonist carbachol induced an
      increase in [Ca(2+)]i in jejunum and cecum mucosa of control chickens, a response
      absent in the mucosa of infected chickens, demonstrating that the modulation of
      [Ca(2+)]i by Campylobacter might be involved in facilitating the necessary
      cytoskeletal rearrangements that occur during the bacterial invasion of
      epithelial cells. In conclusion, this study demonstrates the multifaceted
      interactions of C. jejuni with the gastrointestinal mucosa of broiler chickens.
      For the first time, it could be shown that a Campylobacter infection could
      interfere with intracellular Ca(2+) signaling and nutrient absorption in the
      small intestine with consequences on intestinal function, performance, and
      Campylobacter colonization. Altogether, these findings indicate that
      Campylobacter is not entirely a commensal and can be recognized as an important
      factor contributing to an impaired chicken gut health. 

PMID- 25825051
TI  - The metalloprotease-disintegrin ADAM8 contributes to temozolomide chemoresistance
      and enhanced invasiveness of human glioblastoma cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite multimodal treatment, glioblastoma (GBM) therapy with
      temozolomide (TMZ) remains inefficient due to chemoresistance. Matrix
      metalloproteinase (MMP) and a disintegrin and metalloprotease (ADAM), increased
      in GBM, could contribute to chemoresistance and TMZ-induced recurrence of
      glioblastoma. METHODS: TMZ inducibility of metalloproteases was determined in GBM
      cell lines, primary GBM cells, and tissues from GBM and recurrent GBM. TMZ
      sensitivity and invasiveness of GBM cells were assessed in the presence of the
      metalloprotease inhibitors batimastat (BB-94) and marimastat (BB-2516).
      Metalloprotease-dependent effects of TMZ on mitochondria and
      pAkt/phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) and phosphorylated extracellular signal
      regulated kinase 1/2 (pERK1/2) pathways were analyzed by fluorescence activated
      cell sorting, morphometry, and immunoblotting. Invasiveness of GBM cells was
      determined by Matrigel invasion assays. Potential metalloprotease substrates were
      identified by proteomics and tested for invasion using blocking antibodies.
      RESULTS: TMZ induces expression of MMP-1, -9, -14, and ADAM8 in GBM cells and in
      recurrent GBM tissues. BB-94, but not BB-2516 (ADAM8-sparing) increased TMZ
      sensitivity of TMZ-resistant and -nonresistant GBM cells with different O(6)
      methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase states, suggesting that ADAM8 mediates
      chemoresistance, which was confirmed by ADAM8 knockdown, ADAM8 overexpression, or
      pharmacological inhibition of ADAM8. Levels of pAkt and pERK1/2 were increased in
      GBM cells and correlated with ADAM8 expression, cell survival, and invasiveness.
      Soluble hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) R/c-met and CD44 were identified as
      metalloprotease substrates in TMZ-treated GBM cells. Blocking of HGF R/c-met
      prevented TMZ-induced invasiveness. CONCLUSIONS: ADAM8 causes TMZ resistance in
      GBM cells by enhancing pAkt/PI3K, pERK1/2, and cleavage of CD44 and HGF R/c-met.
      Specific ADAM8 inhibition can optimize TMZ chemotherapy of GBM in order to
      prevent formation of recurrent GBM in patients.

PMID- 25825053
TI  - Plaque Thrombosis is Reduced by Attenuating Plaque Inflammation with Pioglitazone
      and is Evaluated by Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The relationship between the beneficial effects of pioglitazone in
      reducing clinical events and plaque inflammatory burden remains unknown. This
      study aimed to determine whether pioglitazone can reduce the number of plaque
      thrombosis incidences and whether decreasing plaque inflammation is the mechanism
      by which pioglitazone reduces plaque thromboses. METHODS AND RESULTS:
      therosclerotic rabbits were divided into two groups: the atherosclerosis group (n
      = 13) and pioglitazone group (n = 10). The rabbits underwent pharmacological
      triggering to induce thrombosis. Serum inflammatory markers, FDG uptake,
      macrophage, and neovessel staining detected arterial inflammation. PET/CT scans
      were performed twice (baseline and posttreatment scans). Plaque area,
      macrophages, and neovessels were measured and the histologic sections were
      matched with the PET/CT scans. Serum MMP-9 and hsCRP were lower in the
      pioglitazone group compared to the atherosclerosis group. The SUVmean
      significantly decreased in the pioglitazone group (0.62 +/- 0.21 vs. 0.55 +/-
      0.19, P = 0.008), but increased in the atherosclerosis group (0.61 +/- 0.15 vs.
      0.91 +/- 0.20, P < 0.000). The incidence rate of plaque rupture, plaque area,
      macrophage density, and neovessel density was significantly lower in rabbits with
      pioglitazone than without (15% vs. 38%, P < 0.001; 18.00 +/- 2.30 vs. 27.00 +/-
      1.60; P < 0.001; 8.80 +/- 3.94 vs. 28.26 +/- 2.49; P < 0.001; 16.50 +/- 3.09 vs.
      29.00 +/- 2.11; P < 0.001, respectively). Moreover, plaque area and macrophage
      density were positively correlated with SUV values. CONCLUSIONS: Our study
      suggests that pioglitazone can reduce the number of plaque thrombosis incidences
      by decreasing plaque inflammation. (18)F-FDG-PET/CT can detect plaque
      inflammation and assess the effects of antiatherosclerotic drugs.

PMID- 25825054
TI  - [Fecal microbiota transplantation in recurrent Clostridium difficile infections.
      Framework and pharmaceutical preparation aspects].
AB  - The fecal microbiota transplantation consists in introducing a preparation
      constituted by a dilution of stools of a healthy donor in the digestive tract of
      a patient recipient, to restore his intestinal physiological balance. This
      therapeutic approach was the subject of numerous studies showing its efficiency
      in the treatment of the recurrent infections with Clostridium difficile. The
      fecal microbiota transplantation has now a high level of clinical evidence, which
      explains that it appears in various international recommendations. In France, the
      fecal microbiota transplantation responds to the definition of a medication and
      can be executed as a pharmaceutical preparation or as an experimental drug for
      clinical trials under the responsibility of a hospital pharmacy. The objective of
      this paper is to propose a definition of a framework and to describe the methods
      of preparation of the fecal microbiota transplantation in the treatment of the
      recurrent infections with C. difficile and the interactions to consider for
      hospital pharmacies that do not have technical means to operate this technique. 

PMID- 25825055
TI  - Identifying important ions and positions in mass spectrometry imaging data using
      CUR matrix decompositions.
AB  - Mass spectrometry imaging enables label-free, high-resolution spatial mapping of
      the chemical composition of complex, biological samples. Typical experiments
      require selecting ions and/or positions from the images: ions for fragmentation
      studies to identify keystone compounds and positions for follow up validation
      measurements using microdissection or other orthogonal techniques. Unfortunately,
      with modern imaging machines, these must be selected from an overwhelming amount
      of raw data. Existing techniques to reduce the volume of data, the most popular
      of which are principle component analysis and non-negative matrix factorization,
      have the disadvantage that they return difficult-to-interpret linear combinations
      of actual data elements. In this work, we show that CX and CUR matrix
      decompositions can be used directly to address this selection need. CX and CUR
      matrix decompositions use empirical statistical leverage scores of the input data
      to provide provably good low-rank approximations of the measured data that are
      expressed in terms of actual ions and actual positions, as opposed to difficult
      to-interpret eigenions and eigenpositions. We show that this leads to effective
      prioritization of information for both ions and positions. In particular,
      important ions can be found either by using the leverage scores as a ranking
      function and using a deterministic greedy selection algorithm or by using the
      leverage scores as an importance sampling distribution and using a random
      sampling algorithm; however, selection of important positions from the original
      matrix performed significantly better when they were chosen with the random
      sampling algorithm. Also, we show that 20 ions or 40 locations can be used to
      reconstruct the original matrix to a tolerance of 17% error for a widely studied
      image of brain lipids; and we provide a scalable implementation of this method
      that is applicable for analysis of the raw data where there are often more than a
      million rows and/or columns, which is larger than SVD-based low-rank
      approximation methods can handle. These results introduce the concept of CX/CUR
      matrix factorizations to mass spectrometry imaging, describing their utility and
      illustrating principled algorithmic approaches to deal with the overwhelming
      amount of data generated by modern mass spectrometry imaging. 

PMID- 25825056
TI  - Impact of anatase and rutile titanium dioxide nanoparticles on uptake carriers
      and efflux pumps in Caco-2 gut epithelial cells.
AB  - TiO2 microparticles are widely used in food products, where they are added as a
      white food colouring agent. This food additive contains a significant amount of
      nanoscale particles; still the impact of TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) on gut
      cells is poorly documented. Our study aimed at evaluating the impact of rutile
      and anatase TiO2-NPs on the main functions of enterocytes, i.e. nutrient
      absorption driven by solute-liquid carriers (SLC transporters) and protection
      against other xenobiotics driven by efflux pumps from the ATP-binding cassette
      (ABC) family. We show that acute exposure of Caco-2 cells to both anatase (12 nm)
      and rutile (20 nm) TiO2-NPs induce early upregulation of a battery of efflux
      pumps and nutrient transporters. In addition they cause overproduction of
      reactive oxygen species and misbalance redox repair systems, without inducing
      cell mortality or DNA damage. Taken together, these data suggest that TiO2-NPs
      may increase the functionality of gut epithelial cells, particularly their
      property to form a protective barrier against exogenous toxicants and to absorb
      nutrients. 

PMID- 25825052
TI  - Expression profiles of 151 pediatric low-grade gliomas reveal molecular
      differences associated with location and histological subtype.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pediatric low-grade gliomas (PLGGs), the most frequent pediatric
      brain tumor, comprise a heterogeneous group of diseases. Recent genomic analyses
      suggest that these tumors are mostly driven by mitogene-activated protein kinase
      (MAPK) pathway alterations. However, little is known about the molecular
      characteristics inherent to their clinical and histological heterogeneity.
      METHODS: We performed gene expression profiling on 151 paraffin-embedded PLGGs
      from different locations, ages, and histologies. Using unsupervised and
      supervised analyses, we compared molecular features with age, location,
      histology, and BRAF genomic status. We compared molecular differences with normal
      pediatric brain expression profiles to observe whether those patterns were
      mirrored in normal brain. RESULTS: Unsupervised clustering distinguished 3
      molecular groups that correlated with location in the brain and histological
      subtype. "Not otherwise specified" (NOS) tumors did not constitute a unified
      class. Supratentorial pilocytic astrocytomas (PAs) were significantly enriched
      with genes involved in pathways related to inflammatory activity compared with
      infratentorial tumors. Differences based on tumor location were not mirrored in
      location-dependent differences in expression within normal brain tissue. We
      identified significant differences between supratentorial PAs and diffuse
      astrocytomas as well as between supratentorial PAs and dysembryoplastic
      neuroepithelial tumors but not between supratentorial PAs and gangliogliomas.
      Similar expression patterns were observed between childhood and adolescent PAs.
      We identified differences between BRAF-duplicated and V600E-mutated tumors but
      not between primary and recurrent PLGGs. CONCLUSION: Expression profiling of
      PLGGs reveals significant differences associated with tumor location, histology,
      and BRAF genomic status. Supratentorial PAs, in particular, are enriched in
      inflammatory pathways that appear to be tumor-related.

PMID- 25825058
TI  - Group training of conservation skills with children from a non-technological
      culture.
AB  - Group training of conservation of length was undertaken with primary school
      children in Botswana. Each group contained 10 subjects of mixed academic ability.
      Three methods of training were used: (1) teacher demonstration accompanied by
      responsive group recitation, (2) limited manipulation of training materials by
      students, (3) full manipulation of training materials by students. The three
      training methods were effective in producing learning, retention, and
      generalization of conservation. The results are discussed in terms of Piaget's
      views on the role of environmental influences and the function of action in the
      development of cognitive structures. The value of Piagetian concepts for non
      technological societies also is discussed. 

PMID- 25825057
TI  - Long-lasting partnership between insulin resistance and endothelial dysfunction:
      role of metabolic memory.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The persistence of deleterious effects of hyperglycaemia
      even after glucose normalization is referred to as 'metabolic memory'. However,
      similar persistent effects of the metabolic consequences of a high fat diet (HFD)
      have not been described. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Rats were given a normal pellet
      diet (NPD) or a HFD for 3 months. The animals from the HFD group were then
      returned to the NPD to observe the long-term effects of insulin resistance.
      Endothelial dysfunction was assessed by carbachol-mediated vasorelaxation and
      eNOS phosphorylation. KEY RESULTS: As expected, HFD consumption resulted in
      insulin resistance and endothelial dysfunction. Phosphorylation of eNOS at S1177
      was decreased in HFD rats, compared with that in the NPD group. Rats on 3 months
      of HFD showed glucose intolerance and impaired insulin sensitivity and were then
      switched back to NPD (REV group) . Levels of cholesterol and triglyceride, and
      adiposity returned to normal in REV rats. However, endothelium-dependent vascular
      responses to carbachol which were impaired in HFD rats, continued to be impaired
      in REV rats. Similarly, decreased eNOS phosphorylation after HFD was not improved
      after 1 or 6 months of REV. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our data indicate that
      returning to NPD did not improve the insulin sensitivity or the endothelial
      dysfunction induced by HFD. Although some biochemical parameters responsible for
      insulin resistance and endothelial dysfunction were normalized, molecular and
      vascular abnormalities, involving NO, persisted for several months, highlighting
      the long-lasting effects of metabolic memory.

PMID- 25825059
TI  - Personal space amongst arabs and americans.
AB  - Personal space zones were examined amongst Arab and American university students
      by jointly varying degree of acquaintanceship and sex of subject. Overall, there
      were few differences between Arab and American males. Arab females, however,
      showed dramatic differences in comparison to American males and females and to
      Arab males. Arab females kept male friends very far away relative to female
      friends. Indeed, male friends were kept almost as far away as male strangers. 

PMID- 25825060
TI  - Simultaneous-successive syntheses and planning in chinese readers.
AB  - The present study investigated simultaneous-successive syntheses and planning as
      cognitive processing constructs in 66 grade 4 and 63 grade 6 Chinese children.
      Principal factor and promax analyses provided evidence of the realities of these
      independent factors. Simultaneous and successive components contributed to
      composite reading with varying degrees of variance for each grade. The Luria
      paradigm provides a useful framework for research into patterns of readers. 

PMID- 25825061
TI  - Studies of cognitive development in papua new Guinea.
AB  - This paper reviews research dealing with problem solving abilities amongst Papua
      New Guineans. Studies concerned with individual intelligence tests, group
      intelligence tests, achievement tests, conservation measures, classificatory
      skills, and formal operational thinking are considered. Data are discussed which
      compared the performance of Papua New Guinean children and adults with people
      elsewhere, and with foreigners resident in Papua New Guinea. As well, important
      differences within Papua New Guinea related in particular to schooling and
      language-culture group are noted. By contrast with some previous conclusions
      about the cognitive skills of Papua New Guineans, it is concluded that while
      there are differences between some Papua New Guinean groups and groups from
      English speaking countries in problem-solving performance, developmental patterns
      appear to be similar. Thus, educated. Papua New Guineans eventually achieve the
      highest levels of formal thinking. 

PMID- 25825062
TI  - The influence of ethnocentrism and ethnic label on the appreciation of
      disparagement jokes.
AB  - This study examined the relationship of ethnocentrism and the presence of an
      ethnic label to the humor appreciation of jokes with socially acceptable or
      unacceptable aggressors and victims. Forty high ethnocentrics and 40 low
      ethnocentrics, half males and half females, each read 12 jokes which varied in
      the acceptability of aggressor and victim and in the ethnic combination of the
      characters (neutral aggressor and victim, neutral aggressor and ethnic victim,
      ethnic aggressor and neutral victim). They rated these jokes on humor, as well as
      justifiability, hostility, and acceptability of aggressor and victim. Results
      indicated that high ethnocentrics, but not the low ones, found jokes with neutral
      aggressors and ethnic victims funnier. In addition, all subjects gave higher
      humor ratings to jokes with justified aggression. Thus, both ethnic stereotypes
      and the particular description of the characters appear to be significant
      influences on humor ratings in disparagement jokes. 

PMID- 25825063
TI  - Children'S experience of three types of cartoon at two age levels.
AB  - Three cartoons were shown to 87 children at two age levels: 5-6 years, and 9
      years. The children's experience was assessed in interviews. The younger children
      experienced the cartoons in a fragmentary manner and not as a continuous story,
      understood less of the cartoons, and tended to base their moral judgements of a
      character's behaviour on whether or not they identified with that character. Six
      months later, the younger children remembered best those scenes that had made
      them the most anxious earlier. A subgroup of children with abundant aggressive
      fantasies had a lower level of moral reasoning than the other children, preferred
      violent scenes, became less anxious while watching them and tended to give
      illogical explanations for the behaviour of the cartoon characters. The degree of
      anxiety provoked by a cartoon depended not on the amount of explicit violence
      shown but on the way the violence was presented. One cartoon, which contained no
      explicit violence, was considered the most frightening one due to its sound
      effects. 

PMID- 25825064
TI  - Positive prejudice in ethnic attitudes: Australian data.
AB  - An experiment was conducted to determine whether members of a majority ethnic
      group would exhibit positive prejudice in their attitudes toward an ethnic
      minority. Subjects were given written communications which evaluated Aborigines
      and white Australians either favourably or unfavourably. The occurrence of
      positive prejudice was assessed by examining subjects' overall agreement with
      each communication as a whole and their level of agreement with specific
      descriptions which comprised the communications. Results confirmed the existence
      of positive prejudice in these responses, but also indicated that subjects'
      reactions to the communications were influenced by the predispositional variable
      of ethnocentrism. The study further investigated whether positive prejudice is
      limited to responses illustrating minimal commitment or whether it forms a
      central component of inter-ethnic attitudes. Analysis of delayed recall of the
      specific descriptions from the written communications and of agreement with an
      independent ethnic attitudes questionnaire suggested that positive prejudice does
      not generalize beyond short-term, inconsequential reactions. The implications of
      these findings and the relevance of the positive prejudice concept are discussed.

PMID- 25825065
TI  - Psychology in the Australian context.
AB  - Psychology formally entered the Australian arena via university departments of
      Philosophy, commencing last century and taking its initial direction largely from
      Britain. The previous pattern of development of Australian psychology was more
      distinctive than is its present state. Although the influences of Germany and the
      United States have supplemented that of the parent country, it is difficult to
      discern any locally blended colouration in the discipline or the profession as
      they now appear. Somewhat distanced from the universities, applied psychology has
      flourished especially in the public sector beginning with the initial close
      liaison formed between psychology and education in a developing colonial society.
      The public impact of research and practice is by no means as apparent as in the
      United States or Britain. After a burgeoning in the 'sixties and early
      'seventies, the present state is one of limited growth concurrent with the
      general recession. 

PMID- 25825066
TI  - Pay satisfaction: its multidimensional nature and measurement.
AB  - The present study was guided by the general hypothesis that pay satisfaction is
      multidimensional. The Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ) was developed to
      assess five dimensions of satisfaction with pay (level, benefits, raises,
      structure, and administration). Results on two heterogeneous samples of employees
      provided support for the multidimensional hypothesis, although a four-dimensional
      solution (level, benefits, raises, structure/administration) provided better
      representation of the variance in the items studied. These four scales showed
      high internal consistency reliabilities. Comparison of the pay scales of the Job
      Descriptive Index and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire with the PSQ
      dimensions suggested that these well-known scales primarily measure satisfaction
      with pay level. Implications of the findings for pay satisfaction research, both
      substantive and measurement oriented, are discussed. 

PMID- 25825067
TI  - Clerodendrum viscosum: traditional uses, pharmacological activities and
      phytochemical constituents.
AB  - Clerodendrum viscosum is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions
      of the world particularly in India. Extracts from different parts of the plant
      have been used elaborately in Ayurveda and Unani for treating different illness.
      Many phytochemicals were isolated from various parts of the plant, but their
      pharmacological potentials have not been largely explored. This review focuses on
      all these aspects of the plant keeping in view the cultural and traditional
      acceptability of its medicinal use. Its toxicological data are limited and
      require investigation to address for safety issues prior to recommendating for
      pharmaceutical use. 

PMID- 25825068
TI  - A theoretical benchmark study of the spectroscopic constants of the very heavy
      rare gas dimers.
AB  - Spectroscopic constants for the homonuclear dimers of the very heavy rare gases
      radon (Rn) and eka-radon (Uuo) are reported. A computational protocol using the
      eXact 2-Component molecular-mean field Hamiltonian has been established based on
      extensive calculations of the xenon dimer. We find that reliable results require
      CCSD(T) calculations at the extrapolated basis set limit. In this limit
      counterpoise corrected results are closer to experimentally derived values than
      uncorrected ones. Furthermore, in an attempt to reduce the computational cost
      while retaining very high accuracy, we studied the performance of range-separated
      density functional theory. Although we observe a somewhat more favorable basis
      set convergence and reduced importance of connected triples by range-separated
      methods compared to pure wave function theory, in practice we have to employ the
      same computational protocol for obtaining converged results. At the Dirac-Coulomb
      level we find an almost fourfold increase of binding energy when going from the
      radon to the eka-radon dimer, but the inclusion of spin-other orbit interaction
      reduces the dissociation energy of the heaviest dimer by about 40%. 

PMID- 25825069
TI  - Challenges to measure hydration, redness, elasticity and perfusion in the
      unloaded sacral region of healthy persons after supine position.
AB  - AIM OF THE STUDY: To combine measurement methods of biophysical skin properties
      in a clinical setting and to measure baseline values in the unloaded sacral
      region of healthy persons after lying 30 min in supine position. METHODS:
      Hydration (Corneometer(r) CM 825), redness (Mexameter(r) MX 18), elasticity
      (Cutometer(r) MPA 580) and perfusion (PeriFlux System 5000) of the skin in the
      sacral region of 10 healthy participants (median age: 26.9 years) were measured
      consecutively in the laying position by two trained examiners. RESULTS: The
      assessment duration for all four parameters lasted about 15 min. Intra-class
      correlation coefficients were overall moderate to strong (hydration r = 0.594,
      redness r = 0.817, elasticity r = 0.719, perfusion r = 0.591). Hydration (median
      27.7 arbitrary units (AU)) mainly indicated dry skin conditions. Redness (median
      158.5 AU) was low. Elasticity (median 0.880 AU) showed similar values as in the
      neck region. Perfusion (median 17.1 AU) showed values in the range of results
      reported in the literature. CONCLUSION: Biophysical skin properties in the sacral
      region after supine position can be measured within periods of 15 min. The
      results provide baseline data for the skin of healthy persons as well as insights
      into skin-physiological variations. But it remains challenging to optimize
      measurement procedures and test protocols when transferring preclinical tests in
      a clinical application.

PMID- 25825070
TI  - Sofosbuvir and simeprevir for treatment of hepatitis C virus infection in liver
      transplant recipients.
AB  - Recurrent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection occurs universally in the allograft
      in the absence of effective antiviral therapy before liver transplantation (LT).
      Antiviral therapy with sofosbuvir and simeprevir has proven to be highly
      effective and well tolerated in the nontransplant setting for treatment of HCV
      genotype 1 infection; therefore, we sought to evaluate the efficacy and safety of
      this regimen in LT recipients with recurrent HCV infection. This was a
      retrospective analysis of a single-center treatment protocol of patients with HCV
      genotype 1 infection who received a 12-week combination regimen of sofosbuvir and
      simeprevir. Sixty-one patients (35 with genotype 1a and 26 with genotype 1b)
      completed treatment with simeprevir and sofosbuvir. Three patients received
      additional ribavirin. Laboratory data and clinical assessments performed at the
      baseline, on treatment, at the end of treatment, and 12 weeks after the
      completion of antiviral therapy [sustained virological response at 12 weeks
      (SVR12)] were analyzed. The median time after LT was 5.4 years [interquartile
      range (IQR), 1.9-8.4 years], and tacrolimus was the most commonly used
      immunosuppressive agent (80.3%). Overall, SVR12 was achieved in 93.4% [95%
      confidence interval (CI), 84%-97%] of LT recipients treated with 12 weeks of
      sofosbuvir and simeprevir. When they were analyzed according to the HCV subtype,
      LT recipients with genotype 1b had a 100% SVR12 rate (95% CI, 87%-100%), whereas
      SVR12 was 89% (95% CI, 74%-95%) for those with genotype 1a. Advanced fibrosis
      (METAVIR F3-F4) was associated with diminished antiviral efficacy in LT
      recipients with genotype 1a [SVR12, 67% (95% CI, 39%-86%); P = 0.01]. Overall,
      the incidence of adverse events (AEs) was low, and no severe AEs occurred during
      treatment. In conclusion, treatment with a 12-week regimen of sofosbuvir and
      simeprevir was well tolerated and resulted in a high SVR12 rate for LT recipients
      with recurrent HCV genotype 1 infection. Genotype 1a patients with advanced
      fibrosis of the allograft were more likely to relapse.

PMID- 25825071
TI  - Whether QOF has reduced premature death rates is still unclear.

PMID- 25825072
TI  - Development of toxicity values and exposure estimates for tetrabromobisphenol A:
      application in a margin of exposure assessment.
AB  - Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is used in a diverse array of products to improve
      fire safety. The National Toxicology Program (NTP) recently completed a 2-year
      bioassay for TBBPA. The objective of the present study was to develop a cancer
      based and a non-cancer based toxicity value and to compare such to appropriate
      estimates of human exposure. Data from the NTP 2-year and 13-week studies were
      selected to develop candidate toxicity values. Benchmark dose modeling and
      subsequent evaluation of candidate values resulted in selection of an oral
      reference dose (RfD) of 0.6 mg kg(-1) day(-1) based on uterine hyperplasia in
      rats and an oral cancer slope factor (OSF) of 0.00315 per mg kg(-1) day(-1) based
      on an increased incidence of uterine tumors in rats. Lifetime average daily dose
      (LADD) estimates ranged from 2.2 E(-7) to 3.9 E(-6) mg kg(-1) day(-1) based on
      age-adjusted exposures to TBBPA via breast milk consumption, dietary intake,
      soil/dust ingestion and drinking water ingestion in infants, young children,
      older children and adults. Average daily dose (ADD) estimates ranged from 3.2 E (
      7) to 8.4 E(-5) mg kg(-1) day(-1). Resulting margin of exposure (MOE) values were
      > 800 000 for non-cancer endpoints and > 32,000,000 for cancer-based endpoints.
      These data collectively indicate a low level of health concern associated with
      exposures to TBBPA based on current data. It is anticipated that the exposure
      estimates, along with the toxicity values described within, should be informative
      for understanding human health hazards associated with TBBPA.

PMID- 25825073
TI  - An Unusual Cause of Neonatal Meningitis.

PMID- 25825074
TI  - Report by the Spanish Foundation for the Brain on the social impact of
      amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neuromuscular disorders.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: A thorough knowledge of the socioeconomic scope of neuromuscular
      disease is essential for managing resources and raising social awareness.
      DEVELOPMENT: Our group reviewed current data on the epidemiology, mortality and
      dependence rates, and socioeconomic impact of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and
      neuromuscular diseases in Spain. We also recorded how neurological care for these
      patients is organised. CONCLUSIONS: Neuromuscular disorders are a very
      heterogeneous group of diseases, and some are very rare. These disorders account
      for between 2.8% and 18% of the total motives for a neurological consultation. In
      Spain, prevalence and incidence figures for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are
      similar to those in other countries; however, figures for patients with other
      neuromuscular diseases are not known. Since the diseases are chronic,
      progressive, and debilitating, they cause considerable disability and dependence,
      which in turn directly affects healthcare and social costs associated with the
      disease. The costs generated by one patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or
      Duchenne disease have been calculated at about 50 000 euros per year.
      Neuromuscular disease shows aetiological, diagnostic, and prognostic complexity,
      and it requires multidisciplinary management. Follow-up for these patients should
      be entrusted to specialised units.

PMID- 25825075
TI  - Status of management effort in 153 marine protected areas across the English
      Channel.
AB  - A conceptual framework was developed for assessing the sub-level of protection in
      185 multiple-use marine protected areas (MPAs) in the English Channel through a
      survey on management effort. Data were retrieved from 153 MPAs: 4.56% were
      assigned low management effort, 83.70% were assigned medium management effort,
      and 11.76% were assigned high management effort. Overall, French MPAs performed
      better in terms of management effort than English MPAs and lack of consistency in
      ratings by different management bodies in England was found. Lack of correlation
      between management effort and conservation status within an available subset of
      13 MPAs suggests that management may not be as influential a factor for the
      effective conservation of MPAs, especially in marine environments under heavy
      human pressure such as the English Channel. It is suggested that MPAs in such
      areas may therefore require an upgrade of their legal level of protection to be
      effective. 

PMID- 25825076
TI  - Boswellia gum resin/chitosan polymer composites: Controlled delivery vehicles for
      aceclofenac.
AB  - This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of Boswellia gum resin on the
      properties of glutaraldehyde (GA) crosslinked chitosan polymer composites and
      their potential as oral delivery vehicles for a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
      drug, aceclofenac. The incorporation of resinous material caused a significant
      improvement in drug entrapment efficiency (~40%) of the polymer composites.
      Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic analysis confirmed the formation
      of chitosan-gum resin composites and did not show any evidence of drug-polymer
      chemical interaction. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM)
      suggested the formation of particulate polymer composites up to chitosan:gum
      resin mass ratio of 1:3. Only 8-17% drug was released into HCl solution (pH 1.2)
      in 2h. The drug release rate of polymer composites was faster in phosphate buffer
      solution (pH 6.8). The composites released ~60-68% drug load in 7h. In same
      duration, the drug release rate suddenly boosted up to 92% as the concentration
      of gum resin in the composites was raised to 80%. The drug release mechanism
      deviated from non-Fickian to case-II type with increasing resin concentration in
      the composites. Hence, GA-treated Boswellia resin-chitosan composites could be
      considered as alternative vehicles for oral delivery of aceclofenac. 

PMID- 25825077
TI  - A novel laccase from basidiomycete Cerrena sp.: Cloning, heterologous expression,
      and characterization.
AB  - A novel laccase gene Lac1 and its cDNA were cloned from a white-rot fungus
      Cerrena sp. and characterized. The 1554-bp cDNA of Lac1 encoded a mature protein
      with 497 amino acids, preceded by a signal peptide of 20 amino acids. An
      unconventional intron splice site and incomplete splicing variants of Lac1 were
      observed. Lac1 was heterologously expressed in the yeast host Pichia pastoris,
      and a maximal laccase activity of 6.3UmL(-1) in the fermentation broth was
      achieved after fermentation for 9 days. The recombinant protein rLac1 was
      purified, and its enzymatic properties and functional characteristics were
      investigated. When ABTS was used as the substrate, the enzyme was most active at
      pH 3.5 and 55 degrees C, and stable at pH 4-10 and 20-60 degrees C. The Km and
      kcat values of rLac1 toward ABTS were 28.9 MUM and 332.4s(-1), respectively.
      Furthermore, rLac1 was tolerant to common metal ions up to 100mM concentration
      and capable of decolorizing structurally different dyes in the absence of a redox
      mediator. Hence, Lac1 may be useful for industrial applications, such as dye
      decolorization and bioremediation. 

PMID- 25825078
TI  - Interplay of Halogen and pi-pi Charge-Transfer Bondings in Intermolecular
      Associates of Bromo- or Iododinitrobenzene with Tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine.
AB  - Two modes of intermolecular interactions (halogen and pi-pi charge-transfer
      bonding) between bromo- or iododinitrobenzene (XDNB) and tetramethyl-p
      phenylenediamine (TMPD) are compared. X-ray crystallography revealed that
      TMPD.XDNB cocrystals comprise alternating donors/acceptors stacks formed by pi
      bonded (cofacial) TMPD and XDNB molecules. These structures also show two-point
      (C-X...O-N) halogen bonding between XDNB molecules resulting in formation of
      (XDNB)2 dimers. In solutions, XDNB and TMPD molecules formed 1:1 complexes
      showing strong absorption bands near 550 nm which followed the same Mulliken
      correlation as the associates of TMPD with the (halogen-free) nitro- and
      cyanobenzenes. In accord with the experimental data, density functional theory
      calculations with the M062X functional showed that TMPD.XDNB associates formed
      via pi-pi charge-transfer bonding are more stable (by 6-12 kcal/mol) than their
      halogen-bonded analogues. If XDNB is replaced with iodo- or bromoperfluorinated
      benzenes, or TMPD is replaced with pyridine, the energy gap between the pi-pi and
      halogen-bonded associates decreased. The analysis of the molecular-orbital
      interactions and surface electrostatic potentials of the interacting species
      indicated that charge-transfer contributions represent a critical component which
      determines variations of the strength of halogen bonding in these systems. 

PMID- 25825079
TI  - Editorial statement on negative findings.

PMID- 25825080
TI  - Transplantation: The molecular landscape of ABMR.

PMID- 25825087
TI  - Acute kidney injury: Proximal tubule cells modulate inflammation after renal
      injury.

PMID- 25825086
TI  - The genetics of diabetic complications.
AB  - The rising global prevalence of diabetes mellitus is accompanied by an increasing
      burden of morbidity and mortality that is attributable to the complications of
      chronic hyperglycaemia. These complications include blindness, renal failure and
      cardiovascular disease. Current therapeutic options for chronic hyperglycaemia
      reduce, but do not eradicate, the risk of these complications. Success in
      defining new preventative and therapeutic strategies hinges on an improved
      understanding of the molecular processes involved in the development of these
      complications. This Review explores the role of human genetics in delivering such
      insights, and describes progress in characterizing the sequence variants that
      influence individual predisposition to diabetic kidney disease, retinopathy,
      neuropathy and accelerated cardiovascular disease. Numerous risk variants for
      microvascular complications of diabetes have been reported, but very few have
      shown robust replication. Furthermore, only limited evidence exists of a
      difference in the repertoire of risk variants influencing macrovascular disease
      between those with and those without diabetes. Here, we outline the challenges
      associated with the genetic analysis of diabetic complications and highlight
      ongoing efforts to deliver biological insights that can drive translational
      benefits. 

PMID- 25825084
TI  - Genetics and pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus and lupus nephritis.
AB  - Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disorder that has
      a broad spectrum of effects on the majority of organs, including the kidneys.
      Approximately 40-70% of patients with SLE will develop lupus nephritis. Renal
      assault during SLE is initiated by genes that breach immune tolerance and promote
      autoantibody production. These genes might act in concert with other genetic
      factors that augment innate immune signalling and IFN-I production, which in turn
      can generate an influx of effector leucocytes, inflammatory mediators and
      autoantibodies into end organs, such as the kidneys. The presence of cognate
      antigens in the glomerular matrix, together with intrinsic molecular
      abnormalities in resident renal cells, might further accentuate disease
      progression. This Review discusses the genetic insights and molecular mechanisms
      for key pathogenic contributors in SLE and lupus nephritis. We have categorized
      the genes identified in human studies of SLE into one of four pathogenic events
      that lead to lupus nephritis. We selected these categories on the basis of the
      cell types in which these genes are expressed, and the emerging paradigms of SLE
      pathogenesis arising from murine models. Deciphering the molecular basis of SLE
      and/or lupus nephritis in each patient will help physicians to tailor specific
      therapies. 

PMID- 25825088
TI  - Autophagy inhibition enhances sensitivity of endometrial carcinoma cells to
      paclitaxel.
AB  - Autophagy has been shown to be involved in cancer cell resistance to
      chemotherapy. Paclitaxel, a widely used chemotherapeutic drug, was demonstrated
      to induce autophagy in various cancer cells. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the
      role of autophagy on the paclitaxel-induced cell death in endometrial carcinoma.
      In this study, we found that paclitaxel induced autophagy in paclitaxel
      insensitive HEC-1A and JEC cells, exhibiting an increased microtubule associated
      protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3)-II/LC3-I ratio, a decrease in p62/SQSTM1 abundance,
      the upregulation of Beclin 1 expression and punctate dots of yellow fluorescent
      protein (YFP)-LC3 in the cytosol. Paclitaxel-mediated cell death was further
      potentiated by pretreatment with autophagy inhibitor chloroquine (CQ) or shRNA
      against the autophagic gene beclin 1. Moreover, paclitaxel stimulated reactive
      oxygen species (ROS) generation, and inhibition of the ROS by antioxidant N
      acetyl-cysteine (NAC) blocked paclitaxel-induced autophagy, indicating that
      paclitaxel-induced autophagy in endometrial carcinoma cells is mediated by ROS.
      These findings suggest that paclitaxel-elicited autophagic response plays a
      protective role that impedes the eventual death of endometrial carcinoma cell,
      and that autophagy-inhibitor therapy could be an effective and potent strategy to
      improve paclitaxel treatment outcomes in the treatment of endometrial carcinoma.

PMID- 25825089
TI  - Availability of emergency drugs and equipment in general and specialist dental
      settings in Babol, Iran.
AB  - AIM: Medical emergencies can frequently happen in dental settings and it is
      critical to outfit the clinic by emergency drugs and equipment. The aim of this
      study was to evaluate the emergency drugs and equipment in general and specialist
      dental settings in Babol, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire containing
      closed ended questions about the available emergency drugs and equipment was used
      in this descriptive-analytical study. Data were subjected to descriptive analysis
      using SPSS 18.0 to identify the most frequent drugs and equipment. Chi-square and
      t-test were used to evaluate the correlation between the variables. p < 0.05 was
      considered statistically significant. RESULTS: One hundred and twelve dentists
      answered the questionnaire. The most available drug and equipment were
      epinephrine (67%) and single use syringe (81.3%) respectively. Significant
      correlation was found between degree of education and availability of first group
      of emergency drugs and between sex and possession of second group of emergency
      equipment (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Degree of availability of emergency drugs and
      equipment was moderate to low and training about emergencies should be included
      in the didactic topics of universities and workshops. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
      Information about emergency drug and equipment would help to manage the unwanted
      emergency situations.

PMID- 25825090
TI  - Comparison of linear measurements and analyses taken from plaster models and
      three-dimensional images.
AB  - Digital models are an alternative for carrying out analyses and devising
      treatment plans in orthodontics. The objective of this study was to evaluate the
      accuracy and the reproducibility of measurements of tooth sizes, interdental
      distances and analyses of occlusion using plaster models and their digital
      images. Thirty pairs of plaster models were chosen at random, and the digital
      images of each plaster model were obtained using a laser scanner (3Shape R-700,
      3Shape A/S). With the plaster models, the measurements were taken using a caliper
      (Mitutoyo Digimatic((r)), Mitutoyo (UK) Ltd) and the MicroScribe (MS) 3DX
      (Immersion, San Jose, Calif). For the digital images, the measurement tools used
      were those from the O3d software (Widialabs, Brazil). The data obtained were
      compared statistically using the Dahlberg formula, analysis of variance and the
      Tukey test (p < 0.05). The majority of the measurements, obtained using the
      caliper and O3d were identical, and both were significantly different from those
      obtained using the MS. Intra-examiner agreement was lowest when using the MS. The
      results demonstrated that the accuracy and reproducibility of the tooth
      measurements and analyses from the plaster models using the caliper and from the
      digital models using O3d software were identical. 

PMID- 25825091
TI  - The impact of chlorhexidine mouth rinse on the bond strength of polycarbonate
      orthodontic brackets.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current in-vivo study was to assess the effect of
      using 0.12% chlorhexidine (CHX) mouth rinse, before bonding, on shear bond
      strength of polycarbonate brackets bonded with composite adhesive. SUBJECTS AND
      METHODS: Eighteen orthodontic patients with a mean age 21.41 +/- 1.2 years, who
      were scheduled to have 2 or more first premolars extracted, were included in this
      study. Patients were referred for an oral prophylaxis program which included, in
      part, the use of a mouth rinse. Patients were divided into 2 groups, a test group
      of 9 patients who used 0.12% CHX gluconate mouth rinse twice daily and a control
      group of 9 patients who used a mouth rinse without CHX, but with same color.
      After 1 week, polycarbonate brackets were bonded to first premolars with
      Transbond XT composite adhesive. Premolars were extracted after 28 days and
      tested for shear bond strength on a universal testing machine. Student's t-test
      was used to compare shear bond strengths of both groups. RESULTS: No
      statistically significant difference was found in bond strengths' values between
      both groups. The test group (with CHX) has mean shear bond strength of 14.21 +/-
      2.42 MPa whereas the control group (without CHX) revealed a mean strength of
      14.52 +/- 2.31 MPa. CONCLUSION: The use of 0.12% CHX mouth rinse, for one week
      before bonding, did not affect the shear bond strength of polycarbonate brackets
      bonded with Transbond composite. Furthermore, these brackets showed clinically
      acceptable bond strength.

PMID- 25825092
TI  - Medical emergency management among Iranian dentists.
AB  - AIMS: More than 18,000 patients need medical emergencies management in dental
      offices in Iran annually. The present study investigates medical emergencies
      management among Iranian dentists. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From the list of the
      cell phone numbers of the dentists practicing in the city of Tehran, 210 dentists
      were selected randomly. A self-administered questionnaire was used as the data
      collection instrument. The questionnaire requested information on personal and
      professional characteristics of the dentists, as well as their knowledge and self
      reported practice in the field of medical emergency management, and availability
      of required drugs and equipments to manage medical emergencies in their offices.
      RESULTS: Totally, 177 dentists (84%) completed the questionnaire. Less than 60%
      of the participants were knowledgeable about characteristics of hypoglycemic
      patient, chest pain with cardiac origin, and true cardiopulmonary resuscitation
      (CPR) practice. Regarding practice, less than one quarter of the respondents
      acquired acceptable scores. In regression models, higher practice scores were
      significantly associated with higher knowledge scores (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION:
      The results call for a need to further education on the subject for dentists.
      Continuing education and changing dental curriculum in the various forms seems to
      be useful in enhancement of the self-reported knowledge and practice of dentists.
      CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: To successful control of medical emergencies in the dental
      office, dentists must be prepared to recognize and manage a variety of such
      conditions. In addition to dentist's knowledge and skill, availability of
      necessary equipments and trained staff is also of critical importance.

PMID- 25825093
TI  - Influence of occlusal contact area on cusp defection and stress distribution.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of occlusal
      contact area for loading on the cuspal defection and stress distribution in a
      first premolar restored with a high elastic modulus restorative material.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Rhinoceros 4.0 software was used for modeling the
      three-dimensional geometries of dental and periodontal structures and the inlay
      restoration. Thus, two different models, intact and restored teeth with three
      occlusal contact areas, 0.1, 0.5 and 0.75 mm(2), on enamel at the occlusal
      surface of buccal and lingual cusps. Finite element analysis (FEA) was performed
      with the program ANSYS (Workbench 13.0), which generated a mesh with tetrahedral
      elements with greater refinement in the regions of interest, and was constrained
      at the bases of cortical and trabecular bone in all axis and loaded with 100 N
      normal to each contact area. RESULTS: To analysis of maximum principal stress,
      the smaller occlusal contact area showed greater compressive stress in region of
      load application for both the intact and inlay restored tooth. However, tensile
      stresses at the occlusal isthmus were similar for all three tested occlusal
      contact areas (60 MPa). To displacement of the cusps was higher for teeth with
      inlay (0.46-0.48 mm). For intact teeth, the smaller contact area showed greater
      displacement (0.10 mm). For teeth with inlays, the displacement of the cusps were
      similar in all types of occlusal area. CONCLUSION: Cuspal displacement was higher
      in the restored tooth when compared to the intact tooth, but there were no
      significant variations even with changes in the occlusal contact area. RELEVANCE
      CLINICAL: Occlusal contacts have a great influence on the positioning of teeth
      being able to maintain the position and stability of the mandible. Axial loads
      would be able to generate more uniform stress at the root presenting a greater
      concentration of load application in the point and the occlusal surface. Thus, is
      necessary to analyze the relationship between these occlusal contacts as dental
      wear and subsequent occlusal interferences.

PMID- 25825094
TI  - Influence of metalloproteinases on dentin hybridization of one-bottle or self
      etch dental bonding systems.
AB  - AIM: To assess the influence of dentin substrate and chlorhexidine on the
      marginal seal of composite resin restorations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sample
      comprised 20 third molars. Four cavities were drilled in the dentin sur face,
      followed by sealing and restoration of sound dentin (n = 10) or carious dentin (n
      = 10). In the control group, cavities were immediately restored as follows: G1:
      one-bottle bonding agent (OB) + composite resin (CR); G2: chlorhexidine 2.0%
      (CLX) + OB + CR; G3: self-etch bonding agent (SE) + CR; G4: CLX + SE + CR. In the
      experimental group (carious dentin), carious lesions were induced with S. mutans
      and cavities were restored as in the control group. Five specimens from each
      group (sound and carious) were stored in brain-heart infusion (BHI) medium for 6
      months. All specimens were submerged in methylene blue 0.5% to test for
      microleakage. The Kruskal-Wallis and Student-Newman-Keuls tests were used to
      assess results. RESULTS: On immediate assessment, there were no significant
      between-group differences in the sound dentin group, whereas in carious dentin,
      there was less leakage when OB and CLX were used. At 6 months, there was less
      leakage in the sound dentin group when OB and CLX were used; there were no
      between-group differences in carious dentin. Comparison of immediate and 6-month
      assessments showed a significant increase in leakage at 6 months when sound
      dentin was treated with SE and CLX and when carious dentin was treated with OB
      and CLX. CONCLUSION: To ensure better dentin hybridization and preservation of
      the organic constituents of the dentin matrix, the properties of chlorhexidine
      digluconate and the components of the resin matrix must be taken into account.
      CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Metalloproteinases influence degradation of the hybrid
      layer in composite resin restorations, regardless of whether the bonding system
      used is one-bottle or self-etching.

PMID- 25825095
TI  - Isolation of Candida species from the oral cavity and fingertips of complete
      denture wearers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Wearing a dental prosthesis is known to increase oral candidal
      colonization and predispose the wearer to oral candidosis. Denture wearers
      frequently use fingers to take the prosthesis out of their mouth. Oral Candida,
      if present may contaminate wearer's finger. The objective of this study was to
      investigate the simultaneous candidal colonization of oral cavity and fingertips
      of complete denture wearers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 25 apparently
      healthy male subjects who had worn complete dentures for at least 1 year were
      selected. Information about each patient's denture age, denture hygiene,
      handling, and wearing habits, and hand washing habits after denture handling were
      be obtained. Intraoral examination of all the patients was done. For
      microbiological examination samples were collected from the fingertip and oral
      rinse of each patient. Candida species were identified with use of germ tube test
      and commercially available yeast identification system. Data was statistically
      analyzed. Significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: It was found that frequency
      of hand washing, denture handling and denture stomatitis with respect to
      fingertip candidal isolation was not statistically significant. But poor denture
      hygiene and denture stomatitis with respect to oral candidal colonization was
      statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Denture wearers with oral Candida had a
      higher prevalence of Candida contamination on their fingers. Patients with
      removable prostheses should be informed about the importance of proper prosthesis
      and personal hygiene and the possibility of microbial contamination of the hands
      and other parts of the body.

PMID- 25825096
TI  - Effectiveness of an infiltrant on sealing of composite restoration margins
      with/without artificial caries.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a resin
      infiltrant (ICON) on marginal sealing ability of class II resin restorations
      with/without-caries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-eight noncarious human pre
      molar teeth were embedded and MO and DO preparations of standard dimensions were
      prepared. The left side of dentin margins of the cavities were left nonbonded
      (UB) while the right side were bonded using total etch-bonding agent and all
      restored with a Nanohybrid composite. The teeth were thermocycled and half of the
      specimens in the UB and B groups were subjected to an artificial caries process.
      ICON was applied to caries and noncaries subgroups following the manufacturer's
      directions. Impressions were made at each step: after the restorations were
      completed, thermocycling, artificial caries procedures, and infiltrant
      application and the silicone tag lengths were measured with a stereomicroscope.
      The specimens were immersed in 0.5% basic fuchsine at 37 degrees  C for 24 hours,
      sectioned and microleakage was evaluated with a stereomicroscope. Selected
      samples and their replicas were assessed for marginal quality under a
      stereomicroscope and SEM. Statistical evaluation of the data were made using
      Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon Sign Rank tests. RESULTS: While
      bonding application did not create a meaningful difference, the thermocycling and
      artificial caries significantly increased the gap length and microleakage (p <
      0.05). ICON application was decreased the microleakage, created gap-free margins
      and closed the gaps which were previously occurred at the same cavities (p <
      0.05). CONCLUSION: A resin infiltrant (ICON) application decreased the
      microleakage, created gap-free margins and closed the gaps, which previously
      occurred at the same cavities. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Approximal application of
      resin infiltrant may increase the success of the class II composite restorations
      also reduced the risk of needing more complex restoration therapy.

PMID- 25825097
TI  - Study of pulp chamber morphology of primary mandibular molars using spiral
      computed tomography.
AB  - AIM: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pulp chamber morphology in
      primary mandibular molars using spiral computed tomography (SCT). MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Sixty extracted primary mandibular molars were scanned using SCT for the
      (i) distance between the central fissure to furcation, (ii) distance between the
      central fissure to the floor of the pulp chamber, (iii) height of the pulp
      chamber (roof-floor), (iv) distance between the floor of the pulp chamber to the
      furcation. The mean and standard deviation was analyzed using statistical package
      for the social sciences (SPSS) program. RESULTS: The results of this study show
      that the average mean distance from the central fissure to the floor of the pulp
      chamber is 5.07 mm in first mandibular primary molar and 5.54 mm in second
      mandibular primary molar. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that the greatest depth
      to which a bur can go during access opening without perforating the furcation in
      first primary mandibular molar is 5.07 mm and 5.54 mm in second primary
      mandibular molar.

PMID- 25825098
TI  - Evaluation of the effect of diacetyl morphine on salivary factors and their
      changes after methadone therapy.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Psychoactive drugs are responsible for pathological changes in the
      mouth including dental caries, which most troublesome. The aim of the present
      study was to evaluate the effect of heroin on several salivary factors which are
      involved in the oral health and their changes after methadone maintenance therapy
      (MMT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty patients with heroin abuse history, who
      referred to Imam Reza Hospital for MMT were included. Saliva sampling was carried
      out two times; at the first visit (time 1) and repeated 1 month after MMT (time
      2). The saliva was analyzed immediately to evaluate the total volume, Ph, CPR,
      the Uric acid concentration, nitric oxide and antioxidant capacity. RESULTS: The
      mean values for saliva volume, pH, CRP, Uric acid, antioxidant and nitric oxide
      were 0.38 +/- 0.14, 7.63 +/- 1.22, 5.2 +/- 2.3, 1.47 +/- 0.8, 0.80 +/- 0.23, and
      0.26 +/- 0.03, respectively at first visit and 0.34 +/- 0.22, 7.37 +/- 1.01, 6.1
      +/- 2.6, 2.18 +/- 0.9, 0.74 +/- 0.3 and 0.29 +/- 0.08 after 1 month of MMT. These
      values are below the normal ranges; however, there was no significant difference
      between two times in term of saliva volume, pH and saliva component (p > 0.05).
      CONCLUSION: Heroin addiction changed the effective salivary factors and therefore
      could negatively contribute to oral health. These factors were not return to the
      normal range after 1 month of MMT. Physicians should be informed about focusing
      on oral health in patients under MMT.

PMID- 25825099
TI  - Is it possible to use cross-sectional and vertical facial measurements to
      establish the shape of the mandibular arch?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Given the benefits of radiographic cephalometric studies in
      determining patterns of dental-skeletal-facial normality in orthodontics, the aim
      of this study was to investigate the association between mandibular dental arch
      shape and cross-sectional and vertical facial measurements. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: It was analyzed plaster casts and teleradiographs in frontal and lateral
      norm belonging to 50 individuals, aged between 15 and 19 years, with no previous
      history of orthodontic treatment and falling into four of the six Andrews's
      occlusion keys. The plaster models were scanned (3D) and the images of the dental
      arches were classified subjectively as oval, triangular and quadrangular by three
      calibrated examiners, with moderate inter-examiner agreement (Kappa = 0.50).
      After evaluation of the method error by paired t test (p > 0.05), it was carried
      out the analysis of cross-sectional and vertical facial measurements to be
      compared to the shape of the dental arch. Data were subjected to one-way analysis
      of variance with a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: When the VERT index was
      compared with the three arch shapes, no measurement showed statistically
      significant differences (p > 0.05): triangular (0.54); oval (0.43); and
      quadrangular (0.73); as well as there were no differences (p > 0.05) in the
      widths of the face (141.20; 141.26; 143.27); maxilla (77.27; 77.57; 78.59) and
      mandible (105.13; 103.96; 104.28). CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that there was
      no correlation between different shapes of the mandibular dental arch and the
      cross-sectional and vertical facial measurements investigated.

PMID- 25825100
TI  - Evaluation of the relationship between mandibular third molar and mandibular
      canal by different algorithms of cone-beam computed tomography.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Exact location of the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) bundle is very
      important. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the
      mandibular third molar and the mandibular canal by cone-beam computed tomography.
      STUDY DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study with convenience sampling. 94
      mandibular CBCTs performed with CSANEX 3D machine (Soredex, Finland) and 3D
      system chosen. Vertical and horizontal relationship between the mandibular canal
      and the third molar depicted by 3D, panoramic reformat view of CBCT and cross
      sectional view. Cross-sectional view was our gold standard and other view
      evaluated by it. RESULTS: There were significant differences between the vertical
      and horizontal relation of nerve and tooth in all views (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION:
      The results showed differences in the position of the inferior alveolar nerve
      with different views of CBCT, so CBCT images are not quite reliable and have
      possibility of error.

PMID- 25825101
TI  - Evaluation of interleukin-1alpha, interleukin-10, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and
      transforming growth factor-beta in the serum of patients with pemphigus vulgaris.
AB  - Pemphigus is an autoimmune blistering disease characterized by a loss of cell
      adhesion result in acantholysis. Genetic factors and immunologic factors such as
      cytokines particularly IL-1alpha, IL-10, TNF-alpha, and TGF-beta may counterpart
      to developing of Pemphigus. The aim of this study was to evaluate. The
      concentration of IL-1alpha, IL-10, TNF-alpha, TGF-beta in serum of pemphigus
      vulgaris (PV) patients and normal individuals. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this
      analytic and descriptive study 25 patients with pemphigus vulgaris (in active
      phase) and 25 healthy per sons were examined. Serum samples of two groups were
      obtained and the level of IL-1alpha, IL-10, TNF-alpha and TGF-beta were measured
      by ELISA technique. The data were analyzed statistically by independent T test
      (alpha = 0/05). RESULTS: All cytokines tested, showed higher concentration in
      patient's sera comparing to healthy control individuals. The level of IL-1alpha
      (p = 0.004), TNF-alpha (p = 0.008) and TGF-beta (p = 0.009) were statistically
      different in two experimental groups, There was no significant difference in IL
      10 level (p = 0.605). CONCLUSION: Cytokines such as IL-1alpha, IL-10, TNF-alpha
      and TGF-beta probably have a role in pathogenesis of PV. Further comprehensive
      studies are suggested to confirm these findings.

PMID- 25825102
TI  - Efficacy of lignocaine in gel and spray form during buccal infiltration
      anesthesia in children: a randomized clinical trial.
AB  - AIM: To compare the efficacy of 15% lignocaine spray and 8% lignocaine gel as a
      topical anesthetic, in reducing pain, during buccal infiltration in children.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-two patients aged between 7 and 12 years requiring
      restorative procedures/extraction/pulp therapy of primary/ permanent teeth in the
      maxillary arch, under buccal infiltration anesthesia were selected for the study.
      The participants were randomly allocated into 2 groups of 21 each. In group A, 8%
      lignocaine gel and in group B, 15% lignocaine spray was applied prior to buccal
      infiltration. Pain was assessed using Wong-Baker faces pain rating scale (WBFPRS)
      and faces legs activity cry and consolability (FLACC) painscale. RESULTS:
      Pearson's chi-square test revealed that there was no significant difference in
      the FLACC scores of the two groups (p = 0.54). Independent t-test demonstrated
      that there was no significant difference in Wong-Bakers faces pain score between
      the two agents (p = 0.07). CONCLUSION: There is no significant difference in the
      efficacy of 15% lignocaine spray and 8% lignocaine gel as a topical anesthetic in
      controlling pain during buccal infiltration anesthesia, in children.

PMID- 25825103
TI  - Knowledge, attitude and practice of pediatricians and pharmacists in Riyadh City
      toward the use of sugar free medications.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study was intended to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice
      of pediatricians and pharmacists about sugar free medications (SFMs) and their
      impact on oral health. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Self-administered close ended
      questionnaire was handed out to all pediatricians and pharmacists in five
      tertiary hospitals in Riyadh (King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud Medical
      City, King Fahad Medical City, Prince Sultan Medical Military City, Security
      Forces Hospital) to investigate the knowledge, attitude and practice concerning
      SFMs. RESULTS: Eighty-five pediatricians and 77 pharmacists participated in this
      study. The results showed that pediatricians and pharmacists have a good
      knowledge, but negative attitude toward SFMs. Only (5.9%) of pediatricians had
      formal undergraduate training which is significantly lower than pharmacists
      (15.6%) (p = 0.04). One-third of pediatricans and pharmacists prescribe or
      dispense SFMs. The most influencing factors toward prescription (pediatrician) of
      SFMs was the medical status of the patient (70.6%), while the most influencing
      factor of dispensing (pharmacists) SFMs was the availability in the pharmacy
      (64.9%). Two-third of pediatricians (67%) guide the parents about the risk
      associated with sugar-containing medications (SCMs) which is significantly higher
      than pharmacists (p < 0.0001). Also, 53% of pediatricians recommend oral hygiene
      instructions when prescribing SCMs which is also significantly higher than
      pharmacists (p = 0.0 02). CONCLUSION: There is a considerable knowledge about
      SFMs and its impact on dental caries, among pediatricians and pharmacists
      participated in this study. However, their attitude toward prescribing or
      dispensing SFMs was not positive and may be linked to the gap in knowledge.
      Further training and education of healthcare providers regarding the use of SFMs
      and its negative impact on dental caries has to be reiterated.

PMID- 25825104
TI  - Analysis of the proliferative potential of odontogenic epithelial cells of
      pericoronal follicles.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the proliferative potential and the cell proliferation rate of
      odontogenic epithelial cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-two cases of
      pericoronal follicles of impacted third molars were submitted to silver
      impregnation technique for quantification of argyrophilic nucleolar organizer
      regions (AgNOR) and immunohistochemical staining for EGFR and Ki-67. For AgNOR
      quantification, the mean number of active nucleolar organizer regions per nucleus
      (mAgNOR) and the percentage of cells with 1, 2, 3 and 4 or more AgNORs per
      nucleus (pAgNOR) were quantified. Ki-67 immunolabeling was quantified, whereas
      for EGFR, a descriptive analysis of staining patterns (membrane, cytoplasm or
      membrane + cytoplasm positivity) was performed. We evaluated the reduced
      epithelium of the enamel organ and/or islands of odontogenic epithelium present
      in the entire connective tissue. RESULTS: mAgNOR were 1.43 (1.0-2.42) and were
      significantly different among pericoronary follicles from upper and lower teeth
      (p = 0.041). Immunostaining of Ki-67 was negative in all cases. EGFR
      immunolabeling was found mainly in the cytoplasm and was more intense in islands
      and cords when compared to reduced epithelium of the enamel organ. CONCLUSION:
      Odontogenic epithelial cells of some pericoronal follicles have proliferative
      potential, suggesting their association with the development of odontogenic
      lesions. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The authors suggest that nonerupted, especially
      of the lower teeth, should be monitored and if necessary removed.

PMID- 25825105
TI  - Radiographic localization of mental foramen in Northeast and South Indian ethnic
      groups of Indian population.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The position of mental foramen varies in different
      ethnic groups. The position of mental foramen is mainly important for achieving
      effective mental nerve block to carry out dental surgical procedures in mandible.
      Deviation in its position can be a cause of complication during local anesthesia
      or surgical procedures. The position of the mental foramen in South Indian and
      Northeast Indian population has not been reported. The purpose of the current
      study was to determine the most common location of the mental foramen (MF) and
      its bilateral symmetry in selected Indian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 380
      digital panoramic radiographs (DPR) of a randomly selected 2 Ethnic groups of
      Indian population were studied. RESULTS: The common position (59.2%) of the
      mental foramen was located between the 1st and 2nd premolars (P3) in Northeast
      Indians and in South Indians the common location (62.8%) was in line with the
      long axis of the 2nd premolar (P4), which was statistically significant in both
      Populations. CONCLUSION: A bilateral symmetry was observed in the location of
      mental foramina, either mesial to or in line with the long axis of the 2nd
      premolar, which is consistent with the observations of similar studies in various
      ethnic or racial groups. In our study a statistically significant association
      between the 2 ethnic groups and the position of mental foramen exists. Therefore
      the position of mental foramen may be specific to racial groups facilitating
      accurate landmark for mental nerve block depending on the ethnic group. Further,
      studies are required with larger sample for better understanding of mental
      foramen location in different ethnic groups.

PMID- 25825106
TI  - A method for retrieving endodontic or atypical nonendodontic separated
      instruments from the root canal: a report of two cases.
AB  - AIM: This clinical report presents a new method for retrieving separated
      instruments from the root canal with minimally invasive procedures. BACKGROUND:
      The presence of separated instrument in root canal may interfere in the
      endodontic treatment prognosis. There are several recommended methods to retrieve
      separated instruments, but some are difficult in clinically practice. CASE
      REPORT: This study describes two cases of separated instrument removal from the
      root canal using a stainless-steel prepared needle associated with a K-file. Case
      1 presented a fractured gutta-percha condenser within the mandibular second
      premolar, it was separated during incorrect intracanal medication calcium
      hydroxide placement. Case 2 had a fractured sewing needle within the upper
      central incisor that the patient used to remove food debris from the root canal.
      After cervical preparation, the fractured instruments were fitted inside a
      prepared needle and then an endodontic instrument (#25 K-file) was adapted with
      clockwise turning motion between the needle inner wall and the fragment.
      CONCLUSION: The endodontic or atypical nonendodontic separated instrument may be
      easily pull on of the root canal using a single and low cost device. CLINICAL
      SIGNIFICANCE: The methods for retrieving separated instruments from root canal
      are difficult and destructive procedures. The present case describes a simple
      method to solve this problem.

PMID- 25825107
TI  - An unusual case of ameloblastoma observed in the left anterior mandible.
AB  - AIM: To report a small intaalveolar ameloblastoma which resembled cystic lesion,
      and to emphasize the value of Computed tomography (CT) in radiographic
      examination. BACKGROUND: Ameloblastoma is a slow-growing, locally invasive
      odontogenic neoplasm that accounts for approximately 10% of all tumors detected
      in the jaws. Radiographically, those tumors are usually well-defined.
      Computerized tomography is highly recommended to confirm the diagnosis. CASE
      DESCRIPTION: A 48-year-old female attended with a chief complaint of painless
      swelling in the left anterior of mandible, 1 month duration. In intraoral
      examination, non-fluctuant, immobile, approximately 1 * 1 cm in dimension,
      painless, swelling which had a bone-like hardness and located in the mandibular
      canine region was detected. Panoramic radiography revealed a well circumscribed
      unilocular radiolucent lesion located in the inter-radicular area of left
      mandibular lateral and canine teeth. In CT examination it was realized that the
      lesion was multilocular. Histopathological examination of the biopsy specimen was
      reported as ameloblastoma. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: It is extremely difficult to
      find such an ameloblastoma in small dimension in alvolar bone.

PMID- 25825108
TI  - Calcium phosphate barrier for augmentation of bone in noncontained periodontal
      osseous defects: a novel approach.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this technique is to augment bone in non-contained osseous
      deformities using a unique self-sustaining calcium phosphate barrier.
      INTRODUCTION: Bone has the inherent ability to regenerate completely if it is
      provided with a fracture space or an undisturbed enclosed scaffold. A secluded
      environment is essential as it provides a secured, sterile and stable wound
      system that regenerates lost bone by a process of osteopromotion. Reconstructive
      techniques using bone grafts and barrier membranes utilize this principle for
      augmentation of deficient bony sites by providing a closed environment that
      promotes clot stability, graft retention, and facilitates correct cell
      repopulation. However, in noncontained bone defects like one walled infrabony
      periodontal defect or sites with horizontal bone loss, regeneration of bone still
      remains an unrealistic situation since osseous topography at such sites does not
      favor membrane stability or bone grafts retention. This case report presents a
      promising technique to augment bone in areas with horizontal loss. TECHNIQUE:
      Augmentation of bone in the interdental area with horizontal bone loss was
      accomplished by building a contained defect using a unique self sustaining
      calcium phosphate cement formulation. The calcium phosphate barrier stimulates
      the lost cortical plates and promotes graft retention and clot stability. At 6
      months, there was a significant bone fill and trabecular formation in the
      interdental area and reduction in tooth mobility. CONCLUSION: This promising
      technique could prove to be a good alternative to the conventional approaches for
      treating osseous deformities. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Calcium phosphate is a
      promising barrier graft for repair of noncontained periodontal osseous defect.
      This technique cues both the clinicians and manufacturers to develop moldable
      tissue engineered constructs for osseous repair.

PMID- 25825109
TI  - Mandibular first molar with Vertucci type I canal confguration diagnosed with the
      help of cone beam computed tomography: a rare case report.
AB  - The knowledge of root canal morphology and the existing anatomical variations is
      essential for successful endodontic therapy. This report presents an
      extraordinary case of unusual tooth morphology involving the mandibular first
      molar with a single root and a single canal in a patient. Endodontic treatment of
      the affected tooth 36 was performed. Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images
      confirmed our diagnostic and therapeutic measures after endodontic management of
      the teeth. This morphologic variation has been reported once in the literature.
      The availability of three-dimensional images further provided the opportunity for
      the precise description of the anatomy of mandibular first molar with single
      roots and single canals. 

PMID- 25825110
TI  - Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia: a clinical case with a longitudinal approach.
AB  - AIM: This paper describes a clinical case of a male with hypohidrotic ectodermal
      dysplasia submitted to rehabilitation and occlusal dental interventions with
      follow-up from 3 to 14 years of age. BACKGROUND: Due to the severe effects on
      function and esthetics, the clinical manifestations of ectodermal dysplasia exert
      a negative impact on quality of life. However, oral rehabilitation in childhood
      poses a challenge due to growth and development. CASE DESCRIPTION: A male with
      hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia began dental intervention at the age of 3
      years. The clinical and radiographic exams revealed the absence of several
      primary and permanent teeth and abnormal shape of the primary maxillary incisors.
      The facial characteristics were compatible with hypohidrotic ectodermal
      dysplasia, such as a prominent brow, everted lips, fattened bridge of the nose
      and small vertical facial height. The treatment proposed involved rehabilitation
      through successive temporary partial dentures, functional orthopedics of the
      jaws, esthetic reconstruction of the anterior teeth, timely occlusal intervention
      and preventive actions for the control of dental caries and plaque. CONCLUSION:
      The present case demonstrates that early care plays a fundamental role in
      minimizing the biopsychosocial consequences of hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia
      and preparing the patient for future oral rehabilitation. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
      Although, the literature offers a number of papers describing dental treatment
      for ectodermal dysplasia, few cases include long-term follow-up and the use of a
      functional orthopedic appliance in combination with removable dentures in such
      patients.

PMID- 25825111
TI  - The complex radicular groove: interdisciplinary management with mineral trioxide
      aggregate and bone substitute.
AB  - This article is a case report of the successful interdisciplinary management of a
      maxillary lateral incisor with a deep palatogingival groove. The tooth presented
      with severe periodontal destruction owing to the deep extension of the groove up
      to the root apex. The groove was meticulously diagnosed and treated by endodontic
      and subsequent periodontal surgery leading to complete resolution of the
      pathological process.

PMID- 25825112
TI  - Early and immediate loading protocols for overdentures in completely edentulous
      maxillas: a comprehensive review of clinical trials.
AB  - A comprehensive review was conducted to answer the question 'Does the immediate
      loading of dental implants with an overdenture in the maxilla provide predictable
      clinical and psychological outcomes?' Detailed search strategies were used to
      identify pertinent articles in English that were published between 1975 and
      August 2013 and indexed in PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane Central Register
      of Controlled Trials, and a personal library; in addition, relevant journals were
      manually searched. Only randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs), controlled
      clinical trials (CCTs), and prospective studies with a follow-up period of at
      least one year, all involving 10 or more adult participants, were considered. Six
      prospective studies reporting on outcomes of up to 2 years were included, five of
      which employed a bar-retained overdenture, and one of which used a ball
      attachment as a retention mechanism. Short term reports demonstrate that
      immediate/early loading of dental implants with a maxillary overdenture is a
      predictable treatment approach and results in favorable implant/prosthesis
      survival, soft tissue health, and patient satisfaction outcomes. However, for a
      definitive conclusion, well-designed long-term trials are required to establish a
      consensus on treatment planning, longevity, long-term complications and
      maintenance, cost-effectiveness, and patients-mediated outcomes. 

PMID- 25825113
TI  - Halitosis: a review of the etiologic factors and association with systemic
      conditions and its management.
AB  - Halitosis is a general term defined as an unpleasant or offensive odor emanating
      from the breath, arising from either oral or nonoral sources. Extraoral factors,
      such as ear-nose-throat conditions or gastrointestinal, respiratory, and systemic
      diseases, may also contribute to oral malodor. Although, halitosis has a
      multifactorial etiology, local factors play an important role in the majority of
      cases. Halitosis may lead to significant personal discomfort and social
      embarrassment. Assessment of halitosis can be performed using organoleptic
      measurements, sulfide monitoring, gas chromatography, microbial testing and
      chemical test strips. Management approaches are based on masking oral malodor,
      reducing the levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and volatile sulfur
      compounds (VSCs), and mechanical and/or chemical treatment. This review aims to
      identify the etiology of oral halitosis, describe the methods available for
      assessment and differential diagnosis and introduce a variety of management
      strategies. The importance of a multidisciplinary approach for the improvement of
      overall health and for the management and prevention of halitosis is highlighted.

PMID- 25825114
TI  - Evaluation of medicinal interventions for the management of oral submucous
      fibrosis: a systematic review of the literature.
AB  - Oral submucous fibrosis is a chronic, progressive scarring disease associated
      with both significant morbidity including pain and limited mouth opening and an
      increased risk for malignancy. This systematic review evaluated the different
      medicinal (i.e. nonsurgical) interventions available for the management of oral
      submucous fibrosis. An automated literature searches of online databases from
      January 1960 to December 2013 were performed and only studies with high level of
      evidence based on the guidelines of the Oxford Centre for evidence-based medicine
      were selected. Thirteen studies (3 randomized controlled trials and 10 clinical
      trials/controlled clinical trials) were included and drugs like steroids,
      hyaluronidase, human placenta extracts, chymotrypsin and collagenase,
      pentoxifylline, nylidrin hydrochloride, iron and multivitamin supplements
      including lycopene were used. There is a clear lack of evidence on the available
      drug treatment for oral submucous fibrosis and further high quality randomized
      controlled trials are needed to evaluate the different therapeutic agents. 

PMID- 25825115
TI  - Osseointegrated silicone finger prosthesis using dental implants: a renovated
      technique.
AB  - AIM AND BACKGROUND: In clinical practice, we come across patients with
      traumatically amputated or congenitally missing partial or complete fingers that
      can be restored using microsurgical replantation or transplantation procedures.
      However, in some cases this might not be possible due to systemic or local
      factors and the lost or missing part has to be replaced prosthetically to offer
      psychological and functional wellbeing. These prostheses can be constructed with
      various materials like acrylics or silicone retained with the help of auxiliary
      aids. However, these prostheses cause some hindrance in performing functions like
      writing, typing, etc. The aim of the present trial was to ameliorate the existing
      design of implant supported finger prosthesis. TECHNIQUE: Distal phalange of
      middle finger replaced with implant supported silicone finger prosthesis is
      modified by utilizing a metal framework to support silicone material to improve
      rigidity while working. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: We could achieve a
      good function, esthetics and tactile sensibility with this modified design.
      Whenever, feasible this design can improve the performance and patients feel a
      deep sense of satisfaction and improved self-esteem with this modified
      prosthesis.

PMID- 25825116
TI  - Modifying gummy smile: a minimally invasive approach.
AB  - AIM: Excessive gingival display is a problem that can be managed by variety of
      procedures. These procedures include non-surgical and surgical methods. The
      underlying cause of gummy smile can affect the type of procedure to be selected.
      Most patients prefer minimally invasive procedures with outstanding results. The
      authors describe a minimally invasive lip repositioning technique for management
      of gummy smile. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve patients (10 females, 2 males) with
      gingival display of 4 mm or more were operated under local anesthesia using a
      modified lip repositioning technique. Patients were followed up for 1, 3, 6 and
      12 months and gingival display was measured at each follow up visit. The gingival
      mucosa was dissected and levator labii superioris and depressor septi muscles
      were freed and repositioned in a lower position. The levator labii superioris
      muscles were pulled in a lower position using circumdental sutures for 10 days.
      Both surgeon's and patient's satisfaction of surgical outcome was recorded at
      each follow-up visit. RESULTS: At early stage of follow-up the main complaints of
      patients were the feeling of tension in the upper lip and circum oral area, mild
      pain which was managed with analgesics. One month postoperatively, the gingival
      display in all patients was recorded to be between 2 and 4 mm with a mean of (2.6
      mm). Patient satisfaction records after 1 month showed that 10 patients were
      satisfied with the results. Three months postoperatively, the gingival display in
      all patients was recorded and found to be between 2 and 5 mm with a mean of 3 mm.
      Patient satisfaction records showed that 8 patients were satisfied with the
      results as they gave scores between. Surgeon's satisfaction at three months
      follow up showed that the surgeons were satisfied in 8 patients. The same results
      were found in the 6 and 12 months follow-up periods without any changes. Complete
      relapse was recorded only in one case at the third postoperative month.
      CONCLUSION: This study showed that the proposed lip repositioning technique is an
      acceptable minimally invasive procedure in managing gummy smile. CLINICAL
      SIGNIFICANCE: A non-invasive procedure to avoid other complicated surgical
      procedures.

PMID- 25825117
TI  - Micrometastasis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

PMID- 25825118
TI  - A new heterologous fibrin sealant as scaffold to recombinant human bone
      morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) and natural latex proteins for the repair of
      tibial bone defects.
AB  - Tissue engineering has special interest in bone tissue aiming at future medical
      applications Studies have focused on recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein
      2 (rhBMP-2) and natural latex proteins due to the osteogenic properties of rhBMP
      2 and the angiogenic characteristic of fraction 1 protein (P-1) extracted from
      the rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis. Furthermore, heterologous fibrin sealant (FS)
      has been shown as a promising alternative in regenerative therapies. The aim of
      this study was to evaluate these substances for the repair of bone defects in
      rats. A bone defect measuring 3mm in diameter was created in the proximal
      metaphysis of the left tibia of 60 rats and was implanted with rhBMP-2 or P-1 in
      combination with a new heterologous FS derived from snake venom. The animals were
      divided into six groups: control (unfilled bone defect), rhBMP-2 (defect filled
      with 5MUg rhBMP-2), P-1 (defect filled with 5MUg P-1), FS (defect filled with
      8MUg FS), FS/rhBMP-2 (defect filled with 8MUg FS and 5MUg rhBMP-2), FS/P-1
      (defect filled with 8MUg FS and 5MUg P-1). The animals were sacrificed 2 and 6
      weeks after surgery. The newly formed bone projected from the margins of the
      original bone and exhibited trabecular morphology and a disorganized arrangement
      of osteocyte lacunae. Immunohistochemical analysis showed intense expression of
      osteocalcin in all groups. Histometric analysis revealed a significant difference
      in all groups after 2 weeks (p<0.05), except for the rhBMP-2 and FS/rhBMP-2
      groups (p>0.05). A statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was observed in
      all groups after 6 weeks in relation to the volume of newly formed bone in the
      surgical area. In conclusion, the new heterologous fibrin sealant was found to be
      biocompatible and the combination with rhBMP-2 showed the highest osteogenic and
      osteoconductive capacity for bone healing. These findings suggest a promising
      application of this combination in the regeneration surgery. 

PMID- 25825119
TI  - CXCR4 blockade attenuates hyperoxia-induced lung injury in neonatal rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lung inflammation is a key factor in the pathogenesis of
      bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Stromal-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) and its
      receptor chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) modulate the inflammatory response. It is
      not known if antagonism of CXCR4 alleviates lung inflammation in neonatal
      hyperoxia-induced lung injury. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine whether CXCR4
      antagonism would attenuate lung injury in rodents with experimental BPD by
      decreasing pulmonary inflammation. METHODS: Newborn rats exposed to normoxia
      (room air, RA) or hyperoxia (FiO2 = 0.9) from postnatal day 2 (P2) to P16 were
      randomized to receive the CXCR4 antagonist, AMD3100 or placebo (PL) from P5 to
      P15. Lung alveolarization, angiogenesis and inflammation were evaluated at P16.
      RESULTS: Compared to the RA pups, hyperoxic PL pups had a decrease in
      alveolarization, reduced lung vascular density and increased lung inflammation.
      In contrast, AMD3100-treated hyperoxic pups had improved alveolarization and
      increased angiogenesis. This improvement in lung structure was accompanied by a
      decrease in the macrophage and neutrophil counts in the bronchoalveolar lavage
      fluid and reduced lung myeloperoxidase activity. CONCLUSION: CXCR4 antagonism
      decreases lung inflammation and improves alveolar and vascular structure in
      neonatal rats with experimental BPD. These findings suggest a novel therapeutic
      strategy to alleviate lung injury in preterm infants with BPD.

PMID- 25825120
TI  - Robust BRCA1-like classification of copy number profiles of samples repeated
      across different datasets and platforms.
AB  - Breast cancers with BRCA1 germline mutation have a characteristic DNA copy number
      (CN) pattern. We developed a test that assigns CN profiles to be 'BRCA1-like' or
      'non-BRCA1-like', which refers to resembling a BRCA1-mutated tumor or resembling
      a tumor without a BRCA1 mutation, respectively. Approximately one third of the
      BRCA1-like breast cancers have a BRCA1 mutation, one third has hypermethylation
      of the BRCA1 promoter and one third has an unknown reason for being BRCA1-like.
      This classification is indicative of patients' response to high dose alkylating
      and platinum containing chemotherapy regimens, which targets the inability of
      BRCA1 deficient cells to repair DNA double strand breaks. We investigated whether
      this classification can be reliably obtained with next generation sequencing and
      copy number platforms other than the bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) array
      Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH) on which it was originally developed. We
      investigated samples from 230 breast cancer patients for which a CN profile had
      been generated on two to five platforms, comprising low coverage CN sequencing,
      CN extraction from targeted sequencing panels (CopywriteR), Affymetrix SNP6.0,
      135K/720K oligonucleotide aCGH, Affymetrix Oncoscan FFPE (MIP) technology, 3K BAC
      and 32K BAC aCGH. Pairwise comparison of genomic position-mapped profiles from
      the original aCGH platform and other platforms revealed concordance. For most
      cases, biological differences between samples exceeded the differences between
      platforms within one sample. We observed the same classification across different
      platforms in over 80% of the patients and kappa values of at least 0.36.
      Differential classification could be attributed to CN profiles that were not
      strongly associated to one class. In conclusion, we have shown that the genomic
      regions that define our BRCA1-like classifier are robustly measured by different
      CN profiling technologies, providing the possibility to retro- and prospectively
      investigate BRCA1-like classification across a wide range of CN platforms. 

PMID- 25825121
TI  - Sedative-hypnotic medicines and falls in community-dwelling older adults: a cost
      effectiveness (decision-tree) analysis from a US Medicare perspective.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Both the 2012 Beers list and the American Geriatric Society 'Choosing
      Wisely' campaign suggest restraint in the use of sedative-hypnotics for the
      treatment of insomnia in older people. Sedative hypnotic agents continue to be
      widely prescribed even though their use in the elderly is associated with an
      increased risk of falls, fractures, and emergency hospitalizations. OBJECTIVE:
      The aim of this study was to estimate the cost effectiveness of cognitive
      behavioral therapy (CBT) compared with sedative-hypnotics and no treatment for
      insomnia in the US Medicare population, adjusting for the risk of falls and
      related consequences. METHODS: A model-based economic evaluation (decision tree)
      using the US Medicare perspective and a conservative annual temporal framework
      was conducted. Simulations were performed in a hypothetical cohort of Medicare
      beneficiaries suffering from insomnia. The main outcome measure was the
      incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. Sensitivity
      analyses assessed the robustness of the base-case analysis. RESULTS: On an annual
      basis, CBT showed a dominance (cost: US$19,442; QALYs: 0.594) over sedative
      hypnotics (cost: US$32,452; QALYs: 0.552) and no treatment (cost: US$33,853;
      QALYs: 0.517). Assuming a willingness to pay of US$50,000, the net monetary
      benefit was positive for CBT (US$10,287) and negative for sedative hypnotics (
      US$4,851) and no treatment (-US$7,993). CBT had a 95% chance of being the
      dominant strategy, with results most sensitive to an older adult's baseline risk
      of falling. CONCLUSION: Failure to consider drug harms such as drug-induced falls
      and hospitalization represents a growing public health concern, significantly
      underestimating the cost of sedative-hypnotic therapy and loss in quality of life
      for the elderly. Public payers should reconsider reimbursement of sedative
      hypnotic drugs as first-line treatment for insomnia in older adults.

PMID- 25825122
TI  - Sulfonylurea use and risk of hip fractures among elderly men and women with type
      2 diabetes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Both increased age and type 2 diabetes mellitus are risk factors for
      developing bone fractures. While recent data in the elderly suggest a link
      between hypoglycemia and fall-related fractures, the association between
      sulfonylureas, commonly used hypoglycemic agents, and fracture risk has not been
      well investigated. METHODS: We used patient data from a large commercial health
      insurer from 2002-2005. Individuals aged >=65 years receiving oral sulfonylurea
      treatment (n=13,195) were matched 1:1 to non-users based on propensity for
      sulfonylurea use. Multivariable conditional logistic regression was used to
      estimate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS:
      During an average 4 years of follow-up, sulfonylurea users experienced 226
      incident hip fractures (1.7%) and non-users experienced 157 (1.2%). Sulfonylurea
      use was associated with increased risk of developing hip fracture (aOR 1.46, 95%
      CI 1.17-1.82), and this association was apparent for men (120 cases; aOR 1.83,
      95% CI 1.25-2.66) and women (263 cases; aOR 1.32, 95% CI 1.03-1.69). Patients
      with documented hypoglycemia in the follow-up period had increased odds of hip
      fracture relative to those without such diagnosis (aOR 2.42, 95% CI 1.35-4.34).
      CONCLUSION: Sulfonylureas are associated with increased risk of hip fracture in
      elderly men and women with type 2 diabetes.

PMID- 25825123
TI  - Optimal differentiated thyroid cancer management in the elderly.
AB  - The incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer is increasing worldwide across all
      age groups. While most patients with differentiated thyroid cancer have a good
      prognosis, aggressive disease is more common in the elderly and disease-specific
      mortality is higher. Treatment options for differentiated thyroid cancer include
      surgery, levothyroxine, radioactive iodine, external beam radiotherapy and kinase
      inhibitors. Rational and evidence-based management is particularly important in
      older individuals because they may experience greater toxicities from the
      therapeutic options. We advocate an explicit risk-benefit analytic approach to
      thyroid cancer care that emphasises individual patient factors, likely disease
      biology and progression, and age-dependent treatment characteristics to ensure
      optimal treatment. In particular, this risk-benefit approach should seek to
      identify patients with aggressive disease, and, within a multidisciplinary
      setting, balance the likelihood of treatment success with the probability of
      treatment-related adverse effects. 

PMID- 25825126
TI  - Accumulation of rare variants in the arylsulfatase G (ARSG) gene in task-specific
      dystonia.
AB  - Musician's dystonia and writer's cramp are examples of task-specific dystonia.
      Recently, the arylsulfatase G (ARSG) locus was suggested to be associated with
      musician's dystonia and writer's cramp by a genome-wide association study. To
      test for the presence of causal variants, the entire coding region and exon
      intron boundaries of ARSG were sequenced in DNA samples from 158 musician's
      dystonia patients which were collected at the University of Music, Drama, and
      Media (Hanover, Germany), and 72 patients with writer's cramp which were
      recruited at the Academic Medical Centers in Amsterdam and Groningen, the
      Netherlands. The frequency of variants within ARSG was compared to publically
      available data at the exome variant server (EVS) from the NHLBI GO Exome
      Sequencing Project. We identified 11 single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in the
      patients including eight non-synonymous substitutions. All variants have
      previously been reported at EVS including two SNVs with a reported minor allele
      frequency <1%. One rare missense variant, rs61999318 (p.I493T), was significantly
      enriched in the group of writer's cramp patients compared to European Americans
      in EVS database (p = 0.0013). In patients with writer's cramp, there was an
      overall enrichment for rare, protein-changing variants compared to controls (p <
      0.01). In conclusion, we did not detect any conclusive mutation in ARSG. However,
      we showed an association with rs61999318 in patients with writer's cramp that
      contributed to an overall enrichment for rare, protein-changing variants in these
      patients. Thus, our data provide further support for a role of ARSG variants in
      task-specific dystonia, especially writer's cramp.

PMID- 25825125
TI  - Isolated, subtle, neurological abnormalities in neurologically and cognitively
      healthy aging subjects.
AB  - The aim of this study is to describe the frequency of isolated, subtle,
      neurological abnormalities (ISNAs) in a large population of neurologically and
      cognitively healthy subjects and to compare ISNAs to various types of MRI
      detected cerebrovascular lesions and subcortical brain atrophy in different age
      classes. 907 subjects were selected from a large, prospective hospital-based
      study. At baseline neurological examination, 17 ISNAs were selected. Primitive
      reflexes were the most common ISNAs (35.8%), while dysphagia was the most rarely
      encountered (0.3%). Measures of small vessel disease, i.e., deep and subcortical
      white matter hyperintensity and lacunar infarcts as well as subcortical atrophy,
      were variously associated with ISNAs. In the adult group, the ISNAs were
      associated with hypertriglyceridemia, TIA, and subcortical lacunar infarcts,
      while in the elderly-old group they were associated with arterial hypertension,
      subcortical white matter hyperintensity, and subcortical atrophy. An increased
      risk of ISNAs was associated with lacunae and white matter hyperintensity in the
      parietal region. This study shows that white matter hyperintensity, lacunae, and
      subcortical atrophy are associated with an increased risk of ISNAs in cognitively
      and neurologically healthy aging subjects. ISNAs are not benign signs. Therefore,
      adults and elderly people presenting with ISNAs should have access to accurate
      history and diagnosis to prevent progression of small vessel disease and future
      neurological and cognitive disabilities.

PMID- 25825124
TI  - Oral health-related quality of life before hematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study was planned to evaluate the impact of oral health on the
      quality of life (QoL) of patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation (HSCT). MATERIAL AND METHODS: We assessed 200 patients divided
      into two paired groups: 100 patients prior to HSCT (SG) and 100 healthy
      volunteers (CG). We applied the Oral Health Impact Profile instrument, which is
      based on the biopsychosocial problem gradation of World Health Organization (WHO)
      and relates oral health problems with QoL according to seven dimensions. RESULTS:
      Fourteen patients in SG were referred for extraction of one to eight teeth,
      mostly due to deep caries with risk of pulpal infection and possible spread of
      infection via blood (r = 0.59, p = 0.000). The presence of severely compromised
      teeth by extensive decay correlated with Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14).
      The Mann-Whitney test showed a significant difference between SG and CG in the
      following dimensions: functional limitation (p < 0.001), physical pain (p =
      0.025), physical disability (p = 0.016), and social disability (p = 0.01).
      CONCLUSIONS: The impact of oral health on QoL of onco-hematologic patients is
      weak but is greater as compared to healthy ones. Nevertheless, a significant
      impact is seen in patients with severely compromised teeth. CLINICAL RELEVANCE:
      The negligence of oral care, proper hygiene, and the search for dental care may
      increase the risk for local and systemic infections.

PMID- 25825127
TI  - Bacteriophage predation promotes serovar diversification in Listeria
      monocytogenes.
AB  - Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterial pathogen classified into distinct serovars
      (SVs) based on somatic and flagellar antigens. To correlate phenotype with
      genetic variation, we analyzed the wall teichoic acid (WTA) glycosylation genes
      of SV 1/2, 3 and 7 strains, which differ in decoration of the ribitol-phosphate
      backbone with N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) and/or rhamnose. Inactivation of
      lmo1080 or the dTDP-l-rhamnose biosynthesis genes rmlACBD (lmo1081-1084) resulted
      in loss of rhamnose, whereas disruption of lmo1079 led to GlcNAc deficiency. We
      found that all SV 3 and 7 strains actually originate from a SV 1/2 background, as
      a result of small mutations in WTA rhamnosylation and/or GlcNAcylation genes.
      Genetic complementation of different SV 3 and 7 isolates using intact alleles
      fully restored a characteristic SV 1/2 WTA carbohydrate pattern, including
      antisera reactions and phage adsorption. Intriguingly, phage-resistant L.
      monocytogenes EGDe (SV 1/2a) isolates featured the same glycosylation gene
      mutations and were serotyped as SV 3 or 7 respectively. Again, genetic
      complementation restored both carbohydrate antigens and phage susceptibility.
      Taken together, our data demonstrate that L. monocytogenes SV 3 and 7 originate
      from point mutations in glycosylation genes, and we show that phage predation
      represents a major driving force for serovar diversification and evolution of L.
      monocytogenes. 

PMID- 25825128
TI  - The effects of arsenic exposure on blood pressure and early risk markers of
      cardiovascular disease: Evidence for population differences.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Exposure to inorganic arsenic has been identified as a risk factor
      for elevated blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Our aim with this study
      was to elucidate effects of arsenic on blood pressure and early risk markers of
      cardiovascular disease in a population with efficient arsenic metabolism that can
      modify other arsenic-related health effects. METHODS: The study included 225
      women in the northern Argentinean Andes. Exposure to arsenic was assessed by the
      sum of arsenic metabolite concentrations in urine. Blood pressure was measured in
      the supine position. Blood samples were collected for measurement of hemoglobin,
      homocysteine, triglycerides, apolipoproteins A and B, and cytokines in separated
      plasma. RESULTS: The median arsenic concentration in urine was 200 ug/L (range 22
      545 ug/L). Unexpectedly, urinary arsenic concentrations were inversely associated
      with both systolic (p=0.081), and diastolic (p=0.002) blood pressure, and with
      the ratio of apolipoproteins B/A (p<0.001). There was no clear sign of increased
      inflammation, measured as cytokine concentrations, in relation to arsenic.
      Furthermore, urinary arsenic was associated with low hemoglobin concentrations
      (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that arsenic exposure was not associated
      with elevated levels of early risk markers for cardiovascular disease in this
      population. This provides evidence that the effects of arsenic on risk of
      cardiovascular disease differ between populations, which needs to be taken into
      account in risk assessment.

PMID- 25825129
TI  - Toxicity evaluation of new agricultural fungicides in primary cultured cortical
      neurons.
AB  - Fungicides are crucial for food protection as well as for the production of crops
      of suitable quality and quantity to provide a viable economic return. Like other
      pesticides, fungicides are widely sprayed on agricultural land, especially in
      wine-growing areas, from where they can move-off after application. Furthermore,
      residues of these agrochemicals can remain on crops after harvest and even after
      some food processing operations, being a major exposure pathway. Although a
      relatively low toxicity has been claimed for this kind of compounds, information
      about their neurotoxicity is still scarce. In the present study, nine fungicides
      recently approved for agricultural uses in the EU - ametoctradin, boscalid,
      cyazofamid, dimethomorph, fenhexamid, kresoxim-methyl, mepanipyrim, metrafenone
      and pyraclostrobin - have been evaluated for their toxicity in primary cultured
      mouse cortical neurons. Exposure to 0.1-100uM for 7 days in vitro resulted in a
      dose-dependent toxicity in the MTT cell viability assay. Strobilurin fungicides
      kresoxim-methyl (KR) and pyraclostrobin (PY) were the most neurotoxic compounds
      (lethal concentration 50 were in the low micromolar and nanomolar levels,
      respectively) causing a rapid raise in intracellular calcium [Ca(2+)]i and strong
      depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential. KR- and PY-induced cell death
      was reversed by the calcium channels blockers MK-801 and verapamil, suggesting
      that calcium entry through NMDA receptors and voltage-operated calcium channels
      are involved in KR- and PY-induced neurotoxicity. These results highlight the
      need for further evaluation of their neurotoxic effects in vivo. 

PMID- 25825130
TI  - Physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modelling of immune, reproductive and
      carcinogenic effects from contaminant exposure in polar bears (Ursus maritimus)
      across the Arctic.
AB  - Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) consume large quantities of seal blubber and other
      high trophic marine mammals and consequently have some of the highest tissue
      concentrations of organohalogen contaminants (OHCs) among Arctic biota. In the
      present paper we carried out a risk quotient (RQ) evaluation on OHC-exposed polar
      bears harvested from 1999 to 2008 and from 11 circumpolar subpopulations spanning
      from Alaska to Svalbard in order to evaluate the risk of OHC-mediated
      reproductive effects (embryotoxicity, teratogenicity), immunotoxicity and
      carcinogenicity (genotoxicity). This RQ evaluation was based on the Critical Body
      Residue (CBR) concept and a Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic Modelling
      (PBPK) approach using OHC concentrations measured in polar bear adipose or liver
      tissue. The range of OHC concentrations within polar bear populations were as
      follows for adipose, sum polychlorinated biphenyls ?PCBs (1797-10,537 ng/g lw),
      sum methylsulphone-PCB ?MeSO2-PCBs (110-672 ng/g lw), sum chlordanes ?CHLs (765
      3477 ng/g lw), alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane alpha-HCH (8.5-91.3 ng/g lw), beta
      hexachlorocyclohexane beta-HCH (65.5-542 ng/g lw), sum chlorbenzenes ?ClBzs (145
      304 ng/g lw), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane ?DDTs (31.5-206 ng/g lw), dieldrin
      (69-249 ng/g lw), polybrominated diphenyl ethers ?PBDEs (4.6-78.4 ng/g lw). For
      liver, the perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) concentrations ranged from 231
      2792 ng/g ww. The total additive RQ from all OHCs ranged from 4.3 in Alaska to
      28.6 in East Greenland bears for effects on reproduction, immune health and
      carcinogenicity, highlighting the important result that the toxic effect
      threshold (i.e. RQ>1) was exceeded for all polar bear populations assessed. PCBs
      were the main contributors for all three effect categories, contributing from
      70.6% to 94.3% of the total risk and a RQ between 3.8-22.5. ?MeSO2-PCBs were the
      second highest effect contributor for reproductive and immunological effects
      (0.17<RQ<1.4), whereas PFOS was the second highest effect contributor for
      carcinogenic (genotoxic) effects (0.35<RQ<2.5). The results from this study
      corroborate and lend further support to previous assessments of the possible
      adverse health effects of exposure to known and measured OHCs in polar bears. We
      therefore suggest that Critical Daily Doses (CDD) should be investigated in "ex
      vivo" dose-response studies on polar bears to replace laboratory studies on rats
      (Rattus rattus) to reveal whether high RQs are maintained.

PMID- 25825131
TI  - Methyl mercury exposure in populations at risk: Analysis of NHANES 2011-2012.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ingestion of fish contaminated with methyl mercury can lead to
      adverse health outcomes, particularly when exposure occurs in utero. NHANES 2011
      2012 includes total blood mercury (TBHg) and methyl mercury (MeHg) measurements
      as well as a unique race/ethnicity category for Asians, allowing for improved
      analysis of determinants of risk. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to characterize
      the current burden of MeHg exposure in the US among subgroups who are at risk of
      health effects due to their physiologic vulnerability to MeHg's effects and/or
      due to frequent fish consumption, specifically women of childbearing age (WCBA)
      and adults >=50 years of age. METHODS: We calculated 90th and 95th percentile
      estimates as well as geometric means of MeHg for predictive variables. We used
      multivariable linear regression analyses to estimate the proportional change in
      mean MeHg associated with each category of all predictive variables. We
      calculated the validity of screening procedures using fish consumption questions
      and TBHg testing to predict elevated MeHg. RESULTS: The geometric mean MeHg
      levels were highest among Asian WCBA (1.17 ug/L) and Asians >=50 years old (2.49
      ug/L). Over 23% of Asian WCBA had levels >=3.5 ug/L and 25% of Asians >=50 years
      old had levels >=5.8 ug/L. Frequency of fish consumption explained 21-23% of the
      variation in MeHg. Twenty-five percent of women eating fish >= twice per week had
      MeHg >=3.5 ug/L. TBHg showed high validity for MeHg >=5.8 ug/L, and two-step
      screening using >=2 fish meals/month followed by TBHg also showed high validity.
      CONCLUSION: Asian WCBA continue to have increased MeHg exposure from fish
      consumption, putting their offspring at risk. Screening for MeHg among high-risk
      groups should be considered.

PMID- 25825132
TI  - Do airborne biogenic chemicals interact with the PI3K/Akt/mTOR cell signalling
      pathway to benefit human health and wellbeing in rural and coastal environments?
AB  - Living and taking recreation in rural and coastal environments promote health and
      wellbeing, although the causal factors involved are unclear. It has been proposed
      that such environments provide a counter to the stresses of everyday living,
      leading to enhanced mental and physical health. Living in natural environments
      will result in airborne exposure to a wide range of biogenic chemicals through
      inhalation and ingestion of airborne microbiota and particles. The "biogenics"
      hypothesis formulated here is that regular exposure to low concentrations of
      mixtures of natural compounds and toxins in natural environments confers
      pleiotropic health benefits by inhibiting the activities of interconnected cell
      signalling systems, particularly PI3K/Akt/mTORC1. When overactive, Akt and mTOR
      (mTORC1) can lead to many pathological processes including cancers, diabetes,
      inflammation, immunosuppression, and neurodegenerative diseases. There is a
      substantial body of evidence that many natural products (i.e., from bacteria,
      algae, fungi and higher plants) inhibit the activities of these protein kinases.
      Other mTOR-related interconnected metabolic control "switches" (e.g., PTEN & NF
      kappaB), autophagy and other cytoprotective processes are also affected by
      natural products. The "biogenics" hypothesis formulated here is that regular
      intermittent exposure to a mixture of airborne biogenic compounds in natural
      environments confers pleiotropic health benefits by inhibiting activities of the
      highly interconnected PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 system. It is proposed that future
      experimental exposures to biogenic aerosols in animal models coupled with
      epidemiology, should target the activities of the various kinases in the
      PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 systems and related physiological processes for selected urban,
      rural and coastal populations in order to test this hypothesis. 

PMID- 25825133
TI  - Hypoglossal nerve paralysis results in hypermetabolic activity on positron
      emission tomography/computed tomography in the contralateral tongue.
AB  - False-positive results on combined positron emission tomography/computed
      tomography can complicate detection and surveillance of head and neck cancers. We
      present a rare case of false-positive contralateral [18F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D
      glucose tongue uptake after hypoglossal nerve paralysis caused by squamous cell
      carcinoma originating from the base of the tongue.

PMID- 25825136
TI  - Drop sign of the elbow joint after surgical stabilization of an unstable simple
      posterolateral dislocation: natural course and contributing factors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We performed this study to investigate the natural course and factors
      affecting the incidence of drop sign immediately after stabilization of an
      unstable posterolateral (PL) dislocation of the elbow. METHODS: Twenty-three
      patients who underwent a stabilization procedure for persistent instability after
      closed reduction of PL dislocation of the elbow were enrolled. The natural course
      was evaluated with simple radiographs taken at regular intervals after the
      operation. Primary repair of medial or lateral ligaments and overlying muscles,
      degree of adjacent muscle injury, and type of anesthesia were analyzed to
      determine their relationship to postoperative drop sign. Functional outcomes were
      evaluated by the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand score and Mayo Elbow
      Performance Score. RESULTS: A postoperative drop sign was observed in 4 cases
      (17%) and resolved within 1 week after the operation. There was no significant
      relationship between preoperative factors and drop sign except method of
      anesthesia. All drop signs were found in patients who had received a regional
      block (P = .006). There were no statistically significant differences in
      functional outcome between the drop sign group and the non-drop sign group.
      CONCLUSIONS: A postoperative drop sign was observed in 17% of patients who
      underwent a surgical stabilization procedure for an unstable PL elbow
      dislocation; this sign spontaneously disappeared in all 4 patients within 1 week
      of the operation. The drop sign was possibly caused by delayed return of muscle
      tone. A postoperative drop sign did not indicate the need to perform an
      additional stabilization procedure, nor did it affect postoperative functional
      outcome.

PMID- 25825135
TI  - Treatment of humeral shaft fractures using antegrade nailing: functional outcome
      in the shoulder.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate shoulder outcomes and
      function after humeral shaft fractures treated with antegrade nailing. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Thirty patients with acute humeral shaft fractures who underwent
      antegrade locked intramedullary nailing were retrospectively studied. Range of
      motion (ROM) of the affected shoulder was evaluated, comparing it with the
      nonaffected shoulder, radiologic position of the nails, complications, and need
      for a second surgery. RESULTS: The study enrolled 20 men and 10 women (average
      age, 41.9 years). The average follow-up was 35.8 months. The average shoulder
      elevation averaged 157 degrees , internal rotation was variable (reaching the
      sacroiliac joint to T7), and external rotation averaged 75 degrees . Elbow
      flexion-extension ROM averaged 133 degrees  (115 degrees -145 degrees ).
      According to the Rodriguez-Merchan criteria, 12 patients achieved excellent
      results (40%), 7 good (20%), and 6 fair (23.3%); poor results were found in 5
      cases (16.6%). Twelve patients achieved full mobility of the shoulder, whereas 18
      had some loss of motion, with significant differences between the affected and
      nonaffected shoulders (P = .001). CONCLUSION: Decreased shoulder ROM is common
      after antegrade nailing of humeral shaft fractures. Avoidance of nail impingement
      can improve final outcomes.

PMID- 25825134
TI  - Alterations in the proteome of the respiratory tract in response to single and
      multiple exposures to naphthalene.
AB  - Protein adduction is considered to be critical to the loss of cellular
      homeostasis associated with environmental chemicals undergoing metabolic
      activation. Despite considerable effort, our understanding of the key proteins
      mediating the pathologic consequences from protein modification by electrophiles
      is incomplete. This work focused on naphthalene (NA) induced acute injury of
      respiratory epithelial cells and tolerance which arises after multiple toxicant
      doses to define the initial cellular proteomic response and later protective
      actions related to tolerance. Airways and nasal olfactory epithelium from mice
      exposed to 15 ppm NA either for 4 h (acute) or for 4 h/day * 7 days (tolerant)
      were used for label-free protein quantitation by LC/MS/MS. Cytochrome P450 2F2
      and secretoglobin 1A1 are decreased dramatically in airways of mice exposed for 4
      h, a finding consistent with the fact that CYPs are localized primarily in Clara
      cells. A number of heat shock proteins and protein disulfide isomerases, which
      had previously been identified as adduct targets for reactive metabolites from
      several lung toxicants, were upregulated in airways but not olfactory epithelium
      of tolerant mice. Protein targets that are upregulated in tolerance may be key
      players in the pathophysiology associated with reactive metabolite protein
      adduction. All MS data have been deposited in the ProteomeXchange with identifier
      PXD000846 (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD000846). 

PMID- 25825137
TI  - The role of an octacalcium phosphate in the re-formation of infraspinatus tendon
      insertion.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To improve the success rate of rotator cuff repair, we investigated
      whether octacalcium phosphate (OCP) with gelatin (Gel) vehicle had a positive
      effect on tendon-to-bone healing. METHODS: We assessed the histologic
      characteristics of the tendon-to-bone healing using the rabbit rotator cuff
      repair model. We divided the shoulders into 3 groups: control (without OCP/Gel
      composite), OCP/Gel composite (OCP+group), and Gel alone without OCP (Gel group)
      to evaluate the effectiveness of gelatin. RESULTS: Both the number of newly
      formed tendon fibers and the Sharpey fibers at the repair site increased in the
      OCP+group compared with those in the other 2 groups on hematoxylin-eosin staining
      (P < .05). On immunohistochemical evaluation, both the bone and the fibers in the
      OCP+group demonstrated that type I collagen was picked up, whereas the newly
      formed tendon fibers and Sharpey fibers revealed type III collagen. CONCLUSION:
      Treatment with OCP made collagen fibers and the Sharpey fibers, constituted by
      type I and type III collagens, increase at the tendon-to-bone insertion. It might
      be beneficial for the healing of rotator cuff tendon to bone.

PMID- 25825138
TI  - Compressive cryotherapy versus ice-a prospective, randomized study on
      postoperative pain in patients undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair or
      subacromial decompression.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of compressive
      cryotherapy (CC) vs. ice on postoperative pain in patients undergoing shoulder
      arthroscopy for rotator cuff repair or subacromial decompression. A commercial
      device was used for postoperative CC. A standard ice wrap (IW) was used for
      postoperative cryotherapy alone. METHODS: Patients scheduled for rotator cuff
      repair or subacromial decompression were consented and randomized to 1 of 2
      groups; patients were randomized to use either CC or a standard IW for the first
      postoperative week. All patients were asked to complete a "diary" each day, which
      included visual analog scale scores based on average daily pain and worst daily
      pain as well as total pain medication usage. Pain medications were then converted
      to a morphine equivalent dosage. RESULTS: Forty-six patients completed the study
      and were available for analysis; 25 patients were randomized to CC and 21
      patients were randomized to standard IW. No significant differences were found in
      average pain, worst pain, or morphine equivalent dosage on any day. CONCLUSION:
      There does not appear to be a significant benefit to use of CC over standard IW
      in patients undergoing shoulder arthroscopy for rotator cuff repair or
      subacromial decompression. Further study is needed to determine if CC devices are
      a cost-effective option for postoperative pain management in this population of
      patients.

PMID- 25825139
TI  - Three-dimensional analysis versus goniometric measurement of total active
      elevation in normal subjects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Multiple planes of motion have been reported for shoulder elevation
      performed by visual inspection with a goniometer. It is typically measured by a
      clinician who is standing or sitting at the side of the patient. Instead,
      accurate assessment of shoulder elevation must be performed by using a plane of
      reference that is perpendicular to the plane of motion being measured. METHODS:
      Three repetitions of humeral elevation in the sagittal, scapular, and coronal
      planes were performed in a random order and measured by goniometry and three
      dimensional (3D) electromagnetic sensors. A guide bar was used to control the
      initial plane of motion for the sagittal and coronal planes. The plane of motion
      at 90 degrees  and at peak elevation was recorded for each of the 3 defined
      planes. A goniometer was used to measure the range of maximal elevation performed
      in each plane, for each subject, by visual inspection. RESULTS: The 3D data
      revealed that subjects consistently moved toward scaption as the extremity moved
      above 90 degrees  of elevation, regardless of the initial plane of motion.
      Significant differences were seen in the goniometric data for the plane of motion
      at 90 degrees  (P = .00) in flexion, abduction, and scaption. Goniometric
      measurements revealed greater maximum elevation angles in comparison to the 3D
      kinematic measurements. CONCLUSIONS: Maximal glenohumeral elevation occurred near
      the plane of the scapula in all subjects, regardless of the plane in which
      elevation was initiated. Goniometric measurement of total elevation resulted in
      greater range of motion measurements than actually occurred because the observer
      was not routinely positioned in a plane perpendicular to the plane of actual
      elevation of the upper extremity.

PMID- 25825140
TI  - Alteration and recovery of arm usage in daily activities after rotator cuff
      surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The objective measurement of dominant/nondominant arm use proportion
      in daily life may provide relevant information on healthy and pathologic arm
      behavior. This prospective case-control study explored the potential of such
      measurements as indicators of upper limb functional recovery after rotator cuff
      surgery. METHODS: Data on dominant/nondominant arm usage were acquired with body
      worn sensors for 7 hours. The postsurgical arm usage of 21 patients was collected
      at 3, 6, and 12 months after rotator cuff surgery in the sitting, walking, and
      standing postures and compared with a reference established with 41 healthy
      subjects. The results were calculated for the dominant and nondominant surgical
      side subgroups at all stages. The correlations with clinical scores were
      calculated. RESULTS: Healthy right-handed and left-handed dominant arm usage was
      60.2% (+/-6.3%) and 53.4% (+/-6.6%), respectively. Differences in use of the
      dominant side were significant between the right- and left-handed subgroups for
      sitting (P = .014) and standing (P = .009) but not for walking (P = .328). The
      patient group showed a significant underuse of 10.7% (+/-8.9%) at 3 months after
      surgery (P < .001). The patients recovered normal arm usage within 12 months,
      regardless of surgical side. The arm underuse measurement was weakly related to
      function and pain scores. CONCLUSION: This study provided new information on arm
      recovery after rotator cuff surgery using an innovative measurement method. It
      highlighted that objective arm underuse measurement is a valuable indicator of
      upper limb postsurgical outcome that captures a complementary feature to clinical
      scores.

PMID- 25825142
TI  - Retraction note: Investigation of the hub genes and related mechanism in ovarian
      cancer via bioinformatics analysis.
AB  - The Publisher and Editor regretfully retract this article (Fu LJ, Wang B.
      Investigation of the hub genes and related mechanism in ovarian cancer via
      bioinformatics analysis. J Ovarian Res. 2013;6:92.) because the peer-review
      process was inappropriately influenced and compromised. As a result, the
      scientific integrity of the article cannot be guaranteed. A systematic and
      detailed investigation suggests that a third party was involved in supplying
      fabricated details of potential peer reviewers for a large number of manuscripts
      submitted to different journals. In accordance with recommendations from COPE we
      have retracted all affected published articles, including this one. It was not
      possible to determine beyond doubt that the authors of this particular article
      were aware of any third party attempts to manipulate peer review of their
      manuscript.

PMID- 25825141
TI  - Anti-proliferative effects of qianliening capsules on prostatic hyperplasia in
      vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Previous studies by our group showed that Qianliening capsules (QC), a clinically
      proven effective traditional Chinese formulation that has long been used in the
      treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), is capable of inhibiting BPH in
      vivo and in vitro via the promotion of apoptosis, suppression of the EGFR/STAT3
      signaling pathway and regulating the expression of sex hormones as well as their
      receptors. However, the mechanism of its anti-BPH activity has remained to be
      fully elucidated. The present study aimed to investigate the mechanism underlying
      the anti-proliferative effect of QC in vivo and in vitro. Castrated male Sprage
      Dawley (SD) rats where subcutaneously injected with testosterone propionate and
      the WPMY-1 cell line was stimulated with basic fibroblast growth factor in order
      to generate BPH in vivo and in vitro separately, both of which were then
      subjected to QC treatment. Finasteride was used as a positive control drug for
      the in vivo study. In the present study, it was found that treatment with QC or
      finasteride significantly reduced the prostatic index (PI=prostate wet
      weight/body weight x 100) in a rat model of BPH (P<0.05). In addition, reverse
      transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot
      analyses showed that QC or finasteride treatment significantly inhibited model
      construction-induced upregulation of expression of proliferating cell nuclear
      antigen, cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 4 in prostatic tissues of rats
      with BPH (P<0.05). The in vitro study further proved that QC exhibited anti
      proliferative properties via G1/S cell cycle arrest in the WPMY-1 cell line, as
      evidenced by colony formation, flow cytometric cell cycle, immunoblot and RT-PCR
      analyses. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that inhibition of cell
      proliferation via G1/S cell cycle arrest may be one of the underlying mechanisms
      of the effect of QC on BPH.

PMID- 25825143
TI  - Fucosylated chondroitin sulphate from Cusumaria frondosa mitigates hepatic
      endoplasmic reticulum stress and inflammation in insulin resistant mice.
AB  - Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-associated inflammation positively contributes
      to insulin resistance. It is also known that fucosylated chondroitin sulphate
      from Cusumaria frondosa (Cf-CHS) can mitigate insulin resistance; however, its
      effects on ER stress and inflammation are not well understood. Therefore, we
      investigated whether Cf-CHS-influenced ER stress, inflammatory response and
      signaling in insulin-resistant mice. Our results showed that Cf-CHS lowered serum
      and hepatic ROS, NO, and FFA levels. Furthermore, Cf-CHS decreased serum
      proinflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha, CRP, MIP-1, IL-1beta and IL-6 concentrations
      as well as their hepatic mRNA expression, and increased the anti-inflammatory
      cytokine IL-10 levels. Moreover, Cf-CHS reduced the ER stress markers Bip, ATF6,
      PERK, and XBP1 mRNA or protein expression, and PERK, eIF2alpha, and IRE1alpha
      phosphorylation. These reductions were accompanied by a reduced activation of
      JNK1 and IKKbeta, NFkappaB nuclear translocation, and IR/IRS-2 serine
      phosphorylation in Cf-CHS-treated mice. These findings suggested that the Cf-CHS
      supplementary-induced alleviation of RE stress-associated inflammation could be
      the mechanism responsible for its beneficial effects against insulin resistance. 

PMID- 25825144
TI  - A Study of Association Between Oral Lichen Planus and Immune Balance of Th1/Th2
      Cells.
AB  - The aims of this study are to investigate the key role of Th1 and Th2 in the
      pathogenesis of oral lichen planus (OLP) and to explore the possible association
      between OLP and immune balance of Th1/Th2 cells. We selected 35 patients
      diagnosed with OLP and 35 age- and sex-matched controls as subjects. The
      expressed level of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) and the
      characteristic cytokines of Th1 and Th2 were assayed in the serum of peripheral
      blood of the patients. The lesional tissue of the two groups was investigated
      with the methods of double immunofluorescence. The ratio of Th1/Th2 was
      evaluated, and the difference of the results between serum and lesional tissue
      was compared. Both IFN-gamma and IL-4 levels increased in the serum and lesional
      tissue compared with those of the controls (P < 0.001, P = 0.030, P < 0.001, and
      P < 0.001) and IFN-gamma/IL-4 ratio of OLP patients, which increased
      significantly (P = 0.001 and P = 0.003). The difference between serum and
      lesional tissue was obviously insignificant (P = 0.982). Th1 cytokine
      predominance was proven in this research on Chinese subjects. Th1 cells may play
      leading roles on Th1/Th2 immune balance to pathogenesis of OLP. 

PMID- 25825146
TI  - Histopathological findings and detection of Toll-like receptor 2 in cutaneous
      lesions of canine leishmaniosis.
AB  - A broad spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from a chronic subclinical
      infection to a non-self-limiting illness has been described for canine
      leishmaniosis (CanL). This clinical variation is determined by a variable immune
      response, presumably genetically determined, against the infection. Although
      different types of adaptive immune response in dogs with CanL have been
      investigated in several studies, the mechanisms that underlie and determine this
      variability are still poorly understood. It is currently thought that innate
      immune response, and particularly the role of specific mediators of the innate
      immune system, such as toll-like receptors (TLRs), plays a central role in this
      polarization. However, there is limited data available concerning the role that
      TLRs play in canine Leishmania infantum infection. The objective of this
      descriptive study was to characterize and compare the inflammatory pattern, the
      Leishmania burden and expression of TLR2 in skin lesions derived from dogs with
      different clinical stages of leishmaniosis and cutaneous lesions. Routine
      histology, Leishmania and TLR2 immunohistochemistry assays were performed in 11
      patients with papular dermatitis (stage I - mild disease) and 10 patients with
      other cutaneous lesions (stage II-III - moderate to severe disease). A
      significantly higher frequency of granuloma formation was demonstrated in skin
      samples of dogs with stage I when compared with dogs of stage II-III. Although
      not statistically significant, a trend for a lower parasite burden was observed
      for skin lesions of dogs with stage I when compared with dogs of stage II-III. A
      lower expression of TLR2 in skin biopsies from dogs with stage I was
      statistically significant compared with stage II-III. The results obtained in
      this study indicated an association with TLR2 in the pathogenesis of canine
      cutaneous leishmaniosis. Further studies are required to fully elucidate these
      findings. 

PMID- 25825147
TI  - Temporal genetic variation of Fasciola hepatica from sheep in Galicia (NW Spain).
AB  - We found low genetic differentiation between two temporal samples of Fasciola
      hepatica (2006 and 2008) collected from nine sheep of the same flock that shared
      the same pasture for at least 2 years. However, each sample, represented by four
      and five infrapopulations respectively, showed strong heterozygote deficits
      regarding Hardy-Weinberg expectations and a high degree of genetic structure at
      infrapopulation level. This is an unexpected result since genetic drift should
      increase temporal variation among years. Our findings are most likely explained
      by the fact that the parasite can survive many years in the definitive host.
      Temporal gene flow favored by high longevity probably increases levels of genetic
      variability of the population but could also contribute to the observed
      heterozygote deficits within temporal samples and infrapopulations if it favors
      the Wahlund effect. Despite the homogenizing effect of gene flow, the high
      genetic divergence observed between infrapopulations is most likely a consequence
      of strong genetic drift associated to the complexity of the life cycle. 

PMID- 25825148
TI  - Type 2 diabetes in youth.
AB  - Since the 1990s, concerns about a global obesity epidemic have flourished. These
      concerns regarding obesity are expressed in popular culture and scientific
      literature and emphasize both weight and weight loss when defining health and
      well-being. As a result scholars are now calling attention to a "shadow epidemic"
      of weight stigma that is shown to have harmful physiological and psychological
      impacts in youth. In tandem with "globesity" concerns, there has been a similar
      concern expressed over the epidemic of type 2 diabetes, which some have termed
      "diabesity." Although there is less known about diabetes stigma, the topic has
      much overlap with obesity stigma. In this narrative review we discuss the related
      problems of obesity and type 2 diabetes stigma, with an emphasis on issues
      specific to youth, as relevant. Drawing from literature on weight bias, critical
      weight studies, and Health at Every Size (HAES), we highlight pedagogical
      approaches to address obesity stigma and their implications to redress the
      problem of type 2 diabetes-related stigma in health care.

PMID- 25825149
TI  - Ultrasound assisted synthesis of methyl butyrate using heterogeneous catalyst.
AB  - Ultrasound assisted esterification of butyric acid with methanol was investigated
      in an ultrasound irradiated isothermal batch reactor using acid ion-exchange
      resin (amberlyst-15) as a catalyst. Effect of parameters such as temperature (323
      353 K), catalyst loading (0-8.5%w/w), alcohol to acid ratio, M (2-6), ultrasound
      power (0-145 W), duty cycle (0-85%) and amount of molecular sieves added (0
      11%w/w) on the rate of reaction was studied. At optimized parameters, a maximum
      conversion of 91.64% was obtained in 120 min in presence of ultrasound.
      Experimental kinetic data were correlated by using Eley-Rideal (ER) and Langmuir
      Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHH W) models taking into account reverse reaction.
      Studies showed that single site LHHW with reactants and products both adsorbing
      on catalyst surface was most suited for the obtained experimental data.
      Activation energy determined based on heterogeneous kinetics was in the range
      49.31-57.54 kJ/mol while it was 18.29 kJ/mol using homogeneous model.

PMID- 25825150
TI  - Association of Inadequate Health Literacy with Health Outcomes in Patients with
      Type 2 Diabetes and Depression: Secondary Analysis of a Controlled Trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship of inadequate health literacy (HL) with
      changes in depressive symptoms, health-related quality of life and
      cardiometabolic outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus recently
      screened positive for depression. METHODS: Secondary analysis of data from a
      clinical trial (N=154) that compared a collaborative team care model and enhanced
      usual care for primary care for patients with type 2 diabetes and depression. The
      exposure of interest was inadequate HL, defined as a total summative score of 9
      or more on the 3 brief screening questions. Outcomes of interest were differences
      in the changes in depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) at
      12 months, health-related quality of life (short-form health survey 12 [SF-12])
      and European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions questionnaire (EQ-5D), glycemic control
      (A1C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and systolic blood pressure. RESULTS:
      The average age of patients was 58 years; 56% were women and were predominantly
      white. Only a small proportion (n=24; 16%) had inadequate HL. In adjusted random
      effects models, there were no statistically significant or clinically important
      differences in all outcomes between the HL groups. The between-group differences
      in change over 1 year were -0.55 points for PHQ-9; 0.76 points for physical and
      0.56 points for mental summaries of the SF-12; 0.03 points for EQ-5D; -0.17 for
      A1C; -0.08 mmol/L for low-density lipoprotein; and -1.94 mm Hg for systolic blood
      pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Among primary care patients with type 2 diabetes who had
      been screened recently as being positive for depression, it is unlikely that HL
      impacts health outcomes over 1 year.

PMID- 25825152
TI  - STAT3 the oncogene - still eluding therapy?
AB  - The STAT family of transcription factors (signal transducers and activators of
      transcription) transduce signals from cytokine receptors to the nucleus, where
      STAT dimers bind to DNA and regulate transcription. STAT3 is the most ubiquitous
      of the STATs, being activated by a wide variety of cytokines and growth factors.
      STAT3 has many roles in physiological processes such as inflammatory signalling,
      aerobic glycolysis and immune suppression, and was also the first family member
      shown to be aberrantly activated in a wide range of both solid and liquid
      tumours. STAT3 promotes tumorigenesis by regulating the expression of various
      target genes, including cell-cycle regulators, angiogenic factors and anti
      apoptosis genes. Paradoxically, in some circumstances, STAT3 signalling induces
      cell death. The best known example is the involuting mammary gland, where STAT3
      is essential for induction of a lysosomal pathway of cell death. Nevertheless,
      direct silencing or inhibition of STAT3 diminishes tumour growth and survival in
      both animal and human studies. This suggests that abolishing STAT3 activity may
      be an effective cancer therapeutic strategy. However, despite this potential as a
      therapeutic target, and the extensive attempts by many laboratories and
      pharmaceutical companies to develop an effective STAT3 inhibitor for use in the
      clinic, no direct STAT3 inhibitor has been approved for clinical use. In this
      review, we focus on the role of STAT3 in tumorigenesis, and discuss its potential
      as a therapeutic target for cancer treatment. 

PMID- 25825153
TI  - The groningen laryngomalacia classification system--based on systematic review
      and dynamic airway changes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Laryngomalacia is the most common cause of dyspnea and stridor in
      newborn infants. Laryngomalacia is a dynamic change of the upper airway based on
      abnormally pliable supraglottic structures, which causes upper airway
      obstruction. In the past, different classification systems have been introduced.
      Until now no classification system is widely accepted and applied. Our goal is to
      provide a simple and complete classification system based on systematic
      literature search and our experiences. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study
      with literature review. METHODS: All patients with laryngomalacia under the age
      of 5 at time of diagnosis were included. Photo and video documentation was used
      to confirm diagnosis and characteristics of dynamic airway change. Outcome was
      compared with available classification systems in literature. RESULTS: Eighty
      five patients were included. In contrast to other classification systems, only
      three typical different dynamic changes have been identified in our series. Two
      existing classification systems covered 100% of our findings, but there was an
      unnecessary overlap between different types in most of the systems. Based on our
      finding, we propose a new a classification system for laryngomalacia, which is
      purely based on dynamic airway changes. CONCLUSION: The groningen laryngomalacia
      classification is a new, simplified classification system with three types, based
      on purely dynamic laryngeal changes, tested in a tertiary referral center: Type
      1: inward collapse of arytenoids cartilages, Type 2: medial displacement of
      aryepiglottic folds, and Type 3: posterocaudal displacement of epiglottis against
      the posterior pharyngeal wall.

PMID- 25825154
TI  - DEAD-box helicase DDX27 regulates 3' end formation of ribosomal 47S RNA and
      stably associates with the PeBoW-complex.
AB  - PeBoW, a trimeric complex consisting of pescadillo (Pes1), block of proliferation
      (Bop1), and the WD repeat protein 12 (WDR12), is essential for processing and
      maturation of mammalian 5.8S and 28S ribosomal RNAs. Applying a mass
      spectrometric analysis, we identified the DEAD-box helicase DDX27 as stably
      associated factor of the PeBoW-complex. DDX27 interacts with the PeBoW-complex
      via an evolutionary conserved F*F motif in the N-terminal domain and is recruited
      to the nucleolus via its basic C-terminal domain. This recruitment is RNA
      dependent and occurs independently of the PeBoW-complex. Interestingly, knockdown
      of DDX27, but not of Pes1, induces the accumulation of an extended form of the
      primary 47S rRNA. We conclude that DDX27 can interact specifically with the Pes1
      and Bop1 but fulfils critical function(s) for proper 3' end formation of 47S rRNA
      independently of the PeBoW-complex. 

PMID- 25825156
TI  - Nitrogen deficiency hinders etioplast development in stems of dark-grown pea
      (Pisum sativum) shoot cultures.
AB  - The effects of nitrogen (N) deprivation were studied in etiolated pea plants
      (Pisum sativum cv. Zsuzsi) grown in shoot cultures. The average shoot lengths
      decreased and the stems significantly altered considering their pigment contents,
      77 K fluorescence spectra and ultrastructural properties. The protochlorophyllide
      (Pchlide) content and the relative contribution of the 654-655 nm emitting flash
      photoactive Pchlide form significantly decreased. The etioplast inner membrane
      structure characteristically changed: N deprivation correlated with a decrease in
      the size and number of prolamellar bodies (PLBs). These results show that N
      deficiency directly hinders the pigment production, as well as the synthesis of
      other etioplast inner membrane components in etiolated pea stems.

PMID- 25825155
TI  - Lysophospholipid mediators in the vasculature.

PMID- 25825158
TI  - Biochemical markers subtyping major depressive disorder.
AB  - The pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) remains elusive, and there
      is no established biochemical marker used in the daily clinical setting. This
      situation may result in part from the heterogeneity of MDD, which might include
      heterogeneous subgroups with different biological mechanisms. In this review, we
      discuss three promising biological systems/markers to potentially subtype MDD:
      the dopamine system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and chronic
      inflammatory markers. Several lines of evidence suggest that a facet of MDD is a
      dopamine agonist-responsive subtype. Focusing on the hypothalamic-pituitary
      adrenal axis, depressive spectrum disorders show hypercortisolism to
      hypocortisolism, which could be detected by hormonal challenge tests, such as the
      dexamethasone/corticotrophin-releasing hormone test. Finally, accumulating
      evidence suggests that at least some MDD patients show characteristics similar to
      those of chronic inflammatory diseases, including neuroinflammatory markers and
      reduced tryptophan due to the increased activation of the tryptophan-kynurenine
      pathway. Future studies should examine the inter-relations between these
      systems/markers to subtype and integrate the pathophysiology of MDD. 

PMID- 25825157
TI  - Cathodic Electrical Stimulation Combined With Vancomycin Enhances Treatment of
      Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Implant-associated Infections.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Effective treatments for implant-associated infections are often
      lacking. Cathodic voltage-controlled electrical stimulation has shown potential
      as a treatment of implant-associated infections of methicillin-resistant
      Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: The primary purpose of this
      study was to (1) determine if cathodic voltage-controlled electrical stimulation
      combined with vancomycin therapy is more effective at reducing the MRSA bacterial
      burden on the implant, bone, and synovial fluid in comparison to either treatment
      alone or no treatment controls. We also sought to (2) evaluate the histologic
      effects of the various treatments on the surrounding bone; and to (3) determine
      if the cathodic voltage-controlled electrical stimulation treatment had an effect
      on the mechanical properties of the titanium implant as a result of possible
      hydrogen embrittlement. METHODS: Thirty-two adult male Long-Evans rats (Harlan
      Laboratories, Indianapolis, IN, USA) with surgically placed shoulder titanium
      implants were infected with a clinical strain of MRSA (NRS70). One week after
      infection, eight animals received a treatment of cathodic voltage-controlled
      electrical stimulation at -1.8 V versus Ag/AgCl for 1 hour (STIM), eight received
      vancomycin twice daily for 1 week (VANCO), eight received the cathodic voltage
      controlled electrical stimulation and vancomycin therapy combined (STIM + VANCO),
      and eight served as controls with no treatment (CONT). Two weeks after initial
      infection, the implant, bone, and synovial fluid were collected for colony
      forming unit (CFU) enumeration, qualitative histological analysis by a
      pathologist blinded to the treatments each animal received, and implant three
      point bend testing. RESULTS: The implant-associated CFU enumerated from the STIM
      + VANCO (mean, 3.7 * 10(3); SD, 6.3 * 10(3)) group were less than those from the
      CONT (mean, 1.3 * 10(6); SD, 2.8 * 10(6); 95% confidence interval [CI] of
      difference, -4.3 * 10(5) to -9.9 * 10(3); p < 0.001), STIM (mean, 1.4 * 10(6);
      SD, 2.0 * 10(6); 95% CI of difference, -2.1 * 10(6) to -1.8 * 10(3); p = 0.002),
      and VANCO (mean, 5.8 x 10(4); SD, 5.7 * 10(4); 95% CI of difference, -6.4 * 10(4)
      to -1.7 * 10(4); p < 0.001) group. The bone-associated CFU enumerated from the
      STIM + VANCO group (6.3 * 10(1); SD, 1.1 * 10(2)) were less than those from the
      CONT (mean, 2.8 * 10(5); SD, 4.8 * 10(5); 95% CI of difference, -9.4 * 10(4) to 
      5.0 * 10(3); p < 0.001) and STIM (mean, 2.6 * 10(4); SD, 2.5 * 10(4); 95% CI of
      difference, -4.1 * 10(4) to -1.6 * 10(3); p < 0.001) groups. The VANCO group (4.3
      * 10(5); SD, 6.3 * 10(2)) also had lower bone-associated CFU as compared with the
      CONT (mean 95% CI of difference, -9.3 * 10(4) to -4.5 * 10(3); p < 0.001) and
      STIM (95% CI of difference, -4.0 * 10(4) to -1.5 * 10(3); p < 0.001) groups. In
      comparison to the synovial fluid CFU enumerated from the CONT group (mean, 3.3 *
      10(4); SD, 6.0 * 10(4)), lower synovial CFU were reported for both the STIM +
      VANCO group (mean, 4.6 * 10(1); SD, 1.2 * 10(2); 95% CI of difference, -4.9 *
      10(3) to -3.0 * 10(2); p < 0.001) and the VANCO group (mean, 6.8 * 10(1); SD, 9.2
      * 10(1); 95% CI of difference, -4.9 * 10(3) to -2.8 * 10(2); p = 0.007). The
      histological analysis showed no discernable deleterious effects on the
      surrounding tissue as a result of the treatments. No brittle fracture occurred
      during mechanical testing and with the numbers available, no differences in
      implant flexural yield strength were detected between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: In
      this rodent model, cathodic voltage-controlled electrical stimulation combined
      with vancomycin is an effective treatment for titanium implant-associated
      infections showing greater than 99.8% reduction in bacterial burden on the
      implant, surrounding bone, and synovial fluid as compared with the controls and
      the stimulation alone groups. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Cathodic voltage-controlled
      electrical stimulation combined with vancomycin may enable successful treatment
      of titanium orthopaedic implant-associated infections with implant retention.
      Future studies will focus on optimization of the stimulation parameters for
      complete eradication of infection and the ability to promote beneficial host
      tissue responses.

PMID- 25825159
TI  - Association between dairy intake and caries among children and adolescents.
      results from the Danish EYHS follow-up study.
AB  - The aim of this paper was to investigate associations between the intake of dairy
      products and the development in caries (DMFS, decayed, missing and filled
      surfaces) among children/adolescents over a period of 3 and 6 years, and to
      investigate whether dairy intake protects against caries incidence. A total of
      68.9% of the children were caries free at the age of 9 compared with 34.0% of the
      adolescents at the age of 15 (measured as DMFS = 0). A larger percentage of
      children/adolescents with a dairy intake above the mean were caries free compared
      with the group of children/adolescents with an intake below the mean (72.8 vs.
      65.8% at age 9 and 41.1 vs. 30.7% at age 15). The results from the generalized
      estimation equation showed that dairy and milk intake, as well as intakes of
      components of dairy such as dairy calcium, whey and casein, was generally
      inversely associated with childhood/adolescent caries experience (measured as
      DMFS). With regard to caries incidence, the same inverse association was found
      for incidence over a period of 3 years and for incidence over 6 years, but the
      results were only statistically significant for the 3-year incidence and for the
      unadjusted models of the 6-year incidence. This study found that previous dairy
      intake, as well as milk intake or intake of dairy components, may be a predictor
      of future risk of caries measured by the DMFS count level. This relationship was
      inverse, meaning that a high intake of dairy products was associated with less
      future caries development. However, more studies on larger cohorts are needed to
      confirm these findings.

PMID- 25825161
TI  - Implementing a third-year emergency medicine medical student curriculum.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Emergency medicine (EM) is commonly introduced in the fourth year of
      medical school because of a perceived need to have more experienced students in
      the complex and dynamic environment of the emergency department. However, there
      is no evidence supporting the optimal time or duration for an EM rotation, and a
      number of institutions offer third-year rotations. OBJECTIVE: A recently
      published syllabus provides areas of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that third
      year EM rotation directors can use to develop curricula. This article expands on
      that syllabus by providing a comprehensive curricular guide for the third-year
      medical student rotation with a focus on implementation. DISCUSSION: Included are
      consensus-derived learning objectives, discussion of educational methods,
      considerations for implementation, and information on feedback and evaluation as
      proposed by the Clerkship Directors in Emergency Medicine Third-Year Curriculum
      Work Group. External validation results, derived from a survey of third-year
      rotation directors, are provided in the form of a content validity index for each
      content area. CONCLUSIONS: This consensus-derived curricular guide can be used by
      faculty who are developing or revising a third-year EM medical student rotation
      and provide guidance for implementing this curriculum at their institution.

PMID- 25825162
TI  - Venous malformation associated with type 1 neurofibromatosis: a case report.

PMID- 25825160
TI  - The iron chelator deferasirox affects redox signalling in haematopoietic
      stem/progenitor cells.
AB  - The iron chelator deferasirox (DFX) prevents complications related to
      transfusional iron overload in several haematological disorders characterized by
      marrow failure. It is also able to induce haematological responses in a
      percentage of treated patients, particularly in those affected by myelodysplastic
      syndromes. The underlying mechanisms responsible for this feature, however, are
      still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the effect of DFX
      treatment in human haematopoietic/progenitor stem cells, focussing on its impact
      on the redox balance, which proved to control the interplay between stemness
      maintenance, self-renewal and differentiation priming. Here we show, for the
      first time, that DFX treatment induces a significant diphenyleneiodonium
      sensitive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production that leads to the activation
      of POU5F1 (OCT4), SOX2 and SOX17 gene expression, relevant in reprogramming
      processes, and the reduction of the haematopoietic regulatory proteins CTNNB1
      (beta-Catenin) and BMI1. These DFX-mediated events were accompanied by decreased
      CD34 expression, increased mitochondrial mass and up-regulation of the
      erythropoietic marker CD71 (TFRC) and were compound-specific, dissimilar to
      deferoxamine. Our findings would suggest a novel mechanism by which DFX, probably
      independently on its iron-chelating property but through ROS signalling
      activation, may influence key factors involved in self-renewal/differentiation of
      haematopoietic stem cells. 

PMID- 25825163
TI  - Platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGFRbeta) immunohistochemistry
      highlights activated bone marrow stroma and is potentially predictive for
      fibrosis progression in prefibrotic myeloproliferative neoplasia.
AB  - AIMS: Myelofibrosis is the result of aberrant stromal activity which is
      determined routinely by reticulin staining in bone marrow biopsies. As matrix
      fibres are the product of activated fibroblasts, we analysed fibre accumulation
      compared to stromal cell activity during myelofibrosis progression using the
      fibroblast activation marker platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta
      (PDGFRbeta) by immunohistochemistry. METHODS AND RESULTS: Initial and follow-up
      bone marrow biopsies from 84 patients with myeloproliferative neoplasia,
      including 55 cases with primary myelofibrosis, were evaluated from five
      haematopathology centres. The stromal mass was measured by conventional reticulin
      staining [myelofibrosis (MF) grade, 0-3] and PDGFRbeta-positive cells using a
      novel PDGFRbeta scoring system (0-3). Results were correlated for prediction of
      progression. The MF grade and the PDGFRbeta score showed excellent correlation
      (Spearman's r = 0.83, P < 0.0001). Elevated PDGFRbeta scores (higher than MF
      grade) predicted myelofibrosis progression in total with 43% sensitivity and 57%
      specificity, and short-term (within 1 year) progression with 82% sensitivity and
      53% specificity. Progression of prefibrotic disease to manifest myelofibrosis
      could be forecast with 90% sensitivity and 75% specificity. CONCLUSION: PDGFRbeta
      highlights stromal cell activation in marrow fibrosis, which is closely related
      to matrix accumulation, indicating a direct clinical impact especially in
      prefibrotic myeloproliferative disorders.

PMID- 25825164
TI  - Darwin on the mic.

PMID- 25825165
TI  - Injectable hydrogel delivery plus preconditioning of mesenchymal stem cells:
      exploitation of SDF-1/CXCR4 axis toward enhancing the efficacy of stem cells'
      homing.
AB  - Clinical applications of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) rely on their capacity to
      home and engraft in the appropriate target injury tissues for the long term.
      However, their homing efficiency has been observed to be very poor because of the
      lack or modifications of homing factors SDF-1alpha and CXCR4 receptors. Hence,
      this study was designed to investigate the homing and retention of pretreated
      human adipose tissue-derived MSCs (hASCs) from three different delivery routes in
      response to SDF-1alpha, released from chitosan-based injectable hydrogels. After
      stimulation of ASCs with a hypoxia mimicking agent, the expression level and
      functionality of CXCR4 were analyzed by flowcytometric analysis (FACS), transwell
      migration assay and qPCR. Then, the homing/retention of pretreated DiI-labeled
      hASCs were compared through three different in vivo delivery routes, 2 weeks
      after transplantation in Wistar rats. The cells were tracked histologically by
      fluorescent microscope and by PCR for human-specific CXCR4 gene. Results showed
      CXCR4 has dynamic expression pattern and pretreatment of hASCs significantly up
      regulates CXCR4, leading to an increase in migration capacity toward 100 ng/mL
      SDF-1alpha in vitro and homing into the subcutaneously implanted hydrogel
      releasing SDF-1alpha in vivo. Furthermore, it seems that SDF-1alpha is
      particularly important in the retention of ASCs, in addition to its
      chemoattraction role. In summary, the delivery route in which the ASCs were mixed
      with the hydrogel rather than systemic delivery and local injection and
      preconditioning undertaken to increase CXCR4 expression concomitant with SDF
      1alpha delivery by the injectable hydrogel, allowed for further homing/retention
      of ASCs. This might be a promising way to get better therapeutic outcomes in stem
      cell therapy. 

PMID- 25825166
TI  - Triggering the directional selectivity of a ring-closure reaction leads to
      pyridoazacarbazoles with anticancer properties.
AB  - We herein describe a facile and versatile synthetic route to the tetracyclic
      system of 6-substituted 5,6-dihydro-11H-pyrido[3,2-i]-1-azacarbazoles with
      promising anticancer properties. These derivatives are built up by an elegant one
      step base-catalyzed synthetic procedure from commercially available building
      blocks. One additional step provides the corresponding skeleton hitherto unknown
      in the literature. The possibility to synthesize a large library of compounds
      with various substitution patterns utilizing this method underlines the
      importance of this synthetic procedure. 

PMID- 25825167
TI  - Of muscle modulation and the CFTR gate.

PMID- 25825168
TI  - Revisiting the role of raphe and serotonin in neuropsychiatric disorders.

PMID- 25825169
TI  - Cysteine accessibility probes timing and extent of NBD separation along the dimer
      interface in gating CFTR channels.
AB  - Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) channel opening and
      closing are driven by cycles of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) binding-induced
      formation and hydrolysis-triggered disruption of a heterodimer of its cytoplasmic
      nucleotide-binding domains (NBDs). Although both composite sites enclosed within
      the heterodimer interface contain ATP in an open CFTR channel, ATP hydrolysis in
      the sole catalytically competent site causes channel closure. Opening of the NBD
      interface at that site then allows ADP-ATP exchange. But how frequently, and how
      far, the NBD surfaces separate at the other, inactive composite site remains
      unclear. We assessed separation at each composite site by monitoring access of
      nucleotide-sized hydrophilic, thiol-specific methanothiosulfonate (MTS) reagents
      to interfacial target cysteines introduced into either LSGGQ-like ATP-binding
      cassette signature sequence (replacing equivalent conserved serines: S549 and
      S1347). Covalent MTS-dependent modification of either cysteine while channels
      were kept closed by the absence of ATP impaired subsequent opening upon ATP
      readdition. Modification while channels were opening and closing in the presence
      of ATP caused macroscopic CFTR current to decline at the same speed as when the
      unmodified channels shut upon sudden ATP withdrawal. These results suggest that
      the target cysteines can be modified only in closed channels; that after
      modification the attached MTS adduct interferes with ATP-mediated opening; and
      that modification in the presence of ATP occurs rapidly once channels close,
      before they can reopen. This interpretation was corroborated by the finding that,
      for either cysteine target, the addition of the hydrolysis-impairing mutation
      K1250R (catalytic site Walker A Lys) similarly slowed, by an order of magnitude,
      channel closing on ATP removal and the speed of modification by MTS reagent in
      ATP. We conclude that, in every CFTR channel gating cycle, the NBD dimer
      interface separates simultaneously at both composite sites sufficiently to allow
      MTS reagents to access both signature-sequence serines. Relatively rapid
      modification of S1347C channels by larger reagents-MTS-glucose, MTS-biotin, and
      MTS-rhodamine-demonstrates that, at the noncatalytic composite site, this
      separation must exceed 8 A. 

PMID- 25825170
TI  - Depression of voltage-activated Ca2+ release in skeletal muscle by activation of
      a voltage-sensing phosphatase.
AB  - Phosphoinositides act as signaling molecules in numerous cellular transduction
      processes, and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P2) regulates
      the function of several types of plasma membrane ion channels. We investigated
      the potential role of PtdIns(4,5)P2 in Ca(2+) homeostasis and excitation
      contraction (E-C) coupling of mouse muscle fibers using in vivo expression of the
      voltage-sensing phosphatases (VSPs) Ciona intestinalis VSP (Ci-VSP) or Danio
      rerio VSP (Dr-VSP). Confocal images of enhanced green fluorescent protein-tagged
      Dr-VSP revealed a banded pattern consistent with VSP localization within the
      transverse tubule membrane. Rhod-2 Ca(2+) transients generated by 0.5-s-long
      voltage-clamp depolarizing pulses sufficient to elicit Ca(2+) release from the
      sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) but below the range at which VSPs are activated were
      unaffected by the presence of the VSPs. However, in Ci-VSP-expressing fibers
      challenged by 5-s-long depolarizing pulses, the Ca(2+) level late in the pulse (3
      s after initiation) was significantly lower at 120 mV than at 20 mV. Furthermore,
      Ci-VSP-expressing fibers showed a reversible depression of Ca(2+) release during
      trains, with the peak Ca(2+) transient being reduced by ~30% after the
      application of 10 200-ms-long pulses to 100 mV. A similar depression was observed
      in Dr-VSP-expressing fibers. Cav1.1 Ca(2+) channel-mediated current was
      unaffected by Ci-VSP activation. In fibers expressing Ci-VSP and a pleckstrin
      homology domain fused with monomeric red fluorescent protein (PLCdelta1PH-mRFP),
      depolarizing pulses elicited transient changes in mRFP fluorescence consistent
      with release of transverse tubule-bound PLCdelta1PH domain into the cytosol; the
      voltage sensitivity of these changes was consistent with that of Ci-VSP
      activation, and recovery occurred with a time constant in the 10-s range. Our
      results indicate that the PtdIns(4,5)P2 level is tightly maintained in the
      transverse tubule membrane of the muscle fibers, and that VSP-induced depletion
      of PtdIns(4,5)P2 impairs voltage-activated Ca(2+) release from the SR. Because
      Ca(2+) release is thought to be independent from InsP3 signaling, the effect
      likely results from an interaction between PtdIns(4,5)P2 and a protein partner of
      the E-C coupling machinery. 

PMID- 25825172
TI  - Histological Bulbar Manifestations in the ALS Rat.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Almost all patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) develop
      bulbar symptoms; therefore, it is important to have valid animal models that
      accurately reflect these features. While the SOD1-G93A rat is extensively used as
      an ALS model, bulbar symptoms in this model are not well characterized.
      OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we aimed to better characterize bulbar
      dysfunction in terms of histology to determine whether the SOD1-G93A rat is a
      useful model for bulbar-onset ALS. METHODS: Sixty-day-old SOD1-G93A rats on a
      Sprague-Dawley background and age-matched wild-type controls were assessed weekly
      for global motor function, facial nerve function, and vagal nerve function. The
      study endpoint was determined when an SOD1-G93A rat could not right itself within
      30 s of being placed on its side. At that point, neuronal counts were assessed in
      different brainstem cranial nerve nuclei. In addition, the masseter muscle,
      posterior belly of the digastric muscle, and tongue muscle were evaluated for
      intact neuromuscular junctions. RESULTS: Our data demonstrate decreases in the
      number of motor neurons in the trigeminal, facial, and hypoglossal nuclei, as
      well as compromised neuromuscular junction integrity in the muscles they
      innervate. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that, from a histological
      standpoint, the SOD1-G93A rat is a valid model of ALS bulbar symptoms.

PMID- 25825171
TI  - Two distinct effects of PIP2 underlie auxiliary subunit-dependent modulation of
      Slo1 BK channels.
AB  - Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) plays a critical role in modulating
      the function of numerous ion channels, including large-conductance Ca(2+)- and
      voltage-dependent K(+) (BK, Slo1) channels. Slo1 BK channel complexes include
      four pore-forming Slo1 (alpha) subunits as well as various regulatory auxiliary
      subunits (beta and gamma) that are expressed in different tissues. We examined
      the molecular and biophysical mechanisms underlying the effects of brain-derived
      PIP2 on human Slo1 BK channel complexes with different subunit compositions that
      were heterologously expressed in human embryonic kidney cells. PIP2 inhibited
      macroscopic currents through Slo1 channels without auxiliary subunits and through
      Slo1 + gamma1 complexes. In contrast, PIP2 markedly increased macroscopic
      currents through Slo1 + beta1 and Slo1 + beta4 channel complexes and failed to
      alter macroscopic currents through Slo1 + beta2 and Slo1 + beta2 Delta2-19
      channel complexes. Results obtained at various membrane potentials and divalent
      cation concentrations suggest that PIP2 promotes opening of the ion conduction
      gate in all channel types, regardless of the specific subunit composition.
      However, in the absence of beta subunits positioned near the voltage-sensor
      domains (VSDs), as in Slo1 and probably Slo1 + gamma1, PIP2 augments the negative
      surface charge on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane, thereby shifting the
      voltage dependence of VSD-mediated activation in the positive direction. When
      beta1 or beta4 subunits occupy the space surrounding the VSDs, only the
      stimulatory effect of PIP2 is evident. The subunit compositions of native Slo1 BK
      channels differ in various cell types; thus, PIP2 may exert distinct tissue- and
      divalent cation-dependent modulatory influences. 

PMID- 25825173
TI  - Isavuconazonium sulfate approved for invasive fungal infections.

PMID- 25825174
TI  - Biosimilar filgrastim approved, but with "placeholder" generic name.

PMID- 25825175
TI  - Florida hospital embraces pharmacist-led chronic care in physician offices.

PMID- 25825176
TI  - FDA revives compounding advisory committee.

PMID- 25825178
TI  - Research on patient safety for off-label use of recombinant factor VIIa.

PMID- 25825179
TI  - Unreliability of weighing elastomeric pumps for determining volume of fluid
      infused.

PMID- 25825180
TI  - Being an academic part-time pharmacist.

PMID- 25825181
TI  - Pharmacist-led collaborative practice for older adults.

PMID- 25825182
TI  - Promoting pharmacy business success through the implementation of a departmental
      operating review series.

PMID- 25825183
TI  - A professional imperative: developing pharmacy residents as the next generation
      of practice-based researchers.

PMID- 25825184
TI  - Safety perspectives on informatics.

PMID- 25825185
TI  - Outpatient management of febrile neutropenia associated with cancer chemotherapy:
      risk stratification and treatment review.
AB  - PURPOSE: Strategies for the management of chemotherapy-induced febrile
      neutropenia (FN), including assessment tools for determining which patients are
      at low risk for FN complications and can be treated in the outpatient setting,
      are discussed. SUMMARY: Due to the potential for life-threatening complications,
      the development of FN in patients receiving cancer chemotherapy traditionally
      prompted hospitalization and i.v. antimicrobial therapy, but there is convincing
      published evidence that an identifiable subset of patients can be safely treated
      as outpatients. Two validated assessment tools recommended for identifying
      patients at low risk for FN complications are the Talcott classification system
      and the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) risk
      index; the MASCC index is superior in terms of sensitivity and negative
      predictive value but has lower specificity. In low-risk FN cases, outpatient oral
      antimicrobial therapy has been shown to be a safe and effective alternative to
      i.v. therapy for both inpatients and outpatients; current practice guidelines
      recommend an oral fluoroquinolone (e.g., ciprofloxacin) in combination with oral
      amoxicillin-clavulanate. The guidelines emphasize that in certain cases of FN
      (e.g., those involving prolonged or pronounced neutropenia or serious
      comorbidities), inpatient i.v. therapy is required. CONCLUSION: Pharmacists can
      play an important role in the management of chemotherapy-associated FN through
      involvement in risk assessment to identify candidates for outpatient oral
      antimicrobial therapy, selection of appropriate pharmacotherapy, drug therapy
      monitoring, and development of institutional guidelines or pathways.

PMID- 25825187
TI  - ASHP national survey on informatics: assessment of the adoption and use of
      pharmacy informatics in U.S. hospitals-2013.
AB  - PURPOSE: Results of the 2013 ASHP national survey on informatics are presented.
      METHODS: Pharmacy directors from all types and sizes of U.S. hospitals were
      included in the sample of 4893 individuals invited to participate in an online
      survey. The survey contained over 600 data elements that addressed the adoption
      and use of a variety of pharmacy informatics and technology. Data were analyzed
      by hospital type and size, accounting for sampling procedures and differences in
      response rate. RESULTS: Of the 4893 surveys distributed, 465 usable surveys were
      returned, yielding a response rate of 9.5%. Nearly 33% of hospitals reported
      having a complete electronic health record (EHR) (i.e., no paper charts).
      Adoption rates for computerized prescriber order entry, clinical decision
      support, electronic prescribing, and bar-code-assisted medication administration
      indicated that these technologies are clear priorities. Nearly half of
      respondents indicated using solely paper-based medication reconciliation
      processes, while almost as many reported using processes that combined electronic
      and paper methods. Overall, automated dispensing cabinets were more common in
      U.S. hospitals than were carousels and dispensing robots. The adoption of patient
      portals and personal health records is becoming common. Technologies identified
      as enablers of the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI) were found in at
      least 25% of hospitals. The average total number of pharmacy information
      technology full-time equivalents was 3.12. CONCLUSION: This survey found
      widespread use of pharmacy informatics and technology across the entire
      medication-use process. Considerable progress was demonstrated in meeting
      meaningful-use measures for EHRs and meeting the recommendations of the ASHP
      PPMI.

PMID- 25825186
TI  - Resistance to rocuronium and cisatracurium in a patient with a spinal injury and
      acute respiratory distress syndrome.
AB  - PURPOSE: A case of resistance to rocuronium and cisatracurium in a patient with a
      spinal injury who developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is
      reported. SUMMARY: A 34-year-old, 88-kg Caucasian man with a history of
      polysubstance abuse fell from a bridge approximately 30-ft high, landing head
      first in about 2-3 ft of water. The patient sustained anterior subluxation at
      cervical spine levels C5-C6 and severe spinal canal compromise with cord
      compression and edema from C5 to C7, resulting in quadriplegia. The patient
      developed aspiration pneumonia for which he was given vancomycin and piperacillin
      tazobactam. His pneumonia progressed to ARDS, and drug-induced paralysis was
      attempted to reduce barotrauma and improve ventilation. Rocuronium was initiated,
      but the patient did not adequately respond to this treatment. Cisatracurium was
      then initiated, but the patient did not respond. The decision was made to
      discontinue the cisatracurium infusion at that time and manage the patient's ARDS
      without a neuromuscular blocking agent (NMBA). After several attempts to manage
      the patient's ARDS by adjusting ventilatory values, the patient required the
      reinitiation of an NMBA. The decision was made to try cisatracurium again.
      Cisatracurium was again unsuccessful and therefore discontinued. As a last
      attempt to improve oxygenation, the patient received nitric oxide and sedation
      with propofol. The patient died due to his complicated hospital course that
      included quadriplegia, ARDS, cardiac arrest, and sepsis secondary to a gastric
      perforation. CONCLUSION: Inadequate paralysis was achieved with rocuronium and
      cisatracurium in a patient who sustained a significant trauma resulting in
      quadriplegia.

PMID- 25825188
TI  - Who will sit in my chair?

PMID- 25825189
TI  - Effect of pharmacy students as primary pharmacy members on inpatient
      interdisciplinary mental health teams.
AB  - PURPOSE: The effect of pharmacy students as primary pharmacy members on inpatient
      interdisciplinary mental health teams was investigated. METHODS: This
      retrospective study used Veterans Affairs data from veterans who were admitted to
      an inpatient mental health unit from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2012.
      Eligible veterans had to have been hospitalized for at least five days and
      treated with at least five scheduled medications during the hospitalization.
      Information collected by the investigators included patient age, psychiatric
      diagnoses, accuracy of medication reconciliation on admission and at discharge,
      and readmission rates within six months and one year. Additional information
      collected included monitoring parameters for lithium, divalproex, first
      generation antipsychotics, and second-generation antipsychotics. The primary
      outcome was the percentage of accurate medication reconciliations for treatment
      teams with a fourth-year pharmacy student and without a pharmacy student.
      Clinical monitoring and readmission rates were also compared. RESULTS: A total of
      526 patients were eligible for study inclusion. Medication reconciliation was
      performed on admission for all patients followed by a team involving a pharmacy
      student (experimental group), but only 51% of patients in the control group had
      documented medication reconciliations in the medical chart. Of the medication
      reconciliations completed, 82% were performed correctly in the experimental
      group, compared with 61% when a pharmacy student was not involved (p = 0.006).
      There were no significant differences between groups in psychotropic monitoring
      and readmission rates. CONCLUSION: The presence of fourth-year pharmacy students
      on inpatient mental health interdisciplinary teams was associated with more
      frequent interventions, patient counseling, and medication reconciliation,
      compared with rates for teams without a pharmacy student. Medication
      reconciliation was performed more consistently and accurately when the teams had
      a pharmacy student than when they did not.

PMID- 25825192
TI  - ASHP professional policy recommendations--invitation to comment.

PMID- 25825190
TI  - Preventing chemotherapy errors: updating guidelines to meet new challenges.

PMID- 25825193
TI  - ASHP guidelines on preventing medication errors with chemotherapy and biotherapy.

PMID- 25825194
TI  - Efficacy of tenofovir switch therapy for nucleos(t)ide-experienced patients with
      chronic hepatitis B.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate has been used in chronic hepatitis B
      patients with suboptimal virologic response to nucleos(t)ide analogues. The
      efficacy of tenofovir switch therapy has not been well studied in Asian patients.
      AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of tenofovir switch therapy in nucleos(t)ide
      experienced patients, and identify the factors associated with treatment response
      of tenofovir switch therapy. METHODS: Nucleos(t)ide-experienced hepatitis B e
      antigen-positive and -negative patients prescribed with tenofovir were
      retrospectively identified and recruited for prospective analysis. Hepatitis B
      virus (HBV) DNA and other biochemical parameters were monitored in regular 3-6
      monthly follow-up visits. Primary efficacy endpoint was maintained-virologic
      response with tenofovir switch therapy, defined as undetectable HBV DNA (<20
      IU/mL) until the last follow-up visit. RESULTS: An overall of 214/252 (84.9%)
      patients achieved maintained-virologic response after 22 (7-55) months of
      tenofovir switch therapy. On multivariate analysis, a lower HBV DNA level at the
      time of switching to tenofovir was an independent factor associated with
      treatment efficacy. Maintained-virologic response after switching to tenofovir
      was achieved in 177/190 (93.2%) patients with HBV DNA <20 000 IU/mL vs. 37/62
      (59.7%) patients with HBV DNA >=20 000 IU/mL (P < 0.001). Absence of genotypic
      resistance to lamivudine or adefovir dipivoxil was not associated with improved
      treatment outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Tenofovir switch therapy is an effective
      treatment strategy in nucleos(t)ide-experienced chronic hepatitis B patients.
      However, in patients with HBV DNA >=20 000 IU/mL at the time of switching to
      tenofovir, the chance of achieving maintained undetectable HBV DNA is
      significantly reduced.

PMID- 25825195
TI  - Steroid-Induced Osteonecrosis in Dermatology: A Review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Steroid-induced osteonecrosis is unpredictable and highly morbid.
      METHODS: MEDLINE (Ovid) and PubMed search for relevant literature. RESULTS: Oral
      steroid doses typically considered to be associated with the condition are >20 mg
      of prednisone (or equivalent) per day or >2 g within a period of 2 to 3 months.
      Symptoms may be vague. CONCLUSIONS: Dermatologists must exercise a high degree of
      clinical suspicion and warn patients about steroid-related risks and conditions
      for follow-up.

PMID- 25825196
TI  - Optimal surgical ablation of atrial tachyarrhythmias during correction of Ebstein
      anomaly.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ebstein anomaly (EA) is commonly associated with atrial flutter or
      fibrillation (AFl/F), which adversely affects outcome. Surgical ablation of AFl/F
      during surgery for EA has been shown to be effective, but the optimal lesion set
      remains unknown. METHODS: Between 1995 and 2010, 86 patients had corrective
      surgery for EA and concomitant maze procedure for associated AFl/F. Median age at
      operation was 40 years (range, 1 to 72 years), and 49 patients (60%) were male.
      Preoperative AFl/F was paroxysmal in 43 patients (50%). All patients who had
      diagnosis of or treatment for accessory pathways and reentrant tachycardia were
      excluded from this analysis. RESULTS: All patients underwent tricuspid valve
      surgery for EA and concomitant maze procedure, including right-sided maze (RSM)
      in 62 patients (72%) and biatrial maze (BAM) in 24 patients (28%). Early
      mortality occurred in 3 patients (3.5%). During median follow-up of 52 months
      (range, 3 months to 17 years), overall freedom from AFl/F without antiarrhythmic
      medications was 79% (RSM, 80% versus BAM, 76%; p = 0.97). Although there was no
      difference in rhythm outcome between RSM and BAM for patients with paroxysmal
      AFl/F (p = 0.08), there was a trend toward higher freedom from AF without
      antiarrhythmic medications in patients with persistent AFl/F for BAM (86%) versus
      RSM (71%; p = 0.053). Overall, there were no late strokes, and 84% were free from
      sodium warfarin anticoagulation. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, surgical ablation of
      preoperative AFl/F is effective in patients undergoing surgery for EA. Although
      rhythm outcome of RSM and BAM did not differ in patients with preoperative
      paroxysmal AFl/F, those with persistent or permanent AFl/F may benefit from a
      biatrial lesion set.

PMID- 25825197
TI  - Outcomes of atrioventricular valve operation in patients with Fontan circulation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Data on outcomes of atrioventricular (AV) valve surgical procedures
      in patients with Fontan circulation are limited. METHODS: We conducted a
      retrospective review of all children with Fontan circulation who underwent AV
      valve operations. RESULTS: From 1981 to 2014, 581 patients underwent Fontan
      operations, and 9.3% (54/581) of them required AV valve operations. The first AV
      valve operation was performed before (n = 32), during (n = 15), or after (n = 7)
      the Fontan operation. The mean follow-up time was 9.8 +/- 7.1 years (range, 6
      months to 32 years). Operative mortality for the initial AV valve operation was
      1.9% (1/54) and occurred in a patient who had the initial valve operation
      concomitantly with the Fontan. Late mortality was 5.7% (3/53). Heart
      transplantation was performed in 13.0% (7/54) of patients. Freedom from death or
      transplantation after the first AV valve operation was 89.8 +/- 4.4% at 5 years
      (95% confidence interval [CI], 77.1 to 95.6) and 81.0 +/- 6.2% at 10 years (95%
      CI, 65.0 to 90.2). Reoperation on the AV valve was performed in 44.4% (24/54) of
      patients. The median time to initial valve reoperation was 3.1 years
      (interquartile range, 0.8 to 7.4 years). Freedom from reoperation or
      transplantation was 63.4 +/- 7.0% at 5 years (95% CI, 48.2 to 75.3) and 48.9 +/-
      7.9% at 10 years (95% CI, 32.8 to 63.2). Freedom from moderate or more
      regurgitation in patients who had not undergone reoperation or transplantation
      was 74.0 +/- 6.9% (95% CI, 57.5 to 84.8) at 5 years and 67.5 +/- 7.7% (95%
      CI:,50.0 to 80.0) at 10 years. After initial valve operation, thromboembolic
      events occurred in 13.0% (7/54) of patients, stroke occurred in 24.1% (13/54) of
      patients, pacemaker insertion was required in 16.7% (9/54) of patients, and
      protein-losing enteropathy was diagnosed in 7.4% (4/54) of patients. Of the 43
      surviving transplant-free patients, 62.8% (27/43) were in New York Heart
      Association (NYHA) class I, 34.9% (15/43) were in NYHA class II, and 1 patient
      was in NYHA class III. CONCLUSIONS: The AV valve operation done before, during,
      or after the Fontan operation is associated with low operative mortality but a
      high reoperation rate with significant risk of late death, transplantation, and
      persistent AV valve regurgitation.

PMID- 25825198
TI  - Methylated DLX4 Predicts Response to Pathologic Stage I Non-Small Cell Lung
      Cancer Resection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgery with curative intent is the standard treatment for patients
      with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Even after curative resection,
      however, many patients have recurrent disease. Thus, there is a need to identify
      molecular biomarkers for the biological characteristics and prognosis of tumors.
      METHODS: Methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction analysis was performed
      for the distal-less homeobox 4 (DLX4) gene in cancer tissues from 109 patients
      who underwent curative resection for pathologic stage I NSCLC from June 2005 to
      November 2011. We investigated possible correlations between DLX4 methylation
      status and disease outcome. RESULTS: Methylated DLX4 was detected in 54 of 109
      patients (49.5%). No significant relationship between DLX4 methylation status and
      clinicopathologic features was found. Multivariate logistic regression analysis
      revealed that DLX4 methylation was an independent risk factor for recurrence (p <
      0.0001). Patients with DLX4 methylation showed significantly poorer recurrence
      free, cancer-specific, and overall survival than patients without DLX4
      methylation (p < 0.0001, p = 0.0001, p = 0.0004, respectively). Cox's
      proportional hazard regression analysis revealed that DLX4 methylation was an
      independent risk factor for poor prognosis regarding recurrence-free, cancer
      specific, and overall survival (p < 0.0001, p = 0.0005, p = 0.0018,
      respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Methylated DLX4 is a potential biomarker that
      predicts poor prognosis after curative resection of pathologic stage I NSCLC.
      Identification of patients with methylated DLX4 may assist stratification for
      appropriate adjuvant treatment strategies.

PMID- 25825199
TI  - Clinicopathologic features of resected subcentimeter lung cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Subcentimeter lung cancers are still rare, and their pathobiologic
      behavior and management have not yet been fully clarified. METHODS: From 1993
      through 2011, 291 patients with resected lung cancers 1.0 cm or less in diameter
      were studied regarding their clinicopathologic characteristics. According to
      appearance on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), the tumors were
      classified into four types: type 1 (n = 50), nonsolid ground-glass opacity (GGO)
      lesion; type 2 (n = 89), part-solid GGO lesion including 50% or more GGO within
      the lesion; type 3 (n = 62), part-solid GGO lesion including less than 50% GGO
      within the lesion, and type 4 (n = 90), solid lesion. RESULTS: Although none of
      types 1 to 3 tumors had lymph node metastases, these were found in 10% of type 4
      tumors. Recurrence was observed in 13 patients, almost all of whom had type 4
      tumors. The lone exception was a patient with a type 3 tumor in whom local
      recurrence developed on a surgical staple line. The 5-year overall survival rates
      were 100% in type 1 and type 2, 98% in type 3, and 88% in type 4. Type 4 had a
      significantly worse prognosis than the other types. CONCLUSIONS: Subcentimeter
      lung cancers with a GGO component on HRCT (types 1 to 3) can be considered
      "early" lung cancers. In these cases, limited resection may be warranted to
      achieve a cure because they had no lymph node metastasis. By contrast, lobectomy
      should still be considered the standard operation of choice for type 4 tumors.

PMID- 25825200
TI  - Moderate versus deep hypothermic circulatory arrest for elective aortic
      transverse hemiarch reconstruction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) with retrograde cerebral
      perfusion (DHCA group) has traditionally been the cerebral protection strategy
      during transverse hemiarch aortic reconstruction. Recently, we have adopted
      moderate hypothermic (>= 25  degrees C) circulatory arrest (MHCA) with antegrade
      cerebral perfusion (MHCA group). We compared the outcomes for these two
      circulatory arrest management strategies. METHODS: From 2008 to 2012, in a
      concurrent series of 376 patients (DHCA, 301; MHCA, 75) undergoing transverse
      hemiarch for aortic aneurysm disease, incidences of concomitant root replacement
      (44% vs 47%, p = 0.8), and aortic valve replacement (29% vs 21%, p = 0.3) were
      similar, although atherosclerotic aneurysm pathology was present in patients in
      the MHCA group (71% vs 33%, p < 0.01). Antegrade cerebral perfusion was
      established via axillary artery or direct innominate artery cannulation. A
      database was prospectively maintained. RESULTS: MHCA group patients were older
      (66 +/- 11 vs 60 +/- 14 years; p < 0.01). Other demographics were similar. Aortic
      cross-clamp (128 +/- 46 vs 163 +/- 57 minutes, p < 0.01) and cardiopulmonary
      bypass (167 +/- 49 vs 222 +/- 61 minutes, p < 0.01) times were lower in the MHCA
      group. Transfusion requirements were significantly reduced with MHCA (38% vs 61%,
      p < 0.01), especially use of fresh frozen plasma and cryoprecipitate. Direct
      innominate artery cannulation did not result in any vascular or neurologic
      complication. Postoperative outcomes were similar. In-hospital and 30-day
      mortality was 1% in both groups. Stroke (0% vs 2%) and hemodialysis rates (0% vs
      1%) were also similar. CONCLUSIONS: MHCA with antegrade cerebral perfusion yields
      excellent and equivalent outcomes to DHCA for elective aortic hemiarch
      reconstruction. MHCA significantly improves intraoperative times and,
      importantly, reduces transfusion requirements compared with DHCA with a
      retrograde cerebral perfusion strategy.

PMID- 25825201
TI  - Modified single patch: are we still worried about subaortic stenosis?
AB  - BACKGROUND: When the modified single-patch technique for atrioventricular septal
      defect (AVSD) repair was introduced by Dr Benson Wilcox, there was concern that
      these patients might be at risk for late subaortic stenosis and left ventricular
      outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO). This review evaluated our modified single
      patch population for LVOTO in the postoperative period. METHODS: Between January
      2000 and 2013, 77 infants underwent AVSD repair with a modified single-patch
      technique. Median age was 4.2 months, and median weight was 5 kg. Eight patients
      had a prior repair of coarctation of the aorta via left thoracotomy in the
      newborn period. RESULTS: The median hospital stay was 10 days. No patient
      required a pacemaker. The mean and median follow-up times were 4.6 and 3.7 years,
      respectively. Only 2 patients (2.5%) required reoperation for LVOTO; both had
      prior repair of coarctation of the aorta (2 of 8 vs 0 of 69, p = 0.01). A
      discrete fibrous subaortic membrane developed in the first patient that required
      resection at 3 and 7 years after repair. The other patient had LVOTO from
      accessory chordae of the left atrioventricular valve and required mitral valve
      replacement 5 months after repair. One early death occurred at 4 months
      postoperatively due to liver failure related to hyperalimentation. CONCLUSIONS:
      At intermediate term follow-up, LVOTO does not appear to be a significant
      postoperative issue after modified single-patch repair of AVSD. Coarctation of
      the aorta was the most significant predictor of late LVOTO after repair of AVSD
      with the modified single-patch technique.

PMID- 25825202
TI  - Methadone Therapy in Underserved Urban Community: QTc Prolongation and Life
      Threatening Ventricular Arrhythmias.
AB  - AIMS: Methadone has been associated with QTc prolongation and ventricular
      arrhythmias but the prevalence of QTc prolongation and association with
      ventricular arrhythmias remains unclear. We investigated this in our inner city
      urban community (Bronx, New York) that has a large number of patients on
      methadone. METHODS: Telemetry records, nursing documentation and electronic
      charts of 291 patients spanning856 encounters were evaluated. QT was manually
      measured from ECG utilizing standardized QT measurement guidelines and was
      corrected for heart rate using Hodges formula. QTc >470 ms in males and >480 ms
      in females was considered to be prolonged. RESULTS: Patients had prolonged QTc,
      QTc >500 ms and ventricular arrhythmias during 25.6%, 14.1% and 3.4% of
      encounters, respectively. There was a very weak dose dependent relationship
      between methadone dose and QTc (Spearman's rho = 0.09).In addition to methadone,
      patients were on at least one QT prolonging drugs during 39% of the encounters.
      Patients who were receiving two interacting drugs in addition to methadone had
      the highest prevalence (29%) of QTc prolongation. CONCLUSION: Although the
      prevalence of QTc prolongation among patients on methadone therapy is high, the
      prevalence of ventricular arrhythmia is relatively low. Hospitalized patients on
      sustained methadone therapy are frequently on multiple additional QTc prolonging
      drugs. There is no significant dose dependent relationship between methadone dose
      and QTc. However, the concurrent use of methadone and interacting drugs lead to
      an increased prevalence of QTc prolongation.

PMID- 25825204
TI  - Online antioxidant activity and ultra-performance LC-electrospray ionisation
      quadrupole time-of-fight mass spectrometry for chemical fingerprinting of Indian
      polyherbal formulations.
AB  - A HPLC-DAD-DPPH method was developed for evaluating the 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl
      hydrazyl free radical scavenging activity of ethylacetate extracts of different
      polyherbal formulations (draksarista, draksava, lohasava and arvindasava) by
      using RP-18e column. The ethylacetate extract from polyherbal, 'draksarista'
      exhibited maximum free radical scavenging activity (99.9 +/- 0.38%) followed by
      draksava (99.8 +/- 0.34%), lohasava (98.5 +/- 0.30%) and arvindasava (42.3 +/-
      0.34%) at 100 MUg mL(-1). Simultaneously, ultra-performance liquid chromatography
      coupled with electrospray ionisation-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry
      (UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS) was used to study chemical composition of the ethylacetate
      extracts of formulations. The characteristic electrospray mass ionisation reveals
      the dominance of polyphenols and their glycosides in the four polyherbal
      formulations.

PMID- 25825205
TI  - Taking a hard line with biotemplating: cobalt-doped magnetite magnetic
      nanoparticle arrays.
AB  - Rapid advancements made in technology, and the drive towards miniaturisation,
      means that we require reliable, sustainable and cost effective methods of
      manufacturing a wide range of nanomaterials. In this bioinspired study, we take
      advantage of millions of years of evolution, and adapt a biomineralisation
      protein for surface patterning of biotemplated magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). We
      employ soft-lithographic micro-contact printing to pattern a recombinant version
      of the biomineralisation protein Mms6 (derived from the magnetotactic bacterium
      Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1). The Mms6 attaches to gold surfaces via a
      cysteine residue introduced into the N-terminal region. The surface bound protein
      biotemplates highly uniform MNPs of magnetite onto patterned surfaces during an
      aqueous mineralisation reaction (with a mean diameter of 90 +/- 15 nm). The
      simple addition of 6% cobalt to the mineralisation reaction maintains the
      uniformity in grain size (with a mean diameter of 84 +/- 14 nm), and results in
      the production of MNPs with a much higher coercivity (increased from ~ 156 Oe to
      ~ 377 Oe). Biotemplating magnetic nanoparticles on patterned surfaces could form
      a novel, environmentally friendly route for the production of bit-patterned
      media, potentially the next generation of ultra-high density magnetic data
      storage devices. This is a simple method to fine-tune the magnetic hardness of
      the surface biotemplated MNPs, and could easily be adapted to biotemplate a wide
      range of different nanomaterials on surfaces to create a range of biologically
      templated devices.

PMID- 25825203
TI  - A derivative of epigallocatechin-3-gallate induces apoptosis via SHP-1-mediated
      suppression of BCR-ABL and STAT3 signalling in chronic myelogenous leukaemia.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is a component of green
      tea known to have chemo-preventative effects on several cancers. However, EGCG
      has limited clinical application, which necessitates the development of a more
      effective EGCG prodrug as an anticancer agent. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Derivatives
      of EGCG were evaluated for their stability and anti-tumour activity in human
      chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) K562 and KBM5 cells. KEY RESULTS: EGCG-mono
      palmitate (EGCG-MP) showed most prolonged stability compared with other EGCG
      derivatives. EGCG-MP exerted greater cytotoxicity and apoptosis in K562 and KBM5
      cells than the other EGCG derivatives. EGCG-MP induced Src-homology 2 domain
      containing tyrosine phosphatase 1 (SHP-1) leading decreased oncogenic protein BCR
      ABL and STAT3 phosphorylation in CML cells, compared with treatment with EGCG.
      Furthermore, EGCG-MP reduced phosphorylation of STAT3 and survival genes in K562
      cells, compared with EGCG. Conversely, depletion of SHP-1 or application of the
      tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor pervanadate blocked the ability of EGCG-MP to
      suppress phosphorylation of BCR-ABL and STAT3, and the expression of survival
      genes downstream of STAT3. In addition, EGCG-MP treatment more effectively
      suppressed tumour growth in BALB/c athymic nude mice compared with untreated
      controls or EGCG treatment. Immunohistochemistry revealed increased caspase 3 and
      SHP-1 activity and decreased phosphorylation of BCR-ABL in the EGCG-MP-treated
      group relative to that in the EGCG-treated group. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS:
      EGCG-MP induced SHP-1-mediated inhibition of BCR-ABL and STAT3 signalling in
      vitro and in vivo more effectively than EGCG. This derivative may be a potent
      chemotherapeutic agent for CML treatment.

PMID- 25825206
TI  - Gene expression profiling of the hippocampal dentate gyrus in an adult toxicity
      study captures a variety of neurodevelopmental dysfunctions in rat models of
      hypothyroidism.
AB  - We previously found that developmental hypothyroidism changed the expression of
      genes in the rat hippocampal dentate gyrus, a brain region where adult
      neurogenesis is known to occur. In the present study, we performed brain region
      specific global gene expression profiling in an adult rat hypothyroidism model to
      see if it reflected the developmental neurotoxicity we saw in the developmental
      hypothyroidism model. Starting when male rats were 5 weeks old, we administered 6
      propyl-2-thiouracil at a doses of 0, 0.1 and 10 mg kg(-1) body weight by gavage
      for 28 days. We selected four brain regions to represent both cerebral and
      cerebellar tissues: hippocampal dentate gyrus, cerebral cortex, corpus callosum
      and cerebellar vermis. We observed significant alterations in the expression of
      genes related to neural development (Eph family genes and Robo3) in the cerebral
      cortex and hippocampal dentate gyrus and in the expression of genes related to
      myelination (Plp1 and Mbp) in the hippocampal dentate gyrus. We observed only
      minor changes in the expression of these genes in the corpus callosum and
      cerebellar vermis. We used real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain
      reaction to confirm Chrdl1, Hes5, Mbp, Plp1, Slit1, Robo3 and the Eph family
      transcript expression changes. The most significant changes in gene expression
      were found in the dentate gyrus. Considering that the gene expression profile of
      the adult dentate gyrus closely related to neurogenesis, 28-day toxicity studies
      looking at gene expression changes in adult hippocampal dentate gyrus may also
      detect possible developmental neurotoxic effects.

PMID- 25825207
TI  - Margaret McCartney: General practice is still the best job in the world.

PMID- 25825208
TI  - Superoxide dismutase promotes the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of pancreatic
      cancer cells via activation of the H2O2/ERK/NF-kappaB axis.
AB  - Our previous study revealed that superoxide dismutase (SOD)-dependent production
      of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was able to increase the invasive ability of
      pancreatic cancer cells. However, the underlying mechanisms by which SOD enhances
      metastasis are still not fully elucidated. As epithelial-mesenchymal transition
      (EMT) is a key player in tumor metastasis, the aim of this study was to evaluate
      whether SOD affects EMT in pancreatic cancer cells and the related mechanism.
      Human pancreatic cancer cells BxPC-3 and Panc-1 were utilized to examine the
      level of hydrogen peroxide (H2O) in the absence or presence of SOD and catalase
      (CAT). The activation of phospho-ERK and phospho-NF-kappaB were measured by
      western blot analysis. Wound healing assay and transwell invasion assay were used
      to detect the migratory and invasive potential of cancer cells. The EMT-related
      factors, E-cadherin, N-cadherin and vimentin were detected by QT-PCR and western
      blot analysis. The results of present study showed that SOD not only increased
      cell migration and invasion in pancreatic cancer, but also mediated the
      expression of EMT-related factors and cell morphology. In addition, the levels of
      phospho-ERK and phospho-NF-kappaB were induced by SOD which could be counter
      balanced by both CAT treatment and PD 98059 (an ERK inhibitor). Taken together,
      these data indicate that SOD promotes the invasive and migratory activity of
      pancreatic cancer. Blocking the H2O2/ERK/NF-kappaB axis might be a novel strategy
      for the treatment of this severe malignancy. 

PMID- 25825209
TI  - Order and disorder around Cr(3+) in chromium doped persistent luminescent AB2O4
      spinels.
AB  - The X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy technique is used
      to better understand the charging and decharging processes of the persistent
      luminescence in the Cr(3+)doped AB2O4 spinels (A = Zn, Mg and B = Ga and Al) with
      low photon energy excitation by visible light. Cr K edge XANES spectra have been
      simulated for different near neighbour environments around the Cr(3+)
      recombination centres and compared with the experimental curve. In the
      Cr(3+):ZnGa2O4 compound, the Cr(3+) local structure corresponds mostly to that of
      a normal spinel (~70%), while the rest comprises of a distorted octahedral
      environment arising from cationic site inversion and a contribution from chromium
      clustering. This local structure is considerably different in Cr(3+):MgGa2O4 and
      Cr(3+):ZnAl2O4, where, for both cases, chromium clustering represents the main
      contribution. The strong correlation between the intensity of persistent
      luminescence and the percentage of Cr in clusters leads us to infer that the
      presence of Cr clusters is responsible for the decrease of the intensity of the
      visible light induced persistent luminescence in the Cr(3+) doped AB2O4 spinels. 

PMID- 25825211
TI  - DNA polymerase-catalyzed incorporation of nucleotides modified with a G
      quadruplex-derived DNAzyme.
AB  - We show that nucleotides which are modified with a G-quadruplex-derived DNAzyme
      are substrates for DNA polymerases. Based on this finding we developed a naked
      eye detection system that allows the detection of single nucleotide variations in
      DNA. 

PMID- 25825210
TI  - Impairment of the Vascular KATP Channel Imposes Fatal Susceptibility to
      Experimental Diabetes Due to Multi-Organ Injuries.
AB  - The vascular isoform of ATP-sensitive K(+) (KATP ) channels regulates blood flow
      to all organs. The KATP channel is strongly inhibited by reactive oxygen and
      carbonyl species produced in diabetic tissue inflammation. To address how such
      channel inhibition impacts vascular regulation as well as tissue viability, we
      performed studies in experimental diabetic mice. Strikingly, we found that
      knockout of the Kcnj8 encoding Kir6.1 subunit (Kcnj8-KO) caused mice to be
      fatally susceptible to diabetes. Organ perfusion studies suggested that the lack
      of this vascular K(+) channel handicapped activity-dependent vasodilation,
      leading to hypoperfusion, tissue hypoxia, and multi-organ failure.
      Morphologically, Kcnj8-KO mice showed greater inflammatory cell infiltration,
      higher levels of expression of inflammation indicator proteins, more severe cell
      apoptosis, and worse tissue disruptions. These were observed in the kidney,
      liver, and heart under diabetic condition in parallel comparison to tissues from
      WT mice. Patch clamping and molecular studies showed that the KATP channel was S
      glutathionylated in experimental diabetes contributing to the inhibition of
      channel activity as well as the reduced arterial responses to vasodilators. These
      results suggest that the vascular KATP channel is organ protective in diabetic
      condition, and since the channel is suppressed by diabetic oxidative stress,
      therapeutical interventions to the maintenance of functional KATP channels may
      help to lower or prevent diabetic organ dysfunction.

PMID- 25825212
TI  - Features extraction in anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments analysis.
AB  - The main aim of this research is finding the feature vectors of the anterior and
      posterior cruciate ligaments (ACL and PCL). These feature vectors have to clearly
      define the ligaments structure and make it easier to diagnose them. Extraction of
      feature vectors is obtained by analysis of both anterior and posterior cruciate
      ligaments. This procedure is performed after the extraction process of both
      ligaments. In the first stage in order to reduce the area of analysis a region of
      interest including cruciate ligaments (CL) is outlined in order to reduce the
      area of analysis. In this case, the fuzzy C-means algorithm with median
      modification helping to reduce blurred edges has been implemented. After finding
      the region of interest (ROI), the fuzzy connectedness procedure is performed.
      This procedure permits to extract the anterior and posterior cruciate ligament
      structures. In the last stage, on the basis of the extracted anterior and
      posterior cruciate ligament structures, 3-dimensional models of the anterior and
      posterior cruciate ligament are built and the feature vectors created. This
      methodology has been implemented in MATLAB and tested on clinical T1-weighted
      magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) slices of the knee joint. The 3D display is
      based on the Visualization Toolkit (VTK). 

PMID- 25825213
TI  - A novel, nonanaphylactogenic, bispecific IgE-CD3 antibody eliminates IgE(+) B
      cells.

PMID- 25825214
TI  - Effect of CYP3A5*3 on asthma control among children treated with inhaled
      beclomethasone.

PMID- 25825215
TI  - Comparison of asthma prevalence among African American teenage youth attending
      public high schools in rural Georgia and urban Detroit.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The high prevalence of asthma among urban African American (AA)
      populations has attracted research attention, whereas the prevalence among rural
      AA populations is poorly documented. OBJECTIVE: We sought to compare the
      prevalence of asthma among AA youth in rural Georgia and urban Detroit, Michigan.
      METHODS: The prevalence of asthma was compared in population-based samples of
      7297 youth attending Detroit public high schools and in 2523 youth attending
      public high schools in rural Georgia. Current asthma was defined as a physician
      diagnosis and symptoms in the previous 12 months. Undiagnosed asthma was defined
      as multiple respiratory symptoms in the previous 12 months without a physician
      diagnosis. RESULTS: In Detroit, 6994 (95.8%) youth were AA compared with 1514
      (60.0%) in Georgia. Average population density in high school postal codes was
      5628 people/mile(2) in Detroit and 45.1 people/mile(2) in Georgia. The
      percentages of poverty and of students qualifying for free or reduced lunches
      were similar in both areas. The prevalence of current diagnosed asthma among AA
      youth in Detroit and Georgia was similar: 15.0% (95% CI, 14.1-15.8) and 13.7%
      (95% CI, 12.0-17.1) (P = .22), respectively. The prevalence of undiagnosed asthma
      in AA youth was 8.0% in Detroit and 7.5% in Georgia (P = .56). Asthma symptoms
      were reported more frequently among those with diagnosed asthma in Detroit,
      whereas those with undiagnosed asthma in Georgia reported more symptoms.
      CONCLUSIONS: Among AA youth living in similar socioeconomic circumstances, asthma
      prevalence is as high in rural Georgia as it is in urban Detroit, suggesting that
      urban residence is not an asthma risk factor.

PMID- 25825218
TI  - Adipose-derived stem cells for nerve repair: hype or reality?
AB  - Peripheral nerve injury is a relatively commonly occurring trauma which seriously
      compromises the quality of life for many individuals. There is a major need to
      devise new treatment strategies, and one possible approach is to develop cellular
      therapies to bioengineer new nerve tissue and/or modulate the endogenous
      regenerative mechanisms within the peripheral nervous system. In this short
      review we describe how stem cells isolated from adipose tissue could be a
      suitable element of this approach. We describe the possible mechanisms through
      which the stem cells might exert a positive influence on peripheral nerve
      regeneration. These include their ability to differentiate into cells resembling
      Schwann cells and their secretion of a plethora of neurotrophic growth factors.
      We also review the literature describing the effects of these cells when tested
      using in vivo peripheral nerve injury models.

PMID- 25825219
TI  - Strong effect of long-term Sparicotyle chrysophrii infection on the cellular and
      innate immune responses of gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata.
AB  - One thousand healthy recipient gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata, cohabited with
      250 donor fish parasitized by Sparicotyle chrysophrii (Van Beneden and Hesse,
      1963) (Monogenea: Polyopisthocotylea), a common parasite of the gills of this
      fish species. Controls consisted of 1000 healthy fish kept in a separate tank.
      After 10 weeks, fish were weighed and parasite load, hemoglobin concentration and
      immunological parameters were assessed. Rather than the absence of parasite,
      hemoglobin concentration was a better marker of the health status of the fish,
      because S.chrysophrii had detached from the strongly anemic gills of some animals
      leaving fish with affected immune system but without parasites. The parasite
      infection seemed to trigger a cellular response of the fish immune system but to
      inhibit its humoral components. Thus, parasitized fish may control the parasite
      infection through the action of reactive oxygen species but they may become more
      sensitive to potential secondary bacterial or parasitical infections. This
      phenomenon was demonstrated not only through significant differences between
      recipient and control fish but also through strong correlations between those
      parameters and parasite load, fish weight and/or hemoglobin concentration. 

PMID- 25825216
TI  - Vehicular exhaust particles promote allergic airway inflammation through an aryl
      hydrocarbon receptor-notch signaling cascade.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Traffic-related particulate matter (PM) has been linked to a
      heightened incidence of asthma and allergic diseases. However, the molecular
      mechanisms by which PM exposure promotes allergic diseases remain elusive.
      OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the expression, function, and regulation of
      pathways involved in promotion of allergic airway inflammation by PM. METHODS: We
      used gene expression transcriptional profiling, in vitro culture assays, and in
      vivo murine models of allergic airway inflammation. RESULTS: We identified
      components of the Notch pathway, most notably Jagged 1 (Jag1), as targets of PM
      induction in human monocytes and murine dendritic cells. PM, especially ultrafine
      particles, upregulated TH cytokine levels, IgE production, and allergic airway
      inflammation in mice in a Jag1- and Notch-dependent manner, especially in the
      context of the proasthmatic IL-4 receptor allele Il4raR576. PM-induced Jag1
      expression was mediated by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), which bound to
      and activated AhR response elements in the Jag1 promoter. Pharmacologic
      antagonism of AhR or its lineage-specific deletion in CD11c(+) cells abrogated
      the augmentation of airway inflammation by PM. CONCLUSION: PM activates an AhR
      Jag1-Notch cascade to promote allergic airway inflammation in concert with
      proasthmatic alleles.

PMID- 25825217
TI  - Circulating levels of soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products and
      ligands of the receptor for advanced glycation end products in patients with
      acute liver failure.
AB  - Animal studies suggest that receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE)
      dependent mechanisms contribute to acetaminophen-induced liver damage. We
      examined whether circulating levels of soluble receptor for advanced glycation
      end products (sRAGE) or RAGE ligands, including extracellular newly identified
      receptor for advanced glycation end products binding protein (EN-RAGE), high
      mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), and Nepsilon-(Carboxymethyl)lysine adducts (CML),
      could aid in prognostication after an acetaminophen overdose. Sixty well
      characterized acetaminophen-related acute liver failure (ALF) patients (30
      spontaneous survivors and 30 patients who underwent transplantation and/or died)
      who were enrolled in the National Institutes of Health-sponsored Acute Liver
      Failure Study Group, were matched by age, met standard criteria for
      encephalopathy, and had an international normalized ratio > 1.5 were
      retrospectively studied. HMGB1, EN-RAGE, CML, and sRAGE were detected by enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay methods in sera from ALF patients and 30 healthy
      controls. Levels of sRAGE, EN-RAGE, and HMGB1 (but not CML) were significantly
      greater (P < 0.001) in ALF patients versus normal controls. The levels of sRAGE,
      HMGB1, and EN-RAGE were significantly higher (P = 0.03, P < 0.01, and P = 0.03)
      in patients with a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score > 2
      versus patients with a SIRS score <= 2. Nevertheless, only sRAGE levels were
      significantly higher in patients who underwent transplantation and/or died versus
      spontaneous survivors (P < 0.001), and they were positively associated with
      conventional markers of liver disease severity. Multivariate logistic regression
      identified an encephalopathy grade > 2 as an independent predictor of an adverse
      outcome on admission (odds ratio, 13; 95% confidence interval, 2.3-73; P <
      0.001). The RAGE-ligand axis may interfere with liver regeneration and should be
      a promising objective for further research.

PMID- 25825220
TI  - [The relationship between physical activity in leasure time and the ankle
      brachial index in a general Spanish population: The ARTPER study].
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: High levels of daily physical activity have been shown
      to be linked to decreased functional impairment in peripheral artery disease
      (PAD) patients and positively related to the ankle brachial index (ABI) in
      subjects without PAD. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship
      between leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and the ABI in a general
      population. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Baseline data from the ARTPER study cohort
      corresponding to 2,840 subjects>49 years from Barcelona were analyzed. The LTPA
      variable was obtained through the validated Spanish short version of the
      Minnesota Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire. ABI<0.9 was taken to
      indicate PAD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate
      the independent association between LTPA and PAD. RESULTS: Subjects with more
      LTPA were younger, female, less smokers, and suffered fewer PAD. Total activity,
      measured in metabolic energy turnover (MET) and the LTPA hours, was significantly
      higher in subjects without PAD (P<.001). There was an inverse relationship
      between LTPA and the risk of suffering PAD (odds ratio 0.56, 95% confidence
      interval 0.38-0.81 for those who expended 2,700 METs or more in 14 days)
      adjusting for confounding factors. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, LTPA was positively
      related to the ABI, with those with PAD being the ones with less LTPA.

PMID- 25825221
TI  - [Diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular risk: Working group recommendations of
      Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease of the Spanish Society of Diabetes (SED,
      2015)].
AB  - The present paper updates the Clinical Practice Recommendations for the
      management of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) in diabetes mellitus. This is a
      medical consensus agreed by an independent panel of experts from the Spanish
      Society of Diabetes (SED). Several consensuses have been proposed by scientific
      and medical Societies to achieve clinical goals. However, the risk score for
      general population may lack sensitivity for individual assessment or for
      particular groups at risk, such as diabetics. Traditional risk factors together
      with non-traditional factors are reviewed throughout this paper. Intervention
      strategies for managing CVRF in the diabetic patient are reviewed in detail:
      balanced food intake, weight reduction, physical exercise, smoking cessation,
      reduction in HbA1c, therapy for high blood pressure, obesity, lipid disorders,
      and platelet anti-aggregation. It is hoped that these guidelines can help
      clinicians in the decisions of their clinical activity. This regular update by
      the SED Cardiovascular Disease Group of the most relevant concepts, and of
      greater practical and realistic clinical interest, is presented in order to
      reduce CVR of diabetics. 

PMID- 25825222
TI  - Alzheimer disease: scanning ultrasound elicits amyloid-beta clearance in mice.

PMID- 25825224
TI  - Definitive outcomes of self-expandable metal stents in patients with refractory
      post-transplant biliary anastomotic stenosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography is the gold standard
      of treatment in patients with biliary complications after liver transplantation.
      The benefits of fully covered self-expandable metal stents (FCSEMS) lie in their
      relative simplicity and the need for only two procedures, one for insertion, and
      the other for removal. Several case series have been published on such stents
      with generally good outcomes. Objective is to analyze definitive long-term
      outcomes of this treatment. METHODS: Prospective, observational study in a
      single, tertiary-care referral centre. All consecutive patients with post
      transplant biliary stenosis/leak were treated with FCSEMS after failure of
      conventional treatment. Recurrence was evaluated after four years. RESULTS: From
      February 2008 to April 2012, 70 patients were included. In all patients, the
      metal stent was successfully placed. After a mean of 86.7 +/- 38.4 days, the
      stent was removed. Forty-six patients (65.7%) showed resolution. After a mean of
      4 +/- 1.2 years, 61% of patients maintained the results, but 39% showed
      recurrence. On the tested variables the diagnosis of stenosis, the number of
      previous procedures and plastic stents placed correlate with better long-term
      results. CONCLUSIONS: This series suggests a lack of long-term advantages of
      FCSEMS over plastic stents in the management of biliary stenosis after liver
      transplantation.

PMID- 25825223
TI  - A three-pool model dissecting readily releasable pool replenishment at the calyx
      of held.
AB  - Although vesicle replenishment is critical in maintaining exo-endocytosis
      recycling, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Previous studies
      have shown that both rapid and slow endocytosis recycle into a very large
      recycling pool instead of within the readily releasable pool (RRP), and the time
      course of RRP replenishment is slowed down by more intense stimulation. This
      finding contradicts the calcium/calmodulin-dependence of RRP replenishment. Here
      we address this issue and report a three-pool model for RRP replenishment at a
      central synapse. Both rapid and slow endocytosis provide vesicles to a large
      reserve pool (RP) ~42.3 times the RRP size. When moving from the RP to the RRP,
      vesicles entered an intermediate pool (IP) ~2.7 times the RRP size with slow RP
      IP kinetics and fast IP-RRP kinetics, which was responsible for the well
      established slow and rapid components of RRP replenishment. Depletion of the IP
      caused the slower RRP replenishment observed after intense stimulation. These
      results establish, for the first time, a realistic cycling model with all
      parameters measured, revealing the contribution of each cycling step in synaptic
      transmission. The results call for modification of the current view of the
      vesicle recycling steps and their roles. 

PMID- 25825225
TI  - Bully/victims: a longitudinal, population-based cohort study of their mental
      health.
AB  - It has been suggested that those who both bully and are victims of bullying
      (bully/victims) are at the highest risk of adverse mental health outcomes.
      However, unknown is whether most bully/victims were bullies or victims first and
      whether being a bully/victim is more detrimental to mental health than being a
      victim. A total of 4101 children were prospectively studied from birth, and
      structured interviews and questionnaires were used to assess bullying involvement
      at 10 years (elementary school) and 13 years of age (secondary school). Mental
      health (anxiety, depression, psychotic experiences) was assessed at 18 years.
      Most bully/victims at age 13 (n = 233) had already been victims at primary school
      (pure victims: n = 97, 41.6 % or bully/victims: n = 47, 20.2 %). Very few of the
      bully/victims at 13 years had been pure bullies previously (n = 7, 3 %). After
      adjusting for a wide range of confounders, both bully/victims and pure victims,
      whether stable or not from primary to secondary school, were at increased risk of
      mental health problems at 18 years of age. In conclusion, children who are
      bully/victims at secondary school were most likely to have been already
      bully/victims or victims at primary school. Children who are involved in bullying
      behaviour as either bully/victims or victims at either primary or secondary
      school are at increased risk of mental health problems in late adolescence
      regardless of the stability of victimization. Clinicians should consider any
      victimization as a risk factor for mental health problems.

PMID- 25825227
TI  - Psychosomatic Medicine for Non-Psychiatric Residents: Video Education and
      Incorporation of Technology.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Psychiatric education for non-psychiatric residents varies between
      training programs, and may affect resident comfort with psychiatric topics. This
      study's goals were to identify non-psychiatric residents' comfort with
      psychiatric topics and to test the effectiveness of a video intervention.
      METHODS: Residents in various departments were given a survey. They were asked to
      rank their comfort level with multiple psychiatric topics, answer questions about
      medical decision making capacity (MDMC), watch a 15-min video about MDMC, and
      answer a post-test section. RESULTS: In total, 91 Internal Medicine, General
      Surgery, and Obstetrics and Gynecology residents responded to the study. Of the
      91 residents, 55 completed the pre- and post-test assessments. There was no
      significant difference in correct responses. Residents' comfort levels were
      assessed, and a significant improvement in comfort level with MDMC was found.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights potential opportunities for psychiatric
      education, and suggests brief video interventions can increase resident
      physicians' comfort with a psychiatric topic.

PMID- 25825226
TI  - The intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii depends on the synthesis of long
      chain and very long-chain unsaturated fatty acids not supplied by the host cell.
AB  - Apicomplexa are parasitic protozoa that cause important human diseases including
      malaria, cryptosporidiosis and toxoplasmosis. The replication of these parasites
      within their target host cell is dependent on both salvage as well as de novo
      synthesis of fatty acids. In Toxoplasma gondii, fatty acid synthesis via the
      apicoplast-localized FASII is essential for pathogenesis, while the role of two
      other fatty acid biosynthetic complexes remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate
      that the ER-localized fatty acid elongation (ELO) complexes are essential for
      parasite growth. Conditional knockdown of the nonredundant hydroxyacyl-CoA
      dehydratase and enoyl-CoA reductase enzymes in the ELO pathway severely repressed
      intracellular parasite growth. (13) C-glucose and (13) C-acetate labeling and
      comprehensive lipidomic analyses of these mutants showed a selective defect in
      synthesis of unsaturated long and very long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs and VLCFAs)
      and depletion of phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylethanolamine species
      containing unsaturated LCFAs and VLCFAs. This requirement for ELO pathway was
      bypassed by supplementing the media with specific fatty acids, indicating active
      but inefficient import of host fatty acids. Our experiments highlight a gap
      between the fatty acid needs of the parasite and availability of specific fatty
      acids in the host cell that the parasite has to close using a dedicated synthesis
      and modification pathway. 

PMID- 25825228
TI  - Collaborative Training in Fellowship: Implications for Psychiatric Workforce
      Development.

PMID- 25825229
TI  - Risk Indicators for Air Leaks in Preterm Infants Exposed to Restrictive Use of
      Endotracheal Intubation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To identify perinatal risk indicators for air leaks in preterm
      infants treated with a policy of restrictive use of endotracheal intubation based
      on sustained inflations followed by noninvasive ventilation in the delivery room.
      METHODS: Perinatal variables and variables of respiratory support in the delivery
      room were analyzed retrospectively in a cohort of 297 inborn preterm infants with
      a gestational age <29 weeks born in 2005-2009 in a tertiary care center with
      respect to their associations with air leaks. Multivariate logistic regression
      analysis was performed to analyze independent risk indicators. RESULTS:
      Gestational age was 26 weeks + 0 days (22+3 to 28+6), birth weight was 790 g (265
      1,660) and 270/297 survived (91.0%). A total of 63 (21.2%) developed air leaks,
      32 (10.8%) pneumothorax, 44 (14.8%) pulmonary interstitial emphysema, and 1
      (0.3%) pneumopericardium. The infants with air leaks had a higher risk of death
      (p < 0.01) and of intraventricular hemorrhage grade 3/4 (p < 0.05). Air leaks
      were associated with less use of prenatal steroids (p < 0.01), more frequent use
      of cardiac compressions (p < 0.01), use of a pressure of 30 cm H2O for sustained
      inflations (p < 0.05), and intubation in the delivery room (p < 0.01). After
      multivariate logistic regression only prenatal steroids (OR 0.41, 0.20-0.85),
      epinephrine (OR 3.56, 1.55-8.15) and surfactant use (OR 12.03, 3.39-42.72)
      remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: Our approach resulted in a high survival rate
      but was associated with a substantial rate of air leaks, which were associated
      with death and severe intraventricular hemorrhage. Prenatal steroids were
      protective, and epinephrine and surfactant use were significant risk indicators,
      whereas the use of sustained inflations was not a risk factor.

PMID- 25825230
TI  - Choroidal involvement in Rosai-Dorfman syndrome may be depicted and followed
      using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT).

PMID- 25825232
TI  - Transcartilaginous ear piercing and infectious complications: a systematic review
      and critical analysis of outcomes.
AB  - OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: The purpose of this systematic review was to critically
      analyze infectious complications and treatment following transcartilaginous ear
      piercing. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE Pubmed database. REVIEW METHODS: A MEDLINE PubMed
      database search using free text, including "ear chondritis," "ear
      perichondritis," "ear cartilage piercing," and "auricle piercing," yielded 483
      titles. Based on set inclusion and exclusion criteria, the titles, abstracts, and
      full text articles were reviewed for inclusion and underwent data extraction.
      Pooled outcomes are reported. RESULTS: A total of 29 articles met inclusion
      criteria, including 66 patients. The mean age of the patients was 18.7 +/- 7.6
      years (range: 11-49), 87.5% female. Ear deformity was more likely to occur
      following postpiercing perichondritis of the scapha 100% versus the helix 43% (P
      = 0.003). Mean duration of symptoms prior to patients seeking medical attention
      was 6.1 +/- 4.1 days. Greater than 5 days of symptoms prior to seeking treatment
      was significantly more likely to result in hospitalization. Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa accounted for 87.2% infections. Of the patients with Pseudomonas,
      92.3% were hospitalized versus 75% of the patients infected with Staphylococcus
      aureus. Initial oral antibiotics prescribed did not target the cultured bacterium
      in 53.3% of cases; of these, 87.5% were hospitalized. CONCLUSIONS:
      Transcartilaginous postpiercing infection may lead to ear deformity and
      hospitalization. Patients (customers) and practitioners must be aware of optimal
      treatment strategies to minimize associated morbidity. Scapha piercing and delay
      in presentation are associated with poorer outcomes. Pseudomonas is the most
      common bacterial infection. Initial antibiotic selection must be optimized
      accordingly.

PMID- 25825231
TI  - Long-term visual outcome and prognostic factors of Intravitreal anti-vascular
      endothelial growth factor treatment for retinal angiomatous proliferation.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the long-term visual outcomes and investigate the prognostic
      factors of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy for retinal
      angiomatous proliferation (RAP). METHODS: Thirty-eight treatment-naive RAP eyes
      (38 patients) that received intravitreal anti-VEGF (ranibizumab and/or
      bevacizumab) injections were included and analyzed in this retrospective case
      series. All patients were treated with an initial series of three monthly
      intravitreal anti-VEGF injections, followed by as-needed injections for a total
      of 36 months. RESULTS: The mean number of anti-VEGF injections was 9.61 +/- 3.1
      during the 36-month follow-up. Mean baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA)
      was 0.79 +/- 0.56 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR; 20/123
      Snellen equivalent), and 0.75 +/- 0.41 logMAR (20/112 Snellen equivalent) at 36
      months (P = 0.55). Mean BCVA significantly improved at 3 months (P = 0.001), and
      the significant improvement persisted until 18 months from baseline (P = 0.02).
      However, the mean BCVA between 18 and 36 months showed no statistical in
      comparison with baseline values. Geographic atrophy developed in 14 eyes (36.8 %)
      during the entire 36-month follow-up period. Among baseline characteristics,
      baseline BCVA, greatest lesion diameter (GLD), and lesion size were significantly
      correlated with long-term visual outcome (P = 0.008, 0.02, and 0.002
      respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Intravitreal anti-VEGF injections for RAP showed a
      favorable visual outcome during the first year; however, the visual gains
      declined after the second year from baseline. Better baseline BCVA, smaller
      lesion size, and smaller baseline GLD are associated with better long-term visual
      outcomes in patients with RAP.

PMID- 25825234
TI  - Bromodomains shake the hegemony of pan-acetyl antibodies.
AB  - Acetylation signaling pathways are involved in numerous cellular processes and
      are used as therapeutic targets in several disease contexts. However, acetylated
      proteins only represent a minor fraction of the full proteome, and the
      identification and quantification of acetylated sites remain a technological
      challenge. Currently, pan-acetyl antibodies are used to increase the abundance of
      acetylated peptides through affinity purification before MS analysis. These
      antibodies are powerful reagents, but they are hampered by a lack of specificity,
      affinity, and batch-to-batch reproducibility. In this issue, Bryson et al.
      (Proteomics 2015 15, 1470-1475) present an interesting alternative to these
      antibodies, in the form of bromodomains. These domains specifically recognize
      acetylated lysines, and were successfully used in this study to enrich for
      acetylated peptides before MS analysis. Future development of this pioneering
      approach could help overcome this limiting step in the characterization of
      acetylproteomes.

PMID- 25825233
TI  - Identification of 24h Ixodes scapularis immunogenic tick saliva proteins.
AB  - Ixodes scapularis is arguably the most medically important tick species in the
      United States. This tick transmits 5 of the 14 human tick-borne disease (TBD)
      agents in the USA: Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, B. miyamotoi,
      Babesia microti, and Powassan virus disease. Except for the Powassan virus
      disease, I. scapularis-vectored TBD agents require more than 24h post attachment
      to be transmitted. This study describes identification of 24h immunogenic I.
      scapularis tick saliva proteins, which could provide opportunities to develop
      strategies to stop tick feeding before transmission of the majority of pathogens.
      A 24h fed female I. scapularis phage display cDNA expression library was
      biopanned using rabbit antibodies to 24h fed I. scapularis female tick saliva
      proteins, subjected to next generation sequencing, de novo assembly, and
      bioinformatic analyses. A total of 182 contigs were assembled, of which ~19%
      (35/182) are novel and did not show identity to any known proteins in GenBank.
      The remaining ~81% (147/182) of contigs were provisionally identified based on
      matches in GenBank including ~18% (27/147) that matched protein sequences
      previously annotated as hypothetical and putative tick saliva proteins. Others
      include proteases and protease inhibitors (~3%, 5/147), transporters and/or
      ligand binding proteins (~6%, 9/147), immunogenic tick saliva housekeeping enzyme
      like (17%, 25/147), ribosomal protein-like (~31%, 46/147), and those classified
      as miscellaneous (~24%, 35/147). Notable among the miscellaneous class include
      antimicrobial peptides (microplusin and ricinusin), myosin-like proteins that
      have been previously found in tick saliva, and heat shock tick saliva protein.
      Data in this study provides the foundation for in-depth analysis of I. scapularis
      feeding during the first 24h, before the majority of TBD agents can be
      transmitted. 

PMID- 25825236
TI  - Trends and timing of cigarette smoking uptake among US young adults: survival
      analysis using annual national cohorts from 1976 to 2005.
AB  - AIMS: To measure changes over time in cigarette smoking uptake prevalence and
      timing during young adulthood (ages 19-26 years), and associations between time
      invariant/-varying characteristics and uptake prevalence/timing. DESIGN: Discrete
      time survival modeling of data collected from United States high school seniors
      (modal age 17/18) enrolled in successive graduating classes from 1976 to 2005 and
      participating in four follow-up surveys (to modal age 25/26). SETTING: The
      longitudinal component of the Monitoring the Future study. PARTICIPANTS: A total
      of 10 758 individuals reporting no life-time smoking when first surveyed as high
      school seniors. MEASUREMENTS: Smoking uptake (any, experimental, occasional and
      regular); socio-demographic variables; marital, college and work status; time
      spent socializing. FINDINGS: The percentage of young adults moving from non
      smoker to experimental smoking [slope estimate 0.11, standard error (SE) = 0.04,
      P = 0.005] or occasional smoking (slope estimate 0.17, SE = 0.03, P < 0.001)
      increased significantly across graduating classes; the percentage moving from non
      smoker to regular smoker remained stable. All forms of smoking uptake were most
      likely to occur at age 19/20, but uptake prevalence at older ages increased over
      time [e.g. cohort year predicting occasional uptake at modal age 25/26 adjusted
      hazard odds ratio (AHOR) = 1.05, P = 0.002]. Time-invariant/-varying
      characteristics had unique associations with the timing of various forms of
      smoking uptake (e.g. at modal age 21/22, currently attending college increased
      occasional uptake risk (AHOR = 2.11, P < 0.001) but decreased regular uptake risk
      (AHOR = 0.69, P = 0.026). CONCLUSIONS: Young adult occasional and experimental
      smoking uptake increased in the United States for non-smoking high school seniors
      graduating from 1976 to 2005. Smoking uptake for these cohorts remained most
      likely to occur at age 19/20, but prevalence of uptake at older ages increased.

PMID- 25825237
TI  - A proteomic analysis on human sperm tail: comparison between normozoospermia and
      asthenozoospermia.
AB  - PURPOSE: Asthenozoospermia is a common cause of human male infertility
      characterized by reduced sperm motility. The molecular mechanism that impairs
      sperm motility is not fully understood. This study proposed to identify novel
      biomarkers by focusing on sperm tail proteomic analysis of asthenozoospermic
      patients. METHODS: Sperm were isolated from normozoospermic and asthenozoospermic
      semen samples. Tail fractions were obtained by sonication followed by Percoll
      gradient. The proteins were extracted by solubilization and subjected to two
      dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE); then, the spots were analyzed using Image
      Master 2D Platinum software. The significantly increased/decreased amounts of
      proteins in the two groups were exploited by matrix-assisted laser desorption
      ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF-TOF) mass spectrometry.
      RESULTS: Three hundred ninety protein spots were detected in both groups. Twenty
      one protein spots that had significantly altered amounts (p < 0.05) were excised
      and exploited using MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometry. They led to the
      identification of the following 14 unique proteins: Tubulin beta 2B; glutathione
      S-transferase Mu 3; keratin, type II cytoskeletal 1; outer dense fiber protein 2;
      voltage-dependent anion-selective channel protein 2; A-kinase anchor protein 4;
      cytochrome c oxidase subunit 6B; sperm protein associated with the nucleus on the
      X chromosome B; phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase-mitochondrial;
      isoaspartyl peptidase/L-asparaginase; heat shock-related 70 kDa protein 2; stress
      70 protein, mitochondrial; glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, testis
      specific and clusterin. CONCLUSION: Fourteen proteins present in different
      amounts in asthenozoospermic sperm tail samples were identified, four of which
      are reported here for the first time. These proteins might be used as markers for
      the better diagnosis of sperm dysfunctions, targets for male contraceptive
      development, and to predict embryo quality.

PMID- 25825238
TI  - Spry2 regulates signalling dynamics and terminal bud branching behaviour during
      lung development.
AB  - Development of mammalian lung involves reiterative outgrowth and branching of an
      epithelial tube into the surrounding mesenchymal bed. Each coordinated growth and
      branching cycle is driven by reciprocal signalling between epithelial and
      adjacent mesenchymal cells. This signalling network includes FGF, SHH, BMP4 and
      other pathways. We have characterized lung defects in 36Pub mice carrying a
      deletion that removes an antagonist of FGF signalling, Spry2. Spry2 deficient
      mice show an enlarged cystic structure located in the terminus of each lobes. Our
      study shows that Spry2 deficient lungs have reduced lung branching and the cystic
      structure forms in the early lung development stage. Furthermore, mice carrying a
      targeted disruption of Spry2 fail to complement the lung phenotype characterized
      in 36Pub mice. A Spry2-BAC transgene rescues the defect. Interestingly, cystic
      structure growth is accompanied by the reduced and spatially disorganized
      expression of Fgf10 and elevated expression of Shh and Bmp4. Altered signalling
      balance due to the loss of Spry2 causes a delayed branch cycle and cystic growth.
      Our data underscores the importance of restricting cellular responsiveness to
      signalling and highlights the interplay between morphogenesis events and spatial
      localization of gene expression. 

PMID- 25825240
TI  - Brevetoxin, the Dinoflagellate Neurotoxin, Localizes to Thylakoid Membranes and
      Interacts with the Light-Harvesting Complex II (LHCII) of Photosystem II.
AB  - The brevetoxins are neurotoxins that are produced by the "Florida red tide"
      dinoflagellate Karenia brevis. They bind to and activate the voltage-gated sodium
      channels in higher organisms, specifically the Nav 1.4 and Nav 1.5 channel
      subtypes. However, the native physiological function that the brevetoxins perform
      for K. brevis is unknown. By using fluorescent and photoactivatable derivatives,
      brevetoxin was shown to localize to the chloroplast of K. brevis where it binds
      to the light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) and thioredoxin. The LHCII is
      essential to non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), whereas thioredoxins are critical
      to the maintenance of redox homeostasis within the chloroplast and contribute to
      the scavenging of reactive oxygen. A culture of K. brevis producing low levels of
      toxin was shown to be deficient in NPQ and produced reactive oxygen species at
      twice the rate of the toxic culture, implicating a role in NPQ for the
      brevetoxins. 

PMID- 25825239
TI  - Downregulation of Sprouty homolog 2 by microRNA-21 inhibits proliferation,
      metastasis and invasion, however promotes the apoptosis of multiple myeloma
      cells.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of sprouty homolog 2
      (SPRY2) gene regulation by miR-21 on the occurrence, development and tumor
      metastasis in multiple myeloma (MM). The miR-21 expression lentiviral vector (LV)
      anti-miR-21 and a liposome transfection method were used to screen MM cell lines
      with stable silent SPRY2. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
      and western blot analyses were used to detect SPRY2 expression and miR-21 protein
      expression levels. An MTT assay was used to assess cell proliferation. Flow
      cytometry was used for analysis of cell cycle. A scratch test/wound healing assay
      was used to detect the cell migration ability. A Transwell assay was used to
      detect the cell invasion ability. Real-time quantitative PCR and western blot
      analysis showed that in the MM cell lines with high endogenous miR-21 expression
      (RPMI8226 and KM3), SPRY2 expression was significantly lower. Conversely, in the
      U266 cell line with low endogenous miR-21 expression, SPRY2 expression was
      significantly higher, and the gray values of miR-21 and SPRY2 protein in the
      respective cell lines showed statistically significant differences (P<0.01).
      Following transfection of U266 cells, the expression of miR-21 in the U266/LV
      anti-miR21 lentiviral multiplicity of infection (MOI) 20 group and -MOI 40 group
      decreased significantly compared with that in the untransfected U266 group
      (P<0.05). SPRY2 protein expression in U266 cells transfected with miR-21 mimics
      was significantly reduced compared with that in the non-transfected (untreated)
      group and the negative control-transfected group (P<0.01). An MTT assay showed
      that compared with the non-transfected and negative control groups, the cell
      growth rate as well as the proliferation rate were significantly decreased in the
      transfection group 48, 72 and 96 h after transfection (P<0.01). Flow cytometric
      analysis showed that 48 and 72 h after transfection of U266 cells with miR-21
      mimics, the apoptotic rates were (24.7 +/- 1.97 and 38.6 +/- 1.56%) in the U266
      group, (27.3 +/- 1.72 and 37.3 +/- 1.59%) in the siRNA group and (12.7 +/- 1.27
      and 22.1 +/- 1.63%) in the U266/miR-21 group. Compared with the two control
      groups, the apoptotic rate in the U266/miR-21 group was significantly decreased
      and the G0/G1 phase cell population was significantly reduced (P<0.05). Scratch
      experiments showed that the cell migration ability was significantly reduced in
      the transfection group 24 and 48 h after transfection (P<0.05). A Transwell
      invasion assay confirmed that the number of U266 cells which migrated through a
      Matrigel-covered polyphosphate membrane significantly decreased in the
      transfection group 24 and 48 h after transfection. The cell-penetrating ability
      was also significantly decreased (P<0.05). In conclusion, the downregulation of
      SPRY2 gene expression mediated by miR-21 promotes the proliferation and invasion
      of MM cells in vitro, suggesting that miR-21 may be a novel potential molecular
      therapeutic target in the treatment of MM.

PMID- 25825241
TI  - C-peptide and zinc delivery to erythrocytes requires the presence of albumin:
      implications in diabetes explored with a 3D-printed fluidic device.
AB  - People with type 1 diabetes (T1D) must administer insulin exogenously due to the
      destruction of their pancreatic beta-cells. Endogenous insulin is stored in beta
      cell granules along with C-peptide, a 31 amino acid peptide that is secreted from
      these granules in amounts equal to insulin. Exogenous co-administration of C
      peptide with insulin has proven to reduce diabetes-associated complications in
      animals and humans. The exact mechanism of C-peptide's beneficial effects after
      secretion from the beta-cell granules is not completely understood, thus
      hindering its development as an exogenously administered hormone. Monitoring
      tissue-to-tissue communication using a 3D-printed microfluidic device revealed
      that zinc and C-peptide are being delivered to erythrocytes by albumin. Upon
      delivery, erythrocyte-derived ATP increased by >50%, as did endothelium-derived
      NO, which was measured downstream in the 3D-printed device. Our results suggest
      that hormone replacement therapy in diabetes may be improved by exogenous
      administration of a C-peptide ensemble that includes zinc and albumin.

PMID- 25825242
TI  - MRI evaluation of asymmetry of nigrostriatal damage in the early stage of early
      onset Parkinson's disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The motor symptoms and signs of early-onset idiopathic Parkinson's
      disease (PD) in Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stage-1 are generally unilateral. We
      hypothesized that there would be detectable differences in the quantitative MRI
      parameters in these PD patients between the hemispheres contralateral to the
      clinically symptomatic and non-symptomatic body side. METHODS: We tested this
      hypothesis by comparing transverse relaxation rates and diffusion tensor imaging
      (DTI) parameters in the substantia nigra and putamen between the two hemispheres
      contralateral to the symptomatic and non-symptomatic side in H&Y stage-1 PD
      patients who had onset of symptoms between ages of 40-59 years. RESULTS: There
      were quantifiable hemispheric asymmetries in transverse relaxation rates in the
      substantia nigra, as well as fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity in the
      putamen in early PD, which correlated with the unilaterality of motor symptoms as
      evaluated using the motor portion of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating
      Scale. CONCLUSION: Transverse relaxation mapping and DTI demonstrated significant
      differences between the symptomatic and non-symptomatic hemispheres at the early
      stage of early-onset PD. These findings support the hypothesis of asymmetric
      neurodegeneration in the bilateral nigrostriatal pathways in the early stage of
      the disease.

PMID- 25825244
TI  - Actinoalloteichus hoggarensis sp. nov., an actinomycete isolated from Saharan
      soil.
AB  - A moderately halophilic actinomycete strain, designated AH97T, was isolated from
      Saharan soil in the Hoggar region (south Algeria) and was subjected to polyphasic
      taxonomic characterization. The morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics
      of the strain were consistent with those of the genus Actinoalloteichus. Results
      of 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison revealed that strain AH97T shared the
      highest degree of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Actinoalloteichus
      hymeniacidonis DSM 45092T (99.3 %) and Actinoalloteichus nanshanensis DSM 45655T
      (98.7 %). However, DNA-DNA hybridization studies showed only 26.5 % relatedness
      with A. hymeniacidonis DSM 45092T and 28.0 % with A. nanshanensis DSM 45655T. The
      genotypic and phenotypic data showed that strain AH97T represents a novel species
      of the genus Actinoalloteichus, for which the name Actinoalloteichus hoggarensis
      sp. nov. is proposed, with AH97T ( = DSM 45943T = CECT 8639T) as the type strain.

PMID- 25825243
TI  - Novel familial dilated cardiomyopathy mutation in MYL2 affects the structure and
      function of myosin regulatory light chain.
AB  - Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a disease of the myocardium characterized by left
      ventricular dilatation and diminished contractile function. Here we describe a
      novel DCM mutation in the myosin regulatory light chain (RLC), in which aspartic
      acid at position 94 is replaced by alanine (D94A). The mutation was identified by
      exome sequencing of three adult first-degree relatives who met formal criteria
      for idiopathic DCM. To obtain insight into the functional significance of this
      pathogenic MYL2 variant, we cloned and purified the human ventricular RLC wild
      type (WT) and D94A mutant proteins, and performed in vitro experiments using RLC
      mutant or WT-reconstituted porcine cardiac preparations. The mutation induced a
      reduction in the alpha-helical content of the RLC, and imposed intra-molecular
      rearrangements. The phosphorylation of RLC by Ca2+/calmodulin-activated myosin
      light chain kinase was not affected by D94A. The mutation was seen to impair
      binding of RLC to the myosin heavy chain, and its incorporation into RLC-depleted
      porcine myosin. The actin-activated ATPase activity of mutant-reconstituted
      porcine cardiac myosin was significantly higher compared with ATPase of wild
      type. No changes in the myofibrillar ATPase-pCa relationship were observed in
      wild-type- or D94A-reconstituted preparations. Measurements of contractile force
      showed a slightly reduced maximal tension per cross-section of muscle, with no
      change in the calcium sensitivity of force in D94A-reconstituted skinned porcine
      papillary muscle strips compared with wild-type. Our data indicate that subtle
      structural rearrangements in the RLC molecule, followed by its impaired
      interaction with the myosin heavy chain, may trigger functional abnormalities
      contributing to the DCM phenotype.

PMID- 25825245
TI  - Bacillus wuyishanensis sp. nov., isolated from rhizosphere soil of a medical
      plant, Prunella vulgaris.
AB  - A Gram-staining-positive, rod-shaped, endospore-forming, aerobic bacterium (FJAT
      17212(T)) was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of a medical plant, Prunella
      vulgaris (common selfheal), on the Wuyishan mountain of China. Isolate FJAT
      17212(T) grew at 10-50  degrees C (optimum 30  degrees C), pH 5-11 (optimum pH 7)
      and with 0-6% (w/v) NaCl (optimum 2%). Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA
      gene sequences showed that isolate FJAT-17212(T) was a member of the genus
      Bacillus and was most closely related to Bacillus galactosidilyticus DSM 15595(T)
      (97.3%). DNA-DNA relatedness between isolate FJAT-17212(T) and B.
      galactosidilyticus DSM 15595(T) was low (35.2% +/- 2.3). The diagnostic diamino
      acid of the peptidoglycan of isolate FJAT-17212(T) was meso-diaminopimelic acid
      and the predominant isoprenoid quinone was MK-7 (80.8%). The major cellular fatty
      acids were iso-C15 : 0 (35.7%), anteiso-C15 : 0 (29.8%), iso-C14 : 0 (9.9%) and
      iso-C16 : 0 (9.9%) and the DNA G+C content was 39.8 mol%. Phenotypic,
      chemotaxonomic and genotypic properties clearly indicated that isolate FJAT
      17212(T) represents a novel species within the genus Bacillus, for which the name
      Bacillus wuyishanensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is FJAT-17212(T) ( =
      DSM 27848(T) = CGMCC 1.12709(T)).

PMID- 25825246
TI  - Mucilaginibacter vulcanisilvae sp. nov., isolated from a volcanic forest.
AB  - A Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, pale-pink-pigmented bacterium,
      designated strain G27(T), was isolated from a volcanic forest of Jeju Island,
      South Korea. Cells were catalase- and oxidase-positive, non-motile rods producing
      exopolysaccharide and flexirubin-type and pale pink pigments. Growth of strain
      G27(T) was observed at 4-30  degrees C (optimum, 25  degrees C) and pH 5.0-8.0
      (optimum, pH 7.0). Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed
      that strain G27(T) formed a phyletic lineage within the genus Mucilaginibacter of
      the family Sphingobacteriaceae. Strain G27(T) was related most closely to
      Mucilaginibacter gossypii Gh-67(T) at 96.5% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity.
      Strain G27(T) contained menaquinone 7 (MK-7) as the sole isoprenoid quinone and
      summed feature 3 (comprising C16:1omega7c/C16:1omega6c), iso-C15:0, C16:0,
      C16:1omega5c and C16:1omega5c as the major cellular fatty acids.
      Phosphatidylethanolamine was identified as the major polar lipid. The G+C content
      of the genomic DNA was 46.5 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and
      molecular properties, strain G27(T) represents a novel species of the genus
      Mucilaginibacter, for which the name Mucilaginibacter vulcanisilvae sp. nov. is
      proposed. The type strain is G27(T) ( = KACC 18231(T) = JCM 30363(T)).

PMID- 25825247
TI  - Demequina activiva sp. nov., isolated from a tidal flat.
AB  - A Gram-stain-positive, facultatively anaerobic, non-spore-forming, non
      flagellated and rod-shaped or ovoid bacterial strain, designated BS-12M(T), was
      isolated from a tidal flat sediment on the South Sea, South Korea. Strain BS
      12M(T) grew optimally at 35  degrees C, at pH 7.0-8.0 and in the presence of 2.0%
      (w/v) NaCl. The neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene
      sequences revealed that strain BS-12M(T) fell within the cluster comprising the
      type strains of species of the genus Demequina, joining the type strain of
      Demequina aestuarii with which it shared the highest sequence similarity (98.6%).
      It exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 96.1-97.9% to the type strains
      of other species of the genus Demequina. The peptidoglycan type of strain BS
      12M(T) was A4beta based on L-Orn -L-Ser -D-Glu. Strain BS-12M(T) contained
      demethylmenaquinone-9(H4) as the major menaquinone and anteiso-C15:0 and C16:0 as
      the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids of strain BS-12M(T) were
      phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylinositolmannoside. The DNA G+C content of
      strain BS-12M(T) was 70.7 mol% and its DNA-DNA relatedness values with the type
      strains of five phylogenetically related species of the genus Demequina were 15
      34%. Differential phenotypic properties, together with phylogenetic and genetic
      distinctiveness, revealed that strain BS-12M(T) is separate from other species of
      the genus Demequina. On the basis of the data presented, strain BS-12M(T) is
      considered to represent a novel species of the genus Demequina, for which the
      name Demequina activiva sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BS-12M(T) (
      =KCTC 29674(T) = NBRC 110675T).

PMID- 25825248
TI  - Highly Selective Electrochemical Determination of Taxol Based on ds-DNA-Modified
      Pencil Electrode.
AB  - In this research, TiO2/ZrO2 nanocomposite has been prepared using sol-gel method.
      The TiO2/ZrO2 composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier
      transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and transmission electron microscopy
      (TEM). A sensitive electrochemical biosensor is also presented for the
      determination of Taxol based on ds-DNA decorated multiwall carbon nanotubes
      TiO2/ZrO2-chitosan-modified pencil electrode (ds-DNA-MWNTs-TiO2/ZrO2-CHIT-PGE).
      The UV spectroscopic data and differential pulse voltammetry revealed that there
      is a strong interaction between ds-DNA and Taxol. The groove binding of Taxol to
      ds-DNA helix has been characterized by a red shift (less than 8 nm) in wavelength
      and the decrease in the differential pulse voltammetry oxidation signal intensity
      of the Taxol at pencil graphite electrode (PGE) after its interaction with ds
      DNA. Finally, a pretreated PGE modified with ds-DNA-MWNTs-TiO2/ZrO2-CHIT was
      tested in order to determine Taxol content in the solution. The dynamic range was
      from 0.7 to 1874.0 nmol L(-1) with a detection limit of 0.01 nmol L(-1). This
      sensing platform was successfully applied for the determination of Taxol in
      pharmaceutical and biological samples.

PMID- 25825249
TI  - An organophosphorus hydrolase-based biosensor for direct detection of paraoxon
      using silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles.
AB  - Rapid detection of organophosphorous (OP) compounds such as paraoxon would allow
      taking immediate decision on efficient decontamination procedures and could
      prevent further damage and potential casualties. In the present study, a
      biosensor based on nanomagnet-silica core-shell conjugated to organophosphorous
      hydrolase (OPH) enzyme was designed for detection of paraoxon. Coumarin1, a
      competitive inhibitor of the OPH enzyme, was used as a fluorescence-generating
      molecule. Upon excitation of cumarin1 located at the active site of the enzyme,
      i.e., OPH, the emitted radiations were intensified due to the mirroring effect of
      the nanomagnet-silica core-shell conjugated to the enzyme. In presence of
      paraoxon and consequent competition with the fluorophore in occupying enzyme's
      active site, a significant reduction in emitted radiations was observed. This
      reduction was proportional to paraoxon concentration in the sample. The method
      worked in the 10- to 250-nM concentration range had a low standard deviation
      (with a coefficient of variation (CV) of 6-10%), and the detection limit was as
      low as 5 * 10(-6) MUM.

PMID- 25825250
TI  - Molecular Cloning, Expression Analysis, and Preliminarily Functional
      Characterization of the Gene Encoding Protein Disulfide Isomerase from Jatropha
      curcas.
AB  - Reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plants, arising from various environmental
      stresses, impair the thiol-contained proteins that are susceptible to irregular
      oxidative formation of disulfide bonds, which might be alleviated by a relatively
      specific modifier called protein disulfide isomerase (PDI). From our previous
      data of the transcriptome and digital gene expression of cold-hardened Jatropha
      curcas, a PDI gene was proposed to be cold-relevant. In this study, its full
      length cDNA (JcPDI) was cloned, with the size of 1649 bp containing the entire
      open reading frame (ORF) of 1515 bp. This ORF encodes a polypeptide of 504 amino
      acids with theoretical molecular weight of 56.6 kDa and pI value of 4.85. One N
      terminal signal peptide (-MASKGSIWSCMFLFSLI VAISAGEG-) and the C-terminal
      anchoring sequence motif (-KDEL-) specific to the endoplasmic reticulum, as well
      as two thioredoxin domains (-CGHC-), are also found by predictions. Through semi
      quantitative RT-PCR, the expression of JcPDI was characterized to be tissue
      differential strongly in leaves and roots, but weakly in stems, and of cold
      induced alternations. Furthermore, JcPDI overexpression in yeast could notably
      enhance the cold resistance of host cells. Conclusively, these results explicitly
      suggested a considerable association of JcPDI to cold response and a putative
      application potential for its correlated genetic engineering.

PMID- 25825251
TI  - Imaging of the subsurface structures of "unroofed" Plasmodium falciparum-infected
      erythrocytes.
AB  - Intraerythrocytic stages of Plasmodium falciparum parasites modify the membranes
      of their host erythrocytes with numerous expressed proteins. They also install
      new membranous structures in the erythrocyte cytoplasm, including Maurer's clefts
      (MC) and a tubulovesicular network. These structures support molecular
      trafficking processes that are necessary for the growth and multiplication of P.
      falciparum intraerythrocytic stages. To study the morphology and organization of
      these modifications, we prepared samples of P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes
      by 'unroofing' techniques and examined them by transmission electron microscopy.
      Images of the 'unroofed' parasitized erythrocytes feature cytoskeleton
      alterations and the presence of new membranous structures generated by P.
      falciparum, including small vesicles and MC connected by extensions to the inner
      erythrocyte membrane. Non-parasitized erythrocytes showed no evidence of these
      structures or extensions. In further experiments, we observed a relative absence
      of MC and extensions after treatment of parasitized erythrocytes with aluminum
      tetrafluoride (AlF4(-)), an inhibitor of vesicle trafficking. The morphology and
      physical location of MC, extensions and small vesicles in unroofed specimens are
      consistent with the role of these structures in the trafficking of P. falciparum
      proteins to the surface of parasitized erythrocytes.

PMID- 25825252
TI  - UV irradiation responses in Giardia intestinalis.
AB  - The response to ultraviolet light (UV) radiation, a natural stressor to the
      intestinal protozoan parasite Giardia intestinalis, was studied to deepen the
      understanding of how the surrounding environment affects the parasite during
      transmission. UV radiation at 10 mJ/cm(2) kills Giardia cysts effectively whereas
      trophozoites and encysting parasites can recover from UV treatment at 100
      mJ/cm(2) and 50 mJ/cm(2) respectively. Staining for phosphorylated histone H2A
      showed that UV treatment induces double-stranded DNA breaks and flow cytometry
      analyses revealed that UV treatment of trophozoites induces DNA replication
      arrest. Active DNA replication coupled to DNA repair could be an explanation to
      why UV light does not kill trophozoites and encysting cells as efficiently as the
      non-replicating cysts. We also examined UV-induced gene expression responses in
      both trophozoites and cysts using RNA sequencing (RNA seq). UV radiation induces
      small overall changes in gene expression in Giardia but cysts show a stronger
      response than trophozoites. Heat shock proteins, kinesins and Nek kinases are up
      regulated, whereas alpha-giardins and histones are down-regulated in UV treated
      trophozoites. Expression of variable surface proteins (VSPs) is changed in both
      trophozoites and cysts. Our data show that Giardia cysts have limited ability to
      repair UV-induced damage and this may have implications for drinking- and waste
      water treatment when setting criteria for the use of UV disinfection to ensure
      safe water. 

PMID- 25825253
TI  - Community-Based Groundwater Monitoring Network Using a Citizen-Science Approach.
AB  - Water level monitoring provides essential information about the condition of
      aquifers and their responses to water extraction, land-use change, and climatic
      variability. It is important to have a spatially distributed, long-term
      monitoring well network for sustainable groundwater resource management.
      Community-based monitoring involving citizen scientists provides an approach to
      complement existing government-run monitoring programs. This article demonstrates
      the feasibility of establishing a large-scale water level monitoring network of
      private water supply wells using an example from Rocky View County (3900 km(2) )
      in Alberta, Canada. In this network, community volunteers measure the water level
      in their wells, and enter these data through a web-based data portal, which
      allows the public to view and download these data. The close collaboration among
      the university researchers, county staff members, and community volunteers
      enabled the successful implementation and operation of the network for a 5-year
      pilot period, which generated valuable data sets. The monitoring program was
      accompanied by education and outreach programs, in which the educational
      materials on groundwater were developed in collaboration with science teachers
      from local schools. The methodology used in this study can be easily adopted by
      other municipalities and watershed stewardship groups interested in groundwater
      monitoring. As governments are starting to rely increasingly on local
      municipalities and conservation authorities for watershed management and
      planning, community-based groundwater monitoring provides an effective and
      affordable tool for sustainable water resources management.

PMID- 25825254
TI  - Plasma exchange effectively removes 52- and 60-kDa anti-Ro/SSA and anti-La/SSB
      antibodies in pregnant women with congenital heart block.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pregnant women positive for 52- and 60-kDa anti-Ro/SSA and anti
      La/SSB antibodies can suffer from congenital heart block (CHB), a passively
      acquired autoimmune disease. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We evaluated the efficacy
      of plasma exchange (PE) in removing 52- and 60-kDa anti-Ro/SSA and anti-La/SSB
      antibodies in pregnant women with CHB treated with a combined therapy including
      PE, intravenous immunoglobulins, and steroids. Antibody levels were monitored in
      10 consecutive pregnant women diagnosed with CHB and prospectively followed
      between 2009 and 2013. Assaying was performed using a homemade enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay test on blood samples collected immediately before and after
      PE sessions. RESULTS: A significant decrease in mean post-PE antibody levels was
      noted in all the cases examined. An analysis of antibody level trends in the
      samples collected before PE sessions showed that there was a steady, significant
      decrease in 90% of the patients with 52-kDa anti-Ro/SSA, in 80% of those with 60
      kDa anti-Ro/SSA antibodies, and in 100% of those with anti-La/SSB antibodies.
      CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that PE is effective in removing antibodies
      linked to the pathogenesis of CHB. PE treatment was found to have a long-term
      efficacy in all the women positive for anti-La/SSB antibodies and in most of the
      women positive for 52- and 60-kDa anti-Ro/SSA antibodies. It is interesting that
      the significant, immediate, and long-term fall in antibody levels that was
      observed in these patients took place in all the women whose CHB was reversed.
      This finding could give PE an important role in the treatment of CHB.

PMID- 25825255
TI  - Extramedullary disease in multiple myeloma in the era of novel agents.

PMID- 25825256
TI  - Patient-provider interaction during medication encounters: A study in outpatient
      pharmacies in the Netherlands.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe communication between pharmacy staff and patients at the
      counter in outpatient pharmacies. Both content and communication style were
      investigated. METHODS: Pharmaceutical encounters in three outpatient pharmacies
      in the Netherlands were video-recorded. Videos were analyzed based on an
      observation protocol for the following information: content of encounter,
      initiator of a theme and pharmacy staff's communication style. RESULTS: In total,
      119 encounters were recorded which concerned 42 first prescriptions, 16 first
      refill prescriptions and 61 follow-up refill prescriptions. During all
      encounters, discussion was mostly initiated by pharmacy staff (85%). In first
      prescription encounters topics most frequently discussed included instructions
      for use (83%) and dosage instructions (95%). In first refill encounters, patient
      experiences such as adverse effects (44%) and beneficial effects (38%) were
      regularly discussed in contrast to follow-up refills (7% and 5%). Patients'
      opinion on medication was hardly discussed. CONCLUSION: Pharmacy staff in
      outpatient pharmacies generally provide practical information, less frequently
      they discuss patients' experiences and seldom discuss patients' perceptions and
      preferences about prescribed medication. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study shows
      there is room for improvement, as communication is still not according to
      professional guidelines. To implement professional guidelines successfully, it is
      necessary to identify underlying reasons for not following the guidelines.

PMID- 25825257
TI  - Being reflexive in qualitative grounded theory: discussion and application of a
      model of reflexivity.
AB  - AIM: A discussion of the meaning of reflexivity in research with the presentation
      of examples of how a model of reflexivity was used in a grounded theory research
      project. BACKGROUND: Reflexivity requires the researcher to make transparent the
      decisions they make in the research process and is therefore important in
      developing quality in nursing research. The importance of being reflexive is
      highlighted in the literature in relation to nursing research, however, practical
      guidance as to how to go about doing research reflexively is not always clearly
      articulated. DESIGN: This is a discussion paper. DATA SOURCES: The concept of
      reflexivity in research is explored using the Alvesson and Skoldberg model of
      reflexivity and practical examples of how a researcher developed reflexivity in a
      grounded theory project are presented. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Nurse
      researchers are encouraged to explore and apply the concept of reflexivity in
      their research practices to develop transparency in the research process and to
      increase robustness in their research. The Alvesson and Skoldberg model is of
      value in applying reflexivity in qualitative nursing research, particularly in
      grounded theory research. CONCLUSION: Being reflexive requires the researcher to
      be completely open about decisions that are made in the research process. The
      Alvesson and Skolberg model of reflexivity is a useful model that can enhance
      reflexivity in the research process. It can be a useful practical tool to develop
      reflexivity in grounded theory research.

PMID- 25825258
TI  - Comparative Evaluation of Changes in Brain Activity and Cognitive Function of
      Edentulous Patients, with Dentures and Two-Implant Supported Mandibular
      Overdenture-Pilot Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The relationship between brain and prosthesis was previously assessed
      either by improving denture function or in fixed implant retained, wherein brain
      function was assessed only after crown placement. PURPOSE: To prospectively
      analyze the changes in brain activity and cognitive function of completely
      edentulous patients in edentulous state, with dentures and two-implant supported
      mandibular overdenture before and after loading, along with the effect of
      mastication in the change - a pilot study. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Ten completely
      edentulous (CE) non-denture wearers were selected. The mandibular prosthesis was
      loaded with two 3.3 mm * 13 mm myriad snap fit implants. To assess the brain
      activity and cognitive function, Electroencephalogram (Neurofax EEG 1000 Ver 05
      90, Nihon Kohden corporation, Tokyo, Japan) and Mini-Mental State Examination
      (MMSE) questionnaire, respectively, were taken during the process of
      rehabilitation. EEG assessment was analyzed using Matlab 2011A 7.9 signal
      processing tool box. The results were statistically analyzed with SPSS 17.0
      version using Wilcoxon signed rank and Friedman test RESULTS: Amplitude, power of
      alpha waves and cognitive scores increased gradually with highest mean rank for
      implant supported overdenture (IOD). The bivariate analysis between two groups
      showed there was significant difference between all the groups (p < 0.05) except
      for groups CE-I (completely edentulous - implant placement) and CD- I (complete
      denture insertion - implant placement) in amplitude of alpha waves while in group
      CD-I with respect to power of alpha waves. MMSE revealed the mean of cognitive
      scores in Complete Edentulous was 17.40, Complete Denture was 18.30 and finally
      with Implant Overdenture was 23.80. CONCLUSION: The present study has enlightened
      the significance of two implant supported mandibular overdenture in improving the
      mental state of an individual and that the enhancement was due to functional
      improvement with prosthesis when loaded with implants and not due to mere
      existence of implant without any function.

PMID- 25825259
TI  - Liquid-Crystalline Properties of trans-A2 B2 -Porphyrins with Extended pi
      Electron Systems.
AB  - Incorporation of four trialkoxyphenyl substituents combined with extending the pi
      conjugated system has allowed porphyrins to display liquid-crystalline columnar
      phases at room temperature. 2D and 3D columnar structures were observed as well
      as a biaxial smectic phase. 

PMID- 25825260
TI  - Decitabine as a conditioning regimen in haploidentical stem cell transplantation
      for refractory acute myeloid leukaemia.
AB  - WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Chemotherapy can increase treatment-related
      mortality associated with future haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)
      for patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). There is
      usually insufficient time to find a suitable unrelated donor for these patients.
      We report on the use of decitabine, a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor as a
      conditioning regimen for a patient undergoing HSCT. CASE SUMMARY: Our patient was
      a 21-year-old male diagnosed with AML-M1 with 84.5% blast cells and a normal
      karyotype. His risk stratum was intermediate, without specific mutations of
      FLT3/ITD, NPM1, CEBPA and C-kit. He underwent successful haploidentical HSCT
      using decitabine, a conditioning regimen. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: We present
      the first report of a patient with refractory AML (with 58% blast cells) treated
      successfully with decitabine as a conditioning regimen in haploidentical HSCT.

PMID- 25825261
TI  - Continuous postoperative insulin infusion reduces deep sternal wound infection in
      patients with diabetes undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting using bilateral
      internal mammary artery grafts: a propensity-matched analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Deep sternal wound infection (DSWI), especially in patients with
      diabetes mellitus (DM), is a major concern after coronary artery bypass grafting
      (CABG) with bilateral internal mammary artery (BIMA) grafts. We evaluated the
      risk of DSWI and other clinical outcomes between continuous insulin infusion
      therapy (CIT) and insulin sliding scale therapy (IST) in a cohort of DM patients
      who underwent CABG with BIMA. METHODS: The clinical records of DM patients who
      underwent isolated CABG with BIMA were retrospectively reviewed. The study
      population consisted of 95 patients who received CIT and 126 patients who
      received IST. Furthermore, a one-to-one matched analysis based on estimated
      propensity scores for patients who received CIT or IST yielded two groups
      comprising 58 patients each. The proportion of patients with DSWI, overall
      survival rates and major adverse cardiac events were compared between the two
      groups in the overall and the propensity-matching cohort. RESULTS: The prevalence
      of DSWI requiring debridement and closure was significantly reduced in the CIT
      group compared with that in the IST group [1/95 (1.1%) vs 9/126 (7.1%), P =
      0.031]; these results were not attenuated even after propensity-matching analysis
      [0/58 (0%) vs 6/58 (10.3%), P = 0.031]. The mean preoperative glucose levels were
      similar between the two groups (157.5 +/- 54.6 vs 176.1 +/- +/-70 mg/dl, P =
      0.063), whereas the mean glucose values were significantly lower on the first and
      second operative days in the CIT group than in the IST group (132.9 +/- 44.1 vs
      197.8 +/- 78.6 mg/dl, P < 0.0001; 153.5 +/- 58.8 vs 199.6 +/- 89.1 mg/dl, P <
      0.0001, respectively). The glucose variability levels within 24 h postoperatively
      were significantly higher in the IST group (46.1 +/- 19.4 vs 66.4 +/- 26.8 mg/dl,
      P < 0.0001). The 30-day and 1-year survival rates were similar between the two
      groups (100 vs 99.2%, P = 0.384; 96.6 vs 94.4%, P = 0.454). No results were
      changed in the propensity-matching models. CONCLUSIONS: The CIT approach reduced
      the variability in glucose concentration and resulted in fewer instances of DSWI
      after CABG with BIMA grafts.

PMID- 25825262
TI  - Multislice computed tomography-based prediction of the implantation plane in
      transcatheter aortic valve implantation: determination of the line of
      perpendicularity and the implanter's views.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We demonstrate a multislice computed tomography (MSCT)-based method
      to calculate the prediction of the so-called 'line of perpendicularity' (LOP) and
      the 'implanter's views' (IVs) for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)
      procedures. The LOP represents all possible angiographic angulations that result
      in an orthogonal view to the aortic annulus plane. The IVs allow visual
      confirmation of correct implantation planes, and are crucial for the commissural
      aligned implantation of second-generation TAVI prostheses. METHODS: The LOP and
      IVs of 335 concomitant patients were prospectively analysed using multiple plane
      reconstruction (MPR) of the patient's MSCT scans. Exclusion criteria were
      bicuspid valves (n = 18) and valve-in-valve TAVI (n = 15). In the MPRs, the
      aortic cusps' lowest points were marked. With the marker's three-dimensional
      coordinates, the graph of the LOP with the IVs was calculated and plotted using
      vector mathematics. In the last 244 cases, the IV with the right coronary cusp in
      front was chosen for the first aortic root angiogram of the TAVI procedure. The
      finally used angulation was confirmed by aortic angiogram prior to the valve
      implantation. Solid angle differences that show the combined left anterior
      oblique/right anterior oblique and cranio/caudal movement of the C-arm allow
      quantification of corrections as well as demonstrate interindividual variations.
      RESULTS: There is a broad interindividual variation of the aortic valve's
      topology with solid angle variations of up to 74 degrees . The shape of the LOPs
      is extremely varying, especially regarding the slope of the curve that indicates
      differences in valve orientations. Among the 244 patients for whom we used the
      prediction for the procedure, the first angiogram was considered perfect for
      implantation without further corrections in 97% (n = 237) of them. In case of the
      7 patients with subsequent corrections, the mean solid angle between the
      prediction and the final angiogram prior to implantation was 6.2 degrees  (+/-5
      degrees ); the largest correction was 14 degrees . CONCLUSIONS: Prediction of the
      implantation plane by analysing the patient's MSCT is highly reliable in
      achieving an adequate view of the aortic annulus in TAVI. The analysis of LOPs
      showed the large interindividual differences that permit using a standard
      implantation plane. Therefore, we strongly recommend determining the LOP and IVs
      during the patient's screening process in each single TAVI case.

PMID- 25825263
TI  - Complex posterior thoracic wall reconstruction using a crossover combined
      latissimus dorsi and serratus anterior free flap.
AB  - Radical resection of an extended malignant sarcoma of the chest wall requires
      full-thickness thoracic chest wall reconstruction. Reconstruction is tedious in
      the case of posteriorly located tumours, because the ipsilateral pedicled
      myocutaneous latissimus dorsi flap is involved and hence not usable for soft
      tissue coverage. We report an original case of a left giant dorsal chondrosarcoma
      originating from the 11th costovertebral joint. After extended resection and
      skeletal reconstruction, soft tissue coverage was achieved with an original
      contralateral free flap encompassing both latissimus dorsi and serratus anterior
      muscles. The flap pedicle was anastomosed to the ipsilateral thoracodorsal
      vessels. 

PMID- 25825264
TI  - The mortality after surgery in primary lung cancer: results from the Danish Lung
      Cancer Registry.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The study has been performed to investigate the mortality within the
      first year after resection in patients with primary lung cancer, together with
      associated prognostic factors including gender, age, tumour stage, comorbidity,
      alcohol abuse, type of surgery and post-surgical complications. METHODS: All
      patients (n = 3363) from the nationwide Danish Lung Cancer Registry with first
      resection performed between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2011 were analysed by
      Kaplan-Meier techniques and Cox-regression analysis concerning death within the
      first year after resection. Covariates included gender, age, comorbidity
      (Charlson comorbidity index), perioperative stage, type of resection, registered
      complications to surgery and alcohol abuse. RESULTS: The cumulative deaths after
      30 days, 90 days, 180 days and 360 days were 72 (2.1%), 154 (4.6%), 239 (7.1%)
      and 478 (14.2%), respectively. Low stage, female gender, young age, no
      comorbidity, no postoperative complications, no alcohol abuse and lobectomy as
      type of resection were favourable for survival. CONCLUSIONS: Our results
      demonstrate that resection in primary lung cancer impacts mortality far beyond
      the initial 30 days after resection, which is conventionally considered a time
      window of relevance for the adverse outcome of surgery. Increased efforts should
      be made for optimizing the selection of patients suited for resection and for
      identifying patients at increased risk of death after resection. Furthermore,
      patients should be monitored more closely and more frequently, in particular
      those patients with high risk of death after resection.

PMID- 25825266
TI  - Self-assembled multifunctional DNA nanospheres for biosensing and drug delivery
      into specific target cells.
AB  - Self-assembly of three dimensional nucleic acid nanostructures is of great
      significance in nanotechnology, biosensing and biomedicine. Herein we present a
      novel class of multifunctional and programmable DNA nanostructures, termed
      nanospheres (NSs), with monodispersity, dense compaction and uniform size (~ 200
      nm) using only four DNAs based on not only Watson-Crick base pair hybridization
      between single-stranded DNA but also liquid crystallization and dense packing
      from periodic DNA duplexes. Due to the diversity of the internal structures, the
      present NSs can easily evolve into other kinds of DNA assemblies, such as DNA
      spherical structures with a larger size and a rough surface via rolling circle
      replication (RCR). Importantly, the functional arms incorporated in building
      units can be readily designed for biosensing and targeted cancer therapy with
      high payload capacity and excellent biocompatibility. Therefore, the proposed NSs
      could lead to novel routes for nucleic acid self-assembly, promising versatile
      applications in biosensing and biomedicine.

PMID- 25825267
TI  - Navigating the Alcohol Treatment Pathway: A Qualitative Study from the Service
      Users' Perspective.
AB  - AIMS: Provision of effective treatment for dependent drinkers has been identified
      as a priority in England yet evidence suggests that access is problematic and
      there are low levels of retention. This qualitative study explores how the
      alcohol treatment system is experienced by service users, identifying barriers
      and facilitators that influence treatment outcomes. METHODS: A total of 20 semi
      structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with patients from community
      alcohol treatment services in three London boroughs in 2012. Interviews were
      undertaken one year after initially entering treatment. A thematic analysis was
      conducted, with the results further abstracted to relate them to specific aspects
      of the treatment journey. RESULTS: Patients journeys were characterized by a
      perceived lack of control leading to help-seeking, with treatment outcomes
      influenced by an individuals' self-efficacy and the capabilities and skills of
      staff in actively engaging and supporting patients on the journey. A focus of
      services on the detoxification process and fragmented care pathways impacted
      negatively on engagement. CONCLUSIONS: Current alcohol care pathways require
      significant levels of motivation and self-efficacy to navigate that few patients
      possess. Pathways need to better reflect the capacity and capabilities of
      patients to be successful in supporting recovery.

PMID- 25825268
TI  - Augmenting effects of gestational arsenite exposure of C3H mice on the hepatic
      tumors of the F2 male offspring via the F1 male offspring.
AB  - Gestational exposure can affect the F2 generation through exposure of F1 germline
      cells. Previous studies reported that arsenite exposure of only F0 females during
      their pregnancy increases hepatic tumors in the F1 males in C3H mice, whose males
      are predisposed spontaneously to develop hepatic tumors later in life. The
      present study addressed the effects of gestational arsenite exposure on
      tumorigenesis of the F2 males in C3H mice. Expression analysis of several genes
      in the normal livers at 53 and 80 weeks of age clearly showed significant changes
      in the F2 males obtained by crossing gestational arsenite-exposed F1 (arsenite
      F1) males and females compared to the control F2 males. Some of the changes were
      shown to occur in a late-onset manner. Then the tumor incidence was assessed at
      75-82 weeks of age in the F2 males obtained by reciprocal crossing between the
      control and arsenite-F1 males and females. The results demonstrated that the F2
      males born to arsenite-F1 males developed tumors at a significantly higher rate
      than the F2 males born to the control F1 males, irrespective of exposure of F1
      females. Gene expressions of hepatocellular carcinoma markers beta-catenin
      (CTNNB1) and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist in the tumors were significantly
      upregulated in the F2 males born to arsenite-F1 males compared to those born to
      the control F1 males. These results show that arsenite exposure of only F0
      pregnant mice causes late-onset changes and augments tumors in the livers of the
      F2 males by affecting the F1 male offspring.

PMID- 25825265
TI  - Effects of chronic treatment with the new ultra-long-acting beta2 -adrenoceptor
      agonist indacaterol alone or in combination with the beta1 -adrenoceptor blocker
      metoprolol on cardiac remodelling.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The ability of a chronic treatment with indacaterol, a
      new ultra-long-acting beta2 -adrenoceptor agonist, to reverse cardiac remodelling
      and its effects in combination with metoprolol, a selective beta1 -adrenoceptor
      antagonist, were investigated on myocardial infarction in a rat model of heart
      failure (HF). EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: We investigated the effects of indacaterol
      and metoprolol, administered alone or in combination, on myocardial histology,
      beta-adrenoceptor-mediated pathways, markers of remodelling and haemodynamic
      parameters in a rat model of HF. Five groups of rats were assessed: sham-operated
      rats; HF rats; HF + indacaterol 0.3 mg.kg(-1) .day(-1) ; HF + metoprolol 100
      mg.kg(-1) .day(-1) ; HF + metoprolol + indacaterol. All pharmacological
      treatments continued for 15 weeks. KEY RESULTS: Treatment with either indacaterol
      or metoprolol significantly reduced the infarct size in HF rats. However, the
      combination of indacaterol and metoprolol reduced the infarct size even further,
      reduced both BP and heart rate, reversed the decrease in ejection fraction,
      normalized left ventricular systolic and diastolic internal diameters, normalized
      the decreased beta1 adrenoceptor mRNA expression as well as cardiac cAMP levels
      and reduced cardiac GPCR kinase 2 expression, compared with the untreated HF
      group. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The results of our study demonstrated an
      additive interaction between indacaterol and metoprolol in normalizing and
      reversing cardiac remodelling in our experimental model of HF. The translation of
      these findings to clinical practice might be of interest, as this combination of
      drugs could be safer and more effective in patients suffering from HF and COPD.

PMID- 25825271
TI  - Dissociation of CO2 on rhodium nanoclusters (Rh13) in various structures
      supported on unzipped graphene oxide--a DFT study.
AB  - The catalytic activity of rhodium nanoclusters (Rh13) on unzipped graphene oxide
      (Rh13/UGO) has been investigated for comparison with Rh13 nanoclusters and
      Rh(111) surfaces. The binding energy of Rh atoms on UGO is less than the cohesive
      energy (-5.75 eV) of bulk Rh, indicating that the Rh atoms adsorbed on UGO tend
      to collect into clusters. We systematically calculated the adsorption energies of
      CO2 on Rh13 nanoclusters in various stable shapes on unzipped graphene oxide;
      Rh13-Ih/UGO had the highest energy (where the Ih represents icosahedral shape), 
      1.18 eV, with the C-O bond being elongated from 1.17 to 1.29 A; the barrier to
      dissociation of CO2 on Rh13-Ih/UGO is, accordingly, the smallest (Ea = 0.45 eV),
      indicating that Rh13-Ih/UGO might act as an effective material to adsorb and
      activate the scission of the C-O bond of CO2. The calculated data required to
      support all evidence of this result, including the electronic distribution and
      the density of states, are provided. 

PMID- 25825269
TI  - Developmental Changes for the Hemolymph Metabolome of Silkworm (Bombyx mori L.).
AB  - Silkworm (Bombyx mori) is a lepidopteran-holometabolic model organism. To
      understand its developmental biochemistry, we characterized the larval hemolymph
      metabonome from the third instar to prepupa stage using (1)H NMR spectroscopy
      whilst hemolymph fatty acid composition using GC-FID/MS. We unambiguously
      assigned more than 60 metabolites, among which tyrosine-o-beta-glucuronide,
      mesaconate, homocarnosine, and picolinate were reported for the first time from
      the silkworm hemolymph. Phosphorylcholine was the most abundant metabolite in all
      developmental stages with exception for the periods before the third and fourth
      molting. We also found obvious developmental dependence for the hemolymph
      metabonome involving multiple pathways including protein biosyntheses,
      glycolysis, TCA cycle, the metabolisms of choline amino acids, fatty acids,
      purines, and pyrimidines. Most hemolymph amino acids had two elevations during
      the feeding period of the fourth instar and prepupa stage. Trehalose was the
      major blood sugar before day 8 of the fifth instar, whereas glucose became the
      major blood sugar after spinning. C16:0, C18:0 and its unsaturated forms were
      dominant fatty acids in hemolymph. The developmental changes of hemolymph
      metabonome were associated with dietary nutrient intakes, biosyntheses of cell
      membrane, pigments, proteins, and energy metabolism. These findings offered
      essential biochemistry information in terms of the dynamic metabolic changes
      during silkworm development. 

PMID- 25825270
TI  - Exploring the nurse practitioner role in managing fractures in long-term care.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to assess the current level of involvement of nurse
      practitioners (NPs) in activities related to preventing and managing fractures in
      long-term care (LTC). This study used a sequential explanatory mixed methods
      design that included two phases-a cross-sectional survey followed by qualitative
      interviews. A final sample of 12 NPs completed the online survey for a response
      rate of 67%. Eleven of the 12 NPs who completed the survey agreed to participate
      in a follow-up interview. NPs reported that they were quite engaged in managing
      fractures in LTC; specifically, they were most active in caring for residents
      post-fracture. NPs described their role as being holistic in nature in their
      assessment and treatments related to managing fractures. The findings from this
      mixed method study add to the growing body of knowledge related to how NPs manage
      fractures in LTC. 

PMID- 25825272
TI  - Hyperosmolarity-Induced Down-Regulation of Claudin-2 Mediated by Decrease in
      PKCbeta-Dependent GATA-2 in MDCK Cells.
AB  - Hyperosmolarity decreases claudin-2 expression in renal tubular epithelial cells,
      but the molecular mechanism remains undefined. Here, we found that the
      hyperosmolarity-induced decrease in claudin-2 expression is inhibited by Go6983,
      a non-selective protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, and PKCbeta specific inhibitor
      in Madin-Darby canine kidney II cells. Hyperosmolarity increased intracellular
      free Ca(2+) concentration and phosphorylated PKCbeta level, which were inhibited
      by RN-1734, an antagonist of transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 channel.
      Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, a PKC activator, decreased claudin-2 expression.
      These results indicate hyperosmolarity decreases claudin-2 expression mediated by
      the activation of RN-1734-sensitive channel and PKCbeta. Hyperosmolarity
      decreased promoter activity of claudin-2, which was inhibited by Go6983 and
      PKCbeta inhibitor similar to those in real-time PCR and Western blotting. The
      effect of hyperosmolarity on promoter activity was not observed in the construct
      of -469/-6, a deletion mutant. Claudin-2 has hyperosmolarity-sensitive region in
      its promoter, which includes GATA binding site. Hyperosmolarity decreased the
      nuclear level of GATA-2, which was inhibited by Go6983 and PKCbeta inhibitor.
      Mutation of GATA binding site decreased the basal promoter activity and inhibited
      the effect of hyperosmolarity. In contrast, the hyperosmolarity-induced decrease
      in reporter activity and claudin-2 expression were rescued by over-expression of
      wild type GATA-2. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay showed that GATA-2 bound to
      promoter region of claudin-2. These results suggest that hyperosmolarity
      decreases the expression level of claudin-2 via a decrease in PKCbeta-dependent
      GATA-2 transcriptional activity in renal tubular epithelial cells.

PMID- 25825273
TI  - Face it, don't Facebook it: Impacts of Social Media Addiction on Mindfulness,
      Coping Strategies and the Consequence on Emotional Exhaustion.
AB  - Addiction to social media has now become a problem that societies are concerned
      with. The aim of the present study is to investigate the impacts that social
      media addiction has on mindfulness and choice of coping strategy, as well as to
      explore the consequences on emotional exhaustion. The survey data were collected
      from 211 employees in 13 enterprises in Thailand. Results from partial least
      square structural equation modelling revealed that people who are highly addicted
      to social media tended to have lower mindfulness and tended to use emotion
      focused coping to deal with stress. Lack of mindfulness and the decision to use
      emotion-coping strategy are also subsequently associated with higher emotional
      exhaustion. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID- 25825274
TI  - Thiazolidinediones attenuate lipolysis and ameliorate dexamethasone-induced
      insulin resistance.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Elevated levels of circulating free fatty acids induce insulin
      resistance and often occur in obese and diabetic conditions. One pharmacological
      basis for the antidiabetic effects of thiazolidinediones (TZDs) is that TZDs
      reduce levels of circulating FFAs by accelerating their uptake and
      reesterification from plasma into adipocytes. Here, we investigated whether TZDs
      affect adipose lipolysis, a process controlling triglyceride hydrolysis and FFA
      efflux to the bloodstream. METHODS: The effects of TZDs on lipolysis were
      investigated in primary rat adipocytes in vitro and in rats in vivo. RESULTS: In
      rat primary adipocytes, the TZDs pioglitazone, rosiglitazone and troglitazone
      inhibited the lipolytic reaction dose- and time-dependently and in a post
      receptor pathway by decreasing cAMP level and total lipase activity. TZDs
      increased the phosphorylation of Akt/protein kinase B, an action required for
      activating cyclic-nucleotide phosphodiesterase 3B, a major enzyme responsible for
      cAMP hydrolysis in adipocytes. Furthermore, rosiglitazone inhibited the lipolytic
      action in dexamethasone-stimulated adipocytes, thereby preventing the increased
      level of circulating FFAs, and ameliorated insulin resistance in vivo in
      dexamethasone-treated rats. CONCLUSIONS: TZDs may attenuate lipolysis and FFA
      efflux by activating Akt signaling to decrease cAMP level and hence reduce lipase
      activity in adipocytes. Inhibiting lipolysis and FFA efflux with TZDs could be a
      pharmacological basis by which TZDs antagonize diabetes, particularly in patients
      with hypercortisolemia or glucocorticoid challenge.

PMID- 25825275
TI  - A method for measuring instantaneous treadmill speed.
AB  - This paper presents a new method for measuring instantaneous treadmill speed. The
      method consists of two parts: (1) a motion-capture system and reflective squares
      placed directly on the treadmill belt, and (2) an algorithm for estimating belt
      speed and distance traveled from the measured positions of the reflective
      squares. The method was tested with a single subject walking on an instrumented
      treadmill. The method is easy to set up and results in an accurate estimate of
      treadmill speed that is conveniently synchronized with the output of the motion
      capture system. 

PMID- 25825279
TI  - Immunology: BiP peptides induce epitope-specific T-cell reactions in RA.

PMID- 25825278
TI  - Uveitis associated with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
AB  - Uveitis is a potentially sight-threatening complication of juvenile idiopathic
      arthritis (JIA). JIA-associated uveitis is recognized to have an autoimmune
      aetiology characterized by activation of CD4(+) T cells, but the underlying
      mechanisms might overlap with those of autoinflammatory conditions involving
      activation of innate immunity. As no animal model recapitulates all the features
      of JIA-associated uveitis, questions remain regarding its pathogenesis. The most
      common form of JIA-associated uveitis is chronic anterior uveitis, which is
      usually asymptomatic initially. Effective screening is, therefore, essential to
      detect early disease and commence treatment before the development of visually
      disabling complications, such as cataracts, glaucoma, band keratopathy and
      cystoid macular oedema. Complications can result from uncontrolled intraocular
      inflammation as well as from its treatment, particularly prolonged use of high
      dose topical corticosteroids. Accumulating evidence supports the early
      introduction of systemic immunosuppressive drugs, such as methotrexate, as
      steroid-sparing agents. Prospective randomized controlled trials of TNF
      inhibitors and other biologic therapies are underway or planned. Future research
      should aim to identify biomarkers to predict which children are at high risk of
      developing JIA-associated uveitis or have a poor prognosis. Such biomarkers could
      help to ensure that patients receive earlier interventions and more-potent
      therapy, with the ultimate aim of reducing loss of vision and ocular morbidity. 

PMID- 25825282
TI  - Basic research: synovial surfaces use synergy to slide.

PMID- 25825283
TI  - Recent advances in stem cell-mediated peripheral nerve repair.
AB  - A major advance in the field of peripheral nerve repair has been the advent of
      stem and progenitor cell use to supplement the regenerative environment in animal
      models of nerve injury. As Schwann cell replacements, stem cells may be even
      better suited to promoting regeneration in these scenarios. We review the recent
      literature detailing the search for the definitive Schwann cell replacement cell,
      including a look at genetic modification of transplanted cells for nerve injury
      repair.

PMID- 25825281
TI  - Atherosclerosis in rheumatoid arthritis: is it all about inflammation?
AB  - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has long been associated with increased cardiovascular
      risk, but despite substantial improvements in disease management, mortality
      remains high. Atherosclerosis is more prevalent in RA than in the general
      population, and atherosclerotic lesions progress at a faster rate and might be
      more prone to rupture, causing clinical events. Cells and cytokines implicated in
      RA pathogenesis are also involved in the development and progression of
      atherosclerosis, which is generally recognized as an inflammatory condition. The
      two diseases also share genetic and environmental risk factors, which suggests
      that patients who develop RA might also be predisposed to developing
      cardiovascular disease. In RA, inflammation and atherosclerosis are closely
      linked. Inflammation mediates its effects on atherosclerosis both through
      modulation of traditional risk factors and by directly affecting the vessel wall.
      Treatments such as TNF inhibitors might have a beneficial effect on
      cardiovascular risk. However, whether this benefit is attributable to effective
      control of inflammation or whether targeting specific cytokines, implicated in
      atherosclerosis, provides additional risk reduction is unclear. Further knowledge
      of the predictors of cardiovascular risk, the effects of early control of
      inflammation and of drug-specific effects are likely to improve the recognition
      and management of cardiovascular risk in patients with RA. 

PMID- 25825284
TI  - Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid treatment reveals crosstalks among proteome,
      ubiquitylome and acetylome in non-small cell lung cancer A549 cell line.
AB  - Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) is a well-known histone deacetylase (HDAC)
      inhibitor and has been used as practical therapy for breast cancer and non-small
      cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It is previously demonstrated that SAHA treatment could
      extensively change the profile of acetylome and proteome in cancer cells.
      However, little is known about the impact of SAHA on other protein modifications
      and the crosstalks among different modifications and proteome, hindering the deep
      understanding of SAHA-mediated cancer therapy. In this work, by using SILAC
      technique, antibody-based affinity enrichment and high-resolution LC-MS/MS
      analysis, we investigated quantitative proteome, acetylome and ubiquitylome as
      well as crosstalks among the three datasets in A549 cells toward SAHA treatment.
      In total, 2968 proteins, 1099 acetylation sites and 1012 ubiquitination sites
      were quantified in response to SAHA treatment, respectively. With the aid of
      intensive bioinformatics, we revealed that the proteome and ubiquitylome were
      negatively related upon SAHA treatment. Moreover, the impact of SAHA on acetylome
      resulted in 258 up-regulated and 99 down-regulated acetylation sites at the
      threshold of 1.5 folds. Finally, we identified 55 common sites with both
      acetylation and ubiquitination, among which ubiquitination level in 43 sites
      (78.2%) was positive related to acetylation level. 

PMID- 25825285
TI  - Gray matter atrophy in narcolepsy: An activation likelihood estimation meta
      analysis.
AB  - The authors reviewed the literature on the use of voxel-based morphometry (VBM)
      in narcolepsy magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies via the use of a meta
      analysis of neuroimaging to identify concordant and specific structural deficits
      in patients with narcolepsy as compared with healthy subjects. We used PubMed to
      retrieve articles published between January 2000 and March 2014. The authors
      included all VBM research on narcolepsy and compared the findings of the studies
      by using gray matter volume (GMV) or gray matter concentration (GMC) to index
      differences in gray matter. Stereotactic data were extracted from 8 VBM studies
      of 149 narcoleptic patients and 162 control subjects. We applied activation
      likelihood estimation (ALE) technique and found significant regional gray matter
      reduction in the bilateral hypothalamus, thalamus, globus pallidus, extending to
      nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left mid orbital
      and rectal gyri (BAs 10 and 11), right inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47), and the
      right superior temporal gyrus (BA 41) in patients with narcolepsy. The
      significant gray matter deficits in narcoleptic patients occurred in the
      bilateral hypothalamus and frontotemporal regions, which may be related to the
      emotional processing abnormalities and orexin/hypocretin pathway common among
      populations of patients with narcolepsy. 

PMID- 25825286
TI  - The Genome of Dendrobium officinale Illuminates the Biology of the Important
      Traditional Chinese Orchid Herb.
AB  - Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo is a traditional Chinese orchid herb that
      has both ornamental value and a broad range of therapeutic effects. Here, we
      report the first de novo assembled 1.35 Gb genome sequences for D. officinale by
      combining the second-generation Illumina Hiseq 2000 and third-generation PacBio
      sequencing technologies. We found that orchids have a complete inflorescence gene
      set and have some specific inflorescence genes. We observed gene expansion in
      gene families related to fungus symbiosis and drought resistance. We analyzed
      biosynthesis pathways of medicinal components of D. officinale and found
      extensive duplication of SPS and SuSy genes, which are related to polysaccharide
      generation, and that the pathway of D. officinale alkaloid synthesis could be
      extended to generate 16-epivellosimine. The D. officinale genome assembly
      demonstrates a new approach to deciphering large complex genomes and, as an
      important orchid species and a traditional Chinese medicine, the D. officinale
      genome will facilitate future research on the evolution of orchid plants, as well
      as the study of medicinal components and potential genetic breeding of the
      dendrobe. 

PMID- 25825288
TI  - Doctors are warned not to prescribe generic pregabalin for pain control.

PMID- 25825287
TI  - The branched CcsA/CckA-ChpT-CtrA phosphorelay of Sphingomonas melonis controls
      motility and biofilm formation.
AB  - The CckA-ChpT-CtrA phosphorelay is central to the regulation of the cell cycle in
      Caulobacter crescentus. The three proteins are conserved in Alphaproteobacteria,
      but little is known about their roles in most members of this class. Here, we
      characterized the system in Sphingomonas melonis. We found that the transcription
      factor CtrA is the master regulator of flagella synthesis genes, the hierarchical
      transcriptional organization of which is herein described. CtrA also regulates
      genes involved in exopolysaccharide synthesis and cyclic-di-GMP signaling, and is
      important for biofilm formation. In addition, the ctrA mutant exhibits an
      aberrant morphology, suggesting a role for CtrA in cell division. An analysis of
      the regulation of CtrA indicates that the phosphorelay composed of CckA and ChpT
      is conserved and that the absence of the bifunctional kinase/phosphatase CckA
      apparently results in overactivation of CtrA through ChpT. Suppressors of this
      phenotype identified the hybrid histidine kinase CcsA. Phosphorelays initiated by
      CckA or CcsA were reconstituted in vitro, suggesting that in S. melonis, CtrA
      phosphorylation is controlled by a branched pathway upstream of ChpT. This study
      thus suggests that signals can directly converge at the level of ChpT
      phosphorylation through multiple hybrid kinases to coordinate a number of
      important physiological processes. 

PMID- 25825290
TI  - Micronutrients in the treatment of stunting and moderate malnutrition.
AB  - Linear growth retardation or stunting may occur with or without low weight-for
      age, but in both cases stunted or moderately malnourished children are deficient
      in micronutrients. Pregnancy and the first 2 years are critical periods. Dietary
      deficiency of zinc, iron, calcium, and vitamin A are especially common and often
      occur together. Zinc is essential for adequate growth, and supplements have been
      shown to increase intrauterine femur length and to prevent stunting. However, in
      general, supplements which provide a mixture of micronutrients have been more
      successful in preventing stunting and are simpler to take and distribute.
      Multiple micronutrients together with energy and macronutrients are also needed
      for the management of moderate malnutrition. Multiple micronutrients may be
      delivered as medicinal-like supplements, but may also be combined with food, for
      instance in milk drinks, in fortified dried cereal mixes used to supplement
      complementary foods or in lipid nutrition supplements. The latter also provide
      essential fats necessary for growth. Micronutrient powders for home fortification
      are effective in preventing anemia, but present combinations do not prevent
      stunting. Improving the diets of infant and young children is also possible, and
      increased intake of animal source foods can improve growth. 

PMID- 25825291
TI  - Discussion on micronutrient requirements.

PMID- 25825289
TI  - Global micronutrient deficiencies in childhood and impact on growth and survival:
      challenges and opportunities.
AB  - Despite numerous advances and improvements in child health, malnutrition still
      remains as one of the main public health challenges of the 21st century,
      particularly in developing countries. It undermines the survival, growth and
      development of children, and is associated with almost 35% of all deaths in
      children under the age of 5 years worldwide. An estimated 178 million children
      are stunted globally, and an additional 19 million children have severe acute
      malnutrition (wasting). These conditions are very often associated with
      concomitant micronutrient deficiencies, and among these, vitamin A, iron, zinc
      and iodine deficiencies are the most prevalent in childhood. Vitamin A and zinc
      deficiency is associated with an estimated 1 million child deaths and 9% of
      global childhood disability-adjusted life years. Recent data on the timing of
      growth retardation and stunting in infants suggest that the onset is commensurate
      with inappropriate complementary feeding and potentially compounded by maternal
      undernutrition and intrauterine growth retardation, and that the first 24 months
      represent a critical window of opportunity for intervention. Given the wide
      prevalence of multiple micronutrient deficiencies in malnourished children in
      developing countries, the challenge is to implement intervention strategies that
      combine appropriate infant and young child feeding with micronutrient
      interventions at scale. Emerging data from community intervention trials now
      provide evidence that this is both tangible and can lead to alleviation of
      childhood undernutrition. Some of these recent findings will be discussed. 

PMID- 25825292
TI  - Zinc requirements: assessment and population needs.
AB  - Reliable estimates of zinc requirements have assumed greater priority as the
      global public health importance of preventing zinc deficiency has gained
      increasing recognition. On a global public health basis, our first most evident
      goal is reliable estimates of average population requirements. Despite
      expectations of rapid advances towards simpler and more sophisticated strategies,
      estimations of zinc requirements continue to depend on a factorial approach.
      Since the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) were published, there have been
      important advances in techniques for the factorial approach but also confusion
      resulting from the subsequent publication of conflicting 'international'
      estimates. The reasons for these differences have now been fully elucidated,
      removing an obstruction to continuing progress and refinements of our knowledge
      base. A key advance has been the development and validation of a model that can
      be simply applied to determine the inhibitory effects of phytate on zinc
      absorption. Better understanding of maternal and young child zinc requirements
      continues to present a challenge of special importance. 

PMID- 25825295
TI  - Global burden and significance of multiple micronutrient deficiencies in
      pregnancy.
AB  - Maternal mortality, low birthweight infants and childhood stunting continue to be
      major global public health problems, part of a recurring cycle of disadvantage.
      Maternal undernutrition in particular is one of the most neglected aspects of
      nutrition in public health. One possible low-cost public health intervention that
      might help address these problems is the antenatal provision of multiple
      micronutrient supplements. If the evidence base could be established, cost
      effectiveness found to be acceptable and safety ensured, supplementation could
      ameliorate the impact of poor nutrition and diets, high disease burdens and the
      sociocultural factors contributing to these problems. There have been good
      studies in over a dozen countries addressing some of these issues but with
      conflicting results. Consequently, at least three meta-analyses have been
      undertaken to establish significant findings that could help guide policies and
      programs. They concluded that multimicronutrient supplementation improves
      birthweight and likely reduces the number of infants born low birthweight.
      Supplementation with iron-folic acid or multimicronutrients also appears to have
      positive longer-term impacts on the health and development of the offspring.
      There remain concerns about possible increased infant mortality in some
      populations. Given the results of the meta-analyses, cautious scaling-up of
      country effectiveness trials appears justified with careful monitoring and
      evaluation. 

PMID- 25825294
TI  - Discussion on zinc in maternal and child health.

PMID- 25825293
TI  - Role of zinc in child health and survival.
AB  - Zinc deficiency has been estimated to result in more than 450,000 child deaths
      annually by increasing the risk of diarrhea and pneumonia mortality. Trials of
      daily supplemental zinc have shown preventive benefits in childhood diarrhea with
      a 20% reduction in incidence. Use of zinc in treatment of diarrhea has also been
      successful in shortening the duration of the episode by 10% and reducing the
      number of prolonged episodes. The World Health Organization recommends that zinc
      supplements be used for 10-14 days for every episode of childhood diarrhea along
      with oral hydration and feeding. Large-scale effectiveness trials of these
      recommendations in Bangladesh and India have found a reduction in
      hospitalizations due to diarrhea and pneumonia and in child mortality. Trials
      have also demonstrated a reduction in the incidence childhood pneumonia with zinc
      supplements and some, but not all, studies have found a therapeutic benefit of
      zinc as adjunctive treatment along with antibiotics as well. Preventive zinc also
      improves the growth of children in developing countries and reduces total deaths
      in 1-to 4-year-old children by 18%. Zinc supplementation is an intervention with
      proven effectiveness and broad application to address pneumonia and diarrhea, the
      two most important childhood infectious diseases globally. 

PMID- 25825296
TI  - Intervention strategies to address multiple micronutrient deficiencies in
      pregnancy and early childhood.
AB  - Deficiencies of multiple micronutrients are prevalent among women of reproductive
      age and young children, and represent a risk factor for increased morbidity and
      mortality in these women and children. The role of multiple micronutrient
      supplementation during pregnancy and early childhood has been evaluated in
      randomized trials. Multiple micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy has a
      positive effect on birthweight and reduces prevalence of low birthweight and
      small for gestational age babies. It had comparable effects on prevalence of
      anemia regarding iron-folate supplementation. Multiple micronutrient
      supplementations in children have been shown to improve linear growth, weight,
      hemoglobin, serum zinc, serum retinol levels and motor development. Some of the
      most commonly used strategies to deliver multiple micronutrients include powders
      (e.g. Sprinkles((r))), crushable tablets (e.g. Foodlets), etc. Multiple
      micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy and early childhood seems to be an
      effective way of prevention of micronutrient deficiencies and has a significant
      protective effect against adverse outcomes related to their deficiencies. Their
      use on a larger scale should be considered to improve the survival and decrease
      morbidity and mortality in children and women. 

PMID- 25825298
TI  - Vitamin A supplementation, infectious disease and child mortality: a summary of
      the evidence.
AB  - This manuscript reviews the evidence related to the effects of vitamin A (VA)
      supplementation of women and children on child health and mortality. VA
      supplementation of children aged 6-59 months has been well studied, and meta
      analyses have consistently demonstrated effects on all-cause mortality, yet its
      mechanisms and the reasons for heterogeneous effects on mortality across trials
      continue to be debated. Recent meta-analysis of cause-specific mortality suggests
      beneficial effects on diarrheal mortality, with null but potentially beneficial
      effects also present for mortality from measles, lower respiratory infection, and
      meningitis. Some evidence suggests that pneumonia severity may increase with VA
      supplementation in this age group, particularly among well-nourished children.
      Maternal supplementation with VA during pregnancy has not shown benefits on
      neonatal mortality in large trials. A recent meta-analysis suggested that high
      dose supplementation of lactating women immediately following delivery did not
      affect child survival. There is still uncertainty around the benefits of neonatal
      VA supplementation that should be resolved once the findings of ongoing trials
      are reported. 

PMID- 25825297
TI  - Summary on micronutrient requirements and deficiencies in maternal and child
      nutrition.

PMID- 25825299
TI  - Issues and controversies with vitamin A in childhood.
AB  - Vitamin A deficiency is common in the developing world. Vitamin A supplementation
      (VAS) has been used to prevent or treat vitamin A deficiency and to decrease
      mortality and morbidity in children. However, there are still controversial
      issues in relation to the role of universal VAS in different populations. Thus,
      studies that look at mortality outcomes reveal that VAS decreases mortality in
      children >6 months of age; however, there is still controversy on the extent to
      which reduction in morbidity from diarrhea and respiratory infection, other than
      measles, decreases mortality. Studies in infants 1-5 months old show no
      protective effect of VAS on mortality; whether this is secondary to environmental
      influences (breastfeeding), or interactions with DTP vaccine, needs to be further
      investigated. Studies with VAS in newborns have resulted in contrasting results
      in countries in Africa and Asia; trials are underway to better understand this.
      VAS does not have a universal protective effect on lower respiratory tract
      infection in children; some studies reveal an increase in respiratory morbidity
      associated with VAS, especially in well-nourished children; in contrast, VAS may
      confer some protection to malnourished children. The interaction of VAS with
      different vaccines is under current debate; some discussions are presented. 

PMID- 25825300
TI  - Discussion on vitamin A supplementation in childhood.

PMID- 25825301
TI  - Discussion on iron.

PMID- 25825302
TI  - Summary on vitamin A and iron.

PMID- 25825303
TI  - Are weaning infants at risk of iodine deficiency even in countries with
      established iodized salt programs?.
AB  - Because iodine deficiency (ID) during infancy can irreversibly impair
      neurodevelopment and increase mortality, it is critical that dietary iodine is
      adequate in this vulnerable group. Lactating mothers consuming iodized salt can
      transfer adequate iodine to the infant via breast milk, but during the weaning
      period, infants are at risk for ID for several reasons: (1) requirements per kg
      bodyweight for iodine and thyroid hormone during infancy are higher than at any
      other time in the life cycle; (2) experts recommend no extra salt (iodized or
      not) be given to infants during the first year; (3) cow's milk (a major source of
      dietary iodine in many countries) is also not recommended for infants during the
      first year; and (4) iron deficiency, a common disorder during infancy, can impair
      iodine metabolism and reduce thyroid hormone production. For many weaning infants
      in industrialized countries, iodine fortified into commercial infant foods
      becomes important. This has recently been demonstrated in Switzerland, where a
      long-standing iodized salt program provides adequate iodine to pregnant women and
      school-age children, but new national data suggest weaning infants not receiving
      iodine-containing commercial baby foods have inadequate iodine intakes. Thus,
      even in countries with effective iodized salt programs, infants may be at risk of
      ID during weaning and may need additional dietary and/or supplemental sources of
      iodine. 

PMID- 25825304
TI  - Current challenges in meeting global iodine requirements.
AB  - Iodine deficiency is a global problem of immense magnitude afflicting 2 billion
      of the world's population. The adverse effects of iodine deficiency in humans,
      collectively termed iodine deficiency disorders, result from decreased thyroid
      hormone production and action, and vary in severity from thyroid enlargement
      (goiter) to severe, irreversible brain damage, termed endemic cretinism. Thyroid
      hormone is essential throughout life, but it is critical for normal brain
      development in the fetus and throughout childhood. During pregnancy, maternal
      thyroid hormone production must increase by 25-50% to meet maternal-fetal
      requirements. The principal sources of iodine in the diet include milk and dairy
      products, seafoods and foods with added iodized salt. Vegetables, fruits and
      cereals are generally poor sources of iodine because most of our soils and water
      supplies are deficient in iodine. The accepted solution to the problem is
      Universal Salt Iodization where all salt for human and animal consumption is
      iodized at a level of 20-40 ug/g. In principle, mandatory fortification
      represents the most effective public health strategy where safety and efficacy
      can be assured and there is a demonstrated need for the nutrient in the
      population. Voluntary fortification of salt and other foods has many limitations
      and few benefits. Iodine supplementation is a useful, but expensive, inefficient
      and unsustainable strategy for preventing iodine deficiency. The current
      worldwide push to decrease salt intake to prevent cardiovascular disease presents
      an entirely new challenge in addressing iodine deficiency in both developing and
      developed countries. 

PMID- 25825305
TI  - Folate and vitamin B12: function and importance in cognitive development.
AB  - The importance of the B vitamins folate and vitamin B12 for healthy neurological
      development and function is unquestioned. Folate and vitamin B12 are required for
      biological methylation and DNA synthesis. Vitamin B12 also participates in the
      mitochondrial catabolism of odd-chain fatty acids and some amino acids. Inborn
      errors of their metabolism and severe nutritional deficiencies cause serious
      neurological and hematological pathology. Poor folate and vitamin B12 status
      short of clinical deficiency is associated with increased risk of cognitive
      impairment, depression, Alzheimer's disease and stroke among older adults and
      increased risk of neural tube defects among children born to mothers with low
      folate status. Folate supplementation and food fortification are known to reduce
      incident neural tube defects, and B vitamin supplementation may have cognitive
      benefit in older adults. Less is known about folate and vitamin B12 requirements
      for optimal brain development and long-term cognitive health in newborns,
      children and adolescents. While increasing suboptimal nutritional status has
      observed benefits, the long-term effects of high folate intake are uncertain.
      Several observations of unfavorable health indicators in children and adults
      exposed to high folic acid intake make it imperative to achieve a more precise
      definition of folate and B12 requirements for brain development and function. 

PMID- 25825306
TI  - Discussion on folate and vitamin B12 importance in cognitive development.

PMID- 25825307
TI  - Pros and cons of increasing folic acid and vitamin B12 intake by fortification.
AB  - There is no doubt that folic acid fortification can be effective for reducing the
      incidence of neural tube defects. The degree of efficacy depends on both the
      level of folate depletion and other, yet to be fully characterized, genetic
      and/or environmental factors. This article summarizes briefly data on neural tube
      defect reduction and other benefits of folic acid fortification as these have
      been reviewed in more detail elsewhere. More attention is drawn to questions that
      have been raised about the possible adverse effects of folic acid fortification
      including the incidence of colorectal cancer and immune function. The main
      question addressed here is whether folic acid fortification can exacerbate the
      adverse effects of vitamin B12 deficiency. Most analyses of this question have
      been conducted in wealthier countries based on data from elderly populations -
      which have the highest prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency. However, of
      potentially greater concern is the increasingly common practice of folic acid
      fortification in developing countries, where folate status is probably often
      adequate even prior to fortification, and vitamin B12 depletion or deficiency is
      common. To add to this information, data from a group of Chilean elderly with a
      range of vitamin B12 status and exposed to high levels of folic acid
      fortification will be presented. 

PMID- 25825308
TI  - Discussion on vitamin B12 and folic acid fortification.

PMID- 25825309
TI  - Summary on iodine folate and vitamin B12.

PMID- 25825312
TI  - Population Structure and Seasonal Migration of the Spotted Eagle Ray, Aetobatus
      narinari.
AB  - Few studies have reported on the fine-scale population genetics of batoid species
      in the Atlantic basin. Here, we investigate the genetic diversity and population
      structure of the spotted eagle ray, Aetobatus narinari, sampled in the
      northeastern and southwestern parts of the Gulf of Mexico and in the northwestern
      Caribbean Sea. Samples were collected from 286 individuals sampled across 3
      geographic localities. Estimates of divergence based on the mitochondrial
      cytochrome b gene and 10 nuclear microsatellite loci reveal weak but significant
      genetic structure among A. narinari populations in this region. Analysis of
      molecular variance estimates based on both marker types indicate significant
      differentiation between Florida and Mexico populations, while comparisons with
      Cuba suggest high levels of gene flow with rays from both Mexico and Florida.
      Conflicting results were found from the different marker types when sexes were
      analyzed separately underscoring the importance of applying multiple marker types
      when making inferences about population structure and sex-biased dispersal.
      Results from Bayesian clustering analyses suggest rays may be migrating south out
      of the Gulf of Mexico and into the northwestern Caribbean Sea. Given the impacts
      of fisheries on this species, coupled with the lack of population genetic data
      available, these findings offer valuable information to aid with conservation
      management strategies. 

PMID- 25825313
TI  - The Arctic: Glacial Refugium or Area of Secondary Contact? Inference from the
      Population Genetic Structure of the Thick-Billed Murre (Uria lomvia), with
      Implications for Management.
AB  - Quaternary glaciations affected the distribution of many species. Here, we
      investigate whether the Arctic represented a glacial refugium during the Last
      Glacial Maximum or an area of secondary contact following the ice retreat, by
      analyzing the genetic population structure of the thick-billed murre (Uria
      lomvia), a seabird that breeds throughout the North Atlantic, North Pacific and
      Arctic Oceans. The thick-billed murre is a species of socio-economic importance
      and faces numerous threats including hunting, oil pollution, gill netting, and
      climate change. We compared variation in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control
      region (n = 424), supplemented by 4 microsatellite loci (n = 445), among thick
      billed murres sampled throughout their range. MtDNA data indicated that colonies
      comprise 4 genetically differentiated groups (Phist = 0.11-0.81): 1) Atlantic
      Ocean plus New Siberian Islands region, 2) Cape Parry, 3) Chukchi Sea, and 4)
      Pacific Ocean. Microsatellite variation differed between Atlantic and Pacific
      populations. Otherwise, little substructure was found within either ocean.
      Atlantic and Pacific populations appear to have been genetically isolated since
      the last interglacial period and should be considered separate evolutionary
      significant units for management. The Chukchi Sea and Cape Parry appear to
      represent areas of secondary contact, rather than arctic refugial populations. 

PMID- 25825314
TI  - Higher adenoma recurrence rate after left- versus right-sided colectomy for colon
      cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with history of colonic resection for cancer have an
      increased risk of the development of metachronous malignant and premalignant
      lesions. Scanty data are reported on detection rates of premalignant lesions
      during colonoscopy surveillance in this setting. OBJECTIVE: To assess the risk of
      metachronous precancerous lesions developing in patients with previous colonic
      surgery for cancer according to the resection type. DESIGN: Retrospective study.
      SETTING: Two academic centers in Italy. PATIENTS: A total of 441 patients; 256
      with previous left-sided colectomy (LCR) (LCR group) and 185 with previous right
      sided colectomy (RCR) (RCR group). INTERVENTIONS: Second surveillance
      colonoscopy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Polyp and adenoma detection rates.
      RESULTS: At least 1 adenoma was diagnosed in 76 of 256 patients (30% adenoma
      detection rate) and in 35 of 185 patients (19% adenoma detection rate) in the LCR
      and RCR groups, respectively (P=.014), yielding an odds ratio of 1.83 (95%
      confidence interval, 1.16-2.89). Corresponding figures for the polyp detection
      rate were 39% and 25%, respectively (P=.002; odds ratio 1.97; 95% confidence
      interval, 1.30-3.00). LIMITATIONS: Retrospective study with colonoscopy baseline
      information missing. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who have undergone LCR are at higher
      risk of the development of adenomas than those who have undergone RCR. If this
      result is confirmed by large prospective studies, surveillance programs could be
      targeted according to the type of colonic resection, with longer intervals for
      patients with previous RCR compared with LCR.

PMID- 25825315
TI  - Intraductal cholangioscopic visualization of moving Fasciola hepatica.

PMID- 25825316
TI  - Endoscopic features of lymphoproliferative diseases.

PMID- 25825317
TI  - Splenic trauma: Save patients in shock and save the spleen in stable patients!

PMID- 25825319
TI  - Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework to develop
      community-driven health programmes in an Indigenous community in Canada.
AB  - Indigenous First Nations people in Canada have high chronic disease morbidity
      resulting in part from enduring social inequities and colonialism. Obesity
      prevention strategies developed by and for First Nations people are crucial to
      improving the health status of this group. The research objective was to develop
      community-relevant strategies to address childhood obesity in a First Nations
      community. Strategies were derived from an action-based workshop based on the
      Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework. Thirteen
      community members with wide-ranging community representation took part in the
      workshop. They combined personal knowledge and experience with community-specific
      and national research to dissect the broad array of environmental factors that
      influenced childhood obesity in their community. They then developed community
      specific action plans focusing on healthy eating and physical activity for
      children and their families. Actions included increasing awareness of children's
      health issues among the local population and community leadership, promoting
      nutrition and physical activity at school, and improving recreation
      opportunities. Strengthening children's connection to their culture was
      considered paramount to improving their well-being; thus, workshop participants
      developed programmes that included elders as teachers and reinforced families'
      acquaintance with First Nations foods and activities. The research demonstrated
      that the ANGELO framework is a participatory way to develop community-driven
      health programmes. It also demonstrated that First Nations people involved in the
      creation of solutions to health issues in their communities may focus on
      decolonising approaches such as strengthening their connection to indigenous
      culture and traditions. External funds were not available to implement programmes
      and there was no formal follow-up to determine if community members implemented
      programmes. Future research needs to examine the extent to which community
      members can implement programmes on their own and whether community action plans,
      when implemented, lead to short- and long-term benefits in health outcomes.

PMID- 25825320
TI  - Skin targeted lipid vesicles as novel nano-carrier of ketoconazole:
      characterization, in vitro and in vivo evaluation.
AB  - Liposomal carriers for topical drug delivery have been studied since the 1980s
      and have evoked a considerable interest. However, the conventional liposomes do
      not deeply penetrate into the skin and remain confined to the outer layer of SC.
      In order to increase skin targeting of ketoconazole (KCZ), a hydrophobic broad
      spectrum antifungal agent, this study describes novel lipid vesicles as nano
      carriers for topical delivery. In this paper, lipid vesicular systems including
      conventional liposomes (CL), ethosomes, deformable liposomes (DL) and ethanol
      containing deformable liposomes (DEL) were prepared as nano-carriers for KCZ,
      respectively. Sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS, 0.08 % (W/V)] was used as edge
      activator for DL and DEL preparation. Characterization of the vesicles was based
      on particle size, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency and transmission electron
      microscopy (TEM). In addition, in vitro permeation profile was obtained using
      vertical diffusion Franz cells by porcine skin. The in vivo accumulation of KCZ
      was also evaluated in rat skin. Confocal microscopy was performed to visualize
      the penetration of fluorescently labeled vesicles into skin. All of the lipid
      vesicles showed almost spherical structures with low polydispersity index (PDI <
      0.3) and nano-metric size (no more than 160 nm). The results demonstrated that
      DEL dramatically improved both in vitro and in vivo skin deposition compared to
      the CLs (P < 0.05), which was further confirmed by confocal laser scanning
      microscopy study. In vivo pharmacodynamic studies showed DEL improved antifungal
      activity against Candida albicans in shorter duration of time. Therefore, based
      on present study, the novel nano-carrier DEL capable of enhancing skin target
      effect and forming a micro drug-depot could serve as an effective skin targeting
      delivery for KCZ as an anti-fungal agent in local therapy.

PMID- 25825322
TI  - A polycrystalline SiO2 colloidal crystal film with ultra-narrow reflections.
AB  - This work reported a high quality photonic crystal film with an ultra-narrow
      photonic bandgap obtained via a chemical synthetic route. The bandgap is much
      narrower than that of traditional colloidal crystals, which makes the film
      qualified for use in optical devices. The narrow PBG originates from not only the
      high crystallinity and uniform orientations of microcrystals within the film but
      also the very close refractive indices between the silica and the polymer matrix.
      Due to the matching of the refractive index, the amorphous contents of the film
      are optically transparent and do not interfere with the reflection, so that the
      photonic crystal film is tolerant of the existence of disordered contents. 

PMID- 25825321
TI  - Whole-exome sequencing and its impact in hereditary hearing loss.
AB  - Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have played a central role in the
      genetic revolution. These technologies, especially whole-exome sequencing, have
      become the primary tool of geneticists to identify the causative DNA variants in
      Mendelian disorders, including hereditary deafness. Current research estimates
      that 1% of all human genes have a function in hearing. To date, mutations in over
      80 genes have been reported to cause nonsyndromic hearing loss (NSHL).
      Strikingly, more than a quarter of all known genes related to NSHL were
      discovered in the past 5 years via NGS technologies. In this article, we review
      recent developments in the usage of NGS for hereditary deafness, with an emphasis
      on whole-exome sequencing. 

PMID- 25825323
TI  - NMR crystallography of an oxovanadium(V) complex by an approach combining
      multinuclear magic angle spinning NMR, DFT, and spin dynamics simulations.
AB  - Bioinorganic vanadium(V) solids are often challenging for structural analysis.
      Here, we explore an NMR crystallography approach involving multinuclear (13)
      C/(51) V solid-state NMR spectroscopy, density functional theory (DFT), and spin
      dynamics numerical simulations, for the spectral assignment and the 3D structural
      analysis of an isotopically unmodified oxovanadium(V) complex, containing 17
      crystallographically inequivalent (13) C sites. In particular, we report the
      first NMR determination of C-V distances. So far, the NMR observation of (13) C
      (51) V proximities has been precluded by the specification of commercial NMR
      probes, which cannot be tuned simultaneously to the close Larmor frequencies of
      these isotopes (100.6 and 105.2 MHz for (13) C and (51) V, respectively, at 9.4
      T). By combining DFT calculations and (13) C-(51) V NMR experiments, we propose a
      complete assignment of the (13) C spectrum of this oxovanadium(V) complex.
      Furthermore, we show how (13) C-(51) V distances can be quantitatively estimated.

PMID- 25825324
TI  - Molecular histology of lung cancer: from targets to treatments.
AB  - Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide with a 5-year
      survival rate of less than 15%, despite significant advances in both diagnostic
      and therapeutic approaches. Combined genomic and transcriptomic sequencing
      studies have identified numerous genetic driver mutations that are responsible
      for the development of lung cancer. In addition, molecular profiling studies
      identify gene products and their mutations which predict tumour responses to
      targeted therapies such as protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors and also can offer
      explanation for drug resistance mechanisms. The profiling of circulating micro
      RNAs has also provided an ability to discriminate patients in terms of
      prognosis/diagnosis and high-throughput DNA sequencing strategies are beginning
      to elucidate cell signalling pathway mutations associated with oncogenesis,
      including potential stem cell associated pathways, offering the promise that
      future therapies may target this sub-population, preventing disease relapse post
      treatment and improving patient survival. This review provides an assessment of
      molecular profiling within lung cancer concerning molecular mechanisms, treatment
      options and disease-progression. Current areas of development within lung cancer
      profiling are discussed (i.e. profiling of circulating tumour cells) and future
      challenges for lung cancer treatment addressed such as detection of micro
      metastases and cancer stem cells. 

PMID- 25825326
TI  - Migrating intrathecal high-velocity projectile.
AB  - Bullet injuries to the spine can cause significant damage to surrounding tissues
      and cause serious neurological sequelae. These cases are often associated with
      neurological deficits. We present a case of a gunshot injury to the spine with a
      migrating intrathecal bullet which subsequently developed neurological deficits.
      Initially, the patient did not exhibit any neurological symptoms when first
      assessed soon after the injury. Subsequently, the patient developed signs of
      neurological injury as a result of spinal intrathecal migration of the
      projectile. 

PMID- 25825325
TI  - Evaluating cerebellar dentatotomy for the treatment of spasticity with or without
      dystonia.
AB  - Spasticity represents a common and very often incapacitating neurologic
      condition, for which a limited number of treatment options are available.
      Stereotactic ablation of the dentate cerebellar nuclei (dentatotomy) was widely
      used in the past with variable results. In the present study, we reviewed 12
      consecutive cases operated on at the Midland Centre for Neurosurgery and
      Neurology at Birmingham University (Smetwick, UK) in the 1980s. The following
      clinical aspects were analyzed: severity of spasticity, occurrence of abnormal
      movements (dystonia/athetosis), language fluency, gait, and overall clinical
      condition. Follow-up ranged from 0.5 to 94 (mean: 31.6) months. Immediate
      improvement was noted in 10 patients, and five of them had sustained this
      improvement at the time of the last assessment. A more pronounced improvement was
      observed for gait, relative to speech and abnormal movements. No significant
      morbidity related to the procedure was observed. We conclude that dentatotomy is
      a safe procedure that should still be considered in specific cases. Here, we
      review the cases reported in the literature, and present a mechanistic hypothesis
      about how dentatotomy influences motor tonus, in light of the current knowledge
      about cerebellar physiology. We believe that this issue is critical for the
      development of alternative surgical approaches targeting the cerebellum, such as
      chronic electric stimulation. 

PMID- 25825327
TI  - Treatment concept of chronic subdural haematoma according to an algorithm using
      evidence-based medicine-derived key factors: A prospective controlled study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Surgical treatment for chronic subdural haematoma (CSH) has been
      analysed by applying evidence-based medicine (EBM) criteria earlier. Whether
      implementation of EBM-derived key factors into an optimised treatment algorithm
      would improve outcome, however, needs to be clarified. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      Symptomatic patients with CSH who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were either
      assigned to an optimised treatment algorithm (OA-EBM group) or to a control group
      treated by the standard departmental surgical technique (SDST group) in a
      prospective design. For the OA-EBM algorithm only one burr hole, extensive
      intraoperative irrigation and a closed system drainage with meticulous avoidance
      of entry of air was mandatory. A two-catheter technique was used to reduce
      intracavital air. Final endpoints were neurological outcome (Markwalder Score),
      recurrence and the amount of intracranial air. RESULTS: A total of 93 out of 117
      patients were evaluated accounting for 113 cases because 20 patients had
      bilateral haematomas. Demographic data of 68 cases in the SDST group did not
      differ from 45 cases in the OA-EBM group. The Markwalder Score showed greater
      improvement in the OA-EBM group (0.5 +/- 0.6 vs. 1.0 +/- 1.0, p = 0.003). The
      recurrence rate was 18% (12 patients) in the SDST group versus 2% (1 patient) in
      the OA-EBM group (p < 0.05). The amount of intracranial air was significantly
      lower in the OA-EBM group (3.3 +/- 5.0 cm(3) vs. 5.2 +/- 7.7 cm(3)) with p =
      0.04. In the standard group computerised tomography scanning was performed
      slightly earlier (3 +/- 1.7 days vs. 3.6 +/- 1.4 days). When comparing only non
      recurrent cases in both groups no significant difference was apparent.
      CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of EBM key factors into a treatment algorithm for CSH
      can improve neurological outcome in a typical neurosurgical department, reduce
      recurrence and minimise the amount of postoperative air within the haematoma
      cavity.

PMID- 25825328
TI  - Effect of repeated passive anterior loading on human knee anterior laxity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Increased knee anterior laxity results when the anterior cruciate
      ligament is injured. This increased laxity can cause knee dysfunction. Until
      recently this laxity was believed to be only diminished through surgery. But
      recent findings indicate that knee anterior laxity may be decreased with repeated
      loading of the knee. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to test the
      hypothesis that regular passive anterior loading of the uninjured human knee
      would enhance its stiffness. STUDY DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. METHODS:
      Knee anterior laxity was tested using an arthrometer in 22 young, uninjured
      females before, during and after a 3 month period during which passive anterior
      loading was applied by a trained physiotherapist over 5 sessions per week to a
      randomly assigned knee. RESULTS: Knee anterior laxity was not affected by the
      passive anterior loading of the knee. CONCLUSIONS: Given that in this study
      repeated passive loading of the knee did not change knee anterior laxity, it
      would be easy to conclude that this training is ineffective and no further
      research is required. We caution against this given the relatively short duration
      and possibly insufficient intensity of the training and the population studied;
      individuals with normal joint laxity. We recommend that future research be
      performed that consists of individuals with lax joints who receive training for
      prolonged periods.

PMID- 25825329
TI  - Pregnancy in Chronic Kidney Disease: questions and answers in a changing
      panorama.
AB  - Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasingly encountered in pregnancy because of
      greater diagnostic awareness, which is a reflection of the newer, broader
      definitions (i.e., any changes in blood or urine composition or at imaging, or a
      glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of <60 mL/min lasting at least 3 months) and of
      increased incidence (higher maternal age and better outcomes of several kidney
      diseases). CKD is extremely heterogeneous and may be described by the degree of
      GFR reduction (CKD stages), the presence of proteinuria and hypertension and the
      type of kidney disease; the risk of adverse pregnancy-related events increases as
      GFR decreases and it is affected by proteinuria and hypertension. Specific risks
      are reported in various diseases such as lupus nephropathy or diabetic
      nephropathy. While transplantation at least partially restores fertility in end
      stage kidney disease, pregnancy on dialysis is increasingly reported. This
      chapter deals with the available evidence on the management of CKD patients in
      pregnancy. 

PMID- 25825330
TI  - The immunoglobulin M-degrading enzyme of Streptococcus suis, IdeSsuis, is a
      highly protective antigen against serotype 2.
AB  - Streptococcus suis (S. suis) is a major porcine pathogen causing meningitis,
      arthritis and several other pathologies. Recently, we identified a highly
      specific immunoglobulin M degrading enzyme of S. suis, designated IdeSsuis, which
      is expressed by various serotypes. The objective of this work was to access the
      immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a recombinant vaccine including
      IdeSsuis. Vaccination with rIdeSsuis elicited antibodies efficiently neutralizing
      the IgM protease activity. Importantly, 18 piglets vaccinated with rIdeSsuis
      alone or in combination with bacterin priming were completely protected against
      mortality and severe morbidity after S. suis serotype 2 challenge. In contrast,
      12 of the 17 piglets either treated with the placebo or primed with the bacterin
      only, succumbed to S. suis disease. Immunity against IdeSsuis was associated with
      increased killing of S. suis wt in porcine blood ex vivo leading to a tenfold
      difference in the bacterial survival factor in blood of placebo-treated and
      rIdeSsuis-vaccinated piglets. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate
      that rIdeSsuis is a highly protective antigen in pigs. 

PMID- 25825331
TI  - Cost-benefit of the introduction of new strategies for vaccination against
      pertussis in Spain: cocooning and pregnant vaccination strategies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pertussis remains a public health problem in countries with high
      vaccination coverage. Classic vaccination approaches have failed to effectively
      control the infection. The incidence of pertussis hospitalizations in infants is
      high, especially in those younger than 3 months who are in high risk of a severe
      disease and death. Additional strategies are recommended for short-term
      protection of this vulnerable population. In this study, we estimated the impact
      of 2 strategies for pertussis prevention in infants younger than 1 year of age-a
      cocoon vaccination strategy and the vaccination of pregnant women (VPW)-and the
      cost-benefit of these approaches relative to the current vaccination policy in
      Spain. METHODS: A cost-benefit analysis was conducted from the perspective of the
      publically-funded Spanish healthcare system, based on the yearly number of
      hospitalizations during the period of 2009 to 2011. We calculated the absolute
      risk reduction, the number of parents that would need to be vaccinated to prevent
      1 hospitalization or death in infants <1 year, and the net benefit-to-cost ratio
      of each strategy. RESULTS: From 2009 to 2011, the incidence of pertussis in Spain
      was 153.44 hospitalizations per 100,000 infants <1 year. The absolute risk
      reduction for hospitalization would be 42.1/100,000 with cocooning and
      75.2/100,000 with VPW. The number of parents needed to vaccinate with the cocoon
      strategy to prevent 1 pertussis hospitalization would be 4752 and to prevent 1
      death, more than 900,000. With VPW, 1331 pregnant women would have to be
      vaccinated to prevent 1 hospitalization and 200,000 to prevent 1 death. The
      benefit-to-cost ratio was 0.04 for cocooning and 0.15 for VPW.

PMID- 25825332
TI  - Protective effect of a dewaxed whole-cell vaccine against Mycobacterium ulcerans
      infection in mice.
AB  - Mycobacterium ulcerans causes Buruli ulcer, a chronic and destructive necrotizing
      ulcer in humans. Effective vaccination should be one of the best methods for the
      prevention of this ulcer. However, no effective vaccines have been developed
      against M. ulcerans infection. In an effort to develop such a vaccine, we
      examined protective immunity against M. ulcerans infection in a mouse footpad
      infection model. Prior infection of mice with a virulent strain of M. ulcerans or
      a mycolactone-deficient strain of M. ulcerans resulted in limited protection
      against subsequent challenge by a virulent strain of M. ulcerans. Protection was
      not induced in mice immunized with a formalin-treated killed whole-cell
      preparation of M. ulcerans. By contrast, a dewaxed whole-cell vaccine, prepared
      by dewaxing M. ulcerans with organic solvents that removed mycolactones and waxy
      cell walls from the cells, induced significant protection in mice. Our
      observations should facilitate development of effective vaccines against Buruli
      ulcer for control of this disease. 

PMID- 25825333
TI  - A novel non-integrative single-cycle chimeric HIV lentivector DNA vaccine.
AB  - Novel HIV vaccine vectors and strategies are needed to control HIV/AIDS epidemic
      in humans and eradicate the infection. DNA vaccines alone failed to induce immune
      responses robust enough to control HIV-1. Development of lentivirus-based DNA
      vaccines deficient for integration and with a limited replication capacity is an
      innovative and promising approach. This type of vaccine mimics the early stages
      of virus infection/replication like the live-attenuated viruses but lacks the
      inconvenient integration and persistence associated with disease. We developed a
      novel lentivector DNA vaccine "CAL-SHIV-IN(-)" that undergoes a single round of
      replication in the absence of integration resulting in augmented expression of
      vaccine antigens in vivo. Vaccine gene expression is under control of the LTRs of
      a naturally attenuated lentivirus, Caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV)
      the natural goat lentivirus. The safety of this vaccine prototype was increased
      by the removal of the integrase coding sequences from the pol gene. We examined
      the functional properties of this lentivector DNA in cell culture and the
      immunogenicity in mouse models. Viral proteins were expressed in transfected
      cells, assembled into viral particles that were able to transduce once target
      permissive cells. Unlike the parental replication-competent SHIV-KU2 that was
      detected in DNA samples from any of the serial passage infected cells, CAL-SHIV
      IN(-) DNA was detected only in target cells of the first round of infection,
      hence demonstrating the single cycle replication of the vaccine. A single dose
      DNA immunization of humanized NOD/SCID/beta2 mice showed a substantial increase
      of IFN-gamma-ELISPOT in splenocytes compared to the former replication and
      integration defective Delta4SHIV-KU2 DNA vaccine. 

PMID- 25825334
TI  - Crystal structure of an acetylesterase from Talaromyces cellulolyticus and the
      importance of a disulfide bond near the active site.
AB  - Carbohydrate esterase catalyzes the de-O or de-N-acylation of substituted
      saccharides in plant cell walls and thus has great potential for industrial
      biomass saccharification. We recently identified the putative carbohydrate
      esterase family 3 (CE3) from Talaromyces cellulolyticus. Here, we prepared the
      recombinant catalytic domain of the enzyme and crystallized it. The crystal
      structure was determined to 1.5 A resolution. From the structural analysis, it
      was elucidated that a n-octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside bound to near the catalytic
      triad (Ser10, Asp179 and His182) and was buried in the active site cavity. Site
      directed mutagenesis showed that the N-terminal disulfide bond located near the
      catalytic triad is involved in the activity and structural stability of the
      enzyme.

PMID- 25825335
TI  - The prognostic value of histopathological grading systems in oral squamous cell
      carcinomas.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the association of four histopathological grading
      systems (WHO grading system, malignancy grading of the deep invasive margins
      (MG), histological risk (HR) model, and tumor budding and depth of invasion (BD)
      model) with clinicopathological parameters and outcome of 113 oral squamous cell
      carcinomas to identify their roles in prognosis. METHODS: Demographic and
      clinical features were obtained from patients' records. Sections from all
      paraffin-embedded blocks were evaluated according to the four grading systems.
      Demographic and clinical associations were analyzed using chi-square test, and
      correlations between the grading systems were established with the Spearman's
      rank correlation test. Survival curves were performed with Kaplan-Meier method,
      and multivariate analysis based on Cox proportional hazard model was calculated.
      RESULTS: Significant associations with survival were observed for WHO grading
      system and BD model in the univariate analysis, but only the BD model was
      significantly associated with disease outcome as an independent prognostic
      marker. Age, tumor size, and presence of regional metastasis were also
      independent markers of reduced survival. CONCLUSION: A significant association
      between the BD model and outcome of OSCC patients was observed, indicating this
      new histopathological grading system as a possible prognostic tool.

PMID- 25825336
TI  - Effect of Membrane Permeability on Cardiovascular Risk Factors and beta2m Plasma
      Levels in Patients on Long-Term Haemodialysis: A Randomised Crossover Trial.
AB  - Survival of haemodialysis (HD) patients is influenced by many factors. Mortality
      is mainly of cardiovascular (CV) origin and related to both traditional and
      nontraditional CV risk factors. Low plasma Beta2-microglobulin (beta2m) levels
      are associated with improved HD patient survival. HD session times that are
      longer than the conventional 4 h (i.e., extended dialysis) provide better middle
      molecule clearance and are also associated with a survival advantage. In this
      crossover randomised trial, we investigated the effect of membrane flux on CV
      risk factors and on beta2m plasma levels in patients treated with extended
      dialysis. Dialysis session duration was between 5 and 8 h for all patients.
      Patients were randomly assigned to the treatment sequences low-flux/high-flux
      dialysis versus high-flux/low-flux dialysis in a crossover design after a 3-month
      run-in period, with each phase lasting 9 months. Of the initially enrolled 168
      patients, 155 patients started the study after the run-in period, 117 patients
      completed Phase 1, and 83 patients completed the whole study. Lp(a), homocystein,
      LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and serum albumin were comparable in the low
      flux and high-flux treatments. The average beta2m level was 43.3 +/- 11.1 mg/l at
      the end of the low-flux phase. Independent of sequence assignation, average
      beta2m was significantly lower at the end of the high-flux phase (27.5 +/- 76.0
      mg/l, p < 0.0001 versus end of low-flux phase). Both phosphate and nPNA were
      significantly lower at the end of the high-flux phase compared to the low-flux
      phase (p = 0.045 and p = 0.002, respectively). Inclusion of those patients who
      completed Phase 1 and who dropped out of the study during Phase 2 did not
      significantly change the results. In conclusion, this study did not find an
      influence of high-flux filters on several traditional CV risk factors in a
      population of HD patients treated with extended dialysis. However, high-flux
      filters are necessary to optimise middle molecule clearance and reduce the beta2m
      level.

PMID- 25825337
TI  - Influence of Glycemic Control on Peri-Implant Bone Healing: 12-Month Outcomes of
      Local Release of Bone-Related Factors and Implant Stabilization in Type 2
      Diabetics.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The poor glycemic status seems to be an important factor affecting
      implant complication rates, including peri-implant bone loss. PURPOSE: This trial
      evaluated the influence of glycemic control of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)
      patients on implant stabilization and on the levels of bone markers in peri
      implant fluid during the healing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Systemically healthy
      patients (SH,n = 19), better-controlled T2DM (BCDM,n = 16), and poorly controlled
      T2DM (PCDM,n = 16) indicated for implant therapy were recruited. The implant
      stability quotient (ISQ) was determined at implant placement, 3, 6, and 12
      months. Levels of transforming growth factor- beta (TGF-beta), fibroblast growth
      factor (FGF), osteopontin (OPN), osteocalcin (OC), and osteoprotegerin (OPG) in
      the peri-implant fluid were quantified at 15 days, and 3, 6, and 12 months, using
      the Luminex assay. RESULTS: OPG and OPN levels were higher in SH at 12 months
      than at15 days (p < .05), whereas OC and TGF-beta were lower in PCDM at 12 months
      compared with the 15-day and 3-month follow-ups, respectively (p < .05). Inter
      group analyses showed lower OPN levels in PCDM compared with SH at 12 months (p <
      .05). The ISQ was higher at 12 months when compared with baseline and 3 months in
      SH (p < .05), whereas no differences were observed during follow-up in diabetics,
      regardless of glycemic control (p > .05). No difference in ISQ was observed among
      groups over time (p > .05). CONCLUSION: Poor glycemic control negatively
      modulated the bone factors during healing, although T2DM, regardless of glycemic
      status, had no effect on implant stabilization.

PMID- 25825338
TI  - Life cycle air emissions impacts and ownership costs of light-duty vehicles using
      natural gas as a primary energy source.
AB  - This paper aims to comprehensively distinguish among the merits of different
      vehicles using a common primary energy source. In this study, we consider
      compressed natural gas (CNG) use directly in conventional vehicles (CV) and
      hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), and natural gas-derived electricity (NG-e) use in
      plug-in battery electric vehicles (BEV). This study evaluates the incremental
      life cycle air emissions (climate change and human health) impacts and life cycle
      ownership costs of non-plug-in (CV and HEV) and plug-in light-duty vehicles.
      Replacing a gasoline CV with a CNG CV, or a CNG CV with a CNG HEV, can provide
      life cycle air emissions impact benefits without increasing ownership costs;
      however, the NG-e BEV will likely increase costs (90% confidence interval: $1000
      to $31 000 incremental cost per vehicle lifetime). Furthermore, eliminating HEV
      tailpipe emissions via plug-in vehicles has an insignificant incremental benefit,
      due to high uncertainties, with emissions cost benefits between -$1000 and $2000.
      Vehicle criteria air contaminants are a relatively minor contributor to life
      cycle air emissions impacts because of strict vehicle emissions standards.
      Therefore, policies should focus on adoption of plug-in vehicles in nonattainment
      regions, because CNG vehicles are likely more cost-effective at providing overall
      life cycle air emissions impact benefits. 

PMID- 25825340
TI  - Acute suppurative parotitis in a 33-day-old patient.
AB  - Acute suppurative parotitis is a rare disease in childhood. Its incidence is
      higher in premature newborns. Parotid swelling and pus drainage from Stenson's
      duct is pathognomonic, and Staphylococcus aureus is the causative agent in most
      cases. Here, a 33-day-old patient with acute suppurative parotitis is presented. 

PMID- 25825341
TI  - Profile of non-accidental childhood injury at a tertiary hospital in south-west
      Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Injury threatens children lives worldwide. Most studies from Nigeria
      have been on accidental injuries in children. OBJECTIVES: To study the profile of
      non-accidental injuries among children receiving care at a tertiary hospital in
      Nigeria. METHODS: Children with non-accidental injuries were serially recruited
      and studied. The Paediatrics Trauma Score (PTS) was tested against the outcome.
      RESULTS: Non-accidental injuries accounted for 0.84% of all 5264 patients and
      21.3% of the 207 injured. The case fatality rate was 6.8%. Physical abuse, sexual
      assault, drowning/near drowning, gunshot, poisoning and human bite caused the
      injuries in 68.2, 13.6, 6.8, 4.5, 4.5 and 2.3%, respectively. One-way analysis of
      variance and Tukey post hoc analysis showed that the mean PTS score of patients
      who died was significantly lower than the scores of those who were either
      discharged home or who discharged against medical advice (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION:
      The burden of non-accidental childhood injuries was high in the study area.

PMID- 25825339
TI  - Synergistic enhancement of parasiticidal activity of amphotericin B using copaiba
      oil in nanoemulsified carrier for oral delivery: an approach for non-toxic
      chemotherapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to devise a nanoemulsified
      carrier system (CopNEC) to improve the oral delivery of amphotericin B (AmB) by
      increasing its oral bioavailability and synergistically enhance its
      antileishmanial activity with copaiba oil (Cop). EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: The AmB
      encapsulated NEC (CopNEC-AmB) comprised of Cop, d-alpha-tocopheryl polyethylene
      glycol 1000 succinate and phosphatidylcholine was prepared by high-pressure
      homogenization method. Stability study of CopNEC-AmB was carried out in simulated
      gastric fluid and simulated intestinal fluid. The CopNEC-AmB and plain AmB were
      compared as regards their in vitro antileishmanial activity, pharmacokinetics,
      organ distribution and toxicity. KEY RESULTS: The optimal CopNEC-AmB had a small
      globule size, low polydispersity index, high zeta potential and encapsulation
      efficiency. The high resolution transmission electron microscopy illustrated
      spherical particle geometry with homogeny in their sizes. The optimal CopNEC-AmB
      was found to be stable in gastrointestinal fluids showing insignificant changes
      in globule size and encapsulation efficiency. The AUC0-48 value of CopNEC-AmB in
      rats was significantly improved showing 7.2-fold higher oral bioavailability than
      free drug. The in vitro antileishmanial activity of CopNEC-AmB was significantly
      higher than that of the free drug as Cop synergistically enhanced the
      antileishmanial effect of AmB by causing drastic changes in the morphology of
      Leishmania parasite and rupturing its plasma membrane. The CopNEC-AmB showed
      significantly less haemolytic toxicity and cytotoxicity and did not change the
      histopathology of kidney tissues as compared with AmB alone. CONCLUSIONS AND
      IMPLICATIONS: This prototype CopNEC formulation showed improved bioavailability
      and had a non-toxic synergistic effect on the antileishmanial activity of AmB.

PMID- 25825342
TI  - Eye trauma in children and adolescents: Perspectives from a developing country
      and validation of the ocular trauma score.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the current causes of ocular trauma and to assess the
      prognostic value of the ocular trauma score (OTS) in children. DESIGN:
      Prospective observational study of children with ocular trauma in Sao Paulo,
      Brazil, over 1 year. METHODS: Initial OTS categories were calculated for each
      patient and compared with the final visual result. RESULTS: Ninety-six patients
      were included; most were male (73%). Mean age was 7.3 years. Closed globe trauma
      was the most frequent (74%), followed by open-globe trauma (10.4%). Household
      items were mainly responsible for the trauma. Correlation between the predicted
      and achieved visual acuity was good (Kendall tau-b = 0.7192). CONCLUSION: Closed
      globe is the most frequent trauma in children and adolescents, and some injuries
      could be prevented by safety measures and closer adult supervision. The OTS was
      shown to have limited value in predicting long-term visual acuity in children and
      adolescents.

PMID- 25825343
TI  - Neonatal mortality in India's rural poor: Findings of a household survey and
      verbal autopsy study in Rajasthan, Bihar and Odisha.
AB  - In 2011, Save the Children India launched a project for the disadvantaged
      population of Rajasthan, Bihar and Odisha. As a baseline activity, neonatal
      deaths during January-December 2012 were investigated using modified verbal
      autopsy tool in six sub-district-level administrative units (blocks) adopting 30
      cluster sample survey approach. Our study reported a total of 189 neonatal deaths
      of which 50% occurred at home and 39% happened on Day 1. About half of the deaths
      occurred in blocks from Bihar. High number of neonatal deaths belonged to
      households that were below poverty line (64%) and other disadvantaged classes
      (46%); among mothers who were illiterate (65%), <20 years of age (54%) and during
      their first-order births (36%). Birth asphyxia was a major cause of neonatal
      deaths across all blocks. These findings indicate need for easy and early access
      to transport services, specialized neonatal care and advocacy targeted towards
      increasing community awareness. 

PMID- 25825344
TI  - Single- versus multi-phase acquisition protocol for prospective-triggered
      sequential dual-source CT coronary angiography: comparison of image quality and
      radiation dose.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate image quality and radiation dose of single- versus
      multi-phase acquisition protocol for prospective-triggered sequential dual-source
      computed tomography (CT) coronary angiography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of
      140 patients were randomly assigned to single- or multi-phase group. Image
      quality and radiation dose were compared. RESULTS: No significant difference was
      found in image quality between the two groups. Effective dose of single-phase
      group was 21.6% lower than that of multi-phase group (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS:
      Prospective-triggered sequential dual-source CT coronary angiography using single
      phase protocol can reduce radiation dose without sacrifice of image quality in
      diastole compared with multi-phase protocol.

PMID- 25825345
TI  - New hybrid reformations of peripheral CT angiography: do we still need axial
      images?
AB  - PURPOSE: To quantify the detectability of peripheral artery stenosis on hybrid CT
      angiography (CTA) reformations. METHODS: Hybrid reformations were developed by
      combining multipath curved planar reformations (mpCPR) and maximum intensity
      projections (MIP). Fifty peripheral CTAs were evaluated twice: either with MIP,
      mpCPR and axial images or with hybrid reformations only. Digital subtraction
      angiography served as gold standard. RESULTS: Using hybrid reformations, two
      independent readers detected 88.0% and 81.3% of significant stenosis,
      respectively. However, CTA including axial images detected statistically
      significant more lesions (98%). CONCLUSION: Peripheral CTA reading including
      axial images is still recommended. Further improvement of these hybrid
      reformations is necessary.

PMID- 25825346
TI  - The association between Baker's cyst and medial meniscal tear in patients with
      symptomatic knee using ultrasonography.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There are nearly no studies about the association between Baker's
      cyst (BC) and medial meniscal tear (MMT) using ultrasonography. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: Nonselected patients who were referred for ultrasonography for the
      evaluation of knee pain were recruited. Demographic, clinical, and ultrasound
      parameters were documented. RESULTS: One-hundred and nineteen patients were
      included and 131 knees were evaluated. There were 59 (~50%) female patients and
      mean age of 46.4+/-17.7 years. BC was found in 31 knees (23%). BC was
      significantly associated with MMT (P=.029) and age (P=.002) after adjusting for
      other covariates. CONCLUSIONS: BC was strongly associated with MMT regardless of
      other intraarticular abnormalities.

PMID- 25825347
TI  - Early endocrine alterations reflect prolonged stress and relate to 1-year
      functional outcome in patients with severe brain injury.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Severe brain injury may increase the risk of developing acute and
      chronic hypopituitarism. Pituitary hormone alterations developed in the early
      recovery phase after brain injury may have implications for long-term functional
      recovery. The objective of the present study was to assess the pattern and
      prevalence of pituitary hormone alterations 3 months after a severe brain injury
      with relation to functional outcome at a 1-year follow-up. DESIGN: Prospective
      study at a tertiary university referral centre. METHODS: A total of 163 patients
      admitted to neurorehabilitation after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI, n=111)
      or non-TBI (n=52) were included. The main outcome measures were endocrine
      alterations 3.3 months (median) after the brain injury and their relationship to
      the functioning and ability of the patients at a 1-year follow-up, as measured by
      the Functional Independence Measure and the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended.
      RESULTS: Three months after the injury, elevated stress hormones (i.e. 30 min
      stimulated cortisol, prolactin and/or IGF1) and/or suppressed gonadal or thyroid
      hormones were recorded in 68 and 32% of the patients respectively. At 1 year
      after the injury, lower functioning level (Functional Independence Measure) and
      lower capability of performing normal life activities (Glasgow Outcome Scale
      Extended) were related to both the elevated stress hormones (P<=0.01) and the
      reduced gonadal and/or thyroid hormones (P<=0.01) measured at 3 months.
      CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that brain injury-related endocrine
      alterations that mimic secondary hypogonadism and hypothyroidism and that occur
      with elevated stress hormones most probably reflect a prolonged stress response 2
      5 months after severe brain injury, rather than pituitary insufficiency per se.
      These endocrine alterations thus seem to reflect a more severe disease state and
      relate to 1-year functional outcome.

PMID- 25825348
TI  - Structural biology of the Gram-negative bacterial conjugation systems.
AB  - Conjugation, the process by which plasmid DNA is transferred from one bacterium
      to another, is mediated by type IV secretion systems (T4SSs). T4SSs are versatile
      systems that can transport not only DNA, but also toxins and effector proteins.
      Conjugative T4SSs comprise 12 proteins named VirB1-11 and VirD4 that assemble
      into a large membrane-spanning exporting machine. Before being transported, the
      DNA substrate is first processed on the cytoplasmic side by a complex called the
      relaxosome. The substrate is then targeted to the T4SS for export into a
      recipient cell. In this review, we describe the recent progress made in the
      structural biology of both the relaxosome and the T4SS.

PMID- 25825349
TI  - A model clarifying the role of mediators in the variability of mood states over
      time in people who stutter.
AB  - PURPOSE: Elevated negative mood states such as social anxiety and depressive mood
      have been found in adults who stutter. Research is needed to assist in the
      development of a model that clarifies how factors like self-efficacy and social
      support contribute to the variability of negative mood states over time. METHOD:
      Participants included 200 adults who stutter. A longitudinal design was employed
      to assess change in mood states over a period of five months. Hierarchical
      directed regression (path analysis) was used to determine contributory
      relationships between change in mood states and self-efficacy, social support,
      socio-demographic and stuttering disorder variables. Participants completed a
      comprehensive assessment regimen, including validated measures of mood states,
      perceived control (self-efficacy) and social support. RESULTS: Results confirmed
      that self-efficacy performs a protective role in the change in mood states like
      anxiety and depressive mood. That is, self-efficacy cushioned the impact of
      negative mood states. Social support was only found to contribute a limited
      protective influence. Socio-demographic variables had little direct impact on
      mood states, while perceived severity of stuttering also failed to contribute
      directly to mood at any time point. CONCLUSIONS: Mood was found to be influenced
      by factors that are arguably important for a person to cope and adjust adaptively
      to the adversity associated with fluency disorder. A model that explains how mood
      states are influenced over time is described. Implications of these results for
      managing adults who stutter with elevated negative mood states like social
      anxiety are discussed. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will be able to
      describe: (a) the method involved in hierarchical (directed) regression used in
      path analysis; (b) the variability of mood states over a period of five months;
      (c) the nature of the mediator relationship between factors like self-efficacy
      and social support and mood states like anxiety, and (d) the contribution to mood
      states of socio-demographic factors like age and education and stuttering
      disorder variables like stuttering frequency and perceived severity.

PMID- 25825352
TI  - Using a virtual environment to study child pedestrian behaviours: a comparison of
      parents' expectations and children's street crossing behaviour.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare parents' expectations for their
      children crossing streets with children's actual crossing behaviours and
      determine how accurately parents judge their own children's pedestrian behaviours
      to be. METHOD: Using a fully immersive virtual reality system interfaced with a
      3D movement measurement system, younger (7-9 years) and older (10-12 years)
      children's crossing behaviours were assessed. The parent viewed the same traffic
      conditions and indicated if their child would cross and how successful she/he
      expected the child would be when doing so. RESULTS: Comparing children's
      performance with what their parents expected they would do revealed that parents
      significantly overestimated the inter-vehicle gap threshold of their children,
      erroneously assuming that children would show safer pedestrian behaviours and
      select larger inter-vehicle gaps to cross into than they actually did; there were
      no effects of child age or sex. Child and parent scores were not correlated and a
      logistic regression indicated these were independent of one another. CONCLUSIONS:
      Parents were not accurate in estimating the traffic conditions under which their
      children would try and cross the street. If parents are not adequately
      supervising when children cross streets, they may be placing their children at
      risk of pedestrian injury because they are assuming their children will select
      larger (safer) inter-vehicle gaps when crossing than children actually do.

PMID- 25825353
TI  - An examination of concussion education programmes: a scoping review methodology.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The primary purpose was to review the literature on concussion
      education programmes. The secondary purpose was to inform knowledge translation
      strategies for concussion researchers and practitioners. DESIGN: Research on
      concussion education programmes is relatively new. As a result, the current study
      implemented a scoping review methodology, which is a type of literary search used
      to provide a preliminary assessment of the size and scope of a body of
      literature, as well as identify strengths, weaknesses and gaps in the research.
      METHODS: A five-stage process for conducting a scoping review was followed for
      this study: (a) identifying the research questions, (b) identifying relevant
      studies, (c) identifying the study selection criteria, (d) charting the data and
      (e) reporting the results. RESULTS: Concussion education programmes have been
      developed and implemented with populations ranging in age from 9 to 49 years and
      have used interactive oral presentations, educational videos and computer-based
      learning programmes. Although the content of these programmes varied, the topics
      generally addressed salient aspects of concussion injury and recovery.
      Quantitative instruments have been the preferred methods for assessment.
      CONCLUSIONS: Education programmes aimed at improving participants' long-term
      concussion knowledge, behaviours and attitudes of concussions are needed.
      Researchers must consider using a knowledge translation framework to enhance
      concussion education programmes. The application of such a framework can lead to
      novel and interesting ways of disseminating information about concussive injury
      and recovery.

PMID- 25825351
TI  - Genome-wide circulating microRNA expression profiling indicates biomarkers for
      epilepsy.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been proposed as biomarkers for cancer and other diseases
      due to their stability in serum. In epilepsy, miRNAs have almost been studied in
      brain tissues and in animals' circulation, but not in circulation of human. To
      date, a major challenge is to develop biomarkers to improve the current diagnosis
      of epilepsy. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether circulating miRNAs can
      be used as biomarkers for epilepsy. We measured the differences in serum miRNA
      levels between 30 epilepsy patients and 30 healthy controls in discovery and
      training phases using Illumina HiSeq2000 sequencing followed by quantitative
      reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays. The selected
      miRNAs were then validated in 117 epilepsy patients and 112 healthy controls by
      qRT-PCR. Let-7d-5p, miR-106b-5p, -130a-3p and -146a-5p were found up-regulated,
      whereas miR-15a-5p and -194-5p were down-regulated in epilepsy patients compared
      to controls (P < 0.0001). Among these miRNAs, miR-106b-5p had the best diagnostic
      value for epilepsy with 80.3% sensitivity and 81.2% specificity. Circulating
      miRNAs were differentially regulated in epilepsy patients as compared with
      controls. MiR-106b-5p may serve as a novel, noninvasive biomarker to improve the
      current diagnosis of epilepsy. 

PMID- 25825354
TI  - Learning to attain an advanced level of professional responsibility.
AB  - BACKGROUND: After graduation, nurse practitioner students are expected to be
      capable of providing complex, evidence-based nursing care independently, combined
      with standardized medical care. The students who follow work-study programs have
      to develop their competencies in a healthcare environment dominated by efficiency
      policies. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore nurse practitioner students'
      perceptions of their professional responsibility for patient care. METHOD: This
      qualitative interpretative study entails a content analysis of 46 reflective case
      studies written by nurse practitioner students. FINDINGS: The students felt
      responsible for the monitoring of patients' health status, attending to
      psychosocial problems, emphasizing compliance, and optimizing the family's role
      as informal caregivers. At the same time, students struggled to understand the
      complexities of their patients' needs, and they had difficulty applying their
      knowledge and skills to complex medical, psychological, and social problems.
      CONCLUSION: The students' perceptions of their new responsibility were
      characterized by a strong focus on curative care, while psychosocial components
      of health and illness concerns were often overlooked. The students experienced
      difficulties in meeting the criteria of advanced practice nursing described in
      the Dutch competency framework.

PMID- 25825355
TI  - Family nursing hospital training and the outcome on job demands, control and
      support.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a family systems nursing
      hospital training educational program (ETI program) on nurses' and midwives'
      perception of job demands, control, and/or support. Of the nurses and midwives
      who were working in the Women's and Children's Services Division at The National
      University Hospital in Iceland, 479 participated in the study on three time
      periods from 2009 to 2011. Scores for the characteristics of job demands and job
      control were created to categorize participants into four job types (Karasek and
      Theorell, 1990). These four job types are high strain (high demand, low control),
      passive (low demand, low control), low strain (low demand, high control), and
      active (high demand, high control). However, when the data were evaluated based
      on the proportion of job characteristics as reported by the nurses and the
      midwives, no significant difference was found over time (2009 to 2011)
      (chi(2)=5.203, p=.518). However, based on the results from the independent t
      tests at time 1, a significant difference was found amongst the high strain job
      group regarding perceived support from administrators and colleagues among the
      nurses and midwives who had taken the ETI program compared to those who had not
      taken the program (chi(2)=2.218, p=.034). This indicates that the health care
      professionals who characterized their job to be of high demand but with low
      control evaluated the support from their administrators and colleagues to be
      significantly higher if they had taken the ETI program than did the nurses and
      midwives who did not take the ETI program. These findings are promising because
      they might, in the long run, increase the nurses' and midwives' autonomy and
      control over their own work.

PMID- 25825356
TI  - Toll-like receptor 1 N248S polymorphism affects T helper 1 cytokine production
      and is associated with serum immunoglobulin E levels in Taiwanese allergic
      patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: This study was carried out to investigate whether toll-like
      receptor-1 (TLR1) rs4833095 (N248S) variant, common in the Taiwanese population,
      contributes to pathogenesis of allergy. METHODS: TLR2/1 ligand Pam3CSK4
      stimulated cytokine production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and monocyte
      derived dendritic cells of different genotypes were measured via enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay. Ninety-three Taiwanese allergic patients (with asthma,
      allergic rhinitis, or atopic dermatitis) and 76 controls were recruited for
      genotyping. Serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels were evaluated in 60 allergic
      patients. RESULTS: The homozygous TLR1 C variant allele carrier had increased
      Pam3CSK4-induced tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-12 responses in
      peripheral blood mononuclear cells and monocyte-derived dendritic cells,
      respectively. Furthermore, although the C/C genotype was not associated with
      susceptibility to atopic diseases, it was correlated with lower total IgE levels
      in sera of allergic patients. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the TLR1 N248S
      polymorphism might play a role in Th1/Th2 differentiation, and the determination
      of serum IgE levels. However, interactions with other genetic and environmental
      factors might be required to contribute to risk of allergic diseases in our
      population.

PMID- 25825357
TI  - N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate and inhibition of glutamate carboxypeptidases
      protects against soman-induced neuropathology.
AB  - N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate (NAAG) is the most abundant neuropeptide in the
      mammalian brain. In a variety of animal models of brain injury, the
      administration of NAAG-related compounds, or inhibitors of glutamate
      carboxypeptidases (GCPs; the enzymes that hydrolyze NAAG), were shown to be
      neuroprotective. This study determined the impact of the administration of three
      NAAG-related compounds, NAAG, beta-NAAG (a NAAG homologue resistant to
      degradation), and 2-phosphonomethyl pentanedioic acid (2-PMPA; an inhibitor of
      GCP enzymes), on the neuropathology that develops following exposure to the nerve
      agent, soman. When given 1 min after soman exposure, NAAG-related drug treatments
      did not alter the survival rate or body weight loss seen 24 h after rats were
      exposed to soman. Likewise, brain levels of both NAAG and its metabolite, N
      acetyl-aspartate (NAA), were substantially decreased 24 h after soman, and in
      particularly vulnerable brain regions the drug treatments were unable to
      attenuate the reduction in NAA and NAAG levels. Histochemical study indicated
      there was a dramatic increase in Fluoro-Jade C (FJC) staining, indicative of
      neuron cell death, 24 h after soman exposure. However, in the amygdala and in the
      entorhinal and piriform limbic cortex, which sustained severe neuropathology
      following soman intoxication, single or combined injections of NAAG compounds and
      2-PMPA significantly reduced the number of FJC-positive cells, and effect size
      estimates suggest that in some brain regions the treatments were effective. The
      findings suggest that NAAG neurotransmission in the central nervous system is
      significantly altered by soman exposure, and that the administration of NAAG
      related compounds and 2-PMPA reduces neuron cell death in brain regions that
      sustain severe damage.

PMID- 25825358
TI  - Involvement of oxidative stress in the regulation of NPY/CART-mediated appetite
      control in amphetamine-treated rats.
AB  - Amphetamine (AMPH) treatment can suppress appetite and increase oxidative stress
      in the brain. AMPH-induced appetite suppression is associated with the regulation
      of neuropeptide Y (NPY) and cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART)
      in the hypothalamus. The present study explored whether antioxidants, including
      glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutathione peroxidase (GP), were involved in
      this NPY/CART-mediated appetite control. Rats were treated daily with AMPH for
      four days. Changes in food intake and expression levels of hypothalamic NPY,
      CART, GST, and GP were examined and compared. Results showed that, in AMPH
      treated rats, (1) food intake and NPY expression decreased, while CART, GST, and
      GP expression increased; (2) NPY knockdown in the brain enhanced the decrease in
      NPY and the increases in CART, GST, and GP expression; and (3) central inhibition
      of reactive oxygen species production decreased GST and GP and modulated AMPH
      anorexia and the expression levels of NPY and CART. The present results suggest
      that oxidative stress in the brain participates in regulating NPY/CART-mediated
      appetite control in AMPH-treated rats. These results may advance the knowledge
      regarding the molecular mechanism of AMPH-evoked or NPY/CART-mediated appetite
      suppression. 

PMID- 25825359
TI  - Renoprotective effects of angiotensin receptor blocker and stem cells in acute
      kidney injury: Involvement of inflammatory and apoptotic markers.
AB  - Cisplatin, Cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (CDDP), is a platinum-based chemotherapy
      drug, and its chemotherapeutic use is restricted by nephrotoxicity. Inflammatory
      and apoptotic mechanisms play a central role in the pathogenesis of CDDP-induced
      acute kidney injury (AKI). The aim of this study was to compare the therapeutic
      potential of candesartan, angiotensin II receptor blocker, versus bone marrow
      derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) in a rat model of CDDP-induced
      nephrotoxicity. Adult male Wistar rats (n = 40) were divided into four groups;
      Normal control: received saline injection, CDPP group: received CDDP injection (6
      mg/kg single dose), Candesartan group: received candesartan (10 mg/kg/day) for 10
      days + CDDP at day 3, and Stem cells group: received CDDP + BM-MSCs intravenously
      one day after CDDP injection. The rats were sacrificed seven days after CDDP
      injection. Significant elevation in serum creatinine and urea, renal levels of
      tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1,
      renal expressions of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB), p38-mitogen-activated
      protein kinase (MAPK), caspase-3 and Bcl-2-associated x protein (Bax) were found
      in CDDP-injected rats when compared to normal rats. Both candesartan and BM-MSCs
      ameliorated renal function and reduced significantly the inflammatory markers
      (TNF-alpha , NF-kappaB, p38-MAPK and MCP-1) and apoptotic markers (caspase-3 and
      Bax) in renal tissue after CDDP injection. Candesartan as well as BM-MSCs have
      anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic actions and they can be used as
      nephroprotective agents against CDDP-induced nephrotoxicity. BM-MSCs is more
      effective than candesartan in amelioration of AKI induced by CDDP. 

PMID- 25825360
TI  - Complicated actinomycosis of the temporal bone: A historical case report.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Actinomycosis is a chronic infection caused by anaerobic Gram
      positive bacteria belonging to the Actinomyces family. The zones of predilection
      of this infection are mainly the head, neck and abdominal regions. CASE REPORT:
      We report the case of a 30-year-old man admitted for aggressive right oto
      mastoiditis complicated by facial nerve palsy and sensorineural hearing loss. CT
      scan demonstrated extensive destruction of the temporal bone. The patient
      underwent radical mastoidectomy followed by long-term antibiotic therapy.
      DISCUSSION: Its non-specific symptoms and atypical course, combined with
      difficult isolation of the causative agent, make actinomycosis a difficult
      infection to diagnose. Actinomycosis very rarely involves the temporal region, as
      fewer than 30 cases have been reported in the literature. Treatment of this form
      of actinomycosis is based on surgery and prolonged antibiotic therapy. Surgical
      treatment is designed to reduce the bacterial load by mechanical debridement and
      create aerobic conditions. CONCLUSION: Compared to other cases reported in the
      literature, the case of temporal actinomycosis reported here was distinguished by
      its highly aggressive nature. Temporal actinomycosis should be suspected in the
      context of chronic otitis media with an atypical course. Treatment is based on a
      combination of surgery and antibiotics.

PMID- 25825361
TI  - Four-year evolution of insulin regimens, glycaemic control, hypoglycaemia and
      body weight after starting insulin therapy in type 2 diabetes across three
      continents.
AB  - AIMS: It is of interest to understand how insulin therapy currently evolves in
      clinical practice, in the years after starting insulin in people with type 2
      diabetes. We aimed to describe this evolution prospectively over 4 years, to
      assist health care planning. METHODS: People who had started any insulin were
      identified from 12 countries on three continents. Baseline, then yearly follow
      up, data were extracted from clinical records over 4 years. RESULTS: Of the 2999
      eligible people, 2272 were followed over 4 years. When starting insulin, mean
      (SD) duration of diabetes was 10.6 (7.8) years, HbA1c 9.5 (2.0)% (80
      [22]mmol/mol) and BMI 29.3 (6.3)kg/m(2). Initial insulin therapy was basal 52%,
      premix 23%, mealtime+basal 14%, mealtime 8% and other 3%; at 4 years, 30%, 25%,
      33%, 2% and 5%, respectively, with 5% not on insulin. Insulin dose was 20.2U/day
      at the start and 45.8U/day at year 4. There were 1258 people (55%) on their
      original regimen at 4 years, and this percentage differed according to baseline
      insulin regimen. HbA1c change was -2.0 (2.2)% (-22 [24]mmol/mol) and was similar
      by final insulin regimen. Hypoglycaemia prevalence was <20% in years 1-4. Body
      weight change was mostly in year 1, and was very variable, mean +2.7 (7.5)kg at
      year 4. CONCLUSION: Different insulin regimens were started in people with
      differing characteristics, and they evolved differently; insulin dose,
      hypoglycaemia and body weight change were diverse and largely independent of
      regimen.

PMID- 25825363
TI  - Labour will cap private providers' profits on NHS work at 5.

PMID- 25825362
TI  - Citation analysis of otorhinolaryngology journals: follow-up study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the changes in impact factors of
      otorhinolaryngology journals over the past 15 years. METHOD: Using the online
      edition of Journal Citation Reports, standard (2-year) and 5-year impact factors
      were calculated for the leading 15 journals. RESULTS: The results were compared
      with the impact factors for 1998. The average standard impact factor and 5-year
      impact factor increased by 2.72 and 2.05 fold respectively when compared with
      1998. The average 2012 standard impact factor and 5-year impact factor were 1.82
      and 1.99 respectively, reflecting a 9.3 per cent difference. The average 1998
      standard impact factor and 5-year impact factor were 0.67 and 0.97 respectively,
      reflecting a 44.8 per cent difference. The Journal of the Association for
      Research in Otolaryngology had the highest standard and five-year impact factors.
      CONCLUSION: These data may indicate changing clinical and research interests
      within our field, as well as increased speed and ease with which the internet has
      allowed citation. As a result, five-year intervals may no longer be necessary to
      adequately gauge journal impact.

PMID- 25825364
TI  - Plant synthetic biology.
AB  - Plant synthetic biology is an emerging field that combines engineering principles
      with plant biology toward the design and production of new devices. This emerging
      field should play an important role in future agriculture for traditional crop
      improvement, but also in enabling novel bioproduction in plants. In this review
      we discuss the design cycles of synthetic biology as well as key engineering
      principles, genetic parts, and computational tools that can be utilized in plant
      synthetic biology. Some pioneering examples are offered as a demonstration of how
      synthetic biology can be used to modify plants for specific purposes. These
      include synthetic sensors, synthetic metabolic pathways, and synthetic genomes.
      We also speculate about the future of synthetic biology of plants. 

PMID- 25825365
TI  - Efficient visible-light photocatalytic degradation system assisted by
      conventional Pd catalysis.
AB  - Different approaches like doping and sensitization have been used to develop
      photocatalysts that can lead to high reactivity under visible-light illumination,
      which would allow efficient utilization of solar irradiation and even interior
      lighting. We demonstrated a conceptually different approach by changing reaction
      route via introducing the idea of conventional Pd catalysis used in cross
      coupling reactions into photocatalysis. The -O-Pd-Cl surface species modified on
      Ni-doped TiO2 can play a role the same as that in chemical catalysis, resulting
      in remarkably enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation.
      For instance, Pd/Ni-TiO2 has much higher activity than N-TiO2 (about 3 ~ 9 times
      for all of the 4-XP systems) upon irradiation with wavelength of 420 nm. The
      catalytically active Pd(0) is achieved by reduction of photogenerated electrons
      from Ni-TiO2. Given high efficient, stable Pd catalysts or other suitable
      chemical catalysts, this concept may enable realization of the practical
      applications of photocatalysis. 

PMID- 25825366
TI  - Femoral footprint variation of the posterolateral bundle of the anterior cruciate
      ligament and double-bundle reconstruction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The study is aimed to observe the range of variation of the ACL PLB
      femoral footprint and investigate countermeasures for accurate femoral bone
      tunnel placement during double-bundle ACL reconstruction. METHODS: The femoral
      insertions of the anteromedial bundle (AMB) and PLB of the ACL were dissected in
      30 male cadaveric knees. The ACL footprint on the lateral intercondylar wall
      (LIW) was observed, and the shape of the LIW, the resident ridge, the angle
      between the ACL long axis and femoral axis (AA), and the vertical distance from
      the center of the PLB to the lowest cartilage border of the LIW (PD) were
      measured. RESULTS: The area most populated by the ACL fibers was directly under
      the resident ridge. AA = 18.7 degrees +/-15.25 degrees  with variation from -18
      degrees  to 56 degrees , and PD=7.02+/-1.47 mm with variation from 3.75 to 11.08
      mm. Both discrete values were very large in both groups of data. There were two
      kinds of LIW: trapezoidal (8 knees) and triangular (21 knees). Both AA and PD
      values exhibited significant differences between the two types of LIWs (P=0.00).
      CONCLUSION: AA and PD vary among individuals. The insertions and centers of the
      PLB cannot be exactly anatomically determined with one size. For double-bundle
      ACL reconstruction, an individualized intraoperative footprint observation for
      fresh cases with footprint remnants, or resident ridge and anteromedial bundle
      interval identification for old ACL tears, can be reasonable methods for
      posterolateral tunnel orientation. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Clinical relevance is
      observe the range of variation of the PLB femoral footprint for clinical double
      bundle ACL reconstruction.

PMID- 25825367
TI  - Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Neurological Disorders
      Depression Inventory for Epilepsy (C-NDDI-E).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical reliability and
      validity of the Chinese version of the Neurological Disorders Depression
      Inventory for Epilepsy (C-NDDI-E). METHODS: A total of 248 Chinese patients with
      epilepsy underwent psychometric tests, including the Chinese version of the Mini
      International Neuropsychiatric Interview (C-MINI), the Chinese version of the
      Beck Depression Inventory - II (C-BDI-II), and the C-NDDI-E. RESULTS: None of the
      patients had difficulties understanding or completing the C-NDDI-E. Cronbach's
      alpha coefficient was 0.824. At a cutoff score of >=14, the C-NDDI-E had a
      sensitivity of 0.854, a specificity of 0.899, a positive predictive value of
      0.625, and a negative predictive value of 0.969. The scores for the C-NDDI-E were
      positively correlated with those for the C-BDI-II (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: The C
      NDDI-E is a reliable and valid screening tool for the detection of major
      depression in Chinese patients with epilepsy.

PMID- 25825368
TI  - Suicidal risk, affective dysphoric disorders, and quality-of-life perception in
      patients with focal refractory epilepsy.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We aim to study the frequency of (suicidal ideation) in patients with
      focal refractory epilepsy and its possible association with factors such as
      perceived QOL (quality of life) and ASDD (affective somatoform dysphoric
      disorder) using the 2007 ILAE proposal to classify affective disorders of
      epilepsy. METHODS: A total sample of 82 patients was divided into two groups
      depending on the presence of suicidal risk: (A) study group - with suicidal risk
      and (B) control group - without suicidal risk. Questionnaires, scales,
      interviews, and clinical charts were evaluated by professionals with expertise in
      neurology and epileptology (RAM and AGA), psychiatry (AGE), and neuropsychology
      (FGR). Suicidal risk was evaluated with the M.I.N.I. (Mini-International
      Neuropsychiatric Interview) suicidal module that specifies the current suicidal
      risk based on scores. Quality of life was evaluated with the Quality of Life in
      Epilepsy Inventory - 31 (QOLIE-31) survey. Logistic regression was conducted to
      ascertain if ASDD and QOL significantly predicted suicidal risk. The results were
      considered statistically significant when the p-value was <0.05. RESULTS:
      Suicidal risk was present in 33 (40.3%) patients. It was classified as severe in
      31.7% of the patients, and it was only present in cases with temporal lobe
      epilepsy (p=0.002). More than half (52%) of patients with ASDD had risk of
      suicide (p=0.006). The presence of ASDD was found to be a risk factor for
      suicidal risk (OR=3.86; IC=1.3-12.2). Patients with suicidal risk had a lower QOL
      score compared with patients without suicidal risk (57.8+/-16.9 vs. 46.0+/-18.2;
      p<0.05), and an affected QOL significantly increased suicidal risk (OR=2.9;
      CI=1.3-7.8). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that an impaired QOL (OR=2.2) and
      the presence of ASDD (OR=4.1) significantly increased the probability of having
      suicidal risk (x(2)=13.6; OR=5.2; p=0.009). SIGNIFICANCE: Affective somatoform
      dysphoric disorder and low QOL perception increase, independently, the risk of
      suicide.

PMID- 25825369
TI  - Old dogs with new tricks: Detecting accelerated long-term forgetting by extending
      traditional measures.
AB  - Accelerated long-term forgetting (ALF) is a condition in which normal memory
      performance is displayed after short delays, but significant memory loss is
      detected when memory is tested after several days or weeks. This condition has
      been reported in patients with epilepsy, but there are few normative scores
      available for its detection in clinical practice. In the present study, we
      assessed 60 healthy control subjects 18-60years of age on three memory measures
      [Rey Auditory Verbal Learning (RAVLT), Logical Memory (LM), and Aggie Figures] at
      delays of 30min and 7days. With these normative values, we determined cutoff
      scores to look for ALF and then categorized the performance of 15 patients with
      focal epilepsy on the same tasks. Seven of the patients showed ALF, and, in four
      of these, no other memory deficits (i.e., deficits at 30min on at least one task)
      were detected. Of the several demographic and epilepsy factors examined, only
      higher estimated IQ and older age predicted ALF (and only on one task: RAVLT).
      The findings provide a useful set of data to be applied in the clinic and some
      insight into the factors that influence retention within the first week. 

PMID- 25825370
TI  - Altered attention networks in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal
      spikes (BECTS): A resting-state fMRI study.
AB  - It is noteworthy that some children with benign childhood epilepsy with
      centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) show attention problems despite their favorable
      seizure outcome. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a
      method widely used to detect brain network alterations in neuropsychiatric
      diseases. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to
      investigate specific brain networks related to attention deficit in children with
      BECTS. Resting-state fMRI was performed in patients with BECTS with ADHD (n=15)
      and those with BECTS without ADHD (n=15) and in healthy controls (n=15). Unbiased
      seed-based whole-brain functional connectivity analysis was used to study the
      connectivity pattern of three resting-state networks, including the ventral
      attention network (VAN) and the dorsal attention network (DAN) and the default
      mode network (DMN). Patients with BECTS with ADHD displayed decreased functional
      connectivity in the DAN compared with other two groups, while patients with BECTS
      without ADHD showed increased functional connectivity in the DAN. Moreover, we
      found increased functional connectivity in the VAN and in the DMN in patients
      with BECTS with or without ADHD when comparing with controls. These results
      showed that the newly-diagnosed children with BECTS displayed brain activity
      alterations in the ventral and dorsal attention networks. The difference in the
      extent of impairment in the dorsal attention network of patients with BECTS with
      ADHD and patients with BECTS without ADHD may lead to improved understanding of
      the underlying neuropathophysiology and treatment of BECTS with ADHD and BECTS
      without ADHD. 

PMID- 25825371
TI  - National walk for epilepsy.

PMID- 25825372
TI  - Comparison of common data elements from the Managing Epilepsy Well (MEW) Network
      integrated database and a well-characterized sample with nonepileptic seizures.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Epilepsy and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) are both
      chronic illnesses characterized by similar and overlapping clinical features. A
      limited number of studies comparing people with epilepsy (PWE) and patients with
      PNES that address determinants of health outcomes exist. We conducted an analysis
      using a well-characterized sample of people with PNES and the Managing Epilepsy
      Well (MEW) Network integrated data, comparing descriptive data on samples with
      epilepsy and with documented PNES. Based on the pooled data, we hypothesized that
      people with PNES would have worse QOL and higher depression severity than PWE.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: We used data from the MEW Network integrated database
      involving select epilepsy self-management studies comprising 182 PWE and 305
      individuals with documented PNES from the Rhode Island Hospital Neuropsychiatry
      and Behavioral Neurology Clinic. We conducted a matched, case-control study
      assessing descriptive comparisons on 16 common data elements that included
      gender, age, ethnicity, race, education, employment, income, household
      composition, relationship status, age at seizure onset, frequency of seizures,
      seizure type, health status, healthy days, quality of life, and depression.
      Standardized rating scales for depression and quality of life were used. RESULTS:
      Median seizure frequency in the last 30days for PWE was 1, compared to 15 for
      patients with PNES (p<0.05). People with epilepsy had a QOLIE-10 mean score of
      3.00 (SD: 0.91) compared to 3.54 (0.88) (p<0.01) for patients with PNES.
      Depression severity was moderate to severe in 7.7% of PWE compared to 34.1%
      (p<0.05) of patients with PNES. DISCUSSION: People with epilepsy in selected MEW
      Network programs are fairly well educated, mostly women, with few minorities and
      low monthly seizure rates. Those with PNES, however, have higher levels of not
      working/on disability and had more frequent seizures, higher depression severity,
      and worse QOL. These differences were present despite demographics that are
      largely similar in both groups, illustrating that other determinants of illness
      may influence PNES.

PMID- 25825373
TI  - Effects of two alar base suture techniques suture techniques on nasolabial
      changes after bimaxillary orthognathic surgery in Taiwanese patients with class
      III malocclusions.
AB  - A randomized controlled trial was designed to assess the effectiveness of two
      alar base cinch techniques on the changes in nasolabial morphology after
      bimaxillary orthognathic surgery. Sixty patients requiring a Le Fort I osteotomy
      to correct skeletal discrepancies were selected randomly to receive either
      conventional or modified alar base cinching during the intraoral wound closure
      procedure. Conventional cinching passed through nasalis muscle and anterior nasal
      spine. Modified cinching also passed through dermis tissue to increase the
      anchorage. Postoperative hard and soft tissue changes were evaluated using cone
      beam computed tomography and three-dimensional stereophotogrammetry at predefined
      time points. Forty-eight patients with a skeletal class III malocclusion were
      included. In the conventional group, there was an increase of 0.31 +/- 1.31 mm in
      nasal width and an increase of 0.97 +/- 1.60mm in columellar length. In the
      modified group, there was an increase of 0.81 +/- 1.87 mm in the cutaneous height
      of the upper lip and a decrease of 0.76 +/- 1.56 mm in lower prolabial width.
      Patients with an initial narrow nasal width, alar base width, and less vertical
      nostril show were more susceptible to a greater degree of change after surgery.
      Both alar base suture techniques are effective at controlling nasolabial form
      changes resulting from class III dual-jaw orthognathic surgery.

PMID- 25825374
TI  - Auto-reactive T cells revised. Overestimation based on methodology?
AB  - Autoreactive T cells have been identified in most autoimmune diseases and
      recently even in healthy individuals. Similar, T cells that recognize either wild
      type or tumorspecific tumor antigens have been increasingly reported to develop
      spontaneously in cancer patients. This insight has become possible mainly due to
      novel immunoassays which have revolutionized the discovery of rare antigen
      specific T cells. At present, the major dogma that explains this increasing
      number of reports of autoreactive T cells is that autoreactive T cells are
      counteracted by CD4+CD25+ regulatory T (Treg) cells in vivo, in particular in
      healthy individuals, whereas dysfunction in Tregs or Treg responsiveness may
      unmask the autoreactive T cell responses in patients with autoimmune diseases.
      However, studies that identify autoreactive T cells are usually performed by
      culturing T cells with antigen presenting cells loaded with E. coli produced
      recombinant protein or unmodified synthetic HLA binding peptides. Our concern is
      that this approach may ignore the presence of natural genetic variation and post
      translational modifications such as e.g. the complex nature of N- and O-linked
      glycosylation of mammalian proteins. Thus, T cell antigen reactivities identified
      with unmodified antigens in vitro may in part represent in vitro T cell
      activation against neo-epitopes and not true in vivo autoreactivity as
      postulated. This methodological problem may have implications for the
      interpretation of the frequent reporting of autoreactive T cells in autoimmunity,
      T cell responses to wild-type tumor antigens in cancer patients and most
      important for the increasing reports on naive T cells with specificity against
      self-antigens in healthy individuals. Here, we discuss and provide examples for
      the possibility that the experimental methodology applied to document T cell
      reactivity against unmodified protein or peptide may lead to overinterpretation
      of the reported frequencies of autoreactive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. 

PMID- 25825375
TI  - Discrimination within epitope specific antibody populations against Classical
      swine fever virus is a new means of differentiating infection from vaccination.
AB  - Serological differentiation between infection and vaccination depends on the
      detection of pathogen specific antibodies for an epitope that is modified or
      lacking in a vaccine. Here we describe a new assay principle that is based on
      differences in the binding properties of epitope specific antibodies. C-DIVA is a
      potent Classical swine fever vaccine candidate that differs from the parental C
      strain life attenuated vaccine in the highly immunogenic TAVSPTTLR epitope by the
      deletion of two and the mutation of one amino acid (TAGSDeltaDeltaTLR). We show
      that C-DIVA vaccination elicits antibodies with high affinity for both the
      TAGSDeltaDeltaTLR and TAVSPTTLR epitope, whereas infection elicits only TAVSPTTLR
      specific antibodies. Differentiation is achieved with a double competition assay
      with negative selection for antibodies with affinity for the TAGSDeltaDeltaTLR
      epitope followed by positive selection for antibodies with affinity for the
      TAVSPTTLR epitope. Our findings add a new strategy for the development of marker
      vaccines and their accompanying discrimination assays and offer an alternative to
      the devastating stamping out policy for Classical swine fever. 

PMID- 25825376
TI  - Examining the Validity and Reliability of Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence Scale
      in a Population of Pregnant Australian Women.
AB  - Antonovsky's Orientation to Life questionnaires were developed to measure sense
      of coherence (SOC). Although the SOC 13 instrument is widely used to measure
      health in general populations, it has not been assessed in pregnant women. If the
      SOC 13 is to be used to assess women's childbearing health, it requires further
      examination. The purpose of the research is to assess the psychometric properties
      of Antonovsky's SOC 13 questionnaire in pregnant women. When administered to 718
      pregnant Australian women, the construct validity of the SOC 13 was difficult to
      establish. The SOC 9 was created by removing 4 items and provided best data fit.
      The SOC 13 and SOC 9 were found to have sound criterion validity, internal
      reliability, and equivalence between versions. It is hoped that the present study
      will stimulate additional research on SOC scales to examine their ability to
      assess women's childbearing health. 

PMID- 25825377
TI  - Assessment of changes to screening programmes: why randomisation is important.

PMID- 25825378
TI  - A Comparative Study on the Biomechanical and Histological Properties of Bone-to
      Bone, Bone-to-Tendon, and Tendon-to-Tendon Healing: An Achilles Tendon-Calcaneus
      Model in Goats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgical repair around the bone-tendon insertion (BTI) may involve
      bone-to-bone (BB), bone-to-tendon (BT), or tendon-to-tendon (TT) reattachment
      with varying healing outcome. HYPOTHESIS: The repair of Achilles tendon-calcaneus
      (ATC) by reattachment of homogeneous tissue (BB or TT) would heal faster, with
      respect to tensile properties at the healing complex, than those of reattachment
      of heterogeneous tissues (BT) over time. STUDY DESIGN: Controlled laboratory
      study. METHODS: Forty-seven adolescent male Chinese goats were divided into BB,
      BT, and TT groups. Osteotomy of the calcaneus, reattachment of Achilles tendon to
      the calcaneus after removal of the insertion, and tenotomy of the Achilles tendon
      were performed to simulate BB, BT, and TT repair, respectively. The ATC healing
      complexes were harvested at 6, 12, or 24 weeks postoperatively. Mechanical and
      morphological properties of the healing ATC complexes were assessed by tensile
      testing and qualitative histology, respectively. The contralateral intact ATC
      complex was used as the control. RESULTS: Failure load of BT was 33.4% lower than
      that of TT (P = .0243) at week 12. Ultimate strength of BT was 50.2% and 45.3%
      lower than that of TT at weeks 12 (P = .0002) and 24 (P = .0001), respectively.
      Tissue morphological characteristics of the BB and TT groups showed faster
      remodeling. The BT group showed limited regeneration of fibrocartilage zone and
      excessive formation of fibrous tissue at the healing interface. CONCLUSION: BTI
      repair between homogeneous tissues (BB and TT healing) showed better healing
      quality with respect to mechanical and histological assessments than did healing
      between heterogeneous tissues (BT healing). CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Anatomic
      reconstruction of ATC complex injury may be a primary concern when selecting the
      proper surgical approach. However, it is recommended to select fracture fixation
      (BB) or tendon repair (TT) instead of bone-tendon reattachment (BT) if possible
      to ensure better outcome at the healing interface.

PMID- 25825379
TI  - When Is It Too Early for Single Sport Specialization?
AB  - Over the past 15 years, there has been an increase in youth sports participation
      with a concomitant increase in early year-round training in a single sport. Many
      factors contribute to the desire of parents and coaches to encourage early single
      sport specialization, including the desire to give the young athlete an edge in
      competition, pursuit of scholarships, and potential professional status, and the
      ability to label a young athlete as elite at an early age. Despite these
      perceived advantages, some data suggest that early sport specialization does not
      lead to a competitive advantage over athletes who participate in multiple sports.
      Although the data are limited, there is some evidence that early sport
      specialization may put the young athlete at risk for overuse injuries. The focus
      of this review is to highlight the evidence regarding early sport specialization
      and risk for injury; discuss the risk factors for overuse injury in high-risk
      sports including ice hockey, swimming, gymnastics, and baseball; and discuss
      future potential research that would help define the risk of injury for young
      athletes who participate in early sport specialization. 

PMID- 25825380
TI  - The Rpd3/Hda1 family of histone deacetylases regulates azole resistance in
      Candida albicans.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The histone deacetylase (HDAC) has recently been linked to the
      morphogenesis and virulence of yeast. However, the effects of HDAC on antifungal
      susceptibility are not well understood. We sought to characterize the action of
      histone deacetylation on azole resistance in Candida albicans and its possible
      mechanism of action. METHODS: A total of 40 C. albicans strains were studied.
      Azole susceptibility with or without trichostatin A (TSA) was determined
      according to the CLSI microdilution method. The null mutants of HDA1 and RPD3
      (genes targeted by TSA) were also investigated using drop-plate assays and a
      rapid acquisition of adaptation to the azole test. Transcriptional levels of HDAC
      genes and efflux genes were quantified using RT-PCR for both the basal and
      fluconazole-induced conditions. RESULTS: The inhibition of HDACs by TSA (0.25
      mg/L) markedly reduced the trailing growth and the growth of most C. albicans
      strains. Trailing growth for C. albicans strains was decreased from 2-fold to 256
      fold at 48 h. The deletion of HDA1 or RPD3 increased the susceptibility to azoles
      compared with the WT strain. The expression of HDA1 and RPD3 was up-regulated to
      different levels, and returned to the level of the susceptible parental strain
      when stable resistance had formed during the course of acquired fluconazole
      resistance both in vitro and in vivo. Efflux genes were poorly expressed in
      mutant strains compared with those of the WT strain. CONCLUSIONS: Our results
      indicate the important role of the Rpd3/Hda1 family in the development of azole
      resistance in C. albicans. Histone deacetylation may govern the expression of
      genes related to the early stages of adaptation to azole stress, such as efflux
      pump genes.

PMID- 25825381
TI  - Coconut atrium.

PMID- 25825382
TI  - Contrast echocardiography detecting a rare abnormal venous connection.

PMID- 25825383
TI  - Anomalous single coronary artery from the pulmonary artery in a neonate.

PMID- 25825384
TI  - Plasmolipin--a new player in endocytosis and epithelial development.

PMID- 25825385
TI  - Not all patients with displaced proximal humerus fractures are suitable for sling
      treatment.

PMID- 25825386
TI  - Dengue serotype-specific differences in clinical manifestation, laboratory
      parameters and risk of severe disease in adults, singapore.
AB  - Studies on serotype-specific features of dengue and disease severity on adults
      are limited. We prospectively recruited adult febrile patients without alternate
      diagnosis to dengue from April 2005 to December 2011. Outcomes were defined using
      both the World Health Organization (WHO) 1997 and 2009 criteria; Dengue
      hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and severe dengue (SD). Infecting serotype was identified
      in 469 dengue-confirmed patients comprising 22.0% dengue virus serotype 1 (DENV
      1), 57.1% DENV-2, 17.1% DENV-3, and 3.8% DENV-4. Cases infected with DENV-1 were
      more likely to present with red eyes whereas presence of joint pain and lower
      platelet count was associated with DENV-2 cases. After adjusting for potential
      confounders, DENV-1 was associated with both DHF (adjusted Relative Risk [aRR] =
      1.74) and SD (aRR = 2.1) whereas DENV-2 had a lower risk of DHF (aRR = 0.5). DENV
      1 genotype 1 and DENV-2 cosmopolitan were the predominant genotypes identified.
      Infecting dengue serotype and possibly genotype may play an important role in
      disease severity among adult dengue patients in Singapore. 

PMID- 25825388
TI  - Schistosoma mansoni infection along the coast of Lake Victoria in Mwanza region,
      Tanzania.
AB  - Prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma mansoni infection according to age, sex,
      and occupation were investigated in 100 first-year students (aged 7-8 years), 100
      schoolchildren (aged 9-12 years), and 50 adults (aged 20-55 years) from 149
      villages. The schoolchildren provided three stool specimens while the rest
      provided only one specimen. A total of 31,865 individuals provided at least one
      specimen with an overall prevalence of 38.5% and geometric mean intensity of
      positives of 107.0 eggs per gram of feces. With the exception of first-year
      students, males had higher prevalence than females (P < 0.0005). Schoolchildren
      had higher prevalence than first-year students that again had higher prevalence
      than adults. There was no sex difference in intensities among the children, but
      adult males had higher intensities than adult females. Intensity among the
      children was higher than that of the adults (P < 0.0005). Prevalence was
      significantly higher in those having fishing as their main occupation. Three
      stools samples were obtained from 13,119 schoolchildren, resulting in a
      prevalence of 38.1% if only one sample was included, 47.5% including two samples,
      and 52.6% if all three samples were included. 

PMID- 25825387
TI  - Interactions among urogenital, intestinal, skin, and oral infections in pregnant
      and lactating Panamanian Ngabe women: a neglected public health challenge.
AB  - Interrelationships among bacteria, protozoa, helminths, and ectoparasites were
      explored in a cross-sectional survey of 213 pregnant and 99 lactating indigenous
      women. Prevalences in pregnancy and lactation, respectively, were: vaginitis
      (89.2%; 46.8%), vaginal trichomoniasis (75.3%; 91.1%), bacterial vaginosis (BV;
      60.6%; 63.3%), hookworm (56.6%; 47.8%), asymptomatic bacteriuria/urinary tract
      infection (AB/UTI; 56.2%; 36.2%), cervicitis (33.3%; 6.3%), vaginal yeast (24.9%;
      11.4%), Ascaris (32.5%; 17.4%), vaginal diplococci (20.4%; 31.6%), caries (19.7%;
      18.2%), scabies (17.4%; 8.1%), and Trichuris (12.5%; 8.7%). Multiple regressions
      revealed positive associations during pregnancy (trichomoniasis and AB/UTI;
      diplococci and Ascaris) and lactation (yeast and scabies). Negative associations
      were detected in pregnancy (BV and trichomoniasis; hookworm and diplococci) and
      lactation (BV and yeast). Vaginal Lactobacillus reduced odds of diplococci in
      pregnancy and lactation, but increased Ascaris eggs per gram (epg) and odds of
      trichomoniasis in pregnancy and yeast in lactation. These associations raised a
      concern that treatment of one condition may increase the risk of another. 

PMID- 25825389
TI  - Differential clinical outcome of dengue infection among patients with and without
      HIV infection: a matched case-control study.
AB  - Clinical characteristics and outcome among dengue patients with and without human
      immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection remain elusive. A total of 10 dengue virus
      (DENV)-HIV Chinese patients were compared with 40 Chinese dengue patients without
      HIV, who were matched for age, gender, type of care received, methods, and year
      of dengue diagnosis from 2005 to 2008. Univariate and multivariate conditional
      logistics regression were applied. DENV-HIV patients were significantly
      associated with the World Health Organization (WHO) 2009 severe dengue
      (conditional odds ratio [COR] = 5.72; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01-32.64)
      but not with the WHO 1997 dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (COR =
      0.40; 95% CI = 0.09-1.71). This is mainly due to severe plasma leakage and the
      lack of hemorrhagic manifestations. Hospitalization duration was longer for DENV
      HIV patients (10.5 days; interquartile range [IQR] = 5.5-26.3 days) compared with
      dengue patients (5 days; IQR = 4-6 days). There were no significant differences
      in presentation of clinical warning signs and symptoms at admission and during
      hospitalization, except for rash (adjusted COR [ACOR] = 0.06; 95% CI = 0.03
      0.92). DENV-HIV patients were associated with higher pulse rate (ACOR = 1.13; 95%
      CI = 1.02-1.25), eosinophils proportion (ACOR = 3.07; 95% CI = 1.12-8.41) and
      lower hematocrit level (ACOR = 0.79; 95% CI = 0.64-0.98) compared with dengue
      patients. Even though DENV-HIV patients may present similarly to dengue patients,
      they may be more likely to have severe dengue outcome. Hence, close monitoring of
      DENV-HIV patients is highly recommended as part of dengue clinical care and
      management. 

PMID- 25825392
TI  - 99mTc-HDP SPECT-CT Aids Localization of Joint Injections in Degenerative Joint
      Disease of the Foot and Ankle.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pain relating to degenerative joint disease within the foot and ankle
      can be difficult to localize with clinical examination alone due to the complex
      anatomy of the joints. The aim of this study was to determine whether single
      photon emission computed tomography combined with conventional computed
      tomography (SPECT-CT) could be used to localize the site of degenerative joint
      disease for intra-articular injection and thereby improve the clinical success of
      the procedure. METHODS: A prospective study was performed involving 203 patients
      who had undergone triple-phase (99m)Tc-hydroxymethylene diphosphonate bone scans
      with SPECT-CT of the foot and ankle for degenerative joint disease. Fifty-two
      patients went on to have joint injections for degenerative joint disease, with
      clinical follow-up. Correlation with the clinical diagnosis and the outcome of
      intra-articular injections with 0.5% bupivacaine and 80 mg of Depo-Medrone was
      performed. A successful outcome was determined by an improvement in the visual
      analog pain score of at least 50%. RESULTS: In 19 (37%) patients, the site of
      degenerative joint disease determined by SPECT-CT differed from the initial
      clinical assessment and resulted in a change in management. Overall, 46 (88%)
      patients showed an improvement in symptoms. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated a
      high clinical success rate for SPECT-CT-guided joint injections. The technique
      was useful in localizing degenerative joint disease of the ankle, hindfoot, and
      midfoot as an adjunct to clinical examination. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, case
      series.

PMID- 25825394
TI  - Ban commercial confidentiality clauses from state procurement contracts.

PMID- 25825393
TI  - Clinical Effects of Platelet-Rich Plasma and Hyaluronic Acid as an Additional
      Therapy for Talar Osteochondral Lesions Treated with Microfracture Surgery: A
      Prospective Randomized Clinical Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Osteochondral ankle injuries commonly affect the dome of the talus,
      and these injuries are a common cause of athletic disability. Various treatment
      options are available for these injuries including intra-articular hyaluronic
      acid (HA) and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections. The purpose of this study
      was to compare the effects of HA and PRP as adjunct therapies after arthroscopic
      microfracture in osteochondral lesions (OCLs) of the talus. METHODS: In this
      prospective, randomized blinded study, 40 patients with talar OCLs in their ankle
      joints were treated with arthroscopic debridement and a microfracture technique.
      Thirteen randomly selected patients received PRP, 14 patients received HA, and
      the remaining 13 patients received saline as a control group. The participants
      were assessed using the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) and
      visual analog pain scale (VAS) scores after a 15.3-month (range, 11-25 months)
      follow-up. RESULTS: Postoperatively, all the groups exhibited significantly
      increased AOFAS scores and decreased VAS scores compared with their preoperative
      results (P < .005). The AOFAS scores were significantly increased in the PRP
      group versus the HA and control groups (P < .005), although the increased AOFAS
      scores in the HA group versus the control group were also significant (P < .005).
      Similar to the AOFAS scores, the decrease in the VAS scores was significantly
      lower in the PRP group versus the HA and control groups (P < .005). In addition,
      the HA group had significantly lower VAS scores than the control group (P <
      .005). CONCLUSION: Both PRP and HA injections improved the clinical outcomes of
      patients who underwent operation for talar OCLs in the midterm period and can be
      used as adjunct therapies for these patients. Because a single dose of PRP
      provided better results, we recommend PRP as the primary adjunct treatment option
      in the talar OCL postoperative period. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level I, prospective
      randomized study.

PMID- 25825391
TI  - Genetic and hypoxic alterations of the microRNA-210-ISCU1/2 axis promote iron
      sulfur deficiency and pulmonary hypertension.
AB  - Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are essential for mitochondrial metabolism, but their
      regulation in pulmonary hypertension (PH) remains enigmatic. We demonstrate that
      alterations of the miR-210-ISCU1/2 axis cause Fe-S deficiencies in vivo and
      promote PH. In pulmonary vascular cells and particularly endothelium, hypoxic
      induction of miR-210 and repression of the miR-210 targets ISCU1/2 down-regulated
      Fe-S levels. In mouse and human vascular and endothelial tissue affected by PH,
      miR-210 was elevated accompanied by decreased ISCU1/2 and Fe-S integrity. In
      mice, miR-210 repressed ISCU1/2 and promoted PH. Mice deficient in miR-210, via
      genetic/pharmacologic means or via an endothelial-specific manner, displayed
      increased ISCU1/2 and were resistant to Fe-S-dependent pathophenotypes and PH.
      Similar to hypoxia or miR-210 overexpression, ISCU1/2 knockdown also promoted PH.
      Finally, cardiopulmonary exercise testing of a woman with homozygous ISCU
      mutations revealed exercise-induced pulmonary vascular dysfunction. Thus, driven
      by acquired (hypoxia) or genetic causes, the miR-210-ISCU1/2 regulatory axis is a
      pathogenic lynchpin causing Fe-S deficiency and PH. These findings carry broad
      translational implications for defining the metabolic origins of PH and
      potentially other metabolic diseases sharing similar underpinnings. 

PMID- 25825395
TI  - Target it all right, but do not forget the torchbearer.

PMID- 25825397
TI  - Targeting pathogenic postischemic self-recognition by natural IgM to protect
      against posttransplantation cardiac reperfusion injury.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Natural IgM antibodies represent a class of innate pattern
      recognition receptors that recognize danger-associated molecular patterns
      expressed on stressed or dying cells. They play important roles in tissue
      homeostasis by disposing of prenecrotic cells and suppressing inflammation.
      However, ischemic insult leads to a pathogenic level of IgM binding and
      complement activation, resulting in inflammation and injury. We investigate the
      role of self-reactive IgM in the unique setting of transplantation where the
      donor organ undergoes both cold and warm ischemia and global ischemic insult.
      METHODS AND RESULTS: By transplanting hearts from wild-type donor mice into
      antibody-deficient mice reconstituted with specific self-reactive IgM monoclonal
      antibodies, we identified neoepitopes expressed after transplantation and
      demonstrated a key role for IgM recognition of these epitopes in graft injury.
      With this information, we developed and characterized a therapeutic strategy that
      exploited the postischemia recognition system of natural antibodies. On the basis
      of neoepitope identification, we constructed an anti-annexin IV single-chain
      antibody (scFv) and an scFv linked to Crry, an inhibitor of C3 activation (scFv
      Crry). In an allograft transplantation model in which recipients contain a full
      natural antibody repertoire, both constructs blocked graft IgM binding and
      complement activation and significantly reduced graft inflammation and injury.
      Furthermore, scFv-Crry specifically targeted to the transplanted heart and,
      unlike complement deficiency, did not affect immunity to infection, an important
      consideration for immunosuppressed transplant recipients. CONCLUSIONS: We
      identified pathophysiologically important epitopes expressed within the heart
      after transplantation and described a novel translatable strategy for targeted
      complement inhibition that has several advantages over currently available
      approaches.

PMID- 25825398
TI  - Unique case of ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction related to paradoxical
      embolization and simultaneous pulmonary embolization: clinical considerations on
      indications for patent foramen ovale closure in no-guidelines land.

PMID- 25825396
TI  - Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain 2 receptor is expressed in platelets
      and enhances platelet activation and thrombosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pattern recognition receptor nucleotide-binding oligomerization
      domain 2 (NOD2) is well investigated in immunity, but its expression and function
      in platelets has never been explored. METHOD AND RESULTS: Using reverse
      transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blot, we show that both human
      and mouse platelets express NOD2, and its agonist muramyl dipeptide induced NOD2
      activation as evidenced by receptor dimerization. NOD2 activation potentiates
      platelet aggregation and secretion induced by low concentrations of thrombin or
      collagen, and clot retraction, as well. These potentiating effects of muramyl
      dipeptide were not seen in platelets from NOD2-deficient mice. Plasma from septic
      patients also potentiates platelet aggregation induced by thrombin or collagen
      NOD2 dependently. Using intravital microscopy, we found that muramyl dipeptide
      administration accelerated in vivo thrombosis in a FeCl3-injured mesenteric
      arteriole thrombosis mouse model. Platelet depletion and transfusion experiments
      confirmed that NOD2 from platelets contributes to the in vivo thrombosis in mice.
      NOD2 activation also accelerates platelet-dependent hemostasis. We further found
      that platelets express receptor-interacting protein 2, and provided evidence
      suggesting that mitogen activated-protein kinase and nitric oxide/soluble
      guanylyl cyclase/cGMP/protein kinase G pathways downstream of receptor
      interacting protein mediate the role of NOD2 in platelets. Finally, muramyl
      dipeptide stimulates proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1beta maturation and
      accumulation in human and mouse platelets NOD2 dependently. CONCLUSIONS: NOD2 is
      expressed in platelets and functions in platelet activation and arterial
      thrombosis, possibly during infection. To our knowledge, this is the first study
      on NOD-like receptors in platelets that link thrombotic events to inflammation.

PMID- 25825400
TI  - Quadricuspid aortic valve and anomalous systemic venous connection in a patient
      with cat-eye syndrome.

PMID- 25825401
TI  - Rapid diagnosis of cardiac tamponade using pulsatility index variability in a
      patient with a HeartWare ventricular assist device.

PMID- 25825402
TI  - Cardiology patient page. Statin intolerance.

PMID- 25825403
TI  - Letter by Thoma et al regarding article, "A randomized trial of social media from
      Circulation".

PMID- 25825404
TI  - Letter by Dixon et al regarding article, "A randomized trial of social media from
      Circulation".

PMID- 25825405
TI  - Letter by Semsarian and Ingles regarding article, "A randomized trial of social
      media from Circulation".

PMID- 25825406
TI  - Letter by Djuricich and Madanick regarding article, "A randomized trial of social
      media from Circulation".

PMID- 25825407
TI  - Response to letters regarding article, "A randomized trial of social media from
      Circulation".

PMID- 25825408
TI  - IAP antagonization promotes inflammatory destruction of vascular endothelium.
AB  - In this study, we show for the first time that the therapeutic antagonization of
      inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) inhibits B16 melanoma growth by disrupting
      tumor vasculature. Specifically, the treatment of mice bearing B16 melanoma with
      an IAP antagonist compound A (Comp A) inhibits tumor growth not by inducing
      direct cytotoxicity against B16 cells but rather by a hitherto unrecognized
      antiangiogenic activity against tumor vessels. Our detailed analysis showed that
      Comp A treatment induces NF-kappaB activity in B16 tumor cells and facilitates
      the production of TNF. In the presence of Comp A, endothelial cells (ECs) become
      highly susceptible to TNF and undergo apoptotic cell death. Accordingly, the
      antiangiogenic and growth-attenuating effects of Comp A treatment were completely
      abolished in TNF-R knockout mice. This novel targeting approach could be of
      clinical value in controlling pathological neoangiogenesis under inflammatory
      condition while sparing blood vessels under normal condition. 

PMID- 25825409
TI  - The BMA should apply itself to solving the NHS's productivity problem.

PMID- 25825410
TI  - High-sensitivity cardiac troponin I and B-type natriuretic Peptide as predictors
      of vascular events in primary prevention: impact of statin therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiac troponin and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentrations
      are associated with adverse cardiovascular outcome in primary prevention
      populations. Whether statin therapy modifies this association is poorly
      understood. METHODS AND RESULTS: We measured high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I
      (hsTnI) in 12 956 and BNP in 11 076 participants without cardiovascular disease
      in the Justification for the Use of Statins in Prevention: An Intervention Trial
      Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER) trial before randomization to rosuvastatin 20
      mg/d or placebo. Nearly 92% of participants had detectable circulating hsTnI, and
      2.9% of men and 4.1% of women had levels above proposed sex-specific reference
      limits of 36 and 15 ng/L, respectively. hsTnI concentrations in the highest
      tertile were associated with a first major cardiovascular event (adjusted hazard
      ratio [aHR], 2.19; 95% confidence interval, 1.56-3.06; P for trend <0.001). BNP
      levels in the highest tertile were also associated a first cardiovascular event
      (aHR, 1.94; 95% confidence interval, 1.41-2.68; P for trend <0.001). The risk of
      all-cause mortality was elevated for the highest versus the lowest tertiles of
      hsTnI (aHR, 2.61; 95% confidence interval, 1.81-3.78; P for trend <0.001) and BNP
      (aHR, 1.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-2.04; P for trend 0.02). Rosuvastatin
      was equally effective in preventing a first cardiovascular event across
      categories of hsTnI (aHR range, 0.50-0.60) and BNP (aHR range, 0.42-0.67) with no
      statistically significant evidence of interaction (P for interaction=0.53 and
      0.20, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: In a contemporary primary prevention
      population, baseline cardiac troponin I and BNP were associated with the risk of
      vascular events and all-cause mortality. The benefits of rosuvastatin were
      substantial and consistent regardless of baseline hsTnI or BNP concentrations.
      CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique
      identifier: NCT00239681.

PMID- 25825411
TI  - Child development assessment tools in low-income and middle-income countries: how
      can we use them more appropriately?
AB  - Global emphasis has shifted beyond reducing child survival rates to improving
      health and developmental trajectories in childhood. Optimum early childhood
      experience is believed to allow children to benefit fully from educational
      opportunities resulting in improved human capital. Investment in early childhood
      initiatives in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) is increasing.
      These initiatives use early childhood developmental assessment tools (CDATs) as
      outcome measures. CDATs are also key measures in the evaluation of programmatic
      health initiatives in LMICs, influencing public health policy. Interpretation of
      CDAT outcomes requires understanding of their structure and psychometric
      properties. This article reviews the structure and main methods of CDAT
      development with specific considerations when applied in LMICs. 

PMID- 25825412
TI  - Review of toxicity and trends in the use of tiagabine as reported to US poison
      centers from 2000 to 2012.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tiagabine is a novel antiepileptic that acts by increasing synaptic
      and extracellular gamma-aminobutyric acid concentrations. Information concerning
      overdose of tiagabine is limited. After introduction, an increasing number of off
      label uses suggested that tiagabine use would increase. However in 2005 and 2008,
      warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were issued on the risk of
      seizures in non-epileptic and increased suicide ideation. We evaluated the
      temporal trends associated with these two warnings as well as clinical outcomes
      from tiagabine overdose. METHOD: A retrospective review of all single substance
      tiagabine exposures in National Poison Data System (NPDS) from 2000 to 2012.
      RESULTS: A total of 2147 patients had ingested tiagabine, with a mean of 165
      year(-1). This was disproportionally distributed, with a steep rise leading up to
      2004 (max 559 year(-1)) and then a significant decline (p < 0.05) between 2005
      and 2006. The number of cases reported to NPDS mirrored the sales of tiagabine.
      Clinical effects were predominantly neurological, with the most commonly reported
      effects being drowsiness (27%), agitation (19%), confusion (12%), seizures (11%),
      and tachycardia (10%). In all, 758 patients (35%) showed a major or moderate
      medical outcome, with no deaths reported. A disproportionate share of the major
      outcomes was in the suicide attempt group (73%). The majority of patients (75%)
      were treated in a health-care facility (HCF). CONCLUSIONS: The HCF usage is
      likely due to high rate of symptomatic patients (59%) and the large proportion of
      suicide attempt cases. The frequency of tiagabine cases in NPDS mirrored
      pharmaceutical sales, with steep declines temporally related to the 2005 FDA
      warning.

PMID- 25825413
TI  - The impact of high fructose on cardiovascular system: Role of alpha-lipoic acid.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of alpha-lipoic acid (alpha-LA) on
      oxidative damage and inflammation that occur in endothelium of aorta and heart
      while constant consumption of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The rats were
      randomly divided into three groups with each group containing eight rats. The
      groups include HFCS, HFCS + alpha-LA treatment, and control. HFCS was given to
      the rats at a ratio of 30% of F30 corn syrup in drinking water for 10 weeks.
      alpha-LA treatment was given to the rats at a dose of 100 mg/kg/day orally for
      the last 6 weeks. At the end of the experiment, the rats were killed by cervical
      dislocation. The blood samples were collected for biochemical studies, and the
      aortic and cardiac tissues were collected for evaluation of oxidant-antioxidant
      system, tissue bath, and pathological examination. HFCS had increased the levels
      of malondialdehyde, creatine kinase MB, lactate dehydrogenase, and uric acid and
      showed significant structural changes in the heart of the rats by histopathology.
      Those changes were improved by alpha-LA treatment as it was found in this
      treatment group. Immunohistochemical expressions of tumor necrosis factor alpha
      and inducible nitric oxide synthase were increased in HFCS group, and these
      receptor levels were decreased by alpha-LA treatment. All the tissue bath studies
      supported these findings. Chronic consumption of HFCS caused several problems
      like cardiac and endothelial injury of aorta by hyperuricemia and induced
      oxidative stress and inflammation. alpha-LA treatment reduced uric acid levels,
      oxidative stress, and corrected vascular responses. alpha-LA can be added to
      cardiac drugs due to its cardiovascular protective effects against the
      cardiovascular diseases. 

PMID- 25825414
TI  - Authors' reply to Honeyford and colleagues and Roland.

PMID- 25825415
TI  - Chinese nurses' perceived barriers and facilitators of ethical sensitivity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An overview of ethical sensitivity among Chinese registered nurses is
      needed to develop and optimize the education programs and interventions to
      cultivate and improve ethical sensitivity. AIM: The study was conducted to
      explore the barriers to and facilitators of ethical sensitivity among Chinese
      registered nurses working in hospital settings. RESEARCH DESIGN: A convergent
      parallel mixed-methods research design was adopted. PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH
      CONTEXT: In the cross-sectional quantitative study, the Chinese Moral Sensitivity
      Questionnaire-revised version was used to assess the levels of ethical
      sensitivity among registered nurses, and the scores were correlated with key
      demographics, training experiences in ethics, and workplace cultural environments
      (n = 306). In the qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were used to
      elicit the nurses' perceptions of the barriers and facilitators in nurturing
      ethical sensitivity (n = 15). The data were collected from February to June 2014.
      ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: This study was approved by the Institutional Review
      Boards of Yale University and Central South University. RESULTS: Despite
      moderately high overall Chinese Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire-revised version
      scores, the ethical sensitivity among Chinese nurses lags in practice. Barriers
      to ethical sensitivity include the lack of knowledge related to ethics, lack of
      working experience as a nurse, the hierarchical organizational climate, and the
      conformist working attitude. The positive workplace cultural environments and
      application of ethical knowledge in practice were considered potential
      facilitators of ethical sensitivity. DISCUSSION: The findings of this study were
      compared with studies from other countries to examine the barriers and
      facilitators of ethical sensitivity in Chinese nurses. CONCLUSION: This mixed
      methods study showed that even though the Chinese nurses have moderately high
      sensitivity to the ethical issues encountered in hospitals, there is still room
      for improvement. The barriers to and facilitators of ethical sensitivity
      identified here offer new and important strategies to support and enhance the
      nurses' sensitivity to ethical issues.

PMID- 25825416
TI  - Need for a comprehensive national survey of cannabis use.

PMID- 25825417
TI  - Study may not be the best approach to assessing link between QOF and premature
      death.

PMID- 25825418
TI  - An Unexpected Foreign Body: A Hypopharyngeal Ant.

PMID- 25825419
TI  - Friction characteristics of trocars in laparoscopic surgery.
AB  - This article investigates the friction characteristics of the instrument-trocar
      interface in laparoscopic surgery for varying linear instrument velocities,
      trocar seal design and material, and trocar tilt. Furthermore, the effect of
      applying lubrication at the instrument-trocar seal interface on friction was
      studied. A friction testing apparatus was designed and built to characterise the
      resistance force at the instrument-trocar interface as a function of the
      instrument's linear movement in the 12-mm trocar (at constant velocity) for
      different design, seal material, and angle of tilt. The resistance force depended
      on the trocar seal design and material properties, specifically surface
      roughness, elasticity, hardness, the direction of movement, and the instrument
      linear velocity, and varied between 0.25 and 8 N. Lubricating the shaft with
      silicone oil reduced the peak resistance force by 75% for all trocars and
      eliminated the stick-slip phenomenon evident in non-lubricated cases. The
      magnitude of fluctuation in resistance force depends on the trocar design and is
      attributed to stick-slip of the sealing mechanism and is generally higher during
      retraction in comparison to insertion. Trocars that have an inlet seal made of
      rubber/polyurethane showed higher resistance forces during retraction. Use of a
      lubricant significantly reduced frictional effects. Comparisons of the
      investigated trocars indicate that a low friction port, providing the surgeon
      with improved haptic feedback, can be designed by improving the tribological
      properties of the trocar seal interface.

PMID- 25825420
TI  - Commentary on: Long-term follow-up of cadaveric breast augmentation: what can we
      learn?

PMID- 25825421
TI  - The efficacy of botulinum toxin A in post-mastectomy breast reconstruction: a
      pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Botulinum toxin A has been successfully used in a variety of areas to
      temporarily obliterate muscle mobility for either functional or aesthetic gain.
      Tissue expander-based breast reconstruction has been plagued with pain and
      discomfort. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the role
      of a neurotoxin (Botulinum toxin A) in expander-based breast reconstruction.
      METHODS: Thirty patients underwent mastectomies with immediate expander or
      acellular dermal matrix reconstruction. The neurotoxin group (n = 15) received 40
      units of neurotoxin (Botulinum toxin A, Allergan, Inc, Irvine, CA) into each
      pectoralis major muscle through 4 serial injections and the placebo group (n =
      15) received 4 serial injections of 0.9% NaCl. All patients were followed over 1
      year, and patient demographics, VAS (visual analog score), laterality, office
      visits, amount of expansion and number of times to full expansion, and amount of
      narcotics required were recorded. Statistical significance was considered as p <
      .05. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the two groups in
      terms of age, laterality, expander size, or complications (p = .46-.66). There
      was a significant difference between the two groups in the VAS score,
      demonstrating decreased pain in the neurotoxin group (p < .05). In addition,
      there was a significant increase in the volume of expansion per visit in the
      neurotoxin group as compared to the placebo group (p < .05). There was no
      significant difference in narcotic use in the first 3 days after surgery;
      however, there was a significant decrease in use of narcotics from 7 to 45 days
      in the neurotoxin group (p < .05). There were no complications associated with
      the use of the neurotoxin. CONCLUSIONS: The infiltration of the pectoralis major
      muscle with neurotoxin in immediate, expander-based reconstruction may be
      beneficial in reducing pain and expediting expansions.

PMID- 25825422
TI  - Sebum Production Alteration after Botulinum Toxin Type A Injections for the
      Treatment of Forehead Rhytides: A Prospective Randomized Double-Blind Dose
      Comparative Clinical Investigation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Research has investigated the decrease in human skin sebum after the
      application of botulinum toxin. Few studies of the mechanism and objective
      assessments of this phenomenon have been conducted and the correlation between
      the sebum production and injection dosages or techniques remains unclear.
      OBJECTIVES: We prospectively investigated the sebum regulation and its gradient
      around the injection site in patients who received intramuscular injections of
      botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) for forehead rhytides, comparing two injection doses.
      METHODS: Forty-two female volunteers with rhytides on the forehead region were
      randomly assigned to receive 10 or 20 units of BTX-A, which was administered in
      five standard injection sites. The baseline and post-treatment sebum production
      was measured using a Sebumeter. RESULTS: Treatment with BTX-A exhibited
      significant sebum alteration at the injection site of both groups, with a sebum
      gradient surrounding the injection point. The efficacy did not improve at higher
      injection doses, with the four-unit regimen generally not being more potent than
      the two-unit regimen. The sebum production recovered to normal levels at the 16
      week follow-up for both treatment groups, indicating that a higher dosage (four
      units) did not result in a longer duration until relapse compared with the two
      unit dose. CONCLUSIONS: We determined that the sebum production has a positive
      correlation with the distance away from the injection point. Intramuscular
      injection of BTX-A significantly reduces sebum production at the injection site
      but increases the sebum production of the surrounding skin at a radius of 2.5 cm
      at the 2, 4, and 8 week follow-ups. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 2 Therapeutic.

PMID- 25825423
TI  - Long-term follow-up of cadaveric breast augmentation: what can we learn?
AB  - Breast augmentation with cadaveric fat graft has long been available to patients
      in Eastern European countries, primarily in the Soviet Union and Eastern Germany.
      Most such procedures were performed from the 1970s to the 1990s. Although only a
      few case reports have been published, all of which involved complications that
      appeared several years after the procedure, it appears that, surprisingly, this
      nonvascularized and incompatible immunologic tissue is relatively well tolerated.
      We present the case of a 45-year-old Russian woman who underwent breast
      explantation, due to breast hardness and pain, 15 years after breast augmentation
      with cadaveric fat grafting. Through genetic studies, we confirmed that the host
      and the graft were HLA incompatible. Moreover, results of analyses excluded the
      possibility of an acute or chronic immunologic rejection by the host. We suppose
      that the early complications that often occur in such cases might result from a
      nonspecific, inflammatory reaction induced by acute tissue ischemia and necrosis,
      and the late local complications that occur years later may relate more to
      chronic inflammation, due to nonvascularized tissue, than to immunologic
      rejection. Therefore, we propose that different mechanisms may explain how this
      allogenic fat tissue could have been tolerated by the patient's immune system. We
      particularly underline the immunomodulatory effect of mesenchymal stem cells,
      which are abundant in adipose tissues. This characteristic of fat tissue should
      be investigated further to assess its potential in treating autoimmune diseases
      or reducing the likelihood of allograft rejections.

PMID- 25825424
TI  - Is ketorolac safe to use in plastic surgery? A critical review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ketorolac tromethamine is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug
      (NSAID) that provides postoperative pain control and reduces narcotic
      requirements. However, concerns regarding postoperative hematoma have limited its
      use in plastic surgery. OBJECTIVES: Our goal is to critically review the risk of
      bleeding with ketorolac in plastic surgery patients, with a focus on aesthetic
      surgery. METHODS: A PubMed/Medline literature search of clinical trials using the
      keywords "surgery" and "NSAID" yielded 2574 results. Of these results, 1036
      included ketorolac and twelve involved plastic surgery patients. Six studies
      reported postoperative hematoma rates: three prospective randomized trials, two
      retrospective reviews, and one case series. These were subjected to statistical
      analysis to determine if an association existed between ketorolac and
      postoperative hematomas. RESULTS: Six papers reported 981 cases. Ketorolac use
      resulted in similar hematoma rates when compared to control groups, 2.5% (12 of
      483) versus 2.4% (12 of 498), respectively (P = .79). There were no reported
      hematomas associated with ketorolac in over 115 patients undergoing aesthetic
      facial procedures. Hematoma rates of those undergoing aesthetic breast surgery,
      including reduction and augmentation mammoplasties, were 4.3% (11 of 257) in the
      ketorolac group versus 2.2% (6 of 277) in controls (P = .59). Reduction in
      postoperative narcotic use and improved pain scores was also reported.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our literature review did not find a significant association between
      hematoma formation and ketorolac use in a variety of plastic surgery procedures.
      These findings are similar to those in other surgical subspecialties.

PMID- 25825425
TI  - Plant NB-LRR proteins: tightly regulated sensors in a complex manner.
AB  - As plants are sessile, they have evolved hundreds of resistance (R) genes to
      defend themselves against multiple pathogens. Most of plant R genes encode
      proteins with the nucleotide-binding and leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) domains
      that interact with pathogen effectors to induce defense responses. Recent
      findings describing R proteins structures, host interactors and transcriptional
      and posttranscriptional regulators have broadened our understanding of R gene
      activity regulation. Genome-wide analyses of NB-LRR genes are useful for
      identifying host and nonhost R genes and elucidating complex resistance
      mechanisms. This review provides an overview of the functions of identified NB
      LRRs and intra- and intermolecular R gene regulators. 

PMID- 25825426
TI  - Inhibition of Cell Differentiation in Bacillus subtilis by Pseudomonas protegens.
AB  - Interspecies interactions have been described for numerous bacterial systems,
      leading to the identification of chemical compounds that impact bacterial
      physiology and differentiation for processes such as biofilm formation. Here, we
      identified soil microbes that inhibit biofilm formation and sporulation in the
      common soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis. We did so by creating a reporter strain
      that fluoresces when the transcription of a biofilm-specific gene is repressed.
      Using this reporter in a coculture screen, we identified Pseudomonas putida and
      Pseudomonas protegens as bacteria that secrete compounds that inhibit biofilm
      gene expression in B. subtilis. The active compound produced by P. protegens was
      identified as the antibiotic and antifungal molecule 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol
      (DAPG). Colonies of B. subtilis grown adjacent to a DAPG-producing P. protegens
      strain had altered colony morphologies relative to B. subtilis colonies grown
      next to a DAPG-null P. protegens strain (phlD strain). Using a subinhibitory
      concentration of purified DAPG in a pellicle assay, we saw that biofilm-specific
      gene transcription was delayed relative to transcription in untreated samples.
      These transcriptional changes also corresponded to phenotypic alterations: both
      biofilm biomass and spore formation were reduced in B. subtilis liquid cultures
      treated with subinhibitory concentrations of DAPG. Our results add DAPG to the
      growing list of antibiotics that impact bacterial development and physiology at
      subinhibitory concentrations. These findings also demonstrate the utility of
      using coculture as a means to uncover chemically mediated interspecies
      interactions between bacteria. IMPORTANCE: Biofilms are communities of bacteria
      adhered to surfaces by an extracellular matrix; such biofilms can have important
      effects in both clinical and agricultural settings. To identify chemical
      compounds that inhibited biofilm formation, we used a fluorescent reporter to
      screen for bacteria that inhibited biofilm gene expression in Bacillus subtilis.
      We identified Pseudomonas protegens as one such bacterium and found that the
      biofilm-inhibiting compound it produces was the antibiotic 2,4
      diacetylphloroglucinol (DAPG). We showed that even at subinhibitory
      concentrations, DAPG inhibits biofilm formation and sporulation in B. subtilis.
      These findings have potential implications for understanding the interactions
      between these two microbes in the natural world and support the idea that many
      compounds considered antibiotics can impact bacterial development at
      subinhibitory concentrations.

PMID- 25825427
TI  - Basal Body Structures Differentially Affect Transcription of RpoN- and FliA
      Dependent Flagellar Genes in Helicobacter pylori.
AB  - Flagellar biogenesis in Helicobacter pylori is regulated by a transcriptional
      hierarchy governed by three sigma factors, RpoD (sigma(80)), RpoN (sigma(54)),
      and FliA (sigma(28)), that temporally coordinates gene expression with the
      assembly of the flagellum. Previous studies showed that loss of flagellar protein
      export apparatus components inhibits transcription of flagellar genes. The
      FlgS/FlgR two-component system activates transcription of RpoN-dependent genes
      though an unknown mechanism. To understand better the extent to which flagellar
      gene regulation is coupled to flagellar assembly, we disrupted flagellar
      biogenesis at various points and determined how these mutations affected
      transcription of RpoN-dependent (flaB and flgE) and FliA-dependent (flaA) genes.
      The MS ring (encoded by fliF) is one of the earliest flagellar structures
      assembled. Deletion of fliF resulted in the elimination of RpoN-dependent
      transcripts and an ~4-fold decrease in flaA transcript levels. FliH is a
      cytoplasmic protein that functions with the C ring protein FliN to shuttle
      substrates to the export apparatus. Deletions of fliH and genes encoding C ring
      components (fliM and fliY) decreased transcript levels of flaB and flgE but had
      little or no effect on transcript levels of flaA. Transcript levels of flaB and
      flgE were elevated in mutants where genes encoding rod proteins (fliE and flgBC)
      were deleted, while transcript levels of flaA was reduced ~2-fold in both
      mutants. We propose that FlgS responds to an assembly checkpoint associated with
      the export apparatus and that FliH and one or more C ring component assist FlgS
      in engaging this flagellar structure. IMPORTANCE: The mechanisms used by bacteria
      to couple transcription of flagellar genes with assembly of the flagellum are
      poorly understood. The results from this study identified components of the H.
      pylori flagellar basal body that either positively or negatively affect
      expression of RpoN-dependent flagellar genes. Some of these basal body proteins
      may interact directly with regulatory proteins that control transcription of the
      H. pylori RpoN regulon, a hypothesis that can be tested by examining protein
      protein interactions in vitro.

PMID- 25825428
TI  - The Matrix Reloaded: Probing the Extracellular Matrix Synchronizes Bacterial
      Communities.
AB  - In response to chemical communication, bacterial cells often organize themselves
      into complex multicellular communities that carry out specialized tasks. These
      communities are frequently referred to as biofilms, which involve collective
      behavior of different cell types. Like cells of multicellular eukaryotes, the
      biofilm cells are surrounded by self-produced polymers that constitute the
      extracellular matrix (ECM), which binds them to each other and to the surface. In
      multicellular eukaryotes, it has been evident for decades that cell-ECM
      interactions control multiple cellular processes during development. While cells,
      both in biofilms and in multicellular eukaryotes, are surrounded by ECM and
      activate various genetic programs, until recently it has been unclear whether
      cell-ECM interactions are recruited in bacterial communicative behaviors. In this
      review, we will describe the examples reported thus far for ECM involvement in
      control of cell behavior throughout the different stages of biofilm formation.
      The studies presented in this review provide a newly emerging perspective of the
      bacterial ECM as an active player in regulation of biofilm development.

PMID- 25825429
TI  - A Homology Model Reveals Novel Structural Features and an Immunodominant Surface
      Loop/Opsonic Target in the Treponema pallidum BamA Ortholog TP_0326.
AB  - We recently demonstrated that TP_0326 is a bona fide rare outer membrane protein
      (OMP) in Treponema pallidum and that it possesses characteristic BamA bipartite
      topology. Herein, we used immunofluorescence analysis (IFA) to show that only the
      beta-barrel domain of TP_0326 contains surface-exposed epitopes in intact T.
      pallidum. Using the solved structure of Neisseria gonorrhoeae BamA, we generated
      a homology model of full-length TP_0326. Although the model predicts a typical
      BamA fold, the beta-barrel harbors features not described in other BamAs.
      Structural modeling predicted that a dome comprised of three large extracellular
      loops, loop 4 (L4), L6, and L7, covers the barrel's extracellular opening. L4,
      the dome's major surface-accessible loop, contains mainly charged residues, while
      L7 is largely neutral and contains a polyserine tract in a two-tiered
      conformation. L6 projects into the beta-barrel but lacks the VRGF/Y motif that
      anchors L6 within other BamAs. IFA and opsonophagocytosis assay revealed that L4
      is surface exposed and an opsonic target. Consistent with B cell epitope
      predictions, immunoblotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
      confirmed that L4 is an immunodominant loop in T. pallidum-infected rabbits and
      humans with secondary syphilis. Antibody capture experiments using Escherichia
      coli expressing OM-localized TP_0326 as a T. pallidum surrogate further
      established the surface accessibility of L4. Lastly, we found that a naturally
      occurring substitution (Leu(593) -> Gln(593)) in the L4 sequences of T. pallidum
      strains affects antibody binding in sera from syphilitic patients. Ours is the
      first study to employ a "structure-to-pathogenesis" approach to map the surface
      topology of a T. pallidum OMP within the context of syphilitic infection.
      IMPORTANCE: Previously, we reported that TP_0326 is a bona fide rare outer
      membrane protein (OMP) in Treponema pallidum and that it possesses the bipartite
      topology characteristic of a BamA ortholog. Using a homology model as a guide, we
      found that TP_0326 displays unique features which presumably relate to its
      function(s) in the biogenesis of T. pallidum's unorthodox OM. The model also
      enabled us to identify an immunodominant epitope in a large extracellular loop
      that is both an opsonic target and subject to immune pressure in a human
      population. Ours is the first study to follow a structure-to-pathogenesis
      approach to map the surface topology of a T. pallidum rare OMP within the context
      of syphilitic infection.

PMID- 25825430
TI  - Abbreviated Pathway for Biosynthesis of 2-Thiouridine in Bacillus subtilis.
AB  - The 2-thiouridine (s(2)U) modification of the wobble position in glutamate,
      glutamine, and lysine tRNA molecules serves to stabilize the anticodon structure,
      improving ribosomal binding and overall efficiency of the translational process.
      Biosynthesis of s(2)U in Escherichia coli requires a cysteine desulfurase (IscS),
      a thiouridylase (MnmA), and five intermediate sulfur-relay enzymes (TusABCDE).
      The E. coli MnmA adenylates and subsequently thiolates tRNA to form the s(2)U
      modification. Bacillus subtilis lacks IscS and the intermediate sulfur relay
      proteins, yet its genome contains a cysteine desulfurase gene, yrvO, directly
      adjacent to mnmA. The genomic synteny of yrvO and mnmA combined with the absence
      of the Tus proteins indicated a potential functionality of these proteins in
      s(2)U formation. Here, we provide evidence that the B. subtilis YrvO and MnmA are
      sufficient for s(2)U biosynthesis. A conditional B. subtilis knockout strain
      showed that s(2)U abundance correlates with MnmA expression, and in vivo
      complementation studies in E. coli IscS- or MnmA-deficient strains revealed the
      competency of these proteins in s(2)U biosynthesis. In vitro experiments
      demonstrated s(2)U formation by YrvO and MnmA, and kinetic analysis established a
      partnership between the B. subtilis proteins that is contingent upon the presence
      of ATP. Furthermore, we observed that the slow-growth phenotype of E. coli
      DeltaiscS and DeltamnmA strains associated with s(2)U depletion is recovered by
      B. subtilis yrvO and mnmA. These results support the proposal that the
      involvement of a devoted cysteine desulfurase, YrvO, in s(2)U synthesis bypasses
      the need for a complex biosynthetic pathway by direct sulfur transfer to MnmA.
      IMPORTANCE: The 2-thiouridine (s(2)U) modification of the wobble position in
      glutamate, glutamine, and lysine tRNA is conserved in all three domains of life
      and stabilizes the anticodon structure, thus guaranteeing fidelity in
      translation. The biosynthesis of s(2)U in Escherichia coli requires seven
      proteins: the cysteine desulfurase IscS, the thiouridylase MnmA, and five
      intermediate sulfur-relay enzymes (TusABCDE). Bacillus subtilis and most Gram
      positive bacteria lack a complete set of biosynthetic components. Interestingly,
      the mnmA coding sequence is located adjacent to yrvO, encoding a cysteine
      desulfurase. In this work, we provide evidence that the B. subtilis YrvO is able
      to transfer sulfur directly to MnmA. Both proteins are sufficient for s(2)U
      biosynthesis in a pathway independent of the one used in E. coli.

PMID- 25825431
TI  - Oxygen-Dependent Cell-to-Cell Variability in the Output of the Escherichia coli
      Tor Phosphorelay.
AB  - Escherichia coli senses and responds to trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) in the
      environment through the TorT-TorS-TorR signal transduction system. The
      periplasmic protein TorT binds TMAO and stimulates the hybrid kinase TorS to
      phosphorylate the response regulator TorR through a phosphorelay. Phosphorylated
      TorR, in turn, activates transcription of the torCAD operon, which encodes the
      proteins required for anaerobic respiration via reduction of TMAO to
      trimethylamine. Interestingly, E. coli respires TMAO in both the presence and
      absence of oxygen, a behavior that is markedly different from the utilization of
      other alternative electron acceptors by this bacterium. Here we describe an
      unusual form of regulation by oxygen for this system. While the average level of
      torCAD transcription is the same for aerobic and anaerobic cultures containing
      TMAO, the behavior across the population of cells is strikingly different under
      the two growth conditions. Cellular levels of torCAD transcription in aerobic
      cultures are highly heterogeneous, in contrast to the relatively homogeneous
      distribution in anaerobic cultures. Thus, oxygen regulates the variance of the
      output but not the mean for the Tor system. We further show that this oxygen
      dependent variability stems from the phosphorelay. IMPORTANCE: Trimethylamine-N
      oxide (TMAO) is utilized by numerous bacteria as an electron acceptor for
      anaerobic respiration. In E. coli, expression of the proteins required for TMAO
      respiration is tightly regulated by a signal transduction system that is
      activated by TMAO. Curiously, although oxygen is the energetically preferred
      electron acceptor, TMAO is respired even in the presence of oxygen. Here we
      describe an interesting and unexpected form of regulation for this system in
      which oxygen produces highly variable expression of the TMAO utilization proteins
      across a population of cells without affecting the mean expression of these
      proteins. To our knowledge, this is the first reported example of a stimulus
      regulating the variance but not the mean output of a signaling system.

PMID- 25825432
TI  - RNase III-Independent Autogenous Regulation of Escherichia coli Polynucleotide
      Phosphorylase via Translational Repression.
AB  - The complex posttranscriptional regulation mechanism of the Escherichia coli pnp
      gene, which encodes the phosphorolytic exoribonuclease polynucleotide
      phosphorylase (PNPase), involves two endoribonucleases, namely, RNase III and
      RNase E, and PNPase itself, which thus autoregulates its own expression. The
      models proposed for pnp autoregulation posit that the target of PNPase is a
      mature pnp mRNA previously processed at its 5' end by RNase III, rather than the
      primary pnp transcript (RNase III-dependent models), and that PNPase activity
      eventually leads to pnp mRNA degradation by RNase E. However, some published data
      suggest that pnp expression may also be regulated through a PNPase-dependent,
      RNase III-independent mechanism. To address this issue, we constructed isogenic
      Deltapnp rnc(+) and Deltapnp Deltarnc strains with a chromosomal pnp-lacZ
      translational fusion and measured beta-galactosidase activity in the absence and
      presence of PNPase expressed by a plasmid. Our results show that PNPase also
      regulates its own expression via a reversible RNase III-independent pathway
      acting upstream from the RNase III-dependent branch. This pathway requires the
      PNPase RNA binding domains KH and S1 but not its phosphorolytic activity. We
      suggest that the RNase III-independent autoregulation of PNPase occurs at the
      level of translational repression, possibly by competition for pnp primary
      transcript between PNPase and the ribosomal protein S1. IMPORTANCE: In
      Escherichia coli, polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase, encoded by pnp)
      posttranscriptionally regulates its own expression. The two models proposed so
      far posit a two-step mechanism in which RNase III, by cutting the leader region
      of the pnp primary transcript, creates the substrate for PNPase regulatory
      activity, eventually leading to pnp mRNA degradation by RNase E. In this work, we
      provide evidence supporting an additional pathway for PNPase autogenous
      regulation in which PNPase acts as a translational repressor independently of
      RNase III cleavage. Our data make a new contribution to the understanding of the
      regulatory mechanism of pnp mRNA, a process long since considered a paradigmatic
      example of posttranscriptional regulation at the level of mRNA stability.

PMID- 25825433
TI  - Genome Modification in Enterococcus faecalis OG1RF Assessed by Bisulfite
      Sequencing and Single-Molecule Real-Time Sequencing.
AB  - Enterococcus faecalis is a Gram-positive bacterium that natively colonizes the
      human gastrointestinal tract and opportunistically causes life-threatening
      infections. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) E. faecalis strains have emerged, reducing
      treatment options for these infections. MDR E. faecalis strains have large
      genomes containing mobile genetic elements (MGEs) that harbor genes for
      antibiotic resistance and virulence determinants. Bacteria commonly possess
      genome defense mechanisms to block MGE acquisition, and we hypothesize that these
      mechanisms have been compromised in MDR E. faecalis. In restriction-modification
      (R-M) defense, the bacterial genome is methylated at cytosine (C) or adenine (A)
      residues by a methyltransferase (MTase), such that nonself DNA can be
      distinguished from self DNA. A cognate restriction endonuclease digests
      improperly modified nonself DNA. Little is known about R-M in E. faecalis. Here,
      we use genome resequencing to identify DNA modifications occurring in the oral
      isolate OG1RF. OG1RF has one of the smallest E. faecalis genomes sequenced to
      date and possesses few MGEs. Single-molecule real-time (SMRT) and bisulfite
      sequencing revealed that OG1RF has global 5-methylcytosine (m5C) methylation at
      5'-GCWGC-3' motifs. A type II R-M system confers the m5C modification, and
      disruption of this system impacts OG1RF electrotransformability and conjugative
      transfer of an antibiotic resistance plasmid. A second DNA MTase was poorly
      expressed under laboratory conditions but conferred global N(4)-methylcytosine
      (m4C) methylation at 5'-CCGG-3' motifs when expressed in Escherichia coli. Based
      on our results, we conclude that R-M can act as a barrier to MGE acquisition and
      likely influences antibiotic resistance gene dissemination in the E. faecalis
      species. IMPORTANCE: The horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes among
      bacteria is a critical public health concern. Enterococcus faecalis is an
      opportunistic pathogen that causes life-threatening infections in humans.
      Multidrug resistance acquired by horizontal gene transfer limits treatment
      options for these infections. In this study, we used innovative DNA sequencing
      methodologies to investigate how a model strain of E. faecalis discriminates its
      own DNA from foreign DNA, i.e., self versus nonself discrimination. We also
      assess the role of an E. faecalis genome modification system in modulating
      conjugative transfer of an antibiotic resistance plasmid. These results are
      significant because they demonstrate that differential genome modification
      impacts horizontal gene transfer frequencies in E. faecalis.

PMID- 25825435
TI  - Regulation by the modulation of gene expression variability.
AB  - Classically, transcription is regulated so that the average expression per cell
      changes, often with a distribution that extends across the population. Roggiani
      and Goulian (M. Roggiani and M. Goulian, J. Bacteriol. 197:1976-1987, 2015,
      doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JB.00074-15) have shown that this is what happens
      when the torCAD operon of Escherichia coli is induced anaerobically by the
      addition of trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). However, when the same inducer is
      added to aerobically growing cells, only a subset of the cells respond, although
      the mean expression per cell is similar to that obtained anaerobically. Thus, in
      the presence of oxygen, the variance but not the expression mean is altered. The
      regulation of gene expression variance appears to be due to noise in the
      phosphorelay that governs torCAD transcription. 

PMID- 25825434
TI  - Role of Bacillus subtilis DNA Glycosylase MutM in Counteracting Oxidatively
      Induced DNA Damage and in Stationary-Phase-Associated Mutagenesis.
AB  - Reactive oxygen species (ROS) promote the synthesis of the DNA lesion 8-oxo-G,
      whose mutagenic effects are counteracted in distinct organisms by the DNA
      glycosylase MutM. We report here that in Bacillus subtilis, mutM is expressed
      during the exponential and stationary phases of growth. In agreement with this
      expression pattern, results of a Western blot analysis confirmed the presence of
      MutM in both stages of growth. In comparison with cells of a wild-type strain,
      cells of B. subtilis lacking MutM increased their spontaneous mutation frequency
      to Rif(r) and were more sensitive to the ROS promoter agents hydrogen peroxide
      and 1,1'-dimethyl-4,4'-bipyridinium dichloride (Paraquat). However, despite
      MutM's proven participation in preventing ROS-induced-DNA damage, the expression
      of mutM was not induced by hydrogen peroxide, mitomycin C, or NaCl, suggesting
      that transcription of this gene is not under the control of the RecA, PerR, or
      sigma(B) regulons. Finally, the role of MutM in stationary-phase-associated
      mutagenesis (SPM) was investigated in the strain B. subtilis YB955 (hisC952 metB5
      leuC427). Results revealed that under limiting growth conditions, a mutM knockout
      strain significantly increased the amount of stationary-phase-associated his,
      met, and leu revertants produced. In summary, our results support the notion that
      the absence of MutM promotes mutagenesis that allows nutritionally stressed B.
      subtilis cells to escape from growth-limiting conditions. IMPORTANCE: The present
      study describes the role played by a DNA repair protein (MutM) in protecting the
      soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis from the genotoxic effects induced by reactive
      oxygen species (ROS) promoter agents. Moreover, it reveals that the genetic
      inactivation of mutM allows nutritionally stressed bacteria to escape from growth
      limiting conditions, putatively by a mechanism that involves the accumulation and
      error-prone processing of oxidized DNA bases.

PMID- 25825436
TI  - Sca-1+Lin-CD117- mesenchymal stem/stromal cells induce the generation of novel
      IRF8-controlled regulatory dendritic cells through Notch-RBP-J signaling.
AB  - Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) can influence the destiny of hematopoietic
      stem/progenitor cells (HSCs) and exert broadly immunomodulatory effects on immune
      cells. However, how MSCs regulate the differentiation of regulatory dendritic
      cells (regDCs) from HSCs remains incompletely understood. In this study, we show
      that mouse bone marrow-derived Sca-1(+)Lin(-)CD117(-) MSCs can drive HSCs to
      differentiate into a novel IFN regulatory factor (IRF)8-controlled regDC
      population (Sca(+) BM-MSC-driven DC [sBM-DCs]) when cocultured without exogenous
      cytokines. The Notch pathway plays a critical role in the generation of the sBM
      DCs by controlling IRF8 expression in an RBP-J-dependent way. We observed a high
      level of H3K27me3 methylation and a low level of H3K4me3 methylation at the Irf8
      promoter during sBM-DC induction. Importantly, infusion of sBM-DCs could
      alleviate colitis in mice with inflammatory bowel disease by inhibiting
      lymphocyte proliferation and increasing the numbers of CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T
      cells. Thus, these data infer a possible mechanism for the development of regDCs
      and further support the role of MSCs in treating immune disorders. 

PMID- 25825437
TI  - Impaired dendritic cell function in a spontaneous autoimmune polyneuropathy.
AB  - Spontaneous autoimmune polyneuropathy (SAP) in B7-2 knockout NOD mice mimics the
      progressive form of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy,
      and is mediated by myelin protein zero (P0)-reactive Th1 cells. In this study, we
      focused on the effect of B7-2 deletion on the function of dendritic cells (DCs)
      within the context of SAP. We found that development of SAP was associated with a
      preponderance or increase of CD11b(+) DCs in peripheral lymph nodes and sciatic
      nerves. B7-2 deletion led to altered immunophenotypic properties that differ
      between CD11b(+) DCs and CD8alpha(+) DCs. Both DC subsets from B7-2 knockout NOD
      mice exhibited impaired capacity to capture fluorophore-labeled myelin P0, but
      diminished Ag-presenting function was observed only in CD11b(+) DCs. Clinical
      assessment, electrophysiologic studies, and splenocyte proliferation studies
      revealed that absence of B7-2 on DCs was sufficient to cause impaired ability to
      induce tolerance to P0, which could be overcome by preconditioning with IL-10.
      Tolerance induction by Ag-pulsed wild-type NOD DCs was dependent on IL-10 and was
      associated with increased CD4(+) regulatory T cells, whereas tolerance induction
      by IL-10-conditioned B7-2-deficient DCs was associated with increased percentages
      of both regulatory T cells and B10 cells in the spleen. We conclude that B7-2
      deletion has an impact on the distribution of DC subsets in lymphoid organs and
      alters the expression of costimulatory molecules, but functional consequences are
      not uniform across DC subsets. Defective tolerance induction in the absence of B7
      2 can be restored by preconditioning of DCs with IL-10. 

PMID- 25825438
TI  - Epitope-specific CD8+ T cell kinetics rather than viral variability determine the
      timing of immune escape in simian immunodeficiency virus infection.
AB  - CD8(+) T cells are important for the control of chronic HIV infection. However,
      the virus rapidly acquires "escape mutations" that reduce CD8(+) T cell
      recognition and viral control. The timing of when immune escape occurs at a given
      epitope varies widely among patients and also among different epitopes within a
      patient. The strength of the CD8(+) T cell response, as well as mutation rates,
      patterns of particular amino acids undergoing escape, and growth rates of escape
      mutants, may affect when escape occurs. In this study, we analyze the epitope
      specific CD8(+) T cells in 25 SIV-infected pigtail macaques responding to three
      SIV epitopes. Two epitopes showed a variable escape pattern and one had a highly
      monomorphic escape pattern. Despite very different patterns, immune escape occurs
      with a similar delay of on average 18 d after the epitope-specific CD8(+) T cells
      reach 0.5% of total CD8(+) T cells. We find that the most delayed escape occurs
      in one of the highly variable epitopes, and that this is associated with a delay
      in the epitope-specific CD8(+) T cells responding to this epitope. When we
      analyzed the kinetics of immune escape, we found that multiple escape mutants
      emerge simultaneously during the escape, implying that a diverse population of
      potential escape mutants is present during immune selection. Our results suggest
      that the conservation or variability of an epitope does not appear to affect the
      timing of immune escape in SIV. Instead, timing of escape is largely determined
      by the kinetics of epitope-specific CD8(+) T cells. 

PMID- 25825439
TI  - SNX17 affects T cell activation by regulating TCR and integrin recycling.
AB  - A key component in T cell activation is the endosomal recycling of receptors to
      the cell surface, thereby allowing continual integration of signaling and Ag
      recognition. One protein potentially involved in TCR transport is sorting nexin
      17 (SNX17). SNX proteins have been found to bind proteins involved in T cell
      activation, but specifically the role of SNX17 in receptor recycling and T cell
      activation is unknown. Using immunofluorescence, we find that SNX17 colocalizes
      with TCR and localizes to the immune synapse in T- conjugates. Significantly,
      knockdown of the SNX17 resulted in fewer T-APC conjugates, lower CD69, TCR, and
      LFA-1 surface expression, as well as lower overall TCR recycling compared with
      control T cells. Lastly, we identified the 4.1/ezrin/radixin/moesin domain of
      SNX17 as being responsible in the binding and trafficking of TCR and LFA-1 to the
      cell surface. These data suggest that SNX17 plays a role in the maintenance of
      normal surface levels of activating receptors and integrins to permit optimum T
      cell activation at the immune synapse. 

PMID- 25825440
TI  - IL-18 triggered by the Nlrp3 inflammasome induces host innate resistance in a
      pulmonary model of fungal infection.
AB  - Pathogens are sensed by innate immune receptors that initiate an efficient
      adaptive immune response upon activation. The elements of the innate immune
      recognition process for Paracoccidioides brasiliensis include TLR-2, TLR-4, and
      dectin-1. However, there are additional receptors necessary for the host immune
      responses to P. brasiliensis. The nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like
      receptor (NLRs), which activate inflammasomes, are candidate receptors that
      deserve renewed investigation. After pathogen infection, the NLRs form large
      signaling platforms called inflammasomes, which lead to caspase-1 activation and
      maturation of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-18 and IL-1beta). In this study, we
      showed that NLR family pyrin domain-containing 3 (Nlrp3) is required to induce
      caspase-1 activation and further secretion of IL-1beta and IL-18 by P.
      brasiliensis-infected macrophages. Additionally, potassium efflux and lysosomal
      acidification induced by the fungus were important steps in the caspase-1
      activation mechanism. Notably, Nlrp3 and caspase-1 knockout mice were more
      susceptible to infection than were the wild-type animals, suggesting that the
      Nlrp3-dependent inflammasomes contribute to host protection against P.
      brasiliensis. This protective effect occurred owing to the inflammatory response
      mediated by IL-18, as shown by an augmented fungus burden in IL-18 knockout mice.
      Taken together, our results show that the Nlrp3 inflammasome is essential for
      resistance against P. brasiliensis because it orchestrates robust caspase-1
      activation and triggers an IL-18-dependent proinflammatory response. 

PMID- 25825441
TI  - Phosphatase PTPN4 preferentially inhibits TRIF-dependent TLR4 pathway by
      dephosphorylating TRAM.
AB  - TLR4 recruits TRIF-related adaptor molecule (TRAM, also known as TICAM2) as a
      sorting adaptor to facilitate the interaction between TLR4 and TRIF and then
      initiate TRIF-dependent IRF3 activation. However, the mechanisms by which TRAM
      links downstream molecules are not fully elucidated. In this study, we show that
      TRAM undergoes tyrosine phosphorylation upon TLR4 activation and that is required
      for TLR4-induced IRF3 activation. Protein tyrosine phosphatase nonreceptor type 4
      (PTPN4), a protein tyrosine phosphatase, inhibits tyrosine phosphorylation and
      subsequent cytoplasm translocation of TRAM, resulting in the disturbance of TRAM
      TRIF interaction. Consequently, PTPN4 specifically inhibits TRIF-dependent IRF3
      activation and IFN-beta production in TLR4 pathway. Therefore, our results
      provide new insight into the TLR4 pathway and identify PTPN4 as a specific
      inhibitor of TRIF-dependent TLR4 pathway. Targeting PTPN4 would be beneficial for
      the development of new strategy to control TLR4-associated diseases without
      unwanted side effects. 

PMID- 25825442
TI  - A unique mouse strain that develops spontaneous, iodine-accelerated, pathogenic
      antibodies to the human thyrotrophin receptor.
AB  - Abs that stimulate the thyrotropin receptor (TSHR), the cause of Graves'
      hyperthyroidism, only develop in humans. TSHR Abs can be induced in mice by
      immunization, but studying pathogenesis and therapeutic intervention requires a
      model without immunization. Spontaneous, iodine-accelerated, thyroid autoimmunity
      develops in NOD.H2(h4) mice associated with thyroglobulin and thyroid-peroxidase,
      but not TSHR, Abs. We hypothesized that transferring the human TSHR A-subunit to
      NOD.H2(h4) mice would result in loss of tolerance to this protein. BALB/c human
      TSHR A-subunit mice were bred to NOD.H2(h4) mice, and transgenic offspring were
      repeatedly backcrossed to NOD.H2(h4) mice. All offspring developed Abs to
      thyroglobulin and thyroid-peroxidase. However, only TSHR-transgenic NOD.H2(h4)
      mice (TSHR/NOD.H2(h4)) developed pathogenic TSHR Abs as detected using clinical
      Graves' disease assays. As in humans, TSHR/NOD.H2(h4) female mice were more prone
      than male mice to developing pathogenic TSHR Abs. Fortunately, in view of the
      confounding effect of excess thyroid hormone on immune responses, spontaneously
      arising pathogenic human TSHR Abs cross-react poorly with the mouse TSHR and do
      not cause thyrotoxicosis. In summary, the TSHR/NOD.H2(h4) mouse strain develops
      spontaneous, iodine-accelerated, pathogenic TSHR Abs in female mice, providing a
      unique model to investigate disease pathogenesis and test novel TSHR Ag-specific
      immunotherapies aimed at curing Graves' disease in humans. 

PMID- 25825443
TI  - Newly recruited CD11b+, GR-1+, Ly6C(high) myeloid cells augment tumor-associated
      immunosuppression immediately following the therapeutic administration of
      oncolytic reovirus.
AB  - Tumor-associated immunosuppression aids cancer cells to escape immune-mediated
      attack and subsequent elimination. Recently, however, many oncolytic viruses,
      including reovirus, have been reported to overturn such immunosuppression and
      promote the development of a clinically desired antitumor immunity, which is
      known to promote favorable patient outcomes. Contrary to this existing paradigm,
      in this article we demonstrate that reovirus augments tumor-associated
      immunosuppression immediately following its therapeutic administration. Our data
      show that reovirus induces preferential differentiation of highly suppressive
      CD11b(+), Gr-1(+), Ly6C(high) myeloid cells from bone marrow hematopoietic
      progenitor cells. Furthermore, reovirus administration in tumor-bearing hosts
      drives time-dependent recruitment of CD11b(+), Gr-1(+), Ly6C(high) myeloid cells
      in the tumor milieu, which is further supported by virus-induced increased
      expression of numerous immune factors involved in myeloid-derived suppressor cell
      survival and trafficking. Most importantly, CD11b(+), Gr-1(+), Ly6C(high) myeloid
      cells specifically potentiate the suppression of T cell proliferation and are
      associated with the absence of IFN-gamma response in the tumor microenvironment
      early during oncotherapy. Considering that the qualitative traits of a specific
      antitumor immunity are largely dictated by the immunological events that precede
      its development, our findings are of critical importance and must be considered
      while devising complementary interventions aimed at promoting the optimum
      efficacy of oncolytic virus-based anticancer immunotherapies. 

PMID- 25825444
TI  - Coordinated expression of DNAM-1 and LFA-1 in educated NK cells.
AB  - The functional capacity of NK cells is dynamically tuned by integrated signals
      from inhibitory and activating cell surface receptors in a process termed NK cell
      education. However, the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms
      behind this functional tuning is limited. In this study, we show that the
      expression of the adhesion molecule and activation receptor DNAX accessory
      molecule 1 (DNAM-1) correlates with the quantity and quality of the inhibitory
      input by HLA class I-specific killer cell Ig-like receptors and CD94/NKG2A as
      well as with the magnitude of functional responses. Upon target cell recognition,
      the conformational state of LFA-1 changed in educated NK cells, associated with
      rapid colocalization of both active LFA-1 and DNAM-1 at the immune synapse. Thus,
      the coordinated expression of LFA-1 and DNAM-1 is a central component of NK cell
      education and provides a potential mechanism for controlling cytotoxicity by
      functionally mature NK cells. 

PMID- 25825445
TI  - Suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 is a positive regulator of TGF-beta-induced
      prostaglandin production in human follicular dendritic cell-like cells.
AB  - PGs are emerging as important immune modulators. Since our report on the
      expression of PG synthases in human follicular dendritic cells, we investigated
      the potential immunoregulatory function of PGs and their production mechanisms.
      In this study, we explored the intracellular signaling molecules mediating TGF
      beta-induced cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 augmentation in follicular dendritic cell
      like cells. TGF-beta triggered phosphorylation of Smad3 and ERK, which were
      essential for the increase in COX-2 protein. Interestingly, depletion of
      suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) resulted in an almost complete
      inhibition of Smad3 phosphorylation and COX-2 induction. Nuclear translocation of
      Smad3 was inhibited in SOCS1-depleted cells. SOCS1 knockdown also downregulated
      TGF-beta-stimulated Snail expression and its binding to the Cox-2 promoter. In
      contrast, overexpression of SOCS1 gave rise to a significant increase in Snail
      and COX-2 proteins. SOCS1 was reported to be a negative regulator of cytokine
      signaling by various investigators. However, our current data suggest that SOCS1
      promotes TGF-beta-induced COX-2 expression and PG production by facilitating
      Smad3 phosphorylation and Snail binding to the Cox-2 promoter. The complete
      understanding of the biological function of SOCS1 might be obtained via extensive
      studies with diverse cell types. 

PMID- 25825446
TI  - IL-10 critically modulates B cell responsiveness in Rankl-/- mice.
AB  - The immune and the skeletal system are tightly interconnected, and B lymphocytes
      are uniquely endowed with osteo-interactive properties. In this context, receptor
      activator of NF-kappaB (RANK) ligand (RANKL) plays a pivotal role in lymphoid
      tissue formation and bone homeostasis. Although murine models lacking RANK or
      RANKL show defects in B cell number, the role of the RANKL-RANK axis on B
      physiology is still a matter of debate. In this study, we have characterized in
      detail B cell compartment in Rankl(-/-) mice, finding a relative expansion of
      marginal zone B cells, B1 cells, and plasma cells associated with increased Ig
      serum levels, spontaneous germinal center formation, and hyperresponse to CD40
      triggering. Such abnormalities were associated with an increased frequency of
      regulatory B cells and augmented B cell-derived IL-10 production. Remarkably, in
      vivo IL-10-R blockade reduced T cell-triggered plasma cell differentiation and
      restrained the expansion of regulatory B cells. These data point to a novel role
      of the RANKL-RANK axis in the regulation of B cell homeostasis and highlight an
      unexpected link between IL-10 CD40 signaling and the RANKL pathway. 

PMID- 25825447
TI  - Defects in regulatory T cells due to CD28 deficiency induce a qualitative change
      of allogeneic immune response in chronic graft-versus-host disease.
AB  - In patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation, chronic
      graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) remains a frequent complication and resembles
      autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis.
      Our previous work demonstrated the critical role of CD28 costimulation of donor T
      cells for GVHD induction. In this study, we investigate the role of CD28
      costimulation of host T cells in cGVHD. CD28-intact mice as hosts showed systemic
      lupus erythematosus-type cGVHD, whereas CD28-deficient mice developed a distinct
      phenotype of cGVHD, with fibrotic damage in skin and internal organs, resembling
      systemic sclerosis. This phenotype was due to a lack of signaling through the C
      terminal proline-rich motif within host CD28's cytoplasmic tail, a motif
      previously shown to be required for development of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and
      function of conventional T cells. Adoptive transfer experiments demonstrated that
      a defect in host CD4(+)CD25(+) Tregs, but not in conventional T cells, was
      responsible for disease phenotype. Host Treg deficiency altered the cytokine
      pattern of donor CD4(+) T cells and the Ag specificity of autoantibodies, and
      these might lead to phenotypic change. Thus, host CD28 signaling controlled the
      pathogenesis of cGVHD through effects on host Tregs, whose status impacts
      qualitatively on the allogeneic immune responses. 

PMID- 25825448
TI  - Effect of TLR agonists on the differentiation and function of human monocytic
      myeloid-derived suppressor cells.
AB  - Tumors persist by occupying immunosuppressive microenvironments that inhibit the
      activity of tumoricidal T and NK cells. Monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor
      cells (mMDSC) are an important component of this immunosuppressive milieu. We
      find that the suppressive activity of mMDSC isolated from cancer patients can be
      reversed by treatment with TLR7/8 agonists, which induce human mMDSC to
      differentiate into tumoricidal M1-like macrophages. In contrast, agonists
      targeting TLR1/2 cause mMDSC to mature into immunosuppressive M2-like
      macrophages. These two populations of macrophage are phenotypically and
      functionally discrete and differ in gene expression profile. The ability of
      TLR7/8 agonists to reverse mMDSC-mediated immune suppression suggests that they
      might be useful adjuncts for tumor immunotherapy. 

PMID- 25825449
TI  - SAMHD1 degradation enhances active suppression of dendritic cell maturation by
      HIV-1.
AB  - A hallmark of HIV-1 infection is the lack of sterilizing immunity. Dendritic
      cells (DCs) are crucial in the induction of immunity, and lack of DC activation
      might underlie the absence of an effective anti-HIV-1 response. We have
      investigated how HIV-1 infection affects maturation of DCs. Our data show that
      even though DCs are productively infected by HIV-1, infection does not induce DC
      maturation. HIV-1 infection actively suppresses DC maturation, as HIV-1 infection
      inhibited TLR-induced maturation of DCs and thereby decreased the immune
      stimulatory capacity of DCs. Interfering with SAMHD1 restriction further
      increased infection of DCs, but did not lead to DC maturation. Notably, higher
      infection observed with SAMHD1 depletion correlated with a stronger suppression
      of maturation. Furthermore, blocking reverse transcription rescued TLR-induced
      maturation. These data strongly indicate that HIV-1 replication does not trigger
      immune activation in DCs, but that HIV-1 escapes immune surveillance by actively
      suppressing DC maturation independent of SAMHD1. Elucidation of the mechanism of
      suppression can lead to promising targets for therapy or vaccine design. 

PMID- 25825450
TI  - Ability to develop broadly neutralizing HIV-1 antibodies is not restricted by the
      germline Ig gene repertoire.
AB  - The human Ig repertoire is vast, producing billions of unique Abs from a limited
      number of germline Ig genes. The IgH V region (IGHV) is central to Ag binding and
      consists of 48 functional genes. In this study, we analyzed whether HIV-1
      infected individuals who develop broadly neutralizing Abs show a distinctive
      germline IGHV profile. Using both 454 and Illumina technologies, we sequenced the
      IGHV repertoire of 28 HIV-infected South African women from the Centre for the
      AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) 002 and 004 cohorts, 13 of
      whom developed broadly neutralizing Abs. Of the 259 IGHV alleles identified in
      this study, approximately half were not found in the International Immunogenetics
      Database (IMGT). This included 85 entirely novel alleles and 38 alleles that
      matched rearranged sequences in non-IMGT databases. Analysis of the rearranged H
      chain V region genes of mAbs isolated from seven of these women, as well as
      previously isolated broadly neutralizing Abs from other donors, provided evidence
      that at least eight novel or non-IMGT alleles contributed to functional Abs.
      Importantly, we found that, despite a wide range in the number of IGHV alleles in
      each individual, including alleles used by known broadly neutralizing Abs, there
      were no significant differences in germline IGHV repertoires between individuals
      who do and do not develop broadly neutralizing Abs. This study reports novel IGHV
      repertoires and highlights the importance of a fully comprehensive Ig database
      for germline gene usage prediction. Furthermore, these data suggest a lack of
      genetic bias in broadly neutralizing Ab development in HIV-1 infection, with
      positive implications for HIV vaccine design. 

PMID- 25825451
TI  - Programmed cell death 1 and Helios distinguish TCR-alphabeta+ double-negative
      (CD4-CD8-) T cells that derive from self-reactive CD8 T cells.
AB  - TCR-alphabeta(+) double-negative (DN; CD4(-)CD8(-)) T cells represent a poorly
      understood cellular subset suggested to contribute to the pathogenesis of the
      autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus. DN T cells have been proposed to
      derive from CD8(+) cells. However, the conditions that govern the loss of CD8
      expression after Ag encounter are unknown. In this study, we tracked the fate of
      CD8 T cells from transgenic TCR mice exposed to their cognate Ags as self or in
      the context of infection. We demonstrate that CD8 T cells lose CD8 expression and
      become DN only when cognate Ag is sensed as self. This process is restricted to
      tissues where the Ag is present. We also show that DN T cells derived from self
      reactive CD8 cells express the inhibitory molecules PD-1 and Helios. These
      molecules identify a subset of DN T cells in normal mice. A similar population
      expands when CD8 T cells from repertoires enriched in self-reactive cells (Aire
      deficient) are transferred into cognate hosts. Collectively, our data suggest
      that a subset of DN T cells, identified by the expression of PD-1 and Helios,
      represent self-reactive cells. Our results provide an explanation for the origin
      of DN T cells and introduce CD8 loss as a process associated with self-Ag
      encounter. 

PMID- 25825452
TI  - Epigenetic downregulation of SFRP4 contributes to epidermal hyperplasia in
      psoriasis.
AB  - Psoriasis is a chronic recurrent inflammatory skin disorder characterized by the
      dysregulated cross-talk between epidermal keratinocytes and immune cells, leading
      to keratinocyte hyperproliferation. Several studies demonstrated that Wnt pathway
      genes were differentially expressed in psoriatic plaques and likely were involved
      in the pathophysiology of disease. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying
      Wnt signaling regulation in epidermal hyperplasia in psoriasis remain largely
      unknown. We report that the expression of secreted frizzled-related protein
      (SFRP) 4, a negative regulator of the Wnt signaling pathway, was diminished in
      lesional skin of mouse models and patients with psoriasis. SFRP4 directly
      inhibited excessive keratinocyte proliferation evoked by proinflammatory
      cytokines in vitro. Pharmacological inhibition of Wnt signaling or intradermal
      injection of SFRP4 decreased the severity of the psoriasiform skin phenotype in
      vivo, including decreased acanthosis and reduced leukocyte infiltration.
      Mechanistically, we identified that aberrant promoter methylation resulted in
      epigenetic downregulation of SFRP4 in inflamed skin of patients with psoriasis
      and in the IL-23-induced mouse model. Our findings suggest that this epigenetic
      event is critically involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, and the
      downregulation of SFRP4 by CpG island methylation is one possible mechanism
      contributing to the hyperplasia of epidermis in the disease. 

PMID- 25825453
TI  - A survey of tools for analysing DNA fingerprints.
AB  - DNA fingerprinting is a genetic typing technique that allows the analysis of the
      genomic relatedness between samples, and the comparison of DNA patterns. This
      technique has multiple applications in different fields (medical diagnosis,
      forensic science, parentage testing, food industry, agriculture and many others).
      An important task in molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases is the
      analysis and comparison of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns. This
      is applied to determine the clonal diversity of bacteria in the follow-up of
      outbreaks or for tracking specific clones of special relevance. The resulting
      images produced by DNA fingerprinting are sometimes difficult to interpret, and
      multiple tools have been developed to simplify this task. In this article, we
      present a survey of tools for analysing DNA fingerprints. In particular, we
      compare 33 tools using a set of predefined criteria. The comparison was carried
      out by hands-on experiences-whenever possible-and inspecting the documentation of
      the tools. As no system is preferred in all the possible scenarios, we have
      created a spreadsheet that can be customized by researchers to determine the best
      system for their needs.

PMID- 25825454
TI  - Depressed mood amplifies heart-related symptoms in persistent and paroxysmal
      atrial fibrillation patients: a longitudinal analysis--data from the German
      Competence Network on Atrial Fibrillation.
AB  - AIMS: There is limited evidence of an association between the burden of atrial
      fibrillation (AF)-related symptoms and depressed mood (DM). We used follow-up
      data from two randomized trials to relate AF symptoms, perceived AF burden, and
      DM. METHODS AND RESULTS: Baseline data on 319 persistent AF patients from the
      Flec-SL trial and 244 paroxysmal AF patients from the ANTIPAF trial were
      available. Data on 400 patients were available at 6-month follow-up. Depressed
      mood was measured using the major depression inventory, AF symptoms using the AF
      Symptom Checklist. Generalized estimating equation models were used to assess the
      association between symptom burden and DM. At baseline, 194 patients (35.2%)
      reported DM, 294 (52.2%) reported severe AF symptom burden. Burden from all
      symptoms except fainting was significantly elevated in patients with DM. An
      improvement in DM from baseline to follow-up was associated with reduced symptom
      burden [odds ratio (OR) = 2.06; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.22-3.51].
      Patients with DM had three-fold increased odds of severe symptom burden after
      adjustment for perceived AF-frequency and -duration, sex, and chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disorder (COPD) (OR = 3.19; 95% CI: 2.65-8.45). Women reported
      significantly more severe symptom burden than men (OR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.36-1.95).
      Uneasiness, nausea, and shortness of breath were most strongly associated with
      DM. The effect of DM on nausea was more pronounced for men (P(interaction) =
      0.041). Perceived AF-frequency and -duration were not associated with DM (P =
      0.717 and 0.236, respectively). CONCLUSION: Depressed mood is associated with AF
      symptom burden over 6 months after adjustment for perceived frequency and
      duration of AF episodes, COPD, and sex.

PMID- 25825455
TI  - Various mechanisms and clinical phenotypes in electrical short circuits of high
      voltage devices: report of four cases and review of the literature.
AB  - AIMS: An electrical short circuit is a rare complication in a high-voltage
      implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). However, the inability of an ICD to
      deliver appropriate shock therapy can be life-threatening. METHODS AND RESULTS:
      During the last 2 years, four cases of serious complications related to an
      electrical short circuit have been reported in Japan. A spark due to an
      electrical short circuit resulted in the failure of an ICD shock to terminate
      ventricular tachycardia and total damage to the ICD generator in three of four
      cases. Two of the four patients died from an electrical short circuit between the
      right ventricle and superior vena cava (SVC) leads. The others had audible sounds
      from the ICD generator site and were diagnosed with a lead-to-can abrasion, which
      was manifested by the arc mark on the surface of the can. CONCLUSION: It is still
      difficult to predict the occurrence of an electrical short circuit in current ICD
      systems. To reduce the probability of an electrical short circuit, we suggest the
      following: (i) avoid lead stress at ICD implantation, (ii) select a single-coil
      lead instead of a dual-coil lead, or (iii) use a unique algorithm which
      automatically disconnect can or SVC lead from shock deliver circuit when
      excessive current was detected.

PMID- 25825456
TI  - Dual LQT1 and HCM phenotypes associated with tetrad heterozygous mutations in
      KCNQ1, MYH7, MYLK2, and TMEM70 genes in a three-generation Chinese family.
AB  - AIMS: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) mainly results from autosomal-dominant
      inherited single heterozygous mutations in cardiac sarcomere genes. Contributions
      of multiple gene mutations to disease heterogeneity in a three-generation family
      were investigated. METHODS: Clinical, electrocardiographic (ECG), and
      echocardiographic examination in members of a three-generation Chinese family was
      followed by exon and boarding intron analysis of 96 genes in the proband using
      second-generation sequencing. The identified mutations were confirmed by bi
      directional Sanger sequencing in all family members and 300 healthy controls.
      RESULTS: Four missense mutations were detected in the family. These were two
      novel MYH7-H1717Q and MYLK2-K324E mutations accompanied by the KCNQ1-R190W and
      TMEM70-I147T mutations. The proband carried all four mutations and showed
      overlapping HCM and LQT1 phenotypes. Five family members each carried two
      mutations. Subject II-2 only carried TMEM70-I147T. MYH7-H1717Q and TMEM70-I147T
      came from the paternal side, whereas KCNQ1-R190W and MYLK2-K324E came from the
      maternal side. Left ventricle mass indices in MYH7-H1717Q carriers were
      significantly higher than in non-H1717Q carriers (90.05 +/- 7.33 g/m(2), 63.20 +/
      4.53 g/m(2), respectively, P < 0.01). Four KCNQ1-R190W carriers showed QTc
      intervals that were significantly more prolonged than those in non-R190W carriers
      (472.25 +/- 16.18 and 408.50 +/- 7.66 ms, respectively, P < 0.05). All MYLK2
      K324E carriers showed inverted ECG T waves. The subject with only a TMEM70-I147T
      mutation showed normal ECG and echocardiographs, suggesting that this had less
      pathological effects at least in this family. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate dual
      LQT1 and HCM phenotypes in this multiple LQT1- and HCM-related gene mutation
      carrier family for the first time and suggest that LQT-related gene mutations
      associate with QT interval prolongation and/or arrhythmia in HCM patients.

PMID- 25825457
TI  - Electrical superior vena cava isolation using photodynamic therapy in a canine
      model.
AB  - AIMS: With the new era of multi-tip radiofrequency or balloon ablation catheters
      replacing the point-to-point ablation strategy, we aimed to determine the
      feasibility of a ring-laser catheter ablation technology to electrically isolate
      the superior vena cava (SVC) by exploring the advantages of the limitless
      catheter tip size possibly with the photodynamic therapy (PDT)-mediated ablation.
      METHODS AND RESULTS: We developed a first-generation prototype of a circular
      laser-mapping catheter by fitting a 7 cm plastic optical fibre onto a circular
      variable-loop LassoTM mapping catheter. Following SVC venography, both the laser
      catheter and another ring catheter for monitoring the SVC potentials were placed
      at the SVC. After the systemic infusion of a photosensitizer (talaporfin sodium),
      we initiated the irradiation with an output of 1 W in three canines and 0.3 W in
      four. The creation of electrical isolation as well as occurrence of phrenic nerve
      injury, sinus node injury, and SVC stenosis were evaluated before, immediately
      after, and 1 month after the procedure. A PDT-mediated SVC isolation was
      successfully performed in all seven canines. The isolation was completed with a
      laser irradiation of 70.4 +/- 71.4 J/cm under 30.9 +/- 5.0 ug/mL of a
      photosensitizer without any sinus node injury, phrenic nerve palsy, or SVC
      stenosis in both the acute and chronic evaluations. The minimum isolation time of
      270 s was not correlated with the laser input power or the photosensitizer
      concentration. CONCLUSION: The electrical SVC isolation was successfully and
      instantly achieved using the PDT laser-ring catheter without any complications.

PMID- 25825458
TI  - An unusual case of oleandrin poisoning suggesting its possible antiarrhythmic
      activity.

PMID- 25825459
TI  - Changes in left ventricular synchrony and systolic function in dilated
      cardiomyopathy patients with fragmented QRS complexes.
AB  - AIMS: Fragmented QRS (f-QRS) complexes are associated with adverse cardiovascular
      events in patients with coronary heart disease; however, the effects on patients
      with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) remain elusive. This study is to investigate
      the changes of left ventricular (LV) synchrony and systolic function in DCM
      patients with f-QRS complexes. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty DCM patients with f
      QRS complexes and 29 DCM patients without f-QRS (n-QRS) complexes were enrolled.
      The LV segmental longitudinal, radial and circumferential time to peak strain and
      general longitudinal systolic strain, radial strain, circumferential strain were
      measured, respectively, by speckle tracking imaging. The LV segmental standard
      deviations and maximal differences were also calculated. The LV dyssynchrony was
      defined as the time in peak anteroseptal wall to posterior wall strain >130 ms or
      longitudinal strain delay index >25%. The mean QRS durations in f-QRS and n-QRS
      groups were not different (P = ns). The incidence of LV dyssynchrony was 15/20
      (75%) vs. 5/29 (17%) in two groups (P < 0.01). Two patients died of sudden death
      in f-QRS group during 2 years follow-up; however, no death in n-QRS group (P <
      0.05). Patients in f-QRS group showed worsening LV dyssynchrony in f-QRS group
      after 2 years follow-up (P < 0.05). Overall, LV function was comparable at
      baseline (P = ns), but had significantly worsened only in the f-QRS group (P <
      0.05). CONCLUSION: The f-QRS complex is significantly associated with LV
      dyssynchrony in DCM patients and can be used as a reliable index to evaluate
      ventricular synchrony and predict the prognosis in DCM patients with narrow QRS
      complexes.

PMID- 25825461
TI  - Left ventricular wall motion analysis to guide management of CRT non-responders.
AB  - AIMS: A discordant left ventricular (LV) lead position can be responsible for
      cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) non-response. In this study, tailored
      optimization of the individual LV wall motion was evaluated for the outcome in
      these patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: Two hundred and forty-six CRT outpatients
      were screened for non-response due to a discordant LV lead. In 17 patients, three
      dimensional data of fluoroscopic rotation scan and echocardiography were
      integrated to analyse the individual LV wall motion with respect to the LV lead
      position. Optimization was guided by the systolic dyssynchrony index (SDI) and LV
      ejection fraction (LVEF) during different interventricular (VV)-delay
      programming. If re-programming failed, implantation of a second LV lead was
      performed. A discordant or partly concordant LV lead position was found in nearly
      all patients (16/17, 94%), which contributed to an unchanged baseline amount of
      LV dyssynchrony with either CRT on or off (SDI 11.3 vs. 11.0%; P = 0.744). In the
      majority of patients, VV-delay re-programming achieved better resynchronization,
      4/17 patients needed implantation of a second LV lead. After 3 months,
      significant improvement of NYHA functional class (1 class; P = 0.004), peak
      oxygen consumption (10 vs. 13 mL/min/kg; P = 0.008), LVEF (27 vs. 39%; P =
      0.003), and SDI (11.0 vs. 5.8; P = 0.02) was observed. Clinical and
      echocardiographic responses were found in 77 and 59%, respectively, with even
      good results on long-term follow-up. CONCLUSION: Tailored optimization of the
      individual LV wall motion can lead to significant clinical and echocardiographic
      improvements in previous CRT non-responders with a discordant LV lead position.

PMID- 25825460
TI  - Arrhythmic risk assessment in genotyped families with arrhythmogenic right
      ventricular cardiomyopathy.
AB  - AIMS: Arrhythmogenic right-ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a genetically
      determined disorder, mostly caused by mutations in genes encoding desmosomal
      proteins. We evaluated phenotype/genotype characteristics to predict the risk for
      the first major arrhythmic event in desmosomal-mutation-associated ARVC families.
      METHODS AND RESULTS: A cohort of 105 desmosomal-mutation carriers belonging to 39
      consecutive ARVC families was evaluated. Serial clinical work-up consisting of
      history, physical examination, 12-lead/signal-averaged/24 h ambulatory ECG, and
      two-dimensional echocardiography was performed every 6-12 months. The predictive
      value of gender and genotype for the first major arrhythmic event was
      investigated within the cohort using time-to-event analysis.
      ECG/echocardiographic features were evaluated at the time of event and associated
      with the outcome using an age-matched nested case-control study within the
      cohort. Forty-three (41%) participants experienced the primary arrhythmic outcome
      at median age of 29 (21-46) years. The first event was sustained ventricular
      tachycardia in 31 and sudden cardiac death in 12. Definite diagnosis according to
      the 2010 Task Force criteria, showed 57% positive and 100% negative predictive
      value for the occurrence of arrhythmic outcome. Male gender (hazard ratio = 3.26,
      95%CI, 1.63-6.51), predicted the first major arrhythmic event, independently of
      genotype, on multivariable analysis. Repolarization abnormalities and left
      ventricular dysfunction independently associated with clinical disease profile at
      the time of event. CONCLUSION: Male gender, independently of genotype is an
      arrhythmic risk predictor in ARVC-associated desmosomal-mutation carriers.
      Repolarization abnormalities and left-ventricular dysfunction are important
      components of the first event-associated clinical disease profile.

PMID- 25825462
TI  - Men and women differ in their diurnal expression of monocyte peroxisome
      proliferator-activated receptor-alpha in the fed but not in the fasted state.
AB  - Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPARalpha) plays a pivotal role
      in regulating metabolic response to fasting and is an inhibitor of inflammatory
      pathways in immune cells. It represents a therapeutic target for treatment of
      several diseases, mainly hyperlipidemia. To shed light on PPARalpha expression
      changes in response to fasting, young healthy male and female volunteers were fed
      or fasted for 24 hours. Monocytes were analyzed every 2 hours to compile both
      profiles of mRNA and protein expression of PPARalpha and its interactive partner,
      the circadian pacemaker brain and muscle aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear
      translocator like-1 (BMAL1). We found that women change their diurnal expression
      profiles of PPARalpha and BMAL1 when switching from the fed to the fasted state,
      whereas men do not. Interestingly, the PPARalpha and BMAL1 profiles of men and
      women in the fed state are different, whereas the profiles in the fasted state
      are virtually identical. The finding of diametrically opposite responses of male
      and female PPARalpha expression in the fed state might have practical implication
      in human medicine as PPARalpha activators like fibrates are used for the therapy
      of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, microvascular complications in diabetes, and
      kidney diseases.

PMID- 25825464
TI  - Disseminated cystic lesions: a case of disseminated oligodendroglial-like
      leptomeningeal tumor.

PMID- 25825463
TI  - Evidence-based guideline summary: evaluation, diagnosis, and management of
      congenital muscular dystrophy: Report of the Guideline Development Subcommittee
      of the American Academy of Neurology and the Practice Issues Review Panel of the
      American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To delineate optimal diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to
      congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) through a systematic review and analysis of
      the currently available literature. METHODS: Relevant, peer-reviewed research
      articles were identified using a literature search of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and
      Scopus databases. Diagnostic and therapeutic data from these articles were
      extracted and analyzed in accordance with the American Academy of Neurology
      classification of evidence schemes for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic
      studies. Recommendations were linked to the strength of the evidence, other
      related literature, and general principles of care. RESULTS: The geographic and
      ethnic backgrounds, clinical features, brain imaging studies, muscle imaging
      studies, and muscle biopsies of children with suspected CMD help predict subtype
      specific diagnoses. Genetic testing can confirm some subtype-specific diagnoses,
      but not all causative genes for CMD have been described. Seizures and respiratory
      complications occur in specific subtypes. There is insufficient evidence to
      determine the efficacy of various treatment interventions to optimize
      respiratory, orthopedic, and nutritional outcomes, and more data are needed
      regarding complications. RECOMMENDATIONS: Multidisciplinary care by experienced
      teams is important for diagnosing and promoting the health of children with CMD.
      Accurate assessment of clinical presentations and genetic data will help in
      identifying the correct subtype-specific diagnosis in many cases. Multiorgan
      system complications occur frequently; surveillance and prompt interventions are
      likely to be beneficial for affected children. More research is needed to fill
      gaps in knowledge regarding this category of muscular dystrophies.

PMID- 25825465
TI  - Characteristic imaging findings in encephalocraniocutaneous lipomatosis.

PMID- 25825466
TI  - Naltrexone for impulse control disorders in Parkinson disease: a placebo
      controlled study.

PMID- 25825467
TI  - Right brain: the e-lephant in the room: one resident's challenge in transitioning
      to modern electronic medicine.

PMID- 25825468
TI  - About deep brain stimulation.

PMID- 25825469
TI  - Education research: a case-based bioethics curriculum for neurology residents.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In 2012, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) updated and expanded
      its ethics curriculum into Practical Ethics in Clinical Neurology, a case-based
      ethics curriculum for neurologists. METHODS: We piloted a case-based bioethics
      curriculum for neurology residents using the framework and topics recommended by
      the AAN, matched to clinical cases drawn from Columbia's neurologic services. Our
      primary outcome was residents' ability to analyze and manage ethically complex
      cases as measured on precurriculum and postcurriculum multiple-choice quizzes.
      Secondary outcomes included precurriculum and postcurriculum self-assessed
      comfort in discussing and managing ethically complex cases, as well as attendance
      at ethics discussion sessions as compared to attendance at other didactic
      sessions. RESULTS: Resident performance on quizzes improved from 75.8% to 86.7%
      (p = 0.02). Comfort in discussing ethically complex cases improved from 6.4 to
      7.4 on a 10-point scale (p = 0.03). Comfort in managing such cases trended toward
      improvement but did not reach statistical significance. Attendance was
      significantly better at ethics discussions (73.5%) than at other didactic
      sessions (61.7%, p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Our formal case-based ethics curriculum
      for neurology residents, based on core topics drawn from the AAN's published
      curricula, was successfully piloted. Our study showed a statistically significant
      improvement in residents' ability to analyze and manage ethically complex cases
      as measured by multiple-choice tests and self-assessments.

PMID- 25825470
TI  - Pearls & oy-sters: cerebral venous air embolism after central catheter removal:
      too much air can kill.

PMID- 25825471
TI  - Teaching neuroimages: optic nerve glioma with perineural arachnoid gliomatosis in
      a patient with neurofibromatosis-1.

PMID- 25825472
TI  - Changes in cognitive abilities after deep brain stimulation for Parkinson
      disease.

PMID- 25825473
TI  - Change in cell surface properties of Lactobacillus casei under heat shock
      treatment.
AB  - We undertake this study in the aim to give new insight about the change in
      cellular physiological state under heat shock treatment and probiotic strain
      screening procedure. Different cell properties have been studied like adhesive
      ability to biotic and abiotic surfaces, the cell surface hydrophobicity and the
      fatty acids profiles. Compared to the normal cells, the heated cells increased
      their adhesive ability to biotic surface. However, the adhesion to abiotic
      surface was decreased. The cell surface hydrophobicity of the heated strains
      showed a significant decrease (P < 0.05). Our data revealed that high temperature
      change the fatty acids profiles of the treated cells, especially the proportions
      of unsaturated and saturated fatty acid. In fact, the ratio of saturated to
      unsaturated fatty acids of the heated Lactobacillus casei cells was significantly
      higher than that of the control cells (P < 0.05). The present finding could
      firstly add new insight about the response of probiotic to stressful conditions,
      such us the important role of cell membrane, considered as the first main
      structure to be damaged by physicochemical stress, in stress resistance because
      of their composition that can change in adaptation to harsh conditions. Secondly,
      there is no relationship between changes in membrane composition and fluidity
      induced by heat shock treatment and adhesion to biotic and abiotic surface. 

PMID- 25825474
TI  - The unique characteristics of HOG pathway MAPKs in the extremely halotolerant
      Hortaea werneckii.
AB  - HwHog1A/B, Hortaea werneckii homologues of the MAP kinase Hog1 from Saccharomyces
      cerevisiae, are vital for the extreme halotolerance of H. werneckii. In
      mesophilic S. cerevisiae, Hog1 is phosphorylated already at low osmolyte
      concentrations, and regulates expression of a similar set of genes independent of
      osmolyte type. To understand how HwHog1 kinases activity is regulated in H.
      werneckii, we studied HwHog1A/B activation in vivo, by following phosphorylation
      of HwHog1A/B in H. werneckii exposed to various osmolytes, and in vitro, by
      measuring kinase activities of recombinant HwHog1A, HwHog1B and Hog1DeltaC. To
      this end, highly pure and soluble recombinant Hog1 homologues were isolated from
      insect cells. Our results demonstrate that HwHog1A/B are, in general, transiently
      phosphorylated in cells shocked with >=3 M osmolyte, yet constitutive
      phosphorylation is observed at extreme NaCl and KCl concentrations. Importantly,
      phosphorylation profiles differ depending on the osmolyte type. Additionally,
      phosphorylated recombinant HwHog1A/B show lower specific kinase activities
      compared to Hog1DeltaC. In summary, HOG pathway MAPKs in the extremely
      halotolerant H. werneckii show unique characteristics compared to S. cerevisiae
      homologues. The reported findings contribute to defining the key determinants of
      H. werneckii osmotolerance, which is important for its potential transfer to
      economically relevant microorganisms and crops. 

PMID- 25825475
TI  - Complete nucleotide sequence of phiCHU: a Luz24likevirus infecting Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa and displaying a unique host range.
AB  - A complete nucleotide sequence of the new Pseudomonas aeruginosa Luz24likevirus
      phiCHU was obtained. This virus was shown to have a unique host range whereby it
      grew poorly on the standard laboratory strain PAO1, but infected 26 of 46
      clinical isolates screened, and strains harbouring IncP2 plasmid pMG53. It was
      demonstrated that phiCHU has single-strand interruptions in its genome. Analysis
      of the phiCHU genome also suggested that recombination event(s) participated in
      the evolution of the leftmost portion of the genome, presumably encoding early
      genes. 

PMID- 25825476
TI  - Dual Blockade with AFatinib and Trastuzumab as NEoadjuvant Treatment for Patients
      with Locally Advanced or Operable Breast Cancer Receiving Taxane-Anthracycline
      Containing Chemotherapy-DAFNE (GBG-70).
AB  - PURPOSE: Dual anti-HER2 blockade with trastuzumab/pertuzumab or
      trastuzumab/lapatinib in combination with anthracycline/taxane-based chemotherapy
      can reach pathologic complete response (pCR) rates of up to 60% in HER2-positive
      breast cancer. The DAFNE (Dual blockade with AFatinib and trastuzumab as
      NEoadjuvant treatment) phase II study (NCT015591477) investigated a dual blockade
      with the irreversible pan-HER inhibitor afatinib and trastuzumab in this setting.
      EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Participants with untreated, centrally HER2-positive breast
      cancer were treated for 6 weeks with afatinib (20 mg/d) and trastuzumab [(8) 6
      mg/kg/3 weeks] alone; followed by 12-week treatment with paclitaxel (80 mg/m(2)/1
      week), trastuzumab, and afatinib; followed by 12 weeks with epirubicin (90
      mg/m(2)/3 weeks), cyclophosphamide (600 mg/m(2)/3 weeks), and trastuzumab before
      surgery. Primary objective was pCR rate, defined as ypT0/is ypN0. We expected a
      pCR rate of 70%; 65 patients were needed to exclude a rate of <=55%. RESULTS: pCR
      rate was 49.2% [90% confidence interval (CI), 38.5-60.1] in 65 treated patients.
      Patients with hormone receptor-negative (N = 19) or hormone receptor-positive (N
      = 46) tumors showed pCR rates of 63.2% and 43.5%, respectively (P = 0.153).
      Patients with (N = 9) or without (N = 56) lymphocyte predominant breast cancer
      (LPBC) showed pCR rates of 100% and 41.1%, respectively (P < 0.001). PCR rate was
      not different in patients with or without PIK3CA tumor mutations (P = 0.363).
      Clinical responses were seen in 96.3% of 54 evaluable patients, and breast
      conserving surgery was possible in 59.4% of 62 assessable patients. Most frequent
      nonhematologic grade 3-4 toxicities were diarrhea (7.7%), increased creatinine
      (4.6%), and infection (4.6%). One patient developed symptomatic congestive heart
      failure. CONCLUSIONS: Neoadjuvant treatment with afatinib, trastuzumab, and
      chemotherapy showed acceptable tolerability, and a pCR rate comparable with that
      of other anti-HER2 doublets but below challenging expectations.

PMID- 25825477
TI  - DNA Methylation Profiling in Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma Reveals
      Diagnostic and Prognostic Markers.
AB  - PURPOSE: Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL) are rare neuroendocrine
      tumors, associated with highly variable postoperative evolution. The scarcity of
      reliable PPGL prognostic markers continues to complicate patient management. In
      this study, we explored genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in the context of
      PPGL malignancy to identify novel prognostic markers. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We
      retrospectively investigated DNA methylation patterns in PPGL with and without
      metastases using high-throughput DNA methylation profiling data (Illumina 27K)
      from two large, well-characterized discovery (n = 123; 24 metastatic) and primary
      validation (n = 154; 24 metastatic) series. Additional validation of candidate
      CpGs was performed by bisulfite pyrosequencing in a second independent set of 33
      paraffin-embedded PPGLs (19 metastatic). RESULTS: Of the initial 86 candidate
      CpGs, we successfully replicated 52 (47 genes), associated with metastatic PPGL.
      Of these, 48 CpGs showed significant associations with time to progression even
      after correcting for SDHB genotype, suggesting their value as prognostic markers
      independent of genetic background. Hypermethylation of RDBP (negative elongation
      factor complex member E) in metastatic tumors was further validated by bisulfite
      pyrosequencing [Deltabetametastatic-benign = 0.29, P = 0.003; HR, 1.4; 95%
      confidence interval (CI), 1.1-2.0; P = 0.018] and may alter transcriptional
      networks involving (RERG, GPX3, and PDZK1) apoptosis, invasion, and maintenance
      of DNA integrity. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first large-scale study of DNA
      methylation in metastatic PPGL that identifies and validates prognostic markers,
      which could be used for stratifying patients according to risk of developing
      metastasis. Of the three CpGs selected for further validation, one (RDBP) was
      clearly confirmed and could be used for stratifying patients according to the
      risk of developing metastases.

PMID- 25825478
TI  - Multimerin-1 (MMRN1) as Novel Adverse Marker in Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia:
      A Report from the Children's Oncology Group.
AB  - PURPOSE: Exploratory gene expression array analyses suggested multimerin-1
      (MMRN1) to be a predictive biomarker in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).
      Following up on these studies, we evaluated the role of MMRN1 expression as
      outcome predictor in two recent Children's Oncology Group trials. EXPERIMENTAL
      DESIGN: We retrospectively quantified MMRN1 expression in 183 participants of
      AAML03P1 and 750 participants of AAML0531 by reverse-transcriptase PCR and
      correlated expression levels with disease characteristics and clinical outcome.
      RESULTS: In AAML03P1, the highest quartile of MMRN1 expression (expression >=0.5
      relative to beta-glucuronidase; n = 45) was associated with inferior event-free
      survival (EFS; P < 0.002) and higher relapse risk (P < 0.004). In AAML0531, in
      which we quantified MMRN1 mRNA for validation, patients with relative MMRN1
      expression >=0.5 (n = 160) less likely achieved remission (67% vs. 77%, P =
      0.006), and more frequently had minimal residual disease (43% vs. 24%, P = 0.001)
      after one induction course. They had inferior overall survival (OS; 44% +/- 9%
      vs. 69% +/- 4% at 5 years; P < 0.001) and EFS (32% +/- 8% vs. 54% +/- 4% at 5
      years; P < 0.001) and higher relapse risk (57% +/- 10% vs. 35% +/- 5% at 5 years;
      P < 0.001). These differences were partly attributable to the fact that patients
      with high MMRN1 expression less likely had cytogenetic/molecular low-risk disease
      (P < 0.001) than those with low MMRN1 expression. Nevertheless, after
      multivariable adjustment, high MMRN1 expression remained statistically
      significantly associated with shorter OS (HR, 1.57; 95% confidence interval, 1.17
      2.12; P = 0.003) and EFS (HR, 1.34; 1.04-1.73; P = 0.025), and higher relapse
      risk (HR, 1.40; 1.01-1.94; P = 0.044). CONCLUSIONS: Together, our studies
      identify MMRN1 expression as a novel biomarker that may refine AML risk
      stratification.

PMID- 25825479
TI  - Role of uropathogenic Escherichia coli outer membrane protein T in pathogenesis
      of urinary tract infection.
AB  - OmpT is one of the members of the outer membrane protein family that has been
      identified as a virulence factor in most of the uropathogenic Escherichia coli
      (UPEC). However, the exact role of OmpT in the urinary tract infections (UTIs)
      remains unclear. To determine the role of OmpT in the pathogenesis of UPEC, an
      isogenic deletion mutant of ompT (COTD) was constructed by the lambda Red
      recombination. Human bladder epithelial cell line 5637(HBEC 5637) was used to
      evaluate the ability of bacterial adhesion/invasion. A murine model of UTI was
      established to study the formation of intracellular bacterial communities (IBCs)
      in the process of UTIs. The cytokines were also examined during the pathogenesis.
      The results showed that the COTD strain was deficient in bacterial adhesion and
      invasion as well as in IBC formation compare to the parent strain. ELISA
      quantification analysis of cytokines showed that the levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6
      and IL-8 in the serum, bladder and kidney tissues of the mice infected with COTD
      were lower than that of the CFT073 group. In summary, these results suggest that
      OmpT plays a multifaceted role in pathogenesis of UTI, including increased
      bacterial adhesiveness/invasiveness, formation of IBCs and upregulated
      proinflammatory cytokines. 

PMID- 25825480
TI  - Should early cranial MRI of preterm infants become routine?

PMID- 25825481
TI  - Change in Multiple Filtration Markers and Subsequent Risk of Cardiovascular
      Disease and Mortality.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Kidney disease progression, assessed by change in eGFR
      on the basis of creatinine, is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular
      disease and death. This study aimed to evaluate whether changes in multiple
      filtration markers, individually and combined, were associated with
      cardiovascular disease and death. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS:
      Creatinine, cystatin C, and beta2-microglobulin were measured among 9716
      Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study participants in 1990-1992 and 1996
      1998. Percentage change in three filtration markers (eGFR on the basis of
      creatinine, eGFR on the basis of cystatin C, and 1/beta2-microglobulin)
      individually and the average of percentage change across all three filtration
      markers were calculated. Cardiovascular events and deaths were ascertained from
      1996 to 2011. Cox regression models were adjusted for established risk factors
      for cardiovascular disease and mortality and first measurement of eGFR on the
      basis of creatinine. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 14 years, there were
      1922 cardiovascular events and 2285 deaths from any cause. Decline of >30% in
      each filtration marker was significantly associated with higher risk of mortality
      compared with stable kidney function (-9.9% to +9.9% change in the filtration
      marker) with hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of 1.91 (1.67 to 2.18) for
      eGFR on the basis of creatinine, 2.29 (1.99 to 2.63) for eGFR on the basis of
      cystatin C, and 2.48 (2.15 to 2.86) for 1/beta2-microglobulin, with similar
      associations for cardiovascular disease. An average decline of >30% across the
      three markers was strongly associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality
      (hazard ratio, 2.82; 95% confidence interval, 2.42 to 3.29). CONCLUSIONS: Kidney
      disease progression was assessed using >30% decline in eGFR on the basis of
      creatinine, eGFR on the basis of cystatin C, and 1/beta2-microglobulin and
      average decline of >30% across the three filtration markers is strongly
      associated with risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

PMID- 25825482
TI  - Comparison of Subdural Hematoma Risk between Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis
      Patients with ESRD.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study compared the risk of subdural hematoma
      (SDH) and subsequent mortality in hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD)
      patients with ESRD. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: Claims data
      were obtained from the National Health Insurance Administration Research Database
      in Taiwan. This retrospective cohort study comprised 10,136 PD patients and
      10,136 HD patients with newly diagnosed ESRD from 1998 to 2010. Patients were
      matched by propensity score and year of dialysis initiation. Incidence rates and
      hazard ratios of SDH as well as odds ratios of subsequent 30-day deaths from SDH
      were evaluated from the date of the first dialysis session to the date when SDH
      was diagnosed, or the date of renal transplantation, death, withdraw from
      insurance, or the end of the follow-up period (December 31, 2011). RESULTS:
      Median (25th percentile, 75th percentile) follow-up times for SDH events were
      3.61 years (1.91, 6.33) and 3.33 years (1.83, 5.66) in the HD and PD cohorts,
      respectively. The overall SDH incidence rate (95% confidence interval [95% CI])
      was 61.4% higher in the HD cohort than in the PD cohort (34.7 [95% CI, 31.4 to
      35.4] versus 21.5 [95% CI, 20.2 to 22.9] per 10,000 person-years, with an
      adjusted hazard ratio of 1.62 [95% CI, 1.17 to 2.33]). Approximately 152 of 253
      (60%) of SDH events were associated with trauma. Subsequent 30-day SDH-related
      mortality was not statistically higher in HD patients than in PD patients (29.1%
      versus 25.3%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.30; 95% CI, 0.70 to 2.41). CONCLUSIONS: HD
      patients have a higher risk of developing SDH than PD patients. Both patient
      groups have a high risk of mortality. Routine education on fall prevention is
      needed for dialysis patients.

PMID- 25825483
TI  - Association of Serum Ig Free Light Chains with Mortality and ESRD among Patients
      with Nondialysis-Dependent CKD.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: High levels of serum polyclonal combined Ig free light
      chains are associated with inflammation and decreased excretory kidney function,
      and they are an independent risk factor for mortality. Whether combined Ig free
      light chain predicted mortality and progression to ESRD in a stages 3-5 CKD
      cohort was assessed. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: This was a
      prospective cohort study of 872 patients with stages 3-5 CKD (nondialysis)
      recruited into the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Standards Implementation Study.
      Patients were recruited to the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Standards
      Implementation Study in an unselected manner from secondary care nephrology
      clinics between 2004 and 2010. Combined Ig free light chain was measured at
      recruitment and analyzed by quartiles. The cohort was followed up for a median of
      41.4 months (interquartile range =28.3-68.0 months). Cox regression analysis was
      undertaken to determine the variables associated with mortality and progression
      to ESRD. RESULTS: Combined Ig free light chain quartiles were <49.4, 49.4-68.8,
      68.9-100.7, and >100.7 mg/L. An independent association with death and
      progression to ESRD was associated with the third and fourth combined Ig free
      light chain quartiles (quartile 3: death: hazard ratio, 1.49; 95% confidence
      interval, 1.02 to 2.18; P=0.04; ESRD: hazard ratio, 1.72; 95% confidence
      interval, 1.0 to 2.97; P=0.05; quartile 4: death: hazard ratio, 1.99; 95%
      confidence interval, 1.34 to 2.93; P<0.001; ESRD: hazard ratio, 3.73; 95%
      confidence interval, 2.1 to 6.3; P<0.001). The other independent risk factors
      were (1) preexisting cardiovascular disease, age >65 years old, and eGFR=15-30
      ml/min per 1.73 m(2) for death and (2) age <=65 years old, eGFR<30 ml/min per
      1.73 m(2), urinary protein-to-creatinine ratio >30 mg/mmol, and serum phosphate
      level >4.65 mg/dl for progression to ESRD. CONCLUSIONS: An elevated serum
      combined Ig free light chain level is an independent risk factor for mortality
      and progression to ESRD in patients with stages 3-5 CKD managed in secondary
      care.

PMID- 25825484
TI  - Association of Height with Mortality in Patients Undergoing Maintenance
      Hemodialysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Body mass index (BMI), determined as kilograms in body
      weight divided by the square of the height in meters (m(2)), is inversely
      associated with mortality in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (MHD).
      It is commonly inferred that differences in the weight component of the BMI
      equation are responsible for this negative correlation. However, there are almost
      no data on the relationship between height and mortality in these patients. This
      study was conducted to examine the association between height and mortality in
      MHD patients and to evaluate the contribution of height to the BMI-mortality
      relationship. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: A prospective study
      conducted from July 1, 2001, through June 30, 2006, enrolled a nationally
      representative cohort of 117,644 MHD patients receiving treatment in DaVita, Inc.
      outpatient dialysis facilities with (1) known height and weight, (2) age >=18
      years, (3) dialysis vintage >=90 days, and (4) nonoutlying BMI values (>=12 to
      <=60 kg/m(2)). The end date of follow-up was June 30, 2007, and median follow-up
      was 852 days (interquartile range, 504-1367 days). Mortality hazard ratios were
      computed within sex-standardized deciles of height and weight, and outcomes
      included all-cause mortality and cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, cancer, and
      infection mortality. Hazard models were unadjusted, adjusted for case-mix
      variables, or adjusted for case-mix variables plus laboratory variables. RESULTS:
      Mean age was 61+/-15 years; 45% of patients were women and 57% had diabetes. In
      adjusted models, height, also adjusted for weight, was directly associated with
      all-cause mortality and cardiovascular, infection, and cancer mortality. Compared
      with the median height decile, mortality risk in the highest height decile was
      1.18 (95% confidence interval, 1.14 to 1.23) in fully adjusted analyses
      (P<0.001). Receiver-operating characteristic curves indicated that in adjusted
      analyses the contribution of height to the relationship between BMI and mortality
      was almost identical to that of weight. CONCLUSIONS: In MHD patients, height is
      positively associated with mortality risk and contributes similarly to weight
      with regard to the negative BMI-mortality relationship.

PMID- 25825485
TI  - Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Patients with Polycystic Liver and Kidney Disease
      Referred for Transcatheter Arterial Embolization.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is prevalent among
      patients with CKD, but its prevalence among patients with symptomatic autosomal
      dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) and its association with total liver
      and kidney volume remain unclear. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS:
      This study examined the association between height-adjusted total liver and
      kidney volume (htTLKV) and SDB in a cross-sectional study of 304 adult patients
      with symptomatic ADPKD who were hospitalized at Toranomon Hospital for
      transcatheter arterial embolization and who underwent pulse oximetry between
      April 2008 and November 2013. SDB was defined as having a 3% oxygen desaturation
      index of >=15 events per hour of sleep. Logistic regression was performed with
      sex-specific quartiles of htTLKV as the main predictor, using patient data and
      comorbidities as covariates. RESULTS: Overall (54.6% women, mean age 56.2+/-9.4
      years, 83.5% on hemodialysis), 177 of 304 patients (58.2%) had SDB. SDB was
      strongly associated with htTLKV quartiles, demonstrating that odds ratios (ORs)
      and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for SDB were 1.63 (0.76 to 3.48), 2.35
      (1.09 to 5.06), and 4.61 (1.98 to 10.7) for htTLKV quartiles 2-4 (P for trend,
      P=0.003), respectively. Older age (OR, 1.81 per 10 years; 95% CI, 1.29 to 2.55),
      male sex (OR, 3.87; 95% CI, 1.96 to 7.66), receiving hemodialysis (OR, 3.46; 95%
      CI, 1.62 to 12.1), and higher body mass index (>=25 kg/m(2)) (OR, 3.03; 95% CI,
      1.08 to 8.52) were also associated with SDB. CONCLUSIONS: In this highly selected
      population of patients with symptomatic ADPKD referred for transcatheter arterial
      embolization, SDB was highly prevalent and independently associated with higher
      htTLKV.

PMID- 25825486
TI  - Eps15 Homology Domain-containing Protein 3 Regulates Cardiac T-type Ca2+ Channel
      Targeting and Function in the Atria.
AB  - Proper trafficking of membrane-bound ion channels and transporters is requisite
      for normal cardiac function. Endosome-based protein trafficking of membrane-bound
      ion channels and transporters in the heart is poorly understood, particularly in
      vivo. In fact, for select cardiac cell types such as atrial myocytes, virtually
      nothing is known regarding endosomal transport. We previously linked the C
      terminal Eps15 homology domain-containing protein 3 (EHD3) with endosome-based
      protein trafficking in ventricular cardiomyocytes. Here we sought to define the
      roles and membrane protein targets for EHD3 in atria. We identify the voltage
      gated T-type Ca(2+) channels (CaV3.1, CaV3.2) as substrates for EHD3-dependent
      trafficking in atria. Mice selectively lacking EHD3 in heart display reduced
      expression and targeting of both Cav3.1 and CaV3.2 in the atria. Furthermore,
      functional experiments identify a significant loss of T-type-mediated Ca(2+)
      current in EHD3-deficient atrial myocytes. Moreover, EHD3 associates with both
      CaV3.1 and CaV3.2 in co-immunoprecipitation experiments. T-type Ca(2+) channel
      function is critical for proper electrical conduction through the atria.
      Consistent with these roles, EHD3-deficient mice demonstrate heart rate
      variability, sinus pause, and atrioventricular conduction block. In summary, our
      findings identify CaV3.1 and CaV3.2 as substrates for EHD3-dependent protein
      trafficking in heart, provide in vivo data on endosome-based trafficking pathways
      in atria, and implicate EHD3 as a key player in the regulation of atrial myocyte
      excitability and cardiac conduction. 

PMID- 25825487
TI  - Combined rational design and a high throughput screening platform for identifying
      chemical inhibitors of a Ras-activating enzyme.
AB  - The Ras family small GTPases regulate multiple cellular processes, including cell
      growth, survival, movement, and gene expression, and are intimately involved in
      cancer pathogenesis. Activation of these small GTPases is catalyzed by a special
      class of enzymes, termed guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). Herein, we
      developed a small molecule screening platform for identifying lead hits targeting
      a Ras GEF enzyme, SOS1. We employed an ensemble structure-based virtual screening
      approach in combination with a multiple tier high throughput experimental screen
      utilizing two complementary fluorescent guanine nucleotide exchange assays to
      identify small molecule inhibitors of GEF catalytic activity toward Ras. From a
      library of 350,000 compounds, we selected a set of 418 candidate compounds
      predicted to disrupt the GEF-Ras interaction, of which dual wavelength GDP
      dissociation and GTP-loading experimental screening identified two chemically
      distinct small molecule inhibitors. Subsequent biochemical validations indicate
      that they are capable of dose-dependently inhibiting GEF catalytic activity,
      binding to SOS1 with micromolar affinity, and disrupting GEF-Ras interaction.
      Mutagenesis studies in conjunction with structure-activity relationship studies
      mapped both compounds to different sites in the catalytic pocket, and both
      inhibited Ras signaling in cells. The unique screening platform established here
      for targeting Ras GEF enzymes could be broadly useful for identifying lead
      inhibitors for a variety of small GTPase-activating GEF reactions. 

PMID- 25825488
TI  - Two Putative Polysaccharide Deacetylases Are Required for Osmotic Stability and
      Cell Shape Maintenance in Bacillus anthracis.
AB  - Membrane-anchored lipoproteins have a broad range of functions and play key roles
      in several cellular processes in Gram-positive bacteria. BA0330 and BA0331 are
      the only lipoproteins among the 11 known or putative polysaccharide deacetylases
      of Bacillus anthracis. We found that both lipoproteins exhibit unique
      characteristics. BA0330 and BA0331 interact with peptidoglycan, and BA0330 is
      important for the adaptation of the bacterium to grow in the presence of a high
      concentration of salt, whereas BA0331 contributes to the maintenance of a uniform
      cell shape. They appear not to alter the peptidoglycan structure and do not
      contribute to lysozyme resistance. The high resolution x-ray structure of BA0330
      revealed a C-terminal domain with the typical fold of a carbohydrate esterase 4
      and an N-terminal domain unique for this family, composed of a two-layered (4 +
      3) beta-sandwich with structural similarity to fibronectin type 3 domains. Our
      data suggest that BA0330 and BA0331 have a structural role in stabilizing the
      cell wall of B. anthracis. 

PMID- 25825490
TI  - Regulation of oligomeric organization of the serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine 2C (5
      HT2C) receptor observed by spatial intensity distribution analysis.
AB  - The questions of whether G protein-coupled receptors exist as monomers, dimers,
      and/or oligomers and if these species interconvert in a ligand-dependent manner
      are among the most contentious current issues in biology. When employing spatial
      intensity distribution analysis to laser scanning confocal microscope images of
      cells stably expressing either a plasma membrane-associated form of monomeric
      enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) or a tandem version of this
      fluorophore, the eGFP tandem was identified as a dimer. Similar studies on cells
      stably expressing an eGFP-tagged form of the epidermal growth factor receptor
      demonstrated that, although largely a monomer in the basal state, this receptor
      rapidly became predominantly dimeric upon the addition of its ligand epidermal
      growth factor. In cells induced to express an eGFP-tagged form of the serotonin 5
      hydroxytryptamine 2C (5-HT2C) receptor, global analysis of construct quantal
      brightness was consistent with the predominant form of the receptor being
      dimeric. However, detailed spatial intensity distribution analysis demonstrated
      the presence of multiple forms ranging from monomers to higher-order oligomers.
      Furthermore, treatment with chemically distinct 5-HT2C receptor antagonists
      resulted in a time-dependent change in the quaternary organization to one in
      which there was a preponderance of receptor monomers. This antagonist-mediated
      effect was reversible, because washout of the ligand resulted in the regeneration
      of many of the oligomeric forms of the receptor. 

PMID- 25825489
TI  - Nox2 mediates skeletal muscle insulin resistance induced by a high fat diet.
AB  - Inflammation and oxidative stress through the production of reactive oxygen
      species (ROS) are consistently associated with metabolic syndrome/type 2
      diabetes. Although the role of Nox2, a major ROS-generating enzyme, is well
      described in host defense and inflammation, little is known about its potential
      role in insulin resistance in skeletal muscle. Insulin resistance induced by a
      high fat diet was mitigated in Nox2-null mice compared with wild-type mice after
      3 or 9 months on the diet. High fat feeding increased Nox2 expression, superoxide
      production, and impaired insulin signaling in skeletal muscle tissue of wild-type
      mice but not in Nox2-null mice. Exposure of C2C12 cultured myotubes to either
      high glucose concentration, palmitate, or H2O2 decreases insulin-induced Akt
      phosphorylation and glucose uptake. Pretreatment with catalase abrogated these
      effects, indicating a key role for H2O2 in mediating insulin resistance. Down
      regulation of Nox2 in C2C12 cells by shRNA prevented insulin resistance induced
      by high glucose or palmitate but not H2O2. These data indicate that increased
      production of ROS in insulin resistance induced by high glucose in skeletal
      muscle cells is a consequence of Nox2 activation. This is the first report to
      show that Nox2 is a key mediator of insulin resistance in skeletal muscle. 

PMID- 25825491
TI  - Reduced Ssy1-Ptr3-Ssy5 (SPS) signaling extends replicative life span by enhancing
      NAD+ homeostasis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
AB  - Attenuated nutrient signaling extends the life span in yeast and higher
      eukaryotes; however, the mechanisms are not completely understood. Here we
      identify the Ssy1-Ptr3-Ssy5 (SPS) amino acid sensing pathway as a novel longevity
      factor. A null mutation of SSY5 (ssy5Delta) increases replicative life span (RLS)
      by ~50%. Our results demonstrate that several NAD(+) homeostasis factors play key
      roles in this life span extension. First, expression of the putative malate
      pyruvate NADH shuttle increases in ssy5Delta cells, and deleting components of
      this shuttle, MAE1 and OAC1, largely abolishes RLS extension. Next, we show that
      Stp1, a transcription factor of the SPS pathway, directly binds to the promoter
      of MAE1 and OAC1 to regulate their expression. Additionally, deletion of SSY5
      increases nicotinamide riboside (NR) levels and phosphate-responsive (PHO)
      signaling activity, suggesting that ssy5Delta increases NR salvaging. This
      increase contributes to NAD(+) homeostasis, partially ameliorating the NAD(+)
      deficiency and rescuing the short life span of the npt1Delta mutant. Moreover, we
      observed that vacuolar phosphatase, Pho8, is partially required for ssy5Delta
      mediated NR increase and RLS extension. Together, our studies present evidence
      that supports SPS signaling is a novel NAD(+) homeostasis factor and ssy5Delta
      mediated life span extension is likely due to concomitantly increased
      mitochondrial and vacuolar function. Our findings may contribute to understanding
      the molecular basis of NAD(+) metabolism, cellular life span, and diseases
      associated with NAD(+) deficiency and aging. 

PMID- 25825492
TI  - Solid-state NMR Reveals the Carbon-based Molecular Architecture of Cryptococcus
      neoformans Fungal Eumelanins in the Cell Wall.
AB  - Melanin pigments protect against both ionizing radiation and free radicals and
      have potential soil remediation capabilities. Eumelanins produced by pathogenic
      Cryptococcus neoformans fungi are virulence factors that render the fungal cells
      resistant to host defenses and certain antifungal drugs. Because of their
      insoluble and amorphous characteristics, neither the pigment bonding framework
      nor the cellular interactions underlying melanization of C. neoformans have
      yielded to comprehensive molecular-scale investigation. This study used the C.
      neoformans requirement of exogenous obligatory catecholamine precursors for
      melanization to produce isotopically enriched pigment "ghosts" and applied 2D
      (13)C-(13)C correlation solid-state NMR to reveal the carbon-based architecture
      of intact natural eumelanin assemblies in fungal cells. We demonstrated that the
      aliphatic moieties of solid C. neoformans melanin ghosts include cell-wall
      components derived from polysaccharides and/or chitin that are associated
      proximally with lipid membrane constituents. Prior to development of the mature
      aromatic fungal pigment, these aliphatic moieties form a chemically resistant
      framework that could serve as the scaffold for melanin synthesis. The indole
      based core aromatic moieties show interconnections that are consistent with
      proposed melanin structures consisting of stacked planar assemblies, which are
      associated spatially with the aliphatic scaffold. The pyrrole aromatic carbons of
      the pigments bind covalently to the aliphatic framework via glycoside or
      glyceride functional groups. These findings establish that the structure of the
      pigment assembly changes with time and provide the first biophysical information
      on the mechanism by which melanin is assembled in the fungal cell wall, offering
      vital insights that can advance the design of bioinspired conductive
      nanomaterials and novel therapeutics. 

PMID- 25825493
TI  - Action at a distance: mutations of peripheral residues transform rapid reversible
      inhibitors to slow, tight binders of cyclooxygenase-2.
AB  - Cyclooxygenase enzymes (COX-1 and COX-2) catalyze the conversion of arachidonic
      acid to prostaglandin G2. The inhibitory activity of rapid, reversible COX
      inhibitors (ibuprofen, naproxen, mefenamic acid, and lumiracoxib) demonstrated a
      significant increase in potency and time dependence of inhibition against double
      tryptophan murine COX-2 mutants at the 89/90 and 89/119 positions. In contrast,
      the slow, time-dependent COX inhibitors (diclofenac, indomethacin, and
      flurbiprofen) were unaffected by those mutations. Further mutagenesis studies
      suggested that mutation at position 89 was principally responsible for the
      changes in inhibitory potency of rapid, reversible inhibitors, whereas mutation
      at position 90 may exert some effect on the potency of COX-2-selective
      diarylheterocycle inhibitors; no effect was observed with mutation at position
      119. Several crystal structures with or without NSAIDs indicated that placement
      of a bulky residue at position 89 caused a closure of a gap at the lobby, and
      alteration of histidine to tryptophan at position 90 changed the electrostatic
      profile of the side pocket of COX-2. Thus, these two residues, especially Val-89
      at the lobby region, are crucial for the entrance and exit of some NSAIDs from
      the COX active site. 

PMID- 25825494
TI  - Heterotrimeric kinesin-2 (KIF3) mediates transition zone and axoneme formation of
      mouse photoreceptors.
AB  - Anterograde intraflagellar transport (IFT) employing kinesin-2 molecular motors
      has been implicated in trafficking of photoreceptor outer segment proteins. We
      generated embryonic retina-specific (prefix "emb") and adult tamoxifen-induced
      (prefix "tam") deletions of KIF3a and IFT88 in adult mice to study photoreceptor
      ciliogenesis and protein trafficking. In (emb)Kif3a(-/-) and in (emb)Ift88(-/-)
      mice, basal bodies failed to extend transition zones (connecting cilia) with
      outer segments, and visual pigments mistrafficked. In contrast, (tam)Kif3a(-/-)
      and (tam)Ift88(-/-) photoreceptor axonemes disintegrated slowly post-induction,
      starting distally, but rhodopsin and cone pigments trafficked normally for more
      than 2 weeks, a time interval during which the outer segment is completely
      renewed. The results demonstrate that visual pigments transport to the retinal
      outer segment despite removal of KIF3 and IFT88, and KIF3-mediated anterograde
      IFT is responsible for photoreceptor transition zone and axoneme formation. 

PMID- 25825495
TI  - Recruitment of Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) to the Fibroblast Cell Surface
      by Lysyl Hydroxylase 3 (LH3) Triggers Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGF-beta)
      Activation and Fibroblast Differentiation.
AB  - Solid tumor growth triggers a wound healing response. Similar to wound healing,
      fibroblasts in the tumor stroma differentiate into myofibroblasts (also referred
      to as cancer-associated fibroblasts) primarily, but not exclusively, in response
      to transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). Myofibroblasts in turn enhance
      tumor progression by remodeling the stroma. Among proteases implicated in stroma
      remodeling, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), including MMP-9, play a prominent
      role. Recent evidence indicates that MMP-9 recruitment to the tumor cell surface
      enhances tumor growth and invasion. In the present work, we addressed the
      potential relevance of MMP-9 recruitment to and activity at the surface of
      fibroblasts. We show that recruitment of MMP-9 to the fibroblast cell surface
      occurs through its fibronectin-like (FN) domain and that the molecule responsible
      for the recruitment is lysyl hydroxylase 3 (LH3). Functional assays suggest that
      both pro- and active MMP-9 trigger alpha-smooth muscle actin expression in
      cultured fibroblasts, reflecting myofibroblast differentiation, possibly as a
      result of TGF-beta activation. Moreover, the recombinant FN domain inhibited both
      MMP-9-induced TGF-beta activation and alpha-smooth muscle actin expression by
      displacing MMP-9 from the fibroblast cell surface. Together our results uncover
      LH3 as a new docking receptor of MMP-9 on the fibroblast cell surface and
      demonstrate that the MMP-9 FN domain is essential for the interaction. They also
      show that the recombinant FN domain inhibits MMP-9-induced TGF-beta activation
      and fibroblast differentiation, providing a potentially attractive therapeutic
      reagent toward attenuating tumor progression where MMP-9 activity is strongly
      implicated. 

PMID- 25825496
TI  - The Wnt Signaling Antagonist Dapper1 Accelerates Dishevelled2 Degradation via
      Promoting Its Ubiquitination and Aggregate-induced Autophagy.
AB  - Autophagy is a regulated process that sequesters and transports cytoplasmic
      materials such as protein aggregates via autophagosomes to lysosomes for
      degradation. Dapper1 (Dpr1), an interacting protein of Dishevelled (Dvl),
      antagonizes Wnt signaling by promoting Dishevelled degradation via lysosomes.
      However, the mechanism is unclear. Here, we show that Dpr1 promotes the von
      Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor (VHL)-mediated ubiquitination of Dvl2 and its
      autophagic degradation. Knockdown of Dpr1 decreases the interaction between Dvl2
      and pVHL, resulting in reduced ubiquitination of Dvl2. Dpr1-mediated autophagic
      degradation of Dvl2 depends on Dvl2 aggregation. Moreover, the aggregate-prone
      proteins Dvl2, p62, and the huntingtin mutant Htt103Q promote autophagy in a Dpr1
      dependent manner. These protein aggregates enhance the Beclin1-Vps34 interaction
      and Atg14L puncta formation, indicating that aggregated proteins stimulate
      autophagy initiation. Ubiquitination is not essential for the aggregate-induced
      autophagy initiation as inhibition of the ubiquitin-activation E1 enzyme activity
      did not block the aggregate-induced Atg14L puncta formation. Our findings suggest
      that Dpr1 promotes the ubiquitination of Dvl2 by pVHL and mediates the protein
      aggregate-elicited autophagy initiation. 

PMID- 25825497
TI  - LLY-507, a Cell-active, Potent, and Selective Inhibitor of Protein-lysine
      Methyltransferase SMYD2.
AB  - SMYD2 is a lysine methyltransferase that catalyzes the monomethylation of several
      protein substrates including p53. SMYD2 is overexpressed in a significant
      percentage of esophageal squamous primary carcinomas, and that overexpression
      correlates with poor patient survival. However, the mechanism(s) by which SMYD2
      promotes oncogenesis is not understood. A small molecule probe for SMYD2 would
      allow for the pharmacological dissection of this biology. In this report, we
      disclose LLY-507, a cell-active, potent small molecule inhibitor of SMYD2. LLY
      507 is >100-fold selective for SMYD2 over a broad range of methyltransferase and
      non-methyltransferase targets. A 1.63-A resolution crystal structure of SMYD2 in
      complex with LLY-507 shows the inhibitor binding in the substrate peptide binding
      pocket. LLY-507 is active in cells as measured by reduction of SMYD2-induced
      monomethylation of p53 Lys(370) at submicromolar concentrations. We used LLY-507
      to further test other potential roles of SMYD2. Mass spectrometry-based
      proteomics showed that cellular global histone methylation levels were not
      significantly affected by SMYD2 inhibition with LLY-507, and subcellular
      fractionation studies indicate that SMYD2 is primarily cytoplasmic, suggesting
      that SMYD2 targets a very small subset of histones at specific chromatin loci
      and/or non-histone substrates. Breast and liver cancers were identified through
      in silico data mining as tumor types that display amplification and/or
      overexpression of SMYD2. LLY-507 inhibited the proliferation of several
      esophageal, liver, and breast cancer cell lines in a dose-dependent manner. These
      findings suggest that LLY-507 serves as a valuable chemical probe to aid in the
      dissection of SMYD2 function in cancer and other biological processes. 

PMID- 25825500
TI  - In this issue of Occupational Medicine.

PMID- 25825501
TI  - The health and safety at work act turned 40.

PMID- 25825498
TI  - A mycobacterial phosphoribosyltransferase promotes bacillary survival by
      inhibiting oxidative stress and autophagy pathways in macrophages and zebrafish.
AB  - Mycobacterium tuberculosis employs various strategies to modulate host immune
      responses to facilitate its persistence in macrophages. The M. tuberculosis cell
      wall contains numerous glycoproteins with unknown roles in pathogenesis. Here, by
      using Concanavalin A and LC-MS analysis, we identified a novel mannosylated
      glycoprotein phosphoribosyltransferase, encoded by Rv3242c from M. tuberculosis
      cell walls. Homology modeling, bioinformatic analyses, and an assay of
      phosphoribosyltransferase activity in Mycobacterium smegmatis expressing
      recombinant Rv3242c (MsmRv3242c) confirmed the mass spectrometry data. Using
      Mycobacterium marinum-zebrafish and the surrogate MsmRv3242c infection models, we
      proved that phosphoribosyltransferase is involved in mycobacterial virulence.
      Histological and infection assays showed that the M. marinum mimG mutant, an
      Rv3242c orthologue in a pathogenic M. marinum strain, was strongly attenuated in
      adult zebrafish and also survived less in macrophages. In contrast, infection
      with wild type and the complemented DeltamimG:Rv3242c M. marinum strains showed
      prominent pathological features, such as severe emaciation, skin lesions,
      hemorrhaging, and more zebrafish death. Similarly, recombinant MsmRv3242c
      bacteria showed increased invasion in non-phagocytic epithelial cells and longer
      intracellular survival in macrophages as compared with wild type and vector
      control M. smegmatis strains. Further mechanistic studies revealed that the
      Rv3242c- and mimG-mediated enhancement of intramacrophagic survival was due to
      inhibition of autophagy, reactive oxygen species, and reduced activities of
      superoxide dismutase and catalase enzymes. Infection with MsmRv3242c also
      activated the MAPK pathway, NF-kappaB, and inflammatory cytokines. In summary, we
      show that a novel mycobacterial mannosylated phosphoribosyltransferase acts as a
      virulence and immunomodulatory factor, suggesting that it may constitute a novel
      target for antimycobacterial drugs. 

PMID- 25825502
TI  - Working for a healthier future.

PMID- 25825503
TI  - Dame Barbara Hepworth, Prelude II 1948.

PMID- 25825499
TI  - Uncoupling Protein 1 and Sarcolipin Are Required to Maintain Optimal
      Thermogenesis, and Loss of Both Systems Compromises Survival of Mice under Cold
      Stress.
AB  - The importance of brown adipose tissue as a site of nonshivering thermogenesis
      has been well documented. Emerging studies suggest that skeletal muscle is also
      an important site of thermogenesis especially when brown adipose tissue function
      is lacking. We recently showed that sarcolipin (SLN), an uncoupler of the
      sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca(2+) ATPase (SERCA) pump, could contribute to heat
      production in skeletal muscle. In this study, we sought to understand how loss of
      UCP1 or SLN is compensated during cold exposure and whether they are both
      necessary for thermogenesis. Toward this goal, we generated a UCP1;SLN double
      knock-out (DKO) mouse model and challenged the single and DKO mice to acute and
      long-term cold exposures. Results from this study show that there is up
      regulation of SLN expression in UCP1-KO mice, and loss of SLN is compensated by
      increased expression of UCP1 and browning of white adipose tissue. We found that
      the DKO mice were viable when reared at thermoneutrality. When challenged to
      acute cold, the DKO were extremely cold-sensitive and became hypothermic.
      Paradoxically, the DKO mice were able to survive gradual cold challenge, but
      these mice lost significant weight and depleted their fat stores, despite having
      higher caloric intake. These studies suggest that UCP1 and SLN are required to
      maintain optimal thermogenesis and that loss of both systems compromises survival
      of mice under cold stress. 

PMID- 25825504
TI  - Early thoughts on g.

PMID- 25825505
TI  - Slum clinics.

PMID- 25825506
TI  - Jelly beans and jumbo jets.

PMID- 25825507
TI  - Responsible corporate change: detecting and managing employee stress.
AB  - BACKGROUND: All 120 health and safety inspectors employed by the New Zealand
      regulatory agency had their jobs disestablished during a restructuring process
      and were required to undergo an assessment process with tight time frames. AIMS:
      To report on psychological morbidity during the transition to change. METHODS:
      The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire was emailed to all
      120 current inspectors to measure levels of anxiety (HAD-A) and depression (HAD
      D). A score of <7 is in the normal range, scores of between 8 and 10 are
      suggestive of an anxiety (HADS-A) or mood (HADS-D) disorder and a score of >11 is
      indicative of a clinical disorder. RESULTS: Replies were received from 36% (43)
      of the inspectors. Of the 40 usable responses, 47% (19) and 55% (22),
      respectively, had HAD-A and HAD-D scores greater than the case cut-off. Only 28%
      (11) and 15% (6), respectively, had scores that would be considered normal.
      CONCLUSIONS: The high scores evident in this sample are comparable to those found
      in patients with serious psychopathology. Change managers should recognize that
      the onus for primary prevention lies with the organization, in this case
      designing an assessment process that takes place over a reasonable time frame.
      They should also realize the requirement for the active monitoring of stress.

PMID- 25825508
TI  - Can serial PEF measurements separate occupational asthma from allergic
      alveolitis?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Occupational asthma commonly results in work-related changes in
      serial peak expiratory flow (PEF) measurements. Whether alveolitis can result in
      similar changes is unknown. AIMS: To identify differences and similarities of
      serial PEF between workers with occupational alveolitis and asthma seen during an
      outbreak investigation in a factory with metal-working fluid exposure. METHODS:
      Workers with respiratory symptoms and rest-day improvement were identified by
      questionnaire. Each was asked to measure PEF 8 times daily for 4 weeks at home
      and work. Alveolitis was subsequently diagnosed from a validated scoring system
      including radiological changes, carbon monoxide diffusing capacity,
      bronchoalveolar lavage and biopsy results. Occupational asthma was confirmed with
      a positive Oasys score >2.5 and a mean rest-work PEF >16 l/min from serial 2
      hourly PEF measurements. The Oasys PEF plotter calculated differences between
      rest and workdays for mean PEF, diurnal variation and the scores were used to
      confirm an occupational effect (Oasys, area between curve and time point).
      Records were compared between the alveolitis group and the group with
      occupational asthma without alveolitis. RESULTS: Forty workers with occupational
      asthma and 16 with alveolitis had indistinguishable PEF changes on workdays in
      terms of magnitude (median reduction 18.5 and 16.1 l/min, respectively) and
      diurnal variation. Immediate reactions were more common with occupational asthma
      and late reactions more common with alveolitis. CONCLUSIONS: PEF responses to
      metal-working fluid aerosols do not distinguish occupational asthma from
      alveolitis except in timing. They can be used to identify the workplace as the
      cause of asthma and also alveolitis.

PMID- 25825509
TI  - Resolving 45-pm-separated Si-Si atomic columns with an aberration-corrected STEM.
AB  - Si-Si atomic columns separated by 45 pm were successfully resolved with a 300-kV
      aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) equipped
      with a cold-field emission gun. Using a sufficiently small Gaussian effective
      source size and a 0.4-eV energy spread at 300 kV, the focused electron probe on
      the specimen was simulated to be sub-50 pm. Image simulation showed that the
      present probe condition was sufficient to resolve 45 pm Si-Si dumbbells. A
      silicon crystalline specimen was observed from the [114] direction with a high
      angle annular dark field STEM and the intensity profile showed 45 pm separation.
      A spot corresponding to (45 pm)(-1) was confirmed in the power spectrum of the
      Fourier transform. 

PMID- 25825510
TI  - One-step nanopatterning of conjugated polymers by electron-beam-assisted
      electropolymerization.
AB  - We propose a one-step nanopatterning method where liquid monomers are polymerized
      directly with an electron beam under an atmospheric pressure. The method allows
      precise positional control of an electron beam that induces electropolymerization
      based on an anodic oxidation only in the irradiated areas. Various versatile
      conjugated polymers, including polypyrrole, polyaniline and poly(3
      hexylthiophene), have been directly polymerized from monomers without solvents
      and patterned by our one-step nanopatterning method. Vertically oriented arrays
      of nanorods several hundred nanometers in diameter with an aspect ratio (height
      to diameter) of around two were fabricated. 

PMID- 25825512
TI  - Chiara Zurzolo: GPI knows the way to go.

PMID- 25825511
TI  - Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2011, Featuring
      Incidence of Breast Cancer Subtypes by Race/Ethnicity, Poverty, and State.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The American Cancer Society (ACS), Centers for Disease Control and
      Prevention (CDC), National Cancer Institute (NCI), and North American Association
      of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) collaborate annually to produce updated,
      national cancer statistics. This Annual Report includes a focus on breast cancer
      incidence by subtype using new, national-level data. METHODS: Population-based
      cancer trends and breast cancer incidence by molecular subtype were calculated.
      Breast cancer subtypes were classified using tumor biomarkers for hormone
      receptor (HR) and human growth factor-neu receptor (HER2) expression. RESULTS:
      Overall cancer incidence decreased for men by 1.8% annually from 2007 to 2011
      [corrected]. Rates for women were stable from 1998 to 2011. Within these trends
      there was racial/ethnic variation, and some sites have increasing rates. Among
      children, incidence rates continued to increase by 0.8% per year over the past
      decade while, like adults, mortality declined. HR+/HER2- breast cancers, the
      subtype with the best prognosis, were the most common for all races/ethnicities
      with highest rates among non-Hispanic white women, local stage cases, and low
      poverty areas (92.7, 63.51, and 98.69 per 100000 non-Hispanic white women,
      respectively). HR+/HER2- breast cancer incidence rates were strongly, positively
      correlated with mammography use, particularly for non-Hispanic white women
      (Pearson 0.57, two-sided P < .001). Triple-negative breast cancers, the subtype
      with the worst prognosis, were highest among non-Hispanic black women (27.2 per
      100000 non-Hispanic black women), which is reflected in high rates in
      southeastern states. CONCLUSIONS: Progress continues in reducing the burden of
      cancer in the United States. There are unique racial/ethnic-specific incidence
      patterns for breast cancer subtypes; likely because of both biologic and social
      risk factors, including variation in mammography use. Breast cancer subtype
      analysis confirms the capacity of cancer registries to adjust national collection
      standards to produce clinically relevant data based on evolving medical
      knowledge.

PMID- 25825513
TI  - Damaged mitochondria get a Parkin ticket.

PMID- 25825514
TI  - To avoid a mating mishap, yeast focus and communicate.
AB  - During mating, yeast cells must perforate their rigid cell walls at the right
      place to allow cell-cell fusion. In this issue, Dudin et al. (2015; J. Cell Biol.
      http://dx.doi.org/jcb.201411124) image mating fission yeast cells with
      unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution. The authors find that when mating cells
      come into contact, they form aster-like actin structures that direct cell wall
      remodeling precisely to the point of contact. 

PMID- 25825515
TI  - A little sugar goes a long way: the cell biology of O-GlcNAc.
AB  - Unlike the complex glycans decorating the cell surface, the O-linked beta-N
      acetyl glucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification is a simple intracellular Ser/Thr
      linked monosaccharide that is important for disease-relevant signaling and enzyme
      regulation. O-GlcNAcylation requires uridine diphosphate-GlcNAc, a precursor
      responsive to nutrient status and other environmental cues. Alternative splicing
      of the genes encoding the O-GlcNAc cycling enzymes O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and
      O-GlcNAcase (OGA) yields isoforms targeted to discrete sites in the nucleus,
      cytoplasm, and mitochondria. OGT and OGA also partner with cellular effectors and
      act in tandem with other posttranslational modifications. The enzymes of O-GlcNAc
      cycling act preferentially on intrinsically disordered domains of target proteins
      impacting transcription, metabolism, apoptosis, organelle biogenesis, and
      transport. 

PMID- 25825516
TI  - A novel role of farnesylation in targeting a mitotic checkpoint protein, human
      Spindly, to kinetochores.
AB  - Kinetochore (KT) localization of mitotic checkpoint proteins is essential for
      their function during mitosis. hSpindly KT localization is dependent on the RZZ
      complex and hSpindly recruits the dynein-dynactin complex to KTs during mitosis,
      but the mechanism of hSpindly KT recruitment is unknown. Through domain-mapping
      studies we characterized the KT localization domain of hSpindly and discovered it
      undergoes farnesylation at the C-terminal cysteine residue. The N-terminal 293
      residues of hSpindly are dispensable for its KT localization. Inhibition of
      farnesylation using a farnesyl transferase inhibitor (FTI) abrogated hSpindly KT
      localization without affecting RZZ complex, CENP-E, and CENP-F KT localization.
      We showed that hSpindly is farnesylated in vivo and farnesylation is essential
      for its interaction with the RZZ complex and hence KT localization. FTI treatment
      and hSpindly knockdown displayed the same mitotic phenotypes, indicating that
      hSpindly is a key FTI target in mitosis. Our data show a novel role of lipidation
      in targeting a checkpoint protein to KTs through protein-protein interaction. 

PMID- 25825517
TI  - A formin-nucleated actin aster concentrates cell wall hydrolases for cell fusion
      in fission yeast.
AB  - Cell-cell fusion is essential for fertilization. For fusion of walled cells, the
      cell wall must be degraded at a precise location but maintained in surrounding
      regions to protect against lysis. In fission yeast cells, the formin Fus1, which
      nucleates linear actin filaments, is essential for this process. In this paper,
      we show that this formin organizes a specific actin structure-the actin fusion
      focus. Structured illumination microscopy and live-cell imaging of Fus1, actin,
      and type V myosins revealed an aster of actin filaments whose barbed ends are
      focalized near the plasma membrane. Focalization requires Fus1 and type V myosins
      and happens asynchronously always in the M cell first. Type V myosins are
      essential for fusion and concentrate cell wall hydrolases, but not cell wall
      synthases, at the fusion focus. Thus, the fusion focus focalizes cell wall
      dissolution within a broader cell wall synthesis zone to shift from cell growth
      to cell fusion. 

PMID- 25825518
TI  - CCM2-CCM3 interaction stabilizes their protein expression and permits endothelial
      network formation.
AB  - Mutations in the essential adaptor proteins CCM2 or CCM3 lead to cerebral
      cavernous malformations (CCM), vascular lesions that most frequently occur in the
      brain and are strongly associated with hemorrhagic stroke, seizures, and other
      neurological disorders. CCM2 binds CCM3, but the molecular basis of this
      interaction, and its functional significance, have not been elucidated. Here, we
      used x-ray crystallography and structure-guided mutagenesis to show that an alpha
      helical LD-like motif within CCM2 binds the highly conserved "HP1" pocket of the
      CCM3 focal adhesion targeting (FAT) homology domain. By knocking down CCM2 or
      CCM3 and rescuing with binding-deficient mutants, we establish that CCM2-CCM3
      interactions protect CCM2 and CCM3 proteins from proteasomal degradation and show
      that both CCM2 and CCM3 are required for normal endothelial cell network
      formation. However, CCM3 expression in the absence of CCM2 is sufficient to
      support normal cell growth, revealing complex-independent roles for CCM3. 

PMID- 25825519
TI  - L1CAM/Neuroglian controls the axon-axon interactions establishing layered and
      lobular mushroom body architecture.
AB  - The establishment of neuronal circuits depends on the guidance of axons both
      along and in between axonal populations of different identity; however, the
      molecular principles controlling axon-axon interactions in vivo remain largely
      elusive. We demonstrate that the Drosophila melanogaster L1CAM homologue
      Neuroglian mediates adhesion between functionally distinct mushroom body axon
      populations to enforce and control appropriate projections into distinct axonal
      layers and lobes essential for olfactory learning and memory. We addressed the
      regulatory mechanisms controlling homophilic Neuroglian-mediated cell adhesion by
      analyzing targeted mutations of extra- and intracellular Neuroglian domains in
      combination with cell type-specific rescue assays in vivo. We demonstrate
      independent and cooperative domain requirements: intercalating growth depends on
      homophilic adhesion mediated by extracellular Ig domains. For functional cluster
      formation, intracellular Ankyrin2 association is sufficient on one side of the
      trans-axonal complex whereas Moesin association is likely required simultaneously
      in both interacting axonal populations. Together, our results provide novel
      mechanistic insights into cell adhesion molecule-mediated axon-axon interactions
      that enable precise assembly of complex neuronal circuits. 

PMID- 25825520
TI  - Topical Review: The Emerging Field of Epigenetics: Informing Models of Pediatric
      Trauma and Physical Health.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Trauma experienced during childhood and adolescence has been linked to
      a number of chronic medical concerns. We highlight major findings from the
      pediatric trauma literature to provide a model for understanding this
      association. METHODS: Studies examining the effects of trauma were systematically
      reviewed and synthesized into a model proposing a central role for epigenetics in
      the ways that childhood experiences can affect health. RESULTS: Early
      hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis response may impact initial trauma
      experience, with downstream effects on posttrauma adjustment reflected in
      posttrauma neurobiology, psychological health, and physical health. CONCLUSIONS:
      Prospective research with children and adolescents exposed to trauma is needed to
      better characterize the genetic and epigenetic influences on the course of HPA
      and immune processes as related to posttrauma psychological and physical health
      outcomes.

PMID- 25825521
TI  - Acute Pain and Posttraumatic Stress After Pediatric Injury.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Using a prospective, longitudinal design, we examined the relationship
      between acute pain and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in youth following
      injury. METHODS: Children aged 8-17 years who sustained an injury (N = 243) and
      their parents participated in baseline interviews to assess children's worst pain
      since injury. 6 months later, participants completed follow-up interviews to
      assess child PTSS. RESULTS: Pain as assessed by the Color Analogue Pain Scale
      (CAS) predicted PTSS 6 months after injury, even when controlling for demographic
      and empirically based risk factors. On the other hand, pain as assessed by the
      Faces Pain Rating Scale was not a significant independent predictor of PTSS.
      CONCLUSIONS: The CAS may be a useful addition to existing screening tools for
      PTSS among children. Additional research is warranted to understand underlying
      mechanisms linking acute pain and PTSS to improve assessment, prevention, and
      treatment approaches and promote optimal recovery after pediatric injury.

PMID- 25825522
TI  - Serum- and Glucocorticoid-Inducible Kinase 1 Confers Protection in Cell-Based and
      in In Vivo Neurotoxin Models via the c-Jun N-Terminal Kinase Signaling Pathway.
AB  - Serum glucocorticoid kinase 1 (SGK1) has been shown to be protective in models of
      Parkinson's disease, but the details by which it confers benefit is unknown. The
      current study was designed to investigate the details by which SGK1 confers
      neuroprotection. To do this we employed a cellular neurodegeneration model to
      investigate c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling and endoplasmic reticulum
      (ER) stress induced by 6-hydroxydopamine. SGK1-expressing adenovirus was created
      and used to overexpress SGK1 in SH-SY5Y cells, and dexamethasone was used to
      increase endogenous expression of SGK1. Oxidative stress, mitochondrial
      dysfunction, and cell death were monitored to test the protective effect of SGK1.
      To investigate the effect of SGK1 overexpression in vivo, SGK1-expressing
      adenovirus was injected into the striatum of mice treated with 1-methyl-4-phenyl
      1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine, and protection of dopaminergic neurons was
      quantitatively assessed by tyrosine hydroxylase immunohistochemistry. SGK1
      overexpression was found to decrease reactive oxygen species generation,
      alleviate mitochondrial dysfunction, and rescue cell death in vitro and in vivo
      by inactivating mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 4 (MKK4), JNK, and
      glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK3beta) and thereby decreasing ER and oxidative
      stress. These results suggest that therapeutic strategies for activation of SGK1
      may have the potential to be neuroprotective by deactivating the JNK and GSK3beta
      pathways. 

PMID- 25825523
TI  - Molecular Role of RNF43 in Canonical and Noncanonical Wnt Signaling.
AB  - Wnt signaling pathways are tightly regulated by ubiquitination, and dysregulation
      of these pathways promotes tumorigenesis. It has been reported that the ubiquitin
      ligase RNF43 plays an important role in frizzled-dependent regulation of the
      Wnt/beta-catenin pathway. Here, we show that RNF43 suppresses both Wnt/beta
      catenin signaling and noncanonical Wnt signaling by distinct mechanisms. The
      suppression of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling requires interaction between the
      extracellular protease-associated (PA) domain and the cysteine-rich domain (CRD)
      of frizzled and the intracellular RING finger domain of RNF43. In contrast, these
      N-terminal domains of RNF43 are not required for inhibition of noncanonical Wnt
      signaling, but interaction between the C-terminal cytoplasmic region of RNF43 and
      the PDZ domain of dishevelled is essential for this suppression. We further show
      the mechanism by which missense mutations in the extracellular portion of RNF43
      identified in patients with tumors activate Wnt/beta-catenin signaling. Missense
      mutations of RNF43 change their localization from the endosome to the endoplasmic
      reticulum (ER), resulting in the failure of frizzled-dependent suppression of
      Wnt/beta-catenin signaling. However, these mutants retain the ability to suppress
      noncanonical Wnt signaling, probably due to interaction with dishevelled. RNF43
      is also one of the potential target genes of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling. Our
      results reveal the molecular role of RNF43 and provide an insight into
      tumorigenesis. 

PMID- 25825524
TI  - Growth Cone Localization of the mRNA Encoding the Chromatin Regulator HMGN5
      Modulates Neurite Outgrowth.
AB  - Neurons exploit local mRNA translation and retrograde transport of transcription
      factors to regulate gene expression in response to signaling events at distal
      neuronal ends. Whether epigenetic factors could also be involved in such
      regulation is not known. We report that the mRNA encoding the high-mobility group
      N5 (HMGN5) chromatin binding protein localizes to growth cones of both neuron
      like cells and of hippocampal neurons, where it has the potential to be
      translated, and that HMGN5 can be retrogradely transported into the nucleus along
      neurites. Loss of HMGN5 function induces transcriptional changes and impairs
      neurite outgrowth, while HMGN5 overexpression induces neurite outgrowth and
      chromatin decompaction; these effects are dependent on growth cone localization
      of Hmgn5 mRNA. We suggest that the localization and local translation of
      transcripts coding for epigenetic factors couple the dynamic neuronal outgrowth
      process with chromatin regulation in the nucleus. 

PMID- 25825525
TI  - Modulation of Macrophage Gene Expression via Liver X Receptor alpha Serine 198
      Phosphorylation.
AB  - In mouse models of atherosclerosis, normalization of hyperlipidemia promotes
      macrophage emigration and regression of atherosclerotic plaques in part by liver
      X receptor (LXR)-mediated induction of the chemokine receptor CCR7. Here we
      report that LXRalpha serine 198 (S198) phosphorylation modulates CCR7 expression.
      Low levels of S198 phosphorylation are observed in plaque macrophages in the
      regression environment where high levels of CCR7 expression are observed.
      Consistent with these findings, CCR7 gene expression in human and mouse
      macrophages cell lines is induced when LXRalpha at S198 is nonphosphorylated. In
      bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs), we also observed induction of CCR7 by
      ligands that promote nonphosphorylated LXRalpha S198, and this was lost in LXR
      deficient BMDMs. LXRalpha occupancy at the CCR7 promoter is enhanced and histone
      modifications associated with gene repression are reduced in RAW264.7 cells
      expressing nonphosphorylated LXRalpha (RAW-LXRalpha S198A) compared to RAW264.7
      cells expressing wild-type (WT) phosphorylated LXRalpha (RAW-LXRalpha WT).
      Expression profiling of ligand-treated RAW-LXRalpha S198A cells compared to RAW
      LXRalpha WT cells revealed induction of cell migratory and anti-inflammatory
      genes and repression of proinflammatory genes. Modeling of LXRalpha S198 in the
      nonphosphorylated and phosphorylated states identified phosphorylation-dependent
      conformational changes in the hinge region commensurate with the presence of
      sites for protein interaction. Therefore, gene transcription is regulated by
      LXRalpha S198 phosphorylation, including that of antiatherogenic genes such as
      CCR7. 

PMID- 25825527
TI  - Research led by participants: a new social contract for a new kind of research.
AB  - In recent years, there have been prominent calls for a new social contract that
      accords a more central role to citizens in health research. Typically, this has
      been understood as citizens and patients having a greater voice and role within
      the standard research enterprise. Beyond this, however, it is important that the
      renegotiated contract specifically addresses the oversight of a new, path
      breaking approach to health research: participant-led research. In light of the
      momentum behind participant-led research and its potential to advance health
      knowledge by challenging and complementing traditional research, it is vital for
      all stakeholders to work together in securing the conditions that will enable it
      to flourish. 

PMID- 25825526
TI  - RNA Interference Screen to Identify Kinases That Suppress Rescue of DeltaF508
      CFTR.
AB  - Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in
      the gene encoding the Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR).
      DeltaF508-CFTR, the most common disease-causing CF mutant, exhibits folding and
      trafficking defects and is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum, where it is
      targeted for proteasomal degradation. To identify signaling pathways involved in
      DeltaF508-CFTR rescue, we screened a library of endoribonuclease-prepared short
      interfering RNAs (esiRNAs) that target ~750 different kinases and associated
      signaling proteins. We identified 20 novel suppressors of DeltaF508-CFTR
      maturation, including the FGFR1. These were subsequently validated by measuring
      channel activity by the YFP halide-sensitive assay following shRNA-mediated
      knockdown, immunoblotting for the mature (band C) DeltaF508-CFTR and measuring
      the amount of surface DeltaF508-CFTR by ELISA. The role of FGFR signaling on
      DeltaF508-CFTR trafficking was further elucidated by knocking down FGFRs and
      their downstream signaling proteins: Erk1/2, Akt, PLCgamma-1, and FRS2.
      Interestingly, inhibition of FGFR1 with SU5402 administered to intestinal
      organoids (mini-guts) generated from the ileum of DeltaF508-CFTR homozygous mice
      resulted in a robust DeltaF508-CFTR rescue. Moreover, combination of SU5402 and
      VX-809 treatments in cells led to an additive enhancement of DeltaF508-CFTR
      rescue, suggesting these compounds operate by different mechanisms. Chaperone
      array analysis on human bronchial epithelial cells harvested from
      DeltaF508/DeltaF508-CFTR transplant patients treated with SU5402 identified
      altered expression of several chaperones, an effect validated by their
      overexpression or knockdown experiments. We propose that FGFR signaling regulates
      specific chaperones that control DeltaF508-CFTR maturation, and suggest that
      FGFRs may serve as important targets for therapeutic intervention for the
      treatment of CF. 

PMID- 25825529
TI  - Iodine and the "near" eradication of cretinism.

PMID- 25825532
TI  - Point-of-care ultrasonography by pediatric emergency medicine physicians.
AB  - Emergency physicians have used point-of-care ultrasonography since the 1990 s.
      Pediatric emergency medicine physicians have more recently adopted this
      technology. Point-of-care ultrasonography is used for various scenarios,
      particularly the evaluation of soft tissue infections or blunt abdominal trauma
      and procedural guidance. To date, there are no published statements from national
      organizations specifically for pediatric emergency physicians describing the
      incorporation of point-of-care ultrasonography into their practice. This document
      outlines how pediatric emergency departments may establish a formal point-of-care
      ultrasonography program. This task includes appointing leaders with expertise in
      point-of-care ultrasonography, effectively training and credentialing physicians
      in the department, and providing ongoing quality assurance reviews.

PMID- 25825533
TI  - Antibiotic exposure in infancy and risk of being overweight in the first 24
      months of life.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Antibiotics have direct effects on the human intestinal microbiota,
      particularly in infancy. Antibacterial agents promote growth in farm animals by
      unknown mechanisms, but little is known about their effects on human weight gain.
      Our aim was to evaluate the impact of antibiotic exposure during infancy on
      weight and height in healthy Finnish children. METHODS: The population-based
      cohort comprised 6114 healthy boys and 5948 healthy girls having primary care
      weight and height measurements and drug purchase data from birth to 24 months.
      BMI and height, expressed as z-scores at the median age of 24 months
      (interquartile range 24 to 26 months), were compared between children exposed and
      unexposed to antibiotics using analysis of covariance with perinatal factors as
      covariates. RESULTS: Exposed children were on average heavier than unexposed
      children (adjusted BMI-for-age z-score difference in boys 0.13 SD [95% confidence
      interval 0.07 to 0.19, P < .001] and in girls 0.07 SD [0.01 to 0.13, P < .05]).
      The effect was most pronounced after exposure to macrolides before 6 months of
      age (boys 0.28 [0.11 to 0.46]; girls 0.23 [0.04 to 0.42]) or >1 exposure (boys
      0.20 [0.10 to 0.30]; girls 0.13 [0.03 to 0.22]). CONCLUSIONS: Antibiotic exposure
      before 6 months of age, or repeatedly during infancy, was associated with
      increased body mass in healthy children. Such effects may play a role in the
      worldwide childhood obesity epidemic and highlight the importance of judicious
      use of antibiotics during infancy, favoring narrow-spectrum antibiotics.

PMID- 25825535
TI  - Incidental findings on brain and spine imaging in children.
AB  - In recent years, the utilization of diagnostic imaging of the brain and spine in
      children has increased dramatically, leading to a corresponding increase in the
      detection of incidental findings of the central nervous system. Patients with
      unexpected findings on imaging are often referred for subspecialty evaluation.
      Even with rational use of diagnostic imaging and subspecialty consultation, the
      diagnostic process will always generate unexpected findings that must be
      explained and managed. Familiarity with the most common findings that are
      discovered incidentally on diagnostic imaging of the brain and spine will assist
      the pediatrician in providing counseling to families and in making
      recommendations in conjunction with a neurosurgeon, when needed, regarding
      additional treatments and prognosis. 

PMID- 25825534
TI  - Screening and routine supplementation for iron deficiency anemia: a systematic
      review.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Supplementation and screening for iron-deficiency
      anemia (IDA) in young children may improve growth and development outcomes. The
      goal of this study was to review the evidence regarding the benefits and harms of
      screening and routine supplementation for IDA for the US Preventive Services Task
      Force. METHODS: We searched Medline and Cochrane databases (1996-August 2014), as
      well as reference lists of relevant systematic reviews. We included trials and
      controlled observational studies regarding the effectiveness and harms of routine
      iron supplementation and screening in children ages 6 to 24 months conducted in
      developed countries. One author extracted data, which were checked for accuracy
      by a second author. Dual quality assessment was performed. RESULTS: No studies of
      iron supplementation in young children reported on the diagnosis of
      neurodevelopmental delay. Five of 6 trials sparsely reporting various growth
      outcomes found no clear benefit of supplementation. After 3 to 12 months, Bayley
      Scales of Infant Development scores were not significantly different in 2 trials.
      Ten trials assessing iron supplementation in children reported inconsistent
      findings for hematologic measures. Evidence regarding the harms of
      supplementation was limited but did not indicate significant differences. No
      studies assessed the benefits or harms of screening or the association between
      improvement in impaired iron status and clinical outcomes. Studies may have been
      underpowered, and control factors varied and could have confounded results.
      CONCLUSIONS: Although some evidence on supplementation for IDA in young children
      indicates improvements in hematologic values, evidence on clinical outcomes is
      lacking. No randomized controlled screening studies are available.

PMID- 25825536
TI  - Adolescent drug testing policies in schools.
AB  - More than a decade after the US Supreme Court established the legality of school
      based drug testing, these programs remain controversial, and the evidence
      evaluating efficacy and risks is inconclusive. The objective of this technical
      report is to review the relevant literature that explores the benefits, risks,
      and costs of these programs. 

PMID- 25825540
TI  - Executive functioning of 4 children with hyperphenylalaninemia from childhood to
      adolescence.
AB  - Hyperphenylalaninemia is a variant of phenylketonuria, and debate remains as to
      what, if any, active management of this condition is required to preserve
      cognitive function and psychological well-being. This study is the first to
      examine longitudinally the executive function (EF) in adolescents with
      hyperphenylalaninemia. Two sibling pairs with mild hyperphenylalaninemia
      underwent neuropsychological examination in early childhood and again in
      adolescence using EF tests that were highly sensitive to phenylalanine exposure.
      By early adolescence, none of the 4 children demonstrated EF impairment. The
      children demonstrated a typical developmental trajectory of EF from childhood to
      adolescence, given phenylalanine exposure consistent with their condition. 

PMID- 25825541
TI  - Primary care interventions for pediatric obesity: need for an integrated
      approach.

PMID- 25825539
TI  - Motivational interviewing and dietary counseling for obesity in primary care: an
      RCT.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Few studies have tested the impact of motivational
      interviewing (MI) delivered by primary care providers on pediatric obesity. This
      study tested the efficacy of MI delivered by providers and registered dietitians
      (RDs) to parents of overweight children aged 2 through 8. METHODS: Forty-two
      practices from the Pediatric Research in Office Settings Network of the American
      Academy of Pediatrics were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups. Group 1 (usual
      care) measured BMI percentile at baseline and 1- and 2-year follow-up. Group 2
      (provider only) delivered 4 MI counseling sessions to parents of the index child
      over 2 years. Group 3 (provider + RD) delivered 4 provider MI sessions plus 6 MI
      sessions from a RD. The primary outcome was child BMI percentile at 2-year follow
      up. RESULTS: At 2-year follow-up, the adjusted BMI percentile was 90.3, 88.1, and
      87.1 for groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The group 3 mean was significantly (P
      = .02) lower than group 1. Mean changes from baseline in BMI percentile were 1.8,
      3.8, and 4.9 across groups 1, 2, and 3. CONCLUSIONS: MI delivered by providers
      and RDs (group 3) resulted in statistically significant reductions in BMI
      percentile. Research is needed to determine the clinical significance and
      persistence of the BMI effects observed. How the intervention can be brought to
      scale (in particular, how to train physicians to use MI effectively and how best
      to train RDs and integrate them into primary care settings) also merits future
      research.

PMID- 25825542
TI  - Iron depletion results in Src kinase inhibition with associated cell cycle arrest
      in neuroblastoma cells.
AB  - Iron is required for cellular proliferation. Recently, using systematic time
      studies of neuroblastoma cell growth, we better defined the G1 arrest caused by
      iron chelation to a point in mid-G1, where cyclin E protein is present, but the
      cyclin E/CDK2 complex kinase activity is inhibited. In this study, we again used
      the neuroblastoma SKNSH cells lines to pinpoint the mechanism responsible for
      this G1 block. Initial studies showed in the presence of DFO, these cells have
      high levels of p27 and after reversal of iron chelation p27 is degraded allowing
      for CDK2 kinase activity. The initial activation of CDK2 kinase allows cells to
      exit G1 and enter S phase. Furthermore, we found that inhibition of p27
      degradation by DFO is directly associated with inhibition of Src kinase activity
      measured by lack of phosphorylation of Src at the 416 residue. Activation of Src
      kinase occurs very early after reversal from the DFO G1 block and is temporally
      associated with initiation of cellular proliferation associated with entry into S
      phase. For the first time therefore we show that iron chelation inhibits Src
      kinase activity and this activity is a requirement for cellular proliferation. 

PMID- 25825543
TI  - A novel cardiac muscle-derived biomaterial reduces dyskinesia and postinfarct
      left ventricular remodeling in a mouse model of myocardial infarction.
AB  - Extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation after myocardial infarction (MI) leaves
      the myocardium structurally weakened and, as a result, susceptible to early
      infarct zone dyskinesia and left ventricular (LV) remodeling. While various
      cellular and biomaterial preparations have been transplanted into the infarct
      zone in hopes of improving post-MI LV remodeling, an allogeneic cardiac muscle
      derived ECM extract has yet to be developed and tested in the setting of
      reperfused MI. We sought to determine the effects of injecting a novel cardiac
      muscle-derived ECM into the infarct zone on early dyskinesia and LV remodeling in
      a mouse model of MI. Cardiac muscle ECM was extracted from frozen mouse heart
      tissue by a protocol that enriches for basement membrane constituents. The
      extract was injected into the infarct zone immediately after ischemia/reperfusion
      injury (n = 6). Echocardiography was performed at baseline and at days 2, 7, 14,
      and 28 post-MI to assess 3D LV volumes and cardiac function, as compared to
      infarcted controls (n = 9). Early infarct zone dyskinesia was measured on day 2
      post-MI using a novel metric, the dyskinesia index. End-systolic volume was
      significantly reduced in the ECM-treated group compared to controls by day 14.
      Ejection fraction and stroke volume were also significantly improved in the ECM
      treated group. ECM-treated hearts showed a significant (P < 0.005) reduction in
      dyskinetic motion on day 2. Thus, using high-frequency ultrasound, it was shown
      that treatment with a cardiac-derived ECM preparation reduced early infarct zone
      dyskinesia and post-MI LV remodeling in a mouse model of reperfused MI. 

PMID- 25825544
TI  - Impaired smooth-pursuit in Parkinson's disease: normal cue-information memory,
      but dysfunction of extra-retinal mechanisms for pursuit preparation and
      execution.
AB  - While retinal image motion is the primary input for smooth-pursuit, its
      efficiency depends on cognitive processes including prediction. Reports are
      conflicting on impaired prediction during pursuit in Parkinson's disease. By
      separating two major components of prediction (image motion direction memory and
      movement preparation) using a memory-based pursuit task, and by comparing
      tracking eye movements with those during a simple ramp-pursuit task that did not
      require visual memory, we examined smooth-pursuit in 25 patients with Parkinson's
      disease and compared the results with 14 age-matched controls. In the memory
      based pursuit task, cue 1 indicated visual motion direction, whereas cue 2
      instructed the subjects to prepare to pursue or not to pursue. Based on the cue
      information memory, subjects were asked to pursue the correct spot from two
      oppositely moving spots or not to pursue. In 24/25 patients, the cue-information
      memory was normal, but movement preparation and execution were impaired.
      Specifically, unlike controls, most of the patients (18/24 = 75%) lacked initial
      pursuit during the memory task and started tracking the correct spot by saccades.
      Conversely, during simple ramp-pursuit, most patients (83%) exhibited initial
      pursuit. Popping-out of the correct spot motion during memory-based pursuit was
      ineffective for enhancing initial pursuit. The results were similar irrespective
      of levodopa/dopamine agonist medication. Our results indicate that the extra
      retinal mechanisms of most patients are dysfunctional in initiating memory-based
      (not simple ramp) pursuit. A dysfunctional pursuit loop between frontal eye
      fields (FEF) and basal ganglia may contribute to the impairment of extra-retinal
      mechanisms, resulting in deficient pursuit commands from the FEF to brainstem. 

PMID- 25825546
TI  - Assessing biochemical changes during standardization of fermentation time and
      temperature for manufacturing quality black tea.
AB  - In black tea manufacturing, one of the most important steps is fermentation which
      influences the quality of tea. The macerated tea leaves were fermented at various
      temperatures (20, 25, 30, 35  degrees C) for different duration. Changes in
      polyphenoloxidase and peroxidase activities, depletion patterns of individual
      catechins, differences in individual theaflavin levels and formation of
      thearubigins were measured in leaves during fermentation. Higher stability of
      polyphenoloxidase and peroxidase enzymes was observed at lower temperature (20 
      degrees C), and increase in temperature, led to enzyme instability. The rate of
      degradation of all the catechins was found to be fastest at 35  degrees C and
      slowest at 20  degrees C. The formation and depletion of individual theaflavins
      varied with temperature and fermentation duration. The time required for the
      formation of maximum total theaflavins (TF) was highest at lower temperature and
      this time duration also varied for different theaflavins formation. Maximum
      amount of thearubigins (TR) content and liquor colour development was observed at
      35  degrees C, and decrease in temperature reduced thearubigins accumulation.
      However, maximum brightness as well as TF/TR ratio was obtained at 20  degrees C,
      which suggests that fermentation at lower temperature is suitable for
      manufacturing quality black tea. 

PMID- 25825545
TI  - Magnetic nanoparticles with high specific absorption rate of electromagnetic
      energy at low field strength for hyperthermia therapy.
AB  - Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), referred to as the Dartmouth MNPs, which exhibit
      high specific absorption rate at low applied field strength have been developed
      for hyperthermia therapy applications. The MNPs consist of small (2-5 nm) single
      crystals of gamma-Fe2O3 with saccharide chains implanted in their crystalline
      structure, forming 20-40 nm flower-like aggregates with a hydrodynamic diameter
      of 110-120 nm. The MNPs form stable (>12 months) colloidal solutions in water and
      exhibit no hysteresis under an applied quasistatic magnetic field, and produce a
      significant amount of heat at field strengths as low as 100 Oe at 99-164 kHz. The
      MNP heating mechanisms under an alternating magnetic field (AMF) are discussed
      and analyzed quantitatively based on (a) the calculated multi-scale MNP
      interactions obtained using a three dimensional numerical model called the method
      of auxiliary sources, (b) measured MNP frequency spectra, and (c) quantified MNP
      friction losses based on magneto-viscous theory. The frequency responses and
      hysteresis curves of the Dartmouth MNPs are measured and compared to the modeled
      data. The specific absorption rate of the particles is measured at various AMF
      strengths and frequencies, and compared to commercially available MNPs. The
      comparisons demonstrate the superior heating properties of the Dartmouth MNPs at
      low field strengths (<250 Oe). This may extend MNP hyperthermia therapy to deeper
      tumors that were previously non-viable targets, potentially enabling the
      treatment of some of the most difficult cancers, such as pancreatic and rectal
      cancers, without damaging normal tissue.

PMID- 25825547
TI  - A rapid reversed-phase thin layer chromatographic protocol for detection of
      adulteration in ghee (clarified milk fat) with vegetable oils.
AB  - Detection of milk fat adulteration with foreign fats/oils continues to be a
      challenge for the dairy industry as well as food testing laboratories, especially
      in the present scenario of rampant adulteration using the scientific knowledge by
      unscrupulous persons involved in the trade. In the present investigation a rapid
      reversed-phase thin layer chromatographic (RP-TLC) protocol was standardized to
      ascertain the purity of milk fat. RP-TLC protocol did not show any false positive
      results in the genuine ghee (clarified butter fat) samples of known origin.
      Adulteration of ghee with coconut oil up to 7. 5 %, soybean oil, sunflower oil
      and groundnut oil up to 1 %, while, designer oil up to 2 % level could be
      detected using the standardized RP-TLC protocol. The protocol standardized is
      rapid and convenient to use. 

PMID- 25825548
TI  - Geospatial Ecology of Adolescent Problem Behavior: Contributions of Community
      Factors and Parental Monitoring.
AB  - Addressed the ecology of deviant peer involvement, antisocial behavior and
      alcohol use, utilizing publically available information for indices of community
      risk/protective factors. A geospatial model was developed, combining geographic
      data (census, crime proximity, race/ethnicity, transportation accessibility) with
      information gathered for individual adolescents/household, geo-coded by home
      address. Adolescent-report of delinquency, association with deviant peers,
      substance use, and parental monitoring was obtained, along with parent-report of
      demographic characteristics. Deviant peer involvement was predicted by the Crime
      Proximity Index, with closeness of crime being associated with more deviant peer
      affiliation, as well as the Transportation Index, with greater accessibility
      leading to more involvement with troubled peers. Antisocial behaviors also
      increased with greater access to transportation. Adolescent alcohol use was lower
      in communities with a higher proportion of a non-Caucasian population, and
      increased with greater transportation access. Adolescent outcomes were associated
      with different prediction models, yet parental monitoring emerged as a consistent
      contributing factor.

PMID- 25825549
TI  - Exfoliation and intercalation of montmorillonite by small peptides.
AB  - Understanding structural changes in clay minerals induced by complexation with
      organic matter is relevant to soil science and agricultural applications. In this
      study, the effect of peptide storage in montmorillonite and the thermal stability
      of peptide-clay complexes was examined through characterization by X-ray
      diffraction (XRD), electron microscopy, UV absorption, and thermogravimetric
      analysis (TGA). XRD analysis of small peptide-montmorillonite clay complexes
      produced profiles consisting of reflections associated with the smectite 001
      reflection and related peaks similar to that produced by a mixed layer clay
      mineral structure. Shifts in higher order diffraction maxima were attributed to
      disorder caused by the intercalation with the peptides. Increasing peptide
      concentrations resulted in greater shifts towards smaller 2theta from 6.37
      degrees  (1.39 nm) to 5.45 degrees  (1.62 nm) as the interlayer space expanded.
      The expansion was accompanied by broadening of the 001 reflection (FWHM increases
      from 0.51 to 1.22 degrees  2theta). The XRD line broadening was interpreted as
      caused by poorer crystallinity resulting from intercalation and tactoid
      exfoliation. SEM images revealed montmorillonite platelets with upwardly rolled
      edges that tend toward cylindrical structures with the production of tubules.
      High-resolution TEM images revealed bending of montmorillonite platelets,
      confirming exfoliation. The distribution of basal spacings in the micrographs was
      determined from the spatial frequencies obtained by Fourier analysis of density
      profiles. The distribution indicated the presence of discrete coherent
      crystallite domains. XRD and TGA results indicated that higher peptide
      concentrations resulted in a greater fraction of intercalated peptides and that
      surface adsorption of peptides mediated intercalation. Therefore, higher peptide
      concentration led to more stable organoclay complexes. However, UV absorption and
      TGA found that peptide adsorption onto montmorillonite had a finite limit at
      approximately 16% by weight.

PMID- 25825550
TI  - Risky Sexual Behavior and Substance Use among Adolescents: A Meta-analysis.
AB  - This study presents the results of a meta-analysis of the association between
      substance use and risky sexual behavior among adolescents. 87 studies fit the
      inclusion criteria, containing a total of 104 independent effect sizes that
      incorporated more than 120,000 participants. The overall effect size for the
      relationship between substance use and risky sexual behavior was in the small to
      moderate range (r = .22, CI = .18, .26). Further analyses indicated that the
      effect sizes did not substantially vary across the type of substance use, but did
      substantially vary across the type of risky sexual behavior being assessed.
      Specifically, mean effect sizes were smallest for studies examining unprotected
      sex (r = .15, CI = .10, .20), followed by studies examining number of sexual
      partners (r = .25, CI = .21, .30), those examining composite measures of risky
      sexual behavior (r = .38, CI = .27, .48), and those examining sex with an
      intravenous drug user (r = .53, CI = .45, .60). Furthermore, our results revealed
      that the relationship between drug use and risky sexual behavior is moderated by
      several variables, including sex, ethnicity, sexuality, age, sample type, and
      level of measurement. Implications and future directions are discussed.

PMID- 25825552
TI  - Editorial.

PMID- 25825551
TI  - The sanitation environment in urban slums: implications for child health.
AB  - I examine the effect of improved sanitation on child health in urban Bangladesh
      to assess the relative importance of household versus neighborhood
      characteristics and of adult latrine usage versus safe disposal of children's
      feces. Using fixed-effects regression, I calculate the change in weight-for
      height in 153 children as a function of changes in latrine usage in the
      surrounding community. The use of longitudinal data allows children to act as
      their own controls, a stumbling point of many other sanitation evaluation studies
      using cross-sectional or case-control methods. Results provide strong evidence
      that children's toileting matters more than adult toileting behavior in creating
      a safe, hygienic environment and reducing diarrheal disease. I conclude that
      investments in sanitation improvements offer important externalities, and that
      sanitation programs must encourage the safe disposal of children's feces in order
      to produce maximum health gains.

PMID- 25825553
TI  - Violating the theory of single gene-single disorder: inhibitor development in
      hemophilia.
AB  - Hemophilia is clinically and genetically heterogeneous blood disorder with
      several known gene defects accounting for the diversity of disease phenotype and
      inhibitor production. Although increasing number of causative mutations have been
      reported, not much is known regarding the root cause of inhibitor development
      against infused blood clotting factors, which represents a major challenge in the
      treatment of disease. The variations in the severity and frequency of bleeding in
      hemophiliacs with same molecular defect, indicates the role of modifier genes in
      the pathogenesis of disease. Herein, we aim to review and summarise the
      literature over the past decade, to gain insight into what is critical for the
      development of inhibitors in hemophilia. Aside from potential mutations in factor
      VIII and IX, polymorphisms in various genes such as human leukocyte antigen-I
      (HLA-I), HLA-II, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-10 and cytotoxic T
      lymphocyte associated antigen-4, also tends to contribute to the development of
      inhibitors. Violating the theory of single gene-single disorder, new research
      indicates that inhibitor arise from a complex interplay of multiple genetic,
      immunological and environmental factors. With the revolutionary advances in whole
      genome sequencing, we propose a detailed genome wide study to identify the
      spectrum of genetic markers involved in the development of inhibitors for better
      diagnostics and therapeutics. 

PMID- 25825554
TI  - Clinical and hematological profile of acute megakaryoblastic leukemia: a 2 year
      study.
AB  - Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia is a rare subtype of acute myeloid leukemia with
      a characteristic morphologic and immunophenotypic profile. It has to be
      distinguished from other subtypes of acute myeloid leukemia as well as acute
      myeloid leukemia with t (1; 22) (p13;q13) and acute megakaryoblastic leukemia in
      Down Syndrome because of its poor prognosis. We studied ten cases diagnosed over
      a period of 2 years (from July 2011 to June 2013). All the ten cases were in the
      pediatric age group ranging from 4 months to 2 years. On morphology, pointers to
      the diagnosis were clustering of blasts, presence of cytoplasmic blebs and
      platelet budding. An additional interesting morphological feature observed in our
      study was nuclear blebs which were seen in nine cases. Diagnosis was confirmed in
      all cases by positive immunostaining for CD61. Two of the cases had an extremely
      rare clinical presentation as granulocytic sarcoma. Although rare, acute
      megakaryoblastic leukemia should be kept in mind especially in leukemia in
      infants. 

PMID- 25825555
TI  - Safety and efficacy of indigenous equine antithymocyte globulin along with
      cyclosporine in subjects with acquired aplastic anemia.
AB  - To confirm the safety and efficacy of an indigenous equine antithymocyte globulin
      (eATG) along with cyclosporine in Indian subjects with acquired aplastic anaemia.
      Subjects >2 years old with acquired aplastic anaemia were enrolled at six
      hospitals between April 2011 and February 2013, after approval from respective
      Ethics Committees. Equine ATG at a dose of 40 mg/kg/day was infused for 4 days.
      Efficacy analysis defined a priori, was in subjects, who had completed eATG
      treatment and followed-up on day 90 and/or 180. Complete response (CR) was
      defined as-transfusion independent, haemoglobin >=11 g/dL, absolute neutrophil
      count (ANC) >1.5 10(9)/L and platelet >=150 10(9)/L; partial response (PR) was
      transfusion independent, haemoglobin >=8 g/dL, ANC >0.5 10(9)/L and platelet >=20
      10(9)/L; non responders were transfusion dependent. Lymphocyte subsets (CD 2, 3,
      4 and 8) in the blood were tested on days 0 (pre eATG infusion), 3, 5, 7, 14 and
      21 after eATG. Of the 30 subjects (two children <12 years old) enrolled, 19
      completed day 90 and 18 completed day 180 visit. Of the remaining 11 subjects,
      two died on days 12 and 45 due to septicaemia and pneumonia, one was withdrawn
      after the first dose of eATG due to jaundice and eight were lost to follow-up.
      The median age was 30 (9-58) years and weight was 57 (26-84) kg. On day 90, 12 of
      30 subjects responded (CR 1, PR 11) and 15 of 30 (CR 2, PR 13) on day 180. The
      most common adverse event was fever related to eATG infusion. There were two
      serious adverse events (acute renal failure, febrile neutropenia) and both
      recovered with treatment. There were no unusual adverse events noted during the
      study period. Blood T lymphocytes showed a mean decrease of 91 % from baseline
      that recovered by day 21. We conclude that eATG is safe and in combination with
      cyclosporine showed overall response in 50 % of enrolled subjects. The trial was
      registered with the clinical trial registry-india (Registration no.
      CTRI/2012/03/002498). 

PMID- 25825556
TI  - Response of first-line antibiotic therapy in patients with febrile neutropenia
      during treatment of hematological disorders.
AB  - Patients with hematological disorders develop febrile neutropenia (FN); most of
      these events remain undetermined in origin. We performed a prospective study to
      determine the microbiological characteristics of infections and their response to
      the first-line antibiotic therapy in FN. The study was conducted at National
      Institute of Blood Disease and Bone Marrow Transplant. Two-hundred episodes of FN
      were assessed for the bacterial growth, antimicrobial susceptibility pattern and
      response to the first-line treatment of FN. All patients were given Ceftazidime
      and Amikacin Bosch Pharmaceutical (Pvt. Ltd), as first-line antibiotic in FN. Out
      of 200 episodes we had 108 clinically and microbiologically documented
      infections. The isolated frequencies for gram negative and gram positive
      organisms were n = 52 and 49 (48 and 45 %) respectively. Among gram negative
      micro-organisms, Escherichia coli (E. coli) was isolated in 15 (28.8 %),
      Klebsiella pneumonae in 4 (7.6 %) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in 10 (19.2 %) were
      in highest frequencies. Methicillin sensitive staphylococci emerged as the
      frequently isolated gram-positive bacteria. Eight-one episodes (45.3 %) responded
      to the first-line treatment and death reported in 20 cases (10 %). Our study
      showed almost equal trend of gram positive and gram negative bacteria isolated
      from patients suffering from neutropenic fever. Empirical use of Ceftazidime and
      Amikacin as first-line antibiotics was able to cover the infection only in 45.3 %
      of episodes suffering from FN. 

PMID- 25825557
TI  - Probability of Finding Marrow Unrelated Donor (MUD) for an Indian patient in a
      Multi-national Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Registry.
AB  - With an increase in the number of transplants happening globally, hematopoietic
      stem cells (HSC) transplantation from matched unrelated donor (MUD) has begun.
      The increasing trend of MUD transplants across countries has been largely
      facilitated with the conspicuous growth of volunteer HSC donor noted in the last
      decade i.e. 8 million HSC donors in 2002 to more than 22 million in 2013
      registered in 71 member registries of the Bone Marrow Donor Worldwide (BMDW).
      Some populations of the world are still very poorly represented in these
      registries. Since, the chances of successful engraftment and disease free
      survival are directly proportional to the HLA compatibility between the recipient
      and the prospective donor, the diversity of the HLA system at the antigenic and
      allelic level and the heterogeneity of HLA data of the registered donors has a
      bearing on the probability of finding a volunteer unrelated HSC donor for
      patients from such populations. In the present study 126 patients were identified
      suffering from hematological diseases requiring MUD transplant. Their HLA typing
      was performed and search was done using BMDW database. The search results for
      these Indian patients in the multinational registry as well as in the Indian
      Registries were analyzed using mean, range, standard deviation and finally
      evaluated in terms of probability for finding matched donor (MUD). Total Asian
      population is only 11 % in the BMDW making it difficult to find a MUD for an
      Asian patient. The current study supports this, experimentally; revealing that
      the probability of finding an allele match for an Indian patient in the
      multinational Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) registries is 16 % and a dismal 0.008
      % in the Indian registries (donors in Indian registries is just 33,678 as
      compared to 22.5 million in BMDW). This greatly, emphasizes on enhancing the
      number of Indian donors in Indian and multi-national registries. 

PMID- 25825558
TI  - Novel antifungal drugs against fungal pathogens: do they provide promising
      results for treatment?
AB  - The febrile neutropenia episodes of hematological patients and their outcomes
      were evaluated with respect to fungal pathogens and antifungal therapy in this
      retrospective study. All patients, who were older than 14 years of age and
      developed at least one neutropenic episode after chemotherapy due to
      hematological cancer from November 2010 to November 2012, were included into the
      study. We retrospectively collected demographic, treatment, and survival data of
      126 patients with neutropenia and their 282 febrile episodes. The mean
      Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer score was 17.18 +/- 8.27.
      Systemic antifungal drugs were initiated in 22 patients with 30 culture-proven
      invasive fungal infections (IFIs), 25 attacks of 19 patients with probable
      invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA), 42 attacks of 38 patients with possible
      IPA, and 31 attacks of 30 patients with suspected IFI. Voriconazole (VOR),
      caspofungin and liposomal amphotericin B were used to treat 72 episodes of 65
      patients, 45 episodes of 37 patients and 34 episodes of 32 patients as a first
      line therapy, respectively. Unfavorable conditions of our hematology ward are
      thought to increase the number of cases with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis and
      VOR use. It should be taken into consideration that increased systemic and per
      oral VOR usage predisposes patients to colonization and infection with azole
      resistant fungal strains. Catheters should be removed in cases where patients'
      conditions are convenient to remove it. Acute myeloblastic leukemia cases that
      are more likely to develop invasive fungal infections should be monitored closely
      for early diagnosis and timely initiation of antifungal drugs which directly
      correlates with survival rates. 

PMID- 25825559
TI  - Cryoprotective Effect of Disaccharides on Cord Blood Stem Cells with Minimal Use
      of DMSO.
AB  - Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is an extremely attractive source of stem cells for
      the treatment of various benign and malignant hematological and non-hematological
      disorders. To facilitate the preservation of these stem cells, 10 %
      dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) is widely used as cryoprotectant in cord blood banks.
      But it is found to be toxic at this concentration with the result of serious side
      effects in recipients after infusion of DMSO-cryopreserved cells. Evaluation of
      viability and functionality of cryopreserved hematopoietic stem cells is needed
      with either inclusion of nontoxic additives alone or with reduced DMSO
      concentration. We assessed the post thawing viability of UCB stem cells in the
      freezing medium containing disaccharides (sucrose or trehalose) alone and in
      combination with reduced amount i.e. 2 % DMSO by trypan blue staining. The
      functionally active progenitor cells content of the optimized media was then
      evaluated and compared with 5% DMSO by a colony forming unit assay using
      methylcellulose based media. The freezing solution containing 0.2 M trehalose
      with 2 % DMSO came out to be superior in the evaluation of viability and
      generation of hematopoietic colonies of erythroid and myeloid lineage than 5 %
      DMSO alone. While the percentage of viability was lower than 2 % DMSO, as
      observed in the medium containing 0.2 M trehalose or sucrose alone, with poor
      outcome of generation of myeloid lineage based colonies. Our study results
      suggest that trehalose (0.2M) with the inclusion of reduced concentration of
      DMSO(2%) can better replace 5%DMSO rather than complete removal of DMSO from the
      freezing medium. 

PMID- 25825560
TI  - Molecular Characterization of beta-Thalassemia in Nineveh Province Illustrates
      the Relative Heterogeneity of Mutation Distributions in Northern Iraq.
AB  - Beta thalassemia is an important health problem in Nineveh province, a large
      province in Northwestern Iraq. No previous study of significance had focused on
      the spectrum of beta-thalassemia mutations in this part of the country. A total
      of 94 unrelated beta-thalassemia minor subjects from the latter province were
      recruited. Their carrier status was confirmed by full blood count, Hb A2 and F
      estimation. Thereafter their DNA was subjected to multiplex polymerase chain
      reaction and reverse hybridization to detect 20 beta-thalassemia mutations. A
      total of eleven different beta-thalassemia mutations were documented. The most
      frequent mutation was IVS-I-110 (G>A) documented in 34 %, followed by IVS-I-6
      (T>C) in 9.6 %, IVS-I-5(G>C) in 8.5 %, codon 39 (C>T) and codon 44 (-C) in 7.4 %
      each, while IVS-I-1(G>A) and IVS-II-1(G>A) were encountered in 6.4 % each. Other
      mutations were less frequent including codon 8 (-AA), IVS-I-130 (G>C), codon 5 (
      CT) and IVS-II-745(C>G). The current study revealed notable differences in the
      relative frequencies of several beta-thalassemia mutations in Nineveh province as
      compared to other parts of Northern Iraq. Such an observation may be reflective
      of different ethnic backgrounds and varying historical population interactions.
      It is believed that these findings complement those of earlier studies on beta
      thalassemia mutations from the country, and are quite essential in the setting of
      a proposed national preventive program. 

PMID- 25825561
TI  - Novel Betaeta (beta)-Thalassemia Mutation in Turkish Children.
AB  - Beta (beta)-thalassemia is the most frequently observed hereditary blood disorder
      in the world. It is characterized by deficiency of hemoglobin beta-globin gene
      and is also a profoundly heterogeneous both at the molecular and clinical level.
      In the case of beta-thalassemia, there is reduced (beta(+) type) or absent
      (beta(o) type) synthesis of the beta chains of hemoglobin. beta-Thalassemia
      clinically occurs in three main forms: major, intermedia and minor according to
      requirement of transfusion. The objective of this study was to evaluate beta
      thalassemia mutations in 89 patients ranging from 2 months to 16 years of age,
      who enrolled to Medical School Research and Training Hospital, Gaziantep
      University. The direct DNA sequence analysis was performed for mutation scanning
      of beta-globin gene. 89 children with beta-Thalassemia including all types were
      analyzed, 16 different beta-thalassemia mutations were detected. We have also
      identified a novel mutation (HBB.c.-80delT, rs397509430) in the promoter region (
      30 TATA box) of beta-globin gene, and clinical data of patient having novel
      mutation was given. The beta-Thalassemia mutations were determined as beta
      Thalassemia major type in 42 patients (47.19 %), beta-Thalassemia intermedia in 4
      (4.49 %), beta-Thalassemia minor in 43, (48.31 %) patients. The most frequent
      mutation was IVS I-110 G>A, followed by IVS I-1 G>A, IVS I-6 T>C, IVS II-1 G>A,
      respectively. 

PMID- 25825562
TI  - Alpha-thalassemia mutations in adana province, southern Turkey: genotype
      phenotype correlation.
AB  - To look over the distribution of the mutations in a large series from Adana
      province, Southern Turkey, and determine the genotype-phenotype correlation of
      the frequent mutations. Among the 2500 individuals with mild or moderate anemia,
      microcytosis, and normal iron levels that were referred to our Genetic Diagnosis
      Center, a population consisting of 539 individuals were included in the study and
      tested for alpha-thalassemia mutations by using reverse dot blot hybridization
      technique. Twelve different mutations were detected in 539 patients. Among the 12
      different mutations found, the most frequent mutations were the -alpha(3.7) (63.3
      %), --(MED) (11.7 %), --(20.5) (10.7 %), alpha2(IVS1(-5nt)) (3.9 %), and
      alpha2(polyA-2) (3.5 %). The most frequent genotypes were -alpha(3.7)/alphaalpha
      (35.8 %), -alpha(3.7)/-alpha(3.7)(18.9 %), -(20.5)/alphaalpha (11.5 %), and -
      (MED)/alphaalpha (10.4 %), respectively. There were statistically significant
      differences in hematological findings between -alpha(3.7)/-alpha(3.7) and -
      (MED)/alphaalpha, even though both have two mutated genes in the genotype. Our
      results show that alpha-thalassemia mutations are highly heterogeneous as well as
      deletional and -alpha(3.7) single gene deletion is particularly prevalent at
      Adana province in agreement to other studies from Turkey. 

PMID- 25825563
TI  - Detection of compound heterozygous of hb constant spring and hb q-Thailand by
      capillary electrophoresis and high performance liquid chromatography.
AB  - A capillary electrophoresis (CE) has proven to be superior to a high performance
      liquid chromatography (HPLC) in the detection of hemoglobin Constant Spring (Hb
      CS). Thus the aim of this study was to analyze the efficacy of CE and HPLC for
      the detection of Hb CS in samples with compound heterozygous of Hb CS and Hb Q
      Thailand. Hemoglobin analysis was performed in blood samples of 2 patients with
      compound heterozygous of Hb CS and Hb Q-Thailand by using HPLC and CE. The HPLC
      chromatogram and CE electrophoregram of the two techniques were compared. Hb CS
      was not found on HPLC chromatogram while Hb QA2 (alpha2 (QT)delta2), a derivative
      of Hb Q-Thailand, was presented at the retention time of 4.70-4.80 min and it was
      close to the retention time of Hb CS. On CE electrophoregram, Hb CS was presented
      at zone 2 (Z2) and it was distinctly separated from Hb QA2 which was presented at
      Z1. Therefore, CE was more efficient to the HPLC for diagnosis of compound
      heterozygous of Hb CS and Hb Q-Thailand. 

PMID- 25825564
TI  - Prenatal diagnosis of sickle cell disease by the technique of PCR.
AB  - Sickle cell disease (SCD) is prevalent in Central India and causes major
      morbidity and mortality. There is a lack of prenatal diagnostic facility near
      population affected with SCD. This is the pilot study in our region with the aim
      to establish prenatal diagnostic facility for the couples carrying sickle cell
      gene in Central India, in order to help them take an informed decision regarding
      fetus affected with SCD and also to calculate sensitivity of polymerase chain
      reaction (PCR) technique in our set up with follow up high performance liquid
      chromatography (HPLC) of baby's blood sample. Fetal sampling was done by
      chorionic villous biopsy. Extracted DNA was subjected to amplification refractory
      mutation system (ARMS-PCR) to detect sickle cell mutation (GAG -> GTG) in the
      sixth codon of beta globin gene. Follow-up HPLC was done to detect baby's Hb
      pattern. Prenatal diagnosis of sickle cell anemia was offered in total 37 cases
      out of which one (2.7 %) fetal sample was inadequate. Total 26 (70.27 %) fetuses
      had AS Hb genotype, 3 (8.11 %) had AA Hb genotype and 3 (8.11 %) had SS Hb
      genotype while remaining 4 (10.81 %) were given AA/AS Hb genotype. All couples
      with SS fetuses opted for MTP. Follow up HPLC was performed in 24 cases, out of
      which 18 (75 %) were correlated and 6 (25 %) were mismatched. In present study
      sensitivity of ARMS-PCR was 75 %. ARMS-PCR is a simple technique to be
      established initially for providing rapid prenatal diagnosis to the couples with
      known sickle cell mutation. The sensitivity of ARMS-PCR can be increased by using
      suitable techniques to detect maternal cell DNA contamination. 

PMID- 25825566
TI  - High Incidence of Zidovudine Induced Anaemia in HIV Infected Patients in Southern
      Odisha.
AB  - Zidovudine (AZT), a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor was the first
      breakthrough in AIDS therapy in 1990.This study was conducted with an aim to
      determine prevalence of AZT induced anaemia in HIV infected patients initiated on
      AZT containing anti retroviral therapy(ART) regimen and also to find out any risk
      factor for causing AZT induced anaemia. Study was carried out in ART centre,
      M.K.C.G, MCH, Berhampur between Jan 2009 and Dec 2011. HIV infected patients
      registered at ART centre were treated according to National AIDS Control
      Organisation (NACO) guidelines. Patients (n = 1221) with Hb >8 gm/dl were
      prescribed AZT based ART regimen. Patients having anaemia (<8 gm/dl) were
      excluded from the study. Correlation of baseline characteristics (age, sex,
      weight, Hb level, CD4 count, World Health Organization (WHO) clinical stage) with
      risk of developing anaemia was also calculated. 178 (14.6 %) patients on AZT
      regimen developed anaemia. Patients with low CD4 count were more prone to develop
      severe anaemia. Age, sex, weight, WHO clinical stage had no relation with
      development of anaemia. Incidence of AZT induced anaemia was very high and
      patients having low CD4 count were more susceptible to develop anaemia. 

PMID- 25825565
TI  - Implementation of newborn screening for hemoglobin h disease in mainland china.
AB  - Hemoglobin H disease is the most severe non-fatal form of alpha-thalassemia
      syndrome characterized by pronounced microcytic hypochromic hemolytic anemia. It
      is predominantly seen in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
      Studies suggest that hemoglobin H disease is not as benign a disorder as
      previously thought. Newborn screening for hemoglobin H disease is especially
      appealing because the screening test is based on the detection of hemoglobin
      Bart's (gamma4) that is only possible within the newborn period. In this study,
      we reported on a 4-year period of newborn screening program at a mainland Chinese
      hospital, which detected 35 babies with hemoglobin H disease in a total of 26 152
      newborns. The overall prevalence for hemoglobin H disease among all newborns in
      southern China is ~1 in 1,000. These children need appropriate follow-up and
      potential comprehensive care during their growth and development. 

PMID- 25825567
TI  - Role of intravenous iron sucrose in correction of anemia in antenatal women with
      advanced pregnancy.
AB  - The aim of this study is to observe rise in haematological parameters after
      treatment with iron sucrose in antenatal patients with moderate anemia with
      period of gestation 32 to 35 weeks. The study included 45 antenatal patients with
      period of gestation from 32 to 35 weeks having iron deficiency anemia with
      haemoglobin levels 7-9 g% and serum ferritin levels less than 12 ng/mL.
      Intravenous iron sucrose was given in the dose of 200 mg on alternate days,
      according to the calculated dose. The mean haemoglobin and red blood cell indices
      were compared on days 7, 14, 21, 28 and at the time of delivery from the baseline
      value. There was a statistically significant rise in haemoglobin value from
      baseline on days 14, 21, 28 as well as at the time of delivery (p value <0.0001).
      The mean rise in haemoglobin values was 0.56 g% on day 14, 1.44 g% on day 21 and
      2.0 g% on day 28. At the time of delivery, mean haemoglobin was 11.24 g%. After
      28 days of treatment, there was a statistically significant rise in the levels of
      serum ferritin from 10.33 +/- 3.8 ng/mL to 36.89 +/- 5.7 ng/mL. Thus, earlier
      response achieved by iron sucrose can be utilised in the patients presenting at
      an advanced period of gestation with iron deficiency anemia. 

PMID- 25825568
TI  - Cobalamin deficiency can mask depleted body iron reserves.
AB  - Vitamin B12 deficiency impairs DNA synthesis and causes erythroblast apoptosis,
      resulting in anaemia from ineffective erythropoiesis. Iron and cobalamin
      deficiency are found together in patients for various reasons. We have observed
      that cobalamin deficiency masks iron deficiency in some patients. We hypothesised
      that iron is not used by erythroblasts because of ineffective erythropoiesis due
      to cobalamin deficiency. Therefore, we aimed to demonstrate that depleted iron
      body reserves are masked by cobalamin deficiency. Seventy-five patients who were
      diagnosed with cobalamin deficiency were enrolled in this study. Complete blood
      counts and serum levels of iron, unsaturated iron binding capacity (UIBC),
      ferritin, vitamin B12, and thyroid stimulant hormone were determined at diagnosis
      and after cobalamin therapy. Patients who had a combined deficiency at diagnosis
      and after cobalamin therapy were recorded. Before cobalamin therapy, we found
      increased serum iron levels (126.4 +/- 63.4 ug/dL), decreased serum UIBC levels
      (143.7 +/- 70.8 ug/dL), increased serum ferritin levels (192.5 +/- 116.4 ng/mL),
      and increased transferrin saturation values (47.2 +/- 23.5 %). After cobalamin
      therapy, serum iron levels (59.1 +/- 30 ug/dL), serum ferritin levels (44.9 +/-
      38.9 ng/mL) and transferrin saturation values (17.5 +/- 9.6 %) decreased, and
      serum UIBC levels (295.9 +/- 80.6 ug/dL) increased. Significant differences were
      observed in all values (p < 0.0001). Seven patients (9.3 %) had iron deficiency
      before cobalamin therapy, 37 (49.3 %) had iron deficiency after cobalamin
      therapy, and a significant difference was detected between the proportions of
      patients who had iron deficiency (p < 0.0001). This study is important because
      insufficient data are available on this condition. Our results indicate that iron
      deficiency is common in patients with cobalamin deficiency, and that cobalamin
      deficiency can mask iron deficiency. Therefore, we suggest that all patients
      diagnosed with cobalamin deficiency should be screened for iron deficiency,
      particularly after cobalamin therapy. 

PMID- 25825569
TI  - Time Dependent Release of Interleukin-8 and Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha in
      Platelet Concentrate.
AB  - Contaminating white blood cells in stored platelet concentrate (PC) are the
      source of many pro-inflammatory cytokines. These are implicated in transfusion
      reactions. To study the release of interleukin (IL)-8 and tumor necrosis factor
      alpha (TNF-alpha) at different time interval in PC prepared by-platelet rich
      plasma (PRP) and buffy coat (BC) using different principles. Fifteen PCs were
      prepared by both the methods. The supernatants of PCs prepared by PRP and BC
      methods were collected aseptically after 1, 18, 65 and 112 h of preparation. pH,
      platelet and WBC counts were done. The supernatants were frozen in aliquots at 
      56  degrees C for measurement of IL-8 and TNF-alpha concentration using ELISA.
      The Mean +/- SD value of WBC in PRP-PC was 7.4 +/- 3.75 * 10(7) and in BC-PC 3.9
      +/- 2.2 * 10(7). The mean platelet counts were 6.05 +/- 1.94 * 10(10) and 6.54 +/
      2.18 * 10(10) respectively. The highest level of IL-8 in one hour was up to 30
      pg/ml in both the type of PC. It increased up to 986 pg/ml in PRP-PC and 481
      pg/ml in BC-PC at 112 h. IL-8 increased significantly during storage period of 5
      days in both types of PCs (P0.000 and P0.01). TNF-alpha level remained low up to
      18 h. The highest level was 72 pg/ml in PRP-PC and 57 pg/ml in BC-PC at 65 h. IL
      8 levels significantly increased after one hour of storage and TNF-alpha. levels
      were low up to 18 h and then showed increase. The BC-PC had significantly low
      levels of IL-8 compared to PRP-PC (P0.0001). 

PMID- 25825570
TI  - Evaluation of Random Donor Platelets Produced from Buffy Coat Stored for 24 h at
      Ambient Temperature: Should This be Implemented in India?
AB  - Whole blood derived platelets are made from platelet rich plasma (PRP) method or
      buffy coat (BC) method. In India majority of random donor platelets (RDPs) are
      prepared by PRP method. However, BC method offers the advantage of less platelet
      activation and fewer WBC contamination. Presently in India RDPs are prepared
      within 8 h of whole blood collection, whereas, in Europe this time limit is up to
      24 h. Our aim was to evaluate the platelet count, WBC contamination, platelet
      CD62P expression, and biochemical parameters of RDPs prepared from BC within 8 h
      and within 24 h of collection. We prepared 40 units of RDP by the BC method from
      whole blood stored at room temperature within 8 h of collection (fresh BC), and
      another 40 units from BC stored at 22  degrees C for <24 h (stored BC). We
      analyzed the platelet counts, CD62P expression, WBC counts, glucose levels, pH,
      PO2, PCO2 in both the groups of RDPs, 24 h after respective preparation. The
      platelet counts from stored BC was higher in fresh BC. CD62P expression was low
      in stored BC compared to fresh BC. There were no differences of pH, pO2, pCO2 and
      glucose levels in fresh BC and stored BC. WBC contamination was more in fresh BC.
      Our study stored BC contained higher platelet counts, less WBC contamination and
      less platelet activation. We conclude that RDP prepared from stored BC is the
      better method for RDP production. 

PMID- 25825571
TI  - The role of comprehensive check at the blood bank reception on blood requisitions
      in detecting potential transfusion errors.
AB  - Pre-transfusion testing includes proper requisitions, compatibility testing and
      pre-release checks. Proper labelling of samples and blood units and accurate
      patient details check helps to minimize the risk of errors in transfusion. This
      study was aimed to identify requisition errors before compatibility testing. The
      study was conducted in the blood bank of a tertiary care hospital in north India
      over a period of 3 months. The requisitions were screened at the reception
      counter and inside the pre-transfusion testing laboratory for errors. This
      included checking the Central Registration number (C.R. No.) and name of patient
      on the requisition form and the sample label; appropriateness of sample container
      and sample label; incomplete requisitions; blood group discrepancy. Out of the
      17,148 blood requisitions, 474 (2.76 %) requisition errors were detected before
      the compatibility testing. There were 192 (1.11 %) requisitions where the C.R.
      No. on the form and the sample were not tallying and in 70 (0.40 %) requisitions
      patient's name on the requisition form and the sample were different. Highest
      number of requisitions errors were observed in those received from the Emergency
      and Trauma services (27.38 %) followed by Medical wards (15.82 %) and the lowest
      number (3.16 %) of requisition errors were observed from Hematology and Oncology
      wards. C.R. No. error was the most common error observed in our study. Thus a
      careful check of the blood requisitions at the blood bank reception counter helps
      in identifying the potential transfusion errors. 

PMID- 25825572
TI  - Lacunae in patient knowledge about oral anticoagulant treatment: results of a
      questionnaire survey.
AB  - Oral anticoagulation therapy is affected by the drug used, intensity of
      anticoagulation, physician's experience, patient compliance, laboratory testing
      and patient education. Patient education is a key factor in optimal
      anticoagulation and safety in patients on oral anticoagulant therapy. This study
      was done to assess the knowledge of patients regarding oral anticoagulant therapy
      in the outpatient setting. This prospective study was done over 2 months in 101
      patients on outpatient oral anticoagulant therapy. A 20-point questionnaire on
      various aspects of oral anticoagulation therapy was administered to assess their
      knowledge. The answers were graded on a scale of 0-1. Scores were then added up
      to quantify the knowledge status in each patient. Descriptive statistics and
      Student's t test was used to analyse the data. The mean knowledge score among
      patients was 9.4/18 (52.2 %). More than half (52.8 %) of the patients had a score
      of <9. More than half (54.4 %) of the patients had adequate knowledge-(>80 %
      score-5.5/7) about the critical (must know) questions regarding OAT. Patients
      with age >=60 years had lower mean scores compared to those <60 years of age (p =
      0.028). Illiteracy was also associated (p < 0.0001) with poor scores. There are
      significant lacunae in the knowledge about oral anticoagulation among patients on
      outpatient treatment. Older age and illiteracy were associated with poor
      knowledge among patients. More emphasis needs to be given to the vital aspect of
      patient education to make this therapy safer for patients. 

PMID- 25825574
TI  - Free protein s reference ranges in gravidas without hereditary and acquired
      thrombophilia.
AB  - We carried out a retrospective cohort study to construct reference ranges for
      free protein S (FPS) levels during pregnancy and identify any conditions or
      factors that may affect FPS levels. Patients that were ordered thrombophilia
      screening tests during gestational period were identified. Patients demonstrated
      to have hereditary or acquired thrombophilia were excluded. Reference ranges were
      constructed using regression analysis. Outcome of the index pregnancy and
      pregnancy complications was used to identify any confounding factors. A total of
      455 pregnant women were included. The quadratic equation for FPS according to
      gestational age (GA) was [75.497 + (-1.516*GA) + 0.018*GA*GA]. FPS level and GA
      were negatively correlated (Spearmans rho statistic [rs] = -0.436, p = 0.001).
      FPS level and fetal growth restriction (FGR) were negatively correlated ([rs] = 
      0.093, p = 0.049). FPS level and placental abruption were positively correlated
      ([rs] = 0.098, p = 0.039). Stepwise linear regression model constructed to
      predict FPS level with gestational age, placental abruption and FGR as the
      predictor variables. Gestational age was the only variable retaining
      statistically significant relation with FPS level (chi(2) = 0.216, df = 3, p =
      0.001). FPS levels decrease significantly throughout gestation in gravidas
      without hereditary and/or acquired thrombophilias. In patients without
      thrombophilia FPS levels are not associated with pregnancy complications. The
      obtained reference intervals may be useful for the clinicians ordering FPS during
      pregnancy. 

PMID- 25825573
TI  - Lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies in Indian women with
      spontaneous, recurrent fetal loss.
AB  - Spontaneous and recurrent pregnancy loss are common complications of pregnancy
      resulting from varied causes including antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). Treatment
      of women with APS increases the chance of a subsequent successful pregnancy. The
      study aimed to find the prevalence of lupus anticoagulants (LA) and
      anticardiolipin antibodies (ACAs) in women with spontaneous/recurrent fetal loss
      and compare with women with normal obstetric history. Hundred women with
      spontaneous/recurrent fetal loss and 50 healthy pregnant controls were tested for
      LA by complete blood counts, Prothrombin time, Activated partial thromboplastin
      time (APTT), LA sensitive APTT and dilute Russell viper venom time (dRVVT)
      (screening and confirmatory) and ACAs (ELISA). LA was detected in 15 % patients
      using dRVVT confirmatory test and ACA in 5 %, all controls being negative. Twenty
      one % patients were detected by LA sensitive APTT (sensitivity 92.9 %,
      specificity 100 %) and 100 % with dRVVT screening test (sensitivity 98.8 %,
      specificity 100 %). We recommend that screening for antiphospholipid antibodies
      must be done in women with spontaneous/recurrent foetal loss even in the absence
      of other clinical manifestations using a combination of tests. 

PMID- 25825575
TI  - Immunophenotypic aberrancy of a case of hairy cell leukemia.

PMID- 25825576
TI  - An Adolescent Case of Osteopetrosis with Portal Hypertension as well as Mandibula
      Osteomyelitis.
AB  - Osteopetrosis is a clinical syndrome characterized by the failure of osteoclasts
      to resorb bone. Excessive bone density can interfere with vital tissues and
      structures, causing serious problems of the body. Hematopoietic insufficiency,
      disturbed tooth eruption, nerve entrapment syndromes, and growth impairment may
      develop in a patient with osteopetrosis. Herein, we present an adolescent girl
      diagnosed with non-infantile type of osteopetrosis with rare complications of the
      disease like mandibular osteomyelitis and portal hypertension (PHT) without liver
      cirrhosis. To our knowledge, this is the first pediatric case with osteopetrosis
      related PHT. 

PMID- 25825577
TI  - Megaloblastic anemia presenting with massive reversible splenomegaly.
AB  - Megaloblastic anemia (MA) is a common disorder with varied manifestations. It
      generally results in mild to moderate splenomegaly which is due to sequestration
      of macrocytic erythrocytes in spleen. Massive splenomegaly is generally seen in
      infections, myeloproliferative diseases, neoplasms, storage disorders or
      hematological conditions; but is not heard of and has rarely been reported in MA.
      We discuss a case of massive splenomegaly who presented with symptomatic anemia
      and was found to have MA. He was extensive evaluated for all other causes of
      massive splenomegaly which was normal. Further, after a therapeutic trial of MA
      he showed a regression in spleen size confirming that the massive splenomegaly
      was attributable to MA. 

PMID- 25825578
TI  - Primary follicular lymphoma of the breast: a rare clinical entity diagnosed using
      tissue flow cytometry.

PMID- 25825579
TI  - Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm: skin and bone marrow infiltration
      of three cases and the review of the literature.
AB  - Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a distinct and rare
      neoplastic entity and was classified as a subgroup of acute myeloblastic leukemia
      by the WHO in 2008. The median survival of patients was 15.2 months in a large
      case series. Allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation has been
      recommended by some reports because of the disease's poor prognosis. We present
      three patients who presented with both skin and bone marrow infiltration. A 57
      year-old man, a 62-year-old woman, a 64-year-old man were admitted to our
      outpatient clinic because of skin lesions. All of the patient's had bone marrow
      infiltration with positivity of the CD4, CD56, and CD123 staining. Survival of
      the patient's were 42, 6 and 12 months, respectively. Two of the patients who
      presented as blastic form didn't respond to any chemotherapy. BPDCN is a
      difficult disease to diagnosis and manage. CD4, CD56, CD123, CD303, and T cell
      leukemia/lymphoma 1. Cutaneous lesions can present as isolated nodules, macules,
      and disseminated macules and nodules. Positivities are crucial to the diagnosis
      of the disease in histological examination. Bone marrow infiltration or disease
      relapse at presentation were related to poor prognosis. Complete
      immunocytochemical staining must be performed for all patients who have cutaneous
      lesions with or without blood count abnormalities. Bone marrow (allogeneic or
      autologous) transplantation should be considered at the first remission. 

PMID- 25825580
TI  - A rare case of follicular dendritic cell sarcoma with pseudochylous effusion and
      review of literature from India.

PMID- 25825581
TI  - Acute eosinophilic pneumonia with eosinophilic leukemoid reaction: a rare
      hematologic presentation.

PMID- 25825582
TI  - Morphological Spectrum of Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH).

PMID- 25825583
TI  - Oral High Dose Dexamethasone for Pure Red Cell Aplasia Following ABO-Mismatched
      Allogeneic Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation: A Case Report.
AB  - Management of pure red cell aplasia following major ABO-mismatched hematopoietic
      stem cell transplantation is a therapeutic challenge. Various therapeutic
      modalities have been tried with variable responses, and patient remains
      transfusion dependent for a long time. We report here the use of pulsed oral high
      dose dexamethasone for pure red cell aplasia following ABO-mismatched allogeneic
      transplant with complete recovery. 

PMID- 25825584
TI  - Emerging influenza: consideration in transfusion medicine.

PMID- 25825585
TI  - Anemia and H7N9 Bird Flu: A Forgotten Problem.

PMID- 25825586
TI  - Populations, pools, and peccaries: simulating the impact of ecosystem engineers
      on rainforest frogs.
AB  - "Ecosystem engineering" describes habitat alteration by an organism that affects
      another organism; such nontrophic interactions between organisms are a current
      focus in ecological research. Our study quantifies the actual impact an ecosystem
      engineer can have on another species by using a previously identified model
      system-peccaries and rainforest frogs. In a 4-year experiment, we simulated the
      impact of peccaries on a population of Allobates femoralis (Dendrobatidae) by
      installing an array of artificial pools to mimic a forest patch modified by
      peccaries. The data were analyzed using a gradual before-after control-impact
      (gBACI) model. Following the supplementation, population size almost doubled as a
      result of increased autochthonous recruitment driven by a higher per-capita
      reproduction of males and a higher proportion of reproducing females. The effect
      was evenly distributed across the population. The differential response of males
      and females reflects the reproductive behavior of A. femoralis, as only the males
      use the aquatic sites for tadpole deposition. Our study shows that management and
      conservation must consider nontrophic relationships and that human "ecosystem
      engineering" can play a vital role in efforts against the "global amphibian
      decline."

PMID- 25825587
TI  - A larger brain confers a benefit in a spatial mate search learning task in male
      guppies.
AB  - Brain size varies dramatically among vertebrates, and selection for increased
      cognitive abilities is thought to be the key force underlying the evolution of a
      large brain. Indeed, numerous comparative studies suggest positive relationships
      between cognitively demanding aspects of behavior and brain size controlled for
      body size. However, experimental evidence for the link between relative brain
      size and cognitive ability is surprisingly scarce and to date stems from a single
      study on brain size selected guppies (Poecilia reticulata), where large-brained
      females were shown to outperform small-brained females in a numerical learning
      assay. Because the results were inconclusive for males in that study, we here use
      a more ecologically relevant test of male cognitive ability to investigate
      whether or not a relatively larger brain increases cognitive ability also in
      males. We compared mate search ability of these artificially selected large- and
      small-brained males in a maze and found that large-brained males were faster at
      learning to find a female in a maze. Large-brained males decreased the time spent
      navigating the maze faster than small-brained males and were nearly twice as fast
      through the maze after 2 weeks of training. Our results support that relatively
      larger brains are better also for males in some contexts, which further
      substantiates that variation in vertebrate brain size is generated through the
      balance between energetic costs and cognitive benefits.

PMID- 25825589
TI  - A Framework for Evaluating and Enhancing Alignment in Self-Regulated Learning
      Research.
AB  - We discuss the articles of this special issue with reference to an important yet
      previously only implicit dimension of study quality: alignment across the
      theoretical and methodological decisions that collectively define an approach to
      self-regulated learning. Integrating and extending work by leaders in the field,
      we propose a framework for evaluating alignment in the way self-regulated
      learning research is both conducted and reported. Within this framework, the
      special issue articles provide a springboard for discussing methodological
      promises and pitfalls of increasingly sophisticated research on the dynamic,
      contingent, and contextualized features of self-regulated learning.

PMID- 25825588
TI  - The hippocampo-prefrontal pathway: a possible therapeutic target for negative and
      cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia.
AB  - The hippocampo-prefrontal (H-PFC) pathway has been linked to cognitive and
      emotional disturbances in several psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia.
      Preclinical evidence from the NMDA receptor antagonism rodent model of
      schizophrenia shows severe pathology selective to the H-PFC pathway. It is
      speculated that there is an increased excitatory drive from the hippocampus to
      the prefrontal cortex due to dysfunctions in the H-PFC plasticity, which may
      serve as the basis for the behavioral consequences observed in this rodent model.
      Thus, the H-PFC pathway is currently emerging as a promising therapeutic target
      for the negative and cognitive symptom clusters of schizophrenia. Here, we have
      reviewed the physiological, pharmacological and functional characteristics of the
      H-PFC pathway and we propose that allosteric activation of glutamatergic and
      cholinergic neurotransmission can serve as a plausible therapeutic approach.

PMID- 25825591
TI  - Association of Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha Polymorphisms and Risk of Coronary
      Artery Disease in Patients With Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular events account for the main cause of death in patients
      with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and are largely influenced by
      genetic factors. Although multiple studies showed that tumor necrosis factor
      alpha (TNF-alpha) polymorphisms are risk factors in the progression of NAFLD, few
      papers on the association of the polymorphisms and the developing coronary artery
      disease (CAD) in NAFLD patients have been reported. OBJECTIVES: The present study
      was designed to evaluate the association of TNF-alpha polymorphisms at residues 
      238 and -308, with the risk of developing CAD in Chinese patients with NAFLD.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: The TNF-alpha polymorphisms at residues 238 and 308 were
      genotyped in B-type ultrasonography proven NAFLD patients with (n = 246), without
      (n = 247) CAD and healthy controls (n = 304), using polymerase chain reaction
      (PCR). Serum lipid profiles were determined using biochemical methods.
      Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS statistical software, version 20.0
      for Mac. RESULTS: We found a significant association between TNF-alpha-238
      guanine to alanine (GA) polymorphism and carriers of variant allele A between
      NAFLD patients with and without CAD (P < 0.05). Carriers of the A allele of TNF
      alpha-238 had higher serum triglycerides (TG) and low density lipoprotein (LDL)
      levels in NAFLD patients with CAD (P = 0.025 and 0.001, respectively) and a
      higher TG level in NAFLD patients without CAD (P = 0.017), than their non-carrier
      counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: In the Chinese Han population that we studied, NAFLD
      patients who carry the TNF-alpha-238 GA polymorphism have an increased risk of
      developing CAD. Mechanisms underlying this potentially important association
      require further investigation.

PMID- 25825590
TI  - HAV Immunity in Iranian Medical Students.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hepatitis A, a fecal-oral transmitted disease, which has been
      considered endemic in developing countries, seems to change its pattern in
      developing countries because of their improved socioeconomic status. OBJECTIVES:
      In the present study, we aimed to determine the need of vaccination in 270
      students at AJA University of Medical Sciences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The serum
      level of anti-HAV antibody was checked in 270 students of AJA University of
      medical students, and effect of different factors, including age, gender, pre
      university entrance exam region, familial education, familial income, clean water
      availability, and previous history of jaundice were tested. RESULTS: Of total 270
      students, 30 were female. Their age ranged between 18 and 30 years old with the
      mean age of 20.58 years and just 34% of students had positive level of anti-HAV
      antibody. Age and sex had no role in positive serum level of anti-HAV antibody.
      According to analyzed data, lack of clean water availability, pre-university
      entrance exam region, lower family education, and poor health status estimation
      increased statistically the risk of HAV infection. CONCLUSIONS: Because 66% of
      students were anti-HAV antibody negative and they will work as health care
      workers in future, our study suggest vaccinating all students accepted at AJA
      University of Medical Sciences.

PMID- 25825592
TI  - Availability and distribution of human resources for provision of comprehensive
      emergency obstetric and newborn care in Afghanistan: a cross-sectional study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For over a decade, Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health and its
      international development partners have invested in strengthening the national
      health workforce and establishing a system of primary health care facilities and
      hospitals to reduce the high levels of maternal and child mortality that were
      documented shortly after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Significant progress
      has been made, but many challenges remain. The objective of this study is to
      assess the availability and distribution of human resources for round-the-clock
      comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care service provision in secure
      areas of Afghanistan in order to inform policy and program planning. METHODS: A
      cross-sectional assessment was conducted from December 2009 to February 2010 at
      the 78 accessible facilities designated to provide emergency obstetric and
      newborn care in Afghanistan. The availability of staff on call 24 hours a day,
      seven days a week; involvement of staff in essential clinical functions; turnover
      rates; and vacancies were documented at each facility. Descriptive statistics
      were used to summarize results. RESULTS: All facilities assessed had at least one
      midwife on staff, but most did not meet the minimum staffing requirements set in
      national guidelines. Given that all facilities assessed are considered referral
      centers for lower-level clinics, the lack of doctors at 5% of facilities, lack of
      anesthetists at 10% of facilities and lack of obstetrician/gynecologists at 51%
      of facilities raises serious concerns about the capacity of the health system to
      respond with lifesaving care for women with obstetric complications. CONCLUSIONS:
      While the government continues its efforts to increase the number of qualified
      female health professionals in Afghanistan after decades with little female
      education, innovative strategies are needed to facilitate deployment, skill
      development and retention of female healthcare providers in underserved areas.

PMID- 25825593
TI  - Organoid modeling for cancer precision medicine.
AB  - Three-dimensional organotypic culture models show great promise as a tool for
      cancer precision medicine, with potential applications for oncogene modeling,
      gene discovery and chemosensitivity studies. 

PMID- 25825595
TI  - Synthesis and Immunogenicity Assessment of Elastin-Like Polypeptide-M2e Construct
      as an Influenza Antigen.
AB  - The 23 amino acid-long extracellular domain of the influenza virus transmembrane
      protein M2 (M2e) has remained highly conserved since the 1918 pandemic, and is
      thus considered a good candidate for development of a universal influenza A
      vaccine. However, M2e is poorly immunogenic. In this study we assessed the
      potential of increasing immunogenicity of M2e by constructing a nanoscale
      designed protein polymer containing the M2e sequence and an elastin-like
      polypeptide (ELP) nanodomain consisting of alanine and tyrosine guest residues
      (ELP(A2YA2)24). The ELP nanodomain was included to increase antigen size, and to
      exploit the inherent thermal inverse phase transition behavior of ELPs to purify
      the protein polymer. The ELP(A2YA2)24 + M2e nanodomained molecule was
      recombinantly synthesized. Characterization of its inverse phase transition
      behavior demonstrated that attachment of M2e to ELP(A2YA2)24 increased its
      transition temperature compared to ELP(A2YA2)24. Using a dot blot test we
      determined that M2e conjugated to ELP is recognizable by M2e-specific antibodies,
      suggesting that the conjugation process does not adversely affect the immunogenic
      property of M2e. Further, upon vaccinating mice with ELP(A2YA2)24 + M2e it was
      found that indeed the nanodomained protein enhanced M2e-specific antibodies in
      mouse serum compared to free M2e peptide and ELP(A2YA2)24. The immune serum could
      also recognize M2 expressed on influenza virions. Overall, this data suggests the
      potential of using molecules containing M2e-ELP nano-domains to develop a
      universal influenza vaccine.

PMID- 25825594
TI  - The gut microbiome in cardio-metabolic health.
AB  - With the prevalence of cardio-metabolic disorders reaching pandemic proportions,
      the search for modifiable causative factors has intensified. One such potential
      factor is the vast microbial community inhabiting the human gastrointestinal
      tract, the gut microbiota. For the past decade evidence has accumulated showing
      the association of distinct changes in gut microbiota composition and function
      with obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Although causality in
      humans and the pathophysiological mechanisms involved have yet to be decisively
      established, several studies have demonstrated that the gut microbiota, as an
      environmental factor influencing the metabolic state of the host, is readily
      modifiable through a variety of interventions. In this review we provide an
      overview of the development of the gut microbiome and its compositional and
      functional changes in relation to cardio-metabolic disorders, and give an update
      on recent progress in how this could be exploited in microbiota-based
      therapeutics. 

PMID- 25825596
TI  - Radionuclide imaging of neurohormonal system of the heart.
AB  - Heart failure is one of the growing causes of death especially in developed
      countries due to longer life expectancy. Although many pharmacological and
      instrumental therapeutic approaches have been introduced for prevention and
      treatment of heart failure, there are still limitations and challenges. Nuclear
      cardiology has experienced rapid growth in the last few decades, in particular
      the application of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and
      positron emission tomography (PET), which allow non-invasive functional
      assessment of cardiac condition including neurohormonal systems involved in heart
      failure; its application has dramatically improved the capacity for fundamental
      research and clinical diagnosis. In this article, we review the current status of
      applying radionuclide technology in non-invasive imaging of neurohormonal system
      in the heart, especially focusing on the tracers that are currently available. A
      short discussion about disadvantages and perspectives is also included. 

PMID- 25825598
TI  - Zwitterionic poly(carboxybetaine)-based cationic liposomes for effective delivery
      of small interfering RNA therapeutics without accelerated blood clearance
      phenomenon.
AB  - For efficient delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) to the target diseased
      site in vivo, it is important to design suitable vehicles to control the blood
      circulation of siRNA. It has been shown that surface modification of cationic
      liposome/siRNA complexes (lipoplexes) with polyethylene glycol (PEG) could
      enhance the circulation time of lipoplexes. However, the first injection of
      PEGylated lipoplexes in vivo induces accelerated blood clearance and enhances
      hepatic accumulation of the following injected PEGylated lipoplexes, which is
      known as the accelerated blood clearance (ABC) phenomenon. Herein, we developed
      zwitterionic poly(carboxybetaine) (PCB) modified lipoplexes for the delivery of
      siRNA therapeutics, which could avoid protein adsorption and enhance the
      stability of lipoplexes as that for PEG. Quite different from the PEGylation, the
      PCBylated lipoplexes could avoid ABC phenomenon, which extended the blood
      circulation time and enhanced the tumor accumulation of lipoplexes in vivo. After
      accumulation in tumor site, the PCBylation could promote the cellular uptake and
      endosomal/lysosomal escape of lipoplexes due to its unique chemical structure and
      pH-sensitive ability. With excellent tumor accumulation, cellular uptake and
      endosomal/lysosomal escape abilities, the PCBylated lipoplexes significantly
      inhibited tumor growth and induced tumor cell apoptosis. 

PMID- 25825597
TI  - Molecular imaging of apoptosis: from micro to macro.
AB  - Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is involved in numerous human conditions
      including neurodegenerative diseases, ischemic damage, autoimmune disorders and
      many types of cancer, and is often confused with other types of cell death.
      Therefore strategies that enable visualized detection of apoptosis would be of
      enormous benefit in the clinic for diagnosis, patient management, and development
      of new therapies. In recent years, improved understanding of the apoptotic
      machinery and progress in imaging modalities have provided opportunities for
      researchers to formulate microscopic and macroscopic imaging strategies based on
      well-defined molecular markers and/or physiological features. Correspondingly, a
      large collection of apoptosis imaging probes and approaches have been documented
      in preclinical and clinical studies. In this review, we mainly discuss
      microscopic imaging assays and macroscopic imaging probes, ranging in complexity
      from simple attachments of reporter moieties to proteins that interact with
      apoptotic biomarkers, to rationally designed probes that target biochemical
      changes. Their clinical translation will also be our focus. 

PMID- 25825599
TI  - Molecular imaging of tumor-infiltrating macrophages in a preclinical mouse model
      of breast cancer.
AB  - Significant evidence has indicated that tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play
      a critical role in the proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis of a
      variety of human carcinomas. In this study, we investigated whether near-infrared
      fluorescence (NIRF) imaging using a macrophage mannose receptor (MMR; CD206)
      targeting agent could be used to noninvasively visualize and quantify changes in
      TAMs in vivo. The CD206-targeting NIRF agent, Dye-anti-CD206, was prepared and
      characterized in vitro and in vivo. By using NIRF imaging, we were able to
      noninvasively image tumor-infiltrating macrophages in the 4T1 mouse breast cancer
      model. Importantly, longitudinal NIRF imaging revealed the depletion of
      macrophages in response to zoledronic acid (ZA) treatment. However, ZA alone did
      not lead to the inhibition of 4T1 tumor growth. We therefore combined anti
      macrophage ZA therapy and tumor cytotoxic docetaxel (DTX) therapy in the mouse
      model. The results demonstrated that this combination strategy could
      significantly inhibit tumor growth as well as tumor metastasis to the lungs.
      Based on these findings, we concluded that CD206-targeted molecular imaging can
      sensitively detect the dynamic changes in tumor-infiltrating macrophages, and
      that the combination of macrophage depletion and cytotoxic therapy is a promising
      strategy for the effective treatment of solid tumors. 

PMID- 25825600
TI  - Charge and hydrophobicity effects of NIR fluorophores on bone-specific imaging.
AB  - Recent advances in near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging enabled real-time
      intraoperative detection of bone metastases, bone growth, and tissue
      microcalcification. Pamidronate (PAM) has been widely used for this purpose
      because of its high binding affinity toward bone and remarkable therapeutic
      effects. Herein we describe the development of a series of PAM-conjugated NIR
      fluorophores that varied in net charges and hydrophobicity, and compared their
      bone targeting efficiency, biodistribution, and blood clearance. Since the
      targeting moiety, PAM, is highly negatively charged but small, the overall in
      vivo bone targeting and biodistribution were mediated by the physicochemical
      properties of conjugated fluorophores. 

PMID- 25825601
TI  - Disclosing the CXCR4 expression in lymphoproliferative diseases by targeted
      molecular imaging.
AB  - Chemokine ligand-receptor interactions play a pivotal role in cell attraction and
      cellular trafficking, both in normal tissue homeostasis and in disease. In
      cancer, chemokine receptor-4 (CXCR4) expression is an adverse prognostic factor.
      Early clinical studies suggest that targeting CXCR4 with suitable high-affinity
      antagonists might be a novel means for therapy. In addition to the preclinical
      evaluation of [(68)Ga]Pentixafor in mice bearing human lymphoma xenografts as an
      exemplary CXCR4-expressing tumor entity, we report on the first clinical
      applications of [(68)Ga]Pentixafor-Positron Emission Tomography as a powerful
      method for CXCR4 imaging in cancer patients. [(68)Ga]Pentixafor binds with high
      affinity and selectivity to human CXCR4 and exhibits a favorable dosimetry.
      [(68)Ga]Pentixafor-PET provides images with excellent specificity and contrast.
      This non-invasive imaging technology for quantitative assessment of CXCR4
      expression allows to further elucidate the role of CXCR4/CXCL12 ligand
      interaction in the pathogenesis and treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases
      and autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. 

PMID- 25825602
TI  - Theranostic mesoporous silica nanoparticles biodegrade after pro-survival drug
      delivery and ultrasound/magnetic resonance imaging of stem cells.
AB  - Increasing cell survival in stem cell therapy is an important challenge for the
      field of regenerative medicine. Here, we report theranostic mesoporous silica
      nanoparticles that can increase cell survival through both diagnostic and
      therapeutic approaches. First, the nanoparticle offers ultrasound and MRI signal
      to guide implantation into the peri-infarct zone and away from the most necrotic
      tissue. Second, the nanoparticle serves as a slow release reservoir of insulin
      like growth factor (IGF)-a protein shown to increase cell survival. Mesenchymal
      stem cells labeled with these nanoparticles had detection limits near 9000 cells
      with no cytotoxicity at the 250 ug/mL concentration required for labeling. We
      also studied the degradation of the nanoparticles and showed that they clear from
      cells in approximately 3 weeks. The presence of IGF increased cell survival up to
      40% (p<0.05) versus unlabeled cells under in vitro serum-free culture conditions.

PMID- 25825603
TI  - 3D porous calcium-alginate scaffolds cell culture system improved human
      osteoblast cell clusters for cell therapy.
AB  - Age-related orthopedic disorders and bone defects have become a critical public
      health issue, and cell-based therapy is potentially a novel solution for issues
      surrounding bone tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Long-term cultures
      of primary bone cells exhibit phenotypic and functional degeneration; therefore,
      culturing cells or tissues suitable for clinical use remain a challenge. A
      platform consisting of human osteoblasts (hOBs), calcium-alginate (Ca-Alginate)
      scaffolds, and a self-made bioreactor system was established for autologous
      transplantation of human osteoblast cell clusters. The Ca-Alginate scaffold
      facilitated the growth and differentiation of human bone cell clusters, and the
      functionally-closed process bioreactor system supplied the soluble nutrients and
      osteogenic signals required to maintain the cell viability. This system preserved
      the proliferative ability of cells and cell viability and up-regulated bone
      related gene expression and biological apatite crystals formation. The bone-like
      tissue generated could be extracted by removal of calcium ions via
      ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) chelation, and exhibited a size suitable
      for injection. The described strategy could be used in therapeutic application
      and opens new avenues for surgical interventions to correct skeletal defects. 

PMID- 25825605
TI  - Capacity assessment, successful aging and geriatric humanities.

PMID- 25825606
TI  - A Long-Term Care-Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (LTC-CGA) Tool: Improving
      Care for Frail Older Adults?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Most older adults living in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are
      frail and have complex care needs. Holistic understanding of residents' health
      status is key to providing good care. Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) is
      a valid assessment method which aims to embrace complexity. Here we aimed to
      study a CGA that has been modified for use in long-term care (the LTC-CGA) and to
      investigate its acceptability and usefulness to stakeholders and users. METHODS:
      This mixed methods study, conducted in 10 LTCFs in Halifax, Nova Scotia, reviewed
      598 resident charts from pre- and post-implementation of the LTC-CGA. Qualitative
      methods explored stakeholder perspectives (physicians, nurses, paramedics,
      administrators, residents and families) though focus groups. RESULTS: The LTC-CGA
      was present in 78% of LTCF charts in the post -implementation, period though it
      did not appear in acute care charts of transferred residents, despite the
      intention that it accompany residents between care sites. Some items had
      suboptimal completion rates (e.g., Advance Directives at 56.4%), though these
      were located in other sections of the LTCF chart (98.2%). Nevertheless,
      qualitative findings suggest the LTC-CGA describes a clinical baseline health
      status which enabled timely and informed clinical decision-making. CONCLUSIONS:
      The LTC-CGA is a useful resource whose full capacity may not yet have been
      realized.

PMID- 25825604
TI  - Update on intravitreal anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha therapies for ocular
      disorders.
AB  - Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-?) is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine
      associated with a variety of ocular diseases. The currently available TNF-?
      inhibitors are etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab, golimumab, and certolizumab.
      Experimental and clinical studies on the intravitreal use of these agents have
      been reported with etanercept, infliximab, and adalimumab: etanercept has shown
      limited efficacy in scarce reports; infliximab has been associated with local
      safety concerns but appears to benefit certain cases; adalimumab has shown no
      efficacy in cases of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or diabetic macular
      edema (DME), but the combination with bevacizumab may be effective in refractory
      cases of macular diseases. Further preclinical and clinical studies are warranted
      in order to be able to obtain a more robust conclusion on the use of intravitreal
      TNF-? inhibitors. 

PMID- 25825607
TI  - Prevalence and distribution of oral mucosal lesions in a geriatric Indian
      population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oral health is important to individuals of all age groups. Previous
      epidemiologic studies of the oral health status of the general population in
      India provided very little information about oral mucosal lesions in the elderly.
      Hence, the purpose of the present study was to determine the prevalence of the
      oral lesions in a geriatric Indian population. METHODS: 5,100 patients were
      clinically evaluated, with age ranging from 60 to 98 years. There were 3,100
      males and 2,000 females, with a mean age of 69 +/- 6.3 yrs. The statistical
      analysis was done using the SPSS software, where p < .05 was considered to be
      significant. RESULTS: 64% of the patients presented with one or more oral
      lesions, associated to tobacco, betel nut consumption, and lesions secondary to
      trauma and prosthesis. Males were more affected than females and this difference
      was clinically not significant (p > .05). The lesions were more frequently
      observed between 65 to 70 yrs. The most common alterations observed were smoker's
      palate (43%), denture stomatitis (34%), oral submucous fibrosis (30%), frictional
      keratosis (23%), leukoplakia (22%), and pyogenic granuloma (22%). Hard palate was
      the most commonly affected site (23.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present
      study provide important information when clinically evaluating oral cavity in
      elderly. Close follow-up and systematic evaluation is required in the elderly
      population to plan future treatment needs.

PMID- 25825608
TI  - The development and implementation of a decision-making capacity assessment
      model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Decision-making capacity assessment (DMCA) is an issue of increasing
      importance for older adults. Current challenges need to be explored, and
      potential processes and strategies considered in order to address issues of DMCA
      in a more coordinated manner. METHODS: An iterative process was used to address
      issues related to DMCA. This began with recognition of challenges associated with
      capacity assessments (CAs) by staff at Covenant Health (CH). Review of the
      literature, as well as discussions with and a survey of staff at three CH sites,
      resulted in determination of issues related to DMCA. Development of a DMCA Model
      and demonstration of its feasibility followed. RESULTS: A process was proposed
      with front-end screening/problem- solving, a well-defined standard assessment,
      and definition of team member roles. A Capacity Assessment Care Map was
      formulated based on the process. Documentation was developed consisting of a
      Capacity Assessment Process Worksheet, Capacity Interview Worksheet, and a
      brochure. Interactive workshops were delivered to familiarize staff with the DMCA
      Model. A successful demonstration project led to implementation across all sites
      in the Capital Health region, and eventual provincial endorsement. CONCLUSIONS:
      Concerns identified in the survey and in the literature regarding CA were
      addressed through the holistic interdisciplinary approach offered by the DMCA
      Model.

PMID- 25825609
TI  - A practical approach to osteoporosis management in the geriatric population.
AB  - Osteoporosis is a medical condition that is seen commonly in elderly patients,
      and it is associated with a large burden of morbidity and mortality. This article
      provides a practical approach to the workup and management of osteoporosis in
      patients 65 years or older. 

PMID- 25825610
TI  - Successful aging and frailty: mutually exclusive paradigms or two ends of a
      shared continuum?
AB  - The conceptualization of positive and negative states of aging is contentious at
      the inter- and intraparadigm level; lack of consensus exists within and between
      states. Working within their respective paradigms, successful aging and frailty
      researchers may have lost sight of the larger picture. Are successful aging
      researchers describing nonfrail individuals? Are frailty researchers describing
      unsuccessful aging? It is imperative that researchers are cognizant of the ways
      in which their perspectives are contextualized within the literature and within
      related paradigms, so as to be able to clearly communicate their research and to
      ensure they are working within the appropriate paradigm to facilitate desired
      outcomes. Here we discuss the similarities and differences between successful
      aging and frailty in terms of the scope and emphasis of their constituent
      components and functioning: both SA and frailty include biomedical components; SA
      examines the high end, whilst frailty predominately examines the low end of the
      functioning spectrum. Frailty models emphasize the biomedical realm, whilst SA
      models emphasize both the biomedical and the psychosocial. 

PMID- 25825611
TI  - Humanities and geriatric education: a strategy for recruitment?
AB  - Ageing is a common subject in arts and literature as it is a universal
      experience. The use of the humanities in medical education may have a positive
      effect on trainees' attitude to caring for seniors and on geriatrics as a career
      choice. This paper summarizes the role of humanities in medical education and
      provides some examples and thoughts on how humanities curriculum can be used in
      geriatric teaching. 

PMID- 25825612
TI  - Programmable and on-demand drug release using electrical stimulation.
AB  - Recent advancement in microfabrication has enabled the implementation of
      implantable drug delivery devices with precise drug administration and fast
      release rates at specific locations. This article presents a membrane-based drug
      delivery device, which can be electrically stimulated to release drugs on demand
      with a fast release rate. Hydrogels with ionic model drugs are sealed in a
      cylindrical reservoir with a separation membrane. Electrokinetic forces are then
      utilized to drive ionic drug molecules from the hydrogels into surrounding bulk
      solutions. The drug release profiles of a model drug show that release rates from
      the device can be electrically controlled by adjusting the stimulated voltage.
      When a square voltage wave is applied, the device can be quickly switched between
      on and off to achieve pulsatile release. The drug dose released is then
      determined by the duration and amplitude of the applied voltages. In addition,
      successive on/off cycles can be programmed in the voltage waveforms to generate
      consistent and repeatable drug release pulses for on-demand drug delivery. 

PMID- 25825613
TI  - Multiple enzyme-doped thread-based microfluidic system for blood urea nitrogen
      and glucose detection in human whole blood.
AB  - This research presents a multiple enzyme-doped thread-based microfluidic system
      for blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and glucose detection in human whole blood. A novel
      enzyme-doped thread coated with a thin polyvinylchloride (PVC) membrane is
      produced for on-site electrochemical detection of urea and glucose in whole
      blood. Multiple enzymes can be directly applied to the thread without delicate
      pretreatment or a surface modification process prior to sealing the thread with
      PVC membrane. Results indicate that the developed device exhibits a good linear
      dynamic range for detecting urea and glucose in concentrations from 0.1 mM-10.0
      mM (R(2 )= 0.9850) and 0.1 mM-13.0 mM (R(2 )= 0.9668), which is suitable for
      adoption in detecting the concentrations of blood urea nitrogen (BUN, 1.78-7.12
      mM) and glucose (3.89-6.11 mM) in serum. The detection result also shows that the
      developed thread-based microfluidic system can successfully separate and detect
      the ions, BUN, and glucose in blood. The calculated concentrations of BUN and
      glucose ante cibum (glucose before meal) in the whole blood sample are 3.98 mM
      and 4.94 mM, respectively. The developed thread-based microfluidic system
      provides a simple yet high performance for clinical diagnostics. 

PMID- 25825614
TI  - Improving the dielectric properties of an electrowetting-on-dielectric
      microfluidic device with a low-pressure chemical vapor deposited Si3N4 dielectric
      layer.
AB  - Dielectric breakdown is a common problem in a digital microfluidic system, which
      limits its application in chemical or biomedical applications. We propose a new
      fabrication of an electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) device using Si3N4
      deposited by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) as a dielectric
      layer. This material exhibits a greater relative permittivity, purity,
      uniformity, and biocompatibility than polymeric films. These properties also
      increase the breakdown voltage of a dielectric layer and increase the stability
      of an EWOD system when applied in biomedical research. Medium droplets with mouse
      embryos were manipulated in this manner. The electrical properties of the Si3N4
      dielectric layer-breakdown voltage, refractive index, relative permittivity, and
      variation of contact angle with input voltage-were investigated and compared with
      a traditional Si3N4 dielectric layer deposited as a plasma-enhanced chemical
      vapor deposition to confirm the potential of LPCVD Si3N4 applied as the
      dielectric layer of an EWOD digital microfluidic system. 

PMID- 25825615
TI  - Embryo formation from low sperm concentration by using dielectrophoretic force.
AB  - A biochip system imitates the oviduct of mammals with a microfluidic channel to
      achieve fertilization in vitro of imprinting-control-region (ICR) mice. We apply
      a method to manipulate and to position the oocyte and the sperm of ICR mice at
      the same time in our microfluidic channel with a positive dielectrophoretic (DEP)
      force. The positive dielectrophoretic response of the oocyte and sperm was
      exhibited under applied bias conditions AC 10 Vpp waveform, 1 MHz, 10 min. With
      this method, the concentration of sperm in the vicinity of the oocyte was
      increased and enhanced the probability of natural fertilization. We used
      commercial numerical software (CFDRC-ACE+) to simulate the square of the electric
      field and analyzed the location at which the oocyte and sperm are trapped. The
      microfluidic devices were designed and fabricated with poly(dimethylsiloxane).
      The results of our experiments indicate that a positive DEP served to drive the
      position of the oocyte and the sperm to natural fertilization (average rate of
      fertilization 51.58%) in our microchannel structures at insemination
      concentration 1.5 * 10(6) sperm ml(-1). Embryos were cultured to two cells after
      24 h and four cells after 48 h. 

PMID- 25825616
TI  - Microfluidic generation of PEG-b-PLA polymersomes containing alginate-based core
      hydrogel.
AB  - Herein, we demonstrate a novel method for the generation of monodisperse cell
      like structures containing a biocompatible hydrogel matrix surrounded by a
      membrane responsive to chemical cues. Specifically, we employ droplet-based
      microfluidics to generate PEG-PLA polymersomes encapsulating alginate in liquid
      form. We investigate alginate core gelation by creating an osmotic pressure
      gradient across the polymeric membrane that, through expansion, allows the
      passage of calcium ions. The effects of calcium concentration on the core
      gelation are explored. 

PMID- 25825617
TI  - An automated microfluidic system for single-stranded DNA preparation and magnetic
      bead-based microarray analysis.
AB  - We present an integrated microfluidic device capable of performing single
      stranded DNA (ssDNA) preparation and magnetic bead-based microarray analysis with
      a white-light detection for detecting mutations that account for hereditary
      hearing loss. The entire operation process, which includes loading of
      streptavidin-coated magnetic beads (MBs) and biotin-labeled polymerase chain
      reaction products, active dispersion of the MBs with DNA for binding, alkaline
      denaturation of DNA, dynamic hybridization of the bead-labeled ssDNA to a tag
      array, and white-light detection, can all be automatically accomplished in a
      single chamber of the microchip, which was operated on a self-contained
      instrument with all the necessary components for thermal control, fluidic
      control, and detection. Two novel mixing valves with embedded
      polydimethylsiloxane membranes, which can alternately generate a 3-MUl pulse flow
      at a peak rate of around 160 mm/s, were integrated into the chip for thoroughly
      dispersing magnetic beads in 2 min. The binding efficiency of biotinylated
      oligonucleotides to beads was measured to be 80.6% of that obtained in a tube
      with the conventional method. To critically test the performance of this
      automated microsystem, we employed a commercial microarray-based detection kit
      for detecting nine mutation loci that account for hereditary hearing loss. The
      limit of detection of the microsystem was determined as 2.5 ng of input K562
      standard genomic DNA using this kit. In addition, four blood samples obtained
      from persons with mutations were all correctly typed by our system in less than
      45 min per run. The fully automated, "amplicon-in-answer-out" operation, together
      with the white-light detection, makes our system an excellent platform for low
      cost, rapid genotyping in clinical diagnosis. 

PMID- 25825618
TI  - Streamline based design guideline for deterministic microfluidic hydrodynamic
      single cell traps.
AB  - A prerequisite for single cell study is the capture and isolation of individual
      cells. In microfluidic devices, cell capture is often achieved by means of
      trapping. While many microfluidic trapping techniques exist, hydrodynamic methods
      are particularly attractive due to their simplicity and scalability. However,
      current design guidelines for single cell hydrodynamic traps predominantly rely
      on flow resistance manipulation or qualitative streamline analysis without
      considering the target particle size. This lack of quantitative design criteria
      from first principles often leads to non-optimal probabilistic trapping. In this
      work, we describe an analytical design guideline for deterministic single cell
      hydrodynamic trapping through the optimization of streamline distributions under
      laminar flow with cell size as a key parameter. Using this guideline, we
      demonstrate an example design which can achieve 100% capture efficiency for a
      given particle size. Finite element modelling was used to determine the design
      parameters necessary for optimal trapping. The simulation results were
      subsequently confirmed with on-chip microbead and white blood cell trapping
      experiments. 

PMID- 25825619
TI  - Structural design of a double-layered porous hydrogel for effective mass
      transport.
AB  - Mass transport in porous materials is universal in nature, and its worth attracts
      great attention in many engineering applications. Plant leaves, which work as
      natural hydraulic pumps for water uptake, have evolved to have the morphological
      structure for fast water transport to compensate large water loss by leaf
      transpiration. In this study, we tried to deduce the advantageous structural
      features of plant leaves for practical applications. Inspired by the tissue
      organization of the hydraulic pathways in plant leaves, analogous double-layered
      porous models were fabricated using agarose hydrogel. Solute transport through
      the hydrogel models with different thickness ratios of the two layers was
      experimentally observed. In addition, numerical simulation and theoretical
      analysis were carried out with varying porosity and thickness ratio to
      investigate the effect of structural factors on mass transport ability. A simple
      parametric study was also conducted to examine unveiled relations between
      structural factors. As a result, the porosity and thickness ratio of the two
      layers are found to govern the mass transport ability in double-layered porous
      materials. The hydrogel models with widely dispersed pores at a fixed porosity,
      i.e., close to a homogeneously porous structure, are mostly turned out to exhibit
      fast mass transport. The present results would provide a new framework for
      fundamental design of various porous structures for effective mass transport. 

PMID- 25825620
TI  - Comparative toxicity of lead (Pb(2+)), copper (Cu(2+)), and mixtures of lead and
      copper to zebrafish embryos on a microfluidic chip.
AB  - Investigations were conducted to determine acute effects of Pb(2+) and Cu(2+)
      presented individually and collectively on zebrafish embryos. Aquatic safety
      testing requires a cheap, fast, and highly efficient platform for real-time
      evaluation of single and mixture of metal toxicity. In this study, we have
      developed a microfluidic system for phenotype-based evaluation of toxic effects
      of Pb(2+) and Cu(2+) using zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. The microfluidic chip
      is composed of a disc-shaped concentration gradient generator and 24 culture
      chambers, which can generate one blank solution, seven mixture concentrations,
      and eight single concentrations for each metal solution, thus enabling the
      assessment of zebrafish embryos. To test the accuracy of this new chip platform,
      we have examined the toxicity and teratogenicity of Pb(2+) and Cu(2+) on embryos.
      The individual and combined impact of Pb(2+) and Cu(2+) on zebrafish embryonic
      development was quantitatively assessed by recording a series of physiological
      indicators, such as spontaneous motion at 22 hours post fertilization (hpf),
      mortality at 24 hpf, heartbeat and body length at 96 hpf, etc. It was found that
      Pb(2+) or Cu(2+) could induce deformity and cardiovascular toxicity in zebrafish
      embryos and the mixture could induce more severe toxicity. This chip is a
      multiplexed testing apparatus that allows for the examination of toxicity and
      teratogenicity for substances and it also can be used as a potentially cost
      effective and rapid aquatic safety assessment tool. 

PMID- 25825621
TI  - Dynamic radial positioning of a hydrodynamically focused particle stream enabled
      by a three-dimensional microfluidic nozzle.
AB  - The ability to confine flows and focus particle streams has become an integral
      component of the design of microfluidic systems for the analysis of a wide range
      of samples. Presented here is the implementation of a 3D microfluidic nozzle
      capable of both focusing particles as well as dynamically positioning those
      particles in selected flow lamina within the downstream analysis channel. Through
      the independent adjustment of the three sheath inlet flows, the nozzle controlled
      the size of a focused stream for 6, 10, and 15 MUm polystyrene microparticles.
      Additional flow adjustment allowed the nozzle to dynamically position the focused
      particle stream to a specific area within the downstream channel. This unique
      ability provides additional capability and sample flexibility to the system. In
      order to gain insight into the fluidic behavior of the system, experimental
      conditions and results were duplicated within 4.75 MUm using a COMSOL
      Multiphysics((r)) model to elucidate the structure, direction, proportion, and
      fate of fluid lamina throughout the nozzle region. The COMSOL Multiphysics model
      showed that the position and distribution of particles upon entering the nozzle
      have negligible influence over its focusing ability, extending the experimental
      results into a wider range of particle sizes and system flow rates. These results
      are promising for the application of this design to allow for a relatively
      simple, fast, fully fluidically controlled nozzle for selective particle focusing
      and positioning for further particle analysis and sorting. 

PMID- 25825622
TI  - A numerical study on the dynamics of droplet formation in a microfluidic double T
      junction.
AB  - In this study, droplet formations in microfluidic double T-junctions (MFDTD) are
      investigated based on a two-dimensional numerical model with volume of fluid
      method. Parametric ranges for generating alternating droplet formation (ADF) are
      identified. A physical background responsible for the ADF is suggested by
      analyzing the dynamical stability of flow system. Since the phase discrepancy
      between dispersed flows is mainly caused by non-symmetrical breaking of merging
      droplet, merging regime becomes the alternating regime at appropriate conditions.
      In addition, the effects of channel geometries on droplet formation are studied
      in terms of relative channel width. The predicted results show that the ADF
      region is shifted toward lower capillary numbers when channel width ratio is less
      than unity. The alternating droplet size increases with the increase of channel
      width ratio. When this ratio reaches unity, alternating droplets can be formed at
      very high water fraction (wf = 0.8). The droplet formation in MFDTD depends
      significantly on the viscosity ratio, and the droplet size in ADF decreases with
      the increase of the viscosity ratio. The understanding of underlying physics of
      the ADF phenomenon is useful for many applications, including nanoparticle
      synthesis with different concentrations, hydrogel bead generation, and cell
      transplantation in biomedical therapy. 

PMID- 25825623
TI  - Sustained release of hydrophobic drugs by the microfluidic assembly of multistage
      microgel/poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticle composites.
AB  - The poor solubility of many newly discovered drugs has resulted in numerous
      challenges for the time-controlled release of therapeutics. In this study, an
      advanced drug delivery platform to encapsulate and deliver hydrophobic drugs,
      consisting of poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles incorporated
      within poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) microgels, was developed. PLGA nanoparticles
      were used as the hydrophobic drug carrier, while the PEG matrix functioned to
      slow down the drug release. Encapsulation of the hydrophobic agents was
      characterized by fluorescence detection of the hydrophobic dye Nile Red within
      the microgels. In addition, the microcomposites prepared via the droplet-based
      microfluidic technology showed size tunability and a monodisperse size
      distribution, along with improved release kinetics of the loaded cargo compared
      with bare PLGA nanoparticles. This composite system has potential as a universal
      delivery platform for a variety of hydrophobic molecules. 

PMID- 25825624
TI  - Evaporation-based microfluidic production of oil-free cell-containing hydrogel
      particles.
AB  - We demonstrate an evaporation-based microfluidic strategy to produce oil-free
      cell containing hydrogel particles. Perfluoro-n-pentane, which is used as the
      continuous oil phase to generate cell-containing hydrogel (Extracel) particles,
      is removed at an elevated temperature. Human colon cancer cells (HCT116)
      encapsulated in the hydrogel particles show higher viability than cells
      encapsulated in particles that are produced via a non-evaporative oil phase. In
      addition, single HCT116 cells can be cultured for a week in such particles and
      respond to inflammatory stimuli, highlighting the potential applications of the
      developed strategy for 3D cell culture, drug testing, and cell-based drug
      delivery. 

PMID- 25825625
TI  - Study Protocol: Validation and Adaptation of community-worker-administered stroke
      symptom questionnaire in a periurban Pakistani community to determine disease
      burden.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Stroke is the second leading cause of mortality and the leading cause
      of disability in the world today. The disease burden is on the rise in developing
      nations, but there is scarcity of data from these regions to inform policy
      decisions. Stroke burden can be determined by clinical diagnosis alone in the
      public health context and is a far more feasible way to assess disease status in
      low- to middle-income countries like Pakistan. We aim to translate and adapt a
      validated stroke symptom questionnaire, train community health workers in its
      administration, and verify it against assessment by two trained neurologists.
      METHODS/DESIGN: This is a prospective study, which we aim to carry out in Ibrahim
      Hyderi, a periurban slum of Karachi. We translated into Urdu the questionnaire
      for verifying stroke free status (QVSFS), which is an internationally validated
      tool to assess the same. Two community health workers (CHW) will be identified
      and will receive training by neurologists, which will include teaching regarding
      stroke pathophysiology, symptomatology, and detection. They will be familiarized
      with the QVSFS, and their questionnaire administration will be assessed through
      roleplay. We intend to recruit 322 subjects from the same community and the CHWs
      will gather data on them. The same subjects will later be assessed by two trained
      neurologists, and the findings collaborated to validate those obtained by the
      CHWs. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and
      Cohen's kappa will be determined for the CHW-administered questionnaire tested
      against assessment by two neurologists together and separately for the two CHWs.
      Data analysis will be done using SPSS version 19.0. DISCUSSION: The results of
      this study will determine if and how well CHW-administered questionnaires are at
      assessing stroke status in a community. This will facilitate use of the same as a
      practical alternative for stroke surveillance in the country. TRIAL REGISTRATION:
      NCT02073955.

PMID- 25825626
TI  - Large-vessel stenosis in the patients with ischemic stroke in Iran: Prevalence,
      pattern, and risk factors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Large artery disease (LAD) is a common cause of stroke, but a little
      is known regarding its role in Iranian stroke patients. The current study
      investigates the prevalence and risk factors for cervicocephalic arterial
      stenosis in the patients with ischemic stroke using digital subtraction
      angiography (DSA). METHODS: This was a prospective cross-sectional study
      performed in hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences from
      March 2011 to March 2013. Patients with ischemic stroke underwent noninvasive
      vascular and cardiac investigations to find the etiology of the stroke. Patients
      suspected of having large artery stenosis underwent DSA. The severity of the
      stenosis was calculated according to the North American Symptomatic Carotid
      Endarterectomy (NASCET) and Warfarin-Aspirin Symptomatic Intracranial Disease
      (WASID) Trial criteria. The presence of cigarette smoking, hyperlipidemia,
      hypertension, and diabetes mellitus were documented for all subjects. RESULTS: A
      total of 3703 stroke patients were identified. Of them, 342 patients (62.3%,
      male) underwent DSA for LAD. The mean age at the time of angiography was 66.7+/
      10.3 years. Extracranial and intracranial arteries were involved in 305 (89.2%)
      and 162 (47.4%), respectively. And 301 patients (88%) had anterior circulation
      and 128 patients (37.4%) had posterior circulation involvement. Diabetes mellitus
      but not age, sex, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, or smoking was significantly
      associated with intracranial involvement. (P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: It can be
      concluded that the distribution of the large arterial atherosclerotic disease in
      Iran is similar to that seen in North America and Europe. Intracranial stenosis
      was more prevalent in diabetic patients.

PMID- 25825627
TI  - Stroke Mimic Secondary to IV Fentanyl Administration.
AB  - Fentanyl is a potent opioid used commonly in acute care because of its rapid
      onset and short duration of action. It has fewer side effects when compared with
      commonly available opioids, such as morphine and hydromorphine. We report an
      unusual side effect of transient aphasia following fentanyl administration. A 61
      year-old female presented for an elective embolization of a periophthalmic artery
      aneurysm. She developed immediate episodes of aphasia on two separate occasions
      following administration of intravenous (IV) fentanyl. The high lipid solubility
      explains the rapid onset of action of fentanyl as it rapidly passes through the
      blood-brain barrier and through cell membranes. Immediately following the
      administration of fentanyl, the patient developed aphasia. There were no other
      clinical or neurological imaging findings that could account for these symptoms.
      We believe that aphasia may be an unusual side effect of fentanyl, and it is
      something clinicians should be aware of. 

PMID- 25825628
TI  - Antithrombotic Utilization Trends after Noncardioembolic Ischemic Stroke or TIA
      in the Setting of Large Antithrombotic Trials (2002-2009).
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Several large trials published over the last decade have
      significantly altered recommended guidelines for therapy following a
      noncardioembolic ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). The impact
      of these studies on patient usage of alternative antithrombotic agents has
      hitherto not been evaluated. We examined the usage of these agents in the United
      States over the last decade, with regard to the publication of the Management of
      Atherothrombosis with Clopidogrel in High-Risk Patients (MATCH),
      European/Australasian Stroke Prevention in Reversible Ischaemia Trial (ESPRIT),
      and Prevention Regimen for Effectively Avoiding Second Strokes (PRoFESS) clinical
      trials, in order to test the hypothesis that resulting recommendations are
      reflected in usage trends. METHODS: Antithrombotic utilization was prospectively
      collected as part of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) on a
      total of 53,608,351 patients in the United States between 2002 and 2009. Patients
      with a history of ischemic stroke or TIA were included. Patients were excluded if
      there was a prior history of subarachnoid or intracerebral hemorrhage, or if
      other indications for antithrombotic treatment were present, including deep
      venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, atrial fibrillation or flutter, mechanical
      cardiac valve replacement, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease,
      peripheral arterial disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. Annual utilization of the
      following antithrombotic strategies was compared in 53,608,351 patients: 1)
      aspirin monotherapy, 2) clopidogrel monotherapy, 3) combined clopidogrel and
      aspirin, 4) combined extended-release dipyridamole (ERDP) and aspirin, and 5)
      warfarin. Annual utilization was compared before and after publication of MATCH,
      ESPRIT, and PRoFESS in 2004, 2006, and 2008, respectively. Trend analysis was
      performed with the Mantel-Haenszel test for trends. Sensitivity analysis of
      demographic and clinical characteristics stratified by antithrombotic-usage group
      was performed using the Wald Chi-square test. RESULTS: Utilization of combined
      clopidogrel and aspirin increased from 3.3% to 6.7% after the MATCH trial
      (p<0.0001). Following the results of the ESPRIT trial, utilization of combination
      ERDP and aspirin decreased from 4% to 3% (p<0.0001), utilization of clopidogrel
      declined from 6.8% to 6% (p<0.0001), and utilization of aspirin remained
      essentially unchanged. After the PRoFESS trial, utilization of clopidogrel
      increased from 5% to 9% (p<0.0001), utilization of ERDP-aspirin increased from 3
      % to 4.6% (p<0.0001), and utilization of aspirin increased from 15.6% to 17.8%
      (p<0.0001). The proportion of patients on none of the five antithrombotic
      secondary prevention strategies steadily declined from a peak of 74% in 2003 to
      57% by 2009. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of the MATCH, ESPRIT, and PRoFESS trials on
      antithrombotic utilization has been variable. These findings highlight the
      importance of addressing factors that affect the implementation of findings from
      major clinical trials.

PMID- 25825630
TI  - Marijuana induced Reversible Cerebral Vasoconstriction Syndrome.

PMID- 25825629
TI  - Study protocol: asymptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic disease in pakistanis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) is the most frequent
      subtype of ischemic stroke globally. It is important to describe the determinants
      of early ICAD as a strategy to prevent strokes from clinically evident and
      progressive ICAD. Our objective is to report the determinants of asymptomatic
      ICAD by linking the presence or absence of ICAD on magnetic resonance angiogram
      (MRA) with detailed risk assessment in asymptomatic adults. METHODS: This is an
      observational cross-sectional analytical study. We plan to recruit 200 adult
      participants from the radiology departments of two tertiary care centers of
      Karachi, Pakistan. The participants will first be screened for the absence of
      stroke symptoms via the Questionnaire for Verifying Stroke Free Status (QVSFS).
      QVSFS negative will be participants will be eligible. After written informed
      consent, participants will undergo detailed medical, sociodemographic, lifestyle,
      and anthropometric evaluation by a detailed interview. They will, in addition,
      undergo MRA to study the presence, degree, and distribution of asymptomatic ICAD.
      All MRA scans will be reviewed centrally by vascular neurologists blinded to
      clinical information. These images would be reviewed on DICOM Viewer 3.0 used for
      calculating the degree of stenosis using Warfarin-Aspirin Symptomatic
      Intracranial Disease (WASID) study defined criteria employing electronic
      calipers. A sample size of 200 will achieve 80% power for detecting a minimum
      difference of 20% in the prevalence of exposure factors (medical and lifestyle)
      between asymptomatic ICAD positive and ICAD negative persons. This study will
      generate regional data on risks for ICAD development and prevention in a high
      risk susceptible population. Study ID: NCT02072876.

PMID- 25825631
TI  - Endovascular stroke therapy at nighttime and on weekends-as fast and effective as
      during normal business hours?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There is only limited data on the influence of the admission time
      (normal business hours versus nighttime and weekends) on procedural timings,
      revascularization efficacy, and outcome after mechanical thrombectomy. We
      investigated whether the admission time has an impact on the above-mentioned
      factors. METHODS: Our neurointerventional database was screened for all
      mechanical thrombectomies in anterior circulation acute ischemic stroke between
      07/13 and 06/14. Outcome measures were procedural timings and clinical and
      demographic data; we compared patients who were admitted at normal business hours
      (Monday to Friday 8:00-18:00) to those admitted at night or at the weekend.
      RESULTS: 98 patients were identified. Of them, 52 (53%) were admitted during
      normal business hours, the remainder at night or at weekend. There was no
      statistically significant difference between the groups regarding the time from
      symptom-onset to admission, baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale
      (NIHSS) or IVT-rate. There was a significant difference between groups for door
      to-reperfusion timing, favoring patients admitted during normal business hours
      (146 versus 165 min, p = 0.02). Door-to-groin-puncture and groin-puncture-to
      reperfusion time did not differ significantly. The rate of successful
      revascularizations (mTICI >= 2b) and the rate of favorable clinical outcome at
      discharge (mRS <= 2) did not differ between groups (77% versus 78% and 37% versus
      35%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: There was a statistically significant
      prolongation of door-to-reperfusion timings for patients admitted during
      nighttime and weekends; it went along neither with a lower rate of successful
      revascularizations nor with a lower rate of favorable outcome in our series.
      ABBREVIATIONS: AFatrial fibrillationAISacute ischemic strokeCTAcomputed
      tomography angiographyDMdiabetes mellitusENTembolization to new
      territoryEVTendovascular therapyHLPhyperlipoproteinemiaHTNhypertensionIQRinter
      quartile rangeIVTintravenous thrombolysismRSmodified Rankin ScaleMTmechanical
      thrombectomyNIHSSNational Institutes of Health Stroke Scalen.s.not
      significantsICHsymptomatic intracranial hemorrhage.

PMID- 25825632
TI  - Multiple hereditary exostoses and stroke due to vertebral artery dissection.
AB  - Vascular complications related to multiple hereditary exostoses are uncommon. We
      present a 39-year-old male patient with multiple exostoses in the upper and lower
      limbs with an associated positive familial history of such lesions. He
      experienced a sudden onset of left-side ataxia and hypoesthesia secondary to a
      left lateral medullary infarction, which was due to a stenotic-pattern vertebral
      artery dissection (V1-V4). This complication is very rare as a differential
      diagnosis in the vertebro-basilar dissection spectrum, and a nonspecific relation
      has been found. ABBREVIATIONS: MHEMultiple hereditary
      exostosesATangiotomographyVADvertebral artery dissectionCADcervical artery
      dissectionOIosteogenesis imperfecta.

PMID- 25825633
TI  - Venous Congestive Myelopathy due to Chronic Inferior Vena Cava Thrombosis Treated
      with Endovascular Stenting: Case Report and Review of the Literature.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Impaired inferior vena cava (IVC) outflow can lead to
      collateralization of blood to the valveless epidural venous plexus, causing
      epidural venous engorgement and venous congestion. Herein we describe a case of
      chronic IVC thrombosis presenting as venous congestive myelopathy treated with
      angioplasty and endovascular stenting. The pathophysiological mechanisms of cord
      injury are hypothesized, and IVC stenting application is evaluated. METHODS: Case
      report and review of the literature. RESULTS: IVC outflow obstruction has only
      rarely been associated with neurologic dysfunction, with reports of lumbosacral
      nerve root compression in the cases of IVC agenesis, compression, or occlusion.
      Although endovascular angioplasty with stenting is emerging as a leading
      treatment option for chronic IVC thrombosis, its use to treat neurologic
      complications is limited to one case report for intractable sciatica. Our case is
      the first description of IVC thrombosis presenting with venous congestive
      myelopathy, and treated successfully with IVC stenting. CONCLUSION: Venous
      congestive myelopathy should be seen as a broader clinical condition, including
      not only typical dural arteriovenous fistulas, but also disorders of venous
      outflow. Therefore, identifying a rare, but potentially treatable, etiology is
      important to avoid permanent neurologic deficits. IVC stenting is proposed as a
      novel and effective treatment approach.

PMID- 25825634
TI  - Metformin and cancer: Technical and clinical implications for FDG-PET imaging.
AB  - Metformin is the most widely used hypoglycemic agent. Besides its conventional
      indications, increasing evidence demonstrate a potential efficacy of this
      biguanide as an anticancer drug. Possible mechanisms of actions seem to be
      independent from its hypoglycemic effect and seem to involve the interference
      with key pathways in cellular proliferation and glycolysis. To date, many
      clinical trials implying the use of metformin in cancer treatment are on-going.
      The increasing use of (18)F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission
      tomography (FDG-PET) in cancer evaluation raises a number of questions about the
      possible interference of the biguanide on FDG distribution. In particular, the
      interferences exerted by metformin on AMP-activated protein kinase pathway (the
      cellular energy sensor), on insulin levels and on Hexokinase could potentially
      have repercussion on glucose handling and thus on FDG distribution. A better
      comprehension of the impact of metformin on FDG uptake is needed in order to
      optimize the use of PET in this setting. This evaluation would be useful to
      ameliorate scans interpretation in diabetic patients under chronic metformin
      treatment and to critically interpret images in the context of clinical trials.
      Furthermore, collecting prospective data in this setting would help to verify
      whether FDG-PET could be a valid tool to appreciate the anticancer effect of this
      new therapeutic approach. 

PMID- 25825635
TI  - Transarterial chemoembolization for liver metastases from solid pseudopapillary
      epithelial neoplasm of pancreas: A case report.
AB  - Solid pseudo-papillary epithelial neoplasm (SPEN) is a rare epithelial tumor of
      pancreas with a low malignant potential occurs most commonly in young females. We
      report a case of 40 years old woman presented with extensive liver metastasis
      from SPEN of pancreatic body for which she was operated four years ago. Due to
      the extensive nature of metastatic disease she was offered Transarterial
      chemoembolisation (TACE) using gemcitabine as chemotherapeutic agent. Short term
      follow up after a month of TACE with multiphase computed tomography showed > 90%
      resolution in the viable tumor with significant clinical improvement. TACE
      ensures targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs in higher doses with least
      systemic toxicity and is more effective and safe than systemic chemotherapy. TACE
      with gemcitabine was found to be very effective in our patient with numerous
      liver metastasis. 

PMID- 25825636
TI  - Gastrointestinal manifestations of Henoch-Schonlein purpura: A report of two
      cases.
AB  - Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) is a small vessel vasculitis mediated by type III
      hypersensitivity with deposition of IgA immune complex in the walls of vessels.
      It is a multi-system disorder characterized by palpable purpura, arthritis,
      glomerulonephritis and gastrointestinal manifestations and commonly occurs in
      children and young adults. The patients with gastrointestinal involvement usually
      present with colicky abdominal pain, vomiting and melena. The imaging findings
      include multifocal bowel thickening with mucosal hyperenhancement, presence of
      skip areas, mesenteric vascular engorgement, with involvement of unusual sites
      like stomach, duodenum and rectum. These imaging findings in a child or young
      adult with appropriate clinical findings could suggest HSP. 

PMID- 25825637
TI  - Expression of melanocortin-4 receptor and agouti-related peptide mRNAs in arcuate
      nucleus during long term malnutrition of female ovariectomized rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) and agouti-related peptide (AgRP) are
      involved in energy homeostasis in the rat. The aim of the present study was to
      evaluate the expression of MC4R and AgRP mRNAs in arcuate nucleus (ARC) during
      long term malnutrition of female ovariectomized rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten
      female ovariectomized rats were divided into two equal groups (n=6) of normal and
      restricted diet groups. Using real-time PCR, the relative expressions (compared
      to controls) of MC4R and AgRP mRNAs were compared between both diet groups.
      RESULTS: The relative expression of MC4R and AgRP mRNA in the ARC of female
      ovariectomized rats during long term malnutrition was higher than those with
      normal diet (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Changes in the relative expression level of
      MC4R and AgRP mRNAs during long term malnutrition of rat indicated a stimulatory
      role of MC4R and AgRP in regulating energy balance in ARC of rat hypothalamus.

PMID- 25825638
TI  - Effect of Cyperus rotundus on ischemia-induced brain damage and memory
      dysfunction in rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Global cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury causes loss of pyramidal
      cells in CA1 region of hippocampus. In this study, we investigated the possible
      neuroprotective effects of the ethanol extract of Cyperus rotundus (EECR) on a
      model of global transient ischemia in rat, by evaluating the pathophysiology of
      the hippocampal tissue and spatial memory. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Treatment group
      (EECR, 100 mg/kg/day) was gavaged from 4 days before, to 3 days after ischemia.
      Morris water maze test was performed 1 week after ischemia for 4 days. Brain
      tissue was prepared for Nissl staining. RESULTS: Our data showed no statistical
      difference between the treatment and ischemia groups in water maze task. So,
      treatment of ischemia with EECR cannot improve spatial learning and memory. On
      the contrary EECR ameliorated the CA1 pyramidal cell loss due to transient global
      ischemia/reperfusion injury. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that EECR cannot
      reduce the ischemia-induced, cognitive impairments seen after transient, global
      cerebral ischemia but can prevent pyramidal cell loss in CA1 region of
      hippocampus.

PMID- 25825639
TI  - An in vivo and in vitro investigation on hepatoprotective effects of Pimpinella
      anisum seed essential oil and extracts against carbon tetrachloride-induced
      toxicity.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Protective effects of different extracts and essential oil from
      Pimpinella anisum L. seeds were examined against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)
      induced toxicity. The parameters such as serum transaminases, lactate
      dehydrogenase activity, hepatic glutathione content, liver lipid peroxidation and
      histopathological changes of liver were assessed as toxicity markers. In the in
      vitro model of this study, markers such as cell viability, cellular reduced and
      oxidized glutathione and lipid peroxidation in HepG2 cells were evaluated.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human liver cancer cell line HepG2 and male Sprague-Dawley
      rats were treated with extracts and essential oil, and markers of hepatotoxicity
      were investigated. RESULTS: The data revealed that the n-hexane extract,
      effectively attenuated CCl4-induced toxicity in both in vitro and in vivo models
      in current investigation. CONCLUSION: As the oxidative stress markers were
      ameliorated, it might be concluded that anise seed possesses protective effects
      probably due to its antioxidant constituents.

PMID- 25825640
TI  - Isolation, Identification and Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of
      Streptomyces flavogriseus, strain ACTK2 from Soil Sample of Kodagu, Karnataka
      State (India).
AB  - BACKGROUND: The search for novel antibiotics continues to be of immense
      importance in research programs around the world for pharmaceutical, industrial
      and agricultural applications. Filamentous soil bacteria, belonging to the
      Streptomyces genus, are widely used as an important biological tool for their
      ability to produce a wide range of novel secondary metabolites, such as
      "antibiotics". OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to isolate and
      identify a strain of Streptomyces with high antibiotic production capability.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: The soil sample was collected randomly from the
      agricultural land of Kushalnagar Taluk of Kodagu district, Karnataka, India. The
      ACTK2 strain was isolated by serial dilution method and identified based on
      cultural, morphological, microscopic, biochemical and sequence analysis of 16S
      rRNA gene parameters. The isolated ACTK2 was analyzed for antimicrobial
      activities by perpendicular streak and disc diffusion methods, against the Gram
      positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 96), Bacillus subtilis (MTCC 121),
      Gram-negative Escherichia. coli (MTCC 729), Enterococcus aerogenes (MTCC 2829)
      and filamentous fungi (Trichoderma harizianum (MTCC6046), Fusarium proliferatum
      (MTCC 9375). Further, an antimicrobial metabolite from the ACTK2 strain was
      extracted by solvent extraction method, using n-butanol. The production of the
      antimicrobial compound by the ACTK2 strain was optimized by using different
      nutritional media and cultural conditions. RESULTS: The strain Streptomyces
      flavogriseus designated as ACTK2 (Accession number KC990785) isolated from the
      soil sample of Kushalnagar Taluk, Kodagu, Karnataka, India, exhibited a broad
      spectrum of antimicrobial activity against test microorganisms. The optimum
      growth and antimicrobial compound production by strain ACTK2 was found to be a
      maximal pH 8, in the shaker incubator at 28oC, for a period of 10 days.
      CONCLUSIONS: The crude n-butanol extract of the ACTK2 strain of S. flavogriseus
      showed a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities against the test organisms
      and this opened further research investigations on purification and structural
      characterization of the active compounds from the crude extract.

PMID- 25825641
TI  - Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Clonal Relation Between Acinetobacter baumannii
      Strains at a Tertiary Care Center in Turkey.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen, related with
      nosocomial infections such as bacteremia, urinary tract infections, and
      ventilator-associated pneumonia. Multidrug resistant (MDR) A. baumannii strains
      are first line causes of infection, especially in patients hospitalized at
      intensive care units (ICUs). Infection with MDR A. baumannii strains has a longer
      duration at ICUs and hospitals. There are studies using molecular methods which
      can differentiate MDR A. baumannii strains at the clonal level. This helps
      controlling these resistant strains and prevents their epidemy. OBJECTIVES: The
      aim of our study was to investigate the antimicrobial susceptibility and clonal
      relationship between the A. baumannii strains isolated from our ICU. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: The identification and antimicrobial susceptibility of 33 A.
      baumannii strains were performed by automatized Vitek version 2.0. The clonal
      relationship among A. baumannii strains was analyzed using enterobacterial
      repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS:
      A total of 33 A. baumannii strains were included in this study. A. baumannii
      complex strains were classified into seven clusters based on the fingerprint
      results. Our results revealed that two main clusters were responsible for the
      prevalence of A. baumannii complex strains at the ICU. CONCLUSIONS: MDR A.
      baumannii strains cause an increment in morbidity and mortality, particularly in
      ICUs. The use of molecular epidemiological methods can help us with the detection
      of the pathogen and preventing from spreading of these resistant strains.

PMID- 25825642
TI  - Comparison of fecal antigen detection using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay
      with the auramine phenol staining method for diagnosis of human
      cryptosporidiosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fecal antigen detection using the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay
      (ELISA) and oocyst detection using auramine phenol (AP) staining methods, are
      told to be more sensitive compared to other conventional methods, for diagnosis
      of cryptosporidiosis. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to evaluate
      the antigen-detection capacity in the stool specimens using ELISA and oocyst
      detection by AP staining methods, for the diagnosis of human cryptosporidiosis.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 228 fecal samples were collected from residents
      of rural areas of Hamadan, West of Iran. Each fecal sample was divided into two
      parts, one kept frozen at -20C for Ag-capture ELISA and the other in 10% formalin
      for the AP staining method. Cryptosporidium Ag-detection ELISA procedure was
      performed according to the manual of the manufacturer. The preserved samples
      concentrated using the formalin-ether concentration technique were stained with
      AP and then investigated under florescent microscopy. RESULTS: Eight (3.5%) and
      three (1.3%) out of 228 fecal samples were positive for Cryptosporidium infection
      by ELISA and AP staining methods, respectively. Cryptosporidium Ag-detection
      using ELISA showed an increased frequency of the infection, compared to the AP
      staining method (P = 0.062). CONCLUSIONS: For epidemiological studies and
      diagnostic purposes of the Cryptosporidium infection, especially in asymptomatic
      individuals, Ag-detection ELISA is an easy to perform and accurate method,
      compared to other conventional microscopic methods.

PMID- 25825643
TI  - Effects of pH and Temperature on Antibacterial Activity of Zinc Oxide Nanofluid
      Against Escherichia coli O157: H7 and Staphylococcus aureus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are known as one of the important
      inorganic materials used in research and health-related applications with
      effective antibacterial activities. Although the toxic effects of ZnO NPs have
      already been evaluated, more information is required to understand the possible
      mechanisms. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to determine the
      influences of pH and temperature on antibacterial activity of ZnO NPs against
      some strains of pathogenic bacteria. Identifying the interrelationship between
      toxicity and cultural conditions helps us to have a better understanding of the
      optimum reaction conditions for maximum antimicrobial activity. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: ZnO NPs were prepared and characterized and then dispersed in glycerol
      with the help of ammonium citrate as the dispersant. The antibacterial tests were
      performed by measuring the growth of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus
      aureus with different concentrations of ZnO NPs in glycerol. All the experiments
      were conducted at different incubation temperatures (25-42( degrees )C) and pH
      levels (4-10 for E. coli O157:H7 and 5-10 for S. aureus). RESULTS: The results
      showed that ZnO nanofluid have antibacterial activity against E. coli O157:H7 and
      S. aureus and the inhibitory effect increases with increasing the nanofluid
      concentration. The experiments showed that the antibacterial activity of ZnO NPs
      was influenced by temperature and pH. Higher antibacterial activity was observed
      at acidic pH levels with the maximum toxicity at pH = 4 and pH = 5 for E. coli
      O157: H7 and S. aureus, respectively. By raising the temperature, the toxicity of
      ZnO nanofluid increased, with the highest antibacterial activity at 42 degrees C
      for both bacterial types in comparison with positive controls under the same
      conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of the results demonstrated that exposure media
      of ZnO NPs and cultural factors play a role in their cytotoxic effects. It could
      be attributed to the principal mechanism at different reaction conditions.

PMID- 25825644
TI  - Correlation Between Hepatitis B G1896A Precore Mutations and HBeAg in Chronic HBV
      Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important health concern
      worldwide, with critical outcomes. Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) negative chronic
      hepatitis B is frequently caused by a mutation (G1896A) in the hepatitis B virus
      (HBV) precore (PC) reading frame, which creates a stop codon, causing premature
      termination of the HBe protein. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the
      G1896A PC mutation and its effect on HBeAg detection in chronic HBV patients.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, 120 chronic HBV patients neither vaccinated
      or who had benefited from immunoglobulin therapy, were recruited. The HBV-DNA was
      extracted from plasma and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed. Positive
      PCR products were subjected to automated sequencing. The HBV serological markers
      [hepatitis B s antigen (HBsAg), HBeAg] were tested. RESULTS: One hundred out of
      120 (83.3%) patients were HBeAg negative and 100% were HBsAg positive. The
      comparison of nucleotide sequences with the reference sequence (Accession number:
      AB033559) in HBeAg negative patients showed that there was a high rate of
      mutations in G1896A (93.18%). CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that the rate of
      G1896A mutation at the PC region among HBeAg negative patients, in the Golestan
      province of Iran, was similar to the average rate encountered in other parts of
      Iran. The PC stop codon mutation was detected in 93.18% of HBeAg negative
      patients. Further studies with larger sample sizes are required to elucidate the
      exact role of these mutations in the clinical course of chronic HBV infection.

PMID- 25825645
TI  - Co-infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Pneumocystis jirovecii in the
      Iranian Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Based on the authors' knowledge, there is no study on the co
      infection of opportunistic agents such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and
      Pneumocystis jirovecii in the lungs of Iranian patients with immunosuppression.
      OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to show the rate of co-infection of M.
      tuberculosis and P. jirovecii in patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus
      (HIV). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-five pulmonary samples were collected from 30
      patients with HIV who also infected with Tuberculosis and Pneumonia. All of the
      patients were admitted to two university hospitals of Mycobacteriology and the
      Iranian HIV/AIDS research centers. DNA of P. jirovecii was detected using nested
      Polymerase Chain Reaction (nested-PCR) assay. RESULTS: All of the patients were
      male with the mean age of 32.95 +/- 7.15 years. The mean of CD4 cell count was
      109.25 cell/mm(3). Of 30 patients with HIV, three (10%) were co-infected with M.
      tuberculosis and P. jirovecii. No other causes of pneumonia were found in those
      three patients and CD4 cell counts less than 50 cell/mm(3) was reported.
      CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study showed a high rate of co-infection
      of M. tuberculosis and P. jirovecii in the Iranian patients with HIV. As the
      immune system condition worsened, the probability of occurrence of Pneumocystis
      Pneumonia (PCP) increased. Therefore, more specific, most rapid and sensitive
      tests should be utilized for diagnosis of PCP in this group of patients.

PMID- 25825646
TI  - Comparison of the Antibacterial Properties of Three Mouthwashes Containing
      Chlorhexidine Against Oral Microbial Plaques: An in vitro Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The mouth provides an environment that allows the colonization and
      growth of a wide variety of microorganisms, especially bacteria. One of the most
      effective ways to reduce oral microorganisms is using mouthwashes. OBJECTIVES:
      The aim of this study was to investigate the antibacterial effects of
      chlorhexidine mouthwashes (manufacture by Livar, Behsa, Boht) on common oral
      microorganisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this in vitro study, isolated colonies
      of four bacteria, including Streptococcus mutans, S. sanguinis, S. salivarius and
      Lactobacillus casei, were prepared for an antimicrobial mouth rinse test. The
      tube dilution method was used for determining the minimum inhibitory
      concentrations (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC). RESULTS: The
      MICs for Kin gingival, Behsa and Boht mouthwashes were 0.14, 0.48 and 1000
      micrograms/mL using the tube method for S. mutans, respectively. The MBCs for the
      mentioned mouthwashes were 0.23, 1.9 and 2000 micrograms/mL for S. mutans,
      respectively. The MICs for Kin gingival, Behsa and Boht mouthwashes were 0.073,
      0.48 and 250 micrograms/mL using the tube method for S. sanguinis, respectively.
      The MBCs for the mentioned mouthwashes were 0.14, 1.9 and 1000 micrograms/mL for
      S. sanguinis, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The Kin Gingival chlorhexidine mouthwash
      has a greater effect than Behsa and Boht mouthwashes on oral microorganisms and
      is recommended to be used for plaque chemical inhibition.

PMID- 25825647
TI  - Virulence Genes and Antimicrobial Resistance Pattern in Uropathogenic Escherichia
      coli Isolated From Hospitalized Patients in Kashan, Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most prevalent infectious
      diseases. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), as the most important cause of
      UTI, are associated with a number of virulence factors. OBJECTIVES: The current
      study aimed to investigate the virulence associated determinants as well as their
      patterns of antibiotic resistance in UPEC isolated from hospitalized patients
      with UTI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 150 E. coli isolates were collected
      from patients with UTI from December 2012 to June 2013 in Kashan, Iran.
      Antimicrobial susceptibility screening of 12 antibiotics was determined using
      disk diffusion method. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay was used to detect
      virulence-related genes in UPEC strains. The purified PCR products were
      sequenced. RESULTS: Of the total 150 UPEC isolates, 111 (74%) were multidrug
      resistant. High resistance was observed against ampicillin (81.3%), nalidixic
      acid (71.3%), cotrimoxazole (64.7%) and ciprofloxacin (61.3%), respectively.
      Eighty-four out of the 150 isolates showed resistance against the extended
      spectrum cephalosporins. Totally, virulence genes were detected in 126 (84%) UPEC
      isolates .The PCR results identified the traT gene in (74%), PAIs markers in
      (61.3%) and the pap gene in (16.6%) of the isolates. CONCLUSIONS: The traT gene
      and PAI markers were highly prevalent among UPEC strains isolated from patients
      in Kashan, Iran; therefore these determinants could be used as targets for
      prophylactic interventions. Also there was a high level of resistance against the
      antibiotics commonly used for urinary tract infection treatment. To reach better
      therapeutic outcomes, treatment regimens have to be modified.

PMID- 25825648
TI  - The FimH Gene in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Strains Isolated From Patients
      With Urinary Tract Infection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of main health problems
      caused by many microorganisms, including uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC).
      UPEC strains are the most frequent pathogens responsible for 85% and 50% of
      community and hospital acquired UTIs, respectively. UPEC strains have special
      virulence factors, including type 1 fimbriae, which can result in worsening of
      UTIs. OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to detect type 1 fimbriae (the FimH
      gene) among UPEC strains by molecular method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of
      140 isolated E. coli strains from patients with UTI were identified using
      biochemical tests and then evaluated for the FimH gene by polymerase chain
      reaction (PCR) analysis. RESULTS: The UPEC isolates were identified using
      biochemical tests and were screened by PCR. The fimH gene was amplified using
      specific primers and showed a band about 164 bp. The FimH gene was found in 130
      isolates (92.8%) of the UPEC strains. Of 130 isolates positive for the FimH gene,
      62 (47.7%) and 68 (52.3%) belonged to hospitalized patients and outpatients,
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicated that more than 90%
      of E. coli isolates harbored the FimH gene. The high binding ability of FimH
      could result in the increased pathogenicity of E. coli; thus, FimH could be used
      as a possible diagnostic marker and/or vaccine candidate.

PMID- 25825649
TI  - Effect of Carbon, Nitrogen Sources and Water Activity on Growth and Ochratoxin
      Production of Aspergillus carbonarius (Bainier) Thom.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by fungi
      belonging to Aspergillus and Penicillium genera. The production of OTA is
      influenced by environmental conditions and nutritional requirements. The
      postharvest application of bunches of table grape fruit (TGF), with water
      activity of 0.8 aw, was highly effective for controlling OTA contamination in
      vitro and in vivo (table grape). OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to
      determine the influence of environmental conditions and nutritional requirements
      on growth and OTA production by Aspergillus carbonarius, as well as, the impact
      of water activity on OTA production and growth characters of A. carbonarius.
      Furthermore, we also examined the influence of the application of different
      levels of water activity (aw 0.8) on the preservation of the general appearance
      of TGF and control of their contamination with OTA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The
      growth and OTA production by A. carbonarius were studied using glucose-ammonium
      nitrate salt broth medium. Effect of water activity was studied using glycerol
      (0.80, 0.85, 0.90, and 0.98 aw). The bunches of table grape fruits were immersed
      in glycerol solution (equivalent to 0.80 aw) and placed as a double layer in
      cardboard boxes (25 * 35 * 10 cm). The boxes were stored at 20 degrees C for 15
      days to simulate local market conditions. RESULTS: The maximum OTA production by
      A. carbonarius was observed on broth medium after eight days of incubation at 20
      degrees C, with pH 4, and fructose and ammonium nitrate supplementation as carbon
      and nitrogen sources, respectively. The water activity (0.9, 0.85 aw) caused
      significant decrease in OTA production by A. carbonarius. The postharvest
      application of water activity (0.8 aw) was highly effective for maintenance of
      the table grape quality, which was expressed as weight loss, firmness and decay,
      while it also controlled OTA contamination of fruits under concept of local
      market conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Our results reported that deterioration of TGF by
      A. carbonarius could be minimized by application of aw. Our experiments were
      performed under conditions of local markets, which support the economy of many
      thousands of families in Egypt, especially in the poor rural areas. In future
      adequate research is required to use these technologies commercially.

PMID- 25825650
TI  - The impact of acute brucellosis on mean platelet volume and red blood cell
      distribution.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Brucellosis is an inflammatory disease which may infect any organs or
      systems in the body. Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) is one of the most frequently
      used surrogate markers of platelet function. It reveals the presence of disease
      activity in many inflammatory diseases. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW)
      is a parameter that measures variation in red blood cell size or red blood cell
      volume. Its predictive value approves inflammatory and infectious diseases.
      OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to determine the assessment levels of red
      blood cell distribution in cases with acute brucellosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      The current study investigated whether MPV and RDW played any roles in acute
      brucellosis diagnosis. The study was conducted from 2008 to 2014 through
      prospective examination of the inflammatory markers found in adult patients with
      acute brucellosis. RESULTS: The follow-up within the year after treatment was
      examined. The values of age, gender, leukocyte count, C-reactive protein, RDW and
      MPV were recorded. The study included 351 subjects, 250 of them in the acute
      brucellosis group and 101 in the control group. The mean MPV levels were 7.64 +/-
      1.30 fL, and 7.67 +/- 1.29 fL in the acute brucellosis and control groups,
      respectively (P > 0.05). The mean CRP levels were 32.57 +/- 53.20 mg/dL, and 4.81
      +/- 4.89 mg/dL in the acute brucellosis and control groups, respectively (P <
      0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups
      regarding the RDW level and the mean leukocyte count (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:
      While the CRP value was in patients with acute brucellosis in the current study,
      the MPV, RDW and leukocyte counts were within the normal range. CRP value remains
      the most valuable inflammatory marker in cases of acute brucellosis.

PMID- 25825651
TI  - Expanding the mammalian phenotype ontology to support automated exchange of high
      throughput mouse phenotyping data generated by large-scale mouse knockout
      screens.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A vast array of data is about to emerge from the large scale high
      throughput mouse knockout phenotyping projects worldwide. It is critical that
      this information is captured in a standardized manner, made accessible, and is
      fully integrated with other phenotype data sets for comprehensive querying and
      analysis across all phenotype data types. The volume of data generated by the
      high-throughput phenotyping screens is expected to grow exponentially, thus,
      automated methods and standards to exchange phenotype data are required. RESULTS:
      The IMPC (International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium) is using the Mammalian
      Phenotype (MP) ontology in the automated annotation of phenodeviant data from
      high throughput phenotyping screens. 287 new term additions with additional
      hierarchy revisions were made in multiple branches of the MP ontology to
      accurately describe the results generated by these high throughput screens.
      CONCLUSIONS: Because these large scale phenotyping data sets will be reported
      using the MP as the common data standard for annotation and data exchange,
      automated importation of these data to MGI (Mouse Genome Informatics) and other
      resources is possible without curatorial effort. Maximum biomedical value of
      these mutant mice will come from integrating primary high-throughput phenotyping
      data with secondary, comprehensive phenotypic analyses combined with published
      phenotype details on these and related mutants at MGI and other resources.

PMID- 25825652
TI  - Growth hormone secretagogue receptor is important in the development of
      experimental colitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR) and its ligand, ghrelin,
      are important modulators in weight control and energy homeostasis. Recently,
      ghrelin is also involved in experimental colitis, but the role of GHSR in the
      development of colitis is unclear. The aim was to examine the underlying
      mechanism of GHSR in IBD development. METHODS: The temporal expression of
      GHSR/ghrelin was determined in dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) induced colitis in
      Wt mice. The severity of DSS induced colitis from GHSR(-/-) and WT mice was
      compared at clinical/pathological levels. Furthermore, the function of
      macrophages was evaluated in vivo and in vitro. RESULTS: Lack of GHSR attenuated
      colitis significantly at the clinical and pathological levels with reduced
      colonic pro-inflammatory cytokines (P < 0.05). This is consistent with the
      observation of less colonic macrophage infiltration and TLRs expression from DSS
      treated GHSR(-/-) mice compared to WT mice (P < 0.05). Furthermore, there was
      significantly reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines in LPS-stimulated macrophages in
      vitro from GHSR(-/-) mice than WT mice (P < 0.05). Moreover, D-lys(3)-GHRP6 (a
      GHSR antagonist) reduced LPS-induced macrophage pro-inflammatory cytokines from
      WT mice in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: GHSR contributes to development of acute DSS
      induced colitis, likely via elevated pro-inflammatory cytokines and activation of
      macrophages. These data suggest GHSR as a potential therapeutic target for IBD.

PMID- 25825653
TI  - Welcome to health information science and systems.
AB  - Health Information Science and Systems is an exciting, new, multidisciplinary
      journal that aims to use technologies in computer science to assist in disease
      diagnoses, treatment, prediction and monitoring through the modeling, design,
      development, visualization, integration and management of health related
      information. These computer-science technologies include such as information
      systems, web technologies, data mining, image processing, user interaction and
      interface, sensors and wireless networking and are applicable to a wide range of
      health related information including medical data, biomedical data,
      bioinformatics data, public health data. 

PMID- 25825655
TI  - A patient-centric distribution architecture for medical image sharing.
AB  - Over the past decade, rapid development of imaging technologies has resulted in
      the introduction of improved imaging devices, such as multi-modality scanners
      that produce combined positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT)
      images. The adoption of picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) in
      hospitals have dramatically improved the ability to digitally share medical image
      studies via portable storage, mobile devices and the Internet. This has in turn
      led to increased productivity, greater flexibility, and improved communication
      between hospital staff, referring physicians, and outpatients. However, many of
      these sharing and viewing capabilities are limited to proprietary vendor-specific
      applications. Furthermore, there are still interoperability and deployment issues
      which reduce the rate of adoption of such technologies, thus leaving many
      stakeholders, particularly outpatients and referring physicians, with access to
      only traditional still images with no ability to view or interpret the data in
      full. In this paper, we present a distribution architecture for medical image
      display across numerous devices and media, which uses a preprocessor and an in
      built networking framework to improve compatibility and promote greater
      accessibility of medical data. Our INVOLVE2 system consists of three main
      software modules: 1) a preprocessor, which collates and converts imaging studies
      into a compressed and distributable format; 2) a PACS-compatible workflow for
      self-managing distribution of medical data, e.g. via CD USB, network etc; 3)
      support for potential mobile and web-based data access. The focus of this study
      was on cultivating patient-centric care, by allowing outpatient users to
      comfortably access and interpret their own data. As such, the image viewing
      software included on our cross-platform CDs was designed with a simple and
      intuitive user-interface (UI) for use by outpatients and referring physicians.
      Furthermore, digital image access via mobile devices or web-based access enables
      users to engage with their data in a convenient and user-friendly way. We
      evaluated the INVOLVE2 system using a pilot deployment in a hospital environment.

PMID- 25825657
TI  - Segmentation of ultrasound images of thyroid nodule for assisting fine needle
      aspiration cytology.
AB  - The incidence of thyroid nodule is very high and generally increases with the
      age. Thyroid nodule may presage the emergence of thyroid cancer. Most thyroid
      nodules are asymptomatic which makes thyroid cancer different from other cancers.
      The thyroid nodule can be completely cured if detected early. Therefore, it is
      necessary to correctly classify the thyroid nodule to be benign or malignant.
      Fine needle aspiration cytology is a recognized early diagnosis method of thyroid
      nodule. There are still some limitations in the fine needle aspiration cytology,
      such as the difficulty in location and the insufficient cytology specimen. The
      accuracy of ultrasound diagnosis of thyroid nodule improves constantly, and it
      has become the first choice for auxiliary examination of thyroid nodular disease.
      If we could combine medical imaging technology and fine needle aspiration
      cytology, the diagnostic rate of thyroid nodule would be improved significantly.
      The properties of ultrasound, such as echo, shadow, and reflection, will degrade
      the image quality, which makes it difficult to recognize the edges for
      physicians. Image segmentation technique based on graph theory has become a
      research hotspot at present. Normalized cut (Ncut) is a representative one, whose
      biggest advantage is not prone to small region segmentation but suitable for
      segmentation of feature parts of medical image. However, how to solve the
      normalized cut has become a problem, which needs large memory capacity and heavy
      calculation of weight matrix. It always generates over segmentation or less
      segmentation which leads to inaccurate in the segmentation. The speckle noise
      produced in the formation process of B ultrasound image of thyroid tumor makes
      the quality of the image deteriorate. In the light of this characteristic, we
      combine the anisotropic diffusion model with the normalized cut in this paper.
      After the enhancement of anisotropic diffusion model, it removes the noise in the
      B ultrasound image while preserves the important edges and local details. This
      reduces the amount of computation in constructing the weight matrix of the
      improved normalized cut and improves the accuracy of the final segmentation
      results. The feasibility of the method is proved by the experimental results. 

PMID- 25825656
TI  - iPathCase(KEGG): An iPad interface for KEGG metabolic pathways.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) is an online and
      integrated molecular database for several organisms. KEGG has been a highly
      useful site, helping domain scientists understand, research, study, and teach
      metabolisms by linking sequenced genomes to higher level systematic functions.
      KEGG databases are accessible through the web pages of the system, but the
      capabilities of the web interface are limited. Third party systems have been
      built over the KEGG data to provide extensive functionalities. However, there
      have been no attempts towards providing a tablet interface for KEGG data.
      Recognizing the rise of mobile technologies and the importance of tablets in
      education, this paper presents the design and implementation of iPathCase(KEGG),
      an iPad interface for KEGG data, which is empowered with multiple browsing and
      visualization capabilities. RESULTS: iPathCase(KEGG) has been implemented and is
      available, free of charge, in the Apple App Store (locatable by searching for
      "Pathcase" in the app store). The application provides browsing and interactive
      visualization functionalities on the KEGG data. Users can pick pathways,
      visualize them, and see detail pages of reactions and molecules using the multi
      touch interface of iPad. CONCLUSIONS: iPathCase(KEGG) provides a mobile interface
      to access KEGG data. Interactive visualization and browsing functionalities let
      users to interact with the data in multiple ways. As the importance of tablets
      and their usage in research education continue to rise, we think iPathCase(KEGG)
      will be a useful tool for life science instructors and researchers.

PMID- 25825654
TI  - How bioinformatics influences health informatics: usage of biomolecular
      sequences, expression profiles and automated microscopic image analyses for
      clinical needs and public health.
AB  - ABSTRACT: The currently hyped expectation of personalized medicine is often
      associated with just achieving the information technology led integration of
      biomolecular sequencing, expression and histopathological bioimaging data with
      clinical records at the individual patients' level as if the significant
      biomedical conclusions would be its more or less mandatory result. It remains a
      sad fact that many, if not most biomolecular mechanisms that translate the human
      genomic information into phenotypes are not known and, thus, most of the
      molecular and cellular data cannot be interpreted in terms of biomedically
      relevant conclusions. Whereas the historical trend will certainly be into the
      general direction of personalized diagnostics and cures, the temperate view
      suggests that biomedical applications that rely either on the comparison of
      biomolecular sequences and/or on the already known biomolecular mechanisms have
      much greater chances to enter clinical practice soon. In addition to considering
      the general trends, we exemplarily review advances in the area of cancer
      biomarker discovery, in the clinically relevant characterization of patient
      specific viral and bacterial pathogens (with emphasis on drug selection for
      influenza and enterohemorrhagic E. coli) as well as progress in the automated
      assessment of histopathological images. As molecular and cellular data analysis
      will become instrumental for achieving desirable clinical outcomes, the role of
      bioinformatics and computational biology approaches will dramatically grow.
      AUTHOR SUMMARY: With DNA sequencing and computers becoming increasingly cheap and
      accessible to the layman, the idea of integrating biomolecular and clinical
      patient data seems to become a realistic, short-term option that will lead to
      patient-specific diagnostics and treatment design for many diseases such as
      cancer, metabolic disorders, inherited conditions, etc. These hyped expectations
      will fail since many, if not most biomolecular mechanisms that translate the
      human genomic information into phenotypes are not known yet and, thus, most of
      the molecular and cellular data collected will not lead to biomedically relevant
      conclusions. At the same time, less spectacular biomedical applications based on
      biomolecular sequence comparison and/or known biomolecular mechanisms have the
      potential to unfold enormous potential for healthcare and public health. Since
      the analysis of heterogeneous biomolecular data in context with clinical data
      will be increasingly critical, the role of bioinformatics and computational
      biology will grow correspondingly in this process.

PMID- 25825658
TI  - Bio and health informatics meets cloud : BioVLab as an example.
AB  - The exponential increase of genomic data brought by the advent of the next or the
      third generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and the dramatic drop in
      sequencing cost have driven biological and medical sciences to data-driven
      sciences. This revolutionary paradigm shift comes with challenges in terms of
      data transfer, storage, computation, and analysis of big bio/medical data. Cloud
      computing is a service model sharing a pool of configurable resources, which is a
      suitable workbench to address these challenges. From the medical or biological
      perspective, providing computing power and storage is the most attractive feature
      of cloud computing in handling the ever increasing biological data. As data
      increases in size, many research organizations start to experience the lack of
      computing power, which becomes a major hurdle in achieving research goals. In
      this paper, we review the features of publically available bio and health cloud
      systems in terms of graphical user interface, external data integration, security
      and extensibility of features. We then discuss about issues and limitations of
      current cloud systems and conclude with suggestion of a biological cloud
      environment concept, which can be defined as a total workbench environment
      assembling computational tools and databases for analyzing bio/medical big data
      in particular application domains. 

PMID- 25825659
TI  - Dynamic integration of biological data sources using the data concierge.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The ever-changing landscape of large-scale network environments and
      innovative biology technologies require dynamic mechanisms to rapidly integrate
      previously unknown bioinformatics sources at runtime. However, existing
      integration technologies lack sufficient flexibility to adapt to these changes,
      because the techniques used for integration are static, and sensitive to new or
      changing bioinformatics source implementations and evolutionary biologist
      requirements. METHODS: To address this challenge, in this paper we propose a new
      semantics-based adaptive middleware, the Data Concierge, which is able to
      dynamically integrate heterogeneous biological data sources without the need for
      wrappers. Along with the architecture necessary to facilitate dynamic
      integration, API description mechanism is proposed to dynamically classify,
      recognize, locate, and invoke newly added biological data source functionalities.
      Based on the unified semantic metadata, XML-based state machines are able to
      provide flexible configurations to execute biologist's abstract and complex
      operations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Experimental results demonstrate that for
      obtaining dynamic features, the Data Concierge sacrifices reasonable performance
      on reasoning knowledge models and dynamically doing data source API invocations.
      The overall costs to integrate new biological data sources are significantly
      lower when using the Data Concierge. CONCLUSIONS: The Data Concierge facilitates
      the rapid integration of new biological data sources in existing applications
      with no repetitive software development required, and hence, this mechanism would
      provide a cost-effective solution to the labor-intensive software engineering
      tasks.

PMID- 25825660
TI  - Improving information retrieval with multiple health terminologies in a quality
      controlled gateway.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Catalog and Index of French-language Health Internet resources
      (CISMeF) is a quality-controlled health gateway, primarily for Web resources in
      French (n=89,751). Recently, we achieved a major improvement in the structure of
      the catalogue by setting-up multiple terminologies, based on twelve health
      terminologies available in French, to overcome the potential weakness of the MeSH
      thesaurus, which is the main and pivotal terminology we use for indexing and
      retrieval since 1995. The main aim of this study was to estimate the added-value
      of exploiting several terminologies and their semantic relationships to improve
      Web resource indexing and retrieval in CISMeF, in order to provide additional
      health resources which meet the users' expectations. METHODS: Twelve
      terminologies were integrated into the CISMeF information system to set up
      multiple-terminologies indexing and retrieval. The same sets of thirty queries
      were run: (i) by exploiting the hierarchical structure of the MeSH, and (ii) by
      exploiting the additional twelve terminologies and their semantic links. The two
      search modes were evaluated and compared. RESULTS: The overall coverage of the
      multiple-terminologies search mode was improved by comparison to the coverage of
      using the MeSH (16,283 vs. 14,159) (+15%). These additional findings were
      estimated at 56.6% relevant results, 24.7% intermediate results and 18.7%
      irrelevant. CONCLUSION: The multiple-terminologies approach improved information
      retrieval. These results suggest that integrating additional health terminologies
      was able to improve recall. Since performing the study, 21 other terminologies
      have been added which should enable us to make broader studies in multiple
      terminologies information retrieval.

PMID- 25825661
TI  - Enabling flexible integration of healthcare information using the entity
      attribute-value storage model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For an optimal care of patients in home healthcare, it is essential
      to exchange healthcare-related information with other stakeholders.
      Unfortunately, paper-based documentation procedures as well as the heterogeneity
      between information systems inhibit a well-regulated communication. Therefore, a
      digital patient care record is introduced to establish the foundation for
      integrating healthcare-related information. METHODS: For the digital patient care
      record, suitable integration techniques are required that store data in a compact
      way and offer flexibility as well as robustness. For this purpose, a generic
      storage structure based on the entity-attribute-value (EAV) model is introduced.
      This storage structure fulfills the stated requirements and incoming information
      can be stored directly without any loss of data. EVALUATION RESULTS AND
      DISCUSSIONS: First performance tests regarding the query response time are given
      in this paper. The tests measured the connection time, the query execution time,
      and the time for traversing the result set. The time for executing the query is
      lowest. The time for traversing the results strongly depends on the number of
      documents. A concept comparison to other integration techniques is also
      presented. CONCLUSIONS: This approach offers flexibility concerning different
      standard types and the evolution in healthcare knowledge and processes. It also
      allows for highly sparse data to be stored in a compact way. The underlying
      database structure is presented, the import process for extracting incoming
      reports is described and the export process for generating new outgoing
      standardized reports is briefly illustrated.

PMID- 25825662
TI  - Analysis of contingency tables based on generalised median polish with power
      transformations and non-additive models.
AB  - Contingency tables are a very common basis for the investigation of effects of
      different treatments or influences on a disease or the health state of patients.
      Many journals put a strong emphasis on p-values to support the validity of
      results. Therefore, even small contingency tables are analysed by techniques like
      t-test or ANOVA. Both these concepts are based on normality assumptions for the
      underlying data. For larger data sets, this assumption is not so critical, since
      the underlying statistics are based on sums of (independent) random variables
      which can be assumed to follow approximately a normal distribution, at least for
      a larger number of summands. But for smaller data sets, the normality assumption
      can often not be justified. Robust methods like the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney-U test
      or the Kruskal-Wallis test do not lead to statistically significant p-values for
      small samples. Median polish is a robust alternative to analyse contingency
      tables providing much more insight than just a p-value. Median polish is a
      technique that provides more information than just a p-value. It explains the
      contingency table in terms of an overall effect, row and columns effects and
      residuals. The underlying model for median polish is an additive model which is
      sometimes too restrictive. In this paper, we propose two related approach to
      generalise median polish. A power transformation can be applied to the values in
      the table, so that better results for median polish can be achieved. We propose a
      graphical method how to find a suitable power transformation. If the original
      data should be preserved, one can apply other transformations - based on so
      called additive generators - that have an inverse transformation. In this way,
      median polish can be applied to the original data, but based on a non-additive
      model. The non-linearity of such a model can also be visualised to better
      understand the joint effects of rows and columns in a contingency table. 

PMID- 25825663
TI  - Extracting and transforming clinical guidelines into pathway models for different
      hospital information systems.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Healthcare providers are facing an enormous cost pressure and a
      scarcity of resources. They need to realign in the tension between economic
      efficiency and demand-oriented healthcare. Clinical guidelines and clinical
      pathways are used in German hospitals to improve the quality of care and to
      reduce costs at the same time. Clinical guidelines provide evident medical
      knowledge for diagnostic and therapeutic issues, while clinical pathways are a
      road map of patient management. The consideration of clinical guidelines during
      pathway development is highly recommended. But the transfer of evident knowledge
      (clinical guidelines) to care processes (clinical pathways) is not
      straightforward due to different information contents and structures. METHODS: We
      propose a model-based approach to support the development of guideline-compliant
      pathways and the generation of ready-to-use pathway models for different hospital
      information systems. A meta-model merges the structures of clinical guidelines
      and clinical pathways into one generic model. It is encoded through artefacts of
      Health Level 7 (HL7) in version 3. The deployment process to integrate the
      defined guideline-compliant pathways into different target systems is supported
      by an ontology management approach. RESULTS: We defined a step-by-step
      instruction for translating the narrative guideline content into formalized care
      processes. The meta-model provides all necessary structures to capture the
      pertinent knowledge. The entire process of defining and deploying guideline
      compliant pathways is supported by one consistent IT system. The deployment
      process is designed detached from specific systems so that the defined pathways
      can be enacted within different hospital information systems (HIS). CONCLUSIONS:
      The approach enables hospitals to develop guideline-compliant pathways and to
      integrate them into their HIS without time-consuming manual transformations. That
      way, best practice advices based on clinical guidelines can be provided at the
      point of care and therefore improve patient treatment.

PMID- 25825664
TI  - Graphical modeling and query language for hospitals.
AB  - BACKGROUND: So far there has been little evidence that implementation of the
      health information technologies (HIT) is leading to health care cost savings. One
      of the reasons for this lack of impact by the HIT likely lies in the complexity
      of the business process ownership in the hospitals. The goal of our research is
      to develop a business model-based method for hospital use which would allow
      doctors to retrieve directly the ad-hoc information from various hospital
      databases. METHODS: We have developed a special domain-specific process modelling
      language called the MedMod. Formally, we define the MedMod language as a profile
      on UML Class diagrams, but we also demonstrate it on examples, where we explain
      the semantics of all its elements informally. Moreover, we have developed the
      Process Query Language (PQL) that is based on MedMod process definition language.
      The purpose of PQL is to allow a doctor querying (filtering) runtime data of
      hospital's processes described using MedMod. RESULTS: The MedMod language tries
      to overcome deficiencies in existing process modeling languages, allowing to
      specify the loosely-defined sequence of the steps to be performed in the clinical
      process. The main advantages of PQL are in two main areas - usability and
      efficiency. They are: 1) the view on data through "glasses" of familiar process,
      2) the simple and easy-to-perceive means of setting filtering conditions require
      no more expertise than using spreadsheet applications, 3) the dynamic response to
      each step in construction of the complete query that shortens the learning curve
      greatly and reduces the error rate, and 4) the selected means of filtering and
      data retrieving allows to execute queries in O(n) time regarding the size of the
      dataset. CONCLUSIONS: We are about to continue developing this project with three
      further steps. First, we are planning to develop user-friendly graphical editors
      for the MedMod process modeling and query languages. The second step is to do
      evaluation of usability the proposed language and tool involving the physicians
      from several hospitals in Latvia and working with real data from these hospitals.
      Our third step is to develop an efficient implementation of the query language.

PMID- 25825665
TI  - Design and implementation of Metta, a metasearch engine for biomedical literature
      retrieval intended for systematic reviewers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Individuals and groups who write systematic reviews and meta-analyses
      in evidence-based medicine regularly carry out literature searches across
      multiple search engines linked to different bibliographic databases, and thus
      have an urgent need for a suitable metasearch engine to save time spent on
      repeated searches and to remove duplicate publications from initial
      consideration. Unlike general users who generally carry out searches to find a
      few highly relevant (or highly recent) articles, systematic reviewers seek to
      obtain a comprehensive set of articles on a given topic, satisfying specific
      criteria. This creates special requirements and challenges for metasearch engine
      design and implementation. METHODS: We created a federated search tool that is
      connected to five databases: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane
      Central Register of Controlled Trials. Retrieved bibliographic records were shown
      online; optionally, results could be de-duplicated and exported in both BibTex
      and XML format. RESULTS: The query interface was extensively modified in response
      to feedback from users within our team. Besides a general search track and one
      focused on human-related articles, we also added search tracks optimized to
      identify case reports and systematic reviews. Although users could modify preset
      search options, they were rarely if ever altered in practice. Up to several
      thousand retrieved records could be exported within a few minutes. De-duplication
      of records returned from multiple databases was carried out in a prioritized
      fashion that favored retaining citations returned from PubMed. CONCLUSIONS:
      Systematic reviewers are used to formulating complex queries using strategies and
      search tags that are specific for individual databases. Metta offers a different
      approach that may save substantial time but which requires modification of
      current search strategies and better indexing of randomized controlled trial
      articles. We envision Metta as one piece of a multi-tool pipeline that will
      assist systematic reviewers in retrieving, filtering and assessing publications.
      As such, Metta may find wide utility for anyone who is carrying out a
      comprehensive search of the biomedical literature.

PMID- 25825666
TI  - Retinal blood vessels extraction using probabilistic modelling.
AB  - The analysis of retinal blood vessels plays an important role in detecting and
      treating retinal diseases. In this review, we present an automated method to
      segment blood vessels of fundus retinal image. The proposed method could be used
      to support a non-intrusive diagnosis in modern ophthalmology for early detection
      of retinal diseases, treatment evaluation or clinical study. This study combines
      the bias correction and an adaptive histogram equalisation to enhance the
      appearance of the blood vessels. Then the blood vessels are extracted using
      probabilistic modelling that is optimised by the expectation maximisation
      algorithm. The method is evaluated on fundus retinal images of STARE and DRIVE
      datasets. The experimental results are compared with some recently published
      methods of retinal blood vessels segmentation. The experimental results show that
      our method achieved the best overall performance and it is comparable to the
      performance of human experts. 

PMID- 25825667
TI  - Big data analytics in healthcare: promise and potential.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the promise and potential of big data analytics in
      healthcare. METHODS: The paper describes the nascent field of big data analytics
      in healthcare, discusses the benefits, outlines an architectural framework and
      methodology, describes examples reported in the literature, briefly discusses the
      challenges, and offers conclusions. RESULTS: The paper provides a broad overview
      of big data analytics for healthcare researchers and practitioners. CONCLUSIONS:
      Big data analytics in healthcare is evolving into a promising field for providing
      insight from very large data sets and improving outcomes while reducing costs.
      Its potential is great; however there remain challenges to overcome.

PMID- 25825668
TI  - Traits and types of health data repositories.
AB  - We review traits of reusable clinical data and offer a typology of clinical
      repositories with a range of known examples. Sources of clinical data suitable
      for research can be classified into types reflecting the data's institutional
      origin, original purpose, level of integration and governance. Primary data
      nearly always come from research studies and electronic medical records.
      Registries collect data on focused populations primarily to track outcomes, often
      using observational research methods. Warehouses are institutional information
      utilities repackaging clinical care data. Collections organize data from more
      organizations than a data warehouse, and more original data sources than a
      registry. Therefore even if they are heavily curated, their level of internal
      integration, and thus ease of use, can be less than other types. Federations are
      like collections except that physical control over data is distributed among
      donor organizations. Federations sometimes federate, giving a second level of
      organization. While the size, in number of patients, varies widely within each
      type of data source, populations over 10 K are relatively numerous, and much
      larger populations can be seen in warehouses and federations. One imagined ideal
      structure for research progress has been called an "Information Commons". It
      would have longitudinal, multi-leveled (environmental through molecular) data on
      a large population of identified, consenting individuals. These are qualities
      whose achievement would require long term commitment on the part of many data
      donors, including a willingness to make their data public. 

PMID- 25825669
TI  - Risk adjustment and observation time: comparison between cross-sectional and 2
      year panel data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Risk adjustment models were used to estimate health care consumption
      after adjusting for individual characteristics or other factors. The results of
      this technique were not satisfying. One reason could be that the length of time
      to document consumption might be associated with the mean and variance of
      observed health care consumption. This study aims to use a simplified
      mathematical model and real-world data to explore the relationship of observation
      time (one or two years) and predictability. METHODS: This study used cross
      sectional (one-year) and 2-year panel data sets of the Medical Expenditure Panel
      Survey (MEPS) from 1996 to 2008. Comparisons of the health care consumption
      (total health expenditure, emergency room (ER) and office-based visits) included
      ratios of means and standard errors (SEs). Risk adjustment models for one- and
      two-year data used generalized linear model. RESULTS: The ratios of mean health
      care consumption (two-year to one-year total expenditure, ER and office-based
      visits) seemed to be two in most age groups and the ratios of SEs varied around
      or above two. The R-squared of two-year models seemed to be slightly better than
      that of one-year models. CONCLUSIONS: We find health expenditure and ER or office
      based visits observed in two consecutive years were about twice those observed in
      a single year for most age, similar to the ratios predicted in mathematical
      examples. The ratios of mean spending and visits varied across age groups. The
      other finding is that the predictability of two-year consumption seems better
      than that of one-year slightly. The reason is not clear and we will continue
      studying this phenomenon.

PMID- 25825670
TI  - The custodian administered research extract server: "improving the pipeline" in
      linked data delivery systems.
AB  - BACKGROUND: At Western Australia's Data Linkage Branch (DLB) the extraction of
      linked data has become increasingly complex over the past decade and classical
      methods of data delivery are unsuited to the larger extractions which have become
      the norm. The Custodian Administered Research Extract Server (CARES) is a fast,
      accurate and predictable approach to linked data extraction. METHODS: The Data
      Linkage Branch (DLB) creates linkage keys within and between datasets. To comply
      with the separation principal, these keys are sent to applicable data collection
      agencies for extraction. Routing requests through multiple channels is
      inefficient and makes it hard to monitor work and predict delivery times. CARES
      was developed to address these shortcomings and involved ongoing consultation
      with the Custodians and staff of collections, plus challenges of hardware,
      programming, governance and security. RESULTS: The introduction of CARES has
      reduced the workload burden of linked data extractions, while improving the
      efficiency, stability and predictability of turnaround times. CONCLUSIONS: As the
      scope of a linkage system broadens, challenges in data delivery are inevitable.
      CARES overcomes multiple obstacles with no sacrifice to the integrity,
      confidentiality or security of data. CARES is a valuable component of linkage
      infrastructure that is operable at any scale and adaptable to many data
      environments.

PMID- 25825671
TI  - A comparative study of improvements Pre-filter methods bring on feature selection
      using microarray data.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Feature selection techniques have become an apparent need in
      biomarker discoveries with the development of microarray. However, the high
      dimensional nature of microarray made feature selection become time-consuming. To
      overcome such difficulties, filter data according to the background knowledge
      before applying feature selection techniques has become a hot topic in microarray
      analysis. Different methods may affect final results greatly, thus it is
      important to evaluate these pre-filter methods in a system way. METHODS: In this
      paper, we compared the performance of statistical-based, biological-based pre
      filter methods and the combination of them on microRNA-mRNA parallel expression
      profiles using L1 logistic regression as feature selection techniques. Four types
      of data were built for both microRNA and mRNA expression profiles. RESULTS:
      Results showed that pre-filter methods could reduce the number of features
      greatly for both mRNA and microRNA expression datasets. The features selected
      after pre-filter procedures were shown to be significant in biological levels
      such as biology process and microRNA functions. Analyses of classification
      performance based on precision showed the pre-filter methods were necessary when
      the number of raw features was much bigger than that of samples. All the
      computing time was greatly shortened after pre-filter procedures. CONCLUSIONS:
      With similar or better classification improvements, less but biological
      significant features, pre-filter-based feature selection should be taken into
      consideration if researchers need fast results when facing complex computing
      problems in bioinformatics.

PMID- 25825672
TI  - Inferring disease transmission networks at a metapopulation level.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To investigate transmission patterns of an infectious disease, e.g.,
      malaria, it is desirable to use the observed surveillance data to discover the
      underlying (often hidden) disease transmission networks. Previous studies have
      provided methods for inferring information diffusion networks in which each node
      corresponds to an individual person. However, in the case of disease
      transmission, to effectively propose and implement intervention strategies, it is
      more realistic and reasonable for policy makers to study the diffusion patterns
      at a metapopulation level when the disease transmission is affected by mobile
      population, that is, to consider disease transmission networks in which nodes
      represent subpopulations, and links indicate their interrelationships. RESULTS: A
      network inference method called NetEpi (Network Epidemic) is developed and
      evaluated using both synthetic and real-world datasets. The experimental results
      show that NetEpi can not only recover most of the ground-truth disease
      transmission networks using only surveillance data, but also find a malaria
      transmission network based on a real-world dataset. The inferred malaria network
      can characterize the real-world observations to a certain extent. In addition, it
      also discloses some hidden phenomenon. CONCLUSIONS: This research addresses the
      problem of inferring disease transmission networks at a metapopulation level.
      Such networks can be useful in several ways: (i) to investigate hidden impact
      factors that influence epidemic dynamics, (ii) to reveal possible sources of
      epidemic outbreaks, and (iii) to practically develop and/or improve strategies
      for controlling the spread of infectious diseases.

PMID- 25825673
TI  - Dynamic changes in short- and long-term bacterial composition following fecal
      microbiota transplantation for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an effective treatment for
      recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) that often fails standard
      antibiotic therapy. Despite its widespread recent use, however, little is known
      about the stability of the fecal microbiota following FMT. RESULTS: Here we
      report on short- and long-term changes and provide kinetic visualization of fecal
      microbiota composition in patients with multiply recurrent CDI that were
      refractory to antibiotic therapy and treated using FMT. Fecal samples were
      collected from four patients before and up to 151 days after FMT, with daily
      collections until 28 days and weekly collections until 84 days post-FMT. The
      composition of fecal bacteria was characterized using high throughput 16S rRNA
      gene sequence analysis, compared to microbiota across body sites in the Human
      Microbiome Project (HMP) database, and visualized in a movie-like, kinetic
      format. FMT resulted in rapid normalization of bacterial fecal sample composition
      from a markedly dysbiotic state to one representative of normal fecal microbiota.
      While the microbiome appeared most similar to the donor implant material 1 day
      post-FMT, the composition diverged variably at later time points. The donor
      microbiota composition also varied over time. However, both post-FMT and donor
      samples remained within the larger cloud of fecal microbiota characterized as
      healthy by the HMP. CONCLUSIONS: Dynamic behavior is an intrinsic property of
      normal fecal microbiota and should be accounted for in comparing microbial
      communities among normal individuals and those with disease states. This also
      suggests that more frequent sample analyses are needed in order to properly
      assess success of FMT procedures.

PMID- 25825674
TI  - A qualitative investigation of non-response in NHS health checks.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Improving uptake of NHS Health Checks has become a priority in
      England, but there is a lack of data on the perceptions of programme non
      attenders. This study aimed to explore how non-attenders of NHS Health Checks
      perceive the programme, identify reasons for non-attendance and inform strategies
      to improve uptake. METHOD: This qualitative study involved individuals registered
      at four general practices in Stoke-on-Trent, UK, who had not taken up their
      invitation to a NHS Health Check. Semi-structured face-to-face and telephone
      interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim for Thematic Analysis.
      RESULTS: Interviews were completed with 19 males and 22 females (mean age 52.9 +/
      8.5 years), who were socio-demographically representative of the non-attender
      population. Four main themes identified related to: the positive perception of
      the Health Check concept among non-attenders; the perceived lack of personal
      relevance; ineffective invitation method and appointment inconvenience were
      common barriers; previous experience of primary care can influence uptake.
      CONCLUSIONS: Fundamental requirements for improving uptake are that individuals
      recognise the personal relevance of Health Checks and that attendance is
      convenient. Incorporating more sophisticated and personalised risk communication
      as part of the invitation could increase impact and promote candidacy.
      Flexibility and convenience of appointments should be considered by participating
      general practices.

PMID- 25825675
TI  - Medicines and universal health coverage: challenges and opportunities.

PMID- 25825676
TI  - Preliminary observations on the mandibles of palaemonoid shrimp (Crustacea:
      Decapoda: Caridea: Palaemonoidea).
AB  - The mandibles of caridean shrimps have been widely studied in the taxonomy and
      functional biology of the group. Within the Palaemonoidea the mandibles reach a
      high level of structural diversity reflecting the diverse lifestyles within the
      superfamily. However, the majority of studies have been restricted to light
      microscopy, with the ultrastructure at finer levels poorly known. This study
      investigates the mandible of nine species belonging to six of the recognised
      families of the Palaemonoidea using SEM and analyses the results in a
      phylogenetic and dietary framework. The results of the study indicate that little
      phylogenetic information is conveyed by the structure of the mandible, but that
      its form is influenced by primary food sources of each species. With the
      exception of Anchistioides antiguensis, all species examined possessed cuticular
      structures at the distal end of the pars molaris (molar process). Five types of
      cuticular structures are recognised herein, each with a unique form, but variable
      in number, placement and arrangement. Each type is presumed to have a different
      function which is likewise related to diet. 

PMID- 25825677
TI  - Long live the wasp: adult longevity in captive colonies of the eusocial paper
      wasp Polistes canadensis (L.).
AB  - Insects have been used as an exemplary model in studying longevity, from
      extrinsic mortality pressures to intrinsic senescence. In the highly eusocial
      insects, great degrees of variation in lifespan exist between morphological
      castes in relation to extreme divisions of labour, but of particular interest are
      the primitively eusocial insects. These species represent the ancestral
      beginnings of eusociality, in which castes are flexible and based on behaviour
      rather than morphology. Here we present data on the longevity of the primitively
      eusocial Neotropical paper wasp P. canadensis, in a captive setting removed of
      environmental hazards. Captive Polistes canadensis had an average lifespan of 193
      +/- 10.5 days; although this average is shorter than most bee and ant queens, one
      individual lived for 506 days in the lab-longer than most recorded wasps and
      bees. Natal colony variation in longevity does exist between P. canadensis
      colonies, possibly due to nutritional and genetic factors. This study provides a
      foundation for future investigations on the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic
      factors on longevity in primitively eusocial insects, as well as the relationship
      with natal group and cohort size. 

PMID- 25825678
TI  - Perception of global facial geometry is modulated through experience.
AB  - Identification of personally familiar faces is highly efficient across various
      viewing conditions. While the presence of robust facial representations stored in
      memory is considered to aid this process, the mechanisms underlying invariant
      identification remain unclear. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that facial
      representations stored in memory are associated with differential perceptual
      processing of the overall facial geometry. Subjects who were personally familiar
      or unfamiliar with the identities presented discriminated between stimuli whose
      overall facial geometry had been manipulated to maintain or alter the original
      facial configuration (see Barton, Zhao & Keenan, 2003). The results demonstrate
      that familiarity gives rise to more efficient processing of global facial
      geometry, and are interpreted in terms of increased holistic processing of facial
      information that is maintained across viewing distances. 

PMID- 25825679
TI  - Neonicotinoids impact bumblebee colony fitness in the field; a reanalysis of the
      UK's Food & Environment Research Agency 2012 experiment.
AB  - The causes of bee declines remain hotly debated, particularly the contribution of
      neonicotinoid insecticides. In 2013 the UK's Food & Environment Research Agency
      made public a study of the impacts of exposure of bumblebee colonies to
      neonicotinoids. The study concluded that there was no clear relationship between
      colony performance and pesticide exposure, and the study was subsequently cited
      by the UK government in a policy paper in support of their vote against a
      proposed moratorium on some uses of neonicotinoids. Here I present a simple re
      analysis of this data set. It demonstrates that these data in fact do show a
      negative relationship between both colony growth and queen production and the
      levels of neonicotinoids in the food stores collected by the bees. Indeed, this
      is the first study describing substantial negative impacts of neonicotinoids on
      colony performance of any bee species with free-flying bees in a field realistic
      situation where pesticide exposure is provided only as part of normal farming
      practices. It strongly suggests that wild bumblebee colonies in farmland can be
      expected to be adversely affected by exposure to neonicotinoids. 

PMID- 25825680
TI  - Selection of reference genes for quantitative RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis of rat
      tissues under physiological and toxicological conditions.
AB  - In biological research the analysis of gene expression levels in cells and
      tissues can be a powerful tool to gain insights into biological processes. For
      this, quantitative RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) is a popular method that often involve the
      use of constitutively expressed endogenous reference (or 'housekeeping') gene for
      normalization of data. Thus, it is essential to use reference genes that have
      been verified to be stably expressed within the specific experimental setting.
      Here, we have analysed the expression stability of 12 commonly used reference
      genes (Actb, B2m, Gapdh, Hprt, Pgk1, Rn18s, Rpl13a, Rps18, Rps29, Sdha, Tbp and
      Ubc) across several juvenile and adult rat tissues (liver, adrenal, prostate, fat
      pad, testis and ovaries), both under normal conditions and following exposure to
      various chemicals during development. Employing NormFinder and BestKeeper
      softwares, we found Hprt and Sdha to be amongst the most stable genes across
      normal and manipulated tissues, with several others also being suitable for most
      tissues. Tbp and B2m displayed highest variability in transcript levels between
      tissues and developmental stages. It was also observed that the reference genes
      were most unstable in liver and testis following toxicological exposure. For
      future studies, we propose the use of more than one verified reference gene and
      the continuous monitoring of their suitability under various experimental
      conditions, including toxicological studies, based on changes in threshold (Ct)
      values from cDNA samples having been reverse-transcribed from a constant input
      concentration of RNA. 

PMID- 25825682
TI  - Spatiotemporal diversity, structure and trophic guilds of insect assemblages in a
      semi-arid Sabkha ecosystem.
AB  - The current study highlights some knowledge on the diversity and structure of
      insect communities and trophic groups living in Sabkha Djendli (semi-arid area of
      Northeastern Algeria). The entomofauna was monthly sampled from March to November
      2006 using pitfall traps at eight sites located at the vicinity of the Sabkha.
      Structural and diversity parameters (species richness, Shannon index, evenness)
      were measured for both insect orders and trophic guilds. The canonical
      correspondence analysis (CCA) was applied to determine how vegetation parameters
      (species richness and cover) influence spatial and seasonal fluctuations of
      insect assemblages. The catches totalled 434 insect individuals classified into
      75 species, 62 genera, 31 families and 7 orders, of which Coleoptera and
      Hymenoptera were the most abundant and constant over seasons and study stations.
      Spring and autumn presented the highest values of diversity parameters.
      Individual-based Chao-1 species richness estimator indicated 126 species for the
      total individuals captured in the Sabkha. Based on catch abundances, the
      structure of functional trophic groups was predators (37.3%), saprophages
      (26.7%), phytophages (20.5%), polyphages (10.8%), coprophages (4.6%); whereas in
      terms of numbers of species, they can be classified as phytophages (40%),
      predators (25.3%), polyphages (13.3%), saprophages (12%), coprophages (9.3%). The
      CCA demonstrated that phytophages and saprophages as well as Coleoptera and
      Orthoptera were positively correlated with the two parameters of vegetation,
      especially in spring and summer. While the abundance of coprophages was
      positively correlated with species richness of plants, polyphage density was
      positively associated with vegetation cover. The insect community showed high
      taxonomic and functional diversity that is closely related to diversity and
      vegetation cover in different stations of the wetland and seasons. 

PMID- 25825683
TI  - Bayesian inference of protein structure from chemical shift data.
AB  - Protein chemical shifts are routinely used to augment molecular mechanics force
      fields in protein structure simulations, with weights of the chemical shift
      restraints determined empirically. These weights, however, might not be an
      optimal descriptor of a given protein structure and predictive model, and a bias
      is introduced which might result in incorrect structures. In the inferential
      structure determination framework, both the unknown structure and the
      disagreement between experimental and back-calculated data are formulated as a
      joint probability distribution, thus utilizing the full information content of
      the data. Here, we present the formulation of such a probability distribution
      where the error in chemical shift prediction is described by either a Gaussian or
      Cauchy distribution. The methodology is demonstrated and compared to a set of
      empirically weighted potentials through Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations of
      three small proteins (ENHD, Protein G and the SMN Tudor Domain) using the PROFASI
      force field and the chemical shift predictor CamShift. Using a clustering
      criterion for identifying the best structure, together with the addition of a
      solvent exposure scoring term, the simulations suggests that sampling both the
      structure and the uncertainties in chemical shift prediction leads more accurate
      structures compared to conventional methods using empirical determined weights.
      The Cauchy distribution, using either sampled uncertainties or predetermined
      weights, did, however, result in overall better convergence to the native fold,
      suggesting that both types of distribution might be useful in different aspects
      of the protein structure prediction. 

PMID- 25825684
TI  - Comparative study of the methane production based on the chemical compositions of
      Mangifera Indica and Manihot Utilissima leaves.
AB  - Leaves of Mangifera Indica (MI, mango leaves) and Manihot Utilissima (MU, cassava
      leaves) are available in tropical regions and are the most accessible vegetal
      wastes of Kinshasa, capital of Democratic Republic of Congo. These wastes are not
      suitably managed and are not rationally valorized. They are abandoned in full
      air, on the soil and in the rivers. They thus pollute environment. By contrast,
      they can be recuperated and treated in order to produce methane (energy source),
      organic fertilizer and clean up the environment simultaneously. The main
      objective of this study was to investigate methane production from MI and MU
      leaves by BMP tests at 30 degrees C. The yields achieved from the anaerobic
      digestion of up to 61.3 g raw matter in 1 l medium were 0.001 l/g and 0.100 l
      CH4/g volatile solids of MI and MU leaves, respectively. The yield of MU leaves
      was in the range mentioned in the literature for other leaves because of a poor
      presence of bioactive substrates, and low C/N ratio. This methane yield
      corresponded to 7% of calorific power of wood. By contrast, the methane yield
      from MI leaves was almost nil suggesting some metabolism inhibition because of
      their rich composition in carbon and bioactive substrates. Whereas classical
      acidogenesis and acetogenesis were recorded. Therefore, methane production from
      the sole MI leaves seems unfavorable by comparison to MU leaves at the ambient
      temperature in tropical regions. Their solid and liquid residues obtained after
      anaerobic digestion would be efficient fertilizers. However, the methane
      productivity of both leaves could be improved by anaerobic co-digestion. 

PMID- 25825685
TI  - Anticancer effect of black tea extract in human cancer cell lines.
AB  - In this study we investigated effects of natural extract from the black tea
      Camellia sinensis (BTE) against human colon carcinoma cell line HT-29, human
      breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7, human alveolar carcinoma cell line A549 and
      healthy cell line NIH-3T3. We identified concentration range for
      cytotoxic/antiproliferative effects using MTT assay and the trypan blue assay,
      gel electrophoresis we employed to determine the type of cell death induced by
      BTE and DNA damage we determined by comet assay. Different concentrations of the
      extract (0.00078 - 5 MUg/mL) we added to the cultured cells and incubated for 216
      h. BTE showed cytotoxic effects against all carcinoma cell lines, however HT-29
      and MCF-7 cells were more sensitive than A549. BTE showed no antiproliferative
      effect against healthy cells NIH-3T3 at tested concentrations. We found no
      apoptotic cell death in HT-29 and MCF-7 cells after 72 h of incubation in case of
      single administration of BTE but in case of repetitive administration of BTE (BTE
      was added to the cells each day) we found apoptotic cell death in HT-29 after 72
      h incubation. BTE induced also DNA strand breaks and oxidative damage to DNA in
      carcinoma cells HT-29 and MCF-7. 

PMID- 25825681
TI  - Obesity genetics in mouse and human: back and forth, and back again.
AB  - Obesity is a major public health concern. This condition results from a constant
      and complex interplay between predisposing genes and environmental stimuli.
      Current attempts to manage obesity have been moderately effective and a better
      understanding of the etiology of obesity is required for the development of more
      successful and personalized prevention and treatment options. To that effect,
      mouse models have been an essential tool in expanding our understanding of
      obesity, due to the availability of their complete genome sequence, genetically
      identified and defined strains, various tools for genetic manipulation and the
      accessibility of target tissues for obesity that are not easily attainable from
      humans. Our knowledge of monogenic obesity in humans greatly benefited from the
      mouse obesity genetics field. Genes underlying highly penetrant forms of
      monogenic obesity are part of the leptin-melanocortin pathway in the
      hypothalamus. Recently, hypothesis-generating genome-wide association studies for
      polygenic obesity traits in humans have led to the identification of 119 common
      gene variants with modest effect, most of them having an unknown function. These
      discoveries have led to novel animal models and have illuminated new biologic
      pathways. Integrated mouse-human genetic approaches have firmly established new
      obesity candidate genes. Innovative strategies recently developed by scientists
      are described in this review to accelerate the identification of causal genes and
      deepen our understanding of obesity etiology. An exhaustive dissection of the
      molecular roots of obesity may ultimately help to tackle the growing obesity
      epidemic worldwide. 

PMID- 25825686
TI  - Predictors and risks of body fat profiles in young New Zealand European, Maori
      and Pacific women: study protocol for the women's EXPLORE study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Body mass index (BMI) (kg/m(2)) is used internationally to assess
      body mass or adiposity. However, BMI does not discriminate body fat content or
      distribution and may vary among ethnicities. Many women with normal BMI are
      considered healthy, but may have an unidentified "hidden fat" profile associated
      with higher metabolic disease risk. If only BMI is used to indicate healthy body
      size, it may fail to predict underlying risks of diseases of lifestyle among
      population subgroups with normal BMI and different adiposity levels or
      distributions. Higher body fat levels are often attributed to excessive dietary
      intake and/or inadequate physical activity. These environmental influences
      regulate genes and proteins that alter energy expenditure/storage. Micro
      ribonucleic acid (miRNAs) can influence these genes and proteins, are sensitive
      to diet and exercise and may influence the varied metabolic responses observed
      between individuals. The study aims are to investigate associations between
      different body fat profiles and metabolic disease risk; dietary and physical
      activity patterns as predictors of body fat profiles; and whether these risk
      factors are associated with the expression of microRNAs related to energy
      expenditure or fat storage in young New Zealand women. Given the rising
      prevalence of obesity globally, this research will address a unique gap of
      knowledge in obesity research. METHODS/DESIGN: A cross-sectional design to
      investigate 675 NZ European, Maori, and Pacific women aged 16-45 years. Women are
      classified into three main body fat profiles (n = 225 per ethnicity; n = 75 per
      body fat profile): 1) normal BMI, normal body fat percentage (BF%); 2) normal
      BMI, high BF%; 3) high BMI, high BF%. Regional body composition, biomarkers of
      metabolic disease risk (i.e. fasting insulin, glucose, HbA1c, lipids),
      inflammation (i.e. IL-6, TNF-alpha, hs-CRP), associations between lifestyle
      factors (i.e. dietary intake, physical activity, taste perceptions) and microRNA
      expression will be investigated. DISCUSSION: This research targets post
      menarcheal, premenopausal women, potentially exhibiting lifestyle behaviours
      resulting in excess body fat affecting metabolic health. These behaviours may be
      characterised by specific patterns of microRNA expression that will be explored
      in terms of tailored solutions specific to body fat profile groups and
      ethnicities. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12613000714785.

PMID- 25825687
TI  - Overrepresentation of unaccompanied refugee minors in inpatient psychiatric care.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) have high levels of psychiatric
      symptoms, and concerns for their access to mental health services have been
      raised. From the mid-2000s, an increasing number of asylum-seeking URMs, mainly
      adolescent boys from Afghanistan, have been referred to the Child & Adolescent
      Psychiatry emergency unit in Malmo, Sweden. The aim of the study was to compare
      inpatient psychiatric care between URMs and non-URMs. FINDINGS: All admissions in
      2011 at the emergency unit were identified and divided into URMs (n = 56) and non
      URMs (n = 205). On the basis of unique patients' first treatment occasion, a
      group level analysis was performed on gender, age, treatment duration, additional
      treatment occasions/patient, involuntary care, involuntary care by gender, and
      ICD-10 principal diagnosis. To retrieve further sample characteristics, a
      questionnaire was administered to the physicians responsible for admitting
      patients in 2011. More URMs than non-URMs exhibited self-harm or suicidal
      behaviour in conjunction with referral. 86% of URMs were admitted with symptoms
      relating to stress in the asylum process. In the catchment area, 3.40% of the URM
      population received inpatient care and 0.67% inpatient involuntary care, compared
      to 0.26% and 0.02% respectively of the non-URM population, both comparisons p <
      0.001. There were more boys in the URM group (95%) compared to the non-URM group
      (29%). A difference in use of involuntary care disappeared after adjusting for
      gender. No differences were found in diagnoses except for neurotic disorders (F40
      48), which were more common in the URM group. CONCLUSION: From an epidemiological
      perspective, URMs were overrepresented in inpatient psychiatric care.

PMID- 25825688
TI  - Clinical and molecular characteristics of triple-negative breast cancer patients
      in Northern Israel: single center experience.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) lacks estrogen and
      progesterone receptors and does not overexpress HER2. It displays a distinct
      clinical behavior. This study aims to assess the clinical, molecular and
      prognostic characteristics of TNBC patients. PATIENTS/METHODS: TNBC patients,
      referred to a tertiary medical center, 1/1/2000 - 31/12/2005, were included.
      Clinical, molecular and prognostic characteristics were retrospectively collected
      from patients' records. RESULTS: Overall, 122 consecutive TNBC patients were
      included with a median age of 54 years. Among the TNBC patients, 101 (82.8%) were
      Jews and 21 (17.2%) were Arabs. Family history for breast cancer was reported in
      30 patients (24.6%). Genetic counseling was conducted in 30 patients (24.6%);
      22/30 (73.3%) had BRCA1/2 mutations. Median tumor size was 2 cm and positive
      lymph nodes were detected in pathological examination in 40 patients (34%). At
      the time of data analysis, 21/118 patients (17.8%), who initially presented with
      early disease, had developed metastasis. Local recurrence was detected in four
      patients (3.4%). The overall survival (OS) was significantly longer for patients
      younger than 60 years compared to those >= 60 years, (Hazard ratio (HR) =2.1,
      p=0.046). Nulliparous patients had significantly higher OS than patients with a
      reproductive history of >= 4 children. (HR=0.31, p= 0.041). Mortality rate was
      higher for Arabs versus Jews but did not reach significance, (HR=1.33; P=0.64).
      CONCLUSIONS: TNBC represents an exclusive clinical behavior. Older age and parity
      were found to be poor prognostic factors. Further larger studies are needed to
      reaffirm our findings and explore the genetics among non-BRCA1/2 TNBC patients.

PMID- 25825689
TI  - Metabolic control in type 1 diabetes patients practicing combat sports: at least
      two-year follow-up study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is well recognized that physical activity should be an integral
      part of the management of diabetes. It remains controversial, however, whether
      combat sports, often preferred by young individuals type 1 diabetes mellitus
      (T1DM), may be performed without high risk of metabolic decompensation. The aim
      of this observational study was to summarize a two-year follow-up period of five
      young male patients with T1DM practicing combat sports under the care of a
      physical-activity oriented specialist diabetes outpatient clinic. Of the five
      patients, three mixed martial arts and two kick-boxing competitors were included
      in the study. To control glucose in each patient, an individual approach was used
      that took into consideration the type of training, the sequence of the exercises,
      and the relative proportion of different forms of exercise. FINDINGS: During the
      follow-up, glycemic control was improved and maintained in all individuals.
      Neither an episode of hospitalization-requiring diabetic ketoacidosis nor severe
      hypoglycemia occurred in these patients during the follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: In
      conclusion, an individual approach for T1DM patients practicing combat sports may
      result in achieving and maintaining satisfactory glycemic control without
      increased risk of metabolic decompensation.

PMID- 25825690
TI  - Sami reindeer herders' perspective on herbivory of subarctic mountain birch
      forests by geometrid moths and reindeer: a case study from northernmost Finland.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Geometrid moths and semi-domesticated reindeer are both herbivores
      which feed on birch leaves in the subarctic mountain birch forests in northern
      Fennoscandia. The caterpillars of autumnal and winter moths have episodic
      outbreaks, which can occasionally lead to extensive defoliation of birch forests.
      Earlier studies have shown that reindeer have a negative effect on the
      regeneration of defoliated birches by grazing and browsing their seedlings and
      sprouts. CASE DESCRIPTION: We interviewed 15 reindeer herders in the Kaldoaivi
      and Paistunturi herding co-operative in northernmost Finland in order to analyse
      their past, present and future views on the behaviour of moths and the growth of
      mountain birches. We investigate the behaviour of the two herbivores by combining
      the indigenous knowledge (IK) of Sami herders with the results of relevant
      studies in biology and anthropology, applying niche construction theory (NCT) in
      doing so. DISCUSSION AND EVALUATION: In the first stage, the niche constructors
      (moths, reindeer, herders, mountain birch and other organisms) are looked upon as
      "equal constructors" of a shared niche. As changes unfold in their niche, their
      role changes from that of constructor to key constructor. The role and importance
      of niche constructors were different when nomadic pasture rotation was used than
      they are today under the herding co-operative system. Niche construction faced
      its most radical and permanent negative changes during the border closures that
      took place over the latter half of the 19(th) century. The large-scale nomadic
      life among the Sami herders, who migrated between Finland and Norway, came to an
      end. This phase was followed by stationary herding, which diminished the
      possibilities of reindeer to look for various environmental affordances.
      Difficult snow conditions or birch defoliation caused by moth outbreaks made the
      situation worse than before. Eventually reindeer became key constructors,
      together with moth larvae, leading to negative ecological inheritance that forced
      herders to use new, adaptive herding practices. CONCLUSIONS: Both the scientific
      data and the IK of herders highlight the roles of reindeer and herders as
      continuous key constructors of the focal niche, one which stands to be modified
      in more heterogenic ways than earlier due to global warming and hence will result
      in new ecological inheritance.

PMID- 25825691
TI  - Erosion in the occipital bone caused by the fixation instrument used for
      posterior atlantoaxial fusion -report of 4 cases.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Conventionally, posterior C1-C2 fusion has been performed using a
      sublaminar wiring technique with a structural bone graft. Subsequent advent of
      newer fixation devices, such as the C1 lateral mass screw and C1 hook, has
      achieved more solid fixation with improved surgical outcome; however, in these
      fixation systems, the protruding end of the metal implant above the level of the
      atlas may result in a complication due to contact with the surrounding
      structures. CASE DESCRIPTION: Two men and two women whose ages at the time of
      surgery ranged from 14 to 72 years. A supralaminar hook was used as a fixation
      device for C1 in two cases, whereas a lateral mass screw (Tan's method) and an
      atlas claw hook were employed for one each of the remaining 2 cases. We
      retrospectively reviewed the clinical features and postoperative course of these
      patients using the clinical records. Moreover, we measured the protruding height
      of the instrument above the atlas as well as the Redlund-Johnell (R-J) value on
      postoperative radiographs. All patients complained of crepitus and/or pain on
      neck extension. Erosion in the occipital bone was detected on multiplanar
      reconstruction computed tomography (MPR-CT), whereas plain radiographs failed to
      reveal the bony change. In those cases, protruding instruments used for C1
      fixation contacted the occipital bone resulting in an erosive change at the
      impingement point. We removed the implant in all four cases after confirmation of
      solid bony union. DISCUSSION AND EVALUATION: Two of the four patients complained
      of occipital crepitus alone without pain. The management options for this
      condition may be controversial; however, progression of bony erosion may result
      in perforation of the occipital bone. This may possibly be associated with the
      serious complication of cerebrospinal fluid leakage. Considering this potential
      sequela, we removed the implants from all our reported cases after confirmation
      of solid bony union. CONCLUSIONS: We treated four cases that developed erosion in
      the occipital bone after posterior spinal instrumentation was performed for upper
      cervical lesions including C1. MPR-CT was useful in detecting the erosive changes
      in the occipital bone.

PMID- 25825692
TI  - Lipoprotein particles and size, total and high molecular weight adiponectin, and
      leptin in relation to incident coronary heart disease among severely obese
      postmenopausal women: The Women's Health Initiative Observational Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that higher concentrations of LDL particles (LDL-P)
      and leptin, and lower concentrations of HDL particles (HDL-P), and total and high
      molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin, would predict incident coronary heart disease
      (CHD) among severely obese postmenopausal women. METHODS: In a case-cohort study
      nested in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study, we sampled 677 of
      the 1852 white or black women with body mass index (BMI) >=40 kg/m2 and no
      prevalent cardiovascular disease (CVD), including all 124 cases of incident CHD
      over mean 5.0 year follow-up. Biomarkers were assayed on stored blood samples.
      RESULTS: In multivariable-adjusted weighted Cox models, higher baseline levels of
      total and small LDL-P, and lower levels of total and medium HDL-P, and smaller
      mean HDL-P size were significantly associated with incident CHD. In contrast,
      large HDL-P levels were inversely associated with CHD only for women without
      diabetes, and higher total and HMW adiponectin levels and lower leptin levels
      were associated with CHD only for women with diabetes. Higher total LDL-P and
      lower HDL-P were associated with CHD risk independently of confounders including
      CV risk factors and other lipoprotein measures, with adjusted HR (95%CIs) of
      1.55(1.28, 1.88) and (0.70 (0.57, 0.85), respectively, and similar results for
      medium HDL-P. CONCLUSIONS: Higher CHD risk among severely obese postmenopausal
      women is strongly associated with modifiable concentrations of LDL-P and HDL-P,
      independent of diabetes, smoking, hypertension, physical activity, BMI and waist
      circumference. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: Severely obese postmenopausal women should
      be considered high risk candidates for lipid lowering therapy.

PMID- 25825694
TI  - The effect of ferric chloride on superficial bleeding.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Controlling superficial bleeding, despite all the progress in
      surgical science, is still a challenge in some settings. OBJECTIVES: This study
      assesses the hemostatic effects of ferric chloride and compares it with the
      standard method (suturing technique) to control superficial bleeding. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: In this animal model study, 60 male Wistar rats were used. An
      incision, 2 cm long and 0.5 cm deep was made on rat skin and the hemostasis time
      was recorded using ferric chloride at different concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%,
      25%, and 50%) and then using a control (i.e. control of bleeding by suturing).
      The skin tissue was examined for pathological changes. Finally, the obtained data
      were entered into SPSS (ver. 16) and analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann
      Whitney, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, and Wilcoxon signed ranks test. RESULTS: The
      hemostasis time for the ferric chloride concentration group was significantly
      less than for the control group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Ferric chloride may be
      an effective hemostatic agent to control superficial bleeding in rats.

PMID- 25825693
TI  - Measurement of body composition as a surrogate evaluation of energy balance in
      obese patients.
AB  - In clinical practice obesity is primarily diagnosed through the body mass index.
      In order to characterize patients affected by obesity the use of traditional
      anthropometric measures appears misleading. Beyond the body mass index, there are
      overwhelming evidences towards the relevance of a more detailed description of
      the individual phenotype by characterizing the main body components as free-fat
      mass, muscle mass, and fat mass. Among the numerous techniques actually
      available, bioelectrical impedance analysis seems to be the most suitable in a
      clinical setting because it is simple, inexpensive, noninvasive, and highly
      reproducible. To date, there is no consensus concerning the use of one preferred
      equation for the resting energy expenditure in overweight and/or obese
      population. Energy restriction alone is an effective strategy to achieve an early
      and significant weight loss, however it results in a reduction of both fat and
      lean mass therefore promoting or aggravating an unfavourable body composition (as
      sarcobesity) in terms of mortality and comorbidities. Therefore the
      implementation of daily levels of physical activity should be simultaneously
      promoted. The major role of muscle mass in the energy balance has been recently
      established by the rising prevalence of the combination of two condition as
      sarcopenia and obesity. Physical exercise stimulates energy expenditure, thereby
      directly improving energy balance, and also promotes adaptations such as fiber
      type, mitochondrial biogenesis, improvement of insulin resistance, and release of
      myokines, which may influence different tissues, including muscle. 

PMID- 25825695
TI  - Correlation between magnetic resonance imaging and arthroscopic findings in the
      knee joint.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The knee joint is the largest and the most complex joint of the human
      body. It is not covered by any thick muscular covering anteriorly. OBJECTIVES:
      The purpose of this study was to explore the diagnostic capabilities of clinical
      examination, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and arthroscopy in traumatic
      disorders of the knee joint, to seek correlation between clinical findings, MRI
      findings and arthroscopic. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 26 patients with a
      presentation suggestive of traumatic knee pathology were studied prospectively. A
      detailed history was taken and relevant clinical examination was done, which was
      followed by MRI of the knee. The patients were scheduled for arthroscopy under
      general/spinal anesthesia, whenever indicated. RESULTS: Keeping arthroscopic
      examination as standard, the correlation between clinical and arthroscopy showed
      a sensitivity of 80%, specificity of 86%, accuracy of 63.16%, negative predictive
      value of 93.48%; whereas MRI vs. arthroscopy showed a sensitivity of 74.42%,
      specificity of 93.10%, accuracy of 84.21%, and negative predictive value of
      88.04%. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical examination is an important and accurate
      diagnostic modality for evaluation of traumatic derangement of the knee joint. It
      is noninvasive, easy, available, and valuable diagnostic modality. The MRI is an
      accurate diagnostic modality. It can be used whenever there is an uncertain
      indication for arthroscopy. However, costs have to be kept in mind, especially in
      patients with low socio-economic status.

PMID- 25825696
TI  - Accuracy of Rapid Ultrasound in Shock (RUSH) Exam for Diagnosis of Shock in
      Critically Ill Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rapid ultrasound in shock (RUSH) is the most recent emergency
      ultrasound protocol, designed to help clinicians better recognize distinctive
      shock etiologies in a shorter time frame. OBJECTIVES: In this study, we evaluated
      the accuracy of the RUSH protocol, performed by an emergency physician or
      radiologist, in predicting the type of shock in critical patients. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: An emergency physician or radiologist performed the RUSH protocol for
      all patients with shock status at the emergency department. All patients were
      closely followed to determine their final clinical diagnosis. The agreement
      between the initial impression provided by RUSH and the final diagnosis was
      investigated by calculating the Kappa index. Sensitivity, specificity, positive
      predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of RUSH for diagnosis
      of each case. RESULTS: We performed RUSH on 77 patients. Kappa index was 0.71 (P
      Value = 0.000), reflecting acceptable general agreement between initial
      impression and final diagnosis. For hypovolemic, cardiogenic and obstructive
      shock, the protocol had an NPV above 97% yet it had a lower PPV. For shock with
      distributive or mixed etiology, RUSH showed a PPV of 100% but it had low
      sensitivity. Subgroup analysis showed a similar Kappa index for the emergency
      physician and radiologist (0.70 and 0.73, respectively) in performing rush.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the role of the RUSH exam performed by an
      emergency physician, to make a rapid and reliable diagnosis of shock etiology,
      especially in order to rule out obstructive, cardiogenic and hypovolemic shock
      types in initial exam of shock patients.

PMID- 25825697
TI  - Clinical instability of the knee and functional differences following tibial
      plateau fractures versus distal femoral fractures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fractures of the knee account for about 6% of all trauma admissions.
      While its management is mostly focused on fracture treatment, it is not the only
      factor that defines the final outcome. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to study
      objective and subjective outcomes after proximal tibial versus distal femoral
      fractures in terms of knee instability and health-related quality of life.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective, cross-sectional, cohort study was
      carried out on 80 patients with either isolated proximal tibial (n = 42) or
      distal femoral (n = 38) fractures, who underwent open reduction and internal
      fixation. All the fractures were classified based on the Schatzker and AO
      classification for tibial plateau and distal femoral fractures, respectively. The
      patients were followed and examined by an orthopedic knee surgeon for clinical
      assessment of knee instability. In their last follow-up visit, these patients
      completed a Lysholm knee score and the short-form (SF) 36 health survey. RESULTS:
      Among the 42 tibial plateau fractures, 25% were classified as Schatzker type 2.
      Of the 38 distal femoral fractures, we did not find any type B1 or B3 fractures.
      The overall prevalence of anterior and posterior instability was 42% and 20%,
      respectively. Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) and Lateral Collateral Ligament
      (LCL) injuries were detected clinically in 50% and 28%, respectively. The
      incidence rates of ligament injuries in tibial plateau fractures were as follows:
      Anterior Collateral Ligament (ACL) 26%, Posterior Collateral Ligament (PCL) 7%,
      MCL 24%, and LCL 14%. Medial collateral ligament injury was the most common in
      the Schatzker type 2 (50% of the injuries). Distal femoral fractures were
      associated with ACL injury in 16%, PCL in 13%, MCL in 26% and LCL in 14%.
      However, final knee range of motion (ROM) and function (Lysholm score) were not
      associated with fracture location. No statistically significant difference was
      observed between the two groups, except for the valgus stress test at 30 degrees
      knee flexion, which was more positive in tibial fractures. All eight domains of
      SF-36 score in the distal femoral and proximal tibial fractures were
      significantly different from the normal values; however, there were no
      statistically significant differences between femoral and tibial fracture scores.
      CONCLUSIONS: Although ROM is acceptable in knee joint fractures, instability is
      common. However, it seems that knee function and quality of life are not
      associated with the location of the fracture.

PMID- 25825698
TI  - Quality of life of caregiver spouses of veterans with bilateral lower extremity
      amputations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Providing care for patients with chronic disability affects
      caregivers' social lives and relationships and can lead to poor health and lower
      quality of life. OBJECTIVES: In this study, our goal was to assess the quality of
      life in spouses of war veterans with bilateral lower limb amputations to find
      factors affecting caregivers' quality of life. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a cross
      sectional study, spouses of 244 veterans with war-related bilateral lower limb
      amputations for at least one year were invited to participate in this study; 189
      couples accepted to participate. Information about age, gender, education level,
      duration of time since amputation, duration of care provided by the spouses and
      SF-36 questionnaire for both veterans and their spouses were collected. RESULTS:
      The average age of spouses was 47 years and duration of care provided by spouses
      was 25 years. We found lower scores for general health domains in amputees'
      spouses compared to the general population. Factors correlated with both Physical
      Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) included the duration
      of care, duration of marriage, spouses' education level and the veterans' PCS and
      MCS scores. Veterans' age, spouses' age and the number of children only
      correlated with PCS. Veterans' education level only correlated with MCS. In
      multivariable analysis, only spouses' education level correlated with MCS and the
      veterans' PCS only correlated with that of spouses. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of
      life of amputees and their spouses were closely correlated; therefore, any
      improvement in one is likely to improve the other. In addition, lower education
      level should be considered as a risk factor for poorer quality of life in
      amputees' spouses.

PMID- 25825699
TI  - Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell and vein conduit on sciatic nerve repair in
      rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Peripheral nerve repair with sufficient functional recovery is an
      important issue in reconstructive surgery. Stem cells have attracted extensive
      research interest in recent years. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to
      compare the vein conduit technique, with and without the addition of mesenchymal
      stem cells in gap-less nerve injury repair in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In
      this study, 36 Wistar rats were randomly allocated to three groups: In the first
      group, nerve repair was performed with simple neurorrhaphy (control group), in
      the second group, nerve repair was done with vein conduit over site (vein conduit
      group) and in the third group, bone marrow stem cells were instilled into the
      vein conduit (stem cell group) after nerve repair with vein conduit over site.
      Six weeks after the intervention, the sciatic function index,
      electrophysiological study and histological examination were performed. RESULTS:
      All animals tolerated the surgical procedures and survived well. The sciatic
      function index and latency were significantly improved in the vein conduit (P =
      0.04 and 0.03, respectively) and stem cell group (P = 0.02 and 0.03,
      respectively) compared with the control group. No significant difference was
      observed in sciatic function and latency between the vein conduit and stem-cell
      groups. Moreover, histological analysis showed no significant difference in
      regenerative density between these two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this
      study showed that the meticulous microsurgical nerve repair, which was performed
      using the vein tubulization induced significantly better sciatic nerve
      regeneration. However, the addition of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell to vein
      conduit failed to promote any significant changes in regeneration outcome.

PMID- 25825700
TI  - First Aid and Transportation Course Contents Based on Experience gained in the
      Iran-Iraq War: a Qualitative Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Effective first aid and transportation influences injury-induced
      mortality. But few qualitative studies have been conducted so far in this area.
      OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify the content of the first aid
      and patient transportation course based on experience gained from the Iran-Iraq
      war. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a conventional qualitative content analysis
      study; a purposeful sample of 14 first aid and transportation experts who had
      worked during the Iran-Iraq war was recruited. We collected and analyzed the
      study data by using the semi-structured interview method and the conventional
      content analysis approach respectively. Each interview transcript was reviewed
      several times. Words, sentences, and paragraphs were labeled with codes. Codes
      were compared with each other and categorized according to their similarities.
      Similar sub-categories and categories were also grouped together and formed
      themes. RESULTS: Study participants' experiences of wartime first aid and
      transportation (FAT) education fell into two main themes including 'the
      congruence of education and educational needs' and 'managers' engagement in FAT
      education. The four main categories of these two themes were use of appropriate
      educational facilities, adopting effective teaching strategies, universal FAT
      education and specialized training skills. CONCLUSIONS: The two key requirements
      of the first aid and transportation courses are practicality and managerial
      engagement. We developed and provided specific guidance of FAT curriculum by
      using the study findings. This curriculum is recommended for educating FAT
      staffs, paramedics, emergency technicians, and military nurses.

PMID- 25825701
TI  - Celox-coated gauze for the treatment of civilian penetrating trauma: a randomized
      clinical trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Uncontrolled hemorrhage is a well-recognized cause of mortality in
      trauma victims and the control of active hemorrhage is among the initial steps in
      resuscitation. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the role of a
      hemostatic agent "celox" in the management of civilian stab-wound trauma.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this clinical trial study, 160 patients with penetrating
      limb trauma were randomly allocated to either the control or intervention group
      (n = 80, each group). Controls were treated with the simple pressure dressing,
      while the celox-coated gauze was used in the intervention group. The time for
      achievement of hemostasis and the amount of bleeding were recorded. Data were
      analyzed using SPSS Version 21 and Stata 13. A P value of less than 0.05 was
      considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was
      30.5 and the majority of patients were male (90.6%). The forearm and distal leg
      were the most sites of injury. Hemostasis was achieved within 5 minutes in 32.5%
      of the control group and 51.3% of the intervention group. Using the celox-coated
      gauze significantly reduced the time to hemostasis (P = 0.01). Moreover, the
      blood loss was significantly lower in the celox group compared to the controls (P
      < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Using the celox-coated gauze is able to achieve hemostasis
      in penetrating limb trauma faster than the conventional pressure bandage. Further
      research is required to clarify the subset of patients who will benefit the most
      from this effect in the emergency department.

PMID- 25825702
TI  - Use of ferric sulfate to control hepatic bleeding.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Controlling parenchymal hemorrhage, especially in liver parenchyma,
      despite all the progress in surgical science, is still one of the challenges
      surgeons face. Therefore, search for an effective method to control hepatic
      bleeding is an important research priority. OBJECTIVES: This study attempted to
      determine the haemostatic effect of ferric sulfate and compare it with the
      standard method (suturing technique). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this animal model
      study, 60 male Wistar rats were used. An incision (2 cm in length and 1/2 cm in
      depth) was made on each rat's liver and the hemostasis time was measured using
      ferric sulfate with different concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%, 25%, and 50%) and
      then using simple suturing. The liver tissue was assessed for pathological
      changes. RESULTS: In all the groups, complete hemostasis occurred. Hemostasis
      times of different concentrations of ferric sulfate were significantly less than
      those of the control group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Ferric sulfate was effective
      in controlling hepatic bleeding in rats.

PMID- 25825703
TI  - National getaways for the weary trauma surgeon; part 2: the northern provinces.

PMID- 25825705
TI  - The Community College Effect Revisited: The Importance of Attending to
      Heterogeneity and Complex Counterfactuals.
AB  - Community colleges are controversial educational institutions, often said to
      simultaneously expand college opportunities and diminish baccalaureate
      attainment. We assess the seemingly contradictory functions of community colleges
      by attending to effect heterogeneity and to alternative counterfactual
      conditions. Using data on postsecondary outcomes of high school graduates of
      Chicago Public Schools, we find that enrolling at a community college penalizes
      more advantaged students who otherwise would have attended four-year colleges,
      particularly highly selective schools; however, these students represent a
      relatively small portion of the community college population, and these estimates
      are almost certainly biased. On the other hand, enrolling at a community college
      has a modest positive effect on bachelor's degree completion for disadvantaged
      students who otherwise would not have attended college; these students represent
      the majority of community college goers. We conclude that discussions among
      scholars, policymakers, and practitioners should move beyond considering the pros
      and cons of community college attendance for students in general to attending to
      the implications of community college attendance for targeted groups of students.

PMID- 25825704
TI  - CD8+ TIL recruitment may revert the association of MAGE A3 with aggressive
      features in thyroid tumors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We aimed to investigate a possible role of MAGE A3 and its
      associations with infiltrated immune cells in thyroid malignancy, analyzing their
      utility as a diagnostic and prognostic marker. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied
      195 malignant tissues: 154 PTCs and 41 FTCs; 102 benign tissues: 51 follicular
      adenomas and 51 goiter and 17 normal thyroid tissues. MAGE A3 and immune cell
      markers (CD4 and CD8) were evaluated using immunohistochemistry and compared with
      clinical pathological features. RESULTS: The semiquantitative analysis and ACIS
      III analysis showed similar results. MAGE A3 was expressed in more malignant than
      in benign lesions (P < 0.0001), also helping to discriminate follicular-patterned
      lesions. It was also higher in tumors in which there was extrathyroidal invasion
      (P = 0.0206) and in patients with stage II disease (P = 0.0107). MAGE A3+ tumors
      were more likely to present CD8+ TIL (P = 0.0346), and these tumors were
      associated with less aggressive features, that is, extrathyroidal invasion and
      small size. There was a trend of MAGE A3+ CD8+ tumors to evolve free of disease.
      CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that MAGE A3 and CD8+ TIL infiltration may play an
      important role in malignant thyroid nodules, presenting an interesting
      perspective for new researches on DTC immunotherapy.

PMID- 25825706
TI  - Social Baseline Theory: The Social Regulation of Risk and Effort.
AB  - We describe Social Baseline Theory (SBT), a perspective that integrates the study
      of social relationships with principles of attachment, behavioral ecology,
      cognitive neuroscience, and perception science. SBT suggests the human brain
      expects access to social relationships that mitigate risk and diminish the level
      of effort needed to meet a variety of goals. This is accomplished in part by
      incorporating relational partners into neural representations of the self. By
      contrast, decreased access to relational partners increases cognitive and
      physiological effort. Relationship disruptions entail re-defining the self as
      independent, which implies greater risk, increased effort, and diminished well
      being. The ungrafting of the self and other may mediate recovery from
      relationship loss.

PMID- 25825707
TI  - Decreased BECN1 mRNA Expression in Human Breast Cancer is Associated with
      Estrogen Receptor-Negative Subtypes and Poor Prognosis.
AB  - Both BRCA1 and Beclin 1 (BECN1) are tumor suppressor genes, which are in close
      proximity on the human chromosome 17q21 breast cancer tumor susceptibility locus
      and are often concurrently deleted. However, their importance in sporadic human
      breast cancer is not known. To interrogate the effects of BECN1 and BRCA1 in
      breast cancer, we studied their mRNA expression patterns in breast cancer
      patients from two large datasets: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) (n=1067) and the
      Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC) (n=1992).
      In both datasets, low expression of BECN1 was more common in HER2-enriched and
      basal-like (mostly triple-negative) breast cancers compared to luminal A/B
      intrinsic tumor subtypes, and was also strongly associated with TP53 mutations
      and advanced tumor grade. In contrast, there was no significant association
      between low BRCA1 expression and HER2-enriched or basal-like subtypes, TP53
      mutations or tumor grade. In addition, low expression of BECN1 (but not low
      BRCA1) was associated with poor prognosis, and BECN1 (but not BRCA1) expression
      was an independent predictor of survival. These findings suggest that decreased
      mRNA expression of the autophagy gene BECN1 may contribute to the pathogenesis
      and progression of HER2-enriched, basal-like, and TP53 mutant breast cancers.

PMID- 25825708
TI  - SOX2 primes the epigenetic landscape in neural precursors enabling proper gene
      activation during hippocampal neurogenesis.
AB  - Newborn granule neurons generated from neural progenitor cells (NPCs) in the
      adult hippocampus play a key role in spatial learning and pattern separation.
      However, the molecular mechanisms that control activation of their neurogenic
      program remain poorly understood. Here, we report a novel function for the
      pluripotency factor sex-determining region Y (SRY)-related HMG box 2 (SOX2) in
      regulating the epigenetic landscape of poised genes activated at the onset of
      neuronal differentiation. We found that SOX2 binds to bivalently marked promoters
      of poised proneural genes [neurogenin 2 (Ngn2) and neurogenic differentiation 1
      (NeuroD1)] and a subset of neurogenic genes [e.g., SRY-box 21 (Sox21), brain
      derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf), and growth arrest and DNA-damage-inducible,
      beta (Gadd45b)] where it functions to maintain the bivalent chromatin state by
      preventing excessive polycomb repressive complex 2 activity. Conditional ablation
      of SOX2 in adult hippocampal NPCs impaired the activation of proneural and
      neurogenic genes, resulting in increased neuroblast death and functionally
      aberrant newborn neurons. We propose that SOX2 sets a permissive epigenetic state
      in NPCs, thus enabling proper activation of the neuronal differentiation program
      under neurogenic cue. 

PMID- 25825709
TI  - alpha-Synuclein, a chemoattractant, directs microglial migration via H2O2
      dependent Lyn phosphorylation.
AB  - Malformed alpha-Synuclein (alpha-syn) aggregates in neurons are released into the
      extracellular space, activating microglia to induce chronic neuroinflammation
      that further enhances neuronal damage in alpha-synucleinopathies, such as
      Parkinson's disease. The mechanisms by which alpha-syn aggregates activate and
      recruit microglia remain unclear, however. Here we show that alpha-syn aggregates
      act as chemoattractants to direct microglia toward damaged neurons. In addition,
      we describe a mechanism underlying this directional migration of microglia.
      Specifically, chemotaxis occurs when alpha-syn binds to integrin CD11b, leading
      to H2O2 production by NADPH oxidase. H2O2 directly attracts microglia via a
      process in which extracellularly generated H2O2 diffuses into the cytoplasm and
      tyrosine protein kinase Lyn, phosphorylates the F-actin-associated protein
      cortactin after sensing changes in the microglial intracellular concentration of
      H2O2. Finally, phosphorylated cortactin mediates actin cytoskeleton rearrangement
      and facilitates directional cell migration. These findings have significant
      implications, given that alpha-syn-mediated microglial migration reaches beyond
      Parkinson's disease. 

PMID- 25825710
TI  - The circadian oscillator in Synechococcus elongatus controls metabolite
      partitioning during diurnal growth.
AB  - Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 is a genetically tractable model cyanobacterium
      that has been engineered to produce industrially relevant biomolecules and is the
      best-studied model for a prokaryotic circadian clock. However, the organism is
      commonly grown in continuous light in the laboratory, and data on metabolic
      processes under diurnal conditions are lacking. Moreover, the influence of the
      circadian clock on diurnal metabolism has been investigated only briefly. Here,
      we demonstrate that the circadian oscillator influences rhythms of metabolism
      during diurnal growth, even though light-dark cycles can drive metabolic rhythms
      independently. Moreover, the phenotype associated with loss of the core
      oscillator protein, KaiC, is distinct from that caused by absence of the
      circadian output transcriptional regulator, RpaA (regulator of phycobilisome
      associated A). Although RpaA activity is important for carbon degradation at
      night, KaiC is dispensable for those processes. Untargeted metabolomics analysis
      and glycogen kinetics suggest that functional KaiC is important for metabolite
      partitioning in the morning. Additionally, output from the oscillator functions
      to inhibit RpaA activity in the morning, and kaiC-null strains expressing a
      mutant KaiC phosphomimetic, KaiC-pST, in which the oscillator is locked in the
      most active output state, phenocopies a DeltarpaA strain. Inhibition of RpaA by
      the oscillator in the morning suppresses metabolic processes that normally are
      active at night, and kaiC-null strains show indications of oxidative pentose
      phosphate pathway activation as well as increased abundance of primary
      metabolites. Inhibitory clock output may serve to allow secondary metabolite
      biosynthesis in the morning, and some metabolites resulting from these processes
      may feed back to reinforce clock timing. 

PMID- 25825711
TI  - Decoding stimulus features in primate somatosensory cortex during perceptual
      categorization.
AB  - Neurons of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) respond as functions of
      frequency or amplitude of a vibrotactile stimulus. However, whether S1 neurons
      encode both frequency and amplitude of the vibrotactile stimulus or whether each
      sensory feature is encoded by separate populations of S1 neurons is not known, To
      further address these questions, we recorded S1 neurons while trained monkeys
      categorized only one sensory feature of the vibrotactile stimulus: frequency,
      amplitude, or duration. The results suggest a hierarchical encoding scheme in S1:
      from neurons that encode all sensory features of the vibrotactile stimulus to
      neurons that encode only one sensory feature. We hypothesize that the dynamic
      representation of each sensory feature in S1 might serve for further downstream
      processing that leads to the monkey's psychophysical behavior observed in these
      tasks. 

PMID- 25825712
TI  - Memory, scene construction, and the human hippocampus.
AB  - We evaluated two different perspectives about the function of the human
      hippocampus--one that emphasizes the importance of memory and another that
      emphasizes the importance of spatial processing and scene construction. We gave
      tests of boundary extension, scene construction, and memory to patients with
      lesions limited to the hippocampus or large lesions of the medial temporal lobe.
      The patients were intact on all of the spatial tasks and impaired on all of the
      memory tasks. We discuss earlier studies that associated performance on these
      spatial tasks to hippocampal function. Our results demonstrate the importance of
      medial temporal lobe structures for memory and raise doubts about the idea that
      these structures have a prominent role in spatial cognition.

PMID- 25825713
TI  - Molecular mechanism underlying beta1 regulation in voltage- and calcium-activated
      potassium (BK) channels.
AB  - Being activated by depolarizing voltages and increases in cytoplasmic Ca(2+),
      voltage- and calcium-activated potassium (BK) channels and their modulatory beta
      subunits are able to dampen or stop excitatory stimuli in a wide range of
      cellular types, including both neuronal and nonneuronal tissues. Minimal
      alterations in BK channel function may contribute to the pathophysiology of
      several diseases, including hypertension, asthma, cancer, epilepsy, and diabetes.
      Several gating processes, allosterically coupled to each other, control BK
      channel activity and are potential targets for regulation by auxiliary beta
      subunits that are expressed together with the alpha (BK)-subunit in almost every
      tissue type where they are found. By measuring gating currents in BK channels
      coexpressed with chimeras between beta1 and beta3 or beta2 auxiliary subunits, we
      were able to identify that the cytoplasmic regions of beta1 are responsible for
      the modulation of the voltage sensors. In addition, we narrowed down the
      structural determinants to the N terminus of beta1, which contains two lysine
      residues (i.e., K3 and K4), which upon substitution virtually abolished the
      effects of beta1 on charge movement. The mechanism by which K3 and K4 stabilize
      the voltage sensor is not electrostatic but specific, and the alpha (BK)-residues
      involved remain to be identified. This is the first report, to our knowledge,
      where the regulatory effects of the beta1-subunit have been clearly assigned to a
      particular segment, with two pivotal amino acids being responsible for this
      modulation. 

PMID- 25825715
TI  - Unraveling the association between mRNA expressions and mutant phenotypes in a
      genome-wide assessment of mice.
AB  - High-throughput gene expression profiling has revealed substantial leaky and
      extraneous transcription of eukaryotic genes, challenging the perceptions that
      transcription is strictly regulated and that changes in transcription have
      phenotypic consequences. To assess the functional implications of mRNA
      transcription directly, we analyzed mRNA expression data derived from
      microarrays, RNA-sequencing, and in situ hybridization, together with phenotype
      data of mouse mutants as a proxy of gene function at the tissue level. The
      results indicated that despite the presence of widespread ectopic transcription,
      mRNA expression and mutant phenotypes of mammalian genes or tissues remain
      associated. The expression-phenotype association at the gene level was
      particularly strong for tissue-specific genes, and the association could be
      underestimated due to data insufficiency and incomprehensive phenotyping of mouse
      mutants; the strength of expression-phenotype association at the tissue level
      depended on tissue functions. Mutations on genes expressed at higher levels or
      expressed at earlier embryonic stages more often result in abnormal phenotypes in
      the tissues where they are expressed. The mRNA expression profiles that have
      stronger associations with their phenotype profiles tend to be more
      evolutionarily conserved, indicating that the evolution of transcriptome and the
      evolution of phenome are coupled. Therefore, mutations resulting in phenotypic
      aberrations in expressed tissues are more likely to occur in highly transcribed
      genes, tissue-specific genes, genes expressed during early embryonic stages, or
      genes with evolutionarily conserved mRNA expression profiles. 

PMID- 25825714
TI  - Estrogen receptor alpha inhibitor activates the unfolded protein response, blocks
      protein synthesis, and induces tumor regression.
AB  - Recurrent estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha)-positive breast and ovarian cancers
      are often therapy resistant. Using screening and functional validation, we
      identified BHPI, a potent noncompetitive small molecule ERalpha biomodulator that
      selectively blocks proliferation of drug-resistant ERalpha-positive breast and
      ovarian cancer cells. In a mouse xenograft model of breast cancer, BHPI induced
      rapid and substantial tumor regression. Whereas BHPI potently inhibits nuclear
      estrogen-ERalpha-regulated gene expression, BHPI is effective because it elicits
      sustained ERalpha-dependent activation of the endoplasmic reticulum (EnR) stress
      sensor, the unfolded protein response (UPR), and persistent inhibition of protein
      synthesis. BHPI distorts a newly described action of estrogen-ERalpha: mild and
      transient UPR activation. In contrast, BHPI elicits massive and sustained UPR
      activation, converting the UPR from protective to toxic. In ERalpha(+) cancer
      cells, BHPI rapidly hyperactivates plasma membrane PLCgamma, generating inositol
      1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3), which opens EnR IP3R calcium channels, rapidly
      depleting EnR Ca(2+) stores. This leads to activation of all three arms of the
      UPR. Activation of the PERK arm stimulates phosphorylation of eukaryotic
      initiation factor 2alpha (eIF2alpha), resulting in rapid inhibition of protein
      synthesis. The cell attempts to restore EnR Ca(2+) levels, but the open EnR IP3R
      calcium channel leads to an ATP-depleting futile cycle, resulting in activation
      of the energy sensor AMP-activated protein kinase and phosphorylation of
      eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2). eEF2 phosphorylation inhibits protein
      synthesis at a second site. BHPI's novel mode of action, high potency, and
      effectiveness in therapy-resistant tumor cells make it an exceptional candidate
      for further mechanistic and therapeutic exploration. 

PMID- 25825716
TI  - Alternative splicing of the androgen receptor in polycystic ovary syndrome.
AB  - Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common female endocrine
      disorders and a leading cause of female subfertility. The mechanism underlying
      the pathophysiology of PCOS remains to be illustrated. Here, we identify two
      alternative splice variants (ASVs) of the androgen receptor (AR), insertion and
      deletion isoforms, in granulosa cells (GCs) in ~62% of patients with PCOS. AR
      ASVs are strongly associated with remarkable hyperandrogenism and abnormalities
      in folliculogenesis, and are absent from all control subjects without PCOS.
      Alternative splicing dramatically alters genome-wide AR recruitment and androgen
      induced expression of genes related to androgen metabolism and folliculogenesis
      in human GCs. These findings establish alternative splicing of AR in GCs as the
      major pathogenic mechanism for hyperandrogenism and abnormal folliculogenesis in
      PCOS. 

PMID- 25825717
TI  - Coding of envelopes by correlated but not single-neuron activity requires neural
      variability.
AB  - Understanding how the brain processes sensory information is often complicated by
      the fact that neurons exhibit trial-to-trial variability in their responses to
      stimuli. Indeed, the role of variability in sensory coding is still highly
      debated. Here, we examined how variability influences neural responses to
      naturalistic stimuli consisting of a fast time-varying waveform (i.e., carrier or
      first order) whose amplitude (i.e., envelope or second order) varies more slowly.
      Recordings were made from fish electrosensory and monkey vestibular sensory
      neurons. In both systems, we show that correlated but not single-neuron activity
      can provide detailed information about second-order stimulus features. Using a
      simple mathematical model, we made the strong prediction that such correlation
      based coding of envelopes requires neural variability. Strikingly, the
      performance of correlated activity at predicting the envelope was similarly
      optimally tuned to a nonzero level of variability in both systems, thereby
      confirming this prediction. Finally, we show that second-order sensory
      information can only be decoded if one takes into account joint statistics when
      combining neural activities. Our results thus show that correlated but not single
      neural activity can transmit information about the envelope, that such
      transmission requires neural variability, and that this information can be
      decoded. We suggest that envelope coding by correlated activity is a general
      feature of sensory processing that will be found across species and systems. 

PMID- 25825718
TI  - Reconstitution of a prokaryotic minus end-tracking system using TubRC centromeric
      complexes and tubulin-like protein TubZ filaments.
AB  - Segregation of DNA is a fundamental process during cell division. The mechanism
      of prokaryotic DNA segregation is largely unknown, but several low-copy-number
      plasmids encode cytomotive filament systems of the actin type and tubulin type
      important for plasmid inheritance. Of these cytomotive filaments, only actin-like
      systems are mechanistically well characterized. In contrast, the mechanism by
      which filaments of tubulin-like TubZ protein mediate DNA motility is unknown. To
      understand polymer-driven DNA transport, we reconstituted the filaments of TubZ
      protein (TubZ filaments) from Bacillus thuringiensis pBtoxis plasmid with their
      centromeric TubRC complexes containing adaptor protein TubR and tubC DNA. TubZ
      alone assembled into polar filaments, which annealed laterally and treadmilled.
      Using single-molecule imaging, we show that TubRC complexes were not pushed by
      filament polymerization; instead, they processively tracked shrinking,
      depolymerizing minus ends. Additionally, the TubRC complex nucleated TubZ
      filaments and allowed for treadmilling. Overall, our results indicate a pulling
      mechanism for DNA transport by the TubZRC system. The discovered minus end
      tracking property of the TubRC complex expands the mechanistic diversity of the
      prokaryotic cytoskeleton. 

PMID- 25825719
TI  - Environmental tipping points significantly affect the cost-benefit assessment of
      climate policies.
AB  - Most current cost-benefit analyses of climate change policies suggest an optimal
      global climate policy that is significantly less stringent than the level
      required to meet the internationally agreed 2  degrees C target. This is partly
      because the sum of estimated economic damage of climate change across various
      sectors, such as energy use and changes in agricultural production, results in
      only a small economic loss or even a small economic gain in the gross world
      product under predicted levels of climate change. However, those cost-benefit
      analyses rarely take account of environmental tipping points leading to abrupt
      and irreversible impacts on market and nonmarket goods and services, including
      those provided by the climate and by ecosystems. Here we show that including
      environmental tipping point impacts in a stochastic dynamic integrated assessment
      model profoundly alters cost-benefit assessment of global climate policy. The
      risk of a tipping point, even if it only has nonmarket impacts, could
      substantially increase the present optimal carbon tax. For example, a risk of
      only 5% loss in nonmarket goods that occurs with a 5% annual probability at 4 
      degrees C increase of the global surface temperature causes an immediate two
      thirds increase in optimal carbon tax. If the tipping point also has a 5% impact
      on market goods, the optimal carbon tax increases by more than a factor of 3.
      Hence existing cost-benefit assessments of global climate policy may be
      significantly underestimating the needs for controlling climate change. 

PMID- 25825720
TI  - Lag threads organize the brain's intrinsic activity.
AB  - It has been widely reported that intrinsic brain activity, in a variety of
      animals including humans, is spatiotemporally structured. Specifically,
      propagated slow activity has been repeatedly demonstrated in animals. In human
      resting-state fMRI, spontaneous activity has been understood predominantly in
      terms of zero-lag temporal synchrony within widely distributed functional systems
      (resting-state networks). Here, we use resting-state fMRI from 1,376 normal,
      young adults to demonstrate that multiple, highly reproducible, temporal
      sequences of propagated activity, which we term "lag threads," are present in the
      brain. Moreover, this propagated activity is largely unidirectional within
      conventionally understood resting-state networks. Modeling experiments show that
      resting-state networks naturally emerge as a consequence of shared patterns of
      propagation. An implication of these results is that common physiologic
      mechanisms may underlie spontaneous activity as imaged with fMRI in humans and
      slowly propagated activity as studied in animals. 

PMID- 25825721
TI  - Large-scale recoding of an arbovirus genome to rebalance its insect versus
      mammalian preference.
AB  - The protein synthesis machineries of two distinct phyla of the Animal kingdom,
      insects of Arthropoda and mammals of Chordata, have different preferences for how
      to best encode proteins. Nevertheless, arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses) are
      capable of infecting both mammals and insects just like arboviruses that use
      insect vectors to infect plants. These organisms have evolved carefully balanced
      genomes that can efficiently use the translational machineries of different
      phyla, even if the phyla belong to different kingdoms. Using dengue virus as an
      example, we have undone the genome encoding balance and specifically shifted the
      encoding preference away from mammals. These mammalian-attenuated viruses grow to
      high titers in insect cells but low titers in mammalian cells, have dramatically
      increased LD50s in newborn mice, and induce high levels of protective antibodies.
      Recoded arboviruses with a bias toward phylum-specific expression could form the
      basis of a new generation of live attenuated vaccine candidates. 

PMID- 25825722
TI  - Analysis of cell division patterns in the Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem.
AB  - The stereotypic pattern of cell shapes in the Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem
      (SAM) suggests that strict rules govern the placement of new walls during cell
      division. When a cell in the SAM divides, a new wall is built that connects
      existing walls and divides the cytoplasm of the daughter cells. Because features
      that are determined by the placement of new walls such as cell size, shape, and
      number of neighbors are highly regular, rules must exist for maintaining such
      order. Here we present a quantitative model of these rules that incorporates
      different observed features of cell division. Each feature is incorporated into a
      "potential function" that contributes a single term to a total analog of
      potential energy. New cell walls are predicted to occur at locations where the
      potential function is minimized. Quantitative terms that represent the well-known
      historical rules of plant cell division, such as those given by Hofmeister,
      Errera, and Sachs are developed and evaluated against observed cell divisions in
      the epidermal layer (L1) of Arabidopsis thaliana SAM. The method is general
      enough to allow additional terms for nongeometric properties such as internal
      concentration gradients and mechanical tensile forces. 

PMID- 25825723
TI  - Zinc as chaperone-mimicking agent for retardation of amyloid beta peptide fibril
      formation.
AB  - Metal ions have emerged to play a key role in the aggregation process of amyloid
      beta (Abeta) peptide that is closely related to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's
      disease. A detailed understanding of the underlying mechanistic process of
      peptide-metal interactions, however, has been challenging to obtain. By applying
      a combination of NMR relaxation dispersion and fluorescence kinetics methods we
      have investigated quantitatively the thermodynamic Abeta-Zn(2+) binding features
      as well as how Zn(2+) modulates the nucleation mechanism of the aggregation
      process. Our results show that, under near-physiological conditions,
      substoichiometric amounts of Zn(2+) effectively retard the generation of amyloid
      fibrils. A global kinetic profile analysis reveals that in the absence of zinc
      Abeta40 aggregation is driven by a monomer-dependent secondary nucleation process
      in addition to fibril-end elongation. In the presence of Zn(2+), the elongation
      rate is reduced, resulting in reduction of the aggregation rate, but not a
      complete inhibition of amyloid formation. We show that Zn(2+) transiently binds
      to residues in the N terminus of the monomeric peptide. A thermodynamic analysis
      supports a model where the N terminus is folded around the Zn(2+) ion, forming a
      marginally stable, short-lived folded Abeta40 species. This conformation is
      highly dynamic and only a few percent of the peptide molecules adopt this
      structure at any given time point. Our findings suggest that the folded Abeta40
      Zn(2+) complex modulates the fibril ends, where elongation takes place, which
      efficiently retards fibril formation. In this conceptual framework we propose
      that zinc adopts the role of a minimal antiaggregation chaperone for Abeta40. 

PMID- 25825724
TI  - ATP binding to the pseudokinase domain of JAK2 is critical for pathogenic
      activation.
AB  - Pseudokinases lack conserved motifs typically required for kinase activity.
      Nearly half of pseudokinases bind ATP, but only few retain phosphotransfer
      activity, leaving the functional role of nucleotide binding in most cases
      unknown. Janus kinases (JAKs) are nonreceptor tyrosine kinases with a tandem
      pseudokinase-kinase domain configuration, where the pseudokinase domain (JAK
      homology 2, JH2) has important regulatory functions and harbors mutations
      underlying hematological and immunological diseases. JH2 of JAK1, JAK2, and TYK2
      all bind ATP, but the significance of this is unclear. We characterize the role
      of nucleotide binding in normal and pathogenic JAK signaling using comprehensive
      structure-based mutagenesis. Disruption of JH2 ATP binding in wild-type JAK2 has
      only minor effects, and in the presence of type I cytokine receptors, the
      mutations do not affect JAK2 activation. However, JH2 mutants devoid of ATP
      binding ameliorate the hyperactivation of JAK2 V617F. Disrupting ATP binding in
      JH2 also inhibits the hyperactivity of other pathogenic JAK2 mutants, as well as
      of JAK1 V658F, and prevents induction of erythrocytosis in a JAK2 V617F
      myeloproliferative neoplasm mouse model. Molecular dynamic simulations and
      thermal-shift analysis indicate that ATP binding stabilizes JH2, with a
      pronounced effect on the C helix region, which plays a critical role in
      pathogenic activation of JAK2. Taken together, our results suggest that ATP
      binding to JH2 serves a structural role in JAKs, which is required for aberrant
      activity of pathogenic JAK mutants. The inhibitory effect of abrogating JH2 ATP
      binding in pathogenic JAK mutants may warrant novel therapeutic approaches. 

PMID- 25825725
TI  - Quantitative analysis of vesicle recycling at the calyx of Held synapse.
AB  - Vesicle recycling is pivotal for maintaining reliable synaptic signaling, but its
      basic properties remain poorly understood. Here, we developed an approach to
      quantitatively analyze the kinetics of vesicle recycling with exquisite signal
      and temporal resolution at the calyx of Held synapse. The combination of this
      electrophysiological approach with electron microscopy revealed that ~80% of
      vesicles (~270,000 out of ~330,000) in the nerve terminal are involved in
      recycling. Under sustained stimulation, recycled vesicles start to be reused in
      tens of seconds when ~47% of the preserved vesicles in the recycling pool (RP)
      are depleted. The heterogeneity of vesicle recycling as well as two kinetic
      components of RP depletion revealed the existence of a replenishable pool of
      vesicles before the priming stage and led to a realistic kinetic model that
      assesses the size of the subpools of the RP. Thus, our study quantified the
      kinetics of vesicle recycling and kinetically dissected the whole vesicle pool in
      the calyceal terminal into the readily releasable pool (~0.6%), the readily
      priming pool (~46%), the premature pool (~33%), and the resting pool (~20%). 

PMID- 25825726
TI  - Characterization of global loss of imprinting in fetal overgrowth syndrome
      induced by assisted reproduction.
AB  - Embryos generated with the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) can
      develop overgrowth syndromes. In ruminants, the condition is referred to as large
      offspring syndrome (LOS) and exhibits variable phenotypic abnormalities including
      overgrowth, enlarged tongue, and abdominal wall defects. These characteristics
      recapitulate those observed in the human loss-of-imprinting (LOI) overgrowth
      syndrome Beckwith-Wiedemann (BWS). We have recently shown LOI at the KCNQ1 locus
      in LOS, the most common epimutation in BWS. Although the first case of ART
      induced LOS was reported in 1995, studies have not yet determined the extent of
      LOI in this condition. Here, we determined allele-specific expression of
      imprinted genes previously identified in human and/or mouse in day ~105 Bos
      taurus indicus * Bos taurus taurus F1 hybrid control and LOS fetuses using
      RNAseq. Our analysis allowed us to determine the monoallelic expression of 20
      genes in tissues of control fetuses. LOS fetuses displayed variable LOI compared
      with controls. Biallelic expression of imprinted genes in LOS was associated with
      tissue-specific hypomethylation of the normally methylated parental allele. In
      addition, a positive correlation was observed between body weight and the number
      of biallelically expressed imprinted genes in LOS fetuses. Furthermore, not only
      was there loss of allele-specific expression of imprinted genes in LOS, but also
      differential transcript amounts of these genes between control and overgrown
      fetuses. In summary, we characterized previously unidentified imprinted genes in
      bovines and identified misregulation of imprinting at multiple loci in LOS. We
      concluded that LOS is a multilocus LOI syndrome, as is BWS. 

PMID- 25825727
TI  - Response of seafloor ecosystems to abrupt global climate change.
AB  - Anthropogenic climate change is predicted to decrease oceanic oxygen (O2)
      concentrations, with potentially significant effects on marine ecosystems.
      Geologically recent episodes of abrupt climatic warming provide opportunities to
      assess the effects of changing oxygenation on marine communities. Thus far, this
      knowledge has been largely restricted to investigations using Foraminifera, with
      little being known about ecosystem-scale responses to abrupt, climate-forced
      deoxygenation. We here present high-resolution records based on the first
      comprehensive quantitative analysis, to our knowledge, of changes in marine
      metazoans (Mollusca, Echinodermata, Arthropoda, and Annelida; >5,400 fossils and
      trace fossils) in response to the global warming associated with the last glacial
      to interglacial episode. The molluscan archive is dominated by extremophile taxa,
      including those containing endosymbiotic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (Lucinoma
      aequizonatum) and those that graze on filamentous sulfur-oxidizing benthic
      bacterial mats (Alia permodesta). This record, from 16,100 to 3,400 y ago,
      demonstrates that seafloor invertebrate communities are subject to major turnover
      in response to relatively minor inferred changes in oxygenation (>1.5 to <0.5
      mL?L(-1) [O2]) associated with abrupt (<100 y) warming of the eastern Pacific.
      The biotic turnover and recovery events within the record expand known rates of
      marine biological recovery by an order of magnitude, from <100 to >1,000 y, and
      illustrate the crucial role of climate and oceanographic change in driving long
      term successional changes in ocean ecosystems. 

PMID- 25825728
TI  - Phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate and phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate regulate
      phagolysosome biogenesis.
AB  - Professional phagocytic cells ingest microbial intruders by engulfing them into
      phagosomes, which subsequently mature into microbicidal phagolysosomes. Phagosome
      maturation requires sequential fusion of the phagosome with early endosomes, late
      endosomes, and lysosomes. Although various phosphoinositides (PIPs) have been
      detected on phagosomes, it remained unclear which PIPs actually govern phagosome
      maturation. Here, we analyzed the involvement of PIPs in fusion of phagosomes
      with various endocytic compartments and identified phosphatidylinositol 4
      phosphate [PI(4)P], phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate [PI(3)P], and the lipid
      kinases that generate these PIPs, as mediators of phagosome-lysosome fusion.
      Phagosome-early endosome fusion required PI(3)P, yet did not depend on PI(4)P.
      Thus, PI(3)P regulates phagosome maturation at early and late stages, whereas
      PI(4)P is selectively required late in the pathway. 

PMID- 25825729
TI  - Four hundred million years of silica biomineralization in land plants.
AB  - Biomineralization plays a fundamental role in the global silicon cycle. Grasses
      are known to mobilize significant quantities of Si in the form of silica
      biominerals and dominate the terrestrial realm today, but they have relatively
      recent origins and only rose to taxonomic and ecological prominence within the
      Cenozoic Era. This raises questions regarding when and how the biological silica
      cycle evolved. To address these questions, we examined silica abundances of
      extant members of early-diverging land plant clades, which show that silica
      biomineralization is widespread across terrestrial plant linages. Particularly
      high silica abundances are observed in lycophytes and early-diverging ferns.
      However, silica biomineralization is rare within later-evolving gymnosperms,
      implying a complex evolutionary history within the seed plants. Electron
      microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy show that the most common silica-mineralized
      tissues include the vascular system, epidermal cells, and stomata, which is
      consistent with the hypothesis that biomineralization in plants is frequently
      coupled to transpiration. Furthermore, sequence, phylogenetic, and structural
      analysis of nodulin 26-like intrinsic proteins from diverse plant genomes points
      to a plastic and ancient capacity for silica accumulation within terrestrial
      plants. The integration of these two comparative biology approaches demonstrates
      that silica biomineralization has been an important process for land plants over
      the course of their >400 My evolutionary history. 

PMID- 25825730
TI  - Loose coupling in the bacterial flagellar motor.
AB  - Physiological properties of the flagellar rotary motor have been taken to
      indicate a tightly coupled mechanism in which each revolution is driven by a
      fixed number of energizing ions. Measurements that would directly test the tight
      coupling hypothesis have not been made. Energizing ions flow through membrane
      bound complexes formed from the proteins MotA and MotB, which are anchored to the
      cell wall and constitute the stator. Genetic and biochemical evidence points to a
      "power stroke" mechanism in which the ions interact with an aspartate residue of
      MotB to drive conformational changes in MotA that are transmitted to the rotor
      protein FliG. Each stator complex contains two separate ion-binding sites,
      raising the question of whether the power stroke is driven by one, two, or either
      number of ions. Here, we describe simulations of a model in which the
      conformational change can be driven by either one or two ions. This loosely
      coupled model can account for the observed physiological properties of the motor,
      including those that have been taken to indicate tight coupling; it also accords
      with recent measurements of motor torque at high load that are harder to explain
      in tight-coupling models. Under loads relevant to a swimming cell, the loosely
      coupled motor would perform about as well as a two-proton motor and significantly
      better than a one-proton motor. The loosely coupled motor is predicted to be
      especially advantageous under conditions of diminished energy supply, or of
      reduced temperature, turning faster than an obligatorily two-proton motor while
      using fewer ions. 

PMID- 25825731
TI  - Task-driven intra- and interarea communications in primate cerebral cortex.
AB  - Neural correlations during a cognitive task are central to study brain
      information processing and computation. However, they have been poorly analyzed
      due to the difficulty of recording simultaneous single neurons during task
      performance. In the present work, we quantified neural directional correlations
      using spike trains that were simultaneously recorded in sensory, premotor, and
      motor cortical areas of two monkeys during a somatosensory discrimination task.
      Upon modeling spike trains as binary time series, we used a nonparametric
      Bayesian method to estimate pairwise directional correlations between many pairs
      of neurons throughout different stages of the task, namely, perception, working
      memory, decision making, and motor report. We find that solving the task involves
      feedforward and feedback correlation paths linking sensory and motor areas during
      certain task intervals. Specifically, information is communicated by task-driven
      neural correlations that are significantly delayed across secondary somatosensory
      cortex, premotor, and motor areas when decision making takes place. Crucially,
      when sensory comparison is no longer requested for task performance, a major
      proportion of directional correlations consistently vanish across all cortical
      areas. 

PMID- 25825732
TI  - Amygdala lesions do not compromise the cortical network for false-belief
      reasoning.
AB  - The amygdala plays an integral role in human social cognition and behavior, with
      clear links to emotion recognition, trust judgments, anthropomorphization, and
      psychiatric disorders ranging from social phobia to autism. A central feature of
      human social cognition is a theory-of-mind (ToM) that enables the representation
      other people's mental states as distinct from one's own. Numerous neuroimaging
      studies of the best studied use of ToM--false-belief reasoning--suggest that it
      relies on a specific cortical network; moreover, the amygdala is structurally and
      functionally connected with many components of this cortical network. It remains
      unknown whether the cortical implementation of any form of ToM depends on
      amygdala function. Here we investigated this question directly by conducting
      functional MRI on two patients with rare bilateral amygdala lesions while they
      performed a neuroimaging protocol standardized for measuring cortical activity
      associated with false-belief reasoning. We compared patient responses with those
      of two healthy comparison groups that included 480 adults. Based on both
      univariate and multivariate comparisons, neither patient showed any evidence of
      atypical cortical activity or any evidence of atypical behavioral performance;
      moreover, this pattern of typical cortical and behavioral response was replicated
      for both patients in a follow-up session. These findings argue that the amygdala
      is not necessary for the cortical implementation of ToM in adulthood and suggest
      a reevaluation of the role of the amygdala and its cortical interactions in human
      social cognition.

PMID- 25825733
TI  - Chiral structures from achiral liquid crystals in cylindrical capillaries.
AB  - We study chiral symmetry-broken configurations of nematic liquid crystals (LCs)
      confined to cylindrical capillaries with homeotropic anchoring on the cylinder
      walls (i.e., perpendicular surface alignment). Interestingly, achiral nematic LCs
      with comparatively small twist elastic moduli relieve bend and splay deformations
      by introducing twist deformations. In the resulting twisted and escaped radial
      (TER) configuration, LC directors are parallel to the cylindrical axis near the
      center, but to attain radial orientation near the capillary wall, they escape
      along the radius through bend and twist distortions. Chiral symmetry-breaking
      experiments in polymer-coated capillaries are carried out using Sunset Yellow
      FCF, a lyotropic chromonic LC with a small twist elastic constant. Its director
      configurations are investigated by polarized optical microscopy and explained
      theoretically with numerical calculations. A rich phenomenology of defects also
      arises from the degenerate bend/twist deformations of the TER configuration,
      including a nonsingular domain wall separating domains of opposite twist
      handedness but the same escape direction and singular point defects (hedgehogs)
      separating domains of opposite escape direction. We show the energetic preference
      for singular defects separating domains of opposite twist handedness compared
      with those of the same handedness, and we report remarkable chiral configurations
      with a double helix of disclination lines along the cylindrical axis. These
      findings show archetypally how simple boundary conditions and elastic anisotropy
      of confined materials lead to multiple symmetry breaking and how these broken
      symmetries combine to create a variety of defects. 

PMID- 25825734
TI  - Hedgehog signaling activates a positive feedback mechanism involving insulin-like
      growth factors to induce osteoblast differentiation.
AB  - Hedgehog (Hh) signaling is essential for osteoblast differentiation in the
      endochondral skeleton during embryogenesis. However, the molecular mechanism
      underlying the osteoblastogenic role of Hh is not completely understood. Here, we
      report that Hh markedly induces the expression of insulin-like growth factor 2
      (Igf2) that activates the mTORC2-Akt signaling cascade during osteoblast
      differentiation. Igf2-Akt signaling, in turn, stabilizes full-length Gli2 through
      Serine 230, thus enhancing the output of transcriptional activation by Hh.
      Importantly, genetic deletion of the Igf signaling receptor Igf1r specifically in
      Hh-responding cells diminishes bone formation in the mouse embryo. Thus, Hh
      engages Igf signaling in a positive feedback mechanism to activate the osteogenic
      program. 

PMID- 25825735
TI  - Islet 1 specifies the identity of hypothalamic melanocortin neurons and is
      critical for normal food intake and adiposity in adulthood.
AB  - Food intake and body weight regulation depend on proper expression of the
      proopiomelanocortin gene (Pomc) in a group of neurons located in the mediobasal
      hypothalamus of all vertebrates. These neurons release POMC-encoded
      melanocortins, which are potent anorexigenic neuropeptides, and their absence
      from mice or humans leads to hyperphagia and severe obesity. Although the
      pathophysiology of hypothalamic POMC neurons is well understood, the genetic
      program that establishes the neuronal melanocortinergic phenotype and maintains a
      fully functional neuronal POMC phenotype throughout adulthood remains unknown.
      Here, we report that the early expression of the LIM-homeodomain transcription
      factor Islet 1 (ISL1) in the developing hypothalamus promotes the terminal
      differentiation of melanocortinergic neurons and is essential for hypothalamic
      Pomc expression since its initial onset and throughout the entire lifetime. We
      detected ISL1 in the prospective hypothalamus just before the onset of Pomc
      expression and, from then on, Pomc and Isl1 coexpress. ISL1 binds in vitro and in
      vivo to critical homeodomain binding DNA motifs present in the neuronal Pomc
      enhancers nPE1 and nPE2, and mutations of these sites completely disrupt the
      ability of these enhancers to drive reporter gene expression to hypothalamic POMC
      neurons in transgenic mice and zebrafish. ISL1 is necessary for hypothalamic Pomc
      expression during mouse and zebrafish embryogenesis. Furthermore, conditional
      Isl1 inactivation from POMC neurons impairs Pomc expression, leading to
      hyperphagia and obesity. Our results demonstrate that ISL1 specifies the identity
      of hypothalamic melanocortin neurons and is required for melanocortin-induced
      satiety and normal adiposity throughout the entire lifespan. 

PMID- 25825737
TI  - Sponge symbionts and the marine P cycle.

PMID- 25825736
TI  - Sphingomyelin distribution in lipid rafts of artificial monolayer membranes
      visualized by Raman microscopy.
AB  - Sphingomyelin (SM) and cholesterol (chol)-rich domains in cell membranes, called
      lipid rafts, are thought to have important biological functions related to
      membrane signaling and protein trafficking. To visualize the distribution of SM
      in lipid rafts by means of Raman microscopy, we designed and synthesized an SM
      analog tagged with a Raman-active diyne moiety (diyne-SM). Diyne-SM showed a
      strong peak in a Raman silent region that is free of interference from intrinsic
      vibrational modes of lipids and did not appear to alter the properties of SM
      containing monolayers. Therefore, we used Raman microscopy to directly visualize
      the distribution of diyne-SM in raft-mimicking domains formed in
      SM/dioleoylphosphatidylcholine/chol ternary monolayers. Raman images visualized a
      heterogeneous distribution of diyne-SM, which showed marked variation, even
      within a single ordered domain. Specifically, diyne-SM was enriched in the
      central area of raft domains compared with the peripheral area. These results
      seem incompatible with the generally accepted raft model, in which the raft and
      nonraft phases show a clear biphasic separation. One of the possible reasons is
      that gradual changes of SM concentration occur between SM-rich and -poor regions
      to minimize hydrophobic mismatch. We believe that our technique of hyperspectral
      Raman imaging of a single lipid monolayer opens the door to quantitative analysis
      of lipid membranes by providing both chemical information and spatial
      distribution with high (diffraction-limited) spatial resolution. 

PMID- 25825738
TI  - Autoinhibition of MDMX by intramolecular p53 mimicry.
AB  - The p53 inhibitor MDMX is controlled by multiple stress signaling pathways. Using
      a proteolytic fragment release (PFR) assay, we detected an intramolecular
      interaction in MDMX that mechanistically mimics the interaction with p53,
      resulting in autoinhibition of MDMX. This mimicry is mediated by a hydrophobic
      peptide located in a long disordered central segment of MDMX that has sequence
      similarity to the p53 transactivation domain. NMR spectroscopy was used to show
      this hydrophobic peptide interacts with the N-terminal domain of MDMX in a
      structurally analogous manner to p53. Mutation of two critical tryptophan
      residues in the hydrophobic peptide disrupted the intramolecular interaction and
      increased p53 binding, providing further evidence for mechanistic mimicry. The
      PFR assay also revealed a second intramolecular interaction between the RING
      domain and central region that regulates MDMX nuclear import. These results
      establish the importance of intramolecular interactions in MDMX regulation, and
      validate a new assay for the study of intramolecular interactions in multidomain
      proteins with intrinsically disordered regions. 

PMID- 25825739
TI  - Ideal probe single-molecule experiments reveal the intrinsic dynamic
      heterogeneity of a supercooled liquid.
AB  - The concept of dynamic heterogeneity and the picture of the supercooled liquid as
      a mosaic of environments with distinct dynamics that interchange in time have
      been invoked to explain the nonexponential relaxations measured in these systems.
      The spatial extent and temporal persistence of these regions of distinct dynamics
      have remained challenging to identify. Here, single-molecule fluorescence
      measurements using a probe similar in size and mobility to the host o-terphenyl
      unambiguously reveal exponential relaxations distributed in time and space and
      directly demonstrate ergodicity of the system down to the glass transition
      temperature. In the temperature range probed, at least 200 times the structural
      relaxation time of the host is required to recover ensemble-averaged relaxation
      at every spatial region in the system. 

PMID- 25825740
TI  - Extreme rainfall activity in the Australian tropics reflects changes in the El
      Nino/Southern Oscillation over the last two millennia.
AB  - Assessing temporal variability in extreme rainfall events before the historical
      era is complicated by the sparsity of long-term "direct" storm proxies. Here we
      present a 2,200-y-long, accurate, and precisely dated record of cave flooding
      events from the northwest Australian tropics that we interpret, based on an
      integrated analysis of meteorological data and sediment layers within
      stalagmites, as representing a proxy for extreme rainfall events derived
      primarily from tropical cyclones (TCs) and secondarily from the regional summer
      monsoon. This time series reveals substantial multicentennial variability in
      extreme rainfall, with elevated occurrence rates characterizing the twentieth
      century, 850-1450 CE (Common Era), and 50-400 CE; reduced activity marks 1450
      1650 CE and 500-850 CE. These trends are similar to reconstructed numbers of TCs
      in the North Atlantic and Caribbean basins, and they form temporal and spatial
      patterns best explained by secular changes in the dominant mode of the El
      Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the primary driver of modern TC variability. We
      thus attribute long-term shifts in cyclogenesis in both the central Australian
      and North Atlantic sectors over the past two millennia to entrenched El Nino or
      La Nina states of the tropical Pacific. The influence of ENSO on monsoon
      precipitation in this region of northwest Australia is muted, but ENSO-driven
      changes to the monsoon may have complemented changes to TC activity. 

PMID- 25825741
TI  - Galphai1 and Galphai3 regulate macrophage polarization by forming a complex
      containing CD14 and Gab1.
AB  - Heterotrimeric G proteins have been implicated in Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)
      signaling in macrophages and endothelial cells. However, whether guanine
      nucleotide-binding protein G(i) subunit alpha-1 and alpha-3 (Galphai1/3) are
      required for LPS responses remains unclear, and if so, the underlying mechanisms
      need to be studied. In this study, we demonstrated that, in response to LPS,
      Galphai1/3 form complexes containing the pattern recognition receptor (PRR) CD14
      and growth factor receptor binding 2 (Grb2)-associated binding protein (Gab1),
      which are required for activation of PI3K-Akt signaling. Galphai1/3 deficiency
      decreased LPS-induced TLR4 endocytosis, which was associated with decreased
      phosphorylation of IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF3). Galphai1/3 knockdown in bone
      marrow-derived macrophage cells (Galphai1/3 KD BMDMs) exhibited an M2-like
      phenotype with significantly suppressed production of TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-12, and
      NO in response to LPS. The altered polarization coincided with decreased Akt
      activation. Further, Galphai1/3 deficiency caused LPS tolerance in mice. In vitro
      studies revealed that, in LPS-tolerant macrophages, Galphai1/3 were down
      regulated partially by the proteasome pathway. Collectively, the present findings
      demonstrated that Galphai1/3 can interact with CD14/Gab1, which modulates
      macrophage polarization in vitro and in vivo.

PMID- 25825742
TI  - RNA-binding protein hnRNPLL regulates mRNA splicing and stability during B-cell
      to plasma-cell differentiation.
AB  - Posttranscriptional regulation is a major mechanism to rewire transcriptomes
      during differentiation. Heterogeneous nuclear RNA-binding protein LL (hnRNPLL) is
      specifically induced in terminally differentiated lymphocytes, including effector
      T cells and plasma cells. To study the molecular functions of hnRNPLL at a genome
      wide level, we identified hnRNPLL RNA targets and binding sites in plasma cells
      through integrated Photoactivatable-Ribonucleoside-Enhanced Cross-Linking and
      Immunoprecipitation (PAR-CLIP) and RNA sequencing. hnRNPLL preferentially
      recognizes CA dinucleotide-containing sequences in introns and 3' untranslated
      regions (UTRs), promotes exon inclusion or exclusion in a context-dependent
      manner, and stabilizes mRNA when associated with 3' UTRs. During differentiation
      of primary B cells to plasma cells, hnRNPLL mediates a genome-wide switch of RNA
      processing, resulting in loss of B-cell lymphoma 6 (Bcl6) expression and
      increased Ig production--both hallmarks of plasma-cell maturation. Our data
      identify previously unknown functions of hnRNPLL in B-cell to plasma-cell
      differentiation and demonstrate that the RNA-binding protein hnRNPLL has a
      critical role in tuning transcriptomes of terminally differentiating B
      lymphocytes.

PMID- 25825744
TI  - Plant nanobionic materials with a giant temperature response mediated by pectin
      Ca2+.
AB  - Conventional approaches to create biomaterials rely on reverse engineering of
      biological structures, on biomimicking, and on bioinspiration. Plant nanobionics
      is a recent approach to engineer new materials combining plant organelles with
      synthetic nanoparticles to enhance, for example, photosynthesis. Biological
      structures often outperform man-made materials. For example, higher plants sense
      temperature changes with high responsivity. However, these properties do not
      persist after cell death. Here, we permanently stabilize the temperature response
      of isolated plant cells adding carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Interconnecting cells, we
      create materials with an effective temperature coefficient of electrical
      resistance (TCR) of -1,730% K(-1), ~2 orders of magnitude higher than the best
      available sensors. This extreme temperature response is due to metal ions
      contained in the egg-box structure of the pectin backbone, lodged between
      cellulose microfibrils. The presence of a network of CNTs stabilizes the response
      of cells at high temperatures without decreasing the activation energy of the
      material. CNTs also increase the background conductivity, making these materials
      suitable elements for thermal and distance sensors. 

PMID- 25825743
TI  - Tectal microcircuit generating visual selection commands on gaze-controlling
      neurons.
AB  - The optic tectum (called superior colliculus in mammals) is critical for eye-head
      gaze shifts as we navigate in the terrain and need to adapt our movements to the
      visual scene. The neuronal mechanisms underlying the tectal contribution to
      stimulus selection and gaze reorientation remains, however, unclear at the
      microcircuit level. To analyze this complex--yet phylogenetically conserved-
      sensorimotor system, we developed a novel in vitro preparation in the lamprey
      that maintains the eye and midbrain intact and allows for whole-cell recordings
      from prelabeled tectal gaze-controlling cells in the deep layer, while visual
      stimuli are delivered. We found that receptive field activation of these cells
      provide monosynaptic retinal excitation followed by local GABAergic inhibition
      (feedforward). The entire remaining retina, on the other hand, elicits only
      inhibition (surround inhibition). If two stimuli are delivered simultaneously,
      one inside and one outside the receptive field, the former excitatory response is
      suppressed. When local inhibition is pharmacologically blocked, the suppression
      induced by competing stimuli is canceled. We suggest that this rivalry between
      visual areas across the tectal map is triggered through long-range inhibitory
      tectal connections. Selection commands conveyed via gaze-controlling neurons in
      the optic tectum are, thus, formed through synaptic integration of local
      retinotopic excitation and global tectal inhibition. We anticipate that this
      mechanism not only exists in lamprey but is also conserved throughout vertebrate
      evolution.

PMID- 25825745
TI  - Multiple mechanisms limit meiotic crossovers: TOP3alpha and two BLM homologs
      antagonize crossovers in parallel to FANCM.
AB  - Meiotic crossovers (COs) have two important roles, shuffling genetic information
      and ensuring proper chromosome segregation. Despite their importance and a large
      excess of precursors (i.e., DNA double-strand breaks, DSBs), the number of COs is
      tightly regulated, typically one to three per chromosome pair. The mechanisms
      ensuring that most DSBs are repaired as non-COs and the evolutionary forces
      imposing this constraint are poorly understood. Here we identified
      Topoisomerase3alpha (TOP3alpha) and the RECQ4 helicases--the Arabidopsis slow
      growth suppressor 1 (Sgs1)/Bloom syndrome protein (BLM) homologs--as major
      barriers to meiotic CO formation. First, the characterization of a specific
      TOP3alpha mutant allele revealed that, in addition to its role in DNA repair,
      this topoisomerase antagonizes CO formation. Further, we found that RECQ4A and
      RECQ4B constitute the strongest meiotic anti-CO activity identified to date,
      their concomitant depletion leading to a sixfold increase in CO frequency. In
      both top3alpha and recq4ab mutants, DSB number is unaffected, and extra COs arise
      from a normally minor pathway. Finally, both TOP3alpha and RECQ4A/B act
      independently of the previously identified anti-CO Fanconi anemia of
      complementation group M (FANCM) helicase. This finding shows that several
      parallel pathways actively limit CO formation and suggests that the RECQA/B and
      FANCM helicases prevent COs by processing different substrates. Despite a
      ninefold increase in CO frequency, chromosome segregation was unaffected. This
      finding supports the idea that CO number is restricted not because of mechanical
      constraints but likely because of the long-term costs of recombination.
      Furthermore, this work demonstrates how manipulating a few genes holds great
      promise for increasing recombination frequency in plant-breeding programs.

PMID- 25825746
TI  - Systems approach to metal-based pharmacology.

PMID- 25825747
TI  - Structural basis for the geometry-driven localization of a small protein.
AB  - In bacteria, certain shape-sensing proteins localize to differently curved
      membranes. During sporulation in Bacillus subtilis, the only convex (positively
      curved) surface in the cell is the forespore, an approximately spherical internal
      organelle. Previously, we demonstrated that SpoVM localizes to the forespore by
      preferentially adsorbing onto slightly convex membranes. Here, we used NMR and
      molecular dynamics simulations of SpoVM and a localization mutant (SpoVM(P9A)) to
      reveal that SpoVM's atypical amphipathic alpha-helix inserts deeply into the
      membrane and interacts extensively with acyl chains to sense packing differences
      in differently curved membranes. Based on binding to spherical supported lipid
      bilayers and Monte Carlo simulations, we hypothesize that SpoVM's membrane
      insertion, along with potential cooperative interactions with other SpoVM
      molecules in the lipid bilayer, drives its preferential localization onto
      slightly convex membranes. Such a mechanism, which is distinct from that used by
      high curvature-sensing proteins, may be widely conserved for the localization of
      proteins onto the surface of cellular organelles. 

PMID- 25825748
TI  - Balancing water resource conservation and food security in China.
AB  - China's economic growth is expected to continue into the next decades,
      accompanied by sustained urbanization and industrialization. The associated
      increase in demand for land, water resources, and rich foods will deepen the
      challenge of sustainably feeding the population and balancing agricultural and
      environmental policies. We combine a hydrologic model with an economic model to
      project China's future food trade patterns and embedded water resources by 2030
      and to analyze the effects of targeted irrigation reductions on this system,
      notably on national agricultural water consumption and food self-sufficiency. We
      simulate interprovincial and international food trade with a general equilibrium
      welfare model and a linear programming optimization, and we obtain province-level
      estimates of commodities' virtual water content with a hydrologic model. We find
      that reducing irrigated land in regions highly dependent on scarce river flow and
      nonrenewable groundwater resources, such as Inner Mongolia and the greater
      Beijing area, can improve the efficiency of agriculture and trade regarding water
      resources. It can also avoid significant consumption of irrigation water across
      China (up to 14.8 km(3)/y, reduction by 14%), while incurring relatively small
      decreases in national food self-sufficiency (e.g., by 3% for wheat). Other
      researchers found that a national, rather than local, water policy would have
      similar effects on food production but would only reduce irrigation water
      consumption by 5%. 

PMID- 25825749
TI  - RoR2 functions as a noncanonical Wnt receptor that regulates NMDAR-mediated
      synaptic transmission.
AB  - Wnt signaling has a well-established role as a regulator of nervous system
      development, but its role in the maintenance and regulation of established
      synapses in the mature brain remains poorly understood. At excitatory
      glutamatergic synapses, NMDA receptors (NMDARs) have a fundamental role in
      synaptogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and learning and memory; however, it is not
      known what controls their number and subunit composition. Here we show that the
      receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 2 (RoR2) functions as a Wnt
      receptor required to maintain basal NMDAR-mediated synaptic transmission. In
      addition, RoR2 activation by a noncanonical Wnt ligand activates PKC and JNK and
      acutely enhances NMDAR synaptic responses. Regulation of a key component of
      glutamatergic synapses through RoR2 provides a mechanism for Wnt signaling to
      modulate synaptic transmission, synaptic plasticity, and brain function acutely
      beyond embryonic development. 

PMID- 25825750
TI  - CD14-expressing cancer cells establish the inflammatory and proliferative tumor
      microenvironment in bladder cancer.
AB  - Nonresolving chronic inflammation at the neoplastic site is consistently
      associated with promoting tumor progression and poor patient outcomes. However,
      many aspects behind the mechanisms that establish this tumor-promoting
      inflammatory microenvironment remain undefined. Using bladder cancer (BC) as a
      model, we found that CD14-high cancer cells express higher levels of numerous
      inflammation mediators and form larger tumors compared with CD14-low cells. CD14
      antigen is a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-linked glycoprotein and has been
      shown to be critically important in the signaling pathways of Toll-like receptor
      (TLR). CD14 expression in this BC subpopulation of cancer cells is required for
      increased cytokine production and increased tumor growth. Furthermore, tumors
      formed by CD14-high cells are more highly vascularized with higher myeloid cell
      infiltration. Inflammatory factors produced by CD14-high BC cells recruit and
      polarize monocytes and macrophages to acquire immune-suppressive characteristics.
      In contrast, CD14-low BC cells have a higher baseline cell division rate than
      CD14-high cells. Importantly, CD14-high cells produce factors that further
      increase the proliferation of CD14-low cells. Collectively, we demonstrate that
      CD14-high BC cells may orchestrate tumor-promoting inflammation and drive tumor
      cell proliferation to promote tumor growth. 

PMID- 25825751
TI  - Dido mutations trigger perinatal death and generate brain abnormalities and
      behavioral alterations in surviving adult mice.
AB  - Nearly all vertebrate cells have a single cilium protruding from their surface.
      This threadlike organelle, once considered vestigial, is now seen as a pivotal
      element for detection of extracellular signals that trigger crucial morphogenetic
      pathways. We recently proposed a role for Dido3, the main product of the death
      inducer-obliterator (dido) gene, in histone deacetylase 6 delivery to the primary
      cilium [Sanchez de Diego A, et al. (2014) Nat Commun 5:3500]. Here we used mice
      that express truncated forms of Dido proteins to determine the link with cilium
      associated disorders. We describe dido mutant mice with high incidence of
      perinatal lethality and distinct neurodevelopmental, morphogenetic, and metabolic
      alterations. The anatomical abnormalities were related to brain and orofacial
      development, consistent with the known roles of primary cilia in brain
      patterning, hydrocephalus incidence, and cleft palate. Mutant mice that reached
      adulthood showed reduced life expectancy, brain malformations including
      hippocampus hypoplasia and agenesis of corpus callosum, as well as neuromuscular
      and behavioral alterations. These mice can be considered a model for the study of
      ciliopathies and provide information for assessing diagnosis and therapy of
      genetic disorders linked to the deregulation of primary cilia. 

PMID- 25825752
TI  - Revealing the hidden networks of interaction in mobile animal groups allows
      prediction of complex behavioral contagion.
AB  - Coordination among social animals requires rapid and efficient transfer of
      information among individuals, which may depend crucially on the underlying
      structure of the communication network. Establishing the decision-making circuits
      and networks that give rise to individual behavior has been a central goal of
      neuroscience. However, the analogous problem of determining the structure of the
      communication network among organisms that gives rise to coordinated collective
      behavior, such as is exhibited by schooling fish and flocking birds, has remained
      almost entirely neglected. Here, we study collective evasion maneuvers,
      manifested through rapid waves, or cascades, of behavioral change (a ubiquitous
      behavior among taxa) in schooling fish (Notemigonus crysoleucas). We
      automatically track the positions and body postures, calculate visual fields of
      all individuals in schools of ~150 fish, and determine the functional mapping
      between socially generated sensory input and motor response during collective
      evasion. We find that individuals use simple, robust measures to assess
      behavioral changes in neighbors, and that the resulting networks by which
      behavior propagates throughout groups are complex, being weighted, directed, and
      heterogeneous. By studying these interaction networks, we reveal the (complex,
      fractional) nature of social contagion and establish that individuals with
      relatively few, but strongly connected, neighbors are both most socially
      influential and most susceptible to social influence. Furthermore, we demonstrate
      that we can predict complex cascades of behavioral change at their moment of
      initiation, before they actually occur. Consequently, despite the intrinsic
      stochasticity of individual behavior, establishing the hidden communication
      networks in large self-organized groups facilitates a quantitative understanding
      of behavioral contagion. 

PMID- 25825753
TI  - Cis and trans interactions between atlastin molecules during membrane fusion.
AB  - Atlastin (ATL), a membrane-anchored GTPase that mediates homotypic fusion of
      endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes, is required for formation of the tubular
      network of the peripheral ER. How exactly ATL mediates membrane fusion is only
      poorly understood. Here we show that fusion is preceded by the transient
      tethering of ATL-containing vesicles caused by the dimerization of ATL molecules
      in opposing membranes. Tethering requires GTP hydrolysis, not just GTP binding,
      because the two ATL molecules are pulled together most strongly in the transition
      state of GTP hydrolysis. Most tethering events are futile, so that multiple
      rounds of GTP hydrolysis are required for successful fusion. Supported lipid
      bilayer experiments show that ATL molecules sitting on the same (cis) membrane
      can also undergo nucleotide-dependent dimerization. These results suggest that
      GTP hydrolysis is required to dissociate cis dimers, generating a pool of ATL
      monomers that can dimerize with molecules on a different (trans) membrane. In
      addition, tethering and fusion require the cooperation of multiple ATL molecules
      in each membrane. We propose a comprehensive model for ATL-mediated fusion that
      takes into account futile tethering and competition between cis and trans
      interactions. 

PMID- 25825754
TI  - Juvenile hormone-activated phospholipase C pathway enhances transcriptional
      activation by the methoprene-tolerant protein.
AB  - Juvenile hormone (JH) is a key regulator of a wide diversity of developmental and
      physiological events in insects. Although the intracellular JH receptor
      methoprene-tolerant protein (MET) functions in the nucleus as a transcriptional
      activator for specific JH-regulated genes, some JH responses are mediated by
      signaling pathways that are initiated by proteins associated with plasma
      membrane. It is unknown whether the JH-regulated gene expression depends on the
      membrane-mediated signal transduction. In Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, we found that
      JH activated the phospholipase C (PLC) pathway and quickly increased the levels
      of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, diacylglycerol, and intracellular calcium,
      leading to activation and autophosphorylation of calcium/calmodulin-dependent
      protein kinase II (CaMKII). When abdomens from newly emerged mosquitoes were
      cultured in vitro, the JH-activated gene expression was repressed substantially
      if specific inhibitors of PLC or CaMKII were added to the medium together with
      JH. In newly emerged female mosquitoes, RNAi-mediated depletion of PLC or CaMKII
      considerably reduced the expression of JH-responsive genes, including the Kruppel
      homolog 1 gene (AaKr-h1) and the early trypsin gene (AaET). JH-induced loading of
      MET to the promoters of AaKr-h1 and AaET was weakened drastically when either PLC
      or CaMKII was inactivated in the cultured tissues. Therefore, the results suggest
      that the membrane-initiated signaling pathway modifies the DNA-binding activity
      of MET via phosphorylation and thus facilitates the genomic responses to JH. In
      summary, this study reveals an interplay of genomic and nongenomic signaling
      mechanisms of JH. 

PMID- 25825755
TI  - Diversity partitioning during the Cambrian radiation.
AB  - The fossil record offers unique insights into the environmental and geographic
      partitioning of biodiversity during global diversifications. We explored
      biodiversity patterns during the Cambrian radiation, the most dramatic radiation
      in Earth history. We assessed how the overall increase in global diversity was
      partitioned between within-community (alpha) and between-community (beta)
      components and how beta diversity was partitioned among environments and
      geographic regions. Changes in gamma diversity in the Cambrian were chiefly
      driven by changes in beta diversity. The combined trajectories of alpha and beta
      diversity during the initial diversification suggest low competition and high
      predation within communities. Beta diversity has similar trajectories both among
      environments and geographic regions, but turnover between adjacent
      paleocontinents was probably the main driver of diversification. Our study
      elucidates that global biodiversity during the Cambrian radiation was driven by
      niche contraction at local scales and vicariance at continental scales. The
      latter supports previous arguments for the importance of plate tectonics in the
      Cambrian radiation, namely the breakup of Pannotia. 

PMID- 25825756
TI  - Sleep- and wake-dependent changes in neuronal activity and reactivity
      demonstrated in fly neurons using in vivo calcium imaging.
AB  - Sleep in Drosophila shares many features with mammalian sleep, but it remains
      unknown whether spontaneous and evoked activity of individual neurons change with
      the sleep/wake cycle in flies as they do in mammals. Here we used calcium imaging
      to assess how the Kenyon cells in the fly mushroom bodies change their activity
      and reactivity to stimuli during sleep, wake, and after short or long sleep
      deprivation. As before, sleep was defined as a period of immobility of >5 min
      associated with a reduced behavioral response to a stimulus. We found that
      calcium levels in Kenyon cells decline when flies fall asleep and increase when
      they wake up. Moreover, calcium transients in response to two different stimuli
      are larger in awake flies than in sleeping flies. The activity of Kenyon cells is
      also affected by sleep/wake history: in awake flies, more cells are spontaneously
      active and responding to stimuli if the last several hours (5-8 h) before imaging
      were spent awake rather than asleep. By contrast, long wake (>=29 h) reduces both
      baseline and evoked neural activity and decreases the ability of neurons to
      respond consistently to the same repeated stimulus. The latter finding may
      underlie some of the negative effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive
      performance and is consistent with the occurrence of local sleep during wake as
      described in behaving rats. Thus, calcium imaging uncovers new similarities
      between fly and mammalian sleep: fly neurons are more active and reactive in wake
      than in sleep, and their activity tracks sleep/wake history. 

PMID- 25825757
TI  - Rate and mechanism of the photoreduction of birnessite (MnO2) nanosheets.
AB  - The photoreductive dissolution of Mn(IV) oxide minerals in sunlit aquatic
      environments couples the Mn cycle to the oxidation of organic matter and fate of
      trace elements associated with Mn oxides, but the intrinsic rate and mechanism of
      mineral dissolution in the absence of organic electron donors is unknown. We
      investigated the photoreduction of delta-MnO2 nanosheets at pH 6.5 with Na or Ca
      as the interlayer cation under 400-nm light irradiation and quantified the yield
      and timescales of Mn(III) production. Our study of transient intermediate states
      using time-resolved optical and X-ray absorption spectroscopy showed key roles
      for chemically distinct Mn(III) species. The reaction pathway involves (i)
      formation of Jahn-Teller distorted Mn(III) sites in the octahedral sheet within
      0.6 ps of photoexcitation; (ii) Mn(III) migration into the interlayer within 600
      ps; and (iii) increased nanosheet stacking. We propose that irreversible Mn
      reduction is coupled to hole-scavenging by surface water molecules or hydroxyl
      groups, with associated radical formation. This work demonstrates the importance
      of direct MnO2 photoreduction in environmental processes and provides a framework
      to test new hypotheses regarding the role of organic molecules and metal species
      in photochemical reactions with Mn oxide phases. The timescales for the
      production and evolution of Mn(III) species and a catalytic role for interlayer
      Ca(2+) identified here from spectroscopic measurements can also guide the design
      of efficient Mn-based catalysts for water oxidation. 

PMID- 25825758
TI  - Mechanisms for low-frequency variability of summer Arctic sea ice extent.
AB  - Satellite observations reveal a substantial decline in September Arctic sea ice
      extent since 1979, which has played a leading role in the observed recent Arctic
      surface warming and has often been attributed, in large part, to the increase in
      greenhouse gases. However, the most rapid decline occurred during the recent
      global warming hiatus period. Previous studies are often focused on a single
      mechanism for changes and variations of summer Arctic sea ice extent, and many
      are based on short observational records. The key players for summer Arctic sea
      ice extent variability at multidecadal/centennial time scales and their
      contributions to the observed summer Arctic sea ice decline are not well
      understood. Here a multiple regression model is developed for the first time, to
      the author's knowledge, to provide a framework to quantify the contributions of
      three key predictors (Atlantic/Pacific heat transport into the Arctic, and Arctic
      Dipole) to the internal low-frequency variability of Summer Arctic sea ice
      extent, using a 3,600-y-long control climate model simulation. The results
      suggest that changes in these key predictors could have contributed substantially
      to the observed summer Arctic sea ice decline. If the ocean heat transport into
      the Arctic were to weaken in the near future due to internal variability, there
      might be a hiatus in the decline of September Arctic sea ice. The modeling
      results also suggest that at multidecadal/centennial time scales, variations in
      the atmosphere heat transport across the Arctic Circle are forced by
      anticorrelated variations in the Atlantic heat transport into the Arctic. 

PMID- 25825759
TI  - Molecular recognition of human ephrinB2 cell surface receptor by an emergent
      African henipavirus.
AB  - The discovery of African henipaviruses (HNVs) related to pathogenic Hendra virus
      (HeV) and Nipah virus (NiV) from Southeast Asia and Australia presents an open
      ended health risk. Cell receptor use by emerging African HNVs at the stage of
      host-cell entry is a key parameter when considering the potential for spillover
      and infection of human populations. The attachment glycoprotein from a Ghanaian
      bat isolate (GhV-G) exhibits <30% sequence identity with Asiatic NiV-G/HeV-G.
      Here, through functional and structural analysis of GhV-G, we show how this
      African HNV targets the same human cell-surface receptor (ephrinB2) as the
      Asiatic HNVs. We first characterized this virus-receptor interaction
      crystallographically. Compared with extant HNV-G-ephrinB2 structures, there was
      significant structural variation in the six-bladed beta-propeller scaffold of the
      GhV-G receptor-binding domain, but not the Greek key fold of the bound ephrinB2.
      Analysis revealed a surprisingly conserved mode of ephrinB2 interaction that
      reflects an ongoing evolutionary constraint among geographically distal and
      phylogenetically divergent HNVs to maintain the functionality of ephrinB2
      recognition during virus-host entry. Interestingly, unlike NiV-G/HeV-G, we could
      not detect binding of GhV-G to ephrinB3. Comparative structure-function analysis
      further revealed several distinguishing features of HNV-G function: a secondary
      ephrinB2 interaction site that contributes to more efficient ephrinB2-mediated
      entry in NiV-G relative to GhV-G and cognate residues at the very C terminus of
      GhV-G (absent in Asiatic HNV-Gs) that are vital for efficient receptor-induced
      fusion, but not receptor binding per se. These data provide molecular-level
      details for evaluating the likelihood of African HNVs to spill over into human
      populations. 

PMID- 25825760
TI  - Clustering of mammalian Hox genes with other H3K27me3 targets within an active
      nuclear domain.
AB  - Embryogenesis requires the precise activation and repression of many
      transcriptional regulators. The Polycomb group proteins and the associated
      H3K27me3 histone mark are essential to maintain the inactive state of many of
      these genes. Mammalian Hox genes are targets of Polycomb proteins and form local
      3D clusters centered on the H3K27me3 mark. More distal contacts have also been
      described, yet their selectivity, dynamics, and relation to other layers of
      chromatin organization remained elusive. We report that repressed Hox genes form
      mutual intra- and interchromosomal interactions with other genes located in
      strong domains labeled by H3K27me3. These interactions occur in a central and
      active nuclear environment that consists of the HiC compartment A, away from
      peripheral lamina-associated domains. Interactions are independent of nearby
      H3K27me3-marked loci and determined by chromosomal distance and cell-type
      specific scaling factors, thus inducing a moderate reorganization during
      embryogenesis. These results provide a simplified view of nuclear organization
      whereby Polycomb proteins may have evolved to repress genes located in gene-dense
      regions whose position is restricted to central, active, nuclear environments. 

PMID- 25825761
TI  - Plethora of transitions during breakup of liquid filaments.
AB  - Thinning and breakup of liquid filaments are central to dripping of leaky
      faucets, inkjet drop formation, and raindrop fragmentation. As the filament
      radius decreases, curvature and capillary pressure, both inversely proportional
      to radius, increase and fluid is expelled with increasing velocity from the neck.
      As the neck radius vanishes, the governing equations become singular and the
      filament breaks. In slightly viscous liquids, thinning initially occurs in an
      inertial regime where inertial and capillary forces balance. By contrast, in
      highly viscous liquids, initial thinning occurs in a viscous regime where viscous
      and capillary forces balance. As the filament thins, viscous forces in the former
      case and inertial forces in the latter become important, and theory shows that
      the filament approaches breakup in the final inertial-viscous regime where all
      three forces balance. However, previous simulations and experiments reveal that
      transition from an initial to the final regime either occurs at a value of
      filament radius well below that predicted by theory or is not observed. Here, we
      perform new simulations and experiments, and show that a thinning filament
      unexpectedly passes through a number of intermediate transient regimes, thereby
      delaying onset of the inertial-viscous regime. The new findings have practical
      implications regarding formation of undesirable satellite droplets and also raise
      the question as to whether similar dynamical transitions arise in other free
      surface flows such as coalescence that also exhibit singularities. 

PMID- 25825762
TI  - Jupiter's role in sculpting the early Solar System.

PMID- 25825763
TI  - Experimental ocean acidification alters the allocation of metabolic energy.
AB  - Energy is required to maintain physiological homeostasis in response to
      environmental change. Although responses to environmental stressors frequently
      are assumed to involve high metabolic costs, the biochemical bases of actual
      energy demands are rarely quantified. We studied the impact of a near-future
      scenario of ocean acidification [800 uatm partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2)] during
      the development and growth of an important model organism in developmental and
      environmental biology, the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Size,
      metabolic rate, biochemical content, and gene expression were not different in
      larvae growing under control and seawater acidification treatments. Measurements
      limited to those levels of biological analysis did not reveal the biochemical
      mechanisms of response to ocean acidification that occurred at the cellular
      level. In vivo rates of protein synthesis and ion transport increased ~50% under
      acidification. Importantly, the in vivo physiological increases in ion transport
      were not predicted from total enzyme activity or gene expression. Under
      acidification, the increased rates of protein synthesis and ion transport that
      were sustained in growing larvae collectively accounted for the majority of
      available ATP (84%). In contrast, embryos and prefeeding and unfed larvae in
      control treatments allocated on average only 40% of ATP to these same two
      processes. Understanding the biochemical strategies for accommodating increases
      in metabolic energy demand and their biological limitations can serve as a
      quantitative basis for assessing sublethal effects of global change. Variation in
      the ability to allocate ATP differentially among essential functions may be a key
      basis of resilience to ocean acidification and other compounding environmental
      stressors. 

PMID- 25825764
TI  - Phosphorylation of PCNA by EGFR inhibits mismatch repair and promotes
      misincorporation during DNA synthesis.
AB  - Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) plays essential roles in eukaryotic
      cells during DNA replication, DNA mismatch repair (MMR), and other events at the
      replication fork. Earlier studies show that PCNA is regulated by
      posttranslational modifications, including phosphorylation of tyrosine 211 (Y211)
      by the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). However, the functional
      significance of Y211-phosphorylated PCNA remains unknown. Here, we show that PCNA
      phosphorylation by EGFR alters its interaction with mismatch-recognition proteins
      MutSalpha and MutSbeta and interferes with PCNA-dependent activation of MutLalpha
      endonuclease, thereby inhibiting MMR at the initiation step. Evidence is also
      provided that Y211-phosphorylated PCNA induces nucleotide misincorporation during
      DNA synthesis. These findings reveal a novel mechanism by which Y211
      phosphorylated PCNA promotes cancer development and progression via facilitating
      error-prone DNA replication and suppressing the MMR function. 

PMID- 25825765
TI  - Linked topological colloids in a nematic host.
AB  - Geometric shape and topology of constituent particles can alter many colloidal
      properties such as Brownian motion, self-assembly, and phase behavior. Thus far,
      only single-component building blocks of colloids with connected surfaces have
      been studied, although topological colloids, with constituent particles shaped as
      freestanding knots and handlebodies of different genus, have been recently
      introduced. Here we develop a topological class of colloids shaped as
      multicomponent links. Using two-photon photopolymerization, we fabricate
      colloidal microparticle analogs of the classic examples of links studied in the
      field of topology, the Hopf and Solomon links, which we disperse in nematic
      fluids that possess orientational ordering of anisotropic rod-like molecules. The
      surfaces of these particles are treated to impose tangential or perpendicular
      boundary conditions for the alignment of liquid crystal molecules, so that they
      generate a host of topologically nontrivial field and defect structures in the
      dispersing nematic medium, resulting in an elastic coupling between the linked
      constituents. The interplay between the topologies of surfaces of linked colloids
      and the molecular alignment field of the nematic host reveals that linking of
      particle rings with perpendicular boundary conditions is commonly accompanied by
      linking of closed singular defect loops, laying the foundations for fabricating
      complex composite materials with interlinking-based structural organization. 

PMID- 25825766
TI  - The human sex ratio from conception to birth.
AB  - We describe the trajectory of the human sex ratio from conception to birth by
      analyzing data from (i) 3- to 6-d-old embryos, (ii) induced abortions, (iii)
      chorionic villus sampling, (iv) amniocentesis, and (v) fetal deaths and live
      births. Our dataset is the most comprehensive and largest ever assembled to
      estimate the sex ratio at conception and the sex ratio trajectory and is the
      first, to our knowledge, to include all of these types of data. Our estimate of
      the sex ratio at conception is 0.5 (proportion male), which contradicts the
      common claim that the sex ratio at conception is male-biased. The sex ratio among
      abnormal embryos is male-biased, and the sex ratio among normal embryos is female
      biased. These biases are associated with the abnormal/normal state of the sex
      chromosomes and of chromosomes 15 and 17. The sex ratio may decrease in the first
      week or so after conception (due to excess male mortality); it then increases for
      at least 10-15 wk (due to excess female mortality), levels off after ~20 wk, and
      declines slowly from 28 to 35 wk (due to excess male mortality). Total female
      mortality during pregnancy exceeds total male mortality. The unbiased sex ratio
      at conception, the increase in the sex ratio during the first trimester, and
      total mortality during pregnancy being greater for females are fundamental
      insights into early human development. 

PMID- 25825767
TI  - Metabolic connectivity as a driver of host and endosymbiont integration.
AB  - The origin of oxygenic photosynthesis in the Archaeplastida common ancestor was
      foundational for the evolution of multicellular life. It is very likely that the
      primary endosymbiosis that explains plastid origin relied initially on the
      establishment of a metabolic connection between the host cell and captured
      cyanobacterium. We posit that these connections were derived primarily from
      existing host-derived components. To test this idea, we used phylogenomic and
      network analysis to infer the phylogenetic origin and evolutionary history of 37
      validated plastid innermost membrane (permeome) metabolite transporters from the
      model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Our results show that 57% of these transporter
      genes are of eukaryotic origin and that the captured cyanobacterium made a
      relatively minor (albeit important) contribution to the process. We also tested
      the hypothesis that the bacterium-derived hexose-phosphate transporter UhpC might
      have been the primordial sugar transporter in the Archaeplastida ancestor.
      Bioinformatic and protein localization studies demonstrate that this protein in
      the extremophilic red algae Galdieria sulphuraria and Cyanidioschyzon merolae are
      plastid targeted. Given this protein is also localized in plastids in the
      glaucophyte alga Cyanophora paradoxa, we suggest it played a crucial role in
      early plastid endosymbiosis by connecting the endosymbiont and host carbon
      storage networks. In summary, our work significantly advances understanding of
      plastid integration and favors a host-centric view of endosymbiosis. Under this
      view, nuclear genes of either eukaryotic or bacterial (noncyanobacterial) origin
      provided key elements of the toolkit needed for establishing metabolic
      connections in the primordial Archaeplastida lineage. 

PMID- 25825768
TI  - Structure-based discovery of NANOG variant with enhanced properties to promote
      self-renewal and reprogramming of pluripotent stem cells.
AB  - NANOG (from Irish mythology Tir na nOg) transcription factor plays a central role
      in maintaining pluripotency, cooperating with OCT4 (also known as POU5F1 or
      OCT3/4), SOX2, and other pluripotency factors. Although the physiological roles
      of the NANOG protein have been extensively explored, biochemical and biophysical
      properties in relation to its structural analysis are poorly understood. Here we
      determined the crystal structure of the human NANOG homeodomain (hNANOG HD) bound
      to an OCT4 promoter DNA, which revealed amino acid residues involved in DNA
      recognition that are likely to be functionally important. We generated a series
      of hNANOG HD alanine substitution mutants based on the protein-DNA interaction
      and evolutionary conservation and determined their biological activities. Some
      mutant proteins were less stable, resulting in loss or decreased affinity for DNA
      binding. Overexpression of the orthologous mouse NANOG (mNANOG) mutants failed to
      maintain self-renewal of mouse embryonic stem cells without leukemia inhibitory
      factor. These results suggest that these residues are critical for NANOG
      transcriptional activity. Interestingly, one mutant, hNANOG L122A, conversely
      enhanced protein stability and DNA-binding affinity. The mNANOG L122A, when
      overexpressed in mouse embryonic stem cells, maintained their expression of self
      renewal markers even when retinoic acid was added to forcibly drive
      differentiation. When overexpressed in epiblast stem cells or human induced
      pluripotent stem cells, the L122A mutants enhanced reprogramming into ground
      state pluripotency. These findings demonstrate that structural and biophysical
      information on key transcriptional factors provides insights into the
      manipulation of stem cell behaviors and a framework for rational protein
      engineering. 

PMID- 25825770
TI  - Correction for Gonsamo et al., Underestimated role of East Atlantic-West Russia
      pattern on Amazon vegetation productivity.

PMID- 25825769
TI  - Continental crust beneath southeast Iceland.
AB  - The magmatic activity (0-16 Ma) in Iceland is linked to a deep mantle plume that
      has been active for the past 62 My. Icelandic and northeast Atlantic basalts
      contain variable proportions of two enriched components, interpreted as recycled
      oceanic crust supplied by the plume, and subcontinental lithospheric mantle
      derived from the nearby continental margins. A restricted area in southeast
      Iceland--and especially the Oraefajokull volcano--is characterized by a unique
      enriched-mantle component (EM2-like) with elevated (87)Sr/(86)Sr and
      (207)Pb/(204)Pb. Here, we demonstrate through modeling of Sr-Nd-Pb abundances and
      isotope ratios that the primitive Oraefajokull melts could have assimilated 2-6%
      of underlying continental crust before differentiating to more evolved melts.
      From inversion of gravity anomaly data (crustal thickness), analysis of regional
      magnetic data, and plate reconstructions, we propose that continental crust
      beneath southeast Iceland is part of ~350-km-long and 70-km-wide extension of the
      Jan Mayen Microcontinent (JMM). The extended JMM was marginal to East Greenland
      but detached in the Early Eocene (between 52 and 47 Mya); by the Oligocene (27
      Mya), all parts of the JMM permanently became part of the Eurasian plate
      following a westward ridge jump in the direction of the Iceland plume.

PMID- 25825771
TI  - Using bimodal MRI/fluorescence imaging to identify host angiogenic response to
      implants.
AB  - Therapies that promote angiogenesis have been successfully applied using various
      combinations of proangiogenic factors together with a biodegradable delivery
      vehicle. In this study we used bimodal noninvasive monitoring to show that the
      host response to a proangiogenic biomaterial can be drastically affected by the
      mode of implantation and the surface area-to-volume ratio of the implant
      material. Fluorescence/MRI probes were covalently conjugated to VEGF-bearing
      biodegradable PEG-fibrinogen hydrogel implants and used to document the in vivo
      degradation and liberation of bioactive constituents in an s.c. rat implantation
      model. The hydrogel biodegradation and angiogenic host response with three types
      of VEGF-bearing implant configurations were compared: preformed cylindrical
      plugs, preformed injectable microbeads, and hydrogel precursor, injected and
      polymerized in situ. Although all three were made with identical amounts of
      precursor constituents, the MRI data revealed that in situ polymerized hydrogels
      were fully degraded within 2 wk; microbead degradation was more moderate, and
      plugs degraded significantly more slowly than the other configurations. The
      presence of hydrogel degradation products containing the fluorescent label in the
      surrounding tissues revealed a distinct biphasic release profile for each type of
      implant configuration. The purported in vivo VEGF release profile from the
      microbeads resulted in highly vascularized s.c. tissue containing up to 16-fold
      more capillaries in comparison with controls. These findings demonstrate that the
      configuration of an implant can play an important role not only in the
      degradation and resorption properties of the materials, but also in consequent
      host angiogenic response. 

PMID- 25825772
TI  - Eluding catastrophic shifts.
AB  - Transitions between regimes with radically different properties are ubiquitous in
      nature. Such transitions can occur either smoothly or in an abrupt and
      catastrophic fashion. Important examples of the latter can be found in ecology,
      climate sciences, and economics, to name a few, where regime shifts have
      catastrophic consequences that are mostly irreversible (e.g., desertification,
      coral reef collapses, and market crashes). Predicting and preventing these abrupt
      transitions remains a challenging and important task. Usually, simple
      deterministic equations are used to model and rationalize these complex
      situations. However, stochastic effects might have a profound effect. Here we use
      1D and 2D spatially explicit models to show that intrinsic (demographic)
      stochasticity can alter deterministic predictions dramatically, especially in the
      presence of other realistic features such as limited mobility or spatial
      heterogeneity. In particular, these ingredients can alter the possibility of
      catastrophic shifts by giving rise to much smoother and easily reversible
      continuous ones. The ideas presented here can help further understand
      catastrophic shifts and contribute to the discussion about the possibility of
      preventing such shifts to minimize their disruptive ecological, economic, and
      societal consequences. 

PMID- 25825774
TI  - Retraction.

PMID- 25825773
TI  - Amplitude of the actomyosin power stroke depends strongly on the isoform of the
      myosin essential light chain.
AB  - We have used time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (TR-FRET) to
      determine the role of myosin essential light chains (ELCs) in structural
      transitions within the actomyosin complex. Skeletal muscle myosins have two ELC
      isoforms, A1 and A2, which differ by an additional 40-45 residues at the N
      terminus of A1, and subfragment 1 (S1) containing A1 (S1A1) has higher catalytic
      efficiency and higher affinity for actin than S1A2. ELC's location at the
      junction between the catalytic and light-chain domains gives it the potential to
      play a central role in the force-generating power stroke. Therefore, we measured
      site-directed TR-FRET between a donor on actin and an acceptor near the C
      terminus of ELC, detecting directly the rotation of the light-chain domain (lever
      arm) relative to actin (power stroke), induced by the interaction of ATP-bound
      myosin with actin. TR-FRET resolved the weakly bound (W) and strongly bound (S)
      states of actomyosin during the W-to-S transition (power stroke). We found that
      the W states are essentially the same for the two isoenzymes, but the S states
      are quite different, indicating a much larger movement of S1A1. FRET from actin
      to a probe on the N-terminal extension of A1 showed close proximity to actin. We
      conclude that the N-terminal extension of A1-ELC modulates the W-to-S structural
      transition of acto-S1, so that the light-chain domain undergoes a much larger
      power stroke in S1A1 than in S1A2. These results have profound implications for
      understanding the contractile function of actomyosin, as needed in therapeutic
      design for muscle disorders. 

PMID- 25825776
TI  - Correction for Merz, What are the roles of V-ATPases in membrane fusion?

PMID- 25825775
TI  - Targeting diverse protein-protein interaction interfaces with alpha/beta-peptides
      derived from the Z-domain scaffold.
AB  - Peptide-based agents derived from well-defined scaffolds offer an alternative to
      antibodies for selective and high-affinity recognition of large and topologically
      complex protein surfaces. Here, we describe a strategy for designing oligomers
      containing both alpha- and beta-amino acid residues ("alpha/beta-peptides") that
      mimic several peptides derived from the three-helix bundle "Z-domain" scaffold.
      We show that alpha/beta-peptides derived from a Z-domain peptide targeting
      vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) can structurally and functionally mimic
      the binding surface of the parent peptide while exhibiting significantly
      decreased susceptibility to proteolysis. The tightest VEGF-binding alpha/beta
      peptide inhibits the VEGF165-induced proliferation of human umbilical vein
      endothelial cells. We demonstrate the versatility of this strategy by showing how
      principles underlying VEGF signaling inhibitors can be rapidly extended to
      produce Z-domain-mimetic alpha/beta-peptides that bind to two other protein
      partners, IgG and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Because well-established selection
      techniques can identify high-affinity Z-domain derivatives from large DNA-encoded
      libraries, our findings should enable the design of biostable alpha/beta-peptides
      that bind tightly and specifically to diverse targets of biomedical interest.
      Such reagents would be useful for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. 

PMID- 25825777
TI  - Candidate ionotropic taste receptors in the Drosophila larva.
AB  - We examine in Drosophila a group of ~35 ionotropic receptors (IRs), the IR20a
      clade, about which remarkably little is known. Of 28 genes analyzed, GAL4 drivers
      representing 11 showed expression in the larva. Eight drivers labeled neurons of
      the pharynx, a taste organ, and three labeled neurons of the body wall that may
      be chemosensory. Expression was not observed in neurons of one taste organ, the
      terminal organ, although these neurons express many drivers of the Gr (Gustatory
      receptor) family. For most drivers of the IR20a clade, we observed expression in
      a single pair of cells in the animal, with limited coexpression, and only a
      fraction of pharyngeal neurons are labeled. The organization of IR20a clade
      expression thus appears different from the organization of the Gr family or the
      Odor receptor (Or) family in the larva. A remarkable feature of the larval
      pharynx is that some of its organs are incorporated into the adult pharynx, and
      several drivers of this clade are expressed in the pharynx of both larvae and
      adults. Different IR drivers show different developmental dynamics across the
      larval stages, either increasing or decreasing. Among neurons expressing drivers
      in the pharynx, two projection patterns can be distinguished in the CNS. Neurons
      exhibiting these two kinds of projection patterns may activate different
      circuits, possibly signaling the presence of cues with different valence. Taken
      together, the simplest interpretation of our results is that the IR20a clade
      encodes a class of larval taste receptors. 

PMID- 25825778
TI  - Molecular cartography of the human skin surface in 3D.
AB  - The human skin is an organ with a surface area of 1.5-2 m(2) that provides our
      interface with the environment. The molecular composition of this organ is
      derived from host cells, microbiota, and external molecules. The chemical makeup
      of the skin surface is largely undefined. Here we advance the technologies needed
      to explore the topographical distribution of skin molecules, using 3D mapping of
      mass spectrometry data and microbial 16S rRNA amplicon sequences. Our 3D maps
      reveal that the molecular composition of skin has diverse distributions and that
      the composition is defined not only by skin cells and microbes but also by our
      daily routines, including the application of hygiene products. The technological
      development of these maps lays a foundation for studying the spatial
      relationships of human skin with hygiene, the microbiota, and environment, with
      potential for developing predictive models of skin phenotypes tailored to
      individual health. 

PMID- 25825780
TI  - Reply to Tzoulis et al.: Genetic and clinical heterogeneity of essential tremor.

PMID- 25825781
TI  - HTRA2 p.G399S in Parkinson disease, essential tremor, and tremulous cervical
      dystonia.

PMID- 25825782
TI  - Metabolizable energy content of wheat distillers' dried grains with solubles
      supplemented with or without a mixture of carbohydrases and protease for broilers
      and turkeys.
AB  - In this study, 2 experiments were conducted to determine the AME and AMEn of
      wheat distillers' dried grains with solubles (DDGS) without or with
      supplementation of an enzyme mixture containing xylanase, amylase, and protease
      (XAP) in broilers and turkeys. One hundred twenty-six male Ross 308 broilers
      (Experiment 1) or 126 male BUT 10 turkeys (Experiment 2) were offered a nutrient
      adequate diet from d 1 to 14. On d 14, birds in each experiment were allocated to
      6 treatments consisting of 3 levels of wheat-DDGS (0, 300, or 600 g/kg) and 2
      levels of XAP (0 or 250 mg/kg diet) in a randomized complete block design. The
      AME or AMEn content of wheat-DDGS was determined from the slope of regression of
      wheat-DDGS-associated energy intake (kilocalories) against wheat-DDGS intake
      (kilograms). In Experiment 1, wheat-DDGS inclusion in the diets linearly
      decreased (P<0.05) DM retention, AME, and AMEn, irrespective of XAP
      supplementation. The AME of wheat-DDGS without or with XAP for broilers was 3,587
      or 3,700 kcal/kg DM, respectively, and AMEn was 3,356 and 3,459 kcal/kg DM for
      wheat-DDGS without and with XAP, respectively. In Experiment 2, wheat-DDGS
      inclusion in the diet linearly decreased (P<0.05) DM retention irrespective of
      XAP supplementation. Diet AME and AMEn linearly decreased (P<0.05) as the level
      of wheat-DDGS increased in the diets without added XAP, whereas there was no
      effect of increasing wheat-DDGS level on dietary AME or AMEn in the XAP
      supplemented diets. The AME of wheat-DDGS without and with supplemental XAP for
      turkeys were 3,355 and 3,558 kcal/kg DM, respectively, and AMEn was 3,109 and
      3,294 kcal/kg DM, respectively, for wheat-DDGS without and with XAP. Supplemental
      XAP increased (P>0.05) the AME and AMEn of wheat-DDGS for broilers and turkeys by
      up to 6%. It was concluded that wheat-DDGS is a valuable source of AME for
      broilers and turkeys.

PMID- 25825783
TI  - Effect of yellow lupine (L. luteus) on the egg yolk fatty acid profile, the
      physicochemical and sensory properties of eggs, and laying hen performance.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different dietary inclusion
      of raw yellow lupine seed meal (YLM) on laying hen performance, the fatty acid
      (FA) profile, physicochemical, and sensory properties of eggs. A total of 224
      Lohmann Brown laying hens at 32 wk age were fed isonitrogenous and isocaloric
      diets for 16 wk. The control diet contained soybean meal (SBM), and in study
      diets SBM was replaced with YLM at 100, 200, or 300 g/kg. In comparison with
      soybean, lupine seeds had a higher content of nonstarch polysaccharides (NSP) and
      raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFO) (29.5 vs. 14.0 and 8.56 vs. 5.91% DM).
      The dietary 300 g/kg lupine seeds increased the content of NSP and RFO in the
      ration, from 9.34 to 13.39 and 1.36 to 2.54%, respectively. The YLM inclusion
      level had no adverse effect on laying performance, including feed intake, FCR,
      egg production, and egg weight. The final BW of hens fed lupine-based diets were
      significantly higher compared with the control (P=0.039). Throughout the study,
      dietary treatments had no effect on eggshell and albumen quality. An increase in
      the inclusion rate of YLM was followed by a linear increase (P<0.001) in yolk
      color intensity. Dietary treatments had no influence on the aroma, taste, and
      texture of eggs evaluated in laying hens at 46 wk age. The inclusion of lupine
      seeds in experimental diets caused a linear increase in n-6 polyunsaturated FA
      (PUFA) content and the n-6/n-3 ratio (all P<0.001), but it had no influence on
      the atherogenic and the thrombogenic indices of egg yolk lipids. The results of
      this study indicate that YLM can be included at 300 g/kg in layer diets as a
      partial substitute for soybean meal without compromising laying performance, the
      physicochemical, and sensory properties of eggs.

PMID- 25825779
TI  - RING E3 mechanism for ubiquitin ligation to a disordered substrate visualized for
      human anaphase-promoting complex.
AB  - For many E3 ligases, a mobile RING (Really Interesting New Gene) domain
      stimulates ubiquitin (Ub) transfer from a thioester-linked E2~Ub intermediate to
      a lysine on a remotely bound disordered substrate. One such E3 is the gigantic,
      multisubunit 1.2-MDa anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC), which controls
      cell division by ubiquitinating cell cycle regulators to drive their timely
      degradation. Intrinsically disordered substrates are typically recruited via
      their KEN-box, D-box, and/or other motifs binding to APC and a coactivator such
      as CDH1. On the opposite side of the APC, the dynamic catalytic core contains the
      cullin-like subunit APC2 and its RING partner APC11, which collaborates with the
      E2 UBCH10 (UBE2C) to ubiquitinate substrates. However, how dynamic RING-E2~Ub
      catalytic modules such as APC11-UBCH10~Ub collide with distally tethered
      disordered substrates remains poorly understood. We report structural mechanisms
      of UBCH10 recruitment to APC(CDH1) and substrate ubiquitination. Unexpectedly, in
      addition to binding APC11's RING, UBCH10 is corecruited via interactions with
      APC2, which we visualized in a trapped complex representing an APC(CDH1)
      UBCH10~Ub-substrate intermediate by cryo-electron microscopy, and in isolation by
      X-ray crystallography. To our knowledge, this is the first structural view of
      APC, or any cullin-RING E3, with E2 and substrate juxtaposed, and it reveals how
      tripartite cullin-RING-E2 interactions establish APC's specificity for UBCH10 and
      harness a flexible catalytic module to drive ubiquitination of lysines within an
      accessible zone. We propose that multisite interactions reduce the degrees of
      freedom available to dynamic RING E3-E2~Ub catalytic modules, condense the search
      radius for target lysines, increase the chance of active-site collision with
      conformationally fluctuating substrates, and enable regulation. 

PMID- 25825784
TI  - Oral peptide specific egg antibody to intestinal sodium-dependent phosphate co
      transporter-2b is effective at altering phosphate transport in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Hyperimmunized hens are an effective means of generating large quantities of
      antigen specific egg antibodies that have use as oral supplements. In this study,
      we attempted to create a peptide specific antibody that produced outcomes similar
      to those of the human pharmaceutical, sevelamer HCl, used in the treatment of
      hyperphosphatemia (a sequela of chronic renal disease). Egg antibodies were
      generated against 8 different human intestinal sodium-dependent phosphate
      cotransporter 2b (NaPi2b) peptides, and hNaPi2b peptide egg antibodies were
      screened for their ability to inhibit phosphate transport in human intestinal
      Caco-2 cell line. Antibody produced against human peptide sequence TSPSLCWT (anti
      h16) was specific for its peptide sequence, and significantly reduced phosphate
      transport in human Caco-2 cells to 25.3+/-11.5% of control nonspecific antibody,
      when compared to nicotinamide, a known inhibitor of phosphate transport
      (P<=0.05). Antibody was then produced against the mouse-specific peptide h16
      counterpart (mouse sequence TSPSYCWT, anti-m16) for further analysis in a murine
      model. When anti-m16 was fed to mice (1% of diet as dried egg yolk powder), egg
      yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) was detected using immunohistochemical staining in
      mouse ileum, and egg anti-m16 IgY colocalized with a commercial goat anti-NaPi2b
      antibody. The effectiveness of anti-m16 egg antibody in reducing serum phosphate,
      when compared to sevelamer HCl, was determined in a mouse feeding study. Serum
      phosphate was reduced 18% (P<0.02) in mice fed anti-m16 (1% as dried egg yolk
      powder) and 30% (P<0.0001) in mice fed sevelamer HCl (1% of diet) when compared
      to mice fed nonspecific egg immunoglobulin. The methods described and the
      findings reported show that oral egg antibodies are useful and easy to prepare
      reagents for the study and possible treatment of select diseases.

PMID- 25825785
TI  - Oral administration of the Salmonella Typhimurium vaccine strain Nal2/Rif9/Rtt to
      laying hens at day of hatch reduces shedding and caecal colonization of
      Salmonella 4,12:i:-, the monophasic variant of Salmonella Typhimurium.
AB  - A new monophasic variant of Salmonella Typhimurium, Salmonella enterica serotype
      4,12:i:-, is rapidly emerging. This serotype is now considered to be among the 10
      most common serovars isolated from humans in many countries in Europe and in the
      United States. The public health risk posed by these emerging monophasic
      Salmonella Typhimurium strains is considered comparable to that of classical
      Salmonella Typhimurium strains. The serotype 4,12:i:- is frequently isolated from
      pigs but also poultry are carrying strains from this serotype. In the current
      study, we evaluated the efficacy of the Salmonella Typhimurium strain
      Nal2/Rif9/Rtt, a strain contained in the commercially available live vaccines
      AviPro Salmonella Duo and AviPro Salmonella VacT, against infection with the
      emerging monophasic variant in poultry. Three independent trials were conducted.
      In all trials, laying type chicks were orally vaccinated with the Salmonella
      Typhimurium strain Nal2/Rif9/Rtt at d hatch, while the birds were challenged the
      next d with a different infection dose in each trial (low, high, and
      intermediate). For the intermediate-dose study, a seeder bird model was used in
      which one out of 3 animals were infected while all individual birds were infected
      in the other trials. Data obtained from each independent trial show that oral
      administration of the Salmonella Typhimurium strain Nal2/Rif9/Rtt at d hatch
      reduced shedding, caecal, and internal organ colonization of Salmonella
      Typhimurium 4,12:i:-, administered at d 2 life. This indicates that Salmonella
      Typhimurium strain Nal2/Rif9/Rtt can help to control Salmonella 4,12:i:-
      infections in poultry. 

PMID- 25825786
TI  - Oxidative damage to poultry: from farm to fork.
AB  - Poultry and poultry meat are particularly susceptible to oxidative reactions.
      Oxidation processes have been for decades the focus of animal and meat scientists
      owing to the negative impact of these reactions on animal growth, performance,
      and food quality. Lipid oxidation has been recognized a major threat to the
      quality of processed poultry products. The recent discoveries on the occurrence
      of protein oxidation in muscle foods have increased the scientific and
      technological interest in a topic that broadens the horizons of food biochemistry
      into innovative fields. Furthermore, in recent years we have witnessed a growing
      interest in consumers on the impact of diet and oxidation on health and aging.
      Hence, the general description of oxidative reactions as harmful phenomena goes
      beyond the actual impact on animal production and food quality and reaches the
      potential influence of oxidized foods on consumer health. Likewise, the current
      antioxidant strategies aim for the protection of the living tissues, the food
      systems, and a potential health benefit in the consumer upon ingestion. Along
      these lines, the application of phytochemicals and other microelements (Se, Cu)
      with antioxidant potential in the feeds or directly in the meat product are
      strategies of substantial significance. The present paper reviews in a concise
      manner the most relevant and novel aspects of the mechanisms and consequences of
      oxidative reactions in poultry and poultry meat, and describes current
      antioxidant strategies against these undesirable reactions. 

PMID- 25825787
TI  - Effects of broiler breeder management on pullet body weight and carcass
      uniformity.
AB  - An experiment was conducted to study the effect of broiler breeder feeding
      management practices on pullet performance, BW uniformity, and carcass traits
      during rearing (to 22 wk of age). At 3 wk of age, 1,200 Ross 308 breeder pullets
      were assigned to one of 5 treatments: 1) control: standard mash diet, fed daily;
      2) high fiber: mash diet containing 25% lower nutrient density, fed daily; 3)
      scatter: standard diet in pellet form scattered on litter, fed daily; 4) skip-a
      day: standard mash diet, fed on alternate days; or 5) grading: standard mash
      diet, fed daily (birds sorted into low, average, and high BW groups every 4 wk).
      Birds on the high fiber treatment consumed more feed (P<0.0001) and had the
      highest feed conversion ratio (FCR; P<0.004) but the lowest ME to gain and CP to
      gain ratios (P<=0.002). Skip-a-day treatment pullets consumed more ME and CP than
      birds in any other treatment (P<0.001). Grading yielded the highest BW uniformity
      at 22 wk of age (CV=6.2%), while control and high fiber treatment groups were
      least uniform (CV>15%; P<0.0001). Skip-a-day feed restriction produced birds with
      the significantly lowest breast muscle and highest liver weight compared to all
      other treatments (P<0.05). Variation in shank length, chest width, and breast
      muscle was lowest in the grading treatment, whereas the CV for fat pad and liver
      was lowest in the skip-a-day treatment. In this trial, broiler breeder target BW
      profiles were achieved using combinations of quantitative and qualitative feed
      restriction, or preemptive management practices. Qualitative diet dilution and
      skip-a-day management did little to increase flock uniformity relative to the
      control during the most intense period of feed restriction (7 to 19 wk). Scatter
      feeding increased flock uniformity to a small degree, whereas grading yielded the
      highest increase in BW and carcass trait uniformity.

PMID- 25825788
TI  - mRNA expression of amino acid transporters, aminopeptidase, and the di- and tri
      peptide transporter PepT1 in the intestine and liver of posthatch broiler chicks.
AB  - Amino acid (AA) transporter proteins are responsible for the movement of amino
      acids in and out of cells. Aminopeptidase cleaves AAs from the N-terminus of
      polypeptides making them available for transport, while PepT1 is a di- and
      tripeptide transporter. In the intestine, these proteins are present on the brush
      border and basolateral membranes of enterocytes, and are essential for the uptake
      of AAs into enterocytes and their release into circulation. The purpose of this
      study was to determine the level of transcription of these genes after hatch in 3
      regions of the small intestine, the ceca, and liver. Heritage broiler chicks
      (n=5) were sampled at day after hatch and days 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, and 21
      posthatch, and mRNA expression level was measured using absolute quantitation.
      The small intestine (duodenum, jejunum, and ileum) expressed the largest
      quantities of each gene tested. The expression in the ceca and liver was 1 to 3
      orders of magnitude less than that of the small intestine. The expression of
      basolateral transporters in the small intestine was more constant over days
      posthatch than the expression of brush border transporters. In the ceca the
      expression of the brush border transporters decreased over the sampling period,
      while expression of basolateral genes was relatively constant. In the liver the
      expression of Na+ independent cationic and zwitterionic amino acid transporter
      (bo,+AT), Na+ independent cationic amino acid transporter 2 (CAT2), excitatory
      amino acid transporter 3 (EAAT3), and the heavy chain corresponding to the bo,+)
      system (rBAT) significantly decreased at 12 days posthatch; however, the
      expression of Na+ independent cationic and Na+ dependent neutral amino acid
      transporter 1 (y+LAT1), Na+ coupled neutral amino acid transporter 1; (SNAT1),
      and Na+ coupled neutral amino acid transporter 2 (SNAT2) significantly increased
      at day 5 posthatch compared to day 1 and these levels remained throughout the
      rest of the sampling period. The current results suggest that at 1 day posthatch
      chicks are capable of AA processing and transport in the intestine as well as the
      liver. Additionally the ability of the ceca in transporting AA from the lumen may
      decrease with age. The liver should be capable of amino acid transport, but its
      capabilities may be more specific since the expression of several transporters in
      this organ is either absent or very low.

PMID- 25825789
TI  - Camelina sativa cake for broilers: Effects of increasing dietary inclusion from 0
      to 24% on tissue fatty acid proportions at 14, 28, and 42 d of age.
AB  - The benefits to human from the consumption of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids
      (N-3 PUFAS) have been recognized. Camelina sativa is an oilseed crop grown for
      biofuel production. Feeding its cake with 10 to 20% remaining oil (28 to 30%
      alpha-linolenic acid [ALA]) has the potential to enrich poultry products with n-3
      PUFA. An experiment was conducted to assess lipid deposition in brain, liver,
      breast, and thigh tissue by increasing inclusions of camelina cake (CC) fed to
      broiler chickens. Male chicks (744, Ross 308) housed in 24 cages were fed 0, 8,
      16, or 24% CC for 42 d, 6 replicates per CC level. At the end of the starter (14
      d), grower (28 d), and finisher (42 d) phase, brain, liver, breast, and thigh
      samples were collected from 3 birds/cage and diets were analyzed for fatty acid
      content. Feeding increasing CC inclusions from 0 to 8, 16, and 24% increased
      dietary ALA (5.3, 11.1, 15.2, 17.8, respectively) as a proportion of the total
      fatty acid content. All diets provided a similar level of long-chain n-3 PUFA
      (about 0.9%). Irrespective of growth phase, increases in dietary CC inclusion led
      to a linear increase (P<0.001) in the proportion of ALA in breast, thigh, and
      liver (76, 128, 288%, respectively), but not in brain tissue. An increase in
      dietary CC inclusion led to a linear increase (P<0.001) in the proportion of long
      chain n-3 PUFAs, including docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and docosahexaenoic acid
      (DHA) in liver (109 and 80%, respectively) and brain (24 and 6%, respectively)
      tissue. However, in breast and thigh tissue, increases in dietary CC inclusion
      led to an increase in only (P<0.005) DPA (24 and 27%, respectively). The
      predominant n-3 PUFA in liver and brain tissue feeding 24% CC was DHA (48% and
      88%, respectively), unlike in breast and thigh meat, where ALA increased (65 and
      86%, respectively). The labeling claim requirement for n-3 PUFA enrichment (300
      mg/100 g meat) was exceeded in breast and thigh by feeding a 24% CC diet for 28 d
      or 16% CC diet for 42 d, respectively.

PMID- 25825790
TI  - Effect of micellized natural (D-alpha-tocopherol) vs. synthetic (DL-alpha
      tocopheryl acetate) vitamin E supplementation given to turkeys on oxidative
      status and breast meat quality characteristics.
AB  - This study evaluates the effect of vitamin E supplementation source (micellized
      natural vs. the synthetic form) and dosage (40, 80, or 120 mg/kg) on alpha
      tocopherol concentration in plasma and muscle, antioxidant capacity, and breast
      meat quality in turkeys. Three hundred female turkeys were randomly selected at
      an average live weight 63.2 g+/-0.5 and distributed into 7 groups. One group
      (control) was fed a standard diet without vitamin E supplementation and the other
      6 were given mixed diets supplemented with the natural (d-alpha-tocopherol) or
      synthetic (dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate) form of vitamin E in 3 dosages (40, 80,
      or 120 mg/kg). Following 11 wk feeding, results showed that performance
      parameters were not modified either by source or dosage of vitamin E
      supplementation to the turkeys. Plasma and muscle alpha-tocopherol at d 9 of
      refrigerated storage were higher when turkeys were supplemented with the natural
      form at higher doses. Losses in the concentration of alpha-tocopherol in meat
      between the beginning and the end of the 9 d refrigerated storage were greater in
      the groups supplemented with the synthetic form of vitamin E compared to those
      receiving the natural supplementation. The relationship between plasma alpha
      tocopherol and the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity followed a different
      trend depending on the vitamin E source. Intramuscular fat was not significantly
      affected by the vitamin E source supplementation; however the slope of the linear
      regression equation was lower for the natural form than for the synthetic form.
      Turkeys given the natural form had higher C18:1n-9 but lower C15:1, C17:1, C20:5n
      3, and C22:6n-3 in breast muscle. Meat samples from turkeys supplemented with
      natural vitamin E had higher deoxymyoglobin at d 3, 6, and 9 and lower
      metmyoglobin at d 9 of refrigerated storage than those receiving the synthetic
      form. Dietary supplementation with medium doses (80 mg/kg) micellized d-alpha
      tocopherol is an interesting feeding strategy for ensuring antioxidant status and
      improving meat quality.

PMID- 25825791
TI  - Developing person-centred analysis of harm in a paediatric hospital: a quality
      improvement report.
AB  - The provision of safe care is complex and difficult to achieve. Awareness of what
      happens in real time is one of the ways to develop a safe system within a culture
      of safety. At Great Ormond Street Hospital, we developed and tested a tool
      specifically designed for patients and families to report harm, with the aim of
      raising awareness and opportunities for staff to continually improve and provide
      safe care. Over a 10-month period, we developed processes to report harm. We used
      the Model for Improvement and multiple Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles for testing.
      We measured changes using culture surveys as well as analysis of the reports. The
      tool was tested in different formats and moved from a provider centric to a
      person-centred tool analysed in real time. An independent person working with the
      families was best placed to support reporting. Immediate feedback to families was
      managed by senior staff, and provided the opportunity for clarification,
      transparency and apologies. Feedback to staff provided learning opportunities.
      Improvements in culture climate and staff reporting were noted in the short term.
      The integration of patient involvement in safety monitoring systems is essential
      to achieve safety. The high number of newly identified 'near-misses' and
      'critical incidents' by families demonstrated an underestimation of potentially
      harmful events. This testing and introduction of a self-reporting, real-time
      bedside tool has led to active engagement with families and patients and raised
      situation awareness. We believe that this will lead to improved and safer care in
      the longer term. 

PMID- 25825792
TI  - Reconsidering the dynamics in mixtures of methyltetrahydrofuran with tristyrene
      and polystyrene.
AB  - Mixtures of methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF) with tristyrene and high molecular
      weight polystyrene involve an exceptionally large difference in the glass
      transition temperatures of the two components not realized in other binary
      mixtures studied before. The extensive study of the molecular dynamics of these
      mixtures by various experimental techniques by Blochowicz et al. has revealed the
      presence of a new alpha'-relaxation not found before in other mixtures and also
      the more familiar alpha- and beta-relaxations, but their properties are more
      extreme. Attention was focused on the new alpha'-relaxation by Blochowicz et al.
      in interpreting it to originate from MTHF in confinement and explaining its
      properties by the Mode Coupling Theory. In a different direction, we concentrate
      on the highly unusual properties of the alpha- and beta-relaxations. Earlier, we
      had success in explaining the properties of these two relaxations and their
      connection in other mixtures by the coupling model. In this paper, we apply the
      same model to explain the highly unusual dynamics of the alpha- and beta
      relaxations found in the mixtures of MTHF with tristyrene and polystyrene.
      Possible relation between the alpha'- and the beta-relaxations also is explored. 

PMID- 25825793
TI  - Inhibition of Non-ATG Translational Events in Cells via Covalent Small Molecules
      Targeting RNA.
AB  - One major class of disease-causing RNAs is expanded repeating transcripts. These
      RNAs cause diseases via multiple mechanisms, including: (i) gain-of-function, in
      which repeating RNAs bind and sequester proteins involved in RNA biogenesis and
      (ii) repeat associated non-ATG (RAN) translation, in which repeating transcripts
      are translated into toxic proteins without use of a canonical, AUG, start codon.
      Herein, we develop and study chemical probes that bind and react with an expanded
      r(CGG) repeat (r(CGG)(exp)) present in a 5' untranslated region that causes
      fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). Reactive compounds bind to
      r(CGG)(exp) in cellulo as shown with Chem-CLIP-Map, an approach to map small
      molecule binding sites within RNAs in cells. Compounds also potently improve
      FXTAS-associated pre-mRNA splicing and RAN translational defects, while not
      affecting translation of the downstream open reading frame. In contrast,
      oligonucleotides affect both RAN and canonical translation when they bind to
      r(CGG)(exp), which is mechanistically traced to a decrease in polysome loading.
      Thus, designer small molecules that react with RNA targets can be used to profile
      the RNAs to which they bind in cells, including identification of binding sites,
      and can modulate several aspects of RNA-mediated disease pathology in a manner
      that may be more beneficial than oligonucleotides. 

PMID- 25825794
TI  - Chemical characterization of exhaust emissions from selected canadian marine
      vessels: the case of trace metals and lanthanoids.
AB  - This paper reports the chemical composition of exhaust emissions from the main
      engines of five ocean going cargo vessels, as they traveled in Canadian waters.
      The emission factors (EFs) of PM2.5 and SO2 for vessels tested on various
      intermediate fuel oils (IFO), ranged from 0.4 to 2.2 g kW(-1) hr(-1) and 4.7 to
      10.3 g kW(-1) hr(-1), respectively, and were mainly dependent on the content of
      sulfur in the fuel. Average NOx, CO, and CO2 EFs for these tests were 12.7, 0.45,
      and 618 g kW(-1) hr(-1), respectively and were generally below benchmark values
      commonly used by regulatory agencies. The composition of PM2.5 was dominated by
      hydrated sulfates, organic carbon and trace metals which accounted for 80-97% of
      total PM2.5 mass. A substantial decrease of measured emission factors for PM2.5
      and SO2 was observed when the fuel was changed from IFO to marine diesel oil
      (MDO), in one of the tested vessels. The main component of PM2.5 in this case was
      organic carbon accounting for 65% of PM2.5 mass. In addition to commonly reported
      pollutants, this study presents EFs of the lanthanoid elements and showed that
      their distribution patterns in ship-exhaust PM2.5 were very similar to the PM2.5
      emitted by oil refining facilities. Hence, using La:Ce:V tertiary diagrams and
      La/V ratios is necessary to distinguish ship plumes from primary emissions
      related to accidental and/or routine operation of oil-refining industry. 

PMID- 25825795
TI  - Effect of multiwalled carbon nanotubes on the kinetics of the aniline
      polymerization: the semi-quantitative OCP approach.
AB  - We demonstrate applicability of the open-circuit potential (OCP) method for
      kinetic analysis of the oxidative chemical polymerization of aniline both in
      clear solution and in dispersions of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). The
      characteristic points and the shape of the OCP profile are used to estimate the
      kinetic parameters of the main stages of the known two-step polymerization
      mechanism of aniline. We have found that the reciprocal values of the duration of
      the main polymerization stages namely the induction period, pernigraniline (PN)
      accumulation and reduction of PN with residual aniline are the linear functions
      of the weight fraction of MWCNT. To compare the kinetic data of the proposed OCP
      and known approaches the last two stages have been considered as a single
      heterogeneous stage of emeraldine (EM) formation. The kEM rate constant
      calculated by the OCP profiles for this EM stage in the solution and dispersion
      media is in a very good agreement with the known k2 values. 

PMID- 25825796
TI  - Lycium europaeum fruit extract: antiproliferative activity on A549 human lung
      carcinoma cells and PC12 rat adrenal medulla cancer cells and assessment of its
      cytotoxicity on cerebellum granule cells.
AB  - Cancer is a major worldwide health problem and one of the leading causes of death
      either in developed or developing countries. Plant extracts and derivatives have
      always been used for various disease treatments and many anticancer agents issued
      from plants and vegetables are clinically recognized and used all over the world.
      Lycium europaeum (Solanaceae) also called "wolfberry" was known since ancient
      times in the Mediterranean area as a medicinal plant and used in several
      traditional remedies. The Lycium species capacity of reducing the incidence of
      cancer and also of halting or reserving the growth of cancer was reported by
      traditional healers. In this study, the antiproliferative capacity, protective
      properties, and antioxidant activity of the hydro-alcoholic fruit extract of
      Lycium europaeum were investigated. Results showed that Lycium extract exhibits
      the ability to reduce cancer cell viability, inhibits proliferation, and induces
      apoptosis in A549 human lung cancer cells and PC12 rat adrenal medulla cancer
      cells, in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Cytotoxic effect on normal
      rat cerebellum granule cells was assessed to be nonsignificant. Results also
      showed that Lycium fruit extract protected lipids, proteins, and DNA against
      oxidative stress damages induced by H2O2 via scavenging reactive oxygen species. 

PMID- 25825797
TI  - Shear banding in drying films of colloidal nanoparticles.
AB  - Drying suspensions of colloidal nanoparticles exhibit a variety of interesting
      strain release mechanisms during film formation. These result in the selection of
      characteristic length scales during failure processes such as cracking and
      subsequent delamination. A wide range of materials (e.g., bulk metallic glasses)
      release strain through plastic deformations which occur in a narrow band of
      material known as a shear band. Here we show that drying colloidal films also
      exhibit shear banding. Bands are observed to form a small distance behind the
      drying front and then to propagate rapidly at ~45 degrees  to the direction of
      drying. It is shown that the spacing of the bands depends on salt concentration
      and the evaporation rate of the colloidal suspension. These combined observations
      suggest that there is a critical shear rate (related to the film yield stress)
      which controls the ratio of bandwidth to band spacing. Local deformations were
      measured in the early stages of drying using fluorescent tracer particles. The
      measurements were used to show that the existence of shear bands is linked to the
      compaction of particles perpendicular to the drying front. The spacing of shear
      bands was also found to be strongly correlated with the characteristic length
      scale of the compaction process. These combined studies elucidate the role of
      plastic deformation during pattern formation in drying films of colloidal
      nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25825798
TI  - Does Mediterranean Diet Reduce Cardiovascular Events and Oxidative Stress in
      Atrial Fibrillation?
AB  - Atrial fibrillation (AF) is characterized by enhanced oxidative stress and is
      complicated by cardiovascular events (CVEs), which are only partially prevented
      by anticoagulant treatment. The Mediterranean diet (Med-Diet) has a positive
      effect on atherosclerotic progression. In a prospective cohort of 709
      anticoagulated AF patients, adherence to Med-Diet was assessed to investigate
      whether Med-Diet may reduce CVEs by lowering oxidative stress. The cohort was
      divided into three groups according to the Med-Diet score: low (0-3 points),
      medium (4-6 points), and high (7-9 points) adherence. During a mean follow-up of
      39.9 months (2604.8 patients/year), we registered 72 (2.8%/year) CVEs: 23.4% in
      the low-adherence group, 8.4% in the intermediate-adherence group, and 5.3% in
      the high-adherence group (p<0.001). There were no differences in time in the
      therapeutic range among groups. The Med-Diet score was inversely correlated with
      sNOX2-dp (soluble NOX2-derived peptide; Rs: -0.297, p<0.001) and F2-isoprostanes
      (F2-IsoP; Rs: -0.411, p<0.001). Median values of sNOX2-dp (p<0.001) and F2-IsoP
      progressively decreased across groups (p<0.001). A Cox regression analysis showed
      that the Med-Diet score (HR: 0.771, p=0.001), F2-IsoP (HR: 1.002, p=0.004), and
      heart failure (HR: 1.876, p=0.024) predicted CVEs. In conclusion, these findings
      raise the hypothesis that adherence to Med-Diet could be associated with a
      reduction of CVEs, through an antioxidant effect, as shown by a concomitant
      downregulation of Nox2 and decreased excretion of F2-IsoP.

PMID- 25825799
TI  - Intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of ophthalmic inflammatory
      diseases with macular edema: a meta-analysis study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To perform a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that
      compared the effects of treatment with intravitreal injections of triamcinolone
      acetonide (TA) with the standard of care for ocular inflammatory diseases.
      METHODS: Medline database was searched for causes of macular edema terms in
      association with intravitreal triamcinolone. The primary outcome of interest
      included changes in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central macular
      thickness (CMT). Pooled summary estimates for primary outcomes were calculated as
      weighted mean differences (WMD) either on a fixed- or random-effect model.
      RESULTS: A total of 8 studies were included for quantitative analysis. Treatment
      with intravitreal TA showed improvement in BCVA compared with standard of care at
      1 month (WMD, -0.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.17 to -0.02), at 4 months
      (WMD, -0.09; 95% CI, -0.15 to -0.03), at 6 months (WMD, -0.13; 95% CI, -0.21 to 
      0.05), and in CMT at 1 month (WMD, -88.14; 95% CI, -105.86 to -70.43). Increased
      intraocular pressure (IOP) among patients treated with intravitreal TA was found
      at 4 months (WMD, 2.83; 95% CI, 1.96 to 3.70), persisting also at 12 months (WMD,
      3.78; 95% CI, 2.97 to 4.59), compared with those receiving the standard of care.
      All outcomes are mostly equivalent at further follow-up times. CONCLUSIONS:
      Intravitreal injections of TA may offer certain advantages over the standard of
      care for ocular inflammatory diseases, especially in the early stage of follow
      up. However, it is necessary to take into account risks and benefits of TA
      treatment for ocular inflammatory diseases due to possible ocular hypertension
      elicited, in general, by intravitreal injection of corticosteroids.

PMID- 25825800
TI  - Selective Tumor Cell Inhibition Effect of Ni-Ti Layered Double Hydroxides Thin
      Films Driven by the Reversed pH Gradients of Tumor Cells.
AB  - Nitinol is widely fabricated as stents for the palliation treatment of many kinds
      of cancers. It is of great importance to develop nitinol stents with selective
      tumor cell inhibition effects. In this work, a series of pH sensitive films
      composed of Ni(OH)2 and Ni-Ti layered double hydroxide (Ni-Ti LDH) with different
      Ni/Ti ratios were prepared on the surface of nitinol via hydrothermal treatment.
      The films with specific Ni/Ti ratios would release a large amount of nickel ions
      under acidic environments but were relatively stable in neutral or weak alkaline
      medium. Cell viability tests showed that the films can effectively inhibit the
      growth of cancer cells but have little adverse effects to normal cells. Besides,
      extraordinarily high intracellular nickel content and reactive oxygen species
      (ROS) level were found in cancer cells, indicating the death of cancer cells may
      be induced by the excessive intake of nickel ions. Such selective cancer cell
      inhibition effect of the films is supposed to relate with the reversed pH
      gradients of tumor cells. 

PMID- 25825801
TI  - Potential drug interactions associated with glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetinic acid.
AB  - Glycyrrhizin (GZ), the main active component of licorice, is a widely used
      therapeutic in the clinic. Depending on the disease, the treatment may involve a
      long course of high dose GZ. Another component of licorice, glycyrrhetinic acid
      (GA), is the main active metabolite of GZ and is thought to be responsible for
      the majority of the pharmacological properties of GZ. Therefore, GZ and GA are
      both used for therapeutic purposes. In addition, GZ and GA are also widely used
      to sweeten and flavor foods. Due to this widespread, multifaceted use of these
      substances, potential drug interactions with GZ and GA have recently gained
      attention. Along these lines, this review covers the known effects of GZ and GA
      on drug-metabolizing enzymes and efflux transporters. We conclude that both GZ
      and GA may have an effect on the activity of CYPs. For example, GZ may induce
      CYP3A activity through activation of PXR. Also, GZ and GA may affect
      glucuronidation in rats and humans. Furthermore, 18beta-GA is a potent inhibitor
      of P-gp, while GZ and GA are inhibitors of MRP1, MRP2 and BCRP. The
      pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many medications may be altered when
      used concurrently with GZ or GA, which is also covered in this review. Overall,
      GZ, GA or related products should be taken with caution when taken with
      additional medications due to the possible drug interactions. 

PMID- 25825802
TI  - Synthesis of functionalized epoxides by copper-catalyzed alkylative epoxidation
      of allylic alcohols with alkyl nitriles.
AB  - A copper-catalyzed oxyalkylation of allylic alcohols using nonactivated alkyl
      nitriles as reaction partners was developed. A sequence involving generation of
      an alkyl nitrile radical followed by its addition to a double bond and a copper
      mediated formation of C(sp(3))-O bond was proposed to account for the reaction
      outcome. The protocol provided an efficient route to functionalized tri- and
      tetrasubstituted epoxides via formation of a C(sp(3))-C(sp(3)) and a C(sp(3))-O
      bond with moderate to excellent diastereoselectivity. 

PMID- 25825803
TI  - Tailoring micrometer-long high-integrity 1D array of superparamagnetic
      nanoparticles in a nanotubular protein jacket and its lateral magnetic assembling
      behavior.
AB  - Tailoring of a micrometer-long one-dimensional (1D) array of superparamagnetic
      iron oxide nanoparticles (SNPs) was achieved by Mg(2+)-mediated supramolecular
      polymerization of a SNP-containing chaperonin protein (GroELMC?SNP). The
      inclusion complex GroELMC?SNP formed when ligand-modified SNPs were mixed with
      GroELMC, a GroEL mutant having multiple merocyanine (MC) units at its apical
      domains. Upon mixing with MgCl2 in phosphate buffer, GroELMC?SNP polymerized via
      the formation of multiple MC-Mg(2+)-MC coordination bonds, yielding
      thermodynamically stable micrometer-long nanotubes encapsulating 1D-arrayed SNPs
      (NTGroEL?SNP). When the NTGroEL?SNP nanotubes in phosphate buffer were incubated
      in a 0.5 T magnetic field, they began to assemble laterally and then organized
      into thick 1D bundles, where longer nanotubes were more preferentially
      incorporated. When the applied magnetic field was turned off, such bundles
      disassembled back to the individual 1D nanotubes. Lateral assembly of 1D SNP
      arrays in a magnetic field has been theoretically predicted but never been proven
      experimentally. 

PMID- 25825804
TI  - Exploring suitable participation tools for children who need or use power
      mobility: A modified Delphi survey.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To identify suitable tools for measuring important elements of
      participation for children, aged 18 months to 12 years, who need or use power
      mobility, and to indicate which tools should be considered for inclusion in a
      measurement toolkit. METHODS: Parents, therapists and researchers with expertise
      in paediatric power mobility and participation (n = 70) completed an online
      modified Delphi survey, with consensus set a priori >80% agreement. Existing
      tools were matched against participation elements ranked most important for those
      in early childhood (18 months-5 years) and of school-age (6-12 years) by the
      panel. RESULTS: Six out of 13 tools demonstrated potential, meeting at least
      three elements each, although none addressed all elements deemed important to
      measure by the panel. Only the Participation and Environment Measure for Children
      and Youth (PEM-CY) reached consensus for inclusion in a participation measure
      toolkit. CONCLUSION: Further evaluation of these tools with this population is
      warranted.

PMID- 25825805
TI  - Peptide code-on-a-microplate for protease activity analysis via MALDI-TOF mass
      spectrometric quantitation.
AB  - A peptide-encoded microplate was proposed for MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric (MS)
      analysis of protease activity. The peptide codes were designed to contain a
      coding region and the substrate of protease for enzymatic cleavage, respectively,
      and an internal standard method was proposed for the MS quantitation of the
      cleavage products of these peptide codes. Upon the cleavage reaction in the
      presence of target proteases, the coding regions were released from the
      microplate, which were directly quantitated by using corresponding peptides with
      one-amino acid difference as the internal standards. The coding region could be
      used as the unique "Protease ID" for the identification of corresponding
      protease, and the amount of the cleavage product was used for protease activity
      analysis. Using trypsin and chymotrypsin as the model proteases to verify the
      multiplex protease assay, the designed "Trypsin ID" and "Chymotrypsin ID"
      occurred at m/z 761.6 and 711.6. The logarithm value of the intensity ratio of
      "Protease ID" to internal standard was proportional to trypsin and chymotrypsin
      concentration in a range from 5.0 to 500 and 10 to 500 nM, respectively. The
      detection limits for trypsin and chymotrypsin were 2.3 and 5.2 nM, respectively.
      The peptide-encoded microplate showed good selectivity. This proposed method
      provided a powerful tool for convenient identification and activity analysis of
      multiplex proteases. 

PMID- 25825806
TI  - Methodologies for determining the sources, characteristics, distribution, and
      abundance of asbestiform and nonasbestiform amphibole and serpentine in ambient
      air and water.
AB  - Anthropogenic and nonanthropogenic (erosion) processes contribute to the
      continuing presence of asbestos and nonasbestos elongated mineral particles (EMP)
      of amphibole and serpentine in air and water of urban, rural, and remote
      environments. The anthropogenic processes include disturbance and deterioration
      of asbestos-containing materials, mining of amphibole- and serpentine-bearing
      rock, and disturbance of soils containing amphibole and serpentine. Atmospheric
      dispersal processes can transport EMP on a global scale. There are many methods
      of establishing the abundance of EMP in air and water. EMP include cleavage
      fragments, fibers, asbestos, and other asbestiform minerals, and the methods
      employed do not critically distinguish among them. The results of most of the
      protocols are expressed in the common unit of fibers per square centimeter;
      however, seven different definitions for the term "fiber" are employed and the
      results are not comparable. The phase-contrast optical method used for
      occupational monitoring cannot identify particles being measured, and none of the
      methods distinguish amphibole asbestos from other EMP of amphibole. Measured
      ambient concentrations of airborne EMP are low, and variance may be high, even
      for similar environments, yielding data of questionable value for risk
      assessment. Calculations based on the abundance of amphibole-bearing rock and
      estimates of asbestos in the conterminous United States suggest that amphibole
      may be found in 6-10% of the land area; nonanthropogenic erosional processes
      might produce on the order of 400,000 tons or more of amphibole per year, and
      approximately 50 g asbestos/km(2)/yr; and the order of magnitude of the
      likelihood of encountering rock bearing any type of asbestos is approximately
      0.0001. 

PMID- 25825807
TI  - Exposures and health outcomes in relation to bioaerosol emissions from composting
      facilities: a systematic review of occupational and community studies.
AB  - The number of composting sites in Europe is rapidly increasing, due to efforts to
      reduce the fraction of waste destined for landfill, but evidence on possible
      health impacts is limited. This article systematically reviews studies related to
      bioaerosol exposures within and near composting facilities and associated health
      effects in both community and occupational health settings. Six electronic
      databases and bibliographies from January 1960 to July 2014 were searched for
      studies reporting on health outcomes and/or bioaerosol emissions related to
      composting sites. Risk of bias was assessed using a customized score. Five
      hundred and thirty-six papers were identified and reviewed, and 66 articles met
      the inclusion criteria (48 exposure studies, 9 health studies, 9 health and
      exposure studies). Exposure information was limited, with most measurements taken
      in occupational settings and for limited time periods. Bioaerosol concentrations
      were highest on-site during agitation activities (turning, shredding, and
      screening). Six studies detected concentrations of either Aspergillus fumigatus
      or total bacteria above the English Environment Agency's recommended threshold
      levels beyond 250 m from the site. Occupational studies of compost workers
      suggested elevated risks of respiratory illnesses with higher bioaerosol
      exposures. Elevated airway irritation was reported in residents near composting
      sites, but this may have been affected by reporting bias. The evidence base on
      health effects of bioaerosol emissions from composting facilities is still
      limited, although there is sufficient evidence to support a precautionary
      approach for regulatory purposes. While data to date are suggestive of possible
      respiratory effects, further study is needed to confirm this and to explore other
      health outcomes. 

PMID- 25825808
TI  - Laparoscopic and robotic calyceal diverticulectomy: outcomes and modifications of
      technique.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the technique and outcomes of robotic and laparoscopic
      calyceal diverticulectomy in the management of symptomatic calyceal diverticula
      at a single center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Perioperative outcomes of six minimally
      invasive calyceal diverticulectomies (four laparoscopic and two robotic) between
      March 2011 and May 2014 were analyzed. Postoperative complications were
      categorized by Clavien-Dindo grade. RESULTS: The median age of the cohort was 35
      years (range, 24-51 years), and mean body mass index was 24 kg/m(2). All 6
      patients were female and presented with ipsilateral flank pain, and 3 of the 6
      had coexisting recurrent urinary tract infections attributed to the calyceal
      diverticulum. Five of the 6 patients had failed prior surgical intervention with
      either endoscopic intervention or extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. Hilar
      clamping was performed in 2 of the 6 cases, with a mean warm ischemia time of 12
      minutes (range, 10-14 minutes). Mean operative time was 162 minutes (range, 121
      270 minutes), with no intraoperative complications. Mean blood loss was 150 mL
      (range, 50-300 mL), with no blood transfusions. There was one Clavien grade 1
      complication and no major (Clavien grade 3 or higher) complications. Mean
      hospital stay was 2 days (range, 1-4 days). Four of the 6 patients were seen in
      follow-up, and all had complete resolution of flank pain and urinary tract
      infections, with no residual stones on imaging. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic and
      robotic calyceal diverticulectomies for symptomatic calyceal diverticulum are
      safe, effective treatment options for symptomatic calyceal diverticula.

PMID- 25825809
TI  - Amino- and Carboxyl-Terminal CCR5 Mutations in Brazilian HIV-1-Infected Women and
      Homology Model of p.L55Q CCR5 Mutant.
AB  - Genetic factors from an HIV-1 host can affect the rate of progression to AIDS and
      HIV infection. To investigate the frequency of mutations in the CCR5 gene, HIV-1
      samples from infected women and uninfected individuals were selected for
      sequencing of the CCR5 gene regions encoding the N- and C-terminal protein
      domains. Physicochemical CCR5 modeling and potential protein domain analysis were
      performed in order to evaluate the impact of the mutations found in the
      properties and structure of CCR5. The p.L55Q mutation in the N-terminal protein
      domain was observed only in uninfected individuals, with an allelic frequency of
      1.8%. Physicochemical analysis revealed that the p.L55Q mutation magnified the
      flexibility and accessibility profiles and the modeling of CCR5 structures showed
      resulting in a small deviation to the right, as well as a hydrophobic to
      hydrophilic property alteration. The p.L55Q mutation also resulted in a slight
      modification of the electrostatic load of this region. Additionally, three novel
      silent mutations were found at the C-terminal coding region among HIV-1-infected
      women. The results suggest that the p.L55Q mutation might alter CCR5
      conformation. Further studies should be conducted to verify the role of this
      mutation in HIV-1 susceptibility.

PMID- 25825810
TI  - Tribute to Ted Martonen.

PMID- 25825811
TI  - Ab Initio Screening of CO2-philic Groups.
AB  - Ab initio calculations were used to identify CO2-philic groups. Over 55 neutral
      molecules were screened for CO2 affinity via binding energetics. It is found that
      poly(ethylene oxide)s (PEO) oligomers with more than three repeating units are
      good CO2-binding groups, consistent with the high-performance of PEO-based
      materials for CO2/N2 separation. More interestingly, two triazole groups linked
      with a methylene chain are also excellent for CO2 binding with a favorable
      interaction of more than 28 kJ/mol, indicating that polymers or covalent-organic
      frameworks (COFs) with triazoles may be utilized for CO2 capture. This work
      provides a useful guide to introduce promising organic groups into polymeric
      membranes and COFs for CO2/N2 separation media. 

PMID- 25825812
TI  - DNA methylation of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) is associated with
      brain function involved in processing emotional stimuli.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of
      fMRI blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) reactivity with the level of epigenetic
      methylation of SLC6A4 in blood DNA from a sample of healthy participants and
      patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: We investigated patients
      with MDD and healthy controls using fMRI and an emotional attention-shifting
      task. We assessed site-specific DNA methylation of a previously characterized
      SLC6A4 region in peripheral blood DNA using pyrosequencing. RESULTS: Our study
      involved 25 patients with MDD and 35 healthy controls. Activation in the anterior
      insula elicited by negative emotional content was significantly positively
      associated with the degree of SLC6A4 methylation. Significantly negative
      associations were observed between activation in the posterior insula and the
      degree of SLC6A4 methylation when judging the geometry of pictures after seeing
      negative in contrast to positive emotional stimuli. Healthy controls with a high
      degree of SLC6A4 methylation depicted significantly more activity elicited by
      positive stimuli in limbic regions and more activity elicited by negative stimuli
      in limbic as well as cognitive control regions than those with a low degree of
      SLC6A4 methylation. LIMITATIONS: It is impossible to measure methylation directly
      in the brain and thus we assessed peripheral methylation of SLC6A4. Since the
      association was cross-sectional, no conclusion about cause and effect can be
      drawn. CONCLUSION: Our study provides further support to the hypothesis that
      particular DNA methylation states that are associated with brain function during
      emotion processing are detectable in the periphery.

PMID- 25825814
TI  - Importance of Self-Motivation and Social Support in Medication Adherence in HIV
      Infected Adolescents in the United Kingdom and Ireland: A Multicentre HYPNet
      Study.
AB  - Adolescents are a vulnerable population, not only to the acquisition of HIV, but
      also to poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) associated with disease
      progression and a increased risk of onward viral transmission. The aim of the
      study was to examine the factors that aid or act as barriers to adherence in a UK
      population of adolescents and young adults receiving ART. A cross-sectional
      survey was completed of 138 adolescents (12-24 years) across 14 clinical and
      community sites in the UK and Ireland. Analysis of results was undertaken using
      Chi-square testing in SPSS. Of the 138 patients, 48% were female, and 52% were
      born outside of the UK. Fifty-two of the 138 (43%) reported being on ART for at
      least 8 years. More than a third of the patients have ever interrupted treatment
      since initiating ART. One hundred four of the 138 (75%) patients self-reported
      being >85% adherent to medication for 7 day recall. Self-motivation (e.g., having
      a routine, specific goal) was cited as being most helpful in medication
      compliance (33%), followed by reminders by friends and family (25%), with 20%
      identifing no specific factor. Only 15% chose interventions such as an adherence
      diary or mobile phone reminders as helpful factors, and 1% chose healthcare
      professional input such as home visits. This study highlights the importance of
      self-motivation and social support in medication adherence in an HIV-infected
      adolescent population, in preference to healthcare professional input. Education
      and motivational strategies may confer the biggest impact on sustained ART
      adherence amongst this vulnerable group. 

PMID- 25825813
TI  - Structural and functional differences in the cingulate cortex relate to disease
      severity in anorexia nervosa.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The dysfunction of specific brain areas might account for the
      distortion of body image in patients with anorexia nervosa. The present study was
      designed to reveal brain regions that are abnormal in structure and function in
      patients with this disorder. We hypothesized, based on brain areas of altered
      activity in patients with anorexia nervosa and regions involved in pain
      processing, an interrelation of structural aberrations in the frontoparietal
      cingulate network and aberrant functional activation during thermal pain
      processing in patients with the disorder. METHODS: We determined pain thresholds
      outside the MRI scanner in patients with anorexia nervosa and matched healthy
      controls. Thereafter, thermal pain stimuli were applied during fMRI imaging.
      Structural analyses with high-resolution structural T1-weighted volumes were
      performed using voxel-based morphometry and a surface-based approach. RESULTS:
      Twenty-six patients and 26 controls participated in our study, and owing to
      technical difficulties, 15 participants in each group were included in our fMRI
      analysis. Structural analyses revealed significantly decreased grey matter volume
      and cortical thickness in the frontoparietal-cingulate network in patients with
      anorexia nervosa. We detected an increased blood oxygen level-dependent signal in
      patients during the painful 45  degrees C condition in the midcingulate and
      posterior cingulate cortex, which positively correlated with increased pain
      thresholds. Decreased grey matter and cortical thickness correlated negatively
      with pain thresholds, symptom severity and illness duration, but not with body
      mass index. LIMITATIONS: The lack of a specific quantification of body image
      distortion is a limitation of our study. CONCLUSION: This study provides further
      evidence for confined structural and functional brain abnormalities in patients
      with anorexia nervosa in brain regions that are involved in perception and
      integration of bodily stimuli. The association of structural and functional
      deviations with thermal thresholds as well as with clinical characteristics might
      indicate a common neuronal origin.

PMID- 25825815
TI  - MiR-22/Sp-1 Links Estrogens With the Up-Regulation of Cystathionine gamma-Lyase
      in Myocardium, Which Contributes to Estrogenic Cardioprotection Against Oxidative
      Stress.
AB  - Hydrogen sulfide, generated in the myocardium predominantly via cystathionine
      gamma-lyase (CSE), is cardioprotective. Our previous study has shown that
      estrogens enhance CSE expression in myocardium of female rats. The present study
      aims to explore the mechanisms by which estrogens regulate CSE expression, in
      particular to clarify the role of estrogen receptor subtypes and the
      transcriptional factor responsible for the estrogenic effects. We found that
      either the CSE inhibitor or the CSE small interfering RNA attenuated the
      protective effect of 17beta-estradiol (E2) against H2O2- and
      hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced injury in primary cultured neonatal cardiomyocytes.
      E2 stimulates CSE expression via estrogen receptor (ER)-alpha both in cultured
      cardiomyocytes in vitro and in the myocardium of female mice in vivo. A
      specificity protein-1 (Sp-1) consensus site was identified in the rat CSE
      promoter and was found to mediate the E2-induced CSE expression. E2 increases
      ERalpha and Sp-1 and inhibits microRNA (miR)-22 expression in myocardium of
      ovariectomized rats. In primary cardiomyocytes, E2 stimulates Sp-1 expression
      through the ERalpha-mediated down-regulation of miR-22. It was confirmed that
      both ERalpha and Sp-1 were targeted by miR-22. In the myocardium of
      ovariectomized rats, the level of miR-22 inversely correlated to CSE, ERalpha, Sp
      1, and antioxidant biomarkers and positively correlated to oxidative biomarkers.
      In summary, this study demonstrates that estrogens stimulate Sp-1 through the
      ERalpha-mediated down-regulation of miR-22 in cardiomyocytes, leading to the up
      regulation of CSE, which in turn results in an increase of antioxidative defense.
      Interaction of ERalpha, miR-22, and Sp-1 may play a critical role in the control
      of oxidative stress status in the myocardium of female rats. 

PMID- 25825816
TI  - Sorting nexin 5 and dopamine d1 receptor regulate the expression of the insulin
      receptor in human renal proximal tubule cells.
AB  - Sorting nexin 5 (SNX5) belongs to the SNX family, which is composed of a diverse
      group of proteins that mediate trafficking of plasma membrane proteins,
      receptors, and transporters. SNX5 is important in the resensitization of the
      dopamine D1-like receptor (D1R). D1R is uncoupled from its effector proteins in
      hypertension and diabetes, and treatment of diabetes restores D1R function and
      insulin receptor (IR) expression. We tested the hypothesis that the D1R and SNX5
      regulate IR by studying the expression, distribution, dynamics, and functional
      consequences of their interaction in human renal proximal tubule cells (hRPTCs).
      D1R, SNX5, and IR were expressed and colocalized in the brush border of RPTs.
      Insulin promoted the colocalization of SNX5 and IR at the perinuclear area of
      hRPTCs. Unlike SNX5, the D1R colocalized and coimmunoprecipitated with IR, and
      this interaction was enhanced by insulin. To evaluate the role of SNX5 and D1R on
      IR signaling, we silenced via RNA interference the endogenous expression of SNX5
      or the D1R gene DRD1 in hRPTCs. We observed a decrease in IR expression and
      abundance of phosphorylated IR substrate and phosphorylated protein kinase B,
      which are crucial components of the IR signal transduction pathway. Our data
      indicate that SNX5 and D1R are necessary for normal IR expression and activity.
      It is conceivable that D1R and SNX5 may interact to increase the sensitivity to
      insulin via a positive regulation of IR and insulin signaling. 

PMID- 25825817
TI  - Neurokinin 3 Receptor-Expressing Neurons in the Median Preoptic Nucleus Modulate
      Heat-Dissipation Effectors in the Female Rat.
AB  - KNDy neurons facilitate tail skin vasodilation and modulate the effects of
      estradiol on thermoregulation. We hypothesize that KNDy neurons influence
      cutaneous vasodilation via projections to neurons in the median preoptic nucleus
      (MnPO) that express the neurokinin 3 receptor (NK3R). In support of this
      hypothesis, focal microinjections of senktide, an NK3R agonist, into the MnPO
      lowers core temperature (TCORE) in the female rat. To further study the role of
      MnPO NK3R neurons in thermoregulation, these neurons were specifically ablated
      using a conjugate of a selective NK3R agonist and saporin (NK3-SAP). NK3-SAP or
      blank-SAP (control) was injected into the MnPO/medial septum. Tail skin
      temperature (TSKIN) and TCORE were measured in ovariectomized rats exposed to 3
      ambient temperatures (TAMBIENT) before and after estradiol-17beta (E2) treatment.
      Before killing, we injected senktide (sc), monitored TCORE for 70 minutes, and
      harvested brains for Fos immunohistochemistry. Ablation of MnPO NK3R neurons
      lowered TSKIN at neutral and subneutral TAMBIENT regardless of E2 treatment.
      However, ablation did not prevent the effects of E2 on TCORE and TSKIN. In
      control rats, senktide injections induced hypothermia with numerous Fos
      immunoreactive cells in the MnPO. In contrast, in NK3-SAP rats, senktide did not
      alter TCORE and minimal Fos-immunoreactive neurons were identified in the MnPO.
      These data show that NK3R neurons in the MnPO are required for the hypothermic
      effects of senktide but not for the E2 modulation of thermoregulation. The lower
      TSKIN in NK3-SAP-injected rats suggests that MnPO NK3R neurons, like KNDy
      neurons, facilitate cutaneous vasodilation, an important heat-dissipation
      effector. 

PMID- 25825818
TI  - Estrogen Replacement Therapy in Ovariectomized Nonpregnant Ewes Stimulates
      Uterine Artery Hydrogen Sulfide Biosynthesis by Selectively Up-Regulating
      Cystathionine beta-Synthase Expression.
AB  - Estrogens dramatically dilate numerous vascular beds with the greatest response
      in the uterus. Endogenous hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a potent vasodilator and
      proangiogenic second messenger, which is synthesized from L-cysteine by
      cystathionine beta-synthase (CBS) and cystathionine gamma-lyase (CSE). We
      hypothesized that estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) selectively stimulates H2S
      biosynthesis in uterine artery (UA) and other systemic arteries. Intact and
      endothelium-denuded UA, mesenteric artery (MA), and carotid artery (CA) were
      obtained from ovariectomized nonpregnant ewes (n = 5/group) receiving vehicle or
      estradiol-17beta replacement therapy (ERT). Total RNA and protein were extracted
      for measuring CBS and CSE, and H2S production was determined by the methylene
      blue assay. Paraffin-embedded UA rings were used to localize CBS and CSE proteins
      by immunofluorescence microscopy. ERT significantly stimulated CBS mRNA and
      protein without altering CSE mRNA or protein in intact and denuded UA.
      Quantitative immunofluorescence microscopic analyses showed CBS and CSE protein
      localization in endothelium and smooth muscle and confirmed that ERT stimulated
      CBS but not CSE protein expression in UA endothelium and smooth muscle. ERT also
      stimulated CBS, but not CSE, mRNA and protein expression in intact and denuded MA
      but not CA in ovariectomized ewes. Concomitantly, ERT stimulated UA and MA but
      not CA H2S production. ERT-stimulated UA H2S production was completely blocked by
      a specific CBS but not CSE inhibitor. Thus, ERT selectively stimulates UA and MA
      but not CA H2S biosynthesis by specifically up-regulating CBS expression,
      implicating a role of H2S in estrogen-induced vasodilation and postmenopausal
      women's health. 

PMID- 25825820
TI  - Discrete polynuclear manganese(ii) complexes with thiacalixarene ligands:
      synthesis, structures and photophysical properties.
AB  - The synthesis, crystal structure and photophysical properties of the new compound
      [Mn4(ThiaSO2)2F][K(18-crown-6)], ThiaSO2 = p-tert-butylsulphonylcalix[4]arene,
      are presented and compared to the ones of [Mn4(ThiaSO2)2F]K. The strong orange
      luminescence is attributed to the Mn(2+) centred (4)T1->(6)A1 transition. Its
      temperature and pressure dependence and quenching by molecular dioxygen are
      reported. The latter is attributed to energy transfer from the (4)T1 state
      exciting dioxygen to its (1)?(+)g state. In the solid state, the quenching is
      much more efficient in [Mn4(ThiaSO2)2F][K(18-crown-6)] than in [Mn4(ThiaSO2)2F]K.
      This is attributed to the open pore structure of the former allowing fast
      diffusion of dioxygen into the crystal lattice. 

PMID- 25825819
TI  - Demographic differences in willingness to provide broad and narrow consent for
      biobank research.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study examined acceptability of two biobank consent models and
      evaluated the impact of beliefs about privacy and genetic safeguards on
      acceptance. METHODS: U.S. adults surveyed online in English and Spanish were
      randomly assigned to one of two scenarios examining acceptance of broad consent
      (n=1528), or narrow consent (n=1533). RESULTS: Overall, willingness to provide
      broad (76%) and narrow (74%) consents were similar. African Americans were as
      likely as white non-Hispanics to accept narrow consent (72% vs. 77%, p=0.35) but
      significantly less likely to accept broad consent (69% vs. 81%, p=0.004).
      Education, insurance, and blood donation history were also related to acceptance.
      Adjusting for beliefs about privacy and policy protections (Genetic Information
      Nondiscrimination Act, GINA), the effects of the variables were reduced.
      Respondents who drew comfort from GINA were more likely to support both consent
      (both p<0.001); those who believed it is impossible to maintain privacy were less
      likely to find both broad (p=0.04) and narrow models acceptable (p=0.02).
      CONCLUSIONS: Choice of consent model matters when engaging diverse populations in
      biobank research. Beliefs underlying concerns about privacy and genetic
      protections should be considered when constructing biobank protocols.

PMID- 25825821
TI  - [2]Pseudorotaxane composed of heteroditopic macrobicycle and pyridine N-oxide
      based axle: recognition site dependent axle orientation.
AB  - A strategy for threading an axle having a hydrogen bond acceptor unit in the
      cavity of a C3v symmetric amido-amine macrobicycle is investigated. The
      macrobicycle acts as a wheel in its neutral as well as triprotonated states to
      form threaded architectures with a pyridine N-oxide derivative. The negative
      oxygen dipole of the axle is capable of [2]pseudorotaxane formation in two
      different orientations with the wheel in its neutral and triprotonated states. 

PMID- 25825822
TI  - Simultaneous Detection of 3-Nitrotyrosine and 3-Nitro-4-hydroxyphenylacetic Acid
      in Human Urine by Online SPE LC-MS/MS and Their Association with Oxidative and
      Methylated DNA Lesions.
AB  - Reactive nitrogen species (RNS) can modify proteins at tyrosine and tryptophan
      residues, and they are involved in the pathogenesis of various human diseases. In
      this study, we present the first liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
      (LC-MS/MS)-based method that enables the simultaneous measurement of urinary 3
      nitrotyrosine (3-NTYR) and its metabolite 3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid
      (NHPA). After the addition of stable isotope-labeled internal standards, urine
      samples were purified and enriched using manual solid-phase extraction (SPE) and
      HPLC fractionation followed by online SPE LC-MS/MS analysis. The limits of
      quantification in urine were 3.1 and 2.5 pg/mL for 3-NTYR and NHPA, respectively.
      Inter- and intraday imprecision was <15%. The mean relative recoveries of 3-NTYR
      and NHPA in urine were 89-98% and 90-98%, respectively. We further applied this
      method to 65 urinary samples from healthy subjects. Urinary samples were also
      analyzed for N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) as well as oxidative and methylated
      DNA lesions, namely, 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8-oxoGua), 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'
      deoxyguanosine (8-oxodGuo), N7-methylguanine (N7-MeG), and N3-methyladenine (N3
      MeA), using reported LC-MS/MS methods. Urinary 3-NTYR and NHPA levels were
      measured at concentrations of 63.2 +/- 51.5 and 77.4 +/- 60.8 pg/mL,
      respectively. Urinary 3-NTYR and NHPA levels were highly correlated with each
      other and with 8-oxoGua and 8-oxodGuo. Our findings demonstrated that a
      relationship exists between oxidative and nitrative stress. However, 3-NTYR and
      NHPA were correlated with N7-MeG and N3-MeA but not with NDMA, suggesting that
      NDMA may not be a representative biomarker of N-nitroso compounds that are
      induced by RNS. 

PMID- 25825823
TI  - Surface engineering of graphene quantum dots and their applications as efficient
      surfactants.
AB  - The surface properties of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) control their dispersion
      and location within the matrices of organic molecules and polymers, thereby
      determining various properties of the hybrid materials. Herein, we developed a
      facile, one-step method for achieving systematic control of the surface
      properties of highly fluorescent GQDs. The surfaces of the as-synthesized
      hydrophilic GQDs were modified precisely depending on the number of grafted
      hydrophobic hexylamine. The geometry of the modified GQDs was envisioned by
      conducting simulations using density functional theory. In stark contrast to the
      pristine GQDs, the surface-modified GQDs can effectively stabilize oil-in-water
      Pickering emulsions and submicron-sized colloidal particles in mini-emulsion
      polymerization. These versatile GQD surfactants were also employed in liquid
      solid systems; we demonstrated their use for tailoring the dispersion of graphite
      in methanol. Finally, the particles produced by the GQD surfactants were
      fluorescent due to luminescence of the GQDs, which offers great potential for
      various applications, including fluorescent sensors and imaging. 

PMID- 25825824
TI  - In memoriam: A. I. Sabra (June 8, 1924 - December 18, 2013).

PMID- 25825825
TI  - Response to Foley's review of Swanson's Neuroanatomical Terminology (2014).

PMID- 25825826
TI  - Bio-inspired multinuclear copper complexes covalently immobilized on reduced
      graphene oxide as efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction.
AB  - Inspired by the multicopper active site of laccase, which efficiently catalyzes
      the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), herein we report a novel bio-inspired ORR
      catalyst composed of a multinuclear copper complex that was immobilized on the
      surface of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via the covalently grafted triazole
      dipyridine (TADPy) dinucleating ligand. This rGO-TADPyCu catalyst exhibited high
      ORR activity and superior long-term stability compared to Pt/C in alkaline media.

PMID- 25825827
TI  - Comparative study of dose distributions and cell survival fractions for 1H, 4He,
      12C and 16O beams using Geant4 and Microdosimetric Kinetic model.
AB  - Depth and radial dose profiles for therapeutic (1)H, (4)He, (12)C and (16)O beams
      are calculated using the Geant4-based Monte Carlo model for Heavy-Ion Therapy
      (MCHIT). (4)He and (16)O ions are presented as alternative options to (1)H and
      (12)C broadly used for ion-beam cancer therapy. Biological dose profiles and
      survival fractions of cells are estimated using the modified Microdosimetric
      Kinetic model. Depth distributions of cell survival of healthy tissues, assuming
      10% and 50% survival of tumor cells, are calculated for 6 cm SOBPs at two tumor
      depths and for different tissues radiosensitivities. It is found that the optimal
      ion choice depends on (i) depth of the tumor, (ii) dose levels and (iii) the
      contrast of radiosensitivities of tumor and surrounding healthy tissues. Our
      results indicate that (12)C and (16)O ions are more appropriate to spare healthy
      tissues in the case of a more radioresistant tumor at moderate depths. On the
      other hand, a sensitive tumor surrounded by more resistant tissues can be better
      treated with (1)H and (4)He ions. In general, (4)He beam is found to be a good
      candidate for therapy. It better spares healthy tissues in all considered cases
      compared to (1)H. Besides, the dose conformation is improved for deep-seated
      tumors compared to (1)H, and the damage to surrounding healthy tissues is reduced
      compared to heavier ions due to the lower impact of nuclear fragmentation. No
      definite advantages of (16)O with respect to (12)C ions are found in this study.

PMID- 25825830
TI  - Plotting intersections.

PMID- 25825829
TI  - Use of food practices by childcare staff and the association with dietary intake
      of children at childcare.
AB  - The study explored the associations between various childcare staff food
      practices and children's dietary intake at childcare. A total of 398 one- to four
      year-old children and 24 childcare staff members from 24 Dutch childcare centers
      participated in the study. Children's dietary intake (fruit, vegetable, sweet
      snack, savory snack, water, and sweet drink intake) at childcare was registered
      on two weekdays, using observations by dieticians and childcare staff. Thirteen
      childcare staff practices were assessed using questionnaires administered by
      dieticians. Data were analyzed using multilevel regression analyses. Children
      consumed relatively much fruit and many sweet snacks at childcare, and they
      mainly drank sweet drinks. Various staff practices were associated with
      children's dietary intake. When staff explained what they were doing to the
      children during food preparation, children ate significantly more fruit. Children
      ate less sweet snacks when they were allowed to help prepare the meals. When
      staff encouraged children to continue eating, they ate more vegetables. In
      conclusion, the study showed the importance of childcare staff food practices for
      children's food intake at childcare. More research is needed to examine the
      specific conditions under which food practices can have a positive impact on
      children's dietary intake. 

PMID- 25825828
TI  - Oral cancer malnutrition impacts weight and quality of life.
AB  - Diet is important for both quality of life (QoL) and survival of patients with
      oral cancer. Their intake of food is impeded by functional restrictions in
      chewing and swallowing. In the DOSAK REHAB STUDY 1652 patients from 38 hospitals
      within the German-language area of Germany; Austria and Switzerland were examined
      with regard to functional and psychological variables having an impact on diet.
      Chewing and swallowing are correlated with mobility of the tongue and the
      mandible as well as opening of the mouth. Thirty five percent of the patients
      lost weight; 41% maintained their weight and 24% gained weight. The QoL of
      patients who were able to maintain their weight and of those who gained weight
      was significantly better than that of patients who lost weight. A normal diet was
      important for maintaining weight. Mashed food; liquid food and loss of appetite
      were closely associated with loss of weight; although it was possible for
      nutritional counseling and dietary support to be implemented particularly
      favorably in this respect. Due to problems with eating patients' strength
      deteriorated; thus restricting activity. Radiotherapy had a negative impact on
      diet and weight. It influenced sense of taste; dryness of the mouth; swelling and
      discomfort when ingesting food. Pain and scars in the region of the operation
      also cause patients to dislike hard; spicy and sour food. Support from a
      nutritional counselor in implementing a calorie-rich diet remedied this and such
      support needs to be integrated into patient management. The fact that a poor
      nutritional status is of such great importance is well-known; but what is often
      lacking is the systematic implementation of continued professional nutritional
      counseling over a long period of time; weight control and psycho-social support
      of the operated patients; particularly those who also have had radiotherapy. 

PMID- 25825831
TI  - Response to "Plotting intersections" by Lentini.

PMID- 25825832
TI  - Transparency in film: increasing credibility of scientific animation using
      citation.

PMID- 25825833
TI  - Cancer: smoother journeys for molecular data.

PMID- 25825834
TI  - Successful test launch for nanopore sequencing.

PMID- 25825835
TI  - Better together: multiplexing samples to improve the preparation and reliability
      of gene expression studies.

PMID- 25825838
TI  - Comparing techniques to achieve high accuracy and low cost: how should we first
      diagnose Crohn's disease?

PMID- 25825836
TI  - Integrative, dynamic structural biology at atomic resolution--it's about time.
AB  - Biomolecules adopt a dynamic ensemble of conformations, each with the potential
      to interact with binding partners or perform the chemical reactions required for
      a multitude of cellular functions. Recent advances in X-ray crystallography,
      nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and other techniques are helping us
      realize the dream of seeing--in atomic detail--how different parts of
      biomolecules shift between functional substates using concerted motions.
      Integrative structural biology has advanced our understanding of the formation of
      large macromolecular complexes and how their components interact in assemblies by
      leveraging data from many low-resolution methods. Here, we review the growing
      opportunities for integrative, dynamic structural biology at the atomic scale,
      contending there is increasing synergistic potential between X-ray
      crystallography, NMR and computer simulations to reveal a structural basis for
      protein conformational dynamics at high resolution.

PMID- 25825837
TI  - Mutagenicity of drinking water sampled from the Yangtze River and Hanshui River
      (Wuhan section) and correlations with water quality parameters.
AB  - A total of 54 water samples were collected during three different hydrologic
      periods (level period, wet period, and dry period) from Plant A and Plant B (a
      source for Yangtze River and Hanshui River water, respectively), and several
      water parameters, such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity, and total
      organic carbon (TOC), were simultaneously analyzed. The mutagenicity of the water
      samples was evaluated using the Ames test with Salmonella typhimurium strains
      TA98 and TA100. According to the results, the organic compounds in the water were
      largely frame-shift mutagens, as positive results were found for most of the
      tests using TA98. All of the finished water samples exhibited stronger
      mutagenicity than the relative raw and distribution water samples, with water
      samples collected from Plant B presenting stronger mutagenic strength than those
      from Plant A. The finished water samples from Plant A displayed a seasonal
      dependent variation. Water parameters including COD (r = 0.599, P = 0.009), TOC
      (r = 0.681, P = 0.02), UV254 (r = 0.711, P = 0.001), and total nitrogen (r =
      0.570, P = 0.014) exhibited good correlations with mutagenicity (TA98), at 2.0
      L/plate, which bolsters the argument of the importance of using mutagenicity as a
      new parameter to assess the quality of drinking water. 

PMID- 25825839
TI  - Translating comparative effectiveness research into Medicaid payment policy:
      views from medical and pharmacy directors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: As the USA seeks to expand the conduct and dissemination of
      comparative effectiveness research (CER), views of key stakeholders will help
      guide the way. METHODS: We surveyed 60 medical and pharmacy directors from 46
      state Medicaid programs. RESULTS: Over 90% felt that CER would lead to better
      clinical decision-making and overall value within 5 years and were willing to
      consider cost-effectiveness in setting medical policy. However, perceived poor
      quality, inconclusive research, restrictive legislative mandates, lack of budget
      impact and coverage recommendations, and lack of an independent body to interpret
      study results were major barriers cited to using CER evidence. CONCLUSION: Given
      the significant resources being invested in CER, it is critical that these
      barriers are overcome to maximize its usefulness for stakeholders.

PMID- 25825840
TI  - A meta-analysis platform methodology for determining the comparative
      effectiveness of antihepatitis C virus regimens.
AB  - AIM: Many hepatitis C virus regimens are unlikely to be compared head to head. In
      more difficult to treat populations where there is no standard of care, trials
      are single arm. We describe a flexible meta-analysis platform in this setting.
      METHODS: Our meta-analysis is literature based. We illustrate our methodology and
      show how inference can be extended to single-arm trials. RESULTS: As an example,
      in the single arm setting, a regimen with response rates of 84, 72 and 54% in
      genotype 1a across treatment naive, previous partial responders and previous null
      responders, respectively, would have 95% probability of superiority to IFN-alpha
      + RBV + TPV. CONCLUSION: This is a rigorous approach to comparative effectiveness
      that accounts for varying patient populations and plans for the incorporation of
      emerging treatments.

PMID- 25825841
TI  - Initiatives in South Africa to enhance the prescribing of generic proton pump
      inhibitors: findings and implications.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There have been multiple reforms in South Africa to conserve
      resources including policies to enhance generic use, such as compulsory generic
      substitution and copayments. However, there are concerns with the limited
      knowledge of their impact. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to determine utilization
      and expenditure of different proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). METHODOLOGY: A
      retrospective drug utilization study was conducted on a prescription database of
      a medical aid administrator in 2010. RESULTS: The limited prescribing of single
      sourced PPIs accounted for 21.5% of total prescriptions. The limited use of
      originators omeprazole and lansoprazole accounted for 1.8 and 1.4% of total
      prescriptions for the molecule, respectively. Generic prices accounted for 36-68%
      of the originator in 2010. Patients received on average 2.91 PPI prescriptions
      during the year. CONCLUSION: Policies to enhance prescribing of generics appear
      working. Opportunities exist to further lower generic prices given low prices in
      some European countries.

PMID- 25825842
TI  - Evaluating patient and stakeholder engagement in research: moving from theory to
      practice.
AB  - Despite the growing demand for research that engages stakeholders, there is
      limited evidence in the literature to demonstrate its value - or return on
      investment. This gap indicates a general lack of evaluation of engagement
      activities. To adequately inform engagement activities, we need to further
      investigate the dividends of engaged research, and how to evaluate these effects.
      This paper synthesizes the literature on hypothesized impacts of engagement,
      shares what has been evaluated and identifies steps needed to reduce the gap
      between engagement's promises and the underlying evidence supporting its
      practice. This assessment provides explicit guidance for better alignment of
      engagement's promised benefits with evaluation efforts and identifies specific
      areas for development of evaluative measures and better reporting processes. 

PMID- 25825843
TI  - Once-weekly hypofractionated breast irradiation: fool's gold or diamond in the
      rough?
AB  - Daily conventionally fractionated breast irradiation over 5-7 weeks is costly and
      inconvenient. Its use is associated with disparities in both the delivery of
      quality care and outcomes for vulnerable populations. Alternatively, daily
      hypofractionated breast irradiation delivered over 3 weeks exhibits equal
      efficacy and toxicity profiles. Today, a new generation of accelerated
      radiotherapy for breast cancer has emerged. Once-weekly hypofractionated breast
      irradiation has been tested in pilot and large randomized studies and the initial
      data appear promising. As the data mature, this new approach has implications for
      cost-efficacy and provision of radiotherapy services. The purpose of this review
      is to explore the evolution of once-weekly hypofractionated breast irradiation
      including our ongoing institutional clinical trial at the University of
      Louisville.

PMID- 25825844
TI  - EORTC QLQ-BR23 and FACT-B for the assessment of quality of life in patients with
      breast cancer: a literature review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aims to compare the development, characteristics and
      validity of two widely used tools in the breast cancer population, the EORTC QLQ
      BR23 and the FACT-B. METHODS: A literature search was conducted using Ovid
      MEDLINE, OLDMEDLINE, Embase, Embase Classic and the Cochrane Central Register of
      Controlled Trials to identify relevant studies. RESULTS: Both tools were found to
      be reliable and valid. The QLQ-BR23 focuses on physical function, whereas the
      FACT-B emphasizes emotional well-being. Scoring, item format, organization and
      response options differ between questionnaires. CONCLUSION: Overall, both
      questionnaires are effective in assessing breast cancer-specific quality of life.
      Clear similarities and differences between the two tools exist. Decision-making
      between the questionnaires should be based on the purpose and design of the
      study.

PMID- 25825845
TI  - Heparin and related drugs for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis: subcutaneous or
      intravenous continuous infusion?
AB  - In this article, the most evidenced approaches of unfractionated heparin
      administration for prevention of venous thromboembolism in medical and surgical
      hospitalized patients will be reviewed. Present data were collected by searching
      Scopus, PubMed, MEDLINE, Science direct, Clinical trials and Cochrane database
      systematic reviews. Subcutaneous low doses of unfractionated heparin (10000-15000
      IU) in two or three divided doses per day are commonly administrated for venous
      thromboembolism prevention in different medical and surgical populations. In some
      populations such as obese surgical and critically ill patients, due to altered
      pharmacokinetics behavior of unfractionated heparin, continuous intravenous
      infusion of the low doses of unfractionated heparin has been proposed.

PMID- 25825846
TI  - Serum sLOX-1 Levels Are Correlated with the Presence and Severity of Obstructive
      Sleep Apnea.
AB  - CONTEXT: Inflammation plays a critical role in the development and progression of
      obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein
      receptor-1 (LOX-1) activation is involved in the pathophysiology of inflammatory
      process-related disorders. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate whether
      serum soluble LOX-1 (sLOX-1) levels are associated with the presence and severity
      of OSA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 137 OSA patients and 78 controls were
      recruited in this study. Serum sLOX-1 levels were measured by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay. The severity of OSA was assessed by the apnea-hypopnea index
      (AHI). RESULTS: OSA patients had significantly higher serum sLOX-1 levels
      compared with controls. Serum sLOX-1 levels elevated with the increment of OSA
      severity. sLOX-1 was the independent predictor of OSA. Serum sLOX-1 levels were
      significantly correlated with AHI and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels.
      CONCLUSIONS: Serum sLOX-1 levels were independently correlated with the presence
      and severity of OSA. These findings revealed that sLOX-1 might function as a
      potential biomarker for monitoring the development and progression of OSA.

PMID- 25825848
TI  - Prediction of small-for-gestational-age neonates: screening by placental growth
      factor and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 at 35-37 weeks.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the potential value of maternal serum placental growth
      factor (PlGF) and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) at 35-37 weeks'
      gestation in the prediction of delivery of small-for-gestational-age (SGA)
      neonates, in the absence of pre-eclampsia (PE). METHODS: This was a screening
      study in singleton pregnancies at 35-37 weeks, including 158 that delivered SGA
      neonates with birth weight < 5(th) percentile and 3701 cases unaffected by SGA,
      PE or gestational hypertension. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was
      used to determine if measuring serum levels of PlGF and sFlt-1 improved the
      prediction of delivery of SGA neonates provided by screening with maternal
      characteristics and medical history (maternal factors), and estimated fetal
      weight (EFW) from fetal head circumference, abdominal circumference and femur
      length. RESULTS: Compared to the normal group, the median PlGF multiples of the
      median (MoM) was significantly lower and the median sFlt-1 MoM was significantly
      higher in the SGA group. Combined screening by maternal factors and EFW at 35-37
      weeks predicted, at 10% false-positive rate (FPR), 90%, 92% and 94% of SGA
      neonates with birth weight < 10(th), < 5(th) and < 3(rd) percentiles,
      respectively, delivering < 2 weeks following assessment; the respective values
      for SGA delivering >= 37 weeks were 66%, 73% and 80%. When PlGF and sFlt-1 were
      added to a model that combines maternal factors and EFW, sFlt-1 did not remain as
      a significant independent predictor of SGA < 5(th). Combined screening by
      maternal factors, EFW and serum PlGF, predicted, at a 10% FPR, 88%, 96% and 94%
      of SGA neonates with birth weight < 10(th), < 5(th) and < 3(rd) percentiles,
      respectively, delivering < 2 weeks following assessment and the respective values
      for SGA delivering >= 37 weeks were 64%, 75% and 80%. CONCLUSION: sFlt-1 does not
      provide significant independent prediction of SGA, in the absence of PE, in
      addition to combined testing by maternal factors and fetal biometry at 35-37
      weeks; whilst the addition of PlGF alone marginally improves the performance of
      screening.

PMID- 25825849
TI  - Reaction time, cerebral blood flow, and heart rate responses in fibromyalgia:
      Evidence of alterations in attentional control.
AB  - The study investigated cerebral blood flow (CBF) and heart rate (HR) responses
      during a cued reaction time (RT) task in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome
      (FMS). CBF velocities in the middle (MCA) and anterior (ACA) cerebral arteries of
      both hemispheres were recorded in 46 patients and 32 healthy control participants
      using functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD). Patients exhibited
      markedly longer RT than healthy participants. Group differences in CBF responses
      were mainly observed for both ACAs, with greater right hemispherical increases
      but lower left hemispherical increases in FMS patients than in healthy
      participants. HR deceleration around the imperative stimulus was more pronounced
      in healthy participants. RT was inversely related to increases in CBF in both
      right arteries and in the left ACA in the FMS group, but was positively
      associated with CBF responses in all four arteries in healthy participants. The
      magnitude of task-induced HR deceleration correlated negatively with RT in both
      groups. Patients' clinical pain severity was positively associated with RT and
      CBF responses; trait anxiety and insomnia were secondary negative predictors of
      CBF responses. The study provided evidence of a deficit in the alertness
      component of attention in FMS at behavioral, CBF, and autonomic levels. These
      results may be interpreted in terms of the neural efficiency hypothesis of
      intelligence (i.e., less efficient brain activation during cognition in FMS) and
      the interfering effect of clinical factors on cognition. Clinical factors such as
      pain, anxiety, and sleep disturbances can affect cognition in FMS by interfering
      with CBF adjustment to cognitive demands. 

PMID- 25825850
TI  - Relationship Power, Sexual Decision Making, and HIV Risk Among Midlife and Older
      Women.
AB  - The number of midlife and older women with HIV/AIDS is high and increasing,
      especially among women of color. This article addresses these demographic
      realities by reporting on findings about self-esteem, relationship power, and HIV
      risk from a pilot study of midlife and older women. A purposive sample (N = 110)
      of ethnically, economically, and educationally diverse women 40 years and older
      from the Greater Los Angeles Area was surveyed to determine their levels of self
      esteem, general relationship power, sexual decision-making power, safer sex
      behaviors, and HIV knowledge. Women with higher levels of self-esteem exercised
      greater power in their relationships with their partner. Women with higher levels
      of general relationship power and self-esteem tend to exercise greater power in
      sexual decision making, such as having sex and choosing sexual acts. Income and
      sexual decision-making power were statistically significant in predicting the use
      of condoms. Implications and recommendations for future HIV/AIDS research and
      intervention targeting midlife and older women are presented. 

PMID- 25825851
TI  - Clinical zinc deficiency as early presentation of Wilson disease.
AB  - Wilson disease is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of the copper metabolism
      caused by homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in the ATP-ase Cu(2+)
      transporting polypeptide (ATP7B) gene. The copper accumulation in different
      organs leads to the suspicion of Wilson disease. We describe a child with
      clinical zinc deficiency as presenting symptom of Wilson disease, which was
      confirmed by 2 mutations within the ATP7B gene and an increased copper excretion.

PMID- 25825852
TI  - Byler disease: early natural history.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Byler disease, originally described in Amish kindred, results from
      mutations in ATPase Class I Type 8b Member 1 (ATP8b1). Specific clinical reports
      of Amish Byler disease were last published 40 years ago. These investigations
      were directed at the present detailed clinical understanding of the early course
      of hepatic manifestations of Byler disease. METHODS: This study analyzed routine
      clinical practice and outcomes of children with Byler disease (defined by
      homozygous c.923G>T mutation in ATP8b1), who initially presented to Children's
      Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC between January 2007 and October 2014. Data were
      analyzed to the earlier of 24 months of age or partial external biliary
      diversion. RESULTS: Six children presented between 1 and 135 days of life: 2
      presented with newborn direct hyperbilirubinemia, 2 had complications of
      coagulopathy, 1 had failure to thrive and rickets, and 1 sibling was identified
      by newborn genetic testing. Intensive fat-soluble vitamin supplementation was
      required to prevent insufficiencies in vitamins D, E, and K. Hyperbilirubinemia
      was variable both over time and between children. Serum bile acid levels were
      elevated, whereas gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase levels were low normal. Scratching
      behavior (pruritus) was intractable in 4 of 6 children with onset between 6 and
      12 months of age. Features of portal hypertension were not observed. Partial
      external biliary diversion was used during the second year of life in 4 children.
      CONCLUSIONS: Detailed analysis of Byler disease revealed varied disease
      presentation and course. Nutritional issues and pruritus dominated the clinical
      picture in the first 2 years of life.

PMID- 25825854
TI  - Prokinetics prescribing in paediatrics: evidence on cisapride, domperidone, and
      metoclopramide.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Domperidone and metoclopramide are prokinetics commonly prescribed
      off-label to infants and younger children in an attempt to treat gastro
      oesophageal reflux symptoms. Another prokinetic drug, cisapride, was used but
      withdrawn in 2000 in the United Kingdom because of serious arrhythmic adverse
      events. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency issued safety
      warnings for domperidone in May 2012 and restricted its indications. We report
      here national primary care prescribing trends and safety signals of these drugs
      in children. METHODS: We used data from the General Practice Research Database
      between 1990 and 2006 for children <18 years. Descriptive statistics and Poisson
      regressions were performed to characterise prescribing trends. We examined safety
      signals in nested case-control studies. RESULTS: The proportion of children <2
      years old being prescribed one of the medications doubled during the study
      period. Prescriptions of domperidone increased 10-fold, mainly following the
      withdrawal of cisapride in 2000. Prescriptions of metoclopramide did not change
      significantly. Despite the increase in prescriptions of domperidone, no new
      safety signals were identified. CONCLUSIONS: These data showed dramatic changes
      in prescribing of cisapride and domperidone despite the lack of good-quality
      supporting evidence. It is possible that these prescribing trends were influenced
      by published guidelines. Even if produced without robust efficacy and safety
      evidence, published guidelines can influence clinicians and consequently affect
      prescribing. Therefore, improving the evidence base on prokinetics to inform
      future guidelines is vital. The lack of new safety signals during this period
      would support the development of suitable powered clinical studies.

PMID- 25825853
TI  - Mechanical bowel preparation for children undergoing elective colorectal surgery.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Adult literature supports the elimination of mechanical bowel
      preparation (MBP) for elective colorectal surgical procedures. Prospective data
      for the pediatric population regarding the utility of MBP are lacking. The
      primary aim of this study was to compare infectious complications, specifically
      anastomotic leak, intraabdominal abscess, and wound infection in patients who
      received MBP with those who did not. METHODS: A randomized pilot study comparing
      MBP with polyethylene glycol with no MBP was performed. Patients, 0 to 21 years
      old, undergoing elective colorectal surgery were eligible and randomized within 4
      age strata. Statistical analyses were performed using chi or Fisher exact test
      for categorical data and t test or Wilcoxon 2-sample test for continuous data.
      RESULTS: Forty-four patients were enrolled in the study from December 2010 to
      February 2013, of which 24 (55%) received MBP and 20 (45%) did not. Two patients
      (5%) had anastomotic leak, 4 (9%) had intraabdominal infection, and 7 (16%) had
      wound infections. The rate of anastomotic leak, intraabdominal abscess, and wound
      infection did not differ between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: MBP for elective
      colorectal surgery in children does not affect the incidence of infectious
      complications. A larger multiinstitutional study is necessary to validate the
      results of this single-institution pilot study.

PMID- 25825855
TI  - Clinical tube weaning supported by hunger provocation in fully-tube-fed children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Children with congenital malformations, mental retardation, and
      complex early medical history frequently have feeding problems. Although tube
      feeding is effective in providing the necessary energy and nutrients, it
      decreases the child's motivation to eat and may lead to oral aversion. In this
      study, we sought to confirm our previous results, showing that a
      multidisciplinary clinical hunger provocation program may lead to quick
      resumption of oral feeding. METHODS: In a crossover study, 22 children of 9 to 24
      months of age who were fully dependent on tube feeding were randomly assigned to
      one of two groups: group A, intervention group (2-week multidisciplinary clinical
      hunger provocation program); and group B, control group (4-week outpatient
      treatment by the same multidisciplinary team). Patients failing one treatment
      were reassigned to the other treatment group. Primary outcome measures were at
      least 75% orally fed at the conclusion of the intervention and fully orally fed
      and gaining weight 6 months after the intervention. RESULTS: In group A, 9/11
      patients were successfully weaned from tube feeding (2 failures: 1 developed
      ulcerative colitis, 1 drop-out). In group B, only 1 patient was weaned
      successfully; 10/11 were reassigned to the clinical hunger provocation program,
      all being weaned successfully. Six months after the intervention, 1 patient had
      to resume tube feeding. In total, in the control group, 1/11 (9%) was weaned
      successfully as compared with 18/21 (86%) in the hunger provocation group (P <
      0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Multidisciplinary clinical hunger provocation is an
      effective short-term intervention for weaning young children from tube feeding.

PMID- 25825856
TI  - The benefits of weight loss, even if regained, in reducing cardiovascular
      disease: welcoming evidence!

PMID- 25825857
TI  - Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in obese adults: clinical aspects and current
      management strategies.
AB  - Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver
      disorder whose prevalence is strongly linked to the current epidemic of obesity
      in many western countries. The prevalence of NAFLD is two to four times higher in
      populations with pre-existing metabolic comorbidities than in the general
      population. The diagnosis of primary NAFLD involves establishing the presence of
      hepatic steatosis or steatohepatitis by imaging or histology, along with
      establishing the non-alcoholic nature of the disease process and excluding
      competing aetiologies for hepatic steatosis. Among the indirect serum biomarkers,
      the NAFLD fibrosis score can help to identify patients with NAFLD and with higher
      likelihood of having fibrosis or cirrhosis. A liver biopsy should be considered
      in NAFLD patients at increased risk for steatohepatitis/advanced fibrosis and in
      cases where a liver biopsy is necessary to exclude co-existing chronic liver
      diseases and other aetiologies for hepatic steatosis. The treatment and
      management recommendations for obesity-associated NAFLD are aimed towards weight
      reduction. The currently available interventions employed to promote weight loss
      and improve the metabolic responses in NAFLD include lifestyle modification,
      pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery. 

PMID- 25825858
TI  - Evaluation of a multidisciplinary Tier 3 weight management service for adults
      with morbid obesity, or obesity and comorbidities, based in primary care.
AB  - A multidisciplinary Tier 3 weight management service in primary care recruited
      patients with a body mass index >=40 kg.m(-2) , or 30 kg.m(-2) with obesity
      related co-morbidity to a 1-year programme. A cohort of 230 participants was
      recruited and evaluated using the National Obesity Observatory Standard
      Evaluation Framework. The primary outcome was weight loss of at least 5% of
      baseline weight at 12 months. Diet was assessed using the two-item food frequency
      questionnaire, activity using the General Practice Physical Activity
      questionnaire and quality of life using the EuroQol-5D-5L questionnaire. A focus
      group explored the participants' experiences. Baseline mean weight was 124.4 kg
      and mean body mass index was 44.1 kg.m(-2) . A total of 102 participants achieved
      5% weight loss at 12 months. The mean weight loss was 10.2 kg among the 117
      participants who completed the 12-month programme. Baseline observation carried
      forward analysis gave a mean weight loss of 5.9 kg at 12 months. Fruit and
      vegetable intake, activity level and quality of life all improved. The dropout
      rate was 14.3% at 6 months and 45.1% at 1 year. Focus group participants
      described high levels of satisfaction. It was possible to deliver a Tier 3 weight
      management service for obese patients with complex co-morbidity in a primary care
      setting with a full multidisciplinary team, which obtained good health outcomes
      compared with existing services. 

PMID- 25825859
TI  - Physical activity and sitting time in bariatric surgery patients 1-16 years post
      surgery.
AB  - Physical activity (PA) is an important adjunct to bariatric surgery in the
      treatment of severe obesity; however, patient PA levels prior to and in the short
      term following surgery are usually low. Scarce data exist describing PA and
      sedentary behaviours in the long term following surgery. The objectives were to
      describe PA and sitting time in bariatric patients 1-16 years post-surgery and
      assess their associations with patient, surgery and weight-loss characteristics.
      A total of 398 bariatric patients (73% female; mean age 47 +/- 11 years, mean 6
      +/- 4 years since surgery) completed a telephone questionnaire. Patients reported
      moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA: # sessions week(-1)  >=30 min), sitting time (h d(
      1)) and change in PA and sitting time vs. pre-surgery (more/same/less).
      Associations with patient, surgery and weight-loss characteristics were assessed.
      Only 53% of patients reported >=1 session week(-1) MVPA, mean sitting time was 7
      +/- 4 h d(-1), 74% of patients reported more PA and 53% reported less sitting,
      now vs. pre-surgery. Age, sex, smoking status, pre-surgery body mass index, time
      since-surgery and percent excess weight lost were significantly associated with
      PA and/or sitting outcomes. Patients currently experiencing >=50% excess weight
      loss had over three times the odds of reporting >=1 session week(-1) MVPA (odds
      ratio [95% confidence interval] 3.28 [1.57, 6.89]) and almost four times greater
      odds of reporting 'more' PA vs. pre-surgery (3.78 [2.15, 6.62]) compared with
      their less successful counterparts. Results point to low PA and high
      sedentariness among bariatric patients in the long-term following surgery,
      associated with several characteristics. Associations with long-term weight
      management highlight the need for tailored interventions to promote active living
      in this patient population.

PMID- 25825860
TI  - A qualitative investigation of obese women's experiences of effective and
      ineffective social support for weight management.
AB  - An obese individual's social context influences the extent to which they engage
      in weight control behaviors. Although the available literature acknowledges the
      importance of social support for weight management, detailed analyses of obese
      individuals' experiences of social support for weight loss and/or weight loss
      maintenance have not been undertaken. Using a qualitative approach, this study
      presents 22 Australian obese women's perspectives of the availability and
      effectiveness of social support for weight control. Three superordinate
      categories, namely, ineffective support, effective support and personal barriers
      to accessing support, and 12 subcategories were identified. Participants reported
      minimal access to quality support for weight management, while also suggesting
      ways in which obese women themselves may hamper significant others' provision of
      effective support. The results support the investigation of interventions
      designed to enhance the skills of significant others in assisting obese
      individuals with weight management. 

PMID- 25825861
TI  - Ligand free copper(I)-catalyzed synthesis of diaryl ether with Cs2CO3 via a free
      radical path.
AB  - Complexes [Cu(I)(2,4-dimethylphenoxy)2](-) (A) and [Cu(II)(2,4
      dimethylphenoxy)2(p-tolyl)](-) (B) were observed by in situ electrospray
      ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis of the ligand free copper(I)
      catalyzed C-O coupling reaction using Cs2CO3 under the catalytic reaction
      conditions indicating that they could be intermediates in the reaction. The
      radical scavenger cumene retarded the reaction. Catalytic cycles involving a free
      radical path are proposed based on these observations.

PMID- 25825862
TI  - Structural characterization and immunomodulatory activity of a new
      heteropolysaccharide from Prunella vulgaris.
AB  - A new heteropolysaccharide, here called P1, was isolated from the fruit clusters
      of Prunella vulgaris using a hot water extraction method. Chemical and physical
      analyses indicated that P1 had a spherical conformation with an average molecular
      weight of 1750 kDa and consisted of arabinose (28.37%), xylose (54.67%), mannose
      (5.61%), glucose (5.46%), and galactose (5.89%). The main types of P1 linkages
      were proved to be (1->5)-linked alpha-L-Ara, (1->)-linked alpha-L-Ara, (1->3)
      linked alpha-D-xyl, (1->3)-linked beta-D-Gal, (1->3,6)-linked beta-D-Gal, (1
      >3,6)-linked alpha-D-Man and (1->6)-linked alpha-D-Glc according to the periodate
      oxidation-Smith degradation and NMR analyses. P1 could significantly enhance the
      secretion of NO, TNF-alpha, and IL-6 in murine RAW 264.7 cells, involving the
      toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), TLR4 and complement receptor 3 (CR3). Further
      studies showed that P1 exhibited stable immune activities in the pH range of 4.0
      10.0 and below 121  degrees C. The results suggested that P1 could be used as a
      potent immunomodulatory agent in functional foods and pharmacological fields.

PMID- 25825863
TI  - Interventions for the cessation of non-nutritive sucking habits in children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Comforting behaviours, such as the use of pacifiers (dummies,
      soothers), blankets and finger or thumb sucking, are common in babies and young
      children. These comforting habits, which can be referred to collectively as 'non
      nutritive sucking habits' (NNSHs), tend to stop as children get older, under
      their own impetus or with support from parents and carers. However, if the habit
      continues whilst the permanent dentition is becoming established, it can
      contribute to, or cause, development of a malocclusion (abnormal bite). A diverse
      variety of approaches has been used to help children with stopping a NNSH. These
      include advice, removal of the comforting object, fitting an orthodontic
      appliance to interfere with the habit, application of an aversive taste to the
      digit or behaviour modification techniques. Some of these interventions are
      easier to apply than others and less disturbing for the child and their parent;
      some are more applicable to a particular type of habit.  OBJECTIVES: The primary
      objective of the review was to evaluate the effects of different interventions
      for cessation of NNSHs in children. The secondary objectives were to determine
      which interventions work most quickly and are the most effective in terms of
      child and parent- or carer-centred outcomes of least discomfort and psychological
      distress from the intervention, as well as the dental measures of malocclusion
      (reduction in anterior open bite, overjet and correction of posterior crossbite)
      and cost-effectiveness. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the following electronic
      databases: the Cochrane Oral Health Group Trials Register (to 8 October 2014),
      the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane
      Library 2014, Issue 9), MEDLINE via OVID (1946 to 8 October 2014), EMBASE via
      OVID (1980 to 8 October 2014), PsycINFO via OVID (1980 to 8 October 2014) and
      CINAHL via EBSCO (1937 to 8 October 2014), the US National Institutes of Health
      Trials Register (Clinical Trials.gov) (to 8 October 2014) and the WHO
      International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (to 8 October 2014). There were
      no restrictions regarding language or date of publication in the searches of the
      electronic databases. We screened reference lists from relevant articles and
      contacted authors of eligible studies for further information where necessary.
      SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials in children
      with a non-nutritive sucking habit that compared one intervention with another
      intervention or a no-intervention control group. The primary outcome of interest
      was cessation of the habit. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We used standard
      methodological procedures expected by The Cochrane Collaboration. Three review
      authors were involved in screening the records identified; two undertook data
      extraction, two assessed risk of bias and two assessed overall quality of the
      evidence base. Most of the data could not be combined and only one meta-analysis
      could be carried out. MAIN RESULTS: We included six trials, which recruited 252
      children (aged two and a half to 18 years), but presented follow-up data on only
      246 children. Digit sucking was the only NNSH assessed in the studies. Five
      studies compared single or multiple interventions with a no-intervention or
      waiting list control group and one study made a head-to-head comparison. All the
      studies were at high risk of bias due to major limitations in methodology and
      reporting. There were small numbers of participants in the studies (20 to 38
      participants per study) and follow-up times ranged from one to 36 months. Short
      term outcomes were observed under one year post intervention and long-term
      outcomes were observed at one year or more post intervention. Orthodontics
      appliance (with or without psychological intervention) versus no treatmentTwo
      trials that assessed this comparison evaluated our primary outcome of cessation
      of habit. One of the trials evaluated palatal crib and one used a mix of palatal
      cribs and arches. Both trials were at high risk of bias. The orthodontic
      appliance was more likely to stop digit sucking than no treatment, whether it was
      used over the short term (risk ratio (RR) 6.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.67
      to 25.53; two trials, 70 participants) or long term (RR 5.81, 95% CI 1.49 to
      22.66; one trial, 37 participants) or used in combination with a psychological
      intervention (RR 6.36, 95% CI 0.97 to 41.96; one trial, 32 participants).
      Psychological intervention versus no treatmentTwo trials (78 participants) at
      high risk of bias evaluated positive reinforcement (alone or in combination with
      gaining the child's co-operation) or negative reinforcement compared with no
      treatment. Pooling of data showed a statistically significant difference in
      favour of the psychological interventions in the short term (RR 6.16, 95% CI 1.18
      to 32.10; I(2) = 0%). One study, with data from 57 participants, reported on the
      long-term effect of positive and negative reinforcement on sucking cessation and
      found a statistically significant difference in favour of the psychological
      interventions (RR 6.25, 95% CI 1.65 to 23.65). Head-to-head comparisonsOnly one
      trial demonstrated a clear difference in effectiveness between different active
      interventions. This trial, which had only 22 participants, found a higher
      likelihood of cessation of habit with palatal crib than palatal arch (RR 0.13,
      95% CI 0.03 to 0.59). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: This review found low quality
      evidence that orthodontic appliances (palatal arch and palatal crib) and
      psychological interventions (including positive and negative reinforcement) are
      effective at improving sucking cessation in children. There is very low quality
      evidence that palatal crib is more effective than palatal arch. This review has
      highlighted the need for high quality trials evaluating interventions to stop non
      nutritive sucking habits to be conducted and the need for a consolidated,
      standardised approach to reporting outcomes in these trials.

PMID- 25825864
TI  - Novel Pathway for Hypoxia-Induced Proliferation and Migration in Human
      Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Involvement of HIF-1alpha, FASN, and mTORC1.
AB  - The control of stem cells by oxygen signaling is an important way to improve
      various stem cell physiological functions and metabolic nutrient alteration.
      Lipid metabolism alteration via hypoxia is thought to be a key factor in
      controlling stem cell fate and function. However, the interaction between hypoxia
      and the metabolic and functional changes to stem cells is incompletely described.
      This study aimed to identify hypoxia-inducible lipid metabolic enzymes that can
      regulate umbilical cord blood (UCB)-derived human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC)
      proliferation and migration and to demonstrate the signaling pathway that
      controls functional change in UCB-hMSCs. Our results indicate that hypoxia
      treatment stimulates UCB-hMSC proliferation, and expression of two lipogenic
      enzymes: fatty acid synthase (FASN) and stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1). FASN
      but not SCD1 is a key enzyme for regulation of UCB-hMSC proliferation and
      migration. Hypoxia-induced FASN expression was controlled by the hypoxia
      inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1alpha)/SCAP/SREBP1 pathway. Mammalian target of
      rapamycin (mTOR) was phosphorylated by hypoxia, whereas inhibition of FASN by
      cerulenin suppressed hypoxia-induced mTOR phosphorylation as well as UCB-hMSC
      proliferation and migration. RAPTOR small interfering RNA transfection
      significantly inhibited hypoxia-induced proliferation and migration. Hypoxia
      induced mTOR also regulated CDK2, CDK4, cyclin D1, cyclin E, and F-actin
      expression as well as that of c-myc, p-cofilin, profilin, and Rho GTPase. Taken
      together, the results suggest that mTORC1 mainly regulates UCB-hMSC proliferation
      and migration under hypoxia conditions via control of cell cycle and F-actin
      organization modulating factors. In conclusion, the HIF-1alpha/FASN/mTORC1 axis
      is a key pathway linking hypoxia-induced lipid metabolism with proliferation and
      migration in UCB-hMSCs. Stem Cells 2015;33:2182-2195. 

PMID- 25825865
TI  - Infrequent air contamination with Acinetobacter baumannii of air surrounding
      known colonized or infected patients.
AB  - Using a validated air sampling method we found Acinetobacter baumannii in the air
      surrounding only 1 of 12 patients known to be colonized or infected with A.
      baumannii. Patients' closed-circuit ventilator status, frequent air exchanges in
      patient rooms, and short sampling time may have contributed to this low burden.

PMID- 25825866
TI  - Fast hybrid multi-dimensional NMR methods based on ultrafast 2D NMR.
AB  - Conventional multi-dimensional (nD) NMR experiments are characterized by inherent
      long acquisition durations, while ultrafast (UF) NMR makes it possible to reduce
      to a few hundreds of milliseconds the overall acquisition duration of a complete
      nD NMR dataset. Although extremely promising for a number of specific
      applications, the UF strategy suffers from significant limitations compared with
      its conventional counterpart. The main limitations concern the sensitivity, the
      resolution, and the accessible spectral width. However, when the targeted
      applications are compatible with an acquisition duration between a few seconds
      and a few minutes, hybrid UF techniques can be used to improve the performance of
      UF nD NMR while remaining faster than conventional acquisitions. Much better
      results in terms of signal-to-noise ratio can be achieved with the multi-scan
      single-shot approach or with interleaved acquisitions. Even more, for the same
      experimental duration, and in the case of homonuclear 2D NMR, the multi-scan
      single-shot approach has a much higher precision than conventional 2D NMR.
      Interleaved 2D NMR overcomes the drawbacks of single-scan UF NMR in terms of
      spectral width and provides spectra for which the quality is not significantly
      different from that obtained with conventional 2D NMR. Finally, high spectral
      qualities have been demonstrated from hybrid conventional/UF 3D approaches
      capable of recording a whole 3D spectrum in the time needed to record a
      conventional 2D spectrum. This mini-review aims at describing the principles, the
      recent advances and the latest applications of these hybrid techniques. Copyright
      (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 

PMID- 25825867
TI  - High-risk liver transplant candidates: An ethical proposal on where to draw the
      line.

PMID- 25825868
TI  - Generic Raman-based calibration models enabling real-time monitoring of cell
      culture bioreactors.
AB  - Raman-based multivariate calibration models have been developed for real-time in
      situ monitoring of multiple process parameters within cell culture bioreactors.
      Developed models are generic, in the sense that they are applicable to various
      products, media, and cell lines based on Chinese Hamster Ovarian (CHO) host
      cells, and are scalable to large pilot and manufacturing scales. Several batches
      using different CHO-based cell lines and corresponding proprietary media and
      process conditions have been used to generate calibration datasets, and models
      have been validated using independent datasets from separate batch runs. All
      models have been validated to be generic and capable of predicting process
      parameters with acceptable accuracy. The developed models allow monitoring
      multiple key bioprocess metabolic variables, and hence can be utilized as an
      important enabling tool for Quality by Design approaches which are strongly
      supported by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

PMID- 25825869
TI  - The tumour suppressor CHD5 forms a NuRD-type chromatin remodelling complex.
AB  - Eukaryotic gene expression is developmentally regulated, in part by chromatin
      remodelling, and its dysregulation has been linked to cancer. CHD5 (chromodomain
      helicase DNA-binding protein 5) is a tumour suppressor gene (TSG) that maps to a
      region of consistent deletion on 1p36.31 in neuroblastomas (NBs) and other tumour
      types. CHD5 encodes a protein with chromatin remodelling, helicase and DNA
      binding motifs that is preferentially expressed in neural and testicular tissues.
      CHD5 is highly homologous to CHD3 and CHD4, which are the core subunits of
      nucleosome remodelling and deacetylation (NuRD) complexes. To determine if CHD5
      forms a similar complex, we performed studies on nuclear extracts from NBLS, SY5Y
      (both with endogenous CHD5 expression), NLF (CHD5 null) and NLF cells stably
      transfected with CHD5 cDNA (wild-type and V5-histidine-tagged).
      Immunoprecipitation (IP) was performed with either CHD5 antibody or antibody to
      V5/histidine-tagged protein. We identified NuRD components both by GST-FOG1
      (Friend Of GATA1) pull-down and by IP. We also performed MS/MS analysis to
      confirm the presence of CHD5 or other protein components of the NuRD complex, as
      well as to identify other novel proteins. CHD5 was clearly associated with all
      canonical NuRD components, including metastasis-associated protein (MTA)1/2, GATA
      zinc finger domain containing 2A (GATAD2A), histone deacetylase (HDAC)1/2,
      retinoblastoma-binding protein (RBBP)4/7 and methyl DNA-binding domain protein
      (MBD)2/3, as determined by Western blotting and MS/MS. Our data suggest CHD5
      forms a NuRD complex similar to CHD4. However, CHD5-NuRD may also have unique
      protein associations that confer functional specificity and may contribute to
      normal development and to tumour suppression in NB and other cancers. 

PMID- 25825870
TI  - Inflammatory cytokine kinetics to single bouts of acute moderate and intense
      aerobic exercise in women with active and inactive systemic lupus erythematosus.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in the cytokines INF-gamma, IL-10,
      IL-6, TNF-alpha and soluble TNF receptors (sTNFR1 and sTNFR2) in response to
      single bouts of acute moderate and intense exercise in systemic lupus
      erythematosus women with active (SLE(ACTIVE)) and inactive (SLE(INACTIVE))
      disease. Twelve SLE(INACTIVE) women (age: 35.3 +/- 5.7 yrs; BMI: 25.6+/-3.4
      kg/m2), eleven SLE(ACTIVE) women (age: 30.4 +/- 4.5 yrs; BMI: 26.1+/-4.8 kg/m2),
      and 10 age- and BMI-matched healthy control women (HC) performed 30 minutes of
      acute moderate (~50% of VO(2)peak) and intense (~70% of VO(2)peak) exercise bout.
      Cytokines and soluble TNF receptors were assessed at baseline, immediately after,
      every 30 minutes up to three hours, and 24 hours after both acute exercise bouts.
      In response to acute moderate exercise, cytokines and soluble TNF receptors
      levels remained unchanged in all groups (P>0.05), except for a reduction in IL-6
      levels in the SLE(ACTIVE) group at the 60th and 180th minutes of recovery
      (P<0.05), and a reduction in sTNFR1 levels in the HC group at the 90th, 120th,
      150th, 180th minutes of recovery (P<0.05). The SLE(INACTIVE) group showed higher
      levels of TNF-alpha, sTNFR1, and sTNFR2 at all time points when compared with the
      HC group (P<0.05). Also, the SLE(ACTIVE) group showed higher levels of IL-6 at
      the 60th minute of recovery (P<0.05) when compared with the HC group. After
      intense exercise, sTNFR1 levels were reduced at the 150th (P=0.041) and 180th
      (P=0.034) minutes of recovery in the SLE(INACTIVE) group, whereas the other
      cytokines and sTNFR2 levels remained unchanged (P>0.05). In the HC group, IL-10,
      TNF-alpha, sTNFR1, and sTNFR2 levels did not change, whilst INF-gamma levels
      decreased (P=0.05) and IL-6 levels increased immediately after the exercise
      (P=0.028), returning to baseline levels 24 hours later (P > 0.05). When compared
      with the HC group, the SLE(INACTIVE) group showed higher levels of TNF-alpha and
      sTNFR2 in all time points, and higher levels of sTNFR1 at the end of exercise and
      at the 30th minute of recovery (P<0.05). The SLE(ACTIVE) group also showed higher
      levels of TNF-alpha at all time points when compared with the HC group (P<0.05),
      (except after 90 min, 120 min and 24 hours of recovery) (P>0.05). Importantly,
      the levels of all cytokine and soluble TNF receptors returned to baseline 24
      hours after the end of acute exercise, irrespective of its intensity, in all
      three groups (P>0.05). This study demonstrated that both the single bouts of
      acute moderate and intense exercise induced mild and transient changes in
      cytokine levels in both SLE(INACTIVE) and SLE(ACTIVE) women, providing novel
      evidence that acute aerobic exercise does not trigger inflammation in patients
      with this disease.

PMID- 25825871
TI  - Genetic interaction mapping reveals a role for the SWI/SNF nucleosome remodeler
      in spliceosome activation in fission yeast.
AB  - Although numerous regulatory connections between pre-mRNA splicing and chromatin
      have been demonstrated, the precise mechanisms by which chromatin factors
      influence spliceosome assembly and/or catalysis remain unclear. To probe the
      genetic network of pre-mRNA splicing in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces
      pombe, we constructed an epistatic mini-array profile (E-MAP) and discovered many
      new connections between chromatin and splicing. Notably, the nucleosome remodeler
      SWI/SNF had strong genetic interactions with components of the U2 snRNP SF3
      complex. Overexpression of SF3 components in DeltaSWI/SNF cells led to
      inefficient splicing of many fission yeast introns, predominantly those with non
      consensus splice sites. Deletion of SWI/SNF decreased recruitment of the splicing
      ATPase Prp2, suggesting that SWI/SNF promotes co-transcriptional spliceosome
      assembly prior to first step catalysis. Importantly, defects in SWI/SNF as well
      as SF3 overexpression each altered nucleosome occupancy along intron-containing
      genes, illustrating that the chromatin landscape both affects--and is affected by
      -co-transcriptional splicing.

PMID- 25825872
TI  - Preferred SH3 domain partners of ADAM metalloproteases include shared and ADAM
      specific SH3 interactions.
AB  - A disintegrin and metalloproteinases (ADAMs) constitute a protein family
      essential for extracellular signaling and regulation of cell adhesion. Catalytic
      activity of ADAMs and their predicted potential for Src-homology 3 (SH3) domain
      binding show a strong correlation. Here we present a comprehensive
      characterization of SH3 binding capacity and preferences of the catalytically
      active ADAMs 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 17, and 19. Our results revealed several novel
      interactions, and also confirmed many previously reported ones. Many of the
      identified SH3 interaction partners were shared by several ADAMs, whereas some
      were ADAM-specific. Most of the ADAM-interacting SH3 proteins were adapter
      proteins or kinases, typically associated with sorting and endocytosis. Novel SH3
      interactions revealed in this study include TOCA1 and CIP4 as preferred partners
      of ADAM8, and RIMBP1 as a partner of ADAM19. Our results suggest that common as
      well as distinct mechanisms are involved in regulation and execution of ADAM
      signaling, and provide a useful framework for addressing the pathways that
      connect ADAMs to normal and aberrant cell behavior. 

PMID- 25825873
TI  - Robotic versus open radical cystectomy: an updated systematic review and meta
      analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To critically review the currently available evidence of studies
      comparing robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) with open radical cystectomy
      (ORC). METHODS: A comprehensive review of the literature from Pubmed, Web of
      Science and Scopus was performed in April 2014. All relevant studies comparing
      RARC with ORC were included for further screening. A pooled meta-analysis of all
      comparative studies was performed and publication bias was assessed by a funnel
      plot. RESULTS: Nineteen studies were included for the analysis, including a total
      of 1779 patients (787 patients in the RARC group and 992 patients in the ORC
      group). Although RARC was associated with longer operative time (p <0.0001),
      patients in this group might benefit from significantly lower overall
      perioperative complication rates within 30 days and 90 days (p = 0.005 and
      0.0002, respectively), more lymph node yields (p = 0.009), less estimated blood
      loss (p <0.00001), lower need for perioperative and intraoperative transfusions
      (p <0.0001 and <0.0001, respectively), and shorter postoperative length of stay
      (p = 0.0002). There was no difference between two groups regarding positive
      surgical margin rates (p = 0.19). CONCLUSIONS: RARC appears to be an efficient
      alternative to ORC with advantages of less perioperative complications, more
      lymph node yields, less estimated blood loss, lower need for transfusions, and
      shorter postoperative length of stay. Further studies should be performed to
      compare the long-term oncologic outcomes between RARC and ORC.

PMID- 25825874
TI  - Cytoreductive surgery of colorectal peritoneal metastases: outcomes after
      complete cytoreductive surgery and systemic chemotherapy only.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cytoreductive peritoneal surgery (CRS) associated with hyperthermic
      peritoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) has long been considered the standard treatment
      for colorectal peritoneal metastases (CPM). However, although efficacy of surgery
      has been demonstrated, evidence supporting HIPEC's role is less certain. METHOD:
      Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and morbidity were
      analysed retrospectively for fifty consecutively included patients treated for
      colorectal CPM with complete CRS and systemic chemotherapy only. RESULTS: Median
      peritoneal cancer index (PCI) was 8 (range 1-24). 23 patients had liver or lung
      metastases (LLM). 22 patients had synchronous CPM. 27 complications occurred (12
      Grade 1/2, 14 Grade 3, 1 Grade 4a, 0 Grade 5). Median follow-up was 62.5 months
      (95 %CI 45.4-81.3), median survival 32.4 months (21.5-41.7). Three- and 5-year OS
      were 45.5% (0.31-0.59) and 29.64% (0.17-0.44) respectively. Presence of LLMs
      associated with peritoneal carcinomatosis was significantly associated with
      poorer prognosis, with survival at 5 years of 13.95% (95 %CI 2.9-33.6) vs. 43.87%
      (22.2-63.7) when no metastases were present (P= 0.018). Median PFS was 9.5 months
      (95 %CI 6.2-11.1). CONCLUSION: With an equivalent PCI range and despite one of
      the highest rates of LLM in the literature, our survival data of CRS + systemic
      chemotherapy only compare well with results reported after additional HIPEC.
      Tolerance was better with acceptable morbidity without any mortality. Extra
      hepatic metastasis (LLM) is a strong factor of poor prognosis. Awaiting the
      results of the randomized PRODIGE trial, these results indicate that CRS +
      systemic chemotherapy only is a robust hypothesis to treat colorectal CPM.

PMID- 25825875
TI  - Correction: A meta-analysis of P2X7 gene-762T/C polymorphism and pulmonary
      tuberculosis susceptibility.

PMID- 25825876
TI  - Genomic prediction of biological shape: elliptic Fourier analysis and kernel
      partial least squares (PLS) regression applied to grain shape prediction in rice
      (Oryza sativa L.).
AB  - Shape is an important morphological characteristic both in animals and plants. In
      the present study, we examined a method for predicting biological contour shapes
      based on genome-wide marker polymorphisms. The method is expected to contribute
      to the acceleration of genetic improvement of biological shape via genomic
      selection. Grain shape variation observed in rice (Oryza sativa L.) germplasms
      was delineated using elliptic Fourier descriptors (EFDs), and was predicted based
      on genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes. We applied four
      methods including kernel PLS (KPLS) regression for building a prediction model of
      grain shape, and compared the accuracy of the methods via cross-validation. We
      analyzed multiple datasets that differed in marker density and sample size.
      Datasets with larger sample size and higher marker density showed higher
      accuracy. Among the four methods, KPLS showed the highest accuracy. Although KPLS
      and ridge regression (RR) had equivalent accuracy in a single dataset, the result
      suggested the potential of KPLS for the prediction of high-dimensional EFDs.
      Ordinary PLS, however, was less accurate than RR in all datasets, suggesting that
      the use of a non-linear kernel was necessary for accurate prediction using the
      PLS method. Rice grain shape can be predicted accurately based on genome-wide SNP
      genotypes. The proposed method is expected to be useful for genomic selection in
      biological shape. 

PMID- 25825878
TI  - [Hospitalization for cardiac arrest outside hospitals].

PMID- 25825879
TI  - [The follow up of patients and their relatives after cardiac arrest varies
      greatly].
AB  - The return to a good life after successfully resuscitated cardiac arrest may be
      hindered by cardiovascular morbidity, psychological distress and the consequences
      of anoxic brain injury. To support the return to everyday life, patients and
      their relatives are in need of health care follow-up with multiple focuses.
      Usually, this follow-up consists of at least one of three parallel tracks;
      cardiology for interventions and secondary prevention, post intensive care follow
      up to capture and prevent consequences of the traumatic event and the ICU stay,
      or neurological follow-up for patients with neurological sequels. None of these
      tracks include all patients. In addition, survivors are usually included and
      followed with patient related outcome measures (PROM) through the multiple
      Swedish national quality registers. The different clinical follow-up systems and
      the registers are not coordinated and assessments and questions may be repeated
      multiple times. A more integrated follow-up model has the potential to benefit
      the patient and their relatives and to reduce costs.

PMID- 25825877
TI  - More than half of high school students report disordered eating: a cross
      sectional study among Norwegian boys and girls.
AB  - Disordered eating and eating disorders are of great concern due to their
      associations with physical and mental health risks. Even if adolescence has been
      identified as the most vulnerable time for developing disordered eating, few
      studies have used a broad spectrum of criteria to investigate the prevalence of
      disordered eating among high school students of both genders, in different
      programs of study, nor assessed correlates of disordered eating among this
      important target group. The purposes of this study were therefore to investigate
      the prevalence and correlates of disordered eating among both male and female
      high school students in sport-, general and vocational programs. A comprehensive
      questionnaire was completed by 2,451 students (98.7%), aged 15-17 years. The
      total prevalence of disordered eating was 54.9%, with 64.3% among girls and 45.0%
      among boys (p<0.001). The highest prevalence of disordered eating was found among
      vocational students (60.7%), followed by students in general programs (49.8%) and
      sport students (38.3%) (p<0.001). Female gender, school program (vocational and
      general), overweight/obesity and weight regulation were positively associated
      with disordered eating. The high prevalence indicates the importance of tailored
      prevention efforts directed at high school students, particularly in vocational
      programs. Furthermore, a smaller girls-boys ratio than expected indicates that
      the efforts to identify and manage disordered eating among high school students
      should include both genders. 

PMID- 25825880
TI  - [Question mark of ventilations and chest compressions].

PMID- 25825881
TI  - [Distinguishing cardiac arrest among young athletes].

PMID- 25825882
TI  - [More and more defibrillators in the community--but few used].

PMID- 25825884
TI  - [Not Available].

PMID- 25825883
TI  - [Several factors affect the prognosis].

PMID- 25825885
TI  - [Few drugs dominate among clinically important interactions. Swedish register
      study lists problem drugs].
AB  - In a recent Swedish register study, a limited number of specific drugs explained
      a large part of clinically relevant, potential drug-drug interactions (DDI), as
      defined and detected by the DDI database SFINX. Regarding interactions that
      should be avoided according to the definition in the database (class D), 15 drug
      combinations accounted for as much as 80 % of the prevalence in the Swedish
      population. Ten specific drugs were involved in 94 % of all detected class D
      interactions. About half of the clinically relevant interactions detected during
      the four-month study period were associated with an increased risk of adverse
      drug reactions, whereas the other half has a potential to cause therapeutic
      failure. An increased awareness among prescribers of these interacting drugs
      could contribute to safer and more effective drug use.

PMID- 25825886
TI  - [The physician must be kept outside the influence of the reimbursement systems].

PMID- 25825887
TI  - [Wrong thinking in theory resulted in potent drug in practice].

PMID- 25825888
TI  - [In the absence of description of aims in the new internship education: When does
      the common knowledge base become common?].

PMID- 25825889
TI  - [The "harmful" maternity round--mysterious phenomenon with many question marks].

PMID- 25825890
TI  - [Ligament injuries in the wrist--do not overtreat].

PMID- 25825891
TI  - [Health care as an industrial organization].

PMID- 25825892
TI  - [Incident reports--fragile basis for improvement work].

PMID- 25825893
TI  - [The Swedish Medical Association must influence the reimbursement systems].

PMID- 25825894
TI  - [Not Available].

PMID- 25825895
TI  - [The Swedish Medical Association must stand up for medical ethics and the
      physician's role].

PMID- 25825896
TI  - [Expected absence of coffee breaks. The robot does the job without complaining].

PMID- 25825897
TI  - [Not Available].

PMID- 25825898
TI  - [Our message has been misunderstood].

PMID- 25825899
TI  - [Early diagnosis is desirable].

PMID- 25825900
TI  - ["The survival chain" must be strong].

PMID- 25825901
TI  - [Uncertain if drugs do any good after cardiac arrest].

PMID- 25825902
TI  - Correction: cyclic GMP-AMP displays mucosal adjuvant activity in mice.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110150.]. 

PMID- 25825903
TI  - An efficient algorithm to perform local concerted movements of a chain molecule.
AB  - The devising of efficient concerted rotation moves that modify only selected
      local portions of chain molecules is a long studied problem. Possible
      applications range from speeding the uncorrelated sampling of polymeric dense
      systems to loop reconstruction and structure refinement in protein modeling.
      Here, we propose and validate, on a few pedagogical examples, a novel numerical
      strategy that generalizes the notion of concerted rotation. The usage of the
      Denavit-Hartenberg parameters for chain description allows all possible choices
      for the subset of degrees of freedom to be modified in the move. They can be
      arbitrarily distributed along the chain and can be distanced between consecutive
      monomers as well. The efficiency of the methodology capitalizes on the inherent
      geometrical structure of the manifold defined by all chain configurations
      compatible with the fixed degrees of freedom. The chain portion to be moved is
      first opened along a direction chosen in the tangent space to the manifold, and
      then closed in the orthogonal space. As a consequence, in Monte Carlo simulations
      detailed balance is easily enforced without the need of using Jacobian
      reweighting. Moreover, the relative fluctuations of the degrees of freedom
      involved in the move can be easily tuned. We show different applications: the
      manifold of possible configurations is explored in a very efficient way for a
      protein fragment and for a cyclic molecule; the "local backbone volume", related
      to the volume spanned by the manifold, reproduces the mobility profile of all
      alpha helical proteins; the refinement of small protein fragments with different
      secondary structures is addressed. The presented results suggest our methodology
      as a valuable exploration and sampling tool in the context of bio-molecular
      simulations. 

PMID- 25825904
TI  - [Academic elitism or the obsession with the impact factor].

PMID- 25825905
TI  - Effects of functionalized and raw multi-walled carbon nanotubes on soil bacterial
      community composition.
AB  - Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are widely used in industry, but their environmental
      impacts on soil microbial communities are poorly known. In this paper, we compare
      the effect of both raw and acid treated or functionalized (fCNTs) multi-walled
      carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on soil bacterial communities, applying different
      concentrations of MWCNTs (0 ug/g, 50 ug/g, 500 ug/g and 5000 ug/g) to a soil
      microcosm system. Soil DNA was extracted at 0, 2 and 8 weeks and the V3 region of
      the 16S rRNA gene was PCR-amplified and sequenced using paired-end Illumina bar
      coded sequencing. The results show that bacterial diversity was not affected by
      either type of MWCNT. However, overall soil bacterial community composition, as
      illustrated by NMDS, was affected only by fMWCNT at high concentrations. This
      effect, detectable at 2 weeks, remained equally strong by 8 weeks. In the case of
      fMWCNTs, overall changes in relative abundance of the dominant phyla were also
      found. The stronger effect of fMWCNTs could be explained by their intrinsically
      acidic nature, as the soil pH was lower at higher concentrations of fMWCNTs.
      Overall, this study suggests that fMWCNTs may at least temporarily alter
      microbial community composition on the timescale of at least weeks to months. It
      appears, by contrast, that raw MWCNTs do not affect soil microbial community
      composition. 

PMID- 25825906
TI  - Reference gene validation for RT-qPCR, a note on different available software
      packages.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An appropriate normalization strategy is crucial for data analysis
      from real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions (RT-qPCR). It is
      widely supported to identify and validate stable reference genes, since no single
      biological gene is stably expressed between cell types or within cells under
      different conditions. Different algorithms exist to validate optimal reference
      genes for normalization. Applying human cells, we here compare the three main
      methods to the online available RefFinder tool that integrates these algorithms
      along with R-based software packages which include the NormFinder and GeNorm
      algorithms. RESULTS: 14 candidate reference genes were assessed by RT-qPCR in two
      sample sets, i.e. a set of samples of human testicular tissue containing
      carcinoma in situ (CIS), and a set of samples from the human adult Sertoli cell
      line (FS1) either cultured alone or in co-culture with the seminoma like cell
      line (TCam-2) or with equine bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (eBM
      MSC). Expression stabilities of the reference genes were evaluated using geNorm,
      NormFinder, and BestKeeper. Similar results were obtained by the three approaches
      for the most and least stably expressed genes. The R-based packages NormqPCR,
      SLqPCR and the NormFinder for R script gave identical gene rankings.
      Interestingly, different outputs were obtained between the original software
      packages and the RefFinder tool, which is based on raw Cq values for input. When
      the raw data were reanalysed assuming 100% efficiency for all genes, then the
      outputs of the original software packages were similar to the RefFinder software,
      indicating that RefFinder outputs may be biased because PCR efficiencies are not
      taken into account. CONCLUSIONS: This report shows that assay efficiency is an
      important parameter for reference gene validation. New software tools that
      incorporate these algorithms should be carefully validated prior to use.

PMID- 25825907
TI  - Molecular epidemiology of rabies viruses circulating in two rabies endemic
      provinces of Laos, 2011-2012: regional diversity in Southeast Asia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although rabies is endemic in Laos, genetic characterization of the
      viruses in this country is limited. There are growing concerns that development
      in the region may have increased transport of dog through Laos for regional dog
      meat consumption, and that this may cause spillover of the viruses from dogs
      brought here from other countries. This study was therefore undertaken to
      evaluate the current rabies situation and the genetic characteristics of rabies
      viruses currently circulating in Laos. METHODS: We determined the rate of rabies
      positive samples by analyzing data from animal samples submitted to the Lao
      Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's National Animal Health Centre rabies
      laboratory from 2004 through 2011. Twenty-three rabies-positive samples were used
      for viral genetic characterization. Full genome sequencing was performed on two
      rabies viruses. RESULTS: Rabies-positive samples increased substantially from
      40.5% in 2004 to 60.2% in 2009 and continued at this level during the study
      period. More than 99% of the samples were from dogs, followed by cats and
      monkeys. Phylogenetic analyses showed that three rabies virus lineages belonging
      to the Southeast Asian cluster are currently circulating in Laos; these are
      closely related to viruses from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Lineages of the
      circulating Laos rabies viruses diverged from common ancestors as recently as
      44.2 years and as much as 55.3 years ago, indicating periodic virus invasions.
      CONCLUSION: There is an increasing trend of rabies in Laotian animals. Similar to
      other rabies-endemic countries, dogs are the main viral reservoir. Three viral
      lineages closely related to viruses from neighboring countries are currently
      circulating in Laos. Data provide evidence of periodic historic exchanges of the
      viruses with neighboring countries, but no recent invasion.

PMID- 25825908
TI  - The microbiota: an exercise immunology perspective.
AB  - The gut microbiota consists of a cluster of microorganisms that produces several
      signaling molecules of a hormonal nature which are released into the blood stream
      and act at distal sites. There is a growing body of evidence indicating that
      microbiota may be modulated by several environmental conditions, including
      different exercise stimulus, as well some pathologies. Enriched bacterial
      diversity has also been associated with improved health status and alterations in
      immune system, making multiple connections between host and microbiota.
      Experimental evidence has shown that reduced levels and variations in the
      bacterial community are associated with health impairments, while increased
      microbiota diversity improves metabolic profile and immunological responses. So
      far, very few controlled studies have focused on the interactions between acute
      or chronic exercise and the gut microbiota. However, some preliminary
      experimental data obtained from animal studies or probiotics studies show some
      interesting results at the immune level, indicating that the microbiota also acts
      like an endocrine organ and is sensitive to the homeostatic and physiological
      changes associated with exercise. Thus, our review intends to shed some light on
      the interaction between gut microbiota, exercise and immunomodulation. 

PMID- 25825909
TI  - Breaking the hydrophobicity of the MscL pore: insights into a charge-induced
      gating mechanism.
AB  - The mechanosensitive channel of large conductance (MscL) is a protein that
      responds to membrane tension by opening a transient pore during osmotic
      downshock. Due to its large pore size and functional reconstitution into lipid
      membranes, MscL has been proposed as a promising artificial nanovalve suitable
      for biotechnological applications. For example, site-specific mutations and
      tailored chemical modifications have shown how MscL channel gating can be
      triggered in the absence of tension by introducing charged residues at the
      hydrophobic pore level. Recently, engineered MscL proteins responsive to stimuli
      like pH or light have been reported. Inspired by experiments, we present a
      thorough computational study aiming at describing, with atomistic detail, the
      artificial gating mechanism and the molecular transport properties of a light
      actuated bacterial MscL channel, in which a charge-induced gating mechanism has
      been enabled through the selective cleavage of photo-sensitive alkylating agents.
      Properties such as structural transitions, pore dimension, ion flux and
      selectivity have been carefully analyzed. Besides, the effects of charge on
      alternative sites of the channel with respect to those already reported have been
      addressed. Overall, our results provide useful molecular insights into the
      structural events accompanying the engineered MscL channel gating and the
      interplay of electrostatic effects, channel opening and permeation properties. In
      addition, we describe how the experimentally observed ionic current in a single
      subunit charged MscL mutant is obtained through a hydrophobicity breaking
      mechanism involving an asymmetric inter-subunit motion. 

PMID- 25825910
TI  - Specific medicinal plant polysaccharides effectively enhance the potency of a DC
      based vaccine against mouse mammary tumor metastasis.
AB  - Dendritic cell (DC) vaccines are a newly emerging immunotherapeutic approach for
      the treatment and prevention of cancer, but major challenges still remain
      particularly with respect to clinical efficacy. Engineering and optimization of
      adjuvant formulations for DC-based vaccines is one strategy through which more
      efficacious treatments may be obtained. In this study, we developed a new ex vivo
      approach for DC vaccine preparation. We evaluated two highly purified mixed
      polysaccharide fractions from the root of Astragalus membranaceus and Codonopsis
      pilosulae, named Am and Cp, for their use in enhancing the efficiency of a DC
      based cancer vaccine against metastasis of 4T1 mammary carcinoma in mice. Mixed
      lymphocyte reaction showed all Am-, Cp- and [Am+Cp]-treated DCs enhanced mouse
      CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell proliferation. [Am+Cp]-treated DCs exhibited the strongest
      anti-4T1 metastasis activity in test mice. Treatments with Am, Cp and [Am+Cp]
      also resulted in augmented expression of CD40, CD80 and CD86 markers in test DCs.
      Bioinformatics analysis of the cytokine array data from treated DCs identified
      that [Am+Cp] is efficacious in activation of specific immune functions via
      mediating the expression of cytokines/chemokines involved in the recruitment and
      differentiation of defined immune cells. Biochemical analysis revealed that Am
      and Cp are composed mainly of polysaccharides containing a high level (70-95%)
      glucose residues, but few or no (< 1%) mannose residues. In summary, our findings
      suggest that the specific plant polysaccharides Am and Cp extracted from
      traditional Chinese medicines can be effectively used instead of bacterial LPS as
      a potent adjuvant in the formulation of a DC-based vaccine for cancer
      immunotherapies. 

PMID- 25825911
TI  - Cloning and functional characterization of SAD genes in potato.
AB  - Stearoyl-acyl carrier protein desaturase (SAD), locating in the plastid stroma,
      is an important fatty acid biosynthetic enzyme in higher plants. SAD catalyzes
      desaturation of stearoyl-ACP to oleyl-ACP and plays a key role in determining the
      homeostasis between saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids, which is
      an important player in cold acclimation in plants. Here, four new full-length
      cDNA of SADs (ScoSAD, SaSAD, ScaSAD and StSAD) were cloned from four Solanum
      species, Solanum commersonii, S. acaule, S. cardiophyllum and S. tuberosum,
      respectively. The ORF of the four SADs were 1182 bp in length, encoding 393 amino
      acids. A sequence alignment indicated 13 amino acids varied among the SADs of
      three wild species. Further analysis showed that the freezing tolerance and cold
      acclimation capacity of S. commersonii are similar to S. acaule and their SAD
      amino acid sequences were identical but differed from that of S. cardiophyllum,
      which is sensitive to freezing. Furthermore, the sequence alignments between
      StSAD and ScoSAD indicated that only 7 different amino acids at residues were
      found in SAD of S. tuberosum (Zhongshu8) against the protein sequence of ScoSAD.
      A phylogenetic analysis showed the three wild potato species had the closest
      genetic relationship with the SAD of S. lycopersicum and Nicotiana
      tomentosiformis but not S. tuberosum. The SAD gene from S. commersonii (ScoSAD)
      was cloned into multiple sites of the pBI121 plant binary vector and transformed
      into the cultivated potato variety Zhongshu 8. A freeze tolerance analysis showed
      overexpression of the ScoSAD gene in transgenic plants significantly enhanced
      freeze tolerance in cv. Zhongshu 8 and increased their linoleic acid content,
      suggesting that linoleic acid likely plays a key role in improving freeze
      tolerance in potato plants. This study provided some new insights into how SAD
      regulates in the freezing tolerance and cold acclimation in potato. 

PMID- 25825912
TI  - Corticospinal and reciprocal inhibition actions on human soleus motoneuron
      activity during standing and walking.
AB  - Reciprocal Ia inhibition constitutes a key segmental neuronal pathway for
      coordination of antagonist muscles. In this study, we investigated the soleus H
      reflex and reciprocal inhibition exerted from flexor group Ia afferents on soleus
      motoneurons during standing and walking in 15 healthy subjects following
      transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The effects of separate TMS or deep
      peroneal nerve (DPN) stimulation and the effects of combined (TMS + DPN) stimuli
      on the soleus H-reflex were assessed during standing and at mid- and late stance
      phases of walking. Subthreshold TMS induced short-latency facilitation on the
      soleus H-reflex that was present during standing and at midstance but not at late
      stance of walking. Reciprocal inhibition was increased during standing and at
      late stance but not at the midstance phase of walking. The effects of combined
      TMS and DPN stimuli on the soleus H-reflex significantly changed between tasks,
      resulting in an extra facilitation of the soleus H-reflex during standing and not
      during walking. Our findings indicate that corticospinal inputs and Ia inhibitory
      interneurons interact at the spinal level in a task-dependent manner, and that
      corticospinal modulation of reciprocal Ia inhibition is stronger during standing
      than during walking. 

PMID- 25825913
TI  - Effects of Mitragynine and a Crude Alkaloid Extract Derived from Mitragyna
      speciosa Korth. on Permethrin Elimination in Rats.
AB  - Detoxification and elimination of permethrin (PM) are mediated by hydrolysis via
      carboxylesterase (CES). Mitragyna speciosa (kratom) contains mitragynine (MG) and
      other bioactive alkaloids. Since PM and MG have the same catalytic site and M.
      speciosa is usually abused by adding other ingredients such as pyrethroid
      insecticides, the effects of MG and an alkaloid extract (AE) on the elimination
      of PM were investigated in rats. Rats were subjected to single and multiple
      pretreatment with MG and AE prior to receiving a single oral dose (460 mg/kg) of
      PM. Plasma concentrations of trans-PM and its metabolite phenoxybenzylalcohol
      (PBAlc) were measured. The elimination rate constant (kel) and the elimination
      half-life (t1/2 el) of PM were determined, as well as the metabolic ratio (PMR).
      A single and multiple oral pretreatment with MG and AE altered the plasma
      concentration-time courses of both trans-PM and PBAlc during 8-22 h, decreased
      the PMRs, delayed elimination of PM, but enhanced elimination of PBAlc. Results
      indicated that PM-MG or AE toxicokinetic interactions might have resulted from
      the MG and AE interfering with PM hydrolysis. The results obtained in rats
      suggest that in humans using kratom cocktails containing PM, there might be an
      increased risk of PM toxicity due to inhibition of PM metabolism and elimination.

PMID- 25825914
TI  - Microdosimetry of the Auger electron emitting 123I radionuclide using Geant4-DNA
      simulations.
AB  - Microdosimetric calculations of the Auger electron emitter (123)I were done in
      liquid water spheres using the Geant4 toolkit. The electron emission spectrum of
      (123)I produced by Geant4 is presented. Energy deposition and corresponding S
      values were calculated to investigate the influence of the sub-cellular
      localization of the Auger emitter. It was found that S-values calculated by the
      Geant4 toolkit are generally lower than the values calculated by other Monte
      Carlo codes for the (123)I radionuclide. The differences in the compared S-values
      are mainly due to the different particle emission spectra employed by the
      respective computational codes and emphasizes the influence of the spectra on
      dosimetry calculations. 

PMID- 25825915
TI  - Folate status and health: challenges and opportunities.
AB  - Each year approximately 2400 pregnancies develop folic acid-preventable spina
      bifida and anencephaly in Europe. Currently, 70% of all affected pregnancies are
      terminated after prenatal diagnosis. The prevalence of neural tube defects (NTDs)
      has been significantly lowered in more than 70 countries worldwide by applying
      fortification with folic acid. Periconceptional supplementation of folic acid
      also reduces the risk of congenital heart diseases, preterm birth, low birth
      weight, and health problems associated with child mortality and morbidity. All
      European governments failed to issue folic acid fortification of centrally
      processed and widely eaten foods in order to prevent NTDs and other unwanted
      birth outcomes. The estimated average dietary intake of folate in Germany is 200
      MUg dietary folate equivalents (DFE)/day. More than half of German women of
      reproductive age do not consume sufficient dietary folate to achieve optimal
      serum or red blood cell folate concentrations (>18 or 1000 nmol/L, respectively)
      necessary to prevent spina bifida and anencephaly. To date, targeted
      supplementation is recommended in Europe, but this approach failed to reduce the
      rate of NTDs during the last 10 years. Public health centers for prenatal care
      and fortification with folic acid in Europe are urgently needed. Only such an
      action will sufficiently improve folate status, prevent at least 50% of the NTD
      cases, reduce child mortality and morbidity, and alleviate other health problems
      associated with low folate such as anemia. 

PMID- 25825916
TI  - Cell cycle regulation and apoptotic cell death in experimental colon
      carcinogenesis: intervening with cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors.
AB  - Relative imbalance in the pathways regulating cell cycle, cell proliferation, or
      cell death marks a prerequisite for neoplasm. C-phycocyanin, a biliprotein from
      Spirulina platensis and a selective COX-2 inhibitor along with piroxicam, a
      traditional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug was used to investigate the role
      of cell cycle regulatory proteins and proinflammatory transcription factor
      NFkappaB in 1,2-dimethylhydrazine dihydrochloride (DMH)-induced rat colon
      carcinogenesis. Cell cycle regulators [cyclin D1, cyclin E, cyclin dependent
      kinase 2 (CDK2), CDK4, and p53], NFkappaB (p65) pathway, and proliferating cell
      nuclear antigen (PCNA) were evaluated by gene and protein expression, whereas
      apoptosis was studied by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end
      labeling and apoptotic bleb assay. Molecular docking of ligand protein
      interaction was done to validate the in vivo results. Cyclin D1, cyclin E, CDK2,
      and CDK4 were overexpressed in DMH, whereas piroxicam and c-phycocyanin promoted
      the cell cycle arrest by downregulating them. Both drugs mediated apoptosis
      through p53 activation. Piroxicam and c-phycocyanin also stimulated
      antiproliferation by restraining PCNA expression and reduced cell survival via
      inhibiting NFkappaB (p65) pathway. Molecular docking revealed that
      phycocyanobilin (a chromophore of c-phycocyanin) interact with DNA binding site
      of NFkappaB. Inhibition of cyclin/CDK complex by piroxicam and c-phycocyanin
      affects the expression of p53 in colon cancer followed by downregulation of
      NFkappaB and PCNA levels, thus substantiating the antineoplastic role of these
      agents. 

PMID- 25825918
TI  - Carboxylate Ion Pairing with Alkali-Metal Ions for beta-Lactoglobulin and Its
      Role on Aggregation and Interfacial Adsorption.
AB  - We report a combined experimental and computational study of the whey protein
      beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) in different electrolyte solutions. Vibrational sum
      frequency generation (SFG) and ellipsometry were used to investigate the
      molecular structure of BLG modified air-water interfaces as a function of LiCl,
      NaCl, and KCl concentrations. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and
      thermodynamic integration provided details of the ion pairing of protein surface
      residues with alkali-metal cations. Our results at pH 6.2 indicate that BLG at
      the air-water interface forms mono- and bilayers preferably at low and high ionic
      strength, respectively. Results from SFG spectroscopy and ellipsometry are
      consistent with intimate ion pairing of alkali-metal cations with aspartate and
      glutamate carboxylates, which is shown to be more effective for smaller cations
      (Li(+) and Na(+)). MD simulations show not only carboxylate-alkali-metal ion
      pairs but also ion multiplets with the alkali-metal ion in a bridging position
      between two or more carboxylates. Consequently, alkali-metal cations can bridge
      carboxylates not only within a monomer but also between monomers, thus providing
      an important dimerization mechanism between hydrophilic surface patches. 

PMID- 25825919
TI  - "Allow Natural Death" versus "Do Not Resuscitate": What Do Patients with Advanced
      Cancer Choose?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Many patients with advanced cancer at our hospital request full
      resuscitative efforts at the end of life. We assessed the knowledge and attitudes
      of these patients towards end-of-life (EOL) care, and their preferences about "Do
      Not Resuscitate" (DNR), "Allow Natural Death" (AND), and "full code" orders.
      METHODS: The first 100 consenting adult patients with advanced cancer were
      surveyed regarding their diagnosis, prognosis, and attitudes about critical care
      and resuscitation. They were then presented with hypothetical scenarios in which
      a decision on their code status had to be made if they had one year, six months,
      or one month left to live. Half were given a choice between being "full code" and
      "DNR," and half could choose between "full code" and "AND." RESULTS: All 93 of
      the participants who completed the survey were considered by their attending
      physician to have a terminal illness, but only 42% of these interviewees believed
      they were terminally ill. In addition, only 25% of participants thought that
      their primary oncologist knew their EOL wishes. Participants were equally likely
      to choose either of the "no code" options in all hypothetical scenarios (p>0.54),
      regardless of age, sex, race, type of cancer, education, or income level. A
      similar proportion of patients who had a living will chose "AND" and "DNR" orders
      instead of "full code" in all the scenarios (47%-74% and 63%-71%). In contrast,
      among patients who did not have a living will, 52% chose "DNR," while 19% opted
      for "AND." CONCLUSIONS: We hypothesized that "AND" orders may be more acceptable
      to patients with advanced cancer, but there was no statistically significant
      difference in acceptability between "AND" and "DNR" orders.

PMID- 25825920
TI  - Effect of humic acids with different characteristics on fermentative short-chain
      fatty acids production from waste activated sludge.
AB  - Recently, the use of waste activated sludge to bioproduce short-chain fatty acids
      (SCFA) has attracted much attention as the sludge-derived SCFA can be used as a
      preferred carbon source to drive biological nutrient removal or biopolymer
      (polyhydroxyalkanoates) synthesis. Although large number of humic acid (HA) has
      been reported in sludge, the influence of HA on SCFA production has never been
      documented. This study investigated the effects on sludge-derived SCFA production
      of two commercially available humic acids (referred to as SHHA and SAHA purchased
      respectively from Shanghai Reagent Company and Sigma-Aldrich) that differ in
      chemical structure, hydrophobicity, surfactant properties, and degree of
      aromaticity. It was found that SHHA remarkably enhanced SCFA production (1.7-3.5
      folds), while SAHA had no obvious effect. Mechanisms study revealed that all four
      steps (solubilization, hydrolysis, acidification, and methanogenesis) involved in
      sludge fermentation were unaffected by SAHA. However, SHHA remarkably improved
      the solubilization of sludge protein and carbohydrate and the activity of
      hydrolysis enzymes (protease and alpha-glucosidase) owing to its greater
      hydrophobicity and protection of enzyme activity. SHHA also enhanced the
      acidification step by accelerating the bioreactions of glyceradehyde-3P -> d
      glycerate 1,3-diphosphate, and pyruvate -> acetyl-CoA due to its abundant quinone
      groups which served as electron acceptor. Further investigation showed that SHHA
      negatively influenced the activity of acetoclastic methanogens for its
      competition for electrons and inhibition on the reaction of acetyl-CoA -> 5
      methyl-THMPT, which caused less SCFA being consumed. All these observations were
      in correspondence with SHHA significantly enhancing the production of sludge
      derived SCFA. 

PMID- 25825921
TI  - My life as a clinician-scientist: trying to bridge the perceived gap between
      medicine and science.

PMID- 25825922
TI  - Explaining variance and identifying predictors of children's communication via a
      multilevel model of single-case design research.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to explain the variability in data collected from a
      single-case design study and to identify predictors of communicative outcomes for
      children with developmental delays or disabilities (n = 4). Using SAS University
      Edition, we fit multilevel models with time nested within children. Children's
      initial levels of communication and teachers' frequency of strategy use when
      directed at the children predicted children's communicative outcomes. These
      results indicate that teachers' implementation of evidence-based communication
      strategies, when directed toward children with disabilities, and the interaction
      between their use of the strategies and children's initial levels of
      communication predict children's communicative outcomes. Implications for
      research and practice are provided.

PMID- 25825923
TI  - Tunable Rare Earth fcu-MOF Platform: Access to Adsorption Kinetics Driven
      Gas/Vapor Separations via Pore Size Contraction.
AB  - Reticular chemistry approach was successfully employed to deliberately construct
      new rare-earth (RE, i.e., Eu(3+), Tb(3+), and Y(3+)) fcu metal-organic frameworks
      (MOFs) with restricted window apertures. Controlled and selective access to the
      resultant contracted fcu-MOF pores permits the achievement of the requisite
      sorbate cutoff, ideal for selective adsorption kinetics based separation and/or
      molecular sieving of gases and vapors. Predetermined reaction conditions that
      permitted the formation in situ of the 12-connected RE hexanuclear molecular
      building block (MBB) and the establishment of the first RE-fcu-MOF platform,
      especially in the presence of 2-fluorobenzoic acid (2-FBA) as a modulator and a
      structure directing agent, were used to synthesize isostructural RE-1,4-NDC-fcu
      MOFs based on a relatively bulkier 2-connected bridging ligand, namely 1,4
      naphthalenedicarboxylate (1,4-NDC). The subsequent RE-1,4-NDC-fcu-MOF structural
      features, contracted windows/pores and high concentration of open metal sites
      combined with exceptional hydrothermal and chemical stabilities, yielded notable
      gas/solvent separation properties, driven mostly by adsorption kinetics as
      exemplified in this work for n-butane/methane, butanol/methanol, and
      butanol/water pair systems. 

PMID- 25825924
TI  - Reconstructing multiple free energy pathways of DNA stretching from single
      molecule experiments.
AB  - Free energy landscapes provide information on the dynamics of proteins and
      nucleic acid folding. It has been demonstrated that such landscapes can be
      reconstructed from single molecule force measurement data using Jarzynski's
      equality, which requires only stretching data. However, when the process is
      reversible, the Crooks fluctuation theorem combines both stretch and relaxation
      force data for the analysis and can offer more rapid convergence of free energy
      estimates of different states. Here we demonstrate that, similar to Jarzynski's
      equality, the Crooks fluctuation theorem can be used to reconstruct the full free
      energy landscapes. In addition, when the free energy landscapes exhibit multiple
      folding pathways, one can use Jarzynski's equality to reconstruct individual free
      energy pathways if the experimental data show distinct work distributions. We
      applied the method to reconstruct the overstretching transition of poly(dA) to
      demonstrate that the nonequilibrium work theorem combined with single molecule
      force measurements provides a clear picture of the free energy landscapes. 

PMID- 25825925
TI  - An Examination of Influences on Body Dissatisfaction Among Asian American College
      Females: Do Family, Media, or Peers Play a Role?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The etiology of body dissatisfaction and its correlates (eg,
      disordered eating) among ethnic minorities is generally unknown. The purpose of
      this study was to replicate the tripartite model of influence in an Asian
      American college female sample in order to examine this relationship.
      PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 80 undergraduate Asian American females between
      the ages of 18 and 25. METHODS: Participants completed a survey that included the
      Tripartite Influence Scale, Body Parts Satisfaction Scale, and Sociocultural
      Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire-3. RESULTS: Mediation analyses
      indicated that thin-ideal internalization fully mediated the relationship between
      media influence and body dissatisfaction and partially mediated the relationship
      between peer influence and body dissatisfaction. Family influence did not
      significantly predict body dissatisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Asian American college
      females experience body dissatisfaction through mechanisms that have not been
      examined in detail. These factors must be considered when creating targeted
      health promotion strategies and developing best practices for eating disorder
      assessment and treatment protocols at university health centers.

PMID- 25825927
TI  - Double balloon enteroscopy is a safe and effective procedure in removing
      entrapped foreign objects in the small bowel for up to 3 months.
AB  - Recent case series have shown that enteroscopy is safe and effective to remove
      entrapped small bowel foreign bodies. However, the optimal timing for the foreign
      body retrieval in terms of duration of entrapment and when to consider surgical
      intervention are unknown. In this case series, we report that antegrade and
      retrograde enteroscopy can be used safely to retrieve foreign bodies entrapped in
      the small bowel for longer than 70 days. In total, 20 patients (mean age, 48
      years; 11 females) with entrapped foreign bodies in the small intestine underwent
      antegrade, retrograde, or combined double balloon enteroscopy for retrieval of
      objects. Symptoms prompted removal of entrapped, nonsharp objects in all patients
      and included abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. The mean time of entrapment
      was 83 days (range, 4-272 days). There were 15 cases of retained video capsule
      endoscopy (VCE) with a mean entrapment time of 106 days (range, 7-272 days). Two
      VCEs could not be removed safely with enteroscopy. Other retained small bowel
      objects included in this study were nails and fish hooks. Their average
      entrapment time was 13 days (range, 4-43 days). Of the 30 enteroscopies, there
      was only 1 case (3%) with a complication (perforation). According to this case
      series, experienced endoscopists can safely and effectively retrieve foreign
      bodies in the small bowel, particularly VCE, that are retained for extended
      periods of time. 

PMID- 25825926
TI  - Trans-blood brain barrier delivery of dopamine-loaded nanoparticles reverses
      functional deficits in parkinsonian rats.
AB  - Sustained and safe delivery of dopamine across the blood brain barrier (BBB) is a
      major hurdle for successful therapy in Parkinson's disease (PD), a
      neurodegenerative disorder. Therefore, in the present study we designed
      neurotransmitter dopamine-loaded PLGA nanoparticles (DA NPs) to deliver dopamine
      to the brain. These nanoparticles slowly and constantly released dopamine, showed
      reduced clearance of dopamine in plasma, reduced quinone adduct formation, and
      decreased dopamine autoxidation. DA NPs were internalized in dopaminergic SH-SY5Y
      cells and dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and striatum, regions
      affected in PD. Treatment with DA NPs did not cause reduction in cell viability
      and morphological deterioration in SH-SY5Y, as compared to bulk dopamine-treated
      cells, which showed reduced viability. Herein, we report that these NPs were able
      to cross the BBB and capillary endothelium in the striatum and substantia nigra
      in a 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced rat model of PD. Systemic intravenous
      administration of DA NPs caused significantly increased levels of dopamine and
      its metabolites and reduced dopamine-D2 receptor supersensitivity in the striatum
      of parkinsonian rats. Further, DA NPs significantly recovered neurobehavioral
      abnormalities in 6-OHDA-induced parkinsonian rats. Dopamine delivered through NPs
      did not cause additional generation of ROS, dopaminergic neuron degeneration, and
      ultrastructural changes in the striatum and substantia nigra as compared to 6
      OHDA-lesioned rats. Interestingly, dopamine delivery through nanoformulation
      neither caused alterations in the heart rate and blood pressure nor showed any
      abrupt pathological change in the brain and other peripheral organs. These
      results suggest that NPs delivered dopamine into the brain, reduced dopamine
      autoxidation-mediated toxicity, and ultimately reversed neurochemical and
      neurobehavioral deficits in parkinsonian rats. 

PMID- 25825928
TI  - Characterizing the relationship between tick bites and Lyme disease in active
      component U.S. Armed Forces in the eastern United States.
AB  - Lyme disease (LD) is the most commonly diagnosed vector-borne illness in the U.S.
      Analysis of ticks that are removed from patients (rather than collected from the
      environment) may inform LD surveillance. In this ecological study, LD rates among
      active component U.S. Armed Forces in the eastern U.S. were compared with tick
      data from the U.S. Army Public Health Command Human Tick Test Kit Program (HTTKP)
      covering the same geographic region. In the population of service members in the
      study sample, mean annual LD incidence was 52.2 per 100,000 person-years (95%
      CI+/-; 7.6 per 100,000) between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2012. A 10%
      increase in the rate of ticks submitted to the HTTKP corresponded to an increase
      in LD incidence of 5.7% (p<0.01). Where Borrelia burgdorferi infection of Ixodes
      scapularis ticks was high (20% or greater tick infection prevalence), tick
      removal rates explained 53.7% of the annual variation in LD incidence (p=0.01).
      These data support using location-specific rates of ticks removed while feeding
      on active component service members to complement LD surveillance.

PMID- 25825929
TI  - Incidence and prevalence of diagnoses of eye disorders of refraction and
      accommodation, active component service members, U.S. Armed Forces, 2000-2014.
AB  - More than half of service members on duty in the active component of the U.S.
      Armed Forces in July 2014 had been previously diagnosed with at least one of the
      eye disorders of refraction and accommodation examined in this report. During
      2000-2014, the most common diagnoses among service members, in descending order
      of frequency, were myopia, astigmatism, hyperopia, and presbyopia. The incidence
      rates for myopia were highest among those younger than 30 years and the rates for
      hyperopia and presbyopia were highest among those older than 39 years. Incidence
      rates and prevalence for all the disorders examined were higher among females
      than males. The methodological limitations of the analysis are discussed with
      respect to the generalizability of the results to the U.S population.

PMID- 25825930
TI  - Update: Heat injuries, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2014.
AB  - The incidence rate of heat stroke among active component service members in 2014
      was slightly higher than in 2013 but similar to the rates in 2011 and 2012.
      Incidence rates of heat stroke were higher among males, those younger than 20
      years of age, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Marine Corps and Army members, and service
      members in combat-specific occupations, compared to their respective
      counterparts. Fewer service members were treated for "other heat injuries" in
      2014 (n=1,683) than in any other year of the 5-year surveillance period. In
      addition, there were fewer reportable medical events for "other heat injuries" in
      2014 than in any of the prior 4 years. The incidence rate of "other heat
      injuries" was higher among females than males and was more than 6-fold higher
      among recruit trainees than among other enlisted members or officers. During 2010
      2014, 851 diagnoses of heat injuries were documented as having occurred among
      service members serving in Iraq/Afghanistan; 7.1% (n=60) of those diagnoses were
      for heat stroke.

PMID- 25825931
TI  - Surveillance snapshot: The geographic distribution of heat injuries among active
      component service members, U.S. Armed Forces, 2010-2014.

PMID- 25825932
TI  - Update: Exertional rhabdomyolysis, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2010
      2014.
AB  - Among active component U.S. service members in 2014, there were 403 incident
      episodes of rhabdomyolysis likely due to physical exertion or heat stress
      ("exertional rhabdomyolysis"). Th e annual incidence rates of exertional
      rhabdomyolysis increased nearly 50% during 2010-2014. In 2014, the highest
      incidence rates occurred in service members who were male; younger than 20 years
      of age; black, non-Hispanic; members of the Marine Corps and Army; recruit
      trainees; and in combat-specific occupations. Incidence rates were higher among
      service members with homes of record from the Northeast compared to other U.S.
      regions. Most cases of exertional rhabdomyolysis were diagnosed at installations
      that support basic combat/recruit training or major ground combat units of the
      Army or Marine Corps. Medical care providers should consider exertional
      rhabdomyolysis in the differential diagnosis when service members (particularly
      recruits) present with muscular pain and swelling,limited range of motion, or the
      excretion of dark urine (e.g., myoglobinuria)aft er strenuous physical activity,
      particularly in hot, humid weather.

PMID- 25825933
TI  - Update: Exertional hyponatremia, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 1999-2014.
AB  - From 1999 through 2014, there were 1,506 incident diagnoses of exertional
      hyponatremia among active component members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Annual
      incidence rates rose sharply from 2008 through 2010 then decreased by more than
      50% from 2010 through 2013. In 2014, the number of cases (n=98) increased by
      approximately 30% from the previous year. The recent increase in rates overall
      reflects increased rates in all Services except the Navy. Relative to their
      respective counterparts, crude incidence rates of exertional hyponatremia for the
      entire 16-year surveillance period were higher among females, those in the
      youngest age group, Marines, and recruit trainees. Service members (particularly
      recruit trainees) and their supervisors must be vigilant for early signs of heat
      related illnesses and must be knowledgeable of the dangers of excessive water
      consumption and the prescribed limits for water intake during prolonged physical
      activity (e.g., field training exercises, personal fitness training, recreational
      activities) in hot, humid weather.

PMID- 25825934
TI  - Design and Synthesis of Antitumor Heck-Coupled Sclareol Analogues: Modulation of
      BH3 Family Members by SS-12 in Autophagy and Apoptotic Cell Death.
AB  - Sclareol, a promising anticancer labdane diterpene, was isolated from Salvia
      sclarea. Keeping the basic stereochemistry-rich framework of the molecule intact,
      a method for the synthesis of novel sclareol analogues was designed using
      palladium(II)-catalyzed oxidative Heck coupling reaction in order to study their
      structure-activity relationship. Both sclareol and its derivatives showed an
      interesting cytotoxicity profile, with 15-(4-fluorophenyl)sclareol (SS-12) as the
      most potent analogue, having IC50 = 0.082 MUM against PC-3 cells. It was found
      that SS-12 commonly interacts with Bcl-2 and Beclin 1 BH3 domain proteins and
      enhances autophagic flux by modulating autophagy-related proteins. Moreover,
      inhibition of autophagy by autophagy inhibitors protected against SS-12-induced
      apoptosis. Finally, SS-12 effectively suppressed tumor growth in vivo in
      Ehrlich's ascitic and solid Sarcoma-180 mouse models. 

PMID- 25825935
TI  - Enhanced Electrochemical Performance of Fe0.74Sn5@Reduced Graphene Oxide
      Nanocomposite Anodes for Both Li-Ion and Na-Ion Batteries.
AB  - The recently found intermetallic FeSn5 phase with defect structure Fe0.74Sn5 has
      shown promise as a high capacity anode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The
      theoretical capacity is as high as 929 mAh g(-1) thanks to the high Sn/Fe ratio.
      However, despite being an alloy, the cycle life remains a great challenge. Here,
      by combining Fe0.74Sn5 nanospheres with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets,
      the Fe0.74Sn5@RGO nanocomposite can achieve capacity retention 3 times that of
      the nanospheres alone, after 100 charge/discharge cycles. Moreover, the
      nanocomposite also displays its versatility as a high-capacity anode in sodium
      ion batteries (SIBs). The enhanced cell performance in both battery systems
      indicates that the Fe0.74Sn5@RGO nanocomposite can be a potential anode candidate
      for the application of Li-ion and Na-ion battery. 

PMID- 25825936
TI  - Identification of Novel Recombinant Forms of Hepatitis B Virus Generated from
      Genotypes Ae and G in HIV-1-Positive Japanese Men Who Have Sex with Men.
AB  - The rare hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype G (HBV/G) coinfects HIV-1-positive
      individuals along with HBV/A and generates recombinants. However, the circulation
      of HBV A/G recombinants remains poorly understood. This molecular epidemiologic
      study examined HBV A/G recombinants in Japanese HIV-1-positive men who have sex
      with men (MSM). Initially, blood specimens submitted for confirmatory tests of
      HIV infection in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan, from 2006 to 2013 were examined for HIV
      1, and HIV-1-positive specimens were screened for HBV. Among 817 specimens from
      HIV-1-positive individuals, HBsAg was detected in 59 specimens; of these, HBV/Ae
      (alternatively A2), a subgenotype of HBV/A prevalent in Europe and North America,
      was identified in 70.2%, HBV/C in 17.5%, and HBV/G in 10.5%, and HBV/E in 1.8%
      according to the core gene sequence. The full-length genome analysis of HBV was
      performed on HBV/G-positive specimens because some HBV A/G recombinants were
      historically overlooked by genotyping based on a partial genome analysis. It
      revealed that five of the specimens contained novel Ae/G recombinants, the core
      gene of which had a high sequence similarity to HBV/G. Detailed analyses showed
      that novel recombinants were coinfected with HBV/Ae in a recombinant-dominant
      fashion. No major drug-resistant mutations were found in the newly identified HBV
      Ae/G recombinants. Some of the individuals asymptomatically coinfected with
      HIV/HBV suffered mild liver injury. This study demonstrated that novel Ae/G HBV
      recombinants were identified in Japanese HIV-1-positive MSM. The pathogenicity of
      novel HBV Ae/G recombinants should be examined in a future longitudinal study.
      Surveillance of such viruses in HIV-1-positive individuals should be emphasized. 

PMID- 25825937
TI  - Loss of conserved Gsdma3 self-regulation causes autophagy and cell death.
AB  - Gasdermin A3 (Gsdma3) was originally identified in association with hair-loss
      phenotype in mouse mutants. Our previous study found that AE mutant mice, with a
      Y344H substitution at the C-terminal domain of Gsdma3, display inflammation
      dependent alopecia and excoriation [Zhou et al. (2012) Am. J. Pathol. 180, 763
      774]. Interestingly, we found that the newly-generated null mutant of Gsdma3 mice
      did not display the skin dysmorphology, indicating that Gsdma3 is not essential
      for differentiation of epidermal cells and maintenance of the hair cycle in
      normal physiological conditions. Consistently, human embryonic kidney (HEK)293
      and HaCaT cells transfected with wild-type (WT) Gsdma3 did not show abnormal
      morphology. However, Gsdma3 Y344H mutation induced autophagy. Gsdma3 N-terminal
      domain, but not the C-terminal domain, also displayed the similar pro-autophagic
      activity. The Gsdma3 Y344H mutant protein and N-terminal domain-induced autophagy
      was associated with mitochondria and ROS generation. Co-expression of C-terminal
      domain reversed the cell autophagy induced by N-terminal domain. Moreover, C
      terminal domain could be co-precipitated with N-terminal domain. These data
      indicated that the potential pro-autophagic activity of WT Gsdma3 protein is
      suppressed through an intramolecular inhibition mechanism. Studies on other
      members of the GSDM family suggested this mechanism is conserved in several sub
      families. 

PMID- 25825938
TI  - Interventions for Enhancing Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy (ART): A
      Systematic Review of High Quality Studies.
AB  - We sought to review the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve
      adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) from studies included in a recent
      Cochrane review that reported a clinical and an adherence outcome, with at least
      80% follow-up for 6 months or more. Data were extracted independently and in
      duplicate, with an adjudicator for disagreements. Risk of bias was assessed using
      the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Of 182 relevant studies in the Cochrane review,
      49 were related to ART. Statistical pooling was not warranted due to
      heterogeneity in interventions, participants, treatments, adherence measures and
      outcomes. Many studies had high risk of bias in elements of design and outcome
      ascertainment. Only 10 studies improved both adherence and clinical outcomes.
      These used the following interventions: adherence counselling (two studies); a
      once-daily regimen (compared to twice daily); text messaging; web-based cognitive
      behavioral intervention; face-to-face multi-session intensive behavioral
      interventions (two studies); contingency management; modified directly observed
      therapy; and nurse-delivered home visits combined with telephone calls. Patient
      related adherence interventions were the most frequently tested. Uniform
      adherence measures and higher quality studies of younger populations are
      encouraged. 

PMID- 25825939
TI  - The nature of singlet exciton fission in carotenoid aggregates.
AB  - Singlet exciton fission allows the fast and efficient generation of two spin
      triplet states from one photoexcited singlet. It has the potential to improve
      organic photovoltaics, enabling efficient coupling to the blue to ultraviolet
      region of the solar spectrum to capture the energy generally lost as waste heat.
      However, many questions remain about the underlying fission mechanism. The
      relation between intermolecular geometry and singlet fission rate and yield is
      poorly understood and remains one of the most significant barriers to the design
      of new singlet fission sensitizers. Here we explore the structure-property
      relationship and examine the mechanism of singlet fission in aggregates of
      astaxanthin, a small polyene. We isolate five distinct supramolecular structures
      of astaxanthin generated through self-assembly in solution. Each is capable of
      undergoing intermolecular singlet fission, with rates of triplet generation and
      annihilation that can be correlated with intermolecular coupling strength. In
      contrast with the conventional model of singlet fission in linear molecules, we
      demonstrate that no intermediate states are involved in the triplet formation:
      instead, singlet fission occurs directly from the initial 1B(u) photoexcited
      state on ultrafast time scales. This result demands a re-evaluation of current
      theories of polyene photophysics and highlights the robustness of carotenoid
      singlet fission.

PMID- 25825940
TI  - Correction to Single Particle Nanomechanics in Operando Batteries via Lensless
      Strain Mapping.

PMID- 25825941
TI  - Development of a simple droplet-based microfluidic capillary viscometer for low
      viscosity Newtonian fluids.
AB  - Viscosity is an easily measured macroscopic property that provides molecular
      information and is widely used across the sciences and engineering. Here we
      report a microfluidic capillary viscometer that forms droplets from aqueous
      samples in an immiscible carrier phase and encodes information about sample
      viscosity in the droplet spacing. The device shows exceptional calibration
      stability, with only a 0.6% drift in calibration factor from run to run, the
      ability to handle aqueous and nonaqueous samples, and the ability to operate with
      sample volumes as low as 38 nL. Operating range for aqueous sample viscosity was
      characterized, and was found to be 0.96-52 cP. Operating range for aqueous shear
      rate was found to depend on aqueous viscosity and varied from 1.9 * 10(1)-4.4 *
      10(2) s(-1) for high viscosity samples to 4.1 * 10(2)-6.0 * 10(3) s(-1) for low
      viscosity samples. Accuracy was tested by comparing measured viscosities of
      several samples including creme de menthe peppermint liquor, human urine, and
      baby oil to viscosities of the same samples obtained with a U-tube viscometer.
      The device was found to be very accurate, with differences between methods as low
      as 0.1%. The viscometer presented requires only a basic T junction and can
      utilize off-chip fluorescence to measure viscosity, which could allow for easy
      addition of viscometric measurement capabilities to existing droplet platforms.
      Furthermore, the device is capable of performing measurements on Newtonian fluids
      without precise control over pressures or flow rates, which significantly
      simplifies device operation. 

PMID- 25825942
TI  - RNA extraction from healthy and failing human myocardium: a comparative
      evaluation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Isolation of high-quality RNA from tissue is mandatory for producing
      reliable data for downstream applications. In heart tissue, the relative
      strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to isolate total RNA are
      unknown. The objective of this study was to compare different RNA isolation
      methods in healthy and diseased human myocardium. METHODS: Frozen left
      ventricular myocardium was obtained from individuals with heart failure and
      individuals who died from non-cardiac causes with normal heart function
      (control). Three extraction methods, including guanidine isothiocyanate (TRIzol),
      silica-gel column (RNeasy), and the combination method (TRIzol/RNeasy), were
      assessed for their effect on the yield, integrity, and gene expression levels of
      RNA using quantitative real-time PCR. RESULTS: In the control group (n=5), the
      highest RNA yield per tissue mass was obtained with TRIzol, and a significantly
      higher RNA integrity was obtained from the RNeasy method. The quantification
      cycle (Cq) values for both the reference gene GAPDH and two target genes were
      lower with TRIzol. Normalization by GAPDH showed the highest gene expression
      levels with RNeasy. Similar patterns were observed in the heart failure group
      (n=5), suggesting assays were not negatively impacted by myocardial disease
      processes. CONCLUSION: In both healthy and diseased heart tissue, the TRIzol
      method provides the highest RNA yield, while the RNeasy method shows superior RNA
      integrity, demonstrating comparable RNA quality in studies examining myocardial
      disease. A balanced approach to RNA quality is necessary for the successful
      downstream applications of RNA.

PMID- 25825943
TI  - Effect of a High-Fructose Weight-Maintaining Diet on Lipogenesis and Liver Fat.
AB  - CONTEXT: Consumption of high-fructose diets promotes hepatic fatty acid synthesis
      (de novo lipogenesis [DNL]) and an atherogenic lipid profile. It is unclear
      whether these effects occur independent of positive energy balance and weight
      gain. OBJECTIVES: We compared the effects of a high-fructose, (25% of energy
      content) weight-maintaining diet to those of an isocaloric diet with the same
      macronutrient distribution but in which complex carbohydrate (CCHO) was
      substituted for fructose. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Eight healthy men
      were studied as inpatients for consecutive 9-day periods. Stable isotope tracers
      were used to measure fractional hepatic DNL and endogenous glucose production
      (EGP) and its suppression during a euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp. Liver fat
      was measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy. RESULTS: Weight remained stable.
      Regardless of the order in which the diets were fed, the high-fructose diet was
      associated with both higher DNL (average, 18.6 +/- 1.4% vs 11.0 +/- 1.4% for
      CCHO; P = .001) and higher liver fat (median, +137% of CCHO; P = .016) in all
      participants. Fasting EGP and insulin-mediated glucose disposal did not differ
      significantly, but EGP during hyperinsulinemia was greater (0.60 +/- 0.07 vs 0.46
      +/- 0.06 mg/kg/min; P = .013) with the high-fructose diet, suggesting blunted
      suppression of EGP. CONCLUSION: Short-term high-fructose intake was associated
      with increased DNL and liver fat in healthy men fed weight-maintaining diets.

PMID- 25825944
TI  - Sequential Versus Continual Purified Urinary FSH/hCG in Men With Idiopathic
      Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism.
AB  - CONTEXT: Gonadotropin therapy using a human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and FSH
      preparation is an effective regimen in inducing masculinization and
      spermatogenesis in men with idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH).
      However, the high cost of medication and frequent injections affect compliance.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of sequential use
      of highly purified urinary FSH (uFSH)/hCG in men with IHH. DESIGN AND SETTING: A
      randomized, open-label, prospective, controlled noninferiority trial with an 18
      month follow-up was conducted in 9 tertiary hospitals. PATIENTS AND INTERVENTION:
      A total of 67 Chinese men with IHH were randomly allocated into group A receiving
      continual uFSH (75 U, 3 times a week) and hCG (2000 U, twice a week) injection
      and group B receiving sequential uFSH (75 U, 3 times a week every other 3 months)
      and hCG (2000 U, twice a week) injection. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The primary
      outcome was the proportion of subjects with a sperm concentration of >= 1.0 *
      10(6)/mL during the 18 months. The efficacy between groups A and B was compared
      for noninferiority. RESULTS: Of the patients, 17/33 (51.5%) receiving continual
      uFSH/hCG and 19/34 (55.9%) receiving sequential uFSH/hCG achieved sperm
      concentrations of >= 1.0 * 10(6)/mL. The efficacy in the sequential uFSH/hCG
      group was not inferior to that in the continual uFSH/hCG group (noninferiority, P
      = .008) by intention-to-treat analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy of the
      sequential uFSH/hCG regimen is not inferior to that of the continual uFSH/hCG
      regimen in inducing spermatogenesis and masculinization of patients with IHH.

PMID- 25825945
TI  - beta-Cell Sensitivity to GLP-1 in Healthy Humans Is Variable and Proportional to
      Insulin Sensitivity.
AB  - CONTEXT: Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an insulinotropic factor made in the
      gastrointestinal tract that is essential for normal glucose tolerance. Infusion
      of GLP-1 increases insulin secretion in both diabetic and nondiabetic humans.
      However, the degree to which people vary in their beta-cell sensitivity to GLP-1
      and the factors contributing to this variability have not been reported.
      OBJECTIVE: The objective was to measure the sensitivity of insulin secretion to
      GLP-1 in cohorts of lean and obese subjects across a broad range of insulin
      sensitivity. METHODS: Insulin secretion was measured during clamped hyperglycemia
      (7.2 mmol/L) and graded GLP-1 infusion in young, healthy subjects, and GLP-1
      sensitivity was computed from the insulin secretion rate (ISR) during progressive
      increases in plasma GLP-1. RESULTS: All subjects had fasting glucose values <5.2
      mm. The obese subjects were insulin resistant compared to the lean group
      (homeostasis model of assessment 2 for insulin resistance: obese, 2.6 +/- 0.5;
      lean, 0.8 +/- 0.1; P < .001). ISR increased linearly in both cohorts with
      escalating doses of GLP-1, but the slope of ISR in response to GLP-1 was greater
      in the obese than in the lean subjects (obese, 0.17 +/- 0.03 nmol/min/pm; lean,
      0.05 +/- 0.01 nmol/min/pm; P < .001). There was a significant association of beta
      cell GLP-1 sensitivity and insulin resistance (r = 0.83; P < .001), and after
      correction for homeostasis model of assessment 2 for insulin resistance, the
      slopes of ISR vs GLP-1 concentration did not differ in the two cohorts (obese,
      0.08 +/- 0.01; lean, 0.08 +/- 0.01; P = .98). However, within the entire study
      group, beta-cell GLP-1 sensitivity corrected for insulin resistance varied nearly
      10-fold. CONCLUSIONS: Insulin secretion in response to GLP-1 is proportional to
      insulin resistance in healthy subjects. However, there is considerable
      variability in the sensitivity of the beta-cell to GLP-1 that is independent of
      insulin sensitivity.

PMID- 25825946
TI  - Maternal Diabetes, Large-for-Gestational-Age Births, and First Trimester
      Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A.
AB  - CONTEXT: Maternal pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) is measured at
      nuchal translucency scanning to assess the risk of fetal chromosomal disorders.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine whether PAPP-A might also be a
      predictor of gestational diabetes (GDM), type 2 diabetes (T2D), or large-for
      gestational-age (LGA) births. DESIGN: PAPP-A levels were measured in serum from
      1664 women at their 10-14-week nuchal translucency scan at a tertiary referral
      hospital. Maternal diabetes was categorized as T2D, "early GDM" (GDM diagnosed <
      22 wk), and "late GDM" (GDM diagnosed >= 22 wk). The relationship between PAPP-A
      multiples of the median (MoM), maternal diabetes, and LGA was examined with
      multivariate regression models. RESULTS: PAPP-A MoM was significantly lower in
      women with T2D and women who developed GDM than in nondiabetic women. PAPP-A MoM
      was 41.3% lower in T2D, 22.6% lower in early GDM, and 8.6% lower in late GDM.
      Women in the lowest quartile of PAPP-A MoM were 2.7 times more likely to have
      early GDM (odds ratio [OR], 2.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-6.1) compared
      with the highest quartile. Birth weight had a positive linear association with
      PAPP-A MoM. Women in the highest PAPP-A MoM quartile were twice as likely to have
      an LGA baby (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.39-3.46; P = .0007). CONCLUSIONS: Routinely
      tested first-trimester PAPP-A is a novel biomarker for maternal diabetes and LGA.
      PAPP-A decreased with increasing severity of maternal diabetes. Although this
      cannot infer causality, low PAPP-A may help identify women at risk of GDM, and
      high PAPP-A may help identify pregnancies at risk of LGA.

PMID- 25825947
TI  - Autonomic Imbalance as a Predictor of Metabolic Risks, Cardiovascular Disease,
      Diabetes, and Mortality Autonomic Imbalance Predicts CVD, DM, Mortality.
AB  - This article was published in its final form as 10.1210/jc.2015-1748 .

PMID- 25825948
TI  - Sex Differences in the Effects of Weight Loss Diets on Bone Mineral Density and
      Body Composition: POUNDS LOST Trial.
AB  - CONTEXT: Weight loss is associated with reduction in bone mineral density (BMD).
      OBJECTIVE: The objective was to address the role of changes in fat mass (FM) and
      lean mass (LM) in BMD decline in both sexes. DESIGN: A 2-year randomized
      controlled trial, the Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies
      (POUNDS-LOST). SETTING: The setting was the general community. PATIENTS OR OTHER
      PARTICIPANTS: Enrolled were 424 overweight and obese participants (mean age, 52
      +/- 9 y; 57% females). INTERVENTION: Intervention included weight loss diets
      differing in fat, protein, and carbohydrates. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Main outcome
      measures were change in spine, total hip (TH), and femoral neck (FN) BMD and sex
      differences after dietary intervention. RESULTS: At baseline, a stronger
      correlation between BMD and body composition measurements was observed in women,
      primarily with LM (r = 0.419, 0.507, and 0.523 for spine, FN, and TH,
      respectively; all P < .001). In men, only LM correlated with hip BMD (r = 0.298;
      P < .001). Mean weight loss at 2 years was -6.9%, without differences among
      diets. Two-year changes in BMD were 0.005 (P = .04), -0.014 (P < .001), and 
      0.014 g/cm(2) (P < .001), at the spine, TH, and FN, respectively. These changes
      directly correlated with changes in LM in women (r = 0.200, 0.324, and 0.260 for
      spine, FN, and TH, respectively), whereas FM loss correlated only with changes in
      TH BMD (0.274; P < .001). In men, changes in LM (-0.323; P < .001) and FM (
      0.213; P = .027) negatively correlated with changes in spine BMD. CONCLUSIONS:
      Weight loss diets result in sex-specific effects on BMD. Although men exhibited a
      paradoxical increase in spine BMD, women tended to decrease in BMD at all sites.

PMID- 25825949
TI  - Early Surge in Circulatory Adiponectin Is Associated With Improved Growth at Near
      Term in Very Preterm Infants.
AB  - CONTEXT: Adiponectin enhances insulin sensitivity and may play a role in fetal
      and postnatal growth. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine whether early
      postnatal adiponectin concentration change is related to postnatal growth in very
      preterm infants. SETTING, DESIGN, AND PATIENTS: This was an in-hospital,
      prospective, longitudinal cohort study of 52 preterm infants with a gestational
      age (GA) of 26.0 +/- 1.9 (SD) weeks and birth weight (BW) of 889 +/- 284 g.
      INTERVENTIONS: An analysis of adiponectin was performed on cord blood at birth
      and peripheral blood at 72 hours, day 7, and then weekly until postmenstrual age
      (PMA) 40 weeks. Weight, length, and head circumference (HC) measurement was
      performed weekly and SD scores (SDS) calculated. Energy and protein intake was
      calculated daily from birth until PMA 35 weeks. RESULTS: Mean adiponectin
      concentration increased from 6.8 +/- 4.4 MUg/mL at 72 hours to 37.4 +/- 22.2
      MUg/mL at 3 weeks; during days 3-21, it was 21.4 +/- 12 MUg/mL and correlated
      with GA at birth (r = 0.46, P = .001; BW: r = 0.71, P < .001; BW(SDS): r = 0.42,
      P = .003). Furthermore, mean adiponectin during days 3-21 correlated with
      weight(SDS), length(SDS), and HC(SDS) (r = 0.62, 0.65, and 0.62, respectively;
      all P < .001) at PMA 35 wk). Energy intake (kcal/kg/d) correlated with mean
      adiponectin during days 3-21 (r = 0.35, P < .013). CONCLUSIONS: In very preterm
      infants, adiponectin concentrations increased markedly in the first 3 weeks, and
      a greater increase was associated with improved postnatal growth.

PMID- 25825950
TI  - Fetal Environment Is a Major Determinant of the Neonatal Blood Thyroxine Level:
      Results of a Large Dutch Twin Study.
AB  - CONTEXT: The interindividual variability in thyroid hormone function parameters
      is much larger than the intraindividual variability, suggesting an individual set
      point for these parameters. There is evidence to suggest that environmental
      factors are more important than genetic factors in the determination of this
      individual set point. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to quantify the effect of
      genetic factors and (fetal) environment on the early postnatal blood T4
      concentration. METHODS: This was a classical twin study comparing the resemblance
      of neonatal screening blood T4 concentrations in 1264 mono- and 2566 dizygotic
      twin pairs retrieved from the population-based Netherlands Twin Register. Maximum
      likelihood estimates of variance explained by genetic and environmental
      influences were obtained by structural equation modeling in data from full-term
      and preterm twin pairs. RESULTS: In full-term infants, genetic factors explained
      40%/31% of the variance in standardized T4 scores in boys/girls, and shared
      environment, 27%/22%. The remaining variance of 33%/47% was due to environmental
      factors not shared by twins. For preterm infants, genetic factors explained
      34%/0% of the variance in boys/girls, shared environment 31%/57%, and unique
      environment 35%/43%. In very preterm twins, no significant contribution of
      genetic factors was observed. CONCLUSION: Environment explains a large proportion
      of the resemblance of the postnatal blood T4 concentration in twin pairs. Because
      we analyzed neonatal screening results, the fetal environment is the most likely
      candidate for these environmental influences. Genetic influences on the T4 set
      point diminished with declining gestational age, especially in girls. This may be
      due to major environmental influences such as immaturity and nonthyroidal illness
      in very preterm infants.

PMID- 25825951
TI  - Photodetachment spectroscopy of fluorenone radical anions microsolvated with
      methanol: rationalizing the anomalous solvatochromic behavior due to hydrogen
      bonding.
AB  - The attribution of the extraordinary blue shift for the intramolecular charge
      transfer absorption band of fluorenone radical anion solvated in protic media was
      investigated by means of photodetachment spectroscopy of the gas-phase anions
      microsolvated with methanol, in conjunction with quantum chemical calculations
      based on density functional theory. Sequential shifts of the vertical detachment
      energy as a function of the cluster size are consistent with theoretical
      predictions, where up to two methanol molecules can directly attach to the
      carbonyl group. In the photodetachment excitation spectra as alternatives to the
      photoabsorption spectra, with increasing cluster size, a new absorption band
      grows in the higher-energy region, which coincides with the blue-shifted band in
      protic media. Spectral simulations using time-dependent density functional theory
      with the CAM-B3LYP functional reproduced the feature of the phenomenon. Analyses
      on the electronic configuration elucidated that the extraordinarily blue shifts
      originate from energy-level repulsion due to solvation-induced resonant coupling
      with another electronic state. The orbital transition for the counterpart state
      corresponds to the first absorption band of the neutral fluorenone molecule,
      which has small oscillator strength from the ground state. It was found that
      correction of long-range electron exchange correlation is important for the
      spectral simulation involving the electronic-state coupling. 

PMID- 25825952
TI  - 1,4-Hydroiodination of dienyl alcohols with TMSI to form homoallylic alcohols
      containing a multisubstituted Z-alkene and application to Prins cyclization.
AB  - A regioselective 1,4-hydroiodination of dienyl alcohols has been developed using
      trimethylsilyl iodide as Lewis acid and iodide source. A range of homoallylic
      alcohols containing a multisubstituted Z-alkene was synthesized with good to
      excellent configurational control. The approach was applied in sequential
      hydroiodination/Prins cyclization to afford multisubstituted tetrahydropyrans
      diastereoselectively. 

PMID- 25825953
TI  - FeCl3-Mediated Synthesis of beta-Alkynyl Ketones via Domino Nucleophilic
      Substitution/Intramolecular-Cyclization/Reverse Claisen Condensation of N
      Cyclohexyl Propargylamines and 1,3-Diketones.
AB  - The synthesis of beta-alkynyl ketones was achieved in good to excellent yields by
      an iron-catalyzed domino reaction of N-cyclohexyl propargylamines and 1,3
      diketones. A plausible mechanism involving nucleophilic substitution,
      intramolecular cyclization, and reverse Claisen condensation for this process is
      proposed. 

PMID- 25825954
TI  - Phenolphthalein-based Poly(arylene ether sulfone nitrile)s Multiblock Copolymers
      As Anion Exchange Membranes for Alkaline Fuel Cells.
AB  - A series of phenolphthalein-based poly(arylene ether sulfone nitrile)s (PESN)
      multiblock copolymers containing 1-methylimidazole groups (ImPESN) were
      synthesized to prepare anion exchange membranes (AEMs) for alkaline fuel cells.
      The ion groups were introduced selectively and densely on the unit of
      phenolphthalein as the hydrophilic segments, allowing for the formation of ion
      clusters. Strong polar nitrile groups were introduced into the hydrophobic
      segments with the intention of improving the dimensional stability of the AEMs. A
      well-controlled multiblock structure was responsible for the well-defined
      hydrophobic/hydrophilic phase separation and interconnected ion-transport
      channels, as confirmed by atomic force microscopy and small angle X-ray
      scattering. The ImPESN membranes with low swelling showed a relatively high water
      uptake, high hydroxide ion conductivity together with good mechanical, thermal
      and alkaline stability. The ionic conductivity of the membranes was in the range
      of 3.85-14.67*10(-2) S.cm(-1) from 30 to 80  degrees C. Moreover, a single H2/O2
      fuel cell with the ImPESN membrane showed an open circuit voltage of 0.92 V and a
      maximum power density of 66.4 mW cm(-2) at 60  degrees C.

PMID- 25825955
TI  - Effects of Diisodecyl Phthalate on PPAR:RXR-Dependent Gene Expression Pathways in
      Sea Bream Hepatocytes.
AB  - Evidence that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may target metabolic
      disturbances, beyond interference with the functions of the endocrine systems has
      recently accumulated. Among EDCs, phthalate plasticizers like the diisodecyl
      phthalate (DiDP) are commonly found contaminants of aquatic environments and have
      been suggested to function as obesogens by activating peroxisome proliferator
      activated receptors (PPARs), a subset of nuclear receptors (NRs) that act as
      metabolic sensors, playing pivotal roles in lipid homeostasis. However, little is
      known about the modulation of PPAR signaling pathways by DiDP in fish. In this
      study, we have first investigated the ligand binding efficiency of DiDP to the
      ligand binding domains of PPARs and retinoid-X-receptor-alpha (RXRalpha) proteins
      in fish using a molecular docking approach. Furthermore, in silico predictions
      were integrated by in vitro experiments to show possible dose-relationship
      effects of DiDP on PPAR:RXR-dependent gene expression pathways using sea bream
      hepatocytes. We observed that DiDP shows high binding efficiency with piscine
      PPARs demonstrating a greater preference for RXRalpha. Our studies also
      demonstrated the coordinate increased expression of PPARs and RXRalpha, as well
      as their downstream target genes in vitro. Principal component analysis (PCA)
      showed the strength of relationship between transcription of most genes involved
      in fatty acid metabolism and PPAR mRNA levels. In particular, fatty acid binding
      protein (FABP) was highly correlated to all PPARs. The results of this study
      suggest that DiDP can be considered an environmental stressor that activates
      PPAR:RXR signaling to promote long-term changes in lipid homeostasis leading to
      potential deleterious physiological consequences in teleost fish. 

PMID- 25825956
TI  - Metabolic signals and innate immune activation in obesity and exercise.
AB  - The combination of a sedentary lifestyle and excess energy intake has led to an
      increased prevalence of obesity which constitutes a major risk factor for several
      co-morbidities including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Intensive
      research during the last two decades has revealed that a characteristic feature
      of obesity linking it to insulin resistance is the presence of chronic low-grade
      inflammation being indicative of activation of the innate immune system. Recent
      evidence suggests that activation of the innate immune system in the course of
      obesity is mediated by metabolic signals, such as free fatty acids (FFAs), being
      elevated in many obese subjects, through activation of pattern recognition
      receptors thereby leading to stimulation of critical inflammatory signaling
      cascades, like IkappaBalpha kinase/nuclear factor-kappaB (IKK/NF- kappaB),
      endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced unfolded protein response (UPR) and NOD
      like receptor P3 (NLRP3) inflammasome pathway, that interfere with insulin
      signaling. Exercise is one of the main prescribed interventions in obesity
      management improving insulin sensitivity and reducing obesity- induced chronic
      inflammation. This review summarizes current knowledge of the cellular
      recognition mechanisms for FFAs, the inflammatory signaling pathways triggered by
      excess FFAs in obesity and the counteractive effects of both acute and chronic
      exercise on obesity-induced activation of inflammatory signaling pathways. A
      deeper understanding of the effects of exercise on inflammatory signaling
      pathways in obesity is useful to optimize preventive and therapeutic strategies
      to combat the increasing incidence of obesity and its comorbidities. 

PMID- 25825957
TI  - Identification and survival outcomes of a cohort of patients with cancer of
      unknown primary in Ontario, Canada.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cancer of unknown primary origin (CUP) is defined by the presence of
      pathologically identified metastatic disease without clinical or radiological
      evidence of a primary tumour. Our objective was to identify incident cases of CUP
      in Ontario, Canada, and determine the influence of histology and sites of
      metastases on overall survival (OS). MATERIAL AND METHODS: We used the Ontario
      Cancer Registry (OCR) and the Same-Day Surgery and Discharge Abstract Database
      (SDS/DAD) to identify patients diagnosed with CUP in Ontario between 1 January
      2000, and 31 December 2005. Patient diagnostic information, including histology
      and survival data, was obtained from the OCR. We cross-validated CUP diagnosis
      and obtained additional information about metastasis through data linkage with
      the SDS/DAD database. OS was assessed using Cox regression models adjusting for
      histology and sites of metastases. RESULTS: We identified 3564 patients diagnosed
      with CUP. Patients without histologically confirmed disease (n = 1821) had a one
      year OS of 10.9%, whereas patients with confirmed histology (n = 1743) had a one
      year OS of 15.6%. The most common metastatic sites were in the respiratory or
      digestive systems (n = 1603), and the most common histology was adenocarcinoma (n
      = 939). Three-year survival rates were 3.5%, 5.3%, 41.6% and 3.6% among
      adenocarcinoma, unspecified carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and
      undifferentiated histology, respectively. Three-year survival rates were 40%,
      2.4%, 8.0% and 4.6% among patients with metastases localised to lymph nodes, the
      respiratory or digestive systems, other specified sites, and unspecified sites,
      respectively. CONCLUSION: CUP patients in Ontario have a poor prognosis. Some
      subgroups may have better survival rates, such as patients with metastases
      localised to lymph nodes and patients with squamous cell histology.

PMID- 25825958
TI  - Impact of CYP2D6 Polymorphisms on Postoperative Fentanyl Analgesia in Gastric
      Cancer Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study investigated the influence of human cytochrome P450 2D6
      (CYP2D6) gene polymorphism in gastric cancer (GC) patients to understand the
      pharmacogenomic basis for patient response to postoperative fentanyl analgesia.
      METHODS: The prospective study design contained 212 patients recovering from
      radical gastrectomy. Peripheral blood samples were collected after general
      anesthesia, and CYP2D6 genotypes were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction
      restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. After providing
      adequate instructions to operate the analgesia pump, patients self-administered
      fentanyl via patient controlled intravenous analgesia. The cumulative amount of
      fentanyl self-administered and the associated adverse effects were recorded at 6,
      12, 24, and 48 h postoperatively. RESULTS: Five patients, out of the 212 patients
      recruited to this study, failed to complete the study. The remaining 207 patients
      were classified into three groups based on their genotypes: W/W group (n=44), M/W
      group (n=112), and M/M group (n=51). Our results demonstrated that the cumulative
      amount of fentanyl consumption significantly increased in the M/M group at 6, 12,
      and 24 h postoperatively, compared with the W/W group (p<0.05). In addition,
      visual analogue scale (VAS) score in the M/M group was significantly higher than
      the W/W group in the analepsia period after general anesthesia and at 6 h
      postoperatively (p<0.05). No significant adverse effects were observed in all the
      groups (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: CYP2D6 polymorphism influenced patient response to
      postoperative fentanyl analgesia in GC patients.

PMID- 25825959
TI  - Effect of motivation on academic fluency performance in survivors of pediatric
      medulloblastoma.
AB  - It has been proposed previously that extrinsic motivation may enable survivors of
      childhood medulloblastoma to significantly improve aspects of neurocognitive
      performance. In healthy populations, enhanced motivation has been shown to
      promote academic fluency, a domain likely more relevant to the educational
      outcomes of pediatric medulloblastoma survivors than academic skill development.
      The present study investigates the effect of enhanced extrinsic motivation on
      fluent (i.e., accurate and efficient) academic performance in pediatric
      medulloblastoma survivors. Participants were 36 children, ages 7-18, who had
      completed treatment for medulloblastoma. Participants completed a
      neuropsychological battery that included administration of equivalent tasks on
      Forms A and B of the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Half were
      randomly assigned to an incentive condition prior to the administration of Form
      B. Provision of a performance-based incentive resulted in statistically
      significant improvement, but not normalization of function, in performance on
      measures of academic fluency. No demographic, treatment-related, academic,
      neuropsychological, or self-perception variables predicted response to incentive.
      Findings suggest that academic performance of survivors may significantly improve
      under highly motivating conditions. In addition to implications for educational
      services, this finding raises the novel possibility that decreased motivation
      represents an inherent neuropsychological deficit in this population and provides
      a rationale for further investigation of factors affecting individual differences
      in motivational processes. Further, by examining effort in a context where effort
      is not inherently suspect, present findings also significantly contribute to the
      debate regarding the effects of effort and motivation on neuropsychological
      performance. 

PMID- 25825960
TI  - Efficacy of antenatal corticosteroids according to maternal and perinatal
      factors: a retrospective cohort study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of multiple
      pregnancies, maternal obesity, and preeclampsia on the effect of antenatal
      steroids on neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). STUDY DESIGN: The
      retrospective cohort study was performed in a level III maternity ward.
      Population was composed of mother-infant pairs. We included inborn infants < 34
      weeks gestation, hospitalized in our neonatal intensive care unit, and mothers
      delivering before 34 weeks gestation and hospitalized before delivery. Primary
      measurement outcome was RDS. RESULTS: A total of 1,173 subjects were included:
      535 mothers and 638 preterm infants. Antenatal corticosteroid (ACS) doses and
      pulmonary surfactant doses were negatively correlated (r = -0.15, p = 0.0002).
      Multiple logistic regression: lower gestational age and cesarean section were
      significantly associated with RDS in single pregnancies (odds ratio [OR], 95%
      confidence interval [CI]): 2.0 (1.7-2.4) and 3.6 (1.8-7.1), respectively; only
      gestational age was associated with RDS in twin or higher-order pregnancies: 2.7
      (1.9-4.1) and 1.8 (0.6-5.4), respectively. Preterm infants of obese women did not
      receive more pulmonary surfactant than other preterm infants: OR = 0.67 (0.13
      1.40), neither did those born to women with hypertension or preeclampsia.
      CONCLUSION: More ACS doses were associated with less pulmonary surfactant doses.
      Cesarean section and low gestational age increased the risk of RDS, independently
      from ACS administration, but maternal obesity and multiple pregnancies did not.

PMID- 25825961
TI  - Circulating serum-derived microparticles provide novel proteomic biomarkers of
      spontaneous preterm birth.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the proteomic
      biosignature of circulating microparticles in maternal serum obtained in the
      second trimester could identify pregnancies that result in spontaneous preterm
      birth (SPTB). STUDY DESIGN: Microparticles were isolated from blinded
      biorepository-sourced serum samples from 48 pregnant women at 15 to 17 weeks of
      gestation. Microparticle proteins were extracted and analyzed using label-free
      liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Peptide features were analyzed to assess
      the association of specific protein patterns with subjects delivering at term (>=
      37 weeks gestation; n = 24) and those experiencing SPTB (<= 34 weeks gestation; n
      = 24). RESULTS: We found 99 proteins that had statistically significant
      differences in signal intensity between term and SPTB women in both first (n =
      26) and second (n = 22) singleton gestation pregnancy cohorts. Additional
      evaluation identified 18 biomarkers that met criteria for further priority
      evaluation (12 preterm, 6 term). Pathway analysis showed that differentiating
      SPTB biomarker proteins were predominantly associated with inflammation and cell
      injury, while differentiating term biomarkers were associated with cell growth
      and hematological parameters. CONCLUSION: This study shows for the first time
      that the proteomic content of serum microparticles isolated in the second
      trimester can identify with a high degree of accuracy pregnancies that result in
      SPTB.

PMID- 25825963
TI  - Short-term outcomes and medical and surgical interventions in infants with
      congenital diaphragmatic hernia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to characterize medical and surgical
      therapies and short-term outcomes in infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia
      (CDH). STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of CDH infants admitted to 27
      children's hospitals submitting data to Children's Hospital Neonatal Database
      (CHND) from 2010 to 2013, stratified by gestational age, birth weight, and
      survival. RESULTS: A total of 572 infants were identified, 508 (89%) born >= 34
      weeks' gestation and >= 2 kg. More mature infants had higher APGAR scores,
      shorter duration of mechanical ventilation, and were more likely to receive
      extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Overall, mortality for the cohort was
      29%, with mortality lower in infants born >= 34 weeks' gestation and >= 2 kg (26
      vs. 50%, p < 0.01). Nonsurvivors were more likely to receive treatment with high
      frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV), vasopressors, pulmonary vasodilators,
      and ECMO, and to have associated major congenital anomalies than survivors. In
      hospital morbidity and complications were relatively uncommon among survivors.
      CONCLUSION: Infants with CDH have a high risk of morbidity and mortality, and for
      preterm infants with CDH those risks are amplified. Patterns of respiratory and
      circulatory support appeared to be different for survivors. In addition to
      established data registries, this consortium of regional neonatal intensive care
      units provides a new collaborative effort to describe short-term outcomes for
      infants referred with CDH.

PMID- 25825962
TI  - Definitions of cardiovascular insufficiency and relation to outcomes in
      critically ill newborn infants.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We previously reported on the overall incidence, management, and
      outcomes in infants with cardiovascular insufficiency (CVI). However, there are
      limited data on the relationship of the specific different definitions of CVI to
      short-term outcomes in term and late preterm newborn infants. OBJECTIVE: This
      study aims to evaluate how four definitions of CVI relate to short-term outcomes
      and death. STUDY DESIGN: The previously reported study was a multicenter,
      prospective cohort study of 647 infants >= 34 weeks gestation admitted to a
      Neonatal Research Network (NRN) newborn intensive care unit (NICU) and
      mechanically ventilated (MV) during their first 72 hours. The relationship of
      five short-term outcomes at discharge and four different definitions of CVI were
      further analyzed. RESULTS: All the four definitions were associated with greater
      number of days on MV and days on O2. The definition using a threshold blood
      pressure (BP) measurement alone was not associated with days of full feeding,
      days in the NICU or death. The definition based on the treatment of CVI was
      associated with all the outcomes including death. CONCLUSIONS: The definition
      using a threshold BP alone was not consistently associated with adverse short
      term outcomes. Using only a threshold BP to determine therapy may not improve
      outcomes.

PMID- 25825964
TI  - Effects of antenatal magnesium exposure on intestinal blood flow and outcome in
      preterm neonates.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the effects of antenatal magnesium
      sulfate on intestinal blood flow in preterm neonates. STUDY DESIGN: In this
      prospective case-match study, 25 preterm neonates exposed to magnesium sulfate
      antenatally were included (study group). Overall, 25 gestational age-matched
      neonates who had no exposure to magnesium constituted the control group. Serial
      daily Doppler flow measurements of superior mesenteric artery (SMA) were
      performed. The time to reach full feeds, first meconium passage were assessed.
      Presence of feeding intolerance or necrotizing enterocolitis was recorded.
      RESULTS: Blood flow velocities of SMA were not different between the groups
      during the first five postnatal days. However, SMA blood flow showed an
      increasing trend in the control group unlike the study group (control group, p <
      0.001; study group, p = 0.29). There was no significant difference between the
      two groups regarding the time to reach full feeds or first meconium passage and
      presence of feeding intolerance. No case of necrotizing enterocolitis was seen.
      CONCLUSION: Antenatal magnesium does not significantly affect intestinal blood
      flow, but it seems to attenuate the increasing trend of the intestinal blood flow
      in the early postnatal days. However, this study failed to show any impact of
      this finding on clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25825965
TI  - Patent ductus arteriosus management and outcomes in Japan and Canada: comparison
      of proactive and selective approaches.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to compare patent ductus arteriosus (PDA)
      management strategies and outcomes between the Neonatal Research Network of Japan
      (NRNJ) with proactive functional echocardiography and the Canadian Neonatal
      Network (CNN) with selective conventional echocardiography practice. STUDY
      DESIGN: Retrospective analyses examined very low-birth-weight infants admitted to
      the NRNJ or CNN in 2006 to 2008. Multivariable logistic regression analyses
      compared a composite outcome indicating a mortality or major morbidity (severe
      intraventricular hemorrhage, periventricular leukomalacia, severe retinopathy of
      prematurity, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, or necrotizing enterocolitis) between
      networks, according to PDA diagnosis and treatment, and tested the association
      between PDA treatment and the composite outcome within networks. RESULTS: PDA
      treatment (NRNJ:CNN) with conservative management (8%:16%), indomethacin only
      (77%:59%), ligation only (1%:13%), or indomethacin and ligation (14%:13%) varied
      significantly between networks. The composite outcome was lower in NRNJ versus
      CNN only among infants with PDA (odds ratio: 0.70; 95% confidence interval: 0.62
      0.80). Surgical ligation was associated with higher composite outcome only in CNN
      (odds ratio: 1.79; 95% confidence interval: 1.40-2.28). CONCLUSION: Lower
      composite mortality/morbidity outcome in Japan versus Canada only among infants
      with PDA, and association of surgical ligation with higher mortality/morbidity
      only in Canada, suggest differential PDA management and ligation processes
      contribute to outcome variation.

PMID- 25825966
TI  - Adverse Impact of Maternal Cigarette Smoking on Preterm Infants: A Population
      Based Cohort Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to examine the impact of exposure to maternal
      cigarette smoking on neonatal outcomes of very preterm infants. STUDY DESIGN: A
      retrospective cohort study examined preterm infants (<33 weeks gestational age)
      admitted to the Canadian Neonatal Network centers between 2003 and 2011.
      Mortality and major morbidities (bronchopulmonary dysplasia, severe
      intraventricular hemorrhage, necrotizing enterocolitis, and retinopathy) were
      compared between infants exposed and unexposed to maternal smoking during
      pregnancy after adjusting for confounders. RESULTS: Among 29,051 study infants,
      4,053 (14%) were exposed to maternal smoking during pregnancy. Multivariable
      analysis revealed higher odds of grade 3 or 4 intraventricular hemorrhage or
      periventricular leukomalacia (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 1.21, 95% confidence
      interval [CI]: 1.04-1.41) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (adjusted OR: 1.16, 95%
      CI: 1.02-1.33) in the smoking group, while mortality, severe retinopathy, and
      necrotizing enterocolitis were not significantly different. CONCLUSION: Maternal
      smoking during pregnancy is associated with severe neurological injury and
      bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm infants.

PMID- 25825967
TI  - Hospital of Delivery and the Racial Differences in Late Preterm and Early-Term
      Labor Induction.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To estimate the interhospital differences in induction of labor (IOL)
      from 34(0/7) to 38(6/7) weeks' gestation by race/ethnicity. METHODS: Women
      between 34 and 42 weeks' gestation during 1995 and 2009 in three states were
      identified using linked maternal and infant records. Women with prior cesarean
      delivery, premature rupture of membranes, gestational hypertension, who delivered
      at hospitals with < 100 annual births, or who had missing data were excluded. The
      outcomes were inductions at early-term (ETI: between 37(0/7) and 38(6/7) weeks')
      and late preterm (LPI: from 34(0/7)-36(6/7) weeks') gestations. Cox proportional
      hazard ratios (HR) were used to estimate the independent associations between
      race/ethnicity and hospital of delivery on ETI and LPI. RESULTS: A total of 6.98
      million eligible women delivered at 469 hospitals. ETI and LPI occurred in 3.20
      and 0.40% of women, respectively. Non-Hispanic white women (3.99%) received ETI
      most commonly; conversely, LPI was highest among non-Hispanic black women
      (0.50%). In multivariable analyses, non-Hispanic black race was protective for
      ETI (HR = 0.89; p < 0.01) and was a risk factor for LPI (HR = 1.26; p < 0.01)
      after adjusting for patient factors and the delivery hospital. CONCLUSION: Racial
      differences in ETI and LPI appear to be pervasive. Much of the unaccounted
      racial/ethnic variation remains seems secondary to within-hospital differences in
      selecting women for IOL.

PMID- 25825968
TI  - Predictive Ability of Direct Antibody Testing in Infants Born to Mothers with
      Rh(D) and Other Minor Red Blood Cell Antibodies.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN) most commonly occurs in
      neonates whose mothers carry nonpassively acquired antibodies directed against
      red blood cell (RBC) antigens. Because affected neonates may develop severe
      hyperbilirubinemia, early identification of at-risk neonates is critically
      important. We hypothesized that use of the direct antibody test (DAT) would be of
      high predictive value in identifying those neonates most likely to meet treatment
      criteria for hyperbilirubinemia. STUDY DESIGN: We performed a retrospective chart
      review of all mother-infant pairs in which RBC antibodies were detected on
      routine prenatal screening during the current pregnancy (2011-2013). We then
      compared DAT results of neonates who eventually met the treatment criteria for
      hyperbilirubinemia with those who did not. MAIN RESULTS: Fifty-sixty neonates
      were born to mothers with clinically significant antibodies. The sensitivity and
      specificity of a positive DAT result for meeting the treatment criteria were 87.5
      and 93.3%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 77.8
      and 96.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The result of a DAT, obtained in neonates of
      mothers with clinically relevant alloantibodies, is a specific marker with good
      positive predictive value for identifying those who are most likely to meet the
      treatment criteria for hyperbilirubinemia.

PMID- 25825969
TI  - Advances in connective tissue imaging: From basic discovery to translational
      impact.

PMID- 25825970
TI  - Registering 2D and 3D imaging data of bone during healing.
AB  - PURPOSE/AIMS OF THE STUDY: Bone's hierarchical structure can be visualized using
      a variety of methods. Many techniques, such as light and electron microscopy
      generate two-dimensional (2D) images, while micro-computed tomography (uCT)
      allows a direct representation of the three-dimensional (3D) structure. In
      addition, different methods provide complementary structural information, such as
      the arrangement of organic or inorganic compounds. The overall aim of the present
      study is to answer bone research questions by linking information of different 2D
      and 3D imaging techniques. A great challenge in combining different methods
      arises from the fact that they usually reflect different characteristics of the
      real structure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We investigated bone during healing by
      means of uCT and a couple of 2D methods. Backscattered electron images were used
      to qualitatively evaluate the tissue's calcium content and served as a position
      map for other experimental data. Nanoindentation and X-ray scattering experiments
      were performed to visualize mechanical and structural properties. RESULTS: We
      present an approach for the registration of 2D data in a 3D uCT reference frame,
      where scanning electron microscopies serve as a methodic link. Backscattered
      electron images are perfectly suited for registration into uCT reference frames,
      since both show structures based on the same physical principles. We introduce
      specific registration tools that have been developed to perform the registration
      process in a semi-automatic way. CONCLUSIONS: By applying this routine, we were
      able to exactly locate structural information (e.g. mineral particle properties)
      in the 3D bone volume. In bone healing studies this will help to better
      understand basic formation, remodeling and mineralization processes.

PMID- 25825971
TI  - The roles of peroxide protective regulons in protecting Xanthomonas campestris
      pv. campestris from sodium hypochlorite stress.
AB  - The exposure of Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris to sublethal concentrations
      of a sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) solution induced the expression of genes that
      encode peroxide scavenging enzymes within the OxyR and OhrR regulons. Sensitivity
      testing in various X. campestris mutants indicated that oxyR, katA, katG, ahpC,
      and ohr contributed to protection against NaOCl killing. The pretreatment of X.
      campestris cultures with oxidants, such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), t-butyl
      hydroperoxide, and the superoxide generator menadione, protected the bacteria
      from lethal concentrations of NaOCl in an OxyR-dependent manner. Treating the
      bacteria with a low concentration of NaOCl resulted in the adaptive protection
      from NaOCl killing and also provided cross-protection from H2O2 killing. Taken
      together, the results suggest that the toxicity of NaOCl is partially mediated by
      the generation of peroxides and other reactive oxygen species that are removed by
      primary peroxide scavenging enzymes, such as catalases and AhpC, as a part of an
      overall strategy that protects the bacteria from the lethal effects of NaOCl. 

PMID- 25825972
TI  - Worry and bother: factors in rural women's health decision making.
AB  - This exploratory study examined older rural women's health decision making.
      Thirty-three rural women were recruited to participate in semistructured
      qualitative interviews. Major themes emerged that focused on rural women's
      comments regarding their concerns about not worrying or bothering their children
      with personal health matters. Themes were discussed in the context of an ethic of
      care. Results suggest that it is important for mental health professionals,
      family physicians, social workers, and other practitioners to be aware of the
      sense of worry and concern for others that older rural women bring to bear in
      decision making about personal health issues. 

PMID- 25825973
TI  - Embedding piezoresistive pressure sensors to obtain online pressure profiles
      inside fiber composite laminates.
AB  - The production of large and complex parts using fiber composite materials is
      costly due to the frequent formation of voids, porosity and waste products. By
      embedding different types of sensors and monitoring the process in real time, the
      amount of wastage can be significantly reduced. This work focuses on developing a
      knowledge-based method to improve and ensure complete impregnation of the fibers
      before initiation of the resin cure. Piezoresistive and capacitive pressure
      sensors were embedded in fiber composite laminates to measure the real-time the
      pressure values inside the laminate. A change of pressure indicates resin
      infusion. The sensors were placed in the laminate and the resin was infused by
      vacuum. The embedded piezoresistive pressure sensors were able to track the
      vacuum pressure in the fiber composite laminate setup, as well as the arrival of
      the resin at the sensor. The pressure increase due to closing the resin inlet was
      also measured. In contrast, the capacitive type of sensor was found to be
      inappropriate for measuring these quantities. The following study demonstrates
      real-time monitoring of pressure changes inside the fiber composite laminate,
      which validate the use of Darcy's law in porous media to control the resin flow
      during infusion. 

PMID- 25825974
TI  - Learning to rapidly re-contact the lost plume in chemical plume tracing.
AB  - Maintaining contact between the robot and plume is significant in chemical plume
      tracing (CPT). In the time immediately following the loss of chemical detection
      during the process of CPT, Track-Out activities bias the robot heading relative
      to the upwind direction, expecting to rapidly re-contact the plume. To determine
      the bias angle used in the Track-Out activity, we propose an online instance
      based reinforcement learning method, namely virtual trail following (VTF). In
      VTF, action-value is generalized from recently stored instances of successful
      Track-Out activities. We also propose a collaborative VTF (cVTF) method, in which
      multiple robots store their own instances, and learn from the stored instances,
      in the same database. The proposed VTF and cVTF methods are compared with biased
      upwind surge (BUS) method, in which all Track-Out activities utilize an offline
      optimized universal bias angle, in an indoor environment with three different
      airflow fields. With respect to our experimental conditions, VTF and cVTF show
      stronger adaptability to different airflow environments than BUS, and
      furthermore, cVTF yields higher success rates and time-efficiencies than VTF. 

PMID- 25825975
TI  - Determination of optimum viewing angles for the angular normalization of land
      surface temperature over vegetated surface.
AB  - Multi-angular observation of land surface thermal radiation is considered to be a
      promising method of performing the angular normalization of land surface
      temperature (LST) retrieved from remote sensing data. This paper focuses on an
      investigation of the minimum requirements of viewing angles to perform such
      normalizations on LST. The normally kernel-driven bi-directional reflectance
      distribution function (BRDF) is first extended to the thermal infrared (TIR)
      domain as TIR-BRDF model, and its uncertainty is shown to be less than 0.3 K when
      used to fit the hemispheric directional thermal radiation. A local optimum three
      angle combination is found and verified using the TIR-BRDF model based on two
      patterns: the single-point pattern and the linear-array pattern. The TIR-BRDF is
      applied to an airborne multi-angular dataset to retrieve LST at nadir (Te-nadir)
      from different viewing directions, and the results show that this model can
      obtain reliable Te-nadir from 3 to 4 directional observations with large angle
      intervals, thus corresponding to large temperature angular variations. The Te
      nadir is generally larger than temperature of the slant direction, with a
      difference of approximately 0.5~2.0 K for vegetated pixels and up to several
      Kelvins for non-vegetated pixels. The findings of this paper will facilitate the
      future development of multi-angular thermal infrared sensors. 

PMID- 25825976
TI  - NFC internal: an indoor navigation system.
AB  - Indoor navigation systems have recently become a popular research field due to
      the lack of GPS signals indoors. Several indoors navigation systems have already
      been proposed in order to eliminate deficiencies; however each of them has
      several technical and usability limitations. In this study, we propose NFC
      Internal, a Near Field Communication (NFC)-based indoor navigation system, which
      enables users to navigate through a building or a complex by enabling a simple
      location update, simply by touching NFC tags those are spread around and orient
      users to the destination. In this paper, we initially present the system
      requirements, give the design details and study the viability of NFC Internal
      with a prototype application and a case study. Moreover, we evaluate the
      performance of the system and compare it with existing indoor navigation systems.
      It is seen that NFC Internal has considerable advantages and significant
      contributions to existing indoor navigation systems in terms of security and
      privacy, cost, performance, robustness, complexity, user preference and
      commercial availability. 

PMID- 25825977
TI  - Quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy based trace gas sensors using
      different quartz tuning forks.
AB  - A sensitive trace gas sensor platform based on quartz-enhanced photoacoustic
      spectroscopy (QEPAS) is reported. A 1.395 MUm continuous wave (CW), distributed
      feedback pigtailed diode laser was used as the excitation source and H2O was
      selected as the target analyte. Two kinds of quartz tuning forks (QTFs) with a
      resonant frequency (f0) of 30.72 kHz and 38 kHz were employed for the first time
      as an acoustic wave transducer, respectively for QEPAS instead of a standard QTF
      with a f0 of 32.768 kHz. The QEPAS sensor performance using the three different
      QTFs was experimentally investigated and theoretically analyzed. A minimum
      detection limit of 5.9 ppmv and 4.3 ppmv was achieved for f0 of 32.768 kHz and
      30.72 kHz, respectively. 

PMID- 25825978
TI  - An improved electrochemical aptasensor for chloramphenicol detection based on
      aptamer incorporated gelatine.
AB  - Because of the biocompatible properties of gelatine and the good affinity of
      aptamers for their targets, the combination of aptamer and gelatine type B is
      reported as promising for the development of biosensing devices. Here, an aptamer
      for chloramphenicol (CAP) is mixed with different types of gelatine and dropped
      on the surface of disposable gold screen printed electrodes. The signal of the
      CAP reduction is investigated using differential pulse voltammetry. The
      diagnostic performance of the sensor is described and a detection limit of 1.83 *
      10(-10) M is found. The selectivity and the stability of the aptasensor are
      studied and compared to those of other CAP sensors described in literature.

PMID- 25825979
TI  - On the routing protocol influence on the resilience of wireless sensor networks
      to jamming attacks.
AB  - In this work, we compare a recently proposed routing protocol, the multi-parent
      hierarchical (MPH) protocol, with two well-known protocols, the ad hoc on-demand
      distance vector (AODV) and dynamic source routing (DSR). For this purpose, we
      have developed a simulator, which faithfully reifies the workings of a given
      protocol, considering a fixed, reconfigurable ad hoc network given by the number
      and location of participants, and general network conditions. We consider a
      scenario that can be found in a large number of wireless sensor network
      applications, a single sink node that collects all of the information generated
      by the sensors. The metrics used to compare the protocols were the number of
      packet retransmissions, carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) inner loop retries,
      the number of nodes answering the queries from the coordinator (sink) node and
      the energy consumption. We tested the network under ordinary (without attacks)
      conditions (and combinations thereof) and when it is subject to different types
      of jamming attacks (in particular, random and reactive jamming attacks),
      considering several positions for the jammer. Our results report that MPH has a
      greater ability to tolerate such attacks than DSR and AODV, since it minimizes
      and encapsulates the network segment under attack. The self-configuring
      capabilities of MPH derived from a combination of a proactive routes update, on a
      periodic-time basis, and a reactive behavior provide higher resilience while
      offering a better performance (overhead and energy consumption) than AODV and
      DSR, as shown in our simulation results. 

PMID- 25825980
TI  - Simulated lesion, human observer performance comparison between thin-section
      dedicated breast CT images versus computed thick-section simulated projection
      images of the breast.
AB  - The objective of this study was to compare the lesion detection performance of
      human observers between thin-section computed tomography images of the breast,
      with thick-section (>40 mm) simulated projection images of the breast. Three
      radiologists and six physicists each executed a two alterative force choice
      (2AFC) study involving simulated spherical lesions placed mathematically into
      breast images produced on a prototype dedicated breast CT scanner. The breast
      image data sets from 88 patients were used to create 352 pairs of image data.
      Spherical lesions with diameters of 1, 2, 3, 5, and 11 mm were simulated and
      adaptively positioned into 3D breast CT image data sets; the native thin section
      (0.33 mm) images were averaged to produce images with different slice
      thicknesses; average section thicknesses of 0.33, 0.71, 1.5 and 2.9 mm were
      representative of breast CT; the average 43 mm slice thickness served to simulate
      simulated projection images of the breast.The percent correct of the human
      observer's responses were evaluated in the 2AFC experiments. Radiologists lesion
      detection performance was significantly (p < 0.05) better in the case of thin
      section images, compared to thick section images similar to mammography, for all
      but the 1 mm lesion diameter lesions. For example, the average of three
      radiologist's performance for 3 mm diameter lesions was 92% correct for thin
      section breast CT images while it was 67% for the simulated projection images. A
      gradual reduction in observer performance was observed as the section thickness
      increased beyond about 1 mm. While a performance difference based on breast
      density was seen in both breast CT and the projection image results, the average
      radiologist performance using breast CT images in dense breasts outperformed the
      performance using simulated projection images in fatty breasts for all lesion
      diameters except 11 mm. The average radiologist performance outperformed that of
      the average physicist observer, however trends in performance were similar. Human
      observers demonstrate significantly better mass-lesion detection performance on
      thin-section CT images of the breast, compared to thick-section simulated
      projection images of the breast.

PMID- 25825981
TI  - EMMPRIN/CD147 is a novel coreceptor of VEGFR-2 mediating its activation by VEGF.
AB  - EMMPRIN/CD147 is mainly known for its protease inducing function but a role in
      promoting tumor angiogenesis has also been demonstrated. This study provides
      evidence that EMMPRIN is a new coreceptor for the VEGFR-2 tyrosine kinase
      receptor in both endothelial and tumor cells, as it directly interacts with it
      and regulates its activation by its VEGF ligand, signalling and functional
      consequences both in vitro and in vivo. Computational docking analyses and
      mutagenesis studies identified a molecular binding site in the extracellular
      domain of EMMPRIN located close to the cell membrane and containing the amino
      acids 195/199. EMMPRIN is overexpressed in cancer and hence is able to further
      potentiate VEGFR-2 activation, suggesting that a combinatory therapy of an
      antiangiogenic drug together with an inhibitor of EMMPRIN/VEGFR-2 interaction may
      have a greater impact on inhibiting angiogenesis and malignancy. 

PMID- 25825982
TI  - D-2-hydroxyglutarate is essential for maintaining oncogenic property of mutant
      IDH-containing cancer cells but dispensable for cell growth.
AB  - Cancer-associated isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) 1 and 2 mutations gain a new
      activity of reducing alpha-KG to produce D-2-hydroxyglutarate (D-2-HG), which is
      proposed to function as an oncometabolite by inhibiting alpha-KG dependent
      dioxygenases. We investigated the function of D-2-HG in tumorigenesis using IDH1
      and IDH2 mutant cancer cell lines. Inhibition of D-2-HG production either by
      specific deletion of the mutant IDH1-R132C allele or overexpression of D-2
      hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase (D2HGDH) increases alpha-KG and related
      metabolites, restores the activity of some alpha-KG-dependent dioxygenases, and
      selectively alters gene expression. Ablation of D-2-HG production has no
      significant effect on cell proliferation and migration, but strongly inhibits
      anchorage independent growth in vitro and tumor growth in xenografted mouse
      models. Our study identifies a new activity of oncometabolite D-2-HG in promoting
      tumorigenesis. 

PMID- 25825983
TI  - High expression of cAMP-responsive element-binding protein 1 (CREB1) is
      associated with metastasis, tumor stage and poor outcome in gastric cancer.
AB  - cAMP responsive element binding protein 1 (CREB1) has been reported to be
      implicated in tumor development and progression of human cancers. However, the
      clinical significance and regulatory mechanisms of CREB1 expression in gastric
      cancer remain largely unknown. In the present study, immunohistochemistry was
      performed to detect the expression of CREB1 protein in 185 primary gastric cancer
      tissues, 50 secondary lymph node metastatic foci and 50 nontumorous gastric
      tissues. A prognostic model combining CREB1 expression with TNM tumor stage was
      constructed by logistic regression analysis. Regulation of CREB1 by miRNAs was
      investigated by luciferase reporter assay and Western blot. It was shown that
      CREB1 was highly expressed and correlated with lymph node metastasis, distant
      metastasis and tumor stage and poor outcome in gastric cancer. The prognostic
      model was proven to be an independent prognosis predictor and performed better
      than CREB1 or tumor stage alone. CREB1 was identified as a direct target of miR
      27b and miR-200b, and down-regulated by miR-27b/miR-200b. We conclude that CREB1
      is a promising biomarker to predict tumor metastasis and patient outcome in
      gastric cancer, and the miR-27b/miR-200b-CREB1 pathway may serve as a potential
      molecular target for the treatment of gastric cancer. 

PMID- 25825984
TI  - Amphiregulin enhances alpha6beta1 integrin expression and cell motility in human
      chondrosarcoma cells through Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK/AP-1 pathway.
AB  - Chondrosarcoma is a malignant tumor that produces cartilage matrix. The most
      lethal aspect is its metastatic property. We demonstrated that amphiregulin (AR)
      is significantly upregulated in highly aggressive cells. AR silencing markedly
      suppressed cell migration. Exogenous AR markedly increased cell migration by
      transactivation of alpha6beta1 integrin expression. A neutralizing alpha6beta1
      integrin antibody can abolish AR-induced cell motility. Knockdown of AR inhibits
      metastasis of cells to the lung in vivo. Furthermore, elevated AR expression is
      positively correlated with alpha6beta1 integrin levels and higher grades in
      patients. These findings can potentially serve as biomarker and therapeutic
      approach for controlling chondrosarcoma metastasis. 

PMID- 25825985
TI  - HOXB13 overexpression is an independent predictor of early PSA recurrence in
      prostate cancer treated by radical prostatectomy.
AB  - HOXB13 is a prostate cancer susceptibility gene which shows a cancer predisposing
      (G84E) mutation in 0.1-0.6% of males. We analyzed the prognostic impact of HOXB13
      expression by immunohistochemistry on a tissue microarray containing more than
      12,400 prostate cancers. Results were compared to tumor phenotype, biochemical
      recurrence, androgen receptor (AR) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) as well as
      molecular subtypes defined by ERG status and genomic deletions of 3p, 5q, 6q, and
      PTEN. HOXB13 immunostaining was detectable in 51.7% of 10,216 interpretable
      cancers and considered strong in 9.6%, moderate in 19.7% and weak in 22.3% of
      cases. HOXB13 expression was linked to advanced pT stage, high Gleason grade,
      positive lymph node status (p < 0.0001 each), high pre-operative PSA levels (p =
      0.01), TMPRSS2:ERG fusion, PTEN deletions, AR expression, cell proliferation,
      reduced PSA expression and early PSA recurrence (p < 0.0001 each). The prognostic
      value of HOXB13 was independent from established parameters including Gleason,
      stage, nodal stage and PSA. Co-expression analysis identified a subset of tumors
      with high HOXB13 and AR but low PSA expression that had a particularly poor
      prognosis. HOXB13 appears to be a promising candidate for clinical routine tests
      either alone or in combination with other markers, including AR and PSA. 

PMID- 25825986
TI  - Preventing Unintended Pregnancy: The Contraceptive CHOICE Project in Review.
AB  - The Contraceptive CHOICE Project (CHOICE) sought to reduce unintended pregnancies
      in the St. Louis Region by removing cost, education, and access barriers to
      highly effective contraception. CHOICE was a prospective cohort study of over
      9,000 women 14-45 years of age who received tiered contraceptive counseling to
      increase awareness of all reversible methods available, particularly long-acting
      reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods. Participants were provided with
      contraception of their choice at no cost for 2-3 years. We studied contraceptive
      method choice, continuation, and population outcomes of repeat abortion and teen
      pregnancy. Seventy-five percent of study participants chose one of the three LARC
      methods (46% levonorgestrel intrauterine system, 12% copper intrauterine device,
      and 17% subdermal implant). LARC users reported greater continuation than non
      LARC users at 12 months (87% versus 57%) and 24 months (77% versus 41%). In our
      cohort, LARC methods were 20 times more effective than non-LARC methods. As a
      result, we observed a reduction in the percent of repeat abortions from 2006 to
      2010 in St. Louis compared with Kansas City and nonmetropolitan Missouri and
      found substantial reductions in teen pregnancy, birth, and abortion (34.0, 19.4,
      and 9.7 per 1000 teens, respectively) compared with national rates among sexually
      experienced teens (158.5, 94.0, and 41.5 per 1000, respectively). Improved access
      to LARC methods can result in fewer unintended pregnancies and abortions and
      considerable cost savings to the health care system. 

PMID- 25825987
TI  - Focused ultrasound for treatment of bone tumours.
AB  - PURPOSE: Focused ultrasound (FUS) is a modality with rapidly expanding
      applications across the field of medicine. Treatment of bone lesions with FUS
      including both benign and malignant tumours has been an active area of
      investigation. Recently, as a result of a successful phase III trial, magnetic
      resonance-guided FUS is now a standardised option for treatment of painful bone
      metastases. This report reviews the clinical applications amenable to treatment
      with FUS and provides background on FUS and image guidance techniques, results of
      clinical studies, and future directions. METHODS: A comprehensive literature
      search and review of abstracts presented at the recently completed fourth
      International Focused Ultrasound Symposium was performed. Case reports and older
      publications revisited in more recent studies were excluded. For clinical studies
      that extend beyond bone tumours, only the data regarding bone tumours are
      presented. RESULTS: Fifteen studies assessing the use of focused ultrasound in
      treatment of primary benign bone tumours, primary malignant tumours, and
      metastatic tumours meeting the search criteria were identified. For these
      clinical studies the responders group varied within 91-100%, 85-87% and 64-94%,
      respectively. Major complications were reported in the ranges 0%, 0-28% and 0-4%
      for primary benign, malignant and metastatic tumours, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:
      Image-guided FUS is both safe and effective in the treatment of primary and
      secondary tumours. Additional phase III trials are warranted to more fully define
      the role of FUS in treatment of both benign and malignant bone tumours.

PMID- 25825988
TI  - Impact of the use of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer in the home on reduction in
      probability of infection by respiratory and enteric viruses.
AB  - The goal of this study was to determine the reduction in risk of infection by
      viruses with the use of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, used in addition to
      routine hand washing, in family members in households. A quantitative microbial
      risk model was used to determine the probability of infection from the
      concentration of virus on the hands. The model incorporated variation in hand
      size, frequency of touching orifices (nose, mouth, eyes), and percent transfer to
      the site of infection, as well as, dose-response for each virus. Data on the
      occurrence of virus on household members' hands from an intervention study using
      MS-2 coliphage was used to determine the reduction of viruses on the hands pre-
      and post-intervention. It was found that the risk of rhinovirus, rotavirus or
      norovirus infection after the intervention was reduced by 47-98% depending upon
      the initial concentration of virus on the hands. 

PMID- 25825989
TI  - Efficacy of exercises to rehabilitate dysphagia: A critique of the literature.
AB  - PURPOSE: This review critiques the benefit of commonly used rehabilitative
      exercises for dysphagia. METHOD: Common goals of rehabilitation for dysphagia and
      principles of neuroplasticity are introduced as they apply to swallowing and non
      swallowing exercises. A critique of published studies is offered regarding their
      evidence for showing benefit from the exercise. RESULT: One of five swallow
      exercises had preliminary evidence for long-term benefit and two of four non
      swallow exercises have strong evidence for long-term benefit. CONCLUSION: Only a
      minority of exercises prescribed for patients with dysphagia have sufficient
      evidence for long-term improvement in swallowing.

PMID- 25825990
TI  - Pb7O(OH)3(CO3)3(BO3): first mixed borate and carbonate nonlinear optical material
      exhibiting large second-harmonic generation response.
AB  - The first borate carbonate UV nonlinear optical material Pb7O(OH)3(CO3)3(BO3) was
      hydrothermally synthesized, which features a (3,9)-connected IrSi3-like structure
      constructed by Pb7O(OH)3(BO3) units and carbonates. This compound exhibits a
      large second-harmonic generation (SHG) response about 4.5 times that of KH2PO4
      (KDP), attributed to synergistic interactions between the stereoeffect of the
      Pb(II) cations and coparallel BO3 and CO3 triangles groups. 

PMID- 25825991
TI  - Transition Flux Formula for the Electronic Coupling Matrix Element.
AB  - The transition flux formula for the coupling matrix element of long-distance
      electron transfer reactions is discussed. Here we present a new derivation which
      is based on the Golden Rule approach. The electronic Franck-Condon factor that
      appears in the multielectronic formulation of the coupling element is discussed
      using the concept of tunneling time. An application of the tunneling flux theory
      to electron transfer reactions in a model system based on the low-potential heme
      and high-potential heme (heme bL)/(heme bH) redox pair of ubiquinol:cytochrome c
      oxidoreductase complex is described; the results are compared to those obtained
      by measuring energy splitting of the donor/acceptor multielectronic states and
      the direct calculation method. 

PMID- 25825992
TI  - Global analysis of protein folding thermodynamics for disease state
      characterization.
AB  - Current methods for the large-scale characterization of disease states generally
      rely on the analysis of gene and/or protein expression levels. These existing
      methods fail to detect proteins with disease-related functions and unaltered
      expression levels. Here we describe the large-scale use of thermodynamic
      measurements of protein folding and stability for the characterization of disease
      states. Using the Stable Isotope Labeling with Amino Acids in Cell Culture and
      Stability of Proteins from Rates of Oxidation (SILAC-SPROX) technique, we assayed
      ~800 proteins for protein folding and stability changes in three different cell
      culture models of breast cancer including the MCF-10A, MCF-7, and MDA-MB-231 cell
      lines. The thermodynamic stability profiles generated here created distinct
      molecular markers to differentiate the three cell lines, and a significant
      fraction (~45%) of the differentially stabilized proteins did not have altered
      expression levels. Thus, the differential thermodynamic profiling strategy
      reported here created novel molecular signatures of breast cancer and provided
      additional insight into the molecular basis of the disease. Our results establish
      the utility of protein folding and stability measurements for the study of
      disease processes, and they suggest that such measurements may be useful for
      biomarker discovery in disease. 

PMID- 25825994
TI  - Use of video modelling to teach complex and meaningful job skills to an adult
      with autism spectrum disorder.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the effectiveness of a video modelling (VM) intervention to
      teach job-related telephone skills to an adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder
      (ASD). METHODS: A multiple baseline design across four telephone-relevant
      behaviours was used to assess the effects of the intervention on the
      participant's ability to respond to telephone calls. RESULTS: Use of the VM
      intervention led to immediate improvements in listening and responding to both
      orders and complaints; more gradual improvements were also observed in the
      participant's professional speech. All skill increases were maintained at follow
      up. CONCLUSION: VM may be an effective method of teaching complex vocational
      skills to adults with ASD, although a stronger focus on social skills may be
      warranted in the future.

PMID- 25825993
TI  - Expression profile of C19MC microRNAs in placental tissue in pregnancy-related
      complications.
AB  - To demonstrate that pregnancy-related complications are associated with
      alterations in placental microRNA expression. Gene expression of 15 C19MC
      microRNAs (miR-512-5p, miR-515-5p, miR-516-5p, miR-517-5p, miR-518b, miR-518f-5p,
      miR-519a, miR-519d, miR-519e-5p, miR-520a-5p, miR-520h, miR-524-5p, miR-525, miR
      526a, and miR-526b) was assessed in placental tissues, compared between groups
      (21 gestational hypertension [GH], 63 preeclampsia, 36 fetal growth restriction
      [FGR], and 42 normal pregnancies), and correlated with the severity of the
      disease with respect to clinical signs, delivery date, and Doppler ultrasound
      parameters. The expression profile of microRNAs was different between pregnancy
      related complications and controls. The downregulation of 4 of 15 (miR-517-5p,
      miR-519d, miR-520a-5p, and miR-525), 6 of 15 (miR-517-5p, miR-518f-5p, miR-519a,
      miR-519d, miR-520a-5p, and miR-525), and 11 of 15 (miR-515-5p, miR-517-5p, miR
      518b, miR-518f-5p, miR-519a, miR-519d, miR-520a-5p, miR-520h, miR-524-5p, miR
      525, and miR-526a) microRNAs was associated with GH, FGR, and preeclampsia,
      respectively. Sudden onset of severe preeclampsia requiring immediate termination
      of gestation and mild forms of preeclampsia (persisting for several weeks) were
      associated with similar microRNA expression profile (downregulation of miR-517
      5p, miR-520a-5p, miR-524-5p, and miR-525). In addition, miR-519a was found to be
      associated with severe preeclampsia. The longer the pregnancy-related disorder
      lasted, the more extensive was the downregulation of microRNAs (miR-515-5p, miR
      518b, miR-518f-5p, miR-519d, and miR-520h). The downregulation of some C19MC
      microRNAs is a common phenomenon shared between GH, preeclampsia, and FGR. On the
      other hand, some of the C19MC microRNAs are only downregulated just in
      preeclampsia. 

PMID- 25825996
TI  - Prospective associations between prosocial behavior and social dominance in early
      childhood: are sharers the best leaders?
AB  - A short-term longitudinal study during early childhood (N = 96; M = 42.80; SD =
      7.57) investigated the concurrent and prospective association between prosocial
      behavior and social dominance. Time-intensive school-based focal child sampling
      with continuous recording observations of prosocial behavior to peers were
      conducted and teacher-reports of social dominance were collected. The study
      documents significant prospective links between prosocial behavior to peers and
      increases in social dominance over time. Social dominance was not associated with
      changes in prosocial behavior. The findings extend past empirical work in early
      childhood and future directions are discussed. 

PMID- 25825995
TI  - Viewing Human DNA Polymerase beta Faithfully and Unfaithfully Bypass an Oxidative
      Lesion by Time-Dependent Crystallography.
AB  - One common oxidative DNA lesion, 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanine (8-oxoG), is
      highly mutagenic in vivo due to its anti-conformation forming a Watson-Crick base
      pair with correct deoxycytidine 5'-triphosphate (dCTP) and its syn-conformation
      forming a Hoogsteen base pair with incorrect deoxyadenosine 5'-triphosphate
      (dATP). Here, we utilized time-resolved X-ray crystallography to follow 8-oxoG
      bypass by human DNA polymerase beta (hPolbeta). In the 12 solved structures, both
      Watson-Crick (anti-8-oxoG:anti-dCTP) and Hoogsteen (syn-8-oxoG:anti-dATP) base
      pairing were clearly visible and were maintained throughout the chemical
      reaction. Additionally, a third Mg(2+) appeared during the process of
      phosphodiester bond formation and was located between the reacting alpha- and
      beta-phosphates of the dNTP, suggesting its role in stabilizing reaction
      intermediates. After phosphodiester bond formation, hPolbeta reopened its
      conformation, pyrophosphate was released, and the newly incorporated primer 3'
      terminal nucleotide stacked, rather than base paired, with 8-oxoG. These
      structures provide the first real-time pictures, to our knowledge, of how a
      polymerase correctly and incorrectly bypasses a DNA lesion. 

PMID- 25825997
TI  - Laparoscopic intersphincteric resection and hand-sewn coloanal anastomosis: a
      natural orifice specimen extraction technique.
AB  - The incidence of rectal cancer in India is on the rise, and unlike in the West,
      predominantly younger individuals are affected. Surgery for rectal cancer has
      evolved over the years with the ultimate goals of sphincter preservation and
      better quality of life, besides oncological safety. With the routine use of
      magnetic resonance imaging for local staging, intersphincteric resection has
      become a viable alternative to abdominoperineal resection. Similarly, there is
      enough evidence to consider laparoscopic surgery as feasible and oncologically
      safe for rectal cancer. Thus laparoscopic intersphincteric resection fulfills all
      the objectives of modern-day rectal cancer surgery. Here we describe the
      technical points while performing the surgery as well as short-term results of
      our own series. 

PMID- 25825998
TI  - A two-year follow-up case of chronic fatigue syndrome: substantial improvement in
      personality following a yoga-based lifestyle intervention.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is characterized by
      excessive fatigue after minimal physical or mental exertion, muscle and joint
      pain, poor concentration, dizziness, and sleep disturbances. We report here the
      effect of a yoga-based lifestyle intervention in a 30-year old male patient with
      a documented diagnosis of CFS with compromised quality of life (QoL) and altered
      personality. METHODS: The patient initially attended a short-term yoga-based
      lifestyle intervention program that consisted of yoga-postures, breathing
      exercises (pranayama), meditation, group discussions, and individualized advice
      on stress management, diet and physical activity besides group support.
      Thereafter, patient attended 5 more such programs. RESULTS: There was a notable
      and consistent improvement in his clinical profile, positive aspects of
      personality and subjective well-being, and reduction in anxiety following this
      yoga-based lifestyle intervention. CONCLUSION: Overall, the results suggest that
      lifestyle intervention may improve clinical condition and personality in patients
      with CFS.

PMID- 25825999
TI  - Evaluation of 3-Ethyl-3-(phenylpiperazinylbutyl)oxindoles as PET Ligands for the
      Serotonin 5-HT7 Receptor: Synthesis, Pharmacology, Radiolabeling, and in Vivo
      Brain Imaging in Pigs.
AB  - We have investigated several oxindole derivatives in the pursuit of a 5-HT7
      receptor PET ligand. Herein the synthesis, chiral separation, and pharmacological
      profiling of two possible PET candidates toward a wide selection of CNS-targets
      are detailed. Subsequent (11)C-labeling and in vivo evaluation in Danish landrace
      pigs showed that both ligands displayed high brain uptake. However, neither of
      the radioligands could be displaced by the 5-HT7 receptor selective inverse
      agonist SB-269970. 

PMID- 25826001
TI  - Flexible one diode-one phase change memory array enabled by block copolymer self
      assembly.
AB  - Flexible memory is the fundamental component for data processing, storage, and
      radio frequency communication in flexible electronic systems. Among several
      emerging memory technologies, phase-change random-access memory (PRAM) is one of
      the strongest candidate for next-generation nonvolatile memories due to its
      remarkable merits of large cycling endurance, high speed, and excellent
      scalability. Although there are a few approaches for flexible phase-change memory
      (PCM), high reset current is the biggest obstacle for the practical operation of
      flexible PCM devices. In this paper, we report a flexible PCM realized by
      incorporating nanoinsulators derived from a Si-containing block copolymer (BCP)
      to significantly lower the operating current of the flexible memory formed on
      plastic substrate. The reduction of thermal stress by BCP nanostructures enables
      the reliable operation of flexible PCM devices integrated with ultrathin flexible
      diodes during more than 100 switching cycles and 1000 bending cycles. 

PMID- 25826000
TI  - Genetic Analyses of HIV-1 Strains Transmitted from Mother to Child in Northern
      Vietnam.
AB  - We previously reported mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 in nine (6.7%) of
      135 children on nevirapine prophylaxis in Vietnam. In the current study, we
      investigated the appearance and profile of antiretroviral drug (ARV) resistance
      mutations, the predicted coreceptor usage, and the genetic diversity of HIV-1
      strains isolated from the eight pairs of HIV-1-infected mothers and their
      children, who were followed up to 12 months after birth. Portions of the pol and
      env C2V3 regions of the HIV-1 strains were analyzed genetically. HIV-1 CRF01_AE
      RNA was detected in four (50%) children at delivery. Y181C, a nevirapine
      resistance mutation, appeared in two (25%) children 1 and 3 months after birth,
      respectively. No ARV resistance mutation was detected in the mothers, though
      three mothers were on ARV prophylaxis. Five mothers and their children harbored
      CCR5-tropic (R5) viruses. Two mothers harbored both R5 and CXCR4-tropic (X4)
      viruses, but their children harbored only R5 viruses even though the X4 viruses
      were dominant in the mothers. In the remaining one mother, HIV-1 RNA was not
      amplified and her child harbored both R5 and X4 viruses at birth, but only X4
      virus 12 months after delivery. The infants' viruses were more homogeneous than
      their mothers' viruses (mean distance: 0.5% vs. 1.1%, respectively). This is the
      first molecular epidemiological study of vertical HIV-1 infections in Vietnam.
      These findings may provide useful knowledge for the prevention of mother-to-child
      transmission of HIV-1 and the antiretroviral treatment of children in Vietnam. 

PMID- 25826002
TI  - Exercise-induced increases in cell free DNA in human plasma originate
      predominantly from cells of the haematopoietic lineage.
AB  - The role of cell free DNA (cfDNA) has been intensively discussed under various
      pathological conditions and after acute bouts of exercise. To date, there is
      still no conclusive evidence concerning the cellular origin of cfDNA and the
      entire mechanism leading to elevated cfDNA concentrations in human plasma and
      serum. Here, we investigated the cellular origin of cfDNA in sex-mismatched
      haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and liver transplantation (LT)
      patients by determining the relative proportion of Y-chromosomal to total nuclear
      cfDNA. Total nuclear cfDNA and Y-chromosomal cfDNA concentrations were determined
      in blood plasma before and after an incremental exercise test via quantitative
      real-time PCR (qPCR). Female HSCT patients showed high proportions of Y
      chromosomal cfDNA. Both total nuclear and Y-chromosomal cfDNA increased
      significantly and in a highly correlated fashion due to exercise. In male HSCT
      patients with female donors less than 10% of the cfDNA was of Y-chromosomal
      origin at any point in time and even though the total amount of cfDNA increased
      during exercise, no increases in Y-chromosomal DNA could be detected. The
      percentage of Y-chromosomal cfDNA in female LT patients with male donors was very
      low and levels remained unchanged during exercise. This indicates that cells not
      derived from the bone marrow, in this case transplanted liver cells, represented
      only a minor fraction of cfDNA in blood plasma and were not released during acute
      physical exercise. Even though many physiological conditions may be altered in
      transplant patients versus healthy people, our results strongly suggest that
      cells from the haematopoietic lineage are the main source of cfDNA released
      during acute bouts of exercise.

PMID- 25826003
TI  - Programmed DNAzyme-Triggered Dissolution of DNA-Based Hydrogels: Means for
      Controlled Release of Biocatalysts and for the Activation of Enzyme Cascades.
AB  - Acrylamide/acrylamide-modified nucleic acid copolymer chains provide building
      units for the construction of acrylamide-DNA hydrogels. Three different hydrogels
      are prepared by the cross-linking of the acrylamide-DNA chains with metal ion
      dependent DNAzyme sequences and their substrates. The metal ion-dependent DNAzyme
      sequences used in the study include the Cu(2+)-, Mg(2+)-, and Zn(2+)-dependent
      DNAzymes. In the presence of the respective metal ions, the substrates of the
      respective DNAzymes are cleaved, leading to the separation of the cross-linking
      units and to the dissolution of the hydrogel. The different hydrogels were loaded
      with a fluorophore-modified dextran or with a fluorophore-functionalized glucose
      oxidase. Treatment of the different hydrogels with the respective ions led to the
      release of the loaded dextran or the enzyme, and the rates of releasing of the
      loaded macromolecules followed the order of Cu(2+) > Mg(2+) > Zn(2+). Also, the
      different hydrogels were loaded with the enzymes beta-galactosidase (beta-Gal),
      glucose oxidase (GOx), or horseradish peroxidase (HRP). In the presence of the
      appropriate metal ions, the respective hydrogels were dissolved, resulting in the
      activation of the beta-Gal/GOx or GOx/HRP bienzyme cascades and of the beta
      Gal/GOx/HRP trienzyme cascade. 

PMID- 25826004
TI  - Highly diastereo- and enantioselective CuH-catalyzed synthesis of 2,3
      disubstituted indolines.
AB  - A diastereo- and enantioselective CuH-catalyzed method for the preparation of
      highly functionalized indolines is reported. The mild reaction conditions and
      high degree of functional group compatibility as demonstrated with substrates
      bearing heterocycles, olefins, and substituted aromatic groups, renders this
      technique highly valuable for the synthesis of a variety of cis-2,3-disubstituted
      indolines in high yield and enantioeselectivity. 

PMID- 25826006
TI  - Automated measurement of multiple cancer biomarkers using quantum-dot-based
      microfluidic immunohistochemistry.
AB  - We report an automated multiple biomarker measurement method for tissue from
      cancer patients using quantum dot (QD)-based protein detection combined with
      reference-based protein quantification and autofluorescence (AF) removal. For
      multiplexed detection of biomarkers in tissue samples, visualization of QDs on
      cytokeratin was performed to create a multichannel microfluidic device on sites
      with dense populations of tumor cells. Three major breast cancer biomarkers
      (i.e., estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth
      factor receptor 2) were labeled using QDs successively on cancer cells in tissue
      sections. For the automated measurement of biomarkers, a cytokeratin-based
      biomarker normalization method was used to measure the averaged expression of
      proteins. A novel AF-removal algorithm was developed, which normalizes the
      reference AF spectra reconstructed from unknown AF spectra based on random
      sampling. For accurate quantification of QDs, we automatically and accurately
      removed the AF signal from 344 spots of QD-labeled tissue samples using 240
      reference AF spectra. Using analytical data with 10 tissue samples from breast
      cancer patients, the measured biomarker intensities were in good agreement with
      the results of conventional analyses. 

PMID- 25826007
TI  - Barriers to HIV Care and Treatment Among Participants in a Public Health HIV Care
      Relinkage Program.
AB  - Improving patient retention in HIV care and use of antiretroviral therapy (ART)
      are key steps to improving the HIV care continuum in the US. However,
      contemporary quantitative data on barriers to care and treatment from population
      based samples of persons poorly engaged in care are sparse. We analyzed the
      prevalence of barriers to clinic visits, ART initiation, and ART continuation
      reported by 247 participants in a public health HIV care relinkage program in
      King County, WA. We identified participants using HIV surveillance data (N=188)
      and referrals from HIV/STD clinics and partner services (N=59). Participants most
      commonly reported insurance (50%), practical (26-34%), and financial (30%)
      barriers to care, despite residing in a state with essentially universal access
      to HIV care. Perceived lack of need for medical care was uncommon (<20%), but
      many participants (58%) endorsed a perceived lack of need for medication as a
      reason for not initiating ART. Depression and substance abuse were both highly
      prevalent (69% and 54%, respectively), and methamphetamine was the most commonly
      abused substance. Barriers to HIV care and treatment may be amenable to
      intervention by health department outreach in coordination with existing HIV
      medical and support services.

PMID- 25826008
TI  - Long-term stability of total RNA in RNAstable(r) as evaluated by expression
      microarray.
AB  - Storage of labile RNA in laboratories is accomplished through ultra-low freezing
      of the nucleic acids. This however requires expensive freezers, convenient
      storage, reliable electrical power, and increased shipping costs, thereby making
      it a less viable option. Biomatrica (San Diego, CA) has created RNAstable((r)), a
      stabilization reagent that is used to store RNA in a dehydrated state at room
      temperature (RT) and protects the RNA from degradation. Our objective was to
      investigate the sequence integrity and suitability of RNA when stored in
      RNAstable at extended time periods and at varying temperatures through use of
      Illumina and Agilent RNA expression microarrays. We observed in Bioanalyzer
      electropherograms that total RNA extracted from 293 cells stored at RT in
      RNAstable for 4.5 and 11.5 months is similar in quality to RNA stored at -80
      degrees C. Illumina mRNA expression array QC metrics and gene expression patterns
      from RNAstable-protected RNA, in contrast to RNA stored without RNAstable,
      correlated well with those of freezer controls. Significantly, when RNA was
      stored in RNAstable at 45 degrees C for 4.5 months, equivalent to 22 months RT
      storage, RNA quality, microarray probe signal intensities, probe detection rates,
      and expression profiles remained similar between RNAstable-protected RNA at RT
      and the -80 degrees C controls. At 10.5 months, miRNA levels were compared among
      the storage conditions using miRNA expression arrays. Here too we found strong
      concordance between miRNA expression patterns when total RNA was stored in
      RNAstable or at -80 degrees C. Further, Bioanalyzer electrophoresis of RNAstable
      protected samples stored at RT for a relative total of 33 months or 50.5 months
      showed comparable integrity scores to those of -80 degrees C controls. We
      conclude that use of RNAstable holds promise as an effective stabilization
      reagent for total RNA and should be useful in situations where shipping and
      storage options are limited resources. 

PMID- 25826009
TI  - Double Hole-Lump Interaction between Halogen Atoms.
AB  - In this paper a theoretical study has been carried out to investigate the nature
      of the unusual halogen-halogen contacts in the complexes R-X...X-R (with R = -H, 
      Cl, -F and X = Cl, Br, I). AIM, NBO, and MEP analyses have been used to
      characterize X...X interactions. Formation of the unusual X...X interactions
      leads to a significant increase of electron charge density in the bonding region
      between the two halogen atoms. The geometry and stability of these complexes is
      mainly due to electrostatic interactions lump(X1) -> hole(X2) and lump(X2) ->
      hole(X1) [or equivalently [VS,min(X1) -> VS,max(X2) and VS,min(X2) -> VS,max(X1)]
      and the charge transfers LP(X1) -> sigma*(R-X2) and LP(X2) -> sigma*(R-X1). In
      other words, these findings suggest that the electrostatic interactions and the
      charge transfer play a substantial role in determining the optimal geometry of
      these complexes, as in conventional halogen bonds, even though the dispersion
      term is the most important attractive term for all the complexes studied here,
      save one. 

PMID- 25826010
TI  - Spatial resolution in Raman spectroscopy.
AB  - This article is intended to set the scope of the meeting, in particular, the high
      spatial resolution section. 

PMID- 25826011
TI  - A formal anti-Markovnikov hydroamination of allylic alcohols via tandem
      oxidation/1,4-conjugate addition/1,2-reduction using a Ru catalyst.
AB  - A formal anti-Markovnikov hydroamination of allylic alcohols using a Ru catalyst
      via tandem oxidation/1,4-conjugate addition/1,2-reduction was developed. Thus,
      the reaction of allylic alcohols with amines was performed in the presence of the
      catalyst generated from RuClH(CO)(PPh3)3 and 2,6-bis(n-butyliminomethyl)pyridine
      in situ to afford the corresponding gamma-amino alcohols efficiently. 

PMID- 25826013
TI  - Synergistic effect of hybrid carbon nanotube-graphene oxide as nanoadditive
      enhancing the frictional properties of ionic liquids in high vacuum.
AB  - A remarkable synergetic effect between the graphene oxide (GO) layers and
      multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in improving friction and wear on sliding
      diamond-like carbon (DLC) surfaces under high vacuum condition (10(-5) Pa) and
      low or high applied load is demonstrated. In tests with sliding DLC surfaces,
      ionic liquid solution that contains small amounts of GO and MWCNTs exhibited the
      lowest specific friction coefficient and wear rate under all of the sliding
      conditions. Optical microscope images of the wear scar of a steel ball showed
      that GO/MWCNT composites exhibited higher antiwear capability than individual
      MWCNTs and GO did. Transmission electron microscopy images of nanoadditives after
      friction testing showed that MWCNTs support the GO layers like pillars and
      prevent assembly between the GO layers. Their synergistic effect considerably
      enhances IL-GO/MWCNT composites. 

PMID- 25826012
TI  - Structure-activity relationships for antibacterial to antifungal conversion of
      kanamycin to amphiphilic analogues.
AB  - Novel fungicides are urgently needed. It was recently reported that the
      attachment of an octyl group at the O-4" position of kanamycin B converts this
      antibacterial aminoglycoside into a novel antifungal agent. To elucidate the
      structure-activity relationship (SAR) for this phenomenon, a lead compound FG03
      with a hydroxyl group replacing the 3"-NH2 group of kanamycin B was synthesized.
      FG03's antifungal activity and synthetic scheme inspired the synthesis of a
      library of kanamycin B analogues alkylated at various hydroxyl groups. SAR
      studies of the library revealed that for antifungal activity the O-4" position is
      the optimal site for attaching a linear alkyl chain and that the 3"-NH2 and 6"-OH
      groups of the kanamycin B parent molecule are not essential for antifungal
      activity. The discovery of lead compound, FG03, is an example of reviving
      clinically obsolete drugs like kanamycin by simple chemical modification and an
      alternative strategy for discovering novel antimicrobials. 

PMID- 25826014
TI  - Palladium catalyzed vinyltrifluoromethylation of aryl halides through
      decarboxylative cross-coupling with 2-(trifluoromethyl)acrylic acid.
AB  - An efficient Pd-catalyzed stereoselective vinyltrifluoromethylation of aryl
      halides, through decarboxylative cross-coupling with 2-(trifluoromethyl)acrylic
      acid is described. The ready availability of the starting materials, the high
      level of functional group tolerance, and excellent E/Z selectivity make this
      protocol a safe and operationally convenient strategy for efficient synthesis of
      vinyltrifluoromethyl derivatives. 

PMID- 25826015
TI  - Bioavailability and bioavailable forms of collagen after oral administration to
      rats.
AB  - The bioavailability and bioavailable forms of collagen after oral administration
      to rats were investigated in this study. The relative and absolute
      bioavailability of collagen were 57.8% and 49.6%, respectively, which was
      indirectly evaluated by the bioavailability of Hyp in collagen using a
      pharmacokinetic method. The amino acid profile of plasma showed that more than
      63.4% of the collagen was absorbed from the intestine in the form of peptide, and
      there was a good linear correlation between the absorbed amount of an amino acid
      and its content in collagen (R(2) = 0.9225). The collagen peptides in plasma were
      purified by Sephadex G10 and Eclipse XDB C18 chromatography and further
      indentified (Ala-Asn, Ala-Hyp-Gly, Asp-Glu, Glu-Asn, Glu-Asp, Glu-Met, Gly-Pro
      Hyp, Leu-Hyp, Leu-Met, Phe-Gly-Asn, Pro-Gly-Leu, Pro-Leu, Ser-Gly-Met, Ser-Hyp,
      Ser-Pro-Gly, Tyr-Met) with UPLC-ESI-MS. These results may help to speculate about
      the molecular mechanism behind the physiological effects of collagen after oral
      administration. 

PMID- 25826017
TI  - The Effect of Temperature on Synchronization of Brood Development of the Bopyrid
      Isopod Parasite Probopyrus pandalicola with Molting of Its Host, the Daggerblade
      Grass Shrimp Palaemonetes pugio.
AB  - The bopyrid isopod Probopyrus pandalicola is a hematophagous ectoparasite that
      sexually sterilizes some palaemonid shrimps, including female daggerblade grass
      shrimp Palaemonetes pugio. The reproduction of parasitic isopods is thought to
      occur synchronously with host molting because the brood would be unsuccessful if
      molting occurred before the larvae were free swimming. Temperature affects the
      length of the molting cycle of shrimp, and therefore may also affect the
      incubation time of isopod broods. The purpose of the present study was to
      determine the effect of temperature on brood development of the parasite and on
      the degree of synchronization with the molting of its host. Parasitized P. pugio
      were monitored daily at 2 experimental temperatures, 23 and 15 C, in temperature
      controlled chambers for the duration of a full parasite reproductive cycle.
      Developmental stage was determined by the visible coloration of the brood through
      the exoskeleton of the host, and was designated as egg, embryo I, embryo II, or
      epicaridium larvae. Temperature significantly affected median brood incubation
      time, which was only 11 days at 23 C, as compared to 35 days at 15 C. The final
      developmental stage (epicaridium larvae) was 3 times shorter at 23 C (median 3
      days; n = 45) than at 15 C (median 9 days; n = 15). Temperature significantly
      affected the intermolt period of parasitized shrimp, which was shorter at 23 C
      (median 12 days) than at 15 C (median 37 days). A smaller percentage of the
      intermolt period elapsed between larval release and shrimp molting at 23 C (0.0%)
      than at 15 C (3.1%), indicating closer synchronization between host molting and
      parasite reproduction at the warmer temperature. At 15 C, the isopods utilized a
      smaller proportion of the time that was available for brood incubation during the
      intermolt period of their host. Brood size ranged from 391 to 4,596 young and was
      positively correlated with parasite and host size. Because development progressed
      more rapidly at 23 C, warmer temperatures could increase the prevalence of P.
      pandalicola. The corresponding reduction in the abundance of ovigerous grass
      shrimp as a result of sexual sterilization by bopyrids could adversely impact
      estuarine ecosystems, as grass shrimp are a crucial link in transferring energy
      from detritus to secondary consumers.

PMID- 25826018
TI  - De novo produced anti-human leukocyte antigen antibodies relation to alloimmunity
      in patients with chronic renal failure.
AB  - AIMS: Chronic renal failure causes patients to become dialysis dependent, which
      is exhausting for them both financially and psychologically. However, the
      definitive treatment of chronic renal failure is transplantation. One of the
      crucial factors affecting success in transplantation is the presence of anti
      human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies in patients. HLA alloimmunization is
      caused by various sensitization events such as blood transfusion, pregnancy, and
      transplantation. In this study, different sensitization events were compared to
      determine the effectiveness on the panel-reactive antibody status in female solid
      organ transplantation candidates based upon pregnancy. RESULTS: When results were
      evaluated in terms of alloimmunization rates, 62.8%, 73.4%, and 14.9% of the
      patients were found to have blood transfusion, pregnancy, and rejection history,
      respectively. Three hundred twenty-six of the 444 women had had at least one
      pregnancy. Panel-reactive antibody (PRA) (class I and/or II)-positive rates were
      significantly higher among patients with pregnancy and blood transfusion history
      (43.7%) than patients with only pregnancy history (27.5%) and pregnancy and
      transplantation history (40%). While transplantation history significantly
      affects class II anti-HLA levels, blood transfusion raises class I levels.
      CONCLUSIONS: Solid organ transplantation appears to have the strongest HLA
      alloimmunization effect followed by pregnancy and blood transfusion, especially
      for class II HLA antigens. Patients who were sensitized by more than one
      sensitization event have a lower chance to have a solid organ transplantation. In
      this case, identification of donor-specific antibodies and the results of the
      cross-match tests play an important role both before and postrenal
      transplantation.

PMID- 25826019
TI  - Timescale separation in recurrent neural networks.
AB  - Supervised learning in recurrent neural networks involves two processes: the
      neuron activity from which gradients are estimated and the process on connection
      parameters induced by these measurements. A problem such algorithms must address
      is how to balance the relative rates of these activities so that accurate
      sensitivity estimates are obtained while still allowing synaptic modification to
      take place at a rate sufficient for learning. We show how to calculate a
      sufficient timescale separation between these two processes for a class of
      contracting neural networks. 

PMID- 25826020
TI  - Cortical spatiotemporal dimensionality reduction for visual grouping.
AB  - The visual systems of many mammals, including humans, are able to integrate the
      geometric information of visual stimuli and perform cognitive tasks at the first
      stages of the cortical processing. This is thought to be the result of a
      combination of mechanisms, which include feature extraction at the single cell
      level and geometric processing by means of cell connectivity. We present a
      geometric model of such connectivities in the space of detected features
      associated with spatiotemporal visual stimuli and show how they can be used to
      obtain low-level object segmentation. The main idea is to define a spectral
      clustering procedure with anisotropic affinities over data sets consisting of
      embeddings of the visual stimuli into higher-dimensional spaces. Neural
      plausibility of the proposed arguments will be discussed. 

PMID- 25826021
TI  - Refined Generalization Bounds of Gradient Learning over Reproducing Kernel
      Hilbert Spaces.
AB  - Gradient learning (GL), initially proposed by Mukherjee and Zhou (2006) has been
      proved to be a powerful tool for conducting variable selection and dimensional
      reduction simultaneously. This approach presents a nonparametric version of a
      gradient estimator with positive definite kernels without estimating the true
      function itself, so that the proposed version has wide applicability and allows
      for complex effects between predictors. In terms of theory, however, existing
      generalization bounds for GL depend on capacity-independent techniques, and the
      capacity of kernel classes cannot be characterized completely. Thus, this letter
      considers GL estimators that minimize the empirical convex risk. We prove
      generalization bounds for such estimators with rates that are faster than
      previous results. Moreover, we provide a novel upper bound for Rademacher chaos
      complexity of order two, which also plays an important role in general pairwise
      type estimations, including ranking and score problems.

PMID- 25826022
TI  - Homeostatic plasticity for single node delay-coupled reservoir computing.
AB  - Supplementing a differential equation with delays results in an infinite
      dimensional dynamical system. This property provides the basis for a reservoir
      computing architecture, where the recurrent neural network is replaced by a
      single nonlinear node, delay-coupled to itself. Instead of the spatial topology
      of a network, subunits in the delay-coupled reservoir are multiplexed in time
      along one delay span of the system. The computational power of the reservoir is
      contingent on this temporal multiplexing. Here, we learn optimal temporal
      multiplexing by means of a biologically inspired homeostatic plasticity
      mechanism. Plasticity acts locally and changes the distances between the subunits
      along the delay, depending on how responsive these subunits are to the input.
      After analytically deriving the learning mechanism, we illustrate its role in
      improving the reservoir's computational power. To this end, we investigate,
      first, the increase of the reservoir's memory capacity. Second, we predict a
      NARMA-10 time series, showing that plasticity reduces the normalized root-mean
      square error by more than 20%. Third, we discuss plasticity's influence on the
      reservoir's input-information capacity, the coupling strength between subunits,
      and the distribution of the readout coefficients. 

PMID- 25826023
TI  - Charge transfer vs. dimensionality: what affects the transport properties of
      ferecrystals?
AB  - A series of ([SnSe]1+delta)m(NbSe2)2 compounds with two layers of NbSe2 separated
      by m bilayers of SnSe, where 1 <= m <= 20, were prepared from modulated
      precursors by systematically changing the number of SnSe layers in the repeating
      unit. A change in the c-lattice parameter of 0.579(3) nm per SnSe bilayer was
      observed. The thickness of the NbSe2 layer was determined to be 1.281(4) nm:
      twice the value of a single NbSe2 layer. HAADF-STEM images revealed the presence
      of extensive rotational disorder and the lack of any epitaxial relationship among
      the constituent layers. Two different coordination environments for the Nb in
      NbSe2 (trigonal prismatic and octahedral) were observed. The electrical
      resistivity increases and the carrier concentration decreases in the
      ([SnSe]1+delta)m(NbSe2)2 compounds with increasing number of SnSe bilayers. The
      temperature dependence of the resistivity suggests localization of carriers for
      higher m values. The decline in carrier concentration as a function of m implies
      the presence of charge transfer from SnSe to NbSe2. The transport properties of
      the ([SnSe]1+delta)m(NbSe2)2 compounds and the previously reported
      ([SnSe]1+delta)m(NbSe2)1 compounds both have unusually temperature independent
      resistivity compared to bulk NbSe2. Compounds with similar m/n ratios exhibit
      similar transport properties. Consequently, the dominant effect on the transport
      properties of ([SnSe]1+delta)m(NbSe2)2 is charge transfer, and there are only
      subtle differences between a monolayer and a bilayer of NbSe2.

PMID- 25826024
TI  - Titanocene(III) complexes with 2-phosphinoaryloxide ligands for the catalytic
      dehydrogenation of dimethylamine borane.
AB  - A study of the dehydrogenation of dimethylamine borane using different
      titanocene(III) complexes with 2-phosphinoaryloxide ligands is presented.
      Complexes Cp2Ti(kappa(2)-O, P-O-C6H4-PR2) (3a: R = i-Pr, 3b: R = Ph) (Cp = eta(5)
      cyclopentadienyl) and Cp*2Ti(kappa(1)-O-O-C6H4-PR2) (5a: R = i-Pr, 5b: R = Ph)
      (Cp* = eta(5)-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) were prepared by reactions of the 2
      phosphinophenol ligand with different titanocene sources and fully characterised.
      Their catalytic activity depends on the steric influence of the cyclopentadienyl
      ligand, the coordination mode of the 2-phosphinoaryloxide ligand and on the used
      solvent. Complex 3a showed a turnover number of 43.2 in the neat substrate after
      24 hours. EPR investigations were used to elucidate the fate of the Ti(III)
      catalyst.

PMID- 25826025
TI  - [Clinical trials in Germany: the time to reduce bureaucracy has come!].

PMID- 25826026
TI  - [Tumor-caused venous thromboembolism].

PMID- 25826027
TI  - [Rare, but often overlooked endocrine syndromes].

PMID- 25826028
TI  - [Osteoporosis in elderly].

PMID- 25826029
TI  - [Chronic lymphatic leukemia].
AB  - Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common form of leukemia in the
      Western world. Median age at diagnosis is around 70 years. To confirm the
      diagnosis more than 5000 B-lymphocytes/ul need to be present. The expression of
      the typical surface markers CD5, CD19, CD20 and CD23 has to be confirmed by flow
      cytometry. A bone marrow biopsy is not mandatory for the diagnosis. Before start
      of treatment the assessment of 17 p deletion and/or TP53-mutational status is
      recommended. Treatment indications include stage Binet C or signs of an active
      disease as rapidly progressive lymphadenopathy or organomegaly together with
      physical limitation, B symptoms that cannot be tolerated, rapidly deteriorating
      blood values, or rapidly increasing leukocyte counts (Lymphocyte doubling time
      less than 6 months). The patient's physical condition has major impact on the
      treatment decision. Currently immunochemotherapy with fludarabine,
      cyclophosphamide and the CD20-antibody rituximab (FCR) is the standard of care in
      previously untreated and physically fit patients. An alternative regimen is the
      combination of bendamustine and rituximab (BR) or ofatumumab. Physically
      compromised patients can be treated with the oral drug chlorambucil in
      combination with an anti-CD20 antibody. Due to high morbidity and mortality,
      allogeneic stem cell transplantation is limited to a small group of patients and
      should be discussed in a high-risk situation, such as 17 p deletion and/or TP53
      mutation, lack of response to standard therapy or early relapse. Recently several
      new chemo-free treatment options have been introduced within clinical trials.
      Among them are monoclonal antibodies, most of them targeting the CD20 molecule:
      besides the licensed drugs rituximab and ofatumumab, obinutuzumab, in combination
      with chemotherapy, has recently shown high clinical efficacy in front-line
      treatment of elderly patients with CLL. Novel agents have been designed to block
      aberrant signaling from the B-cell receptor. Ibrutinib acts by inhibiting the
      Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) while idelalisib represents a first-in-class
      specific inhibitor of the phosphoinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) delta isoform. Another
      class of drugs with potential impact for chemo-free treatment strategies in CLL
      is the BH3-mimetic inhibitor of the Bcl-2 family of pro-survival proteins, ABT
      199. Given all these novel agents and targets, chemo-free or at least chemo
      reduced concepts may become reality in the near future for our patients suffering
      from CLL. 

PMID- 25826030
TI  - [Postexposure prophylaxis in daily clinical practice].
AB  - Postexposure prophylaxis with antiinfective medication or immunizations are
      common problems in daily care of out- and inpatients in Germany. We discuss the
      most relevant situations in adult patients, other populations (neonates,
      children) are not considered. 

PMID- 25826031
TI  - [Limitations of intensive care therapy - is it always appropriate?].

PMID- 25826032
TI  - [Myocardial revascularization: the new European guidelines].
AB  - The updated 2014 ESC guidelines on myocardial revascularization did indeed impact
      on current practice. Some of the most important changes are summarized in this
      review. Importantly, the recommendation for dual antiplatelet therapy after
      stenting in stable patients was reduced to 6 months. Also, a more liberal use of
      PCI in left main stem disease was proposed by the ESC guideline committee. 

PMID- 25826033
TI  - [Primary arterial hypertension - update 2015].
AB  - The rate of treatment and control increased significantly in Germany during the
      last years. Severeal studies could demonstrate an association of sodium
      consumption with blood pressure. The status of renal denervation in the treatment
      of high blood pressure remains unclear. 

PMID- 25826034
TI  - [Systemic sclerosis - an update].

PMID- 25826035
TI  - [Therapy in pancreatic cancer - and still it moves along!].
AB  - According to predictions pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma will be the third most
      common cancer-related cause of death in 2030 due to its growing incidence and
      advances in prevention and treatment of other tumor entities. Pancreatic cancer
      is usually a (too) late diagnosed disease. Already at time of primary diagnosis
      nearly 80 % of patients have palliative disease due to local irresectability or
      distant metastases. Even after R0 resection of the primary tumor followed by
      adjuvant chemotherapy the 5-year overall survival rate does not exceed 20 %.
      Recently the treatment landscape has significanty changed in metastatic
      pancreatic cancer. For the first time, we have the opportunity to personalize our
      therapies in the field of pancreatic cancer. In addition, the range of
      therapeutic options after failure of first-line treatment expands more and more.
      After years of stagnation and negative results in clinical trials these advances
      inspire and dynamize the landscape of new clinical trials in this entity. 

PMID- 25826036
TI  - [Unclear dermatological finding in a 35-year-old patient].

PMID- 25826037
TI  - [Exfoliative esophagitis while taking dabigatran].
AB  - History | A 77-year-old woman was admitted with severe chest pain, heartburn,
      dysphagia and odynophagia. She had been on dabigatran for 13 months due to atrial
      fibrillation and arterial hypertension. Investigations and findings | Endoscopy
      of the esophagus revealed sloughing of mucosal casts, predominantly in the upper
      half of the organ. Treatment and course | The patient was placed on pantoprazol,
      local anaesthetic antacid and i. v. fluids. Dabigatran was discontinued. The
      symptoms disappeared within 3 days. Control endoscopy after 12 days showed
      complete healing of the esophageal mucosa. Conclusion | The intake of dabigatran
      was associated with exfoliative esophagitis, possibly due to caustic tissue
      damage by prolonged drug contact. 

PMID- 25826038
TI  - [Health care of geriatric patients with urinary incontinence].
AB  - Urinary incontinence occurs frequently in geriatric patients. In the doctor's
      practice, the symptoms are often not mentioned by the patients; this may lead to
      loss of autonomy and social isolation. A screening for urinary incontinence
      should therefore be part of each geriatric assessment. In the presence of urinary
      incontinence, several treatment options are available, which need to be tailored
      according to the individual capabilities (mobility, motivation and cognitive
      performance) of the patient. Non-pharmacological treatment options, such as
      behavior modification, toilet training and pelvic floor training, should be
      exploited before any pharmacotherapy commences. If the pharmacological treatment
      involves the use of anticholinergic agents, the cognitive performance should be
      monitored. An interdisciplinary collaboration is a prerequisite for the optimized
      treatment and adequate health care of geriatric patients with urinary
      incontinence. 

PMID- 25826039
TI  - [Developing internal medicine into systems medicine: opportunities and
      challenges].

PMID- 25826040
TI  - [Smoking cessation - what's new?].

PMID- 25826041
TI  - [Smoking cessation - what's new?--reply].

PMID- 25826042
TI  - An effective and biocompatible antibiofilm coating for central venous catheter.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro and in vivo efficacy and
      the tissue reaction of an antibiofilm coating composed of xylitol, triclosan, and
      polyhexamethylene biguanide. The antimicrobial activity was analyzed by a
      turbidimetric method. Scanning electron microscopy was used to evaluate the
      antiadherent property of central venous catheter (CVC) fragments impregnated with
      an antibiofilm coating (I-CVC) in comparison with noncoated CVC (NC-CVC)
      fragments. Two in vivo assays using subcutaneous implantation of NC-CVC and I-CVC
      fragments in the dorsal area of rats were performed. The first assay comprised
      hematological and microbiological analysis. The second assay evaluated tissue
      response by examining the inflammatory reactions after 7 and 21 days. The
      formulation displayed antimicrobial activity against all tested strains. A
      biofilm disaggregation with significant reduction of microorganism's adherence in
      I-CVC fragments was observed. In vivo antiadherence results demonstrated a
      reduction of early biofilm formation of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, mainly
      in an external surface of the I-CVC, in comparison with the NC-CVC. All animals
      displayed negative hemoculture. No significant tissue reaction was observed,
      indicating that the antibiofilm formulation could be considered biocompatible.
      The use of I-CVC could decrease the probability of development of localized or
      systemic infections. 

PMID- 25826043
TI  - Core and peripheral criteria of video game addiction in the game addiction scale
      for adolescents.
AB  - Assessment of video game addiction often involves measurement of peripheral
      criteria that indicate high engagement with games, and core criteria that
      indicate problematic use of games. A survey of the Norwegian population aged 16
      74 years (N=10,081, response rate 43.6%) was carried out in 2013, which included
      the Gaming Addiction Scale for Adolescents (GAS). Confirmatory factor analysis
      showed that a two-factor structure, which separated peripheral criteria from core
      criteria, fitted the data better (CFI=0.963; RMSEA=0.058) compared to the
      original one-factor solution where all items are determined to load only on one
      factor (CFI=0.905, RMSEA=0.089). This was also found when we analyzed men aged
      <=33 years, men aged >33 years, women aged <=33 years, and women aged >33 years
      separately. This indicates that the GAS measures both engagement and problems
      related to video games. Multi-group measurement invariance testing showed that
      the factor structure was valid in all four groups (configural invariance) for the
      two-factor structure but not for the one-factor structure. A novel approach to
      categorization of problem gamers and addicted gamers where only the core criteria
      items are used (the CORE 4 approach) was compared to the approach where all items
      are included (the GAS 7 approach). The current results suggest that the CORE 4
      approach might be more appropriate for classification of problem gamers and
      addicted gamers compared to the GAS 7 approach. 

PMID- 25826044
TI  - The Time Is Now: The Role of Pharmacotherapies in Expanding Treatment for Opioid
      Use Disorder.

PMID- 25826045
TI  - Routine EPID in-vivo dosimetry in a reference point for conformal radiotherapy
      treatments.
AB  - In-vivo dosimetry (IVD) in external beam radiotherapy is used to detect major
      clinically relevant differences between planned and delivered dose. Moreover, a
      detailed analysis of its results, when routinely reported and discussed by the
      radiotherapy staff, can limit the likelihood of error transmission to many
      treatments. A first experience of routine EPID-based IVD in a reference point has
      been performed in our department for 3D-CRT treatments over a three-year period.
      More than 14,000 images were acquired and 1287 treatment plans were verified. The
      IVD checks were obtained three times in the first week and then weekly. Tolerance
      levels of +/- 5% for pelvic-abdomen, head-neck and breast irradiations and +/- 6%
      for lung treatments were adopted for the in-vivo measured dose per fraction. A
      statistical analysis of the IVD results was performed grouping the data by:
      anatomical regions, treatment units, open and wedged fields and gantry angles.
      About 10% of the checked doses per fraction showed dosimetric discrepancies out
      of the tolerance levels. The causes of the discrepancies were 70% delivery or
      planning errors, 20% morphological changes and 10% procedural limitations. 41
      cases (3.2%) have required special investigations because their in-vivo doses per
      fraction, averaged over the first three sessions, were out of the tolerance
      levels and in 19 cases (1.5%) the deviations gave rise to an intervention.
      Statistically significant differences of average variations between planned and
      delivered doses were observed for: (i) 30 degrees  wedged 10 MV fields with
      respect to those of other wedged or open 10 MV fields delivered by two linacs,
      due to the incorrect TPS implementation of that wedge transmission factor; (ii)
      anterior-posterior and posterior-anterior beams with respect to the other gantry
      orientations for one linac, due to the beam attenuation introduced by the
      treatment couch; (iii) lateral fields with respect to medial fields of breast
      irradiations for all linacs, due to small systematic set-up variations. The
      analysis of our data shows a substantial homogeneity of the IVD results for all
      the considered body regions and treatment units. However, the observed
      discrepancies have supplied indications for taking further steps in the
      optimization process and in some cases to adopt an adaptive approach.

PMID- 25826046
TI  - Role of ankle foot orthoses in functional stability of individuals with stroke.
AB  - PURPOSE: Ankle foot orthoses (AFOs) are frequently prescribed to improve
      ambulation in individuals with stroke. However, the role of AFOs in balance
      control is not completely understood. The aim of the study was to evaluate the
      contribution of the AFOs in functional stability of individuals with stroke.
      METHODS: Twenty three individuals with unilateral hemiparesis due to stroke were
      assessed using the Functional Reach Test. The subjects performed reaches forward,
      left and right while standing with or without an AFO. RESULTS: When provided with
      AFO, individuals with stroke improved the maximal reaching distance in all the
      directions (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The study found that individuals with
      unilateral stroke clearly demonstrated improvements in functional stability when
      they were provided with AFOs. This outcome could be used in the optimization of
      balance rehabilitation of individuals with stroke. Implications for
      Rehabilitation Functional stability is impaired in individuals with stroke.
      Functional Reach Test (FRT) was used to assess the role of ankle foot orthoses
      (AFOs) in balance control. Individuals with stroke improved their functional
      stability while they were provided with AFOs. Functional Reach Test could assist
      clinicians in the evaluation of postural stability associated with the use of
      AFOs.

PMID- 25826047
TI  - The impact of walking speed on the effects of functional electrical stimulation
      for foot drop in people with multiple sclerosis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is effective in assisting people
      with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) with gait. Previous studies have investigated the
      effects of FES in pwMS with slow self-selected walking speeds (SSWS). This study
      reports on the effect of the Odstock Dropped Foot Stimulator (ODFS) on the speed
      and oxygen (O2) cost of gait in pwMS walking at a range of SSWS. METHODS: Twenty
      pwMS (mean age 50.4 +/- 7.3 years) currently using FES walked at their SSWS for 5
      min with and without FES. O2 cost of gait was measured using a gas analysis
      system, and gait speed was calculated. Data were analysed for all participants,
      and comparisons were made between those with a SSWS < and >0.8 m/s (walking speed
      required for community ambulation). RESULTS: Significant improvements in the
      speed and O2 cost of gait were seen using FES in the group with SSWS <0.8 m/s (n
      = 11, p = 0.005). When participants' SSWS >0.8 m/s, no difference in gait speed
      was noted, and a significant increase in O2 cost of gait using FES (n = 9, p =
      0.004) was noted. CONCLUSION: FES has a different effect on the speed and O2 cost
      of gait dependent on the SSWS of pwMS. This requires further investigation.
      Implications for Rehabilitation Functional electrical stimulation (FES) used for
      foot drop is effective in improving the speed and oxygen cost of walking in pwMS
      walking at SSWS <0.8 m/s. FES does not seem to have a beneficial effect on the
      speed and oxygen cost of walking in pwMS walking at SSWS >0.8 m/s. Further
      research is needed to understand the possible mechanisms involved so that FES for
      foot drop can be efficiently prescribed.

PMID- 25826048
TI  - Identifying participation needs of people with acquired brain injury in the
      development of a collective community smart home.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study explored the personalized and collective participation needs
      of people with acquired brain injury (ABI) living in a future shared community
      smart home. METHODS: An action research study was conducted with 16 persons,
      seven with ABI, four caregivers and five rehabilitation or smart home healthcare
      providers. Twelve interviews and two focus groups were conducted, audiotaped,
      transcribed and analyzed for content. RESULTS: Seventy personalized and 18
      collective participation needs were reported related to daily and social
      activities. Personalized needs concerned interpersonal relationships, general
      organization of activities, leisure, housing, fitness and nutrition. Collective
      needs related mainly to housing, general organization of activities and
      nutrition. CONCLUSIONS: Personalized and collective participation needs of people
      with ABI planning to live in a community smart home are diverse and concern daily
      as well as social activities. Implications for Rehabilitation To meet
      participation needs of people with ABI, the design of smart homes must consider
      all categories of daily and social activities. Considering personalized and
      collective needs allowed identifying exclusive examples of each. As some persons
      with ABI had difficulty identifying their needs as well as accepting their
      limitations and the assistance required, rehabilitation professionals must be
      involved in needs identification.

PMID- 25826049
TI  - Early signs that predict later haemodynamically significant patent ductus
      arteriosus.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to determine the optimal cut-off values, sensitivity,
      specificity, and diagnostic power of 12 echocardiographic parameters on the
      second day of life to predict subsequent ductal patency. METHODS: We evaluated
      preterm infants, born at ?32 weeks of gestation, starting on their second day of
      life, and they were evaluated every other day until ductal closure or until there
      were clinical signs of re-opening. We measured transductal diameter; pulmonary
      arterial diastolic flow; retrograde aortic diastolic flow; pulsatility index of
      the left pulmonary artery and descending aorta; left atrium and ventricle/aortic
      root ratio; left ventricular output; left ventricular flow velocity time
      integral; mitral early/late diastolic flow; and superior caval vein diameter and
      flow as well as performed receiver operating curve analysis. RESULTS: Transductal
      diameter (>1.5 mm); pulmonary arterial diastolic flow (>25.6 cm/second); presence
      of retrograde aortic diastolic flow; ductal diameter by body weight (>1.07
      mm/kg); left pulmonary arterial pulsatility index (?0.71); and left ventricle to
      aortic root ratio (>2.2) displayed high sensitivity and specificity (p0.9).
      Parameters with moderate sensitivity and specificity were as follows: left atrial
      to aortic root ratio; left ventricular output; left ventricular flow velocity
      time integral; and mitral early/late diastolic flow ratio (p0.05) had low
      diagnostic value. CONCLUSION: Left pulmonary arterial pulsatility index, left
      ventricle/aortic root ratio, and ductal diameter by body weight are useful
      adjuncts offering a broader outlook for predicting ductal patency.

PMID- 25826050
TI  - Structural basis for the inhibition of truncated islet amyloid polypeptide
      aggregation by Cu(II): insights into the bioinorganic chemistry of type II
      diabetes.
AB  - Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is one of the most common chronic diseases, affecting over
      300 million people worldwide. One of the hallmarks of T2D is the presence of
      amyloid deposits of human islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) in the islets of
      Langerhans of pancreatic beta-cells. Recent reports indicate that Cu(II) can
      inhibit the aggregation of human IAPP, although the mechanism for this inhibitory
      effect is not clear. In this study, different spectroscopic techniques and model
      fragments of IAPP were employed to shed light on the structural basis for the
      interaction of Cu(II) with human IAPP. Our results show that Cu(II) anchors to
      His18 and the subsequent amide groups toward the C-terminal, forming a complex
      with an equatorial coordination mode 3N1O at physiological pH. Cu(II) binding to
      truncated IAPP at the His18 region is the key event for its inhibitory effect in
      amyloid aggregation. Electron paramagnetic resonance studies indicate that the
      monomeric Cu(II)-IAPP(15-22) complex differs significantly from Cu(II) bound to
      mature IAPP(15-22) fibers, suggesting that copper binding to monomeric IAPP(15
      22) competes with the conformation changes needed to form beta-sheet structures,
      thus delaying fibril formation. A general mechanism is proposed for the
      inhibitory effect of copper and other imidazole-binding metal ions in IAPP
      amyloid formation, providing further insights into the bioinorganic chemistry of
      T2D. 

PMID- 25826051
TI  - Changes of thioredoxin, oxidative stress markers, inflammation and muscle/renal
      damage following intensive endurance exercise.
AB  - Thioredoxin (TRX) is a 12 kDa protein that is induced by oxidative stress,
      scavenges reactive oxygen species (ROS) and modulates chemotaxis. Furthermore it
      is thought to play a protective role in renal ischemia/reperfusion injury.
      Complement 5a (C5a) is a chemotactic factor of neutrophils and is produced after
      ischemia/reperfusion injury in the kidney. Both TRX and C5a increase after
      endurance exercise. Therefore, it may be possible that TRX has an association
      with C5a in renal disorders and/or renal protection caused by endurance exercise.
      Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate relationships among the
      changes of urine levels of TRX, C5a and acute kidney injury (AKI) caused by
      ischemia/reperfusion, inflammatory responses, and oxidative stress following
      intensive endurance exercise. Also, we applied a newly-developed measurement
      system of neutrophil migratory activity and ROS-production by use of ex vivo
      hydrogel methodology with an extracellular matrix to investigate the mechanisms
      of muscle damage. Fourteen male triathletes participated in a duathlon race
      consisting of 5 km of running, 40 km of cycling and 5 km of running were
      recruited to the study. Venous blood and urine samples were collected before,
      immediately following, 1.5 h and 3 h after the race. Plasma, serum and urine were
      analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, a free radical analytical
      system, and the ex vivo neutrophil functional measurement system. These data were
      analyzed by assigning participants to damaged and minor-damage groups by the
      presence and absence of renal tubular epithelial cells in the urinary sediments.
      We found strong associations among urinary TRX, C5a, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL
      8, IL-10, interferon (IFN)-gamma and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1. From
      the data it might be inferred that urinary TRX, MCP-1 and beta-N-acetyl-D
      glucosaminidase (NAG) were associated with renal tubular injury. Furthermore, TRX
      may be influenced by levels of IL-10, regulate chemotactic activity of C5a and IL
      8, and control inflammatory progress by C5a and IL-8. In the longer duration
      group (minor-damage group), circulating neutrophil count, plasma concentration of
      myeloperoxidase (MPO) and serum concentration of myoglobin were markedly
      increased. In the higher intensity group (damaged group), neutrophil activation
      and degranulation of MPO might be inhibited, because not only was ROS production
      observed to be higher, but also antioxidant capacity and antiinflammatory
      cytokines were increased. Critically, the newlydeveloped ex vivo methodology
      corroborated the neutrophil activation levels in the two groups of participants. 

PMID- 25826052
TI  - Research on acute toxicity and the behavioral effects of methanolic extract from
      psilocybin mushrooms and psilocin in mice.
AB  - The pharmacological activities and acute toxicity of the psilocin (PC) and dried
      residues of the crude extracts of psychotropic mushrooms were investigated in
      mice. The hallucinogenic substances were effectively isolated, by using methanol,
      from the species of Psilocybe semilanceata and Pholiotina cyanopus, that were
      collected in the north-east region of Poland. The chemical analysis of these
      extracts, which was performed by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry
      detection (LC-MS), indicated the presence of psilocin and other hallucinogenic
      substances, including indolealkylamines and their phosphorylated analogues. When
      the pure psilocin or fungal extracts were used, slight differences in determined
      LD50 values were observed. However, the application of PC evoked the highest
      level of toxicity (293.07 mg/kg) compared to the activity of extracts from Ph.
      cyanopus and P. semilanceata, where the level of LD50 was 316.87 mg/kg and 324.37
      mg/kg, respectively. Furthermore, the behavioral test, which considered the head
      twitching response (HTR), was used to assess the effects of the studied
      psychotropic factors on the serotonergic system. Both, the fungal extracts and
      psilocin evoked characteristic serotoninergic effects depending on the dose
      administered to mice, acting as an agonist/partial agonist on the serotonergic
      system. A dose of 200 mg/kg 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) induced spontaneous head
      twitching in mice (100% effect), as a result of the formation of 5
      hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the brain. Compared to the activity of 5-HTP, the
      intraperitoneal administration of 1mg/kg of psilocin or hallucinogenic extracts
      of studied mushrooms (Ph. cyanopus and P. semilanceata) reduced the number of
      head-twitch responses of about 46% and 30%, respectively. In contrast, the
      administration of PC exhibited a reduction of about 60% in HTR numbers.

PMID- 25826054
TI  - Cyanobacteria and algae blooms: Review of health and environmental data from the
      Harmful Algal Bloom-Related Illness Surveillance System (HABISS) 2007-2011.
AB  - Algae and cyanobacteria are present in all aquatic environments. We do not have a
      good sense of the extent of human and animal exposures to cyanobacteria or their
      toxins, nor do we understand the public health impacts from acute exposures
      associated with recreational activities or chronic exposures associated with
      drinking water. We describe the Harmful Algal Bloom-related Illness Surveillance
      System (HABISS) and summarize the collected reports describing bloom events and
      associated adverse human and animal health events. For the period of 2007-2011,
      Departments of Health and/or Environment from 11 states funded by the National
      Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and
      Prevention contributed reports for 4534 events. For 2007, states contributed 173
      reports from historical data. The states participating in the HABISS program
      built response capacity through targeted public outreach and prevention
      activities, including supporting routine cyanobacteria monitoring for public
      recreation waters. During 2007-2010, states used monitoring data to support196
      public health advisories or beach closures. The information recorded in HABISS
      and the application of these data to develop a wide range of public health
      prevention and response activities indicate that cyanobacteria and algae blooms
      are an environmental public health issue that needs continuing attention.

PMID- 25826053
TI  - Acute cardiotoxicity evaluation of the marine biotoxins OA, DTX-1 and YTX.
AB  - Phycotoxins are marine toxins produced by phytoplankton that can get accumulated
      in filter feeding shellfish. Human intoxication episodes occur due to
      contaminated seafood consumption. Okadaic acid (OA) and dynophysistoxins (DTXs)
      are phycotoxins responsible for a severe gastrointestinal syndrome called
      diarrheic shellfish poisoning (DSP). Yessotoxins (YTXs) are marine toxins
      initially included in the DSP class but currently classified as a separated
      group. Food safety authorities from several countries have regulated the content
      of DSPs and YTXs in shellfish to protect human health. In mice, OA and YTX have
      been associated with ultrastructural heart damage in vivo. Therefore, this study
      explored the potential of OA, DTX-1 and YTX to cause acute heart toxicity.
      Cardiotoxicity was evaluated in vitro by measuring hERG (human eter-a-go-go gene)
      channel activity and in vivo using electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings and cardiac
      damage biomarkers. The results demonstrated that these toxins do not exert acute
      effects on hERG channel activity. Additionally, in vivo experiments showed that
      these compounds do not alter cardiac biomarkers and ECG in rats acutely. Despite
      the ultrastructural damage to the heart reported for these toxins, no acute
      alterations of heart function have been detected in vivo, suggesting a functional
      compensation in the short term.

PMID- 25826055
TI  - Harmful algal bloom characterization at ultra-high spatial and temporal
      resolution using small unmanned aircraft systems.
AB  - Harmful algal blooms (HABs) degrade water quality and produce toxins. The spatial
      distribution of HAbs may change rapidly due to variations wind, water currents,
      and population dynamics. Risk assessments, based on traditional sampling methods,
      are hampered by the sparseness of water sample data points, and delays between
      sampling and the availability of results. There is a need for local risk
      assessment and risk management at the spatial and temporal resolution relevant to
      local human and animal interactions at specific sites and times. Small, unmanned
      aircraft systems can gather color-infrared reflectance data at appropriate
      spatial and temporal resolutions, with full control over data collection timing,
      and short intervals between data gathering and result availability. Data can be
      interpreted qualitatively, or by generating a blue normalized difference
      vegetation index (BNDVI) that is correlated with cyanobacterial biomass densities
      at the water surface, as estimated using a buoyant packed cell volume (BPCV).
      Correlations between BNDVI and BPCV follow a logarithmic model, with r(2)-values
      under field conditions from 0.77 to 0.87. These methods provide valuable
      information that is complimentary to risk assessment data derived from
      traditional risk assessment methods, and could help to improve risk management at
      the local level.

PMID- 25826057
TI  - Enhanced charge-transfer emission in polyimides by cyano-groups doping.
AB  - Conjugated polyimides (PI) are successfully synthesized by chemical imidization
      through in situ silylation of diamines by the alteration of different donor
      acceptor monomers. A detailed photophysical characterization is performed in the
      monomers and different polymers in tetrahydrofuran solutions. The emission
      spectra of the related donor-acceptor polymers with electron withdrawing cyano
      groups showed broader and more intense fluorescence bands in comparison to the
      polymer without -CN groups. The new emission band results from the contribution
      of two different charge-transfer (CT) pathways: (i) An intramolecular CT (ICT)
      state in the donor monomers due to the presence of strong electron withdrawing CN
      groups, and (ii) a intramolecular CT complex (CTC) in the PI polymer between the
      donor-acceptor monomers, which is red-shifted and shows longer lifetime respect
      to the ICT of the diamine monomers. The very wide emission band is a very
      interesting feature for obtaining white light from UV light. 

PMID- 25826058
TI  - Sensitive Period for the Recovery of the Response Rate of the Wind-Evoked Escape
      Behavior of Unilaterally Cercus-Ablated Crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus).
AB  - We examined the compensational recovery of the response rate (relative
      occurrence) of the wind-evoked escape behavior in unilaterally cercus-ablated
      crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus) and elucidated the existence of a sensitive period
      for such recovery by rearing the crickets under different conditions. In one
      experiment, each cricket was reared in an apparatus called a walking inducer (WI)
      to increase the sensory input to the remaining cercus, i.e., the self-generated
      wind caused by walking. In another experiment, each cricket was reared in a small
      plastic case separate from the outside atmosphere (wind-free: WF). In this
      rearing condition, the cricket did not experience self-generated wind as walking
      was prohibited. During the recovery period after the unilateral cercus ablation,
      the crickets were reared under either the WI or WF condition to investigate the
      role of the sensory inputs on the compensational recovery of the response rate.
      The compensational recovery of the response rate occurred only in the crickets
      reared under the WI condition during the early period after the ablation. In
      particular, WI rearing during the first three days after the ablation resulted in
      the largest compensational recovery in the response rate. In contrast, no
      compensational recovery was observed in the crickets reared under the WF
      condition during the first three days. These results suggest that a sensitive
      period exists in which sensory inputs from the remaining cercus affect the
      compensational recovery of the response rate more effectively than during other
      periods. 

PMID- 25826059
TI  - HCl Treatment for Preventing Diapause Causes Ca2+ Efflux in Bombyx mori Eggs.
AB  - To elucidate the mechanism for preventing entry into embryonic diapause or
      breakdown of diapause in Bombyx mori by HCl and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)
      treatment or a combination of cold and HCl treatment, we performed quantitative
      analysis of Ca2+ and Mg2+ in the chorion and egg content using inductively
      coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). When diapause eggs that
      had been incubated at 25 degrees C for 2 days from oviposition and at 4 degrees C
      for an additional six days were treated with HCl solution, the amount of Ca2+ in
      the chorion and egg content after HCl treatment was reduced to one-seventh, as
      compared with the amount before treatment. In contrast, there was no change in
      the amount of Mg2+ with HCl treatment. The amount of Ca2+ in the HCl solution
      after the diapause eggs were treated increased 7.5-fold, as compared with that of
      eggs treated with water. Even when 17-day-old diapausing eggs were treated with
      HCl, which did not break diapause, the amount of Ca2+ in the chorion and egg
      content was reduced to one-fifth, as compared with the control. Meanwhile,
      changes in Ca2+ and Mg2+ contents were not observed in 12-hr-old diapause
      destined eggs before or after treatment with DMSO, which effectively prevents
      diapause. These data may suggest that Ca2+ efflux from diapause eggs by HCl is
      not directly associated with preventing entry into diapause or breaking of
      diapause. In addition, we discovered that the amount of Ca2+ in diapause-destined
      eggs was more than 2.4-fold larger than in non-diapause-destined eggs.

PMID- 25826060
TI  - Low culture temperature inhibits myogenic differentiation through mitochondrial
      activity.
AB  - A previous study by our group reported that mouse and human myoblasts fail to
      express myogenin and to fuse into multi-nucleate myotubes when cultured at low
      temperature, such as 30 degrees C, but that this activity is rescued by adding
      IGF-I and vitamin C to the culture medium. In the present study, we examined
      mitochondrial activity as a target of the inhibitory effects of the low culture
      temperature. It has been suggested that mitochondria regulate myogenesis. By
      using a mouse myoblast cell line C2C12, we demonstrate that the expression of
      cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COX I), which is encoded in mitochondrial genome,
      increases during myogenic differentiation at the normal culture temperature (38
      degrees C), but that this up-regulation is inhibited at 30 degrees C. The
      mitochondrial membrane potential also decreased at 30 degrees C compared to the
      culture at 38 degrees C. However, IGF-I and vitamin C rescued both COX I
      expression and mitochondrial membrane potential at 30 degrees C as promoting
      muscle differentiation. We also find that the rescue of mitochondrial activity by
      IGF-I and vitamin C at 30 degrees C occurred after the myogenin expression, which
      suggests that myogenin regulates mitochondrial function during myogenesis. We
      suggest that our low temperature-culture system may be suitable for use in
      studying the detailed mechanism of myogenin-related phenomena during myogenesis. 

PMID- 25826056
TI  - Chlorotoxin: a helpful natural scorpion peptide to diagnose glioma and fight
      tumor invasion.
AB  - Chlorotoxin is a small 36 amino-acid peptide identified from the venom of the
      scorpion Leiurus quinquestriatus. Initially, chlorotoxin was used as a
      pharmacological tool to characterize chloride channels. While studying glioma
      specific chloride currents, it was soon discovered that chlorotoxin possesses
      targeting properties towards cancer cells including glioma, melanoma, small cell
      lung carcinoma, neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma. The investigation of the
      mechanism of action of chlorotoxin has been challenging because its cell surface
      receptor target remains under questioning since two other receptors have been
      claimed besides chloride channels. Efforts on chlorotoxin-based applications
      focused on producing analogues helpful for glioma diagnosis, imaging and
      treatment. These efforts are welcome since gliomas are very aggressive brain
      cancers, close to impossible to cure with the current therapeutic arsenal. Among
      all the chlorotoxin-based strategies, the most promising one to enhance patient
      mean survival time appears to be the use of chlorotoxin as a targeting agent for
      the delivery of anti-tumor agents. Finally, the discovery of chlorotoxin has led
      to the screening of other scorpion venoms to identify chlorotoxin-like peptides.
      So far several new candidates have been identified. Only detailed research and
      clinical investigations will tell us if they share the same anti-tumor potential
      as chlorotoxin.

PMID- 25826061
TI  - Effects of Exposure to Methyl Parathion on Egg Hatchability and Eggshell Chemical
      Composition in Podocnemis expansa (Testudines, Podocnemididae).
AB  - Eggshell evaluation may serve as an indicator of the effect of substances
      released in the environment, which may change eggshell shape, size, structure,
      and/or chemical composition. Additionally, exposure may interfere with hatching
      rates in contaminated eggs. The objective of this study was to better understand
      how exposure to the insecticide methyl parathion interferes with chemical changes
      in eggshells of Podocnemis expansa throughout their artificial incubation, as
      well as with egg hatchability. A total of 343 P. expansa eggs were collected in a
      natural reproduction area for the species. These eggs were transferred to and
      artificially incubated in the Wild Animal Teaching and Research Laboratory at
      Universidade Federal de Uberlandia. On the first day of artificial incubation, 0,
      35, 350, and 3500 ppb of methyl parathion were incorporated to the substrate.
      Eggs were collected every three days for chemical analysis of eggshells.
      Hatchability was evaluated as the number of hatchlings in each treatment, for the
      eggs that were not used in the chemical analysis. Student's T-test was used for
      data on eggshell chemical composition, and the Binomial Test for Two Proportions
      was used in the hatchability analysis, at a 5% significance level. It was
      observed that the incorporation of methyl parathion to the substrate on the first
      day of artificial incubation of P. expansa eggs reduced the levels of total fat
      in the shells throughout their incubation, besides reducing egg hatchability. 

PMID- 25826062
TI  - Demographic Structure and Evolutionary History of Drosophila ornatifrons
      (Diptera, Drosophilidae) from Atlantic Forest of Southern Brazil.
AB  - Drosoph1la ornatifrons of the guarani group (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is found
      mainly in humid areas of the Atlantic Forest biome, especially in the southern
      region of Brazil. Historical and contemporary fragmentation events influenced
      species diversity and distribution in this biome, although the role of
      paleoclimatic and paleogeographic events remain to be verified. The objective of
      the present study was to evaluate the demographic structure of D. ornatifrons
      from collection sites that are remnants of Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil, in
      order to contribute to the understanding of the processes that affected the
      patterns of genetic variability in this species. To achieve this goal, we
      sequenced 51 individuals from nine localities and 64 individuals from six
      localities for the mitochondrial genes Cytochrome Oxidase I and II, respectively.
      Our results indicate that D. ornatifrons may have experienced a demographic
      expansion event from the southernmost locations of its distribution, most likely
      from those located next to the coast and in fragments of Atlantic Forest inserted
      in the Pampa biome (South 2 group), towards the interior (South 1 group). This
      expansion probably started after the last glacial maximum, between 20,000 and
      18,000 years ago, and was intensified near the Pleistocene-Holocene transition,
      around 12,000 years ago, when temperature started to rise. In this work we
      discuss how the haplotypes found barriers to gene flow and dispersal, influenced
      by the biogeographic pattern of Atlantic Forest. 

PMID- 25826063
TI  - Identification of Sex Chromosomes by Means of Comparative Genomic Hybridization
      in a Lizard, Eremias multiocellata.
AB  - Eremias multiocellata is a viviparous lizard that is known to exhibit temperature
      dependent sex determination (TSD). Conventional Giemsa staining under light
      microscope examination has identified the karyotype of this species to be 2 n=36
      I+2 m, with no detectable heteromorphic sex chromosomes. However, a highly
      differentiated female-specific chromosome, W, which is homomorphic with the Z
      chromosome, is found in the present study by the high-resolution cytogenetic
      method of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). The results show that E.
      multiocellata is a viviparous lizard with both TSD and ZW heterogametic sex
      chromosomes. Despite the fact that a different sex ratio of male offspring was
      found in two populations (separated by an altitude of 1400 m) in previous
      incubation experiments, we demonstrate, using genomic in situ hybridization
      (GISH), that there is no significant chromosomal loss or acquisition between the
      two populations. This suggests that temperature may play a more important role in
      lowland populations. These results most likely indicate that E. multiocellata is
      transitioning between the evolutionary processes of TSD and genotypic sex
      determination (GSD) systems, and also give clues to the effect of TSD versus GSD
      in this process.

PMID- 25826064
TI  - Seeds Recovered from the Droppings at Latrines of the Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes
      procyonoides viverrinus): The Possibility of Seed Dispersal.
AB  - Medium-sized carnivorous mammals are important seed dispersers of fleshy fruits.
      The raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides viverrinus) often feeds on fleshy
      fruits and forms latrines. This behavior may potentially lead to seed dispersal.
      To determine if this is the case, we studied 1) seed recovery in the droppings of
      raccoon dogs, and 2) the transportation of seeds between habitats using plastic
      markers in a western suburb of Tokyo, Japan. In total, 32,473 seeds of 50 plant
      taxa were recovered from 120 raccoon dog droppings during a year, and 95.7% of
      the seeds were found to be those of fleshy fruits. The species most frequently
      recovered were the eurya (Eurya japonica, 52.6%), the brambles (Rubus spp.,
      17.4%), and the black night shade (Solanum nigrum, 16.0%). A total of 7,412
      plastic markers were embedded in baits at 14 bait plots and were recovered in the
      feces of the raccoon dogs at 22 latrines. The "transportation rates" were
      calculated in 50-m distance classes and found that most seeds (43.5%) were
      deposited within 50 m from the bait point, suggesting very short seed dispersal
      distances. Inter-habitat transportation was observed: 64.9% of the retrieved
      markers deposited in the forest were transported to other places within the
      forest. In contrast, almost all of the markers (99.4%) deposited in the open site
      were transported within the same habitat. These findings suggest that the seeds
      of forest plants bearing berries can be dispersed out of the forest to open areas
      by raccoon dogs. 

PMID- 25826065
TI  - Histological and Histochemical Study of the Hepatopancreas of Two Estuarine Crab
      Species, Cyrtograpsus angulatus and Neohelice granulata (Grapsoidea, Varunidae):
      Influence of Environmental Salinity.
AB  - The aim of this study was to analyze the histology and the histochemical
      distribution of glycoproteins (GPs) and lipids of the hepatopancreas of
      Cyrtograpsus angulatus and Neohelice granulata acclimated to salinities of 10 psu
      (hyperregulation) and 35 psu (osmoconformation). Sections of the hepatopancreas
      of adult male crabs were treated with hematoxylin-eosin; Masson trichrome; Alcian
      Blue (pHs 2.8, 1.0, 0.5); Toluidine Blue (pHs 5.6, 4.2); periodic acid Schiff;
      Sudan Black and Red. At salinity 35 psu, the hepatopancreas of both species
      exhibited typical histological features, whereas at salinity 10 psu, detachment
      of the basal lamina, desquamated epithelium, disrupted brush border, loss of
      intercellular cohesion, hypertrophied tubular lumen, and hemolymph infiltration
      between cells were observed in some zones. Resorptive cells (R-cells) and
      vacuoles of blister-like cells (B-cells) of both species show a higher glycogen
      content at 35 psu than at 10 psu. At lower salinities, the cytoplasm of the
      different cell types evidence higher contents of carboxylated GPs in N. granulata
      and of su If at ed GPs in C. angulatus. At both salinities, and at the two pHs in
      N. granulata and at pH 5.6 in C. angulatus, the brush border, the vacuoles of B
      cells and the peritrophic membrane show metachromasia. R-cell vacuoles and the
      cytoplasm of all cell types--except for the E-cells--at all salinities in both
      species show abundant lipid droplets. The results of the present study contribute
      significant data to the histophysiology of crustacean decapods, favoring the
      comprehension of the complex adjustment mechanisms facing saline stress in
      euryhaline crabs.

PMID- 25826066
TI  - Shape similarities and differences in the skulls of scavenging raptors.
AB  - Feeding adaptations are a conspicuous feature of avian evolution. Bill and
      cranial shape as well as the jaw muscles are closely related to diet choice and
      feeding behaviors. Diurnal raptors of Falconiformes exhibit a wide range of
      foraging behaviors and prey preferences, and are assigned to seven dietary groups
      in this study. Skulls of 156 species are compared from the dorsal, lateral and
      ventral views, by using geometric morphometric techniques with those landmarks
      capturing as much information as possible on the overall shape of cranium, bill,
      orbits, nostrils and attachment area for different jaw muscles. The morphometric
      data showed that the skull shape of scavengers differ significantly from other
      raptors, primarily because of different feeding adaptations. As a result of
      convergent evolution, different scavengers share generalized common morphology,
      possessing relatively slender and lower skulls, longer bills, smaller and more
      sideward orbits, and more caudally positioned quadrates. Significant phylogenetic
      signals suggested that phylogeny also played important role in shape variation
      within scavengers. New World vultures can be distinguished by their large
      nostrils, narrow crania and small orbits; Caracaras typically show large
      palatines, crania and orbits, as well as short, deep and sharp bill. 

PMID- 25826067
TI  - Preliminary Analysis of Phylogenetic Relationships of the Asian-Pacific Endemial
      Subterranean Amphipod Genus Pseudocrangonyx Among Families and Genera of
      Crangonyctoidean Amphipods Inferred by Partial LSU rDNA Gene Sequences.
AB  - To analyze the phylogenetic relationships of the genus Pseudocrangonyx within the
      superfamily Crangonyctoidea, we sequenced a partial LSU rDNA gene from four
      species (six specimens). The monophyly of Pseudocrangonyx and its affinity to
      Crymostygius were strongly supported by four reconstruction methods: neighbor
      joining, minimum evolution, maximum-likelihood, and Bayesian inference. Current
      geographical distributions of the taxa studied and their phylogenetic
      relationships established in our study suggest that members of
      Pseudocrangonyctidae and Crymostygius diverged from a common Crangonyx-like
      ancestor in the Arctic Basin region of the northern hemisphere. 

PMID- 25826068
TI  - Environmental Factors Affecting Pupation Decision in the Horned Flour Beetle
      Gnatocerus cornutus.
AB  - Social environments often affect the development of organisms. In Tenebrionidae
      beetles, larval development can be arrested at the final instar stage in the
      presence of conspecific larvae. This developmental plasticity is considered to be
      an anti-cannibalistic strategy but the critical environmental determinants and
      actual effects remain to be elucidated. In this study, we examined the effects of
      the heterospecific environment, conspecific sexual environment (i.e., presence of
      conspecific male or female), and abiotic physical stimulation on the pupation
      decision of the sexually dimorphic horned-flour beetle Gnatocerus cornutus.
      Additionally, actual anti-cannibalistic or antipredatory effects of developmental
      arrest were evaluated by analyzing stage-dependent vulnerabilities. When G.
      cornutus larvae were maintained with a G. cornutus larva, a G. cornutus adult, or
      T. castaneum adult, the developmental period up to the prepupal stage was
      significantly elongated, suggesting that the cue is not species-specific. Sexual
      environment did not affect the timing of pupation in G. cornutus; however, we
      found that abiotic tactile stimulations by glass beads could repress pupation. We
      also discovered that prepupal and pupal stages were more vulnerable to
      cannibalism and predation than the larval stage. These data suggest that G.
      cornutus larvae use non-species specific tactile stimulation as a decision cue
      for pupation and it has broader defensive effects against heterospecific
      predation as well as conspecific cannibalism. 

PMID- 25826069
TI  - Histological Description of Gonadal Development of Females and Males of
      Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896 (Decapoda: Portunidae).
AB  - This paper describes the characteristics of male and female germ cells during
      gonadal development and the gonadal maturity scale of the blue crab, Callinectes
      sapidus. A total of 20 specimens were collected monthly from June to November
      2012, in two areas off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico: the San Andres Lagoon and
      Alvarado Lagoon. The gonads were removed and processed following the standard
      technique of hematoxylin and eosin staining. An important event in oogenesis (pre
      vitellogenesis) was the appearance of a perinuclear vesicle in the cytoplasm and
      the accumulation of yolk granules. Later, vitellogenesis began and there was an
      accumulation of nutritive droplets and fragmentation of the perinuclear vesicle.
      During spermatogenesis, the accumulation of two fluids was observed that were
      involved in the formation of the spermatophore and the delay of spermiogenesis.
      Based on the histological features of gonad maturity, five stages were described
      (inactive, early gametogenesis, development, maturity, and resorption), in
      females and males. This proposal can be useful for the study of reproductive
      seasonality of this species. 

PMID- 25826070
TI  - First record of association of copepods with highly venomous box jellyfish
      Chironex, with description of new species of Paramacrochiron (Cyclopoida:
      Macrochironidae).
AB  - Paramacrochiron chironecicola n. sp. (Copepoda: Cyclopoida: Macrochironidae) is
      described from the highly venomous box jellyfish Chironex sp. collected from
      Malampaya Sound, Palawan Island, The Philippines. This is the first record of
      copepods associated with cubozoan medusae, although other cnidarian groups such
      scyphozoans, hydrozoans, and anthozoans are common hosts for symbiotic copepods.
      The infection sites were on the subumbrella, pedalium, and rhopalium, but also
      rarely on the adradial furrow. The new species is distinguished from other
      congeners by a combination of the following features: (1) the fifth pedigerous
      somite dorsally covering the anterior part of the female genital double-somite;
      (2) the fine structures of the antenna (relative lengths of segments) and
      maxilliped (positions of terminal elements) of the female; (3) the relatively
      long outer spines on the exopodal segments of legs 1-4; (4) the relatively long
      and thick female leg 5 bearing a long protopodal seta which reaches to the distal
      margin of the exopod; (5) the relatively short caudal ramus in the female; and
      (6) the plump prosome and short urosome in the male. Since members of the genus
      typically parasitize scyphozoans, especially rhizostomes, the association of this
      parasitic copepod on cubozoans may reflect the relatively close phylogenetic
      relationship between cubozoans and scyphozoans. 

PMID- 25826071
TI  - A new tree frog of the genus Gracixalus from Thailand (Amphibia: Rhacophoridae).
AB  - We report a new tree frog of the genus Gracixalus from western Thailand and
      describe it as a new species Gracixalus seesom based on results of morphological
      and molecular analyses. The new species is a small-sized Gracixalus (male snout
      vent length ca. 22 mm) and is morphologically similar to G. gracilipes, but is
      easily distinguished from it by its dorsal tan color in life, absence of white
      spot on lower lip, and black markings on its foot webbing. The new species also
      clearly differs from all the other members of the genus by the combination of
      small body size, triangular snout, and light yellowish brown dorsum without
      distinct tuberculations. Problems of phylogeny and taxonomy of the genus
      Gracixalus are briefly discussed. 

PMID- 25826072
TI  - The oldest post-Palaeozoic Crinoid and Permian-Triassic origins of the Articulata
      (Echinodermata).
AB  - The Crinoidea are the most primitive class of living echinoderms, and suffered a
      severe crisis during the Late Permian mass extinction event. All post-Palaeozoic
      crinoids, including living species, belong to the Articulata, and morphological
      and recent molecular studies demonstrate that they form a monophyletic clade. The
      Articulata originated from Palaeozoic cladid crinoids, but the nature and timing
      of their origination remains obscure. Problems with understanding the origin and
      early evolution of the Articulata have arisen because the Permian-Triassic
      crinoid fossil record is particularly poor. We report on a new genus and species
      from the earliest Triassic, which is the oldest known post-Palaeozoic articulate
      crinoid and fundamentally alters our understanding of the early evolution of the
      Articulata. Prior to this study, the most primitive post-Palaeozoic articulate
      was thought to be Holocrinus of the order Isocrinida. Unexpectedly, the new taxon
      belongs to the order Encrinida, which reveals a previously hidden diversity of
      crinoids in the earliest Triassic. Its discovery implies either a dramatic
      radiation of crinoids in the immediate post-extinction aftermath, when
      environmental conditions were at their most severe, or a pre-extinction origin of
      the crown group articulates and survival of multiple lineages. 

PMID- 25826073
TI  - Interfacing living cells and spherically supported bilayer lipid membranes.
AB  - Spherically supported bilayer lipid membranes (SS-BLMs) exhibiting co-existing
      membrane microdomains were created on spherical silica substrates. These 5 MUm
      SiO2-core SS-BLMs are shown to interact dynamically when interfaced with living
      cells in culture, while keeping the membrane structure and lipid domains on the
      SS-BLM surface intact. Interactions between the SS-BLMs and cellular components
      are examined via correlating fluorescently labeled co-existing microdomains on
      the SS-BLMs, their chemical composition and biophysical properties with the
      consequent organization of cell membrane lipids, proteins, and other cellular
      components. This approach is demonstrated in a proof-of-concept experiment
      involving the dynamic organization of cellular cytoskeleton, monitored as a
      function of the lipid domains of the SS-BLMs. The compositional versatility of SS
      BLMs provides a means to address the relationship between the phenomenon of lipid
      phase separation and the other contributors to cell membrane lateral
      heterogeneity. 

PMID- 25826074
TI  - Abiotic regioselective phosphorylation of adenosine with borate in formamide.
AB  - Nearly 40 years ago, Schoffstall and his coworkers used formamide as a solvent to
      permit the phosphorylation of nucleosides by inorganic phosphate to give
      nucleoside phosphates, which (due to their thermodynamic instability with respect
      to hydrolysis) cannot be easily created in water by an analogous phosphorylation
      (the "water problem" in prebiotic chemistry). More recently, we showed that
      borate could stabilize certain carbohydrates against degradation (the "asphalt
      problem"). Here, we combine the two concepts to show that borate can work in
      formamide to guide the reactivity of nucleosides under conditions where they are
      phosphorylated. Specifically, reaction of adenosine in formamide with inorganic
      phosphate and pyrophosphate in the presence of borate gives adenosine-5'
      phosphate as the only detectable phosphorylated product, with formylation (as
      opposed to hydrolysis) being the competing reaction.

PMID- 25826075
TI  - Synchronous occurrence of gastrointestinal stromal tumors and other digestive
      tract malignancies in the elderly.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Elderly patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs)
      synchronous with other digestive tract malignancies have been rarely reported. In
      this study, clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated among elderly
      patients with GISTs with or without coexisting digestive tract malignancies.
      METHODS: A total of 161 patients (>=65 years) were retrospectively reviewed at
      the West China Hospital, Sichuan University from January 2009 to June 2014.
      RESULTS: Sixty-one patients were diagnosed with synchronous digestive tract
      malignancies (synchronous group), whereas 100 patients were diagnosed with no
      synchronous condition (no-synchronous group). The synchronous group exhibited a
      higher percentage of males (70.49% vs. 53.00%, P = 0.028) and poorer Eastern
      Cooperative Oncology Group performance status than the no-synchronous group (P =
      0.029). The three-year overall survival (OS) rate was significantly lower among
      patients with synchronous digestive tract malignancies than that among patients
      without synchronous condition (64.5% vs. 84.0%, P = 0.003). Multivariate analysis
      showed that the presence of synchronous digestive tract malignancies (P = 0.002),
      co-morbidity (P = 0.004), and mitotic count >=10 mitoses/50 high power fields (P
      = 0.012) were associated with poor OS. CONCLUSIONS: A synchronous condition with
      other digestive tract malignancies is common in elderly patients with GISTs. OS
      primarily depends on synchronous digestive tract malignancies, mitotic count, and
      co-morbidity.

PMID- 25826076
TI  - Decreased miR122 in hepatocellular carcinoma leads to chemoresistance with
      increased arginine.
AB  - Reduced expression of microRNA122 (miR122), a liver-specific microRNA, is
      frequent in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its biological significances
      remain poorly understood. Because deregulated amino acid levels in cancers can
      affect their biological behavior, we determined the amino acid levels in miR122
      silenced mouse liver tissues, in which intracellular arginine levels were
      significantly increased. The increased intracellular arginine levels were through
      upregulation of the solute carrier family 7 (SLC7A1), a transporter of arginine
      and a direct target of miR122. Arginine is the substrate for nitric oxide (NO)
      synthetase, and intracellular NO levels were increased in miR122-silenced HCC
      cells, with increased resistance to sorafenib, a multikinase inhibitor.
      Conversely, maintenance of the miR122-silenced HCC cells in arginine-depleted
      culture media, as well as overexpression of miR122 in miR122-low-expressing HCC
      cells, reversed these effects and rendered the cells more sensitive to sorafenib.
      Using a reporter knock-in construct, chemical compounds were screened, and Wee1
      kinase inhibitor was identified as upregulators of miR122 transcription, which
      increased the sensitivity of the cells to sorafenib. These results provide an
      insight into sorafenib resistance in miR122-low HCC, and suggest that arginine
      depletion or a combination of sorafenib with the identified compound may provide
      promising approaches to managing this HCC subset. 

PMID- 25826077
TI  - FLT3-ITD confers resistance to the PI3K/Akt pathway inhibitors by protecting the
      mTOR/4EBP1/Mcl-1 pathway through STAT5 activation in acute myeloid leukemia.
AB  - FLT3-ITD and FLT3-TKD are the most frequent tyrosine kinase mutations in acute
      myeloid leukemia (AML), with the former associated with poor prognosis. Here, we
      show that the PI3K inhibitor GDC-0941 or the Akt inhibitor MK-2206 induced
      apoptosis through the mitochondria-mediated intrinsic pathway more efficiently in
      hematopoietic 32D cells driven by FLT3-TKD (32D/TKD) than FLT3-ITD (32D/ITD),
      which robustly activated STAT5. The resistance to GDC-0941 and MK-2206 was gained
      by expression of the constitutively activated STAT5 mutant STAT5A1*6 in 32D/TKD
      cells, while it was abrogated by the STAT5 inhibitor pimozide in 32D/ITD cells or
      FLT3-ITD-expressing human leukemic MV4-11 cells. GDC-0941 or MK-2206 induced
      dephosphorylation of 4EBP1 more conspicuously in 32D/TKD than in 32D/ITD, which
      was prevented or augmented by STAT5A1*6 or pimozide, respectively, and correlated
      with downregulation of the eIF4E/eIF4G complex formation and Mcl-1 expression.
      Furthermore, exogenous expression of Mcl-1 endowed resistance to GDC-0941 and MK
      2206 on 32D/TKD cells. Finally, it was confirmed in primary AML cells with FLT3
      ITD that pimozide enhanced 4EBP1 dephosphorylation and Mcl-1 downregulation to
      augment cytotoxicity of GDC-0941. These data suggest that the robust STAT5
      activation by FLT3-ITD protects cells treated with the PI3K/Akt pathway
      inhibitors from apoptosis by maintaining Mcl-1 expression through the
      mTORC1/4EBP1/eIF4E pathway. 

PMID- 25826078
TI  - Mer receptor tyrosine kinase is frequently overexpressed in human non-small cell
      lung cancer, confirming resistance to erlotinib.
AB  - Mer is a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) with oncogenic properties that is often
      overexpressed or activated in various malignancies. Using both
      immunohistochemistry and microarray analyses, we demonstrated that Mer was
      overexpressed in both tumoral and stromal compartments of about 70% of non-small
      cell lung cancer (NSCLC) samples relative to surrounding normal lung tissue. This
      was validated in freshly harvested NSCLC samples; however, no associations were
      found between Mer expression and patient features. Although Mer overexpression
      did not render normal lung epithelial cell tumorigenic in vivo, it promoted the
      in vitro cell proliferation, clonogenic colony formation and migration of normal
      lung epithelial cells as well as NSCLC cells primarily depending on MAPK and FAK
      signaling, respectively. Importantly, Mer overexpression induced resistance to
      erlotinib (EGFR inhibitor) in otherwise erlotinib-sensitive cells. Furthermore,
      Mer-specific inhibitor rendered erlotinib-resistant cells sensitive to erlotinib.
      We conclude that Mer enhances malignant phenotype and pharmacological inhibition
      of Mer overcomes resistance of NSCLC to EGFR-targeted agents. 

PMID- 25826079
TI  - Prognostic value of receptor conversion after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast
      cancer patients: a prospective observational study.
AB  - The hormone receptor (HR) status and human epidermal growth hormone receptor 2
      (HER2) status of patients with breast cancer may change following neoadjuvant
      chemotherapy (NCT). This prospective observational study aimed to evaluate the
      prognostic impact of receptor conversion in breast cancer patients treated with
      NCT.Of the 423 consecutive patients who had residual disease in the breast after
      NCT, 55 (13.0%) changed from HR (+) to HR (-), 23 (5.4%) changed from HR (-) to
      HR (+), 27 (6.4%) changed from HER2 (+) to HER2 (-), and 13 (3.1%) changed from
      HER2 (-) to HER2 (+). A total of 54 (12.8%) changed to the triple-negative (TN)
      tumor phenotype. The loss of HR positivity was an independent prognostic factor
      for worse disease-free survival (DFS) and worse overall survival (OS) in
      multivariate survival analysis. Furthermore, the switch to the TN phenotype after
      NCT was another independent prognostic factor for worse survival for both DFS and
      OS. In conclusion, patients with breast cancer may experience changes in HR
      status, HER2 status and tumor phenotype after NCT. The loss of HR positivity and
      the switch to the TN phenotype after NCT were associated with a worse patient
      outcome. 

PMID- 25826080
TI  - Increased liver carcinogenesis and enrichment of stem cell properties in livers
      of Dickkopf 2 (Dkk2) deleted mice.
AB  - Dkk2 a antagonist of the Wnt/beta-catenin-signaling pathway was shown to be
      silenced in diverse cancers. More recent data indicate that Dkk family members
      may also possess functions independent of Wnt-signaling during carcinogenesis.
      The detailed biological function of Dkks and its relevance for liver cancer is
      unknown. We analyzed the effects of a genetic deletion of Dkk2 (Dkk2-/-) in a
      hepatocarcinogenesis model using DEN/Phenobarbital. Untreated Dkk2-/- animals,
      showed considerable atypia with variation of hepatocyte size and chromatin
      density. In livers of Dkk2-/- mice nodule formation was seen at 9 months of age
      with focal loss of trabecular architecture and atypical hepatocytes and after DEN
      induction Dkk2-/- mice developed significantly more liver tumors compared to
      controls. Whole transcriptome analysis of untreated Dkk2-/- liver tissue revealed
      a Dkk2-dependent genetic network involving Wnt/beta-Catenin but also multiple
      additional oncogenic factors, such as e.g. Pdgf-b, Gdf-15 and Hnf4a. Dkk2-/-
      tumor cells showed a significant deregulation of stemness genes associated with
      enhanced colony forming properties. Integration of the Dkk2-/- signature into
      human data was strongly associated with patients survival. Dkk2 deletion results
      in alterations of liver morphology leading to an increased frequency of liver
      cancer. The associated genetic changes included factors not primarily related to
      Wnt/beta-Catenin-signaling and correlated with the clinical outcome of HCC
      patients. 

PMID- 25826081
TI  - Integrated genomic analysis identifies subclasses and prognosis signatures of
      kidney cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: To define robust miRNA-based molecular classifiers for human clear cell
      renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) subgrouping and prognostication. EXPERIMENTAL
      DESIGN: Multidimensional data of over 500 clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC)
      patients were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) archive. Data
      analysis was based on a novel computational approach that selectively considers
      patients with extreme expression values of miRNAs to detect survival-associated
      molecular signatures. RESULTS: Our in silico analysis unveiled a novel ccRCC
      specific 5-miRNA (miR-10b, miR-21, miR-143, miR-183, and miR-192) signature able,
      when combined with information from conventional TNM staging and the age of the
      patient, to prognosticate ccRCC outcome more accurately than known ccRCC miRNA
      signatures or TNM staging alone. Furthermore, our approach revealed the existence
      of 6 distinct subgroups of ccRCC characterized by discrete differences in overall
      survival, tumor stage, and mutational spectra in key ccRCC tumor suppressor
      genes. It also demonstrated that BAP1 mutations correlate with tumor progression
      rather than overall survival. CONCLUSION: Integrated analysis of multidimensional
      data from the TCGA archive allowed to draw a portrait of distinct molecular
      subclasses of human ccRCC and to define signatures for prognosticating disease
      outcome. Together, these results offer new prospects for more accurate
      stratification and prognostication of ccRCC.

PMID- 25826082
TI  - HPV16 E5 deregulates the autophagic process in human keratinocytes.
AB  - Autophagy plays key roles during host defense against pathogens, but viruses have
      evolved strategies to block the process or to exploit it for replication and
      successful infection. The E5 oncoprotein of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16
      E5) perturbs epithelial homeostasis down-regulating the expression of the
      keratinocyte growth factor receptor (KGFR/FGFR2b), whose signaling induces
      autophagy. Here we investigated the possible effects of 16E5 on autophagy in
      human keratinocytes expressing the viral protein. The 16E5 presence strongly
      inhibited the autophagic process, while forced expression and activation of KGFR
      counteracted this effect, demonstrating that the viral protein and the receptor
      exert opposite and interplaying roles not only on epithelial differentiation, but
      also in the control of autophagy. In W12 cells, silencing of the 16E5 gene in the
      context of the viral full length genome confirmed its role on autophagy
      inhibition. Finally, molecular approaches showed that the viral protein
      interferes with the transcriptional regulation of autophagy also through the
      impairment of p53 function, indicating that 16E5 uses parallel mechanisms for
      autophagy impairment. Overall our results further support the hypothesis that a
      transcriptional crosstalk among 16E5 and KGFR might be the crucial molecular
      driver of epithelial deregulation during early steps of HPV infection and
      transformation. 

PMID- 25826083
TI  - PTPRO-mediated autophagy prevents hepatosteatosis and tumorigenesis.
AB  - Autophagy plays a critical role in the progression of nonalcoholic
      steatohepatitis (NASH) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Protein tyrosine
      phosphatase receptor type O (PTPRO) was recently identified as a tumor
      suppressor, but little is known about its role in NASH. Here, we investigated the
      role of PTPRO-dependent autophagy in insulin resistance, lipid metabolism, and
      hepatocarcinogenesis. Wild-type (WT) and ptpro-/- mice were fed a high-fat diet
      (HFD) for another 16 weeks after diethylnitrosamine (DEN) injection to induce
      NASH. Ptpro-/- mice exhibited severe liver injury, insulin resistance,
      hepatosteatosis and autophagy deficiency compared with WT littermates. PTPRO
      deletion also promoted the induction of lipogenic target genes and decreases in
      beta-oxidation-related genes. Increased activation of AKT and accumulation of
      cytoplasmic p53 was detected in ptpro-/- mice, which in combination repressed
      autophagy. Intriguingly, hyperinsulinemia involving AKT activation was also
      exacerbated in HFD-fed mice due to PTPRO deletion. Activation of AKT induced
      stabilization of the MDMX/MDM2 heterocomplex, thus promoting p53 accumulation in
      the cytoplasm. Inhibition of AKT restored autophagy and p53 accumulation in
      hepatocytes, indicating that AKT acts upstream of p53. Due to hyperinsulinemia
      and autophagy deficiency, a HFD could aggravate steatohepatitis in ptpro-/- mice.
      Importantly, the expression of PTPRO was much decreased in human steatohepatitis,
      which was associated with increased p62 accumulation. Together, these data
      indicate that PTPRO regulates insulin and lipid metabolism via the
      PI3K/Akt/MDM4/MDM2/P53 axis by affecting autophagy. 

PMID- 25826084
TI  - Expression and clinicopathological significance of FSIP1 in breast cancer.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the clinicopathological significance of the expression of
      fibrous sheath interacting protein 1 (FSIP1) in breast cancer, serum samples, and
      wound fluid from patients with breast cancer. METHODS: Wound fluid and serum
      samples from female patients with primary breast cancer, recurrent and metastatic
      breast cancer, and benign tumors were analyzed for FSIP1 expression using ELISA.
      286 paraffin-embedded surgical specimens from breast cancer patients with at
      least 5 years of follow-up were included for FSIP1 expression assay using
      immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Expression of FSIP1 protein was significantly
      higher in breast cancer tissues compared to tumor-adjacent tissues (p = 0.001).
      Strong correlation was observed between FSIP1 expression and human epidermal
      growth factor receptor 2 (Her-2) or Ki67 expression in breast cancer (p = 0.027
      and 0.002, respectively). Similarly, serum level of FSIP1 was higher in patients
      with recurrent and metastatic breast cancer compared to that of primary breast
      cancer (7, 713 +/- 3, 065 vs. 4, 713 +/- 3, 065 pg/ml, p = 0.003). Finally,
      patients with high FSIP1 expression showed a worse post-operative disease
      specific survival (p = 0.024). CONCLUSION: FSIP1 may play an important role in
      the tumorigenesis and invasion of breast cancer and is a potential biomarker for
      breast cancer diagnosis or prognosis.

PMID- 25826085
TI  - Dysregulation of the miR-34a-SIRT1 axis inhibits breast cancer stemness.
AB  - Enforced expression of miR-34a eliminates cancer stem cells in some malignant
      tumors. Sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) is a direct target of miR-34a. Here we found low levels
      of miR-34a and high levels of SIRT1 in CD44+/CD24- breast cancer stem cells
      (BCSCs). MiR-34a overexpression and knockdown of SIRT1 decreased proportion of
      BSCSs and mammosphere formation. Expression of CSC markers, ALDH1, BMI1 and Nanog
      was decreased. In nude mice xenografts, stable expression of miR-34a and
      silencing of SIRT1 reduced tumor burden. Taken together, our results demonstrated
      that miR-34a inhibits proliferative potential of BCSCs in vitro and in vivo, at
      least partially by downregulating SIRT1. The miR-34a-SIRT1 axis may play role in
      self-renewal of BCSCs. 

PMID- 25826086
TI  - The stromal genome heterogeneity between breast and prostate tumors revealed by a
      comparative transcriptomic analysis.
AB  - Stromal microenvironment increases tumor cell survival, proliferation and
      migration, and promotes angiogenesis. In order to provide comprehensive
      information on the stromal heterogeneity of diverse tumors, here we employed the
      microarray datasets of human invasive breast and prostate cancer-associated
      stromals and applied Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to compare the gene
      expression profiles between them. As a result, 8 up-regulated pathways and 73
      down-regulated pathways were identified in the breast tumor stroma, while 32 up
      regulated pathways and 18 down-regulated pathways were identified in the prostate
      tumor stroma. Only 9 pathways such as tryptophan metabolism were commonly up or
      down regulated, but most of them (including ABC transporters) were specific for
      these two tumors. Several essential tumors stromal marker genes were also
      significantly identified. For example, CDH3 was significantly up-regulated in the
      stromals of both breast and prostate tumors, however EGFR was only significantly
      down-regulated in the stromal of breast tumor. Our study would be helpful for
      future therapeutic and predictive applications in breast and prostate cancers. 

PMID- 25826088
TI  - Paxillin promotes colorectal tumor invasion and poor patient outcomes via ERK
      mediated stabilization of Bcl-2 protein by phosphorylation at Serine 87.
AB  - Stabilization of Bcl-2 protein by paxillin (PXN)-mediated ERK activation was
      recently reported to cause an unfavorable response to 5-Fluorouracil-based
      chemotherapy. Here, we present evidence from cell and animal models to
      demonstrate that stabilization of Bcl-2 protein by phosphorylation at Serine 87
      (pBcl-2-S87) via PXN-mediated ERK activation is responsible for cancer cell
      invasiveness and occurs via upregulation of MMP2 expression. Immunostainings of
      190 tumors resected from colorectal cancer patients indicated that PXN expression
      was positively correlated with Bcl-2, pBcl-2-S87, and MMP2 expression. A positive
      correlation of pBcl-2-S87 with Bcl-2 and MMP2 was also observed in this study
      population. Patients with high PXN, Bcl-2, pBcl-2-S87, and MMP2 had poor overall
      survival (OS) and shorter relapse free survival (RFS). In conclusion, PXN
      promotes Bcl-2 phosphorylation at Serine 87 via PXN-mediated ERK activation, and
      its stabilization associated with increased tumor formation efficacy in mice and
      poor patient outcome in colorectal cancer patients. 

PMID- 25826087
TI  - Antibody and lectin target podoplanin to inhibit oral squamous carcinoma cell
      migration and viability by distinct mechanisms.
AB  - Podoplanin (PDPN) is a unique transmembrane receptor that promotes tumor cell
      motility. Indeed, PDPN may serve as a chemotherapeutic target for primary and
      metastatic cancer cells, particularly oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells
      that cause most oral cancers. Here, we studied how a monoclonal antibody (NZ-1)
      and lectin (MASL) that target PDPN affect human OSCC cell motility and viability.
      Both reagents inhibited the migration of PDPN expressing OSCC cells at nanomolar
      concentrations before inhibiting cell viability at micromolar concentrations. In
      addition, both reagents induced mitochondrial membrane permeability transition to
      kill OSCC cells that express PDPN by caspase independent nonapoptotic necrosis.
      Furthermore, MASL displayed a surprisingly robust ability to target PDPN on OSCC
      cells within minutes of exposure, and significantly inhibited human OSCC
      dissemination in zebrafish embryos. Moreover, we report that human OSCC cells
      formed tumors that expressed PDPN in mice, and induced PDPN expression in
      infiltrating host murine cancer associated fibroblasts. Taken together, these
      data suggest that antibodies and lectins may be utilized to combat OSCC and other
      cancers that express PDPN. 

PMID- 25826090
TI  - Vasorin is a potential serum biomarker and drug target of hepatocarcinoma
      screened by subtractive-EMSA-SELEX to clinic patient serum.
AB  - We report a new biomarker of hepatocarcinoma, vasorin (VASN), screened by a
      subtractive EMSA-SELEX strategy from AFP negative serum of hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC) patients with extrahepatic metastases. VASN was verified to be
      highly expressed in sera of 100 cases of HCC patients compared with 97 cases of
      normal persons and 129 cases of hepatitis patients. Further validation by Q
      PCR,IFA and Western blot showed higher expression of VASN at mRNA and protein
      levels in HCC cell lines and HCC tissues than in normal controls. RNA
      interference and forced overexpression assays verified that VASN promotes cell
      proliferation and migration and inhibits apoptosis. Down-regulation of microRNA
      miR145 and miR146a is an important mechanism leading to high expression of VASN.
      CONCLUSION: As a membrane protein and/or as free protein, VASN may be an
      effective target for biological treatment of liver cancer and is a potential
      biomarker for HCC diagnosis. Small molecular nucleotides targeting VASN are
      promising biological therapies to HCC.

PMID- 25826089
TI  - PLK1 is a critical determinant of tumor cell sensitivity to CPT11 and its
      inhibition enhances the drug antitumor efficacy in squamous cell carcinoma models
      sensitive and resistant to camptothecins.
AB  - Intrinsic and acquired tumor drug resistance limits the therapeutic efficacy of
      camptothecins (CPTs). Downregulation of the mitotic kinase PLK1 was found
      associated with apoptosis induced by SN38 (CPT11 active metabolite). We
      investigated the role of PLK1 in the cell response to CPTs in squamous cell
      carcinoma (SCC) and pediatric sarcoma cell lines and explored the therapeutic
      potential of the combination of CPT11 and the PLK1 inhibitor BI2536 in CPT
      sensitive and -resistant tumor models. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments
      established a direct role for PLK1 in counteracting SN38 antiproliferative and
      pro-apoptotic effects. The ability to activate an efficient G2/M cell cycle
      checkpoint allowing PLK1 ubiquitination and degradation was found associated with
      SN38-induced apoptosis in SCC cells. However, the synergistic interaction between
      SN38 and BI2536 enhanced apoptosis in cell lines both sensitive and resistant to
      SN38-induced apoptotic cell death. A well-tolerated CPT11/BI2536 cotreatment
      resulted in improved antitumor effect against SCC xenografts in mice compared to
      single agent treatments. The increased apoptosis induction was reflected in a
      high rate of complete responses and cures in mice harboring SCC, including tumors
      with intrinsic or acquired resistance to CPTs. PLK1 inhibition represents a
      promising strategy to improve the antitumor efficacy of CPT11-based regimens. 

PMID- 25826091
TI  - Co-activation of PIK3CA and Yap promotes development of hepatocellular and
      cholangiocellular tumors in mouse and human liver.
AB  - Activation of the PI3K and Yes-associated protein (Yap) signaling pathways has
      been independently reported in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the
      oncogenic interactions between these two cascades in hepatocarcinogenesis remain
      undetermined. To assess the consequences of the crosstalk between the PI3K and
      Yap pathways along liver carcinogenesis, we generated a mouse model characterized
      by combined overexpression of activated mutant forms of PIK3CA (PIK3CAH1047R) and
      Yap (YapS127A) in the mouse liver using hydrodynamic transfection (PIK3CA/Yap).
      In addition, suppression of PI3K and Yap pathways was conducted in human HCC and
      cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) cell lines. We found that concomitant activation of PI3K
      and Yap pathways triggered rapid liver tumor development in mice. Histologically,
      tumors were pure HCC, CCA, or mixed HCC/CCA. At the molecular level, PIK3CA/Yap
      tumors were characterized by activation of the mTORC1/2, ERK/MAPK, and Notch
      pathways. Simultaneous activation of PI3K and Yap pathways frequently occurred in
      human liver tumor specimens and their combined suppression was highly detrimental
      for the growth of HCC and CCA cell lines. In conclusion, our study demonstrates
      the oncogenic cooperation between PI3K and Yap pathways along liver
      carcinogenesis. The PIK3CA/Yap mouse represents an important preclinical liver
      tumor model for the development of novel therapeutics against this malignancy. 

PMID- 25826092
TI  - Leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein promotes TGFbeta1-mediated growth suppression
      in the Lewis lung carcinoma cell lines.
AB  - Leucine-rich alpha2-glycoprotein (LRG) is an approximately 50-kDa glycoprotein
      that has been found to be elevated in the sera of patients with several types of
      cancer. LRG directly binds to transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFbeta1) and
      modulates TGFbeta1 signaling in endothelial cells; however, the precise function
      of LRG in cancer remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the role of LRG
      in cancer. Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells hardly expressed LRG. The growth of
      LLC tumors allografted in the LRG knockout (KO) mice was significantly increased
      compared with wild-type (WT) mice. Conversely, overexpression of LRG
      significantly inhibited the growth of LLC tumors in WT mice. In the presence of
      LRG, TGFbeta1 significantly inhibited the proliferation of LLC cells and human
      hepatocellular carcinoma Hep3B cells in vitro by inducing apoptosis via the
      potent activation of smad2 and its downstream signaling pathway. Furthermore,
      administration of a TGFbetaR1 inhibitor (SB431542) significantly enhanced the
      growth of LLC tumors in WT mice compared with LRG KO mice via inhibition of
      apoptosis. We propose that LRG potentiates the effect of TGFbeta1 in cancer cells
      whose growth is suppressed in the presence of TGFbeta1. 

PMID- 25826093
TI  - The attenuated hepatocellular carcinoma-specific Listeria vaccine Lmdd-MPFG
      prevents tumor occurrence through immune regulation of dendritic cells.
AB  - Immunotherapy is a promising treatment for liver cancer. Here, we tested the
      ability of the attenuated hepatocellular carcinoma-specific Listeria vaccine
      (Lmdd-MPFG) to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a mouse model.
      Immunization with the vaccine caused a strong anti-tumor response, especially in
      mice reinfused with dendritic cells (DCs). In mice that were also administered
      DCs, tumor suppression was accompanied by the strongest cytotoxic T lymphocyte
      response of all treatment groups and by induced differentiation of CD4+ T cells,
      especially Th17 cells. Additionally, the Lmdd-MPFG vaccine caused maturation of
      DCs in vitro. We demonstrated the synergistic effect of TLR4 and NLRP3 or NOD1
      signaling pathways in LM-induced DC activation. These results suggest that the
      Lmdd-MPFG vaccine is a feasible strategy for preventing HCC. 

PMID- 25826094
TI  - Constitutive asymmetric dimerization drives oncogenic activation of epidermal
      growth factor receptor carboxyl-terminal deletion mutants.
AB  - Genomic alterations targeting the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) gene
      have been strongly associated with cancer pathogenesis. The clinical
      effectiveness of EGFR targeted therapies, including small molecules directed
      against the kinase domain such as gefitinib, erlotinib and afatinib, have been
      proven successful in treating non-small cell lung cancer patients with tumors
      harboring EGFR kinase domain mutations. Recent large-scale genomic studies in
      glioblastoma and lung cancer have identified an additional class of oncogenic
      mutations caused by the intragenic deletion of carboxy-terminal coding regions.
      Here, we report that combinations of exonic deletions of exon 25 to 28 lead to
      the oncogenic activation of EGF receptor in the absence of ligand and consequent
      cellular transformation, indicating a significant role of C-terminal domain in
      modulating EGFR activation. Furthermore, we show that the oncogenic activity of
      the resulting C-terminal deletion mutants are efficiently inhibited by EGFR
      targeted drugs including erlotinib, afatinib, dacomitinib as well as cetuximab,
      expanding the therapeutic rationale of cancer genome-based EGFR targeted
      approaches. Finally, in vivo and in vitro preclinical studies demonstrate that
      constitutive asymmetric dimerization in mutant EGFR is a key mechanism for
      oncogenic activation and tumorigenesis by C-terminal deletion mutants. Therefore,
      our data provide compelling evidence for oncogenic activation of C-terminal
      deletion mutants at the molecular level and we propose that C-terminal deletion
      status of EGFR can be considered as a potential genomic marker for EGFR-targeted
      therapy. 

PMID- 25826095
TI  - A functional relay from progesterone to vitamin D in the immune system.
AB  - Progesterone is a steroid hormone that promotes and maintains pregnancy. Vitamin
      D (vit. D), another steroid hormone, regulates calcium levels and bone health
      among many of its functions. The two hormones play important roles also in
      regulating the immune system. Recently, we discovered that the vitamin D receptor
      (VDR) is induced in T cells by progesterone. This finding connects the function
      of progesterone to that of vit. D and suggests that the two steroid hormones
      cooperate with each other for sequential and effective regulation of the immune
      system. Potential implications of the regulation in health and disease are
      discussed. 

PMID- 25826096
TI  - Does Visuomotor Adaptation Proceed in Stages? An Examination of the Learning
      Model by Chein and Schneider (2012).
AB  - A new 3-stage model based on neuroimaging evidence is proposed by Chein and
      Schneider (2012). Each stage is associated with different brain regions, and
      draws on cognitive abilities: the first stage on creativity, the second on
      selective attention, and the third on automatic processing. The purpose of the
      present study was to scrutinize the validity of this model for 1 popular learning
      paradigm, visuomotor adaptation. Participants completed tests for creativity,
      selective attention and automated processing before attending in a pointing task
      with adaptation to a 60 degrees  rotation of visual feedback. To examine the
      relationship between cognitive abilities and motor learning at different times of
      practice, associations between cognitive and adaptation scores were calculated
      repeatedly throughout adaptation. The authors found no benefit of high creativity
      for adaptive performance. High levels of selective attention were positively
      associated with early adaptation, but hardly with late adaptation and de
      adaptation. High levels of automated execution were beneficial for late
      adaptation, but hardly for early and de-adaptation. From this we conclude that
      Chein and Schneider's first learning stage is difficult to confirm by research on
      visuomotor adaptation, and that the other 2 learning stages rather relate to
      workaround strategies than to actual adaptive recalibration. 

PMID- 25826097
TI  - Motivated to survive: high cooperativeness in severe anorexia nervosa.
AB  - This study assessed the personality of severely ill patients with anorexia
      nervosa, restricting (AN-R) and binge-purge subtypes (AN-BP), during
      hospitalization for medical stabilization. Participants (N = 37) completed the
      Temperament and Character Inventory, Revised. Personality domains were similar
      between AN-R and AN-BP with the exception of cooperativeness. AN-R patients
      scored higher on this dimension, suggesting that individuals with restricting
      anorexia may be more tolerant of treatment during early medical stabilization.
      Future research is needed to further elucidate this novel finding in order to
      identify the point at which body mass index predicts a decline in cooperativeness
      and the potential need for new intervention strategies. 

PMID- 25826098
TI  - Review of advances in the thin layer chromatography of pesticides: 2012-2014.
AB  - Publications reporting techniques and applications of thin layer chromatography
      (planar chromatography) for the separation, detection, qualitative, and
      quantitative determination, and preparative isolation of pesticides and their
      metabolites are reviewed for the period from November 1, 2012 to November 1,
      2014. Analyses are described for a variety of sample types and pesticide classes.
      In addition to references on residue analysis, studies such as pesticide
      structure - retention relationships, identification and characterization of
      natural and synthesized pesticides, metabolism, bioactivity, degradation, soil
      mobility, and lipophilicity are covered. 

PMID- 25826099
TI  - Presence of PAHs in milk of industrial farms from Tizayuca, Hidalgo, Mexico.
AB  - The objective of this study was to determine the concentrations of polycyclic
      aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in cow's milk from industrial farms that are located
      near an industrial park in Hidalgo, Mexico. It was found that the concentrations
      of PAHs in the raw milk of cattle from industrial farms have increased in recent
      years. Composite samples were collected between 2008 and 2010 and analysis
      carried out according to 8100 EPA procedures and analyzed by gas chromatography
      with FID detection. The results show that combustion PAHs were mostly Ace, Acy,
      and Fla (0.25, 0.32, and 0.22 ug g(-1), respectively). Diagnostic ratios were
      used to show that the probable sources were grass and fuel combustion. The sum of
      concentrations of 16 individual PAHs did not breach permissible levels in milk
      (25 ug g(-1) according to the United States EPA), indicating a limited health
      risk to animals and humans in the study area. The industrial park has adequate
      pollutant emission regulations.

PMID- 25826100
TI  - Concentrations and distributions of 18 organochlorine pesticides listed in the
      Stockholm Convention in surface sediments from the Liaohe River basin, China.
AB  - Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were analyzed in 26 surface sediment samples
      from the Liaohe River basin, and the distributions of and potential environmental
      risks posed by OCPs in the basin were evaluated. Eighteen OCPs listed in the
      Stockholm Convention were determined using isotope-dilution gas chromatography
      high resolution mass spectrometry. This is the first study of hexachlorobenzene
      (HCB) in the Liaohe River basin sediments. The total OCP concentrations were 0.39
      68.06 ng g(-1) dry weight. The total alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta
      hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), the total dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT -
      p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (DDD), p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene
      (DDE), o,p(')-DDT, and p,p'-DDT), and the HCB concentrations in the sediment
      samples were 0.1-28.48 ng g(-1) (mean 4.01 ng g(-1)), 0.08-6.52 ng g(-1) (mean
      3.07 ng g(-1)), and 0.18-24.8 ng g(-1) (mean 4.38 ng g(-1)), respectively. The
      HCB concentrations were higher than the concentrations of the other OCPs, and the
      HCHs and HCB together were the dominant OCPs. beta-HCH was the most abundant HCH
      isomer. The concentrations of DDTs and other OCPs were relatively low, and the
      (DDE+DDD)/DDT ratios (>0.5) and DDD/DDE ratios (<1) indicated that no recent DDT
      inputs had occurred in the Liaohe River system. The main sources of HCHs were
      probably the historical production and agricultural use of HCH in the study area.
      The DDT and HCH concentrations were generally below or similar to the
      concentrations that have been found in other parts of the world. An
      ecotoxicological evaluation indicated that HCHs in surface sediments pose slight
      risks to human and ecological health in the Liaohe River basin.

PMID- 25826101
TI  - Photocatalytic degradation of acephate in pak choi, Brassica chinensis, with Ce
      doped TiO2.
AB  - The photocatalytic degradation of acephate was investigated using Ce-doped TiO2
      (TiO2/Ce) hydrosol. In contrast to previous research conducted under artificial
      light in the laboratory, this study investigated the decomposition of acephate in
      a field trial. The results show that acephate can be efficiently degraded by the
      TiO2/Ce system under natural field conditions; the degradation efficiency was
      affected by the dosage of the photocatalyst and acephate. The optimum dosage of
      TiO2/Ce was 2400 g a.i.ha(-1), and the photodegradation efficiency of acephate
      reached 93.5% after 20 h at an acephate dosage of 675 g a.i.ha(-1). Ultra
      performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS) analysis detected
      and identified four degradation products-methamidophos, phosphorothioic acid
      O,O,S-trimethyl ester, S-methyl methanethiosulfonate and phosphorous acid-that
      were formed during the TiO2/Ce photodegradation of acephate. Based on the
      structural identification of the degradation products, a probable
      photodegradation pathway was proposed, and the first decomposition step may be
      the cleavage of the C-N bond of acephate. Subsequently, the P-S and P-O bonds may
      be oxidized gradually or simultaneously to complete the mineralization.

PMID- 25826102
TI  - Eruca sativa: Benefits as antioxidants source versus risks of already banned
      pesticides.
AB  - Eruca sativa (rocket salad) has been intensely consumed all over the world,
      insomuch as, this work was undertaken to evaluate the antioxidant status and the
      environmental contamination (positive and negative nutritional contribution) of
      leaves and stems from this vegetable. Antioxidant capacity of rocket salad was
      assessed by mean of optical methods, such as the total phenolic content (TPC),
      reducing power assay and DPPH radical scavenging activity. The extent of the
      environmental contamination was reached through the quantification of thirteen
      organochlorine pesticides (OCP) by using gas chromatography coupled with electron
      capture detector (GC-ECD) and compound confirmations employing gas chromatography
      tandem mass-spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The OCP residues were extracted by using
      Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) methodology.The extent
      of the environmental contamination was reached through the quantification of
      thirteen OCP by using gas chromatography coupled with electron-capture detector
      (GC-ECD) and compound confirmations employing GC-MS/MS. The OCP residues were
      extracted by using Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS)
      methodology. This demonstrated that leaves presented more antioxidant activity
      than stems, emphasizing that leaves contained six times more polyphenolic
      compounds than stems. In what concerns the OCP occurrence, the average recoveries
      obtained at the three levels tested (40, 60 and 80 ug kg(-1)) ranged from 55% to
      149% with a relative standard deviation of 11%, (except hexachrorobenzene). Three
      vegetables samples were collected from supermarkets and analysed following this
      study. According to data, only one sample achieved 16.21 of beta
      hexachlorocyclohexane, confirmed by GC-MS/MS. About OCP quantification, the data
      indicated that only one sample achieved 16.21 ug kg(-1) of beta
      hexachlorocyclohexane, confirmed by GC-MS/MS, being the QuEChERS a good choice
      for the of OCPs extraction. Furthermore, the leaves consumption guaranty higher
      levels of antioxidants than stems.

PMID- 25826103
TI  - Repeated batch and continuous degradation of chlorpyrifos by Pseudomonas putida.
AB  - The present study was undertaken with the objective of studying repeated batch
      and continuous degradation of chlorpyrifos (O,O-diethyl O-3,5,6-trichloropyridin
      2-yl phosphorothioate) using Ca-alginate immobilized cells of Pseudomonas putida
      isolated from an agricultural soil, and to study the genes and enzymes involved
      in degradation. The study was carried out to reduce the toxicity of chlorpyrifos
      by degrading it to less toxic metabolites. Long-term stability of pesticide
      degradation was studied during repeated batch degradation of chlorpyrifos, which
      was carried out over a period of 50 days. Immobilized cells were able to show 65%
      degradation of chlorpyrifos at the end of the 50th cycle with a cell leakage of
      112 * 10(3) cfu mL(-1). During continuous treatment, 100% degradation was
      observed at 100 mL h(-1) flow rate with 2% chlorpyrifos, and with 10%
      concentration of chlorpyrifos 98% and 80% degradation was recorded at 20 mL h(-1)
      and 100 mL h(-1) flow rate respectively. The products of degradation detected by
      liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis were 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol
      and chlorpyrifos oxon. Plasmid curing experiments with ethidium bromide indicated
      that genes responsible for the degradation of chlorpyrifos are present on the
      chromosome and not on the plasmid. The results of Polymerase chain reaction
      indicate that a ~890-bp product expected for mpd gene was present in Ps. putida.
      Enzymatic degradation studies indicated that the enzymes involved in the
      degradation of chlorpyrifos are membrane-bound. The study indicates that
      immobilized cells of Ps. putida have the potential to be used in bioremediation
      of water contaminated with chlorpyrifos.

PMID- 25826104
TI  - The prevalence of selected genes involved in the biosynthesis of trichothecenes
      assessed with the specific PCR tests in Fusarium spp. isolated from cereals in
      southern Poland.
AB  - The analysis was conducted using 50 isolates of fungi of the genus Fusarium
      belonging to the species classified as major trichothecene mycotoxin producers:
      F. graminearum, F. culmorum, F. sporotrichioides, and F. poae. The tested fungi
      were isolated from ears of cereal crops in southern Poland during the two growing
      seasons (2011 and 2012). The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of
      genes involved in the biosynthesis of trichothecene mycotoxins using the specific
      PCR tests. Molecular analyses indicated that the genes responsible for the
      production of trichothecenes (Tri3, Tri5, Tri7, Tri13) were abundant in the
      examined genetic material. The tested fungal isolates were characterized by a
      large diversity in terms of the number and composition of the possessed Tri
      genes. On the other hand, 14 of 50 isolates were found not to carry any of Tri
      genes.

PMID- 25826105
TI  - Glucosinolates in collard greens grown under three soil management practices.
AB  - Glucosinolates (GSLs, beta-D-thioglucoside-N-hydroxysulfates) are polar compounds
      present in varying amounts in members of the Brassicaceae family. They suppress
      soil-borne pests due to the biofumigant properties of the highly toxic
      isothiocyanates present in Brassica vegetables. The objectives of this
      investigation were to: (1) assess variation in GSLs concentrations among collard
      plants grown under three soil management practices: sewage sludge (SS) mixed with
      native soil, chicken manure (CM) mixed with native soil, and no-mulch (NM) native
      soil, (2) quantify GSLs concentrations in collard roots, leaves, and stems at
      harvest for potential use of their crude extracts in plant protection, and (3)
      assess myrosinase activity in soil amended with CM and SS mixed with native soil.
      Separation of GSLs was accomplished by adsorption on a DEAE-Sephadex ion exchange
      resin using disposable pipette tips filled with DEAE, a weak base, with a net
      positive charge when ionized and exchange anions such as GSLs (hydrophilic plant
      secondary metabolites). Quantification of total GSLs was based on inactivation of
      collard endogenous myrosinase and liberation of the glucose moiety from the GSLs
      molecule by addition of standardized myrosinase and colorimetric determination of
      the liberated glucose moiety. Across all treatments, SS and CM increased soil
      organic matter content from 2.2% in native soil to 4.2 and 6.5%, respectively.
      GSLs concentrations were significantly greater in collard leaves (30.9 umoles g(
      1) fresh weight) compared to roots and stems (7.8 and 1.2 umoles g(-1) fresh
      weight), respectively. Leaves of collard grown in soil amended with SS contained
      the greatest concentrations of GSLs compared to leaves of plants grown in CM and
      NM treatments. Accordingly, leaves of collard plants grown in soil amended with
      SS could play a significant role in sustainable agriculture as alternative tools
      for soil-borne disease management in conventional and organic agriculture.

PMID- 25826106
TI  - Macro and trace elements in Common Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) mushroom
      from the European background areas in Poland: Composition, accumulation, dietary
      exposure and data review for species.
AB  - This paper gives an up-to-date information on accumulation, occurrence, intake
      and possible health risks associated with noxious metallic elements (Ag, Cd, Hg,
      Pb) among mineral constituents (Ag, Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Mg,
      Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Rb, Sr and Zn) contained in Common Chanterelle (Cantharellus
      cibarius) mushrooms, a species subjected to a broad use within the domestic
      market of Poland and widely exported abroad, and presents a short review of data
      from the available literature. The tasty values of C. cibarius seem to be more
      rated than the essential minerals contained in its flesh and nominally taken with
      1,000 g of fresh fruiting bodies eaten per capita annually, while the contents of
      toxic or potentially toxic metals, such as Cd, Pb, Hg and Ag, are much below the
      tolerance limits.

PMID- 25826107
TI  - Poor Socioeconomic and Nutritional Status Are Associated with Osteoporosis in
      Korean Postmenopausal Women: Data from the Fourth Korea National Health and
      Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2009.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: As the population ages, osteoporosis is a growing global public health
      problem. This study examined potential risk factors associated with osteoporosis
      in a nationally representative sample of Korean postmenopausal women. METHODS:
      This study used data from a nationally representative sample of Korean menopausal
      women participating in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
      KNHANES 2009 (n = 1467; mean age +/- SE = 65.2 +/- 0.3 years). Bone mineral
      density of total femur, femoral neck, and spine was measured by dual-energy X-ray
      absorptiometry. Osteoporosis was determined as t-score of -2.5 or below in at
      least 1 of the 3 sites. Menopausal status was confirmed by self-reports. RESULTS:
      About 41% of the study sample met the criteria for osteoporosis. Poor
      socioeconomic status, lower BMI, and shorter estrogen exposure duration were
      significantly associated with osteoporosis in the study sample. Poor dietary
      intake was also related to osteoporosis. In the age- and energy-adjusted logistic
      regression models, participants consuming less protein, vitamin B2, or vitamin C
      than the estimated average requirement (EAR) showed higher odds of having
      osteoporosis than their counterparts. Participants consuming no milk or milk
      products had 45% increased odds of having osteoporosis than those consuming milk
      or milk products. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest several risk
      factors associated with osteoporosis, which can be addressed in the development
      and implementation of tailored nutritional interventions to promote the bone
      health of Korean postmenopausal women.

PMID- 25826108
TI  - The effects of two novel gratitude and mindfulness interventions on well-being.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the efficacy of two dual-component interventions, one based
      on mindfulness and one based on gratitude, to reduce depression and stress and
      increase happiness levels. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled study with data
      collected at baseline, 3 weeks, and 5 weeks. SETTINGS: Participants completed an
      online gratitude or mindfulness intervention at home. Self-report questionnaires
      were completed at home or at work. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-five women aged 18-46
      years (mean age+/-standard deviation, 28.35+/-6.65 years). INTERVENTIONS:
      Participants were randomly assigned to a wait-list control condition or to either
      a gratitude or a mindfulness intervention condition. The interventions were used
      four times a week for 3 weeks. The gratitude intervention involved a gratitude
      diary and grateful reflection. The mindfulness intervention involved a
      mindfulness diary and mindfulness meditation, the Body Scan. OUTCOME MEASURES:
      The outcome variables were depression, stress, and happiness measured by using
      the Edinburgh Depression Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Subjective
      Happiness Scale, respectively. RESULTS: All outcome variables improved over time
      in both interventions group but not in the wait-list control group. Efficacy of
      the interventions differed between the interventions. CONCLUSIONS: These short
      novel interventions seem to provide a useful way to enhance well-being. Further
      research in the area is warranted.

PMID- 25826109
TI  - Synthesis and evaluation of fluorinated fingolimod (FTY720) analogues for
      sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor molecular imaging by positron emission
      tomography.
AB  - Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a lysophospholipid that evokes a variety of
      biological responses via stimulation of a set of cognate G-protein coupled
      receptors (GPCRs): S1P1-S1P5. S1P and its receptors (S1PRs) play important roles
      in the immune, cardiovascular, and central nervous systems and have also been
      implicated in carcinogenesis. Recently, the S1P analogue Fingolimod (FTY720) has
      been approved for the treatment of patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis.
      This work presents the synthesis of various fluorinated structural analogues of
      FTY720, their in vitro and in vivo biological testing, and their development and
      application as [(18)F]radiotracers for the study of S1PR biodistribution and
      imaging in mice using small-animal positron emission tomography (PET). 

PMID- 25826110
TI  - Electrical stimulation alleviates depressive-like behaviors of rats:
      investigation of brain targets and potential mechanisms.
AB  - Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a promising therapy for patients with refractory
      depression. However, key questions remain with regard to which brain target(s)
      should be used for stimulation, and which mechanisms underlie the therapeutic
      effects. Here, we investigated the effect of DBS, with low- and high-frequency
      stimulation (LFS, HFS), in different brain regions (ventromedial prefrontal
      cortex, vmPFC; cingulate cortex, Cg; nucleus accumbens (NAc) core or shell;
      lateral habenula, LHb; and ventral tegmental area) on a variety of depressive
      like behaviors using rat models. In the naive animal study, we found that HFS of
      the Cg, vmPFC, NAc core and LHb reduced anxiety levels and increased motivation
      for food. In the chronic unpredictable stress model, there was a robust
      depressive-like behavioral phenotype. Moreover, vmPFC HFS, in a comparison of all
      stimulated targets, produced the most profound antidepressant effects with
      enhanced hedonia, reduced anxiety and decreased forced-swim immobility. In the
      following set of electrophysiological and histochemical experiments designed to
      unravel some of the underlying mechanisms, we found that vmPFC HFS evoked a
      specific modulation of the serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus
      (DRN), which have long been linked to mood. Finally, using a neuronal mapping
      approach by means of c-Fos expression, we found that vmPFC HFS modulated a brain
      circuit linked to the DRN and known to be involved in affect. In conclusion, HFS
      of the vmPFC produced the most potent antidepressant effects in naive rats and
      rats subjected to stress by mechanisms also including the DRN.

PMID- 25826111
TI  - Risk factors for late-onset generalized anxiety disorder: results from a 12-year
      prospective cohort (the ESPRIT study).
AB  - Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic and highly prevalent disorder
      associated with increased disability and mortality in the elderly. Treatment is
      difficult with low rate of full remission, thus highlighting the need to identify
      early predictors for prevention in elderly people. The aim of this study is to
      identify and characterize incident GAD predictors in elderly people. A total of
      1711 individuals aged 65 years and above and free of GAD at baseline were
      randomly recruited from electoral rolls between 1999 and 2001 (the prospective
      ESPRIT study). The participants were examined at baseline and five times over 12
      years. GAD and psychiatric comorbidity were diagnosed with a standardized
      psychiatric examination, the Mini-International Neuropsychiatry Interview on the
      basis of DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth
      edition) criteria and validated by a clinical panel. During the follow-up, 8.4%
      (95% confidence interval=7.1-9.7%) of the participants experienced incident GAD,
      80% being first episodes; the incident rate being 10 per 1000 person-years. The
      principal predictors of late-onset incident GAD over 12 years derived from a
      multivariate Cox model were being female, recent adverse life events, having
      chronic physical (respiratory disorders, arrhythmia and heart failure,
      dyslipidemia, cognitive impairment) and mental (depression, phobia and past GAD)
      health disorders. Poverty, parental loss or separation and low affective support
      during childhood, as well as history of mental problems in parents were also
      significantly and independently associated with incident GAD. GAD appears as a
      multifactorial stress-related affective disorder resulting from both proximal and
      distal risk factors, some of them being potentially modifiable by health care
      intervention. 

PMID- 25826112
TI  - Stress inoculation modeled in mice.
AB  - Stress inoculation entails intermittent exposure to mildly stressful situations
      that present opportunities to learn, practice and improve coping in the context
      of exposure psychotherapies and resiliency training. Here we investigate
      behavioral and hormonal aspects of stress inoculation modeled in mice. Mice
      randomized to stress inoculation or a control treatment condition were assessed
      for corticosterone stress hormone responses and behavior during open-field,
      object-exploration and tail-suspension tests. Stress inoculation training
      sessions that acutely increased plasma levels of corticosterone diminished
      subsequent immobility as a measure of behavioral despair on tail-suspension
      tests. Stress inoculation also decreased subsequent freezing in the open field
      despite comparable levels of thigmotaxis in mice from both treatment conditions.
      Stress inoculation subsequently decreased novel-object exploration latencies and
      reduced corticosterone responses to repeated restraint. These results demonstrate
      that stress inoculation acutely stimulates glucocorticoid signaling and then
      enhances subsequent indications of active coping behavior in mice. Unlike mouse
      models that screen for the absence of vulnerability to stress or presence of
      traits that occur in resilient individuals, stress inoculation training reflects
      an experience-dependent learning-like process that resembles interventions
      designed to build resilience in humans. Mouse models of stress inoculation may
      provide novel insights for new preventive strategies or therapeutic treatments of
      human psychiatric disorders that are triggered and exacerbated by stressful life
      events.

PMID- 25826113
TI  - RNA expression profiling in depressed patients suggests retinoid-related orphan
      receptor alpha as a biomarker for antidepressant response.
AB  - Response to antidepressant treatment is highly variable with some patients
      responding within a few weeks, whereas others have to wait for months until the
      onset of clinical effects. Gene expression profiling may be a tool to identify
      markers of antidepressant treatment response and new potential drug targets. In a
      first step, we selected 12 male, age- and severity-matched pairs of remitters and
      nonresponders, and analyzed expression profiles in peripheral blood at admission
      and after 2 and 5 weeks of treatment using Illumina expression arrays. We
      identified 127 transcripts significantly associated with treatment response with
      a minimal P-value of 9.41 * 10(-)(4) (false discovery rate-corrected). Analysis
      of selected transcripts in an independent replication sample of 142 depressed
      inpatients confirmed that lower expression of retinoid-related orphan receptor
      alpha (RORa, P=6.23 * 10(-4)), germinal center expressed transcript 2 (GCET2,
      P=2.08 * 10(-2)) and chitinase 3-like protein 2 (CHI3L2, P=4.45 * 10(-2)) on
      admission were associated with beneficial treatment response. In addition,
      leukocyte-specific protein 1 (LSP1) significantly decreased after 5 weeks of
      treatment in responders (P=2.91 * 10(-2)). Additional genetic, in vivo stress
      responsitivity data and murine gene expression findings corroborate our finding
      of RORa as a transcriptional marker of antidepressant response. In summary, using
      a genome-wide transcriptomics approach and subsequent validation studies, we
      identified several transcripts including the circadian gene transcript RORa that
      may serve as biomarkers indicating antidepressant treatment response.

PMID- 25826114
TI  - The role of APOE-E4 and beta amyloid in the differential rate of recovery from
      ECT: a review.
AB  - Individual biological differences may contribute to the variability of outcomes,
      including cognitive effects, observed following electroconvulsive treatment
      (ECT). A narrative review of the research literature on carriage of the
      apolipoprotein E E4 allele (APOE-E4) and the protein biomarker beta amyloid
      (Abeta) with ECT cognitive outcome was undertaken. ECT induces repeated brain
      seizures and there is debate as to whether this causes brain injury and long-term
      cognitive disruption. The majority of ECT is administered to the elderly (over
      age 65 years) with drug-resistant depression. Depression in the elderly may be a
      symptom of the prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Carriage of the APOE
      E4 allele and raised cerebral Abeta are consistently implicated in AD, but
      inconsistently implicated in brain injury (and related syndromes) recovery rates.
      A paucity of brain-related recovery, genetic and biomarker research in ECT
      responses in the elderly was found: three studies have examined the effect of
      APOE-E4 allele carriage on cognition in the depressed elderly receiving ECT, and
      two have examined Abeta changes after ECT, with contradictory findings. Cognitive
      changes in all studies of ECT effects were measured by a variety of psychological
      tests, making comparisons of such changes between studies problematic. Further,
      psychological test data-validity measures were not routinely administered,
      counter to current testing recommendations. The methodological issues of the
      currently available literature as well as the need for well-designed, hypothesis
      driven, longitudinal studies are discussed. 

PMID- 25826115
TI  - Behavioural and molecular endophenotypes in psychotic disorders reveal heritable
      abnormalities in glutamatergic neurotransmission.
AB  - Psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia are biologically complex and carry huge
      population morbidity due to their prevalence, persistence and associated
      disability. Defined by features such as delusions and hallucinations, they
      involve cognitive dysfunction and neurotransmitter dysregulations that appear
      mostly to involve the dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems. A number of genetic
      and environmental factors are associated with these disorders but it has been
      difficult to identify the biological pathways underlying the principal symptoms.
      The endophenotype concept of stable, heritable traits that form a mechanistic
      link between genes and an overt expression of the disorder has potential to
      reduce the complexity of psychiatric phenotypes. In this study, we used a
      genetically sensitive design with individuals with a first episode of psychosis,
      their non-affected first-degree relatives and non-related healthy controls.
      Metabolomic analysis was combined with neurocognitive assessment to identify
      multilevel endophenotypic patterns: one concerned reaction times during the
      performance of cognitive and emotional tests that have previously been associated
      with the glutamate neurotransmission system, the other involved metabolites
      involved directly and indirectly in the co-activation of the N-methyl-D-aspartate
      receptor, a major receptor of the glutamate system. These cognitive and metabolic
      endophenotypes may comprise a single construct, such that genetically mediated
      dysfunction in the glutamate system may be responsible for delays in response to
      cognitive and emotional functions in psychotic disorders. This focus on
      glutamatergic neurotransmission should guide drug discovery and experimental
      medicine programmes in schizophrenia and related disorders.

PMID- 25826116
TI  - Acute hypoglycemia results in reduced cortical neuronal injury in the developing
      IUGR rat.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hypoglycemia (HG) is common in intrauterine growth restricted (IUGR)
      neonates. In normally grown (NG) neonatal rats, acute HG causes neuronal injury
      in the brain; the cerebral cortex is more vulnerable than the hippocampus (HPC).
      We hypothesized that the IUGR brain is less vulnerable to HG-induced injury while
      preserving regional variation in vulnerability. METHODS: We induced IUGR via
      bilateral uterine artery ligation on gestational day 19 (term 22 d) rats. On
      postnatal day 14, insulin-induced HG of equivalent severity and duration (blood
      glucose < 40 mg/dl for 240 min) was produced in IUGR and NG (IUGR/HG and NG/HG).
      Neuronal injury in the cortex and HPC was quantified 6-72 h later using Fluoro
      Jade B (FJB) histochemistry. The mRNA expression of monocarboxylate transporters,
      MCT1 and MCT2, and glucose transporters, GLUT1 and GLUT3, was determined using
      quantitative PCR. RESULTS: There were fewer FJB-positive (FJB+) cells in the
      cortex of IUGR/HG; no difference was observed in FJB+ cells in HPC. Core body
      temperature was lower in IUGR/HG compared with NG/HG. MCT2 expression was
      increased in the IUGR cortex. CONCLUSION: HG-induced neuronal injury is decreased
      in the cortex of the developing IUGR brain. Adaptations including systemic
      hypothermia and enhanced delivery of alternative substrates via MCT2 might
      protect against HG-induced neuronal injury in IUGR.

PMID- 25826117
TI  - IUGR prevents IGF-1 upregulation in juvenile male mice by perturbing postnatal
      IGF-1 chromatin remodeling.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) offspring with rapid catch-up
      growth are at increased risk for early obesity especially in males. Persistent
      insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) reduction is an important risk factor. Using
      a mouse model of maternal hypertension-induced IUGR, we examined IGF-1 levels,
      promoter DNA methylation, and histone H3 covalent modifications at birth (D1). We
      additionally investigated whether prenatal perturbations could reset at
      preadolescence (D21). METHODS: IUGR was induced via maternal thromboxane A2
      analog infusion in mice. RESULTS: IUGR uniformly decreased D1 IGF-1 mRNA and
      protein levels with reduced promoter 1 (P1) transcription and increased P1 DNA
      methylation. IUGR males also had increased H3K4ac at exon 5 and 3' distal UTR. At
      D21, IUGR males continued to have decreased IGF-1 levels, originating from both
      P1 and P2 with reduced 1A variant. IUGR males also had decreased activation mark
      of H3K4me3 at P1 compared with sham males. In contrast, D21 IUGR females
      normalized their IGF-1 levels, in association with an increased activation mark
      of H3K4me3 at P1 compared with sham females. CONCLUSION: IUGR uniformly affected
      D1 hepatic IGF-1 epigenetic modifications in both sexes. However, at
      preadolescence, IUGR males are unable to correct for the prenatal reduction
      possibly due to a more perturbed IGF-1 chromatin structure.

PMID- 25826118
TI  - Ontogeny of cerebrovascular critical closing pressure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Premature infants are at risk of vascular neurologic insults.
      Hypotension and hypertension are considered injurious, but neither condition is
      defined with consensus. Cerebrovascular critical closing pressure (CrCP) is the
      arterial blood pressure (ABP) at which cerebral blood flow (CBF) ceases. CrCP may
      serve to define subject-specific low or high ABP. Our objective was to determine
      the ontogeny of CrCP. METHODS: Premature infants (n = 179) with gestational age
      (GA) from 23-31 wk had recordings of ABP and middle cerebral artery flow velocity
      twice daily for 3 d and then daily for the duration of the first week of life.
      All infants received mechanical ventilation. CrCP was calculated using an
      impedance-model derivation with Doppler-based estimations of cerebrovascular
      resistance and compliance. The association between GA and CrCP was determined in
      a multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The median (interquartile range) CrCP for the
      cohort was 22 mm Hg (19-25 mm Hg). CrCP increased significantly with GA (r = 0.6;
      slope = 1.4 mm Hg/wk gestation), an association that persisted with multivariate
      analysis (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: CrCP increased significantly from 23 to 31 wk
      gestation. The low CrCP observed in very premature infants may explain their
      ability to tolerate low ABP without global cerebral infarct or hemorrhage.

PMID- 25826121
TI  - Modulation of the Electrostatic and Quantum Capacitances of Few Layered Graphenes
      through Plasma Processing.
AB  - It is shown that charged defect generation, through argon ion-based plasma
      processing, in few layer graphene, could substantially enhance the electrical
      capacitance for electrochemical energy storage. Detailed consideration of the
      constituent space charge and quantum capacitances were used to delineate a new
      length scale, correlated to electrically active defects contributing to the
      capacitance, and was found to be smaller than a structural correlation length
      determined through Raman spectroscopy. The study offers insights into an
      industrially viable method (i.e., plasma processing) for modifying and enhancing
      the energy density of graphene-based electrochemical capacitors. 

PMID- 25826119
TI  - Neutrophil and monocyte toll-like receptor 4, CD11b and reactive oxygen
      intermediates, and neuroimaging outcomes in preterm infants.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Activated leukocytes and infection are implicated in neonatal brain
      injury. Leukocyte surface receptors are increased in stroke models and may be
      targets for future adjunctive therapies. METHODS: Serial blood samples were
      analyzed from preterm infants (n = 51; <32 wk gestation) on days 0, 1, 2, and 7
      of life. Monocyte and neutrophil activation were evaluated via flow cytometry at
      baseline and following endotoxin stimulation ex vivo by measuring CD11b
      (activation), toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4; endotoxin recognition) expression, and
      intracellular reactive oxygen intermediate (ROI) production (function). RESULTS:
      Control preterm infants with normal neuroimaging had elevated baseline CD11b and
      TLR-4 expression and ROI production compared with adults as well as a robust
      immune response following endotoxin stimulation. Preterm infants with abnormal
      neuroimaging had increased neutrophil TLR-4 and ROI compared with all controls.
      CONCLUSION: Preterm infants have a robust immune response compared with adults.
      Increased TLR-4 expression in preterm infants with abnormal neuroimaging is
      similar to findings in adult stroke. In addition, ROI production may cause tissue
      injury. The modulation of these responses may be beneficial in preterm
      inflammatory disorders.

PMID- 25826120
TI  - Real-time detection, classification, and quantification of apneic episodes using
      miniature surface motion sensors in rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Real-time detection and classification of apneic episodes remain
      significant challenges. This study explores the applicability of a novel method
      of monitoring the respiratory effort and dynamics for rapid detection and
      classification of apneic episodes. METHODS: Obstructive apnea (OA) and
      hypopnea/central apnea (CA) were induced in nine tracheostomized rats, by short
      lived airway obstruction and administration of succinylcholine, respectively.
      Esophageal pressure (EP), EtCO2, arterial O2 saturation (SpO2), heart rate, and
      blood pressure were monitored. Respiratory dynamics were monitored utilizing
      three miniature motion sensors placed on the chest and epigastrium. Three indices
      were derived from these sensors: amplitude of the tidal chest wall displacement
      (TDi), breath time length (BTL), that included inspiration and rapid expiration
      phases, and amplitude time integral (ATI), the integral of breath amplitude over
      time. RESULTS: OA induced a progressive 6.42 +/- 3.48-fold increase in EP from
      baseline, which paralleled a 3.04 +/- 1.19-fold increase in TDi (P < 0.0012), a
      1.39 +/- 0.22-fold increase in BTL (P < 0.0002), and a 3.32 +/- 1.40-fold rise in
      the ATI (P < 0.024). During central hypopneic/apneic episodes, each sensor
      revealed a gradual decrease in TDi, which culminated in absence of breathing
      attempts. CONCLUSION: Noninvasive monitoring of chest wall dynamics enables
      detection and classification of central and obstructive apneic episodes, which
      tightly correlates with the EP.

PMID- 25826124
TI  - Heavily n-Dopable pi-Conjugated Redox Polymers with Ultrafast Energy Storage
      Capability.
AB  - We report here the first successful demonstration of a "pi-conjugated redox
      polymer" simultaneously featuring a pi-conjugated backbone and integrated redox
      sites, which can be stably and reversibly n-doped to a high doping level of 2.0
      with significantly enhanced electronic conductivity. The properties of such a
      heavily n-dopable polymer, poly{[N,N'-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-1,4,5,8
      naphthalenedicarboximide-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5'-(2,2'-bithiophene)} (P(NDI2OD-T2)),
      were compared vis-a-vis to those of the corresponding backbone-insulated
      poly{[N,N'-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenedicarboximide-2,6-diyl]-alt
      5,5'-[2,2'-(1,2-ethanediyl)bithiophene]} (P(NDI2OD-TET)). When evaluated as a
      charge storage material for rechargeable Li batteries, P(NDI2OD-T2) delivers 95%
      of its theoretical capacity at a high rate of 100C (72 s per charge-discharge
      cycle) under practical measurement conditions as well as 96% capacity retention
      after 3000 cycles of deep discharge-charge. Electrochemical, impedance, and
      charge-transport measurements unambiguously demonstrate that the ultrafast
      electrode kinetics of P(NDI2OD-T2) are attributed to the high electronic
      conductivity of the polymer in the heavily n-doped state. 

PMID- 25826122
TI  - Short Communication: Increase of HIV-1 K103N Transmitted Drug Resistance and Its
      Association with Efavirenz Use in South Korea.
AB  - Previous studies reported a relatively low prevalence of transmitted drug
      resistance (TDR) in South Korea (<5%). A genotypic resistance test was performed
      on 131 treatment-naive HIV-1-infected individuals from February 2013 to February
      2014. Eleven individuals (8.4%) presented TDR, of whom eight had K103N, revealing
      a significant increase in K103N TDR compared to previous studies (p<0.001). Using
      phylogenetic analysis, we identified three distinct clustering pairs with genetic
      relativeness and a total of five independent strains among the eight K103N cases.
      Our findings suggest that multiple sources of K103N occurred, most likely as a
      consequence of increased efavirenz use in South Korea. 

PMID- 25826123
TI  - From Nanofibrillar to Nanolaminar Poly(butylene succinate): Paving the Way to
      Robust Barrier and Mechanical Properties for Full-Biodegradable Poly(lactic acid)
      Films.
AB  - The traditional approach toward barrier property enhancement of poly(lactic acid)
      (PLA) is the incorporation of sheet-like fillers such as nanoclay and graphene,
      unfortunately leading to the sacrificed biocompatibility and degradability. Here
      we unveil the first application of a confined flaking technique to establish the
      degradable nanolaminar poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) in PLA films based on
      PLA/PBS in situ nanofibrillar composites. The combination of high pressure (10
      MPa) and appropriate temperature (160  degrees C) during the flaking process
      desirably enabled sufficient deformation of PBS nanofibrils and retention of
      ordered PLA channels. Particularly, interlinked and individual nanosheets were
      created in composite films containing 10 and 20 wt % PBS, respectively, both of
      which presented desirable alignment and large width/thickness ratio (nanoscale
      thickness with a width of 428+/-13.1 and 76.9+/-8.2 MUm, respectively). With the
      creation of compact polymer "nano-barrier walls", a dramatic decrease of 86% and
      67% in the oxygen permeability coefficient was observed for the film incorporated
      with well-organized 20 wt % PBS nanosheets compared to pure PLA and pure PBS (1.4
      and 0.6*10(-14) cm3.cm.cm(-2).s(-1).Pa(-1)), respectively. Unexpectedly,
      prominent increases of 21% and 28% were achieved in the tensile strength and
      modulus of composite films loaded 20 wt % PBS nanosheets compared to pure PLA
      films, although PBS intrinsically presents poor strength and stiffness. The
      unusual combination of barrier and mechanical performances established in the
      fully degradable system represent specific properties required in packaging
      beverages, food and medicine.

PMID- 25826125
TI  - Effects of normoxic and hypoxic exercise regimens on monocyte-mediated thrombin
      generation in sedentary men.
AB  - Exercise and hypoxia paradoxically modulate vascular thrombotic risks. The
      shedding of procoagulant-rich microparticles from monocytes may accelerate the
      pathogenesis of atherothrombosis. The present study explores the manner in which
      normoxic and hypoxic exercise regimens affect procoagulant monocyte-derived
      microparticle (MDMP) formation and monocyte-promoted thrombin generation (TG).
      Forty sedentary healthy males were randomized to perform either normoxic (NET;
      21% O2, n=20) or hypoxic (HET; 15% O2, n=20) exercise training (60% VO(2max)) for
      30 min/day, 5 days/week for 5 weeks. At rest and immediately after HET (100 W
      under 12% O2 for 30 min), the MDMP characteristics and dynamic TG were measured
      by flow cytometry and thrombinography respectively. The results demonstrated that
      acute 12% O2 exercise (i) increased the release of coagulant factor V (FV)/FVIII
      rich, phosphatidylserine (PS)-exposed and tissue factor (TF)-expressed
      microparticles from monocytes, (ii) enhanced the peak height and rate of TG in
      monocyte-rich plasma (MRP) and (iii) elevated concentrations of
      norepinephrine/epinephrine, myeloperoxidase (MPO) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in
      plasma. Following the 5-week intervention, HET exhibited higher enhancements of
      peak work-rate and cardiopulmonary fitness than NET did. Moreover, both NET and
      HET decreased the FV/FVIII-rich, PS-exposed and TF-expressed MDMP counts and the
      peak height and rate of TG in MRP following the HET. However, HET elicited more
      suppression for the HE (hypoxic exercise)-enhanced procoagulant MDMP formation
      and dynamic TG in MPR and catecholamine/peroxide/pro-inflammatory cytokine levels
      in plasma than NET. Hence, we conclude that HET is superior to NET for enhancing
      aerobic capacity. Furthermore, HET effectively suppresses procoagulant MDMP
      formation and monocyte-mediated TG under severe hypoxic stress, compared with
      NET.

PMID- 25826126
TI  - Pig Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Rosettes Developmentally Mimic
      Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Neural Differentiation.
AB  - For diseases of the brain, the pig (Sus scrofa) is increasingly being used as a
      model organism that shares many anatomical and biological similarities with
      humans. We report that pig induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) can recapitulate
      events in early mammalian neural development. Pig iPSC line
      (POU5F1(high)/SSEA4(low)) had a higher potential to form neural rosettes (NR)
      containing neuroepithelial cells than either POU5F1(low)/SSEA4(low) or
      POU5F1(low)/SSEA4(high) lines. Thus, POU5F1 and SSEA4 pluripotency marker
      profiles in starting porcine iPSC populations can predict their propensity to
      form more robust NR populations in culture. The NR were isolated and expanded in
      vitro, retaining their NR morphology and neuroepithelial molecular properties.
      These cells expressed anterior central nervous system fate markers OTX2 and GBX2
      through at least seven passages, and responded to retinoic acid, promoting a more
      posterior fate (HOXB4+, OTX2-, and GBX2-). These findings offer insight into pig
      iPSC development, which parallels the human iPSC in both anterior and posterior
      neural cell fates. These in vitro similarities in early neural differentiation
      processes support the use of pig iPSC and differentiated neural cells as a cell
      therapy in allogeneic porcine neural injury and degeneration models, providing
      relevant translational data for eventual human neural cell therapies. 

PMID- 25826127
TI  - Understanding graft-versus-host disease. Preliminary findings regarding the
      effects of exercise in affected patients.
AB  - Advances in this century regarding allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation (allo-HSCT) have led to an expanding population of long-term
      survivors, many of whom suffer severe side effects, particularly those related to
      graft-versushost disease (GVHD), a potentially multi-systemic disorder caused by
      immunoeffector donor lymphocytes that destroy host tissues. The GVHD, especially
      in its chronic form (cGVHD), generates considerable morbidity and compromises the
      physical capacity of patients. We have reviewed the main pathophysiological
      aspects of the disease as well as the data available on the effects of exercise
      in GVHD, based on animal and human patient research. Although exercise training
      as an adjunct therapy to improve health outcomes after allo-HSCT shows promise
      (particularly, this lifestyle intervention can improve physical fitness and
      possibly immune function while attenuating fatigue), there is a need for more
      randomized control trials that focus specifically on GVHD. 

PMID- 25826128
TI  - Photophysics of Ru(II) Dyads Derived from Pyrenyl-Substitued Imidazo[4,5
      f][1,10]phenanthroline Ligands.
AB  - The photophysics of a series of Ru(II) dyads based on the 2-(1-pyrenyl)-1H
      imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]-phenanthroline ligand was investigated. The ability of these
      metal complexes to intercalate DNA and induce cell death upon photoactivation
      makes them attractive photosensitizers for a range of photobiological
      applications, including photodynamic therapy. In the present study, time-resolved
      transient absorption and emission spectroscopy were used to interrogate the
      photoinduced processes that follow metal-to-ligand charge transfer excitation of
      the complexes in solution. It was found that energy transfer to pyrene-localized
      intraligand triplet states, facilitated by torsional motion of the pyrene moiety
      relative to the imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline ligand, was an important
      relaxation pathway governing the photophysical dynamics in this class of
      compounds. Biphasic decay kinetics were assigned to spontaneous (pre-equilibrium)
      and delayed emission, arising from an equilibrium established between (3)MLCT and
      (3)IL states. TDDFT calculations supported these interpretations. 

PMID- 25826130
TI  - Themed issue on radioisotopic bioanalysis.

PMID- 25826129
TI  - The Present and the Future of Degradable Dendrimers and Derivatives in
      Theranostics.
AB  - Interest in dendrimer-based nanomedicines has been growing recently, as it is
      possible to precisely manipulate the molecular weight, chemical composition, and
      surface functionality of dendrimers, tuning their properties according to the
      desired biomedical application. However, one important concern about dendrimer
      based therapeutics remains-the nondegradability under physiological conditions of
      the most commonly used dendrimers. Therefore, biodegradable dendrimers represent
      an attractive class of nanomaterials, since they present advantages over
      conventional nondegradable dendrimers regarding the release of the loaded
      molecules and the prevention of bioaccumulation of synthetic materials and
      subsequent cytotoxicity. Here, we present an overview of the state-of-the-art of
      the design of biodegradable dendritic structures, with particular focus on the
      hurdles regarding the use of these as vectors of drugs and nucleic acids, as well
      as macromolecular contrast agents. 

PMID- 25826131
TI  - Liquid scintillation counting: how has it advanced over the years and what does
      the future hold?

PMID- 25826132
TI  - Radiolabeled metabolite and disposition studies in support of safety assessment.

PMID- 25826133
TI  - Application of (14)C-accelerator MS in pharmaceutical development.

PMID- 25826134
TI  - Improved pharmacodynamic assay for dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase activity in
      peripheral blood mononuclear cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) activity determination in
      peripheral blood mononuclear cells of DPD deficient patients was hitherto
      inaccurate due to hemoglobin (Hb) contamination. We developed an improved method
      for accurate measurement of DPD activity in patients. RESULTS: DPD activity was
      determined by HPLC with online radioisotope detection using liquid scintillation
      counting. Hb was determined spectrophotometrically. Method accuracy and precision
      were significantly improved by using cumulative area of all peaks as IS.
      Peripheral blood mononuclear cell lysates from DPD deficient patients were highly
      contaminated with on average 23.3% (range 2.7-51%) of Hb resulting in up to
      twofold underestimated DPD activity. DPD activities were corrected for Hb
      contamination. The method was validated and showed good long-term sample
      stability. CONCLUSION: This method has increased specificity allowing accurate
      identification of DPD deficient patients.

PMID- 25826135
TI  - A historical perspective on radioisotopic tracers in metabolism and biochemistry.
AB  - Radioisotopes are used routinely in the modern laboratory to trace and quantify a
      myriad of biochemical processes. The technique has a captivating history peppered
      with groundbreaking science and with more than its share of Nobel Prizes. The
      discovery of radioactivity at the end of the 19th century paved the way to
      understanding atomic structure and quickly led to the use of radioisotopes to
      trace the fate of molecules as they flowed through complex organic life. The
      1940s saw the first radiotracer studies using homemade instrumentation and
      analytical techniques such as paper chromatography. This article follows the
      history of radioisotopic tracers from meager beginnings, through to the most
      recent applications. The author hopes that those researchers involved in
      radioisotopic tracer studies today will pause to remember the origins of the
      technique and those who pioneered this fascinating science.

PMID- 25826136
TI  - Radisotopic characterization as an analytical tool: current status, limitations
      and future challenges.
AB  - In this review, we describe the growth of current state-of-the-art applications
      that rely on the 'online' analysis of radiolabeled samples, focus on the nature
      of the most common measurement techniques and provide some insight into the
      potential future developments of this powerful analytical tool. In particular,
      this review will concentrate on two common online analysis methods that utilize
      radioisotope detection and analysis systems coupled to chromatographic
      separations: radio-GC and radio-HPLC. The different sample conditions call for
      different approaches to the method of radiodetection in order to optimize the
      sensitivity and chromatographic resolution in each case. These methods are also
      compared with alternative analytical techniques, including accelerator MS and
      'offline' counting.

PMID- 25826137
TI  - Quantitative whole-body autoradiography: past, present and future.
AB  - Traditional bioanalytical measurements determine concentrations of drug and
      metabolites in plasma; however, most drugs exert their effects in defined target
      tissues. As there is no clear relation between concentrations in plasma and those
      in tissue, alternative methods must be employed to study the absorption,
      distribution, metabolism and excretion properties of new therapeutic agents.
      Quantitative whole-body autoradiography is used in the drug development process
      to determine the distribution and concentrations of radiolabeled test compounds
      in laboratory animals. Quantitative whole-body autoradiography can provide
      information on tissue PKs, penetration, accumulation and retention. Although the
      technique is considered the industry standard for performing preclinical tissue
      distribution studies, it is perhaps timely, 60 years after the first reported use
      of the method, to re-assess the technique against modern alternatives.

PMID- 25826138
TI  - The 10th Annual Bioassays and Bioanalytical Method Development Conference.
AB  - The 10th Annual Bioassays and Bioanalytical Method Development Conference was
      hosted in Boston, MA, USA on 20-22 October 2014. This meeting brought together
      scientists from the biopharmaceutical and life sciences industries, the
      regulatory agency and academia to share and discuss current trends in cell-based
      assays and bioanalysis, challenges and ideas for the future of the bioassays and
      bioanalytical method development. The experiences associated with new and
      innovative technologies were evaluated as well as their impact on the current
      bioassays methodologies and bioanalysis workflow, including quality, feasibility,
      outsourcing strategies and challenges, productivity and compliance. Several
      presentations were also provided by members of the US FDA, sharing both
      scientific and regulatory paradigms including a most recent update on the
      position of the FDA with specific aspects of the draft Bioanalytical Method
      Validation guidance following its review of the industry's responses. The meeting
      was jointly coincided with the 15th Annual Immunogenicity for Biotherapeutics
      meeting, allowing for attendees to also familiarize themselves with new and
      emerging approaches to overcome the effect of immunogenicity, in addition to
      investigative strategies. 

PMID- 25826139
TI  - A clinical biomarker assay to quantitate thymic stromal lymphopoietin in human
      plasma at sub-pg/ml level.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is an attractive therapeutic
      target for the treatment of allergic diseases, and plasma TSLP is a potential
      patient selection marker in the development of therapeutic agents. RESULTS: We
      developed and validated an ultrasensitive electrochemiluminescence assay for
      measurement of TSLP in plasma with a lower limit of quantitation of 0.12 pg/ml,
      which allowed the quantitation of TSLP in approximately 90% of human plasma
      samples tested. The assay demonstrated excellent performance characteristics,
      including precision, accuracy, sensitivity and dilution linearity. Stability and
      biological variability of TSLP in plasma were also assessed for clinical sample
      analysis and data interpretation. CONCLUSION: The validated TSLP assay enables
      assessment of circulating TSLP as a patient selection marker in the development
      of therapeutics to treat atopic diseases.

PMID- 25826141
TI  - Opiorphin analysis in equine plasma and urine using hydrophilic interaction LC
      MS.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Due to opiorphin's analgesic and antidepressant functions, its
      illicit use is rumored in some racing jurisdictions. Opiorphin is very difficult
      to detect due to its hydrophilic nature and rapid degradation in plasma and urine
      samples. METHODOLOGY & RESULTS: We have developed a sensitive, reliable method
      for opiorphin detection and confirmation in equine samples, using EDTA to inhibit
      analyte degradation between the time of collection and analysis. Opiorphin was
      extracted by weak cation exchange followed by analysis using HILIC-MS/MS. The
      method was validated and the LOD was determined to be 50 pg/ml in equine plasma
      and urine. CONCLUSION: The method has good selectivity and precision and is the
      first reported method for the detection of opiorphin in equine plasma and urine.

PMID- 25826140
TI  - Immunocapture and microplate-based activity and quantity measurement of pyruvate
      dehydrogenase in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) activity is altered in many human
      disorders. Current methods require tissue samples and yield inconsistent results.
      We describe a modified method for measuring PDH activity from isolated human
      peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). RESULTS/METHODOLOGY: We found that
      PDH activity and quantity can be successfully measured in human PBMCs. Freeze
      thaw cycles cannot efficiently disrupt the mitochondrial membrane. Processing
      time of up to 20 h does not affect PDH activity with proteinase inhibitor
      addition and a detergent concentration of 3.3% showed maximum yield. Sample
      protein concentration is correlated to PDH activity and quantity in human PBMCs
      from healthy subjects. CONCLUSION: Measuring PDH activity from PBMCs is a novel,
      easy and less invasive way to further understand the role of PDH in human
      disease.

PMID- 25826142
TI  - An ultrasensitive nano UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS method for the quantification of three
      neuromedin-like peptides in microdialysates.
AB  - AIM: An ultrasensitive nano UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS method is developed to simultaneously
      monitor three low-concentration neuromedin-like peptides in microdialysates.
      RESULTS: Peptide preconcentration and sample desalting is performed online on a
      trap column. A shallow gradient slope at 300 nl/min on the analytical column
      maintained at 35 degrees C, followed by two saw-tooth column wash cycles, results
      in the highest sensitivity and the lowest carryover. The validated method allows
      the accurate and precise quantification of 0.5 pM neurotensin and neuromedin N
      (2.5 amol on column), and of 3.0 pM neuromedin B (15.0 amol on column) in in vivo
      microdialysates without the use of internal standards. CONCLUSION: The assay is
      an important tool for elucidating the role of these neuromedin-like peptides in
      the pathophysiology of neurological disorders.

PMID- 25826143
TI  - Effects of Pomegranate Extract Supplementation on Cardiovascular Risk Factors and
      Physical Function in Hemodialysis Patients.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of oral supplementation
      with pomegranate extract on cardiovascular risk, physical function, oxidative
      stress, and inflammation in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Thirty-three HD subjects
      were randomized to the pomegranate (POM) or placebo (CON) group. Patients in POM
      ingested a 1000 mg capsule of a purified pomegranate polyphenol extract 7
      days/week for 6 months. Individuals in CON ingested a noncaloric placebo capsule
      using the same protocol. Measurements were conducted at baseline and repeated 6
      months following the start of the intervention. Brachial blood pressure (BP) was
      obtained using an automatic digital BP monitor. Cardiovascular risk was assessed
      using ultrasound and arterial tonometry. Blood samples were collected for the
      measurements of circulating markers of inflammation, oxidative stress, and
      antioxidant capacity. Muscle strength and physical function were assessed by
      isokinetic dynamometry, a validated shuttle walk test, and a battery of tests to
      assess functional fitness. Systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure
      were reduced by 24 +/- 13.7 and 10 +/- 5.3 mmHg, respectively, in POM (P < .05).
      However, the BP differences in POM were no longer significant after controlling
      for baseline BP. The paraoxonase-1 activity increased by 26.6% (P < .05) in POM,
      compared to no significant change in CON. However, pomegranate supplementation
      had no effect on other markers of cardiovascular disease risk, inflammation and
      oxidative stress, or measures of physical function and muscle strength. While
      pomegranate extract supplementation may reduce BP and increase the antioxidant
      activity in HD patients, it does not improve other markers of cardiovascular
      risk, physical function, or muscle strength.

PMID- 25826144
TI  - Physicochemical design and analysis of self-propelled objects that are
      characteristically sensitive to environments.
AB  - The development of self-propelled motors that mimic biological motors is an
      important challenge for the transport of either themselves or some material in a
      small space, since biological systems exhibit high autonomy and various types of
      responses, such as taxis and swarming. In this perspective, we review non-living
      systems that behave like living matter. We especially focus on nonlinearity to
      enhance autonomy and the response of the system, since characteristic nonlinear
      phenomena, such as oscillation, synchronization, pattern formation, bifurcation,
      and hysteresis, are coupled to self-motion of which driving force is the
      difference in the interfacial tension. Mathematical modelling based on reaction
      diffusion equations and equations of motion as well as physicochemical analysis
      from the point of view of the molecular structure are also important for the
      design of non-living motors that mimic living motors. 

PMID- 25826145
TI  - HF-(NH4)2S2O8-HCl Mixtures for HNO3- and NOx-free Etching of Diamond Wire- and
      SiC-Slurry-Sawn Silicon Wafers: Reactivity Studies, Surface Chemistry, and
      Unexpected Pyramidal Surface Morphologies.
AB  - The wet-chemical treatment of silicon wafers is an important production step in
      photovoltaic and semiconductor industries. Solutions containing hydrofluoric
      acid, ammonium peroxodisulfate, and hydrochloric acid were investigated as novel
      acidic, NOx-free etching mixtures for texturization and polishing of
      monocrystalline silicon wafers. Etching rates as well as generated surface
      morphologies and properties are discussed in terms of the composition of the
      etching mixture. The solutions were analyzed with Raman and UV/vis spectroscopy
      as well as ion chromatography (IC). The silicon surfaces were investigated by
      scanning electron microscopy (SEM), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM),
      diffuse reflection infrared spectroscopy (DRIFT), and X-ray photoelectron
      spectroscopy (XPS). Surprisingly, pyramidal surface structures were found after
      etching SiC-slurry as well as diamond wire-sawn monocrystalline Si(100) wafers
      with hydrochloric acid-rich HF-(NH4)2S2O8-HCl mixtures. Acidic etching solutions
      are generally not known for anisotropic etching. Thus, the HNO3-free mixtures
      might allow to replace KOH/i-propanol and similar alkaline solutions for
      texturization of monosilicon wafers at room temperature with less surface
      contamination. Besides, common HNO3-based etching mixtures may be replaced by the
      nitrate-free system, leading to significant economic and ecological advantages. 

PMID- 25826146
TI  - Tackling Critical Catalytic Residues in Helicobacter pylori L-Asparaginase.
AB  - Bacterial asparaginases (amidohydrolases, EC 3.5.1.1) are important enzymes in
      cancer therapy, especially for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. They are tetrameric
      enzymes able to catalyze the deamination of L-ASN and, to a variable extent, of L
      GLN, on which leukemia cells are dependent for survival. In contrast to other
      known L-asparaginases, Helicobacter pylori CCUG 17874 type II enzyme (HpASNase)
      is cooperative and has a low affinity towards L-GLN. In this study, some critical
      amino acids forming the active site of HpASNase (T16, T95 and E289) have been
      tackled by rational engineering in the attempt to better define their role in
      catalysis and to achieve a deeper understanding of the peculiar cooperative
      behavior of this enzyme. Mutations T16E, T95D and T95H led to a complete loss of
      enzymatic activity. Mutation E289A dramatically reduced the catalytic activity of
      the enzyme, but increased its thermostability. Interestingly, E289 belongs to a
      loop that is very variable in L-asparaginases from the structure, sequence and
      length point of view, and which could be a main determinant of their different
      catalytic features. 

PMID- 25826147
TI  - Synthesis of desfluorinated nebivolol isomers.
AB  - The syntheses of all possible stereoisomers of desfluorinated side products of
      the potent antihypertensive beta-blocker nebivolol are reported. A
      straightforward approach using a common racemic precursor was employed to obtain
      the desired optically active building blocks. For one series of compounds, a
      Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation (SAE) route yielded in a direct fashion the
      required compounds whereas a Mitsunobu reaction was selected to obtain the other
      series of compounds. This offers a flexible approach to all desfluoronebivolol
      side-products in order to fully characterize them. 

PMID- 25826148
TI  - Searching for indole derivatives as potential mushroom tyrosinase inhibitors.
AB  - Tyrosinase is a copper-containing enzyme widely distributed in nature, involved
      in the biosynthesis of melanin whose role is to protect the skin from ultraviolet
      damage. A great interest has been shown on the melanin involvement in malignant
      melanoma and other carcinogenetic processes. These phenomena have encouraged the
      research of tyrosinase inhibitors useful in therapeutic field as well as in foods
      and cosmetics to prevent browning. The idea was to screen our "in house" database
      to select suitable lead compounds for the discovery of potential drug-inhibiting
      enzyme. The obtained biological results demonstrated that compounds containing 4
      fluorobenzyl moiety at N - 1 position of indole system showed the best activity.
      In addition, the role of the portion linked to the carbonyl group at C - 3 was
      discussed. A Lineweaver-Burk kinetic analysis of the most active indoles, CHI
      1043 and derivative 4, showed a mixed-type inhibition in the presence of L-3,4
      dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) as substrate.

PMID- 25826149
TI  - Synthesis and evaluation of naphthalene-based thiosemicarbazone derivatives as
      new anticancer agents against LNCaP prostate cancer cells.
AB  - Fourteen new naphthalene-based thiosemicarbazone derivatives were designed as
      anticancer agents against LNCaP human prostate cancer cells and synthesized. MTT
      assay indicated that compounds 6, 8 and 11 exhibited inhibitory effect on LNCaP
      cells. Among these compounds, 4-(naphthalen-1-yl)-1-[1-(4
      hydroxyphenyl)ethylidene)thiosemicarbazide (6), which caused more than 50% death
      on LNCaP cells, was chosen for flow cytometric analysis of apoptosis. Flow
      cytometric analysis pointed out that compound 6 also showed apoptotic effect on
      LNCaP cells. Compound 6 can be considered as a promising anticancer agent against
      LNCaP cells owing to its potent cytotoxic activity and apoptotic effect. 

PMID- 25826150
TI  - Qualitative Multiresidue Screening Method for 143 Veterinary Drugs and
      Pharmaceuticals in Milk and Fish Tissue Using Liquid Chromatography Quadrupole
      Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry.
AB  - A wide-scope screening methodology has been developed for the identification of
      veterinary drugs and pharmaceuticals in fish tissue and milk using ultrahigh
      performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry
      (UHPLC-QTOF MS). The method was validated using a qualitative approach at two
      concentration levels. The detection of the residues was accomplished by retention
      time, accurate mass, and the isotopic fit using an in-house database. Product-ion
      spectra were used for unequivocal identification of the compounds. Generic sample
      treatment was applied. The majority of the compounds were successfully detected
      and identified at concentration levels of 150 ng mL(-1) in milk and 200 MUg kg(
      1) in fish (>80% of the compounds in both matrices), whereas satisfactory results
      were also obtained at concentration levels of 15 ng mL(-1) in milk and 20 MUg kg(
      1) in fish (>60% of the compounds detected and identified).

PMID- 25826152
TI  - Synthesis of new sulfonyloximes and their use in free-radical olefin carbo
      oximation.
AB  - New bifunctional reagents for free-radical carbo-oximation of olefins have been
      developed. In this process, a single reagent can act both as a trap for
      nucleophilic radicals as well as a source of electrophilic radical via an alpha
      scission of an alkylsulfonyl radical. This strategy involving the addition of a C
      centered electrophilic radical and an oxime across the double bond of an electron
      rich alkene is initiated with a t-BuO radical following an unusual mechanism,
      supported by both experiments and density functional theory calculations. 

PMID- 25826153
TI  - The Turner syndrome in patient with 45X/47XXX mosaic karyotype--case report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Turner syndrome (TS) is a gonadal dysgenesis related to partial or
      total lack of one of the X chromosomes. It this report we describe a young
      patient presenting some somatic features of TS, who underwent spontaneous puberty
      and was eumenoorheic up to the age of 23. METHODS: Using fluorescent in situ
      hybridization (FISH) mosaic karyotype (45X[131]/47XXX[9]) of TS and triple X
      syndrome was found. RESULTS: She presented uncommon for TS somatic hemihypotrophy
      and underwent growth hormone and surgical therapy. The patient was diagnosed with
      premature ovarian failure when she was 23, with absent follicular reserve.
      Clinical features of this case and a few published cases will be reviewed
      briefly.

PMID- 25826154
TI  - Prediction of small-for-gestational-age neonates: screening by biophysical and
      biochemical markers at 30-34 weeks.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the potential value of combined screening by maternal
      characteristics and medical history (maternal factors), estimated fetal weight
      (EFW), uterine artery pulsatility index (UtA-PI), mean arterial pressure (MAP)
      and serum levels of placental growth factor (PlGF) and soluble fms-like tyrosine
      kinase-1 (sFlt-1) at 30-34 weeks' gestation in the prediction of delivery of
      small-for-gestational-age (SGA) neonates, in the absence of pre-eclampsia (PE).
      METHODS: This was a screening study in 9472 singleton pregnancies at 30-34 weeks'
      gestation, comprising 469 that delivered SGA neonates and 9003 cases unaffected
      by SGA, PE or gestational hypertension. Multivariable logistic regression
      analysis was used to determine if UtA-PI, MAP and serum PlGF or sFlt-1,
      individually or in combination, improved the prediction of SGA neonates provided
      from screening by maternal factors and EFW. RESULTS: Compared to the normal
      group, mean log10 multiples of the median (MoM) values of UtA-PI, MAP and serum
      sFlt-1 were significantly higher and log10 MoM PlGF was lower in the SGA group.
      Multivariable logistic regression analysis demonstrated that in the prediction of
      SGA neonates with a birth weight < 5(th) percentile, delivering < 5 weeks and >=
      5 weeks after assessment, there were significant independent contributions from
      maternal factors, EFW, UtA-PI, MAP, and serum PlGF and sFlt-1, but the best
      performance was provided by a combination of maternal factors, EFW, UtA-PI, MAP
      and serum PlGF, excluding sFlt-1. Combined screening predicted, at a 10% false
      positive rate, 89%, 94%, 96% of SGA neonates delivering at 32-36 weeks' gestation
      with birth weight < 10(th) , < 5(th) and < 3(rd) percentiles, respectively; the
      respective detection rates of combined screening for SGA neonates delivering >=
      37 weeks were 57%, 65% and 72%. CONCLUSION: Combined screening by maternal
      factors and biophysical and biochemical markers at 30-34 weeks' gestation could
      identify a high proportion of pregnancies that will deliver SGA neonates.

PMID- 25826156
TI  - New iron tetrazolate frameworks: synthesis, temperature effect, thermal
      behaviour, Mossbauer and magnetic studies.
AB  - The exploration of the FeF3/FeF2-Hamtetraz-HF system in dimethylformamide by
      solvothermal synthesis evidences two isostructural 3D hybrid fluoroferrates. They
      are prepared from the same starting mixture at two different synthesis
      temperatures: 120  degrees C for [Hdma].(Fe4(II)Fe(III)F8(H2O)2(amtetraz)4) ()
      and 140  degrees C for [Hdma]1.5.(Fe4.5(II)Fe0.5(III)F7(H2O)(HCOO)(amtetraz)4)
      (). Both compounds are characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, X-ray
      thermodiffraction, TGA analysis, Mossbauer spectrometry and SQUID magnetometry.
      They crystallize in the monoclinic system and are built from two distinct chains
      connected by aminotetrazolate anions. The first chain infinity(Fe(II)FN4) is
      common to and and can be found in numerous fluorides. In the second chain
      infinity(Fe3X12) (X = F, N, O), iron cations adopt both valence states
      Fe(ii)/Fe(iii). The hydrolysis of DMF implies the formation of a [Hdma](+) cation
      and a (HCOO)(-) anion. The presence of Fe(3+) in both phases is evidenced by
      (57)Fe Mossbauer spectrometry. The magnetic properties are studied and two
      transitions from a paramagnetic regime to a long range ordered state below 30 K
      and 5 K are identified. 

PMID- 25826157
TI  - Antibiotic dosing in obesity: the search for optimum dosing strategies.
AB  - Global obesity has nearly doubled and is now a common occurrence in high-income
      and developing countries. The World Health Organization estimates that more than
      1.4 billion adults are obese. Although the prevalence of obesity is increasing
      over the last decades, pharmacokinetic evaluations are still conducted in
      individuals with a body weight of approximately 70 kg. Morbid obesity is
      associated with several pathophysiological changes that can profoundly affect
      drug distribution and clearance. There are currently no specific dosing
      recommendations for antibiotics in obese patients, making dosing suggestions
      primarily based on pharmacokinetic characteristics of the medications and dosing
      recommendations in other disease states. Understanding of the pharmacokinetic
      alterations and maximum doses of antibiotics safely used is paramount to
      appropriate treatment in the obese population. 

PMID- 25826155
TI  - Crystal structure of extracellular domain of human lectin-like transcript 1
      (LLT1), the ligand for natural killer receptor-P1A.
AB  - Emerging evidence has revealed the pivotal roles of C-type lectin-like receptors
      (CTLRs) in the regulation of a wide range of immune responses. Human natural
      killer cell receptor-P1A (NKRP1A) is one of the CTLRs and recognizes another
      CTLR, lectin-like transcript 1 (LLT1) on target cells to control NK, NKT and Th17
      cells. The structural basis for the NKRP1A-LLT1 interaction was limitedly
      understood. Here, we report the crystal structure of the ectodomain of LLT1. The
      plausible receptor-binding face of the C-type lectin-like domain is flat, and
      forms an extended beta-sheet. The residues of this face are relatively conserved
      with another CTLR, keratinocyte-associated C-type lectin, which binds to the CTLR
      member, NKp65. A LLT1-NKRP1A complex model, prepared using the crystal structures
      of LLT1 and the keratinocyte-associated C-type lectin-NKp65 complex, reasonably
      satisfies the charge consistency and the conformational complementarity to
      explain a previous mutagenesis study. Furthermore, crystal packing and analytical
      ultracentrifugation revealed dimer formation, which supports a complex model. Our
      results provide structural insights for understanding the binding modes and
      signal transduction mechanisms, which are likely to be conserved in the CTLR
      family, and for further rational drug design towards regulating the LLT1
      function. 

PMID- 25826158
TI  - Tricyclic and SSRI usage influences the association between BMI and health risk
      factors.
AB  - To determine if selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and tricyclic
      antidepressants (TCAs) influence the association between obesity and
      cardiovascular disease risk, participants from the Third National Health and
      Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III; 1988-1992) and continuous NHANES (1999
      2009, n = 18 274) were used. For a given body mass index (BMI), individuals
      taking SSRIs (n = 219) tended to have significantly better health risk profiles
      with lower systolic blood pressure (P = 0.002) and higher high-density
      lipoprotein (P = 0.003) compared with non-users. Conversely, those who used TCAs
      (n = 116) had significantly worse health risk profiles with higher diastolic
      blood pressure (P <= 0.0001) and triglycerides (P = 0.023) as compared with non
      users for a given BMI. Insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was higher in TCA users and
      those with larger BMIs, whereby the differences in insulin resistance between TCA
      users and non-users was greater with higher BMIs (interaction effect: P = 0.013).
      Furthermore, individuals taking SSRIs were less likely to have cardiovascular
      disease than non-users (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval = 0.50, 0.33-0.75)
      for a given BMI, with no differences by TCA use (odds ratio = 0.74, 0.44-1.24).
      SSRI and TCA use may alter how body weight relates with cardiovascular risk. When
      prescribing antidepressant medications, it may be necessary to monitor and
      consider body weight and cardiovascular risk profile of individual patients. 

PMID- 25826160
TI  - Self-reported physical activity is associated with cognitive function in lean,
      but not obese individuals.
AB  - Convergent evidence demonstrates that greater physical activity is associated
      with better cognitive functioning across many patient and healthy samples.
      However, this relationship has not been well examined among obese individuals and
      remains unclear. The present study examined the relationship between performance
      based measures of attention/executive function and self-reported physical
      activity, as measured by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, among
      lean (n = 36) and obese (n = 36) college students. Lean individuals performed
      better than obese individuals on measures of attention/executive function. No
      significant differences in self-reported physical activity emerged between weight
      groups. Higher self-reported physical activity was related to faster reaction
      time in lean individuals but slower reaction time in obese individuals.
      Additionally, in lean individuals, higher levels of self-reported physical
      activity were related to more errors on a task of speeded inhibitory control. The
      results are consistent with previous research demonstrating that greater physical
      activity is associated with faster attention and executive function abilities in
      healthy samples and highlight the importance of examining reaction time and
      accuracy indices separately on these measures. The lack of association among
      obese individuals may be due in part to inaccurate self-report in the current
      study. Additionally, the cognitive consequences of obesity may outweigh the
      benefits of physical activity in this group. Future work should investigate these
      associations in obese individuals using physical activity interventions, as well
      as a combination of self-report and objective measures to investigate
      discrepancies in reporting. 

PMID- 25826159
TI  - Prevalence of simple and abdominal obesity in Greek adolescents: the ADONUT
      study.
AB  - The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of underweight, normal body
      weight, overweight, obesity and abdominal obesity in Greek adolescents. A
      nationally representative sample of 37,344 Greek adolescents, aged 12-19 years
      old, was recruited from schools throughout the country during 2010-2012. Body
      weight, stature and waist circumference were measured. The prevalence of each
      weight status category was defined according to the International Obesity Task
      Force criteria and abdominal obesity was diagnosed according to the International
      Diabetes Federation. One-third of the participants were either overweight or
      obese. Among adolescent boys, the prevalence of underweight was 3.3%, 27.9% were
      overweight and 8.9% were considered obese. Among the girls, 5.8% of the
      population were underweight, 19.4% were considered overweight and 6.0% obese.
      Abdominal obesity was diagnosed in 9.1% of the sample (8.9% of the boys and 9.2%
      of the girls). In 4.5% of the population, simple and central obesity coincided.
      The pooled prevalence of overweight and obesity as well as the rate of abdominal
      obesity appear to level off during the course of adolescence. The results
      indicate a high prevalence of overweight among Greek adolescents.

PMID- 25826161
TI  - Food consumption, obesity and abnormal glycaemic control in a Canadian Inuit
      community.
AB  - Dietary and lifestyle factors may contribute to diabetes and obesity in the
      Canadian Inuit. We documented dietary patterns, physical activity level, obesity,
      blood glucose abnormalities and diabetes prevalence in a Canadian Inuit
      community. There were 250 Inuit residents of Repulse Bay, Nunavut, who had an
      interview about diet and physical activity, measurement of weight and height, and
      laboratory studies (194 subjects). Children, adolescents and younger adults (aged
      < 48 years) consumed significantly less country food and more processed snack
      foods and sweet drinks than older adults (aged >= 48 years). Only 88 of 250
      subjects (35%) reported that they went out on the land once or more per week. Of
      the 85 children and adolescent subjects (aged 7-17 years), 11 (13%) were obese.
      Average body mass index for adults (aged >= 18 years) was 29 +/- 6 kg m(-2) , and
      61 adults (37%) were obese (body mass index >=30 kg m(-2) ). In the 140 adults
      who had laboratory studies, 18 adults (13%) had a blood glucose abnormality,
      including 10 adults (7%) with impaired fasting glucose, four adults (3%) with
      impaired glucose tolerance and six adults (4%) with diabetes (five adults
      previously undiagnosed). Twelve of the 194 subjects tested (6%) had fasting
      insulin >=140 pmol L(-1) (mean, 196 +/- 87 pmol L(-1) ). In summary, there was a
      high prevalence of poor dietary choices, limited physical activity, obesity and
      type 2 diabetes in this Inuit community. Public health programmes are needed to
      improve the dietary and health status of this community.

PMID- 25826162
TI  - The cost-effectiveness of primary care referral to a UK commercial weight loss
      programme.
AB  - Primary care referral to commercial weight loss programmes that follow best
      practice is included in current UK guidance on the management of adult obesity.
      This study investigated whether such a programme was cost-effective compared with
      usual care. A decision-analytical Markov model was developed to estimate the
      lifetime costs and benefits of the referral programme compared with usual care
      and enable a cost-utility analysis. The model cohort transited between body mass
      index classifications and type 2 diabetes, stroke and myocardial infarction (MI)
      with risk, cost and effect parameter values taken from published literature. The
      cost per incremental quality-adjusted life year (QALY) was calculated. Extensive
      deterministic and scenario sensitivity analyses and probabilistic sensitivity
      analyses (PSA) were conducted. At 12 months, the incremental cost-effectiveness
      ratio was L6906, indicating that programme referral was cost-effective. Over a
      lifetime, referral to the commercial programme was dominant as it led to a cost
      saving of L924 and conferred incremental benefit (0.22 QALY) over usual care.
      Model simulations estimated lower lifetime rates of type 2 diabetes, stroke and
      MI as a result of the weight loss achieved. The results were robust to extensive
      sensitivity analyses. The PSA indicated that programme referral had a 68% chance
      of being cost-effective at a willingness to pay per incremental QALY threshold of
      L20,000. Referral to the programme dominated usual care, being both cheaper and
      more effective. These results compare favourably with economic evaluations of
      other obesity interventions and add to a growing evidence base on the cost
      effectiveness of commercial weight loss providers and practices.

PMID- 25826164
TI  - Orlistat-induced fulminant hepatic failure.
AB  - Orlistat was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1998 and has been
      shown to be superior to placebo in achieving weight loss. It is generally well
      tolerated. However, severe liver injury has been reported. We present a case of
      hepatic failure in a patient taking orlistat. A 54-year-old African-American
      woman with hypertension presented with hepatic failure. She had noticed
      increasing fatigue, jaundice and confusion. She used alcohol sparingly and denied
      tobacco or illicit drug use, but had been taking over-the-counter orlistat for
      the past two months. Physical examination revealed scleral icterus, jaundice,
      asterixis and slow speech. Laboratory testing showed markedly abnormal liver
      function tests with coagulopathy. Acute viral and autoimmune serologies were
      negative, as was toxicology screen. Liver biopsy showed necrotic hepatic
      parenchyma likely secondary to drug toxicity. Based upon her clinical
      presentation and time course, the pattern of liver injury seen on liver biopsy
      and lack of an alternative plausible explanation, her liver failure was most
      likely associated with orlistat use. She continued to deteriorate and ultimately
      underwent orthotopic liver transplantation. Fourteen cases of severe liver injury
      associated with orlistat use have been reported, four of which are detailed in
      the literature. This is the second published case of liver failure associated
      with over-the-counter orlistat usage. Clinicians should be aware of the growing
      number of cases associating liver injury and orlistat use and carefully monitor
      their patients on this medication for signs of hepatic dysfunction. 

PMID- 25826163
TI  - The population distribution of the sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD) and
      SAD/height ratio among Finnish adults.
AB  - Sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD; 'abdominal height' measured in supine position)
      may improve upon conventional anthropometry for predicting incident
      cardiometabolic diseases. However, the SAD is used infrequently by practitioners
      and epidemiologists. A representative survey of Finnish adults in 2000-2001
      collected body measurements including SAD (by sliding-beam calliper) using
      standardized protocols. Sampled non-pregnant adults (ages 30+ years; 79%
      participation) provided 6123 SAD measurements from 80 health centre districts.
      Through stratified, complex survey design, these data represented 2.86 million
      adults at ages 30+ years. SAD ranged from 13.5 to 38.0 cm, with a population mean
      (standard error) of 21.7 (0.05) cm and median (interquartile range) of 21.0 (19.1
      23.4). Median SAD was higher at ages 50+ years compared with ages 30-49 both for
      men (22.4 [20.5-24.6] vs. 20.8 [19.3-22.7]) and women (21.7 [19.6-23.9] vs. 19.4
      [17.8-21.4]). The SAD/height ratio was similar (0.118) for both sexes at 30-39
      years, rising more steeply with age for women than men. Attaining only a basic
      education, compared with a high level, was associated with increased mean (95%
      confidence interval) SADs for men (22.6 [22.3-22.8] vs. 22.0 [21.7-22.2]) and
      women (21.8 [21.5-22.0] vs. 20.6 [20.4-20.8]). Finland's early experience with
      nationally representative SAD measurements provides normative reference values
      and physiological insights useful for investigations of cardiometabolic risk. 

PMID- 25826165
TI  - Prevention of stricture after large esophageal endoscopic submucosal dissections.

PMID- 25826166
TI  - Is there a role for endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle biopsy in pancreatic
      cancer?

PMID- 25826167
TI  - Comparison of adenoma detection and miss rates between a novel balloon
      colonoscope and standard colonoscopy: a randomized tandem study.

PMID- 25826168
TI  - Small-bowel capsule endoscopy and device-assisted enteroscopy for diagnosis and
      treatment of small-bowel disorders: European Society of Gastrointestinal
      Endoscopy (ESGE) Clinical Guideline.
AB  - This Guideline is an official statement of the European Society of
      Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE). The Guideline was also reviewed and endorsed
      by the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG). It addresses the roles of small
      bowel capsule endoscopy and device-assisted enteroscopy for diagnosis and
      treatment of small-bowel disorders. Main recommendations 1 ESGE recommends small
      bowel video capsule endoscopy as the first-line investigation in patients with
      obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (strong recommendation, moderate quality
      evidence). 2 In patients with overt obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, ESGE
      recommends performing small-bowel capsule endoscopy as soon as possible after the
      bleeding episode, optimally within 14 days, in order to maximize the diagnostic
      yield (strong recommendation, moderate quality evidence). 3 ESGE does not
      recommend the routine performance of second-look endoscopy prior to small-bowel
      capsule endoscopy; however whether to perform second-look endoscopy before
      capsule endoscopy in patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding or iron
      deficiency anaemia should be decided on a case-by-case basis (strong
      recommendation, low quality evidence). 4 In patients with positive findings at
      small-bowel capsule endoscopy, ESGE recommends device-assisted enteroscopy to
      confirm and possibly treat lesions identified by capsule endoscopy (strong
      recommendation, high quality evidence). 5 ESGE recommends ileocolonoscopy as the
      first endoscopic examination for investigating patients with suspected Crohn's
      disease (strong recommendation, high quality evidence). In patients with
      suspected Crohn's disease and negative ileocolonoscopy findings, ESGE recommends
      small-bowel capsule endoscopy as the initial diagnostic modality for
      investigating the small bowel, in the absence of obstructive symptoms or known
      stenosis (strong recommendation, moderate quality evidence).ESGE does not
      recommend routine small-bowel imaging or the use of the PillCam patency capsule
      prior to capsule endoscopy in these patients (strong recommendation, low quality
      evidence). In the presence of obstructive symptoms or known stenosis, ESGE
      recommends that dedicated small bowel cross-sectional imaging modalities such as
      magnetic resonance enterography/enteroclysis or computed tomography
      enterography/enteroclysis should be used first (strong recommendation, low
      quality evidence). 6 In patients with established Crohn's disease, based on
      ileocolonoscopy findings, ESGE recommends dedicated cross-sectional imaging for
      small-bowel evaluation since this has the potential to assess extent and location
      of any Crohn's disease lesions, to identify strictures, and to assess for
      extraluminal disease (strong recommendation, low quality evidence). In patients
      with unremarkable or nondiagnostic findings from such cross-sectional imaging of
      the small bowel, ESGE recommends small-bowel capsule endoscopy as a subsequent
      investigation, if deemed to influence patient management (strong recommendation,
      low quality evidence). When capsule endoscopy is indicated, ESGE recommends use
      of the PillCam patency capsule to confirm functional patency of the small bowel
      (strong recommendation, low quality evidence). 7 ESGE strongly recommends against
      the use of small-bowel capsule endoscopy for suspected coeliac disease but
      suggests that capsule endoscopy could be used in patients unwilling or unable to
      undergo conventional endoscopy (strong recommendation, low quality evidence). 

PMID- 25826169
TI  - Assessment of competence in ERCP.

PMID- 25826170
TI  - Reply to Konge et al.

PMID- 25826173
TI  - Gastrointestinal endoscopy sedation and monitoring practices in Spain: a
      nationwide survey in the year 2014.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: The introduction of new sedative agents and a desire
      for improved patient care have encouraged the use of sedation for
      gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy over the last decade. This survey aims to
      provide, within Spain, national and regional data on gastroenterologists'
      endoscopic sedation and monitoring practices, and on their attitudes concerning
      these practices. METHODS: A 19-item survey covering the current practices of
      sedation and monitoring in GI endoscopy was electronically mailed to all members
      of the three nationwide scientific societies. RESULTS: Of 2476 e-mailed
      questionnaires, a total of 569 (23 %) were returned, proportionally representing
      the structure of the Spanish health care system. Monitoring and resuscitation
      resources were universally available, as well as post-endoscopy recovery rooms.
      Endoscopy teams usually included a registered nurse (98.5 %), an auxiliary nurse
      (80.5 %), and other physicians (25.7 %), generally anesthesiologists. More than
      half of esophagogastroduodenoscopies (EGDs) are performed with the patient under
      sedation; in 25 % of centers, more than 95 % colonoscopies are performed with the
      patient sedated, but a wide variation was observed. Pre-endoscopic risk is
      assessed in the vast majority of procedures. Propofol is the most commonly used
      sedative, either alone (in 70 % of EGDs and 80 % of colonoscopies) or in
      combination with other drugs. Private funding of a clinic was the only predictor
      of a significant increase in the use of sedation; 57.7 % of the respondents
      stated having difficulties in implementing sedation, with the limited
      availability of anesthesiologists and resuscitation training for the auxiliary
      staff the most common complaints. CONCLUSIONS: The use of sedation during GI
      endoscopy in Spain varies widely but is on the increase and is more common in
      private practice. Propofol is the preferred sedative in all procedures.

PMID- 25826174
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25826175
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25826176
TI  - Video comment on Alberto Larghi et al., pages 308-314.

PMID- 25826177
TI  - Video comment on Shayan Irani et al., pages 315-321.

PMID- 25826179
TI  - Effects and mechanisms of the secondary structure on the antimicrobial activity
      and specificity of antimicrobial peptides.
AB  - A 15-mer cationic alpha-helical antimicrobial peptide HPRP-A1 was used as the
      parent peptide to study the effects of peptide secondary structure on the
      biophysical properties and biological activities. Without changing the amino acid
      composition of HPRP-A1, we designed two alpha-helical peptides with either higher
      or lower helicity compared with the parent peptide, a beta-sheet peptide and a
      random coiled peptide using de novo design approach. The secondary structures
      were confirmed by circular dichroism spectroscopy. The three alpha-helical
      peptides exhibited comparable antibacterial activities, but their hemolytic
      activity varied from extreme hemolysis to no hemolysis, which is correlated with
      their helicity. The beta-sheet peptide shows poor antibacterial and strong
      hemolytic activities. More interestingly, the random coil peptide shows no
      antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria, weak antibacterial
      activity against Gram-positive bacteria, and extremely weak hemolytic activity.
      Bacterial membrane permeabilization was also testified on peptides with different
      secondary structures. Tryptophan fluorescence experiment revealed that the
      peptide binding preference to the lipid vesicles for mimicking the prokaryotic or
      eukaryotic membranes was consistent with their biological activities. With the de
      novo design approach, we proved that it is important to maintain certain contents
      of amphipathic secondary structure for a desirable biological activity. We
      believe that the de novo design approach of relocation of the amino acids within
      a template sequence could be an effective approach in optimizing the specificity
      of an antimicrobial peptide.

PMID- 25826180
TI  - Antigenotoxic and antioxidant potentials of newly derivatized compound naringenin
      oxime relative to naringenin on human mononuclear cells.
AB  - We investigated antigenotoxic and antioxidative effects of newly derivatized
      compound naringenin-oxime (NG-Ox) compared to its mother compound naringenin (NG)
      against oxidative damage induced by hydrogen peroxide (HP) in human peripheral
      blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Antigenotoxic activity was assessed using
      alkaline single cell gel electrophoresis assay (comet assay). Oxidative status
      was evaluated by measurement of total antioxidant status, total oxidant status
      and lipid hydroperoxide levels in the cells. Oxidative stress index was also
      calculated. Both NG and NG-Ox show a protective effect against HP-induced
      oxidative damage on PBMC and are able to reduce oxidative stress. The percentage
      of antigenotoxic and antioxidant potential progressively increased in a dose
      dependent manner. However, these activities were found to be more significant in
      NG-Ox-treated cells than in NG-treated cells. Taken together, these observations
      provide evidences indicating that both NG and NG-Ox are able to protect cells
      against oxidative damage and apparently NG-Ox is more effective than NG. 

PMID- 25826181
TI  - Sex-related effects of imidacloprid modulated by piperonyl butoxide and menadione
      in rats. Part II: genotoxic and cytotoxic potential.
AB  - Despite its intended use, imidacloprid causes genotoxic and cytotoxic effects in
      mammals, especially in the presence of metabolic activation systems. The aim of
      this study was to determine to which extent these effects are sex related and how
      its metabolism modulators piperonyl butoxide and menadione affect its toxicity.
      Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with the intraperitoneal LD50
      dose of imidacloprid alone (170 mg/kg) or pretreated with piperonyl butoxide (100
      mg/kg) and menadione (25 mg/kg) for 12 and 24 h. Structural chromosome
      aberrations, abnormal cells and mitotic index were determined microscopically in
      bone marrow cells. Male rats showed susceptibility to the genotoxic effects of
      imidacloprid. Piperonyl butoxide was effective in countering this effect only at
      24 h, whereas menadione exacerbated imidacloprid-induced genotoxicity. Piperonyl
      butoxide and menadione pretreatments increased the percentage of structural
      chromosome aberrations and abnormal cells in females. Imidacloprid decreased the
      mitotic index, whereas pretreatment with piperonyl butoxide and menadione showed
      improvement in both sexes. We believe that CYP450-mediated metabolism of
      imidacloprid is under the hormonal control and therefore that its genotoxicity is
      sex related. Piperonyl butoxide pretreatment also showed sex-related modulation.
      The hormonal effects on imidacloprid biotransformation require further
      investigation.

PMID- 25826182
TI  - The in vitro exposure to cypermethrin does not inhibit the proliferative response
      of peripheral blood mononuclear cells.
AB  - This study evaluated the effect of in vitro exposure to cypermethrin on
      peripheral blood mononuclear cells proliferative response, considering reduced
      peripheral blood mononuclear cells proliferative response observed in individuals
      occupationally exposed to pyrethroids. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were
      obtained from 21 healthy subjects (28.0 +/- 9.0 years old). The effect of
      cypermethrin (at 0.5, 1.0 and 5.0 mg/ml) on cell viability was evaluated by flow
      cytometry using an apoptosis detection kit. Cell proliferation (PI) was evaluated
      by 5-(and 6)-carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) fluorescence
      decay using flow cytometry. Cells labeled with CFSE were exposed, in vitro, to
      cypermethrin (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 2.5 and 4 MUg/ml) and stimulated with
      phytohemagglutinin (PHA 1.0 or 5.0 MUg/ml) for 5 d (37  degrees C, 5% CO2). The
      in vitro treatment of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with cypermethrin did
      not induce apoptosis or necrosis after 5 d in culture. Stimulation by PHA induced
      cell proliferation (PI = 1.29 +/- 1.09 and 2.01 +/- 0.62, PHA at 1.0 and 5.0
      MUg/ml, respectively, mean +/- SD) and in vitro exposure to cypermethrin did not
      alter cellular proliferative response to PHA (PI = 1.80 +/- 0.50, 2.60 +/- 0.05
      and 2.10 +/- 1.20 for cypermethrin at 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 MUg/ml, respectively, and
      PHA at 5.0 MUg/ml). In vitro treatment of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with
      cypermethrin, at the doses tested, does not affect cell viability or
      proliferation. These findings suggest that the reduction of proliferation
      observed on lymphocytes derived from individuals occupationally exposed to
      pesticides may be related to other mechanisms than direct action of cypermethrin
      on lymphocytes.

PMID- 25826183
TI  - Cytogenetic and hematological alterations induced by acute oral exposure of
      imidacloprid in female mice.
AB  - Imidacloprid (IMD), 1(6-chloro-3-pyridinyl)methyl)-N-nitro-2-imidazolidinimine,
      was administered in female mice to study in vivo cytogenetic (chromosomal
      aberrations (CAs) and micronucleus assay) and hematological effects. The acute
      oral LD50 was determined to be 150 mg/kg bw in mice following OECD guidelines
      using AOT StatPgm425 software. The mice were administered orally with distilled
      water (negative control); mitomycin C (MMC), 1 mg/kg (positive control) and sub
      lethal doses of 37.5 (low), 75.0 (medium) and 112.5 (high) mg/kg bw (25%, 50% and
      75% of LD50) of IMD to analyze CAs and hematological effects after 24 h, whereas
      micronucleus test (MT) after 48 h. The genotoxicity analysis revealed that
      selected test doses of IMD--medium and high doses--induced significantly mitotic
      inhibition (p < 0.01), CAs (p < 0.01) and at high dose micronucleus (MN)
      formation (p < 0.05). Significant changes in red blood cell (RBC; p < 0.01),
      hemoglobin (Hb; p < 0.01) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR; p < 0.001)
      were observed, except WBC in which significant increase (p < 0.001) was observed.
      Present observation substantiates overall significant dose dependent genotoxic
      potential (p < 0.05; r = 0.98) of IMD. Precautions should be taken to minimize
      possible risk to exposed farmers of the state of Haryana (India)--an agrarian
      economy.

PMID- 25826184
TI  - Synthesis and structures of cadmium carboxylate and thiocarboxylate compounds
      with a sulfur-rich coordination environment: carboxylate exchange kinetics
      involving tris(2-mercapto-1-t-butylimidazolyl)hydroborato cadmium complexes,
      [Tm(Bu(t))]Cd(O2CR).
AB  - A series of cadmium carboxylate compounds in a sulfur-rich environment provided
      by the tris(2-tert-butylmercaptoimidazolyl)hydroborato ligand, namely,
      [Tm(Bu(t))]CdO2CR, has been synthesized via the reactions of the cadmium methyl
      derivative [Tm(Bu(t))]CdMe with RCO2H. Such compounds mimic aspects of cadmium
      substituted zinc enzymes and also the surface atoms of cadmium chalcogenide
      crystals, and have therefore been employed to model relevant ligand exchange
      processes. Significantly, both (1)H and (19)F NMR spectroscopy demonstrate that
      the exchange of carboxylate groups between [Tm(Bu(t))]Cd(kappa(2)-O2CR) and the
      carboxylic acid RCO2H is facile on the NMR time scale, even at low temperature.
      Analysis of the rate of exchange as a function of concentration of RCO2H
      indicates that reaction occurs via an associative rather than dissociative
      pathway. In addition to carboxylate compounds, the thiocarboxylate derivative
      [Tm(Bu(t))]Cd[kappa(1)-SC(O)Ph] has also been synthesized via the reaction of
      [Tm(Bu(t))]CdMe with thiobenzoic acid. The molecular structure of
      [Tm(Bu(t))]Cd[kappa(1)-SC(O)Ph] has been determined by X-ray diffraction, and an
      interesting feature is that, in contrast to the carboxylate derivatives
      [Tm(Bu(t))]Cd(kappa(2)-O2CR), the thiocarboxylate ligand binds in a kappa(1)
      manner via only the sulfur atom. 

PMID- 25826185
TI  - An efficient approach to 1,2,3-trisubstituted indole via rhodium catalyzed
      carbene C(sp(3))-H bond insertion.
AB  - A method for convenient synthesis of N-alkyl-2-aryl-indole-3-carbaldehyde has
      been described. A variety of highly valuable indolyl aldehydes have been prepared
      through this method. Electron donating groups on both aromatic rings (anilinyl
      and benzyl) facilitate the formation of the desired products. A benzylic C-H
      insertion by rhodium carbene is the key step for this transformation. 

PMID- 25826187
TI  - Understanding Community-Level Disaster and Emergency Response Preparedness.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Community-level disaster readiness is a major component of community
      health promotion. However, many readiness programs are focused on the response of
      emergency and health care personnel and not on the preparedness levels of local
      citizens. This potentially leaves the public unready and unprepared for emergency
      event response. METHODS: A 20-item survey on general states of disaster
      preparedness was delivered to the residents of a midsized midwestern county. The
      residents were asked to share their knowledge of local hazards, emergency
      systems, and personal preparedness. RESULTS: A convenience sample of 423
      residents responded to the survey. Fifty-seven percent (n=241) reported limited
      personal preparedness. Seventy-six percent (n=321) acknowledged little to no
      familiarity with residential emergency systems, and 52% (n=220) reported that
      they did not know how to gain information on public health emergencies, such as
      pandemic flu and evacuation response. CONCLUSIONS: Local citizens should become
      educated on the methods to support personal disaster and emergency readiness.
      Health care and emergency management organizations are encouraged to include
      these concepts in routine community health promotion activities and to pay
      special attention to known areas of community vulnerability. Failure to do so
      creates a population unable to support themselves in the provision of basic
      health and safety measures.

PMID- 25826186
TI  - Development of a modular virus clearance package for anion exchange
      chromatography operated in weak partitioning mode.
AB  - Anion exchange chromatography (AEX) operated under weak partitioning mode has
      been proven to be a powerful polishing step as well as a robust viral clearance
      step in Pfizer's monoclonal antibody (mAb) platform purification process. A
      multivariate design of experiment (DoE) study was conducted to understand the
      impact of operating parameters and feedstream impurity levels on viral clearance
      by weak partitioning mode AEX. Bacteriophage was used initially as a surrogate
      for neutral and acidic isoelectric point mammalian viruses (e.g., retrovirus and
      parvovirus). Five different mAbs were used in the evaluation of process
      parameters such as load challenge (both product and impurities), load pH, load
      conductivity, and contact time (bed height and flow-rate). The operating ranges
      obtained from phage clearance studies and Pfizer's historical data were used to
      define an appropriate operating range for a subsequent clearance study with model
      retrovirus and parvovirus. Both phage and virus clearance evaluations included
      feedstreams containing different levels of impurities such as high molecular mass
      species (HMMS), host cell proteins (HCPs), and host cell DNA. For all the
      conditions tested, over 5 log10 of clearance for both retrovirus and parvovirus
      was achieved. The results demonstrated that weak partitioning mode AEX
      chromatography is a robust step for viral clearance and has the potential to be
      included as part of the modular viral clearance approach.

PMID- 25826188
TI  - Identification of a common epitope between enterovirus 71 and human MED25
      proteins which may explain virus-associated neurological disease.
AB  - Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is a major causative pathogen of hand, foot and mouth
      disease with especially severe neurologic complications, which mainly account for
      fatalities from this disease. To date, the pathogenesis of EV71 in the central
      neurons system has remained unclear. Cytokine-mediated immunopathogenesis and
      nervous tissue damage by virus proliferation are two widely speculated causes of
      the neurological disease. To further study the pathogenesis, we identified a
      common epitope (co-epitope) between EV71 VP1 and human mediator complex subunit
      25 (MED25) highly expressed in brain stem. A monoclonal antibody (2H2) against
      the co-epitope was prepared, and its interaction with MED25 was examined by
      ELISA, immunofluorescence assay and Western blot in vitro and by live small
      animal imaging in vivo. Additionally, 2H2 could bind to both VP1 and MED25 with
      the affinity constant (Kd) of 10-7 M as determined by the ForteBio Octet System.
      Intravenously injected 2H2 was distributed in brain stem of mice after seven days
      of EV71 infection. Interestingly, 2H2-like antibodies were detected in the serum
      of EV71-infected patients. These findings suggest that EV71 infection induces the
      production of antibodies that can bind to autoantigens expressed in nervous
      tissue and maybe further trigger autoimmune reactions resulting in neurological
      disease. 

PMID- 25826189
TI  - Association between copper levels and myocardial infarction: a meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There are conflicting reports as to the correlation between
      copper (Cu) levels and myocardial infarction (MI). The purpose of the present
      study is to clarify the association between Cu levels and MI. METHODS: We
      searched articles in Pubmed and the Chinese Journal Full-text Database published
      as of October 2014. A meta-analysis was used to pool estimates of the
      standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS:
      Pooled analysis indicated that subjects with MI had higher serum Cu levels than
      healthy controls (SMD = 1.629, 95%CI = [1.027, 2.232], Z = 5.30, p < 0.001).
      Further subgroup analysis stratified by ethnicity indicated that subjects with MI
      had higher serum Cu levels than healthy controls among members of the Asian race
      (SMD = 2.191, 95%CI = [1.401, 2.981], Z = 5.43, p < 0.001), but not among members
      of the Caucasian race (SMD = 0.411, 95%CI = [-0.030, 0.851], Z = 1.83, p =
      0.068). The results obtained from hairs showed no association between MI and hair
      Cu levels (SMD = 0.338, 95% CI = [-0.171, 0.848], Z = 1.30, p = 0.193). But the
      subgroup analysis stratified by geological location indicated that subjects with
      MI had higher hair Cu levels than healthy controls in Pakistan (SMD = 0.785, 95%
      CI = [0.587, 0.983], Z = 10.29, p < 0.001), but not in India (SMD = -9.028, 95%
      CI = [-10.747, -7.309], Z = 7.77, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis
      indicates a significant association between high serum Cu levels and MI. However,
      the subgroup analysis found that there was significant effect modification of Cu
      levels by ethnicity. Thus, we suggest that a trans-regional multicenter study is
      needed to obtain better understanding of causal relationships between Cu and MI
      in different human races.

PMID- 25826190
TI  - Systematic refinement of Canongia Lopes-Padua force field for pyrrolidinium-based
      ionic liquids.
AB  - Reliable force field (FF) is a central issue in successful prediction of physical
      chemical properties via computer simulations. While Canongia Lopes-Padua (CL&P)
      FF provides good to excellent thermodynamics and structure of pure room
      temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), it suffers from drastically and systematically
      underestimated ionic motion. This occurs due to neglected partial electron
      transfer from the anion to the cation, resulting in unphysically small simulated
      self-diffusion and conductivity and high shear viscosities. We report a
      systematic refinement of the CL&P FF for six pyrrolidinium-based RTILs (1-N-butyl
      1-methylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide, triflate, bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide,
      bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, tetrafluoroborate, chloride). The elaborated
      procedure accounts for specific cation-anion interactions in the liquid phase.
      Once these interactions are described effectively, experimentally determined
      transport properties can be reproduced with an acceptable accuracy. Together with
      the original CL&P parameters, our force field fosters computational investigation
      of ionic liquids. In addition, the reported results shed more light on the
      chemical nature of cation-anion binding in various families of RTILs. 

PMID- 25826191
TI  - Letter from the editor.

PMID- 25826192
TI  - Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics awards top reviewer of the year.

PMID- 25826194
TI  - Against vaccine assay secrecy.
AB  - Increasing the transparency of the evidence base behind health interventions such
      as pharmaceuticals, biologics, and medical devices, has become a major point of
      critique, conflict, and policy focus in recent years. Yet the lack of publicly
      available information regarding the immunogenicity assays upon which many
      important, widely used vaccines are based has received no attention to date. In
      this paper we draw attention to this critical public health problem by reporting
      on our efforts to secure vaccine assay information in respect of 10 vaccines
      through Canada's access to information law. We argue, under Canadian law, that
      the public health interest in having access to the methods for these laboratory
      procedures should override claims by vaccine manufacturers and regulators that
      this information is proprietary; and, we call upon several actors to take steps
      to ensure greater transparency with respect to vaccine assays, including
      regulators, private firms, researchers, research institutions, research funders,
      and journal editors. 

PMID- 25826195
TI  - Purification, biochemical characterization, and implications of an alkali
      tolerant catalase from the spacecraft-associated and oxidation-resistant
      Acinetobacter gyllenbergii 2P01AA.
AB  - Herein, we report on the purification, characterization, and sequencing of
      catalase from Acinetobacter gyllenbergii 2P01AA, an extremely oxidation-resistant
      bacterium that was isolated from the Mars Phoenix spacecraft assembly facility.
      The Acinetobacter are dominant members of the microbial communities that inhabit
      spacecraft assembly facilities and consequently may serve as forward contaminants
      that could impact the integrity of future life-detection missions. Catalase was
      purified by using a 3-step chromatographic procedure, where mass spectrometry
      provided respective subunit and intact masses of 57.8 and 234.6 kDa, which were
      consistent with a small-subunit tetrameric catalase. Kinetics revealed an extreme
      pH stability with no loss in activity between pH 5 and 11.5 and provided
      respective kcat/Km and kcat values of ~10(7) s(-1) M(-1) and 10(6) s(-1), which
      are among the highest reported for bacterial catalases. The amino acid sequence
      was deduced by in-depth peptide mapping, and structural homology suggested that
      the catalases from differing strains of A. gyllenbergii differ only at residues
      near the subunit interfaces, which may impact catalytic stability. Together, the
      kinetic, alkali-tolerant, and halotolerant properties of the catalase from A.
      gyllenbergii 2P01AA are significant, as they are consistent with molecular
      adaptations toward the alkaline, low-humidity, and potentially oxidizing
      conditions of spacecraft assembly facilities. Therefore, these results support
      the hypothesis that the selective pressures of the assembly facilities impact the
      microbial communities at the molecular level, which may have broad implications
      for future life-detection missions.

PMID- 25826197
TI  - Assessing vertical jump developmental levels in childhood using a low-cost motion
      capture approach.
AB  - Understanding the developmental levels of fundamental movement skills has a
      critical role in the improvement of motor competence in childhood. In this
      respect, the use of Microsoft Kinect to assess vertical jumping skill and to
      predict developmental levels in 9- to 12-yr.-old children was evaluated. 41 boys
      and girls repeated the countermovement jump test three times. Vertical jumping
      skill levels were categorized using observational records, while kinematic and
      temporal parameters were estimated using a biomechanical model based on data
      acquired by the Kinect. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and
      discriminant analysis verified that the height of the jump and the flight height
      predict the primary differences in jumping skill developmental levels, and the
      Kinect-based assessment discriminates these levels.

PMID- 25826196
TI  - Anisotropic silk biomaterials containing cardiac extracellular matrix for cardiac
      tissue engineering.
AB  - Cardiac malformations and disease are the leading causes of death in the United
      States in live-born infants and adults, respectively. In both of these cases, a
      decrease in the number of functional cardiomyocytes often results in improper
      growth of heart tissue, wound healing complications, and poor tissue repair. The
      field of cardiac tissue engineering seeks to address these concerns by developing
      cardiac patches created from a variety of biomaterial scaffolds to be used in
      surgical repair of the heart. These scaffolds should be fully degradable
      biomaterial systems with tunable properties such that the materials can be
      altered to meet the needs of both in vitro culture (e.g. disease modeling) and in
      vivo application (e.g. cardiac patch). Current platforms do not utilize both
      structural anisotropy and proper cell-matrix contacts to promote functional
      cardiac phenotypes and thus there is still a need for critically sized scaffolds
      that mimic both the structural and adhesive properties of native tissue. To
      address this need, we have developed a silk-based scaffold platform containing
      cardiac tissue-derived extracellular matrix (cECM). These silk-cECM composite
      scaffolds have tunable architectures, degradation rates, and mechanical
      properties. Subcutaneous implantation in rats demonstrated that addition of the
      cECM to aligned silk scaffold led to 99% endogenous cell infiltration and
      promoted vascularization of a critically sized scaffold (10 * 5 * 2.5 mm) after 4
      weeks in vivo. In vitro, silk-cECM scaffolds maintained the HL-1 atrial
      cardiomyocytes and human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and promoted
      a more functional phenotype in both cell types. This class of hybrid silk-cECM
      anisotropic scaffolds offers new opportunities for developing more
      physiologically relevant tissues for cardiac repair and disease modeling.

PMID- 25826198
TI  - Metal ion-assisted photochemical vapor generation for the determination of lead
      in environmental samples by multicollector-ICPMS.
AB  - A novel and sensitive approach for the accurate and precise determination of Pb
      in environmental samples is presented using transition metal ion-assisted
      photochemical vapor generation (PVG) for sample introduction with multicollector
      inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) detection. A significant
      improvement in PVG efficiency of lead is achieved in the presence of transition
      metal ions (Co(2+) and Ni(2+)) in solutions of 5% (v/v) formic acid. The
      determination of Pb in digests of sediment or soil samples is readily achieved
      due to coexisting transition metal ions which facilitate the PVG reaction. The
      method detection limit of 0.005 ng g(-1) (3sigma) using external calibration is
      comparable to that obtained using hydride generation (HG) ICPMS. However, PVG
      methodology is simpler, results in lower blanks, and avoids unstable reagents.
      The accuracy of the proposed method was demonstrated by analysis of several
      environmental certified reference materials (CRMs; SLRS-5 and SRM1640a river
      water CRMs and MESS-3, MESS-4, and SRM2702 sediments) with satisfying results.
      High precision of determination (<0.4% RSD) of Pb in river water and sediments
      was realized on the basis of isotope dilution calibration. 

PMID- 25826199
TI  - Limb Dominance and Its Effects on the Benefits of Intralimb Transfer of Learning:
      A Visuomotor Aiming Task.
AB  - Research has attempted to address what characteristics benefit from transfer of
      learning; however, it is still unclear which characteristics are effector
      dependent or independent. Furthermore, it is not clear if intralimb transfer
      shows, similarly to interlimb transfer, an asymmetry of benefits between the
      upper limbs. The purpose of the current study is to examine if effector
      independence effects emerge, as observed in interlimb transfer studies, when
      transfer to new effector group within the same limb occurs, and whether the
      pattern of intralimb transfer benefits differ between the limbs. Our results
      suggest that a visuomotor task transfers within both limbs, even though the
      transfer benefits within the limbs seem to differ. This was supported by more
      transfer occurring in the dominant limb than the nondominant limb. Potential
      control mechanisms used for intralimb transfer are discussed. 

PMID- 25826200
TI  - Non-specific terminology: Moderating shame and guilt in eating disorders.
AB  - To examine the effects of terminology on affect, 110 women with eating disorders
      were randomly assigned to read a manufactured discussion thread with uses of the
      term "acting out," a thread with clinical terms, or were assigned to a no-reading
      control. An interaction effect was found in which participants who were treated
      at a day or inpatient level and were in the "acting out" condition experienced
      reductions in shame and guilt, while those in the clinical term condition
      experienced increases in shame and guilt, relative to control participants. The
      ability of terminology to moderate shame and guilt in this population has
      implications for clinical practice. 

PMID- 25826201
TI  - Coumarin-fused coumarin: antioxidant story from N,N-dimethylamino and hydroxyl
      groups.
AB  - Two coumarin skeletons can form chromeno[3,4-c]chromene-6,7-dione by sharing with
      the C ? C in lactone. The aim of the present work was to explore the antioxidant
      effectiveness of the coumarin-fused coumarin via six synthetic compounds
      containing hydroxyl and N,N-dimethylamino as the functional groups. The abilities
      to quench 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) cationic radical
      (ABTS(+*)), 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), and galvinoxyl radical
      revealed that the rate constant for scavenging radicals was related to the amount
      of hydroxyl group in the scaffold of coumarin-fused coumarin. But coumarin-fused
      coumarin was able to inhibit DNA oxidations caused by (*)OH, Cu(2+)/glutathione
      (GSH), and 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane hydrochloride) (AAPH) even in the absence
      of hydroxyl group. In particular, a hydroxyl and an N,N-dimethylamino group
      locating at different benzene rings increased the inhibitory effect of coumarin
      fused coumarin on AAPH-induced oxidation of DNA about 3 times higher than a
      single hydroxyl group, whereas N,N-dimethylamino-substituted coumarin-fused
      coumarin possessed high activity toward (*)OH-induced oxidation of DNA without
      the hydroxyl group contained. Therefore, the hydroxyl group together with N,N
      dimethylamino group may be a novel combination for the design of coumarin-fused
      heterocyclic antioxidants.

PMID- 25826202
TI  - The influence of bile salts on the response of liposomes to ultrasound.
AB  - CONTEXT: Triggering drug release from delivery vehicles with ultrasound has
      potential applications in targeted drug delivery. It was hypothesized that the
      addition of bile salts would increase the sensitivity of liposomes to ultrasound
      through creation of defects. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate
      whether incorporating bile salts into liposomes would lead to differential
      effects on their response to low and high frequency ultrasound. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Cholate, chenodeoxycholate, ursodeoxycholate, glycocholate and
      taurocholate were the selected bile salts. Response to ultrasound was
      characterized by measuring the release of carboxyfluorescein (CF). RESULTS: At 30
      kHz ultrasound, taurocholate containing liposomes were most responsive and
      released 70% (+/- 2) CF after 30 seconds of sonication. Compared to this,
      liposomes that did not contain bile salts released just 7% (+/- 2). At 1.1 MHz
      ultrasound, all liposome formulations were unresponsive. To increase the response
      of liposomes at 1.1 MHz ultrasound, a combination of membrane destabilizers were
      added to DSPC liposomes. DOPE, a hexagonal phase lipid was used in combination
      with taurocholate. Surprisingly, liposomes containing DOPE and taurocholate were
      more resistant to 1.1 MHz ultrasound than ones containing only DOPE. DISCUSSION:
      This suggests that the sensitivity of liposomes towards ultrasound may not simply
      be defined by a single membrane component but instead depends on the interaction
      between constituting lipid components. Furthermore, strategies other than
      membrane destabilization may be required to sensitize liposomes towards high
      frequency ultrasound. CONCLUSION: Bile salts may be used to increase or decrease
      the sensitivity of liposomes to low frequency ultrasound.

PMID- 25826203
TI  - Filter-extruded liposomes revisited: a study into size distributions and
      morphologies in relation to lipid-composition and process parameters.
AB  - Filter-extrusion is a widely used technique for down-sizing of phospholipid
      vesicles. In order to gain a detailed insight into size and size distributions of
      filter-extruded vesicles composed of egg phosphatidyl-choline (with varying
      fractions of cholesterol)--in relation to extrusion-parameters (pore-size, number
      of filter passages, and flow-rate), flow field-flow fractionation in conjunction
      with multi-angle laser light scattering (AF4-MALLS, Wyatt Technology Corp., Santa
      Barbara, CA) was employed. Liposome size-distributions determined by AF4-MALLS
      were compared with those of dynamic light scattering and correlated with cryo
      transmission electron microscopy and (31)P-NMR-analysis of lamellarity. Both the
      mean size of liposome and the width of size distribution were found to decrease
      with sequential extrusion through smaller pore size filters, starting at a size
      range of ~70-415 nm upon repeated extrusion through 400 nm pore-filters,
      eventually ending with a size range from ~30 to 85 nm upon extrusion through 30
      nm pore size filters. While for small pores sizes (50 nm), increased flow rates
      resulted in smaller vesicles, no significant influence of flow rate on mean
      vesicle size was seen with larger pores. Cholesterol at increasing mol fractions
      up to 0.45 yielded bigger vesicles (at identical process conditions). For a
      cholesterol mol fraction of 0.5 in combination with small filter pore size, a
      bimodal size distribution was seen indicating cholesterol micro-crystallites.
      Finally, a protocol is suggested to prepare large (~ 300 nm) liposomes with
      rather narrow size distribution, based on the filter extrusion at defined flow
      rates in combination with freeze-/thaw-cycling and bench-top centrifugation.

PMID- 25826204
TI  - The Impact of Disclosure of Nutrition Information on Consumers' Behavioral
      Intention in Korea.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of nutritional information disclosure on
      consumers' nutritional perception, attitude, and behavioral intention to purchase
      the food item. METHODS: Questionnaires were distributed measuring nutritional
      perception, attitude, and behavioral intention with different nutritional
      information about the food (no information, calories only, and six nutritional
      content information items: food weight(g), calories(kcal), protein(g), sugar(g),
      sodium(g), and saturated fat(g)). Food items shown to the respondents were
      hamburgers and bibimbap. RESULTS: Descriptive analysis, analysis of variance, and
      multiple regression were used in order to examine the effects of nutritional
      information levels and different food items on consumers' behavioral intentions.
      Nutritional perception, food attitude, and food choice intention were all
      affected by levels of nutritional information and different food items. Also,
      food attitude was a predictor of food choice behavioral intention and was
      affected by different food items as well. However, results of the study found
      that objective and subjective knowledge of individuals are not related to their
      nutritional perception, attitude, and behavioral intention. CONCLUSIONS: Results
      of this study would help restaurant managers to prepare for consumers' demand on
      disclosure of nutritional information and adjust their menu ingredients for
      consumers' healthy food inquiries in order to respond to consumers' interests in
      nutritional information and ensure consumers satisfaction with the perceived
      nutritional value of food.

PMID- 25826205
TI  - SAYE: the story of an antimalarial phytomedicine from Burkina Faso.

PMID- 25826207
TI  - Correction: Epidemiology and molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium spp.
      in humans, wild primates, and domesticated animals in the Greater Gombe
      Ecosystem, Tanzania.

PMID- 25826206
TI  - Host glycan sugar-specific pathways in Streptococcus pneumoniae: galactose as a
      key sugar in colonisation and infection [corrected].
AB  - The human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae is a strictly fermentative organism
      that relies on glycolytic metabolism to obtain energy. In the human nasopharynx
      S. pneumoniae encounters glycoconjugates composed of a variety of
      monosaccharides, which can potentially be used as nutrients once depolymerized by
      glycosidases. Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesise that the pneumococcus
      would rely on these glycan-derived sugars to grow. Here, we identified the sugar
      specific catabolic pathways used by S. pneumoniae during growth on mucin.
      Transcriptome analysis of cells grown on mucin showed specific upregulation of
      genes likely to be involved in deglycosylation, transport and catabolism of
      galactose, mannose and N acetylglucosamine. In contrast to growth on mannose and
      N-acetylglucosamine, S. pneumoniae grown on galactose re-route their metabolic
      pathway from homolactic fermentation to a truly mixed acid fermentation regime.
      By measuring intracellular metabolites, enzymatic activities and mutant analysis,
      we provide an accurate map of the biochemical pathways for galactose, mannose and
      N-acetylglucosamine catabolism in S. pneumoniae. Intranasal mouse infection
      models of pneumococcal colonisation and disease showed that only mutants in
      galactose catabolic genes were attenuated. Our data pinpoint galactose as a key
      nutrient for growth in the respiratory tract and highlights the importance of
      central carbon metabolism for pneumococcal pathogenesis. 

PMID- 25826208
TI  - Selective and genetic constraints on pneumococcal serotype switching.
AB  - Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates typically express one of over 90
      immunologically distinguishable polysaccharide capsules (serotypes), which can be
      classified into "serogroups" based on cross-reactivity with certain antibodies.
      Pneumococci can alter their serotype through recombinations affecting the capsule
      polysaccharide synthesis (cps) locus. Twenty such "serotype switching" events
      were fully characterised using a collection of 616 whole genome sequences from
      systematic surveys of pneumococcal carriage. Eleven of these were within
      serogroup switches, representing a highly significant (p < 0.0001) enrichment
      based on the observed serotype distribution. Whereas the recombinations resulting
      in between-serogroup switches all spanned the entire cps locus, some of those
      that caused within-serogroup switches did not. However, higher rates of within
      serogroup switching could not be fully explained by either more frequent, shorter
      recombinations, nor by genetic linkage to genes involved in beta-lactam
      resistance. This suggested the observed pattern was a consequence of selection
      for preserving serogroup. Phenotyping of strains constructed to express different
      serotypes in common genetic backgrounds was used to test whether genotypes were
      physiologically adapted to particular serogroups. These data were consistent with
      epistatic interactions between the cps locus and the rest of the genome that were
      specific to serotype, but not serogroup, meaning they were unlikely to account
      for the observed distribution of capsule types. Exclusion of these genetic and
      physiological hypotheses suggested future work should focus on alternative
      mechanisms, such as host immunity spanning multiple serotypes within the same
      serogroup, which might explain the observed pattern. 

PMID- 25826209
TI  - Identification and therapeutic potential of a vitronectin binding region of
      meningococcal msf.
AB  - The human pathogen Neisseria meningitides (Nm) attains serum resistance via a
      number of mechanisms, one of which involves binding to the host complement
      regulator protein vitronectin. We have shown previously that the Meningococcal
      surface fibril (Msf), a trimeric autotransporter, binds to the activated form of
      vitronectin (aVn) to increase Nm survival in human serum. In this study, we aimed
      to identify the aVn-binding region of Msf to assess its potential as an antigen
      which can elicit antibodies that block aVn binding and/or possess bactericidal
      properties. Using several recombinant Msf fragments spanning its surface-exposed
      region, the smallest aVn-binding recombinants were found to span residues 1-86
      and 39-124. The use of further deletion constructs and overlapping recombinant
      Msf fragments suggested that a region of Msf comprising residues 39-82 may be
      primarily important for aVn binding and that other regions may also be involved
      but to a lesser extent. Molecular modelling implicated K66 and K68, conserved in
      all available Msf sequences, to be involved in the interaction. Recombinant
      fragments which bound to aVn were able to reduce the survival advantage conveyed
      by aVn-interaction in serum bactericidal assays. Antibodies raised against one
      such fragment inhibited aVn binding to Msf. In addition, the antibodies enhanced
      specific killing of Msf-expressing Nm in a dose-dependent manner. Overall, this
      study identifies an aVn-binding region of Msf, an adhesin known to impart serum
      resistance properties to the pathogen; and shows that this region of Msf can
      elicit antibodies with dual properties which reduce pathogen survival within the
      host and thus has potential as a vaccine antigen. 

PMID- 25826210
TI  - Development of an indicator to monitor mediterranean wetlands.
AB  - Wetlands are sensitive ecosystems that are increasingly subjected to threats from
      anthropogenic factors. In the last decades, coastal Mediterranean wetlands have
      been suffering considerable pressures from land use change, intensification of
      urban growth, increasing tourism infrastructure and intensification of
      agricultural practices. Remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems
      (GIS) techniques are efficient tools that can support monitoring Mediterranean
      coastal wetlands on large scales and over long periods of time. The study aims at
      developing a wetland indicator to support monitoring Mediterranean coastal
      wetlands using these techniques. The indicator makes use of multi-temporal
      Landsat images, land use reference layers, a 50m numerical model of the territory
      (NMT) and Corine Land Cover (CLC) for the identification and mapping of wetlands.
      The approach combines supervised image classification techniques making use of
      vegetation indices and decision tree analysis to identify the surface covered by
      wetlands at a given date. A validation process is put in place to compare
      outcomes with existing local wetland inventories to check the results
      reliability. The indicator's results demonstrate an improvement in the level of
      precision of change detection methods achieved by traditional tools providing
      reliability up to 95% in main wetland areas. The results confirm that the use of
      RS techniques improves the precision of wetland detection compared to the use of
      CLC for wetland monitoring and stress the strong relation between the level of
      wetland detection and the nature of the wetland areas and the monitoring scale
      considered. 

PMID- 25826211
TI  - Lichen symbiosis: nature's high yielding machines for induced hydrogen
      production.
AB  - Hydrogen is a promising future energy source. Although the ability of green algae
      to produce hydrogen has long been recognized (since 1939) and several
      biotechnological applications have been attempted, the greatest obstacle, being
      the O2-sensitivity of the hydrogenase enzyme, has not yet been overcome. In the
      present contribution, 75 years after the first report on algal hydrogen
      production, taking advantage of a natural mechanism of oxygen balance, we
      demonstrate high hydrogen yields by lichens. Lichens have been selected as the
      ideal organisms in nature for hydrogen production, since they consist of a
      mycobiont and a photobiont in symbiosis. It has been hypothesized that the
      mycobiont's and photobiont's consumption of oxygen (increase of COX and AOX
      proteins of mitochondrial respiratory pathways and PTOX protein of
      chrolorespiration) establishes the required anoxic conditions for the activation
      of the phycobiont's hydrogenase in a closed system. Our results clearly supported
      the above hypothesis, showing that lichens have the ability to activate
      appropriate bioenergetic pathways depending on the specific incubation
      conditions. Under light conditions, they successfully use the PSII-dependent and
      the PSII-independent pathways (decrease of D1 protein and parallel increase of
      PSaA protein) to transfer electrons to hydrogenase, while under dark conditions,
      lichens use the PFOR enzyme and the dark fermentative pathway to supply electrons
      to hydrogenase. These advantages of lichen symbiosis in combination with their
      ability to survive in extreme environments (while in a dry state) constitute them
      as unique and valuable hydrogen producing natural factories and pave the way for
      future biotechnological applications. 

PMID- 25826212
TI  - MicroRNA signature characterizes primary tumors that metastasize in an esophageal
      adenocarcinoma rat model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To establish a miRNA signature for metastasis in an animal model of
      esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). BACKGROUND: The incidence of esophageal
      adenocarcinoma (EAC) has dramatically increased and esophageal cancer is now the
      sixth leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Mortality rates remain high among
      patients with advanced stage disease and esophagectomy is associated with high
      complication rates. Hence, early identification of potentially metastatic disease
      would better guide treatment strategies. METHODS: The modified Levrat's surgery
      was performed to induce EAC in Sprague-Dawley rats. Primary EAC and distant
      metastatic sites were confirmed via histology and immunofluorescence. miRNA
      profiling was performed on primary tumors with or without metastasis. A unique
      subset of miRNAs expressed in primary tumors and metastases was identified with
      Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) along with upstream and downstream targets.
      miRNA-linked gene expression analysis was performed on a secondary cohort of
      metastasis positive (n=5) and metastasis negative (n=28) primary tumors. RESULTS:
      The epithelial origin of distant metastasis was established by IF using villin
      (VIL1) and mucin 5AC (MUC5AC) antibodies. miRNome analysis identified four down
      regulated miRNAs in metastasis positive primary tumors compared to metastasis
      negative tumors: miR-92a-3p (p=0.0001), miR-141-3p (p=0.0022), miR-451-1a
      (p=0.0181) and miR133a-3p (p=0.0304). Six target genes identified in the top
      scoring networks by IPA were validated as significantly, differentially expressed
      in metastasis positive primary tumors: Ago2, Akt1, Kras, Bcl2L11, CDKN1B and
      Zeb2. CONCLUSION: In vivo metastasis was confirmed in the modified Levrat's
      model. Analysis of the primary tumor identified a distinctive miRNA signature for
      primary tumors that metastasized.

PMID- 25826213
TI  - Comparison of short- and medium-term clinical outcomes between transradial
      approach and transfemoral approach in a high-volume PCI heart center in China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transradial approach (TRA) outweighed transfemoral approach (TFA) in
      acute coronary syndrome patients because the former has better short-term
      outcomes in high-volume percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) centers. Our
      study was one of the limited studies specifically in comparing the short- and
      medium-term effects of TRA and those of TFA in patients undergoing elective PCIs.
      METHODS: A total of 21,242 patients who underwent elective PCI with stent
      implantation were included. Using propensity score methodology, 1,634 patient
      pairs were matched. Major clinical outcomes and PCI-related complications between
      TRA and TFA were compared. RESULTS: In the propensity score-matched patients, the
      rates of in-hospital net adverse clinical events, which included death,
      myocardial infarction (MI), target vessel revascularization (TVR), stroke, and
      major bleeding, were much lower with TRA than with TFA (1.8% vs. 3.9%, P <
      0.001). This difference was mainly due to the lower rate of major bleeding (0.6%
      vs. 1.8%, P < 0.001) and the decreased rate of MI (1.1% vs. 1.9%, P = 0.060). PCI
      related dissection and thrombosis were similar between the TRA and TFA groups
      (both P > 0.05). Meanwhile, one-year incidence rates of major adverse
      cardiovascular events, which included death, MI, and TVR, were also similar (4.1%
      vs. 4.9%, P = 0.272) in TRA and TFA. Multivariable regression analyses showed
      that TRA was an independent predictor of the low rate of in-hospital net adverse
      clinical events (odds ratio, 0.53; 95% confidence interval, 0.40 to 0.71), but
      not of major adverse cardiovascular events at one-year follow-up (hazard ratio,
      1.01; 95% confidence interval, 0.96 to 1.06). CONCLUSIONS: In patients undergoing
      elective PCI, TRA patients had lower rates of in-hospital net adverse clinical
      outcomes compared with TFA patients. TRA might be recommended as a routine
      approach in high-volume PCI hospitals for elective PCIs.

PMID- 25826214
TI  - The impact of the Thai motorcycle transition on road traffic injury: Thai Cohort
      Study results.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of motorcycle to
      car transitioning and urbanisation on traffic injury rates in Thailand. DESIGN:
      Analysis of two consecutive surveys of a large national cohort study. SETTING:
      Thailand. PARTICIPANTS: The data derived from 57,154 Thai Cohort Study (TCS)
      participants who provided relevant data on both the 2005 and 2009 surveys.
      PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Motorcycle and car traffic crash injury
      self-reported in 2009, with twelve months' recall. RESULTS: In 2009, 5608(10%)
      participants reported a traffic crash injury. Most crashes involved a motorcycle
      (74%). Car access increased and motorcycle use decreased between 2005 and 2009.
      Among those who used a motorcycle at both time points, traffic injury incidence
      was 2.8 times greater compared to those who did not use a motorcycle at either
      time point. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to test
      longitudinal and cross sectional factors associated with traffic crash injury: in
      the adjusted model, cars were negatively and motorcycles positively associated
      with injury. Living in an urban area was not injury protective in the adjusted
      model of traffic crash injury. CONCLUSIONS: Ongoing urbanisation in Thailand can
      be expected to lead to further reductions in road traffic injuries based on
      transition from motorcycles to cars in urban areas. Cities, however, do not
      provide an intrinsically safer traffic environment. To accommodate a safe
      transition to car use in Thailand, traffic infrastructural changes anticipating
      the growing car density in urban areas is warranted.

PMID- 25826215
TI  - Substrate use of Pseudovibrio sp. growing in ultra-oligotrophic seawater.
AB  - Marine planktonic bacteria often live in habitats with extremely low
      concentrations of dissolved organic matter (DOM). To study the use of trace
      amounts of DOM by the facultatively oligotrophic Pseudovibrio sp. FO-BEG1, we
      investigated the composition of artificial and natural seawater before and after
      growth. We determined the concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total
      dissolved nitrogen (TDN), free and hydrolysable amino acids, and the molecular
      composition of DOM by electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron
      resonance mass spectrometry (ESI FT-ICR-MS). The DOC concentration of the
      artificial seawater we used for cultivation was 4.4 MUmol C L(-1), which was
      eight times lower compared to the natural oligotrophic seawater we used for
      parallel experiments (36 MUmol C L(-1)). During the three-week duration of the
      experiment, cell numbers increased from 40 cells mL(-1) to 2x10(4) cells mL(-1)
      in artificial and to 3x10(5) cells mL(-1) in natural seawater. No nitrogen
      fixation and minor CO2 fixation (< 1% of cellular carbon) was observed. Our data
      show that in both media, amino acids were not the main substrate for growth.
      Instead, FT-ICR-MS analysis revealed usage of a variety of different dissolved
      organic molecules, belonging to a wide range of chemical compound groups, also
      containing nitrogen. The present study shows that marine heterotrophic bacteria
      are able to proliferate with even lower DOC concentrations than available in
      natural ultra-oligotrophic seawater, using unexpected organic compounds to fuel
      their energy, carbon and nitrogen requirements.

PMID- 25826216
TI  - Statistical properties of pairwise distances between leaves on a random Yule
      tree.
AB  - A Yule tree is the result of a branching process with constant birth and death
      rates. Such a process serves as an instructive null model of many empirical
      systems, for instance, the evolution of species leading to a phylogenetic tree.
      However, often in phylogeny the only available information is the pairwise
      distances between a small fraction of extant species representing the leaves of
      the tree. In this article we study statistical properties of the pairwise
      distances in a Yule tree. Using a method based on a recursion, we derive an
      exact, analytic and compact formula for the expected number of pairs separated by
      a certain time distance. This number turns out to follow a increasing exponential
      function. This property of a Yule tree can serve as a simple test for empirical
      data to be well described by a Yule process. We further use this recursive method
      to calculate the expected number of the n-most closely related pairs of leaves
      and the number of cherries separated by a certain time distance. To make our
      results more useful for realistic scenarios, we explicitly take into account that
      the leaves of a tree may be incompletely sampled and derive a criterion for
      poorly sampled phylogenies. We show that our result can account for empirical
      data, using two families of birds species. 

PMID- 25826217
TI  - Two DNA aptamers against avian influenza H9N2 virus prevent viral infection in
      cells.
AB  - New antiviral therapy for pandemic influenza mediated by the H9N2 avian influenza
      virus (AIV) is increasingly in demand not only for the poultry industry but also
      for public health. Aptamers are confirmed to be promising candidates for
      treatment and prevention of influenza viral infections. Thus, we studied two DNA
      aptamers, A9 and B4, selected by capillary electrophoresis-based systemic
      evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (CE-SELEX) procedure using H9N2
      AIV purified haemagglutinin (HA) as target. Both aptamers had whole-virus binding
      affinity. Also, an enzyme-linked aptamer assay (ELAA) confirmed binding affinity
      and specificity against other AIV subtypes. Finally, we studied aptamer
      inhibitory effects on H9N2 AIV infection in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK)
      cells and quantified viral load in supernatant and in cell with quantitative PCR
      (qPCR). Our data provide a foundation for future development of innovative anti
      influenza drugs. 

PMID- 25826218
TI  - The contribution of former work-related activity levels to predict physical
      activity and sedentary time during early retirement: moderating role of
      educational level and physical functioning.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The transition to retirement introduces a decline in total physical
      activity and an increase in TV viewing time. Nonetheless, as more time becomes
      available, early retirement is an ideal stage to implement health interventions.
      Therefore, knowledge on specific determinants of physical activity and sedentary
      time is needed. Former work-related physical activity has been proposed as a
      potential determinant, but concrete evidence is lacking. The aim of this study
      was to examine if former work-related sitting, standing, walking or vigorous
      activities predict physical activity and sedentary time during early retirement.
      Additionally, moderating effects of educational level and physical functioning
      were examined. METHODS: In total, 392 recently retired Belgian adults (>6 months,
      <5 years) completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, the SF-36
      Health Survey and a questionnaire on sociodemographics and former work-related
      activities. Generalized linear regression analyses were conducted in R.
      Moderating effects were examined by adding cross-products to the models. RESULTS:
      More former work-related sitting was predictive of more screen time during
      retirement. Lower levels of former work-related vigorous activities and higher
      levels of former work-related walking were associated with respectively more
      cycling for transport and more walking for transport during retirement. None of
      the predictors significantly explained passive transportation, cycling and
      walking for recreation, and leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
      during retirement. Several moderating effects were found, but the direction of
      the interactions was not univocal. CONCLUSIONS: Former-work related behaviors are
      of limited importance to explain physical activity during early retirement, so
      future studies should focus on other individual, social and environmental
      determinants. Nonetheless, adults who previously had a sedentary job had higher
      levels of screen time during retirement, so this is an important subgroup to
      focus on during interventions. Because of the inconsistent moderating effects of
      educational level and physical functioning, no clear recommendations can be
      formulated.

PMID- 25826219
TI  - Implications of network topology on stability.
AB  - In analogy to chemical reaction networks, I demonstrate the utility of expressing
      the governing equations of an arbitrary dynamical system (interaction network) as
      sums of real functions (generalized reactions) multiplied by real scalars
      (generalized stoichiometries) for analysis of its stability. The reaction
      stoichiometries and first derivatives define the network's "influence topology",
      a signed directed bipartite graph. Parameter reduction of the influence topology
      permits simplified expression of the principal minors (sums of products of non
      overlapping bipartite cycles) and Hurwitz determinants (sums of products of the
      principal minors or the bipartite cycles directly) for assessing the network's
      steady state stability. Visualization of the Hurwitz determinants over the
      reduced parameters defines the network's stability phase space, delimiting the
      range of its dynamics (specifically, the possible numbers of unstable roots at
      each steady state solution). Any further explicit algebraic specification of the
      network will project onto this stability phase space. Stability analysis via this
      hierarchical approach is demonstrated on classical networks from multiple fields.

PMID- 25826220
TI  - Deficits in error-monitoring by college students with schizotypal traits: an
      event-related potential study.
AB  - The present study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate deficits in
      error-monitoring by college students with schizotypal traits. Scores on the
      Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) were used to categorize the
      participants into schizotypal-trait (n = 17) and normal control (n = 20) groups.
      The error-monitoring abilities of the participants were evaluated using the Simon
      task, which consists of congruent (locations of stimulus and response are the
      same) and incongruent (locations of stimulus and response are different)
      conditions. The schizotypal-trait group committed more errors on the Simon task
      and exhibited smaller error-related negativity (ERN) amplitudes than did the
      control group. Additionally, ERN amplitude measured at FCz was negatively
      correlated with the error rate on the Simon task in the schizotypal-trait group
      but not in the control group. The two groups did not differ in terms of correct
      related potentials (CRN), error positivity (Pe) and correct-related positivity
      (Pc) amplitudes. The present results indicate that individuals with schizotypal
      traits have deficits in error-monitoring and that reduced ERN amplitudes may
      represent a biological marker of schizophrenia. 

PMID- 25826222
TI  - An anisotropically and heterogeneously aligned patterned electrospun scaffold
      with tailored mechanical property and improved bioactivity for vascular tissue
      engineering.
AB  - The development of vascular scaffolds with controlled mechanical properties and
      stimulatory effects on biological activities of endothelial cells still remains a
      significant challenge to vascular tissue engineering. In this work, we reported
      an innovative approach to prepare a new type of vascular scaffolds with
      anisotropically and heterogeneously aligned patterns using electrospinning
      technique with unique wire spring templates, and further investigated the
      structural effects of the patterned electrospun scaffolds on mechanical
      properties and angiogenic differentiation of human umbilical vein endothelial
      cells (HUVECs). Results showed that anisotropically aligned patterned nanofibrous
      structure was obtained by depositing nanofibers on template in a structurally
      different manner, one part of nanofibers densely deposited on the embossments of
      wire spring and formed cylindrical-like structures in the transverse direction,
      while others loosely suspended and aligned along the longitudinal direction,
      forming a three-dimensional porous microstructure. We further found that such
      structures could efficiently control the mechanical properties of electrospun
      vascular scaffolds in both longitudinal and transverse directions by altering the
      interval distances between the embossments of patterned scaffolds. When HUVECs
      were cultured on scaffolds with different microstructures, the patterned
      scaffolds distinctively promoted adhesion of HUVECs at early stage and
      proliferation during the culture period. Most importantly, cells experienced a
      large shape change associated with cell cytoskeleton and nuclei remodeling,
      leading to a stimulatory effect on angiogenesis differentiation of HUVECs by the
      patterned microstructures of electrospun scaffolds, and the scaffolds with larger
      distances of intervals showed a higher stimulatory effect. These results suggest
      that electrospun scaffolds with the anisotropically and heterogeneously aligned
      patterns, which could efficiently control the mechanical properties and
      bioactivities of the scaffolds, might have great potential in vascular tissue
      engineering application. 

PMID- 25826221
TI  - Nicotinic Acid Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate Analogues Substituted on the
      Nicotinic Acid and Adenine Ribosides. Effects on ReceptorMediated Ca2+ Release.
AB  - Nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP) is a Ca(2+) releasing
      intracellular second messenger in both mammals and echinoderms. We report that
      large functionalized substituents introduced at the nicotinic acid 5-position are
      recognized by the sea urchin receptor, albeit with a 20-500-fold loss in agonist
      potency. 5-(3-Azidopropyl)-NAADP was shown to release Ca(2+) with an EC50 of 31
      MUM and to compete with NAADP for receptor binding with an IC50 of 56 nM.
      Attachment of charged groups to the nicotinic acid of NAADP is associated with
      loss of activity, suggesting that the nicotinate riboside moiety is recognized as
      a neutral zwitterion. Substituents (Br- and N3-) can be introduced at the 8
      adenosyl position of NAADP while preserving high potency and agonist efficacy and
      an NAADP derivative substituted at both the 5-position of the nicotinic acid and
      at the 8-adenosyl position was also recognized although the agonist potency was
      significantly reduced. 

PMID- 25826223
TI  - Scalable graphene coatings for enhanced condensation heat transfer.
AB  - Water vapor condensation is commonly observed in nature and routinely used as an
      effective means of transferring heat with dropwise condensation on nonwetting
      surfaces exhibiting heat transfer improvement compared to filmwise condensation
      on wetting surfaces. However, state-of-the-art techniques to promote dropwise
      condensation rely on functional hydrophobic coatings that either have challenges
      with chemical stability or are so thick that any potential heat transfer
      improvement is negated due to the added thermal resistance of the coating. In
      this work, we show the effectiveness of ultrathin scalable chemical vapor
      deposited (CVD) graphene coatings to promote dropwise condensation while offering
      robust chemical stability and maintaining low thermal resistance. Heat transfer
      enhancements of 4* were demonstrated compared to filmwise condensation, and the
      robustness of these CVD coatings was superior to typical hydrophobic monolayer
      coatings. Our results indicate that graphene is a promising surface coating to
      promote dropwise condensation of water in industrial conditions with the
      potential for scalable application via CVD. 

PMID- 25826225
TI  - A distinct pre-existing inflammatory tumour microenvironment is associated with
      chemotherapy resistance in high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy resistance is a major determinant of poor overall
      survival rates in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC). We have previously
      shown that gene expression alterations affecting the NF-kappaB pathway
      characterise chemotherapy resistance in HGSC, suggesting that the regulation of
      an immune response may be associated with this phenotype. METHODS: Given that
      intrinsic drug resistance pre-exists and is governed by both tumour and host
      factors, the current study was performed to examine the cross-talk between tumour
      inflammatory microenvironment and cancer cells, and their roles in mediating
      differential chemotherapy response in HGSC patients. Expression profiling of a
      panel of 184 inflammation-related genes was performed in 15 chemoresistant and 19
      chemosensitive HGSC tumours using the NanoString nCounter platform. RESULTS: A
      total of 11 significantly differentially expressed genes were found to
      distinguish the two groups. As STAT1 was the most significantly differentially
      expressed gene (P=0.003), we validated the expression of STAT1 protein by
      immunohistochemistry using an independent cohort of 183 (52 resistant and 131
      sensitive) HGSC cases on a primary tumour tissue microarray. Relative expression
      levels were subjected to Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional
      hazard regression models. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that higher STAT1
      expression is significantly associated with increased progression-free survival
      and that this protein together with other mediators of tumour-host
      microenvironment can be applied as a novel response predictive biomarker in HGSC.
      Furthermore, an overall underactive immune microenvironment suggests that the pre
      existing state of the tumour immune microenvironment could determine response to
      chemotherapy in HGSC.

PMID- 25826224
TI  - Proteomic and metabonomic biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma: a
      comprehensive review.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks third in overall global cancer-related
      mortality. Symptomatic presentation often means advanced disease where
      potentially curative treatment options become very limited. Numerous
      international guidelines propose the routine monitoring of those with the highest
      risk factors for the condition in order to diagnose potential tumourigenesis
      early. To aid this, the fields of metabonomic- and proteomic-based biomarker
      discovery have applied advanced tools to identify early changes in protein and
      metabolite expression in HCC patients vs controls. With robust validation, it is
      anticipated that from these candidates will rise a high-performance non-invasive
      test able to diagnose early HCC and related conditions. This review gathers the
      numerous markers proposed by studies using mass spectrometry and proton nuclear
      magnetic resonance spectroscopy and evaluates areas of consistency as well as
      discordance. 

PMID- 25826226
TI  - Muscle-building supplement use and increased risk of testicular germ cell cancer
      in men from Connecticut and Massachusetts.
AB  - BACKGROUND: No analytic epidemiological study has examined the relationship
      between use of muscle-building supplements (MBSs) and testicular germ cell cancer
      (TGCC) risk. METHODS: We conducted a population-based case-control study
      including 356 TGCC cases and 513 controls from Connecticut and Massachusetts.
      RESULTS: The odds ratio (OR) for ever use of MBSs in relation to risk of TGCC was
      significantly elevated (OR=1.65, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11-2.46). The
      associations were significantly stronger among early users, men with more types
      of MBSs used, and longer periods of use. CONCLUSIONS: MBS use is a potentially
      modifiable risk factor that may be associated with TGCC.

PMID- 25826228
TI  - Dibenzothiopheno[6,5-b:6',5'-f]thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (DBTTT): high-performance
      small-molecule organic semiconductor for field-effect transistors.
AB  - We present the synthesis, characterization, and structural analysis of a
      thiophene-rich heteroacene, dibenzothiopheno[6,5-b:6',5'-f]thieno[3,2-b]thiophene
      (DBTTT) as well as its application in field-effect transistors. The design of
      DBTTT is based on the enhancement of intermolecular charge transfer through
      strong S-S interactions. Crystal structure analysis showed that the
      intermolecular pi-pi distance is shortened and that the packing density is higher
      than those of the electronically equivalent benzene analogue, dinaphtho-[2,3
      b:2',3'-f]thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (DNTT). The highest hole mobility we obtained in
      polycrystalline DBTTT thin-film transistors was 19.3 cm(2).V(-1).s(-1), six times
      higher than that of DNTT-based transistors. The observed isotropic angular
      mobilities and thermal stabilities at temperatures up to 140  degrees C indicate
      the great potential of DBTTT for attaining device uniformity and processability. 

PMID- 25826230
TI  - Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus among surgeons and surgical residents: a
      nationwide prevalence study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage is an independent risk factor
      for developing nosocomial infections and for developing surgical site infection
      (SSI) in particular. The number of post-operative nosocomial S. aureus infections
      can be reduced by screening patients and decolonizing nasal carriers. In addition
      to patients, health care workers may also be S. aureus nasal carriers. The aim of
      this study was to explore S. aureus nasal carriage rates among surgeons. METHODS:
      Nasal swabs were collected from surgeons and surgical residents during a national
      surgical congress. The control group consisted of non-hospitalized patients.
      Staphylococcus aureus carriage was detected using selective chromogenic agars by
      use of a fully automated inoculator. Suspected colonies were identified further
      by positive catalase and slide coagulation reactions. RESULTS: Samples were
      collected from 366 surgeons and surgical residents and 950 control patients. The
      S. aureus nasal carriage rate among surgeons and residents was significantly
      greater compared with the control group (45.4% versus 30.8%, odds ratio [OR] 1.86
      [1.45-2.38], p<0.001). No significant difference in carriage rate was found
      between surgeons and residents (46.8% versus 43.3%, p=0.769) and years of
      experience as a surgeon was not associated with a greater carriage rate. Male
      gender was an independent risk factor for carriage among physicians odds ratio
      ([OR] 1.90 [95% confidence interval 1.19-3.01], p=0.007). CONCLUSIONS: The
      nationwide rate of S. aureus nasal carriage among surgeons and surgical residents
      proved to be significantly greater compared with a non-hospitalized patient
      control group. Male gender is an independent risk factor for carriage among
      physicians. Future studies are needed to investigate the possible relation with
      nosocomial post-operative S. aureus infections.

PMID- 25826231
TI  - Theoretical characterization of dimethyl carbonate at low temperatures.
AB  - Highly correlated ab initio methods (CCSD(T) and RCCSD(T)-F12) are employed for
      the spectroscopic characterization of the gas phase of dimethyl carbonate (DMC)
      at low temperatures. DMC, a relevant molecule for atmospheric and astrochemical
      studies, shows only two conformers, cis-cis and trans-cis, respectively, of C2v
      and Cs symmetries. cis-cis-DMC represents the most stable form. Using RCCSD(T)
      F12 theory, the two sets of equilibrium rotational constants have been computed
      to be Ae = 10 493.15 MHz, Be = 2399.22 MHz, and Ce = 2001.78 MHz (cis-cis) and to
      be Ae = 6585.16 MHz, Be = 3009.04 MHz, and Ce = 2120.36 MHz (trans-cis).
      Centrifugal distortions constants and anharmonic frequencies for all of the
      vibrational modes are provided. Fermi displacements are predicted. The minimum
      energy pathway for the cis-cis -> trans-cis interconversion process is restricted
      by a barrier of ~3500 cm(-1). DMC displays internal rotation of two methyl
      groups. If the nonrigidity is considered, the molecule can be classified in the
      G36 (cis-cis) and the G18 (trans-cis) symmetry groups. For cis-cis-DMC, both
      internal tops are equivalent, and the torsional motions are restricted by V3
      potential energy barriers of 384.7 cm(-1). trans-cis-DMC shows two different V3
      barriers of 631.53 and 382.6 cm(-1). The far-infrared spectra linked to the
      torsional motion of both conformers are analyzed independently using a
      variational procedure and a two-dimensional flexible model. In cis-cis-DMC, the
      ground vibrational state splits into nine components: one nondegenerate, 0.000
      cm(-1) (A1), four quadruply degenerate, 0.012 cm(-1) (G), and four doubly
      degenerate 0.024 cm(-1) (E1 and E3). The methyl torsional fundamentals are
      obtained to lie at 140.274 cm(-1) (nu15) and 132.564 cm(-1) (nu30). 

PMID- 25826229
TI  - New clinical advances in immunotherapy for the treatment of solid tumours.
AB  - Advances in understanding the mechanisms of cancer cells for evading the immune
      system surveillance, including how the immune system modulates the phenotype of
      tumours, have allowed the development of new therapies that benefit from this
      complex cellular network to specifically target and destroy cancer cells.
      Immunotherapy researchers have mainly focused on the discovery of tumour antigens
      that could confer specificity to immune cells to detect and destroy cancer cells,
      as well as on the mechanisms leading to an improved activation of effector immune
      cells. The Food and Drug Administration approval in 2010 of ipilumumab for
      melanoma treatment and of pembrolizumab in 2014, monoclonal antibodies against T
      lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 and programmed cell death 1, respectively, are
      encouraging examples of how research in this area can successfully translate into
      clinical use with promising results. Currently, several ongoing clinical trials
      are in progress testing new anti-cancer therapies based on the enhancement of
      immune cell activity against tumour antigens. Here we discuss the general
      concepts related to immunotherapy and the recent application to the treatment of
      cancer with positive results that support their consideration of clinical
      application to patients. 

PMID- 25826227
TI  - Ancient inland human dispersals from Myanmar into interior East Asia since the
      Late Pleistocene.
AB  - Given the existence of plenty of river valleys connecting Southeast and East
      Asia, it is possible that some inland route(s) might have been adopted by the
      initial settlers to migrate into the interior of East Asia. Here we analyzed
      mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) HVS variants of 845 newly collected individuals from 14
      Myanmar populations and 5,907 published individuals from 115 populations from
      Myanmar and its surroundings. Enrichment of basal lineages with the highest
      genetic diversity in Myanmar suggests that Myanmar was likely one of the
      differentiation centers of the early modern humans. Intriguingly, some
      haplogroups were shared merely between Myanmar and southwestern China, hinting
      certain genetic connection between both regions. Further analyses revealed that
      such connection was in fact attributed to both recent gene flow and certain
      ancient dispersals from Myanmar to southwestern China during 25-10 kya,
      suggesting that, besides the coastal route, the early modern humans also adopted
      an inland dispersal route to populate the interior of East Asia. 

PMID- 25826232
TI  - Site-specific in situ synthesis of eumelanin nanoparticles by an enzymatic
      autodeposition-like process.
AB  - A method for in situ formation and controlled deposition of eumelanin
      nanoparticles is presented. The particles are built up by enzymatic reaction of l
      DOPA with tyrosinase. The enzyme is tethered onto the support surface to get site
      specific deposition of eumelanin. Due to the immediate deposition, the particles
      are monodisperse, with diameters of about 30-60 nm. Up to now, eumelanin
      particles have only been observed with sizes of about 200 nm. Deposition of those
      particles is site-specific on the areas where enzyme is present and results in
      different kinds of patterns on the support surface, including versatile monolayer
      structures. 

PMID- 25826235
TI  - Adsorption of CO2 on amine-functionalised MCM-41: experimental and theoretical
      studies.
AB  - Adsorption of CO2 on MCM-41 functionalised with [3-(2
      aminoethylamino)propyl]trimethoxysilane (MCM-41-N2), N(1)-(3
      trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine (MCM-41-N3), 4-aminopyridine (MCM-41
      aminopyridine), 4-(methylamino)pyridine (MCM-41-methylaminopyridine) and 1,5,7
      triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene (MCM-41-guanidine) was investigated. The amine
      functionalised materials were characterised by (29)Si and (13)C solid-state
      nuclear magnetic resonance, N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms, X-ray diffraction
      and transmission electron microscopy. CO2 adsorption at 1.0 bar and 30  degrees C
      showed that the amount of CO2 (nads/mmol g(-1)) adsorbed on MCM-41-N2 and MCM-41
      N3 is approximately twice the amount adsorbed on MCM-41. For MCM-41
      aminopyridine, MCM-41-methylaminopyridine and MCM-41-guanidine, the CO2
      adsorption capacity was smaller than that of MCM-41 at the same conditions. The
      proton affinity (computed with wB97x-D/6-311++G(d,p)) of the secondary amino
      groups is higher than that of the primary amino groups; however, the relative
      stabilities of the primary and secondary carbamates are similar. The differential
      heat of adsorption decreases as the number of secondary amino groups increases.

PMID- 25826234
TI  - Effects of Mung Bean (Vigna radiata L.) Ethanol Extracts Decrease Proinflammatory
      Cytokine-Induced Lipogenesis in the KK-Ay Diabese Mouse Model.
AB  - Rapid increase in the prevalence of obesity-related metabolic inflammatory
      diseases has led to research focused on nutraceuticals for their treatment. This
      study investigated the effects of the ethanol extracts of mung bean testa (MBT)
      on the metabolic inflammation-induced lipogenesis in gastrocnemius muscle of KK
      Ay diabese mice. Ethanol extracts of MBT were orally administered to diabese KK
      Ay mice for 4 weeks after diet-induced obesity model was generated by feeding a
      60% high-fat diet for 3 weeks. Although there were no changes in body weight
      gain, MBT treatments decreased total weight of white adipose tissue. MBT also
      decreased triacylglycerol and total cholesterol levels in the muscle by 30%,
      which was correlated with suppression of lipogenic genes such as ACC, C/EBP
      alpha, PGC-1 alpha, and PPAR gamma. In particular, decreased levels of p-ERK1/2,
      PPAR gamma, and C/EBP alpha in the MBT-treated groups suggest that MBT might
      inhibit adipogenesis and decrease differentiation via the MEK/ERK pathway.
      Furthermore, significantly lower amounts of plasma interleukin (IL)-6 and
      intramuscular tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and monocyte chemoattractant
      protein-1 (MCP-1) were detected in MBT groups, confirming the anti-inflammatory
      effect of mung bean. In addition, our in vitro pilot study with 3T3-L1 cells
      showed that vitexin, the functional chemical in MBT, inhibited inflammation
      induced lipogenesis with significantly lower amounts of IL-6 and MCP-1 after 14
      days of vitexin treatment. Thus, the functional compounds in the mung bean
      ethanol extracts such as vitexin and isovitexin may regulate intracellular
      lipogenesis and adipogenesis via anti-inflammatory mechanisms and MEK/ERK pathway
      in the KK-Ay mouse model. 

PMID- 25826236
TI  - Cobalt nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon for the hydrogen evolution
      reaction.
AB  - There is great interest in renewable and sustainable energy research to develop
      low-cost, highly efficient, and stable electrocatalysts as alternatives to
      replace Pt-based catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Though
      nanoparticles encapsulated in carbon shells have been widely used to improve the
      electrode performances in energy storage devices (e.g., lithium ion batteries),
      they have attracted less attention in energy-related electrocatalysis. Here we
      report the synthesis of nitrogen-enriched core-shell structured cobalt-carbon
      nanoparticles dispersed on graphene sheets and we investigate their HER
      performances in both acidic and basic media. These catalysts exhibit excellent
      durability and HER activities with onset overpotentials as low as ~70 mV in both
      acidic (0.5 M H2SO4) and alkaline (0.1 M NaOH) electrolytes, and the
      overpotentials needed to deliver 10 mA cm(-2) are determined to be 265 mV in acid
      and 337 mV in base, further demonstrating their potential to replace Pt-based
      catalysts. Control experiments reveal that the active sites for HER might come
      from the synergistic effects between the cobalt nanoparticles and nitrogen-doped
      carbon. 

PMID- 25826233
TI  - Advances in MRI for the evaluation of carotid atherosclerosis.
AB  - Carotid artery atherosclerosis is an important source of mortality and morbidity
      in the Western world with significant socioeconomic implications. The quest for
      the early identification of the vulnerable carotid plaque is already in its third
      decade and traditional measures, such as the sonographic degree of stenosis, are
      not selective enough to distinguish those who would really benefit from a carotid
      endarterectomy. MRI of the carotid plaque enables the visualization of plaque
      composition and specific plaque components that have been linked to a higher risk
      of subsequent embolic events. Blood suppressed T1 and T2 weighted and proton
      density-weighted fast spin echo, gradient echo and time-of-flight sequences are
      typically used to quantify plaque components such as lipid-rich necrotic core,
      intraplaque haemorrhage, calcification and surface defects including erosion,
      disruption and ulceration. The purpose of this article is to review the most
      important recent advances in MRI technology to enable better diagnostic carotid
      imaging. 

PMID- 25826238
TI  - Si nanoparticles encapsulated in elastic hollow carbon fibres for Li-ion battery
      anodes with high structural stability.
AB  - Silicon has a large specific capacity which is an order of magnitude beyond that
      of conventional graphite, making it a promising anode material for lithium ion
      batteries. However, the large volume changes (~ 300%) during cycling caused
      material pulverization and instability of the solid-electrolyte interphase
      resulting in poor cyclability which prevented its commercial application. Here,
      we have prepared a novel one-dimensional core-shell nanostructure in which the Si
      nanoparticles have been confined within hollow carbon nanofibres. Such a unique
      nanostructure exhibits high conductivity and facile ion transport, and the
      uniform pores within the particles which are generated during magnesiothermic
      reduction can serve as a buffer zone to accommodate the large volume changes of
      Si during electrochemical lithiation. Owing to these advantages, the composite
      shows high rate performance and good cycling stability. The optimum design of the
      core-shell nanostructure shows promise for the synthesis of a variety of high
      performance electrode materials.

PMID- 25826237
TI  - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Fragile X Syndrome (FXS): Two Overlapping
      Disorders Reviewed through Electroencephalography-What Can be Interpreted from
      the Available Information?
AB  - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Fragile X syndrome (FXS) are
      neurodevelopmental disorders with different but potentially related
      neurobiological underpinnings, which exhibit significant overlap in their
      behavioural symptoms. FXS is a neurogenetic disorder of known cause whereas ASD
      is a complex genetic disorder, with both rare and common genetic risk factors and
      likely genetic and environmental interaction effects. A comparison of the
      phenotypic presentation of the two disorders may highlight those symptoms that
      are more likely to be under direct genetic control, for example in FXS as opposed
      to shared symptoms that are likely to be under the control of multiple
      mechanisms. This review is focused on the application and analysis of
      electroencephalography data (EEG) in ASD and FXS. Specifically, Event Related
      Potentials (ERP) and resting state studies (rEEG) studies investigating ASD and
      FXS cohorts are compared. This review explores the electrophysiological
      similarities and differences between the two disorders in addition to the
      potentially associated neurobiological mechanisms at play. A series of pertinent
      research questions which are suggested in the literature are also posed within
      the review. 

PMID- 25826239
TI  - Total Synthesis and Reassignment of the Structures of the Antimicrobial
      Lipodepsipeptides Circulocin gamma and delta.
AB  - The structures of the naturally occurring antimicrobial lipodepsipeptides
      circulocin gamma and circulocin delta have been reported to comprise a common
      cyclic depsipeptide core attached to 3-hydroxy,omega-guanidino fatty acid chains
      differing in length by two methylene units, but analysis of the reported data
      suggested that the originally reported structures had incorrect side chain
      lengths. The total synthesis of both side chain epimers of the originally
      reported structure of circulocin gamma bearing a 19-guanidino-3
      hydroxynonadecanoyl (GHND) side chain has been accomplished using a modular
      approach involving synthesis of the cyclic depsipeptide and side chain fragments
      followed by a late stage coupling reaction. This revealed that the originally
      reported structure for circulocin gamma bearing the GHND side chain is incorrect
      and that this structure is actually that of circulocin delta. It has also enabled
      the absolute configuration of the side chain hydroxy group of the natural product
      to be assigned as (R). Subsequent synthesis of the analogue bearing a 17
      guanidino-3-(R)-hydroxyheptadecanoyl (GHHD) side chain provided confirmation that
      this revised structure is that of circulocin gamma. 

PMID- 25826240
TI  - Preserving fertility when choosing chemotherapy regimens - the role of
      gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The late effects of cancer treatment have recently gained a
      worldwide ubiquitous interest among reproductive endocrinologists, oncologists,
      and all health care providers. Despite many publications on this subject, there
      are many equivocal issues necessitating summary. The case for and against using
      GnRH-agonist for fertility preservation is summarized with the rationale that
      preventing ovarian failure may be better than treating it. AREAS COVERED: We
      searched Medline in the last 10 years using terms: 'fertility preservation',
      'female chemotherapy', 'Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues', 'GnRH
      agonists' 'gonadotoxicity', and 'cancer treatment'. We included mainly
      publications from the past 7 years, but did not exclude previous, commonly
      referenced publications. Here, we summarize the various methods available for
      fertility preservation and minimizing chemotherapy induced gonadotoxicity. EXPERT
      OPINION: Until now, 20 studies (15 retrospective and 5 randomized controlled
      trial) have reported on 2038 patients treated with GnRH-a in parallel to
      chemotherapy, showing a significant decrease in premature ovarian failure (POF)
      rate in survivors versus 8 studies reporting on 509 patients, with negative
      results. Patients treated with GnRH-a in parallel to chemotherapy preserved their
      cyclic ovarian function in 91% of cases as compared to 41% of controls, with a
      pregnancy rate of 19 - 71% in the treated patients. Furthermore, over 10 recent
      meta-analyses have concluded that GnRH-a are beneficial and may decrease the risk
      of POF in survivors. Because most of the methods involving ovarian or egg
      cryopreservation are not yet clinically established and unequivocally successful,
      these young patients deserve to be informed with all the various modalities to
      minimize gonadal damage and preserve ovarian function and future fertility.
      Combining the various modalities for a specific patient may increase the odds of
      preservation of future fertility.

PMID- 25826241
TI  - Preparation of gelatin films incorporated with tea polyphenol nanoparticles for
      enhancing controlled-release antioxidant properties.
AB  - Gelatin films incorporated with chitosan nanoparticles in various
      free/encapsulated tea polyphenol (TP) ratios were prepared in order to
      investigate the influence of different ratios on the physicochemical and
      antioxidant properties of films. The TP-containing nanoparticles were prepared by
      cross-linking chitosan hydrochloride (CSH) with sulfobutyl ether-beta
      cyclodextrin sodium (SBE-beta-CD) at three different encapsulation efficiencies
      (EE; ~50%, ~80%, and ~100%) of TP. The stability of TP-loaded nanoparticles was
      maintained during the film drying process from the analysis of free TP content in
      the redissolved film solutions. Composite films showed no significant difference
      in visual aspects, while the light transmittance (250-550 nm) was decreased with
      incorporation of TP. Nanoparticles appeared to be homogeneously dispersed within
      the film matrix by microstructure analysis (SEM and AFM). TP-loaded films had
      ferric reducing and DPPH radical scavenging power that corresponded to the EEs.
      Sunflower oil packaged in bags made of gelatin films embedded with nanoparticles
      of 80% EE showed the best oxidation inhibitory effect, followed by 100% EE, 50%
      EE, and free TP, over 6 weeks of storage. However, when the gelatin film was
      placed over the headspace and was not in contact with the oil, the free TP showed
      the best effect. The results indicate that sustained release of TP in the
      contacting surface can ensure the protective effects, which vary with
      free/encapsulated mass ratios, thus improving antioxidant activities instead of
      increasing the dosage. 

PMID- 25826244
TI  - Large carbon release legacy from bark beetle outbreaks across Western United
      States.
AB  - Warmer conditions over the past two decades have contributed to rapid expansion
      of bark beetle outbreaks killing millions of trees over a large fraction of
      western United States (US) forests. These outbreaks reduce plant productivity by
      killing trees and transfer carbon from live to dead pools where carbon is slowly
      emitted to the atmosphere via heterotrophic respiration which subsequently feeds
      back to climate change. Recent studies have begun to examine the local impacts of
      bark beetle outbreaks in individual stands, but the full regional carbon
      consequences remain undocumented for the western US. In this study, we quantify
      the regional carbon impacts of the bark beetle outbreaks taking place in western
      US forests. The work relies on a combination of postdisturbance forest regrowth
      trajectories derived from forest inventory data and a process-based carbon cycle
      model tracking decomposition, as well as aerial detection survey (ADS) data
      documenting the regional extent and severity of recent outbreaks. We find that
      biomass killed by bark beetle attacks across beetle-affected areas in western US
      forests from 2000 to 2009 ranges from 5 to 15 Tg C yr(-1) and caused a reduction
      of net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of about 6.1-9.3 Tg C y(-1) by 2009.
      Uncertainties result largely from a lack of detailed surveys of the extent and
      severity of outbreaks, calling out a need for improved characterization across
      western US forests. The carbon flux legacy of 2000-2009 outbreaks will continue
      decades into the future (e.g., 2040-2060) as committed emissions from
      heterotrophic respiration of beetle-killed biomass are balanced by forest
      regrowth and accumulation. 

PMID- 25826245
TI  - Investigation of Neonatal Encephalopathy: The Oft-Lost Placental "Black Box".

PMID- 25826246
TI  - Client and provider perspectives on new HIV prevention tools for MSM in the
      Americas.
AB  - Men who have sex with men (MSM) in the Americas require targeted, combination HIV
      prevention approaches. We solicited client and provider perspectives on emerging
      prevention interventions including HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and HIV
      self-tests through focus groups and in-depth interviews with 130 MSM and 41
      providers across four sites: New York, San Francisco, Lima, and Rio de Janeiro.
      Among the MSM participants, we identified three prevention typologies: non-condom
      users, inconsistent condom users, and consistent condom users. Northern and
      Southern MSM differed in the variety of harm reduction strategies utilized: where
      U.S. MSM relied on condom use as well as disclosure and seroadaptive behaviors
      for prevention, condom use without disclosure or serostatus discussions was the
      norm in South America. Interest in new prevention technologies was shaped by the
      social context. U.S. MSM preferences differed by typology, such that non-condom
      users were interested in taking PrEP and using home HIV tests. MSM in Brazil,
      regardless of typology, were interested in exploring new prevention options. MSM
      in Peru demonstrated moderate interest but were less comfortable with adopting
      new strategies. MSM and providers' opinions differed substantially with respect
      to new prevention options. Across sites, most providers were reticent to engage
      with new prevention options, though some NGO-based providers were more supportive
      of exploring new prevention tools. Both clients and providers will need to be
      engaged in developing integrated prevention strategies for MSM. 

PMID- 25826248
TI  - Formative Evaluation: A Case Study of the Illinois Birth-to-Three IV-E Waiver.
AB  - Few interventions addressing early childhood trauma have adequate evidence. The
      Illinois Birth-to-Three Waiver is a 5-year federal project to reduce trauma and
      increase permanency for young children. In this article the authors describe the
      explorative and formative phases, including: (a) developing a well-built research
      question; (b) working with purveyors of evidence-supported interventions (ESIs);
      (c) adapting ESIs to a large public child welfare system; (d) developing fidelity
      measures, assessment data and outcomes; and (e) managing the challenges of
      implementing a randomized controlled trial. Public and private agency staff work
      in conjunction with university partners to merge implementation science, program
      evaluation, and intervention research. The project's theory of change stipulates
      that working with the triad of birth parent(s), foster parent(s), and focal child
      is critical to achieving project outcomes. The authors articulate the importance
      of working closely with an interdisciplinary team to achieve these outcomes, and
      the challenges associated with the early stages of implementation. 

PMID- 25826247
TI  - A simplified and robust protocol for immunoglobulin expression in Escherichia
      coli cell-free protein synthesis systems.
AB  - Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) systems allow for robust protein expression
      with easy manipulation of conditions to improve protein yield and folding. Recent
      technological developments have significantly increased the productivity and
      reduced the operating costs of CFPS systems, such that they can compete with
      conventional in vivo protein production platforms, while also offering new routes
      for the discovery and production of biotherapeutics. As cell-free systems have
      evolved, productivity increases have commonly been obtained by addition of
      components to previously designed reaction mixtures without careful re
      examination of the essentiality of reagents from previous generations. Here we
      present a systematic sensitivity analysis of the components in a conventional
      Escherichia coli CFPS reaction mixture to evaluate their optimal concentrations
      for production of the immunoglobulin G trastuzumab. We identify eight changes to
      the system, which result in optimal expression of trastuzumab. We find that
      doubling the potassium glutamate concentration, while entirely eliminating
      pyruvate, coenzyme A, NAD, total tRNA, folinic acid, putrescine and ammonium
      glutamate, results in a highly productive cell-free system with a 95% reduction
      in reagent costs (excluding cell-extract, plasmid, and T7 RNA polymerase made in
      house). A larger panel of other proteins was also tested and all show equivalent
      or improved yields with our simplified system. Furthermore, we demonstrate that
      all of the reagents for CFPS can be combined in a single freeze-thaw stable
      master mix to improve reliability and ease of use. These improvements are
      important for the application of the CFPS system in fields such as protein
      engineering, high-throughput screening, and biotherapeutics.

PMID- 25826249
TI  - Conductive and biphasic pulses in tunable resistive pulse sensing.
AB  - This experimental study concerns the occurrence of biphasic pulses generated
      during tunable resistive pulse sensing (TRPS) of 200 nm carboxylate polystyrene
      spheres. In TRPS, a short-lived pulse in ionic current is observed when an
      individual colloid passes through a pore which separates two fluid reservoirs.
      The pulse is conventionally resistive, but conductive pulses are observed under
      certain experimental conditions, as well as biphasic pulses which include both
      resistive and conductive components. The experimental variables investigated here
      include the concentration of the phosphate-buffered saline electrolyte, particle
      charge, pore size, applied voltage, and the direction of particle motion. The
      onset upper electrolyte concentration for biphasic pulses in TRPS is ~50 mM, and
      the ordering of biphasic pulse components can be interpreted using ionic
      concentration polarization if the conductive component is generated when the
      particle is in the ion depletion region. Besides providing fundamental
      understanding, the results are important for the TRPS technique, which is
      becoming widely used for particle-by-particle measurements of submicron colloids.

PMID- 25826250
TI  - Infrared fluorescent imaging as a potent tool for in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo
      models of visceral leishmaniasis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is hypoendemic in the Mediterranean
      region, where it is caused by the protozoan Leishmania infantum. An effective
      vaccine for humans is not yet available and the severe side-effects of the drugs
      in clinical use, linked to the parenteral administration route of most of them,
      are significant concerns of the current leishmanicidal medicines. New drugs are
      desperately needed to treat VL and phenotype-based High Throughput Screenings
      (HTS) appear to be suitable to achieve this goal in the coming years.
      METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We generated two infrared fluorescent L. infantum
      strains, which stably overexpress the IFP 1.4 and iRFP reporter genes and
      performed comparative studies of their biophotonic properties at both
      promastigote and amastigote stages. To improve the fluorescence emission of the
      selected reporter in intracellular amastigotes, we engineered distinct constructs
      by introducing regulatory sequences of differentially-expressed genes (A2,
      AMASTIN and HSP70 II). The final strain that carries the iRFP gene under the
      control of the L. infantum HSP70 II downstream region (DSR), was employed to
      perform a phenotypic screening of a collection of small molecules by using ex
      vivo splenocytes from infrared-infected BALB/c mice. In order to further
      investigate the usefulness of this infrared strain, we monitored an in vivo
      infection by imaging BALB/c mice in a time-course study of 20 weeks.
      CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The near-infrared fluorescent L. infantum strain
      represents an important step forward in bioimaging research of VL, providing a
      robust model of phenotypic screening suitable for HTS of small molecule
      collections in the mammalian parasite stage. Additionally, HSP70 II+L. infantum
      strain permitted for the first time to monitor an in vivo infection of VL. This
      finding accelerates the possibility of testing new drugs in preclinical in vivo
      studies, thus supporting the urgent and challenging drug discovery program
      against this parasitic disease.

PMID- 25826251
TI  - Diagnostic molecular markers for phosphine resistance in U.S. populations of
      Tribolium castaneum and Rhyzopertha dominica.
AB  - Stored product beetles that are resistant to the fumigant pesticide phosphine
      (hydrogen phosphide) gas have been reported for more than 40 years in many places
      worldwide. Traditionally, determination of phosphine resistance in stored product
      beetles is based on a discriminating dose bioassay that can take up to two weeks
      to evaluate. We developed a diagnostic cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence
      method, CAPS, to detect individuals with alleles for strong resistance to
      phosphine in populations of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, and the
      lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica, according to a single nucleotide
      mutation in the dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (DLD) gene. We initially isolated
      and sequenced the DLD genes from susceptible and strongly resistant populations
      of both species. The corresponding amino acid sequences were then deduced. A
      single amino acid mutation in DLD in populations of T. castaneum and R. dominica
      with strong resistance was identified as P45S in T. castaneum and P49S in R.
      dominica, both collected from northern Oklahoma, USA. PCR products containing
      these mutations were digested by the restriction enzymes MboI and BstNI, which
      revealed presence or absence, respectively of the resistant (R) allele and
      allowed inference of genotypes with that allele. Seven populations of T.
      castaneum from Kansas were subjected to discriminating dose bioassays for the
      weak and strong resistance phenotypes. Application of CAPS to these seven
      populations confirmed the R allele was in high frequency in the strongly
      resistant populations, and was absent or at a lower frequency in populations with
      weak resistance, which suggests that these populations with a low frequency of
      the R allele have the potential for selection of the strong resistance phenotype.
      CAPS markers for strong phosphine resistance will help to detect and confirm
      resistant beetles and can facilitate resistance management actions against a
      given pest population. 

PMID- 25826252
TI  - Parents' perspectives on the dilemmas with intervention for infants with auditory
      neuropathy spectrum disorder: A qualitative study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This paper explores parental experiences of choices surrounding
      auditory management and language and communication development for infants and
      children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) in the light of the
      heterogeneity of condition, a poor evidence base for best outcomes in relation to
      management options, and the scarcity of data rooted in parent and family
      experience. DESIGN: Qualitative narrative study. STUDY SAMPLE: Twenty-five
      parents of 21 children (aged four months to six years) identified with ANSD
      through the newborn hearing screening programme. RESULTS: Families identify
      barriers to early management due to conflicting expert opinions and ANSD-specific
      challenges with diagnosis and prognosis in infants, and share their accounts on
      their own evaluations of intervention benefit in their children. CONCLUSIONS: The
      results are of relevance to the clinicians and other professionals involved in
      early intervention, management, and support of infants with ANSD.

PMID- 25826253
TI  - Formulation studies on ibuprofen sodium-cationic dextran conjugate: effect on
      tableting and dissolution characteristics of ibuprofen.
AB  - The effect of electrostatic interaction between ibuprofen sodium (IbS) and
      cationic diethylaminoethyl dextran (Ddex), on the tableting properties and
      ibuprofen release from the conjugate tablet was investigated. Ibuprofen exhibits
      poor flow, compaction (tableting) and dissolution behavior due to its hydrophobic
      structure, high cohesive, adhesive and viscoelastic properties therefore it was
      granulated with cationic Ddex to improve its compression and dissolution
      characteristics. Electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding between IbS and
      Ddex was confirmed with FT-IR and DSC results showed a stepwise endothermic solid
      solid structural transformation from racemic to anhydrous forms between 120 and
      175  degrees C which melted into liquid form at 208.15  degrees C. The broad and
      diffused DSC peaks of the conjugate granules as well as the disappearance of
      ibuprofen melting peak provided evidence for their highly amorphous state. It was
      evident that Ddex improved the flowability and densification of the granules and
      increased the mechanical and tensile strengths of the resulting tablets as the
      tensile strength increased from 0.67 +/- 0.0172 to 1.90 +/- 0.0038 MPa with
      increasing Ddex concentration. Both tapping and compression processes showed that
      the most prominent mechanism of densification were particle slippage,
      rearrangement and plastic deformation while fragmentation was minimized. Ddex
      retarded the extent of dissolution in general, indicating potentials for
      controlled release formulations. Multiple release mechanisms including diffusion;
      anomalous transport and super case II transport were noted. It was concluded that
      interaction between ibuprofen sodium and Ddex produced a novel formulation with
      improved flowability, tableting and dissolution characteristics with potential
      controlled drug release characteristics dictated by Ddex concentration.

PMID- 25826254
TI  - Identification of the sex pheromone of the tree infesting Cossid Moth Coryphodema
      tristis (Lepidoptera: Cossidae).
AB  - The cossid moth (Coryphodema tristis) has a broad range of native tree hosts in
      South Africa. The moth recently moved into non-native Eucalyptus plantations in
      South Africa, on which it now causes significant damage. Here we investigate the
      chemicals involved in pheromone communication between the sexes of this moth in
      order to better understand its ecology, and with a view to potentially develop
      management tools for it. In particular, we characterize female gland extracts and
      headspace samples through coupled gas chromatography electro-antennographic
      detection (GC-EAD) and two dimensional gas chromatography mass spectrometry
      (GCxGC-MS). Tentative identities of the potential pheromone compounds were
      confirmed by comparing both retention time and mass spectra with authentic
      standards. Two electrophysiologically active pheromone compounds, tetradecyl
      acetate (14:OAc) and Z9-tetradecenyl acetate (Z9-14:OAc) were identified from
      pheromone gland extracts, and an additional compound (Z9-14:OH) from headspace
      samples. We further determined dose response curves for the identified compounds
      and six other structurally similar compounds that are common to the order
      Cossidae. Male antennae showed superior sensitivity toward Z9-14:OAc, Z7
      tetradecenyl acetate (Z7-14:OAc), E9-tetradecenyl acetate (E9-14:OAc), Z9
      tetradecenol (Z9-14:OH) and Z9-tetradecenal (Z9-14:Ald) when compared to female
      antennae. While we could show electrophysiological responses to single pheromone
      compounds, behavioral attraction of males was dependent on the synergistic effect
      of at least two of these compounds. Signal specificity is shown to be gained
      through pheromone blends. A field trial showed that a significant number of males
      were caught only in traps baited with a combination of Z9-14:OAc (circa 95% of
      the ratio) and Z9-14:OH. Addition of 14:OAc to this mixture also improved the
      number of males caught, although not significantly. This study represents a major
      step towards developing a useful attractant to be used in management tools for C.
      tristis and contributes to the understanding of chemical communication and
      biology of this group of insects. 

PMID- 25826255
TI  - Regulation of coronafacoyl phytotoxin production by the PAS-LuxR family regulator
      CfaR in the common scab pathogen Streptomyces scabies.
AB  - Potato common scab is an economically important crop disease that is
      characterized by the formation of superficial, raised or pitted lesions on the
      potato tuber surface. The most widely distributed causative agent of the disease
      is Streptomyces scabies, which produces the phytotoxic secondary metabolite
      thaxtomin A that serves as a key virulence factor for the organism. Recently, it
      was demonstrated that S. scabies can also produce the phytotoxic secondary
      metabolite coronafacoyl-L-isoleucine (CFA-L-Ile) as well as other related
      metabolites in minor amounts. The expression of the biosynthetic genes for CFA-L
      Ile production is dependent on a PAS-LuxR family transcriptional regulator, CfaR,
      which is encoded within the phytotoxin biosynthetic gene cluster in S. scabies.
      In this study, we show that CfaR activates coronafacoyl phytotoxin production by
      binding to a single site located immediately upstream of the putative -35
      hexanucleotide box within the promoter region for the biosynthetic genes. The
      binding activity of CfaR was shown to require both the LuxR and PAS domains, the
      latter of which is involved in protein homodimer formation. We also show that CFA
      L-Ile production is greatly enhanced in S. scabies by overexpression of both cfaR
      and a downstream co-transcribed gene, orf1. Our results provide important insight
      into the regulation of coronafacoyl phytotoxin production, which is thought to
      contribute to the virulence phenotype of S. scabies. Furthermore, we provide
      evidence that CfaR is a novel member of the PAS-LuxR family of regulators,
      members of which are widely distributed among actinomycete bacteria. 

PMID- 25826256
TI  - Phosphorus cycling in Montreal's food and urban agriculture systems.
AB  - Cities are a key system in anthropogenic phosphorus (P) cycling because they
      concentrate both P demand and waste production. Urban agriculture (UA) has been
      proposed as a means to improve P management by recycling cities' P-rich waste
      back into local food production. However, we have a limited understanding of the
      role UA currently plays in the P cycle of cities or its potential to recycle
      local P waste. Using existing data combined with surveys of local UA
      practitioners, we quantified the role of UA in the P cycle of Montreal, Canada to
      explore the potential for UA to recycle local P waste. We also used existing data
      to complete a substance flow analysis of P flows in the overall food system of
      Montreal. In 2012, Montreal imported 3.5 Gg of P in food, of which 2.63 Gg
      ultimately accumulated in landfills, 0.36 Gg were discharged to local waters, and
      only 0.09 Gg were recycled through composting. We found that UA is only a small
      sub-system in the overall P cycle of the city, contributing just 0.44% of the P
      consumed as food in the city. However, within the UA system, the rate of
      recycling is high: 73% of inputs applied to soil were from recycled sources.
      While a Quebec mandate to recycle 100% of all organic waste by 2020 might
      increase the role of UA in P recycling, the area of land in UA is too small to
      accommodate all P waste produced on the island. UA may, however, be a valuable
      pathway to improve urban P sustainability by acting as an activity that changes
      residents' relationship to, and understanding of, the food system and increases
      their acceptance of composting. 

PMID- 25826257
TI  - Use of plant woody species electrical potential for irrigation scheduling.
AB  - The electrical response of plants to environmental stimuli can be measured and
      quantitatively related to the intensity of several stimulating sources, like
      temperature, solar radiation, soil water content, evapotranspiration rates, sap
      flow and dendrometric cycles. These relations can be used to assess the influence
      of different environmental situations on soil water availability to plants,
      defined as a steady state condition between leaf transpirative flow and soil
      water flow to plant roots. A restricted soil water flow due to soil dryness can
      trigger water stress in plants, if the atmospheric evaporative demand is high,
      causing partial stomata closure as a physiological response to avoid plant
      dehydration; water stressed and unstressed plants manifest a differential
      electrical response. Real time plant electrical response measurements can
      anticipate actions that prevent the plant reaching actual stress conditions,
      optimizing stomata gas exchange and photosynthetic rates. An electrophysiological
      sensor developed in this work, allows remote real-time recording information on
      plant electrical potential (EP) in the field, which is highly related to EP
      measurements obtained with a laboratory Keithley voltmeter sensor used in an
      highly controlled experimental setup. Our electrophysiological sensor is a
      wireless, autonomous devise, which transmits EP information via Internet to a
      data server. Using both types of sensors (EP electrodes with a Keithley voltmeter
      and the electrophysiological sensor), we measured in real time the electrical
      responses of Persea americana and Prunus domestica plants, to induced water
      deficits. The differential response for 2 scenarios: irrigation and water
      restriction is identified by a progressive change in slope on the daily maximal
      and minimal electric signal values in stressed plants, and a zero-slope for
      similar signals for well-watered plants. Results show a correspondence between
      measured signals obtained by our electrophysiological sensor and the EP
      electrodes connected to the Keithley voltmeter in each irrigation stage. Also,
      both sensors show a daily cyclical signal (circadian cycle). 

PMID- 25826258
TI  - Arabidopsis PME17 Activity can be Controlled by Pectin Methylesterase Inhibitor4.
AB  - The degree of methylesterification (DM) of homogalacturonans (HGs), the main
      constituent of pectins in Arabidopsis thaliana, can be modified by pectin
      methylesterases (PMEs). Regulation of PME activity occurs through interaction
      with PME inhibitors (PMEIs) and subtilases (SBTs). Considering the size of the
      gene families encoding PMEs, PMEIs and SBTs, it is highly likely that specific
      pairs mediate localized changes in pectin structure with consequences on cell
      wall rheology and plant development. We previously reported that PME17, a group 2
      PME expressed in root, could be processed by SBT3.5, a co-expressed subtilisin
      like serine protease, to mediate changes in pectin properties and root growth.
      Here, we further report that a PMEI, PMEI4, is co-expressed with PME17 and is
      likely to regulate its activity. This sheds new light on the possible interplay
      of specific PMEs, PMEIs and SBTs in the fine-tuning of pectin structure. 

PMID- 25826259
TI  - Members of a recently discovered subfamily of cytokinin receptors display
      differences and similarities to their classical counterparts.
AB  - Cytokinins represent a group of plant hormones that have been shown to be
      essential for plant growth and development. A recent large-scale phylogenetic
      analysis of components of the cytokinin signal transduction pathway revealed,
      among other findings, the existence of a second, previously unknown subfamily of
      cytokinin receptors. Here we report that the cytokinin binding domains of the
      members of the 2 subfamilies contain residues that are highly conserved in either
      or in both subfamilies. Experiments using fluorescence microscopy hint at an ER
      and a plasma membrane localization for 2 members of the newly identified
      subfamily. These data provide new insights in the conservation of sequence and
      localization properties among the 2 subfamilies. 

PMID- 25826260
TI  - Benzoxazolin-2(3H)-one inhibits soybean growth and alters the monomeric
      composition of lignin.
AB  - The effects of the allelochemical benzoxazolin-2-(3H)-one (BOA) were evaluated on
      growth, lignin content and its monomers p-hydroxyphenyl (H), guaiacyl (G) and
      syringyl (S) in roots, stems and leaves of soybean. BOA decreased the lengths and
      fresh weights of roots and stems, and the fresh weights and areas of leaves.
      Reductions in the growth were accompanied by enhanced lignin content in all
      tissues. In roots, the allelochemical increased the content of H, G and S
      monomers as well as the overall amount of lignin (referred to as the sum of
      H+G+S), but did not alter the S/G ratio. In stems and leaves, BOA increased the
      H, G, S and H+G+S contents while decreasing the S/G ratio. In brief, BOA-induced
      inhibition of soybean may be due to excessive production of monomers that
      increase the degree of polymerization of lignin, limit cell expansion, solidify
      the cell wall and restrict plant growth. 

PMID- 25826261
TI  - FASCICLIN LIKE ARABINOGALACTAN PROTEIN 4 and RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE HOMOLOG D
      and F independently modulate abscisic acid signaling.
AB  - We previously suggested that At-FLA4 and ABA signaling act in synergy. Reactive
      oxygen species generated from the NADPH oxidases At-RBOHD and At-RBOHF play an
      important role in cell wall integrity control and ABA signaling and here we
      investigate their role for the At-FLA4 pathway. We find that in the At-fla4 At
      rbohD At-rbohF triple mutant the root phenotype of At-fla4 is enhanced. Moreover,
      the abnormally high level of reactive oxygen species in At-fla4 mutant does not
      depend on AtRBOHD and -F. Likewise, suppression of the At-fla4 phenotype by ABA
      does not depend on the 2 oxidases. Consistent with their lack of effect on ROS
      level in At-fla4, transcript level of AtRBOHD and -F is reduced in the At-fla4
      mutant background. Taken together, our findings suggest that neither At-RBOHD nor
      At-RBOHF is involved in the synergism between ABA and At-FLA4. Consistently, the
      oxidases and At-FLA4 act independently of each other in ROS control. 

PMID- 25826262
TI  - Reduced size and macrophage content of advanced atherosclerotic lesions in mice
      with bone marrow specific deficiency of alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.
AB  - In macrophages the alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (alpha7nAChR)
      modulates production of inflammatory cytokines, cholesterol accumulation and
      lipoprotein uptake. Recently, our laboratory showed that selective stimulation of
      the alpha7nAChR protects macrophages from apoptosis, an effect that is absent in
      alpha7nAChR-deficient macrophages. All these observations are suggestive of a
      potential role of macrophage alpha7nAChR in atherosclerosis. Mouse models of the
      disease with bone marrow deletion of alpha7nAChR represent an attractive approach
      to address the in vivo relevance of these in vitro findings. However, recent
      studies that focused on the impact of hematopoietic deficiency of alpha7nAChR on
      early atherosclerotic lesions of low density lipoprotein receptor knockout
      (LDLRKO) mice, yielded controversial results. The question also remained whether
      macrophage alpha7nAChR modulates the characteristics of advanced lesions. Here we
      used LDLR knockout mice transplanted with bone marrow from wild-type or
      alpha7nAChR knockout animals to revisit the effect of hematopoietic deficiency of
      alpha7nAChR on early lesions and to examine, for the first time, its impact on
      advanced plaques. Aortic sinus atherosclerotic lesions were analyzed following 8
      and 14 weeks on a high fat diet. Early lesions in mice with alpha7nAChR deficient
      bone marrow were not different from those in control animals. However, advanced
      lesions of mice with bone marrow deletion of alpha7nAChR exhibited reduction in
      size, macrophage content and cell proliferation. These studies are the first in
      examining the impact of hematopoietic deficiency of alpha7nAChR on the
      characteristics of advanced atherosclerotic lesions in a mouse model of the
      disease and provide novel evidence underscoring a potential pro-atherogenic role
      of macrophage alpha7nAChR. 

PMID- 25826263
TI  - Effect of regular circus physical exercises on lymphocytes in overweight
      children.
AB  - Obesity associated with a sedentary lifestyle can lead to changes in the immune
      system balance resulting in the development of inflammatory diseases. The aim of
      this study was to compare lymphocyte activation mechanisms between overweight
      children practicing regular circus physical exercises with non-exercised
      children. The study comprised 60 pubescent children randomly divided into 4
      groups: Overweight Children (OWC) (10.67 +/- 0.22 years old), Overweight
      Exercised Children (OWE) (10.00 +/- 0.41 years old), Eutrophic Children (EC)
      (11.00 +/- 0.29 years old) and Eutrophic Exercised Children (EE) (10.60 +/- 0.29
      years old). OWE and EE groups practiced circus activities twice a week, for 4.3
      +/- 0.5 and 4.4 +/- 0.5 months, respectively. Percentage of T regulatory cells
      (Treg) and the expression of CD95 and CD25 in CD4+ lymphocytes were evaluated by
      flow cytometry. Lymphocyte proliferation capacity was measured by [14C]-thymidine
      incorporation and mRNA expression of IL-35, TGF-beta, IL-2 and IL-10 by real-time
      PCR. Lymphocyte proliferation was higher in OWC and OWE groups compared with the
      EC (3509 +/- 887; 2694 +/- 560, and 1768 +/- 208 cpm, respectively) and EE (2313
      +/- 111 cpm) groups. CD95 expression on lymphocytes was augmented in the EC
      (953.9 +/- 101.2) and EE groups (736.7 +/- 194.6) compared with the OWC (522.1 +/
      125.2) and OWE groups (551.6 +/- 144.5). CTLA-4 expression was also lower in the
      OWC and OWE groups compared with the EC and EE groups. Percentage of Treg, IL-35,
      and IL-10 mRNA expression were lower in the OWC and OWE groups compared with the
      EC and EE groups. In conclusion, overweight children present altered immune
      system balance characterized by elevated lymphocyte proliferation due to a
      decrease in T regulatory cell percentage. These effects were partially reverted
      by moderate physical exercise, as demonstrated by decreased lymphocyte
      proliferation. 

PMID- 25826264
TI  - The injured liver induces hyperimmunoglobulinemia by failing to dispose of
      antigens and endotoxins in the portal system.
AB  - Hyperimmunoglobulinemia is frequently observed in patients with chronic liver
      diseases. However, the exact mechanism underlying the high level of antibody
      formation is not fully understood. In our study, we provide evidence for the
      functional role of the liver and the stimulation of plasma cell proliferation in
      hyperimmunoglobulinemia. We collected sera from patients with chronic liver
      diseases, and the level of serum immunoglobulins in patients was examined; this
      was also investigated in animal models of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular
      carcinoma. An end-to-side microsurgical portacaval shunt was used to mimic liver
      dysfunction in rats. We used portal vein serum and inferior vena cava serum to
      immunize healthy rats and mice in order to confirm the function of the healthy
      liver in disposing of antigens and endotoxins from the gut. For the analysis of
      the state of plasma cell activation, plasma cells from mice were stained with PE
      conjugated anti-CD138 and FITC-conjugated anti-BrdU for flow cytometry analysis.
      Hyperimmunoglobulinemia was observed both in patients with chronic liver diseases
      and in related animal models, and high plasma LPS levels were also observed.
      There was a significant increase in the activation and proliferation of plasma
      cell in mice immunized with antigens or LPS-positive serum compared with controls
      that were immunized with antigens and LPS-negative serum. We confirmed that the
      healthy liver plays an important role in disposing of antigens and endotoxins
      derived from the gut. Hyperimmunoglobulinemia in chronic liver diseases mainly
      arises due to the collateral circulation secondary to portal hypertension, gut
      antigens and endotoxins that bypass the liver and reach the antibody-producing
      cells. 

PMID- 25826265
TI  - Selective sweep analysis in the genomes of the 91-R and 91-C Drosophila
      melanogaster strains reveals few of the 'usual suspects' in
      dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) resistance.
AB  - Adaptation of insect phenotypes for survival after exposure to xenobiotics can
      result from selection at multiple loci with additive genetic effects. To the
      authors' knowledge, no selective sweep analysis has been performed to identify
      such loci in highly dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) resistant insects. Here
      we compared a highly DDT resistant phenotype in the Drosophila melanogaster
      (Drosophila) 91-R strain to the DDT susceptible 91-C strain, both of common
      origin. Whole genome re-sequencing data from pools of individuals was generated
      separately for 91-R and 91-C, and mapped to the reference Drosophila genome
      assembly (v. 5.72). Thirteen major and three minor effect chromosome intervals
      with reduced nucleotide diversity (pi) were identified only in the 91-R
      population. Estimates of Tajima's D (D) showed corresponding evidence of
      directional selection in these same genome regions of 91-R, however, no similar
      reductions in pi or D estimates were detected in 91-C. An overabundance of non
      synonymous proteins coding to synonymous changes were identified in putative open
      reading frames associated with 91-R. Except for NinaC and Cyp4g1, none of the
      identified genes were the 'usual suspects' previously observed to be associated
      with DDT resistance. Additionally, up-regulated ATP-binding cassette transporters
      have been previously associated with DDT resistance; however, here we identified
      a structurally altered MDR49 candidate resistance gene. The remaining fourteen
      genes have not previously been shown to be associated with DDT resistance. These
      results suggest hitherto unknown mechanisms of DDT resistance, most of which have
      been overlooked in previous transcriptional studies, with some genes having
      orthologs in mammals. 

PMID- 25826267
TI  - 5-(Fluorodinitromethyl)-2H-tetrazole and its tetrazolates -- preparation and
      characterization of new high energy compounds.
AB  - 5-(Fluorodinitromethyl)-2H-tetrazole (HFDNTz) has been prepared by the
      cycloaddition reaction of HN3 with F(NO2)2CCN, which in turn was prepared by
      aqueous fluorination of sodium dinitrocyanomethanide. HFDNTz was converted into
      the ammonium, silver and tetraphenylphosphonium 5
      (fluorodinitromethyl)tetrazolates. While the reaction of trinitroacetonitrile
      with HBr, followed by the treatment with NaOH, resulted in the formation of
      sodium dinitrocyanomethanide, the reaction of trinitroacetonitrile with aqueous
      ammonia produced ammonium dinitrocyanomethanide. Hydrazinium dinitromethanide was
      obtained from trinitroacetonitrile and hydrazine hydrate. All compounds were
      fully characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy and X-ray
      crystal structure determinations. Initial safety testing (impact and friction
      sensitivity) and thermal stability measurements (DTA) were also carried out. 

PMID- 25826268
TI  - Photobioreactors with internal illumination - A survey and comparison.
AB  - The idea of internally illuminated photobioreactors has existed since the 1990s
      and various systems were developed since. Recently, the interest in these systems
      has been on the rise again, due to the increased production of and research on
      high-value products and recombinant proteins from microalgae and plant cell
      cultures. While promising results in lab-scale have been achieved, the potential
      of photoautotrophic or mixotrophic production of these compounds is limited due
      to the lack of scalable photobioreactors, which could be overcome by internally
      illuminated systems. In this article, we review different internally illuminated
      photobioreactors from the last two decades and classify them into two major
      groups. The photobioreactors are compared based on the ratio of illuminated
      surface-to-culture volume and the occupied volume by internal light-emitting
      elements, and possible obstacles, challenges and future trends are discussed.
      Looking forward, new technologies and smaller light sources have improved the
      potential of internally illuminated photobioreactors with internal light sources
      and will enable these technologies to compete with systems with internal light
      guides, but only a few of these systems have currently achieved a relevant scale.

PMID- 25826266
TI  - Network analyses reveal novel aspects of ALS pathogenesis.
AB  - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease
      characterized by selective loss of motor neurons, muscle atrophy and paralysis.
      Mutations in the human VAMP-associated protein B (hVAPB) cause a heterogeneous
      group of motor neuron diseases including ALS8. Despite extensive research, the
      molecular mechanisms underlying ALS pathogenesis remain largely unknown. Genetic
      screens for key interactors of hVAPB activity in the intact nervous system,
      however, represent a fundamental approach towards understanding the in vivo
      function of hVAPB and its role in ALS pathogenesis. Targeted expression of the
      disease-causing allele leads to neurodegeneration and progressive decline in
      motor performance when expressed in the adult Drosophila, eye or in its entire
      nervous system, respectively. By using these two phenotypic readouts, we carried
      out a systematic survey of the Drosophila genome to identify modifiers of hVAPB
      induced neurotoxicity. Modifiers cluster in a diverse array of biological
      functions including processes and genes that have been previously linked to hVAPB
      function, such as proteolysis and vesicular trafficking. In addition to
      established mechanisms, the screen identified endocytic trafficking and genes
      controlling proliferation and apoptosis as potent modifiers of ALS8-mediated
      defects. Surprisingly, the list of modifiers was mostly enriched for proteins
      linked to lipid droplet biogenesis and dynamics. Computational analysis reveals
      that most modifiers can be linked into a complex network of interacting genes,
      and that the human genes homologous to the Drosophila modifiers can be assembled
      into an interacting network largely overlapping with that in flies. Identity
      markers of the endocytic process were also found to abnormally accumulate in ALS
      patients, further supporting the relevance of the fly data for human biology.
      Collectively, these results not only lead to a better understanding of hVAPB
      function but also point to potentially relevant targets for therapeutic
      intervention. 

PMID- 25826269
TI  - Increased cerebral water content in hemodialysis patients.
AB  - Little information is available on the impact of hemodialysis on cerebral water
      homeostasis and its distribution in chronic kidney disease. We used a
      neuropsychological test battery, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and
      a novel technique for quantitative measurement of localized water content using
      3T MRI to investigate ten hemodialysis patients (HD) on a dialysis-free day and
      after hemodialysis (2.4+/-2.2 hours), and a matched healthy control group with
      the same time interval. Neuropsychological testing revealed mainly attentional
      and executive cognitive dysfunction in HD. Voxel-based-morphometry showed only
      marginal alterations in the right inferior medial temporal lobe white matter in
      HD compared to controls. Marked increases in global brain water content were
      found in the white matter, specifically in parietal areas, in HD patients
      compared to controls. Although the global water content in the gray matter did
      not differ between the two groups, regional increases of brain water content in
      particular in parieto-temporal gray matter areas were observed in HD patients. No
      relevant brain hydration changes were revealed before and after hemodialysis.
      Whereas longer duration of dialysis vintage was associated with increased water
      content in parieto-temporal-occipital regions, lower intradialytic weight changes
      were negatively correlated with brain water content in these areas in HD
      patients. Worse cognitive performance on an attention task correlated with
      increased hydration in frontal white matter. In conclusion, long-term HD is
      associated with altered brain tissue water homeostasis mainly in parietal white
      matter regions, whereas the attentional domain in the cognitive dysfunction
      profile in HD could be linked to increased frontal white matter water content. 

PMID- 25826270
TI  - A mouse model of human primitive neuroectodermal tumors resulting from
      microenvironmentally-driven malignant transformation of orthotopically
      transplanted radial glial cells.
AB  - There is growing evidence and a consensus in the field that most pediatric brain
      tumors originate from stem cells, of which radial glial cells constitute a
      subtype. Here we show that orthotopic transplantation of human radial glial (RG)
      cells to the subventricular zone of the 3rd ventricle--but not to other
      transplantation sites--of the brain in immunocompromised NOD-SCID mice, gives
      rise to tumors that have the hallmarks of CNS primitive neuroectodermal tumors
      (PNETs). The resulting mouse model strikingly recapitulates the phenotype of
      PNETs. Importantly, the observed tumorigenic transformation was accompanied by
      aspects of an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like process. It is also
      noteworthy that the tumors are highly invasive, and that they effectively recruit
      mouse endothelial cells for angiogenesis. These results are significant for
      several reasons. First, they show that malignant transformation of radial glial
      cells can occur in the absence of specific mutations or inherited genomic
      alterations. Second, they demonstrate that the same radial glial cells may either
      give rise to brain tumors or differentiate normally depending upon the
      microenvironment of the specific region of the brain to which the cells are
      transplanted. In addition to providing a prospect for drug screening and
      development of new therapeutic strategies, the resulting mouse model of PNETs
      offers an unprecedented opportunity to identify the cancer driving molecular
      alterations and the microenvironmental factors that are responsible for
      committing otherwise normal radial glial cells to a malignant phenotype.

PMID- 25826271
TI  - Radiological protection evaluation of the Bucharest Tandetron 3 MV accelerator.
AB  - Low energy heavy charged particle accelerators are generators of ionizing
      radiation, due to the ion beam interactions into the machine components, targets
      and surrounding materials. Nowadays there are available computational tools
      allowing realistic estimates of radiation doses and residual activity of the
      activated components. These evaluations are further used to design the
      radiological safety system required by licensing and operation of the
      equipment.This paper presents results of measurements and numerical simulations
      of the radiation doses and residual activity, at the recently commissioned
      Bucharest 3 MV Cockcroft-Walton type Tandetron accelerator presently used mainly
      for Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) research.

PMID- 25826273
TI  - Three-dimensional motion tracking correlates with skill level in upper
      gastrointestinal endoscopy.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIM: Feedback is an essential part of training in upper
      gastrointestinal endoscopy. Virtual reality simulators provide limited feedback,
      focusing only on visual recognition with no feedback on the procedural part of
      training. Motion tracking identifies patterns of movement, and this study aimed
      to explore the correlation between skill level and operator movement using an
      objective automated tool. METHODS: In this medical education study, 37 operators
      (12 senior doctors who performed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography,
      13 doctors with varying levels of experience, and 12 untrained medical students)
      were tested using a virtual reality simulator. A motion sensor was used to
      collect data regarding the distance between the hands, and height and movement of
      the scope hand. Test characteristics between groups were explored using Kruskal
      Wallis H and Man-Whitney U exact tests. RESULTS: All motion-tracking metrics
      showed discriminative ability primarily between experts and novices in specific
      sequences. CONCLUSION: Motion tracking can discriminate between operators with
      different experience levels in upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Motion tracking
      can be used to provide feedback regarding posture and movement during endoscopy
      training.

PMID- 25826274
TI  - Prospective evaluation of the clinical utility of single-operator peroral
      cholangioscopy in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: The role of cholangioscopy in primary sclerosing
      cholangitis (PSC) using a single-operator peroral cholangioscopy direct
      visualization system is unknown. This study aimed to prospectively evaluate the
      clinical utility of the system in PSC patients undergoing endoscopic retrograde
      cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with PSC or
      suspicion of PSC and a clinical indication for ERCP were enrolled between
      September 2008 and May 2011. Patients underwent cholangioscopy with sampling from
      biliary strictures. Clinical data, technical information from the ERCP procedure,
      and results from sampling by brush cytology and mini-forceps biopsy were
      collected. Long-term follow-up was conducted. Outcomes included technical
      success, sampling adequacy, and diagnostic accuracy of cholangioscopy-guided
      sampling for detection of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). RESULTS: A total of 47
      patients with PSC were included in the study. Median follow-up time was 27 months
      (range 2 - 64 months). Technical success was achieved in 96 % (45/47). In 9 %
      (4/45), the target lesion could not have been reached without the cholangioscopic
      visualization of the bile duct, which enabled further advancement of the
      investigation. A total of 64 biliary strictures were evaluated. Sample quality
      was adequate in 98 % (62/63) of the cytology brushings and in 95 % (21/22) of the
      mini-forceps biopsies. Of the three patients with a final diagnosis of CCA, one
      was diagnosed at the time of the investigation. The sensitivity, specificity,
      accuracy, and negative predictive value were 33 %, 100 %, 96 %, and 95 %,
      respectively. CONCLUSION: Cholangioscopy and cholangioscopy-guided sampling can
      be utilized successfully in patients with PSC. Cholangioscopy enabled targeted
      biopsies to be taken and was able to pass otherwise inaccessible strictures,
      making it potentially valuable for the management of biliary strictures in
      patients with PSC. Trial registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01556555).

PMID- 25826275
TI  - Safety and efficacy of carbon dioxide cryotherapy for treatment of neoplastic
      Barrett's esophagus.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Endoscopic cryotherapy has been used successfully for
      the ablation of Barrett's esophagus but outcome data are limited. The aim of this
      study was to assess the long-term safety and efficacy of carbon dioxide (CO2)
      cryotherapy as primary or rescue treatment for Barrett's esophagus with high
      grade dysplasia (HGD) or neoplasia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a
      retrospective, single-center, nonrandomized study carried out in an academic,
      tertiary care center and affiliated community hospital. A total of 78 patients
      with neoplastic Barrett's esophagus who had not undergone previous ablation
      (treatment-naive group) or who had persistent or recurrent neoplasia despite
      previous treatment (rescue treatment group) were enrolled. Visible Barrett's
      lesions, when present, were removed by endoscopic mucosal resection, which was
      followed by CO2 cryotherapy until neoplasia had been eradicated, or intervening
      therapy was necessary, or treatment was considered to have failed. Surveillance
      biopsies were obtained at standard intervals. Rates of complete response for
      cancer, HGD, and intestinal metaplasia were calculated. Treatment failure,
      recurrence, adverse events, progression, and mortality were also recorded.
      RESULTS: Between 2006 and 2013, 64 evaluable patients (20 treatment naive, 44
      rescue treatment) were treated and followed up (median time 4.2 years). At 1
      year, the overall complete response rates were 77 % for cancer (10/13), 89 % for
      dysplasia 57/64), 94 % for HGD (60/64; 100 % for treatment naive, 91 % for rescue
      treatment), and 55 % for intestinal metaplasia (35/64). Long-term complete
      response for neoplasia with rescue therapy was 87 % (56/64). Disease-specific
      mortality was 1/68 (2 %). Treatment failed to eradicate neoplasia in four
      patients (6 %) (all in the rescue group). Recurrent or new intestinal metaplasia
      was detected in 20/64 (31 %) after two negative follow-up procedures. Serious
      adverse events were noted in two patients (3 %). Post-cryotherapy pain occurred
      in four patients (6 %; only two needed analgesics). No bleeding or new strictures
      were noted. Buried Barrett's was detected in 5/68 patients (7 %). CONCLUSIONS:
      CO2 cryotherapy was a safe and effective primary curative or rescue therapy for
      Barrett's neoplasia.

PMID- 25826276
TI  - Complete mucosal healing defined by endoscopic Mayo subscore still demonstrates
      abnormalities by novel high definition colonoscopy and refined histological
      gradings.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: A novel high definition colonoscopy imaging technique
      (i-Scan) can characterize, in detail, colonic mucosa in patients with ulcerative
      colitis, and may provide additional information about mucosal healing. The aim of
      this study was to create a more refined histological and endoscopic criteria
      based on this novel technique in order to redefine inflammatory activity and
      mucosal healing. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 78 patients with ulcerative
      colitis were assessed by high definition colonoscopy as well as by white light
      endoscopy (WLE). Mayo endoscopic subscores were assigned to patients according to
      WLE findings. Mucosal and vascular patterns on high definition colonoscopy were
      each graded from 1 - 4. A histological scoring system (ECAP system) was designed
      to reflect all histological changes in ulcerative colitis. RESULTS: The overall
      high definition imaging scores (mucosal and vascular patterns) were significantly
      correlated with Mayo endoscopic subscores (rs = 0.86, 95 % confidence interval
      [CI] 0.79 - 0.91; P < 0.0001). Of those with Mayo endoscopic subscore of 0, 30.4
      % had an abnormal mucosal pattern and 73.9 % of them had an abnormal vascular
      pattern on high definition colonoscopy; a score of 6 or less had a sensitivity of
      95.8 % (95 %CI 85.7 % - 99.3 %) and specificity of 75.9 % (95 %CI 56.5 % - 90.0
      %) to detect mucosal healing as defined by Mayo endoscopy subscore of 0 or 1.
      Furthermore, mucosal and vascular pattern scores were also significantly
      correlated with most parameters of the proposed ECAP score. CONCLUSION: The
      subtle histological abnormalities underlying the apparently healed mucosa in
      ulcerative colitis could be detected using high definition colonoscopy and the
      refined ECAP histology scoring system. These techniques detect residual
      abnormalities in the majority of patients with seemingly complete mucosal healing
      by conventional Mayo criteria.

PMID- 25826277
TI  - Clinical outcomes of endoscopic submucosal dissection for superficial esophageal
      neoplasms: a multicenter retrospective cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: The safety and efficacy of endoscopic submucosal
      dissection (ESD) for superficial esophageal neoplasms (SENs) have not been
      evaluated in a multicenter survey. The aim of this study was to investigate the
      clinical outcomes in a multicenter study that included municipal hospitals.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: Of 312 consecutive patients with 373 esophageal lesions
      treated by ESD at 11 hospitals from May 2005 to December 2012, a total of 368
      SENs in 307 patients were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The median tumor
      size was 18 mm (range 2 - 85 mm). The median procedure time was 90 minutes (range
      12 - 450 minutes). The en bloc resection and complete resection rates were 96.7 %
      (95 % confidence interval [CI] 94.4 % - 98.1 %) and 84.5 % (95 %CI 80.5 % - 87.8
      %), respectively. Perforation (including mediastinal emphysema), postoperative
      pneumonia, bleeding, and esophageal stricture, occurred in 5.2 % (95 %CI 3.3 % -
      7.9 %), 1.6 % (95 %CI 0.7 % - 3.5 %), 0 %, and 7.1 % (95 %CI 4.9 % - 10.2 %) of
      patients, respectively. All of these complications were cured conservatively. No
      procedure-related mortality occurred. Early treatment periods (odds ratio [OR] =
      4.04; P < 0.01) and low volume institutions (OR = 3.03; P  = 0.045) were
      significantly independent risk factors for perforation. The circumference of the
      lesion was significantly associated with postoperative stricture (OR = 32.3; P <
      0.01). The procedure times significantly decreased in the later period of the
      study (P < 0.01). Follow-up data (median 35 months; range 4 - 98 months) showed
      significant differences in overall survival (P = 0.03) and recurrence-free
      survival (P < 0.01) rates between patients with curative and noncurative
      resections. CONCLUSIONS: Esophageal ESD has become feasible with acceptable
      complication risks and favorable long term outcomes.

PMID- 25826278
TI  - Withdrawal of a novel-design duodenoscope ends outbreak of a VIM-2-producing
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Infections are a recognized risk of endoscopic
      retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). This paper reports on a large
      outbreak of VIM-2-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa that was linked to the use of
      a recently introduced duodenoscope with a specific modified design (Olympus TJF
      Q180V). METHODS: Epidemiological investigations and molecular typing were
      executed in order to identify the source of the outbreak. Audits on
      implementation of infection control measures were performed. Additional infection
      control strategies were implemented to prevent further transmission. The design
      and the ability to clean and disinfect the duodenoscope were evaluated, and the
      distal tip was dismantled. RESULTS: From January to April 2012, 30 patients with
      a VIM-2-positive P. aeruginosa were identified, of whom 22 had undergone an ERCP
      using a specific duodenoscope, the TJF-Q180V. This was a significant increase
      compared with the hospital-wide baseline level of 2 - 3 cases per month. Clonal
      relatedness of the VIM-2 P. aeruginosa was confirmed for all 22 cases and for the
      VIM-2 strain isolated from the recess under the forceps elevator of the
      duodenoscope. An investigational study of the new modified design, including the
      dismantling of the duodenoscope tip, revealed that the fixed distal cap hampered
      cleaning and disinfection, and that the O-ring might not seal the forceps
      elevator axis sufficiently. The high monthly number of cases decreased below the
      pre-existing baseline level following withdrawal of the TJF-Q180V device from
      clinical use. CONCLUSIONS: Duodenoscope design modifications may compromise
      microbiological safety as illustrated by this outbreak. Extensive pre-marketing
      validation of the reprocessability of any new endoscope design and stringent post
      marketing surveillance are therefore mandatory.

PMID- 25826280
TI  - Biological therapies for inherited diseases: social and bioethical
      considerations. Hemophilia as an example.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In hemophilia, advanced therapies are warranted from a conceptual
      and methodological standpoint. Current advanced therapy strategies are centered
      on the use of adeno-associated viral vectors, although problems related to
      immunogenicity and hepatotoxicity still remain. AREAS COVERED: Future clinical
      trials will have to scrupulously observe international bioethical standards in
      terms of patient selection, particularly children. Patient recruitment rates are
      likely to remain low due to the stringent exclusion criteria usually imposed on
      the trial population regarding their hepatic and immunological markers and the
      presence of viral coinfection; and to the existence of an optimal palliative
      treatment. EXPERT OPINION: Accordingly, the results obtained are likely to be of
      low statistical significance, which could hinder their application to clinical
      practice. Another important issue is the degree to which society embraces these
      new emerging therapies. The unfamiliarity of society with these new methods,
      together with the many unresolved questions about them that remain, may threaten
      their acceptance not only by society at large but also by health-care
      professionals, which would limit their translational application to clinical
      practice.

PMID- 25826279
TI  - Brain isoform glycogen phosphorylase as a novel hepatic progenitor cell marker.
AB  - An appropriate liver-specific progenitor cell marker is a stepping stone in liver
      regenerative medicine. Here, we report brain isoform glycogen phosphorylase
      (GPBB) as a novel liver progenitor cell marker. GPBB was identified in a protein
      complex precipitated by a monoclonal antibody Ligab generated from a rat liver
      progenitor cell line Lig-8. Immunoblotting results show that GPBB was expressed
      in two liver progenitor cell lines Lig-8 and WB-F344. The levels of GPBB
      expression decreased in the WB-F344 cells under sodium butyrate (SB)-induced cell
      differentiation, consistent with roles of GPBB as a liver progenitor cell marker.
      Short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated GPBB knockdown followed by glucose deprivation
      test shows that GPBB aids in liver progenitor cell survival under low glucose
      conditions. Furthermore, shRNA-mediated GPBB knockdown followed by SB-induced
      cell differentiation shows that reducing GPBB expression delayed liver progenitor
      cell differentiation. We conclude that GPBB is a novel liver progenitor cell
      marker, which facilitates liver progenitor cell survival under low glucose
      conditions and cell differentiation. 

PMID- 25826281
TI  - The Lignan Pinoresinol Induces Nuclear Translocation of DAF-16 in Caenorhabditis
      elegans but has No Effect on Life Span.
AB  - The lignan pinoresinol is a constituent of flaxseed, sesame seeds and olive oil.
      Because of different molecular effects reported for this compound, e.g.
      antioxidative activity, pinoresinol is suggested to cause positive effects on
      humans. Because experimental data are limited, we have analysed the effects of
      the lignan on the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans: in spite of a strong
      antioxidative capacity detected in an in vitro assay, no antioxidative effects
      were detectable in vivo. In analogy to this result, no modulation of the
      sensitivity against thermal stress was detectable. However, incubation with
      pinoresinol caused an enhanced nuclear accumulation of the transcription factor
      DAF-16 (insulin/IGF-like signalling pathway). Using a strain with an enhanced
      oxidative stress level (mev-1 mutant), we clearly see an increase in stress
      resistance caused by this lignan, but no change in reactive oxygen species.
      Furthermore, we investigated the effects of pinoresinol on the life span of the
      nematode, but no modulation was found, neither in wild-type nor in mev-1 mutant
      nematodes. These results suggest that pinoresinol may exert pharmacologically
      interesting effects via modulation of the insulin-like signalling pathway in C.
      elegans as well as in other species like mammals due to the evolutionary
      conservation of this signalling pathway.

PMID- 25826282
TI  - Adverse childhood event experiences, fertility difficulties and menstrual cycle
      characteristics.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Increased childhood adversity may be affect adult fertility,
      however, the mechanism through which this occurs is unclear. Menstrual cycle
      abnormalities are predictive of fertility difficulties, and stress influences
      menstrual cycle characteristics. Here, we assess whether adverse childhood
      experiences (ACEs) are associated with fertility difficulties and menstrual cycle
      dysregulation, offering a plausible mechanism for the link between lifetime
      stress and fertility. METHODS: From April 2012 to February 2014, 742 pregnant and
      non-pregnant women aged 18-45 years residing in southeastern Louisiana provided
      information on childhood adversity and reproductive history. Associations between
      ACEs and fertility difficulties and menstrual cycle patterns were evaluated.
      RESULTS: As the number of ACEs increased, risk of fertility difficulties and
      amenorrhea increased (RR = 1.09, 95% CI 1.05-1.13 and RR = 1.07, 95% CI 1.04
      1.10, respectively), while fecundability decreased [fecundability ratio (FR) =
      0.97, 95% CI 0.95-1.00]. Compared to women with no adversity, women in the high
      adversity group were more likely to experience both infertility and amenorrhea
      (RR = 2.75, 95% CI 1.45-5.21 and RR = 2.54, 95% CI 1.52-4.25, respectively), and
      reduced fecundability (FR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.56-1.00). Although similar patterns
      were seen for menstrual cycle irregularity, associations were diminished.
      Associations did not materially change following adjustment for age, body mass
      index, race, education, smoking and income. Results are constrained by the self
      report nature of the study and the limited generalizability of the study
      population. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this is the first study to present
      evidence of a link between childhood stressors, menstrual cycle disruption and
      fertility difficulties. The effect of childhood stress on fertility may be
      mediated through altered functioning of the HPA axis, acting to suppress
      fertility in response to less than optimal reproductive circumstances.

PMID- 25826283
TI  - Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus Strains Isolated from Czech Cystic
      Fibrosis Patients: High Rate of Ribosomal Mutation Conferring Resistance to
      MLS(B) Antibiotics as a Result of Long-Term and Low-Dose Azithromycin Treatment.
AB  - Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most frequent pathogens infecting the
      respiratory tract of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). This study was the first
      to examine S. aureus isolates from CF patients in the Czech Republic. Among 100
      S. aureus isolates from 92 of 107 observed patients, we found a high prevalence
      of resistance to macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLS(B)) antibiotics
      (56%). More than half of the resistant strains (29 of 56) carried a mutation in
      the MLS(B) target site. The emergence of MLS(B) resistance and mutations
      conferring resistance to MLS(B) antibiotics was associated with azithromycin
      treatment (p=0.000000184 and p=0.000681, respectively). Methicillin resistance
      was only detected in 3% of isolates and the rate of resistance to other
      antibiotics did not exceed 12%. The prevalence of small-colony variant (SCV)
      strains was relatively low (9%) and eight of nine isolates with the SCV phenotype
      were thymidine dependent. The study population of S. aureus was heterogeneous in
      structure and both the most prevalent community-associated and hospital-acquired
      clonal lineages were represented. Of the virulence genes, enterotoxin genes seg
      (n=52), sei (n=49), and sec (n=16) were the most frequently detected among the
      isolates. The PVL genes (lukS-PV and lukF-PV) have not been revealed in any of
      the isolates.

PMID- 25826284
TI  - A synchrony-dependent influence of sounds on activity in visual cortex measured
      using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
AB  - Evidence from human neuroimaging and animal electrophysiological studies suggests
      that signals from different sensory modalities interact early in cortical
      processing, including in primary sensory cortices. The present study aimed to
      test whether functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), an emerging, non
      invasive neuroimaging technique, is capable of measuring such multisensory
      interactions. Specifically, we tested for a modulatory influence of sounds on
      activity in visual cortex, while varying the temporal synchrony between trains of
      transient auditory and visual events. Related fMRI studies have consistently
      reported enhanced activation in response to synchronous compared to asynchronous
      audiovisual stimulation. Unexpectedly, we found that synchronous sounds
      significantly reduced the fNIRS response from visual cortex, compared both to
      asynchronous sounds and to a visual-only baseline. It is possible that this
      suppressive effect of synchronous sounds reflects the use of an efficacious
      visual stimulus, chosen for consistency with previous fNIRS studies. Discrepant
      results may also be explained by differences between studies in how attention was
      deployed to the auditory and visual modalities. The presence and relative timing
      of sounds did not significantly affect performance in a simultaneously conducted
      behavioral task, although the data were suggestive of a positive relationship
      between the strength of the fNIRS response from visual cortex and the accuracy of
      visual target detection. Overall, the present findings indicate that fNIRS is
      capable of measuring multisensory cortical interactions. In multisensory
      research, fNIRS can offer complementary information to the more established
      neuroimaging modalities, and may prove advantageous for testing in naturalistic
      environments and with infant and clinical populations. 

PMID- 25826286
TI  - Promotion of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis upon neutrophil
      granulocytes' stimulation with formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP)
      peptide.
AB  - It has been acknowledged that neutrophil granulocytes, the common mediators of
      immune responses against extracellular bacteria, can also intercede autoimmune
      reactions such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Formyl
      methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) is a microbial peptide that can be well
      tolerated when intravenously administered and can directly lead to activation and
      accumulation of neutrophils into the blood circulation. Here, this antigenic
      peptide was injected to the mice at the induction of EAE, and the immunological
      and pathological outcomes were assessed. As a peripheral immune organ, spleen of
      the animals that received fMLP contained considerably high percentages of Gr
      1(hi)Ly7/4(hi) mature neutrophils. In the sera samples, only a slight difference
      was determined in Th1/Th2/Th17-related cytokine levels. Expression of CXCR1 or
      CXCR2 chemokine receptors was not significantly modulated in EAE with or without
      fMLP which might indicate a direct role for this antigenic peptide on neutrophil
      accumulation. Even though fMLP administration did not propone the clinical
      (symptomatic) onset of the disease, the animals showed severe body conditions
      with higher EAE scores. Accordingly, the expression of TNF-alpha and CXCL1
      inflammatory mediators in the brain was increased in fMLP-EAE group. In
      conclusion, with its potent capacity to mobilize neutrophils and to stimulate
      innate immune cells, fMLP peptide can be used to aggravate immune reactions in
      EAE. This observation may indicate that the strength of innate immune responses
      particularly at the induction phase of EAE might influence the clinical course of
      the disease. 

PMID- 25826287
TI  - Enhancement of the thermoelectric figure of merit in DNA-like systems induced by
      Fano and Dicke effects.
AB  - We report a theoretical study highlighting the thermoelectric properties of
      biological and synthetic DNA molecules. Based on an effective tight-binding model
      of duplex DNA and by using the nonequilibrium Green's function technique, the
      thermal conductance, electrical conductance, Seebeck coefficient and
      thermoelectric figure of merit in the system are numerically calculated by
      varying the asymmetries of energies and electronic hoppings in the backbone sites
      to simulate the environmental complications and fluctuations. We find that due to
      the multiple transport paths in the DNA molecule, the Fano antiresonance occurs,
      and enhances the Seebeck coefficient and the figure of merit. When the energy
      difference is produced in every opposite backbone site, the Dicke effect appears.
      This effect gives rise to a semiconducting-metallic transition, and enhances the
      thermoelectric efficiency of the DNA molecule remarkably. Moreover, as the Fano
      antiresonance point is close to the Dicke resonance one, a giant enhancement in
      the thermoelectric figure of merit in the DNA molecule has been found. These
      results provide a scenario to obtain effective routes to enhance the
      thermoelectric efficiency in the DNA molecules, and suggest perspectives for
      future experiments intending to control the thermoelectric transport in DNA-like
      nanodevices. 

PMID- 25826288
TI  - Novel "hot exciton" blue fluorophores for high performance
      fluorescent/phosphorescent hybrid white organic light-emitting diodes with
      superhigh phosphorescent dopant concentration and improved efficiency roll-off.
AB  - Two blue fluorophores with excellent hybridized local and charge-transfer (HLCT)
      and "hot exciton" properties were developed as the blue emitter and the host for
      orange-red phosphor to achieve highly efficient fluorescent/phosphorescent (F/P)
      hybrid white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) in a single-emissive-layer
      single-dopant (SEML-SD) architecture even at a high concentration of
      phosphorescent dopant. In the devices, part of the triplet excitons of the blue
      fluorophores can be utilized to realize reverse intersystem crossing from the
      triplet excited states to the singlet excited states for blue emission, and the
      diffusion volume range of the triplet excitons is reduced significantly. When the
      phosphorescent dopant concentration is up to 1.0 wt %, which is ten times higher
      than the traditional single-EML-SD F/P hybrid WOLEDs, highly efficient white
      emission was still achieved with maximum total external quantum efficiency (EQE)
      of 23.8%, current efficiency (CE) of 56.1 cd A(-1), and power efficiency (PE) of
      62.9 lm W(1-). The results will supply a novel method for obtaining high
      efficiency F/P hybrid WOLEDs in a SEML-SD architecture with easily controllable
      doping concentration. 

PMID- 25826285
TI  - Temporal phenotypic features distinguish polarized macrophages in vitro.
AB  - Macrophages are important in vascular inflammation and environmental factors
      influence macrophage plasticity. Macrophage transitions into pro-inflammatory
      (M1) or anti-inflammatory (M2) states have been defined predominately by
      measuring cytokines in culture media (CM). However, temporal relationships
      between cellular and secreted cytokines have not been established. We measured
      phenotypic markers and cytokines in cellular and CM of murine bone marrow-derived
      macrophages at multiple time points following stimulation with IFN-gamma + LPS
      (M1), IL-4 (M2a) or IL-10 (M2c). Cytokines/proteins in M1-polarized macrophages
      exhibited two distinct temporal patterns; an early (0.5-3 h), transient increase
      in cellular cytokines (GM-CSF, KC-GRO, MIP-2, IP-10 and MIP-1beta) and a delayed
      (3-6 h) response that was more sustained [IL-3, regulated on activation normal T
      cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases
      1 (TIMP-1)]. M2a-related cytokine/cell markers (IGF-1, Fizz1 and Ym1) were
      progressively (3-24 h) increased post-stimulation. In addition, novel patterns
      were observed. First, and unexpectedly, cellular pro-inflammatory chemokines, MCP
      1 and MCP-3 but not MCP-5, were comparably increased in M1 and M2a macrophages.
      Second, Vegfr1 mRNA was decreased in M1 and increased in M2a macrophages.
      Finally, VEGF-A was increased in the CM of M1 cultures and strikingly reduced in
      M2a coinciding with increased Vegfr1 expression, suggesting decreased VEGF-A in
      M2a CM was secondary to increased soluble VEGFR1. In conclusion, macrophage
      cytokine production and marker expression were temporally regulated and relative
      levels compared across polarizing conditions were highly dependent upon the
      timing and location (cellular versus CM) of the sample collection. For most
      cytokines, cellular production preceded increases in the CM suggesting that
      cellular regulatory pathways should be studied within 6 h of stimulation. The
      divergent polarization-dependent expression of Vegfr1 may be essential to
      controlling VEGF potentially regulating angiogenesis and inflammatory cell
      infiltration in the vascular niche. The current study expands the repertoire of
      cytokines produced by polarized macrophages and provides insights into the
      dynamic regulation of macrophage polarization and resulting cytokines, proteins
      and gene expression that influence vascular inflammation.

PMID- 25826289
TI  - Lack of efficacy of prophylactic application of antibiotic-loaded bone cement for
      prevention of infection in primary total knee arthroplasty: results of a meta
      analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Deep incisional surgical site infection (SSI) is a devastating and
      costly complication of primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The effectiveness
      of antibiotic-loaded bone cement (ALBC) in preventing these infections remains
      controversial. METHODS: A meta-analysis was conducted to assess the efficacy of
      ALBC in preventing deep infection in primary TKA after a detailed and systematic
      search of the PubMed, Embase, CNKI, and Cochrane databases had been performed to
      identify appropriate comparative trials on the prophylactic use of ALBC in
      primary TKA. RESULTS: Five comparative trials were included. In total, 3,461
      patients (ALBC group) received ALBC, whereas 3,176 patients (non-antibiotic
      loaded cement; NALBC group) did not. The incidence of deep incisional SSI in the
      ALBC group was 1.32% (n=46) whereas the incidence in the NALBC group was 1.89%
      (n=60), figures which are not significantly different. No adverse events
      associated with ALBC were reported in any studies. CONCLUSION: Statistical
      analysis did not reveal a significantly different incidence of deep or
      superficial SSI in patients receiving and not receiving antibiotic-loaded cement.
      The prophylactic application of ALBC thus did not show efficacy in primary TKA.
      More large-sample studies are required to confirm this finding.

PMID- 25826290
TI  - Male youth with eating disorders: clinical and medical characteristics of a
      sample of inpatients.
AB  - A retrospective chart review was conducted to elucidate the clinical and medical
      characteristics of male youth admitted to a tertiary inpatient treatment center
      for eating disorders. A total of 23 male youth were identified who had received
      treatment between January 2003 and February 2014, and for whom charts were
      available. The majority of the sample (n = 19; 82.6%) received a diagnosis of
      anorexia nervosa, and the data suggest that these male youth were significantly
      medically compromised. The patterns in this data will be discussed in the context
      of previous published research on male youth with eating disorders. 

PMID- 25826291
TI  - The Impact of Gender and Protein Intake on the Success of Weight Maintenance and
      Associated Cardiovascular Risk Benefits, Independent of the Mode of Food
      Provision: The DiOGenes Randomized Trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Maintenance of weight loss and associated cardiovascular benefits
      after following energy-restricted diets is still a challenging field, and
      thorough investigation is needed. The present research aimed to determine the
      role of protein and gender in relation to two different intervention models
      related to food supply, in a weight maintenance trial. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The
      DiOGenes trial was a long-term, multicenter, randomized, dietary intervention
      study, conducted in eight European countries (Clinical Trials.gov, NCT00390637),
      focusing on assessing the effectiveness of weight maintenance over 6 months. This
      secondary analysis intended to evaluate the different benefits for weight
      maintenance and cardiometabolic markers of two dietary advice delivery models:
      "shop + instruction intervention" vs "instruction-alone intervention," which were
      further categorized for gender and macronutrient intake. RESULTS: The weight
      maintenance intervention based on different macronutrient intake showed,
      independently of the advice delivery model, in both sexes that higher protein
      consumption was more effective for weight stability, showing better results in
      obese women (low protein: 1.65 kg in males and 0.73 Kg in females vs high
      protein: 1.45 kg in males and -0.93 Kg in females) . Measurements concerning
      cardiovascular risk markers from subjects on both structured models produced
      similar trends in the subsequent follow-up period, with a lower rebound in women
      for most of the markers analyzed. CONCLUSION: The reported dietary benefits for
      weight sustainability should be ascribed to the macronutrient distribution
      (higher protein diets) rather than to the structured mode of delivery. Higher
      weight regain in males was noted, as well as a metabolic divergence attributable
      to the sex, with a better biochemical outcome in women.

PMID- 25826292
TI  - Influence of age and physical fitness on miRNA-21, TGF-beta and its receptors in
      leukocytes of healthy women.
AB  - The TGF-beta superfamily has been shown to play an important role in a wide range
      of physiological as well as pathological processes including ageing, immune
      modulation, atherosclerosis and cancer development. The aim of the current study
      was to investigate (i) whether TGF-beta signalling in peripheral blood
      mononuclear cells (PBMCs) would differ between young and old females and (ii)
      whether physical performance parameters of elderly women would be related to the
      expression of TGF-beta or its receptors. Sixteen healthy young (22-28 years; YF)
      and 90 healthy older (65-92 years; OF) females participated in the study. In
      addition to several components of health-related physical fitness, circulating
      CRP and TGF-beta levels were determined together with the mRNA expression of TGF
      beta, TGF-betaRI, TGF-betaRII, and miRNA-21 (known to interfere with TGF-beta
      signalling) in PBMCs. Physical fitness as determined by 6-minutes walking test
      (YF:median 932 (range 573-1254) m; OF:360 (114-558) m), handgrip strength (YF: 32
      (24-39) kg; OF:18(10-30) kg), relative isokinetic peak torque of knee extensors
      (YF:1.9 (1.2- 2.3) Nm/kg; OF:1.0 (0.2-1.9) Nm/kg and flexors (YF: 1.1 (0.7- 1.5)
      Nm/kg; OF: 0.5 (0.2-1.0) Nm/kg was substantially lower in older women (p<0.001
      for all comparisons). These changes were paralleled by an increase in hs-CRP (YF:
      0.9 (0.1-4.3)mg/L; OF: 2.3 (0.3-56.7)mg/L,p<0.001). Serum levels of TGF-beta and
      TGF-beta mRNA levels from PBMCs did not differ between young and old women
      whereas, both TGF- betaRI/GAPDH (YF: 4.07 (1.38-14.60); OF: 2.08 (0.14-28.81);
      p=0.020) and TGF-betaRII/GAPDH levels (YF: 3.16 (1.14- 10.25); OF: 1.71 (0.51
      14.86); p=0.020) were lower with respect to old age. In elderly women, only TGF
      betaRIota expression correlated negatively with miRNA-21 expression in PBMCs
      (rho=-0.315; p=0.004). Interestingly, hs-CRP and miRNA correlated positively with
      handgrip strength (rho=0.237 and rho=243, p<0.05), while none of the TGF-beta
      related parameters were related to physical performance. The results suggest that
      age affects TGF-beta signalling in leukocytes by altering the expression levels
      of its receptors. These changes seem to occur independently of physical fitness
      of old women. 

PMID- 25826293
TI  - [Effect of high-intensity interval training on the reduction of glycosylated
      hemoglobin in type-2 diabetic adult patients].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is one of the major non-communicable
      chronic diseases in the world. Its prevalence in Chile is significant, and
      complications associated with this disease involve great costs, which is why
      prevention and treatment of this condition are essential. Physical exercise is an
      effective means for prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The
      emergence of new forms of physical training, such as "high intensity interval
      training", presents novel therapeutic alternatives for patients and health care
      professionals. OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity and applicability of the results
      regarding the effectiveness of high intensity interval training in reducing
      glycosylated hemoglobin in adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and
      answer the following question: In subjects with type 2 diabetes, can the method
      of high intensity interval training compared to moderate intensity exercise
      decrease glycosylated hemoglobin? METHODS: We performed a critical analysis of
      the article "Feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of high intensity interval
      training in type 2 diabetes". RESULTS: We found no significant differences in the
      amount of glycosylated hemoglobin between groups of high intensity interval
      training and moderate-intensity exercise upon completion of the study (p>0.05).
      CONCLUSION: In adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, high intensity
      interval training does not significantly improve glycosylated hemoglobin levels.
      Despite this, the high intensity interval training method shows as much
      improvement in body composition and physical condition as the moderate intensity
      exercise program.

PMID- 25826295
TI  - Associations between stress and quality of life: differences between owners
      keeping a living dog or losing a dog by euthanasia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The loss of a pet may be stressful to the owner. The main objectives
      of this study were to compare the levels of stress and to explore the correlates
      of QOL of healthy adults who currently own or who have just lost their dog.
      METHODS: The study sample contained 110 current, and 103 bereaved dog owners, all
      females, who lost their dogs due to euthanasia. QOL was assessed with the WHOQOL
      BREF questionnaire and divided into four major domains-Physical, Psychological,
      Relationship, and Environmental. Demographic variables, stress, health behaviors,
      and social support from family, friends, and significant other were included in
      multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Stress levels were significantly higher in
      bereaved owners. QOL in three of the four domains (Physical, Psychological, and
      Relationship) of current owners were significantly better than among bereaved
      owners. Stress was significantly associated with these three domains of QOL.
      Quality of life was found to be positively associated with social support. Age
      was related directly only to current owners' QOL. CONCLUSIONS: The results
      suggest that a loss of a dog is associated with stress for the bereaved owner and
      reduced physical, psychological, and relationship QOL. Lack of social support in
      the case of death of a companion animal has a strong effect on owners' grief
      reactions.

PMID- 25826296
TI  - 5-Alkyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines, new membrane-interacting lipophilic
      metabolites produced by combined culture of Streptomyces nigrescens and
      Tsukamurella pulmonis.
AB  - Eight novel 5-alkyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines (5aTHQs) bearing different side
      chains have been isolated from a combined culture of Streptomyces nigrescens
      HEK616 and Tsukamurella pulmonis TP-B0596. The chemical structures including the
      absolute configuration were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis and total
      synthesis. 5aTHQs inhibited the growth of wild-type fission yeast while only
      weakly inhibiting the growth of several mutant strains synthesizing premature
      ergosterol. These results demonstrate that 5aTHQs are novel antifungals that may
      target cell membranes. 

PMID- 25826294
TI  - Genetic variants in de novo lipogenic pathway genes predict the prognosis of
      surgically-treated hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Over-expression of de novo lipogenesis (DNL) pathway genes is associated with the
      prognosis of various types of cancers. However, effects of single nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs) in these genes on recurrence and death of hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC) patients after surgery are still unknown. A total of 492 primary
      HCC patients treated with surgery were included in this study. Nine SNPs in 3
      genes (ACACA, FASN and ACLY) of DNL pathway were genotyped. Multivariate Cox
      proportional hazard regression model and Kaplan-Meier curve were used to analyze
      the association of SNPs with clinical outcomes. Two SNPs in ACACA gene were
      significantly associated with overall survival of HCC patients. Patients carrying
      homozygous variant genotype (VV) in rs7211875 had significantly increased risk of
      death, while patients carrying VV genotype in rs11871275 had significant
      decreased risk of death, when compared with those carrying homozygous wild-type
      or heterozygous genotypes. Moreover, patients carrying VV genotype in rs11871275
      had decreased recurrence risk, while patients carrying variant genotype in
      rs4485435 of FASN gene had increased recurrence risk. Further cumulative effect
      analysis showed significant dose-dependent effects of unfavorable SNPs on both
      death and recurrence. SNPs in DNL genes may serve as independent prognostic
      markers for HCC patients after surgery. 

PMID- 25826297
TI  - Evaluation of inapparent dengue infections during an outbreak in Southern China.
AB  - Few studies evaluating inapparent dengue virus (DENV) infections have been
      conducted in China. In 2013, a large outbreak of DENV occurred in the city of
      Zhongshan, located in Southern China, which provided an opportunity to assess the
      clinical spectrum of disease. During the outbreak, an investigation of 887 index
      case contacts was conducted to evaluate inapparent and symptomatic DENV
      infections. Post-outbreak, an additional 815 subjects from 4 towns with, and 350
      subjects from 2 towns without reported autochthonous DENV transmission, as
      determined by clinical diagnosis, were evaluated for serological evidence of
      dengue IgG antibodies. Between July and November 2013, there were 19 imported and
      809 autochthonous dengue cases reported in Zhongshan. Of 887 case contacts
      enrolled during the outbreak, 13 (1.5%) exhibited symptomatic DENV infection,
      while 28 (3.2%) were inapparent. The overall I:S ratio was 2.2:1 (95% CI: 1.1
      4.2:1). Post-outbreak serological data showed that the proportion of DENV IgG
      antibody detection from the 4 towns with and the 2 towns without reported DENV
      transmission was 2.7% (95% CI: 1.6%-3.8%) and 0.6% (95% CI: 0-1.4%),
      respectively. The I:S ratio in the 3 towns where clinical dengue cases were
      predominately typed as DENV-1 was 11.0:1 (95% CI: 3.7-infinity:1). The ratio in
      the town where DENV-3 was predominately typed was 1.0:1 (95% CI: 0.5-infinity:1).
      In this cross-sectional study, data suggests a high I:S ratio during a documented
      outbreak in Zhongshan, Southern China. These results have important implications
      for dengue control, implying that inapparent cases might influence DENV
      transmission more than previously thought. 

PMID- 25826298
TI  - Chlamydia trachomatis load in population-based screening and STI-clinics:
      implications for screening policy.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: If the Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) bacterial load is higher in high
      risk populations than in the general population, this negatively affects the
      efficacy of CT screening incentives. In the largest retrospective study to date,
      we investigated the CT load in specimens collected from 2 cohorts: (1) attendants
      of a sexually transmitted infection (STI)-clinic and (2) participants of the
      Dutch population-based screening (PBS). METHODS: CT load was determined using
      quantitative PCR in CT-positive male urine and female cervicovaginal swabs. CT
      loads were converted into tertiles. Using multinominal logistic regression,
      independent association of cohort, symptoms, risk behaviour and human cell count
      on load were assessed. RESULTS: CT loads were determined in 889 CT-positives from
      PBS (n = 529; 71.8% female) and STI-clinics (n = 360; 61.7% female). In men, STI
      clinic-cohort, human cell count and urethral discharge were positively associated
      with CT load. In women, PBS-cohort and cell count were positively associated with
      CT load. Both cohorts had the same range in CT load. CONCLUSIONS: The general
      population has a similar range of bacterial CT load as a high-risk population,
      but a different distribution for cohort and gender, highlighting the relevance of
      population-based CT-screening. When CT loads are similar, possibly the chances of
      transmission and sequelae are too.

PMID- 25826299
TI  - Insight into neutral and disease-associated human genetic variants through
      interpretable predictors.
AB  - A variety of methods that predict human nonsynonymous single nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs) to be neutral or disease-associated have been developed over
      the last decade. These methods are used for pinpointing disease-associated
      variants in the many variants obtained with next-generation sequencing
      technologies. The high performances of current sequence-based predictors indicate
      that sequence data contains valuable information about a variant being neutral or
      disease-associated. However, most predictors do not readily disclose this
      information, and so it remains unclear what sequence properties are most
      important. Here, we show how we can obtain insight into sequence characteristics
      of variants and their surroundings by interpreting predictors. We used an
      extensive range of features derived from the variant itself, its surrounding
      sequence, sequence conservation, and sequence annotation, and employed linear
      support vector machine classifiers to enable extracting feature importance from
      trained predictors. Our approach is useful for providing additional information
      about what features are most important for the predictions made. Furthermore, for
      large sets of known variants, it can provide insight into the mechanisms
      responsible for variants being disease-associated. 

PMID- 25826300
TI  - The neural mechanisms of re-experiencing mental fatigue sensation: a
      magnetoencephalography study.
AB  - There have been several studies which have tried to clarify the neural mechanisms
      of fatigue sensation; however fatigue sensation has multiple aspects. We
      hypothesized that past experience related to fatigue sensation is an important
      factor which contributes to future formation of fatigue sensation through the
      transfer to memories that are located within specific brain structures.
      Therefore, we aimed to investigate the neural mechanisms of fatigue sensation
      related to memory. In the present study, we investigated the neural activity
      caused by re-experiencing the fatigue sensation that had been experienced during
      a fatigue-inducing session. Thirteen healthy volunteers participated in fatigue
      and non-fatigue experiments in a crossover fashion. In the fatigue experiment,
      they performed a 2-back test session for 40 min to induce fatigue sensation, a
      rest session for 15 min to recover from fatigue, and a magnetoencephalography
      (MEG) session in which they were asked to re-experience the state of their body
      with fatigue that they had experienced in the 2-back test session. In the non
      fatigue experiment, the participants performed a free session for 15 min, a rest
      session for 15 min, and an MEG session in which they were asked to re-experience
      the state of their body without fatigue that they had experienced in the free
      session. Spatial filtering analyses of oscillatory brain activity showed that the
      delta band power in the left Brodmann's area (BA) 39, alpha band power in the
      right pulvinar nucleus and the left BA 40, and beta band power in the left BA 40
      were lower when they re-experienced the fatigue sensation than when they re
      experienced the fatigue-free sensation, indicating that these brain regions are
      related to re-experiencing the fatigue sensation. Our findings may help clarify
      the neural mechanisms underlying fatigue sensation. 

PMID- 25826301
TI  - Impact of Leishmania infection on host macrophage nuclear physiology and
      nucleopore complex integrity.
AB  - The protease GP63 is an important virulence factor of Leishmania parasites. We
      previously showed that GP63 reaches the perinuclear area of host macrophages and
      that it directly modifies nuclear translocation of the transcription factors NF
      kappaB and AP-1. Here we describe for the first time, using molecular biology and
      in-depth proteomic analyses, that GP63 alters the host macrophage nuclear
      envelope, and impacts on nuclear processes. Our results suggest that GP63 does
      not appear to use a classical nuclear localization signal common between
      Leishmania species for import, but degrades nucleoporins, and is responsible for
      nuclear transport alterations. In the nucleoplasm, GP63 activity accounts for the
      degradation and mislocalization of proteins involved amongst others in gene
      expression and in translation. Collectively, our data indicates that Leishmania
      infection strongly affects nuclear physiology, suggesting that targeting of
      nuclear physiology may be a strategy beneficial for virulent Leishmania
      parasites. 

PMID- 25826302
TI  - The consensus 5' splice site motif inhibits mRNA nuclear export.
AB  - In eukaryotes, mRNAs are synthesized in the nucleus and then exported to the
      cytoplasm where they are translated into proteins. We have mapped an element,
      which when present in the 3'terminal exon or in an unspliced mRNA, inhibits mRNA
      nuclear export. This element has the same sequence as the consensus 5'splice site
      motif that is used to define the start of introns. Previously it was shown that
      when this motif is retained in the mRNA, it causes defects in 3'cleavage and
      polyadenylation and promotes mRNA decay. Our new data indicates that this motif
      also inhibits nuclear export and promotes the targeting of transcripts to nuclear
      speckles, foci within the nucleus which have been linked to splicing. The motif,
      however, does not disrupt splicing or the recruitment of UAP56 or TAP/Nxf1 to the
      RNA, which are normally required for nuclear export. Genome wide analysis of
      human mRNAs, lncRNA and eRNAs indicates that this motif is depleted from
      naturally intronless mRNAs and eRNAs, but less so in lncRNAs. This motif is also
      depleted from the beginning and ends of the 3'terminal exons of spliced mRNAs,
      but less so for lncRNAs. Our data suggests that the presence of the 5'splice site
      motif in mature RNAs promotes their nuclear retention and may help to distinguish
      mRNAs from misprocessed transcripts and transcriptional noise. 

PMID- 25826303
TI  - Correction: the five-to-six-coordination transition of ferric human serum heme
      albumin is allosterically-modulated by ibuprofen and warfarin: a combined XAS and
      MD study.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104231.]. 

PMID- 25826304
TI  - Reward learning in pediatric depression and anxiety: preliminary findings in a
      high-risk sample.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Reward learning has been postulated as a critical component of
      hedonic functioning that predicts depression risk. Reward learning deficits have
      been established in adults with current depressive disorders, but no prior
      studies have examined the relationship of reward learning and depression in
      children. The present study investigated reward learning as a function of
      familial depression risk and current diagnostic status in a pediatric sample.
      METHOD: The sample included 204 children of parents with a history of depression
      (n = 86 high-risk offspring) or parents with no history of major mental disorder
      (n = 118 low-risk offspring). Semistructured clinical interviews were used to
      establish current mental diagnoses in the children. A modified signal detection
      task was used for assessing reward learning. We tested whether reward learning
      was impaired in high-risk offspring relative to low-risk offspring. We also
      tested whether reward learning was impaired in children with current disorders
      known to blunt hedonic function (depression, social phobia, PTSD, GAD, n = 13)
      compared to children with no disorders and to a psychiatric comparison group with
      ADHD. RESULTS: High- and low-risk youth did not differ in reward learning.
      However, youth with current anhedonic disorders (depression, social phobia, PTSD,
      GAD) exhibited blunted reward learning relative to nondisordered youth and those
      with ADHD. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are a first demonstration that reward
      learning deficits are present among youth with disorders known to blunt anhedonic
      function and that these deficits have some degree of diagnostic specificity. We
      advocate for future studies to replicate and extend these preliminary findings.

PMID- 25826306
TI  - Mapping and modelling helminth infections in ruminants in Europe: experience from
      GLOWORM.
AB  - Mapping and modelling helminth infections in cattle and sheep in Europe through
      advanced geospatial research was one of the main task of GLOWORM, a three year
      project (2012-2014) funded under the European Commission's (EC) seventh framework
      programme (FP7). Liver flukes as Fasciola hepatica and gastrointestinal
      nematodes, such as Haemonchus contortus were chosen for the project since these
      parasites constitute a major cause of lost productivity in small and large
      ruminants. The output of the GLOWORM project delivered guidelines for
      standardized and harmonized cross-sectional surveys of helminth parasites in
      ruminants allowing the development of updated prevalence maps and multi-scale,
      spatial models for the European area. 

PMID- 25826305
TI  - DNA polymerase zeta-dependent lesion bypass in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is
      accompanied by error-prone copying of long stretches of adjacent DNA.
AB  - Translesion synthesis (TLS) helps cells to accomplish chromosomal replication in
      the presence of unrepaired DNA lesions. In eukaryotes, the bypass of most lesions
      involves a nucleotide insertion opposite the lesion by either a replicative or a
      specialized DNA polymerase, followed by extension of the resulting distorted
      primer terminus by DNA polymerase zeta (Polzeta). The subsequent events leading
      to disengagement of the error-prone Polzeta from the primer terminus and its
      replacement with an accurate replicative DNA polymerase remain largely unknown.
      As a first step toward understanding these events, we aimed to determine the
      length of DNA stretches synthesized in an error-prone manner during the Polzeta
      dependent lesion bypass. We developed new in vivo assays to identify the products
      of mutagenic TLS through a plasmid-borne tetrahydrofuran lesion and a UV-induced
      chromosomal lesion. We then surveyed the region downstream of the lesion site (in
      respect to the direction of TLS) for the presence of mutations indicative of an
      error-prone polymerase activity. The bypass of both lesions was associated with
      an approximately 300,000-fold increase in the mutation rate in the adjacent DNA
      segment, in comparison to the mutation rate during normal replication. The
      hypermutated tract extended 200 bp from the lesion in the plasmid-based assay and
      as far as 1 kb from the lesion in the chromosome-based assay. The mutation rate
      in this region was similar to the rate of errors produced by purified Polzeta
      during copying of undamaged DNA in vitro. Further, no mutations downstream of the
      lesion were observed in rare TLS products recovered from Polzeta-deficient cells.
      This led us to conclude that error-prone Polzeta synthesis continues for several
      hundred nucleotides after the lesion bypass is completed. These results provide
      insight into the late steps of TLS and show that error-prone TLS tracts span a
      substantially larger region than previously appreciated. 

PMID- 25826307
TI  - Modelling the spatial distribution of Fasciola hepatica in dairy cattle in
      Europe.
AB  - A harmonized sampling approach in combination with spatial modelling is required
      to update current knowledge of fasciolosis in dairy cattle in Europe. Within the
      scope of the EU project GLOWORM, samples from 3,359 randomly selected farms in
      849 municipalities in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Sweden were collected
      and their infection status assessed using an indirect bulk tank milk (BTM) enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Dairy farms were considered exposed when the
      optical density ratio (ODR) exceeded the 0.3 cut-off. Two ensemble-modelling
      techniques, Random Forests (RF) and Boosted Regression Trees (BRT), were used to
      obtain the spatial distribution of the probability of exposure to Fasciola
      hepatica using remotely sensed environmental variables (1-km spatial resolution)
      and interpolated values from meteorological stations as predictors. The median
      ODRs amounted to 0.31, 0.12, 0.54, 0.25 and 0.44 for Belgium, Germany, Ireland,
      Poland and southern Sweden, respectively. Using the 0.3 threshold, 571
      municipalities were categorized as positive and 429 as negative. RF was seen as
      capable of predicting the spatial distribution of exposure with an area under the
      receiver operation characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of 0.83 (0.96 for BRT). Both
      models identified rainfall and temperature as the most important factors for
      probability of exposure. Areas of high and low exposure were identified by both
      models, with BRT better at discriminating between low-probability and high
      probability exposure; this model may therefore be more useful in practise. Given
      a harmonized sampling strategy, it should be possible to generate robust spatial
      models for fasciolosis in dairy cattle in Europe to be used as input for temporal
      models and for the detection of deviations in baseline probability. Further
      research is required for model output in areas outside the eco-climatic range
      investigated. 

PMID- 25826308
TI  - Cluster analysis of fasciolosis in dairy cow herds in Munster province of Ireland
      and detection of major climatic and environmental predictors of the exposure
      risk.
AB  - Fasciolosis caused by Fasciola hepatica is a widespread parasitic disease in
      cattle farms. The aim of this study was to detect clusters of fasciolosis in
      dairy cow herds in Munster Province, Ireland and to identify significant climatic
      and environmental predictors of the exposure risk. In total, 1,292 dairy herds
      across Munster was sampled in September 2012 providing a single bulk tank milk
      (BTM) sample. The analysis of samples by an in-house antibody-detection enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), showed that 65% of the dairy herds (n = 842)
      had been exposed to F. hepatica. Using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic, 16 high-risk
      and 24 low-risk (P <0.01) clusters of fasciolosis were identified. The spatial
      distribution of high-risk clusters was more dispersed and mainly located in the
      northern and western regions of Munster compared to the low-risk clusters that
      were mostly concentrated in the southern and eastern regions. The most
      significant classes of variables that could reflect the difference between high
      risk and low-risk clusters were the total number of wet-days and rain-days,
      rainfall, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), temperature and soil
      type. There was a bigger proportion of well-drained soils among the low-risk
      clusters, whereas poorly drained soils were more common among the high-risk
      clusters. These results stress the role of precipitation, grazing, temperature
      and drainage on the life cycle of F. hepatica in the temperate Irish climate. The
      findings of this study highlight the importance of cluster analysis for
      identifying significant differences in climatic and environmental variables
      between high-risk and low-risk clusters of fasciolosis in Irish dairy herds. 

PMID- 25826310
TI  - Distribution of Fasciola hepatica in Swedish dairy cattle and associations with
      pasture management factors.
AB  - The geographic distribution of Fasciola hepatica infection in relation to
      management routines was studied in Swedish dairy herds by testing for F. hepatica
      antibodies with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In addition, all
      farmers were sent a questionnaire asking for information about type of
      production, management routines and historical record of F. hepatica at
      slaughter. A total of 176 farmers (41%) responded to the questionnaire. A total
      of 426 bulk tank milk (BTM) samples were randomly selected from the period
      September to October 2012 representing approximately 10% of all herds in Sweden.
      The overall seroprevalence was 25% (n = 107; 95% confidence interval = 21-29%)
      with a concentration of herds located in south-western Sweden. Among the
      seropositive herds, 31 (29%) had antibody levels indicating production loss.
      There were no significant differences in seropositivity between organic and
      conventional herds or due to pasture management routines. The length of grazing
      period, which increased the risk for heifers, was found to be the most
      influential factor. A discrepancy was noted between reported F. hepatica presence
      at meat inspection and herds that were seropositive based on BTM-ELISA results.
      Although the largest proportion of seropositive BTM samples (80%) came from herds
      where liver fluke presence had been observed at meat inspection after slaughter,
      seropositive BTM samples were also diagnosed in five herds (17%) with no remarks
      at slaughter. In conclusion, F. hepatica is a common parasite in Swedish dairy
      herds and the month of heifer turn-out and the grazing period length were the
      most influential factors observed. 

PMID- 25826309
TI  - Spatial analysis and risk mapping of Fasciola hepatica infection in dairy herds
      in Ireland.
AB  - Fasciolosis is generally a subclinical infection of dairy cows and can cause
      marked economic losses. This study investigated the prevalence and spatial
      distribution of fasciolosis in dairy cow herds in Ireland using an in-house
      antibodydetection enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay applied to bulk tank milk
      (BTM) samples collected during the autumn of 2012. A total of 5,116 BTM samples
      were collected from 4,602 different herds, with 514 farmers submitting BTM
      samples in two consecutive months. Analysis of the BTM samples showed that 82% (n
      = 3,764) of the dairy herds had been exposed to Fasciola hepatica. A total of 108
      variables, including averaged climatic data for the period 1981-2010 and
      contemporary meteorological data for the year 2012, such as soil, subsoil, land
      cover and habitat maps, were investigated for a possible role as predictor of
      fasciolosis. Using mainly climatic variables as the major predictors, a model of
      the predicted risk of fasciolosis was created by Random Forest modelling that had
      95% sensitivity and 100% specificity. The most important predictors in descending
      order of importance were: average of annual total number of rain-days for the
      period 1981-2010, total rainfall during September, winter and autumn of 2012,
      average of annual total number of wet-days for the period 1981- 2010 and annual
      mean temperature of 2012. The findings of this study confirm the high prevalence
      of fasciolosis in Irish dairy herds and suggest that specific weather and
      environmental risk factors support a robust and precise distribution model. 

PMID- 25826311
TI  - Modelling recent and future climatic suitability for fasciolosis in Europe.
AB  - Fasciola hepatica is a parasitic worm responsible for fasciolosis in grazed
      ruminants in Europe. The free-living stages of this parasite are sensitive to
      temperature and soil moisture, as are the intermediate snail hosts the parasite
      depends on for its life-cycle. We used a climate-driven disease model in order to
      assess the impact of recent and potential future climate changes on the incidence
      of fasciolosis and to estimate the related uncertainties at the scale of the
      European landmass. The current climate appears to be highly suitable for
      fasciolosis throughout the European Union with the exception of some parts of the
      Mediterranean region. Simulated climatic suitability for fasciolosis
      significantly increased during the 2000s in central and northwestern Europe,
      which is consistent with an observed increased in ruminant infections. The
      simulation showed that recent trends are likely to continue in the future with
      the estimated pattern of climate change for northern Europe, possibly extending
      the season suitable for development of the parasite in the environment by up to
      four months. For southern Europe, the simulated burden of disease may be lower,
      but the projected climate change will increase the risk during the winter months,
      since the simulated changes in temperature and moisture support the development
      of the free-living and intra-molluscan stages between November and March. In the
      event of predicted climate change, F. hepatica will present a serious risk to the
      health, welfare and productivity of all ruminant livestock. Improved, bespoke
      control programmes, both at farm and region levels, will then become imperative
      if problems, such as resistance of the parasite associated with increased drug
      use, are to be mitigated. 

PMID- 25826312
TI  - Sheep and Fasciola hepatica in Europe: the GLOWORM experience.
AB  - Fasciola hepatica infection challenges health, welfare and productivity of small
      ruminants throughout the world. The distribution of F. hepatica in sheep in
      Europe is usually scattered and studies are generally concerned with a single
      area making it difficult to compare results from different environments, climates
      and management regimes. In order to elucidate the current scenario in terms of
      prevalence and intensity of F. hepatica infection in sheep farms across Europe, a
      standardized cross-sectional survey was conducted in three pilot areas in
      Ireland, Switzerland and Italy, all part of the EU funded GLOWORM project. Two
      consecutive field surveys (in 2012 and 2013) were conducted in the three
      countries in the same period (August-October) in 361 sheep farms in total.
      Harmonized procedures (from farm to laboratory) based on pooled samples and the
      highly sensitive and accurate, diagnostic FLOTAC technique were used. The
      georeferenced parasitological results were modelled (at the pilot area level)
      following a Bayesian geostatistical approach with correction for preferential
      sampling and accounting for climatic and environmental covariates. The observed
      F. hepatica prevalence rates did not differ between the two study years in any of
      the three pilot areas, but they did vary between the countries showing high
      values in Ireland (61.6%) compared to Italy (7.9%) and Switzerland (4.0%).
      Spatial patterns of F. hepatica distribution were detected by the Bayesian
      geostatistical approach in Ireland with a high risk of infection in the south
      western part of the pilot area there. The latent factor analysis highlighted the
      importance of year-to-year variation of mean temperature, rainfall and
      seasonality within a country, while long-term trends of temperature and rainfall
      dominated between countries with respect to prevalence of infection. 

PMID- 25826313
TI  - Outbreak of acute fasciolosis in sheep farms in a Mediterranean area arising as a
      possible consequence of climate change.
AB  - The objective of the present study was to investigate whether climate change in
      recent years have influenced the onset of acute outbreaks of Fasciola hepatica in
      ovine farms in southern Italy. In May-June 2014, a severe outbreak of F. hepatica
      occurred in three sheep farms in the Campania region. Clinical, coprological and
      necroscopic examinations were performed. Morbidity and mortality due to F.
      hepatica were 3-67% and 3-50%, respectively. Coprological examinations showed
      high values of F. hepatica eggs per gram (EPG) of faeces (860-1,240). Similarly,
      high adult parasitic burdens were found in animals that had sucombed (124-426
      flukes). The study area was georeferenced and climatic data (temperature,
      humidity, days of rain and total amount of rainfall) were recorded at four
      georeferenced meterological stations in the study area. Montly data were
      processed and analyzed for the period 2000-2013 to evaluate the change of the
      climatic parameters during these years. The results show that there was a
      significant increase (P<0.001) of temperature, increased rainfall and increase in
      the number of rainy days compared to previous years. In addition to the outbreak
      reported here, we discuss the potential effects of climate change on the
      epidemiology of F. hepatica and the implications for sheep farming in the
      Mediterranean area. 

PMID- 25826314
TI  - Haemonchus contortus: spatial risk distribution for infection in sheep in Europe.
AB  - Haemonchus contortus is a species of gastrointestinal strongyles of primary
      concern for sheep. This highly pathogenic, blood-feeding helminth negatively
      influences animal health, welfare and productivity. In order to elucidate the
      current scenario in terms of prevalence and intensity of H. contortus infection
      in sheep farms across Europe, a standardized crosssectional survey was conducted
      in three pilot areas in Ireland, Switzerland and Italy, all part of the EU funded
      GLOWORM project. Two consecutive field surveys (in 2012 and 2013) were conducted
      in the three countries in the same period (August-October) in 259 sheep farms in
      total. Harmonized, diagnostic procedures (from farm to laboratory) based on
      pooled samples, the FLOTAC technique and coproculture were used. The
      georeferenced parasitological results were modelled (at the pilot area level)
      following a Bayesian geostatistical approach with correction for preferential
      sampling and accounting for climatic and environmental covariates. The observed
      H. contortus prevalence rates did vary between the countries showing high values
      in Switzerland (77%) and Italy (73%) compared to Ireland (4%). Spatial patterns
      of H. contortus distribution were detected in Switzerland and Italy with a north
      south gradient. The latent factor analysis highlighted the importance of
      seasonality and annual cyclicity within country (particularly in southern Italy),
      while mean temperature and rainfall dominated between country variations in the
      prevalence of H. contortus infection. 

PMID- 25826315
TI  - The basic reproduction quotient (Q0) as a potential spatial predictor of the
      seasonality of ovine haemonchosis.
AB  - Haemonchus contortus is a gastrointestinal nematode parasite of small ruminants,
      which feeds on blood and causes significant disease and production loss in sheep
      and goats, especially in warmer parts of the world. The life cycle includes free
      living immature stages, which are subject to climatic influences on development,
      survival and availability, and this species therefore exhibits spatio-temporal
      heterogeneity in its infection pressure based on the prevailing climate. Models
      that better explain this heterogeneity could predict future epidemiological
      changes. The basic reproduction quotient (Q0) was used as a simple process-based
      model to predict climate-driven changes in the potential transmission of H.
      contortus across widely different geo-climatic zones, and showed good agreement
      with the observed frequency of this species in the gastrointestinal nematode
      fauna of sheep (r = 0.81, P <0.01). Averaged monthly Q0 output was further used
      within a geographical information system (GIS) to produce preliminary
      haemonchosis risk maps for the United Kingdom (UK) over a four-year historical
      span and under future climate change scenarios. Prolonged transmission seasons
      throughout the UK are predicted, especially in the south although with restricted
      transmission in peak summer due to rainfall limitation. Additional predictive
      ability might be achieved if information such as host density and distribution,
      grazing pattern and edaphic conditions were included as risk layers in the GIS
      based risk map. However, validation of such risk maps presents a significant
      challenge, with georeferenced observed data of sufficient spatial and temporal
      resolution rarely available and difficult to obtain. 

PMID- 25826316
TI  - Molecular insights into frataxin-mediated iron supply for heme biosynthesis in
      Bacillus subtilis.
AB  - Iron is required as an element to sustain life in all eukaryotes and most
      bacteria. Although several bacterial iron acquisition strategies have been well
      explored, little is known about the intracellular trafficking pathways of iron
      and its entry into the systems for co-factor biogenesis. In this study, we
      investigated the iron-dependent process of heme maturation in Bacillus subtilis
      and present, for the first time, structural evidence for the physical interaction
      of a frataxin homologue (Fra), which is suggested to act as a regulatory
      component as well as an iron chaperone in different cellular pathways, and a
      ferrochelatase (HemH), which catalyses the final step of heme b biogenesis.
      Specific interaction between Fra and HemH was observed upon co-purification from
      crude cell lysates and, further, by using the recombinant proteins for analytical
      size-exclusion chromatography. Hydrogen-deuterium exchange experiments identified
      the landscape of the Fra/HemH interaction interface and revealed Fra as a
      specific ferrous iron donor for the ferrochelatase HemH. The functional
      utilisation of the in vitro-generated heme b co-factor upon Fra-mediated iron
      transfer was confirmed by using the B. subtilis nitric oxide synthase bsNos as a
      metabolic target enzyme. Complementary mutational analyses confirmed that Fra
      acts as an essential component for maturation and subsequent targeting of the
      heme b co-factor, hence representing a key player in the iron-dependent
      physiology of B. subtilis. 

PMID- 25826317
TI  - Health gain by salt reduction in europe: a modelling study.
AB  - Excessive salt intake is associated with hypertension and cardiovascular
      diseases. Salt intake exceeds the World Health Organization population nutrition
      goal of 5 grams per day in the European region. We assessed the health impact of
      salt reduction in nine European countries (Finland, France, Ireland, Italy,
      Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom). Through literature
      research we obtained current salt intake and systolic blood pressure levels of
      the nine countries. The population health modeling tool DYNAMO-HIA including
      country-specific disease data was used to predict the changes in prevalence of
      ischemic heart disease and stroke for each country estimating the effect of salt
      reduction through its effect on blood pressure levels. A 30% salt reduction would
      reduce the prevalence of stroke by 6.4% in Finland to 13.5% in Poland. Ischemic
      heart disease would be decreased by 4.1% in Finland to 8.9% in Poland. When salt
      intake is reduced to the WHO population nutrient goal, it would reduce the
      prevalence of stroke from 10.1% in Finland to 23.1% in Poland. Ischemic heart
      disease would decrease by 6.6% in Finland to 15.5% in Poland. The number of
      postponed deaths would be 102,100 (0.9%) in France, and 191,300 (2.3%) in Poland.
      A reduction of salt intake to 5 grams per day is expected to substantially reduce
      the burden of cardiovascular disease and mortality in several European countries.

PMID- 25826318
TI  - Genetic characteristics of Japanese clinical Listeria monocytogenes isolates.
AB  - Listeria monocytogenes causes foodborne illnesses through consumption of ready-to
      eat foods. Although 135-201annual listeriosis cases have been estimated in Japan,
      the details regarding the clinical isolates such as infection source, virulence
      level, and other genetic characteristics, are not known. In order to uncover the
      trends of listeriosis in Japan and use the knowledge for prevention measures to
      be taken, the genetic characteristics of the past human clinical isolates needs
      to be elucidated. For this purpose, multilocus tandem-repeat sequence analysis
      (MLTSA) and multi-virulence-locus sequence typing (MVLST) were used in this
      study. The clinical isolates showed a variety of genetically distant genotypes,
      indicating they were from sporadic cases. However, the MVLST profiles of 7
      clinical isolates were identical to those of epidemic clone (EC) I isolates,
      which have caused several serious outbreaks in other countries, suggesting the
      possibility that they have strong virulence potential and originated from a
      single outbreak. Moreover, 6 Japanese food isolates shared their genotypes with
      ECI isolates, indicating that there may be risks for listeriosis outbreak in
      Japan. This is the first investigational study on genetic characteristics of
      Japanese listeriosis isolates. The listeriosis cases happened in the past are
      presumably sporadic, but it is still possible that some isolates with strong
      virulence potential have caused listeriosis outbreaks, and future listeriosis
      risks also exist. 

PMID- 25826320
TI  - Inhibition of monoacylglycerol lipase prevents chronic traumatic encephalopathy
      like neuropathology in a mouse model of repetitive mild closed head injury.

PMID- 25826319
TI  - Anti-abeta oligomer IgG and surface sialic acid in intravenous immunoglobulin:
      measurement and correlation with clinical outcomes in Alzheimer's disease
      treatment.
AB  - The fraction of IgG antibodies with anti-oligomeric Abeta affinity and surface
      sialic acid was compared between Octagam and Gammagard intravenous immunoglobulin
      (IVIG) using two complementary surface plasmon resonance methods. These
      comparisons were performed to identify if an elevated fraction existed in
      Gammagard, which reported small putative benefits in a recent Phase III clinical
      trial for Alzheimer's Disease. The fraction of anti-oligomeric Abeta IgG was
      found to be higher in Octagam, for which no cognitive benefits were reported. The
      fraction and location of surface-accessible sialic acid in the Fab domain was
      found to be similar between Gammagard and Octagam. These findings indicate that
      anti-oligomeric Abeta IgG and total surface sialic acid alone cannot account for
      reported clinical differences in the two IVIG products. A combined analysis of
      sialic acid in anti-oligomeric Abeta IgG did reveal a notable finding that this
      subgroup exhibited a high degree of surface sialic acid lacking the conventional
      alpha2,6 linkage. These results demonstrate that the IVIG antibodies used to
      engage oligomeric Abeta in both Gammagard and Octagam clinical trials did not
      possess alpha2,6-linked surface sialic acid at the time of administration. Anti
      oligomeric Abeta IgG with alpha2,6 linkages remains untested as an AD treatment. 

PMID- 25826321
TI  - Symmetry-breaking charge transfer in a zinc chlorodipyrrin acceptor for high open
      circuit voltage organic photovoltaics.
AB  - Low open-circuit voltages significantly limit the power conversion efficiency of
      organic photovoltaic devices. Typical strategies to enhance the open-circuit
      voltage involve tuning the HOMO and LUMO positions of the donor (D) and acceptor
      (A), respectively, to increase the interfacial energy gap or to tailor the donor
      or acceptor structure at the D/A interface. Here, we present an alternative
      approach to improve the open-circuit voltage through the use of a zinc
      chlorodipyrrin, ZCl [bis(dodecachloro-5-mesityldipyrrinato)zinc], as an acceptor,
      which undergoes symmetry-breaking charge transfer (CT) at the donor/acceptor
      interface. DBP/ZCl cells exhibit open-circuit voltages of 1.33 V compared to 0.88
      V for analogous tetraphenyldibenzoperyflanthrene (DBP)/C60-based devices. Charge
      transfer state energies measured by Fourier-transform photocurrent spectroscopy
      and electroluminescence show that C60 forms a CT state of 1.45 +/- 0.05 eV in a
      DBP/C60-based organic photovoltaic device, while ZCl as acceptor gives a CT state
      energy of 1.70 +/- 0.05 eV in the corresponding device structure. In the ZCl
      device this results in an energetic loss between E(CT) and qV(OC) of 0.37 eV,
      substantially less than the 0.6 eV typically observed for organic systems and
      equal to the recombination losses seen in high-efficiency Si and GaAs devices.
      The substantial increase in open-circuit voltage and reduction in recombination
      losses for devices utilizing ZCl demonstrate the great promise of symmetry
      breaking charge transfer in organic photovoltaic devices.

PMID- 25826322
TI  - Thymosin beta4 significantly improves signs and symptoms of severe dry eye in a
      phase 2 randomized trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: Standard therapies for severe dry eye are limited and fail to resolve
      the problem. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of
      Thymosin beta4 eye drops (RGN-259) as a novel therapy for severe dry eye disease
      (including that associated with graft vs. host disease). METHODS: A small,
      multicenter, randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled 56-day phase 2
      clinical trial including a 28-day follow-up at 2 US sites. Nine patients with
      severe dry eye were treated with either RGN-259 (0.1%) or vehicle control 6 times
      daily over a period of 28 days. Dry eye sign and symptom assessments, such as
      ocular discomfort (using the OSDI questionnaire) and corneal fluorescein staining
      (using the NEI workshop grading system), were evaluated at various time points.
      RESULTS: Statistically significant differences in both symptom and sign
      assessments, were seen at various time points throughout the study. Of particular
      note at day 56, the RGN-259-treated group (12 eyes) had 35.1% reduction of ocular
      discomfort compared with vehicle control (6 eyes) (P = 0.0141), and 59.1%
      reduction of total corneal fluorescein staining compared with vehicle control (P
      = 0.0108). Other improvements seen in the RGN-259-treated patients included tear
      film breakup time and increased tear volume production. CONCLUSIONS: In this
      small trial, RGN-259 eye drops were safe and well tolerated and met key efficacy
      objectives with statistically significant symptom and sign improvements, compared
      with vehicle control, at various time intervals, including 28-days posttreatment.
      CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION--URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique
      identifier: NCT01393132.

PMID- 25826323
TI  - Evaluation of dry eye and meibomian gland dysfunction with meibography in
      patients with rosacea.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the dry eye tests and meibography of patients with ocular
      rosacea. METHODS: Thirty-six eyes of 18 patients with ocular rosacea (group 1)
      and 38 eyes of 19 healthy individuals (group 2) were enrolled. Besides full-eye
      examination, corneal and conjunctival fluorescein staining and Oxford scoring,
      tear film break-up time, Schirmer 1 test, ocular surface disease index score
      assessment, and evaluation of upper and lower eyelid meibomian glands using
      infrared captures of an optical coherence tomography (OCT) (Spectralis HRA+OCT;
      Heidelberg Engineering) device were performed (grade 0: no loss of meibomian
      glands, grade 1: gland dropout area <1/3 of the total meibomian glands, grade 2:
      gland dropout area 1/3 to 2/3 of the total meibomian glands, grade 3: gland
      dropout >2/3 of the total meibomian glands). RESULTS: The mean ages of group 1
      and group 2 were 50.2 +/- 9.5 (range, 32-65), and 46.3 +/- 14.1 years (range, 25
      70), respectively (P = 0.225). No significant difference in best-corrected visual
      acuity and meiboscores of upper eyelids were detected in between groups. Schirmer
      1 and tear film break-up time in group 1 were significantly lower than in group 2
      (P = 0.005, P < 0.001, respectively). Ocular surface disease index and Oxford
      scale scores and meiboscores of lower and total (upper + lower) eyelids were
      significantly higher in group 1 than in group 2 (P = 0.04, P = 0.018, P < 0.001,
      P = 0.03, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Ocular rosacea causes dry eye and
      significant meibomian gland loss that can objectively be demonstrated with
      meibography. The infrared camera of OCT-that is widely found in many
      ophthalmology departments-might be used to evaluate meibomian gland dysfunction
      in these individuals.

PMID- 25826324
TI  - Outcomes of cataract surgery in graft-versus-host disease.
AB  - PURPOSE: To study the outcomes of cataract surgery in patients with graft-versus
      host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
      (HSCT). METHODS: Retrospective review of 72 eyes of 41 patients (age, 17-69 years
      at the time of surgery) with chronic GVHD after HSCT, who underwent cataract
      surgery between 2008 and 2012 at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual
      Sciences, W. K. Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan. Ophthalmic data
      collected included best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), responses to Ocular
      Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire, dry eye severity, and postoperative
      complications. RESULTS: BCVA improved from 20/49 to 20/25 (P < 0.0001) after
      surgery. Eight patients (20%) had pretransplantation total body irradiation and
      39 patients (95%) received systemic corticosteroids for the treatment of GVHD.
      Postoperative complications included cystoid macular edema (4 eyes), corneal
      ulceration with perforation (2 eyes: 1 infected and 1 sterile), and band
      keratopathy (1 eye). After surgery, subjective OSDI responses and dry eye disease
      (DED) did not change significantly from before cataract surgery, although OSDI
      showed a trend toward worsening. CONCLUSIONS: With careful monitoring and
      management of DED and concurrent ocular surface disease, cataract surgery
      generally has good visual outcomes in patients with GVHD. However, aggravation of
      the preexisting ocular surface disease is frequent, and despite meticulous
      postoperative maintenance therapy, vision-threatening complications may occur.

PMID- 25826325
TI  - Measuring intraocular pressure after intrastromal corneal ring segment
      implantation with rebound tonometry and Goldmann applanation tonometry.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare intraocular pressure (IOP)
      measurements in patients with ectatic corneas after intrastromal corneal ring
      segment (ICRS) implantation using the Rebound tonometers (RBTs) Icare and Icare
      Pro, compared with Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT) and to assess the
      influence of central corneal thickness (CCT), corneal curvature (CC), and corneal
      astigmatism (CA) on IOP. METHODS: This prospective cross-sectional study
      consecutively included 60 eyes of 60 patients with corneal ectasia having ICRS
      for at least 6 months from January 2011 to December 2013. All subjects underwent
      GAT, Icare, and Icare Pro IOP measurements in a random order, and CCT, CC, and CA
      evaluation using a Pentacam. The Bland-Altman method and multivariate regression
      analysis logistic method were used to assess intertonometer agreement and the
      influence of corneal variables on IOP measurements. RESULTS: Icare significantly
      underestimated IOP compared with GAT [GAT - Icare 1.2 +/- 3.0 mm Hg, P = 0.002
      (95% confidence interval, 0.5-2.0)], whereas Icare Pro showed no statistical
      differences compared with GAT [GAT - Icare Pro 0.1 +/- 3.1 mm Hg, P = 0.853 (95%
      confidence interval, -0.7 to 0.9)]. Both RBTs presented good concordance with GAT
      (intraclass coefficient correlation > 0.6). All tonometer measurements were
      influenced by CCT values and age (P < 0.05); the number of ICRS implanted did not
      influenced IOP measurement with any of the 3 tonometers. CONCLUSIONS: Both RBTs
      could be an alternative to GAT in patients with corneal ectasia and ICRS;
      however, Icare Pro shows greater accuracy.

PMID- 25826326
TI  - Topical NSAIDs effect on corneal sensitivity.
AB  - PURPOSE: Topical nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are administered
      topically for a variety of ophthalmologic conditions. Brand diclofenac and brand
      ketorolac were previously shown to have topical anesthetic effects in addition to
      analgesic effects. Using the same method, we measured similar anesthetic effects
      of the 4 currently available topical NSAIDs--generic diclofenac, generic
      ketorolac, brand bromfenac, and brand nepafenac. METHODS: Baseline corneal
      sensitivity was measured on 10 healthy adult volunteers with a Cochet-Bonnet
      esthesiometer. One drop of the agent being studied was applied to the right eye
      every 5 minutes for a total of 4 drops. Corneal sensitivity was measured
      immediately after the last topical application and every 15 minutes for 60
      minutes. After a 1-week washout period, a different agent was studied until all 4
      NSAIDs were evaluated. RESULTS: Corneal sensitivity profiles over time were
      similar for all NSAIDs. Corneal sensitivity decreased significantly from baseline
      immediately after topical application remaining flat from 0 to 30 minutes and
      then rising from 45 to 60 minutes back toward baseline in all treatment groups (P
      < 0.001). The maximal absolute drop in corneal sensitivity as measured by
      pressure thresholds was greatest for diclofenac [28.6 mm (95% confidence
      intervals {CI}, 19.8-37.4)], followed by ketorolac [21.1 mm (95% CI, 15.1-27.1)],
      bromfenac [16.9 mm (10.7-23.1)], and nepafenac [16.4 mm (95% CI, 12.7-20.1)].
      Only diclofenac and nepafenac were statistically different in maximal decrease in
      sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: All 4 currently available NSAIDs demonstrated
      anesthetic effects similar to brand diclofenac and brand ketorolac.

PMID- 25826327
TI  - Comparative antifungal susceptibility analysis of Candida albicans versus non
      albicans Candida corneal isolates.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the in vitro activity of topical amphotericin B (AMB),
      natamycin, voriconazole, and fluconazole against human corneal isolates of
      Candida sp. for guidance in the treatment of Candida keratitis. METHODS: Sixty
      eight Candida isolates (37 albicans and 31 non-albicans isolates) recovered from
      corneal scrapings submitted to rule out microbial keratitis, during the years
      2005 to 2011, at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, were examined in this study.
      Corneal isolates were cultured on fungal agars for 48 hours. Each yeast isolate
      was dispensed into 4 microtiter wells, each containing 100 mL of commercial
      (natamycin 5%) or compounded (AMB 0.15%, voriconazole 1%, and fluconazole 0.2%)
      antifungal medications. A comparison of growth patterns was conducted. RESULTS:
      One hundred percent of the samples showed growth inhibition after treatment
      exposure with AMB or natamycin. The isolates treated with voriconazole
      demonstrated an 85% inhibition rate overall, with the Candida albicans samples
      showing a 77% inhibition rate and the non-albicans sp. a 93% inhibition rate. In
      the fluconazole group, there was only a 19.6% inhibition rate noted, with a 7.7%
      inhibition rate observed in the C. albicans group versus a 30% inhibition rate in
      the non-albicans group. CONCLUSIONS: AMB 0.2% and natamycin 5% have equal
      effectiveness and full inhibition against Candida keratitis isolates. Fluconazole
      0.2% is not the drug of choice in both C. albicans and non-albicans keratitis.
      Voriconazole 1% may need a stronger concentration for higher effectiveness, but
      potentially may be helpful as a second agent in the treatment of Candida
      keratitis.

PMID- 25826328
TI  - Femtosecond laser-assisted anterior lamellar keratoplasty in stromal keratitis
      caused by an Endoreticulatus-like microsporidia.
AB  - PURPOSE: To describe a case of stromal keratitis caused by an Endoreticulatus
      like microsporidia satisfactorily treated with femtosecond-assisted anterior
      lamellar keratoplasty (femto-ALK). METHODS: Case report. RESULTS: A 65-year-old
      healthy woman had a 10-month history of foreign body sensation and blurred vision
      after a flying insect struck her right eye. The patient presented with focal
      central to paracentral anterior stromal infiltration and edema with keratic
      precipitates of the right cornea. Confocal microscopy showed enhanced keratocytes
      with intracellular hyperreflective round and ovoid bodies confined to the
      anterior two thirds of corneal stroma. Femto-ALK was performed for excisional
      biopsy and replacement with anterior stromal donor cornea. A modified trichrome
      stain of corneal tissue showed numerous microsporidial spores whose small subunit
      rRNA sequence belonged to that of an Endoreticulatus-like microsporidia.
      CONCLUSIONS: Besides systemic infection, Endoreticulatus-like microsporidia can
      cause stromal keratitis. With careful patient selection, femto-ALK may be
      considered a new surgical alternative with satisfactory treatment outcomes.

PMID- 25826329
TI  - Exercise and inflammation-related epigenetic modifications: focus on DNA
      methylation.
AB  - Epigenetics is the study of mitotically or meiotically heritable phenotypes that
      occur as a result of modifications to DNA, thereby regulating gene expression
      independently of changes in base sequence due to manipulation of the chromatin
      structure. These modifications occur through a variety of mechanisms, such as DNA
      methylation, post-translational histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs, and
      can cause transcriptional suppression or activation depending on the location
      within the gene. Environmental stimuli, such as diet and exercise, are thought to
      be able to regulate these mechanisms, with inflammation as a probable
      contributory factor. Research into these areas is still in its infancy however.
      This review will focus on DNA methylation in the context of inflammation (both
      pro- and anti-inflammatory processes) and exercise. The complexity and relative
      shortcomings of some existing techniques for studying epigenetics will be
      highlighted, and recommendations for future study approaches made. 

PMID- 25826330
TI  - Is iloprost effective in secondary Raynaud's phenomenon?
AB  - Patients with systemic sclerosis frequently have Raynaud's phenomenon and digital
      ischemic ulcers. Iloprost, a synthetic prostacyclin analogue, may be effective in
      these cases. Searching in Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by
      screening 20 databases, we identified three systematic reviews including seven
      randomized trials. We combined the evidence using meta-analysis and generated a
      summary of findings table following the GRADE approach. We concluded iloprost may
      lead to little or no difference in the frequency or severity of secondary
      Raynaud, and it is associated to adverse effects and important costs. 

PMID- 25826331
TI  - Activation of mu or delta opioid receptors in the lumbosacral spinal cord is
      essential for ejaculatory reflexes in male rats.
AB  - Ejaculation is controlled by a spinal ejaculation generator located in the
      lumbosacral spinal cord, consisting in male rats of lumbar spinothalamic (LSt)
      cells and their inter-spinal projections to autonomic and motor centers. LSt
      cells co-express several neuropeptides, including gastrin releasing peptide (GRP)
      and enkephalin. We previously demonstrated in rats that GRP regulates ejaculation
      by acting within the lumbosacral spinal cord. In the present study, the
      hypothesis was tested that enkephalin controls ejaculation by acting on mu (MOR)
      or delta opioid receptors (DOR) in LSt target areas. Adult male rats were
      anesthetized and spinalized and received intrathecal infusions of vehicle, MOR
      antagonist CTOP (0.4 or 4 nmol), DOR antagonist (TIPP (0.4, 4 or 40 nmol), MOR
      agonist DAMGO (0.1 or 10 nmol), or DOR agonist deltorphin II (1.3 or 13 nmol).
      Ejaculatory reflexes were triggered by stimulation of the dorsal penile nerve
      (DPN) and seminal vesicle pressure and rhythmic contractions of the
      bulbocavernosus muscle were analyzed. Intrathecal infusion of MOR or DOR
      antagonists effectively blocked ejaculatory reflexes induced by DPN stimulation.
      Intrathecal infusion of DAMGO, but not deltorphin II triggered ejaculation in
      absence of DPN stimulation. Both MOR and DOR agonists facilitated ejaculatory
      reflexes induced by subthreshold DPN stimulation in all animals. Overall, these
      results support the hypothesis that enkephalin plays a critical role in the
      control of ejaculation in male rats. Activation of either MOR or DOR in LSt
      target areas is required for ejaculation, while MOR activation is sufficient to
      trigger ejaculation in the absence of sensory stimulation. 

PMID- 25826332
TI  - Whole genome comparisons suggest random distribution of Mycobacterium ulcerans
      genotypes in a Buruli ulcer endemic region of Ghana.
AB  - Efforts to control the spread of Buruli ulcer--an emerging ulcerative skin
      infection caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans--have been hampered by our poor
      understanding of reservoirs and transmission. To help address this issue, we
      compared whole genomes from 18 clinical M. ulcerans isolates from a 30 km2 region
      within the Asante Akim North District, Ashanti region, Ghana, with 15 other M.
      ulcerans isolates from elsewhere in Ghana and the surrounding countries of Ivory
      Coast, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. Contrary to our expectations of finding minor DNA
      sequence variations among isolates representing a single M. ulcerans circulating
      genotype, we found instead two distinct genotypes. One genotype was closely
      related to isolates from neighbouring regions of Amansie West and Densu,
      consistent with the predicted local endemic clone, but the second genotype
      (separated by 138 single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs] from other Ghanaian
      strains) most closely matched M. ulcerans from Nigeria, suggesting another
      introduction of M. ulcerans to Ghana, perhaps from that country. Both the exotic
      genotype and the local Ghanaian genotype displayed highly restricted intra-strain
      genetic variation, with less than 50 SNP differences across a 5.2 Mbp core genome
      within each genotype. Interestingly, there was no discernible spatial clustering
      of genotypes at the local village scale. Interviews revealed no obvious
      epidemiological links among BU patients who had been infected with identical M.
      ulcerans genotypes but lived in geographically separate villages. We conclude
      that M. ulcerans is spread widely across the region, with multiple genotypes
      present in any one area. These data give us new perspectives on the behaviour of
      possible reservoirs and subsequent transmission mechanisms of M. ulcerans. These
      observations also show for the first time that M. ulcerans can be mobilized,
      introduced to a new area and then spread within a population. Potential
      reservoirs of M. ulcerans thus might include humans, or perhaps M. ulcerans
      infected animals such as livestock that move regularly between countries.

PMID- 25826333
TI  - Prognostic significance of MYH9 expression in resected non-small cell lung
      cancer.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Myosin-9 (MYH9) belongs to the myosin superfamily of actin-binding
      motor protein. Recently, MYH9 has been thought to be associated with cancer cell
      migration, invasion, and metastasis. The aims of this study were to
      immunohistochemically examine MYH9 expression in surgically resected non-small
      cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and evaluate its correlations with clinicopathological
      parameters and the prognosis of patients. METHODS: MYH9 expression was
      immunohistochemically studied in 266 consecutive resected NSCLCs, and its
      associations with clinicopathological parameters were evaluated. Kaplan-Meier
      survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the
      effect of MYH9 expression on survival. RESULTS: MYH9 expression was detected in
      102 of 266 (38.3%) NSCLCs. MYH9 expression was significantly correlated with the
      adenocarcinoma histology (P = 0.014), poorer differentiation ((P = 0.033),
      intratumoral vascular invasion and lymphatic invasion ((P = 0.013 and P = 0.045
      respectively), and a poorer prognosis ((P = 0.032). In addition, multivariable
      analysis revealed that MYH9 expression independently predicted a poorer survival
      (HR, 2.15; 95%CI, 1.17-3.92; (P = 0.01). CONCLUSION: The present study revealed
      that MYH9 is expressed in a subset of NSCLC with a more malignant nature, and its
      expression is an indicator of a poorer survival probability.

PMID- 25826334
TI  - The role of motivation, glucose and self-control in the antisaccade task.
AB  - Research shows that self-control is resource limited and there is a gradual
      weakening in consecutive self-control task performance akin to muscle fatigue. A
      body of evidence suggests that the resource is glucose and consuming glucose
      reduces this effect. This study examined the effect of glucose on performance in
      the antisaccade task - which requires self-control through generating a voluntary
      eye movement away from a target - following self-control exertion in the Stroop
      task. The effects of motivation and individual differences in self-control were
      also explored. In a double-blind design, 67 young healthy adults received a 25g
      glucose or inert placebo drink. Glucose did not enhance antisaccade performance
      following self-control exertion in the Stroop task. Motivation however, predicted
      performance on the antisaccade task; more specifically high motivation
      ameliorated performance decrements observed after initial self-control exertion.
      In addition, individuals with high levels of self-control performed better on
      certain aspects of the antisaccade task after administration of a glucose drink.
      The results of this study suggest that the antisaccade task might be a powerful
      paradigm, which could be used as a more objective measure of self-control.
      Moreover, the results indicate that level of motivation and individual
      differences in self-control should be taken into account when investigating
      deficiencies in self-control following prior exertion. 

PMID- 25826335
TI  - Hepatic stellate cells express thymosin Beta 4 in chronically damaged liver.
AB  - Although the various biological roles of thymosin beta4 (Tbeta4) have been
      studied widely, the effect of Tbeta4 and Tbeta4-expressing cells in the liver
      remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated the expression and function of Tbeta4
      in chronically damaged livers. CCl4 was injected into male mice to induce a model
      of chronic liver disease. Mice were sacrificed at 6 and 10 weeks after CCl4
      treatment, and the livers were collected for biochemical analysis. The activated
      LX-2, human hepatic stellate cell (HSC) line, were transfected with Tbeta4
      specific siRNA and activation markers of HSCs were examined. Compared to HepG2,
      higher expression of Tbeta4 in RNA and protein levels was detected in the
      activated LX-2. In addition, Tbeta4 was up-regulated in human liver with advanced
      liver fibrosis. The expression of Tbeta4 increased during mouse HSC activation.
      Tbeta4 was also up-regulated and Tbeta4-positive cells were co-localized with
      alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) in the livers of CCl4-treated mice, whereas
      such cells were rarely detected in the livers of corn-oil treated mice. The
      suppression of Tbeta4 in LX-2 cells by siRNA induced the down-regulation of HSC
      activation-related genes, tgf-beta, alpha-sma, collagen, and vimentin, and up
      regulation of HSC inactivation markers, ppar-gamma and gfap. Immunofluorescent
      staining detected rare co-expressing cells with Tbeta4 and alpha-SMA in Tbeta4
      siRNA-transfected cells. In addition, cytoplasmic lipid droplets were observed in
      Tbeta4 siRNA-treated cells. These results demonstrate that activated HSCs
      expressed Tbeta4 in chronically damaged livers, and this endogenous expression of
      Tbeta4 influenced HSC activation, indicating that Tbeta4 might contribute to
      liver fibrosis by regulating HSC activation. 

PMID- 25826336
TI  - Silicon nanowire-induced maturation of cardiomyocytes derived from human induced
      pluripotent stem cells.
AB  - The current inability to derive mature cardiomyocytes from human pluripotent stem
      cells has been the limiting step for transitioning this powerful technology into
      clinical therapies. To address this, scaffold-based tissue engineering approaches
      have been utilized to mimic heart development in vitro and promote maturation of
      cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells. While scaffolds can
      provide 3D microenvironments, current scaffolds lack the matched
      physical/chemical/biological properties of native extracellular environments. On
      the other hand, scaffold-free, 3D cardiac spheroids (i.e., spherical-shaped
      microtissues) prepared by seeding cardiomyocytes into agarose microwells were
      shown to improve cardiac functions. However, cardiomyocytes within the spheroids
      could not assemble in a controlled manner and led to compromised, unsynchronized
      contractions. Here, we show, for the first time, that incorporation of a trace
      amount (i.e., ~0.004% w/v) of electrically conductive silicon nanowires (e-SiNWs)
      in otherwise scaffold-free cardiac spheroids can form an electrically conductive
      network, leading to synchronized and significantly enhanced contraction (i.e.,
      >55% increase in average contraction amplitude), resulting in significantly more
      advanced cellular structural and contractile maturation. 

PMID- 25826337
TI  - Analysis of prognostic factors for survival after hepatectomy for hepatocellular
      carcinoma based on a bayesian network.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after hepatectomy
      involves many factors. Previous studies have evaluated the separate influences of
      single factors; few have considered the combined influence of various factors.
      This paper combines the Bayesian network (BN) with importance measures to
      identify key factors that have significant effects on survival time. METHODS: A
      dataset of 299 patients with HCC after hepatectomy was studied to establish a BN
      using a tree-augmented naive Bayes algorithm that could mine relationships
      between factors. The composite importance measure was applied to rank the impact
      of factors on survival time. RESULTS: 124 patients (>10 months) and 77 patients
      (<=10 months) were correctly classified. The accuracy of BN model was 67.2%. For
      patients with long survival time (>10 months), the true-positive rate of the
      model was 83.22% and the false-positive rate was 48.67%. According to the model,
      the preoperative alpha fetoprotein (AFP) level and postoperative performance of
      transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) were independent factors for
      survival of HCC patients. The grade of preoperative liver function reflected the
      tendency for postoperative complications. Intraoperative blood loss, tumor size,
      portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT), time of clamping the porta hepatis, tumor
      number, operative method, and metastasis were dependent variables in survival
      time prediction. PVTT was considered the most significant for the prognosis of
      survival time. CONCLUSIONS: Using the BN and importance measures, PVTT was
      identified as the most significant predictor of survival time for patients with
      HCC after hepatectomy.

PMID- 25826339
TI  - Dying in America: improving quality and honoring individual preferences near the
      end of life.

PMID- 25826338
TI  - Hippocampus is place of interaction between unconscious and conscious memories.
AB  - Recent evidence suggests that humans can form and later retrieve new semantic
      relations unconsciously by way of hippocampus-the key structure also recruited
      for conscious relational (episodic) memory. If the hippocampus subserves both
      conscious and unconscious relational encoding/retrieval, one would expect the
      hippocampus to be place of unconscious-conscious interactions during memory
      retrieval. We tested this hypothesis in an fMRI experiment probing the
      interaction between the unconscious and conscious retrieval of face-associated
      information. For the establishment of unconscious relational memories, we
      presented subliminal (masked) combinations of unfamiliar faces and written
      occupations ("actor" or "politician"). At test, we presented the former
      subliminal faces, but now supraliminally, as cues for the reactivation of the
      unconsciously associated occupations. We hypothesized that unconscious
      reactivation of the associated occupation-actor or politician-would facilitate or
      inhibit the subsequent conscious retrieval of a celebrity's occupation, which was
      also actor or politician. Depending on whether the reactivated unconscious
      occupation was congruent or incongruent to the celebrity's occupation, we
      expected either quicker or delayed conscious retrieval process. Conscious
      retrieval was quicker in the congruent relative to a neutral baseline condition
      but not delayed in the incongruent condition. fMRI data collected during
      subliminal face-occupation encoding confirmed previous evidence that the
      hippocampus was interacting with neocortical storage sites of semantic knowledge
      to support relational encoding. fMRI data collected at test revealed that the
      facilitated conscious retrieval was paralleled by deactivations in the
      hippocampus and neocortical storage sites of semantic knowledge. We assume that
      the unconscious reactivation has pre-activated overlapping relational
      representations in the hippocampus reducing the neural effort for conscious
      retrieval. This finding supports the notion of synergistic interactions between
      conscious and unconscious relational memories in a common, cohesive hippocampal
      neocortical memory space. 

PMID- 25826340
TI  - Lessons for conducting health development at the tactical level.

PMID- 25826341
TI  - Health care utilization behavior of veterans who deployed to Afghanistan and
      Iraq.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous assessments of Afghanistan/Iraq Veterans have lacked a
      systematic overview of all injury and illness experiences captured by the
      Veterans Health Administration (VHA) health care services. In this initial study,
      we quantify the health care utilization behavior of eligible Veterans and
      describe the level and type of usage among them. METHODS: A roster of service
      members who have served in Afghanistan/Iraq and became eligible for VHA care
      between 2002 and 2010 and their corresponding administrative VA medical encounter
      data were abstracted from the VHA Office of Public Health Operation Enduring
      Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn Health Surveillance System.
      RESULTS: Between 2002 and 2010, approximately 55% of eligible Veterans accessed
      VHA health care. Higher utilization was observed among Veterans 50 years of age
      and older compared to younger Veterans. Higher utilization was also observed
      among Veterans with increasing cumulative deployment time. Mental disorder
      diagnostic codes accounted for the greatest number of visits per Veteran.
      CONCLUSIONS: Veterans with mental health diagnoses may need a different level of
      care than other VHA users. Other service factors associated with utilization
      require further research to better understand the underlying relationship.
      Current observed results may be reflective of future expected utilization
      patterns and may assist in resource planning and research.

PMID- 25826342
TI  - TBI ADAPTER: traumatic brain injury assessment diagnosis advocacy prevention and
      treatment from the emergency room--a prospective observational study.
AB  - There is no standard treatment algorithm for patients who present to the
      emergency department (ED) with acute traumatic brain injury (TBI). This is in
      part because of the heterogeneity of the injury pattern and the patient profile,
      and the lack of evidence-based guidelines, especially for mild TBI in adults. As
      TBI is seen more and more frequently in the ED, a standardized assessment would
      be beneficial in terms of efficiency. The authors present their ED approach to
      mild TBI evaluation in the ED, along with results to date. These data represent a
      prospective observational cohort study, where each patient provided individual,
      written informed consent. 

PMID- 25826343
TI  - Interest in a digital health tool in veterans with epilepsy: results of a phone
      survey.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Online tools for managing chronic health conditions are becoming
      increasingly popular. Perceived benefits include ease of use, low costs, and
      availability but are contingent on patient engagement, Internet access, and
      digital literacy. This article describes data collected during the recruitment
      phase of a study evaluating an online self-management platform for epilepsy in a
      U.S. Veteran population. METHODS: We used administrative data to identify and
      contact Veterans with a likely diagnosis of epilepsy in the Veterans Health
      Administration (VHA). Veterans who did not respond directly to a mailed
      invitation were recruited by phone to determine study interest and evaluate
      digital access. RESULTS: Of the 2,143 Veterans mailed study invitations, phone
      calls were made to 1,789 who did not specifically decline participation. Among
      those reached by phone (n = 1,053): 295 (28%) expressed interest in the study and
      an online tool, 333 (19%) reported a lack of computer and/or Internet access and
      425 (40%) were not interested for other reasons. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests
      an interest in online tools for managing health despite the fact that some
      Veterans lack computer and/or Internet access. As investment in digital health
      solutions grows, the VHA should prioritize the widespread provision of digital
      access to more Veterans.

PMID- 25826344
TI  - Nutritional and sports supplement use among deployed U.S. Army soldiers in a
      remote, austere combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nutritional and sports supplements are commonly used by soldiers,
      with uncertain implications for health and mission readiness. METHODS: An
      anonymous survey was conducted of a company of U.S. Army paratroopers deployed to
      eastern Afghanistan between December 2011 and October 2012. Survey questions
      covered supplements used, duration of use, adverse effects, and medication
      interactions. Exercise habits, goals for exercise and supplement use, and
      information and acquisition sources were also queried. RESULTS: Out of 112
      surveys distributed, 100 completed surveys were returned. 77 respondents reported
      using at least one supplement during deployment. On average, 2.5 supplements were
      used per individual surveyed. Nine respondents reported adverse effects of
      supplement use. No respondents reported serious complications of supplement use,
      drug interactions, or seeking medical care for supplement adverse effects. The
      Internet was the most frequently reported source of information on supplement
      use. Most frequently, supplements were acquired by Internet mail order.
      CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Supplement use occurs during deployment among
      paratroopers at a higher rate than reported in garrison, despite their remote and
      austere deployed location. These findings have profound implications for military
      health care providers and policy makers considering the health of deployed combat
      soldiers.

PMID- 25826345
TI  - Review of weapon noise measurement and damage risk criteria: considerations for
      auditory protection and performance.
AB  - Noise-induced hearing loss resulting from weapon noise exposure has been studied
      for decades. A summary of recent work in weapon noise signal analysis, current
      knowledge of hearing damage risk criteria, and auditory performance in impulse
      noise is presented. Most of the currently used damage risk criteria are based on
      data that cannot be replicated or verified. There is a need to address the
      effects of combined noise exposures, from similar or different weapons and
      continuous background noise, in future noise exposure regulations. Advancements
      in hearing protection technology have expanded the options available to soldiers.
      Individual selection of hearing protection devices that are best suited to the
      type of exposure, the auditory task requirements, and hearing status of the user
      could help to facilitate their use. However, hearing protection devices affect
      auditory performance, which in turn affects situational awareness in the field.
      This includes communication capability and the localization and identification of
      threats. Laboratory training using high-fidelity weapon noise recordings has the
      potential to improve the auditory performance of soldiers in the field, providing
      a low-cost tool to enhance readiness for combat. 

PMID- 25826346
TI  - A qualitative content analysis of global health engagements in Peacekeeping and
      Stability Operations Institute's stability operations lessons learned and
      information management system.
AB  - Many institutions collect reports in databases to make important lessons-learned
      available to their members. The Uniformed Services University of the Health
      Sciences collaborated with the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute to
      conduct a descriptive and qualitative analysis of global health engagements
      (GHEs) contained in the Stability Operations Lessons Learned and Information
      Management System (SOLLIMS). This study used a summative qualitative content
      analysis approach involving six steps: (1) a comprehensive search; (2) two-stage
      reading and screening process to identify first-hand, health-related records; (3)
      qualitative and quantitative data analysis using MAXQDA, a software program; (4)
      a word cloud to illustrate word frequencies and interrelationships; (5) coding of
      individual themes and validation of the coding scheme; and (6) identification of
      relationships in the data and overarching lessons-learned. The individual codes
      with the most number of text segments coded included: planning, personnel,
      interorganizational coordination, communication/information sharing, and
      resources/supplies. When compared to the Department of Defense's (DoD's) evolving
      GHE principles and capabilities, the SOLLIMS coding scheme appeared to align well
      with the list of GHE capabilities developed by the Department of Defense Global
      Health Working Group. The results of this study will inform practitioners of
      global health and encourage additional qualitative analysis of other lessons
      learned databases. 

PMID- 25826347
TI  - Overview of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and alcohol misuse among
      active duty service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, self-report and
      diagnosis.
AB  - Previous studies have found deployment to combat areas to be associated with an
      increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and alcohol
      abuse, but many previous studies were limited by samples that were not
      representative of the deployed military as a whole. This study presents an
      overview of these three mental health problems associated with deployment among
      Air Force, Army, Marine Corp, and Navy service members returning from deployment
      to Iraq and Afghanistan between January 2007 and March 2008. With postdeployment
      health data on over 50,000 service men and women, including diagnostic
      information, we were able to estimate prevalence of those who screened positive
      for risk of each disorder in self-report data at two time points, as well as
      prevalence of diagnoses received during health care encounters within the
      military health care system. The prevalence ranges of the three disorders were
      consistent with previous studies using similar measures, but service members in
      the Navy had higher rates of screening positive for all three disorders and
      higher prevalence of depression and PTSD diagnoses compared to the other
      branches. Further, PTSD risk was higher for service members returning from
      Afghanistan compared to Iraq, in contrast to previous findings. 

PMID- 25826348
TI  - A population-based cross-sectional study comparing depression and health service
      deficits between rural and nonrural U.S. military veterans.
AB  - With involvement in two wars over the past decade, there has been a documented
      increase in depression prevalence and suicide incidence among U.S. military
      veterans. Because higher proportions of veterans come from rural communities,
      access to care may be an issue when behavioral health care is needed. Although
      the Veterans Administration has expanded health services in rural areas, this has
      not always resulted in increased service utilization. This study examined the
      prevalence of depression and associated health service deficits (HSDs) for rural
      versus nonrural U.S. military veterans. Using bivariate and multivariate
      techniques, 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data were analyzed.
      Bivariate analysis revealed that rural veterans had greater odds of having at
      least one HSD, being currently depressed as measured by the Personal Health
      Questionnaire-8, and having lifetime depression. Logistic regression analysis
      confirmed that rural veterans had higher odds of both current and lifetime
      depression than nonrural veterans when controlling for socioeconomic status and
      race/ethnicity. Additionally, logistic regression analysis also revealed that
      rural veterans with current depression had higher odds of being Hispanic or
      Other/Multiracial than Caucasian, not employed for wages than employed for wages,
      <65 years of age, and reported having at least one HSD. 

PMID- 25826349
TI  - Mental health diagnoses and attrition in Air Force recruits.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Mental disorders effect military readiness. Evaluating the
      frequency and impact of mental health diagnoses (MHD) in recruits, the source of
      the military workforce, is key to identifying opportunities for screening and
      prevention. OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the relationship between MHD in the
      Air Force recruit population and time to discharge. METHODS: A recruit cohort at
      Lackland Air Force Base was followed through Basic Military Training, technical
      school, and 14 months of service using data from Trainee Health Online Reporting
      System. Incidence rate of MHD was calculated. A risk ratio and attributable
      fraction were calculated for attrition comparing recruits with MHD to recruits
      receiving other diagnoses (non-MHD). A survival analysis was performed on
      recruits with MHD compared to those with non-MHD. RESULTS: Incidence of MHD was
      7.9%. A recruit with a MHD was 4.28 (95% CI = 4.04-4.54) times more likely to
      separate in the first 14 months of service as compared to a recruit with a non
      MHD. CONCLUSIONS: Recruits with MHD were separated faster and more often when
      compared to non-MHD. This study increases visibility of mental health disorders
      in recruits as a step toward better identifying those at higher risk of
      attrition.

PMID- 25826350
TI  - Translating research into practice: is evidence-based medicine being practiced in
      military-relevant orthopedic trauma?
AB  - Orthopedic trauma remains one of the most survivable battlefield injuries seen in
      modern conflicts. Translating research into practice is a critical bridge that
      permits surgeons to further optimize medical outcomes. Orthopedic surgeons
      serving in the military may treat little to no trauma in their stateside
      practice. In conflict zones, however, the majority of their patients will have
      traumatic injuries. Determining risk factors for nonevidence-based practice can
      help identify provider knowledge gaps, which can then be targeted before
      deployment. Surveys were developed which sought to identify factors contributing
      to continued medical education and practice, as well as scenario-based questions
      on military-relevant orthopedic trauma. Analysis of 188 survey respondents
      revealed that providers with military service and less than 10 years of practice
      are optimally bridging research into military-relevant orthopedic trauma
      practice. 

PMID- 25826351
TI  - Examining patient-centered communication and access for veterans with
      disabilities.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine if there are significant differences in patient-centered
      communication and access to care experienced by veterans with disabilities
      compared to veterans without disabilities and nonveterans with disabilities and
      what variables contribute to the likelihood of poor patient-centered
      communication and access to care. METHODS: chi(2) analyses were used to determine
      differences in patient-centered communication and access to care. Logistic
      regression analyses were used to identify variables contributing to poor patient
      centered care. RESULTS: Veterans with disabilities were significantly less likely
      to say that a physician listened to their concerns, explained care so they
      understood, treated them with respect, spent enough time with them, and were less
      likely to get necessary care or experience a delay in getting care than veterans
      without disabilities. No significant differences were found when comparing
      patient-centered communication between veterans and nonveterans with
      disabilities. Veteran status protects against poor patient-centered care, whereas
      disability status increases the likelihood of poor patient-centered care.
      CONCLUSIONS: Health care providers should consider the unique strengths and
      limitations presented by veterans with disabilities in their patient-centered
      communication. Future research in partnership with veterans with and without
      disabilities is needed to determine effective strategies to improve patient
      centered communication and health care access.

PMID- 25826352
TI  - Obesity and national defense: will America be too heavy to fight?
AB  - Obesity has been a topic of intense interest in the United States for several
      years. Rising rates of obesity have led some to question whether or not America
      will be able to readily sustain a fit fighting force into the future. This study
      seeks to describe at what point, projecting current trends in obesity and
      military accession, there would no longer be a sufficient number of qualified
      applicants to support an effective military fighting force. By analyzing trends
      in national obesity data and military accession records, the authors were unable
      to determine a realistic time projection of a year in which the United States
      would no longer be able to find enough qualified military applicants as a result
      of increasing obesity rates. 

PMID- 25826353
TI  - Outcomes from two forms of training for first-responder competency in cholinergic
      crisis management.
AB  - Military and civilian first responders must be able to recognize and effectively
      manage mass disaster casualties. Clinical management of injuries resulting from
      nerve agents provides different challenges for first responders than those of
      conventional weapons. We evaluated the impact of a mixed-methods training program
      on competency acquisition in cholinergic crisis clinical management using
      multimedia with either live animal or patient actor examples, and hands-on
      practice using SimMan3G mannequin simulators. A purposively selected sample of
      204 civilian and military first responders who had not previously completed nerve
      agent training were assessed pre- and post-training for knowledge, performance,
      self-efficacy, and affective state. We conducted analysis of variance with
      repeated measures; statistical significance p < 0.05. Both groups had significant
      performance improvement across all assessment dimensions: knowledge > 20%,
      performance > 50%, self-efficacy > 34%, and affective state > 15%. There were no
      significant differences between the live animal and patient actor groups. These
      findings could aid in the specification of training for first-responder personnel
      in military and civilian service. Although less comprehensive than U.S. Army
      Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense courses, the training outcomes
      associated with this easily distributed program demonstrate its value in
      increasing the competency of first responders in recognizing and managing a mass
      casualty cholinergic event. 

PMID- 25826354
TI  - Adherence to positive airway pressure therapy in U.S. military personnel with
      sleep apnea improves sleepiness, sleep quality, and depressive symptoms.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is frequently diagnosed in U.S.
      military personnel. OSA is associated with sleepiness, poor sleep quality, and
      service-related illnesses of insomnia, depression, post-traumatic stress
      disorder, and traumatic brain injury. METHODS: Observational study of active duty
      military personnel with OSA and adherence to positive airway pressure (PAP)
      assessed with smart chip technology. RESULTS: 58 men with mean age 36.2 +/- 7.7
      years, mean body mass index 31.4 +/- 3.7 with mean apnea-hypopnea index (AHI)
      19.1 +/- 19.0 are reported. 23 (39.7%) participants were adherent to PAP, and 35
      (60.3%) were nonadherent. No significant differences in baseline demographics,
      apnea-hypopnea index, service-related illnesses, or clinical instrument scores.
      Military personnel adherent to PAP had significantly improved sleepiness (p =
      0.007), sleep quality (p = 0.013), depressive symptoms (p = 0.01), energy/fatigue
      (p = 0.027), and emotional well-being (p = 0.024). Participants with moderate
      severe OSA were more likely to be in the adherent group when compared with
      participants diagnosed with mild OSA. CONCLUSIONS: Military personnel with OSA
      have low adherence to PAP. Adherence is associated with improved depressive
      symptoms, sleepiness, sleep quality, energy/fatigue, emotional well-being, and
      social functioning. Future research should focus on interventions to improve the
      management of OSA in military personnel.

PMID- 25826355
TI  - This dust was once the man: commemorating the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's last
      hours.

PMID- 25826356
TI  - Impairment of type I but not type III IFN signaling by hepatitis C virus
      infection influences antiviral responses in primary human hepatocytes.
AB  - Peginterferon lambda-1a (Lambda), a type III interferon (IFN), acts through a
      unique receptor complex with limited cellular expression outside the liver which
      may result in a differentiated tolerability profile compared to peginterferon
      alfa (alfa). In Phase 2b clinical studies, Lambda administered in combination
      with ribavirin (RBV) was efficacious in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)
      infection representing genotypes 1 through 4, and was associated with more rapid
      declines in HCV RNA compared to alfa plus RBV. To gain insights into potential
      mechanisms for this finding, we investigated the effects of HCV replication on
      IFN signaling in primary human hepatocytes (PHH) and in induced hepatocyte-like
      cells (iHLCs). HCV infection resulted in rapid down-regulation of the type I IFN
      alpha receptor subunit 1 (IFNAR1) transcript in hepatocytes while the
      transcriptional level of the unique IFN-lambda receptor subunit IL28RA was
      transiently increased. In line with this observation, IFN signaling was
      selectively impaired in infected cells upon stimulation with alfa but not in
      response to Lambda. Importantly, in contrast to alfa, Lambda was able to induce
      IFN-stimulated gene (ISG) expression in HCV-infected hepatocytes, reflecting the
      onset of innate responses. Moreover, global transcriptome analysis in hepatocytes
      indicated that Lambda stimulation prolonged the expression of various ISGs that
      are potentially beneficial to antiviral defense mechanisms. Collectively, these
      observed effects of HCV infection on IFN receptor expression and signaling within
      infected hepatocytes provide a possible explanation for the more pronounced early
      virologic responses observed in patients treated with Lambda compared to alfa. 

PMID- 25826357
TI  - What is the potential of epigenetics in drug development?

PMID- 25826358
TI  - Novel scaffolds for modulation of TRPV1 identified with pharmacophore modeling
      and virtual screening.
AB  - AIM: The transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) is responsible for
      pain perception in the peripheral nervous system (PNS). TRPV1 is thus considered
      a versatile target for development of non-opioid analgesics. RESULTS:
      Pharmacophore-based clustering of a publicly available data set of TRPV1
      antagonists revealed a set of models, which were validated with data sets of
      inactive compounds, decoys and known drug candidates. The top ranked
      pharmacophore models were subsequently used for virtual screening. Based on a
      unique in-house protocol, a set of compounds was selected and biologically tested
      for modulation of TRPV1 in a voltage-clamp model. CONCLUSION: Pharmacophore
      models extracted from large public data sets are a valuable source for
      identification of novel scaffolds for TRPV1 receptor modulation.

PMID- 25826359
TI  - How to report and discuss ADME data in medicinal chemistry publications: in vitro
      data or in vivo extrapolations?
AB  - Early drug discovery projects often utilize data from ADME (absorption,
      distribution, metabolism, elimination) assays to benchmark data and guide
      discussion, rather than the predicted in vivo consequences of these data. Here,
      the two paradigms are compared, using evaluations of metabolic stability based on
      either microsomal clearance assay data or from the predicted in vivo hepatic
      clearance and half-life calculated through the combination of the venous well
      stirred model and Oie-Tozer's model. The need for a shift in paradigm is
      presented, and its implications discussed. It is suggested that discussions about
      ADME data should revolve around potential clinical problems that are most likely
      to surface during the development phase, each benchmarked with a suitable
      variable derived from the assay data. 

PMID- 25826360
TI  - The RAF-MEK-ERK pathway: targeting ERK to overcome obstacles to effective cancer
      therapy.
AB  - AIM: Currently, dozens of BRAF inhibitors and MEK inhibitors targeting RAF-MEK
      ERK pathway have been introduced into clinical trials for cancer therapy.
      However, after 6-8 months of initial response, acquired drug resistance among the
      majority of those treated patients sharply diminished their clinical efficacy.
      DISCUSSION: Important mechanisms responsible for acquired resistance of BRAF
      inhibitors and MEK inhibitors have been elucidated. Continually, ERK1/2 locates
      in the critical position and features unique characteristics, such as activating
      hundreds of substrates, participating in feedback regulation, being catalyzed by
      MEK specifically and no acquired resistant mutation. CONCLUSION: Taking in
      account the inspiring outcomes of ERK inhibitors in preclinical research, ERK1/2
      might be the optimal target to overcome acquired drug resistance in RAF-MEK-ERK
      pathway.

PMID- 25826361
TI  - Nucleoside analogs and tuberculosis: new weapons against an old enemy.
AB  - Purine and pyrimidine nucleoside and nucleotide analogs have been extensively
      studied as anticancer and antiviral agents. In addition to this, they have
      recently shown great potential against Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, the causative
      agent of TB. TB ranks as the tenth most common cause of death in the world. The
      current treatment for TB infection is limited by side effects and cost of the
      drugs and most importantly by the development of resistance to the therapy.
      Therefore the development of novel drugs, capable of overcoming the drawbacks of
      the existing treatments, has become the focus of many research programs. In
      parallel to that, a tremendous effort has been made to elucidate the unique
      metabolism of this pathogen with the aim to identify new possible targets. This
      review presents the state of the art in nucleoside and nucleotide analogs in the
      treatment of TB. In particular, we report on the inhibitory activity of this
      class of compounds, both in enzymatic and whole-cell assays, providing a brief
      insight to which reported target these novel compounds are hitting. 

PMID- 25826362
TI  - New perspectives on the development of antiobesity drugs.
AB  - After many years of research, obesity is still a disease with an unmet medical
      need. Very few compounds have been approved, acting mainly on neuromediators;
      researches, in recent years, pointed toward compounds potentially safer than
      first-generation antiobesity drugs, able to interact with one or more
      (multitarget therapy) receptors for substances produced by the gut, adipose
      tissue and other targets outside CNS. Other holistic approaches, such as those
      involving gut microbiota and plant extracts, appeared recently in the literature,
      and undoubtedly will contribute to the discovery of a valuable therapy for this
      disease. This review deals with the positive results and the pitfalls obtained
      following these approaches, with a view on their clinical trial studies. 

PMID- 25826363
TI  - Computational solvent mapping in structure-based drug design.
AB  - Over the past two decades, solvent mapping has emerged as a useful tool for
      identifying hot spots within binding sites on proteins for drug-like molecules
      and suggesting properties of potential binders. While the experimental technique
      requires solving multiple crystal structures of a protein in different solvents,
      computational solvent mapping allows for fast analysis of a protein for potential
      binding sites and their druggability. Recent advances in genomics, systems
      biology and interactomics provide a multitude of potential targets for drug
      development and solvent mapping can provide useful information to help prioritize
      targets for drug discovery projects. Here, we review various approaches to
      computational solvent mapping, highlight some key advances and provide our
      opinion on future directions in the field. 

PMID- 25826364
TI  - 3-Hydroxypyridinone derivatives as metal-sequestering agents for therapeutic use.
AB  - Although iron is one of the most important metal ions for living organisms, it
      becomes toxic when in excess or misplaced. This review presents a glance at
      representative examples of hydroxypyridinone-based chelators, which have been
      recently developed as potential clinically useful drugs for metal overload
      diseases, mostly associated with excess of iron but also other hard metal-ions.
      It also includes a detailed discussion on the factors assisting chelator design
      strategy toward fulfillment of the most relevant biochemical properties of
      hydroxypyridinone chelators, highlighting structure-activity relationships and a
      variety of potential clinical applications, beyond chelatotherapy. This study
      appears as a response to the growing interest on metal chelation therapy and
      opens new perspectives of possible applications in future medicine. 

PMID- 25826365
TI  - Decreased chloride channel expression in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in
      schizophrenia.
AB  - Alterations in GABAergic neurotransmission are implicated in several psychiatric
      illnesses, including schizophrenia. The Na-K-Cl and K-Cl cotransporters regulate
      intracellular chloride levels. Abnormalities in cotransporter expression levels
      could shift the chloride electrochemical gradient and impair GABAergic
      transmission. In this study, we performed Western blot analysis to investigate
      whether the Na-K-Cl and K-Cl cotransporter protein is abnormally expressed in the
      dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex in patients
      with schizophrenia versus a control group. We found decreased K-Cl cotransporter
      protein expression in the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, but not the anterior
      cingulate cortex, in subjects with schizophrenia, supporting the hypothesis of
      region level abnormal GABAergic function in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.
      Subjects with schizophrenia off antipsychotic medication at the time of death had
      decreased K-Cl cotransporter protein expression compared to both normal controls
      and subjects with schizophrenia on antipsychotics. Our results provide evidence
      for KCC2 protein abnormalities in schizophrenia and suggest that antipsychotic
      medications might reverse deficits of this protein in the illness. 

PMID- 25826366
TI  - Methylation-sensitive expression of a DNA demethylase gene serves as an
      epigenetic rheostat.
AB  - Genomes must balance active suppression of transposable elements (TEs) with the
      need to maintain gene expression. In Arabidopsis, euchromatic TEs are targeted by
      RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM). Conversely, active DNA demethylation
      prevents accumulation of methylation at genes proximal to these TEs. It is
      unknown how a cellular balance between methylation and demethylation activities
      is achieved. Here we show that both RdDM and DNA demethylation are highly active
      at a TE proximal to the major DNA demethylase gene ROS1. Unexpectedly, and in
      contrast to most other genomic targets, expression of ROS1 is promoted by DNA
      methylation and antagonized by DNA demethylation. We demonstrate that inducing
      methylation in the ROS1 proximal region is sufficient to restore ROS1 expression
      in an RdDM mutant. Additionally, methylation-sensitive expression of ROS1 is
      conserved in other species, suggesting it is adaptive. We propose that the ROS1
      locus functions as an epigenetic rheostat, tuning the level of demethylase
      activity in response to methylation alterations, thus ensuring epigenomic
      stability. 

PMID- 25826367
TI  - Retinoic acid can exacerbate T cell intrinsic TLR2 activation to promote
      tolerance.
AB  - The contribution of vitamin A to immune health has been well established.
      However, recent evidence indicates that its active metabolite, retinoic acid
      (RA), has the ability to promote both tolerogenic and inflammatory responses.
      While the outcome of RA-mediated immunity is dependent upon the immunological
      status of the tissue, the contribution of specific innate signals influencing
      this response have yet to be delineated. Here, we found that treatment with RA
      can dampen inflammation during intestinal injury. Importantly, we report a novel
      and unexpected requirement for TLR2 in RA-mediated suppression. Our data
      demonstrate that RA treatment enhances TLR2-dependent IL-10 production from T
      cells and this, in turn, potentiates T regulatory cell (TREG) generation without
      the need for activation of antigen presenting cells. These data also suggest that
      combinatorial therapy using RA and TLR2 ligands may be advantageous in the design
      of therapies to treat autoimmune or inflammatory disease. 

PMID- 25826368
TI  - Assessment of the chemosensitizing activity of TAT-RasGAP317-326 in childhood
      cancers.
AB  - Although current anti-cancer protocols are reasonably effective, treatment
      associated long-term side effects, induced by lack of specificity of the anti
      cancer procedures, remain a challenging problem in pediatric oncology. TAT
      RasGAP317-326 is a RasGAP-derived cell-permeable peptide that acts as a
      sensitizer to various anti-cancer treatments in adult tumor cells. In the present
      study, we assessed the effect of TAT-RasGAP317-326 in several childhood cancer
      cell lines. The RasGAP-derived peptide-induced cell death was analyzed in several
      neuroblastoma, Ewing sarcoma and leukemia cell lines (as well as in normal
      lymphocytes). Cell death was evaluated using flow cytometry methods in the
      absence or in the presence of the peptide in combination with various genotoxins
      used in the clinics (4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide, etoposide, vincristine and
      doxorubicin). All tested pediatric tumors, in response to at least one genotoxin,
      were sensitized by TAT-RasGAP317-326. The RasGAP-derived peptide did not increase
      cell death of normal lymphocytes, alone or in combination with the majority of
      the tested chemotherapies. Consequently, TAT-RasGAP317-326 may benefit children
      with tumors by increasing the efficacy of anti-cancer therapies notably by
      allowing reductions in anti-cancer drug dosage and the associated drug-induced
      side effects. 

PMID- 25826369
TI  - Hyperspectral and thermal imaging of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) response to
      fungal species of the genus Alternaria.
AB  - In this paper, thermal (8-13 um) and hyperspectral imaging in visible and near
      infrared (VNIR) and short wavelength infrared (SWIR) ranges were used to
      elaborate a method of early detection of biotic stresses caused by fungal species
      belonging to the genus Alternaria that were host (Alternaria alternata,
      Alternaria brassicae, and Alternaria brassicicola) and non-host (Alternaria
      dauci) pathogens to oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.). The measurements of disease
      severity for chosen dates after inoculation were compared to temperature
      distributions on infected leaves and to averaged reflectance characteristics.
      Statistical analysis revealed that leaf temperature distributions on particular
      days after inoculation and respective spectral characteristics, especially in the
      SWIR range (1000-2500 nm), significantly differed for the leaves inoculated with
      A. dauci from the other species of Alternaria as well as from leaves of non
      treated plants. The significant differences in leaf temperature of the studied
      Alternaria species were observed in various stages of infection development. The
      classification experiments were performed on the hyperspectral data of the leaf
      surfaces to distinguish days after inoculation and Alternaria species. The second
      derivative transformation of the spectral data together with back-propagation
      neural networks (BNNs) appeared to be the best combination for classification of
      days after inoculation (prediction accuracy 90.5%) and Alternaria species
      (prediction accuracy 80.5%). 

PMID- 25826370
TI  - A single bout of dynamic exercise enhances the expansion of MAGE-A4 and PRAME
      specific cytotoxic T-cells from healthy adults.
AB  - The ex vivo expansion of tumor-associated-antigen (TAA)- specific cytotoxic T
      cells (CTLs) from healthy donors for adoptive transfer to cancer patients is now
      providing additional treatment options for patients. Many studies have shown that
      adoptive transfer of expanded CTLs can reduce the risk of relapse in cancer
      patients following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). However, the
      procedure can be limited by difficulties in priming and expanding sufficient
      numbers of TAA-specific-CTLs. Because acute dynamic exercise mobilizes large
      numbers of T-cells to peripheral blood, we hypothesized that a single bout of
      exercise would augment the ex vivo expansion of TAA-specific-CTLs.We therefore
      collected lymphocytes from blood donated by healthy adults at rest and after
      brief maximal dynamic exercise. TAA-specific CTLs were expanded using autologous
      monocyte-derived-dendritic cells pulsed with melanoma-associated antigen 4 (MAGE
      A4), with preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma (PRAME), and with Wilms'
      tumor protein (WT-1). Post exercise, 84% of the participants had a greater number
      of CTLs specific for at least one of the three TAA.Cells expanded from post
      exercise blood yielded a greater number of MAGE-A4 and PRAME-specific-cells in
      70% and 61% of participants, respectively. In the 'exercise-responsive'
      participants (defined as participants with at least a 10% increase in TAA
      specific-CTLs post-exercise), MAGEA4- and PRAME-specific-CTLs increased 3.4-fold
      and 6.2- fold respectively. Moreover, expanded TAA-specific CTLs retained their
      antigen-specific cytotoxic activity. No phenotype differences were observed
      between expanded cells donated at rest and postexercise. We conclude that
      exercise can enhance the ex vivo expansion of TAA-specific-CTLs from healthy
      adults without compromising cytotoxic function. Hence, this study has
      implications for immunotherapy using adoptive T-cell transfer of donor-derived T
      cells after allogeneic HSCT.

PMID- 25826371
TI  - [A general practitioners' program for primary care in Chile].
AB  - The public health system in Chile does not have a comprehensive development
      policy for physician resources in primary care, so there is currently a
      significant deficit of hours for medical care. The article contains a proposal
      for a "General Program for Primary Care Physicians", which aims to reduce the gap
      of general practitioners and specialists in primary care. The program proposes to
      integrate newly graduated physicians to work in the public medical offices with
      the subsequent possibility of applying for a scholarship specialty, and
      consecutively a return period as a specialist in the public health network. The
      immediate implementation of this program is perfectly feasible given the current
      availability of doctors, over 1400 medical graduates from universities. 

PMID- 25826372
TI  - MicroRNA-22 impairs anti-tumor ability of dendritic cells by targeting p38.
AB  - Dendritic cells (DCs) play a critical role in triggering anti-tumor immune
      responses. Their intracellular p38 signaling is of great importance in
      controlling DC activity. In this study, we identified microRNA-22 (miR-22) as a
      microRNA inhibiting p38 protein expression by directly binding to the 3'
      untranslated region (3'UTR) of its mRNA. The p38 down-regulation further
      interfered with the synthesis of DC-derived IL-6 and the differentiation of DC
      driven Th17 cells. Moreover, overexpression of miR-22 in DCs impaired their tumor
      suppressing ability while miR-22 inhibitor could reverse this phenomenon and
      improve the curative effect of DC-based immunotherapy. Thus, our results
      highlight a suppressive role for miR-22 in the process of DC-invoked anti-tumor
      immunity and that blocking this microRNA provides a new strategy for generating
      potent DC vaccines for patients with cancer. 

PMID- 25826373
TI  - Effects of unfermented and fermented whole grain rye crisp breads served as part
      of a standardized breakfast, on appetite and postprandial glucose and insulin
      responses: a randomized cross-over trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Whole grain rye products have been shown to increase satiety and
      elicit lower postprandial insulin response without a corresponding change in
      glucose response compared with soft refined wheat bread. The underlying
      mechanisms for these effects have not been fully determined The primary aim of
      the study was to investigate if whole grain rye crisp bread compared to refined
      wheat crisp bread, elected beneficial effects on appetite and postprandial
      insulin response, similarly as for other rye products. METHODS: In a randomized
      cross-over trial, 23 healthy volunteers, aged 27-70 years, BMI 18-31.4 kg/m2,
      were served a standardized breakfast with unfermented whole grain rye crisp bread
      (uRCB), fermented whole grain rye crisp bread (RCB) or refined wheat crisp bread
      (WCB), Appetite was measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS) until 4 h after
      breakfast. Postprandial glucose and insulin were measured at 0-230 min. Breads
      were chemically characterized including macronutrients, energy, dietary fiber
      components, and amino acid composition, and microstructure was characterized with
      light microscopy. RESULTS: Reported fullness was 16% higher (P<0.001), and hunger
      11% and 12% lower (P<0.05) after ingestion of uRCB and RCB, respectively,
      compared with WCB. Postprandial glucose response did not differ significantly
      between treatments. Postprandial insulin was 10% lower (P<0.007) between 0-120
      min but not significantly lower between 0-230 min for RCB compared with WCB. uRCB
      induced 13% (P<0.002) and 17% (P<0.001) lower postprandial insulin response
      between 0-230 min compared with RCB and WCB respectively. CONCLUSION: Whole grain
      rye crisp bread induces higher satiety and lower insulin response compared with
      refined wheat crisp bread. Microstructural characteristics, dietary fiber content
      and composition are probable contributors to the increased satiety after
      ingestion of rye crisp breads. Higher insulin secretion after ingestion of RCB
      and WCB compared with uRCB may be due to differences in fiber content and
      composition, and higher availability of insulinogenic branched chain amino acids.
      TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02011217.

PMID- 25826374
TI  - Loss of Pol32 in Drosophila melanogaster causes chromosome instability and
      suppresses variegation.
AB  - Pol32 is an accessory subunit of the replicative DNA Polymerase delta and of the
      translesion Polymerase zeta. Pol32 is involved in DNA replication, recombination
      and repair. Pol32's participation in high- and low-fidelity processes, together
      with the phenotypes arising from its disruption, imply multiple roles for this
      subunit within eukaryotic cells, not all of which have been fully elucidated.
      Using pol32 null mutants and two partial loss-of-function alleles pol32rd1 and
      pol32rds in Drosophila melanogaster, we show that Pol32 plays an essential role
      in promoting genome stability. Pol32 is essential to ensure DNA replication in
      early embryogenesis and it participates in the repair of mitotic chromosome
      breakage. In addition we found that pol32 mutants suppress position effect
      variegation, suggesting a role for Pol32 in chromatin architecture.

PMID- 25826375
TI  - The role of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in mast cell-stimulated
      fibroblast proliferation and collagen production.
AB  - Current clinical and translational studies have shown that mast cell plays a
      pivotal role in multiple fibrotic diseases including scleroderma. However, the
      lack of mature human mast cell culture model exhibits a major obstacle for
      further dissection of cytokines and signaling molecules required for mast cell
      mediated fibrosis in various diseases. Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor is
      a mast cell released pro-inflammatory cytokine which is deregulated in
      scleroderma patients and is also involved in non-scleroderma related fibrosis. In
      the current study, we successfully generated a practical and reliable human mast
      cell culture system with bone marrow CD34+ hematopietic precursors. The
      derivative mast cell is normal in terms of both morphology and function as
      manifested by normal degranulation. More importantly, we were able to show mast
      cell conditioned medium as well as MIF supplementation augments fibroblast
      proliferation and collagen synthesis. This positive regulatory effect of mast
      cell conditioned medium can be dampened by MIF antibody. In addition, MIF
      knockdown significantly inhibits pro-fibrotic activities of CD34+ hematopietic
      precursor derived mast cells. These data strongly suggest that mast cell released
      MIF is required for mast cell mediated fibrogenic activities. The current
      manuscript seems to be the first mechanistic report showing the significance of
      MIF in mast cell mediated fibrosis, which may pave the way for the development of
      potential MIF-targeted therapy for fibrotic diseases to a further extent.
      Moreover, we strongly believe mast cell culture and differentiation model as well
      as corresponding genetic manipulation methodology will be helpful in
      characterizing novel mast cell based therapeutic targets. 

PMID- 25826376
TI  - Diarrhea, stimulation and growth predict neurodevelopment in young North Indian
      children.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Infants and young children in low to middle-income
      countries are at risk for adverse neurodevelopment due to multiple risk factors.
      In this study, we sought to identify stimulation and learning opportunities,
      growth, and burden of respiratory infections and diarrhea as predictors for
      neurodevelopment. METHODS: We visited 422 North Indian children 6 to 30 months
      old weekly for six months. Childhood illnesses were assessed biweekly. At end
      study, we assessed neurodevelopment using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire 3rd
      ed. (ASQ-3) and gathered information on stimulation and learning opportunities.
      We identified predictors for ASQ-3 scores in multiple linear and logistic
      regression models. RESULTS: We were able to explain 30.5% of the variation in the
      total ASQ-3 score by the identified predictors. When adjusting for child
      characteristics and annual family income, stimulation and learning opportunities
      explained most of the variation by 25.1%. Height for age (standardized beta:
      0.12, p<.05) and weight for height z-scores (std. beta: 0.09, p<.05) were
      positively associated with the total ASQ-3 score, while number of days with
      diarrhea was negatively associated with these scores (std. beta: -0.13, p<0.01).
      CONCLUSION: Our results support the importance of early child stimulation and
      general nutrition for child development. Our study also suggests that diarrhea is
      an additional risk factor for adverse neurodevelopment in vulnerable children.

PMID- 25826377
TI  - G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor agonist suppresses airway inflammation in a
      mouse model of asthma through IL-10.
AB  - Estrogen influences the disease severity and sexual dimorphism in asthma, which
      is caused by complex mechanisms. Besides classical nuclear estrogen receptors
      (ERalphabeta), G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) was recently
      established as an estrogen receptor on the cell membrane. Although GPER is
      associated with immunoregulatory functions of estrogen, the pathophysiological
      role of GPER in allergic inflammatory lung disease has not been examined. We
      investigated the effect of GPER-specific agonist G-1 in asthmatic mice. GPER
      expression in asthmatic lung was confirmed by immunofluorescent staining. OVA
      sensitized BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice were treated with G-1 by daily subcutaneous
      injections during an airway challenge phase, followed by histological and
      biochemical examination. Strikingly, administration of G-1 attenuated airway
      hyperresponsiveness, accumulation of inflammatory cells, and levels of Th2
      cytokines (IL-5 and IL-13) in BAL fluid. G-1 treatment also decreased serum
      levels of anti-OVA IgE antibodies. The frequency of splenic Foxp3+CD4+ regulatory
      T cells and IL-10-producing GPER+CD4+ T cells was significantly increased in G-1
      treated mice. Additionally, splenocytes isolated from G-1-treated mice showed
      greater IL-10 production. G-1-induced amelioration of airway inflammation and IgE
      production were abolished in IL-10-deficient mice. Taken together, these results
      indicate that extended GPER activation negatively regulates the acute asthmatic
      condition by altering the IL-10-producing lymphocyte population. The current
      results have potential importance for understanding the mechanistic aspects of
      function of estrogen in allergic inflammatory response. 

PMID- 25826378
TI  - MixtureTree annotator: a program for automatic colorization and visual annotation
      of MixtureTree.
AB  - The MixtureTree Annotator, written in JAVA, allows the user to automatically
      color any phylogenetic tree in Newick format generated from any phylogeny
      reconstruction program and output the Nexus file. By providing the ability to
      automatically color the tree by sequence name, the MixtureTree Annotator provides
      a unique advantage over any other programs which perform a similar function. In
      addition, the MixtureTree Annotator is the only package that can efficiently
      annotate the output produced by MixtureTree with mutation information and
      coalescent time information. In order to visualize the resulting output file, a
      modified version of FigTree is used. Certain popular methods, which lack good
      built-in visualization tools, for example, MEGA, Mesquite, PHY-FI, TreeView,
      treeGraph and Geneious, may give results with human errors due to either manually
      adding colors to each node or with other limitations, for example only using
      color based on a number, such as branch length, or by taxonomy. In addition to
      allowing the user to automatically color any given Newick tree by sequence name,
      the MixtureTree Annotator is the only method that allows the user to
      automatically annotate the resulting tree created by the MixtureTree program. The
      MixtureTree Annotator is fast and easy-to-use, while still allowing the user full
      control over the coloring and annotating process. 

PMID- 25826379
TI  - UK biobank: an open access resource for identifying the causes of a wide range of
      complex diseases of middle and old age.
AB  - Cathie Sudlow and colleagues describe the UK Biobank, a large population-based
      prospective study, established to allow investigation of the genetic and non
      genetic determinants of the diseases of middle and old age. 

PMID- 25826380
TI  - Molecular characterization of barley 3H semi-dwarf genes.
AB  - The barley chromosome 3H accommodates many semi-dwarfing genes. To characterize
      these genes, the two-rowed semi-dwarf Chinese barley landrace 'TX9425' was
      crossed with the Australian barley variety 'Franklin' to generate a doubled
      haploid (DH) population, and major QTLs controlling plant height have been
      identified in our previous study. The major QTL derived from 'TX9425' was
      targeted to investigate the allelism of the semi-dwarf gene uzu in barley. Twelve
      sets of near-isogenic lines and a large NILF2 fine mapping population segregating
      only for the dwarfing gene from 'TX9425' were developed. The semi-dwarfing gene
      in 'TX9425' was located within a 2.8 cM region close to the centromere on
      chromosome 3H by fine mapping. Molecular cloning and sequence analyses showed
      that the 'TX9425'-derived allele contained a single nucleotide substitution from
      A to G at position 2612 of the HvBRI1 gene. This was apparently the same mutation
      as that reported in six-rowed uzu barley. Markers co-segregating with the QTL
      were developed from the sequence of the HvBRI1 gene and were validated in the
      'TX9425'/'Franklin' DH population. The other major dwarfing QTL derived from the
      Franklin variety was distally located on chromosome 3HL and co-segregated with
      the sdw1 diagnostic marker hv20ox2. A third dwarfing gene, expressed only in
      winter-sown trials, was identified and located on chromosome 3HS. The effects and
      interactions of these dwarfing genes under different growing conditions are
      discussed. These results improve our understanding of the genetic mechanisms
      controlling semi-dwarf stature in barley and provide diagnostic markers for the
      selection of semi-dwarfness in barley breeding programs. 

PMID- 25826381
TI  - Correction: the inhibition of N-glycosylation of glycoprotein 130 molecule
      abolishes STAT3 activation by IL-6 family cytokines in cultured cardiac myocytes.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111097.]. 

PMID- 25826382
TI  - Stereoselectivity in the Lewis acid mediated reduction of ketofuranoses.
AB  - The Lewis acid mediated reduction of ribose-, arabinose-, xylose-, and lyxose
      derived methyl and phenyl ketofuranoses with triethylsilane as nucleophile was
      found to proceed with good to excellent stereoselectivity to provide the 1,2-cis
      addition products. The methyl ketoses reacted in a more stereoselective manner
      than their phenyl counterparts. The stereochemical outcome of the reactions
      parallels the relative stability of the oxocarbenium ion conformers involved, as
      assessed by calculating the free energy surface maps of their complete
      conformational space. The Lewis acid mediated reduction allows for a direct
      synthesis of C-glycosides with predictable stereochemistry. 

PMID- 25826383
TI  - Performance of a Novel Algorithm Using Automated Digital Microscopy for
      Diagnosing Tuberculosis.
AB  - RATIONALE: TBDx automated microscopy is a novel technology that processes digital
      microscopic images to identify acid-fast bacilli (AFB). Use of TBDx as part of a
      diagnostic algorithm could improve the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB), but its
      performance characteristics have not yet been formally tested. OBJECTIVES: To
      evaluate the performance of the TBDx automated microscopy system in algorithms
      for diagnosis of TB. METHODS: Prospective samples from patients with presumed TB
      were processed in parallel with conventional smear microscopy, TBDx microscopy,
      and liquid culture. All TBDx-positive specimens were also tested with the Xpert
      MTB/RIF (GXP) assay. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of two
      algorithms-(1) TBDx-GXP (TBDx with positive specimens tested by Xpert MTB/RIF)
      and (2) TBDx alone-against the gold standard liquid media culture. MEASUREMENTS
      AND MAIN RESULTS: Of 1,210 samples, 1,009 were eligible for evaluation, of which
      109 were culture positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The TBDx system
      identified 70 specimens (68 culture positive) as having 10 or more putative AFB
      (high positive) and 207 (19 culture positive) as having 1-9 putative AFB (low
      positive). An algorithm in which "low-positive" results on TBDx were confirmed by
      GXP had 78% sensitivity (85 of 109) and 99.8% specificity (889 of 900), requiring
      21% (207 of 1,009) specimens to be processed by GXP. As a stand-alone test, a
      "high-positive" result on TBDx had 62% sensitivity and 99.7% specificity.
      CONCLUSIONS: TBDx used in diagnostic algorithms with GXP provided reasonable
      sensitivity and high specificity for active TB while dramatically reducing the
      number GXP tests performed. As a stand-alone microscopy system, its performance
      was equivalent to that of a highly experienced TB microscopist.

PMID- 25826384
TI  - Water deficit during pit hardening enhances phytoprostanes content, a plant
      biomarker of oxidative stress, in extra virgin olive oil.
AB  - No previous information exists on the effects of water deficit on the
      phytoprostanes (PhytoPs) content in extra virgin olive oil from fruits of mature
      olive (Olea europaea L. cv. Cornicabra) trees during pit hardening. PhytoPs
      profile in extra virgin olive oil was characterized by the presence of 9-F1t
      PhytoP, 9-epi-9-F1t-PhytoP, 9-epi-9-D1t-PhytoP, 9-D1t-PhytoP, 16-B1-PhytoP + ent
      16-B1-PhytoP, and 9-L1-PhytoP + ent-9-L1-PhytoP. The qualitative and quantitative
      differences in PhytoPs content with respect to those reported by other authors
      indicate a decisive effect of cultivar, oil extraction technology, and/or storage
      conditions prone to autoxidation. The pit hardening period was critical for extra
      virgin olive oil composition because water deficit enhanced the PhytoPs content,
      with the concomitant potential beneficial aspects on human health. From a
      physiological and agronomical point of view, 9-F1t-PhytoP, 9-epi-9-F1t-PhytoP,
      and 16-B1-PhytoP + ent-16-B1-PhytoP could be considered as early candidate
      biomarkers of water stress in olive tree. 

PMID- 25826385
TI  - Hb Lansing (HBA2: c.264C > G) and a new beta promoter transversion [-52 (G > T)]:
      an attempt to define the phenotype of two mutations found in the Omani
      population.
AB  - We report two examples showing how problematic it can be to define the phenotype
      of new or rare globin genes mutations. We describe two mutations observed for the
      first time in the Omani population: the first was found in the consanguineous
      parents of a deceased newborn with hepatomegaly, cardiomegaly and severe
      hemolytic anemia, putatively homozygous for the rare Hb Lansing (HBA2: c.264C >
      G) variant. The second is a novel beta-globin gene promoter mutation [-52 (G >
      T)] observed in four independent patients. Two with borderline/elevated Hb A2,
      alpha-thalassemia (alpha-thal) and hypochromic red cell indices, and two
      heterozygotes for Hb S (HBB: c.20A > T), alpha-thal and with Hb A/Hb S ratios
      possibly indicating a very mild beta(+)-thalassemia (beta(+)-thal) mutation. 

PMID- 25826387
TI  - Identification of reference genes for relative quantification of circulating
      microRNAs in bovine serum.
AB  - Circulating microRNAs in body fluids have been implicated as promising biomarkers
      for physiopathology disorders. Currently, the expression levels of circulating
      microRNAs are estimated by reverse transcription quantitative real-time
      polymerase chain reaction. Use of appropriate reference microRNAs for
      normalization is critical for accurate microRNA expression analysis. However, no
      study has systematically investigated reference genes for evaluating circulating
      microRNA expression in cattle. In this study, we describe the identification and
      characterization of appropriate reference microRNAs for use in the normalization
      of circulating microRNA levels in bovine serum. We evaluated the expression
      stability of ten candidate reference genes in bovine serum by using reverse
      transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Data were
      analyzed using geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper statistical algorithms. The
      results consistently showed that a combination of miR-93 and miR-127 provided the
      most stably expressed reference. The suitability of these microRNAs was
      validated, and even when compared among different genders or breeds, the
      combination of miR-93 and miR-127 was ranked as the most stable microRNA
      reference. Therefore, we conclude that this combination is the optimal endogenous
      reference for reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain
      reaction-based detection of microRNAs in bovine serum. The data presented in this
      study are crucial to successful biomarker discovery and validation for the
      diagnosis of physiopathological conditions in cattle. 

PMID- 25826389
TI  - Systematic Reviews of the Health or Health care of People with Intellectual
      Disabilities: A Systematic Review to Identify Gaps in the Evidence Base.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Systematic reviews are important in evaluating evidence concerning
      the health of people with intellectual disabilities. This study conducts a
      systematic review to identify strengths and gaps in this evidence. METHOD:
      Electronic literature searches and email requests identified systematic reviews
      published in English from 2008 to 2013 on the health or health care of people
      with intellectual disabilities. Reviews were categorized using ICD-10 chapter
      headings and information extracted regarding methods, number of studies reviewed
      and findings. RESULTS: Ninety-four reviews were identified: 52 related to ICD-10
      Chapter V: Mental or behavioural disorders, 28 to Chapter XXI: Factors
      influencing health status and contact with services, and 14 related to other
      chapters or encompassed multiple chapters. Nine reviews were 'empty'. No reviews
      were found for many ICD-10 chapter headings. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic reviews are
      heavily weighted towards mental health, with little coverage of several areas
      important to the health and mortality of people with intellectual disabilities.

PMID- 25826388
TI  - Exercise, skeletal muscle and inflammation: ARE-binding proteins as key
      regulators in inflammatory and adaptive networks.
AB  - The role of inflammation in skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise is complex and
      has hardly been elucidated so far. While the acute inflammatory response to
      exercise seems to promote skeletal muscle training adaptation and regeneration,
      persistent, low-grade inflammation, as seen in a multitude of chronic diseases,
      is obviously detrimental. The regulation of cytokine production in skeletal
      muscle cells has been relatively well studied, yet little is known about the
      compensatory and anti-inflammatory mechanisms that resolve inflammation and
      restore tissue homeostasis. One important strategy to ensure sequential, timely
      and controlled resolution of inflammation relies on the regulated stability of
      mRNAs encoding pro-inflammatory mediators. Many key transcripts in early immune
      responses are characterized by the presence of AU-rich elements (AREs) in the 3'
      untranslated regions of their mRNAs, allowing efficient fine-tuning of gene
      expression patterns at the post-transcriptional level. AREs exert their function
      by recruiting particular RNA-binding proteins, resulting, in most cases, in de
      stabilization of the target transcripts. The best-characterized ARE-binding
      proteins are HuR, CUGBP1, KSRP, AUF1, and the three ZFP36 proteins, especially
      TTP/ZFP36. Here, we give a general introduction into the role of inflammation in
      the adaptation of skeletal muscle to exercise. Subsequently, we focus on
      potential roles of ARE-binding proteins in skeletal muscle tissue in general and
      specifically exercise-induced skeletal muscle remodeling. Finally, we present
      novel data suggesting a specific function of TTP/ZFP36 in exercise-induced
      skeletal muscle plasticity. 

PMID- 25826386
TI  - The impact of host diet on Wolbachia titer in Drosophila.
AB  - While a number of studies have identified host factors that influence
      endosymbiont titer, little is known concerning environmental influences on titer.
      Here we examined nutrient impact on maternally transmitted Wolbachia
      endosymbionts in Drosophila. We demonstrate that Drosophila reared on sucrose-
      and yeast-enriched diets exhibit increased and reduced Wolbachia titers in
      oogenesis, respectively. The yeast-induced Wolbachia depletion is mediated in
      large part by the somatic TOR and insulin signaling pathways. Disrupting TORC1
      with the small molecule rapamycin dramatically increases oocyte Wolbachia titer,
      whereas hyper-activating somatic TORC1 suppresses oocyte titer. Furthermore,
      genetic ablation of insulin-producing cells located in the Drosophila brain
      abolished the yeast impact on oocyte titer. Exposure to yeast-enriched diets
      altered Wolbachia nucleoid morphology in oogenesis. Furthermore, dietary yeast
      increased somatic Wolbachia titer overall, though not in the central nervous
      system. These findings highlight the interactions between Wolbachia and germline
      cells as strongly nutrient-sensitive, and implicate conserved host signaling
      pathways by which nutrients influence Wolbachia titer. 

PMID- 25826390
TI  - A quantum Monte Carlo study of the reactions of CH with acrolein.
AB  - To assist understanding of combustion processes, we have investigated reactions
      of methylidyne (CH) with acrolein (CH2CHCHO) using the quantum Monte Carlo (QMC)
      and other computational methods. We present a theoretical study of the major
      reactions reported in a recent experiment on the subject system. Both DFT and MP2
      computations are carried out, and the former approach is used to form the
      independent-particle part of the QMC trial wave function used in the diffusion
      Monte Carlo (DMC) variant of the QMC method. In agreement with experiment, we
      find that the dominant product channel leads to formation of C4H4O systems + H
      with leading products of furan + H and 1,3-butadienal + H. Equilibrium
      geometries, atomization energies, reaction barriers, transition states, and heats
      of reaction are computed using the DFT, MP2, and DMC approaches and compared to
      experiment. We find that DMC results are in close agreement with experiment. The
      kinetics of the subject reactions are determined by solving master equations with
      the MultiWell software suite. 

PMID- 25826391
TI  - Need for ethnic-specific guidelines for prevention, diagnosis, and management of
      type 2 diabetes in South asians.
AB  - Noncommunicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular
      diseases (CVDs), cause 7.9 million deaths every year in South Asia. India has
      nearly 65.1 million cases of diabetes, and Pakistan and Bangladesh are at the
      12(th) and 13(th) positions in the global list of high prevalence countries,
      respectively. The prevalence in India is continuously increasing and is recently
      reported to be nearly 14% and 8% in urban areas and rural areas, respectively.
      Diabetes in South Asians is, in some manner, different from that in other races;
      it occurs nearly a decade earlier, at lower body mass index and waist
      circumference levels, and with more postprandial hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia,
      nephropathy, and CVD than in whites. Decision regarding prevention and management
      of diabetes should be taken in the background of heterogeneity of diet,
      attitudes, and cultural milieu in South Asia. A need for a low-cost, integrated,
      yet individualized approach specific for South Asian countries has been
      increasingly felt since escalating research has uncovered characteristic
      phenotype, dietary and socioeconomic patterns. Although most such guidelines
      formulated in developed countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom
      could be generally applied to developing South Asian countries, there are
      fundamental differences in applicability of lifestyle and diets (heterogeneous,
      different from western diets), availability and cost of drugs and insulins,
      monitoring methods and devices, and insulin pump. Moreover, the monitoring,
      education, care, and rehabilitation will differ according to different
      socioeconomic strata and levels of health care (primary, secondary, or tertiary).
      Some of the potential ethnic-specific modifications have been suggested in this
      review. 

PMID- 25826392
TI  - Ion density deviations in semipermeable ionic microcapsules.
AB  - By implementing the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann theory in a cell model, we
      theoretically investigate the influence of polyelectrolye gel permeability on ion
      densities and pH deviations inside the cavities of ionic microcapsules. Our
      calculations show that variations in permeability of a charged capsule shell
      cause a redistribution of ion densities within the capsule, which ultimately
      affects the pH deviation and Donnan potential induced by the electric field of
      the shell. We find that semipermeable capsules can induce larger pH deviations
      inside their cavities that can permeable capsules. Furthermore, with increasing
      capsule charge, the influence of permeability on pH deviations progressively
      increases. Our theory, while providing a self-consistent method for modeling the
      influence of permeability on fundamental properties of ionic microgels, makes
      predictions of practical significance for the design of microcapsules loaded with
      fluorescent dyes, which can serve as biosensors for diagnostic purposes. 

PMID- 25826393
TI  - Pik3ip1 modulates cardiac hypertrophy by inhibiting PI3K pathway.
AB  - Cardiac hypertrophy is an adaptive response to various physiological and
      pathological stimuli. Phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K) is a highly conserved
      lipid kinase involved in physiological cardiac hypertrophy (PHH). PI3K
      interacting protein1 (Pik3ip1) shares homology with the p85 regulatory subunit of
      PI3K and is known to interact with the p110 catalytic subunit of PI3K, leading to
      attenuation of PI3K activity in liver and immune cells. However, the role of
      Pik3ip1 in the heart remains unknown. In the present study, the effects of
      Pik3ip1 on cardiac hypertrophy were examined. We found that the expression level
      of Pik3ip1 was markedly higher in cardiomyocytes than in fibroblasts. The
      interaction of Pik3ip1 with the p110a subunit of PI3K in the heart was identified
      by immunoprecipitation using neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCM). Approximately
      35% knockdown of Pik3ip1 was sufficient to induce myocardial hypertrophy. Pik3ip1
      deficiency was shown to lead to activation of PI3K/protein kinase B (AKT)/
      mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway, increasing protein
      synthesis and cell size. However, adenovirus-mediated overexpression of Pik3ip1
      attenuated PI3K-mediated cardiac hypertrophy. Pik3ip1 was upregulated by PHH due
      to swimming training, but not by pathological cardiac hypertrophy (PAH) due to
      pressure-overload, suggesting that Pik3ip1 plays a compensatory negative role for
      PHH. Collectively, our results elucidate the mechanisms for the roles of Pik3ip1
      in PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. 

PMID- 25826394
TI  - Promote health or prevent disease? The effects of health-related advertising on
      eating behavior intention.
AB  - The health medical costs of colorectal cancer are increasingly higher in Taiwan.
      The National Health Insurance Administration (NHI) and The Health Promotion
      Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) in Taiwan encourage
      individuals to adopt an earnest approach to healthy behavior through advocacy
      advertising. However, the number of colorectal cancer patients continues to
      increase annually. Our study explored the effects of health-related
      advertisements (ads) on healthy behavior intentions as influenced by regulatory
      focus theory (RFT) and construal level theory (CLT). We conducted an experiment
      with different public health advocacy ads. A 2 (regulatory focus: promotion vs.
      prevention) * 2 (temporal distance: one month vs. one year) * 2 (graphics-text
      ratio: more pictures and less text vs. fewer pictures and more text) three-factor
      experiment was adopted. The multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) results
      revealed that ads with higher construal levels (i.e., more text) had greater
      effects with a promotion-oriented regulatory focus. However, no significant
      differences were found in either attitude toward the ads or behavior intention
      when the regulatory focus was prevention. In addition, according to the young
      testers and those who were psychologically distant from colorectal cancer,
      different temporal distances and different construal levels had no statistically
      significantly effects on attitudes toward advertising or on behavior intentions.
      The results revealed that viewers found the information easier to understand when
      the ads triggered the regulatory focuses of the viewers and applied an
      appropriate graphics-text ratio, which resulted in favorable health-related
      advertising effectiveness. Thus, we provide two suggestions regarding the use of
      health-related advertising for MOHW in the future. 

PMID- 25826397
TI  - Exciton dynamics and annihilation in WS2 2D semiconductors.
AB  - We systematically investigate the exciton dynamics in monolayered, bilayered, and
      trilayered WS2 two-dimensional (2D) crystals by time-resolved photoluminescence
      (TRPL) spectroscopy. The exciton lifetime when free of exciton annihilation was
      determined to be 806 +/- 37 ps, 401 +/- 25 ps, and 332 +/- 19 ps for WS2
      monolayer, bilayer, and trilayer, respectively. By measuring the fluorescence
      quantum yields, we also establish the radiative and nonradiative lifetimes of the
      direct and indirect excitons. The exciton decay in monolayered WS2 exhibits a
      strong excitation density-dependence, which can be described using an exciton
      exciton annihilation (two-particle Auger recombination) model. The exciton
      exciton annihilation rate for monolayered, bilayered, and trilayered WS2 was
      determined to be 0.41 +/- 0.02, (6.00 +/- 1.09) * 10(-3) and (1.88 +/- 0.47) *
      10(-3) cm(2) s(-1), respectively. Notably, the exciton-exciton annihilation rate
      is two orders of magnitude faster in the monolayer than in the bilayer and
      trilayer. We attribute the much slower exciton-exciton annihilation rate in the
      bilayer and trilayer to reduced many-body interaction and phonon-assisted exciton
      exciton annihilation of indirect excitons.

PMID- 25826395
TI  - Drinking water from dug wells in rural ghana--salmonella contamination,
      environmental factors, and genotypes.
AB  - Salmonellosis is an important but neglected disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Food
      or fecal-oral associated transmissions are the primary cause of infections, while
      the role of waterborne transmission is unclear. Samples were collected from
      different dug wells in a rural area of Ghana and analyzed for contamination with
      bacteria, and with Salmonella in particular. In addition, temporal dynamics and
      riks factors for contamination were investigated in 16 wells. For all Salmonella
      isolates antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed, serovars were
      determined and strains from the same well with the same serovar were genotyped.
      The frequency of well water contamination with Gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria
      was 99.2% (n = 395). Out of 398 samples, 26 (6.5%) tested positive for Salmonella
      spp. The serovar distribution was diverse including strains not commonly isolated
      from clinical samples. Resistance to locally applied antibiotics or resistance to
      fluoroquinolones was not seen in the Salmonella isolates. The risk of Salmonella
      contamination was lower in wells surrounded by a frame and higher during the
      rainy season. The study confirms the overall poor microbiological quality of well
      water in a resource-poor area of Ghana. Well contamination with Salmonella poses
      a potential threat of infection, thus highlighting the important role of drinking
      water safety in infectious disease control. 

PMID- 25826396
TI  - An analysis of the influence of selected genetic and hormonal factors on the
      occurrence of depressive symptoms in late-reproductive-age women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of genetic and
      hormonal factors on incidences of depressive symptoms in late-reproductive-age
      women. METHODS: The study was performed using the Beck Depression Inventory, the
      PCR, and genetic tests of 347 healthy late-reproductive-age Polish women.
      RESULTS: The relationship between the level of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) and
      depressive symptoms was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Increases in
      age and FSH levels were accompanied by a decrease in AMH level in a significant
      way (p < 0.05). There were no statistically significant relationships between the
      distribution of genotypes and the frequency of alleles of the investigated
      polymorphisms and depressive symptoms according to the Beck Depression Inventory.
      CONCLUSIONS: (1) The presence of the s/s genotype of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism in
      the serotonin transporter promoter region and the 3/3 genotype of the 30-bp VNTR
      polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase A promoter region does not contribute to
      the development of depressive symptoms in late-reproductive-age women. (2) A
      relationship between the level of anti-Mullerian hormone and depressive symptoms
      was not confirmed in the group of healthy late-reproductive-age women. (3) AMH
      level correlates negatively with FSH level and age, which confirms that AMH can
      be regarded as a factor reflecting the ovarian reserve.

PMID- 25826398
TI  - Identification of Novel ROS Inducers: Quinone Derivatives Tethered to Long
      Hydrocarbon Chains.
AB  - We performed the first synthesis of the 17-carbon chain-tethered quinone moiety
      22 (SAN5201) of irisferin A, a natural product exhibiting anticancer activity,
      and its derivatives. We found that 22 is a potent ROS inducer and cytotoxic
      agent. Compound 25 (SAN7401), the hydroquinone form of 22, induced a significant
      release of intracellular ROS and apoptosis (EC50 = 1.3-2.6 MUM) in cancer cell
      lines, including A549 and HCT-116. Compared with the activity of a well-known ROS
      inducer, piperlongumine, 22 and 25 showed stronger cytotoxicity and higher
      selectivity over noncancerous cells. Another hydroquinone tethering 12-carbon
      chain, 26 (SAN4601), generated reduced levels of ROS but showed more potent
      cytotoxicity (EC50 = 0.8-1.6 MUM) in cancer cells, although it lacked selectivity
      over noncancerous cells, implying that the naturally occurring 17-carbon chain is
      also crucial for ROS production and a selective anticancer effect. Both 25 and 26
      displayed strong, equipotent activities against vemurafenib-resistant SK-Mel2
      melanoma cells and p53-deficient H1299 lung cancer cells as well, demonstrating
      their broad therapeutic potential as anticancer agents. 

PMID- 25826399
TI  - Phlebotomus sergenti in a cutaneous leishmaniasis focus in Azilal province (High
      Atlas, Morocco): molecular detection and genotyping of Leishmania tropica, and
      feeding behavior.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Phlebotomus (Paraphlebotomus) sergenti is at least one of the
      confirmed vectors for the transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by
      Leishmania tropica and distributed widely in Morocco. This form of leishmaniasis
      is considered largely as anthroponotic, although dogs were found infected with
      Leishmania tropica, suggestive of zoonosis in some rural areas. METHODOLOGY AND
      FINDINGS: This survey aimed at (i) studying the presence of Leishmania in field
      caught Phlebotomus sergenti, (ii) investigating genetic diversity within
      Leishmania tropica and (iii) identifying the host-blood feeding preferences of
      Phlebotomus sergenti. A total of 4,407 sand flies were collected in three rural
      areas of Azilal province, using CDC miniature light traps. Samples collected were
      found to consist of 13 species: Phlebotomus spp. and 3 Sergentomyia spp. The most
      abundant species was Phlebotomus sergenti, accounting for 45.75 % of the total.
      965 female Phlebotomus sergenti were screened for the presence of Leishmania by
      ITS1-PCR-RFLP, giving a positive rate of 5.7% (55/965), all being identified as
      Leishmania tropica. Nucleotide heterogeneity of PCR-amplified ITS1-5.8S rRNA gene
      ITS2 was noted. Analyses of 31 sequences obtained segregated them into 16
      haplotypes, of which 7 contain superimposed peaks at certain nucleotide
      positions, suggestive of heterozygosity. Phlebotomus sergenti collected were
      found to feed on a large variety of vertebrate hosts, as determined by Cytochrome
      b sequencing of the DNA from the blood meals of 64 engorged females. CONCLUSION:
      Our findings supported the notion that Phlebotomus sergenti is the primary vector
      of Leishmania tropica in this focus, and that the latter is genetically very
      heterogeneous. Furthermore, our results might be suggestive of a certain level of
      heterozygosity in Leishmania tropica population. This finding, as well as the
      feeding of the vectors on different animals are of interest for further
      investigation.

PMID- 25826400
TI  - Identification of microRNAs and transcript targets in Camelina sativa by deep
      sequencing and computational methods.
AB  - Camelina sativa is an annual oilseed crop that is under intensive development for
      renewable resources of biofuels and industrial oils. MicroRNAs, or miRNAs, are
      endogenously encoded small RNAs that play key roles in diverse plant biological
      processes. Here, we conducted deep sequencing on small RNA libraries prepared
      from camelina leaves, flower buds and two stages of developing seeds
      corresponding to initial and peak storage products accumulation. Computational
      analyses identified 207 known miRNAs belonging to 63 families, as well as 5 novel
      miRNAs. These miRNAs, especially members of the miRNA families, varied greatly in
      different tissues and developmental stages. The predicted miRNA target genes are
      involved in a broad range of physiological functions including lipid metabolism.
      This report is the first step toward elucidating roles of miRNAs in C. sativa and
      will provide additional tools to improve this oilseed crop for biofuels and
      biomaterials. 

PMID- 25826401
TI  - Prediction of overall in vitro microsomal stability of drug candidates based on
      molecular modeling and support vector machines. Case study of novel
      arylpiperazines derivatives.
AB  - Other than efficacy of interaction with the molecular target, metabolic stability
      is the primary factor responsible for the failure or success of a compound in the
      drug development pipeline. The ideal drug candidate should be stable enough to
      reach its therapeutic site of action. Despite many recent excellent achievements
      in the field of computational methods supporting drug metabolism studies, a well
      recognized procedure to model and predict metabolic stability quantitatively is
      still lacking. This study proposes a workflow for developing quantitative
      metabolic stability-structure relationships, taking a set of 30 arylpiperazine
      derivatives as an example. The metabolic stability of the compounds was assessed
      in in vitro incubations in the presence of human liver microsomes and NADPH and
      subsequently quantified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS).
      Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to obtain 30 models of the
      molecules, and Dragon software served as a source of structure-based molecular
      descriptors. For modeling structure-metabolic stability relationships, Support
      Vector Machines (SVM), a non-linear machine learning technique, were found to be
      more effective than a regression technique, based on the validation parameters
      obtained. Moreover, for the first time, general sites of metabolism for
      arylpiperazines bearing the 4-aryl-2H-pyrido[1,2-c]pyrimidine-1,3-dione system
      were defined by analysis of Q-TOF-MS/MS spectra. The results indicated that the
      application of one of the most advanced chemometric techniques combined with a
      simple and quick in vitro procedure and LC-MS analysis provides a novel and
      valuable tool for predicting metabolic half-life values. Given the reduced time
      and simplicity of analysis, together with the accuracy of the predictions
      obtained, this is a valid approach for predicting metabolic stability using
      structural data. The approach presented provides a novel, comprehensive and
      reliable tool for investigating metabolic stability, factors that affect it, and
      the proposed structures of metabolites at the same time. The performance of the
      DFT-SVM-based approach provides an opportunity to implement it in a standard drug
      development pipeline. 

PMID- 25826402
TI  - Bees for development: Brazilian survey reveals how to optimize stingless
      beekeeping.
AB  - Stingless bees are an important asset to assure plant biodiversity in many
      natural ecosystems, and fulfill the growing agricultural demand for pollination.
      However, across developing countries stingless beekeeping remains an essentially
      informal activity, technical knowledge is scarce, and management practices lack
      standardization. Here we profited from the large diversity of stingless
      beekeepers found in Brazil to assess the impact of particular management
      practices on productivity and economic revenues from the commercialization of
      stingless bee products. Our study represents the first large-scale effort aiming
      at optimizing stingless beekeeping for honey/colony production based on
      quantitative data. Survey data from 251 beekeepers scattered across 20 Brazilian
      States revealed the influence of specific management practices and other
      confounding factors over productivity and income indicators. Specifically, our
      results highlight the importance of teaching beekeepers how to inspect and feed
      their colonies, how to multiply them and keep track of genetic lineages, how to
      harvest and preserve the honey, how to use vinegar traps to control infestation
      by parasitic flies, and how to add value by labeling honey containers.
      Furthermore, beekeeping experience and the network of known beekeepers were found
      to be key factors influencing productivity and income. Our work provides clear
      guidelines to optimize stingless beekeeping and help transform the activity into
      a powerful tool for sustainable development. 

PMID- 25826403
TI  - A generic model of dyadic social relationships.
AB  - We introduce a model of dyadic social interactions and establish its
      correspondence with relational models theory (RMT), a theory of human social
      relationships. RMT posits four elementary models of relationships governing human
      interactions, singly or in combination: Communal Sharing, Authority Ranking,
      Equality Matching, and Market Pricing. To these are added the limiting cases of
      asocial and null interactions, whereby people do not coordinate with reference to
      any shared principle. Our model is rooted in the observation that each individual
      in a dyadic interaction can do either the same thing as the other individual, a
      different thing or nothing at all. To represent these three possibilities, we
      consider two individuals that can each act in one out of three ways toward the
      other: perform a social action X or Y, or alternatively do nothing. We
      demonstrate that the relationships generated by this model aggregate into six
      exhaustive and disjoint categories. We propose that four of these categories
      match the four relational models, while the remaining two correspond to the
      asocial and null interactions defined in RMT. We generalize our results to the
      presence of N social actions. We infer that the four relational models form an
      exhaustive set of all possible dyadic relationships based on social coordination.
      Hence, we contribute to RMT by offering an answer to the question of why there
      could exist just four relational models. In addition, we discuss how to use our
      representation to analyze data sets of dyadic social interactions, and how social
      actions may be valued and matched by the agents. 

PMID- 25826405
TI  - Collimator based tracking with an add-on multileaf collimator: Moduleaf.
AB  - Radiotherapy is one of the most important methods used for the treatment of
      cancer. Irradiating a moving target is also one of the most challenging tasks to
      accomplish in modern radiotherapy. We have developed a tracking system by
      modifying an add-on collimator, the Siemens Moduleaf, for realtime applications
      in radiotherapy. As the add-on collimator works nearly completely independently
      of the linear accelerator (LinAc), no modifications to the latter were necessary.
      The adaptations to the Moduleaf were mainly software-based. In order to reduce
      the complexity of the system, outdated electronic parts were replaced with newer
      components where practical.Verification was performed by measuring the latency of
      the system as well as the impact on applied dose to a predefined target volume,
      moving in the leaf's travel direction. Latency measurements in the software were
      accomplished by comparing the target and current positions of the leaves. For
      dose measurements, a Gafchromic EBT2 film was placed beneath the target 4D
      phantom, in between solid water plates and moved alongside with it. Comparing the
      dose distribution on the film with a moving target between 'tracking disabled'
      towards 'tracking enabled' functions resulted in penumbra widths of 23 mm to 4 mm
      for 0.1 Hz sinusoidal movements with an amplitude of 32 mm, respectively. The
      maximum speed was therefore 20 mm s(-1). Latency was measured to be less than 50
      ms for the signal runtimes. Based on the results, a tracking-capable add-on
      collimator seems to be a useful tool for reducing the margins for the treatment
      of small, slow-moving targets.

PMID- 25826404
TI  - Mapping molecular differences and extracellular matrix gene expression in
      segmental outflow pathways of the human ocular trabecular meshwork.
AB  - Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is the primary risk factor for glaucoma, and
      lowering IOP remains the only effective treatment for glaucoma. The trabecular
      meshwork (TM) in the anterior chamber of the eye regulates IOP by generating
      resistance to aqueous humor outflow. Aqueous humor outflow is segmental, but
      molecular differences between high and low outflow regions of the TM are poorly
      understood. In this study, flow regions of the TM were characterized using
      fluorescent tracers and PCR arrays. Anterior segments from human donor eyes were
      perfused at physiological pressure in an ex vivo organ culture system.
      Fluorescently-labeled microspheres of various sizes were perfused into anterior
      segments to label flow regions. Actively perfused microspheres were segmentally
      distributed, whereas microspheres soaked passively into anterior segments
      uniformly labeled the TM and surrounding tissues with no apparent segmentation.
      Cell-tracker quantum dots (20 nm) were localized to the outer uveal and
      corneoscleral TM, whereas larger, modified microspheres (200 nm) localized
      throughout the TM layers and Schlemm's canal. Distribution of fluorescent tracers
      demonstrated a variable labeling pattern on both a macro- and micro-scale.
      Quantitative PCR arrays allowed identification of a variety of extracellular
      matrix genes differentially expressed in high and low flow regions of the TM.
      Several collagen genes (COL16A1, COL4A2, COL6A1 and 2) and MMPs (1, 2, 3) were
      enriched in high, whereas COL15A1, and MMP16 were enriched in low flow regions.
      Matrix metalloproteinase activity was similar in high and low regions using a
      quantitative FRET peptide assay, whereas protein levels in tissues showed modest
      regional differences. These gene and protein differences across regions of the TM
      provide further evidence for a molecular basis of segmental flow routes within
      the aqueous outflow pathway. New insight into the molecular mechanisms of
      segmental aqueous outflow may aid in the design and delivery of improved
      treatments for glaucoma patients. 

PMID- 25826406
TI  - Substituted quinoline quinones as surrogates for the PQQ cofactor: an
      electrochemical and computational study.
AB  - Pyrroloquinoline quinones (PQQ) are important cofactors that shuttle redox
      equivalents in diverse metalloproteins. Quinoline 7,8-quinones have been
      synthesized and characterized as surrogates for PQQ to elucidate redox energetics
      within metalloenzyme active sites. The quinoline 7,8-quinones were accessed using
      polymer-supported iodoxybenzoic acid and the compounds evaluated using solution
      electrochemistry. Together with a family of quinones, the products were evaluated
      computationally and used to generate a predictive correlation between a computed
      DeltaG and the experimental reduction potentials. 

PMID- 25826407
TI  - Correction: medication reconciliation in patients hospitalized in a cardiology
      unit.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115491.]. 

PMID- 25826408
TI  - Anti-Obesity Effects of Soy Leaf via Regulation of Adipogenic Transcription
      Factors and Fat Oxidation in Diet-Induced Obese Mice and 3T3-L1 Adipocytes.
AB  - The anti-obesity effects of extracts from soy leaves (SLE) cultivated for 8 weeks
      (8W) or 16 weeks (16W) were investigated in diet-induced obese mice. The effects
      of kaempferol, an aglycone of the kaempferol glycosides that are the major
      component of 8W-SLE, and coumestrol, the major component of 16W-SLE, were also
      investigated in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Eight-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were
      randomly divided into normal diet, high-fat diet (HFD), 8W-SLE (HFD+8W-SLE 50 mg
      kg(-1) day(-1)), 16W-SLE (HFD+16W-SLE 50 mg kg(-1) day(-1)), and Garcinia
      cambogia extracts (GE) (HFD+GE 50 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) groups. Body weight gain and
      fat accumulation of white adipose tissue (WAT) were highly suppressed by daily
      oral administration of 8W-SLE and 16W-SLE for 10 weeks. Supplementing a HFD with
      8W-SLE and 16W-SLE regulated the mRNA expression of peroxisome proliferator
      activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma), CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha
      (c/EBPalpha), sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1 (SREBP-1), adipocyte
      protein 2, and fatty acid synthase (FAS), which are related to adipogenesis, in
      addition to hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1
      (CPT-1), and uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2), which are related to fat oxidation in
      WAT. In 3T3-L1 adipocytes, kaempferol and coumestrol exhibited anti-adipogenic
      effects via downregulation of PPARgamma, c/EBPalpha, SREBP-1, and FAS. Kaempferol
      and coumestrol increased the expression of HSL, CPT-1, and UCP2. 

PMID- 25826409
TI  - The in vitro and in vivo anti-cancer activities of a standardized quassinoids
      composition from Eurycoma longifolia on LNCaP human prostate cancer cells.
AB  - Quassinoids are a group of diterpenoids found in plants from the Simaroubaceae
      family. They are also the major bioactive compounds found in Eurycoma longifolia
      which is commonly used as traditional medicine in South East Asia to treat
      various ailments including sexual dysfunction and infertility. These uses are
      attributed to its ability to improve testosterone level in men. Chronic
      consumption of E. longifolia extracts has been reported to increase testosterone
      level in men and animal model but its effect on prostate growth remains unknown.
      Therefore, the present study investigates the effects of a standardized total
      quassinoids composition (SQ40) containing 40% of the total quassinoids found in
      E. longifolia on LNCaP human prostate cancer cell line. SQ40 inhibited LNCaP cell
      growth at IC50 value of 5.97 MUg/mL while the IC50 on RWPE-1 human prostate
      normal cells was 59.26 MUg/mL. SQ40 also inhibited 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone
      stimulated growth in LNCaP cells dose-dependently. The inhibitory effect of SQ40
      in anchorage-independent growth of LNCaP cells was also demonstrated using soft
      agar assay. SQ40 suppressed LNCaP cell growth via G0/G1 phase arrest which was
      accompanied by the down-regulation of CDK4, CDK2, Cyclin D1 and Cyclin D3 and up
      regulation of p21Waf1/Cip1 protein levels. SQ40 at higher concentrations or
      longer treatment duration can cause G2M growth arrest leading to apoptotic cell
      death as demonstrated by the detection of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage in
      LNCaP cells. Moreover, SQ40 also inhibited androgen receptor translocation to
      nucleus which is important for the transactivation of its target gene, prostate
      specific antigen (PSA) and resulted in a significant reduction of PSA secretion
      after the treatment. In addition, intraperitoneal injection of 5 and 10 mg/kg of
      SQ40 also significantly suppressed the LNCaP tumor growth on mouse xenograft
      model. Results from the present study suggest that the standardized total
      quassinoids composition from E. longifolia promotes anti-prostate cancer
      activities in LNCaP human prostate cancer cells. 

PMID- 25826410
TI  - Targeted gene editing by transfection of in vitro reconstituted Streptococcus
      thermophilus Cas9 nuclease complex.

PMID- 25826411
TI  - Mutual interaction between BCL6 and microRNAs in T cell differentiation.
AB  - The transcription factor B-cell CLL/lymphoma 6 (BCL6) and the regulatory factor
      microRNAs (miRNAs) are of great importance in the differentiation of T cell
      subsets. An increasing body of evidence has demonstrated that BCL6 and miRNAs can
      target one another and mutually adjust their expression in T cell subsets, such
      as T helper (Th)-2, Th17, CD8+ regulatory T (CD8+Treg) and T follicular helper
      (Tfh) cells. Here, we discuss the most recent advances and emerging concepts in
      how BCL6 and miRNAs regulate one another, and the effects of such mutual
      regulations on T cell subset differentiation. 

PMID- 25826412
TI  - Deciphering the RNA landscape by RNAome sequencing.
AB  - Current RNA expression profiling methods rely on enrichment steps for specific
      RNA classes, thereby not detecting all RNA species in an unperturbed manner. We
      report strand-specific RNAome sequencing that determines expression of small and
      large RNAs from rRNA-depleted total RNA in a single sequence run. Since current
      analysis pipelines cannot reliably analyze small and large RNAs simultaneously,
      we developed TRAP, Total Rna Analysis Pipeline, a robust interface that is also
      compatible with existing RNA sequencing protocols. RNAome sequencing
      quantitatively preserved all RNA classes, allowing cross-class comparisons that
      facilitates the identification of relationships between different RNA classes. We
      demonstrate the strength of RNAome sequencing in mouse embryonic stem cells
      treated with cisplatin. MicroRNA and mRNA expression in RNAome sequencing
      significantly correlated between replicates and was in concordance with both
      existing RNA sequencing methods and gene expression arrays generated from the
      same samples. Moreover, RNAome sequencing also detected additional RNA classes
      such as enhancer RNAs, anti-sense RNAs, novel RNA species and numerous
      differentially expressed RNAs undetectable by other methods. At the level of
      complete RNA classes, RNAome sequencing also identified a specific global
      repression of the microRNA and microRNA isoform classes after cisplatin treatment
      whereas all other classes such as mRNAs were unchanged. These characteristics of
      RNAome sequencing will significantly improve expression analysis as well as
      studies on RNA biology not covered by existing methods. 

PMID- 25826413
TI  - The role of short RNA loops in recognition of a single-hairpin exon derived from
      a mammalian-wide interspersed repeat.
AB  - Splice-site selection is controlled by secondary structure through sequestration
      or approximation of splicing signals in primary transcripts but the exact role of
      even the simplest and most prevalent structural motifs in exon recognition
      remains poorly understood. Here we took advantage of a single-hairpin exon that
      was activated in a mammalian-wide interspersed repeat (MIR) by a mutation
      stabilizing a terminal triloop, with splice sites positioned close to each other
      in a lower stem of the hairpin. We first show that the MIR exon inclusion in mRNA
      correlated inversely with hairpin stabilities. Employing a systematic
      manipulation of unpaired regions without altering splice-site configuration, we
      demonstrate a high correlation between exon inclusion of terminal tri- and
      tetraloop mutants and matching tri-/tetramers in splicing silencers/enhancers.
      Loop-specific exon inclusion levels and enhancer/silencer associations were
      preserved across primate cell lines, in 4 hybrid transcripts and also in the
      context of a distinct stem, but only if its loop-closing base pairs were shared
      with the MIR hairpin. Unlike terminal loops, splicing activities of internal loop
      mutants were predicted by their intramolecular Watson-Crick interactions with the
      antiparallel strand of the MIR hairpin rather than by frequencies of
      corresponding trinucleotides in splicing silencers/enhancers. We also show that
      splicing outcome of oligonucleotides targeting the MIR exon depend on the
      identity of the triloop adjacent to their antisense target. Finally, we identify
      proteins regulating MIR exon recognition and reveal a distinct requirement of
      adjacent exons for C-terminal extensions of Tra2alpha and Tra2beta RNA
      recognition motifs. 

PMID- 25826414
TI  - The integrity of the G2421-C2395 base pair in the ribosomal E-site is crucial for
      protein synthesis.
AB  - During the elongation cycle of protein biosynthesis, tRNAs traverse through the
      ribosome by consecutive binding to the 3 ribosomal binding sites (A-, P-, and E-
      sites). While the ribosomal A- and P-sites have been functionally well
      characterized in the past, the contribution of the E-site to protein biosynthesis
      is still poorly understood in molecular terms. Previous studies suggested an
      important functional interaction of the terminal residue A76 of E-tRNA with the
      nucleobase of the universally conserved 23S rRNA residue C2394. Using an atomic
      mutagenesis approach to introduce non-natural nucleoside analogs into the 23S
      rRNA, we could show that removal of the nucleobase or the ribose 2'-OH at C2394
      had no effect on protein synthesis. On the other hand, our data disclose the
      importance of the highly conserved E-site base pair G2421-C2395 for effective
      translation. Ribosomes with a disrupted G2421-C2395 base pair are defective in
      tRNA binding to the E-site. This results in an impaired translation of genuine
      mRNAs, while homo-polymeric templates are not affected. Cumulatively our data
      emphasize the importance of E-site tRNA occupancy and in particular the
      intactness of the 23S rRNA base pair G2421-C2395 for productive protein
      biosynthesis. 

PMID- 25826415
TI  - Systematic analysis of berberine-induced signaling pathway between miRNA clusters
      and mRNAs and identification of mir-99a ~ 125b cluster function by seed-targeting
      inhibitors in multiple myeloma cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Berberine (BBR) is a natural alkaloid derived from a traditional
      Chinese herbal medicine. However, the exact mechanisms underlying the different
      effects of berberine on MM cells have not been fully elucidated. METHODS: A
      systematic analysis assay integrated common signaling pathways modulated by the 3
      miRNA clusters and mRNAs in MM cells after BBR treatment. The role of the mir-99a
      ~ 125b cluster, an important oncomir in MM, was identified by comparing the
      effects of t-anti-mirs with complete complementary antisense locked nucleic acids
      (LNAs) against mature mir-125b (anti-mir-125b). RESULTS: Three miRNAs clusters
      (miR-99a ~ 125b, miR-17 ~ 92 and miR-106 ~ 25) were significantly down-regulated
      in BBR-treated MM cells and are involved in multiple cancer-related signaling
      pathways. Furthermore, the top 5 differentially regulated genes, RAC1, NFkappaB1,
      MYC, JUN and CCND1 might play key roles in the progression of MM. Systematic
      integration revealed that 3 common signaling pathways (TP53, Erb and MAPK) link
      the 3 miRNA clusters and the 5 key mRNAs. Meanwhile, both BBR and seed-targeting
      t-anti-mir-99a ~ 125b cluster LNAs significantly induced apoptosis, G2-phase cell
      cycle arrest and colony inhibition. CONCLUSIONS: our results suggest that BBR
      suppresses multiple myeloma cells, partly by down-regulating the 3 miRNA clusters
      and many mRNAs, possibly through TP53, Erb and MAPK signaling pathways. The mir
      99a ~ 125b cluster might be a novel target for MM treatment. These findings
      provide new mechanistic insight into the anticancer effects of certain
      traditional Chinese herbal medicine compounds.

PMID- 25826417
TI  - Non-coding RNAs' partitioning in the evolution of photosynthetic organisms via
      energy transduction and redox signaling.
AB  - Ars longa, vita brevis -Hippocrates Chloroplasts and mitochondria are genetically
      semi-autonomous organelles inside the plant cell. These constructions formed
      after endosymbiosis and keep evolving throughout the history of life.
      Experimental evidence is provided for active non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in these
      prokaryote-like structures, and a possible functional imprinting on cellular
      electrophysiology by those RNA entities is described. Furthermore, updated
      knowledge on RNA metabolism of organellar genomes uncovers novel inter
      communication bridges with the nucleus. This class of RNA molecules is considered
      as a unique ontogeny which transforms their biological role as a genetic rheostat
      into a synchronous biochemical one that can affect the energetic charge and redox
      homeostasis inside cells. A hypothesis is proposed where such modulation by non
      coding RNAs is integrated with genetic signals regulating gene transfer. The
      implications of this working hypothesis are discussed, with particular reference
      to ncRNAs involvement in the organellar and nuclear genomes evolution since their
      integrity is functionally coupled with redox signals in photosynthetic organisms.

PMID- 25826416
TI  - Mechanistic insights on the Dicer-independent AGO2-mediated processing of
      AgoshRNAs.
AB  - Short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) are widely used for gene knockdown by inducing the
      RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism, both for research and therapeutic purposes.
      The shRNA precursor is processed by the RNase III-like enzyme Dicer into
      biologically active small interfering RNA (siRNA). This effector molecule
      subsequently targets a complementary mRNA for destruction via the Argonaute 2
      (AGO2) complex. The cellular role of Dicer concerns the processing of pre-miRNAs
      into mature microRNA (miRNA). Recently, a non-canonical pathway was reported for
      the biogenesis of miR-451, which bypasses Dicer and is processed instead by the
      slicer activity of AGO2, followed by the regular AGO2-mediated mRNA targeting
      step. Interestingly, shRNA designs that are characterized by a relatively short
      basepaired stem also bypass Dicer to be processed by AGO2. We named this design
      AgoshRNA as these molecules depend on AGO2 both for processing and silencing
      activity. In this study, we investigated diverse mechanistic aspects of this new
      class of AgoshRNA molecules. We probed the requirements for AGO2-mediated
      processing of AgoshRNAs by modification of the proposed cleavage site in the
      hairpin. We demonstrate by deep sequencing that AGO2-processed AgoshRNAs produce
      RNA effector molecules with more discrete ends than the products of the regular
      shRNA design. Furthermore, we tested whether trimming and tailing occurs upon
      AGO2-mediated processing of AgoshRNAs, similar to what has been described for miR
      451. Finally, we tested the prediction that AgoshRNA activity, unlike that of
      regular shRNAs, is maintained in Dicer-deficient cell types. These mechanistic
      insights could aid in the design of optimised AgoshRNA tools and therapeutics. 

PMID- 25826418
TI  - Inuit Elderly: A Systematic Review of Peer Reviewed Journal Articles.
AB  - Over the last century, Inuit have experienced rapid social changes that have
      greatly impacted their way of life, health, and intergenerational traditions.
      Although there is a growing body of research concerning Inuit youth, relatively
      little is known about elderly Inuit. In an effort to bridge this knowledge gap, a
      systematic review of peer-reviewed journal articles was conducted. This review
      identified a dearth of research on older Inuit, and highlighted limitations in
      service provision to this primarily rural and isolated population. Implications
      for policy and practice and recommendations for future research are also
      discussed. 

PMID- 25826419
TI  - Using molecular rotors to probe gelation.
AB  - A series of fluorescent probes, including a number of molecular rotors, have been
      used to follow the self-assembly of dipeptide-based low molecular weight
      gelators. We show that these probes can be used to gain an insight into the
      assembly process. Thioflavin T, a commonly used stain for beta-sheets, appears to
      act as a molecular rotor in these gelling systems, with the fluorescence data
      closely matching that of other rotors. The molecular rotor was incorporated into
      an assay system with glucose oxidase to enable glucose-concentration specific
      gelation and hence generating a fluorescent output. Applying this system to urine
      from patients with various levels of glycosuria (a symptom of diabetes), it was
      found to provide excellent correlation with different clinical assessments of
      diabetes. This demonstrates a new concept in gelation-linked biosensing for a
      real clinical problem. 

PMID- 25826423
TI  - Re-Evaluating Cyclosporine A as a Hair Growth-Promoting Agent in Human Scalp Hair
      Follicles.

PMID- 25826421
TI  - The effects of antidepressants "fluoxetine and imipramine" on vascular
      abnormalities and Toll like receptor-4 expression in diabetic and non-diabetic
      rats exposed to chronic stress.
AB  - Several studies reveal that diabetes doubles the odds of comorbid depression with
      evidence of a pro-inflammatory state underlying its vascular complications.
      Indeed, little information is available about vascular effects of antidepressant
      drugs in diabetes. METHOD: We investigated the effect of chronic administration
      of fluoxetine "FLU" and imipramine "IMIP" on behavioral, metabolic and vascular
      abnormalities in diabetic and non-diabetic rats exposed to chronic restraint
      stress (CRS). RESULTS: Both diabetes and CRS induced depressive-like behavior
      which was more prominent in diabetic/depressed rats; this was reversed by chronic
      treatment with FLU and IMIP in a comparable manner. Diabetic and non-diabetic
      rats exposed to CRS exhibited abnormalities in glucose homeostasis, lipid profile
      and vascular function, manifested by decreased endothelium-dependent relaxation,
      increased systolic blood pressure and histopathological atherosclerotic changes.
      Vascular and metabolic dysfunctions were associated with significant increase in
      aortic expression of TLR-4, and pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha and IL
      1beta). FLU ameliorated these metabolic, vascular and inflammatory abnormalities,
      while IMIP induced either no change or even worsening of some parameters.
      CONCLUSION: FLU has favorable effect over IMIP on metabolic, vascular and
      inflammatory aberrations associated with DM and CRS in Wistar rats, clarifying
      the preference of FLU over IMIP in management of comorbid depression in diabetic
      subjects.

PMID- 25826424
TI  - Retinoids Bias Integrin Expression and Function in Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma.
AB  - Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) is a heterogeneous group of malignancies
      characterized by accumulation of malignant T-cells within the skin. Retinoids,
      metabolic derivatives, and synthetic analogs of vitamin A embody an effective
      CTCL therapy with over three decades of clinical use. The established mechanism
      of action is induction of growth arrest and apoptosis. However, the natural role
      of retinoids in T-cell biology is imprinting gut-homing properties by inducing
      integrin alpha4beta7 expression. How the natural role of retinoids relates to
      therapeutic effectiveness in CTCL has not been addressed and merits
      investigation. Here we provide evidence that retinoids, including Bexarotene,
      selectively induce CTCL lineages to increase integrin beta7 expression and
      function prior to growth arrest and apoptosis. Interestingly, augmented CTCL cell
      adhesion obtained with retinoid exposure was potently attenuated by 1,25
      dihydroxyvitamin D3, a metabolic vitamin derivative involved in prompting immune
      cell skin homing. The integrin-dependent adhesion changes in CTCL cells occurred
      through synergistic activation of RAR and RXR nuclear receptors. These data
      explore the early cellular changes induced by retinoids that may be pivotal to
      sensitizing CTCL cells to growth arrest and apoptosis. 

PMID- 25826422
TI  - The Immune Response to Skin Trauma Is Dependent on the Etiology of Injury in a
      Mouse Model of Burn and Excision.
AB  - Skin trauma has many different causes including incision, blunt force, and burn.
      All of these traumas trigger an immune response. However, it is currently unclear
      whether the immune response is specific to the etiology of the injury. This study
      was established to determine whether the immune response to excision and burn
      injury of equivalent extent was the same. Using a mouse model of a full-thickness
      19 mm diameter excision or 19 mm diameter full-thickness burn injury, we examined
      the innate immune response at the level of serum cytokine induction, whole-blood
      lymphocyte populations, dendritic cell function/phenotype, and the ensuing
      adaptive immune responses of CD4 and CD8 T-cell populations. Strikingly, both the
      innate and adaptive immune system responses differed between the burn and
      excision injuries. Acute cytokine induction was faster and different in profile
      to that of excision injury, leading to changes in systemic monocyte and
      neutrophil levels. Differences in the immune profile between burn and excision
      were also noted up to day 84 post injury, suggesting that the etiology of injury
      leads to sustained changes in the response. This may in part underlie clinical
      observations of differences in patient morbidity and mortality in response to
      different skin injury types.

PMID- 25826426
TI  - Selective Synthesis of cis-trans-cis Cyclic Tetrasiloxanes and the Formation of
      Their Two-Dimensional Layered Aggregates.
AB  - In this study, a single cyclic tetrasiloxane containing propylammonium
      trifluoromethanesulfonate and methyl side-chain groups (Am-CyTS) was selectively
      prepared by the hydrolytic condensation of 3-aminopropyldiethoxymethylsilane
      using aqueous superacid trifluoromethanesulfonic acid. The (1)H NMR spectrum of
      Am-CyTS in D2O exhibited a single signal assigned to a methyl group, and the
      (29)Si NMR spectrum of Am-CyTS in DMSO-d6 also exhibited only one signal. In the
      matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry
      (MALDI-TOF MS) and the electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI MS)
      analyses, the peaks corresponding to the masses of the cyclic tetrasiloxane were
      observed. These results indicate that Am-CyTS is a single cyclic tetrasiloxane
      without isomers. In addition, the result of a single-crystal X-ray structural
      analysis of its tert-butoxycarbonyl (Boc)-protected compound (Boc-CyTS) indicated
      the formation of a cis-trans-cis cyclic tetrasiloxane forming two-dimensional
      layered aggregates. Moreover, it was found that two-dimensional layered
      aggregates could be formed by drop-casting an aqueous solution of Am-CyTS and
      chloroform solution of Boc-CyTS onto glass substrates, as shown by powder X-ray
      diffraction measurements. 

PMID- 25826425
TI  - TWEAK/Fn14 Signaling Involvement in the Pathogenesis of Cutaneous Disease in the
      MRL/lpr Model of Spontaneous Lupus.
AB  - Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK, TNFSF12) and
      its sole receptor Fn14, belonging to the TNF ligand and receptor superfamilies
      respectively, are involved in cell survival and cytokine production. The role of
      TWEAK/Fn14 interactions in the pathogenesis of cutaneous lupus has not been
      explored. TWEAK treatment of murine PAM212 keratinocytes stimulated the secretion
      of RANTES via Fn14 and promoted apoptosis. Parthenolide, but not wortmanin or the
      MAPK inhibitor PD98059, significantly decreased production of RANTES, indicating
      that this effect of TWEAK is mediated via NF-kappaB signaling. UVB irradiation
      significantly upregulated the expression of Fn14 on keratinocytes in vitro and in
      vivo and increased RANTES production. MRL/lpr Fn14 knockout (KO) lupus mice were
      compared with MRL/lpr Fn14 wild-type (WT) mice to evaluate for any possible
      differences in the severity of cutaneous lesions and the presence of infiltrating
      immune cells. MRL/lpr Fn14 KO mice had markedly attenuated cutaneous disease as
      compared with their Fn14 WT littermates, as evidenced by the well-maintained
      architecture of the skin and significantly decreased skin infiltration of T cells
      and macrophages. Our data strongly implicate TWEAK/Fn14 signaling in the
      pathogenesis of the cutaneous manifestations in the MRL/lpr model of spontaneous
      lupus and suggest a possible target for therapeutic intervention. 

PMID- 25826428
TI  - Atomic layer deposition of quaternary oxide (La,Sr)CoO3-delta thin films.
AB  - A novel atomic layer deposition (ALD) process was developed for fabricating
      quaternary cobalt oxide (La1-xSrx)CoO3-delta thin films having the eye on future
      applications of such films in e.g. solid oxide fuel cell cathodes, oxygen
      separation membranes or thermocouples. The deposition parameters and the
      conditions of a subsequent annealing step were systematically investigated, and
      using the thus optimized parameters the cation stoichiometry in the films could
      be accurately tuned. The most detailed study was conducted for x = 0.7, i.e. the
      composition with the highest application potential within the (La1-xSrx)CoO3
      delta system. 

PMID- 25826429
TI  - Enhancing separation in short-capillary electrophoresis via pressure-driven
      backflow.
AB  - We present a novel easy-to-operate and efficient method to improve the separation
      efficiency in short-capillary electrophoresis by introducing steady backflow to
      counterbalance electro-osmotic flow without the use of any external pressure. The
      backflow was easily generated by tapering the capillary end, which was achieved
      by heating a straight capillary and stretching it with a constant force. We
      investigated the net fluidic transport rate under different tip lengths and
      separation voltages. Good run-to-run repeatability and capillary-to-capillary
      reproducibility of the present method were obtained with RSD less than 1.5%,
      indicating the stability of the fluid transport rate in the tapered capillary,
      which ensures the quantification and repeatability of capillary zone
      electrophoresis (CZE) analysis. Enhanced separation of the tapered short
      capillary electrophoresis was demonstrated by CZE analyzing amino acids and
      positional isomers. Baseline separations were achieved in less than 60 s using a
      tapered capillary with the effective length of 5 cm, while no separation was
      achieved using a normal capillary without a tapered tip. The present study
      provides a promising method to use pressure-driven backflow to enhance separation
      efficiency in short-capillary electrophoresis, which would be of potential value
      in a wide application for fast analysis of complex samples. 

PMID- 25826427
TI  - Development of circadian oscillators in neurosphere cultures during adult
      neurogenesis.
AB  - Circadian rhythms are common in many cell types but are reported to be lacking in
      embryonic stem cells. Recent studies have described possible interactions between
      the molecular mechanism of circadian clocks and the signaling pathways that
      regulate stem cell differentiation. Circadian rhythms have not been examined well
      in neural stem cells and progenitor cells that produce new neurons and glial
      cells during adult neurogenesis. To evaluate circadian timing abilities of cells
      undergoing neural differentiation, neurospheres were prepared from the mouse
      subventricular zone (SVZ), a rich source of adult neural stem cells. Circadian
      rhythms in mPer1 gene expression were recorded in individual spheres, and cell
      types were characterized by confocal immunofluorescence microscopy at early and
      late developmental stages in vitro. Circadian rhythms were observed in
      neurospheres induced to differentiate into neurons or glia, and rhythms emerged
      within 3-4 days as differentiation proceeded, suggesting that the neural stem
      cell state suppresses the functioning of the circadian clock. Evidence was also
      provided that neural stem progenitor cells derived from the SVZ of adult mice are
      self-sufficient clock cells capable of producing a circadian rhythm without input
      from known circadian pacemakers of the organism. Expression of mPer1 occurred in
      high frequency oscillations before circadian rhythms were detected, which may
      represent a role for this circadian clock gene in the fast cycling of gene
      expression responsible for early cell differentiation. 

PMID- 25826430
TI  - Coxsackie Virus A16 Infection of Placenta with Massive Perivillous Fibrin
      Deposition Leading to Intrauterine Fetal Demise at 36 Weeks Gestation.
AB  - Massive perivillous fibrin deposition (MPFD) is an uncommon placental disorder,
      associated with significant fetal morbidity, mortality, and recurrence; its
      etiology is unknown. We describe a 31-year-old mother, diagnosed with
      Coxsackievirus infection and hand-foot-and-mouth disease at 35 weeks gestation.
      Ultrasound at 35 weeks revealed a normal fetus and placenta. One week later, the
      mother experienced decreased fetal movement and ultrasound demonstrated
      intrauterine demise. The autopsy showed mild, acute pericarditis and hypoxic
      ischemic encephalopathy. Placenta examination showed MPFD involving 80% of the
      parenchyma. Molecular viral analysis and serotyping showed Coxsackie A16 virus.
      The mother had an uneventful pregnancy 15 months later. Coxsackievirus infections
      in pregnant mothers are often asymptomatic. Transplacental Coxsackievirus
      infection is very rare but is associated with spontaneous abortion, intrauterine
      demise, or serious neonatal morbidity. Mild, nonspecific histologic changes have
      been reported in the placenta. To our knowledge, this is the first report of MPFD
      associated with Coxsackievirus infection. 

PMID- 25826431
TI  - Generation of peanut drought tolerant plants by pingyangmycin-mediated in vitro
      mutagenesis and hydroxyproline-resistance screening.
AB  - In order to enlarge the potential resources of drought-tolerant peanuts, we
      conducted in vitro mutagenesis with Pingyangmycin (PYM) as the mutagen as well as
      directed screening on a medium supplemented with Hydroxyproline (HYP). After
      being extracted from mature seeds (cv. Huayu 20), the embryonic leaflets were
      cultured on somatic embryogenesis-induction medium with 4 mg/L PYM and the
      generated embryos were successively transferred to a germination medium with 4
      and then 8 mmol/L HYP to screen HYP-tolerant plantlets. After that, these
      plantlets were grafted and transplanted to the experimental field. In the next
      generation, all seeds were sown in the field, and phenotype variation and trait
      segregation can be observed in most of the offspring (M2 generation). The M3
      generation individuals were subjected to drought stress at the seedling stages.
      The activities of SOD and POD were substantially increased in eight offspring of
      11 HYP-tolerant, regenerated plants than in their mutagenic parents. To determine
      the correlation between mutant phenotypes and genomic modification, we carried
      out a comparison of the DNA polymorphisms between the mutagenic parents and 13 M3
      generation individuals from different HYP-tolerant, regenerated plants with SSR
      primers. Results showed that most mutants and parent plants had signs of
      polymorphisms. Under drought stress, some M3 generation individuals of 10
      original HYP-tolerant, regenerated plants produced more pods than the mutagenic
      parent; twenty individuals among them produced >60 g pods/plant. M4-generation
      seeds were tested for quality characteristics by Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIS)
      and nine individuals with higher protein content (>30%) and 21 individuals with
      higher oil content (>58%) were screened. We concluded that the use of PYM-based
      in vitro mutagenesis in combination with directed screening with HYP is effective
      for the creation of potential drought-tolerant mutants of peanut. 

PMID- 25826432
TI  - Cytokine expression and secretion by skeletal muscle cells: regulatory mechanisms
      and exercise effects.
AB  - Cytokines are important mediators of various aspects of health and disease,
      including appetite, glucose and lipid metabolism, insulin sensitivity, skeletal
      muscle hypertrophy and atrophy. Over the past decade or so, considerable
      attention has focused on the potential for regular exercise to counteract a range
      of disease states by modulating cytokine production. Exercise stimulates moderate
      to large increases in the circulating concentrations of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8,
      IL- 10, IL-1 receptor antagonist, granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, and
      smaller increases in tumor necrosis factor-alpha, monocyte chemotactic protein-1,
      IL-1beta, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, IL-12p35/p40 and IL-15. Although
      many of these cytokines are also expressed in skeletal muscle, not all are
      released from skeletal muscle into the circulation during exercise. Conversely,
      some cytokines that are present in the circulation are not expressed in skeletal
      muscle after exercise. The reasons for these discrepant cytokine responses to
      exercise are unclear. In this review, we address these uncertainties by
      summarizing the capacity of skeletal muscle cells to produce cytokines, analyzing
      other potential cellular sources of circulating cytokines during exercise, and
      discussing the soluble factors and intracellular signaling pathways that regulate
      cytokine synthesis (e.g., RNA-binding proteins, microRNAs, suppressor of cytokine
      signaling proteins, soluble receptors). 

PMID- 25826433
TI  - The relationship between core self-evaluations, views of god, and
      intrinsic/extrinsic religious motivation.
AB  - Core self-evaluations refer to a higher-order construct that subsumes four well
      established traits in the personality literature: self-esteem, generalized self
      efficacy, (low) neuroticism, and (internal) locus of control. Studies that have
      examined the relationship between various measures of religiosity and individual
      components of core self-evaluations show no clear pattern of relationships. The
      absence of a clear pattern may be due to the failure of most previous studies in
      this area to use theory to guide research. Therefore, theories related to core
      self-evaluations, religious motivation, and views of God were used to develop and
      test four hypotheses. 220 adults completed measures of four religious attitudes
      (intrinsic religious motivation, extrinsic religious motivation, viewing God as
      loving, and viewing God as punitive), general religiosity, and core self
      evaluations, separated by 6 weeks (with the order of measures counterbalanced).
      Multivariate multiple regression, controlling for general religiosity, showed
      that core self-evaluations were positively related to viewing God as loving,
      negatively related to viewing God as punitive, and negatively related to
      extrinsic religious motivation. The hypothesis that core self-evaluations would
      be positively related to intrinsic religious motivation was not supported.

PMID- 25826434
TI  - Validation of an Arabic version of the GHQ-28 against the Beck depression
      inventory for screening for depression in war-exposed civilians.
AB  - This study estimates the psychometric properties of the Arabic GHQ-28 against the
      BDI-II for screening for depression in war-exposed civilians. Two data sets
      collected in a civilian sample from South Lebanon were analyzed. Internal
      consistency in the two samples was high for the GHQ-28 (0.91 and 0.80) and the
      BDI-II (0.88 and 0.84). The BDI-II was significantly correlated with the GHQ-28
      total score and the Depression subscale. The GHQ-28 yielded similar findings for
      depression cut-off scores compared to the BDI-II: for the GHQ-28 total score, a
      cut-off at 5/6 is recommended for detecting "severe/moderate" depression, and 8/9
      for "severe" only, while from the Depression subscale analysis the recommendation
      was to use 8/9 as a cutoff for "severe/moderate" and 9/10 for "severe"
      depression. The Arabic GHQ-28 was found to be a valid instrument for screening
      for depression in the studied population.

PMID- 25826435
TI  - Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the coping inventory for
      adults for stressful situations in healthy people.
AB  - The present study examined the validity and reliability of the Japanese version
      of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations-2nd EditionTM (CISS; hereafter
      the CISS-J). The participants were 1,268 healthy Japanese individuals. The factor
      analyses yielded three major scales (task-, emotion-, and avoidance-oriented
      coping) corresponding to the original version. In addition, the avoidance
      oriented scale of the CISS-J contained two subscales (Distraction and Social
      diversion), as in the original version. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was found to
      be .75-.89 for the three scales and two subscales. Results show that the CISS-J
      is useful for assessing the coping strategies among this sample of Japanese
      individuals.

PMID- 25826436
TI  - Turkish version of the Academic Motivation Scale.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to adapt the college version of the Academic
      Motivation Scale (AMS) into Turkish. The participants were 797 college students
      (437 men, 360 women) with a mean age of 20.1 yr. A seven-factor model of the
      scale, as well as alternative models (five-, three-, two-, and one-factor models)
      were investigated and compared through confirmatory factor analysis. The seven
      factor model demonstrated adequate fit to the data. The fit indices obtained from
      the five-factor model were acceptable also. Hancock's coefficient H values and
      test-retest correlation coefficients of the subscales indicated that reliability
      of the scale was adequate except for the identified regulation subscale. The CFA
      conducted for the groups of men and women produced more acceptable fit indices
      values for men than women, but women obtained significantly higher scores from
      the AMS subscales. Correlations among the seven subscales partially supported the
      simplex pattern which claims that the neighboring subscales should have stronger
      positive correlations than the non-neighboring subscales and that the subscales
      which are the farthest apart should have the strongest negative relationships.

PMID- 25826437
TI  - Inhibitory Effects of (2'R)-2',3'-dihydro-2'-(1-hydroxy-1-methylethyl)-2,6'
      bibenzofuran-6,4'-diol on Mushroom Tyrosinase and Melanogenesis in B16-F10
      Melanoma Cells.
AB  - (2'R)-2',3'-Dihydro-2'-(1-hydroxy-1-methylethyl)-2,6'-bibenzofuran-6,4'-diol
      (DHMB) is a natural compound extracted from Morus notabilis. It was found that
      DHMB acts as a competitive inhibitor against mushroom tyrosinase with a Ki value
      of 14.77 MUM. Docking results further indicated that it could form strong
      interactions with one copper ion with a distance of 2.7 A, suggesting the
      mechanism of inhibition might be due to chelating copper ions in the active site.
      Furthermore, melanin production in B16-F10 murine melanoma cells was
      significantly inhibited by DHMB in a concentration-dependent manner without
      cytotoxicity. The results of western blotting also showed that DHMB decreased 3
      isobuty-1-methxlzanthine-induced mature tyrosinase expression. Taken together,
      these findings indicated that DHMB may be a new promising pigmentation-altering
      agent for agriculture, cosmetic, and therapeutic applications.

PMID- 25826438
TI  - 28th Congress of the Italian Society of Neonatology - Lombardy section | Bergamo,
      30-31 January 2015.
AB  - This abstract book contains the abstracts presented at the 28th Congress of the
      Italian Society of Neonatology - Lombardy section | Bergamo, 30-31 January 2015. 

PMID- 25826439
TI  - Noncontrast Magnetic Resonance Lymphography.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Different imaging techniques have been used for the investigation of
      the lymphatic channels and lymph glands. Noncontrast magnetic resonance (MR)
      lymphography has significant advantages in comparison with other imaging
      modalities. METHODS: Noncontrast MR lymphography uses very heavily T2-weighted
      fast spin echo sequences which obtain a nearly complete signal loss in tissue
      background and specific display of lymphatic vessels with a long T2 relaxation
      time. The raw data can be processed with different algorithms such as maximum
      intensity projection algorithm to obtain an anatomic representation. RESULTS:
      Standard T2-weighted MR images easily demonstrate the location of edema. It
      appears as subcutaneous infiltration of soft tissue with a classical honeycomb
      pattern. True collection around the muscular area may be demonstrated in case of
      severe lymphedema. Lymph nodes may be normal in size, number, and signal
      intensity; in other cases, lymph nodes may be smaller in size or number of lymph
      nodes may be restricted. MR lymphography allows a classification of lymphedema in
      aplasia (no collecting vessels demonstrated); hypoplasia (a small number of
      lymphatic vessels), and numerical hyperplasia or hyperplasia (with an increased
      number of lymphatic vessels of greater and abnormal diameter). CONCLUSION:
      Noncontrast MR lymphography is a unique noninvasive imaging modality for the
      diagnosis of lymphedema. It can be used for positive diagnosis, differential
      diagnosis, and specific evaluation of lymphedema severity. It may also be used
      for follow-up evaluation after treatment.

PMID- 25826440
TI  - Vasopressor-Dependent Recipient Vessel Blood Flow in Head and Neck Free Tissue
      Transfer: A Report of Two Cases.

PMID- 25826441
TI  - Late-Start Days Increase Total Operative Time in Microvascular Breast
      Reconstruction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prolonged operative time has been associated with increased
      postoperative complications and higher costs. Many academic centers have a
      designated day for didactics that cause cases to start 1 hour later. The purpose
      of this study is to analyze the late-start effect of microvascular breast
      reconstructions on operative duration. METHODS: A retrospective review was
      performed on all patients who underwent abdomina-based free flap breast
      reconstruction from 2007 to 2011 and analyzed by those who had surgery on late
      start versus normal-start days. Patient demographics, average operative time,
      postoperative complications, and individual surgeon effects were analyzed. A
      Student t-test was used to compare operative times with statistical significance
      set at p < 0.05. A multivariate regression analysis was performed to control for
      potential confounders. RESULTS: A total of 272 patients underwent 461 free flap
      breast reconstructions. Twenty-one cases were performed on late-start days and
      251 cases were performed on normal-start days. Patient demographics and
      complications were not statistically different between the groups. The average
      operative time for all reconstructions was 434.3 minutes. The average operative
      times were significantly longer for late-start days, 517.6 versus 427.3 minutes
      (p = 0.002). This was true for both unilateral and bilateral reconstructions
      (432.8 vs. 350.9 minutes, p = 0.05; 551.5 vs. 461.2 minutes, p = 0.007). There
      were no differences in perioperative complications and multivariate regression
      showed no statistically significant relationship of confounders to duration of
      surgery. CONCLUSION: Starting cases 1 hour later can increase operative times.
      Although outcomes were not affected, we recommend avoiding lengthy procedures on
      late-start days.

PMID- 25826442
TI  - Overcoming the Obstacles of the Ilizarov Device in Extremity Reconstruction:
      Usefulness of the Perforator as the Recipient Vessel.
AB  - BACKGROUND: When patients using the Ilizarov device need a free-flap procedure
      for their thigh and leg, it is difficult to isolate the major vessels as the
      recipient vessel due to the limited working space around the Ilizarov rings and
      pins. The usefulness of a perforator as the recipient vessel to allow minimally
      invasive surgery was investigated in this study. METHODS: Between October 2011
      and December 2013, 77 patients using the Ilizarov device needed free flap
      reconstruction using an anterolateral thigh perforator flap or superficial
      circumflex iliac artery perforator flap. The perforator was used as a recipient
      vessel in 50 cases, with which end-to-end anastomosis was performed using a
      perforator-to-perforator approach, and major vessels were used as a recipient
      vessel in 27 cases (n = 20, anterior tibial vessel; n = 7, posterior vessel).
      RESULTS: When the perforator was used as the recipient vessel, total loss
      developed in one case and marginal necrosis in four cases. When the major vessel
      was used as the recipient vessel, whole necrosis developed in one case and
      marginal necrosis in two cases. The procedure increased the freedom of hand
      movement, decreased the recipient vessel dissection time, and reduced the
      recipient dissection scar. CONCLUSIONS: The use of perforators as recipients
      overcomes the obstacles associated with the Ilizarov device and allows convenient
      and rapid reconstruction, with similar success as microsurgery using major
      vessels. Further studies are needed to address the limitations of this approach,
      which include perfusion physiology and the viable limit of the flap dimension.

PMID- 25826443
TI  - A multi-responsive water-driven actuator with instant and powerful performance
      for versatile applications.
AB  - Mechanical actuators driven by water that respond to multiple stimuli, exhibit
      fast responses and large deformations, and generate high stress have potential in
      artificial muscles, motors, and generators. Meeting all these requirements in a
      single device remains a challenge. We report a graphene monolayer paper that
      undergoes reversible deformation. Its graphene oxide cells wrinkle and extend in
      response to water desorption and absorption, respectively. Its fast (~0.3 s),
      powerful (>100 MPa output stress, 7.5 * 10(5) N kg(-1) unit mass force), and
      controllable actuation can be triggered by moisture, heat, and light. The
      graphene monolayer paper has potential in artificial muscles, robotic hands, and
      electromagnetic-free generators. 

PMID- 25826444
TI  - Direct measurements show decreasing methane emissions from natural gas local
      distribution systems in the United States.
AB  - Fugitive losses from natural gas distribution systems are a significant source of
      anthropogenic methane. Here, we report on a national sampling program to measure
      methane emissions from 13 urban distribution systems across the U.S. Emission
      factors were derived from direct measurements at 230 underground pipeline leaks
      and 229 metering and regulating facilities using stratified random sampling. When
      these new emission factors are combined with estimates for customer meters,
      maintenance, and upsets, and current pipeline miles and numbers of facilities,
      the total estimate is 393 Gg/yr with a 95% upper confidence limit of 854 Gg/yr
      (0.10% to 0.22% of the methane delivered nationwide). This fraction includes
      emissions from city gates to the customer meter, but does not include other urban
      sources or those downstream of customer meters. The upper confidence limit
      accounts for the skewed distribution of measurements, where a few large emitters
      accounted for most of the emissions. This emission estimate is 36% to 70% less
      than the 2011 EPA inventory, (based largely on 1990s emission data), and reflects
      significant upgrades at metering and regulating stations, improvements in leak
      detection and maintenance activities, as well as potential effects from
      differences in methodologies between the two studies. 

PMID- 25826445
TI  - Irisin, a Novel Myokine, Regulates Glucose Uptake in Skeletal Muscle Cells via
      AMPK.
AB  - Irisin is a novel myokine produced by skeletal muscle. However, its metabolic
      role is poorly understood. In the present study, irisin induced glucose uptake in
      differentiated skeletal muscle cells. It increased AMP-activated protein kinase
      (AMPK) phosphorylation and the inhibition of AMPK blocked glucose uptake. It also
      increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. N-acetyl cysteine, a ROS
      scavenger, blocked irisin-induced AMPK phosphorylation. Moreover, irisin
      activated p38 MAPK in an AMPK-dependent manner. The inhibition and knockdown of
      p38 MAPK blocked irisin-induced glucose uptake. A colorimetric absorbance assay
      showed that irisin stimulated the translocation of glucose transporter type 4 to
      the plasma membrane and that this effect was suppressed in cells pretreated with
      a p38 MAPK inhibitor or p38 MAPK small interfering RNA. In primary cultured
      myoblast cells, irisin increased the concentration of intracellular calcium. STO
      609, a calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase inhibitor, blocked
      irisin-induced AMPK phosphorylation, implying that calcium is involved in irisin
      mediated signaling. Our results suggest that irisin plays an important role in
      glucose metabolism via the ROS-mediated AMPK pathway in skeletal muscle cells. 

PMID- 25826446
TI  - Stand competition determines how different tree species will cope with a warming
      climate.
AB  - Plant-plant interactions influence how forests cope with climate and contribute
      to modulate species response to future climate scenarios. We analysed the
      functional relationships between growth, climate and competition for Pinus
      sylvestris, Quercus pyrenaica and Quercus faginea to investigate how stand
      competition modifies forest sensitivity to climate and simulated how annual
      growth rates of these species with different drought tolerance would change
      throughout the 21st century. Dendroecological data from stands subjected to
      thinning were modelled using a novel multiplicative nonlinear approach to
      overcome biases related to the general assumption of a linear relationship
      between covariates and to better mimic the biological relationships involved.
      Growth always decreased exponentially with increasing competition, which
      explained more growth variability than climate in Q. faginea and P. sylvestris.
      The effect of precipitation was asymptotic in all cases, while the relationship
      between growth and temperature reached an optimum after which growth declined
      with warmer temperatures. Our growth projections indicate that the less drought
      tolerant P. sylvestris would be more negatively affected by climate change than
      the studied sub-Mediterranean oaks. Q. faginea and P. sylvestris mean growth
      would decrease under all the climate change scenarios assessed. However, P.
      sylvestris growth would decline regardless of the competition level, whereas this
      decrease would be offset by reduced competition in Q. faginea. Conversely, Q.
      pyrenaica growth would remain similar to current rates, except for the warmest
      scenario. Our models shed light on the nature of the species-specific interaction
      between climate and competition and yield important implications for management.
      Assuming that individual growth is directly related to tree performance, trees
      under low competition would better withstand the warmer conditions predicted
      under climate change scenarios but in a variable manner depending on the species.
      Thinning following an exponential rule may be desirable to ensure long-term
      conservation of high-density Mediterranean woodlands, particularly in drought
      limited sites. 

PMID- 25826447
TI  - Electron microscopy of solid catalysts--transforming from a challenge to a
      toolbox.

PMID- 25826448
TI  - Associations between health literacy and health outcomes in a predominantly low
      income african american population with type 2 diabetes.
AB  - Inadequate health literacy has been associated with poorer health behaviors and
      outcomes in individuals with diabetes or depression. This study was conducted to
      examine the associations between inadequate health literacy and behavioral and
      cardiometabolic parameters in individuals with type 2 diabetes and to explore
      whether these associations are affected by concurrent depression. The authors
      used cross-sectional data from a study of 343 predominantly African Americans
      with type 2 diabetes. Inadequate health literacy was significantly and modestly
      associated with diabetes knowledge (r = -0.34) but weakly associated with self
      efficacy (r = 0.16) and depressive symptoms (r = 0.24). In multivariate
      regression models, there were no associations between health literacy and A1c,
      blood pressure, or body mass index or control of any of these parameters. There
      was no evidence that depression was an effect-modifier of the associations
      between health literacy and outcomes. Although inadequate health literacy was
      modestly associated with worse knowledge and weakly associated with self
      efficacy, it was not associated with any of the cardiometabolic parameters the
      authors studied. Because this study showed no association between health literacy
      and behavioral and cardiometabolic outcomes, it is unseemly and premature to
      embark on trials or controlled interventions to improve health literacy for the
      purposes of improving patient-related outcomes in diabetes. 

PMID- 25826449
TI  - Young's Modulus, Residual Stress, and Crystal Orientation of Doubly Clamped
      Silicon Nanowire Beams.
AB  - Initial or residual stress plays an important role in nanoelectronics. Valley
      degeneracy in silicon nanowires (SiNWs) is partially lifted due to built-in
      stresses, and consequently, electron-phonon scattering rate is reduced and device
      mobility and performance are improved. In this study we use a nonlinear model
      describing the force-deflection relationship to extract the Young's modulus, the
      residual stress, and the crystallographic growth orientation of SiNW beams.
      Measurements were performed on suspended doubly clamped SiNWs subjected to atomic
      force microscopy (AFM) three-point bending constraints. The nanowires comprised
      different growth directions and two SiO2 sheath thicknesses, and underwent
      different rapid thermal annealing processes. Analysis showed that rapid thermal
      annealing introduces compressive strains into the SiNWs and may result in
      buckling of the SiNWs. Furthermore, the core-shell model together with the
      residual stress analysis accurately describe the Young's modulus of oxide covered
      SiNWs and the crystal orientation of the measured nanowires. 

PMID- 25826450
TI  - Systematic review of expert elicitation methods as a tool for source attribution
      of enteric illness.
AB  - Expert elicitation is a useful tool to explore sources of uncertainty and to
      answer questions where data are expensive or difficult to collect. It has been
      used across a variety of disciplines and represents an important method for
      estimating source attribution for enteric illness. A systematic review was
      undertaken to explore published expert elicitation studies, identify key
      considerations, and to make recommendations for designing an expert elicitation
      in the context of enteric illness source attribution. Fifty-nine studies were
      reviewed. Five key themes were identified: the expert panel including composition
      and recruitment; the pre-elicitation material, which clarifies the research
      question and provides training in uncertainty and probability; the choice of
      elicitation tool and method (e.g., questionnaires, surveys, and interviews);
      research design; and analysis of elicited data. Careful consideration of these
      themes is critical in designing and implementing an expert elicitation in order
      to reduce bias and produce the best possible results. While there are various
      epidemiological and microbiological methods available to explore source
      attribution of enteric illness, expert elicitation provides an opportunity to
      identify gaps in our understanding and where such studies are not feasible or
      available, represents the only possible method for synthesizing knowledge about
      transmission.

PMID- 25826451
TI  - Social behavior and the microbiome.

PMID- 25826452
TI  - Giving rituximab in patients with occult or resolved hepatitis B virus infection:
      are the current guidelines good enough?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation after 'resolved' infection can
      occur in the setting of immunosuppression, including iatrogenically induced by
      anti-CD20 antibodies. The presence of antibodies against the HBV core antigen
      (anti-HBc) is a marker of risk for this phenomenon. The risk of this occurring in
      patients with circulating HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) is well characterized, but
      is less well characterized in patients who are HBsAg negative. AREAS COVERED:
      This article reviews the literature regarding HBV reactivation in the context of
      rituximab therapy. We have limited our review to HBsAg-negative patients, and
      clinical outcomes following HBV reactivation. EXPERT OPINION: We have recommended
      prophylactic anti-viral therapy for all HBsAg-negative/anti-HBc-positive patients
      undergoing rituximab therapy in combination with other immunosuppressive therapy.

PMID- 25826453
TI  - Endoscopic enucleation versus open prostatectomy for treating large benign
      prostatic hyperplasia: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the overall efficacy and safety of endoscopic enucleation
      of the prostate (EP) vs open prostatectomy (OP) for large benign prostatic
      hyperplasia (BPH). METHODS: We conducted an electronic search of PubMed/Medline,
      EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science to detect all relevant
      randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing EP with OP. A meta-analysis was
      performed using Review Manager 5.3. RESULTS: Seven RCTs (735 patients) were
      included. At the 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-up, there were no significant
      differences in the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), maximum flow rate
      (Qmax), quality of life (QoL) score and post-void residual urine volume (PVR)
      between EP and OP. The International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) was
      higher with EP (weighted mean difference [WMD]: 1.00, 95% confidence interval
      [CI]: 0.21 to 1.78, p=0.01) at the 12-month follow-up. The catheterization time
      (WMD: 3.80 d, 95%CI: -5.11 to -2.48, P<0.00001) and hospital stay (WMD: 4.93 d,
      95%CI: -5.96 to -3.89, P<0.00001) were shorter with EP. The duration of operation
      was longer for EP compared with OP (WMD: 16.21 min, 95%CI: 3.72 to 28.70,
      P=0.01). The resected tissue weight (WMD: -9.63 g, 95%CI: -14.46 to -4.81,
      P<0.0001) and decrease in hemoglobin (WMD: -1.14 g/dL, 95%CI: -1.81 to -0.47,
      P=0.0008) were less with EP. EP was associated with fewer blood transfusions
      (risk ratio: 0.22, 95%CI: 0.10 to 0.47, P=0.0001). There were no significant
      differences between EP and OP when comparing other complications. CONCLUSIONS:
      Although only a limited number of RCTs with relatively limited follow-up are
      available, EP is shown to have a similar postoperative profile and comparable
      safety to OP. By contrast, EP may have a more desirable perioperative profile. EP
      appears to be an effective and safe minimally invasive option for treating large
      prostates that requires only brief convalescence.

PMID- 25826454
TI  - Expression of the immunoglobulin superfamily cell adhesion molecules in the
      developing spinal cord and dorsal root ganglion.
AB  - Cell adhesion molecules belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF)
      control synaptic specificity through hetero- or homophilic interactions in
      different regions of the nervous system. In the developing spinal cord,
      monosynaptic connections of exquisite specificity form between proprioceptive
      sensory neurons and motor neurons, however, it is not known whether IgSF
      molecules participate in regulating this process. To determine whether IgSF
      molecules influence the establishment of synaptic specificity in sensory-motor
      circuits, we examined the expression of 157 IgSF genes in the developing dorsal
      root ganglion (DRG) and spinal cord by in situ hybridization assays. We find that
      many IgSF genes are expressed by sensory and motor neurons in the mouse
      developing DRG and spinal cord. For instance, Alcam, Mcam, and Ocam are expressed
      by a subset of motor neurons in the ventral spinal cord. Further analyses show
      that Ocam is expressed by obturator but not quadriceps motor neurons, suggesting
      that Ocam may regulate sensory-motor specificity in these sensory-motor reflex
      arcs. Electrophysiological analysis shows no obvious defects in synaptic
      specificity of monosynaptic sensory-motor connections involving obturator and
      quadriceps motor neurons in Ocam mutant mice. Since a subset of Ocam+ motor
      neurons also express Alcam, Alcam or other functionally redundant IgSF molecules
      may compensate for Ocam in controlling sensory-motor specificity. Taken together,
      these results reveal that IgSF molecules are broadly expressed by sensory and
      motor neurons during development, and that Ocam and other IgSF molecules may have
      redundant functions in controlling the specificity of sensory-motor circuits. 

PMID- 25826457
TI  - High-resolution and large-area nanoparticle arrays using EUV interference
      lithography.
AB  - Well-defined model systems are needed for better understanding of the
      relationship between optical, electronic, magnetic, and catalytic properties of
      nanoparticles and their structure. Chemical synthesis of metal nanoparticles
      results in large size and shape dispersion and lack of lateral order. In
      contrast, conventional top-down lithography techniques provide control over the
      lateral order and dimensions. However, they are either limited in resolution or
      have low throughput and therefore do not enable the large patterning area needed
      to obtain good signal-to-noise ratio in common analytical and characterization
      techniques. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has the throughput and
      simplicity advantages of photolithography as well as high resolution due to its
      wavelength. Using EUV achromatic Talbot lithography, we have obtained 15 nm
      particle arrays with a periodicity of about 100 nm over an area of several square
      centimeters with high-throughput enabling the use of nanotechnology for
      fabrication of model systems to study large ensembles of well-defined identical
      nanoparticles with a density of 10(10) particles cm(-2). 

PMID- 25826456
TI  - Comparative phylogeography of Mississippi embayment fishes.
AB  - The Mississippi Embayment is a prominent physiographic feature of eastern North
      America consisting of primarily lowland aquatic habitats and a fish fauna that is
      largely distinct from nearby highland regions. Numerous studies have demonstrated
      that both pre-Pleistocene and Pleistocene events have had a strong influence on
      the distributions and relationships of highland fishes in eastern North America.
      However, the extent to which these same events affected Embayment distributed
      taxa remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this study was to investigate the
      relative roles of pre-Pleistocene and Pleistocene events in shaping
      phylogeographic relationships of four stream dwelling fishes in the Mississippi
      Embayment. Molecular genetic analyses of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome b were
      performed for three ictalurid catfish species (Noturus miurus, n = 67; Noturus
      hildebrandi, n = 93, and Noturus phaeus, n = 44) and one minnow species
      (Cyprinella camura, n = 78), all distributed in tributary streams of the
      Mississippi Embayment. Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times among
      haplotypes for each species were estimated using maximum likelihood and Bayesian
      methods. Phylogenetic analyses recovered 6 major haplotype clades within N.
      miurus, 5 within N. hildbrandi, 8 within N. phaeus, and 8 within C. camura. All
      three Noturus species show a high degree of isolation by drainage, which is less
      evident in C. camura. A clade of haplotypes from tributaries in the southern
      portion of the Mississippi Embayment was consistently recovered in all four
      species. Divergence times among clades spanned the Pleistocene, Pliocene, and
      Miocene. Novel relationships presented here for C. camura and N. phaeus suggest
      the potential for cryptic species. Pre-Pleistocene and Pleistocene era sea level
      fluctuations coincide with some divergence events, but no single event explains
      any common divergence across all taxa. Like their highland relatives, a
      combination of both pre-Pleistocene and Pleistocene era events have driven
      divergences among Embayment lineages. 

PMID- 25826455
TI  - Pre-exposure to ionizing radiation stimulates DNA double strand break end
      resection, promoting the use of homologous recombination repair.
AB  - The choice of DNA double strand break (DSB) repair pathway is determined at the
      stage of DSB end resection. Resection was proposed to control the balance between
      the two major DSB repair pathways, homologous recombination (HR) and non
      homologous end joining (NHEJ). Here, we examined the regulation of DSB repair
      pathway choice at two-ended DSBs following ionizing radiation (IR) in G2 phase of
      the cell cycle. We found that cells pre-exposed to low-dose IR preferred to
      undergo HR following challenge IR in G2, whereas NHEJ repair kinetics in G1 were
      not affected by pre-IR treatment. Consistent with the increase in HR usage, the
      challenge IR induced Replication protein A (RPA) foci formation and RPA
      phosphorylation, a marker of resection, were enhanced by pre-IR. However, neither
      major DNA damage signals nor the status of core NHEJ proteins, which influence
      the choice of repair pathway, was significantly altered in pre-IR treated cells.
      Moreover, the increase in usage of HR due to pre-IR exposure was prevented by
      treatment with ATM inhibitor during the incubation period between pre-IR and
      challenge IR. Taken together, the results of our study suggest that the ATM
      dependent damage response after pre-IR changes the cellular environment, possibly
      by regulating gene expression or post-transcriptional modifications in a manner
      that promotes resection. 

PMID- 25826458
TI  - Electrosynthesis of highly transparent cobalt oxide water oxidation catalyst
      films from cobalt aminopolycarboxylate complexes.
AB  - Efficient catalysis of water oxidation represents one of the major challenges en
      route to efficient sunlight-driven water splitting. Cobalt oxides (CoOx ) have
      been widely investigated as water oxidation catalysts, although the incorporation
      of these materials into photoelectrochemical devices has been hindered by a lack
      of transparency. Herein, the electrosynthesis of transparent CoOx catalyst films
      is described by utilizing cobalt(II) aminopolycarboxylate complexes as precursors
      to the oxide. These complexes allow control over the deposition rate and
      morphology to enable the production of thin, catalytic CoOx films on a conductive
      substrate, which can be exploited in integrated photoelectrochemical devices.
      Notably, under a bias of 1.0 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), the film deposited from
      [Co(NTA)(OH2 )2 ](-) (NTA=nitrilotriacetate) decreased the transmission by only
      10 % at lambda=500 nm, but still generated >80 % of the water oxidation current
      produced by a [Co(OH2 )6 ](2+) -derived oxide film whose transmission was only 40
      % at lambda=500 nm. 

PMID- 25826459
TI  - Quantitative DNA methylation analysis of candidate genes in cervical cancer.
AB  - Aberrant DNA methylation has been observed in cervical cancer; however, most
      studies have used non-quantitative approaches to measure DNA methylation. The
      objective of this study was to quantify methylation within a select panel of
      genes previously identified as targets for epigenetic silencing in cervical
      cancer and to identify genes with elevated methylation that can distinguish
      cancer from normal cervical tissues. We identified 49 women with invasive
      squamous cell cancer of the cervix and 22 women with normal cytology specimens.
      Bisulfite-modified genomic DNA was amplified and quantitative pyrosequencing
      completed for 10 genes (APC, CCNA, CDH1, CDH13, WIF1, TIMP3, DAPK1, RARB, FHIT,
      and SLIT2). A Methylation Index was calculated as the mean percent methylation
      across all CpG sites analyzed per gene (~4-9 CpG site) per sequence. A binary cut
      point was defined at >15% methylation. Sensitivity, specificity and area under
      ROC curve (AUC) of methylation in individual genes or a panel was examined. The
      median methylation index was significantly higher in cases compared to controls
      in 8 genes, whereas there was no difference in median methylation for 2 genes.
      Compared to HPV and age, the combination of DNA methylation level of DAPK1,
      SLIT2, WIF1 and RARB with HPV and age significantly improved the AUC from 0.79 to
      0.99 (95% CI: 0.97-1.00, p-value = 0.003). Pyrosequencing analysis confirmed that
      several genes are common targets for aberrant methylation in cervical cancer and
      DNA methylation level of four genes appears to increase specificity to identify
      cancer compared to HPV detection alone. Alterations in DNA methylation of
      specific genes in cervical cancers, such as DAPK1, RARB, WIF1, and SLIT2, may
      also occur early in cervical carcinogenesis and should be evaluated. 

PMID- 25826460
TI  - Racial/Ethnic Differences in Cardiovascular Symptoms in Four Major Racial/Ethnic
      Groups of Midlife Women: A Secondary Analysis.
AB  - Ethnic minority midlife women frequently do not recognize cardiovascular symptoms
      that they experience during the menopausal transition. Racial/ethnic differences
      in cardiovascular symptoms are postulated as a plausible reason for their lack of
      knowledge and recognition of the symptoms. The purpose of this study was to
      explore racial/ethnic differences in midlife women's cardiovascular symptoms and
      to determine the factors related to these symptoms in each racial/ethnic group.
      This was a secondary analysis of the data from a larger study among 466
      participants, collected from 2006 to 2011. The instruments included questions on
      background characteristics, health and menopausal status, and the Cardiovascular
      Symptom Index for Midlife Women. The data were analyzed using inferential
      statistics, including Poisson regression and logistic regression analyses.
      Significant racial/ethnic differences were observed in the total numbers and
      total severity scores of cardiovascular symptoms (p < .01). Non-Hispanic Asians
      had significantly lower total numbers and total severity scores compared to other
      racial/ethnic groups (p < .05). The demographic and health factors associated
      with cardiovascular symptoms were somewhat different in each racial/ethnic group.
      Further studies are needed about possible reasons for the racial/ethnic
      differences and the factors associated with cardiovascular symptoms in each
      racial/ethnic group. 

PMID- 25826461
TI  - Accuracy of the Common Predictive Equations for Estimating Resting Energy
      Expenditure among Normal and Overweight Girl University Students.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to determine the accuracy of commonly
      used predictive formulas of resting metabolic rate (RMR) compared to measured RMR
      in normal and overweight young females. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study,
      98 female university students aged 18-30 years with body mass index 18 to 30
      kg/m(2) were recruited. Anthropometric indices and body compositions were
      measured. RMR was measured by indirect calorimetry (FitMate, Cosmed, Rome, Italy)
      and estimated by 11 predictive formulas. The accuracy of the RMR formulas and
      mean percentage differences between estimated and measured values were
      calculated. Paired t test was used to compare estimated and measured RMRs.
      RESULT: There were no significant differences between measured and estimated RMR
      by the 4 commonly used formulas (Mifflin, Cunningham, and World Health
      Organization [WHO]/Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO]). Among all of the
      equations, the Mifflin formula showed the lowest bias (-2.97 +/- 116.43 kcal/day)
      at the group level and was the most accurate formula (80.23%) in normal and
      overweight participants. The over- and underestimated values were about 14% and
      5.5%, respectively. In normal and overweight females, Mifflin was the most
      accurate formula, with 75.51% and 84.61% accuracy, respectively. CONCLUSION:
      Given the current lack of a standardized formula that consistently delivers
      accurate results, the Mifflin formula can be recommended for estimating energy
      requirements in normal and overweight females in clinical practice.

PMID- 25826462
TI  - CO2 conversion to methanol on Cu(I) oxide nanolayers and clusters: an electronic
      structure insight into the reaction mechanism.
AB  - The mechanism of carbon dioxide reduction to methanol on Cu(I) oxide nanolayers
      and clusters using water as the source of hydrogen was traced using density
      functional theory. The nature of the active sites is revealed, namely the role of
      surface copper dimers, which are present on the Cu2O(001) surface and in the
      nanoclusters of size Cu32O16 and Cu14O7. The major difference between metal
      catalysts and Cu2O is outlined: the CO2 molecule interacts strongly with the
      oxide and undergoes bending prior to hydrogenation. The first step of CO2
      hydrogenation results in the formation of a stable carboxyl intermediate, 
      CO(OH), which in the following steps is converted to methanol via formic acid and
      formaldehyde intermediates. The consumption of hydrogen from water leaves surface
      peroxo- and hydroperoxo-species. The peroxides easily desorb molecular oxygen,
      while for hydroperoxides the reaction of oxygen evolution requires an activation
      energy of 130 kJ mol(-1). The maxima in the absorption spectra correspond well
      with the required activation energies in the elementary steps.

PMID- 25826463
TI  - A pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic analysis of ceftaroline prophylaxis in patients
      with external ventricular drains.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ceftaroline is a broad-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic with
      activity against drug-resistant bacteria, including strains of methicillin
      resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and may be useful to prevent and treat
      ventriculostomy-related infections (VRIs). The purpose of this study was to
      analyze the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of prophylactic ceftaroline in
      neurosurgical patients with an external ventricular drain (EVD). METHODS: Adult
      patients in the neurosurgical intensive care unit with an EVD were given
      prolonged prophylaxis with ceftaroline. Serum and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF)
      were obtained simultaneously at 2, 6, and 12 h after initiation of the fourth
      dose of ceftaroline and concentrations were measured by a liquid chromatography
      tandem mass spectrometry assay. Time-kill curves against isolates of coagulase
      negative S. aureus, methicillin-sensitive S. aureus, MRSA, and Streptococcus
      pneumoniae were determined in serum and CSF at each collection time point.
      RESULTS: A total of five patients with a mean age of 63 y and mean weight of 83
      kg were enrolled. The mean CSF:serum penetration ratios of ceftaroline were 0.005
      (0.5%), 0.021 (2.1%), and 0.043 (4.3%) at 2, 6, and 12 h, respectively. The mean
      ceftaroline exposure ratio area under the curve (AUC)csf/AUCserum) was 0.011
      (1.1%). Bactericidal activity at each collection time point was observed against
      each strain of staphylococci from serum samples and a penicillin-sensitive strain
      of S. pneumoniae from CSF samples. CONCLUSION: This investigation suggests that
      ceftaroline could have clinical utility for the prevention of VRIs in patients
      with EVDs.

PMID- 25826464
TI  - Ion hydration and association in aqueous potassium phosphate solutions.
AB  - Ionic hydration and ion association in aqueous solutions of KH2PO4, K2HPO4, and
      K3PO4 at 25  degrees C up to high concentrations have been investigated using
      dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS). The three phosphate anions were found
      to be extensively hydrated, with total hydration numbers at infinite dilution of
      ~11 (for H2PO4(-)), ~20 (HPO4(2-)), and ~39 (PO4(3-)). These values are
      indicative of the existence of a second hydration shell around HPO4(2-) and
      especially PO4(3-). Two types of hydrating water molecules could be quantified:
      irrotationally bound (ib, H2O molecules essentially "frozen" on the DRS time
      scale) and "slow" (loosely bound water molecules with identifiably slower
      dynamics than bulk water). For H2PO4(-) over the entire concentration range and
      for HPO4(2-) and PO4(3-) at concentrations c ? 1 mol L(-1), only "slow" H2O was
      detected; however, at higher concentrations of the latter two anions, an
      increasing fraction of ib water appears, making up ~50% of the total hydration
      number close to the saturation limit of K2HPO4. Contrary to common belief, all
      three salts showed significant ion pair formation, with standard association
      constants of the 1:1 species increasing in the order: KH2PO4(0)(aq) < KHPO4(
      )(aq) < KPO4(2-)(aq). The main type of ion pair in solution shifted from solvent
      shared ion pairs (SIPs) to double-solvent-separated ion pairs (2SIPs) in the same
      sequence.

PMID- 25826465
TI  - Cloning and expression analysis of four heat shock protein genes in Ericerus pela
      (Homoptera: Coccidae).
AB  - To explore the function of small heat shock protein genes (shsps) and hsp70 in
      Ericerus pela, we cloned the full-length cDNA sequences of hsp21.5, hsp21.7,
      hsp70, and hsc70 and the genomic sequence of hsc70. Open reading frames of the
      four hsps were 570, 564, 1,908, and 1,962 base pairs (bp), respectively, which
      encode proteins with calculated molecular mass of 21.5, 21.7, 69.8, and 71.6 kDa.
      Amino acid sequence analysis revealed the presence of the conserved Hsp motifs in
      all four proteins. The genomic DNA of hsc70 had four introns. ep-hsp21.5 was
      orthologous and ep-hsp21.7 was species specific. Expression of all four
      transcripts during heat or cold stress and development was examined by
      quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. All four hsps were upregulated
      during heat or cold stress in female adults, indicating a correlation between the
      four hsps and heat or cold-stress tolerance in female adults. ep-hsp21.7 and ep
      hsp70 were upregulated during heat stress in male larvae, implying a correlation
      between the two hsps and heat-stress tolerance in male larvae. The four ep-hsps
      were also upregulated during the developmental process in males, and ep-hsp21.5,
      ep-hsp70, and ep-hsc70 were upregulated in females, which indicates their
      possible role in the developmental regulation of E. pela. 

PMID- 25826466
TI  - Performance of an Electronic Diary System for Intensive Insulin Management in
      Global Diabetes Clinical Trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This report describes the performance of a wireless electronic diary
      (e-diary) system for data collection and enhanced patient-investigator
      interactions during intensive insulin management in diabetes clinical trials.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: We implemented a customized electronic communication
      system featuring an e-diary and a Web portal in three global, randomized,
      controlled Phase 3 clinical trials testing basal insulin peglispro compared with
      insulin glargine, both combined with prandial insulin lispro, in patients with
      type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T1DM and T2DM, respectively). We collected
      data during 28 weeks of study e-diary use for the report. RESULTS: Patients
      (n=2,938) in 31 countries used e-diaries to transmit 2,439,087 blood glucose (BG)
      values, 96% of which were associated by the patient with a protocol time point
      during the 72-h response window. Of 208,192 hypoglycemia events captured, 96% had
      a BG value, and 95% had treatments and outcomes entered by patients within the 72
      h window. Patients recorded administration of 1,964,477 insulin doses; 93% of
      basal insulin doses were adherent with the investigator prescription.
      Investigators adjusted 13 basal and 92 bolus insulin prescriptions per patient
      year using the e-diary system. After 26 weeks of treatment and e-diary use in the
      combined study arms, hemoglobin A1c values decreased by 0.6% or 1.6% and fasting
      BG decreased by 7.8 or 28 mg/dL in patients with T1DM or T2DM, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: The e-diary system enabled comprehensive data collection and
      facilitated communication between investigators and patients for intensive
      insulin management in three global clinical trials testing basal insulins.

PMID- 25826467
TI  - Dual-Enzyme Characteristics of Polyvinylpyrrolidone-Capped Iridium Nanoparticles
      and Their Cellular Protective Effect against H2O2-Induced Oxidative Damage.
AB  - Polyvinylpyrrolidone-stabilized iridium nanoparticles (PVP-IrNPs), synthesized by
      the facile alcoholic reduction method using abundantly available PVP as
      protecting agents, were first reported as enzyme mimics showing intrinsic
      catalase- and peroxidase-like activities. The preparation procedure was much
      easier and more importantly, kinetic studies found that the catalytic activity of
      PVP-IrNPs was comparable to previously reported platinum nanoparticles.
      Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
      characterization indicated that PVP-IrNPs had the average size of approximately
      1.5 nm and mainly consisted of Ir(0) chemical state. The mechanism of PVP-IrNPs'
      dual-enzyme activities was investigated using XPS, Electron spin resonance (ESR)
      and cytochrome C-based electron transfer methods. The catalase-like activity was
      related to the formation of oxidized species Ir(0)@IrO2 upon reaction with H2O2.
      The peroxidase-like activity originated from their ability acting as electron
      transfer mediators during the catalysis cycle, without the production of hydroxyl
      radicals. Interestingly, the protective effect of PVP-IrNPs against H2O2-induced
      cellular oxidative damage was investigated in an A549 lung cancer cell model and
      PVP-IrNPs displayed excellent biocompatibility and antioxidant activity. Upon
      pretreatment of cells with PVP-IrNPs, the intracellular reactive oxygen species
      (ROS) level in response to H2O2 was decreased and the cell viability increased.
      This work will facilitate studies on the mechanism and biomedical application of
      nanomaterials-based enzyme mimic. 

PMID- 25826468
TI  - Synthesis of carbodiimides by I2/CHP-mediated cross-coupling reaction of
      isocyanides with amines under metal-free conditions.
AB  - An I2/CHP-mediated cross-coupling reaction of isocyanides with readily accessible
      amines via C-N formation is described for carbodiimide synthesis in moderate to
      excellent yields. This represents a metal-free strategy for a coupling reaction
      of isocyanides with amines, and it provides an efficient approach for symmetric
      and unsymmetric functionalized carbodiimide derivative synthesis under mild
      conditions. 

PMID- 25826469
TI  - Self-assembly molecular dynamics simulations shed light into the interaction of
      the influenza fusion Peptide with a membrane bilayer.
AB  - Influenza virus is one of the most devastating human pathogens. In order to
      infect host cells, this virus fuses its membrane with the host membrane in a
      process mediated by the glycoprotein hemagglutinin. During fusion, the N-terminal
      region of hemagglutinin, which is known as the fusion peptide (FP), inserts into
      the host membrane, promoting lipid mixing between the viral and host membranes.
      Therefore, this peptide plays a key role in the fusion process, but the exact
      mechanism by which it promotes lipid mixing is still unclear. To shed light into
      this matter, we performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the influenza FP
      in different environments (water, dodecylphosphocholine (DPC) micelles, and a
      dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) membrane). While in pure water the peptide
      lost its initial secondary structure, in simulations performed in the presence of
      DPC micelles it remained stable, in agreement with previous experimental
      observations. In simulations performed in the presence of a preassembled DMPC
      bilayer, the peptide became unstructured and was unable to insert into the
      membrane as a result of technical limitations of the method used. To overcome
      this problem, we used a self-assembly strategy, assembling the membrane together
      with the peptide. These simulations revealed that the peptide can adopt a
      membrane-spanning conformation, which had not been predicted by previous MD
      simulation studies. The peptide insertion had a strong effect on the membrane,
      lowering the bilayer thickness, disordering nearby lipids, and promoting lipid
      tail protrusion. These results contribute to a better understanding of the role
      of the FP in the fusion process. 

PMID- 25826470
TI  - Dietary components and uterine leiomyomas: a review of published data.
AB  - Some studies have considered the association between diet and uterine fibroid
      risk, but the issue is largely unsettled. To identify potential modifiable risk
      factors for fibroid development, we have herein systematically reviewed prior
      publications dealing with this aspect. Comprehensive searches in electronic
      databases were conducted to collect studies published on association between
      uterine leiomyomas and both nutrients and food groups. We identified 13
      publications deriving from 4 case-control, 3 cross-sectional, and 4 cohort
      studies. A protective effect has been demonstrated for consumption of fruits and
      green vegetables in both case-control and cohort studies. Moreover, very recent
      cross-sectional and case-control studies evaluating serum levels of 25
      hydroxyvitamin-D3 tend to indicate that vitamin D insufficiency, which may in
      part be due to the diet intake, may play an important role in the development of
      uterine fibroids. No association was found with the intake of fibers, vitamin C
      and E, phytoestrogens and carotenoids, whereas association was controversial for
      the consumption of meat, fish, dairy products, and vitamin A. Most data have also
      been discussed herein in light of the available experimental and animal model
      results. These findings may be useful in devising nutritional strategies to
      reduce leiomyoma risk in humans. 

PMID- 25826471
TI  - Olfactory and executive dysfunctions following orbito-basal lesions in traumatic
      brain injury.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the acute relationship between olfactory function and
      traumatic brain injury (TBI), cognitive functions and outcome. METHODS: Sixty-two
      patients with TBI were evaluated within the first 2 weeks following TBI. The
      Sniffin'Sticks identification test was used to assess olfaction. A
      neuropsychological evaluation was carried out to assess attention, verbal
      fluency, naming, memory, problem-solving and mental flexibility. The extended
      Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOSE) and the Disability Rating Scale (DRS) were rated at
      discharge from acute care. RESULTS: Traumatic lesions located in the basal
      frontal area resulted in odour identification scores that were significantly
      lower than when lesions were elsewhere (p < 0.001). A significant positive
      correlation was shown between odour identification scores and mental flexibility
      scores (p = 0.004) and patients with hyposmia had worse performances on executive
      tests measuring problem-solving, verbal fluency and mental flexibility (p <
      0.01). Moreover, the odour identification score and the DRS total score were
      related (p = 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: These findings add information regarding acute
      olfactory status following TBI and provide evidence on the importance of
      assessing olfaction very early post-TBI in order to plan intervention and
      determine what accident prevention advice will be required for home or work re
      integration.

PMID- 25826472
TI  - Correction: the circadian regulation of sleep: impact of a functional ADA
      polymorphism and its association to working memory improvements.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113734.]. 

PMID- 25826473
TI  - NMR spectroscopic method for the assignment of 3,5-dioxygenated aromatic rings in
      natural products.
AB  - In recent years, certain "new" naturally occurring compounds (1-28) with 3,5
      dioxygenated aromatic rings have been reported. A comparison of the NMR data of
      these compounds with the data of four model compounds (A-D) indicated that the
      structures of these "new" compounds were erroneous. The reason for the incorrect
      elucidation of the structures of 1-28 was attributed to "deceptively simple" (1)H
      NMR spectra, which displayed two broad singlets with integrations of 1:2 for H-2
      and H-5, H-6, respectively. To expose the misleading results from the spectra,
      serial (1)H NMR experiments on compounds A-D were performed using various
      deuterated solvents and temperatures. The results revealed separated proton
      signals for the ABX system in certain deuterated solvents. Additionally, the
      characteristic differences between 3,4- and 3,5-dioxygenated aromatic rings in
      their (13)C NMR spectra are summarized based on our experiment and data reported.
      This approach is useful for analyzing the patterns of dioxygenated aromatic rings
      in natural products, especially when "deceptively simple" (1)H NMR spectra are
      displayed. 

PMID- 25826474
TI  - Pilates for Better Sex: Changes in Sexual Functioning in Healthy Turkish Women
      After Pilates Exercise.
AB  - Although a large number of studies report the impact of daily exercise on many
      aspects of women's health, none of them address the relationship between Pilates
      exercise and sexual function prospectively. The aim of this study was to assess
      the effect of Pilates exercise on sexual function in healthy young women using a
      validated questionnaire. In total, 34 premenopausal healthy Turkish women aged
      between 20 and 50 years who had regular menstrual cycles and sexual relationships
      were included in the study. Women were asked to complete Beck Depression
      Inventory (BDI) and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaires.
      Questionnaires were completed before and after 12 weeks of Pilates exercise.
      Primary endpoints were changes in total and individual domain scores on the FSFI
      and BDI. After the 12-week Pilates intervention, BDI scores were decreased and
      all domains of the FSFI were significantly improved with mean +/- SD total FSFI
      scores increasing from 25.9 +/- 7.4 to 32.2 +/- 3.6 (p <.0001). This is the first
      prospective study that quantifies the improvement in sexual function of healthy
      women after a 12-week Pilates program. Our findings suggest that Pilates may
      improve sexual function in healthy women. However, further studies with a larger
      sample size are needed in this field. 

PMID- 25826475
TI  - The invadopodia scaffold protein Tks5 is required for the growth of human breast
      cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - The ability of cancer cells to invade underlies metastatic progression. One
      mechanism by which cancer cells can become invasive is through the formation of
      structures called invadopodia, which are dynamic, actin-rich membrane protrusions
      that are sites of focal extracellular matrix degradation. While there is a
      growing consensus that invadopodia are instrumental in tumor metastasis, less is
      known about whether they are involved in tumor growth, particularly in vivo. The
      adaptor protein Tks5 is an obligate component of invadopodia, and is linked
      molecularly to both actin-remodeling proteins and pericellular proteases. Tks5
      appears to localize exclusively to invadopodia in cancer cells, and in vitro
      studies have demonstrated its critical requirement for the invasive nature of
      these cells, making it an ideal surrogate to investigate the role of invadopodia
      in vivo. In this study, we examined how Tks5 contributes to human breast cancer
      progression. We used immunohistochemistry and RNA sequencing data to evaluate
      Tks5 expression in clinical samples, and we characterized the role of Tks5 in
      breast cancer progression using RNA interference and orthotopic implantation in
      SCID-Beige mice. We found that Tks5 is expressed to high levels in approximately
      50% of primary invasive breast cancers. Furthermore, high expression was
      correlated with poor outcome, particularly in those patients with late relapse of
      stage I/II disease. Knockdown of Tks5 expression in breast cancer cells resulted
      in decreased growth, both in 3D in vitro cultures and in vivo. Moreover, our data
      also suggest that Tks5 is important for the integrity and permeability of the
      tumor vasculature. Together, this work establishes an important role for Tks5 in
      tumor growth in vivo, and suggests that invadopodia may play broad roles in tumor
      progression. 

PMID- 25826476
TI  - Does the Well-Being of Individuals with Down Syndrome and Dementia Improve When
      Using Life Story Books and Rummage Boxes? A Randomized Single Case Series
      Experiment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study investigated whether a personalized life story book and
      rummage box enhanced well-being and led to changes in behaviour for people with
      Down syndrome (DS) who have dementia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A randomized single
      case series design was used with five participants who had DS and a diagnosis of
      dementia. Participants were invited to take part in three conditions at random
      (i) life story book, (ii) rummage box and (iii) no-intervention condition.
      RESULTS: The two reminiscence conditions were significantly associated with
      enhanced well-being as compared to the no-intervention condition. However, for
      one participant, the life story book was associated with significantly higher
      well-being, while for another participant, the rummage box was associated with
      significantly higher well-being, suggesting some participants may prefer one
      method over another. CONCLUSIONS: Personalized life story books and rummage boxes
      are associated with higher levels of well-being for people with DS and dementia.

PMID- 25826477
TI  - Gender disparities in acute coronary syndrome: a closing gap in the short-term
      outcome.
AB  - AIMS: The aim of the present study was to analyze gender disparities in a large
      cohort of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients from the Zurich Acute Coronary
      Syndrome (Z-ACS) Registry. METHODS: Gender disparities in ACS were examined. The
      primary endpoint included in-hospital death rate, and the secondary endpoint
      major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) at 30-day follow-up.
      Furthermore, independent predictors for MACCEs and death were identified.
      RESULTS: In total, 2612 patients with ACS were identified. Out of these, 23% were
      women. The mean age was higher in women (68.6 +/- 12.2; P < 0.001). Troponin-T on
      admission (1.33 +/- 4.64 vs. 1.19 +/- 3.04 MUg/l; P = 0.002) and N-terminal of
      the prohormone brain natriuretic peptide on admission (3456.2 +/- 7286.7 vs.
      1665.6 +/- 4800.6 ng/l; P < 0.001) were higher in women compared with men. Single
      vessel disease was more common in women (44.9 vs. 39.7%; P = 0.023) and,
      conversely, multivessel disease was more prevalent in male patients as compared
      with their female counterparts (59.4 vs. 54.4%; P = 0.029). At discharge, men
      were more likely prescribed statins (89.4 vs. 85.2%; P = 0.004). Overall
      mortality and MACCEs were similar for both genders. In women, peak creatine
      kinase and peak C-reactive protein emerged as independent predictors for MACCEs
      and SBP on admission, and maximal C-reactive protein and use of glycoprotein
      IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPIIb/IIIa) as strong independent predictors for in-hospital
      death. CONCLUSION: The present results suggest a closing gap in short-term
      outcome and improvement in cardiac care between women and men. Nonetheless,
      differences in treatment strategies continue to exist, particularly pertaining to
      statin regimens at discharge, which might potentially have a powerful impact on
      long-term outcomes and gender disparities.

PMID- 25826478
TI  - Pulmonary Gas Exchange Abnormalities in Mild Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
      Disease. Implications for Dyspnea and Exercise Intolerance.
AB  - RATIONALE: Several studies in mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
      have shown a higher than normal ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide
      ([Formula: see text]e/[Formula: see text]co2) during exercise. Our objective was
      to examine pulmonary gas exchange abnormalities and the mechanisms of high
      [Formula: see text]e/[Formula: see text]co2 in mild COPD and its impact on
      dyspnea and exercise intolerance. METHODS: Twenty-two subjects (11 patients with
      GOLD [Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease] grade 1B COPD, 11
      age-matched healthy control subjects) undertook physiological testing and a
      symptom-limited incremental cycle exercise test with arterial blood gas
      collection. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Patients (post-bronchodilator FEV1: 94
      +/- 10% predicted; mean +/- SD) had evidence of peripheral airway dysfunction and
      reduced peak oxygen uptake compared with control subjects (80 +/- 18 vs. 113 +/-
      24% predicted; P<0.05). Arterial blood gases were within the normal range and
      effective alveolar ventilation was not significantly different from control
      subjects throughout exercise. The alveolar-arterial O2 tension gradient was
      elevated at rest and throughout exercise in COPD (P<0.05). [Formula: see
      text]e/[Formula: see text]co2, dead space to tidal volume ratio (Vd/Vt), and
      arterial to end-tidal CO2 difference were all higher (P<0.05) in patients with
      COPD than in control subjects during exercise. In patients with COPD versus
      control subjects, there was significant dynamic hyperinflation and greater tidal
      volume constraints (P<0.05). Standardized dyspnea intensity ratings were also
      higher (P<0.05) in patients with COPD versus control subjects in association with
      higher ventilatory requirements. Within all subjects, Vd/Vt correlated with the
      [Formula: see text]e/[Formula: see text]co2 ratio during submaximal exercise
      (r=0.780, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: High Vd/Vt was the most consistent gas exchange
      abnormality in smokers with only mild spirometric abnormalities. Compensatory
      increases in minute ventilation during exercise maintained alveolar ventilation
      and arterial blood gas homeostasis but at the expense of earlier dynamic
      mechanical constraints, greater dyspnea, and exercise intolerance in mild COPD.

PMID- 25826480
TI  - Effect of Posture on Regional Deposition of Coarse Particles in the Healthy Human
      Lung.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Understanding the regional partition of deposition of inhaled
      particles within the lung is important for improving targeted delivery of inhaled
      aerosolized drugs. One factor affecting regional deposition is gravity. As the
      lung deforms under its own weight, changes in lung volume, in airway geometries,
      and in spatial patterns of ventilation distribution between postures have the
      potential to alter the regional distribution of deposited particles. METHODS:
      Using gamma-scintigraphy, we measured regional deposition and clearance of
      (99m)Tc labeled particles (5 MUm) in 6 healthy subjects, with aerosol inhalation
      occurring both in the supine and seated postures at constant flow (0.5 L/sec) and
      breathing rate (15 breaths/min). After aerosol deposition, mucociliary clearance
      data were collected in the seated posture, immediately post-particle
      administration, 1 h 30 min, 4 h, and 22 h post-inhalation. Relative regional
      deposition was computed using retention (R) at the different time points, with (1
      R(1h30min)), (R(1h30min)- R(4h)), and (R(4h)- R(22h)) corresponding to deposition
      in the large, intermediate, and small airways, respectively. Alveolar deposition
      was estimated as the relative retention at 22 h (R(22h)). RESULTS: Relative
      deposition of coarse particles in the alveolar region decreased from 60+/-8%
      seated to 34+/-16% supine (p=0.04). This change was accompanied by an increase in
      relative deposition in the intermediate (7+/-3% seated to 16+/-17% supine,
      P=0.09) and small airways (19+/-6% seated to 34+/-13% supine, p=0.06) when
      inhalation occurred in the supine posture. No change was observed in central to
      peripheral deposition (C/P ratio), the skew of the deposition distribution, or
      the apex-to-base ratio of deposition between seated and supine postures.
      CONCLUSIONS: Inhalation of coarse particles in the supine posture shifts relative
      deposition from the alveolar to the bronchial airways, when compared to the
      seated posture, likely driven by changes in functional residual capacity, and
      airway size, as well as changes in the regional distribution of ventilation
      between postures.

PMID- 25826481
TI  - Dermatology facing autoinflammatory syndrome.
AB  - Cutaneous symptoms are characteristic for the autoinflammatory disorders (AIDs),
      both in the classical autoinflammatory phenotype and in most disorders included
      in this syndrome, but they are not specific and inconstant. Several skin
      disorders (pyoderma gangrenosum and pustular acne) may be encountered either
      isolate or associated with autoinflammatory symptoms, forming well-defined
      clinical entities within the autoinflammatory syndrome. The high prevalence of
      cutaneous manifestations is an important characteristic of AIDs. The presence of
      cutaneous symptoms in AIDs opens the perspective of understanding the
      contribution of innate immunity mechanisms involved in skin pathology. It is
      possible that many diseases present the alteration, in various degrees, of the
      innate immune mechanisms. Recently, dermatology faced two challenges connected to
      AIDs. The first involves the diagnosis of skin symptoms in a clinical
      autoinflammatory setting and the investigative approach to identify a disorder
      classified as AID. The second is to identify the altered mechanisms of inborn
      immunity among the pathogenetic mechanisms of known dermatological diseases
      (e.g., neutrophilic dermatoses). On the other hand, cutaneous symptoms are in
      certain cases regarded as a criterion to asses the efficacy of specific or non
      specific therapies with monoclonal antibodies in disorders included in AIDs.
      Dermatology mostly benefits from the identification and knowledge of AIDs due to
      the role of innate immunity in skin pathogeny and also due to the large extent of
      clinical forms resulting from the association of skin symptoms with other
      disorders included in this group. 

PMID- 25826479
TI  - Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) modifies the plasma proteome in children
      undergoing repair of tetralogy of fallot: a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) has been applied in paediatric
      cardiac surgery. We have demonstrated that RIPC induces a proteomic response in
      plasma of healthy volunteers. We tested the hypothesis that RIPC modifies the
      proteomic response in children undergoing Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) repair.
      METHODS AND RESULTS: Children (n=40) were randomized to RIPC and control groups.
      Blood was sampled at baseline, after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and 6, 12 and
      24h post-CPB. Plasma was analysed by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC
      MS) in an untargeted approach. Peptides demonstrating differential expression
      (p<0.01) were subjected to tandem LC-MS/MS and protein identification.
      Corresponding proteins were identified using the NCBI protein database. There was
      no difference in age (7.3+/-3.5vs6.8+/-3.6 months)(p=0.89), weight (7.7+/
      1.8vs7.5+/-1.9 kg)(p=0.71), CPB time (104+/-7vs94+/-7 min)(p=0.98) or aortic
      cross-clamp time (83+/-22vs75+/-20 min)(p=0.36). No peptides were differentially
      expressed at baseline or immediately after CPB. There were 48 peptides with
      higher expression in the RIPC group 6h post-CPB. This was no longer evident at 12
      or 24h, with one peptide down-regulated in the RIPC group. The proteins
      identified were: inter-alpha globulin inhibitor (42.0+/-11.8 vs 820.8+/-181.1,
      p=0.006), fibrinogen preproprotein (59.3+/-11.2 vs 1192.6+/-278.3, p=0.007),
      complement-C3 precursor (391.2+/-160.9 vs 5385.1+/-689.4, p=0.0005), complement
      C4B (151.5+/-17.8 vs 4587.8+/-799.2, p=0.003), apolipoprotein B100 (53.4+/-8.3 vs
      1364.5+/-278.2, p=0.005) and urinary proteinase inhibitor (358.6+/-74.9 vs
      5758.1+/-1343.1, p=0.009). These proteins are involved in metabolism,
      haemostasis, immunity and inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: We provided the first
      comprehensive analysis of RIPC-induced proteomic changes in children undergoing
      surgery. The proteomic changes peak 6h post-CPB and return to baseline within 24h
      of surgery. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTR.org.au ACTRN12610000496011.

PMID- 25826482
TI  - Renal carcinogenesis--insights into signaling pathways.
AB  - Renal cancer represents about 3% of all human malignancies, 96% of cases being
      sporadic forms and only 4% hereditary. Research in renal tumor pathogenesis is
      currently oriented on the genetic and proteins framework of the renal cell
      carcinoma, with the aim to translate the level of knowledge on tumor subtypes
      from histological to molecular issues, simultaneously with the deciphering of the
      manner in which the signaling pathways intervene in the pathogenic mechanism.
      Alterations identified in proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes lead to
      abnormal and deficient transmission of signal in the signaling pathways, and
      initiate the carcinogenesis mechanism by increased proliferation of tumor cells.
      Although it seems obvious that the classic sequence of carcinogenesis is
      respected at the renal site, unfortunately, the manner in which signaling
      pathways are involved, in the specific context of renal tumors, is not
      extensively investigated. This paper assembles recent data in the mainstream
      regarding the dialogue opened between the molecules in Wnt/beta-catenin,
      PI3K/AKT/mTOR, and HGF/cMET signaling pathways. The review is also justified by
      the fact that these molecules may represent potential prognosis markers and/or
      therapeutic targets. 

PMID- 25826483
TI  - Microglial voltage-gated sodium channels modulate cellular response in
      Alzheimer's disease--a new perspective on an old problem.
AB  - Alzheimer's disease (AD) determines gradual loss of cognition and memory
      function, eventually leading to clinical manifest dementia. The pathogenic
      mechanisms of AD remain elusive and treatment options unsatisfactory, targeting
      only symptoms like memory loss, behavior changes, sleep disorders and seizures.
      These therapies are not stopping the disease's progression, at their best they
      can only delay it. Accumulating evidence suggests that AD is associated with a
      microglial dysfunction. Microglia are resident immune cells that provide
      continuous surveillance within the brain. When excessively activated, microglial
      response can also have detrimental effects via the exacerbation of inflammatory
      processes and release of neurotoxic substances. Recently, it was recognized that
      microglia express voltage-gated ion channels, in particularly voltage-gated
      sodium channels (VGSC). Pharmacological block of VGSC has been attempted
      symptomatically in AD to control the epileptic features often associated with AD,
      as well as to relieve detrimental behavioral and psychological symptoms of
      dementia. The success of VGSC treatment in AD was unexpectedly variable, ranging
      from very beneficial to plain detrimental. This variability could not be
      satisfactorily explained solely by the neuronal effects. This article will try to
      discuss possible implication of microglial VGSC dysfunction in AD according to
      available data, own personal experience of the authors and propose a new way to
      investigate its possible implications. 

PMID- 25826484
TI  - An overview of permanent vascular access in hemodialyzed patients.
AB  - In the last decade, because of significant number of end-stage renal disease
      individuals in need of renal therapy replacement and permanent quest of
      nephrologist to optimize kidney disease patients' quality of life, there is an
      increased interest in achieving a suitable permanent vascular access, essential
      for an efficient dialysis. Furthermore, it is of high importance to preserve
      arteriovenous fistula in optimal condition and therefore, it is vital to
      correctly understand the histopathology and pathophysiological mechanisms
      implicated in maturation and well function of dialysis vascular access. 

PMID- 25826485
TI  - Morphological and quantitative study of collagen fibers in healthy and diseased
      human gingival tissues.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate types I, III and IV collagen in healthy
      gingival tissue and to compare them to gingival tissues suffering from chronic
      gingivitis and chronic periodontitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-two man
      patients were selected. The patients belonged to three diagnostic categories:
      healthy gingiva (HG), chronic gingivitis (CG) and chronic periodontitis (CP),
      based on clinical and radiographical criteria. Gingival tissue samples were
      obtained from patients who underwent periodontal surgery procedures. Hematoxylin
      and Eosin (HE), Picrosirius red, indirect immunofluorescence by confocal
      microscopy and quantitative analyses were performed to identify the presence and
      location of types I, III and IV collagen. Statistical significance was verified
      using the Kruskal-Wallis test. RESULTS: Samples from HG group showed thick
      collagen fibers arranged in a parallel pattern. Samples from CG group showed
      dilated blood vessels; collagen fibers and inflammatory cells were found
      dispersed throughout the tissue. Samples from CP group showed the extracellular
      matrix severely damaged, disorganized collagen fibers and large amount of
      inflammatory cells. The HG group showed an apparent higher expression of type I
      collagen, when compared to tissues with CG and CP, however no statistical
      differences were detected (p=0.064). The types III and IV collagen fibers showed
      no difference in expression in tissues with gingivitis and periodontitis.
      CONCLUSIONS: Following the periodontal disease there was a morphological
      destruction of the extracellular matrix with lower expression of collagen, which
      led to a change in tissue architecture that might compromise its functional
      capacity. There were differences in type I collagen expression among healthy,
      chronic gingivitis and chronic periodontitis tissue samples.

PMID- 25826486
TI  - Combined enriched environment/atipamezole treatment transiently improves sensory
      functions in stroke rats independent from neurogenesis and angiogenesis.
AB  - Functional recovery after cerebral ischemia may be enhanced by activation of the
      noradrenergic system and by environmental enrichment. The underlying mechanisms
      have remained elusive, but endogenous neurogenesis and perilesional angiogenesis
      have been speculated to contribute to the behavioral improvement. To address this
      question, neurogenesis in the subventricular zone (SVZ) and perilesional
      angiogenesis (RECA-1) were correlated with behavioral performance in forty Wistar
      rats subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) or sham
      operation. Atipamezole, an alpha2-adrenoreceptor antagonist (1 mg/kg, i.p.), was
      administered for 10 days together with housing of rats in an enriched
      environment. MCAO rats and sham-operated rats housed in single non-enriched cages
      were used as controls. Histological analysis after 28-day behavioral follow-up
      showed a massive increase in doublecortin (DCX)-positive cells in the SVZ both in
      MCAO rats housed in single cages and in the enriched environment together with
      atipamezole treatment whereas perilesional RECA-1 staining for new blood vessels
      was not altered. Time to the first contact and time to remove sticky stimuli from
      the forelimbs indicated improved sensory processing, which disappeared after
      cessation of atipamezole administration. Skilled forelimb use as measured by
      performance in Montoya's staircase test was not affected by the treatment. There
      were no correlations between behavioral measures and histology. Thus, sensory
      facilitation or reversal of hypometabolism by the combined therapy may be the
      mechanism accounting for the improved behavior after stroke independent from
      neurogenesis and angiogenesis. 

PMID- 25826487
TI  - Heterogeneity of collagen secreting cells in gingival fibrosis--an
      immunohistochemical assessment and a review of the literature.
AB  - AIM: In this work, we compared the histological features of the gingival lesions
      clinically diagnosed as fibrotic overgrowths due to various etiologic factors as
      well as an immunohistochemical assessment of fibroblasts phenotypic heterogeneity
      using the specific labeling for vimentin, alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA)
      and fibroblast specific protein-1 (FSP1). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tissue samples
      were obtained from 12 patients clinically diagnosed with fibrotic gingival
      overgrowth, divided in four groups. Fragments of gingiva were processed for
      paraffin embedding. Serial sections were used for routine staining Hematoxylin
      Eosin, trichromic Masson and Goldner-Szekely, and for immunohistochemical
      reactions to label vimentin, alpha-SMA and FSP1 using for signal amplification
      several techniques (EnVision, LSAB, ABC). RESULTS: Storage of collagen fibers,
      increase of fibroblast number and frequent presence of inflammatory infiltrate
      are histological issues of all fibrotic gingival overgrowth. The incidence of
      granulation tissue varies but the frequency of its presence point the attention
      to the involvement in collagen metabolism imbalance. Immunostaining for vimentin
      showed a difference between its expression in samples from different groups.
      Except the cases of fibrosis induced by orthodontic devices, cells positive for
      alpha-SMA were rare. FSP1-positive fibroblasts were the most frequent in all
      cases from all the groups selected for this study. CONCLUSIONS: The phenotype of
      fibroblasts is different in gingival fibrosis in relation to the risk factor, at
      present the most common being vimentin-positive and FSP1-positive fibroblasts.
      Myofibroblasts are rare in gingival fibrosis, the most numerous being in local
      lesions caused by wearing orthodontic devices and in syndromic fibromatosis.
      Further studies are required to elucidate the manner in which the active
      fibroblasts are recruited in relation to the etiologic factor of gingival
      overgrowth.

PMID- 25826488
TI  - Study regarding the microscopic aspects of pilo-sebaceous units after
      antiandrogen treatment in hirsute women.
AB  - AIM: To analyze the morphological data of pilo-sebaceous units in hirsute women
      before and 12 months after the antiandrogen treatment with Cyproterone acetate
      (CPA) 100 mg/day. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen female patients with idiopathic
      hirsutism that followed an antiandrogen treatment with CPA were biopsied from the
      androgen-dependent area of the chin before and 12 months after the treatment.
      Routine sections were stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin, Masson, Van Gieson, Sirius
      red and picric-indigocarmine, while additional sections were immunostained for
      S100 protein and vimentin. Electron microscopy was performed in two cases with
      Langerhans cell hyperplasia. RESULTS: On biopsies-stained sections, an increased
      number of hair follicles, the deeper part of the epithelial sheath of the hair
      follicle with epithelial buds, hyperplasia of sebaceous glands, and no
      inflammatory infiltrate were noticed. Langerhans cells identified with S100
      protein and vimentin were normal in terms of numbers and distribution. After the
      administration of the treatment, atrophy of the pilo-sebaceous units was visible
      in nine (64.2%) cases, while inflammatory infiltrate and cells included in the
      vacuoles of the basal layer of the epidermis became apparent. In six of the cases
      treated with antiandrogens, a marked hyperplasia of Langerhans cells was noticed.
      In conclusion, the benefit of antiandrogen treatments is supported by atrophy of
      the hair follicle and the sebaceous glands. The activation of Langerhans cells
      associated with inflammatory infiltrate in the dermis and hair follicles could be
      considered as a local consequence of the involution process of hair follicles
      after the administration of the treatment.

PMID- 25826489
TI  - In vitro evaluation of curcumin effects on breast adenocarcinoma 2D and 3D cell
      cultures.
AB  - Breast adenocarcinoma cell line MDA-MB-231, even if it expresses low levels of E
      cadherin, still readily form multicellular aggregates of cells, namely spheroids.
      Curcumin is a diarylheptanoid antitumoral drug while it significantly inhibits
      cell migration, invasion, and colony formation in vitro and reduces tumor growth
      and liver metastasis in vivo. Curcumin photoactivation may enhance antiapoptotic
      role against cancer cells. AIM: To evaluate the effect of low curcumin
      concentrations, ranged from 1.9 to 15 MUM, with and without photoactivation,
      using a manufactured 670 nm LED-matrix. A secondary aim was to evaluate the ideal
      method to produce easy-to-use tumor cell spheroids, comparing two low adherence
      plate supports. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Breast adenocarcinoma cell line MDA-MB-231
      were cultured according to 2D monolayer and 3D spheroid models then submitted to
      normal and photoactivated curcumin in micromolar concentrations. MTT assay was
      used to evaluate cell viability following curcumin application on cells. On 2D
      cell cultures, curcumin inhibits cell tumor development and proliferation at
      concentrations of 15 MUM, with a viability of 65.7% at 48 hours incubation time.
      A decreased viability up to 25% for a concentration of 15 MUM was recorded
      following photoactivation and cytotoxic action on breast cancer tumor cell line
      continued at concentrations of 7.5 and 3.75 MUM. Curcumin photoactivation
      increases pro-apoptotic effects in both 2D and 3D tumor cell culture models and
      also responsiveness to curcumin is slightly reduced in spheroid-like structures.
      Thus, 3D tumor cell culture systems appear to be the ideal environment for in
      vitro assays regarding anticancer drug effects on cell viability.

PMID- 25826490
TI  - Effects of therapy with two combinations of antibiotics on the imbalance of MMP
      2/TIMP-2 in chronic periodontitis.
AB  - Periodontitis represents a chronic bacterial infection that induces immuno
      inflammatory conditions affecting gingiva and tooth-supporting tissues. The role
      of some biological mediators in periodontal disease was widely investigated,
      especially that of MMP-8 and MMP-9. Recently, MMP-2 was also considered to be an
      appropriate therapeutic target for prevention of periodontal disease progression.
      However, effects of the combination of metronidazole with amoxicillin or
      spiramycin on the release and activation of MMP-2 and the balance MMP-2/TIMP-2
      were rarely studied. This study was designed to assess the influence of two
      combinations of antibiotics used for treatment of periodontitis on the balance
      MMP-2/TIMP-2. Gingival samples obtained from patients with no pharmacological
      treated chronic periodontitis and those receiving either the association between
      amoxicillin-metronidazole and spyramicin-metronidazole were processed for
      paraffin embedding and then used to perform immunohistochemical reactions in
      order to detect MMP-2 and TIMP-2. All subjects were evaluated clinically and
      radiographic at the first visit and after treatment completed, the Loe & Silnees
      gingival index at six sites per tooth for the whole mouth being recorded.
      Statistical analysis was performed using non-parametrical techniques. Gingiva
      samples from untreated chronic periodontitis patients revealed a diffuse positive
      reaction for MMP-2 in the epithelium and also in fibroblasts and macrophages from
      the lamina propria. For gingiva samples from patients treated with antibiotics,
      MMP-2 positive reaction was restricted to deep epithelial layers and few cells of
      the connective tissue. No significant difference was observed for TIMP-2
      expression. The clinical indexes were in accordance with immunohistochemical
      results. After treatment, gingival index values were significantly lower then
      before (p<0.001) in both groups treated with antibiotics. CONCLUSIONS: The two
      combinations of antibiotics tested in our study seem to have a dual ability to
      reduce inflammation as well as to inhibit MMP-2 activity.

PMID- 25826491
TI  - E-cadherin/CD44 immunophenotype in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of
      bladder urothelial carcinomas.
AB  - The alteration of epithelial stability, which includes changes in the expression
      of E-cadherin and CD44, is one of the complex biomolecular mechanisms involved in
      the tumoral epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. We followed the E
      cadherin/CD44 immunophenotype by single and double detections in 25 cases of
      bladder urothelial carcinomas. Our study investigated simultaneously the
      differences in expression of the two markers, in different tumoral compartments,
      according to the prognostic parameters of the lesions. The study indicated
      significant differences in the expression of E-cadherin in relation to tumor
      grade, depth of invasion, tumor stage and Ki-67 proliferation index (PI), both
      intratumoral and at the advancing edge. For CD44, expression differences were
      found between the tumor grades in intratumoral sites, while for both intratumoral
      and advancing edge compartments the differences occurred for the depth of tumor
      invasion, tumor stage and Ki-67 PI. The only differences in the expression of the
      two markers in relation with the presence of lymph node metastasis were for E
      cadherin at the advancing edge. In this study, the intratumoral E-caderin-/CD44-
      immunophenotype, respectively E-caderin-/CD44+ at the advancing edge were
      associated with the tumor aggressiveness analyzed parameters. The maintenance of
      CD44 expression at the advancing edge represents a negative prognostic factor for
      bladder urothelial carcinoma and supports the implication of EMT process, through
      the existence at this level of a cell population with particular properties. 

PMID- 25826492
TI  - Expression of TLR4 protein is reduced in chronic renal failure: evidence from an
      experimental model of nephron reduction.
AB  - Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling is involved in various acute and chronic
      renal lesions and contributes to inflammation and fibrosis in several organs; the
      latter are important determinants to the progression of chronic kidney disease
      (CKD). We aimed to assess TLR4 expression in progressive CKD and relate it to
      severity of kidney damage, using an experimental nephron reduction model. Male
      Wistar rats were subjected to subtotal nephrectomy using the ligation technique,
      after 12 weeks of observation, serum creatinine and proteinuria were determined,
      animals were sacrificed, glomerulosclerosis and interstitial scarring were
      quantified histologically, and TLR4 expression was assessed by
      immunohistochemistry. Sham-operated rats served as controls. Case animals had
      significantly higher creatinine, proteinuria, glomerulosclerosis and
      tubulointerstitial involvement. TLR4 expression was prominent in proximal tubes,
      less staining was observed on infiltrating inflammatory cells. Percentage of TLR4
      positive tubes was reduced in the subtotal nephrectomy animals, when compared to
      controls (0.67+/-0.09 versus 0.79+/-0.07, p=0.003). Percentage of TLR4-positive
      tubes correlated inversely to markers of kidney damage: to proteinuria (r=-0.55,
      p=0.02), serum creatinine (r=-0.53, p=0.01); percentage of glomeruli with
      glomerulosclerosis (r=-0.54, p=0.01) and tubulointerstitial score (r=-0.36,
      p=0.01). As TLR4 staining appears in tubular casts only in nephrectomy animals,
      shedding from damaged tubular cells is a very likely explanation for the reduced
      TLR4 expression in the kidneys of subjects with experimental nephron reduction. 

PMID- 25826493
TI  - TNF-alpha evaluation in tonsil cancer.
AB  - Squamous cell tonsil carcinoma is the most frequent form of oropharyngeal cancer,
      representing 70-80% of the total of head and neck malignant tumors. Poor clinical
      symptoms make that 60-80% of patients with squamous cell tonsil carcinoma have a
      late diagnosis, in the third and fourth stages, when the tumor exceeds the organ
      limits, invading the pharyngeal wall or the tongue base, being associated with
      metastases in the laterocervical lymphatic ganglions. The tumor necrosis factor
      alpha (TNF-alpha) represents an important inflammation mediator associated to
      carcinogenesis and even to tumor progression. We evaluated the seric values of
      TNF-alpha in a group of patients with tonsil cancer in comparison to a group of
      patients with chronic tonsillitis, as well as the reaction of mastocytes and
      macrophages in the two types of tonsil lesions. Seric levels of TNF-alpha in
      squamous cell tonsil carcinoma were quite high, varying from 1000 to 2000 pg/mL,
      and in four patients, with poorly differentiated tonsil carcinoma in the fourth
      stage, the TNF-alpha values varied from 2000 to 4000 pg/mL. In the patients
      undergoing radiotherapy, the TNF-alpha seric levels were within normal limits. In
      chronic tonsillitis, the TNF-alpha seric level varied from 10 to 200 pg/mL. There
      were not observed any significant differences between the two types of tonsil
      lesions, regarding the macrophages and mast cells density on the surface unit. 

PMID- 25826494
TI  - Histone acetylation regulates the expression of HoxD9 transcription factor in
      endothelial progenitor cells.
AB  - The homeobox (Hox) genes encode transcription factors that are involved in the
      morphogenesis of body. Recent data showed that the HoxD transcription factors
      control the cardiovascular system development, by modulation of endothelial cell
      proliferation and differentiation. For our knowledge, the role of histone
      acetylation in expression of HoxD9 has not been studied to date; therefore, the
      aim of this study was to investigate the expression of HoxD9 in endothelial
      progenitor cells after treatment with valproic acid (VPA), a histone deacetylase
      inhibitor. Our results showed that VPA inhibits the histone deacetylases leaving
      chromatin in an acetylated state corresponding to a decondensate conformation.
      qRT-PCR and Western blot assays showed that the expression of HoxD9 in
      endothelial progenitor cells treated with VPA was increased at both gene and
      protein level, suggesting that acetylation regulates HoxD9 expression.
      Furthermore, flow cytometry analysis revealed that the expression of endothelial
      specific markers such as CD31, CD105, CD117 and VEGFR2 was decreased in the
      presence of acetylating agent, VPA. The capacity of endothelial progenitor cells
      to form vascular networks on Matrigel was also reduced in the presence of VPA. In
      conclusion, investigating the role of histone acetylation in the regulation of
      accessibility of transcription factors to genes involved in differentiation can
      contribute to understanding epigenetic mechanisms underlying the commitment of
      stem cells. 

PMID- 25826495
TI  - Study of restorative processes in brain laceration in the first seven days after
      traumatic brain injury.
AB  - Traumatic brain injuries represent the main cause of death and invalidity all
      over the world. Persons surviving a severe traumatic brain injury often present
      long-term disabilities, sensitive and motor deficits, cognitive, vegetative or
      mental disorders. Brain injuries are directly caused by the traumatic agent, and
      indirectly caused by the action of cells involved in the restorative process. The
      main cells involved in the restorative process are microglias and astrocytes. By
      using an experimental model, we investigated the reaction of these cells in the
      first week after a severe brain injury, followed by brain laceration. Of the two
      cell types, the most rapid and intense reaction was held by the macroglias, also
      known as resident macrophages of the central nervous system. Alongside the
      activation of local microglias, in the restorative process there were also
      involved blood monocytes that turned into macrophages. 24 hours after the injury,
      the number of macrophage cells/mm2 at brain wound level increased 2-4 times,
      after three days - 10-12 times, and after seven days - over 20 times. The
      astrocyte reaction was slower, their activation being signaled no sooner than
      three days from injury, when their number in the perilesional brain parenchyma
      increased approximately two times, while after seven days - approximately 4-5
      times. Both astrocytes and macrophages (microglias), besides their beneficial
      effects in restoring traumatic brain injuries, may have unfavorable effects upon
      the nervous cells in the immediate proximity of the injury. Destruction of
      vascular network by the traumatic agent, and the extremely slow restore of
      vascularization, partially explain brain neurons death on extend areas. 

PMID- 25826496
TI  - Evaluation of the implantation site morphology in spontaneous abortion.
AB  - The aim of this study was the characterization of the implantation site through
      histological and immunohistochemical exams and the evaluation of the changes that
      appear in the pregnancies ended by spontaneous abortion compared to normal
      pregnancies ended by requested abortion. One hundred eight patients were divided
      in two groups: the study group that included 58 patients with spontaneous
      abortion and the control group that included 50 patients with requested abortion.
      There has been made uterine curettage in all the cases after a complete
      preoperative evaluation and the obtained product was sent for histopathological
      evaluation and immunohistochemical study using a VEGF antibody. Studying the
      histological sections, we noticed the vasculogenesis stages chronology and then
      according to the histological aspects of normal pregnancy we noticed the
      histological changes that occurred at the site of implantation in the cases with
      pathological pregnancies ended by miscarriage. Our results from this study seem
      to indicate a correlation between decidual vascular changes and the appearance of
      miscarriage. In pregnancies ended by miscarriage, we found delays in the
      trophoblast development according to the gestational age at which the event
      abortifacient happened. The study emphases the temporal differentiation of utero
      placental angiogenesis comparing to villous vasculogenesis and angiogenesis in
      the first trimester miscarriage and normal pregnancy. At the control group, VEGF
      expression was positive in 88% of cases, while in the study group, pregnancies
      ended by spontaneous abortion, positive expression of VEGF was present in only
      31% of cases. Our data suggest vascular disorders and are in concordance with
      other histological and ultrasound studies postulating the idea of a link between
      miscarriage and placental vascular bed pattern changes. 

PMID- 25826497
TI  - The immunoprofile of interstitial Cajal cells within adenomyosis/endometriosis
      lesions.
AB  - Adenomyosis and endometriosis are lesions which have aroused the interest for the
      investigation of antibodies specific to the structures from the composition, but
      also for the cause behind the appearance of these lesions in completely different
      structures. The impact they have on fertility is not known entirely, for they are
      difficult to diagnose. Endometriosis causes infertility and it is a hard to treat
      lesion. The research performed in the last years has been focused on the so
      called linkage analysis, or reverse genetics. It refers to identifying the genes
      which are prone to developing this affection. We investigated clinically 40
      female inpatients (n=40) who had underwent genital surgery and received a
      variegate diagnosis in the "Sf. Ioan" Emergency Hospital, Bucharest, Romania,
      between January-September 2014 and also their histopathology and
      immunohistochemistry. We proceeded with the histopathology examination in order
      to establish a diagnosis in respect to the admission diagnosis and then, using
      the ABC (Avidin-Biotin complex) method, we analyzed the immunohistochemistry of
      the following markers: S100 protein (for detection of ganglia and nerve cells),
      CD117/c-kit (selective detection of interstitial Cajal cells - ICC), desmin and
      vimentin (intermediary filaments for detecting ICC-like cells, which cohabit with
      uterine myocytes and are not contractile cells) and CD10 (a sensitive and useful
      immunomarker in the diagnosis of endometrial stroma and, in some cases, of
      neoplasia). Our study, regarding the immunoprofile of some markers of
      adenomyosis/endometriosis lesions, supports the hypothesis that the interstitial
      Cajal cells are non-reactive, they are not in relationship with investigated
      lesions, but CD10 is a very useful marker to highlight the endometrial stroma in
      query cases. 

PMID- 25826498
TI  - Cell populations involved in the processes of local mucosal defense in extended
      partially edentulous and completely edentulous patients. Clinical and
      immunohistochemical study.
AB  - Considering the fact that extended partial edentation and complete edentation
      have high incidence rates worldwide, the necessity for correct prosthetic
      treatment is very important. We performed a clinical study on 37 extended
      partially edentulous patients and completely edentulous patients, who were
      divided into three groups. We also performed a morphological study using classic
      techniques of histology and immunohistochemistry methods on sections obtained
      from oral mucosa fragments collected from these patients and processed by
      paraffin embedding technique. To identify the cell populations present in the
      inflammatory processes, we used the CD20, CD8, CD3 and CD68 markers. In the
      studied cases, we found the presence of changes that have interested both the
      epithelium and lamina propria. Epithelium showed in particular epithelial
      hyperplasia aspects, with orthokeratinization and parakeratinization areas and,
      in some sections, areas of ulceration. We found the inflammatory process present
      in the lamina propria to be chronic and it consists in particular of lymphocytes,
      plasma cells and macrophages. This process was differentiated in intensity from
      one case to another, but varied even within the same case, from one area to
      another. Inflammation was determined by the local microbial flora enhanced by the
      action of prosthetic appliances or by the prolonged edentulous state. We observed
      more intense changes in denture wearers patients. The inflammatory response
      indicates the reactivity of the edentulous mucosa in response to local
      aggression, the specific defense mechanism coexisting with the nonspecific
      defense mechanism, with predominance of cellular immune defense. 

PMID- 25826499
TI  - Identification of the anatomical elements used in periodontal diagnosis on 40 MHz
      periodontal ultrasonography.
AB  - Gingival inflammation is highly prevalent among adult populations in all regions
      of the world. High rates of chronic periodontitis have been reported worldwide.
      The methods for assessing the gingival inflammation and periodontal disease would
      need more precision and less user-dependence. The aim of this study consists in
      identifying the information for diagnosis and staging of periodontal disease
      using 40 MHz periodontal ultrasonography. Our in vivo study has been made on 49
      teeth of 10 patients with marginal periodontal disease. Standard clinical and
      radiological periodontal examinations were performed. Afterwards the results were
      compared with the information obtained from images recorded with Ultrasonix
      SonoTouch used at 40 MHz. On the ultrasound images, were performed very accurate
      measurements between the cortical bone and the cement-enamel junction or the root
      wall compared with the measurements made on intraoral digital radiographs. Those
      measurements could be used to diagnose the bone resorption. In order to monitor
      the gingival inflammation could be recorded the width of the attached gingival
      mucosa and the height of the gingival margin on ultrasound images. 40 MHz
      periodontal ultrasonography is a reliable imagistic method for identifying the
      necessary anatomical elements in order to make an accurate periodontal diagnosis
      for the examined area. 

PMID- 25826500
TI  - The loss of Ivy cells and the hippocampal input modulatory O-LM cells contribute
      to the emergence of hyperexcitability in the hippocampus.
AB  - Epilepsy is a frequent neurological disorder that affects directly 0.5-1.5% of
      the world's population. Despite advances regarding therapy, about 30% of patients
      cannot be relieved of seizures, mainly because the pathophysiological mechanisms
      are still not elucidated completely. Basket, axo-axonic, bistratified, oriens
      lacunosum moleculare (O-LM) and Ivy cells exert spatially and temporary different
      inhibition on principal neurons. Our aim was to evaluate the alterations of these
      interneuron populations during epileptogenesis. We induced status epilepticus in
      male Wistar rats using intraperitoneal pilocarpine injection, which was followed,
      after a latency period, by spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS). Nissl staining
      was used for the analysis of gross morphological changes, whereas triple
      immunofluorescent-labeled sections (parvalbumin, somatostatin, neuropeptide-Y)
      were used for differentiation of the selected interneuron types. Putative
      interneurons identified by their neurochemical contents were quantified, and the
      cell density was calculated. Although animals developing SRS showed similar
      behavior, the degree of hippocampal sclerosis was different. In animals with
      hippocampal sclerotic cell death pattern the density of perisomatic inhibitory
      neurons was higher, but not significantly. The dendritic inhibitory bistratified
      cells were preserved, whereas the number of O-LM cells showed a significant
      decrease. A substantial loss was observed in the number and density of Ivy cells.
      We suggest that the loss of hippocampal input modulatory O-LM cells, and overall
      excitation controlling Ivy cells, has a role in the emergence of
      hyperexcitability. In the same time, alterations of output controlling
      interneurons might contribute to the propagation of the pathological
      synchronization to the cortex. 

PMID- 25826501
TI  - Macrophage response in patients diagnosed with aseptic necrosis of the femoral
      head presenting different risk factors.
AB  - Aseptic necrosis of the femoral head is a condition caused by partial or total
      interruption of blood supply to the femoral head. The diminished blood supply
      causes necrosis of the cellular elements and of the bone marrow, followed by the
      collapse of the bone structure, events that ultimately lead to the destruction of
      the bone tissue, the appearance of local pain and loss of function in the
      affected coxofemoral joint. The importance of this condition is that it mainly
      affects young adults aged 30-50 years, active from a socio-professional
      standpoint, and increased life expectancy. The material studied to achieve CD68
      immunostaining was represented by bone fragments from the area of necrosis and
      from the adjacent areas of the femoral heads, harvested from 39 patients when
      performing hip arthroplasty surgery. The patients were diagnosed with aseptic
      necrosis of the femoral head and hospitalized in the Clinic of Orthopedics and
      Traumatology, Emergency County Hospital of Craiova, Romania, from June 2014 to
      January 2015. The 39 patients included in the study were divided into four
      categories according to presented risk factors (alcohol, alcohol and smoking,
      trauma, corticosteroids). All the 39 cases had positive immunostaining for CD68,
      macrophage being highlighted both in the area of necrosis and in the adjacent
      areas. We noted significant differences in the number and arrangement of
      macrophages in patients presenting different risk factors. The highest number of
      macrophages was present in patients presenting a risk factor corticosteroids, and
      the lowest number of macrophages was found in patients who had trauma as the main
      risk factor. 

PMID- 25826502
TI  - Synovial inflammation in patients with different stages of knee osteoarthritis.
AB  - The synovium is an intra-articular mesenchymal tissue and essential for the
      normal joint function. It is involved in many pathological characteristic
      processes and sometimes specific for this distinctive tissue. In this study, we
      refer to synovial proliferative disorders according to the stage of
      osteoarthritis (OA) disease. Forty-three patients with knee OA were treated in
      the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Emergency University Hospital of
      Bucharest, Romania, in the last two years. In all cases, we used at least five
      criteria for the knee OA: knee pain, knee joint tenderness, no palpable warmth
      over the knee, stiffness, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein
      levels. In all the cases the synovial tissue was selected by the orthopedic
      surgeon. X-ray examination was taken in every case of the affected joint.
      Patients who were considered to have early OA underwent arthroscopic synovial
      biopsy of the symptomatic joint. Synovial tissue samples from patients with late
      OA were obtained at the time of knee joint arthroplasty. Microscopic examination
      in early osteoarthritis revealed for more than half of patients with synovial
      biopsy through arthroscopic technique having synovitis lesions with mononuclear
      infiltrates, diffuse fibrosis, thickening of the lining layer, macrophages
      appearance and neoformation vessels also. The synovitis seen in advanced OA knees
      tends to be diffuse and is not mandatory localized to areas of chondral defects,
      although an association has been reported between chondral defects and associated
      synovitis in the knee medial tibio-femoral compartment. The overexpression of
      mediators of inflammation and the increased mononuclear cell infiltration were
      seen in early OA, compared with late OA. 

PMID- 25826503
TI  - Histochemical and immunohistochemical evidence of tumor heterogeneity in
      colorectal cancer.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Intratumoral heterogeneity implies the existence of differences
      between tumor cells, which can best be shown by histochemical and
      immunohistochemical techniques. The histological study is a mandatory step in any
      research aimed at characterizing tumor heterogeneity. Immunohistochemistry (IHC)
      also plays an important role in the differentiation of tumor types, assessing
      aggressiveness. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Investigated group consisted of 50
      patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma, for each were recorded
      clinicopathological data and harvested samples intraoperatively, which were
      included in paraffin blocks. We perform Hematoxylin-Eosin staining for
      histological grade and other indices. IHC study used Avidin-Biotin-Peroxidase
      (ABC), with the markers: CK7, CK20, MUC1, MUC2, Ki-67, PCNA, p53, KRAS, BCL2,
      PTEN, EGFR. The resulting data were analyzed by statistical methods. RESULTS:
      Most of colorectal adenocarcinoma studied had no special histological features
      and had G2 grade. IHC detected in most cases the CK20+/CK7- phenotype (78%) and
      MUC1 (74%) protein expression. The proliferation markers (Ki-67 and PCNA) were
      present in all tumor mass with a variable index, which shows high intratumoral
      heterogeneity, but p53 and KRAS were distributed more uniformly, showing low
      intratumoral heterogeneity. PTEN was expressed nuclearly in 86% of the cases and
      EGFR in 42%. CONCLUSIONS: The expression profiles of cytokeratins and mucins in
      the colorectal adenocarcinomas are useful in defining tumor phenotypes with
      different prognosis and therapy. We found a significant positive correlation
      between KRAS protein expression and BCL2 and TP53 expression. The study
      demonstrated the intratumoral and intertumoral heterogeneity, expressed at
      phenotypic level.

PMID- 25826504
TI  - The prevalence of the red cell morphology changes in patients with type 2
      diabetes mellitus.
AB  - Previous studies have shown that hematological alterations are a common finding
      in patients with diabetes. The aim of our study was to estimate the prevalence of
      the red cell morphology changes in diabetic patients and their correlation with
      markers of glycemic control. Thirty patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were
      recruited for this study. Patient demographics, relevant concomitant illnesses
      and medical history were recorded. Anthropometric, biochemical parameters
      (fasting plasma glucose - FPG, glycated hemoglobin - HbA1c, glomerular filtration
      rate - GFR) and morphology of blood smear were assessed. Results were compared
      with the same measurements in 30 subjects without diabetes mellitus. The groups
      were similar in terms of age and gender but there were statistically significant
      differences for the recorded parameters in patients of study group and control
      subjects. Regarding the assessment of FPG, in the study group were recorded
      averages of 217.70+/-73.20 mg/dL compared with controls that compared with
      controls that had a blood glucose value of 90.03+/-6.59 mg/dL. In the study
      group, mean HbA1c was 7.95+/-1.99%. For the control group, the mean value of
      HbA1c was 5.65+/-0.32%. In the study group, GFR ranged between 47.70 and 118.90
      mL/min./1.73 m2. For the control group, GFR values were between 88.00 and 130.00
      mL/min./1.73 m2. In the analysis of blood cytology for the study group, there
      were changes in the smear type hypochromia, anisocytosis and poikilocyosis (20
      patients - 66.66%). In terms of red cell morphology, changes were recorded
      anulocytes type, red cells in "mark to the target fired" (codocytes), bream
      (leptocytes), schizocytes, and red cells in "drop" (dacryocytes). We observed a
      high prevalence of the red cell morphology changes in diabetic patients compared
      with non-diabetic subjects. Our findings suggest the need of screening for
      routine hematological tests in type 2 diabetes mellitus. 

PMID- 25826505
TI  - A pilot study on the role of fractal analysis in the microscopic evaluation of
      colorectal cancers.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents one of the most common cancers
      worldwide; its growing incidence and prevalence quickly transforming it into a
      major health burden. Globally, survival varies from one country to another and
      constantly remains significantly low, despite increasing diagnostic efforts and
      tools. Fractal geometry and, specifically, fractal dimension (FD) are interesting
      tools to quantify cellular elements. In this paper, we aimed to identify and
      quantify by fractal analysis the elements obtained from medical images from
      pathological and immunohistochemical investigations of colonic biopsy fragments.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prospectively selected the study group between
      September 2014 and January 2015, from patients who underwent surgery for
      previously diagnosed CRC at the Emergency County Hospital, Craiova, Romania. We
      performed the histological and immunohistochemical studies by following
      standardized protocols. Anti-Ki67, anti-p53 and anti-VEGF-C antibodies were used
      for immunostaining. We performed the fractal analysis with an in-house tool and
      we performed statistical tests on the results. RESULTS: We have included 41 (29
      males) consecutive patients with different characteristics; after analyzing the
      FDs we found significant differences between adenocarcinomas and the other types
      of colonic cancers (p<0.001). However, we found no significant differences
      between most types of CRCs. We found significant statistical differences when
      compared well-differentiated tumors with all other stages (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS:
      Fractal analysis with the calculation of FDs is a novel, interesting tool, for
      determining the pathologic diagnosis of CRCs and may further improve diagnostic
      and prognostic rates, thus improving patient care.

PMID- 25826506
TI  - CT characters versus morphopathological characters in pharyngeal squamous cell
      carcinoma.
AB  - Pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma is a rare neoplasm, whose incidence increases
      with age. Computed tomography (CT) imaging is an easy way to explore the
      pharyngeal region, having the advantage of being able to highlight and
      characterize the existence of a tumor in this region, and to determine its local
      extension and lymphatic metastasis. In this group were included a total of 27
      patients, who, following the histopathological findings were diagnosed with
      pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma and who have previously received a CT scan. CT
      examination protocol included a native scan and post-intravenous administration
      of contrast medium, in both the arterial phase and in parenchymal and venous
      phase. The scan was made with 2 mm thin sections, subsequently were performed
      coronal and sagittal reconstructions. The examination plan included the thoracic
      region down to the aperture. The paper tries to establish correlations between
      the morphological appearance and semiological computed tomography characters of
      the lesions. 

PMID- 25826507
TI  - Relevant infrastructural alterations in invasive pancreatic ductal
      adenocarcinoma.
AB  - In this study, we focus our interest on some peculiar infrastructural
      abnormalities detected in a pancreatic cancer case. Our electron microscopic
      observations underline the high plasticity of the pancreatic parenchyma cells.
      Tumor pancreatic exocrine lesions are represented by putative ductal and acinar
      cells, which proliferate and grow in a haphazard pattern, detrimental to
      endocrine counterpart. The tumor cells do not exhibit neither a pure ductular or
      ductal nor a pure acinar phenotype, but tumor lesions represented by neoplastic
      ductal cells with invasive growth are by far prevalently. In our pancreatic
      cancer case, electron microscopic investigation clearly shows that a plethora of
      the epithelial cells from the tumor lesions contain large areas of autophagy
      leading to the pleomorphic inclusions represented by fibrillary/filamentous
      inclusions frequently associated with hyaline-amorphous material, and secondary
      lysosomes. One of the mostly striking and important finding in this report for a
      case of pancreatic cancer is the high fragility (extensive dissolutions) of
      plasma membrane of tumor cells leading to pseudo-syncytia formation. Desmosomal
      junctions are severely altered, almost missing. Plasma membranes showed shedding
      membrane vesicles. Extravasated inflammatory cells contribute to the dramatic and
      extensive destructive areas of epithelial cells as well as tumor-stroma
      counterpart, including the basement membrane. All above severe infrastructural
      abnormalities, especially down regulation of cell-cell and cell-extracellular
      matrix adhesions might result in aberrant cell behavior and, consequently, much
      care should be taken for the postoperatory patient evolution. 

PMID- 25826508
TI  - The use of cone beam computed tomography in the diagnosis and management of
      internal root resorption associated with chronic apical periodontitis: a case
      report.
AB  - Internal root resorption is a consequence of chronic pulp inflammation. Later on,
      the pulp necrosis followed by a chronic apical periodontitis is installed. Hence,
      usually, in clinical practice, both lesions have to be simultaneously managed.
      Conventional periapical radiograph is mandatory in diagnosis. Improving the
      diagnosis and management of both lesions, cone beam computed tomography proves to
      be more reliable than conventional radiography. 

PMID- 25826509
TI  - Silent sinus syndrome--report of a case.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The "silent sinus syndrome" is a rare entity that was first
      described in 1964 and given this name 30 years later. Although it is well
      described both from clinically and radiologically point of view we consider that
      its rarity still makes it a subject for report. CASE PRESENTATION: A 46-year-old
      patient was admitted for facial asymmetry, diplopia, unilateral left
      enophthalmos, and inferior displacement of the eye globe, and decreased occlusal
      pressure in left dentate region. CT scan revealed interior bulging of all left
      maxillary sinus walls with osteolysis and intense opacification, enlargement of
      the left middle meatus especially in the posterior part and lateralization of the
      uncinate process. Nasal endoscopy with 00 rigid scope visualized mild deviation
      to the right of the nasal septum, enlargement of the left middle meatus by the
      lateral deviation of the left intersinusal septum and uncinate process. Surgery
      was scheduled and performed a left maxillary sinus antrostomy. Histopathological
      examination on the biopsies revealed inflammation. A complete study was performed
      to assess the elements of inflammation. Postoperative course was simple. Follow
      up visit at three and six months, showed significant regression of diplopia and
      improved facial aspect. CONCLUSIONS: Silent sinus syndrome is a well-defined
      clinical entity with characteristic imagistic findings. Surgical intervention
      that restores sinus drainage will interrupt the pathogenesis of the disease and
      lead to its progressive regression. Topographic associations and density of
      inflammatory elements analyzed in relation with neoforming vessels suggest their
      implication in reparatory angiogenesis characteristic to chronic inflammation.
      Modulating activity in the frame of inflammatory process, of the T-lymphocytes
      and especially of T-lymphocytes may represent a target for the therapeutic
      management. Surgery can and should be performed by an endoscopic approach.

PMID- 25826510
TI  - Giant gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the stomach.
AB  - Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal
      malignancies of the digestive tract. Gastric localization is the most frequent.
      The aim of this study is to evaluate the importance of immunohistochemical
      factors (CD117, CD34, alpha-SMA, vimentin, p53, Ki67) in diagnostic and size
      tumor and mitotic activity as prognostic factors for these tumors. We present the
      case of a 66-year-old male patient with a giant gastric GIST. Like in the vast
      majority, the symptomatology in this patient has long been faint, despite the
      large tumor size, and when it became manifest, it was nonspecific. Imagery wise,
      the computer tomography (CT) scan was the most efficient, showing the origin of
      the tumor from the greater curvature of the stomach, its dimensions, as well as
      the relations with the other abdominal viscera. Surgery in this patient was en
      bloc, according to the principles of GIST. The histological aspect is
      characterized by a proliferation of spindle cells positive for CD117 and CD34.
      Despite complete microscopic resection, the size of the tumor (25*20*27 cm) and
      the mitotic activity (21/5 mm2) remains important relapse factor. 

PMID- 25826511
TI  - A case with tumor of left parotid gland and denture stomatitis.
AB  - The article discuss the case of an edentulous patient presented to the dental
      clinic for pain and burning sensation of oral mucosa and diagnosed subsequently
      with oxyphilic adenoma. A 58-year-old patient, with maxillary edentulism, treated
      with complete denture, presented to the Clinic of Prosthetic Dentistry of the
      Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova,
      Romania, for pain of oral mucosa and bad stability of denture. The diagnosis of
      erythematous denture stomatitis as consequence of salivary flow reduction was
      establish after patient's clinical examination, and by unstimulated sialometry.
      Clinical exam suggested hyposalivation could be a consequence of a tumor situated
      at the level of the left parotid gland. The echography confirmed the diagnosis of
      left parotid gland tumor. The tumor was surgical removed and histopathological
      exam confirmed oxyphilic adenoma. Education of patient for wearing new denture
      while maintaining a strict oral hygiene and dealing with low salivary flow was
      the treatment for denture stomatitis. General dentist has an important role in
      finding and diagnosing patients with systemic diseases, especially salivary
      tumors. 

PMID- 25826512
TI  - Pathological aspects underlying pancreatogenous hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia-
      report of three cases.
AB  - Pancreatogenous hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia (PHH) is a rare disorder determined
      by an abnormally high secretion of insulin in the pancreas, in the absence of
      other medical or pharmacological factors. Either beta-cell tumors (insulinomas)
      or beta-cell hyperplasia (nesidioblastosis) can determine this pathology. Most
      publications on insulinomas or nesidioblastosis approached these subjects from a
      clinical point of view. This paper aims to analyze pathological aspects
      underlying pancreatogenous hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia. We present two cases of
      insulinomas with unusual pancreatic localization and size, one of them showing
      amyloid deposits in the stroma. In both cases, immunohistochemistry confirmed the
      clinical and imagistic supposition. The third reported case refers to a 57-year
      old patient with nesidioblastosis with isolated disposition of endocrine cells
      and areas of focal organization, both morphological aspects being extremely rare
      in adults. Although clinical and laboratory data are usually identical in the two
      forms of PHH, histopathological and immunohistochemical diagnosis is essential in
      differentiating insulinomas from nesidioblastosis, as the surgical management is
      different: enucleation for insulinomas and total or subtotal pancreatectomy for
      nesidioblastosis. 

PMID- 25826513
TI  - Microscopic morphological changes of the tooth surface in relation to fixed
      orthodontic treatment.
AB  - Orthodontic treatment has, as any other medical intervention, in addition to its
      benefits, side effects, some of them being perceived as unavoidable. The aim of
      this case series was to microscopically evaluate the changes of the tooth surface
      in relation to fixed orthodontic treatment. A case series study was implemented
      by the usage of four extracted first maxillary premolars, from patients with
      previous orthodontic treatment, of 12 and 23 months. Analysis was performed using
      the high precision stereomicroscope (Axiovert, Carl Zeiss, Germany), at
      magnifications from 10* to 50*. The tooth surface corresponding to the bracket
      bonding area registered numerous disorderly grooves and cracks, with various
      directions and depths, and was flattened, having lower convexity compared to
      teeth surfaces where brackets were not bonded. Root resorption lacunae were more
      frequently observed in teeth under orthodontic treatment, these having various
      depths, and sizes considerably larger than those observed in teeth without
      orthodontic treatment. Following orthodontic treatment, teeth exhibit changes
      that can be perceived as being directly linked to this medical intervention.
      These teeth changes usually have low or moderate severity, which can be
      influenced at some degree by the clinical conduct of the orthodontic treatment.
      The stereomicroscope proved to be a high sensitivity tool for the analysis of
      morphological changes of teeth in relation to the fixed orthodontic treatment. 

PMID- 25826514
TI  - Extrarenal retroperitoneal angiomyolipoma with unusual evolution.
AB  - The aim of this paper is to present the case of an extrarenal retroperitoneal
      angiomyolipoma with unusual evolution, due to the herniation through the inguinal
      canal, determining an extraperitoneal hernia. A ureteral duplicity and associated
      hydronephrosis contributed to the peculiarity of the case. The case was operated
      (en block tumor and right kidney removal), the postoperative evolution being
      favorable at seven years after the surgery. 

PMID- 25826516
TI  - Vagus nerve schwannoma in the parapharyngeal space: surgical, histological and
      immunohistochemical aspects. A case report.
AB  - Tumors of the parapharyngeal space are rare accounting approximately for 0.5% of
      all head and neck tumors. In the retrostyloid space, schwannomas are a more
      common finding, in contrast to other tumors. Usually, they present with a variety
      of slight symptoms until they grow in size and compress surrounding organs.
      Surgical treatment of parapharyngeal space tumors is difficult; due to the
      anatomical complex area, they develop in, and include several approaches,
      according to its size and relations. In this paper, we present a case of a 63
      year-old female with a vagus nerve schwannoma in the parapharyngeal space. Beside
      the surgical difficulties, the resected tumor had a peculiar histopathological
      aspect (large areas of degeneration and atypia and little typical palisading)
      that compelled a thorough histological and immunohistochemical evaluation for
      positive and differential diagnosis. 

PMID- 25826515
TI  - Gestational choriocarcinoma after term pregnancy: a case report.
AB  - Choriocarcinoma coexisting with or after a "normal" pregnancy has an incidence of
      one per 160 000 pregnancies. In case of choriocarcinoma after term pregnancy,
      early diagnosis by histopathological examination of the placenta is very
      important, the precocity of the diagnosis influencing the prognosis and tumor
      response to chemotherapy. In this paper, we report the case of a 29-year-old
      woman gravidity 2, parity 2, with metastatic choriocarcinoma after term
      pregnancy, diagnosed at four months after the delivery of a healthy baby. An
      episode of abundant vaginal bleeding occurred after four months from delivery.
      The local exam revealed a vaginal tumor whose pathological examination on biopsy
      samples was inconclusive. Subsequently, she was admitted in our clinic with
      abundant vaginal bleeding, severe anemia and fever. Abdominal ultrasonography
      revealed an intracavitary uterine tumoral mass with signs of myometrial invasion
      to the uterine serosa, strong Doppler signal and moderate ascites. Pulmonary X
      ray and computed tomography scan excluded extrapelvic tumoral masses. The
      pretreatment human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) level was 31 030 IU/mL and her
      FIGO risk factor score was 8 (high-risk group). Total hysterectomy with bilateral
      salpingo-oophorectomy and omentectomy was performed as an optimal cytoreduction.
      Postoperative remaining lesions were represented by the metastasis located in the
      lower two-thirds of the vagina. Histopathological examination revealed uterine
      choriocarcinoma with ovarian metastasis. Postoperative was initiated four courses
      of polychemotherapy. Case evolution was favorable, with the normalization of the
      betaHCG value in two months postoperative and complete remission of the vaginal
      metastasis in six weeks postoperative. 

PMID- 25826517
TI  - Analyzing the morphology and intensity of occlusal contacts in implant-prosthetic
      restorations using T-Scan system.
AB  - The dentists must have solid knowledge in occlusology in order to obtain
      predictable long-term results for the implant-prosthetic treatment. The aim of
      our study was to verify if, with methods and materials currently used in any
      dental office for occlusal equilibration, the dentist can successfully integrate
      the implant-prosthetic restoration in the habitual occlusion of the patient.
      Using the T-Scan II system, we analyzed occlusion of three mandibular class III
      Kennedy edentulous male patients, from a private practice in Bucharest (Romania),
      all missing the first mandibular molar and all wearing a metal-ceramic crown on
      implant. In all these cases, the occlusion of the crowns was adjusted using
      articulating paper and vinyl polysiloxane biting material. The analysis of
      occlusion with the T-Scan II system in those three cases showed that the crowns
      were successfully integrated in the habitual occlusion. This study proves that
      those traditional methods, which are most frequently used in practice, are good
      enough to adjust the morphology and intensity of the occlusal contacts, if they
      are correctly and conscientiously used. 

PMID- 25826518
TI  - Anatomopathological findings in scars: comparative study between different
      specimens.
AB  - In spite of the remarkable progress science and medicine have experienced, many
      facts concerning healing processes and pathological scars are still unknown or
      incompletely explained. This paper is part of a larger study (research for a PhD
      thesis) concerning new approaches in the prevention and treatment of pathological
      post-burn scars. We present and analyze the cases of some patients who developed
      abnormal scars in order to understand and point out the characteristics, that
      different types of pathological scars have in common and how we can differentiate
      them. Knowing what issue to address is the key to any successful therapy. Thus,
      the information we obtained will help us in applying more appropriate and
      efficient methods of treatment and in our further research: comparing the
      efficiency of newer therapies to that of older ones. 

PMID- 25826519
TI  - Biphasic synovial sarcoma in a 19-year-old pregnant woman: a case report.
AB  - Synovial sarcoma is a rare malignant tumor of mesenchymal multipotent cells. We
      hereby present a case of synovial sarcoma of the upper left thigh. A 19-year-old
      patient was referred to our clinic by another hospital in Bucharest, Romania, for
      a soft tissue mass in the left upper thigh. Local examination of the left thigh
      revealed a 15/13 cm, ovoid, painful upon touch, soft tissue mass occupying the
      proximal-medial aspect of the thigh. Bilateral inguinal nodes' enlargement was
      noticed. Upon suspecting regional node involvement, the surgical team decided to
      perform left limb amputation due to tumor size and the proximity to major
      arterial and nervous trunks as well as the femoral shaft, making curative surgery
      and 'free of disease' resection margins improbable. The patient refused the
      operation. The surgical team (plastic surgeon, orthopedic surgeon) decided to
      attempt limb-sparing surgery. After tumor resection, free-of-disease surgical
      margins were achieved. The pathological examination as well as the
      immunohistochemistry (IHC) diagnosed a large biphasic synovial sarcoma warranting
      oncologic treatment. The association between tumor growth and pregnancy poses
      important therapeutic problems, such as the use of preoperative chemotherapy,
      potential pregnancy termination, limb amputation versus limb salvage intervention
      and types of protocols of chemotherapy or radiotherapy indicated. 

PMID- 25826520
TI  - Thoracic endometriosis with a long delay in diagnosis.
AB  - This paper describes a case of thoracic endometriosis in 36-year-old woman with a
      long delay in diagnosis. At the admission in the hospital, the patient had a
      medical history of persistent dysmenorrhea since the age of 13, infertility and
      an episode of total right pneumothorax two months ago successfully resolved by
      minimum pleurotomy of the right hemitorax. She came with moderate pain on right
      hemithorax and dyspnea, which occurred on the first day of menstruation but she
      did not have any other respiratory symptoms such as hemoptysis, cough.
      Radiological imaging (chest radiography and computer tomography) at the time of
      admission confirmed recurrence of the right pneumothorax. She underwent surgical
      treatment of the right pneumothorax using a single-port video-assisted approach.
      Intraoperative macroscopic lesions were found catamenial pneumothorax
      characteristic diagnosis and biopsy material taken (parietal pleura) for
      histopathology. Immuno-histochemical tests confirmed the diagnosis of thoracic
      endometriosis. The gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue was received by the
      patient early after surgery and there was no clinical or radiological recurrence
      at a four months follow-up. 

PMID- 25826521
TI  - Velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord vessels with vasa praevia--a case
      report.
AB  - Among the abnormal cord insertion pathology, velamentous cord insertion
      associated with rupture of vasa praevia is the most severe condition related to
      the outcome of the newborn. In velamentous cord insertion, the fetal vessels run
      freely through the fetal membranes without protection from Wharton's jelly,
      umbilical vessels diverging as they traverse the membranes. When the membranes
      are ruptured, complete tearing of fetal vessels through the torn membranes or
      partial rupture near the site of membrane rupture may occur. Velamentous
      insertion occurs in approximately 1% of singleton gestations, but is observed in
      as many as 15% of monochorionic twin gestations. The risk of perinatal death was
      doubled in pregnancies with velamentous cord insertion relative to normal cord
      insertion. This condition can be diagnosed by ultrasonography with a sensitivity
      of 67% and specificity of 100% in the second trimester. We report a case of a
      newborn who came from a velamentous cord insertion condition associated with
      rupture of vasa praevia after the spontaneously membranes rupture. After a
      difficult resuscitation and stabilization, the newborn survived with a good
      outcome after the follow-up. 

PMID- 25826523
TI  - Pages from the history of the "Anatomical Meeting" from Cluj.
AB  - The "Anatomical Meeting" from Cluj was one of the most significant morpho
      clinical societies from Romania during the interwar period. It was created in
      1920 by Professor Titu Vasiliu (1885-1961). The purpose of our paper is to
      present the most important landmarks of this Society and to put into evidence its
      place in the Romanian series of morpho-clinical societies. Documentary Material:
      The activity reports of "Anatomical Meeting" from Cluj, summaries published in
      "Medical Cluj" journal referring to the presentations and discussions of the
      cases, which were held at different meetings of this Society. The activity of the
      "Anatomical Meeting" from Cluj increased, in a significantly and consistently
      way, the level of morphological and clinical training of physicians from Cluj.
      There are mentioned some of the most important presentations and the
      personalities which had special contributions in the evolution of this Society.
      CONCLUSIONS: The "Anatomical Meeting" was a scientific forum that propagated
      morpho-clinical concept in Romanian medicine, initially in Cluj, and then on a
      national level. It contributed to the collaboration between pathologists,
      clinicians and laboratory physicians from Cluj and favored scientific emulation
      between them. It also was a tribune from which were discussed a few new medical
      achievements.

PMID- 25826522
TI  - Squamous cell carcinoma developed on chronic venous leg ulcer.
AB  - Chronic venous leg ulcers (VLU), especially long-lasting non-healing ulcers, are
      among the risk factors for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Malignant
      transformation of a VLU is a rare finding and the relative risk of carcinomatous
      transformation is quite low (about 5.8). SCC arising in the context of a VLU has
      a particularly aggressive behavior. A 76-year-old male patient with no relevant
      medical familial history, with chronic venous insufficiency CEAP C6 for 10 years
      [recurrent leg ulcers with favorable outcome (healing) after specific local and
      systemic treatment], showing for about three years one ulcerated lesion located
      on the anterior upper third of the right calf non-responsive to specific
      treatment, which subsequently increased their size and merged. Biopsy sample was
      taken. Histopathology showed epidermal acanthosis, papillomatosis, intense
      parakeratosis, pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia, dysplasia and moderately
      differentiated squamous cell carcinoma with areas of acantholysis.
      Immunohistochemistry (Ki67, EMA, cytokeratin 34betaE12 and p63) was performed and
      all types of immunostaining were moderately to intense positive. Above-knee leg
      amputation and specific oncologic treatment were proposed as possible curative
      solutions but the patient refused. Ten months after diagnosis and discharge form
      the Department of Dermatology, the patient died. Patients with chronic venous leg
      ulcers and clinically suspicious lesions should be evaluated for malignant
      transformation of the venous lesion. When diagnosed, malignancy complicating a
      chronic venous leg ulcer requires a resolute treatment as it may be fatal. 

PMID- 25826524
TI  - First year medical students' attitude toward anatomical corpse dissection and its
      relationship with their personality.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Anatomy is an important and intense mandatory course offered during
      the first year of medical school. Corpse dissection is very important in Anatomy
      teaching, and first year students will encounter, most likely for the first time,
      a dead human body during Anatomy labs. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was
      to evaluate the anxiety experienced by medical students with no previous corpse
      dissection background just before, after a week, and then after a month of
      dissection labs, and to investigate the relationship between students'
      personality and their attitude towards dissection. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 138
      first year English Section medical students from the "Iuliu Hatieganu" University
      of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, completed a personality
      inventory, an anxiety scale and a questionnaire to assess their attitudes and
      reactions to anatomical dissection. RESULTS: The level of anxiety reported by
      students increased from before the first dissection encounter to after one month
      of dissection labs. CONCLUSIONS: There is a relationship between the Five Factor
      model of personality and students' attitudes towards dissection. Medical students
      could be better prepared for their first corpse dissection experience if the
      preparation before dissection would take in consideration their psychological
      traits.

PMID- 25826525
TI  - .Letter to the editor: Dante and human reproduction: concept of embryogenesis in
      the Middle Ages.

PMID- 25826526
TI  - DETECTION OF ANXIETY DISORDERS IN PRIMARY CARE: A META-ANALYSIS OF ASSISTED AND
      UNASSISTED DIAGNOSES.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that general practitioners (GPs) fail to diagnose
      up to half of common mental disorder cases. Yet no previous research has
      systematically summarized the evidence in the case of anxiety disorders. The aim
      of this review was to systematically assess and meta-analyze the diagnostic
      accuracy of GPs' assisted (i.e., using severity scales/diagnostic instruments)
      and unassisted (without such tools) diagnoses of anxiety disorders. METHODS:
      Systematic review (PROSPERO registry CRD42013006736) was conducted. Embase, Ovid
      Journals--Ovid SP Medline, Pubmed, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, and Science
      Direct were searched from January 1980 through June 2014. Seven investigators,
      working in pairs, evaluated studies for eligibility. The quality of included
      studies was assessed with the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies
      tool version 2 (QUADAS-2). The main outcome measures were sensitivity and
      specificity of clinical diagnoses of any anxiety disorder. We pooled sensitivity
      and specificity levels from included studies using bivariate meta-analyses.
      RESULTS: Twenty-four studies were included in the meta-analysis with a total
      sample of 34,902 patients. Pooled sensitivity and specificity were estimated at
      44.5% (95% CI 33.7-55.9%) and 90.8% (95% CI 87-93.5%). GPs' sensitivity was
      higher when diagnoses were assisted (63.6%, 95% CI 50.3-75.1%) than when
      unassisted (30.5%, 95% CI 20.7-42.5%) to the expense of some specificity loss
      (87.9%, 95% CI 81.3-92.4% vs. 91.4%, 95% CI 86.6-94.6%, respectively).
      Identification rates remained constant over time (P-value = .998). CONCLUSIONS:
      The use of diagnostic tools might improve detection of anxiety disorders in
      "primary care."

PMID- 25826527
TI  - Effects of aflatoxin b1 on T-cell subsets and mRNA expression of cytokines in the
      intestine of broilers.
AB  - This study was conducted to investigate the effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on T
      cell subsets and mRNA expression of cytokines in the small intestine of broilers.
      One hundred and fifty-six one-day-old healthy Cobb broilers were randomly divided
      into control group (0 mg/kg AFB1) and AFB1 group (0.6 mg/kg AFB1) with three
      replicates per group and 26 birds per replicate for 21 days, respectively. At 7,
      14, and 21 days of age, the duodenum, jejunum and ileum were sampled for
      analyzing T cell subsets (CD3+, CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+) by flow cytometry as well
      as IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha mRNA expression by qRT
      PCR. The percentages of T-cells in the intra-epithelial lymphocytes (IELs) and
      lamina propria lymphocytes (LPLs) of duodenum, jejunum and ileum in the AFB1
      group showed a decreased tendency in comparison to the control group. The mRNA
      expression of cytokines in the three intestinal segments in the AFB1 group
      presented a general decline compared with the control groups. Our data
      demonstrated that 0.6 mg/kg AFB1 in the broilers diet could reduce the
      percentages of T-cell subsets and the expression level of cytokine mRNA in the
      small intestine, implying that the immune function of the intestinal mucosa might
      be affected. The reduction of cytokines mRNA expression may be closely associated
      with the decreased proportions of T cells subsets induced by AFB1. 

PMID- 25826528
TI  - Application of single molecule fluorescence microscopy to characterize the
      penetration of a large amphiphilic molecule in the stratum corneum of human skin.
AB  - We report here on the application of laser-based single molecule total internal
      reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) to study the penetration of molecules
      through the skin. Penetration of topically applied drug molecules is often
      observed to be limited by the size of the respective drug. However, the molecular
      mechanisms which govern the penetration of molecules through the outermost layer
      of the skin are still largely unknown. As a model compound we have chosen a
      larger amphiphilic molecule (fluorescent dye ATTO-Oxa12) with a molecular weight
      >700 Da that was applied to excised human skin. ATTO-Oxa12 penetrated through the
      stratum corneum (SC) into the viable epidermis as revealed by TIRFM of
      cryosections. Single particle tracking of ATTO-Oxa12 within SC sheets obtained by
      tape stripping allowed us to gain information on the localization as well as the
      lateral diffusion dynamics of these molecules. ATTO-Oxa12 appeared to be highly
      confined in the SC lipid region between (intercellular space) or close to the
      envelope of the corneocytes. Three main distinct confinement sizes of 52 +/- 6,
      118 +/- 4, and 205 +/- 5 nm were determined. We conclude that for this
      amphiphilic model compound several pathways through the skin exist. 

PMID- 25826420
TI  - Development and validation of a risk score for chronic kidney disease in HIV
      infection using prospective cohort data from the D:A:D study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health issue for HIV-positive
      individuals, associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Development and
      implementation of a risk score model for CKD would allow comparison of the risks
      and benefits of adding potentially nephrotoxic antiretrovirals to a treatment
      regimen and would identify those at greatest risk of CKD. The aims of this study
      were to develop a simple, externally validated, and widely applicable long-term
      risk score model for CKD in HIV-positive individuals that can guide decision
      making in clinical practice. METHODS AND FINDINGS: A total of 17,954 HIV-positive
      individuals from the Data Collection on Adverse Events of Anti-HIV Drugs (D:A:D)
      study with >=3 estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) values after 1 January
      2004 were included. Baseline was defined as the first eGFR > 60 ml/min/1.73 m2
      after 1 January 2004; individuals with exposure to tenofovir, atazanavir,
      atazanavir/ritonavir, lopinavir/ritonavir, other boosted protease inhibitors
      before baseline were excluded. CKD was defined as confirmed (>3 mo apart) eGFR <=
      60 ml/min/1.73 m2. Poisson regression was used to develop a risk score,
      externally validated on two independent cohorts. In the D:A:D study, 641
      individuals developed CKD during 103,185 person-years of follow-up (PYFU;
      incidence 6.2/1,000 PYFU, 95% CI 5.7-6.7; median follow-up 6.1 y, range 0.3-9.1
      y). Older age, intravenous drug use, hepatitis C coinfection, lower baseline
      eGFR, female gender, lower CD4 count nadir, hypertension, diabetes, and
      cardiovascular disease (CVD) predicted CKD. The adjusted incidence rate ratios of
      these nine categorical variables were scaled and summed to create the risk score.
      The median risk score at baseline was -2 (interquartile range -4 to 2). There was
      a 1:393 chance of developing CKD in the next 5 y in the low risk group (risk
      score < 0, 33 events), rising to 1:47 and 1:6 in the medium (risk score 0-4, 103
      events) and high risk groups (risk score >= 5, 505 events), respectively. Number
      needed to harm (NNTH) at 5 y when starting unboosted atazanavir or
      lopinavir/ritonavir among those with a low risk score was 1,702 (95% CI 1,166
      3,367); NNTH was 202 (95% CI 159-278) and 21 (95% CI 19-23), respectively, for
      those with a medium and high risk score. NNTH was 739 (95% CI 506-1462), 88 (95%
      CI 69-121), and 9 (95% CI 8-10) for those with a low, medium, and high risk
      score, respectively, starting tenofovir, atazanavir/ritonavir, or another boosted
      protease inhibitor. The Royal Free Hospital Clinic Cohort included 2,548
      individuals, of whom 94 individuals developed CKD (3.7%) during 18,376 PYFU
      (median follow-up 7.4 y, range 0.3-12.7 y). Of 2,013 individuals included from
      the SMART/ESPRIT control arms, 32 individuals developed CKD (1.6%) during 8,452
      PYFU (median follow-up 4.1 y, range 0.6-8.1 y). External validation showed that
      the risk score predicted well in these cohorts. Limitations of this study
      included limited data on race and no information on proteinuria. CONCLUSIONS:
      Both traditional and HIV-related risk factors were predictive of CKD. These
      factors were used to develop a risk score for CKD in HIV infection, externally
      validated, that has direct clinical relevance for patients and clinicians to
      weigh the benefits of certain antiretrovirals against the risk of CKD and to
      identify those at greatest risk of CKD.

PMID- 25826530
TI  - Identification of an AMPK phosphorylation site in Drosophila TSC2 (gigas) that
      regulate cell growth.
AB  - AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an important metabolic regulator that
      mediates cellular adaptation to diverse stresses. One of the AMPK substrates,
      tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2), was suggested to mediate AMPK-induced
      silencing of mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling that is critical for cell growth.
      However, it is not known whether the AMPK-dependent TSC2 phosphorylation,
      originally observed in mammalian cells, is conserved in invertebrates. Here we
      show that energy depletion inhibits mTORC1 signaling through the AMPK-TSC2 axis
      in Drosophila S2 cells. We have discovered an AMPK phosphorylation site in TSC2
      like genes from many different invertebrate species including Drosophila. The
      site (Ser1338 in Drosophila TSC2) is specifically and efficiently phosphorylated
      by AMPK in vitro. To evaluate the functional role of this phosphorylation site in
      vivo, we generated transgenic flies that can express identical amount of either
      wild-type or phosphorylation-resistant mutant Drosophila TSC2 in a tissue
      specific manner. In response to transgenic Sestrin induction, which causes
      ectopic AMPK activation and subsequent mTORC1 inhibition, wild-type Drosophila
      TSC2 synergistically reduced tissue growth in the dorsal epithelium of Drosophila
      wings. However, phosphorylation-resistant mutant Drosophila TSC2 was unable to
      show such a growth-inhibiting effect, suggesting that this phosphorylation is
      important for AMPK-dependent regulation of cell growth. 

PMID- 25826531
TI  - Antiangiogenesis, loss of cell adhesion and apoptosis are involved in the
      antitumoral activity of Proteases from V. cundinamarcensis (C. candamarcensis) in
      murine melanoma B16F1.
AB  - The proteolytic enzymes from V. cundinamarcensis latex, (P1G10), display healing
      activity in animal models following various types of lesions. P1G10 or the
      purified isoforms act as mitogens on fibroblast and epithelial cells by
      stimulating angiogenesis and wound healing in gastric and cutaneous ulcers
      models. Based on evidence that plant proteinases act as antitumorals, we verified
      this effect on a murine melanoma model. The antitumoral effect analyzed mice
      survival and tumor development after subcutaneous administration of P1G10 into
      C57BL/6J mice bearing B16F1 low metastatic melanoma. Possible factors involved in
      the antitumoral action were assessed, i.e., cytotoxicity, cell adhesion and
      apoptosis in vitro, haemoglobin (Hb), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF),
      tumor growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)
      content and N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (NAG) activity. We observed that P1G10
      inhibited angiogenesis measured by the decline of Hb and VEGF within the tumor,
      and TGF-beta displayed a non-significant increase and TNF-alpha showed a minor
      non-significant reduction. On the other hand, there was an increase in NAG
      activity. In treated B16F1 cells, apoptosis was induced along with decreased cell
      binding to extracellular matrix components (ECM) and anchorage, without impairing
      viability. 

PMID- 25826529
TI  - A review of polyphenolics in oak woods.
AB  - Polyphenolics, which are ubiquitous in plants, currently are among the most
      studied phytochemicals because of their perceptible chemical properties and
      antioxidant activity. Oak barrels and their alternatives, which are widely used
      in winemaking nowadays, contribute polyphenolics to wines and are thought to play
      crucial roles in the development of wines during aging. This study summarizes the
      detailed information of polyphenolics in oak woods and their products by
      examining their structures and discussing their chemical reactions during wine
      aging. This paper evaluates the most recent developments in polyphenolic
      chemistry by summarizing their extraction, separation, and their identification
      by the use of chromatographic and spectral techniques. In addition, this paper
      also introduces polyphenol bioactive ingredients in other plant foods. 

PMID- 25826532
TI  - Rapid Characterization of Fatty Acids in Oleaginous Microalgae by Near-Infrared
      Spectroscopy.
AB  - The key properties of microalgal biodiesel are largely determined by the
      composition of its fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). The gas chromatography (GC)
      based techniques for fatty acid analysis involve energy-intensive and time
      consuming procedures and thus are less suitable for high-throughput screening
      applications. In the present study, a novel quantification method for microalgal
      fatty acids was established based on the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)
      technique. The lyophilized cells of oleaginous Chlorella containing different
      contents of lipids were scanned by NIRS and their fatty acid profiles were
      determined by GC-MS. NIRS models were developed based on the chemometric
      correlation of the near-infrared spectra with fatty acid profiles in algal
      biomass. The optimized NIRS models showed excellent performances for predicting
      the contents of total fatty acids, C16:0, C18:0, C18:1 and C18:3, with the
      coefficient of determination (R2) being 0.998, 0.997, 0.989, 0.991 and 0.997,
      respectively. Taken together, the NIRS method established here bypasses the
      procedures of cell disruption, oil extraction and transesterification, is rapid,
      reliable, and of great potential for high-throughput applications, and will
      facilitate the screening of microalgal mutants and optimization of their growth
      conditions for biodiesel production. 

PMID- 25826534
TI  - Reformulation of a clinical-dose system for carbon-ion radiotherapy treatment
      planning at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Japan.
AB  - At the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), more than 8,000
      patients have been treated for various tumors with carbon-ion (C-ion)
      radiotherapy in the past 20 years based on a radiobiologically defined clinical
      dose system. Through clinical experience, including extensive dose escalation
      studies, optimum dose-fractionation protocols have been established for
      respective tumors, which may be considered as the standards in C-ion
      radiotherapy. Although the therapeutic appropriateness of the clinical-dose
      system has been widely demonstrated by clinical results, the system incorporates
      several oversimplifications such as dose-independent relative biological
      effectiveness (RBE), empirical nuclear fragmentation model, and use of dose
      averaged linear energy transfer to represent the spectrum of particles. We took
      the opportunity to update the clinical-dose system at the time we started
      clinical treatment with pencil beam scanning, a new beam delivery method, in
      2011. The requirements for the updated system were to correct the
      oversimplifications made in the original system, while harmonizing with the
      original system to maintain the established dose-fractionation protocols. In the
      updated system, the radiation quality of the therapeutic C-ion beam was derived
      with Monte Carlo simulations, and its biological effectiveness was predicted with
      a theoretical model. We selected the most used C-ion beam with alphar = 0.764 Gy(
      1) and beta = 0.0615 Gy(-2) as reference radiation for RBE. The C-equivalent
      biological dose distribution is designed to allow the prescribed survival of
      tumor cells of the human salivary gland (HSG) in entire spread-out Bragg peak
      (SOBP) region, with consideration to the dose dependence of the RBE. This C
      equivalent biological dose distribution is scaled to a clinical dose distribution
      to harmonize with our clinical experiences with C-ion radiotherapy. Treatment
      plans were made with the original and the updated clinical-dose systems, and both
      physical and clinical dose distributions were compared with regard to the
      prescribed dose level, beam energy, and SOBP width. Both systems provided uniform
      clinical dose distributions within the targets consistent with the prescriptions.
      The mean physical doses delivered to targets by the updated system agreed with
      the doses by the original system within +/- 1.5% for all tested conditions. The
      updated system reflects the physical and biological characteristics of the
      therapeutic C-ion beam more accurately than the original system, while at the
      same time allowing the continued use of the dose-fractionation protocols
      established with the original system at NIRS.

PMID- 25826538
TI  - Should kidney donors be genotyped for APOL1 risk alleles?

PMID- 25826535
TI  - Systematic review of whole body vibration exercises in the treatment of cerebral
      palsy: Brief report.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Whole body vibration (WBV) is increasingly being used to improve
      balance and motor function and reduce the secondary complications associated with
      cerebral palsy (CP). The purpose of this study was to systematically appraise
      published research regarding the effects of static and/or dynamic exercise
      performed on a vibrating platform on gait, strength, spasticity and bone mineral
      density (BMD) within this population. METHODS: Systematic searches of six
      electronic databases identified five studies that met our inclusion criteria (2
      at Level II and 3 at Level III-2). Studies were analysed to determine: (a)
      participant characteristics; (b) optimal exercise and WBV treatment protocol; (c)
      effect on gait, strength, spasticity and BMD; and (d) the outcome measures used
      to evaluate effect. As data was not homogenous a meta-analysis was not possible.
      RESULTS: Several design limitations were identified and intervention protocols
      are poorly described. The effects on strength, gait, spasticity and BMD in
      persons with CP remain inconclusive with weak evidence that WBV may improve
      selected muscle strength and gait parameters and that prolonged exposure may
      improve BMD; there is currently no evidence that WBV can reduce spasticity.
      CONCLUSIONS: The evidence for exercise performed on a vibrating platform on
      mobility, strength, spasticity and BMD in CP remains scant and further larger
      scale investigations with controlled parameters to better understand the effects
      of WBV exercises in this population is recommended.

PMID- 25826540
TI  - Coronary artery stenosis: a new risk factor for chronic kidney injury?
AB  - Coronary artery stenosis induces renal inflammation and kidney injury in pigs
      even in the absence of myocardial infarction or clinically significant heart
      failure. This effect is aggravated by experimentally induced renovascular
      hypertension. Interestingly, oxidative stress originating from the ischemic
      myocardium was identified as a possible mediator of this new pathophysiological
      link between heart and kidney. Renin-angiotensin or sympathetic nervous system
      activation did not appear to play a role in the observed cardio-renal link. 

PMID- 25826541
TI  - JAK3 talks down to renal 25-hydroxyvitamin D 1alpha-hydroxylase.
AB  - 25-Hydroxyvitamin D 1alpha-hydroxylase CYP27B1 is expressed in several extrarenal
      tissues. In the immune system, and likely elsewhere, its expression is not
      regulated by calcium and phosphate homeostatic inputs. Umbach et al. provide
      evidence that inflammatory cytokine signaling may also control CYP27B1 expression
      in renal epithelia. Mice lacking JAK3, a kinase essential for immune homeostasis,
      displayed mild renal inflammation, elevated renal CYP27B1 expression, and altered
      phosphate metabolism, linking immune signaling to vitamin D metabolism in the
      kidney. 

PMID- 25826542
TI  - Take my breath away: necrosis in kidney transplants kills the lungs!
AB  - Necrosis is not only a regulated process, it is an interconnected molecular
      network allowing different genetically encoded forms that are more or less
      immunogenic. Zhao et al. elegantly illustrate this concept, underscore the need
      for combination therapy to successfully interfere with regulated necrosis, and
      identify the role of regulated necrosis in the pathophysiology of remote lung
      injury. 

PMID- 25826533
TI  - Elevated levels of endocannabinoids in chronic hepatitis C may modulate cellular
      immune response and hepatic stellate cell activation.
AB  - The endocannabinoid (EC) system is implicated in many chronic liver diseases,
      including hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection. Cannabis consumption is associated
      with fibrosis progression in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), however,
      the role of ECs in the development of CHC has never been explored. To study this
      question, anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) were quantified in
      samples of HCV patients and healthy controls by gas and liquid chromatography
      mass spectrometry. Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and monoaclyglycerol lipase
      (MAGL) activity was assessed by [3H]AEA and [3H]2-AG hydrolysis, respectively.
      Gene expression and cytokine release were assayed by TaqMan PCR and ELISpot,
      respectively. AEA and 2-AG levels were increased in plasma of HCV patients, but
      not in liver tissues. Hepatic FAAH and MAGL activity was not changed. In
      peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), ECs inhibited IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha,
      and IL-2 secretion. Inhibition of IL-2 by endogenous AEA was stronger in PBMC
      from HCV patients. In hepatocytes, 2-AG induced the expression of IL-6, -17A, -32
      and COX-2, and enhanced activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) co-cultivated
      with PBMC from subjects with CHC. In conclusion, ECs are increased in plasma of
      patients with CHC and might reveal immunosuppressive and profibrogenic effects. 

PMID- 25826543
TI  - Friends, social networks, and progressive chronic kidney disease.
AB  - A report by Dunkler et al. reminds us that social factors are relevant for
      today's clinical scientist and practitioner. They report that an increasing
      number of friends reduces the incidence and progression of chronic kidney disease
      in type 2 diabetes. The observation that 'friends don't let friends' develop
      kidney disease suggests that social factors, as well as biomarkers, may be
      relevant in developing 'personalized renal medicine' and may identify areas for
      future nephrology research and education. 

PMID- 25826544
TI  - Induction of nitric oxide release with nebivolol may improve endothelial
      dysfunction in polycystic kidney disease.

PMID- 25826545
TI  - The authors reply.

PMID- 25826546
TI  - The authors reply.

PMID- 25826547
TI  - Race, ethnicity, and pediatric transplantation: unanswered question.

PMID- 25826548
TI  - COL4A3/COL4A4 heterozygous mutations with TBMN presenting as focal segmental
      glomerulosclerosis.

PMID- 25826549
TI  - The author replies.

PMID- 25826550
TI  - Pitfalls with nitric oxide synthase activity assays and their avoidance by gas
      chromatography-mass spectrometry.

PMID- 25826551
TI  - The authors reply.

PMID- 25826553
TI  - The authors reply.

PMID- 25826552
TI  - Statins in the prevention of lithium-associated diabetes insipidus: preliminary
      findings.

PMID- 25826554
TI  - The authors reply.

PMID- 25826555
TI  - Cardiovascular evaluation of potential transplant recipient: from non-US
      perspective.

PMID- 25826556
TI  - The metabolomics grail: promising although not yet holy.

PMID- 25826557
TI  - Shocking urine.

PMID- 25826558
TI  - SPECT/CT to diagnose pleuroperitoneal communication-associated hydrothorax in
      peritoneal dialysis.

PMID- 25826560
TI  - Examining the effects of accommodation and caregiver burden on relationship
      satisfaction in caregivers of individuals with OCD.
AB  - Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating condition that does not
      always respond well to treatment. People with OCD often require a great deal of
      assistance from caregivers or family members, which is referred to as family
      accommodations. Caregivers may experience a great deal of stress, depression, and
      other problems as a result of caring for their loved one with OCD. They may have
      decreased relationship satisfaction due to the accommodations required by their
      family member. The present study examines the experience family members have of
      caring for someone with OCD and how it relates to caregiver burden, relationship
      satisfaction, and level of family accommodations. Participants for this study
      included 50 caregivers of individuals with OCD. Analyses were primarily
      correlational in nature. Results found that high relationship satisfaction was
      correlated with caregiver burden and OCD severity. 

PMID- 25826561
TI  - Personality styles and defense mechanisms in a community sample of adolescents:
      an exploratory study.
AB  - This study aimed to test if the preference for using certain types of defense
      mechanisms, according to Ihilevich and Gleser's (1969, 1986) perspective, is
      associated with personality styles, proposed by Millon (1993), and also, aimed to
      test if both constructs give a contribution to the identification of global types
      of psychological functioning in adolescents. Eight hundred and thirty
      adolescents, ranging in age from 14 to 19 years (M = 16.64, SD = 1.9)
      participated in the study. The Portuguese versions of the Defense Mechanisms
      Inventory for Adolescents and the Millon Adolescents Clinical Inventory were
      administered. Multiple linear regression analysis and principal component
      analysis were computed. Results demonstrate an association between defense
      mechanisms and personality styles and both constructs contribute to the
      identification of two types of psychological functioning in adolescents: an
      internalizing type and an externalizing type. 

PMID- 25826562
TI  - An evaluation of the construct of earned security in adolescents: evidence from
      an inpatient sample.
AB  - In adult attachment research, a group of individuals who convey secure
      attachments despite recalling difficult early caregiver relationships has been
      identified. The term earned security refers to individuals in this group, whereas
      continuous security refers to individuals who convey secure attachments and
      describe caring early relationships. Evidence on the validity of earned security
      in adults is mixed--with one longitudinal study showing that earned secure
      adults, despite contrary recollections, are actually more likely to have
      experienced positive caregiving than continuous secure adults. There is currently
      no evidence of earned security in adolescence, and exploring it in this age group
      may help shed light on the overall problem of the validity of this construct.
      Therefore, the broad aim of this study was to examine the construct of earned
      security in a group of inpatient adolescents. First, the authors aimed to
      identify a group of adolescents with secure attachments and memories of difficult
      caregiver relationships (i.e., proposed earned secure group) in a sample of 240
      inpatient adolescents. Next, to explore external validity, the authors examined
      whether this group differed from others with regard to internalizing distress and
      emotion regulation. Findings indicated that a subset of secure adolescents recall
      difficult caregiving, as has been noted in adults, and that they differ from
      others with regard to emotion regulation. Despite this preliminary evidence that
      earned security can be identified in adolescents, the authors conclude with a
      discussion of the caveats of applying this construct in adolescents as well as
      adults.

PMID- 25826563
TI  - Recovery from first-episode psychosis: a dialogical perspective.
AB  - This study aims to understand the process of change in self and its relationship
      to recovery in the first 3 months following first-episode psychosis (FEP).
      Because psychosis is understood as a disorder of self, theories of self are
      needed to consider how sense of self is affected and restored. The authors used
      semistructured interviews to explore the experiences of 12 young people who had
      been diagnosed with FEP. The interviews were conducted at two time points: during
      the first month following the onset of psychosis and 3 months later. The authors
      employed Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to explicate interview data and
      explore the experience of change following FEP. Themes that emerged in the data
      came under two superordinate themes: loss of self and strengthening of self.
      Dialogical theory of self was used to interpret the findings and explore the
      relationship between sense of self and recovery for young people during this
      critical phase following FEP. 

PMID- 25826565
TI  - It's a bit over, is that ok? The subtle surplus from tandem alternative splicing.
AB  - Tandem alternative splice sites (TASS) form a defined class of alternative
      splicing and give rise to mRNA insertion/deletion variants with only small size
      differences. Previous work has confirmed evolutionary conservation of TASS
      elements while many cases show only low tissue specificity of isoform ratios. We
      pinpoint stochasticity and noise as important methodological issues for the
      dissection of TASS isoform patterns. Resolving such uncertainties, a recent
      report showed regulation in a cell culture system, with shifts of alternative
      splicing isoform ratios dependent on cell density. This novel type of regulation
      affects not only multiple TASS isoforms, but also other alternative splicing
      classes, in a concerted manner. Here, we discuss how specific regulatory network
      architectures may be realized through the novel regulation type and highlight the
      role of differential isoform functions as a key step in order to better
      understand the functional role of TASS. 

PMID- 25826566
TI  - A cis-regulatory antisense RNA represses translation in Vibrio cholerae through
      extensive complementarity and proximity to the target locus.
AB  - As with all facultative pathogens, Vibrio cholerae must optimize its cellular
      processes to adapt to different environments with varying carbon sources and to
      environmental stresses. More specifically, in order to metabolize mannitol, V.
      cholerae must regulate the synthesis of MtlA, a mannitol transporter protein
      produced exclusively in the presence of mannitol. We previously showed that a cis
      acting small RNA (sRNA) expressed by V. cholerae, MtlS, appears to post
      transcriptionally downregulate the expression of mtlA and is produced in the
      absence of mannitol. We hypothesized that since it is complementary to the 5'
      untranslated region (UTR) of mtlA mRNA, MtlS may affect synthesis of MtlA by
      forming an mtlA-MtlS complex that blocks translation of the mRNA through
      occlusion of its ribosome binding site. To test this hypothesis, we used in vitro
      translation assays in order to examine the role MtlS plays in mtlA regulation and
      found that MtlS is sufficient to suppress translation of transcripts harboring
      the 5' UTR of mtlA. However, in a cellular context, the 5' UTR of mtlA is not
      sufficient for targeted repression by endogenous MtlS; additional segments from
      the coding region of mtlA play a role in the ability of the sRNA to regulate
      translation of mtlA mRNA. Additionally, proximity of transcription sites between
      the sRNA and mRNA significantly affects the efficacy of MtlS. 

PMID- 25826567
TI  - Diverse selective regimes shape genetic diversity at ADAR genes and at their
      coding targets.
AB  - A-to-I RNA editing operated by ADAR enzymes is extremely common in mammals.
      Several editing events in coding regions have pivotal physiological roles and
      affect protein sequence (recoding events) or function. We analyzed the
      evolutionary history of the 3 ADAR family genes and of their coding targets.
      Evolutionary analysis indicated that ADAR evolved adaptively in primates, with
      the strongest selection in the unique N-terminal domain of the interferon
      inducible isoform. Positively selected residues in the human lineage were also
      detected in the ADAR deaminase domain and in the RNA binding domains of ADARB1
      and ADARB2. During the recent history of human populations distinct variants in
      the 3 genes increased in frequency as a result of local selective pressures. Most
      selected variants are located within regulatory regions and some are in linkage
      disequilibrium with eQTLs in monocytes. Finally, analysis of conservation scores
      of coding editing sites indicated that editing events are counter-selected within
      regions that are poorly tolerant to change. Nevertheless, a minority of recoding
      events occurs at highly conserved positions and possibly represents the
      functional fraction. These events are enriched in pathways related to HIV-1
      infection and to epidermis/hair development. Thus, both ADAR genes and their
      targets evolved under variable selective regimes, including purifying and
      positive selection. Pressures related to immune response likely represented major
      drivers of evolution for ADAR genes. As for their coding targets, we suggest that
      most editing events are slightly deleterious, although a minority may be
      beneficial and contribute to antiviral response and skin homeostasis. 

PMID- 25826568
TI  - Noncoding regions of C. elegans mRNA undergo selective adenosine to inosine
      deamination and contain a small number of editing sites per transcript.
AB  - ADARs (Adenosine deaminases that act on RNA) "edit" RNA by converting adenosines
      to inosines within double-stranded regions. The primary targets of ADARs are long
      duplexes present within noncoding regions of mRNAs, such as introns and 3'
      untranslated regions (UTRs). Because adenosine and inosine have different base
      pairing properties, editing within these regions can alter splicing and
      recognition by small RNAs. However, despite numerous studies identifying multiple
      editing sites in these genomic regions, little is known about the extent to which
      editing sites co-occur on individual transcripts or the functional output of
      these combinatorial editing events. To begin to address these questions, we
      performed an ultra-deep sequencing analysis of 4 Caenorhabditis elegans 3' UTRs
      that are known ADAR targets. Synchronous editing events were determined for the
      long duplexes in vivo. Furthermore, the validity of each editing event was
      confirmed by sequencing the same regions of mRNA from worms that lack A-to-I
      editing. This analysis identified a large number of editing sites that can occur
      within each 3' UTR, but interestingly, each individual transcript contained only
      a small fraction of these A-to-I editing events. In addition, editing patterns
      were not random, indicating that an editing event can affect the efficiency of
      editing at subsequent adenosines. Furthermore, we identified specific sites that
      can be both positively and negatively correlated with additional sites leading to
      mutually exclusive editing patterns. These results suggest that editing in
      noncoding regions is selective and hyper-editing of cellular RNAs is rare. 

PMID- 25826569
TI  - The VrrA sRNA controls a stationary phase survival factor Vrp of Vibrio cholerae.
AB  - Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) are emerging regulatory elements in bacteria. The
      Vibrio cholerae sRNA VrrA has previously been shown to down-regulate outer
      membrane proteins (OmpA and OmpT) and biofilm matrix protein (RbmC) by base
      pairing with the 5' region of the corresponding mRNAs. In this study, we present
      an additional target of VrrA in V. cholerae, the mRNA coding for the ribosome
      binding protein Vrp. Vrp is homologous to ribosome-associated inhibitor A (RaiA)
      of Escherichia coli which facilitates stationary phase survival through ribosome
      hibernation. We show that VrrA down-regulates Vrp protein synthesis by base
      pairing to the 5' region of vrp mRNA and that the regulation requires the RNA
      chaperone protein, Hfq. We further demonstrate that Vrp is highly expressed
      during stationary phase growth and associates with the ribosome of V. cholerae.
      The effect of the Vrp protein in starvation survival is synergistic with that of
      the VC2530 protein, a homolog of the E. coli hibernation promoting factor HPF,
      suggesting a combined role for these proteins in ribosome hibernation in V.
      cholerae. Vrp and VC2530 are important for V. cholerae starvation survival under
      nutrient deficient conditions. While VC2530 is down-regulated in cells lacking
      vrrA, mutation of vrp results in VC2530 activation. This is the first report
      indicating a regulatory role for an sRNA, modulating stationary factors involved
      in bacterial ribosome hibernation. 

PMID- 25826570
TI  - RBM4-MEF2C network constitutes a feed-forward circuit that facilitates the
      differentiation of brown adipocytes.
AB  - Myocyte enhancer factor 2c (MEF2C) is the MADS-box type transcription factor
      involved in the differentiation of cardiac and skeletal muscle and synaptic
      formation. Alternatively spliced transcripts of the MEF2C gene were proven to
      encode isoforms which exert distinct functions in transcriptional regulation.
      During the differentiation of brown adipocytes, upregulated RBM4 enhanced
      skipping of the MEF2Cgamma region which functions as a transcriptional repressor.
      The presence of an overexpressed MEF2Cgamma- isoform in turn induced
      transcriptional activity of the RBM4 promoter, constituting a positive feedback
      circuit in differentiating brown adipocytes. The RBM4-MEF2Cgamma- network induced
      the expression of "myogenic" miR-1 to a greater extent than did PRDM17, BMP7
      C/EBPbeta, or UCP1 transcripts in C3H10T1/2 cells. Overexpression of miR-1
      independently exerted the same activity as RBM4 and the MEF2Cgamma- isoform of
      upregulating brown adipocyte-specific factors in C3H10T1/2 cells, which suggests
      a potential effect of miR-1 on brown adipocytes. These results indicated that the
      RBM4-MEF2C-miR-1 network constitutes a novel mechanism which programs the gene
      expression profile toward the development of brown adipocytes. 

PMID- 25826571
TI  - Design criteria for synthetic riboswitches acting on transcription.
AB  - Riboswitches are RNA-based regulators of gene expression composed of a ligand
      sensing aptamer domain followed by an overlapping expression platform. The
      regulation occurs at either the level of transcription (by formation of
      terminator or antiterminator structures) or translation (by presentation or
      sequestering of the ribosomal binding site). Due to a modular composition, these
      elements can be manipulated by combining different aptamers and expression
      platforms and therefore represent useful tools to regulate gene expression in
      synthetic biology. Using computationally designed theophylline-dependent
      riboswitches we show that 2 parameters, terminator hairpin stability and folding
      traps, have a major impact on the functionality of the designed constructs. These
      have to be considered very carefully during design phase. Furthermore, a
      combination of several copies of individual riboswitches leads to a much improved
      activation ratio between induced and uninduced gene activity and to a linear dose
      dependent increase in reporter gene expression. Such serial arrangements of
      synthetic riboswitches closely resemble their natural counterparts and may form
      the basis for simple quantitative read out systems for the detection of specific
      target molecules in the cell. 

PMID- 25826572
TI  - Surface immobilization and bioactivity of TGF-beta1 inhibitor peptides for bone
      implant applications.
AB  - TGF-beta1 is the most related cytokine with the production of fibrotic tissue. It
      plays an important role on the production of collagen by fibroblasts and other
      types of cells. The inhibition of this cytokine reduces fibrosis in various types
      of tissue. Biofunctionalization of dental and orthopedic implants with
      biomolecules enables modification of the physical, chemical and biochemical
      properties of their surfaces to improve its biological and clinical performance.
      Our objective was to develop a reliable method to immobilize oligopeptides on Ti
      surfaces to obtain a surface with TGF-beta1 inhibitory activity that will
      potentially minimize fibrotic encapsulation of implants during the process of
      osseointegration. We covalently immobilized TGF-beta1 inhibitor P17-peptides on
      Ti surfaces and assessed by characterizing each step of the process that we
      successfully biofunctionalized the implant surfaces. High amounts of peptides
      were anchored and homogeneously distributed on the surfaces with mechanical and
      thermochemical stability after in vitro simulated challenges. Notably, the
      immobilized peptides retained their TGF-beta1 inhibitory activity in vitro. Thus,
      these biofunctional coatings are potential candidates for inducing a fast and
      reliable osseointegration in vivo.

PMID- 25826573
TI  - Computational study of peptide plane stacking with polar and ionizable amino acid
      side chains.
AB  - Parallel and T-shaped stacking interactions of the peptide plane with polar and
      ionizable amino acid side chains (including aspartic/glutamic acid,
      asparagine/glutamine, and arginine) are investigated using the quantum mechanical
      MP2 and CCSD computational methods. It is found that the electrostatic
      interaction plays an essential role in determining the optimal stacking
      configurations for all investigated stacking models. For certain complexes, the
      dispersion interaction also contributes considerably to stacking. In the gas
      phase, the stacking interaction of the charged system is stronger than that of
      the neutral system, and T-shaped stacking is generally more preferred than
      parallel stacking, with the stacking energy in the range of -4 to -18 kcal/mol.
      The solvation effect overall weakens stacking, especially for the charged system
      and the T-shaped stacking configurations. In water, the interaction energies of
      different stacking models are comparable. 

PMID- 25826574
TI  - A Qualitative Investigation of Gerontological Practice: The Views of Social Work
      and Psychology Students, Faculty, and Practitioners.
AB  - Recently there has been an increase in the population of older adults; however,
      this increase has not been reflected in the helping professions. The aim of this
      study was to qualitatively investigate barriers to working with older adults
      within the human service professions. An online survey was sent to students,
      academic faculty, and practitioners from the disciplines of social work and
      psychology throughout Australia, addressing issues related to work with older
      adults. Thematic analysis was used to extract themes and subthemes from the
      responses (N = 252). The most important finding was that a barrier to working
      with older adults appears to be a consequence of a perpetuating cycle among
      students, academic faculty, and professionals collectively. Faculty members did
      not feel knowledgeable in the area of gerontology and were therefore not able to
      educate students in this area appropriately, leading to students to enter the
      workforce as either faculty members and/or practitioners without expertise to
      work with older adults. This study highlighted the importance of including more
      comprehensive gerontological information within social sciences' curriculum,
      which may promote more realistic images of older adults and help alleviate
      barriers to working with this population.

PMID- 25826576
TI  - Heteroleptic naphthalo-phthalocyaninates of lutetium: synthesis and spectral and
      conductivity properties.
AB  - Novel heteroleptic naphthalo-phthalocyaninates of lutetium possessing a
      symmetrical substituted naphthalocyanine deck were synthesized on the basis of
      two preformed synthetic blocks: naphthalocyanine ligand and lutetium
      phthalocyaninates. The compounds obtained were characterized by (1)H NMR and high
      resolution MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. The correlation between the nature of
      the substituents and the spectral properties of the target complexes was
      determined by the introduction of electron-donating (aryl-, aryloxy-) or electron
      withdrawing (chloro-) substituents into the phthalocyanine deck. In addition, the
      nature of peripheral substituents was shown not to affect drastically the
      phthalocyanine conductivity and activation energy. Conductivity properties depend
      on thin film morphology which, in turn, relies on intermolecular pi-pi
      interactions. 

PMID- 25826575
TI  - Mechanistic Investigation of the Radical S-Adenosyl-L-methionine Enzyme DesII
      Using Fluorinated Analogues.
AB  - DesII is a radical S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) enzyme that can act as a
      deaminase or a dehydrogenase depending on the nature of its TDP-sugar substrate.
      Previous work has implicated a substrate-derived, C3-centered alpha-hydroxyalkyl
      radical as a key intermediate during catalysis. Although deprotonation of the
      alpha-hydroxyalkyl radical has been shown to be important for dehydrogenation,
      much less is known regarding the course of the deamination reaction. To
      investigate the role played by the C3 hydroxyl during deamination, 3-deutero-3
      fluoro analogues of both substrates were prepared and characterized with DesII.
      In neither case was deamination or oxidation observed; however, in both cases
      deuterium was efficiently exchanged between the substrate analogues and SAM.
      These results imply that the C3 hydroxyl plays a key role in both reactions
      thereby arguing against a 1,2-migration mechanism of deamination-and that
      homolysis of SAM concomitant with H atom abstraction from the substrate is
      readily reversible when forward partitioning is inhibited.

PMID- 25826577
TI  - Surface Analytical Methods Applied to Magnesium Corrosion.
AB  - Understanding magnesium alloy corrosion is of primary concern, and scanning probe
      techniques are becoming key analytical characterization methods for that purpose.
      This Feature presents recent trends in this field as the progressive substitution
      of steel and aluminum car components by magnesium alloys to reduce the overall
      weight of vehicles is an irreversible trend. 

PMID- 25826578
TI  - Robustness in the fitting of molecular mechanics parameters.
AB  - Automated methods for force field parametrization have attracted renewed interest
      of the community, but the robustness issues associated with the often ill
      conditioned nature of parameter optimization have been vastly underappreciated in
      the recent literature. For this reason, this article offers a detailed
      description of the origin and nature of these issues. This includes a discussion
      of the restrained electrostatic potential fit (RESP) charge model, which does
      contain explicit robustness-enhancing measures albeit not in the context of
      bonded parameters, and which forms an inspiration for the present work. It is
      also discussed how all the bonded parameters in a Class I force field can be
      simultaneously fit using the linear least squares (LLS) procedure, and a novel
      restraining strategy is presented that overcomes robustness issues in the LLS
      fitting of bonded parameters while minimally impacting the fitted values of well
      behaved parameters. Two variants of this methodology are then validated through a
      number of case studies, including the fitting of bond-charge increments, which
      illustrates the method's potential for robustly solving general LLS problems
      beyond force field parametrization.

PMID- 25826579
TI  - Enhanced Estrogenic Activity of Soybean Isoflavones by Coadministration of Liuwei
      Dihuang Pills in Ovariectomized Rats.
AB  - Soybean isoflavones are beneficial for treating hormone-related diseases.
      Simultaneous consumption of soybean isoflavones and Liuwei Dihuang pills (LWPs)
      is effective for treating perimenopausal period syndrome. However, why the
      combination of isoflavones and LWPs is more effective than ingestion of each
      component alone remains unknown. Here, we show that enhanced estrogenic
      activities would appear when the ovariectomized rats were fed with a soybean diet
      in combination of LWPs treatment. Our further studies explored enhancements of
      Lactobacillus (19-fold) and Bifidobacterium (12-fold) contents in the intestine
      of rat and 1.84-fold higher intestinal beta-glucosidase activity in LWPs
      treatment group compared with the control group. As a result, steady-state
      concentrations of genistein (1.20-fold), daidzein (1.36-fold), and equol (1.43
      fold) in serum were significantly elevated in the combination group compared with
      the soybean alone group. The results present the first evidence of the mechanism
      of enhanced estrogenic activity of dietary soybean isoflavones in combination
      with LWPs. Our study indicates that alterations of gut bacteria after LWPs
      treatment play a key role in the enhanced estrogenic effect of dietary soybean,
      suggesting a direct relationship between dietary soybean, LWPs, and gut flora.

PMID- 25826580
TI  - Correction: Organization of astaxanthin within oil bodies of Haematococcus
      pluvialis studied with polarization-dependent harmonic generation microscopy.

PMID- 25826581
TI  - Correction: enabling dynamic partnerships through joint degrees between low- and
      high-income countries for capacity development in global health research:
      experience from the Karolinska Institutet/Makerere University Partnership.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001784.]. 

PMID- 25826582
TI  - Sukhareva--Prior to Asperger and Kanner.
AB  - As early as 1926, the Kiev-based child psychiatrist Grunya Efimovna Sukhareva
      (Grunya Efimovna Suxareva) (1891-1981) published a detailed description of
      autistic traits in a number of children in a scientific German psychiatry and
      neurology journal. She initially used the term "schizoid (eccentric) psychopathy"
      but later replaced it with "autistic (pathological avoidant) psychopathy" to
      describe the clinical picture of autism. Her original article was available
      almost two decades before the case reports of Asperger and Kanner; nevertheless,
      Sukhareva's pioneer work has been greatly overlooked. Here we present her
      description of autistic psychopathy in relation to the DSM-5 criteria of today. 

PMID- 25826584
TI  - Cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.

PMID- 25826583
TI  - Identification of the sAPRIL binding peptide and its growth inhibition effects in
      the colorectal cancer cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) is a member of the tumor
      necrosis factor (TNF) super family. It binds to its specific receptors and is
      involved in multiple processes during tumorigenesis and tumor cells
      proliferation. High levels of APRIL expression are closely correlated to the
      growth, metastasis, and 5-FU drug resistance of colorectal cancer. The aim of
      this study was to identify a specific APRIL binding peptide (BP) able to block
      APRIL activity that could be used as a potential treatment for colorectal cancer.
      METHODS: A phage display library was used to identify peptides that bound
      selectively to soluble recombinant human APRIL (sAPRIL). The peptides with the
      highest binding affinity for sAPRIL were identified using ELISA. The effects of
      sAPRIL-BP on cell proliferation and cell cycle/apoptosis in vitro were evaluated
      using the CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively. An in vivo mouse model of
      colorectal cancer was used to determine the anti-tumor efficacy of the sAPRIL-BP.
      RESULTS: Three candidate peptides were characterized from eight phage clones with
      high binding affinity for sAPRIL. The peptide with the highest affinity was
      selected for further characterization. The identified sAPRIL-BP suppressed tumor
      cell proliferation and cell cycle progression in LOVO cells in a dose-dependent
      manner. In vivo in a mouse colorectal challenge model, the sAPRIL-BP reduced the
      growth of tumor xenografts in nude mice by inhibiting proliferation and inducing
      apoptosis intratumorally. Moreover, in an in vivo metastasis model, sAPRIL-BP
      reduced liver metastasis of colorectal cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: sAPRIL-BP
      significantly suppressed tumor growth in vitro and in vivo and might be a
      candidate for treating colorectal cancers that express high levels of APRIL.

PMID- 25826586
TI  - Genotypes and phenotypes in cystic fibrosis and cystic fibrosis transmembrane
      regulator-related disorders.
AB  - Cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterized by remarkable variability in severity, rate
      of disease progression, and organ involvement. In spite of the considerable
      amount of data collected on the relationship between genotype and phenotype in
      CF, this is still a challenging matter of debate. Barriers to the interpretation
      of this connection are the large number of mutations in the CF transmembrane
      regulator (CFTR) gene, the difficulties in attributing several of them to a
      specific mode of dysfunction, and a limited number of the almost 2,000 mutations
      so far detected, which have been clinically annotated. In addition to that, the
      heterogeneity of clinical manifestations in individuals with the same CFTR
      genotypes indicates that disease severity is modulated by other genes and by
      environmental factors, of which the most relevant is possibly treatment in its
      aspects of appropriateness, early start in life, and adherence. The phenotype
      variability extends to conditions, named CFTR-related disorders, which are
      connected with CFTR dysfunction, but do not satisfy diagnostic criteria for CF.
      The current level of knowledge does not allow use of the CFTR genotype to predict
      individual outcome and cannot be used as an indicator of CF prognosis. This might
      change with the development of treatments targeting specific mutations and
      possibly capable of changing the natural history of the disease. 

PMID- 25826585
TI  - Primary ciliary dyskinesia.
AB  - Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is an autosomal recessive disorder of cilia
      structure, function, and biogenesis leading to chronic infections of the
      respiratory tract, fertility problems, and disorders of organ laterality. The
      diagnosis can be challenging, using traditional tools such as characteristic
      clinical features, ciliary function, and ultrastructural defects and newer
      screening tools such as nasal nitric oxide levels and genetic testing add to the
      diagnostic algorithm. There are 32 known PCD-causing genes, and in the future,
      comprehensive genetic testing may screen young infants before developing
      symptoms, thus improving survival. Therapies include surveillance of pulmonary
      function and microbiology, in addition to airway clearance, antibiotics, and
      early referral to bronchiectasis centers. As with cystic fibrosis (CF),
      standardized care at specialized centers using a multidisciplinary approach
      likely improves outcomes. In conjunction with the CF foundation, the PCD
      foundation, with experienced investigators and clinicians, is developing a
      network of PCD clinical centers to coordinate the effort in North America and
      Europe. As the network grows, clinical care and knowledge will improve. 

PMID- 25826587
TI  - Imaging in cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.
AB  - Bronchiectasis is defined as a permanent and progressive dilation of the airways,
      typically as a result of inflammation, infection, and subsequent repair. It
      typically presents with chronic cough, suppurative sputum production, and airway
      dilation. High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is now well established as
      the primary imaging tool for its investigation. Cystic fibrosis (CF) remains the
      most common autosomal recessive inherited disorder worldwide and its pulmonary
      hallmark is bronchiectasis. Although CF and non-CF bronchiectasis are different
      clinical entities, they are typically imaged using HRCT and share many imaging
      aspects, and also some differences. Several important recent CT technology
      developments have improved the detection and characterization of bronchiectasis
      and its complications. Many CT aspects of radiation exposure have also undergone
      important enhancements in recent years resulting in significant dose reductions.
      This is particularly relevant in a pulmonary disease such as bronchiectasis,
      which often undergoes serial HRCT surveillance in contemporary practice. Several
      new CT clinical applications in bronchiectasis have been recently advanced, and
      CT is now being increasingly incorporated into investigative algorithms to assess
      bronchiectasis treatment effects. In this review, we assess the latest imaging
      features of CF and non-CF bronchiectasis, discuss radiation dose reducing methods
      and technology of the latest scanners, describe recent CT clinical applications,
      and explore the use of CT as a treatment surrogate in CF and non-CF
      bronchiectasis. 

PMID- 25826588
TI  - Fungi in cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.
AB  - Bronchiectasis is a pathologic bronchial dilatation with loss of function that
      can result from multiple inflammatory and infectious injuries to the conducting
      airways of the lung. Molds, particularly the filamentous fungus Aspergillus
      fumigatus, have been implicated as a common cause of both cystic fibrosis (CF)
      and non-CF bronchiectasis, the latter primarily in patients with severe asthma.
      The pathogenesis of mold-associated bronchiectasis is usually due to atopic
      sensitization to mold allergens in the presence of active chronic endobronchial
      fungal infection with host innate and adaptive immune deviation to a Th2
      dominated inflammation, a condition known as allergic bronchopulmonary
      aspergillosis (ABPA) (or allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis if a non-Aspergillus
      mold is implicated). Diagnostic criteria of ABPA continue to evolve, while
      treatment relies upon downregulation of the allergic inflammatory response with
      immunomodulatory agents and antifungal pharmacotherapy. 

PMID- 25826589
TI  - Nontuberculous mycobacteria in cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis
      bronchiectasis.
AB  - Increasing numbers of cystic fibrosis (CF) and non-CF bronchiectasis patients are
      affected by pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infection worldwide. Two
      species of NTM account for up to 95% of the pulmonary NTM infections:
      Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) and Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABSC).
      Diagnosis of pulmonary NTM infection is based on criteria specified in the 2007
      American Thoracic Society/Infectious Disease Society of America (ATS/IDSA)
      guidelines. While many initial positive cultures do not progress to active NTM
      disease, even a single positive NTM sputum culture obtained from higher risk
      groups such as classic CF or older women with bronchiectasis and very low body
      mass index should be closely monitored for progressive disease. Macrolides remain
      the most effective agents available against MAC and MABSC. Infection with MABSC
      may be associated with worse clinical outcomes, as more than half of MABSC
      isolates have inducible macrolide resistance conferred by an active erm(41) gene.
      Of growing concern in CF is that MABSC is becoming more common than MAC, seems to
      target younger patients with classic CF, and is more difficult to manage, often
      requiring prolonged courses of intravenous antibiotics. Recurrence rates of NTM
      after initial successful treatment remain high, likely due to nonmodifiable risk
      factors raising the question of whether secondary prophylaxis is feasible. More
      rapid and readily available methods for detecting inducible macrolide resistance
      and better in vitro susceptibility testing methods for other drugs that correlate
      with clinical responses are needed. This is crucial to identify more effective
      regimens of existing drugs and for development of novel drugs for NTM infection. 

PMID- 25826590
TI  - The microbiome and emerging pathogens in cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis
      bronchiectasis.
AB  - Chronic pulmonary sepsis is the predominant cause of morbidity for patients with
      cystic fibrosis (CF) and non-CF bronchiectasis. Previously it was thought that
      respiratory infection in these patients was mostly limited to a very small number
      of typical pathogens; however, in recent years there have been increasing reports
      of infection with other emerging potential pathogens including Burkholderia,
      Stenotrophomonas, Achromobacter, Ralstonia, Pandoraea, nontuberculous
      mycobacteria, and fungal species. Furthermore, culture-independent methodologies
      have established that the lungs of patients with CF and non-CF bronchiectasis
      comprise mixed microbiological communities of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria,
      fungal and viral species, collectively referred to as the lung microbiome. This
      article addresses the clinical relevance of emerging pathogens and the lung
      microbiome in CF and non-CF bronchiectasis. 

PMID- 25826591
TI  - Clinical updates in cystic fibrosis-related diabetes.
AB  - Improved clinical care has led to a dramatic increase in life expectancy for
      people with cystic fibrosis (CF). As they live longer, people with CF are
      therefore developing secondary complications. Cystic fibrosis-related diabetes
      (CFRD) is the commonest extrapulmonary complication of CF. Insulin deficiency is
      the primary defect in CFRD, but insulin resistance and impairment of the
      enteroinsular axis play contributory roles. CFRD affects 9% of people with CF
      aged 5 to 9 years, 26% aged 10 to 20 years, and up to 50% by the age of 30. The
      presence of CFRD is associated with accelerated decline in pulmonary function,
      poorer growth and nutritional status, and increased mortality. The need for early
      detection of abnormal glucose handling in CF is clear since it is linked with
      clinical decline. Patients with CFRD may be asymptomatic for many years, so it is
      recommended that screening be commenced at 10 years of age. Although oral glucose
      tolerance test is recommended, it is well recognized that early glucose handling
      abnormalities will not be detected and the chance to intervene early may be
      missed. Many centers are therefore using continuous glucose monitoring to refine
      the diagnosis and investigate real-life glycemic control. Future research will
      hopefully widen our understanding of the pathophysiology of CFRD and therefore
      the treatment options available. There are clearly some promising results
      suggesting the use of oral agents may prove beneficial in treating CFRD but
      insulin should remain the mainstay of treatment until these are further
      evaluated. 

PMID- 25826592
TI  - Airway clearance strategies in cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis
      bronchiectasis.
AB  - Many patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and non-CF bronchiectasis present with
      common symptoms in clinical domains that appear to benefit from airway clearance
      strategies. These symptoms include chronic productive cough, retention of
      excessive, purulent mucus in dilated airways, impairment of normal mucociliary
      clearance (MCC), atelectasis, breathlessness, fatigue, respiratory inflammation,
      fever, infection, and airflow obstruction. Airway clearance strategies may
      involve singular and focused interventions for the purpose of removing secretions
      and improving lung recruitment and gas exchange in patients with atelectasis.
      Strategies may also involve indirect or adjunctive interventions that facilitate
      or enhance effective airway clearance at different ages or stages of the disease
      process, for example, inhalation therapy, exercise, oxygen therapy, or
      noninvasive ventilation. The aim is to optimize care by selecting any one or
      combination of these in responding intelligently and sensitively to individual
      and changing patient requirements during their lifetime. Currently, a solid
      evidence base does not exist for airway clearance strategies in CF and non-CF
      bronchiectasis, and much of airway clearance clinical practice remains in the
      domain of clinical expertise. The paucity of evidence is partly explained by the
      relatively immature research machinery in allied health care internationally but
      is also partly to do with inadequate or inappropriate research designs. This
      article aims to provide an overview of the nature of, and physiological basis
      for, the direct and indirect airway clearance strategies in CF and non-CF
      bronchiectasis with reference to the best available evidence. 

PMID- 25826593
TI  - Inhaled antibiotics in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and non-CF bronchiectasis.
AB  - Bronchiectasis is a pathological diagnosis describing dilatation of the airways
      and is characterized by chronic lung sepsis. Bronchiectasis has multiple
      etiologies, but is usually considered in terms of whether it is due to the
      genetic disorder cystic fibrosis (CF) or secondary to other causes (non-CF
      bronchiectasis, NCFB). Inhaled antibiotics are used in bronchiectasis to suppress
      bacterial pathogens and reduce long-term lung function decline. The majority of
      the literature on inhaled antibiotics comes from studies on CF where the dominant
      bacterial pathogen in the airway is usually Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Thus, most
      aerosolized antibiotic regimens target this bacterium, but the emergence of
      molecular diagnostic methods has questioned this approach and more tailored
      strategies may need to be considered in CF based on the community composition of
      the lung microbiome. Similarly, the lung microbiome in NCFB has been found to be
      a complex polymicrobial one and the current practice of employing the same
      inhaled antibiotic regimes as are used in CF may no longer be appropriate in many
      patients. In this article, the use of inhaled antibiotics in CF and NCFB is
      considered in the light of improved understanding of the lung microbiome and why
      more tailored therapy may be needed based on molecular identification of the
      microbial pathogens present. The evidence for the use of currently available
      inhaled antibiotics and advances in inhaled drug packaging and delivery devices
      are discussed. Finally, the urgent need for prospective randomized clinical
      trials in CF and NCFB is highlighted and areas for future research identified. 

PMID- 25826594
TI  - Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator modulators: the end of the
      beginning.
AB  - Cystic fibrosis (CF) represents one of the success stories of modern medicine
      with sustained incremental increases in the survival from one of childhood death
      to one of adult survival into the middle decades over the past 30 years.
      Improving survival has focused on multidisciplinary management centered on
      treating the consequences of this genetic disease. It has been firmly established
      for more than 20 years that mutations in the CF transmembrane conductance
      regulator (CFTR) gene result in a defective protein that normally functions as a
      chloride channel on epithelial cell surfaces. Until recently, modulating CFTR
      dysfunction was only a research aspiration, however, greater focus placed upon
      addressing the primary defect of CF has developed several clinical therapeutic
      strategies in this area. This review highlights the evidence to date on efforts
      to modulate CFTR and restore robust functional protein to the cell surface. This
      approach has now led to the licensing of one CFTR potentiator, which has been
      shown to have significant clinical improvements in a subset of CF patients. This
      success represents the beginning for CFTR modulation and further research is
      ongoing which aims to broaden the applicability of these techniques. 

PMID- 25826596
TI  - Association of thyroid diseases with primary extra-thyroidal malignancies in
      women: results of a cross-sectional study of 6,386 patients.
AB  - We here analyzed the prevalence of extra-thyroidal malignancies (EM) in 6,386
      female patients affected by different thyroid disease (TD). At first, an age
      matched analysis of EM in all patients was performed. We then evaluated EM
      prevalence in four TD diagnostic categories: non-nodular TD (n = 2,159); solitary
      nodule (n = 905); multinodular TD (n = 2,871); differentiated thyroid cancers (n
      = 451). Finally, patients were grouped based on the absence (n = 3,820) or
      presence of anti-thyroglobulin (TgAb) and/or anti-thyroperoxidase (TPOAb) (n =
      2,369), or anti-Thyroid Stmulating Hormone (TSH) receptor autoantibodies (n =
      197). A total of 673 EM were recorded. EM prevalence in TD patients was higher
      compared to the general population (Odds Ratio, OR 3.21) and the most frequent EM
      was breast cancer (OR 3.94), followed by colorectal (OR 2.18), melanoma (OR
      6.71), hematological (OR 8.57), uterus (OR 2.52), kidney (OR 3.40) and ovary (OR
      2.62) neoplasms. Age-matched analysis demonstrated that the risk of EM was
      maximal at age 0-44 yr (OR 11.28), remaining lower, but significantly higher that
      in the general population, in the 45-59 and 60-74 year age range. Breast and
      hematological malignancies showed an increased OR in all TD, while other cancers
      associated with specific TD. An increased OR for melanoma, breast and
      hematological malignancies was observed in both TPOAb and/or TgAb autoantibody
      negative and positive patients, while colorectal, uterus, kidney and ovary
      cancers showed an increased OR only in thyroid autoantibody negative patients. In
      conclusions, women affected by both benign and malignant TD, especially at a
      younger age and in absence of thyroid autoimmunity, have an increased risk of
      developing primary EM, thus requiring a careful follow-up and surveillance. 

PMID- 25826597
TI  - Machine-based method for multiplex in situ molecular characterization of tissues
      by immunofluorescence detection.
AB  - Immunofluorescent staining is an informative tool that is widely used in basic
      research. Automation of immunostaining improves reproducibility and quality of
      the results. Up to now, use of automation in immunofluorescent staining was
      mostly limited to one marker. Here we present tyramide signal amplification based
      method of multiple marker immunofluorescent detection, including detection of
      antibodies, raised in the same species, in tissue sections and cultured cells.
      This method can be beneficial for both basic and clinical research. 

PMID- 25826601
TI  - Bioconcentration and transfer of the organophorous flame retardant 1,3-dichloro-2
      propyl phosphate causes thyroid endocrine disruption and developmental
      neurotoxicity in zebrafish larvae.
AB  - Organophosphate flame retardants are emerging environmental contaminants,
      although knowledge of their health risks is limited. Here, thyroid hormone
      homeostasis and neuronal development was studied in the progeny of adult
      zebrafish exposed to tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCPP). Adult
      zebrafish were exposed to TDCPP (0, 4, 20, and 100 MUg/L) for 3 months. Increased
      generation of reactive oxygen species and reduced survival rates was observed in
      exposed F1 larvae. We also observed a significant decrease in plasma thyroxine
      and 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine levels in F0 females and F1 eggs/larvae. The mRNA and
      protein expression of factors associated with neuronal development (e.g., alpha1
      tubulin, myelin basic protein, and synapsin IIa) were significantly downregulated
      in exposed F1 larvae, as was the level of the neurotransmitters dopamine,
      serotonin, gamma amino butyric acid, and histamine. Larval locomotion was
      significantly decreased in exposed fish, but there was no effect on
      acetylcholinesterase activity. Bioconcentration of TDCPP was observed in F0 fish.
      TDCPP was also detected in F1 eggs following parental exposure, indicating
      maternal transfer of this compound. This study uniquely shows that TDCPP can be
      transferred to the offspring of exposed adults, causing thyroid endocrine
      disruption and developmental neurotoxicity. 

PMID- 25826598
TI  - Dietary supplement use among cancer survivors of the NutriNet-Sante cohort study.
AB  - Dietary supplements (DS) may influence cancer prognosis. Their use in cancer
      patients has been described in the United States, but data are largely lacking in
      Europe and notably in France. The present study's objectives were (1) to assess
      DS use and its sociodemographic, lifestyle, and dietary correlates in a large
      sample of French cancer survivors; (2) to evaluate the involvement of physicians
      in such DS use; and (3) to assess the extent of potentially harmful practices.
      Data were collected by self-administered web-based questionnaires among
      participants of the NutriNet-Sante cohort. Data on DS use was available for 1081
      cancer survivors. DS users were compared to non-users with unconditional logistic
      regressions. DS use was reported by 62% of women and 29% of men. Vitamins D, B6,
      C and Mg were the most frequently consumed nutrients. 14% of cancer survivors
      initiated DS use after diagnosis. For 35% of the DS consumed, subjects did not
      inform their attending physician. DS use was associated with a healthier
      lifestyle (normal weight, never smoking and better diet) and substantially
      contributed to nutrient intake. 18% of DS users had potentially harmful DS use
      practices, such as the simultaneous use of vitamin E and
      anticoagulant/antiplatelet agents, the use of beta-carotene and smoking or the
      use of phyto-oestrogens in hormone-dependent cancer patients. The present study
      suggests that DS use is widespread among cancer survivors, a large amount of that
      use is performed without any medical supervision and a substantial proportion of
      that use involves potentially harmful practices. Physicians should be encouraged
      to more routinely discuss DS use with their cancer patients.

PMID- 25826602
TI  - A new color image encryption scheme using CML and a fractional-order chaotic
      system.
AB  - The chaos-based image cryptosystems have been widely investigated in recent years
      to provide real-time encryption and transmission. In this paper, a novel color
      image encryption algorithm by using coupled-map lattices (CML) and a fractional
      order chaotic system is proposed to enhance the security and robustness of the
      encryption algorithms with a permutation-diffusion structure. To make the
      encryption procedure more confusing and complex, an image division-shuffling
      process is put forward, where the plain-image is first divided into four sub
      images, and then the position of the pixels in the whole image is shuffled. In
      order to generate initial conditions and parameters of two chaotic systems, a 280
      bit long external secret key is employed. The key space analysis, various
      statistical analysis, information entropy analysis, differential analysis and key
      sensitivity analysis are introduced to test the security of the new image
      encryption algorithm. The cryptosystem speed is analyzed and tested as well.
      Experimental results confirm that, in comparison to other image encryption
      schemes, the new algorithm has higher security and is fast for practical image
      encryption. Moreover, an extensive tolerance analysis of some common image
      processing operations such as noise adding, cropping, JPEG compression, rotation,
      brightening and darkening, has been performed on the proposed image encryption
      technique. Corresponding results reveal that the proposed image encryption method
      has good robustness against some image processing operations and geometric
      attacks. 

PMID- 25826603
TI  - Detection of aortic wall instability with the new dissectometer: Correlation with
      histological findings.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Although risk stratification for aortic dissection or rupture based
      on aortic diameter is quite suboptimal, alternative methods for the assessment of
      the aortic wall stability are rare. We assessed the mechanical properties of the
      aortic wall by a new custom-made device mimicking transversal aortic wall shear
      stress during open heart surgery in comparison with histological examination.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: One-hundred and five aortic walls were tested by the
      'dissectometer' (seven different measured and two calculated values) as well as
      histological examination was performed. RESULTS: Histological examination
      classified the aortic wall as normal in 54 (51.4%) patients and pathologic in 51
      (48.6%) patients. Six out of nine parameters assessed by the dissectometer showed
      a significant correlation to histological findings. Using ROC-analysis, the most
      reliable parameter (P9) showed a sensitivity of 93.3% and a specificity of 80.4%
      with an area under the curve of 0.89 when using a cut-off value of 3.4. In the
      logistic regression analysis, P9 was an independent predictor for aortic wall
      instability (OR 28.983, 95% CI 11.507-72.993, p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: The
      dissectometer is suitable for discriminating between stable and unstable aortic
      walls with a good correlation to histological examination holding promise for
      direct and quick intraoperative identification of aortic walls at risk for
      dissection.

PMID- 25826605
TI  - Meniscus-mask lithography for fabrication of narrow nanowires.
AB  - We demonstrate the efficiency of meniscus-mask lithography (MML) for fabrication
      of precisely positioned nanowires in a variety of materials. Si, SiO2, Au, Cr, W,
      Ti, TiO2, and Al nanowires are fabricated and characterized. The average widths,
      depending on the materials, range from 6 to 16 nm. A broad range of materials and
      etching processes are used and the generality of approach suggests the
      applicability of MML to a majority of materials used in modern planar technology.
      High reproducibility of the MML method is shown and some fabrication issues
      specific to MML are addressed. Crossbar structures produced by MML demonstrate
      that junctions of nanowires could be fabricated as well, providing the building
      blocks required for fabrication of nanowire structures of varied planar geometry.

PMID- 25826604
TI  - Integration of shallow gradients of Shh and Netrin-1 guides commissural axons.
AB  - During nervous system development, gradients of Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) and Netrin-1
      attract growth cones of commissural axons toward the floor plate of the embryonic
      spinal cord. Mice defective for either Shh or Netrin-1 signaling have commissural
      axon guidance defects, suggesting that both Shh and Netrin-1 are required for
      correct axon guidance. However, how Shh and Netrin-1 collaborate to guide axons
      is not known. We first quantified the steepness of the Shh gradient in the spinal
      cord and found that it is mostly very shallow. We then developed an in vitro
      microfluidic guidance assay to simulate these shallow gradients. We found that
      axons of dissociated commissural neurons respond to steep but not shallow
      gradients of Shh or Netrin-1. However, when we presented axons with combined Shh
      and Netrin-1 gradients, they had heightened sensitivity to the guidance cues,
      turning in response to shallower gradients that were unable to guide axons when
      only one cue was present. Furthermore, these shallow gradients polarized growth
      cone Src-family kinase (SFK) activity only when Shh and Netrin-1 were combined,
      indicating that SFKs can integrate the two guidance cues. Together, our results
      indicate that Shh and Netrin-1 synergize to enable growth cones to sense shallow
      gradients in regions of the spinal cord where the steepness of a single guidance
      cue is insufficient to guide axons, and we identify a novel type of synergy that
      occurs when the steepness (and not the concentration) of a guidance cue is
      limiting. 

PMID- 25826606
TI  - Targeting smokers with empathy appeal antismoking public service announcements: a
      field experiment.
AB  - A field experiment study (N = 189) was conducted to investigate the effectiveness
      of empathy appeal antismoking messages and their potential advantage over fear
      appeal messages. Data from 12 antismoking public service announcements showed
      that (a) smokers resist antismoking messages and (b) overall empathy appeal was
      equally effective as fear appeal messages. There was also evidence for
      moderators. First, empathy messages were more effective to women than to men.
      Second, fear appeal messages were more effective to occasional smokers than were
      empathy messages. Third, empathy messages were more effective to regular smokers
      than were fear appeal messages. Implications for audience segmentation and
      message targeting in public health antismoking efforts are discussed. 

PMID- 25826595
TI  - Lung transplantation for cystic fibrosis: results, indications, complications,
      and controversies.
AB  - Survival in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) has improved dramatically over the
      past 30 to 40 years, with mean survival now approximately 40 years. Nonetheless,
      progressive respiratory insufficiency remains the major cause of mortality in CF
      patients, and lung transplantation (LT) is eventually required. Timing of listing
      for LT is critical, because up to 25 to 41% of CF patients have died while
      awaiting LT. Globally, approximately 16.4% of lung transplants are performed in
      adults with CF. Survival rates for LT recipients with CF are superior to other
      indications, yet LT is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality (~50%
      at 5-year survival rates). Myriad complications of LT include allograft failure
      (acute or chronic), opportunistic infections, and complications of chronic
      immunosuppressive medications (including malignancy). Determining which patients
      are candidates for LT is difficult, and survival benefit remains uncertain. In
      this review, we discuss when LT should be considered, criteria for identifying
      candidates, contraindications to LT, results post-LT, and specific complications
      that may be associated with LT. Infectious complications that may complicate CF
      (particularly Burkholderia cepacia spp., opportunistic fungi, and nontuberculous
      mycobacteria) are discussed. 

PMID- 25826607
TI  - Distribution of virulence-associated genes in a selection of Campylobacter
      isolates.
AB  - This study tested 24 Campylobacter isolates for the presence of 35 virulence
      genes using the polymerase chain reaction. The target genes included those
      involved in motility (flaA, flaB, flhA, flhB, flgB, flgE2, fliM, fliY),
      chemotaxis (cheA, cheB, cheR, cheW, cheY, cheZ), cell adhesion (cadF, dnaJ, jlpA,
      pldA, racR, virB11), invasion (iamA, ciaB, ceuE), cytotoxin production (cdtA,
      cdtB, cdtC, wlaN), capsule (kpsM), multidrug and bile resistance (cmeA, cmeB,
      cmeC), stress response/survival (katA, sodB), and the iron uptake system (cfrA,
      fur). The motility genes (with the exception of flaB), the CmeABC efflux system,
      cdtABC genes, and the sodB gene were commonly distributed among Campylobacter
      strains while the virB11 and wlaN genes were rarely detected. Interestingly, the
      findings suggest that flaB is not essential for full motility and C. coli lacking
      the flhA gene may be highly invasive. This study provides additional information
      on the distribution of Campylobacter virulence factors and the effect of their
      presence/absence on adhesion and invasion. It will inform future studies designed
      to elucidate the exact mechanisms of pathogenesis in Campylobacter.

PMID- 25826609
TI  - A critical appraisal of daclizumab use as emerging therapy in multiple sclerosis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Daclizumab (DAC) is a mAb that binds to CD25, a receptor on the
      surface of lymphocytes for IL-2, a chemical messenger in the immune system. This
      prevents activation and proliferation of lymphocytes, which are involved in the
      immune attack in multiple sclerosis (MS). AREAS COVERED: In this review, we will
      focus on newly emerging DAC-high-yield process (HYP) therapy for MS. Based on
      published original articles and citable meeting abstracts, we will discuss its
      mode of action as well as data on efficacy and safety. EXPERT OPINION: DAC has
      been observed to have multiple (biological) effects, which may contribute to
      beneficial effects in immune-related disease and particularly in relapsing
      remitting MS. The positive results in the clinical studies represent achievement
      of an important milestone in the development of DAC-HYP as a potential new
      treatment option for MS patients. The benefit/risk ratios of this new biological
      agent in MS therapy are still being evaluated. Soon, DAC-HYP might qualify as MS
      therapy. A safety monitoring program is recommended in the clinical practice.

PMID- 25826610
TI  - Nanoscale metallogel via self-assembly of self-assembled trinuclear coordination
      rings: multi-stimuli-responsive soft materials.
AB  - A rare variety of coordination rings having the M3L6 composition are prepared by
      the combination of Pd(NO3)2 with an imidazolyl or benzimidazolyl appended
      bidentate non-chelating ligand (i.e.L1 or L2). The variable concentration 1H NMR
      spectra of the trinuclear complexes [Pd3(L1)6](NO3)6, 1a and [Pd3(L2)6](NO3)6, 2a
      in DMSO-d6 provided valuable information on the self-assembly phenomenon of the
      already self-assembled complexes. Interestingly, the signals of 2a are broadened
      upon increasing the concentration. The solution of 2a in DMSO formed a
      supramolecular metallogel above a certain concentration (i.e. 2% w/v), however,
      complex 1a could not form any gel. This phenomenon is attributed to the presence
      of an auxiliary pi-surface in the benzimidazole moiety in L2, in contrast to the
      imidazole moiety of L1. The influence of anions in gel formation was studied by
      preparing several samples using a variety of palladium(II) salts and L2 in DMSO.
      It was found that oxoanions like nitrate, perchlorate, triflate and tosylate are
      amicable for gel formation, probably due to their capabilities of forming H
      bonds. The counter anions like tetrafluoroborate, hexafluorophosphate, or
      hexafluoroantimonate could not assist in the formation of gel. The stimuli
      responsive nature of the gel and the reversible gel-sol conversion were
      demonstrated by dis-assembly and re-assembly processes of 2a as controlled by a
      pair of stimuli such as halide-nitrate, DMAP-HNO3, and ethylenediamine-Pd(NO3)2.
      No gel could be prepared by the combination of Ni(NO3)2 or Pt(NO3)2 with ligand
      L2. Thus, a subtle change in the ligand design, metal ion and counter anion is
      demonstrated as the responsible parameter for the construction of the three
      component multi-stimuli-responsive supramolecular gel.

PMID- 25826608
TI  - Spectrin regulates Hippo signaling by modulating cortical actomyosin activity.
AB  - The Hippo pathway controls tissue growth through a core kinase cascade that
      impinges on the transcription of growth-regulatory genes. Understanding how this
      pathway is regulated in development remains a major challenge. Recent studies
      suggested that Hippo signaling can be modulated by cytoskeletal tension through a
      Rok-myosin II pathway. How cytoskeletal tension is regulated or its relationship
      to the other known upstream regulators of the Hippo pathway remains poorly
      defined. In this study, we identify spectrin, a contractile protein at the
      cytoskeleton-membrane interface, as an upstream regulator of the Hippo signaling
      pathway. We show that, in contrast to canonical upstream regulators such as
      Crumbs, Kibra, Expanded, and Merlin, spectrin regulates Hippo signaling in a
      distinct way by modulating cortical actomyosin activity through non-muscle myosin
      II. These results uncover an essential mediator of Hippo signaling by
      cytoskeleton tension, providing a new entry point to dissecting how mechanical
      signals regulate Hippo signaling in living tissues. 

PMID- 25826612
TI  - Facile and eco-friendly synthesis of green fluorescent carbon nanodots for
      applications in bioimaging, patterning and staining.
AB  - We report a facile and eco-friendly strategy for the fabrication of green
      fluorescent carbon nanodots (CDs), and demonstrate their applications for bio
      imaging, patterning, and staining. A one-pot hydrothermal method using various
      plant petals yields bright green-emitting CDs, providing an easy way for the
      production of green fluorescent CDs without the need for a tedious synthetic
      methodology or the use of toxic/expensive solvents and starting materials. The as
      prepared CDs show small size distribution and excellent dispersibility. Their
      strong green fluorescence is observed when the excitation wavelength is between
      430 nm and 490 nm. Moreover, they exhibit high tolerance to various external
      conditions, such as pH values, external cations, and continuous excitation. Due
      to minimum toxicity as well as good photoluminescence properties, these CDs can
      be applied to in vitro and in vivo imaging, patterning, and staining. According
      to confocal fluorescence imaging of human uterine cervical squamous cell
      carcinoma cells, CDs penetrate into the cell and enter the cytoplasm and the
      nucleus. More strikingly, carp is directly fed with CDs for in vivo imaging and
      shows bright green fluorescence at an excitation wavelength of 470 nm. In
      addition, the obtained CDs are used as fluorescent inks for drawing luminescence
      patterns. Finally, we also apply the CDs as a fluorescent dye. Interestingly, the
      absorbent filter paper with staining emits dramatic fluorescence under 470 nm
      excitation. 

PMID- 25826611
TI  - Personality, perceived environment, and behavior systems related to future
      smoking intentions among youths: an application of problem-behavior theory in
      Shanghai, China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Smoking among youths is a worldwide problem, particularly in China.
      Many endogenous and environmental factors influence smokers' intentions to smoke;
      therefore, a comprehensive model is needed to understand the significance and
      relationship of predictors. This study aimed to develop a prediction model based
      on problem-behavior theory (PBT) to interpret intentions to smoke among Chinese
      youths. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 26,675 adolescents from
      junior, senior, and vocational high schools in Shanghai, China. Data on smoking
      status, smoking knowledge, attitude toward smoking, parents' and peers' smoking,
      and media exposure to smoking were collected from students. A structural equation
      model was used to assess the developed prediction model. RESULTS: The
      experimental smoking rate and current smoking rate among the students were 11.0%
      and 3%, respectively. Our constructed model showed an acceptable fit to the data
      (comparative fit index = 0.987, root-mean-square error of approximation = 0.034).
      Intention to smoke was predicted by perceived environment (beta = 0.455, P <
      0.001) system consisting of peer smoking (beta = 0.599, P < 0.001), parent
      smoking (beta = 0.152, P < 0.001), and media exposure to smoking (beta = 0.226, P
      < 0.001), and behavior system (beta = 0.487, P < 0.001) consisting of tobacco
      experimentation (beta = 0.663, P < 0.001) and current smoking (beta = 0.755, P <
      0.001). Smoking intention was irrelevant for personality system in students (beta
      = -0.113, P>0.05) which consisted of acceptance of tobacco use (beta = 0.668, P <
      0.001) and academic performance (beta = 0.171, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The PBT
      based model we developed provides a good understanding of the predictors of
      intentions to smoke and it suggests future interventions among youths should
      focus on components in perceived environment and behavior systems, and take into
      account the moderating effects of personality system.

PMID- 25826613
TI  - Short-term prognostic factors for primary sclerosing cholangitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It was recently reported that alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels below
      1.5 upper limit of normal (ULN) predicted better prognosis in primary sclerosing
      cholangitis (PSC). We evaluated whether ALP as well as other laboratory values
      were useful for the short-term prognosis of PSC in a Japanese cohort. METHODS: In
      78 patients with PSC (41 males and 37 females, mean onset age 41.9 years), the
      relationship between nine parameters (albumin, bilirubin, international
      normalized ratio of prothrombin time [PT-INR], ALP, aspartate aminotransferase
      [AST], alanine aminotransferase [ALT], gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase [gamma-GTP],
      platelet, and calculated Model for End-Stage Liver Disease [MELD] score), and
      liver related clinical endpoints (death due to liver failure, variceal bleeding,
      liver transplantation, and biliary carcinoma) were retrospectively examined.
      Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, we investigated which
      parameter was useful for predicting the short-term prognosis. RESULTS: Average
      follow-up period was 8.6 years. The endpoints were evaluated in 40 patients.
      Seven patients died of liver failure, three patients developed variceal bleeding,
      nine patients received liver transplantation from a living donor, 13 patients
      received certified brain-dead liver transplantation, and eight patients developed
      biliary carcinoma. The parameters with an area under the curve (AUC) of more than
      0.8 were albumin, bilirubin, PT-INR, ALP, and MELD score. AUC for ALP was 0.85.
      The optimal cutoff value was 2.3 ULN. Despite the use or non-use of
      ursodeoxycholic acid, short-term prognosis of patients with an ALP level below
      2.3 ULN was good. CONCLUSIONS: We confirmed that keeping ALP low is associated
      with better short-term prognosis in a Japanese cohort. In addition, Alb, Bil, PT
      INR, and MELD score were good predictors.

PMID- 25826614
TI  - Biochemical and functional characterization of a periplasmic disulfide
      oxidoreductase from Neisseria meningitidis essential for meningococcal viability.
AB  - TlpAs (thioredoxin-like proteins) are bacterial thioredoxin-like periplasmic
      disulfide oxidoreductases generally involved in cytochrome c maturation (Ccm)
      process. They contain a characteristic CXXC active site motif involved in
      disulfide exchange reaction. In the human pathogenic Neisseria meningitidis
      species, no TlpA has been characterized so far. In the present study, using an in
      silico analysis, we identified a putative periplasmic TlpA, called TlpA2.
      Biochemical and kinetic characterizations of the soluble form of TlpA2, tTlpA2
      (truncated TlpA2), were performed. A reduction potential of -0.230 V at pH 7 was
      calculated, suggesting that TlpA2 acts as a reductant in the oxidative
      environment of the periplasm. Using a second-order reactive probe, high pKapp
      (apparent pKa) values were determined for the two cysteines of the SCXXC motif.
      The tTlpA2 was shown to be efficiently reduced by the N-terminal domain of the
      DsbD, whereas tTlpA2 reduced a mimetic peptide of cytochrome c' with a catalytic
      efficiency similar to that observed with other disulfide oxidoreductase like
      ResA. Moreover, the corresponding gene tlpA2 was shown to be essential for the
      pathogen viability and able to partially complement a Bordetella pertussis CcsX
      mutant. Together, these data support an essential role of TlpA2 in the Ccm
      process in N. meningitidis. 

PMID- 25826615
TI  - Adherence to a DASH-Style Diet in Relation to Stroke: A Case-Control Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the growing body of evidence from Western societies on the
      association between dietary patterns and stroke, limited data are available in
      this regard from developing countries. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to
      examine the association between adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop
      Hypertension (DASH) diet and risk of stroke among the Iranian population.
      METHODS: This hospital-based case-control study included 194 stroke patients and
      194 controls and was conducted at the Alzahra University Hospital, Isfahan, Iran.
      The cases were stroke patients who were hospitalized in the neurology ward of the
      Alzahra University Hospital. Controls were randomly selected from among
      hospitalized patients in the orthopedic or surgical wards of this center. A
      validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess the patients'
      usual dietary intake. We constructed the DASH diet score based on food and
      nutrients emphasized or minimized in the DASH diet. RESULTS: The prevalence of
      stroke among those in the top quartile of the DASH diet score was 40%, which was
      15% lower than among those in the bottom quartile; this difference was marginally
      significant (p = 0.10). After controlling for age, sex, and total energy intake,
      adherence to the DASH diet was inversely associated with the risk of stroke (OR:
      0.52; 95% CI: 0.28; 0.98). These associations remained significant even after
      additionally controlling for physical activity, smoking, hypertension, and
      diabetes, such that individuals in the highest quartile of the DASH diet score
      had a 58% lower risk of stroke than those in the lowest category (OR: 0.48; 95%
      CI: 0.24, 0.96). However, after further adjustment for body mass index (BMI), the
      association disappeared (OR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.29, 1.31), indicating an obesity
      dependent association. CONCLUSION: We found an inverse relationship between the
      DASH-style diet and prevalence of stroke. Prospective studies are needed to
      confirm this association.

PMID- 25826618
TI  - Theoretical chemistry developments: from electronic structure to simulations.

PMID- 25826617
TI  - Long non-coding RNA expression profile in the kidneys of male, low birth weight
      rats exposed to maternal protein restriction at postnatal day 1 and day 10.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are involved in a variety of
      biological functions and aberrantly expressed in many types of diseases, are
      required for postnatal development. In this study, we aimed to investigate the
      lncRNA profiles in low birth weight (LBW) rats with reduced nephron endowment
      induced by the restriction of maternal protein intake. LBW by reduced nephron
      endowment is a risk factor for hypertension and end-stage renal disease in
      adulthood. METHODS: Kidneys were obtained from LBW rats fed a low-protein diet
      throughout gestation and lactation as well as from normal control rats born from
      dams fed normal protein diets at postnatal day 1 (p1) and 10 (p10). The total
      number of glomeruli in the kidneys was counted at p10. LncRNA expression profiles
      were analyzed by sequencing and screening using the Agilent Rat lncRNA Array.
      Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis of these lncRNAs confirmed the
      identity of some genes. RESULTS: The total number of glomeruli per kidney at p10
      was significantly lower in LBW rats than in controls. A total of 42 lncRNAs were
      identified to be significantly differentially expressed, with fold-changes >=2.0,
      between the two groups. According to correlation analysis between the
      differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs involved in kidney development, we
      randomly selected a number of lncRNAs for comparison analysis between LBW and
      control kidneys at the two time-points, p1 and p10, using qRT-PCR. Three lncRNAs
      (TCONS_00014139, TCONS_00014138, and TCONS_00017119), which were significantly
      correlated with the mRNA expression of mitogen-activated protein kinase 4, were
      aberrantly expressed in LBW rats, compared with controls, at both p1 and p10.
      CONCLUSIONS: LncRNAs are aberrantly expressed in the kidneys of LBW rats,
      compared with controls, during nephron development, which indicates that lncRNAs
      might be involved in impaired nephron endowment.

PMID- 25826616
TI  - Comparing quality of public primary care between Hong Kong and Shanghai using
      validated patient assessment tools.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Primary care is the key element of health reform in China. The
      objective of this study was to compare patient assessed quality of public primary
      care between Hong Kong, a city with established primary care environment
      influenced by its colonial history, and Shanghai, a city leading primary care
      reform in Mainland China; and to measure the equity of care in the two cities.
      METHODS: Cross sectional stratified random sampling surveys were conducted in
      2011. Data were collected from 1,994 respondents in Hong Kong and 811 respondents
      in Shanghai. A validated Chinese version of the primary care assessment tool was
      employed to assess perceived quality of primary care with respect to
      socioeconomic characteristics and health status. RESULTS: We analyzed 391 and 725
      respondents in Hong Kong and Shanghai, respectively, who were regular public
      primary care users. Respondents in Hong Kong reported significant lower scores in
      first contact accessibility (1.59 vs. 2.15), continuity of care (2.33 vs. 3.10),
      coordination of information (2.84 vs. 3.64), comprehensiveness service
      availability (2.43 vs. 3.31), comprehensiveness service provided (2.11 vs. 2.40),
      and the total score (23.40 vs. 27.40), but higher scores in first contact
      utilization (3.15 vs. 2.54) and coordination of services (2.67 vs. 2.40) when
      compared with those in Shanghai. Respondents with higher income reported a
      significantly higher total primary care score in Hong Kong, but not in Shanghai.
      CONCLUSIONS: Respondents in Shanghai reported better quality of public primary
      care than those in Hong Kong, while quality of public primary care tended to be
      more equitable in Shanghai.

PMID- 25826619
TI  - Common variation at 1q24.1 (ALDH9A1) is a potential risk factor for renal cancer.
AB  - So far six susceptibility loci for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) have been
      discovered by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). To identify additional RCC
      common risk loci, we performed a meta-analysis of published GWAS (totalling 2,215
      cases and 8,566 controls of Western-European background) with imputation using
      1000 Genomes Project and UK10K Project data as reference panels and followed up
      the most significant association signals [22 single nucleotide polymorphisms
      (SNPs) and 3 indels in eight genomic regions] in 383 cases and 2,189 controls
      from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). A combined analysis identified a promising
      susceptibility locus mapping to 1q24.1 marked by the imputed SNP rs3845536
      (Pcombined =2.30x10-8). Specifically, the signal maps to intron 4 of the ALDH9A1
      gene (aldehyde dehydrogenase 9 family, member A1). We further evaluated this
      potential signal in 2,461 cases and 5,081 controls from the International Agency
      for Research on Cancer (IARC) GWAS of RCC cases and controls from multiple
      European regions. In contrast to earlier findings no association was shown in the
      IARC series (P=0.94; Pcombined =2.73x10-5). While variation at 1q24.1 represents
      a potential risk locus for RCC, future replication analyses are required to
      substantiate our observation. 

PMID- 25826621
TI  - Dopant-controlled selenization in Pd nanocrystals: the triggered Kirkendall
      effect.
AB  - Doping foreign impurities in host nanomaterials can induce new materials
      properties. In addition, doping can also influence the crystallization process
      and change the shape and/or phase of the host material. While dopant-induced
      changes in the properties of materials have been well studied, the concept of
      doping and its chemistry in the design of different nanostructures has rarely
      been investigated. In order to further understand the doping chemistry, this
      study investigated the dopant-controlled enhancement of the rate of the chemical
      reaction during the transformation from one doped material to another and the
      consequent effect on the shape evolution of the nanostructures. These are
      performed during the selenization of metal Pd(0), using Ag dopant. While the
      controlled process produced cuboidal Pd17Se15 from the quasi-spherical
      nanocrystals of Pd(0), on doping, the shape of Pd17Se15 transformed into hollow
      cubes. The rate was also enhanced by more than 30 times for the doped case in
      comparison to undoped Pd(0). Importantly, while for the undoped nanocrystals, the
      selenization approached in one direction, where for the doped particles, it
      occurred all around the nanocrystals and triggered the Kirkendall effect.
      Detailed investigations were conducted to elucidate the influence of the dopant
      on both the rate and directional approach of selenization in Pd(0), initiation of
      the fast diffusion of Pd, change in shape, and formation of the hollow
      structures. To our understanding, the role of dopants in controlling chemical
      processes is of fundamental importance, and this will undoubtedly broaden the
      scope of research on the chemistry of doping and crystal growth in solution. 

PMID- 25826620
TI  - Would older adults with mild cognitive impairment adhere to and benefit from a
      structured lifestyle activity intervention to enhance cognition?: a cluster
      randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic evidence suggests that cognitive and physical
      activities are associated with better cognition in late life. The present study
      was conducted to examine the possible benefits of four structured lifestyle
      activity interventions and compare their effectiveness in optimizing cognition
      for older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). METHOD AND FINDINGS: This
      was a 12-month cluster randomized controlled trial. 555 community-dwelling
      Chinese older adults with MCI (295 with multiple-domain deficits (mdMCI), 260
      with single-domain deficit (sdMCI)) were recruited. Participants were randomized
      into physical exercise (P), cognitive activity (C), integrated cognitive and
      physical exercise (CP), and social activity (S, active control) groups.
      Interventions comprised of one-hour structured activities three times per week.
      Primary outcome was Clinical Dementia Rating sum of boxes (CDR-SOB) scores.
      Secondary outcomes included Chinese versions of Alzheimer's Disease Assessment
      Scale - Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog), delayed recall, Mini-Mental State
      Examination, Category Verbal Fluency Test (CVFT) and Disability Assessment for
      Dementia - Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (DAD-IADL). Percentage
      adherence to programs and factors affecting adherence were also examined. At 12th
      month, 423 (76.2%) completed final assessment. There was no change in CDR-SOB and
      DAD-IADL scores across time and intervention groups. Multilevel normal model and
      linear link function showed improvement in ADAS-Cog, delayed recall and CVFT with
      time (p<0.05). Post-hoc subgroup analyses showed that the CP group, compared with
      other intervention groups, had more significant improvements of ADAS-Cog, delayed
      recall and CVFT performance with sdMCI participants (p<0.05). Overall adherence
      rate was 73.3%. Improvements in ADAS-Cog and delayed recall scores were
      associated with adherence after controlling for age, education, and intervention
      groups (univariate analyses). CONCLUSIONS: Structured lifestyle activity
      interventions were not associated with changes in everyday functioning, albeit
      with some improvements in cognitive scores across time. Higher adherence was
      associated with greater improvement in cognitive scores. Factors to enhance
      adherence should be specially considered in the design of psychosocial
      interventions for older adults with cognitive decline. TRIAL REGISTRATION:
      ClinicalTrials.gov ChiCTR-TRC-11001359.

PMID- 25826622
TI  - A journey to zero: reduction of post-operative cesarean surgical site infections
      over a five-year period.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgical site infections (SSI) are a substantial concern for cesarean
      deliveries in which a surgical site complication is most unwelcome for a mother
      with a new infant. Steps taken pre- and post-operatively to reduce the number of
      complications may be of substantial benefit clinically, economically, and
      psychologically. METHODS: A risk-based approach to incision management was
      developed and implemented for all cesarean deliveries at our institution. A
      number of incremental interventions for low-risk and high-risk patients including
      pre-operative skin preparations, standardized pre- and post-operative protocols,
      post-operative nanocrystalline silver anti-microbial barrier dressings, and
      incisional negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) were implemented sequentially
      over a 5-y period. A systematic clinical chart review of 4,942 patients spanning
      all cesarean deliveries between 2007-2012 was performed to determine what effects
      the interventions had on the rate of SSI for cesarean deliveries. RESULTS: The
      percentage of SSI was reduced from 2.13% (2007) to 0.10% (2012) (p<0.0001). There
      were no substantial changes in the patient population risk factors over this
      time. As a result of the changes in incision management practice, a total of 92
      cesarean post-operative SSIs were avoided: A total cost saving of nearly
      $5,000,000. CONCLUSION: Applying a clinical algorithm for assessing the risk of
      surgical site complication and making recommendations on pre-operative and post
      operative incision management can result in a substantial and sustainable
      reduction in cesarean SSI.

PMID- 25826623
TI  - Atomistic Insight into Tetraalkylphosphonium-Bis(oxalato)borate Ionic
      Liquid/Water Mixtures. I. Local Microscopic Structure.
AB  - Atomistic simulations have been performed to investigate the microscopic
      structural organization of aqueous solutions of trihexyltetradecylphosphonium
      bis(oxalato)borate ([P6,6,6,14][BOB]) ionic liquid (IL). The evolution of the
      microscopic liquid structure and the local ionic organization of IL/water
      mixtures as a function of the water concentration is visualized and
      systematically analyzed via radial and spatial distribution functions,
      coordination numbers, hydrogen bond network, and water clustering analysis. The
      microscopic liquid structure in neat IL is characterized by a connected apolar
      network composed of the alkyl chains of [P6,6,6,14] cations and isolated polar
      domains consisting of the central segments of [P6,6,6,14] cations and [BOB]
      anions, and the corresponding local ionic environment is described by direct
      contact ion pairs. In IL/water mixtures with lower water mole fractions, the
      added water molecules are dispersed and embedded in cavities between neighboring
      ionic species and the local ionic structure is characterized by solvent-shared
      ion pairs through cation-water-anion triple complexes. With a gradual increase in
      the water concentration in IL/water mixtures, the added water molecules tend to
      aggregate and form small clusters, intermediate chain-like structures, large
      aggregates, and eventually a water network in water concentrated simulation
      systems. A further progressive dilution of IL/water mixtures leads to the
      formation of self-organized micelle-like aggregates characterized by a
      hydrophobic core and hydrophilic shell consisting of the central polar segments
      in [P6,6,6,14] cations and [BOB] anions in a highly branched water network. The
      striking structural evolution of the [P6,6,6,14][BOB] IL/water mixtures is
      rationalized by the competition between favorable hydrogen bonded interactions
      and strong electrostatic interactions between the polar segments in ionic species
      and the dispersion interactions between the hydrophobic alkyl chains in
      [P6,6,6,14] cations. 

PMID- 25826624
TI  - Thermosensitive, near-infrared-labeled nanoparticles for topotecan delivery to
      tumors.
AB  - Liposomal nanoparticles have proven to be versatile systems for drug delivery.
      However, the progress in clinic has been slower and less efficient than expected.
      This suggests a need for further development using carefully designed chemical
      components to improve usefulness under clinical conditions and maximize
      therapeutic effect. For cancer chemotherapy, PEGylated liposomes were the first
      nanomedicine to reach the market and have been used clinically for several years.
      Approaches toward targeted drug delivery using next generation "thermally
      triggered" nanoparticles are now in clinical trials. However, clinically tested
      thermosensitive liposomes (TSLs) lack the markers that allow tumor labeling and
      improved imaging for tissue specific applied hyperthermia. Here we describe the
      development of optically labeled TSLs for image guidance drug delivery and proof
      of-concept results for their application in the treatment of murine xenograft
      tumors using the anticancer drug topotecan. These labeled TSLs also allow the
      simultaneous, real-time diagnostic imaging of nanoparticle biodistribution using
      a near-infrared (NIR; 750-950 nm) fluorophore coupled to a lipidic component of
      the lipid bilayer. When combined with multispectral fluorescence analysis, this
      allows for specific and high sensitivity tracking of the nanoparticles in vivo.
      The application of NIR fluorescence-labeled TSLs could have a transformative
      effect on future cancer chemotherapy. 

PMID- 25826625
TI  - Contributions of Basal Glucose and Postprandial Glucose Concentrations to
      Hemoglobin A1c in the Newly Diagnosed Patients with Type 2 Diabetes--the
      Preliminary Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this preliminary study is to investigate contributions of
      basal glucose (BG) and postprandial glucose (PPG) increments to overall
      hyperglycemia in newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
      RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We evaluated the relative contributions of BG and
      PPG to overall hyperglycemia in 59 newly diagnosed T2DM patients according to BG
      baseline value of 6.1 mmol/L and 24-h glucose profiles of normal glucose
      tolerance (NGT) subjects obtained by continuous glucose monitoring as baseline,
      respectively. RESULTS: When the baseline was 24-h glucose profiles of the NGT
      subjects, the relative contributions of PPG in the T2DM patients with hemoglobin
      A1c (HbA1c) levels of <= 7.0%, 7.0-9.0%, and >9.0% were 57.58%, 44.69%, and
      21.56%, respectively. When the baseline value was equal to 6.1 mmol/L, the
      relative contributions of PPG in the T2DM patients with HbA1c levels of <= 7.0%,
      7.0-9.0%, and >9.0% were 77.23%, 53.43%, and 22.78%, respectively. Compared with
      the 24-h glucose profiles of the NGT subjects as the baseline, the relative
      contribution of PPG was overestimated by about 10-20% in the T2DM patients with
      HbA1c levels of <= 9.0% when 6.1 mmol/L was chosen as the baseline. CONCLUSIONS:
      In the newly diagnosed T2DM patients with mild hyperglycemia, PPG is a
      predominant contributor, whereas the relative contributions of BG gradually
      increase from mild to severe hyperglycemia and obviously exceed PPG in the T2DM
      patients with HbA1c levels of >9.0%. This finding implies that the initial
      pharmacotherapy may target PPG in those patients with mild hyperglycemia and
      target BG in those patients with severe hyperglycemia.

PMID- 25826627
TI  - Soft-tissue balance in short and straight stem total hip arthroplasty.
AB  - The growing numbers of short stem hip implants have redefined total hip
      arthroplasty with new stem geometries and possible functional differences.
      Several systematic reviews have reported good clinical results with this new
      class of stems, although kinematic alterations are still unclear in many aspects.
      The good clinical results obtained at the authors' institution led to the current
      study. The authors hypothesized that the geometric alignment of the prosthetic
      components may be closer to the anatomy of the healthy hip joint, thus leading to
      better function and clinical satisfaction. An examination via finite element
      analysis was chosen to model the hip joint and virtually implant a short and a
      standard straight stem. Findings indicated that anchoring of the short stem
      allowed favorable positioning in the proximal femur, with the femoral head
      already in the center of the cup. This positioning was not possible for the
      straight stem, which required further reduction of the femur by a significant
      translation into the cup, leading to abnormal soft-tissue balancing. The results
      from the simulation showed an absolute average deviation of ligamentous fiber
      strains of 6% for the short stem in 30 degrees  of flexion and extension versus
      29% and 36% for the standard straight stem in 30 degrees  of flexion and
      extension, respectively. A femoral neck guided orientation of the short stem
      implant seems to allow a more anatomical reconstruction and thus a more balanced
      hip in terms of the modeled soft tissues. In contrast, the straight stem alters
      the head position and induces nonphysiological capsular strains. 

PMID- 25826628
TI  - Reproducing the hip center with a femoral neck-retaining implant.
AB  - Because of the recent trend for total hip arthroplasty in younger patients, more
      bone-preserving implants have been designed, based partly on the premise that
      maintenance of more bone stock would allow revision with standard primary
      implants. Another possible advantage of an implant that retains the femoral neck
      is that it may allow anatomical recreation of the center of the femoral head,
      femoral neck anteversion, anterior tilt, and caput-collum-diaphysis (CCD) angle,
      as well as femoral offset and leg length, without the use of modular implants. To
      determine whether the proximal femoral anatomy could be recreated, this study
      used computed tomography data and 3-dimensional modeling from 10 cadaver hips in
      6 whole body specimens. Three femoral neck resection levels were investigated: 2
      mm, 5 mm (recommended resection), and 10 mm from the base of the femoral neck.
      Results showed that the center of the femoral head, femoral neck anteversion, and
      CCD angle could all be recreated with available implant sizes, without
      modularity, within 2 degrees  and 1 mm on average. The addition of a modular neck
      provided no advantage in recreation of the hip center or other anatomical
      parameters. Use of a short metaphyseal femoral neck retaining-type of stem should
      allow restoration of anatomical parameters without the use of an exchangeable
      modular femoral neck. 

PMID- 25826626
TI  - Crystal structure of a two-subunit TrkA octameric gating ring assembly.
AB  - The TM1088 locus of T. maritima codes for two proteins designated TM1088A and
      TM1088B, which combine to form the cytosolic portion of a putative Trk K+
      transporter. We report the crystal structure of this assembly to a resolution of
      3.45 A. The high resolution crystal structures of the components of the assembly,
      TM1088A and TM1088B, were also determined independently to 1.50 A and 1.55 A,
      respectively. The TM1088 proteins are structurally homologous to each other and
      to other K+ transporter proteins, such as TrkA. These proteins form a cytosolic
      gating ring assembly that controls the flow of K+ ions across the membrane.
      TM1088 represents the first structure of a two-subunit Trk assembly. Despite the
      atypical genetics and chain organization of the TM1088 assembly, it shares
      significant structural homology and an overall quaternary organization with other
      single-subunit K+ gating ring assemblies. This structure provides the first
      structural insights into what may be an evolutionary ancestor of more modern
      single-subunit K+ gating ring assemblies. 

PMID- 25826629
TI  - Patient selection for shorter femoral stems.
AB  - The right patient selection with the correct surgical treatment are prerequisite
      for a positive result in total hip arthroplasty (THA). Short stem implants demand
      a shorter anchoring length in accordance with the proper indication. Although
      appropriate indications for short stems have been discussed in the literature,
      there currently is no clear definition. The lack of an accepted categorization of
      short hip stems complicates the situation further. This article briefly reviews
      the literature and highlights the authors' results and experiences in short stem
      THA in an effort to establish a proper discrimination between indications and
      contraindications for the Metha short stem. Results presented include a
      retrospective data collection and follow-up examination of 126 patients who
      underwent short stem THA with 2- and 4-year results. Anchoring principles of the
      short stem are reviewed, and a complication and failure analysis based on 7
      femoral revisions in 1092 short stem THAs is presented. Selection criteria for
      short stem THA are patients younger than 70 years with primary osteoarthritis and
      dysplastic femoral deformities, and indications of avascular head necrosis.
      Adequate bone quality must be confirmed intraoperatively, assessing whether the
      bone structure in the area of the femoral neck is strong enough to support the
      short stem load transmission. Coxa vara and high dysplastic femoral neck
      antetorsion are contraindications for short stems. Wide and short femoral necks,
      implant undersizing, and a deep stem position below the femoral osteotomy
      compromise stability and must be avoided with an appropriate surgical technique.
      Long-term data are not yet available. 

PMID- 25826630
TI  - Comparative 5-year results of short hip total hip arthroplasty with Ti- or CoCr
      neck adapters.
AB  - This prospective study investigated revision after modular short stem
      implantation. Results are presented for 2 different types of neck adapters
      (titanium and cobalt-chromium [CoCr]). Eighty-five patients with titanium
      adapters and 87 patients with CoCr adapters underwent follow-up examination after
      an average of 5.7 and 5.2 years, respectively. Mean patient age was 57 years in
      both groups. Indications were primary osteoarthritis (80%), cup dysplasia (14%),
      and other (6%). Mean Harris Hip Scores were 98 and 99 points (titanium and CoCr
      groups, respectively). Ninety percent and 96% of patients were very satisfied or
      satisfied (titanium and CoCr groups, respectively); 3% of patients in both groups
      were dissatisfied. Pain decreased from visual analog scale score 7 and 6
      preoperatively to 0.37 and 0.15 postoperatively for the titanium and CoCr groups,
      respectively. No joint dislocation occurred. Six patients needed revision within
      the first year (2 for infection, 1 for via falsa position, and 2 for aseptic
      loosening in the titanium group, and 1 for aseptic loosening in the CoCr group).
      Nine revisions occurred due to neck adapter failure (titanium group). Primary
      standard stems were used in all revisions. Excluding material-related adapter
      failures in the titanium group, the 5-year survival rate was 94.8% (95%
      confidence interval [CI], 88.9-97.6 for titanium) and 99% (95% CI, 93.7-99.8 for
      CoCr). No radiographic signs of loosening were seen at last follow-up. Fine
      sclerotic lines were detected in Gruen zones 1 (17.2%) and 2 (14%), hypertrophies
      in zone 3 (4.3%), and periprosthetic cancellous bone compressions in zone 6
      (75.8%). No adapter fractures occurred for CoCr components. The treatment and
      anchoring system of the short stem studied yielded good results and allowed
      revision using standard stems in all patients. 

PMID- 25826631
TI  - Periprosthetic bone remodeling around short stem.
AB  - Total hip arthroplasty (THA) has become standard treatment for advanced
      degenerative changes of the hip. A few studies have reported promising clinical
      outcomes with the Metha stem fixated by metaphyseal anchoring. This study
      evaluated early bone remodeling around the Metha stem during 12 months of follow
      up. The study population included 36 patients (18 women and 18 men) with a mean
      age of 50.4 years who underwent THA between 2009 and 2011 for advanced
      degenerative changes of the hip with the Metha stem. Patients were evaluated on
      the day of surgery, 10 days postoperatively, and then at 3, 6, and 12 months
      postoperatively. Evaluation included Harris Hip Score and dual-energy x-ray
      absorptiometry (DEXA) scanning in 7 Gruen zones. At 12 months postoperatively,
      Harris Hip Score increased significantly by 38 points. A significant change in
      bone mineral density (BMD) was found immediately after surgery; this change was
      most pronounced in Gruen zone 3 (+36%), followed by Gruen zones 2 and 5. The
      smallest postoperative BMD increase was observed in Gruen zone 7 (+3.66%). In
      contrast, at 3 months postoperatively, a trend toward decreased BMD was observed
      in all Gruen zones. At 6 months postoperatively, mean BMD decreased in all Gruen
      zones except for Gruen zone 6. At 12 months postoperatively, mean BMD increased
      in Gruen zones 2 through 6, with the highest value (30%) observed in Gruen zone
      3; in Gruen zones 1 and 2, mean BMD decreased. Short-term assessment of
      periprosthetic bone remodeling after uncemented Metha stem implantation revealed
      different host-bone responses. Apparently, the Metha stem can reduce BMD loss in
      the proximal femur. DEXA is a precise method for assessing BMD changes around
      implanted Metha stem. 

PMID- 25826632
TI  - Short stem total hip arthroplasty in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - Total hip arthroplasty (THA) has proven successful in patients with rheumatoid
      arthritis (RA). Patients with RA often require multiple revisions, and bone
      conservation is mandatory. A variety of short stems is currently available with
      mid-term results for osteoarthritis. This retrospective study evaluated mid-term
      clinical results of short stem THA in a series of patients with RA. Between 2005
      and 2009, a total of 105 cementless short stems were implanted in patients with
      RA. Average patient age at the time of the index THA was 44.2 years, and average
      length of follow-up was 5 years. Clinical evaluation included physical
      examination and documentation of potential adverse events during the
      postoperative period. No radiographic failures occurred. Femoral and cup
      components showed some minor radiolucencies with sclerotic lines, but none
      involved 100% of the bone-prosthesis interface. Complications included femoral
      component subsidence in 2 hips after initial full weight bearing; 1 case resolved
      after 3 months, and the other case was revised to a standard shaft. One
      intraoperative dorsolateral stem tip perforation occurred with revision to a
      conventional length stem. Migration in 1 cup led to revision without removal of
      the short stem implant. No infections or joint dislocations were observed. The
      transfer of the short stem concept to an additional treatment option for patients
      with RA proved successful in the early to mid-term postoperative period.
      Complications and revisions were limited to early migration and early loosening
      of the implants in line with the results reported in the literature of cementless
      conventional THA in patients with RA. 

PMID- 25826633
TI  - Expertise in short hip arthroplasty.

PMID- 25826634
TI  - 10-year experience with short stem total hip arthroplasty.
AB  - Since 1998, short stem total hip arthroplasty (THA) has been performed at the
      authors' institution. Currently, 30% of THAs are performed with short stems. This
      article reports on complications that required revision of a short stem THA.
      Between September 2005 and February 2012, a total of 1953 Metha short stem THAs
      were performed; of these, 38 required revision due to mechanical complications.
      In 12 cases, the modular titanium neck adapter failed. In 19 cases, aseptic
      implant loosening occurred; of these, 11 cases were due to major stem subsidence.
      In 2 cases, via falsa (cortical penetration) implantation occurred. In 5 cases,
      periprosthetic fractures led to revision. This corresponds to an aseptic total
      revision rate of 1.3% for 26 short stems and 1.9% including the cases of all 38
      documented revision cases. Thirty-four cases were revised with cementless
      standard hip stems, 2 cases were revised with short stems, and 2 cases were
      revised with long revision stems. Undersizing was analyzed in 58% of aseptic
      revisions. Fifty-four percent of revisions were performed in male patients - 23%
      with osteonecrosis of the femoral head, and 7% with short hip stems positioned in
      varus in coxa vara deformities. Seventy-two percent of revisions after marked
      early stem subsidence and position change into valgus were performed in female
      patients. Dysplastic hips with coxa valga did not show elevated revision rates.
      No revisions were performed for dislocation or femoral thigh pain. Short stem THA
      with the Metha implant is a bone-preserving option for various indications in
      select patient groups. 

PMID- 25826635
TI  - Current concepts, classification, and results in short stem hip arthroplasty.
AB  - Various short hip stems have been introduced with differing implant concepts of
      femoral fixation and implant length. There is a lack of proper classification for
      short hip stems, with a clear and accepted definition for implant length and
      extent of bone preservation in the metaphyseal and diaphyseal femur. This study
      analyzed the length of short hip stems. Stems were divided into collum, partial
      collum, and trochanter-sparing implants. An additional category was added,
      trochanter harming, which was defined as interruption of the circumferential
      integrity of the femoral neck. For all of the femoral components described, the
      designs were compared, excluding stems with insufficient clinical data. The 15
      finally selected stems were classified as collum (1 stem), partial collum (7
      stems), trochanter sparing (4 stems), and trochanter harming (3 stems). Mid-term
      results (>5 years of follow-up) were available for only 3 designs in the partial
      collum group. Taking into account the results of short-term studies (<5 years of
      follow-up), the femoral revision rate per 100 observed component years was <1 for
      most total hip arthroplasties. However, the studies varied greatly regarding
      level of significance, and short hip stems without published results are
      available commercially. Short hip stems cannot be circumscribed by a simple
      length limit. For some designs, clinical data collected from large patient
      cohorts showed a survivorship comparable to traditional stems. In cases that must
      be revised, this often can be performed with a conventional primary stem,
      fulfilling the promise to preserve bone for potential future revisions in younger
      patients. 

PMID- 25826636
TI  - A multilayered silicon-reduced graphene oxide electrode for high performance
      lithium-ion batteries.
AB  - A multilayered structural silicon-reduced graphene oxide electrode with superior
      electrochemical performance was synthesized from bulk Si particles through
      inexpensive electroless etching and graphene self-encapsulating approach. The
      prepared composite electrode presents a stable charge-discharge performance with
      high rate, showing a reversible capacity of 2787 mAh g(-1) at a charging rate of
      100 mA g(-1), and a stable capacity over 1000 mAh g(-1) was retained at 1 A g(-1)
      after 50 cycles with a high columbic efficiency of 99% during the whole cycling
      process. This superior performance can be attributed to its novel multilayered
      structure with porous Si particles encapsulated, which can effectively
      accommodate the large volume change during the lithiation process and provide
      increased electrical conductivity. This facile low-cost approach offers a
      promising route to develop an optimized carbon encapsulated Si electrode for
      future industrial applications. 

PMID- 25826637
TI  - Silyloxide-promoted diastereoselective addition of aryl and heterocyclic
      trimethylsilanes to N-tert-butanesulfinylimines.
AB  - The addition of a broad variety of substituted aromatic and heterocyclic silanes
      to chiral N-tert-butanesulfinylimines has been achieved providing 1,1-diaryl and
      diheterocyclic substituted sulfinamides with excellent diastereoselectivity in
      all cases. Employing Me3SiO(-)/Bu4N(+) as the Lewis base activator for silicon
      allowed a general procedure for all silane reagents, including the less reactive
      aromatic derivatives. Evidence that the diastereoselective additions occur via an
      open transition state is presented. 

PMID- 25826638
TI  - Biotransformed soybean extract induces cell death of estrogen-dependent breast
      cancer cells by modulation of apoptotic proteins.
AB  - The process of soybean biotransformation increases the quantity of isoflavones
      (daidzein and genistein), which besides being considered an alternative to
      estroprogestive hormone replacement therapy (HRT), are able of hindering the
      growth and development of tumor cells. We investigated the effects of soybean
      extract biotransformed by fungus on estrogen-dependent (MCF-7) and nondependent
      (SK-BR-3) breast cell lines. Cells were treated with different concentrations of
      biotransformed (BSE) and nonbiotransformed soybean extract (SE), or daidzein (D)
      and genistein (G) patterns isolated and in combination (D + G). Afterwards, we
      analyzed cell viability by MTT assay, phosphatidylserine exposure and cell
      permeability by flow cytometry; expression of apoptotic proteins by Western
      blotting. BSE promoted reduction in cell viability and increase in DNA
      degradation in both cell lines. In addition, we verified increase in cell
      permeability and in the expression of phosphatidylserine, as well as modulation
      in the expression of apoptotic proteins in MCF-7 cells. The cells did not show
      any signs of cell death when incubated with the controls (D, G, and D + G).
      Unknown components found in the BSE induce cell death by apoptosis and necrosis,
      mainly in MCF-7 cells. These processes depend on the activation of caspase-3 and
      involve an increase in the expression of proapoptotic molecules. 

PMID- 25826639
TI  - The effectiveness of therapy on outcome following (BoNT-A) injection for focal
      spasticity in adults with neurological conditions: A systematic review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the independent effectiveness of adjunctive therapies
      when provided in conjunction with botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT-A) injection for
      focal spasticity in adults with neurological conditions. DATA SOURCES: Nine
      electronic databases. STUDY SELECTION: A systematic search was performed to
      identify randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the benefit of
      adjunctive therapies following BoNT-A injection. DATA EXTRACTION/SYNTHESIS: Two
      authors extracted the data independently. Each trial was assessed for internal
      validity and rated for quality using the PEDro scale. Articles were further
      appraised using the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) evidence classification
      to construct concise clinical recommendations. RESULTS: The search identified 12
      studies that reported on the effects of eight different adjunctive therapies
      following BoNT-A injection in adults with focal spasticity. No high level
      evidence was identified. The mean PEDro score for the 12 studies was 5.6 (SD =
      1.6) and the clinical recommendations provided were Grade U, indicating the
      effectiveness of the adjunctive therapies was unknown or unproven. CONCLUSION:
      There was insufficient evidence to support or refute the effectiveness of any of
      the commonly prescribed adjunctive therapies following BoNT-A injection for focal
      spasticity in adults.

PMID- 25826640
TI  - Transmitted Drug Resistance Among Recently Diagnosed Adults and Children in Sao
      Paulo, Brazil.
AB  - Transmitted drug resistance mutations (TDRM) have been a constant threat to
      treatment efficacy. We evaluated TDRM in plasma RNA of 217 antiretroviral therapy
      naive patients from sites in the Sao Paulo metropolitan area, collected from 2012
      to 2014. The partial HIV-1 polymerase region was sequenced using Big Dye
      terminators at an ABI 3130 Genetic Analyzer. TDRM was defined according to the
      Stanford database calibrated population resistance (CPR v.6.0), but other drug
      resistance mutations (DRM) considered at the IAS list (IAS, 2014) and at the
      Stanford HIV Database Genotyping Resistance Interpretation (GRI-HIVdb) were also
      described. Out of 78% (170/217) of patients with information on the time of
      diagnosis, most (83%, 141/170) had been recently diagnosed, with the first
      positive HIV serology at a median of 58 days (IQR 18-184). Subtype B predominated
      (70%), followed by subtype F (10%), BF (7.5%), C (7.5%), and BC (5%). TDRMs were
      observed in 9.2% (20/217, CI 95% 5.9% to 13.6%), mostly (5.2%) to nonnucleoside
      reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) antiretroviral class. Among children and
      adolescents, only a single patient showed TDRMs. Additional non-CPR mutations
      were observed: 11.5% (25/217) according to IAS or 4.6% (10/217) according to GRI
      HIVdb. Overall, 23.5% (51/217) of the cases had one or more DRM identified. TDRM
      prevalence differed significantly among some sites. These trends deserve
      continuous and systematic surveillance, especially with the new policies of
      treatment as prevention being implemented in the country. 

PMID- 25826641
TI  - Relational Intimacy and Sexual Frequency: A Correlation or a Cause? A Clinical
      Study of Heterosexual Married Women.
AB  - Researchers and practitioners have noted the importance of using clinical samples
      in sex therapy research. This study investigated the relationship between
      perceived levels of marital intimacy, sexual frequency, and sexual functioning
      among heterosexual married women. A clinical sample of 67 women completed the
      Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI), the Miller Social Intimacy Test (MSI), the
      Sexual Satisfaction Scale for Women (SSS-W), the Inclusion of the Other in the
      Self Scale (IOS), and the Female Sexual Functioning Index (FSFI-6). Data analyses
      revealed that marital intimacy acted as a predictor in univariate relationships
      on sexual frequency and sexual functioning but did not act as a mediator on
      sexual frequency and sexual functioning. Overall, these findings may further the
      discussion in the treatment of relational intimacy, sexual desire discrepancy,
      and female sexual dysfunction. 

PMID- 25826642
TI  - Distance Measurement on an Endogenous Membrane Transporter in E. coli Cells and
      Native Membranes Using EPR Spectroscopy.
AB  - Membrane proteins may be influenced by the environment, and they may be unstable
      in detergents or fail to crystallize. As a result, approaches to characterize
      structures in a native environment are highly desirable. Here, we report a novel
      general strategy for precise distance measurements on outer membrane proteins in
      whole Escherichia coli cells and isolated outer membranes. The cobalamin
      transporter BtuB was overexpressed and spin-labeled in whole cells and outer
      membranes and interspin distances were measured to a spin-labeled cobalamin using
      pulse EPR spectroscopy. A comparative analysis of the data reveals a similar
      interspin distance between whole cells, outer membranes, and synthetic vesicles.
      This approach provides an elegant way to study conformational changes or protein
      protein/ligand interactions at surface-exposed sites of membrane protein
      complexes in whole cells and native membranes, and provides a method to validate
      outer membrane protein structures in their native environment. 

PMID- 25826643
TI  - Genotype-phenotype correlation in Moroccan patients with primary congenital
      glaucoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the genotype-phenotype correlation in a large cohort of
      Moroccan primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) in which CYP1B1 mutation spectrum was
      recently reported by our group. METHODS: This study included 94 patients from 84
      unrelated Moroccan PCG families with or without CYP1B1 mutations. Clinical
      features, severity of the phenotype, and prognosis were mainly compared in
      patients with no CYP1B1 mutations, double CYP1B1 null alleles or nondouble null
      but other CYP1B1 mutations; most of them were hypomorphic mutations. Statistical
      analyses were performed using SAS and SPSS softwares. Significance was set at
      P<0.05. RESULTS: Mean of intraocular pressure, corneal diameter and number of
      surgery values and cup-to-disc ratios, and percentages of patients with bilateral
      PCG, eyes with severe opacities and severe phenotype, and those that needed >1
      trabeculectomy were significantly higher in the CYP1B1 mutation carriers (n=51)
      than in the no CYP1B1 mutation group (n=43). The same results were observed when
      patients with double CYP1B1 null alleles (n=34) were compared with those with no
      CYP1B1 mutation. The comparison between the no CYP1B1 mutation patients and those
      with nondouble null but other CYP1B1 mutations (n=17) showed significant
      differences in the percentage of bilateral PCG and percentages of eyes with
      severe opacities and severe phenotype. When the double CYP1B1 null allele
      carriers were compared with the nondouble null but other CYP1B1 mutation group,
      only significant differences were observed in the mean number of surgery values.
      Multivariate analysis revealed that, after adjustment of the parameters that
      showed significant differences in univariate analyses, corneal diameter was the
      main factor explaining the severity of PCG only in the double CYP1B1 null allele
      carriers. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of genotype-phenotype correlation
      in a large cohort of Moroccan PCG. Our results revealed that the worst phenotype
      and prognosis were observed in the double null CYP1B1 allele carriers followed by
      the nondouble null but other CYP1B1 mutations. This will contribute to the
      prediction of the prognosis of the disease.

PMID- 25826645
TI  - Nocardia exalbida blebitis: a case report.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report the first documented case of Nocardia exalbida blebitis.
      METHODS: A 57-year-old immunocompetent African American man with a long-standing
      history of open-angle glaucoma in both eyes treated with trabeculectomy presented
      with a diffusely hyperemic, thin, cystic, leaky bleb with no discharge in his
      left eye. The patient underwent bleb revision using an amniotic membrane patch
      graft followed by 1 month of antibiotics. He presented second time with an
      inflamed eye and brisk leakage and underwent a second bleb revision. His cultures
      remained negative. Two months after this second surgery, an anterior staphyloma
      had formed within the bleb area, and visible leakage of purulent material and a
      dense hypopyon was noted. Gram stain of the material showed rare long-branching
      rods. The material was sent to an outside laboratory for culture and
      identification. RESULTS: All 6 cultures were positive for N. abscessus complex
      and N. exalbida. The patient underwent 6 months of Bactrim therapy with topical
      sulfonamide and amikacin, leading to the disappearance of the hypopyon and an
      inflammation-free eye. CONCLUSIONS: N. exalbida is a newly identified Nocardia
      species that must be considered as a possible infectious agent in immunocompetent
      patients with blebitis refractive to initial topical antibiotic therapy. Delay in
      diagnosis and initiation of appropriate antibiotic regimen can result in an
      aggressive inflammatory process and vision loss.

PMID- 25826646
TI  - Diacerein-Loaded novel gastroretentive nanofiber system using PLLA: Development
      and in vitro characterization.
AB  - The purpose of this research is to describe the utility of nanofibers as a
      gastroretentive dosage form and improve the solubility of diacerein (DIA) by
      using the above approach. Poly L-(lactic acid) (PLLA) nanofibers loaded with DIA
      were prepared using the electrospinning technique. The nanofibers developed were
      characterized for morphology, tensile strength, floating behavior, drug
      entrapment, drug solubility, mucoadhesive detachment force, and drug release
      profile. The results demonstrated that the drug-loaded nanofibers were smooth,
      discrete, & non-woven. Analysis by X-ray crystallography (XRD) revealed that the
      drug in the nanofiber was present in the amorphous state, which largely
      contributes to higher drug solubility in the nanofibers developed. The buoyancy
      study demonstrated that the nanofibers developed exhibited zero lag time.
      Approximately 61.3% of drug was released in 30 h, thus facilitating the slow
      release of the drug from the nanofiber system. Finally, we concluded that the
      electrospun nanofibers developed offer a promising gastroretentive drug delivery
      system to deliver DIA with improved solubility. 

PMID- 25826644
TI  - Needle bleb revision with bevacizumab and mitomycin C compared with mitomycin C
      alone for failing filtration blebs.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report the 6-month comparative outcomes and bleb morphology for
      needle revision with bevacizumab and mitomycin C (MMC) versus MMC alone of failed
      trabeculectomy and ExPRESS shunt blebs. METHODS: Patients undergoing bleb needle
      revision procedures were enrolled in this study. All patients received a
      subconjunctival injection of 0.1 mL MMC (0.4 mg/mL) mixed with 0.1 mL
      preservative-free lidocaine (1%) at the beginning of the procedure. The patients
      were randomized into 2 cohorts assigned to receive either 1.0 mg (0.04 mL of 25
      mg/mL) subconjunctival bevacizumab (treatment group) or 0.04 mL of balanced salt
      solution (control group) injected in an identical manner posterior to the bleb
      after the bleb needling. Success was defined as >=20% reduction in intraocular
      pressure (IOP) without any IOP-lowering medications. Qualified success was
      defined as >=20% reduction of IOP with IOP-lowering medications. Failure was
      defined as IOP>21 mm Hg, IOP reduction <20%, or need for additional surgery. Bleb
      morphology was classified using the Indiana Bleb Appearance Grading Scale.
      RESULTS: Six months postoperatively, in treatment group (n=29), 57% of patients
      achieved complete success, and 43% failed. In control group (n=29), 41% of
      patients achieved complete success, 7% achieved qualified success, and 52%
      failed. The difference in success rates between the 2 groups was not
      statistically significant (P=0.35). At 6 months, the mean IOP was 11.52 in
      treatment group and 12.83 in control group (P=0.45); patients in treatment group
      were on a mean of 0.16 medications as compared with 0.58 medications in control
      group (P=0.058). For bleb morphology of treatment group compared with control
      group, the blebs had less vascularity (0.76 vs. 1.20, respectively, on a scale of
      0 to 4, P<0.05) and greater extent (2.68 vs. 2.36, on a scale of 0 to 3, P=0.022)
      in treatment group. CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference between the
      success rates and IOPs at postoperative month 6 between treatment and control
      groups. Postoperative blebs in the treatment group were less vascular and had
      greater extent.

PMID- 25826647
TI  - Optimizing an Internal Airway Percussion Device for Facilitating Exhalate
      Diagnostics of the Human Respiratory System.
AB  - PURPOSE: There is an urgent need for simple, inexpensive, noninvasive, and
      repeatable technique for the diagnosis of pulmonary diseases. Bronchoalveolar
      lavage, which is the gold standard diagnostic method for pulmonary diseases, does
      not meet any of these criteria. This study seeks to develop and optimize a novel
      technique of Internal Airway Percussion (IAP) to facilitate the collection and
      characterization of human respiratory system exhalates. METHODS: The IAP device
      transmits sound waves into the respiratory tract, thereby increasing the release
      of aerosolized particles within exhaled breath by vibrating both lungs. Nine
      combinations of sound wave frequencies and amplitudes were studied to determine
      optimal frequency and amplitude combination for maximum aerosol particle gain in
      healthy human subjects. RESULTS: Square-shaped sound waves generated at 15 Hz and
      3 cm H2O resulted in 15 times greater total mass of collected particles in the
      first 2 min of sampling, and 1.2 to 1.5 times increase in count median diameter
      of the particles. CONCLUSIONS: IAP, optimized at the frequency of 15 Hz and the
      pressure amplitude of 3 cm H2O, increased the total mass of particles exhaled
      from the human respiratory system. IAP has a broad range of potential clinical
      applications for noninvasive diagnosis of lung diseases including asthma, cystic
      fibrosis, pneumonia, and lung cancer, along with improvement of mucus clearance.

PMID- 25826648
TI  - The first mitochondrial genome of the sepsid fly Nemopoda mamaevi Ozerov, 1997
      (Diptera: Sciomyzoidea: Sepsidae), with mitochondrial genome phylogeny of
      cyclorrhapha.
AB  - Sepsid flies (Diptera: Sepsidae) are important model insects for sexual selection
      research. In order to develop mitochondrial (mt) genome data for this significant
      group, we sequenced the first complete mt genome of the sepsid fly Nemopoda
      mamaevi Ozerov, 1997. The circular 15,878 bp mt genome is typical of Diptera,
      containing all 37 genes usually present in bilaterian animals. We discovered
      inaccurate annotations of fly mt genomes previously deposited on GenBank and thus
      re-annotated all published mt genomes of Cyclorrhapha. These re-annotations were
      based on comparative analysis of homologous genes, and provide a statistical
      analysis of start and stop codon positions. We further detected two 18 bp of
      conserved intergenic sequences from tRNAGlu-tRNAPhe and ND1-tRNASer(UCN) across
      Cyclorrhapha, which are the mtTERM binding site motifs. Additionally, we compared
      automated annotation software MITOS with hand annotation method. Phylogenetic
      trees based on the mt genome data from Cyclorrhapha were inferred by Maximum
      likelihood and Bayesian methods, strongly supported a close relationship between
      Sepsidae and the Tephritoidea. 

PMID- 25826649
TI  - Intranasal oxytocin administration prior to exposure therapy for arachnophobia
      impedes treatment response.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent years have seen the emergence of a new paradigm for treatment
      of anxiety disorders focusing on development of drugs that facilitate
      psychotherapies via targeted effects on neuroplasticity. One compound that has
      generated interest in this regard is oxytocin (OT), a mammalian neuropeptide that
      modulates activity of the neurocircuit mediating fear extinction and memory
      processes. Recent research in healthy humans has suggested that intranasal OT
      administered prior to fear extinction training enhances fear extinction
      performance, supporting its potential to augment exposure-based psychotherapy.
      Here, we tested the hypothesis that OT treatment would facilitate response to
      exposure therapy in patients with specific phobia. METHODS: We conducted a small
      proof-of-concept trial investigating the effect of pretreatment intranasal OT
      administration on a brief, single-session exposure treatment for arachnophobia
      (fear of spiders). The study was randomized, double-blind, and placebo controlled
      (n = 13 placebo, 11 females; n = 10 OT, 8 females) with 1-week and 1-month follow
      up assessments. Dependent measures attended to arachnophobia symptoms (self
      report), phobic behavior (behavioral avoidance of spider task), and treatment
      credibility/therapeutic alliance. RESULTS: Administration of OT prior to exposure
      therapy tended to impede treatment response as measured by self-report of
      symptoms at both follow-up periods. OT treatment did not significantly affect
      behavioral measures of fear. Immediately after OT administration but before
      therapy, the OT group trended toward less confidence in the treatment. The OT
      group also trended toward lower ratings of therapeutic alliance than placebo.
      CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that OT administration effects on extinction
      may vary depending on conditions and population.

PMID- 25826650
TI  - Integrated in silico Analyses of Regulatory and Metabolic Networks of
      Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 Reveal Relationships between Gene Centrality and
      Essentiality.
AB  - Cyanobacteria dynamically relay environmental inputs to intracellular adaptations
      through a coordinated adjustment of photosynthetic efficiency and carbon
      processing rates. The output of such adaptations is reflected through changes in
      transcriptional patterns and metabolic flux distributions that ultimately define
      growth strategy. To address interrelationships between metabolism and regulation,
      we performed integrative analyses of metabolic and gene co-expression networks in
      a model cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002. Centrality analyses using the
      gene co-expression network identified a set of key genes, which were defined here
      as "topologically important." Parallel in silico gene knock-out simulations,
      using the genome-scale metabolic network, classified what we termed as
      "functionally important" genes, deletion of which affected growth or metabolism.
      A strong positive correlation was observed between topologically and functionally
      important genes. Functionally important genes exhibited variable levels of
      topological centrality; however, the majority of topologically central genes were
      found to be functionally essential for growth. Subsequent functional enrichment
      analysis revealed that both functionally and topologically important genes in
      Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 are predominantly associated with translation and
      energy metabolism, two cellular processes critical for growth. This research
      demonstrates how synergistic network-level analyses can be used for
      reconciliation of metabolic and gene expression data to uncover fundamental
      biological principles. 

PMID- 25826652
TI  - Numerical models to evaluate the temperature increase induced by ex vivo
      microwave thermal ablation.
AB  - Microwave thermal ablation (MTA) therapies exploit the local absorption of an
      electromagnetic field at microwave (MW) frequencies to destroy unhealthy tissue,
      by way of a very high temperature increase (about 60  degrees C or higher). To
      develop reliable interventional protocols, numerical tools able to correctly
      foresee the temperature increase obtained in the tissue would be very useful. In
      this work, different numerical models of the dielectric and thermal property
      changes with temperature were investigated, looking at the simulated temperature
      increments and at the size of the achievable zone of ablation. To assess the
      numerical data, measurement of the temperature increases close to a MTA antenna
      were performed in correspondence with the antenna feed-point and the antenna
      cooling system, for increasing values of the radiated power. Results show that
      models not including the changes of the dielectric and thermal properties can be
      used only for very low values of the power radiated by the antenna, whereas a
      good agreement with the experimental values can be obtained up to 20 W if water
      vaporization is included in the numerical model. Finally, for higher power
      values, a simulation that dynamically includes the tissue's dielectric and
      thermal property changes with the temperature should be performed.

PMID- 25826651
TI  - Advances in Understanding Carboxysome Assembly in Prochlorococcus and
      Synechococcus Implicate CsoS2 as a Critical Component.
AB  - The marine Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus are the numerically dominant
      cyanobacteria in the ocean and important in global carbon fixation. They have
      evolved a CO2-concentrating-mechanism, of which the central component is the
      carboxysome, a self-assembling proteinaceous organelle. Two types of carboxysome,
      alpha and beta, encapsulating form IA and form IB d-ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate
      carboxylase/oxygenase, respectively, differ in gene organization and associated
      proteins. In contrast to the beta-carboxysome, the assembly process of the alpha
      carboxysome is enigmatic. Moreover, an absolutely conserved alpha-carboxysome
      protein, CsoS2, is of unknown function and has proven recalcitrant to
      crystallization. Here, we present studies on the CsoS2 protein in three model
      organisms and show that CsoS2 is vital for alpha-carboxysome biogenesis. The
      primary structure of CsoS2 appears tripartite, composed of an N-terminal, middle
      (M)-, and C-terminal region. Repetitive motifs can be identified in the N- and M
      regions. Multiple lines of evidence suggest CsoS2 is highly flexible, possibly an
      intrinsically disordered protein. Based on our results from bioinformatic,
      biophysical, genetic and biochemical approaches, including peptide array scanning
      for protein-protein interactions, we propose a model for CsoS2 function and its
      spatial location in the alpha-carboxysome. Analogies between the pathway for beta
      carboxysome biogenesis and our model for alpha-carboxysome assembly are
      discussed. 

PMID- 25826653
TI  - Using senses to encourage head and upper limb voluntary movement in young
      infants: Implications for early intervention.
AB  - PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: It has long been suggested that a neonate's movement and
      responses to external stimuli are the product of reflexive reactions rather than
      purposeful movements. However, several studies have demonstrated that this is not
      the case. Rationale of literature included: This study seeks to review reports
      showing that sensory stimuli resulted in newborns recognising and responding to
      different stimuli with active head or upper limb movements. We also discuss this
      in the context of current literature about early training on the advancement of
      movement and brain development. Results and outcomes: Taken together, it is clear
      that early active experience shapes learning in newborns. CONCLUSIONS: The impact
      of this research is most exciting for applications that would induce infants to
      make purposeful movements, especially as a means for early intervention and
      rehabilitation for the treatment of infants with or at high risk for
      developmental delay.

PMID- 25826654
TI  - A novel model to predict esophageal varices in patients with compensated
      cirrhosis using acoustic radiation force impulse elastography.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Few noninvasive methods can accurately identify esophageal
      varices (EVs) in patients with compensated cirrhosis. We developed and validated
      a novel, acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography-based prediction
      model for high-risk EVs (HEVs) in patients with compensated cirrhosis. METHODS: A
      total of 143 patients with compensated cirrhosis between February, 2010 and
      February, 2013 (training set) and 148 between June, 2010 and May, 2013
      (validation set) who underwent ARFI elastography and endoscopy were prospectively
      recruited. Independent predictors of HEVs were used to construct a prediction
      model. RESULTS: Based on multivariate analysis, we developed two new statistical
      models, a varices risk score and ARFI-spleen diameter-to-platelet ratio score
      (ASPS), the latter of which was calculated as ARFI velocity * spleen
      diameter/platelet count. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve
      (AUROC) of the varices risk score and ASPS to predict HEVs were 0.935 (95%
      confidence interval [CI] 0.882-0.970) and 0.946 (95% CI 0.895-0.977),
      respectively. When ASPS, a simpler model with a higher AUROC, was applied in the
      validation set, acceptable diagnostic accuracy for HEVs was observed (AUROC =
      0.814 [95% CI 0.743-0.885]). To detect HEVs, a negative predictive value of 98.3%
      was achieved at ASPS <2.83, whereas a positive predictive value of 100% was
      achieved at ASPS >5.28. CONCLUSIONS: ASPS, a novel noninvasive ARFI-based
      prediction model, can accurately identify HEVs in patients with compensated
      cirrhosis. ASPS <2.83 may safely rule out the presence of HEVs, whereas patients
      with ASPS >5.28 should be considered for endoscopic examinations or appropriate
      prophylactic treatment.

PMID- 25826655
TI  - HIV self-testing could "revolutionize testing in South Africa, but it has got to
      be done properly": perceptions of key stakeholders.
AB  - South Africa bears the world's largest burden of HIV with over 6.4 million people
      living with the virus. The South African government's response to HIV has yielded
      remarkable results in recent years; over 13 million South Africans tested in a
      2012 campaign and over 2 million people are on antiretroviral treatment. However,
      with an HIV & AIDS and STI National Strategic Plan aiming to get 80 percent of
      the population to know their HIV status by 2016, activists and public health
      policy makers argue that non-invasive HIV self-testing should be incorporated
      into the country HIV Counseling and Testing [HCT] portfolios. In-depth
      qualitative interviews (N = 12) with key stakeholders were conducted from June to
      July 2013 in South Africa. These included two government officials, four non
      governmental stakeholders, two donors, three academic researchers, and one
      international stakeholder. All stakeholders were involved in HIV prevention and
      treatment and influenced HCT policy and research in South Africa and beyond. The
      interviews explored: interest in HIV self-testing; potential distribution
      channels for HIV self-tests to target groups; perception of requirements for
      diagnostic technologies that would be most amenable to HIV self-testing and
      opinions on barriers and opportunities for HIV-linkage to care after receiving
      positive test results. While there is currently no HIV self-testing policy in
      South Africa, and several barriers exist, participants in the study expressed
      enthusiasm and willingness for scale-up and urgent need for further research,
      planning, establishment of HIV Self-testing policy and programming to complement
      existing facility-based and community-based HIV testing systems. Introduction of
      HIV self-testing could have far-reaching positive effects on holistic HIV testing
      uptake, giving people autonomy to decide which approach they want to use for HIV
      testing, early diagnosis, treatment and care for HIV particularly among hard-to
      reach groups, including men. 

PMID- 25826656
TI  - ASH1 mRNP-core factors form stable complexes in absence of cargo RNA at
      physiological conditions.
AB  - Asymmetric ASH1 mRNA transport during mitosis of budding yeast constitutes one of
      the best-studied examples of mRNA localization. Recently, 2 studies used in vitro
      motility assays to prove that motile ASH1 mRNA-transport complexes can be
      reconstituted entirely from recombinant factors. Both studies, however, differed
      in their conclusions on whether cargo RNA itself is required for particle
      assembly and thus activation of directional transport. Here we provide direct
      evidence that stable complexes do assemble in absence of RNA at physiologic
      conditions and even at ionic strengths above cellular levels. These results
      directly confirm the previous notion that the ASH1 transport machinery is not
      activated by the cargo RNA itself, but rather through protein-protein
      interactions. 

PMID- 25826657
TI  - Unveiling the principle of microRNA-mediated redundancy in cellular pathway
      regulation.
AB  - Understanding the multifaceted nature of microRNA (miRNA) function in mammalian
      cells is still a challenge. Commonly accepted principles of cooperativity and
      multiplicity of miRNA function imply that individual mRNAs can be targeted by
      several miRNAs whereas a single miRNA may concomitantly regulate a subset of
      different genes. However, there is a paucity of information whether multiple
      miRNAs regulate critical cellular events and thereby acting redundantly. To gain
      insight into this notion, we conducted an unbiased high-content miRNA screen by
      individually introducing 1139 miRNA mimics into Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)
      cells. We discovered that 66% of all miRNAs significantly impacted on
      proliferation, protein expression, apoptosis and necrosis. In summary, we provide
      evidence for a substantial degree of redundancy among miRNAs to maintain cellular
      homeostasis. 

PMID- 25826658
TI  - Probing the closed-loop model of mRNA translation in living cells.
AB  - The mRNA closed-loop, formed through interactions between the cap structure,
      poly(A) tail, eIF4E, eIF4G and PAB, features centrally in models of eukaryotic
      translation initiation, although direct support for its existence in vivo is not
      well established. Here, we investigated the closed-loop using a combination of
      mRNP isolation from rapidly cross-linked cells and high-throughput qPCR. Using
      the interaction between these factors and the opposing ends of mRNAs as a proxy
      for the closed-loop, we provide evidence that it is prevalent for eIF4E/4G-bound
      but unexpectedly sparse for PAB1-bound mRNAs, suggesting it primarily occurs
      during a distinct phase of polysome assembly. We observed mRNA-specific variation
      in the extent of closed-loop formation, consistent with a role for polysome
      topology in the control of gene expression. 

PMID- 25826659
TI  - The RNA recognition motif of NIFK is required for rRNA maturation during cell
      cycle progression.
AB  - Ribosome biogenesis governs protein synthesis. NIFK is transactivated by c-Myc,
      the key regulator of ribosome biogenesis. The biological function of human NIFK
      is not well established, except that it has been shown to interact with Ki67 and
      NPM1. Here we report that NIFK is required for cell cycle progression and
      participates in the ribosome biogenesis via its RNA recognition motif (RRM). We
      show that silencing of NIFK inhibits cell proliferation through a reversible p53
      dependent G1 arrest, possibly by induction of the RPL5/RPL11-mediated nucleolar
      stress. Mechanistically it is the consequence of impaired maturation of 28S and
      5.8S rRNA resulting from inefficient cleavage of internal transcribed spacer
      (ITS) 1, a critical step in the separation of pre-ribosome to small and large
      subunits. Complementation of NIFK silencing by mutants shows that RNA-binding
      ability of RRM is essential for the pre-rRNA processing and G1 progression. More
      specifically, we validate that the RRM of NIFK preferentially binds to the 5'
      region of ITS2 rRNA likely in both sequence specific and secondary structure
      dependent manners. Our results show how NIFK is involved in cell cycle
      progression through RRM-dependent pre-rRNA maturation, which could enhance our
      understanding of the function of NIFK in cell proliferation, and potentially also
      cancer and ribosomopathies. 

PMID- 25826660
TI  - Replicating Potato spindle tuber viroid mediates de novo methylation of an
      intronic viroid sequence but no cleavage of the corresponding pre-mRNA.
AB  - In plants, Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) replication triggers post
      transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) and RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) of
      homologous RNA and DNA sequences, respectively. PTGS predominantly occurs in the
      cytoplasm, but nuclear PTGS has been also reported. In this study, we
      investigated whether the nuclear replicating PSTVd is able to trigger nuclear
      PTGS. Transgenic tobacco plants carrying cytoplasmic and nuclear PTGS sensor
      constructs were PSTVd-infected resulting in the generation of abundant PSTVd
      derived small interfering RNAs (vd-siRNAs). Northern blot analysis revealed that,
      in contrast to the cytoplasmic sensor, the nuclear sensor transcript was not
      targeted for RNA degradation. Bisulfite sequencing analysis showed that the
      nuclear PTGS sensor transgene was efficiently targeted for RdDM. Our data suggest
      that PSTVd fails to trigger nuclear PTGS, and that RdDM and nuclear PTGS are not
      necessarily coupled. 

PMID- 25826661
TI  - microRNA-200b and microRNA-200c promote colorectal cancer cell proliferation via
      targeting the reversion-inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs.
AB  - MicroRNA-200b and microRNA-200c (miR-200b/c) are 2 of the most frequently
      upregulated oncomiRs in colorectal cancer cells. The role of miR-200b/c during
      colorectal tumorigenesis, however, remains unclear. In the present study, we
      report that miR-200b/c can promote colorectal cancer cell proliferation via
      targeting the reversion-inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK).
      Firstly, bioinformatics analysis predicted RECK as a conserved target of miR
      200b/c. By overexpressing or knocking down miR-200b/c in colorectal cancer cells,
      we experimentally validated that miR-200b/c are direct regulators of RECK.
      Secondly, an inverse correlation between the levels of miR-200b/c and RECK
      protein was found in human colorectal cancer tissues and cell lines. Thirdly, we
      demonstrated that repression of RECK by miR-200b/c consequently triggered SKP2 (S
      phase kinase-associated protein 2) elevation and p27(Kip1) (also known as cyclin
      dependent kinase inhibitor 1B) degradation in colorectal cancer cells, which
      eventually promotes cancer cell proliferation. Finally, promoting tumor cell
      growth by miR-200b/c-targeting RECK was also observed in the xenograft mouse
      model. Taken together, our results demonstrate that miR-200b/c play a critical
      role in promoting colorectal tumorigenesis through inhibiting RECK expression and
      subsequently triggering SKP2 elevation and p27(Kip1) degradation. 

PMID- 25826662
TI  - Regulation of human PTCH1b expression by different 5' untranslated region cis
      regulatory elements.
AB  - PTCH1 gene codes for a 12-pass transmembrane receptor with a negative regulatory
      role in the Hedgehog-Gli signaling pathway. PTCH1 germline mutations cause Gorlin
      syndrome, a disorder characterized by developmental abnormalities and tumor
      susceptibility. The autosomal dominant inheritance, and the evidence for PTCH1
      haploinsufficiency, suggests that fine-tuning systems of protein patched homolog
      1 (PTC1) levels exist to properly regulate the pathway. Given the role of 5'
      untranslated region (5'UTR) in protein expression, our aim was to thoroughly
      explore cis-regulatory elements in the 5'UTR of PTCH1 transcript 1b. The (CGG)n
      polymorphism was the main potential regulatory element studied so far but with
      inconsistent results and no clear association between repeat number and disease
      risk. Using luciferase reporter constructs in human cell lines here we show that
      the number of CGG repeats has no strong impact on gene expression, both at mRNA
      and protein levels. We observed variability in the length of 5'UTR and changes in
      abundance of the associated transcripts after pathway activation. We show that
      upstream AUG codons (uAUGs) present only in longer 5'UTRs could negatively
      regulate the amount of PTC1 isoform L (PTC1-L). The existence of an internal
      ribosome entry site (IRES) observed using different approaches and mapped in the
      region comprising the CGG repeats, would counteract the effect of the uAUGs and
      enable synthesis of PTC1-L under stressful conditions, such as during hypoxia.
      Higher relative translation efficiency of PTCH1b mRNA in HEK 293T cultured
      hypoxia was observed by polysomal profiling and Western blot analyses. All our
      results point to an exceptionally complex and so far unexplored role of 5'UTR
      PTCH1b cis-element features in the regulation of the Hedgehog-Gli signaling
      pathway. 

PMID- 25826663
TI  - Two related trypanosomatid eIF4G homologues have functional differences
      compatible with distinct roles during translation initiation.
AB  - In higher eukaryotes, eIF4A, eIF4E and eIF4G homologues interact to enable mRNA
      recruitment to the ribosome. eIF4G acts as a scaffold for these interactions and
      also interacts with other proteins of the translational machinery. Trypanosomatid
      protozoa have multiple homologues of eIF4E and eIF4G and the precise function of
      each remains unclear. Here, 2 previously described eIF4G homologues, EIF4G3 and
      EIF4G4, were further investigated. In vitro, both homologues bound EIF4AI, but
      with different interaction properties. Binding to distinct eIF4Es was also
      confirmed; EIF4G3 bound EIF4E4 while EIF4G4 bound EIF4E3, both these interactions
      required similar binding motifs. EIF4G3, but not EIF4G4, interacted with PABP1, a
      poly-A binding protein homolog. Work in vivo with Trypanosoma brucei showed that
      both EIF4G3 and EIF4G4 are cytoplasmic and essential for viability. Depletion of
      EIF4G3 caused a rapid reduction in total translation while EIF4G4 depletion led
      to changes in morphology but no substantial inhibition of translation. Site
      directed mutagenesis was used to disrupt interactions of the eIF4Gs with either
      eIF4E or eIF4A, causing different levels of growth inhibition. Overall the
      results show that only EIF4G3, with its cap binding partner EIF4E4, plays a major
      role in translational initiation. 

PMID- 25826664
TI  - Stabilization of the G-quadruplex at the VEGF IRES represses cap-independent
      translation.
AB  - The activation of translation contributes to malignant transformation and is an
      emerging target for cancer therapies. RNA G-quadruplex structures are general
      inhibitors of cap-dependent mRNA translation and were recently shown to be
      targeted for oncoprotein translational activation. In contrast however, the G
      quadruplex within the 5'UTR of the human vascular endothelial growth factor A
      (VEGF) has been shown to be essential for IRES-mediated translation. Since VEGF
      has a pivotal role in tumor angiogenesis and is a major target of anti-tumoral
      therapies, we investigated the structure/function relationship of the VEGF G
      quadruplex and defined whether it could have a therapeutic potential. We found
      that the G-quadruplex within the VEGF IRES is dispensable for cap-independent
      function and activation in stress conditions. However, stabilization of the VEGF
      G-quadruplex by increasing the G-stretches length or by replacing it with the one
      of NRAS results in strong inhibition of IRES-mediated translation of VEGF. We
      also demonstrate that G-quadruplex ligands stabilize the VEGF G-quadruplex and
      inhibit cap-independent translation in vitro. Importantly, the amount of human
      VEGF mRNA associated with polysomes decreases in the presence of a highly
      selective stabilizing G-quadruplex ligand, resulting in reduced VEGF protein
      expression. Together, our results uncover the existence of functionally silent G
      quadruplex structures that are susceptible to conversion into efficient
      repressors of cap-independent mRNA translation. These findings have implications
      for the in vivo applications of G-quadruplex-targeting compounds and for anti
      angiogenic therapies. 

PMID- 25826665
TI  - Structural determinants for alternative splicing regulation of the MAPT pre-mRNA.
AB  - Alternative splicing at the MAPT gene exon 10 yields similar levels of the 3R and
      4R tau protein isoforms. (1) The presence of mutations, particularly in exon 10
      and intron 10-11, changes the quantity of tau isoforms. Domination each of the
      isoform yields tau protein aggregation and frontotemporal dementia and
      Parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP-17). Here, we report for the first
      time the secondary structure of the 194/195 nucleotide region for the wild type
      (WT) and 10 mutants of the MAPT gene pre-mRNA determined using both chemical and
      microarray mapping. Thermodynamic analyses indicate that single nucleotide
      mutations in the splicing regulatory element (SRE) that form a hairpin affect its
      stability by up to 4 and 7 kcal/mol. Moreover, binding the regulatory hairpin of
      small molecule ligands (neomycin, kanamycin, tobramycin and mitoxantrone) enhance
      its stability depending on the nature of the ligands and the RNA mutations.
      Experiments using the cos-7 cell line indicate that the presence of ligands and
      modified antisense oligonucleotides affect the quantity of 3R and 4R isoforms.
      This finding correlates with the thermodynamic stability of the regulatory
      hairpin. An alternative splicing regulation mechanism for exon 10 is postulated
      based on our experimental data and on published data.

PMID- 25826666
TI  - miR-214 promotes osteoclastogenesis by targeting Pten/PI3k/Akt pathway.
AB  - microRNA is necessary for osteoclast differentiation, function and survival. It
      has been reported that miR-199/214 cluster plays important roles in vertebrate
      skeletal development and miR-214 inhibits osteoblast function by targeting ATF4.
      Here, we show that miR-214 is up-regulated during osteoclastogenesis from bone
      marrow monocytes (BMMs) with macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) and
      receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL) induction, which
      indicates that miR-214 plays a critical role in osteoclast differentiation.
      Overexpression of miR-214 in BMMs promotes osteoclastogenesis, whereas inhibition
      of miR-214 attenuates it. We further find that miR-214 functions through PI3K/Akt
      pathway by targeting phosphatase and tensin homolog (Pten). In vivo, osteoclast
      specific miR-214 transgenic mice (OC-TG214) exhibit down-regulated Pten levels,
      increased osteoclast activity, and reduced bone mineral density. These results
      reveal a crucial role of miR-214 in the differentiation of osteoclasts, which
      will provide a potential therapeutic target for osteoporosis. 

PMID- 25826668
TI  - Determination of chlorophenols in red wine using ionic liquid countercurrent
      chromatography as a new pretreatment method followed by high-performance liquid
      chromatography.
AB  - A countercurrent chromatography method for the enrichment and cleanup of
      chlorophenols from food samples was successfully established by using an ionic
      liquid-modified two-phase solvent system composed of dichloromethane containing
      2% 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide and water. The
      column was firstly filled with the organic stationary phase, and then a large
      volume of sample was pumped into the column after it was equilibrated with pure
      water at the rotation speed. Finally, the trace amounts of chlorophenols
      extracted and enriched in the stationary phase were eluted out by an alkaline
      mobile phase and determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Under
      optimized conditions, the enrichment and cleanup of the chlorophenols can be
      fulfilled online with enrichment factors (34-65) and high recoveries (84.69
      95.23%). The method has been applied to the determination of chlorophenols in
      real red wine samples with the limits of detection in the range of 1.89-4.21
      MUg/L. The present method is highly suitable for the pretreatment of large volume
      of aqueous sample for the determination of trace amounts of contaminants in food
      and environmental samples. 

PMID- 25826667
TI  - Translation attenuation via 3' terminal codon usage in bovine csn1s2 is
      responsible for the difference in alphas2- and beta-casein profile in milk.
AB  - The rate of secretion of alphas2-casein into bovine milk is approximately 25% of
      that of beta-casein, yet mammary expression of their respective mRNA transcripts
      (csn1s2 and csn2) is not different. Our objective was to identify molecular
      mechanisms that explain the difference in translation efficiency between csn1s2
      and csn2. Cell-free translational efficiency of csn2 was 5 times that of csn1s2.
      Transcripts of csn1s2 distributed into heavier polysomes than csn2 transcripts,
      indicating an attenuation of elongation and/or termination. Stimulatory and
      inhibitory effects of the 5' and 3' UTRs on translational efficiency were
      different with luciferase and casein sequences in the coding regions.
      Substituting the 5' and 3' UTRs from csn2 into csn1s2 did not improve csn1s2
      translation, implicating the coding region itself in the translation difference.
      Deletion of a 28-codon fragment from the 3' terminus of the csn1s2 coding region,
      which displays codons with low correlations to cell fitness, increased
      translation to a par with csn2. We conclude that the usage of the last 28 codons
      of csn1s2 is the main regulatory element that attenuates its expression and is
      responsible for the differential translational expression of csn1s2 and csn2. 

PMID- 25826670
TI  - Synthesis and characterization of mixed-valence manganese fluorophosphate and
      analogues with clathrate-like structures: Mn(III)6F12(PO3(OH))8[Na8(Kx(H3O)4
      x(H2O)2)M(IV)(OH)6] (M(IV) = Mn, Ti, Ge).
AB  - A novel, mixed- and high-valence manganese (Mn(3+)/Mn(4+)) fluorophosphate,
      Mn(III)6F12(PO3(OH))8[Na8(Kx(H3O)4-x(H2O)2)Mn(IV)(OH)6] (denoted as MN), has been
      prepared via a water-deficient hydrothermal route with phosphoric acid as the
      sole solvent. This compound features a cubic three-dimensional open-framework
      structure built from corner-sharing [Mn(III)O4F2] octahedra and [HPO4] groups,
      which encapsulates a clathrate-like "guest cluster" of Na8(Kx(H3O)4
      x(H2O)2)Mn(IV)(OH)6. The guest cluster is architecturally composed of a
      [Mn(IV)(OH)6] octahedron in a cubic cage of Na(+) cations, which in turn is
      surrounded by an octahedral arrangement of K(+)/H2O ions, resulting in an
      unprecedented octahedral @ cubic @ octahedral @ cubic arrangement (OCOC). The +4
      oxidation state of Mn in the guest cluster has been confirmed by the synthesis of
      isotypic Ti- and Ge- analogues (denoted as TI and GE) using TiO2 and GeO2 as the
      replacement for MnO2 in the starting materials. The compounds MN, TI and GE are
      not stable in aqueous solution and are peeled off layer-by-layer after the
      absorption of water. This report provides a new route for the synthesis of mixed-
      and high-valence manganese phosphates that cannot be produced by conventional
      hydrothermal methods. 

PMID- 25826669
TI  - An anti-B cell maturation antigen bispecific antibody for multiple myeloma.
AB  - The development of immunotherapies for multiple myeloma is critical to provide
      new treatment strategies to combat drug resistance. We report a bispecific
      antibody against B cell maturation antigen (BiFab-BCMA), which potently and
      specifically redirects T cells to lyse malignant multiple myeloma cells. BiFab
      BCMA lysed target BCMA-positive cell lines up to 20-fold more potently than a CS1
      targeting bispecific antibody (BiFab-CS1) developed in an analogous fashion.
      Further, BiFab-BCMA robustly activated T cells in vitro and mediated rapid tumor
      regression in an orthotopic xenograft model of multiple myeloma. The in vitro and
      in vivo activities of BiFab-BCMA are comparable to those of anti-BCMA chimeric
      antigen receptor T cell therapy (CAR-T-BCMA), for which two clinical trials have
      recently been initiated. A BCMA-targeted bispecific antibody presents a promising
      treatment option for multiple myeloma. 

PMID- 25826671
TI  - Monosaccharide identification as a first step toward de novo carbohydrate
      sequencing: mass spectrometry strategy for the identification and differentiation
      of diastereomeric and enantiomeric pentose isomers.
AB  - De novo carbohydrate sequencing, including monosaccharide identification, largely
      remains a tremendous analytical challenge. A first step in the complete
      structural determination of any large polysaccharide is an accurate and robust
      method for analysis of the constituent monosaccharides. Herein, the first mass
      spectrometry-based method for the complete identification and absolute
      configuration determination of all 12 pentose isomers, including the d and l
      enantiomers for arabinose, lyxose, ribose, xylose, ribulose, and xylulose, is
      reported. As compared to earlier work to distinguish hexose isomers, the chiral
      separation of the pentose isomers was significantly more challenging.
      Specifically, the 12 pentoses are much more structurally similar to one another,
      with only the axial or equatorial orientation of two hydroxyl groups
      differentiating among these isomers in their five-membered ring furanose
      structure and smaller energetic differences between pentose conformations than
      between hexose conformations. Despite such inherently minimal energetic
      differences between the 12 pentoses, two unique fixed ligand kinetic method
      combinations were discovered to achieve chiral discrimination for this set of
      isomers. This assay can be readily applied to the identification of any isolated
      pentose monosaccharide using only microgram quantities and a commercial
      instrument and complements the method to distinguish hexose isomers. A workflow
      that incorporates this mass spectrometry-based method and thereby could achieve
      complete de novo identification of all monosaccharide building blocks in an oligo
      or polysaccharide is proposed. 

PMID- 25826673
TI  - A total population-based cohort study of female psychiatric inpatients who have
      served a prison sentence.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies of the overlap between severe mental disorder and criminality
      tend to focus on prison populations rather than psychiatric populations. AIMS:
      Our aims were to establish the prevalence of previous imprisonment among female
      psychiatric inpatients and test relationships between diagnoses, mortality and
      imprisonment. METHODS: A nationwide cohort of 18-65-year-old women who had been
      hospitalised for psychiatric disorder between January 1983 and March 2008 was
      identified from a hospital records database and linked to the database of the
      Prison and Probation Administration of Iceland as well as the National Register
      of causes of death at Statistics Iceland from January 1985. RESULTS: Six thousand
      and ninety-four women had had at least one psychiatric hospitalisation, 102 of
      them had been imprisoned on 172 occasions between them, giving an imprisonment
      rate of 118 per 100,000 over the 24 year period of study. The crude imprisonment
      proportion was 1.7% during a 20-year follow-up period; it was at its peak (5%)
      among 18-30 year-olds at index admission. Substance use and personality disorders
      were the most common diagnoses associated with imprisonment. Mortality rates were
      not statistically different between those imprisoned and not (hazard ratio = 1.3,
      95% confidence interval 0.5-3.5). CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Women
      admitted to a psychiatric hospital have higher rates of imprisonment than the
      general population. Because admission predated imprisonment in most cases, this
      may be seen as an opportunity for early intervention to reduce later criminality.

PMID- 25826674
TI  - Reg3alpha Overexpression Protects Pancreatic beta Cells from Cytokine-Induced
      Damage and Improves Islet Transplant Outcome.
AB  - The process of islet transplantation for treating type 1 diabetes has been
      limited by the high level of graft failure. This may be overcome by locally
      delivering trophic factors to enhance engraftment. Regenerating islet-derived
      protein 3alpha (Reg3alpha) is a pancreatic secretory protein which functions as
      an antimicrobial peptide in control of inflammation and cell proliferation. In
      this study, to investigate whether Reg3alpha could improve islet engraftment, a
      marginal mass of syngeneic islets pretransduced with adenoviruses expressing
      Reg3alpha or control EGFP were transplanted under the renal capsule of
      streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice. Mice receiving islets with elevated
      Reg3alpha production exhibited significantly lower blood glucose levels (9.057 +/
      0.59 mmol/L versus 13.48 +/- 0.35 mmol/L, P < 0.05) and improved glucose
      stimulated insulin secretion (1.80 +/- 0.17 ng/mL versus 1.16 +/- 0.16 ng/mL, P <
      0.05) compared with the control group. The decline of apoptotic events (0.57% +/-
      0.15% versus 1.06% +/- 0.07%, P < 0.05) and increased beta-cell proliferation
      (0.70% +/- 0.10% versus 0.36% +/- 0.14%, P < 0.05) were confirmed in islet grafts
      overexpressing Reg3alpha by morphometric analysis. Further experiments showed
      that Reg3alpha production dramatically protected cultured islets and pancreatic
      beta cells from cytokine-induced apoptosis and the impairment of glucose
      stimulated insulin secretion. Moreover, exposure to cytokines led to the
      activation of MAPKs in pancreatic beta cells, which was reversed by Reg3alpha
      overexpression in contrast to control group. These results strongly suggest that
      Reg3alpha could enhance islet engraftments through its cytoprotective effect and
      advance the therapeutic efficacy of islet transplantation.

PMID- 25826672
TI  - Mitochondrial Redox Dysfunction and Environmental Exposures.
AB  - SIGNIFICANCE: Mitochondria are structurally and biochemically diverse, even
      within a single type of cell. Protein complexes localized to the inner
      mitochondrial membrane synthesize ATP by coupling electron transport and
      oxidative phosphorylation. The organelles produce reactive oxygen species (ROS)
      from mitochondrial oxygen and ROS can, in turn, alter the function and expression
      of proteins used for aerobic respiration by post-translational and
      transcriptional regulation. RECENT ADVANCES: New interest is emerging not only
      into the roles of mitochondria in disease development and progression but also as
      a target for environmental toxicants. CRITICAL ISSUES: Dysregulation of
      respiration has been linked to cell death and is a major contributor to acute
      neuronal trauma, peripheral diseases, as well as chronic neurodegenerative
      diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. FUTURE DIRECTIONS:
      Here, we discuss the mechanisms underlying the sensitivity of the mitochondrial
      respiratory complexes to redox modulation, as well as examine the effects of
      environmental contaminants that have well-characterized mitochondrial toxicity.
      The contaminants discussed in this review are some of the most prevalent and
      potent environmental contaminants that have been linked to neurological
      dysfunction, altered cellular respiration, and oxidation.

PMID- 25826675
TI  - Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) enzymatic activity and lung cancer.
AB  - The cytokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) possesses unique
      tautomerase enzymatic activity, which contributes to the biological functional
      activity of MIF. In this study, we investigated the effects of blocking the
      hydrophobic active site of the tautomerase activity of MIF in the pathogenesis of
      lung cancer. To address this, we initially established a Lewis lung carcinoma
      (LLC) murine model in Mif-KO and wild-type (WT) mice and compared tumor growth in
      a knock-in mouse model expressing a mutant MIF lacking enzymatic activity (Mif
      (P1G)). Primary tumor growth was significantly attenuated in both Mif-KO and Mif
      (P1G) mice compared with WT mice. We subsequently undertook a structure-based,
      virtual screen to identify putative small molecular weight inhibitors specific
      for the tautomerase enzymatic active site of MIF. From primary and secondary
      screens, the inhibitor SCD-19 was identified, which significantly attenuated the
      tautomerase enzymatic activity of MIF in vitro and in biological functional
      screens. In the LLC murine model, SCD-19, given intraperitoneally at the time of
      tumor inoculation, was found to significantly reduce primary tumor volume by 90%
      (p < 0.001) compared with the control treatment. To better replicate the human
      disease scenario, SCD-19 was given when the tumor was palpable (at d 7 after
      tumor inoculation) and, again, treatment was found to significantly reduce tumor
      volume by 81% (p < 0.001) compared with the control treatment. In this report, we
      identify a novel inhibitor that blocks the hydrophobic pocket of MIF, which
      houses its specific tautomerase enzymatic activity, and demonstrate that
      targeting this unique active site significantly attenuates lung cancer growth in
      in vitro and in vivo systems. 

PMID- 25826678
TI  - Restrictive versus Standard Fluid Regimen in Elective Minilaparotomy Abdominal
      Aortic Repair-Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - Objective Elective minilaparotomy abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair is
      associated with a significant number of complications involving respiratory,
      cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems, with mortality
      ranging up to 5%. In our study, we tested the hypothesis that intra- and
      postoperative intravenous restrictive fluid regimen reduces postoperative
      morbidity and mortality, and improves the outcome of minilaparotomy AAA repair.
      Methods From March 2009 to July 2013, 60 patients operated due to AAA were
      included in a prospective randomized controlled trial (RCT). About the
      administration of fluid during the operation and in the early postoperative
      period, all the patients were randomized into two groups: the group of standard
      fluid administration (S-group, 30 patients) and the group of reduced fluid
      administration (R-group, 30 patients). The verification of the treatment success
      was measured by the length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, duration of
      hospitalization after the procedure, as well as the number and type of
      postoperative complications and mortality. This prospective RCT was registered in
      a publicly accessible database ClinicalTrials.gov with unique Identifier ID:
      NTC01939652. Results Total fluid administration and administration of blood
      products were significantly lower in R-group as compared with S-group (2,445.5 mL
      vs. 3308.7 mL, p = 0.004). Though the number of nonlethal complications was
      significantly lower in R-group (2 vs. 9 patients, p = 0.042), the difference in
      lethal complications remained nonsignificant (0 vs. 1 patient, p = ns). The
      average ICU stay (1.2 vs. 1.97 days, p = 0.003) and duration of postoperative
      hospital stay (4.33 vs. 6.20 days, p = 0.035 for R-group and S-group,
      respectively) were found to be significantly shorter in R-group. Conclusion Intra
      and postoperative restrictive intravenous fluid regimen in patients undergoing
      minilaparotomy AAA repair significantly reduces postoperative morbidity, and
      shortens ICU and overall hospital stay. Even though incidence of lethal
      complication was lower in R-group, the difference did not reach statistical
      significance. Therefore, we may assume that this study was probably underpowered
      to estimate the differences in mortality between R- and S-groups. Further
      multicentric, sufficiently powered RCTs are needed to confirm these findings and
      to clarify effect of restrictive fluid management on mortality. 

PMID- 25826676
TI  - Expression of Blimp-1 in dendritic cells modulates the innate inflammatory
      response in dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis.
AB  - A single nucleotide polymorphism of PRDM1, the gene encoding Blimp-1, is strongly
      associated with inflammatory bowel disease. Here, we demonstrate that Blimp-1 in
      CD103(+) dendritic cells (DCs) critically contributes to the regulation of
      macrophage homeostasis in the colon. Dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-exposed Blimp
      1(cko) mice with a deletion of Blimp-1 in CD103(+) DCs and CD11c(hi) macrophages
      exhibited severe inflammatory symptoms, pronounced weight loss, high mortality,
      robust infiltration of neutrophils in epithelial regions of the colon, an
      increased expression of proinflammatory cytokines and a significant decrease in
      CD103(+) DCs in the colon compared with DSS exposed wild-type (WT) mice. Purified
      colonic macrophages from Blimp-1(cko) mice expressed increased levels of matrix
      metalloproteinase 8, 9 and 12 mRNA. WT macrophages cocultured with colonic DCs
      but not bone marrow-derived DCs from Blimp-1(cko) produced increased matrix
      metalloproteinases in an interleukin (IL)-1beta- and IL-6-dependent manner.
      Treatment of Blimp-1(cko) mice with anti-IL-1beta and anti-IL-6 abrogated the
      exaggerated clinical response. Overall, these data demonstrate that Blimp-1
      expression in DCs can alter an innate inflammatory response by modulating the
      activation of myeloid cells. This is a novel mechanism of contribution of Blimp-1
      for the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases, implicating another
      therapeutic target for the development of inflammatory bowel disease. 

PMID- 25826679
TI  - Time-Trend Analysis of Pulmonary and Diaphragmatic Functionality in Patients with
      Diaphragmatic Palsy or with Chronic Diaphragmatic Hernia after Surgical
      Treatment.
AB  - Background The aim of this study was to assess long-term pulmonary and
      diaphragmatic function in two cohorts of patients: the first one affected by
      diaphragmatic palsy (DP) who underwent plication reinforced by rib-fixed mesh and
      the second one affected by chronic diaphragmatic hernia (TDH) who underwent
      surgical reduction and direct suture. Materials and Methods From 1996 to 2011, 10
      patients with unilateral DP and 6 patients with TDH underwent elective surgery.
      Preoperative and long-term (12 months) follow-up assessments were completed in
      all patients, including pulmonary function tests (PFTs) with diffusion of the
      lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO), measure of maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP)
      assessed both in standing and in supine positions, blood gas analysis, chest
      computed tomographic (CT) scan, and dyspnea score. The Pearson chi-square test,
      Fisher exact test, and Student t-test were applied when indicated. Results At
      long-term (12 months) postoperative follow-up, patients operated for DP showed a
      significant improvement in terms of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1%)
      (+ 18.2%, p < 0.001), forced vital capacity (FVC%) (+ 12.8%, p < 0.001), DLCO% (+
      8.3%, p = 0.04), and Po 2 (+ 9.86 mm Hg, p < 0.001) when compared with baseline
      values. Conversely, when considering the TDH group, only the levels of Po 2 were
      found to be significantly higher in the postoperative assessment (+ 8.3 mm Hg, p
      = 0.04). Although MIP increased in both the groups after surgery, a persistent
      and significant decrease of MIP was detected in TDH group when comparing the
      levels assessed in supine position with those measured in the standing position
      (p < 0.001). Medical Research Council dyspnea scale improved in the DP group by a
      factor of 0.80 (p < 0.001) and in the TDH group by a factor of 0.33 (p = 0.175).
      Conclusion In patients who underwent surgery for DP, good long-term results may
      be predicted in terms of pulmonary flows, volumes, and DLCO. Conversely, in
      patients who underwent elective surgery for chronic TDH, a persistent overall
      restrictive pattern, lower MIP values in supine position, and paradoxical motion
      could be expected.

PMID- 25826677
TI  - Cryoprotectant Toxicity: Facts, Issues, and Questions.
AB  - High levels of penetrating cryoprotectants (CPAs) can eliminate ice formation
      during cryopreservation of cells, tissues, and organs to cryogenic temperatures.
      But CPAs become increasingly toxic as concentration increases. Many strategies
      have been attempted to overcome the problem of eliminating ice while minimizing
      toxicity, such as attempting to optimize cooling and warming rates, or attempting
      to optimize time of adding individual CPAs during cooling. Because strategies
      currently used are not adequate, CPA toxicity remains the greatest obstacle to
      cryopreservation. CPA toxicity stands in the way of cryogenic cryopreservation of
      human organs, a procedure that has the potential to save many lives. This review
      attempts to describe what is known about CPA toxicity, theories of CPA toxicity,
      and strategies to reduce CPA toxicity. Critical analysis and suggestions are also
      included. 

PMID- 25826680
TI  - Genetic risks to nicotine dependence predict negative mood and affect in current
      non-smokers.
AB  - Nicotine is the psychoactive agent involved in nicotine dependence. However,
      nicotine as a drug, and its effects on human psychology are largely under
      investigated in genetic studies. In this study, we recruited 208 current non
      smokers to evaluate the effect of nicotine and its relationship to genetic risks
      to nicotine dependence. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, as well as
      measurement invariance testing, were conducted to evaluate the latent factor
      structures of the POMS, PANAS and DEN questionnaires across 3 nicotine doses.
      Structural models were used to examine the effects of nicotine and their
      relationship to genetic risks of nicotine dependence. We found that nicotine
      administration led to the change of both measurement construct and factor means,
      indicating the causal effect of nicotine on the psychological responses. The
      genotypes of rs588765 predicted the scores of the DEN Confused and Dizzy factors
      (p = 0.0003 and 0.001 respectively), and rs16969968 and rs588765 were associated
      with the PANAS Nervous factor (p = 0.006 and 0.007 respectively). Our study
      suggested that genetic risk of nicotine dependence is associated with acute
      psychological responses. The integration of psychometric analyses and dose
      effects could be a powerful approach for genetic study of nicotine dependence. 

PMID- 25826682
TI  - Correction: intra-tumor genetic heterogeneity and mortality in head and neck
      cancer: analysis of data from the Cancer Genome Atlas.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001786.]. 

PMID- 25826681
TI  - Appropriateness of using patient-derived xenograft models for pharmacologic
      evaluation of novel therapies for esophageal/gastro-esophageal junction cancers.
AB  - The high morbidity and mortality of patients with esophageal (E) and gastro
      esophageal junction (GEJ) cancers, warrants new pre-clinical models for drug
      testing. The utility of primary tumor xenografts (PTXGs) as pre-clinical models
      was assessed. Clinicopathological, immunohistochemical markers (p53, p16, Ki-67,
      Her-2/neu and EGFR), and global mRNA abundance profiles were evaluated to
      determine selection biases of samples implanted or engrafted, compared with the
      underlying population. Nine primary E/GEJ adenocarcinoma xenograft lines were
      further characterized for the spectrum and stability of gene/protein expression
      over passages. Seven primary esophageal adenocarcinoma xenograft lines were
      treated with individual or combination chemotherapy. Tumors that were implanted
      (n=55) in NOD/SCID mice had features suggestive of more aggressive biology than
      tumors that were never implanted (n=32). Of those implanted, 21/55 engrafted;
      engraftment was associated with poorly differentiated tumors (p=0.04) and older
      patients (p=0.01). Expression of immunohistochemical markers were similar between
      patient sample and corresponding xenograft. mRNA differences observed between
      patient tumors and first passage xenografts were largely due to loss of human
      stroma in xenografts. mRNA patterns of early vs late passage xenografts and of
      small vs large tumors of the same passage were similar. Complete resistance was
      present in 2/7 xenografts while the remaining tumors showed varying degrees of
      sensitivity, that remained constant across passages. Because of their ability to
      recapitulate primary tumor characteristics during engraftment and across serial
      passaging, PTXGs can be useful clinical systems for assessment of drug
      sensitivity of human E/GEJ cancers. 

PMID- 25826683
TI  - Muscle protein turnover in the elderly and its potential contribution to the
      development of sarcopenia.
AB  - The underlying aetiology of sarcopenia appears multifaceted and not yet fully
      defined, but ultimately involves the gradual loss of muscle protein content over
      time. The present evidence suggests that the loss of lean tissue in the elderly
      is exacerbated by low dietary protein intake. Moreover, acute stable-isotope
      based methodologies have demonstrated that the muscle anabolic response to a
      given amount of protein may decline with age, a phenomenon that has been termed
      anabolic resistance. Although the mechanism responsible for the inability of
      muscle to mount a satisfactory anabolic response to protein provision with
      increasing age is presently unknown, it does not appear due to impaired digestion
      or absorption of dietary protein. Rather, the issue could reside with any
      combination of: a diminished delivery of amino acids to peripheral tissues,
      impaired uptake of amino acids into muscle cells, or an inability of amino acids
      to elicit intracellular events pivotal for anabolism to occur. Despite the
      presence of anabolic resistance to dietary protein, present evidence suggests
      that protein supplementation may be able to overcome these issues, particularly
      when combined with resistance exercise programmes. As such, protein
      supplementation may prove to be an effective approach to delay the loss of muscle
      mass with age and has led to calls for the recommended daily intake of protein to
      be increased for the elderly population. 

PMID- 25826684
TI  - Sentinel trees as a tool to forecast invasions of alien plant pathogens.
AB  - Recent disease outbreaks caused by alien invasive pathogens into European forests
      posed a serious threat to forest sustainability with relevant environmental and
      economic effects. Many of the alien tree pathogens recently introduced into
      Europe were not previously included on any quarantine lists, thus they were not
      subject to phytosanitary inspections. The identification and description of alien
      fungi potentially pathogenic to native European flora before their introduction
      in Europe, is a paramount need in order to limit the risk of invasion and the
      impact to forest ecosystems. To determine the potential invasive fungi, a
      sentinel trees plot was established in Fuyang, China, using healthy seedlings of
      European tree species including Quercus petreae, Q. suber, and Q. ilex. The
      fungal assemblage associated with symptomatic specimens was studied using the tag
      encoded 454 pyrosequencing of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer-1
      (ITS 1). Taxa with probable Asiatic origin were identified and included plant
      pathogenic genera. These results indicate that sentinel plants may be a strategic
      tool to improve the prevention of bioinvasions. 

PMID- 25826685
TI  - Isomer-Specific Binding Affinity of Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and
      Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) to Serum Proteins.
AB  - Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are among the most
      prominent contaminants in human serum, and these were historically manufactured
      as technical mixtures of linear and branched isomers. The isomers display unique
      pharmacokinetics in humans and in animal models, but molecular mechanisms
      underlying isomer-specific PFOS and PFOA disposition have not previously been
      studied. Here, ultrafiltration devices were used to examine (i) the dissociation
      constants (Kd) of individual PFOS and PFOA isomers with human serum albumin (HSA)
      and (ii) relative binding affinity of isomers in technical mixtures spiked to
      whole calf serum and human serum. Measurement of HSA Kd's demonstrated that
      linear PFOS (Kd=8(+/-4)*10(-8) M) was much more tightly bound than branched PFOS
      isomers (Kd range from 8(+/-1)*10(-5) M to 4(+/-2)*10(-4) M). Similarly, linear
      PFOA (Kd=1(+/-0.9)*10(-4) M) was more strongly bound to HSA compared to branched
      PFOA isomers (Kd range from 4(+/-2)*10(-4) M to 3(+/-2)*10(-4) M). The higher
      binding affinities of linear PFOS and PFOA to total serum protein were confirmed
      when both calf serum and human serum were spiked with technical mixtures.
      Overall, these data provide a mechanistic explanation for the longer biological
      half-life of PFOS in humans, compared to PFOA, and for the higher transplacental
      transfer efficiencies and renal clearance of branched PFOS and PFOA isomers,
      compared to the respective linear isomer.

PMID- 25826686
TI  - Design and Structural Requirements of the Potent and Safe TLR-9 Agonistic
      Immunomodulator MGN1703.
AB  - Single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN), containing nonmethylated cytosine
      guanine motifs (CpG ODN), are recognized by the innate immune system as "danger
      signals." CpG ODN are efficacious immunomodulators but require phosphorothioate
      (PT) or other backbone modifications for metabolic stability, which cause
      toxicities in mice and primates. We therefore designed a covalently closed DNA
      molecule (dSLIM((r))) where two single-stranded loops containing CG motifs are
      connected through a double-stranded stem in the absence of any nonnatural DNA
      component. The most promising immunomodulator, MGN1703, comprises two loops of 30
      nucleotides containing three CG motifs each, and a connecting stem stem of 28
      base pairs. MGN1703 stimulates cytokine secretion [interferon (IFN)-alpha, IFN
      gamma, interleukin (IL)-12, IL-6, and IL-2] and activates immune cells by
      increased expression of CD80, CD40, human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR and ICAM-1.
      Efficacy of immunomodulation strictly depends on the descriptive dumbbell shape
      and size of the molecule. Variations in stem length and loop size lead to reduced
      potency of the respective members of the dSLIM((r)) class. In a representative
      mouse model, toxicities from injections of high amounts of a CpG ODN-PT and of
      MGN1703 were evaluated. The CpG ODN-PT group showed severe organ damage, whereas
      no such or other pathologies were found in the MGN1703 group. Oncological
      clinical trials of MGN1703 already confirmed our design. 

PMID- 25826687
TI  - Omeprazole Inhibits Pancreatic Cancer Cell Invasion through a Nongenomic Aryl
      Hydrocarbon Receptor Pathway.
AB  - Omeprazole and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) are aryl hydrocarbon
      receptor (AhR) agonists that inhibit the invasion of breast cancer cells through
      inhibition of CXCR4 transcription. Treatment of highly invasive Panc1 pancreatic
      cancer cells with TCDD, omeprazole, and seven other AhR-active pharmaceuticals
      showed that only omeprazole and tranilast, but not TCDD, inhibited invasion in a
      Boyden chamber assay. Similar results were observed in MiaPaCa2 cells, another
      quasimensenchymal pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (QM-PDA) pancreatic cancer
      cell line, whereas invasion was not observed with BxPC3 or L3.6pL cells, which
      are classified as classical (less invasive) pancreatic cancer cells. It was also
      observed in QM-PDA cells that TCDD, omeprazole, and tranilast did not induce
      CYP1A1 or CXCR4 and that treatment with these compounds did not result in nuclear
      uptake of AhR. In contrast, treatment of BxPC3 and L3.6pL cells with these AhR
      ligands resulted in induction of CYP1A1 (by TCDD) and nuclear uptake of AhR,
      which was similar to that observed for Ah-responsive MDA-MB-468 breast and HepG2
      liver cancer cell lines. Results of AhR and AhR nuclear translocator (Arnt)
      knockdown experiments in Panc1 and MiaPaCa2 cells demonstrated that omeprazole-
      and tranilast-mediated inhibition of invasion was AhR-dependent but Arnt
      independent. These results demonstrate that in the most highly invasive subtype
      of pancreatic cancer cells (QM-PDA) the selective AhR modulators omeprazole and
      tranilast inhibit invasion through a nongenomic AhR pathway. 

PMID- 25826690
TI  - Single-atom based coherent quantum interference device structure.
AB  - We describe the fabrication, operation principles, and simulation of a coherent
      single-atom quantum interference device (QID) structure on Si(100) controlled by
      the properties of single atoms. The energy and spatial distribution of the wave
      functions associated with the device are visualized by scanning tunneling
      spectroscopy and the amplitude and phase of the evanescent wave functions that
      couple into the quantum well states are directly measured, including the action
      of an electrostatic gate. Density functional theory simulations were employed to
      simulate the electronic structure of the device structure, which is in excellent
      agreement with the measurements. Simulations of device transmission demonstrate
      that our coherent single-atom QID can have ON-OFF ratios in excess of 10(3) with
      potentially minimal power dissipation. 

PMID- 25826688
TI  - Facile supermolecular aptamer inhibitors of L-selectin.
AB  - Multivalent interactions occur frequently in nature, where they mediate high
      affinity interactions between cells, proteins, or molecules. Here, we report on a
      method to generate multivalent aptamers (Multi-Aptamers) that target L-selectin
      function using rolling circle amplification (RCA). We find that the L-selectin
      Multi-Aptamers have increased affinity compared to the monovalent aptamer, are
      specific to L-selectin, and are capable of inhibiting interactions with
      endogenous ligands. In addition, the Multi-Aptamers efficiently inhibit L
      selectin mediated dynamic adhesion in vitro and homing to secondary lymphoid
      tissues in vivo. Importantly, our method of generating multivalent materials
      using RCA avoids many of the challenges associated with current multivalent
      materials in that the Multi-Aptamers are high affinity, easily produced and
      modified, and biocompatible. We anticipate that the Multi-Aptamers can serve as a
      platform technology to modulate diverse cellular processes. 

PMID- 25826691
TI  - Phenotypic and Genotypic Characterization of Salmonella enterica Serovar
      Enteritidis Isolates Associated with a Mousse Cake-Related Outbreak of
      Gastroenteritis in Ningbo, China.
AB  - Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Enteritidis (Salmonella Enteritidis)
      is a major pathogen responsible for causing the largest number of sporadic cases
      and outbreaks of human salmonellosis worldwide. In this study, an outbreak of
      Salmonella Enteritidis involving 112 cases in Ningbo, China was investigated with
      a combination of genotypic subtyping methods and phenotypic analysis. The pulsed
      field gel electrophoresis and multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis
      profiles showed that most of the outbreak clinical isolates (22/23) were
      indistinguishable from each other and were identical to the isolates obtained
      from implicated mousse cakes, demonstrating that this outbreak of gastroenteritis
      was caused by Salmonella Enteritidis-contaminated mousse cakes. Moreover, all
      isolates, irrespective of source, had an identical antibiotic susceptibility
      pattern. Five virulence-associated genes in Salmonella pathogenicity islands and
      the plasmid-associated virulence genes spvB/C were present in both the food and
      clinical isolates. Importantly, all of these isolates can survive well under low
      temperature treatment, indicating that manufacturers of foodstuffs with raw
      ingredients (not subjected to thermal processing) should use an effective
      approach to prevent or eliminate the microbial hazards to public health.

PMID- 25826692
TI  - Computational models of consumer confidence from large-scale online attention
      data: crowd-sourcing econometrics.
AB  - Economies are instances of complex socio-technical systems that are shaped by the
      interactions of large numbers of individuals. The individual behavior and
      decision-making of consumer agents is determined by complex psychological
      dynamics that include their own assessment of present and future economic
      conditions as well as those of others, potentially leading to feedback loops that
      affect the macroscopic state of the economic system. We propose that the large
      scale interactions of a nation's citizens with its online resources can reveal
      the complex dynamics of their collective psychology, including their assessment
      of future system states. Here we introduce a behavioral index of Chinese Consumer
      Confidence (C3I) that computationally relates large-scale online search behavior
      recorded by Google Trends data to the macroscopic variable of consumer
      confidence. Our results indicate that such computational indices may reveal the
      components and complex dynamics of consumer psychology as a collective socio
      economic phenomenon, potentially leading to improved and more refined economic
      forecasting. 

PMID- 25826693
TI  - Continuous expansion of the interplanar spacing of octacalcium phosphate by
      incorporation of dicarboxylate ions with a side chain.
AB  - Octacalcium phosphate (OCP) is composed of apatitic and hydrated layers, and can
      incorporate dicarboxylate ions in its hydrated layers by substitution of HPO4(2
      ). The (100) interplanar spacing of OCP is increased by incorporation of
      dicarboxylate ions. Herein, we report continuous expansion of the interplanar
      spacing of OCP by incorporation of dicarboxylate ions with a side chain. We
      synthesized OCP with incorporated succinic acid (Suc) and mercaptosuccinic acid
      (Msuc) by a wet chemical process. The (100) interplanar spacing of OCP
      synthesized with Suc increased non-continuously as the amount of Suc used in the
      synthesis increased. In contrast, the (100) interplanar spacing of OCP
      synthesized with Msuc increased continuously with the amount of Msuc used during
      synthesis, and thus in the OCP. The values of the (100) interplanar spacing of
      OCP synthesized with Msuc first increased and then became constant as the amount
      of Msuc increased. OCP with incorporated Msuc formed a continuous solid solution.
      The expansion of the (100) interplanar spacing of OCP with incorporated Suc and
      Msuc depended on the chemical structure of the incorporated dicarboxylate ions.
      The only structural difference between Suc and Msuc is a mercapto (R-SH) side
      chain. Therefore, continuous solid solution formation was most likely induced by
      the R-SH side chain of Msuc. These results suggest that incorporation of
      dicarboxylic acids with a side chain is one approach to obtain OCP with arbitrary
      interlayer distance. 

PMID- 25826694
TI  - RV mass measurement at end-systole: Improved accuracy, Reproducibility, and
      reduced segmentation time.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the accuracy, reproducibility, and contouring time of RV
      mass in end-systole (ES) and end-diastole (ED). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
      has been shown to be accurate and reproducible for the evaluation of right
      ventricular (RV) volume and function. RV mass, assessed in end-diastolic (ED)
      phase, is one of the least reproducible variables. The choice of end-systolic
      (ES) phase could offer an alternative to improve reproducibility, since the
      selection of the basal slice and the visualization of the usually thin RV wall
      are easier in this phase. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To evaluate accuracy, 11 sheep
      were imaged in vivo and their RV free walls were weighed after removing
      epicardial fat. To evaluate reproducibility, 30 normal subjects and 30 subjects
      with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) were imaged and interobserver and
      intraobserver variabilities were assessed in the ES and the ED. Segmentation time
      was recorded after visual selection of ES and ED phases. RESULTS: ES RV mass
      measurement has less absolute variability (5.2% +/- 3.2) compared to ED (10.6% +/
      6.3) using weighed RV mass in sheep as the gold standard (P < 0.001). ES
      segmentation yielded higher intraobserver (intraclass correlation coefficients
      [ICC] = 0.94-0.99; coefficient of variability [CoV] = 6-7.3%) and interobserver
      (ICC = 0.85-0.98; CoV = 10.9-11.7%) reproducibility than ED segmentation.
      Segmentation time in humans was 25-28% faster in ES (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The
      MRI assessment of RV mass is more accurate, reproducible, and faster in the ES
      phase.

PMID- 25826695
TI  - Update on emerging treatments for chronic myeloid leukemia.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: As survival of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is
      dramatically improved over time, the prevalence of the disease is steadily
      increasing. At this moment, five different tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs)
      (imatinib, nilotinib, dasatinib, bosutinib and ponatinib) are approved for the
      treatment of CML. Medical and patients needs nowadays are attention to quality of
      life (QoL) and drug side effects; overcoming suboptimal responses; preventing
      progression and possibly discontinuing the drugs. Monitoring is essential to
      improve on treatment and on the possibility of cure, because it allows patient
      adapted therapies, according to patients morbidities and early responses. AREAS
      COVERED: This review focuses on clinical results of imatinib and second- and
      third-generation TKIs that have been tested in the setting of second-line and
      front-line treatments. The most promising new drugs in course of clinical
      investigations are also reported. EXPERT OPINION: The scientific community is
      focusing on the optimization of the use of the drugs already available, to be
      also used in association with other experimental drugs directed to several
      signaling transduction pathways of BCR-ABL, in order to improve the efficacy on
      resistant cases, and on leukemic stem cells, keeping in mind the issues of long
      term safety, QoL and the need for treatment - free remission.

PMID- 25826697
TI  - Discovery of a new caerulescent Psilocybe mushroom in Germany: Psilocybe
      germanica sp.nov.

PMID- 25826698
TI  - Novel reactivity of Fhit proteins: catalysts for fluorolysis of nucleoside 5'
      phosphoramidates and nucleoside 5'-phosphosulfates to generate nucleoside 5'
      phosphorofluoridates.
AB  - Fragile histidine triad (HIT) proteins (Fhits) occur in all eukaryotes but their
      function is largely unknown. Human Fhit is presumed to function as a tumour
      suppressor. Previously, we demonstrated that Fhits catalyse hydrolysis of not
      only dinucleoside triphosphates but also natural adenosine 5'-phosphoramidate
      (NH2-pA) and adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate (SO4-pA) as well as synthetic adenosine
      5'-phosphorofluoridate (F-pA). In the present study, we describe an Fhit
      catalysed displacement of the amino group of nucleoside 5'-phosphoramidates (NH2
      pNs) or the sulfate moiety of nucleoside 5'-phosphosulfates (SO4-pNs) by fluoride
      anion. This results in transient accumulation of the corresponding nucleoside 5'
      phosphorofluoridates (F-pNs). Substrate specificity and kinetic characterization
      of the fluorolytic reactions catalysed by the human Fhit and other examples of
      involvement of fluoride in the biochemistry of nucleotides are described. Among
      other HIT proteins, human histidine triad nucleotide-binding protein (Hint1)
      catalysed fluorolysis of NH2-pA 20 times and human Hint2 40 times more slowly
      than human Fhit. 

PMID- 25826696
TI  - Improved estimation and interpretation of correlations in neural circuits.
AB  - Ambitious projects aim to record the activity of ever larger and denser neuronal
      populations in vivo. Correlations in neural activity measured in such recordings
      can reveal important aspects of neural circuit organization. However, estimating
      and interpreting large correlation matrices is statistically challenging.
      Estimation can be improved by regularization, i.e. by imposing a structure on the
      estimate. The amount of improvement depends on how closely the assumed structure
      represents dependencies in the data. Therefore, the selection of the most
      efficient correlation matrix estimator for a given neural circuit must be
      determined empirically. Importantly, the identity and structure of the most
      efficient estimator informs about the types of dominant dependencies governing
      the system. We sought statistically efficient estimators of neural correlation
      matrices in recordings from large, dense groups of cortical neurons. Using fast
      3D random-access laser scanning microscopy of calcium signals, we recorded the
      activity of nearly every neuron in volumes 200 MUm wide and 100 MUm deep (150-350
      cells) in mouse visual cortex. We hypothesized that in these densely sampled
      recordings, the correlation matrix should be best modeled as the combination of a
      sparse graph of pairwise partial correlations representing local interactions and
      a low-rank component representing common fluctuations and external inputs.
      Indeed, in cross-validation tests, the covariance matrix estimator with this
      structure consistently outperformed other regularized estimators. The sparse
      component of the estimate defined a graph of interactions. These interactions
      reflected the physical distances and orientation tuning properties of cells: The
      density of positive 'excitatory' interactions decreased rapidly with geometric
      distances and with differences in orientation preference whereas negative
      'inhibitory' interactions were less selective. Because of its superior
      performance, this 'sparse+latent' estimator likely provides a more
      physiologically relevant representation of the functional connectivity in densely
      sampled recordings than the sample correlation matrix. 

PMID- 25826699
TI  - Public Daycare Noncompliance with Prescribed Lunch Menus and Dietary Guidelines.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In Brazil, menus for public child daycare centers (PDC) must be
      planned by a nutritionist in order to meet the infants' nutritional needs and to
      conform to dietary recommendations. Failure to follow them may jeopardize the
      infants' health and growth. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to
      investigate the compliance of actually served lunch menus with the prescribed
      menus, according to age (7- to 12-month-olds and 13- to 24-month-olds) and
      whether prescribed and served menus followed the recommended dietary guidelines.
      METHODS: Five PDCs were randomly selected for observation, out of 14 existing in
      the city of Concordia, Brazil. Data collection was carried out during 6
      consecutive weeks in September (fall/winter menus) and October (spring/summer
      menus) in order to cover the menus representative of the entire year. RESULTS: Of
      60 lunches recorded, only 20% of them matched the prescribed ones entirely; none
      of the lunches served to infants aged 7-12 months did so. Fourteen food items
      were prescribed 157 times throughout the year. Omission (number of times on menu
      but not served) was the most frequent form of noncompliance in the younger group:
      62.4% (98/157). Foods more frequently omitted by the cooks were beef, pork,
      chicken, and lentils. Compliance with dietary guidelines was higher in the
      prescribed menus and in those actually served to the 13- to 24-month-old age
      group. CONCLUSIONS: Infants in the 7- to 12-month-old group may be more
      vulnerable to nutritional inadequacies because menus served to them were less
      compliant with the prescribed menus. Dietetics professionals should improve the
      variety of foods on the menus as well as supervise their execution.

PMID- 25826700
TI  - Correction: Scaling properties of information-theoretic quantities in density
      functional reactivity theory.

PMID- 25826701
TI  - Age-dependent sex difference of the incidence and mortality of status
      epilepticus: a twelve year nationwide population-based cohort study in Taiwan.
AB  - Status epilepticus (SE) is a serious neurologic emergency associated with a
      significant mortality. The objective of this study is to investigate its
      epidemiology in terms of age- and sex-specific incidences and mortality. By using
      the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database during 2000 to 2011, we
      identified hospitalized patients with a discharged diagnosis of SE and calculated
      the incidence and in-hospital mortality of SE with respect to age and sex. The
      overall incidence of SE was 4.61 per 100,000 person-years, which displayed a "J
      shaped" distribution by age with a little higher under the age of 5 and highest
      over 60 years. The male-to-female rate ratio was 1.57 and it demonstrated a
      "mountain-shape" across ages with the peak at 45 to 49 years old. The in-hospital
      mortality was significantly lower in males (7.38%) than in females (11.12%) with
      an odds ratio of 0.64 (95% CI 0.56-0.72). Notably, the in-hospital mortality for
      females increased rapidly after the age of 40 to 45 years. The multivariate
      analysis found males had a significantly lower risk of mortality than females
      after, but not before, 45 years of age with an odds ratio of 0.56 (95% CI 0.49
      0.65). Sex and age are crucial factors associated with the incidence and in
      hospital mortality of SE. The females over 45 years of age have a higher risk of
      occurrence and mortality from SE. The underlying mechanism deserves further
      study. 

PMID- 25826702
TI  - Tropical forest fragmentation affects floral visitors but not the structure of
      individual-based palm-pollinator networks.
AB  - Despite increasing knowledge about the effects of habitat loss on pollinators in
      natural landscapes, information is very limited regarding the underlying
      mechanisms of forest fragmentation affecting plant-pollinator interactions in
      such landscapes. Here, we used a network approach to describe the effects of
      forest fragmentation on the patterns of interactions involving the understory
      dominant palm Astrocaryum mexicanum (Arecaceae) and its floral visitors
      (including both effective and non-effective pollinators) at the individual level
      in a Mexican tropical rainforest landscape. Specifically, we asked: (i) Does
      fragment size affect the structure of individual-based plant-pollinator networks?
      (ii) Does the core of highly interacting visitor species change along the
      fragmentation size gradient? (iii) Does forest fragment size influence the
      abundance of effective pollinators of A. mexicanum? We found that fragment size
      did not affect the topological structure of the individual-based palm-pollinator
      network. Furthermore, while the composition of peripheral non-effective
      pollinators changed depending on fragment size, effective core generalist species
      of pollinators remained stable. We also observed that both abundance and variance
      of effective pollinators of male and female flowers of A. mexicanum increased
      with forest fragment size. These findings indicate that the presence of effective
      pollinators in the core of all forest fragments could keep the network structure
      stable along the gradient of forest fragmentation. In addition, pollination of A.
      mexicanum could be more effective in larger fragments, since the greater
      abundance of pollinators in these fragments may increase the amount of pollen and
      diversity of pollen donors between flowers of individual plants. Given the
      prevalence of fragmentation in tropical ecosystems, our results indicate that the
      current patterns of land use will have consequences on the underlying mechanisms
      of pollination in remnant forests. 

PMID- 25826703
TI  - Dynamic mechanical properties of a polyelectrolyte adsorbed insoluble lipid
      monolayer at the air-water interface.
AB  - Polymers have been used to stabilize interfaces or to tune the mechanical
      properties of interfaces in various contexts, such as in oil emulsions or
      biological membranes. Although the structural properties of these systems are
      relatively well-studied, instrumental limitations continue to make it difficult
      to understand how the addition of polymer affects the dynamic mechanical
      properties of thin and soft films. We have solved this challenge by developing a
      new instrument, an optical-tweezer-based interface shear microrheometer (ISMR).
      With this technique, we observed that the interface shear modulus, G*, of a
      dioctadecyldimethylammonium chloride (DODAC) monolayer at the air-water interface
      significantly increased with adsorption of polystyrenesulfonate (PSS). In
      addition, the viscous film (DODAC monolayer) became a viscoelastic film with PSS
      adsorption. At a low salt concentration, 10 mM of NaCl in the subphase, the
      viscoelasticity of the DODAC/PSS composite was predominantly determined by a
      particular property of PSS, that is, it behaves as a Gaussian chain in a theta
      solvent. At a high salt concentration, 316 mM of NaCl, the thin film behaved as a
      polymer melt excluding water molecules. 

PMID- 25826704
TI  - Evaluation of the UP4FUN intervention: a cluster randomized trial to reduce and
      break up sitting time in European 10-12-year-old children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The UP4FUN intervention is a family-involved school-based
      intervention aiming at reducing and breaking up sitting time at home (with
      special emphasis on screen time), and breaking up sitting time in school among 10
      12 year olds in Europe. The purpose of the present paper was to evaluate its
      short term effects. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A total of 3147 pupils from
      Belgium, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Norway participated in a school-randomized
      controlled trial. The intervention included 1-2 school lessons per week for a
      period of six weeks, along with assignments for the children and their parents.
      Screen time and breaking up sitting time were registered by self-report and total
      sedentary time and breaking up sitting time by accelerometry. The effect of the
      intervention on these behaviors was evaluated by multilevel regression analyses.
      All analyses were adjusted for baseline values and gender. Significance level was
      p<=0.01. No significant intervention effects were observed, neither for self
      reported TV/DVD or computer/game console time, nor for accelerometer-assessed
      total sedentary time and number of breaks in sitting time. The intervention
      group, however, reported more positive attitudes towards (beta = 0.25 (95% CI
      0.11, 0.38)) and preferences/liking for (beta = 0.20 (95% CI 0.08, 0.32))
      breaking up sitting time than the control group. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: No
      significant intervention effect on self-reported screen time or accelerometer
      assessed sedentary time or breaks in sitting time was observed, but positive
      effects on beliefs regarding breaking up sitting time were found in favor of the
      intervention group. Overall, these results do not warrant wider dissemination of
      the present UP4FUN intervention. TRIAL REGISTRATION: International Standard
      Randomized Controlled Trial Number Registry ISRCTN34562078.

PMID- 25826705
TI  - Metabolites of antibody-maytansinoid conjugates: characteristics and in vitro
      potencies.
AB  - Several antibody-maytansinoid conjugates (AMCs) are in clinical trials for the
      treatment of various cancers. Each of these conjugates can be metabolized by
      tumor cells to give cytotoxic maytansinoid metabolites that can kill targeted
      cells. In preclinical studies in mice, the cytotoxic metabolites initially formed
      in vivo are further processed in the mouse liver to give several oxidized
      metabolic species. In this work, the primary AMC metabolites were synthesized and
      incubated with human liver microsomes (HLMs) to determine if human liver would
      likely give the same metabolites as those formed in mouse liver. The results of
      these HLM metabolism studies as well as the subsequent syntheses of the resulting
      HLM oxidation products are presented. Syntheses of the minor impurities formed
      during the conjugation of AMCs were also conducted to determine their
      cytotoxicities and to establish how these impurities would be metabolized by HLM.

PMID- 25826706
TI  - Technology Use for Diabetes Problem Solving in Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes:
      Relationship to Glycemic Control.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study examines technology use for problem solving in diabetes
      and its relationship to hemoglobin A1C (A1C). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A sample of
      112 adolescents with type 1 diabetes completed measures assessing use of
      technologies for diabetes problem solving, including mobile applications, social
      technologies, and glucose software. Hierarchical regression was performed to
      identify the contribution of a new nine-item Technology Use for Problem Solving
      in Type 1 Diabetes (TUPS) scale to A1C, considering known clinical contributors
      to A1C. RESULTS: Mean age for the sample was 14.5 (SD 1.7) years, mean A1C was
      8.9% (SD 1.8%), 50% were female, and diabetes duration was 5.5 (SD 3.5) years.
      Cronbach's alpha reliability for TUPS was 0.78. In regression analyses, variables
      significantly associated with A1C were the socioeconomic status (beta = -0.26, P
      < 0.01), Diabetes Adolescent Problem Solving Questionnaire (beta = -0.26, P =
      0.01), and TUPS (beta = 0.26, P = 0.01). Aside from the Diabetes Self-Care
      Inventory--Revised, each block added significantly to the model R(2). The final
      model R(2) was 0.22 for modeling A1C (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate a
      counterintuitive relationship between higher use of technologies for problem
      solving and higher A1C. Adolescents with poorer glycemic control may use
      technology in a reactive, as opposed to preventive, manner. Better understanding
      of the nature of technology use for self-management over time is needed to guide
      the development of technology-mediated problem solving tools for youth with type
      1 diabetes.

PMID- 25826707
TI  - Mg(OH)2 Supported Nanoscale Zero Valent Iron Enhancing the Removal of Pb(II) from
      Aqueous Solution.
AB  - In this article, a novel composite (Mg(OH)2 supported nanoscale zerovalent iron
      (denoted as nZVI@Mg(OH)2) was prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction,
      scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy method. The
      morphology analysis revealed that Mg(OH)2 appeared as self-supported flower-like
      spheres, and nano Fe0 particles were uniformly immobilized on the surface of
      their "flower petals", thus aggregation of Fe0 particles was minimized. Then the
      Pb(II) removal performance was tested by batch experiments. The composite
      presented exceptional removal capacity (1986.6 mg/g) compared with Mg(OH)2 and
      nanoscale zerovalent iron due to the synergistic effect. Mechanisms were also
      explored by a comparative study of the phase, morphology, and surface valence
      state of composite before and after reaction, indicating that at least three
      paths are involved in the synergistic removal process: (1) Pb(II) adsorption by
      Mg(OH)2 (companied with ion exchange reaction); (2) Pb(II) reduction to Pb0 by
      nanoscale zerovalent iron; and (3) Pb(II) precipitation as Pb(OH)2. The hydroxies
      provided by Mg(OH)2 can dramatically promote the role of nanoscale zerovalent
      iron as reducer, thus greatly enhancing the whole Pb(II) sequestration process.
      The excellent performance shown in our research potentially provides an
      alternative technique for Pb(II) pollution treatment.

PMID- 25826709
TI  - Convenient access to polyfunctional pyrazoles via a highly efficient and
      regioselective multicomponent reaction.
AB  - A multicomponent reaction has been developed for the synthesis of polyfunctional
      pyrazole derivatives from readily available arylglyoxal monohydrates,
      tosylhydrazine, and aldehydes or ketones. This synthetic method has significant
      advantages in broad substrate scope, excellent regioselectivity, and simple
      operation. 

PMID- 25826708
TI  - The rotary zone thermal cycler: a low-power system enabling automated rapid PCR.
AB  - Advances in molecular biology, microfluidics, and laboratory automation continue
      to expand the accessibility and applicability of these methods beyond the
      confines of conventional, centralized laboratory facilities and into point of use
      roles in clinical, military, forensic, and field-deployed applications. As a
      result, there is a growing need to adapt the unit operations of molecular biology
      (e.g., aliquoting, centrifuging, mixing, and thermal cycling) to compact,
      portable, low-power, and automation-ready formats. Here we present one such
      adaptation, the rotary zone thermal cycler (RZTC), a novel wheel-based device
      capable of cycling up to four different fixed-temperature blocks into contact
      with a stationary 4-microliter capillary-bound sample to realize 1-3 second
      transitions with steady state heater power of less than 10 W. We demonstrate the
      utility of the RZTC for DNA amplification as part of a highly integrated rotary
      zone PCR (rzPCR) system that uses low-volume valves and syringe-based fluid
      handling to automate sample loading and unloading, thermal cycling, and between
      run cleaning functionalities in a compact, modular form factor. In addition to
      characterizing the performance of the RZTC and the efficacy of different online
      cleaning protocols, we present preliminary results for rapid single-plex PCR,
      multiplex short tandem repeat (STR) amplification, and second strand cDNA
      synthesis. 

PMID- 25826712
TI  - Family involvement in behaviour management following acquired brain injury (ABI)
      in community settings: A systematic review.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To examine family involvement in the management of behavioural
      problems following ABI in the community. RESEARCH DESIGN: Systematic literature
      review. METHODS: Six electronic databases relevant to the field of brain injury
      were searched between 1980-2013. Citation indexes were used and references from
      articles hand searched for further literature. Studies that met the broad
      inclusion criteria were screened for relevance and articles selected for full
      text review independently considered by two reviewers. Those found to be relevant
      were analysed using PEDro and McMasters critical appraisal tools. RESULTS: Three
      hundred and three studies were identified after duplicates were removed and 56
      were assessed for relevance, yielding 10 studies for review. Although the
      majority of studies were weak in design, five revealed significant findings
      supportive of family involvement in the management of behavioural problems
      following ABI, especially where interventions consisted of both educational
      components and individualized behavioural plans. Findings revealed no significant
      changes in family burden following behavioural interventions. CONCLUSIONS: There
      is limited research and lack of high evidence studies evaluating family
      involvement in behaviour management following ABI; therefore, no conclusions can
      be drawn regarding its efficacy. More research is needed, with larger sample
      sizes and more rigorous design, including proper comparison groups.

PMID- 25826713
TI  - Isotropic-nematic phase transition in hard platelets as described by a third
      virial theory.
AB  - This work discusses a few second- and third-virial (density functional) theory
      approaches aimed at describing the isotropic-nematic phase transition in three
      dimensional freely rotating infinitesimally thin hard discs, the basic model for
      (colloidal) discotic liquid crystals. Both plain and resummed versions are
      considered, those resummed being based on a simple yet rather accurate analytic
      equation of state for the isotropic phase. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations,
      carried out to locate accurately the phase transition, are used to test the
      performance of these approaches and guide toward an improved ansatz. 

PMID- 25826711
TI  - Meta-Analysis of Long-Chain Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (LComega-3PUFA)
      and Prostate Cancer.
AB  - We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the potential
      association between LComega-3PUFAs and prostate cancer (PC). A comprehensive
      literature search was performed through 2013 to identify prospective studies that
      examined dietary intakes of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids
      (LComega-3PUFA) or blood biomarkers of LComega-3PUFA status and risk of PC.
      Random-effects meta-analyses were conducted to generate summary relative risk
      estimates (SRREs) for LComega-3PUFAs and total PC, and by stage and grade.
      Subgroup analyses were also conducted for specific fatty acids and other study
      characteristics. Twelve self-reported dietary intake and 9 biomarker studies from
      independent study populations were included in the analysis, with 446,243 and
      14,897 total participants, respectively. No association between LComega-3PUFAs
      and total PC was observed (SRRE = 1.00, 95% CI: 0.93-1.09) for the dietary intake
      studies (high vs. low LComega-3PUFAs category comparison) or for the biomarker
      studies (SRRE of 1.07, 95% CI: 0.94-1.20). In general, most summary associations
      for the dietary intake studies were in the inverse direction, whereas the
      majority of summary associations for the biomarker studies were in the positive
      direction, but all were weak in magnitude. The results from this meta-analysis do
      not support an association between LComega-3PUFAs and PC. 

PMID- 25826710
TI  - Identifying Medication Targets for Psychostimulant Addiction: Unraveling the
      Dopamine D3 Receptor Hypothesis.
AB  - The dopamine D3 receptor (D3R) is a target for developing medications to treat
      substance use disorders. D3R-selective compounds with high affinity and varying
      efficacies have been discovered, providing critical research tools for cell-based
      studies that have been translated to in vivo models of drug abuse. D3R
      antagonists and partial agonists have shown especially promising results in
      rodent models of relapse-like behavior, including stress-, drug-, and cue-induced
      reinstatement of drug seeking. However, to date, translation to human studies has
      been limited. Herein, we present an overview and illustrate some of the pitfalls
      and challenges of developing novel D3R-selective compounds toward clinical
      utility, especially for treatment of cocaine abuse. Future research and
      development of D3R-selective antagonists and partial agonists for substance abuse
      remains critically important but will also require further evaluation and
      development of translational animal models to determine the best time in the
      addiction cycle to target D3Rs for optimal therapeutic efficacy. 

PMID- 25826714
TI  - An S(N)Ar approach to sterically hindered ortho-alkoxybenzaldehydes for the
      synthesis of olefin metathesis catalysts.
AB  - A three-step procedure has been developed for preparing ortho-alkoxybenzaldehydes
      from ortho-fluorobenzaldehydes that tolerates the use of sterically hindered
      sodium alkoxide nucleophiles. The protocol is modular and operationally
      convenient. The ortho-alkoxybenzaldehyde products can be converted in one
      additional step to ortho-alkoxystyrenes by a Wittig reaction. These styrenes are
      precursors to the chelating benzylidene moiety in a proposed series of novel
      ruthenium complexes for use in olefin metathesis. Chelation with three
      representative styrenes has been demonstrated. 

PMID- 25826715
TI  - The patient safety screener: validation of a brief suicide risk screener for
      emergency department settings.
AB  - This study evaluated the concurrent validity of a brief suicide risk screener for
      adults in the emergency department (ED). Two versions of the verbally
      administered Patient Safety Screener (2-item, 3-item) were compared to a
      reference standard, the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSSI). Analyses included
      measures of agreement (Kappa). Agreement between the Patient Safety Screener-2
      and -3 and the BSSI (n = 951) was almost perfect for overall positive screening
      (K = 0.94-0.95) and past suicide attempts (K = 0.97-0.98). Agreement on ideation
      ranged from fair (K = 0.34) for the 2-item version to good (K = 0.61) for the 3
      item version. The Patient Safety Screener's concurrent validity with the BSSI
      ranged from fair to almost perfect and warrants additional study.

PMID- 25826716
TI  - Highly ordered mesoporous few-layer graphene frameworks enabled by fe3 o4
      nanocrystal superlattices.
AB  - While great progress has been achieved in the synthesis of ordered mesoporous
      carbons in the past decade, it still remains a challenge to prepare highly
      graphitic frameworks with ordered mesoporosity and high surface area. Reported
      herein is a simple synthetic methodology, based on the conversion of self
      assembled superlattices of Fe3 O4 nanocrystals, to fabricate highly ordered
      mesoporous graphene frameworks (MGFs) with ultrathin pore walls consisting of
      three to six stacking graphene layers. The MGFs possess face-centered-cubic
      symmetry with interconnected mesoporosity, tunable pore width, and high surface
      area. Because of their unique architectures and superior structural durability,
      the MGFs exhibit excellent cycling stability and rate performance when used as
      anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, thus retaining a specific capacity of
      520 mAh g(-1) at a current density of 300 mA g(-1) after 400 cycles. 

PMID- 25826717
TI  - The efficacy of deep repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the medial
      prefrontal cortex in obsessive compulsive disorder: results from an open-label
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Significant numbers of patients with obsessive compulsive disorder
      (OCD) respond minimally to currently available treatments. Furthermore, the
      application of both high- and low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic
      stimulation (rTMS) to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has shown to be ineffective
      in the reduction of OCD symptoms. In this study, we instead targeted the medial
      prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and applied low-frequency rTMS to patients with OCD and
      assessed their clinical response. METHODS: In an open-label design, 10 OCD
      patients with no other current axis I psychiatric disorders were recruited.
      Twelve hundred pulses of 1-Hz frequency were applied over the mPFC (Brodmann
      areas 24 and 32) using a double-cone coil for 10 days. Regions of interest were
      located on participants' MRIs using neuronavigation software. Patients' symptoms
      were rated using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). RESULTS: All
      patients demonstrated improvement in their OCD symptoms after 10 sessions of rTMS
      as shown by a mean improvement in Y-BOCS score of 39% (SD = 15%; P < .001, F =
      62.95). This improvement persisted 1 month following the last session of rTMS.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest the use of low frequency deep rTMS as a
      promising and robust intervention in OCD symptom reduction. However, this study
      is limited by its open-label nature and its lack of a control group, so further
      randomized clinical trials are needed to confirm these results.

PMID- 25826718
TI  - Influence of molecular weight and degree of deacetylation of low molecular weight
      chitosan on the bioactivity of oral insulin preparations.
AB  - The objective of the present study was to prepare and characterize low molecular
      weight chitosan (LMWC) with different molecular weight and degrees of
      deacetylation (DDA) and to optimize their use in oral insulin nano delivery
      systems. Water in oil nanosized systems containing LMWC-insulin polyelectrolyte
      complexes were constructed and their ability to reduce blood glucose was assessed
      in vivo on diabetic rats. Upon acid depolymerization and testing by viscosity
      method, three molecular weights of LMWC namely, 1.3, 13 and 18 kDa were obtained.
      As for the DDA, three LMWCs of 55%, 80% and 100% DDA were prepared and
      characterized by spectroscopic methods for each molecular weight. The obtained
      LMWCs showed different morphological and in silico patterns. Following
      complexation of LMWCs with insulin, different aggregation sizes were obtained.
      Moreover, the in vivo tested formulations showed different activities of blood
      glucose reduction. The highest glucose reduction was achieved with 1.3 kDa LMWC
      of 55% DDA. The current study emphasizes the importance of optimizing the
      molecular weight along with the DDA of the incorporated LMWC in oral insulin
      delivery preparations in order to ensure the highest performance of such delivery
      systems. 

PMID- 25826719
TI  - Technology-aided leisure and communication: Opportunities for persons with
      advanced Parkinson's disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether simple technology-aided programs could
      be used to promote leisure and communication engagement in three persons with
      advanced Parkinson's disease. METHOD: The programs included music and video
      options, which were combined with (a) text messaging and telephone calls for the
      first participant, (b) verbal statements/requests, text messaging, and reading
      for the second participant, and (c) verbal statements/requests and prayers for
      the third participant. The participants could activate those options via hand
      movement or vocal emission and specific microswitches. RESULTS: All three
      participants were successful in activating the options available. The mean
      cumulative frequencies of option activations were about five per 15-min session
      for the first two participants and about four per 10-min session for the third
      participant. CONCLUSION: The results were considered encouraging and relevant
      given the limited amount of evidence available on helping persons with advanced
      Parkinson's disease with leisure and communication.

PMID- 25826720
TI  - Marine sequestration of carbon in bacterial metabolites.
AB  - Linking microbial metabolomics and carbon sequestration in the ocean via
      refractory organic molecules has been hampered by the chemical complexity of
      dissolved organic matter (DOM). Here, using bioassay experiments and ultra-high
      resolution metabolic profiling, we demonstrate that marine bacteria rapidly
      utilize simple organic molecules and produce exometabolites of remarkable
      molecular and structural diversity. Bacterial DOM is similar in chemical
      composition and structural complexity to naturally occurring DOM in sea water. An
      appreciable fraction of bacterial DOM has molecular and structural properties
      that are consistent with those of refractory molecules in the ocean, indicating a
      dominant role for bacteria in shaping the refractory nature of marine DOM. The
      rapid production of chemically complex and persistent molecules from simple
      biochemicals demonstrates a positive feedback between primary production and
      refractory DOM formation. It appears that carbon sequestration in diverse and
      structurally complex dissolved molecules that persist in the environment is
      largely driven by bacteria. 

PMID- 25826721
TI  - Downregulation of DNA methyltransferase 1 in zona-free cloned buffalo (Bubalus
      bubalis) embryos by small interefering RNA improves in vitro development but does
      not alter DNA methylation level.
AB  - Aberrant epigenetic reprogramming, especially genomic hypermethylation, is
      implicated as the primary reason behind the failure of the cloning process during
      somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). We transfected one-cell-stage zona-free
      buffalo embryos produced by handmade cloning with 50 nM DNMT1 small interfering
      RNA (siRNA), using lipofectamine, to knockdown the DNA methyltransferase 1
      (DNMT1) gene. siRNA treatment decreased (p<0.001) the expression level of DNMT1
      mRNA and DNMT1 protein in the one-cell-stage embryos and increased (p<0.05) the
      blastocyst rate (52.3 +/- 1.3% vs. 45.3 +/- 2.5%) compared to that in the
      controls, but did not reduce the DNA methylation level similar to the in vitro
      fertilized (IVF) embryos. It also increased (p<0.05) the relative mRNA abundance
      of P53 and CASPASE 3, but not that of HDAC1, DNMT1, and DNMT3a, in the
      blastocysts of the siRNA group compared to the controls. The global level of
      H3K18ac was higher (p<0.05) in the blastocysts of the siRNA group than in the
      controls, whereas that of H3K9ac and H3K27me3 was not significantly different
      between the two groups. In conclusion, lipofection can be successfully used for
      transfection of DNMT1 siRNA into one-cell-stage zona-free cloned buffalo embryos.
      It results in a concomitant decrease in the DNMT1 mRNA and protein levels in the
      one-cell-stage embryos. siRNA-mediated knockdown increases the blastocyst rate
      but does not alter the DNA methylation level.

PMID- 25826723
TI  - Early development of cloned bovine embryos produced from oocytes enucleated by
      fluorescence metaphase II imaging using a conventional halogen-lamp microscope.
AB  - Enucleation of a recipient oocyte is one of the key processes in the procedure of
      somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). However, especially in bovine species,
      lipid droplets spreading in the ooplasm hamper identification and enucleation of
      metaphase II (MII) chromosomes, and thereby the success rate of the cloning
      remains low. In this study we used a new experimental system that enables
      fluorescent observation of chromosomes in living oocytes without any damage. We
      succeeded in visualizing and removing the MII chromosome in matured bovine
      oocytes. This experimental system consists of injecting fluorescence-labeled
      antibody conjugates that bind to chromosomes and fluorescent observation using a
      conventional halogen-lamp microscope. The cleavage rates and blastocyst rates of
      bovine embryos following in vitro fertilization (IVF) decreased as the
      concentration of the antibody increased (p<0.05). The enucleation rate of the
      conventional method (blind enucleation) was 86%, whereas all oocytes injected
      with the antibody conjugates were enucleated successfully. Fusion rates and
      developmental rates of SCNT embryos produced with the enucleated oocytes were the
      same as those of the blind enucleation group (p>0.05). For the production of SCNT
      embryos, the new system can be used as a reliable predictor of the location of
      metaphase plates in opaque oocytes, such as those in ruminant animals.

PMID- 25826722
TI  - Prolonged proteasome inhibition cyclically upregulates Oct3/4 and Nanog gene
      expression, but reduces induced pluripotent stem cell colony formation.
AB  - There is ample evidence that the ubiquitin-proteasome system is an important
      regulator of transcription and its activity is necessary for maintaining
      pluripotency and promoting cellular reprogramming. Moreover, proteasome activity
      contributes to maintaining the open chromatin structure found in pluripotent stem
      cells, acting as a transcriptional inhibitor at specific gene loci generally
      associated with differentiation. The current study was designed to understand
      further the role of proteasome inhibition in reprogramming and its ability to
      modulate endogenous expression of pluripotency-related genes and induced
      pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) colony formation. Herein, we demonstrate that
      acute combinatorial treatment with the proteasome inhibitors MG101 or MG132 and
      the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor valproic acid (VPA) increases gene
      expression of the pluripotency marker Oct3/4, and that MG101 alone is as
      effective as VPA in the induction of Oct3/4 mRNA expression in fibroblasts.
      Prolonged proteasome inhibition cyclically upregulates gene expression of Oct3/4
      and Nanog, but reduces colony formation in the presence of the iPSC induction
      cocktail. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the 26S proteasome is an
      essential modulator in the reprogramming process. Its inhibition enhances
      expression of pluripotency-related genes; however, efficient colony formation
      requires proteasome activity. Therefore, discovery of small molecules that
      increase proteasome activity might lead to more efficient cell reprogramming and
      generation of pluripotent cells.

PMID- 25826725
TI  - Timing factors affecting blastocyst development in equine somatic cell nuclear
      transfer.
AB  - In nuclear transfer (NT), exposure of donor cell chromatin to the ooplast
      cytoplasm may aid reprogramming; however, the length of exposure feasible is
      limited by the developmental life span of the oocyte. We examined the effect of
      duration of nucleus-cytoplasmic exposure before activation and of in vitro
      maturation (IVM) in equine NT. In experiment 1, 24 h IVM and a delay of 2, 5, or
      8 h between reconstruction and activation yielded 4%, 15%, and 11% blastocysts,
      respectively. In experiment 2, a 5-h activation delay yielded 17% and 22%
      blastocysts with two donor cell lines. In experiment 3, using a 5-h activation
      delay, the blastocyst rate was significantly higher using oocytes after 20 h IVM
      than after 24 h IVM; however, only 28% of oocytes were in metaphase II (MII) at
      20 h. In experiment 4, oocytes were denuded of cumulus at 20 h, and those in
      metaphase I (MI) were returned to culture for 3 h (20+3H treatment); blastocyst
      rates were 30% and 27%, respectively (8-h and 5-h delay to activation,
      respectively). Four live foals resulted from the transfer of 17 blastocysts (24%)
      produced using MII oocytes and a 5- or 8-h activation delay. Use of equine
      oocytes immediately after reaching MII, combined with a longer delay from
      reconstruction to activation, increased developmental competence after equine NT.

PMID- 25826724
TI  - Deficiency of genomic reprogramming in trophoblast stem cells following nuclear
      transfer.
AB  - To examine the genomic reprogrammability of trophoblast stem (TS) cells using a
      nuclear transfer technique, we produced TS cloned embryos using five TS cell
      lines from three strains of mice (ICR, B6D2F1, and B6CBF1) as donors and observed
      developmental ability during preimplantation development. The developmental rates
      of the TS cloned embryos that developed to the two-cell, four- to eight-cell,
      morula, and blastocyst stages were 58-83%, 0-38.6%, 0-21.3%, and 0-15.9%,
      respectively, indicating that more than 50% of TS cloned embryos arrested at the
      two-cell stage. These TS cloned two-cell embryos were expressed low level of
      Dappa3 (also known as PGC7/Stella), indicating that zygotic gene activation (ZGA)
      was disrupted in these embryos. However, a small portion of the TS cloned embryos
      (0-15.9%) reached the blastocyst stage. In these TS cloned blastocysts, the
      numbers of trophectoderm (TE) and inner cell mass (ICM) cells were 31.9 +/- 4.6
      and 12.1 +/- 3.0, respectively, which were not significantly different from those
      in the fertilized embryos. In addition, the gene expression analysis showed that
      Oct3/4, and Cdx2, which are ICM- and TE-specific marker genes, respectively, and
      Dppa3, and Hdac1, which are zygotic gene activation-related genes, were expressed
      in TS cloned blastocysts at the same levels as in the fertilized blastocysts.
      These results indicate that although TS cloned embryos are able to differentiate
      into ICM cells, the genomic reprogrammability of TS cells is very low following
      nuclear transfer.

PMID- 25826726
TI  - Derivation and characterization of bovine induced pluripotent stem cells by
      transposon-mediated reprogramming.
AB  - Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are a seminal breakthrough in stem cell
      research and are promising tools for advanced regenerative therapies in humans
      and reproductive biotechnology in farm animals. iPSCs are particularly valuable
      in species in which authentic embryonic stem cell (ESC) lines are yet not
      available. Here, we describe a nonviral method for the derivation of bovine iPSCs
      employing Sleeping Beauty (SB) and piggyBac (PB) transposon systems encoding
      different combinations of reprogramming factors, each separated by self-cleaving
      peptide sequences and driven by the chimeric CAGGS promoter. One bovine iPSC line
      (biPS-1) generated by a PB vector containing six reprogramming genes was analyzed
      in detail, including morphology, alkaline phosphatase expression, and typical
      hallmarks of pluripotency, such as expression of pluripotency markers and
      formation of mature teratomas in immunodeficient mice. Moreover, the biPS-1 line
      allowed a second round of SB transposon-mediated gene transfer. These results are
      promising for derivation of germ line-competent bovine iPSCs and will facilitate
      genetic modification of the bovine genome.

PMID- 25826727
TI  - Buffalo embryos produced by handmade cloning from oocytes selected using
      brilliant cresyl blue staining have better developmental competence and quality
      and are closer to embryos produced by in vitro fertilization in terms of their
      epigenetic status and gene expression pattern.
AB  - We compared handmade cloned (HMC) buffalo blastocysts produced from oocytes
      stained with Brilliant Cresyl Blue (BCB) and classified into those with blue
      (BCB+) or colorless cytoplasm (BCB-). The blastocyst rate was higher (p<0.001)
      for BCB+ than for BCB- oocytes (43.41 +/- 2.54 vs. 22.74 +/- 1.76%). BCB+
      blastocysts had inner cell mass (ICM) cell number, ICM-to-trophectoderm ratio,
      global level of H3K18ac, apoptotic index, and expression level of BCL-XL, but not
      that of CASPASE-3, similar to that of blastocysts produced through in vitro
      fertilization (IVF), which was higher (p<0.05) than that of BCB- blastocysts. The
      global level of H3K9me2, which was similar in BCB+ and BCB- blastocysts, was
      higher (p<0.01) than that in IVF blastocysts. The expression level of OCT4 and
      SOX2 was higher (p<0.05) and that of GATA2 was lower (p<0.05) in BCB+ than that
      in BCB- blastocysts, whereas that of DNMT1, DNMT3a, NANOG, and CDX2 was not
      significantly different between the two groups. The expression level of DNMT1,
      OCT4, NANOG, and SOX2 was lower (p<0.05) and that of CDX2 was higher (p<0.05) in
      BCB+ than in IVF blastocysts. In conclusion, because BCB+ blastocysts have better
      developmental competence and are closer to IVF blastocysts in terms of quality,
      epigenetic status, and gene expression than BCB- blastocysts, BCB staining can be
      used effectively for selection of developmentally competent oocytes for HMC.

PMID- 25826728
TI  - Obesity and difficult-to-treat arterial hypertension.

PMID- 25826729
TI  - Weight loss improves reproductive outcomes in obese women undergoing fertility
      treatment: a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - For women attempting pregnancy, obesity reduces fertility and is an independent
      risk factor for obstetric and neonatal complications. The aim of this evaluator
      blinded, randomized controlled trial was to evaluate a weight loss intervention
      on pregnancy rates in obese women undertaking fertility treatment. Forty-nine
      obese women, aged <= 37 years, presenting for fertility treatment were randomized
      to either a 12-week intervention (n = 27) consisting of a very-low-energy diet
      for the initial 6 weeks followed by a hypocaloric diet, combined with a weekly
      group multidisciplinary programme; or a control group (n = 22) who received
      recommendations for weight loss and the same printed material as the
      intervention. Anthropometric and reproductive parameters were measured at
      baseline and at 12 weeks. The 22 women who completed the intervention had greater
      anthropometric changes (-6.6 +/- 4.6 kg and -8.7 +/- 5.6 cm vs. -1.6 +/- 3.6 kg
      and -0.6 +/- 6.3 cm) compared with the control group (n = 17; P < 0.001). The
      intervention group achieved a pregnancy rate of 48% compared with 14% (P =
      0.007), took a mean two fertility treatment cycles to achieve each pregnancy
      compared with four in the control group (P = 0.002), and had a marked increase in
      the number of live births (44% vs. 14%; P = 0.02). A group weight loss programme,
      incorporating dietary, exercise and behavioural components, is associated with a
      significant improvement in pregnancy rates and live births in a group of obese
      women undergoing fertility treatment.

PMID- 25826731
TI  - The effectiveness of including support people in a cognitive behavioural weight
      loss maintenance programme for obese adults: study rationale and design.
AB  - The well-documented finding that obese adults have a high likelihood of weight
      regain following participation in behavioural weight loss programmes highlights
      the importance of developing more effective approaches for weight loss
      maintenance. One promising approach is to improve the quality of social support
      for effective weight control available to an obese individual by including
      support people in behavioural weight loss programmes. This paper describes the
      rationale and design of a randomized controlled trial that evaluates the
      effectiveness of training support people to assist obese adults in their weight
      management. The study entails a two-arm randomized controlled trial in which
      obese participants take part in a 1-year (26-session) cognitive behaviour therapy
      group weight management programme, including motivational interviewing strategies
      (CBT-MI). In one arm, participants receive CBT-MI alone, while in the second arm
      (CBT-MI-SP), participants also have a support person who attends 10 group
      sessions designed to teach effective skills for supporting an individual in
      healthy weight control. More specifically, support people will be trained in
      skills that aim to promote self-motivation for weight management. Assessments of
      anthropometric, medical, behavioural, motivational, psychological and social
      functioning take place at pre-treatment, post-treatment and a 1-year follow-up.
      By helping obese participants to increase and sustain their motivation and skills
      for weight control both during treatment and in the crucial period after
      treatment cessation through the ongoing input of support people, the CBT-MI-SP
      approach of the current study has the potential to effectively help patients to
      achieve sustained weight loss while minimizing the patient's need for ongoing,
      intensive weight control treatment with its attendant costs.

PMID- 25826730
TI  - Direct observation of weight counselling in primary care: alignment with clinical
      guidelines.
AB  - Primary care physicians provide care to a disproportionate number of overweight
      and obese patients and are uniquely positioned to help patients manage their
      weight in the context of a continuity relationship. The US National Heart, Lung
      and Blood Institute (NHLBI) developed evidence-based guidelines for the effective
      and efficient care of overweight/obese patients, but little is known about the
      use of these guidelines in practice. To determine the content of weight
      discussions and assess the elements of the NHLBI guidelines that were
      accomplished, office visits of 544 adult, overweight/obese patients to 28 primary
      care physicians were observed and audio recorded. Associations between type of
      weight management discussion and patient, physician and visit characteristics
      were examined. Fifty per cent (n = 270) of visits included weight discussions;
      47% and 38% included use of at least one NHLBI assessment or treatment element
      during discussions about weight, respectively. Only 35% (n = 193) of discussions
      included an assessment and treatment strategy; none included all NHLBI
      recommended elements. Overall, adherence to guidelines was poor, particularly
      with regard to reporting body mass index to the patient, measuring waist
      circumference and setting realistic weight loss goals. Weight discussions did not
      clearly vary by the patient, physician or visit characteristics examined. These
      findings suggest opportunities to develop and further tailor resources for
      improved physician training in patient weight management communication and
      treatment techniques that are both consistent with current standards for
      effective, evidence-based care and efficient enough for routine use during busy
      primary care visits.

PMID- 25826732
TI  - A comparison of the provision of the My Choice Weight Management Programme via
      general practitioner practices and community pharmacies in the United Kingdom.
AB  - This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a novel, community-based weight
      management programme delivered through general practitioner (GP) practices and
      community pharmacies in one city in the United Kingdom. This study used a non
      randomized, retrospective, observational comparison of clinical data collected by
      participating GP practices and community pharmacies. Subjects were 451 overweight
      or obese men and women resident in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation (82%
      from black and minority ethnic groups, 86% women, mean age: 41.1 years, mean body
      mass index [BMI]: 34.5 kg m(-2)). Weight, waist circumference and BMI at
      baseline, after 12 weeks and after 9 months were measured. Costs of delivery were
      also analysed. Sixty-four per cent of participants lost weight after the first 12
      weeks of the My Choice Weight Management Programme. There was considerable
      dropout. Mean percentage weight loss (last observation carried forward) was 1.9%
      at 12 weeks and 1.9% at final follow-up (9 months). There was no significant
      difference in weight loss between participants attending GP practices and those
      attending pharmacies at both 12 weeks and at final follow-up. Costs per
      participant were higher via community pharmacy which was attributable to better
      attendance at sessions among community pharmacy participants than among GP
      participants. The My Choice Weight Management Programme produced modest
      reductions in weight at 12 weeks and 9 months. Such programmes may not be
      sufficient to tackle the obesity epidemic.

PMID- 25826733
TI  - Warfarin dosing after bariatric surgery: a retrospective study of 10 patients
      previously stable on chronic warfarin therapy.
AB  - Many changes associated with bariatric surgery have the potential to affect
      warfarin dosing; yet current literature includes little data describing this
      phenomenon. Investigating this relationship may allow for determination of post
      bariatric surgery warfarin dosing using stable pre-operative dosing levels. A
      retrospective chart review was completed for 10 patients stabilized on chronic
      warfarin therapy who underwent bariatric surgery. Data collection consisted of
      the following: warfarin requirement in mg/week, time in target range (TTR),
      creatinine, liver function, diarrhoea, medication changes, diet, and signs of
      bleeding and/or thrombosis. Three study patients underwent laparoscopic
      adjustable gastric banding procedures and seven patients underwent Roux-en-Y
      gastric bypass. The average (standard deviation) weekly warfarin dose required in
      the immediate post-operative interval was 64% (25%) of baseline dosing,
      corresponding to a TTR of 48%. At 6 months, patients required 85% (19%) of
      baseline weekly dosing, with TTR of 53.4%. At 1 year, dosing was 90% (16%) of
      baseline with TTR of 63.5%. Patients underwent medication changes as well as
      transient bouts of diarrhoea. Two patients suffered unspecified haemorrhages of
      the gastrointestinal tract (international normalized ratio [INR] = 2.3 and 9.8).
      This patient set demonstrated an initial drop in warfarin requirement, followed
      by escalating dosing trends that became more predictable as patients were farther
      out from procedure.

PMID- 25826735
TI  - Five-year outcome of bariatric surgery in a patient with melanocortin-4 receptor
      mutation.
AB  - Monogenic obesity is characterized by mutations in genes involved in the central
      regulation of food intake. Melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) mutations are the most
      frequent monogenic cause of severe early onset human obesity. Although bariatric
      surgery is the most effective therapy for idiopathic morbid obesity in adults,
      little is known about its effectiveness in patients with monogenic obesity
      syndromes. We report 5-year outcome of gastric bypass surgery in a young man with
      severe super-obesity associated with MC4R mutation. A 22-year-old man with a
      weight of 221.6 kg and body mass index of 76.7 kg m(-2) associated with a
      heterozygous MC4R mutation was referred to our centre for bariatric surgery. He
      underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery and achieved weight loss of 76%
      of excess weight over a follow-up period of 58 months. Heterozygous MC4R
      mutations have been associated with dominantly inherited obesity in various
      ethnic groups, and non-surgical interventions are rarely effective in the long
      term. One previous report of bariatric surgery in a patient with complete MC4R
      deficiency reported poor weight loss after gastric banding. We speculate that
      patients with MC4R mutations achieve superior weight loss outcomes from
      procedures such as RYGB that produce neurohormonal changes rather than gastric
      restriction alone due to beneficial effects on appetite and satiety regulation.

PMID- 25826734
TI  - Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in the bypassed stomach after obesity
      surgery.
AB  - Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is the most commonly performed surgical
      procedure for obesity and, consequently, post-operative patients are increasingly
      encountered by all specialties. This is a case of a patient presenting with
      abdominal pain, nausea and fever 9 months following gastric bypass surgery caused
      by diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in the bypassed stomach. It demonstrates
      well that symptoms that may normally be considered 'red-flags' may not be as
      obvious or specific following an operation. The case also indicates the
      importance of considering diagnoses unrelated to surgery presenting in the post
      operative period (especially when conventional investigation methods are not
      feasible), and the potential danger of assuming they are due to the operation
      alone; had this occurred in this patient then a malignancy may have been missed.
      This is only the second reported case of DLBCL in the bypassed stomach, and the
      third for lymphoma of any type.

PMID- 25826736
TI  - Clinical pictures.

PMID- 25826737
TI  - Impact of the Topological Surface State on the Thermoelectric Transport in Sb2Te3
      Thin Films.
AB  - Ab initio electronic structure calculations based on density functional theory
      and tight-binding methods for the thermoelectric properties of p-type Sb2Te3
      films are presented. The thickness-dependent electrical conductivity and the
      thermopower are computed in the diffusive limit of transport based on the
      Boltzmann equation. Contributions of the bulk and the surface to the transport
      coefficients are separated, which enables to identify a clear impact of the
      topological surface state on the thermoelectric properties. When the charge
      carrier concentration is tuned, a crossover between a surface-state-dominant and
      a Fuchs-Sondheimer transport regime is achieved. The calculations are
      corroborated by thermoelectric transport measurements on Sb2Te3 films grown by
      atomic layer deposition. 

PMID- 25826738
TI  - Experimental validation of the new modular application of the upper bound theorem
      in indentation.
AB  - Nowadays, thanks to the new manufacturing processes, indentation is becoming an
      essential part of the new arising processes such as the Incremental Forming
      Processes. This work presents the experimental validation of the analytical model
      developed for an indentation-based process. The analytical model is originated
      from the Upper Bound Theorem application by means of its new modular
      distribution. The modules considered are composed of two Triangular Rigid Zones
      each. The experimental validation is performed through a series of indentation
      tests with work-pieces of annealed aluminium EN AW-2030 and punches of steel AISI
      304, under plane strain conditions. The results are compared with the ones
      obtained from the application of this new modular distribution of the Upper Bound
      Theorem, showing a good approximation and suitability of the model developed for
      an indentation-based process. 

PMID- 25826739
TI  - Hierarchical LiZnVO4@C nanostructures with enhanced cycling stability for lithium
      ion batteries.
AB  - Hierarchical LiZnVO4@C nanostructures composed of thin nanobelt aggregates were
      synthesized for the first time through an ethanol thermal and subsequent
      annealing route, and were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD),
      thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and
      transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Furthermore, the synthesized hierarchical
      nanostructures were used as anode materials for Li-ion intercalation and
      exhibited a large reversible capacity, high rate performance, and excellent
      cycling stability. For instance, a high reversible capacity of 675 mA h g(-1) was
      maintained after 60 cycles at a current density of 50 mA g(-1). These results
      might be attributed to the following facts: (i) the hierarchical nanostructures
      could buffer the strain and volume changes during the cycling process; (ii) the
      thin nanobelts provide a shortened distance for Li-ion intercalation; (iii) the
      thin carbon layer on the surface of the nanobelts could provide a fast route for
      electron transportation, leading to an improved capacity and high rate
      performance. 

PMID- 25826740
TI  - Titanium dioxide nanoparticles increase plasma glucose via reactive oxygen
      species-induced insulin resistance in mice.
AB  - There have been few reports about the possible toxic effects of titanium dioxide
      (TiO2 ) nanoparticles on the endocrine system. We explored the endocrine effects
      of oral administration to mice of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (0, 64 and 320 mg
      kg(-1) body weight per day to control, low-dose and high-dose groups,
      respectively, 7 days per week for 14 weeks). TiO2 nanoparticles were
      characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic
      light scattering (DLS), and their physiological distribution was investigated by
      inductively coupled plasma. Biochemical analyzes included plasma glucose,
      insulin, heart blood triglycerides (TG), free fatty acid (FFA), low-density
      lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C),
      total cholesterol (TC), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin (IL)
      6 and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-related markers (total SOD, GSH and MDA).
      Phosphorylation of IRS1, Akt, JNK1, and p38 MAPK were analyzed by western
      blotting. Increased titanium levels were found in the liver, spleen, small
      intestine, kidney and pancreas. Biochemical analyzes showed that plasma glucose
      significantly increased whereas there was no difference in plasma insulin
      secretion. Increased ROS levels were found in serum and the liver, as evidenced
      by reduced total SOD activity and GSH level and increased MDA content. Western
      blotting showed that oral administration of TiO2 nanoparticles induced insulin
      resistance (IR) in mouse liver, shown by increased phosphorylation of IRS1
      (Ser307) and reduced phosphorylation of Akt (Ser473). The pathway by which TiO2
      nanoparticles increase ROS-induced IR were included in the inflammatory response
      and phosphokinase, as shown by increased serum levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 and
      increased phosphorylation of JNK1 and p38 MAPK in liver. These results show that
      oral administration of TiO2 nanoparticles increases ROS, resulting in IR and
      increasing plasma glucose in mice.

PMID- 25826741
TI  - Augmented reflex cutaneous vasodilatation following short-term dietary nitrate
      supplementation in humans.
AB  - NEW FINDINGS: What is the central question of this study? Nitrate supplementation
      via beetroot juice has been shown to have several benefits in healthy humans,
      including reduced blood pressure and increased blood flow to exercising muscle.
      Whether nitrate supplementation can improve blood flow to the skin in heat
      stressed humans has not been investigated. What is the main finding and its
      importance? Similar to previous studies, we found that nitrate supplementation
      reduces blood pressure. Nitrate supplementation increased vasodilatation in the
      skin of heat-stressed humans but did not directly increase skin blood flow.
      Nitrate supplementation has been shown to increase NO-dependent vasodilatation
      through both NO synthase (NOS)-dependent and NOS-independent pathways. We
      hypothesized that nitrate supplementation would augment reflex cutaneous active
      vasodilatation. Subjects were equipped with two microdialysis fibres on the
      forearm randomly assigned as control (Ringer solution) or NOS inhibition (20 mm l
      NAME). Whole-body heating was performed to raise core temperature by 0.8 degrees
      C above baseline core temperature. Maximal cutaneous vasodilatation was achieved
      via 54 mm sodium nitroprusside and local heating to 43 degrees C. Skin blood flow
      (measured by laser-Doppler flowmetry) and blood pressure were measured. Cutaneous
      vascular conductance (CVC) was calculated as skin blood flow divided by mean
      arterial pressure (MAP) and expressed as a percentage of maximal CVC (%CVCmax ).
      Subjects underwent heat stress before and after nitrate supplementation (3 days
      of beetroot juice; 5 mm, 0.45 g nitrates per day). During heat stress, MAP was
      reduced following nitrate supplementation compared with the control conditions
      (before 88 +/- 3 mmHg versus after 78 +/- 2 mmHg; P < 0.05); however, resting MAP
      was not different between conditions (before 88 +/- 3 mmHg versus after 83 +/- 2
      mmHg; P = 0.117). Nitrate supplementation increased plateau CVC at control sites
      (before 67 +/- 2%CVCmax  versus after 80 +/- 5%CVCmax ; P = 0.01) but not at l
      NAME-treated sites (before 45 +/- 4%CVCmax  versus after 40 +/- 5%CVCmax ; P =
      0.617). There was no change in the calculated percentage of NOS-dependent
      vasodilatation before and after supplementation (before 59 +/- 4% versus after 64
      +/- 6%; P = 0.577). These data suggest that nitrate supplementation augments CVC
      and reduces MAP during heat stress.

PMID- 25826742
TI  - Identification of multi-target effects of Huaier aqueous extract via microarray
      profiling in triple-negative breast cancer cells.
AB  - Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world. Long-term
      maintenance treatment is important for breast cancer. However, effective
      maintenance treatment is lacking for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).
      Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has shown its potential anticancer roles as an
      effective maintenance treatment for TNBC. However its mechanisms remained
      unclear. In this study, we detected the differentially expressed genes (DEGs)
      after treatment with Huaier aqueous extract by using microarray profiling in MDA
      MB-231 cells. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and
      Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis and gene-gene interaction network were conducted
      to confirm the altered biological functions induced by Huaier extract. Screening
      of DEGs gave 387 genes (226 upregulated and 161 downregulated) in MDA-MB-231
      cells which were regulated significantly by Huaier extract. GO and KEGG pathway
      analysis suggested that a number of functions were affected by Huaier, including
      proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and angiogenesis. Gene-gene interaction
      network showed the detailed molecular signal-net. Based on microarray data, we
      studied several functions of Huaier extract and in return verified the results of
      microarray profiling. This study had important guidance roles and indicated new
      research directions.

PMID- 25826743
TI  - Buprenorphine for treating cancer pain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Many patients with cancer experience moderate to severe pain that
      requires treatment with strong analgesics. Buprenorphine, fentanyl and morphine
      are examples of strong opioids used for cancer pain relief. However, strong
      opioids are ineffective as pain treatment in all patients and are not well
      tolerated by all patients. The aim of this Cochrane review is to assess whether
      buprenorphine is associated with superior, inferior or equal pain relief and
      tolerability compared to other analgesic options for patients with cancer pain.
      OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness and tolerability of buprenorphine for
      pain in adults and children with cancer. SEARCH METHODS: We searched CENTRAL (the
      Cochrane Library) issue 12 or 12 2014, MEDLINE (via OVID) 1948 to 20 January
      2015, EMBASE (via OVID) 1980 to 20 January 2015, ISI Web of Science (SCI-EXPANDED
      & CPCI-S) to 20 January 2015, ISI BIOSIS 1969 to 20 January 2015. We also
      searched ClinicalTrials.gov (http://clinicaltrials.gov/; metaRegister of
      Controlled Trials (mRCT) (http://www.controlled-trials.com/mrct/), the World
      Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP)
      search portal (http://apps.who.int/trialsearch/) and the Proceedings of the
      Congress of the European Federation of International Association for the Study of
      Pain (IASP; via European Journal of Pain Supplements) on 16 February 2015. We
      checked the bibliographic references of identified studies as well as relevant
      studies and systematic reviews to find additional trials not identified by the
      electronic searches. We contacted authors of included studies for other relevant
      studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials, with
      parallel-group or crossover design, comparing buprenorphine (any formulation and
      any route of administration) with placebo or an active drug (including
      buprenorphine) for cancer background pain in adults and children. DATA COLLECTION
      AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently extracted data pertaining to study
      design, participant details (including age, cancer characteristics, previous
      analgesic medication and setting), interventions (including details about
      titration) and outcomes, and independently assessed the quality of the included
      studies according to standard Cochrane methodology. As it was not feasible to
      meta-analyse the data, we summarised the results narratively. We assessed the
      overall quality of the evidence for each outcome using the GRADE approach. MAIN
      RESULTS: In this Cochrane review we identified 19 relevant studies including a
      total of 1421 patients that examined 16 different intervention comparisons.Of the
      studies that compared buprenorphine to another drug, 11 studies performed
      comparative analyses between the randomised groups, and five studies found that
      buprenorphine was superior to the comparison treatment. Three studies found no
      differences between buprenorphine and the comparison drug, while another three
      studies found treatment with buprenorphine to be inferior to the alternative
      treatment in terms of the side effects profile or patients
      preference/acceptability.Of the studies that compared different doses or
      formulations/routes of administration of buprenorphine, pain intensity ratings
      did not differ significantly between intramuscular buprenorphine and
      buprenorphine suppository. However, the average severity of dizziness, nausea,
      vomiting and adverse events as a total were all significantly higher in the
      intramuscular group relatively to the suppository group (one study).Sublingual
      buprenorphine was associated with faster onset of pain relief compared to
      subdermal buprenorphine, with similar duration analgesia and no significant
      differences in adverse event rates reported between the treatments (one study).In
      terms of transdermal buprenorphine, two studies found it superior to placebo,
      whereas a third study found no difference between placebo and different doses of
      transdermal buprenorphine.The studies that examined different doses of
      transdermal buprenorphine did not report a clear dose-response relationship.The
      quality of this evidence base was limited by under-reporting of most bias
      assessment items (e.g., the patient selection items), by small sample sizes in
      several included studies, by attrition (with data missing from 8.2% of the
      enrolled/randomised patients for efficacy and from 14.6% for safety) and by
      limited or no reporting of the expected outcomes in a number of cases. The
      evidence for all the outcomes was very low quality. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Based
      on the available evidence, it is difficult to say where buprenorphine fits in the
      treatment of cancer pain with strong opioids. However, it might be considered to
      rank as a fourth-line option compared to the more standard therapies of morphine,
      oxycodone and fentanyl, and even there it would only be suitable for some
      patients. However, palliative care patients are often heterogeneous and complex,
      so having a number of analgesics available that can be given differently
      increases patient and prescriber choice. In particular, the sublingual and
      injectable routes seemed to have a more definable analgesic effect, whereas the
      transdermal route studies left more questions.

PMID- 25826744
TI  - Synthesis of high density aviation fuel with cyclopentanol derived from
      lignocellulose.
AB  - For the first time, renewable high density aviation fuels were synthesized at
      high overall yield (95.6%) by the Guerbet reaction of cyclopentanol which can be
      derived from lignocellulose, followed by the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO). The
      solvent-free Guerbet reaction of cyclopentanol was carried out under the co
      catalysis of solid bases and Raney metals. Among the investigated catalyst
      systems, the combinations of magnesium-aluminium hydrotalcite (MgAl-HT) and Raney
      Ni (or Raney Co) exhibited the best performances. Over them, high carbon yield
      (96.7%) of C10 and C15 oxygenates was achieved. The Guerbet reaction products
      were further hydrodeoxygenated to bi(cyclopentane) and tri(cyclopentane) over a
      series of Ni catalysts. These alkanes have high densities (0.86 g mL(-1) and 0.91
      g mL(-1)) and can be used as high density aviation fuels or additives to bio-jet
      fuel. Among the investigated HDO catalysts, the 35 wt.% Ni-SiO2-DP prepared by
      deposition-precipitation method exhibited the highest activity.

PMID- 25826745
TI  - Emission rates of regulated pollutants from current technology heavy-duty diesel
      and natural gas goods movement vehicles.
AB  - Chassis dynamometer emissions testing of 11 heavy-duty goods movement vehicles,
      including diesel, natural gas, and dual-fuel technology, compliant with US-EPA
      2010 emissions standard were conducted. Results of the study show that three-way
      catalyst (TWC) equipped stoichiometric natural gas vehicles emit 96% lower NOx
      emissions as compared to selective catalytic reduction (SCR) equipped diesel
      vehicles. Characteristics of drayage truck vocation, represented by the near-dock
      and local drayage driving cycles, were linked to high NOx emissions from diesel
      vehicles equipped with a SCR. Exhaust gas temperatures below 250  degrees C, for
      more than 95% duration of the local and near-dock driving cycles, resulted in
      minimal SCR activity. The low percentage of activity SCR over the local and near
      dock cycles contributed to a brake-specific NOx emissions that were 5-7 times
      higher than in-use certification limit. The study also illustrated the
      differences between emissions rate measured from chassis dynamometer testing and
      prediction from the EMFAC model. The results of the study emphasize the need for
      model inputs relative to SCR performance as a function of driving cycle and
      engine operation characteristics. 

PMID- 25826746
TI  - Steroidomic Footprinting Based on Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography
      Coupled with Qualitative and Quantitative High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry for
      the Evaluation of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in H295R Cells.
AB  - The screening of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that may alter
      steroidogenesis represents a highly important field mainly due to the numerous
      pathologies, such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, and infertility
      that have been related to impaired steroid-mediated regulation. The adrenal H295R
      cell model has been validated to study steroidogenesis by the Organization for
      Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guideline. However, this guideline
      focuses solely on testosterone and estradiol monitoring, hormones not typically
      produced by the adrenals, hence limiting possible in-depth mechanistic
      investigations. The present work proposes an untargeted steroidomic footprinting
      workflow based on ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled to
      high-resolution MS for the screening and mechanistic investigations of EDCs in
      H295R cell supernatants. A suspected EDC, triclocarban (TCC), used in detergents,
      cosmetics, and personal care products, was selected to demonstrate the efficiency
      of the reported methodology, allowing the simultaneous assessment of a
      steroidomic footprint and quantification of a selected subset of steroids in a
      single analysis. The effects of exposure to increasing TCC concentrations were
      assessed, and the selection of features with database matching followed by
      multivariate analysis has led to the selection of the most salient affected
      steroids. Using correlation analysis, 11 steroids were associated with a high, 18
      with a medium, and 8 with a relatively low sensitivity behavior to TCC. Among the
      candidates, 13 identified steroids were simultaneously quantified, leading to the
      evaluation and localization of the disruption of steroidogenesis caused by TCC
      upstream of the formation of pregnenolone. The remaining candidates could be
      associated with a specific steroid class (progestogens and corticosteroids, or
      androgens) and represent a specific footprint of steroidogenesis disruption by
      TCC. This strategy was devised to be compatible with medium/high-throughput
      screening and could be useful for the mechanistic elucidation of EDCs. 

PMID- 25826747
TI  - Alterations in oral [1-(14)C] 18:1n-9 distribution in lean wild-type and
      genetically obese (ob/ob) mice.
AB  - Obesity may result from altered fatty acid (FA) disposal. Altered FA distribution
      in obese individuals is poorly understood. Lean wild-type C57BL/6J and obese
      C57BL/6Job/ob mice received an oral dose of [1-(14)C]18:1n-9 (oleic acid), and
      the radioactivity in tissues was evaluated at various time points. The (14)C
      concentration decreased rapidly in gastrointestinal tract but gradually increased
      and peaked at 96 h in adipose tissue, muscle and skin in lean mice. The (14)C
      concentration was constant in adipose tissue and muscle of obese mice from 4 h to
      168 h. (14)C-label content in adipose tissue was significantly affected by
      genotype, whereas muscle (14)C-label content was affected by genotype, time and
      the interaction between genotype and time. There was higher total (14)C retention
      (47.7%) in obese mice than in lean mice (9.0%) at 168 h (P<0.05). The (14)C
      concentrations in the soleus and gastrocnemius muscle were higher in obese mice
      than in lean mice (P<0.05). Perirenal adipose tissue contained the highest (14)C
      content in lean mice, whereas subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) had the highest
      (14)C content and accounted for the largest proportion of total radioactivity
      among fat depots in obese mice. More lipid radioactivity was recovered as TAG in
      SAT from obese mice than from lean mice (P<0.05). Gene expression suggested acyl
      CoA binding protein and fatty acid binding protein are important for FA
      distribution in adipose tissue and muscle. The FA distribution in major tissues
      was altered in ob/ob mice, perhaps contributing to obesity. Understanding the
      disparity in FA disposal between lean and obese mice may reveal novel targets for
      the treatment and prevention of obesity.

PMID- 25826748
TI  - Sexuality and romantic relationships in young adult cancer survivors:
      satisfaction and supportive care needs.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In recent years, psycho-oncology has focused more and more on
      adolescents and young adults with cancer (AYA). Many studies have concentrated on
      fertility issues in AYAs, but romantic relationships and sexuality have only been
      researched to a limited extent. This cross-sectional study examined AYAs' quality
      of relationships and sexuality satisfaction thereby identifying sex differences.
      METHODS: Ninety-nine cancer patients (N = 33 males) diagnosed between 15 and 39
      years who were in a romantic relationship at the time of the survey completed
      questionnaires on their relationship (Partnership Questionnaire), sexuality (Life
      Satisfaction Questionnaire), and sexuality needs (Supportive Care Needs Survey).
      Test for mean differences and regression analyses to determine associated
      variables were performed. RESULTS: Seventy-six percent of AYAs (N = 75) rated
      their relationship quality as high. About 64% of patients reported having less
      sexual intercourse since diagnosis, more women than men (72% vs. 45%; p = .011).
      The need for support was strongest for changes in sexual feelings (N = 38;
      38.3%). Duration of relationship (beta = -0.224), being on sick leave (beta =
      0.325), and satisfaction with sexuality (beta = 0.409) were associated with
      satisfaction with relationship (R(2)  = 0.256). Satisfaction with sexuality (R(2)
      = 0.344) was regressed on physical function (beta = 0.419), satisfaction with
      relationship (beta = 0.428), and male gender (beta = -0.175). Sexuality need
      (R(2)  = 0.436) was associated with fatigue (beta = 0.232) and satisfaction with
      sexuality (beta = -0.522). CONCLUSION: Although they reported high satisfaction
      with their relationships, AYA patients experienced sexual problems and need
      support with sexual issues. As a substantial proportion of patients felt stressed
      because of sexual changes, communication and interventions addressing post-cancer
      sexuality, particularly in women, are indicated.

PMID- 25826751
TI  - Correction: One-step fabrication of robust fabrics with both-faced
      superhydrophobicity for the separation and capture of oil from water.

PMID- 25826750
TI  - A phase I clinical trial of bavituximab and paclitaxel in patients with HER2
      negative metastatic breast cancer.
AB  - Bavituximab is a chimeric monoclonal antibody that targets phosphatidylserine
      (PS). PS is externalized on cells in the tumor microenvironment when exposed to
      hypoxia and/or other physiological stressors. On attaching to PS, bavituximab is
      thought to promote antitumor immunity through its effects on PS receptors in
      monocytes, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells, as well as trigger antitumor
      effects by inducing an antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity on tumor
      associated endothelial cells. We conducted a phase I clinical trial of
      bavituximab in combination with paclitaxel in patients with HER2-negative
      metastatic breast cancer. Patients were treated with weekly paclitaxel (80
      mg/m(2) for 3/4 weeks) and weekly bavituximab (3 mg/kg for 4/4 weeks).
      Correlative studies included the measurement of circulating microparticles,
      endothelial cells, and apoptotic tumor cells by flow cytometry. Fourteen patients
      with metastatic breast cancer were enrolled; all were evaluable for toxicity and
      13 were evaluable for response. Treatment resulted in an overall response rate
      (RR) of 85% with a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 7.3 months. Bone
      pain, fatigue, headache, and neutropenia were the most common adverse effects.
      Infusion-related reactions were the most common adverse event related to
      bavituximab therapy. Correlative studies showed an increase in the PS-expressing
      apoptotic circulating tumor cells in response to bavituximab, but not with
      paclitaxel. No changes in the number of circulating endothelial cells or
      apoptotic endothelial cells were observed with therapy. Platelet and monocyte
      derived microparticles decreased after initiation of bavituximab. Bavituximab in
      combination with paclitaxel is well tolerated for treatment of patients with
      metastatic breast cancer with promising results observed in terms of clinical RRs
      and PFS. The toxicity profile of bavituximab is notable for manageable infusion
      related reactions with no evidence for increased thrombogenicity. Recent
      preclinical data suggest that bavituximab can also promote antitumor immune
      activity that should be explored in future clinical trials. 

PMID- 25826749
TI  - Emerging drugs for head and neck cancer.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Despite improvements in treatment, survival rates of head and neck
      squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are stagnant. The existing chemotherapeutic
      agents are non-selective and associated with toxicities. Combinations of the only
      the US FDA-approved epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeted agent,
      cetuximab, with chemotherapy or radiation improves overall survival. However, the
      response rates to cetuximab are modest. Thus, there is an urgent need for new
      agents that can be safely integrated into current treatment regimens to improve
      outcome. AREAS COVERED: Current EGFR-targeted drugs under clinical development
      include mAbs and tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The modest efficacy of these drugs
      implicates intrinsic or acquired resistance. Novel molecular agents inhibiting
      alternative targets to overcome anti-EGFR resistance in HNSCC are under
      investigation. Gene therapy and immunotherapy are also promising strategies to
      improve efficacy and reduce toxicity. EXPERT OPINION: To date, only six drugs
      have been FDA-approved for the treatment of head and neck cancer. Cetuximab is
      the only approved molecular targeting agent for HNSCC and despite ubiquitous
      expression of EGFR in HNSCC tumors, clinical responses are limited. Genetic and
      epigenetic characterization of HNSCC tumors, coupled with improved preclinical
      models, should facilitate the development of more effective drugs.

PMID- 25826752
TI  - Metal-free oxysulfenylation of alkenes with 1-(arylthio)pyrrolidine-2,5-diones
      and alcohols.
AB  - beta-Alkoxy sulfides are widely used as versatile building blocks in organic
      synthesis. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop a convenient and
      efficient method for oxysulfenylation of alkenes. In this communication, an easy
      and efficient metal-free approach to beta-alkoxy sulfides has been developed. The
      protocol uses readily available 1-(arylthio)pyrrolidine-2,5-diones and alcohols
      as the oxysulfenylating agents, chloroform as the solvent, and no ligand,
      additive and exclusion of air were required. Therefore, the present method
      provides a useful strategy for synthesis of beta-alkoxy sulfides. 

PMID- 25826753
TI  - The neuroglial potassium cycle during neurotransmission: role of Kir4.1 channels.
AB  - Neuronal excitability relies on inward sodium and outward potassium fluxes during
      action potentials. To prevent neuronal hyperexcitability, potassium ions have to
      be taken up quickly. However, the dynamics of the activity-dependent potassium
      fluxes and the molecular pathways underlying extracellular potassium homeostasis
      remain elusive. To decipher the specific and acute contribution of astroglial
      Kir4.1 channels in controlling potassium homeostasis and the moment to moment
      neurotransmission, we built a tri-compartment model accounting for potassium
      dynamics between neurons, astrocytes and the extracellular space. We here
      demonstrate that astroglial Kir4.1 channels are sufficient to account for the
      slow membrane depolarization of hippocampal astrocytes and crucially contribute
      to extracellular potassium clearance during basal and high activity. By
      quantifying the dynamics of potassium levels in neuron-glia-extracellular space
      compartments, we show that astrocytes buffer within 6 to 9 seconds more than 80%
      of the potassium released by neurons in response to basal, repetitive and tetanic
      stimulations. Astroglial Kir4.1 channels directly lead to recovery of basal
      extracellular potassium levels and neuronal excitability, especially during
      repetitive stimulation, thereby preventing the generation of epileptiform
      activity. Remarkably, we also show that Kir4.1 channels strongly regulate
      neuronal excitability for slow 3 to 10 Hz rhythmic activity resulting from
      probabilistic firing activity induced by sub-firing stimulation coupled to
      Brownian noise. Altogether, these data suggest that astroglial Kir4.1 channels
      are crucially involved in extracellular potassium homeostasis regulating theta
      rhythmic activity. 

PMID- 25826754
TI  - Next-generation sequencing as input for chemometrics in differential sensing
      routines.
AB  - Differential sensing (DS) methods traditionally use spatially arrayed receptors
      and optical signals to create score plots from multivariate data which classify
      individual analytes or complex mixtures. Herein, a new approach is described, in
      which nucleic acid sequences and sequence counts are used as the multivariate
      data without the necessity of a spatial array. To demonstrate this approach to
      DS, previously selected aptamers, identified from the literature, were used as
      semi-specific receptors, Next-Gen DNA sequencing was used to generate data, and
      cell line differentiation was the test-bed application. The study of a principal
      component analysis loading plot revealed cross-reactivity between the aptamers.
      The technique generates high-dimensionality score plots, and should be applicable
      to any mixture of complex and subtly different analytes for which nucleic acid
      based receptors exist. 

PMID- 25826756
TI  - Arsenic removal by liquid membranes.
AB  - Water contamination with harmful arsenic compounds represents one of the most
      serious calamities of the last two centuries. Natural occurrence of the toxic
      metal has been revealed recently for 21 countries worldwide; the risk of arsenic
      intoxication is particularly high in Bangladesh and India but recently also
      Europe is facing similar problem. Liquid membranes (LMs) look like a promising
      alternative to the existing removal processes, showing numerous advantages in
      terms of energy consumption, efficiency, selectivity, and operational costs. The
      development of different LM configurations has been a matter of investigation by
      several researching groups, especially for the removal of As(III) and As(V) from
      aqueous solutions. Most of these LM systems are based on the use of phosphine
      oxides as carriers, when the metal removal is from sulfuric acid media.
      Particularly promising for water treatment is the hollow fiber supported liquid
      membrane (HFSLM) configuration, which offers high selectivity, easy transport of
      the targeted metal ions, large surface area, and non-stop flow process. The
      choice of organic extractant(s) plays an essential role in the efficiency of the
      arsenic removal. Emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) systems have not been extensively
      investigated so far, although encouraging results have started to appear in the
      literature. For such LM configuration, the most relevant step toward efficiency
      is the choice of the surfactant type and its concentration. 

PMID- 25826755
TI  - Prediction of week 4 virological response in hepatitis C for making decision on
      triple therapy: the Optim study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Virological response to peginterferon + ribavirin (P+R) at week 4 can
      predict sustained virological response (SVR). While patients with rapid
      virological response (RVR) do not require triple therapy, patients with a decline
      <1 log10 IU/ml HCVRNA (D1L) should have treatment discontinued due to low SVR
      rate. AIM: To develop a tool to predict first 4 weeks' viral response in patients
      with hepatitis C genotype 1&4 treated with P+R. METHODS: In this prospective and
      multicenter study, HCV mono-infected (n=538) and HCV/HIV co-infected (n=186)
      patients were included. To develop and validate a prognostic tool to detect RVR
      and D1L, we segregated the patients as an estimation cohort (to construct the
      model) and a validation cohort (to validate the model). RESULTS: D1L was reached
      in 509 (80.2%) and RVR in 148 (22.5%) patients. Multivariate analyses
      demonstrated that HIV co-infection, Forns' index, LVL, IL28B-CC and Genotype-1
      were independently related to RVR as well as D1L. Diagnostic accuracy (AUROC) for
      D1L was: 0.81 (95%CI: 0.76  0.86) in the estimation cohort and 0.71 (95%CI: 0.62 
      0.79) in the validation cohort; RVR prediction: AUROC 0.83 (95%CI: 0.78  0.88) in
      the estimation cohort and 0.82 (95%CI: 0.76  0.88) in the validation cohort. Cost
      analysis of standard 48-week treatment indicated a saving of 30.3% if the
      prognostic tool is implemented. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of genetic (IL28B
      polymorphism) and viral genotype together with viral load, HIV co-infection and
      fibrosis stage defined a tool able to predict RVR and D1L at week 4. Using this
      tool would be a cost-saving strategy compared to universal triple therapy for
      hepatitis C.

PMID- 25826757
TI  - Rethinking prerequisites.

PMID- 25826758
TI  - Expert modeling, expert/self-modeling versus lecture: a comparison of learning,
      retention, and transfer of rescue skills in health professions students.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether traditional lecture followed by simulation
      leads to the best learning and knowledge and skill retention over time. METHOD: A
      3*4 mixed design study used three modes of education-traditional lecture with
      self-guided learning, expert modeling/dual viewing with brief questioning, and
      expert plus self-modeling-at four time points to compare knowledge, time to
      treat, and correct steps over time. RESULTS: No significant differences were
      found in knowledge or time to treat between training methods. An expert modeling/
      dual viewing group with brief questioning performed more steps correctly (p =
      0.05) than did the other two groups. CONCLUSION: Expert modeling may help
      students remember and perform a complex series of tasks in a scenario. Further
      research is needed to explore expert modeling for novice learners.

PMID- 25826759
TI  - Student learning outcomes in response to concept-based teaching.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Concept-based teaching (CBT) has been found to better facilitate
      students' meaningful learning than traditional pedagogy, but little research has
      been conducted in nursing education. METHOD: This mixed-methods study
      investigated meaningful learning in nursing students. Quantitative data were
      extracted from archived records and analyzed through multiple regression to
      compare two groups: students who received CBT and students who received
      traditional teaching. RESULTS: Students' pretest scores were the best predictor
      of meaningful learning gain (i.e., difference between pre- and post-test higher
      order thinking [HOT] scores). No significant between-group differences were
      noted. Qualitative data were collected from 22 CBT students, purposefully
      selected for their HOT scores, and analyzed through flow mapping. Integrative
      analysis found that students who verbalized a greater number of knowledge
      connections had higher HOT scores and a deeper understanding of nursing
      principles than did students with lower HOT scores. CONCLUSION: CBT students'
      gain in HOT scores may become more apparent over several semesters.

PMID- 25826760
TI  - Interprofessional problem-based learning project outcomes between prelicensure
      baccalaureate of science in nursing and doctor of pharmacy programs.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Persistently high medical error rates, caregiver dissatisfaction, and
      compromised patient safety often result from poorly coordinated, increasingly
      complex health care. Barriers to interprofessional health professions education
      persist despite the urgent calls for improved quality and safety. Investigators
      explored the effects of a problem-based learning (PBL) strategy between
      prelicensure doctorate of pharmacy (PharmD) and baccalaureate nursing (BSN)
      students. METHOD: A descriptive design was used to compare the learning gains and
      satisfaction with a PBL hybrid approach for BSN and PharmD prelicensure student
      groups over three academic terms. RESULTS: Consistent with earlier works, content
      based learning gains and student satisfaction were not significantly different
      between groups. Narrative data provide insight into perceived benefits, barriers,
      and perspectives of participating students and facilitators. CONCLUSION:
      Attributes of this pedagogical approach provide opportunity for prelicensure
      students to explore professional interdependence while adequately mastering fact
      based content.

PMID- 25826762
TI  - Using a simulated mass casualty incident to teach response readiness: a case
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent occurrences of disaster events highlight the need for
      increased attention to improving students' knowledge of disaster readiness.
      Nursing education continues to struggle with the delivery of consistent,
      effective, and impactful teaching methods for disaster response. This study aimed
      to explore the effectiveness of using a simulated mass casualty incident (MCI)
      and Web-based resources to teach the application of disaster nursing concepts.
      METHOD: Baccalaureate nursing students (n = 63) were evaluated on their ability
      and perceived readiness to respond after participation in a disaster educational
      session and simulated MCI. RESULTS: Quantitative and qualitative data revealed
      that students developed an increased ability in critical thinking, functionality
      within the health care team, and learning from their mistakes when responding to
      a simulated MCI. CONCLUSION: A varied approach of didactic, Web-based, and
      simulation education is effective in improving student's perceived readiness for
      disaster response. Continued efforts are recommended to support student
      development in disaster response.

PMID- 25826761
TI  - A correlation study of social network usage among health care students.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Due to anecdotal concerns about adequacy of health professions
      students' communication skills, health professions faculty at a private
      university formed an interprofessional research team. The study was designed to
      explore whether the use of social networking services (SNS) influenced health
      care students' written and oral communication skills. METHOD: One hundred thirty
      two students participated in the study. Communication skills were assessed by
      using assignments from a health care ethics course required of all students. Use
      of SNS was measured with an information technology questionnaire. RESULTS:
      Contrary to expected findings, this exploratory correlation study found no
      meaningful relationship between the frequency of SNS usage and oral and written
      communication skills in health professions students. CONCLUSIONS: Future studies
      of SNS would benefit from a younger and more homogeneous study population to
      assess the use of SNS for learning versus leisure.

PMID- 25826763
TI  - One thousand words: evaluating an interdisciplinary art education program.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Art Rounds, an innovative interdisciplinary program, began as a pilot
      project to determine if use of fine arts instructional strategies would be of
      benefit in health professional education. Specifically, students were exposed to
      fine art and taught to use visual thinking strategies (VTS). The initial
      evaluation of the pilot program revealed improved physical observation skills,
      increased tolerance for ambiguity, and increased interest in communication
      skills. More recently, the Art Rounds program has been expanded to an
      interdisciplinary elective course open to both nursing student and medical
      students at all levels. METHOD: An evaluation of Art Rounds as a semester- long
      course was conducted by course faculty and compared to the original pilot program
      for differences and similarities. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: Outcomes have demonstrated
      that the use of visual arts and humanities continues to be highly effective in
      improving students' physical observation skills and a powerful tool for teaching
      nursing students how to be skilled clinicians.

PMID- 25826764
TI  - Use of quick response coding to create interactive patient and provider
      resources.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Since their creation more than 20 years ago, the proliferation of
      Quick Response (QR) codes has expanded tremendously. Little was found in the
      literature to support the innovative use of QR coding in the classroom or in
      health care provision. Thus, the authors created a doctoral-level practicum
      experience using QR coding to create interactive, individualized patient or
      provider resource guides. METHOD: Short, descriptive surveys were used before and
      after implementation of the practicum experience to determine students' comfort
      level using QR technology, their knowledge base, ease of use, and overall
      satisfaction with the practicum. RESULTS: Students reported high levels of
      satisfaction with this exercise, and all agreed that use of QR coding could have
      important implications in the clinical environment. CONCLUSION: This practicum
      experience was a creative, practical, and valuable example of integrating
      emerging technology into individualized patient care.

PMID- 25826765
TI  - Incorporating the QSEN competency in evidence-based practice in a mental health
      clinical rotation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nurse educators continually search for alternative methods of
      instruction that provide a meaningful experience while meeting clinical
      objectives. One approach incorporated the Quality Safety Education for Nurses
      (QSEN) competencies' evidence-based practice (EBP) into the clinical setting.
      METHOD: The Paint a Picture of Mental Illness assignment is a creative teaching
      approach in the Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing course. Students prepare a
      poster presentation using pictures, drawings, and illustrations demonstrating the
      mental, emotional, physical, financial, and spiritual impact of the mental
      illness. Students must perform a library search, locate an evidence-based
      research article related to best practices in patient care, and summarize
      pertinent information for presentation to the peer group. RESULTS: Nursing
      students developed an understanding of mental health concepts, addressed real
      life issues, researched EBP, and effectively communicated their findings to the
      peer group. CONCLUSION: This assignment helped students to develop empathy for
      patients with mental health issues and promoted understanding of patients' inner
      experiences.

PMID- 25826766
TI  - Giving back: using alumni for a nursing skills day.

PMID- 25826768
TI  - Quasi-prospective, real-life monitoring of food craving post-bariatric surgery:
      comparison with overweight and normal weight women.
AB  - Food cravings are common post-bariatric surgery, suggested as predictors of
      relapse and weight regain, but relatively unstudied, especially in the longer
      term. The present study investigated the frequency and nature of food craving
      experiences after gastric surgery in comparison with non-surgical control
      participants. Participants were 21 women, 4-38 months post-surgery (mean age = 44
      years, 9 following gastric banding, 12 after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass), and two
      comparison samples of 39 overweight dieters and 33 normal weight non-dieters.
      They completed a food craving record after every food craving, a daily mood
      assessment and a food diary over a 7-day period. Over the 299 craving episodes,
      savoury foods were the most commonly craved (40% of craving events), followed by
      chocolate (31%). Post-bariatric patients reported more and stronger cravings than
      normal weight non-dieters but at a similar frequency and strength to overweight
      dieters. Neither hunger nor negative mood distinguished the food cravings of post
      bariatric patients from those of comparison participants, nor did the proportion
      that led to eating (58%). Food cravings should be anticipated post-bariatric
      surgery but no more so at 12 months post-surgery than by other overweight or
      obese individuals. Food cravings are not the product of extreme hunger nor do
      they have the connection with negative mood seen in disordered eating. In
      addition, the ability to fulfil cravings by eating the craved food is reduced by
      the surgery itself, although the duration of surgical restraint is uncertain.

PMID- 25826767
TI  - Changes in physical activity during a weight loss intervention and follow-up: a
      randomized controlled trial.
AB  - Physical activity is an important component in weight loss treatment and weight
      maintenance. We evaluated the physical activity component of two weight loss
      programmes, either standard care (SC) as defined by national guidelines, or a
      commercial programme (CP; Weight Watchers) over the period of weight loss and
      follow-up. 772 adults (mean body mass index: 31.4 +/- 2.6 kg m(-2)) were
      recruited by primary care practices in Australia, the United Kingdom, and
      Germany, and randomly assigned to 12 months SC, or the CP. They were then
      followed up at 24 months. Change in physical activity levels were assessed by the
      International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)-short form, and pedometer
      recordings. Both groups reported increases in physical activity using the IPAQ
      from baseline to 12 months and 24 months (within groups P < 0.0001) and in
      pedometer steps from baseline to 12 months only (within groups P < 0.0001).
      Differences between groups with both methods of assessment were not significant.
      There was a significant difference in weight loss between the groups at 12 months
      favouring the CP group; however, this statistical difference was not maintained
      at 24 months. In conclusion, despite similar increases in reported activity,
      there were significant differences in weight loss and regain between groups.
      Therefore, greater weight loss seen with the CP is unlikely to be due to
      increases in physical activity. Trends in pedometer steps mirrored changes in
      weight over time more closely than the IPAQ; however, both assessment tools have
      limitations. Better activity assessment measures are needed to more accurately
      gauge changes in physical activity during weight loss interventions.

PMID- 25826769
TI  - Obese sedentary patients with dyspnoea on exertion who are at low risk for
      coronary artery disease by clinical criteria have a very low prevalence of
      coronary artery disease.
AB  - Dyspnoea, a much less specific symptom of ischaemia than chest discomfort, is
      common among obese patients. Patients with dyspnoea often undergo stress testing
      as part of their evaluation. We sought to examine the yield of stress testing in
      non-elderly, obese, sedentary patients with dyspnoea on exertion (DOE) as a chief
      complaint.We reviewed stress echocardiograms carried out on 203 patients in a
      stress testing laboratory at a major tertiary care centre. Of these, 81 (40%)
      fell into a group that was at low risk for coronary artery disease (CAD) by
      clinical criteria. Ischaemia was detected in two patients in the low-risk group
      (2.5%), and these results were likely false positives. In the higher risk group,
      9.0% of functional tests showed ischaemia; after further testing, 2.5% of the
      higher risk patients were found to have obstructive coronary lesions. Clinical
      follow-up was performed for a mean of 815 days. New obstructive coronary disease
      was detected in 1.6% of all patients, and these patients were from the higher
      risk group. In obese sedentary patients with DOE but otherwise at low risk of
      coronary disease stress testing is of very low yield. DOE is generally not an
      anginal equivalent in this patient population.

PMID- 25826770
TI  - Effects of intermittent compared to continuous energy restriction on short-term
      weight loss and long-term weight loss maintenance.
AB  - Effective strategies are needed to help individuals lose weight and maintain
      weight loss. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effect of
      intermittent energy restriction (IER) compared to continuous energy restriction
      (CER) on weight loss after 8 weeks and weight loss maintenance after 12 months.
      Secondary aims were to determine changes in waist and hip measurements and diet
      quality. In a randomized parallel study, overweight and obese (body mass index
      [BMI] >= 27 kg m(-2)) women were stratified by age and BMI before randomization.
      Participants undertook an 8-week intensive period with weight, waist and hip
      circumference measured every 2 weeks, followed by 44 weeks of independent
      dieting. A food frequency questionnaire was completed at baseline and 12 months,
      from which diet quality was determined. Weight loss was not significantly
      different between the two groups at 8 weeks (-3.2 +/- 2.1 kg CER, n = 20, -2.0 +/
      1.9 kg IER, n = 25; P = 0.06) or at 12 months (-4.2 +/- 5.6 kg CER, n = 17 -2.1
      +/- 3.8 kg IER, n = 19; P = 0.19). Weight loss between 8 and 52 weeks was -0.7 +/
      49 kg CER vs. -1 +/- 1.1 kg IER; P = 0.6. Waist and hip circumference decreased
      significantly with time (P < 0.01), with no difference between groups. There was
      an increase in the Healthy Eating Index at 12 months in the CER compared with the
      IER group (CER 8.4 +/- 9.1 vs. IER -0.3 +/- 8.4, P = 0.006). This study indicates
      that intermittent dieting was as effective as continuous dieting over 8 weeks and
      for weight loss maintenance at 12 months. This may be useful for individuals who
      find CER too difficult to maintain.

PMID- 25826771
TI  - Food groups and weight gain in Japanese men.
AB  - Identifying subjects at high risk of weight gain according to consumption of food
      groups is important for individualizing nutritional education, but prospective
      studies of this issue have been few. We determined whether intake of specific
      food groups could predict future weight gain. We evaluated data from health
      checkups on 1236 Japanese men aged 28 to 87 years in 2005 and 2006. Dietary
      intake was assessed by a 24-h dietary recall at baseline. Weight change was
      measured after 1 year. Weight increased in 44.7% (n = 553) of participants.
      Multivariate regression analysis involving many food groups showed a significant
      association between sugar intake and weight gain after adjustment for age, body
      mass index (BMI), total energy intake, alcohol, smoking and regular physical
      exercise (beta = 0.22, P = 0.04). The effect of intake of 'fats and oils' was
      significant when adjusted for age and BMI, however, it became insignificant after
      adjustment for age, BMI and total energy intake. Intake of sugar, which was
      evaluated as a food group, was predictive of subsequent weight gain among
      Japanese men, even after adjustment for many confounders. This corroborates the
      evidence so far concerning the links between sugar intake and weight gain.
      Further long-term research is required to give robust recommendation to the
      public.

PMID- 25826772
TI  - Functional communication as a predictor of depression and anxiety symptoms among
      adolescents seeking bariatric surgery.
AB  - The purpose of the present study was to determine whether functional
      communication and parent-adolescent relations prospectively predict anxiety and
      depression symptoms among severely obese adolescents seeking bariatric surgery.
      Participants included 30 adolescents and their primary caregivers, who presented
      for enrolment in a study assessing the safety and efficacy of the laparoscopic
      adjustable gastric band. Adolescents and their caregivers completed
      questionnaires assessing anxiety and depression symptoms, functional
      communication, and parent-adolescent relations at baseline and immediately prior
      to having bariatric surgery. Regression analyses revealed that poorer parent
      reported functional communication at baseline predicted increases in adolescent
      reported anxiety and depression symptoms immediately prior to surgery (on average
      8.8 months later), above and beyond baseline symptoms. Anxiety and depression
      symptoms did not predict functional communication over time. Parent-adolescent
      relations, as reported by the adolescent, were concurrently associated with
      adolescent reported depression symptoms at baseline, and were concurrently
      associated with adolescent reported anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as
      parent reported depression symptoms, immediately prior to surgery. Functional
      communication may be an important prospective risk factor for the development of
      anxiety and depression symptoms among severely obese adolescents seeking
      bariatric surgery, whereas adolescent report of the parent-adolescent
      relationship appears to be concurrently related to anxiety and depression
      symptoms. Future research should examine whether specifically targeting
      communication skills and family relationships within psychological treatment
      would improve psychosocial functioning among severely obese adolescents.

PMID- 25826773
TI  - Uncontrolled eating is associated with reduced executive functioning.
AB  - Accumulating evidence indicates obesity is associated with reduced cognitive
      functioning, particularly attention and executive function, as well as
      maladaptive eating behaviour such as uncontrolled eating. The current study
      examined relationships between eating patterns and attention/executive function
      test performance in lean and obese individuals. Sixty-two (32 lean, 30 obese)
      healthy young adults (21.13 +/- 2.31 years; 56.5% female) completed the
      abbreviated Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R18) to assess eating
      patterns, including uncontrolled eating, cognitive restraint, and emotional
      eating. The Go/No-Go (GNG), Running Memory Continuous Performance Test (RCMPT)
      and Standard Continuous Performance Test from the Automated Neuropsychological
      Assessment Metrics-4 were administered as measures of executive functioning and
      attention. An independent samples t-test revealed greater report of uncontrolled
      eating in obese compared with lean participants (t[60] = -2.174, P < 0.05; d = 
      0.55) but no differences in cognitive restraint or emotional eating. Multivariate
      analysis of variance revealed cognitive differences between lean and obese groups
      (F[6, 54] = 3.86, P < 0.005; lambda = 0.70; etap(2) = 0.30), which were driven by
      GNG reaction time (F[1, 59] = 8.36, P < 0.01, d = 0.74). Pearson bivariate
      correlations revealed a positive correlation between uncontrolled eating and
      reaction time on GNG (r = 0.343, P < 0.05) and RMCPT (r = 0.267, P < 0.05) in all
      participants. Relative to lean participants, obese individuals reported higher
      levels of uncontrolled eating and exhibited slower performance on a task of
      inhibitory control. In the full sample, greater self-reported dyscontrol in
      eating behaviour was related to slower inhibitory control and working memory.
      Results support a link between executive function and control of eating
      behaviour. Obese individuals may be more vulnerable to difficulties in these
      domains relative to those who are lean.

PMID- 25826774
TI  - The cost-effectiveness of the LighterLife weight management programme as an
      intervention for obesity in England.
AB  - LighterLife Total is a very low calorie diet total dietary replacement weight
      reduction programme that provides Foodpacks, behavioural change therapy and group
      support appropriate for people with a body mass index of 30 kg m(-2) or above. A
      model was built to assess the cost-effectiveness of LighterLife Total, compared
      with (i) no treatment, Counterweight, Weight Watchers and Slimming World, as a
      treatment for obesity in those with a body mass index of 30 kg m(-2) or above,
      and (ii) no treatment, gastric banding and gastric bypass in those with a body
      mass index of 40 kg m(-2) or above. Change in body mass index over time was
      modelled, and prevalence of comorbidities (diabetes, coronary heart disease and
      colorectal cancer) was calculated. Costs (of intervention and treatment for
      comorbidities) and quality-adjusted life years were calculated. LighterLife Total
      was cost-effective against no treatment, Counterweight, Weight Watchers and
      Slimming World in the 30+ kg m(-2) group (incremental cost-effectiveness ratios:
      L11 895, L12 453, L12 585 and L12 233, respectively). In the 40+ kg m(-2) group,
      LighterLife Total was cost-effective against no treatment (incremental cost
      effectiveness ratio: L4356), but less effective than gastric banding and bypass.

PMID- 25826775
TI  - Diffusing obesity myths.
AB  - Misinformation or myths about obesity can lead to weight bias and obesity stigma.
      Counteracting myths with facts and evidence has been shown to be effective
      educational tools to increase an individuals' knowledge about a certain condition
      and to reduce stigma.The purpose of this study was to identify common obesity
      myths within the healthcare and public domains and to develop evidence-based
      counterarguments to diffuse them. An online search of grey literature, media and
      public health information sources was conducted to identify common obesity myths.
      A list of 10 obesity myths was developed and reviewed by obesity experts and key
      opinion leaders. Counterarguments were developed using current research evidence
      and validated by obesity experts. A survey of obesity experts and health
      professionals was conducted to determine the usability and potential
      effectiveness of the myth-fact messages to reduce weight bias. A total of 754
      individuals responded to the request to complete the survey. Of those who
      responded, 464 (61.5%) completed the survey. All 10 obesity myths were identified
      to be deeply pervasive within Canadian healthcare and public domains. Although
      the myth-fact messages were endorsed, respondents also indicated that they would
      likely not be sufficient to reduce weight bias. Diffusing deeply pervasive
      obesity myths will require multilevel approaches.

PMID- 25826776
TI  - Synthesis and characterization of bis (acetylacetonato kappa-O, O')
      [zinc(ii)/copper(ii)] hybrid organic-inorganic complexes as solid metal organic
      precursors.
AB  - We have synthesized novel metal organic hybrid mixed compounds of bis
      (acetylacetonato kappa-O, O') [zinc(ii)/copper(ii)]. Taking C10H14O4Zn0.7Cu0.3
      (Z0.7C0.3AA) as an example, the crystals are composed of Z0.7C0.3AA units and
      uncoordinated water molecules. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction results show that
      the complex Z0.7C0.3AA crystallizes in the monoclinic system, space group P21/n.
      The unit cell dimensions are a = 10.329(4) A, b = 4.6947(18) A, and c = 11.369(4)
      A; the angles are alpha = 90 degrees , beta = 91.881(6) degrees , and gamma = 90
      degrees , the volume is 551.0(4) A(3), and Z = 2. In this process, the M(ii) ions
      of Zn and Cu mix and occupy the centers of symmetrical structural units, which
      are coordinated to two ligands. The measured bond lengths and angles of O-M-O
      vary with the ratio of metal species over the entire series of the complexes
      synthesized. The chemistry of the as-synthesized compounds has been characterized
      using infrared spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray
      spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, and the morphology
      of the products has been characterized using scanning electron microscopy. The
      thermal decomposition of the Z0.7C0.3AA composites measured by thermogravimetric
      analysis suggests that these complexes are volatile. The thermal characteristics
      of these complexes make them attractive precursors for metal organic chemical
      vapor deposition. 

PMID- 25826777
TI  - New Insights In Intestinal Sar1B GTPase Regulation and Role in Cholesterol
      Homeostasis.
AB  - Sar1B GTPase is a key component of Coat protein complex II (COPII)-coated
      vesicles that bud from the endoplasmic reticulum to export newly synthesized
      proteins. The aims of this study were to determine whether Sar1B responds to
      lipid regulation and to evaluate its role in cholesterol (CHOL) homeostasis. The
      influence of lipids on Sar1B protein expression was analyzed in Caco-2/15 cells
      by Western blot. Our results showed that the presence of CHOL (200 MUM) and oleic
      acid (0.5 mM), bound to albumin, increases Sar1B protein expression. Similarly,
      supplementation of the medium with micelles composed of taurocholate with
      monooleylglycerol or oleic acid also stimulated Sar1B expression, but the
      addition of CHOL (200 MUM) to micelle content did not modify its regulation. On
      the other hand, overexpression of Sar1B impacted on CHOL transport and metabolism
      in view of the reduced cellular CHOL content along with elevated secretion when
      incubated with oleic acid-containing micelles for 24 h, thereby disclosing
      induced CHOL transport. This was accompanied with higher secretion of free- and
      esterified-CHOL within chylomicrons, which was not the case when oleic acid was
      replaced with monooleylglycerol or when albumin-bound CHOL was given alone. The
      aforementioned cellular CHOL depletion was accompanied with a low
      phosphorylated/non phosphorylated HMG-CoA reductase ratio, indicating elevated
      enzymatic activity. Combination of Sar1B overexpression with micelle incubation
      led to reduction in intestinal CHOL transporters (NPC1L1, SR-BI) and metabolic
      regulators (PCSK9 and LDLR). The present work showed that Sar1B is regulated in a
      time- and concentration-dependent manner by dietary lipids, suggesting an
      adaptation to alimentary lipid flux. Our data also suggest that Sar1B
      overexpression contributes to regulation of CHOL transport and metabolism by
      facilitating rapid uptake and transport of CHOL.

PMID- 25826779
TI  - CecropinXJ inhibits the proliferation of human gastric cancer BGC823 cells and
      induces cell death in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - We have shown that an antimicrobial peptide (AMP) cecropinXJ isolated from the
      larvae of Bombyx mori selectively inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells.
      However, the mechanism remains to be determined. In the present study, we
      examined the antitumor activity of cecropinXJ against human gastric cancer BGC823
      cells and explored the mechanism. The results showed that cecropinXJ inhibited
      the growth of gastric cancer BGC823 cells in vitro and in vivo. MTT and colony
      formation assays indicated that cecropinXJ suppressed cell proliferation and
      reduced colony formation of BGC823 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner,
      but without inhibitory effect on normal gastric epithelia GES-1 cells. S-phase
      arrest in BGC823 cells was observed after treatment with cecropinXJ. Annexin V/PI
      staining suggested that cecropinXJ induced both early and late phases of
      apoptosis through activation of mitochondrial-mediated caspase pathway,
      upregulation of Bax expression and downregulation of Bcl-2 expression.
      Additionally, cecropinXJ treatment increased reactive oxygen species (ROS)
      production, disrupted the mitochondrial membrane potential (Deltapsim) and led to
      release of cytochrome c. Importantly, in vivo study showed that cecropinXJ
      significantly prevented the growth of xenograft tumor in the BGC823-bearing mice,
      possibly mediated by the induction of apoptosis and inhibition of angiogenesis.
      These results suggest that cecropinXJ may be a promising therapeutic candidate
      for the treatment of gastric cancer.

PMID- 25826778
TI  - Diagnostic accuracy of placental growth factor and ultrasound parameters to
      predict the small-for-gestational-age infant in women presenting with reduced
      symphysis-fundus height.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of placental growth factor (PlGF)
      and ultrasound parameters to predict delivery of a small-for-gestational-age
      (SGA) infant in women presenting with reduced symphysis-fundus height (SFH).
      METHODS: This was a multicenter prospective observational study recruiting 601
      women with a singleton pregnancy and reduced SFH between 24 and 37 weeks'
      gestation across 11 sites in the UK and Canada. Plasma PlGF concentration < 5(th)
      centile, estimated fetal weight (EFW) < 10(th) centile, umbilical artery Doppler
      pulsatility index > 95(th) centile and oligohydramnios (amniotic fluid index < 5
      cm) were compared as predictors for a SGA infant < 3(rd) customized birth-weight
      centile and adverse perinatal outcome. Test performance statistics were
      calculated for all parameters in isolation and in combination. RESULTS: Of the
      601 women recruited, 592 were analyzed. For predicting delivery of SGA < 3(rd)
      centile (n = 78), EFW < 10(th) centile had 58% sensitivity (95% CI, 46-69%) and
      93% negative predictive value (NPV) (95% CI, 90-95%), PlGF had 37% sensitivity
      (95% CI, 27-49%) and 90% NPV (95% CI, 87-93%); in combination, PlGF and EFW <
      10(th) centile had 69% sensitivity (95% CI, 55-81%) and 93% NPV (95% CI, 89-96%).
      The equivalent receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curve areas were 0.79
      (95% CI, 0.74-0.84) for EFW < 10(th) centile, 0.70 (95% CI, 0.63-0.77) for low
      PlGF and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.77-0.86) in combination. CONCLUSIONS: For women
      presenting with reduced SFH, ultrasound parameters had modest test performance
      for predicting delivery of SGA < 3(rd) centile. PlGF performed no better than EFW
      < 10(th) centile in determining delivery of a SGA infant.

PMID- 25826780
TI  - MicroRNA profiling of CD3+ CD56+ cytokine-induced killer cells.
AB  - Studies have proven that IL-2 and IL-15 showed contrasting roles during CIK cells
      preparation. By employing microarray, we analyzed miRNA expression profiles of
      PBMC, CIKIL-2 and CIKIL-15. Advanced bioinformatic analyses were performed to
      explore the key miRNAs which may regulate cell proliferation and anti-tumor
      activity of CIK. We identified 261 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) between
      PBMC and CIKIL-2, and 249 DEMs between PBMC and CIKIL-15. MiR-143-3p/miR-145-5p
      was miRNA cluster which may positively regulate cell proliferation. In contrast,
      miR-340-5p/miR-340-3p cluster may negatively regulate cell proliferation via
      induction apoptosis, which may cause decreased cell proliferation capacity of
      CIKIL-2. MiRNA-target interaction analysis indicated that 10 co-downregulated
      miRNAs may synergistically turn on the expression of a pool of tumor cytotoxic
      genes in CIK cells. The DEMs between CIKIL-2 and CIKIL-15 may contribute to
      enhanced tumor cytotoxic capacity of CIKIL-2. Importantly, we found that
      repressed miR-193a-5p may regulate the expressions of inhibitory receptor KLRD1.
      The results of the validation assay have shown that KLRD1 were upregulated in CIK
      cells. Our findings have provided new insights into mechanisms of CIK cells
      production and tumor cytotoxic function, and shed light on their safety for
      clinical trial. 

PMID- 25826781
TI  - Magnetic multiwall carbon nanotubes modified with dual hydroxy functional ionic
      liquid for the solid-phase extraction of protein.
AB  - A novel adsorbent based on silica-coated magnetic multiwall carbon nanotubes
      (MWCNTs) surface modified by dual hydroxy functional ionic liquid (FIL) ([OH]-FIL
      m-MWCNTs@SiO2) has been designed and used for the purification of lysozyme (Lys)
      by magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE). Fourier transform infrared
      spectroscopy (FTIR), a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), transmission electron
      microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)
      were employed to characterize [OH]-FIL-m-MWCNTs@SiO2. After extraction, the
      concentration of Lys was determined by a UV-Vis spectrophotometer at 278 nm. A
      series of single-factor experiments were carried out to identify the optimal
      conditions of the extraction and the extraction amount could reach up to 94.6 mg
      g(-1). The RSD of the precision, the repeatability and the stability experiments
      were 0.37% (n = 3), 0.47% (n = 3) and 0.52% (n = 3), respectively. Comparison of
      [OH]-FIL-m-MWCNTs@SiO2 with silica-coated magnetic Fe3O4 (Fe3O4@SiO2), silica
      coated magnetic multiwall carbon nanotubes (m-MWCNTs@SiO2) and alkyl quaternary
      ammonium ionic liquid-modified on m-MWCNTs@SiO2 was carried out by extracting
      Lys. The extraction of bovine serum albumin (BSA), trypsin (Try) and ovalbumin
      (OVA) was also done by the proposed method. Desorption of Lys was carried out by
      0.005 mol L(-1) Na2HPO4-1 mol L(-1) NaCl as the eluent solution and the
      desorption ratio reached 91.6%. Nearly 97.8% of the [OH]-FIL-m-MWCNTs@SiO2 could
      be recovered from each run, and the extraction amount decreased less after five
      runs. The circular dichroism spectral experiment analysis indicated that the
      secondary structure of Lys was unchanged after extraction. 

PMID- 25826782
TI  - Brief Report: Oxidative Stress Mediates Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis in a Human Model
      of Danon Disease and Heart Failure.
AB  - Danon disease is a familial cardiomyopathy associated with impaired autophagy due
      to mutations in the gene encoding lysosomal-associated membrane protein type 2
      (LAMP-2). Emerging evidence has highlighted the importance of autophagy in
      regulating cardiomyocyte bioenergetics, function, and survival. However, the
      mechanisms responsible for cellular dysfunction and death in cardiomyocytes with
      impaired autophagic flux remain unclear. To investigate the molecular mechanisms
      responsible for Danon disease, we created induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)
      from two patients with different LAMP-2 mutations. Danon iPSC-derived
      cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) exhibited impaired autophagic flux and key features of
      heart failure such as increased cell size, increased expression of natriuretic
      peptides, and abnormal calcium handling compared to control iPSC-CMs.
      Additionally, Danon iPSC-CMs demonstrated excessive amounts of mitochondrial
      oxidative stress and apoptosis. Using the sulfhydryl antioxidant N-acetylcysteine
      to scavenge free radicals resulted in a significant reduction in apoptotic cell
      death in Danon iPSC-CMs. In summary, we have modeled Danon disease using human
      iPSC-CMs from patients with mutations in LAMP-2, allowing us to gain mechanistic
      insight into the pathogenesis of this disease. We demonstrate that LAMP-2
      deficiency leads to an impairment in autophagic flux, which results in excessive
      oxidative stress, and subsequent cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Scavenging excessive
      free radicals with antioxidants may be beneficial for patients with Danon
      disease. In vivo studies will be necessary to validate this new treatment
      strategy.

PMID- 25826783
TI  - Nisin production of Lactococcus lactis N8 with hemin-stimulated cell respiration
      in fed-batch fermentation system.
AB  - In this study, nisin production of Lactococcus lactis N8 was optimized by
      independent variables of glucose, hemin and oxygen concentrations in fed-batch
      fermentation in which respiration of cells was stimulated with hemin. Response
      surface model was able to explain the changes of the nisin production of L.
      lactis N8 in fed-batch fermentation system with high fidelity (R(2) 98%) and
      insignificant lack of fit. Accordingly, the equation developed indicated the
      optimum parameters for glucose, hemin, and dissolved oxygen were 8 g L(-1) h(-1)
      , 3 MUg mL(-1) and 40%, respectively. While 1711 IU mL(-1) nisin was produced by
      L. lactis N8 in control fed-batch fermentation, 5410 IU mL(-1) nisin production
      was achieved within the relevant optimum parameters where the respiration of cell
      was stimulated with hemin. Accordingly, nisin production was enhanced 3.1 fold in
      fed-batch fermentation using hemin. In conclusion the nisin production of L.
      lactis N8 was enhanced extensively as a result of increasing the biomass by
      stimulating the cell respiration with adding the hemin in the fed-batch
      fermentation.

PMID- 25826784
TI  - Simple "on-demand" production of bioactive natural products.
AB  - Exchange of the native promoter to the arabinose-inducible promoter PBAD was
      established in entomopathogenic bacteria to silence and/or activate gene clusters
      involved in natural product biosynthesis. This allowed the "on-demand" production
      of GameXPeptides, xenoamicins, and the blue pigment indigoidine. The gene
      clusters for the novel "mevalagmapeptides" and the highly toxic xenorhabdins were
      identified by this approach. 

PMID- 25826785
TI  - Synthesis of photochromic oligophenylenimines: optical and computational studies.
AB  - Phenyleneimine oligomers 4,4'-(((1E,1'E)-(((1E,1'E)-(1,4-phenylenebis
      (azanylylidene))bis(methanylylidene))bis(2,5-bis(octyloxy)-4,1
      phenylene))bis(methanylyl-idene))-bis(azanylylidene))dianiline (OIC1MS) and 7,7'
      (((1E,1'E)-(((1E,1'E)-((9H-fluorene-2,7
      diyl)bis(azanylylidene))bis(methanylylidene))bis(2,5-bis(octyloxy)
      4,1phenylene))bis- (methanylylidene))bis(azanylylidene))bis(9H-fluoren-2-amine)
      (OIC2MS) were prepared by means of conventional and mechanochemical synthesis and
      characterized by FT-IR, 1H- and 13C-NMR techniques. The optical properties of the
      compounds were studied in solution by using UV-visible spectroscopy, and the
      optical effects were analyzed as a function of solvent. The results show that
      OIC2MS exhibits interesting photochromic properties. Furthermore, the structural
      and electronic properties of the compounds were analyzed by TD-DFT. It was found
      that the mechanosynthesis is an efficient method for the synthesis of both
      tetraimines. 

PMID- 25826786
TI  - Cytoprotective effect of hispidin against palmitate-induced lipotoxicity in C2C12
      myotubes.
AB  - It is well known that Phellinus linteus, which produces hispidin and its
      derivatives, possesses antioxidant activities. In this study, we investigated
      whether hispidin has protective effects on palmitate-induced oxidative stress in
      C2C12 skeletal muscle cells. Our results showed that palmitate treatment in C2C12
      myotubes increased ROS generation and cell death as compared with the control.
      However, pretreatment of hispidin for 8 h improved the survival of C2C12 myotubes
      against palmitate-induced oxidative stress via inhibition of intracellular ROS
      production. Hispidin also inhibited palmitate-induced apoptotic nuclear
      condensation in C2C12 myotubes. In addition, we found that hispidin can suppress
      cleavage of caspase-3, expression of Bax, and NF-kappaB translocation. Therefore,
      these results suggest that hispidin is capable of protecting C2C12 myotubes
      against palmitate-induced oxidative stress. 

PMID- 25826787
TI  - Stevia rebaudiana Bert. leaf extracts as a multifunctional source of natural
      antioxidants.
AB  - The aim of the presented study was to characterize the content and biological
      activity of extracts prepared from dried Stevia rebaudiana leaves with potential
      application in the food or cosmetic industry. Aqueous (A), ethanolic (E) and
      glycol-aqueous (GA) extracts were analyzed for the content of polyphenols and
      proteins, showing that the highest amount of phenols (15.50 mg/g) and flavonoids
      (3.85 mg/g) contained GA. All extracts contained significant amount of protein
      (69.40-374.67 mg/g). Between analyzed stevia extracts (HPLC) GA contained the
      highest amount of polyphenols, especially ferulic (5.50 mg/g) and rozmaric (4.95
      mg/g) acids derivates. The highest antiradical activity against DPPH* and ABTS*+
      was noted for GA and E (IC50 = 0.38 and 0.71 ug flavonoids/mL). The highest
      ability to chelate Fe2+ was observed for E (IC50 = 2.08 ug flavonoids/mL). Stevia
      extracts were also analyzed for their cytotoxicity and fibroblast irritation
      potential in vitro. E and GA were the most cytotoxic and irritating, probably due
      to the high content of biologically active phytochemicals. On the other hand, a
      extract was the most tolerable by the cells. To summarize, the presented study
      evaluated the potential application of A, E and GA stevia extracts as natural
      source of antioxidants in the food and cosmetic industry. 

PMID- 25826788
TI  - Functional thermoplastic materials from derivatives of cellulose and related
      structural polysaccharides.
AB  - This review surveys advances in the development of various material
      functionalities based on thermoplastic cellulose and related structural
      polysaccharide derivatives. First, the dependence of thermal (phase) transition
      behavior on the molecular composition of simple derivatives is rationalized.
      Next, approaches enabling effective thermoplasticization and further
      incorporation of material functionalities into structural polysaccharides are
      discussed. These approaches include: (a) single-substituent derivatization, (b)
      derivatization with multi-substituents, (c) blending of simple derivatives with
      synthetic polymers, and (d) graft copolymerization. Some examples addressing the
      control of supramolecular structures and the regulation of molecular and
      segmental orientations for functional materials fabrication, which have
      especially progressed over the past decade, are also addressed. Attractive
      material functions include improved mechanical performance, controlled
      biodegradability, cytocompatiblity, and optical functions. 

PMID- 25826789
TI  - Tetrazolium compounds: synthesis and applications in medicine.
AB  - Tetrazoles represent a class of five-membered heterocyclic compounds with
      polynitrogen electron-rich planar structural features. This special structure
      makes tetrazole derivatives useful drugs, explosives, and other functional
      materials with a wide range of applications in many fields of medicine,
      agriculture, material science, etc. Based on our research works on azoles and
      other references in recent years, this review covers reported work on the
      synthesis and biological activities of tetrazole derivatives. 

PMID- 25826790
TI  - Nonlinear optical properties tuning in meso-tetraphenylporphyrin derivatives
      substituted with donor/acceptor groups in picosecond and nanosecond regimes.
AB  - meso-Tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) and its two substituted derivatives (meso
      tetrakis(4-cyanophenyl)porphyrin [TPP(CN)4] and meso-tetrakis(4
      methoxyphenyl)porphyrin [TPP(OMe)4]) were synthesized. Their nonlinear absorption
      and refraction properties were studied using the Z-scan technique in the
      picosecond (ps) and nanosecond (ns) regimes. The open aperture Z-scan results
      reveal that TPP and TPP(CN)4 display an identical reverse saturable absorption
      (RSA) character in the ps and ns regimes. While TPP(OMe)4 exhibits a transition
      from saturable absorption (SA) to RSA in the ps regime and a typical RSA
      character in the ns regime. The closed aperture Z-scan results show that TPP(CN)4
      and TPP(OMe)4 have regular enhancement of the magnitude of nonlinear refraction
      as compared to their parent TPP in both the ps and ns regimes. In addition, the
      second-order molecular hyperpolarizabilities (gamma) of these three porphyrins
      are calculated, and the gamma values of TPP(CN)4 and TPP(OMe)4 are remarkable
      larger than that of TPP. The introduction of the electron-withdrawing group CN
      and the electron-donating group OMe into TPP has enhanced its nonlinear
      refraction and gamma value, and tuned its nonlinear absorption (TPP(OMe)4), which
      could be useful for porphyrin-related applications based on the desired NLO
      properties. 

PMID- 25826791
TI  - A review of national health policies and professional guidelines on maternal
      obesity and weight gain in pregnancy.
AB  - Maternal obesity creates an additional demand for health-care services, as the
      routine obstetric care pathway requires alterations to ensure the most optimal
      care for obese women of childbearing age. This review examines the extent to
      which relevant national health documents reflect and respond to the health
      implications of maternal obesity and excessive gestational weight gain. A
      targeted search of peer-reviewed publications and grey literature was conducted
      for each country to identify national health documents, which were subsequently
      content analyzed according to an adapted framework. A total of 37 documents were
      identified, including one policy, 10 strategies and 26 guidelines, published
      within the last 10 years. Out of the 31 countries investigated, only 13 countries
      address maternal obesity while none address excessive gestational weight gain. We
      found inconsistencies and gaps in the recommendations to health-care service
      providers for the management of maternal obesity and weight gain in pregnancy.
      The findings show that only limited guidance on maternal obesity and gestational
      weight gain exists. The authors recommend that international, evidence-based
      guidelines on the management of maternal obesity and excessive gestational weight
      gain should be developed to reduce the associated health-care and economic costs.

PMID- 25826792
TI  - New molecular targets in the pathophysiology of obesity and available treatment
      options under investigation.
AB  - The pharmacotherapy of obesity has historically recorded an overall poor safety
      and efficacy profile largely because of the complex mechanisms involved in the
      pathophysiology of obesity. It is hoped that a better understanding of the
      regulation of body weight will lead us to the development of effective and safer
      drugs. Recent advances in our understanding of the regulation of energy
      homeostasis has allowed the design of novel anti-obesity drugs targeting specific
      molecules crucial for the modulation of energy balance, including drugs that
      induce satiety, modulate nutrient absorption or influence metabolism or
      lipogenesis. Almost a decade after the Food and Drug Administration approved the
      first weight loss medication, it recently approved two novel anti-obesity drugs
      Belviq (lorcaserin) and Qsymia (topiramate and phentermine), thus signalling the
      beginning of a new era in the pharmacotherapy of obesity. It is believed that the
      next generation of weight-loss drugs will be based on combination treatments with
      gut hormones in a manner that mimics the changes underlying surgically induced
      weight loss thus introducing the so called 'bariatric pharmacotherapy'. An in
      depth understanding of the interrelated physiological and behavioural effects of
      these new molecules together with the development of new treatment paradigms is
      needed so that future disappointments in the field of obesity pharmacotherapy may
      be avoided. 

PMID- 25826793
TI  - The efficacy of 12 weeks supervised exercise in obesity management.
AB  - The objective of this randomized controlled trial was to investigate the effect
      of adding either aerobic training (AT) or resistance training (RT) to a
      multidisciplinary teamed (MDT) educational weight management programme on the
      health-related fitness of morbidly obese individuals. Males (n = 9) and females
      (n = 24) aged between 24 and 68 years with a body mass index (BMI) of >=40 kg
      m(2) (>=35 kg m(2) with comorbidities) undertaking a weight management programme
      were recruited (Completion: M = 8, F = 19). Participants were randomly allocated
      to either AT (n = 12), RT (n = 11) or CON (n = 10). AT and RT undertook three
      structured ~60 min moderate intensity sessions weekly, two supervised gym-based
      and one structured home-based session for 12 weeks; CON undertook usual care
      alone. Anthropometric, psychological and functional capacity measures were
      obtained pre- and post-intervention. Both exercise interventions elicited
      improvements compared with CON in the: shuttle walk test (AT [Delta 207.0 +/-
      123.0 metres, 68.0%, P = 0.04], RT [Delta 165.0 +/- 183.3 m, 48.8%, P = 0.06],
      CON [Delta -14.3 +/- 38.7 m, -6.2%]), triceps skin-fold (P <= 0.001), self
      efficacy (P = 0.005) and interest/enjoyment (P = 0.006). RT displayed additional
      improvements compared with CON in BMI (RT [Delta -1.02 +/- 0.91 kg.m(2) , -2.5%,
      P = 0.033], AT [Delta -1.84 +/- 2.70 kg.m(2) , -4.3%, P = 0.142], CON [Delta 
      0.31 +/- 1.47 kg.m(2) , -0.6%]), waist circumference (P = 0.022), competence (P =
      0.019), biceps skin-fold (P = 0.012) and medial calf skin-fold (P = 0.013). No
      significant differences were observed between exercise modalities. Regardless of
      exercise mode, the addition of supervised and structured exercise to a MDT weight
      management programme significantly improved anthropometric, functional and
      psychological measures in obese participants with a BMI of >=35 kg.m(2) .

PMID- 25826794
TI  - Correlates of food addiction in obese individuals seeking bariatric surgery.
AB  - Recent evidence suggests that palatable, high-calorie foods may have an addictive
      potential. Accordingly, obesity and overconsumption of such foods have been
      associated with addiction-like eating behaviour. The present study investigated
      whether individuals with obesity can be classified as food-addicted and which
      factors would differentiate between food-addicted and non-addicted individuals.
      We administered the German version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale and other
      questionnaires to obese individuals seeking bariatric surgery (N = 96). Results
      showed that 40% of the sample could be diagnosed as food-addicted. Food-addicted
      individuals reported more frequent food cravings, higher eating disorder
      psychopathology and more depressive symptoms than the non-addicted group. Age,
      body mass and gender distribution did not differ between groups. The food
      addiction group had higher attentional but similar motor and non-planning
      impulsivity, and had lower scores on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification
      Test (AUDIT) compared with the non-addicted group. Scores on the AUDIT were
      associated with impulsivity in the non-addicted group only. We conclude that the
      prevalence of food addiction is higher in candidates for bariatric surgery
      compared with the general population and obese individuals not seeking bariatric
      surgery. A diagnosis of food addiction is associated with higher eating pathology
      and depression. Moreover, only attentional impulsivity, but not other dimensions
      of impulsivity, is associated with addictive eating. Finally, food addiction and
      impulsivity interactively predicted alcohol use, suggesting a crucial role of
      psychological variables and eating style in determining alcohol consumption in
      pre-bariatric patients, independent of body mass. 

PMID- 25826795
TI  - A middle-aged man with increasing body fat.
AB  - A 51-year-old man was referred for evaluation of gradual increase in body fat
      over bilateral arms, chest and abdomen for 6 months. He was a non-smoker and he
      drank at least four bottles of beer daily since the age of 18. There was no
      significant past medical history or any family history of obesity or endocrine
      diseases. Physical examination showed localized large bulk of fat over the neck,
      both arms and mammary regions, abdomen, and back (Figs  and ). The lower limbs
      and buttock were relatively spared. There was telangiectasia over the face and
      chest wall, but no palmar erythema nor finger clubbing. The liver span was
      normal, and the spleen tip was palpated 2 cm below the costal margin. Examination
      of the cardiovascular, respiratory and neurological system was normal. [Figure:
      see text] [Figure: see text] Blood tests showed thrombocytopenia (platelet 140 *
      10(9)  L(-1) [normal: 170-380 * 10(9)  L(-1) ]) and liver function derangement
      (bilirubin 27 MUmol L(-1) , ALP 298 U L(-1) , ALT 127 U L(-1) , AST 165 U L(-1) ,
      GGT 1353 U L(-1) , albumin 33 g L(-1) and globulin 42 g L(-1) ). His clotting
      profile and renal functions were normal. His hepatitis B surface antigen was
      positive, but his HBV DNA was <60 copies per mL. Fasting glucose was 5.0 mmol L(
      1) . HbA1c was 5.6%. His lipid profile was satisfactory with total cholesterol of
      2.9 mmol L(-1) , triglycerides 1.0 mmol L(-1) , HDL-C 1.37 mmol L(-1) and LDL-C
      1.1 mmol L(-1) . Ultrasound of the abdomen showed normal-sized liver with
      coarsened liver parenchymal echogenicity. The spleen was enlarged to 14 cm. This
      middle-aged man suffered from multiple symmetric lipomatosis and alcoholic liver
      disease. Dual-energy X-ray showed 1746 gm (40.1%), 1498 gm (32.8%) and 8322 gm
      (26.8%) fat over the left arm, right arm and trunk, respectively. The legs were
      unaffected with 1703 gm (19.4%) and 1627 gm (17.7%) fat over the left and right
      sides, respectively. The patient was advised to stop drinking and he declined
      surgical treatment. 

PMID- 25826796
TI  - Assessing toxicity of copper nanoparticles across five cladoceran species.
AB  - As a result of ever increasing applications, nanoparticles will eventually end up
      in the environment. However, currently no common principle has been established
      to help understand the toxicity of nanoparticles (NPs) across species. Therefore,
      it is difficult to estimate the potential risks of nanoparticles to untested
      species in the environment. The authors exposed 4 different sizes of copper
      nanoparticles (CuNPs) and 1 submicron-sized copper particle to 5 cladoceran
      species (Daphnia magna, Daphnia pulex, Daphnia galeata, Ceriodaphnia dubia, and
      Chydorus sphaericus) to investigate whether morphological attributes of species
      can help to assess the acute toxicity of CuNPs across species. The results showed
      that rod-shaped CuNPs caused much lower toxicity to all species than spherical
      CuNPs. Both the particles and ions contributed to the total toxicity of the CuNP
      suspensions. Moreover, the toxicity caused by particles in 5 different copper
      suspensions increases with decreasing body length, surface area, and body volume
      of neonates of 5 cladoceran species. Especially the correlations between body
      volume of the 5 cladoceran species tested and the corresponding toxicity caused
      by 5 different CuNPs were statistically significant, and in all cases radj (2)
      was higher than 0.51 (p < 0.001). The highest correlation was found between body
      volume and the toxicity of the 78-nm CuNPs (radj (2)  = 0.95, p < 0.001). To
      conclude, the correlations between attributes of cladoceran species and the
      toxicity of CuNPs reported in the present study evoke the possibility to assess
      and extrapolate the toxicity of nanoparticles across species with similar
      attributes.

PMID- 25826797
TI  - Prediction of small-for-gestational-age neonates: screening by maternal
      biochemical markers at 30-34 weeks.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the potential value of serum placental growth factor
      (PlGF), soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), pregnancy-associated plasma
      protein-A (PAPP-A), free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG) and alpha
      fetoprotein (AFP) at 30-34 weeks' gestation in the prediction of delivery of
      small-for-gestational-age (SGA) neonates, in the absence of pre-eclampsia (PE).
      METHODS: This was a screening study in singleton pregnancies at 30-34 weeks'
      gestation, including 490 that delivered SGA neonates and 9360 cases that were
      unaffected by SGA, PE or gestational hypertension (normal outcome). Multivariable
      logistic regression analysis was used to determine if screening by serum PlGF,
      sFlt-1, PAPP-A, free beta-hCG and AFP, individually or in combination, improved
      the prediction of SGA neonates provided by screening with maternal
      characteristics and medical history (maternal factors), and estimated fetal
      weight (EFW) from fetal head circumference, abdominal circumference and femur
      length. RESULTS: Compared to the normal group, the mean log10 multiples of the
      median (MoM) values of PlGF and AFP were significantly lower and the mean log10
      MoM values of sFlt-1 and free beta-hCG were significantly higher in the SGA group
      with a birth weight < 5(th) percentile (SGA < 5(th)) delivering < 5 weeks
      following assessment. The best model for prediction of SGA was provided by a
      combination of maternal factors, EFW and serum PlGF. Such combined screening,
      predicted, at a 10% false-positive rate, 85%, 93% and 92% of SGA neonates
      delivering < 5 weeks following assessment with birth weight < 10(th), < 5(th) and
      < 3(rd) percentiles, respectively; the respective detection rates of combined
      screening for SGA neonates delivering >= 5 weeks following assessment were 57%,
      64% and 71%. CONCLUSION: Combined screening by maternal factors, EFW and serum
      PlGF at 30-34 weeks' gestation can identify a high proportion of pregnancies that
      subsequently deliver SGA neonates.

PMID- 25826798
TI  - Large-scale chemical similarity networks for target profiling of compounds
      identified in cell-based chemical screens.
AB  - Target identification is one of the most critical steps following cell-based
      phenotypic chemical screens aimed at identifying compounds with potential uses in
      cell biology and for developing novel disease therapies. Current in silico target
      identification methods, including chemical similarity database searches, are
      limited to single or sequential ligand analysis that have limited capabilities
      for accurate deconvolution of a large number of compounds with diverse chemical
      structures. Here, we present CSNAP (Chemical Similarity Network Analysis
      Pulldown), a new computational target identification method that utilizes
      chemical similarity networks for large-scale chemotype (consensus chemical
      pattern) recognition and drug target profiling. Our benchmark study showed that
      CSNAP can achieve an overall higher accuracy (>80%) of target prediction with
      respect to representative chemotypes in large (>200) compound sets, in comparison
      to the SEA approach (60-70%). Additionally, CSNAP is capable of integrating with
      biological knowledge-based databases (Uniprot, GO) and high-throughput biology
      platforms (proteomic, genetic, etc) for system-wise drug target validation. To
      demonstrate the utility of the CSNAP approach, we combined CSNAP's target
      prediction with experimental ligand evaluation to identify the major mitotic
      targets of hit compounds from a cell-based chemical screen and we highlight novel
      compounds targeting microtubules, an important cancer therapeutic target. The
      CSNAP method is freely available and can be accessed from the CSNAP web server
      (http://services.mbi.ucla.edu/CSNAP/). 

PMID- 25826799
TI  - Biocatalytic synthesis of C3 chiral building blocks by chloroperoxidase-catalyzed
      enantioselective halo-hydroxylation and epoxidation in the presence of ionic
      liquids.
AB  - The optically active C3 synthetic blocks are remarkably versatile intermediates
      for the synthesis of numerous pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. This work
      provides a simple and efficient enzymatic synthetic route for the environment
      friendly synthesis of C3 chiral building blocks. Chloroperoxidase (CPO)-catalyzed
      enantioselective halo-hydroxylation and epoxidation of chloropropene and allyl
      alcohol was employed to prepare C3 chiral building blocks in this work, including
      (R)-2,3-dichloro-1-propanol (DCP*), (R)-2,3-epoxy-1-propanol (GLD*), and (R)-3
      chloro-1-2-propanediol (CPD*). The ee values of the formed C3 chiral building
      blocks DCP*, CPD*, and glycidol were 98.1, 97.5, and 96.7%, respectively.
      Moreover, the use of small amount of imidazolium ionic liquid enhanced the yield
      efficiently due to the increase of solubility of hydrophobic organic substrates
      in aqueous reaction media, as well as the improvement of affinity and selectivity
      of CPO to substrate.

PMID- 25826800
TI  - Hashing on nonlinear manifolds.
AB  - Learning-based hashing methods have attracted considerable attention due to their
      ability to greatly increase the scale at which existing algorithms may operate.
      Most of these methods are designed to generate binary codes preserving the
      Euclidean similarity in the original space. Manifold learning techniques, in
      contrast, are better able to model the intrinsic structure embedded in the
      original high-dimensional data. The complexities of these models, and the
      problems with out-of-sample data, have previously rendered them unsuitable for
      application to large-scale embedding, however. In this paper, how to learn
      compact binary embeddings on their intrinsic manifolds is considered. In order to
      address the above-mentioned difficulties, an efficient, inductive solution to the
      out-of-sample data problem, and a process by which nonparametric manifold
      learning may be used as the basis of a hashing method are proposed. The proposed
      approach thus allows the development of a range of new hashing techniques
      exploiting the flexibility of the wide variety of manifold learning approaches
      available. It is particularly shown that hashing on the basis of t-distributed
      stochastic neighbor embedding outperforms state-of-the-art hashing methods on
      large-scale benchmark data sets, and is very effective for image classification
      with very short code lengths. It is shown that the proposed framework can be
      further improved, for example, by minimizing the quantization error with learned
      orthogonal rotations without much computation overhead. In addition, a supervised
      inductive manifold hashing framework is developed by incorporating the label
      information, which is shown to greatly advance the semantic retrieval
      performance. 

PMID- 25826801
TI  - Estimation of illuminants from projections on the Planckian locus.
AB  - This paper introduces a new approach for the automatic estimation of illuminants
      in a digital color image. The method relies on two assumptions. First, the image
      is supposed to contain at least a small set of achromatic pixels. The second
      assumption is physical and concerns the set of possible illuminants, assumed to
      be well approximated by black body radiators. The proposed scheme is based on a
      projection of selected pixels on the Planckian locus in a well chosen
      chromaticity space, followed by a voting procedure yielding the estimation of the
      illuminant. This approach is very simple and learning-free. The voting procedure
      can be extended for the detection of multiple illuminants when necessary.
      Experiments on various databases show that the performances of this approach are
      similar to those of the best learning-based state-of-the-art algorithms. 

PMID- 25826803
TI  - A No-Reference Texture Regularity Metric  Based on Visual Saliency.
AB  - This paper presents a no-reference perceptual metric that quantifies the degree
      of perceived regularity in textures. The metric is based on the similarity of
      visual attention (VA) of the textural primitives and the periodic spatial
      distribution of foveated fixation regions throughout the image. A ground-truth
      eye-tracking database for textures is also generated as part of this paper and is
      used to evaluate the performance of the most popular VA models. Using the
      saliency map generated by the best VA model, the proposed texture regularity
      metric is computed. It is shown through subjective testing that the proposed
      metric has a strong correlation with the mean opinion score for the perceived
      regularity of textures. The proposed texture regularity metric can be used to
      improve the quality and performance of many image processing applications like
      texture synthesis, texture compression, and content-based image retrieval.

PMID- 25826802
TI  - Patient Registration Using Intraoperative Stereovision in Image-guided Open
      Spinal Surgery.
AB  - Despite its widespread availability and success in open cranial neurosurgery,
      image-guidance technology remains more limited in use in open spinal procedures,
      in large part, because of patient registration challenges. In this study, we
      evaluated the feasibility of using intraoperative stereovision (iSV) for
      accurate, efficient, and robust patient registration in an open spinal fusion
      surgery. Geometrical surfaces of exposed vertebrae were first reconstructed from
      iSV. A classical multistart registration was then executed between point clouds
      generated from iSV and preoperative computed tomography images of the spine. With
      two pairs of feature points manually identified to facilitate the registration,
      an average registration accuracy of 1.43 mm in terms of surface-to-surface
      distance error was achieved in eight patient cases using a single iSV image pair
      sampling 2-3 vertebral segments. The iSV registration error was consistently
      smaller than the conventional landmark approach for every case (average of 2.02
      mm with the same error metric). The large capture ranges (average of 23.8 mm in
      translation and 46.0 degrees  in rotation) found in the iSV patient registration
      suggest the technique may offer sufficient robustness for practical application
      in the operating room. Although some manual effort was still necessary, the
      manually-derived inputs for iSV registration only needed to be approximate as
      opposed to be precise and accurate for the manual efforts required in landmark
      registration. The total computational cost of the iSV registration was 1.5 min on
      average, significantly less than the typical ~30 min required for the landmark
      approach. These findings support the clinical feasibility of iSV to offer
      accurate, efficient, and robust patient registration in open spinal surgery, and
      therefore, its potential to further increase the adoption of image guidance in
      this surgical specialty.

PMID- 25826804
TI  - Machine learning-based coding unit depth decisions for flexible complexity
      allocation in high efficiency video coding.
AB  - In this paper, we propose a machine learning-based fast coding unit (CU) depth
      decision method for High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), which optimizes the
      complexity allocation at CU level with given rate-distortion (RD) cost
      constraints. First, we analyze quad-tree CU depth decision process in HEVC and
      model it as a three-level of hierarchical binary decision problem. Second, a
      flexible CU depth decision structure is presented, which allows the performances
      of each CU depth decision be smoothly transferred between the coding complexity
      and RD performance. Then, a three-output joint classifier consists of multiple
      binary classifiers with different parameters is designed to control the risk of
      false prediction. Finally, a sophisticated RD-complexity model is derived to
      determine the optimal parameters for the joint classifier, which is capable of
      minimizing the complexity in each CU depth at given RD degradation constraints.
      Comparative experiments over various sequences show that the proposed CU depth
      decision algorithm can reduce the computational complexity from 28.82% to 70.93%,
      and 51.45% on average when compared with the original HEVC test model. The
      Bjontegaard delta peak signal-to-noise ratio and Bjontegaard delta bit rate are 
      0.061 dB and 1.98% on average, which is negligible. The overall performance of
      the proposed algorithm outperforms those of the state-of-the-art schemes.

PMID- 25826805
TI  - Modeling neuron selectivity over simple midlevel features for image
      classification.
AB  - We now know that good mid-level features can greatly enhance the performance of
      image classification, but how to efficiently learn the image features is still an
      open question. In this paper, we present an efficient unsupervised midlevel
      feature learning approach (MidFea), which only involves simple operations, such
      as k-means clustering, convolution, pooling, vector quantization, and random
      projection. We show this simple feature can also achieve good performance in
      traditional classification task. To further boost the performance, we model the
      neuron selectivity (NS) principle by building an additional layer over the
      midlevel features prior to the classifier. The NS-layer learns category-specific
      neurons in a supervised manner with both bottom-up inference and top-down
      analysis, and thus supports fast inference for a query image. Through extensive
      experiments, we demonstrate that this higher level NS-layer notably improves the
      classification accuracy with our simple MidFea, achieving comparable performances
      for face recognition, gender classification, age estimation, and object
      categorization. In particular, our approach runs faster in inference by an order
      of magnitude than sparse coding-based feature learning methods. As a conclusion,
      we argue that not only do carefully learned features (MidFea) bring improved
      performance, but also a sophisticated mechanism (NS-layer) at higher level boosts
      the performance further. 

PMID- 25826806
TI  - Blind inpainting using l0 and total variation regularization.
AB  - In this paper, we address the problem of image reconstruction with missing pixels
      or corrupted with impulse noise, when the locations of the corrupted pixels are
      not known. A logarithmic transformation is applied to convert the multiplication
      between the image and binary mask into an additive problem. The image and mask
      terms are then estimated iteratively with total variation regularization applied
      on the image, and l0 regularization on the mask term which imposes sparseness on
      the support set of the missing pixels. The resulting alternating minimization
      scheme simultaneously estimates the image and mask, in the same iterative
      process. The logarithmic transformation also allows the method to be extended to
      the Rayleigh multiplicative and Poisson observation models. The method can also
      be extended to impulse noise removal by relaxing the regularizer from the l0 norm
      to the l1 norm. Experimental results show that the proposed method can deal with
      a larger fraction of missing pixels than two phase methods, which first estimate
      the mask and then reconstruct the image.

PMID- 25826807
TI  - Detection of and Compensation for EMG Disturbances for Powered Lower Limb
      Prosthesis Control.
AB  - Myoelectric pattern recognition algorithms have been proposed for the control of
      powered lower limb prostheses, but electromyography (EMG) signal disturbances
      remain an obstacle to clinical implementation. To address this problem, we used a
      log-likelihood metric to detect simulated EMG disturbances and real disturbances
      acquired from EMG containing electrode shift. We found that features extracted
      from disturbed EMG have much lower log likelihoods than those from undisturbed
      signals and can be detected using a single threshold acquired from the training
      data. We designed a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) classifier that uses the
      log likelihood to decide between using a combination of EMG and mechanical
      sensors and using mechanical sensors only, to predict locomotion modes. When EMG
      contained disturbances, our classifier detected those disturbances and
      disregarded EMG data. Our classifier had significantly lower errors than a
      standard LDA classifier in the presence of EMG disturbances. The log-likelihood
      classifier had a low false positive threshold, and thus did not perform
      significantly differently from the standard LDA classifier when EMG did not
      contain disturbances. The log-likelihood threshold could also be applied to
      individual EMG channels, enabling specific channels containing EMG disturbances
      to be appropriately ignored when making locomotion mode predictions.

PMID- 25826808
TI  - A Power-Efficient Capacitive Read-Out Circuit With Parasitic-Cancellation for
      MEMS Cochlea Sensors.
AB  - This paper proposes a solution for signal read-out in the MEMS cochlea sensors
      that have very small sensing capacitance and do not have differential sensing
      structures. The key challenge in such sensors is the significant signal
      degradation caused by the parasitic capacitance at the MEMS-CMOS interface.
      Therefore, a novel capacitive read-out circuit with parasitic-cancellation
      mechanism is developed; the equivalent input capacitance of the circuit is
      negative and can be adjusted to cancel the parasitic capacitance. Chip results
      prove that the use of parasitic-cancellation is able to increase the sensor
      sensitivity by 35 dB without consuming any extra power. In general, the circuit
      follows a low-degradation low-amplification approach which is more power
      efficient than the traditional high-degradation high-amplification approach; it
      employs parasitic-cancellation to reduce the signal degradation and therefore a
      lower gain is required in the amplification stage. Besides, the chopper
      stabilization technique is employed to effectively reduce the low-frequency
      circuit noise and DC offsets. As a result of these design considerations, the
      prototype chip demonstrates the capability of converting a 7.5 fF capacitance
      change of a 1-Volt-biased 0.5 pF capacitive sensor pair into a 0.745 V signal
      conditioned output at the cost of only 165.2 MUW power consumption. 

PMID- 25826809
TI  - Learning a Tracking and Estimation Integrated Graphical Model for Human Pose
      Tracking.
AB  - We investigate the tracking of 2-D human poses in a video stream to determine the
      spatial configuration of body parts in each frame, but this is not a trivial task
      because people may wear different kinds of clothing and may move very quickly and
      unpredictably. The technology of pose estimation is typically applied, but it
      ignores the temporal context and cannot provide smooth, reliable tracking
      results. Therefore, we develop a tracking and estimation integrated model (TEIM)
      to fully exploit temporal information by integrating pose estimation with visual
      tracking. However, joint parsing of multiple articulated parts over time is
      difficult, because a full model with edges capturing all pairwise relationships
      within and between frames is loopy and intractable. In previous models,
      approximate inference was usually resorted to, but it cannot promise good results
      and the computational cost is large. We overcome these problems by exploring the
      idea of divide and conquer, which decomposes the full model into two much simpler
      tractable submodels. In addition, a novel two-step iteration strategy is proposed
      to efficiently conquer the joint parsing problem. Algorithmically, we design TEIM
      very carefully so that: 1) it enables pose estimation and visual tracking to
      compensate for each other to achieve desirable tracking results; 2) it is able to
      deal with the problem of tracking loss; and 3) it only needs past information and
      is capable of tracking online. Experiments are conducted on two public data sets
      in the wild with ground truth layout annotations, and the experimental results
      indicate the effectiveness of the proposed TEIM framework. 

PMID- 25826810
TI  - Shape-Constrained Sparse and Low-Rank Decomposition for Auroral Substorm
      Detection.
AB  - An auroral substorm is an important geophysical phenomenon that reflects the
      interaction between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere. Detecting
      substorms is of practical significance in order to prevent disruption to
      communication and global positioning systems. However, existing detection methods
      can be inaccurate or require time-consuming manual analysis and are therefore
      impractical for large-scale data sets. In this paper, we propose an automatic
      auroral substorm detection method based on a shape-constrained sparse and low
      rank decomposition (SCSLD) framework. Our method automatically detects real
      substorm onsets in large-scale aurora sequences, which overcomes the limitations
      of manual detection. To reduce noise interference inherent in current SLD
      methods, we introduce a shape constraint to force the noise to be assigned to the
      low-rank part (stationary background), thus ensuring the accuracy of the sparse
      part (moving object) and improving the performance. Experiments conducted on
      aurora sequences in solar cycle 23 (1996-2008) show that the proposed SCSLD
      method achieves good performance for motion analysis of aurora sequences.
      Moreover, the obtained results are highly consistent with manual analysis,
      suggesting that the proposed automatic method is useful and effective in
      practice. 

PMID- 25826811
TI  - A passive biodegradable implant for subcutaneous soft-tissue trauma monitoring.
AB  - In-body medical devices can play an important role in clinical monitoring and
      diagnosis of diseases. Wireless devices implanted within a patient have to be
      physically small, and must overcome the challenges of having a little or no
      onboard electrical power and the highly attenuating electromagnetic propagation
      environment which is the human body. In this paper, we investigate the use of
      biodegradable implant to monitor the healing of soft-tissue trauma and to allow
      early stage diagnosis of infection. The implantable tag is designed to degrade in
      a predetermined and controlled method, the stage of which can be measured from
      outside the body without the need for further surgical intervention. The speed of
      degradation of the tag depends on the temperature and acidity of the subcutaneous
      tissue in which the tag is implanted. We show that as the electrical length of
      the tag pattern increases due to degradation, the resonant frequency changes
      significantly, and this change in resonant frequency can be detected from outside
      the patient. Results are presented showing the tag's performance at normal and
      oblique incidence, and techniques for miniaturizing and enhancing the tag's
      response sensitivity are given. As the entire tag is biodegradable, there is no
      need for further postoperative surgery to remove it from the patient at the end
      of its useful life. 

PMID- 25826812
TI  - A bendable and wearable cardiorespiratory monitoring device fusing two noncontact
      sensor principles.
AB  - A mobile device is presented for monitoring both respiration and pulse. The
      device is developed as a bendable/flexible inlay that can be placed in a shirt
      pocket or the inside pocket of a jacket. To achieve optimum monitoring
      performance, the device combines two sensor principles, which work in a safe
      noncontact way through several layers of cotton or other textiles. One sensor,
      based on magnetic induction, is intended for respiratory monitoring, and the
      other is a reflective photoplethysmography sensor intended for pulse detection.
      Because each sensor signal has some dependence on both physiological parameters,
      fusing the sensor signals allows enhanced signal coverage. 

PMID- 25826813
TI  - Adaptive Replacement Strategies for MOEA/D.
AB  - Multiobjective evolutionary algorithms based on decomposition (MOEA/D) decompose
      a multiobjective optimization problem into a set of simple optimization
      subproblems and solve them in a collaborative manner. A replacement scheme, which
      assigns a new solution to a subproblem, plays a key role in balancing diversity
      and convergence in MOEA/D. This paper proposes a global replacement scheme which
      assigns a new solution to its most suitable subproblems. We demonstrate that the
      replacement neighborhood size is critical for population diversity and
      convergence, and develop an approach for adjusting this size dynamically. A
      steady-state algorithm and a generational one with this approach have been
      designed and experimentally studied. The experimental results on a number of test
      problems have shown that the proposed algorithms have some advantages. 

PMID- 25826814
TI  - Dynamical Behaviors of Multiple Equilibria in Competitive Neural Networks With
      Discontinuous Nonmonotonic Piecewise Linear Activation Functions.
AB  - This paper addresses the problem of coexistence and dynamical behaviors of
      multiple equilibria for competitive neural networks. First, a general class of
      discontinuous nonmonotonic piecewise linear activation functions is introduced
      for competitive neural networks. Then based on the fixed point theorem and theory
      of strict diagonal dominance matrix, it is shown that under some conditions, such
      n -neuron competitive neural networks can have 5(n) equilibria, among which 3(n)
      equilibria are locally stable and the others are unstable. More importantly, it
      is revealed that the neural networks with the discontinuous activation functions
      introduced in this paper can have both more total equilibria and locally stable
      equilibria than the ones with other activation functions, such as the continuous
      Mexican-hat-type activation function and discontinuous two-level activation
      function. Furthermore, the 3(n) locally stable equilibria given in this paper are
      located in not only saturated regions, but also unsaturated regions, which is
      different from the existing results on multistability of neural networks with
      multiple level activation functions. A simulation example is provided to
      illustrate and validate the theoretical findings. 

PMID- 25826815
TI  - Learning Trajectories for Robot Programing by Demonstration Using a Coordinated
      Mixture of Factor Analyzers.
AB  - This paper presents an approach for learning robust models of humanoid robot
      trajectories from demonstration. In this formulation, a model of the joint space
      trajectory is represented as a sequence of motion primitives where a nonlinear
      dynamical system is learned by constructing a hidden Markov model (HMM)
      predicting the probability of residing in each motion primitive. With a
      coordinated mixture of factor analyzers as the emission probability density of
      the HMM, we are able to synthesize motion from a dynamic system acting along a
      manifold shared by both demonstrator and robot. This provides significant
      advantages in model complexity for kinematically redundant robots and can reduce
      the number of corresponding observations required for further learning. A
      stability analysis shows that the system is robust to deviations from the
      expected trajectory as well as transitional motion between manifolds. This
      approach is demonstrated experimentally by recording human motion with inertial
      sensors, learning a motion primitive model and correspondence map between the
      human and robot, and synthesizing motion from the manifold to control a 19 degree
      of-freedom humanoid robot. 

PMID- 25826816
TI  - Perinatal Exposure to Traffic-Related Air Pollution and Atopy at 1 Year of Age in
      a Multi-Center Canadian Birth Cohort Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The role of traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) exposure in the
      development of allergic sensitization in children is unclear, and few birth
      cohort studies have incorporated spatiotemporal exposure assessment. OBJECTIVES:
      We aimed to examine the association between TRAP and atopy in 1-year-old children
      from an ongoing national birth cohort study in four Canadian cities. METHODS: We
      identified 2,477 children of approximately 1 year of age with assessment of atopy
      for inhalant (Alternaria, Der p, Der f, cat, dog, cockroach) and food-related
      (milk, eggs, peanuts, soy) allergens. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was
      estimated from city-specific land use regression models accounting for
      residential mobility and temporal variability in ambient concentrations. We used
      mixed models to examine associations between atopy and exposure during pregnancy
      and the first year of life, including adjustment for covariates (maternal atopy,
      socioeconomic status, pets, mold, nutrition). We also conducted analyses
      stratified by time-location patterns, daycare attendance, and modeled home
      ventilation. RESULTS: Following spatiotemporal adjustment, TRAP exposure after
      birth increased the risk for development of atopy to any allergens [adjusted odds
      ratio (aOR) per 10 MUg/m3 NO2 = 1.16; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.41], but not during
      pregnancy (aOR = 1.02; 95% CI: 0.86, 1.22). This association was stronger among
      children not attending daycare (aOR = 1.61; 95% CI: 1.28, 2.01) compared with
      daycare attendees (aOR = 1.05; 95% CI: 0.81, 1.28). Trends to increased risk were
      also found for food (aOR = 1.17; 95% CI: 0.95, 1.47) and inhalant allergens (aOR
      = 1.28; 95% CI: 0.93, 1.76). CONCLUSION: Using refined exposure estimates that
      incorporated temporal variability and residential mobility, we found that traffic
      related air pollution during the first year of life was associated with atopy.
      CITATION: Sbihi H, Allen RW, Becker A, Brook JR, Mandhane P, Scott JA, Sears MR,
      Subbarao P, Takaro TK, Turvey SE, Brauer M. 2015. Perinatal exposure to traffic
      related air pollution and atopy at 1 year of age in a multi-center Canadian birth
      cohort study. Environ Health Perspect 123:902-908;
      http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408700.

PMID- 25826817
TI  - [Why publish technical guidelines for the prevention and treatment of chikungunya
      fever?].

PMID- 25826818
TI  - Why I decided to #TakeAIM.

PMID- 25826819
TI  - Why I decided to #TakeAIM.

PMID- 25826820
TI  - A recent article regarding the investigation of a patient with polyarthritis.

PMID- 25826821
TI  - The importance of awareness of best practice when performing a lumbar puncture.

PMID- 25826822
TI  - Management of pressures associated with surges of respiratory and diarrhoeal
      illness.

PMID- 25826823
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25826824
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25826825
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25826826
TI  - [Comments on the article "Systemic loxoscelism presented in a pregnant patient"].

PMID- 25826827
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25826828
TI  - Increased serum asymmetric dimethylarginine level is an independent predictor of
      contrast-induced nephropathy.

PMID- 25826829
TI  - Authors reply.

PMID- 25826830
TI  - The main argument about the etiology of coronary artery ectasia: is it
      inflammation or not?

PMID- 25826831
TI  - Startup Iowa plan's collapse raises fears about co-op finances.

PMID- 25826832
TI  - Medicare penalties begin taking toll.

PMID- 25826833
TI  - Hospitals buying doc practices may reap tax savings under IRS ruling.

PMID- 25826834
TI  - Lung CT scan use expected to swell.

PMID- 25826835
TI  - 2015 brings financial pressures, reform uncertainties.

PMID- 25826836
TI  - Downward rate pressure...uncertain reform environment...easy lending...more
      consolidation.

PMID- 25826837
TI  - ACA coverage expansion at risk...battle against high drug prices...growing
      government business.

PMID- 25826838
TI  - Measurement of clinical value...new partnerships with manufacturers...investment
      in cost-cutting IT tools.

PMID- 25826839
TI  - Another doc-fix drama...Medicaid pay cuts...new chronic-care management fee.

PMID- 25826840
TI  - Measuring beyond the hospital...focus on diagnostic errors...improving
      transparency.

PMID- 25826841
TI  - Improving interoperability...balancing privacy protections with
      treatment...scheduled ICD-10 launch...meeting meaningful-use requirements.

PMID- 25826842
TI  - Few hospital projects...more smaller renovation projects...stand-alone EDs...more
      value, less luxury.

PMID- 25826843
TI  - Self-service insurance. Insurers forced to compete harder for self-insured
      customers.

PMID- 25826844
TI  - Lessons from Vermont.

PMID- 25826845
TI  - Medicaid managed-care patients face hurdles in getting care.

PMID- 25826847
TI  - 'We would argue strongly against anything that rolls back' ACA coverage.

PMID- 25826846
TI  - Hospital revamp cuts ED wait times.

PMID- 25826848
TI  - Rewarding quality--the highest- and lowest-scored hospitals.

PMID- 25826850
TI  - [Current status of dementia in admitions to national leprosariums nationwide].
AB  - The purpose of this study was to get an overview of the following aspects of
      people admitted to 13 national leprosariums in Japan: the prevalence of dementia,
      medical and nursing systems, and facilities and equipment. Subjects included 1733
      people admitted to wards for patients or disabled people in these leprosariums.
      Subjects were examined for cognitive function using Nishimura's behavioral rating
      scale for the mental states of the elderly (NMS), and for the prevalence of
      behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). We also investigated
      medical and nursing systems, facilities and equipment, and status of nursing
      education. The results showed that, 288 subjects (16.6%) had a diagnosis of
      dementia. According to the NMS, 47.5% of the subjects were categorized as mild to
      severe dementia, while cognitive dysfunction was observed in 63.5% if borderline
      cases were included. Non-specialist physicians managed 30.8% of the subjects in 4
      institutions, and there were no certified nurses specialized in dementia
      management. Results from this study suggest that there is need for the placement
      of dementia specialists', improvement of specialized medical services, and human
      resource development of specialized nurses in leprosariums where many elderly
      people live.

PMID- 25826849
TI  - [Effectiveness of thalidomide for erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL): retrospective
      study of 20 Japanese cases in National Sanatrium Oku-Komyoen].
AB  - Thalidomide is a TNF-alpha inhibitor and has been administrated for erythema
      nodosum leprosum (ENL, Type II leprosy reaction) which is one of leprosy
      reactions and can cause serious illness to patients oflepromatous pole among the
      immune spectrum. Twenty live cases (at May, 2011) were identified to whom
      thalidomide had been administrated since 1978 for their ENL reactions. Data were
      collected from their clinical records in order to evaluate the usage and
      effectiveness of thalidomide in National Sanatorium Oku-Komyoen, Okayama,
      Setouchi-city, Japan. Individual data includes bacillary index (BI), total dose,
      average daily dose, maximum daily dose, minimum daily dose, methods of
      thalidomide administration and change of symptoms of ENL. Results: No adverse
      effect was found among 20 cases. Average daily dose of 20 cases was 19 mg.
      Regarding to the maximum daily dose, in 3 cases (15%) more than 100 mg, in 3
      cases (15%) 50 mg, and in 14 cases (70%) less than 40 mg was administrated. Dose
      was gradually tapered in most cases. From clinical records, thalidomide was found
      effective for ENL in 19 cases and clinicians concerned were trying to adjust the
      proper dose of the drug carefully depending on the current symptoms, because
      there was no guideline of thalidomide administration for ENL. This data suggests
      that even less than 50-100 mg as the initial daily dose was still effective,
      though 50-100 mg daily dose is recommended in the current guideline of Japan
      (2011) and more dose had been administrated in USA and India.

PMID- 25826851
TI  - [Leprosy and human rights: trends in Japan and in the world].
AB  - Leprosy, or Hansen's disease, has long been regarded as an incurable and dreadful
      contagious disease. The patients have been forcefully hospitalized and deprived
      of many basic human rights. Their family members have often been discriminated
      against due to stigma associated with this disease. Soon after the Second World
      War, a specific remedy called "multi-drug therapy" (MDT) was discovered and
      leprosy became a relatively easily curable disease. Despite this medical
      development, it took time to change the policy and legislation of forceful
      hospitalization of leprosy patients. The stigma surrounding leprosy and
      consequent discrimination have continued. In Japan, it was only in 1996 that the
      legislation requiring forceful hospitalization of leprosy patients was repealed.
      The Government decided to provide remedies to the former patients who had
      suffered from this policy. At the United Nations, the General Assembly adopted a
      resolution to eradicate discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and
      their family members. It is hoped that discrimination associated with Hansen's
      disease will soon be overcome by the efforts of all concerned, particularly
      doctors and nurses who are specialists of this disease.

PMID- 25826852
TI  - [What Hansen's disease research learned from tuberculosis research: from
      molecular biological aspect].
AB  - As for the Mycobacterium leprae which is a causative agent of Hansen's disease,
      many studies had been done since it was identified in 1873. However, those
      studies, at the same time, experienced many struggles because of the difficulty
      of culture of M. leprae on the artificial growth media. Hence, the study of
      Hansen's disease progressed by taking the knowledge from the study of
      tuberculosis caused by the bacteria belonging to the same genus, genus
      Mycobacterium. For instance, the knowledge of mutations in specific genes
      responsible for rifampicin- and quinolone-resistance in M. tuberculosis led the
      elucidation of drug-resistant acquisition mechanism of M. leprae. Similarly, it
      is necessary for the researcher of Hansen's disease to get important information
      from the latest topic of the tuberculosis study and utilize them to the study of
      the disease.

PMID- 25826853
TI  - Huge data hack not expected to hurt Anthem's bottom line.

PMID- 25826854
TI  - Experts doubt Anthem breach will boost security spending.

PMID- 25826855
TI  - Obama budget offers 'pay for' blueprint.

PMID- 25826856
TI  - More transparency needed to combat public distrust on vaccines.

PMID- 25826857
TI  - His 'resolve, fortitude' helped push hospital industry to back ACA.

PMID- 25826858
TI  - Leading amid turmoil, keeping focus on the mission. ACHE Gold Metal winner.

PMID- 25826859
TI  - Leader's goal is employee, patient satisfaction. ACHE Young Healthcare Executive
      of the Year.

PMID- 25826860
TI  - Lay health workers promote stronger provider-patient ties.

PMID- 25826861
TI  - What would Cotton Mather say about the measles vaccine?

PMID- 25826862
TI  - Improving patient experience requires more data, wiser use of it.

PMID- 25826863
TI  - Contact-free sensor cuts alarm fatigue.

PMID- 25826864
TI  - 'If the ACA blows up, it puts a lot of pressure on Republicans'.

PMID- 25826865
TI  - Largest U.S. travel nurse staffing firms ranked by estimated 2013 U.S. temporary
      staffing revenue ($ in millions).

PMID- 25826866
TI  - [Study of neuroprotective, antihypoxic and antiamnesic effects of new mixture of
      tripeptides].
AB  - A new mixture of tripeptides (NMT: H-Lys-Asp-Glu-OH, H-Asp-Glu-Pro-OH, H-Asp-Glu
      Arg-OH) in doses of 150 and 300 mg/kg per day produces clearly pronounced
      neuroprotective effect in rats with brain ischemia and decreases neurologic
      deficiency 1.1 times more effectively than reference drug semax. NMT (10, 50 and
      150 mg/kg) had marked antihypoxic effect on mice in hermetic and altitude
      chamber. NMT in doses of 10 and 50 mg/kg was more effective than semax in
      hermetic chamber (1.3 and 1.5 times, respectively) and in a dose of 150 mg/kg in
      altitude chamber (1.9 times). NMT (50 and 150 mg/kg) had also marked antiamnesic
      effect on model amnesia caused by scopolamine in rats and was more effective (1.5
      and 1.4 times, respectively) than semax in equal doses. NMT (50 and 150 mg/kg)
      also had marked antiamnesic effect on model amnesia caused by maximal
      electroshock and complex extreme factors in mice and in both doses was 4 times
      more effective than semax on the first model and in a dose of 150 mg/kg was 2.9
      times more effective on the second model. NMT (50 mg/kg) increased the amplitude
      of transcallosal evoked potential in rat brain by 69% and was more effective than
      semax in equal dose. Thus, NMT is a promising neurotropic drug with
      neuroprotective, antihypoxic and antiamnesic activity.

PMID- 25826867
TI  - [Participation of pineal gland in antistressor activity of adaptogenic drugs].
AB  - Chronic stress produces some morphological changes in rats, including thymus
      weight reduction, adrenal hypertrophy, and peptic ulcers in stomach. Repeated
      administration of phytoadaptogenic drugs (ginseng and bilobil) decreased these
      stress-induced disorders. The antistressor activity of drugs was attenuated upon
      by removal of the pineal gland. Histochemical and morphometric investigation of
      pineal tissues in stressed animals showed that that the pharmacological effect
      was accompanied by increasing functional activity of the pineal gland. It is
      suggested that pineal mobilization may participate in antistressor activity of
      phytoadaptogenic drugs.

PMID- 25826868
TI  - [Effect of Gly-His-Lys peptide and its analogs on pain sensitivity in mice].
AB  - The intraperitoneal administration of Gly-His-Lys tripeptide to male BALB/c mice
      12 min before the beginning of the study at doses 0.5, 1.5, 5, 15, and 50 mg/kg
      produced analgesic effect in the hot-plate test, which was manifested by an
      increase in the duration of the latent period of the paw-licking reaction. The
      replacement of L-lysine by D-lysine in the tripeptide molecule was accompanied by
      significant weakening of the analgesic effect after administration in the same
      doses. The attachment of D-alanine to N- or C-end of Gly-His-Lys peptide led to
      leveling of the analgesic effect. On the contrary, after the administration of
      these analogs, the duration of the latent period of the paw-licking reaction was
      increased in almost all experimental groups of animals and reached in some cases
      significant differences that were indicative of the manifestation of algic
      effects of the modified peptides.

PMID- 25826869
TI  - [GABA-ergic mechanism of cerebrovascular and antiischemic effects of
      docosahexaenoic acid].
AB  - In experiments on rats, measurements of the local blood flow in the cortex of
      cerebrum with the aid of a laser Doppler flow meter showed that docosahexaenoic
      acid (DHA) enhanced the local cerebral circulation in animals with global
      transient cerebral ischemia, while not influencing that in intact animals. This
      vasodilatory effect of DHA in ischemized rats is blocked by bicuculline (specific
      GABA(A) receptor blocker), which is indicative of a GABA-ergic mechanisms of the
      vascular tone regulation. The results of radioligand binding assay in vitro
      showed the possibility of direct DHA interaction with cerebrovascular GABA(A)
      receptors.

PMID- 25826870
TI  - [Performance evaluation of integrated cytoprotective therapy of different
      duration in patients with cerebral infarction].
AB  - The paper reviews the preliminary results of a multicenter randomized clinical
      research. The aim of the study was to determine the optimal duration of different
      types of energy-correction therapy. 99 case report forms of patients with
      cerebral infarction were reviewed with their prior envelope randomization into
      three groups. Patients in the first group (experimental group), consisting of 32
      patients, as part of combined therapy received ascorbic acid (5% solution twice a
      day in a recommended dosage of 20 ml/day for 20 days); the second group (37
      patients) received 10 ml of cytoflavin intravenously by drop infusion twice a day
      for 10 days; the third group received cytoflavin for 20 days (from day 1 to day
      10 - 20 ml a day, from day 11 to day 20 - 10 ml a day). The average NIH scale
      score on admission was 14.9 +/- 2.6. Prescription of cytoflavin came with average
      1.7 - 1.8 time regression (p < 0.05) of the volumes of cerebral ischemia in the
      of cases of the 10- and 20-day courses of treatment, while there were no
      significant morphologic changes in the ascorbic acid group. These results
      correlated with the best dynamics and outcomes of the neurological and
      performance status of patients receiving cytoflavin. Despite the lack of
      significant general differences in the clinical and morphological data of the
      second and third groups, the patients with underlying grave medical condition in
      the 20-day cytoflavin group (with NIH score of 14-20 points on admission) tended
      to have improved neurologic status parameters in comparison with the experimental
      group and the 10-day cytoflavin group. These results attest to the advantages of
      personalized antioxidant energy-correction therapy.

PMID- 25826871
TI  - [Effect of dopamine D1 and D2 receptor blockade on the immunostimulating effect
      of delta1 opioid receptor agonist DPDPE in mice with different psychoemotional
      states].
AB  - It is established that activation of delta1 opioid receptors with their selective
      agonist DPDPE(100 MUg/kg) significantly increases IgM immune response not only in
      C57BL/6J mice with unchanged psychoemotional state, but also in mice displaying
      aggressive or depressive-like behavior in the social stress model (10 days of
      agonistic confrontations). SCH-23390 (1.0 mg/kg), selective antagonist of
      dopamine D1 receptors, and selective D2 receptor blocker haloperidol (1 mg/kg)
      prevented the immunostimulating effect of DPDPE in animals not subjected to
      social stress. At the same time, both SCH-23390 and haloperidol did not affect
      DPDPE-induced immunostimulation in mice engaged in aggressive or depressive-like
      behaviors.

PMID- 25826872
TI  - [Immune homeostasis impairment in acute carbon tetrachloride intoxicated rats
      corrected by administration of tocopherol acetate and unithiol].
AB  - The results of experiments on noninbred albino rats showed that the acute
      intoxication with carbon tetrachloride (CT) at a dose of 1 LD50 reduced the
      parameters of cellular immune response and function of Th1 cells more
      significantly than the levels of humoral immune response and Th2-lymphocyte
      function, decreases the blood content of immunoregulatory cytokines IFN-g, IL-2,
      IL-4 and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-13, while not changing the concentration
      of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 and increasing the concentration of pro
      inflammatory cytokine IL-6. The application of unithiol, tocopherol acetate, and
      combinations partially restores the parameters examined. The combined effects of
      drugs during intoxication with CT does not exceed their separate action.

PMID- 25826873
TI  - [AntI-inflammatory, antipyretic and antimicrobial activity of flavonoid
      containing extract of Gratiola officinalis L].
AB  - The extract of Gratiola officinalis L. has been obtained by an original method
      ensuring the maximum yield of flavonoids. The extract simultaneously exhibits
      high anti-inflammatory activity, selective antimicrobial properties (with respect
      to Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but not to conditionally
      pathogenic E. coli) and antipyretic effect (observed for the first time in
      Gratiola officinalis L. preparations). Advantages of the proposed preparation are
      low toxicity, availability of the raw material, and broad spectrum of therapeutic
      effects.

PMID- 25826874
TI  - [Reparative regeneration of connective tissue structures of mammals under
      antioxidant therapy conditions].
AB  - The influence of administration of the antioxidant complexes consisting of
      nonenzymatic antioxidants (alpha-tocopherol acetate preparation) and enzymatic
      antioxidants (ceruloplasmin) has been studied in rabbits with experimental
      arthritis. The introduction of alpha-tocopherol acetate (at a daily dose of 4 mg)
      improved metabolic processes in the organism (decreased in the rate of
      erythrocyte precipitation, total leukocytes and their stub and segmental forms;
      increased in erythrocyte count; reduced the glycosaminoglycan content as
      determined from uronic acid and hexose level; decreased ceruloplasmin activity
      and malonic dialdehyde level ion blood serum, all at p < 0.05), thus favoring
      reduction in the total activity of the inflammatory process as judged from
      hematological and biochemical data. Intra-articular introduction of ceruloplasmin
      (1.5 mg/kg, once per week) positively influenced the state of joint structures in
      damaged knee joints of the animals: decreased the activity of ceruloplasmin (from
      5.28 +/- 0.06 to 3.94 +/- 0.01 AU), and malonic dialdehyde level (0.18 +/- 0.02
      to 0.08 +/- 0.01 MUM) in the articular fluid (all at p < 0.05). These effects are
      probably related to the elimination of inefficiency of the antioxidant system in
      the synovial medium, thus preventing inflammatory destruction of articular
      tissues, hindering the development of pannus, and assisting the activation of
      reparative regeneration of connective tissue structures.

PMID- 25826875
TI  - [Occupational morbidity of railway transport workers].
AB  - The authors present results of medical social monitoring of occupationalhazards
      that are the most prevalent in railway occupations workers, statistic data on
      occupational morbidity of railway transport workers over last 10 years. The
      article covers major causes of unfavorable effects resulting from occupational
      hazards in various workers categories. Dynamics of occupational morbidity
      parameters and its structure concerning separate nosologic entities are analyzed.

PMID- 25826876
TI  - [Occupational fitness examination of individuals directly connected with train
      operation].
AB  - The article covers psychophysiologic aspects of work conditions and work safety
      in train operator occupations of railway transport. The authors consider problems
      of medical examination, occupational fitness analysis in these individuals if in
      various diseases or functional disorders.

PMID- 25826877
TI  - [On hi-tech cardiologic care model in medical support of train operation safety].
AB  - The article covers hi-tech cardiologic care model in system of medical support of
      train operation safety, with definition of structure blocks in this model.
      Discussion covers peculiarities of the model functioning in comparison with the
      governmental system of hi-tech medical care, including its closed cycle principle
      characteristics, wide patients selection among railway workers, continuous and
      close cooperation between various medical speicalities, with active involvement
      of occupational fitness specialists (medical examination committees of various
      levels, including Central Medical Examination Committee), major extent of
      interventional rentgenosurgical technologies applied in diseases without
      significant functional failure.

PMID- 25826878
TI  - [On evaluation of diuranal profile of blood pressure and its possible variants
      frequency].
AB  - The authors studied frequency of various variants of diurnal blood pressure
      profile, including discordant ones in systolic and diastolic pressure. The
      article also covers comparative evaluation of diurnal blood pressure profile
      results, assessed in amulatory and stationery conditions. When analyzing
      frequency of various types of diurnal blood pressure profile, it's expedient to
      outline concordant and discordant variants. Optimal concordant variant--dipper-
      appears in a group of normal blood pressure and early hypertension individuals in
      less than 50%. Ambulatory diurnal monitoring of blood pressure presents more
      favorable parameters, vs. that performed in stationery conditions.

PMID- 25826879
TI  - [On psychologic profile of locomotive crew workers in Russian Railways JSC and
      its role in accidents prevention].
AB  - The article covers personality characters of locomotive crew workers of Russian
      Railways JSC, and specifying a block of methods for psychologic support of these
      workers' occupational activities. According to the results obtained, the authors
      presented a thorough description of characterologic, motivational personality
      traits characterizing a select of locomotive crew workers, and analyzed a
      relationship between the traits and levels of accidents in the workers'
      occupational activity.

PMID- 25826880
TI  - [Testing results of telemechanic system controlling train operators wakefulness].
AB  - Expert and instrumental assessment covered efficiency of telemechanic system
      controlling train operators wakefulness in simulation of real night travel,
      through special simulator complex "Locomotive operator cabin". The telemechanic
      system controlling train operators wakefulness, if exploited correctly, provides
      wakefulness of the train operators at the level sufficient for the effective
      work. That is supported by distribution of falling asleep cases in experiments
      with activated or deactivated telemechanic system controlling train operators
      wakefulness. The study proved efficiency of telemechanic system controlling train
      operators wakefulness.

PMID- 25826881
TI  - [Influence of Melaxene on brain functional state].
AB  - The study covered influence of Melaxene on human brain functional state. Complex
      dynamic (12-hour) neurophysiologic study revealed that single dose of Melaxene (3
      mg) influences brain functional state--reliably increases cross-correlation
      parameters of global spatial synchronization of cortex biopotentials in various
      ranges of EEG rhythms. Analysis of functional asymmetry of spatial
      synchronization of cortex biopotentials in various brain areas proved that
      Melaxene acitvates important cross-correlation links in spatial synchronization
      of cortex biopotentials in left and right brain hemispheres, with dominated
      activity of left hemisphere.

PMID- 25826882
TI  - [Contemporary reforms and optimization of medical examination committees in
      Russian Railways JSC].
AB  - The authors considered problems of restructurization and organization of medical
      examination committees in Russian Railways JSC, and their interlevel
      interactions. Detailed specification included documents circulation, order and
      terms of medical examination. Principles of conclusion on occupational fitness
      examination are specified. The article covers tasks of further development of
      occupational medical examination work in trade occupational medicine.

PMID- 25826883
TI  - [Information digital technologies and medical psychologic prevention of stress
      state in railway transport workers].
AB  - The authors determined criteria of medical and psychologic training of railway
      transport workers, with applied information digital technologies. The results
      obtained prove that application of software "Railway worker"
      ("Zheleznodorozhnik") reduces frequency and duration of "emotional stress
      states".

PMID- 25826884
TI  - [Interdisciplinary approach to evaluation of metabolic syndrome in locomotive
      crew workers].
AB  - The authors revealed features of metabolic syndrome diagnosis by means of various
      intradisciplinary criteria in locomotive crew workers. The locomotive crew
      workers, if compared to mounters, demonstrate 1.4 times more frequent excessive
      body weight, 1.6 times more frequent obesity, 1.4 times more frequent
      dyslipidemia, 2 times more common arterial hypertension. According to RSCS,
      metabolic syndrome in locomotive operators appeared more frequent--1.6 times than
      in IDF, 1.5 times than in ATP, ESN. Frequency of metabolic syndrome in males of
      stress occupations varies from 30% according to ATP, IDF, ESN to 49% according to
      RSCS--that is 2.5 times more frequent than in individuals with low occupational
      stress. Bioimpedometry revealed fluidsretention in 13% of train operators, water
      deficit in 24%, muscular mass deficiency in 55%. RSCS criteria are priority in
      interdisciplinary approach to metabolic syndrome evaluation in males under
      occupational stress. Assessment of visceral fat in locomotive crew workers helps
      to formulate purposeful prophylactic recommendations.

PMID- 25826885
TI  - [Determination of tibial bone resection thickness by lateral tibiofemoral joint
      90 degrees  flexional gap in total knee arthroplasty for varus osteoarthritic
      knees].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficiency of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) for
      varus osteoarthritic knees with tibial bone resection determined by lateral
      tibiofemoral joint 90 degrees  flexional gap measurement. METHODS: Between March
      and June 2013, 60 patients (60 knees) with varus osteoarthritic knees underwent
      TKA. All patients were randomly divided into traditional osteotomy group (control
      group, 30 cases) and lateral tibiofemoral joint 90 degrees  flexional gap
      measurement resection group (trial group, 30 cases). There was no significant
      difference in gender, age, affected side, body mass index and preoperative knee
      society score (KSS), range of motion (ROM) of the knee, anatomic tibiofemoral
      angle (ATFA), patellar tilt angle, posterior condylar offset (PCO), and joint
      line height between 2 groups (P > 0.05). The bone resection thickness of the
      distal femoral lateral condyle, femoral posterior lateral condyle, and lateral
      tibial plateau were measured; and the X-ray films were taken to measure and
      compare ATFA, patellar tilt angle, PCO, and joint line height after TKA. The knee
      function recovery was evaluated with KSS score and ROM of the knee. RESULTS: The
      bone resection thickness of the lateral tibial plateau and distal femoral lateral
      condyle in trial group was significantly smaller than that in control group (P <
      0.05); while the bone resection thickness of the femoral posterior lateral
      condyle was significantly bigger than that in control group (P < 0.05). The 10 mm
      polyethylene insert was used in 19 cases of the trial group and in 8 cases of the
      control group, showing significant difference (Z= -4.040, P=0.003). All the
      patients were followed up 13-16 months (mean, 14.5 months). Radiography at 6
      weeks after TKA indicated that the ATFA, patellar tilt angle, and joint line
      height had no significant difference between 2 groups (P > 0.05); the PCO of
      trial group was significantly lower than that of control group (P < 0.05). The
      KSS score and ROM of the knee at 12 months after operation were significantly
      improved when compared with preoperative ones in 2 groups (P < 0.05), and trial
      group was significantly better than control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: It was
      an effective method to determine bone resection thickness using lateral
      tibiofemoral joint 90 degrees  flexional gap measurement in TKA for varus
      osteoarthritic knees, which can reduce the bone resection thickness of the tibial
      plateau and distal femoral lateral condyle and restore the joint line and PCO
      with better early recovery of the knee function.

PMID- 25826886
TI  - [Clinical studies on effect of bone cement filling on articular cartilage of the
      knee after curettage of giant cell tumor].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of bone cement filling on articular cartilage
      injury after curettage of giant cell tumor around the knee. METHODS: Fifty-three
      patients with giant cell tumor who accorded with the inclusion criteria were
      treated between January 2000 and December 2011, and the clinical data were
      retrospectively analyzed. There were 30 males and 23 females, aged 16-69 years
      (mean, 34.2 years). The lesion located at the distal femur in 28 cases and at the
      proximal tibia in 25 cases. According to Campanacci grade, there were 6 patients
      at grade I, 38 at grade II, and 9 at grade III. Of 53 patients, 42 underwent
      curettage followed by bone cement filling, and 11 received curettage followed by
      bone grafts in the subchondral bony area and bone cement filling. Two groups were
      divided according to whether secondary osteoarthritis occurred or not during
      postoperative follow-up. The gender, age, lesion site, the subchondral residual
      bone thickness, tumor cross section, preoperative Campanacci grade, subchondral
      bone graft, and Enneking function score were compared between 2 groups, and
      multivariate logistic regression analysis was done. RESULTS: All incisions healed
      by first intention. The average follow-up time was 65 months (range, 23-158
      months). Of 53 cases, 37 (69.8%) had no osteoarthritis, and 16 (30.2%) had
      secondary osteoarthritis. Three cases (5.7%) recurred during the follow-up
      period. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed no significant difference
      in gender, age, lesion site, and Campanacci grade between 2 groups (P > 0.1);
      difference was significant in the subchondral residual bone thickness, tumor
      cross section, Enneking function score, and subchondral bone graft (P < 0.1). The
      multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the decreased subchondral
      residual bone thickness, the increased tumor cross section, and no subchondral
      bone graft are the risk factors of postoperative secondary osteoarthritis (P <
      0.05). CONCLUSION: Curettage of giant cell tumor around the knee followed by bone
      cement filling can increase the damage of cartilage, and subchondral bone graft
      can delay or reduce cartilage injury.

PMID- 25826887
TI  - [effectiveness of open reduction and internal fixation without opening joint
      capsule on tibial plateau fracture].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To introduce the surgery method to reset and fix tibial plateau
      fracture without opening joint capsule, and evaluate the safety and effectiveness
      of this method. METHODS: Between July 2011 and July 2013, 51 patients with tibial
      plateau fracture accorded with the inclusion criteria were included. All of 51
      patients, 17 cases underwent open reduction and internal fixation without opening
      joint capsule in trial group, and 34 cases underwent traditional surgery method
      in control group. There was no significant difference in gender, age, cause of
      injury, time from injury to admission, side of injury, and types of fracture
      between 2 groups (P > 0.05). The operation time, intraoperative blood loss,
      incision length, incision healing, and fracture healing were compared between 2
      groups. The tibial-femoral angle and collapse of joint surface were measured on X
      ray film. At last follow-up, joint function was evaluated with Hospital for
      Special Surgery (HSS) knee function scale. RESULTS: The intraoperative blood loss
      in trial group was significantly less than that in control group (P < 0.05). The
      incision length in trial group was significantly shorter than that in control
      group (P < 0.05). Difference was not significant in operation time and the rate
      of incision healing between 2 groups (P > 0.05). The patients were followed up 12
      30 months (mean, 20.4 months) in trial group and 12-31 months (mean, 18.2 months)
      in control group. X-ray films indicated that all cases in 2 groups obtained
      fracture healing; there was no significant difference in the fracture healing
      time between 2 groups (t=1.382, P=0.173). On X-ray films, difference was not
      significant in tibial-femoral angle and collapse of joint surface between 2
      groups (P > 0.05). HSS score of the knee in trial group was significantly higher
      than that of control group (t=3.161, P=0.003). CONCLUSION: It can reduce the
      intraoperative blood loss and shorten the incision length to use open reduction
      and internal fixation without opening joint capsule for tibial plateau fracture.
      Traction of joint capsule is helpful in the reduction and good recovery of joint
      surface collapse. In addition, the surgery without opening joint capsule can
      avoid joint stiffness and obtain better joint function.

PMID- 25826888
TI  - [Clinical characteristics and surgical management of Eyres type V coracoid
      fracture combined with superior shoulder suspensory complex injury].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical characteristics of Eyres type V coracoid
      fracture combined with superior shoulder suspensory complex (SSSC) injuries, and
      the effectiveness of open reduction and fixation. METHODS: Between March 2004 and
      July 2012, 13 patients with Eyres type V coracoid fracture and SSSC injuries were
      treated. There were 10 males and 3 females with an average age of 41 years
      (range, 23-59 years). Injury was caused by falling from height in 4 cases, by
      traffic accident in 6 cases, and by impact of the heavy weight in 3 cases. The
      interval from injury to operation was 3-10 days (mean, 5.2 days). SSSC injuries
      included 9 cases of acromioclavicular joint dislocation, 5 cases of clavicular
      fractures, and 4 cases of acromion fractures. The coracoid fractures were fixed
      with cannulated screws; the acromioclavicular joint dislocations were fixed with
      hook plate (6 cases) or Kirschner wires (2 case) except 1 untreated case; the
      clavicular fractures were fixed with anatomical locking plate (3 cases) and hook
      plate (2 cases); the acromion fractures were fixed with cannulated screws (1
      case), Kirschner wires (2 cases), or both of them (1 case). RESULTS: The mean
      operation time was 158.0 minutes (range, 100-270 minutes), and the mean
      intraoperative blood loss was 207.7 mL (range, 150-300 mL). The other patients
      obtained primary healing of incision except 1 patient who had inflammation around
      incision, which was cured after change dressing. All patients were followed up
      for 22.6 months on average (range, 17-35 months). All fractures achieved union at
      a mean time of 3.6 months (range, 2-6 months). No nerve injury and implant
      fixation failure complications were observed. At last follow-up, the Constant
      score and the disability of the arm, shoulder, and hand (DASH) score had a
      significant improvement when compared with scores at pre-operation (P < 0.05).
      The shoulder range of motion in flexion, abduction, and external rotation at last
      follow-up were significantly higher than those at pre-operation (P < 0.05).
      CONCLUSION: Eyres type V coracoid fracture associated with SSSC injuries usually
      results in the instability of the shoulder. With individual surgical treatment,
      the satisfactory function and good effectiveness can be obtained.

PMID- 25826889
TI  - [Application of modified traction arch of skull in skull traction].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of the modified
      traction arch of skull (crossbar traction arch) for skull traction in treating
      cervical spine injury by comparing with traditional traction arch of skull.
      METHODS: Between June 2009 and June 2013, 90 patients with cervical vertebrae
      fractures or dislocation were treated with modified skull traction surgery (trial
      group, n=45) and traditional skull traction surgery (control group, n=45). There
      was no significant difference in gender, age, injury types, injury level, the
      interval between injury and admission, and Frankel grading of spinal injury
      between 2 groups (P > 0.05). The clinical efficacy was evaluated after operation
      by the indexes such as traction arch slippage times, operation time, the
      infection incidence of the pin hole, incidence of skull perforation, visual
      analogue scale (VAS), and reduction status of cervical dislocation. RESULTS: The
      traction arch slippage times, the infection incidence of the pin hole, operation
      time, blood loss, and postoperative VAS score in trial group were significantly
      lower than those in control group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference
      in the incidence of skull perforation caused by clamp crooks of traction arch
      between 2 groups (P=1.000). At 2 weeks after operation, the patients had no
      headaches, infections, or other complications in 2 groups. In patients with
      cervical dislocation, 4 of the trial group and 6 of the control group failed to
      be reset, the reduction rate was 83.33% (20/24) and 68.42% (13/19) respectively,
      showing no significant difference (chi2=0.618, P=0.432). CONCLUSION: The
      operation with modified traction arch of skull has significant advantages to
      reduce postoperative complication compared with tradition traction arch of skull.

PMID- 25826890
TI  - [Research progress of effects of strontium ranelate on osteoarthritis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To review the research progress focused on the effects of strontium
      ranelate (SR) on osteoarthritis. METHODS: The relevant literature about the
      effects and mechanism of SR intervening osteoarthritis in recent years was
      extensively reviewed and comprehensively analyzed. RESULTS: SR not only could
      improve the microenvironment of bone metabolism in articular cartilage with
      osteoarthritis, promote activity of osteoblasts, and inhibit activity of
      osteoclasts, but also could adjust the expression of key proteases which affect
      cartilage formation, and therefore it has a potential protective effect on
      subchondral bone during the progression of osteoarthritis cartilage. CONCLUSION:
      SR is expected to become a drug of osteoarthritis disease remission, but further
      studies are needed to clarify the mechanism of SR in osteoarthritis, and finally
      confirm the best application dosage of SR in osteoarthritis treatment.

PMID- 25826891
TI  - [Research progress of key signaling pathways in osteoblast differentiation and
      bone formation regulation].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To review the mechanism and research progress of signaling pathways
      which play key roles in the regulation of osteoblast differentiation and bone
      formation. METHODS: Recent articles about signaling pathways of osteoblast
      differentiation and bone formation were reviewed and comprehensively analyzed.
      RESULTS: At present, multiple signaling pathways have been found to be involved
      in the regulation of osteoblast differentiation and bone formation, among which
      bone morphogenetic protein-Smads, Wnt/beta-catenin, Notch, Hedgehog, and
      fibroblast growth factor signaling pathways may play the most important roles.
      Not only each pathway has a complex regulatory mechanism itself, but also
      contacts and impacts with each other, thus they formed a more complicated and
      sophisticated regulatory network, and regulate together osteoblast
      differentiation and bone formation. However, the mechanisms in detail of those
      pathways are still not very clear, because the animal experiment techniques are
      not yet mature as well as the relevant clinical trials were carried out not too
      much. CONCLUSION: The complete molecular mechanism of osteoblast differentiation
      and bone formation should be further investigated, so as to lay a theory
      foundation for preventing and treating the common bone diseases in clinical which
      are involve in osteoblast differentiation and bone formation.

PMID- 25826892
TI  - [Characteristics and treatment of grade III spoke heel injuries in children].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the characteristics, treatment, and effectiveness of grade
      III spoke heel injury in children. METHODS: Between January 2007 and June 2013,
      31 children with grade III spoke heel injuries were treated. There were 19 boys
      and 12 girls, aged from 3 to 12 years (mean, 5.2 years). The time from trauma to
      operation was 2 hours to 26 days (mean, 4.4 days). The soft tissue defects of the
      heels ranged from 3.5 cm x 2.5 cm to 8.0 cm x 4.5 cm, which all complicated with
      Achilles tendon and calcaneus tuberosity defects. In 16 cases of large Achilles
      tendon defects which can not be stretched straightly to calcaneus tuberosities,
      repair with sliding gastrocnemius musculocutaneous flaps (16 cm x 5 cm to 21 cm x
      10 cm) and insertion reconstruction of the tendon were performed. In 15 cases of
      Achilles tendon defects which can be stretched straightly to calcaneus
      tuberosities, repair with reversed pedicled flap (4.0 cm x 2.5 cm to 8.0 cm x 4.5
      cm) and insertion reconstruction of the tendon were given. Nerve anastomosis was
      not performed. The donor site was covered with split-thickness skin graft.
      RESULTS: All children were followed up 6 months to 4 years (mean, 13 months). The
      other flaps survived except 3 cases having partial necrosis. The color and
      appearance of the flaps were satisfactory, with no impact on wearing shoes and
      walking. The flaps recovered sensory function. As more follow-up time, the angle
      of dorsal flexion was gradually improved. Heel raising on one leg was restored.
      The bone amount of calcaneus tuberosity increased slowly based on X-ray films.
      CONCLUSION: Grade III spoke heel injury in children possesses peculiar features,
      surgical methods should be based on defects of Achilles tendon and soft tissue.
      Dorsal flexion of the ankle is obviously limited; as follow-up time goes on, the
      ankle function is progressively improved. However, long-term follow-up is needed.

PMID- 25826893
TI  - [Clinical application of sural fasciomyocutaneous perforator flap in repair of
      soft tissue defect in weight-bearing area of foot].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of the sural fasciomyocutaneous perforator
      flap in repair of soft tissue defect in weight-bearing area of the foot. METHODS:
      Between January 2007 and September 2010, 19 patients with soft tissue defects in
      the weight-bearing area of the foot were treated with sural fasciomyocutaneous
      perforator flaps. The etiology was traffic accident in 16 patients and crush
      injury in 3 patients. The interval of injury and admission was 2 hours to 14
      days. The size of defect ranged from 8 cm x 6 cm to 26 cm x 16 cm; the size of
      flap ranged from 7 cm x 7 cm to 25 cm x 12 cm. The donor sites were repaired by
      free skin graft. The flap survival was observed after operation, and the pain
      score and sensory recovery at the recipient site were used to assess the
      effectiveness. RESULTS: The flaps survived with satisfactory aesthetic and
      functional results in 18 cases. Partial flap necrosis was noted and second
      healing was achieved after split thickness skingrafting in 1 case. One case of
      delayed ulceration was also noted after 5 weeks, ulceration was successfully
      cured after wound care and avoidance of weight-bearing for 2 weeks. All patients
      were followed up 9-25 months (mean, 14.1 months). The flaps had good appearance,
      without bulky pedicle. Superficial sensation and deep sensation were restored in
      17 cases (89.4%) and 18 cases (94.7%) respectively at last follow-up. CONCLUSION:
      Sural fasciomyocutaneous perforator flap is a reliable modality in heel
      reconstruction, having the advantages of low ulceration rate, good wear
      resistance, and good sensation recovery.

PMID- 25826894
TI  - [Effectiveness of retrograde island neurocutaneous flap pedicled with lateral
      antebrachial cutaneous nerve in treatment of hand defect].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the effectiveness of retrograde island neurocutaneous flap
      pedicled with lateral antebrachial cutaneous nerve in the treatment of soft
      tissue defect of the hand. METHODS: Between October 2011 and December 2013, 17
      cases of skin and soft tissue defects of the hands were treated. There were 8
      males and 9 females, aged 23-62 years (mean, 44 years). Of them, defect was
      caused by trauma in 13 cases, by postoperative wound after degloving injury in 2
      cases, and by resection of contracture of the first web in 2 cases; 13 cases of
      traumas had a disease duration of 2-6 hours (mean, 3.5 hours). The defect sites
      located at the back of the hand in 5 cases, at the radial side of the palm in 4
      cases, at the first web in 2 cases, at the palmar side of the thumb in 4 cases,
      and at the radial dorsal side of the thumb in 2 cases. The bone, tendons, and
      other deep tissue were exposed in 15 cases. The defect size varied from 3 cm x 3
      cm to 12 cm x 8 cm. The size of the flaps ranged from 3.6 cm x 3.6 cm to 13.2 cm
      x 8.8 cm. The lateral cutaneous nerve of the forearm was anastomosed with the
      cutaneous nerve of the recipient sites in 9 cases. The donor sites were repaired
      by free skin graft or were sutured directly. RESULTS: The other flaps survived,
      and obtained healing by first intention except 2 flaps which had partial necrosis
      with healing by second intention at 1 month after dressing change. The skin graft
      at donor site survived, and incisions healed by first intention. All patients
      were followed up 5-30 months (mean, 12 months). The flaps had good color and
      texture. Flap sensory recovery, of S2-S3+ was obtained; in 9 cases undergoing
      cutaneous nerve flap anastomosis, the sensation of the flaps recovered to S3-S3+
      and was better than that of 8 cases that the nerves were disconnected (S2-S3).
      The patients achieved satisfactory recovery of hand function. Only 2 cases had
      extended limitation of the proximal interphalangeal joint. At last follow-up,
      according to the Chinese Medical Society of Hand Surgery function evaluation
      standards, the results were excellent in 15 cases and good in 2 cases.
      CONCLUSION: Retrograde island neurocutaneous flap pedicled with lateral
      antebrachial cutaneous nerve is an effective way to repair skin defects of the
      hand, with the advantages of reliable blood supply and simple surgical procedure.

PMID- 25826895
TI  - [Effectiveness of scar split thickness skin graft combined with acellular
      allogeneic dermis in treatment of large deep II degree burn scar].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of using scar split
      thickness skin grafts combined with acellular allogeneic dermis in the treatment
      of large deep II degree burn scar. METHODS: Between January 2013 and December
      2013, 20 cases of large deep II degree burn scar undergoing plastic operation
      were enrolled. There were 14 males and 6 females, aged 4 to 60 years (mean, 40
      years). Burn reasons included hydrothermal burns in 10 cases, flame burns in 9
      cases, and lime burns in 1 case. The burn area accounted for 70% to 96% total
      body surface area (TBSA) with an average of 79% TBSA. The time from wound healing
      to scar repair was 3 months to 2 years (mean, 7 months). Based on self-control,
      0.7 mm scar split thickness skin graft was used to repair the wound at the right
      side of joints after scar resection (control group, n=35), 0.5 mm scar split
      thickness skin graft combined with acellular allogeneic dermis at the left side
      of joints (trial group, n=30). Difference was not statistically significant in
      the scar sites between 2 groups (Z=-1.152, P=0.249). After grafting, negative
      pressure drainage was given for 10 days; plaster was used for immobilization till
      wound healing; and all patients underwent regular rehabilitation exercises.
      RESULTS: No significant difference was found in wound healing, infection, and
      healing time between 2 groups (P > 0.05). All patients were followed up for 6
      months. According to the Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS), the score was 5.23 +/- 1.41
      in trial group and was 10.17 +/- 2.26 in control group, showing significant
      difference (t=8.925, P=0.000). Referring to Activities of Daily Living (ADL)
      grading standards to assess joint function, the results were excellent in 8
      cases, good in 20 cases, fair in 1 case, and poor in 1 case in trial group; the
      results were excellent in 3 cases, good in 5 cases, fair in 22 cases, and poor in
      5 cases in control group; and difference was statistically significant (Z=-4.894,
      P=0.000). CONCLUSION: A combination of scar split thickness skin graft and
      acellular allogeneic dermis in the treatment of large deep II degree burn scar is
      feasible and can become one of solution to the problem of skin source tension.

PMID- 25826896
TI  - [One-stage nonstented tubularized incised plate urethroplasty for pain and
      complication after hypospadias repair].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To comparatively analyze the effect of one-stage nonstented
      tubularized incised plate urethroplasty (TIP) on operative pain and complication
      by comparing with urethral catheter and urethral stent drainages. METHODS:
      Between March 2010 and June 2013, 214 cases of distal and mid-shaft hypospadias
      underwent TIP, and the clinical data were analyzed retrospectively. The patients
      were divided into 3 groups based on different urinary drainage techniques:
      indwelling urethral catheter was used in 68 cases (group A), indwelling urethral
      stent in 70 cases (group B), and nonstented drainage in 76 cases (group C). There
      was no significant difference in age, hypospadias type, and accompany
      malformation among 3 groups (P > 0.05). At 2 days after operation, Wong-Banker
      facial scale (WBS) and Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale (CHEOPS)
      were used for pain and praxiology assessment. The complications after operation
      also were observed and compared among 3 groups. RESULTS: All patients were
      followed up 6-25 months (median, 11.8 months). At 2 days after operation, the
      median WBS scores were 4.0 (0-10), 3.5 (0-10), and 3.0 (0-10) in groups A, B, and
      C, respectively; median CHEOPS pain scores were 6.0 (1-13), 6.0 (1-13), and 4.0
      (1-11), respectively. The WBS pain score and CHEOPS pain score in group C were
      significantly lower than those in groups A and B (P < 0.05), but there was no
      significant difference between group A and group B (P > 0.05). The postoperative
      complication occurred in 27 cases (39.7%) of group A, 29 cases (41.4%) of group
      B, and 13 cases (17.1%) of group C; two or more than two complications occurred
      in 14, 15, and 9 cases, respectively. There was significant difference in total
      incidence of postoperative complication among 3 groups (P < 0.05). The incidences
      of postoperative overactive bladder, bladder spasms, urinary tract infection, and
      fistula in group C were significantly lower than those in groups A and B (P <
      0.05). There was no significant difference in incision infection, acute urinary
      retention, urinary extravasation, meatal stenosis, and urethral stricture among 3
      groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: One-stage nonstented TIP is suitable for distal
      and mid-shaft hypospadias and could reduce postoperative pain and complications
      compared with the traditional postoperative indwelling urethral catheter and
      indwelling urethral stent.

PMID- 25826897
TI  - [Effectiveness of transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion via Luxor retractor
      associated with Mantis pedicle screw in treatment of moderate and severe lumbar
      spondylolisthesis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of transforaminal lumbar interbody
      fusion (TLIF) via Luxor retractor associated with Mantis pedicle screw for the
      treatment of moderate or severe lumbar spondylolisthesis (LSL). METHODS: A
      retrospective analysis was made on the clinical data of 32 patients with LSL
      treated with TLIF via Luxor retractor associated with Mantis pedicle screw
      between June 2010 and June 2012. There were 20 males and 12 females, with the
      mean age of 48 years (range, 36-69 years). LSL occurred at the L4,5 in 17
      patients and at the L5, S1 in 15 patients. Of them, 18 cases were rated as
      Meyerding grade II, and 14 cases as grade III. The disease duration was 8 months
      to 6 years (mean, 3.5 years). The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, and
      preoperative and postoperative (1 week and 1 year) intervertebral height and
      slipping angle were recorded, and the slipping rate was calculated; Japanese
      Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score was used for clinical efficacy assessment.
      RESULTS: The operation time was 90-130 minutes (mean, 110 minutes);
      intraoperative blood loss was 120-300 mL (mean, 210 mL). Incisions healed by
      first intention. All patients were followed up 24-36 months (mean, 28 months),
      and no complications of leakage of cerebrospinal fluid and nerve root injury
      occurred; X-ray films showed satisfactory reduction of spondylolisthesis and good
      position of pedicle screw and interbody fusion cage. The mean bone fusion time
      was 4.0 months (range, 3.8-6.0 months). The JOA score, slipping rate, slipping
      angle, and intervertebral height at 1 week and 1 year after operation were
      significantly improved when compared with preoperative ones (P < 0.05), but no
      significant difference was found between at 1 week and at 1 year after operation
      (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: TLIF via Luxor retractor associated with Mantis pedicle
      screw fixation is a safe and effective minimally invasive technique in treating
      moderate or severe LSL.

PMID- 25826898
TI  - [Expression of p16INK4a in nucleus pulposus and its effect on degenerated
      intervertebral discs].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of p16INK4a in nucleus pulposus (NP) and
      to clarify its relationship with intervertebral disc degeneration so as to
      provide evidence for biological repair of intervertebral disc. METHODS: The NP
      specimens were obtained from 17 patients with intervertebral disc degeneration
      undergoing discectomy, who aged 40-50 years (mean, 45.4 years). Based on the
      preoperative MRI, there were 10 cases of grade III degeneration, and 7 cases of
      grade IV degeneration. Cell senescence was evaluated by detecting senescence
      associated beta-galactosidase (SA-beta-gal) activity. Senescence marker
      (p16INK4a) and disc degeneration markers [A disintegrin and metalloproteinase
      with thrombospondin motifs 5 (ADAMTS 5), Aggrecan, and Sry-related HMG box
      transcription factor 9 (Sox-9)] were determined in the NP specimens with
      immunohistochemistry and Western blot. The correlation between ADAMTS 5 and
      p16INK4a was analyzed. RESULTS: Clustered distribution of green SA-beta-gal
      positive cells was seen in the NP with grade III and IV degeneration. A few
      single round SA-beta-gal-positive NP cells (NPCs) wrapped by the layered
      extracellular matrix were also seen in the NP with grade III degeneration. It was
      difficult to see single distribution of NPCs in the NP with grade IV
      degeneration. The percentage of SA-beta-gal-positive cells was 22.7% +/- 5.4% and
      37.1% +/- 7.6% in the NP with grade III and IV degeneration respectively, showing
      significant difference (t=-9.666, P=0.000). The percentages of p16INK4a-positive
      and ADAMTS 5-positive NPCs in the NP with grade IV degeneration were
      significantly higher than those with grade III degeneration (P < 0.05). The
      percentages of Aggrecan-positive and Sox-9-positive NPCs in the NP with grade IV
      degeneration were significantly lower than those in the NP with grade III
      degeneration (P < 0.05). The protein expressions of Aggrecan and Sox-9 in the NP
      with grade IV degeneration were significantly lower than those in the NP with
      grade III degeneration (P < 0.05). The NP with grade IV degeneration showed
      significantly higher protein expressions of p16INK4a and ADAMTS 5 (P < 0.05).
      Importantly, there was a good correlation between p16INK4a and ADAMTS 5 protein
      expressions (r=0.908, P=0.000). CONCLUSION: Premature senescent NPCs increase in
      the NP with the advancing disc degeneration. The expression of p16INK4a and its
      association with degeneration grades suggest that the p16INK4a may play a
      significant role in the pathogenesis of intervertebral disc degeneration.

PMID- 25826899
TI  - [Experimental study on effect of power-assisted intravascular shunt in
      replantation of amputated limbs in rabbits].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of power-assisted intravascular shunt in
      replantation of amputated limbs of rabbits. METHODS: Eighty rabbits weighing 1.8
      2.5 kg (male or female) were selected to establish the model of circular
      amputation at the hind groin, only femoral arteries and veins were completely
      preserved. After the femoral artery was clamped in 60 rabbits, the rabbits
      underwent power-assisted intravascular shunt with high-flow rate (group A, n=20),
      power-assisted intravascular shunt with low-flow rate (group B, n=20), and no
      power-assisted intravascular shunt (group C, n=20) to reconstruct blood supply;
      the femoral artery was not clamped in another 20 rabbits of sham group (group D).
      Before and after intravascular shunt (1, 3, 6, and 12 hours), the malondialdehyde
      (MDA), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and creatine kinase (CK) of the serum were
      determined. The myeloperoxidase (MPO), MDA, and wet to dry weight ratio (W/D
      ratio) of the gastrocnemius muscle were measured, and the thrombogenesis and
      survival rate of limb were observed. RESULTS: Before intravascular shunt, MDA,
      LDH, and CK of the serum and MPO, MDA, and W/D ratio of the muscle showed no
      significant difference among 4 groups (P > 0.05). At each time point after
      intravascular shunt, no significant difference was found in all indexes between
      groups A and D (P > 0.05); the indexes of groups B and C were significantly
      higher than those of groups A and D (P < 0.05); the values were the highest in
      group C (P < 0.05), and reached the peak at 12 hours. All limbs of group A
      survived with low thrombosis rate, and less limbs could survive with high
      thrombosis rate in group C. CONCLUSION: The power-assisted intravascular shunt
      with high-flow rate can effective ensure the blood supply of the amputated limbs
      of rabbits with lower limb injury and higher survival rate of amputated limbs
      after replantation.

PMID- 25826900
TI  - [In vitro experimental study on influences of final degradation products of
      polyactic acid on proliferation and osteoblastic phenotype of osteoblast-like
      cells].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influences of lactic acid (LA), the final
      degradation product of polylactic acid (PLA) on the proliferation and
      osteoblastic phenotype of osteoblast-like cells so as to provide theoretical
      basis for bone tissue engineering. METHODS: Ros17/2.8 osteoblast-like cells were
      harvested and divided into 3 groups. In groups A and B, the cells were cultured
      with the medium containing 4, 8, 16, 22, and 27 mmol/L L-LA and D, L-LA,
      respectively. In group C, the cells were cultured with normal medium (pH7.4). The
      cell proliferation was determined with MTT method after 1, 3, and 5 days. The
      relative growth ratio (RGR) was calculated, and the cytotoxicity was evaluated
      according to national standard of China. In addition, the alkaline phosphatase
      (ALP) activity of cells cultured with medium containing 4 mmol/L L-LA (group A),
      4 mmol/L D, L-LA (group B), and normal medium (group C) after 1 and 5 days were
      detected with ALP kits, and the relative ALP ratio (RAR) was calculated; after 21
      days, the calcium nodules were tested with von Kossa staining method, and were
      quantitatively analyzed. RESULTS: When LA concentration was 4 mmol/L, the mean
      RGR of both groups A and B were all above 80%, and the cytotoxic grades were
      grade 0 or 1, which meant non-cytotoxicity. When LA concentration was 8 mmol/L
      and 16 mmol/L, groups A and B showed cytotoxicity after 5 days and 3 days,
      respectively. When LA concentration was above 22 mmol/L, cell proliferations of
      groups A and B were inhibited evidently after 1-day culture. At each LA
      concentration, RGR of group A was significantly higher than that of group B at
      the same culture time (P < 0.05) except those at 4 mmol/L after 1-day and 3-day
      culture. After 1 day, the RAR of group A was significantly higher than that of
      group B on 1 day (144.1% +/- 3.2% vs. 115.2% +/- 9.8%, P < 0.05) and on 5 days
      (129.6% +/- 9.8% vs. 78.2% +/- 6.9%, P < 0.05). The results of von Kossa staining
      showed that the black gobbets in group A were obviously more than those of groups
      B and C. The staining area of group A (91.2% +/- 8.2%) was significantly higher
      than that of groups B (50.3% +/- 7.9%) and C (54.2% +/- 8.6%) (P < 0.05).
      CONCLUSION: The concentration and composition of LA have significant effects on
      the cell proliferation and osteoblastic phenotype of osteoblast-like cells.

PMID- 25826901
TI  - [Effect of carboxymethylated chitosan on apoptosis and expression of brain
      derived neurotrophic factor and glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor in
      oxidative stress induced Schwann cells in vitro].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effects of carboxymethylated chitosan
      (CMCS) on oxidative stress induced apoptosis of Schwann cells (SCs), and the
      expressions of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell line
      derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in oxidative stress induced SCs. METHODS:
      Twenty-four 3-5 days old Sprague Dawley rats (weighing 25-30 g, male or female)
      were involved in this study. The bilateral sciatic nerves of rats were harvested
      and SCs were isolated and cultured in vitro. The purity of SCs was identified by
      immunofluorescence staining of S-100. SCs were treated with different
      concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, 0.01, 0.10, and 1.00 mmol/L) for 3, 6,
      12, and 24 hours to establish the apoptotic model. The cell counting kit 8 (CCK
      8) and flow cytometry analysis were used to detect the cell viability and
      apoptosis induced by H2O2, and the optimal concentration and time for the
      apoptotic model of SCs were determined. The 2nd passage SCs were divided into 5
      groups and were treated with PBS (control), with 1.00 mmol/L H2O2, with 1.00
      mmol/L H2O2 + 50 MUg/mL CMCS, with 1.00 mmol/L H2O2 + 100 MUg/mL CMCS, and with
      1.00 mmol/L H2O2 + 200 MUg/mL CMCS, respectively. After cultured for 24 hours,
      the cell viability was assessed by CCK-8, cell apoptosis was detected by flow
      cytometry analysis, the expressions of mRNA and protein of BDNF and GDNF were
      detected by real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot. RESULTS: The
      immunofluorescence staining of S-100 indicated the positive rate was more than
      95%. CCK-8 and flow cytometry results showed that H2O2 can inhibit the
      proliferation of SCs and induce the SCs apoptosis with dose dependent manner, the
      effect was the most significant at 1.00 mmol/L H2O2 for 24 hours; after addition
      of CMCS, SCs exhibited the increased proliferation and decreased apoptosis in a
      dose dependent manner. Real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis
      showed that 1.00 mmol/L H2O2 can significantly inhibit BDNF and GDNF expression
      in SCs when compared with control group (P < 0.05), 50-200 MUg/mL CMCS can
      reverse the oxidative stress-induced BDNF and GDNF expression in SCs in a dose
      dependent manner, showing significant difference compared with control group and
      1.00 mmol/L H2O2 induced group (P < 0.05). There were significant differences
      among different CMCS treated groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: CMCS has the
      protective stress on oxidative stress induced apoptosis of SCs, and may promote
      the BDNF and GDNF expressions of neurotrophic factors in oxidative stress induced
      SCs.

PMID- 25826902
TI  - [Advances of preclinical research in xenogeneic (porcine) cell transplantation].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To summarize the advances of preclinical research in xenogeneic
      (porcine) cell transplantation in recent years. METHODS: The literature about the
      preclinical research in xenogeneic (porcine) cell transplantation was analyzed
      and summarized. RESULTS: With the application of new immunosuppressive agents and
      the generation of transgenic pigs, great progress has been achieved in xenogeneic
      transplantation of pig-derived nerve cells, islet cells, liver cells, and various
      types of stem cells. The survival time of xenogeneic cell (porcine) significantly
      prolonged, but there is still a long way to go before clinical application.
      CONCLUSION: The source ofxenogeneic (porcine) cells is abundant and the
      experiments are reproducible. However, how to effectively prevent rejection and
      prolong the survival time in the host, and avoid the spread of virus between
      species are still need to be solved in the future research.

PMID- 25826903
TI  - [Progress of induced osteogenesis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells
      transfected by double-gene].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To review the research progress of induced osteogenesis of bone marrow
      mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) transfected by double-gene. METHODS: The recent
      literature concerning the comparative research of induced osteogenesis of BMSCs
      transfected by double-gene was extensively reviewed. The characteristics of
      BMSCs, the advantage and effect of synergistic inductive osteogenesis, the
      application prospect and problems of BMSCs transfected by double-gene were
      summarized. RESULTS: The effect of induced osteogenesis concerning BMSCs
      transfected by double-gene is far superior to single gene transfection and the
      activity of osteoblast is also significantly increased. The research used in bone
      tissue engineering experiment also obtain good effect. CONCLUSION: Induced
      osteogenesis of BMSCs transfected by double-gene is able to make up for the lack
      of a single gene transfection and has great development prospects in the
      orthopaedic field.

PMID- 25826904
TI  - [Research progress of in vivo nucleic acid delivery with poly (ethylenimine)].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To review the current status and advances of in vivo nucleic acid
      delivery mediated by poly(ethylenimine) (PEI). METHODS: The related home and
      abroad literature about nucleic acid delivery with applications in cancer
      treatments and tissue engineering was extensively reviewed and analyzed. RESULTS:
      A variety of in vivo study on the potential of PEI-mediated nucleic acid delivery
      has been carried out and made certain effects in the animal model, ranging from
      cancer treatments to rectification of physiological defects (eg. cranial defect
      and corneal epithelium defect). Tail vein injection is the most commonly adopted
      route of administration in vivo, followed by pulmonary administration and
      intralesional injection. However, transfection and expression in vivo have some
      shortcomings, such as low transfection efficiency and short expression time, so
      there are some limitation in the clinical application. CONCLUSION: PEI mediated
      nucleic acid delivery provides a good method for cancer treatments and
      rectification of physiological defects. For future research, not only should more
      in vivo animal testing be done, but the procedures of experimentation also need
      to be standardized.

PMID- 25826905
TI  - [research status and application of magnetic compression anastomosis in surgery].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To summarize the recent development of the magnetic compression
      anastomosis in surgery. METHODS: The abroad and domestic relevant literature
      about magnetic compression anastomosis was extensively reviewed, and
      comprehensive analyzed. RESULTS: Magnetic compression anastomosis in the
      reconstruction of the body lumen is a simple and effective way; laparoscopy
      combined with magnetic compression anastomosis has the advantages of small wound
      and quick recovery. Magnetic compression anastomosis has been increasingly used
      in clinical practice. But its mechanism has not been fully revealed, and it is
      difficulty in expelling out of the magnet for the gastrointestinal and certain
      large-size lumen, so further research and optimization are still needed.
      CONCLUSION: Relative to the traditional manual suture, magnetic anastomosis has
      great advantage, especially a combination of magnetic compression anastomosis and
      minimally invasive surgery has bright prospects for development.

PMID- 25826906
TI  - [Development research of in vivo kinematics in lumbar degenerative
      spondylolisthesis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To review the researches of in vivo kinematics in lumbar degenerative
      spondylolisthesis (DS). METHODS: Related literature concerning the in vivo
      kinematics in patients with lumbar DS was extensively reviewed and
      comprehensively analyzed in 4 terms of the instability of lumbar DS, vertebral
      motion pattern, the morphological changes of spinal canal, and intraoperative
      biomechanical measurement. RESULTS: Whether there is lumbar segmental instability
      in lumbar DS patients is still controversial, which should be based on
      degenerative stage of lumbar spine and grade of slip. The hypomobility of the
      lumbar spinous processes and the facet joint is seen in DS. The diameter, cross
      sectional area, and volume of spinal canal in lumbar DS patients are
      significantly smaller than those of the normal control. Because of its invasive
      procedure and medical ethics, the use of the intraoperative measurement device is
      limited. These reported researches of in vivo kinematics in DS are almost on the
      sagittal plane. However, few data have been reported on the 6-degree-of-freedom
      (6DOF) kinematics of the diseased levels under physiological loading conditions.
      CONCLUSION: The 6DOF kinematics data can accurately reflect the segmental motion
      characteristics in lumbar DS patients, recent studies have been reported, further
      studies are still needed.

PMID- 25826907
TI  - [Research progress of preparation and components of platelet rich plasma].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To review the research progress of the preparation and components of
      the platelet rich plasma (PRP). METHODS: The recent literature concerning the
      biological mechanism, preparation, and components of PRP was analyzed and
      summarized. RESULTS: The biological function of PRP depends on a series of
      intricate cascade of cellular and molecular events. PRP contains different
      concentrations of platelets, which would release a large number of the activated
      molecules, and also contains a small amount of white blood cells and red blood
      cells. The preparation of PRP is based on platelet concentration. Different
      preparation techniques would lead to different platelet concentrations, recovery
      ratios, and components. CONCLUSION: There is no uniform standard for the
      preparation of PRP. Different preparation methods and technical parameters of PRP
      will get different components and different concentrations of PRP, which also
      provide a reference for clinicians to select the most appropriate PRP for
      individual patient.

PMID- 25826908
TI  - [Concentration and size distribution of bioaerosols at non-haze and haze days in
      Beijing].
AB  - In recent years, haze has been observed frequently in Beijing. Haze was one of
      the atmospheric phenomena caused by the accumulation of particulate matter. As an
      important fraction of particular matter, bioaerosol could potentially cause
      significantly negative health effects. In this study, we detected the
      concentration and size distribution of viable bioaerosol during non-haze and haze
      days, analyzed correlation of viable bioaerosol with the ambient temperature and
      relative humidity using Spearman's correlation coefficient and finally detected
      the changing of size distribution of viable bioaerosol in summer and winter.
      Results indicated that concentrations of viable bioaerosol exhibited a negative
      correlation with Air Quality Index (AQI) of PM2.5 and positive correlation with
      temperature. Relative humidity had a negative correlation with airborne bacteria
      while positive correlation with airborne fungi. The highest concentration of
      airborne bacteria and fungi were detected at size arrange of 4.5-7.0 MUm and 2. 1
      3.3 MUm in the winter, respectively. In the summer, both the highest
      concentration of airborne bacteria and fungi were observed at size arrange of 3.3
      4.5 MUm. The results of this study will provide the basis data for hazard
      evaluation of bioaerosol on human health at non-haze and haze days.

PMID- 25826909
TI  - [Light scattering extinction properties of atmospheric particle and pollution
      characteristics in hazy weather in Hangzhou].
AB  - In order to evaluate the influence of particle scattering on visibility, light
      scattering coefficient, particle concentrations and meteorological factor were
      simultaneously monitored from July 2011 to June 2012 in Hangzhou. Daily
      scattering coefficients ranged from 108.4 to 1 098.1 Mm(-1), with an annual
      average concentration of 428.6 Mm(-1) +/- 200.2 Mm(-1). Seasonal variation of
      scattering coefficients was significant, with the highest concentrations observed
      in autumn and winter and the lowest in summer. It was found there were two peaks
      for the average diurnal variations of the scattering coefficient, which could be
      observed at 08:00 and 21:00. The scattering efficiencies of PM2.5 and PM10 were
      7.6 m2 x g(-1) and 4.4 m2 x g(-1), respectively. The particle scattering was
      about 90.2 percent of the total light extinction. The scattering coefficients
      were 684.4 Mm(-1) +/- 218.1 Mm(-1) and 1 095.4 Mm(-1) +/- 397.7 Mm(-1) in hazy
      and heavy hazy days, respectively, which were 2.6 and 4.2 times as high as in non
      hazy weather, indicating that particle scattering is the main factor for
      visibility degradation and the occurrence of hazy weather in Hangzhou.

PMID- 25826910
TI  - [Characteristic of elements in PM2.5 and health risk assessment of heavy metals
      during heating season in Taiyuan].
AB  - The fine particulate matter (PM2.5) sampled during heating season in Taiyuan city
      and nineteen samples were used to investigate elemental concentrations and its
      source potential ecological risks of heavy metals, and to assess human exposure
      and health risk. The result indicated that main elements were Si, Ca, Al, Na, Mg,
      K, Fe in PM2.5. The main sources of elements in PM2.5 were divided into five
      categories including soil dust (43.46%), coal burning (15.69%), vehicle emission
      (13.41%), industrial dust (9.89%) and the construction cement dust (9.03%).
      Moreover, the order of potential ecological risk index of heavy metals in PM2.5
      was Cd > Ni > Hg > Pb > Cu > Zn > As > Co > Cr > Mn, and the ecological hazards
      were high. The main exposure of heavy metals in atmosphere was respiratory
      inhalation . The exposure quantity for children was significantly higher than
      that for adult. The hazard index values suggested a potential non-carcinogenic
      risk in PM2.5.

PMID- 25826911
TI  - [Pollution characteristics of secondary water-soluble inorganic ions of PM2.5 in
      urban Chengdu, China].
AB  - A total of 131 samples of PM2.5 were collected at urban area of Chengdu from
      April, 2009 to January, 2010. The secondary water-soluble inorganic ions (NH4(+),
      NO3(-) and SO4(2-)) in PM2.5 were determined to study the pollution
      characteristics by Ion Chromatography method. The results showed the NH4(+), NO3(
      ) and SO4(2-) concentrations were (10.4 +/- 8.6), (19.7 +/- 14.6) and (32.8 +/-
      21.8) MUg x m(-3), accounting for (5.5 +/- 2.8)%, (11.1 +/- 3.5)% and (19.3 +/-
      6.4)% of PM2.5, respectively, and the sum of these three ions accounted for (35.9
      +/- 12.7)%. Meanwhile, the seasonal characteristics of secondary inorganic ions
      were obvious. The seasonal concentrations order of secondary inorganic components
      was SO4(2-) > NO3(-) > NH4(+) in summer and winter, and the proportion of
      secondary inorganic ions of PM2.5 was 39.4% in summer and 44.3% in winter. The
      results of Correlation Analysis showed that most of NH4(+), NO3(-) and SO4(2-)
      existed as NH4HSO4, (NH4 )2SO4 and NH4NO5 in Chengdu. And the average ratio of
      NO3(-)/SO4(2-) indicated that the main source of sulfur and nitrogen in the
      atmosphere was given priority to a fixed source. In addition, the sulfate
      oxidizing rate (SOR) and nitrate oxidizing rate (NOR) were 0.33 +/- 0.12 and 0.19
      +/- 0.09, respectively. It showed that SO4(2-) and NO3(-) in PM2.5 were due to
      the secondary transformation.

PMID- 25826912
TI  - [Temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of ozone in Beijing].
AB  - Ozone concentrations obtained from 35 automatic air monitoring stations in
      Beijing were analyzed to investigate their temporal and spatial distribution
      characteristics. A process with high ozone concentration in summer was analyzed.
      The results showed that ozone maintained relatively high concentration from May
      to August while in other months, the ozone concentration was at a low level.
      Overall, the average concentrations of ozone in different stations in a
      descending order were comparison and regional station, suburban environment
      evaluation station, urban environmental assessment station and traffic pollution
      monitoring station. Ozone diurnal variation showed a single peak distribution,
      the peak of which appeared at 15:00 or 16:00. Ozone concentration showed obvious
      weekend effect, which meant ozone concentration in daytime of weekend was higher
      than that in weekday. Ozone concentration was lower in urban Beijing, higher in
      surrounding counties and the highest in northeast area with more vegetation. A
      high ozone concentration process occurred in Beijing on June 3, 2013. Under the
      effect of southwest wind in the afternoon, the concentration peaks of ozone in
      Yufa, Fengtaihuayuan, Olympic center and Huairou station occurred in order from
      south to north. Concentration peak of ozone in Huairou station occurred at 20:00
      in the night. It could be concluded that significant ozone transmission
      characteristic was reflected in this process.

PMID- 25826913
TI  - [Characteristics and source apportionment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in
      the northern suburb of Nanjing].
AB  - Based on the data of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) collected continuously
      from 1st Mar, 2011 to 29th Feb, 2012 in the northern suburb of Nanjing,
      characteristics of their variability, differences of ratios of tracers and source
      apportionment by principal component analysis/absolute principal component scores
      (PCA/APCS) were analyzed. The results showed that the total VOCs mixing ratios
      were 43.52 x 10(-9), which accounted for 45.1% of alkanes, alkenes for 25.3%,
      alkyne for 7.3%, and aromatics for 22.3%. There was an obviously seasonal
      variation of VOCs, with the maximum in summer and the minimum in winter. There
      was an obvious seasonal variation of VOCs component, with highest alkanes in
      winter, highest alkenes in summer, highest aromatic in spring, and highest alkyne
      in winter. By using the specific pollutant ratios ( hydrocarbons/acetylene and
      toluene/benzene) method, it indicated that the observation site was greatly
      affected by the surrounding industrial areas. Source analysis of VOCs by PCA/APCS
      mode showed that the sources consisted of industrial production sources,
      automobile emission sources, combustion sources, industrial production
      volatilization sources, solvent use sources and biogenic emission sources. In
      addition, there were seasonal variations. Overall, the sources related to
      industrial production activities represented 45% - 63% of VOCs, and they were
      followed by automobile emission sources, which represented 34% - 50%.

PMID- 25826914
TI  - [Environmental significance of wet deposition composition in the central Qilian
      Mountains, China].
AB  - A total of 90 precipitation samples were collected from individual precipitation
      events at the Qilian Alpine Ecology & Hydrology Research Station (Hulugou
      Station, 30 degrees 47'N, 90 degrees 58'E; 3 260 m a. s. l) located in the
      central Qilian Mountains from August 2012 to November 2013. All samples were
      analyzed for major cations (Na, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+), anions (Cl- , NO3- and SO4(2
      )) and conductivity. Precipitation EC values ranged from 2.26 to 482 MUS x cm(-1)
      with an average value of 41.9 MUS x cm(-1). The precipitation was of SO4(2-) 
      Mg(2+) -Ca2+ type, which contributed > 70% to the total ionic concentration. The
      same as the precipitation alkalinity, precipitation events occurred around summer
      showed lower concentrations, while it had higher concentrations in winter and
      spring with little precipitation and larger wind speed. Enrichment factor (EF),
      correlation and factor analysis indicated that regional crustal aerosols and
      species from central Asian and northwestern China arid regions brought by the
      westerly circulation were the major sources for these ions, some dust from human
      pollution were the secondary sources, and the contribution of sea salt was the
      least due to the long distance transport. These characteristics could be also
      confirmed by the correlation between ionic concentrations and metrological data
      in the study region. It is also interesting that the precipitation chemistry was
      different under the different atmospheric circulation: the monsoon precipitation,
      the interaction precipitation events ( influenced both by monsoon and westerly)
      and the westerly precipitation.

PMID- 25826915
TI  - [Dynamics of nitrogen and sulfur wet deposition in typical forest stand at
      different spatial levels in Simian Mountain, mid-subtropical region].
AB  - In order to investigate the dynamics of nitrogen and sulfur wet deposition in
      subtropical forest ecosystem, one typical forest stand, evergreen broad-leaved
      forest, at Simian Mountain located in Chongqing was selected in this research.
      Based on field monitoring, effects of precipitation, throughfall, litterfall, and
      groundwater runoff of the typical forest stand on the quality of water of Simian
      Mountain were investigated from September 2012 to August 2013. Results showed
      that the rainfall of Simian Mountain was apparently acidic, with average pH of
      4.89 and maximum pH of 5.14. The soil, canopies and trunks could increase pH of
      precipitation, with soils having the maximum increment, followed by the forest
      canopy. Forest canopy had the function of adsorption and purification of NO3-,
      NO2- and SO4(2-), and the average entrapment rate was 56.68%, 45.84% and 35.51%,
      respectively. Moreover, the degradation of litter was probably the main reason
      for the increase of ion concentrations in the surface litter water. Forest soils
      could absorb and neutralize NO3-, SO2- and NH4+, and release NO2-. The evergreen
      broad-leaf forest of mid-subtropical region had the function of interception on
      NO3-, NO2-, NH4+ and SO4(2-), and the total entrapment rate was 92.86%, 57.86%,
      87.24% and 87.25%, respectively, and it had a certain buffering function for the
      acid rain.

PMID- 25826916
TI  - [Establishment and assessment of QA/QC method for sampling and analysis of
      atmosphere background CO2].
AB  - To strengthen scientific management and sharing of greenhouse gas data obtained
      from atmospheric background stations in China, it is important to ensure the
      standardization of quality assurance and quality control method for background
      CO2 sampling and analysis. Based on the greenhouse gas sampling and observation
      experience of CMA, using portable sampling observation and WS-CRDS analysis
      technique as an example, the quality assurance measures for atmospheric
      CO,sampling and observation in the Waliguan station (Qinghai), the glass bottle
      quality assurance measures and the systematic quality control method during
      sample analysis, the correction method during data processing, as well as the
      data grading quality markers and data fitting interpolation method were
      systematically introduced. Finally, using this research method, the CO2 sampling
      and observation data at the atmospheric background stations in 3 typical regions
      were processed and the concentration variation characteristics were analyzed,
      indicating that this research method could well catch the influences of the
      regional and local environmental factors on the observation results, and reflect
      the characteristics of natural and human activities in an objective and accurate
      way.

PMID- 25826917
TI  - [An investigation of the CH4 and N2O emission factors of light-duty gasoline
      vehicles].
AB  - In China, most of the studies of vehicular greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have
      been focused on CO2 emissions. The investigation of non-CO2 GHGs, e.g. CH4 and
      N2O, are mainly carried out based on models developed in Europe and the US, and
      there are few vehicle emission tests for CH4 and N2O. In this study, 22 light
      duty gasoline vehicles (LDGVs) were selected for tailpipe CH4 and N2O tests using
      chassis dynamometer, and their emission factors were obtained based on the NEDC
      driving cycle. The results showed that the CH4 emission factors of China I to
      China IV LDGVs were 0.048 g x km(-1), 0.048 g x km(-1), 0.038 g x km(-1) and
      0.028 g x km(-1), respectively. For N2O, the emission factors of China I to China
      IV were 0.045 g x km(-1), 0.039 g x km(-1), 0.026 g x km(-1) and 0.021 g x km(
      1), respectively. In the GHGs emissions (in terms of CO2 Eq.) per LDGV, the
      percentage of CH4 and N2O emissions decreased gradually with tightening of
      emission standards. The contribution of CH4 emissions was lower than 0.5% in the
      total emissions, and N2O share rate was between 3.03% and 6.35%. Therefore,
      tightening emission standards can effectively reduce the CH4 and N2O emissions,
      to mitigate the greenhouse effects caused by vehicle emissions.

PMID- 25826918
TI  - [Experimental study on the size spectra and emission factor of ultrafine particle
      from coal combustion].
AB  - The emission characteristics of ultrafine particles released from pulverized coal
      combustion were studied, the size spectra of ultrafine particles (5.6-560 nm)
      were measured with FMPS (fast mobility particle sizer) on a self-built aerosol
      experiment platform. Meanwhile, a particle dynamic evolution model was
      established to obtain the particle deposition rate and the emission rate through
      the optimized algorithm. Finally, the emission factor was calculated. The results
      showed that at the beginning of particle generation, the size spectra were
      polydisperse and complex, the initial size spectra was mainly composed of three
      modes including 10 nm, 30-40 nm and 100-200 nm. Among them, the number
      concentration of mode around 10 nm was higher than those of other modes, the size
      spectrum of around 100-200 nm was lognormal distributed, with a CMD (count median
      diameter) of around 16 nm. Then, as time went on, the total number concentration
      was decayed by exponential law, the CMD first increased and then tended to be
      stable gradually. The calculation results showed that the emission factor of
      particles from coal combustion under laboratory condition was (5.54 x 10(12) +/-
      2.18 x 10(12)) unit x g(-1).

PMID- 25826919
TI  - [Distributions and air-sea fluxes of dissolved nitrous oxide in the Yangtze River
      estuary and its adjacent marine area in spring and summer].
AB  - Distributions and air-sea fluxes of nitrous oxide (N2O) in the seawaters of the
      Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent marine area were investigated during two
      cruises in March and July 2012. Dissolved N2O concentrations in surface waters
      ranged from 9.34 to 49.08 nmol x L(-1) with an average of (13.27 +/- 6.40) nmol x
      L(-1) in spring and ranged from 7.27 to 27.81 nmol x L(-1) with an average of
      (10.62 +/- 5.03) nmol x L(-1) in summer. There was no obvious difference between
      surface and bottom N2O concentrations. N2O concentrations in both surface and
      bottom waters decreased along the freshwater plume from the river mouth to the
      open sea. High values of dissolved N2O were found in turbidity maximum zone,
      which suggests that maximal turbidity enhances nitrification. Temperature had
      dual effects on dissolved N2O concentrations. N2O saturations in surface waters
      ranged from 86.9% to 351.3% with an average of (111.5 +/- 41.4)% in spring and
      ranged from 111.7% to 396.0% with an average of (155.9 +/- 68.4)% in summer. N2O
      were over-saturated at most stations. The sea-to-air fluxes of N2O were estimated
      to be (3.2 +/- 10.9), (5.5 +/- 19.3) and (12.2 +/-52.3) MUmol x (m2 x d)(-1) in
      spring and (7.3 +/- 12.4), (12.7 +/- 20.4) and (20.4 +/- 35.9) MUmol x (m2 x d)(
      1) in summer using the LM86, W92 and RC01 relationships, respectively. The annual
      emissions of N2O from the Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent marine area were
      estimated to be 0.6 x 10(-2) Tg x a(-1) (LM86), 1.1 x 10(-2) Tg x a(-1) (W92) and
      2.0 x 10(-2) Tg x a(-1) (RC01). Although the area of the Yangtze River estuary
      and its adjacent marine area only accounts for 0.02% of the total area of the
      world's oceans, their emission of N2O accounts for 0.06% of global oceanic N2O
      emission, indicating that the Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent marine area
      is an active area to produce and emit N2O.

PMID- 25826920
TI  - [Spectral absorption properties of the water constituents in the estuary of
      Zhujiang River].
AB  - Spectral absorption properties of the water constituents is the main factor
      affecting the light field under the surface of the water and the spectrum above
      the surface of the water. Thus, the study is useful for understanding of the
      water spectral property and the remote reversing of water quality parameters.
      Absorption properties of total suspended particles, non-algal particles,
      phytoplankton and CDOM were analyzed using the 30 samples collected in July 2013
      in the estuary of Zhujiang River. The results indicated that: (1) the non-algal
      particles absorption dominated the absorption of the total suspended particles;
      (2) the absorption coefficient of the non-algal particles, which mainly came from
      the terrigenous deposits, decreased exponentially from short to long wavelength.
      In addition, the average value and spatial variation of the slope S(d) were
      higher than those in inland case- II waters; (3) the absorption coefficient of
      phytoplankton in 440 nm showed a better polynomial relationship with chlorophyll
      a concentration, while the absorption coefficient of phytoplankton in 675 nm
      linearly related with the chlorophyll a concentration. Moreover, the influence of
      accessory pigments on phytoplankton absorption coefficient mainly existed in the
      range of short wavelength, and Chlorophyll a was the main influencing factor for
      phytoplankton absorption in long wavelength. The specific absorption coefficient
      of phytoplankton decreased the power exponentially with the increase of the
      chlorophyll a concentration; (4) CDOM mainly came from the terrigenous sources
      and its spectral curve had an absorption shoulder between 250-290 nm. Thus, a
      piecewise S(g) fitting function could effectively express CDOM absorption
      properties, i.e., M value and S(g) value in period A (240-260 nm) showed a strong
      positive correlation. The M value was low, and the humic acid had a high
      proportion in CDOM; (5) the non-algal particles absorption dominated the total
      absorption in the estuary of Zhujiang River, and the contribution of the
      phytoplankton absorption to the total absorption was far lower than that of the
      non-algal particles. While the contribution of the CDOM was the lowest. The
      contribution of the CDOM absorption to the total absorption was relatively larger
      when the content of humic acid was higher.

PMID- 25826921
TI  - [Characteristics of phosphorus forms and the effects of UV light in the
      confluences water of Qujiang-Jialing River and Fujiang-Jialing River].
AB  - The confluences water of Qujiang-Jialing River and Fujiang-Jialing River was
      investigated in this paper for understanding the characteristics of phosphorus
      (P) forms and the effects of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Through analysis of P
      speciation, the results showed that the concentration of total P was above the
      Eutrophication threshold (0.2 mmol x m(-3)) in this study. Meanwhile, total
      dissolved P (TDP) and dissolved inorganic P (DIP) were the predominant forms of
      total P (TP) and TDP respectively at all sampling sites, which was independent of
      confluences. After confluences of Fujiang-Jialing River and Qujiang-Jialing
      River, the concentration of all forms of P in main stream increased, among which
      particulate P (PP) showed the greatest increase of up to 129%. Furthermore, water
      was fractionated by relative molecular weight (M(r)) of composition, and the
      results showed the predominant forms of dissolved P (DP, < 0.22 MUm) was in the
      soluble high M(r) fraction (0.5 x 10(3)-10 x 10(3)), which was ranged from 47%
      61% of DP. After confluences, no significant changes of P contents in different
      M(r) fraction of water were observed in the main stream (Jialing River).
      Moreover, UV irradiation experiment was conducted, and it suggested that P in
      free forms of water (< 0.5 x 10(3)) increased by 10% - 29%, as compared with the
      decreasing P in the other two M(r) fractions of M(r) 10 x 10(3)-0.22 MUm and 0.5
      x 10(3)-10 x 10(3). Additionally, in comparison with confluence site samples of
      Fujiang-Jialing River, the decreasing trend of P in colloid fraction (10 x 10(3)
      0.22 MUm) was higher in Qujiang-Jialing River. Thus, it confirmatively indicated
      that UV was an important environmental factor influencing the geochemical fate of
      P in aquatic system.

PMID- 25826922
TI  - [Research on the threshold of Chl-a in Lake Taihu based on microcystins].
AB  - Water samples were collected in Lake Taihu from June to October in 2013 in order
      to investigate the threshold of chlorophyll a (Chl-a). The concentrations of
      three microcystins isomers (MC-LR, MC-RR, MC-YR) were detected by means of solid
      phase extraction and high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass
      spectrometry. The correlations between various MCs and eutrophication factors,
      for instance of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), chlorophyll a,
      permanganate index etc were analyzed. The threshold of Chl-a was studied based on
      the relationships between MC-LR, MCs and Chl-a. The results showed that Lake
      Taihu was severely polluted by MCs and its spatial distribution could be
      described as follows: the concentration in Meiliang Bay was the highest, followed
      by Gonghu Bay and Western Lake, and Lake Center; the least polluted areas were in
      Lake Xuhu and Southern Lake. The concentration of MC-LR was the highest among the
      3 MCs. The correlation analysis indicated that MC-LR, MC-RR, MC-YR and MCs had
      very positive correlation with permanganate index, TN, TP and Chl-a (P < 0.01).
      The threshold value of Chl-a was 12.26 mg x m(-3) according to the standard
      thresholds of MC-LR and MCs in drinking water. The threshold value of Chl-a in
      Lake Taihu was very close to the standard in the State of North Carolina, which
      demonstrated that the threshold value provided in this study was reasonable.

PMID- 25826923
TI  - [Temporal and spatial characteristic of nitrogen and phosphorus output in the
      suburb watershed around the Baihua Lake].
AB  - Identification of the main pollutants and sources has important practical
      significance for the control and management of water quality in Guiyang's
      surrounding river areas. Based on the continuous field observation of the
      experiment from July, 2010 to April, 2011, this paper studies the concentration
      of nitrogen and phosphorus loss characteristics of Maixi river watershed, which
      is near to Guiyang's important water source-Baihua Lake reservoir, so as to
      provide a reference for Guiyang suburban small watershed source pollution
      control. The existence of various sources and sinks in this river basin makes
      great changes of nitrogen output in each sample point at different times, from
      upstream to downstream. Although different forms of nitrogen content and
      phosphorus content in water at each sampling point changes with time, it still
      presents a certain regularity on the whole. The total nitrogen and nitrate
      nitrogen in July 2010 are above normal level, and the ammonia nitrogen, nitrate
      nitrogen and total phosphorus are at high levels in October 2010 and December.
      The differences of various forms of nitrogen and phosphorus content in water at
      each sampling point decrease from upstream to downstream. The content of TN
      decreases from 3.297 mg x L(-1) to 2.793 mg x L(-1), and the content of TP
      decreases from 0.136 mg x L(-1) to 0.098 mg x L(-1). Contrast to the upstream,
      the nitrogen and phosphorus content in the downstream estuary decreases
      significantly. But the change is not obvious and the content of ammonia nitrogen
      rises slightly compared with the middle reaches. From the perspective temporal
      and spatial variation characteristics of nitrogen and phosphorus output in the
      basin, the nitrogen, especially ammonia nitrogen and nitrate, has a higher risk
      of getting into the Baihua Lake by river runoff. The results of the study can
      provide a reference for the governance of nitrogen and phosphorus loss in the
      watershed around the Baihua Lake.

PMID- 25826924
TI  - [Effects of light irradiation on phosphorous releases from typical submerged
      soils of water-level fluctuation zones of Three Gorges Reservoirs areas].
AB  - For understanding the impact of light irradiation on the phosphorus (P) releases
      from soil-water interface, two types of typical soils sampled from water-level
      fluctuation zones of Three Gorges Reservoir areas were selected as research
      objectives, and simulated light irradiation experiment in lab was conducted for
      unveiling the underlying mechanisms of P releases from submerged soils in the
      presence of light irradiation. The results showed that light irradiation could
      inhibit P releases from submerged soils by a certain degree. Under light
      condition, total P (TP) concentrations in underlying water of submerged purple
      soil ranged from 0.018 to 0.033 mg x L(-1), as compared to the range of 0.02
      0.057 mg x L(-1) in darkness treatment. Additionally, for gray-brown purple soil,
      TP was in a range of 0.028-0.045 mg x L(-1) when light irradiated, but in the
      range of 0.04-0. 084 mg x L(-1) under darkness condition. Meanwhile, changes of
      iron oxides in soils due to light irradiation were possibly to be the important
      reason to explain the inhabitation of light irradiation on P releases. Moreover,
      light irradiation resulted in decreasing saturation degree of iron oxides in
      soils, which further inhibited the iron reduction and production of amorphous
      iron, further enhanced the underlying mechanisms of decreasing P releases in
      presence of light irradiation. Further, CO2 and CH4 could reflect decomposition
      of soil organic carbon (SOC) in submerged condition. Light irradiation
      significantly decreased SOC transformation into carbon gases. Stimulating
      consumption of inorganic electron acceptors in submerged soils could also be used
      to explain the changes of iron oxides under light irradiation condition. Thus,
      inhabitation of light irradiation on P releases from submerged soils obviously
      related with iron minerals reduction and decomposition of organic matter in
      soils.

PMID- 25826925
TI  - [Mercury dynamics of several plants collected from the water-level fluctuation
      zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir area during flooding and its impact on water
      body].
AB  - Submerged plants are a major source for the abnormal elevation of methylmercury
      in reservoir. Several specific plants (Echinochloa crusgalli, Cynodondactylon and
      Corn stover) were collected and inundated in a simulated aquatic environment in
      the laboratory for investigating the mercury (Hg) dynamics in plants and the
      release process into water, aiming to find out the properties of Hg dynamics of
      plants under inundation conditions and its impact on water body in the Water
      Level Fluctuation Zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area. The results showed
      that the contents of total mercury in several plants were in the range of 9. 21
      12.07 ng x g(-1), and the percentage content of methylmercury (MeHg) was about 1%
      2%. The content of total mercury (THg) in plants gradually decreased, by 35.81%
      55.96%, whereas that of the dissolved mercury (DHg) increased sharply, by 103.23%
      -232.15%, which indicated an emission of Hg from plants to water in the process
      of decomposition. Furthermore, the state of inundation provided sufficient
      conditions for the methylation process in plants and therefore caused an increase
      of the content of methylmercury in the plant residues, which was 3.04-6.63 times
      as much as the initial content. The concentration of dissolved methylmercury
      (DMeHg) in the overlying water also increased significantly by 14.84- 16.05 times
      compared with the initial concentration. Meanwhile, the concentration of
      dissolved oxygen (DO) in the overlying water was significantly and negatively
      correlated with DMeHg. On the other hand, the concentration of dissolved organic
      carbon (DOC) in the overlying water was significantly and positively correlated
      with DMeHg. During the whole inundation period, the increase of DHg in the
      overlying water accounted for 41.74% -47.01% of the total amount of THg emission,
      and there was a negative correlation between the content of THg in plant residues
      and that of DHg in the overlying water.

PMID- 25826926
TI  - [Effect of nano-TiO2 on the release and activation of mercury in sediment].
AB  - To investigate the effects of nano-TiO2 on mercury release and activation in
      sediment, flooding simulation experiments were conducted. The impacts of nano
      TiO2 on total mercury and methylmercury concentrations in overlying water were
      analyzed. And the influences of nano-TiO2 on the migration and transformation of
      mercury were discussed based on changes of mercury speciation in sediment. The
      results indicated that nano-TiO2 promoted the release of mercury in sediment,
      leading to more mercury released into the water. Compared with the control, 4 g x
      kg(-1) TiO2 nanoparticles increased the total mercury by 91.32%, when the
      concentration of total mercury in overlying water was the highest. Release of
      mercury in soil was increased by approximately 10% finally. The main reason may
      be that the dissolution of oxidation state mercury was improved by nano-TiO2. It
      indicated that the risk of mercury contamination in water may increase. Moreover,
      under the experimental conditions, nano-TiO2 may reduce the formation of
      methylmercury in sediment in the short-term, but no significant effects in the
      long-term. Generally, the effects of nano-TiO2 on the release and transformation
      of mercury in sediment showed concentration dependence. Thus, with increasing
      nano-TiO2 content in sediment or soil, its impact on the geochemical cycle of
      mercury may increase.

PMID- 25826927
TI  - [Estimation inventory of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from
      anthropogenic sources and its impacts within the Yanghe Watershed, an important
      water-source site of Beijing, China].
AB  - The Yanghe Watershed, situated at the upwind of Beijing, is an important water
      source site and ecologic protection barrier for Beijing and Zhangjiakou cities.
      The Yanghe Watershed is also a farming-pastoral transitional area and an
      ecologically vulnerable and sensitive region, as well as the place applying for
      Winter Olympic Game in 2022. Establishment of atmospheric emissions inventory of
      polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and identification of its sources within
      the Yanghe Watershed and its possible transportation paths to Beijing can help us
      get a better understanding of regional environmental pollution (especially air
      environmental pollution) in Beijing-Zhangjiakou area. In the present study, PAHs
      emission from different counties and cities within the Yanghe Watershed in 2012
      was calculated based on the statistical data of local industries, agriculture and
      resident living while PAHs emission factors were estimated. According to the
      cluster analysis for air transport trajectories, main categories of air masses
      were obtained. Results indicated that total emission of PAHs in 2012 was 4.4 x
      10(2) t. Coal combustion and crop-straw burning were the most important emission
      sources of PAHs, accounting for 76% and 16% of total emission of PAHs,
      respectively. Xuanhua county had the greatest emission of PAHs (49 t), followed
      by Xinghe (36 t), Tianzhen (32 t), Huailai (24 t) and Wanquan (15 t). In emission
      of 16 isomers of PAHs, the emission of high molecular weight isomers containing 4
      6 rings was approximate to that of low molecular weight isomers containing 2-3
      rings, accounting for approximately 50% of total emission of PAHs. Emission of
      PAHs had positive correlations with gross industrial production (GIP) (r = 0.96,
      P < 0.05) and resident income (RI) (r = 0.94, P < 0.05) and population density
      (PD) (r = 0.92, P < 0.05), but negatively correlated with land area (LA) (r = -
      0.9, P < 0.05) and no significant correlationship with gross output value of
      agriculture (GOA) (r = 0.026, P > 0.01). The high emission of PAHs within the
      Yanghe Watershed was associated with local energy structure and residents'
      consumption level. Combined the back trajectory analysis with PAHs emission, high
      amount of PAHs could be transported to Beijing by northwest airflow, suggesting
      its potential ecological risk and human health effect in Beijing.

PMID- 25826928
TI  - [Source identification of toxic wastewaters in a petrochemical industrial park].
AB  - Petrochemical wastewaters have toxic impacts on the microorganisms in
      biotreatment processes, which are prone to cause deterioration of effluent
      quality of the wastewater treatment plants. In this study, the inhibition effects
      of activated sludge's oxygen consumption were tested to evaluate the toxicity of
      production wastewaters in a petrochemical industrial park. The evaluation covered
      the wastewaters from not only different production units in the park, but also
      different production nodes in each unit. No direct correlation was observed
      between the toxicity effects and the organic contents, suggesting that the toxic
      properties of the effluents could not be predicted by the organic contents. In
      view of the variation of activated sludge sensitivity among different tests, the
      toxicity data were standardized according to the concentration-effect
      relationships of the standard toxic substance 3, 5-dichlorophenol on each day, in
      order to improve the comparability among the toxicity data. Furthermore, the
      Quality Emission Load (QEL) of corresponding standard toxic substance was
      calculated by multiplying the corresponding 3, 5-dichlorophenol concentration and
      the wastewater flow quantity, to indicate the toxicity emission contribution of
      each wastewater to the wastewater treatment plant. According to the rank list of
      the toxicity contribution of wastewater from different units and nodes, the
      sources of toxic wastewater in the petrochemical industrial park were clearly
      identified. This study provides effective guidance for source control of
      wastewater toxicity in the large industrial park.

PMID- 25826929
TI  - [Investigation of pollution characteristics of erythromycin resistance genes in a
      sewage treatment plant and the relevant selective factors].
AB  - Occurrence and distribution of twelve pharmaceutical and personal care products
      (PPCPs) were investigated in a sewage treatment plant in Shanghai using solid
      phase extraction combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass
      spectrometry (SPE-HPLC-MS/MS). Quantitative PCR (qPCR) was used to determine the
      distribution and removal of seven erythromycin resistance genes (ERY-ARGs). The
      results showed that five PPCPs including sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin,
      tetracycline, carbamazepine and triclosan were detected in the collected
      wastewater samples with concentrations in the ranges of 24.5- 38.7, 47.5-49.2,
      43.1-85.4, 2.5-3.9 and 423.2-8 973.3 ng x L(-1), respectively. During the
      wastewater treatment process, a significant reduction of triclosan was observed,
      but the removal efficiencies for the other detected PPCPs were relatively low.
      Additionally, all target ERY-ARGs were detected in the wastewater samples ranging
      from 9.28 x 10(3) (ermA) to 1.83 x 10(8) (ereA) copies x L(-1) in raw influent.
      Though significant reductions (1.19 log-3.97 log) of ERY-ARGs were obtained,
      their concentrations found in the final effluent were still high. Moreover, the
      concentration of ERY-ARGs exhibited significant positive correlation with the
      concentration of erythromycin and triclosan (P < 0.05), respectively, elucidating
      that erythromycin played an important role in the occurrence and spread of ERY
      ARGs, while triclosan may confer cross-selection for ERY-ARGs.

PMID- 25826930
TI  - [Variation of pollutants along the height of two media BAF during advanced
      treatment of dyeing wastewater].
AB  - A pilot-scale process with the capacity of 15 t x d(-1) was applied for treatment
      of the secondary biological effluent from a dyeing industrial park wastewater
      treatment plant. We studied the variation of pollutants along the height of two
      media biological aerated filter (BAF), investigated the feasibility of the
      cheaper and lighter suspended media to substitute activated carbon. The results
      showed that while the influent average COD and color were 50.2 mg x L(-1) and 58
      times, the effluent average COD and color of activated carbon and suspended media
      BAF were 35.0 mg x L(-1), 18 times and 44.3 mg x L(-1), 26 times, and both of the
      effluent met the first level A criteria specified in the Discharge Standard of
      Pollutants for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (GB 18918-2002), while it met
      the first level A criteria at the height of 2 400 mm in suspended media BAF,
      higher than the height of 1 800 mm in activated carbon BAF. The removal variation
      of color, TN and ammonia along the height of suspended media BAF is similar to
      the activated carbon BAF, but with a low removal efficiency of COD, mainly
      related to its less biomass. Therefore, suspended media to substitute activated
      carbon is feasible to the wastewater treatment plant, but the size and material
      of the media still need to be optimized, and to enhance the biomass, the hybrid
      process of suspended media with activated carbon BAF may be used to reduce the
      cost if it is necessary.

PMID- 25826931
TI  - [Acclimatization and characteristics of microbial community in sulphate-dependent
      anaerobic methane oxidation].
AB  - The greenhouse effect of methane is 26 times worse than that of carbon dioxide,
      and wastewater containing high concentrations of sulfate is harmful to water,
      soil and plants. Therefore, anaerobic oxidation of methane driven by sulfate is
      one of the effective ways for methane reduction. In this paper, with sulfate as
      the electron accepter, a microbial consortium capable of oxidating methane under
      anaerobic condition was cultured. The diversity and characteristics of bacterial
      and archaeal community were investigated by PCR-DGGE, and phylogenetic analysis
      of the dominant microorganisms was also carried out. The DGGE fingerprints showed
      that microbial community structure changed distinctly, and the abundance of
      methane-oxidizing archea and sulfate-reducing bacteria increased in the
      acclimatization system added sulfate. After acclimatization, the bacterial
      diversity increased, while archaea diversity decreased slightly. The
      representative bands in the DGGE profiles were excised and sequenced. Results
      indicated that the dominant species in the acclimatization system were
      Spirochaetes, Desulfuromonadales, Methanosarcinales, Methanosaeta. Methane
      converted into carbon dioxide while sulfate transformed into hydrogen sulfide and
      sulfur in the process of anaerobic methane oxidation accompanied by sulphate
      reduction.

PMID- 25826932
TI  - [Capability and microbial community analysis of a membrane bioreactor for acrylic
      fiber wastewater treatment].
AB  - Sequencing batch membrane bioreactor (SBMBR) was used for the treatment of
      acrylic fiber polymerization wastewater and acrylonitrile wastewater. The
      operation efficiencies of SBMBR under different wastewater ratios and operation
      conditions were investigated, and the microbial community structure of the SBMBR
      system was analyzed by using PCR-DGGE technology. The results showed that SBMBR
      had a high removal efficiency on pollutants in acrylic fiber wastewater, and the
      lacking of carbon source and alkalinity were the main limiting factors for
      nitrogen removal. Under the designed operation conditions of 90 min anoxic/150
      min aerobic cyclic operation and HRT of 24 h, the average COD, NH4(+) -N and TN
      removal efficiencies were 82.5%, 98.7% and 74.6%, respectively. The effluent of
      the SBMBR could steadily meet the Grade I standards of the Wastewater
      Comprehensive Discharge Standard of China (GB 8978-1996). The PCR-DGGE analyses
      showed that the microbial communities in SBMBR had a significant shift with the
      changes of influent characteristics and operation conditions. By cloning and
      sequencing analyses of selected dominant bacteria, 22 16S rDNA sequence were
      successfully identified from 9 sludge samples, from which 7 dominant functional
      microorganisms for the degradation of organic pollutants in acrylic fiber
      wastewater were screened out.

PMID- 25826933
TI  - [Nitrogen removal performance of ANAMMOX ABR process in tannery wastewater
      treatment].
AB  - Anaerobic ammonium-N removal from tannery wastewater was investigated using a lab
      scale anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR). The results indicated that ABR could be
      used as a good anaerobic ammonium oxidation reactor, the stable and effective
      performance of ammonium-N and COD removal from tannery wastewater was
      demonstrated in the ANAMMOX ABR. When the NH4(+) -N concentration of the
      influents were in the range of 25.0 mg x L(-1) to 76.2 mg x L(-1) and COD ranged
      from 131 mg x L(-1) to 237 mg x L(-1), under the volumetric loading of 0.05 kg x
      (m3 x d)(-1) to 0.15 kg x (m3 x d)(-1), the NH4(+)-N and COD of the effluents
      were from 0.20 mg x L(-1) to 7.12 mg x L(-1) and from 35.1 mg x L(-1) to 69.2 mg
      x L(-1), respectively, and the removal efficiency of NH4(+) -N and COD were 90.8%
      to 99.6% and 66.9% to 74.7%, respectively. In addition, the brown-red, brown
      yellow, red granular sludges were developed in ABR. SEM observation confirmed the
      presence of ANAMMOX bacteria in granular sludge of all four compartments of
      ANAMMOX ABR. According to FISH results, ANAMMOX bacteria had grown in all four
      compartments to various degrees during the acclimatization and running process,
      the percentage of ANAMMOX bacteria in sludge increased from 4% to 9%, 8%, 12% and
      30% in compartment 1, compartment 2, compartment 3 and compartment 4,
      respectively, and a higher population percentage of ANAMMOX bacteria existed in
      the rear than in the front compartments.

PMID- 25826934
TI  - [Numerical simulation and operation optimization of biological filter].
AB  - BioWin software and two sensitivity analysis methods were used to simulate the
      Denitrification Biological Filter (DNBF) + Biological Aerated Filter (BAF)
      process in Yuandang Wastewater Treatment Plant. Based on the BioWin model of DNBF
      + BAF process, the operation data of September 2013 were used for sensitivity
      analysis and model calibration, and the operation data of October 2013 were used
      for model validation. The results indicated that the calibrated model could
      accurately simulate practical DNBF + BAF processes, and the most sensitive
      parameters were the parameters related to biofilm, OHOs and aeration. After the
      validation and calibration of model, it was used for process optimization with
      simulating operation results under different conditions. The results showed that,
      the best operation condition for discharge standard B was: reflux ratio = 50%,
      ceasing methanol addition, influent C/N = 4.43; while the best operation
      condition for discharge standard A was: reflux ratio = 50%, influent COD = 155 mg
      x L(-1) after methanol addition, influent C/N = 5.10.

PMID- 25826935
TI  - [Effect of gas-lift device on the morphology and performance of ANAMMOX sludge].
AB  - The upflow reactor with gas-lift device was started up by inoculating ANAMMOX
      sludge granules of less than 0.9 mm. The effects of gas lift device system on the
      morphology and performance of ANAMMOX sludge were studied by using the nitrogen
      gas produced in ANAMMOX to drive the effluent circulation in the reactor. The
      results showed that, the airlift circulation function was not clear in the
      startup stage of the reactor, because the nitrogen gas production was very low.
      At the same time, the ANAMMOX granular sludge was easy to condensate. When the
      load rate of nitrogen removal reached 3.4 kg x (m3 x d)(-1), the function of gas
      lift was significant, resulting in gradually increased effluent self-circulation,
      and the granules were dispersed and grew gradually. After 183d of operation, the
      granular sludge was dominated by the granules with sizes of 1.6-2.5 mm, which
      accounted for 53.2% of the total sludge volume. The MLVSS content increased with
      the increase of sludge particle size. The gas lift device had the same function
      as the external reflux pump, and was helpful for sludge granulation in the
      ANAMMOX reactor, while reducing power consumption and the cost of the equipment.

PMID- 25826936
TI  - [Water treatment residual as a bioretention media amendment for phosphorus
      removal].
AB  - The characteristics of phosphorus adsorption of both soil and water treatment
      residual (WTR) were investigated through batch tests. The removal of phosphorus
      in runoff by bioretention column was evaluated. Furthermore, the feasibility of
      taking the WTR as a bioretention amendment was discussed. The results indicated
      that the phosphorus adsorptive capacity of WTR was significantly higher than that
      of soil. With a high influent phosphorus concentrations (1.0 mg x L(-1)), the
      columns with amended media showed a better long-term removal efficiency than the
      columns with traditional media. The concentrations of TP in effluent from columns
      with amended media were less than 0.050 mg x L(-1) after 7 months' continuous
      operation. According to batch test results, it was estimated that the phosphorus
      adsorptive capacity of amended media, which was mixed with 4% of WTR, was 4 times
      as high as the traditional media under same conditions. Adsorption and
      precipitation by amorphous iron and aluminum is the main mechanism for phosphorus
      removal in amended media. It is recommended that the mixture with 4% - 5% of WTR
      by mass in media would improve the phosphorus removal of bioretention in
      engineering practice.

PMID- 25826937
TI  - [Nutrient contents and heavy metal pollutions in composted sewage sludge from
      different municipal wastewater treatment plants in Beijing region].
AB  - Changes of nutrient contents and heavy metal pollutions in composted sewage
      sludge from different municipal wastewater treatment plants (as represented by
      CSS-A and CSS-B, respectively) in Beijing region were investigated. The results
      showed that the pH values, nutrient contents, trace elements and heavy metals in
      CSS-A and CSS-B depended on the sludge resources and particular years. The
      average of organic matter content in different years (203 338.0 mg x kg(-1)) from
      CSS-A met both the requirement of sludge quality standard for agricultural use
      (CJ/T 309-2009) and land improvement (GB/T 24600-2009) in China except the
      permitted limit of sludge quality standards for garden or park use (GB/T 23486
      2009) in China. Moreover, the average of organic matter in different years
      (298531.5 mg x kg(-1)) from CSS-B and the averages of pH values (7.1 and 7.2,
      respectively) and NPK concentrations (41 111.7 mg x kg(-1) and 65 901.5 mg x kg(
      1), respectively) in different years from CSS-A and CSS-B all met the
      requirements of sludge quality standards for the above-mentioned disposal types
      of sewage sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants. The contents of
      heavy metals in CSS-A and CSS-B except Hg and Ni were below the permitted limits
      of the A-class sludge quality standard for agricultural use (CJ/T 309-2009) ,
      being the most stringent standards in China. It was suggested that composted
      sewage sludge from different municipal wastewater treatment plants in Beijing
      region use as a fertilizer in agriculture, land improvement, and garden or park,
      but the top concern about potential environmental pollution of Hg and Ni should
      be considered.

PMID- 25826938
TI  - [Polychlorinated biphenyls and their methylsulfonyl metabolites in fish from an
      electronic waste recycling site in south China: tissue distribution and human
      dietary exposure].
AB  - In the present study, we determined polychlorinated biphenyls and their
      methylsulfonyl metabolites (MeSO2-PCBs) in the tissues of two fish species-mud
      carp and northern snakehead-from a natural pond in an electronic waste recycling
      site in the Pearl River Delta, Southern China. The mean concentrations of PCBs
      (Sigma PCBs )varied from 560 to 10 462 ng x g(-1) wet weight, and from 580 to 50
      492 ng x g(-1) wet weight in the tissues of mud carp and northern snakehead,
      respectively, with the highest levels found in the liver. Lipid contents played
      an important role in the determination of tissue distribution of PCBs. The mean
      concentrations of Sigma MeSO2-PCBs varied between 0.44 and 53 ng x g(-1) wet
      weight in tissues of mud carp, while varied between 1.86 and 132 ng x g(-1) wet
      weight in northern snakehead. These levels were one order of magnitude greater
      than the highest levels of MeSO2-PCBs previously reported in fish. The EF values
      of chiral PCBs in mud carp were lower than those in the sediments, with an
      exception of PCB149. However, the declined EFs in mud carp were rebounded in
      northern snakehead, and some values were even higher than those in the sediment.
      This result may suggest that the mud carp and the northern snakehead preferred to
      biotransform different enantiomers of PCB congeners. The elevated levels of Sigma
      PCBs and Sigma MeSO2-PCBs detected in the present study indicated a high exposure
      risk to the local residents. Restricting the consumption of these fish in the
      local markets is important and essential for reducing the health risks to local
      residents.

PMID- 25826939
TI  - [Residues and health risk assessment of HCHs, DDTs and heavy metals in water and
      Tilapias from fish ponds of Guangdong].
AB  - Concentrations of copper, lead, cadmium, arsenic, hexachlorcyclohexane (HCHs) and
      dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDTs) in the water and the fish samples
      collected separately from fish pond, markets and supermarkets in four cities of
      Guangdong Province were measured by using GC-ECD, flame atomic absorption
      spectrometry and atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Health risk assessments
      associated with Cu, Pd, Cd, As, HCHs and DDTs were conducted based on the model
      of health risk assessment recommended by the US EPA. The results showed that the
      concentration ranges of Cu, Pd, Cd, As, HCHs and DDTs in water samples were nd
      0.101 mg x L(-1), nd-0.097 mg x L(-1), nd-0.003 27 mg x L(-1), 0.0121-0.08127 mg
      x L(-1), 2.63-37.18 ng x L(-1) and 2.05-12.21 ng x L(-1), respectively. The
      health risk assessment indicates that the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks
      of Cu, Pd, Cd, HCHs and DDTs in Tilapias both lower than the highest acceptable
      level of risk set by ICRP, but As cancer risk value slightly exceeded the upper
      limit of the acceptable risk levels in city population.

PMID- 25826940
TI  - [Concentration and distribution characteristics of estrogen in aquatic organism
      from Chongming Island].
AB  - Five typical estrogens, including estrone (E1), 17beta-estradiol (E2), estriol
      (E3), 17alpha-ethynyl estradiol (EE2) and bisphenol A (BPA), were simultaneously
      determined in typical aquatic organisms from Chongming Island by ultrahigh
      performance liquid chromatography equipped with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC
      MS2). The distribution pattern of estrogens was studied and preliminary heath
      risk assessment was discussed. The results showed that the total dry weight
      concentrations of estrogens were from 1.1 ng x g(-1) to 7.38 ng x g(-1) with a
      mean of 4.25 ng x g(-1). The lipid content-standardized estrogens concentrations
      were in the range of 5.01- 83.41 ng x g(-1) with a mean of 40.75 ng x g(-1),
      showing a descending order of fish > shrimp > crab. Fish and crab, fish and
      shrimp showed a significant difference in lipid content-standardized estrogen
      concentrations, whereas no significant difference was found between crab and
      shrimp. Compared to BPA, the dry weight concentrations of steroids (E1, E2, E3
      and EE2) were found at lower levels (0.17-0.69 ng x g(-1)) with lower detection
      frequency (< 66.67%) in aquatic organisms from Chongming Island. In contrast, the
      detection rate of BPA reached 100%, and the average dry weight concentration
      detected was 2.60 ng x g(-1). The results of health risk assessment showed the
      concentration of estrogens in aquatic products from Chongming Island could not
      cause any adverse population-level effects.

PMID- 25826941
TI  - [Photocatalytic degradation of acetamiprid by TiO2 and Xe lamp: kinetics and
      degradation intermediates].
AB  - Photocatalytic degradation kinetics of acetamiprid was studied by both of single
      variable-at-a-time (SVAT) and central composite design (CCD) experiments based on
      four factors, such as catalyst dosages, substrate concentration, temperature and
      pH values. The results indicated that degradation of acetamiprid followed pseudo
      first-order kinetics by Langmuir-Hinshelwood model, increased with the increasing
      of temperature and the decreasing of substrate concentration. The photocatalytic
      degradation kinetic rate of acetamiprid was low in acid solutions, while high in
      weak acidic and alkaline solutions. After studying the synergistic effects of
      these four classic parameters, the optimal experiment conditions for
      photocatalytic degradation of acetamiprid were obtained as follows: TiO2 at 2.30
      g x L(-1), initial acetamiprid concentration of 90.0 MUmol x L(-1), temperature
      of 37.5 degrees C and pH value at 5.0. Lastly, 7 degradation intermediates of
      acetamiprid were detected during photocatalytic process by HPLC, and 6 of them
      exhibited more polar than the parent molecule.

PMID- 25826942
TI  - [Effects of nitrogen addition on available nitrogen content and acidification in
      cold-temperate coniferous forest soil in the growing season].
AB  - Based on a low-level and multi-form N addition control experiment, this study
      took cold-temperate coniferous forest in Daxing'an Ling as the research object.
      After long-term and continuous nitrogen addition in situ, the available nitrogen
      (NH4(+) -N & NO3(-) -N) contents and pH values of the soil (0-10 cm) were
      measured in the early growing season (May) and the peak growing season (August)
      in 2010, 2012 and 2013. The results showed that, the available nitrogen in the
      early and peak growing seasons was mainly NH4(+) -N which accounted for over 96%
      of the inorganic nitrogen content, while the content of NO3(-) -N was very low.
      With the time extension of nitrogen addition, the effects of nitrogen addition on
      the NH4(+) -N content in 0-10 cm soil were more obvious in the early growing
      season than that in the peak growing season, and the NH4(+) -N content was mainly
      affected by the type of nitrogen addition. On the contrary, the NO3(-) -N content
      in 0-10 cm soil was higher in the peak growing season than that in the early
      growing season. The effect of N input was obvious on NO3(-) -N content in both
      early and peak growing seasons, and low nitrogen treatment tended to promote the
      enrichment of NO3(-) -N. As time went on, the response of NH4(+) -N and NO3(-) -N
      content to N addition was changed from insignificant in the early stage to
      significant in the late stage. N addition had a significant impact on the pH
      value of the 0-10 cm soil in the early and peak growing seasons. The pH values of
      the soil with low nitrogen treatment and the soil in the peak growing season were
      relatively lower. With the extension of the nitrogen addition time, the response
      of pH value also turned from insignificant in the early stage to significant in
      the late stage. Because of the long-term and continuous nitrogen addition, the 0 
      10 cm soil in this cold-temperate coniferous forest was obviously acidified.

PMID- 25826943
TI  - [Impact of land use type on stability and organic carbon of soil aggregates in
      Jinyun Mountain].
AB  - Soil aggregates have the important effect on soil fertility, soil quality and the
      sustainable utilization of soil, and they are the mass bases of water and
      fertilizer retention ability of soil and the supply or release of soil nutrients.
      In this paper, in order to study the impact of land use type on stability and
      organic carbon of soil aggregates in Jinyun Mountain, we separated four land use
      types of soil, which are woodland, abandoned land, orchard and sloping farmland
      by wet sieving method, then we got the proportion of large macroaggregates (> 2
      mm), small macroaggregates (0.25-2 mm), microaggregates (53 MUm-0.25 mm) and silt
      + clay (< 53 MUm) and measured the content of organic carbon in each aggregate
      fraction in soil depth of 0-60 cm and calculated the total content of organic
      carbon of all aggregates fraction in each soil. The results showed that
      reclamation of woodland will lead to fragmentation of macroaggregates and
      deterioration of soil structure, and the proportion of macroaggrgates (> 0.25 mm)
      were 44.62% and 32.28% respectively in the soils of orchard and sloping farmland,
      which reduced 38.58% (P < 0.05) and 91.52% (P < 0.05) compared with woodland.
      While after changing the sloping farmland to abandoned land, which lead to the
      conversion of soil fraction from silt + clay to large macroaggregates and small
      macroaggregates, so it will improve the soil structure. MWD (mean weight
      diameter) and GMD (geometric mean diameter) are important indicators of
      evaluating the stability of soil aggregates. We found the MWD and GWD in soil
      depth of 0-60 cm in orchards and sloping farmland were significantly lower than
      those in woodland (P < 0.05), while after changing the sloping farmland to
      abandoned land, the MWD and GWD increased significantly (P < 0.05), which
      indicated that reclamation of woodland will lead to the decrease of stability of
      soil aggregates, and they will be separated more easily by water. However, after
      changing the sloping farmland to abandoned land will enhance the stability of
      soil aggregates, and improve the ability of soil to resist external damage. The
      organic carbon content in each soil aggregate of four land use types decreased
      with the increase of soil depth. In soil depth of 0-60 cm, the storage of organic
      carbon of large macroaggregates in each soil are in orders of woodland (14.98 Mg
      x hm(-2)) > abandoned land (8.71 Mg x hm(-2)) > orchard (5.82 Mg x hm(-2)) >
      sloping farmland (2.13 Mg x hm(-2)), and abandoned land (35.61 Mg x hm(-2)) >
      woodland (20.38 Mg x hm-(-2)) > orchard (13.83 Mg x hm(-2)) > sloping farmland
      (6.77 Mg x hm(-2)) in small macroaggregates, and abandoned land (22.44 Mg x hm(
      2)) > woodland (10.20 Mg x hm(-2)) > orchard (6.80 Mg x hm(-2)) > sloping
      farmland (5. 60 Mg x hm(-2)) in microaggregates, and abandoned land (22.21 Mg x
      hm(-2)) > woodland (17.01 Mg x hm(-2)) > orchard (16.70 Mg x hm(-2)) > sloping
      farmland (9.85 Mg x hm(-2)) in silt and clay fraction. Storage of organic carbon
      in each aggregate in the soils of woodland and abandoned land were higher than
      those in the soils of orchard and sloping farmland, which indicated that
      reclamation of woodland will lead to a loss of organic carbon in each soil
      aggregate fraction, while after changing the sloping farmland to abandoned land
      will contribute to restore and sequestrate the soil organic carbon. In addition,
      it showed that most organic carbon accumulated in small macroaggregate in soils
      of woodland and abandoned land, while they are in silt and clay in soils of
      orchard and sloping farmland, indicating that organic carbon in larger aggregates
      is unstable and is easier to convert during the land use change.

PMID- 25826944
TI  - [Investigation and canonical correspondence analysis of salinity contents in
      secondary salinization greenhouse soils in Shanghai suburb].
AB  - The salinity characteristics of greenhouse soils with cropping obstacles in
      Shanghai suburb were investigated and analyzed. The salinity contents of the
      salinization greenhouse soils showed a trend of first increasing and then
      decreasing with the increasing cropping duration. The salinized soils mainly
      included slightly salted, mildly salted and salted soils, which accounted for
      17.39%, 56.52% and 13.04%, respectively. Among them, the degree of salinity in
      greenhouse soil planted with asparagus in Chongming County was the highest. Among
      the salt ions in greenhouse soils, the cations were mainly Ca2+ and Na+, while
      the anions were mainly NO3- and SO4(2-). The degree of salinity was mainly
      influenced by fertilization mode, cropping duration, crop type and management
      level, which led to the great variation in the salinity contents and salt ions.
      Canonical correspondence analysis found that the contents of Ca2+, Mg2+ and NO3-
      in greenhouse soils were greatly affected by cropping duration, and the degree of
      salinity would be enhanced and attenuated with long-term application of single
      fertilizer and mixed application of chemical fertilizer and organic manure,
      respectively. The greenhouse soils in Shanghai suburb could be classified as four
      patterns influenced by the relationship between salinity ions and samples, and
      the most soils were influenced by Ca2+, Mg2+, NO3- and Cl-, which required to be
      primarily controlled.

PMID- 25826945
TI  - [Spatial distribution prediction of surface soil Pb in a battery contaminated
      site].
AB  - In order to enhance the reliability of risk estimation and to improve the
      accuracy of pollution scope determination in a battery contaminated site with the
      soil characteristic pollutant Pb, four spatial interpolation models, including
      Combination Prediction Model (OK(LG) + TIN), kriging model (OK(BC)), Inverse
      Distance Weighting model (IDW), and Spline model were employed to compare their
      effects on the spatial distribution and pollution assessment of soil Pb. The
      results showed that Pb concentration varied significantly and the data was
      severely skewed. The variation coefficient of the site was higher in the local
      region. OK(LG) + TIN was found to be more accurate than the other three models in
      predicting the actual pollution situations of the contaminated site. The
      prediction accuracy of other models was lower, due to the effect of the principle
      of different models and datum feature. The interpolation results of OK(BC), IDW
      and Spline could not reflect the detailed characteristics of seriously
      contaminated areas, and were not suitable for mapping and spatial distribution
      prediction of soil Pb in this site. This study gives great contributions and
      provides useful references for defining the remediation boundary and making
      remediation decision of contaminated sites.

PMID- 25826946
TI  - [Immobilization remediation of Cd and Pb contaminated soil: remediation potential
      and soil environmental quality].
AB  - A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the immobilization remediation
      effects of sepiolite on soils artificially combined contamination by Cd and Pb
      using a set of various pH and speciation of Cd and Pb in soil, heavy metal
      concentration in Oryza sativa L., and soil enzyme activity and microbial
      quantity. Results showed that the addition of sepiolite increased the soil pH,
      and the exchangeable fraction of heavy metals was converted into Fe-Mn oxide,
      organic and residual forms, the concentration of exchangeable form of Cd and Pb
      reduced by 1.4% - 72.9% and 11.8% - 51.4%, respectively, when compared with the
      control. The contents of heavy metals decreased with increasing sepiolite, with
      the maximal Cd reduction of 39.8%, 36.4%, 55.2% and 32.4%, respectively, and
      22.1%, 54.6%, 43.5% and 17.8% for Pb, respectively, in the stems, leaves, brown
      rice and husk in contrast to CK. The addition of sepiolite could improve the soil
      environmental quality, the catalase and urease activities and the amount of
      bacteria and actinomycete were increased to some extents. Although the fungi
      number and invertase activity were inhibited compared with the control group, it
      was not significantly different (P > 0.05). The significant correlation between
      pH, available heavy metal content, urease and invertase activities and heavy
      metal concentration in the plants indicated that these parameters could be used
      to evaluate the effectiveness of stabilization remediation of heavy metal
      contaminated soil.

PMID- 25826947
TI  - [Rules and impact factors of greenhouse gases emission in the saline-alkali paddy
      fields in different years].
AB  - With the method of combining field sampling and plot test, we took saline-alkali
      paddy field of Qianguo county, Jilin province as an investigation object.
      According to the nature of soil in the area, we monitored CH4 and N2O which
      released from soil during rice growth period and tested the soil pH and soil
      organic carbon to analyze the law and reasons of greenhouse gas emission in the
      paddy fields. The results showed that N2O emission from paddy fields presented
      three peaks with distinct seasonal patterns. Application of fertilizer provided
      additional reactive substrate, which affected N2O emission significantly. Under
      flooding conditions, the main source of N2O is a denitrification process, while
      after drainage, nitrification was the predominance. CH4 emission showed a single
      peak at rice tillering stage when rice grew vigorously. That deoxidation
      condition dominated in the deep water layer in the paddy fields provided suitable
      conditions for CH4 producing microorganisms, which result in the emergence of CH4
      emission peak. The pH doesn't have an obvious influence on CH4 and N2O, while SOC
      content in soil and pattern of CH4 emission showed a significantly positive
      correlation.

PMID- 25826949
TI  - [Poisoning effect of Ca depositing over Mn-Ce/TiO2 catalyst for low-temperature
      selective catalytic reduction of NO by NH3].
AB  - Calcium carbonate (CaCO3), calcium sulfate (CaSO4), and calcium chloride (CaCl2)
      were chosen as the precursors to prepare the Ca salts deposited Mn-Ce/TiO2
      catalysts through an impregnation method. The influence of Ca on the performance
      of the Mn-Ce/TiO2 catalyst for low-temperature selective catalytic reduction of
      NO by NH3 was investigated. Experimental results showed that Ca salts had
      negative effects on the activity of Mn-Ce/TiO2 and the precursors of Ca salts
      also affected the catalytic activity. The precursor CaCl2 had a greater impact on
      the catalytic activity, while CaCO3 had minimal effect. The samples were
      characterized by Brunner-Emmet-Teller measurements (BET), X-ray photoelectron
      spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and NH3temperature programmed
      desorption (NH3 -TPD). The characterization results indicated that the
      significant changes in physical and chemical properties of Mn-Ce/TiO2 were
      observed after Ca was deposited on the catalysts. The significant decreases in
      surface areas and NH,3adsorption amounts were observed after Ca was deposited on
      the catalysts, which could be considered as the main reasons for the deactivation
      of Ca deposited Mn-Ce/TiO,2

PMID- 25826948
TI  - [Adsorption of Cd(II) varies with biochars derived at different pyrolysis
      temperatures].
AB  - Ten biochars were prepared at different pyrolysis temperatures (300- 600 degrees
      C) using peanut shells and Chinese medicine material residue as raw materials,
      and were characterized. Adsorption behavior of Cd(II) on these biochars at
      different solution pHs, sorption times, and Cd(II) concentrations was
      investigated. The C content, surface area, and aromaticity of the biochars
      increased with increasing pyrolysis temperature, while the amount of oxygen
      containing functional groups decreased. In addition, the content of inorganic
      minerals (e. g., Ca/Mg carbonate or phosphate) was enriched, but their solubility
      was reduced with increasing pyrolysis temperature. As the solution pHs increased
      from 2.0 to 6.0, the amount of Cd(II) adsorbed on the biochars gradually
      increased, and achieved the maximum at pH 6.0. Adsorption processes could be
      divided into two stages: fast and slow sorption. The rate of Cd(II) adsorption on
      these biochars was regulated by film and intraparticle diffusion, precipitation
      and ion exchange. With increasing temperature, the percentage of fast sorption to
      overall sorption of Cd(II) gradually decreased. Sharp decrease of oxygen
      containing functional groups and formation of insoluble crystalline minerals
      reduced the rate of fast sorption on the high-temperature biochars (> 500 degrees
      C). For low-temperature biochars (<= 400 degrees C), precipitation and ion
      exchange were the dominant sorption mechanisms. For high-temperature biochars (>=
      500 degrees C), more integrated pi-conjugated aromatic structures enhanced the
      contribution of Cd-pi interaction to the overall sorption, but the formation of
      phosphate and carbonate minerals probably weakened the sorption. These results
      will provide important information on screening biochars as engineered adsorbents
      to remove or immobilize Cd(II) in contaminated water and soil.

PMID- 25826950
TI  - [A comparative study on domestic and foreign emission standards of air pollutants
      for cement industry].
AB  - The new National Emission Standard of Air Pollutants for Cement Industry (GB 4915
      2013) becomes effective on Mar. 1st, 2014. It will play an important role in
      pollution prevention, total emission reduction, structure adjustment, and layout
      optimization for cement industry. Based on the research of emission standard in
      China, U. S., EU and Japan, the similarities and differences in the pollutant
      projects, control indicators, limits and means of implementation were discussed
      and advice was proposed, with the purpose to provide a reference for revision of
      emission standard, and to improve the level of environmental management and
      pollution control.

PMID- 25826951
TI  - [Revision process and thinking of emission standard of air pollutants for cement
      industry].
AB  - The new National Emission Standard of Air Pollutants for Cement Industry (GB 4915
      2013) was released recently, which is the third revision since the first release
      in 1985. This paper reviewed the revision process for the emission standard of
      air pollutants in cement industry, analyzed the impact of environmental
      protection situation and management policies changes on the content and form of
      the standard. The standard formulating principles and several key issues together
      constitute the base of emission standard, which are not only important to
      complete the theories and methods of emission standard development, but also
      important to improve the environmental management and pollution control level.

PMID- 25826952
TI  - [The beginning of a new cycle].

PMID- 25826953
TI  - [Prevalence of clinical and subclinical hypothyroidism during pregnancy in a
      pregnant women population].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of hypothyroidism during pregnancy in a
      group of pregnant patients attending antenatal care at the National Institute of
      Perinatology and to meet cases not detected by universal screening. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Was conducted from October 2012 to March 2013, in a group of pregnant
      patients attending to National Institute of Perinatology, thyroid profile was
      performed according to the recom- mendations of the American Thyroid Association.
      Patients were referred to endocrinology consultation and treatment was started in
      case of abnormal thyroid profile. We used central tendency and non-parametric
      measures for description of the sample. RESULTS: The prevalence of thyroid
      disease in pregnancy was 33.9% (n = 37), 12.8% (n = 14) with clinical
      hypothyroidism and 21.1% (n = 23) subclinical hypothyroidism. The 87.1% (n = 95)
      of patients reported at least one symptom or risk factor history for thyroid
      disease, only 12.8% (n = 14), had no history or symptoms related to thyroid
      disease. There is no relationship between a history or symptoms reported and the
      presence of thyroid disease. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of thyroid clinical and
      subclinical disease is greater than that reported in the literature. There is not
      relationship with each risk factor for thyroid disease. Perform universal
      screening detects almost twice thyroid disease during pregnancy.

PMID- 25826954
TI  - [Intrauterine growth retardation in Peru: stressors and perinatal outcomes
      Hospital Ministry of Health].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence, stressors and perinatal outcomes of
      intrauterine growth retardation in the hospitals of the Ministry of Health of
      Peru. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cross-sectional, analytical, case-control study of
      9777 infants with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) in 29 hospitals of the
      Ministry of Health of Peru in 2010. The Peruvian intrauterine growth curve was
      used for the diagnosis of IUGR. IUGR newborns (cases) and newborns appropriate
      for gestational age (controls) were compared using the odds ratio (OR) with a
      confidence interval of 95%. RESULTS: The incidence of IUGR was 10.1%. The
      incidence by region was: 8.1% Coast, 11.8% Selva and Sierra 14.6%. The frequency
      of stress factors of IUGR were: nutrition (92%), psychological (84.8%), social
      (53%), anatomical (63.6%), toxic/environmental (52.9%), vascular (29,8%),
      infection (14.1%) and metabolic (0.3%). The newborn with IUGR had higher
      perinatal morbidity (OR=2,1) and mortality (OR=3.5). CONCLUSION: The healthy
      fetus is the result of a balance between stress factors and the adaptive response
      of the mother and fetus. When the response of physiological adaptation is
      overcome by stress factors, IUGR occurs.The political, psychological, nutritional
      and medical intervention before 12 weeks of gestation has the potential to change
      the harmful effects of all human stress factors that affect fetal growth.

PMID- 25826955
TI  - [Prevalence of urinary tract infection in hospitalized patients with preterm
      labor].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of urinary tract infection (UTI) in
      patients with preterm labor. METHODS: A prospective, observational, descriptive
      study, with a sample of 272 patients who were hospitalized in the Hospital de la
      Mujer at Culiacan, Sinaloa that presented symptoms of preterm labor. Age body
      mass index (BMI), parity, education, weeks of gestation, mode of delivery,
      history of preterm delivery and UTI were assessed. RESULTS: Of the 272 patients
      with threatened preterm delivery, 97 (35.6%) had positive urine culture and of
      these patients, 32 (32.9%) had preterm labor. Association between urinary tract
      infection and patients with a hemoglobin (Hb) less than 11 g/dL OR: 2.66 95% CI
      (1.55-4.55), p 0.0003. Was isolated E. coli in 72 (74.4%) patients, Proteus in 9
      (9.2%) patients. It was found that 42% of E. coli strains were resistant to
      ampicillin and 38.4% to ciprofloxacin. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of UTI is
      higher than the national prevalence.

PMID- 25826956
TI  - [Rh alloimmunization in pregnant women, a look to diagnosis and therapeutic
      approach].
AB  - Prior to the onset of immunoglobulin antiD, many of the fetuses of mothers
      negative for the antigen "D" developing severe disease, history of prenatal
      diagnosis of alloimmunization is the perfect example of constructive effort by a
      diagnosis in order to identify cases in need of therapy to decrease morbidity and
      increase survival with the least number of invasive procedures and reducing the
      risks associated with them. Today it is difficult to determine the true
      prevalence of the disease in our environment, but the understanding of the
      pathophysiology has helped the evolution of diagnostic tests and better treatment
      approach to positively impact the evolution of the disease.

PMID- 25826957
TI  - [Endometriosis. Why is not removed by the immune system?].
AB  - Endometriosis is a gynecological inflammatory and estrogen dependent pathology,
      defined as the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity. The two
      most common symptoms of endometriosis are pelvic pain and infertility. This pain
      can be so intense that it affects the quality of life of women, from their
      relationships to their daily activities. Approximately 10% of women of
      reproductive age suffer from this disease. The main objective of this work was to
      investigate which immune system abnormalities present in patients with
      endometriosis that prevents ectopic endometrial tissue removal. Here we describe
      a series of changes in the different types of leukocytes, cytokines and factors
      that regulate the immune response seen in patients with endometriosis and the
      mechanisms by which these changes, not only favor "immunological tolerance" to
      the endometrial implants but at the same time stimulate the development of the
      disease by increasing cell proliferation and angiogenesis and inhibition of
      apoptosis ectopic endometrial tissue.

PMID- 25826958
TI  - [Transabdominal oocyte retrieval: case report on an IVF cycle].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ultrasound-guided transvaginal follicular aspiration is the standard
      of care in women undergoing oocyte retrieval during vitro fertilization (IVF).
      When this approach is inaccessible, there are alternative methods to extract the
      oocytes at the exact moment. One of these alternative options is the
      transabdominal ultrasound-guided follicular aspiration. We present a case report
      of a mixed follicular aspiration in a patient with ovaries of difficult access.
      CASE REPORT: A 36-year-old patient with primary infertility came for medical
      advice. Because of bilateral tubal occlusion, an in vitro fertilization cycle was
      started. Transvaginal sonograms revealed a normal left ovary, but the right one
      was completely attached to the anterior face of the uterus. After ovarian
      stimulation, transvaginal follicular aspiration was done on the left ovary,
      meanwhile, on the right ovary; transabdominal follicular aspiration was
      performed, retrieving 3 oocytes on metaphase II by this technique. Finally, there
      were no complications during the procedure and the patient got pregnant at the
      end of the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound-guided transabdominal follicular
      aspiration, is the safest and most effective technique when transvaginal access
      to the ovaries is compromised.

PMID- 25826959
TI  - [Prenatal diagnosis of fetal heterotaxy syndromes: report of two cases and review
      of the literature].
AB  - We describe the prenatal sonographic findings in two cases of fetal heterotaxy
      syndrome evaluated at the Maternal Fetal Medicine Unit of a tertiary hospital
      over a period of one year and present a review of the literature on the subject.

PMID- 25826960
TI  - [Hematocervix, a new variety of hematometra. A case report].
AB  - The hematometra should be suspected in a patient with amenorrhea and recurrent
      pain in low stomach. It is conditioned by anatomical obstruction of the exit way
      from menstrual bled, that can release the presentation forms described as
      hematocolpos, hematometra and hematosalpinx. Report does not exist where alone
      the cervix is affected, for what the case is described with connotation of
      hematocervix. Patient of 32 years, regular menstruation, begins symptoms 25 days
      later to the menstruation, characterized by intense abdominal pain, for what goes
      to the service of gineco-obstetrics urgencies, where it is hospitalized under
      diagnose of abdominal painful syndrome. The transvaginal sonographic reports long
      cervix and with distention for a collection liquidates, the intern cervical hole
      open, the external minimally dehiscent, scarce flow of the contained endocervical
      toward the vaginal way through the external hole, for its ecographic aspect
      compatible with hematic material. The diameters anteroposterior and transverse of
      the cervix of 2.50 and 4.57 cm respectively. Was passed to surgical room, CEH
      with fibrosis that hindered the open dilation, for what were take both lips of
      the cervix and proceeded to dilation with Hegar until number 6, begin glide of
      dark and dense blood approximately in 60 mi. The evolution was good, since later
      to the anesthetic event, she referred remission of the pain and the sonographic
      control demonstrated cervix of normal anatomical characteristic, inclusive until
      year of follow. A wide diversity of symptoms and clinical data have been
      demonstrated that should have present for the hematometra diagnosis, among those
      that are the urinary retention, tennesmus and presence of painful pelvic mass,
      but the recurrent abdominal pain is the constant in all the cases.

PMID- 25826961
TI  - [Analyze the semantic topics that have given height to this concept and its
      practical use].

PMID- 25826962
TI  - [Insulin resistance frecuency in women's with polycystic ovary syndrome using
      hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess IR in PCOS patients, using the HE-clamp as the IR gold
      standard. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A transversal design was done. All patients who
      accepted to participate provided written informed consent. PCOS was diagnosed
      according to the 2003 Rotterdam criteria. IR was assessed using the H-clamp, and
      other IR surrogates such as; fasting plasma insulin (FPI), homeostasis model
      assessment (HOMA) index and insulin/ glucose rate (I/G rate). Statistical
      analysis was performed using measures of location and spread was used according
      to data distribution. RESULTS: 21 patients were included. The mean age of the
      total group studied was 29.5 +/- 4.8 years, and the body mass index (BMI) was
      27.2 +/- 3.08 kg/m2. The 85.7% of the patients met the three Rotterdam criteria
      for the diagnosis of PCOS. According to the HE clamp 95.2% were IR (M/I value < 6
      mg/Kg/min), in contrast the prevalence of IR using sur- rogates was 47.6%, 33.3%,
      and 66.6% for FPI, G/I rate, and HOMA index respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      findings show that IR is highly prevalent in patients with PCOS, and that this
      prevalence is even higher when insulin sensitivity is assessed using the glucose
      clamp technique. This evidence suggests that IR could be considered diagnostic
      criteria for PCOS.

PMID- 25826963
TI  - [Histologic chorioamnionitis prevalence in patients with premature rupture
      membranes].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Search Histologic Chorioamnionitis frequency in patients in week 28
      (+/-) and pregnancy with premature rupture of membranes. PATIENTS AND METHOD:
      Retrospective and observational study in which we studied all patients who came
      between June 28, 2011 and November 15, 2011 to receive obstetric care in the
      service of Tocochirurgical of the University Hospital of Saltillo, with greater
      than or equal 28 weeks of pregnancy. RESULTS: 598 patients were studied, and the
      frequency of premature rupture of membranes with histologic chorioamnionitis at
      term patients was, respectively, 1.7 and 5.3% in preterm labor. In the total
      sample frequency of histologic chorioamnionitis was 0.6% (4 patients) and, of
      these, 25% were term and 75% with preterm rupture. In patients with premature
      rupture of membranes the clinical chorioamnionitis was 0% valued by the criteria
      of Gibbs. CONCLUSIONS: The premature rupture of membranes is a risk factor
      important for histological chorioamnionitis. To decrease risk factors and
      possible complications, an established protocol must be taken.

PMID- 25826964
TI  - [Postmenopausal symptoms severity enhancement oxidative stress in women with
      metabolic syndrome].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress is a serious imbalance between the reactive oxygen
      species (ROS) produced and the antioxidant systems, and has been identified to
      cause metabolic syndrome. Postmenopausal women (POS) with severe symptoms have
      higher oxidative stress; therefore it is possible to observe higher oxidative
      stress in postmenopausal women with metabolic syndrome and severe menopause
      related symptoms. OBJECTIVE: To determinate if the severe postmenopausal symptoms
      increased oxidative stress in women with metabolic syndrome. METHODS: We carry
      out a cross-sectional study with POS, 48 with metabolic syndrome and 52 healthy.
      Control group was defined as women heealthy and without severe symptoms (H-SS).
      Metabolic syndrome was defined according to criteria established by NCEP-ATPIII.
      We measured lipoperoxides by the TBARS assay as oxidative stress marker. All
      women answered the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) that evaluates the severity of
      global symptoms in three dimensions: psychological, somatic and urogenital; and
      the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). In each questionnaire was used a cutoff value to
      determine the severity of symptoms and alternative cut-off value for
      lipoperoxides > or =0.320 mol/L. RESULTS: The prevalence of high plasma
      lipoperoxides levels was higher in women with metabolic syndrome (WMS), 39 [81%]
      vs. 33 [64%], p < 0.05. The WMS, independent of severe symptoms (SS), had high
      lipoperoxides levels, similar to H+SS, except in urogenital MRS dimen- sion and
      AIS. The risk of higher lipoperoxides increased with MS and severe symptoms
      RM=6.32, 95% CI: 1.32-30.20, p < 0.05, adjusted by others pro-oxidants factors.
      CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the severity of menopausal related symptoms
      increased oxidative stress in women with metabolic syndrome.

PMID- 25826965
TI  - [Body composition and lipidic profile in women's during the third trimester of
      pregnancy].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the behavior of body composition and lipid profile in
      pregnant women during the third trimester and who attended a Regional hospital
      Tepatitlan, Jalisco, Mexico. METHODS: In an observational study, transversal,
      analytic 36 apparently healthy pregnant women were included with gestational age
      between 33 to <42 weeks. Anthropometric measurements, body composition and lipid
      profile were obtained. Student t test, Mann Whitney, chi square, Pearson and
      Spearman correlation for data analysis were used. RESULTS: 11 participants were
      overweight and 8 obese. Significant association between higher concentrations of
      triglycerides and TG / HDL-c index and pre-gestational BMI (p = 0.039 and p =
      0.032 respectively) were found. Concentration greater than 200 mg / dL
      triglycerides are associated with an increased interpregnancy period of 3 years
      (p = 0.012). There was a significant correlation between abdominal deliveries
      with anthropometric indicators, pre-gestational weight, pre-gestational BMI and
      current BMI. CONCLUSION: There is a direct correlation between body composition
      and lipid profile with age and the incidence of cesarean section. It is necessary
      to establish a more precise reference criterion for both the longitudinal track
      for every pregnant woman and for purposes of parametric comparison.

PMID- 25826966
TI  - [Non evidence of the "evidence". Twenty years from starting its use].
AB  - In view of the widespread wrong use in spanish of the erroneous translation of
      evidence-based Medicine as "medicina basada en la evidencia", comments are made
      from the general concepts of phylosophy, particularly from the chapter of
      "semiotics", which demonstrate the falacious use of such a wrong translation and
      the dangers of its indiscriminate use of this procedure, that may be very
      valuable in its methodology as proposed by its founders and understood by english
      speaking physicians, making emphasis in the fact that it is just a method to
      obtain a better level of certainty and not a system that should replace the
      criteria employed in traditional medicine. Examples are offered of several
      serious mistakes that have been made by the erroneous application of results
      offered even in articles published in english. Finally, a review is made of
      articles published in five prestigious journals and the difficulty of
      interpreting their contents as a source of clinically useful information. A novel
      procedure is proposed as a possible alternative for assessing medical literature.

PMID- 25826967
TI  - [Decriminalize medical procedures? A first approach from a dual perspective:
      medicine and law].
AB  - The great number of circumstances that Medical doctors face in the "modern"
      practice of medicine has generated a series of remarks that lead us to meditate
      the repercussions of the legal approach towards MDs involved in unexpected events
      and undesirable health outcomes, that generate a denunciation, suit or complaint
      to the law enforcement agencies. These unexpected events and undesirable health
      outcomes have a multifactorial origin, but each one of the variables involved
      rests upon the generic basis of the global impoverishment of our society, which
      lead us to recall the biblical verse "He that is without sin among you, let him
      first cast a stone at her". Today we listen, read, believe, and some of us
      pretend to teach the guidelines that we are supposed to follow to avoid serious
      consequences of the so-called "judicialization of medicine". Therefore, today
      more than ever, we are required to express ideas that seek an integration of the
      experiences in the clinical setting and the experiences in the legal framework,
      from a dual perspective.

PMID- 25826968
TI  - [Ductus arteriosus aneurysm. Case report and review of the literature].
AB  - The saccular or fusiform dilatation of the ductus arteriosus is called aneurysm
      (DAA). It is diagnosed in the second trimester during a structural ultrasound.
      Even though the reported incidence is 2.2%, it remains infrequent, because it is
      not searched routinely. The pathogenesis is uncertain, resulting from an increase
      on the circulating blood volume thus in the cardiac afterload, associated to a
      thinning of the vessel wall, for an inadequate intima development. Ductus
      arteriosus aneurysm can be classified according by their diameter as small (<7
      mm.) and large (> or =8 mm). The smaller commonly closes spontaneously in 70% of
      the cases, unlike the larger one, they are associate in a greater number of
      complications, such as thrombosis, embolism, infection, compression effects of
      adjacent structures and spontaneous rupture. The absence of spontaneous closure,
      according to the symptoms and possible complications, a neonatal surgical closure
      should be considered. We report a case of a 35-year-old patient, diagnose on the
      35 week pregnancy, a ductus arteriosus aneurysm by ultrasound with an image of
      the three vessels performed communicating, saccular dilatation of 7-8 mm. and a
      turbulent Doppler flow.

PMID- 25826969
TI  - [Giant sacrococcygeal teratoma in twin pregnancy].
AB  - Sacrococcygeal teratoma tumors are more frequent in infants alive. It is
      characterized by its benign histology in the majority of the cases diagnosed
      prenatally; it is necessary to follow narrow to prevent neonatal complications
      that can lead to urinary tract complications and fecal, high-output heart
      failure, hydrops and, in extreme cases, the death of the fetus. CASE REPORT:
      Primigravidae 30 years old, with gestation twins, bicorial, biamniotic in the
      first trimester of pregnancy to one of the twins is diagnosed sacrococcygeus
      teratoma giant, with favorable monitoring in the maternal-fetal Medicine Unit of
      the University Hospital of La Paz in Madrid, and with postnatal resection surgery
      successful. We review the diagnostic procedures and treatment of this tumor in
      unique and twin gestations.

PMID- 25826970
TI  - Influence of diet on oral health in young adults--pilot study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Diet is a factor that can modify, among others, the course of
      caries, dental erosive lesions and periodontal disease. It is important to know
      the influence of diet on the clinical oral condition in young adults. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: 20 women and 20 men aged 19-21 participated in the study. During a
      clinical examination of the patients the following clinical indices were
      estimated: Ap- proximal Plaque Index (API), Bleeding on Probing (BOP) and DMFT
      indices. The frequency and quality of food products consumed were noted in a
      special questionnaire. Results with p <= 0.05 were considered statistically
      significant. RESULTS: The average API value for the female participants was
      77.37%, BOP--23.84% and DMFT--9.9. The t-test results for independent samples
      showed that women who consumed meat and meat products two times a week or more,
      had statistically higher API (p = 0.01) and BOP (p = 0.05) values, than the mean
      value for these indexes. Women who consumed grain products and grain-based
      products two times a week or more, had higher API values compared to the mean
      value for this index (p = 0.02). The average API value for the male participants
      was 34.25%, BOP--10.15% and DMFT--9.05, respectively. Men who consumed milk and
      dairy products three times a week or less had statistically lower API (p = 0.05)
      and BOP values (p = 0.02), relative to the mean index values. CONCLUSIONS: The
      chemical composition and texture of the food intake can affect oral health.
      Besides instruction in oral hygiene, doctors and dentists should also assess the
      eating habits of their patients.

PMID- 25826971
TI  - Cardiac status of persons qualified for living kidney donation--single-center
      experience.
AB  - Some of living kidney donors have medical conditions associated with future risk
      of cardiovascular diseases. It seems justified to identify risk factors and
      cardiological disorders prior to the donation. AIM: To determine the
      cardiological status of persons qualified as a living kidney donor. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: We analyzed the data of 109 potential living kidney donors, aged 25-70
      (mean 45.7 +/- 10.9) years. They underwent clinical and biochemical examination.
      In some of them extended diagnostics was performed. The presence of risk factors
      of coronary artery disease were registered. RESULTS: Only 46 (42%) persons were
      qualified for kidney donation. As many as 40 of them had 21 risk factor. In 75
      (68.8%) patients without hypertension, 24-hours ambulatory blood pressure
      monitoring was done. The masked hypertension was found in 6 persons. In 22
      candidates aged > 50 years the exercise test was performed (positive or
      inconclusive in 3 persons). Coronarography was done in 5 individuals (in no any
      significant atherosclerotic lesions were found). 63 (58%) person were
      disqualified. In 15 (23.8%) person the reasons were cardiological. In 2 patient
      the abdominal aneurysms were found. Both men smoked and had severe
      dyslipidaemias. In 3rd patient we observed persistent atrial fibrillation. The
      next 2 men had the peripheral occlusive arterial disease. In 9 patients >= 2 risk
      factors and in the last one morbid obesity were present. CONCLUSION: In Poland
      candidates for living kidney donation have very often risk factors of
      cardiovascular disease. Among the persons proceeded for kidney donation
      cardiovascular problems are an important cause of disqualification.

PMID- 25826972
TI  - [The causes of falls and injuries after falls in women over the age of 50 living
      alone in Krakow].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Falls are one of the most devastating health problems of elderly
      people. The identification of causes of falls helps to establish proper
      prevention strategies. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The study was based on a group of
      community-dwelling, independent women aged over 50 years. The frequency of falls
      was calculated on the basis of a retrospective analysis of 1326 cases. 100 women
      were chosen for a telephone questionnaire to identify causes and consequences of
      falls. The average age was 63.9 (SD 8.6) and the average BMI was 27.6 (SD 5.4).
      RESULTS: Approximately 31% of 1326 women reported at least one fall a year. In
      the year preceding the questionnaire 62% of the participants reported one fall,
      26%--two falls, 8%--three falls and 5%--four and more falls. In the surveyed
      group of 100 women 72% of falls occurred outdoors, which is 2.5 times more often
      than at home (28%). 68% of falls occurred between 12 pm and 6 pm. Summer is the
      season of the highest occurrence of falls (37%). In winter, the frequency of
      outdoor falls increases, whereas during summer the frequency of falls happening
      in and outdoors does not differ. The most frequent cause of falls, both in and
      outdoors, was slipping. Other important risk factors include: hypnotic drugs,
      walking impairments, balance deficit, vertigo, analgesics. Most of the falls had
      various intrinsic and extrinsic causes. KEY POINTS: We found that 30% of women
      aged over 50 years falls at least once a year. Both at home and outside falls
      resulted from slipping. For almost 80% of falls as a consequence of an injury.
      The majority of falls had intrinsic and extrinsic origins.

PMID- 25826973
TI  - [Nitrates and nitrites content in the samples taken from the dug and drilled
      wells from the area of Podkarpacie region as a methemoglobinemia risk factors].
AB  - The aim of the study was to determine the nitrates and nitrites content in water
      samples taken from fourteen dug and drilled wells from the area of Podkarpacie,
      as well as a summary of the previously performed analysis. Private water intakes
      are not under the supervision of the State Sanitary Inspection. So in the case of
      exceeding the standards provided by the Regulation of the Minister of Health,
      regulating the requirements for drinking water, private water intakes can be a
      serious threat to the health of consumers. Particularly at risk are infants, in
      whom nitrates and especially nitrites can cause, among others, methemoglobinemia.
      The analysis was performed by ion chromatography method, making it possible to
      simultaneously determining the concentrations of nitrates and nitrites. As it
      turned out there was no presence of nitrites in the water of the tested wells. In
      five samples taken from the dug wells nitrates concentration exceeding the norm
      of 50 mg/L have been reported. In two cases, exceeding the nitrate concentrations
      were significant: 96.53 mg L and 204.65 mg/L.

PMID- 25826974
TI  - [Changes in the peripheral blood cells count in the early phase of acute
      pancreatitis].
AB  - Peripheral blood count belongs to the most frequently ordered laboratory tests
      performed in the assessment of the current patients condition. In addition to
      basic information, including analysis of individual cell populations, additional
      parameters are given that can be helpful in predicting the course of disease,
      including acute pancreatitis (AP). The aim of the study was to compare the
      parameters of blood counts in patients with mild and moderate to severe AP in the
      early stage of the disease. We confirmed a significant predictive value of
      monitoring the total white blood cell counts, direct neutrophil counts, platelet
      counts, and the value of RDW in the first week of AP. Also, the relationship was
      observed between increased hematocrit value and mortality in patients with severe
      acute pancreatitis.

PMID- 25826975
TI  - [Coagulation profile in patients undergoing elective laparoscopic surgery].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Insuflation abdominal cavity with carbon dioxide during
      laparoscopic surgery increases abdominal pressure, which may cause stasis of the
      blood flow in inferior vena cava and common iliac veins. Moreover, reverse
      Trendelenburg position, in which laparoscopic cholecystectomy is performed,
      decreases venous return. All of this factors makes episode of venous
      thromboembilism (VTE), an asymptomatic state that could cause serious
      complications, more probable. AIM: The aim of the study was to asses influence of
      pneumoperitoneum during laparoscopic procedures on coagulation state and to asses
      relation between body mass index (BMI), age of patients undergoing laparoscopic
      procedures and coagulation profile in the postoperative period. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: The study enrolled 35 patients (F:M = 28:7, mean age 48.3 +/- 14.6, mean
      BMI 26 +/- 4.5 kg/m2), without VTE risk factors, not undergoing anticoagulant
      therapy and without abnormal platelet count. Subjects underwent laparoscopic
      cholecystectomy. Alteration in coagulation profile was assesed on the basis of
      aPTT, PT and TT results. Blood samples were taken twice: in the day of admission
      (samle A) and 5 hours after surgery (sample B). Statistical analysys was
      performed using Wilcoxon signed rank test and Spearman correlation. RESULTS: Mean
      aPTT, PT and TT value of the A sample was 34.54 +/- 6.32s, 1.11+/- 0.14 INR;
      16.35 +/- 1.93s respectively. Mean aPPT, PT and TT value of the B sample was 34.4
      +/- 7.13s; 1.17 +/- 0.11 INR; 16.41 +/- 1.88s, respectively. Change of PT value
      pre- and postoperatively was statistical significant (p = 0.0009). There was
      statistical significant correlation between duration of the surgery and sample B
      PT and TT values (p = 0.0115 and 0.0218 respectively). No other correlation
      between BMI, age and sample B values was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Creation of
      pneumoperitoneum has no influence on shortening of clotting times. Because of
      early mobilisation, fast discharge and recovery that makes natural anticoaculant
      prevention available short after surgery, clinical risk of DVT is not high.

PMID- 25826976
TI  - [Evaluation of implementation phase of intraoperative neural monitoring of the
      recurrent laryngeal nerves in thyroid surgery in a district hospital].
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Intraoperative neuromonitoring of the recurrent laryngeal
      nerves (RLN) has gained an increasing acceptance in thyroid surgery in nerve
      identification and prognostication of nerve function. However, outcomes of
      monitored thyroid surgery depend on surgical experience and skills in technical
      application of this adjunct. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the
      implementation stage of intraoperative neuromonitoring of the RLNs in a district
      unit of general surgery. METHODS: This prospective study comprised of 50 patients
      undergoing consecutive thyroid operations during the implementation phase of
      intraoperative neuromonitoring of the RLNs in 08/2012--07/2013 at a district unit
      of general surgery in Staszow. Neuromonitoring of the RLNs was conducted in
      concordance with the International Neural Monitoring Study Group guideline
      statement, using C2 NerveMonitor (Inomed, Germany). The following parameters were
      analyzed: patients demographic data, mean operating time, number of identified
      RLNs, prevalence of loss of signal, predictive value of the method, and
      prevalence of temporary and permanent RLN injury assessed by videolaryngoscopy in
      a 6-month postoperative follow-up. RESULTS: The study group comprised of 93 RLNs
      at risk during 50 thyroid operations (43 total thyroidectomies, and 7
      lobectomies), including 46 women and 4 men, at mean age of 56.0 +/- 11.1 years.
      Mean operating time was 109.9 +/- 19.0 min. Eighty-three of 93 (89.2%) RLNs were
      identified intraoperatively. Technical setup problems necessitating corrections
      were encountered in 12 (24.0%) operations. Negative predictive value of
      neuromonitoring was 89.3%, while positive predictive value was 55.6%. Temporary
      versus permanent RLN injury was diagnosed in 7 (7.5%) vs. 6 (6.5%) nerves at
      risk, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Technical setup problems necessitating
      corrections are common during the implementation phase of the intraoperative RLNs
      neuromonitoring leading to a prolonged duration of surgery and limited predictive
      value of the method.

PMID- 25826977
TI  - [Falls during hospitalization--prevalence and consequences].
AB  - A systematic growth in the number of the elderly among hospitalized patients,
      including the number of patients in the oldest age group, is being observed over
      the last few years. A stay in hospital conditions is connected with deterioration
      of their fitness, reduction of their independence. It also entails the risk of
      hallucination, falls and hospital-acquired infections. The present analysis
      concerns 60 patients who fell during their hospitalization in the Internal
      Diseases and Geriatrics Unit of University Hospital in Krakow in 2012 and 2013
      (in the total of 6,061 patients admitted to the Unit in this period), which was
      recorded in the registry of adverse events. An attempt at characterization of
      this group was made on the basis of medical record, assessment of fall
      circumstances and its consequences. This was followed by an attempt at tracing
      the later outcomes of these patients both during their stay in the unit as well
      as after the discharge from hospital (telephone contact with patient or with
      person indicated as contact). Analysis of the data (probably underevaluated due
      to the lack of unambiguous definition of a fall as well as a retrospective
      character of study) reveals a relation between falls in hospital and various
      degrees of body injuries, extended hospitalization time, increasing disability
      and, in some cases, even death. In the face of the observed growth in the number
      of hospitalized patients in advanced age, a clear definition and careful
      monitoring of falls as well as an attempt at an early identification of people at
      risk of falls may prove to be an effective means of their prevention.

PMID- 25826978
TI  - Oncological emergencies: syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion
      (SIADH).
AB  - Excessive secretion of vasopressin in the course of Syndrome of Inappropriate
      Antidiuretic Hormone Secretion is a common cause of hyponatremia in cancer
      patients. Clinical symptoms depend on the cause, rate of change of sodium level
      and their absolute values. Treatment options include fluid restrictions,
      intravenous administration of hypertonic sodium chloride solutions, loop
      diuretics and vaptans. The sodium level should not be adjusted too fast, because
      it may lead to irreversible brain damage. The article presents pathophysiology,
      diagnostics and recommendations of management of this oncological emergency.

PMID- 25826979
TI  - [Epilepsy, antiepileptic drugs and disorders of reproductive functions of women].
AB  - Epilepsy is one of the commonest chronic neurological disorders in developing
      countries. The disease itself and applied antiepileptic drugs cause fertility
      problems. As a result of seizures changes in hypothalamic and pituitary hormone
      secretion occur, resulting in hyperprolactinemia, menstrual disorders, premature
      ovarian failure as well as occurrence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS
      is the main problem in women with epilepsy caused by both the disease itself as
      well as treatment, mainly with valproic acid. Antiepileptic drugs exert an effect
      mainly on the level of active hormones, their synthesis in the ovaries and
      binding with sex hormone binding globulin. Due to impaired reproductive function,
      the probability of pregnancy in women with epilepsy is up to 2-fold lower than in
      healthy ones. It should be, however, consider that antiepileptic drugs cross the
      placenta, therefore it is very important to choose the appropriate treatment, not
      only to prevent epileptic seizures during pregnancy, but also not harmful to the
      developing fetus.

PMID- 25826980
TI  - [Precocious puberty in boys].
AB  - Precocious puberty in boys is defined as the onset of puberty before the age of 9
      years. It is divided into two categories: central precocious puberty,
      characterized by the premature activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal
      axis, and peripheral precocious puberty presents when premature sexual
      development is dependent on steroid production regardless of gonadotropin
      secretion. Although precocious puberty occurs more frequently in girls, in the
      case of boys it is more often associated with identifiable organic disorders of
      the central nervous system, adrenal glands or testes. The diagnosis should
      include detailed anamnesis and clinical examination, measurement of pituitary and
      sex hormones, assessment of bone age, and imaging of the hypothalamus, pituitary
      gland, adrenal glands and testes. Indications for treatment are based on the type
      of precocious puberty and its progression rate, advancement of bone age,
      predicted adult height and psychological evaluation. The purpose of this article
      was to discuss the etiopathogenesis of precocious puberty in boys and to provide
      the approach to its diagnosis, differentiation and treatment.

PMID- 25826981
TI  - [The use of motivational interviewing (MI) in patients with chronic renal
      failure].
AB  - Patients suffering from chronic kidney disease must submit to numerous medical
      procedures and burdensome changes in lifestyle that make it difficult to adapt to
      the disease. Therefore, an important issue is to stimulate the patients
      motivation to comply with medical recommendations. This article describes a
      therapy tool for developing patient's motivation to change, called therapy or
      motivational interview (MI), the type of approach that is increasingly being used
      inhealth care, as an aid to chronically ill patients. Characteristics of this
      approach generally relies on the assumption that the Motivation for a change
      should come from a patient, not the provider, and a patient should articulate
      arnd resolve ambivalence provider persuassion is not effective and enhance
      resistance from a change. Persuasion by a person healing can only strengthen and
      enhance the patient's resistance to unwanted habits.

PMID- 25826982
TI  - [Stanislaw Laskownicki, Member of the Founding Committee of the Polish Urological
      Society. Biographical note].

PMID- 25826983
TI  - [Peptides and CCL11 and HMGB1 as molecular markers of aging: literature review
      and own data].
AB  - Cytokines CCL11 (eotaxin) and HMGB1 (alarmin1) are molecular markers of ageing
      and neurological, cardiovascular and immune diseases. Created in St. Petersburg
      Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology short peptides are known to regulate
      gene expression and protein synthesis. They promote the mortality decrease and
      slowdown the development of pathology in the elderly. The article presents the
      proposed role of dipeptide vilon (Lys-Glu) and tetrapeptide epitalon (Ala-Glu-Asp
      Gly) in CCL11 and HMGB1 genes regulation as activators of their expression.
      Geroprotective action of vilon and epitalon probably realizes in suppression of
      these genes.

PMID- 25826984
TI  - [The role of genetic polymorphisms of interleukins in chronic lymphocytic
      leukemia in patients of different ages].
AB  - Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a multifactorial disease, in which
      development the important role played the cytokine genes, in particular
      interleukins. This type of leukemia is more common in the elderly. The purpose of
      the study was to evaluate the association of genetic polymorphisms of interleukin
      with the development of chronic lymphocytic leukemia among residents of the
      Central Chernozem region of Russia. Genotyping of the -889C/T IL-1A, -590C/T IL-4
      and VNTR IL-1 Ra was conducted in 206 patients with CLL and 307 individuals of
      the control group. The study found that the genetic risk factor for the
      development of CLL is allele -590T IL-4 (OR=-1,45). The development of
      thrombocytopenia in patients with CLL is associated with genetic variants -889T
      IL-1A (OR=1,95), -889TT IL-1A (OR=6,2) and IL-1Ra*1 (OR=-2,32).

PMID- 25826985
TI  - [Age-dependent CYP1A2 gene polymorphism -163C>A in three ethnic groups of
      Bashkortostan Republic residents].
AB  - On a sample of 1240 persons from Bashkortostan, including Russian, Bashkirs and
      Tatars, the analysis of allele and genotype frequencies distribution of CYP1A2
      gene polymorphism -163C>A was performed by PCR-RFLP in view of belonging to a
      particular age cohort. In Russian and Bashkirs ethnic groups we observed age
      dependent decrease of CYP1A2*C allele and CYP1A2*CI*C genotype frequencies (in
      Russian statistically significant for allele and genotype, the Bashkirs--only for
      allele) and a statistically significant increase of CYP1A2*A allele and
      CYP1A2*A/*A genotype frequencies. The set reduction in the frequency of the wild
      allele CYP1A2*C and increasing the frequency of the mutant allele CYP1A2*A with
      age may be due to greater survival of persons who are carriers of that allelic
      variants of CYP1A2 gene, providing a more efficient metabolism of xenobiotics.

PMID- 25826986
TI  - [Genotype and allele frequencies of UCP and PPAR gene families in residents of
      besieged Leningrad and in the control group].
AB  - Genotype and allele frequencies of uncoupling proteins 2 and 3 genes (UCP2 and
      UCP3) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors genes (PPARA, PPARD and
      PPARG) were studied in 206 residents of the siege and in 139 individuals of more
      than 69 years old (control group). Studied polymorphisms included UCP2
      (Ala55Val), UCP3 (C-55T), PPARA (G/C), PPARD (+294T/C), and PPARG (Pro12Ala). The
      G allele and the G/G genotype (PPARA) were overrepresented in the group of
      survivors and C/C (UCP3) genotype prevailed in the women of besieged Leningrad
      compared to relevant control groups of the persons of the same age who did not
      suffered hungry disaster. Feasible protective effects of PPARA gene allele G and
      C allele of UCP2 genes are briefly discussed.

PMID- 25826987
TI  - [Aging and respiratory infections in laboratory animals].
AB  - Respiratory infections are known as one of significant causes of death in old
      human as well as aged laboratory animals. However, there is not strong evidence
      of increase of spontaneous pneumonias incidence in aged rats and mice. Moreover,
      numerous experimental investigations with different respiratory pathogens did not
      elucidate clear age-related changes of infection susceptibility even for one and
      same disease agent yet. It is paradoxical that decline of lung infection
      mortality of aged animals in compare to young animals was found in some
      observations. Respectively, investigations of innate and adoptive immunity role
      in pathogenesis of respiratory infections in old laboratory animals also produced
      undetermined results. It is probable that such situation is not only related to
      complex character of age-associated changes in respiratory system, but also to
      absence of conventional and adequate models for research of the problem.

PMID- 25826988
TI  - [Special mechanisms for reducing life span of cells and organisms, initiated by
      some weak external signals].
AB  - The study presents the results of many-years research conducted using biological
      objects of different organization level. It demonstrates special species
      nonspecific form of weak external signals negative effect to cells life
      expectancy reduction caused by program damage of cells populations. This effect
      is detected after weak radiation, radio-chemical and thermal influences. It leads
      to faster extinction of postmitotic populations which can be a reason for life
      expectancy reduction of multicellular organisms. A possibility of such effect
      inheritance in the asexual and sexual reproduction is shown. Epigenetic
      mechanisms of this phenomenon are assumed.

PMID- 25826989
TI  - [Mesenchymal stem sell donor age effect on the cerebral cortex microvascular net
      density in old age rats-recipients of transplant].
AB  - Male Wistar-Kyoto rats aged 22-24 months were intracerebrally transplanted with
      syngenic bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM MSC) established from the donor
      aged 3-4 months and 20-22 months, respectively. Using a TV device to study
      microcirculation in vivo, we have established that transplantation of BM MSC from
      young donors increased a density of the microvascular network in the pia mater of
      the sensorimotor cortex in old rats approximately 1.9-fold, comparing to age
      matched controls, while a density of the arteriolar compartment increased
      approximately 2.1-fold. Transplantation of BM MSC from old donors did not lead to
      the significant increase in the density of the microvascular network in the pia
      mater, while a density of the arteriolar compartment increased approximately 1.5
      fold.

PMID- 25826990
TI  - [The characteristic of immunity in long-lived persons and selection of the
      immunosenescence markers].
AB  - Purpose of the work is to select the indices of immunograms, associated with
      immunosenescence. The lymphocyte subpopulations were defined by the method of
      polychrome flowing cytometry in 276 patients of 90+ year with the identical
      spectrum of chronic unspecific inflammatory diseases. The cluster was revealed
      consisting of subpopulation of T-lymphocytes (T-lymph) with the high frequency of
      deviations from standard--helper CD4+, cytotoxic CD8+--T-lymph. The activation of
      immunity was confirmed by the expression of HLA-DR molecule in 100% of persons
      with an increase of the absolute number CD4+ and/or CD8+. Reduction in the CD8+
      and/or CD4+ was associated with the immune deficient state and the frequency of
      the increased actTcontent within limits of 63-83%. In 36 long-livers a quantity
      CD4+ and CD8+ corresponded to standard, 33 of them demonstrated actT exceeded
      standard. These patients were carried to the group of activation also. Basic
      group had the quantity CD8+ deficit (73%). In this group, frequency of the
      development of neuro-degenerate distributions and pathologic changes in the
      osteomuscular tissue were reliably higher in the persons at the age of 92 years
      and older than in persons younger 92 years. We consider that CD8+ deficit at the
      age older 90 year is biomarker of immunosenescence and the risk of an increase in
      the frequency of development of chronic unspecific inflammatory diseases.

PMID- 25826991
TI  - [Microviscosity of erythrocyte membranes in chronic coronary insufficiency in
      patients of middle and older age groups].
AB  - We examined the ratios microviscosity in the area of integral and annularly lipid
      membranes of erythrocytes of peripheral blood in patients of 35-50 and 60-75
      years with chronic ischemic heart disease, as well as age-matched healthy
      controls. In healthy donors coefficients microviscosity in the area of integral
      and annularly lipids proved to be significantly higher in the older age group (60
      75 years). In CHD, regardless of the age of the patients, erythrocyte membranes
      can be characterized as raising and lowering the parameters microviscosity of
      lipid-lipid interactions. In the protein-lipid contacts for patients aged 35-50
      years an increase is typical, while for patients of 60-75 years, on the contrary,
      a decrease of the coefficient of microviscosity. It is concluded that the values
      of the microviscosity of erythrocyte membranes in patients of different age
      groups in the development of chronic ischemic heart disease, reflect both the
      implementation of the general mechanisms of adaptive changes of cell membranes,
      and the specifics of an individual, determined by their lipid and protein
      composition.

PMID- 25826992
TI  - [Metabolism of nucleotides and its inter-relation with pro-oxidant and
      antioxidant systems in people of different age ranges].
AB  - The interrelation of purine nucleotides with antioxidant system in blood plasma
      and erythrocytes depending on age, as well as the contribution of the key enzymes
      of purine decomposition to the formation of reactive oxygen metabolites were
      studied. 50 conditionally healthy people aged 40-79 years were examined. Increase
      in all indicators of pro-oxidant system of blood plasma with age was determined.
      Statistically significant interrelations between the studied parameters and age
      of the examined persons were determined in the blood plasma. The relationship
      between the glutathione peroxidase and adenosine deaminase/xanthine oxidase,
      adenosine deaminase and xanthine oxidase was also determined. A significant
      increase of products of oxidative proteins modification in plasma and
      erythrocytes with aging was discovered. Reduction with age of key enzymes of
      antioxidant protection--superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in blood
      plasma and erythrocytes was determined. The data obtained indicate that with age
      there is an imbalance in the antioxidant system in blood plasma and erythrocytes
      contributing to the development of pathological conditions by increasing
      oxidative stress, which is greatly manifested while aging.

PMID- 25826993
TI  - [The influence of risk factors for malignant tumors of maxillo-facial area on the
      expression of matrix metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitors of matrix
      metalloproteinases in patients of elderly and senile age period].
AB  - Morbidity and mortality from malignant neoplasms increases each year, and the
      average age of patients with first diagnosed decreases. The peak of incidence of
      malignant tumors of maxillofacial region falls on the elderly life. Not only age
      related changes of the organism contribute in the development of this pathology,
      but also harmful habits. A comprehensive approach to solving the problem requires
      monitoring of this group of patients to identify risk factors for the development
      of pathologies in the oral and maxillofacial region.

PMID- 25826994
TI  - [Age-related features of peripheral blood cell adaptive reaction in women with
      chronic obstructive pyelonephritis].
AB  - The aim of the study was to evaluate the adaptive changes of peripheral blood
      cells of recurrence inflammation in aged women with chronic obstructive
      pyelonephritis (COPN). An analysis of clinical and laboratory data was carried
      out on 50 women who were distributed into two age periods: under 55 years (the
      comparison group) and over 65 years. In women of 65+, during recurrence of COPN,
      the degree of leukocyte increase, neutrophils, monocytes and erythrocyte
      sedimentation rate (ESR) reached 90,1, 20,8, 71,4 and 31,6%, whereas lymphocyte
      count was less by 2,8 times in comparison with remission. In women under 55 years
      (in recurrence of COPN), degree of leukocyte increase was 87% (p<0,001),
      neutrophils--4, 8% (p<0,05), monocytes--in 2,04 times (p<0,001), ESR was less in
      3,1 times (p<0,001) and lymphocyte count was less than 19,5% (p>0,05). The
      manifestation of neutrophilocytosis and lymphocytopenia might be due to age
      related features of adaptive reaction in peripheral blood cells during the COPN
      recurrence.

PMID- 25826995
TI  - [Comparative analysis of gerontologic prophylaxis efficiency and membranotropic
      action of various gas therapy].
AB  - The research was executed on 320 male patients aged 35-92 years with various
      polyorgan pathology in a compensation stage. The treatment by gases was used:
      hyperbaric oxygenation, dry carbonic acid baths, ozon therapy, hypo oxygen
      therapy and their combinations. On indicators of biological age various age
      dependent geroprophylactics effect of gas therapy was established. On indicators
      of resistance of erythrocytes various safety of used modes was found.

PMID- 25826996
TI  - [The effect of leucine and lysine dipeptides on the proliferation of the
      myocardium and spleen from young and old rats in organotypic culture].
AB  - The effect of new dipeptides consisting from leucine and lysine was investigated
      in organotypic tissue culture on the cell proliferation development in spleen and
      myocardium explants in 3- and 24-months old rats. Dipeptide L-Leu-Lys stimulated
      the cell proliferation in the young and old rats at concentrations 0,001-10 ng/ml
      and 0,01-1 ng/ml accordingly. Dipeptide L-Lys-Leu stimulated as well the cell
      proliferation in the young and old rats at some deviation of diapason of
      stimulating concentrations. The data obtained aboutthe new dipeptides with high
      biological activity create a basis for future research at the organism level for
      their application in geriatrics to enhance regenerative processes in lymphoid and
      myocard tissue.

PMID- 25826997
TI  - [Influence of delta-sleep inducing peptide on the state of lysosomal membranes
      and intensity of lysosomal proteolysis in different rat tissues during
      physiological aging of the organism].
AB  - It is shown that subcutaneous injection of exogenous delta-sleep inducing peptide
      (DSIP) to rats aged 2-24 months in a dose of 100 MUg/kg animal body weight by
      courses of 5 consecutive days per month has a stabilizing effect on the state of
      lysosomal membranes in rat tissues (brain, heart muscle and liver) at different
      ontogenetic stages, and this effect is accompanied by increasing intensity of
      lysosomal proteolysis in these tissues.

PMID- 25826998
TI  - [Influence of delta-sleep peptide on the enzymes activity of mitochondrial
      electron transport chain in various rat tissues during aging of the organism].
AB  - It is shown that subcutaneous injection of exogenous delta-sleep inducing peptide
      (DSIP) to rats aged 2-24 months in a dose of 100 MUg/kg animal body weight by
      courses of 5 consecutive days per month has a stabilizing effect on the NADH
      dehydrogenase activity in the mitochondrial fractions of various tissues, which
      together with increasing capacity of the antioxidant system should reduce the
      production of free radicals and their adverse action on cells macromolecule,
      herewith the activity of succinate dehydrogenase did not change.

PMID- 25826999
TI  - [Endovascular revascularization of the carotid area in elderly patients in acute
      ishemic stroke: the current view of the problem (review of literature)].
AB  - This article presents the review of literature devoted to studying of safety and
      efficacy of early carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS) in older patients in
      acute stroke. CAS has been shown to be a non-inferior treatment to carotid
      endarterectomy for the prevention of recurrent strokes with equivalent rates of
      major complications (stroke, myocardial infarction and death). Early
      revascularization is desirable in patients presenting with stroke or transient
      ischemic attack (TIA) referable to carotid artery stenosis because of the high
      incidence of recurrent ischemic events. In fact CAS, in the acute stage, remains
      challenging because of risk perioperative complications and hyperperfusion
      syndrome or cerebral hemorrhagic infarction after revascularization. In the past
      years, few researches (Setacci C., 2008; Battocchio C., 2012; Wach M., 2013, et
      al.) indicate that this procedure can be relatively safe, including elderly
      patients, even when performed early after a TIA or stroke. However, additional
      studies of safety and efficacy of early CAS must be undertaken to define the role
      of endovascular revascularization of the extracranial carotid arteries in the
      early management of acute stroke.

PMID- 25827000
TI  - [Endovascular treatment of bifurcation lesions of the coronary arteries in
      patients of elderly age: a review of the literature No 1].
AB  - Stenting of coronary artery bifurcation lesions is one of the most difficult
      types of interventional procedures for coronary heart disease. The frequency of
      coronary artery bifurcation lesion occurs up to 20%. The article reflects a wide
      variety of types of classifications of coronary bifurcations compared with the
      basic classification for A. Medina. Having considered the arts of bifurcations
      stenting, from a provisional Tstenting to complex procedures culote and crush
      stenting, we advocate the use of bifurcation structures, especially in elderly
      and senile.

PMID- 25827001
TI  - How to approach to the therapy of diabetes in the elderly.
AB  - In gerontology diabetes mellitus (DM) is clinically the most frequent and
      extremely serious metabolic disorder. DM is an important health issue across the
      globe. With increasing life expectancy physicians are called upon to manage
      diabetes in the elderly more often. Senior patients suffer predominantly from the
      type 2 DM--T2DM (70+ up to 90-95%). Apart from genetic predisposition and an
      environmental influence, nutritional habits, modern lifestyle, stress and minor
      physical activity are of particular importance. Treatment options for T2DM in the
      elderly are diet, physical activity, various oral anti-diabetic drugs and
      insulin. At the start of treatment should primarily take into account: patient's
      age; self-sufficiency; late micro- and macro-vascular complications; social
      status; nutritional assessment (incl. dental status); other handicaps--psychic,
      motoric, visual and aural. Especially in frail, elderly patients, there should be
      less emphasis on strict glycaemic control than on avoiding malnutrition and
      hypoglycemia and achieving the best possible quality of life. Therapy of DM in
      this population is tightly connected with significant risks of micro- and
      macrovascular complications on one hand, and possible problems of the treatment
      (e.g. hypoglycemia) with intensive control on the other hand. To realize a
      comprehensive approach to therapy of diabetes in the old age a holistic approach
      with main aim improving quality of life is necessary.

PMID- 25827002
TI  - [The pathogenetic substantiation of new therapeutic approach to the treatment of
      secondary osteoarthritis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis with basis
      therapy].
AB  - The article concerns the efficacy of the use of new therapeutic approach in the
      therapy of secondary osteoarthritis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The
      dynamic of Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein, activity of the disease on DAS28,
      cytokine profile was estimated. The analysis of the results showed the advantages
      of the use of inhibitor of IL-1 combined with laser therapy in the treatment of
      secondary osteoarthritis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

PMID- 25827004
TI  - [Personality characteristics in elderly men and women with initiatory stages of
      brain ischemia].
AB  - 52 elderly women and 36 matched by age and education men with initiatory stages
      of chronic brain ischemia (CBI) have been studied using comparative analysis of
      personality characteristics. Women with CBI had higher level of psychosocial
      stress than men. The results demonstrate the predomination of extrapunitive
      frustration reactions among women. Intropunitive ones prevailed in men. Women
      patients had higher levels of excitement, stress and anxiety than men that
      surpassed women by the indicators of emotional security. The received data may be
      important for individualization of therapeutic intervention.

PMID- 25827003
TI  - [Peculiarities of clinical course, diagnostics and treatment of overactive
      bladder in men older than 60 years].
AB  - The article presents the issues of the characteristics of the course, diagnostics
      and treatment of hyperactive urinary bubble in older men. Conservative treatment
      of urinary incontinence includes changes in lifestyle, behavioural and medical
      therapy with m-anticholinergic drugs. The combination solifenacini in a dose of 5
      mg/day and alpha1-adrenoceptor blocking agent terasolini in a dose of 2 mg/day
      significantly improves the results of treatment and well tolerated.

PMID- 25827005
TI  - [Assessment of effectiveness of ischemic heart disease rehabilitation of elderly
      patients using six-minutes walking test].
AB  - The possibility to use the test with a six-minute walk to assess the
      effectiveness of long-term programs of rehabilitation, definite disability and
      severity of heart failure in middle-aged and elderly patients with coronary heart
      disease is discussed.

PMID- 25827006
TI  - [Gerontological trends of contemporary forms of alcohol dependence. Approaches to
      full compensation and rehabilitation].
AB  - Quality of life has already been investigated in elderly patients with alcohol
      dependence. Indicators were deteriorated with long-term experience of alcohol and
      somatic diseases. Practice of Reamberin, Cytoflavin, Cycloferon has improved
      quality of life and physical status of elderly patients.

PMID- 25827007
TI  - [Pathogenetic associations of periodontal diseases with somatic therapeutic
      pathology, comorbid conditions in patients of advanced and senile age: state-of
      the-art review. Part 1. Associations of periodontal diseases with somatic
      therapeutic pathology in patients of advanced and senile age].
AB  - The state-of-the-art review of literature on existing views on the association of
      periodontal diseases with somatic therapeutic pathology (first part of the
      review) and comorbid conditions (second part of the review) is submitted. The
      conclusion about need of carrying out the further multicenter researches which
      purpose is development of new integrated indicators, in a complex and
      comprehensively characterizing not only the periodontal status, but also set of
      available somatic therapeutic pathology, especially at pa- tients of advanced and
      senile age is drawn.

PMID- 25827008
TI  - [Associations of periodontal diseases with somatic therapeutic pathology,
      comorbid conditions in patients of advanced and senile age: state-of-the-art
      review. Part 2. Associations of periodontal diseases with comorbid conditions in
      patients of advanced and senile age].
AB  - The state-of-the-art review of literature on existing views on the association of
      periodontal diseases with somatic therapeutic pathology (part 1 of the review)
      and comorbid conditions (part 2 of the review) is submitted. The conclusion about
      need of carrying out the further multicenter researches which purpose is
      development of new integrated indicators, in a complex and comprehensively
      characterizing not only the periodontal status, but also set of available somatic
      therapeutic pathology, especially at patients of advanced and senile age is
      drawn.

PMID- 25827009
TI  - [Morphological structure, chemical and mineral composition of hard tooth tissues
      in age-related aspect].
AB  - The article presents the results of research on the structure, chemical and
      mineral composition of hard tooth tissues of persons of different age groups. The
      obtained data enable to estimate the resistance of tooth tissues to unfavorable
      factors of the oral cavity, which should be considered when planning treatment
      and prevention in patients with diseases of hard tissues of teeth caries and non
      carious origin depending on their age.

PMID- 25827010
TI  - [Explanation of some physiological characteristics of homeostasis in elderly
      patients with temporomandibular joint dysfunction].
AB  - Most number of patients, particularly adult and older women with
      temporomandibular disfunction suffers from pain reaction in maxillofacial area.
      Pain symptom associated with temporomandibular disfunction is followed by some
      changes of physiological statistics (high sympathetic level). Temporomandibular
      disfunction in adult and older women is most pronounced and can serve as an
      indicator of concomitant chronic diseases among patients with endocrine disorder
      (hypothyroidism), cardiological pathology (arterial hypertension).

PMID- 25827011
TI  - [Efficiency of intensive care with cytoflavin in patients of advanced age in
      combined traumatic brain injury].
AB  - Research objective--determination of efficiency of intensive care with inclusion
      Cytoflavin in patients of old age in combined traumatic brain injury. A
      prospective controlled blind randomized study was conducted. In 1st group (21
      people) the patients received a standard intensive care, in 2nd group (18
      persons) Cytoflavin was included in complex intensive care. Using Cytoflavin
      starting from 2 days post-traumatic period (with the correction of blood
      circulation and respiration) had antioxidant and detoxification effects,
      contributed to the recovery rate of free radical and metabolic processes, reduced
      the degree of impairment in the structural-functional state of membranes and
      restored the conformational structure of membrane proteins in the earlier
      periods. Reduction in reactions of disadaptation led to regression of multiple
      organ dysfunctions, restoration the level of consciousness at an earlier date.
      The number of cases of severe respiratory distress syndrome decreased.

PMID- 25827012
TI  - [Optimization of nursing care in emergency cases in elderly patients residing in
      nursing homes].
AB  - The study analyzes data on the frequency of emergencies in elderly patients
      residing in nursing homes. We propose to introduce into the nursing care the
      screening phase of emergency conditions in elderly patients residing in nursing
      homes based on the selection of the leading symptom. This improves the quality of
      the nursing process in pre-hospital geriatric care in emergencies.

PMID- 25827013
TI  - [Analysis of condition and prospects in geriatric care of population of
      Kazakhstan].
AB  - Demographic aging of the population determines the need for the development of
      geriatric component in the work of medical services. In this regard, we have
      proved promising development of Gerontology and Geriatrics in Kazakhstan, the
      results of analysis of the existing system of care for the elderly persons and
      identify ways to improve towards rehabilitation help, long-term care for people
      over 80 years old, geriatric medical training and the creation of a scientific
      school of Gerontology and geriatrics.

PMID- 25827014
TI  - Role of imaging in COPD phenotyping.

PMID- 25827015
TI  - Rapid ventricular pacing-induced postconditioning attenuates reperfusion injury:
      effects on peroxynitrite, RISK and SAFE pathways.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Rapid ventricular pacing (RVP) applied before an index
      ischaemia has anti-ischaemic effects. Here, we investigated whether RVP applied
      after index ischaemia attenuates reperfusion injury and whether peroxynitrite,
      reperfusion injury salvage kinase (RISK) and survival activating factor
      enhancement (SAFE) pathways as well as haem oxygenase 1 (HO1) are involved in the
      mechanism of RVP-induced postconditioning. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Langendorff
      perfused rat hearts were subjected to 30 min regional ischaemia and 120 min
      reperfusion with or without ischaemic postconditioning (6 * 10/10 s
      reperfusion/ischaemia; IPost) or RVP (6 * 10/10 s non-pacing/rapid pacing at 600
      bpm) applied at the onset of reperfusion. KEY RESULTS: Meta-analysis of our
      previous studies revealed an association between longer reperfusion-induced
      ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation with decreased infarct size. In the present
      experiments, we tested whether RVP is cardioprotective and found that both IPost
      and RVP significantly decreased infarct size; however, only RVP attenuated the
      incidence of reperfusion-induced ventricular tachycardia. Both postconditioning
      methods increased the formation of cardiac 3-nitrotyrosine and superoxide, and
      non-significantly enhanced Akt phosphorylation at the beginning of reperfusion
      without affecting ERK1/2 and STAT3, while IPost alone induced HO1. Application of
      brief ischaemia/reperfusion cycles or RVP without preceding index ischaemia also
      facilitated peroxynitrite formation; nevertheless, only brief RVP increased STAT3
      phosphorylation. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Short periods of RVP at the onset
      of reperfusion are cardioprotective and increase peroxynitrite formation
      similarly to IPost and thus may serve as an alternative postconditioning method.
      However, downstream mechanisms of the protection elicited by IPost and RVP seem
      to be partially different. LINKED ARTICLES: This article is part of a themed
      section on Conditioning the Heart - Pathways to Translation. To view the other
      articles in this section visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bph.2015.172.issue-8.

PMID- 25827016
TI  - Arabidopsis AtbHLH112 regulates the expression of genes involved in abiotic
      stress tolerance by binding to their E-box and GCG-box motifs.
AB  - Plant basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors play essential roles in
      abiotic stress tolerance. However, most bHLHs have not been functionally
      characterized. Here, we characterized the functional role of a bHLH transcription
      factor from Arabidopsis, AtbHLH112, in response to abiotic stress. AtbHLH112 is a
      nuclear-localized protein, and its nuclear localization is induced by salt,
      drought and abscisic acid (ABA). In addition, AtbHLH112 serves as a
      transcriptional activator, with the activation domain located at its N-terminus.
      In addition to binding to the E-box motifs of stress-responsive genes, AtbHLH112
      binds to a novel motif with the sequence 'GG[GT]CC[GT][GA][TA]C' (GCG-box). Gain-
      and loss-of-function analyses showed that the transcript level of AtbHLH112 is
      positively correlated with salt and drought tolerance. AtbHLH112 mediates stress
      tolerance by increasing the expression of P5CS genes and reducing the expression
      of P5CDH and ProDH genes to increase proline levels. AtbHLH112 also increases the
      expression of POD and SOD genes to improve reactive oxygen species (ROS)
      scavenging ability. We present a model suggesting that AtbHLH112 is a
      transcriptional activator that regulates the expression of genes via binding to
      their GCG- or E-boxes to mediate physiological responses, including proline
      biosynthesis and ROS scavenging pathways, to enhance stress tolerance. 

PMID- 25827017
TI  - Vitamin D status in pre-school children in rural Nepal.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Vitamin D plays a major role in Ca and bone metabolism, and its
      extraskeletal functions are being appraised. Although inadequate vitamin D
      concentrations have been reported in populations worldwide, too little is known
      about vitamin D status and its determinants among children in developing
      countries. We aimed to determine vitamin D status and its determinants in
      Nepalese children of pre-school age. DESIGN: A community-based, cross-sectional
      study. SETTING: Rural Nepal at latitude 27.39 degrees  N. SUBJECTS: Healthy
      children (n 280) aged 12-60 months, selected randomly from the records of a
      vitamin A supplementation programme. Blood samples were collected using the dried
      blood spot technique and analysed for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (s-25(OH)D)
      concentration using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Ca intake and
      background variables were assessed with a structured questionnaire. RESULTS:
      Hypovitaminosis D, defined as s-25(OH)D concentration less than 50 nmol/l, was
      found in 91.1% of the children. S-25(OH)D concentration was not related to
      gender, socio-economic indicators, sun exposure or nutritional status. Currently
      breast-fed children had higher s-25(OH)D concentrations (36.4 (sd 13.2) nmol/l)
      than those who were not (28.6 (sd 9.8) nmol/l, P<0.001). Adjustment for
      sociodemographic factors did not alter the results. CONCLUSION: There is
      widespread vitamin D deficiency among pre-school children in a rural area of
      Nepal. In our sample, sociodemographic factors did not affect the vitamin D
      status of children, but prolonged breast-feeding was associated with higher s
      25(OH)D concentrations. Further research is required to investigate the health
      consequences of poor vitamin D status for this population.

PMID- 25827018
TI  - From spouse to caregiver and back: a grounded theory study of post-intensive care
      unit spousal caregiving.
AB  - AIM: To explore the challenges and caring activities of spouses of intensive care
      unit survivors during the first year of patient recovery. BACKGROUND: Every year,
      millions of people globally are discharged from an intensive care unit after
      critical illness to continue treatment, care and rehabilitation in general
      hospital wards, rehabilitation facilities and at home. Consequently, millions of
      spouses become informal caregivers. Little is known, however, about the concrete
      challenges spouses face in post-intensive care unit everyday life. DESIGN:
      Explorative, qualitative grounded theory study. METHODS: Participants were
      spouses of intensive care unit survivors. The study was undertaken in Denmark in
      2009-2010. Data consisted of 35 semi-structured dyad interviews at 3 and 12
      months post-intensive care unit discharge, two group interviews with patients and
      two with spouses. FINDINGS: 'Shifting their role from spouse to caregiver and
      back' was identified as the core category of the study. The role shifts
      progressed in a dynamic process involving four elements: (1) committing to
      caregiving; (2) acquiring caregiving skills; (3) negotiating level of caregiving
      and (4) gradually leaving the caregiver role. Post-ICU caregiving comprised five
      patient dimensions: observing, assisting, coaching, advocating and managing
      activities. CONCLUSIONS: Spouses play a vital and multifaceted role in post
      intensive care unit recovery. The findings can inform healthcare professionals in
      their efforts to prepare intensive care unit patients' families for the time
      following intensive care unit and hospital discharge. Hospital staff,
      rehabilitation experts and primary care professionals must acknowledge spouses'
      important contribution from intensive care unit admission throughout recovery.

PMID- 25827020
TI  - Urinary metal concentrations in relation to semen quality: a cross-sectional
      study in China.
AB  - Exposure to metals, including essential and nonessential elements, is widespread
      and may be associated with altered semen quality. This study aimed to examine the
      association between urinary metal concentrations and semen quality in a Chinese
      population. We measured semen quality parameters (sperm concentration, count,
      motility, normal morphology, and abnormal head) and 13 metals [arsenic (As),
      cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), lead (Pb),
      manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), selenium (Se), and
      zinc (Zn)] in the urine of 394 men from an infertility clinic. Multivariable
      logistic and linear regressions were used to assess the relationship between the
      creatinine-adjusted urinary metal concentrations and semen quality parameters. We
      found a significant trend for decreased odds ratios (ORs) for below-reference
      sperm count with increasing Se quartiles (p for trend = 0.04) and a significant
      trend for increased sperm percent abnormal head with increasing Ni quartiles (p
      for trend = 0.03). These associations persisted, even when considering multiple
      metals. Our results suggest that Ni exposure may be associated with deteriorated
      sperm morphology and that Se exposure may be associated with better semen
      quality. However, our findings warrant further studies in a larger and general
      population. 

PMID- 25827019
TI  - Human spleen microanatomy: why mice do not suffice.
AB  - The microanatomical structure of the spleen has been primarily described in mice
      and rats. This leads to terminological problems with respect to humans and their
      species-specific splenic microstructure. In mice, rats and humans the spleen
      consists of the white pulp embedded in the red pulp. In the white pulp, T and B
      lymphocytes form accumulations, the periarteriolar lymphatic sheaths and the
      follicles, located around intermediate-sized arterial vessels, the central
      arteries. The red pulp is a reticular connective tissue containing all types of
      blood cells. The spleen of mice and rats exhibits an additional well-delineated B
      cell compartment, the marginal zone, between white and red pulp. This area is,
      however, absent in human spleen. Human splenic secondary follicles comprise three
      zones: a germinal centre, a mantle zone and a superficial zone. In humans,
      arterioles and sheathed capillaries in the red pulp are surrounded by
      lymphocytes, especially by B cells. Human sheathed capillaries are related to the
      splenic ellipsoids of most other vertebrates. Such vessels are lacking in rats or
      mice, which form an evolutionary exception. Capillary sheaths are composed of
      endothelial cells, pericytes, special stromal sheath cells, macrophages and B
      lymphocytes. Human spleens most probably host a totally open circulation system,
      as connections from capillaries to sinuses were not found in the red pulp. Three
      stromal cell types of different phenotype and location occur in the human white
      pulp. Splenic white and red pulp structure is reviewed in rats, mice and humans
      to encourage further investigations on lymphocyte recirculation through the
      spleen. 

PMID- 25827021
TI  - Catheter-directed Thrombolysis in Acute Superior Vena Cava Syndrome Caused by
      Central Venous Catheters.
AB  - Indwelling central venous catheters have been reported to increase the risk of
      superior venous cava (SVC) syndrome. This case report describes the development
      of acute SVC syndrome in a 28-year-old woman with end-stage renal disease
      implanted with a left-side hemodialysis reliable outflow graft and a right-side
      double lumen hemodialysis catheter via internal jugular veins. Her symptoms were
      not alleviated after catheter removal and systemic anticoagulation therapy. She
      was eventually treated with catheter-directed thrombolysis and a predischarge
      computer tomographic venogram on postthrombolytic procedure day 7 showed patent
      central veins and patient remained asymptomatic. This case demonstrates that
      catheter-directed thrombolysis can be safely employed to treat refractory
      catheter-induced acute SVC syndrome in end-stage renal disease patients. 

PMID- 25827023
TI  - Hypertension in Older Persons: A Systematic Review of National and International
      Treatment Guidelines.
AB  - Despite good evidence regarding the benefits of managing hypertension in elderly
      populations, the extent to which this evidence has been incorporated into
      national and international clinical hypertension treatment guidelines is unknown.
      A systematic review was conducted to identify recommendations in current national
      and international hypertension treatment guidelines with a focus on specific
      targets and treatment recommendations for older persons with uncomplicated
      hypertension. Guidelines for the management of hypertension published or updated
      over a 5-year period (2009-2014) were identified by searching Medline, Google,
      and Google Scholar. Thirteen guidelines that met the predefined inclusion
      criteria were included in the review. Among these guidelines was considerable
      variation regarding who is considered an older person. However, there was general
      consensus regarding blood pressure targets. While current hypertension guidelines
      do include recommendations regarding management of uncomplicated hypertension in
      older populations, the depth and breadth of these recommendations vary
      considerably between guidelines and may limit the usefulness of such treatment
      guidelines to clinicians. 

PMID- 25827022
TI  - Genomic analysis of host - Peste des petits ruminants vaccine viral transcriptome
      uncovers transcription factors modulating immune regulatory pathways.
AB  - Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), is an acute transboundary viral disease of
      economic importance, affecting goats and sheep. Mass vaccination programs around
      the world resulted in the decline of PPR outbreaks. Sungri 96 is a live
      attenuated vaccine, widely used in Northern India against PPR. This vaccine
      virus, isolated from goat works efficiently both in sheep and goat. Global gene
      expression changes under PPR vaccine virus infection are not yet well defined.
      Therefore, in this study we investigated the host-vaccine virus interactions by
      infecting the peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from goat with PPRV
      (Sungri 96 vaccine virus), to quantify the global changes in the transcriptomic
      signature by RNA-sequencing. Viral genome of Sungri 96 vaccine virus was
      assembled from the PPRV infected transcriptome confirming the infection and
      demonstrating the feasibility of building a complete non-host genome from the
      blood transcriptome. Comparison of infected transcriptome with control
      transcriptome revealed 985 differentially expressed genes. Functional analysis
      showed enrichment of immune regulatory pathways under PPRV infection. Key genes
      involved in immune system regulation, spliceosomal and apoptotic pathways were
      identified to be dysregulated. Network analysis revealed that the protein -
      protein interaction network among differentially expressed genes is significantly
      disrupted in infected state. Several genes encoding TFs that govern immune
      regulatory pathways were identified to co-regulate the differentially expressed
      genes. These data provide insights into the host - PPRV vaccine virus interactome
      for the first time. Our findings suggested dysregulation of immune regulatory
      pathways and genes encoding Transcription Factors (TFs) that govern these
      pathways in response to viral infection. 

PMID- 25827025
TI  - In treating alcohol use disorders, why not use evidence-based treatment?

PMID- 25827024
TI  - Radial head replacement or repair for the terrible triad of the elbow: which
      procedure is better?
AB  - BACKGROUND: The terrible triad of the elbow comprises an ulnar coronoid process
      fracture, a radial head (RH) fracture and posterior dislocation of the elbow. It
      is considered severe by many clinicians because it is difficult to repair and has
      a poor prognosis; therefore, it deserves more attention. METHODS: Thirty-nine
      patients with terrible triad of the elbow characterized by a Mason type-III RH
      fracture were randomly divided into either an RH repair group (n = 19) or an RH
      replacement group (n = 20). The complication rates, radiological outcomes, Mayo
      Elbow Performance Score and range of motion of the elbow were analysed. RESULTS:
      Follow-up demonstrated no subluxation or recurrent dislocation of the elbow.
      Differences in surgery duration between the groups were significant (P < 0.001).
      The outcomes in terms of Mayo Elbow Performance Score (P = 0.009), flexion
      extension arc (P = 0.01) and pronation-supination arc (P = 0.04) were
      significantly better in the RH replacement group. In addition, patients in the RH
      replacement group displayed significantly fewer post-surgery complications than
      those in the RH repair group (P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Treating Mason type-III RH
      fracture in a terrible triad of the elbow with a metal RH prosthesis resulted in
      better clinical outcomes and fewer post-surgery complications than treating a
      terrible triad of the elbow by repairing it with screws or plates. RH replacement
      might be a more effective approach to better managing a terrible triad of the
      elbow.

PMID- 25827026
TI  - C-reactive protein: A stress diathesis marker at the crossroads of maladaptive
      behavioral and cardiometabolic sequelae.

PMID- 25827027
TI  - Electronic medical records: fast track to big data in bipolar disorder.

PMID- 25827028
TI  - Evidence for schizophrenia as a disorder of neuroplasticity.

PMID- 25827029
TI  - Reporting on China's mental health surveillance.

PMID- 25827030
TI  - A clinical perspective on the relevance of research domain criteria in electronic
      health records.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The limitations of the DSM nosology for capturing dimensionality and
      overlap in psychiatric syndromes, and its poor correspondence to underlying
      neurobiology, have been well established. The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), a
      proposed dimensional model of psychopathology, may offer new insights into
      psychiatric illness. For psychiatric clinicians, however, because tools for
      capturing these domains in clinical practice have not yet been established, the
      relevance and means of transition from the categorical system of DSM-5 to the
      dimensional models of RDoC remains unclear. The authors explored a method of
      extracting these dimensions from existing electronic health record (EHR) notes.
      METHOD: The authors used information retrieval and natural language processing
      methods to extract estimates of the RDoC dimensions in the EHRs of a large health
      system. They parsed and scored EHR documentation for 2,484 admissions covering
      2,010 patients admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit between 2011 and 2013.
      These domain scores were compared with DSM-IV-based ICD-9 codes to assess face
      validity. As a measure of predictive validity, these scores were examined for
      association with two outcomes: length of hospital stay and time to all-cause
      hospital readmission. Together, these analyses were intended to address the
      extent to which RDoC symptom domains might capture clinical features already
      available in narrative notes but not reflected in DSM diagnoses. RESULTS: In
      mixed-effects models, loadings for the RDoC cognitive and arousal domains were
      associated with length of hospital stay, while the negative valence and social
      domains were associated with hazard of all-cause hospital readmission.
      CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that a computationally derived tool based on
      RDoC workgroup reports identifies symptom distributions in clinician notes beyond
      those captured by ICD-9 codes, and these domains have significant predictive
      validity. More generally, they point to the possibility that clinicians already
      document RDoC-relevant symptoms, albeit not in a quantified form.

PMID- 25827031
TI  - Charles Darwin and the asylum letters.

PMID- 25827032
TI  - Pragmatic replication trial of health promotion coaching for obesity in serious
      mental illness and maintenance of outcomes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Few studies targeting obesity in serious mental illness have reported
      clinically significant risk reduction, and none have been replicated in community
      settings or demonstrated sustained outcomes after intervention withdrawal. The
      authors sought to replicate positive health outcomes demonstrated in a previous
      randomized effectiveness study of the In SHAPE program across urban community
      mental health organizations serving an ethnically diverse population. METHOD:
      Persons with serious mental illness and a body mass index (BMI) >25 receiving
      services in three community mental health organizations were recruited and
      randomly assigned either to the 12-month In SHAPE program, which included
      membership in a public fitness club and weekly meetings with a health promotion
      coach, or to fitness club membership alone. The primary outcome measures were
      weight and cardiorespiratory fitness (as measured with the 6-minute walk test),
      assessed at baseline and at 3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 months. RESULTS: Participants
      (N=210) were ethnically diverse (46% were nonwhite), with a mean baseline BMI of
      36.8 (SD=8.2). At 12 months, the In SHAPE group (N=104) had greater reduction in
      weight and improved fitness compared with the fitness club membership only group
      (N=106). Primary outcomes were maintained at 18 months. Approximately half of the
      In SHAPE group (51% at 12 months and 46% at 18 months) achieved clinically
      significant cardiovascular risk reduction (a weight loss >=5% or an increase of
      >50 meters on the 6-minute walk test). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first replication
      study confirming the effectiveness of a health coaching intervention in achieving
      and sustaining clinically significant reductions in cardiovascular risk for
      overweight and obese persons with serious mental illness.

PMID- 25827033
TI  - Association of CRP genetic variation and CRP level with elevated PTSD symptoms
      and physiological responses in a civilian population with high levels of trauma.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Increased systemic inflammation is associated with stress-related
      psychopathology. Specifically, levels of the proinflammatory marker C-reactive
      protein (CRP) are elevated in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder
      (PTSD). Furthermore, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the CRP gene are
      associated with CRP level, risk for cardiovascular disease, and obesity. The
      authors examined whether polymorphisms within the CRP gene and increased CRP
      levels are associated with PTSD symptoms and fear physiology in a civilian
      population with high levels of trauma. METHOD: Cross-sectional data and DNA
      samples were collected from 2,698 individuals recruited from an inner-city public
      hospital that serves a primarily African American, low-socioeconomic-status
      population. A subgroup of 187 participants participated in further interviews,
      testing, and physiological measures; of these, 135 were assessed using the fear
      potentiated startle paradigm to assess fear-related phenotypes of PTSD. RESULTS:
      One SNP within the CRP gene, rs1130864, was significantly associated with
      increased PTSD symptoms (N=2,692), including "being overly alert" as the most
      significant individual symptom (N=2,698). Additionally, CRP genotype was
      associated with the odds of PTSD diagnosis (N=2,692). This SNP was also
      associated with increased CRP level (N=137), and high CRP levels (>3 mg/L) were
      positively associated with PTSD symptoms (N=187) and fear-potentiated startle to
      a safety signal (N=135). CONCLUSIONS: Together, these data indicate that genetic
      variability in the CRP gene is associated with serum CRP level and PTSD symptom
      severity, including that of hyperarousal symptoms. Elevated CRP levels were also
      associated with exacerbated fear-related psychophysiology and PTSD symptom
      ratings and diagnosis. These findings suggest a potential mechanism by which an
      increased proinflammatory state may lead to heightened PTSD symptoms.

PMID- 25827035
TI  - Treatments for social anxiety disorder: considerations regarding psychodynamic
      therapy findings.

PMID- 25827036
TI  - Response to Hofmann et al.

PMID- 25827037
TI  - Sex difference in response to varenicline for smoking cessation.

PMID- 25827034
TI  - Validation of electronic health record phenotyping of bipolar disorder cases and
      controls.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The study was designed to validate use of electronic health records
      (EHRs) for diagnosing bipolar disorder and classifying control subjects. METHOD:
      EHR data were obtained from a health care system of more than 4.6 million
      patients spanning more than 20 years. Experienced clinicians reviewed charts to
      identify text features and coded data consistent or inconsistent with a diagnosis
      of bipolar disorder. Natural language processing was used to train a diagnostic
      algorithm with 95% specificity for classifying bipolar disorder. Filtered coded
      data were used to derive three additional classification rules for case subjects
      and one for control subjects. The positive predictive value (PPV) of EHR-based
      bipolar disorder and subphenotype diagnoses was calculated against diagnoses from
      direct semistructured interviews of 190 patients by trained clinicians blind to
      EHR diagnosis. RESULTS: The PPV of bipolar disorder defined by natural language
      processing was 0.85. Coded classification based on strict filtering achieved a
      value of 0.79, but classifications based on less stringent criteria performed
      less well. No EHR-classified control subject received a diagnosis of bipolar
      disorder on the basis of direct interview (PPV=1.0). For most subphenotypes,
      values exceeded 0.80. The EHR-based classifications were used to accrue 4,500
      bipolar disorder cases and 5,000 controls for genetic analyses. CONCLUSIONS:
      Semiautomated mining of EHRs can be used to ascertain bipolar disorder patients
      and control subjects with high specificity and predictive value compared with
      diagnostic interviews. EHRs provide a powerful resource for high-throughput
      phenotyping for genetic and clinical research.

PMID- 25827038
TI  - Response to Gorelick.

PMID- 25827039
TI  - Association of a brain methylation site with clinical outcomes in depression does
      not replicate across populations.

PMID- 25827040
TI  - Response to Uher et al.

PMID- 25827041
TI  - Motion Sensors to Assess and Monitor Medical and Surgical Management of Parkinson
      Disease.
AB  - Patients with Parkinson disease (PD) often suffer from a resting tremor,
      bradykinesia, rigidity, postural instability, and gait difficulty. Determining a
      patient's candidacy for deep-brain stimulation (DBS) surgery and tracking their
      clinical response postoperatively requires that the frequency, duration, and
      severity of these symptoms be characterized in detail. Conventional means of
      assessing these symptoms, however, rely heavily on patient self-reporting, which
      often fails to provide the necessary level of detail. Wearable accelerometers are
      a novel tool that can detect and objectively characterize these movement
      abnormalities in both the clinical setting and the patient's home environment. In
      this article, we review the role of accelerometers in surgical candidate
      selection, recording and predicting falls, recording and predicting freezing of
      gait, evaluating surgical outcomes, and evaluating postoperative recovery and in
      altering DBS settings. Although accelerometry has yet to make it into the
      mainstream clinic, there is great promise for this technology in monitoring
      Parkinson patients. 

PMID- 25827042
TI  - Minimally Invasive Endoscopic Supracerebellar-Infratentorial Surgery of the
      Pineal Region: Anatomical Comparison of Four Variant Approaches.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The endoscopic supracerebellar-infratentorial (SCIT) approach is a
      viable method to access pathology of the posterior incisura, but a narrow working
      space and frequent instrument conflict can potentially limit its surgical
      efficacy. Until now, no rigorous studies were available comparing surgical
      freedom and angle of attack for four previously well-described approaches to
      pineal region targets. METHODS: Four formalin-fixed cadaver heads were dissected
      bilaterally (eight sides). A midline approach and three progressively lateral
      approaches to the pineal region were performed (paramedian, lateral, extreme
      lateral), and anatomical targets were identified. Utilizing frameless stereotaxy,
      we calculated surgical freedom using the vector cross-product method for all
      approaches for the exposed area and for three anatomical targets (pineal gland,
      ipsilateral superior colliculus, splenium). The mean and maximum possible angles
      of attack were calculated in the axial and sagittal planes. RESULTS: Point target
      surgical freedom, exposed area surgical freedom, and angle of attack for each
      individual pineal region target can be maximized depending on the medial-to
      lateral location of the craniotomy. For endoscopic-controlled approaches, the
      extreme lateral approach provides the largest surgical freedom when accessing the
      ipsilateral superior colliculus (P < 0.0001), the lateral approach provides the
      largest surgical freedom to the pineal gland (P < 0.0001), and the paramedian
      craniotomy provides the largest surgical freedom when accessing the splenium (P <
      0.0001). The extreme lateral approach to the pineal gland provided the largest
      horizontal angle of attack (P < 0.0001), and the extreme lateral approach to the
      ipsilateral superior colliculus provided the largest vertical angle of attack (P
      < 0.001). The microscope provides marginally increased surgical freedom and a
      better angle of attack to specific anatomical targets in the paramedian and
      extreme lateral approach compared with those provided by the endoscope, but these
      differences are negligible during intraoperative application. CONCLUSIONS:
      Presurgical planning and a detailed understanding of the important neurovascular
      structures in the pineal region are paramount to safe and successful surgical
      execution. Our current cadaveric study indicates that the medial-to-lateral
      location of craniotomy can maximize access to pineal region targets. Furthermore,
      the endoscope is a viable alternative to the microscope for identifying pathology
      of the posterior incisura. These differences in surgical freedom and angle of
      attack to the pineal region may be useful to consider when planning minimal
      access approaches.

PMID- 25827043
TI  - Extended Endoscopic Endonasal Approach to the Third Ventricle: Multimodal
      Anatomical Study with Surgical Implications.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: A certain interest for the extended endoscopic endonasal approach
      for the management of sellar-suprasellar lesions extending inside the third
      ventricle has been growing in recent years. The aim of this anatomical study was
      to evaluate the possibilities in terms of exposure and access to the different
      areas of the third ventricle, with the endoscopic endonasal technique, as
      compared with the microscopic or endoscopic view provided via different
      transcranial approaches. The advantages and limitations of both surgical pathways
      were analyzed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten human cadaver heads were dissected. In
      order to standardize the comparison between the endonasal and the transcranial
      routes, the third ventricle cavity has been divided into four areas by means of
      two ideal planes, one passing through the optic chiasm and the interthalamic
      commissure and one passing through the posterior edge of the foramen of Monro and
      the interthalamic commissure. Accordingly, two anterior (infundibular and
      foraminal) and two posterior (mesencephalic and tectal) areas have been defined.
      RESULTS: The endoscopic endonasal approach allows for exploration and surgical
      maneuverability, especially in the anterior areas of the third ventricle. In the
      infundibular and foraminal areas the surgical maneuverability seems to be better
      as compared with that obtained inside the mesencephalic region, while via the
      endonasal route the tectal area could not be reached. In particular, the
      infundibular area can be explored either passing through the lamina terminalis or
      via the tuber cinereum; this latter trajectory enables visualization of the
      foramina of Monro and the floor of the third ventricle up to the pineal recess.
      CONCLUSION: This anatomical study shows that the lamina terminalis and, above
      all, the tuber cinereum represent two safe entry points defining possible
      surgical corridors to be considered for the extended endoscopic endonasal
      approach to the third ventricle.

PMID- 25827044
TI  - History of Neurosurgery in Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
AB  - Neurosurgery in Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has undergone
      remarkable progress since its beginning in the 1950s. With the initial support
      from socialist countries of the Soviet bloc, especially Professor Constantin
      Arseni of Romania, the nation has consistently produced a number of its own
      neurosurgeons each year and fostered further advancement by establishing the
      Korean Neurosurgery Association (DPRK). Despite the recent international
      collaborative activity for North Korean neurosurgery-namely with Foundation for
      International Education in Neurological Surgery, World Federation of Neurological
      Surgeons, and Korean American Medical Association-the sparse exchange of
      information, knowledge, and surgical skills still remains largely inadequate. 

PMID- 25827045
TI  - Flow Diversion Technologies in Evolution: A Review of the First Two Generations
      of Flow Diversion Devices.
AB  - Flow diversion technologies have gained popularity as a novel endovascular
      approach to treating cerebral aneurysms. Thus far, the results of treatment with
      flow diverters has been excellent, with comparable morbidity and mortality to
      stent-assisted coiling but higher complete occlusion. Currently, published data
      exists for four different flow diversion technologies. We review and summarize
      the most recent results for these technologies and review differences in flow
      diverter designs. 

PMID- 25827046
TI  - Endoscopic Surgery in Nonhydrocephalous Third Ventricular Colloid Cysts: A
      Feasibility Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and
      effectiveness of endoscopic neurosurgery for patients with third ventricular
      colloid cysts but without ventriculomegaly. METHODS: Seventy-one patients with
      third ventricular colloid cysts were identified and recruited to this study.
      Eighteen of these patients did not have concomitant hydrocephalus and underwent
      primary endoscopic surgery for cyst resection. The surgical technique, the
      success rate, and patients' outcome were assessed and compared with another 53
      patients with hydrocephalus who underwent similar procedures. Our study was
      performed in a retrospective basis, although in middle of our work we decided to
      study and follow nonhydrocephalus cases prospectively. RESULTS: The ventricular
      compartments were successfully cannulated and gross total resection and near
      total resection of the colloid cysts was achieved in all patients. There were no
      persistent operative complications related to the endoscopic procedure. The
      success rate for endoscopic surgery in patients without hydrocephalus was similar
      to its value in patients with hydrocephalus. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic resection of
      third ventricular colloid cyst in patients without hydrocephalus seems to be
      feasible, effective, and not contraindicated.

PMID- 25827047
TI  - The impact of depression on fatigue in patients with haemodialysis: a
      correlational study.
AB  - AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To investigate the fatigue levels and important fatigue
      predictors for patients undergoing haemodialysis. BACKGROUND: Fatigue is a common
      symptom for haemodialysis patients. With its debilitating and distressing
      effects, it impacts patients in terms of their quality of life while also
      increasing their mortality rate. DESIGN: A descriptive correlational study.
      METHODS: Convenience sampling was conducted at six chosen haemodialysis centres
      in Southern Taiwan. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire from 193
      haemodialysis patients. The scales involved in this study were socio-demographic
      details, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Fatigue
      Scale for haemodialysis patients. Data analysis included percentages, means,
      standard deviations and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: The
      fatigue level for haemodialysis patients was in the moderate range. Results from
      the hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that age, employment
      status, types of medications, physical activity and depression were significant.
      Of those variables, depression had the greatest impact on the patients' fatigue
      level, accounting for up to 30.6% of the explanatory power. The total explanatory
      power of the regression model was 64.2%. CONCLUSION: This study determined that
      for haemodialysis patients, unemployment, increased age, taking more medications
      or lower exercise frequencies resulted in more severe depression, which
      translated in turn to higher levels of fatigue. Among all these factors,
      depression had the greatest impact on the patients' fatigue levels. RELEVANCE TO
      CLINICAL PRACTICE: Not only is this finding beneficial to future studies on
      fatigue as a source of reference, it is also helpful in our understanding of
      important predictors relating to fatigue in the everyday lives of haemodialysis
      patients. It is recommended that when caring for fatigued patients, more care
      should be dedicated to their psychological states, and assistance should be
      provided in a timely way so as to reduce the amount of fatigue suffered.

PMID- 25827049
TI  - Comprehensive assessment for novel prostate cancer markers in the prostate
      specific antigen era: focusing on Asians and Asian countries.
AB  - We reviewed the current evidence for three novel prostate tumor markers (PCA3,
      TMPRSS2:ERG and proPSA) that have been recently reported predominantly in Western
      countries. We focus our attention on Asian men in both clinical and basic
      research studies. There have been no reports on the clinical usefulness of these
      three markers for Asians living in Western countries. In Asian countries,
      evidence for the clinical usefulness of PCA3 and proPSA-related indices including
      Prostate Health Index is being accumulated, mainly in Japan. The process for how
      a novel marker is approved in the clinical setting is also discussed. 

PMID- 25827050
TI  - Editorial comment to Prostate-specific antigen level, stage or Gleason score:
      which is best for predicting outcomes after radical prostatectomy and does it
      vary by the outcome being measured? Results from Shared Equal Access Regional
      Cancer Hospital database.

PMID- 25827051
TI  - Editorial comment from Dr Isotani to Three-dimensional printing in urological
      surgery: what are the possibilities?

PMID- 25827052
TI  - Adverse Remodeling of the Left Atrium in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation: When
      Is the Tipping Point in Which Structural Changes Become Permanent?

PMID- 25827053
TI  - [Combined paralateronasal and cervical approaches for malignant maxillo
      mandibular tumors extending to the infratemporal fossa].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The common anterior paralateronasal approach for malignant maxillo
      mandibular tumors extending to the infratemporal fossa is usually difficult,
      insufficient, or even dangerous. TECHNICAL NOTE: We report a new approach for
      tumors extending to the infratemporal fossa. It combines a paralateronasal and a
      cervical approach indicated for tumors extending to the infratemporal fossa,
      requiring a total monoblock excision of the tumor with as little esthetic sequel
      as possible. DISCUSSION: The main interest of this technique is to offer a large
      exposure of the facial skeleton and the tumor, and to spare cervical vascular
      structures.

PMID- 25827054
TI  - [Split temporalis muscle flap vascularized by the superficial temporal pedicle].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The temporalis muscle has been used for more than a century for
      facial reconstruction. But this flap cannot fill defects beyond the midline.
      Splitting the temporalis muscle in the plane of the tendon insertion allows
      lengthening the flap and crossing the midline. TECHNICAL NOTE: The scalp incision
      is followed by a subcutaneous dissection, taking care to spare hair follicles and
      superficial temporal vessels. Then the temporalis muscle is detached by a
      strictly subperiosteal dissection and deep temporal pedicles are dissected and
      ligated. The flap is split in the plane of the insertion tendon up to its distal
      end. DISCUSSION: This technique allows reconstructing cranio-facial defect beyond
      the midline with well-vascularized tissue.

PMID- 25827055
TI  - Evaluation of a clinical tool to test and adjust the programmed overnight basal
      profiles for insulin pump therapy: a pilot study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Clinical protocols for basal rate testing and adjustment are needed
      for effective insulin pump therapy. We evaluated the effects of a continuous
      glucose monitoring (CGM)-based semiautomated basal algorithm on glycemia.
      METHODS: We developed and piloted a basal rate analyzer that interpreted CGM data
      from overnight fasts and recommended dose changes for subsequent nights. Subjects
      uploaded data online using sensor-augmented pumps for evaluation by the analyzer
      after each of 5 overnight fasts conducted over 2 to 8 weeks. It was designed to
      be conservative and iterative, making changes that did not exceed 10% at each
      iteration. The standard deviation and interquartile range of CGM values from
      midnight to 7 am (SD12-7am and IQR12-7am) over 3 baseline and 3 postintervention
      nights, hypoglycemia incidence (CGM values <4.0 mmol/L), and glycated hemoglobin
      (A1C) were compared. RESULTS: Twenty subjects with mean ages of 38+/-13 years and
      A1C 7.6%+/-0.8% (60+/-8.7 mmol/mol) underwent the 5 iterations of basal
      assessments over 5+/-3 weeks. SD12-7am and IQR12-7am did not change from baseline
      to postintervention (1.57+/-0.8 to 1.63+/-0.8 mmol/L; p=0.35; 3.66+/-2.07 to
      3.47+/-2.26 mmol/L; p=0.90). However, mean glucose values were lower between 2 to
      3 am at baseline compared to postintervention; 3-night hypoglycemia incidence
      declined from 1.6+/-1.8 to 0.5+/-0.7 episodes (p=0.01), and A1C improved from
      7.6%+/-0.8% to 7.4%+/-0.9% (60%+/-8.7% to 57%+/-9.8% mmol/mol; p=0.03).
      CONCLUSIONS: The use of a basal rate analyzer was associated with reduced
      hypoglycemia and improved A1C. However, overnight glycemic stability was not
      improved. Further research into the efficacy of the CGM-based semiautomated
      algorithm is warranted.

PMID- 25827056
TI  - An exploratory study of image and performance enhancement drug use in a male
      British South Asian community.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Consumerism of image and performance enhancement drugs (IPEDs) is a
      world-wide public health concern. Given anecdotal reporting of increased
      normalisation of IPED use and uptake of British South Asian male IPED users at UK
      needle and syringe exchange services, the study aimed to explore use of IPEDs
      among this under-researched ethnic group. METHODS: 20 in depth interviews were
      conducted with a purposive sample of British South Asian males attending harm
      reduction outreach in the North East of England. The interviews explored motives
      for use of IPEDs, sourcing routes, information seeking, injecting behaviours and
      cultural and community sensitivities around IPED use among this group. The data
      was collected and analysed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
      approach (IPA). RESULTS: Motives for use centred on the achievement of enhanced
      definition and density of muscle, and improved recovery from training and
      injuries. All participants reported initial stimulation of interest and triggers
      to seek information on IPEDs due to social media, community and peer messages.
      Diverse forms of IPED use were described, with rational and moderated use common
      among older participants. In contrast younger participants adopted more excessive
      use in seeking short cuts to attaining muscle size. Sourcing of androgenic
      anabolic steroids (AAS) and growth hormones from originating countries (Pakistan,
      India) was reported, along with diversification of entrepreneurial activity into
      IPED dealing networks. Sellers were generally reported to provide effective and
      reliable products and mentoring to inexperienced users. Group injecting practices
      were common. IPED use was observed by some as health promotion medium within
      religious contexts. Crime deterrence and drug abstinence occurred for some while
      involved in AAS cycles. CONCLUSIONS: The study is intended to contribute to
      health policy and practice debate around the targeting of dedicated education,
      outreach and harm reduction for ethnic groups engaged in IPED use.

PMID- 25827057
TI  - Inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase attenuates hepatic fibrosis and
      endoplasmic reticulum stress induced by carbon tetrachloride in mice.
AB  - Liver fibrosis is a pathological condition in which chronic inflammation and
      changes to the extracellular matrix lead to alterations in hepatic tissue
      architecture and functional degradation of the liver. Inhibitors of the enzyme
      soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) reduce fibrosis in the heart, pancreas and kidney
      in several disease models. In this study, we assess the effect of sEH inhibition
      on the development of fibrosis in a carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced mouse
      model by monitoring changes in the inflammatory response, matrix remolding and
      endoplasmic reticulum stress. The sEH inhibitor 1-trifluoromethoxyphenyl-3-(1
      propionylpiperidin-4-yl) urea (TPPU) was administered in drinking water. Collagen
      deposition in the liver was increased five-fold in the CCl4-treated group, and
      this was returned to control levels by TPPU treatment. Hepatic expression of
      Col1a2 and 3a1 mRNA was increased over fifteen-fold in the CCl4-treated group
      relative to the Control group, and this increase was reduced by 50% by TPPU
      treatment. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress observed in the livers of CCl4
      treated animals was attenuated by TPPU treatment. In order to support the
      hypothesis that TPPU is acting to reduce the hepatic fibrosis and ER stress
      through its action as a sEH inhibitor we used a second sEH inhibitor, trans-4-{4
      [3-(4-trifluoromethoxy-phenyl)-ureido]-cyclohexyloxy}-benzoic acid (t-TUCB), and
      sEH null mice. Taken together, these data indicate that the sEH may play an
      important role in the development of hepatic fibrosis induced by CCl4, presumably
      by reducing endogenous fatty acid epoxide chemical mediators acting to reduce ER
      stress. 

PMID- 25827059
TI  - Effects of sodium phosphate and caffeine loading on repeated-sprint ability.
AB  - The effects of sodium phosphate and caffeine supplementation were assessed on
      repeated-sprint ability. Using a randomised, double-blind, Latin-square design,
      12 female, team-sport players participated in four trials: (1) sodium phosphate
      and caffeine, (2) sodium phosphate and placebo (for caffeine), (3) caffeine and
      placebo (for sodium phosphate) and (4) placebo (for sodium phosphate and
      caffeine), with ~21 days separating each trial. After each trial, participants
      performed a simulated team-game circuit (4 * 15 min quarters) with 6 * 20-m
      repeated-sprints performed once before (Set 1), at half-time (Set 2), and after
      end (Set 3). Total sprint times were faster after sodium phosphate and caffeine
      supplementation compared with placebo (Set 1: P = 0.003; Set 2: d = -0.51; Set 3:
      P < 0.001; overall: P = 0.020), caffeine (Set 3: P = 0.004; overall: P = 0.033)
      and sodium phosphate (Set 3: d = -0.67). Furthermore, total sprint times were
      faster after sodium phosphate supplementation compared with placebo (Set 1: d = 
      0.52; Set 3: d = -0.58). Best sprint results were faster after sodium phosphate
      and caffeine supplementation compared with placebo (Set 3: P = 0.007, d = -0.90)
      and caffeine (Set 3: P = 0.024, d = -0.73). Best sprint times were also faster
      after sodium phosphate supplementation compared with placebo (d = -0.54 to -0.61
      for all sets). Sodium phosphate and combined sodium phosphate and caffeine
      loading improved repeated-sprint ability. 

PMID- 25827058
TI  - Pioglitazone treatment enhances the sympathetic nervous system response to oral
      carbohydrate load in obese individuals with metabolic syndrome.
AB  - CONTEXT: Insulin resistance is associated with blunted sympathetic nervous system
      (SNS) response to carbohydrate ingestion which may contribute to postprandial
      hypotension and impaired body weight homeostasis. OBJECTIVE: This study was
      conducted to examine the effects of pharmacological insulin sensitization on
      whole-body norepinephrine kinetics during a standard 75-g oral glucose tolerance
      test (OGTT) in obese, insulin resistant subjects with metabolic syndrome.
      METHODS: Un-medicated individuals (n=42, mean age 56+/-0.8 yrs, body mass index
      34+/-0.6 kg/m(2)) were randomised to 12-weeks pioglitazone (PIO, 15 mg for 6
      weeks, then 30 mg daily) or placebo using a double-blind, parallel group design.
      Whole-body norepinephrine kinetics (arterial norepinephrine concentration,
      calculated spillover and clearance rates), spontaneous cardiac baroreflex
      sensitivity, heart rate and blood pressure were measured at times 0, 30, 60, 90
      and 120 minutes during OGTT. Insulin sensitivity was assessed by euglycemic
      hyperinsulinemic clamp (M) and Matsuda index. RESULTS: PIO increased clamp
      derived glucose utilisation by 35% (P<0.001) and there were concurrent reductions
      in inflammatory status and plasma triglycerides (P<0.05). Fasting norepinephrine
      kinetic parameters were unaltered. PIO treatment was associated with lower plasma
      insulin incursions, greater reduction in diastolic blood pressure and enhanced
      baroreflex sensitivity during OGTT (P all <0.05). The overall norepinephrine
      spillover response (AUC(0-120)) increased significantly in the PIO group (group *
      time interaction, P=0.04), with greatest increment at 30 minutes post-glucose
      (101+/-38 ng/min at baseline versus 241+/-48 ng/min post treatment, P=0.04) and
      correlated with percent improvement in M. CONCLUSIONS: PIO enhances the early
      postprandial SNS response to carbohydrate ingestion.

PMID- 25827060
TI  - Molecular mechanism of ER stress-induced gene expression of tumor necrosis factor
      related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in macrophages.
AB  - Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a member of
      the tumor necrosis factor superfamily, whose members are capable of inducing
      apoptosis and inflammation. Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) plays a key role
      in immune surveillance in macrophages. TRAIL mRNA and protein expression have
      previously been detected in macrophages; however, whether ERS has any effects on
      TRAIL expression in macrophages has not yet been determined. Here, we demonstrate
      that thapsigargin (TG) and tunicamycin (TM), two ERS inducers activated
      macrophages were able to increase TRAIL mRNA and protein expression in RAW264.7
      macrophages, the culture supernatant of THP-1 cells, and mouse peritoneal
      macrophages, indicating that ERS as a potent inducer of TRAIL transcription and
      expression in macrophages. This effect was blocked by the specific JNK inhibitor
      SP600125 and transcription factor AP-1 inhibitor SR 1130. Interestingly, at the
      molecular level, regulation of TRAIL expression by ERS was accompanied by a
      significant decrease in cytokine signaling suppressor 3 (SOCS3). SOCS3 siRNA
      clearly increased the expression of TRAIL mRNA and protein under ERS by
      activating the AP-1 components phosphorylated c-Jun and phosphorylated c-Fos in
      RAW264.7 cells. In contrast, over-expression of SOCS3 reversed ERS-induced TRAIL
      expression. These findings provide in vitro evidence that SOCS3 plays a critical
      negative role in the regulation of ERS-induced TRAIL expression via the Jun N
      terminal kinase/AP-1 signaling pathway in macrophages.

PMID- 25827061
TI  - Spray distribution evaluation of different settings of a hand-held-trolley
      sprayer used in greenhouse tomato crops.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hand-held-trolley sprayers have recently been promoted to improve
      spray application techniques in greenhouses in south-eastern Spain. However,
      certain aspects remain to be improved. A modified hand-held-trolley sprayer was
      evaluated under two different canopy conditions (high and low canopy density) and
      with several sprayer settings (nozzle type, air assistance and spray volume). In
      this study, the deposition, coverage and uniformity of distribution of the spray
      on the canopy have been assessed. RESULTS: The deposition on leaves was
      significantly higher when flat-fan nozzles and air assistance were used at both
      high and low spray volumes. No differences were detected between the reference
      system at a high spray volume and the modified trolley at a low spray volume.
      Flat-fan nozzles with air assistance increased penetrability into the canopy.
      CONCLUSIONS: Air assistance and flat-fan nozzles allow volume rates to be reduced
      while maintaining or improving spray quality distribution. The working parameters
      of hand-held sprayers must be considered to reduce environmental risk and
      increase the efficacy of the spraying process. (c) 2015 Society of Chemical
      Industry.

PMID- 25827062
TI  - The utility of three-dimensional optical projection tomography in nerve injection
      injury imaging.
AB  - The examination of nerve microarchitecture has hitherto been limited solely to
      two-dimensional imaging techniques. The objective of this study was to evaluate
      the ability of optical projection tomography to discern the nerve
      microarchitecture and injection injury in three dimensions. Five piglets were
      studied, whose median and lingual nerves were unilaterally injected post mortem
      with preset volumes of local anaesthetic, excised and subsequently made
      transparent with benzyl alcohol benzyl benzoate. Images were captured in three
      dimensions. The same contralateral nerves were used as controls. Using optical
      projection tomography, we observed differences between the internal organisation
      of the median and the lingual nerves, which potentially explain the variations in
      their susceptibility to injury. This was demonstrated in three dimensions as a
      disruption to the fascicles in the lingual nerve, and their displacement in the
      median nerve. This new technology offers potential for studying nerve
      microarchitecture topography and its tolerance to injection injury. 

PMID- 25827063
TI  - Partner behavioral responses to pain mediate the relationship between partner
      pain cognitions and pain outcomes in women with provoked vestibulodynia.
AB  - Partner behavioral responses to pain can have a significant impact on patient
      pain and depression, but little is known about why partners respond in specific
      ways. Using a cognitive-behavioral model, the present study examined whether
      partner cognitions were associated with partner behavioral responses, which prior
      work has found to predict patient pain and depressive symptoms. Participants were
      354 women with provoked vestibulodynia and their partners. Partner pain-related
      cognitions were assessed using the partner versions of the Pain Catastrophizing
      Scale and Extended Attributional Style Questionnaire, whereas their behavioral
      responses to pain were assessed with the Multidimensional Pain Inventory. Patient
      pain was measured using a numeric rating scale, and depressive symptoms were
      assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Path analysis was used to
      examine the proposed model. Partner catastrophizing and negative attributions
      were associated with negative partner responses, which were associated with
      higher patient pain. It was also found that partner pain catastrophizing was
      associated with solicitous partner responses, which in turn were associated with
      higher patient pain and depressive symptoms. The effect of partner cognitions on
      patient outcomes was partially mediated by partner behavioral responses. Findings
      highlight the importance of assessing partner cognitions, both in research and as
      a target for intervention. PERSPECTIVE: The present study presents a cognitive
      behavioral model to partially explain how significant others' thoughts about pain
      have an effect on patient pain and depressive symptoms. Findings may inform
      cognitive-behavioral therapy for couples coping with PVD.

PMID- 25827064
TI  - A retrospective cohort study of long-term immediate-release
      hydrocodone/acetaminophen use and acetaminophen dosing above the Food and Drug
      Administration recommended maximum daily limit among commercially insured
      individuals in the United States (2008-2013).
AB  - Immediate-release (IR) hydrocodone/acetaminophen is the most prescribed opioid in
      the United States; however, patterns of use, including long-term treatment and
      dose, are not well described. Duration of use, including the percentage of
      patients on long-term treatment (>90 days of continuous use), was assessed for
      patients newly prescribed IR hydrocodone/acetaminophen compared to other opioid
      analgesics in a national commercial insurance database (January 2008-September
      2013). Though only a small percentage of IR hydrocodone/acetaminophen patients
      continued treatment long-term (1.7%), the number was large (104,839) and was
      nearly 5 times the number receiving extended-release (ER) morphine (n = 22,338)
      and nearly 4 times the number receiving ER oxycodone (n = 26,946) long-term.
      Using a less conservative allowable gap in treatment increased the number of
      patients meeting the criteria for long-term use (approximately 160,000 for IR
      hydrocodone/acetaminophen vs <30,000 for ER morphine and ER oxycodone). Most
      patients meeting these criteria received IR hydrocodone doses between >20 and
      <=60 mg/d (n = 56,220, 53.6%) in month 4; 5.5% (n = 5,743) received doses >60
      mg/d. Moreover, approximately 15% of IR hydrocodone/acetaminophen patients (n >
      900,000) were prescribed total daily acetaminophen doses exceeding 4 g (the limit
      recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) at their initial IR
      hydrocodone/acetaminophen prescription or any time during therapy. PERSPECTIVE:
      Although most patients were prescribed IR hydrocodone/acetaminophen for acute
      pain, the number of patients prescribed long-term therapy exceeds the number of
      patients prescribed ER opioids. It is important to consider the benefits and
      risks inherent with long-term opioid therapy, whether with IR or ER opioids, to
      ensure safe use of these products.

PMID- 25827066
TI  - Oxidative deamination of azafulleroids into C60 by peracids.
AB  - Oxidation of azafulleroids with peracids regenerated C60 depending on the N
      substituents. Alkyl-substituted azafulleroids preferred the oxidation of nitrogen
      to afford N-oxides as possible intermediates for C60 in moderate yields. Phenyl-
      and tosyl-substituted azafulleroids rather allowed the oxidation at the carbon
      cage. Theoretical calculations predicted the order of reactivity of azafulleroids
      as well as the relative N/C nucleophilicity. 

PMID- 25827065
TI  - The role of the commensal microbiota in the regulation of tolerance to dietary
      allergens.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: We review the evidence that environmental stimuli that perturb
      naturally selected host-microbe interactions are driving the increasing
      prevalence of food allergy and examine the mechanisms by which commensal bacteria
      regulate tolerance to dietary allergens. RECENT FINDINGS: Antibiotic use and the
      consumption of a high-fat/low-fiber diet have a major and rapid impact on gut
      bacterial populations, with long-term consequences for both overall microbial
      community structure and the regulation of host immunity. Recent work emphasizes
      the role of mucosa-associated commensal bacteria in eliciting a barrier
      protective response critical to preventing allergic sensitization to food. Murine
      model studies are informing the development of novel live biotherapeutic
      approaches as an adjunctive therapy to enhance antigen-specific oral
      desensitization and to promote lasting tolerance in patients with food allergy.
      SUMMARY: Strategies based on modulating the composition and/or functionality of
      the gut microbiome hold promise for the treatment of food allergy.

PMID- 25827067
TI  - Role of tissue characterization by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance in the diagnosis of
      constrictive pericarditis.
AB  - Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) allows evaluation of the functional and flow
      changes in pericardial constriction as well as detection of acute pericardial
      inflammation, fusion and thickening of pericardial layers and pericardial
      effusion. We sought to evaluate the diagnostic role of tissue characterization by
      CMR in constrictive pericarditis (CP). We performed a CMR exam in 70 patients
      (mean age 58 +/- 16) with clinical suspicion of constrictive pericarditis and
      constrictive pattern at echocardiography and/or catheterization. A
      multiparametric CMR approach was used to evaluate the initial diagnostic
      suspicion. A clinical follow-up was performed in all patients for a median of 551
      days. The diagnosis of CP was confirmed in 53 patients while 12 patients
      presented signs of predominant pericardial active inflammation suggesting a
      diagnosis of transient constrictive pericarditis and five presented effusive
      constrictive pericarditis. Patients with a final diagnosis of CP had worse
      prognosis than those with transient constrictive or effusive constrictive
      pericarditis. The presence of myocardial late gadolinium enhancement was
      associated to adverse events. Results of the current study confirmed the value of
      CMR in the differential diagnosis of pericardial disease. A multiparametric CMR
      approach allowed to distinguish between active inflammation, chronic pericarditis
      with constriction and effusion without inflammation.

PMID- 25827068
TI  - Detection of coronary artery disease in diabetic hypertensive patients using
      conventional transthoratic echocardiography at rest.
AB  - To investigate the usefulness of conventional transthoratic echocardiography in
      identifying coronary artery disease (CAD) in diabetic hypertensive patients,
      transthoratic echocardiography and coronary angiography were performed in 122
      diabetic hypertensive patients with suspected CAD. Correlation analysis,
      multivariate analysis and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis
      were done. Diabetic hypertensive patients with CAD had significantly smaller
      coronary sinus diameter (Dcs), less velocity time integral (VTI), less coronary
      sinus flow (Flow) and less Flow divided by left ventricular mass (Flow/LVM) at
      rest versus normal participants (P < 0.01) and diabetic hypertensive patients
      without CAD (P < 0.05). The VTI, Dcs, Flow, LVM and Flow/LVM all showed
      significant correlations with the maximal percent stenosis of the coronary artery
      lesions (P < 0.05). However, only Flow showed statistically significant
      correlations with the maximal percent stenosis of the coronary artery lesions (P
      < 0.01) when multiple stepwise regression analysis was performed. For predicting
      CAD (angiographically proven, >50%) in diabetic hypertensive patients, the area
      under the ROC (AUC) was 0.92 for Flow, and a cut-off of <220 ml/min had a 93.2%
      sensitivity, 87.9% specificity and 91.3% accuracy. For predicting a >70% coronary
      artery stenosis, the AUC was 0.88 for Flow, and a cut-off of <147 ml/min had an
      89.5% sensitivity, 87.4% specificity and 88.5% accuracy. Conventional
      transthoratic echocardiography can effectively and sensitively detect the CAD in
      diabetic hypertensive patients at rest. The reduced coronary sinus flow is a
      sensitive and specific predictor of CAD in diabetic hypertensive patients.

PMID- 25827069
TI  - Reduced expression and growth inhibitory activity of the aging suppressor klotho
      in epithelial ovarian cancer.
AB  - Klotho is an anti-aging transmembrane protein, which can be shed and function as
      a hormone. Accumulating data indicate klotho as a tumor suppressor in a wide
      array of malignancies, and we identified klotho as an inhibitor of the insulin
      like growth factor (IGF-1) pathway in cancer cells. As this pathway is
      significant in the development of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) we studied
      klotho expression and activity in this tumor. Klotho mRNA levels were reduced in
      16 of 19 EOC cell lines and immunohistochemistry analysis revealed high
      expression in normal ovaries, and reduced expression in 100 of 241 high grade
      papillary-serous adenocarcinoma of the ovaries, fallopian tubes and peritoneum.
      Reduced expression was associated with wild-type BRCA status. Klotho reduced EOC
      cell viability, enhanced cisplatin sensitivity, and reduced expression of
      mesenchymal markers. Finally, klotho inhibited IGF-1 pathway activation and
      inhibited transcriptional activity of the estrogen receptor. In conclusion,
      klotho is silenced in a substantial subset of the tumors and restoring its
      expression slows growth of EOC cells and inhibits major signaling pathways. As
      klotho is a hormone, treatment with klotho may serve as a novel treatment for
      EOC. 

PMID- 25827071
TI  - All-trans retinoic acid induces p53-depenent apoptosis in human hepatocytes by
      activating p14 expression via promoter hypomethylation.
AB  - All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), the most biologically active metabolite of
      vitamin A, has been extensively studied for the prevention and treatment of
      cancer; however, the underlying mechanism of its anti-cancer potential is still
      unclear. Here we found that ATRA induces apoptosis in p53-positive HepG2 cells,
      but not in p53-negative Hep3B cells. For this effect, ATRA activated p14
      expression via promoter hypomethylation, resulting in ubiquitin-dependent
      degradation of mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) and subsequent stabilization of p53.
      The potential of ATRA to stabilize p53 was almost completely abolished by knock
      down of p14 in HepG2 cells and was not observed in p14-negative A549 cells.
      Upregulation of p14 also abolished the self-regulatory potential of p53 to
      repress p14 expression via DNA methylation and transcriptionally activate MDM2
      expression. The accumulated p53 then activated several apoptosis-related
      molecules, including Bax, PUMA, caspase-9, Bid, caspase-8, caspase-3, and PARP.
      Ectopic expression of DNA methyltransferase 1 almost completely abolished the
      potential of ATRA to activate the p14-MDM2-p53 pathway and induce p53-dependent
      apoptosis. Therefore, we conclude that ATRA induces p14 promoter hypomethylation
      to trigger apoptosis.

PMID- 25827070
TI  - Isorhamnetin augments the anti-tumor effect of capeciatbine through the negative
      regulation of NF-kappaB signaling cascade in gastric cancer.
AB  - Development of drug resistance to standard chemotherapy is a common phenomenon
      that leads to poor prognosis in patients. Thus, novel agents that can attenuate
      chemoresistance are urgently needed. Therefore, we analyzed whether isorhamnetin
      (IH), a 3'-O-methylated metabolite of quercetin, can enhance the potential
      efficacy of capecitabine in gastric cancer. The potential effect of IH on
      viability was analyzed by MTT assay, apoptosis by flow cytometric analysis, and
      NF-kappaB activation by DNA binding as well as Western blot assays. The in vivo
      effect of IH was also examined on the growth of subcutaneously implanted tumors
      in nude mice. IH inhibited the viability, potentiated the apoptotic effects of
      capecitabine, abrogated NF-kappaB activation, and suppressed the expression of
      various NF-kappaB regulated gene products in tumor cells. In a gastric cancer
      xenograft model, administration of IH alone (1 mg/kg body weight, i.p.)
      significantly suppressed the tumor growth alone as well as in combination with
      capecitabine. IH further reduced NF-kappaB activation and the expression of
      various proliferative and oncogenic biomarkers in tumor tissues. Overall, our
      results demonstrate that IH can significantly enhance the anti-tumor effects of
      capecitabine through the negative regulation of NF-kappaB regulated oncogenic
      genes. 

PMID- 25827074
TI  - WITHDRAWN: Combination of serum miRNAs with Cyfra21-1 for the diagnosis of non
      small cell lung cancer.
AB  - This article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor.
      The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier
      Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at
      http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy.

PMID- 25827073
TI  - AC1MMYR2 impairs high dose paclitaxel-induced tumor metastasis by targeting miR
      21/CDK5 axis.
AB  - Paclitaxel (taxol) is a widely used chemo-drug for many solid tumors, while
      continual taxol treatment is revealed to stimulate tumor dissemination. We
      previously found that a small molecule inhibitor of miR-21, termed AC1MMYR2, had
      the potential to impair tumorigenesis and metastasis. The aim of this study was
      to investigate whether combining AC1MMYR2 with taxol could be explored as a means
      to limit tumor metastasis. Here we showed that abnormal activation of miR-21/CDK5
      axis was associated with breast cancer lymph node metastasis, which was also
      contribute to high dose taxol-induced invasion and epithelial mesenchymal
      transition (EMT) in both breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 and glioblastoma cell
      line U87VIII. AC1MMYR2 attenuated CDK5 activity by functional targeting CDK5RAP1,
      CDK5 activator p39 and target p-FAK(ser732). A series of in vitro assays
      indicated that treatment of AC1MMYR2 combined with taxol suppressed tumor
      migration and invasion ability in both MDA-MB-231 and U87VIII cell. More
      importantly, combination therapy impaired high-dose taxol induced invadopodia,
      and EMT markers including beta-catenin, E-cadherin and vimentin. Strikingly, a
      significant reduction of lung metastasis in mice was observed in the AC1MMYR2
      plus taxol treatment. Taken together, our work demonstrated that AC1MMYR2
      appeared to be a promising strategy in combating taxol induced cancer metastasis
      by targeting miR-21/CDK5 axis, which highlighted the potential for development of
      therapeutic modalities for better clinic taxol application. 

PMID- 25827078
TI  - Skin closure methods after single port laparoscopic surgery: a randomized
      clinical trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare postoperative cosmetic outcomes according to different
      umbilical closure methods after single port laparoscopic surgery (SP-LS). STUDY
      DESIGN: A total of 138 women who were scheduled to receive elective SP-LS were
      randomized to undergo closure of the umbilical incision with either a
      subcutaneous suture only without subcuticular skin suture (case group, n=68) or
      both a subcutaneous suture and subcuticular skin suture (control group, n=70)
      after fascial closure. At postoperative months 1 and 3, the umbilical scar was
      evaluated using the Vancouver scar scale (VSS), the patient and observer scar
      assessment scale, and a visual analog scale (VAS). Overall satisfaction with scar
      cosmesis and surgery was assessed with the VAS. RESULTS: There was no significant
      difference in the clinical characteristics and operative data between the groups.
      The objective and subjective scar assessments and the overall satisfaction with
      scar cosmesis were not different between the groups. In the control group, four
      (5.7%) women experienced wound discharge and were treated with conservative
      treatments and delayed closure. In women who completed the first and second
      assessments, the changes in the scar assessment and overall satisfaction with the
      scar according to time after surgery were not different in either group, but the
      patient scar assessment scale in both groups and the VSS in the case group
      improved. CONCLUSIONS: After SP-LS, the approximation of the fascia and
      subcutaneous layer seems to be enough for the closure of an umbilical incision.
      Skin closure with subcuticular sutures did not improve the postoperative cosmetic
      outcomes and might lead to impaired wound healing. However, large randomized
      trials with various closure techniques and materials are needed to confirm this
      finding.

PMID- 25827072
TI  - FBXO11 promotes ubiquitination of the Snail family of transcription factors in
      cancer progression and epidermal development.
AB  - The Snail family of transcription factors are core inducers of epithelial-to
      mesenchymal transition (EMT). Here we show that the F-box protein FBXO11
      recognizes and promotes ubiquitin-mediated degradation of multiple Snail family
      members including Scratch. The association between FBXO11 and Snai1 in vitro is
      independent of Snai1 phosphorylation. Overexpression of FBXO11 in mesenchymal
      cells reduces Snail protein abundance and cellular invasiveness. Conversely,
      depletion of endogenous FBXO11 in epithelial cancer cells causes Snail protein
      accumulation, EMT, and tumor invasion, as well as loss of estrogen receptor
      expression in breast cancer cells. Expression of FBXO11 is downregulated by EMT
      inducing signals TGFbeta and nickel. In human cancer, high FBXO11 levels
      correlate with expression of epithelial markers and favorable prognosis. The
      results suggest that FBXO11 sustains the epithelial state and inhibits cancer
      progression. Inactivation of FBXO11 in mice leads to neonatal lethality,
      epidermal thickening, and increased Snail protein levels in epidermis, validating
      that FBXO11 is a physiological ubiquitin ligase of Snail. Moreover, in C.
      elegans, the FBXO11 mutant phenotype is attributed to the Snail factors as it is
      suppressed by inactivation/depletion of Snail homologs. Collectively, these
      findings suggest that the FBXO11-Snail regulatory axis is evolutionarily
      conserved and critically governs carcinoma progression and mammalian epidermal
      development.

PMID- 25827079
TI  - Comparing outcomes and costs between contingent and combined first-trimester
      screening strategies for Down's syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare a contingent strategy with a combined strategy for prenatal
      detection of Down's syndrome (DS) in terms of cost, outcomes and safety. STUDY
      DESIGN: The contingent strategy was based on a simulation, removing measurement
      of the free beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (free betahCG) and
      calculating the DS risk retrospectively in 32,371 pregnant women who had been
      screened with the combined strategy in the first trimester. In the contingent
      strategy, a risk between 1:31 and 1:1000 in the first trimester indicated further
      testing in the second trimester (alpha-fetoprotein, inhibin A, unconjugated
      oestriol and free betahCG). The cut-off risk values for the contingent and
      combined strategies in the first trimester were 1:30 and 1:250, respectively, and
      the cut-off risk value for integrated screening in the second trimester was
      1:250. Costs were compared in terms of avoided DS births, and the ratio of loss
      of healthy fetuses following invasive procedures per avoided DS birth was
      calculated. RESULTS: The combined strategy had sensitivity of 40/44 (90.9%) and a
      false-positive rate of 2.8%. Corresponding values for the contingent strategy
      were 39/44 (88.6%) and 1.3%, respectively. Only 11% of pregnant women required
      tests in the second trimester, and the approximate cost reduction for each
      avoided DS birth was 5000?. The ratio of lost healthy fetuses following invasive
      procedures per avoided DS birth improved by up to 0.65. CONCLUSION: The
      contingent strategy has similar effectiveness to the combined strategy, but has
      lower costs and fewer invasive procedures.

PMID- 25827081
TI  - meso-Pyrrole-Substituted 22-Oxacorroles: Building Blocks for the Synthesis of
      BODIPY-Bridged 22-Oxacorrole Dyads.
AB  - Novel boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY)-bridged 22-oxacorrole dyads, using meso
      pyrrolyl 22-oxacorrole as a key synthon, have been synthesized. The reactivity of
      the meso-pyrrolyl group of 22-oxacorrole was exploited to synthesize the first
      examples of BODIPY-bridged 22-oxacorrole dyads in ~40 % yield. The dyads are
      stable and exhibited interesting spectral and electrochemical properties. 

PMID- 25827080
TI  - Quantification of myocardial perfusion with self-gated cardiovascular magnetic
      resonance.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Current myocardial perfusion measurements make use of an ECG-gated
      pulse sequence to track the uptake and washout of a gadolinium-based contrast
      agent. The use of a gated acquisition is a problem in situations with a poor ECG
      signal. Recently, an ungated perfusion acquisition was proposed but it is not
      known how accurately quantitative perfusion estimates can be made from such
      datasets that are acquired without any triggering signal. METHODS: An
      undersampled saturation recovery radial turboFLASH pulse sequence was used in 7
      subjects to acquire dynamic contrast-enhanced images during free-breathing. A
      single saturation pulse was followed by acquisition of 4-5 slices after a delay
      of ~40 msec. This was repeated without pause and without any type of gating. The
      same pulse sequence, with ECG-gating, was used to acquire gated data as a ground
      truth. An iterative spatio-temporal constrained reconstruction was used to
      reconstruct the undersampled images. After reconstruction, the ungated images
      were retrospectively binned ("self-gated") into two cardiac phases using a region
      of interest based technique and deformably registered into near-systole and near
      diastole. The gated and the self-gated datasets were then quantified with
      standard methods. RESULTS: Regional myocardial blood flow estimates (MBFs)
      obtained using self-gated systole (0.64 +/- 0.26 ml/min/g), self-gated diastole
      (0.64 +/- 0.26 ml/min/g), and ECG-gated scans (0.65 +/- 0.28 ml/min/g) were
      similar. Based on the criteria for interchangeable methods listed in the
      statistical analysis section, the MBF values estimated from self-gated and gated
      methods were not significantly different. CONCLUSION: The self-gated technique
      for quantification of regional myocardial perfusion matched ECG-gated perfusion
      measurements well in normal subjects at rest. Self-gated systolic perfusion
      values matched ECG-gated perfusion values better than did diastolic values.

PMID- 25827082
TI  - IER3 Promotes Expansion of Adipose Progenitor Cells in Response to Changes in
      Distinct Microenvironmental Effectors.
AB  - Adipose tissue expansion is well-orchestrated to fulfill the energy demand. It
      results from adipocyte hypertrophy and hyperplasia due to adipose progenitor cell
      (APC) expansion and differentiation. Chronic low grade inflammation and hypoxia
      take place in obese adipose tissue microenvironment. Both of these events were
      shown to impact the APC pool by promoting increased self-renewal along with a
      decrease in the APC differentiation potential. However, no common target has been
      identified so far. Here we show that the immediate early response 3 gene (IER3)
      is preferentially expressed in APCs and is essential for APC proliferation and
      self-renewal. Experiments based on RNA interference revealed that impairing IER3
      expression altered cell proliferation through ERK1/2 phosphorylation and
      clonogenicity. IER3 expression was induced by Activin A, which plays a crucial
      role in adipocyte differentiation as well as by a decrease in oxygen tension
      through HIF1-induced transcriptional activation. Interestingly, high levels of
      IER3 were detected in native APCs (CD34+/CD31- cells) isolated from obese
      patients and conditioned media from obese adipose tissue-macrophages stimulated
      its expression. Overall, these results indicate that IER3 is a key player in
      expanding the pool of APC while highlighting the role of distinct effectors found
      in an obese microenvironment in this process.

PMID- 25827083
TI  - Syndromic surveillance system based on near real-time cattle mortality
      monitoring.
AB  - Early detection of an infectious disease incursion will minimize the impact of
      outbreaks in livestock. Syndromic surveillance based on the analysis of readily
      available data can enhance traditional surveillance systems and allow veterinary
      authorities to react in a timely manner. This study was based on monitoring the
      number of cattle carcasses sent for rendering in the veterinary unit of Talavera
      de la Reina (Spain). The aim was to develop a system to detect deviations from
      expected values which would signal unexpected health events. Historical weekly
      collected dead cattle (WCDC) time series stabilized by the Box-Cox transformation
      and adjusted by the minimum least squares method were used to build the
      univariate cycling regression model based on a Fourier transformation. Three
      different models, according to type of production system, were built to estimate
      the baseline expected number of WCDC. Two types of risk signals were generated:
      point risk signals when the observed value was greater than the upper 95%
      confidence interval of the expected baseline, and cumulative risk signals,
      generated by a modified cumulative sum algorithm, when the cumulative sums of
      reported deaths were above the cumulative sum of expected deaths. Data from 2011
      were used to prospectively validate the model generating seven risk signals. None
      of them were correlated to infectious disease events but some coincided, in time,
      with very high climatic temperatures recorded in the region. The harvest effect
      was also observed during the first week of the study year. Establishing
      appropriate risk signal thresholds is a limiting factor of predictive models; it
      needs to be adjusted based on experience gained during the use of the models. To
      increase the sensitivity and specificity of the predictions epidemiological
      interpretation of non-specific risk signals should be complemented by other
      sources of information. The methodology developed in this study can enhance other
      existing early detection surveillance systems. Syndromic surveillance based on
      mortality monitoring can reduce the detection time for certain disease outbreaks
      associated with mild mortality only detected at regional level. The methodology
      can be adapted to monitor other parameters routinely collected at farm level
      which can be influenced by communicable diseases. 

PMID- 25827085
TI  - Purification of Recombinant Proteins from Cultured Mammalian Cells by HaloTag
      Technology.
AB  - Cultured mammalian cells provide an environment ideal for producing functional
      recombinant mammalian proteins. However, low expression levels of recombinant
      proteins present a challenge for their detection and purification. This unit will
      focus on HaloTag, a protein fusion tag designed to bind selectively and
      covalently to a chloroalkane ligand that may be attached to a variety of
      functional groups, allowing both protein detection and immobilization. Detection
      of HaloTag-fusion protein is achieved through binding to a fluorescent
      chloroalkane ligand, enabling rapid optimization of expression levels. HaloTag
      based purification uses covalent capture of the HaloTag fusion onto HaloLink
      resin coupled with proteolytic cleavage to release the protein of interest from
      the resin. Covalent binding provides efficient protein capture regardless of
      expression level and eliminates protein loss during washes of the resin and as a
      result, offers significant improvements in protein recovery and purity over
      traditional non-covalent approaches.

PMID- 25827084
TI  - Age and time trends in the diet of young children: results of the DONALD study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To describe age and time trends of energy and macronutrient intake
      during infancy and toddlerhood and to set a special focus on dietary practices
      with respect to milk, complementary food, and family food intake. METHODS: Three
      day dietary records (n = 2241) collected at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months
      (480 subjects) between 2004 and 2013 from the ongoing open cohort DONALD
      (Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed) study were
      evaluated using repeated-measures regression analyses for trend analysis.
      RESULTS: Significant age trends were found for macronutrients with a decrease in
      fat intake (% of energy intake, %E) and an increase in carbohydrates (%E) and
      protein (%E). Exclusive and partial breastfeeding rates at 3 and 6 months did not
      differ between 2004 and 2008 and 2009 and 2013 (p > 0.05). Macronutrient pattern
      was virtually stable over time, whereas food group intake (% of total food intake
      excluding beverages, % TFI) changed significantly during the study period.
      Breast/bottle milk (% TFI) intake increased over time in the toddler subgroup,
      whereas family food (% TFI) decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate a period
      of stagnation in the last 10 years with respect to breastfeeding duration in
      infancy. Further breastfeeding promotion in Germany is needed to continue the
      favourable progress of the previous decades. In toddlerhood, breast/bottle milk
      remains a substantial part of the diet and has increased during the last 10
      years. Parents should be encouraged to implement healthy eating habits during
      early toddlerhood and to facilitate their child's participation in appropriate
      family meals.

PMID- 25827086
TI  - Tools and procedures for visualization of proteins and other biomolecules.
AB  - Protein, peptides, and nucleic acids are biomolecules that drive biological
      processes in living organisms. An enormous amount of structural data for a large
      number of these biomolecules has been described with atomic precision in the form
      of structural "snapshots" that are freely available in public repositories. These
      snapshots can help explain how the biomolecules function, the nature of
      interactions between multi-molecular complexes, and even how small-molecule drugs
      can modulate the biomolecules for clinical benefits. Furthermore, these
      structural snapshots serve as inputs for sophisticated computer simulations to
      turn the biomolecules into moving, "breathing" molecular machines for
      understanding their dynamic properties in real-time computer simulations. In
      order for the researcher to take advantage of such a wealth of structural data,
      it is necessary to gain competency in the use of computer molecular visualization
      tools for exploring the structures and visualizing three-dimensional spatial
      representations. Here, we present protocols for using two common visualization
      tools--the Web-based Jmol and the stand-alone PyMOL package--as well as a few
      examples of other popular tools.

PMID- 25827087
TI  - Mapping regulatory factors by immunoprecipitation from native chromatin.
AB  - Occupied Regions of Genomes from Affinity-purified Naturally Isolated Chromatin
      (ORGANIC) is a high-resolution method that can be used to quantitatively map
      protein-DNA interactions with high specificity and sensitivity. This method uses
      micrococcal nuclease (MNase) digestion of chromatin and low-salt solubilization
      to preserve protein-DNA complexes, followed by immunoprecipitation and paired-end
      sequencing for genome-wide mapping of binding sites. In this unit, we describe
      methods for isolation of nuclei and MNase digestion of unfixed chromatin,
      immunoprecipitation of protein-DNA complexes, and high-throughput sequencing to
      map sites of bound factors.

PMID- 25827088
TI  - Site-specific recombinational cloning using gateway and in-fusion cloning
      schemes.
AB  - The comprehensive study of protein structure and function, or proteomics, depends
      on the obtainability of full-length cDNAs in species-specific expression vectors
      and subsequent functional analysis of the expressed protein. Recombinational
      cloning is a universal cloning technique based on site-specific recombination
      that is independent of the insert DNA sequence of interest, which differentiates
      it from classical restriction enzyme-based cloning methods. Recombinational
      cloning enables rapid and efficient parallel transfer of DNA inserts into
      multiple expression systems. This unit summarizes strategies for generating
      expression-ready clones using the most popular commercial recombinational cloning
      technologies, Gateway (Life Technologies) and In-Fusion (Clontech).

PMID- 25827089
TI  - Mapping 3' mRNA isoforms on a genomic scale.
AB  - Most eukaryotic genes are transcribed into mRNAs with alternative poly(A) sites.
      Emerging evidence suggests that mRNA isoforms with alternative poly(A) sites can
      perform critical regulatory functions in numerous biological processes. In recent
      years, a number of strategies utilizing high-throughput sequencing technologies
      have been developed to aid in the identification of genome-wide poly(A) sites.
      This unit describes a modified protocol for a recently published 3'READS (3'
      region extraction and deep sequencing) method that accurately identifies genome
      wide poly(A) sites and that can be used to quantify the relative abundance of the
      resulting 3' mRNA isoforms. This approach minimizes nonspecific sequence reads
      due to internal priming and typically yields a high percentage of sequence reads
      that are ideally suited for accurate poly(A) identification.

PMID- 25827091
TI  - Predatory publishing companies: ethical considerations in the open-access era.

PMID- 25827090
TI  - Evaluation of Cell-Free Urine microRNAs Expression for the Use in Diagnosis of
      Ovarian and Endometrial Cancers. A Pilot Study.
AB  - Among gynaecological cancers, epithelial ovarian cancers are the most deadly
      cancers while endometrial cancers are the most common diseases. Efforts to
      establish relevant novel diagnostic, screening and prognostic markers are aimed
      to help reduce the high level of mortality, chemoresistance and recurrence,
      particularly in ovarian cancer. MicroRNAs, the class of post-transcriptional
      regulators, have emerged as the promising diagnostic and prognostic markers
      associated with various diseased states recently. Urine has been shown as the
      source of microRNAs several years ago; however, there has been lack of
      information on urine microRNA expression in ovarian and endometrial cancers till
      now. In this pilot study, we examined the expression of candidate cell-free urine
      microRNAs in ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer patients using quantitative
      real-time PCR. We compared the expression between pre- and post-surgery ovarian
      cancer samples, and between patients with ovarian and endometrial cancers and
      healthy controls, within three types of experiments. These experiments evaluated
      three different isolation methods of urine RNA, representing two supernatant and
      one exosome fractions of extracellular microRNA. In ovarian cancer, we found miR
      92a significantly up-regulated, and miR-106b significantly down-regulated in
      comparison with control samples. In endometrial cancer, only miR-106b was found
      down-regulated significantly compared to control samples. Using exosome RNA, no
      significant de-regulations in microRNAs expression could be found in either of
      the cancers investigated. We propose that more research should now focus on
      confirming the diagnostic potential of urine microRNAs in gynaecological cancers
      using more clinical samples and large-scale expression profiling methods. 

PMID- 25827092
TI  - Authors' response.

PMID- 25827093
TI  - Discriminating military and civilian traumatic brain injuries.
AB  - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs at higher rates among service members than
      civilians. Explosions from improvised explosive devices and mines are the leading
      cause of TBI in the military. As such, TBI is frequently accompanied by other
      injuries, which makes its diagnosis and treatment difficult. In addition to
      postconcussion symptoms, those who sustain a TBI commonly report chronic pain and
      posttraumatic stress symptoms. This combination of symptoms is so typical they
      have been referred to as the "polytrauma clinical triad" among injured service
      members. We explore whether these symptoms discriminate civilian occurrences of
      TBI from those of service members, as well as the possibility that repeated blast
      exposure contributes to the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy
      (CTE). This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Traumatic Brain Injury'.

PMID- 25827094
TI  - Neuroimaging and traumatic brain injury: State of the field and voids in
      translational knowledge.
AB  - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability in every
      developed country in the world and is believed to be a risk factor in the later
      development of depression, anxiety disorders and neurodegenerative diseases
      including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Alzheimer's Disease (AD),
      Parkinson's Disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). One challenge
      faced by those who conduct research into TBI is the lack of a verified and
      validated biomarker that can be used to diagnose TBI or for use as a prognostic
      variable which can identify those at risk for poor recovery following injury or
      at risk for neurodegeneration later in life. Neuroimaging continues to hold
      promise as a TBI biomarker but is limited by a lack of clear relationship between
      the neuropathology of injury/recovery and the quantitative and image based data
      that is obtained. Specifically lacking is the data on biochemical and biologic
      changes that lead to alterations in neuroimaging markers. There are multiple
      routes towards developing the knowledge required to more definitively link
      pathology to imaging but the most efficient approach is expanded leveraging of in
      vivo human blood, serum, and imaging biomarkers with both in vivo and ex vivo
      animal findings. This review describes the current use and limitations of imaging
      in TBI including a discussion of currently used animal injury models and the
      available animal imaging data and extracted markers that hold the greatest
      promise for helping translate alterations in imaging back to injury pathology.
      Further, it reviews both the human and animal TBI literature supporting current
      standards, identifies the remaining voids in the literature, and briefly
      highlights recent advances in molecular imaging. This article is part of a
      Special Issue entitled 'Traumatic Brain Injury'. 

PMID- 25827096
TI  - Matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9 in the cerebellum of teleost fish: Functional
      implications for adult neurogenesis.
AB  - Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of highly conserved zinc-dependent
      proteases involved in both development and pathogenesis. The present study
      examines the role of MMP-2 (gelatinase A) and MMP-9 (gelatinase B) in adult
      neurogenesis, using the corpus cerebelli, a subdivision of the cerebellum, of
      knifefish (Apteronotus leptorhynchus) as a model system. Transcripts of five
      isoforms of these gelatinases were identified in the central nervous system of
      this species. Sequence similarity analysis and homology modeling indicated that
      functionally and structurally critical elements were highly conserved in
      knifefish gelatinases. Immunohistochemical staining revealed a differential
      distribution of MMP-2 and MMP-9 at both the cellular and subcellular level. MMP-2
      expression was found mainly in Sox2-immunopositive stem/progenitor cells, both
      quiescent and mitotically active; and was localized in both the cytoplasmic
      compartment and the nucleus. By contrast, MMP-9 immunoreactivity was absent in
      neurogenic niches and displayed a more homogenous distribution, with low to
      moderate intensity levels, in the molecular and granular layers. MMP-9 expression
      appeared to be restricted to the extracellular space. In situ zymography
      indicated that gelatinase activity matched the cellular and subcellular
      distributions of the two MMPs. The observed patterns of gelatinase activity and
      expression support the hypothesis that MMP-2 is primarily involved in regulation
      of the activity of stem/progenitor cells that give rise to new granule neurons,
      whereas MMP-9 facilitates migration of the progeny of these cells by proteolysis
      of extracellular matrix proteins. 

PMID- 25827095
TI  - Differential targeting of dynamin-1 and dynamin-3 to nerve terminals during
      chronic suppression of neuronal activity.
AB  - Neurons express three closely related dynamin genes. Dynamin 1 has long been
      implicated in the regulation of synaptic vesicle recycling in nerve terminals,
      and dynamins 2 and 3 were more recently shown also to contribute to synaptic
      vesicle recycling in specific and distinguishable ways. In cultured hippocampal
      neurons we found that chronic suppression of spontaneous network activity
      differentially regulated the targeting of endogenous dynamins 1 and 3 to nerve
      terminals, while dynamin 2 was unaffected. Specifically, when neural activity was
      chronically silenced for 1-2weeks by tetrodotoxin (TTX), the clustering of
      dynamin 1 at nerve terminals was reduced, while the clustering of dynamin 3
      significantly increased. Moreover, dynamin 3 clustering was induced within hours
      by the sustained blockade of AMPA receptors, suggesting that AMPA receptors may
      function to prevent Dyn3 accumulation within nerve terminals. Clustering of
      dynamin 3 was induced by an antagonist of the calcium-dependent protein
      phosphatase calcineurin, but was not dependent upon intact actin filaments. TTX
      induced clustering of Dyn3 occurred with a markedly slower time-course than the
      previously described clustering of synapsin 1. Potassium-induced depolarization
      rapidly de-clustered dynamin 3 from nerve terminals within minutes. These
      results, which have implications for homeostatic synapse restructuring, indicate
      that the three dynamins have evolved different regulatory mechanisms for
      trafficking to and from nerve terminals in response to changes in neural
      activity. 

PMID- 25827097
TI  - Prevalence of bovine theileriosis in North Central region of Algeria by real-time
      polymerase chain reaction with a note on its distribution.
AB  - To determine the presence and distribution of bovine theileriosis in the North
      Central region of Algeria, 358 DNA samples and 359 blood smears were analyzed
      from nine provinces. Theileria DNA extracted from cattle blood was amplified by
      fluorescence resonance energy transfer polymerase chain reaction (FRET-PCR).
      Blood smears were examined for Theileria piroplasms by microscopical examination
      (ME) of Giemsa-stained slides. While microscopical identification revealed only
      42 animals being infected with Theileria piroplasms, PCR-positive amplification
      using Theileria genus-specific primers was obtained from 132 Theileria spp. (P <
      0.0001). Among the 132 positives, 108 animals (81.8 %) were found positive of
      Theileria annulata, while 24 (18.2 %) were found positive for Theileria sp. (P <
      0.0001). However, melting curve analysis of these latter samples revealed the
      presence of two different peaks, 51.5 +/- 0.5  degrees C corresponding to
      Theileria sp1 and 52.5 +/- 0.5  degrees C for Theileria sp2. Cloning and
      sequencing of Theileria sp1 and Theileria sp2 using the Cox primers indicated
      that these species are very closely related to Theileria buffeli. There is a
      highly significant difference in the distribution of theileriosis between
      different provinces (P < 0.0001). This disparity between provinces is probably
      due to differences in tick contact, influenced by the subhumid bioclimatic
      gradient and differences in agricultural land use. 

PMID- 25827098
TI  - Non-inferiority margins employed in clinical trials in Japan.
AB  - WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Determination of the non-inferiority margin is one
      of the major and most difficult considerations when planning a non-inferiority
      clinical trial. This article aims to list the non-inferiority margins employed in
      recent clinical drug-development trials in Japan. METHODS: We investigated non
      inferiority margins by reviewing new drug-development dossiers for drugs approved
      between January 2010 and December 2012 in Japan. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: We
      identified 174 non-inferiority trials, where the efficacy of the test drug was
      compared to that of a control drug. We have described 70 clinical endpoints and
      the corresponding non-inferiority margins. In antidiabetes drug trials, a margin
      of 0.4% mean difference in haemoglobin A1c level was used most frequently. In
      trials for glaucoma and ocular hypertension, 1.5 mmHg mean difference in intra
      ocular pressure value was the commonest margin. A 10% margin of proportion
      difference was the most frequently chosen in trials of anti-infection drugs. We
      have provided a short description of the methods used to determine the non
      inferiority margin. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: We report on the non-inferiority
      margins used for a range of endpoints in recent drug-development trials for a
      number of different diseases. We hope that the details would be helpful to those
      appraising, reporting or designing non-inferiority trials.

PMID- 25827099
TI  - Development and Use of Disease-Specific (Reference) Models for Economic
      Evaluations of Health Technologies: An Overview of Key Issues and Potential
      Solutions.

PMID- 25827100
TI  - Determination of rate constants and branching ratios for TCE degradation by zero
      valent iron using a chain decay multispecies model.
AB  - The applicability of a newly-developed chain-decay multispecies model (CMM) was
      validated by obtaining kinetic rate constants and branching ratios along the
      reaction pathways of trichloroethene (TCE) reduction by zero-valent iron (ZVI)
      from column experiments. Changes in rate constants and branching ratios for
      individual reactions for degradation products over time for two columns under
      different geochemical conditions were examined to provide ranges of those
      parameters expected over the long-term. As compared to the column receiving
      deionized water, the column receiving dissolved CaCO3 showed higher mean
      degradation rates for TCE and all of its degradation products. However, the
      column experienced faster reactivity loss toward TCE degradation due to
      precipitation of secondary carbonate minerals, as indicated by a higher value for
      the ratio of maximum to minimum TCE degradation rate observed over time. From the
      calculated branching ratios, it was found that TCE and cis-dichloroethene (cis
      DCE) were dominantly dechlorinated to chloroacetylene and acetylene,
      respectively, through reductive elimination for both columns. The CMM model,
      validated by the column test data in this study, provides a convenient tool to
      determine simultaneously the critical design parameters for permeable reactive
      barriers and natural attenuation such as rate constants and branching ratios. 

PMID- 25827102
TI  - Sulfhydryl-mediated redox signaling in inflammation: role in neurodegenerative
      diseases.
AB  - Posttranslational modifications of cysteine sulfhydryl (-SH) moieties, e.g., S
      nitrosylation, S-glutathionylation, or S-sulfuration, play an important role in
      cellular response to oxidative stress. Reversible cysteine modifications alter
      protein function and can play a critical role in redox signal transduction.
      Perturbation of sulfhydryl homeostasis is a hallmark of many diseases, including
      neurodegenerative disorders. Besides direct oxidative stress within the neurons,
      inflammation of the central nervous system as well as the periphery is implicated
      also in the development and progression of neurodegeneration. Therefore,
      perturbation of redox regulation of key inflammatory mediators is an important
      component of neurodegenerative diseases. Many proteins involved in inflammation
      have been shown to undergo S-nitrosylation (-SNO) and/or S-glutathionylation (
      SSG) with functional consequences. The mechanistic and functional relationships
      between these two modifications have yet to be thoroughly investigated. While
      protein-SNO intermediates in some cases may signal independently of protein-SSG
      intermediates, the relatively unstable nature of protein-SNO derivatives in the
      presence of GSH suggests that protein-SNO formation in many cases may serve as a
      precursor for protein-SSG modifications. In this review, we describe the cysteine
      modifications of specific inflammation-mediating proteins and their relationship
      to inflammatory responses such as cytokine and chemokine production. In
      particular, we consider evidence for sequential protein-SNO -> protein-SSG
      modifications of these proteins. We conclude that cysteine modifications of
      critical regulatory proteins are likely to play a central role in the onset and
      progression of neuroinflammatory diseases and thus should be studied thoroughly
      in this context. 

PMID- 25827101
TI  - Programming of metabolic effects in C57BL/6JxFVB mice by in utero and lactational
      exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid.
AB  - Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is known to cause developmental toxicity and is a
      suggested endocrine disrupting compound (EDC). Early life exposure to EDCs has
      been implicated in programming of the developing organism for chronic diseases
      later in life. Here we study perinatal metabolic programming by PFOA using an
      experimental design relevant for human exposure. C57BL/6JxFVB hybrid mice were
      exposed during gestation and lactation via maternal feed to seven low doses of
      PFOA at and below the NOAEL used for current risk assessment (3-3000 ug/kg body
      weight/day). After weaning, offspring were followed for 23-25 weeks without
      further exposure. Offspring showed a dose-dependent decrease in body weight from
      postnatal day 4 to adulthood. Growth under high fat diet in the last 4-6 weeks of
      follow-up was increased in male and decreased in female offspring. Both sexes
      showed increased liver weights, hepatic foci of cellular alterations and nuclear
      dysmorphology. In females, reductions in perigonadal and perirenal fat pad
      weights, serum triglycerides and cholesterol were also observed. Endocrine
      parameters, such as glucose tolerance, serum insulin and leptin, were not
      affected. In conclusion, our study with perinatal exposure to PFOA in mice
      produced metabolic effects in adult offspring. This is most likely due to
      disrupted programming of metabolic homeostasis, but the assayed endpoints did not
      provide a mechanistic explanation. The BMDL of the programming effects in our
      study is below the current point of departure used for calculation of the
      tolerable daily intake.

PMID- 25827103
TI  - Application of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to the study and treatment of disease.
AB  - CRISPR/Cas is a microbial adaptive immune system that uses RNA-guided nucleases
      to cleave foreign genetic elements. The CRISPR/Cas9 method has been engineered
      from the type II prokaryotic CRISPR system and uses a single-guide RNA to target
      the Cas9 nuclease to a specific genomic sequence. Cas9 induces double-stranded
      DNA breaks which are repaired either by imperfect non-homologous end joining to
      generate insertions or deletions (indels) or, if a repair template is provided,
      by homology-directed repair. Due to its specificity, simplicity and versatility,
      the CRISPR/Cas9 system has recently emerged as a powerful tool for genome
      engineering in various species. This technology can be used to investigate the
      function of a gene of interest or to correct gene mutations in cells via genome
      editing, paving the way for future gene therapy approaches. Improvements to the
      efficiency of CRISPR repair, in particular to increase the rate of gene
      correction and to reduce undesired off-target effects, and the development of
      more effective delivery methods will be required for its broad therapeutic
      application. 

PMID- 25827104
TI  - Quantitative and Qualitative Changes of Bone in Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis
      Patients.
AB  - Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by
      periarticular bone loss and new bone formation. Current data regarding systemic
      bone loss and bone mineral density (BMD) in PsA are conflicting. The aim of this
      study was to evaluate bone microstructure and volumetric BMD (vBMD) in patients
      with PsA and psoriasis. We performed HR-pQCT scans at the ultradistal and
      periarticular radius in 50 PsA patients, 30 psoriasis patients, and 70 healthy,
      age- and sex-related controls assessing trabecular bone volume (BV/TV),
      trabecular number (Tb.N), inhomogeneity of the trabecular network, cortical
      thickness (Ct.Th), and cortical porosity (Ct.Po), as well as vBMD. Trabecular BMD
      (Tb.BMD, p = 0.021, 12.0%), BV/TV (p = 0.020, -11.9%), and Tb.N (p = 0.035, 7.1%)
      were significantly decreased at the ultradistal radius and the periarticular
      radius in PsA patients compared to controls. In contrast, bone architecture of
      the ultradistal radius and periarticular radius was similar in patients with
      psoriasis and healthy controls. Duration of skin disease was associated with low
      BV/TV and Tb.N in patients with PsA. These data suggest that trabecular BMD and
      bone microstructure are decreased in PsA patients. The observation that duration
      of skin disease determines bone loss in PsA supports the concept of subclinical
      musculoskeletal disease in psoriasis patients.

PMID- 25827105
TI  - Glutamate affects dendritic morphology of neurons grown on compliant substrates.
AB  - Brain stiffness changes in response to injury or disease. As a secondary
      consequence, glutamate is released from neurons and astroglia. Two types of
      glutamate receptors, N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and alpha-Amino-3-hydroxy-5
      methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors, sense mechanotransduction,
      leading to downstream signaling in neurons. Recently, our group reported that
      these two receptors affect dendrite morphology in hippocampal neurons grown on
      compliant substrates. Blocking receptor activity has distinct effects on
      dendrites, depending on whether neurons are grown on soft or stiff gels. In the
      current study, we examine whether exposure to glutamate itself alters stiffness
      mediated changes to dendrites in hippocampal neurons. We find that glutamate
      augments changes seen when neurons are grown on soft gels of 300 or 600 Pa, but
      in contrast, glutamate attenuates changes seen when neurons are grown on stiff
      gels of 3,000 Pa. These results suggest that there is interplay between
      mechanosensing and glutamate receptor activation in determining dendrite
      morphology in neurons.

PMID- 25827106
TI  - Ultrathin MgO diffusion barriers for ferromagnetic electrodes on GaAs(001).
AB  - Ultrathin MgO(100) films serving as a diffusion barrier between ferromagnetic
      electrodes and GaAs(001) semiconductor templates have been investigated. Using Fe
      as an exemplary ferromagnetic material, heterostructures of Fe/MgO/GaAs(001) were
      prepared at 200  degrees C with the MgO thickness ranging from 1.5 to 3 nm.
      Structural characterization reveals very good crystalline ordering in all layers
      of the heterostructure. Auger electron spectroscopy depth-profiling and cross
      sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy evidence diffusion of
      Fe into MgO and-for too thin MgO barriers-further into GaAs(001). Our results
      recommend a MgO barrier thickness larger than or equal to 2.6 nm for its
      application as a reliable diffusion barrier on GaAs(001) in spintronics devices. 

PMID- 25827109
TI  - Laparoscopic common bile duct exploration in cirrhotic patients with
      choledocholithiasis: Retraction.

PMID- 25827110
TI  - Modified Pringle maneuver applicable for laparoscopic hepatectomy: Retraction.

PMID- 25827111
TI  - Effects of the surface stoichiometry of seeds on GaN layer growth by hydride
      vapour phase epitaxy.
AB  - The effect of the atmosphere in a reactor prior to hydride vapour phase epitaxy
      on the surface stoichiometry of both the GaN template and layer growth was
      studied. The surface stoichiometry of metallic Ga layers was clarified by X-ray
      photoelectron spectroscopy using templates without NH3 protection. The metallic
      Ga layer acted as a mask and exerted a significant effect on the subsequent
      epitaxial layer growth mode. GaN grown on the template without protection
      followed island growth in the initial growth stage. In contrast, GaN epitaxy on
      the template with NH3 protection quickly converts to pseudo-2D growth. The images
      of CL illustrate that the GaN epilayer on the template without protection has a
      lower dislocation density than the GaN epilayer grown on the template with NH3
      protection. Reasons behind this effect have been discussed. 

PMID- 25827113
TI  - Contributions from different model organisms to brain research: Introduction.

PMID- 25827112
TI  - Differential gene expression profiles of two excitable rat cell lines after over
      expression of WT- and C121W-beta1 sodium channel subunits.
AB  - Voltage-dependent sodium channels are membrane proteins essential for cell
      excitability. They are composed by a pore-forming alpha-subunit, encoded in
      mammals by up to nine different genes, and four different ancillary beta
      subunits. The expression pattern of the alpha subunit isoforms confers the
      distinctive functional and pharmacological properties to different excitable
      tissues. beta-Subunits are important modulators of channel function and
      expression. Mutation C121W of the beta1-subunit causes an autosomal dominant
      epileptic syndrome without cardiac symptoms. In neuroectoderm GH3 and cardiac
      H9C2 cells, the over-expression of beta1 subunit augments alpha subunit mRNA and
      protein levels as well as sodium current density. Interestingly, the introduction
      of the epileptogenic C121W-beta1 subunit produces additional changes in the alpha
      subunit expression pattern of H9C2 cells, leaving unaltered the sodium channel
      isoform composition of GH3 cells. The challenge of the present work was to
      identify those genes that were differentially expressed in response to WT- or
      C121W-beta1 subunit over-expression in the two rat cell lines under analysis.
      Hence, we analyzed the total mRNA extracted from control-untransfected and from
      WT- and C121W-beta1-transfected GH3 and H9C2 cells by DNA-microarray. We found
      that, in agreement with their different embryonal origin, the over-expression of
      WT- and C121W-beta1 subunits modifies the expression of different gene sets in
      GH3 and H9C2 cells. Focusing on the effects of the C121W mutation, we found that
      it causes the modification of 214 genes, most of them were down-regulated (202)
      in GH3 cells; on the contrary, it determined the up-regulation of only five genes
      in H9C2 cells. Interestingly, most genes modified by the C121W beta1 subunit are
      involved in pivotal processes of the cell such as cellular communication and
      protein expression. Our results confirm the important role of the sodium channel
      beta1 subunit in the control of NaCh gene expression, and highlight once more the
      tissue-specific effect of the C121W mutation. 

PMID- 25827114
TI  - Corrosion and odor management in sewer systems.
AB  - Sewers emit hydrogen sulfide and various volatile organic sulfur and carbon
      compounds, which require control and mitigation. In the last 5-10 years,
      extensive research was conducted to optimize existing sulfide abatement
      technologies based on newly developed in-depth understanding of the in-sewer
      processes. Recent advances have also led to low-cost novel solutions targeting
      sewer biofilms. Online control has been demonstrated to greatly reduce the
      chemical usage. Dynamic models for both the water, air and solid (concrete)
      phases have been developed and used for the planning and maintenance of sewer
      systems. Existing technologies primarily focused on 'hotspots' in sewers. Future
      research should aim to achieve network-wide corrosion and emission control and
      management of sewers as an integrated component of an urban water system. 

PMID- 25827115
TI  - Mathematical modeling of unicellular microalgae and cyanobacteria metabolism for
      biofuel production.
AB  - The conversion of microalgae lipids and cyanobacteria carbohydrates into biofuels
      appears to be a promising source of renewable energy. This requires a thorough
      understanding of their carbon metabolism, supported by mathematical models, in
      order to optimize biofuel production. However, unlike heterotrophic
      microorganisms that utilize the same substrate as sources of energy and carbon,
      photoautotrophic microorganisms require light for energy and CO2 as carbon
      source. Furthermore, they are submitted to permanent fluctuating light
      environments due to outdoor cultivation or mixing inducing a flashing effect.
      Although, modeling these nonstandard organisms is a major challenge for which
      classical tools are often inadequate, this step remains a prerequisite towards
      efficient optimization of outdoor biofuel production at an industrial scale. 

PMID- 25827116
TI  - Gene expression changes in plants and microorganisms exposed to nanomaterials.
AB  - Unique properties of nanomaterials allow them to interact unexpectedly with
      biological systems. Analysis of the transcriptional response (change in gene
      expression) in exposed organisms constitutes a powerful approach for
      understanding the mechanisms of toxicity and molecular responses in cells exposed
      to nanomaterials. Transcriptional analyses have been conducted to study the
      effects of nanomaterials on humans, mammalian models, and other organisms
      important for the ecosystem. The present article reviews recent gene expression
      studies conducted to understand the effects of nanomaterials on plants and
      bacteria. As plants and bacteria are essential components of the food chain
      and/or play a central role in nutrient cycling and biodegradation, their
      interactions with nanomaterials have important implications for the environment
      and public health. 

PMID- 25827117
TI  - Ipso-substitution--the hidden gate to xenobiotic degradation pathways.
AB  - Screening for metabolites of environmental pollutants, the focus is often on
      transformation products based on well-known pathways. Hydroxylation at
      unsubstituted positions of the aromatic ring or side chain modifications,
      followed by meta ring-cleavage pathways are usually considered, whereas less
      obvious mechanisms are often ignored. Here, a glimpse of the multitude of
      transformations involving ipso-substitution events, which are often overlooked as
      such, is presented. These reactions can be catalyzed by a variety of enzymes,
      proceed via several mechanisms and will often result in metabolites that are not
      expected to arise from generally known pathways. Hence, there is a future need
      when looking into transformations of emerging pollutants, to stray from the
      'beaten pathways' and explore the possibilities of less obvious mechanisms. 

PMID- 25827118
TI  - Resource recovery from wastewater: application of meta-omics to phosphorus and
      carbon management.
AB  - A growing trend at wastewater treatment plants is the recovery of resources and
      energy from wastewater. Enhanced biological phosphorus removal and anaerobic
      digestion are two established biotechnology approaches for the recovery of
      phosphorus and carbon, respectively. Meta-omics approaches (meta-genomics,
      transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) are providing novel biological
      insights into these complex biological systems. In particular, genome-centric
      metagenomics analyses are revealing the function and physiology of individual
      community members. Querying transcripts, proteins and metabolites are emerging
      techniques that can inform the cellular responses under different conditions.
      Overall, meta-omics approaches are shedding light into complex microbial
      communities once regarded as 'blackboxes', but challenges remain to integrate
      information from meta-omics into engineering design and operation guidelines. 

PMID- 25827119
TI  - The Many Faces of FOX-7: A Precursor to High-Performance Energetic Materials.
AB  - New derivatives of 1,1-diamino-2, 2-dinitroethene (FOX-7) are reported. These
      highly oxygen- and nitrogen-rich compounds were fully characterized using IR and
      multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis (EA), and differential scanning
      calorimetry (DSC). X-ray structure determination of (E)-1,2-bis{(E)-2-chloro-1
      (chloroimino)-2,2-dinitroethyl}diazene) (10), N1, N2-dichloro-1, 2
      diazenedicarboximidamide (11), and (E,E)-N,N'-1,2-ethanediylidenebis(2, 2-dinitro
      2-chloro-ethanamine) (12) was helpful in their characterization. Heats of
      formation (HOF) were calculated (Gaussian 03) and combined with experimental
      densities to estimate the detonation velocities (D) and pressures (P) of the high
      energy-density materials (HEDMs) (EXPLO5, v6.01). The compounds exhibit good
      thermal stability, high density, positive HOF, acceptable oxygen balances, and
      excellent detonation properties, which often are superior to that of 1,3,5
      trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX). 

PMID- 25827120
TI  - Improving long-term outcomes for chronic low back pain: time for a new paradigm?
AB  - These are exciting times for physical therapists who treat people with chronic
      low back pain (CLBP). Many of the mysteries of this condition are starting to be
      revealed, and it appears that major breakthroughs are on the way. Advances in
      neuroimaging, coupled with increased understanding of the molecular and
      submolecular events associated with the symptoms of back pain, are helping us
      reconceptualize the etiologies and mechanisms of this condition. The result of
      these advances is that physical therapists now have a wide range of potential
      "treatment packages" that can include patient education, manual therapy, and a
      wide variety of exercise options for people with CLBP. The question is, "How can
      long-term, self-management programs become more effective?"

PMID- 25827121
TI  - JOSPT's Board names Dr Haxby Abbott editor-in-chief elect.
AB  - On behalf of JOSPT's Board of Directors, President John A. Nyland is pleased to
      announce that J. Haxby Abbott, DPT, PhD, FNZCP, has accepted the position of
      editor-in-chief for JOSPT. He succeeds Guy G. Simoneau, PT, PhD, ATC, who has
      served in this role since the January 2002 issue.

PMID- 25827122
TI  - External validation of a clinical prediction rule to predict full recovery and
      ongoing moderate/severe disability following acute whiplash injury.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective secondary analysis of data. OBJECTIVES: To
      investigate the external validity of the whiplash clinical prediction rule (CPR).
      BACKGROUND: We recently derived a whiplash CPR to consolidate previously
      established prognostic factors for poor recovery from a whiplash injury and
      predicted 2 recovery pathways. Prognostic factors for full recovery were being
      less than 35 years of age and having an initial Neck Disability Index (NDI) score
      of 32% or less. Prognostic factors for ongoing moderate/severe pain and
      disability were being 35 years of age or older, having an initial NDI score of
      40% or more, and the presence of hyperarousal symptoms. Validation is required to
      confirm the reproducibility and accuracy of this CPR. Clinician feedback on the
      usefulness of the CPR is also important to gauge acceptability. METHODS: A
      secondary analysis of data from 101 individuals with acute whiplash-associated
      disorder who had previously participated in either a randomized controlled
      clinical trial or prospective cohort study was performed using accuracy
      statistics. Full recovery was defined as NDI score at 6 months of 10% or less,
      and ongoing moderate/severe pain and disability were defined as an NDI score at 6
      months of 30% or greater. In addition, a small sample of physical therapists
      completed an anonymous survey on the clinical acceptability and usability of the
      tool. Results The positive predictive value of ongoing moderate/severe pain and
      disability was 90.9% in the validation cohort, and the positive predictive value
      of full recovery was 80.0%. Surveyed physical therapists reported that the
      whiplash CPR was simple, understandable, would be easy to use, and was an
      acceptable prognostic tool. CONCLUSION: External validation of the whiplash CPR
      confirmed the reproducibility and accuracy of this dual-pathway tool for
      individuals with acute whiplash-associated disorder. Further research is needed
      to assess prospective validation, the impact of inclusion on practice, and to
      examine the efficacy of linking treatment strategies with predicted prognosis.
      LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognosis, level 1b.

PMID- 25827123
TI  - Whiplash: are you at risk for ongoing pain or disability?
AB  - Have you recently sustained an injury and been diagnosed with whiplash or a
      whiplash-associated disorder? If so, you may be wondering what your recovery will
      be like. If health care providers could identify, soon after the initial injury,
      which patients would probably improve naturally over time and which ones would
      not, they could better manage the patient's treatment in the early stages of
      recovery. A study published in the April 2015 issue of JOSPT provides new
      insights into this challenge, which may help improve decision making for
      providers and outcomes for patients.

PMID- 25827124
TI  - A systematic review of the measurement properties of the patient-rated wrist
      evaluation.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review of measurement properties. OBJECTIVES: To
      summarize the measurement properties of the Patient-Rated Wrist Evaluation (PRWE)
      questionnaire. BACKGROUND: The PRWE is a region-specific outcome measure
      initially developed for assessing pain and function in individuals with distal
      radius fracture. However, subsequent research has expanded its use to other
      wrist/hand conditions. A systematic review of the measurement properties of the
      PRWE can enhance the understanding of its clinical applicability across different
      wrist/hand pathologies. METHODS: The MEDLINE, Embase, and CINAHL databases were
      searched using predefined search terms. A hand search of the bibliography of the
      primary studies was performed. Studies assessing at least 1 measurement property
      of the PRWE, either in the English version or versions in other languages, were
      included in this review. Two raters performed data extraction and critical
      appraisal of the primary studies using standardized instruments. RESULTS: A total
      of 22 primary studies met the inclusion criteria. The overall quality of the 22
      studies ranged from 38% to 88%, with 9 scoring greater than 70%. Agreement
      between the raters who determined the quality of the studies was 0.75 (unweighted
      kappa). The measurement properties of the PRWE were summarized for different
      wrist/hand conditions. CONCLUSION: The PRWE is reliable, valid, and responsive
      across many wrist/hand conditions. Future studies should focus on determining
      values for the minimal detectable change and clinically important differences for
      the PRWE across different patient populations.

PMID- 25827127
TI  - April 2015 erratum.

PMID- 25827125
TI  - Osseous fragment in a patient with knee pain.
AB  - The patient was a 31-year-old man who was currently serving in the military. He
      was referred to a physical therapist by his primary care physician for a chief
      complaint of left anterior knee pain. Due to concern over a loose body, the
      physical therapist ordered radiographs of the left knee, which revealed an
      osseous fragment.

PMID- 25827128
TI  - Pro-inflammatory adipocytokines, oxidative stress, insulin, Zn and Cu:
      Interrelations with obesity in Egyptian non-diabetic obese children and
      adolescents.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the inter-relationships between adipocytokines, oxidative
      stress, insulin, Zn and Cu and obesity among Egyptian obese non-diabetic children
      and adolescents. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 72 obese children and adolescents of both
      sexes (5-17 years) were recruited for the study. 40 healthy normal non-obese
      persons of matched ages and sexes were used as control group. Lipid profile,
      tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and leptin levels
      were measured. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) concentrations
      and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were estimated. Micronutrients (Zn and
      Cu) concentrations in addition to insulin and fasting blood sugar (FBS) levels
      were also evaluated. Estimation of insulin resistance (homeostatic model
      assessment (HOMA-IR)) was derived from FBS measurements. RESULTS: Significant
      elevations (P<0.001) in TNF-alpha, IL-6, leptin, MDA, Cu and FBS levels and
      significant decreases (P<0.001) in GSH, Zn levels and SOD activity were detected
      among obese individuals as compared with control group. Insulin and triglyceride
      levels were significantly increased in obese male children and HDL-cholesterol
      level was increased significantly in obese adolescent females compared to
      controls. However, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels were
      significantly high in all obese cases as compared with controls. Insulin
      resistance was detected in 100% of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that
      obesity with pro-inflammatory adipocytokines and hypozincemia together by many
      mechanisms participate in excessive oxidative stress and are highly associated
      with inflammation and the development of obesity-related complications. Obesity
      represents a critical risk factor for development of insulin resistance status.

PMID- 25827129
TI  - A pilot evaluation of the 3gLM-R - A new supraglottic airway device.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Supraglottic airway devices are designed for airway management
      during anaesthesia. The 3gLM is a novel device with a non-inflatable soft cuff
      and separate channels for gas delivery and drainage of gastric content. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: This prospective observational study of the 3gLM, version R, size 4
      in 40 adult patients scheduled for elective surgery, evaluated the insertion
      success rate at the 1st attempt as the primary outcome. Secondary aims included
      insertion parameters, such as total success rate, insertion time, oropharyngeal
      seal pressures, postoperative complications and a comparison between males and
      females. RESULTS: First attempt insertion success rate was 80% (70% in males, 90%
      in female patients, p=0.24), while total insertion success rate was 92.5% (85% in
      males, 100% in females, p=0.23). The oropharyngeal seal pressures were 27cmH2O,
      higher in females (29.4cmH2O) than in males (24.2cmH2O) - p=0.002. Postoperative
      complications were only temporary and included sore throat (24.3%), hoarseness
      (10.8%), pain on swallowing (10.8%) and minor tongue haematoma (2.5%). There was
      no difference in the incidence of postoperative complications between the genders
      apart from hoarseness. No aspiration of gastric contents or other long-term
      complications occurred in this cohort. CONCLUSIONS: The 3gLM exhibited
      oropharyngeal seal pressures adequate for the controlled ventilation in most
      patients. Size 4 of the device showed higher pressures in females than in men.

PMID- 25827130
TI  - FUCCI sensors: powerful new tools for analysis of cell proliferation.
AB  - Visualizing the cell cycle behavior of individual cells within living organisms
      can facilitate the understanding of developmental processes such as pattern
      formation, morphogenesis, cell differentiation, growth, cell migration, and cell
      death. Fluorescence Ubiquitin Cell Cycle Indicator (FUCCI) technology offers an
      accurate, versatile, and universally applicable means of achieving this end. In
      recent years, the FUCCI system has been adapted to several model systems
      including flies, fish, mice, and plants, making this technology available to a
      wide range of researchers for studies of diverse biological problems. Moreover, a
      broad range of FUCCI-expressing cell lines originating from diverse cell types
      have been generated, hence enabling the design of advanced studies that combine
      in vivo experiments and cell-based methods such as high-content screening.
      Although only a short time has passed since its introduction, the FUCCI
      technology has already provided fundamental insight into how cells establish
      quiescence and how G1 phase length impacts the balance between pluripotency and
      stem cell differentiation. Further discoveries using the FUCCI technology are
      sure to come.

PMID- 25827131
TI  - Potential clinical use of differentiated cells from embryonic or Mesenchymal stem
      cells in orthopeadic problems.
AB  - Stem cells are classified by their tissue source. Embryonic stem cells that
      derived from inner cell mass of blastocyst stage embryos are highly proliferative
      in their undifferentiated state. A multipotent type of mesenchymal stem cells
      isolated from different type of tissues such as bone marrow, fat tissue etc. The
      dynamics of embryonic and adult stem cell cycles are profoundly dissimilar than
      the culture of stem cells. After improving the culture conditions and
      differentiation potentials, differentiated stem cells are the first cells to be
      preferred in modern regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. This review
      article focuses on the cell-based therapy on orthopedic problems. We explore the
      challenges associated with bone repair and regeneration using embryonic or
      mesenchymal stem cells that use undifferentiated or/and differentiated condition.
      This paper also discusses optimizing the best cell type, differentiation
      condition and using them on bone tissue engineering in future investigation.

PMID- 25827132
TI  - Targeting the immune system to treat lung cancer: rationale and clinical
      experience.
AB  - The use of immunotherapy that harnesses and enhances the innate powers of the
      immune system to fight cancer cells represents the most promising new cancer
      treatment approach since the development of the first chemotherapies and, more
      recently, targeted therapies. Unexpectedly, lung cancer has recently emerged as
      an exciting new target for immune-based therapies. Several approaches to
      immunotherapy for lung cancer have shown promise in early clinical trials and in
      late-phase development. The most advanced strategies can be split into two main
      categories: therapeutic vaccines and checkpoint inhibitors. At this time of great
      expectations, this review provides the reader with an update on the
      immunotherapies used to treat lung cancer with a focus on the rationale of
      targeting the immune system. It reports the results from recent major clinical
      trials, describes new toxicity profiles associated with such drugs, and
      particularly the role of the pulmonologists in their management. This review
      provides an overview of the main perspectives within this field. 

PMID- 25827133
TI  - Radiofrequency Coblation Versus Intramural Bipolar Cautery for the Treatment of
      Inferior Turbinate Hypertrophy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Compare intramural bipolar electrocautery and radiofrequency coblation
      in the treatment of inferior turbinate hypertrophy with regards to objective and
      subjective improvement in nasal obstruction, rate and type of complications,
      experience during the procedure, and rate of recovery. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective,
      single-blinded study. SETTING: Single tertiary medical center from 2008 to 2010.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Forty-one adult patients with inferior turbinate
      hypertrophy refractory to medical management were treated with radiofrequency
      coblation in one nostril and intramural bipolar cautery in the other. Subjective
      and objective data, including use of a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for subjective
      outcomes, acoustic rhinometry, and nasal endoscopy, were then obtained from each
      patient comparing the 2 techniques. RESULTS: Radiofrequency coblation was
      significantly less painful than intramural bipolar cautery during the procedure
      (P = .03) and during the early postoperative period (P < .02) and produced less
      crusting at 3 weeks (P = .009). Both interventions were similar in subjective and
      objective improvements in nasal obstruction as measured by acoustic rhinometry
      and subjective VAS outcomes. CONCLUSION: Radiofrequency coblation seems to offer
      an equivalent alternative to bipolar electrocautery for the treatment of inferior
      turbinate hypertrophy with less discomfort during the procedure and early post
      operative period.

PMID- 25827134
TI  - Growth hormone-releasing hormone agonists reduce myocardial infarct scar in swine
      with subacute ischemic cardiomyopathy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Growth hormone-releasing hormone agonists (GHRH-As) stimulate cardiac
      repair following myocardial infarction (MI) in rats through the activation of the
      GHRH signaling pathway within the heart. We tested the hypothesis that the
      administration of GHRH-As prevents ventricular remodeling in a swine subacute MI
      model. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twelve female Yorkshire swine (25 to 30 kg) underwent
      transient occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery (MI). Two
      weeks post MI, swine were randomized to receive injections of either 30 MUg/kg
      GHRH-A (MR-409) (GHRH-A group; n=6) or vehicle (placebo group; n=6). Cardiac
      magnetic resonance imaging and pressure-volume loops were obtained at multiple
      time points. Infarct, border, and remote (noninfarcted) zones were assessed for
      GHRH receptor by immunohistochemistry. Four weeks of GHRH-A treatment resulted in
      reduced scar mass (GHRH-A: -21.9 +/- 6.42%; P=0.02; placebo: 10.9 +/- 5.88%;
      P=0.25; 2-way ANOVA; P=0.003), and scar size (percentage of left ventricular
      mass) (GHRH-A: -38.38 +/- 4.63; P=0.0002; placebo: -14.56 +/- 6.92; P=0.16; 2-way
      ANOVA; P=0.02). This was accompanied by improved diastolic strain. Unlike in
      rats, this reduced infarct size in swine was not accompanied by improved cardiac
      function as measured by serial hemodynamic pressure-volume analysis. GHRH
      receptors were abundant in cardiac tissue, with a greater density in the border
      zone of the GHRH-A group compared with the placebo group. CONCLUSIONS: Daily
      subcutaneous administration of GHRH-A is feasible and safe in a large animal
      model of subacute ischemic cardiomyopathy. Furthermore, GHRH-A therapy
      significantly reduced infarct size and improved diastolic strain, suggesting a
      local activation of the GHRH pathway leading to the reparative process.

PMID- 25827135
TI  - Differentiating primary and extragenital metastatic mucinous ovarian tumours: an
      algorithm combining PAX8 with tumour size and laterality.
AB  - AIMS: Our aim was to analyse the utility of the algorithm combining PAX8 with
      clinicopathological characteristics (tumour size, laterality and patient age) in
      differentiating primary ovarian mucinous tumours (POMTs) from extragenital
      metastatic mucinous carcinomas involving the ovary (eMOMCs). METHODS AND RESULTS:
      Immunohistochemical staining for PAX8 was performed on formalin fixed, paraffin
      embedded tissues from 47 POMTs, 18 eMOMCs and 70 extragenital primary mucinous
      carcinomas (ePMCs) using anti-PAX8 rabbit polyclonal antibody (pAb) and anti-PAX8
      rabbit monoclonal antibody (mAb). PAX8 (pAb) positive signals were found in 3/18
      eMOMCs and in 32/70 ePMCs. PAX8 (mAb) demonstrated superior specificity, with 0%
      positivity in both eMOMCs and ePMCs, but unfavourable sensitivity, with 60.9% in
      ovarian mucinous borderline tumours and 45.8% in POMCs. Although PAX8 (mAb)
      immunostaining status (66.2%), tumour size (75.4%) and laterality (84.6%)
      demonstrated unsatisfactory accuracy when they were evaluated individually in
      differentiating POMTs from eMOMCs, a combination of PAX8 (mAb) immunostaining
      status, tumour size and laterality markedly increased accuracy (86.2%), with a
      satisfactory Youden Index (63.7%). CONCLUSIONS: PAX8 (mAb) was a specific marker
      in differentiating POMTs from eMOMCs. As a simple, convenient and high
      performance to price ratio algorithm, a combination of PAX8 (mAb) immunostaining
      with tumour size and laterality will improve the diagnostic criteria of ovarian
      mucinous metastasis.

PMID- 25827137
TI  - Invasive revascularisation in patients with moderate intermittent claudication
      provides a significant improvement in quality of life compared with conservative
      treatment.

PMID- 25827136
TI  - Families First: the development of a new mentalization-based group intervention
      for first-time parents to promote child development and family health.
AB  - AIM: The aim of the present study was to describe the development of Families
      First, a new mentalization-based group intervention model for supporting early
      parenthood. The general aim of the intervention was to support well-functioning
      models of parenting and prevent transmission of negative parenting models over
      generations, and thus promote child development and overall family health.
      BACKGROUND: In the Finnish society, great concern has aroused during the last
      decade regarding the well-being and mental health of children and adolescents.
      Increased number of divorces, poverty, substance abuse, and mental health
      problems among parents enhance the risk for child neglect and abuse. New
      effective, preventive, and health-promoting intervention tools are greatly needed
      to support families with young children. At present, the Families First
      intervention is being implemented in primary social and healthcare units all over
      Finland. METHODS AND FINDINGS: This article will provide a theoretical
      understanding of the importance of parental mentalization for the development of
      the parent-child relationship and the development of the child as well as
      proposed mechanisms of actions in order to enhance mentalizing capacity. The
      cultural context will be described. The article will also provide a description
      of the scientific evaluation protocol of the intervention model. Finally,
      possible limitations and challenges of the intervention model are discussed.

PMID- 25827138
TI  - Violent reinjury and mortality highlights the need for a comprehensive care
      approach to youth presenting for assault-related injury.

PMID- 25827139
TI  - Metformin should not be contraindicated in patients with type 2 diabetes and mild
      to moderate renal impairment.

PMID- 25827140
TI  - Air-Seawater Exchange of Organochlorine Pesticides along the Sediment Plume of a
      Large Contaminated River.
AB  - Gaseous exchange fluxes of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) across the air-water
      interface of the coastal East China Sea were determined in order to assess
      whether the contaminated plume of the Yangtze River could be an important
      regional source of OCPs to the atmosphere. Hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs),
      chlordane compounds (CHLs), and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) were the
      most frequently detected OCPs in air and water. Air-water exchange was mainly
      characterized by net volatilization for all measured OCPs. The net gaseous
      exchange flux ranged 10-240 ng/(m2.day) for gamma-HCH, 60-370 ng/(m2.day) for
      trans-CHL, 97-410 ng/(m2.day) for cis-CHL, and ~0 (e.g., equilibrium) to 490
      ng/(m2.day) for p,p'-DDE. We found that the plume of the large contaminated river
      can serve as a significant regional secondary atmospheric source of legacy
      contaminants released in the catchment. In particular, the sediment plume
      represented the relevant source of DDT compounds (especially p,p'-DDE) sustaining
      net degassing when clean air masses from the open ocean reached the plume area.
      In contrast, a mass balance showed that, for HCHs, contaminated river discharge
      (water and sediment) plumes were capable of sustaining volatilization throughout
      the year. These results demonstrate the inconsistencies in the fate of HCHs and
      DDTs in this large estuarine system with declining primary sources.

PMID- 25827141
TI  - A simple technique for reducing phalangeal displaced unicondylar fractures in the
      hand.

PMID- 25827142
TI  - One-stage rotational osteotomy for congenital radioulnar synostosis.
AB  - We report the results of a one-stage rotational osteotomy of the proximal third
      of the ulna and distal third of the radius with segmental bone resection for
      treating congenital radioulnar synostosis. We retrospectively reviewed 25
      patients (28 forearms) treated by operation. Patients were divided into two
      groups according to the method of internal fixation at the osteotomy sites. In
      Group 1 the ulnar osteotomy was stabilized with an intramedullary pin and in
      Group 2 no fixation was used. The average forearm position improved from 47
      degrees  pronation before surgery, to 27 degrees  supination after surgery. There
      were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in surgical
      outcomes. One-stage rotational osteotomy of the proximal third of the ulna and
      distal third of the radius with segmental bone resection is a simple and safe
      treatment for patients with congenital radioulnar synostosis. Internal fixation
      at the osteotomy site seems to be unnecessary. Level of evidence: Level 4.

PMID- 25827143
TI  - Long-term clinical outcome after epineural coaptation of digital nerves.
AB  - This study evaluates the long-term clinical outcome and complication rate after
      digital nerve repair in adults and aims to identify possible prognostic factors
      of sensory recovery. End-to-end epineural coaptation was performed under
      magnification. A total of 93 coapted digital nerves were clinically evaluated
      with a mean follow-up of 3.5 years (range 1-6 years). The mean two-point
      discrimination was 10.6 mm (versus 4.4 mm for the contralateral side). Cutaneous
      pressure threshold tested with Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments showed a mean value
      of 2.7 (versus 2.2 for the contralateral side). Only 2% of our patients developed
      painful neuromas. None of our patients recovered normal functional sensibility,
      however, recovery of protective sensation contributed to a high reported level of
      satisfaction. No correlation was observed between the sensory outcome and age,
      smoking, mechanism of injury, lesion to or anastomosis of a digital artery, or
      time of immobilization. The only identified predictor of the result was the
      surgeon's level of experience. This highlights the importance of adequate
      training and practice in the surgical repair of smaller peripheral nerves. LEVEL
      OF EVIDENCE: IV.

PMID- 25827144
TI  - Outcome of arthroscopic reduction association of the scapholunate joint.
AB  - This study evaluates the arthroscopic reduction association scapholunate
      technique and outcomes. A total of 18 patients with chronic scapholunate
      instability with mean follow-up of 36 months were reviewed. Postoperatively, the
      mean visual analogue score was 2.5 and the mean DASH score was 8. The grip
      strength was 27 kg on the operative side compared with 32 kg on the uninjured
      side. The mean wrist flexion was 46 degrees  and extension was 56 degrees . Seven
      patients had complications. Six patients had scapholunate joint widening, one had
      windshield-wipering of the screws with loss of reduction, and two demonstrated
      progression of scapholunate advanced collapse deformity. Four patients underwent
      revision surgeries: two revision arthroscopic reduction association scapholunates
      and two proximal row carpectomies. A preoperative scapholunate gap of greater
      than 5 mm and the presence of scapholunate advanced collapse Grade I were both
      predictive of a complication or revision surgery. Patients with a scapholunate
      gap of greater than 5 mm or scapholunate advanced collapse had statistically
      higher complications rates.Level of Evidence IV. 

PMID- 25827145
TI  - [Functional decline in older persons after acute hospitalization].
AB  - Many persons aged 65 years and older encounter new disabilities in activities of
      daily living after a period of acute hospitalization; this is defined as
      functional decline. A consequence of functional decline is they are not able to
      perform essential daily activities, such as bathing, dressing, and walking
      independently. Recovery from these new disabilities is difficult. Older persons
      who encounter functional decline report a lower health-related quality of life
      and are often in need of permanent home care. The systematic in-hospital
      recording of a patient's functional status prior to hospital stay, early
      ambulation, and adequate and effective rehabilitation or transitional care can
      contribute to the prevention of functional decline. However, these interventions
      are often not applied in clinical practice. Until now, the prevention of
      functional decline has only been possible in a limited number of older persons.
      Major research questions include: can all older persons recover from functional
      decline, which mechanisms contribute most to functional decline and how can these
      mechanisms be influenced?

PMID- 25827146
TI  - [A child with primary sclerosing cholangitis].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Primary sclerosing cholangitis is a rare liver disease which is
      mainly diagnosed in adults. This chronic progressive disease, characterised by
      inflammation, fibrosis and strictures of the intra- and extrahepatic bile ducts,
      leads to cirrhosis. There is a strong association between primary sclerosing
      cholangitis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). CASE DESCRIPTION: A 10-year-old
      boy presented at the accident and emergency department with fever, episodes of
      abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and hepatomegaly. Blood tests,
      pathology investigations, liver biopsy and magnetic resonance
      cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) led to the diagnosis of primary sclerosing
      cholangitis. The patient was treated with ursodeoxycholic acid and later, because
      of unbearable itching, sequentially with lidocaine 3% ointment, rifampicin, an
      endoprosthesis in the common bile duct and glucocorticoids. One year later he
      returned to the paediatrician with abdominal pain and bloody diarrhoea. Endoscopy
      revealed features of indeterminate colitis. Remission of the disease was achieved
      quickly after treatment with mesalazine. CONCLUSION: Primary sclerosing
      cholangitis can develop in childhood and is often associated with IBD.

PMID- 25827147
TI  - [No visible strings during an IUD check-up].
AB  - BACKGROUND: When there are no strings visible during an IUD (intrauterine device)
      check-up and ultrasound does not show an IUD in the uterine cavity, expulsion is
      commonly assumed. If the patient has abdominal pain further investigation is
      advised. This case shows that this policy does not cover every eventuality. CASE
      DESCRIPTION: The patient is a 32-year-old gravida 2, para 2. One month after IUD
      insertion she developed abdominal pain. The strings of the IUD were not visible
      with a speculum and ultrasound revealed an empty uterine cavity. Over the next
      few years the abdominal pain decreased but she developed atypical symptoms that
      were interpreted as psychosocial in origin. Two years later she presented with
      new abdominal symptoms and we referred her to a gynaecologist. An abdominal
      overview X-ray image revealed the IUD, which was removed laparoscopically.
      CONCLUSION: If there are no strings visible at an IUD check-up, perforation of
      the uterus needs to be considered. An abdominal overview X-ray image, which is
      relatively cheap and non-invasive, can then easily be taken.

PMID- 25827148
TI  - [The first Dutch debate on anaesthesia in obstetrics].
AB  - After the publication of the Dutch medical guideline on pharmacological analgesia
      during childbirth in 2008, the question of whether pharmacological pain relief
      should be permissible during labour was hotly debated. This discussion has been
      going on since the second half of the 19th century when the introduction of ether
      and chloroform was extensively studied and described in Great Britain. This
      article looks back on the same debate in the Netherlands when inhalational
      anaesthetics were introduced into obstetrics. Study of historical journals and
      textbooks, originating in the Netherlands and elsewhere, and of historical
      medical literature on anaesthesia and obstetrics shows that the Dutch
      protagonists adopted more nuanced ideas on this issue than many of their foreign
      colleagues. This description of the first Dutch debate on anaesthesia in
      obstetrics shows that in fact the issues and arguments are timeless.

PMID- 25827149
TI  - [Cryptococcal meningitis].
AB  - Immunocompromised patients are at increased risk of disseminated cryptococcal
      infection, often presenting as a primary respiratory infection with yeast cells
      originating from bird excreta. Because Cryptococcus neoformans has a tropism for
      cerebrospinal fluid, most patients suffer from meningitis or meningoencephalitis.
      Symptoms of cryptococcal meningitis are non-specific: headache, fever, nausea, or
      altered mental state and behaviour. Case descriptions of a renal transplant
      recipient and an HIV patient illustrate the non-specific presentation of
      cryptococcal meningitis. Lumbar puncture seemed to be critical in establishing
      the diagnosis. Cerebrospinal fluid, blood and other tissues were tested for C.
      neoformans by microscopy, culture and antigen tests. The patients were
      successfully treated with amphotericin B or liposomal amphotericin B
      intravenously and flucytosine intravenously or orally, followed by long-term
      fluconazole. The mortality rate for cryptococcal meningitis is 41% among renal
      transplant recipients and 20% in HIV patients. 

PMID- 25827151
TI  - [The refeeding syndrome].
AB  - The refeeding syndrome may occur during reintroduction of carbohydrates in
      malnourished patients. This syndrome is characterized by reduced plasma
      electrolyte levels, hypophosphataemia being most prevalent. The symptoms can vary
      from minor symptoms to severe neurological or cardiac symptoms. The
      pathophysiological mechanism comprises an increase in insulin levels, resulting
      in shifts of phosphate, potassium and magnesium into the intracellular
      environment, as well as fluid retention and relative deficiency of vitamin B1.
      There is growing interest in the screening and treatment of patients with
      malnutrition, due to which the incidence of refeeding syndrome is probably
      increasing. Currently, there is no single definition of this syndrome and
      therefore there is no solid scientific basis for screening and treatment. In this
      article we describe the rationale for screening and additional laboratory
      investigations. A prospective, controlled trial is important to define the
      clinical relevance of the refeeding syndrome and optimize its treatment.

PMID- 25827152
TI  - [A woman with a rare vascular malformation].
AB  - A 30-year-old woman with trisomy 8 syndrome and coagulopathy was diagnosed with a
      malformation of the vena cava superior. This is a rare anatomical variation,
      which originates from a non-development of Marshall's ligament during the 8th
      week of gestation (prevalence: 0.3%). 

PMID- 25827153
TI  - [Hypofractionated adjuvant radiotherapy for breast cancer: no signs of increased
      risk of cardiotoxicity].
AB  - Adjuvant radiotherapy is frequently used in women with breast cancer to improve
      both local control of the tumour and overall survival. Hypofractionated regimens
      are increasingly being used as they involve fewer treatment sessions and, in
      terms of tumour control, the effects of conventionally fractionated and
      hypofractionated radiotherapy seem to be comparable. However, there is concern
      regarding increased cardiotoxicity following hypofractionated radiotherapy
      treatment to the left side. In order to determine if cardiac mortality increases
      with hypofractionation relative to conventional fractionation, a Canadian
      research group performed a retrospective analysis in 5334 women with breast
      cancer treated between 1990-1998 with postoperative radiotherapy to the
      breast/chest wall only. At 15-year follow-up the authors concluded that cardiac
      mortality was not statistically different among patients with left-sided breast
      cancer whether treated with hypofractionated or conventionally fractionated whole
      breast/chest wall irradiation. This commentary discusses the data presented in
      the paper, puts them into perspective and describes the clinical implications. 

PMID- 25827154
TI  - [Health care costs in the last years of life: interesting, but for a different
      reason than is widely believed].
AB  - Health care costs have increased due to population ageing. It is often said that
      the majority of health care spending occurs in the last year of life and that, as
      a result, the total costs of population ageing are considerably lower than is
      usually predicted. With the Netherlands facing a rapidly ageing population, such
      statements are well-received by policy makers. Unfortunately they reflect only
      part of the truth and are therefore misleading. Nevertheless, health care costs
      in the last years of life are still interesting, but for a different reason than
      is widely believed. Taking a lifetime perspective, these costs shed new light on
      solidarity in health care. 

PMID- 25827156
TI  - Quantitative pixel-wise measurement of myocardial blood flow: the impact of
      surface coil-related field inhomogeneity and a comparison of methods for its
      correction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surface coil-related field inhomogeneity potentially confounds pixel
      wise quantitative analysis of perfusion CMR images. This study assessed the
      effect of surface coil-related field inhomogeneity on the spatial variation of
      pixel-wise myocardial blood flow (MBF), and assessed its impact on the ability of
      MBF quantification to differentiate ischaemic from remote coronary territories.
      Two surface coil intensity correction (SCIC) techniques were evaluated: 1) a
      proton density-based technique (PD-SCIC) and; 2) a saturation recovery steady
      state free precession-based technique (SSFP-SCIC). METHODS: 26 subjects (18 with
      significant CAD and 8 healthy volunteers) underwent stress perfusion CMR using a
      motion-corrected, saturation recovery SSFP dual-sequence protocol. A proton
      density (PD)-weighted image was acquired at the beginning of the sequence.
      Surface coil-related field inhomogeneity was approximated using a third-order
      surface fit to the PD image or a pre-contrast saturation prepared SSFP image. The
      estimated intensity bias field was subsequently applied to the image series.
      Pixel-wise MBF was measured from mid-ventricular stress images using the two SCIC
      approaches and compared to measurements made without SCIC. RESULTS: MBF
      heterogeneity in healthy volunteers was higher using SSFP-SCIC (24.8 +/- 4.1%)
      compared to PD-SCIC (20.8 +/- 3.0%; p = 0.009), however heterogeneity was
      significantly lower using either SCIC technique compared to analysis performed
      without SCIC (36.2 +/- 6.3%). In CAD patients, the difference in MBF between
      remote and ischaemic territories was minimal when analysis was performed without
      SCIC (0.06 +/- 0.91 mL/min/kg), and was substantially lower than with either PD
      SCIC (0.50 +/- 0.63 mL/min/kg; p = 0.013) or with SSFP-SCIC (0.63 +/- 0.89
      mL/min/kg; p = 0.005). In 6 patients, MBF quantified without SCIC was
      artifactually higher in the stenosed coronary territory compared to the remote
      territory. PD-SCIC and SSFP-SCIC had similar differences in MBF between remote
      and ischaemic territories (p = 0.145). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that
      surface coil-related field inhomogeneity can confound pixel-wise MBF
      quantification. Whilst a PD-based SCIC led to a more homogenous correction than a
      saturation recovery SSFP-based technique, this did not result in an appreciable
      difference in the differentiation of ischaemic from remote coronary territories
      and thus either method could be applied.

PMID- 25827157
TI  - Seeing what we hear: an eye to help the ear.

PMID- 25827155
TI  - Inflammation in acute CNS injury: a focus on the role of substance P.
AB  - Recently, a number of reports have shown that neurogenic inflammation may play a
      role in the secondary injury response following acute injury to the CNS,
      including traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke. In particular substance P (SP)
      release appears to be critically involved. Specifically, the expression of the
      neuropeptide SP is increased in acute CNS injury, with the magnitude of SP
      release being related to both the frequency and magnitude of the insult. SP
      release is associated with an increase in blood-brain barrier permeability and
      the development of vasogenic oedema as well as neuronal injury and worse
      functional outcome. Moreover, inhibiting the actions of SP through use of a NK1
      receptor antagonist is highly beneficial in both focal and diffuse models of TBI,
      as well as in ischaemic stroke, with a therapeutic window of up to 12 h. We
      propose that NK1 receptor antagonists represent a novel therapeutic option for
      treatment of neurogenic inflammation following acute CNS injury.

PMID- 25827158
TI  - Diffusion of mepivacaine to adjacent synovial structures after intrasynovial
      analgesia of the digital flexor tendon sheath.
AB  - REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY: Controversy exists about the specificity of
      diagnostic analgesia of the digital flexor tendon sheath (DFTS) in horses.
      OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the degree of diffusion of mepivacaine from the equine
      DFTS to adjacent synovial structures. STUDY DESIGN: Crossover experiment.
      METHODS: Under general anaesthesia, the DFTS of one front and one hindlimb of 8
      horses were injected simultaneously with mepivacaine. Synovial fluid samples of
      the injected DFTS, the adjacent metacarpo-/metatarsophalangeal (MCP/MTP) joint,
      proximal interphalangeal joint, distal interphalangeal joint, navicular bursa and
      contralateral MCP/MTP joint were collected 15 min post injection (T15) from one
      of the injected limbs and 60 min post injection (T60) from the other limb. Venous
      blood samples were obtained at T0, T15 and T60 to evaluate systemic distribution
      of mepivacaine. After a 2-week washout period, the procedure was repeated using
      the same limbs but reversing the time of sampling (front vs. hindlimbs). The
      concentration of mepivacaine in samples was measured with a commercial ELISA kit.
      RESULTS: Mepivacaine concentrations in the DFTS samples, at both T15 (5077 mg/l)
      and T60 (3503 mg/l), exceeded those estimated sufficient to produce synovial
      analgesia (100 mg/l or 300 mg/l). Mepivacaine was found in all synovial
      structures adjacent to the injected DFTS and in the contralateral MCP/MTP joints,
      but concentrations were low, with a maximum value of only 3.2 mg/l. With the
      exception of the navicular bursa samples, the mepivacaine concentrations in the
      adjacent synovial structures were significantly higher at T60 than at T15
      (P<0.03). Significantly higher mepivacaine concentrations were found in the
      ipsilateral than the contralateral MCP/MTP joints at T60 (P<0.001). Blood samples
      had significantly higher mepivacaine concentrations at T15 and T60 than at T0
      (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Mepivacaine injected into the DFTS of horses diffuses
      towards adjacent synovial structures without achieving clinically relevant
      concentrations.

PMID- 25827159
TI  - Adenocarcinoma of the gastro-oesophageal junction after sleeve gastrectomy: a
      case report.

PMID- 25827160
TI  - Pronounced gradients of light, photosynthesis and O2 consumption in the tissue of
      the brown alga Fucus serratus.
AB  - Macroalgae live in an ever-changing light environment affected by wave motion,
      self-shading and light-scattering effects, and on the thallus scale, gradients of
      light and chemical parameters influence algal photosynthesis. However, the
      thallus microenvironment and internal gradients remain underexplored. In this
      study, microsensors were used to quantify gradients of light, O2 concentration,
      variable chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthesis and O2 consumption as a
      function of irradiance in the cortex and medulla layers of Fucus serratus. The
      two cortex layers showed more efficient light utilization compared to the
      medulla, calculated both from electron transport rates through photosystem II and
      from photosynthesis-irradiance curves. At moderate irradiance, the upper cortex
      exhibited onset of photosynthetic saturation, whereas lower thallus layers
      exhibited net O2 consumption. O2 consumption rates in light varied with depth and
      irradiance and were more than two-fold higher than dark respiration. We show that
      the thallus microenvironment of F. serratus exhibits a highly stratified balance
      of production and consumption of O2 , and when the frond was held in a fixed
      position, high incident irradiance levels on the upper cortex did not saturate
      photosynthesis in the lower thallus layers. We discuss possible photoadaptive
      responses and consequences for optimizing photosynthetic activity on the basis of
      vertical differences in light attenuation coefficients.

PMID- 25827161
TI  - Outcomes of light-chain amyloidosis patients treated with first-line bortezomib:
      a collaborative retrospective multicenter assessment.
AB  - Light-chain amyloidosis (AL) is associated with low survival rates, particularly
      in patients with cardiac involvement. We evaluated the outcome of 73 consecutive,
      non-selected 'real-world' AL patients, treated with first-line bortezomib-based
      induction, focusing on the benefit of concurrent administration of alkylating
      agents. Most patients had renal (77%), cardiac (66%), or multiorgan (74%)
      involvement. Sixty-eight per cent (n = 50) received alkylating agent (mostly
      cyclophosphamide). Severe adverse events were seen in 45%, most evident in
      patients with cardiac involvement, with no increased toxicity in patients
      receiving an alkylator agent. Hematological response (HemR) was obtained in 77%
      of patients, including 33% very good partial responses and 19% complete
      responses. Age <70 yr, lack of cardiac and peripheral neurologic involvement, and
      co-administration of an alkylating agent were associated with significantly
      improved HemR. NYHA cardiac failure staging was the only independent factor
      affecting overall survival. Administration of an alkylating agent and the
      achievement of both HemR and organ response were associated with a statistically
      significant improved survival in those surviving the first 6 months of induction.
      First-line bortezomib-based regimen resulted in favorable response and survival
      in newly diagnosed patients. Co-administration of an alkylating agent improved
      outcome without increasing treatment-related toxicity. 

PMID- 25827162
TI  - Morphology of the tympanic-basicranial region in Mirounga leonina (Phocidae,
      Carnivora), postnatal ontogeny and sexual dimorphism.
AB  - The auditory region of pinnipeds has seldom been described. Here we describe and
      analyze the ontogenetic trajectory of the tympanic bulla of the southern elephant
      seal, Mirounga leonina (Phocidae, Mammalia). This species is extremely sexually
      dimorphic and highly polygynous (organized in harems). We examined 118 specimens,
      arranged in three age classes (CI, CII, and CIII), ranging from newborn to adults
      (males and females). To analyze the overall size and shape of the tympanic bulla
      we performed a geometric morphometric analysis including 87 skulls. Females reach
      definitive shape and size of the bulla at earlier ontogenetic stages than males,
      in agreement with their earlier involvement in reproductive activities. The
      internal anatomy of the tympanic region (e.g. form and extension of the paries)
      does not show remarkable differences between sexes or age classes. The greatest
      differences between age classes are related to bone thickness, resulting from the
      apposition of new annual layers. An examination of possible sex-related external
      differences among age classes shows significant shape differences between males
      and females in CIII. The morphology observed in neonates is conserved across all
      individuals from CI, which included specimens up to 1 year old. Clear
      morphological differences were observed between CI individuals, on one hand, and
      CII individuals plus CIII females on the other. During cranial development of
      both male and females, the glenoid cavity expands and compresses the bulla; this
      condition reaches its maximum expression in CIII males. CIII males showed the
      greatest morphological differences, with respect to both CI and CII individuals,
      and CIII females.

PMID- 25827163
TI  - Association of PPAR-gamma2 and beta3-AR Polymorphisms With Postmenopausal
      Hypertension.
AB  - The aim of this study was to test the association of peroxisome proliferator
      activated receptor (PPAR-gamma2) (Pro12Ala, C1431T) and beta3-AR (Trp64Arg)
      polymorphisms with metabolic, nutritional, and blood pressure parameters in 271
      postmenopausal women (151 hypertensive and 120 normotensive controls). The TaqMan
      genotyping assay and restriction fragment length polymorphism methods were used
      to determine the distributions of selected alleles and genotype frequencies.
      Nutritional status was determined by a bioimpedance method and dietary habits
      were assessed via 7-day dietary recall. The distribution of selected genotypes
      and allele frequencies did not differ between hypertensive women and normal
      controls after analysis by chi-square test. The postmenopausal hypertensive women
      were older and had higher body fat mass, serum glucose, and triglyceride levels.
      The cluster analysis showed that the hypertensive group with Pro12Pro genotype
      had highest pulse pressure and mean arterial pressure values when compared with
      Pro12Ala patients. In the logistic regression analysis, blood glucose (Pro12Ala
      polymorphism) and energy intake (C1431Tand T1431T polymorphisms) determined
      hypertension.

PMID- 25827164
TI  - ANGIOGRAPHIC ANATOMY OF THE MAJOR ABDOMINAL ARTERIAL BLOOD SUPPLY IN THE DOG.
AB  - Vascular-based interventional radiology (IR) procedures are being more regularly
      performed in veterinary patients for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. A
      complete description of the fluoroscopic arterial anatomy of the canine abdominal
      cavity has not been published. This information is essential for performance of
      IR procedures to allow for improved preparation before and during a particular
      procedure. The primary purpose of this study was to provide a fluoroscopic
      description of the vascular branching from the abdominal aorta in a ventro-dorsal
      projection with a secondary goal of producing pictorial reference images of the
      major abdominal arterial blood vessels. Five healthy female hound type dogs were
      enrolled and underwent fluoroscopic arteriography. During fluoroscopy, both
      nonselective and selective arteriography were performed. The nonselective
      arteriograms were obtained in the aorta at four locations: cranial to the celiac
      artery, cranial to the renal arteries, cranial to the caudal mesenteric artery,
      and cranial to the branching of the external iliac arteries. Selective
      arteriography was conducted by performing injections into the following arteries:
      celiac, splenic, common hepatic, cranial mesenteric, left and right renal, and
      caudal mesenteric. Fluoroscopic arteriography allowed for excellent
      characterization of the aortic ostia and the location of the lower order vascular
      branches. Future evaluation of vascular-based treatment options will likely
      increase as the understanding of the normal and pathologic anatomy improves. 

PMID- 25827165
TI  - Antidiabetic agents and endothelial dysfunction - beyond glucose control.
AB  - Diabetes is rapidly increasing worldwide, and the number of patients suffering
      from diabetes is projected to rise by 50% over the next 25 years, then affecting
      almost 600 million adults. Type 2 diabetes comprises 90-95% of all people with
      diabetes, and they constitute a patient group that carries a high burden of
      cardiovascular disease. The relationship between hyperglycaemia and macrovascular
      complications is still uncertain, at least in terms of the possibility of
      reducing cardiovascular events solely by improving glycaemic control. This
      MiniReview has thus focused on the effect of common antidiabetic agents, with
      emphasis on glucagon-like peptide-1, on the endothelial cells of the vasculature.
      Patients with type 2 diabetes suffer a two to four times higher risk of
      myocardial infarction and stroke than healthy persons. In addition to this,
      patients with diabetes have an increased atherosclerotic burden. Endothelial
      dysfunction is thought to be an early and important predictor of atherosclerosis
      and cardiovascular disease, and in people with type 2 diabetes, endothelial
      dysfunction is a common finding. It is therefore of importance to consider
      whether drugs used within the clinical management of Type 2 diabetes mellitus
      (T2DM) exert direct and positive effects on the vasculature independent of their
      glucose-lowering ability. This might serve to limit the adverse consequences of
      the macrovascular complications of T2DM, as dysfunction of endothelial cells is
      believed to contribute to a premature development of atherosclerosis. 

PMID- 25827166
TI  - Treatment satisfaction and clinically meaningful symptom improvement in men with
      lower urinary tract symptoms and prostatic enlargement secondary to benign
      prostatic hyperplasia: Secondary results from a 6-month, randomized, double-blind
      study comparing finasteride plus tadalafil with finasteride plus placebo.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To report the secondary analyses of treatment satisfaction and
      clinically meaningful improvements in a randomized study comparing
      coadministration of tadalafil 5 mg with finasteride 5 mg versus finasteride alone
      in men with prostatic enlargement secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia.
      METHODS: An international, randomized, double-blind, parallel study was carried
      out in men aged >=45 years who were 5-alpha reductase inhibitor naive, and had an
      International Prostate Symptom Score >=13 and prostate volume >=30 mL; 350 men
      received placebo/finasteride and 345 received tadalafil/finasteride over 26
      weeks. Treatment satisfaction was assessed per protocol using the Treatment
      Satisfaction Scale-Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. Responder cut-offs, analyzed
      post-hoc were total International Prostate Symptom Score improvement >=3 points
      or >=25% from randomization. RESULTS: Baseline patient characteristics were
      generally comparable between responders and non-responders. The proportion of
      patients with an International Prostate Symptom Score improvement >=3 points with
      tadalafil/finasteride and placebo/finasteride, respectively, at week 4 was 57.0%
      and 47.9% (OR 1.45, 95% confidence interval 1.07-1.97), at week 12 was 68.8% and
      60.7% (OR 1.48, 95% confidence interval 1.07-2.05) and at week 26 was 71.4% and
      70.2% (OR 1.14, 95% confidence interval 0.81-1.61); for IPSS change >=25%, the
      corresponding proportions were 44.8% and 32.9% (OR 1.66, 95% confidence interval
      1.21-2.28), 55.5% and 51.9% (OR 1.18, 95% confidence interval 0.87-1.62), and
      62.0% and 58.3% (OR 1.23, 95% confidence interval 0.89-1.70). Treatment
      satisfaction at week 26 was significantly greater with tadalafil/finasteride
      versus placebo/finasteride for total treatment satisfaction scale score (P=0.031)
      and satisfaction with efficacy subscore (P = 0.025); scores were not
      significantly different between treatments for satisfaction with dosing or side
      effects (both P >= 0.371). CONCLUSIONS: Tadalafil/finasteride results in
      significantly more patients achieving early clinical meaningful improvements in
      symptoms, and in greater treatment satisfaction versus placebo/finasteride.

PMID- 25827167
TI  - A TRPA1 channel that senses thermal stimulus and irritating chemicals in
      Helicoverpa armigera.
AB  - Sensing and responding to changes in the external environment is important for
      insect survival. Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are crucial for
      various sensory modalities including olfaction, vision, hearing, thermosensation
      and mechanosensation. Here, we identified and characterized a transient receptor
      potential gene named as HarmTRPA1 in Helicoverpa armigera antennae. HarmTRPA1 was
      abundantly expressed in the antennae and labial palps. Transcripts of HarmTRPA1
      could also be detected in the head and proboscis. Furthermore, functional
      analyses of HarmTRPA1 were conducted in the Xenopus Oocyte system. The results
      showed that the HarmTRPA1 channel could be activated by increasing the
      temperature from 20 to 45  degrees C. No significant adaptation was observed when
      the stimulus was repeated. In addition to thermal stimuli, pungent natural
      compounds including allyl isothiocyanate, cinnamaldehyde and citronellal also
      activated HarmTRPA1. Taken together, we infer that HarmTRPA1 may function as both
      a thermal sensor involved in peripheral temperature detection and as a chemical
      sensor detecting irritating chemicals in vivo. Our data provide valuable insight
      into the TRPA1 channel in this moth and lay the foundation for developing novel
      strategies for pest control. 

PMID- 25827168
TI  - Evaluation of a new double-lumen endobronchial tube with an integrated camera
      (VivaSight-DL(TM) ): a prospective multicentre observational study.
AB  - The VivaSight-DL(TM) is a new single-use double-lumen endobronchial tube with an
      integrated camera. We studied this device in 151 consecutive patients scheduled
      for elective thoracic surgery in four different hospitals. Endobronchial
      intubation was successful in 148 patients (98%) (95% CI 94-99%). Median (IQR
      [range]) endobronchial intubation time was 59 (47-82 [17-932]) s and lung
      isolation was successfully achieved in 147 (99%) patients (95% CI 96-99%). A
      fibreoptic bronchoscope was required to assist endobronchial tube placement in 19
      (13%) patients (95% CI 8-19%). Sore throat was reported by 37 (25%) patients (95%
      CI 18-33%), but no major complications were observed. We have reported the
      successful use of the VivaSight double-lumen tube for endobronchial intubation in
      a multicentre observational trial. 

PMID- 25827169
TI  - Maternal obesity, caesarean delivery and caesarean delivery on maternal request:
      a cohort analysis from China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To quantify the association between maternal obesity and caesarean
      delivery, particularly caesarean delivery on maternal request (CDMR), a fast
      growing component of caesarean delivery in many nations. METHODS: We followed
      1,019,576 nulliparous women registered in the Perinatal Healthcare Surveillance
      System during 1993-2010. Maternal body mass index (BMI, kg/m(2) ), before
      pregnancy or during early pregnancy, was classified as underweight (<18.5),
      normal (18.5 to <23; reference), overweight (23 to <27.5), or obese (>=27.5),
      consistent with World Health Organization guidelines for Asian people. The
      association between maternal obesity and overall caesarean and its subtypes was
      modelled using log-binomial regression. RESULTS: During the 18-year period,
      404,971 (39.7%) caesareans and 93,927 (9.2%) CDMRs were identified. Maternal
      obesity was positively associated with overall caesarean and CDMR. Adjusted risk
      ratios for overall caesarean in the four ascending BMI categories were 0.96 [95%
      confidence interval (CI) 0.94, 0.97], 1.00 (Reference), 1.16 [95% CI 1.14, 1.18],
      1.39 [95% CI 1.43, 1.54], and for CDMR were 0.95 [95% CI 0.94, 0.96], 1.00
      (Reference), 1.20 [95% CI 1.18, 1.22], 1.48 [95% CI 1.433, 1.54]. Positive
      associations were consistently found in women residing in southern and northern
      provinces and in subgroups stratified by year of delivery, urban or rural
      residence, maternal age, education, level of delivering hospital, and
      birthweight. CONCLUSIONS: In a large Chinese cohort study, maternal obesity was
      associated with an increased risk of caesarean delivery and its subtypes,
      including CDMR. Given the rising global prevalence of obesity, and in view of the
      growth of CDMR, it seems likely that caesarean births will increase, unless there
      are changes in obstetrical practice.

PMID- 25827170
TI  - Directed dewetting of amorphous silicon film by a donut-shaped laser pulse.
AB  - Irradiation of a thin film with a beam-shaped laser is proposed to achieve site
      selectively controlled dewetting of the film into nanoscale structures. As a
      proof of concept, the laser-directed dewetting of an amorphous silicon thin film
      on a glass substrate is demonstrated using a donut-shaped laser beam. Upon
      irradiation of a single laser pulse, the silicon film melts and dewets on the
      substrate surface. The irradiation with the donut beam induces an unconventional
      lateral temperature profile in the film, leading to thermocapillary-induced
      transport of the molten silicon to the center of the beam spot. Upon
      solidification, the ultrathin amorphous silicon film is transformed to a
      crystalline silicon nanodome of increased height. This morphological change
      enables further dimensional reduction of the nanodome as well as removal of the
      surrounding film material by isotropic silicon etching. These results suggest
      that laser-based dewetting of thin films can be an effective way for scalable
      manufacturing of patterned nanostructures. 

PMID- 25827171
TI  - Do Beta 2-Glycoprotein I Disulfide Bonds Protect the Human Retina in the Setting
      of Age-Related Macular Degeneration?
AB  - Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) affects the region of the retina that is
      responsible for high-resolution vision. It is a major cause of blindness in the
      aging population. This is the first study that examines the association of redox
      modified, cysteine-based, post-translational forms of beta 2-glycoprotein I
      (beta2GPI) in the plasma of individuals with early and late stages of patients
      with AMD compared with controls. Exploration is also undertaken to assess whether
      the free thiol form of beta2GPI versus the oxidized disulfide form have distinct
      functional properties in the setting of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2))-mediated
      cell death of an immortalized human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell line.
      We demonstrate beta2GPI in the retina and choroid of patients with AMD. Free
      thiol beta2GPI is shown to protect the immortalized human RPE cell line against
      H(2)O(2)-induced cell death, whereas the oxidized form of beta2GPI and free thiol
      bovine serum albumin were not protective. Free thiol beta2GPI levels were
      significantly decreased in patients with late AMD compared with early AMD and
      healthy controls. Our observations lead to the hypothesis that free thiol
      beta2GPI may protect against oxidative stress injury to RPE cells in the early
      stages of AMD.

PMID- 25827172
TI  - Chronic fatigue is prevalent and associated with hormonal dysfunction in long
      term non-Hodgkin lymphoma survivors treated with radiotherapy to the head and
      neck region.
AB  - The purposes of this study were to assess the prevalence of chronic fatigue (CF)
      in irradiated survivors of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, analyze for associations between
      hormonal dysfunction and CF, and to investigate the associations between CF and
      functioning. Invited survivors were all treated with radiation to the head and
      neck region, with or without additional chemotherapy. The participants (n=98)
      responded to questionnaires measuring CF, mental distress (HADS), and functioning
      (SF-36), and had blood drawn for analyses of four hormonal axes. Hormonal status
      was categorized as normal, hormone dysfunction in one or more axes, or hormone
      replacement therapy. A total of 29% of the survivors had CF. In multivariate
      analyses there was an increased risk of CF among survivors with untreated hormone
      dysfunction (OR 3.87, 95% CI: 1.20-12.51, p=0.02). Survivors on hormone
      substitution did not have increased risk for CF compared to survivors with normal
      hormonal status. CF was significantly associated with reduced functioning.

PMID- 25827173
TI  - NOD/SCID IL2Rgamma-null mouse xenograft model of human p53-mutated chronic
      lymphocytic leukemia and ATM-mutated mantle cell lymphoma using permanent cell
      lines.
AB  - Xenograft models represent a promising tool to study the pathogenesis of
      hematological malignancies. To establish a reliable and appropriate in vivo model
      of aggressive human B-cell leukemia and lymphoma we xenotransplanted four p53
      mutated cell lines and one ATM-mutated cell line into immunodeficient NOD/SCID
      IL2Rgamma-null mice. The cell lines MEC-1, SU-DHL-4, JEKO-1, REC-1, and GRANTA
      519 were transplanted intraperitoneally or subcutaneously and the engraftment was
      investigated using immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. We found significant
      differences in engraftment efficiency. MEC-1, JEKO-1 and GRANTA-519 cell lines
      engrafted most efficiently, while SU-DHL-4 cells did not engraft at all. MEC-1
      and GRANTA-519 massively infiltrated organs and the whole intraperitoneal cavity
      showing very aggressive growth. In addition, GRANTA-519 cells massively migrated
      to the bone marrow regardless of the transplantation route. The MEC-1 and GRANTA
      519 cells can be especially recommended for in vivo study of p53-mutated chronic
      lymphocytic leukemia and ATM-mutated mantle cell lymphoma, respectively. 

PMID- 25827174
TI  - Magnitude of multiplanar breast kinematics differs depending upon run distance.
AB  - Recommendations for breast support, dynamic breast pain assessment, and
      implications for sports performance have been made within breast biomechanics
      research; however, these studies have been based upon short exercise protocols (2
      5 min). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of breast support on
      multiplanar breast kinematics over a 5-kilometre run. Ten female participants
      (34D or 32DD) conducted two 5-kilometre runs, in a low and high breast support.
      Relative multiplanar breast kinematics were averaged over five gait cycles at six
      intervals of a 5-kilometre run. Increases in multiplanar breast kinematics were
      reported from the start to the end of the run, with the greatest rate of increase
      in breast kinematics reported within the first two kilometres of running. The
      greatest relative increases in breast range of motion (34%), velocity (33%), and
      acceleration (41%) were reported in the superioinferior direction at the fifth
      kilometre (33 min of running) in the high breast support. Key findings suggest
      that the run distance, and therefore run duration, employed for both fundamental
      research and product validation protocols should be carefully considered and it
      is suggested that running protocols for assessing breast biomechanics should
      exceed 7 min. 

PMID- 25827175
TI  - Repercussions of growth path on carcass characteristics, meat colour and shear
      force in Alentejana bulls.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the carcass and meat characteristics of
      eight muscles from bulls with distinct growth paths. A total of 40 Alentejana
      male calves were allocated to two distinct feeding regimes. In the continuous
      growth (CG) system, the animals were fed concentrates plus hay and were
      slaughtered at 18 months of age. On the other hand, in the discontinuous growth
      (DG) system, the animals were fed hay until 15 months of age; the cattle were
      then fed the same diet provided to the CG group from 15 to 24 months of age. The
      DG reduced hot carcass weight, fatness and dressing %, but the proportions of
      fat, bone and muscle tissues in the leg were not affected. In contrast, there was
      a positive impact of compensatory growth on supraspinatus, triceps brachii,
      semitendinosus, biceps femoris muscle tenderness, overcoming the negative effects
      of age at slaughter. The reasons for such improvement in meat tenderness were not
      related to intra-muscular fat content or myofibrillar protein degradation values.
      An association between tenderness and muscle collagen properties was not
      established. The results indicate that the compensatory growth has a muscle
      dependent effect. 

PMID- 25827176
TI  - Polycyclic Aromatic Acids Are Primary Metabolites of Alkyl-PAHs-A Case Study with
      Nereis diversicolor.
AB  - Although concentrations of alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (alkyl
      PAHs) in oil-contaminated sediments are higher than those of unsubstituted PAHs,
      only little attention has been given to metabolism and ecotoxicity of alkyl-PAHs.
      In this study we demonstrated that metabolism of alkyl-PAHs primarily forms
      polycyclic aromatic acids (PAAs). We generalize this to other alkyl-PAHs, based
      on literature and the present study of the metabolism of 1-methylphenanthrene,
      3,6-dimethylphenanthrene, and 1-, 2-, 3-, and 6-methylchrysene related to their
      unsubstituted parent PAHs. Also, we observed that body burdens and production of
      PAAs was related to the position of the methyl group, showing the same isomer
      specific preferences as for microbial degradation of alkyl-PAHs. We detected a
      high production of PAAs, and larger metabolism of alkyl-PAHs than their
      unsubstituted parent PAHs. We therefore propose that carboxylic acid metabolites
      of alkyl-PAHs have the potential of constituting a new class of contaminants in
      marine waters that needs attention in relation to ecological risk assessments. 

PMID- 25827177
TI  - Patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting exhibit poor pre
      operative intakes of fruit, vegetables, dietary fibre, fish and vitamin D.
AB  - CHD may ensue from chronic systemic low-grade inflammation. Diet is a modifiable
      risk factor for both, and its optimisation may reduce post-operative mortality,
      atrial fibrillation and cognitive decline. In the present study, we investigated
      the usual dietary intakes of patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass
      grafting (CABG), emphasising on food groups and nutrients with putative roles in
      the inflammatory/anti-inflammatory balance. From November 2012 to April 2013, we
      approached ninety-three consecutive patients (80% men) undergoing elective CABG.
      Of these, fifty-five were finally included (84% men, median age 69 years; range
      46-84 years). The median BMI was 27 (range 18-36) kg/m(2). The dietary intake
      items were fruits (median 181 g/d; range 0-433 g/d), vegetables (median 115 g/d;
      range 0-303 g/d), dietary fibre (median 22 g/d; range 9-45 g/d), EPA+DHA (median
      0.14 g/d; range 0.01-1.06 g/d), vitamin D (median 4.9 MUg/d; range 1.9-11.2
      MUg/d), saturated fat (median 13.1% of energy (E%); range 9-23 E%) and linoleic
      acid (LA; median 6.3 E%; range 1.9-11.3 E%). The percentages of patients with
      dietary intakes below recommendations were 62% (fruits; recommendation 200 g/d),
      87 % (vegetables; recommendation 150-200 g/d), 73% (dietary fibre; recommendation
      30-45 g/d), 91% (EPA+DHA; recommendation 0.45 g/d), 98% (vitamin D;
      recommendation 10-20 MUg/d) and 13% (LA; recommendation 5-10 E%). The percentages
      of patients with dietary intakes above recommendations were 95% (saturated fat;
      recommendation < 10 E%) and 7% (LA). The dietary intakes of patients proved
      comparable with the average nutritional intake of the age- and sex-matched
      healthy Dutch population. These unbalanced pre-operative diets may put them at
      risk of unfavourable surgical outcomes, since they promote a pro-inflammatory
      state. We conclude that there is an urgent need for intervention trials aiming at
      rapid improvement of their diets to reduce peri-operative risks.

PMID- 25827178
TI  - Late Emergence of the First Possession Heuristic: Evidence From a Small-Scale
      Culture.
AB  - Western preschool children often assign ownership based on first possession and
      some theorists have proposed that this judgment might be an early emerging,
      innate bias. Five- to 9-year-olds (n = 112) from a small-scale group in Kenya
      (Kikuyu) watched videotaped interactions of two women passing an object. The
      object's starting position and the women's gestures were varied. Use of the first
      possession heuristic increased with age, and 8- to 9-year-olds performed
      similarly to German 5-year-olds (n = 24). Starting position and gestures had no
      effect. A control study confirmed that 5-year-old Kikuyus (n = 20) understood the
      video material. The findings reveal that the first possession heuristic follows
      different developmental trajectories cross-culturally and stress the role of
      children's sociocultural environment.

PMID- 25827179
TI  - Incremental Value of Three-Dimensional Transesophageal Echocardiography over the
      Two-Dimensional Technique in the Assessment of a Thrombus in Transit through a
      Patent Foramen Ovale.
AB  - We report a case of a right atrial thrombus traversing a patent foramen ovale
      into the left atrium, where three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography
      provided considerable incremental value over two-dimensional transesophageal
      echocardiography in its assessment. As well as allowing us to better spatially
      characterize the thrombus, three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography
      provided a more quantitative assessment through estimation of total thrombus
      burden. 

PMID- 25827180
TI  - FLASH proton density imaging for improved surface coil intensity correction in
      quantitative and semi-quantitative SSFP perfusion cardiovascular magnetic
      resonance.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A low excitation flip angle (alpha < 10 degrees ) steady-state free
      precession (SSFP) proton-density (PD) reference scan is often used to estimate
      the B1-field inhomogeneity for surface coil intensity correction (SCIC) of the
      saturation-recovery (SR) prepared high flip angle (alpha = 40-50 degrees ) SSFP
      myocardial perfusion images. The different SSFP off-resonance response for these
      two flip angles might lead to suboptimal SCIC when there is a spatial variation
      in the background B0-field. The low flip angle SSFP-PD frames are more prone to
      parallel imaging banding artifacts in the presence of off-resonance. The use of
      FLASH-PD frames would eliminate both the banding artifacts and the uneven
      frequency response in the presence of off-resonance in the surface coil
      inhomogeneity estimate and improve homogeneity of semi-quantitative and
      quantitative perfusion measurements. METHODS: B0-field maps, SSFP and FLASH-PD
      frames were acquired in 10 healthy volunteers to analyze the SSFP off-resonance
      response. Furthermore, perfusion scans preceded by both FLASH and SSFP-PD frames
      from 10 patients with no myocardial infarction were analyzed semi-quantitatively
      and quantitatively (rest n = 10 and stress n = 1). Intra-subject myocardial blood
      flow (MBF) coefficient of variation (CoV) over the whole left ventricle (LV), as
      well as intra-subject peak contrast (CE) and upslope (SLP) standard deviation
      (SD) over 6 LV sectors were investigated. RESULTS: In the 6 out of 10 cases where
      artifacts were apparent in the LV ROI of the SSFP-PD images, all three
      variability metrics were statistically significantly lower when using the FLASH
      PD frames as input for the SCIC (CoVMBF-FLASH = 0.3 +/- 0.1, CoVMBF-SSFP = 0.4 +/
      0.1, p = 0.03; SDCE-FLASH = 10 +/- 2, SDCE-SSFP = 32 +/- 7, p = 0.01; SDSLP
      FLASH = 0.02 +/- 0.01, SDSLP-SSFP = 0.06 +/- 0.02, p = 0.03). Example rest and
      stress data sets from the patient pool demonstrate that the low flip angle SSFP
      protocol can exhibit severe ghosting artifacts originating from off-resonance
      banding artifacts at the edges of the field of view that parallel imaging is not
      able to unfold. These artifacts lead to errors in the quantitative perfusion maps
      and the semi-quantitative perfusion indexes, such as false positives. It is shown
      that this can be avoided by using FLASH-PD frames as input for the SCIC.
      CONCLUSIONS: FLASH-PD images are recommended as input for SCIC of SSFP perfusion
      images instead of low flip angle SSFP-PD images.

PMID- 25827181
TI  - Literature reviews vs systematic reviews.

PMID- 25827182
TI  - Quitting activity and tobacco brand switching: findings from the ITC-4 Country
      Survey.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Among Australian smokers, to examine associations between cigarette
      brand switching, quitting activity and possible causal directions by lagging the
      relationships in different directions. METHODS: Current smokers from nine waves
      (2002 to early 2012) of the ITC-4 Country Survey Australian dataset were
      surveyed. Measures were brand switching, both brand family and product type (roll
      your-own versus factory-made cigarettes) reported in adjacent waves, interest in
      quitting, recent quit attempts, and one month sustained abstinence. RESULTS:
      Switching at one interval was unrelated to concurrent quit interest. Quit
      interest predicted switching at the following interval, but the effect
      disappeared once subsequent quit attempts were controlled for. Recent quit
      attempts more strongly predicted switching at concurrent (OR 1.34, 95%CI=1.18
      1.52, p<0.001) and subsequent intervals (OR 1.31, 95%CI=1.12-1.53, p=0.001) than
      switching predicted quit attempts, with greater asymmetry when both types of
      switching were combined. One month sustained abstinence and switching were
      unrelated in the same interval; however, after controlling for concurrent
      switching and excluding type switchers, sustained abstinence predicted lower
      chance of switching at the following interval (OR=0.66, 95%CI=0.47-0.93,
      p=0.016). CONCLUSIONS: The asymmetry suggests brand switching does not affect
      subsequent quitting. IMPLICATIONS: Brand switching does not appear to interfere
      with quitting.

PMID- 25827183
TI  - A commentary re.: Quitting activity and tobacco brand switching: findings from
      the ITC-4 Country Survey.

PMID- 25827184
TI  - Unpicking causal possibilities: authors' response to Caldwell.

PMID- 25827185
TI  - Tobacco tax and the illicit trade in tobacco products in New Zealand.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To estimate the size of illegal tobacco trade and consumption and
      assess the impact of tobacco tax on the illicit tobacco market in New Zealand
      (NZ). METHODS: Data on the import and seizure of legal and illegal tobacco in NZ
      was obtained from NZ Customs. Previous literature was used to calculate
      interception rates of illegal tobacco being smuggled and grown in NZ. Annual
      tobacco returns figures, obtained via the NZ Ministry of Health, were analysed to
      assess the market dynamics of legal tobacco products. RESULTS: This study found
      that illicit tobacco constituted 1.8-3.9% of total national tobacco consumption
      in NZ in 2013. This represents a minor increase compared to previous estimates
      from 2007-09, suggesting that tax increases enacted by the NZ Government since
      2010 have had a minimal impact on encouraging the use and procurement of illicit
      tobacco. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight a slight rise in small-scale tobacco
      smuggling through ports and mail centres. However, tobacco returns figures show
      that current tobacco tax policy has forced manufacturers to focus on the
      production of cheap legal tobacco products, directly competing with and
      undercutting the demand for illicit tobacco products. At the same time, locally
      grown illicit tobacco continues to remain a small, isolated problem and, with
      recent cuts in duty free tobacco allowance, it is expected that overall illicit
      tobacco will remain a very small proportion of total tobacco consumption in NZ.

PMID- 25827186
TI  - Sociodemographic differences in the incidence of oropharyngeal and oral cavity
      squamous cell cancers in New Zealand.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the incidence of oropharyngeal and oral cavity
      squamous cell cancers differs by subsite, age, gender, ethnicity and social
      deprivation. METHODS: Using data from the New Zealand cancer registry, a
      retrospective review was undertaken of incident cases with a histological
      diagnosis of invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in the oral cavity or
      oropharynx. RESULTS: During the period 1981-2010, rates of oropharyngeal cancers
      (OPC) and oral cavity cancers (OCC) were higher among males and increased with
      age. The rapid rise in male OPCs was observed in those aged 40-49, 50-59, 60-69
      and >=70 years old. Overall and by gender, Maori had higher OPC rates but lower
      OCC rates than European/other ethnicities, whereas the inverse was apparent among
      Pacific Peoples. An upward trend in OPC and OCC rates with increasing deprivation
      was observed both overall and by gender. CONCLUSIONS: The recent rapid rise in
      male oropharyngeal SCCs occurred primarily among those aged >=40 years old.
      IMPLICATIONS: Given oropharyngeal SCCs are more strongly associated with human
      papillomaviruses (HPV) than OCCs, OPC prevention may be enhanced through HPV
      vaccination and public health awareness. Clinically, as HPV-related OPCs have a
      better prognosis and response to radiotherapy, an improvement in survival rates
      can be predicted.

PMID- 25827187
TI  - Surveillance of injecting-related injury and diseases in people who inject drugs
      attending a targeted primary health care facility in Sydney's Kings Cross.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study examined the prevalence of injecting-related injuries and
      diseases (IRIDs) and associated risk factors among people who inject drugs (PWID)
      attending a primary health care facility in Sydney's Kings Cross. METHODS: We
      calculated prevalence of a wide range of IRIDs utilising data reported by 702
      PWID who completed a clinician-administered survey at their first visit.
      Multivariable logistic regressions identified factors independently associated
      with at least one episode of: i) cutaneous and ii) non-cutaneous IRIDs. RESULTS:
      Lifetime prevalence of cutaneous IRIDs was 23%. Forty-two per cent of PWID with a
      history of abscess attended hospital at their most recent episode. Female gender,
      lifetime receptive syringe sharing (RSS), injecting while in custody, and ever
      injecting in places other than the arm were independently associated with
      reporting at least one episode of cutaneous IRIDs. Ever injecting in sites other
      than the arm, injecting for five or more years and lifetime history of RSS were
      independently associated with at least one episode of non-cutaneous IRIDs.
      CONCLUSIONS: IRIDs are a substantial health issue for PWID. Their ongoing
      surveillance is warranted particularly in primary care settings targeting PWID to
      inform prevention and early management, thus reducing complications that may
      require hospital admission.

PMID- 25827188
TI  - Severe traumatic brain injuries from motor vehicle-related events in New
      Caledonia: epidemiology, outcome and public health consequences.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Traumatic brain injuries (TBI), which are mostly due to road traffic
      crash (RTC), are a major public health concern. This article describes the
      incidence, severity and outcome of TBI caused by RTC in New Caledonia over a five
      year period. METHODS: Data of all individuals admitted in intensive care unit
      with severe TBI (Glasgow Coma Scale score <=8 at admission) caused by RTC in New
      Caledonia from 2008 to 2012 were analysed. Causes and severity of trauma,
      demographic data, and short-term as well as last available long-term outcome of
      patients were analysed. Five types of road users were compared (car drivers, car
      passengers, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians). Outcome was defined
      according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale classification. RESULTS: A total of 109
      patients were included in the study. The median age of patients was 24 [IQR18-33]
      years with a sex ratio of 2.8 (80 men/29 women). The rate of 44 among Melanesian
      males was two times higher that among 16 European males (22/100,000 people vs
      11/100,000 people). The total survival at the Intensive Care Unit discharge
      (short-term outcome) was 84%, being the highest among passengers (88%) and the
      lowest among motorcyclists (69%). Of the patients tested for psychoactive
      substances, half tested positive. Lost to follow-up rate was 67%. CONCLUSION:
      Poor outcome occurs in patients with RTC-related TBI, with young Melanesian men
      being the most affected. Public health action should focus on this group using
      culturally appropriate messages.

PMID- 25827189
TI  - Disparities in hepatitis B vaccine funding in Australian jurisdictions: limiting
      access for priority populations.

PMID- 25827192
TI  - Retrospective analysis of community hospital red blood cell recovery procedures:
      improved utilization needed for effectiveness.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Perioperative blood recovery (PBR) is an important component of
      patient blood management. We analyzed our experience providing PBR for community
      hospitals to determine procedure types and clinical variables associated with
      efficacy and cost-effectiveness. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: PBR cases (>25,000)
      from January 2008 through December 2012 were analyzed. For each procedure type,
      the median number of returned red blood cell units (rRBCs) and ratio of cases
      with at least 1 to less than 1 rRBC unit were calculated. Clinical predictors of
      rRBC were identified by linear and logistic regression. RESULTS: The overall
      median rRBC was 0.29 units despite median estimated blood loss (EBL) of 350 mL.
      Only three of 31 common procedure types had >=1:<1 rRBC ratios near to or higher
      than 1. In nine of 31 common procedure types, at least 50% of cases had no rRBC
      return. Linear regression demonstrated significant association of rRBCs with
      increased EBL, longer operative duration, surgeon, PBR device type (autoLog vs.
      CS5), and decreasing age. EBL, autoLog use, high surgeon case volume, vascular
      procedures, and emergent versus elective procedures associated with higher odds
      of at least 1 rRBC. CONCLUSION: Discrepancy between rRBC and EBL and high
      percentages of cases with no rRBC suggests that PBR technique and case selection
      need optimization. Identification of procedure types and variables associated
      with PBR efficacy (>=1 rRBC) should improve utilization of PBR. Association of
      autoLog use with higher rRBC warrants further investigation.

PMID- 25827193
TI  - Excision of the seminal vesicles for locally advanced and recurrent rectal and
      sigmoid cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aims to define the clinical and oncological outcome of 'en
      bloc' excision of the seminal vesicles for locally advanced and recurrent tumours
      of the sigmoid and rectum. METHODS: Eight patients were identified from a
      prospective colorectal cancer database at a tertiary centre as having undergone
      excision of the seminal vesicles in continuity with a locally advanced or
      recurrent sigmoid or rectal adenocarcinoma. The presentation, operative details,
      histopathology, oncological outcome and morbidity of the procedure were assessed.
      RESULTS: Three patients were referred with recurrent tumours related to an
      anastomosis and five had a locally advanced sigmoid or rectal cancer. The need
      for resection of the seminal vesicles was determined from the preoperative pelvic
      magnetic resonance imaging scan or from an intraoperative finding of loss of the
      plane of dissection anterior to Denonvilliers' fascia. Restorative resection was
      achieved in all three patients where the primary tumour was located in the
      sigmoid or rectosigmoid, while all five patients with a rectal tumour had a
      permanent stoma. After a median follow-up of 43 months, seven patients are alive
      and disease-free and one patient has died of distant metastases. No patient has
      suffered a local recurrence. All five patients who were sexually active before
      surgery suffered from post-operative impotence. Two patients had temporary
      urinary retention with overflow. CONCLUSIONS: In carefully selected patients with
      locally advanced or recurrent rectal and sigmoid cancers that are attached to the
      seminal vesicles, en-bloc excision confers excellent local control but is
      associated with a high rate of sexual morbidity.

PMID- 25827194
TI  - Diabetes Mellitus in Patients Presenting with Cardiovascular Events: Descriptive
      Analysis from a Tertiary Heart Hospital Over a 22-year Period.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) remains a health care challenge worldwide. We
      evaluated the trends and outcome of DM in patients presenting with cardiovascular
      diseases (CVD) over a 22-year period in Qatar. METHODS AND RESULTS: A
      retrospective analysis was performed between 1991 and 2012, including 48,803
      patients admitted to the tertiary Heart Hospital (HH). The average CVD
      hospitalization rate was 37 admissions per 10,000 people, of which, 2 out of 5
      patients had DM. Diabetic males were 6 years younger than females. DM was more
      prevalent in Arabs (68 vs. 32%), but its burden showed a decreasing trend over
      time compared with South Asians. More diabetics presented with ST-elevation
      myocardial infarction (47.5 vs. 22.7%), which tended to occur 8 years earlier
      compared with heart failure. Over the study period, beta-blocker use increased
      substantially (from 10 to 71%). However, angiotensin converting enzyme
      inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ACEI/ARBs) were underutilized (from 30
      to 56%). There were 4.4 deaths per 100 CVD admissions, which is equivalent to 97
      deaths per year. Of this, 52% had DM (2.3 deaths per 100 CVD admissions). The
      overall case fatality rate (CFR) of DM was 5.6%. Diabetic Asian patients died 9
      years earlier than diabetic Arabs at the HH. Multivariate regression analysis
      revealed that predictors of mortality in DM patients in the HH included lack of
      beta-blocker use (OR 4.35; 95% CI: 0.20 - 0.27), lack of ACEI/ARBs use (OR 3.58;
      95% CI: 0.23 - 0.32), myocardial infarction (OR 3.20; 95% CI: 2.77 - 3.68), lack
      of aspirin use (OR 2.56; 95% CI: 0.34 - 0.45), congestive heart failure (OR 1.75;
      95% CI: 1.50 - 2.04) and age (OR 1.03; 95% CI: 1.02 - 1.04) (P=0.001 for all).
      CONCLUSION: DM remains a healthcare challenge in Qatar. Although the admission
      rate of diabetic patients is increasing at the HH, the mortality rate is
      decreasing. The use of evidence-based medication is still far from the guideline
      recommendation; however, it has substantially improved. The lack of evidence
      based CVD medications in diabetic patients was associated with an increased
      mortality up to 4-fold in the HH. Moreover, there is a need to enhance public
      awareness regarding CVD risk factors and DM through education programs for the
      adoption of healthier lifestyles and nutrition. Great efforts are needed for more
      efficient primary and secondary prevention strategies in diabetic patients.

PMID- 25827195
TI  - Is Targeting microRNAs the Philosopher's Stone for Vascular Disease?
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding regulatory RNAs that control gene
      expression. They are involved in the pathogenesis of several diseases, including
      vascular and cardiac diseases. Their involvement is related to alterations of
      lipid metabolism, endothelial dysfunction, vascular smooth muscle cell phenotype,
      atherosclerosis-related low-grade inflammation of the arteries, cardiac
      hypertrophy or remodelling and heart failure. The manipulation of miRs may
      eventually be used to prevent or treat vascular or cardiac disease. Available
      drugs (some statins and renin-angiotensin-system inhibitors, alone or in
      combination) have beneficial off-target effects mediated through miRs; thus,
      these drugs may have advantages over other regimens. Inhibition of overexpression
      of "unfavourable" miRs can be potentially accomplished by silencing them with
      antisense oligonucleotides, masking, sponges, erasers or decoys. In contrast,
      down-regulation of "protective" miRs can be tackled by the administration of miR
      mimics. These approaches may represent a new therapeutic approach to vascular
      disease; miR manipulation research started recently and is developing rapidly.
      There is still a long way to go before clinical implementation; at present only
      one study is in phase II. Thus, the therapeutic manipulation of miRs is not yet
      the philosopher stone for the prevention or treatment of vascular or cardiac
      diseases. More research is needed. 

PMID- 25827196
TI  - Genomic Research in Postmenopausal Hypertension.

PMID- 25827197
TI  - Editorial Comment from Dr Oh-oka to Treatment satisfaction and clinically
      meaningful symptom improvement in men with lower urinary tract symptoms and
      prostatic enlargement secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia: Secondary
      results from a 6-month, randomized, double-blind study comparing finasteride plus
      tadalafil with finasteride plus placebo.

PMID- 25827198
TI  - Intrabronchial Microdialysis: Effects of Probe Localization on Tissue Trauma and
      Drug Penetration into the Pulmonary Epithelial Lining Fluid.
AB  - Recent intrabronchial microdialysis data indicate that the respiratory epithelium
      is highly permeable to drugs. Of concern is whether intrabronchial microdialysis
      disrupts the integrity of the respiratory epithelium and thereby alters drug
      penetration into the pulmonary epithelial lining fluid (PELF). The objective of
      this study was to investigate the effect of intrabronchial microdialysis on the
      integrity of the bronchial epithelium. Microdialysis sampling in PELF in proximal
      (n = 4) and distal bronchi (n = 4) was performed after intravenous inulin and
      florfenicol administration in anaesthetized pigs. Inulin was used as a marker
      molecule of permeability of the epithelium, and florfenicol was used as test
      drug. Bronchial tissue was examined by histopathology (distal and proximal
      bronchi) and gene expression analysis (RT-qPCR, proximal bronchi) at the
      termination of the experiment (6.5 hr). The microdialysis probe caused overt
      tissue trauma in distal bronchi, whereas no histopathological lesions were
      observed in proximal bronchi. A moderate up-regulation of the pro-inflammatory
      cytokines IL1B, IL6 and acute-phase reactant serum amyloid A was seen in proximal
      bronchi surrounding the microdialysis probes suggesting initiation of an
      inflammatory response. The observed up-regulation is considered to have limited
      impact on drug penetration during short-term studies. Inulin penetrated the
      respiratory epithelium in both proximal and distal bronchi without any
      correlation to histopathological lesions. Likewise, florfenicol penetration into
      PELF was unaffected by bronchial histopathology. However, this independency of
      pathology on drug penetration may not be valid for other antibiotics. We conclude
      that short-term microdialysis drug quantification can be performed in proximal
      bronchi without disruption of tissue integrity. 

PMID- 25827199
TI  - Evaluation of the filling ability of artificial lateral canals using calcium
      silicate-based and epoxy resin-based endodontic sealers and two gutta-percha
      filling techniques.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the ability of a calcium silicate-based sealer (iRoot SP) and an
      epoxy resin-based sealer (Topseal) using two gutta-percha filling techniques to
      fill artificial lateral canals (ALCs). METHODOLOGY: Seventy single-rooted human
      teeth were selected. Ten of these were used to obtain pilot data. Three ALCs were
      produced on mesial and distal surfaces of each root, one in each third, using
      size 10 engine reamers. The roots were randomly assigned to four experimental
      groups according to the filling technique and sealer used: 1, cold gutta-percha
      (single-point technique) with iRoot SP (SP-iR); 2, cold gutta-percha (single
      point technique) with Topseal (SP-T); 3, continuous wave of condensation
      technique with iRoot SP (CWC-iR); and 4, continuous wave of condensation
      technique with Topseal (CWC-T). Digital periapical radiographs were taken. After
      the sealer had set, the roots were demineralized, cleared in methyl-salicylate
      and examined under a stereomicroscope. The depth of penetration of sealer and/or
      gutta-percha into the ALC was scored using a 5-point system, conducting an
      analysis on four surfaces. Filling scores of 0-1 were considered not acceptable,
      whilst scores of 2-4 were considered acceptable. Pearson's chi-square test was
      used to compare the experimental groups (P < 0.05). RESULTS: CWC-T was associated
      with the highest acceptable filling (57.8%), followed by CWC-iR (53.3%), SP-T
      (48.9%) and SP-iR (36.7%). Only when SP-iR was compared to the other groups, was
      the difference significant (P < 0.05). The apical third was associated with the
      lowest acceptable filling (37.5%). It was followed, in ascending order, by the
      middle (51.6%) and coronal thirds (58.3%). These differences were significant
      only when the apical thirds were compared to the other root thirds (P < 0.05).
      CONCLUSION: The calcium silicate-based sealer with continuous wave of
      condensation was more effective in artificial filling lateral canals than the
      single-point technique. The epoxy resin-based sealer with both filling techniques
      was effective in artificial filling lateral canals.

PMID- 25827200
TI  - Treatment of face and scalp solar (actinic) keratosis with daylight-mediated
      photodynamic therapy is possible throughout the year in Australia: Evidence from
      a clinical and meteorological study.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Solar (actinic) keratosis (AK) is an emergent concern
      worldwide and is associated with an increased risk of development of non-melanoma
      skin cancer, especially squamous cell carcinoma. Daylight-mediated photodynamic
      therapy (DL-PDT) using methyl aminolaevulinate cream has proved to be an
      effective, nearly painless, and more convenient alternative to conventional PDT
      for the treatment of AK. In a phase III, randomised, controlled trial performed
      in Australia, the mean irradiance (light intensity) received by patients during
      DL-PDT treatment, assessed via a spectroradiometer, was 305 W/m(2) (min. 40 to
      max. 585 W/m(2) ) with similar efficacy irrespective of intensity or dose. The
      objective of the present meteorological study was to assess the suitability of
      natural daylight to perform DL-PDT for the treatment of face and scalp AK during
      different periods of the year and different geographical locations and latitudes
      across Australia. METHODS: To determine daylight irradiance during a complete
      year in eight different geographical locations throughout Australia, we used
      meteorological software (Meteonorm, Meteotest, Bern, Switzerland), and available
      solar radiation and weather data from 1986-2005. RESULTS: The average daily
      irradiance remained within the levels (40-585 W/m(2) ) measured during the
      clinical DL-PDT study in Australia, throughout the year and in all geographical
      locations investigated (yearly average from Darwin 548 W/m(2) to Hobart 366
      W/m(2) ). CONCLUSIONS: DL-PDT for the treatment of face and scalp AK in Australia
      can be performed effectively throughout the entire year as long as weather
      conditions permit daylight exposure and allow participants to remain under direct
      light for 2 h.

PMID- 25827201
TI  - Lead-free ZnSnO3/MWCNTs-based self-poled flexible hybrid nanogenerator for
      piezoelectric power generation.
AB  - A high-performance flexible piezoelectric hybrid nanogenerator (HNG) based on
      lead-free perovskite zinc stannate (ZnSnO3) nanocubes and polydimethylsiloxane
      (PDMS) composite with multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as supplement filling
      material is demonstrated. Even without any electrical poling treatment, the HNG
      possesses an open-circuit voltage of 40 V and a short-circuit current of 0.4 MUA,
      respectively, under repeated human finger impact. It has been demonstrated that
      the output volume power density of 10.8 MUW cm(-3) from a HNG can drive several
      colour light emitting diodes (LEDs) and a charge capacitor that powers up a
      calculator, indicating an effective means of energy harvesting power source with
      high energy conversion efficiency (~1.17%) for portable electronic devices. 

PMID- 25827202
TI  - Spatial soil heterogeneity has a greater effect on symbiotic arbuscular
      mycorrhizal fungal communities and plant growth than genetic modification with
      Bacillus thuringiensis toxin genes.
AB  - Maize, genetically modified with the insect toxin genes of Bacillus thuringiensis
      (Bt), is widely cultivated, yet its impacts on soil organisms are poorly
      understood. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form symbiotic associations with
      plant roots and may be uniquely sensitive to genetic changes within a plant host.
      In this field study, the effects of nine different lines of Bt maize and their
      corresponding non-Bt parental isolines were evaluated on AMF colonization and
      community diversity in plant roots. Plants were harvested 60 days after sowing,
      and data were collected on plant growth and per cent AMF colonization of roots.
      AMF community composition in roots was assessed using 454 pyrosequencing of the
      28S rRNA genes, and spatial variation in mycorrhizal communities within
      replicated experimental field plots was examined. Growth responses, per cent AMF
      colonization of roots and AMF community diversity in roots did not differ between
      Bt and non-Bt maize, but root and shoot biomass and per cent colonization by
      arbuscules varied by maize cultivar. Plot identity had the most significant
      effect on plant growth, AMF colonization and AMF community composition in roots,
      indicating spatial heterogeneity in the field. Mycorrhizal fungal communities in
      maize roots were autocorrelated within approximately 1 m, but at greater
      distances, AMF community composition of roots differed between plants. Our
      findings indicate that spatial variation and heterogeneity in the field has a
      greater effect on the structure of AMF communities than host plant cultivar or
      modification by Bt toxin genes.

PMID- 25827203
TI  - Value of the "spine sign" on lateral chest views.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the performance of the spine sign in detecting lower
      chest abnormalities in the lateral view. METHODS: This retrospective study
      included 200 patients who had undergone lateral view and CT scans of the chest
      within 1 week. Two radiologists independently read the lateral views, and a third
      radiologist, blinded to the aim of the study, read the scans. The spine sign was
      considered as positive if the progressive increase in lucency of the vertebral
      bodies was altered. Interreader agreement was calculated through k-statistics.
      Sensitivity, specificity, positive- and negative-predictive values, and accuracy
      were calculated compared with CT. RESULTS: Agreements between readers ranged from
      0.12 to 0.68. Positive spine sign could appear in two ways: absent or inversed
      progressive increase in lucency of the vertebral bodies. Sensitivity,
      specificity, positive- and negative-predictive values, and accuracy were,
      respectively, 60% and 70%; 64% and 84%; 91% and 97%; 19% and 29%; and 61% and 72%
      for each reader (p-value ranging from 0.026 to 0.196). Abnormalities most
      frequently associated with positive spine sign were plate-like atelectasis,
      ground-glass opacity, pleural effusion and consolidation. CONCLUSION: The spine
      sign can present as an absent or inversed progressive increase in lucency of the
      vertebral bodies. It has a moderate sensitivity but a good positive-predictive
      value, so it can be useful especially when it appears as inversed progressive
      increase in lucency of the vertebral bodies to detect various abnormalities
      usually identifiable on chest radiographs. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: On lateral
      chest radiographs, the spine sign is useful to detect lower chest abnormalities
      and is related to various underlying abnormalities and is, per se, non-specific.

PMID- 25827204
TI  - Potential of combining iterative reconstruction with noise efficient detector
      design: aggressive dose reduction in head CT.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: With further increase of CT numbers and their dominant contribution to
      medical exposure, there is a recent quest for more effective dose control. While
      reintroduction of iterative reconstruction (IR) has proved its potential in many
      applications, a novel focus is placed on more noise efficient detectors. Our
      purpose was to assess the potential of IR in combination with an integrated
      circuit detector (ICD) for aggressive dose reduction in head CT. METHODS: Non
      contrast low-dose head CT [190 mAs; weighted volume CT dose index (CTDIvol), 33.2
      mGy] was performed in 50 consecutive patients, using a new noise efficient
      detector and IR. Images were assessed in terms of quantitative and qualitative
      image quality and compared with standard dose acquisitions (320 mAs; CTDIvol,
      59.7 mGy) using a conventional detector and filtered back projection. RESULTS: By
      combining ICD and IR in low-dose examinations, the signal to noise was improved
      by about 13% above the baseline level in the standard-dose control group. Both,
      contrast-to-noise ratio (2.02 +/- 0.6 vs 1.88 +/- 0.4; p = 0.18) and objective
      measurements of image sharpness (695 +/- 84 vs 705 +/- 151 change in Hounsfield
      units per pixel; p = 0.79) were fully preserved in the low-dose group. Likewise,
      there was no significant difference in the grading of several subjective image
      quality parameters when both noise-reducing strategies were used in low-dose
      examinations. CONCLUSION: Combination of noise efficient detector with IR allows
      for meaningful dose reduction in head CT without compromise of standard image
      quality. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Our study demonstrates the feasibility of almost
      50% dose reduction in head CT dose (1.1 mSv per scan) through combination of
      novel dose-reducing strategies.

PMID- 25827205
TI  - CT and MRI findings of radiation-induced external auditory canal carcinoma in
      patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma after radiotherapy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To summarize the radiological and clinical features of radiation
      induced external auditory canal carcinomas (RIEACCs) in patients with
      nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs) after radiation therapy. METHODS: CT, MRI and
      clinical features in 16 patients with histologically proven RIEACCs were
      retrospectively reviewed. There were 2 females and 14 males, with a median age of
      52.5 years at the time of diagnosis of RIEACC. Imaging parameters including
      lesion extent, size, margin, shape, bone destruction, adjacent structure
      invasion, density/signal intensity, and pattern and degree of enhancement were
      assessed. Clinical features including clinical staging, histological type,
      treatment and radiation dose (RD) of primary NPC as well as the histological
      type, staging of radiation-induced tumour and the latent period between NPC and
      RIT were recorded. RESULTS: All patients had a single RIEACC. The lesions had a
      size of 3.5 +/- 1.4 cm and were localized (n = 7) or extensive (n = 9). Most of
      the lesions were partially or ill defined with an irregular shape and had an
      intermediate density/signal pattern and moderate homogeneous enhancement. The
      latent period of RIEACCs ranged from 10 to 20 years in nine patients with a RD of
      68-70 Gy; from 2 to 10 years in five patients with a RD of 68-74 Gy; and more
      than 20 years in two patients with a RD of 70 or 72 Gy. CONCLUSION: An external
      auditory canal (EAC) mass with homogeneous, intermediate CT density or signal
      intensity in patients with NPC after radiotherapy is highly suggestive of RIEACC,
      which should be included in the routine surveillance for patients with NPC after
      radiotherapy. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: RIEACCs could occur as short as 2 years
      after radiotherapy in patients with NPC and have distinct features from otitis
      media and sarcomas. This EAC malignancy should be included in routine
      surveillance for patients with NPC after radiotherapy.

PMID- 25827206
TI  - Strain elastography features of epidermoid tumours in superficial soft tissue:
      differences from other benign soft-tissue tumours and malignant tumours.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We evaluated ultrasonographic features of superficial epidermoid
      tumour with a focus on strain elastography (SE) features that will help in the
      differential diagnosis of epidermoid tumour from other benign and malignant soft
      tissue tumours. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated ultrasonographic and SE
      data of 103 surgically confirmed superficial soft-tissue tumours and tumour-like
      lesions: 29 cases of epidermoid tumour, 46 cases of other benign tumours and 28
      cases of malignant tumour. SE and B-mode imaging were performed at the same time.
      SE characteristics were assigned into four grades (1-4) according to their
      elasticity. Interobserver agreement for the four SE scores between the two
      radiologists was analysed using kappa statistics. We classified each SE finding
      as a hard lesion (SE Score 3-4) or soft lesion (SE Score 1-2) and compared these
      findings using the chi(2) test to identify whether a significant difference in
      mass hardness existed among epidermoid tumour, other benign tumour and malignant
      tumour. RESULTS: Overall interobserver agreement according to the four SE scores
      was moderate (kappa = 0.540), and overall agreement for the hardness [soft (Score
      1-2) or hard (Score 3-4)] was almost perfect (kappa = 0.825). Malignant tumours
      showed higher SE scores (3-4, hard nature) than did epidermoid tumour or other
      benign soft-tissue tumours. There were no differences in SE score between
      epidermoid tumour and other benign tumours. CONCLUSION: Superficial epidermoid
      tumour exhibits a softer nature than does malignant tumour but does not have a
      different SE pattern from other benign tumours. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: SE
      features of epidermoid tumour might be helpful in differentiating from other
      benign and malignant tumours.

PMID- 25827207
TI  - Using a commercial software package to support treatment planning peer review
      activities in small radiotherapy departments.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To implement peer review of radiotherapy treatment planning processes
      between two geographically separated hospitals with different treatment planning
      systems. METHODS: The feasibility of using Microsoft((r)) Lync 2013TM, available
      in one of the hospitals, was investigated to determine its utility in sharing
      radiotherapy treatment planning information between hospitals with small numbers
      of clinical oncologists available to participate in peer review of treatment
      plans. RESULTS: Microsoft Lync 2013 has been successfully used to implement
      remote, real-time review of all aspects of treatment planning, including
      contours, beam arrangements, isodose distributions and dose-volume histograms.
      CONCLUSION: A reliable system for remote, real-time peer review of radiotherapy
      treatment plans has been implemented between two geographically distant hospitals
      using Microsoft Lync 2013. Interest in use of the system is developing
      regionally. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This work appears to be the first to describe
      the use of Microsoft Lync 2013 in this area and demonstrates that smaller
      radiotherapy centres separated by distance can share clinical and scientific
      resources to participate in improved peer review processes, in line with recent
      UK national guidance.

PMID- 25827208
TI  - Chemoradiation for gastric cancer: controversies, updates and novel techniques.
AB  - The INT0116 trial established the role of adjuvant chemoradiation (CRT) in the
      multidisciplinary approach to the management of locally advanced gastric cancer.
      However, whether adjuvant CRT is indispensable for patients undergoing D2
      dissection remains undefined. The adjuvant chemoradiation therapy in stomach
      cancer (ARTIST) trial, which was designed to compare adjuvant chemotherapy to
      CRT, failed to demonstrate differences in disease-free and overall survival in
      the whole study group; however, subgroup analysis indicated that patients with
      lymph node metastasis may benefit from additional radiation. A follow-up ARTIST
      II trial is currently under way. The efficacy of adjuvant CRT remains
      controversial because of variation among studies in the inclusion criteria and
      treatment delivery methods; however, the identification of patients who would
      benefit from CRT is critical. Advanced radiotherapy techniques such as intensity
      modulated radiotherapy protect normal tissues via motion management and decreased
      radiation-induced toxicity and contribute to plan optimization. Further studies
      integrating clinical and molecular factors as well as neoadjuvant CRT are
      warranted. 

PMID- 25827210
TI  - Perforation of gastrointestinal tract by poorly conspicuous ingested foreign
      bodies: radiological diagnosis.
AB  - Perforation of gastrointestinal (GI) tract by ingested bone fragments, toothpicks
      and dentures is rare but remains an important life-threatening condition, and the
      outcomes are poorer when the diagnosis is delayed. Invariably, clinical and
      radiographic diagnosis is difficult as most patients will have no recollection of
      ingesting a foreign body, whereas these subtle objects are often not visible on
      radiographs. In search for the diagnosis, CT is the modality of choice, but
      ultrasound imaging may be first requested in patients presenting with symptoms of
      acute appendicitis, cholecystitis, pyelonephritis or pelvic inflammatory disease
      when an ingested foreign body is not considered. Although ultrasound has limited
      value in depicting a foreign body, it can frequently uncover secondary signs of
      perforation. However, the rarity of this condition combined with non-specific
      clinical presentation and the propensity of these small perforating objects to be
      subtle makes establishing the correct diagnosis by the radiologist challenging.
      Therefore, understanding of the appearances of GI perforation seen on CT images
      or general abdominal ultrasound will aid the radiologist in the diagnosis of this
      important yet often unsuspected condition. This will lead to earlier diagnosis
      and surgical management. In this article, we illustrate the spectrum of CT,
      radiographic and ultrasound imaging features seen in GI perforation caused by
      swallowed bone fragments, toothpicks, cocktail sticks and dentures. 

PMID- 25827209
TI  - Functional imaging for radiotherapy treatment planning: current status and future
      directions-a review.
AB  - In recent years, radiotherapy (RT) has been subject to a number of technological
      innovations. Today, RT is extremely flexible, allowing irradiation of tumours
      with high doses, whilst also sparing normal tissues from doses. To make use of
      these additional degrees of freedom, integration of functional image information
      may play a key role (i) for better staging and tumour detection, (ii) for more
      accurate RT target volume delineation, (iii) to assess functional information
      about biological characteristics and individual radiation resistance and (iv) to
      apply personalized dose prescriptions. In this article, we discuss the current
      status and future directions of different clinically available functional imaging
      modalities; CT, MRI, positron emission tomography (PET) as well as the hybrid
      imaging techniques PET/CT and PET/MRI and their potential for individualized RT. 

PMID- 25827211
TI  - Isolated MYC cytogenetic abnormalities in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma do not
      predict an adverse clinical outcome.
AB  - In this study, we investigated the significance of MYC, BCL2 and BCL6 gene
      abnormalities in a cohort of 205 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients
      studied by conventional and/or fluorescence in situ hybridization cytogenetic
      analysis. Combining these methods, 172 cases (84%) were classified as MYC-, 17
      (8%) were MYC+/BCL2-/BCL6-, and 16 (8%) were double/triple-hit lymphomas (i.e.
      MYC+/BCL2+, MYC+/BCL6+, or MYC+/BCL2+/BCL6+). We found a significant difference
      in event-free survival (EFS) among the three groups (p = 0.02), with the
      double/triple-hit group having the worst EFS. Patients who were MYC+, but BCL2-
      and BCL6-, had the best EFS. We conclude that patients with MYC+ DLBCL, but
      without BCL2 or BCL6 abnormalities, do not have a worse outcome when compared to
      those who are MYC-. However, patients with double/triple-hit DLBCL have a very
      poor outcome and should be treated with aggressive or novel therapies. 

PMID- 25827212
TI  - Extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT)
      with concurrent high grade component at diagnosis: clinico-pathologic features
      and treatment strategy.

PMID- 25827213
TI  - Invasive Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a liver transplant patient: case report and
      review of infection in transplant recipients.
AB  - Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an ascosporogenous yeast commonly used in the
      production of food, is an emerging infection in immunocompromised patients. We
      report the case of a 60-year-old man whose orthotopic liver transplant was
      complicated by S. cerevisiae fungemia and peritoneal abscess, successfully
      treated with caspofungin and drainage. We also review the literature of invasive
      saccharomycoses in recipients of hematologic and solid organ transplants.

PMID- 25827214
TI  - Enhanced Indirect Photochemical Transformation of Histidine and Histamine through
      Association with Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter.
AB  - Photochemical transformations greatly affect the stability and fate of amino
      acids (AAs) in sunlit aquatic ecosystems. Whereas the direct phototransformation
      of dissolved AAs is well investigated, their indirect photolysis in the presence
      of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) is poorly understood. In aquatic
      systems, CDOM may act both as sorbent for AAs and as photosensitizer, creating
      microenvironments with high concentrations of photochemically produced reactive
      intermediates, such as singlet oxygen (1O2). This study provides a systematic
      investigation of the indirect photochemical transformation of histidine (His) and
      histamine by 1O2 in solutions containing CDOM as a function of solution pH. Both
      His and histamine showed pH-dependent enhanced phototransformation in the CDOM
      systems as compared to systems in which model, low-molecular-weight 1O2
      sensitizers were used. Enhanced reactivity resulted from sorption of His and
      histamine to CDOM and thus exposure to elevated 1O2 concentrations in the CDOM
      microenvironment. The extent of reactivity enhancement depended on solution pH
      via its effects on the protonation state of His, histamine, and CDOM. Sorption
      enhanced reactivity was independently supported by depressed rate enhancements in
      the presence of a cosorbate that competitively displaced His and histamine from
      CDOM. Incorporating sorption and photochemical transformation processes into a
      reaction rate prediction model improved the description of the abiotic
      photochemical transformation rates of His in the presence of CDOM.

PMID- 25827215
TI  - New insights into hydrosilylation of unsaturated carbon-heteroatom (C?O, C?N)
      bonds by rhenium(V)-dioxo complexes.
AB  - The hydrosilylation of unsaturated carbon-heteroatom (C?O, C?N) bonds catalyzed
      by high-valent rhenium(V)-dioxo complex ReO2I(PPh3)2 (1) were studied
      computationally to determine the underlying mechanism. Our calculations revealed
      that the ionic outer-sphere pathway in which the organic substrate attacks the Si
      center in an eta(1)-silane rhenium adduct to prompt the heterolytic cleavage of
      the Si-H bond is the most energetically favorable process for rhenium(V)-dioxo
      complex 1 catalyzed hydrosilylation of imines. The activation energy of the
      turnover-limiting step was calculated to be 22.8 kcal/mol with phenylmethanimine.
      This value is energetically more favorable than the [2 + 2] addition pathway by
      as much as 10.0 kcal/mol. Moreover, the ionic outer-sphere pathway competes with
      the [2 + 2] addition mechanism for rhenium(V)-dioxo complex 1 catalyzing the
      hydrosilylation of carbonyl compounds. Furthermore, the electron-donating group
      on the organic substrates would induce a better activity favoring the ionic outer
      sphere mechanistic pathway. These findings highlight the unique features of high
      valent transition-metal complexes as Lewis acids in activating the Si-H bond and
      catalyzing the reduction reactions. 

PMID- 25827216
TI  - Thoracolumbar injury classification and severity score.

PMID- 25827217
TI  - Associations between major fatty acids in plant oils fed to dairy goats and C18
      isomers in milk fat.
AB  - Relationships between fatty acids (FAs) in plant oils included in goat diets and
      milk fat C18 isomers were determined by Principal Factor Analysis (PFA). The
      three first principal factors (PF1, PF2 and PF3) accounted for 64.5% of the total
      variation in milk FAs contents. Fatty acids with a double bond at carbons 13, 14,
      15 or 16 had high (>0.6) and positive loadings for PF1, trans-4 to trans-8 C18:1
      for PF2, whereas trans-10 C18:1, trans-11 C18:1 and cis-9 trans-11 C18:2 showed
      high and positive loadings for PF3. Pearson's correlations supported that PF1,
      PF2 and PF3 were related to alpha-linolenic, oleic and linoleic acid intakes,
      respectively. Our results show that the quantitatively main FAs in plant lipids
      supplemented to dairy ruminants are often the main cause of the observed changes
      in milk C18 isomer contents. However, sometimes the observed changes are caused,
      or at least are influenced, by other FAs present in lower quantities in the plant
      lipids. Thus, using mixtures of plant oils with differently unsaturated main FAs
      could be a way of tailoring milk fat composition to a pre-designed pattern.

PMID- 25827218
TI  - Biodiversity of Lactobacillus helveticus bacteriophages isolated from cheese whey
      starters.
AB  - Twenty-one Lactobacillus helveticus bacteriophages, 18 isolated from different
      cheese whey starters and three from CNRZ collection, were phenotypically and
      genetically characterised. A biodiversity between phages was evidenced both by
      host range and molecular (RAPD-PCR) typing. A more detailed characterisation of
      six phages showed similar structural protein profiles and a relevant genetic
      biodiversity, as shown by restriction enzyme analysis of total DNA. Latent
      period, burst time and burst size data evidenced that phages were active and
      virulent. Overall, data highlighted the biodiversity of Lb. helveticus phages
      isolated from cheese whey starters, which were confirmed to be one of the most
      common phage contamination source in dairy factories. More research is required
      to further unravel the ecological role of Lb. helveticus phages and to evaluate
      their impact on the dairy fermentation processes where whey starter cultures are
      used. 

PMID- 25827219
TI  - Postprandial glucagon-like peptide-1 secretion is increased during the
      progression of glucose intolerance and obesity in high-fat/high-sucrose diet-fed
      rats.
AB  - Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is secreted by distal enteroendocrine cells in
      response to luminal nutrients, and exerts insulinotropic and anorexigenic
      effects. Although GLP-1 secretory responses under established obese or diabetic
      conditions have been studied, it has not been investigated whether or how
      postprandial GLP-1 responses were affected during the progression of diet-induced
      obesity. In the present study, a meal tolerance test was performed every week in
      rats fed a high-fat and high-sucrose (HF/HS) diet to evaluate postprandial
      glycaemic, insulin and GLP-1 responses. In addition, gastric emptying was
      assessed by the acetaminophen method. After 8 weeks of HF/HS treatment, portal
      vein and intestinal mucosa were collected to examine GLP-1 production.
      Postprandial glucose in response to normal meal ingestion was increased in the
      HF/HS group within 2 weeks, and its elevation gradually returned close to that of
      the control group until day 50. Slower postprandial gastric emptying was observed
      in the HF/HS group on days 6, 13 and 34. Postprandial GLP-1 and insulin responses
      were increased in the HF/HS group at 7 weeks. Higher portal GLP-1 and insulin
      levels were observed in the HF/HS group, but mucosal gut hormone mRNA levels were
      unchanged. These results revealed that the postprandial GLP-1 response to meal
      ingestion is enhanced during the progression of diet-induced glucose intolerance
      and obesity in rats. The boosted postprandial GLP-1 secretion by chronic HF/HS
      diet treatment suggests increased sensitivity to luminal nutrients in the gut,
      and this may slow the establishment of glucose intolerance and obesity. 

PMID- 25827220
TI  - The association between cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular magnetic resonance
      measures of fibrosis: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Risk scores for cardiovascular disease (CVD) are in common use to
      integrate multiple cardiovascular risk factors in order to identify individuals
      at greatest risk for disease. The purpose of this study was to determine if
      individuals at greater cardiovascular risk have T1 mapping indices by
      cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) indicative of greater myocardial
      fibrosis. METHODS: CVD risk scores for 1208 subjects (men, 50.8%) ages 55-94
      years old were evaluated in the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) at
      six centers. T1 times were determined at 1.5Tesla before and after gadolinium
      administration (0.15 mmol/kg) using a modified Look-Locker pulse sequence. The
      relationship between CMR measures (native T1, 12 and 25 minute post-gadolinium
      T1, partition coefficient and extracellular volume fraction) and 14 established
      different cardiovascular risk scores were determined using regression analysis.
      Bootstrapping analysis with analysis of variance was used to compare different
      CMR measures. CVD risk scores were significantly different for men and women (p <
      0.001). RESULTS: 25 minute post gadolinium T1 time showed more statistically
      significant associations with risk scores (10/14 scores, 71%) compared to other
      CMR indices (e.g. native T1 (7/14 scores, 50%) and partition coefficient (7/14,
      50%) in men. Risk scores, particularly the new 2013 AHA/ASCVD risk score, did not
      correlate with any CMR fibrosis index. CONCLUSIONS: Men with greater CVD risk had
      greater CMR indices of myocardial fibrosis. T1 times at greater delay time (25
      minutes) showed better agreement with commonly used risk score indices compared
      to ECV and native T1 time. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: http://www.mesa
      nhlbi.org/, NCT00005487.

PMID- 25827221
TI  - Low penetrance of paraganglioma and pheochromocytoma in an extended kindred with
      a germline SDHB exon 3 deletion.
AB  - In the Netherlands, the majority of hereditary paragangliomas (PGL) is caused by
      SDHD, SDHB and SDHAF2 mutations. Founder mutations in SDHD are particularly
      prevalent, but several SDHB founder mutations have also been described. Here, we
      describe an extended PGL family with a Dutch founder mutation in SDHB, c.201
      4429_287-933del. The proband presented with apparently sporadic head and neck
      paraganglioma at advanced age. Subsequently, evaluation of the family identified
      several unaffected mutation carriers, asymptomatic and symptomatic PGL patients,
      and patients presenting with early-onset malignant pheochromocytoma. The
      calculated penetrance of the SDHB mutation in this kindred is lower than the risk
      suggested for SDHB mutations in the literature. This may represent a
      characteristic of this particular SDHB mutation, but may also be a reflection of
      the inclusion of relatively large numbers of asymptomatic mutation carriers in
      this family and adequate statistical correction for ascertainment bias. The low
      penetrance of SDHB mutations may obscure the hereditary nature of SDHB-linked
      disease and is important in the counseling of SDHB-linked patients. Risk
      estimates should preferably be based on the specific mutation involved. 

PMID- 25827222
TI  - Urinary screening and urinary abnormalities in 3-year-old children in Japan.
AB  - In Japan, urinary screening for preschool children has been obligatory since
      1961. The system was reconsidered and has been under review since 2012, because
      many problems in the system had been identified, and its usefulness was
      uncertain. In the process, the following were analyzed: (i) frequency of urinary
      abnormalities identified on screening; (ii) diseases identified from urinary
      abnormalities; (iii) clinical course of children found to have urinary
      abnormalities; and (iv) screening for asymptomatic urinary tract infection (UTI)
      as a way of screening for congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract. A
      computerized literature search was conducted, and study reports issued by the
      Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare study group, and data of Akita City and
      Chiba City were reviewed. The prevalence of abnormal results at the first
      urinalysis was high, but at the second urinalysis the prevalence decreased in the
      range 1/6-1/20. The prevalence of tentative diagnosis at the third urinalysis was
      similar to the school urinary screening results. Serious illness was not found in
      children who had hematuria alone. In contrast, diseases requiring immediate
      attention were found in children with proteinuria, although the prevalence of
      proteinuria was not high. The dipstick method for leukocyturia was inefficient.
      The importance of two consecutive urinalyses before detailed examination, the
      lack of usefulness of screening for hematuria in 3-year-old children, and the
      importance of proteinuria were confirmed. Screening for asymptomatic UTI using
      urinary leukocytes was very inefficient. 

PMID- 25827223
TI  - Systematic review of electronic remote blood issue.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The implementation of electronic remote blood issue
      (ERBI) may provide safety and efficiency gains for transfusion medicine. This
      systematic review's objective was to assess whether ERBI affects incidents of
      adverse events, time taken for blood issue and delivery, and cross-match to
      transfusion ratios, among other measures of safety and efficiency. The review
      also sought to uncover barriers and facilitators of ERBI implementation.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched four aggregated electronic databases (Medline,
      EMBASE, CINAHL and BIOSIS) up to 19 July 2012, with an updated search performed
      on 5 March 2014 for studies on ERBI. No specific study design criteria were used
      in the initial inclusion due to the low number of studies on ERBI. RESULTS: A
      total of 4758 citations were initially identified; after 1844 duplicates were
      removed, 2612 citations were excluded on the basis of the abstract. Two reviewers
      evaluated a total of 302 full-text articles independently; of these, seven
      citations were eligible for inclusion. An updated search and the authors' own
      collections confirmed an additional five citations, totalling 13 citations and
      six studies within these. CONCLUSION: There is insufficient evidence to
      demonstrate whether ERBI significantly impacts safety and efficiency of blood
      transfusion and delivery processes. Rigorously designed studies to assess safety
      and efficiency outcomes are required using proxy or corollary measures. A number
      of positive results were reported, however, and most studies included suggestions
      for facilitating ERBI implementation.

PMID- 25827224
TI  - Variable presentation of anaplastic large-cell lymphoma in patients with breast
      implants.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) has recently been reported in
      women with breast implants. The incidence of breast implant-related ALCL is
      extremely rare and most surgeons would not expect to see this disease in their
      career. However, the senior author has had three women present to his practice
      with ALCL over a 2-year period. METHODS: The three patients and their
      presentation were reviewed to establish the presenting complaint in each case of
      subsequently diagnosed ALCL. Literature was reviewed to establish appropriate
      treatment protocols for any subsequent patients. RESULTS: The average time
      between first implant placement and presentation with breast implant-associated
      ALCL was 13.3 years (range: 10-16 years) and age at presentation was 49 years
      (range: 45-53 years). Each presentation was somewhat different, being a palpable
      mass, a painless seroma and a painful seroma. Both patients with seroma underwent
      ultrasound-guided aspiration of fluid which confirmed ALCL. All patients
      underwent implant removal and complete capsulectomy. The patient with a mass at
      presentation initially declined adjuvant treatment but subsequently developed an
      ALCL-associated seroma and was treated with surgery and post-operative
      chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: Patients with breast implant-associated ALCL can
      present with different clinical signs and symptoms. Late seroma is a relatively
      common presentation of breast implant-associated ALCL. While firm guidelines for
      the management of breast implant-related ALCL are lacking, we suggest that any
      late seroma in the absence of infection should be managed with aspiration and
      cytological analysis of the fluid.

PMID- 25827225
TI  - Time trends in the incidence, prevalence and age at diagnosis of asthma in
      children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Current knowledge on the prevalence of asthma is mainly based on
      cross-sectional questionnaire data. Current population-based data on the
      incidence of asthma in children are scarce. OBJECTIVE: To study the incidence,
      prevalence, and age at diagnosis of asthma in children in the Netherlands over
      the study period 2000-2012. METHODS: A population-based cohort study was
      conducted in the Integrated Primary Care Information database. The cohort
      consisted of 176,516 children (379,536 personyears (PY) of follow-up), aged 5-18
      years between 2000 and 2012. All medical records of children with physician
      diagnosed asthma were validated. Incidence rates, annual percent change (APC),
      and prevalence for asthma were calculated. Influence of age and gender on
      incidence rates and change in age at diagnosis were studied. RESULTS: We
      identified an asthma cohort of 14,303 children with 35,118 PY. The overall
      incidence rate was 6.7/1000 PY (95% CI, 6.45-6.97). Until 2008, the incidence
      rate was significantly increasing (APC 5.79 (95% CI 1.43-10.34); from 2008
      onwards, a non-significant decrease was observed (APC -12.16 (95% CI -23.07 to
      0.28). Incidence for girls was lower than for boys, this difference decreased
      with increasing age. (p < 0.001) Overall, the age at diagnosis increased over
      calendar time and was lower for boys. (linear trend p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our
      population-based cohort study observed an incidence rate of 6.7 per 1000 PY of
      physician-diagnosed asthma in children in the Netherlands over 2000-2012. The
      asthma incidence rate was increasing until 2008. Further studies are needed to
      confirm the decrease in asthma incidence rate from 2008 onwards.

PMID- 25827226
TI  - dNTP pool levels modulate mutator phenotypes of error-prone DNA polymerase
      epsilon variants.
AB  - Mutator phenotypes create genetic diversity that fuels tumor evolution. DNA
      polymerase (Pol) epsilon mediates leading strand DNA replication. Proofreading
      defects in this enzyme drive a number of human malignancies. Here, using budding
      yeast, we show that mutator variants of Pol epsilon depend on damage uninducible
      (Dun)1, an S-phase checkpoint kinase that maintains dNTP levels during a normal
      cell cycle and up-regulates dNTP synthesis upon checkpoint activation. Deletion
      of DUN1 (dun1Delta) suppresses the mutator phenotype of pol2-4 (encoding Pol
      epsilon proofreading deficiency) and is synthetically lethal with pol2-M644G
      (encoding altered Pol epsilon base selectivity). Although pol2-4 cells cycle
      normally, pol2-M644G cells progress slowly through S-phase. The pol2-M644G cells
      tolerate deletions of mediator of the replication checkpoint (MRC) 1 (mrc1Delta)
      and radiation sensitive (Rad) 9 (rad9Delta), which encode mediators of checkpoint
      responses to replication stress and DNA damage, respectively. The pol2-M644G
      mutator phenotype is partially suppressed by mrc1Delta but not rad9Delta; neither
      deletion suppresses the pol2-4 mutator phenotype. Thus, checkpoint activation
      augments the Dun1 effect on replication fidelity but is not required for it.
      Deletions of genes encoding key Dun1 targets that negatively regulate dNTP
      synthesis, suppress the dun1Delta pol2-M644G synthetic lethality and restore the
      mutator phenotype of pol2-4 in dun1Delta cells. DUN1 pol2-M644G cells have
      constitutively high dNTP levels, consistent with checkpoint activation. In
      contrast, pol2-4 and POL2 cells have similar dNTP levels, which decline in the
      absence of Dun1 and rise in the absence of the negative regulators of dNTP
      synthesis. Thus, dNTP pool levels correlate with Pol epsilon mutator severity,
      suggesting that treatments targeting dNTP pools could modulate mutator phenotypes
      for therapy. 

PMID- 25827228
TI  - Correction for Hoboth et al., Aged insulin granules display reduced microtubule
      dependent mobility and are disposed within actin-positive multigranular bodies.

PMID- 25827227
TI  - A comprehensive method for detecting ubiquitinated substrates using TR-TUBE.
AB  - The identification of substrates for ubiquitin ligases has remained challenging,
      because most substrates are either immediately degraded by the proteasome or
      processed by deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) to remove polyubiquitin. Although a
      methodology that enables detection of ubiquitinated proteins using ubiquitin Lys
      epsilon-Gly-Gly (diGly) remnant antibodies and MS has been developed, it is still
      insufficient for identification and characterization of the ubiquitin-modified
      proteome in cells overexpressing a particular ubiquitin ligase. Here, we show
      that exogenously expressed trypsin-resistant tandem ubiquitin-binding entity(ies)
      (TR-TUBE) protect polyubiquitin chains on substrates from DUBs and circumvent
      proteasome-mediated degradation in cells. TR-TUBE effectively associated with
      substrates ubiquitinated by an exogenously overexpressed ubiquitin ligase,
      allowing detection of the specific activity of the ubiquitin ligase and isolation
      of its substrates. Although the diGly antibody enabled effective identification
      of ubiquitinated proteins in cells, overexpression of an ubiquitin ligase and
      treatment with a proteasome inhibitor did not increase the level of diGly
      peptides specific for the ligase relative to the background level of diGly
      peptides, probably due to deubiquitination. By contrast, in TR-TUBE-expressing
      cells, the level of substrate-derived diGly peptides produced by the
      overexpressed ubiquitin ligase was significantly elevated. We developed a method
      for identifying the substrates of specific ubiquitin ligases using two enrichment
      strategies, TR-TUBE and diGly remnant antibodies, coupled with MS. Using this
      method, we identified target substrates of FBXO21, an uncharacterized F-box
      protein. 

PMID- 25827229
TI  - Correction for Dillin, Profile of Kazutoshi Mori and Peter Walter, 2014 Lasker
      Basic Medical Research Awardees: The unfolded protein response.

PMID- 25827230
TI  - Whole-genome sequencing is more powerful than whole-exome sequencing for
      detecting exome variants.
AB  - We compared whole-exome sequencing (WES) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in six
      unrelated individuals. In the regions targeted by WES capture (81.5% of the
      consensus coding genome), the mean numbers of single-nucleotide variants (SNVs)
      and small insertions/deletions (indels) detected per sample were 84,192 and
      13,325, respectively, for WES, and 84,968 and 12,702, respectively, for WGS. For
      both SNVs and indels, the distributions of coverage depth, genotype quality, and
      minor read ratio were more uniform for WGS than for WES. After filtering, a mean
      of 74,398 (95.3%) high-quality (HQ) SNVs and 9,033 (70.6%) HQ indels were called
      by both platforms. A mean of 105 coding HQ SNVs and 32 indels was identified
      exclusively by WES whereas 692 HQ SNVs and 105 indels were identified exclusively
      by WGS. We Sanger-sequenced a random selection of these exclusive variants. For
      SNVs, the proportion of false-positive variants was higher for WES (78%) than for
      WGS (17%). The estimated mean number of real coding SNVs (656 variants, ~3% of
      all coding HQ SNVs) identified by WGS and missed by WES was greater than the
      number of SNVs identified by WES and missed by WGS (26 variants). For indels, the
      proportions of false-positive variants were similar for WES (44%) and WGS (46%).
      Finally, WES was not reliable for the detection of copy-number variations, almost
      all of which extended beyond the targeted regions. Although currently more
      expensive, WGS is more powerful than WES for detecting potential disease-causing
      mutations within WES regions, particularly those due to SNVs. 

PMID- 25827232
TI  - Correction for Park et al., RORgammat-specific transcriptional interactomic
      inhibition suppresses autoimmunity associated with TH17 cells.

PMID- 25827231
TI  - Colon cancer-associated mutator DNA polymerase delta variant causes expansion of
      dNTP pools increasing its own infidelity.
AB  - Defects in DNA polymerases delta (Poldelta) and epsilon (Polepsilon) cause
      hereditary colorectal cancer and have been implicated in the etiology of some
      sporadic colorectal and endometrial tumors. We previously reported that the yeast
      pol3-R696W allele mimicking a human cancer-associated variant, POLD1-R689W,
      causes a catastrophic increase in spontaneous mutagenesis. Here, we describe the
      mechanism of this extraordinary mutator effect. We found that the mutation rate
      increased synergistically when the R696W mutation was combined with defects in
      Poldelta proofreading or mismatch repair, indicating that pathways correcting DNA
      replication errors are not compromised in pol3-R696W mutants. DNA synthesis by
      purified Poldelta-R696W was error-prone, but not to the extent that could account
      for the unprecedented mutator phenotype of pol3-R696W strains. In a search for
      cellular factors that augment the mutagenic potential of Poldelta-R696W, we
      discovered that pol3-R696W causes S-phase checkpoint-dependent elevation of dNTP
      pools. Abrogating this elevation by strategic mutations in dNTP metabolism genes
      eliminated the mutator effect of pol3-R696W, whereas restoration of high
      intracellular dNTP levels restored the mutator phenotype. Further, the use of
      dNTP concentrations present in pol3-R696W cells for in vitro DNA synthesis
      greatly decreased the fidelity of Poldelta-R696W and produced a mutation spectrum
      strikingly similar to the spectrum observed in vivo. The results support a model
      in which (i) faulty synthesis by Poldelta-R696W leads to a checkpoint-dependent
      increase in dNTP levels and (ii) this increase mediates the hypermutator effect
      of Poldelta-R696W by facilitating the extension of mismatched primer termini it
      creates and by promoting further errors that continue to fuel the mutagenic
      pathway. 

PMID- 25827234
TI  - Isoflavone profile in soymilk as affected by soybean variety, grinding, and heat
      processing methods.
AB  - Isoflavones impart health benefits and their overall content and profile in foods
      are greatly influenced at each step during processing. In this study, 2 soybean
      varieties (Prosoy and black soybean) were processed with 3 different grinding
      (ambient, cold, and hot grinding) and heating methods (traditional stove cooking,
      1-phase UHT, and 2-phase UHT) for soymilk making. The results showed after cold,
      ambient, and hot grinding, the total isoflavones were 3917, 5013, and 5949 nmol/g
      for Prosoy; the total isoflavones were 4073, 3966, and 4284 nmol/g for black
      soybean. Grinding could significantly increase isoflavone extraction. The
      grinding process had a destructive effect on isoflavones and this effect varied
      with grinding temperature. Different heating methods had different effects on
      different isoflavone forms. Two soybean varieties showed distinct patterns with
      respect to the change of isoflavone profile during processing. 

PMID- 25827235
TI  - Editorial Comment from Dr Masumori to Treatment satisfaction and clinically
      meaningful symptom improvement in men with lower urinary tract symptoms and
      prostatic enlargement secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia: Secondary
      results from a 6-month, randomized, double-blind study comparing finasteride plus
      tadalafil with finasteride plus placebo.

PMID- 25827236
TI  - Statistically speaking.

PMID- 25827233
TI  - alphaIIbbeta3 variants defined by next-generation sequencing: predicting variants
      likely to cause Glanzmann thrombasthenia.
AB  - Next-generation sequencing is transforming our understanding of human genetic
      variation but assessing the functional impact of novel variants presents
      challenges. We analyzed missense variants in the integrin alphaIIbbeta3 receptor
      subunit genes ITGA2B and ITGB3 identified by whole-exome or -genome sequencing in
      the ThromboGenomics project, comprising ~32,000 alleles from 16,108 individuals.
      We analyzed the results in comparison with 111 missense variants in these genes
      previously reported as being associated with Glanzmann thrombasthenia (GT), 20
      associated with alloimmune thrombocytopenia, and 5 associated with
      aniso/macrothrombocytopenia. We identified 114 novel missense variants in ITGA2B
      (affecting ~11% of the amino acids) and 68 novel missense variants in ITGB3
      (affecting ~9% of the amino acids). Of the variants, 96% had minor allele
      frequencies (MAF) < 0.1%, indicating their rarity. Based on sequence
      conservation, MAF, and location on a complete model of alphaIIbbeta3, we selected
      three novel variants that affect amino acids previously associated with GT for
      expression in HEK293 cells. alphaIIb P176H and beta3 C547G severely reduced
      alphaIIbbeta3 expression, whereas alphaIIb P943A partially reduced alphaIIbbeta3
      expression and had no effect on fibrinogen binding. We used receiver operating
      characteristic curves of combined annotation-dependent depletion, Polyphen 2
      HDIV, and sorting intolerant from tolerant to estimate the percentage of novel
      variants likely to be deleterious. At optimal cut-off values, which had 69-98%
      sensitivity in detecting GT mutations, between 27% and 71% of the novel alphaIIb
      or beta3 missense variants were predicted to be deleterious. Our data have
      implications for understanding the evolutionary pressure on alphaIIbbeta3 and
      highlight the challenges in predicting the clinical significance of novel
      missense variants. 

PMID- 25827238
TI  - The rotational spectrum of tyrosine.
AB  - In this work neutral tyrosine has been generated in the gas phase by laser
      ablation of solid samples, and its most abundant conformers characterized through
      their rotational spectra. Their identification has been made by comparison
      between the experimental and ab initio values of the rotational and quadrupole
      coupling constants. Both conformers are stabilized by an O-H***N hydrogen bond
      established within the amino acid skeleton chain and an additional weak N-H***pi
      hydrogen bond. The observed conformers differ in the orientation of the phenolic 
      OH group. 

PMID- 25827239
TI  - The Effect of Protein Restriction in the In Vitro Metabolism of Albendazole in
      Rats.
AB  - This work presents an in vitro investigation of the effect of protein restriction
      on the metabolism of albendazole (ABZ). This study was conducted using liver
      microsomal fractions obtained from Wistar rats. For the quantitative analysis, a
      multidimensional High Performance Liquid Chromatography (2D HPLC) method was
      fully validated for the determination of the ABZ metabolites: albendazole
      sulfoxide, albendazole sulfone and albendazole 2-aminesulfone. The target
      compounds were directly extracted using a C8-RAM-BSA column (5.0x0.46 cm i.d.)
      and analyzed on a chromatographic chiral column containing amylose tris(3,5
      dimethylphenylcarbamate) (150x4.6 mm i.d.). The in vitro biotransformation
      results showed that the protein restriction influenced the oxidative metabolism
      of ABZ. The production of R-(+)-ABZ-SO (1309 nmol/L) and S-(-)-ABZ-SO (1456
      nmol/L) was higher in the control animals than in the animals fed with a diet
      containing 6% protein, which produced 778.7 nmol/L and 709.5 nmol/L for R-(+) and
      S-(-)-ABZ-SO enantiomers, respectively. These results were statistically
      inspected by Student's t test and the results showed a significant difference
      between the two means (p<0.05). Moreover, the production of ABZ-SO enantiomers
      was enantioselective where the S-(-)-ABZ-SO was formed in greater amounts than
      the R-(+)-ABZ-SO in control animals (p=0.0231). However, the enantioselectivity
      was not observed when the in vitro biotransformation of ABZ was conducted using
      the microsomal fractions obtained from protein restriction animals (p>0.05).
      Furthermore, animal nutritional condition could affect the pattern of ABZ
      sulphoxidation indicating that the protein nutrition affect primarily the
      formation of R-(+)-ABZSO and S-(-)-ABZ-SO enantiomers.

PMID- 25827240
TI  - Push-out bond strength of root fillings made with C-Point and BC sealer versus
      gutta-percha and AH Plus after the instrumentation of oval canals with the Self
      Adjusting File versus WaveOne.
AB  - AIM: To compare the push-out bond strength exhibited by root fillings performed
      with either C-Point and Endosequence(r) BC sealerTM (BC Sealer) or gutta-percha
      and AH Plus(r) after the instrumentation of oval canals with either the Self
      Adjusting File (SAF) System or WaveOne (WO) reciprocating file. METHODOLOGY:
      Eighty extracted premolars were selected and divided randomly into the following
      four groups (n = 20): group 1, SAF instrumentation and filling using gutta-percha
      and AH Plus sealer; group 2, SAF instrumentation and C-Point and BC sealer
      filling; group 3, WO instrumentation and filling using gutta-percha and AH Plus
      sealer; and group 4, WO instrumentation and filling with C-Point and BC sealer.
      Sodium hypochlorite (5.25%) and EDTA (17%) were used as irrigants for all groups.
      After the sealer was set completely, the teeth were prepared for micro push-out
      assessment using 1.0-mm-thick root slices. Loading was performed with a universal
      testing machine at a speed of 0.5 mm min(-1) . Two-way anova and Student's t-test
      for pairwise comparisons were used to compare groups. RESULTS: All specimens
      filled with C-Point and BC sealer were associated with significantly higher push
      out bond strength compared with gutta-percha and AH Plus sealer (P < 0.001). The
      bond strength was higher for the coronal and apical samples of the C-Point/BC
      sealer/SAF group (6.6 +/- 0.3 and 3.2 +/- 0.3 MPa) versus those of the gutta
      percha/AH Plus/WO group (4.8 +/- 0.3 and 1.8 +/- 0.3 MPa), by 38% and by 80% in
      the coronal and apical parts, respectively (P < 0.001, P < 0.0001). Adhesive bond
      failure was more common in the WaveOne-instrumented group in general and in the
      buccal and lingual recesses in this group in particular. CONCLUSIONS: In oval
      canals, the instrument used and the root filling material significantly affected
      the push-out values of root fillings. The highest value was recorded in oval root
      canals instrumented with the SAF System and filled with C-Point and BC sealer,
      whereas the lowest strength was noted in oval canals instrumented with WaveOne
      and filled with gutta-percha and AH Plus sealer.

PMID- 25827241
TI  - Mechanism study on pH-responsive cyclodextrin capped mesoporous silica: effect of
      different stalk densities and the type of cyclodextrin.
AB  - Cyclodextrin (CD)-capped mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) with pH-responsive
      properties were synthesized, but little research has been carried out to evaluate
      the impact of critical factors such as the stalk density and the type of CD on
      the pH-responsive release behavior. Here, the effect of different stalk densities
      on the pH-responsive release behavior was investigated. Either too low or too
      high density of the grafted p-anisidine stalk could result in poor cargo release,
      and the optimum stalk density for MSN was measured by thermal analysis, and found
      to be approximately 8.7 stalks nm(-2). To achieve effective release control, the
      CD capes, alpha-CD and beta-CD, were also investigated. Isothermal titration
      calorimetry (ITC) analysis was employed to determine the formation constants (Kf)
      of the two CD with p-anisidine at different pH values. The results obtained
      showed that the complex of beta-CD with p-anisidine had excellent pH-responsive
      behavior as it exhibited the largest changed formation constant (DeltaKf) in
      different pH media. Furthermore, the pH-responsive mechanism between CD and p
      anisidine molecules was investigated through ITC and a molecular modeling study.
      The release of antitumor drug DOX presents a significant prospect toward the
      development of pH-responsive nanoparticles as a drug delivery vehicle. 

PMID- 25827242
TI  - Functional Connectivity in Multiple Cortical Networks Is Associated with
      Performance Across Cognitive Domains in Older Adults.
AB  - Intrinsic functional connectivity MRI has become a widely used tool for measuring
      integrity in large-scale cortical networks. This study examined multiple cortical
      networks using Template-Based Rotation (TBR), a method that applies a priori
      network and nuisance component templates defined from an independent dataset to
      test datasets of interest. A priori templates were applied to a test dataset of
      276 older adults (ages 65-90) from the Harvard Aging Brain Study to examine the
      relationship between multiple large-scale cortical networks and cognition. Factor
      scores derived from neuropsychological tests represented processing speed,
      executive function, and episodic memory. Resting-state BOLD data were acquired in
      two 6-min acquisitions on a 3-Tesla scanner and processed with TBR to extract
      individual-level metrics of network connectivity in multiple cortical networks.
      All results controlled for data quality metrics, including motion. Connectivity
      in multiple large-scale cortical networks was positively related to all cognitive
      domains, with a composite measure of general connectivity positively associated
      with general cognitive performance. Controlling for the correlations between
      networks, the frontoparietal control network (FPCN) and executive function
      demonstrated the only significant association, suggesting specificity in this
      relationship. Further analyses found that the FPCN mediated the relationships of
      the other networks with cognition, suggesting that this network may play a
      central role in understanding individual variation in cognition during aging. 

PMID- 25827243
TI  - Genetic consequences of population expansions and contractions in the common
      hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) since the Late Pleistocene.
AB  - Over the past two decades, an increasing amount of phylogeographic work has
      substantially improved our understanding of African biogeography, in particular
      the role played by Pleistocene pluvial-drought cycles on terrestrial vertebrates.
      However, still little is known on the evolutionary history of semi-aquatic
      animals, which faced tremendous challenges imposed by unpredictable availability
      of water resources. In this study, we investigate the Late Pleistocene history of
      the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), using mitochondrial and nuclear
      DNA sequence variation and range-wide sampling. We documented a global
      demographic and spatial expansion approximately 0.1-0.3 Myr ago, most likely
      associated with an episode of massive drainage overflow. These events presumably
      enabled a historical continent-wide gene flow among hippopotamus populations, and
      hence, no clear continental-scale genetic structuring remains. Nevertheless,
      present-day hippopotamus populations are genetically disconnected, probably as a
      result of the mid-Holocene aridification and contemporary anthropogenic
      pressures. This unique pattern contrasts with the biogeographic paradigms
      established for savannah-adapted ungulate mammals and should be further
      investigated in other water-associated taxa. Our study has important consequences
      for the conservation of the hippo, an emblematic but threatened species that
      requires specific protection to curtail its long-term decline.

PMID- 25827244
TI  - Early Western observations of cutaneous Trichophyton concentricum infection in
      the Pacific and a history of its vernacular name, tokelau.

PMID- 25827245
TI  - Managing preterm infants in the first minutes of life.
AB  - Premature infants often experience difficulties adapting to postnatal life. The
      most relevant ones are related to establishing an adult type cardiorespiratory
      circulation and acquiring hemodynamic stability, aerating the lung and attaining
      a functional residual capacity, performing an adequate gas exchange and switching
      to an oxygen enriched metabolism, and keeping an adequate body temperature. In
      recent years a body of evidence supports a trend towards gentle management in the
      delivery room aiming to reduce damage especially to the lungs in the so-called
      first golden minutes. Herewith, we describe and update four of the most relevant
      interventions performed in the delivery room: delayed cord clamping, non-invasive
      ventilation, individualized oxygen supplementation, and maintaining an adequate
      body temperature so as to avoid hyperthermia and/or hypothermia. 

PMID- 25827246
TI  - Pyrolysis kinetics and thermal characteristics of microalgae Nannochloropsis
      oculata and Tetraselmis sp.
AB  - In this study non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis were used to investigate
      pyrolysis behavior and kinetics of microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata (NO) and
      Tetraselmis sp. (TS). TG/DTG experiments at different heating rates were carried
      out. Heating rates had slight effect on the decomposition trend, however the
      maximum temperature and peak of weight loss rate in the DTG curves shifted
      towards higher temperature with the increase in heating rate. The average
      activation energy and pre-exponential factor for pyrolysis of NO and TS were
      estimated by distributed activation energy model. The highest activation energies
      were observed as 152.20 and 334kJ/mol for NO and TS, respectively, at various
      conversions. The pre-exponential factors for the corresponding activation
      energies were observed to be in the order of 10(8)-10(13) and 10(12)-10(25)s(-1)
      for NO and TS, respectively. Calculated kinetic parameters were used to predict
      devolatilization curves and results were in well agreement with experimental
      data. 

PMID- 25827247
TI  - Life cycle cost optimization of biofuel supply chains under uncertainties based
      on interval linear programming.
AB  - The aim of this work was to develop a model for optimizing the life cycle cost of
      biofuel supply chain under uncertainties. Multiple agriculture zones, multiple
      transportation modes for the transport of grain and biofuel, multiple biofuel
      plants, and multiple market centers were considered in this model, and the price
      of the resources, the yield of grain and the market demands were regarded as
      interval numbers instead of constants. An interval linear programming was
      developed, and a method for solving interval linear programming was presented. An
      illustrative case was studied by the proposed model, and the results showed that
      the proposed model is feasible for designing biofuel supply chain under
      uncertainties. 

PMID- 25827248
TI  - Soil infiltration bioreactor incorporated with pyrite-based (mixotrophic)
      denitrification for domestic wastewater treatment.
AB  - In this study, an integrated two-stage soil infiltration bioreactor incorporated
      with pyrite-based (mixotrophic) denitrification (SIBPD) was designed for domestic
      wastewater treatment. Benefited from excellent adsorption ability and water
      permeability, soil infiltration could avoid clogging, shorten operating time and
      lower maintenance cost. Respiration and nitrification were mostly engaged in
      aerobic stage (AES), while nitrate was majorly removed by pyrite-based
      mixotrophic denitrification mainly occurred in anaerobic stage (ANS). Fed with
      synthetic and real wastewater for 120days at 1.5h HRT, SIBPD demonstrated good
      removal performance showing 87.14% for COD, 92.84% for NH4(+)-N and 82.58% for TP
      along with 80.72% of nitrate removed by ANS. TN removal efficiency was 83.74%
      when conducting real wastewater. Compared with sulfur-based process, the effluent
      pH of SIBPD was maintained at 6.99-7.34 and the highest SO4(2-) concentration was
      only 64.63mgL(-1). This study revealed a promising and feasible application
      prospect for on-site domestic wastewater treatment. 

PMID- 25827249
TI  - Bio-oil from thermo-chemical hydro-liquefaction of wet sewage sludge.
AB  - The present work demonstrates the influence of experimental conditions such as
      weight ratio of sewage sludge to water (1/0-1/15), reaction temperature (200-350
      degrees C), initial H2 pressure (2.0-11.0MPa), residence time (10-100min) and
      type of catalysts (Na2CO3, Raney nickel, FeSO4, MoS2) on hydro-liquefaction
      process of sewage sludge. High amount of water improves the hydro-liquefaction
      process of sewage sludge by increasing the yield of bio-oil and the total
      conversion. The highest yield of bio-oil (47.79 wt.%) from sewage sludge was
      obtained with initial H2 pressure 5.0MPa, reaction temperature 300 degrees C, and
      residence time 40min. Under these experimental conditions, using weight ratio of
      sewage sludge to water 1/5, catalyst (FeSO4) - 5 wt.% of dry SS, mixing speed
      350rpm the obtained bio-oil had the highest energy recovery (69.84%), total
      conversion (70.64%) and its calorific value was 35.22MJ/kg. 

PMID- 25827250
TI  - Activation of accumulated nitrite reduction by immobilized Pseudomonas stutzeri
      T13 during aerobic denitrification.
AB  - The excellent removal efficiency of nitrate by the aerobic denitrifier,
      Pseudomonas stutzeri T13, was achieved in free cells system. However, poor
      nitrite reduction prevents efficient aerobic denitrification because of the
      nitrite accumulation. This problem could be conquered by immobilizing the cells
      on supports. In this study, strain T13 was immobilized by mycelial pellets (MPs),
      polyurethane foam cubes (PFCs) and sodium alginate beads (SABs). Higher removal
      percentages of TN in MP (43.78%), PFC (42.31%) and SAB (57.25%) systems were
      achieved compared with the free cell system (29.7%). Furthermore, the optimal
      condition for immobilized cell systems was as follows: 30 degrees C, 100rpm
      shaking speed and pH 7. The shock-resistance of SAB system was relatively poor,
      which could collapse under either alkaline (pH=9) or high rotating (200rpm)
      conditions. The recycling experiments demonstrated that the high steady TN
      removal rate could be maintained for seven cycles in both MP and PFC systems. 

PMID- 25827253
TI  - Self-directed physical activity intervention in older adults undergoing adjuvant
      chemotherapy for colorectal cancer: Design of a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis and treatment can have substantial
      detrimental impacts on health related quality of life (HRQOL) and physical
      function. This is especially true for older CRC patients and is of paramount
      concern in chemotherapy treatment decision making; yet, few studies to date have
      focused on understanding and managing fatigue in older CRC patients. We present
      the design of a study to evaluate the feasibility and impact of a home-based,
      self-directed physical activity intervention on fatigue in older CRC patients
      receiving adjuvant chemotherapy treatment. Secondary aims pertain to intervention
      impact on HRQOL, physical function, and self-efficacy for managing fatigue.
      METHODS/DESIGN: Multi-site, randomized controlled trial of physical activity
      intervention compared to usual care in a sample of older adults undergoing
      adjuvant chemotherapy for CRC. Forty CRC patients will be recruited and study
      questionnaires/assessments will be performed at baseline, 3 months, and after
      completion of adjuvant chemotherapy. The primary outcome is a comparison of the
      change in fatigue from baseline to 3 months between Intervention and Control
      arms. We will also compare changes in engagement in physical activity, HRQOL,
      physical function, and self-efficacy. Exploratory analyses will compare
      Intervention and Control arms with regard to changes in muscle mass and a
      biomarker aging that is known to increase during chemotherapy (p16(INK4a)).
      DISCUSSION: If positive, findings from this pilot study would suggest the
      potential for improving the care of older persons with CRC undergoing adjuvant
      chemotherapy through a home-based physical activity intervention to manage
      fatigue, HRQOL, and physical function. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02191969.

PMID- 25827255
TI  - Effect of intermittent PTH treatment on plasma glucose in osteoporosis: A
      randomized trial.
AB  - We investigated the effect of bone turnover on glucose homeostasis, fat
      distribution and adipokine production during anabolic treatment with PTH. This is
      a parallel, randomized controlled, open label, trial. The randomization was done
      by computer generated tables to allocate treatments. Forty-six postmenopausal
      osteoporotic non-diabetic women were assigned to treatment with calcium and
      colecalcipherol with (24) or without (22) PTH 1-84. Patients were recalled after
      3, 6, 12 and 18 months of treatment and markers of bone turnover, glucose
      metabolism, adipokine secretion and fat distribution were analyzed. Markers of
      bone turnover and adipokines were measured by ELISA. Glucose metabolism was
      evaluated by an oral glucose load test and insulin resistance and secretion were
      calculated. Fat and lean mass were evaluated by anthropometric measures. The
      effect of treatment on measured variables was analyzed by repeated measure test,
      and its effect on glucose was also evaluated by mediation analysis after
      correction for possible confounders. Twenty patients in the calcium and vitamin D
      groups and 19 in the group treated with PTH 1-84 completed the study. There were
      no significance adverse events. Treatment with PTH increases osteocalcin, both
      total (OC) and undercarboxylated (uOC), and decreases blood glucose, without
      influence on insulin secretion, resistance and pancreatic beta cell function.
      Treatment with PTH does not influence fat distribution and adipokine production.
      The results of the mediation analyses suggest a total effect of PTH on blood
      glucose, moderately mediated by OC and to a less extent by uOC. Here we suggest
      that treatment with PTH influences glucose metabolism partially through its
      effect on bone turnover, without influence on insulin secretion, resistance,
      pancreatic beta cell function and fat mass.

PMID- 25827254
TI  - Global transcriptional profiling using RNA sequencing and DNA methylation
      patterns in highly enriched mesenchymal cells from young versus elderly women.
AB  - Age-related bone loss in humans is associated with a decrease in bone formation
      relative to bone resorption, although the mechanisms for this impairment in bone
      formation with aging are not well understood. It is known that the precursors for
      the bone-forming osteoblasts reside in the mesenchymal cell population in bone
      marrow. Thus, in an effort to identify relevant genetic pathways that are altered
      with aging, we examined the gene expression and DNA methylation patterns from a
      highly enriched bone marrow mesenchymal cell population from young (mean age,
      28.7 years) versus old (mean age, 73.3 years) women. Bone marrow mononuclear
      cells from these women were depleted of hematopoietic lineage (lin) and
      endothelial cells using a combination of magnetic- and fluorescence-activated
      cell sorting, yielding a previously characterized mesenchymal cell population
      (lin-/CD34-/CD31- cells) that is capable of osteoblast differentiation. Whole
      transcriptome RNA sequencing (RNAseq) of freshly isolated cells (without in vitro
      culture) identified 279 differentially expressed genes (p < 0.05, false discovery
      rate [q]< 0.10) between the young and old subjects. Pathway analysis revealed
      statistically significant (all p < 0.05) alterations in protein synthesis and
      degradation pathways, as well as mTOR, gap junction, calcium, melatonin and NFAT
      signaling pathways. Further, Reduced Representational Bisulphite sequencing (RRBS
      DNA methylation sequencing) revealed significant differences in methylation
      between the young and old subjects surrounding the promoters of 1528 target genes
      that also exhibited significant differences in gene expression by RNAseq. In
      summary, these studies provide novel insights into potential pathways affected by
      aging in a highly enriched human mesenchymal cell population analyzed without the
      confounding effects of in vitro culture. Specifically, our finding of alterations
      in several genes and pathways leading to impaired protein synthesis and turnover
      with aging in bone marrow mesenchymal cells points to the need for further
      studies examining how these changes, as well as the other alterations with aging
      that we identified, may contribute to the age-related impairment in osteoblast
      formation and/or function.

PMID- 25827256
TI  - Characterising the composition of waste-derived fuels using a novel image
      analysis tool.
AB  - An experimental study was completed using a previously developed and innovative
      image analysis approach, which has been applied here to shredded waste materials
      representative of waste-derived fuels. Waste components were collected from
      source-segregated recycling containers and shredded to <150 mm. These materials
      were then used to produce 3* samples of different composition. The samples were
      spread to represent materials on a conveyor belt, and multiple images of each
      sample were captured using 10*10 cm and 20*20 cm quadrats. The images were
      processed using ERDAS Imagine software to determine the area covered by each
      waste component. This coverage was converted into a mass using density data
      determined as part of this study, yielding a determined composition which was
      then compared with the known composition of the samples. The image analysis
      results indicated a strong correlation with the actual values (mean r=0.89). The
      area coverage of the sample (10*10 cm or 20*20 cm) contributes to the accuracy as
      the dot-grid approach used with the particle size within the samples may result
      in components not being sufficiently monitored. This manuscript presents initial
      results of the application of an adapted innovative image-based method, and
      critically assesses how the technique could be improved and developed in the
      future.

PMID- 25827257
TI  - Effects of trace element addition on process stability during anaerobic co
      digestion of OFMSW and slaughterhouse waste.
AB  - This study used semi-continuous laboratory scale biogas reactors to simulate the
      effects of trace-element addition in different combinations, while degrading the
      organic fraction of municipal solid waste and slaughterhouse waste. The results
      show that the combined addition of Fe, Co and Ni was superior to the addition of
      only Fe, Fe and Co or Fe and Ni. However, the addition of only Fe resulted in a
      more stable process than the combined addition of Fe and Co, perhaps indicating a
      too efficient acidogenesis and/or homoacetogenesis in relation to a Ni-deprived
      methanogenic population. The results were observed in terms of higher biogas
      production (+9%), biogas production rates (+35%) and reduced VFA concentration
      for combined addition compared to only Fe and Ni. The higher stability was
      supported by observations of differences in viscosity, intraday VFA- and biogas
      kinetics as well as by the 16S rRNA gene and 16S rRNA of the methanogens. 

PMID- 25827258
TI  - Relationship between recycling rate and air pollution: Waste management in the
      state of Massachusetts.
AB  - This study examines the relationship between recycling rate of solid waste and
      air pollution using data from a waste municipality survey in the state of
      Massachusetts during the period 2009-2012. Two econometric approaches are
      applied. The first approach is a fixed effects model, while the second is a
      Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) with fixed effects model. The advantage of the
      first approach is the ability of controlling for stable time invariant
      characteristics of the municipalities, thereby eliminating potentially large
      sources of bias. The second approach is applied in order to estimate the
      technical efficiency and rank of each municipality accordingly. The regressions
      control for various demographic, economic and recycling services, such as income
      per capita, population density, unemployment, trash services, Pay-as-you-throw
      (PAYT) program and meteorological data. The findings support that a negative
      relationship between particulate particles in the air 2.5 MUm or less in size
      (PM2.5) and recycling rate is presented. In addition, the pollution is increased
      with increases on income per capita up to $23,000-$26,000, while after this point
      income contributes positively on air quality. Finally, based on the efficiency
      derived by the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model, the municipalities which
      provide both drop off and curbside services for trash, food and yard waste and
      the PAYT program present better performance regarding the air quality.

PMID- 25827259
TI  - Intersensory redundancy promotes visual rhythm discrimination in visually
      impaired infants.
AB  - Infants' attention is captured by the redundancy of amodal stimulation in
      multimodal objects and events. Evidence from this study demonstrates that
      intersensory redundancy can facilitate discrimination of rhythm changes presented
      in the visual modality alone in visually impaired infants, suggesting that
      multisensory rehabilitation strategies could prove helpful in this population. 

PMID- 25827260
TI  - Caregivers interpret infants' early gestures based on shared knowledge about
      referents.
AB  - Gestures are the first forms of conventional communication that young children
      develop in order to intentionally convey a specific message. However, at first,
      infants rarely communicate successfully with their gestures, prompting caregivers
      to interpret them. Although the role of caregivers in early communication
      development has been examined, little is known about how caregivers attribute a
      specific communicative function to infants' gestures. In this study, we argue
      that caregivers rely on the knowledge about the referent that is shared with
      infants in order to interpret what communicative function infants wish to convey
      with their gestures. We videotaped interactions from six caregiver-infant dyads
      playing with toys when infants were 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 months old. We coded
      infants' gesture production and we determined whether caregivers interpreted
      those gestures as conveying a clear communicative function or not; we also coded
      whether infants used objects according to their conventions of use as a measure
      of shared knowledge about the referent. Results revealed an association between
      infants' increasing knowledge of object use and maternal interpretations of
      infants' gestures as conveying a clear communicative function. Our findings
      emphasize the importance of shared knowledge in shaping infants' emergent
      communicative skills. 

PMID- 25827261
TI  - The influence of a hand preference for acquiring objects on the development of a
      hand preference for unimanual manipulation from 6 to 14 months.
AB  - Development of hand preferences for unimanual manipulation of objects was
      explored in 90 infants (57 males) tested monthly from 6 to 14 months. From a
      larger sample of 380 infants, 30 infants with a consistent left hand preference
      for acquiring objects were matched for sex and development of locomotion skills
      with 30 infants with a consistent right hand preference for acquisition and 30
      with no preference. Although frequency of unimanual manipulations increased
      during 6-14 month period, infants with a hand preference for acquisition did more
      object manipulations than those without a preference for acquisition. Multilevel
      modeling of unimanual manipulation trajectories for the three hand-preference
      groups revealed that hand preferences for unimanual manipulation become more
      distinctive with age, and the preference is predicted by the hand preference for
      object acquisition. Infants with a right and left hand preference for object
      acquisition develop a right and left (respectively) hand preference for unimanual
      manipulation. However, the majority of infants at each month do not exhibit hand
      preferences for unimanual manipulation that are unlikely to occur by chance, even
      by 14 months. The results are consistent with a cascading theory of handedness
      development in which early preferences (i.e., for acquisition) are transferred to
      later developing preferences (i.e., for unimanual manipulation). 

PMID- 25827262
TI  - Qualitative elements of early motor development that influence reaching of the
      erect posture. A prospective cohort study.
AB  - The proposed assessment sheet aims to show in detail, which qualitative elements
      of motor performance are performed correctly in the 2nd month of life by children
      who in the 9th month reached the erect posture. Similar analysis was performed
      for the qualitative assessment in the 6th month. The prospective investigation of
      motor development involved a group of 109 children (40 girls and 69 boys). The
      study was based on the previously described quantity and quality assessment sheet
      of motor performance, validated for the 2nd and 6th month. Final investigation
      took place in the 9th month of life and was based on a neurological assessment.
      It could be shown that a completely correct assessment at the age of 2 months
      precludes future severe motor development disorders, especially cerebral palsy,
      although it does not rule out a slight delay. Prematurity and the analyzed risk
      factors, particularly IVH, impair the motor performance. The absence of axial
      symmetry, the shoulders protraction and improper position of the pelvis are the
      most important alarming features at the 2nd month. Distal elements observed in
      the prone position at the 6th month show a good prognosis for the motor
      performance in the 9th month. Any abnormalities, mainly related to the body axis
      and symmetry observed at 2 months of age should encourage one to put a child
      under observation. 

PMID- 25827263
TI  - Finnish mothers' and fathers' reports of their boys and girls by using the Brief
      Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA).
AB  - This study investigated maternal and paternal reports about their very young boys
      and girls on the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA).
      Two samples were recruited through child health centers in Northern Finland. The
      infant sample consisted of 227 children (112 boys and 115 girls) (mean age 13.0+/
      1.1 months) and the toddler sample consisted of 208 children (94 boys and 114
      girls) (mean age 19.3+/-1.4 months). Among the infants, girls obtained higher
      paternal competence total scores than boys, whereas among the toddlers, both
      maternal and paternal competence total scores were higher for girls compared to
      boys. In the problem total scale, boys were scored higher than girls by mothers,
      but not by fathers, in both age groups. In the externalizing problem domain,
      maternal scores were higher for boys compared to girls among both samples,
      whereas paternal scores were significantly higher for boys than for girls only
      among the infants. Also maternal internalizing problem scores were higher for
      boys than for girls among the toddlers. Compared to fathers, mothers perceived
      more social-emotional competencies in toddler boys and girls, as well as more
      total, externalizing and dysregulation problems in toddler boys. However,
      significant differences between the maternal and paternal BITSEA ratings were not
      found among the infants of either sex. The results suggest that sex differences
      in the social-emotional/behavior domain may be observed by the parents among
      children as young as 11 to 24 months of age. Our findings highlight the
      importance of paying attention to probable sex differences when assessing and
      treating early social-emotional/behavior problems. 

PMID- 25827264
TI  - Environmental occurrence and risk of organic UV filters and stabilizers in
      multiple matrices in Norway.
AB  - Eight organic UV filters and stabilizers were quantitatively determined in
      wastewater sludge and effluent, landfill leachate, sediments, and marine and
      freshwater biota. Crab, prawn and cod from Oslofjord, and perch, whitefish and
      burbot from Lake Mjosa were selected in order to evaluate the potential for
      trophic accumulation. All of the cod livers analysed were contaminated with at
      least 1 UV filter, and a maximum concentration of almost 12 MUg/g wet weight for
      octocrylene (OC) was measured in one individual. 80% of the cod livers contained
      OC, and approximately 50% of cod liver and prawn samples contained benzophenone
      (BP3). Lower concentrations and detection frequencies were observed in freshwater
      species and the data of most interest is the 4 individual whitefish that
      contained both BP3 and ethylhexylmethoxycinnamate (EHMC) with maximum
      concentrations of almost 200 ng/g wet weight. The data shows a difference in the
      loads of UV filters entering receiving water dependent on the extent of
      wastewater treatment. Primary screening alone is insufficient for the removal of
      selected UV filters (BP3, Padimate, EHMC, OC, UV-234, UV-327, UV-328, UV-329).
      Likely due in part to the hydrophobic nature of the majority of the UV filters
      studied, particulate loading and organic carbon content appear to be related to
      concentrations of UV filters in landfill leachate and an order of magnitude
      difference in these parameters correlates with an order of magnitude difference
      in the effluent concentrations of selected UV filters (Fig. 2). From the data, it
      is possible that under certain low flow conditions selected organic UV filters
      may pose a risk to surface waters but under the present conditions the risk is
      low, but some UV filters will potentially accumulate through the trophic food
      chain.

PMID- 25827265
TI  - Beyond QMRA: Modelling microbial health risk as a complex system using Bayesian
      networks.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) is the current method
      of choice for determining the risk to human health from exposure to
      microorganisms of concern. However, current approaches are often constrained by
      the availability of required data, and may not be able to incorporate the many
      varied factors that influence this risk. Systems models, based on Bayesian
      networks (BNs), are emerging as an effective complementary approach that
      overcomes these limitations. OBJECTIVES: This article aims to provide a
      comparative evaluation of the capabilities and challenges of current QMRA methods
      and BN models, and a scoping review of recent published articles that adopt the
      latter for microbial risk assessment. Pros and cons of systems approaches in this
      context are distilled and discussed. METHODS: A search of the peer-reviewed
      literature revealed 15 articles describing BNs used in the context of QMRAs for
      foodborne and waterborne pathogens. These studies were analysed in terms of their
      application, uses and benefits in QMRA. DISCUSSION: The applications were notable
      in their diversity. BNs were used to make predictions, for scenario assessment,
      risk minimisation, to reduce uncertainty and to separate uncertainty and
      variability. Most studies focused on a segment of the exposure pathway,
      indicating the broad potential for the method in other QMRA steps. BNs offer a
      number of useful features to enhance QMRA, including transparency, and the
      ability to deal with poor quality data and support causal reasoning. CONCLUSION:
      The method has significant untapped potential to describe the complex
      relationships between microbial environmental exposures and health.

PMID- 25827266
TI  - Carotid blowout syndrome in pharyngeal cancer patients treated by
      hypofractionated stereotactic re-irradiation using CyberKnife: A multi
      institutional matched-cohort analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Although reirradiation has attracted attention as a
      potential therapy for recurrent head and neck tumors with the advent of modern
      radiotherapy, severe rate toxicity such as carotid blowout syndrome (CBOS) limits
      its potential. The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors of CBOS
      after hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (SBRT). METHODS AND PATIENTS: We
      conducted a matched-pair design examination of pharyngeal cancer patients treated
      by CyberKnife reirradiation in four institutes. Twelve cases with CBOS were
      observed per 60 cases without CBOS cases. Prognostic factors for CBOS were
      analyzed and a risk classification model was constructed. RESULTS: The median
      prescribed radiation dose was 30 Gy in 5 fractions with CyberKnife SBRT after 60
      Gy/30 fractions of previous radiotherapy. The median duration between
      reirradiation and CBOS onset was 5 months (range, 0-69 months). CBOS cases showed
      a median survival time of 5.5 months compared to 22.8 months for non-CBOS cases
      (1-year survival rate, 36% vs.72%; p=0.003). Univariate analysis identified an
      angle of carotid invasion of >180 degrees , the presence of ulceration, planning
      treatment volume, and irradiation to lymph node areas as statistically
      significant predisposing factors for CBOS. Only patients with carotid invasion of
      >180 degrees  developed CBOS (12/50, 24%), whereas no patient with tumor
      involvement less than a half semicircle around the carotid artery developed CBOS
      (0/22, 0%, p=0.03). Multivariate Cox hazard model analysis revealed that the
      presence of ulceration and irradiation to lymph nodes were statistically
      significant predisposing factors. Thus, we constructed a CBOS risk classification
      system: CBOS index=(summation of risk factors; carotid invasion >180 degrees ,
      presence of ulceration, lymph node area irradiation). This system sufficiently
      separated the risk groups. CONCLUSION: The presence of ulceration and lymph node
      irradiation are risk factors of CBOS. The CBOS index, including carotid invasion
      of >180 degrees , is useful in classifying the risk factors and determining the
      indications for reirradiation.

PMID- 25827267
TI  - Conductive iron oxide minerals accelerate syntrophic cooperation in methanogenic
      benzoate degradation.
AB  - Recent studies have suggested that conductive iron oxide minerals can facilitate
      syntrophic metabolism of the methanogenic degradation of organic matter, such as
      ethanol, propionate and butyrate, in natural and engineered microbial ecosystems.
      This enhanced syntrophy involves direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET)
      powered by microorganisms exchanging metabolic electrons through electrically
      conductive minerals. Here, we evaluated the possibility that conductive iron
      oxides (hematite and magnetite) can stimulate the methanogenic degradation of
      benzoate, which is a common intermediate in the anaerobic metabolism of aromatic
      compounds. The results showed that 89-94% of the electrons released from benzoate
      oxidation were recovered in CH4 production, and acetate was identified as the
      only carbon-bearing intermediate during benzoate degradation. Compared with the
      iron-free controls, the rates of methanogenic benzoate degradation were enhanced
      by 25% and 53% in the presence of hematite and magnetite, respectively. This
      stimulatory effect probably resulted from DIET-mediated methanogenesis in which
      electrons transfer between syntrophic partners via conductive iron minerals.
      Phylogenetic analyses revealed that Bacillaceae, Peptococcaceae, and
      Methanobacterium are potentially involved in the functioning of syntrophic DIET.
      Considering the ubiquitous presence of iron minerals within soils and sediments,
      the findings of this study will increase the current understanding of the natural
      biological attenuation of aromatic hydrocarbons in anaerobic environments. 

PMID- 25827268
TI  - New treatment method for boron in aqueous solutions using Mg-Al layered double
      hydroxide: Kinetics and equilibrium studies.
AB  - Mg-Al layered double hydroxides (LDHs) intercalated with NO3(-) (NO3 . Mg - Al
      LDHs) and with Cl(-) (Cl . Mg - Al LDHs) were found to take up boron from aqueous
      solutions. Boron was removed by anion exchange of B(OH)4(-) in solution with NO3(
      ) and Cl(-) intercalated in the interlayer of the LDH. Using three times the
      stoichiometric quantity of NO3 . Mg-Al LDH, the residual concentration of B
      decreased from 100 to 1.9 mg L(-1) in 120 min. Using five times the
      stoichiometric quantity of Cl . Mg - Al LDH, the residual concentration of B
      decreased from 100 to 5.6 mg L(-1) in 120 min. It must be emphasized that, in
      both cases, the residual concentration of B was less than the effluent standards
      in Japan (10 mg L(-1)). The rate-determining step of B removal by the NO3 . Mg -
      Al and Cl . Mg - Al LDHs was found to be chemical adsorption involving anion
      exchange of B(OH)4(-) with intercalated NO3(-) and Cl(-). The removal of B was
      well described by a pseudo second-order kinetic equation. The adsorption of B by
      NO3 . Mg - Al LDH and Cl . Mg - Al LDH followed a Langmuir-type adsorption. The
      values of the maximum adsorption and the equilibrium adsorption constant were 3.6
      mmol g(-1) and 1.7, respectively, for NO3 . Mg - Al LDH, and 3.8 mmol g(-1) and
      0.7, respectively, for Cl . Mg-Al LDH. The B(OH)4(-) in B(OH)4 . Mg - Al LDH
      produced by removal of B was found to undergo anion exchange with NO3(-) and Cl(
      ) in solution. The NO3 . Mg - Al and Cl . Mg - Al LDHs obtained after this
      regeneration treatment were able to remove B from aqueous solutions, indicating
      the possibility of recycling NO3 . Mg - Al and Cl . Mg - Al LDHs for B removal.

PMID- 25827269
TI  - Effects of rice residue incorporation on the speciation, potential
      bioavailability and risk of mercury in a contaminated paddy soil.
AB  - To reduce air pollution, straw return instead of burning is being strongly
      encouraged in China, including some mercury polluted areas. Nevertheless, the
      possible influences of straw return on methylation, bioavailability and exposure
      risk of mercury were relatively unknown. In this study, different amounts of rice
      straw or root were added into a mercury contaminated soil. Potential
      bioavailability of soil-bound mercury to crops/deposit-feeders was assessed by
      quantifying extraction rates of mercury (%) by calcium chloride (CaCl2)/bovine
      serum albumin (BSA). Extraction rates of inorganic mercury (IHg) or methylmercury
      (MMHg) decreased significantly in rice residue amended soils, possibly due to the
      strong binding of mercury with organic matter in root/straw. Meanwhile, MMHg
      concentrations increased by 2-8 times in amended soils. Such increases were
      attributed to enhanced microbial activities and/or formation of Hg-S-DOM
      complexes after rice residue incorporation and decomposition. Consequently,
      potential exposure risk of IHg (quantified as concentration of potentially
      bioavailable mercury in soil) decreased significantly while that of MMHg
      increased up to 4 times. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating
      that rice residue incorporation could significantly affect biogeochemistry of
      both IHg and MMHg in soils, which should be considered in straw incorporation
      activities in mercury polluted areas.

PMID- 25827270
TI  - Co(II)-grafted Ag3PO4 photocatalysts with unexpected photocatalytic ability:
      Enhanced photogenerated charge separation efficiency, photocatalytic mechanism
      and activity.
AB  - Since the photocatalytic capability is determined by the separation and
      transmission efficiency of photoinduced charges, its improvement remains a
      challenge for development of efficient photocatalysts. Here, we made large
      improvement on the surface of Ag3PO4 using Co(II)-grafted Ag3PO4 by a
      hydrothermal method. During the photocatalytic process, Co(II) was oxidized to
      Co(III) by the photogenerated holes under visible light radiation, which enhanced
      the separation efficiency of photogenerated charges. Meanwhile, the Co(III) as
      formed could oxidize dye molecules, which recovered the Co(II). The synergy of
      Co(II) and Ag3PO4 greatly promoted the separation and transmission efficiency of
      the photogenerated charges, and severely improved the photocatalytic activity of
      Ag3PO4. The surface grafted Co(II) on Ag3PO4 is responsible for the enhancement
      of photocatalytic activity. 

PMID- 25827271
TI  - Characterization and photocatalytic treatability of red water from Brazilian TNT
      industry.
AB  - The current study aims to characterize and evaluate the photocatalytic
      treatability of the "red water" effluent from a Brazilian TNT production
      industry. Analyses were performed using physical, chemical, spectroscopic and
      chromatographic assays, which demonstrated that the effluent presented a
      significant pollution potential, mainly due to COD, BOD, solids and to the high
      concentration of nitroaromatic compounds such as 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, 1-methyl
      2,4-dinitrobenzene, 2-methyl-1,3-dinitrobenzene, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene-3,5
      dinitro-p-toluidine and 2-methyl-3,5-dinitro-benzoamine. By a modified sol-gel
      and a dip-coating technique, it was possible to obtain a TiO2 film on
      borosilicate glass substrate which functional composition and microstructure were
      characterized by infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The
      evaluation of the photocatalytic treatability using borosilicate-glass-TiO2
      demonstrated high degradation efficiency. In this context, a reduction of 32 and
      100% for COD and nitroaromatic compounds, respectively, was observed. Although
      the proposed photocatalytic process has found difficulties in reducing the
      content of organic matter and effluent color in the red water, its potential for
      degrading refractory chemical compounds such as the nitroaromatic ones enables it
      to be used as tertiary treatment. 

PMID- 25827272
TI  - Dual-process decomposition in human sensorimotor adaptation.
AB  - Multiple distinct learning processes are known to contribute to sensorimotor
      adaptation in humans. It is challenging to identify and characterize these
      multiple processes, however, because only their summed contribution can typically
      be observed. A general strategy for decomposing adaptation into its constituent
      components is to exploit their differential susceptibility to specific
      experimental manipulations. Several such approaches have recently emerged which,
      taken together, suggest that two fundamental systems operate together to achieve
      the adapted state: one system learns slowly, is implicit, is temporally stable
      over short breaks, is expressible at low reaction times, and its properties do
      not change based on experience. The second learns rapidly, is explicit, requires
      a long preparation time to be expressed, and exhibits long-term memory for prior
      learning. 

PMID- 25827273
TI  - Motor-related signals in the auditory system for listening and learning.
AB  - In the auditory system, corollary discharge signals are theorized to facilitate
      normal hearing and the learning of acoustic behaviors, including speech and
      music. Despite clear evidence of corollary discharge signals in the auditory
      cortex and their presumed importance for hearing and auditory-guided motor
      learning, the circuitry and function of corollary discharge signals in the
      auditory cortex are not well described. In this review, we focus on recent
      developments in the mouse and songbird that provide insights into the circuitry
      that transmits corollary discharge signals to the auditory system and the
      function of these signals in the context of hearing and vocal learning. 

PMID- 25827274
TI  - Feedback control during voluntary motor actions.
AB  - Humans possess an impressive ability to generate goal-oriented motor actions to
      move and interact with the environment. The planning and initiation of these body
      movements is supported by highly distributed cortical and subcortical circuits.
      Recent studies, inspired by advanced control theory, highlight similar
      sophistication when we make online corrections to counter small disturbances of
      the limb or altered visual feedback. Such goal-directed feedback is likely
      generated by the same neural circuits associated with motor planning and
      initiation. These common neural substrates afford a highly responsive system to
      maintain goal-directed control and rapidly select new motor actions as required
      to deftly move and interact in a complex world. 

PMID- 25827276
TI  - Anesthesiological considerations for children with obstructive sleep apnea.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To summarize recent evidence-based data regarding outcomes
      associated with children who have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). RECENT FINDINGS:
      Internet surveys conducted by pediatric otolaryngologists and pediatric
      anesthesiologists have reported a disturbing number of deaths within 24 h of
      tonsillectomy attributed to postsurgical/anesthesia apnea. Several occurred in
      the post anesthesia care unit after routine monitors had been removed. In
      addition, a number of deaths also have been attributed to children who have
      duplicated cytochromes allowing the rapid conversion of codeine to morphine, thus
      producing a relative drug overdose. Finally, there is some human and animal
      evidence suggesting that repeated episodes of hypoxemia result in altered opioid
      receptors causing relative opioid sensitivity. These factors have important
      clinical implications. SUMMARY: Perioperative deaths in children with OSA occur
      at a low frequency. Hypoxia-induced opioid sensitivity combined with an
      approximate 1-2% incidence of rapid conversion of codeine to morphine suggest the
      need for new approaches for providing preoperative assessment of risk, extended
      postoperative observation and the need for alternative opioids to codeine.
      Additionally, new less painful surgical approaches may help to reduce
      postoperative opioid requirements and therefore perhaps less risk for opiate
      induced apnea in this vulnerable population.

PMID- 25827275
TI  - Brain-controlled neuromuscular stimulation to drive neural plasticity and
      functional recovery.
AB  - There is mounting evidence that appropriately timed neuromuscular stimulation can
      induce neural plasticity and generate functional recovery from motor disorders.
      This review addresses the idea that coordinating stimulation with a patient's
      voluntary effort might further enhance neurorehabilitation. Studies in cell
      cultures and behaving animals have delineated the rules underlying neural
      plasticity when single neurons are used as triggers. However, the rules governing
      more complex stimuli and larger networks are less well understood. We argue that
      functional recovery might be optimized if stimulation were modulated by a brain
      machine interface, to match the details of the patient's voluntary intent. The
      potential of this novel approach highlights the need for a better understanding
      of the complex rules underlying this form of plasticity. 

PMID- 25827277
TI  - Venous access in children: state of the art.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim of this review is to discuss recent developments in
      vascular access technology and to highlight those that are particularly relevant
      to the practitioner. RECENT FINDINGS: The need for venous access should always be
      critically assessed in every child, and it is important to use the limited number
      of suitable veins wisely and to avoid unnecessary attempts. Near-infrared devices
      make veins visible, but they do not necessarily increase the success rate of
      peripheral venous puncture. In contrast, ultrasound is now almost universally
      used for central venous puncture, and it helped to popularize the supraclavicular
      puncture of the left anonymous vein. The focus has shifted more toward infectious
      and especially thrombotic complications. SUMMARY: Despite the development of new
      technical devices, successful venous puncture remains heavily dependent on the
      skills of the operator.

PMID- 25827278
TI  - Modern neuraxial labour analgesia.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Neuraxial analgesia is considered the gold standard of labour
      analgesia as it provides the most effective method of pain relief during
      childbirth. In this article, we explore the recent advances in the initiation and
      maintenance of epidural analgesia. RECENT FINDINGS: Patient-controlled epidural
      analgesia, computer-integrated patient-controlled epidural analgesia,
      intermittent epidural bolus (programmed intermittent bolus, automated mandatory
      bolus) and variable frequency automated mandatory bolus administration are
      techniques that allow the individualized titration and optimization of labour
      analgesia. The debate has moved on to finding the optimal settings for epidural
      bolus dosing, time intervals and frequency for epidural analgesia with the hope
      of improving safety and efficacy as well as patient satisfaction. SUMMARY: We
      examine these recent developments in pump technology and epidural delivery
      systems and evaluate how these have enhanced the mothers' birthing experiences.

PMID- 25827279
TI  - What can you do to protect the newborn brain?
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Hypoxic-ischemic brain injury is a leading cause of mortality
      and morbidity in neonates. Treating such injury by interrupting the excitotoxic
      oxidative cascade is of immense importance. This review will focus on novel
      techniques of neuroprotection and describe the latest advances in established
      therapeutic methods. KEY FINDINGS: Although the primacy of therapeutic
      hypothermia in treating hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is well established,
      recent research establishes that the arbitrarily chosen regimen of cooling to 33
      degrees C for 72 h may indeed be the most appropriate method. The optimal
      duration of antenatal magnesium therapy for neuroprotection remains unsettled,
      though it is reassuring that even 12 h or less of magnesium therapy results in
      comparable neurological outcomes. Combining adjuvant therapies such as melatonin
      or erythropoietin with therapeutic hypothermia results in favorable neurological
      outcomes compared with hypothermia alone. Finally, stem cell-based therapies show
      considerable potential in preclinical studies. SUMMARY: Significant advances have
      occurred in the management of neonatal brain injury. With establishment of the
      optimal temperature and duration of hypothermia, combinatory therapies using
      adjuncts hold the greatest promise. Promising preclinical approaches such as stem
      cell-based therapy and use of noble gases need to be confirmed with clinical
      trials.

PMID- 25827280
TI  - General anesthesia for caesarean section.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: For most anaesthesiologists, the clinical experience with
      general anaesthesia for caesarean section is very low. General anaesthesia is
      mostly performed for emergency grade 1 caesarean section and due to a lack of
      time to apply a neuraxial anaesthesia technique. Unfortunately, the majority of
      anaesthesiologists rely on historical and partly outdated approaches in this
      stressful situation. We propose an evidence-based approach to general anaesthesia
      for caesarean section. RECENT FINDINGS: Rapid sequence induction using propofol
      and rocuronium should become the standard for general anaesthesia in the
      obstetric patient. Short-acting opioids are still not given routinely but should
      never be withheld in case of severe preeclampsia. Cricoid pressure can only be
      accurately performed by trained caregivers and should be released if intubation
      appears to be difficult. Supra-glottic airway devices may safely be used in
      fasted, nonobese elective caesarean section, but endotracheal intubation remains
      the gold standard, especially in emergency caesarean section in labouring women.
      Both sevoflurane and propofol are appropriate for the maintenance of general
      anaesthesia during caesarean section. Awareness remains a major concern in
      obstetric anaesthesia. SUMMARY: We present a review of recent evidence on general
      anaesthesia for caesarean section.

PMID- 25827281
TI  - Blood conservation strategies and the management of perioperative anaemia.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Anaemia is a global health problem with particularly high
      prevalence in the perioperative setting and it can significantly affect the
      patient outcomes. This review addresses new findings on the significance of
      anaemia and patient blood management (PBM) strategies to prevent and manage
      anaemia. RECENT FINDINGS: Studies support the independent deleterious effects of
      anaemia on mortality, morbidity and quality of life as well as its role as a risk
      factor for transfusion. Although improved understanding of iron regulators such
      as hepcidin is expected to revolutionize the field, simple algorithms are useful
      tools for more effective management of anaemia relying on currently available
      therapies (such as intravenous iron and erythropoiesis-stimulating agents). Other
      PBM strategies such as optimization of haemostasis and avoidance of blood loss
      are effective in preventing anaemia or its exacerbation and improving the
      outcomes of patients. In addition, more attention should be given to hospital
      acquired anaemia (HAA) and its avoidable causes, such as unnecessary diagnostic
      phlebotomies. SUMMARY: Despite the high prevalence of anaemia and the significant
      toll it takes on patients, simple and effective strategies are available to
      detect, diagnose and treat it.

PMID- 25827282
TI  - Preoperative oral carbohydrate therapy.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Management of the postoperative response to surgical stress is
      an important issue in major surgery. Avoiding preoperative fasting using
      preoperative oral carbohydrates (POC) has been suggested as a measure to prevent
      and reduce the extent to which such derangements occur. This review summarizes
      the current evidence and rationale for this treatment. RECENT FINDINGS: A recent
      review from the Cochrane Collaboration reports enhanced gastrointestinal recovery
      and shorter hospital stay with the use of POC with no effect on postoperative
      complication rates. Multiple randomized controlled trials demonstrate improved
      postoperative metabolic response after POC administration, including reduced
      insulin resistance, protein sparing, improved muscle function and preserved
      immune response. Cohort studies in patients undergoing major abdominal surgery
      have shown that the use of POC as part of an enhanced recovery after surgery
      protocol is a significant predictor for improved clinical outcomes. SUMMARY:
      Avoiding preoperative fasting with POC is associated with attenuated
      postoperative insulin resistance, improved metabolic response, enhanced
      perioperative well-being, and better clinical outcomes. The impact is greatest
      for patients undergoing major surgeries.

PMID- 25827283
TI  - Improving perioperative outcomes and the giants of evidence-based medicine.

PMID- 25827284
TI  - Patient-controlled intravenous analgesia remifentanil for labor analgesia: time
      to stop, think and reconsider.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Remifentanil is a relatively new but commonly used opioid
      alternative in the management of labor pain relief. The present article evaluates
      efficacy and safety of patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) with
      remifentanil in the management of labor pain relief. RECENT FINDINGS:
      Remifentanil PCIA provides analgesia that is superior to nitrous oxide or other
      opioids such as meperidine, but is less effective when compared with epidural
      analgesia. Recent evidence suggests it produces significant respiratory
      depression making routine use as first line analgesia strategy virtually
      impossible. SUMMARY: Remifentanil PCIA is a valuable analgesic strategy whenever
      regional analgesia is contraindicated. Using it as first line strategy seems to
      be contraindicated because of significant respiratory side-effects to the mother.
      Whenever used advanced and continuous monitoring using capnography, saturation
      monitoring and one-to-one midwifery care are mandatory!

PMID- 25827285
TI  - Identification and characterization of reproductive KRAB-ZF genes in mice.
AB  - The mammalian genome contains numerous genes encoding transcription factors that
      contain Kruppel-associated box (KRAB) and C2H2-type zinc finger (ZF) motifs (KRAB
      ZF). In the present study, we identified KRAB-ZF genes expressed in the mouse
      testis or ovary, and selected three genes that exhibit gonad-specific or gonad
      predominant expression. In vitro analyses showed that these gonadal KRAB-ZF
      proteins are localized in cell nuclei and are able to repress transcriptional
      activity. We further analyzed one of the gonad-specific reproductive genes,
      Zfp819, and found that it is expressed exclusively in spermatogenic cells.
      Overexpression of Zfp819 suppressed cell proliferation and induced apoptosis.
      Microarray analysis of Zfp819-overexpressing cells allowed us to identify
      numerous, potential target genes. A number of the down-regulated genes were found
      to show gene expression levels inversely correlated with Zfp819 during
      spermatogenesis. Some of the down-regulated genes were previously reported to
      play significant roles in spermatogenesis and apoptosis. Collectively, our study
      provides the first comprehensive information regarding the expression of
      reproductive KRAB-ZF genes in mice and reveals potential functions of Zfp819.

PMID- 25827286
TI  - Linear mRNA amplification approach for RNAseq from limited amount of RNA.
AB  - Whole-transcriptome evaluation by next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been
      widely applied in the investigation of diverse transcriptional scenarios. In many
      clinical situations, including needle biopsy samples or laser microdissected
      cells, limited amounts of RNA are usually available for the assessment of the
      whole transcriptome. Here, we describe an mRNA amplification protocol based on in
      vitro T7 transcription for transcriptome evaluation by NGS. Initially, we
      performed RNAseq from two human mammary epithelial cell lines and evaluated
      several aspects of the transcriptomes generated by linear amplification of Poly
      (A)(+) mRNA species, including transcript representation, variability and
      abundance. Our protocol showed to be efficient with respect to full-length
      transcript coverage and quantitative expression levels. We then evaluated the
      applicability of using this protocol in a more realistic research scenario,
      analyzing tumor tissue samples microdissected by laser capture. In order to
      increase the quantification power of the libraries only the 3' end of transcripts
      were sequenced. We found highly reproducible RNAseq data among amplified tumor
      samples, with a median Spearman's correlation of 80%, strongly suggesting that
      the amplification step and library protocol preparation lead to a consistent
      transcriptional profile. Altogether, we established a robust protocol for
      assessing the polyadenylated transcriptome derived from limited amounts of total
      RNA that is applicable to all NGS platforms. 

PMID- 25827287
TI  - Tuning thermal transport in ultrathin silicon membranes by surface nanoscale
      engineering.
AB  - A detailed understanding of the connections of fabrication and processing to
      structural and thermal properties of low-dimensional nanostructures is essential
      to design materials and devices for phononics, nanoscale thermal management, and
      thermoelectric applications. Silicon provides an ideal platform to study the
      relations between structure and heat transport since its thermal conductivity can
      be tuned over 2 orders of magnitude by nanostructuring. Combining realistic
      atomistic modeling and experiments, we unravel the origin of the thermal
      conductivity reduction in ultrathin suspended silicon membranes, down to a
      thickness of 4 nm. Heat transport is mostly controlled by surface scattering:
      rough layers of native oxide at surfaces limit the mean free path of thermal
      phonons below 100 nm. Removing the oxide layers by chemical processing allows us
      to tune the thermal conductivity over 1 order of magnitude. Our results guide
      materials design for future phononic applications, setting the length scale at
      which nanostructuring affects thermal phonons most effectively. 

PMID- 25827288
TI  - Characterization and quantification of dynamic eccentric regurgitation of the
      left atrioventricular valve after atrioventricular septal defect correction with
      4D Flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance and retrospective valve tracking.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To characterize and directly quantify regurgitant jets of left
      atrioventricular valve (LAVV) in patients with corrected atrioventricular septal
      defect (AVSD) by four-dimensional (4D)Flow Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance
      (CMR), streamline visualization and retrospective valve tracking. METHODS:
      Medical ethical committee approval and informed consent from all patients or
      their parents were obtained. In 32 corrected AVSD patients (age 26 +/- 12 years),
      echocardiography and whole-heart 4DFlow CMR were performed. Using streamline
      visualization on 2- and 4-chamber views, the angle between regurgitation and
      annulus was followed throughout systole. On through-plane velocity-encoded images
      reformatted perpendicular to the regurgitation jet the cross-sectional jet
      circularity index was assessed and regurgitant volume and fraction were
      calculated. Correlation and agreement between different techniques was performed
      with Pearson's r and Spearman's rho correlation and Bland-Altman analysis.
      RESULTS: In 8 patients, multiple regurgitant jets over the LAVV were identified.
      Median variation in regurgitant jet angle within patients was 36 degrees (IQR 18
      64 degrees ) on the 2-chamber and 30 degrees (IQR 20-40 degrees ) on the 4
      chamber. Regurgitant jets had a circularity index of 0.61 +/- 0.16.
      Quantification of the regurgitation volume was feasible with 4DFlow CMR with
      excellent correlation between LAVV effective forward flow and aortic flow (r =
      0.97, p < 0.001) for internal validation and moderate correlation with planimetry
      derived regurgitant volume (r = 0.65, p < 0.001) and echocardiographic grading
      (rho = 0.51, p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: 4DFlow CMR with streamline visualization
      revealed multiple, dynamic and eccentric regurgitant jets with non-circular cross
      sectional shape in patients after AVSD correction. 4DFlow with retrospective
      valve tracking allows direct and accurate quantification of the regurgitation of
      these complex jets.

PMID- 25827289
TI  - Diet quality in older age: the influence of childhood and adult socio-economic
      circumstances.
AB  - Socio-economic gradients in diet quality are well established. However, the
      influence of material socio-economic conditions particularly in childhood, and
      the use of multiple disaggregated socio-economic measures on diet quality have
      been little studied in the elderly. In the present study, we examined childhood
      and adult socio-economic measures, and social relationships, as determinants of
      diet quality cross-sectionally in 4252 older British men (aged 60-79 years). A
      FFQ provided data on daily fruit and vegetable consumption and the Elderly
      Dietary Index (EDI), with higher scores indicating better diet quality. Adult and
      childhood socio-economic measures included occupation/father's occupation,
      education and household amenities, which combined to create composite scores.
      Social relationships included social contact, living arrangements and marital
      status. Both childhood and adult socio-economic factors were independently
      associated with diet quality. Compared with non-manual social class, men of
      childhood manual social class were less likely to consume fruit and vegetables
      daily (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.66, 0.97), as were men of adult manual social class (OR
      0.65, 95% CI 0.54, 0.79), and less likely to be in the top EDI quartile (OR 0.73,
      95% CI 0.61, 0.88), similar to men of adult manual social class (OR 0.66, 95 % CI
      0.55, 0.79). Diet quality decreased with increasing adverse adult socio-economic
      scores; however, the association with adverse childhood socio-economic scores
      diminished with adult social class adjustment. A combined adverse childhood and
      adulthood socio-economic score was associated with poor diet quality. Diet
      quality was most favourable in married men and those not living alone, but was
      not associated with social contact. Diet quality in older men is influenced by
      childhood and adulthood socio-economic factors, marital status and living
      arrangements.

PMID- 25827290
TI  - Predictors of optimal cytoreduction in patients with newly diagnosed advanced
      stage epithelial ovarian cancer: Time to incorporate laparoscopic assessment into
      the standard of care.
AB  - The standard management of advanced-stage ovarian cancer has been a subject of
      debate, and much controversy remains as to whether patients should have primary
      cytoreductive surgery followed by chemotherapy or neoadjuvant chemotherapy
      followed by interval cytoreductive surgery. In addition, there is increasing
      evidence that the patients who ultimately gain the most benefit from surgery are
      those with no residual disease at the completion of surgery (R0 resection).
      Therefore, to determine the best therapeutic strategy (primary cytoreductive
      surgery vs. neoadjuvant chemotherapy) for an individual patient, it is critically
      important to estimate the likelihood that primary cytoreductive surgery will
      leave no macroscopic residual disease. A number of studies have evaluated the use
      of serologic markers, such as CA-125, and imaging modalities, such as computed
      tomography (CT) or positron emission tomography/CT (PET/CT), to determine which
      patients are ideal candidates for primary cytoreductive surgery. More recently,
      laparoscopy has been proposed as a reliable predictor of R0 resection. In this
      report, we provide a review of the existing literature on the proposed criteria
      to predict the outcome of cytoreductive surgery and the role of laparoscopy-based
      scores in the management of advanced ovarian cancer. 

PMID- 25827291
TI  - A randomized trial comparing concurrent chemoradiotherapy with single-agent
      cisplatin versus cisplatin plus gemcitabine in patients with advanced cervical
      cancer: An Asian Gynecologic Oncology Group study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A recent randomized trial demonstrated that concurrent
      chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) with weekly cisplatin and gemcitabine, followed by two
      adjuvant cycles of cisplatin and gemcitabine improved survival for advanced
      cervical cancer patients. An Asian Gynecologic Oncology Group (AGOG) study was
      designed to determine whether only adding gemcitabine in the chemoradiation phase
      without adjuvant chemotherapy could improve survival. METHODS: Between March 2009
      and March 2013, 74 eligible patients with International Federation of Obstetrics
      and Gynecology stage III/IVA cervical cancer or stage I/II with positive
      pelvic/para-aortic nodal metastasis were enrolled. Thirty-seven patients were
      randomized to arm C (weekly cisplatin 40mg/m(2)) and 37 patients were randomized
      to arm CG (weekly cisplatin 40mg/m(2) and gemcitabine 125mg/m(2)), for six
      cycles. Six eligible patients were excluded before the beginning of treatment.
      RESULTS: An interim analysis showed superimposable progression-free (PFS) and
      overall survival (OS), a decision of closing accrual was made. A 3-year PFS was
      similar in both arms (arm C 65.1% vs. arm CG 71.0%, p=0.71), and a 3-year OS was
      74.1% in arm C vs. 85.9% in arm CG (p=0.89), but crossed over at 5years. Grade 2
      4 hematological toxicities, including neutropenia (p=0.028) and thrombocytopenia
      (p=0.001), were more frequent in arm CG than arm C. CONCLUSIONS: Despite
      limitation in power, it suggests that only adding gemcitabine at the CCRT phase
      does not provide substantially superior results, but treatment toxicities could
      increase. Further studies are required to determine the role of post-CCRT
      adjuvant chemotherapy in advanced cervical cancer.

PMID- 25827292
TI  - Quality of life after early enteral feeding versus standard care for proven or
      suspected advanced epithelial ovarian cancer: Results from a randomised trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Malnutrition is common in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian
      cancer (EOC), and is associated with impaired quality of life (QoL), longer
      hospital stay and higher risk of treatment-related adverse events. This phase III
      multi-centre randomised clinical trial tested early enteral feeding versus
      standard care on postoperative QoL. METHODS: From 2009 to 2013, 109 patients
      requiring surgery for suspected advanced EOC, moderately to severely malnourished
      were enrolled at five sites across Queensland and randomised to intervention
      (n=53) or control (n=56) groups. Intervention involved intraoperative nasojejunal
      tube placement and enteral feeding until adequate oral intake could be
      maintained. Despite being randomised to intervention, 20 patients did not receive
      feeds (13 did not receive the feeding tube; 7 had it removed early). Control
      involved postoperative diet as tolerated. QoL was measured at baseline, 6weeks
      postoperatively and 30days after the third cycle of chemotherapy. The primary
      outcome measure was the difference in QoL between the intervention and the
      control group. Secondary endpoints included treatment-related adverse event
      occurrence, length of stay, postoperative services use, and nutritional status.
      RESULTS: Baseline characteristics were comparable between treatment groups. No
      significant difference in QoL was found between the groups at any time point.
      There was a trend towards better nutritional status in patients who received the
      intervention but the differences did not reach statistical significance except
      for the intention-to-treat analysis at 7days postoperatively (11.8 intervention
      vs. 13.8 control, p 0.04). CONCLUSION: Early enteral feeding did not
      significantly improve patients' QoL compared to standard of care but may improve
      nutritional status.

PMID- 25827293
TI  - Immediate radical trachelectomy versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by
      conservative surgery for patients with stage IB1 cervical cancer with tumors 2cm
      or larger: A literature review and analysis of oncological and obstetrical
      outcomes.
AB  - Radical trachelectomy is the treatment of choice in women with early-stage
      cervical cancer wishing to preserve fertility. Radical trachelectomy can be
      performed with a vaginal, abdominal, or laparoscopic/robotic approach. Vaginal
      radical trachelectomy (VRT) is generally not offered to patients with tumors 2cm
      or larger because of a high recurrence rate. There are no conclusive
      recommendations regarding the safety of abdominal radical trachelectomy (ART) or
      laparoscopic radical trachelectomy (LRT) in such patients. Several investigators
      have used neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with tumors 2 to 4cm to reduce
      tumor size so that fertility preservation may be offered. However, to our
      knowledge, no published study has compared outcomes between patients with
      cervical tumors 2cm or larger who underwent immediate radical trachelectomy and
      those who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical trachelectomy.
      We conducted a literature review to compare outcomes with these 2 approaches. Our
      main endpoints for evaluation were oncological and obstetrical outcomes. The
      fertility preservation rate was 82.7%, 85.1%, 89%; and 91.1% for ART (tumors
      larger than >2cm), ART (all sizes), NACT followed by surgery and VRT (all sizes);
      respectively. The global pregnancy rate was 16.2%, 24% and 30.7% for ART, VRT,
      and NACT followed by surgery; respectively. The recurrence rate was 3.8%, 4.2%,
      6%, 7.6% and 17% for ART (all sizes), VRT (all sizes), ART (tumors>2cm), NACT
      followed by surgery, and VRT (tumors>2cm). These outcomes must be considered when
      offering a fertility sparing technique to patients with a tumor larger than 2cm. 

PMID- 25827294
TI  - Three-dimensional printed calcaneal prosthesis following total calcanectomy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The majority of patients with extremity sarcoma can be surgically
      treated without amputation. However, limb-salvage surgery for foot sarcomas
      including the calcaneus remains challenging. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 71-year-old
      man presented with a 5-year history of right heel persistent pain. Imaging
      studies revealed an osteolytic, destructive and highly metabolic lesion in the
      right calcaneus. Computed tomography guided core needle biopsy confirmed the
      diagnosis of grade 2 chondrosarcoma. A total calcanectomy was performed, and the
      defect was reconstructed with a patient matched three-dimensional printed
      titanium calcaneal prosthesis. Intra-operatively, ligaments including the
      Achilles tendon, and plantar fascia were reattached. The post-operative course
      was uneventful, and at the 5-month clinical follow-up, the patient was fully
      weightbearing, with a mobile ankle without pain. DISCUSSION: This case is the
      first to use additive manufacturing to create a prosthetic calcaneus. The complex
      peri-calcaneal articular surfaces and reattachment of tendinous structures
      facilitate efforts to stabilize the prosthesis in situ. CONCLUSION: Three
      dimensional-printed prosthesis of the calcaneus is a viable alternative to
      amputation.

PMID- 25827295
TI  - Thyroid metastasis as initial presentation of clear cell renal carcinoma.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Metastatic tumors account for 1.4-2.5% of thyroid malignancies.
      About 25-30% of patients with clear cell renal carcinoma (CCRC) have distant
      metastasis at the time of diagnosis, being the thyroid gland a rare localization
      [5%]. PRESENTATION OF THE CASE: A 62-year woman who underwent a cervical
      ultrasonography and a PAAF biopsy reporting atypical follicular proliferation
      with a few intranuclear vacuoles "suggestive" of thyroid papillary cancer in the
      context of a multinodular goiter was reported. A total thyroidectomy was
      performed and the histology of a clear cell renal carcinoma (CCRC) was described
      in four nodules of the thyroid gland. A CT scan was performed and a renal giant
      right tumor was found. The patient underwent an eventful radical right
      nephrectomy and the diagnosis of CCRC was confirmed. DISCUSSION: Thyroid
      metastasis (TM) from CCRC are usually apparent in a metachronic context during
      the follow-up of a treated primary (even many years after) but may sometimes be
      present at the same time than the primary renal tumor. Our case is exceptional
      because the TM was the first evidence of the CCRC, which was subsequently
      diagnosed and treated. CONCLUSION: The possibility of finding of an incidental
      metastatic tumor in the thyroid gland from a previous unknown and non-diganosed
      primary (as CCRC in our case was) is rare and account only for less than 1% of
      malignancies. Nonetheless, the thyroid gland is a frequent site of metastasis and
      the presence of "de novo" thyroid nodules in oncologic patients must be always
      considered and studied.

PMID- 25827296
TI  - Abdominal aortitis on PET CT: A case report and review of the literature.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Aortitis often occurs in patients with systemic vasculitis.
      PRESENTATION OF CASE: We reported a 73 year old man with giant cell arteritis who
      was presented with abdominal pain and weight loss. DISCUSSION: Aortitis was
      diagnosed on PET-CT scan performed because initial investigations raised the
      possibility of pancreatic pathology. CONCLUSION: This case highlights the utility
      of PET-CT in the diagnosis of abdominal aortitis and the need to consider
      aortitis as a differential in patients with abdominal pain with a history of
      vasculitis.

PMID- 25827297
TI  - PAX6 Expression and Retinal Cell Death in a Transgenic Mouse Model for Acute
      Angle-Closure Glaucoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: PAX6 is a highly conserved protein essential for the control of eye
      development both in invertebrates and vertebrates. PAX6 expression persists in
      the adult inner retina, but little is known about its functions after completion
      of retinal differentiation. Therefore, we investigated PAX6 expression in wild
      type and calcitonin receptor-like receptor transgenic (CLR(SMalphaA)) mice with
      angle-closure glaucoma. METHODS: Intraocular pressure was measured by indentation
      tonometry in anesthetized mice. Eyes of mice of both genotypes were enucleated at
      various ages and retinas were processed for morphological analysis and PAX6
      immunostaining. The content of PAX6 in retinal extracts was estimated by Western
      blot analysis. Retinal expression of glaucoma-related genes was analyzed by
      reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Control mice showed
      normal retinal morphology between p22 and p428 with steady PAX6 expression in the
      ganglion cell layer (GCL) and the inner nuclear layer (INL). CLR(SMalphaA) mice
      examined between p22 and p82 exhibited increased intraocular pressure and a
      progressive decrease in cell number including PAX6-expressing cells in the GCL.
      The INL was not affected up to postnatal day 42. Later, a significant increase in
      PAX6-expressing cells concomitant with an overall loss of cells was observed in
      the INL of CLR(SMalphaA) as compared with control mice. Retinal up-regulation of
      glaucoma-related genes was furthermore observed. CONCLUSIONS: Distinctive changes
      of PAX6 expression in the inner retina of CLR(SMalphaA) mice suggest a role in
      regulatory mechanisms involved in glaucoma-related retinal cell death. The
      selective increase of PAX6 expression in the degenerating INL of CLR(SMalphaA)
      mice may represent an attempt to preserve retinal cytoarchitecture.

PMID- 25827298
TI  - Characterization of Glaucoma Medication Adherence in Kaiser Permanente Southern
      California.
AB  - PURPOSE: To describe adherence to glaucoma medications. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      Medication adherence was investigated using the computerized records of Kaiser
      Permanente Southern California, a group model health maintenance organization
      that provides care to 3.4 million residents of Southern California. Eligible
      glaucoma patients were diagnosed between 2005 and 2009 and had medical and
      prescription drug coverage between 2005 and 2009. Utilization and adherence
      parameters were calculated for each of the 5 years from the incident date.
      RESULTS: A total of 17,943 newly diagnosed glaucoma patients were identified
      between the years 2005 and 2009. Of patients diagnosed with glaucoma in 2005, 71%
      were continuously eligible for 5 years. Medication adherence was calculated using
      a medication possession ratio. Adherence was bimodal and not normal in
      distribution. Overall, the mean age of the entire group was 66 years, with 56%
      being 65 years of age or older. The high adherence group tended to be older, more
      likely to be female, and more likely to be white. The low adherent group
      (younger) tended to have more and worse diabetes, renal disease, myocardial
      infarction, and stroke. CONCLUSIONS: The shape of the adherence distribution
      appears bimodal, so analysis based on parametric measures may not be appropriate.
      Investigations of adherence should probably be performed separately for the low,
      mid, and high groups.

PMID- 25827299
TI  - Cup-to-Disc Ratio From Heidelberg Retina Tomograph 3 and High-Definition Optical
      Coherence Tomography Agrees Poorly With Clinical Assessment.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the agreement of vertical cup-to-disc ratio (VCDR)
      measured from Heidelberg Retina Tomograph 3 (HRT-3), high-definition optical
      coherence tomography (HD-OCT), and clinical grading. METHODS: A total of 933
      consecutive subjects underwent optic nerve head imaging with HRT-3 and HD-OCT
      during a single visit. The vertical dimensions of the disc and cup were measured
      by slit-lamp examination using an eyepiece graticule. Bland-Altman plots
      evaluated the agreement in the VCDR obtained by the 2 instruments and clinical
      grading. RESULTS: We found a significant trend for the difference in VCDR
      measured clinically and with HRT and HD-OCT (P<0.001 for both). The mean VCDR
      differed significantly between clinical measurement and that evaluated by HRT and
      HD-OCT, respectively (0.40 +/- 0.12 vs. 0.37 +/- 0.21 and 0.40 +/- 0.12 vs. 0.50
      +/- 0.14, P<0.001 for both), with significantly poor correlation (r(2)=0.35 and
      0.34, P<0.001 for both). CONCLUSIONS: In general, there is poor correlation and a
      lack of agreement of VCDR measured using HRT-3, HD-OCT, and clinical grading. HD
      OCT has somewhat better agreement with clinical measurements of VCDR. Compared
      with clinical grading, HD-OCT tended to overestimate VCDR, whereas HRT-3 tended
      to underestimate it.

PMID- 25827300
TI  - Evaluation of Quality of Life in Japanese Glaucoma Patients and its Relationship
      With Visual Function.
AB  - PURPOSE: We assessed vision-related quality of life (VR-QOL) in glaucoma patients
      and examined the relationship between VR-QOL and indices of visual function and
      subjective symptoms. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Four hundred seventy-two glaucoma
      patients completed a questionnaire concerning VR-QOL and subjective symptoms of
      glaucoma. VR-QOL was based on 5 subscales selected from the National Eye
      Institute 25-item Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25), whereas subjective
      symptoms were examined using original questions that we prepared. The following
      were selected as visual function indices: corrected visual acuity measured with a
      distance visual acuity chart, mean deviation scores measured with a static
      perimeter, and 4 threshold levels in the innermost center of a visual field (4
      pericentral test points). Disease staging was conducted according to the Aulhorn
      classification system. Correlations of visual function with VR-QOL were evaluated
      using the Spearman test. RESULTS: Correlations were observed in almost all
      subscales of the NEI VFQ-25, including correlations with corrected vision,
      disease stage, mean deviation score, and minimum threshold values of the 4-point
      pericentral test on the temporal side (P<0.0001). Visual function indices
      affecting driving differed between daytime and night driving (P<0.0001). NEI VFQ
      25 subscales were correlated with subjective symptoms felt by the patients while
      driving (P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Minimum threshold values of the 4 pericentral
      test points on the temporal side are useful for the assessment of VR-QOL. Minimum
      threshold values of the 4 pericentral test points on the temporal side are useful
      for assessing visual field abnormalities that are associated with decreased VR
      QOL.

PMID- 25827301
TI  - Evaluating stakeholder's perspective on referred out genetic testing in Canada: a
      discrete choice experiment.
AB  - The expanding number and increasing utility of clinical genetic tests is creating
      a growing burden on the Canadian healthcare system. Administrators are faced with
      the challenge of determining which genetic tests should be publicly funded. A
      discrete choice experiment (DCE) was utilized to assess the importance
      stakeholders place on five attributes of a genetic test. One hundred ninety
      individuals completed the DCE questions. Analysis of the data revealed that
      medical benefit of a test had the greatest impact on a respondent's decision to
      select a test for funding. The detection rate of the test ranked second in
      importance followed by severity of the condition, aim of the test, and cost. With
      limited resources available for referred out molecular genetic testing within a
      public healthcare setting such as Canada's, funding guidelines are critical. Our
      findings provide further evidence for the value of a decision-making framework
      and the relative importance of specific test attributes within such a framework. 

PMID- 25827302
TI  - Psychopathology and Related Psychosocial Factors in Children with Office
      Discipline Referrals at School: Evidence from a Developing Country.
AB  - Many childhood psychiatric disorders present their first symptoms as challenging
      behaviors at school. Evidence from cross-national studies enhance the
      understanding of the biological and cultural variables underlying these
      behaviours. In this study, we aim to identify the psychopathology among children
      with office disciplinary referrals and assess psychosocial risk factors related
      to this situation. Forty-seven students who had received an office discipline
      referral and eighty-three controls who had never been given an office
      disciplinary referral participated in this study. The Kiddie Schedule for
      Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children--Present and
      Lifetime, socio-demographic data form were administered to children to assess
      their respective psychopathologies and psychosocial risk factors. Attention
      deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder,
      and obsessive compulsive disorder were significantly higher in children with
      Office discipline referrals. Psychiatric assessment should be one of the first
      steps in the evaluation processes of assessing challenging behaviors at school.

PMID- 25827303
TI  - Continuity of Care in Children's Mental Health: Parent, Youth and Provider
      Perspectives.
AB  - Continuity of care, how individuals experience care over time as coherent and
      linked, is considered an ethical principle of care. While continuity has been
      examined extensively in the adult health literature, there is a paucity of
      studies examining continuity in children's mental health care. Using qualitative
      semi-structured interviews with parents, youth, and service providers, the
      current study found themes and issues unique to this healthcare context, such as
      coordination across sectors; risks to discontinuity, such as transitions; and
      consequences of discontinuity, such as parents acting as liaisons. Implications
      of these findings are discussed. 

PMID- 25827304
TI  - Non-traumatic biliary duct neuroma masquerading as a Klatskin tumour.

PMID- 25827305
TI  - Prognostic values of 5-hmC, 5-mC and TET2 in epithelial ovarian cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification that is
      frequently altered in cancer. Recent reports showed that the level of 5
      hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) was altered in various types of cancers. The
      influence of DNA methylation in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is not fully
      understood. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate factors
      involved in DNA demethylation in EOC compared with normal ovarian tissues.
      METHODS: We examined the expression of 5-hmC, 5-mC, and TET2 by
      immunohistochemistry in 130 cases of EOC and 40 cases of normal ovarian tissues.
      We assessed the prognostic values of 5-hmC, 5-mC, and TET2 in clinical outcome of
      EOC. RESULTS: We discovered a significant decrease in 5-hmC and TET2 expression
      in EOC compared with normal ovarian tissues. In contrast, there was a significant
      increase in 5-mC expression in EOC compared with normal ovarian tissues. The
      expression of 5-hmC, 5-mC, and TET2 correlated with pathologic stage, tumor
      grading, lymph node metastasis, and vascular thrombosis. Furthermore, decreased
      level of 5-hmC predicts poor prognosis of EOC patients. The expression of 5-hmC
      was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival of EOC patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that loss of 5-hmC is an epigenetic event of EOC,
      and the expression of 5-hmC could serve as a prognostic factor for EOC.

PMID- 25827306
TI  - Comparison of spray-dried egg and albumen powder with conventional animal protein
      sources as feed ingredients in diets fed to weaned pigs.
AB  - We evaluated the apparent (AID) and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of
      amino acids (AA) in spray-dried egg (SPE) and albumen powder (AP) compared with
      spray-dried porcine plasma (SDPP), dried porcine solubles (DPS) and fish meal
      (FM). Additionally, the effects of these egg byproducts as a replacement for
      conventional animal proteins on the performance and nutrient digestibility of
      piglets were studied. In Exp. 1, six barrows fitted with ileal T-cannulas were
      allotted to a 6 * 6 Latin Square design and fed six diets. The AID and SID of AA
      were generally higher in AP and FM (P < 0.01) than in the other protein sources.
      In Exp. 2, 150 piglets weaned at 21 days, were fed diets containing the five
      protein sources for 3 weeks. Weight gain of piglets fed SDPP was the highest
      among the treatments. Dry matter and protein digestibility for pigs offered SDPP
      were higher (P < 0.01) than those offered FM and DPS. AP decreased (P < 0.05)
      Escherichia coli counts in the cecum. DPS decreased (P < 0.05) serum diamine
      oxidase compared with SPE. In conclusion, AP and SPE are competitive with
      traditional animal protein sources and can be successfully fed to piglets without
      compromising performance. 

PMID- 25827307
TI  - Electrodialytic removal of nitrate from pineapple juice: effect on selected
      physicochemical properties, amino acids, and aroma components of the juice.
AB  - This study aimed at investigating the effect of nitrate removal from pineapple
      juice by electrodialysis (ED) on selected properties of the ED-treated juice.
      Single-strength pineapple juice with reduced pulp content was treated by ED to
      reduce the nitrate concentration to 15, 10, or 5 ppm. After ED, the removed pulp
      was added to the ED-treated juice and its properties, including electrical
      conductivity, acidity, pH, total soluble solids (TSS), color, amino acids, and
      selected aroma compounds, were determined and compared with those of the
      untreated juice. ED could reduce the nitrate content of 1 L of pineapple juice
      from an initial value of 50 ppm to less than 5 ppm within 30 min. A significant
      decrease in the electrical conductivity, acidity, pH, TSS, and yellowness, but a
      significant increase in the lightness, of the juice was observed upon ED.
      Concentrations of almost all amino acids of the ED-treated juice significantly
      decreased. The concentrations of 8 major compound contributors to the pineapple
      aroma also significantly decreased. Adding the pulp back to the ED-treated juice
      increased the amino acids concentrations; however, it led to a significant
      decrease in the concentrations of the aroma compounds. 

PMID- 25827309
TI  - Surgical treatment of an atlantoaxial fracture after a delayed diagnosis in a
      comatose patient.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Case report. OBJECTIVE: To report a case of fractures of the right
      lateral atlantoaxial joint and C2 body diagnosed more than 5 months after injury.
      Misdiagnosis of an injury to the cervical spine has been reported frequently. For
      patients in whom cervical injury is suspected, the primary screening modality is
      axial CT from the occiput to T1 with sagittal and coronal reconstructions. The
      inadequacy of this radiological evaluation could delay diagnosis of fractures and
      lead to unnecessary surgical treatment of the cervical spine. METHODS: We report
      the case of a 74-year-old woman with an old, displaced combined fracture of the
      C1 and C2 right facet joint. In this case, CT of the brain was evaluated at the
      time of injury, but not CT of the cervical spine. As a consequence, diagnosis was
      delayed and surgical treatment was necessary. RESULTS: We performed posterior
      fusion surgery for C1 and C2. A pedicle screw was not inserted on both sides of
      C2, because of destruction of the insertional point on the right side and a high
      riding VA on the left. Alternatively, a lamina screw and hook were used for C2,
      fixed with lateral mass screws on C1, with a bone graft harvested from the iliac
      crest. CONCLUSIONS: To avoid unnecessary surgery, surgeons should recognize the
      possibility of cervical fractures that cannot be detected without CT, especially
      in patients who are comatose at injury. Atlantoaxial fixation with a hook and
      lamina screw in C2 is an option for old upper cervical fractures in cases where a
      pedicle screw cannot be inserted into C2.

PMID- 25827308
TI  - Are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs effective for the management of neck
      pain and associated disorders, whiplash-associated disorders, or non-specific low
      back pain? A systematic review of systematic reviews by the Ontario Protocol for
      Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
      (NSAIDs) for the management of neck pain and associated disorders (NAD), whiplash
      associated disorders, and non-specific low back pain (LBP) with or without
      radiculopathy. METHODS: We systematically searched six databases from 2000 to
      2014. Random pairs of independent reviewers critically appraised eligible
      systematic reviews using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network
      criteria. We included systematic reviews with a low risk of bias in our best
      evidence synthesis. RESULTS: We screened 706 citations and 14 systematic reviews
      were eligible for critical appraisal. Eight systematic reviews had a low risk of
      bias. For recent-onset NAD, evidence suggests that intramuscular NSAIDs lead to
      similar outcomes as combined manipulation and soft tissue therapy. For NAD
      (duration not specified), oral NSAIDs may be more effective than placebo. For
      recent-onset LBP, evidence suggests that: (1) oral NSAIDs lead to similar
      outcomes to placebo or a muscle relaxant; and (2) oral NSAIDs with bed rest lead
      to similar outcomes as placebo with bed rest. For persistent LBP, evidence
      suggests that: (1) oral NSAIDs are more effective than placebo; and (2) oral
      NSAIDs may be more effective than acetaminophen. For recent-onset LBP with
      radiculopathy, there is inconsistent evidence on the effectiveness of oral NSAIDs
      versus placebo. Finally, different oral NSAIDs lead to similar outcomes for neck
      and LBP with or without radiculopathy. CONCLUSIONS: For NAD, oral NSAIDs may be
      more effective than placebo. Oral NSAIDs are more effective than placebo for
      persistent LBP, but not for recent-onset LBP. Different oral NSAIDs lead to
      similar outcomes for neck pain and LBP.

PMID- 25827310
TI  - Estimation of exposure to dietary acrylamide based on mercapturic acids level in
      urine of Polish women post partum and an assessment of health risk.
AB  - We determined metabolites of acrylamide and glycidamide concentrations (AAMA and
      GAMA, respectively) in urine of 93 women within the first days after delivery,
      using LC-MS/MS. The median AAMA and GAMA levels in urine were 20.9 MUg/l
      (2.3/399.0 MUg/l) and 8.6 MUg/l (1.3/85.0 MUg/l), respectively. In smokers we
      found significantly (P<0.01) higher levels of metabolites in comparison with the
      non-smoking women. As demonstrated by the 24-h dietary recall, acrylamide intake
      was low (median: 7.04 MUg/day). Estimated exposure to acrylamide based on AAMA
      and GAMA levels in the whole group of women was 0.16 MUg/kg b.w./day (1.15 MUg/kg
      b.w./day, P95). We found significantly (P<0.05) higher exposure in women who
      consumed higher amount of acrylamide in the diet (>=10 MUg/day vs <10 MUg/day). A
      weak but significant positive correlation between acrylamide intake calculated on
      the basis of urinary levels of AAMA and GAMA and estimated on the basis of 24-h
      dietary recall (r=0.26, P<0.05) was found. The estimated margin of exposure
      values were below 10 000 and ranged from 156 for 95th percentile to 1938 for
      median acrylamide intake. Our results have shown that even a low dietary
      acrylamide intake may be associated with health risk. 

PMID- 25827311
TI  - Traffic-related air pollution exposure and incidence of stroke in four cohorts
      from Stockholm.
AB  - We investigated the risk of stroke related to long-term ambient air pollution
      exposure, in particular the role of various exposure time windows, using four
      cohorts from Stockholm County, Sweden. In total, 22,587 individuals were
      recruited from 1992 to 2004 and followed until 2011. Yearly air pollution levels
      resulting from local road traffic emissions were assessed at participant
      residences using dispersion models for particulate matter (PM10) and nitrogen
      oxides (NOX). Cohort-specific hazard ratios were estimated for time-weighted air
      pollution exposure during different time windows and the incidence of stroke,
      adjusted for common risk factors, and then meta-analysed. Overall, 868 subjects
      suffered a non-fatal or fatal stroke during 238,731 person-years of follow-up. An
      increment of 20 MUg/m(3) in estimated annual mean of road-traffic related NOX
      exposure at recruitment was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.16 (95% CI 0.83
      1.61), with evidence of heterogeneity between the cohorts. For PM10, an increment
      of 10 MUg/m(3) corresponded to a hazard ratio of 1.14 (95% CI 0.68-1.90). Time
      window analyses did not reveal any clear induction-latency pattern. In
      conclusion, we found suggestive evidence of an association between long-term
      exposure to NOX and PM10 from local traffic and stroke at comparatively low
      levels of air pollution.

PMID- 25827312
TI  - Urinary concentrations of 2,5-dichlorophenol and diabetes in US adults.
AB  - Para-dichlorobenzene (p-DCB) products are widely used in the home and public
      buildings, leading to exposure to this chemical in indoor environments. In this
      study, we explored potential relationships between p-DCB exposure and diabetes in
      US adults by analyzing a nationally representative subsample of 3063 adult
      participants aged 20-79 years randomly selected for measurement of urinary
      concentrations of 2,5-dichlorophenol (2,5-DCP), the major metabolite of p-DCB, in
      the 2007-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Median urinary
      2,5-DCP concentration was 7.0 MUg/l (interquartile range: 2.1-29.9). Of the
      participants, 560 (13.6%) were diabetic. A dose-dependent increase in the
      prevalence of diabetes was observed in the study participants across quartiles of
      urinary 2,5-DCP (P-trend<0.0001). After adjusting for potential confounders,
      individuals in the highest quartile of urinary 2,5-DCP had an increased odds of
      diabetes (OR=1.59 (95% CI: 1.06, 2.40)) compared with individuals with the lowest
      quartile. The highest quartile of urinary 2,5-DCP was also positively associated
      with insulin resistance (adjusted beta=0.75; 95% CI: 0.27, 1.24). This study
      demonstrated a potential association between exposure to p-DCB, measured as
      urinary concentrations of 2,5-DCP, and diabetes in US adults. Additional
      epidemiologic and mechanistic studies would further explore these interactions. 

PMID- 25827313
TI  - Urinary trace element concentrations in environmental settings: is there a value
      for systematic creatinine adjustment or do we introduce a bias?
AB  - Systematic creatinine adjustment of urinary concentrations of biomarkers has been
      a challenge over the past years because the assumption of a constant creatinine
      excretion rate appears erroneous and the issue of overadjustment has recently
      emerged. This study aimed at determining whether systematic creatinine adjustment
      is to be recommended for urinary concentrations of trace elements (TEs) in
      environmental settings. Paired 24-h collection and random spot urine samples
      (spotU) were obtained from 39 volunteers not occupationally exposed to TEs. Four
      models to express TEs concentration in spotU were tested to predict the 24-h
      excretion rate of these TEs (TEMUg/24h) considered as the gold standard
      reference: absolute concentration (TEMUg/l); ratio to creatinine (TEMUg/gcr);
      TEMUg/gcr adjusted to creatinine (TEMUg/gcr-adj); and concentration adjusted to
      specific gravity (TEMUg/l-SG). As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Li, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sn,
      Sb, Se, Te, V and Zn were analyzed by inductively coupled argon plasma mass
      spectrometry. There was no single pattern of relationship between urinary TEs
      concentrations in spotU and TEMUg/24h. TEMUg/l predicted TEMUg/24h with an
      explained variance ranging from 0 to 60%. Creatinine adjustment improved the
      explained variance by an additional 5 to ~60% for many TEs, but with a risk of
      overadjustment for the most of them. This issue could be addressed by adjusting
      TE concentrations on the basis of the regression coefficient of the relationship
      between TEMUg/gcr and creatinine concentration. SG adjustment was as suitable as
      creatinine adjustment to predict TEMUg/24h with no SG-overadjustment (except V).
      Regarding Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Te, none of the models were found to reflect
      TEMUg/24h. In the context of environmental exposure, systematic creatinine
      adjustment is not recommended for urinary concentrations of TEs. SG adjustment
      appears to be a more reliable alternative. For some TEs, however, neither methods
      appear suitable. 

PMID- 25827315
TI  - Apolipoprotein E gene polymorphisms associated with processing speed and
      executive functions in healthy Han Chinese.

PMID- 25827314
TI  - Effect of time-activity adjustment on exposure assessment for traffic-related
      ultrafine particles.
AB  - Exposures to ultrafine particles (<100 nm, estimated as particle number
      concentration, PNC) differ from ambient concentrations because of the spatial and
      temporal variability of both PNC and people. Our goal was to evaluate the
      influence of time-activity adjustment on exposure assignment and associations
      with blood biomarkers for a near-highway population. A regression model based on
      mobile monitoring and spatial and temporal variables was used to generate hourly
      ambient residential PNC for a full year for a subset of participants (n=140) in
      the Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health study. We modified the
      ambient estimates for each hour using personal estimates of hourly time spent in
      five micro-environments (inside home, outside home, at work, commuting, other) as
      well as particle infiltration. Time-activity adjusted (TAA)-PNC values differed
      from residential ambient annual average (RAA)-PNC, with lower exposures predicted
      for participants who spent more time away from home. Employment status and
      distance to highway had a differential effect on TAA-PNC. We found associations
      of RAA-PNC with high sensitivity C-reactive protein and Interleukin-6, although
      exposure-response functions were non-monotonic. TAA-PNC associations had larger
      effect estimates and linear exposure-response functions. Our findings suggest
      that time-activity adjustment improves exposure assessment for air pollutants
      that vary greatly in space and time.

PMID- 25827316
TI  - Pain following blood donation: a questionnaire study of long-term morbidity (LTM)
      in blood donors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nerve injury is a main cause of long-term morbidity following blood
      donation, but little is known about symptoms, impact, prognosis and underlying
      cause. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire, designed to characterize pain and
      estimate the prevalence of neuropathic pain, was sent to all blood donors
      registered with a complication related to 3 297 674 blood donations in Denmark
      from 2000-2009, with a local complication mainly characterized by pain, with
      severity grade 'long-term morbidity' and imputability grade 'definite' or
      'probably'. RESULTS: The questionnaire was sent to 152 donors (4.6 per 100 000
      donations). Response rate was 88/152 (57.9%). At the time of the questionnaire,
      which was between 12 months and 10 years after the blood donation, 69/88, who
      responded (78.4%) still experienced symptoms. Of the 69 donors with persistent
      symptom, pain occurred in 51 donors (74%) was moderate to severe in 24/69 donors
      (35%) and had an impact on daily activity in 17/69 (25%). Neuropathic pain was
      estimated to be the underlying cause of symptom in 30-52% of the 69 donors with
      persistent symptoms, using three different systems for estimation, corresponding
      to 0.6-1.1/100 000 donations. DISCUSSION: Although a rare complication, nerve
      injury after blood donation may lead to long-term morbidity and may become
      chronic in a small proportion of donors. The most common symptoms are pain, and
      we estimate that neuropathic pain can be the underlying cause.

PMID- 25827317
TI  - Probing Mobility-Selected Saccharide Isomers: Selective Ion-Molecule Reactions
      and Wavelength-Specific IR Activation.
AB  - Differential Ion Mobility Spectrometry (DIMS) provides orthogonal separation to
      mass spectrometry, and DIMS combined with the high sensitivity of a quadrupole
      ion-trap is shown to be useful for the separation and identification of
      saccharides. A comprehensive analysis of the separation of anomers (alpha- and
      beta-methylated glucose) and epimers (alpha-methylated glucose and mannose)
      ionized with Li(+), Na(+), and K(+) is performed. DIMS separation is found to be
      better for saccharides cationized with the two latter species. The corresponding
      resolving power for the two glucose anomers with Na(+) is found to be very close
      to the corresponding drift-tube IMS value. The lithiated complexes are
      investigated further using a combination of infrared spectroscopy integrated to
      ion-trap mass spectrometry and quantum chemical calculations. Together with DIMS,
      consistent results are obtained. It is found that two competing structural motifs
      might be at play, depending on the subtle balance between the maximization of the
      coordination of the metal cation and the intrinsic conformational energetics of
      the saccharide, which is for a large part driven by hydrogen bonding. The
      comparison of simulated and observed spectra clearly shows that a band at ~3400
      cm(-1) is specific to a structural motif found in the lithiated glucose
      complexes, which could explain the trends observed in the DIMS spectra of the
      saccharide complexes. It is shown that DIMS-MS/MS using wavelength specific IR
      activation would provide a new orthogonal dimension to mass spectrometry. 

PMID- 25827318
TI  - Rational design and application of a redox-active, photoresponsive, discrete
      metallogelator.
AB  - A photoresponsive discrete metallogelator was rationally designed by
      incorporating a photochromic azobenzene subunit in the structure of a redox
      active ferrocene-peptide conjugate. The target molecule was purposefully equipped
      with a dipeptide unit capable of self-assembly in response to sonication. The
      designed molecule was shown to undergo supramolecular self-assembly and achieve
      organogelation in response to ultrasound, light, heat, and redox signals. The sol
      gel phase transition of the designed gelator was found to be sensitive to a
      plethora of input stimuli, allowing the application of the sol-gel transition
      behavior in basic logic gate operations. A gel-based NOT logic gate operation was
      realized when the redox-active property of the organogel was examined by using
      different oxidizing agents. The smart response of the gelator was further
      exploited in designing XOR operations under oxidizing or non-oxidizing
      conditions. 

PMID- 25827319
TI  - Transplantation in South Africa.

PMID- 25827321
TI  - Novel organ preservation methods: not only cool but supercool!

PMID- 25827322
TI  - Sir Peter J. Morris, AC, FRS: Melbourne and Oxford Universities' transplantation
      surgeon and retiring editor of Transplantation, 1976-2014.

PMID- 25827323
TI  - A facilitated method for hepatic vein blood: sampling during liver
      transplantation.

PMID- 25827324
TI  - Lupus after kidney donation to an affected male relative.

PMID- 25827325
TI  - Successful detoxification and liver transplantation in a severe poisoning with a
      chemical wood preservative containing chromium, copper, and arsenic.

PMID- 25827326
TI  - Absence of amyloid deposition in human islets transplantation after 13 years
      insulin independence.

PMID- 25827327
TI  - Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Morcellation Hysterectomy for Myomas.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVE: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of eliminating morcellation
      in the surgical treatment of leiomyomas from a societal perspective. DESIGN: Cost
      effectiveness analysis. DESIGN CLASSIFICATION: Not applicable. SETTING: A
      theoretical cohort of women undergoing hysterectomy for myoma disease large
      enough to require morcellation. PATIENTS: None. INTERVENTIONS: None.
      MEASUREMENTS: A decision analysis model was constructed using probabilities,
      costs, and utility data from published sources. A cost-effectiveness analysis
      analyzing both quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and cases of disseminated
      cancer was performed to determine the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER)
      of eliminating morcellation as a tool in the surgical treatment of leiomyomas.
      Costs and utilities were discounted using standard methodology. The base case
      included health care system costs and costs incurred by the patient for surgery
      related disability. One-way sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the
      effect of various assumptions. MAIN RESULTS: The cost to prevent 1 case of
      disseminated cancer was $10 540 832. A strategy of nonmorcellation hysterectomy
      via laparotomy costed more ($30 359.92 vs $20 853.15) and yielded more QALYs
      (21.284 vs 21.280) relative to morcellation hysterectomy. The ICER for
      nonmorcellation hysterectomy compared with morcellation hysterectomy was $2 184
      172 per QALY. Health care costs (prolonged hospitalizations) and costs to
      patients of prolonged time away from work were the primary drivers of cost
      differential between the 2 strategies. Even when the incidence of occult sarcoma
      in leiomyoma surgery was ranged to twice that reported in the literature (.98%),
      the ICER for nonmorcellation hysterectomy was $644 393.30. CONCLUSIONS:
      Eliminating morcellation hysterectomy as a treatment for myomas is not cost
      effective under a wide variety of probability and cost assumptions. Performing
      laparotomy for all patients who might otherwise be candidates for morcellation
      hysterectomy is a costly policy from a societal perspective.

PMID- 25827328
TI  - Iatrogenic Uterine Diverticulum in Pregnancy After Robotic-assisted Myomectomy.
AB  - Uterine diverticula are rare outpouchings of the uterus associated with abnormal
      uterine bleeding, pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, and adverse obstetric events. At the
      time of cesarean delivery at 36 5/7 weeks' gestation during the patient's first
      pregnancy and 36 6/7 weeks during the second pregnancy, a fundal iatrogenic
      uterine diverticulum at the site of a prior robotic-assisted myomectomy was
      noted. The outpouching communicated with the endometrial cavity and was extremely
      attenuated, palpably 2 to 3 mm thick. Further research is needed to determine the
      incidence of iatrogenic uterine diverticulum after robotic myomectomy and whether
      these malformations increase the risk of adverse obstetric outcomes. 

PMID- 25827329
TI  - Immunoglobulin G4-related disease in the urinary bladder.
AB  - Immunoglobulin G4-related disease is a fibroinflammatory condition of unclear
      etiology that can present with inflammatory changes and enlargement of a wide
      variety of organs, most commonly in the gastrointestinal tract. A diagnosis
      requires an elevated serum immunoglobulin G4 concentration and a tissue biopsy
      showing a dense plasma cell infiltrate with an increased percentage of
      immunoglobulin G4+ plasma cells. This disease infrequently presents in the
      genitourinary tract, and as such might be unfamiliar to and potentially
      overlooked by urologists. Here we present the third reported case of
      immunoglobulin G4-related disease manifesting as a mass in the urinary bladder. 

PMID- 25827330
TI  - Convenient synthesis of deazaflavin cofactor FO and its activity in F(420)
      dependent NADP reductase.
AB  - F420 and FO are phenolic 5-deazaflavin cofactors that complement nicotinamide and
      flavin redox coenzymes in biochemical oxidoreductases and photocatalytic systems.
      Specifically, these 5-deazaflavins lack the single electron reactivity with O2 of
      riboflavin-derived coenzymes (FMN and FAD), and, in general, have a more negative
      redox potential than NAD(P)(+). For example, F420-dependent NADP(+)
      oxidoreductase (Fno) is critical to the conversion of CO2 to CH4 by methanogenic
      archaea, while FO functions as a light-harvesting agent in DNA repair. The
      preparation of these cofactors is an obstacle to their use in biochemical studies
      and biotechnology. Here, a convenient synthesis of FO was achieved by improving
      the redox stability of synthetic intermediates containing a polar, electron-rich
      aminophenol fragment. Improved yields and simplified purification techniques for
      FO are described. Additionally, Fno activity was restored with FO in the absence
      of F420. Investigating the FO-dependent NADP(+)/NADPH redox process by stopped
      flow spectrophotometry, steady state kinetics were defined as having a Km of 4.00
      +/- 0.39 MUM and a kcat of 5.27 +/- 0.14 s(-1). The preparation of FO should
      enable future biochemical studies and novel uses of F420 mimics. 

PMID- 25827331
TI  - Evolutionary dynamics of Rh2 opsins in birds demonstrate an episode of
      accelerated evolution in the New World warblers (Setophaga).
AB  - Low rates of sequence evolution associated with purifying selection can be
      interrupted by episodic changes in selective regimes. Visual pigments are a
      unique system in which we can investigate the functional consequences of genetic
      changes, therefore connecting genotype to phenotype in the context of natural and
      sexual selection pressures. We study the RH2 and RH1 visual pigments (opsins)
      across 22 bird species belonging to two ecologically convergent clades, the New
      World warblers (Parulidae) and Old World warblers (Phylloscopidae) and evaluate
      rates of evolution in these clades along with data from 21 additional species. We
      demonstrate generally slow evolution of these opsins: both Rh1 and Rh2 are highly
      conserved across Old World and New World warblers. However, Rh2 underwent a burst
      of evolution within the New World genus Setophaga, where it accumulated
      substitutions at 6 amino acid sites across the species we studied. Evolutionary
      analyses revealed a significant increase in dN /dS in Setophaga, implying
      relatively strong selective pressures to overcome long-standing purifying
      selection. We studied the effects of each substitution on spectral tuning and
      found they do not cause large spectral shifts. Thus, substitutions may reflect
      other aspects of opsin function, such as those affecting photosensitivity and/or
      dark-light adaptation. Although it is unclear what these alterations mean for
      colour perception, we suggest that rapid evolution is linked to sexual selection,
      given the exceptional plumage colour diversification in Setophaga.

PMID- 25827332
TI  - Preserved otolith organ function in caspase-3-deficient mice with impaired
      horizontal semicircular canal function.
AB  - Genetically engineered mice are valuable models for elucidation of auditory and
      vestibular pathology. Our goal was to establish a comprehensive vestibular
      function testing system in mice using: (1) horizontal angular vestibulo-ocular
      reflex (hVOR) to evaluate semicircular canal function and (2) otolith-ocular
      reflex (OOR) to evaluate otolith organ function and to validate the system by
      characterizing mice with vestibular dysfunction. We used pseudo off-vertical axis
      rotation to induce an otolith-only stimulus using a custom-made centrifuge. For
      the OOR, horizontal slow-phase eye velocity and vertical eye position were
      evaluated as a function of acceleration. Using this system, we characterized hVOR
      and OOR in the caspase-3 (Casp3) mutant mice. Casp3 (-/-) mice had severely
      impaired hVOR gain, while Casp3 (+/-) mice had an intermediate response compared
      to WT mice. Evaluation of OOR revealed that at low-to-mid frequencies and
      stimulus intensity, Casp3 mutants and WT mice had similar responses. At higher
      frequencies and stimulus intensity, the Casp3 mutants displayed mildly reduced
      otolith organ-related responses. These findings suggest that the Casp3 gene is
      important for the proper function of the semicircular canals but less important
      for the otolith organ function. 

PMID- 25827333
TI  - Childhood exposure to a parental suicide attempt and risk for substance use
      disorders.
AB  - Childhood exposure to parental suicidal behavior has been linked to a variety of
      adverse behavioral and health outcomes. However, relatively little is known about
      the degree to which such exposure may place individuals at risk for a substance
      use disorder (SUD). Employing data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on
      Alcohol and Related Conditions, we compared the prevalence of SUDs among those
      who experienced childhood exposure to parental suicide attempts. Childhood
      exposure to parental suicide attempts was not associated with increased risk for
      the development of alcohol, cannabis, or cocaine use disorders. However,
      individuals who were exposed to a parental suicide attempt as children were
      significantly more likely to have met criteria for stimulant (AOR=1.40, 95%
      CI=1.18-1.67), sedative (AOR=1.24, 95% CI=1.04-1.47), tranquilizer (AOR=1.78, 95%
      CI=1.45-2.20), and opioid (AOR=1.41, 95% CI=1.19-1.67) use disorders in their
      lifetime. No significant gender differences were identified with respect to the
      magnitude of the relationship between exposure to parental suicide attempts and
      SUD risk among men and women. Findings suggest that, controlling for an array of
      sociodemographic, parental, mental health, and childhood adversity confounds,
      childhood exposure to parental suicide attempts is a vulnerability factor for low
      prevalence illicit drugs (i.e. stimulants, sedatives, tranquilizers, opioids),
      but not for more commonly used substances.

PMID- 25827334
TI  - The effect of electronic cigarette advertising on intended use among college
      students.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: . Aside from prohibiting health claims, there are presently no
      restrictions on electronic cigarette advertising in the U.S. Studies have shown
      college students have a positive view of e-cigarettes and use on campuses is
      increasing. The purpose of this study was to test if the appeal of e-cigarette
      advertisements and beliefs about the addictiveness of e-cigarettes may affect
      their uptake among college students. METHODS: The study was framed within the
      Theory of Reasoned Action, which posits that behavioral intention can be
      understood in terms of social norms and attitudes toward a behavior. We also
      included variables capturing appeal of e-cigarette advertisements, belief that e
      cigarettes are not as addictive as cigarettes, and tobacco use. Attitudes toward
      e-cigarettes, perceived norms concerning their use, beliefs that e-cigarettes are
      not as addictive as cigarettes, and positive appraisal of e-cigarette advertising
      videos were all hypothesized to be independently positively associated with
      intention to use an e-cigarette. Data were collected through a survey of students
      at a major U.S. university (participation rate 78%, N=296). Participants were
      exposed to three e-cigarette video advertisements in random order. RESULTS: In a
      regression analysis we found positive reaction to the ads and holding the belief
      that e-cigarettes are not as addictive were both independently associated with
      intention. Attitudes and norms were also associated but were controlled by
      inclusion of the other variables. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that
      advertising may promote the uptake of e-cigarettes and may do so in addition to
      current smoking and alternate tobacco use status.

PMID- 25827335
TI  - Specific dimensions of impulsivity are differentially associated with daily and
      non-daily cigarette smoking in young adults.
AB  - Young adults are at risk for initiation of tobacco use and progression to tobacco
      dependence. Not every person who smokes cigarettes becomes tobacco dependent,
      however, and non-daily smoking is becoming more prevalent among those who use
      tobacco. It is likely that individual differences in psychosocial and behavioral
      factors influence risk for engaging in non-daily and daily cigarette smoking. The
      objective of this study was to investigate the associations between impulsivity
      and smoking status in young adults who vary in frequency of cigarette smoking.
      Young adult first-year college students between the ages of 18-24 (512) were
      classified to one of three groups: non-smokers, non-daily smokers, or daily
      smokers, and impulsivity was assessed using the UPPS-P (negative and positive
      urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, sensation seeking). When
      all impulsivity dimensions were used simultaneously to predict smoking status,
      negative urgency predicted increased risk of membership in the daily smoking
      group and lack of premeditation predicted increased risk of membership in the non
      daily smoking group. These results suggest that dimensions of impulsivity may
      contribute differentially to forms of smoking behavior in young adults. 

PMID- 25827336
TI  - Problem gambling and internalising symptoms: a longitudinal analysis of common
      and specific social environmental protective factors.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Comorbidity between problem gambling and internalising disorders
      (anxiety and depression) has long been recognised. However, it is not clear how
      these relationships develop, and what factors can foster resilience to both
      conditions. The current study draws on longitudinal cohort data to investigate:
      1) the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between problem gambling
      and internalising symptoms; 2) whether there are common and/or specific social
      environmental factors protective against both internalising symptoms and problem
      gambling in young adulthood; and 3) interactive protective factors (i.e., those
      that moderate the relationship between problem gambling and internalising
      symptoms). METHODS: A sample of 2248 young adults (55% female) completed a survey
      in 2010 (T1) and 2012 (T2) which assessed problem gambling (measured via two
      items based on established measures), internalising symptoms, and social
      environmental protective factors. RESULTS: A positive cross-sectional
      relationship between problem gambling and internalising symptoms was found;
      however, there was no statistically significant longitudinal relationship between
      the two conditions. Protective factors for internalising symptoms were observed
      within the domains of the community, family and peer group; however, there were
      no statistically significant protective factors identified for problem gambling.
      CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that the social environmental protective
      factors for adult internalising symptoms assessed in the present study are poor
      longitudinal predictors of young adult problem gambling. Given the lack of common
      protective factors, it may be necessary to focus on separate factors to protect
      against each condition, if we are to address the comorbidity between problem
      gambling and internalising symptoms.

PMID- 25827337
TI  - The Prevalence of Mixed Helicobacter pylori Infections in Symptomatic and
      Asymptomatic Subjects in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori is a highly genetically diverse bacterial
      species, which can persist in the gastric environment for decades. Recent studies
      have shown that single infections predominate in developed countries, whereas
      mixed infections are more prevalent in developing countries. Mixed infections of
      this bacterium may be important for adaptation to the hostile gastric environment
      and may facilitate dyspeptic symptoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To calculate the
      prevalence of mixed infections in symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects, 2010 H.
      pylori isolates collected from 83 symptomatic and 91 asymptomatic subjects from
      Dhaka, Bangladesh, were analyzed by (i) random amplified polymorphic DNA
      fingerprinting (RAPD) and (ii) multiplex PCR amplification for cagA and vacA
      virulence gene alleles. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of mixed H. pylori
      infection was 60.15% (77/128), indicating substantial co-colonization in this
      population. We additionally found that symptomatic subjects (53%) had a
      significantly higher rate of mixed infection than asymptomatic individuals
      (36.3%) (p = .016) and that the prevalence of the cagA and vacA and vacA m1/s1
      and vacA m2/s1 alleles were higher in subjects with mixed infection. CONCLUSION:
      Our findings suggest that an increased diversity of the H. pylori strains in the
      gastric environment may contribute to the development of disease symptoms.

PMID- 25827338
TI  - Synthesis and biological evaluation of dimeric furanoid macroheterocycles:
      discovery of new anticancer agents.
AB  - A recently developed dimerization/macrocyclization was employed to synthesize a
      series of macroheterocycles which were biologically evaluated, leading to the
      discovery of a number of potent cytotoxic agents (e.g., 27: GI50 = 51 nM against
      leukemia CCRF-CEM cell line; 29: GI50 = 99 nM against melanoma MDA-MB-435 cell
      line). Further biological studies support an apoptosis mechanism of action for
      these compounds involving deregulation of the tricarboxylic acid cycle activity
      and suppression of mitochondrial function in cancer cells. 

PMID- 25827339
TI  - Development of a gluten-free rice noodle by utilizing protein-polyphenol
      interaction between soy protein isolate and extract of Acanthopanax
      sessiliflorus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The potential of the protein-polyphenol interaction was applied to
      crosslinking reinforced protein networks in gluten-free rice noodles.
      Specifically, inter-component interaction between soy protein isolate and extract
      of Acanthopanax sessiliflorus fruit (ogaja) was examined with a view to improving
      its quality. RESULTS: In a components-interacting model system, a mixture of soy
      protein isolate (SPI) and ogaja extract (OE) induced a drastic increase in
      absorbance at 660 nm by haze formation, while the major anthocyanin of ogaja,
      cyanidin-3-O-sambubioside, sparsely interacted with SPI or gelatin. Individual or
      combined treatment of SPI and OE on rice dough decreased all the viscosity
      parameters in rapid visco analysis. However, SPI-OE treatment significantly
      increased all the texture parameters of rice dough derived from Mixolab((r))
      analysis (P < 0.05). Incorporation of SPI in rice dough significantly reduced
      endothermic DeltaH, and SPI-OE treatment further decreased this value. SPI-OE
      interaction significantly increased the tensile properties of cooked noodle and
      decreased 53.7% of cooking loss compared to the untreated rice noodle.
      CONCLUSION: SPI-OE treatment caused a considerable reinforcement of the network
      as shown by reducing cooking loss and suggested the potential for utilizing
      protein-polyphenol interaction for gluten-free rice noodle production.

PMID- 25827340
TI  - Editorial: is it time for an evolutionarily based human endocrinology?

PMID- 25827343
TI  - Corrigendum: qPMS9: an efficient algorithm for quorum planted motif search.

PMID- 25827344
TI  - Self-reported risk-taking behavior during matched-frequency sessions of alcohol
      versus combined alcohol and energy drinks consumption: does co-ingestion increase
      risk-taking?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence indicates that consumers of alcohol mixed with
      energy drink (AmED) self-report lower odds of risk-taking after consuming AmED
      versus alcohol alone. However, these studies have been criticized for failing to
      control for relative frequency of AmED versus alcohol-only consumption sessions.
      These studies also do not account for quantity of consumption and general alcohol
      related risk-taking propensity. The aims of the present study were to (i) compare
      rates of risk-taking in AmED versus alcohol sessions among consumers with matched
      frequency of use and (ii) identify consumption and person characteristics
      associated with risk-taking behavior in AmED sessions. METHODS: Data were
      extracted from 2 Australian community samples and 1 New Zealand community sample
      of AmED consumers (n = 1,291). One-fifth (21%; n = 273) reported matched
      frequency of AmED and alcohol use. RESULTS: The majority (55%) of matched
      frequency participants consumed AmED and alcohol monthly or less. The matched
      frequency sample reported significantly lower odds of engaging in 18 of 25
      assessed risk behaviors in AmED versus alcohol sessions. Similar rates of
      engagement were evident across session type for the remaining behaviors, the
      majority of which were low prevalence (reported by <15%). Regression modeling
      indicated that risk-taking in AmED sessions was primarily associated with risk
      taking in alcohol sessions, with increased average energy drink (ED) intake
      associated with certain risk behaviors (e.g., being physically hurt, not using
      contraception, and driving while over the legal alcohol limit). CONCLUSIONS:
      Bivariate analyses from a matched-frequency sample align with past research
      showing lower odds of risk-taking behavior after AmED versus alcohol consumption
      for the same individuals. Multivariate analyses showed that risk-taking in
      alcohol sessions had the strongest association with risk-taking in AmED sessions.
      However, hypotheses of increased risk-taking post-AmED consumption were partly
      supported: Greater ED intake was associated with increased likelihood of specific
      behaviors, including drink-driving, sexual behavior, and aggressive behaviors in
      the matched-frequency sample after controlling for alcohol intake and risk-taking
      in alcohol sessions. These findings highlight the need to consider both personal
      characteristics and beverage effects in harm reduction strategies for AmED
      consumers.

PMID- 25827345
TI  - Transcriptional Hallmarks of Heterogeneous Neural Stem Cell Niches of the
      Subventricular Zone.
AB  - Throughout postnatal life in mammals, neural stem cells (NSCs) are located in the
      subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricles. The greatest diversity of
      neuronal and glial lineages they generate occurs during early postnatal life in a
      region-specific manner. In order to probe heterogeneity of the postnatal SVZ, we
      microdissected its dorsal and lateral walls at different postnatal ages and
      isolated NSCs and their immediate progeny based on their expression of Hes5
      EGFP/Prominin1 and Ascl1-EGFP, respectively. Whole genome comparative
      transcriptome analysis revealed transcriptional regulators as major hallmarks
      that sustain postnatal SVZ regionalization. Manipulation of single genes encoding
      for locally enriched transcription factors (loss-of-function or ectopic gain-of
      function in vivo) influenced NSC specification indicating that the fate of
      regionalized postnatal SVZ-NSCs can be readily modified. These findings reveal
      the pronounced transcriptional heterogeneity of the postnatal SVZ and provide
      targets to recruit region-specific lineages in regenerative contexts. Stem Cells
      2015;33:2232-2242. 

PMID- 25827346
TI  - Probe-Directed Degradation (PDD) for Flexible Removal of Unwanted cDNA Sequences
      from RNA-Seq Libraries.
AB  - Most applications for RNA-seq require the depletion of abundant transcripts to
      gain greater coverage of the underlying transcriptome. The sequences to be
      targeted for depletion depend on application and species and in many cases may
      not be supported by commercial depletion kits. This unit describes a method for
      generating RNA-seq libraries that incorporates probe-directed degradation (PDD),
      which can deplete any unwanted sequence set, with the low-bias split-adapter
      method of library generation (although many other library generation methods are
      in principle compatible). The overall strategy is suitable for applications
      requiring customized sequence depletion or where faithful representation of
      fragment ends and lack of sequence bias is paramount. We provide guidelines to
      rapidly design specific probes against the target sequence, and a detailed
      protocol for library generation using the split-adapter method including several
      strategies for streamlining the technique and reducing adapter dimer content.

PMID- 25827347
TI  - Neural stem cell-mediated delivery of oncolytic adenovirus.
AB  - The use of stem cells (SCs) as carriers for therapeutic agents has now progressed
      to early clinical trials. These clinical trials exploring SC-mediated delivery of
      oncolytic adenoviruses will commence in the near future, hopefully yielding
      meritorious results that can provoke further scientific inquiry. Preclinical
      animal studies have demonstrated that SCs can be successfully loaded with
      conditionally-replicative adenoviruses and delivered to the tumor, whereupon they
      may evoke pronounced therapeutic efficacy. In this protocol, we describe the
      maintenance of SCs, provide an analysis of optimal adenoviral titers for SC
      loading, and evaluate the optimized viral loading on SCs.

PMID- 25827348
TI  - Use of Affymetrix Arrays in the Diagnosis of Gene Copy-Number Variation.
AB  - Diagnosing constitutional pathogenic copy number variants (CNVs) requires
      detecting submicroscopic segmental chromosomal imbalances. The Affymetrix
      GeneChip mapping array was one of the initial microarray platforms used to
      measure duplication and deletion of genetic material in DNA samples. Unlike
      oligonucleotide microarrays from NimbleGen and Agilent, developed around the same
      time to infer copy number status for the DNA sequence covered by the probe, the
      Affymetrix GeneChip system used 25-mer oligonucleotide probes designed to
      interrogate SNPs. Thus, it was possible to use the Affymetrix 'SNP chips' to both
      identify SNPs and to identify copy number status. Affymetrix now offers the
      CytoScan microarray platforms, which are optimized for copy-number analyses, and
      provides accompanying software. They also offer several other microarray
      platforms suitable for copy-number analyses. Here we discuss the application of
      the CytoScan high-density (HD) platform for the detection of genomic imbalance.
      We provide an overview of the sequence of computational analyses involved in
      identifying pathogenic CNVs and highlight important parameters for consideration
      in assessing the pathogenicity of a detected CNV.

PMID- 25827350
TI  - Preparation of Amniocytes for Interphase Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization
      (FISH).
AB  - FISH has been used to detect and clarify deletions and/or other structural
      rearrangements, and also has applications in interphase analysis. This unit
      describes preparation of uncultured amniotic fluid cells for FISH analysis. Cells
      are swollen, and then slides are prepared by standard methods. The cells are then
      fixed and permeabilized for subsequent FISH. An alternate protocol describes
      attachment of amniocytes to a glass or plastic surface followed by hypotonic
      swelling, fixation, and permeabilization for subsequent FISH. Interphase FISH
      analysis of amniotic fluid cells is also described.

PMID- 25827349
TI  - Diagnosis of Fanconi anemia by diepoxybutane analysis.
AB  - Fanconi anemia (FA) is a genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous disorder
      characterized by congenital malformations, progressive bone marrow failure, and
      predisposition to cancer, particularly hematological malignancies and solid
      tumors of the head and neck. The main role of FA proteins is in the repair of DNA
      interstrand crosslinks (ICLs). FA results from pathogenic variants in at least
      sixteen distinct genes, causing genomic instability. Although the highly variable
      phenotype makes accurate diagnosis on the basis of clinical manifestations
      difficult in some patients, diagnosis based on a profound sensitivity to DNA
      crosslinking agents can be used to identify the pre-anemia patient as well as
      patients with aplastic anemia or leukemia who may or may not have the physical
      stigmata associated with the syndrome. Diepoxybutane (DEB) analysis is the
      preferred test for FA because other agents have higher rates of false-positive
      and false-negative results.

PMID- 25827351
TI  - Conformation diversity of a fused-ring pyrazine derivative on au(111) and highly
      ordered pyrolytic graphite.
AB  - Heterocyclic aromatic compounds have attracted considerable attention because of
      their high carrier mobility that can be exploited in organic field-effect
      transistors. This contribution presents a comparative study of the packing
      structure of 3,6-didodecyl-12-(3,6-didodecylphenanthro[9,10-b]phenazin-13
      yl)phenanthro[9,10-b]phenazine (DP), an N-heterocyclic aromatic compound, on
      Au(111) and highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). High-resolution scanning
      tunneling microscopy (STM) combined with atomistic simulations provide a picture
      of the interface of this organic semiconductor on an electrode that can have an
      impact on the field-effect transistor (FET) performance. DP molecules adsorb with
      different conformational isomers (R/S: trans isomers; C: cis isomer) on HOPG and
      Au(111) substrates. All three isomers are found in the long-range disordered
      lamella domains on Au(111). In contrast, only the R/S trans isomers self-assemble
      into stable chiral domains on the HOPG surface. The substrate-dependent
      adsorption configuration selectivity is supported by theoretical calculations.
      The van der Waals interaction between the molecules and the substrate dominates
      the adsorption binding energy of the DP molecules on the solid surface. The
      results provide molecular evidence of the interface structures of organic
      semiconductors on electrode surfaces. 

PMID- 25827353
TI  - Electrochemical reduction of an Ag2VO2PO4 particle: dramatic increase of local
      electronic conductivity.
AB  - Previously, we reported that electrodes containing silver vanadium phosphate
      (Ag2VO2PO4) powder exhibit a 15,000 fold increase in conductivity after
      discharge, concurrent with the formation of silver metal. In this study, in order
      to disentangle the complex nature of electrodes composed of electroactive
      powders, an electrochemical reduction of individual particles of Ag2VO2PO4 was
      conducted, to more directly probe the intrinsic materials properties of
      Ag2VO2PO4. Specifically, individual particle conductivity data from a nanoprobe
      system combined with SEM and optical imaging results revealed that the depth of
      discharge within an Ag2VO2PO4 particle is closely linked to the conductivity
      increase. Notably, the formation of silver metal may affect both inter- and
      intraparticle conductivity of the Ag2VO2PO4 material.

PMID- 25827352
TI  - Decreased Mechanical Strength and Collagen Content in SPARC-Null Periodontal
      Ligament Is Reversed by Inhibition of Transglutaminase Activity.
AB  - The periodontal ligament (PDL) is a critical tissue that provides a physical link
      between the mineralized outer layer of the tooth and the alveolar bone. The PDL
      is composed primarily of nonmineralized fibrillar collagens. Expression of
      secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC/osteonectin), a collagen
      binding matricellular protein, has been shown to be essential for collagen
      homeostasis in PDL. In the absence of SPARC, PDL collagen fibers are smaller and
      less dense than fibers that constitute WT PDL. The aim of this study was to
      identify cellular mechanisms by which SPARC affected collagen fiber assembly and
      morphology in PDL. Cross-linking of fibrillar collagens is one parameter that is
      known to affect insoluble collagen incorporation and fiber morphology. Herein,
      the reduction in collagen fiber size and quantity in the absence of SPARC
      expression was shown to result in a PDL with reduced molar extraction force in
      comparison to that of WT mice (C57Bl/6J). Furthermore, an increase in
      transglutaminase activity was found in SPARC-null PDL by biochemical analyses
      that was supported by immunohistochemical results. Specifically, collagen I was
      identified as a substrate for transglutaminase in PDL and transglutaminase
      activity on collagen I was found to be greater in SPARC-null tissues in
      comparison to WT. Strikingly, inhibition of transglutaminase activity in SPARC
      null PDL resulted in increases in both collagen fiber thickness and in collagen
      content, whereas transglutaminase inhibitors injected into WT mice resulted in
      increases in collagen fiber thickness only. Furthermore, PDL treated with
      transglutaminase inhibitors exhibited increases in molar extraction force in WT
      and in SPARC-null mice. Thus, SPARC is proposed to act as a critical regulator of
      transglutaminase activity on collagen I with implications for mechanical strength
      of tissues.

PMID- 25827354
TI  - Thermal stability and molecular ordering of organic semiconductor monolayers:
      effect of an anchor group.
AB  - The thermal stability and molecular order in monolayers of two organic
      semiconductors, PBI-PA and PBI-alkyl, based on perylene derivatives with an
      identical molecular structure except for an anchor group for attachment to the
      substrate in PBI-PA, are reported. In situ X-ray reflectivity measurements are
      used to follow the stability of these monolayers in terms of order and thickness
      as temperature is increased. Films have thicknesses corresponding approximately
      to the length of one molecule; molecules stand upright on the substrate with a
      defined structure. PBI-PA monolayers have a high degree of order at room
      temperature and a stable film exists up to 250  degrees C, but decomposes rapidly
      above 300  degrees C. In contrast, stable physisorbed PBI-alkyl monolayers only
      exist up to 100  degrees C. Above the bulk melting point at 200  degrees C no
      more order exists. The results encourage using anchor groups in monolayers for
      various applications as it allows enhanced stability at the interface with the
      substrate. 

PMID- 25827355
TI  - Penile enhancement with rectus muscle fascia and testicular tunica vaginalis
      grafts: an experimental animal study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To enhance rat penises experimentally with rectus muscle fascia (RMF)
      and testicular tunica vaginalis grafts (TVG). METHODS: Twelve Wistar albino rats
      were distributed into two equal Groups, A and B. There were six rats in each
      group. RMF and TVG were used to enhance rat penises in Groups A and B,
      respectively. Circumferences of the penises were measured preoperatively and at
      three different times after the operation. Two, two and eight rats were killed 10
      days, 1 month and 2 months after the operation, respectively, for
      histopathological examinations. RESULTS: When we compared the measurements of
      preoperative and immediately postoperative circumferences, the mean increase was
      23.4 +/- 2.9 % in Group A and 19.9 +/- 1.7 % in Group B. According to paired t
      test, the difference was significant (p < 0001), but the comparison between
      preoperative and postoperative first-month measurements was not found to be
      significant (p > 0.05). Histological examinations revealed an intensive
      inflammatory process at 10 days after the operation. Grafts were found to be
      totally absorbed in the first- and second-month examinations. CONCLUSION: In our
      study, implanted TVG and RMF could not survive because of insufficient
      vascularization and failure to maintain satisfactory surgical success. More
      studies are needed to increase the effectiveness of surgical techniques.

PMID- 25827356
TI  - Inferring mutational timing and reconstructing tumour evolutionary histories.
AB  - Cancer evolution can be considered within a Darwinian framework. Both micro and
      macro-evolutionary theories can be applied to understand tumour progression and
      treatment failure. Owing to cancers' complexity and heterogeneity the rules of
      tumour evolution, such as the role of selection, remain incompletely understood.
      The timing of mutational events during tumour evolution presents diagnostic,
      prognostic and therapeutic opportunities. Here we review the current sampling and
      computational approaches for inferring mutational timing and the evidence from
      next generation sequencing-informed data on mutational timing across all tumour
      types. We discuss how this knowledge can be used to illuminate the genes and
      pathways that drive cancer initiation and relapse; and to support drug
      development and clinical trial design. 

PMID- 25827357
TI  - Dual effects of Metarhizium spp. and Clonostachys rosea against an insect and a
      seed-borne pathogen in wheat.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Crops are often prone to both insect herbivory and disease, which
      necessitate multiple control measures. Ideally, an efficacious biological control
      agent must adequately control the target organism and not be inhibited by other
      biological control agents when applied simultaneously. Wheat seeds infected with
      the plant pathogen Fusarium culmorum were treated with Metarhizium brunneum or M.
      flavoviride and Clonostachys rosea individually and in combination, with the
      expectation to control both root-feeding insects and the pathogen. Emerging roots
      were evaluated for disease and then placed with Tenebrio molitor larvae, which
      were monitored for infection. RESULTS: Plant disease symptoms were nearly absent
      for seeds treated with C. rosea, both individually and in combination with
      Metarhizium spp. Furthermore, roots grown from seeds treated with Metarhizium
      spp. caused significant levels of fungal infection in larvae when used
      individually or combined with C. rosea. However, cotreated seeds showed reduced
      virulence towards T. molitor when compared with treatments using Metarhizium spp.
      only. CONCLUSIONS: This study clearly shows that seed treatments with both the
      entomopathogenic fungus M. brunneum and the mycoparasitic fungus C. rosea can
      protect plant roots from insects and disease. The dual-treatment approach to
      biological control presented here is consistent with the ideals of IPM
      strategies.

PMID- 25827358
TI  - Cryofibrinogenemia: a marker of severity of cryoglobulinemic vasculitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cryofibrinogenemia is frequently associated with cryoglobulinemia.
      The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics associated with the
      presence of cryofibrinogenemia in patients with cryoglobulinemic vasculitis.
      METHODS: This was a single-center retrospective study that included patients with
      cryoglobulinemic vasculitis who were tested for cryofibrinogen at a tertiary
      referral center between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2012. Twenty-nine
      patients fulfilled the CryoVas (cryoglobulinemic vasculitis) Survey criteria for
      cryoglobulinemic vasculitis. Eighteen patients had a detectable cryofibrinogen
      (CF-positive) and 11 had no detectable cryofibrinogen (CF-negative). Median
      cryoglobulin levels were 89 +/- 129 mg/L in the CF-positive group and 68 +/- 82
      mg/L in the CF-negative group (P = .32). Median cryofibrinogen level was 70 +/-
      174 mg/L. Clinical manifestations were similar in both groups. Cancers and
      hematological disorders were more frequent among CF-positive patients (39% vs 0%,
      P = .026). Levels of alpha-1 and alpha-2 globulinemia were higher in the CF
      positive group. Cryofibrinogenemia >= 100 mg/L was associated with
      cryoglobulinemic vasculitis (odds ratio [OR] 2.86; 95% confidence interval [CI],
      1.06-7.73) in cryoglobulinemic patients. Presence of cryofibrinogenemia was
      associated with use of corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, or plasmapheresis in
      cryoglobulinemic vasculitis patients (OR 22.7; 95% CI, 2.02-256.44). CONCLUSIONS:
      Our results strongly suggest that presence of cryofibrinogenemia is associated
      with a more severe phenotype among patients with cryoglobulinemic vasculitis.

PMID- 25827359
TI  - Misconceptions and Facts About Atrial Fibrillation.
AB  - Atrial fibrillation is an increasingly common arrhythmia associated with
      substantial but largely preventable risk of ischemic stroke. There has been an
      exponential increase in research related to atrial fibrillation in recent years,
      resulting in some major advances in the therapeutic management. Novel oral
      anticoagulant agents have become available and require thorough assessment of
      risk-to-benefit ratio. While the knowledge is rapidly accumulating, the basic
      principles of atrial fibrillation management remain proper recognition, risk
      stratification, and appropriate prevention of thromboembolic complications. This
      review highlights some common misconceptions about atrial fibrillation. 

PMID- 25827360
TI  - New ways to provide community aged care services.
AB  - This paper will focus on the provision of community aged care services via
      'direct payments' and 'social enterprise'. These are two solutions that were not
      fully considered by the Productivity Commission as a way to make the provision of
      community aged care more sustainable in Australia. The empowerment component of
      social enterprise activities and 'direct payments' have the potential to generate
      improvements in the community aged care system. 

PMID- 25827361
TI  - Start-up, performance and optimization of a compost biofilter treating gas-phase
      mixture of benzene and toluene.
AB  - The performance of a compost biofilter inoculated with mixed microbial consortium
      was optimized for treating a gas-phase mixture of benzene and toluene. The
      biofilter was acclimated to these VOCs for a period of ~18d. The effects of
      concentration and flow rate on the removal efficiency (RE) and elimination
      capacity (EC) were investigated by varying the inlet concentration of benzene
      (0.12-0.95g/m(3)), toluene (0.14-1.48g/m(3)) and gas-flow rate (0.024
      0.072m(3)/h). At comparable loading rates, benzene removal in the mixture was
      reduced in the range of 6.6-41% in comparison with the individual benzene
      degradation. Toluene removal in mixture was even more affected as observed from
      the reductions in REs, ranging from 18.4% to 76%. The results were statistically
      interpreted by performing an analysis of variance (ANOVA) to elucidate the main
      and interaction effects. 

PMID- 25827362
TI  - Development of direct conversion method for microalgal biodiesel production using
      wet biomass of Nannochloropsis salina.
AB  - In this work, the effects of several factors, such as temperature, reaction time,
      and solvent and acid quantity on in situ transesterification yield of wet
      Nannochloropsis salina were investigated. Under equivalent total solvent volume
      to biomass ratio, pure alcohol showed higher yield compared to alcohol-chloroform
      solvent. For esterifying 200 mg of wet cells, 2 ml of methanol and 1 ml of
      ethanol was sufficient to complete in situ transesterification. Under
      temperatures of 105  degrees C or higher, 2.5% and 5% concentrations of sulfuric
      acid was able to successfully convert more than 90% of lipid within 30 min when
      methanol and ethanol was used as solvents respectively. Also, it was verified
      that the optimal condition found in small-scale experiments is applicable to
      larger scale using 2 L scale reactor as well.

PMID- 25827363
TI  - Flexible razor blade for harvesting tumours in Mohs micrographic surgery.
AB  - A useful application of the flexible razor blade in Mohs micrographic surgery
      that can save time and result in a well-presented specimen is described. 

PMID- 25827364
TI  - Omics for aquatic ecotoxicology: control of extraneous variability to enhance the
      analysis of environmental effects.
AB  - There are multiple sources of biological and technical variation in a typical
      ecotoxicology study that may not be revealed by traditional endpoints but that
      become apparent in an omics dataset. As researchers increasingly apply omics
      technologies to environmental studies, it will be necessary to understand and
      control the main source(s) of variability to facilitate meaningful interpretation
      of such data. For instance, can variability in omics studies be addressed by
      changing the approach to study design and data analysis? Are there statistical
      methods that can be employed to correctly interpret omics data and make use of
      unattributed, inherent variability? The present study presents a review of
      experimental design and statistical considerations applicable to the use of omics
      methods in systems toxicology studies. In addition to highlighting potential
      sources that contribute to experimental variability, this review suggests
      strategies with which to reduce and/or control such variability so as to improve
      reliability, reproducibility, and ultimately the application of omics data for
      systems toxicology.

PMID- 25827365
TI  - Taking a closer look for a broader view: combining powder diffraction with
      electron crystallography for a better understanding of modulated structures.
AB  - Electron crystallography has made enormous progress over the last decade. It can
      provide the necessary information that complements powder diffraction data and
      allows for successful structure analysis of (not only) modulated structures. 

PMID- 25827366
TI  - Synergy between transmission electron microscopy and powder diffraction:
      application to modulated structures.
AB  - The crystal structure solution of modulated compounds is often very challenging,
      even using the well established methodology of single-crystal X-ray
      crystallography. This task becomes even more difficult for materials that cannot
      be prepared in a single-crystal form, so that only polycrystalline powders are
      available. This paper illustrates that the combined application of transmission
      electron microscopy (TEM) and powder diffraction is a possible solution to the
      problem. Using examples of anion-deficient perovskites modulated by periodic
      crystallographic shear planes, it is demonstrated what kind of local structural
      information can be obtained using various TEM techniques and how this information
      can be implemented in the crystal structure refinement against the powder
      diffraction data. The following TEM methods are discussed: electron diffraction
      (selected area electron diffraction, precession electron diffraction), imaging
      (conventional high-resolution TEM imaging, high-angle annular dark-field and
      annular bright-field scanning transmission electron microscopy) and state-of-the
      art spectroscopic techniques (atomic resolution mapping using energy-dispersive X
      ray analysis and electron energy loss spectroscopy). 

PMID- 25827367
TI  - Hydrogen bonding patterns in salts of derivatives of aminopyrimidine and
      thiobarbituric acid.
AB  - Three salts, namely 2-amino-4,6-dimethylpyrimidin-1-ium thiobarbiturate
      trihydrate (I), 2-amino-4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-1-ium thiobarbiturate dihydrate
      (II) and 2,4-diamino-5-(3',4',5'-trimethoxybenzyl)pyrimidin-1-ium thiobarbiturate
      (III), were synthesized and characterized by IR and X-ray diffraction techniques.
      The primary interaction between the acid and base happens via N-H...O hydrogen
      bonds in (II) and (III), and via water-mediated N-H...OW and OW-HW...S in (I).
      The water molecules present in compound (I) form a (H2O)12 water cluster via
      water-water interactions. In all three compounds (I)-(III), thiobarbiturate
      anions form self-complementary pairs with a robust R2(2)(8) motif via a pair of N
      H...O/N-H...S hydrogen bonds. They mimic the nucleobase base pairs by utilizing
      the same groups (thymine/uracil uses N3-H and C4=O8 groups during the formation
      of Watson-Crick and Hoogsteen base pairs with adenine). Compound (I) forms a
      water-mediated base pair through N-H...OW hydrogen bonds and forms an R4(2)(12)
      motif. The formation of N-H...S hydrogen bonds, water-mediated base pairs and
      water-water interactions in these crystal systems offers scope for these systems
      to be considered as a model in the study of hydration of nucleobases and water
      mediated nucleobase base pairs in macromolecules. 

PMID- 25827368
TI  - Structure and stability of BaTiSi2O7.
AB  - Due to their optical, photo-luminescence (PL), and afterglow properties, barium
      titanosilicates are compounds of great interest for functional materials and
      light-emitting devices. Among them, BaTiSi2O7 (BTS2) is certainly one of the most
      intriguing; it displays peculiar properties (e.g. PL orange emission) whose
      exhaustive explanation has been hampered to date by the lack of a structure
      model. In this work, BTS2 and the related compound BaTiSi4O11 (BTS4) were
      synthesized through conventional solid-state reaction methods. BTS2 invariably
      shows complex twinning patterns. Thus, its structure solution and Rietveld
      structure refinement were attempted using synchrotron powder diffraction. BTS2
      was found to be an intergrowth of monoclinic and triclinic crystals. The
      monoclinic phase has the space group P21/n and unit cell a = 7.9836 (3), b =
      10.0084 (4), c = 7.4795 (3) A, and beta = 100.321 (3) degrees , whereas the
      triclinic phase has the space group P?bar 1 and unit cell a = 7.99385 (4), b =
      10.01017 (5), c = 7.47514 (3) A, alpha = 90.084 (8), beta = 100.368 (8) and gamma
      = 89.937 (9) degrees . These lattices can be seen as a distortion of that of
      tetragonal synthetic beta-BaVSi2O7 with Ti in place of V. The structure models
      obtained from this study confirm the presence of fivefold coordinated Ti atoms in
      a distorted pyramidal configuration. The proposed solution supports existing
      theories for the explanation of the PL orange colour in BTS2. 

PMID- 25827369
TI  - A comprehensive classification and nomenclature of carboxyl-carboxyl(ate)
      supramolecular motifs and related catemers: implications for biomolecular
      systems.
AB  - Carboxyl and carboxylate groups form important supramolecular motifs (synthons).
      Besides carboxyl cyclic dimers, carboxyl and carboxylate groups can associate
      through a single hydrogen bond. Carboxylic groups can further form polymeric-like
      catemer chains within crystals. To date, no exhaustive classification of these
      motifs has been established. In this work, 17 association types were identified
      (13 carboxyl-carboxyl and 4 carboxyl-carboxylate motifs) by taking into account
      the syn and anti carboxyl conformers, as well as the syn and anti lone pairs of
      the O atoms. From these data, a simple rule was derived stating that only eight
      distinct catemer motifs involving repetitive combinations of syn and anti
      carboxyl groups can be formed. Examples extracted from the Cambridge Structural
      Database (CSD) for all identified dimers and catemers are presented, as well as
      statistical data related to their occurrence and conformational preferences. The
      inter-carboxyl(ate) and carboxyl(ate)-water hydrogen-bond properties are
      described, stressing the occurrence of very short (strong) hydrogen bonds. The
      precise characterization and classification of these supramolecular motifs should
      be of interest in crystal engineering, pharmaceutical and also biomolecular
      sciences, where similar motifs occur in the form of pairs of Asp/Glu amino acids
      or motifs involving ligands bearing carboxyl(ate) groups. Hence, we present data
      emphasizing how the analysis of hydrogen-containing small molecules of high
      resolution can help understand structural aspects of larger and more complex
      biomolecular systems of lower resolution. 

PMID- 25827370
TI  - Phosphoramides bearing isoxazole derivative: spectroscopic and structural
      characterization, study of hydrogen-bonding interactions and two lanthanide
      complexes (LnIII = Ce and Eu).
AB  - In this study, the synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of new
      phosphoramides based on 3-amino-5-methylisoxazole with the formula R2P(O)[NH
      C4H4NO], R = C6H5O (1), C6H5 (2), RP(O)[NH-C4H4NO]2, R = C6H5O (3), CH3-C6H4O
      (4), C6H5NH (5), (C6H5)ClP(O)[NH-C4H4NO] (6) and two lanthanide complexes
      [Ln(2)2(NO3)3(EtOH)].EtOH, Ln(III) = Ce (7) and Eu (8), have been reported. The
      structural study of (3) shows the presence of two conformers
      (crystallographically independent molecules) in the crystalline lattice, caused
      by different orientations of the phenyl and isoxazole rings. For (3), the
      intermolecular interactions have been studied by Hirshfeld surface analysis and
      fingerprint plots. Furthermore, the electronic and energy aspects of hydrogen
      bonds between molecules of (3) have been explored by density functional theory
      (DFT) calculations. X-ray crystallography of complexes (7) and (8) reveals that
      two phosphoramide ligands take part in coordination to the metal, one as
      monodentate from O(phosphoryl), and the other one as chelate through
      O(phosphoryl) and N(ring). The complexes are also composed of two conformers in
      the solid-state structure. Quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) analysis
      discloses the electrostatic nature of the Ln-ligand interaction.

PMID- 25827371
TI  - Structure of fluorite-like compound based on Nd5Mo3O16 with lead partly
      substituting for neodymium.
AB  - A single crystal of Nd5Mo3O16 with lead partly substituting for neodymium, which
      has a fluorite-like structure, was studied by precision X-ray diffraction, high
      resolution transmission microscopy and EDX microanalysis. The crystal structure
      is determined in the space group Pn3-n. It was found that the Pb atoms substitute
      in part for Nd atoms in the structure and are located in the vicinity of Nd2
      positions. Partial substitutions of Mo cations for Nd positions and of Nd for Mo
      positions in crystals of the Ln5Mo3O16 oxide family are corroborated by X-ray
      diffraction for the first time. The first experimental verification of the
      location of an additional oxygen ion in the voids abutting MoO4 tetrahedra was
      obtained.

PMID- 25827372
TI  - Structure of the mixed-metal carbonate KAgCO3 revisited: order-disorder (OD)
      polytypism and allotwinning.
AB  - Crystals of KAgCO3 belong to an order-disorder (OD) family of structures composed
      of layers of two kinds. There are two polytypes with a maximum degree of order
      [MDO1: Pccb; MDO2: Ibca, doubled a-axis compared with MDO1], which are both
      realised to a different extent in two crystals under investigation [volume
      fraction MDO1:MDO2 in crystal (I): 0.0216:0.9784 (3) and in crystal (II):
      0.9657:0.0343 (3)]. Sharp diffraction spots and the absence of diffuse scattering
      indicate highly ordered macroscopic domains. The structure of KAgCO3 was refined
      concurrently against all reflections using an allotwin model (addition of the
      intensities of both domains). It is shown that a disorder model refined against
      reflections of only one domain can lead to a significant overestimation of the
      volume fraction of this domain.

PMID- 25827373
TI  - Lack of a threefold rotation axis in alpha-Fe2O3 and alpha-Cr2O3 crystals.
AB  - The crystal structure of alpha-Fe2O3 and alpha-Cr2O3 is usually described with
      the corundum-type trigonal crystal structure based on the space group R3-c. There
      are, however, some observations of the magnetic ordering of both alpha-Fe2O3 and
      alpha-Cr2O3 that are incompatible with the trigonal symmetry. We show
      experimental evidence based on X-ray powder diffraction and supported by
      transmission electron microscopy that the symmetry of the crystal structure of
      both alpha-Fe2O3 and alpha-Cr2O3 is monoclinic and it is described with the space
      group C2/c (derived from R3-c by removing the threefold rotation axis). The
      magnetic orderings of alpha-Fe2O3 and alpha-Cr2O3 are compatible with the
      magnetic space groups C2/c and C2/c', respectively. These findings are in
      agreement with the idea from Curie [(1894), J. Phys. 3, 393-415] that the
      dissymmetry of the magnetic ordering should be associated with a dissymmetry of
      the crystal structure.

PMID- 25827374
TI  - Cocrystals of 6-chlorouracil and 6-chloro-3-methyluracil: exploring their
      hydrogen-bond-based synthon motifs with several triazine and pyrimidine
      derivatives.
AB  - In order to obtain complexes held together by hydrogen as well as halogen bonds,
      6-chlorouracil [6-chloropyrimidin-2,4(1H,3H)-dione; 6CU] and its 3-methyl
      derivative [6-chloro-3-methylpyrimidin-2,4(1H,3H)-dione; M6CU] were
      cocrystallized with 2,4,6-triaminopyrimidine and the three triazine derivatives
      2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-triazine (melamine), 2,4-diamino-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazine and
      2-chloro-4,6-diamino-1,3,5-triazine, which all offer complementary hydrogen
      bonding sites. Three of these compounds form cocrystals with 6CU; however,
      melamine yielded only a new pseudopolymorph with 6CU, but formed a cocrystal with
      M6CU. All six cocrystals contain solvent molecules (N,N-dimethylformamide, N,N
      dimethylacetamide or N-methylpyrrolidin-2-one), whose intermolecular interactions
      contribute significantly to the stabilization of the crystal packing. Each of
      these structures comprises chains, which are primarily formed by strong hydrogen
      bonds with a basic framework built by R2(2)(8) hydrogen bonds of either pure N
      H...N or mixed patterns. Solvent molecules are aligned to the border of these
      chains via N-H...O hydrogen bonds. Two of the reported crystal structures
      containing 6CU show additional Cl...O halogen bonds, which connect the chains to
      two-dimensional layers, while one weak and one strong Cl...Cl interaction are
      observed in the two structures in which molecules of M6CU are present. 

PMID- 25827375
TI  - Synthesis and structural elucidation of new complexes of 2,4- and 3,5-dimethyl
      diphenyldithiophosphates with cobalt(II).
AB  - A new series of donor-stabilized addition complexes of cobalt(II) with
      disubstituted diphenyldithiophosphates [{(ArO)2PS2}2CoL2] {Ar = 2,4-(CH3)2C6H3
      [(1)-(3)] and 3,5-(CH3)2C6H3 [(4)-(6)]; L = C5H5N [(1), (4)], 3,4-(CH3)2C5H3N
      [(2), (5)] and 4-(C2H5)C5H4N [(3), (6)]} were successfully isolated and
      characterized by elemental analyses, magnetic moment measurements, IR and single
      crystal X-ray analysis. Complexes (3), (4) and (5) crystallize in the monoclinic
      space groups P2(1)/n, P2(1)/n and P2(1)/c, respectively, whereas complex (6)
      crystallizes in the triclinic space group P1-. X-ray diffraction analysis of
      complexes (3)-(6) reveals a six-coordinated distorted octahedral geometry for the
      CoS4N2 chromophore defined by two chelating diphenyldithiophosphate anions as
      well as two N-donor ligands. Two diphenyldithiophosphate ligands are coordinated
      to the cobalt ion as a bidentate ligand chelating via the two thiolate S atoms.
      Each of them forms a four-membered chelate ring in the equatorial plane. The N
      atoms from two donor ligands are axially coordinated to the Co atom in a mutually
      trans position.

PMID- 25827376
TI  - Resonance-stabilized partial proton transfer in hydrogen bonds of incommensurate
      phenazine-chloranilic acid.
AB  - The co-crystal of phenazine (Phz) and chloranilic acid (H2ca) becomes
      ferroelectric upon cooling through the loss of inversion symmetry. Further
      cooling results in the development of an incommensurate ferroelectric phase,
      followed by a lock-in transition towards a twofold superstructure. Here we
      present the incommensurately modulated crystal structure of Phz-H2ca at T = 139 K
      with a symmetry given by the superspace group P2(1)(1/2 sigma(2) 1/2)0 and
      sigma(2) = 0.5139. The modulation mainly affects the positions of the protons
      within half of the intermolecular hydrogen bonds that are responsible for the
      spontaneous polarization in all three low-temperature phases. Evidence for proton
      transfer in part of the hydrogen bonds is obtained from the correlated dependence
      on the phase of the modulation of the lengths of bonds involved in resonance
      stabilization of the acidic anion, and much smaller variations of bond lengths of
      atoms not involved in the resonance mechanism. Incommensurability is explained as
      competition between proton transfer favored for single hydrogen bonds on the
      basis of pKa values and avoiding unfavorable Coulomb repulsion within the lattice
      of the resulting ionic molecules.

PMID- 25827377
TI  - Predicting the lattice constants of the ternary pyrochlores A2B2O6O'.
AB  - The pyrochlores A2B2O6O' attract much attention because of their physical
      properties. Several models which relate chemical compositions of ternary
      pyrochlores with lattice constants have been proposed. Analysis of these models
      shows that some of them are statistically inadequate and cannot be used.
      Statistical models to predict lattice constants of ternary pyrochlores A2B2O6O'
      have been derived using multiple linear regression analysis. 

PMID- 25827378
TI  - First experimental charge density study using a Bruker CMOS-type PHOTON 100
      detector: the case of ammonium tetraoxalate dihydrate. Addendum.

PMID- 25827380
TI  - Left ventricular dysfunction after mitral valve repair: predetermined or caused?

PMID- 25827381
TI  - Better to avoid disaster than rescue defeat--ventricular dysfunction after
      delayed mitral valve repair.

PMID- 25827382
TI  - Two techniques are better than one.

PMID- 25827383
TI  - Size matters.

PMID- 25827384
TI  - High activated clotting time, or venous graft, or off-pump coronary artery bypass
      grafting? Too early to call off the party!

PMID- 25827385
TI  - Definition of proximal anastomosis in the doors study.

PMID- 25827386
TI  - Thoracic aortic surgery in Europe: does volume mean necessarily quality?

PMID- 25827387
TI  - Improving outcomes in Europe.

PMID- 25827388
TI  - 2014 ACC/AHA/AATS/PCNA/SCAI/STS focused update of the guideline for the diagnosis
      and management of patients with stable ischemic heart disease: a report of the
      American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice
      Guidelines, and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, Preventive
      Cardiovascular Nurses Association, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and
      Interventions, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

PMID- 25827389
TI  - Identification of a subcentimeter pulmonary adenocarcinoma using intraoperative
      near-infrared imaging during video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.

PMID- 25827390
TI  - Early developmental delay in children with autism: A study from a developing
      country.
AB  - Early diagnosis is appropriate and important for developmental disorders such as
      autism spectrum disorder. In many less developed countries, unfortunately,
      diagnosis of this disorder is delayed. The aim of the present study is to
      determine whether this disorder can be screened using simple strategies such as
      comparison of the age of acquisition of motor skills. For this purpose, 124
      children with autism were chosen to enter the study, and their parents were asked
      to retrospectively specify the age of achieving milestones of sitting without
      support, standing alone and walking alone. Information obtained from the parents
      was compared with World Health Organization standards. Results indicate that
      participants (male and female) have significantly delayed age of acquisition of
      all three skills. Based on this result, it can be suggested that existing
      standards, as a simple means with low cost and easy availability, can be used for
      early screening of the disease at a younger age so that treatment can be provided
      more quickly. 

PMID- 25827391
TI  - A study of enhanced performance of VUV/UV process for the degradation of
      micropollutants from contaminated water.
AB  - VUV/UV is a chemical-free and straightforward solution for the degradation of
      emerging contaminants from water sources. The objective of this work was to
      investigate the feasibility of VUV/UV advanced oxidation process for the
      effective degradation of a target micropollutant, atrazine, under continuous flow
      operation of 0.5-6.5L/min. To provide an in-depth understanding of process, a
      comprehensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, incorporating flow
      hydrodynamics, 185nm VUV and 254nm UV radiation propagation along with a complete
      kinetic scheme, was developed and validated experimentally. The experimental
      degradation rates and CFD predicted values showed great consistency with less
      than 2.9% average absolute relative deviation (AARD). Utilizing the verified
      model, energy-efficiency of the VUV/UV process under a wide range of reactor
      configurations was assessed in terms of electrical energy-per-order (EEO), OH
      concentration as well as delivered UV and VUV dose distributions. Thereby, the
      extent of mixing and circulation zones was found as key parameter controlling the
      treatment economy and energy-efficiency of the VUV/UV process. Utilizing a CFD
      driven baffle design strategy, an improved VUV/UV process with up to 72%
      reduction in the total electrical energy requirement of atrazine degradation was
      introduced and verified experimentally. 

PMID- 25827392
TI  - Amino-functionalized adsorbent prepared by means of Cu(II) imprinted method and
      its selective removal of copper from aqueous solutions.
AB  - An amino-functionalized modified metal ion imprinting adsorbent was newly
      synthesized for the selective extraction and the removal of Cu(II) from aqueous
      solution. The adsorption capacity of the amino-functionalized ion-imprinted
      adsorbent was found to be significantly more than the several adsorbents reported
      in the literatures. The carbon based adsorbent was characterized by SEM, TEM,
      XPS, Elemental analysis and FTIR respectively. The optimum pH for Cu(II)
      adsorption was found to be 5. The adsorption equilibrium isotherm could be
      described by Langmuir model, the Langmuir isotherm has shown an agreement with
      experimental data, and the maximum adsorption capacity of copper ions for Cu(II)
      imprinted adsorbent was 33.33mg/g. The selectivity coefficients of the imprinted
      material for Cu(II)/Cd(II), Cu(II)/Co(II), Cu(II)/Ni(II) and Cu(II)/Zn(II) were
      31.8, 90.2, 38.6 and 36.1, respectively. Those were 10.6, 6.22, 7.11 and 39.2
      times greater than that of non-imprinted material, respectively. The high
      adsorption capacity and selectivity coefficient indicated that this amino
      functionalized ion-imprinted adsorbent can be used as the selective adsorbent for
      the removal of copper ions from wastewater. In this work, glucose, tetraethylene
      pentamine (TEPA) and copper ions as template are combined together with specific
      mole radio for preparing carbon-based adsorbent by means of hydrothermal
      synthesis method. 

PMID- 25827393
TI  - Polyphenolic Composition and Antioxidant Activities of 6 New Turmeric (Curcuma
      Longa L.) Accessions.
AB  - The phytochemical composition and antioxidant capacities of 6 new NRCRI turmeric
      (Curcuma longa L.) accessions (39, 35, 60, 30, 50 and 41) were determined using
      standard techniques. The moisture contents of the tumeric samples ranged from
      15.75 to 47.80% and the curcumin contents of the turmeric samples fell within the
      range of curcumin obtained from turmeric in other countries of the world.
      Furthermore, the turmeric accessions contained considerable amounts of
      antioxidants (measured using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical and
      reducing power assays), alkaloids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and phenolics. There
      was significant correlation between the anthocyanin contents of the tumeric
      accessions versus their alkaloid (0.744) and flavonoid contents (0.986)
      suggesting an additive effect between the anthocyanins and alkaloids in turmeric;
      significant correlation between the inhibition of the turmeric accessions on DPPH
      radical versus their flavonoid (0.892) and anthocyanin (0.949) contents and
      significant correlation between the reducing power of the turmeric accessions
      versus their flavonoid (0.973) and anthocyanin (0.974) contents suggesting that
      anthocyanins as flavonoids largely contribute to the antioxidant activities of
      turmeric. The positive regression recorded between inhibition of DPPH radical by
      the turmeric accessions and quercetin versus reducing power (R2 = 0.852) suggest
      that any of these methods could be used to assess the antioxidant activities of
      tumeric. Finally, the study indicated the potentials of the turmeric accessions
      especially accessions 30 and 50 as promising sources of antioxidants. 

PMID- 25827394
TI  - Stem cell therapy for chronic heart failure.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim of this review was to discuss recent advances in
      clinical aspects of stem cell therapy in heart failure with emphasis on patient
      selection, stem cell types and delivery methods. RECENT FINDINGS: Several stem
      cell types have been considered for the treatment of patients with heart failure.
      In nonischemic heart failure, transplantation of CD34 cells improved myocardial
      performance, functional capacity and neurohumoral activation. In ischemic heart
      failure, cardiosphere-derived cells were shown to reduce myocardial scar burden
      with concomitant increase in viable tissue and regional systolic wall thickening.
      Both autologous and allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells were shown to be effective
      in improving heart function in patients with ischemic heart failure; this may
      represent an important step toward the development of a standardized stem cell
      product for widespread clinical use. SUMMARY: Although trials of stem cell
      therapy in heart failure have shown promising results, the findings are not
      consistent. Given the wide spectrum of heart failure, it may be difficult to
      define a uniform stem cell therapy for all subsets of patients; instead, future
      stem cell therapeutic strategies should aim for a more personalized approach by
      establishing optimal stem cell type, dose and delivery method for an individual
      patient and disease state.

PMID- 25827395
TI  - Spotlight on new therapies in heart failure.

PMID- 25827396
TI  - Designing ordered nucleic acid self-assembly processes.
AB  - A major goal of self-assembly research is the synthesis of biomolecular
      structures with diverse, intricate features across multiple length scales.
      Designing self-assembly processes becomes more difficult as the number of species
      or target structure size increases. Just as the ordered assembly of a machine or
      device makes complex manufacturing possible, ordered (or 'algorithmic')
      biomolecular self-assembly processes could enable the self-assembly of more
      complex structures. We discuss the design of ordered assembly processes with
      particular attention to DNA and RNA. The assembly of complexes can be ordered
      using selective, multivalent interactions or active components that change shape
      after assembly. The self-assembly of spatial gradients driven by reaction
      diffusion can also be ordered. We conclude by considering topics for future
      research. 

PMID- 25827397
TI  - Activity and in vivo tracking of Amphotericin B loaded PLGA nanoparticles.
AB  - The development of biocompatible polymeric nanoparticles has become an important
      strategy for optimizing the therapeutic efficacy of many classical drugs, as it
      may expand their activities, reduce their toxicity, increase their bioactivity
      and improve biodistribution. In this study, nanoparticles of Amphotericin B
      entrapped within poly (lactic-co-glycolic) acid and incorporated with
      dimercaptosuccinic acid (NANO-D-AMB) as a target molecule were evaluated for
      their physic-chemical characteristics, pharmacokinetics, biocompatibility and
      antifungal activity. We found high plasma concentrations of Amphotericin B upon
      treatment with NANO-D-AMB and a high uptake of nanoparticles in the lungs, liver
      and spleen. NANO-D-AMB exhibited antifungal efficacy against Paracoccidioides
      brasiliensis and induced much lower cytotoxicity levels compared to D-AMB
      formulation in vivo and in vitro. Together, these results confirm that NANO-D-AMB
      improves Amphotericin B delivery and suggest this delivery system as a potential
      alternative to the use of Amphotericin B sodium deoxycholate. 

PMID- 25827398
TI  - Structure-activity relationship studies of SEN12333 analogues: determination of
      the optimal requirements for binding affinities at alpha7 nAChRs through
      incorporation of known structural motifs.
AB  - Alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) have implications in the
      regulation of cognitive processes such as memory and attention and have been
      identified as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of the cognitive
      deficits associated with schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Structure
      affinity relationship studies of the previously described alpha7 agonist SEN12333
      (8), have resulted in the identification of compound 45, a potent and selective
      agonist of the alpha7 nAChR with enhanced affinity and improved physicochemical
      properties over the parent compound (SEN12333, 8). 

PMID- 25827399
TI  - Enhancing the cellular anti-proliferation activity of pyridazinones as c-met
      inhibitors using docking analysis.
AB  - A series of 2, 6-disubstituted pyridazinone derivatives were evaluated and
      optimized for their c-Met inhibitory activity in enzyme and cellular assay. An
      analysis of the SAR results arising from computer modeling analysis of members of
      the library led to the proposal that in order to obtain optimal inhibitory
      activity in cellular systems the lipophilic/hydrophilic properties of individual
      structural fragments in the inhibitors need to match those of corresponding
      binding pockets in the enzyme. Guided by this proposal, the quinoline
      pyridazinone 8a, containing hydrophobic 6-indolyl pyridazinone and quinoline
      moieties along with a hydrophilic morpholine terminal group, was designed and
      synthesized. The results of studies with this substance showed that it is a
      selective c-Met inhibitor with both a high enzyme inhibition IC50 value of 4.2 nM
      and a high EBC-1 cell proliferation inhibition IC50 value of 17 nM. 

PMID- 25827400
TI  - Synthetic phenylethanoid glycoside derivatives as potent neuroprotective agents.
AB  - Several phenylethanoid glycoside derivatives were designed and synthesized. Most
      of the synthetic compounds showed significant neuroprotective effects, including
      antioxidative and anti-apoptotic properties. Specifically, target compounds
      displayed potent effects against various toxicities such as H2O2 and 6
      hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in PC12 cells. Among the synthetic derivatives, three
      compounds (5, 6, 8) exhibited much superior activities to the marketed drug
      Edaravone. The compounds were able to prevent the 6-OHDA-induced damage in PC12
      cells in a dose-dependent manner. The anti-apoptotic effects could be observed
      via cell morphological changes. Moreover, the compounds significantly reduced the
      intracellular ROS increase resulting from 6-OHDA treatment. The preliminary
      structure-activity relationships were also explored. Compounds 5, 6, 8 may hold
      the potential as promising neuroprotective agents and new lead compounds for the
      treatment of neurodegenerative diseases or cerebral ischemia. 

PMID- 25827401
TI  - New paradigm of an old target: an update on structural biology and current
      progress in drug design towards plasmepsin II.
AB  - Malaria is one of the major parasitic disease whose rapid spreading and mortality
      rate affects all parts of the world especially several parts of Asia as well as
      Africa. The emergence of multi-drug resistant strains hamper the progress of
      current antimalarial therapy and displayed an urgent need for new antimalarials
      by targeting novel drug targets. Until now, several promising targets were
      explored in order to develop a promising Achilles hill to counter malaria.
      Plasmepsin, an aspartic protease, which is involved in the hemoglobin breakdown
      into smaller peptides emerged as a crucial target to develop new chemical
      entities to counter malaria. Due to early crystallographic evidence, plasmepsin
      II (Plm II) emerged as well explored target to develop novel antimalarials as
      well as a starting point to develop inhibitors targeting some other subtypes of
      plasmepsins i.e. Plm I, II, IV and V. With the advancements in drug discovery,
      several computational and synthetic approaches were employed in order to develop
      novel inhibitors targeting Plm II. Strategies such as fragment based drug design,
      molecular dynamics simulation, double drug approach etc. were employed in order
      to develop new chemical entities targeting Plm II. But majority of Plm II
      inhibitors suffered from poor selectivity over cathepsin D as well as other
      subtypes of plasmepsins. This review highlights an updated account of drug
      discovery efforts targeting plasmepsin II from a medicinal chemistry perspective.

PMID- 25827402
TI  - 3,4-Diaza-bicyclo[4.1.0]hept-4-en-2-one phenoxypropylamine analogs of irdabisant
      (CEP-26401) as potent histamine-3 receptor inverse agonists with robust wake
      promoting activity.
AB  - A novel series of 3,4-diaza-bicyclo[4.1.0]hept-4-en-2-ones were designed and
      synthesized as H3R analogs of irdabisant 6. Separation of the isomers, assignment
      of the stereochemistry by crystallography, and detailed profiling of
      diastereomers 25 and 26 led to the identification of (1R,6S)-5-{4-[3-((R)-2
      methyl-pyrrolidin-1-yl)propoxy]phenyl}-3,4-diaza-bicyclo[4.1.0]hept-4-en-2-one 25
      as a potential second generation H3R candidate. Diastereomer 25 had high H3R
      binding affinity, excellent selectivity, displayed potent H3R functional
      antagonism and robust wake-promoting activity in vivo, and showed acceptable
      pharmacokinetic and pharmaceutical profiles for potential further development. 

PMID- 25827403
TI  - Histone deacetylase inhibitor-polymer conjugate nanoparticles for acid-responsive
      drug delivery.
AB  - We report the synthesis of acid-responsive polymeric nanoparticles (NPs)
      consisting of a polymer-histone deacetylase inhibitor conjugate. An innovative
      aspect of this drug delivery particle lies in the NP conjugation of a histone
      deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, CI-994 (Tacedinaline), introduced with a clickable
      acid-responsive prodrug during monomer synthesis, prior to polymerization.
      Another novelty lies in the selected norbornene (NB)-polyethylene oxide (PEO)
      macromonomer allowing standardization of the polymerization process by Ring
      Opening Metathesis Polymerization (ROMP) and functionalization through azide
      alkyne click chemistry. Herein we demonstrate that the synthesized polymer gave
      300 nm core-shell spherical nanoparticles with low dispersity (0.04), high water
      dispersability thanks to the PEO shell and well controlled HDAC inhibitor prodrug
      loading. Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET) assay in living cells
      and viability experiments demonstrated efficient cellular internalization without
      additional chemistry, drug release inside cells with restoration of the HDAC
      inhibition and induction of apoptosis. Such NPs should minimize drug release in
      vivo during blood circulation and trigger intracellular delivery after
      endocytosis, holding promises for improved efficacy of this class of epigenetic
      inhibitors. This standardized synthesis paves the way for multifunctional
      nanoparticles synthesis. 

PMID- 25827404
TI  - Dermal uptake of petroleum substances.
AB  - Petroleum products are complex substances comprising varying amounts of linear
      and branched alkanes, alkenes, cycloalkanes, and aromatics which may penetrate
      the skin at different rates. For proper interpretation of toxic hazard data,
      understanding their percutaneous absorption is of paramount importance. The
      extent and significance of dermal absorption of eight petroleum substances,
      representing different classes of hydrocarbons, was evaluated. Literature data on
      the steady-state flux and permeability coefficient of these substances were
      evaluated and compared to those predicted by mathematical models. Reported
      results spanned over 5-6 orders of magnitude and were largely dependent on
      experimental conditions in particular on the type of the vehicle used. In
      general, aromatic hydrocarbons showed higher dermal absorption than more
      lipophilic aliphatics with similar molecular weight. The results showed high
      variation and were largely influenced by experimental conditions emphasizing the
      need of performing the experiments under "in use" scenario. The predictive models
      overestimated experimental absorption. The overall conclusion is that, based on
      the observed percutaneous penetration data, dermal exposure to petroleum
      hydrocarbons, even of aromatics with highest dermal absorption is limited and
      highly unlikely to be associated with health risks under real use scenarios. 

PMID- 25827405
TI  - Oxidative DNA damage and disturbance of antioxidant capacity by alternariol in
      Caco-2 cells.
AB  - Oxidative stress occurs as a consequence of an imbalance between the
      prooxidant/antioxidant systems, causing an increase of intracellular generation
      of reactive oxygen species. Alternariol (AOH), a mycotoxin produced by Alternaria
      sp. can alter the action of glutathione (GSH) and the enzymes involved in the
      redox system, causing damage to cellular macromolecules such as DNA. The aims of
      this work were to determine the induction of oxidative stress by the antioxidant
      defenses imbalance in relation to glutathione (GSH), glutathione reductase (GR),
      glutathione transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels and DNA damage
      in Caco-2 cells derived from adenocarcinoma human colon. Oxidative stress by AOH
      was confirmed by alteration of GSH levels and the antioxidant defense system
      after 15, 30 and 60 MUM AOH exposure during 24h. GSH levels significantly
      decreased by 43% after treatment with 60 MUM AOH compared to the control. The
      activity of GPx and GR was reduced by 30% and 23%, respectively after 60 MUM AOH.
      The GST activity was significantly increased (approximately 22%) with 30 MUM AOH,
      while 60 MUM AOH decreased it by 30% in comparison to the control. Analysis of
      DNA damage was performed using the Comet assay after 24h, where the % of DNA in
      tail increased from 70% to 85% compared the control.

PMID- 25827406
TI  - BK/TD models for analyzing in vitro impedance data on cytotoxicity.
AB  - The ban of animal testing has enhanced the development of new in vitro
      technologies for cosmetics safety assessment. Impedance metrics is one such
      technology which enables monitoring of cell viability in real time. However,
      analyzing real time data requires moving from static to dynamic toxicity
      assessment. In the present study, we built mechanistic biokinetic/toxicodynamic
      (BK/TD) models to analyze the time course of cell viability in cytotoxicity assay
      using impedance. These models account for the fate of the tested compounds during
      the assay. BK/TD models were applied to analyze HepaRG cell viability, after
      single (48 h) and repeated (4 weeks) exposures to three hepatotoxic compounds
      (coumarin, isoeugenol and benzophenone-2). The BK/TD models properly fit the data
      used for their calibration that was obtained for single or repeated exposure.
      Only for one out of the three compounds, the models calibrated with a single
      exposure were able to predict repeated exposure data. We therefore recommend the
      use of long-term exposure in vitro data in order to adequately account for
      chronic hepatotoxic effects. The models we propose here are capable of being
      coupled with human biokinetic models in order to relate dose exposure and human
      hepatotoxicity.

PMID- 25827407
TI  - Percutaneous penetration of silver from a silver containing garment in healthy
      volunteers and patients with atopic dermatitis.
AB  - Human data on dermal absorption of silver under "in use" scenario are scarce
      which hampers health risk assessment. The main objective of the present study was
      to determine percutaneous penetration of silver after dermal exposure to silver
      containing garment in healthy individuals and atopic dermatitis (AD) patients.
      Next to assess pro-inflammatory effect of silver in the skin. Healthy subjects
      (n=15) and patients with AD (n=15) wore a sleeve containing 3.6% (w/w) silver on
      their lower arms for 8h during 5 consecutive days. The percutaneous penetration
      parameters were deduced from the silver concentration-depth profiles in the
      stratum corneum (SC) collected by adhesive tapes. Furthermore, silver was
      measured in urine samples collected before and after exposure. Inflammatory
      response was assessed by measuring IL-1alpha and IL-1RA in the exposed and non
      exposed skin sites. Dermal flux of silver in healthy subjects and AD patients was
      respectively 0.23 and 0.20 ng/cm(2)/h. The urine silver concentrations showed no
      increase after exposure. Furthermore, exposure to silver did not lead to the
      changes in the profiles of IL-1alpha and IL-1RA. Dermal absorption of silver
      under "real life scenario" was lower than the current reference dose.
      Furthermore, dermal exposure did not lead to altered expression of inflammatory
      IL-1 cytokines in the skin.

PMID- 25827408
TI  - Gender specific patterns of age-related decline in aortic stiffness: a
      cardiovascular magnetic resonance study including normal ranges.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Young females exhibit lower cardiovascular event rates that young
      men, a pattern which is lost, or even reversed with advancing age. As aortic
      stiffness is a powerful risk factor for cardiovascular events, a gender
      difference with advancing age could provide a plausible explanation for this
      pattern. METHODS: 777 subjects (?n = 408, ?n = 369) across a wide range of age
      (21-85 years) underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance to assess aortic pulse
      wave velocity (PWV) and, in addition, aortic distensibility at three levels; 1)
      ascending aorta (Ao) and 2) proximal descending aorta (PDA) at the level of the
      pulmonary artery and 3) the abdominal aorta (DDA). RESULTS: There was a strong
      negative correlation between increasing age and regional aortic distensibility
      (Ao?R-0.84, ?R-0.80, PDA?R-0.82, ?R-0.77, DDA?R-0.80, ?R-0.71 all p < 0.001) and
      a strong positive correlation with PWV, (?R0.53, ?R 0.63 both p < 0.001). Even
      after adjustment for mean arterial pressure, body mass index, heart rate, smoking
      and diabetes, females exhibited a steeper decrease in all distensibility measures
      in response to increasing age (Ao?-1.3 vs ?-1.1 mmHg-1, PDA ?-1.2 vs ?-1.0 mmHg,
      DDA ?-1.8 vs ?-1.4 mmHg-1 per 10 years increase in age all p < 0.001). No gender
      difference in PWV increase with age was observed (p = 0.11). CONCLUSION: Although
      advancing age is accompanied by increased aortic stiffness in both males and
      females, a significant sex difference in the rate of change exists, with females
      showing a steeper decline in aortic elasticity. As aortic stiffness is strongly
      related to cardiovascular events our observations may explain the increase in
      cardiovascular event rates that accompanies the menopausal age in women.

PMID- 25827409
TI  - Biofunctionalized ceramic with self-assembled networks of nanochannels.
AB  - Nature designs circulatory systems with hierarchically organized networks of
      gradually tapered channels ranging from micrometer to nanometer in diameter. In
      most hard tissues in biological systems, fluid, gases, nutrients and wastes are
      constantly exchanged through such networks. Here, we developed a biologically
      inspired, hierarchically organized structure in ceramic to achieve effective
      permeation with minimum void region, using fabrication methods that create a long
      range, highly interconnected nanochannel system in a ceramic biomaterial. This
      design of a synthetic model-material was implemented through a novel pressurized
      sintering process formulated to induce a gradual tapering in channel diameter
      based on pressure-dependent polymer agglomeration. The resulting system allows
      long-range, efficient transport of fluid and nutrients into sites and interfaces
      that conventional fluid conduction cannot reach without external force. We
      demonstrate the ability of mammalian bone-forming cells placed at the distal
      transport termination of the nanochannel system to proliferate in a manner
      dependent solely upon the supply of media by the self-powering nanochannels. This
      approach mimics the significant contribution that nanochannel transport plays in
      maintaining living hard tissues by providing nutrient supply that facilitates
      cell growth and differentiation, and thereby makes the ceramic composite "alive".

PMID- 25827410
TI  - The effect of mealybug Pseudococcus longispinus (Targioni Tozzetti) infestation
      of different density on physiological responses of Phalaenopsis * hybridum
      'Innocence'.
AB  - Cultivated orchids are the most abundantly attacked by polyphagous mealybugs.
      This study documented how different density of mealybug Pseudococcus longispinus
      (Targioni Tozzetti) infestation is associated with a response of antioxidative
      systems of Phalaenopsis * hybridum 'Innocence'. The degree of cell damage,
      estimated by electrolyte leakage measurement and the level of thiobarbituric acid
      reactive substances (TBARS), the content of pigments as well as the activity of
      antioxidative enzymes and proline level, as measurements of stress and stress
      compensation in moth orchid were examined. The highest electrolyte leakage (E L)
      value among samples from colonized plants was found in the orchids from series
      III (50 individuals/plant), whereas the lowest in the plants from series II (20
      individuals/plant). The TBARS content reached the highest level at the lowest
      number of feeding insects (series I). Peroxidase activity toward guaiacol was
      significantly increased in series I (5 individuals/plant). The highest catalase
      activity was recorded in plants colonized by the highest number of scale insects
      (series III). Whereas, the highest value of proline was in series II. The content
      of individual photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and
      carotenoids) in plant tissues did not vary significantly between control and
      colonized orchids. The results have not confirmed hypothesis that the increasing
      number of mealybugs occurring on plant enhanced plant physiological response. The
      degree of longtailed mealybug infestation on plants was positively correlated
      only with electrolyte leakage and catalase activity in leaf tissues. 

PMID- 25827411
TI  - How much of the variation in mortality across Norwegian municipalities is
      explained by the socio-demographic characteristics of the population?
AB  - The goal was to find out whether much of the variation in mortality between the
      430 Norwegian municipalities could be attributed to socio-demographic
      characteristics of the population - operating through individual- or aggregate
      level mechanisms. Two-level discrete-time hazard models were estimated for women
      and men at age 60-89 in 2000-2008, using registers covering the entire
      population. Year, age and a municipality-level random term were included in the
      first step. When socio-demographic characteristics of the individual and others
      in the municipality were added, the variance of the random term was reduced by 73
      80% almost exclusively because of aggregate-level effects. Policy implications of
      these findings are discussed. 

PMID- 25827412
TI  - Association between arterial stiffness, cerebral small vessel disease and
      cognitive impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - Arterial stiffness may be a cause of cerebral small vessel disease and cognitive
      impairment. We therefore performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of
      studies on the association between stiffness, cerebral small vessel disease and
      cognitive impairment. For the associations between stiffness (i.e. carotid
      femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV), carotid
      stiffness and pulse pressure) on the one hand and cerebral small vessel disease
      and cognitive impairment on the other, we identified 23 (n=15,666/20 cross
      sectional; 1 longitudinal; 2 combined cross-sectional/longitudinal) and 41
      studies (n=57,671/26 cross-sectional; 11 longitudinal; 4 combined cross
      sectional/longitudinal), respectively. Pooled analyses of cross-sectional studies
      showed that greater stiffness was associated with markers of cerebral small
      vessel disease with odds ratios, per +1 SD, of 1.29-1.32 (P<.001). Studies on
      cognitive impairment could not be pooled due to large heterogeneity. Some (but
      not all) studies showed an association between greater stiffness and cognitive
      impairment, and the strength of this association was relatively weak. The present
      study supports the hypothesis that greater arterial stiffness is a contributor to
      microvascular brain disease. 

PMID- 25827413
TI  - Recoding of the vesicular stomatitis virus L gene by computer-aided design
      provides a live, attenuated vaccine candidate.
AB  - Codon pair bias (CPB), which has been observed in all organisms, is a neglected
      genomic phenomenon that affects gene expression. CPB results from synonymous
      codons that are paired more or less frequently in ORFeomes regardless of codon
      bias. The effect of an individual codon pair change is usually small, but when it
      is amplified by large-scale genome recoding, strikingly altered biological
      phenotypes are observed. The utility of codon pair bias in the development of
      live attenuated vaccines was recently demonstrated by recodings of poliovirus (a
      positive-strand RNA virus) and influenza virus (a negative-strand segmented RNA
      virus). Here, the L gene of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), a nonsegmented
      negative-sense RNA virus, was partially recoded based on codon pair bias. Totals
      of 858 and 623 silent mutations were introduced into a 5'-terminal segment of the
      viral L gene (designated L1) to create sequences containing either
      overrepresented or underrepresented codon pairs, designated L1(sdmax) and
      L1(min), respectively. Analysis revealed that recombinant VSV containing the
      L1(min) sequence could not be recovered, whereas the virus with the sdmax
      sequence showed a modest level of attenuation in cell culture. More strikingly,
      in mice the L1(sdmax) virus was almost as immunogenic as the parental strain but
      highly attenuated. Taken together, these results open a new road to attain a
      balance between VSV virulence and immunogenicity, which could serve as an example
      for the attenuation of other negative-strand, nonsegmented RNA viruses.
      IMPORTANCE: Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is the prototypic rhabdovirus in the
      order Mononegavirales. A wide range of human pathogens belong to this family.
      Using a unique computer algorithm and large-scale genome synthesis, we attempted
      to develop a live attenuated vaccine strain for VSV, which could be used as an
      antigen delivery platform for humans. Recombinant VSVs with distinct codon pair
      biases were rationally designed, constructed, and analyzed in both cell culture
      and an animal model. One such recombinant virus, L1(sdmax), contained extra
      overrepresented codon pairs in its L gene open reading frame (ORF) and showed
      promise as an effective vaccine candidate because of a favorable balance between
      virulence and immunogenicity. Our study not only contributes to the understanding
      of the underlying mechanism of codon pair bias but also may facilitate the
      development of live attenuated vaccines for other viruses in the order
      Mononegavirales.

PMID- 25827414
TI  - Targeted knockout of the Rickettsia rickettsii OmpA surface antigen does not
      diminish virulence in a mammalian model system.
AB  - Strains of Rickettsia rickettsii, the causative agent of Rocky Mountain spotted
      fever (RMSF), differ dramatically in virulence despite >99% genetic homology.
      Spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae produce two immunodominant outer membrane
      proteins, rickettsial OmpA (rOmpA) and rOmpB, which are conserved throughout the
      SFG and thought to be fundamental to pathogenesis. rOmpA is present in all
      virulent strains of R. rickettsii but is not produced in the only documented
      avirulent strain, Iowa, due to a premature stop codon. Here we report the
      creation of an isogenic ompA mutant in the highly virulent strain Sheila Smith by
      insertion of intronic RNA to create a premature stop codon 312 bp downstream of
      the 6,747-bp open reading frame initiation site (int312). Targeted insertion was
      accomplished using an LtrA group II intron retrohoming system. Growth and entry
      rates of Sheila Smith ompA::int312 in Vero cells remained comparable to those of
      the wild type. Virulence was assessed in a guinea pig model by challenge with 100
      PFU of either ompA::int312 Sheila Smith or the wild type, but no significant
      difference in either fever peak (40.5 degrees C) or duration (8 days) were shown
      between the wild type and the knockout. The ability to disrupt genes in a site
      specific manner using an LtrA group II intron system provides an important new
      tool for evaluation of potential virulence determinants in rickettsial disease
      research. IMPORTANCE: R. rickettsii rOmpA is an immunodominant outer membrane
      autotransporter conserved in the spotted fever group. Previous studies and
      genomic comparisons suggest that rOmpA is involved in adhesion and may be
      critical for virulence. Little information is available for rickettsial virulence
      factors in an isogenic background, as limited systems for targeted gene
      disruption are currently available. Here we describe the creation of an rOmpA
      knockout by insertion of a premature stop codon into the 5' end of the open
      reading frame using a group II intron system. An isogenic rOmpA knockout mutation
      in the highly virulent Sheila Smith strain did not cause attenuation in a guinea
      pig model of infection, and no altered phenotype was observed in cell culture. We
      conclude that rOmpA is not critical for virulence in a guinea pig model but may
      play a role in survival or transmission from the tick vector.

PMID- 25827415
TI  - Distinct roles of the repeat-containing regions and effector domains of the
      Vibrio vulnificus multifunctional-autoprocessing repeats-in-toxin (MARTX) toxin.
AB  - Vibrio vulnificus is a seafood-borne pathogen that destroys the intestinal
      epithelium, leading to rapid bacterial dissemination and death. The most
      important virulence factor is the multifunctional-autoprocessing repeats-in-toxin
      (MARTX) toxin comprised of effector domains in the center region flanked by long
      repeat-containing regions which are well conserved among MARTX toxins and
      predicted to translocate effector domains. Here, we examined the role of the
      repeat-containing regions using a modified V. vulnificus MARTX (MARTX(Vv)) toxin
      generated by replacing all the internal effector domains with beta-lactamase
      (Bla). Bla activity was detected in secretions from the bacterium and also in the
      cytosol of intoxicated epithelial cells. The modified MARTX(Vv) toxin without
      effector domains retained its necrotic activity but lost its cell-rounding
      activity. Further, deletion of the carboxyl-terminal repeat-containing region
      blocked toxin secretion from the bacterium. Deletion of the amino-terminal repeat
      containing region had no effect on secretion but completely abolished
      translocation and necrosis. Neither secretion nor translocation was affected by
      enzymatically inactivating the cysteine protease domain of the toxin. These data
      demonstrate that the amino-terminal and carboxyl-terminal repeat-containing
      regions of the MARTXVv toxin are necessary and sufficient for the delivery of
      effector domains and epithelial cell lysis in vitro but that effector domains are
      required for other cytopathic functions. Furthermore, Ca(2+)-dependent secretion
      of the modified MARTX(Vv) toxin suggests that nonclassical RTX-like repeats found
      in the carboxyl-terminal repeat-containing region are functionally similar to
      classical RTX repeats found in other RTX proteins. IMPORTANCE: Up to 95% of
      deaths from seafood-borne infections in the United States are due solely to one
      pathogen, V. vulnificus. Among its various virulence factors, the MARTX(Vv) toxin
      has been characterized as a critical exotoxin for successful pathogenesis of V.
      vulnificus in mouse infection models. Similarly to MARTX toxins of other
      pathogens, MARTX(Vv) toxin is comprised of repeat-containing regions, central
      effector domains, and an autoprocessing cysteine protease domain. Yet how each of
      these regions contributes to essential activities of the toxins has not been
      fully identified for any of MARTX toxins. Using modified MARTX(Vv) toxin fused
      with beta-lactamase as a reporter enzyme, the portion(s) responsible for toxin
      secretion from bacteria, effector domain translocation into host cells, rapid
      host cell rounding, and necrotic host cell death was identified. The results are
      relevant for understanding how MARTX(Vv) toxin serves as both a necrotic pore
      forming toxin and an effector delivery platform.

PMID- 25827416
TI  - The glycerol-dependent metabolic persistence of Pseudomonas putida KT2440
      reflects the regulatory logic of the GlpR repressor.
AB  - The growth of the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida KT2440 on glycerol as the
      sole carbon source is characterized by a prolonged lag phase, not observed with
      other carbon substrates. We examined the bacterial growth in glycerol cultures
      while monitoring the metabolic activity of individual cells. Fluorescence
      microscopy and flow cytometry, as well as the analysis of the temporal start of
      growth in single-cell cultures, revealed that adoption of a glycerol-metabolizing
      regime was not the result of a gradual change in the whole population but rather
      reflected a time-dependent bimodal switch between metabolically inactive (i.e.,
      nongrowing) and fully active (i.e., growing) bacteria. A transcriptional Phi(glpD
      gfp) fusion (a proxy of the glycerol-3-phosphate [G3P] dehydrogenase activity)
      linked the macroscopic phenotype to the expression of the glp genes. Either
      deleting glpR (encoding the G3P-responsive transcriptional repressor that
      controls the expression of the glpFKRD gene cluster) or altering G3P formation
      (by overexpressing glpK, encoding glycerol kinase) abolished the bimodal glpD
      expression. These manipulations eliminated the stochastic growth start by
      shortening the otherwise long lag phase. Provision of glpR in trans restored the
      phenotypes lost in the DeltaglpR mutant. The prolonged nongrowth regime of P.
      putida on glycerol could thus be traced to the regulatory device controlling the
      transcription of the glp genes. Since the physiological agonist of GlpR is G3P,
      the arrangement of metabolic and regulatory components at this checkpoint merges
      a positive feedback loop with a nonlinear transcriptional response, a layout
      fostering the observed time-dependent shift between two alternative physiological
      states. IMPORTANCE: Phenotypic variation is a widespread attribute of prokaryotes
      that leads, inter alia, to the emergence of persistent bacteria, i.e., live but
      nongrowing members within a genetically clonal population. Persistence allows a
      fraction of cells to avoid the killing caused by conditions or agents that
      destroy most growing bacteria (e.g., some antibiotics). Known molecular
      mechanisms underlying the phenomenon include genetic changes, epigenetic
      variations, and feedback-based multistability. We show that a prolonged
      nongrowing state of the bacterial population can be brought about by a distinct
      regulatory architecture of metabolic genes when cells face specific nutrients
      (e.g., glycerol). Pseudomonas putida may have adopted the resulting carbon source
      dependent metabolic bet hedging as an advantageous trait for exploring new
      chemical and nutritional landscapes. Defeating such naturally occurring adaptive
      features of environmental bacteria is instrumental in improving the performance
      of these microorganisms as whole-cell catalysts in a bioreactor setup.

PMID- 25827417
TI  - Subinhibitory antibiotic therapy alters recurrent urinary tract infection
      pathogenesis through modulation of bacterial virulence and host immunity.
AB  - The capacity of subinhibitory levels of antibiotics to modulate bacterial
      virulence in vitro has recently been brought to light, raising concerns over the
      appropriateness of low-dose therapies, including antibiotic prophylaxis for
      recurrent urinary tract infection management. However, the mechanisms involved
      and their relevance in influencing pathogenesis have not been investigated. We
      characterized the ability of antibiotics to modulate virulence in the
      uropathogens Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Escherichia coli. Several
      antibiotics were able to induce the expression of adhesins critical to urothelial
      colonization, resulting in increased biofilm formation, colonization of murine
      bladders and kidneys, and promotion of intracellular niche formation. Mice
      receiving subinhibitory ciprofloxacin treatment were also more susceptible to
      severe infections and frequent recurrences. A ciprofloxacin prophylaxis model
      revealed this strategy to be ineffective in reducing recurrences and worsened
      infection by creating larger intracellular reservoirs at higher frequencies. Our
      study indicates that certain agents used for antibiotic prophylaxis have the
      potential to complicate infections. IMPORTANCE: Antibiotics are the mainstay
      treatment for bacterial infections; however, evidence is emerging that argues
      these agents may have off-target effects if sublethal concentrations are present.
      Most studies have focused on changes occurring in vitro, leaving questions
      regarding the clinical relevance in vivo. We utilized a murine urinary tract
      infection model to explore the potential impact of low-dose antibiotics on
      pathogenesis. Using this model, we showed that subinhibitory antibiotics prime
      uropathogens for adherence and invasion of murine urothelial tissues. These
      changes in initial colonization promoted the establishment of chronic infection.
      Furthermore, treatment of chronically infected mice with subtherapeutic
      ciprofloxacin served to exacerbate infection. A part of these changes was thought
      to be due to suppression of mucosal immunity, as demonstrated through reductions
      in cytokine secretion and migration of leukocytes into the urinary tract. This
      work identifies novel risk factors associated with antibiotic therapy when dosing
      strategies fall below subtherapeutic levels.

PMID- 25827418
TI  - Rapid genome assembly and comparison decode intrastrain variation in human
      alphaherpesviruses.
AB  - Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a widespread pathogen that causes epithelial
      lesions with recurrent disease that manifests over a lifetime. The lifelong
      aspect of infection results from latent viral infection of neurons, a reservoir
      from which the virus reactivates periodically. Recent work has demonstrated the
      breadth of genetic variation in globally distributed HSV strains. However, the
      amount of variation or capacity for mutation within one strain has not been well
      studied. Here we developed and applied a streamlined new approach for assembly
      and comparison of large DNA viral genomes such as HSV-1. This viral genome
      assembly (VirGA) workflow incorporates a combination of de novo assembly,
      alignment, and annotation strategies to automate the generation of draft genomes
      for large viruses. We applied this approach to quantify the amount of variation
      between clonal derivatives of a common parental virus stock. In addition, we
      examined the genetic basis for syncytial plaque phenotypes displayed by a subset
      of these strains. In each of the syncytial strains, we found an identical DNA
      change, affecting one residue in the gB (UL27) fusion protein. Since these
      identical mutations could have appeared after extensive in vitro passaging, we
      applied the VirGA sequencing and comparison approach to two clinical HSV-1
      strains isolated from the same patient. One of these strains was syncytial upon
      first culturing; its sequence revealed the same gB mutation. These data provide
      insight into the extent and origin of genome-wide intrastrain HSV-1 variation and
      present useful methods for expansion to in vivo patient infection studies.
      IMPORTANCE: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infects more than 70% of adults worldwide,
      causing epithelial lesions and recurrent disease that manifests over a lifetime.
      Prior work has demonstrated that HSV strains vary from country to country and
      between individuals. However, the amount of variation within one strain has not
      been well studied. To address this, we developed a new approach for viral genome
      assembly (VirGA) and analysis. We used this approach to quantify the amount of
      variation between sister clones of a common parental virus stock and to determine
      the basis of a unique fusion phenotype displayed by several variants. These data
      revealed that while sister clones of one HSV stock are more than 98% identical,
      these variants harbor enough genetic differences to change their observed
      characteristics. Comparative genomics approaches will allow us to explore the
      impacts of viral inter- and intrastrain diversity on drug and vaccine efficacy.

PMID- 25827419
TI  - Essential gene discovery in the basidiomycete Cryptococcus neoformans for
      antifungal drug target prioritization.
AB  - Fungal diseases represent a major burden to health care globally. As with other
      pathogenic microbes, there is a limited number of agents suitable for use in
      treating fungal diseases, and resistance to these agents can develop rapidly.
      Cryptococcus neoformans is a basidiomycete fungus that causes cryptococcosis
      worldwide in both immunocompromised and healthy individuals. As a basidiomycete,
      it diverged from other common pathogenic or model ascomycete fungi more than 500
      million years ago. Here, we report C. neoformans genes that are essential for
      viability as identified through forward and reverse genetic approaches, using an
      engineered diploid strain and genetic segregation after meiosis. The forward
      genetic approach generated random insertional mutants in the diploid strain, the
      induction of meiosis and sporulation, and selection for haploid cells with
      counterselection of the insertion event. More than 2,500 mutants were analyzed,
      and transfer DNA (T-DNA) insertions in several genes required for viability were
      identified. The genes include those encoding the thioredoxin reductase (Trr1), a
      ribosome assembly factor (Rsa4), an mRNA-capping component (Cet1), and others.
      For targeted gene replacement, the C. neoformans homologs of 35 genes required
      for viability in ascomycete fungi were disrupted, meiosis and sporulation were
      induced, and haploid progeny were evaluated for their ability to grow on
      selective media. Twenty-one (60%) were found to be required for viability in C.
      neoformans. These genes are involved in mitochondrial translation, ergosterol
      biosynthesis, and RNA-related functions. The heterozygous diploid mutants were
      evaluated for haploinsufficiency on a number of perturbing agents and drugs,
      revealing phenotypes due to the loss of one copy of an essential gene in C.
      neoformans. This study expands the knowledge of the essential genes in fungi
      using a basidiomycete as a model organism. Genes that have no mammalian homologs
      and are essential in both Cryptococcus and ascomycete human pathogens would be
      ideal for the development of antifungal drugs with broad-spectrum activity.
      IMPORTANCE: Fungal infections are very common in humans but may be neglected due
      to misdiagnosis and inattention. Cryptococcus neoformans is a yeast that infects
      mainly immunocompromised people, causing high mortality rates in developing
      countries. The fungus infects the lungs, crosses the blood-brain barrier, and
      invades the cerebrospinal fluid, causing fatal meningitis. C. neoformans
      infections are treated with amphotericin B, flucytosine, and azoles, all
      developed decades ago. However, problems with antifungal agents highlight the
      urgent need for more-effective drugs to treat C. neoformans and other invasive
      fungal infections. These issues include the negative side effects of amphotericin
      B, the spontaneous resistance of C. neoformans to azoles, and the inefficacy of
      the echinocandin antifungals. In this study, we report the identification of C.
      neoformans essential genes as targets for the development of novel antifungals.
      Because of the level of evolutionary divergence between C. neoformans and the
      ascomycetes, a subset of these genes is likely essential in all fungi. Genes
      identified in this study represent an excellent starting point for the future
      development of new antifungals by pharmaceutical companies.

PMID- 25827420
TI  - Structural and mechanistic roles of novel chemical ligands on the SdiA quorum
      sensing transcription regulator.
AB  - Bacteria engage in chemical signaling, termed quorum sensing (QS), to mediate
      intercellular communication, mimicking multicellular organisms. The LuxR family
      of QS transcription factors regulates gene expression, coordinating population
      behavior by sensing endogenous acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs). However, some
      bacteria (such as Escherichia coli) do not produce AHLs. These LuxR orphans sense
      exogenous AHLs but also regulate transcription in the absence of AHLs.
      Importantly, this AHL-independent regulatory mechanism is still largely unknown.
      Here we present several structures of one such orphan LuxR-type protein, SdiA,
      from enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), in the presence and absence of AHL. SdiA
      is actually not in an apo state without AHL but is regulated by a previously
      unknown endogenous ligand, 1-octanoyl-rac-glycerol (OCL), which is ubiquitously
      found throughout the tree of life and serves as an energy source, signaling
      molecule, and substrate for membrane biogenesis. While exogenous AHL renders to
      SdiA higher stability and DNA binding affinity, OCL may function as a chemical
      chaperone placeholder that stabilizes SdiA, allowing for basal activity.
      Structural comparison between SdiA-AHL and SdiA-OCL complexes provides crucial
      mechanistic insights into the ligand regulation of AHL-dependent and -independent
      function of LuxR-type proteins. Importantly, in addition to its contribution to
      basic science, this work has implications for public health, inasmuch as the SdiA
      signaling system aids the deadly human pathogen EHEC to adapt to a commensal
      lifestyle in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of cattle, its main reservoir. These
      studies open exciting and novel avenues to control shedding of this human
      pathogen in the environment. IMPORTANCE: Quorum sensing refers to bacterial
      chemical signaling. The QS acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) signals are recognized
      by LuxR-type receptors that regulate gene transcription. However, some bacteria
      have orphan LuxR-type receptors and do not produce AHLs, sensing them from other
      bacteria. We solved three structures of the E. coli SdiA orphan, in the presence
      and absence of AHL. SdiA with no AHL is not in an apo state but is regulated by a
      previously unknown endogenous ligand, 1-octanoyl-rac-glycerol (OCL). OCL is
      ubiquitously found in prokaryotes and eukaryotes and is a phospholipid precursor
      for membrane biogenesis and a signaling molecule. While AHL renders to SdiA
      higher stability and DNA-binding affinity, OCL functions as a chemical chaperone
      placeholder, stabilizing SdiA and allowing for basal activity. Our studies
      provide crucial mechanistic insights into the ligand regulation of SdiA activity.

PMID- 25827421
TI  - Genome sequence of the Drosophila melanogaster male-killing Spiroplasma strain
      MSRO endosymbiont.
AB  - Spiroplasmas are helical and motile members of a cell wall-less eubacterial group
      called Mollicutes. Although all spiroplasmas are associated with arthropods, they
      exhibit great diversity with respect to both their modes of transmission and
      their effects on their hosts; ranging from horizontally transmitted pathogens and
      commensals to endosymbionts that are transmitted transovarially (i.e., from
      mother to offspring). Here we provide the first genome sequence, along with
      proteomic validation, of an endosymbiotic inherited Spiroplasma bacterium, the
      Spiroplasma poulsonii MSRO strain harbored by Drosophila melanogaster. Comparison
      of the genome content of S. poulsonii with that of horizontally transmitted
      spiroplasmas indicates that S. poulsonii has lost many metabolic pathways and
      transporters, demonstrating a high level of interdependence with its insect host.
      Consistent with genome analysis, experimental studies showed that S. poulsonii
      metabolizes glucose but not trehalose. Notably, trehalose is more abundant than
      glucose in Drosophila hemolymph, and the inability to metabolize trehalose may
      prevent S. poulsonii from overproliferating. Our study identifies putative
      virulence genes, notably, those for a chitinase, the H2O2-producing glycerol-3
      phosphate oxidase, and enzymes involved in the synthesis of the eukaryote-toxic
      lipid cardiolipin. S. poulsonii also expresses on the cell membrane one
      functional adhesion-related protein and two divergent spiralin proteins that have
      been implicated in insect cell invasion in other spiroplasmas. These lipoproteins
      may be involved in the colonization of the Drosophila germ line, ensuring S.
      poulsonii vertical transmission. The S. poulsonii genome is a valuable resource
      to explore the mechanisms of male killing and symbiont-mediated protection, two
      cardinal features of many facultative endosymbionts. IMPORTANCE: Most insect
      species, including important disease vectors and crop pests, harbor vertically
      transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria. These endosymbionts play key roles in their
      hosts' fitness, including protecting them against natural enemies and
      manipulating their reproduction in ways that increase the frequency of symbiont
      infection. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms that underlie these
      processes. Here, we provide the first genome draft of a vertically transmitted
      male-killing Spiroplasma bacterium, the S. poulsonii MSRO strain harbored by D.
      melanogaster. Analysis of the S. poulsonii genome was complemented by proteomics
      and ex vivo metabolic experiments. Our results indicate that S. poulsonii has
      reduced metabolic capabilities and expresses divergent membrane lipoproteins and
      potential virulence factors that likely participate in Spiroplasma-host
      interactions. This work fills a gap in our knowledge of insect endosymbionts and
      provides tools with which to decipher the interaction between Spiroplasma
      bacteria and their well-characterized host D. melanogaster, which is emerging as
      a model of endosymbiosis.

PMID- 25827422
TI  - Virus-induced dormancy in the archaeon Sulfolobus islandicus.
AB  - We investigated the interaction between Sulfolobus spindle-shaped virus (SSV9)
      and its native archaeal host Sulfolobus islandicus. We show that upon exposure to
      SSV9, S. islandicus strain RJW002 has a significant growth delay where the
      majority of cells are dormant (viable but not growing) for 24 to 48 hours
      postinfection (hpi) compared to the growth of controls without virus. We
      demonstrate that in this system, dormancy (i) is induced by both active and
      inactive virus particles at a low multiplicity of infection (MOI), (ii) is
      reversible in strains with active CRISPR-Cas immunity that prevents the
      establishment of productive infections, and (iii) results in dramatic and rapid
      host death if virus persists in the culture even at low levels. Our results add a
      new dimension to evolutionary models of virus-host interactions, showing that the
      mere presence of a virus induces host cell stasis and death independent of
      infection. This novel, highly sensitive, and risky bet-hedging antiviral response
      must be integrated into models of virus-host interactions in this system so that
      the true ecological impact of viruses can be predicted and understood.
      IMPORTANCE: Viruses of microbes play key roles in microbial ecology; however, our
      understanding of viral impact on host physiology is based on a few model bacteria
      that represent a small fraction of the life history strategies employed by hosts
      or viruses across the three domains that encompass the microbial world. We have
      demonstrated that rare and even inactive viruses induce dormancy in the model
      archaeon S. islandicus. Similar virus-induced dormancy strategies in other
      microbial systems may help to explain several confounding observations in other
      systems, including the surprising abundance of dormant cell types found in many
      microbial environments, the difficulty of culturing microorganisms in the
      laboratory, and the paradoxical virus-to-host abundances that do not match model
      predictions. A more accurate grasp of virus-host interactions will expand our
      understanding of the impact of viruses in microbial ecology.

PMID- 25827423
TI  - Cryptococcus neoformans host adaptation: toward biological evidence of dormancy.
AB  - Cryptococcosis is an opportunistic infection due to the ubiquitous yeast
      Cryptococcus neoformans. This yeast interacts closely with innate immune cells,
      leading to various fates, including fungal persistence within cells, making
      possible the dissemination of the yeast cells with monocytes via a Trojan horse
      strategy. In humans, the natural history of the infection begins with
      primoinfection during childhood, which is followed by dormancy and, in some
      individuals, reactivation upon immunosuppression. To address the question of
      dormancy, we studied C. neoformans infection at the macrophage level (in vitro
      H99-macrophage interaction) and at the organ level in a murine model of
      cryptococcosis. We analyzed the diversity of yeast adaptation to the host by
      characterizing several C. neoformans populations with new assays based on flow
      cytometry (quantitative flow cytometry, multispectral imaging flow cytometry,
      sorting), microscopy (dynamic imaging), and gene expression analysis. On the
      basis of parameters of multiplication and stress response, various populations of
      yeast cells were observed over time in vivo and in vitro. Cell sorting allowed
      the identification of a subpopulation that was less prone to grow under standard
      conditions than the other populations, with growth enhanced by the addition of
      serum. Gene expression analysis revealed that this population had specific
      metabolic characteristics that could reflect dormancy. Our data suggest that
      dormant yeast cells could exist in vitro and in vivo. C. neoformans exhibits a
      huge plasticity and adaptation to hosts that deserves further study. In vitro
      generation of dormant cells is now the main challenge to overcome the limited
      number of yeast cells recovered in our models. IMPORTANCE: Cryptococcus
      neoformans is a sugar-coated unicellular fungus that interacts closely with
      various cells and organisms, including amoebas, nematodes, and immune cells of
      mammals. This yeast is able to proliferate and survive in the intracellular
      environment. C. neoformans causes cryptococcosis, and yeast dormancy in humans
      has been suggested on the basis of epidemiological evidence obtained years ago.
      By studying an in vitro model of yeast-macrophage interaction and murine models
      of cryptococcosis, we observed that yeast cells evolve in heterogeneous
      populations during infection on the basis of global metabolic activity. We
      compared the growth ability and gene expression of yeast cells belonging to
      various populations in those two models. We eventually found a population of
      yeast cells with low metabolism that fit some of the criteria for dormant cells.
      This paves the way for further characterization of dormancy in C. neoformans.

PMID- 25827424
TI  - Expression of xCT and activity of system xc(-) are regulated by NRF2 in human
      breast cancer cells in response to oxidative stress.
AB  - Cancer cells adapt to high levels of oxidative stress in order to survive and
      proliferate by activating key transcription factors. One such master regulator,
      the redox sensitive transcription factor NF E2 Related Factor 2 (NRF2), controls
      the expression of cellular defense genes including those encoding intracellular
      redox-balancing proteins involved in glutathione (GSH) synthesis. Under basal
      conditions, Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (KEAP1) targets NRF2 for
      ubiquitination. In response to oxidative stress, NRF2 dissociates from KEAP1,
      entering the nucleus and binding to the antioxidant response element (ARE) in the
      promoter of its target genes. Elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production
      may deplete GSH levels within cancer cells. System xc(-), an antiporter that
      exports glutamate while importing cystine to be converted into cysteine for GSH
      synthesis, is upregulated in cancer cells in response to oxidative stress. Here,
      we provided evidence that the expression of xCT, the light chain subunit of
      system xc(-), is regulated by NRF2 in representative human breast cancer cells.
      Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) treatment increased nuclear translocation of NRF2, also
      increasing levels of xCT mRNA and protein and extracellular glutamate release.
      Overexpression of NRF2 up-regulated the activity of the xCT promoter, which
      contains a proximal ARE. In contrast, overexpression of KEAP1 repressed promoter
      activity and decreased xCT protein levels, while siRNA knockdown of KEAP1 up
      regulated xCT protein levels and transporter activity. These results demonstrate
      the importance of the KEAP1/NRF2 pathway in balancing oxidative stress in breast
      cancer cells through system xc(-). We have previously shown that xCT is
      upregulated in various cancer cell lines under oxidative stress. In the current
      investigation, we focused on MCF-7 cells as a model for mechanistic studies. 

PMID- 25827425
TI  - An educational overview of the chemistry, biochemistry and therapeutic aspects of
      Mn porphyrins--From superoxide dismutation to H2O2-driven pathways.
AB  - Most of the SOD mimics thus far developed belong to the classes of Mn-(MnPs) and
      Fe porphyrins(FePs), Mn(III) salens, Mn(II) cyclic polyamines and metal salts.
      Due to their remarkable stability we have predominantly explored Mn porphyrins,
      aiming initially at mimicking kinetics and thermodynamics of the catalysis of O2(
      ) dismutation by SOD enzymes. Several MnPs are of potency similar to SOD enzymes.
      The in vivo bioavailability and toxicity of MnPs have been addressed also.
      Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies indicate their impressive therapeutic
      efficacy. Increasing insight into complex cellular redox biology has been
      accompanied by increasing awareness of complex redox chemistry of MnPs. During
      O2(-) dismutation process, the most powerful Mn porphyrin-based SOD mimics reduce
      and oxidize O2(-) with close to identical rate constants. MnPs reduce and oxidize
      other reactive species also (none of them specific to MnPs), acting as reductants
      (antioxidant) and pro-oxidants. Distinction must be made between the type of
      reactions of MnPs and the favorable therapeutic effects we observe; the latter
      may be of either anti- or pro-oxidative nature. H2O2/MnP mediated oxidation of
      protein thiols and its impact on cellular transcription seems to dominate redox
      biology of MnPs. It has been thus far demonstrated that the ability of MnPs to
      catalyze O2(-) dismutation parallels all other reactivities (such as ONOO(-)
      reduction) and in turn their therapeutic efficacies. Assuming that all diseases
      have in common the perturbation of cellular redox environment, developing SOD
      mimics still seems to be the appropriate strategy for the design of potent redox
      active therapeutics. 

PMID- 25827426
TI  - Association of Job Strain With Cortisol and Alpha-Amylase Among Shift-Working
      Health Care Professionals in Laboratory and Field.
AB  - Although the prevalence of work-related stress has increased, knowledge on the
      contributions of that stress to long-term adverse health effects is still
      lacking. Stress biomarkers can reveal early signs of negative health effects, but
      no previous studies have measured both acute stress reactions and long-term
      exposure to job strain using both salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase (AA). The
      present study examines the association between job strain and these biomarkers
      among shift-working female health care professionals in the laboratory and the
      field. The 95 participants were recruited from hospital wards categorized in
      either the top (high job strain [HJS] group, n = 42) or the bottom quartile of
      job strain (low job strain [LJS] group, n = 53), as rated by survey responses.
      Participants' self-perceived job strain was at least as high or low as the ward's
      average estimation. Saliva samples were collected during the Trier Social Stress
      Test (TSST), preselected morning and night shifts, and a day off. There was a
      larger increase in the cortisol concentration of participants in the HJS than in
      the LJS group (2.27- vs. 1.48-fold, respectively, nonsignificant) during the
      TSST. Participants in the HJS group also had higher salivary AA levels 30 min
      after awakening on the morning-shift day than those in the LJS group (p = .02),
      whereas the salivary cortisol awakening response on the day off was higher in the
      LJS group (p = .05, education as a covariate). The remaining stress-biomarker
      results did not differ significantly between groups. These data suggest that HJS
      in shift-working health care professionals is weakly associated with changes in
      stress biomarkers. 

PMID- 25827427
TI  - Effect of angiotensin II on voltage-gated sodium currents in aortic baroreceptor
      neurons and arterial baroreflex sensitivity in heart failure rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Impairment of arterial baroreflex sensitivity is associated with
      mortality in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Elevation of plasma
      angiotension II (Ang II) contributes to arterial baroreflex dysfunction in CHF. A
      reduced number of voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels in aortic baroreceptor
      neurons are involved in CHF-blunted arterial baroreflex. METHOD: In this study,
      we investigated acute effect of Ang II on Nav currents in the aortic baroreceptor
      neuron and on arterial baroreflex in sham and coronary artery ligation-induced
      CHF rats. RESULTS: Using Ang II I radioimmunoassay, real-time reverse
      transcription-PCR and western blot, we found that Ang II levels, and mRNA and
      protein expression of angiotension II type 1 receptor in nodose ganglia from CHF
      rats were higher than that from sham rats. Local microinjection of Ang II (0.2 
      nmol) into the nodose ganglia decreased the arterial baroreflex sensitivity in
      sham rats, whereas losartan (1  nmol, an angiotension II type 1 receptor
      antagonist) improved the arterial baroreflex sensitivity in CHF rats. Data from
      patch-clamp recording showed that Ang II (100  nmol/l) acutely inhibited Nav
      currents in the aortic baroreceptor neurons from sham and CHF rats. In
      particular, inhibitory effect of Ang II on Nav currents in the aortic
      baroreceptor neurons was larger in CHF rats than that in sham rats. Losartan (1 
      MUmol/l) totally abolished the inhibitory effect of Ang II on Nav currents in
      sham and CHF aortic baroreceptor neurons. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that
      elevation of endogenous Ang II in the nodose ganglia contributes to impairment of
      the arterial baroreflex function in CHF rats through inhibiting Nav channels.

PMID- 25827428
TI  - Association between N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide and day-to-day
      blood pressure and heart rate variability in a general population: the Ohasama
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In addition to day-to-day variability in blood pressure (BP) or heart
      rate (HR), N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) has been
      reported to be a predictor of cardiovascular disease. Here, we tested the
      hypothesis that day-to-day BP or HR variability calculated as the intraindividual
      standard deviation (SD) of home BP or HR is associated with elevated NT-proBNP in
      a cross-sectional study. METHODS: Among 664 participants (mean age, 61.9 years;
      female, 70.5%) from a general Japanese population without a history of heart
      disease, 86 (13.0%) had NT-proBNP at least 125 pg/ml. RESULTS: Each 1 SD increase
      in the SD of home systolic BP (SBP) [odds ratio (OR), 1.82; P < .0001) and in the
      SD of home HR (OR, 1.44; P = 0.008) were significantly associated with the
      prevalence of NT-proBNP at least 125 pg/ml after adjustment for possible
      confounding factors including home SBP and HR. Among the four groups defined by
      the median SD of home SBP and of home HR, the group with higher SDs in home SBP
      (>=8.0 mmHg) and HR (>=5.0 bpm) had the greatest OR for the prevalence of NT
      proBNP at least 125 pg/ml (OR, 4.80; P = 0007 vs. a reference group with lower
      SDs of home SBP and HR). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that day-to-day
      variability in BP and HR may be associated with target-organ damage or
      complications, which can lead to an elevated NT-proBNP level. An elevated NT
      proBNP level may be involved in the prognostic significance of day-to-day
      variability in BP or HR.

PMID- 25827429
TI  - Pulse wave velocity distribution in a cohort study: from arterial stiffness to
      early vascular aging.
AB  - BACKGROUND: By contrast with other southern European people, north Portuguese
      population registers an especially high prevalence of hypertension and stroke
      incidence. We designed a cohort study to identify individuals presenting
      accelerated and premature arterial aging in the Portuguese population. METHOD:
      Pulse wave velocity (PWV) was measured in randomly sampled population dwellers
      aged 18-96 years from northern Portugal, and used as a marker of early vascular
      aging (EVA). Of the 3038 individuals enrolled, 2542 completed the evaluation.
      RESULTS: Mean PWV value for the entire population was 8.4  m/s (men: 8.6  m/s;
      women: 8.2  m/s; P < 0.02). The individuals were classified with EVA if their PWV
      was at least 97.5th percentile of z-score for mean PWV values adjusted for age
      (using normal European reference values as comparators). The overall prevalence
      of EVA was 12.5%; 26.1% of individuals below 30 years presented this feature and
      40.2% of individuals in that same age strata were placed above the 90th
      percentile of PWV; and 18.7% of the population exhibited PWV values above 10 
      m/s, with male predominance (17.2% of men aged 40-49 years had PWV > 10  m/s).
      Logistic regression models indicated gender differences concerning the risk of
      developing large artery damage, with women having the same odds of PWV above 10 
      m/s 10 years later than men. CONCLUSION: The population PWV values were higher
      than expected in a low cardiovascular risk area (Portugal). High prevalence rates
      of EVA and noteworthy large artery damage in young ages were found.

PMID- 25827431
TI  - Central pulse pressure is a determinant of heart and brain remodeling in the
      elderly: a quantitative MRI and PET pilot study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The sustained elevation of blood pressure (BP) and especially of
      central pulse pressure (cPP) leads to heart and brain damage. This pilot study
      was aimed to precise the relationships between peripheral and central BP levels,
      and the remodeling of heart and brain as objectively quantified by cardiac MRI
      and brain F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET imaging in the elderly. METHODS: Twenty
      eight apparently healthy elderly individuals (66-85 years old, 14 women) were
      prospectively recruited and allocated into two half groups, one with and one
      without hypertension, and all were referred for the quantitative determinations
      of peripheral and central BP using applanation tonometry, indexed left
      ventricular mass (per m of body surface area) using cardiac MRI, and brain
      metabolism with a voxel-based analysis of FDG-PET images adjusted for age and
      sex. RESULTS: Indexed left ventricular mass, reflecting cardiac remodeling, was
      correlated with the overall pressure variables involving both peripheral and
      central levels of systolic and pulse pressure (all P <= 0.001). By contrast,
      brain metabolism was significantly correlated with only cPP (P < 0.02). A cPP of
      at least 50  mmHg was associated with both a lower metabolism in frontal areas (P
      = 0.005) and a higher indexed left ventricular mass (P = 0.03). CONCLUSION: This
      pilot study suggests that, when quantified by MRI and PET imaging, left
      ventricular mass and brain metabolism of elderly individuals are related to the
      cPP and to the 50  mmHg threshold, corresponding to what has previously been
      documented for the risk of cardiovascular event.

PMID- 25827430
TI  - Urine angiotensinogen and salt-sensitivity and potassium-sensitivity of blood
      pressure.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Urinary excretion of angiotensinogen [urine angiotensinogen (UAGT)]
      has been proposed as a biomarker of intrarenal renin-angiotensin system activity.
      We investigated the association between UAGT and salt-sensitivity and potassium
      sensitivity of blood pressure (BP) among Genetic Epidemiology Network of Salt
      Sensitivity study participants. METHODS: The intervention consisted of a 7-day
      low-sodium diet (51.3  mmol sodium/day), 7-day high-sodium diet (307.8  mmol
      sodium/day), and 7-day high-sodium diet with potassium supplementation (307.8 
      mmol sodium/day and 60  mmol potassium/day). Twenty-four-hour UAGT was estimated
      at baseline and at the end of each intervention for 100 randomly selected
      participants. RESULTS: Median UAGT (MUg/24  h) and UAGT-to-creatinine ratio
      (UAGT/Cr, MUg/g) were significantly reduced during the low-sodium and potassium
      supplementation interventions and increased during the high-sodium intervention
      (both P = 0.01). Baseline log-transformed UAGT and UAGT/Cr ratio were
      significantly positively associated with BP at baseline and at the end of each
      intervention. For example, one standard deviation higher log-UAGT/Cr ratio (1.2 
      MUg/g) was associated with a 5.0-mmHg (95% confidence interval 2.3-7.8) higher
      SBP at the end of the high-sodium intervention, after adjusting for multiple
      covariates (P = 0.003). In addition, one standard deviation higher log-UAGT/Cr
      ratio was associated with a 1.6-mmHg increase in age-adjusted and sex-adjusted
      SBP from the low-sodium intervention to the high-sodium intervention (95%
      confidence interval 0.1-3.1, P = 0.04). This association was no longer
      statistically significant after multivariable adjustment. CONCLUSION: These data
      indicate that elevated UAGT are associated with BP sodium sensitivity.
      Augmentation of intrarenal renin-angiotensin system activity may play an
      important role in developing salt-sensitive hypertension.

PMID- 25827432
TI  - Sympathetic nerve traffic and baroreflex function in optimal, normal, and high
      normal blood pressure states.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Adrenergic activation and baroreflex dysfunction are common in
      established essential hypertension, elderly hypertension, masked and white-coat
      hypertension, resistant hypertension, and obesity-related hypertension. Whether
      this autonomic behavior is peculiar to established hypertension or is also
      detectable in the earlier clinical phases of the disease, that is, the high
      normal blood pressure (BP) state, is still largely undefined, however. METHODS:
      In 24 individuals with optimal BP (age: 37.1  +/-  2.1 years, mean  +/-  SEM) and
      in 27 with normal BP and 38 with high-normal BP, age matched with optimal BP, we
      measured clinic, 24-h and beat-to-beat BP, heart rate (HR), and muscle
      sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) at rest and during baroreceptor stimulation and
      deactivation. Measurements also included anthropometric as well as
      echocardiographic and homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) index. RESULTS: For
      similar anthropometric values, clinic, 24-h ambulatory, and beat-to-beat BPs were
      significantly greater in normal BP than in optimal BP. This was the case when the
      high-normal BP group was compared to the normal and optimal BP groups. MSNA (but
      not HR) was also significantly greater in high-normal BP than in normal BP and
      optimal BP (51.3  +/-  2.0 vs. 40.3  +/-  2.3 and 41.1 +/- 2.6  bursts per 100 
      heartbeats, respectively, P < 0.01). The sympathetic activation seen in high
      normal BP was coupled with an impairment of baroreflex HR control (but not MSNA)
      and with a significant increase in HOMA Index, which showed a significant direct
      relationship with MSNA. CONCLUSION: Thus, independently of which BP the diagnosis
      is based, high-normal BP is a condition characterized by a sympathetic
      activation. This neurogenic alteration, which is likely to be triggered by
      metabolic rather than reflex alterations, might be involved, together with other
      factors, in the progression of the condition to established hypertension.

PMID- 25827433
TI  - Fifteen minute consultation on children 'hearing voices': when to worry and when
      to refer.
AB  - Auditory hallucinations are uncommon paediatric presentations, but they can be
      alarming and lead to emergency consultations. This review outlines the
      phenomenology of auditory hallucinations, their assessment and clinical
      significance. Auditory hallucinations are seen in the course of acute medical
      disorders, often together with decreased levels of consciousness, as in febrile
      illness and in toxic, neurologically compromised states; they can also be a
      feature of episodic neurological conditions such as migraine and temporal lobe
      epilepsy. Auditory hallucinations are key symptoms in psychiatric disorders such
      as schizophrenic and other psychotic states, but they can also present with
      depressive and anxiety disorders, and in the context of virtually every
      psychiatric disorder of childhood. In fact hallucinations--usually simple and
      transient--are common in the general child populations. Auditory hallucinations
      become clinically significant when they occur as part of a medical disorder or in
      the context of acute psychotic states and schizophrenia, when they are frequent,
      complex, distressing and cause impairment. The treatment of clinically relevant
      hallucinations is that of the primary medical or psychiatric disorder.
      Occasionally they require treatment in their own right with psychological
      treatments, and only when these have been tried and fail, a careful trial of
      antipsychotic medication may be appropriate.

PMID- 25827434
TI  - Diagnostic pitfall in antenatal manifestations of CPT II deficiency.
AB  - Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II (CPT2) deficiency is a rare inborn error of
      mitochondrial fatty acid metabolism associated with various phenotypes. Whereas
      most patients present with postnatal signs of energetic failure affecting muscle
      and liver, a small subset of patients presents antenatal malformations including
      brain dysgenesis and neuronal migration defects. Here, we report recurrence of
      severe cerebral dysgenesis with Dandy-Walker malformation in three successive
      pregnancies and review previously reported antenatal cases. Interestingly, we
      also report that acylcarnitines profile, tested retrospectively on the amniotic
      fluid of last pregnancy, was not sensitive enough to allow reliable prenatal
      diagnosis of CPT2 deficiency. Finally, because fetuses affected by severe
      cerebral malformations are frequently aborted, CPT2 deficiency may be
      underestimated and fatty acid oxidation disorders should be considered when faced
      with a fetus with Dandy-Walker anomaly or another brain dysgenesis. 

PMID- 25827435
TI  - Bcl11b SWI/SNF-complex subunit modulates intestinal adenoma and regeneration
      after gamma-irradiation through Wnt/beta-catenin pathway.
AB  - SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes constitute a highly related family of
      multi-subunit complexes to modulate transcription, and SWI/SNF subunit genes are
      collectively mutated in 20% of all human cancers. Bcl11b is a SWI/SNF subunit and
      acts as a haploinsufficient tumor suppressor in leukemia/lymphomas. Here, we show
      expression of Bcl11b in intestinal crypt cells and promotion of intestinal
      tumorigenesis by Bcl11b attenuation in Apc (min/+) mice. Of importance, mutations
      or allelic loss of BCL11B was detected in one-third of human colon cancers. We
      also show that attenuated Bcl11b activity in the crypt base columnar (CBC) cells
      expressing the Lgr5 stem cell marker enhanced regeneration of intestinal
      epithelial cells after the radiation-induced injury. Interestingly, BCL11B
      introduction in human cell lines downregulated transcription of beta-catenin
      target genes, whereas Bcl11b attenuation in Lgr5(+) CBCs increased expression of
      beta-catenin targets including c-Myc and cyclin D1. Together, our results argue
      that Bcl11b impairment promotes tumor development in mouse and human intestine at
      least in part through deregulation of beta-catenin pathway. 

PMID- 25827436
TI  - Automated Microfluidic Platform for Serial Polymerase Chain Reaction and High
      Resolution Melting Analysis.
AB  - We report the development of an automated genetic analyzer for human sample
      testing based on microfluidic rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with high
      resolution melting analysis (HRMA). The integrated DNA microfluidic cartridge was
      used on a platform designed with a robotic pipettor system that works by
      sequentially picking up different test solutions from a 384-well plate, mixing
      them in the tips, and delivering mixed fluids to the DNA cartridge. A novel image
      feedback flow control system based on a Canon 5D Mark II digital camera was
      developed for controlling fluid movement through a complex microfluidic branching
      network without the use of valves. The same camera was used for measuring the
      high-resolution melt curve of DNA amplicons that were generated in the
      microfluidic chip. Owing to fast heating and cooling as well as sensitive
      temperature measurement in the microfluidic channels, the time frame for PCR and
      HRMA was dramatically reduced from hours to minutes. Preliminary testing results
      demonstrated that rapid serial PCR and HRMA are possible while still achieving
      high data quality that is suitable for human sample testing. 

PMID- 25827437
TI  - Microbiota at teeth and implants in partially edentulous patients. A 10-year
      retrospective study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the microbiota at implants and adjacent teeth 10 years
      after placement of implants with a sandblasted and acid-etched surface. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: Plaque samples obtained from the deepest sites of 504 implants and
      of 493 adjacent teeth were analyzed for certain bacterial species associated with
      periodontitis, for staphylococci, for aerobic gram-negative rods, and for yeasts
      using nucleic acid-based methods. RESULTS: Species known to be associated with
      periodontitis were detectable at 6.2-78.4% of the implants. Significantly higher
      counts at implants in comparison with teeth were assessed for Tannerella
      forsythia, Parvimonas micra, Fusobacterium nucleatum/necrophorum, and
      Campylobacter rectus. Higher counts of periodontopathogenic species were
      detectable at implants of current smokers than at those of non-smokers. In
      addition, those species were found in higher quantities at implants of subjects
      with periodontitis. The prevalence of Prevotella intermedia, Treponema denticola,
      C. rectus, and moreover of Staphylococcus warneri might be associated with peri
      implant inflammation. Selected staphylococcal species (not Staphylococcus
      aureus), aerobic gram-negative rods, and yeasts were frequently detected, but
      with the exception of S. warneri, they did not show any association with
      periodontal or peri-implant diseases. CONCLUSIONS: Smoking and periodontal
      disease are risk factors for colonization of periodontopathic bacteria at
      implants. Those bacterial species may play a potential role in peri-implant
      inflammation. The role of S. warneri needs further validation.

PMID- 25827438
TI  - Diabetes distress: understanding the hidden struggles of living with diabetes and
      exploring intervention strategies.
AB  - Diabetes distress is a rational emotional response to the threat of a life
      changing illness. Distinct from depression, it is conceptually rooted in the
      demands of diabetes management and is a product of emotional adjustment. Diabetes
      distress has been found to be significantly associated with glycated haemoglobin
      (HbA1c) level and the likelihood of an individual adopting self-care behaviours.
      The lack of perceived support from family, friends and healthcare professionals
      significantly contributes to elevated diabetes distress, and this issue tends to
      be overlooked when designing interventions. Pioneering large-scale research,
      DAWN2, gives voices to the families of those with diabetes and reaffirms the need
      to consider psychosocial factors in routine diabetes care. Structured diabetes
      education programmes are the most widely used in helping individuals cope with
      diabetes, but they tend not to include the psychological or interpersonal aspects
      of diabetes management in their curricula. The need for health practitioners,
      irrespective of background, to demonstrate an understanding of diabetes distress
      and to actively engage in discussion with individuals struggling to cope with
      diabetes is emphasised. 

PMID- 25827439
TI  - Reduced rod electroretinograms in carrier parents of two Japanese siblings with
      autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa associated with PDE6B gene mutations.
AB  - PURPOSE: To present the clinical and genetic findings in two siblings with
      autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and their non-symptomatic parents.
      METHODS: We studied two siblings, a 48-year-old woman and her 44-year-old
      brother, and their parents. They had general ophthalmic examinations including
      ophthalmoscopy, perimetry, and electroretinography (ERG). Their whole exomes were
      analyzed by the next-generation sequence technique. RESULTS: The two siblings had
      night blindness for a long time, and clinical examinations revealed diffuse
      retinal degeneration with bone spicule pigmentation, constriction of the visual
      field, and non-recordable ERGs. Their parents were non-symptomatic and had normal
      fundi; however, their rod ERGs were reduced. Genetic examination revealed
      compound heterozygous mutations of I535N and H557Y in the PDE6B gene in the
      siblings, and the parents were heterozygous carriers of the mutations.
      CONCLUSIONS: Heterozygous mutation in the PDE6B gene can cause a reduction in the
      rod function to different degrees. The retinal function of non-symptomatic
      carriers of autosomal recessive RP should be evaluated with care.

PMID- 25827440
TI  - Review: Quality of life in lower limb peripheral vascular surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: Vascular intervention studies generally consider patency and limb
      salvage as primary outcomes. However, quality of life is increasingly considered
      an important patient-oriented outcome measurement of vascular interventions.
      Existing literature was analyzed to determine the effect of different treatments
      on quality of life for patients suffering from either claudication or critical
      limb ischemia. BASIC METHODS: A review of the literature was undertaken in the
      Medline library. A search was performed on quality of life in peripheral arterial
      disease. Results were stratified according to treatment groups. PRINCIPAL
      FINDINGS: Twenty-one articles described quality of life in approximately 4600
      patients suffering from peripheral arterial disease. Invasive treatment generally
      results in better quality of life scores (at a maximum of 2 years of follow-up),
      compared with non-invasive treatment. In patients with critical limb ischemia,
      successful revascularization improves quality of life scores. Only one study
      reported long-term results. CONCLUSIONS: Increase in quality of life scores can
      be found for any intervention performed for peripheral arterial disease. However,
      there is scarce information on long-term quality of life after vascular
      intervention.

PMID- 25827441
TI  - Efficacy and safety of empagliflozin twice daily versus once daily in patients
      with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on metformin: a 16-week, randomized,
      placebo-controlled trial.
AB  - Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with a glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c)
      level >=7 and <=10% were randomized to receive empagliflozin 12.5 mg twice daily
      (n = 219), 25 mg once daily (n = 218), 5 mg twice daily (n = 219) or 10 mg once
      daily (n = 220), or placebo (n = 107) as add-on to stable-dose metformin
      immediate release (IR) twice daily for 16 weeks. The primary endpoint was change
      from baseline in HbA1c at week 16. At week 16, change from baseline in HbA1c with
      empagliflozin twice daily was non-inferior to empagliflozin once daily and vice
      versa. The adjusted mean (95% confidence interval) difference in change from
      baseline in HbA1c with empagliflozin 12.5 mg twice daily versus 25 mg once daily
      was -0.11% (-0.26, 0.03), and with empagliflozin 5 mg twice daily versus 10 mg
      once daily it was -0.02% (-0.16, 0.13). All empagliflozin regimens were well
      tolerated; thus, when used as add-on to metformin IR in patients with T2DM, the
      therapeutic effect of empagliflozin twice-daily and once-daily regimens can be
      considered equivalent. 

PMID- 25827442
TI  - Relationship between nasal septal deformity, symptoms and disease severity in
      chronic rhinosinusitis.
AB  - The objective of this study was to evaluate the interaction of nasal septal
      deformity (NSD), including the contribution of septal spurs, with the severity of
      subjective symptoms, impairment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and
      sinus mucosal hyperplasia in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). One
      hundred seventeen patients with CRS were assigned to three groups with mild,
      moderate or severe NSD, according to the measured nasal septal angle, including
      the presence of contact septal spurs. All CRS patients completed the visual
      analog scale (VAS) symptom severity score and the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT
      22) questionnaire. Symptoms scores, SNOT-22 and Lund-Mackay (LM) scores among the
      three NSD groups were compared. Related anatomy from the study group was compared
      with 100 control patients. VAS score for postnasal discharge in CRS patients was
      significantly higher in patients with mild NSD. There was a significantly higher
      LM score in CRS patients with severe NSD, compared to those with mild (P = 0.001)
      or moderate NSD (P = 0.005). CRS patients with a contact spur demonstrated a
      significantly higher LM score (P = 0.006) compared to those without a contact
      spur, and no differences in VAS symptom scores or HRQoL scores. There was a
      similar prevalence of septal deformities in CRS patients and in the non-ENT
      population. Our results support the conclusion that in patients with CRS,
      associated NSD or contact septal spur do not contribute significantly to CRS
      symptom severity or HRQoL impairment, but may have an impact on sinus mucosal
      hyperplasia.

PMID- 25827443
TI  - Effects of dietary supplementation of fermented Ginkgo biloba L. residues on
      growth performance, nutrient digestibility, serum biochemical parameters and
      immune function in weaned piglets.
AB  - This study evaluated the effects of fermented Ginkgo biloba L. residues (FGBLR)
      on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, serum biochemical parameters and
      immune function in weaned piglets. Pigs were allotted to five dietary treatments,
      including negative control (NC: antibiotic free basal diet), positive control
      (PC) (NC + 30 mg apramycin/kg) and FGBLR-50, 100, 150 (NC + 50, 100, 150 g
      FGBLR/kg). Pigs in FGBLR-100 and PC treatments showed increased final body
      weight, average daily gain, gain:feed and apparent total tract digestibility of
      dry matter, N and gross energy (P < 0.05) compared with NC, FGBLR-50 and FGBLR
      150 treatments, In addition, pigs fed with FGBLR-100 diet showed higher serum
      total protein, albumin, alkaline phosphatase, glucose, hemoglobin, total iron,
      total iron binding capacity, superoxide dismutase and glutathione superoxide
      dismutase levels, and lower serum blood urea nitrogen, malondialdehyde, glutamic
      pyruvic transaminase, glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase, triglyceride and total
      cholesterol levels than those fed with PC and NC diets (P < 0.05). Moreover,
      feeding FGBLR-100 could increase levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgA and IgM,
      as well as lymphocyte transformation rates, ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ cells and
      proportions of CD2+, CD4+, B, major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-I and MHC-II
      cells, and can decrease proportion of CD8+ cells in blood of piglets compared
      with PC and NC groups (P < 0.05). These results indicate that dietary
      supplementation with 10% of FGBLR showed greatest beneficial effects on growth
      performance, nutrient digestibility, serum biochemical parameters and immune
      function in weaned piglets, which were superior to antibiotic supplemental diets.

PMID- 25827444
TI  - Effects of shape and size of agar gels on heating uniformity during pulsed
      microwave treatment.
AB  - Model gel systems with different shape (sphere, cylinder, and slab) and size (180
      and 290 g) were prepared with agar (5%) and sucrose (5%). Dielectric constant
      (epsilon'), loss factor (epsilon"), thermophysical properties, and temperature
      distribution of the model system were measured. Each agar model system was
      immersed and suspended in water, and then, heated in a microwave oven with
      intermittent heating until the core temperature reached 50  degrees C. The
      epsilon' and epsilon" of agar gels decreased when frequency increased. The
      density and thermal conductivity values of the agar gels were 1033 kg/m(3) and
      0.55 W/m  degrees C, respectively. The temperature distribution of sphere,
      cylinder, and slab was different when similar power doses were applied. The slab
      reached 50  degrees C in less time (10 min) and showed a more uniform heating
      than spheres and cylinders in both sizes. Agar model systems of 180 g heated
      faster than those of 290 g. The coldest point was the center of the model systems
      in all studied cases. Shape and size are critical food factors that affect the
      heating uniformity during microwave heating processes.

PMID- 25827445
TI  - Erratum to: Can the chemotherapeutic agents perform anticancer activity through
      miRNA expression regulation? Proposing a new hypothesis.

PMID- 25827446
TI  - Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) thermal ecology and reproductive
      success along a rainfall cline.
AB  - Desert resource environments (e.g. microclimates, food) are tied to limited,
      highly localized rainfall regimes which generate microgeographic variation in the
      life histories of inhabitants. Typically, enhanced growth rates, reproduction and
      survivorship are observed in response to increased resource availability in a
      variety of desert plants and short-lived animals. We examined the thermal ecology
      and reproduction of US federally threatened Mojave desert tortoises (Gopherus
      agassizii), long-lived and large-bodied ectotherms, at opposite ends of a 250-m
      elevation-related rainfall cline within Ivanpah Valley in the eastern Mojave
      Desert, California, USA. Biophysical operative environments in both the upper
      elevation, "Cima," and the lower-elevation, "Pumphouse," plots corresponded with
      daily and seasonal patterns of incident solar radiation. Cima received 22% more
      rainfall and contained greater perennial vegetative cover, which conferred 5
      degrees C-cooler daytime shaded temperatures. In a monitored average rainfall
      year, Cima tortoises had longer potential activity periods by up to several hours
      and greater ephemeral forage. Enhanced resource availability in Cima was
      associated with larger-bodied females producing larger eggs, while still
      producing the same number of eggs as Pumphouse females. However, reproductive
      success was lower in Cima because 90% of eggs were depredated versus 11% in
      Pumphouse, indicating that predatory interactions produced counter-gradient
      variation in reproductive success across the rainfall cline. Land-use impacts on
      deserts (e.g. solar energy generation) are increasing rapidly, and conservation
      strategies designed to protect and recover threatened desert inhabitants, such as
      desert tortoises, should incorporate these strong ecosystem-level responses to
      regional resource variation in assessments of habitat for prospective development
      and mitigation efforts. 

PMID- 25827447
TI  - Tracking the origins and drivers of subclonal metastatic expansion in prostate
      cancer.
AB  - Tumour heterogeneity in primary prostate cancer is a well-established phenomenon.
      However, how the subclonal diversity of tumours changes during metastasis and
      progression to lethality is poorly understood. Here we reveal the precise
      direction of metastatic spread across four lethal prostate cancer patients using
      whole-genome and ultra-deep targeted sequencing of longitudinally collected
      primary and metastatic tumours. We find one case of metastatic spread to the
      surgical bed causing local recurrence, and another case of cross-metastatic site
      seeding combining with dynamic remoulding of subclonal mixtures in response to
      therapy. By ultra-deep sequencing end-stage blood, we detect both metastatic and
      primary tumour clones, even years after removal of the prostate. Analysis of
      mutations associated with metastasis reveals an enrichment of TP53 mutations, and
      additional sequencing of metastases from 19 patients demonstrates that
      acquisition of TP53 mutations is linked with the expansion of subclones with
      metastatic potential which we can detect in the blood. 

PMID- 25827449
TI  - Simultaneous passenger lymphocyte syndrome and multiple alloimmunization against
      donor's blood group antigens after liver transplantation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: If 'passenger lymphocyte syndrome' (PLS) is a well-recognized
      complication in ABO-mismatched solid organ transplantation, the coexistence of
      this reaction with recipient's alloimmunization against multiple antigens
      expressed on the residual red blood cells in the graft is less common and
      unpredictable. METHODS: The receiver of an ABO minor-mismatch liver graft from a
      cadaveric donor developed haemolytic anaemia within 2 weeks after
      transplantation. The organ donor was of blood group O D+C+c+E+e+ K+k+ Le(a+b-)
      and the recipient, A1 D-C-c+E-e+ K-k+ Le(a-b-). The donor and recipient were both
      tested for irregular antibodies. Elution was performed on the recipient's red
      blood cells (RBCs). RESULTS: None of the recipient and donor had irregular
      alloantibodies at the time of transplantation. On day 10, anti-A antibodies were
      detected in the recipient's serum and eluted from his RBCs. At the same time, the
      patient developed multiple alloantibodies: anti-D, anti-C, anti-E, anti-K and
      anti-Le(a) against the donor's erythrocyte antigens. CONCLUSION: Although
      serological analysis and haemolytic parameters confirmed the diagnosis of PLS
      which required transfusion support, no sign of graft damage due to recipient's
      immune reaction was detected. This case illustrates the required follow-up of the
      recipient after transplantation.

PMID- 25827448
TI  - Short-Term Adjuvant Therapy with Terminalia arjuna Attenuates Ongoing
      Inflammation and Immune Imbalance in Patients with Stable Coronary Artery
      Disease: In Vitro and In Vivo Evidence.
AB  - The present study evaluated the cardioprotective effects of Terminalia arjuna on
      classical and immuno-inflammatory markers in coronary artery disease (CAD) as an
      adjuvant therapy. One hundred sixteen patients with stable CAD were administered
      placebo/T. arjuna (500 mg twice a day) along with medications in a randomized,
      double-blind clinical trial. To understand the specificity and efficacy of T.
      arjuna, we evaluated its effect through microarray and in silico analysis in few
      representative samples. Data was further validated via real-time PCR (n = 50)
      each at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months, respectively. rIL-18 cytokine was used
      to induce inflammation in vitro to compare its effects with atorvastatin. T.
      arjuna significantly down-regulated TG, VLDL-C, and immuno-inflammatory markers
      in stable CAD versus placebo-treated subjects. Microarray and pathway analysis of
      a few samples from T. arjuna/placebo-treated groups and real-time PCR validation
      further confirmed our observations. Our data demonstrate the anti-inflammatory
      and immunomodulatory effects of T. arjuna that may attenuate ongoing inflammation
      and immune imbalance in medicated CAD subjects.

PMID- 25827450
TI  - Acid/Base-mediated uptake and release of halide anions with a preorganized aryl
      triazole foldamer.
AB  - A new approach for the construction of artificial receptors capable of
      selectively uptake and release of halides to mimic the biological halide ions
      pumps is developed, in which the preorganized aryl-triazole foldamer was designed
      to bear a resorcinolic group in the central strand as a switch regulator. By
      using 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene/picric acid as the trigger, the foldamer
      can be switched between "w"-shape and helical conformation. Due to the large,
      half-open cavity as well as the additional electrostatic repulsion between
      oxyanions and guest halide, the foldamer in "w"-shape possesses a much weaker
      affinity for chloride, bromide, and iodide anions than those in the helical
      conformation in 6:94 (v/v) [D6 ]DMSO/CDCl3 . When the foldamer and chloride ions
      have the same initial concentrations of 1 mM, 70 % chloride ions in the solution
      could be reversibly bound or released upon switching. 

PMID- 25827451
TI  - A closer look at papillary thyroid carcinoma.
AB  - Recent surge of thyroid cancer, especially papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC),
      ignited a debate on over-diagnosis of cancer. Such increase in incidence is a
      worldwide phenomenon, but it has been the most prominent in Korea. Although
      increased detection might have played a major role, some evidences suggest that
      true increase in incidence have also contributed to such phenomenon. PTC is a
      very common disease being the most common cancer in human. As the mortality due
      to PTC is relatively low, understanding pathophysiology of the disease and risk
      prediction in individual patient have particular importance for optimal
      management, but little has been known. I suggest a reason for such a commonality
      of PTC, and would like to describe my view on some aspects of PTC including
      unresolved issue on management based on our recent observations. 

PMID- 25827452
TI  - Clinical Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cushing's Disease in
      Korea.
AB  - Cushing's disease (CD) is a rare disorder characterized by the overproduction of
      adrenocorticotropic hormone due to a pituitary adenoma that ultimately stimulates
      excessive cortisol secretion from the adrenal glands. Prior to the detection of
      pituitary adenomas, various clinical signs of CD such as central obesity, moon
      face, hirsutism, and facial plethora are usually already present. Uncontrolled
      hypercortisolism is associated with metabolic, cardiovascular, and psychological
      disorders that result in increased mortality. Hence, the early detection and
      treatment of CD are not only important but mandatory. Because its clinical
      manifestations vary from patient to patient and are common in other obesity
      related conditions, the precise diagnosis of CD can be problematic. Thus, the
      present set of guidelines was compiled by Korean experts in this field to assist
      clinicians with the screening, diagnoses, and treatment of patients with CD using
      currently available tests and treatment modalities. 

PMID- 25827453
TI  - Update on denosumab treatment in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.
AB  - Denosumab, a fully human recombinant monoclonal antibody to the receptor
      activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL), blocks binding of RANKL to the
      RANK receptor, found on the surface of osteoclasts and osteoclast precursors,
      resulting in decreased bone resorption. Subcutaneous denosumab administration
      once every 6 months increases bone mineral density at the lumbar spine, total
      hip, and/or femoral neck, and reduces markers of bone turnover significantly in
      postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Relative to placebo, denosumab treatment
      reduces the risk of vertebral, nonvertebral, and hip fractures significantly. The
      benefits of denosumab treatment are generally obvious after the first dose and
      were continued for up to 8 years of treatment in an extension study. The
      tolerability profile of denosumab during this extension phase was consistent with
      that observed during the initial 3-year FREEDOM trial. Postmarketing safety
      surveillance has not shown any unexpected findings. Ongoing safety surveillance
      will more fully define the long-term safety of denosumab. The benefits of
      denosumab would seem to be greater than its risks. Denosumab is an important
      choice in the treatment of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis at increased
      risk of fractures, including older patients who have difficulty with oral
      bisphosphonate intake and patients who are intolerant of, or unresponsive to,
      other therapies. 

PMID- 25827454
TI  - The risks and benefits of calcium supplementation.
AB  - The association between calcium supplementation and adverse cardiovascular events
      has recently become a topic of debate due to the publication of two
      epidemiological studies and one meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical
      trials. The reports indicate that there is a significant increase in adverse
      cardiovascular events following supplementation with calcium; however, a number
      of experts have raised several issues with these reports such as inconsistencies
      in attempts to reproduce the findings in other populations and questions
      concerning the validity of the data due to low compliance, biases in case
      ascertainment, and/or a lack of adjustment. Additionally, the Auckland Calcium
      Study, the Women's Health Initiative, and many other studies included in the meta
      analysis obtained data from calcium-replete subjects and it is not clear whether
      the same risk profile would be observed in populations with low calcium intakes.
      Dietary calcium intake varies widely throughout the world and it is especially
      low in East Asia, although the risk of cardiovascular events is less prominent in
      this region. Therefore, clarification is necessary regarding the occurrence of
      adverse cardiovascular events following calcium supplementation and whether this
      relationship can be generalized to populations with low calcium intakes.
      Additionally, the skeletal benefits from calcium supplementation are greater in
      subjects with low calcium intakes and, therefore, the risk-benefit ratio of
      calcium supplementation is likely to differ based on the dietary calcium intake
      and risks of osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases of various populations.
      Further studies investigating the risk-benefit profiles of calcium
      supplementation in various populations are required to develop population
      specific guidelines for individuals of different genders, ages, ethnicities, and
      risk profiles around the world. 

PMID- 25827455
TI  - NF-kappaB-Mediated Regulation of Osteoclastogenesis.
AB  - Osteoclasts are multinucleated cells formed mainly on bone surfaces in response
      to cytokines by fusion of bone marrow-derived myeloid lineage precursors that
      circulate in the blood. Major advances in understanding of the molecular
      mechanisms regulating osteoclast formation and functions have been made in the
      past 20 years since the discovery that their formation requires nuclear factor
      kappaB (NF-kappaB) signaling and that this is activated in response to the
      essential osteoclastogenic cytokine, receptor activator of NF-kappaB ligand
      (RANKL), which also controls osteoclast activation to resorb (degrade) bone.
      These studies have revealed that RANKL and some pro-inflammatory cytokines,
      including tumor necrosis factor, activate NF-kappaB and downstream signaling,
      including c-Fos and nuclear factor of activated T-cells, cytoplasmic 1 (NFATc1),
      and inhibition of repressors of NFATc1 signaling, to positively regulate
      osteoclast formation and functions. However, these cytokines also activate NF
      kappaB signaling that can limit osteoclast formation through the NF-kappaB
      signaling proteins, TRAF3 and p100, and the suppressors of c-Fos/NFATc1
      signaling, IRF8, and RBP-J. This paper reviews current understanding of how NF
      kappaB signaling is involved in the positive and negative regulation of cytokine
      mediated osteoclast formation and activation. 

PMID- 25827456
TI  - Metformin-associated lactic acidosis.

PMID- 25827457
TI  - Articles in 'endocrinology and metabolism' in 2014.

PMID- 25827458
TI  - Determination of Mother Centriole Maturation in CPAP-Depleted Cells Using the
      Ninein Antibody.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mutations in centrosomal protein genes have been identified in a
      number of genetic diseases in brain development, including microcephaly.
      Centrosomal P4.1-associated protein (CPAP) is one of the causal genes implicated
      in primary microcephaly. We previously proposed that CPAP is essential for mother
      centriole maturation during mitosis. METHODS: We immunostained CPAP-depleted
      cells using the ninein antibody, which selectively detects subdistal appendages
      in mature mother centrioles. RESULTS: Ninein signals were significantly impaired
      in CPAP-depleted cells. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that CPAP is required for
      mother centriole maturation in mammalian cells. The selective absence of
      centriolar appendages in young mother centrioles may be responsible for
      asymmetric spindle pole formation in CPAP-depleted cells.

PMID- 25827459
TI  - Increased sclerostin levels after further ablation of remnant estrogen by
      aromatase inhibitors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sclerostin is a secreted Wnt inhibitor produced almost exclusively by
      osteocytes, which inhibits bone formation. Aromatase inhibitors (AIs), which
      reduce the conversion of steroids to estrogen, are used to treat endocrine
      responsive breast cancer. As AIs lower estrogen levels, they increase bone
      turnover and lower bone mass. We analyzed changes in serum sclerostin levels in
      Korean women with breast cancer who were treated with an AI. METHODS: We included
      postmenopausal women with endocrine-responsive breast cancer (n=90; mean age,
      57.7 years) treated with an AI, and compared them to healthy premenopausal women
      (n=36; mean age, 28.0 years). The subjects were randomly assigned to take either
      5 mg alendronate with 0.5 MUg calcitriol (n=46), or placebo (n=44) for 6 months.
      RESULTS: Postmenopausal women with breast cancer had significantly higher
      sclerostin levels compared to those in premenopausal women (27.8+/-13.6 pmol/L
      vs. 23.1+/-4.8 pmol/L, P<0.05). Baseline sclerostin levels positively correlated
      with either lumbar spine or total hip bone mineral density only in postmenopausal
      women (r=0.218 and r=0.233; P<0.05, respectively). Serum sclerostin levels
      increased by 39.9%+/-10.2% 6 months after AI use in postmenopausal women;
      however, no difference was observed between the alendronate and placebo groups
      (39.9%+/-10.2% vs. 55.9%+/-9.13%, P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Serum sclerostin levels
      increased with absolute deficiency of residual estrogens in postmenopausal women
      with endocrine-responsive breast cancer who underwent AI therapy with concurrent
      bone loss.

PMID- 25827460
TI  - Metformin-associated lactic acidosis: predisposing factors and outcome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Metformin is considered the first choice oral treatment for type 2
      diabetes patients in the absence of contraindications. Rarely, life-threatening
      complications associated with metformin treatment are seen in some patients with
      underlying diseases. The aim of this study was to further investigate the
      clinical profiles and risk factors for metformin-associated lactic acidosis
      (MALA) and the treatment modalities according to survival. METHODS: To identify
      MALA, we performed a retrospective study in seven diabetic patients who were
      taking metformin and had been diagnosed with lactic acidosis at Inha University
      Hospital between 1995 and 2012. For each patient, we recorded the age, sex, daily
      metformin dosage, laboratory test results, admission diagnosis, and risk factors.
      Also, concurrent conditions, treatment modalities, and outcomes were evaluated.
      RESULTS: Six patients had risk factors for lactic acidosis before admission. All
      patients had renal impairment on admission as a precipitating risk factor. Five
      patients survived and two patients died despite early renal replacement therapy.
      Older patients tended to have a poorer prognosis. CONCLUSION: Renal function must
      be monitored in elderly type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with underlying
      diseases and conditions causing renal impairment who begin metformin treatment.
      Accurate recognition of MALA and initiation of renal replacement are essential
      for treatment.

PMID- 25827461
TI  - Erratum: Figure Correction: Standardized Thyroid Cancer Mortality in Korea
      between 1985 and 2010.

PMID- 25827462
TI  - Ionic strength assay via polyacrylate-ferriferrous oxide magnetic photonic
      crystals.
AB  - Convenient reading out and/or determination of ionic strength (IS) is of great
      significance for both scientific research and real life applications. We
      presented here a novel method for the rapid and sensitive IS assay based on the
      electrolyte-induced sensitive wavelength blueshifts of the reflection spectra of
      polyacrylate capped Fe3O4 magnetic photonic crystals (PA-Fe3O4-MPCs). For HCl,
      MgSO4 and the common electrolytes corresponding to the salinity of seawater
      (including NaCl, KCl, MgCl2, CaCl2, Na2SO4 and their mixtures), the PA-Fe3O4-MPCs
      displayed wavelength blueshifts identical to the total IS of the aqueous
      solutions, regardless of the kind of above-mentioned electrolytes in the
      solutions. Besides, the PA-Fe3O4-MPCs exhibited relatively high sensitivity (an
      average of 294 nm L mmol(-1) in the range of 0.05-0.30 mmol L(-1), and an even
      higher value of 386 nm L mmol(-1) at 0.05-0.15 mmol L(-1)) and fast response
      (within 8 s) to the IS of aqueous solutions. The relative standard deviation
      (RSD) for IS (NaCl, 0.1 mmol L(-1)) was 4.4% (n = 5). The developed method was
      applied to determine the salinity of seawater samples, and the determined results
      were validated by the traditional standard chlorinity titration and electric
      conductimetry method. The recoveries were in the range of 92-104%. The proposed
      PA-Fe3O4-MPCs based reflectometry method would have great potential for IS and
      salinity assays. 

PMID- 25827463
TI  - The autoimmune side of hereditary angioedema: insights on the pathogenesis.
AB  - Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is an autosomal dominant disease resulting from the
      deficiency of C1 inhibitor (C1-INH), a glycosylated serine protease inhibitor
      that plays a regulatory role in the complement system (CS), the contact system
      and the intrinsic coagulation cascade. HAE disease severity is highly variable
      and may be influenced by genetic polymorphisms as well as by other factors, such
      as gender hormone-mediated effects. In HAE, the potential inadequate clearance of
      immune-complexes (IC) in the presence of reduced levels of CS components and in
      turn an excess of IC in the tissues results in inflammatory damage and release of
      autoantigens that may trigger an autoimmune response. Occasional reports link HAE
      with autoimmune conditions and only few studies have been conducted on large
      patient populations with controversial results. Although several immunoregulatory
      disorders have been documented, the prevalence of defined autoimmune diseases in
      patients with HAE remains debated. The occurrence of autoimmune conditions in HAE
      patients may worsen the disease severity enhancing the complexity of the
      comprehensive care. 

PMID- 25827464
TI  - Extent of misconceptions, negative prejudices and discriminatory behaviour to
      psoriasis patients in France.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The perception of stigmatization of patients with psoriasis is
      largely due to misconceptions and negative prejudice about this skin disease.
      'Uneducated' judgments can give rise to discriminatory behaviours. OBJECTIVE:
      Evaluate the prevalence, in France, of misconceptions, negative prejudice and
      discriminatory behaviour towards psoriasis patients. METHODS: Online survey
      conducted in June 2011, aimed at 1005 persons aged 16-64 years, representative of
      the French population. The representativeness of the sample was ensured by quota
      methodology (gender, age, occupation of the interviewed person) after
      stratification by region and location category. The respondents were asked to
      respond to a questionnaire on their knowledge of psoriasis, their attitude and
      main feelings/perceptions towards psoriasis patients. RESULTS: About 62.4% of
      respondents recognize a lack of information about psoriasis and 19.7% have
      misconceptions about this disease. About 16.5% believe that psoriasis is
      contagious, 6.8% believe this skin disease is related to personal hygiene and
      3.2% believe that it affects more people with low personal hygiene. About 50.0%
      of respondents show discriminatory behaviour towards psoriasis patients,
      reflected by reluctance to maintain friendship ties/a relationship of
      friendliness (7.6%), to have lunch or dinner with a person with visible
      manifestations (17.9%), to give a kiss on the cheek in greeting (29.7%), to shake
      hands (28.8%) and to have sexual relations/intercourse (44.1%). Patients with
      negative prejudice about the psoriasis frequently have misconceptions towards
      psoriasis patients. About 52.8% of respondents do not know anyone with psoriasis.
      Socio-demographic indicators such as gender, education level and rural or urban
      way of life are not associated with an increased prevalence of misconceptions
      and/or discriminatory behaviour. CONCLUSION: The lack of knowledge about
      psoriasis in France is important. There is an urgent need to strengthen
      information campaigns about psoriasis intended for the General Public.

PMID- 25827465
TI  - Stereoselective synthesis of the C13-C22 fragment of callystatin A by a non-aldol
      approach.
AB  - An efficient synthetic route to the C13-C22 subunit of callystatin A is reported.
      The key features include diastereoselective alkylation, using Myers auxiliary,
      for the preparation of the three carbon synthon 7, stereo- and regioselective
      oxidative vicinal functionalization of an electron deficient trisubstituted (Z)
      olefin using an intramolecular sulfinyl group as the nucleophile,
      diastereoselective radical debromination of a bromohydrin derivative using
      Guindon's protocol to prepare the C16-C18 anti-anti stereotriad, Lewis acid
      promoted crotylation following Keck's protocol to create C19, C20 stereocenters
      and the use of the Pummerer reaction to reveal an aldehyde for the extension of
      two carbons by Wittig olefination.

PMID- 25827466
TI  - The chimerical genome of Isla del Coco feral pigs (Costa Rica), an isolated
      population since 1793 but with remarkable levels of diversity.
AB  - The history of domestic species and of their wild ancestors is not a simple one,
      and feral processes can clarify key aspects of this history, including the
      adaptive processes triggered by new environments. Here, we provide a
      comprehensive genomic study of Isla del Coco (Costa Rica) feral pigs, a unique
      population that was allegedly founded by two individuals and has remained
      isolated since 1793. Using SNP arrays and genome sequencing, we show that Cocos
      pigs are hybrids between Asian and European pigs, as are modern international pig
      breeds. This conclusively shows that, as early as the 18th century, British
      vessels were loading crossbred pigs in Great Britain and transporting them
      overseas. We find that the Y chromosome has Asian origin, which has not been
      reported in any international pig breed. Chinese haplotypes seem to have been
      transmitted independently between Cocos and other pig breeds, suggesting
      independent introgression events and a complex pattern of admixing. Although data
      are compatible with a founder population of N = 2, variability levels are as high
      in Cocos pigs as in international pig breeds (~1.9 SNPs/kb) and higher than in
      European wild boars or local breeds (~1.7 SNPs/kb). Nevertheless, we also report
      a 10-Mb region with a marked decrease in variability across all samples that
      contains four genes (CPE, H3F3C, SC4MOL and KHL2) previously identified as highly
      differentiated between wild and domestic pigs. This work therefore illustrates
      how feral population genomic studies can help to resolve the history of domestic
      species and associated admixture events.

PMID- 25827467
TI  - Influence of alkalinity and VFAs on the performance of an UASB reactor with
      recirculation for the treatment of Tequila vinasses.
AB  - The main problem linked to the stability of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket
      (UASB) reactors during the treatment of Tequila vinasse is the high acidity and
      the null alkalinity present in this effluent. This research evaluates the effect
      of alkalinity and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) concentration on the performance of
      an UASB reactor with recirculation of the effluent for removing organic matter
      and biogas production from Tequila vinasses. Recirculation of the effluent
      reduces the impact of VFAs and organic matter concentration present in the
      influent, inducing the stability of the reactor. The UASB reactor was operated
      during 235 days at organic loading rates from 2.5 to 20.0 kg m(-3) d(-1),
      attaining a removal efficiency of COD greater than 75% with a methane yield of
      335 ml CH4 g(-1) COD at SPT, maintaining a ratio of VFAs/Alk <= 0.5. Therefore,
      an optimal ratio of VFAs/Alk was established for the system operating in stable
      conditions for the treatment of Tequila vinasses. Under these conditions, the
      alkalinity was recuperated by the system itself, without the addition of external
      alkalinity.

PMID- 25827468
TI  - Social inequalities in childcare quality and their effects on children's
      development at school entry: findings from the Longitudinal Study of Australian
      Children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Higher quality childcare in the years before school may help narrow
      developmental gaps between the richest and poorest children in our societies, but
      specific evidence is limited and inconsistent. We address this issue by examining
      whether higher quality childcare is associated with better developmental outcomes
      at school entry for children from lower than higher income families. METHODS: The
      sample from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children included children
      attending childcare from 2 to 3 years (n=980-1187, depending on outcome).
      Childcare quality was measured using carers assessment of their relationship with
      the child. Children's receptive vocabulary was directly assessed in the child's
      home, and behavioural difficulties were measured by teachers and parents at 4-5
      years. We assessed additive and multiplicative income-related effect measure
      modification of the quality of carer-child relationship on developmental
      outcomes. RESULTS: After adjusting for confounding, there was some evidence of
      effect measure modification on the additive and multiplicative scales of
      childcare quality by income. Children experiencing higher quality relationships
      and lower income had almost the same risk of poorer receptive vocabulary as
      children in higher quality relationships and higher incomes (relative excess risk
      due to interaction=0.18; 95% CI -0.20 to 0.52), ratio of relative risks=1.11
      (1.04 to 1.17)). These patterns were similar for teacher-reported and parent
      reported behavioural difficulties. CONCLUSIONS: The effects of higher quality
      childcare, in terms of quality relationships with carers, on children's cognitive
      and behavioural development at school entry were stronger among children from
      lower income families. This provides some evidence that higher quality
      relationships in childcare may be especially important in helping reduce
      developmental gaps for children from lower income families.

PMID- 25827469
TI  - Association between maternal health literacy and child vaccination in India: a
      cross-sectional study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Education of mothers may improve child health. We investigated
      whether maternal health literacy, a rapidly modifiable factor related to mother's
      education, was associated with children's receipt of vaccines in two underserved
      Indian communities. METHODS: Cross-sectional surveys in an urban and a rural
      site. We assessed health literacy using Indian child health promotion materials.
      The outcome was receipt of three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3)
      vaccine. We used multivariate logistic regression to investigate the relationship
      between maternal health literacy and vaccination status independently in each
      site. For both sites, adjusted models considered maternal age, maternal and
      paternal education, child sex, birth order, household religion and wealth
      quintile. Rural analyses used multilevel models adjusted for service delivery
      characteristics. Urban analyses represented cluster characteristics through fixed
      effects. RESULTS: The rural analysis included 1170 women from 60 villages. The
      urban analysis included 670 women from nine slum clusters. In each site, crude
      and adjusted models revealed a positive association between maternal health
      literacy and DTP3. In the rural site, the adjusted OR was 1.57 (95% CI 1.11 to
      2.21, p=0.010) for those with medium health literacy, and OR=1.30 (95% CI 0.89 to
      1.91, p=0.172) for those with high health literacy. In the urban site, the
      adjusted OR was 1.10 (95% CI 0.65 to 1.88, p=0.705) for those with medium health
      literacy, and OR=2.06 (95% CI 1.06 to 3.99, p=0.032) for those with high health
      literacy. CONCLUSIONS: In these study settings, maternal health literacy is
      independently associated with child vaccination. Initiatives targeting health
      literacy could improve vaccination coverage.

PMID- 25827470
TI  - Dynamic interaction between micro- and macro-circulation: a concept with feet of
      clay.

PMID- 25827471
TI  - Response to "Mutual micro- and macrovascular impairment in hypertension: shaping
      clay into a pot".

PMID- 25827472
TI  - Gynecomastia and drugs: a critical evaluation of the literature.
AB  - PURPOSE: A large number of medications have been implicated in the genesis of
      gynecomastia. However, gynecomastia is common in men, asymptomatic, increases
      with age, and is considered to be due to an increased estradiol/testosterone
      ratio. This complicates the interpretation of medication-related gynecomastia.
      Therefore, we have reviewed the literature in order to assess the data relating
      gynecomastia onset with utilization of specific medications. METHODS: The
      literature was searched in PubMed and the Ovid/Medline databases from the 1946 to
      January 2015 with the search terminology of "gynecomastia, drugs/medications." A
      few other articles were found and included. RESULTS: One hundred ten publications
      were reviewed. Sixty-three were single case reports. There were 24 population
      based studies of which 8 were HIV-infected patients treated with antiretroviral
      agents. Among the case reports, 49 were for individual medications, and 2 were
      reports of antineoplastic or antiretroviral drug regimens. In the great majority,
      mastodynia with or without breast enlargement was present and referred to as
      gynecomastia. Generally, hormonal profiles could not explain the breast
      enlargement. The pain/tenderness and breast enlargement resolved spontaneously
      over time. CONCLUSION: Many different medications have been associated with the
      presence of "gynecomastia." Generally, it presents as a syndrome characterized by
      a single painful/tender breast (mastodynia) associated with breast enlargement
      and is transient. We suggest that these cases be referred to as an acute
      gynecomastia syndrome. This syndrome also occurs independent of medication use.
      Thus, in an individual patient, whether it is medication induced often remains
      uncertain. The pathogenesis remains unknown.

PMID- 25827473
TI  - Ultrasound elastography for evaluation of cervical lymph nodes.
AB  - Ultrasound (US) elastography has been introduced as a noninvasive imaging
      technique for evaluating cervical lymph nodes. US elastography techniques include
      strain elastography and shear wave-based elastography. The application of this
      technique is based on the fact that stiff tissues tend to deform less and show
      less strain than compliant tissues when the same force is applied. In general,
      metastatic lymph nodes demonstrate higher stiffness than benign lymph nodes.
      Overall, preliminary studies suggest that US elastography may be useful in
      differentiating benign and malignant cervical lymph nodes, thereby informing
      decisions to perform a biopsy and facilitating follow-up. For US elastography to
      be accepted into clinical practice, however, its techniques, associated
      diagnostic criteria, and reliability need to be further refined. 

PMID- 25827474
TI  - Portal venous perfusion steal causing graft dysfunction after orthotopic liver
      transplantation: serial imaging findings in a successfully treated patient.
AB  - A 53-year-old male with hepatocellular carcinoma underwent orthotopic liver
      transplantation. Preoperative computed tomography revealed main portal vein
      luminal narrowing by flat thrombi and the development of cavernous
      transformation. On post-transplantation day 1, thrombotic portal venous occlusion
      occurred, and emergency thrombectomy was performed. Subsequent Doppler
      ultrasonography and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography confirmed the restoration
      of normal portal venous flow. The next day, however, decreased portal venous
      velocity was observed via Doppler ultrasonography, and serum liver enzymes and
      bilirubin levels remained persistently elevated. Direct portography identified
      massive perfusion steal through prominent splenorenal collateral veins. Stent
      insertion and balloon angioplasty of the portal vein were performed, and
      subsequent Doppler ultrasonography demonstrated normalized portal flow
      parameters. Afterwards, the serum liver enzymes and bilirubin levels rapidly
      normalized. 

PMID- 25827475
TI  - Dengue vaccines for travelers: has the time come?

PMID- 25827476
TI  - Purification and characterization of a ~43 kDa antioxidant protein with antitumor
      activity from Pholiota nameko.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pholiota nameko water-soluble protein (PNWSP), isolated from the
      dried fruiting bodies of Pholiota nameko, was purified by a successive
      chromatographic process using Q anion exchange column, SP cation exchange column
      and Superdex 200 gel filtration column. PNWSP was assessed for antioxidant
      activities in different assay systems, and the effect on cell proliferation of
      human breast cancer MCF7 cells was investigated. RESULTS: Sodium dodecyl sulfate
      polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and analytical ultracentrifugation analysis
      revealed the homogeneity of PNWSP with apparent molecular weight of ~43 kDa, and
      the identification was confirmed by peptide mass fingerprint analysis. It showed
      potential antioxidant activities in scavenging free radicals, reducing power and
      chelating effect on Fe(2+), and had a protective effect against DNA amage.
      Moreover, it inhibited the proliferation of MCF7 cells by inducing apoptosis, in
      which the change in cell cycle distribution and the loss of mitochondrial
      transmembrane potential were observed by flow cytometry. CONCLUSIONS: The results
      showed that PNWSP could be a natural antioxidant and developed as a potential
      chemotherapeutic agent candidate against human breast cancer.

PMID- 25827477
TI  - Indications for transcatheter aortic valve implantation--now and next?
AB  - Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common valvular pathology and its prevalence is
      expected to increase rapidly in coming decades as a consequence of the
      increasingly elderly population. Without treatment, severe symptomatic AS has a
      very poor prognosis with a mortality of 50% at two years. Whilst surgical aortic
      valve replacement is the gold standard treatment, a significant minority of
      patients are deemed inoperable and declined surgery due to prohibitively high
      risk. The advent of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has
      revolutionised their treatment. In this review, we discuss current indications
      for TAVI, other applications of this technology and future indications. 

PMID- 25827478
TI  - Detection of PHLPP1alpha/beta in human and mouse brain by different anti-PHLPP1
      antibodies.
AB  - Pleckstrin homology domain and leucine rich repeat protein phosphatase 1 (PHLPP1)
      is a member of the serine/threonine family of phosphatases. It has been studied
      in organs including brain, heart, pancreas, adipose, breast, and prostate. Human
      PHLPP1 encodes two splice variants - PHLPP1alpha (~140-150 kDa) and PHLPP1beta
      (~180-190 kDa). Commercial antibodies are widely used to characterize PHLPP1
      proteins in cells/tissues. Here we validate five different antibodies to detect
      PHLPP1alpha/beta by Western blot using PHLPP1 WT/KO mice. All antibodies
      recognize PHLPP1beta in brain. Only a single antibody (Cosmo Bio Co) detects
      PHLPP1alpha (~145-150 kDa). The other four antibodies detect a non-specific
      signal at ~150 kDa as evidenced by its abundance in PHLPP1 KO tissues. Results
      suggest Cosmo antibody is a better reagent to detect PHLPP1alpha by Western blot.
      In contrast, we found it unsuitable for immunofluorescence applications in brain.
      Our findings caution interpretation of the ~150 kDa band detected by some PHLPP1
      antibodies in rodent and human tissues. Results also recapitulate the importance
      of including molecular weight standards in Western blot data to simplify
      retrospective analysis. 

PMID- 25827479
TI  - Steady-state metabolism of ethanol in perfused rat livers treated with cyanamide:
      quantitative analysis of acetaldehyde effects on the metabolic flux rates.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) are
      principal enzymes responsible for metabolism of ethanol in mammals. The steady
      state metabolic flux of ethanol has been poorly understood. METHODS: We
      investigated flux rates of the individual steps of ethanol metabolism in perfused
      rat livers treated with ALDH inactivator cyanamide as an attempt to mimic human
      ALDH2 deficiency commonly seen in East Asians. The net rates of ethanol
      oxidation, acetaldehyde oxidation, and acetate activation were determined with a
      set of defined equations, based on the set influx rates of ethanol and the
      measured efflux rates of ethanol, acetaldehyde, and acetate. RESULTS: After
      intraperitoneal injections of 0.2 and 1.5 mg/kg cyanamide, hepatic activities of
      mitochondrial ALDH2 and cytoplasmic ALDH1A1 decreased to a similar degree, that
      is, 51 to 57% and 69 to 74%, compared with the corresponding controls,
      respectively, whereas cytoplasmic ADH1 activity remained unchanged. At infusing 2
      mM ethanol, acetaldehyde oxidation rate well matched (99%) the net ethanol
      oxidation rate in control liver. Both the ethanol and acetaldehyde oxidation
      rates were significantly decreased after cyanamide treatments. At 10 mM ethanol,
      the efflux acetaldehyde was significantly higher than that infusing 2 mM ethanol
      in both control and cyanamide groups. Seventy-eight percent of the oxidized
      ethanol released as efflux acetate. At 2 mM ethanol, the apparent flux control
      coefficients of ADH1 were assessed to be 0.78, 0.54, and 0.39, respectively, in
      control, low, and high cyanamide-treated livers. Kinetic simulations revealed
      that inhibition by acetaldehyde may largely account for the observed reduction of
      ADH1 oxidation rates after cyanamide treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide
      the first flux evidence that ADH and ALDH are steps influencing steady-state
      metabolism of ethanol in rat livers with inactivated ALDHs.

PMID- 25827480
TI  - Demethylation of IGFBP5 by Histone Demethylase KDM6B Promotes Mesenchymal Stem
      Cell-Mediated Periodontal Tissue Regeneration by Enhancing Osteogenic
      Differentiation and Anti-Inflammation Potentials.
AB  - Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-mediated periodontal tissue regeneration is
      considered a promising method for periodontitis treatment. The molecular
      mechanism underlying directed differentiation and anti-inflammatory actions
      remains unclear, thus limiting potential MSC application. We previously found
      that insulin-like growth factor binding protein 5 (IGFBP5) is highly expressed in
      dental tissue-derived MSCs compared with in non-dental tissue-derived MSCs.
      IGFBP5 is mainly involved in regulating biological activity of insulin-like
      growth factors, and its functions in human MSCs and tissue regeneration are
      unclear. In this study, we performed gain- and loss-of-function assays to test
      whether IGFBP5 could regulate the osteogenic differentiation and anti
      inflammatory potential in MSCs. We found that IGFBP5 expression was upregulated
      upon osteogenic induction, and that IGFBP5 enhanced osteogenic differentiation in
      MSCs. We further showed that IGFBP5 prompted the anti-inflammation effect of MSCs
      via negative regulation of NFkappaB signaling. Depletion of the histone
      demethylase lysine (K)-specific demethylase 6B (KDM6B) downregulated IGFBP5
      expression by increasing histone K27 methylation in the IGFBP5 promoter.
      Moreover, IGFBP5 expression in periodontal tissues was downregulated in
      individuals with periodontitis compared with in healthy people, and IGFBP5
      enhanced MSC-mediated periodontal tissue regeneration and alleviated local
      inflammation in a swine model of periodontitis. In conclusion, our present
      results reveal a new function for IGFBP5, provide insight into the mechanism
      underlying the directed differentiation and anti-inflammation capacities of MSCs,
      and identify a potential target mediator for improving tissue regeneration.

PMID- 25827481
TI  - Cell volume measurements by optical transmission microscopy.
AB  - Cell volume is an important parameter in cell adaptation to anisosmotic stress,
      in the development of apoptosis and necrosis, and in the pathogenesis of several
      diseases. This unit describes a method for measuring the volume of adherent cells
      using a standard light microscope. A coverslip with attached cells is placed in a
      shallow chamber in a medium containing a strongly absorbing and cell-impermeant
      dye, Acid Blue 9. When such a sample is imaged in transmitted light at a
      wavelength of maximum dye absorption (630 nm), the resulting contrast
      quantitatively reflects cell thickness. Once the thickness is known at every
      point, the volume can be computed as well. Technical details, interpretation of
      data, and possible artifacts are discussed. Measurements in absolute units
      require knowledge of the absorption coefficient, and a similar procedure for the
      measurement of absorption coefficient is described.

PMID- 25827482
TI  - High-Sensitivity Detection of PNH Red Blood Cells, Red Cell Precursors, and White
      Blood Cells.
AB  - Flow cytometry is the method of choice to 'diagnose' paroxysmal nocturnal
      hemoglobinuria (PNH) and has led to improved patient management. Most
      laboratories have limited experience with PNH testing, and many different flow
      approaches are used. Careful selection and validation of antibody conjugates has
      allowed the development of reagent cocktails suitable for detection of PNH RBCs,
      CD71+ reticulocytes, and WBCs in clinical/sub-clinical PNH samples. A CD235a
      FITC/CD59-PE assay was developed capable of detecting Type III PNH RBCs at 0.01%
      sensitivity. A protocol targeting immature CD71+ RBCs can detect PNH
      reticulocytes at similar sensitivity. Four-color FLAER-based neutrophil and
      monocyte assays were developed to detect PNH phenotypes at a level of 0.01% and
      0.04% sensitivity, respectively. For instrumentation with five or more PMTs, a
      single-tube 5-color FLAER/CD157-based assay to simultaneously detect PNH
      neutrophils and monocytes is described. Using these standardized approaches,
      results have demonstrated good intra- and inter-laboratory performance
      characteristics even in laboratories with little prior experience performing PNH
      testing.

PMID- 25827483
TI  - Uncompensated Polychromatic Analysis of Mitochondrial Membrane Potential Using JC
      1 and Multilaser Excitation.
AB  - The lipophilic cation JC-1 (5,5',6,6'-tetrachloro-1,1',3,3'-tetraethyl
      benzimidazolyl carbocyanine iodide) has been used for more than 20 years as a
      specific dye for measuring mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsi(m)). In
      this unit, we revise our original protocol (that made use of a single 488 nm
      laser for the detection of monomers and aggregates, and where compensation was an
      important step) to use dual-laser excitation. Moreover, thanks to recently
      developed multilaser instruments and novel probes for surface and intracellular
      markers, JC-1 can be utilized by polychromatic flow cytometry to simultaneously
      detect, without any compensation between fluorescences, DeltaPsi(m) along with
      other biological parameters, such as apoptosis and the production of reactive
      oxygen species.

PMID- 25827484
TI  - Cell Proliferation Method: Click Chemistry Based on BrdU Coupling for Multiplex
      Antibody Staining.
AB  - Determination of incorporation of the thymidine analog 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine
      (BrdU) into DNA is a widely used method to analyze the cell cycle. However, DNA
      denaturation is required for BrdU detection with the consequence that most
      protein epitopes are destroyed and their immunocytochemical detection for
      multiplex analysis is not possible. A novel assay is presented for identifying
      cells in active S-phase that does not require the DNA denaturation step but
      nevertheless detects BrdU. For this purpose, cells were pulsed for a short time
      by 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) which is incorporated into DNA. The nucleotide
      exposed ethynyl residue was then derivatized by a copper-catalyzed cycloaddition
      reaction ("click chemistry" coupling) using a BrdU azide probe. The resulting DNA
      bound bromouracil moieties were then detected by commercial anti-BrdU monoclonal
      antibodies without the need for a denaturation step. This method has been tested
      using several cell lines and is more sensitive than traditional BrdU and allows
      multicolor and multiplex analysis in flow cytometry (FCM) and image-based
      cytometry.

PMID- 25827485
TI  - Flow cytometry of murine spermatocytes.
AB  - Protocols for purification of murine male germ cells by FACS based on Hoechst
      33342 (Ho342) dye staining have been reported and optimized. However, the
      protocols are often challenging to follow, partly due to difficulties related to
      sample preparation, instrument parameters, data display, and selection
      strategies. In addition, troubleshooting of flow cytometry experiments usually
      requires some fluency in technical principles and instrument specifications and
      settings. This unit describes setup and procedures for analysis and sorting of
      male meiotic prophase I (MPI) cells and other germ cells. Included are procedures
      that guide data acquisition, display, gating, and back-gating critical for
      optimal data visualization and cell sorting. Additionally, a flow cytometry
      analysis of spermatogenesis-defective testis is provided to illustrate the
      applicability of the technique to the characterization and purification of cells
      from mutant testis.

PMID- 25827486
TI  - Measurement of intracellular ions by flow cytometry.
AB  - Using flow cytometry, single-cell measurements of calcium can be made on isolated
      populations identified by one or more phenotypic characteristics. Most earlier
      techniques for measuring cellular activation parameters determined the mean value
      for a population of cells, which did not permit optimal resolution of the
      responses. The flow cytometer is particularly useful for this purpose because it
      can measure ion concentrations in large numbers of single cells and thereby
      allows ion concentration to be correlated with other parameters such as
      immunophenotype and cell cycle stage. A limitation of flow cytometry, however, is
      that it does not permit resolution of certain complex kinetic responses such as
      cellular oscillatory responses. This unit describes the preparation of cells,
      including labeling with antibodies and with calcium probes, and discusses the
      principles of data analysis and interpretation.

PMID- 25827487
TI  - Manipulation of shell morphology of silicate spheres from structural evolution in
      a purely inorganic system.
AB  - We have investigated the structural transformation of solid silica spheres into
      various more complex spherical structures including flower-like, thick or thin
      nanosheet-shelled and porous shelled spheres. In the absence of organic
      additives, sodium salts contained in this inorganic reaction system apparently
      direct the silica dissolution and regrowth of dissolved silicate at the nanometer
      scale, leading to the formation of a nanosheet network rather than solid
      aggregates. Subsequent removal of the salts by simple water washing results in
      voids in the siloxane network and a significant availability of surface silanol
      groups so that the resulting nanosheets and spheres composed of them possess
      large surface areas, pore volumes, and morphological flexibility, which can be
      varied by an applied stimulus. The results represent a rare example of the
      transformation of a simple silicate structure into a much more complex spherical
      structure involving a purely inorganic reaction system. 

PMID- 25827488
TI  - Monocarboxylate transporter-dependent mechanism confers resistance to oxygen- and
      glucose-deprivation injury in astrocyte-neuron co-cultures.
AB  - Hypoxic and low-glucose stressors contribute to neuronal death in many brain
      diseases. Astrocytes are anatomically well-positioned to shield neurons from
      hypoxic injury. During hypoxia/ischemia, lactate released from astrocytes is
      taken up by neurons and stored for energy. This process is mediated by
      monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) in the central nervous system. In the present
      study, we investigated the ability of astrocytes to protect neurons from oxygen-
      and glucose-deprivation (OGD) injury via an MCT-dependent mechanism in vitro.
      Primary cultures of neurons, astrocytes, and astrocytes-neurons derived from rat
      hippocampus were subjected to OGD, MCT inhibition with small interfering (si)RNA.
      Cell survival and expression of MCT4, MCT2, glial fibrillary acidic protein, and
      neuronal nuclear antigen were evaluated. OGD significantly increased cell death
      in neuronal cultures and up-regulated MCT4 expression in astrocyte cultures, but
      no increased cell death was observed in neuron-astrocyte co-cultures or astrocyte
      cultures. However, neuronal cell death in co-cultures was increased by exposure
      to MCT4- or MCT2-specific siRNA, and this effect was attenuated by the addition
      of lactate into the extracellular medium of neuronal cultures prior to OGD. These
      findings demonstrate that resistance to OGD injury in astrocyte-neuron co
      cultures occurs via an MCT-dependent mechanism. 

PMID- 25827489
TI  - Effect of sex steroid hormones on the number of serotonergic neurons in rat
      dorsal raphe nucleus.
AB  - Disorders caused by the malfunction of the serotonergic system in the central
      nervous system show sex-specific prevalence. Many studies have reported a
      relationship between sex steroid hormones and the brain serotonergic system;
      however, the interaction between sex steroid hormones and the number of brain
      neurons expressing serotonin has not yet been elucidated. In the present study,
      we determined whether sex steroid hormones altered the number of serotonergic
      neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DR) of adult rat brains. Animals were
      divided into five groups: ovariectomized (OVX), OVX+low estradiol (E2), OVX+high
      E2, castrated males, and intact males. Antibodies against 5-hydroxytryptamine (5
      HT, serotonin) and tryptophan hydroxylase (Tph), an enzyme for 5-HT synthesis,
      were used as markers of 5-HT neurons, and the number of 5-HT-immunoreactive (ir)
      or Tph-ir cells was counted. We detected no significant differences in the number
      of 5-HT-ir or Tph-ir cells in the DR among the five groups. By contrast, the
      intensity of 5-HT-ir showed significant sex differences in specific subregions of
      the DR independent of sex steroid levels, suggesting that the manipulation of sex
      steroid hormones after maturation does not affect the number and intensive
      immunostaining of serotonergic neurons in rat brain. Our results suggest that,
      the sexual dimorphism observed in the serotonergic system is due to factors such
      as 5-HT synthesis, transportation, and degradation but not to the number of
      serotonergic neurons. 

PMID- 25827490
TI  - Intestinal Depletion of NaPi-IIb/Slc34a2 in Mice: Renal and Hormonal Adaptation.
AB  - The Na(+) -dependent phosphate-cotransporter NaPi-IIb (SLC34A2) is widely
      expressed, with intestine, lung, and testis among the organs with highest levels
      of mRNA abundance. In mice, the intestinal expression of NaPi-IIb is restricted
      to the ileum, where the cotransporter localizes specifically at the brush border
      membrane (BBM) and mediates the active transport of inorganic phosphate (Pi).
      Constitutive full ablation of NaPi-IIb is embryonically lethal whereas the global
      but inducible removal of the transporter in young mice leads to intestinal loss
      of Pi and lung calcifications. Here we report the generation of a constitutive
      but intestinal-specific NaPi-IIb/Slc34a2-deficient mouse model. Constitutive
      intestinal ablation of NaPi-IIb results in viable pups with normal growth.
      Homozygous mice are characterized by fecal wasting of Pi and complete absence of
      Na/Pi cotransport activity in BBM vesicles (BBMVs) isolated from ileum. In
      contrast, the urinary excretion of Pi is reduced in these animals. The plasma
      levels of Pi are similar in wild-type and NaPi-IIb-deficient mice. In females,
      the reduced phosphaturia associates with higher expression of NaPi-IIa and higher
      Na/Pi cotransport activity in renal BBMVs, as well as with reduced plasma levels
      of intact FGF-23. A similar trend is found in males. Thus, NaPi-IIb is the only
      luminal Na(+) -dependent Pi transporter in the murine ileum and its absence is
      fully compensated for in adult females by a mechanism involving the bone-kidney
      axis. The contribution of this mechanism to the adaptive response is less
      apparent in adult males.

PMID- 25827491
TI  - Energetics of sodium-calcium exchanged zeolite A.
AB  - A series of calcium-exchanged zeolite A samples with different degrees of
      exchange were prepared. They were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD)
      and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). High temperature oxide melt drop
      solution calorimetry measured the formation enthalpies of hydrated zeolites CaNa
      A from constituent oxides. The water content is a linear function of the degree
      of exchange, ranging from 20.54% for Na-A to 23.77% for 97.9% CaNa-A. The
      enthalpies of formation (from oxides) at 25  degrees C are -74.50 +/- 1.21 kJ
      mol(-1) TO2 for hydrated zeolite Na-A and -30.79 +/- 1.64 kJ mol(-1) TO2 for
      hydrated zeolite 97.9% CaNa-A. Dehydration enthalpies obtained from differential
      scanning calorimetry are 32.0 kJ mol(-1) H2O for hydrated zeolite Na-A and 20.5
      kJ mol(-1) H2O for hydrated zeolite 97.9% CaNa-A. Enthalpies of formation of Ca
      exchanged zeolites A are less exothermic than for zeolite Na-A. A linear
      relationship between the formation enthalpy and the extent of calcium
      substitution was observed. The energetic effect of Ca-exchange on zeolite A is
      discussed with an emphasis on the complex interactions between the zeolite
      framework, cations, and water. 

PMID- 25827492
TI  - Contrast blush in pediatric blunt splenic trauma does not warrant the routine use
      of angiography and embolization.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Splenic artery embolization (SAE) in the presence of contrast blush
      (CB) has been recommended to reduce the failure rate of nonoperative management.
      We hypothesized that the presence of CB on computed tomography has minimal impact
      on patient outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted of all
      children (<18 years) with blunt splenic trauma over a 10-year period at a level 1
      pediatric trauma center. Data are presented as mean +/- standard error of mean.
      RESULTS: Seven hundred forty children sustained blunt abdominal trauma, of which
      549 had an identified solid organ injury. Blunt splenic injury was diagnosed in
      270 of the 740 patients. All patients were managed nonoperatively without SAE. CB
      was seen on computed tomography in 47 patients (17.4%). There were no significant
      differences in the need for blood transfusion (12.5% vs 11.1%) or length of stay
      (3.1 vs 3.3 days) or need for splenectomy when compared in children with or
      without CB. CONCLUSION: Pediatric trauma patients with blunt splenic injuries can
      be safely managed without SAE and physiologic response and hemodynamic stability
      should be the primary determinants of appropriate management.

PMID- 25827493
TI  - Stress-related cortisol response and laboratory eating behavior in obese women.
AB  - Stress-related cortisol secretion has been linked to increased appetite and
      subsequent food intake in overweight individuals. The present study addresses
      this relationship in a repeated-measures randomized controlled laboratory
      experiment. Nineteen obese women were compared to 36 normal weight controls with
      respect to stress-induced salivary cortisol and laboratory eating behavior,
      measured by a universal eating monitor. The trier social stress test served as
      stressor. Stress-induced cortisol levels were significantly higher in the obese
      compared to the normal weight controls. Unexpectedly, a corresponding increase in
      laboratory food intake was not detected. The results are interpreted and
      discussed with regard to restrained eating, which was found to be present to a
      significant degree in the obese women. 

PMID- 25827494
TI  - Ca2+ signal contributing to the synthesis and emission of monoterpenes regulated
      by light intensity in Lilium 'siberia'.
AB  - The floral scent is an important part of plant volatile compounds, and is
      influenced by environmental factors. The emission of monoterpenes of Lilium
      'siberia' is regulated by light intensity, but the mechanism is large unknown. In
      this study, the expression of Li-mTPS, a monoterpene synthase gene in the tepals
      of Lilium 'siberia', and net Ca(2+) flux were investigated after exposure to
      different levels of light intensity (0, 100, 300, 600, 1000, and 1500 MUmol m(-2)
      s(-1)). Moreover the effect of LaCl3 and ethylene glycol-bis-(2-aminoethylether)
      N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA) on the Li-mTPS expression, monoterpene
      emission, and net Ca(2+) flux were examined at 600 MUmol m(-2) s(-1). The results
      showed that along with the enhancement of light intensity, the expression level
      of Li-mTPS increased gradually, and the net Ca(2+) influx was also enhanced
      showing a similar pattern. It was found that LaCl3 and EGTA effectively inhibited
      the increase in expression of Li-mTPS and the net Ca(2+) influx induced by light
      treatment. Moreover, the release amounts of monoterpenes decreased significantly
      after treatment with LaCl3 and EGTA. So it can be concluded that Ca(2+) signal
      contributed to the biosynthesis and emission of monoterpenes regulated by light
      intensity in Lilium 'siberia' tepals. The increased light intensity firstly
      triggered the Ca(2+) influx to cytoplasm, and then the gene expression of
      monoterpene synthases downstream was activated to regulate the biosynthesis and
      emission of monoterpenes. But in the signaling pathway other mechanisms were
      thought to be involved in the emission of monoterpenes regulated by light
      intensity, which need to be investigated in future research.

PMID- 25827495
TI  - The fusion of genomes leads to more options: A comparative investigation on the
      desulfo-glucosinolate sulfotransferases of Brassica napus and homologous proteins
      of Arabidopsis thaliana.
AB  - Sulfotransferases (SOTs) (EC 2.8.2.-) play a crucial role in the glucosinolate
      (Gl) biosynthesis, by catalyzing the final step of the core glucosinolate
      formation. In Arabidopsis thaliana the three desulfo (ds)-Gl SOTs AtSOT16,
      AtSOT17 and AtSOT18 were previously characterized, showing different affinities
      to ds-Gls. But can the knowledge about these SOTs be generally transferred to
      other Gl-synthesizing plants? It was investigated how many SOTs are present in
      the economically relevant crop plant Brassica napus L., and if it is possible to
      predict their characteristics by sequence analysis. The recently sequenced B.
      napus is a hybrid of Brassica rapa and Brassica oleracea. By database research,
      71 putative functional BnSOT family members were identified and at least eleven
      of those are putative ds-Gl SOTs. Besides the homologs of AtSOT16 - 18,
      phylogenetic analyses revealed new subfamilies of ds-Gl SOTs, which are not
      present in A. thaliana. Three of the B. napus ds-Gl SOT proteins were expressed
      and purified, and characterized by determining the substrate affinities to
      different ds-Gls. Two of them, BnSOT16-a and BnSOT16-b, showed a significantly
      higher affinity to an indolic ds-Gl, similarly to AtSOT16. Additionally, BnSOT17
      a was characterized and showed a higher affinity to long chained aliphatic Gls,
      similarly to AtSOT17. Identification of homologs to AtSOT18 was less reliable,
      because putative SOT18 sequences are more heterogeneous and confirmation of
      similar characteristics was not possible. 

PMID- 25827496
TI  - Nuclear-Spin-Induced Circular Dichroism in the Infrared Region for Liquids.
AB  - Recently, the nuclear-spin-induced optical rotation (NSOR) and circular dichroism
      (NSCD) for liquids were discovered and extensively studied and developed.
      However, so far, nuclear-spin-induced magnetic circular dichroism in the IR
      region (IR-NSCD) has not been explored, even though all polyatomic molecules
      exhibit extensive IR spectra. Herein, IR-NSCD is proposed and discussed
      theoretically. The results indicate that in favorable conditions the IR-NSCD
      angle may be much larger than the NSOR angle in the UV/Vis region due to a
      vibrational resonance effect and can be measurable by using the NSOR experiment
      scheme. IR-NSCD can automatically combine and give NMR spectra and IRCD spectra
      of the nuclear spin prepolarized samples in liquids, which, in principle, could
      be developed to become a unique, novel analytical tool. 

PMID- 25827497
TI  - Manipulations of extracellular Loop 2 in alpha1 GlyR ultra-sensitive ethanol
      receptors (USERs) enhance receptor sensitivity to isoflurane, ethanol, and
      lidocaine, but not propofol.
AB  - We recently developed ultra-sensitive ethanol receptors (USERs) as a novel tool
      for investigation of single receptor subunit populations sensitized to extremely
      low ethanol concentrations that do not affect other receptors in the nervous
      system. To this end, we found that mutations within the extracellular Loop 2
      region of glycine receptors (GlyRs) and gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptors
      (GABAARs) can significantly increase receptor sensitivity to micro-molar
      concentrations of ethanol resulting in up to a 100-fold increase in ethanol
      sensitivity relative to wild-type (WT) receptors. The current study investigated:
      (1) Whether structural manipulations of Loop 2 in alpha1 GlyRs could similarly
      increase receptor sensitivity to other anesthetics; and (2) If mutations
      exclusive to the C-terminal end of Loop 2 are sufficient to impart these changes.
      We expressed alpha1 GlyR USERs in Xenopus oocytes and tested the effects of three
      classes of anesthetics, isoflurane (volatile), propofol (intravenous), and
      lidocaine (local), known to enhance glycine-induced chloride currents using two
      electrode voltage clamp electrophysiology. Loop 2 mutations produced a
      significant 10-fold increase in isoflurane and lidocaine sensitivity, but no
      increase in propofol sensitivity compared to WT alpha1 GlyRs. Interestingly, we
      also found that structural manipulations in the C-terminal end of Loop 2 were
      sufficient and selective for alpha1 GlyR modulation by ethanol, isoflurane, and
      lidocaine. These studies are the first to report the extracellular region of
      alpha1 GlyRs as a site of lidocaine action. Overall, the findings suggest that
      Loop 2 of alpha1 GlyRs is a key region that mediates isoflurane and lidocaine
      modulation. Moreover, the results identify important amino acids in Loop 2 that
      regulate isoflurane, lidocaine, and ethanol action. Collectively, these data
      indicate the commonality of the sites for isoflurane, lidocaine, and ethanol
      action, and the structural requirements for allosteric modulation on alpha1 GlyRs
      within the extracellular Loop 2 region. 

PMID- 25827499
TI  - Efficacy and environmental fate of imazapyr from directed helicopter applications
      targeting Tamarix species infestations in Colorado.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Aerial imazapyr applications are the most common and cost-effective
      method for controlling invasive tamarisk, but few studies have investigated
      whether or how infestation and site characteristics influence control and non
      target impacts. This study used vertical stands with filter papers, plus soil and
      tree canopy sampling, to investigate how tamarisk canopies affected retention of
      applied imazapyr, soil herbicide residues and tree mortality. RESULTS: Tamarisk
      canopies captured 71% of aerially applied imazapyr, resulting in significantly
      lower soil residues beneath the tree canopy. Although initial imazapyr soil
      residue levels outside the tree canopy were 4 times greater than those inside,
      soil degradation occurred 2.4 times faster outside the tamarisk canopy and
      resulted in lower herbicide residues. Tamarisk mortality within 3 years was 70%,
      but variability in control appeared to be affected by non-linear stand boundaries
      and tall site obstructions. These same factors also increased variability in the
      actual quantity of herbicide applied, exacerbating collateral impacts on
      desirable understory species. CONCLUSION: While aerial imazapyr applications are
      highly effective in controlling tamarisk, our study provides evidence for the
      importance of evaluating overall site suitability for this management strategy so
      the probability of unintended ecological effects can be minimized.

PMID- 25827498
TI  - Rodent auditory perception: Critical band limitations and plasticity.
AB  - What do animals hear? While it remains challenging to adequately assess sensory
      perception in animal models, it is important to determine perceptual abilities in
      model systems to understand how physiological processes and plasticity relate to
      perception, learning, and cognition. Here we discuss hearing in rodents,
      reviewing previous and recent behavioral experiments querying acoustic perception
      in rats and mice, and examining the relation between behavioral data and
      electrophysiological recordings from the central auditory system. We focus on
      measurements of critical bands, which are psychoacoustic phenomena that seem to
      have a neural basis in the functional organization of the cochlea and the
      inferior colliculus. We then discuss how behavioral training, brain stimulation,
      and neuropathology impact auditory processing and perception. 

PMID- 25827500
TI  - Intrarenal hemodynamic and oxidative stress in patients with obstructive sleep
      apnea syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oxygen desaturation and reoxygenation, related to intermittent
      hypoxia cycles due to upper airway obstruction, are major pathophysiologic
      features of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and are thought to be
      responsible for an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Continuous positive
      airway pressure (CPAP) is therefore considered the gold standard in the
      management of OSAS. Further data demonstrated a high prevalence of OSAS in
      patients with altered renal function despite the underlying pathophysiological
      mechanisms that have not been clarified. This study aims to provide evidence on
      the reported high prevalence of endothelial dysfunction and alterations of the
      intrarenal hemodynamic in patients affected by OSAS. Furthermore, we evaluated
      the effect of a CPAP therapy on these endpoints. METHODS: Twenty patients were
      enrolled in a prospective study and underwent ultrasound examination to assess
      endothelial dysfunction, by collecting brachial flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and
      intrarenal artery stiffness, pre- and post a 30-day treatment with CPAP. RESULTS:
      Endothelial dysfunction and intrarenal artery stiffness significantly improved in
      all patients after a month of CPAP. In particular, we observed a significant
      reduction in the renal resistance index (RI) (p < 0.001) and systolic/diastolic
      ratio (S/D) ratio (p < 0.001) and a significant increase of FMD (p < 0.001). The
      apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) showed a negative correlation with Delta FMD (p <
      0.05, r = -0.46). Conversely, a positive correlation exists between Delta RI and
      the oxygen desaturation index (ODI) (specificare la sigla) (p < 0.05, r = 0.46).
      CONCLUSIONS: Our study firstly showed a significant effect of CPAP on renal
      perfusion and endothelial function in OSAS patients without concomitant
      cardiovascular comorbidities.

PMID- 25827501
TI  - Effect of CPAP therapy on job productivity and psychosocial occupational health
      in patients with moderate to severe sleep apnea.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of continuous
      positive airflow pressure (CPAP) therapy on burnout symptoms and job
      productivity, stress, and satisfaction in patients with obstructive sleep apnea
      syndrome. METHODS: The sample was composed of 55 patients (mean age 48.5 +/- 8.9,
      BMI 31.1 +/- 5.7, AIH 56.8 +/- 22.1), diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea
      syndrome (OSAS) using polysomnography (PSG) with a therapeutic indication of
      CPAP. Before and after 6 months of receiving CPAP therapy, participants completed
      the following questionnaires: the index of the impact of the disease on job
      productivity (IMPALA), the job content questionnaire(JCQ), the Maslach burnout
      inventory-general survey (MBI-GS), the Shirom-Melamed burnout questionnaire
      (SMBQ), the index of job satisfaction, the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), and
      the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). We explored the efficacy of CPAP
      therapy at improving the indices of severity of OSAS using therapeutic PSG.
      RESULTS: CPAP therapy was associated with a beneficial effect on job productivity
      (IMPALA) (p = 0.000) and decreasing burnout symptoms such as physical fatigue
      (SMBQ) (p = 0.000), emotional exhaustion (SMBQ) (p = 0.014), cognitive weariness
      (SMBQ) (p = 0.004), exhaustion (MBI) (p = 0.000), and cynicism (MBI) (p = 0.002).
      However, CPAP did not decrease job stress or job dissatisfaction. DISCUSSION: In
      patients with severe OSAS, CPAP therapy has a beneficial effect on patients'
      occupational well-being and job productivity.

PMID- 25827502
TI  - The significance of base deficit in acidemic term neonates.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Much emphasis is placed on the metabolic component of umbilical cord
      acidemia at birth, with an importance attached to an arterial level of <7.00
      accompanied by a base deficit of 12 mmol/L. We hypothesized that in acidemic
      neonates, the level of arterial base deficit provides no prognostic information
      beyond that provided by the level of arterial pH. STUDY DESIGN: This is a cohort
      study using a database of deliveries from a major teaching hospital, with
      additional information from neonatal records. A total of 8797 term, singleton,
      nonanomalous neonates were identified who had paired and validated cord blood gas
      analysis. Of these, 520 were acidemic (pH <7.1) and 84 were severely acidemic (pH
      <7.0). Outcomes examined were encephalopathy grade 2/3 and/or death, Apgar <7 at
      5 minutes, neonatal unit admission, and composite outcomes of neurological and
      systemic involvement. Hierarchical logistic regressions were done using IBM SPSS
      Statistics 20.0 (Armonk, NY) to assess the predictive value of arterial pH and
      arterial base deficit. RESULTS: For each outcome the median pH and base deficit
      of those neonates affected by the adverse outcome was significantly lower than
      for those who were unaffected. Hierarchical logistic regressions showed that pH
      is a significant predictor of all adverse outcomes studied (P < .001 for all
      outcomes). When base deficit, and then the cross-product, are added to the model,
      neither add predictive value. CONCLUSION: In acidemic neonates, the metabolic
      component does not predict those at risk of adverse outcomes once pH is taken
      into account. The apparently worse outcomes with greater base deficit simply
      reflect a greater degree of acidemia. The prognostic significance attached to the
      base deficit among acidemic neonates is questionable.

PMID- 25827503
TI  - Women with preterm birth have a distinct cervicovaginal metabolome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Metabolomics has the potential to reveal novel pathways involved in
      the pathogenesis of preterm birth (PTB). The objective of this study was to
      investigate whether the cervicovaginal (CV) metabolome was different in
      asymptomatic women destined to have a PTB compared with term birth. STUDY DESIGN:
      A nested case-control study was performed using CV fluid collected from a larger
      prospective cohort. The CV fluid was collected between 20-24 weeks (V1) and 24-28
      weeks (V2). The metabolome was compared between women with a spontaneous PTB (n =
      10) to women who delivered at term (n = 10). Samples were extracted and prepared
      for analysis using a standard extraction solvent method. Global biochemical
      profiles were determined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and ultra
      performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. An ANOVA was used to
      detect differences in biochemical compounds between the groups. A false discovery
      rate was estimated to account for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: A total of 313
      biochemicals were identified in CV fluid. Eighty-two biochemicals were different
      in the CV fluid at V1 in those destined to have a PTB compared with term birth,
      whereas 48 were different at V2. Amino acid, carbohydrate, and peptide
      metabolites were distinct between women with and without PTB. CONCLUSION: These
      data suggest that the CV space is metabolically active during pregnancy. Changes
      in the CV metabolome may be observed weeks, if not months, prior to any clinical
      symptoms. Understanding the CV metabolome may hold promise for unraveling the
      pathogenesis of PTB and may provide novel biomarkers to identify women most at
      risk.

PMID- 25827504
TI  - Unplanned pregnancies and reproductive health among women with bipolar disorder.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate reproductive health and
      level of planning of pregnancies among women with bipolar disorder (BDW).
      METHODS: 63 euthymic women, with bipolar disorder type I, II or not otherwise
      specified diagnosis, were included and were matched with a control group of 63
      healthy women. Demographic and clinical data, structured reproductive health
      measures and planning level of pregnancies were obtained and compared between
      groups. RESULTS: Lower level of planning of pregnancies and higher frequency of
      unplanned pregnancies were found among BDW. Women with bipolar disorder reported
      history of voluntary interruption of pregnancies more frequent than women from
      control group. Current reproductive health care showed no differences between
      groups. LIMITATIONS: Data based on self-report of participants and retrospective
      nature of some collected measures may be affected by information bias. The
      pregnancy planning measure has not been validated in this population before.
      Demographic and clinical characteristics of the sample study limit generalization
      of these findings. CONCLUSIONS: Adverse reproductive events, as unplanned
      pregnancies and elective interruption of pregnancies, may be more frequent among
      BDW. Clinician must be aware of the reproductive health during treatment of young
      BDW and take measures to improve better family planning access.

PMID- 25827508
TI  - Council of Australian Therapeutic Advisory Groups: supporting the Quality Use of
      Medicines across the acute-care sector.

PMID- 25827505
TI  - Characteristics of Bipolar I patients grouped by externalizing disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder co-occurs with a number of disorders with
      externalizing features. The aim of this study is to determine whether Bipolar I
      (BPI) subjects with comorbid externalizing disorders and a subgroup with
      externalizing symptoms prior to age 15 have different clinical features than
      those without externalizing disorders and whether these could be attributed to
      specific genetic variations. METHODS: A large cohort (N=2505) of Bipolar I
      subjects was analyzed. Course of illness parameters were compared between an
      Externalizing Group, an Early-Onset Subgroup and a Non-Externalizing Group in the
      Discovery sample (N=1268). Findings were validated using an independent set of
      1237 BPI subjects (Validation sample). Genetic analyses were carried out.
      RESULTS: Subjects in the Externalizing Group (and Early-Onset Subgroup) tended to
      have a more severe clinical course, even in areas specifically related to mood
      disorder such as cycling frequency and rapid mood switching. Regression analysis
      showed that the differences are not completely explainable by substance use.
      Genetic analyses identified nominally associated SNPs; calcium channel genes were
      not enriched in the gene variants identified. LIMITATIONS: Validation in
      independent samples is needed to confirm the genetic findings in the present
      study. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the presence of an externalizing
      disorder subphenotype within BPI with greater severity of mood disorder and
      possible specific genetic features.

PMID- 25827507
TI  - An exploratory study of responses to low-dose lithium in African Americans and
      Hispanics.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Few prospective studies examine the impact of ethnicity or race on
      outcomes with lithium for bipolar disorder. This exploratory study examines
      differences in lithium response and treatment outcomes in Hispanics, African
      Americans, and non-Hispanic whites with bipolar disorder in the Lithium Treatment
      Moderate Dose Use Study (LiTMUS). METHODS: LiTMUS was a six-site randomized
      controlled trial of low-dose lithium added to optimized treatment (OPT;
      personalized, evidence-based pharmacotherapy) vs. OPT alone in outpatients with
      bipolar disorder. Of 283 participants, 47 African Americans, 39 Hispanics, and
      175 non-Hispanic whites were examined. We predicted minority groups would have
      more negative medication attitudes and higher attrition rates, but better
      clinical outcomes. RESULTS: African Americans in the lithium group improved more
      on depression and life functioning compared to whites over the 6 month study.
      African Americans in the OPT only group had marginal improvement on depression
      symptoms. For Hispanics, satisfaction with life did not significantly improve in
      the OPT only group, in contrast to whites and African Americans who improved over
      time on all measures. Attitudes toward medications did not differ across
      ethnic/racial groups. CONCLUSIONS: African Americans show some greater
      improvements with lithium than non-Hispanic whites, and Hispanics showed more
      consistent improvements in the lithium group. The impact of low-dose lithium
      should be studied in a larger sample as there may be particular benefit for
      African Americans and Hispanics. Given that the control group (regardless of
      ethnicity/race) had significant improvements, optimized treatment may be
      beneficial for any ethnic group.

PMID- 25827506
TI  - Altered insular activation and increased insular functional connectivity during
      sad and happy face processing in adolescent major depressive disorder.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability
      worldwide and occurs commonly first during adolescence. The insular cortex (IC)
      plays an important role in integrating emotion processing with interoception and
      has been implicated recently in the pathophysiology of adult and adolescent MDD.
      However, no studies have yet specifically examined the IC in adolescent MDD
      during processing of faces in the sad-happy continuum. Thus, the aim of the
      present study is to investigate the IC during sad and happy face processing in
      adolescents with MDD compared to healthy controls (HCL). METHODS: Thirty-one
      adolescents (22 female) with MDD and 36 (23 female) HCL underwent a well
      validated emotional processing fMRI paradigm that included sad and happy face
      stimuli. RESULTS: The MDD group showed significantly less differential activation
      of the anterior/middle insular cortex (AMIC) in response to sad versus happy
      faces compared to the HCL group. AMIC also showed greater functional connectivity
      with right fusiform gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, and right
      amygdala/parahippocampal gyrus in the MDD compared to HCL group. Moreover,
      differential activation to sad and happy faces in AMIC correlated negatively with
      depression severity within the MDD group. LIMITATIONS: Small age-range and cross
      sectional nature precluded assessment of development of the AMIC in adolescent
      depression. CONCLUSIONS: Given the role of the IC in integrating bodily stimuli
      with conscious cognitive and emotional processes, our findings of aberrant AMIC
      function in adolescent MDD provide a neuroscientific rationale for targeting the
      AMIC in the development of new treatment modalities.

PMID- 25827509
TI  - Overview of shorthand medical glossary (OMG) study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Shorthand is commonplace in clinical notation. While many
      abbreviations are standard and widely accepted, an increasing number are non
      standard and/or unrecognisable. AIM: We sought to describe the frequency of
      inappropriate and ambiguous shorthand in discharge summaries. METHODS: Eighty
      electronic discharge summaries from the four General Medical Units at the Royal
      Melbourne Hospital were randomly extracted from the hospital's electronic
      records. Extraction was stratified by the four units and by the four quarters
      between July 2012 and June 2013. All abbreviations were assigned into one of four
      categories according to appropriateness: 1. 'Universally accepted and understood
      even without context'; 2. 'Understood when in context'; 3. 'Understood but
      inappropriate and/or ambiguous'; and 4. 'Unknown'. These categories were
      determined by the authors, which included junior and senior medical staff.
      RESULTS: The 80 discharge summaries contained 840 different abbreviations used on
      6269 occasions. Of all words, 20.1% were abbreviations. Of the 6269 occasions of
      shorthand, 6.8% were categorised as 'Understood but inappropriate and/or
      ambiguous' or 'Unknown' (category 3 or 4), equating to 1.4% of all words, and an
      average of 5.4 words per discharge summary. CONCLUSION: Abbreviations are common
      in electronic discharge summaries, occurring at a frequency of one in five words.
      While the majority of shorthand used seems to be appropriate, the use of
      inappropriate, ambiguous or unknown shorthand is still frequent. This has
      implications for safe and effective patient care and highlights the need for
      better awareness and education regarding use of shorthand in clinical notation.

PMID- 25827510
TI  - Hypomagnesaemia linked to depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The reported risk of depression in patients with hypomagnesaemia is
      controversial. AIM: The objective of this meta-analysis was to assess the
      association between depression and hypomagnesaemia. METHODS: A literature search
      was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Database and clinicaltrials.gov
      from inception through October 2014. Studies that reported odds ratios, relative
      risks or hazard ratios comparing the risk of depression in patients with
      hypomagnesaemia were included. Pooled risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence
      interval (CI) were calculated using a random-effect, generic inverse variance
      method. RESULTS: Six observational studies (three cohort studies, two cross
      sectional studies and a case-control study) with a total of 19,137 patients were
      identified and included in the data analysis. The pooled RR of depression in
      patients with hypomagnesaemia was 1.34 (95% CI, 1.01-1.79, I(2) = 33%). The
      association between depression and hypomagnesaemia was marginally insignificant
      after the sensitivity analysis including only cohort and case-control studies,
      with a pooled RR of 1.38 (95% CI, 0.92-2.07, I(2) = 24%). CONCLUSION: Our study
      demonstrates a potential association between hypomagnesaemia and depression.
      Further studies assessing the benefits of treatment of hypomagnesaemia in
      patients with depression are needed.

PMID- 25827512
TI  - Potential role of coenzyme Q10 in facilitating recovery from statin-induced
      rhabdomyolysis.
AB  - Rhabdomyolysis is a rare, but serious complication of statin therapy, and
      represents the most severe end of the spectrum of statin-induced myotoxicity. We
      report a case where coenzyme Q10 facilitated recovery from statin-induced
      rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure, which had initially persisted despite
      statin cessation and haemodialysis. This observation is biologically plausible
      due to the recognised importance of coenzyme Q10 in mitochondrial bioenergetics
      within myocytes, and the fact that statins inhibit farnesyl pyrophosphate
      production, a biochemical step crucial for coenzyme Q10 synthesis. Coenzyme Q10
      is generally well tolerated, and may potentially benefit patients with statin
      induced rhabdomyolysis. 

PMID- 25827511
TI  - Appropriate clinical use of human leukocyte antigen typing for coeliac disease:
      an Australasian perspective.
AB  - The past decade has seen human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing emerge as a
      remarkably popular test for the diagnostic work-up of coeliac disease with high
      patient acceptance. Although limited in its positive predictive value for coeliac
      disease, the strong disease association with specific HLA genes imparts
      exceptional negative predictive value to HLA typing, enabling a negative result
      to exclude coeliac disease confidently. In response to mounting evidence that the
      clinical use and interpretation of HLA typing often deviates from best practice,
      this article outlines an evidence-based approach to guide clinically appropriate
      use of HLA typing, and establishes a reporting template for pathology providers
      to improve communication of results. 

PMID- 25827513
TI  - Delusional infestation: an Australian multicentre study of 23 consecutive cases.
AB  - Delusional infestation remains a debilitating condition that is therapeutically
      challenging for clinicians. This case series identifies 23 patients with
      delusional infestation in an Australian setting. The majority of patients are
      women and unlikely to have a psychiatric comorbid background. The use of
      unnecessary anti-parasitic medication is prevalent. 

PMID- 25827514
TI  - Macro-creatine kinase: a neglected cause of elevated creatine kinase.
AB  - Macro-creatine kinase (macro-CK) is a neglected cause of raised CK. Over a 10
      year period, we observed five cases. Three patients had macro-CK type 1. One
      patient with fibromyalgia underwent several explorations to find a muscular
      pathology; another, who had elevated CK-MB (muscle-brain fraction) activity, was
      referred to a cardiologist, and statin therapy was erroneously discontinued in
      two patients. Two patients had macro-CK type 2: a man with a neuroendocrine
      carcinoma and a woman with rheumatoid arthritis. Diagnosis of type 1 obviates the
      need to carry out pointless and expensive investigations seeking a neuromuscular
      or cardiac pathology, and also, the unwarranted discontinuation of statin
      therapy. Type 2 must prompt investigations for a neoplasm. 

PMID- 25827515
TI  - Isolated iliac vein thrombosis in pregnancy.

PMID- 25827516
TI  - 'Avoidable' death of a pregnant Jehovah's Witness with acute promyelocytic
      leukaemia: ethical considerations and the internal conflicts and challenges
      encountered by practitioners.

PMID- 25827517
TI  - Adult onset autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome due to somatic FAS mutation.

PMID- 25827518
TI  - Increasing clindamycin resistance among Australian group B streptococcus
      isolates.

PMID- 25827519
TI  - Impaired doctors: the Royal Australasian College of Physicians' support for
      Fellows in difficulty.

PMID- 25827520
TI  - Author reply: To PMID 25442756.

PMID- 25827521
TI  - Magnesium deficiency: a possible cause of restless leg syndrome in haemodialysis
      patients.

PMID- 25827522
TI  - Synthesis and evaluation of benzosuberone embedded with 1,3,4-oxadiazole, 1,3,4
      thiadiazole and 1,2,4-triazole moieties as new potential anti proliferative
      agents.
AB  - As an aspect of our ongoing research in search of new anti proliferative agents,
      a series of novel analogs of benzosuberone embedded with 1,3,4-oxadiazole, 1,3,4
      thiadiazole and 1,2,4-triazole moieties were synthesized in excellent yields (82
      93%). All the newly synthesized compounds were characterized by (1)H NMR, (13)C
      NMR, ESI/LC-MS, HRMS and evaluated for their in vitro anti proliferative activity
      against four human cancer cell lines (cervical, breast, pancreatic and alveolar).
      Among the synthesized compounds, 4b, 6a, 7d and 7l showed potent anti
      proliferative activity with GI50 values range of 0.079-0.957MUM against four
      human cancer cell lines. However, it was revealed that the compound 7d have shown
      very close GI50 value 0.079MUM as compared with positive control of colchicine
      against cervical cancer cell line. 

PMID- 25827523
TI  - Isosteric replacements of the carboxylic acid of drug candidate VX-787: Effect of
      charge on antiviral potency and kinase activity of azaindole-based influenza PB2
      inhibitors.
AB  - VX-787 is a first in class, orally bioavailable compound that offers unparalleled
      potential for the treatment of pandemic and seasonal influenza. As a part of our
      routine SAR exploration, carboxylic acid isosteres of VX-787 were prepared and
      tested against influenza A. It was found that the negative charge is important
      for maintaining potency and selectivity relative to kinase targets. Neutral
      carboxylic acid replacements generally resulted in compounds that were
      significantly less potent and less selective relative to the charged species. 

PMID- 25827524
TI  - Improving both aqueous solubility and anti-cancer activity by assessing
      progressive lead optimization libraries.
AB  - Thiazolidinone compounds 1-3 are lead compounds that have cytoselective toxicity
      toward non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells and drug-resistant NSCLC cells
      while showing low toxicity to normal human fibroblasts (NHFB). However, this
      class of compounds generally has a very low aqueous solubility (~0.1 MUg/ml). In
      order to improve both solubility and anti-cancer activity, we designed and
      synthesized two lead-optimization libraries and investigated these libraries
      using simultaneous high-throughput solubility and cytotoxicity assays. By all
      around modifications on R(1), R(2) and R(3) substitutions, consecutive library
      synthesis, and testing, we improved the aqueous solubility (5-fold improvement in
      solubility, from 0.1 to 0.5 MUg/ml) and anti-cancer activity (10-fold improvement
      in EC50 from 0.72-0.98 MUM to 0.08-0.16 MUM) in the new lead thiazolidinone
      compound 31.

PMID- 25827525
TI  - Synthesis and biological evaluation of 2-arylbenzimidazoles targeting Leishmania
      donovani.
AB  - A set of 56 2-arylbenzimidazoles was designed, synthesized and tested against
      Leishmania donovani amastigotes. The left- and right-hand side rings of the
      molecule, as well as the amide linker were modified. Structurally different
      derivatives were screened on L. donovani axenic amastigotes at concentrations of
      5, 15 and 50 MUM, and the ten most active derivatives were selected for further
      testing. 2-Arylbenzimidazole derivative 24 was active against L. donovani
      infected THP-1 cells showing 46% parasite inhibition at 5 MUM.

PMID- 25827526
TI  - Histone H3 peptide based LSD1-selective inhibitors.
AB  - A series of candidates for the histone H3 peptide based LSD1-selective inhibitor
      were designed and synthesized. Among peptides 1a-c and 2a-c, peptide 1a, which
      has a phenylcyclopropylamine (PCPA) moiety at Lys-4 of the 21 amino acid residues
      of histone H3, was the most potent LSD1-selective inhibitor. Truncation studies
      of peptide 1a revealed the significance of the peptide sequence length. These
      findings will be useful for the further development of histone H3 peptide based
      LSD1-selective inhibitors. 

PMID- 25827527
TI  - Punch biopsy of melanoma causing tumour cell implantation: another peril of
      utilising partial biopsies for melanocytic tumours.
AB  - The recommended initial management for suspected melanoma is excisional biopsy.
      The use of partial biopsies of melanocytic tumours poses potential problems
      including misdiagnosis due to either unrepresentative sampling or the difficulty
      in evaluating important diagnostic features; an inaccurate assessment of Breslow
      thickness and other important prognostic features; and the induction of changes
      capable of mimicking melanoma (i.e., pseudomelanoma). Misdiagnosis, in turn, may
      lead to inappropriate management of the patient and an adverse outcome. In this
      report we document a previously unrecognised pitfall of partial biopsies of
      melanocytic tumours: implantation of tumour cells at the biopsy site potentially
      leading to the overestimation of tumour thickness or a misdiagnosis of the
      presence of microsatellites in the subsequent wide excision specimen. 

PMID- 25827528
TI  - Heat shock protein 70 is associated with CSFV NS5A protein and enhances viral RNA
      replication.
AB  - The non-structural 5A (NS5A) protein of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) is
      proven to be involved in viral replication and can also modulate cellular
      signaling via to its ability to interact with various cellular proteins. Here,
      HSP70/NS5A complex formation is confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation and GST
      pulldown studies. Additionally, the N-terminal amino acids (29-240) of NS5A were
      identified as the interaction region through in vivo deletion analyses, and
      confocal microscopy showed that NS5A and HSP70 colocalized in the cytoplasm.
      Overexpression of HSP70 via the eukaryotic expression plasmid pDsRED N1 or
      lentivirus significantly promoted viral RNA synthesis. Whereas the knockdown of
      HSP70 by lentivirus-mediated shRNA or inhibition by quercetin markedly decreased
      the viral load. These data suggest that HSP70 plays a critical role in the viral
      life cycle, particularly during the virus RNA replication period. The
      investigation of HSP70 protein functions may be beneficial for developing new
      strategies to treat CSFV infection. 

PMID- 25827529
TI  - Mucosal vaccination by adenoviruses displaying reovirus sigma 1.
AB  - We developed adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) vectors displaying the sigma 1 protein
      from reovirus as mucosal vaccines. Ad5-sigma retargets to JAM-1 and sialic acid,
      but has 40-fold reduced gene delivery when compared to Ad5. While weaker at
      transduction, Ad5-sigma generates stronger T cell responses than Ad5 when used
      for mucosal immunization. In this work, new Ad5-fiber-sigma vectors were
      generated by varying the number of fiber beta-spiral shaft repeats (R) between
      the fiber tail and sigma. Increasing chimera length led to decreasing insertion
      of these proteinsAd5 virions. Ad-R3 and R14 vectors effectively targeted JAM-1 in
      vitro while R20 did not. When wereused to immunize mice by the intranasal route,
      Ad5-R3-sigma produced higher serum and vaginal antibody responses than Ad5. These
      data suggest optimized Ad-sigma vectors may be useful vectors for mucosal
      vaccination. 

PMID- 25827530
TI  - Limited susceptibility of mice to Usutu virus (USUV) infection and induction of
      flavivirus cross-protective immunity.
AB  - Flaviviruses are RNA viruses that constitute a worrisome threat to global human
      and animal health. In Europe, West Nile virus (WNV) outbreaks have dramatically
      increased in number and severity in recent years, with dozens of human and horse
      deaths and a high avian mortality across the continent. Besides WNV, the only
      clinically relevant mosquito-borne flavivirus detected so far in Europe has been
      the Usutu virus (USUV), which after being reported for the first time in Austria
      in 2001, quickly spread across Europe, causing a considerable number of bird
      deaths and neurological disorders in a few immunocompromised patients. Even
      though USUV infects multiple avian species that develop antibodies, there is
      little information about USUV susceptibility, pathogenicity and cross-reactive
      immunity. Here, the susceptibility of suckling and adult mice to USUV infection
      and the induction of cross-protective immunity against WNV challenge have been
      addressed. 

PMID- 25827531
TI  - Immune evasion activities of accessory proteins Vpu, Nef and Vif are conserved in
      acute and chronic HIV-1 infection.
AB  - Heterosexual HIV-1 transmission has been identified as a genetic bottleneck and a
      single transmitted/founder (T/F) variant with reduced sensitivity to type I
      interferon initiates productive infection in most cases. We hypothesized that
      particularly active accessory protein(s) may confer T/F viruses with a selective
      advantage in establishing HIV infection. Thus, we tested vpu, vif and nef alleles
      from six T/F and six chronic (CC) viruses in assays for 9 immune evasion
      activities involving the counteraction of interferon-stimulated genes and
      modulation of ligands known to activate innate immune cells. All functions were
      highly conserved with no significant differences between T/F and CC viruses,
      suggesting that these accessory protein functions are important throughout the
      course of infection. 

PMID- 25827532
TI  - Dispersal of H9N2 influenza A viruses between East Asia and North America by wild
      birds.
AB  - Samples were collected from wild birds in western Alaska to assess dispersal of
      influenza A viruses between East Asia and North America. Two isolates shared
      nearly identical nucleotide identity at eight genomic segments with H9N2 viruses
      isolated from China and South Korea providing evidence for intercontinental
      dispersal by migratory birds. 

PMID- 25827533
TI  - Application of knowledge discovery process on the prediction of stroke.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Stroke is a prominent life-threatening disease in the world. The
      current study was performed to predict the outcome of stroke using knowledge
      discovery process (KDP) methods, artificial neural networks (ANN) and support
      vector machine (SVM) models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The records of 297 (130 sick
      and 167 healthy) individuals were acquired from the databases of the department
      of emergency medicine. Nine predictors (coronary artery disease, diabetes
      mellitus, hypertension, history of cerebrovascular disease, atrial fibrillation,
      smoking, the findings of carotid Doppler ultrasonography [normal, plaque,
      plaque+stenosis>=50%], the levels of cholesterol and C-reactive protein) were
      used for predicting the stroke. Feature selection based on the Cramer's V test
      was carried out for reducing the predictors. Multilayer perceptron (MLP) ANN and
      SVM with radial basis function (RBF) kernel were used for the prediction based on
      the selected predictors. RESULTS: The accuracy values were 81.82% for ANN and
      80.38% for SVM in the training dataset (n=209), and 85.9% for ANN and 84.62% for
      SVM in the testing dataset (n=78), respectively. ANN and SVM models yielded area
      under curve (AUC) values of 0.905 and 0.899 in the training dataset, and 0.928
      and 0.91 in the testing dataset, consecutively. CONCLUSION: The findings of the
      current study pointed out that ANN had more predictive performance when compared
      with SVM in predicting stroke. The proposed ANN model would be useful when making
      clinical decisions regarding stroke.

PMID- 25827534
TI  - Offense Characteristics of Incompetent to Stand Trial Defendants Charged With
      Violent Offenses.
AB  - The current study compared offender and offense characteristics of pretrial
      defendants found incompetent to stand trial (IST) against those described as
      general offenders by victims in the 2008 Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
      survey and evaluated factors that differentiated IST defendants who allegedly
      used weapons from those who did not during the course of a violent offense. IST
      defendants were older and used "weapons" more frequently than those reported in
      the BJS survey; however, other characteristics, including use of firearms, did
      not differ. No demographic, clinical, or legal factors differentiated pretrial
      defendants who used weapons from those who did not. Overall, pretrial defendants
      were frequently diagnosed with a comorbid substance use disorder, and were
      homeless, unemployed, and had an extensive history of psychiatric
      hospitalizations and prior arrests at the time of their alleged offenses. Such
      results indicate that models for comprehensive discharge planning may have
      utility in addressing the unique needs of this subgroup of mentally disordered
      offenders. The findings also raise questions about the federal and state
      prohibition of gun rights to all IST defendants.

PMID- 25827535
TI  - Succinate dehydrogenase B: a new prognostic biomarker in clear cell renal cell
      carcinoma.
AB  - Succinate dehydrogenase B (SDHB) is a mitochondrial enzyme complex subunit. Loss
      of SDHB protein expression has been found to correlate with SDHx gene mutations.
      Little is known about its expression in subtypes of renal cell carcinoma (RCC)
      and whether it is a prognostic indicator. Four hundred fifty renal epithelial
      neoplasms were analyzed for SDHB, comprising clear cell RCC (CCRCC) (n = 240),
      papillary RCC (n = 84), chromophobe RCC (n = 49), renal oncocytoma (n = 47),
      clear cell papillary RCC (CCPRCC) (n = 19), and von Hippel-Lindau (VHL)
      associated CCPRCC-like tumors (n = 11). Succinate dehydrogenase B expression was
      graded based upon staining intensity using a 4-tiered system (0-3+), in which 3+
      was strongest and complete absence was 0. Neoplasms were further categorized
      based upon staining extent into SDHB weak (1+-2+) and strong (3+). Succinate
      dehydrogenase B was strongly preserved in 131 (55%) of 240 CCRCCs, 84 (100%) of
      84 papillary RCCs, 49 (100%) of 49 chromophobe RCCs, 1 (5%) of 19 CCPRCC, 5 (45%)
      of 11 VHL-associated CCPRCC-like tumors, and 47 (100%) of 47 renal oncocytomas.
      The remaining 109 CCRCCs, 18 CCPRCCs, and 6 VHL-associated CCPRCC-like tumors had
      weak but preserved SDHB. Succinate dehydrogenase B expression in CCRCCs with high
      International Society of Urological Pathology nucleolar grade (G3-G4) correlated
      significantly with survival (log-rank, P = .0004). Succinate dehydrogenase B is
      variably expressed in RCCs with clear cell morphology and strongly preserved in
      most other neoplasms. Therefore, weak staining, particularly in clear neoplasms,
      should not be misinterpreted as negative. Finally, SDHB expression in CCRCCs with
      high nucleolar grade (G3-G4) is significantly associated with survival,
      indicating it may be both a diagnostic and prognostic marker in RCC. 

PMID- 25827536
TI  - Ocular oncology--a multidisciplinary specialty.

PMID- 25827537
TI  - Trends in the management of intraocular tumors over 40 years.

PMID- 25827539
TI  - Retinoblastoma: achieving new standards with methods of chemotherapy.
AB  - The management of retinoblastoma (RB) has dramatically changed over the past two
      decades from previous radiotherapy methods to current chemotherapy strategies. RB
      is a remarkably chemotherapy-sensitive tumor. Chemotherapy is currently used as a
      first-line approach for children with this malignancy and can be delivered by
      intravenous, intra-arterial, periocular, and intravitreal routes. The choice of
      route for chemotherapy administration depends upon the tumor laterality and tumor
      staging. Intravenous chemotherapy (IVC) is used most often in bilateral cases,
      orbital RB, and as an adjuvant treatment in high-risk RB. Intra-arterial
      chemotherapy (IAC) is used in cases with group C or D RB and selected cases of
      group E tumor. Periocular chemotherapy is used as an adjunct treatment in eyes
      with group D and E RB and those with persistent/recurrent vitreous seeds.
      Intravitreal chemotherapy is reserved for eyes with persistent/recurrent vitreous
      seeds. In this review, we describe the various forms of chemotherapy used in the
      management of RB. A database search was performed on PubMed, using the terms
      "RB," and "treatment," "chemotherapy," "systemic chemotherapy," "IVC," "IAC,"
      "periocular chemotherapy," or "intravitreal chemotherapy." Relevant English
      language articles were extracted, reviewed, and referenced appropriately. 

PMID- 25827538
TI  - Uveal melanoma: estimating prognosis.
AB  - Uveal melanoma is the most common primary malignant tumor of the eye in adults,
      predominantly found in Caucasians. Local tumor control of uveal melanoma is
      excellent, yet this malignancy is associated with relatively high mortality
      secondary to metastasis. Various clinical, histopathological, cytogenetic
      features and gene expression features help in estimating the prognosis of uveal
      melanoma. The clinical features associated with poor prognosis in patients with
      uveal melanoma include older age at presentation, male gender, larger tumor basal
      diameter and thickness, ciliary body location, diffuse tumor configuration,
      association with ocular/oculodermal melanocytosis, extraocular tumor extension,
      and advanced tumor staging by American Joint Committee on Cancer classification.
      Histopathological features suggestive of poor prognosis include epithelioid cell
      type, high mitotic activity, higher values of mean diameter of ten largest
      nucleoli, higher microvascular density, extravascular matrix patterns, tumor
      infiltrating lymphocytes, tumor-infiltrating macrophages, higher expression of
      insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor, and higher expression of human leukocyte
      antigen Class I and II. Monosomy 3, 1p loss, 6q loss, and 8q and those classified
      as Class II by gene expression are predictive of poor prognosis of uveal
      melanoma. In this review, we discuss the prognostic factors of uveal melanoma. A
      database search was performed on PubMed, using the terms "uvea," "iris," "ciliary
      body," "choroid," "melanoma," "uveal melanoma" and "prognosis," "metastasis,"
      "genetic testing," "gene expression profiling." Relevant English language
      articles were extracted, reviewed, and referenced appropriately. 

PMID- 25827540
TI  - Using risk factors for detection and prognostication of uveal melanoma.
AB  - The early detection of malignancy, particularly uveal melanoma, is crucial in
      protecting visual acuity, salvaging the eye, and preventing metastasis. Risk
      factors for early detection of uveal melanoma have been clearly delineated in the
      literature and allow identification of melanoma when it is tiny and simulates a
      nevus. These factors include thickness >2 mm, presence of subretinal fluid (SRF),
      symptoms, the orange pigment, margin near optic disc, acoustic hollowness,
      surrounding halo, and absence of drusen. The importance of early detection is
      realized when one considers melanoma thickness, as each millimeter increase in
      melanoma thickness imparts 5% increased risk for metastatic disease. Newer
      imaging modalities like enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography and
      fundus autoflouroscence facilitate in detection of SRF and orange pigment.
      Additional molecular biomarkers and cytological features have been identified
      which can predict the clinical behavior of a small melanocytic lesion. Features
      that suggest a poor prognosis include higher blood levels of tyrosinase m-RNA,
      vascular endothelial growth factor, insulin-like growth factor; monosomy 3 and
      gains in chromosome 8. Management of uveal melanoma includes enucleation (for
      large), local eye wall resection, brachytherapy, charged particle irradiation,
      and thermotherapy (for small to medium tumors). Although the role of a good
      clinical evaluation cannot be underestimated, it is advisable to evaluate the
      various radiological, molecular, and cytological features, to enhance the
      accuracy of early diagnosis and improved prognosis. 

PMID- 25827541
TI  - Review of spectral domain enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography of
      tumors of the choroid.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Spectral domain enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography
      (EDI-OCT) can provide anatomic localization of intraocular tumors. AIMS: The aim
      was to identify topographical and intrinsic patterns of choroidal tumors on EDI
      OCT. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Retrospective review. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Analysis
      of published reports and personal observations using office based EDI-OCT.
      RESULTS: Using EDI-OCT, choroidal nevus displayed a smooth, dome-shaped
      topography with overlying retinal pigment epithelium alterations, drusen, and
      occasional subretinal cleft demonstrating photoreceptor loss. Small choroidal
      melanoma showed smooth, moderately dome-shaped topography, commonly with
      overlying shallow subretinal fluid that often depicted "shaggy" photoreceptors.
      Choroidal metastasis showed a minimally "lumpy, bumpy" surface topography and
      with overlying subretinal fluid and shaggy photoreceptors. Choroidal hemangioma
      showed a smooth, dome-shaped topography, with expansion of the affected small,
      medium, and large choroidal vessels. Choroidal lymphoma showed varying topography
      with increasing tumor thickness as "flat, rippled, or undulating (seasick)"
      surface. Choroidal osteoma displayed a smooth undulating surface with visible
      intralesional horizontal lines suggestive of bone lamellae and occasional
      horizontal and vertical tubules with intralesional "spongy" flecks. Choroidal
      melanocytosis appeared as uniformly thickened choroid with increased stromal
      density surrounding the normal choroidal vascular structures. CONCLUSIONS:
      Enhanced depth imaging-OCT can depict characteristic patterns that are suggestive
      of various choroidal tumors.

PMID- 25827542
TI  - Choroidal metastases: origin, features, and therapy.
AB  - The choroid is the most common ocular site for metastatic disease, owing to
      abundant vascular supply. The primary cancers that most commonly lead to
      choroidal metastases include breast cancer (40-47%) and lung cancer (21-29%).
      Bilateral, multifocal metastases are most often secondary to breast cancer,
      whereas unilateral, unifocal metastasis are more commonly found with lung cancer.
      The treatment of choroidal metastasis depends on the systemic status of the
      patient and number, location, and laterality of the choroidal tumors. Treatment
      options include observation in patients with poor systemic status or those with
      resolved or asymptomatic disease; systemic chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormone
      therapy, or whole eye radiotherapy if the metastases are active, multifocal and
      bilateral; plaque radiotherapy, transpupillary radiotherapy, or photodynamic
      therapy for active, solitary metastasis; and enucleation for those with blind
      painful eye. A database search was performed on PubMed, using the terms
      "choroidal metastasis," or "choroidal metastases," in combination with terms such
      as "treatment," "features," or "diagnosis." Relevant articles were extracted and
      reviewed. 

PMID- 25827543
TI  - Review of spectral domain-enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography of
      tumors of the retina and retinal pigment epithelium in children and adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Spectral domain (SD) enhanced depth imaging optical coherence
      tomography (EDI-OCT) is a useful tool for anatomic, cross-sectional imaging of
      retinal conditions. AIMS: The aim was to identify characteristic patterns of
      retinal and retinal pigment epithelial tumors on EDI-OCT in children and adults.
      SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Retrospective review. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Analysis of
      published reports and personal observations using office-based EDI-OCT for adults
      and portable hand-held SD OCT for infants and children. RESULTS: Using EDI-OCT,
      retinal tumors such as small retinoblastoma, astrocytic hamartoma, and
      hemangioblastoma arose abruptly from the retina, immediately adjacent to normal
      retina. Small exophytic retinoblastoma and retinal hemangioblastoma showed the
      full-thickness, homogeneous retinal disorganization with surrounding normal
      retina "draping" over the margins. Retinoblastoma occasionally had intralesional
      cavities and surrounding subretinal fluid. Hemangioblastoma often had adjacent
      intraretinal edema and subretinal fluid. Astrocytic hamartoma arose within the
      nerve fiber layer and sometimes with a "moth-eaten" or cavitary appearance.
      Retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) lesions such as congenital hypertrophy of RPE
      appeared flat with shadowing, occasional subretinal cleft, and abrupt
      photoreceptor loss. Congenital simple hamartoma showed an abrupt elevation from
      the inner retina with crisp, dark posterior shadowing. Combined hamartoma of the
      retina/RPE showed vitreoretinal traction causing "sawtooth mini-peak" or gently
      "maxi-peak" folding of the retina. RPE adenoma often produces remote macular
      edema or epiretinal membrane and the tumor has an irregular, "rugged" surface
      with deep shadowing. CONCLUSIONS: Enhanced depth imaging optical coherence
      tomography shows characteristic patterns that are suggestive of certain retinal
      and RPE tumors.

PMID- 25827544
TI  - Vascular tumors of the choroid and retina.
AB  - Vascular tumors of the retina and choroid can be seen occasionally. In the
      following article, the key clinical and diagnostic features of the major retinal
      and choroidal vascular tumors, their systemic associations, and the literature
      pertaining to the most currently available treatment strategies are reviewed. 

PMID- 25827545
TI  - The role of intravitreal chemotherapy for retinoblastoma.
AB  - Targeted therapy in retinoblastoma (RB) is widely accepted as the current
      management tool with an aim of increasing drug availability at the tumor
      location. Inevitably the effect is several times higher compared to systemic
      delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs and carries less systemic toxicity. Despite
      tremendous advancement in saving life, eye salvage in advanced RB especially with
      active vitreous seeds remains a challenge. The hypoxic environment of the
      vitreous and reduced vitreous concentration of the drugs delivered makes these
      tumor seeds resistant to chemotherapy. Direct delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs
      into the vitreous cavity aids to overcome these challenges and is progressively
      being accepted worldwide. However, intraocular procedure in RB was abandoned due
      to high risk of extraocular tumor dissemination. Recently, the forbidden
      therapeutic technique was re-explored and modified for safe use. Although eye
      salvage rate has tremendously improved after intravitreal chemotherapy (IVitC),
      retinal toxicity, and vision salvage are yet to be validated. In our preliminary
      report of intravitreal melphalan in 11 eyes, we reported 100% eye salvage and 0%
      recurrence with an extended 15 months mean follow-up. In this review, we analyzed
      published reports on IVitC in RB via PubMed, Medline, and conference proceedings
      citation index, electronic database search, without language restriction that
      included case series and reports of humans and experimental animal eyes with RB
      receiving IVitC. 

PMID- 25827546
TI  - Chromatic-achromatic perimetry in four clinic cases: Glaucoma and diabetes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Some diseases that affect the visual system may show loss of
      chromatic-achromatic sensitivity before obvious physical signs appear in the
      usual examination of the eye's posterior segment. A perimetric study has been
      conducted with four typical patients with glaucoma and diabetes, at different
      stages of the disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In addition to the standard white
      on-white (standard automated perimetry [SAP]), a test battery has been used to
      study patient's contrast sensitivity, using stimuli with different chromatic,
      spatial, and temporal content (multichannel perimetry). The choice of stimuli
      tries to maximize the response of different visual mechanisms: Achromatic
      (parvocellular and magnocellular origin); chromatic red-green (parvocellular
      origin); and chromatic blue-yellow (koniocellular origin). RESULTS: The results
      seem to indicate losses in the achromatic-parvocellular perimetry and both
      chromatic perimetry tests, undetected by conventional SAP. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      results illustrate that our patients without visible retinal alterations show
      signs of suspicion in multichannel perimetry.

PMID- 25827547
TI  - Quality of sunglasses available in the Iranian market; a study with emphasis on
      sellers' license.
AB  - CONTEXT: Sunglasses should follow minimum requirements to sufficiently protect
      eyes. It is not known whether all items obtainable from the market are
      appropriately designed. AIMS: To compare ultraviolet (UV)-protective properties
      of commercially available sunglasses obtained from authorized and unauthorized
      Iranian sellers. Settings and Study Design: An analytic-descriptive study
      performed in a metropolitan area (Tehran). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using a UV
      visible standard spectrophotometer, the percentage transmittance was scanned
      between 280 and 400 nm in 348 pairs of nonprescription sunglasses (price range:
      20-80 US$) obtained anonymously and randomly from authorized (permitted by the
      Ministry of Health, 189 pairs) and unauthorized (159 pairs) sellers in the
      Iranian capital city, Tehran. The Australian/New Zealand Standard (AS/NZS) and
      the American National Standards Institute [ANSI] standards were followed.
      STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Chi-square test, independent samples t-test or Mann-Whitney
      U-test. Results UV-protective properties of the sunglasses obtained from
      authorized sellers complied with AS/NZS and ANSI guidelines in 92.6% and 95.2% of
      items, respectively. The corresponding rates for sunglasses obtained from
      unauthorized sellers were 0% and 8.2%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). The
      rate of defective polarizing capability of lenses was 27.4% in sunglasses
      obtained from authorized sellers versus 90.4% in sunglasses obtained from
      unauthorized sellers (P < 0.001). Neither brand nor price played significant
      contributions to UV protection/lens polarizing capability of sunglasses obtained
      from authorized sellers. CONCLUSIONS: Sunglasses provided by unauthorized sellers
      are alarmingly unreliable and could be potentially hazardous for the eye. Brand
      and price do not guarantee optimal protection against UV radiation or polarizing
      performance of the lens.

PMID- 25827548
TI  - Photorefractive keratectomy in mild to moderate keratoconus: outcomes in over 40
      year-old patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Keratoconus is a contraindication for photorefractive keratectomy
      (PRK). In the recent decade, some efforts have been made to perform PRK in
      patients with keratoconus whose corneas are stable naturally or by doing corneal
      collagen crosslinking. These studies have suggested residual central corneal
      thickness (CCT) >=450 MUm. AIMS: The aim was to evaluate the long-term outcomes
      of PRK in patients with mild to moderate keratoconus in patients older than 40
      with residual CCT >= 400 MUm. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This prospective study was
      conducted in our Cornea Research Center, Mashhad, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Patients over 40 years old, with a grade I/II keratoconus without progression in
      the last 2 years were recruited. Patients with a predicted postoperative CCT <
      400 MUm were excluded. PRK with tissue saving protocol was performed with
      Tecnolas 217 Z. Mitomycin-C was applied after ablation. The final endpoints were
      refraction parameters the last follow-up visit (mean: 35 months). Paired t-test
      and Chi-square were used for analysis. RESULTS: A total of 38 eyes of 21 patients
      were studied; 20 eyes (52.6%) with a grade I and 18 eyes (47.4%) with grade II
      keratoconus. The mean uncorrected visual acuity, best corrected visual acuity
      (BCVA), spherical equivalent, cylindrical power and keratometric readings were
      significantly improved at the final endpoint compared to preoperation
      measurements (P < 0.001). Two eyes (5%) lost two lines of BCVA at the final
      visit. No case of ectasia occurred during the follow-up course. CONCLUSIONS: PRK
      did not induce keratoconus progression in patients older than 40 with a grade
      I/II keratoconus. Residual CCT >= 450 MUm seems to be sufficient to prevent the
      ectasia.

PMID- 25827549
TI  - Angiographic and spectral domain optical coherence tomography features in case of
      Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease.

PMID- 25827550
TI  - A case of subretinal tubercular abscess presenting as disc edema.
AB  - We report a case of ocular tuberculosis (TB) which initially presented with disc
      edema and was mistaken for optic neuritis. With no definite pathology being
      identified, the patient was treated on the lines of optic neuritis with
      intravenous (IV) steroid with beneficial effect. Ocular TB was suspected when he
      presented later with a subretinal abscess. Based on positive Mantoux, QuantiFERON
      TB gold results and radiographic findings, a diagnosis of subretinal abscess of
      presumed tubercular etiology was made. The patient was successfully treated with
      anti-tubercular therapy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case
      report of ocular TB presenting as disc edema followed by subretinal abscess. 

PMID- 25827551
TI  - Human papillomavirus 52 positive squamous cell carcinoma of the conjunctiva.
AB  - Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is strongly associated with several human
      cancers; the most known genotypes involved being HPV 16 and HPV 18. We report the
      detection of HPV 52 in a sample taken from a 47-year-old patient with squamous
      cell carcinoma of the conjunctiva of the left eye. The method used for the
      detection of HPV was real time polymerase chain reaction. The evolution was
      favorable after surgical removal of the tumor and the patient was explained that
      long-term follow-up is essential to avoid recurrence. 

PMID- 25827552
TI  - Regarding fundus imaging with a mobile phone: a review of techniques.

PMID- 25827553
TI  - Water drinking test and angle closure glaucoma.

PMID- 25827554
TI  - Comment on: central corneal thickness and intraocular pressure in premature and
      full-term newborns.

PMID- 25827555
TI  - Human ocular thelaziasis in Karnataka.

PMID- 25827556
TI  - Comment on: endoilluminator-assisted scleral buckling: our results.

PMID- 25827558
TI  - Automated diabetic retinopathy imaging in Indian eyes: a pilot study: erratum.

PMID- 25827557
TI  - Comment on: refractive outcome analyses in myopes.

PMID- 25827559
TI  - History of fat grafting: from ram fat to stem cells.
AB  - Fat injection empirically started 100 years ago to correct contour deformities
      mainly on the face and breast. The German surgeon Eugene Hollaender (1867-1932)
      proposed a cocktail of human and ram fat, to avoid reabsorption. Nowadays, fat
      injection has evolved, and it ranks among the most popular procedures, for it
      provides the physician with a range of aesthetic and reconstructive clinical
      applications with regenerative effects on the surrounding tissues. New research
      from all over the world has demonstrated the role of adipose-derived stem cells,
      present in the adipose tissue, in the repair of damaged or missing tissues.

PMID- 25827560
TI  - Adipose tissue and stem/progenitor cells: discovery and development.
AB  - "Adipose tissue is a valuable, exploitable, appealing source of regenerative
      cells that can be used for a variety of clinical challenges. This article reviews
      the history of the development of adipose-derived cell science, particularly in
      the context of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. It describes some of
      the advancements made in the field, as well as highlighting challenges and
      obstacles." 

PMID- 25827561
TI  - Adipose stem cells: biology, safety, regulation, and regenerative potential.
AB  - This article discusses adipose-derived stem cell (ASC) biology, describes the
      current knowledge in the literature for the safety and regulation of ASCs, and
      provides a brief overview of the regenerative potential of ASCs. It is not an
      exhaustive listing of all available clinical studies or every study applying ASCs
      in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, but is an objective commentary
      of these topics. 

PMID- 25827562
TI  - How does fat survive and remodel after grafting?
AB  - Autologous fat grafting has become an important procedure for volumization and
      revitalization, although clinical outcomes depend greatly on technique. It was
      revealed recently how grafted fat tissue survives, regenerates, or dies.
      Experimental results provided the underlying mechanism and clinical implications
      for therapeutic strategies to maximize the effects of fat grafting, minimize
      necrosis, and avoid oil cyst formation. 

PMID- 25827563
TI  - Condensation of tissue and stem cells for fat grafting.
AB  - Aspirated fat contains unnecessary components such as water, oil, and blood
      cells. For better outcomes, tissue purification and condensation are useful,
      especially when injection volume to the recipient site is limited. Because
      aspirated fat is relatively poor in adipose-derived stem/stromal cells (ASCs),
      ASC condensation seems important for obtaining better regeneration and retention.
      Reducing tissue volume by removing some adipocytes or supplementation of stromal
      vascular fraction or ASCs can increase the ASC/adipocyte ratio in the graft.
      Clinical results of ASC supplementation remain controversial, but ASC
      condensation seems to lead to expanding applications of fat grafting into
      revitalization of stem cell-depleted tissue. 

PMID- 25827564
TI  - Can we standardize the techniques for fat grafting?
AB  - Fat grafting still remains technique dependent with possible less favorable long
      term results because there are no standardized techniques used by the surgeon to
      perform the procedure. In this article, the authors have tried to standardize the
      techniques for fat grafting as first proposed and popularized by Coleman. These
      techniques, supported by the most recent scientific studies and understandings of
      clinical course following autologous fat transplantation, emphasize proper fat
      harvesting, processing, and placement so that a predictable long-lasting result
      can be achieved. 

PMID- 25827565
TI  - Update on cryopreservation of adipose tissue and adipose-derived stem cells.
AB  - This article first discusses some fundamentals of cryobiology and challenges for
      cell and tissue cryopreservation. Then, the results of cryopreservation of
      adipose cells and tissues, including adipose-derived stem cells, in the last
      decade are reviewed. In addition, from the viewpoint of cryobiology, some desired
      future work in fat cryopreservation is proposed that would benefit the
      optimization, standardization, and better application of such techniques. 

PMID- 25827566
TI  - Fat grafting in facial rejuvenation.
AB  - Patients with significant facial atrophy and age-related loss of facial fat
      generally achieve suboptimal improvement from both surface treatments of facial
      skin and surgical lifts. Restoring lost facial volume by fat grafting is a
      powerful technique that is now acknowledged by most plastic surgeons and other
      physicians engaged in treating the aging face as one of the most important
      advances in aesthetic surgery. Properly performed, the addition of fat to areas
      of the face that have atrophied because of age or disease can produce a
      significant and sustained improvement in appearance that is unobtainable by other
      means. 

PMID- 25827567
TI  - Gluteal augmentation with fat grafting: the Brazilian buttock technique: 30
      years' experience.
AB  - The author started injecting large quantities of fat in the breasts, thighs, and
      buttocks in 1985. The Brazilian Buttock technique was first presented in 1987;
      since then, The author has been writing and lecturing about it worldwide. In the
      past few years, the technique became very popular; it has changed the ideal of
      beauty in many countries. Recently, The author started using adipose-derived stem
      cell-based therapies for buttock augmentation to improve the results of fat graft
      survival. 

PMID- 25827568
TI  - Fat grafting for treatment of burns, burn scars, and other difficult wounds.
AB  - This article presents the authors' 3-year experience with the use of fat
      grafting, via the Coleman technique, for the adjuvant treatment of burn wounds,
      venous ulcers, diabetic ulcers, and burn scars. It demonstrates the regenerative
      effects of fat injected under the scar, and of fat injected under the wound, in
      the periphery of the wound, and within a bone fracture line or space, and of fat
      deposited over the wound. 

PMID- 25827569
TI  - Fat grafting: current concept, clinical application, and regenerative potential,
      part 1.

PMID- 25827570
TI  - Genetically Modified Foods and Consumer Perspective.
AB  - Genetically modified food is able to oppose the world's hunger and preserve the
      environment, even if the patents in this matter are symptomatic of several
      doubts. And also, transgenic consumption causes problems and skepticism among
      consumers in several European countries, but above all in Italy, where there is a
      strong opposition over recent years. So, the present study conducted a research
      to study the consumption of genetically modified food products by Italian young
      generation. This research presented the following purposes: firstly, to analyze
      genetically modified products' consumption among a particular category of
      consumers; secondly, to implement a quantitative model to understand behaviour
      about this particular kind of consumption and identify the factors that determine
      their purchase. The proposed model shows that transgenic consumption is
      especially linked to knowledge and impact on environment and mankind's health. 

PMID- 25827571
TI  - Secretome analysis identifies novel signal Peptide peptidase-like 3 (Sppl3)
      substrates and reveals a role of Sppl3 in multiple Golgi glycosylation pathways.
AB  - Signal peptide peptidase-like 3 (Sppl3) is a Golgi-resident intramembrane
      cleaving protease that is highly conserved among multicellular eukaryotes
      pointing to pivotal physiological functions in the Golgi network which are only
      beginning to emerge. Recently, Sppl3 was shown to control protein N
      glycosylation, when the key branching enzyme N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase V
      (GnT-V) and other medial/trans Golgi glycosyltransferases were identified as
      first physiological Sppl3 substrates. Sppl3-mediated endoproteolysis releases the
      catalytic ectodomains of these enzymes from their type II membrane anchors.
      Protein glycosylation is a multistep process involving numerous type II membrane
      bound enzymes, but it remains unclear whether only few of them are Sppl3
      substrates or whether Sppl3 cleaves many of them and thereby controls protein
      glycosylation at multiple levels. Therefore, to systematically identify Sppl3
      substrates we used Sppl3-deficient and Sppl3-overexpression cell culture models
      and analyzed them for changes in secreted membrane protein ectodomains using the
      proteomics "secretome protein enrichment with click sugars (SPECS)" method. SPECS
      analysis identified numerous additional new Sppl3 candidate glycoprotein
      substrates, several of which were biochemically validated as Sppl3 substrates.
      All novel Sppl3 substrates adopt a type II topology. The majority localizes to
      the Golgi network and is implicated in Golgi functions. Importantly, most of the
      novel Sppl3 substrates catalyze the modification of N-linked glycans. Others
      contribute to O-glycan and in particular glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis,
      suggesting that Sppl3 function is not restricted to N-glycosylation, but also
      functions in other forms of protein glycosylation. Hence, Sppl3 emerges as a
      crucial player of Golgi function and the newly identified Sppl3 substrates will
      be instrumental to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the
      physiological function of Sppl3 in the Golgi network and in vivo. Data are
      available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD001672. 

PMID- 25827573
TI  - Radon and thoron concentrations in public workplaces in Brisbane, Australia.
AB  - Radon and thoron are radioactive gases that can emanate from soil and building
      materials, and it can accumulate in indoor environments. The concentrations of
      radon and thoron in the air from various workplace categories in Brisbane,
      Australia were measured using an active method. The average radon and thoron
      concentrations for all workplace categories were 10.5 +/- 11.3 and 8.2 +/- 1.4 Bq
      m(-3), respectively. The highest radon concentration was detected in a confined
      area, 86.6 +/- 6.0 Bq m(-3), while the maximum thoron level was found in a
      storage room, 78.1 +/- 14.0 Bq m(-3). At each site, the concentrations of radon
      and thoron were measured at two heights, 5 cm and 120 cm above the floor. The
      effect of the measurement heights on the concentration level was significant in
      the case of thoron. The monitoring of radon and thoron concentrations showed a
      lower radon concentration during work hours than at other times of the day. This
      can be attributed to the ventilation systems, including the air conditioner and
      natural ventilation, which normally operate during work hours. The diurnal
      variation was less observed in the case of thoron, as the change in its
      concentration during and after the working hours was insignificant. The study
      also investigated the influence of the floor level and flooring type on indoor
      radon and thoron concentrations. The elevated levels of radon and thoron were
      largely found in basements and ground floor levels and in rooms with concrete
      flooring. 

PMID- 25827572
TI  - "And now for the good news..." the impact of negative and positive messages in
      self-management education for people with Type 2 diabetes: A qualitative study in
      an ethnically diverse population.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To explore the impact of Diabetes Education and Self Management for
      Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed (DESMOND) Foundation education, particularly from
      interviewees' narratives regarding recall of good and bad news messages and
      behaviour changes. METHODS: In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted
      with a purposive sample (n=19) of people who had attended education sessions as
      part of a randomised controlled trial in two UK sites with ethnically diverse
      populations. Data collection and analysis were informed by the constant
      comparative approach and facilitated through charting. RESULTS: Findings were
      similar in people from different ethnic backgrounds. Exploration of levels of
      recall of the sessions suggested that this was variable and sometimes very
      limited, but that interviewees had all assimilated some relevant learning. Key
      themes emerged relating to the way in which interviewees recalled and had been
      influenced by positive (good news) and negative (bad news) messages within the
      education sessions, including biomedical explanations. Both types of message
      appeared to have an important role in terms of motivation to change behaviour,
      but a notable observation was that none of the interviewees recalled receiving
      bad news messages when diagnosed. DISCUSSION: Our findings have highlighted the
      importance of providing and combining both negative and positive messages within
      education designed to promote self-management behaviour change.

PMID- 25827574
TI  - The effect of bicarbonate on the microbial dissolution of autunite mineral in the
      presence of gram-positive bacteria.
AB  - Bacteria are key players in the processes that govern fate and transport of
      contaminants. The uranium release from Na and Ca-autunite by Arthrobacter oxydans
      strain G968 was evaluated in the presence of bicarbonate ions. This bacterium was
      previously isolated from Hanford Site soil and in earlier prescreening tests
      demonstrated low tolerance to U(VI) toxicity compared to other A. oxydans
      isolates. Experiments were conducted using glass serum bottles as mixed
      bioreactors and sterile 6-well cell culture plates with inserts separating
      bacteria cells from mineral solids. Reactors containing phosphorus-limiting media
      were amended with bicarbonate ranging between 0 and 10 mM and meta-autunite
      solids to provide a U(VI) concentration of 4.4 mmol/L. Results showed that in the
      presence of bicarbonate, A. oxydans G968 was able to enhance the release of U(VI)
      from Na and Ca autunite at the same capacity as other A. oxydans isolates with
      relatively high tolerance to U(VI). The effect of bacterial strains on autunite
      dissolution decreases as the concentration of bicarbonate increases. The results
      illustrate that direct interaction between the bacteria and the mineral is not
      necessary to result in U(VI) biorelease from autunite. The formation of secondary
      calcium-phosphate mineral phases on the surface of the mineral during the
      dissolution can ultimately reduce the natural autunite mineral contact area,
      which bacterial cells can access. This thereby reduces the concentration of
      uranium released into the solution. This study provides a better understanding of
      the interactions between meta-autunite and microbes in conditions mimicking arid
      and semiarid subsurface environments of western U.S. 

PMID- 25827575
TI  - Effects of radiocesium inventory on (137)Cs concentrations in river waters of
      Fukushima, Japan, under base-flow conditions.
AB  - To investigate the behavior of nuclear accident-derived (137)Cs in river water
      under base-flow conditions, concentrations of dissolved and particulate (137)Cs
      were measured at 16 sampling points in seven rivers of Fukushima Prefecture,
      Japan, in 2012 and 2013. The concentration of dissolved (137)Cs was significantly
      correlated with the mean (137)Cs inventory in the catchment area above each
      sampling point in both sampling years. These results suggest that the
      concentration of dissolved (137)Cs under base-flow conditions is primarily
      determined by the (137)Cs inventory of the catchment area above the sampling
      point. However, the concentration of particulate (137)Cs did not show a clear
      relationship with either the mean (137)Cs inventory or the dissolved (137)Cs
      concentration, thus indicating that particulate and dissolved forms do not
      effectively interact in rivers. To evaluate the contribution of the (137)Cs
      inventory within catchment areas, we analyzed relations between the (137)Cs
      concentration and the mean (137)Cs inventory over the area within certain flow
      path lengths that were traced along the river and slope above the sampling point.
      Coefficients of determination for dissolved (137)Cs concentrations were highest
      for the longest flow path, i.e., the whole catchment area, and lower for shorter
      flow paths. Coefficients of determination for particulate (137)Cs concentrations
      were only moderately high for the shortest flow path in 2012, whereas the values
      were quite low for all flow paths in 2013. These results suggest that dissolved
      (137)Cs can originate from a larger area of the catchment even under base-flow
      conditions; however, particulate (137)Cs did not show such behavior. The results
      also show that under base-flow conditions, dissolved and particulate (137)Cs
      behave independently during their transport from river catchments to the ocean. 

PMID- 25827576
TI  - Migration of (137)Cs, (90)Sr, and (239+240)Pu in Mediterranean forests: influence
      of bioavailability and association with organic acids in soil.
AB  - The understanding of downward migration of anthropogenic radionuclides in soil is
      a key factor in the assessment of their environmental behavior. There are several
      factors that can affect this process, such as the radionuclide source, their
      chemical form, soil and environmental characteristics, etc. Two Mediterranean
      pinewood ecosystems in Spain, which were affected mainly by global fallout, were
      selected to assess the migration of (137)Cs, (90)Sr, and (239+240)Pu. Using
      auxiliary modeling (diffusion-convection equation and compartmental model), it
      followed from field observations that the migration velocities of (90)Sr and
      (239+240)Pu were similar and higher than that of (137)Cs. The downward migration
      of radionuclides can be considered a consequence of their association with soil
      particles. A sequential speciation procedure also confirmed that (90)Sr was the
      most bioavailable radionuclide followed by (239+240)Pu and (137)Cs. Although this
      can explain the different velocity of (90)Sr and (137)Cs, bioavailability could
      not explain by itself the similar velocities of (239+240)Pu and (90)Sr. The
      presence of organic acids in the soil can also influence the migration of
      radionuclides attached to them, which decreased in the order: (239+240)Pu >
      (90)Sr > (137)Cs. Thus, the joint consideration of bioavailable and humic +
      fulvic acid fractions can explain the observed differences in the downward
      velocities. 

PMID- 25827577
TI  - Returning land contaminated as a result of radiation accidents to farming use.
AB  - An assessment is given of the possibility of sorbents based on natural
      aluminosilicates (glauconite and clinoptilolite) being used for remediation of
      radioactively contaminated land with the aim of returning it to farming use. A
      comparative study of selectivity and reversibility of radiocaesium and
      radiostrontium sorption by natural aluminosilicates as well as by modified
      ferrocyanide sorbents based on these aluminosilicates was made. It was found that
      surface modification of aluminosilicates by ferrocyanides increases the
      selectivity of synthesized sorbents to caesium by 100-1000 times, increases
      sorption capacity and makes caesium sorption almost irreversible, whereas,
      selectivity of these sorbents to strontium radionuclides remains approximately
      the same as for natural aluminosilicates. The caesium distribution coefficient
      for mixed nickel-potassium ferrocyanide on glauconite is 10((5.0+/-0.6)) L kg(
      1), the static exchange capacity (SEC) is 63 mg g(-1); for mixed nickel-potassium
      ferrocyanide based on clinoptilolite caesium distribution coefficients in various
      concentration ranges are 10((7.0+/-1.0)), 10((5.7+/-0.4)) and 10((3.2+/-0.7)) L
      kg(-1), total SEC was 500 mg g(-1). Caesium leaching by various leaching
      solutions from saturated mixed nickel-potassium ferrocyanide based on
      clinoptilolite was lower than 2%; from saturated mixed nickel-potassium
      ferrocyanide based on glauconite it was 1.5-14.6%. Ferrocyanide sorbents, based
      on glauconite and clinoptilolite are recommended for remediation of land,
      contaminated by caesium as a result of the Fukushima accident in Japan. Use of
      these sorbents should decrease the transfer of caesium to agricultural vegetation
      up to a factor of 20. 

PMID- 25827578
TI  - A carbon nanotube/poly [Ni-(Protoporphyrin IX)] composite for amperometric
      detection of long chain aliphatic amines.
AB  - Poly [Ni-Protoporphyrin] film (pNiPP), containing multiwall carbon nanotubes
      (MWCNT) was used to cover a glassy carbon electrode. The hybrid material
      (pNiPP/MWCNT) successfully combines the permselectivity of pNiPP with the high
      conductivity of MWCNT. The modified electrode was used to perform amperometric
      detection of long chain aliphatic amines (LCAA) in order to prevent the
      passivation effect of the aliphatic chain. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and
      electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) demonstrated that the pNiPP/MWCNT
      facilitates the electron transfer reaction. The charge transfer resistance (Rct)
      values were significantly lower by up to one order of magnitude compared to the
      bare electrode. Differential pulse polarography (DPP) showed a marked decrease of
      the overpotential generated by the aliphatic chain. The calibration of the
      amperometric peak area vs. concentrations of derivatized LCAA exhibits a linear
      response within the range of 0.018 and 28 MUM and correlation coefficient (R(2))
      higher than 0.999 (n=5). The quantitation limit of the pNiPP/MWCNT electrode is
      about 400 times lower than the UV-visible detection. RSD of 7.2%, 5.8%, 2.5% and
      2.3% was obtained for concentrations of 0.028, 0.28, 2.8 and 28 MUM of ferrocenyl
      octadecylamine. A solution of sphingosine, 0.23 MUM, was exclusively detected
      with HPLC-ECD with pNiPP/MWCNT electrode.

PMID- 25827579
TI  - Surviving a flood: effects of inundation period, temperature and embryonic
      development stage in locust eggs.
AB  - The Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker), is an important
      agricultural pest and oviposits into compacted soil across vast semi-arid and
      arid regions prone to irregular heavy summer rainfall. This study aimed to
      quantify the effects of flooding (control, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days) at
      different temperatures (15, 20 and 25 degrees C) and embryonic development stages
      (25 and 75%) on egg viability, hatchling nymph body mass and survival to second
      instar. Egg viability after flooding was dependent on temperature and flood
      duration. Eggs inundated at 15 degrees C showed >=53.5% survival regardless of
      flood duration and development stage compared with <=29.6% for eggs at 25 degrees
      C for >=21 days early in development and >=14 days late in development. Hatchling
      nymphs did not differ in body mass relative to temperature or flood duration, but
      weighed more from eggs inundated early in development rather than late. Survival
      to second-instar was <=55.1% at 15 and 20 degrees C when eggs were flooded for
      >=28 days late in development, <=35.6% at 25 degrees C when flooded for >=28 days
      early in development, and zero when flooded for >=21 days late in development.
      These results suggest that prolonged flooding in summer and early autumn may
      cause very high egg mortality and first-instar nymph mortality of any survivors,
      but is likely to only ever affect a small proportion of the metapopulation. More
      common flash flooding for <=14 days is unlikely to cause high mortality and have
      any direct effect on distribution and abundance. 

PMID- 25827580
TI  - Pericytes, mesenchymal stem cells and their contributions to tissue repair.
AB  - Regenerative medicine using mesenchymal stem cells for the purposes of tissue
      repair has garnered considerable public attention due to the potential of
      returning tissues and organs to a normal, healthy state after injury or damage
      has occurred. To achieve this, progenitor cells such as pericytes and bone marrow
      derived mesenchymal stem cells can be delivered exogenously, mobilised and
      recruited from within the body or transplanted in the form organs and tissues
      grown in the laboratory from stem cells. In this review, we summarise the recent
      evidence supporting the use of endogenously mobilised stem cell populations to
      enhance tissue repair along with the use of mesenchymal stem cells and pericytes
      in the development of engineered tissues. Finally, we conclude with an overview
      of currently available therapeutic options to manipulate endogenous stem cells to
      promote tissue repair. 

PMID- 25827581
TI  - Anion-exchange chromatography of phosphopeptides: weak anion exchange versus
      strong anion exchange and anion-exchange chromatography versus electrostatic
      repulsion-hydrophilic interaction chromatography.
AB  - Most phosphoproteomics experiments rely on prefractionation of tryptic digests
      before online liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. This study compares the
      potential and limitations of electrostatic repulsion-hydrophilic interaction
      chromatography (ERLIC) and anion-exchange chromatography (AEX). At a pH higher
      than 5, phosphopeptides have two negative charges per residue and are well
      retained in AEX. However, peptides with one or two phosphate groups are not
      separated from peptides with multiple Asp or Glu residues, interfering with the
      identification of phosphopeptides. At a pH of 2, phosphate residues have just a
      single negative charge but Asp and Glu are uncharged. This facilitates the
      separation of phosphopeptides from unmodified acidic peptides. Singly
      phosphorylated peptides are retained weakly under these conditions, due to
      electrostatic repulsion, unless hydrophilic interaction is superimposed in the
      ERLIC mode. Weak anion-exchange (WAX) and strong anion-exchange (SAX) columns
      were compared, with both peptide standards and a HeLa cell tryptic digest. The
      SAX column exhibited greater retention at pH 6 than did the WAX column. However,
      only about 60% as many phosphopeptides were identified with SAX at pH 6 than via
      ERLIC at pH 2. In one ERLIC run, 12 467 phosphopeptides were identified,
      including 4233 with more than one phosphate. We conclude that chromatography of
      phosphopeptides is best performed at low pH in the ERLIC mode. Under those
      conditions, the performances of the SAX and WAX materials were comparable. The
      data have been deposited with the ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD001333. 

PMID- 25827583
TI  - What is microcirculatory shock?
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Microcirculatory shock is a condition defined by the presence
      of tissue hypoperfusion despite the normalization of systemic and regional blood
      flow. In this article, we discuss the characteristics of the microcirculation in
      septic shock, the main form of microcirculatory shock, along with its interaction
      with systemic hemodynamics, and the response to different therapies. RECENT
      FINDINGS: In septic shock, microcirculatory abnormalities are common, and more
      severe in nonsurvivors. In addition, the microcirculation shows a behavior that
      is frequently dissociated from that of systemic hemodynamics. Therefore,
      microcirculatory alterations may persist despite correction of systemic
      hemodynamic variables. Sublingual and intestinal microcirculation might also
      display divergent behaviors. Moreover, microvascular alterations may improve in
      response to hemodynamic resuscitation, but the response might depend on the
      underlying microcirculatory alterations. Particularly, the response to fluids
      seems to be related to both its basal state and the magnitude of the increase in
      cardiac output. SUMMARY: The optimal treatment of microcirculatory shock might
      require monitoring and therapeutic goals targeted on the microcirculation, more
      than in systemic variables. The clinical benefits of this approach should be
      demonstrated in clinical trials.

PMID- 25827582
TI  - Blocking the GABA transporter GAT-1 ameliorates spinal GABAergic disinhibition
      and neuropathic pain induced by paclitaxel.
AB  - Paclitaxel is a chemotherapeutic agent widely used for treating carcinomas.
      Patients receiving paclitaxel often develop neuropathic pain and have a reduced
      quality of life which hinders the use of this life-saving drug. In this study, we
      determined the role of GABA transporters in the genesis of paclitaxel-induced
      neuropathic pain using behavioral tests, electrophysiology, and biochemical
      techniques. We found that tonic GABA receptor activities in the spinal dorsal
      horn were reduced in rats with neuropathic pain induced by paclitaxel. In normal
      controls, tonic GABA receptor activities were mainly controlled by the GABA
      transporter GAT-1 but not GAT-3. In the spinal dorsal horn, GAT-1 was expressed
      at presynaptic terminals and astrocytes while GAT-3 was only expressed in
      astrocytes. In rats with paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain, the protein
      expression of GAT-1 was increased while GAT-3 was decreased. This was
      concurrently associated with an increase in global GABA uptake. The paclitaxel
      induced attenuation of GABAergic tonic inhibition was ameliorated by blocking GAT
      1 but not GAT-3 transporters. Paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain was
      significantly attenuated by the intrathecal injection of a GAT-1 inhibitor. These
      findings suggest that targeting GAT-1 transporters for reversing disinhibition in
      the spinal dorsal horn may be a useful approach for treating paclitaxel-induced
      neuropathic pain. Patients receiving paclitaxel for cancer therapy often develop
      neuropathic pain and have a reduced quality of life. In this study, we
      demonstrated that animals treated with paclitaxel develop neuropathic pain, have
      enhancements of GABA transporter-1 protein expression and global GABA uptake, as
      well as suppression of GABAergic tonic inhibition in the spinal dorsal horn.
      Pharmacological inhibition of GABA transporter-1 ameliorates the paclitaxel
      induced suppression of GABAergic tonic inhibition and neuropathic pain. Thus,
      targeting GAT-1 transporters for reversing GABAergic disinhibition in the spinal
      dorsal horn could be a useful approach for treating paclitaxel-induced
      neuropathic pain. 

PMID- 25827584
TI  - Lung volume assessment in acute respiratory distress syndrome.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Measurements of lung volumes allow evaluating the
      pathophysiogical severity of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in terms
      of the degree of reduction in aerated lung volume, calculating strain,
      quantifying recruitment and/or hyperinflation, and gas volume distribution. We
      summarize the current techniques for lung volume assessment selected according to
      their possible usage in the ICU and discuss the recent findings obtained with
      implementation of these techniques in patients with ARDS. RECENT FINDINGS:
      Computed tomography technique remains irreplaceable in terms of quantitative
      aeration of different lung regions, but the commonly used cut-offs for
      classification may be questioned with recent findings on nonpathological lungs.
      Monitoring end expiratory lung volume using nitrogen washout technique enhanced
      our understanding on lung volume change during positioning, pleural effusion
      drainage, intra-abdominal hypertension, and recruitment maneuver. Recent studies
      supported that tidal volume could not surrogate tidal strain, which needs
      measurement of functional residual capacity and which is correlated with pro
      inflammatory lung response. SUMMARY: Although lung volume measurements are still
      limited to research area of ARDS, recent progress in technology provides
      clinicians more opportunities to evaluate lung volumes noninvasively at the
      bedside and may facilitate individualization of ventilator settings based on the
      specific physiological understandings of a given patient.

PMID- 25827585
TI  - Clinical assessment of peripheral circulation.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Monitoring of the peripheral circulation can be done
      noninvasively in contrast to the more traditional invasive systemic haemodynamic
      monitoring in the intensive care unit. Physical examination of peripheral
      circulation based on clinical assessment has been well emphasized for its
      convenience, accessibility, and relation to the prognosis of patients with
      circulatory shock. The purpose of this article is to highlight the main findings
      according to recent literature into the clinical applications of the peripheral
      perfusion assessment in patient management. RECENT FINDINGS: Clinical assessment
      of peripheral circulation includes physical examination by inspecting the skin
      for pallor or mottling, and measuring capillary refill time on finger or knee.
      Studies have addressed the capillary refill time assessment in adults and its
      relation to normal range, body site, effect of skin temperature, and its
      reliability among examiners. These are easily applicable methods in many
      circumstances, and it has been used for predicting unfavourable outcomes in
      critically ill adult patients. Current studies are ongoing to determine the
      effects of different interventions on the clinical parameters of peripheral
      circulation in critically ill patients during shock resuscitation. SUMMARY: The
      feasibility and reproducibility of the clinical assessment of peripheral
      circulation are substantial, and reliance on capillary refill time, skin
      temperature, and mottling score must be emphasized and exploited. Incorporating
      therapeutic strategies into resuscitation protocols that aim at normalizing these
      peripheral circulation parameters are being developed to investigate the impact
      of peripheral perfusion-targeted resuscitation in the survival of critically ill
      patients.

PMID- 25827586
TI  - How to monitor a recruitment maneuver at the bedside.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To provide an overview on most recent knowledge on methods
      currently available for monitoring of recruitment maneuvers at the bedside.
      RECENT FINDINGS: The effects of recruitment maneuvers on clinical outcomes in
      patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome and in
      patients with healthy lungs undergoing major surgery were recently assessed.
      Despite being part of a multifaceted approach of protective ventilation,
      recruitment maneuvers are supposed to decrease mortality and improve
      postoperative outcomes. However, the role of recruitment maneuver remains
      controversial in routine practice owing to concerns regarding complications,
      especially its effects on hemodynamics. In addition, although recruitment
      maneuvers are being increasingly used, there remains a great deal of uncertainty
      regarding the precise way to evaluate the effect of recruitment.An effective
      recruitment maneuver is expected to reinflate nonaerated lung units. End
      expiratory lung volume, compliance, dead space, volumetric capnography, and
      bedside imaging techniques such as lung ultrasound and electrical impedance
      tomography have all different strengths and weaknesses. A multimodal and
      multiparametric approach could be a valuable option for bedside monitoring of
      recruitment maneuvers both in the ICU and in the operative room. SUMMARY: Several
      methods offer evaluation of lung recruitability and allow the monitoring of
      positive and negative effects of recruitment maneuvers. More than the type of
      method used, a multifaceted approach of monitoring of recruitment maneuvers
      should be regarded.

PMID- 25827587
TI  - Continuous noninvasive hemoglobin monitoring: ready for prime time?
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Determination of hemoglobin (Hb) concentration is essential
      for the detection of anemia and hemorrhage and is widely used to evaluate a
      patient for a possible blood transfusion. Although commonly accepted as intrinsic
      to the process, traditional laboratory measurements of Hb are invasive,
      intermittent, and time-consuming. Noninvasive Hb (NIHb)-monitoring devices have
      recently become available and promise the potential for detecting sudden changes
      in a patient's Hb level. In addition to reduced delays in clinical intervention,
      these devices also allow for a reduction in patient discomfort, infection risk,
      required personnel, and long-term costs. Unfortunately, it has been shown that
      many clinical factors can influence their accuracy. RECENT FINDINGS: Many studies
      have been published on the accuracy and precision of NIHb-monitoring devices in
      various clinical settings. A recent meta-analysis has shown a small mean
      difference but wide limits of agreement between NIHb and laboratory measurements,
      indicating that caution should be used by physicians when making clinical
      decisions based on this device. SUMMARY: NIHb measurements may currently be
      considered to be a supplemental tool for monitoring trends in Hb concentration,
      but are not currently developed enough to replace an invasive approach. Moreover,
      further studies are still required before implementing NIHb in the clinical
      decision-making process. Specifically, no studies have demonstrated that this
      technology improves clinical outcomes or patient safety.

PMID- 25827589
TI  - Controlled drug release from hydrogel-based matrices: Experiments and modeling.
AB  - Controlled release by oral administration is mainly achieved by pharmaceuticals
      based on hydrogels. Once swallowed, a matrix made of hydrogels experiences water
      up-take, swelling, drug dissolution and diffusion, polymer erosion. The detailed
      understanding and quantification of such a complex behavior is a mandatory
      prerequisite to the design of novel pharmaceuticals for controlled oral delivery.
      In this work, the behavior of hydrogel-based matrices has been investigated by
      means of several experimental techniques previously pointed out (gravimetric, and
      based on texture analysis); and then all the observed features were
      mathematically described using a physical model, defined and recently improved by
      our research group (based on balance equations, rate equations and swelling
      predictions). The agreement between the huge set of experimental data and the
      detailed calculations by the model is good, confirming the validity of both the
      experimental and the theoretical approaches. 

PMID- 25827590
TI  - Does sodium intake affect the relationship between blood pressure and vascular
      damage?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Although the differences between central and peripheral blood
      pressure (BP) values have been known for decades, the consequences of decision
      making based on peripheral rather than central BP have only recently been
      recognized. Recently, a U-shaped relation between sodium intake and
      cardiovascular risk has been suggested. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to
      evaluate the relationship between intima-media thickness (IMT) and central and
      peripheral BP as well as the effect of 24-hour urinary sodium excretion on this
      relationship. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study included 182 subjects (mean age,
      37.3 +/-14.0 years, 92 men and 90 women) who were members of families randomly
      selected from one of the gminas (administrative regions) in southern Poland. In
      all patients, peripheral and central BP (using applanation tonometry), IMT, and
      24-hour sodium excretion were measured. RESULTS: Hypertension was observed in
      44.5% of the participants. The mean urinary sodium excretion was 243 +/-81
      mmol/d. IMT was significantly more correlated with central pulse pressure (PP)
      compared with peripheral PP (r = 0.54 vs r = 0.27; P <0.01). After multivariate
      adjustments, IMT remained significantly related to central systolic BP and
      central and peripheral PP. When the study group was divided according to the
      tertiles of sodium excretion, central PP was related to IMT only in the second
      and third tertiles. When the study group was divided according to sex and sex
      specific median values of sodium excretion, IMT was associated with central PP
      only in subjects with sodium excretion exceeding the median values (both in men
      and women). CONCLUSIONS: IMT is more correlated with central than with peripheral
      BP. The association between IMT and central PP may be modulated by sodium intake.
      This hypothesis should be tested in larger studies.

PMID- 25827591
TI  - Localization of annexins A1 and A2 in the respiratory tract of healthy calves and
      those experimentally infected with Mannheimia haemolytica.
AB  - Annexins A1 and A2 are proteins known to function in the stress response,
      dampening inflammatory responses and mediating fibrinolysis. We found, in healthy
      cattle recently arrived to a feedlot, that lower levels of these proteins
      correlated with later development of pneumonia. Here we determine the
      localization of annexin A1 and A2 proteins in the respiratory tract and in
      leukocytes, in healthy calves and those with Mannheimia haemolytica pneumonia. In
      healthy calves, immunohistochemistry revealed cytoplasmic expression of annexin
      A1 in the surface epithelium of large airways, tracheobronchial glands and goblet
      cells, to a lesser degree in small airways, but not in alveolar epithelium.
      Immunocytochemistry labeled annexin A1 in the cytoplasm of neutrophils from blood
      and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, while minimal surface expression was detected
      by flow cytometry in monocytes, macrophages and lymphocytes. Annexin A2
      expression was detected in surface epithelium of small airways, some mucosal
      lymphocytes, and endothelium, with weak expression in large airways,
      tracheobronchial glands and alveolar septa. For both proteins, the level of
      expression was similar in tissues collected five days after intrabronchial
      challenge with M. haemolytica compared to that from sham-inoculated calves.
      Annexins A1 and A2 were both detected in leukocytes around foci of coagulative
      necrosis, and in necrotic cells in the center of these foci, as well as in areas
      outlined above. Thus, annexins A1 and A2 are proteins produced by airway
      epithelial cells that may prevent inflammation in the healthy lung and be
      relevant to development of pneumonia in stressed cattle. 

PMID- 25827592
TI  - In vitro effects of binuclear (eta (6)-p-cymene)ruthenium(II) complex containing
      bridging bis(nicotinate)-polyethylene glycol ester ligand on differentiation
      pathways of murine Th lymphocytes activated by T cell mitogen.
AB  - T cell differentiation into distinct T helper (Th) subpopulations is crucial in
      governing acquired immune responses as well as some inflammatory and autoimmune
      disorders. This study investigated potential of the novel neutral binuclear
      ruthenium(II) complexes 1-8 with general formula [{RuCl2(eta(6)-p-cym)}2MU
      (N(?)N)] (N(?)N = bis(nicotinate)- and bis(iso-nicotinate)-polyethylene glycol
      esters; (3-py)COO(CH2CH2O) n CO(3-py) and (4-py)COO(CH2CH2O) n CO(4-py); n = 1
      4), as well as [RuCl2(eta(6)-p-cym)(nic)] (R1, nic = nicotinate) and
      [RuCl2(eta(6)-p-cym)(inic)] (R2, inic = isonicotinate) as an immunomodulatory
      agents capable to direct Th cell differentiation. From all investigated
      complexes, [{RuCl2(eta(6)-p-cym)}2MU-{(3-py)COO(CH2CH2O)4CO(3-py)}] (4) was
      selected for further study because it did not affect splenocyte viability (in
      concentration up to 50 MUM), but significantly reduced secretion of
      representative Th1 cytokine, IFN-gamma induced by T cell mitogen. Besides IFN
      gamma, 4 inhibited dose dependently expression and production of representative
      Th17 cytokine, IL-17, in these cells. Otherwise, the production of anti
      inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and IL-10 was upregulated. Also, 4 significantly
      increased CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+) Treg cell frequency in the activated splenocytes.
      Moreover, ConA-induced expression of Th1 transcription factors, T-bet and STAT1,
      as well as of Th17-related protein STAT3 was attenuated upon exposure to 4, while
      the expression of Th2-related transcription factor GATA3 remained stable. In
      conclusion, ruthenium(II) complex 4 modulates immune system cell functions in
      vitro by inhibiting T cell differentiation towards pathogenic Th1/Th17 phenotype
      and inducing a regulatory phenotype characterized by IL-10 and IL-4 production,
      which may provide novel therapeutic opportunities for immune-inflammatory and/or
      autoimmune disorders.

PMID- 25827593
TI  - Conformational dynamics of metallo-beta-lactamase CcrA during catalysis
      investigated by using DEER spectroscopy.
AB  - Previous crystallographic and mutagenesis studies have implicated the role of a
      position-conserved hairpin loop in the metallo-beta-lactamases in substrate
      binding and catalysis. In an effort to probe the motion of that loop during
      catalysis, rapid-freeze-quench double electron-electron resonance (RFQ-DEER)
      spectroscopy was used to interrogate metallo-beta-lactamase CcrA, which had a
      spin label at position 49 on the loop and spin labels (at positions 82, 126, or
      233) 20-35 A away from residue 49, during catalysis. At 10 ms after mixing, the
      DEER spectra show distance increases of 7, 10, and 13 A between the spin label at
      position 49 and the spin labels at positions 82, 126, and 233, respectively. In
      contrast to previous hypotheses, these data suggest that the loop moves nearly 10
      A away from the metal center during catalysis and that the loop does not clamp
      down on the substrate during catalysis. This study demonstrates that loop motion
      during catalysis can be interrogated on the millisecond time scale.

PMID- 25827594
TI  - Intake of low-dose leucine-rich essential amino acids stimulates muscle anabolism
      equivalently to bolus whey protein in older women at rest and after exercise.
AB  - Dysregulated anabolic responses to nutrition/exercise may contribute to
      sarcopenia; however, these characteristics are poorly defined in female
      populations. We determined the effects of two feeding regimes in older women (66
      +/- 2.5 yr; n = 8/group): bolus whey protein (WP-20 g) or novel low-dose leucine
      enriched essential amino acids (EAA) [LEAA; 3 g (40% leucine)]. Using
      [(13)C6]phenylalanine infusions, we quantified muscle (MPS) and albumin (APS)
      protein synthesis at baseline and in response to both feeding (FED) and feeding
      plus exercise (FED-EX; 6 * 8 knee extensions at 75% 1-repetition maximum). We
      also quantified plasma insulin/AA concentrations, whole leg (LBF)/muscle
      microvascular blood flow (MBF), and muscle anabolic signaling by
      phosphoimmunoblotting. Plasma insulinemia and EAA/aemia were markedly greater
      after WP than LEAA (P < 0.001). Neither LEAA nor WP modified LBF in response to
      FED or FED-EX, whereas MBF increased to a similar extent in both groups only
      after FED-EX (P < 0.05). In response to FED, both WP and LEAA equally stimulated
      MPS 0-2 h (P < 0.05), abating thereafter (0-4 h, P > 0.05). In contrast, after
      FED-EX, MPS increased at 0-2 h and remained elevated at 0-4 h (P < 0.05) with
      both WP and LEAA. No anabolic signals quantifiably increased after FED, but p70
      S6K1 Thr(389) increased after FED-EX (2 h, P < 0.05). APS increased similarly
      after WP and LEAA. Older women remain subtly responsive to nutrition +/-
      exercise. Intriguingly though, bolus WP offers no trophic advantage over LEAA. 

PMID- 25827596
TI  - Further consideration in evaluation of right ventricular infarction.

PMID- 25827595
TI  - Clinical diagnosis of influenza in the ED.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Timely and accurate diagnosis of influenza remains a challenge but is
      critical for patients who may benefit from antiviral therapy. This study
      determined the test characteristics of provider diagnosis of influenza, final ED
      electronic medical record (EMR) diagnosis of influenza, and influenza-like
      illness (ILI) in patients recommended to receive antiviral treatment according to
      Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. In addition, we
      evaluated the compliance with CDC antiviral guidelines. METHODS: A prospective
      cohort of adults presenting to a tertiary care ED with an acute respiratory
      illness who met CDC criteria for recommended antiviral treatment were enrolled
      and tested for influenza. A clinical diagnosis of influenza was assessed by
      asking the clinician: "Do you think this patient has influenza?" Influenza-like
      illness was defined according to current CDC criteria. RESULTS: In this cohort of
      270 subjects, 42 (16%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 11%-20%) had influenza.
      Clinician diagnosis had a sensitivity of 36% (95% CI, 22%-52%) and specificity of
      78% (95% CI, 72%-83%); EMR final ED diagnosis had a sensitivity of 26% (95% CI,
      14%-42%) and specificity of 97% (95% CI, 94%-99%); ILI had a sensitivity of 31%
      (95% CI, 18%-47%) and specificity of 88% (95% CI, 83%-92%). Only 15 influenza
      positive patients (36%) received antiviral treatment. CONCLUSION: Clinician
      diagnosis, final ED EMR diagnosis, and ILI have low sensitivity for diagnosing
      influenza, and there is overall poor compliance with CDC antiviral treatment
      recommendations. Improved methods of influenza diagnosis are needed to help guide
      management in the clinical setting.

PMID- 25827597
TI  - Comparison of the efficacy of diclofenac, acupuncture, and acetaminophen in the
      treatment of renal colic.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective is to compare the analgesic effects of diclofenac,
      acetaminophen, and acupuncture in urolithiasis-driven renal colic pain relief.
      METHODS: Renal colic patients were divided randomly into 3 groups. Patients in
      group I (n = 40) were treated with intravenous acetaminophen, those in group II
      (n = 41) with acupuncture, and those in group III (n = 40) with a 75-mg
      intramuscular injection diclofenac sodium. Visual analogue scale (VAS) and verbal
      rating scale (VRS) were used to assess pain intensity after 10, 30, 60, and 120
      minutes. RESULTS: No significant differences in baseline VAS or VRS were found
      with regard to age or sex. After 10 minutes, all 3 groups experienced a
      significant decrease in VAS and VRS scores, with the most drastic decrease
      occurring in group II. After 30 minutes, there was a significantly higher
      decrease in group III than in group I (P = .001). After 60 minutes, mean VAS
      scores of groups I and III (P = .753) were similar. The mean VAS score of group
      III was lower than that of group II (P = .013). After 120 minutes, the difference
      in the VAS scores was (P = .000) between groups I and II and between groups II
      and III. Yet, the VAS evaluation made after 120 minutes revealed statistically
      similar outcomes for groups I and III (P = .488). The statistical findings for
      VRS evaluations made after 10, 30, 60, and 120 were similar to those for VAS.
      CONCLUSIONS: In renal colic patients with a possible nonsteroidal anti
      inflammatory drug and acetaminophen side effect risk, acupuncture emerges as an
      alternative treatment modality.

PMID- 25827598
TI  - K2 types and their contents: are product disclosures true?

PMID- 25827599
TI  - Shared rules of development predict patterns of evolution in vertebrate
      segmentation.
AB  - Phenotypic diversity is not uniformly distributed, but how biased patterns of
      evolutionary variation are generated and whether common developmental mechanisms
      are responsible remains debatable. High-level 'rules' of self-organization and
      assembly are increasingly used to model organismal development, even when the
      underlying cellular or molecular players are unknown. One such rule, the
      inhibitory cascade, predicts that proportions of segmental series derive from the
      relative strengths of activating and inhibitory interactions acting on both local
      and global scales. Here we show that this developmental design rule explains
      population-level variation in segment proportions, their response to artificial
      selection and experimental blockade of putative signals and macroevolutionary
      diversity in limbs, digits and somites. Together with evidence from teeth, these
      results indicate that segmentation across independent developmental modules
      shares a common regulatory 'logic', which has a predictable impact on both their
      short and long-term evolvability. 

PMID- 25827600
TI  - A prospective clinical study to evaluate the performance of zirconium dioxide
      dental implants in single-tooth gaps.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Dental implants have traditionally been made from titanium or its
      alloys, but recently full-ceramic implants have been developed with comparable
      osseointegration properties and functional strength properties to titanium. These
      ceramic implants may have advantages in certain patients and situations, for
      example, where esthetic outcomes are particularly important. OBJECTIVE: The
      objective of this investigation was to evaluate the performance of a newly
      developed full-ceramic ZrO2 monotype implant design (PURE Ceramic Implant;
      Institut Straumann AG, Basel, Switzerland) in single-tooth gaps in the maxilla
      and mandible. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a prospective, open-label, single
      arm study in patients requiring implant rehabilitation in single-tooth gaps. Full
      ceramic implants were placed, with provisional and final prostheses inserted
      after 3 and 6 months, respectively. Crestal bone level was measured at implant
      placement and after 6 and 12 months. Implant survival and success were evaluated
      after 6 and 12 months. Further evaluations are planned after 24 and 36 months.
      RESULTS: Forty-six patients were screened for potential study participation, of
      whom 44 (17 men and 27 women, mean age 48 +/- 14 years) were recruited into the
      study. The majority of implants (90.9%) were placed in the maxilla. The implant
      survival and implant success rate after 12 months were 97.6%. A minor change of
      the mean bone level occurred between implant loading (final prosthesis insertion
      after 6 months) and 12 months (-0.14 mm) after initial bone remodeling was
      observed between implant placement and loading (-0.88 mm). CONCLUSIONS: The
      results indicated that monotype ceramic implants can achieve clinical outcomes
      comparable to published outcomes of equivalent titanium implants.

PMID- 25827601
TI  - Sweetless'n low LDL-C targets for PCSK9 treatment.

PMID- 25827603
TI  - Yes, hyperglycaemia is indeed a modifiable cardiac risk factor: so says Mendel.

PMID- 25827605
TI  - Correlations between phytohemagglutinin response and leukocyte profile, and
      bactericidal capacity in a wild rodent.
AB  - Phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-induced swelling is widely used to investigate cell
      mediated and innate immunity across different vertebrate taxa. However, its
      physiological mechanism is still an open question due to the complexity of the
      involved immune components. In the present study, we measured the synchronous
      variations of PHA response, the proportion of different subtypes of leukocytes,
      as well as serum bactericidal capacity in circulation blood at 6, 12 and 24 h
      after PHA versus PBS injection in striped hamster, Cricetulus barabensis. First,
      the results showed that PHA responses reached a peak at 6 h postinjection, then
      sharply declined at 12 h and 24 h postinjection. Serum bactericidal capacity was
      higher at 6 h and 12 h than at 24 h. The proportion of different subtypes of
      leukocytes, as well as the ratio of neutrophils to lymphocytes did not display
      significant changes across different time points. Second, PHA response was
      positively correlated with the proportion of neutrophils and serum bactericidal
      capacity. The proportion of monocytes was negatively correlated with that of
      eosinophils and neutrophils. The proportion of basophils was negatively
      correlated with that of lymphocytes. Our results indicate that earlier enhanced
      PHA response is important for the striped hamster to cope with changing
      environmental conditions due to its small body mass, and the increased components
      of innate immunity in circulation blood may contribute to the enhancement of PHA
      swelling response.

PMID- 25827604
TI  - Does radiotherapy have an impact on the thickness of the puborectal muscle?

PMID- 25827602
TI  - Haeme oxygenase signalling pathway: implications for cardiovascular disease.
AB  - Evidence now points to the haeme oxygenase (HO) pathway as a possible actor in
      modulating risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). In particular, the HO pathway
      may represent a key endogenous modulator of oxidative, inflammatory, and
      cytotoxic stress while also exhibiting vasoregulatory properties. In this review,
      we summarize the accumulating experimental and emerging clinical data indicating
      how activity of the HO pathway and its products may play a role in mechanisms
      underlying the development of CVD. We also identify gaps in the literature to
      date and suggest future directions for investigation. Because HO pathway activity
      can be influenced not only by genetic traits and environmental stimuli but also
      by a variety of existing pharmacologic interventions, the pathway could serve as
      a prime target for reducing the overall burden of CVD. Further work is needed to
      determine the role of HO pathway products as possible prognostic markers of risk
      for clinical CVD events and the extent to which therapeutic augmentation or
      inhibition of HO pathway activity could serve to modify CVD risk. 

PMID- 25827606
TI  - Metabolic engineering of an industrial polyoxin producer for the targeted
      overproduction of designer nucleoside antibiotics.
AB  - Polyoxin and nikkomycin are naturally occurring peptidyl nucleoside antibiotics
      with potent antifungal bioactivity. Both exhibit similar structural features,
      having a nucleoside skeleton and one or two peptidyl moieties. Combining the
      refactoring of the polyoxin producer Streptomyces aureochromogenes with import of
      the hydroxypyridylhomothreonine pathway of nikkomycin allows the targeted
      production of three designer nucleoside antibiotics designated as nikkoxin E, F,
      and G. These structures were determined by NMR and/or high resolution mass
      spectrometry. Remarkably, the introduction of an extra copy of the nikS gene
      encoding an ATP-dependent ligase significantly enhanced the production of the
      designer antibiotics. Moreover, all three nikkoxins displayed improved
      bioactivity against several pathogenic fungi as compared with the naturally
      occurring antibiotics. These data provide a feasible model for high efficiency
      generation of nucleoside antibiotics related to polyoxins and nikkomycins in a
      polyoxin cell factory via synthetic biology strategy.

PMID- 25827607
TI  - A randomized controlled evaluation study of the effects of a one-day advanced
      rider training course.
AB  - Motorcyclists have a relative high risk of crash involvement. As a consequence
      there is an on-going search for safety measures to improve road safety for
      motorcyclists. One popular measure is motorcycle training. Although intuitively
      sound, there are only few thorough studies on rider training courses and they do
      not always show a positive safety effect. The aim of this study was to assess the
      effects of the advanced rider training course 'Risk'. Through random assignment
      motorcyclists (N=222) were assigned to an experimental and control condition. At
      pre- and post-test, participants completed a questionnaire and their riding
      behaviour was assessed in an on-road ride. Furthermore, a selection of
      participants took a hazard perception test at post-test. Participants in the
      experimental condition (n=137) followed the advanced training course 'Risk'
      between pre- and post-test. RESULT: s indicated that trained participants were
      rated higher on safe riding than the control group. A positive effect was also
      found for riding behaviour, i.e., speed and position on the road if it needed to
      be adapted to increase visibility and in reaction to potential hazard. The
      training did not affect riders' assessment of their own riding behaviour. Overall
      the trained riders performed better on the hazard perception test. This study is
      a step forward to demonstrate that motorcyclists' traffic behaviour can be
      positively influenced by the right training course. Crucial for this training
      course is that it did not lead to overconfidence, while it quantifiably improved
      traffic behaviour.

PMID- 25827608
TI  - Relationships of diet-related blood parameters and blood lead levels with
      psychopathology and aggression in forensic psychiatric inpatients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Earlier studies have suggested associations between diet-related
      blood parameters and both aggression and psychopathological symptoms, but little
      is known about this in forensic psychiatric inpatients. AIM: This article aims to
      explore the levels of diet-related blood parameters and their relationship to
      aggressive behaviour and/or psychopathology among Dutch forensic psychiatric
      inpatients. METHODS: Minerals, vitamins, lead and fatty acid levels were measured
      in blood samples from 51 inpatients, well enough to consent and participate in
      the study, from a possible total of 99. Levels of aggression and psychopathology
      were assessed using questionnaires, observation instruments and clinical data.
      Associations between blood parameters and behavioural measures were calculated.
      RESULTS: Low average levels of vitamin D3 and omega (omega)-3 fatty acids were
      found, with nearly two-thirds of the patients having below recommended levels of
      D3 , while vitamin B6 levels were high. Magnesium, iron, zinc, copper and lead
      were overall within reference values, but copper/zinc ratios were high. Several
      significant associations between levels of fatty acid measures and both
      aggression and psychopathology were observed. CONCLUSION: In our sample of
      forensic psychiatric inpatients, fatty acids - but not mineral or vitamin levels 
      were associated with aggression and psychopathology. A potentially causal link
      between fatty acids and aggression could be tested in a randomised, placebo
      controlled trial of fish oil supplements. General health of such patients might
      be improved by better vitamin D status (increased sun exposure and/or supplement
      use) and better omega-3 fatty acid status (oily fish or fish oil consumption),
      but discouraging unnecessary self-prescription of B vitamins where necessary.
      Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID- 25827609
TI  - Embodied harms: gender, shame, and technology-facilitated sexual violence.
AB  - Criminality in cyberspace has been the subject of much debate since the 1990s,
      yet comparatively little attention has been paid to technology-facilitated sexual
      violence and harassment (TFSV). The aim of this article is to explore the ways in
      which retraditionalized gender hierarchies and inequalities are manifested in
      online contexts, and to conceptualize the cause and effects of TFSV as "embodied
      harms." We argue that problematic mind/body and online/off-line dualisms result
      in a failure to grasp the unique nature of embodied harms, precluding an adequate
      understanding and theorization of TFSV. 

PMID- 25827610
TI  - Letter to the Editor.

PMID- 25827611
TI  - Social and health care professionals' views on responsible agency in the process
      of ending intimate partner violence.
AB  - This article examines social and health care professionals' views, based on their
      encounters with both victims and perpetrators, on the division of responsibility
      in the process of ending intimate partner violence. Applying discourse analysis
      to focus group discussions with a total of 45 professionals on solutions to the
      problem, several positions of responsible agency in which professionals place
      themselves and their clients are identified. The results suggest that one key to
      understanding the complexities involved in violence intervention lies in a more
      adequate theorization of the temporal and intersubjective dimensions of the
      process of assigning responsibility for the problem. 

PMID- 25827612
TI  - Pain experience of adults with intellectual disabilities--caregiver reports.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pain is a problem for individuals with intellectual and developmental
      disability (IDD), secondary to their impairments, due to invasive medical
      procedures that these individuals undergo on a regular basis. Current literature
      indicates pain as a common experience for children with IDD, yet no such reports
      have been made in regard to adults with IDD. PURPOSES: This study aimed (1) to re
      establish the reliability of caregivers as proxy observers; (2) to evaluate the
      pain experience of adults with IDD by caregivers' proxy report; and (3) to assess
      the sensitivity of the Non-Communicating Adult Pain Checklist (NCAPC) as a pain
      scale for chronic pain (CP) in individuals with IDD. METHOD: Frothy-three
      caregivers, working for more than 3 years with adults with IDD, performed pain
      assessments of 187 individuals living in a residential facility. Two caregivers
      evaluated whether each resident suffers from pain and assessed the intensity,
      causes and duration of pain experience. Furthermore, 52/187 residents [26 with CP
      and 26 pain free (PF) based on medical record and caregiver reports] were
      evaluated by an additional seven caregivers using the NCAPC in order to establish
      the reliability of caregivers as proxy observers. RESULTS: According to
      caregivers' report, 48% of adults with IDD suffer from pain at a mean level of
      6/10, with more than 10% suffering from high levels of pain on a constant basis.
      Inter-rater agreement was found mostly high with intraclass correlation values
      ranging between 0.73 and 0.93. Using the NCAPC, we were able to identify CP and
      PF individuals with a significant score difference (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The
      results support the use of the NCAPC as a scale to evaluate CP in adults with
      IDD. The findings reiterate the reliability of caregivers as proxy observers and
      the importance of involving them in identifying pain behaviours of their
      protegees. Our findings reiterate the need for an immediate action for
      appropriate pain management protocols for adult with IDD.

PMID- 25827613
TI  - DESI MS based screening method for phthalates in consumer goods.
AB  - Phthalates are used as plasticizes in many everyday items, but some of them are
      known as hormone disruptors, being especially harmful during childhood. The
      European Union therefore restricted their application in children's toys and
      certain food packaging to 0.1%w. Due to the ever increasing number of plastic
      containing consumer goods, rapid screening methods are needed to ensure and
      improve consumer safety in the future. In this study we evaluated the performance
      of desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) mass spectrometry (MS) for rapid
      quantitative screening of phthalates in toys. DESI allowed for direct surface
      sampling of the toys under atmospheric conditions with minimal sample
      preparation, while the high performance mass spectrometer used provided a high
      sensitivity and reliable identification via accurate mass measurements, high mass
      resolving power and MS/MS capabilities. External calibration curves for six
      banned phthalates (DBP, BBP, DEHP, DNOP, DINP and DIDP) were obtained from matrix
      matched reference materials. Coefficients of determination were greater than
      0.985, LOQs ranged from 0.02%w (DIDP) to 2.26%w (DINP) and the relative standard
      deviation of the calibration curve slope was less than 7.8% for intraday and
      11.4% for interday comparison. The phthalate contents of eleven authentic samples
      were determined in a proof-of-concept approach using DESI MS and results were
      compared to those from confirmatory methods. The phthalate content was correctly
      assigned with relative deviations ranging from -20% to +10% for the majority of
      samples. Given further optimization and automation, DESI MS is likely to become a
      useful tool for rapid and accurate phthalate screening in the future. 

PMID- 25827614
TI  - Nitric oxide for anammox recovery in a nitrite-inhibited deammonification system.
AB  - The anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process is widely used for N-rich
      wastewater treatment. In the current research the deammonification reactor in a
      reverse order (first anammox, then the nitrifying biofilm cultivation) was
      started up with a high maximum N removal rate (1.4 g N m(-2) d(-1)) in a moving
      bed biofilm reactor. Cultivated biofilm total nitrogen removal rates were
      accelerated the most by anammox intermediate - nitric oxide (optimum 58 mg NO-N
      L(-1)) addition. Furthermore, NO was added in order to eliminate inhibition
      caused by nitrite concentrations (>50 mg [Formula: see text]) increasing
      [Formula: see text] (2/1, respectively) along with a higher ratio of [Formula:
      see text] (0.6/1, respectively) than stoichiometrical for this optimal NO amount
      added during batch tests. Planctomycetales clone P4 sequences, which was the
      closest (98% and 99% similarity, respectively) relative to Candidatus Brocadia
      fulgida sequences quantities increase to 1 * 10(6) anammox gene copies g(-1)
      total suspended solids to till day 650 were determined by quantitative polymerase
      chain reaction.

PMID- 25827615
TI  - Dermoscopy of drug-induced aquagenic wrinkling phenomenon.

PMID- 25827616
TI  - Spectroscopic and electrochemical properties of group 12 acetates of di-2
      pyridylketone thiophene-2-carboxylic acid hydrazone (dpktch-H) complexes. The
      structure of [Cd(eta3-N,N,O-dpktch-H)2].
AB  - The reaction between [dpktch] and [M(OAc)2] (M=group 12 metal atom) in refluxing
      CH3CN gave [M(eta(2)-O,O-OAc)(eta(3)-N,N,O-dpktch-H)].nH2O (n=0 or 1). The
      infrared and (1)H NMR spectra are consistent with the coordination of [eta(2)-O,O
      OAc] and [eta(3)-N,N,O-dpktch-H](-) and the proposed formulations. The electronic
      absorption spectra of [M(eta(2)-O,O-OAc)(eta(3)-N,N,O-dpktch-H)].nH2O measured in
      non-aqueous solvents revealed a highly intense intra-ligand-charge transfer
      (ILCT) transition due to pi-pi* of dpk followed by dpk->thiophene charge
      transfer. The electronic transitions of [M(eta(2)-O,O-OAc)(eta(3)-N,N,O-dpktch
      H)].nH2O are solvent and concentration dependent. Spectrophotometric titrations
      of dmso solutions of [M(eta(2)-O,O-OAc)(eta(3)-N,N,O-dpktch-H)].nH2O with benzoic
      acid revealed irreversible inter-conversion between [M(eta(2)-O,O-OAc)(eta(3)
      N,N,O-dpktch-H)].nH2O and it conjugate acid [M(eta(2)-O,O-OAc)(eta(3)-N,N,O
      dpktch)].nH2O pointing to ligand exchange between the acetate and benzoate
      anions. When CH2Cl2 solutions of [M(eta(2)-O,O-OAc)(eta(3)-N,N,O-dpktch-H)].nH2O
      were titrated with dmso, changes appeared pointing to solvolysis or ligand
      exchange reactions. Electrochemical measurements on dmso solutions of [M(eta(2)
      O,O-OAc)(eta(3)-N,N,O-dpktch-H)].nH2O divulged irreversible redox transformations
      consistent with electrochemical decomposition of [M(eta(2)-O,O-OAc)(eta(3)-N,N,O
      dpktch-H)].nH2O. The solid state structure of a single crystal of [Cd(eta(3)
      N,N,O-dpktch-H)2] obtained from a dmso solution of [Cd(eta(2)-O,O-OAc)(eta(3)
      N,N,O-dpktch-H)].nH2O confirmed the ligand scrambling of [M(eta(2)-O,O
      OAc)(eta(3)-N,N,O-dpktch-H)].nH2O. The extended structure of [Cd(eta(3)-N,N,O
      dpktch-H)2] revealed stacks of [Cd(eta(3)-N,N,O-dpktch-H)2] locked via a network
      of hydrogen bonds. A significant amount of empty space (35.5%) was observed in
      the solid state structure of [Cd(eta(3)-N,N,O-dpktch-H)2].

PMID- 25827617
TI  - Effect of annealing on the luminescence properties of YVO4:Dy3+ phosphor on co
      doping Pb2+ ions.
AB  - Pb(2+) co-doped YVO4:Dy(3+) phosphors have been synthesized at a relatively low
      temperature of 120 degrees C via ethylene glycol route. The samples are further
      annealed at 500 and 900 degrees C. The prepared samples were characterized by
      XRD, SEM, spectra energy dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDAX) and
      photoluminescence spectroscopy. XRD patterns of all samples are well indexed with
      single tetragonal phase of YVO4. The emission intensity of Dy(3+) is
      significantly enhanced on co-doping Pb(2+) ions. The highest emission is obtained
      at 7 at.% Pb(2+) for 900 degrees C annealed samples. Both emission intensity and
      decay lifetime increases on annealing the samples from 500 to 900 degrees C. On
      co-doping Pb(2+) into YVO4:Dy(3+) phosphors, the emission color falls near the
      white region and then shift towards yellow region on annealing from 500 to 900
      degrees C thereby indicating that annealing temperature play a role on tuning the
      color of the phosphors. As well as the emission color of the phosphors remain the
      same even on changing the excitation wavelengths from 280 nm, which would serve
      as potential phosphors for white emission in LED applications.

PMID- 25827618
TI  - Prognostic significance of ischemia location on stress myocardial perfusion
      SPECT: Tracing the fingerprints of the widow maker.

PMID- 25827619
TI  - Assessment of atherosclerosis in large vessel walls: A comprehensive review of
      FDG-PET/CT image acquisition protocols and methods for uptake quantification.
AB  - There is growing evidence showing the importance of fluorodeoxyglucose positron
      emission tomography (FDG-PET) in the evaluation of vessel wall inflammation and
      atherosclerosis. Although this imaging modality has been increasingly used, there
      are various methods for image acquisition and evaluating FDG uptake activity in
      the vessel walls and atherosclerotic lesions, including qualitative visual
      scaling, semi-quantitative, and quantitative evaluations. Using each of these
      image acquisition protocols and measurement methods may result in different
      findings. In this review, we are going to describe the various image acquisition
      methods and common measurement strategies reflected in the literature and discuss
      their advantages and flaws. 

PMID- 25827620
TI  - Prognostic impact of location and extent of vessel-related ischemia at myocardial
      perfusion scintigraphy in patients with or at risk for coronary artery disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) has an established diagnostic
      and prognostic role in patients with or at risk for coronary artery disease, with
      ischemia severity and extent having already been identified as key predictors.
      Whether this is affected by the location of myocardial ischemia is uncertain. We
      aimed at comparing the prognostic outlook of patients undergoing MPS according to
      the site of ischemia. METHODS: Our institutional database was queried for
      subjects undergoing MPS, without myocardial necrosis or recent revascularization.
      We focused on the prognostic impact of location of vessel-related ischemia (VRI)
      at MPS, distinguishing four mutually exclusive groups: single-VRI involving left
      anterior descending (LAD), single-VRI not involving LAD, multi-VRI involving LAD,
      and multi-VRI not involving LAD. The primary outcome was the long-term (>1 year)
      rate of death or myocardial infarction (D/MI). RESULTS: A total of 13,254
      patients were included. Moderate or severe VRI occurred in 2,627 (20%) patients.
      Clinical outcomes were significantly different among the groups of patients with
      moderate or severe VRI, including death, cardiac death, non-fatal myocardial
      infarction or their composites (overall P < .001). Specifically, and excluding
      subjects undergoing revascularization as first follow-up event, D/MI occurred in
      8.4% of patients with single-VRI involving LAD, 5.5% of subjects with single-VRI
      not involving LAD, 16.5% of those with multi-VRI involving LAD, and 7.3% of
      patients with multi-VRI not involving LAD (overall P < .001). Even at incremental
      multivariable Cox proportional analysis, hierarchical VRI was independently
      associated with an increased risk of D/MI [hazard ratio = 1.17 (1.04-1.08) for
      each class increment, P = .010]. CONCLUSIONS: Location and extent of myocardial
      ischemia at MPS according to the VRI concept have a hierarchical predictive
      impact, with multi-VRI involving LAD being significantly and independently more
      prognostically ominous than other types of VRI.

PMID- 25827621
TI  - Inflammatory features of pancreatic cancer highlighted by monocytes/macrophages
      and CD4+ T cells with clinical impact.
AB  - Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the most fatal of malignancies
      with an extremely poor prognosis. The objectives of this study were to provide a
      detailed understanding of PDAC pathophysiology in view of the host immune
      response. We examined the PDAC tissues, sera, and peripheral blood cells of PDAC
      patients using immunohistochemical staining, the measurement of
      cytokine/chemokine concentrations, gene expression analysis, and flow cytometry.
      The PDAC tissues were infiltrated by macrophages, especially CD33+CD163+ M2
      macrophages and CD4+ T cells that concomitantly express programmed cell death-1
      (PD-1). Concentrations of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-7, IL-15, monocyte chemotactic
      protein-1, and interferon-gamma-inducible protein-1 in the sera of PDAC patients
      were significantly elevated. The gene expression profile of CD14+ monocytes and
      CD4+ T cells was discernible between PDAC patients and healthy volunteers, and
      the differentially expressed genes were related to activated inflammation.
      Intriguingly, PD-1 was significantly upregulated in the peripheral blood CD4+ T
      cells of PDAC patients. Correspondingly, the frequency of CD4+PD-1+ T cells was
      increased in the peripheral blood cells of PDAC patients, and this increase
      correlated to chemotherapy resistance. In conclusion, inflammatory conditions in
      both PDAC tissue and peripheral blood cells in PDAC patients were prominent,
      highlighting monocytes/macrophages as well as CD4+ T cells with influence of the
      clinical prognosis. 

PMID- 25827622
TI  - Photodynamic antibacterial enhanced effect of methylene blue-gold nanoparticles
      conjugate on Staphylococcal aureus isolated from impetigo lesions in vitro study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Staphylococcal aureus is the most common organism which has been
      encountered in impetigo infection. Gold nanoparticles can be used as a tool to
      deliver antimicrobials or to enhance photodynamic destruction of bacteria.
      OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the photodynamic effect of methylene blue gold
      nanoparticles (MB-gold nanoparticles conjugate) on S. aureus which were isolated
      from impetigo lesions. PATIENT AND METHODS: Twenty children were diagnosed
      clinically as impetigo, and aged from 3 to 5 years of both sexes were recruited
      in the study. Two bacteriological samples were collected from each patient,
      identified and cultured. Samples of S. aureus of a concentration of 10(-1)ml were
      divided into four groups. S. aureus was treated by MB-gold nanoparticles
      conjugate, gold nanoparticles, MB, and the fourth group served as a control
      group. Diode laser (660 nm) was used for photoactivation. The bacterial growth
      inhibition was determined by two methods: the percentage of reduction of viable
      bacteria count and the optical density (O.D) of bacterial growth. RESULTS: The
      highest significant inhibitory effect on S. aureus was obtained with MB-gold
      nanoparticles conjugate when irradiated by diode laser 660 nm (P < 0.0001). The
      percentage of viable bacteria was 3%. The photoactivated gold nanoparticles
      showed a significant inhibitory effect on bacterial growth (P < 0.05). A non
      significant inhibitory effect was elicited in other groups. CONCLUSION: The
      photoactivated MB-gold nanoparticles conjugate showed the maximum inhibitory
      effect on S. aureus activity. The gold nanoparticles proved efficacy as a drug
      delivery system. It enhanced the photodynamic antibacterial effect of methylene
      blue.

PMID- 25827623
TI  - Comparing two basic subtypes in OCD across three large community samples: a pure
      compulsive versus a mixed obsessive-compulsive subtype.
AB  - Due to its heterogeneous phenomenology, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has
      been subtyped. However, these subtypes are not mutually exclusive. This study
      presents an alternative subtyping approach by deriving non-overlapping OCD
      subtypes. A pure compulsive and a mixed obsessive-compulsive subtype (including
      subjects manifesting obsessions with/without compulsions) were analyzed with
      respect to a broad pattern of psychosocial risk factors and comorbid
      syndromes/diagnoses in three representative Swiss community samples: the Zurich
      Study (n = 591), the ZInEP sample (n = 1500), and the PsyCoLaus sample (n =
      3720). A selection of comorbidities was examined in a pooled database. Odds
      ratios were derived from logistic regressions and, in the analysis of pooled
      data, multilevel models. The pure compulsive subtype showed a lower age of onset
      and was characterized by few associations with psychosocial risk factors. The
      higher social popularity of the pure compulsive subjects and their families was
      remarkable. Comorbidities within the pure compulsive subtype were mainly
      restricted to phobias. In contrast, the mixed obsessive-compulsive subtype had a
      higher prevalence and was associated with various childhood adversities, more
      familial burden, and numerous comorbid disorders, including disorders
      characterized by high impulsivity. The current comparison study across three
      representative community surveys presented two basic, distinct OCD subtypes
      associated with differing psychosocial impairment. Such highly specific subtypes
      offer the opportunity to learn about pathophysiological mechanisms specifically
      involved in OCD.

PMID- 25827624
TI  - Molecular characterization and biological effects of a CXCL8 homologue in large
      yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea).
AB  - CXCL8 also called interleukin-8, is a CXC-type chemokine that plays a key role in
      promoting inflammation. Three subgroups of CXCL8 homologues have been reported in
      teleost fish, including CXCL8_L1, CXCL8_L2 and CXCL8_L3. In the present study, we
      identified a CXCL8 homologue belonging to CXCL8_L1 subgroup (LycCXCL8_L1) in
      large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) that shares low identity to the
      previously reported large yellow croaker CXCL8 (LycCXCL8). The full-length cDNA
      of LycCXCL8_L1 is 716 nucleotides (nt) long and encodes a protein consisting of
      99 amino acids (aa) with a putative molecular weight of 11.2 kDa. The deduced
      LycCXCL8_L1 protein contains a 22-aa signal peptide and a 77-aa mature
      polypeptide, which possesses an arrangement of four cysteines typical of other
      known CXC chemokines (C(34), C(36), C(60), and C(77)). Genomic analysis revealed
      that the LycCXCL8_L1 gene consisted of four exons and three introns and exhibited
      a similar exon-intron organization to LycCXCL8 and other species CXCL8 genes
      except for a different intron length. Phylogenetic analysis showed that both
      LycCXCL8_L1 and LycCXCL8 belong to CXCL8_L1 subgroup. LycCXCL8_L1 mRNA was
      constitutively expressed in all tissues examined although at different levels.
      Upon bacterial vaccine induction, LycCXCL8_L1 mRNA expression was rapidly
      increased in the spleen and head kidney tissues. Recombinant LycCXCL8_L1 and
      LycCXCL8 proteins produced in Escherichia coli both induced chemotaxis and
      superoxide production in peripheral blood leucocytes from large yellow croaker.
      These results indicate that two CXCL8_L1 molecules exist in large yellow croaker
      and play roles in inflammatory response. 

PMID- 25827625
TI  - Hsp90, Hsp60 and sHsp families of heat shock protein genes in channel catfish and
      their expression after bacterial infections.
AB  - Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are a suite of highly conserved proteins whose
      expressions are generally induced by elevated temperature. However, many Hsps
      play important roles in both innate and adaptive immunity. On the basis of our
      previous work on Hsp40 and Hsp70 gene families in channel catfish (Ictalurus
      punctatus), the objective of this study was to characterize Hsp90, Hsp60, Hsp10,
      and small Hsp genes, and to investigate their expression profiles after bacterial
      infections. A total of 20 Hsp genes were identified and annotated in the channel
      catfish genome, including five Hsp90 genes, one Hsp60 gene, one Hsp10 gene, and
      13 sHsp genes. Six Hsp genes were differentially expressed after Edwardsiella
      ictaluri infection, and 12 were differentially expressed after Flavobacterium
      columnare infection. Although expression of these genes exhibited both temporal
      and spatial regulation, the induction of Hsp genes was observed soon after
      bacterial infection, while the suppression of Hsp genes was observed at later
      time-points, suggesting their distinct roles in immune responses and disease
      defenses. A pathogen-specific expression pattern of Hsp90 was observed. After F.
      columnare infection, all Hsp90 genes were found up-regulated except Hsp90ab1,
      which was not significantly regulated. However, after E. ictaluri infection, only
      one Hsp90 gene was found significantly down-regulated. Both pathogen-specific and
      tissue-specific pattern of expression were observed with small Hsps after E.
      ictaluri and F. columnare bacterial infections. These results suggested that most
      of Hsp genes may play important roles in immune response and/or disease defense
      in channel catfish. 

PMID- 25827626
TI  - Identification of differentially expressed proteins of brain tissue in response
      to methamidophos in flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus).
AB  - Methamidophos (MAP), an organophosphorus pesticide used around the world, has
      been associated with a wide spectrum of toxic effects on organisms in the
      environment. In this study, the flounder Paralichthys olivaceus was subjected to
      10 mg/L MAP for 72 h and 144 h, and the morphological and proteomic changes in
      the brain were observed, analyzed and compared with those in the non-exposed
      control group. Under the light microscope and transmission electron microscope,
      MAP had evidently induced changes in or damage to the flounder tissues. Gas
      chromatography analysis demonstrated that the MAP residues were significantly
      accumulated in the flounder brain tissues. Proteomic changes in the brain tissue
      were revealed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and 27 protein spots were
      observed to be significantly changed by MAP exposure. The results indicated that
      the regulated proteins were involved in immune and stress responses, protein
      biosynthesis and modification, signal transduction, organismal development, and
      50% of them are protease. qRT-PCR was used to further detect the corresponding
      change of transcription. These data may be beneficial to understand the molecular
      mechanism of MAP toxicity in flounder, be very useful for MAP-resistance
      screening in flounder culture. According to our results and analyzing, heat shock
      protein 90 (HSP90) and granzyme K (GzmK) had taken important part in immune
      response to MAP-stress and could be biomarkers for MAP-stress in flounder.

PMID- 25827627
TI  - Effects of dietary administration of stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) on the
      growth performance, biochemical, hematological and immunological parameters in
      juvenile and adult Victoria Labeo (Labeo victorianus) challenged with Aeromonas
      hydrophila.
AB  - We investigated effects of dietary administration of stinging nettle (Urtica
      dioica) on growth performance, biochemical, hematological and immunological
      parameters in juvenile and adult Victoria Labeo (Labeo victorianus) against
      Aeromonas hydrophila. Fish were divided into 4 groups and fed for 4 and 16 weeks
      with 0%, 1%, 2% and 5% of U. dioica incorporated into the diet. Use of U. dioica
      in the diet resulted in improved biochemical, hematological and immunological
      parameters. Among the biochemical parameters; plasma cortisol, glucose,
      triglyceride and cholesterol decreased while total protein and albumin in fish
      increased with increasing dietary inclusion of U. dioica. Among the haematology
      parameters: red blood cell (RBC), white blood cell (WBC) counts, haematocrit
      (Htc), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH), mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC)
      and netrophiles increased with increasing dietary inclusion levels of U. dioica,
      some depending on the fish age. Serum immunoglobulins, lysozyme activity and
      respiratory burst were the main immunological parameters in the adult and
      juvenile L. victorianus measured and they all increased with increasing herbal
      inclusion of U. dioica in the diet. Dietary incorporation of U. dioica at 5%
      showed significantly higher relative percentage survival (up to 95%) against A.
      hydrophila. The current results demonstrate that using U. dioica can stimulate
      fish immunity and make L. victorianus more resistant to bacterial infection (A.
      hydrophila). 

PMID- 25827628
TI  - Modulation of innate immune response, mucosal parameters and disease resistance
      in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) upon synbiotic feeding.
AB  - The present study investigates the effects of dietary supplements of
      galactooligosaccharides (GOS), Pediococcus acidilactici and P. acidilactici + GOS
      on innate immune response, skin mucus as well as disease resistance of rainbow
      trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fingerlings (15.04 +/- 0.52 g). After 8 weeks of
      feeding, several innate immune (lysozyme, alternative complement and respiratory
      burst activities) and skin mucus parameters (bactericidal activity against
      Streptococcus faecium, Streptococcus iniae, Serratia marcescens, Staphylococcus
      aureus and Escherichia coli and mucus protein content) were studied. The results
      indicated that the three supplemented diet significantly increased innate immune
      response and skin mucus parameters in rainbow trout. The highest innate immune
      response, skin mucus activity as well as protein level was observed in synbiotic
      fed fish. Furthermore, at the end of the feeding experiment, some fish were
      intraperitoneally injected with Streptococcus iniae to determine the disease
      resistance. The mortality of fingerlings fed supplemented diet was significantly
      lower than fish from control group being the lowest mortality recorded in
      synbiotic fed fish group.

PMID- 25827629
TI  - Establishment of Health Utility Indices for Post-Infectious Functional
      Gastrointestinal Disorders in Active Duty US Military.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Knowledge of disease burden attributable to functional
      gastrointestinal disorders (FGD) in travelers is lacking, despite the high
      incidence of travelers' diarrhea (TD) associated with increased FGD risk. One
      tool for assessing the impact of disease on health-related quality of life is the
      health utility index (HUI), which values health states based on preferential
      health outcomes. Health utilities can be used as preference weights in the
      estimation of quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). METHODS: Six months following
      travel to Egypt or Turkey, 120 US military personnel completed a survey on TD
      during deployment, health-related quality of life (SF-36), and the onset of
      functional bowel disorders (Rome II). Elements from the SF-36 were used to
      develop SF-6D values, which were combined with health state valuations to enable
      calculation of HUI scores for each subject. Mean index scores were compared
      across functional outcomes, specific symptoms, and demographic profiles. RESULTS:
      The presence of FGD significantly reduced index scores, with irritable bowel
      syndrome (IBS) and dyspepsia showing the greatest impact (-0.17 and -0.19,
      respectively) compared with those with no FGD (p < 0.05). Importantly, however,
      several individuals met multiple FGD outcome definitions. Additionally, a number
      of symptoms associated with abnormal bowel habits and abdominal pain were
      associated with reduced index scores regardless of outcome. CONCLUSION: FGD are
      associated with significant morbidity as assessed by HUIs. Given the strong link
      between TD and FGD as well as the large number of travelers from the developed to
      the developing world, additional study is needed to further understand this
      association and efforts aimed at primary disease prevention are warranted.

PMID- 25827630
TI  - Younger and older adults weigh multiple cues in a similar manner to generate
      judgments of learning.
AB  - One's memory for past test performance (MPT) is a key piece of information
      individuals use when deciding how to restudy material. We used a multi-trial
      recognition memory task to examine adult age differences in the influence of MPT
      (measured by actual Trial 1 memory accuracy and subjective confidence judgments,
      CJs) along with Trial 1 judgments of learning (JOLs), objective and participant
      estimated recognition fluencies, and Trial 2 study time on Trial 2 JOLs. We found
      evidence of simultaneous and independent influences of multiple objective and
      subjective (i.e., metacognitive) cues on Trial 2 JOLs, and these relationships
      were highly similar for younger and older adults. Individual differences in Trial
      1 recognition accuracy and CJs on Trial 2 JOLs indicate that individuals may vary
      in the degree to which they rely on each MPT cue when assessing subsequent memory
      confidence. Aging appears to spare the ability to access multiple cues when
      making JOLs. 

PMID- 25827631
TI  - The ambidextrous cyclooxygenase: an enduring target.
AB  - With the discovery of COX, pain has not been treated in a relentless manner.
      Numbers of drugs with fewer side effects were discovered and are used
      successfully for treatment of pain. With new research coming into being since the
      discovery of COX, it was established that COX can be targeted not only for
      treatment of pain but for curing various diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's,
      Parkinson's disease, Glaucoma etc. With the sighting of COX-3, another isoform of
      COX, new diseases are being targeted for better treatment. 

PMID- 25827632
TI  - Organic memory devices based on a bis-cyclometalated alkynylgold(III) complex.
AB  - A bis-cyclometalated alkynylgold(III) complex, [Au((t)BuC^N^C(t)Bu)(C=C
      C6H4N(C6H5)2-p)] ((t)BuHC^N^CH(t)Bu = 2,6-bis(4-tert-butylphenyl)pyridine), has
      been synthesized and characterized. The complex was found to exhibit rich
      photophysical and electrochemical properties. More interestingly, the complex has
      been employed in the fabrication of organic memory devices. The as-fabricated
      memory devices exhibited good performances with low operating voltage, high
      ON/OFF ratio, long retention time, and good stability. 

PMID- 25827634
TI  - No evidence of transfusion transmission of Adenovirus and Epstein-Barr virus
      infections in paediatric recipients post-bone marrow transplant.
AB  - Adenovirus and Epstein-Barr virus can cause significant morbidity and mortality
      in paediatric patients post-bone marrow transplant. The source of infection is
      thought to be either reactivation of latent viruses or primary infection. We have
      investigated whether transfusion of blood components from viraemic donors could
      provide a route of primary infection in these patients and sought the prevalence
      of viraemia in the blood donor population from England. In 32 linked
      donor/recipient samples and 300 unselected blood donors, we found no evidence to
      suggest that these infections in paediatric bone marrow transplant recipients had
      been acquired from transfused blood components.

PMID- 25827635
TI  - Gas-phase VUV photoionisation and photofragmentation of the silver deuteride
      nanocluster [Ag10D8L6](2+) (L = bis(diphenylphosphino)methane). A joint
      experimental and theoretical study.
AB  - The bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (L = Ph2PCH2PPh2) ligated silver deuteride
      nanocluster dication, [Ag10D8L6](2+), has been synthesised in the condensed phase
      via the reaction of bis(diphenylphosphino)methane, silver nitrate and sodium
      borodeuteride in the methanol : chloroform (1 : 1) mixed solvent system. The
      photoionisation and photofragmentation of this mass-selected cluster were studied
      using a linear ion trap coupled to the DESIRS VUV beamline of the SOLEIL
      Synchrotron. At 15.5 eV the main ionic products observed are [Ag10D8L5](2+),
      [Ag10D8L4](2+), [Ag10D8L6](3+), [Ag9D8L4](2+), and [AgL2](+). The later two
      products arise from fragmentation of [Ag10D8L6](3+). An analysis of the yields of
      these product ions as a function of the photon energy reveals the onset for the
      formation of [AgL2](+) and [Ag9D8L4](2+) is around 2 eV higher than that for
      ionisation to produce [Ag10D8L5](3+). The onset of ionisation energy of
      [Ag10D8L6](2+) was determined to be 9.3 +/- 0.3 eV from a fit of the yield of the
      product ion, [Ag10D8L6](3+), as a function of the VUV photon energy. DFT
      calculations at the RI-PBE/RECP-def2-SVP level of theory were carried out to
      search for a possible structure of the cluster and to estimate its vertical and
      adiabatic ionisation energies. The calculated lowest energy structure of the
      [Ag10D8L6](2+) nanocluster contains a symmetrical bicapped square antiprism as a
      silver core in which hydrides are located as a mix of triangular faces and edges.
      Four of the bisphosphines bind to the edges of the cluster core as bidentate
      ligands, the remaining two bisphosphines bind via a single phosphorus donor atom
      to each of the apical silver atoms. The DFT calculated adiabatic ionisation
      energy for this structure is 8.54 eV, in satisfactory agreement with experiment. 

PMID- 25827637
TI  - Relevance of tissue Doppler imaging for assessment of right ventricular
      performance in preterm neonates.

PMID- 25827636
TI  - Sonographic evidence of abnormal tracheal cartilage ring structure in cystic
      fibrosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Tracheal cartilage ring structural abnormalities have been
      reported in cystic fibrosis (CF) mice and pigs. Whether similar findings are
      present in humans with CF is unknown. We hypothesized that tracheal cartilage
      ring shape and size would be different in people with CF. STUDY DESIGN: Tracheal
      cartilage ring size and shape were measured in adults with (n = 21) and without
      CF (n = 18). METHODS: Ultrasonography was used in human subjects to noninvasively
      assess tracheal cartilage ring structure in both the sagittal and the transverse
      planes. Tracheal cartilage ring thickness was also determined from histological
      sections obtained from newborn non-CF and CF pigs. These values were compared
      with human data. RESULTS: Human CF tracheas had a greater width and were less
      circular in shape compared to non-CF subjects. CF tracheal cartilage rings had a
      greater midline cross-sectional area and were thicker compared to non-CF rings.
      Maximal tracheal cartilage ring thickness was also greater in both newborn CF
      pigs and human adults with CF, compared to non-CF controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      findings demonstrate that structural differences exist in tracheal cartilage
      rings in adults with CF. Comparison with newborn CF pig data suggests that some
      of these changes may be congenital in nature. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3b

PMID- 25827638
TI  - Theoretical Investigation of the Reaction Mechanism of the Photoisomerization of
      1,2-Dihydro-1,2-azaborine.
AB  - The photoisomerization of 1,2-dihydro-1,2-azaborine was investigated by high
      level multireference ab initio and density functional theory calculations. The
      intermediates (IMs) and transition states (TSs) on the S(0) and S(1) states were
      optimized using the state-averaged complete active space self-consistent field
      method. The multireference configuration interaction method with the Davidson
      correction was used to obtain accurate energetics. Moreover, the conical
      intersections (CIs), which play a crucial role in photoisomerization, were also
      optimized. On the basis of the calculation results, the most favorable proposed
      reaction pathway is as follows: reactant->Franck-Condon region->TS(1) ->CI->IM(0)
      ->TS(0P) ->product. The product was not directly formed through the CI, and the
      IM(0) existed on the S(0) state. These results show that the isomerization of 1,2
      dihydro-1,2-azaborine involves both photoreactions and thermal reactions. The
      calculated results clarify recent experimental observations.

PMID- 25827639
TI  - Association between preconceptional treatment with insulin pumps and improved
      metabolic status in early pregnancy in women with type 1 diabetes.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: An adverse intrauterine environment in early pregnancy in women
      with type 1 diabetes is associated with several perinatal complications including
      spontaneous abortions, fetal congenital defects, and preeclampsia. OBJECTIVES: We
      compared metabolic parameters in the first trimester of pregnancy between women
      with type 1 diabetes treated with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII)
      and those treated with multiple daily injections (MDI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A
      total of 168 women in the first trimester of pregnancy (33 using CSII and 135
      using MDI) were enrolled in this cross-sectional single-center study.
      Anthropometric parameters, fasting serum levels of hemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)),
      lipid profile, and estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR) were determined.
      RESULTS: Patients did not differ in gestational or maternal age, diabetes
      duration, and the frequency of planned pregnancies. Women using CSII before
      pregnancy had lower body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio than those using MDI
      (22.3 vs 23.3 and 0.77 vs 0.79, respectively, P = 0.01). A similar number of
      women had hypertension; however, the CSII group had lower diastolic blood
      pressure (P = 0.02). Moreover, the CSII group had a significantly lower insulin
      requirement (0.54 vs 0.63 units/kg; P = 0.02), significantly higher eGDR (11.3 vs
      10.5 mg/kg/min; P = 0.0007), and significantly lower serum triglyceride levels
      (53.1 vs 61.8 mg/dl; P = 0.004). In a multiple regression analysis, CSII therapy
      was associated with higher eGDR, lower HbA(1c), and lower serum triglyceride
      levels. CONCLUSIONS: The use of CSII before pregnancy in patients with type 1
      diabetes is associated with better metabolic profile in the first trimester.

PMID- 25827640
TI  - Trophic factor-induced activity 'signature' regulates the functional expression
      of postsynaptic excitatory acetylcholine receptors required for synaptogenesis.
AB  - Highly coordinated and coincidental patterns of activity-dependent mechanisms
      ("fire together wire together") are thought to serve as inductive signals during
      synaptogenesis, enabling neuronal pairing between specific sub-sets of excitatory
      partners. However, neither the nature of activity triggers, nor the "activity
      signature" of long-term neuronal firing in developing/regenerating neurons have
      yet been fully defined. Using a highly tractable model system comprising of
      identified cholinergic neurons from Lymnaea, we have discovered that intrinsic
      trophic factors present in the Lymnaea brain-conditioned medium (CM) act as a
      natural trigger for activity patterns in post- but not the presynaptic neuron.
      Using microelectrode array recordings, we demonstrate that trophic factors
      trigger stereotypical activity patterns that include changes in frequency,
      activity and variance. These parameters were reliable indicators of whether a
      neuron expressed functional excitatory or inhibitory nAChRs and synapse
      formation. Surprisingly, we found that the post- but not the presynaptic cell
      exhibits these changes in activity patterns, and that the functional expression
      of excitatory nAChRs required neuronal somata, de novo protein synthesis and
      voltage gated calcium channels. In summary, our data provides novel insights into
      trophic factor mediated actions on neuronal activity and its specific regulation
      of nAChR expression. 

PMID- 25827641
TI  - In Situ Formation of Efficient Cobalt-Based Water Oxidation Catalysts from Co(2+)
      Containing Tungstate and Molybdate Solutions.
AB  - Replacing rare and expensive noble-metal catalysts with inexpensive and earth
      abundant ones is of great importance to split water either electrochemically or
      photoelectrochemically. In this study, two amorphous cobalt oxide catalysts (Co-W
      film and Co-Mo film) with high activity for electrocatalytic water oxidation were
      prepared by fast, simple electrodeposition from aqueous solutions of Na2WO4 and
      Na2MoO4 containing Co(2+). In solutions of Na2WO4 and Na2MoO4, sustained anodic
      current densities up to 1.45 and 0.95 mA cm(-2) were obtained for Co-W film at
      1.87 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and Co-Mo film on fluorine
      doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates at 1.85 V versus RHE. For the Co-W film, a much
      higher current density of 4.5 mA cm(-2) was acquired by using a stainless-steel
      mesh as the electrode substrate. Significantly, in long-term electrolysis for 13
      h, the Co-W film exhibited improved stability in cobalt-free buffer solution in
      comparison with the previously reported Co-Pi film.

PMID- 25827642
TI  - A comparison of risperidone and haloperidol for the risk of ischemic stroke in
      the elderly: a propensity score-matched cohort analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: With an increase in antipsychotic use in the elderly, the safety
      profile of antipsychotics has been emphasized. Strong concerns have been raised
      about whether the risk of ischemic stroke differs between risperidone and
      haloperidol. This study compared the risk of ischemic stroke between elderly
      patients taking risperidone and haloperidol. METHOD: We conducted a retrospective
      cohort study using the Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service
      database, applying a propensity-matched analysis. The cohort consisted of elderly
      patients who were newly prescribed haloperidol or risperidone between January 1,
      2006 and December 31, 2009. Patients with prior cerebrovascular diseases (ICD-10,
      I60-I69), transient ischemic attack (ICD-10, G45), or cerebral tumors (ICD-10,
      C31) during 365 days prior to the initiation date were excluded. The study
      subjects were selected by propensity score matching. The outcome was defined as
      the first hospitalization for ischemic stroke (ICD-10, I63). Cox regression
      models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals
      (95% CI) for ischemic stroke with haloperidol compared with risperidone use.
      RESULTS: A total of 14,103 patients were included in the propensity-matched
      cohort for each drug. Overall, the incidence rate was higher for haloperidol
      users compared to the risperidone users (6.43 per 1000 person-years vs. 2.88 per
      1000 person-years). A substantially increased risk was observed in haloperidol
      users (adjusted HR = 2.02, 95% CI, 1.12-3.62). CONCLUSIONS: The evidence showed
      that haloperidol should be prescribed in the elderly with caution.

PMID- 25827643
TI  - Plasma BDNFs level initially and post treatment in acute mania: comparison
      between ECT and atypical antipsychotic treatment and healthy controls.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Inconsistent findings concerning brain-derived neurotrophic factor
      (BDNF) levels across different episodes in bipolar disorder have been reported,
      which is also in line with the treatment effects on BDNF levels in acute mania.
      We aimed to compare plasma BDNF level alterations after pure antipsychotic drug
      or ECT plus antipsychotic drug treatment in acute mania. METHODS: Sixty-eight
      patients with mania were divided into two treatment arms: the antipsychotic
      treatment arm (AP) and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)+AP arm. In addition, 30
      healthy controls were included in the study. RESULTS: There was no significant
      statistical difference according to mean age, education level, marital and
      working status between patients and healthy controls. The initial serum BDNF
      level in patients with acute mania was significantly lower than healthy controls.
      The initial BDNF level between the ECT arm and AP arm was not significant. The
      BDNF level decreased significantly after reaching remission in patients with
      acute mania. The change in BDNF level in the AP arm was not significant while in
      the ECT arm it was significant after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, for
      the first time we revealed a significant decrease in BDNF levels after ECT
      sessions in acute manic patients. Besides clinical remission after treatment in
      acute mania, the decrement in BDNF levels does not seem to be related to clinical
      response. Thus cumulative effects of mood episodes for the ongoing decrease in
      BDNF levels might be borne in mind despite the achievement of remission and/or
      more time being required for an increase in BDNF levels after treatment.

PMID- 25827644
TI  - Role of the serotonin transporter gene locus in the response to SSRI treatment of
      major depressive disorder in late life.
AB  - It has been suggested that the serotonin or 5-hydroxytriptamine (5-HT)
      transporter (5-HTT) and its gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) are
      selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) response modulators in late-life
      depression (LLD), and particularly in late-life major depressive disorder (MDD).
      Previous studies differed in design and results. Our study aimed to investigate
      the solute carrier family 6 (neurotransmitter transporter and serotonin) member 4
      (SLC6A4) gene locus, encoding 5-HTT and SSRI treatment response in late-life MDD.
      For a prospective cohort study, we enrolled 234 patients with late-life MDD to be
      treated with escitalopram, sertraline, paroxetine or citalopram for 6 months. The
      SLC6A4 polymorphisms rs4795541 (5-HTTLPR), rs140701 and rs3813034 genotypes
      spanning the SLC6A4 locus were investigated in blinded fashion. No placebo group
      was included. We assessed responder or non-responder phenotypes according to a
      reduction in the 21-item version of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS
      21) score of ? 50%. At follow-up, 30% of the late-life MDD patients were non
      responders to SSRI treatment. No time-course of symptoms and responses was made.
      A poor response was associated with a higher baseline HDRS-21 score. We observed
      a significant over-representation of the rs4795541-S allele in the responder
      patients (0.436 versus 0.321; p = 0.023). The single S-allele dose-additive
      effect had OR = 1.74 (95% CI 1.12-2.69) in the additive regression model. Our
      findings suggested a possible influence of 5-HTTLPR on the SSRI response in
      patients with late-life MDD, which is potentially useful in identifying the
      subgroups of LLD patients whom need a different pharmacological approach. 

PMID- 25827645
TI  - Simvastatin as an adjuvant therapy to fluoxetine in patients with moderate to
      severe major depression: A double-blind placebo-controlled trial.
AB  - Statins have been shown to decrease depressive symptoms in certain groups of
      patients, an effect that is mostly attributed to their anti-inflammatory and
      neurotransmitter modulatory potentials. We aimed to investigate the
      antidepressant effects of simvastatin as an adjuvant therapy in patients with
      moderate to severe depression. In this double-blind placebo-controlled clinical
      trial, 48 patients were randomly allocated to receive simvastatin or placebo as
      an adjunct to fluoxetine for six weeks. Patients were evaluated with the Hamilton
      Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) at baseline and weeks 2, 4 and 6. Probable
      clinical and laboratory adverse events were also monitored and compared between
      the two groups. Simvastatin-treated patients experienced significantly more
      reductions in HDRS scores compared to the placebo group by the end of the trial
      (p=0.02). Early improvement and response rates were significantly greater in the
      simvastatin group than the placebo group (p=0.02 and p=0.01, respectively) but
      remission rate was not significantly different between the two groups (p=0.36).
      No serious adverse event was reported during this trial. In conclusion,
      simvastatin seems to be a safe and effective adjuvant therapy for patients
      suffering from major depressive disorder. However, more confirmatory studies are
      warranted. 

PMID- 25827646
TI  - Immunology and human reproduction.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The immune system's role in recurrent reproductive failure is
      a controversial issue in assisted reproduction. New insight about maternal
      tolerance in assisted reproduction has been reported and could explain some of
      the recurrent miscarriage and/or recurrent implantation failure related causes
      named until now as unknown. RECENT FINDINGS: Most of the previous studies about
      immune system implication in reproduction were focused on finding markers on
      peripheral blood. Maternal tolerance begins at the uterine level, so successful
      adaptation to the fetus happens after a complicated process. Insufficient
      invasion of the uterine lining by invading extravillous trophoblast is the
      primary defect in pregnancy disorders such as recurrent miscarriage, and this
      process is regulated by interaction between maternal killer immunoglobulin-like
      receptors (KIRs) expressed by the uterine natural killer cells and their ligand
      human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-C expressed by extravillous trophoblast.
      Pregnancies are an increased risk of disorders in mothers with KIR AA when the
      fetus has paternal HLA-C2. Recently, it has been reported that the expression of
      more than one paternal HLA-C by extravillous trophoblast in assisted reproduction
      may affect placentation in mothers with KIR AA. SUMMARY: The review provides
      insight about the immune tolerance process. These insights could have an impact
      on the selection of single embryo transfer and/or oocyte/sperm donor according to
      HLA-C in patients with recurrent miscarriage or recurrent implantation failure
      and a KIR AA haplotype.

PMID- 25827647
TI  - Understanding and improving endometrial receptivity.
AB  - PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW: For a successful pregnancy, the synchronic coordination
      between the embryonic development and the endometrial status is crucial. The
      endometrium is a hormonally regulated organ that is nonadhesive to embryos
      throughout most of the menstrual cycle in humans. Endometrial receptivity refers
      to a hormone-limited period in which the endometrial tissue acquires a functional
      and transient ovarian steroid-dependent status allowing blastocyst implantation
      and therefore pregnancy initiation. RECENT FINDINGS: Our group has developed the
      endometrial receptivity array (ERA), a customized array based on the expression
      of 238 genes coupled to a computational predictor capable of diagnosing a
      functionally receptive endometrium regardless of its histological appearance.
      Clinical results obtained in our laboratory demonstrate the diagnostic and
      therapeutic efficiency of the ERA test in patients with implantation failure,
      allowing the personalization of the optimal day for embryo transfer. SUMMARY: To
      keep improving the global knowledge of endometrial receptivity stage, new high
      throughput techniques like RNA-seq or genome-wide association studies will be
      crucial in the near future. Also the identification of new biomarkers of
      endometrial receptivity that could be assessed by noninvasive methods has become
      a challenging goal to help diagnose the endometrial status to increase
      implantation rates and pregnancy outcomes in patients undergoing assisted
      reproductive treatments.

PMID- 25827648
TI  - Circumstances and Outcomes of a Firearm Seizure Law: Marion County, Indiana, 2006
      2013.
AB  - Indiana statute allows police to seize firearms without a warrant if the officer
      believes a person meets the law's definition of "dangerous." Review of the use of
      this law in Marion County (Indianapolis), Indiana, showed that prosecutors filed
      petitions in court to retain weapons seized by police under this law 404 times
      between 2006 and 2013. Police removed weapons from people due to identification
      of a risk of suicide (68%) or violence (21%), or the presence of psychosis (16%).
      The firearm seizures occurred in the context of domestic disputes in 28% of cases
      and intoxication was noted in 26% of cases. There were significant demographic
      differences in the circumstances of firearm seizures and the firearms seized. The
      seized firearms were retained by the court at the initial hearing in 63% of
      cases; this retention was closely linked to the defendant's failure to appear at
      the hearing. The court dismissed 29% of cases at the initial hearing, closely
      linked to the defendant's presence at the hearing. In subsequent hearings of
      cases not dismissed, the court ordered the destruction of the firearms in 72% of
      cases, all when the individual did not appear in court, and dismissed 24% of the
      cases, all when the individual was present at the hearing. Overall, the Indiana
      law removed weapons from a small number of people, most of whom did not seek
      return of their weapons. The firearm seizure law thus functioned as a months-long
      cooling-off period for those who did seek the return of their guns.

PMID- 25827649
TI  - Development and evaluation of information resources for patients, families, and
      healthcare providers addressing behavioral and cognitive sequelae among adults
      with a primary brain tumor.
AB  - Behavioral and cognitive changes in patients with primary brain tumor (PBT) are
      common and may be distressing to patients and their family members. Healthcare
      professionals report a strong need for information, practical strategies, and
      training to assist consumers and better address management issues. A literature
      review by the current project found that 53% of the information resources
      currently available to consumers and health professionals contained minimal or no
      information about cognitive/behavioral changes after PBT, and 71% of the
      resources contained minimal or no information on associated strategies to manage
      these changes. This project aimed to develop an information resource for
      patients, carers, and health professionals addressing the behavioral and
      cognitive sequelae of PBT, including strategies to minimize the disabling impact
      of such behaviors. In consultation with staff and patient groups, 16 key
      information topics were identified covering cognitive and communication changes
      and challenging behaviors including executive impairment, behavioral disturbance,
      and social/emotional dysfunction. Sixteen fact sheets and 11 additional resource
      sheets were developed and evaluated according to established consumer
      communication guidelines. Preliminary data show that these resources have been
      positively received and well utilized. These sheets are the first of their kind
      addressing challenging behaviors in the neuro-oncology patient group and are a
      practical and useful information resource for health professionals working with
      these patients and their families. The new resource assists in reinforcing
      interventions provided to individual patients and their relatives who are
      experiencing difficulties in managing challenging behaviors after PBT. 

PMID- 25827650
TI  - Biochemical effects of the pharmaceutical drug paracetamol on Anguilla anguilla.
AB  - The ever-increasing presence of pharmaceutical drugs in the environment is a
      motif of concern, and human-use drugs are of particular importance. This is the
      case of paracetamol, a widely employed drug in human therapeutics, as analgesic
      and antipyretic, whose toxicity on aquatic organisms is still not fully
      characterized. The present study aimed to assess the toxic deleterious effects of
      paracetamol on European eel, Anguila anguilla, by using a comprehensive battery
      of antioxidant biomarkers (activities of enzymes such as catalase (CAT) and
      glutathione S-transferases (GSTs)), and the quantification of oxidative damage
      (measurement of levels of lipid peroxidation (thiobarbituric acid reactive
      substances (TBARS) assay)). Other biochemical effects elicited by this substance
      were also quantified, in terms of anaerobic respiration (activity of lactate
      dehydrogenase, LDH) and neurotoxicity (acetylcholinesterase, AChE, activity). The
      obtained results showed the occurrence of an oxidative base response, and
      paracetamol also seemed to inhibit AChE, showing that this drug can also elicit
      neurotoxicity. The lack of response by both CAT and LDH show that, despite the
      occurrence of toxicity, eels have detoxification mechanisms that are effective to
      cope with paracetamol, preventing additional deleterious alterations, including
      in the main pathway by which they obtain energy. 

PMID- 25827651
TI  - Removal of trimethylamine (fishy odor) by C3 and CAM plants.
AB  - From screening 23 plant species, it was found that Pterocarpus indicus (C3) and
      Sansevieria trifasciata (crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM)) were the most
      effective in polar gaseous trimethylamine (TMA) uptake, reaching up to 90% uptake
      of initial TMA (100 ppm) within 8 h, and could remove TMA at cycles 1-4 without
      affecting photosystem II (PSII) photochemistry. Up to 55 and 45% of TMA was taken
      up by S. trifasciata stomata and leaf epicuticular wax, respectively. During
      cycles 1-4, interestingly, S. trifasciata changed its stomata apertures, which
      was directly induced by gaseous TMA and light treatments. In contrast, for P.
      indicus the leaf epicuticular wax and stem were the major pathways of TMA
      removal, followed by stomata; these pathways accounted for 46, 46, and 8%,
      respectively, of TMA removal percentages. Fatty acids, particularly tetradecanoic
      (C14) acid and octadecanoic (C18) acid, were found to be the main cuticular wax
      components in both plants, and were associated with TMA removal ability.
      Moreover, the plants could degrade TMA via multiple metabolic pathways associated
      with carbon/nitrogen interactions. In CAM plants, one of the crucial pathways
      enabled 78% of TMA to be transformed directly to dimethylamine (DMA) and
      methylamine (MA), which differed from C3 plant pathways. Various metabolites were
      also produced for further detoxification and mineralization so that TMA was
      completely degraded by plants.

PMID- 25827653
TI  - Lake and watershed influences on the distribution of elemental contaminants in
      the Rideau Canal System, a UNESCO world heritage site.
AB  - Watershed-specific variables such as sediment particle size distribution, water
      depth, sedimentation rate, focusing factors, and catchment area to lake area
      ratio can affect the distribution of trace element contaminants to lakes. The aim
      of this study was to investigate sources of metals to three headwater lakes and
      to quantify effects of watershed-specific variables on spatial and temporal
      trends of trace elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, K, Ni, Pb, Rb, and Zn) in
      sediments and mercury (Hg) concentrations in fish. Surface sediment and water
      samples were used to characterize spatial patterns, while sediment cores were
      collected to portray temporal trends. Historical trends of Hg in northern pike
      (Esox lucius) were assessed in relation to paleolimnological trends of sediment
      Hg concentrations. Similarity in timing of sediment peak trace element
      concentrations for the lakes suggests large-scale, atmospheric sources. The lake
      with highest catchment area-to-lake area ratio was consistently associated with
      highest sediment elemental concentrations and displayed significant correlations
      between increased sediment Hg concentrations and decreased pike tissue
      concentrations over time. This suggests that catchment area-to-lake area ratio is
      an important factor influencing the concentration of atmospherically derived
      contaminants within lake sediments and their transfer through the food web. 

PMID- 25827652
TI  - Elements and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in exhaust particles emitted by
      light-duty vehicles.
AB  - The main purpose of this work was to evaluate the chemical composition of
      particulate matter (PM) emitted by eight different light-duty vehicles. Exhaust
      samples from petrol and diesel cars (Euro 3 to Euro 5) were collected in a
      chassis dynamometer facility. To simulate the real-world driving conditions,
      three ARTEMIS cycles were followed: road, to simulate a fluid traffic flow and
      urban with hot and cold starts, to simulate driving conditions in cities. Samples
      were analysed for the water-soluble ions, for the elemental composition and for
      polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), respectively, by ion chromatography,
      inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), inductively
      coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and gas chromatography-mass
      spectrometry (GC-MS). Nitrate and phosphate were the major water-soluble ions in
      the exhaust particles emitted from diesel and petrol vehicles, respectively. The
      amount of material emitted is affected by the vehicle age. For vehicles >=Euro 4,
      most elements were below the detection limits. Sodium, with emission factors in
      the ranges 23.5-62.4 and 78.2-227MUg km(-1), for petrol and diesel Euro 3
      vehicles, respectively, was the major element. The emission factors of metallic
      elements indicated that diesel vehicles release three to five times more than
      petrol automobiles. Element emissions under urban cycles are higher than those
      found for on-road driving, being three or four times higher, for petrol vehicles,
      and two or three times, for diesel vehicles. The difference between cycles is
      mainly due to the high emissions for the urban cycle with hot start-up. As
      registered for elements, most of the PAH emissions for vehicles >=Euro 4 were
      also below the detection limits. Regardless of the vehicle models or driving
      cycles, the two- to four-ring PAHs were always dominant. Naphthalene, with
      emission factors up to 925 MUg km(-1), was always the most abundant PAH. The
      relative cancer risk associated with naphthalene was estimated to be up to
      several orders of magnitude higher than any of the chemical species found in the
      PM phase. The highest PAH emission factors were registered for diesel-powered
      vehicles. The condition of the vehicle can exert a decisive influence on both
      element and PAH emissions.

PMID- 25827654
TI  - Resistance training improves hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia, highly prevalent
      among nonelderly, nondiabetic, chronically disabled stroke patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To test the effect of 8 weeks of lower body resistance training on
      hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia, which may be prevalent among nonelderly,
      nondiabetic, chronically disabled stroke patients. DESIGN: Randomized controlled
      study. SETTING: Outpatient clinics of rehabilitation centers. PARTICIPANTS:
      Nonelderly, nondiabetic, chronically disabled stroke subjects (N=56) were
      enrolled and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=28) and a control
      group (n=28). INTERVENTIONS: Lower body resistance training was performed by
      subjects in the experimental group 3 times a week for 8 weeks. The control group
      was given duration-matched stretch exercises. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Fasting
      glucose level, fasting insulin level, 2-hour blood glucose level during oral
      glucose tolerance test, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA
      IR), glycosylated hemoglobin (Hb A1c), total triglyceride level, total
      cholesterol level, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level, low-density
      lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol level, body mass index, lower limb muscle strength,
      and Fugl-Meyer motor score. RESULTS: Before the intervention, 34 subjects (60.7%)
      had hyperglycemia and 38 (67.9%) had dyslipidemia. Fifty-one subjects finished
      the study. Subjects in the experimental group (n=26) showed significant
      improvements in fasting insulin and 2-hour blood glucose levels; HOMA-IR; total
      cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol levels; and muscle strength
      compared with control subjects (n=25) after the intervention (P<.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: Resistance training may play a significant role in improving
      hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia, which are frequently present among nonelderly,
      nondiabetic, chronically disabled stroke patients.

PMID- 25827655
TI  - Therapeutic effects of whole-body vibration training in knee osteoarthritis: a
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the current evidence regarding the effects of whole-body
      vibration (WBV) training in individuals with knee osteoarthritis (OA). DATA
      SOURCES: We searched PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, Physiotherapy Evidence
      Database (PEDro), and Science Citation Index for research articles published
      prior to January 2015 using the keywords whole body vibration, vibration
      training, and vibratory exercise in combination with the Medical Subject Heading
      osteoarthritis knee. STUDY SELECTION: This meta-analysis was restricted to
      randomized controlled trials published in the English language. The quality of
      the selected studies was assessed by the PEDro Scale. The risk of bias was
      assessed using the Cochrane collaboration's tool in the domain-based evaluation.
      We also evaluated the quality of each study based on the criteria given by the
      International Society of Musculoskeletal and Neuronal Interactions for reporting
      WBV intervention studies, consisting of 13 factors. DATA EXTRACTION: Descriptive
      data regarding subjects, design, intervention, WBV parameters, outcomes, and
      conclusions were collected from each study by 2 independent evaluators. The mean
      and SD of the baseline and final endpoint scores for pain, stiffness, and
      function were extracted from the included studies. DATA SYNTHESIS: A total of 83
      studies were found in the search. Of these, 5 studies met the inclusion criteria
      and were further analyzed. Four of these 5 studies reached high methodologic
      quality on the PEDro Scale. Overall, studies demonstrated mixed results in favor
      of additive effects of WBV for reducing pain and improving function in knee OA.
      There was considerable variation in the parameters of the WBV included in this
      systematic review. CONCLUSIONS: WBV training reduces pain and improves function
      in individuals with knee OA.

PMID- 25827656
TI  - Health behavior change counseling in surgery for degenerative lumbar spinal
      stenosis. Part II: patient activation mediates the effects of health behavior
      change counseling on rehabilitation engagement.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of health behavior change counseling (HBCC) on
      patient activation and the influence of patient activation on rehabilitation
      engagement, and to identify common barriers to engagement among individuals
      undergoing surgery for degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis. DESIGN: Prospective
      clinical trial. SETTING: Academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Consecutive
      lumbar spine surgery patients (N=122) defined in our companion article (Part I)
      were assigned to a control group (did not receive HBCC, n=59) or HBCC group
      (received HBCC, n=63). INTERVENTION: Brief motivational interviewing-based HBCC
      versus control (significance, P<.05). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We assessed patient
      activation before and after intervention. Rehabilitation engagement was assessed
      using the physical therapist-reported Hopkins Rehabilitation Engagement Rating
      Scale and by a ratio of self-reported physical therapy and home exercise
      completion. Common barriers to rehabilitation engagement were identified through
      thematic analysis. RESULTS: Patient activation predicted engagement (standardized
      regression weight, .682; P<.001). Postintervention patient activation was
      predicted by baseline patient activation (standardized regression weight, .808;
      P<.001) and receipt of HBCC (standardized regression weight, .444; P<.001). The
      effect of HBCC on rehabilitation engagement was mediated by patient activation
      (standardized regression weight, .079; P=.395). One-third of the HBCC group did
      not show improvement compared with the control group. Thematic analysis
      identified 3 common barriers to engagement: (1) low self-efficacy because of lack
      of knowledge and support (62%); (2) anxiety related to fear of movement (57%);
      and (3) concern about pain management (48%). CONCLUSIONS: The influence of HBCC
      on rehabilitation engagement was mediated by patient activation. Despite
      improvements in patient activation, one-third of patients reported low
      rehabilitation engagement. Addressing these barriers should lead to greater
      improvements in rehabilitation engagement.

PMID- 25827657
TI  - Health behavior change counseling in surgery for degenerative lumbar spinal
      stenosis. Part I: improvement in rehabilitation engagement and functional
      outcomes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine whether a brief motivational interviewing [MI]-based health
      behavior change counseling (HBCC) intervention increased patient participation in
      physical therapy and/or home exercise programs (HEPs), reduced disability, and
      improved health status after surgery for degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis.
      DESIGN: Prospective clinical trial. SETTING: Academic medical center.
      PARTICIPANTS: From December 2009 through August 2012, consecutive patients
      (N=122) underwent surgery for degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis and, based on
      enrollment date, were prospectively assigned to a control (n=59) or HBCC
      intervention (n=63) group in a prospective, lagged-control clinical trial.
      INTERVENTIONS: Brief MI-based HBCC versus attention control. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Rehabilitation participation (primary); disability and health status
      (secondary). Therapists assessed engagement in, and patients reported attendance
      at, postoperative rehabilitation (physical therapy and/or HEP). At 3 and 6
      months, disability and health status were assessed (Oswestry Disability Index
      [ODI] and Medical Outcomes Study 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey, version 2 [SF
      12v2]) (significance, P<.05). RESULTS: Compared with controls, HBCC patients had
      significantly higher rehabilitation engagement (21.20+/-4.56 vs 23.57+/-2.71,
      respectively; P<.001), higher physical therapy (.67+/-.21 vs .82+/-.16,
      respectively; P<.001) and HEP (.65+/-.23 vs .75+/-.22, respectively; P=.019)
      attendance, and better functional outcomes at 3 months (difference: ODI, -10.7+/
      4.4, P=.015; SF-12v2, 6.2+/-2.2, P=.004) and 6 months (difference: ODI, -12.7+/
      4.8, P=.008; SF-12v2, 8.9+/-2.4, P<.001). The proportion of the HBCC intervention
      impact on functional recovery mediated by rehabilitation participation was
      approximately half at 3 months and one-third at 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: HBCC can
      improve outcomes after spine surgery through improved rehabilitation
      participation.

PMID- 25827658
TI  - Drug safety evaluation of apremilast for treating psoriatic arthritis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Apremilast is an orally available small molecule that targets PDE4.
      PDE4 modulates intracellular signaling and thereby can impact various
      proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediators. Apremilast has been approved by
      the USA FDA for the treatment of active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and moderate-to
      severe psoriasis (PsO). Although there are several therapies approved and used
      for the treatment of PsA, there is still an unmet need for additional effective
      and well-tolerated therapeutic options. In PsA clinical trials, apremilast has
      been shown to be efficacious and to have an acceptable safety profile. AREAS
      COVERED: This review article covers the mechanism of action of apremilast, its
      efficacy in clinical trials and a detailed focus on its safety profile, mainly
      from Phase III clinical trials. EXPERT OPINION: Based on the available
      literature, apremilast has proven to be an efficacious therapy for PsA and PsO.
      It may offer some advantage as compared to other therapeutic options given its
      favorable safety profile, including a lack of need for routine laboratory
      monitoring.

PMID- 25827659
TI  - A pilot trial of prazosin, an alpha-1 adrenergic antagonist, for comorbid alcohol
      dependence and posttraumatic stress disorder.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol dependence (AD)
      commonly co-occur and are associated with greater symptom severity and costs than
      either disorder alone. No pharmacologic interventions have been found to decrease
      both alcohol use and PTSD symptom severity relative to matched placebo. Prazosin,
      an alpha-1 adrenoreceptor antagonist, has demonstrated the efficacy of reducing
      PTSD and AD symptoms among individuals with one or the other disorder and may be
      useful in addressing comorbid PTSD/AD. METHODS: Prazosin and matched placebo were
      compared in the context of an outpatient 6-week double-blind randomized
      controlled pilot trial involving 30 individuals with comorbid PTSD/AD. Medication
      was titrated to 4 mg q am, 4 mg q pm and 8 mg qhs by the end of week 2.
      Participants in both conditions received 5 medical management sessions.
      Information regarding alcohol use, craving, and PTSD was gathered daily using a
      telephone interactive voice response system. RESULTS: Participants randomized to
      prazosin had a greater reduction in percent days drinking per week and percent
      days heavy drinking per week between baseline and week 6 than did placebo
      participants. No significant differences were detected within or between groups
      in change from weeks 1 to 6 in total PTSD symptoms. Participants in the prazosin
      condition reported drowsiness on significantly more days than those in the
      placebo condition. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with the extant research evaluating
      medications for comorbid PTSD/AD, the current evaluation of prazosin also found
      decreased alcohol consumption but no medication effect on PTSD symptomatology.

PMID- 25827660
TI  - International travel in the immunocompromised patient: a cross-sectional survey
      of travel advice in 254 consecutive patients.
AB  - AIMS: Our primary aim was to determine the rate of overseas travel in
      immunocompromised individuals attending appropriate clinics at an Australian
      tertiary care hospital. We also aimed to characterise health-seeking behaviour
      prior to travel and investigated sources of pre-travel advice, compared travel
      patterns and activities between three specific immunosuppressed groups, and
      examined pre-immunosuppression patient serology. METHODS: We implemented a cross
      sectional survey of patients between February and August 2012. This survey was
      implemented among three outpatient populations at Monash Medical Centre, an
      Australian tertiary care hospital. RESULTS: We recruited 254 immunosuppressed
      adults from three patient populations: human immunodeficiency virus-positive
      individuals, renal transplant patients and rheumatology patients requiring
      immunosuppressive therapy. No clinical intervention was performed. In the 10
      years preceding the survey, 153 (60.2%) participants reported international
      travel. Of these, 105 (68.6%) were immunosuppressed at the time of travel. These
      patients were 47.6% male and 60% Australian born. Forty per cent were visiting
      friends and relatives as part of their travel. Fifty-four per cent of those
      immunocompromised at the time of travel were going to high-risk destinations.
      Pathology files indicated that serological screening was frequently not performed
      prior to immunosuppression in the renal transplant and rheumatology groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: Immunocompromised patients often travel to high-risk destinations
      with limited or inadequate pre-travel preparations. Doctors caring for the
      immunocompromised should be aware of travel risks, suitable vaccination protocols
      and when to refer to specialist travel clinics.

PMID- 25827661
TI  - A resected case of neuroendocrine carcinoma of the stomach with unusual lymph
      node metastasis.
AB  - Gastric endocrine cell carcinoma is a relatively rare tumor. We experienced a
      case of early gastric cancer in which an endocrine cell carcinoma was identified
      within a differentiated adenocarcinoma, and a component of this endocrine cell
      carcinoma had metastasized to lymph nodes of the stomach. In its 2010 revision
      regarding digestive system tumors, WHO classified cancer cells with
      characteristics of both glandular system cells and neuroendocrine cells as mixed
      adeno neuroendocrine carcinoma (MANEC) under the neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC)
      category. In this case, we observed an endocrine cell carcinoma continuous with
      an intramucosal differentiated adenocarcinoma, and cancer cells with an irregular
      gland duct structure were observed in the proliferative portion of the submucosal
      tissue. In addition, there was a 35 mm size lymph node metastasis in the lesser
      curvature of the stomach consisting entirely of poorly differentiated cancer
      cells with polymorphic, highly atypical nuclei and scant cytoplasm.
      Immunohistological analysis showed that the endocrine carcinoma in the gastric
      mucosa was chromogranin A positive and the infiltrated area of the submucosal
      tissue was also chromogranin A positive. The lymph node metastasis was positive
      not only for chromogranin A, but also for Synaptophysin and CD56. Furthermore,
      the Ki67 labeling index was high at approximately 80 % for the gastric endocrine
      cell carcinoma and approximately 90 % for the lymph node metastases. Until now,
      there are no reports related to the patients with early gastric cancer
      accompanied with lymph node metastasis of MANEC. This case is very interested in
      considering the mechanism of lymph node metastasis of MANEC. The patient has
      shown no sign of recurrence for 1 year and 4 months after postoperative
      chemotherapy.

PMID- 25827662
TI  - Laparoscopic ultrasound: a surgical "must" for second line intra-operative
      evaluation of pancreatic cancer resectability.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Advanced laparoscopy for pancreatic cancer surgery should include
      laparoscopic ultrasound (LUS), in order to accurately evaluate resectability and
      rule out the presence of undetected metastases and/or vascular infiltration. LUS
      should be done as a preliminary step whenever pre-operative imaging casts doubts
      on resectability. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We hereby report our experience of 18
      consecutive patients, aged 43-76, coming to our attention during a six months
      period (Jan-Jun 2013), with a diagnosis of pancreas head or body cancer. RESULTS:
      LUS allowed to rule out undetected metastases or mesenteric vessels infiltration
      in 11 patients (61.1%), who were submitted, as previously scheduled, to radical
      duodeno-pancreatectomy (9 cases) and spleno-caudal pancreatectomy (2 cases).
      Among the remaining patients, three had been correctly evaluated as non
      resectable radically at pre-operative work out, and confirmed at LUS, while LUS
      detected non resectable disease in further 4 patients (22.2%), who underwent
      palliative procedures. In 2 patients of this group liver micro-metastases were
      found, while 2 were excluded because of mesenteric vessels infiltration.
      CONCLUSIONS: LUS provided a higher level of diagnostic accuracy, allowing in our
      experience to exclude 4 patients from radical surgery (22.2%). The evaluation of
      surgical resectability is an issue of crucial importance to decide surgical
      strategy in pancreas tumor surgery. In our opinion LUS should be considered a
      mandatory step in laparoscopic approach to pancreatic tumors, to better define
      disease staging and evaluate resectability.

PMID- 25827663
TI  - Colorectal cancer in aged patients. Toward the routine treatment through
      laparoscopic surgical approach.
AB  - AIM: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common malignancies in general
      population. The incidence seems to be higher in older age. Surgery remains the
      treatment of choice and laparoscopic approach offers numerous benefits. We report
      our personal experience in elderly patients operated on for colorectal cancer
      with laparoscopic resection. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From January 2003 to September
      2013, out of 160 patients aged 65 years or older and operated with minimally
      invasive techniques, 30 cases affected by colorectal cancer and operated on with
      laparoscopic approach were analyzed in this study. RESULTS: Male/female ratio was
      1.35 and mean age 72 years. Constipation, weight loss, anemia and rectal bleeding
      were the most commonly reported symptoms. Lesions involved descending-sigmoid
      colon in 53% of cases, rectum in 37% and ascending colon in 10%. Among
      laparoscopic colo-rectal operations laparoscopic left colectomy was the most
      frequently performed, followed by right colectomy, abdominoperineal resection and
      Hartmann procedure. Operative times ranged from 3 to 5 hours depending on
      surgical procedure performed. Mean hospital stay was 6 days (range 4-9).
      Conversion to open approach occurred only in a case of laparoscopic right
      colectomy (3%) for uncontrolled bleeding. A single case of mortality was
      reported. In two cases (7%) anastomotic leakage was observed, conservatively
      treated in one patient and requiring reoperation in the other one. CONCLUSIONS:
      Laparoscopic colorectal surgery is feasible and effective for malignancies in
      elderly population offering several advantages including immunologic and
      oncologic ones. However an experienced surgical team is essential in reducing
      risks and complications.

PMID- 25827664
TI  - Acute necrotizing pancreatitis: can tigecycline be included in a therapeutic
      strategy?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Acute necrotizing pancreatitis is a severe and life-threatening
      disease. Infection, which occurs in about 30% of cases, is the most feared
      complication. Antibiotic therapy is still discussed and there are no clear
      recommendation in literature. These clinical series underline the importance of
      having a clear antibiotic protocol, including tigecycline, in the management of
      acute necrotizing pancreatitis. Clinical series. Six patients with clinical and
      radiological diagnosis of necrotizing acute pancreatitis are treated in Emergency
      Surgery Department, following a conservative management, which includes fluid
      resuscitation, intensive care unit and radiological monitoring, ultrasound-guided
      percutaneous drainage and an antibiotic treatment protocol, that includes
      tigecycline. No one of the six patient undergo surgery (mean hospital stay: 44
      days). In a six months follow-up all patients are alive and in good clinical
      conditions. DISCUSSION: Infection is the most important factor which determinate
      prognosis and outcome of acute necrotizing pancreatitis. Antibiotic prophylaxis
      is still discussed and there are no clear antibiotic treatment guidelines in
      literature. Despite its side effects on pancreatic gland, tigecycline is
      successful in resolution of sepsis, caused by infected pancreatic necrosis.
      CONCLUSIONS: Collaboration with infectivologist and a clear antibiotic protocol
      is fundamental to solve infected necrosis. Antibiotic treatment, set up as soon
      as possible, is successful in our six patients, as they recover without
      undergoing surgical procedures. Tigecycline offers broad coverage and efficacy
      against resistant pathogens for the treatment of documented pancreatic necrosis
      infection. However, further studies are necessary to fully understand the safety
      profile and efficacy of tigecycline.

PMID- 25827665
TI  - How to prevent mesh erosion in transobturator Tension-Free Incontinence
      Cystocoele Treatment (TICT): a comparative survey.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tension-Free Incontinence Cystocoele Treatment (TICT) was introduced
      by Leanza-Gasbarro-Caschetto in 2001, on the basis of experimental and clinical
      investigations to obtain a physiologic mechanism of closure and opening of the
      urethra in the event of genuine stress urinary incontinence (S.U.I.) and
      cistocoele. TICT took origin from the previous retropubic tension-free vaginal
      tape (TVT) based on the integral theory according which mid-urethra has a main
      role for urinary continence but differs in that the former restores the anatomy
      and physiology of the entire anterior compartment. Simultaneously Delorme in 2001
      spread the TOT (Trans-Obturator Tape) technique, emphasizing the needle passage
      across the obturator foramen which represents a new and less invasive route in
      comparison with the retropubic one. Trans-obturator TICT exploits the advantages
      of TOT, adding the anatomical repair of bladder prolapse. Introduction of mesh
      for treatment of pelvic defects gives a lower rate of recurrence, but introduces
      new complications due to the extraneous materials, among which the most common is
      represented by mesh erosion. At present the rate of mesh erosion reported is 4.7%
      in the TOT. Aim of our survey was to verify a technique allowing post-operative
      erosion prevention. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 230 women with urodynamic stress
      incontinence and cystocoele after diagnostic phase were allocated to 2 treatment
      groups (A end B-group), with open alternative method. Agroup women underwent
      transobturator TICT procedure after preparation of anterior compartment by means
      of a transversal incision taking care to preserve the integrity of the vaginal
      skin in the site where the mesh would be allocated. Conversely, B-group
      transobturator TICT was carried out in a classical way, through a longitudinal
      incision of anterior vaginal skin and suturing after placing the mesh. Each of
      the two groups was initially constituted by 115 subjects. There were 14
      preoperative dropouts among which 6 (115-6=109) in A-group and 8 (115-8=107) in B
      group and, after, 16 postoperative dropouts including 7 (109-7=102) in the former
      and 9 (107-9=98) in the latter. Other pelvic defects were solved during the same
      operation for a complete repair of pelvic floor. RESULTS: A-group: subjectively
      SUI was cured in 87/102 (85.3%) objectively, SUI was cured in 88/102 (86.3%) of
      patients; cystocoele in 87/102 (85.3%). B-group: subjectively SUI was cured in
      86/98 (87.7%) and objectively in 87/98 (88.8%) of patients; cystocoele was solved
      in 86/98 (87.7%). Between the two groups both anti-incontinence end cystocoele
      treatment was superimposable (p value > 0.05). Nevertheless regarding mesh
      erosion, a percentage of 5.1% (5/98) was found among B-group while none among A
      group patients where integrity of vaginal skin beneath the mesh was preserved.
      CONCLUSION: Integrity of the vagina beneath the mesh is the right.key to prevent
      ad externum mesh erosion.

PMID- 25827666
TI  - Tracheal varices caused by mediastinal compression of a large intrathoracic
      goiter: report of a case.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Tracheal varices are a rare condition but they can be an important
      source of massive or recurrent haemoptysis. Usually they are related to increased
      pressure in the pulmonary veins. Mediastinal goiter is often associated to
      compressive effects on the surrounding structures, including mediastinal vessels
      with potential superior vena cava syndrome. CASE REPORT: We describe a case, not
      previously reported in literature, of mediastinal goiter with hemoptysis as first
      clinical manifestation. Bleeding was attributed to a superior vena cava syndrome
      associated to a tracheal fragile mucosa with an easily bleeding intramural nodule
      which was diagnosed as tracheal varices after total thyroidectomy. The nodule in
      fact disappeared together with the venous hypertensive signs after venous
      decompression of the mediastinum. CONCLUSIONS: Compressive symptoms including
      tracheal varices, related to mediastinal goiter, can be treated surgically by
      total thyroidectomy via cervicotomy and when required with associated median
      sternotomy.

PMID- 25827667
TI  - Intramural duodenal hematoma after submucosal injection of epinephrine for a
      bleeding ulcer: case report and review.
AB  - We present a case of intramural duodenal hematoma as a complication of endoscopic
      therapy for a bleeding duodenal ulcer in an adult patient with no evidence of
      other pathologies. A 18-year-old man was admitted in emergency room with
      gastrointestinal bleeding manifested by melena. Previous medical history revealed
      that he had endoscopic sclerotherapy for bleeding duodenal ulcer 5 months before.
      Endoscopy revealed a Forrest 2a ulcer in the duodenal bulb and sclerotherapy was
      performed by injecting 10 ml of 0.2% epinephrine and 20 ml of Na- Cl 0.9%
      solution. Upper occlusion's signs appeared 36 hours after the procedure. The
      hematoma, that was identified by endoscopy and confirmed by MRI and CT scan of
      the abdomen, caused transient duodenal obstruction. Combined conservative
      management with nasogastric tube and total parenteral nutrition resulted in
      reduction of obstructive symptoms within 4 weeks. 

PMID- 25827668
TI  - Surgical removal of multiple mesenteric fibroids (Kg 4,500) by abdominal spread
      of previous laparoscopic uterine myomectomy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Huge and multiple mesenteric fibroids (4,500 Kg weight) are very
      unusual. In many cases they are mistaken for subserosal fibroids of the womb due
      to the proximity with uterine walls. When they have a rapid growth, the risk of
      becoming malignant (sarcoma) has not to be underestimated. Surgery is challenging
      to remove abdominal nodes. CASE REPORT: A case of a 40-year old woman, admitted
      to the hospital with abdominal masses occupying the entire cavity was reported.
      Both computerized tomography (CT) and ultrasounds (US) were not diriment for
      belonging of tumours. Clinical history of patient reports a laparoscopic removal
      of uterine fibroids, using the morcellator. Laparoscopy was performed four years
      before. Open surgery by means of a large transversal suprapubic laparotomy
      according to Pfannestiel was carried out. Multiple and huge mesenteric,
      peritoneal and intestinal tumours spread in the whole abdominal cavity were
      found, removed and examined by frozen section histology; in addition a series of
      small conglomerated myomas in the site of previous laparoscopic transumbilical
      route was taken away as well (the largest fibroid weighed Kg 3.500 and the all
      tumors removed 4,500 Kg); the result was benign (fibroids) and genital apparatus
      was preserved. Operation was challenging. Postoperative course was uneventful;
      after five days patient was discharged. CONCLUSIONS: This case is very
      interesting for many factors: A) many extra-uterine fibroids spread throughout
      abdominal cavity; B) considerable weight of the masses C) intraoperative and
      postoperative danger. Finally, due to involvement of previous laparoscopic
      transumbilical incision together with other findings, the hypothesis of post
      laparoscopic dissemination has to be considered. A case of so large extragenital
      abdominal fibroids following laparoscopic uterine myomectomy has never been
      published so far.

PMID- 25827669
TI  - A monolateral TMJ replacement under intraoral endoscopic assistance for jaw
      osteomielitis: a modified approach.
AB  - Alloplastic replacement has become a valid treatment for TMJ endstage disease.
      The Alkayat and Bramley pre-auricular approach combined with the submandibular
      incision are the current surgical approaches for TMJ surgery. The present study
      shows a modified approach using intraoral endoscopic assistance. A female patient
      affected by jaw osteomielitis with condylar detachment was treated with total
      left TMJ alloplastic replacement combined with a right TMJ arthroplasty. No
      subamandibular incision was performed and, subsequently, the risks for permanent
      or temporary damage to the marginalis mandibulae nerve and surgical submandibular
      scar were avoided. Postoperative CT-Scan evidenced a good prosthesis position. No
      complications occurred after two years of follow-up. 

PMID- 25827670
TI  - Effect of vitamin D3 supplementation and influence of BsmI polymorphism of the
      VDR gene of the inflammatory profile and oxidative stress in elderly women with
      vitamin D insufficiency: Vitamin D3 megadose reduces inflammatory markers.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of vitamin D3 megadose
      supplementation and influence of BsmI polymorphism in the VDR gene on the
      inflammatory profile and oxidative stress in elderly women with vitamin D
      deficiency. METHODS: A double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial was
      conducted with 40 elderly women (aged 68+/-6 years) diagnosed with vitamin D
      insufficiency (24.7+/-3.1 ng/mL). Participants were distributed into a
      supplementation group that received 200,000 IU of vitamin D3 (SG; n=20) and a
      placebo group (PG; n=20). Blood samples were collected at baseline and after
      intervention to analyse the 25(OH)D, parathyroid hormone, serum calcium, ultra
      sensitive C-reactive protein (us-CRP), alpha 1-acid glycoprotein (AGP-A), total
      antioxidant capacity (TAC), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, as well as the
      renal and hepatic function, and genotyping was performed for BsmI polymorphism.
      RESULTS: Four weeks after supplementation, elderly women in the SG group showed a
      significant increase in the serum concentration of 25(OH)D (25.29+/-2.8 to
      31.48+/-6.0; p=0.0001), which was followed by increased TAC (65.25+/-15.66 to
      71.83+/-10.71; p=0.03) and decreased serum PTH (46.32+/-13.2 to 35.45+/-11.0;
      p=0.009), us-CRP (0.38+/-0.3 to 0.19+/-0.1; p=0.007) and AGP-A levels (75.3+/
      15.4 to 61.1+/-5.9; p=0.005). Changes in BP, ANAC and MDA were not observed. The
      25(OH)D and PTH, us-CRP and AGP-A levels of participants with the BB/Bb genotype
      were more responsive to supplementation, but their other markers did not change.
      CONCLUSIONS: Supplementation with a vitamin D3 megadose reduced inflammatory
      markers and increased the total antioxidant capacity in elderly women with
      vitamin D insufficiency. The 25(OH)D, PTH, us-CRP and AGP-A levels of elderly
      patients with the BB/Bb genotype were more responsive to supplementation compared
      with those with the bb genotype.

PMID- 25827671
TI  - Novel test procedure to evaluate the treatability of wastewater with ozone.
AB  - Organic micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals, estrogens or pesticides enter
      the environment continuously through the effluent of municipal wastewater
      treatment plants (WWTPs). Enhanced treatment of wastewater (WW) by ozone (O3) is
      probably one of the simplest measures for abatement of organic micropollutants to
      avoid their discharge to the aquatic environment. During ozonation most organic
      micropollutants present in treated WW are oxidized either by a direct reaction
      with O3 or by secondarily formed hydroxyl radicals (OH). However, undesired
      oxidation by-products from the oxidative transformation of matrix components can
      also be formed. A modular laboratory decision tool based on the findings of
      previous investigations is presented to test the feasibility of ozonation as an
      option to upgrade specific WWTPs. These modules consist of investigations to
      assess (i) the matrix effects on ozone stability, (ii) the efficiency of
      micropollutant removal, (iii) the oxidation by-product formation, as well as (iv)
      bioassays to measure specific and unspecific toxicity of the treated WWs. Matrix
      effects on ozone stability (quantified as O3 and OH exposures) can give first
      indications on the suitability of an ozonation step. Ozonation of WWs yielding O3
      and OH exposures and micropollutant abatement similar to reference values evoked
      a significant improvement of the water quality as indicated by a broad range of
      bioassays. Irregular behavior of the ozonation points towards unknown compounds,
      possibly leading to the formation of undesired degradation products. It has been
      observed that in such WWs ozonation partly enhanced toxicity. In summary, the
      presented tiered laboratory test procedure represents a relatively cheap and
      straight-forward methodology to evaluate the feasibility of ozonation to upgrade
      specific WWTPs for micropollutant removal based on chemical and biological
      measurements.

PMID- 25827672
TI  - Neonatal hypoplastic left heart syndrome: effects of bloodstream infections on
      outcomes and costs.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is not only a devastating
      disease, but also the most expensive birth defect managed in the US. Nosocomial
      bloodstream infections (NBIs) are common in neonates with HLHS. We examined the
      effects of NBIs on in-hospital mortality, length of stay, and costs for late
      preterm and term infants with HLHS undergoing stage 1 palliation, at both
      individual patient and hospital levels. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective
      study of infants 35 weeks or greater gestation with HLHS, admitted to our
      institution January 1, 2003 to January 1, 2013. Children with other cardiac
      abnormalities, major comorbid conditions, or perinatal infections were excluded.
      Univariable and multivariable analyses were performed. To estimate the effects of
      reduced NBI incidence on resource utilization, predictive models were used.
      RESULTS: One hundred forty-three children met inclusion criteria. In-hospital
      mortality was 9.1% (n = 13). Postoperative infection was observed in 12.6% (n =
      18). Median length of stay was 23 days for survivors (IQR, 17 to 40; range, 9 to
      132). Median costs were $83,000 for survivors, in 2013 dollars (IQR, $62,000 to
      $123,000; range, $17,000 to $517,000). NBIs were not associated with changes in
      mortality. In multivariable analyses, at a patient level NBIs were associated
      with a 74% increase in length of stay (95% confidence interval [CI], 31% to 132%,
      p < 0.001) and a 65% increase in costs (95% CI, 28% to 114%, p < 0.001). On a
      hospital level, in this cohort a 50% reduction in the incidence of NBIs would be
      expected to yield a 4.3% decrease in average length of stay and a 3.8% decrease
      in average in-patient costs. CONCLUSIONS: Nosocomial bloodstream infections in
      neonates with HLHS are associated with large increases in lengths of stay and
      costs on a patient level, but not a hospital level. For hospitals without
      particularly high incidences, studies are needed to identify additional targets
      for quality improvement.

PMID- 25827673
TI  - Safe resection of the aortic wall infiltrated by lung cancer after placement of
      an endoluminal prosthesis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Few investigators have reported the results of combined resection of
      lung cancer infiltrating the thoracic aorta; only anecdotal accounts of off-label
      use of thoracic aortic endografts to facilitate resection of such tumors have
      been published. In this paper, we describe our experience using this innovative
      approach in terms of technical details and outcomes. METHODS: We retrospectively
      reviewed data on 9 patients (6 men and 3 women, median age 61 years) with
      preoperatively suspected thoracic aorta neoplastic invasion, who were operated on
      after positioning of an endograft and underwent en bloc tumor resection including
      the aortic wall. RESULTS: All but one cancer were non-small cell lung carcinomas;
      4 patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and 7 received adjuvant therapy.
      Aortic endografting was performed 2 to 17 days before resection of the tumor in 7
      patients and as part of a one-stage procedure in 2 patients. The proximal end of
      the stent graft was deployed in the aortic arch (n = 1) or the descending aorta
      (n = 8). Lung resections were left pneumonectomies in 4 patients and left lower
      lobectomies in 5. Five patients underwent additional buttressing of the aortic
      defect using a synthetic patch (n = 2) or the omentum (n = 3). No cardiopulmonary
      bypass was required. At the last follow-up, 3 patients had evidence of tumor
      recurrence (one local and two distant). No endograft-related complications were
      detected. CONCLUSIONS: Thoracic aortic endografting allowed safe en bloc
      resection of tumors invading the aortic wall, avoiding the need for
      extracorporeal circulatory support. Such an extended indication for thoracic
      aortic endografts seems promising and should be considered for selected oncologic
      cases.

PMID- 25827674
TI  - Multiinstitutional analysis of single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic
      anatomical resection for primary lung cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Multiinstitutional analysis of single-port video-assisted thoracic
      surgery (VATS) for anatomic pulmonary resection is rare. This study aimed to
      address the technical feasibility and applicability of single-port video-assisted
      anatomical resection for primary lung cancer. METHODS: A total of 121 patients
      with primary lung cancer undergoing single-port video-assisted anatomical
      resection between 2011 and 2014 in 4 hospitals were included. The
      clinicopathologic variables and perioperative outcomes were collected and
      analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Single-port VATS segmentectomies and
      lobectomies were performed in 24 (19.8%) and 97 (80.2%) patients, respectively.
      One hundred seven of 121 (88.4%) patients had adenocarcinoma and 93 of 121
      (76.9%) had pathologic stage I lung cancer. The average operative time and
      estimated blood loss was 198.8 +/- 65.4 minutes and 99.1 +/- 147.6 mL,
      respectively. The conversion and complication rates were 2.5% (3 of 121 cases)
      and 14.0% (17 of 121 cases), respectively. There was no surgical mortality, and
      the average length of hospital stay was 6.6 +/- 2.6 days. The mean resected lymph
      node was 22.6 +/- 12.0. We also identified patient age of 60 years or more, male
      sex, and tumor size greater than 3 cm as unfavorable perioperative outcome
      predictors after single-port video-assisted anatomical pulmonary resection.
      CONCLUSIONS: This first multiinstitutional single-port VATS study demonstrated
      that anatomical resection for primary lung cancer can be safely and effectively
      completed through a single-port VATS approach in hospitals experienced in VATS
      techniques.

PMID- 25827675
TI  - Effects of extended pleurectomy and decortication on quality of life and
      pulmonary function in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Maximal cytoreductive surgeries--extrapleural pneumonectomy and
      extended pleurectomy and decortication (EPD)--are effective surgical treatments
      in selected patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. Extended pleurectomy
      and decortication results in equivalent survival yet better health-related
      quality of life (HRQoL). METHODS: Patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma
      were studied for the effects of EPD on HRQoL and pulmonary function. The European
      Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life
      Questionaire-C30 was used to evaluate HRQoL before operation, and at 4 to 5 and 7
      to 8 months postoperatively. Pulmonary function tests were measured immediately
      before and 5 to 7 months after the operation. Patients were compared according to
      World Health Organization baseline performance status (PS). RESULTS: Of the 36
      patients enrolled, 17 were PS 0 and 19 were PS 1 or PS 2 at baseline. Patients in
      groups PS 1 and PS 2 had significantly worse global health, functional, and
      symptoms scores. After EPD, PS 0 patients had no change in global health or
      function and symptoms scores except for emotional function, whereas PS 1 or PS 2
      patients showed improvements at 4 to 5 months with further improvements at 7 to 8
      months. The PS 0 patients demonstrated a significant decrease in forced vital
      capacity (p = 0.001), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (p = 0.002), total
      lung capacity (p = 0.0006) and diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide
      (p = 0.003) after EPD, whereas no change was observed in PS 1 and PS 2 patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: Extended pleurectomy and decortication did not improve overall HRQoL
      and had a negative impact in pulmonary function in minimally symptomatic
      patients. In symptomatic patients, a significant improvement in HRQoL was
      observed after EPD, which continued at late follow-up, although the pulmonary
      function was not affected. As changes in HRQoL are multidimensional, the
      preservation of the pulmonary function may have contributed to the net benefit
      observed in PS 1 and PS 2 patients.

PMID- 25827676
TI  - Pulmonary retransplantation in the Nordic countries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The increasing demand for pulmonary retransplantation (re-LTx) raises
      ethical issues on the correct allocation of the scarce donor pool. Thus, we
      performed a thorough review of the current results for re-LTx in the Nordic
      countries. METHODS: Seventy-five patients with a median age of 50 years (range,
      22 to 64 years) underwent re-LTx from 1992 until June 2013, of which 53 had
      single re-LTx, 21 had double re-LTx, and 1 patient underwent a heart-lung
      retransplantation. Primary graft dysfunction (PGD) was the primary indication in
      9 cases, bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) in 62 cases, and airway
      complications in 4 cases. RESULTS: Patients who underwent re-LTx in the period
      1992 to 1999 (n = 16) had a 1-year survival of 37.5% (95% confidence interval
      [CI], 19.9 to 70.6), whereas patients who underwent re-LTx in the period 2000 to
      2013 (n = 64) had a 1-year survival of 81.0% (95% CI, 71.5 to 91.8).
      Corresponding 5-year survival was 25.0% (95% CI, 10.7 to 58.4) in the early era
      group (1992 to 1999) and 57.2% (95% CI, 44.3 to 73.7) in the more recent era
      group (2000 to 2013; p = 0.0151). Patients with BOS who underwent re-LTx in the
      period 1992 to 1999 (n = 13) had a 1-year survival of 38.5% (95% CI, 19.3 to
      76.5), whereas patients with BOS who underwent re-LTx in the period 2000 to 2013
      (n = 49) had a 1-year survival of 85.4% (95% CI, 75.9 to 96.0). Corresponding 5
      year survival was 23.1% (95% CI, 8.6 to 62.3) in the early era group (1992 to
      1999) and 56.1% (95% CI, 41.9 to 75.2) in the more recent era group (2000 to
      2013; p = 0.0199). The cumulative incidence among patients who underwent re-LTx
      because of BOS and developed BOS again after re-LTX was analyzed. The cumulative
      incidence curves for time periods 1992 to 1999 and 2000 to 2013 are not
      statistically different for repeat BOS (p = 0.5087), but they are highly
      significant for time periods among patients who died (p = 0.02381). CONCLUSIONS:
      Results for re-LTx have improved over time, especially when BOS is the primary
      indication. The cumulative incidence among patients who underwent re-LTx because
      of BOS and developed repeat BOS after re-LTX showed equal risk between 1992 to
      1999 and 2000 to 2013 in the aspect of developing repeat BOS, but in the later
      era the patients had a significantly higher chance of surviving.

PMID- 25827677
TI  - Transfemoral and perventricular device occlusions and surgical repair for doubly
      committed subarterial ventricular septal defects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transfemoral and perventricular device occlusions are performed for
      doubly committed subarterial ventricular septal defect (dcVSD) to reduce the
      invasiveness of the conventional surgical repair through a median sternotomy. Few
      comparative studies have been conducted of these three procedures. METHODS:
      Inpatients with isolated dcVSD who had undergone transfemoral and perventricular
      device occlusions or conventional surgical repair from January 2009 to June 2013
      were reviewed to compare the three procedures. RESULTS: Procedure success was
      achieved in 33 transfemoral (66%), in 74 perventricular (94.9%), and in 205
      repair (97.6%) procedures. The transfemoral group had the lowest success rate (p
      < 0.001), whereas the perventricular and repair groups had similar success rates
      (p = 0.418). Transfemoral patients were the oldest (p < 0.001) and had a dcVSD
      size similar to that of patients in other two groups (p = 0.518). The repair
      group required the longest hospitalization and longest stays in the intensive
      care unit (p < 0.001), required the longest operating room and mechanical
      ventilation times (p < 0.001), and had the highest rate of transfusion (p <
      0.001). Major adverse events occurred in one transfemoral (3%), in two
      perventricular (2.7%), and in three repair (1.4%) procedures. Minor adverse
      events were absent in transfemoral (0%) and occurred in three perventricular (4%)
      and 14 repair (6.7%) procedures. No significant difference was noted in the rates
      of adverse events the three groups (p = 0.569). No grade 3 valvular regurgitation
      or complete atrioventricular block was observed in the studied patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: Device occlusion may be an alternative to surgical repair in
      selected patients with dcVSD. Perventricular occlusion was the preferred approach
      because it showed a higher success rate than transfemoral occlusion.

PMID- 25827678
TI  - Prognostic Significance of Aberrant Methylation of Solute Carrier Gene Family 5A8
      in Lung Adenocarcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Solute carrier family 5 member A8 (SLC5A8) is a sodium-coupled
      transporter for several chemicals. The SLC5A8 gene has been reported to function
      as a tumor suppressor gene that contributes to carcinogenesis and tumor
      progression. The expression of SLC5A8 is silenced in colon neoplasia by
      hypermethylation of CpG-rich islands located in exon 1. In this study, we
      assessed the significance of aberrant methylation of the SLC5A8 gene as a
      prognostic factor for lung adenocarcinoma (AD). METHODS: We analyzed the
      methylation levels of a consecutive series of 143 node-negative stage I and II
      lung AD samples using pyrosequencing. RESULTS: The methylation level of exon 1 in
      the SLC5A8 gene was significantly associated with poor prognosis in cases of node
      negative stage I and II lung AD. CONCLUSIONS: Gene silencing of SLC5A8 by
      hypermethylation was associated with poor prognosis in cases of node-negative
      stage I and II lung AD.

PMID- 25827679
TI  - Spinal cord ischemia after selective cerebral perfusion in a porcine "frozen
      elephant trunk" simulation model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The "frozen elephant trunk" procedure (FET) represents the therapy of
      choice for extended aortic diseases. The aim of our study was to analyze whether
      90 minutes of selective cerebral perfusion (SCP) at 28  degrees C followed by
      permanent occlusion of the thoracic segmental arteries (TSA) would cause spinal
      cord ischemia in a porcine model. METHODS: 14 pigs (41 +/- 3 kg) were cooled on
      CPB to 28  degrees C. After aortic clamping, SCP was established for 90 minutes.
      Randomly, in 7 animals the TSA were clipped (T4-T13); the TSA of 7 animals
      remained untouched. After the animals were weaned from CPB, hemodynamic data were
      registered for 120 minutes. Regional spinal cord blood flow (SCBF) was
      calculated, and motor-evoked potentials (MEP) were assessed at 6 time points.
      After sacrifice of the animals, the spinal cord was analyzed histologically by
      use of a schematic grading system (0 = normal; 8 = total necrosis). RESULTS:
      During SCP the SCBF was maintained at baseline (5.9 +/- 2.4 mL/min/100 g) in the
      T4-T13 region but showed a decrease (from 8.4 +/- 4.3 to 1.3 +/- 1.5 mL/min/100
      g) in the L1-L5 region. During reperfusion it increased, with two to three times
      higher values in the nonclipped animals. After 90 minutes of SCP, the MEP reached
      lower levels in the L1-L5 region of the TSA-clipped animals: 59% +/- 7% vs 84 +/-
      15% (vastus medialis muscle) and 48% +/- 6% vs 82% +/- 26% (tibialis anterior
      muscle). The MEP recovered only in the nonclipped group. Higher ischemia rates
      were seen in the L1-L5 region of the TSA-clipped animals (score: 6.0 +/- 0.6 vs
      2.5 +/- 2.3). CONCLUSIONS: 90 minutes of SCP provided sufficient spinal cord
      protection during arch replacement at 28  degrees C. In combination with
      permanent TSA occlusion, the lumbar spinal cord perfusion may be altered, which
      causes functional and structural damage.

PMID- 25827680
TI  - Evaluation of an inertial sensor system for analysis of timed-up-and-go under
      dual-task demands.
AB  - Functional tests, such as the timed-up-and-go (TUG), are routinely used to screen
      for mobility issues and fall risk. While the TUG is easy to administer and
      evaluate, its single time-to-completion outcome may not discriminate between
      different mobility challenges. Wearable sensors provide an opportunity to collect
      a variety of additional variables during clinical tests. The purpose of this
      study was to assess a new wearable inertial sensor system (iTUG) by investigating
      the effects of cognitive tasks in a dual-task paradigm on spatiotemporal and
      kinematic variables during the TUG. No previous studies have looked at both
      spatiotemporal variables and kinematics during dual-task TUG tests. 20 healthy
      young participants (10 males) performed a total 15 TUG trials with two different
      cognitive tasks and a normal control condition. Total time, along with
      spatiotemporal gait parameters and kinematics for all TUG subtasks (sit-to-stand,
      walking, turn, turn-to-sit), were measured using the inertial sensors. Time-to
      completion from iTUG was highly correlated with concurrent manual timing.
      Spatiotemporal variables during walking showed expected differences between
      control and cognitive dual-tasks while trunk kinematics appeared to show more
      sensitivity to dual-tasks than reported previously in straight line walking. Non
      walking TUG subtasks showed only minor changes during dual-task conditions
      indicating a possible attentional shift away from the cognitive task. Stride
      length and some variability measures were significantly different between the two
      cognitive tasks suggesting an ability to discriminate between tasks. Overall, the
      use of the iTUG system allows the collection of both traditional and potentially
      more discriminatory variables with a protocol that is easily used in a clinical
      setting. 

PMID- 25827681
TI  - Kinematic and kinetic comparison of barefoot and shod running in mid/forefoot and
      rearfoot strike runners.
AB  - Barefoot running has been associated with decreased stride length and switching
      from a rearfoot strike (RFS) pattern to a mid/forefoot strike (M/FFS) pattern.
      However, some individuals naturally contact the ground on their mid/forefoot,
      even when wearing cushioned running shoes. The purpose of this study was to
      determine if the mechanics of barefoot running by natural shod RFS runners
      differed from natural shod M/FFS runners. Twenty habitually shod runners (ten
      natural M/FFS and ten natural RFS) participated in this study. Three-dimensional
      motion analysis and ground reaction force data were captured as subjects ran at
      their preferred running speed in both barefoot and shod conditions. M/FFS
      experienced only a decrease in stride length when switching from shod to barefoot
      running. Whereas, when switching from shod to barefoot running, RFS individuals
      experienced a decrease in stride length, switched to a plantarflexed position at
      ground contact and saw reduced impact peak magnitudes. These results suggest that
      when barefoot, the RFS group ran similar to the M/FFS group running barefoot or
      shod. 

PMID- 25827682
TI  - TGFbeta1 inhibits IFNgamma-mediated microglia activation and protects mDA neurons
      from IFNgamma-driven neurotoxicity.
AB  - Microglia-mediated neuroinflammation has been reported as a common feature of
      familial and sporadic forms of Parkinson's disease (PD), and a growing body of
      evidence indicates that onset and progression of PD correlates with the extent of
      neuroinflammatory responses involving Interferon gamma (IFNgamma). Transforming
      growth factor beta1 (TGFbeta1) has been shown to be a major player in the
      regulation of microglia activation states and functions and, thus, might be a
      potential therapeutic agent by shaping microglial activation phenotypes during
      the course of neurodegenerative diseases such as PD. In this study, we
      demonstrate that TGFbeta1 is able to block IFNgamma-induced microglia activation
      by attenuating STAT1 phosphorylation and IFNgammaRalpha expression. Moreover, we
      identified a set of genes involved in microglial IFNgamma signaling transduction
      that were significantly down-regulated upon TGFbeta1 treatment, resulting in
      decreased sensitivity of microglia toward IFNgamma stimuli. Interestingly, genes
      mediating negative regulation of IFNgamma signaling, such as SOCS2 and SOCS6,
      were up-regulated after TGFbeta1 treatment. Finally, we demonstrate that TGFbeta1
      is capable of protecting midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons from IFNgamma-driven
      neurotoxicity in mixed neuron-glia cultures derived from embryonic day 14 (E14)
      midbrain tissue. Together, these data underline the importance of TGFbeta1 as a
      key immunoregulatory factor for microglia by silencing IFNgamma-mediated
      microglia activation and, thereby, rescuing mDA neurons from IFNgamma-induced
      neurotoxicity. Interferon gamma (IFNgamma) is a potent pro-inflammatory factor
      that triggers the activation of microglia and the subsequent release of
      neurotoxic factors. Transforming growth factor beta1 (TGFbeta1) is able to
      inhibit the IFNgamma-mediated activation of microglia, which is characterized by
      the release of nitric oxide (NO) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha). By
      decreasing the expression of IFNgamma-induced genes as well as the signaling
      receptor IFNgammaR1, TGFbeta1 reduces the responsiveness of microglia towards
      IFNgamma. In mixed neuron-glia cultures, TGFbeta1 protects midbrain dopaminergic
      (mDA) neurons from IFNgamma-induced neurotoxicity. 

PMID- 25827683
TI  - Measurement of body composition should become routine in nutritional assessment
      of children with cerebral palsy.

PMID- 25827684
TI  - Assessment of toxicity and coagulopathy of brodifacoum in Japanese quail and
      testing in wild owls.
AB  - Based on detection of hepatic residues, scavenging and predatory non-target
      raptors are widely exposed to second generation anticoagulant rodenticides
      (SGARs). A small proportion, generally <10%, of tested birds are diagnosed as
      acutely poisoned. Little is known, however, of sub-lethal effects of SGARs, such
      as interaction of clotting capacity with traumatic injury. Assessment of
      coagulation function of birds submitted live to wildlife rehabilitators or
      veterinarians may provide a means of establishing the proportion of animals
      suffering sub-lethal coagulopathies, as well as identifying individuals requiring
      treatment. As a first step in exploring the potential of this approach, we dosed
      Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) with the SGAR, brodifacoum, at 0, 0.8, 1.4,
      1.9, and 2.5 mg/kg and sampled birds at 1, 3, 5 and 7 days post-dosing.
      Prothrombin time (PT), which measures the extrinsic coagulation pathway, was
      significantly prolonged in 98% of brodifacoum-exposed quail in a dose- and time
      dependent manner. 50-fold prolongation of PT occurred at higher brodifacoum
      dosages and correlated to hemorrhage found at necropsy. Activated clotting time
      (ACT), a measure of the intrinsic pathway also increased with dose and time.
      Hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Hct) decreased dose- and time-dependently at
      doses >=1.4 mg/kg with no significant change at 0.8 mg/kg. Reference intervals
      for PT (10.0-16.2 s), ACT (30-180 s), Hb (9.6-18.4 g/dl), and Hct (34-55%) were
      established in Japanese quail. Species-specific reference intervals are required
      as barn owl PT (17-29 s) and quail PT were different. The proportion of
      brodifacoum-exposed quail with hemorrhage was not correlated with liver residues,
      but was correlated with PT, suggesting that this assay is a useful indicator of
      avian anticoagulant rodenticide exposure. PTs measured in free-living barn owls
      sampled between April 2009 and August 2010 in the lower Fraser Valley of BC do
      not suggest significant exposure to SGARs.

PMID- 25827685
TI  - Risk of recurrent ischaemic events after myocardial infarction in long-distance
      ski race participants.
AB  - AIMS: To study whether a high level of physical activity prior to myocardial
      infarction (MI) also protects against recurrent MI (re-MI) or death. METHODS AND
      RESULTS: A longitudinal study of a primary cohort consisting of 204,038 skiers
      with a proved substantially high level of physical activity in the world's
      largest long-distance ski race, Vasaloppet, and 499,543 non-skiers selected from
      the Swedish population. Individuals with severe diseases at baseline were
      excluded. In the nationwide clinical register, Swedeheart, we identified 7092
      individuals with a first MI incident between 1989 and 2010. Of these, 1039 (0.5%)
      were skiers and 6053 (1.2%) were non-skiers. One hundred and sixty-three (15.7%)
      skiers and 1352 (22.3%) non-skiers suffered a re-MI or died during follow-up
      (median 4.44 years), corresponding to an incidence rate of 38.9 (95% confidence
      interval (CI) 33.2-45.4)/1000 person-years and 55.6 (95% CI 52.7-58.7)/1000
      person-years, respectively. Severity of MI in both groups was the same. For
      skiers compared to non-skiers the unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) for re-MI was 0.66
      (95% CI 0.52-0.82). For death or re-MI, HR was 0.70 (95% CI 0.59-0.82) with
      consistent results in subgroups based on race year, age, gender, education level,
      marital status. After adjustment for also smoking, diabetes, hypertension and
      cardiovascular medication, HR was 0.80 (95% CI 0.67-0.97). CONCLUSIONS: This
      large cohort study supports the hypothesis that patients with MI and with prior
      physical activity and healthy lifestyle, as evidenced by their participation in a
      long-distance ski race, have a lower risk of subsequent re-MI or death.

PMID- 25827686
TI  - Comparison of application of different methods to estimate lifetime
      cardiovascular risk.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent guidelines recommend assessment of lifetime cardiovascular
      risk on the basis of traditional risk factors in adults who are not at high short
      term risk. The aim of this study is to determine the implications of estimating
      the lifetime cardiovascular risk in individuals in a large occupational cohort in
      Spain. DESIGN: National cross-sectional study in an occupational cohort with an
      in-person interview including laboratory tests. METHODS: Volunteer workers who
      were examined between January 2011 and December 2011 were included. A total of
      580,236 workers were eligible during this year and 259,834 were examined
      (participation rate of 44.7%). Short-term (10-year) and lifetime cardiovascular
      risk were estimated using the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the
      American Heart Association (AHA) tool and the QRISK2 and QRISK. RESULTS: Sixty
      eight per cent were male, mean age was 39 years, with an age range of 16 to 75
      years. Total number of individuals included in this study was 258,676. The
      percentage of patients at high short-term risk was 6.85% (95% confidence interval
      (CI) 6.75%-6.95% and 20.83% (95% CI 20.60%-21.07%) with the QRISK2, and the
      ACC/AHA risk equations, respectively. Of the percentage of patients classified as
      not at high risk with the different tools 1.61% (95% CI 1.55%-1.66%) were high
      lifetime risk on QRISK, and 27.41% (95% CI 27.11%-27.70%) on ACC/AHA risk.
      CONCLUSIONS: Application of lifetime cardiovascular risk engages greater numbers
      of individuals at high risk with substantial differences between the different
      methods available. These differences can have important clinical implications
      specifically in the percentage of candidates for lifestyle changes and eventually
      lipid lowering drugs.

PMID- 25827687
TI  - Impact of Transcollation technology in thoracic surgery: a retrospective study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This is a retrospective study to evaluate the effectiveness of
      Transcollation technology (TT) in reducing blood loss and improving the
      postoperative outcome in patients with severe pleural-parenchymal adhesions who
      underwent major lung resection. METHODS: Between November 2010 and February 2012,
      TT was used to perform lysis of adhesions and dissection in 110 patients (TT
      Group) who underwent major lung resections via thoracotomy. Conventional
      electrocoagulation was used in 129 patients (EC Group). Operative time, daily
      drainage amount at 24, 48 and 72 h, pre- and postoperative haemoglobin levels,
      need for blood transfusion, intra- and postoperative air leaks and duration of
      chest tube placement and hospital stay were analysed. RESULTS: No adverse events
      related to the TT system occurred, including reoperation for bleeding. The mean
      operating time was 95.2 +/- 35.4 min in the TT Group versus 117.1 +/- 73.4 min in
      the EC Group (P = 0.017). The mean postoperative haemoglobin level was 12.3 +/-
      3.9 g/dl versus the preoperative level of 13.8 +/- 2.2 g/dl in the TT Group (P =
      0.154) and 9.6 +/- 2.8 vs 13.2 +/- 2.1 g/dl in the EC Group (P = 0.001). Only 2
      patients (1.8%) received postoperative blood transfusion in the TT Group vs 19
      patients (14.7%) in the EC Group (P = 0.001). Intraoperative and postoperative
      (24 h) air leak rates were 4.7% (n = 5) and 2.8% (n = 3) in the TT Group vs 13.9%
      (n = 18) and 12.4% (n = 16) in the EC Group (P = 0.001), respectively. The mean
      duration of chest tube placement was shorter in the TT Group (4.7 +/- 0.8 vs 6.8
      +/- 1.1 days, P = 0.013), as well as the mean hospital stay (5.3 +/- 1.9 vs 7.5
      +/- 0.3 days, P = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: The use of TT seems to reduce haemorrhage
      occurrence and postoperative hospital stay after major lung resection in patients
      with severe pleural-parenchymal adhesions.

PMID- 25827688
TI  - New parameter of the right gastroepiploic arterial graft using the power spectral
      analysis device named MemCalc soft.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Transit-time flow measurement (TTFM) parameters such as mean graft
      flow (MGF, ml/min), pulsatility index (PI) and diastolic filling (DF, %) have
      been extensively researched for internal mammary arterial or saphenous vein
      grafts. In our experience of using the right gastroepiploic arterial (GEA) graft
      for right coronary artery (RCA) grafting, we observed unique GEA graft flow
      waveforms. We analysed the GEA graft flow waveforms for their effectiveness in
      determining GEA graft patency by power spectral analysis. METHODS: Forty-five
      patients underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass using the GEA graft for RCA
      grafting individually. The means of intraoperative MGF, PI and DF were compared
      between patent and non-patent grafts, postoperatively. Furthermore, the GEA flow
      data were output and analysed using power spectral analysis. RESULTS: Forty
      grafts were 'patent' and five were 'non-patent'. There were no significant
      differences in the mean TTFM parameters between the patent and non-patent grafts
      (MGF: 22 vs 8 ml/min, respectively, P = 0.068; PI: 3.5 vs 6.5, respectively, P =
      0.155; DF: 63 vs 53%, respectively, P = 0.237). Results of the power spectral
      analysis presented clear differences; the power spectral density (PSD) of patent
      grafts presented high peaks at frequency levels of 1, 2 and 3 Hz, and the non
      patent graft PSD presented high peaks that were not limited to these frequencies.
      The PSD had a sensitivity and specificity of 80 and 87.5%, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: Power spectral analysis of the GEA graft flow is useful to
      distinguish between non-patent and patent grafts intraoperatively. This should be
      used as a fourth parameter along with MGF, PI and DF.

PMID- 25827689
TI  - Urban metabolism: Measuring the city's contribution to sustainable development.
AB  - Urban metabolism refers to the assessment of the amount of resources produced and
      consumed by urban ecosystems. It has become an important tool to understand how
      the development of one city causes impacts to the local and regional environment
      and to support a more sustainable urban design and planning. Therefore, the
      purpose of this paper was to measure the changes in material and energy use
      occurred in the city of Curitiba (Brazil) between the years of 2000 and 2010.
      Results reveal better living conditions and socioeconomic improvements derived
      from higher resource throughput but without complete disregard to environmental
      issues. Food intake, water consumption and air emissions remained at similar
      levels; energy use, construction materials and recycled waste were increased. The
      paper helps illustrate why it seems more adequate to assess the contribution a
      city makes to sustainable development than to evaluate if one single city is
      sustainable or not. 

PMID- 25827690
TI  - Linking the environmental loads to the fate of PPCPs in Beijing: Considering both
      the treated and untreated wastewater sources.
AB  - The environmental loads of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in
      Beijing were estimated from direct discharge of untreated wastewater and WWTP
      treated effluent. The annual environmental loads of 15 PPCP components ranged
      from 16.3 kg (propranolol) to 9.85 tons (caffeine). A fugacity model was
      developed to successfully estimate the PPCP pollution based on the estimated
      environmental load. The modeled results approximated the observed PPCP
      concentrations in Beijing. The untreated wastewater contributed significantly to
      PPCP pollution in Beijing, ranging from 46% (propranolol) to 99% (caffeine). The
      total environmental burden of target PPCPs ranged from 0.90 kg (propranolol) to
      536 kg (caffeine). Water is the most important media for the fate of PPCPs. Monte
      Carlo-based concentration distributions of PPCPs are consistent with the observed
      results. The most important way to reduce the PPCP pollution is to both improve
      wastewater collection rate and adopt deep treatment technologies. 

PMID- 25827691
TI  - Organochlorine pesticides accumulated by SPMD-based virtual organisms and feral
      fish in Three Gorges Reservoir, China.
AB  - Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) accumulated by semipermeable membrane device
      (SPMD) -based virtual organisms (VOs) and local feral fish were studied in Three
      Gorges Reservoir (TGR), China. VOs were deployed at seven sites in TGR for two
      periods in 2009 and 5 species of fish with different living habitats and feeding
      habits collected in the same periods from two counties in TGR. 28 OCPs were
      analyzed and the concentration and profile of OCPs in fish were quite different
      from those in VOs. The lipid-based concentrations of OCPs in fish ranged from
      225.7 ng/g lw to 1996.4 ng/g lw which were much higher than those in VOs which
      ranged from 17.3 to 112.4 ng/g lw. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) were
      the prevalent OCPs in the investigated fish, while hexachlorobenzene (HCB) was
      the dominant compound in VOs. DDT in the few fish sample analyzed was not of
      concern based on chemical contaminant limits of non-carcinogenic effect. 

PMID- 25827692
TI  - Adsorption of perfluoroalkyl acids by carbonaceous adsorbents: Effect of carbon
      surface chemistry.
AB  - Adsorption by carbonaceous sorbents is among the most feasible processes to
      remove perfluorooctane sulfonic (PFOS) and carboxylic acids (PFOA) from drinking
      and ground waters. However, carbon surface chemistry, which has long been
      recognized essential for dictating performance of such sorbents, has never been
      considered for PFOS and PFOA adsorption. Thus, the role of surface chemistry was
      systematically investigated using sorbents with a wide range in precursor
      material, pore structure, and surface chemistry. Sorbent surface chemistry
      overwhelmed physical properties in controlling the extent of uptake. The
      adsorption affinity was positively correlated carbon surface basicity, suggesting
      that high acid neutralizing or anion exchange capacity was critical for
      substantial uptake of PFOS and PFOA. Carbon polarity or hydrophobicity had
      insignificant impact on the extent of adsorption. Synthetic polymer-based
      Ambersorb and activated carbon fibers were more effective than activated carbon
      made of natural materials in removing PFOS and PFOA from aqueous solutions. 

PMID- 25827694
TI  - Patients' attitudes toward the attire of male physicians: a single-center study
      in Saudi Arabia.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The doctor-patient relationship has been influenced by
      the appearance of physicians, and there is an association between a physician's
      physical appearance and the patients' initial perceptions of physician
      competence. This study aims to explore patients' preferences toward the attire of
      a male physician, and to examine if a physician's choice of uniform influences
      the degree of trust, confidence, and follow-up care among respondents. DESIGN AND
      SETTINGS: A cross-sectional survey conducted among patients of the Alwazarat
      family medicine center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A self
      administered questionnaire was completed by 300 patients (50% were male and 83.6%
      had received a secondary education; the mean age was 33.4 [10.1] years) in the
      Alwazarat family medicine center in Riyadh. The questionnaire was also customized
      for the local setting with the inclusion of photos of a male doctor in Saudi
      Arabian national costume, and 3 other dress styles (Western dress with white
      coat, scrubs with white coat, and scrubs only). RESULTS: Overall, across all
      questions regarding physician dress style preferences, participants significantly
      preferred Western dress (39.9%, P < .001), followed by Saudi national dress
      (26.3%), a scrub suit with a white coat (22.3%), and scrubs only (11.5%).
      Respondents reported that they were more likely to follow medical advice and
      would return for follow-up care if a physician wore Western dress. They were
      significantly more willing to share their social, sexual, and psychological
      problems with a physician wearing Saudi national dress (P < .001). The importance
      of a physician's appearance was ranked significantly higher by older patients
      (P=.002). CONCLUSION: Respondents were more likely to favor a physician wearing
      Western attire with a white coat. However, Saudi national dress, followed by
      Western dress, is the preferred attire when physicians are dealing with social,
      sexual, and psychological problems.

PMID- 25827693
TI  - Myocardial protection and early outcome of different coronary surgical techniques
      for diabetic patients with triple vessels.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: For patients with diabetes and triple-vessel disease,
      coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery is a well-established procedure,
      but cardiopulmonary bypass support may also lead to severe complications to these
      patients. The aim of this study was to compare myocardial protection and early
      outcomes in patients with diabetes and triple-vessel disease following different
      coronary surgical techniques. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: Prospective randomized trial
      of patients treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University
      over a 3-year period (2011- 2013). METHODS: In a single-center randomized trial,
      668 patients with diabetes and triple-vessel disease were randomly assigned to
      off-pump (OPCAB) (number [n]=222), on-pump beating heart (OnP-BH) (n=223), and
      conventional CABG (OnP) (n=223) between January 2011 and October 2013. Myocardial
      injury was assessed by measuring the serial release of cardiac troponin I (cTnI)
      preoperatively, 1 hour, 12 hours, 24 hours, and 72 hours postoperatively. The
      early outcomes were compared among these 3 groups. RESULTS: Preoperative
      characteristics of the patients in all 3 groups were similar. No significant
      difference was found regarding the number of anastomoses, the use of the internal
      thoracic artery, postoperative new-onset atrial fibrillation, hemodialysis,
      stroke, reoperation for bleeding, and infective complications in the 3 groups (P
      > .05). The complete revascularization, postoperative drainage loss, intra-aortic
      balloon pump support, blood requirements, postoperative myocardial infarction,
      pulmonary complications, gastrointestinal complications, inotropic requirements >
      24 hours, ventilation > 24 hours, intensive care unit stay > 24 hours, and in
      hospital stay > 7 days were significantly lower in the OPCAB group than in the
      other 2 groups (P < .05). In-hospital mortality was lower in the OPCAB group than
      in the other 2 groups, but no statistical difference was observed (P > .05).
      Preoperative cTnI in the 3 groups was similar (P > .05); however, the lowest cTnI
      value was noted in the OPCAB group, followed by the OnP group, and it was highest
      in the OnP-BH group 1 hour, 12 hours, 24 hours, and 72 hours postoperatively (P <
      .05). CONCLUSION: OPCAB is superior to the OnP-BH and OnP techniques in terms of
      postoperative complications and myocardial protection in patients with diabetes
      and triple-vessel disease. Myocardial injury in the OnP-BH group was
      significantly higher than that in the OnP group.

PMID- 25827695
TI  - A founder splice site mutation underlies glycogen storage disease type 3 in
      consanguineous Saudi families.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Glycogen storage disease type 3 (GSD III) is an
      autosomal recessive disorder caused by genetic mutations in the gene AGL. AGL
      encodes amylo-a-1, 6-glucosidase, 4-a-glucanotransferase, a glycogen debranching
      enzyme. GSD III is characterized by fasting hypoglycemia, hepatomegaly, growth
      retardation, progressive myopathy, and cardiomyopathy due to storage of
      abnormally structured glycogen in both skeletal and cardiac muscles and/or liver.
      The aim of this study is to detect mutations underlying GSD III in Saudi
      patients. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: A cross-sectional clinical genetic study of 5
      Saudi consanguineous families examined at the metabolic clinic of the Madinah
      Maternity and Children Hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We present a biochemical
      and molecular analysis of 5 consanguineous Saudi families with GSD III. DNA was
      isolated from the peripheral blood of 31 individuals, including 12 patients, and
      the AGL gene was sequenced bidirectionally. DNA sequences were compared with the
      AGL reference sequence from the ensemble genome browser. RESULTS: Genotyping and
      sequence analysis identified a homozygous intronic splice acceptor site mutation
      (IVS32-12A > G) in 4 families perfectly segregating with the phenotype.
      Complementary (c)DNA sequence analysis of the AGL gene revealed an 11-bp sequence
      insertion between exon 32 and exon 33 due to the creation of a new 3' splice
      site. The predicted mutant enzyme was truncated by 112 carboxyl-terminal amino
      acids as a result of premature termination. CONCLUSION: Haplotype analysis
      revealed that the mutation arises as a result of founder effect, not an
      independent event. This is the first report of a genetic mutation in the AGL gene
      from Saudi Arabia. Screening for this mutation can improve genetic counseling and
      prenatal diagnosis of GSD III in Saudi Arabia.

PMID- 25827696
TI  - Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (MERS CoV): case reports from a
      tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome caused by novel
      coronavirus (MERS CoV) has been a major public health challenge since it was
      first described in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. So far, there is no effective treatment
      for this serious illness, which features a high mortality rate. We report an
      initial experience of the use of ribavirin and interferon (IFN)-a2b in the
      management of MERS CoV at a tertiary care hospital. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: A case
      series of 6 patients admitted with a confirmed diagnosis of MERS CoV were treated
      with ribavirin and IFN-a2b in addition to supportive management. The patients'
      demographics, clinical parameters, and outcomes were recorded. Fifty-four close
      contacts of these patients were screened for MERS CoV. METHODS: Six patients with
      MERS CoV infection were included in this study. Four cases featured symptomatic
      disease, including pneumonia and respiratory failure, while 2 were asymptomatic
      close contacts of the MERS CoV patients. The MERS CoV infection was confirmed by
      reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction detection of the consensus viral
      RNA targets upstream of the E gene (UPE) and open reading frame (ORF1b) on a
      sputum sample. The patients' demographics, comorbid conditions, time to diagnosis
      and initiation of treatment, and clinical outcomes were recorded. RESULTS: Three
      out of 6 patients who had comorbid conditions died during the study period, while
      3 had suc.cessful outcomes. The diagnosis and treatment was delayed by an average
      of 15 days in those patients who died. Only 2 close contacts out of the 54
      screened (3.7%) were positive for MERS CoV. CONCLUSION: Treatment with ribavirin
      and IFN-a2b may be effective in patients infected with MERS CoV. There appears to
      be a low infectivity rate among close contacts of MERS CoV patients.

PMID- 25827697
TI  - Presence of HCV RNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells may predict patients
      response to interferon and ribavirin therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is considered a hepatotropic
      virus, but it can repli.cate in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), which
      influence the sustained virological response (SVR) of the patients, as well as
      relapse in successfully treated patients. The main objective of this study was to
      establish the importance of PBMC HCV RNA detection as a primary test to declare
      the patient as a responder, and the secondary objective was to investigate the
      risk of non-SVR or relapse in individuals who showed an end-of-treatment (ETR).
      DESIGN AND SETTINGS: Blood samples were collected after the completion of 6
      months of therapy, and they were collected 6 months after the completion of
      treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total 103 patients infected with the 3a
      genotype of HCV and those who were treated with interferon-a-2b and ribavirin for
      24 weeks were selected. HCV RNA in plasma of at the end of treatment and 6 months
      after the completion of treatment was determined with the help of quantitative
      real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). RESULTS: Of the 103 patients,
      74.8% (number [n]=77) were end-of-treatment responders, while 25.2% (n=26) were
      nonresponders. Seventy-seven responders were tested for HCV RNA in their PBMCs.
      The HCV RNA was detected in the PBMCs of 29 patients (37.7%). After 6 months of
      the end of treatment, 15 (19.5%) of 77 ETR patients showed virological relapse,
      while 62 (80.5%) patients attained SVR. Relapse appeared significantly more often
      in patients with HCV RNA in their PBMCs at the ETR stage when compared to the
      patients who did not have the viral RNA (34.5% versus 10.4%, respectively;
      R2=6.67, P=.01; odds ratio [OR]: 1.3; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.032-1.811).
      CONCLUSION: Patients with HCV RNA in their PBMCs after attaining an ETR are more
      likely to show relapse as compared to patients who are negative for viral RNA in
      PBMCs at the ETR stage.

PMID- 25827698
TI  - Polymorphisms of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 gene and C
      reactive protein profiles in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) and
      interleukin (IL)-6 gene polymorphism has a controversial role in the pathogenesis
      of cardiovascular disease among different populations. The effect of the
      cytokine's gene polymorphism on idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) is still
      unresolved. The current study aimed to evaluate the association of the TNF-a -308
      G/A and IL-6 -174 G/C polymorphism with IDCM in a Pakistani population. DESIGN
      AND SETTINGS: Blood samples for this case-control study were collected from the
      cardiology out.patient department of multiple cardiology centers of
      Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Pakistan, between July 2012 and December 2012. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: IDCM cases (number [n]=250) and healthy controls (n=300) were genotyped
      using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism.
      RESULTS: The TNF-a -308 variant genotypes GA and AA were more prevalent in
      patients compared with the control group (P < .0001). Similarly, the IL-6 -174
      variant genotypes GC and CC showed a high prevalence in patients with IDCM
      compared with healthy controls (P=.0019). IDCM cases had a higher prevalence of
      the TNFa-308A (P < .0001) and the IL-6 -174C (P=.0008) mutant alleles than did
      the control group. The IDCM cases bearing the TNF-a-308 and IL-6 variant
      genotypes revealed elevated levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs
      CRP) when compared with the corresponding controls (P < .05). CONCLUSION: The TNF
      a -308 G/A and IL-6 -174 G/C gene polymorphisms and high levels of hs-CRP may be
      associated with the pathogenesis of IDCM in the study population.

PMID- 25827699
TI  - Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia in Saudi Arabia: a
      single-center experience with long-term follow-up.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Arrhythmogenic right ventricular
      cardiomyopathy/dysplasia (ARVC/D) is a rare genetic disorder that primarily
      involves the right ventricle (RV). It is characterized by progressive replacement
      of RV myocardium by fibrofatty tissues. It commonly presents with ventricular
      tachycardia (VT) of RV origin and may result in RV failure. The aim of this study
      is to evaluate the clinical characteristics of adult patients with ARVC/D treated
      at the Heart Centre, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre
      (KFSH&RC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: This is a retrospective
      study of patients with ARVC/D diagnosed and treated at the KFSH&RC Heart Centre
      in Riyadh. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-two cases with ARVC/D with regular follow
      up at our Heart Centre from January 2007 to May 2010 were included in this study.
      The diagnosis of ARVC/D was made according to the revised International Task
      Force Criteria. The clinical data were collected from patients' charts and
      electronic medical records. RESULTS: The majority of patients were males (18;
      82%). The diagnosis of ARVC/D was definite in 18 patients (82%), borderline in 2
      (9%), and possible in 2 (9%). The mean age at diagnosis was 33.3 years. The
      follow-up period ranged from 29 to 132 months, with a mean follow-up period of 84
      months. Ten patients presented with sustained VT, and 3 were survivors of cardiac
      arrest. Electrocardiogram abnormalities were present in 16/22 patients (72.7%).
      Echocardiographic changes meeting major diagnostic criteria were seen in 16
      patients (76%). Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 11 patients,
      and showed changes compatible with major diagnostic criteria in 7 patients (64%).
      Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) were implanted in 17 patients; 8
      had appropriate ICD shocks and 5 had inappropriate ICD shocks. Antitachycardia
      pacing was effective in terminating most of the VT/ventricular fibrillation
      episodes. CONCLUSION: ARVC/D is a rare but increasingly recognized heart muscle
      disease seen in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world. It is associated with
      a highly nonspecific presentation. VT of RV origin is a common presentation for
      this disease. Antiarrhythmic medications and ICD implantation are the main
      management options.

PMID- 25827700
TI  - Designing an autoverification system in Zagazig University Hospitals
      Laboratories: preliminary evaluation on thyroid function profile.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The current practice in Zagazig University Hospitals
      Laboratories (ZUHL) is manual verification of all results for the later release
      of reports. These processes are time consuming and tedious, with large inter
      individual variation that slows the turnaround time (TAT). Autoverification is
      the process of comparing patient results, generated from interfaced instruments,
      against laboratory-defined acceptance parameters. This study describes an
      autoverification engine designed and implemented in ZUHL, Egypt. DESIGN AND
      SETTINGS: A descriptive study conducted at ZUHL, from January 2012-December 2013.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A rule-based system was used in designing an
      autoverification engine. The engine was preliminarily evaluated on a thyroid
      function panel. A total of 563 rules were written and tested on 563 simulated
      cases and 1673 archived cases. The engine decisions were compared to that of 4
      independent expert reviewers. The impact of engine implementation on TAT was
      evaluated. RESULTS: Agreement was achieved among the 4 reviewers in 55.5% of
      cases, and with the engine in 51.5% of cases. The autoverification rate for
      archived cases was 63.8%. Reported lab TAT was reduced by 34.9%, and TAT segment
      from the completion of analysis to verification was reduced by 61.8%. CONCLUSION:
      The developed rule-based autoverification system has a verification rate
      comparable to that of the commercially available software. However, the in-house
      development of this system had saved the hospital the cost of commercially
      available ones. The implementation of the system shortened the TAT and minimized
      the number of samples that needed staff revision, which enabled laboratory staff
      to devote more time and effort to handle problematic test results and to improve
      patient care quality.

PMID- 25827701
TI  - A written consent form dating back to 1524 in Bursa Ser'iye (Sharia Court)
      records and a proposal of a new start date for consent forms.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Qadi registers are important documents for Ottoman
      medical history re.search. "Sharia Court Records (Ser'iyye Sicilleri)" are
      notebooks that include the records that qadis kept with regard to their decisions
      and deeds. These registers are the only authentic sources from which to acquire
      information on rural life, away from the center of the town, and to understand
      the daily practices of the Ottoman society. The objective of this study is to
      provide evidence for the fact that the concept of informed consent on medical
      interventions, and hence the written consent documents arranged between patients
      and physicians, dates back to older times in our history when compared to the
      Western world. DESIGN AND SETTING: A large number of Ser'iyye (Sharia Court)
      record originals have been surveyed. The consent form registered as A-40. 221a in
      Ser'iyye (Sharia Court) Records found in Bursa has been presented here as the
      earliest consent document found by the authors. Transcription of the original
      document has been performed and analyzed. The aforementioned consent form dates
      back to 26/Dhu al-Qi'dah/933 (August 24, 1524). METHODS: The original version of
      the referenced consent document is the earliest consent document presented so far
      to the best of the authors' knowledge; it was found in Bursa Ser'iyye Records and
      evaluated accordingly. RESULTS: Based on the document, it is argued that the
      history of consent forms dates back about 500 years. CONCLUSION: Obtaining
      consent in scientific research from human beings was considered to have
      originated from the Nuremberg Code (1949). However, with this study, it has been
      shown that the concept of informed consent was already present in the Ottoman
      Period, during the 16th century, and that the original consent document dates
      back to 1524, pertaining to a surgical intervention.

PMID- 25827702
TI  - Fatal case of cryptogenic organizing pneumonia associated with everolimus.
AB  - Noninfectious pneumonitis (NIP) has been reported with everolimus; however, the
      majority of the reported cases were mild to moderate. We report a fatal case of
      cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP) in a 61-year-old man. About 4 weeks after
      starting everolimus, the patient was admitted to the hospital with complaints of
      a 1-week history of progressive dyspnea with exertion and cough. The chest
      radiograph showed bilateral multifocal dense opacities, and he was started on
      antibiotics. However, his respiratory status deteriorated, and he was
      subsequently intubated and transferred to the intensive care unit. Chest computed
      tomography showed bronchocentric consolidation associated with widespread
      bilateral fine reticular opacification. Video-assisted thoracoscopic lung biopsy
      showed noncaseating granulomatous inflammation and features of COP. All cultures
      were negative for bacterial, viral, and fungal infections. Despite discontinuing
      everolimus and initiating corticosteroids, the patient died of progressive
      respiratory failure secondary to COP. 

PMID- 25827703
TI  - A hitherto undescribed case of cerebellar ataxia as the sole presentation of
      thyrotoxicosis in a young man: a plausible association.
AB  - A 16-year-old male presented to hospital following an episode of unusual behavior
      on the football pitch, where he was witnessed as grossly ataxic by his teammates.
      The assessment demonstrated marked cerebellar signs on examination but no other
      neurological deficit. The investigation showed the evidence of biochemical
      thyrotoxicosis with free T4 at 37 pmol/L (normal reference range: 11-27) and
      thyrotropin (TSH) < 0.003 mU/L. Following admission, full investigations
      including computed tomographic brain scan with contrast, lumbar puncture with
      cerebrospinal fluid examination, magnetic resonance imaging, and magnetic
      resonance angiography did not reveal abnormalities. He was initiated on
      carbimazole 40 mg every day. Thyroid ultrasonography revealed a goiter with
      increased blood flow, and his thyroid antibodies showed positive thyroid
      peroxidase antibodies but negative TSH receptor antibodies. Electroencephalogram
      did not reveal any abnormalities. His neurological disability resolved completely
      after his thyroid function normalized. The association of cerebellar syndromes is
      well described with hypothyroidism; however, it is hitherto undescribed with
      thyrotoxicosis. The causal relationship is plausible because alternative
      etiologies were excluded, and the normalization of thyroid function with
      treatment was coupled with complete resolution of the neurological syndrome.
      Cerebellar syndromes may well be one of the presenting features of
      thyrotoxicosis, and this should be in the list of its differential diagnosis.

PMID- 25827704
TI  - Primary fallopian tube carcinoma diagnosed preoperatively by cervical smear.
AB  - Primary fallopian tube carcinoma is a rare clinical entity that constitutes a
      diagnostic challenge in gynecological practice. Patients generally suffer from
      the three symptoms: vaginal bleeding, pelvic pain, and vaginal discharge;
      however, this is usually not sufficient for confirming the diagnosis
      preoperatively in most circumstances. In this case report, we present a 49-year
      old woman whose cervical smear raised a suspicion for fallopian tube carcinoma.
      All preoperative examination measures such as ultrasonography, hysteroscopy, and
      endometrial aspiration were normal. Repeated cervical smears were consistent with
      adenocarcinoma presumably ensourcing from the fallopian tube. The patient
      underwent laparatomy,total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo
      oophorectomy, and pelvic para-aortic lymph node dissection. The primary serous
      papillary adenocarcinoma of the right fallopian tube was detected at the
      histopathological analysis, and the patient was referred for adjuvant
      chemotherapy. Cervical smear findings can be the only clue for the diagnosis of
      fallopian tube carcinoma. 

PMID- 25827705
TI  - Pulmonary epitheloid hemangioendothelioma PET CT findings and review of
      literature.
AB  - We describe a case of pulmonary epitheloid hemangioendothelioma (PEH) in a 13
      years old girl, the aggressive nature of the tumor in this particular case and
      the PET CT findings. PEH are rare tumors of vascular origin, first described by
      Dial and Liebow in 1975. This is an uncommon pulmonary neoplasm, 4 times more
      common in young women. This tumor can affect multiple organs (lung, liver, bones
      and soft tissue, skin, heart, central nervous system). However lung and liver
      represent 2 main locations. Clinical manifestations are variable; typically
      patients are asymptomatic, and PEH is detected on routine chest radiographs as
      bilateral small (1 cm or less) nodules in the lungs Diagnosis usually requires a
      surgical lung biopsy. The prognosis is very unpredictable, with life expectancy
      ranging from 1 to 15 years. The tumor is usually considered as low to
      intermediate grade sarcoma. There is no single effective treatment however
      spontaneous remissions and aggressive behavior has been described. 

PMID- 25827706
TI  - A 72-year-old man presenting with progressive lower limb weakness and
      unconsciousness. Thrombosis of the vein of Galen.

PMID- 25827707
TI  - Acute necrotizing encephalopathy secondary to sepsis.

PMID- 25827709
TI  - Functional analysis of bovine TLR5 and association with IgA responses of cattle
      following systemic immunisation with H7 flagella.
AB  - Flagellin subunits are important inducers of host immune responses through
      activation of TLR5 when extracellular and the inflammasome if cytosolic. Our
      previous work demonstrated that systemic immunization of cattle with flagella
      generates systemic and mucosal IgA responses. The IgA response in mice is TLR5
      dependent and TLR5 can impact on the general magnitude of the adaptive response.
      However, due to sequence differences between bovine and human/murine TLR5
      sequences, it is not clear whether bovine TLR5 (bTLR5) is able to stimulate an
      inflammatory response following interaction with flagellin. To address this we
      have examined the innate responses of both human and bovine cells containing
      bTLR5 to H7 flagellin from E. coli O157:H7. Both HEK293 (human origin) and
      embryonic bovine lung (EBL) cells transfected with bTLR5 responded to addition of
      H7 flagellin compared to non-transfected controls. Responses were significantly
      reduced when mutations were introduced into the TLR5-binding regions of H7
      flagellin, including an R90T substitution. In bovine primary macrophages,
      flagellin-stimulated CXCL8 mRNA and secreted protein levels were significantly
      reduced when TLR5 transcript levels were suppressed by specific siRNAs and
      stimulation was reduced with the R90T-H7 variant. While these results indicate
      that the bTLR5 sequence produces a functional flagellin-recognition receptor,
      cattle immunized with R90T-H7 flagella also demonstrated systemic IgA responses
      to the flagellin in comparison to adjuvant only controls. This presumably either
      reflects our findings that R90T-H7 still activates bTLR5, albeit with reduced
      efficiency compared to WT H7 flagellin, or that other flagellin recognition
      pathways may play a role in this mucosal response. 

PMID- 25827710
TI  - Scatterhoarding rodents favor higher predation risks for cache sites: The
      potential for predators to influence the seed dispersal process.
AB  - Scatterhoarding rodents often place caches in the open where pilferage rates are
      reduced, suggesting that they tradeoff higher risks of predation for more secure
      cache sites. We tested this hypothesis in two study systems by measuring
      predation risks inferred from measures of giving-up densities (GUDs) at known
      cache sites and other sites for comparison. Rodent GUDs were measured with small
      trays containing 3 L of fine sand mixed with sunflower seeds. In the first
      experiment, we relied on a 2-year seed dispersal study in a natural forest to
      identify caches of eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) and then
      measured GUDs at: (i) these caches; (ii) comparable points along logs and rocks
      where rodent activity was assumed highest; and (iii) a set of random points. We
      found that GUDs and, presumably, predation risks, were higher at both cache and
      random points than those with cover. At the second site, we measured GUDs of
      eastern gray squirrels in an open park system and found that GUDs were
      consistently lowest at the base of the tree compared to more open sites, where
      previous studies show caching by squirrels to be highest and pilferage rates by
      naive competitors to be lowest. These results confirm that predation risks can
      influence scatterhoarding decisions but that they are also highly context
      dependent, and that the landscape of fear, now so well documented in the
      literature, could potentially shape the temporal and spatial patterns of seedling
      establishment and forest regeneration in systems where scatterhoarding is common.

PMID- 25827711
TI  - The prevalence of benign breast diseases in patients with nodular goiter and
      Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
AB  - PURPOSE: The evidence regarding association between thyroid disorders and benign
      and malignant breast diseases is increasing. The studies exploring the
      relationship between thyroid and breast diseases usually have focused on thyroid
      autoimmunity and functions in patients with breast pathologies. In this study, we
      aimed to reveal the frequency of benign breast conditions in patients with
      nodular thyroid disease (NTD) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT). METHODS: Seventy
      one women with NTD, ninety-five women with HT and seventy-two healthy people as a
      control group were included in the study. Serum thyroid-stimulating hormone, free
      triiodothyronine, free thyroxine, and thyroid peroxidase autoantibody levels were
      measured, and thyroid and breast ultrasonography were performed by a single
      operator in order to determine thyroid and breast pathology. RESULTS: Benign
      breast diseases were detected in 54.9% of patients with NTD, in 47.4% of those
      with HT, and 29.2% of control group in the study (p < 0.01 for nodular and
      Hashimoto groups versus control group). Simple cyst was found to be the most
      frequent pathology among benign breast diseases; fibrocystic changes, mixed
      lesions, benign solid mass, ductal ectasia, and complex cyst followed it. No
      significant relation was found regarding thyroid function and autoimmunity in
      patients diagnosed with benign breast disease (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The
      results of our study support the association between benign breast diseases and
      thyroid diseases. An important implication of this finding may be demonstration
      of the necessity of scanning for potential breast pathology in women with nodular
      or autoimmune thyroid disease in clinical practice.

PMID- 25827712
TI  - Evaluating lifestyle and health-related characteristics of older adults with co
      occurring depressive symptoms and cardiometabolic abnormalities.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Comorbid depression and cardiometabolic abnormalities might represent
      an important subgroup of depression. The aim of the present study was to evaluate
      lifestyle and health-related characteristics of individuals with both depressive
      symptoms and cardiometabolic abnormalities. METHODS: Data were from the English
      Longitudinal Study of Ageing. The sample was comprised of 5365 adults aged 50-80
      years. High depressive symptoms were based on the eight-item Center for
      Epidemiologic Studies - Depression scale. Cardiometabolic abnormalities were
      defined as having >=3 cardiometabolic risk factors (hypertension, impaired
      glycemic control, systemic inflammation, low high-density lipoprotein
      cholesterol, hypertriglyceridemia, and central obesity). Four groups were created
      based on Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression scores and cardiometabolic
      abnormalities: those with (i) comorbid depressive symptoms and cardiometabolic
      abnormalities (DCM); (ii) depressive symptoms only (DnoCM); (iii) cardiometabolic
      abnormalities only; and (iv) neither depressive symptoms nor cardiometabolic
      abnormalities. Lifestyle and health-related characteristics of the four groups
      were compared using chi-square tests. A modified Poisson regression analysis was
      performed to compare the DCM and the DnoCM groups with respect to lifestyle and
      health-related characteristics. RESULTS: Those in the DCM group were
      significantly less physically active (p = 0.003), had poorer self-rated health (p
      < 0.001), had lower income (p = 0.001), and were more likely to be retired (p <
      0.001) than those in the DnoCM group. The pattern of results remained after
      controlling for other lifestyle and health-related factors. CONCLUSION: These
      results provide support for a cardiometabolic subgroup of depression that is
      associated with physical inactivity, poorer self-rated health, lower income, and
      retirement. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID- 25827714
TI  - The expression profiling and ontology analysis of noncoding RNAs in peritoneal
      fibrosis induced by peritoneal dialysis fluid.
AB  - Increasing amounts of evidence have indicated that noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have
      important regulatory potential in various biological processes. However, the
      contributions of ncRNAs, especially long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), to peritoneal
      fibrosis remain largely unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate miRNA,
      lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles and their potential roles in the process of
      peritoneal fibrosis. Microarray expression profiles of the miRNAs, lncRNAs and
      mRNAs were determined in normal control peritoneum and in a mouse model of
      peritoneal dialysis fluid (PDF)-induced fibrotic peritoneum. Differential
      expression, pathway and gene network analyses were developed to identify possible
      functional RNA molecules in peritoneal fibrosis. Compared to the normal control,
      232 lncRNAs (127 up-regulated and 105 down-regulated), 154 mRNAs (87 up-regulated
      and 67 down-regulated) and 15 miRNAs (14 miRNAs up-regulated and 1 down
      regulated) were differentially expressed in the fibrotic peritoneum. Among the
      differentially expressed ncRNAs, 9 lncRNAs and 5 miRNAs were validated by real
      time RT-PCR. Pathway analysis showed that the Jak-STAT, TGF-beta and MAPK
      signaling pathways had a close relationship with peritoneal fibrosis. Gene co
      expression network analysis identified many genes, including JunB, HSP72, and
      Nedd9. It also identified lncRNAs AK089579, AK080622, and ENSMUST00000053838 and
      miRNAs miR-182 and miR-488. All of these species potentially play a key role in
      peritoneal fibrosis. Our results provide a foundation and an expansive view of
      the roles and mechanisms of ncRNAs in PDF-induced peritoneal fibrosis.

PMID- 25827715
TI  - The identification of novel PMADS3 interacting proteins indicates a role in post
      transcriptional control.
AB  - PMADS3, a known MADS-box transcriptional factor and a C-class gene for floral
      development, plays dual roles in controlling the identity of inner floral organs
      and the termination of flower meristems in petunia. In this study, it was
      confirmed by bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assays that the
      PMADS3 protein can interact individually with E-class proteins FBP2, FBP5, FBP9
      and PMADS12. A yeast two-hybrid cDNA library was screened using the entire PMADS3
      as bait, and this identified further potential interaction candidates. Two novel
      genes, PheIF3f and PhAGO10, were isolated, and suggested to regulate mRNA and
      translational processes according to the analysis of protein functional domains
      and subcellular localization predictions. Notably, the PhAGO10 protein belongs to
      the Argonaute family, members of which are major players in small-RNA-guided gene
      silencing processes via mRNA cleavage or translational inhibition. The results of
      yeast two-hybrid and BiFC assays indicated that PheIF3f and PhAGO10 could
      interact with PMADS3. Our findings indicate that the C-class gene PMADS3
      potentially participates in post-transcriptional control, as well as
      transcriptional regulation.

PMID- 25827713
TI  - Development of a Fluorescent Reporter System to Delineate Cancer Stem Cells in
      Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.
AB  - Advanced cancers display cellular heterogeneity driven by self-renewing,
      tumorigenic cancer stem cells (CSCs). The use of cell lines to model CSCs is
      challenging due to the difficulty of identifying and isolating cell populations
      that possess differences in self-renewal and tumor initiation. To overcome these
      barriers in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), we developed a CSC system using
      a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter for the promoter of the well
      established pluripotency gene NANOG. NANOG-GFP+ cells gave rise to both GFP+ and
      GFP(-) cells, and GFP+ cells possessed increased levels of the embryonic stem
      cell transcription factors NANOG, SOX2, and OCT4 and elevated self-renewal and
      tumor initiation capacities. GFP+ cells also expressed mesenchymal markers and
      demonstrated increased invasion. Compared with the well-established CSC markers
      CD24(-) /CD44(+) , CD49f, and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity, our NANOG
      GFP reporter system demonstrated increased enrichment for CSCs. To explore the
      utility of this system as a screening platform, we performed a flow cytometry
      screen that confirmed increased CSC marker expression in the GFP+ population and
      identified new cell surface markers elevated in TNBC CSCs, including junctional
      adhesion molecule-A (JAM-A). JAM-A was highly expressed in GFP+ cells and patient
      derived xenograft ALDH+ CSCs compared with the GFP(-) and ALDH(-) cells,
      respectively. Depletion of JAM-A compromised self-renewal, whereas JAM-A
      overexpression induced self-renewal in GFP(-) cells. Our data indicate that we
      have defined and developed a robust system to monitor differences between CSCs
      and non-CSCs in TNBC that can be used to identify CSC-specific targets for the
      development of future therapeutic strategies.

PMID- 25827717
TI  - Identification and expression analysis of a Spsb gene in planarian Dugesia
      japonica.
AB  - The SPSB family is comprised of four highly conserved proteins, each containing a
      C-terminal SOCS box motif and a central SPRY domain. Presently, Spsb genes have
      been found in mammals and in a few invertebrates, however, the specific functions
      of these genes are still unknown. In this study, we identified a Spsb gene from
      the planarian Dugesia japonica and termed it DjSpsb. The temporal and spatial
      expression patterns of DjSpsb were examined in both intact and regenerative
      animals, and expression levels were also quantified in response to various
      stressors. The results show that (1) DjSpsb is highly conserved in evolutionary
      history in metazoans and is at closer relationship to Spsb1, Spsb2 and Spsb4; (2)
      DjSpsb mRNA is mainly expressed in the head and also throughout head regeneration
      processes, particularly, its expression up-regulated observably on day 5 after
      amputation; (3) DjSpsb is also expressed in the testes and yolk glands; (4)
      DjSpsb expression is induced by high temperature and ethanol but inhibited by
      high doses of ionic liquids. The date suggests that the DjSpsb gene might be
      active in central nervous system (CNS) formation and functional recovery during
      head regeneration, and it is also involved in the development of germ cells and
      stress responses in the planarians. 

PMID- 25827716
TI  - ChREBP and LXRalpha mediate synergistically lipogenesis induced by glucose in
      porcine adipocytes.
AB  - Glucose is a substrate for fatty acid synthesis, and induces lipogenesis and
      expressions of lipogenic genes. It was proposed that transcriptional factor
      ChREBP, LXRalpha and SREBP-1c are key mediators in lipogenesis induced by
      glucose, however the underlying mechanism remains unclear in porcine adipocytes.
      In this study, glucose stimulated lipogenesis and expressions of ChREBP,
      LXRalpha, SREBP-1c and lipogenic genes FAS and ACC1 in primary porcine
      adipocytes. When ChREBP expression was knocked down by RNAi, lipogenesis and FAS
      and ACC1 expressions decreased significantly, and lipogenesis induced by glucose
      decreased by 75.6%, whereas neither the basal expressions under glucose-free nor
      glucose induced expressions of LXRalpha and SREBP-1c were evidently affected,
      suggesting that ChREBP was a main mediator of lipogenesis stimulated by glucose.
      Glucose promoted LXRalpha gene expression, and activation of LXRalpha by T0901317
      increased SREBP-1c expression and enhanced the stimulation of glucose on
      lipogenesis, but this stimulatory effect of LXRalpha depended on glucose.
      Activated LXRalpha stimulated lipogenesis and ChREBP mRNA expression, which was
      much lower than that elevated by glucose, and was markedly lower in ChREBP
      silencing than in unperturbed adipocytes. SREBP-1c activation blocked by
      fatostatin markedly decreased lipogenesis and expressions of FAS and ACC1 induced
      by glucose. Lipogenesis and lipogenic gene expression stimulated by LXRalpha
      activation were attenuated by fatostatin, however there was still a slightly
      increase in ChREBP-silencing adipocytes. These dates suggested that LXRalpha
      could directly or through SREBP-1c mediate the lipogenesis induced by glucose.
      Together, glucose induced lipogenesis and lipogenic gene expressions directly
      through ChREBP, and directly through LXRalpha or via SREBP-1c.

PMID- 25827718
TI  - Cyclic stretch and compression forces alter microRNA-29 expression of human
      periodontal ligament cells.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRs) play an important role in the development and remodeling of
      tissues through the regulation of large cohorts of extracellular matrix (ECM)
      genes. The purpose of the present study was to determine the response of miR-29
      family expression to loading forces and their effects on ECM gene expression in
      periodontal ligament cells, the key effector cell population during orthodontic
      tooth movement. In a comparison between miRs from human periodontal ligament
      cells (PDLCs) and alveolar bone cells (ABCs) from healthy human subjects, the ABC
      cohort of miRs was substantially greater than the corresponding PDLC cohort.
      Cyclic mechanical stretch forces at 12% deformation at 0.1Hz for 24h decreased
      expression of miR-29 family member miRs about 0.5 fold while 2g/cm(2) compression
      force for 24h increased miR-29 family member expression in PDLCs 1.8-4 folds.
      Cyclic stretch up-regulated major ECM genes in PDLCs, such as COL1A1, COL3A1 and
      COL5A1, while the compression force resulted in a down-regulation of these ECM
      genes. Direct interactions of miR-29 and Col1a1, Col3a1 and Col5a1 were confirmed
      using a dual luciferase reporter gene assay. In addition, transient transfection
      of a miR-29b mimic in mouse PDLCs down-regulated Col1a1, Col3a1 and Col5a1 while
      the transfection of miR-29b inhibitor up-regulated these genes compared to
      control transfection indicating that these target ECM genes directly responded to
      the altered level of miR-29b. These results provided a possible explanation for
      the effects of the miR-29 family on loaded PDLCS and their roles in extracellular
      matrix gene expression. 

PMID- 25827719
TI  - High-resolution melt and morphological analyses of mealybugs (Hemiptera:
      Pseudococcidae) from cacao: tools for the control of Cacao swollen shoot virus
      spread.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mealybugs (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae) are key vectors of
      badnaviruses, including Cacao swollen shoot virus (CSSV), the most damaging virus
      affecting cacao (Theobroma cacao L.). The effectiveness of mealybugs as virus
      vectors is species dependent, and it is therefore vital that CSSV resistance
      breeding programmes in cacao incorporate accurate mealybug identification. In
      this work, the efficacy of a CO1-based DNA barcoding approach to species
      identification was evaluated by screening a range of mealybugs collected from
      cacao in seven countries. RESULTS: Morphologically similar adult females were
      characterised by scanning electron microscopy, and then, following DNA
      extraction, were screened with CO1 barcoding markers. A high degree of CO1
      sequence homology was observed for all 11 individual haplotypes, including those
      accessions from distinct geographical regions. This has allowed the design of a
      high-resolution melt (HRM) assay capable of rapid identification of the commonly
      encountered mealybug pests of cacao. CONCLUSIONS: HRM analysis readily
      differentiated between mealybug pests of cacao that cannot necessarily be
      identified by conventional morphological analysis. This new approach, therefore,
      has potential to facilitate breeding for resistance to CSSV and other mealybug
      transmitted diseases.

PMID- 25827720
TI  - Transport of citrate-coated silver nanoparticles in unsaturated sand.
AB  - Chemical factors and physical constraints lead to coupled effects during particle
      transport in unsaturated porous media. Studies on unsaturated transport as
      typical for soils are currently scarce. In unsaturated porous media, particle
      mobility is determined by the existence of an air-water interface in addition to
      a solid-water interface. To this end, we measured breakthrough curves and
      retention profiles of citrate-coated Ag nanoparticles in unsaturated sand at two
      pH values (5 and 9) and three different flow rates corresponding to different
      water contents with 1 mM KNO3 as background electrolyte. The classical DLVO
      theory suggests unfavorable deposition conditions at the air-water and solid
      water interfaces. The breakthrough curves indicate modification in curve shapes
      and retardation of nanoparticles compared to inert solute. Retention profiles
      show sensitivity to flow rate and pH and this ranged from almost no retention for
      the highest flow rate at pH=9 to almost complete retention for the lowest flow
      rate at pH=5. Modeling of the breakthrough curves, thus, required coupling two
      parallel processes: a kinetically controlled attachment process far from
      equilibrium, responsible for the shape modification, and an equilibrium sorption,
      responsible for particle retardation. The non-equilibrium process and equilibrium
      sorption are suggested to relate to the solid-water and air-water interfaces,
      respectively. This is supported by the DLVO model extended for hydrophobic
      interactions which suggests reversible attachment, characterized by a secondary
      minimum (depth 3-5 kT) and a repulsive barrier at the air-water interface. In
      contrast, the solid-water interface is characterized by a significant repulsive
      barrier and the absence of a secondary minimum suggesting kinetically controlled
      and non-equilibrium interaction. This study provides new insights into particle
      transport in unsaturated porous media and offers a model concept representing the
      relevant processes.

PMID- 25827721
TI  - Studies on chemistry, spectroscopy and antioxidant activities of chromium(III)
      hydrazide complexes.
AB  - Acid hydrazides are vital chemical entities due to their biological activities.
      Upon complexation with certain metal ions, their biological activities are known
      to be positively enhanced. The present work describes the synthesis of Cr(III)
      hydrazide complexes, and their structural, spectroscopic and antioxidant
      properties to reveal their chemistry and biochemistry. Physical (magnetic moment,
      conductivity measurements), analytical (C, H, N and Cr analysis) and spectral (EI
      Mass, FTIR) techniques are used for the characterization of synthesized
      compounds. All Cr(III)-hydrazide complexes exhibit octahedral geometry with
      general formula [Cr(L)2(H2O)2]Cl3. In these complexes, the hydrazide ligands are
      coordinated via carbonyl oxygen and terminal amino nitrogen in a bidentate
      fashion. All Cr(III)-hydrazide complexes were screened for in vitro
      diphenyldipicryl hydrazine (DPPH), superoxide dismutase and nitric oxide radical
      scavenging activities. Majority of the Cr(III)-hydrazide complexes were found to
      be more potent scavengers than their uncoordinated hydrazide ligands. This study
      demonstrates an interesting structure-activity relationship (SAR) which is
      presented here. 

PMID- 25827722
TI  - Phosphorylation-directed assembly of a single quantum dot based nanosensor for
      protein kinase assay.
AB  - Protein kinases play crucial roles in intracellular signal transduction and
      metabolic pathways, and the monitoring of protein kinase activity is essential to
      the understanding of fundamental biochemical processes and the clinical
      diagnosis. Here, we demonstrate the phosphorylation-directed assembly of a single
      quantum dot (QD)-based nanosensor for sensitive detection of cAMP-dependent
      protein kinase (PKA). This assay involves (1) the PKA-directed simultaneous
      phosphorylation and biotinylation of cyanine 5 (Cy5)-labeled substrate peptides,
      (2) the assembly of phosphorylated and biotinylated peptides onto the surface of
      the QD, and (3) the illumination of Cy5 by means of fluorescence resonance energy
      transfer (FRET) between the QD and Cy5. With an adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
      analogue, gamma-biotin-ATP, as the phosphoryl donor, the PKA-catalyzed
      phosphorylation reaction incorporates the biotin-conjugated phosphate group into
      the substrate peptides to form the biotinylated peptides. The biotin entity
      subsequently drives the assembly of peptides onto the surface of streptavidin
      functionalized QD to form the sandwiched Cy5-peptide-QD nanostructure, enabling
      the occurrence of FRET between the QD and Cy5. The FRET signal can be easily
      recorded by either the conventional fluorescence spectrometer or the total
      internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscope. In contrast, the absence of
      PKA cannot lead to the formation of Cy5-peptide-QD complex and no Cy5 signal can
      be detected. This protein kinase-actuated FRET assay is straightforward, without
      the involvement of either washing or separation steps, and has a significant
      advantage of high sensitivity with a detection limit of 9.3 * 10(-6) U/MUL.
      Moreover, this method can be used to estimate the half-maximal inhibitory
      concentration (IC50) value of PKA inhibitor H-89 (N-[2-(p
      bromocinnamylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide dihydrochloride) and to
      monitor forskolin (Fsk)/3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX)-triggered activation
      of PKA in cell lysates, thus holding great potential for further applications in
      protein kinase-related biological researches and drug discovery. 

PMID- 25827723
TI  - A shotgun metalloproteomic approach enables identification of proteins involved
      in the speciation of a ruthenium anticancer drug in the cytosol of cancer cells.
AB  - The study reported herein focused on the development and optimization of a
      versatile analytical methodology for characterization of intracellular
      distribution of protein-bound species of ruthenium originating from an anticancer
      Ru-based drug, indazolium trans-[tetrachloridobis(1H-indazole)ruthenate(III)]. A
      direct analysis of the drug-treated cytosol of cancer cells using size-exclusion
      chromatography (SEC) interfaced with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
      (ICP-MS) revealed that over 85% of ruthenium is converted into a high molecular
      mass fraction. To further determine the ruthenium binding pattern, a shotgun
      approach was used, with the entire proteome being digested and the resulting
      peptides being analyzed by capillary high-performance liquid chromatography
      (MUHPLC) combined with electrospray ionization triple quadrupole MS. This allowed
      for identification of the ruthenated proteins on the basis of characteristic
      MS/MS spectra of the respective peptides. It was found that both Ru(III)- and
      Ru(II)-ligated functionalities participate in adduct formation, the hydrolyzed
      forms of the drug being attached to the majority of the binding proteins. Of an
      array of proteins responding to drug treatment, the most important - from the
      viewpoint of unveiling the exact mode of action - are inhibitor, pro-apoptotic,
      and DNA reparation proteins.

PMID- 25827724
TI  - Getting under the skin: qualitative methods in dermatology research.

PMID- 25827725
TI  - Cutaneous leishmaniasis--treatment options in children.

PMID- 25827726
TI  - Reshaping the treatment of autoimmune blistering diseases: from consensus
      guidelines to prospective data from 'the crowd'.

PMID- 25827727
TI  - New insights into the association of socioeconomic status with cutaneous
      malignant melanoma.

PMID- 25827728
TI  - Programmed death 1 expressing regulatory T cells in vitiligo.

PMID- 25827729
TI  - Exploring the biological mechanisms of thymic stromal lymphopoietin.

PMID- 25827730
TI  - Dermoscopy of naevoid melanoma.

PMID- 25827731
TI  - Production of numerous autoantibodies in paraneoplastic pemphigus.

PMID- 25827732
TI  - Revisiting the dogma of acne pathogenesis.

PMID- 25827733
TI  - The hand eczema proteome: imbalance of epidermal barrier proteins.

PMID- 25827734
TI  - Fractional epidermal skin grafting.

PMID- 25827735
TI  - Growth of periocular basal cell carcinoma.

PMID- 25827736
TI  - Sentinel lymph node biopsy for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma: valuable or not
      valuable?

PMID- 25827737
TI  - No difference in skin condition between workers exposed and not exposed to glove
      occlusion in a semiconductor company.

PMID- 25827738
TI  - Mobile teledermatology is here to stay.

PMID- 25827739
TI  - Association between genetic factors, naevus count and dermoscopic pattern.

PMID- 25827740
TI  - Human herpesvirus 6 involvement in paediatric drug hypersensitivity syndrome.

PMID- 25827741
TI  - Importance of genotype-phenotype correlation in xeroderma pigmentosum.

PMID- 25827742
TI  - Management of bullous pemphigoid: the European Dermatology Forum consensus in
      collaboration with the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.
AB  - Bullous pemphigoid is the most common autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease
      of the skin and mucous membranes. This disease typically affects the elderly and
      presents with itch and localized or generalized bullous lesions. In up to 20% of
      affected patients, bullae may be completely absent, and only excoriations,
      prurigo-like lesions, eczematous lesions, urticated lesions and/or infiltrated
      plaques are observed. The disease is significantly associated with neurological
      disorders. The morbidity of bullous pemphigoid and its impact on quality of life
      are significant. So far, a limited number of national treatment guidelines have
      been proposed, but no common European consensus has emerged. Our consensus for
      the treatment of bullous pemphigoid has been developed under the guidance of the
      European Dermatology Forum in collaboration with the European Academy of
      Dermatology and Venereology. It summarizes evidence-based and expert-based
      recommendations. 

PMID- 25827747
TI  - Comparative proteomic analysis provides insight into cadmium stress responses in
      brown algae Sargassum fusiforme.
AB  - Sargassum fusiforme is one of the most widely consumed seaweeds in China, Korea
      and Japan. In this work, we performed growth analysis and comparative proteomics
      to investigate the molecular mechanisms of the response to 1 day and 5 days Cd
      stress in S. fusiforme. Our results showed a significant decrease in growth rate
      and an increase in Cd ion content in S. fusiforme in response to Cd treatment.
      Comparative proteomic analysis revealed 25 and 51 differentially expressed
      protein spots in S. fusiforme under 1 day and 5 days Cd stress, respectively. A
      great number of these proteins was metabolic enzymes involved in carbohydrate
      metabolism and energy metabolism. Many proteins involved in the processing of
      genetic information showed a decrease in abundance under 1 day Cd stress. In
      contrast, 9 of the identified protein spots primarily involved in genetic
      information processing and carbohydrate metabolism were greatly enriched under 5
      days Cd stress. Overall, our investigation indicated that Cd stress negatively
      affects the metabolic activity of S. fusiforme through the down-regulation of key
      metabolic enzymes. In addition, S. fusiforme may adapt to 5 days Cd stress by
      promoting consumption of photoassimilates through the up-regulation of glycolysis
      and the citrate cycle to supply energy for survival. 

PMID- 25827748
TI  - Di-(2-ethylhexyl)-phthalate disrupts pituitary and testicular hormonal functions
      to reduce sperm quality in mature goldfish.
AB  - Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) interferes with male reproductive endocrine
      system in mammals, however its effects on fish reproduction are largely unknown.
      We evaluated sperm quality and investigated reproductive endocrine system in
      mature goldfish (Carassius auratus) exposed to nominal 1, 10, and 100MUg/L DEHP.
      To examine DEHP estrogenic activity, one group of goldfish was exposed to 17beta
      estradiol (5MUg/L E2) for comparison. Following 30d of exposure, sperm production
      was decreased and suppressed in DEHP and E2 treated goldfish, respectively. Sperm
      motility and velocity were decreased in goldfish exposed to 100 and 10MUg/L DEHP
      at 15s post-sperm activation, respectively. Compared to control, 11
      ketotestosterone (11-KT) levels were decreased at 10 and 1MUg/L DEHP at day 15
      and 30, respectively. In E2 treated goldfish, 11-KT levels were decreased
      compared to control during the period of exposure. E2 levels were increased in
      goldfish exposed to E2, but remained unchanged in DEHP treated goldfish during
      the period of exposure. StAR mRNA levels encoding regulator of cholesterol
      transfer to steroidogenesis were decreased in DEHP and E2 treated goldfish
      following 15 and 30d of exposure, respectively. Luteinizing hormone (LH) levels
      were decreased in DEHP and E2 treated goldfish following 15 and 30d of exposure,
      respectively. In DEHP treated goldfish, gnrh3, kiss1 and its receptor (gpr54)
      mRNA levels did not change during the experimental period. In E2 treated
      goldfish, gnrh3 mRNA levels were decreased at day 7, but kiss1 and gpr54 mRNA
      levels were increased at day 30 of exposure. The mRNA levels of genes encoding
      testicular LH and androgen receptors remained unchanged in DEHP and E2 treated
      goldfish. In contrast to E2 treated goldfish, vitellogenin production was not
      induced in DEHP treated goldfish and mRNA levels of genes with products mediating
      estrogenic effects remained unchanged or decreased. In conclusion, DEHP
      interferes with testis and pituitary hormonal functions to reduce sperm quality
      in goldfish and does not exhibit estrogenic activity. 

PMID- 25827750
TI  - Ammonium removal at low temperature by a newly isolated heterotrophic nitrifying
      and aerobic denitrifying bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens wsw-1001.
AB  - A heterotrophic nitrifier wsw-1001 was isolated from Songhua River and identified
      as Pseudomonas fluorescens. Ammonium removal by the strain at low temperature was
      investigated. The effect of initial ammonium concentration (from 5 to 1000 mg/L)
      and culture temperature (from 4 degrees C to 30 degrees C) on ammonium removal
      efficiency was studied. Biodegradation product, [Formula: see text], [Formula:
      see text], N2, N2O and intercellular N were monitored. The results indicated that
      the strain had potential for water and wastewater treatment. Ammonium could be
      removed by the strain at low temperature. Ammonium removal efficiency increased
      with temperature from 4 degrees C to 20 degrees C and decreased with ammonium
      concentration from 5 to 1000 mg/L. The strain exhibited a capability of
      heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification using [Formula: see text]
      as the sole nitrogen source at 8 degrees C. [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see
      text] were reduced by the strain. Nitrogen balance analysis in the presence of
      39.7 mg/L [Formula: see text] indicated that 71.2% [Formula: see text] was
      removed by converting to N2 (46.3%) and assimilating as biomass (42.5%).
      Substances such as [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and N2O were detected
      at very low concentrations. Ammonium mono-oxygenase, hydroxylamine oxidase,
      nitrite reductase and nitrate reductase activity were measured. The ammonium
      removal pathway of the strain was speculated to be [Formula: see text].

PMID- 25827749
TI  - A muscle-liver-fat signalling axis is essential for central control of adaptive
      adipose remodelling.
AB  - Skeletal muscle has a pleiotropic role in organismal energy metabolism, for
      example, by storing protein as an energy source, or by excreting endocrine
      hormones. Muscle proteolysis is tightly controlled by the hypothalamus-pituitary
      adrenal signalling axis via a glucocorticoid-driven transcriptional programme.
      Here we unravel the physiological significance of this catabolic process using
      skeletal muscle-specific glucocorticoid receptor (GR) knockout (GRmKO) mice.
      These mice have increased muscle mass but smaller adipose tissues. Metabolically,
      GRmKO mice show a drastic shift of energy utilization and storage in muscle,
      liver and adipose tissues. We demonstrate that the resulting depletion of plasma
      alanine serves as a cue to increase plasma levels of fibroblast growth factor 21
      (FGF21) and activates liver-fat communication, leading to the activation of
      lipolytic genes in adipose tissues. We propose that this skeletal muscle-liver
      fat signalling axis may serve as a target for the development of therapies
      against various metabolic diseases, including obesity. 

PMID- 25827751
TI  - Novel FAM20A mutation causes autosomal recessive amelogenesis imperfecta.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To relate the peculiar phenotype of amelogenesis imperfecta in a large
      Bedouin family to the genotype determined by whole genome linkage analysis.
      DESIGN: Amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) is a broad group of inherited pathologies
      affecting enamel formation, characterized by variability in phenotypes, causing
      mutations and modes of inheritance. Autosomal recessive or compound heterozygous
      mutations in FAM20A, encoding sequence similarity 20, member A, have been shown
      to cause several AI phenotypes. Five members from a large consanguineous Bedouin
      family presented with hypoplastic amelogenesis imperfecta with unerupted and
      resorbed permanent molars. Following Soroka Medical Center IRB approval and
      informed consent, blood samples were obtained from six affected offspring, five
      obligatory carriers and two unaffected siblings. Whole genome linkage analysis
      was performed followed by Sanger sequencing of FAM20A. RESULTS: The sequencing
      unravelled a novel homozygous deletion mutation in exon 11 (c.1523delC),
      predicted to insert a premature stop codon (p.Thr508Lysfs*6). CONCLUSIONS: We
      provide an interesting case of novel mutation in this rare disorder, in which the
      affected kindred is unique in the large number of family members sharing a
      similar phenotype.

PMID- 25827752
TI  - Rho is involved in periodontal tissue remodelling with experimental tooth
      movement in rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To characterise in vivo the close relationship between the Rho
      signalling pathway and periodontal tissue remodelling in experimental tooth
      movement in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 24 male Sprague Dawley rats
      were divided randomly into four groups. Closed-coil springs were used to create a
      40-g mesial force to move the right upper first molars in anaesthetised rats. The
      untreated contralateral side served as a control. On days 3, 7, 10, and 14 after
      force application, paraffin wax-embedded sections of the dissected maxilla were
      prepared for immunohistochemistry to localise Rho kinase (ROCK), LIM kinase
      (LIMK), and its downstream effector (cofilin). The immunoreactivity of the
      molecules investigated in the periodontal ligament area was converted into grey
      scale values. RESULTS: The expression of Rho and its signalling were detected
      mainly in the disto-coronal areas of the root in the periodontal ligament area of
      the control and loaded teeth. In contrast, ROCK-, LIMK-, and cofilin-positive
      cells were rare in the mesio-coronal areas. In the experimental group, the
      expression of ROCK, LIMK, and cofilin on the tension side (disto-coronal areas)
      increased significantly on days 7, 10, and 14, compared with those of untreated
      control teeth. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that Rho is involved in
      periodontal tissue remodelling during orthodontic tooth movement, modulating
      ROCK, LIMK, and cofilin activity.

PMID- 25827754
TI  - A single-blind, parallel trial of L-hydroxyproline in healthy adult subjects.

PMID- 25827753
TI  - Reconstructive challenges in the extended endoscopic transclival approach.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We wanted to present our experience with the extended endoscopic
      approach to clival pathology, focusing on cerebrospinal fluid leak and
      reconstruction challenges. METHODS: We examined a consecutive series of 37
      patients undergoing the extended endoscopic approach for skull base tumours, 9
      patients with clival pathology. Patients were examined for the incidence of post
      operative cerebrospinal fluid leak in relation to tumour pathology, location,
      size, reconstruction and lumbar drain. RESULTS: The overall incidence of post
      operative cerebrospinal fluid leak was 10.8 per cent. Seventy-five per cent of
      patients who had a post-operative cerebrospinal fluid leak underwent a
      transclival approach (p < 0.05). All patients with clival pathology who underwent
      an intradural dissection had a post-operative cerebrospinal fluid leak (p <
      0.05). CONCLUSION: Post-operative cerebrospinal fluid leak rates after the
      extended endoscopic approach have improved significantly after advancements
      including the vascularised nasoseptal flap. Despite this, transclival approaches
      continue to pose much difficulty. Further investigation is necessary to develop
      technical improvements that can meet the unique challenges associated with this
      region.

PMID- 25827755
TI  - Cryptic 3' mRNA processing signals hinder the expression of Schistosoma mansoni
      integrins in yeast.
AB  - The expression of parasite genes has often proven difficult in heterologous
      systems such as yeast or E. coli. Most often, promoter choice and codon usage
      were hypothesised to be the main reason for expression failures. The trematode
      parasite Schistosoma mansoni has five integrin genes named Smalpha-Int1-4 and
      Smbeta-Int1, which we aimed to express in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
      This has not been achieved, however, as only Smbeta-Int1 integrin could be
      expressed. When the four alpha integrins were driven by a stronger promoter, this
      enabled Smalpha-Int1 to be expressed as well, but the remaining integrins,
      Smalpha-Int2-4, still could not be expressed. Evidence from RT-PCR experiments
      suggested that this was due to premature transcription termination. Using
      detailed in silico sequence analyses we identified AT-rich stretches in these
      integrin genes, which have high similarity to yeast mRNA 3'-end processing
      signals. We hypothesised that these signals were causing the premature
      truncation. To test this, we designed an optimised version of Smalpha-Int3, in
      which the sequence was modified to replace the yeast 3' processing signals. This
      strategy allowed us to express Smalpha-Int3 integrin successfully in S.
      cerevisiae. These findings show that the misinterpretation of AT-rich sequences
      by yeast 3'-mRNA processing machinery can cause problems when attempting to
      express genes containing such sequences in this host. 

PMID- 25827757
TI  - New insights on the pathophysiology of inspiratory flow limitation during sleep.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Inspiratory flow limitation (IFL) is defined as a "flattened shape"
      of inspiratory airflow contour detected by nasal cannula pressure during sleep
      and can indicate increased upper airway resistance especially in mild sleep
      related breathing disorders (SRBD). The objective of this study was to
      investigate the association between upper airway abnormalities and IFL in
      patients with mild SRBD. METHODS: This study was derived from a general
      population study consisting of selected individuals with apnea-hypopnea index
      (AHI) below 5 events/h of sleep, ("no obstructive sleep apnea" group) and
      individuals with AHI between 5 and 15 events/h ("mild obstructive sleep apnea"
      group). A total of 754 individuals were divided into four groups: group 1: AHI
      <5/h and <30 % of total sleep time (TST) with IFL (515 individuals), group 2: AHI
      <5/h and >30 % of TST with IFL (46 individuals), group 3: AHI: 5-15/h and <30 %
      of TST with IFL (168 individuals), and group 4: AHI: 5-15/h and >30 % of TST with
      IFL (25 individuals). RESULTS: Individuals with complains of oral breathing
      demonstrated a risk 2.7-fold larger of being group 4 compared with group 3.
      Abnormal nasal structure increased the chances of being in group 4 3.2-fold in
      comparison to group 1. Individuals with voluminous lateral wall demonstrated a
      risk 4.2-fold larger of being group 4 compared with group 3. CONCLUSION: More
      than 30 % of TST with IFL detected in sleep studies was associated with nasal and
      palatal anatomical abnormalities in mild SRBD patients.

PMID- 25827756
TI  - Quantification of female and male Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes by reverse
      transcriptase quantitative PCR.
AB  - The transmission of malaria parasites depends on the presence of sexual stages
      (gametocytes) in the blood, making the ratio and densities of female and male
      gametocytes important determinants of parasite fitness. This manuscript describes
      the development of reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assays to
      separately quantify mature female and male gametocytes of the human malaria
      parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and reveals that Pfs25 mRNA is expressed only in
      female gametocytes. The female (Pfs25) and male (Pfs230p) gametocyte specific RT
      qPCR assays have lower detection limits of 0.3 female and 1.8 male gametocytes
      per microlitre of blood, respectively, making them more sensitive than
      microscopy. Accurate quantification of the ratio and densities of female and male
      gametocytes will increase understanding of P. falciparum transmission and improve
      the evaluation of transmission blocking interventions. 

PMID- 25827758
TI  - Genetic analysis of familial spontaneous pneumothorax in an Indian family.
AB  - Familial spontaneous pneumothorax is one of the phenotypes of Birt-Hogg-Dube
      syndrome (BHDS), an autosomal dominant condition associated with folliculin
      (FLCN). We investigated clinical and genetic data of an Indian family having two
      patients suffering from spontaneous pneumothorax in the absence of skin lesions
      or renal tumors. HRCT scan of patient's lung revealed paracardiac cysts, and DNA
      sequencing of all 14 exons of FLCN from patients showed the presence of
      heterozygous "C allele" deletion in the poly-cytosine (poly-C) tract of exon 11
      leading to truncated folliculin. This mutation was also observed in four
      asymptomatic members of the family. Our results confirmed the presence of
      deletion mutation in poly-C tract of FLCN in members of BHDS family. This is the
      first report of genetic insight in a BHDS family from India but in-depth studies
      with a larger sample set are necessary to understand mechanism of familial
      pneumothorax. 

PMID- 25827759
TI  - Can inflammatory bowel disease really be solved by the multiple -omics and meta
      omics analyses?

PMID- 25827760
TI  - Characterization of prepared In2O3 thin films: The FT-IR, FT-Raman, UV-Visible
      investigation and optical analysis.
AB  - In this original work, the Indium oxide (In2O3) thin film is deposited cleanly on
      microscope glass substrate at different temperatures by spray pyrolysis
      technique. The physical properties of the films are characterized by XRD, SEM,
      AFM and AFM measurements. The spectroscopic investigation has been carried out on
      the results of FT-IR, FT-Raman and UV-Visible. XRD analysis exposed that the
      structural transformation of films from stoichiometric to non-stoichiometric
      orientation of the plane vice versa and also found that, the film is
      polycrystalline in nature having cubic crystal structure with a preferred grain
      orientation along (222) plane. SEM and AFM studies revealed that, the film with
      0.1M at 500 degrees C has spherical grains with uniform dimension. The complete
      vibrational analysis has been carried out and the optimized parameters are
      calculated using HF and DFT (CAM-B3LYP, B3LYP and B3PW91) methods with 3-21G(d,p)
      basis set. Furthermore, NMR chemical shifts are calculated by using the gauge
      independent atomic orbital (GIAO) technique. The molecular electronic properties;
      absorption wavelengths, excitation energy, dipole moment and frontier molecular
      orbital energies, molecular electrostatic potential energy (MEP) analysis and
      Polarizability first order hyperpolarizability calculations are performed by time
      dependent DFT (TD-DFT) approach. The energy excitation on electronic structure is
      investigated and the assignment of the absorption bands in the electronic spectra
      of steady compound is discussed. The calculated HOMO and LUMO energies showed the
      enhancement of energy gap by the addition of substitutions with the base
      molecule. The thermodynamic properties (heat capacity, entropy, and enthalpy) at
      different temperatures are calculated and interpreted in gas phase. 

PMID- 25827761
TI  - Theoretical investigation on vibrational spectra, first order hyperpolarizability
      and NBO analysis of 4-Phenylpyridinium hydrogen squarate.
AB  - The vibrational frequencies of 4-Phenylpyridinium hydrogen squarate (4PHS) in the
      ground state have been investigated by using B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level. The
      analysis of molecular structure, natural bond orbitals and frontier molecular
      orbitals was also performed. The IR spectra were obtained and interpreted by
      means of potential energies distributions (PEDs) using MOLVIB program. NBO
      analysis proved the presence of C-H?O and N-H?O hydrogen bonding interactions,
      which is consistent with the analysis of molecular structure. The dipole moments
      and first-order hyperpolarizability (betatot) are calculated and are 5.856 D and
      4.72*10(-30) esu, respectively. The high betatot value and the low HOMO-LUMO
      energy gap (4.062eV) are responsible for the optical and electron-transfer
      properties of 4PHS molecule. The photoresponse-related results indicate that 4PHS
      molecule is an excellent organic candidate of photon-responsive materials.

PMID- 25827762
TI  - Tuning zinc coordination architectures by benzenedicarboxylate position isomers
      and bis(triazole).
AB  - Three position isomers 1,2-, 1,3-, 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate and 1,4-bis(1,2,4
      triazol-4-yl)benzene were used to assembly zinc(II) coordination polymers
      {[Zn2(btx)0.5(1,2-bdc)2(H2O)].H2O}n (1), {[Zn(btx)(1,3-bdc)].2H2O.(DMF)}n (2) and
      {[Zn(btx)(1,4-bdc)].3H2O}n (3). 1 is a (3,4,4,4)-connected two-dimensional
      network with point symbol (4(2).6)(4(4).6(2))(4(3).6(2).8)(4(2).6.10(3)). 2 shows
      a two-dimensional (4,4) network. 3 exhibits a 5-fold interpenetrated three
      dimensional diamondoid network. The structural versatility shows that the
      structures of coordination polymers can be tuned by the position isomers ligands.
      The luminescence and thermal stability were investigated. 

PMID- 25827763
TI  - Solid phase microextraction of diclofenac using molecularly imprinted polymer
      sorbent in hollow fiber combined with fiber optic-linear array spectrophotometry.
AB  - A simple solid phase microextraction method based on molecularly imprinted
      polymer sorbent in the hollow fiber (MIP-HF-SPME) combined with fiber optic
      linear array spectrophotometer has been applied for the extraction and
      determination of diclofenac in environmental and biological samples. The effects
      of different parameters such as pH, times of extraction, type and volume of the
      organic solvent, stirring rate and donor phase volume on the extraction
      efficiency of the diclofenac were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal
      conditions, the calibration graph was linear (r(2)=0.998) in the range of 3.0
      85.0 MUg L(-1) with a detection limit of 0.7 MUg L(-1) for preconcentration of
      25.0 mL of the sample and the relative standard deviation (n=6) less than 5%.
      This method was applied successfully for the extraction and determination of
      diclofenac in different matrices (water, urine and plasma) and accuracy was
      examined through the recovery experiments.

PMID- 25827764
TI  - Synthesis, structural characterization and theoretical approach of the tri(2-(2,6
      dichlorophenyl)-1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline) cobalt(II).
AB  - The crystal structure of a new coordination compound tri(2-(2,6-dichlorophenyl)
      1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline) Co(II) complex ([Co(dcpip)3]Cl2) was
      measured with X-ray diffraction measurements. The compound is crystallizes
      triclinic, Pi space group. The ligand, 2-(2,6-dichlorophenyl)-1H-imidazo[4,5
      f][1,10]phenanthroline(dcpip), binds to Co(II) ions with a bis-dentate mode, and
      each Co(II) ion with a distorted octahedral coordination geometry. The calculated
      interaction energies of Co(II) with coordination atoms N are between 101.7-206.5
      kJ/mol and 115.3-230.9 kJ/mol for B3LYP/6-31+G(*) and PBE1PBE/6-31+G(*)
      theoretical methods, respectively. The experimental Fourier transform infrared
      spectrum was assigned. The calculated IR based on B3LYP/6-31+G(*) and PBE1PBE/6
      31+G(*) methods were performed and compared with experimental results. The UV-Vis
      experimental spectrum of [Co(dcpip)3]Cl2 was measured in methanol solution. The
      calculated electronic spectrum was performed with TD/B3LYP and TD/PBE1PBE methods
      with 6-31+G(*) basis set. The first and second order hyperpolarizability for the
      compound was calculated. The calculated values of gammatot are -1.5551344 * 10(
      33) esu for B3LYP method and -1.3323259 * 10(-33) esu for PBE1PBE method. The
      nature bond orbital analysis and temperature dependence of the thermodynamic
      properties were calculated with the same methods.

PMID- 25827765
TI  - Exploring the process-structure-function relationship of horseradish peroxidase
      through investigation of pH- and heat induced conformational changes.
AB  - Given the importance of peroxidase as an indicator for the preservation of
      vegetables by heat treatment, the present study is focused on enzyme behavior
      under different pH and temperature conditions, in terms of process-structure
      function relationships. Thus, the process-structure-function relationship of
      peroxidase was investigated by combining fluorescence spectroscopy, in silico
      prediction methods and inactivation kinetic studies. The fluorescence spectra
      indicated that at optimum pH value, the Trp(117) residue is not located in the
      hydrophobic core of the protein. Significant blue- and red-shifts were obtained
      at different pH values, whereas the heat-treatment did not cause significant
      changes in Trp and Tyr environment. The ANS and quenching experiments
      demonstrated a more flexible conformation at lower pH and respectively at higher
      temperature. On the other hand molecular dynamics simulations at different
      temperatures highlighted that the secondary structure appeared better preserved
      against temperature, whereas the tertiary structure around the heme was more
      affected. Temperature dependent changes in the hydrogen bonding and ion paring
      involving amino acids from the heme-binding region (His(170) and Asp(247)) might
      trigger miss-coordination of the heme iron atom by His(170) residue and further
      enzyme activity loss. 

PMID- 25827766
TI  - Vibrational spectra, NBO, HOMO-LUMO and conformational stability studies of 4
      hydroxythiobenzamide.
AB  - In this work, the experimental and theoretical study on molecular structure,
      vibrational spectral analysis of 4-hydroxythiobenzamide (HTB) have been reported.
      The solid phase FTIR (4000-400 cm(-1)) and FT-Raman spectra (3500-50 cm(-1)) were
      recorded. The molecular geometry, harmonic vibrational frequencies and bonding
      features of HTB in the ground-state have been calculated by the density
      functional method (B3LYP) with 6-311+G(d,p) and 6-311++G(d,p) as basis sets.
      Utilizing the observed FTIR and FT-Raman data, a complete vibrational assignment
      and analysis of the fundamental modes of the compound were carried out. Stability
      of the molecule arising from hyperconjugative interactions, charge delocalization
      has been analyzed using natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. The results show
      that the value of electron density (ED) in the sigma(*) antibonding orbitals and
      E((2)) energies confirms the occurrence of ICT (intra-molecular charge transfer)
      within the molecule. The UV spectrum was measured in ethanol solution. The energy
      and oscillator strength calculated by time-dependent density functional theory
      (TD-DFT) correlates with the experimental findings. The calculated molecular
      electrostatic potential (MESP), HOMO and LUMO energies show that charge transfer
      occurs within the molecule. Besides, the simulated infrared and Raman spectra of
      the title compound which show good agreement with observed spectra.

PMID- 25827767
TI  - Electronic absorption spectroscopic behavior and acidity constants of some new
      dinitrophenylhydrazone derivatives.
AB  - In the present study, UV-visible electronic spectra of three new 2,4
      dinitrophenylhydrazone derivatives (C1, C2 and C3) have been studied. Different
      bands observed have been assigned to the proper electronic transitions. The
      solvatochromic behaviors of these compounds were investigated by studying their
      electronic spectra in several organic solvents with different polarities. The
      longer wavelength band is assigned to an intermolecular charge transfer
      transition. The solvated H-bonding complexes formed between dimethylformamide and
      2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone derivatives were also investigated. DeltaG, and the Kf
      values of the molecular complexes formed in solution have been determined.
      Effects of temperature increase and concentration changes on the longer
      spectroscopic wavelength band of the studied compounds were investigated. In this
      work, the behavior of acidity constants of these compounds in different pH values
      is studied by a multiwavelength spectrophotometric method too. 

PMID- 25827768
TI  - Design, synthesis, characterization, quantum-chemical calculations and anti
      inflammatory activity of novel series of thiophene derivatives.
AB  - Interaction of 1-(4-morpholinophenyl)ethanone 1 with either malononitrile or
      ethyl cyanoacetate 2 afforded Knoevenagel-Cope product 3. In subsequent treatment
      of 3 with sulfur, the 2-aminothiophene derivatives (4a, 4b) are formed under
      basic conditions. The solvent-free reaction of thiophene derivative 4a with ethyl
      cyanoacetate afforded thieno[2,3-d][1,3]oxazine derivative 6. The base catalyzed
      condensation of 2-aminothiophene derivative (4a) with ethyl cyanoacetate afforded
      N-(thieno-2-yl) cyanoacetamide derivative 7. The latter was used to synthesize
      different heterocyclic derivatives comprising, pyridine and coumarin rings. Also,
      several substituted thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidines have been prepared from reaction of
      2-aminothiophene-3-carbonitrile 4b with some electrophilic reagents. The
      structure of the newly compounds were confirmed on the basis of elemental
      analysis and spectral data. The molecular modeling of the synthesized compounds
      has been drawn and their molecular parameters were calculated. Also, valuable
      information is obtained from calculation of the molecular parameters including
      electronegativity, net dipole moment of the compounds, total energy, electronic
      energy, binding energy, HOMO and LUMO energy. Evaluation of anti-inflammatory
      activity of the tested compounds was performed in albino rats by producing
      carrageenan induced paw oedema and measuring the zone of inflammation at
      different time intervals i.e. 1, 2, 3 and 4h after carrageenan injection. Results
      indicated that most of the tested compounds showed moderate to good activity
      comparable to indomethacin. Also, compound 16 with additional morpholine ring
      beside the thiophene ring inhibits carrageenan induced paw oedema more than the
      standard indomethacin drug at all the time scales studied. Thus, compound 16 is
      considered as a promising compound for further modification to obtain clinically
      useful anti-inflammatory agent. 

PMID- 25827769
TI  - First principal studies of spectroscopic (IR and Raman, UV-visible), molecular
      structure, linear and nonlinear optical properties of L-arginine p-nitrobenzoate
      monohydrate (LANB): A new non-centrosymmetric material.
AB  - In current work, the authors have been applied the density functional theory
      (DFT) using B3LYP and CAM-B3LYP exchange-correlation functional with 6-31G(*)
      basis set on l-arginine p-nitrobenzoate monohydrate (LANB) molecule for the first
      time to optimize its geometry and study the spectroscopic, electronic structure,
      nonlinear optical properties. Vibrational modes were found in good agreement with
      experimental reports. The calculated UV spectra by B3LYP/6-31G(*) and CAM-B3LYP/6
      31G(*) level of theory shows an electronic transition at ~268 nm (4.63 eV) and
      264 nm (4.70 eV) respectively. To explain the charge interaction taking place
      within the molecule highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied
      molecular orbital were analyzed and their calculated energy gap was found to be
      4.3eV with an oscillatory strength 0.3796 at B3LYP/6-31G(*) level of theory. The
      dipole moment (MUtot), average and anisotropy of polarizability (alphatot,
      Deltaalpha) and static and total first hyperpolarizability (beta0, betatot)
      values were calculated. The value of MUtot and betatot are found to be 4.124D and
      1.630 * 10(-30) esu and 4.127D and 1.133 * 10(-30) esu using B3LYP/6-31G(*) and
      CAM-B3LYP/6-31G(*) functional respectively. The value of betatot is >4 and >3
      times higher than prototype urea molecule calculated at both level of theory,
      respectively. The molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), frontier molecular
      orbital's (FMOs), global reactivity descriptors and thermodynamic properties are
      also calculated and discussed. The properties of LANB calculated at B3LYP are in
      good correlation with experimental than the CAM-B3LYP level of theory. The
      obtained results show that LANB molecule can be treated as a good candidate for
      nonlinear optical devices.

PMID- 25827770
TI  - Biophysical insights into the intercalative interaction of surfactant cobalt(III)
      complexes of certain diimine ligands bound to yeast tRNA: Effects of
      hydrophobicity.
AB  - The interaction of two surfactant cobalt(III) complexes, cis
      [Co(ip)2(DA)2](ClO4)3 1 and cis-[Co(dpq)2(DA)2](ClO4)3 2 where ip=imidazo[4,5
      f][1,10]phenanthroline and dpq=dipyrido[3,2-d:2'-3'-f]quinoxaline with yeast tRNA
      have been explored by using electronic absorption, competitive binding,
      electrochemical studies and viscosity measurements. The results suggest that
      these complexes can bind to tRNA by intercalation. The presence of hydrophobic
      diimine ligand and the long aliphatic double chains of these complexes facilitate
      its intercalative interaction with the hydrophobic interior of the tRNA. The
      extent of tRNA binding of complex 2 has greater affinity than that of complex
      containing imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline ligands.

PMID- 25827772
TI  - Synthesis, NMR, FT-IR, X-ray structural characterization, DFT analysis and
      isomerism aspects of 5-(2,6-dichlorobenzylidene)pyrimidine-2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)
      trione.
AB  - The synthesis and spectral characterization of the 5-(2,6
      dichlorobenzylidene)pyrimidine-2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)-trione;3 was reported. The solid
      state molecular structure of 3 was studied using X-ray crystallography. The
      relative stabilities of the seven possible isomers of 3 were calculated by
      DFT/B3LYP method using 6-311 G(d,p) basis set. The calculated total energies and
      thermodynamic parameters were used to predict the relative stabilities of these
      isomers. The effect of solvent polarity on the relative stability of these
      isomers was studied at the same level of theory using PCM. It was found that the
      keto form, (T0), is the most stable isomer both in the gaseous state and
      solution. In solution, the calculated total energies of all isomers are decreased
      indicating that all isomers are stabilized by the solvent effect. The vibrational
      spectra of the most stable isomer, 3(T0) are calculated using the same level of
      theory and the results are compared with the experimentally measured FTIR
      spectra. Good correlation was obtained between the experimental and calculated
      vibrational frequencies (R(2)=0.9992). The electronic spectra of 3(T0) in gas
      phase as well as in solutions were calculated using the TD-DFT method. All the
      predicted electronic transitions showed very little spectral shifts and increase
      in the intensity of absorption due to solvent effect. Also the (1)H- and (13)C
      NMR chemical shifts of the stable isomer were calculated and the results were
      correlated with the experimental data. Good correlations between the experimental
      and calculated chemical shifts were obtained.

PMID- 25827771
TI  - Synthesis, spectroscopic characterization and structural investigation of a new
      charge transfer complex of 2,6-diaminopyridine with 4-nitrophenylacetic acid:
      Antimicrobial, DNA binding/cleavage and antioxidant studies.
AB  - A new hydrogen-bonded charge-transfer complex (CT) formed by the reaction between
      donor, 2,6-diaminopyridine and acceptor, 4-nitrophenylacetic acid in methanol at
      room temperature. The crystal was characterized by elemental analysis, IR, NMR
      spectroscopic studies and thermal studies. The elemental analysis of CT complex,
      obtained data revealed that the formation of 1:1 ratio CT complex was proposed.
      Infrared and NMR studies confirm the chemical constituents and molecular
      structure of the synthesized complex crystal. The high thermal stability is due
      to the molecular frame work through H-bonding interactions. Structural
      investigation indicates that cation and anion are linked through strong N(+)-H?O(
      ) type of hydrogen bond. The hydrogen bonded charge transfer crystal was screened
      for its pharmacology, such as antimicrobial, DNA binding/cleavage and antioxidant
      studies. The CT complex was screened for its antibacterial and antifungal
      activity against various bacterial and fungal species, which shows good
      antimicrobial activity. The DNA binding results indicated that the compound could
      interact with DNA through intercalation. It should have weak to moderate capacity
      of scavenging with DPPH. 

PMID- 25827773
TI  - Synthesis, spectral, antitumor, antioxidant and antimicrobial studies on Cu(II),
      Ni(II) and Co(II) complexes of 4-[(1H-Benzoimidazol-2-ylimino)-methyl]-benzene
      1,3-diol.
AB  - A new Schiff base of 2-aminobenzimidazole with 2,4-dihydroybezaldehyde (H3L), and
      its Cu(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) complexes have been synthesized and characterized
      by elemental analyses, molar conductance, thermal analysis (TGA), inductive
      coupled plasma (ICP), magnetic moment measurements, IR, EI-mass, UV-Vis. and ESR
      spectral studies. On the basis of spectral studies and analytical data, it is
      evident that the Schiff base acts as dibasic tridentate ligand coordinating via
      deprotonated OH, NH and azomethine nitrogen atom. The results showed that Co(II)
      and Ni(II) complexes have tetrahedral structure while Cu(II) complexes has
      octahedral geometry. The kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the thermal
      decomposition stages have been evaluated. The studied complexes were tested for
      their in vitro antimicrobial activities against some bacterial strains. The
      anticancer activity of the ligand and its metal complexes is evaluated against
      human liver Carcinoma (HEPG2) cell. These compounds exhibited a moderate and weak
      activity against the tested HEPG2 cell lines with IC50 of 9.08, 18.2 and 19.7
      MUg/ml for ligand, Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes, respectively. In vitro
      antioxidant activity of the newly synthesized compounds has also been evaluated.

PMID- 25827774
TI  - In vitro metabolism of canagliflozin in human liver, kidney, intestine
      microsomes, and recombinant uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferases (UGT)
      and the effect of genetic variability of UGT enzymes on the pharmacokinetics of
      canagliflozin in humans.
AB  - O-glucuronidation is the major metabolic elimination pathway for canagliflozin.
      The objective was to identify enzymes and tissues involved in the formation of 2
      major glucuronidated metabolites (M7 and M5) of canagliflozin and subsequently to
      assess the impact of genetic variations in these uridine diphosphate
      glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) on in vivo pharmacokinetics in humans. In vitro
      incubations with recombinant UGTs revealed involvement of UGT1A9 and UGT2B4 in
      the formation of M7 and M5, respectively. Although M7 and M5 were formed in liver
      microsomes, only M7 was formed in kidney microsomes. Participants from 7 phase 1
      studies were pooled for pharmacogenomic analyses. A total of 134 participants
      (mean age, 41 years; men, 63%; white, 84%) were included in the analysis. In
      UGT1A9*3 carriers, exposure of plasma canagliflozin (Cmax,ss , 11%; AUCtau,ss ,
      45%) increased relative to the wild type. An increase in exposure of plasma
      canagliflozin (Cmax,ss , 21%; AUCt,ss , 18%) was observed in participants with
      UGT2B4*2 genotype compared with UGT2B4*2 noncarriers. Metabolites further
      delineate the role of both enzymes. The pharmacokinetic findings in participants
      carrying the UGT1A9*3 and UGT2B4*2 allele implicate that UGT1A9 and UGT2B4 are
      involved in the metabolism of canagliflozin to M7 and M5, respectively. 

PMID- 25827775
TI  - Alcohol Consumption, Athlete Identity, and Happiness Among Student Sportspeople
      as a Function of Sport-Type.
AB  - AIMS: To examine the differences in alcohol consumption and psychosocial
      antecedents between team and individual sportspeople via secondary data analysis.
      METHODS: Questionnaires measured alcohol consumption, athlete identity and
      subjective happiness from a sample of UK university sportspeople (N = 1785; male
      = 1048, 58.7%), involved in team (77.9%) and individual sports. RESULTS: Team
      sports players were more likely to be categorized as hazardous drinkers, and
      reported significantly greater rates of alcohol consumption, stronger athlete
      identity and higher levels of happiness than individual sports players. Athlete
      identity was a significant predictor for alcohol consumption, however there was
      no significant relationship found between happiness and consumption. Further
      regression analyses revealed interactions between sport-type and athlete identity
      on alcohol consumption. For individual sport players, as athlete identity
      increased alcohol consumption significantly reduced; however, there was a
      positive association between identity and consumption for team sport players.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our findings implicate the role of identity as an important factor
      to consider when addressing the issue of hazardous drinking among sportspeople.

PMID- 25827776
TI  - Personality and Alcohol Expectancies Discriminate Alcohol Consumption Patterns in
      Female College Students.
AB  - AIMS: To characterize patterns of alcohol use in a sample of Argentinean female
      college students according to personality traits and alcohol expectancies.
      METHODS: Data from 298 female college students (M age = 18.27 years; SD = 1.37
      years) from the city of Cordoba, Argentina were analysed using multinomial
      regression. RESULTS: Three drinking categories were identified, abstainers,
      moderate drinkers and regular drinkers with heavy episodic drinking, and these
      were differentiated by three personality traits [extraversion, disinhibition
      (DIS) and experience seeking (ES)] and three alcohol expectancies dimensions
      (sociability, risk/aggression and negative mood). Regular drinkers with heavy
      episodic drinking and moderate drinkers had, compared to abstainers, higher
      scores in extroversion and alcohol expectancies for social facilitation, and
      lower scores in alcohol expectancies for risk and aggression. Regular drinkers
      with heavy episodic drinking exhibited, compared to moderate drinkers, higher
      scores in ES, DIS, extroversion, alcohol expectancies for social facilitation and
      negative mood alcohol expectancies; as well as lower scores in risk and
      aggression alcohol expectancies. CONCLUSION: College women in Argentina with
      problematic alcohol drinking can be distinguished from those drinking moderately.

PMID- 25827777
TI  - Former Heroin-Dependent Alcohol Use Disorder Patients. Prevalence, Addiction
      History and Clinical Features.
AB  - AIMS: To examine the prevalence of former heroin dependence (FHA) in Alcohol Use
      Disorder (AUD) patients; to compare the clinical characteristics of FHA-AUD
      patients versus AUD patients without any past use of heroin at alcohol treatment
      entry; to document the heroin dependence history of FHA-AUD patients, and review
      treatment strategies for this group. METHODS: Retrospective case review of 448
      consecutive AUD patients. RESULTS: The annual entry of FHA-AUD showed stability
      over the study period of 3 years overall 60/448 (13.3%). FHA-AUD patients showed
      higher concomitant use of cocaine, benzodiazepines, cannabis and hallucinogens
      than other heroin addicts. They consumed higher amounts of alcohol at the
      beginning of their alcohol dependence history, and reached a high maximum level
      of alcohol consumption, than other AUD patients, and tended to have more physical
      disorders. The most important signals of FHA-AUD were polyabuse and older age at
      the time of presentation. FHA-AUD patients tended to have had a severe pattern of
      heroin dependence associated with inadequate agonist opiate treatment.
      CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of FHA-AUD patients is not negligible. This may
      relate to previous inadequate treatment of heroin addiction contributing to the
      development of severe AUD. For these patients we propose a reconsideration of
      'soft' (low dose) agonist opiate treatment.

PMID- 25827780
TI  - What is known about the subjective needs of people with behavioural variant
      frontotemporal dementia? A scoping review.
AB  - Behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is an early-onset and
      progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with strong changes in
      judgement, behaviour, personality and emotions. These changes can cause
      significant problems in everyday life for people with bvFTD and their families,
      and have implications for health and society. Currently, there are no suitable
      evidence-based specific interventions for people with bvFTD. This scoping review
      aims to identify the self-expressed needs, demands and coping strategies of
      people with bvFTD. Identifying these issues is the first step towards the
      development of need-based psycho-social interventions for people with bvFTD. A
      comprehensive literature research was conducted of German and English scientific
      articles published between January 2000 and October 2014 using the databases
      MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PSYNDEX, SocINDEX, GeroLit, the Cochrane Library,
      ProQuest, the German National Library and additional search strategies in terms
      of a scoping review. Articles were identified by combining search terms related
      to 'frontotemporal dementia' with terms related to 'self-expressions',
      'needs/demands' and 'coping'. After excluding duplicates, two independent
      reviewers screened the titles and abstracts of 2317 records for eligibility.
      Because eligibility could not be assessed from the titles or abstracts of 28
      articles, those articles were assessed using the full text. One poster abstract
      met our research question and a few articles were related, but no article met all
      of the inclusion criteria. This lack of scientifically based knowledge concerning
      the perspective of people with bvFTD is discussed with reference to the search
      strategy and the research questions, disease-related aspects such as changes in
      behaviour or language and emotions and the difficulties in researching this
      topic. Recommendations are formulated for future research considering the
      perspective of people with bvFTD and that will involve the development of
      appropriate data collection methods. Subsequently, specialised interventions must
      be developed.

PMID- 25827778
TI  - ADIPOQ polymorphism rs182052 is associated with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
AB  - Recent studies have indicated that low circulating adiponectin concentrations are
      associated with a higher risk of several cancers, including renal cell carcinoma.
      In this case-control study, we examined the frequency of single nucleotide
      polymorphisms (rs182052G>A, rs266729C>G, and rs3774262G>A) in the adiponectin
      gene (ADIPOQ) in 1004 patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC)
      compared with a group of healthy subjects (n = 1108). Fasting serum adiponectin
      concentrations were also examined. Logistic regression models were used to
      estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). The association
      of serum adiponectin concentration with genetic variants was calculated using a
      multivariate linear regression model. A significantly higher ccRCC risk was
      associated with the rs182052 variant A allele (adjusted OR, 1.36 and 95% CI, 1.07
      1.74 for AA vs GG, P = 0.013; adjusted OR, 1.27 and 95% CI, 1.04-1.56 for AA vs
      GG+AG, P = 0.019), and this positive association was more evident in overweight
      subjects. Fasting serum adiponectin was lower in subjects carrying A alleles of
      rs182052 in both ccRCC patients (beta = -0.399, P = 0.018) and healthy controls
      (beta = -0.371, P = 0.024). These results suggest that ADIPOQ rs182052 is
      significantly associated with ccRCC risk.

PMID- 25827782
TI  - A meta-analysis of the reliability of the history in suspected poisoning.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Management of acute poisoning depends on the reliability of history
      of the poisoning event. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to perform a
      meta-analysis from published data to determine summary measures of reliability of
      history in suspected acute poisoning. METHOD: Relevant studies were selected from
      a search on the Medline database to perform a meta-analysis to calculate pooled
      estimates of kappa statistic for agreement between history of poisoning and
      laboratory diagnosis. RESULTS: A total of seven articles were included in the
      meta-analysis. The kappa statistic varied from 0.35 (95% confidence interval [CI]
      0.135-0.558) for 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (MDMA, also known as
      ecstasy) to 0.69 (95% CI 0.648-0.733) for paracetamol. CONCLUSIONS: A history of
      paracetamol ingestion is moderately reliable, and further evaluation is required
      to make a clinical diagnosis of acute poisoning with street drugs.

PMID- 25827781
TI  - Atorvastatin Prevents Cognitive Deficits Induced by Intracerebroventricular
      Amyloid-beta1-40 Administration in Mice: Involvement of Glutamatergic and
      Antioxidant Systems.
AB  - Deposition of amyloid-beta (Abeta) peptides into specific encephalic structures
      has been pointed as an important event related to Alzheimer's disease
      pathogenesis and associated with activation of glial cells, neuroinflammation,
      oxidative responses, and cognitive deficits. Abeta-induced pro-oxidative damage
      may regulate the activity of glutamate transporters, leading to reduced glutamate
      uptake and, as a consequence, excitotoxic events. Herein, we evaluated the
      effects of the pretreatment of atorvastatin, a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, on
      behavioral and biochemical alterations induced by a single
      intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of aggregated Abeta1-40 in mice.
      Atorvastatin (10 mg/kg/day, p.o.) was administered through seven consecutive days
      before Abeta1-40 administration. Abeta1-40 caused significant cognitive
      impairment in the object-place recognition task (2 weeks after the i.c.v.
      injection) and this phenomenon was abolished by atorvastatin pretreatment. Ex
      vivo evaluation of glutamate uptake into hippocampal and cerebral cortices slices
      showed atorvastatin, and Abeta1-40 decreased hippocampal and cortical Na(+)
      dependent glutamate uptake. However, Abeta1-40 increased Na(+)-independent
      glutamate uptake and it was prevented by atorvastatin in prefrontal cortex
      slices. Moreover, Abeta1-40 treatment significantly increased the cerebrocortical
      activities of glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase and these events
      were blunted by atorvastatin pretreatment. Reduced or oxidized glutathione levels
      were not altered by Abeta1-40 and/or atorvastatin treatment. These results extend
      the notion of the protective action of atorvastatin against neuronal toxicity
      induced by Abeta1-40 demonstrating that a pretreatment with atorvastatin prevents
      the spatial learning and memory deficits induced by Abeta in rodents and promotes
      changes in glutamatergic and antioxidant systems mainly in prefrontal cortex. 

PMID- 25827783
TI  - Comment on "Associations between the incidence of antiphosphatidylserine and
      antiphosphatidylethanolamine antibodies and clinical manifestations of systemic
      lupus erythematosus".

PMID- 25827784
TI  - Comment on "Associations between the incidence of antiphosphatidylserine and
      antiphosphatidylethanolamine antibodies and clinical manifestations of systemic
      lupus erythematosus". Authors' reply.

PMID- 25827785
TI  - Comment on "Correlation between the activity of the autonomic nervous system and
      endothelial function in patients with acute coronary syndrome". Authors' reply.

PMID- 25827786
TI  - Pay attention to the skeletal muscles in left ventricular hypertrabeculation /
      noncompaction.

PMID- 25827787
TI  - Pay attention to the skeletal muscles in left ventricular hypertrabeculation /
      noncompaction. Authors' reply.

PMID- 25827788
TI  - Clinical significance of measuring inflammatory markers in patients with
      pulmonary arterial hypertension.

PMID- 25827789
TI  - Clinical significance of measuring inflammatory markers in patients with
      pulmonary arterial hypertension. Authors' reply.

PMID- 25827790
TI  - Comment on "Correlation between the activity of the autonomic nervous system and
      endothelial function in patients with acute coronary syndrome".

PMID- 25827791
TI  - Recent advances in arsenic bioavailability, transport, and speciation in rice.
AB  - Widespread arsenic (As) contamination in paddy rice (Oryza sativa) from both
      geologic and anthropogenic origins is an increasing concern globally. Substantial
      efforts have been made to elucidate As transformation and uptake processes in
      rhizosphere and metabolism in rice plant, which provides an essential foundation
      for the development of mitigation strategies. However, a range of crucial
      mechanisms from As mobilization in rhizosphere to transport to grains remain
      poorly understood. To provide new insight into the underlying mechanisms of As
      accumulation in rice, a range of new perspectives on As bioavailability,
      transport pathways, and in situ speciation are reviewed here. Specifically, the
      prominent effects of water regime, Fe plaque, and biochar on As mobilization in
      rice rhizosphere are discussed critically. An updated understanding of arsenite
      (AsIII) and methylated As transport from root to vascular bundle and grain is
      integrated and discussed in detail. Special attention is given to As speciation
      and distribution in rice grain with potential coping strategies being provided
      and discussed. Future research priorities are also identified. The new insight
      into As bioavailability, transport and speciation in rice would lead to a better
      understanding of As contamination in rice. They would also provide useful
      strategies from agronomic measures to genetic engineering for more effective
      restriction of As transport and accumulation in food chain. 

PMID- 25827792
TI  - Interacting effects of age and time of day on verbal fluency performance and
      intraindividual variability.
AB  - We explored the effects of age and time of day (TOD) on verbal fluency ability
      with respect to performance level and intraindividual variability (IIV). Verbal
      fluency, which involves complex cognitive operations, was examined in 20 older
      (mean age = 72.8 years) and 20 younger (mean age = 24.2 years) adults with test
      start time alternating between morning and evening across four days. Older adults
      generated more words in the morning and younger adults more in the evening,
      corresponding with self-report peak TOD. Age by TOD interactions were also
      observed across fluency tasks on the number of switches among subcategory
      exemplars during word generation and on the IIV observed in switching behavior.
      Older adults exhibited greater variability in switching in the evening than in
      the morning, whereas younger adults showed the opposite pattern. These findings
      demonstrate that processes involving energization (initiating and sustaining) and
      attentional control may be particularly sensitive to age differences in TOD
      influences on cognition.

PMID- 25827793
TI  - Follistatin and secreted frizzled-related protein 1, OVO homolog-like 1-regulated
      genes, are important for hair follicle neogenesis.

PMID- 25827794
TI  - Apparent IgE negative anaphylactic reaction to banana combined with kiwi allergy 
      complementary diagnostic value of purified single banana allergens.

PMID- 25827795
TI  - Effects on bleeding complications of pharmacogenetic testing for initial dosing
      of vitamin K antagonists: a systematic review and meta-analysis: reply.

PMID- 25827796
TI  - 62 years of gastrointestinal research: 1951-2013.
AB  - In 1951, I began a 2-year postdoctoral research fellowship under Dr Simon Komarov
      at Temple University. Later, as a staff gastroenterologist at the Orange County
      General Hospital in California, I was interested in the possible role of blood
      flow alterations in peptic ulcer disease. We adapted Silvio Baez's just described
      in vivo microscopy technique to study blood flow in the gastric microcirculation
      in the anesthetized cat. In 1969, I joined the Gastroenterology Service at the
      West Los Angeles Veterans Administration (VA), primarily because of the presence
      there of Dr Morton Grossman, one of the leading researchers in gastrointestinal
      physiology. The most important lesson I learned from Dr Grossman was the
      importance of openness--investigators sharing their ideas, thoughts, and
      findings. Dr Harold Wayland, Professor, California Institute of Technology,
      helped me in setting up my laboratory at the VA and arranged with his friend Dr
      Masaharu Tsuchiya, Chair of Gastroenterology at Keio University, Tokyo, Japan,
      for a collaborative effort with fellows from Keio coming for 2-year fellowships
      with us (under my grant). Harold introduced us to the fluorescein-labeled albumen
      technique for the study of microvascular permeability. Later, Dr Jonathon
      Kaunitz, a colleague at the VA, and Kotaro Kaneko, my Keio University fellow,
      succeeded in modifying this technique to measure pHi in surface gastric cells in
      vivo. When I retired in 1993, Dr Kaunitz took charge of my laboratory. He and his
      associate Dr Akiba have completed extensive studies comparing and contrasting how
      stomach and duodenal surface cells defend themselves against acid loads. In the
      course of this work, they have become deeply involved in cell signaling and
      intracellular pathways when nutrients enter the duodenum. They have developed a
      technique for using confocal microscopy in vivo in this work. Dr Grossman was
      right: when investigators share their ideas, everyone benefits and science
      advances.

PMID- 25827797
TI  - Ethical issues in gastroenterology research.
AB  - Ethical issues have become increasingly important in gastroenterology research.
      This is for several reasons, including (i) an understanding of how conflicts of
      interest might affect research, (ii) the influence of the drug and device
      industries on research, (iii) ghostwriting (taking credit for something you did
      not write), (iv) the occurrence of ethically inappropriate research and
      scientific misconduct, and (v) respect for the rights of research subjects. These
      include the rights (i) to give informed consent to participate after
      understanding the purposes, risks, and benefits of the research; (ii) to ask
      questions; and (iii) to withdraw from participation at any time. Notions of doing
      good (beneficence), avoiding harm (non-maleficence), confidentiality, and, most
      important, the primacy of the welfare of the patient or research subject can be
      traced to antiquity. In the modern era, the Nuremburg Code (1947), the
      Declaration of Helsinki (1964), the Belmont report (1979), and other events and
      reports have led to the refinement of ethical practices in both clinical and
      research domains, have reinforced those long observed principles, and have given
      rise to the newer principles of autonomy and justice. The ethical conduct of
      research not only promotes good research but also is in the best interests of
      research subjects, investigators, sponsors, patients, and the public. 

PMID- 25827798
TI  - Inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis: where are we?
AB  - Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is presently one of the most investigated human
      disorders. Expansion of knowledge of its pathophysiology has helped in developing
      novel medications to combat gut inflammation with a considerably degree of
      success. Despite this progress, much more remains to be done in regard to gaining
      a more profound understanding of IBD pathogenesis, detecting inflammation before
      it clinically manifests, implementing lifestyle modifications, and developing
      agents that can modify the natural course of the disease. One of the limitations
      to achieve these goals is the lack of integration of the major components of IBD
      pathogenesis, that is the exposome, the genome, the gut microbiome, and the
      immunome. An "IBD integrome" approach that takes advantage of all functional
      information derived from the detailed investigation of each single pathogenic
      component through the use of systems biology may offer the solution to understand
      IBD and cure it. 

PMID- 25827799
TI  - Atypical symptoms and health-related quality of life of patients with
      asymptomatic reflux esophagitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Asymptomatic reflux esophagitis (RE) is simply regarded as RE
      without the typical reflux symptoms, but it is unknown whether patients with
      asymptomatic RE have atypical symptoms. The aim of this study was to examine the
      clinical characteristics and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients
      with asymptomatic RE. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Consecutive patients with RE were
      enrolled during January 2010 to August 2012, and of them, 41 who had taken acid
      suppressing drugs were excluded, leaving 280 patients as the study group. The
      patients' symptoms were evaluated using a self-completed questionnaire (modified
      Frequency Scale for the Symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease [FSSG]), as
      well as an HRQOL questionnaire (SF-8). We defined the typical symptoms of RE as
      heartburn and regurgitation. Asymptomatic RE was defined if the total symptom
      score was 0 or the minimum (1 point) for typical reflux symptoms in the modified
      FSSG. RESULTS: Of the 280 RE patients, 71.8% (n = 201) were symptomatic and 28.2%
      (n = 79) were asymptomatic. The atypical symptom scores were significantly lower
      in asymptomatic RE (2.2 +/- 2.2) than in symptomatic RE patients (6.9 +/- 5.2) (P
      < 0.0001), and the HRQOL scores were significantly higher in asymptomatic RE than
      in symptomatic RE (P < 0.0001). Sleep was significantly less disturbed and
      chronic cough less frequent in asymptomatic RE than in symptomatic RE.
      CONCLUSION: Frequency and severity of atypical symptoms in patients with
      asymptomatic RE were significantly less than in patients with symptomatic RE, and
      the HRQOL score was significantly higher in those patients. These observations
      suggest a specific patient cohort that is truly unlikely to manifest symptoms.

PMID- 25827800
TI  - Pretreatment prediction of symptom response to proton pump inhibitor therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: This prospective pilot study investigated whether it is
      possible to predict the therapeutic response in both the early phase (1 week) and
      sustained phase (4 weeks) before starting proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy for
      functional dyspepsia (FD) or non-erosive reflux disease (NERD). METHODS: We
      administered rabeprazole 10 mg for 4 weeks to NERD/FD patients, who also answered
      a modified version of the Frequency Scale for Symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux
      disease (GERD) (FSSG), which added a pain score to the FSSG. Total score (TS),
      reflux score (RS), dysmotility score (DS), and pain score (PS) were analyzed.
      Symptom improvement was defined as >= 50% improvement in each score. RESULTS: We
      enrolled 83 patients (age [mean +/- SD] 50.8 +/- 15.8 years, 29 males, 54
      females), of whom 62 could be classified into four groups: achieved symptom
      improvement within 1 week and maintained it for 4 weeks (Early-R, 40.3%);
      achieved symptom improvement within 1 week but lost it after 4 weeks (Temp-R,
      9.7%); did not achieve symptom improvement within 1 week but did after 4 weeks
      (Late-R, 9.7%); and no improvement (Non-R, 40.3%). Mean TS, RS, DS, and PS in the
      Non-R group were significantly higher than in the Early-R group (23.9, 10.5,
      11.0, and 2.4 vs 14.3, 6.8, 6.4, and 1.2). However, the Temp-R, Late-R, and Non-R
      groups could not be distinguished by TS, RS, or DS. CONCLUSION: The magnitude of
      the pretreatment modified FSSG score seemed to be associated with the response at
      1 week and 4 weeks.

PMID- 25827801
TI  - Gastroesophageal reflux disease in patients with diabetes: preliminary study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Some studies report that complications of gastroesophageal
      reflux disease (GERD) occur more frequently in patients with diabetes mellitus
      (DM) than in non-diabetic patients. This study used transnasal endoscopy to
      elucidate the current status of concurrent GERD in patients with type 2 diabetes
      mellitus, and to examine the associations between intraesophageal pressure and
      GERD, as well as other neuropathic conditions. METHODS: The study included 57
      outpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The mean age was 67 years and the
      duration of DM was 13 years. The mean hemoglobin A1c was 6.8%. Transnasal
      endoscopic evaluation items were (i) the presence or absence of esophagitis and
      its severity; (ii) intraesophageal pressure; and (iii) Helicobacter pylori
      status, which was evaluated by endoscopic findings, such as the presence or
      absence of gastritis and peptic ulcer, and by urea breath test. RESULTS: Of 57
      patients, 24 (42.1%) were given a diagnosis of GERD based on endoscopy. Patients
      with concurrent GERD were younger, had shorter duration of DM, and were taller
      and heavier. Interestingly, no difference in body mass index was observed. There
      was no significant association between the presence of concurrent GERD and
      diabetic complications, including peripheral neuropathy, and infection or non
      infection with H. pylori. Although there was no significant association between
      the presence of concurrent GERD and intraesophageal pressure values, we found
      aging, reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate, and the presence of
      autonomic nerve symptoms to correlate with reduced intraesophageal pressure.
      CONCLUSION: The results of this study could be used to answer the question of
      whether or not endoscopic GERD is a diabetic complication; however, further study
      is required.

PMID- 25827802
TI  - Usefulness of baseline impedance in patients with proton pump inhibitor
      refractory nonerosive reflux disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Approximately more than half of patients with non-erosive
      reflux disease (NERD) do not respond to proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy.
      Although NERD is a heterogeneous entity, previous study showed that multichannel
      intraluminal impedance (MII)-pH monitoring could distinguish reflux-related
      disease from PPI-refractory NERD. The aim of this study was to examine the
      usefulness of baseline impedance in PPI-refractory NERD patients. METHODS: We
      used MII-pH monitoring to analyze reflux parameters, symptom index (SI), and
      baseline impedance in 37 PPI-refractory NERD patients on PPI. Reflux was divided
      into acid (nadir pH <= 4) and non-acid (nadir pH > 4). Subjects were classified
      as having reflux-related disease based on abnormal reflux parameters or positive
      SI (>= 50%), or non-reflux-related disease, including functional heartburn, based
      on negative SI with normal reflux parameters. RESULTS: A total of 26 of the 37
      subjects were diagnosed with reflux-related disease, including eight with acid
      reflux type and 18 with non-acid-reflux type, and nine with functional heartburn
      and two with pseudohypersalivation. There were no significant differences in the
      clinical characteristics of the acid-reflux type, non-acid-reflux type, and
      functional heartburn groups. The baseline impedance value in the acid-reflux type
      (1245 +/- 392 Omega) was significantly lower than that in the non-acid-reflux
      type (2824 +/- 1160 Omega) and functional heartburn (3546 +/- 1353 Omega) groups.
      Baseline impedance values inversely correlated with reflux percent time, acid
      reflux time, and acid exposure time. CONCLUSION: Among patients with PPI
      refractory NERD, acid-reflux type was associated with lower baseline impedance
      compared with non-acid-reflux type and functional heartburn.

PMID- 25827803
TI  - Surveillance of short-segment Barrett's esophagus using ultrathin transnasal
      endoscopy.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Newly developed ultrathin transnasal endoscope, the GIF
      XP290N, makes possible a resolving power similar to the GIF-H260 at a distance of
      3 mm. We conducted surveillance of subjects with Barrett's esophagus using this
      ultrathin transnasal endoscopy. In Japan the lower margin of the lower esophageal
      palisade vessels is defined the gastroesophageal junction in deep inspiration. We
      diagnose Barrett's esophagus if columnar epithelium is present on the oral side
      of the gastroesophageal junction. METHODS AND RESULTS: Barrett's esophagus was
      confirmed in 116 out of 135 subjects (85.9%), with 17 cases of short-segment
      Barrett's esophagus (SSBE) and 99 of ultra-short-segment Barrett's esophagus.
      Close observation of the Barrett's esophagus mucosal structural pattern using
      narrow band imaging revealed 29 cases with an oval or round pattern, 29 with a
      long straight pattern, 47 with a villous pattern, 8 with a cerebriform pattern,
      and 6 with an irregular pattern according to Goda classification. Mucosal
      biopsies from all subjects with SSBE are examined. Histological examination
      revealed intestinal metaplasia in only eight subjects. We grouped the oval/round
      and long straight patterns as closed type, and the villous, cerebriform, and
      irregular patterns as open type. Analysis of the relationship between these
      mucosal patterns and background factors revealed a significant correlation
      between intestinal metaplasia and the open-type pattern. CONCLUSION: We consider
      this new ultrathin transnasal endoscopy to be a useful technique for surveillance
      of Barrett's esophagus, especially SSBE.

PMID- 25827804
TI  - Therapeutic roles of carbon monoxide in intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury.
AB  - Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury is a complex, multifactorial,
      pathophysiological process with high morbidity and mortality, leading to serious
      difficulty in treatment. The mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of
      intestinal I-R injury have been examined in detail and various therapeutic
      approaches for intestinal I-R injury have been developed; however, existing
      circumstances have not yet led to a dramatic change of treatment. Carbon monoxide
      (CO), one of the by-products of heme degradation by heme oxygenase (HO), is
      considered as a candidate for treatment of intestinal I-R injury and indeed HO-1
      derived endogenous CO and exogenous CO play a pivotal role in protecting the
      gastrointestinal tract from intestinal I-R injury. Interestingly, anti
      inflammatory effects of CO have been elucidated sufficiently in various cell
      types including endothelial cells, circulating leukocytes, macrophages,
      lymphocytes, epithelial cells, fibroblast, organ-specific cells, and immune
      presenting cells. In this review, we herein focus on the therapeutic roles of CO
      in intestinal I-R injury and the cell-specific anti-inflammatory effects of CO,
      clearly demonstrating future therapeutic strategies of CO for treating intestine
      I-R injury. 

PMID- 25827805
TI  - Study of the mechanisms of a Japanese traditional fermented medicine in the
      improvement of constipation.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Gut Working Tablet (GWT) is a Japanese traditional fermented
      medicine based on Aspergillus oryzae NK-fermented grain germ. Although GWT has
      been used by patients with constipation, the mechanism has not been investigated.
      The aim of this study was to examine the possible mechanisms of the effect of GWT
      on constipation. METHODS: The effect of GWT water extracts on gut contractility
      using ileum strips from guinea pig and on the growth of Bifidobacterium longum
      were examined in vitro. The 14 Sprague Dawley rats were administered loperamide
      at 10 mg/day per kg for 3 days. They were fed with and without 5% of GWT before
      and during administration of loperamide. Number of stools and weight of feces
      were measured before and during administration of loperamide. The concentrations
      of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the feces and cecal contents were measured
      by gas chromatography. RESULTS: GWT water extracts dose-dependently induced ileal
      contractile responses, which were inhibited by atropine. The growth of B. longum
      was increased in the presence of GWT water extracts in a dose-dependent manner (P
      < 0.01 vs control). The decrease in both the number and weight of feces caused by
      loperamide was improved by GWT administration (P < 0.05 vs loperamide). The
      decrease in the butyric acid concentration in feces and cecal contents induced by
      the administration of loperamide was inhibited by GWT (P = 0.035 and 0.018).
      CONCLUSION: GWT water extracts may induce cholinergic-like stimulation and
      promote the growth of probiotics. Furthermore, GWT water extract contributed to
      normalization of colonic SCFAs. These results may explain, at least in part, the
      beneficial effects of GWT on constipation.

PMID- 25827806
TI  - The effects of a TGR5 agonist and a dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitor on dextran
      sulfate sodium-induced colitis in mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Luminal nutrients stimulate enteroendocrine L cells to
      release gut hormones, including intestinotrophic glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2).
      Because L cells express the bile acid receptor TGR5 and dipeptidyl peptidase-IV
      (DPPIV) rapidly degrades GLPs, we hypothesized that luminal TGR5 activation may
      attenuate intestinal injury via GLP-2 release, which is enhanced by DPPIV
      inhibition. METHODS: Intestinal injury was induced in mice by administration of
      dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in drinking water (free access to water containing
      5% DSS for 7 days). The selective TGR5 agonist betulinic acid (BTA) and the DPPIV
      inhibitor sitagliptin phosphate monohydrate (STG) were administered orally for 7
      days. Male C57BL/6 mice (6-7 weeks old) were divided into five groups: normal
      control group, disease control group, BTA low group (drinking water containing 15
      mg/L BTA), BTA high group (50 mg/L BTA), and BTA high + STG (3 mg/kg, i.g.)
      group. RESULTS: The selective TGR5 agonist BTA dose-dependently suppressed
      disease activity index and mRNA expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines
      interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the colon.
      Nevertheless, STG administration had little additive effect on BTA-induced
      protection. Fibroblast activation protein mRNA expression, but not expression of
      other DPP family members, was increased in the colon of DSS-treated mice with
      increased mucosal DPPIV. Co-administration of the selective GLP-2 antagonist GLP
      2 (3-33) reversed the effect of BTA. CONCLUSION: The selective TGR5 agonist BTA
      ameliorated DSS-induced colitis in mice via the GLP-2 pathway with no effect of
      DPPIV inhibition, suggesting that other DPP enzymatic activity is involved in GLP
      2 degradation.

PMID- 25827807
TI  - Clinical impact of ultrathin colonoscopy for Crohn's disease patients with
      strictures.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Mucosal healing is now the ideal treatment goal for patients
      with Crohn's disease (CD) and endoscopy is suitable for both visualizing the
      intestinal mucosa and optimizing treatment according to the objective endoscopic
      findings; however, passing through strictures with a conventional colonoscope is
      sometimes difficult. An ultrathin colonoscope (outer diameter 9.2 mm) has been
      developed for superior insertion performance. METHODS: CD patients with
      strictures that could not be passed with a conventional colonoscope were eligible
      for entry into the study. We investigated the rate of passage of the ultrathin
      colonoscope beyond strictures. We also investigated the clinical impact of
      optimizing the treatment strategy according to the endoscopic findings beyond the
      stricture. RESULTS: Of 49 patients, the ultrathin colonoscope could pass the
      stricture in 59.2% (29/49). The main reason for failure compared with the "pass"
      group was anal stricture (P = 0.005). When including finger bougie for severe
      anal stricture, passage of the stricture was achieved in 83.7% (41/49) of cases
      and the oral mucosa beyond the stricture was visualized. In these cases, 56.1%
      (23/41) had treatment efficacy confirmed and 43.9% (18/41) required a change of
      treatment. Importantly, half (9/18) of them were in clinical remission. There
      were no complications of the study. CONCLUSION: The ultrathin colonoscope could
      provide optimized treatment based on objective findings of the activity of the
      oral-side mucosa in CD patients complicated with stricture. Selection of the
      appropriate endoscope to visualize the responsible lesion is essential to
      optimize the treatment strategy in each case of CD.

PMID- 25827808
TI  - Clinical features of eosinophilic esophagitis: differences between Asian and
      Western populations.
AB  - The prevalence and incidence of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) have been rapidly
      increasing in Western countries. It is thought to be more common among Caucasians
      than other racial or ethnic groups, but epidemiological studies have not been
      fully evaluated in Asian populations, and its clinical manifestation is rarely
      documented. In this review, recent reports regarding EoE in Asian countries have
      been collected, and differences in the clinical features, including symptoms and
      endoscopic findings, between Asian and Western populations have been evaluated.
      In Asia, EoE is still much less prevalent than in Western countries. Baseline
      values for average age, male/female ratio, and personal history of allergic
      disease were comparable to those in Western populations. Predominant symptoms
      were dysphagia, and food impaction was extremely rare among Asian patients.
      Although the frequency of abnormal endoscopic findings varies among studies, over
      90% of patients with EoE have shown abnormal findings such as linear furrow,
      which is the most common findings, in recent prospective studies in Asia. There
      are few reports regarding the treatment of EoE and no prospective studies
      evaluating drugs or elimination diet in patient with EoE have been reported in
      Asia. Overall, EoE had similar clinical characteristics in Asian populations.
      Because the incidence of EoE could increase in the future with the increase in
      allergic disorders in Asian countries, large-scale, nationwide prospective
      studies should be performed to more fully understand the epidemiology and
      pathophysiology of EoE in Asian populations. 

PMID- 25827809
TI  - Detailed analysis of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and tumor budding
      identifies predictors of long-term survival in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by
      aggressive biology and poor prognosis even after resection. Long-term survival is
      very rare and cannot be reliably predicted. Experimental data suggest an
      important role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in invasion and
      metastasis of PDAC. Tumor budding is regarded as the morphological correlate of
      local invasion and cancer cell dissemination. The aim of this study was to
      evaluate the biological and prognostic implications of EMT and tumor budding in
      PDAC of the pancreatic head. METHODS: Patients were identified from a
      prospectively maintained database, and baseline, operative, histopathological,
      and follow-up data were extracted. Serial tissue slices stained for Pan
      Cytokeratin served for analysis of tumor budding, and E-Cadherin, Beta-Catenin,
      and Vimentin staining for analysis of EMT. Baseline, operative, standard
      pathology, and immunohistochemical parameters were evaluated for prediction of
      long-term survival (>= 30 months) in uni- and multivariate analysis. RESULTS:
      Intra- and intertumoral patterns of EMT marker expression and tumor budding
      provide evidence of partial EMT induction at the tumor-host interface. Lymph node
      ratio and E-Cadherin expression in tumor buds were independent predictors of long
      term survival in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Detailed immunohistochemical
      assessment confirms a relationship between EMT and tumor budding at the tumor
      host interface. A small group of patients with favorable prognosis can be
      identified by combined assessment of lymph node ratio and EMT in tumor buds.

PMID- 25827810
TI  - Confocal laser endomicroscopy: a new gold standard for the assessment of mucosal
      healing in ulcerative colitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Endoscopic assessment of mucosal healing in ulcerative
      colitis (UC) is increasingly accepted as a measure of disease activity,
      therapeutic goal, and the key prognostic indicator. While regular endoscopy
      evaluates appearance of the mucosal surface, confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE)
      enables in vivo visualization of subepithelial mucosa at 1000* magnification
      during ongoing endoscopy. Our aims were to determine using CLE whether
      endoscopically normal appearing colonic mucosa in patients with UC in remission
      (UC-IR) has fully regenerated mucosal structures, resolved inflammation, and to
      identify the mechanisms. METHODS: Twelve patients (six controls and six with UC
      IR) underwent colonoscopy using CLE and intravenous fluorescein infusion. During
      colonoscopy, CLE images of colonic mucosa and conventional mucosal biopsies were
      obtained and evaluated using image-analysis systems. We quantified; (i)
      regeneration of colonic crypts and blood microvessels; (ii) cyclooxygenase 2
      (COX2) expression; (iii) mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations; (iv) inflammatory
      infiltration; and (v) vascular permeability (VP). RESULTS: In control subjects,
      CLE demonstrated normal colonic crypts and microvasculature. COX2 expression was
      minimal, and < 7% crypts showed mtDNA mutations. Colonic mucosa of UC-IR patients
      had impaired and distorted crypt regeneration, increased COX2, 69% crypts with
      mtDNA mutations, persistent inflammation, and abnormal vascular architecture with
      increased VP (all P < 0.001 vs normal mucosa). CONCLUSIONS: (i) Endoscopically
      normal appearing colonic mucosa of patients with UC-IR remains abnormal: CLE
      demonstrates impaired crypt regeneration, persistent inflammation, distinct
      abnormalities in angioarchitecture and increased vascular permeability; molecular
      imaging showed increased COX2 and mtDNA mutations; (ii) CLE may serve as a new
      gold standard for the assessment of mucosal healing in UC.

PMID- 25827811
TI  - Co-registration and distortion correction of diffusion and anatomical images
      based on inverse contrast normalization.
AB  - Diffusion MRI provides quantitative information about microstructural properties
      which can be useful in neuroimaging studies of the human brain. Echo planar
      imaging (EPI) sequences, which are frequently used for acquisition of diffusion
      images, are sensitive to inhomogeneities in the primary magnetic (B0) field that
      cause localized distortions in the reconstructed images. We describe and evaluate
      a new method for correction of susceptibility-induced distortion in diffusion
      images in the absence of an accurate B0 fieldmap. In our method, the distortion
      field is estimated using a constrained non-rigid registration between an
      undistorted T1-weighted anatomical image and one of the distorted EPI images from
      diffusion acquisition. Our registration framework is based on a new approach,
      INVERSION (Inverse contrast Normalization for VERy Simple registratION), which
      exploits the inverted contrast relationship between T1- and T2-weighted brain
      images to define a simple and robust similarity measure. We also describe how
      INVERSION can be used for rigid alignment of diffusion images and T1-weighted
      anatomical images. Our approach is evaluated with multiple in vivo datasets
      acquired with different acquisition parameters. Compared to other methods,
      INVERSION shows robust and consistent performance in rigid registration and shows
      improved alignment of diffusion and anatomical images relative to normalized
      mutual information for non-rigid distortion correction. 

PMID- 25827812
TI  - Effects of ketoprofen, morphine, and kappa opioids on pain-related depression of
      nesting in mice.
AB  - Pain-related functional impairment and behavioral depression are diagnostic
      indicators of pain and targets for its treatment. Nesting is an innate behavior
      in mice that may be sensitive to pain manipulations and responsive to analgesics.
      The goal of this study was to develop and validate a procedure for evaluation of
      pain-related depression of nesting in mice. Male ICR mice were individually
      housed and tested in their home cages. On test days, a 5- * 5-cm Nestlet was
      subdivided into 6 pieces, the pieces were evenly distributed on the cage floor,
      and Nestlet consolidation was quantified during 100-minute sessions. Baseline
      nesting was stable within and between subjects, and nesting was depressed by 2
      commonly used inflammatory pain stimuli (intraperitoneal injection of dilute
      acid; intraplantar injection of complete Freund adjuvant). Pain-related
      depression of nesting was alleviated by drugs from 2 classes of clinically
      effective analgesics (the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ketoprofen and the
      MU-opioid receptor agonist morphine) but not by a drug from a class that has
      failed to yield effective analgesics (the centrally acting kappa opioid agonist
      U69,593). Neither ketoprofen nor morphine alleviated depression of nesting by
      U69,593, which suggests that ketoprofen and morphine effects were selective for
      pain-related depression of nesting. In contrast to ketoprofen and morphine, the
      kappa opioid receptor antagonist JDTic blocked depression of nesting by U69,593
      but not by acid or complete Freund adjuvant. These results support utility of
      this procedure to assess expression and treatment of pain-related depression in
      mice. 

PMID- 25827813
TI  - The Risk of Sexual Assault and Rape During International Travel: Implications for
      the Practice of Travel Medicine.

PMID- 25827814
TI  - Inclusion excluded: Chiroptical sensing of the external surface of sulfated
      cyclodextrins.
AB  - It is shown that the heparin antagonist bis-aminoquinoline derivative surfen
      interacts with sulfated cyclodextrins in a unique fashion. Analysis of the UV
      spectroscopic data revealed exceptionally strong association (K(a) ~ 10(7) M(-1))
      of several surfen molecules to the external surface of the cyclodextrin hosts. H
      bonded to the sulfate groups in 1:1 stoichiometry, the drug molecules form a
      chiral layer around the macrocycles. Due to the steric proximity, dipole-dipole
      coupling occurs between the adjacent aminoquinoline rings that accounts for the
      large UV hypochromism and the induced exciton couplet in the circular dichroism
      spectra.

PMID- 25827815
TI  - p53 signalling mediates acupuncture-induced neuroprotection in Parkinson's
      disease.
AB  - Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder associated
      with a selective loss of dopamine (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra of the
      midbrain. Recently, it has been demonstrated that acupuncture treatment has
      protective effects in PD. However, to date, the molecular mechanisms underlying
      acupuncture's effect on DA neuronal protection are largely unknown. In this
      study, we report that p53 signalling mediates the protective effects of
      acupuncture treatment in a mouse model of PD. We found that the acupuncture
      treatment in the mouse PD model results in significant recovery to the normal in
      the context of behaviour and molecular signatures. We found that the gene network
      associated with p53 signalling is closely involved in the protective effects of
      acupuncture treatment in PD. Consistent with this idea, we demonstrated that
      specific knockout of the p53 gene in the midbrain DA neurons abrogates the
      acupuncture induced protective effects in the mouse model of PD. Thus, these data
      suggest that p53 signalling mediates the protective effects of acupuncture
      treatment in PD. 

PMID- 25827816
TI  - Laparoscopic sphincter-saving surgery for low rectal cancer--a video vignette.

PMID- 25827817
TI  - Clinical follow-up does not improve survival after resection of stage I-III
      colorectal cancer: A cohort study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The benefit of clinical follow-up alongside CT & CEA in detecting
      recurrent colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unclear. Despite this, clinical review
      remains part of most surveillance protocols. This study assessed the efficacy of
      clinical follow-up in addition to CT/CEA in detecting disease recurrence.
      METHODS: Patients undergoing surgery for CRC at a single centre between 2009 and
      2011 were identified. Follow-up included clinical review, CT and CEA for 5 years.
      The primary endpoint of the study was method of detection of recurrence.
      Secondary endpoints included detection of surgically treatable recurrence,
      compliance with follow-up, disease free survival and overall survival. RESULTS:
      118 patients with stage I-III CRC were included. Only 68.9% of scheduled follow
      up events were performed (76.6% clinical reviews, 76.2% CT scans and 60.4% CEA
      tests). At median follow-up of 36 months, 26 patients had developed recurrence
      (median DFS 45.8 months). 17 patients (14.7%) had died (median OS 49.3 months).
      Sensitivity and specificity of follow up modality in detecting recurrence were;
      CT (92.3%, 100%), CEA (57.7%, 100%), clinical review (23.0%, 27.2%). Addition of
      clinical review did not identify any disease recurrence that was not detected by
      scheduled CT. Eight patients (30.7%) had surgically treatable recurrence - all
      were identified by scheduled CT. CONCLUSION: The addition of CEA testing and
      clinical review to scheduled CT scanning offered no benefit in the detection of
      recurrent disease. Clinical review could be removed from follow-up protocols
      without any reduction in the detection of recurrent cancer.

PMID- 25827818
TI  - Preparation of the monolith of hierarchical macro-/mesoporous calcium silicate
      ultrathin nanosheets with low thermal conductivity by means of ambient-pressure
      drying.
AB  - Calcium silicate monolith was prepared by the hydrothermal reaction of a slurry
      of SiO2 , calcium hydroxide, and surfactant (OP-10) obtained by high-energy ball
      milling, followed by drying at ambient pressure. By using this strategy, the
      shrinkage due to the collapse of pores during the drying of porous materials,
      which is a commonly observed phenomena, was successfully avoided. It has a unique
      microstructure of hierarchical macro-/mesoporous ultrathin calcium silicate
      nanosheets with a layered gyrolite crystalline structure. Very interestingly, the
      calcium silicate nanosheets can be peeled off to give a single-layer nanosheet
      (1.23 nm) of gyrolite by ultrasonication. The monolith has a low apparent density
      (0.073 g cm(-3) ) and low thermal conductivity (0.0399 W K(-1)  m(-1) ). The
      reasons behind why the formation of the unique hierarchical macro-/mesoporous
      ultrathin nanosheets avoids shrinkage during the hydrothermal reaction and
      drying, and considerably decreases the thermal conductivity, is discussed. 

PMID- 25827819
TI  - O2 activation by metal-ligand cooperation with Ir(I) PNP pincer complexes.
AB  - A unique mode of molecular oxygen activation, involving metal-ligand cooperation,
      is described. Ir pincer complexes [((t)BuPNP)Ir(R)] (R = C6H5 (1), CH2COCH3 (2))
      react with O2 to form the dearomatized hydroxo complexes [((t)BuPNP*)Ir(R)(OH)]
      ((t)BuPNP* = deprotonated (t)BuPNP ligand), in a process which utilizes both O
      atoms. Experimental evidence, including NMR, EPR, and mass analyses, indicates a
      binuclear mechanism involving an O-atom transfer by a peroxo intermediate. 

PMID- 25827821
TI  - The evolving epidemiology of hepatocellular carcinoma: a global perspective.
AB  - Primary liver cancer, the majority of which are hepatocellular carcinomas, is now
      the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Hepatocellular carcinoma is a
      unique cancer that typically arises in the setting of chronic liver disease at a
      rate dependent upon the complex interplay between the host, disease and
      environmental factors. Infection with chronic hepatitis B or C virus is currently
      the dominant risk factor worldwide. However, changing lifestyle and environmental
      factors in western countries plus rising neonatal hepatitis B vaccination rates
      and decreasing exposure to dietary aflatoxins in developing countries are driving
      an evolution of the epidemiology of this cancer. An understanding of this change
      is crucial in combating the rising incidence currently being seen in western
      regions and will underpin the efforts to reduce the mortality rates associated
      with this cancer. 

PMID- 25827820
TI  - Phase 2 study of MK-2206, an allosteric inhibitor of AKT, as second-line therapy
      for advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer: A SWOG cooperative
      group trial (S1005).
AB  - BACKGROUND: The AKT inhibitor MK-2206 at a dose of 60 mg every other day was
      evaluated in gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancers. METHODS: Patients who had
      progressed after first-line treatment were eligible. Pertinent eligibility
      criteria included adequate organ function, a fasting serum glucose level <= 150
      mg/dL, and less than grade 2 malabsorption or chronic diarrhea. MK-2206 was given
      orally (60 evaluable patients required). The primary endpoint was overall
      survival, and a median survival of 6.5 months (power, 89%; significance level,
      0.07) was considered encouraging for further investigation. RESULTS: Seventy
      patients were included in the final analyses. The median age was 59.8 years
      (range, 30.4-86.7 years); 70% were male, 89% were white, and 7% were Asian. There
      were 2 deaths possibly related to the study drug (cardiac arrest and respiratory
      failure). Grade 4 adverse events included hyperglycemia, anemia, and lung
      infection (1 each). Grade 3 adverse events occurred in < 5% of patients except
      for fatigue (6%). Other adverse events (all grades) included anemia (17%),
      anorexia (30%), diarrhea (26%), fatigue (50%), hyperglycemia (30%), nausea (40%),
      vomiting (22%), dry skin (19%), maculopapular rash (30%), and acneiform rash
      (13%). The response rate was 1%, the median progression-free survival was 1.8
      months (95% confidence interval, 1.7-1.8 months), and the median overall survival
      was 5.1 months (95% confidence interval, 3.7-9.4 months) CONCLUSIONS: MK-2206 as
      second-line therapy was well tolerated by an unselected group of patients with
      gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancers, but it did not have sufficient
      activity (response rate, 1%; overall survival, 5.1 months) to warrant further
      testing in this population.

PMID- 25827823
TI  - Folding-induced modulation of excited-state dynamics in an oligophenylene
      ethynylene-tethered spiral perylene bisimide aggregate.
AB  - The excited-state photophysical behavior of a spiral perylene bisimide (PBI)
      folda-octamer (F8) tethered to an oligophenylene-ethynylene scaffold is
      comprehensively investigated. Solvent-dependent UV/Vis and fluorescence studies
      reveal that the degree of folding in this foldamer is extremely sensitive to the
      solvent, thus giving rise to an extended conformation in CHCl(3) and a folded
      helical aggregate in methylcyclohexane (MCH). The exciton-deactivation dynamics
      are largely governed by the supramolecular structure of F8. Femtosecond transient
      absorption (TA) in the near-infrared region indicates a photoinduced electron
      transfer process from the backbone to the PBI core in the extended conformation,
      whereas excitation power- and polarization-dependent TA measurements combined
      with computational modeling showed that excitation energy transfer between the
      unit PBI chromophores is the major deactivation pathway in the folded
      counterpart.

PMID- 25827822
TI  - Identification of a novel selective agonist of PPARgamma with no promotion of
      adipogenesis and less inhibition of osteoblastogenesis.
AB  - Nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma)
      plays an important role in the regulation of glucose homeostasis and lipid
      metabolism. However, current PPARgamma-targeting drugs such as thiazolidinediones
      (TZDs) are associated with undesirable side effects. We identified a small
      molecular compound, F12016, as a selective PPARgamma agonist by virtual
      screening, which showed moderate PPARgamma agonistic activity and binding ability
      for PPARgamma. F12016 did not activate other PPAR subtypes at 30 MUM and
      selectively modulated PPARgamma target gene expression. In diabetic KKAy mice,
      F12016 had insulin-sensitizing and glucose-lowering properties, and suppressed
      weight gain. In vitro, F12016 effectively increased glucose uptake and blocked
      cyclin-dependent kinase 5-mediated phosphorylation of PPARgamma at Ser273, but
      slightly triggered adipogenesis and less inhibited osteoblastogenesis than
      rosiglitazone. Moreover, compared with the full agonist rosiglitazone, F12016 had
      a distinct group of coregulators and a different predicted binding mode for the
      PPARgamma ligand-binding domain. A site mutation assay confirmed the key
      epitopes, especially Tyr473 in AF-2. In summary, our study shows that F12016 is a
      non-TZD, novel selective PPARgamma agonist without the classical lipogenic side
      effects, which may provide a new structural strategy for designing PPARgamma
      ligands with advantages over TZDs. 

PMID- 25827824
TI  - Beyond the Academic Journal: Unfreezing Misconceptions About Mental Illness and
      Gun Violence Through Knowledge Translation to Decision-Makers.
AB  - In a policy arena characterized by polarized debate, such as the consideration of
      legal interventions to prevent gun violence, research evidence is an important
      tool to inform decision-making processes. However, unless the evidence is
      communicated to stakeholders who can influence policy decisions, the research
      will often remain an academic exercise with little practical impact. The
      Educational Fund to Stop Violence's process of "unfreezing" individual
      perceptions and conventional interpretations of the relationship between mental
      illness and gun violence, forming a consensus, and translating this knowledge to
      stakeholders through state discussion forums is one way to inform policy change.
      The recent passage of gun violence prevention legislation in California provides
      an example of successfully closing the knowledge translation gap between research
      and decision-making processes.

PMID- 25827825
TI  - Commentary on Effect of a second injection of botulinum toxin on lower facial
      contouring, as evaluated using 3-dimensional laser scanning.

PMID- 25827826
TI  - A lower lip reconstruction.

PMID- 25827827
TI  - Chronic inflammatory reaction after thread lifting: delayed unusual complication
      of nonabsorbable thread.

PMID- 25827828
TI  - Commentary on Malignant hidroacanthoma simplex treated with Mohs surgery.

PMID- 25827829
TI  - Tris(8-methoxy-2-quinolylmethyl)amine (8-MeOTQA) as a highly fluorescent Zn(2+)
      probe prepared by convenient C3-symmetric tripodal amine synthesis.
AB  - A convenient synthesis of C3-symmetric tribenzylamine (TBA) derivatives has been
      investigated. The reaction of benzyl chlorides with acetaldehyde ammonia trimer
      () in the presence of base afforded tribenzylamines in high yields. This
      efficient method allows the diverse synthesis of TPA (tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine)
      and TQA (tris(2-quinolylmethyl)amine) derivatives. Among the TQA compounds
      prepared, tris(8-methoxy-2-quinolylmethyl)amine (8-MeOTQA, ) exhibited superior
      properties as a fluorescent zinc probe with high quantum yield (phiZn = 0.51) and
      high sensitivity (limit of detection (LOD) = 3.4 nM). The X-ray crystallographic
      analysis of [Zn(8-MeOTQA)](2+) revealed that the steric and electronic effect of
      8-methoxy substituents kicks out the solvent and counterion molecules from the
      metal coordination sphere, resulting in short Zn-Nquinoline coordination
      distances (2.04-2.07 A). The pseudo hexacoordinate complex of 6-methoxy
      derivative, [Zn(6-MeOTQA)(DMF)(ClO4)](+), exhibited longer Zn-Nquinoline
      distances (2.07-2.19 A) and much smaller fluorescence intensity (phiZn = 0.027).
      The replacement of one of the three 8-methoxyquinolines with pyridine also
      afforded much less fluorescent zinc complex (phiZn = 0.095) due to the solvent
      coordination (Zn-Nquinoline = 2.05-2.18 A for [Zn(8-MeOBQPA)(CH3OH)](2+)). 

PMID- 25827830
TI  - Circulating cell membrane microparticles transfer heme to endothelial cells and
      trigger vasoocclusions in sickle cell disease.
AB  - Intravascular hemolysis describes the relocalization of heme and hemoglobin (Hb)
      from erythrocytes to plasma. We investigated the concept that erythrocyte
      membrane microparticles (MPs) concentrate cell-free heme in human hemolytic
      diseases, and that heme-laden MPs have a physiopathological impact. Up to one
      third of cell-free heme in plasma from 47 patients with sickle cell disease (SCD)
      was sequestered in circulating MPs. Erythrocyte vesiculation in vitro produced
      MPs loaded with heme. In silico analysis predicted that externalized
      phosphatidylserine (PS) in MPs may associate with and help retain heme at the
      cell surface. Immunohistology identified Hb-laden MPs adherent to capillary
      endothelium in kidney biopsies from hyperalbuminuric SCD patients. In addition,
      heme-laden erythrocyte MPs adhered and transferred heme to cultured endothelial
      cells, inducing oxidative stress and apoptosis. In transgenic SAD mice, infusion
      of heme-laden MPs triggered rapid vasoocclusions in kidneys and compromised
      microvascular dilation ex vivo. These vascular effects were largely blocked by
      heme-scavenging hemopexin and by the PS antagonist annexin-a5, in vitro and in
      vivo. Adversely remodeled MPs carrying heme may thus be a source of oxidant
      stress for the endothelium, linking hemolysis to vascular injury. This pathway
      might provide new targets for the therapeutic preservation of vascular function
      in SCD. 

PMID- 25827831
TI  - How I treat Langerhans cell histiocytosis.
AB  - "Langerhans cell histiocytosis" (LCH) describes a spectrum of clinical
      presentations ranging from a single bone lesion or trivial skin rash to an
      explosive disseminated disease. Regardless of clinical severity, LCH lesions
      share the common histology of CD1a(+)/CD207(+) dendritic cells with
      characteristic morphology among an inflammatory infiltrate. Despite historical
      uncertainty defining LCH as inflammatory vs neoplastic and incomplete
      understanding of mechanisms of pathogenesis, clinical outcomes have improved
      markedly over the past decades through cooperative randomized clinical trials
      based on empiric therapeutic strategies. Significant advances include recognition
      of high- and low-risk clinical groups defined by hematopoietic and/or hepatic
      involvement, and of the importance of optimal intensity and of duration of
      chemotherapy. Nevertheless, mortality of high-risk patients, disease recurrence,
      lack of robustly tested salvage strategies, and significant disease morbidity of
      both high- and low-risk patients remain challenges. Recent discovery of recurrent
      somatic mutations in mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway genes at critical
      stages of myeloid hematopoietic differentiation in LCH patients supports
      redefinition of the disease as a myeloproliferative disorder and provides
      opportunities to develop novel approaches to diagnosis and therapy. 

PMID- 25827832
TI  - The tumor virus landscape of AIDS-related lymphomas.
AB  - Immunodeficiency dramatically increases susceptibility to cancer as a result of
      reduced immune surveillance and enhanced opportunities for virus-mediated
      oncogenesis. Although AIDS-related lymphomas (ARLs) are frequently associated
      with known oncogenic viruses, many cases contain no known transforming virus. To
      discover novel transforming viruses, we profiled a set of ARL samples using whole
      transcriptome sequencing. We determined that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was the
      only virus detected in the tumor samples of this cohort, suggesting that if
      unidentified pathogens exist in this disease, they are present in <10% of cases
      or undetectable by our methods. To evaluate the role of EBV in ARL pathogenesis,
      we analyzed viral gene expression and found highly heterogeneous patterns of
      viral transcription across samples. We also found significant heterogeneity of
      viral antigen expression across a large cohort, with many patient samples
      presenting with restricted type I viral latency, indicating that EBV latency
      proteins are under increased immunosurveillance in the post-combined
      antiretroviral therapies era. Furthermore, EBV infection of lymphoma cells in HIV
      positive individuals was associated with a distinct host gene expression program.
      These findings provide insight into the joint host-virus regulatory network of
      primary ARL tumor samples and expand our understanding of virus-associated
      oncogenesis. Our findings may also have therapeutic implications, as treatment
      may be personalized to target specific viral and virus-associated host processes
      that are only present in a subset of patients. 

PMID- 25827833
TI  - The role of rituximab in adults with warm antibody autoimmune hemolytic anemia.
AB  - Warm antibody hemolytic anemia is the most common form of autoimmune hemolytic
      anemia. When therapy is needed, corticosteroids remain the cornerstone of initial
      treatment but are able to cure only a minority of patients (<20%). Splenectomy is
      usually proposed when a second-line therapy is needed. This classical approach is
      now challenged by the use of rituximab both as second-line and as first-line
      therapy. Second-line treatment with rituximab leads to response rates similar to
      splenectomy (~70%), but rituximab-induced responses seem less sustained. However,
      additional courses of rituximab are most often followed by responses, at the
      price of reasonable toxicity. In some major European centers, rituximab is now
      the preferred second-line therapy of warm antibody hemolytic anemia in adults,
      although no prospective study convincingly supports this attitude. A recent
      randomized study strongly suggests that in first-line treatment, rituximab
      combined with steroids is superior to monotherapy with steroids. If this finding
      is confirmed, rituximab will emerge as a major component of the management of
      warm antibody hemolytic anemia not only after relapse but as soon as treatment is
      needed. 

PMID- 25827834
TI  - How I use bypassing therapy for prophylaxis in patients with hemophilia A and
      inhibitors.
AB  - Inhibitor development poses a significant challenge in the management of
      hemophilia because once an inhibitor is present, bleeding episodes can no longer
      be treated with standard clotting factor replacement therapy. Consequently,
      patients with inhibitors are at increased risk for difficult-to-control bleeding
      and complications, particularly arthropathy and physical disability. Three
      clinical trials in patients with inhibitors have demonstrated that prophylaxis
      with a bypassing agent reduces joint and other types of bleeding and improves
      health-related quality of life compared with on-demand bypassing therapy. In
      hemophilia patients without inhibitors, the initiation of prophylaxis with factor
      (F) VIII or FIX prior to the onset of recurrent hemarthroses can prevent the
      development of joint disease. Whether this is also true for bypassing agent
      prophylaxis remains to be determined. 

PMID- 25827835
TI  - Visual acuity trade-offs and microhabitat-driven adaptation of searching
      behaviour in psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Aphalaridae).
AB  - Insects have evolved morphological and physiological adaptations in response to
      selection pressures inherent to their ecology. Consequently, visual performance
      and acuity often significantly vary between different insect species. Whilst
      psychophysics has allowed for the accurate determination of visual acuity for
      some Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera, very little is known about other insect taxa
      that cannot be trained to positively respond to a given stimulus. In this study,
      we demonstrate that prior knowledge of insect colour preferences can be used to
      facilitate acuity testing. We focused on four psyllid species (Hemiptera:
      Psylloidea: Aphalaridae), namely Ctenarytaina eucalypti, Ctenarytaina bipartita,
      Anoeconeossa bundoorensis and Glycaspis brimblecombei, that differ in their
      colour preferences and utilization of different host-plant modules (e.g. apical
      buds, stems, leaf lamellae) and tested their visual acuity in a modified Y-maze
      adapted to suit psyllid searching behaviour. Our study revealed that psyllids
      have visual acuity ranging from 6.3 to 8.7 deg. Morphological measurements for
      different species showed a close match between inter-ommatidial angles and
      behaviourally determined visual angles (between 5.5 and 6.6 deg) suggesting
      detection of colour stimuli at the single ommatidium level. Whilst our data
      support isometric scaling of psyllids' eyes for C. eucalypti, C. bipartita and G.
      brimblecombei, a morphological trade-off between light sensitivity and spatial
      resolution was found in A. bundoorensis. Overall, species whose microhabitat
      preferences require more movement between modules appear to possess superior
      visual acuity. The psyllid searching behaviours that we describe with the help of
      tracking software depict species-specific strategies that presumably evolved to
      optimize searching for food and oviposition sites. 

PMID- 25827836
TI  - The potential effects of climate-change-associated temperature increases on the
      metabolic rate of a small Afrotropical bird.
AB  - Studies have only recently begun to underline the importance of including data on
      the physiological flexibility of a species when modelling its vulnerability to
      extinction from climate change. We investigated the effects of a 4 degrees C
      increase in ambient temperature (Ta), similar to that predicted for southern
      Africa by the year 2080, on certain physiological variables of a 10-12 g
      passerine bird endemic to southern Africa, the Cape white-eye Zosterops virens.
      There was no significant difference in resting metabolism, body mass and
      intraperitoneal body temperature between birds housed indoors at 4 degrees C
      above outside ambient temperature and those housed indoors at outside ambient
      temperature. We conclude that the physiological flexibility of Cape white-eyes
      will aid them in coping with the 4 degrees C increase predicted for their range
      by 2080. 

PMID- 25827837
TI  - The lateral line is necessary for blind cavefish rheotaxis in non-uniform flow.
AB  - When encountering a unidirectional flow, many fish exhibit an unconditioned
      orienting response known as rheotaxis. This multisensory behavior can reportedly
      involve visual, vestibular, tactile and lateral line cues. However, the precise
      circumstances under which different senses contribute are still unclear and there
      is considerable debate, in particular, about the contributions of the lateral
      line. In this study, we investigate the rheotactic behavior of blind cavefish
      under conditions of spatially non-uniform flow (a jet stream), which in theory,
      should promote reliance on lateral line cues. The behavior of individual lateral
      line enabled and disabled fish was videorecorded under IR light in a square arena
      that prevented streamwise biases and that contained a narrow jet stream in the
      center of the tank. Whereas the stream's peak velocity (8 cm s(-1)) declined very
      little in the streamwise direction, it declined steeply in the cross-stream
      direction (~3-4.5 cm s(-1) cm(-1)). Lateral line enabled fish showed higher
      levels of orientation to the stream and its source (a 1-cm-wide nozzle) when in
      the central (jet stream) region of the tank compared with surrounding regions,
      whereas lateral line disabled fish showed random orientations in all regions of
      the tank. The results of this study indicate that the spatial characteristics of
      flow play a role in determining the sensory basis of rheotaxis. 

PMID- 25827838
TI  - Spectral sensitivity of cone photoreceptors and opsin expression in two colour
      divergent lineages of the lizard Ctenophorus decresii.
AB  - Intraspecific differences in sensory perception are rarely reported but may occur
      when a species range extends across varying sensory environments, or there is
      coevolution between the sensory system and a varying signal. Examples in colour
      vision and colour signals are rare in terrestrial systems. The tawny dragon
      lizard Ctenophorus decresii is a promising candidate for such intraspecific
      variation, because the species comprises two geographically and genetically
      distinct lineages in which throat colour (a social signal used in intra- and
      inter-specific interactions) is locally adapted to the habitat and differs
      between lineages. Male lizards from the southern lineage have UV-blue throats,
      whereas males from the northern lineage are polymorphic with four discrete throat
      colours that all show minimal UV reflectance. Here, we determine the cone
      photoreceptor spectral sensitivities and opsin expression of the two lineages, to
      test whether they differ, particularly in the UV wavelengths. Using
      microspectrophotometry on retinal cone photoreceptors, we identified a long
      wavelength-sensitive (LWS) visual pigment, a 'short' and 'long' medium-wavelength
      sensitive (MWS) pigment and a short-wavelength-sensitive (SWS) pigment, all of
      which did not differ in lambdamax between lineages. Through transcriptome
      analysis of opsin genes we found that both lineages express four cone opsin
      genes, including the SWS1 opsin with peak sensitivity in the UV range, and that
      amino acid sequences did not differ between lineages with the exception of a
      single leucine to valine substitution in the RH2 opsin. Counts of yellow and
      transparent oil droplets associated with LWS+MWS and SWS+UVS cones, respectively,
      showed no difference in relative cone proportions between lineages. Therefore,
      contrary to predictions, we find no evidence of differences between lineages in
      single cone photoreceptor spectral sensitivity or opsin expression. However, we
      confirm the presence of four single cone classes, suggesting tetrachromacy in C.
      decresii, and we also provide the first evidence of UV sensitivity in agamid
      lizards. 

PMID- 25827839
TI  - Ammonia first? The transition from cutaneous to branchial ammonia excretion in
      developing rainbow trout is not altered by exposure to chronically high NaCl.
AB  - Larval rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were reared from hatch under control
      ([Na(+)]=0.60 mmol l(-1)) or high NaCl ([Na(+)]=60 mmol l(-1)) conditions to
      elucidate the driving force for the ontogeny of branchial Na(+)/NH4 (+) exchange,
      one of the earliest gill functions. We hypothesized that if Na(+) uptake is the
      driving force, then in high NaCl there would be a delay in the skin-to-gill shift
      in ammonia excretion (Jamm) and/or an elevation in whole-body total ammonia
      (Tamm). In both groups, however, the skin-to-gill shift for Jamm, determined
      using divided chambers, occurred at the same time (13 days post-hatch; dph) and
      whole-body Tamm was unchanged. Moreover, high NaCl larvae displayed elevated
      whole-body [Na(+)] relative to controls by 18 dph, suggesting that maintaining
      branchial Jamm occurs at the expense of Na(+) balance. Overall, these results
      support the 'ammonia hypothesis', which posits that ammonia excretion, probably
      as Na(+)/NH4 (+) exchange, is the primary function of the early fish gill. 

PMID- 25827840
TI  - Warm acclimation and oxygen depletion induce species-specific responses in
      salmonids.
AB  - Anthropogenic activities are greatly altering the habitats of animals, whereby
      fish are already encountering several stressors simultaneously. The purpose of
      the current study was to investigate the capacity of fish to respond to two
      different environmental stressors (high temperature and overnight hypoxia)
      separately and together. We found that acclimation to increased temperature (from
      7.7+/-0.02 degrees C to 14.9+/-0.05 degrees C) and overnight hypoxia (daily
      changes from normoxia to 63-67% oxygen saturation), simulating climate change and
      eutrophication, had both antagonistic and synergistic effects on the capacity of
      fish to tolerate these stressors. The thermal tolerance of Arctic char
      (Salvelinus alpinus) and landlocked salmon (Salmo salar m. sebago) increased with
      warm acclimation by 1.3 and 2.2 degrees C, respectively, but decreased when warm
      temperature was combined with overnight hypoxia (by 0.2 and 0.4 degrees C,
      respectively). In contrast, the combination of the stressors more than doubled
      hypoxia tolerance in salmon and also increased hypoxia tolerance in char by 22%.
      Salmon had 1.2 degrees C higher thermal tolerance than char, but char tolerated
      much lower oxygen levels than salmon at a given temperature. The changes in
      hypoxia tolerance were connected to the responses of the oxygen supply and
      delivery system. The relative ventricle mass was higher in cold- than in warm
      acclimated salmon but the thickness of the compact layer of the ventricle
      increased with the combination of warm and hypoxia acclimation in both species.
      Char had also significantly larger hearts and thicker compact layers than salmon.
      The results illustrate that while fish can have protective responses when
      encountering a single environmental stressor, the combination of stressors can
      have unexpected species-specific effects that will influence their survival
      capacity. 

PMID- 25827841
TI  - Burrowing by small polychaetes - mechanics, behavior and muscle structure of
      Capitella sp.
AB  - Worms of different sizes extend burrows through muddy sediments by fracture,
      applying dorso-ventral forces that are amplified at the crack tip. Smaller worms
      displace sediments less than larger worms and therefore are limited in how much
      force they can apply to burrow walls. We hypothesized that small worms would
      exhibit a transition in burrowing mechanics, specifically a lower limit in body
      size for the ability to burrow by fracture, corresponding with an ontogenetic
      transition in muscle morphology. Kinematics of burrowing in a mud analog,
      external morphology and muscle arrangement were examined in juveniles and adults
      of the small polychaete Capitella sp. We found that it moves by peristalsis, and
      no obvious differences were observed among worms of different sizes; even very
      small juveniles were able to burrow through a clear mud analog by fracture.
      Interestingly, we found that in addition to longitudinal and circular muscles
      needed for peristaltic movements, left- and right-handed helical muscles wrap
      around the thorax of worms of all sizes. We suggest that in small worms helical
      muscles may function to supplement forces generated by longitudinal muscles and
      to maintain hydrostatic pressure, enabling higher forces to be exerted on the
      crack wall. Further research is needed, however, to determine whether surficial
      sediments inhabited by small worms fail by fracture or plastically deform under
      forces of the magnitudes applied by Capitella sp. 

PMID- 25827842
TI  - Alcohol-preferring P rats emit spontaneous 22-28 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations
      that are altered by acute and chronic alcohol experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Emotional states are often thought to drive excessive alcohol intake
      and influence the development of alcohol use disorders. To gain insight into
      affective properties associated with excessive alcohol intake, we utilized
      ultrasonic vocalization (USV) detection and analyses to characterize the
      emotional phenotype of selectively bred alcohol-preferring (P) rats; an
      established animal model of excessive alcohol intake. USVs emitted by rodents
      have been convincingly associated with positive (50-55 kHz frequency-modulated
      [FM]) and negative (22-28 kHz) affective states. Therefore, we hypothesized that
      50-55 and 22-28 kHz USV emission patterns in P rats would reveal a unique
      emotional phenotype sensitive to alcohol experience. METHODS: 50-55 kHz FM and 22
      28 kHz USVs elicited from male P rats were assessed during access to water, 15
      and 30% EtOH (v/v). Ethanol (EtOH; n = 12) or water only (Control; n = 4) across
      8 weeks of daily drinking-in-the-dark (DID) sessions. RESULTS: Spontaneous 22-28
      kHz USVs are emitted by alcohol-naive P rats and are enhanced by alcohol
      experience. During DID sessions when alcohol was not available (e.g., "EtOH OFF"
      intervals), significantly more 22-28 kHz than 50-55 kHz USVs were elicited, while
      significantly more 50-55 kHz FM than 22-28 kHz USVs were emitted when alcohol was
      available (e.g., "EtOH ON" intervals). In addition, USV acoustic property
      analyses revealed chronic effects of alcohol experience on 22-28 kHz USV mean
      frequency, indicative of lasting alcohol-mediated alterations to neural
      substrates underlying emotional response. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate
      that acute and chronic effects of alcohol exposure are reflected in changes in 22
      28 and 50-55 kHz FM USV counts and acoustic patterns. These data support the
      notion that initiation and maintenance of alcohol intake in P rats may be due to
      a unique, alcohol-responsive emotional phenotype and further suggest that
      spontaneous 22-28 kHz USVs serve as behavioral markers for excessive drinking
      vulnerability.

PMID- 25827843
TI  - Predictive value of serum markers for the development of interstitial lung
      disease in patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis: a comparative and
      prospective study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is one of the most common and
      devastated complication of polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM). Several studies
      have focused on serum biomarkers for ILD in PM/DM patients; however, there have
      been no prospective studies. AIM: To explore and compare the predictive value of
      four serum markers for the development of ILD in patients with PM/DM. METHODS:
      One hundred adult PM/DM patients were included in this prospective clinical study
      at baseline. Forty-four PM/DM patients without ILD were followed up for 1 year.
      Fifty-six PM/DM patients with ILD were treated and followed up for 2 months.
      Serum samples were analysed for the levels of Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6),
      monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), surfactant protein-A and D (SP-A, SP-D).
      RESULTS: Serum KL-6 (1542.8 +/- 760.8 U/mL) (P < 0.001), MCP-1 (1870 +/- 1590
      pg/mL) (P = 0.014), SP-A (56 +/- 28 ng/mL) (P < 0.001) and SP-D (230 +/- 196
      ng/mL) (P < 0.001) were significantly elevated in PM/DM patients with ILD
      compared with those in the patients without ILD (KL-6 429 +/- 105.8 U/mL; MCP-1
      1349 +/- 1303 pg/mL; SP-A 34 +/- 26 ng/mL; SP-D 96 +/- 63 ng/mL). In PM/DM
      patients without ILD who were followed up for 1 year, KL-6 presented the highest
      predictive value among single markers. In patients who were treated and followed
      up, KL-6 concentrations increased with the progression of ILD and decreased along
      with the improvement of ILD. CONCLUSION: Considering the ability of KL-6 for
      predicting the onset of ILD and monitoring the treatment response of ILD in PM/DM
      patients, it may be of great significance for clinical practice, and the
      prognosis of patients may be substantially improved if serum KL-6 was regularly
      monitored.

PMID- 25827844
TI  - The assessment of sewage sludge gasification by-products toxicity by
      ecotoxicologial test.
AB  - The process of gasification of sewage sludge generates by-products, which may be
      contaminated with toxic and hazardous substances, both organic and inorganic. It
      is therefore important to assess the environmental risk associated with this type
      of waste. The feasibility of using an ecotoxicological tests for this purpose was
      determined in the presented study. The applied tests contained indicator
      organisms belonging to various biological groups (bacteria, crustaceans, plants).
      The subject of the study were solid (ash, char) and liquid (tar) by-products
      generated during gasification (in a fixed bed reactor) of dried sewage sludge
      from various wastewater treatment systems. The tested samples were classified
      based on their toxic effect. The sensitivity of the indicator organisms to the
      tested material was determined. In-house procedures for the preparation for
      toxicity analysis of both sewage sludge and by-products generated during the
      gasification were presented. The scope of work also included the determination of
      the effect of selected process parameters (temperature, amount of gasifying
      agent) on the toxicity of gasification by-products depending on the sewage sludge
      source. It was shown that both the type of sewage sludge and the parameters of
      the gasification process affects the toxicity of the by-products of gasification.
      However, the results of toxicity studies also depend on the type of
      ecotoxicological test used, which is associated with a different sensitivity of
      the indicator organisms. Nevertheless, it may be concluded that the by-products
      formed during the gasification of the low toxicity sewage sludge can be regarded
      as non-toxic or low toxic. However, the results analysis of the gasification of
      the toxic sludge were not conclusive, which leads to further research needs in
      this area. 

PMID- 25827845
TI  - The existing situation and challenges regarding the use of plastic carrier bags
      in Europe.
AB  - Since day one, retailers and consumers have favoured plastic carrier bags.
      However, owing to the numerous environmental disadvantages, lightweight plastic
      carrier bags have been drawing the attention of the European Union competent
      authorities. Therefore, many European Union member states have taken action so as
      to reduce the use of plastic carrier bags. Based on the existing legislation and
      voluntary initiatives for the reduction of lightweight plastic carrier bags, the
      challenges and achieved outcomes from the implemented policy options in the
      various European Union member states are discussed and commented regarding the
      forthcoming transposition of the 'Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging
      waste to reduce the consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags' into the
      European Union member states' national law. 

PMID- 25827846
TI  - Recent developments and perspective of the spent waste printed circuit boards.
AB  - The amount of spent electronic and electrical solid wastes (i.e. e-wastes) has
      increased to a new level with the rapid development of electronic and electrical
      industries. Management of e-wastes challenges the administrators and researchers.
      As a major component of the e-waste stream, pollution caused by the spent printed
      circuit boards has captured increasing attention. Various innovative methods have
      recently been developed to dispose and reuse these municipal spent printed
      circuit boards. In this mini-review article, the disposal approaches for spent
      printed circuit boards are highlighted. The present state and future perspective
      are also discussed. We hope that this mini-review can promote the extensive
      understanding and effective disposal of the spent printed circuit boards in the
      field of solid waste treatment and resources. 

PMID- 25827847
TI  - Urban waste management and the mobile challenge.
AB  - Digital evolution and mobile developments are carving a new era that affects
      human behaviour and global governance. Interconnectivity and flow of information
      through various types of modern means create new opportunities for cooperation
      and ways to work. Waste management could not stay unaffected by these changes.
      New potentials are arising for the sector, offering a novel field for innovation,
      changing the way waste practices are applied. In this framework, mobile products
      and apps can become valuable tools for authorities, companies, civilians and
      other stakeholders, integrating these technologies in the battle for
      environmental protection, recycling, etc. This article examines the unexplored
      challenges of mobile apps to deliver sustainable waste management with emphasis
      on recycling and waste prevention performance, especially for emerging developing
      countries. It presents the opportunities that are involved in using mobile apps
      to improve both the systemic performance of a specific waste management system
      and the individual behaviour of the users. Furthermore, the article reviews the
      most important relevant literature and summarises the key findings of the recent
      research on mobile apps and human behaviour. Useful conclusions are drawn for
      both the content and the format of the mobile apps required for recycling and
      waste prevention. Finally, the article presents the most characteristic mobile
      apps that are already in place in the waste management sector. 

PMID- 25827848
TI  - Antimicrobial properties of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana: a focus on drug resistance
      with particular reference to quorum sensing-mediated bacterial biofilm formation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study attempts to investigate the antimicrobial properties of
      Kalanchoe blossfeldiana with a particular reference to quorum sensing (QS)
      mediated biofilm formation. METHODS: The methanol extract of K. blossfeldiana
      leaves (MEKB) was evaluated for antimicrobial properties including QS-controlled
      production of biofilm (including virulence factor, motility and lactone
      formation) in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Methanol extract of K. blossfeldiana was
      also evaluated for anti-cytokine (tumour necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-6 and
      interleukin-1 beta) properties in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). KEY
      FINDINGS: Methanol extract of K. blossfeldiana exhibited antimicrobial effect on
      clinical isolates, as well as standard reference strains. Pseudomonas aeruginosa
      exposed to MEKB (subminimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)) displayed reduced
      biofilm formation, whereas supra-MIC produced destruction of preformed biofilms.
      Methanol extract of K. blossfeldiana reduced the secretion of virulence factors
      (protease and pyoverdin) along with generation of acyl homoserine lactone (AHL).
      Confocal laser scanning microscopy images indicate reduction of biofilm
      thickness. The extract also reduced cytokine formation in lipopolysaccharide
      stimulated PBMC. CONCLUSIONS: Kalanchoe blossfeldiana was found to interfere with
      AHL production, which in turn may be responsible for downregulating QS-mediated
      production of biofilm and virulence. This first report on the antibiofilm and
      anticytokine properties of this plant may open up new vistas for future
      exploration of this plant for combating biofilm-related resistant infections.

PMID- 25827849
TI  - Multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenation deficiency as decreased acyl-carnitine profile
      in serum.
AB  - We report a case with late onset riboflavin-responsive multiple acyl-CoA
      dehydrogenation deficiency (MADD) characterized by decreased acyl-carnitine
      profile in serum which is consistent with primary systemic carnitine deficiency
      (CDSP) while just the contrary to a typical MADD. This patient complained with
      muscle weakness, muscle pain and intermittent vomiting, and was diagnosed as
      polymyositis, received prednisone therapy before consulted with us. Muscle biopsy
      revealed mild lipid storage. The findings of serum acyl-carnitines were
      consistent with CDSP manifesting as decreased free and total carnitines in serum.
      But oral L-carnitine supplementation was not very effective to this patient and
      mutation analysis of the SLC22A5 gene for CDSP was normal. Later, another acyl
      carnitine analysis revealed a typical MADD profile in serum, which was
      characterized by increased multiple acyl-carnitines. Compound heterozygous
      mutations were identified in electron transferring-flavoprotein dehydrogenase
      (ETFDH) gene which confirmed the diagnosis of MADD. After administration of
      riboflavin, he improved dramatically, both clinically and biochemically. Thus,
      late onset riboflavin-responsive MADD should be included in the differential
      diagnosis for adult carnitine deficiency. 

PMID- 25827850
TI  - Smoking Cessation Intervention for severe Mental Ill Health Trial (SCIMITAR): a
      pilot randomised control trial of the clinical effectiveness and cost
      effectiveness of a bespoke smoking cessation service.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is a high prevalence of smoking among people who experience
      severe mental ill health (SMI). Helping people with disorders such as bipolar
      illness and schizophrenia to quit smoking would help improve their health,
      increase longevity and also reduce health inequalities. Around half of people
      with SMI who smoke express an interest in cutting down or quitting smoking. There
      is limited evidence that smoking cessation can be achieved for people with SMI.
      Those with SMI rarely access routine NHS smoking cessation services. This
      suggests the need to develop and evaluate a behavioural support and medication
      package tailored to the needs of people with SMI. OBJECTIVE: The objective in
      this project was to conduct a pilot trial to establish acceptability of the
      intervention and to ensure the feasibility of recruitment, randomisation and
      follow-up. We also sought preliminary estimates of effect size in order to design
      a fully powered trial of clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. The pilot
      should inform a fully powered trial to compare the clinical effectiveness and
      cost-effectiveness of a bespoke smoking cessation (BSC) intervention with usual
      general practitioner (GP) care for people with SMI. DESIGN: A pilot pragmatic two
      arm individually randomised controlled trial (RCT). Simple randomisation was used
      following a computer-generated random number sequence. Participants and
      practitioners were not blinded to allocation. SETTING: Primary care and secondary
      care mental health services in England. PARTICIPANTS: Smokers aged > 18 years
      with a severe mental illness who would like to cut down or quit smoking.
      INTERVENTIONS: A BSC intervention delivered by mental health specialists trained
      to deliver evidence-supported smoking cessation interventions compared with usual
      GP care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was carbon monoxide-verified
      smoking cessation at 12 months. Smoking-related secondary outcomes were reduction
      of number of cigarettes smoked, Fagerstrom test of nicotine dependence and
      motivation to quit (MTQ). Other secondary outcomes were Patient Health
      Questionnaire-9 items and Short Form Questionnaire-12 items to assess whether
      there were improvements or deterioration in mental health and quality of life. We
      also measured body mass index to assess whether or not smoking cessation was
      associated with weight gain. These were measured at 1, 6 and 12 months post
      randomisation. RESULTS: The trial recruited 97 people aged 19-73 years who smoked
      between 5 and 60 cigarettes per day (mean 25 cigarettes). Participants were
      recruited from four mental health trusts and 45 GP surgeries. Forty-six people
      were randomised to the BSC intervention and 51 people were randomised to usual GP
      care. The odds of quitting at 12 months was higher in the BSC intervention (36%
      vs. 23%) but did not reach statistical significance (odds ratio 2.9; 95%
      confidence interval 0.8% to 10.5%). At 3 and 6 months there was no evidence of
      difference in self-reported smoking cessation. There was a non-significant
      reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked and nicotine dependence. MTQ and
      number of quit attempts all increased in the BSC group compared with usual care.
      There was no difference in terms of quality of life at any time point, but there
      was evidence of an increase in depression scores at 12 months for the BSC group.
      There were no serious adverse events thought likely to be related to the trial
      interventions. The pilot economic analysis demonstrated that it was feasible to
      carry out a full economic analysis. CONCLUSIONS: It was possible to recruit
      people with SMI from primary and secondary care to a trial of a smoking cessation
      intervention based around behavioural support and medication. The overall
      direction of effect was a positive trend in relation to biochemically verified
      smoking cessation and it was feasible to obtain follow-up in a substantial
      proportion of participants. A definitive trial of a bespoke cessation
      intervention has been prioritised by the National Institute for Health Research
      (NIHR) and the SCIMITAR pilot trial forms a template for a fully powered RCT to
      examine clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. TRIAL REGISTRATION:
      Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN79497236. FUNDING: This project was funded by the
      NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in
      Health Technology Assessment, Vol. 19, No. 25. See the NIHR Journals Library
      website for further project information.

PMID- 25827852
TI  - Signposts along the journey toward high-quality palliative care: the value of
      measuring what matters.

PMID- 25827851
TI  - Palliative Care Physicians' Attitudes Toward Patient Autonomy and a Good Death in
      East Asian Countries.
AB  - CONTEXT: Clarification of the potential differences in end-of-life care among
      East Asian countries is necessary to provide palliative care that is
      individualized for each patient. OBJECTIVES: The aim was to explore the
      differences in attitude toward patient autonomy and a good death among East Asian
      palliative care physicians. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was performed
      involving palliative care physicians in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. Physicians'
      attitudes toward patient autonomy and physician-perceived good death were
      assessed. RESULTS: A total of 505, 207, and 211 responses were obtained from
      Japanese, Taiwanese, and Korean physicians, respectively. Japanese (82%) and
      Taiwanese (93%) physicians were significantly more likely to agree that the
      patient should be informed first of a serious medical condition than Korean
      physicians (74%). Moreover, 41% and 49% of Korean and Taiwanese physicians agreed
      that the family should be told first, respectively; whereas 7.4% of Japanese
      physicians agreed. Physicians' attitudes with respect to patient autonomy were
      significantly correlated with the country (Japan), male sex, physician
      specialties of surgery and oncology, longer clinical experience, and physicians
      having no religion but a specific philosophy. In all 12 components of a good
      death, there were significant differences by country. Japanese physicians
      regarded physical comfort and autonomy as significantly more important and
      regarded preparation, religion, not being a burden to others, receiving maximum
      treatment, and dying at home as less important. Taiwanese physicians regarded
      life completion and being free from tubes and machines as significantly more
      important. Korean physicians regarded being cognitively intact as significantly
      more important. CONCLUSION: There are considerable intercountry differences in
      physicians' attitudes toward autonomy and physician-perceived good death. East
      Asia is not culturally the same; thus, palliative care should be provided in a
      culturally acceptable manner for each country.

PMID- 25827853
TI  - When Physicians Report Having Used Medical Drugs to Deliberately End a Patient's
      Life: Findings of the "End-of-Life in France" Survey.
AB  - CONTEXT: The debate on the decriminalization of active assistance in dying is
      still a topical issue in many countries where it is regarded as homicide. Despite
      the prohibition, some physicians say they have used drugs to intentionally end a
      patient's life. OBJECTIVES: To provide some empirical grounding for the ongoing
      debate. METHODS: Using data from the End-of-Life in France survey (a
      representative sample of 15,000 deaths that occurred in December 2009,
      questionnaires completed anonymously by the physicians who had certified the
      deaths), we selected all the cases where the physician had used one or more drugs
      to intentionally end a patient's life and compared the decisions and decision
      making process with the conditions imposed by the French law for decisions to
      withhold or withdraw life-supporting treatments and by the Belgian law on
      euthanasia. RESULTS: Of the 36 cases analyzed, four situations seemed to be
      deliberate acts after explicit requests from the patients, and only two seemed to
      fulfill the eligibility and due care conditions of the Belgian euthanasia law.
      Decisions made without any discussion with patients were quite common, and we
      observed inadequate labeling, frequent signs of ambivalence (artificial feeding
      and hydration not withdrawn, types of drug used), and little interprofessional
      consultation. Where the patient had requested euthanasia, the emotional burden on
      the physician was heavy. CONCLUSION: These findings underscore the pressing need
      for a clarification of the concepts involved among health professionals,
      patients, and society at large, and better training and support for physicians.

PMID- 25827854
TI  - Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) Orders and Consultants' Willingness to Perform Invasive
      Procedures.

PMID- 25827855
TI  - Single-Dose Subcutaneous Benzodiazepines for Insomnia in Patients With Advanced
      Cancer.

PMID- 25827856
TI  - Statins and Nonadherence: Should We RELATE Better?
AB  - Statin nonadherence is a major challenge to optimal management. Patients
      nonadherent to statin therapy do not receive the expected benefit relative to the
      degree of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering obtained. This is
      important because new evidence guidelines recommend statins as the first-line
      therapy for those in high-risk groups (secondary prevention, patients with
      diabetes 40-75 years of age, and LDL-C >= 190 mg/dL) and in selected primary
      prevention patients. Statin assignment in the latter group occurs only in those
      with an estimated >=7.5% 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk
      after shared decision making in a clinician-patient risk discussion. However, in
      numerous studies, statin nonadherence shows little or no benefit in reducing
      cardiovascular events or mortality compared to placebo, effectively negating the
      risk reduction expected from statin use and concomitantly increasing the total
      cost of health care. The causes and solutions for nonadherence are multifactorial
      and include patient, clinician, and health system factors. We believe that a
      clinician-patient partnership that facilitates patients' understanding of the
      potential for optimal benefit with the least adverse effects is an important
      first step toward improving adherence. A transtheoretical model of stages of
      behavior change helps clinicians address many of the common factors limiting
      adherence to statins. We conclude with a teaching tool emphasizing a structured
      approach to statin therapy with patient-centered risk discussions. 

PMID- 25827857
TI  - Periprocedural Management of New Oral Anticoagulants in Atrial Fibrillation
      Ablation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients who undergo catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF)
      are at increased risk of developing thromboembolic and bleeding complications
      periprocedurally. Many patients are now on newer oral anticoagulants (NOACs), but
      data regarding their safety and efficacy during AF ablation are limited. METHODS
      AND RESULTS: This article reviews the literature in PubMed from 1998 to 2014 and
      includes clinical trials and meta-analysis that analyzed the safety and efficacy
      of NOACs during AF catheter ablation. Dabigatran seems to be as effective and
      safe as warfarin, although most data are from single-center studies, with small
      samples and very low overall bleeding and thromboembolic complications.
      Periprocedural anticoagulation protocols also vary greatly between studies. Some
      recent meta-analysis has shown that warfarin could still be a safer and more
      effective alternative. There are fewer studies with rivaroxaban in AF ablation,
      and there have been no meta-analysis yet comparing rivaroxaban to warfarin or
      dabigatran. There seems to be no significant differences in safety or efficacy of
      rivaroxaban compared to warfarin. Interestingly, there are no available data for
      apixaban in AF ablation yet. DISCUSSION: There are no consensus guidelines
      regarding the use of NOACs during AF ablation. Dabigatran and rivaroxaban seem as
      safe and effective as warfarin, although larger studies with standardized
      protocols are needed, as available studies may be underpowered to detect small
      differences in bleeding and thromboembolic rates.

PMID- 25827858
TI  - High-frequency percussive ventilation: a new strategy for separation from
      extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
AB  - We report the case of a 48-year-old woman who developed severe septic shock and
      lung injury after community-acquired pneumonia. She was supported on
      arteriovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for 19 days. To
      facilitate decannulation and separation from ECMO, we began trials of high
      frequency percussive ventilation (HFPV) using the volumetric diffusive
      respiration ventilator VDR-4 (Percussionaire Corp, Sandpoint, Idaho) for 4
      consecutive days (1 before and 3 after). Decannulation was achieved successfully,
      and the patient was transferred to the floor 3 months later. During the 4 days of
      HFPV, the chest radiograph improved, as did gas exchange and clearance of
      pulmonary secretions. HFPV may be a promising strategy for improving lung
      recruitment and airway clearance during separation from ECMO in the critically
      ill patient. 

PMID- 25827859
TI  - Editorial comment: High frequency ventilation and extracorporeal membrane
      oxygenation: a winning combination?

PMID- 25827860
TI  - Paradoxical air embolus during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography: an
      uncommon fatal complication.
AB  - Air embolism during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography is a rare but
      potentially fatal complication. A 66-year-old man underwent endoscopic retrograde
      cholangiopancreatography and remained stable until the end of the procedure, when
      he was found to have mottling on his right side and became hypoxic and
      unresponsive. Transesophageal echocardiography showed air within the left
      ventricle, consistent with systemic air embolism. Mortality resulted from
      significant cardiac and cerebral ischemia. The literature suggests that
      capnography is helpful in early diagnosis of air embolus, but it could not be
      used in this case because the patient's trachea was not intubated. 

PMID- 25827861
TI  - Massive pulmonary embolism in pregnancy treated with catheter-directed tissue
      plasminogen activator.
AB  - Pulmonary embolism is a leading cause of maternal death in the United States,
      contributing to the death of approximately 2 women per 100,000 live births each
      year. Thrombosis during pregnancy traditionally is treated conservatively with
      unfractionated heparin or low-molecular-weight heparin; however, cardiovascular
      collapse associated with a large pulmonary embolus may require immediate
      aggressive intervention to save the mother and fetus. We report the use of
      catheter infusion thrombolysis in the successful management of a third-trimester
      pregnant patient with a hemodynamically significant saddle pulmonary embolus. 

PMID- 25827862
TI  - Anesthesia for a pediatric patient with cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome.
AB  - Cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome is a rare syndrome that is characterized by
      distinct craniofacial features, cardiac abnormalities, and multiple organ
      involvement. Patients may present with pulmonary stenosis, hypertrophic
      cardiomyopathy, micrognathia, a short neck, laryngomalacia, and tracheomalacia;
      all of which may significantly impact the perioperative course of these patients.
      We describe a 6-year-old child with cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome presenting for
      an orthopedic procedure. He had an uneventful perioperative and postoperative
      course. 

PMID- 25827863
TI  - Survival rates, prognostic factors and treatment of anaplastic meningiomas.
AB  - Intracranial anaplastic meningioma is a malignant type of meningioma with a high
      rate of recurrence and death. Given its rarity, minimal information regarding
      this tumour is available. Thus, we studied a series of patients with anaplastic
      meningiomas and analysed the survival rates, prognostic factors and treatment
      methods associated with these patients. Forty-three anaplastic meningioma cases
      treated at our hospital between July 2002 and June 2012 were compiled into a
      single database used to summarise the clinical characteristics from a
      retrospective review of patient records. Progression free survival (PFS) and
      overall survival (OS) were analysed as a function of each possible prognostic
      factor. The 1, 3 and 5 year PFS rates were 90.7%, 51.3%, and 37.0%, respectively,
      whereas the corresponding values of OS rates were 95.3%, 68.0% and 49.2%,
      respectively. A number of factors were selected to analyse association with
      prognosis. Simpson Grade I and II resections exhibited increased PFS rates and
      radiotherapy improved the OS rate in anaplastic meningiomas. Tumours with
      homogeneous contrast enhancement on MRI were associated with increased PFS and
      OS. Sex, age, tumour location, first or transformed anaplastic tumour, pre
      operative Karnofsky Performance Scores, tumour volumes and bone involvement had
      no significant effect on either PFS or OS. MRI homogeneous contrast may be a
      useful prognostic factor and surgery followed by radiotherapy is recommended for
      the treatment of anaplastic meningiomas.

PMID- 25827864
TI  - Symptomatic osteolipoma of the tuber cinereum masquerading as calcified
      retroclival mass.
AB  - We present a case of symptomatic osteolipoma of the tuber cinereum in a 51 year
      old male with rapid visual deterioration over several months leading to bilateral
      visual loss. Preoperatively the lesion masqueraded as a calcified retroclival
      mass. Intracranial osteolipomas are rare benign lesions that are usually
      asymptomatic and have an indolent course. Additionally, we discuss our
      intraoperative findings highlighting the technical challenges encountered along
      with a review of the English language literature on histologically proven
      intracranial osteolipomas. 

PMID- 25827865
TI  - Complications of post-craniectomy cranioplasty: risk factor analysis and
      implications for treatment planning.
AB  - The aim of this study was to review all post-craniectomy cranioplasties performed
      in a single institution, with an emphasis on procedure-related complications and
      risk factor analysis. Post-craniectomy cranioplasty is known to be associated
      with significant complications. Previous studies on predictors of complications
      have yielded conflicting results. We conducted a retrospective study on
      prospectively collected data on all cranioplasties done between 1 January 2003
      and 31 December 2012. Multivariate analysis was performed to interrogate
      potential risk factors predisposing to procedure-related complications. Of the
      162 procedures, the overall complication rate was 16.7%. Infection and flap
      depression occurred in 13 (8%) and five patients (3.1%), respectively. These led
      to reoperations in 12 patients. The presence of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt
      during cranioplasty was the only significant factor associated with a higher rate
      of infection (28.6% versus 9.7%, p=0.001) and flap depression (14.3% versus 3.3%,
      p=0.03). Indications for the initial craniectomy, choice of graft materials and
      the time interval between craniectomy and cranioplasty had no significant
      association with complications. The presence of ventriculoperitoneal shunt at the
      time of cranioplasty is a significant risk factor for cranioplasty complications.
      Early cranioplasty is safe. Whether temporizing lumbar or external ventricular
      drainage is a better alternative to shunting in patients who are drainage
      dependent at the time of cranioplasty remain to be determined.

PMID- 25827867
TI  - Hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy in medium-sized to large arteriovenous
      malformations.
AB  - We have reviewed treatment results in terms of obliteration and complications in
      24 patients with medium to large sized cerebral arteriovenous malformations
      (AVMs) (mean volume 18.5+/-8.9cm(3); range: 10-42) treated with hypofractionated
      stereotactic radiotherapy (HSRT). AVMs are congenital lesions associated with a
      high morbidity and mortality. Radiosurgery is one option for treatment. However,
      in larger AVMs with volumes exceeding 10cm(3) obliteration rates are less
      favourable and radiation induced complications more frequent. For larger AVMs,
      volume-staged radiosurgery is one option while another option may be the use of
      HSRT. Patients were treated with 6-7Gy in five fractions to a total dose of 30
      35Gy (mean total dose 32.9+/-1.6Gy [standard error of the mean]). Sixteen
      patients (69.6%) showed obliteration after a mean time of 35.2+/-14.8 months
      (range: 24-60). Only one patient (4.2%) experienced symptomatic radionecrosis.
      Our treatment with HSRT seems safe and efficient for treatment of medium to large
      sized AVMs. Treatment results seem to be in line with volume-staged radiosurgery
      and may be an alternative for AVMs not suitable for single fraction radiosurgery.

PMID- 25827868
TI  - Assessment of body composition in children with cerebral palsy: a cross-sectional
      study in Norway.
AB  - AIM: The assessment of growth and body composition is challenging in children
      with cerebral palsy (CP). The aim of this study was to compare clinical
      assessments of body composition with measurements obtained using dual-energy X
      ray absorptiometry (DXA) in this population. METHOD: Knee height, weight, and
      triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness (SFT) were measured in 47 children
      with CP (age range 8-18y; 18 females, 29 males). Height was estimated from knee
      height, and used to calculate body mass index (BMI). Using SFT measurements, body
      fat percentage was calculated by standard ('Slaughter') and CP-modified ('Gurka')
      equations and compared with results obtained using DXA. RESULTS: Children with
      severe gross motor function impairments (Gross Motor Function Classification
      System [GMFCS] level III or IV) exhibited stunted growth and had higher fat
      percentages and lower lean body mass than children classified in GMFCS level I or
      II. In 10 children classified as 'thin' according to their BMI (five of whom were
      assigned thinness grade of 2 or lower), percentage of body fat, as determined by
      DXA, was normal or high. The Slaughter equations significantly underestimated
      body fat percentages, whereas the precision of the CP-modified Gurka equations
      was excellent. INTERPRETATION: In this study, children with CP and severe motor
      impairments displayed stunted growth, but were not undernourished. Relying solely
      upon BMIs may be misleading in children with CP. Therefore, clinicians should be
      encouraged to measure SFT and to calculate body fat percentages using the CP
      modified version of the Slaughter equation.

PMID- 25827866
TI  - Different imaging characteristics of concurrent pituitary adenomas in a patient
      with Cushing's disease.
AB  - We report a patient with Cushing's disease (CD) and two pituitary adenomas that
      demonstrated different imaging characteristics and therefore suggest an
      alternative imaging strategy for these patients. A 42-year-old woman presented
      with signs and symptoms of CD. Biochemical evaluation confirmed hypercortisolemia
      and suggested CD. On pituitary MRI with spoiled gradient recalled acquisition in
      the steady-state and T1-weighted spin echo protocols, a 5mm hypoenhancing region
      typical for a pituitary adenoma was identified on the left. However, after
      surgical resection the patient remained hypercortisolemic and pathology revealed
      a non-functional adenoma. At early repeat surgical exploration a 10mm adenoma was
      found in the right side of the gland. Postoperatively the patient became
      hypocortisolemic and pathology demonstrated an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
      staining adenoma. On review of the initial MRI this tumor corresponded to a
      region of contrast retention best visualized on delayed fluid attenuated
      inversion recovery (FLAIR) imaging. While the incidentaloma in this case
      demonstrated classical imaging characteristics of a pituitary adenoma the larger
      ACTH-secreting tumor was best appreciated by contrast retention. This suggests a
      role for delayed postcontrast FLAIR imaging in the preoperative evaluation of CD.
      ACTH-secreting tumors causing CD cause significant morbidity. Due to their small
      size, a pituitary adenoma is frequently not identified on imaging despite
      endocrinologic testing suggesting CD. Regardless of improvements in MRI, many
      tumors are only identified at surgical exploration.

PMID- 25827869
TI  - Tacrine derivatives as dual topoisomerase I and II catalytic inhibitors.
AB  - This study examines the binding properties of a series of newly synthetized
      tacrine derivatives 1-4 and their anticancer effects. Spectroscopic techniques
      (UV-Vis, fluorescence spectroscopy, thermal denaturation, and linear
      spectropolarimetry) and viscometry were used to study DNA binding properties and
      to determine the types of DNA interaction with the studied derivatives. The
      binding constants for the complexes with DNA were obtained using UV-Vis
      spectroscopic titrations (K = 1.6 * 10(4)-4.0 * 10(5) M(-1)) and electrophoretic
      methods were used to determine the effect of the derivatives on topoisomerase I
      and II activity. Monotacrine derivative 1 showed evidence of topoisomerase
      Irelaxation activity at a concentration of 30 * 10(-6) M, while bistacrine
      derivatives 2-4 produced a complete inhibition of topoisomerase Iat a
      concentration of 5 * 10(-6) M. The biological activities of the derivatives were
      studied using MTT-assay and flow cytometric methods (detection of mitochondrial
      membrane potential and measurement of cell viability) following incubation of 24
      and 48 h with human leukemic cancer cell line HL60. The ability of the
      derivatives to impair cell proliferation was also tested through the analysis of
      cell cycle distribution.

PMID- 25827871
TI  - Beads-on-a-string on a bead: reconstitution and analysis of chromatin on a solid
      support.
AB  - Complex experimental strategies involving in vitro reconstituted chromatin or
      simple chromatin interaction studies are much facilitated by immobilizing the
      nucleosomal arrays to paramagnetic beads. Chromatin-containing beads can be
      retrieved from a reaction mix solution on a magnet fast and quantitatively,
      effectively separating bound, loosely attached and unbound components
      efficiently. This chapter details a convenient strategy for immobilization of
      linear plasmid DNA on streptavidin-coated beads, the reconstitution of chromatin
      on such beads, and some fundamental handling procedures. 

PMID- 25827870
TI  - Clinical differences between respiratory viral and bacterial mono- and dual
      pathogen detected among Singapore military servicemen with febrile respiratory
      illness.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although it is known that febrile respiratory illnesses (FRI) may be
      caused by multiple respiratory pathogens, there are no population-level studies
      describing its impact on clinical disease. METHODS: Between May 2009 and October
      2012, 7733 FRI patients and controls in the Singapore military had clinical data
      and nasal wash samples collected prospectively and sent for PCR testing. Patients
      with one pathogen detected (mono-pathogen) were compared with those with two
      pathogens (dual pathogen) for differences in basic demographics and clinical
      presentation. RESULTS: In total, 45.8% had one pathogen detected, 20.2% had two
      pathogens detected, 30.9% had no pathogens detected, and 3.1% had more than two
      pathogens. Multiple pathogens were associated with recruits, those with asthma
      and non-smokers. Influenza A (80.0%), influenza B (73.0%) and mycoplasma (70.6%)
      were most commonly associated with mono-infections, while adenovirus was most
      commonly associated with dual infections (62.9%). Influenza A paired with S.
      pneumoniae had higher proportions of chills and rigors than their respective mono
      pathogens (P = 0.03, P = 0.009). H. influenzae paired with either enterovirus or
      parainfluenzae had higher proportions of cough with phlegm than their respective
      mono-pathogens. Although there were observed differences in mean proportions of
      body temperature, nasal symptoms, sore throat, body aches and joint pains between
      viral and bacterial mono-pathogens, there were few differences between distinct
      dual-pathogen pairs and their respective mono-pathogen counterparts. CONCLUSION:
      A substantial number of FRI patients have multiple pathogens detected. Observed
      clinical differences between patients of dual pathogen and mono-pathogen indicate
      the likely presence of complex microbial interactions between the various
      pathogens.

PMID- 25827872
TI  - Preparation and analysis of positioned mononucleosomes.
AB  - Short DNA fragments containing single nucleosomes have been extensively employed
      as simple model experimental systems for analysis of many intranuclear processes,
      including binding of proteins to nucleosomes, covalent histone modifications,
      transcription, DNA repair, and ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling. Here we
      describe several recently developed procedures for obtaining and analysis of
      mononucleosomes assembled on 200-350-bp DNA fragments. 

PMID- 25827874
TI  - Isolation of specific genomic regions and identification of associated molecules
      by engineered DNA-binding molecule-mediated chromatin immunoprecipitation
      (enChIP) using CRISPR.
AB  - Isolation of specific genomic regions retaining molecular interactions is
      necessary for their biochemical analysis. Here, we describe engineered DNA
      binding molecule-mediated chromatin immunoprecipitation (enChIP) using the CRISPR
      system, for purification of specific genomic regions retaining molecular
      interactions. In this form of enChIP, specific genomic regions are
      immunoprecipitated with antibody against a tag(s), which is fused to a
      catalytically inactive form of Cas9 (dCas9), which is co-expressed with a guide
      RNA (gRNA) and recognizes endogenous DNA sequence in the genomic regions of
      interest. enChIP combined with mass spectrometry (enChIP-MS), next-generation
      sequencing (enChIP-Seq), and RNA-Seq (enChIP-RNA-Seq) can identify proteins,
      other genomic regions, and RNA, respectively, that interact with the target
      genomic region.

PMID- 25827873
TI  - Chromatin imaging with time-lapse atomic force microscopy.
AB  - Time-lapse atomic force microscopy (AFM) is widely used for direct visualization
      of the nanoscale dynamics of various biological systems. The advent of high-speed
      AFM instrumentation made it possible to image the dynamics of proteins and
      protein-DNA complexes within millisecond time range. This chapter describes
      protocols for studies of structure and dynamics of nucleosomes with time-lapse
      AFM including the high-speed AFM instrument. The necessary specifics for the
      preparation of chromatin samples for imaging with AFM including the protocols for
      the surface preparation are provided. 

PMID- 25827875
TI  - Drug-induced premature chromosome condensation (PCC) protocols: cytogenetic
      approaches in mitotic chromosome and interphase chromatin.
AB  - Chromosome analysis is a fundamental technique which is used in wide areas of
      cytogenetic study including karyotyping species, hereditary diseases diagnosis,
      or chromosome biology study. Chromosomes are usually prepared from mitotic cells
      arrested by colcemid block protocol. However, obtaining mitotic chromosomes is
      often hampered under several circumstances. As a result, cytogenetic analysis
      will be sometimes difficult or even impossible in such cases. Premature
      chromosome condensation (PCC) (see Note 1) is an alternative method that has
      proved to be a unique and useful way in chromosome analysis. Former, PCC has been
      achieved following cell fusion method (cell-fusion PCC) mediated either by
      fusogenic viruses (e.g., Sendai virus) or cell fusion chemicals (e.g.,
      polyethylene glycol), but the cell fusion PCC has several drawbacks. The novel
      drug-induced PCC using protein phosphatase inhibitors was introduced about 20
      years ago. This method is much simpler and easier even than the conventional
      mitotic chromosome preparation protocol use with colcemid block and furthermore
      obtained PCC index (equivalent to mitotic index for metaphase chromosome) is
      usually much higher than colcemid block method. Moreover, this method allows the
      interphase chromatin to be condensed to visualize like mitotic chromosomes.
      Therefore drug-induced PCC has opened the way for chromosome analysis not only in
      metaphase chromosomes but also in interphase chromatin. The drug-induced PCC has
      thus proven the usefulness in cytogenetics and other cell biology fields. For
      this second edition version, updated modifications/changes are supplemented in
      Subheadings 2, 3, and 4, and a new section describing the application of PCC in
      chromosome science fields is added with citation of updated references. 

PMID- 25827876
TI  - Analysis of genomic aberrations using comparative genomic hybridization of
      metaphase chromosomes.
AB  - Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) allows the global screening of copy
      number aberrations within a sample. Specifically, large (>20 mb) deletions and
      amplifications are detected, based on utilization of test and reference
      (karyotypically normal) DNA. These samples are whole-genome amplified by DOP-PCR
      and then differentially labeled with fluorophores via nick translation. Test and
      reference samples are competitively hybridized to normal metaphase chromosomes.
      The relative amount of each DNA that binds to a chromosomal locus is indicative
      of the abundance of that DNA. Thus, if a chromosomal region is amplified, the
      test DNA will out-compete the reference DNA for binding and fluorescence will
      indicate amplification. Conversely, if a region is deleted, more reference DNA
      will bind and fluorescence will indicate a deletion. The following chapter
      outlines the protocols used for CGH analysis of metaphase chromosomes. These
      protocols include metaphase chromosome slide preparation, DNA extraction (from
      blood, cell lines, and microdissected formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue),
      DOP-PCR, nick translation, in situ hybridization, and fluorescence microscopy and
      image analysis. 

PMID- 25827877
TI  - Histone deacetylase activity assay.
AB  - Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are enzymes that catalyze the removal of acetyl
      groups from the epsilon-amino groups of conserved lysine residues in the amino
      terminal tail of histones. Accumulating evidence suggests that many, if not all,
      HDACs can also deacetylate nonhistone proteins. Through deacetylating histones
      and nonhistone proteins, HDACs regulate a variety of cellular processes including
      gene transcription, cell differentiation, DNA damage responses, and apoptosis.
      Aberrant HDACs are implicated in many human diseases and, therefore, it is
      important to have a consistent and reliable assay for analyzing HDAC activities.
      The focus of this chapter is to provide up-to-date, easy-to-follow, approaches
      and techniques, for the assay of HDAC enzymatic activities.

PMID- 25827878
TI  - In vitro histone demethylase assays.
AB  - Histone methylation plays pivotal roles in modulating chromatin structure and
      dynamics and in turn regulates genomic processes that require access to the DNA
      template. The methylation status at different sites is dynamically regulated by
      histone methyltransferases and demethylases. During the past decade, two classes
      of proteins have been characterized to actively remove methyl groups from lysine
      residues through different mechanisms. The LSD1/KDM1 family of amine oxidases
      require flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) for reaction, while the larger Jumonji
      C (JmjC) family of hydroxylases utilize Fe(II) and alpha-ketoglutarate as
      cofactors to demethylate histones. Since their discoveries, histone demethylases
      have been implicated in the precise control of gene expression program during
      development, cell identity, and fate decision. Several demethylases have also
      been linked to various human diseases such as neurological disorders and cancer.
      This chapter describes several in vitro assay conditions and detection methods
      for two classes of histone demethylases. We also discuss the protocols to prepare
      various substrates for different histone demethylase assays. 

PMID- 25827879
TI  - Integrated DNA methylation and chromatin structural analysis at single-molecule
      resolution.
AB  - Chromatin limits the accessibility of DNA to trans-acting factors in
      transcription, replication, and repair. Although transcriptional variation
      between cells in a population may contribute to survival and disease, most assays
      of chromatin structure recover only population averages. We have developed DNA
      methyltransferases (MTases) as probing agents of DNA accessibility in chromatin,
      either expressed in vivo in budding yeast or as recombinant enzymatic probes of
      nuclei isolated from mammalian cells. In this chapter, we focus on the use of
      recombinant MTase (M) M.CviPI to probe chromatin accessibility in nuclei isolated
      from mammalian cell lines and animal tissue. This technique, named methylation
      accessibility protocol for individual templates (MAPit), reports protein-DNA
      interactions at single-molecule resolution. The single-molecule readout allows
      identification of chromatin subpopulations and rare epigenetic variants within a
      cell population. Furthermore, the use of M.CviPI in mammalian systems gives a
      comprehensive view of both chromatin structure and endogenous DNA methylation in
      a single assay. 

PMID- 25827880
TI  - Determination of DNA methylation levels using Illumina HumanMethylation450
      BeadChips.
AB  - DNA methylation is a modifiable epigenetic phenomenon that has a strong influence
      over transcriptional regulation and as such has been consistently implicated in
      development and disease. Several platforms are targeted toward the identification
      of DNA methylation changes that might be pertinent to the disease process and
      include regional analysis (e.g., pyrosequencing) as well as genome-wide analysis
      (e.g., next-generation sequencing and microarray). The Illumina
      HumanMethylation450 BeadChip is one of the most comprehensive microarray
      platforms available, and due to the high costs associated with next-generation
      sequencing, it is becoming a widely used tool for the analysis of genome-wide DNA
      methylation levels. Providing quantitative DNA methylation levels at 482,421 CpG
      sites within CpG islands, shores, and shelves, as well as intergenic regions, the
      HumanMethylation450 BeadChip can allow accurate assessment of differential
      methylation across large studies. This chapter outlines the laboratory
      methodologies associated with performing the Illumina Infinium Methylation Assay,
      including bisulfite conversion, whole-genome amplification, BeadChip
      hybridization, XStain procedures, and imaging systems. Furthermore, this chapter
      provides an outline of data analysis tools, including the GenomeStudio pipeline,
      quality control measures, and additional statistical considerations. This
      comprehensive overview can aid not only in performing the Illumina Infinium
      Methylation Assay but also in the interpretation of data derived from this
      platform.

PMID- 25827881
TI  - Investigation of genomic methylation status using methylation-specific and
      bisulfite sequencing polymerase chain reaction.
AB  - Epigenetic modification plays a central role in the regulation of gene expression
      and therefore in the development of disease states. In particular, genomic
      methylation of cytosines within CpG dinucleotides is crucial to development, gene
      silencing, and chromosome inactivation. Importantly, aberrant methylation
      profiles of various genes are associated with cancer as well as autoimmune
      disease, psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes, and heart
      disease. Various methods are available for the detection and quantification of
      methylation in a given sample. Most of these methods rely upon bisulfite
      conversion of DNA, which converts unmethylated cytosines to uracil, while
      methylated cytosines remain as cytosines. Methylation-specific amplification of
      DNA can be used to detect methylation at one or more (typically up to about 4)
      CpG sites by using primers specific to either methylated or unmethylated DNA.
      Alternatively, amplification of both methylated and unmethylated DNA followed by
      sequencing can be used to detect methylation status at multiple CpG sites. The
      following chapter provides protocols for bisulfite conversion of DNA, methylation
      specific PCR and bisulfite sequencing PCR. 

PMID- 25827882
TI  - In vitro and in vivo assays for studying histone ubiquitination and
      deubiquitination.
AB  - Posttranslational histone modifications play important roles in regulating
      chromatin structure and function (Rando, Curr Opin Genet Dev 22:148-155, 2012;
      Zentner and Henikoff, Nat Struct Mol Biol 20:259-266, 2013). One example of such
      modifications is histone ubiquitination, which occurs predominately on H2A and
      H2B. Recent studies have highlighted important regulatory roles of H2A
      ubiquitination in Polycomb group protein-mediated gene silencing and DNA damage
      repair (de Napoles et al., Dev Cell 7:663-676, 2004; Wang et al., Nature 431:873
      878, 2004; Doil et al., Cell 136:435-446, 2009; Gatti et al., Cell Cycle 11:2538
      2544, 2012; Mattiroli et al., Cell 150:1182-1195, 2012; Stewart et al., Cell
      136:420-434, 2009; Bergink et al., Genes Dev 20:1343-1352, 2006; Facchino et al.,
      J Neurosci 30:10096-10111, 2010; Ginjala et al., Mol Cell Biol 31:1972-1982,
      2011; Ismail et al., J Cell Biol 191:45-60, 2010), H2B ubiquitination in
      transcription initiation and elongation (Xiao et al., Mol Cell Biol 25:637-651,
      2005; Kao et al., Genes Dev 18:184-195, 2004; Pavri et al., Cell 125:703-717,
      2006; Kim et al., Cell 137:459-471, 2009), pre-mRNA splicing (Jung et al. Genome
      Res 22:1026-1035, 2012; Shieh et al., BMC Genomics 12:627, 2011; Zhang et al.,
      Genes Dev 27:1581-1595, 2013), nucleosome stabilities (Fleming et al., Mol Cell
      31:57-66, 2008; Chandrasekharan et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106:16686-16691,
      2009), H3 methylation (Sun and Allis, Nature 418:104-108, 2002; Briggs et al.,
      Nature 418:498, 2002; Dover et al., J Biol Chem 277:28368-28371, 2002; Ng et al.,
      J Biol Chem 277:34655-34657, 2002), and DNA methylation (Sridhar et al., Nature
      447:735-738, 2007). Here we describe methods for in vitro histone ubiquitination
      and deubiquitination assays. We also describe approaches to investigate the in
      vivo function of putative histone ubiquitin ligase(s) and deubiquitinase(s).
      These experimental procedures are largely based on our studies in mammalian
      cells. These methods should provide useful tools for studying this bulky histone
      modification.

PMID- 25827883
TI  - Immunostaining analysis of tissue cultured cells and tissue sections using
      phospho-Histone H3 (Serine 10) antibody.
AB  - Post-translational modifications of histones play an important role in regulation
      of gene expression through condensation and decondensation of chromatin
      structure. These modifications include acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation
      and ubiquitination. Phosphorylation on histones is associated with cellular
      responses such as DNA damage, transcription, chromatin compaction and mitosis or
      meiosis. One of the most extensively studied modifications of histones is the
      Serine 10 phosphorylation on histone H3 N-terminal tail. This specific
      phosphorylation on Histone H3 has been associated with condensation and
      transcriptional inactivation of mitotic chromosomes, but recent studies have
      suggested a role for this specific phosphorylation in chromatin relaxation and
      activation of transcription in interphase cells. Co-immunostaining analysis of
      cells using antibodies specific to serine 10P-Histone H3 together with those to
      cell cycle specific markers will allow us to determine the nature of
      phosphorylation in a cell cycle-specific manner. In a complex system, such as
      tissue specimens, analysis using P-Histone H3 and a cell type specific antibody
      will allow identification of specific cells that are affected by this histone
      modification. This is of particular interest in the field of cancer biology or
      neurobiology where identification or quantification of the transcriptionally
      active or mitotic cells will enable one to evaluate the progression of the
      disease development. The protocol described here provides details on how co
      immunostaining and analysis can be performed in tissue cultured cells or tissue
      sections. 

PMID- 25827884
TI  - Identification and characterization of nonhistone chromatin proteins: human
      positive coactivator 4 as a candidate.
AB  - The highly dynamic nucleoprotein structure of eukaryotic genome is organized in
      an ordered fashion, the unit of which is the nucleosome. The nucleosome is
      composed of core histones and DNA of variable size wrapped around it. Apart from
      the histone proteins, several nonhistone proteins also interact with the complex
      consisting of the DNA, the core and linker histones conferring highly regulated
      fluidity on the chromatin and permitting fine tuning of its functions. The
      nonhistone proteins are multifunctional and accentuate diverse cellular outcomes.
      In spite of the technical challenges, the architectural role of the nonhistone
      proteins altering the topology of the chromatin has been studied extensively. To
      appreciate the significance of the chromatin for genome function, it is essential
      to examine the role of the nonhistone proteins in different physiological
      conditions. Here, taking the example of a highly abundant chromatin protein, PC4
      (Positive coactivator 4), we describe strategies for the identification of the
      chromatin-associated proteins and their structural and functional
      characterization. 

PMID- 25827885
TI  - Methods to study transcription-coupled repair in chromatin.
AB  - The effect of endogenous and exogenous DNA damage on the cellular metabolism can
      be studied at the genetic and molecular level. A paradigmatic case is the repair
      of UV-induced pyrimidine dimers (PDs) by nucleotide excision repair (NER) in
      Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To follow the formation and repair of PDs at specific
      chromosome loci, cells are irradiated with UV-light and incubated in the dark to
      allow repair by NER. Upon DNA isolation, cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers, which
      account for about 90 % of PDs, can be cleaved in vitro by the DNA nicking
      activity of the T4 endonuclease V repair enzyme. Subsequently, strand-specific
      repair in a suitable restriction fragment is determined by denaturing gel
      electrophoresis followed by Southern blot and indirect end-labeling using a
      single-stranded DNA probe. Noteworthy, this protocol could potentially be adapted
      to other kind of DNA lesions, as long as a DNA nick is formed or a lesion
      specific endonuclease is available.Transcription-coupled repair (TC-NER) is a sub
      pathway of NER that catalyzes the repair of the transcribed strand of active
      genes. RNA polymerase II is essential for TC-NER, and its occupancy on a damaged
      template can be analyzed by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). In this
      chapter, we provide an up-dated protocol for both the DNA repair analysis and
      ChIP approaches to study TC-NER in yeast chromatin. 

PMID- 25827886
TI  - Analysis of DNA replication associated chromatin decondensation: in vivo assay
      for understanding chromatin remodeling mechanisms of selected proteins.
AB  - Of critical importance to many of the events underlying transcriptional control
      of gene expression are modifications to core and linker histones that regulate
      the accessibility of trans-acting factors to the DNA substrate within the context
      of chromatin. Likewise, control over the initiation of DNA replication, as well
      as the ability of the replication machinery to proceed during elongation through
      the multiple levels of chromatin condensation that are likely to be encountered,
      is known to involve the creation of chromatin accessibility. In the latter case,
      chromatin access will likely need to be a transient event so as to prevent total
      genomic unraveling of the chromatin that would be deleterious to cells. While
      there are many molecular and biochemical approaches in use to study histone
      changes and their relationship to transcription and chromatin accessibility, few
      techniques exist that allow a molecular dissection of the events underlying DNA
      replication control as it pertains to chromatin changes and accessibility. Here,
      we outline a novel experimental strategy for addressing the ability of specific
      proteins to induce large-scale chromatin unfolding (decondensation) in vivo upon
      site-specific targeting to an engineered locus. Our laboratory has used this
      powerful system in novel ways to directly address the ability of DNA replication
      proteins to create chromatin accessibility, and have incorporated modifications
      to the basic approach that allow for a molecular genetic analysis of the
      mechanisms and associated factors involved in causing chromatin decondensation by
      a protein of interest. Alternative approaches involving co-expression of other
      proteins (competitors or stimulators), concurrent drug treatments, and analysis
      of co-localizing histone modifications are also addressed, all of which are
      illustrative of the utility of this experimental system for extending basic
      findings to physiologically relevant mechanisms. Although used by our group to
      analyze mechanisms underlying DNA replication associated chromatin accessibility,
      this unique and powerful experimental system has the propensity to be a valuable
      tool for understanding chromatin remodeling mechanisms orchestrated by other
      cellular processes such as DNA repair, recombination, mitotic chromosome
      condensation, or other chromosome dynamics involving chromatin alterations and
      accessibility. 

PMID- 25827887
TI  - Non-radioactive assay methods for the assessment of telomerase activity and
      telomere length.
AB  - The Telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) is a highly sensitive PCR
      based assay and prove to be an important tool for understanding the role of
      telomerase in cancer and various tissues that harbors telomerase positive stem
      cells. This assay measures telomerase activity where the amount of target is
      dependent upon the activity of the enzyme. This protocol consists of two steps:
      first, telomeric repeats are added to the substrate by telomerase present in the
      cell and second, the extended products are amplified by Taq-DNA polymerase. The
      amplified TRAP products are separated on 10 % native PAGE and detected by SYBR
      Green I dye.

PMID- 25827889
TI  - Imaging local deposition of newly synthesized histones in UVC-damaged chromatin.
AB  - DNA damage not only jeopardizes genome integrity but also challenges the well
      organized association of DNA with histone proteins into chromatin, which is key
      for regulating gene expression and cell functions. The extent to which the
      original chromatin structure is altered after repair of DNA lesions is thus a
      critical issue. Dissecting histone dynamics at sites of DNA damage has provided
      mechanistic insights into chromatin plasticity in response to genotoxic stress.
      Here, we present an experimental protocol for visualizing the deposition of newly
      synthesized histone H3 variants at sites of UVC damage in human cells that
      couples SNAP-tag based labeling of new histones with local UVC irradiation of
      cells through micropore filters.

PMID- 25827888
TI  - Detecting ATM-dependent chromatin modification in DNA damage response.
AB  - Loss of function or mutation of the ataxia-telangiectasia mutated gene product
      (ATM) results in inherited genetic disorders characterized by neurodegeneration,
      immunodeficiency, and cancer. Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) gene product
      belongs to the PI3K-like protein kinase (PIKKs) family and is functionally
      implicated in mitogenic signal transduction, chromosome condensation, meiotic
      recombination, cell-cycle control, and telomere maintenance. The ATM protein
      kinase is primarily activated in response to DNA double strand breaks (DSBs), the
      most deleterious form of DNA damage produced by ionizing radiation (IR) or
      radiomimetic drugs. It is detected at DNA damage sites, where ATM
      autophosphorylation causes dissociation of the inactive homodimeric form to the
      activated monomeric form. Interestingly, heat shock can activate ATM independent
      of the presence of DNA strand breaks. ATM is an integral part of the sensory
      machinery that detects DSBs during meiosis, mitosis, or DNA breaks mediated by
      free radicals. These DNA lesions can trigger higher order chromatin
      reorganization fuelled by posttranslational modifications of histones and histone
      binding proteins. Our group, and others, have shown that ATM activation is
      tightly regulated by chromatin modifications. This review summarizes the multiple
      approaches used to discern the role of ATM and other associated proteins in
      chromatin modification in response to DNA damage. 

PMID- 25827890
TI  - In vitro replication assay with mammalian cell extracts.
AB  - Regulatory mechanisms are crucial to control DNA replication during cell cycle in
      eukaryotic cells. Cell-free in vitro replication assay (IVRA) is one of the
      widely used assays to understand the complex mammalian replication system. IVRA
      can provide a snapshot of the regulatory mechanisms controlling replication in
      higher eukaryotes by using a single plasmid, pEPI-1. This chapter outlines the
      general strategies and protocols used to perform IVRA to study the differential
      recruitment of replication factors either independently or in combination, based
      on the experience in studying the role of prohibitin in replication as well as
      other published protocols. This method can be employed to identify not only
      proteins that assist replication but also proteins that inhibit replication of
      mammalian genome.

PMID- 25827891
TI  - Fluorescent in situ hybridization on comets: FISH comet.
AB  - The DNA in eukaryotic cells is organized into loop domains that represent basic
      structural and functional units of chromatin packaging. The comet assay, a
      sensitive method for monitoring DNA damage and repair, involves electrophoresis
      of nucleoids comprising supercoiled DNA attached to the nuclear matrix. Breaks in
      the DNA relax the supercoiling and allow DNA loops to expand, and on
      electrophoresis to move towards the anode, giving the appearance of a comet tail.
      We use fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to investigate the structure of
      the chromatin within comet preparations and to study specific DNA sequences
      within comets. In this chapter we describe our FISH comets protocols, deal with
      some technical questions and outline the theory. FISH with comets should be
      useful to researchers interested in the structural organization of DNA and
      chromatin, the localization of DNA damage, and the kinetics of repair of damage. 

PMID- 25827892
TI  - Methods to study histone chaperone function in nucleosome assembly and chromatin
      transcription.
AB  - Histone chaperones are histone interacting proteins that are involved in various
      stages of histone metabolism in the cell such as histone storage, transport,
      nucleosome assembly and disassembly. Histone assembly and disassembly are
      essential processes in certain DNA-templated phenomena such as replication,
      repair and transcription in eukaryotes. Since the first histone chaperone
      Nucleoplasmin was discovered in Xenopus, a plethora of histone chaperones have
      been identified, characterized and their functional significance elucidated in
      the last 35 years or so. Some of the histone chaperone containing complexes such
      as FACT have been described to play a significant role in nucleosome disassembly
      during transcription elongation. We have reported earlier that human
      Nucleophosmin (NPM1), a histone chaperone belonging to the Nucleoplasmin family,
      is a co-activator of transcription. In this chapter, we describe several methods
      that are used to study the histone chaperone activity of proteins and their role
      in transcription. 

PMID- 25827893
TI  - Preparation of mononucleosomal templates for analysis of transcription with RNA
      polymerase using spFRET.
AB  - Single positioned nucleosomes have been extensively employed as simple model
      experimental systems for analysis of various intranuclear processes. Here we
      describe an experimental system containing positioned mononucleosomes allowing
      transcription by various RNA polymerases. Each DNA template contains a pair of
      fluorescent labels (Cy3 and Cy5) allowing measuring relative distances between
      the neighboring coils of nucleosomal DNA using Forster resonance energy transfer
      (FRET). The single-particle FRET (spFRET) approach for analysis of DNA uncoiling
      from the histone octamer during transcription through chromatin is described in
      detail.

PMID- 25827894
TI  - Transcriptome-wide identification of in vivo interactions between RNAs and RNA
      binding proteins by RIP and PAR-CLIP assays.
AB  - Comprehensive genomic and computational studies in the era of high-throughput
      sequencing revealed that the major proportion of the human genome is transcribed.
      This novel insight confronted the scientific community with new questions
      concerning the expanded role of RNA, especially noncoding RNA (ncRNA), in
      cellular pathways. In recent years, there has been mounting evidence that ncRNAs
      and RNA binding proteins (RBPs) are involved in a wide range of biological
      processes, such as developmental transitions, cell differentiation, stress
      response, genome organization, and regulation of gene expression. In particular,
      in the chromatin field long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have drawn increasing
      attention to their function in epigenetic regulation due to the fact that they
      were found to interact with multiple chromatin regulators and modifiers.
      Recently, techniques to study the extent of RNA-protein interactions have been
      developed in many research laboratories. Here we describe protocols for RNA
      Immunoprecipitation-Sequencing (RIP-Seq) and Photoactivatable-Ribonucleoside
      Enhanced Cross-linking and Immunoprecipitation combined with deep sequencing (PAR
      CLIP-Seq) to identify RNA targets of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) on a
      transcriptome-wide level, discussing advantages and drawbacks.

PMID- 25827895
TI  - Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays: analyzing transcription factor binding and
      histone modifications in vivo.
AB  - Studies in the past decade have shown that differential gene expression depends
      not only on the binding of specific transcription factors to discrete promoter
      elements but also on the epigenetic modification of the DNA as well as histones
      associated with the promoter. While techniques like electrophoretic mobility
      shift assays could detect and characterize the binding of specific transcription
      factors present in cell lysates to DNA sequences in in vitro binding conditions,
      they were not effective in assessing the binding in intact cells. Development of
      chromatin immunoprecipitation technique in the past decade enabled the analysis
      of the association of regulatory molecules with specific promoters or changes in
      histone modifications in vivo, without overexpressing any component. ChIP assays
      can provide a snapshot of how a regulatory transcription factor affects the
      expression of a single gene, or a variety of genes at the same time. Availability
      of high quality antibodies that recognizes histones modified in a specific
      fashion further expanded the use of ChIP assays to analyze even minute changes in
      histone modification and nucleosomes structure. This chapter outlines the general
      strategies and protocols used to carry out ChIP assays to study the differential
      recruitment of transcription factors as well as histone modifications. 

PMID- 25827896
TI  - ChIP on chip and ChIP-Seq assays: genome-wide analysis of transcription factor
      binding and histone modifications.
AB  - Deregulation of transcriptional activity of many genes has been causatively
      linked to human diseases including cancer. Altered patterns of gene expression in
      normal and cancer cells are the result of inappropriate expression of
      transcription factors and chromatin modifying proteins. Chromatin
      immunoprecipitation assay is a well-established tool for investigating the
      interactions between regulatory proteins and DNA at distinct stages of gene
      activation. ChIP coupled with DNA microarrays, known as ChIP on chip, or
      sequencing of DNA associated with the factors (ChIP-Seq) allow us to determine
      the entire spectrum of in vivo DNA binding sites for a given protein. This has
      been of immense value because ChIP on chip assays and ChIP-Seq experiments can
      provide a snapshot of the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms on a genome-wide
      scale. This chapter outlines the general strategies used to carry out ChIP-chip
      assays to study the differential recruitment of regulatory molecules based on the
      studies conducted in our lab as well as other published protocols; these can be
      easily modified to a ChIP-Seq analysis.

PMID- 25827897
TI  - ChIP-on-chip analysis methods for Affymetrix tiling arrays.
AB  - Although the ChIP-sequencing has gained significant attraction recently, ChIP
      analysis using microarrays is still an attractive option due to the low cost,
      ease of analysis, and access to legacy and public data sets. The analysis of ChIP
      Chip data entails a multistep approach that requires several different
      applications to progress from the initial stages of raw data analysis to the
      identification and characterization of ChIP binding sites. There are multiple
      approaches to data analysis and there are several applications available for each
      stage of the analysis pipeline. Each application must be evaluated for its
      suitability for the particular experiment as well as the investigator's
      background with computational tools. This chapter is a review of the commonly
      available applications for Affymetrix ChIP-Chip data analysis, as well as the
      general workflow of a ChIP-Chip analysis approach. The purpose of the chapter is
      to allow the researcher to better select the appropriate applications and provide
      them with the direction necessary to proceed with a ChIP-Chip analysis. 

PMID- 25827898
TI  - Temporal distribution of air quality related to meteorology and road traffic in
      Madrid.
AB  - The impact of climatology--air temperature, precipitation and wind speed--and
      road traffic--volume, vehicle speed and percentage of heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs)-
      on air quality in Madrid was studied by estimating the effect for each
      explanatory variable using generalized linear regression models controlling for
      monthly variations, days of week and parameter levels. Every 1 m/s increase in
      wind speed produced a decrease in PM10 concentrations by 10.3% (95% CI 12.6-8.6)
      for all weekdays and by 12.4% (95% CI 14.9-9.8) for working days (up to the cut
      off of 2.4 m/s). Increases of PM10 concentrations due to air temperature (7.2%
      (95% CI 6.2-8.3)) and traffic volume (3.3% (95% CI 2.9-3.8)) were observed at
      every 10  degrees C and 1 million vehicle-km increases for all weekdays;
      oppositely, slight decreases of PM10 concentrations due to percentage of HDVs
      (3.2% (95% CI 2.7-3.7)) and vehicle speed (0.7% (95% CI 0.6-0.8)) were observed
      at every 1% and 1 km/h increases. Stronger effects of climatology on air quality
      than traffic parameters were found.

PMID- 25827899
TI  - Synthesis and application of ion-imprinted polymer nanoparticles for the
      extraction and preconcentration of copper ions in environmental water samples.
AB  - Novel Cu(II) ion-imprinted polymers (Cu-IIP) nanoparticles were prepared by using
      Cu(II) ion-thiosemicarbazide complex as the template molecule and methacrylic
      acid, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA), and 2,2'azobisisobutyronitrile
      (AIBN) as the functional monomer, cross-linker, and the radical initiator,
      respectively. The synthesized polymer nanoparticles were characterized by using
      infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction
      (XRD), and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) techniques. Some parameters such
      as pH, weight of the polymer, adsorption time, elution time, eluent type, and
      eluent volume which affect the extraction efficiency of the polymer were studied.
      In the proposed method, the maximum sorbent capacity of the ion-imprinted polymer
      was calculated to be 38.8 mg g(-1). The preconcentration factor, relative
      standard deviation, and limit of detection of the method were found to be 80,
      1.7%, and 0.003 MUg mL(-1), respectively. The prepared ion-imprinted polymer
      nanoparticles have an increased selectivity toward Cu(II) ions over a range of
      competing metal ions with the same charge and similar ionic radius. The method
      was applied to the determination of ultra trace levels of Cu2+ in environmental
      water samples with satisfactory results.

PMID- 25827900
TI  - Medicinal properties of mangiferin, structural features, derivative synthesis,
      pharmacokinetics and biological activities.
AB  - The identification of biologically active and potentially therapeutically useful
      pharmacophores from natural products has been a long-term focus in the
      pharmaceutical industry. The recent emergence of a worldwide obesity and Type II
      diabetes epidemic has increased focus upon small molecules that can modulate
      energy metabolism, insulin sensitivity and fat biology. Interesting preliminary
      work done on mangiferin (MGF), the predominant constituent of extracts of the
      mango plant Mangifera indica L., portends potential for this pharmacophore as a
      novel parent compound for treating metabolic disorders. MGF is comprised of a C
      glucosylated xanthone. Owing to the xanthone chemical structure, MGF has a redox
      active aromatic system and has antioxidant properties. MGF exerts varied and
      impressive metabolic effects in animals, improving metabolic disorders. For
      example we have discovered that MGF is a novel activator of the mammalian
      pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, leading to enhancement of carbohydrate
      utilization in oxidative metabolism, and leading to increased insulin sensitivity
      in animal models of obesity and insulin resistance. In addition, recent unbiased
      proteomics studies revealed that MGF upregulates proteins pivotal for
      mitochondrial bioenergetics and downregulates proteins controlling de novo
      lipogenesis in liver, helping to explain protective effects of MGF in prevention
      of liver steatosis. Several chemical studies have achieved synthesis of MGF,
      suggesting possible synthetic strategies to alter its chemical structure for
      development of structure-activity relationship (SAR) information. Ultimately,
      chemical derivatization studies could lead to the eventual development of novel
      therapeutics based upon the parent pharmacophore structure. Here we provide
      comprehensive review on chemical features of MGF, synthesis of its derivatives,
      its pharmacokinetics and biological activities.

PMID- 25827902
TI  - Re: 'Analysis of the increasing prevalence of necrotising fasciitis referrals to
      a regions plastic surgery unit: A retrospective case series'.

PMID- 25827901
TI  - Breed differences in humoral and cellular responses of lambs to experimental
      infection with the gastrointestinal nematode Teladorsagia circumcincta.
AB  - While Texel lambs have increased resistance to infection with the
      gastrointestinal nematode Teladorsagia circumcincta compared to Suffolk lambs,
      the underlying resistance mechanisms are still unknown. The aim of this study was
      to compare parasitological, humoral and cellular responses of Texel and Suffolk
      lambs over time following a single experimental infection with T. circumcincta.
      Gastrointestinal nematode free (but not naive) lambs received a single oral dose
      of 3 * 104 infective T. circumcincta larvae. The variables examined included worm
      burden, mucosal and serum IgA, abomasal mast cells and eosinophils,
      haematological parameters and plasma pepsinogen. Texel lambs had significantly
      lower worm burden on day 14 and lower plasma pepsinogen concentration from day 14
      onwards than Suffolks and their response in mucosal IgA to infection occurred
      earlier. The results from the study suggest that an earlier local IgA response in
      the Texel contributes to the resistant characteristics of the breed, while the
      increased level of plasma pepsinogen in the Suffolk lambs implies greater
      abomasal tissue damage arising from the nematode infection. 

PMID- 25827903
TI  - Downstream processing of polymer-based amorphous solid dispersions to generate
      tablet formulations.
AB  - Application of amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) is considered one of the most
      promising approaches to increase the dissolution rate and extent of
      bioavailability of poorly water soluble drugs. Such intervention is often
      required for new drug candidates in that enablement, bioavailability is not
      sufficient to generate a useful product. Importantly, tableting of ASDs is often
      complicated by a number of pharmaceutical and technological challenges including
      poor flowability and compressibility of the powders, compression-induced phase
      changes or phase separation and slow disintegration due to the formation of a
      gelling polymer network (GPN). The design principles of an ASD-based system
      include its ability to generate supersaturated systems of the drug of interest
      during dissolution. These metastable solutions can be prone to precipitation and
      crystallization reducing the biopharmaceutical performance of the dosage form.
      The main aim of the research in this area is to maintain the supersaturated state
      and optimally enhance bioavailability, meaning that crystallization should be
      delayed or inhibited during dissolution, as well as in solid phase (e.g., during
      manufacturing and storage). Based on the expanding use of ASD technology as well
      as their downstream processing, there is an acute need to summarize the results
      achieved to this point to better understand progress and future risks. The aim of
      this review is to focus on the conversion of ASDs into tablets highlighting
      results from various viewpoints. 

PMID- 25827904
TI  - After the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis.

PMID- 25827905
TI  - The limits of research.

PMID- 25827906
TI  - Should English healthcare providers be penalised for failing to collect patient
      reported outcome measures? A retrospective analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The best practice tariff for hip and knee replacement in the English
      National Health Service (NHS) rewards providers based on improvements in patient
      reported outcome measures (PROMs) collected before and after surgery. Providers
      only receive a bonus if at least 50% of their patients complete the preoperative
      questionnaire. We determined how many providers failed to meet this threshold
      prior to the policy introduction and assessed longitudinal stability of
      participation rates. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study using data from
      Hospital Episode Statistics and the national PROM programme from April 2009 to
      March 2012. We calculated participation rates based on either (a) all PROM
      records or (b) only those that could be linked to inpatient records; constructed
      confidence intervals around rates to account for sampling variation; applied
      precision weighting to allow for volume; and applied risk adjustment. SETTING:
      NHS hospitals and private providers in England. PARTICIPANTS: NHS patients
      undergoing elective unilateral hip and knee replacement surgery. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Number of providers with participation rates statistically
      significantly below 50%. RESULTS: Crude rates identified many providers that
      failed to achieve the 50% threshold but there were substantially fewer after
      adjusting for uncertainty and precision. While important, risk adjustment
      required restricting the analysis to linked data. Year-on-year correlation
      between provider participation rates was moderate. CONCLUSIONS: Participation
      rates have improved over time and only a small number of providers now fall below
      the threshold, but administering preoperative questionnaires remains problematic
      in some providers. We recommend that participation rates are based on linked data
      and take into account sampling variation.

PMID- 25827907
TI  - The curious stories of drugs with two lives: a new paradigm in drug development.

PMID- 25827908
TI  - Putting patient-reported outcomes on the 'Big Data Road Map'.

PMID- 25827909
TI  - In situ encapsulation of Pd inside the MCM-41 channel.
AB  - Pd nanoparticles were successfully introduced into the channels of mesoporous
      silica MCM-41 with their dispersion well-tuned. We identified the dual role
      played by CTAB, which was critical for both the micelle template and Pd grafting,
      leading to the formation of a highly active Pd-MCM-41 nanocomposite for
      catalysing the Suzuki reaction. 

PMID- 25827911
TI  - The 8-silyloxyquinoline scaffold as a versatile platform for the sensitive
      detection of aqueous fluoride.
AB  - Utilizing a novel 8-silyloxyquinoline scaffold, we demonstrate the ability to
      synthesize fluorogenic probes for the sensitive and selective detection of
      inorganic fluoride (NaF) in aqueous samples. Our initial probe design (2) is
      capable of detecting inorganic fluoride at levels as low as 3.8 MUM (72 ppb) in
      aqueous solutions, well below PHS recommended levels for drinking water (0.7-1.2
      ppm), placing this probe among the most sensitive fluoride sensors reported to
      date. Furthermore, our results highlight the utility of the readily modifiable 8
      silyloxyquinoline scaffold for the design of tailored fluoride sensing platforms.
      We demonstrate the ability to rationally tune the fluorescence and physical
      properties of the 8-silyloxyquinoline scaffold, producing a red-shifted fluoride
      probe (4) capable of detecting 50 MUM (0.95 ppm) NaF in aqueous samples using a
      straightforward test-strip-based assay format. Taken together this work provides
      a template for the design of fluoride sensors capable of reporting on relevant
      concentrations of fluoride in the laboratory and in the field. 

PMID- 25827910
TI  - IGF-1 Signaling Plays an Important Role in the Formation of Three-Dimensional
      Laminated Neural Retina and Other Ocular Structures From Human Embryonic Stem
      Cells.
AB  - We and others have previously demonstrated that retinal cells can be derived from
      human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells under
      defined culture conditions. While both cell types can give rise to retinal
      derivatives in the absence of inductive cues, this requires extended culture
      periods and gives lower overall yield. Further understanding of this innate
      differentiation ability, the identification of key factors that drive the
      differentiation process, and the development of clinically compatible culture
      conditions to reproducibly generate functional neural retina is an important goal
      for clinical cell based therapies. We now report that insulin-like growth factor
      1 (IGF-1) can orchestrate the formation of three-dimensional ocular-like
      structures from hESCs which, in addition to retinal pigmented epithelium and
      neural retina, also contain primitive lens and corneal-like structures.
      Inhibition of IGF-1 receptor signaling significantly reduces the formation of
      optic vesicle and optic cups, while exogenous IGF-1 treatment enhances the
      formation of correctly laminated retinal tissue composed of multiple retinal
      phenotypes that is reminiscent of the developing vertebrate retina. Most
      importantly, hESC-derived photoreceptors exhibit advanced maturation features
      such as the presence of primitive rod- and cone-like photoreceptor inner and
      outer segments and phototransduction-related functional responses as early as 6.5
      weeks of differentiation, making these derivatives promising candidates for cell
      replacement studies and in vitro disease modeling.

PMID- 25827912
TI  - Comparative immunohistochemical evaluation of the zonal distribution of
      extracellular matrix and inflammation markers in human meniscus in osteoarthritis
      and rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - The purpose of our study was to analyze the distribution of the major
      extracellular matrix glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan (HA), its receptor CD44 and
      cells which influence (re)modeling of the extracellular matrix (T- and B-cells,
      macrophages, endothelial cells) in menisci obtained from patients suffering from
      rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis in order to analyze whether these markers
      could be useful to differentiate between both arthropathies. Human menisci were
      sampled from patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Histological staining
      (H&E, PAS/Alcian Blue for neutral and charged carbohydrate residues) and
      (immuno)histochemistry were performed for detection of HA, CD44, sphingosine-1
      phosphate receptor 1 (EDG-1) as a marker for endothelial cells, CD3 as a marker
      for T-cells, CD20 as a marker for B-cells and CD68 as a marker for macrophages.
      The extracellular matrix in the vascularized zone showed higher amounts of HA as
      well as acid carbohydrate residues in comparison to the poorly vascularized zones
      of the meniscus in both disease entities. EDG-1 positive endothelial cells were
      present in all zones, with fewer cells being detected in the inner zones of the
      rheumatoid menisci than in the osteoarthritic ones. Macrophages, T- and B-cells
      as well as CD44-positive cells were more prominent in the vascularized zone of
      the meniscus than in the poorly vascularized central zone. The distribution
      patterns of the extracellular matrix components as well as the CD44-positive
      cells and the inflammation markers in the peripheral zone resembled the
      distribution in synovial tissue, indicating that both synovia and meniscus were
      involved in pathological changes in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. IN
      CONCLUSION: the distribution of extracellular glycoconjugates and of cells
      modulating their synthesis showed similar results in both arthropathies, not
      enabling a differentiation between rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis but
      underlining the role of these markers in inflammation and degradation in human
      meniscus.

PMID- 25827913
TI  - Bilateral cystic encephalomalacia following multiple intrauterine transfusions
      for anti-Kell isoimmunisation.
AB  - Fetal and neonatal haemolytic diseases result from maternal allo-immunisation to
      fetal antigens. Maternal antibodies cross the placenta causing red cell
      haemolysis, resulting in fetal anaemia and, in severe cases, hydrops and
      perinatal death. Intravascular intrauterine blood transfusion (IUT) has markedly
      reduced perinatal mortality and is now a standard procedure. IUT is considered to
      be a safe procedure with fetal loss rate reported to be less than 5% and no
      reported increase in the rate of neurodevelopment impairment. In this report, we
      are presenting a case of bilateral cystic encephalomalacia following fetal
      anaemia secondary to anti-Kell iso-immunisation treated with multiple IUTs. Such
      a significant adverse outcome following IUT for anti-Kell iso-immunisation has
      not been reported in the literature. This case highlights the need for
      appropriate parental counselling and routine postnatal head ultrasound in all
      babies delivered following multiple IUTs. 

PMID- 25827914
TI  - Ophthalmic manifestations postlightning strike.
AB  - Various ophthalmic complications affecting the anterior and posterior segments
      have been identified due to lightning strike. We report the first case of an
      indirect lightning-induced full thickness macular hole formation in the UK as
      evidenced by slit lamp examination and optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan in
      a 77-year-old woman presenting with sudden visual loss in her right eye and
      thermal skin injury affecting her scalp. Her best corrected visual acuities were
      LogMAR 0.46 and 0.12 in the right and left eyes, respectively. There were no
      other ocular manifestations observed in either eye. She was initially managed
      conservatively with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug eye drops but surgery
      was later advised due to minimal changes in the visual acuity and macular hole on
      follow-up. OCT scanning is important in diagnosing macular holes, which usually
      warrant surgical intervention. 

PMID- 25827915
TI  - A liver lesion in primary sclerosing cholangitis.
AB  - Primary sclerosing cholangitis is associated with an increased risk of
      cholangiocarcinoma; appropriate surveillance should be undertaken for this. Our
      case illustrates an unexpected liver lesion in such a patient, which would not
      have been detected with imaging alone. In suspected cancer, if a patient is not a
      candidate for liver resection, liver biopsy should be considered in case there is
      a treatment option for an alternative cause of the liver lesion. This is a
      careful decision to be made due to the risk of tumour seeding compromising cure
      and needs to be discussed via the hepatobiliary multidisciplinary team. 

PMID- 25827916
TI  - Jack in the box: inguinal endometriosis.
AB  - A 39-year-old woman with a left-sided inguinal swelling was referred to us with a
      diagnosis of inguinal hernia. On asking leading questions, the patient gave a
      typical history of cyclical pain and increased swelling during menstruation. Fine
      needle aspiration biopsy revealed endometrial glands. Preoperatively, the extent
      of the endometriotic lesion was delineated using MRI. The lesion was approached
      through the patient's caesarean scar for cosmetic reasons and excised in toto.
      Final diagnosis was round ligament endometriosis. The patient was asymptomatic at
      3, 6 and 12 months' follow-up. This case re-emphasises the fact that
      endometriosis is an enigmatic disease and can be found anywhere in the body.
      Thus, a woman of reproductive age presenting with any cyclical symptom should be
      asked about its relation to her menstrual cycle. 

PMID- 25827917
TI  - Diagnosis and management of isolated pituitary metastasis from adenocarcinoma of
      unknown origin presenting as loss of libido.
AB  - Pituitary gland metastasis from primary tumours is uncommon on its own. Rarely,
      some of these primary tumours may be of unknown origin. This metastasis to the
      pituitary gland could manifest as diabetes insipidus, cranial nerve palsies,
      headaches, fatigue and other symptoms. In rare cases, it could present as loss of
      libido. We describe here this rare presentation, loss of libido, examine the
      diagnosis and management undertaken, and provide a systematic review of the
      literature for similar cases. 

PMID- 25827918
TI  - A 54-year-old woman with premature ventricular complexes and a rapidly changing
      ECG.
AB  - Premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) are common findings in asymptomatic
      participants during ECG recordings. While most PVCs are treated conservatively,
      some patients may develop adverse cardiac events needing further investigations
      and definitive ablation by radiofrequency. Spectral strain ultrasonography has
      demonstrated ventricular dysfunction as a sequel to high burden PVCs, but the
      exact underlying pathophysiology is still uncertain. Cohort studies have
      associated PVCs with increased risks for overall cardiovascular morbidity and
      mortality, and yet consensus is still lacking for threshold in treating PVCs. Our
      case is that of a 54-year-old woman with an unusual bradycardiac presentation of
      PVCs and an ECG that changed rapidly within minutes. 

PMID- 25827919
TI  - Colovesical fistula presenting as Listeria monocytogenes bacteraemia.
AB  - We present a case of colovesical fistula presenting with a clinical syndrome of
      urosepsis subsequently demonstrated to be due to Listeria monocytogenes
      bacteraemia. The patient had a history of previous rectal cancer with a low
      anterior resection and a covering ileostomy that had been reversed 6 months prior
      to this presentation. L. monocytogenes was also isolated among mixed enteric
      organisms on urine culture. There were no symptoms or signs of acute
      gastrointestinal listeriosis or meningoencephalitis. This unusual scenario
      prompted concern regarding the possibility of communication between bowel and
      bladder, which was subsequently confirmed with CT and a contrast enema. The
      patient recovered well with intravenous amoxicillin and to date has declined
      surgical management of his colovesical fistula. This case illustrates the
      importance of considering bowel pathology when enteric organisms such as Listeria
      are isolated from unusual sites. 

PMID- 25827920
TI  - Acute upper airway obstruction and emergency front of neck access in an
      achondroplastic patient.
AB  - Dwarfism is defined as a failure to attain a height of 148 cm in adulthood.
      Achondroplasia is the most common form of short-limbed dwarfism. Although this
      condition is relatively rare, with an incidence of 0.5-1.5 per 10,000 live
      births, most medical professionals will come across the achondroplastic dwarf
      (AD) during their career. Faulty endochondral ossification produces the
      characteristic short stature phenotype, as well as severe craniofacial, central
      nervous system, spinal, respiratory and cardiac anomalies. These unusual
      characteristics may present airway management difficulties in elective as well as
      emergency situations. Within the literature there is very little information
      regarding the emergency insertion of a surgical airway in an adult AD. We present
      our experience of this situation in the form of a case report and a review of the
      relevant literature.

PMID- 25827921
TI  - Does fertilizer (N15P15K15) amendment enhance phytoremediation of petroleum
      polluted aquatic ecosystem in the presence of water hyacinth (Eichhornia
      crassipes [Mart.] Solms)?
AB  - This study investigated the effects of inorganic fertilizer (N15P15K15)
      amendments on crude oil uptake by water hyacinth. Experimental units (water
      hyacinth grown in fresh water) were spiked with 0, 20, 40 and 60 mg/L crude oil.
      After 24 h, they were randomly assigned fertilizer (N15P15K15) at three different
      concentrations; 0, 6 and 10 mg/L. Crude oil degradation and absorption were
      determined by measuring total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) in the water column and
      water hyacinth, respectively. The measurements were taken monthly for six months
      (February-August 2010). The results showed that TPH concentration in the water
      column in the treatment amended at 6 mg/L (0.30 +/- 0.01 mg/L) was significantly
      lower (p < .05) than the treatment amended at 10 mg/L (0.76 +/- 0.15 mg/L) but
      was similar to the control (0.33 +/- 0.03 mg/L). The water hyacinth in the
      control (phytoremediation) absorbed significantly higher (p < .05) TPH than the
      fertilizer-amended treatments. The first-order kinetic model gave a better
      description of the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons. The study showed that
      phytoremediation of crude oil by water hyacinth and biostimulation with
      fertilizer (N15P15K15) is possible.

PMID- 25827922
TI  - Summarization vs Peptide-Based Models in Label-Free Quantitative Proteomics:
      Performance, Pitfalls, and Data Analysis Guidelines.
AB  - Quantitative label-free mass spectrometry is increasingly used to analyze the
      proteomes of complex biological samples. However, the choice of appropriate data
      analysis methods remains a major challenge. We therefore provide a rigorous
      comparison between peptide-based models and peptide-summarization-based
      pipelines. We show that peptide-based models outperform summarization-based
      pipelines in terms of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and precision. We also
      demonstrate that the predefined FDR cutoffs for the detection of differentially
      regulated proteins can become problematic when differentially expressed (DE)
      proteins are highly abundant in one or more samples. Care should therefore be
      taken when data are interpreted from samples with spiked-in internal controls and
      from samples that contain a few very highly abundant proteins. We do, however,
      show that specific diagnostic plots can be used for assessing differentially
      expressed proteins and the overall quality of the obtained fold change estimates.
      Finally, our study also illustrates that imputation under the "missing by low
      abundance" assumption is beneficial for the detection of differential expression
      in proteins with low abundance, but it negatively affects moderately to highly
      abundant proteins. Hence, imputation strategies that are commonly implemented in
      standard proteomics software should be used with care. 

PMID- 25827923
TI  - Interaction of cannabinoid receptor 2 and social environment modulates chronic
      alcohol consumption.
AB  - Genetic and environmental factors contribute nearly in equal power to the
      development of alcoholism. Environmental factors, such as negative life events or
      emotionally disruptive conditions, initiate and promote alcohol drinking and
      relapse. The endocannabinoid system is involved in hedonic control and modulates
      stress reactivity. Furthermore, chronic alcohol drinking alters endocannabinoid
      signalling, which in turn influences the stress reactivity. Recently, it has been
      shown that CB2 receptor activity influences stress sensitivity and alcohol
      drinking. We hypothesized that CB2 receptors influence the impact of
      environmental risk factors on alcohol preference and consumption. Therefore, in
      this study, we investigated the alcohol-drinking pattern of wild-type and CB2
      deficient animals under single- and group-housing conditions using different
      alcohol-drinking models, such as forced drinking, intermittent forced drinking
      and two-bottle choice paradigms. Our data showed that CB2 receptor modulates
      alcohol consumption and reward. Interestingly, we detected that lack of CB2
      receptors led to increased alcohol drinking in the intermittent forced drinking
      paradigm under group-housing conditions. Furthermore, we found that CB2 knockout
      mice consumed more food and that their body weight gain was modulated by social
      environment. On the basis of these data, we conclude that social environment
      critically affects the modulatory function of CB2 receptors, especially in
      alcohol intake. These findings suggest that a treatment strategy targeting CB2
      receptors may have a beneficial effect on pathological drinking, particularly in
      situations of social stress and discomfort. 

PMID- 25827924
TI  - Activation of MU opioid receptors in the LPBN facilitates sodium intake in rats.
AB  - Important inhibitory mechanisms for the control of water and sodium intake are
      present in the lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPBN). Opioid receptors are
      expressed by LPBN neurons and injections of beta-endorphin (nonspecific opioid
      receptor agonist) in this area induce 0.3M NaCl and water intake in satiated
      rats. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the injections of
      endomorphin-1 (MU opioid receptor agonist) alone or combined with the blockade of
      MU, kappa or delta opioid receptors into the LPBN on 0.3M NaCl and water intake
      induced by subcutaneous injections of the diuretic furosemide (FURO) combined
      with low dose of the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor captopril (CAP).
      Male Holtzman rats with stainless steel cannulas implanted bilaterally in the
      LPBN were used. Bilateral injections of endomorphin-1 (0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0
      and 4.0nmol/0.2MUl) into the LPBN increased 0.3M NaCl and water intake induced by
      FURO+CAP. The previous blockade of MU opioid receptor with CTAP (1.0nmol/0.2MUl)
      into the LPBN reduced the effect of endomorphin-1 on FURO+CAP-induced 0.3M NaCl.
      GNTI (kappa opioid receptor antagonist; 2.0nmol/0.2MUl) and naltrindole (delta
      opioid receptor antagonist; 2.0nmol/0.2MUl) injected into the LPBN did not change
      the effects of endomorphin-1 on FURO+CAP-induced 0.3M NaCl. The results suggest
      that MU opioid receptors in the LPBN are involved in the control of sodium
      intake. 

PMID- 25827926
TI  - An isolated retrieval trial before extinction session does not prevent the return
      of fear.
AB  - Several studies have shown that an isolated retrieval trial before the extinction
      session (retrieval-extinction) prevents the return of fear memory by inhibition
      of reconsolidation. Other studies have reported that retrieval-extinction did not
      prevent the return of the fear. To date, it is still unclear whether retrieval
      extinction prevents the return of the original fear memory. A previous study
      revealed that reconsolidation of conditioned fear memory was not induced by the
      brevity of the retrieval session. Thus, we examined whether the number of
      retrievals in the retrieval-extinction paradigm was involved in the prevention of
      return of fear (Experiment 1). Furthermore, studies with different-age
      experimental subjects have shown conflicting results. We investigated the
      potential impact of age on the inhibitory effect of retrieval-extinction on the
      return of fear (Experiment 2). Our major findings were as follows: (1) Retrieval
      extinction procedure did not prevent the return of fear, regardless of the
      intensity (number of presentations) of the stimulus inducing retrieval of fear
      memory. (2) The mice in both juvenile and adult age groups (4 and 8 weeks old)
      retrieved fear memory after retrieval-extinction. These results suggest the
      possibility that extinction after retrieval does not inhibit reconsolidation of
      previously consolidated fear memory. 

PMID- 25827925
TI  - Concentration- and age-dependent effects of chronic caffeine on contextual fear
      conditioning in C57BL/6J mice.
AB  - Chronic caffeine exerts negligible effects on learning and memory in normal
      adults, but it is unknown whether this is also true for children and adolescents.
      The hippocampus, a brain region important for learning and memory, undergoes
      extensive structural and functional modifications during pre-adolescence and
      adolescence. As a result, chronic caffeine may have differential effects on
      hippocampus-dependent learning in pre-adolescents and adolescents compared with
      adults. Here, we characterized the effects of chronic caffeine and withdrawal
      from chronic caffeine on hippocampus-dependent (contextual) and hippocampus
      independent (cued) fear conditioning in pre-adolescent, adolescent, and adult
      mice. The results indicate that chronic exposure to caffeine during pre
      adolescence and adolescence enhances or impairs contextual conditioning depending
      on concentration, yet has no effect on cued conditioning. In contrast, withdrawal
      from chronic caffeine impairs contextual conditioning in pre-adolescent mice
      only. No changes in learning were seen for adult mice for either the chronic
      caffeine or withdrawal conditions. These findings support the hypothesis that
      chronic exposure to caffeine during pre-adolescence and adolescence can alter
      learning and memory and as changes were only seen in hippocampus-dependent
      learning, which suggests that the developing hippocampus may be sensitive to the
      effects of caffeine. 

PMID- 25827927
TI  - Speech training alters consonant and vowel responses in multiple auditory cortex
      fields.
AB  - Speech sounds evoke unique neural activity patterns in primary auditory cortex
      (A1). Extensive speech sound discrimination training alters A1 responses. While
      the neighboring auditory cortical fields each contain information about speech
      sound identity, each field processes speech sounds differently. We hypothesized
      that while all fields would exhibit training-induced plasticity following speech
      training, there would be unique differences in how each field changes. In this
      study, rats were trained to discriminate speech sounds by consonant or vowel in
      quiet and in varying levels of background speech-shaped noise. Local field
      potential and multiunit responses were recorded from four auditory cortex fields
      in rats that had received 10 weeks of speech discrimination training. Our results
      reveal that training alters speech evoked responses in each of the auditory
      fields tested. The neural response to consonants was significantly stronger in
      anterior auditory field (AAF) and A1 following speech training. The neural
      response to vowels following speech training was significantly weaker in ventral
      auditory field (VAF) and posterior auditory field (PAF). This differential
      plasticity of consonant and vowel sound responses may result from the greater
      paired pulse depression, expanded low frequency tuning, reduced frequency
      selectivity, and lower tone thresholds, which occurred across the four auditory
      fields. These findings suggest that alterations in the distributed processing of
      behaviorally relevant sounds may contribute to robust speech discrimination. 

PMID- 25827928
TI  - Orexin receptor 1 signaling contributes to ethanol binge-like drinking:
      Pharmacological and molecular evidence.
AB  - Orexins (OX) have been recently implicated in ethanol seeking and self
      administration. A few recent studies have provided additional evidence that OX
      receptor antagonists effectively reduce voluntary ethanol consumption in subjects
      spontaneously showing high levels of ethanol intake. The present study further
      evaluates the contribution of OXR1 to excessive binge-like drinking of ethanol in
      ad libitum-fed C57BL/6J mice from a pharmacological and molecular approach. The
      main findings in the study are: (1) Icv administration of SB-334867 (3 MUg/MUl)
      blunted ethanol (20% v/v), but not saccharin (0.15% w/v) binge-like drinking in a
      drinking in the dark procedure, without any alteration of chow consumption or
      total calories ingested; (2) Icv administration of SB-334867 (3 MUg/MUl)
      increased the latency to recover the righting reflex after a sedative dose of
      ethanol without any significant alteration in ethanol peripheral metabolism; (3)
      four repetitive, 2-h daily episodes of saccharin, but not ethanol binge-like
      drinking blunted OXR1 mRNA expression in the lateral hypothalamus. Present
      findings extend the current knowledge pointing to a role for OX signaling in
      ethanol sedation, which might partially explain the inhibitory effect of OXR1
      antagonists on ethanol consumption. Combined pharmacological and molecular data
      suggesting the contribution of OXR1 in ethanol binge-drinking leading us to
      propose the idea that targeting OXR1 could represent a novel pharmacological
      approach to control binge-consumption episodes of ethanol in vulnerable organisms
      failing to spontaneously reduce OX activity.

PMID- 25827929
TI  - Study of antidepressant drugs in GPR39 (zinc receptor-/-) knockout mice, showing
      no effect of conventional antidepressants, but effectiveness of NMDA antagonists.
AB  - The monoamine-based antidepressants that are currently used generate many side
      effects, and more than 30% of depressed patients do not respond to this therapy.
      Glutamate-based antidepressants seem to play an important role in therapy for
      depression, but there is still an extensive search for safe drugs. An antagonist
      of the glutamatergic NMDA receptor - namely, zinc - plays a part in maintaining
      homeostasis between glutamate and GABA via the GPR39 receptor, which has been
      found to be involved in the pathophysiology of depression. In this study we
      investigated the behavioral response resulting from chronic or acute treatment
      with monoamine-based antidepressants, such as imipramine, escitalopram or
      reboxetine, and from glutamate-based MK-801 or ketamine, as measured by the
      forced swim test (FST) in GPR39 knockout (GPR39 KO, -/-) mice versus wild-type
      (WT, +/+) controls. All the tested agents reduced the immobility time in the FST
      in the wild-type animals. However, only chronic or acute administration of MK-801
      and ketamine (but not monoamine-based antidepressants) were active in the FST in
      GPR39 KO mice. Our results show for the first time that GPR39 is required for the
      antidepressant effect of monoamine-based antidepressants. 

PMID- 25827930
TI  - Monitoring dopamine transmission in the rat nucleus accumbens shell and core
      during acquisition of nose-poking for sucrose.
AB  - On the basis of between subjects monitoring of in vivo dopamine (DA) transmission
      in the rat nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell and core during response-contingent and
      non-contingent sucrose feeding we have hypothesized that long term, daily
      exposure to sucrose feeding results in the acquisition of
      conditioned/discriminative stimuli capable of activating accumbens shell DA
      transmission in a non-habituating fashion. In order to verify this hypothesis we
      have now monitored within the same subject the changes in accumbens shell and
      core DA during acquisition of fixed ratio 1 (FR1) nose-poking for sucrose
      pellets. Once full training was obtained, dialysate DA was monitored in the same
      rat on three different sessions: responding for sucrose, extinction and non
      contingent sucrose presentation. Dialysate DA steadily increased in the shell
      during operant sessions as training progressed but was activated in the core only
      early and transiently in training (5th session). After full training, reinforced
      as well as non-reinforced responding for sucrose activated DA selectively in the
      NAc shell. Non-contingent sucrose feeding activated DA in the shell and in the
      core. No habituation of shell DA responsiveness was observed under contingent and
      non-contingent sucrose feeding. These observations are consistent with the
      hypothesis that learning of FR1 nose-poking for sucrose involves acquisition of
      conditioned activation of DA transmission in the shell and active suppression in
      the core and that loss of habituation of shell DA responsiveness is related to
      change from primary-rewarding to conditioned/discriminative as driving stimuli of
      DA transmission in this area. 

PMID- 25827931
TI  - Harmonic and frequency modulated ultrasonic vocalizations reveal differences in
      conditioned and unconditioned reward processing.
AB  - Novelty and sensation seeking (NSS) and ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are both
      used as measures of individual differences in reward sensitivity in rodent
      models. High responders in the inescapable novelty screen have a greater response
      to low doses of amphetamine and acquire self-administration more rapidly, while
      the novelty place preference screen is positively correlated with compulsive drug
      seeking. These screens are uncorrelated and implicated in separate drug abuse
      models. 50 kHz USVs measure affective state in rats and are evoked by positive
      stimuli. NSS and USVs are each implicated in drug response, self-administration,
      and reveal differences in individual behavior, yet their relationship with each
      other is not understood. The present study screened rats for their response to
      novelty and measured USVs of all call types in response to heterospecific play to
      determine the relationships between these individual difference traits.
      Generally, we hypothesized that 50k Hz USVs would be positively correlated with
      the NPP screen, and that 22 kHz would be positively correlated with the IEN
      screen. Results indicate none of the screens were correlated indicating they are
      measuring different individual difference traits. However, examination of the
      subtypes of USVs indicated harmonic USVs and the novelty place preference were
      positively correlated. Harmonic 50 kHz USVs increased in response to reward
      associated context, suggesting animals conditioned to the heterospecific tickle
      arena and anticipated rewarding stimuli, while FM only increased in response to
      tickling. USV subtypes can be used to elucidate differences in attribution of
      incentive value across conditioned stimuli and receipt of rewarding stimuli.
      These data provide strong support that harmonic and FM USVs can be used to
      understand reward processing in addition to NSS.

PMID- 25827933
TI  - Unique distal size selectivity with a digold catalyst during alkyne homocoupling.
AB  - Metal-catalysed chemical reactions are often controlled by steric hindrance
      around the metal atom and it is rare that substituents far away of the reaction
      site could be differentiated during reaction, particularly if they are simple
      alkyl groups. Here we show that a gold catalyst is able to discriminate between
      linear carbon alkynes with 10 or 12 atoms in the chain during the oxidative
      homocoupling of alkynes: the former is fully reactive and the latter is
      practically unreactive. We present experimental evidences, which support that the
      distal size selectivity occurs by the impossibility of transmetallating two long
      alkyl chains in an A-framed, mixed-valence digold (I, III) acetylide complex. We
      also show that the reductive elimination of two alkyne molecules from a single
      Au(III) atom occurs extremely fast, in <1 min at -78  degrees C (turnover
      frequency>0.016 s(-1)). 

PMID- 25827934
TI  - Correlation between the International Neuroblastoma Pathology Classification and
      genomic signature in neuroblastoma.
AB  - The International Neuroblastoma Pathology Classification (INPC) has a prognostic
      impact that distinguishes two categories of neuroblastoma: favorable histology
      (FH) and unfavorable histology (UH). We analyzed 92 cases of neuroblastoma with
      the INPC evaluation and genomic grouping to investigate the correlation between
      the INPC and genomic signature, together with their prognostic significance. The
      correlation of UH tumor and partial gains and/or losses (GGP), as well as the
      correlation of FH tumor and whole gains and/or losses (GGW), was statistically
      significant. Both UH and GGP were late-onset (median age at diagnosis was 36 and
      48 months, respectively) and had poor prognosis (overall survival rate [OS],
      43.1% and 42.4%, respectively). In contrast, both FH and GGW were early-onset
      (median age at diagnosis, 4 and 9.5 months, respectively) and had favorable
      prognosis (OS, 88.6% and 87.1%, respectively). Unfavorable histology and GGP had
      significantly inferior OS compared to FH and GGW. Overall survival was not
      significantly different among the genomic groups in FH; however, it was inferior
      in UH with GGP. In UH with a single copy MYCN, genomic subgroups GGP2s (both 1p
      and 11q losses) and GGP3s (partial 11q loss but not 1p loss) indicated
      significantly poor prognosis compared to GGP4s (no partial 1p and 11q loss). As
      INPC and MYCN amplification were found to be the most powerful prognostic
      biological factors, they should be included with genomic grouping as treatment
      stratification for patients with UH and single copy of MYCN.

PMID- 25827935
TI  - Social determinants of health in the setting of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Social determinants of health play an important role in explaining
      poor health outcomes across many chronic disease states. The impact of the social
      gradient in the setting of an inherited heart disease, hypertrophic
      cardiomyopathy (HCM), has not been investigated. This study sought to profile the
      socioeconomic status of patients attending a specialized multidisciplinary clinic
      and to determine the impact on clinical factors, psychosocial wellbeing and
      adherence to medical advice. METHODS: Patients with HCM and at-risk relatives
      attending a specialized multidisciplinary clinic in Sydney Australia between 2011
      and 2013 were included. Clinical, socioeconomic, geographic remoteness and
      adherence data were available. A broader clinic and registry-based group
      completed a survey including psychological wellbeing, health-related quality of
      life, Morisky Medication Adherence Scale and individual-level socioeconomic
      information. RESULTS: Over a 3-year period, 486 patients were seen in the
      specialized clinic. There was an over-representation of patients from
      socioeconomically advantaged and the least geographically remote areas.
      Socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with comorbidities, poor psychological
      wellbeing and health-related quality of life, lower understanding of HCM and more
      complex clinical management issues such as NYHA class, atrial fibrillation and
      left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Approximately 10% of patients were
      non-adherent to medical advice, and poor medication adherence was seen in 30% of
      HCM patients with associated factors being younger age, minority ethnicity,
      anxiety and poor mental quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Of all the patients
      attending a specialized cardiac genetic clinic, there is an overrepresentation of
      patients from very advantaged and major metropolitan areas and suggests that
      those most in need of a multidisciplinary approach to care are not accessing it.

PMID- 25827936
TI  - The value of transthoracic echocardiography in the diagnosis of anomalous origin
      of the right pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta: A single center
      experience from China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anomalous origin of pulmonary artery (AOPA) from the ascending aorta
      is a rare but serious congenital cardiac malformation, which frequently involves
      the right pulmonary artery (RPA). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the
      echocardiographic characteristics of 9 cases with anomalous origin of the right
      pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta (AORPA) studied from 2007 to 2014 in
      our institution. The results were compared with the findings at surgery. RESULTS:
      The corrective surgery was performed in all 9 cases with AORPA. The diagnosis by
      transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) of 8 cases with AORPA was confirmed at
      surgery. The coincidence rate for TTE and surgical findings was 88.9%. One case
      was misdiagnosed as anomalous origin of the left pulmonary artery from the
      ascending aorta. The anomalous RPA in all cases had a proximal origin from the
      posterior or lateral part of the ascending aorta in our series. The mean distance
      from the aortic valve to the site of origin of pulmonary artery was 16.1 +/- 6.6
      mm (range: 7.0 mm-24.0 mm). The mean diameter of the anomalous pulmonary artery
      was 9.6 +/- 4.5 mm (range: 4.5 mm-17.0 mm). In 4 of 9 (44.5%) cases there were
      associated aortopulmonary septal defect, intact ventricular septum, patent ductus
      arteriosus and interruption of aortic arch (Type A), also known as the Berry's
      syndrome. Other associated cardiovascular abnormalities included patent ductus
      arteriosus, ventricular septal defect and atrial septal defect. Severe pulmonary
      arterial hypertension was noted in all cases. CONCLUSIONS: TTE plays an important
      role in the non-invasive and accurate diagnosis of AORPA. TTE can clearly display
      its site of origin and course, as well as other associated malformations and
      hemodynamic changes. TTE also plays an important role in the preoperative
      diagnosis of AORPA.

PMID- 25827937
TI  - Is low VO2max/kg in obese heart failure patients indicative of cardiac
      dysfunction?
AB  - PURPOSE: Low peak O2 consumption (VO2max/kg) has been widely used as an indirect
      indicator of poor cardiac fitness, and often guides management of patients with
      severe heart failure (HF). We hypothesized that it should be as good an indicator
      of cardiac dysfunction in obese and non-obese HF patients. METHODS: We compared
      the cardiopulmonary exercise performance and non-invasive hemodynamics of 152
      obese (BMI>34 kg.m(-2)) and 173 non-obese (BMI<=32) male HF patients in NYHA
      classes II and III, with reference to 101 healthy male controls. Their physical
      and cardiac functional reserves were measured during treadmill exercise testing
      with standard respiratory gas analyses and CO2 rebreathing to measure cardiac
      output non-invasively during peak exercise. Data are given as mean +/- SD.
      RESULTS: Obese HF patients with BMI 40.9 +/- 7.5 kg.m(-2) (age 56.1 +/- 14.0
      years, NYHA 2.5 +/- 0.5) exercised to acceptable cardiopulmonary limits (peak
      RER=1.07 +/- 0.12), and achieved a mean VO2max/kg of 18.6 +/- 5.2 ml.kg(-1).min(
      1), significantly lower than in non-obese HF counterparts (19.9 +/- 5.6 ml.kg(
      1).min(-1), P=0.02, age 55.8 +/- 10.6 years, BMI 26.6 +/- 3.1, NYHA 2.4 +/- 0.5,
      peak RER=1.07 +/- 0.09), with both lower than controls (38.5 +/- 9.7 ml.kg(
      1).min(-1), P<10(-6)). In contrast, the uncorrected VO2max was higher in obese
      (2.31 +/- 0.69 ml.min(-1)) than non-obese HF patients (1.61 +/- 0.49 ml.min(-1),
      P<10(-6)). When cardiac dysfunction was evaluated directly, peak cardiac power
      was significantly greater in obese than non-obese HF patients (4.11 +/- 1.21 W vs
      2.73 +/- 0.82 W, P<10(-6)), with both lower than controls (5.42 +/- 1.04 W, P<10(
      6)). CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that VO2max/kg is not a generally
      reliable indicator of cardiac fitness in all patients. Instead, we found that
      despite having lower VO2max/kg, obese HF patients had stronger hearts capable of
      generating greater cardiac power than non-obese HF patients of equivalent
      clinical HF status.

PMID- 25827938
TI  - Relation between left ventricular ejection time and pulmonary hemodynamics in
      pulmonary hypertension.

PMID- 25827939
TI  - Intra-myocardial hemorrhage in STEMI reperfusion: An alternative explanation for
      failures from "augmented" fibrinolysis regimes and fibrinolysis-facilitated PCI?

PMID- 25827940
TI  - Gemella morbillorum tricuspid valve endocarditis resulting in septic pulmonary
      emboli in a patient with intracranial hemorrhage.

PMID- 25827941
TI  - Treatment of venous thromboembolism in cancer patients with dalteparin for up to
      12 months: the DALTECAN Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with cancer has
      a high rate of recurrence and bleeding complications. Guidelines recommend low
      molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) for at least 3-6 months and possibly indefinitely
      for patients with active malignancy. There are, however, few data supporting
      treatment with LMWH beyond 6 months. The primary aim of the DALTECAN study
      (NCT00942968) was to determine the safety of dalteparin between 6 and 12 months
      in cancer-associated VTE. METHODS: Patients with active cancer and newly
      diagnosed VTE were enrolled in a prospective, multicenter study and received
      subcutaneous dalteparin for 12 months. The rates of bleeding and recurrent VTE
      were evaluated at months 1, 2-6 and 7-12. FINDINGS: Of 334 patients enrolled, 185
      and 109 completed 6 and 12 months of therapy; 49.1% had deep vein thrombosis
      (DVT); 38.9% had pulmonary embolism (PE); and 12.0% had both on presentation. The
      overall frequency of major bleeding was 10.2% (34/334). Major bleeding occurred
      in 3.6% (12/334) in the first month, and 1.1% (14/1237) and 0.7% (8/1086) per
      patient-month during months 2-6 and 7-12, respectively. Recurrent VTE occurred in
      11.1% (37/334); the incidence rate was 5.7% (19/334) for month 1, 3.4% (10/296)
      during months 2-6, and 4.1% (8/194) during months 7-12. One hundred and sixteen
      patients died, four due to recurrent VTE and two due to bleeding. CONCLUSION:
      Major bleeding was less frequent during dalteparin therapy beyond 6 months. The
      risk of developing major bleeding complications or VTE recurrence was greatest in
      the first month of therapy and lower over the subsequent 11 months.

PMID- 25827942
TI  - The relationship among computer work, environmental design, and musculoskeletal
      and visual discomfort: examining the moderating role of supervisory relations and
      co-worker support.
AB  - PURPOSE: The prevalence of work-related upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders
      and visual symptoms reported in the USA has increased dramatically during the
      past two decades. This study examined the factors of computer use, workspace
      design, psychosocial factors, and organizational ergonomics resources on
      musculoskeletal and visual discomfort and their impact on the safety and health
      of computer work employees. METHODS: A large-scale, cross-sectional survey was
      administered to a US manufacturing company to investigate these relationships (n
      = 1259). Associations between these study variables were tested along with
      moderating effects framed within a conceptual model. RESULTS: Significant
      relationships were found between computer use and psychosocial factors of co
      worker support and supervisory relations with visual and musculoskeletal
      discomfort. Co-worker support was found to be significantly related to reports of
      eyestrain, headaches, and musculoskeletal discomfort. Supervisor relations
      partially moderated the relationship between workspace design satisfaction and
      visual and musculoskeletal discomfort. CONCLUSION: This study provides guidance
      for developing systematic, preventive measures and recommendations in designing
      office ergonomics interventions with the goal of reducing musculoskeletal and
      visual discomfort while enhancing office and computer workers' performance and
      safety.

PMID- 25827943
TI  - D-pinitol mitigates tumor growth by modulating interleukins and hormones and
      induces apoptosis in rat breast carcinogenesis through inhibition of NF-kappaB.
AB  - Breast cancer is the most prevalent malignant neoplasm in the world, and
      chemoprevention through dietary intervention strategy is an emerging option to
      reduce the incidence. D-pinitol (DP), a major component of soya bean, possesses
      attractive biological actions. We have investigated whether D-pinitol have an
      effect on tumor growth in vivo against 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)
      initiated rat mammary carcinogenesis and investigated its mechanism of action.
      Tumors were induced in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats by a gastric dose of 20 mg/kg
      DMBA, and after 13 weeks of induction period, the rats were orally administered
      with D-pinitol for 45 days. At the end of the assay, animals in carcinogen
      control group prompted a tumor incidence of 100 % and developed a tumor volume of
      8.35 +/- 0.56, which was significantly reduced to 5.74 +/- 0.32 for the animals
      treated with D-pinitol. The D-pinitol treatment not only decreased the tumor
      volume but also further examination revealed that tumors from animals that
      received D-pinitol reduced nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) activation which in
      turn results in modulation of its downstreaming p53 and proteins of caspase-3
      family. Bcl-2 expression and caspase-3 activation were also decreased after D
      pinitol supplementation leading to induction of apoptosis and finally cell death.
      Furthermore, the status of the inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis
      factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin (IL)-2, IL-6, and tumor markers, lipid
      profile, and hormones was also significantly declined up on D-pinitol
      administration. Thus, it reveals the collective involvement of the above
      mentioned parameters along with NF-kappaB signaling through which D-pinitol
      induces apoptosis and subsequently suppresses breast cancer during DMBA-induced
      rat breast carcinogenesis.

PMID- 25827945
TI  - Tissue-specific metabolic responses of Cyprinus flammans to copper.
AB  - Copper (Cu) contamination is serious in China, with <=2.76 mg/L in some waters.
      Exposure to Cu causes a high toxicity to the aquatic organisms and subsequent
      ecological risk. To understand fish responses to Cu exposure, we analyzed the
      metabonomic changes in multiple tissues (gill, liver, and muscle) of Cyprinus
      flammans using an nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabonomic technique. Our
      results showed that metabolic alterations are dose-dependent. No significant
      metabolic alterations in three tissues of fish are caused by 0.25 mg/L Cu.
      However, 1.53 mg/L Cu caused changes of energy-related metabolites and amino
      acids, which we suggest are due to enhanced metabolic acidosis in gill and
      muscle, decreased tricarboxylic acid cycle activity in muscle, increased
      gluconeogenesis from amino acids in liver, and improved glycogenesis in liver and
      muscle. The Cori cycle between liver and muscle is concurrently triggered.
      Furthermore, high concentration of Cu resulted in the alteration of choline
      metabolism such that we hypothesize that Cu induces membrane damage and
      detoxification of CuSO4 in gill as well as altered osmoregulation in all three
      tissues. Choline-O-sulfate in gill may be used as a biomarker to provide an early
      warning of Cu exposure in C. flammans. Moreover, Cu exposure caused alterations
      of nucleoside and nucleotide metabolism in both gill and muscle. These findings
      provide a new insight into the metabolic effects of Cu exposure on C. flammans
      and highlight the value of metabonomics in the study of metabolic metal
      disturbance in fish. 

PMID- 25827944
TI  - Liver delipidating effect of a combination of resveratrol and quercetin in rats
      fed an obesogenic diet.
AB  - Liver steatosis is characterized by an abnormal accumulation of triacylglycerols
      in this organ. This metabolic disorder is closely associated with obesity. In the
      present study, we aimed to analyse the effect of a combination of resveratrol and
      quercetin on liver steatosis in an animal model of dietetic obesity, and to
      compare it with one induced by the administration of each polyphenol separately.
      Rats were divided into four dietary groups of nine animals each and fed a high
      fat, high-sucrose diet: an untreated control group and three groups treated
      either with resveratrol (RSV; 15 mg/kg/day), with quercetin (Q; 30 mg/kg/day), or
      with both (RSV + Q; 15 mg resveratrol/kg/day and 30 mg quercetin/kg/day) for 6
      weeks. Liver weight and triacylglycerol content decreased only in the RSV + Q
      group. A significant reduction in acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity was observed in
      RSV and RSV + Q groups, without changes in fatty acid synthase activity. A
      significant increase in carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1a activity was observed
      only in rats treated with the combination of resveratrol and quercetin,
      suggesting increased fatty acid oxidation. Citrate synthase, a marker of
      mitochondrial density, remained unchanged in all groups. No significant changes
      were observed in the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor
      alpha (PPARalpha), nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF-1) and transcription factor
      A mitochondrial (TFAM). In conclusion, resveratrol and quercetin together,
      combining two doses which were shown to be ineffective singly, is an interesting
      tool to prevent liver steatosis associated with high-fat high-sucrose feeding.
      The delipidating effect seems to be mediated by increased fatty acid oxidation
      not associated with increased mitochondriogenesis, and by reduced de novo
      lipogenesis. 

PMID- 25827946
TI  - The importance of the beta spectrum calculation for accurate activity
      determination of 63Ni by means of liquid scintillation counting.
AB  - The activity concentration of a (63)Ni solution was determined by means of two
      liquid scintillation counting techniques: the TDCR method and the CIEMAT/NIST
      efficiency tracing technique. The results of both methods are in excellent
      agreement, provided that the (63)Ni beta spectrum calculation accounts for the
      atomic exchange effect. Thus, new beta spectrum calculations resolve a
      discrepancy that has been found in previous analyses. The influence of the
      computed beta spectrum on the final uncertainty of the activity concentration is
      discussed. 

PMID- 25827947
TI  - Convenient recycling and reuse of bombarded [18O]H2O for the production and the
      application of [18F]F-.
AB  - The limited availability and the increasing demands of [(18)O]H2O force the reuse
      of bombarded [(18)O]H2O for the production of [(18)F]F(-) at least for the
      purposes of research. Therefore, inorganic and organic contaminants have to be
      removed from the [(18)O]H2O after bombardment. We present a simple, effective,
      easy-handling and reliable method of [(18)O]H2O purification including oxidation
      and distillation. The obtained recycled [(18)O]H2O had comparable quality to
      commercially distributed [(18)O]water. This was confirmed by a detailed
      comparison of produced radionuclides and their activities and the application of
      [(18)F]F(-) for the automated synthesis of [(18)F]fluspidine. 

PMID- 25827948
TI  - Melanin biosynthesis inhibitory activity of a compound isolated from young green
      barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in B16 melanoma cells.
AB  - In the course to find compounds that inhibit melanin biosynthesis (i.e.,
      whitening agents), we evaluated the effects of the methanol-soluble fraction
      (i.e., the water-soluble portion of methanol extracts-CHP20P-MeOH eluted
      fraction) from young green barley leaves on melanin production in B16 melanoma
      cells. Activity-guided fractionation led to an isolate called tricin (compound 1)
      as an inhibitory compound of melanin production in B16 melanoma cells.
      Furthermore, tricin analogs such as tricetin, tricetin trimethyl ether, luteolin,
      and apigenin were used for analyzing the structure-activity relationships (SAR)
      of 5,7-dihydroxyflavones studies. Tricin demonstrated stronger inhibitory
      activity compared to three other compounds. The results suggest that a hydroxyl
      group at the C-4' position and methoxy groups at the C-3',5' positions of the
      tricin skeleton may have important roles in this inhibitory activity in B16
      melanoma cells. Our results suggest that tricin inhibits melanin biosynthesis
      with higher efficacy than arbutin, and it could be used as a whitening agent. 

PMID- 25827950
TI  - Myiasis in Travelers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cutaneous myiasis is a well-established diagnosis in returning
      travelers from tropical countries. The most common form of myiasis seen in this
      population is localized furuncular myiasis caused by Dermatobia hominis and
      Cordylobia anthropophaga. There are limited data on the disease course and
      outcome in travelers to tropical countries. METHODS: A retrospective
      observational study of patients who presented with myiasis was conducted between
      1999 and July 2014 in the post-travel clinics in Israel. Data regarding exposure
      history, travel duration, clinical presentation, treatment, and parasitological
      identification were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Among 6,867 ill returning
      Israeli travelers, 1,419 (21%) had a dermatologic complaint, 90 (6.3%) of them
      were diagnosed with myiasis. Myiasis was acquired in Latin America by 72 (80%)
      patients, mainly (54%) in the Madidi National Park, Amazonas Basin, Bolivia; 18
      cases (20%) were acquired in Africa. In 76% of cases, manual extraction was
      sufficient to remove the larva; 24% required surgical intervention. Despite the
      fact that most patients did not receive antibiotic treatment, only one developed
      secondary infection, upon partial removal of the larva. CONCLUSIONS: This is the
      largest myiasis case series in ill returning travelers. Myiasis is not a rare
      dermatologic complaint with most Israeli cases imported from Latin America and
      specifically the Madidi National Park in Bolivia. Treatment is based on full
      extraction of the larva after which no antibiotic treatment is needed. Myiasis is
      a preventable disease and travelers should be informed of the different
      preventive measures according to their travel destination.

PMID- 25827949
TI  - Genome-wide association study identifies new susceptibility loci for cutaneous
      lupus erythematosus.
AB  - Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease of the skin
      with typical clinical manifestations. Here, we genotyped 906 600 single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 183 CLE cases and 1288 controls of Central
      European ancestry. Replication was performed for 13 SNPs in 219 case subjects and
      262 controls from Finland. Association was particularly pronounced at 4 loci, all
      with genomewide significance (P < 5 * 10(-8) ): rs2187668 (PGWAS  = 1.4 * 10(-12)
      ), rs9267531 (PGWAS  = 4.7 * 10(-10) ), rs4410767 (PGWAS  = 1.0 * 10(-9) ) and
      rs3094084 (PGWAS  = 1.1 * 10(-9) ). All mentioned SNPs are located within the
      major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region of chromosome 6 and near genes of
      known immune functions or associations with other autoimmune diseases such as HLA
      DQ alpha chain 1 (HLA-DQA1), MICA, MICB, MSH5, TRIM39 and RPP21. For example,
      TRIM39/RPP21 read through transcript is a known mediator of the interferon
      response, a central pathway involved in the pathogenesis of CLE and systemic
      lupus erythematosus (SLE). Taken together, this genomewide analysis of disease
      association of CLE identified candidate genes and genomic regions that may
      contribute to pathogenic mechanisms in CLE via dysregulated antigen presentation
      (HLA-DQA1), apoptosis regulation, RNA processing and interferon response (MICA,
      MICB, MSH5, TRIM39 and RPP21). 

PMID- 25827951
TI  - Pyoderma gangrenosum of the penis possibly associated with pazopanib treatment.

PMID- 25827953
TI  - Iron for proliferation of cell lines and hematopoietic progenitors: Nailing down
      the intracellular functional iron concentration.
AB  - Iron is an essential nutrient which must be provided in sufficient amounts to
      support growth of eukaryotic cells. All organisms devote specialized pathways to
      ensure proper delivery. Yet, a quantitative assessment of the intra-cellular iron
      concentration needed to allow the cell cycle to proceed in mammalian cells is
      missing. Starting from iron-depleted cell lines or primary hematopoietic
      progenitors prepared with clinically implemented iron chelators, replenishment
      via transferrin and other iron sources has been quantitatively monitored through
      the main endogenous markers of the cellular iron status, namely proteins involved
      in the uptake (transferrin receptor), the storage (ferritin), and the sensing
      (Iron Regulatory Proteins) of iron. When correlated with measurements of iron
      concentrations and indicators of growth, this minimally intrusive approach
      provided an unprecedented estimate of the intracellular iron concentration acting
      upon iron-centered regulatory pathways. The data were analyzed with the help of a
      previously developed theoretical treatment of cellular iron regulation. The
      minimal cellular iron concentration required for cell division was named
      functional iron concentration (FIC) to distinguish it from previous estimates of
      the cellular labile iron. The FIC falls in the low nanomolar range for all
      studied cells, including hematopoietic progenitors. These data shed new light on
      basic aspects of cellular iron homeostasis by demonstrating that sensing and
      regulation of iron occur well below the concentrations requiring storage or
      becoming noxious in pathological conditions. The quantitative assessment provided
      here is relevant for monitoring treatments of conditions in which iron provision
      must be controlled to avoid unwanted cellular proliferation. 

PMID- 25827954
TI  - PKC theta and p38 MAPK activate the EBV lytic cycle through autophagy induction.
AB  - PKC activation by combining TPA with sodium butyrate (T/B) represents the most
      effective and widely used strategy to induce the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) lytic
      cycle. The results obtained in this study show that novel PKCtheta is involved in
      such process and that it acts through the activation of p38 MAPK and autophagy
      induction. Autophagy, a mechanism of cellular defense in stressful conditions, is
      manipulated by EBV to enhance viral replication. Besides promoting the EBV lytic
      cycle, the activation of p38 and autophagy resulted in a pro-survival effect, as
      indicated by p38 or ATG5 knocking down experiments. However, this pro-survival
      role was counteracted by a pro-death activity of PKCtheta, due to the
      dephosphorylation of AKT. In conclusion, this study reports, for the first time,
      that T/B activates a PKCtheta-p38 MAPK axis in EBV infected B cells, that
      promotes the viral lytic cycle and cell survival and dephosphorylates AKT,
      balancing cell life and cell death. 

PMID- 25827955
TI  - Rotenone inhibits primary murine myotube formation via Raf-1 and ROCK2.
AB  - Rotenone (ROT) is a widely used inhibitor of complex I (CI), the first complex of
      the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) system. However,
      particularly at high concentrations ROT was also described to display off-target
      effects. Here we studied how ROT affected in vitro primary murine myotube
      formation. We demonstrate that myotube formation is specifically inhibited by ROT
      (10-100nM), but not by piericidin A (PA; 100nM), another CI inhibitor. At 100nM,
      both ROT and PA fully blocked myoblast oxygen consumption. Knock-down of Rho
      associated, coiled-coil containing protein kinase 2 (ROCK2) and, to a lesser
      extent ROCK1, prevented the ROT-induced inhibition of myotube formation.
      Moreover, the latter was reversed by inhibiting Raf-1 activity. In contrast, ROT
      induced inhibition of myotube formation was not prevented by knock-down of RhoA.
      Taken together, our results support a model in which ROT reduces primary myotube
      formation independent of its inhibitory effect on CI-driven mitochondrial ATP
      production, but via a mechanism primarily involving the Raf-1/ROCK2 pathway. 

PMID- 25827957
TI  - Oxytocin-induced coping with stressful life events in old age depends on
      attachment: findings from the cross-sectional KORA Age study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Whether oxytocin functions as a stress hormone in older age is
      unknown. We investigated oxytocin levels and the perceived stress of an adverse
      life event in an older population-representative sample and considered the effect
      of a secure/insecure attachment style on this association. METHODS: Non-fasting
      plasma oxytocin was measured from 952 participants (65-90 years) of the cross
      sectional KORA-Age study. The psychological impact of an adverse life event was
      assessed based on the Psychosocial Stress Questionnaire. Attachment style was
      determined by the Relationship-Specific Attachment Scales for Adults. Linear
      regression models of oxytocin, stratified for attachment style, were controlled
      for age, sex, and further for alcohol, smoking, and physical activity. Adjusted
      least squares means of oxytocin were calculated. RESULTS: Oxytocin levels did not
      differ between men and women (mean, 95% confidence interval (CI), 321 (277-365)
      and 309 (272-345)pg/ml, respectively). Oxytocin levels were positively associated
      with the experience of an adverse event (n=273, 29%) versus no event (n=679,
      71%), in securely attached (beta estimate=0.17, standard error (SE)=0.08, P
      value=0.03) but not in insecure participants (-0.10, 0.09), P=0.28). Oxytocin was
      positively associated with diminished stress among securely attached participant
      (event with little suffering: beta=0.35. SE=0.12, great suffering: beta=0.15.
      SE=0.14, severe suffering: beta=0.03. SE=0.12). Among participants who reported
      minimal suffering, insecure individuals had lower oxytocin (adjusted mean, 95%CI:
      172, 127-216 pg/ml) than securely attached individuals (279, 222-352 pg/ml,
      P=0.006). CONCLUSIONS: These epidemiologic data support the hypothesis that
      oxytocin may have an attenuating effect on perceived stress due to adverse life
      events in old age. The conditional role of attachment style in stress-induced
      endogenous oxytocin production is highlighted.

PMID- 25827958
TI  - Increase systemic levels of IL-23 as a possible constitutive marker in
      schizophrenia.
AB  - Inflammation appears to play significant role in schizophrenia. IL-23 is key
      molecule in mediating IL-17 dependent inflammatory response. Therefore, we
      analyzed the serum concentrations of IL-23 levels in patients with first episode
      psychosis (78 subjects), in patients with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia who
      were already treated with antipsychotics (47 subjects) and healthy controls (35
      subjects). Diagnoses were established using International Statistical
      Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10).
      Psychopathology was evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale
      (PANSS) and serum levels of IL-23 were measured using sensitive enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum levels of IL-23 were higher in patients with
      first psychotic episode and in patients with schizophrenia in relapse than in
      healthy subjects (p=0.000) and no difference was established between these two
      groups of patients before therapy. Also, after 4 weeks of antipsychotic therapy
      levels of IL-23 remains elevated in both groups of patients with no differences
      between two groups. It appears that increased level of IL-23 in psychotic
      patients independently of antipsychotic therapy can be a constitutive marker in
      this disorder. 

PMID- 25827952
TI  - Emerging understanding of Bcl-2 biology: Implications for neoplastic progression
      and treatment.
AB  - Bcl-2, the founding member of a family of apoptotic regulators, was initially
      identified as the protein product of a gene that is translocated and
      overexpressed in greater than 85% of follicular lymphomas (FLs). Thirty years
      later we now understand that anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members modulate the
      intrinsic apoptotic pathway by binding and neutralizing the mitochondrial
      permeabilizers Bax and Bak as well as a variety of pro-apoptotic proteins,
      including the cellular stress sensors Bim, Bid, Puma, Bad, Bmf and Noxa. Despite
      extensive investigation of all of these proteins, important questions remain. For
      example, how Bax and Bak breach the outer mitochondrial membrane remains poorly
      understood. Likewise, how the functions of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members
      such as eponymous Bcl-2 are affected by phosphorylation or cancer-associated
      mutations has been incompletely defined. Finally, whether Bcl-2 family members
      can be successfully targeted for therapeutic advantage is only now being
      investigated in the clinic. Here we review recent advances in understanding Bcl-2
      family biology and biochemistry that begin to address these questions. 

PMID- 25827959
TI  - Anterior cingulate cortex gray matter volume mediates an association between
      2D:4D ratio and trait aggression in women but not men.
AB  - Previous research demonstrates that prenatal testosterone exposure increases
      aggression, possibly through its effects on the structure and function of neural
      circuits supporting threat detection and emotion regulation. Here we examined
      associations between regional gray matter volume, trait aggression, and the ratio
      of the second and fourth digit of the hand (2D:4D ratio) as a putative index of
      prenatal testosterone exposure in 464 healthy young adult volunteers. Our
      analyses revealed a significant positive correlation between 2D:4D ratio and gray
      matter volume of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), a brain region
      supporting emotion regulation, conflict monitoring, and behavioral inhibition.
      Subsequent analyses demonstrated that reduced (i.e., masculinized) gray matter
      volume in the dACC mediated the relationship between 2D:4D ratio and aggression
      in women, but not men. Expanding on this gender-specific mediation, additional
      analyses demonstrated that the shared variance between 2D:4D ratio, dACC gray
      matter volume, and aggression in women reflected the tendency to engage in
      cognitive reappraisal of emotionally provocative stimuli. Our results provide
      novel evidence that 2D:4D ratio is associated with masculinization of dACC gray
      matter volume, and that this neural phenotype mediates, in part, the expression
      of trait aggression in women. 

PMID- 25827960
TI  - Low-dose hydrocortisone replacement improves wellbeing and pain tolerance in
      chronic pain patients with opioid-induced hypocortisolemic responses. A pilot
      randomized, placebo-controlled trial.
AB  - Long-term opioid therapy has been associated with low cortisol levels due to
      central suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. The implications
      of hypocortisolism on wellbeing have not been established. Our aim was to
      determine whether intervention with physiologic glucocorticoid replacement
      therapy improves wellbeing and analgesic responses in patients with chronic non
      cancer pain on long-term opioid therapy with mild cortisol deficiency. We
      performed a pilot randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study of
      oral hydrocortisone replacement therapy in 17 patients recruited from a Pain
      Clinic at a single tertiary center in Adelaide, Australia. Patients were
      receiving long-term opioid therapy (>= 20 mg morphine equivalents per day for >=
      4 weeks) for chronic non-cancer pain with mild hypocortisolism, as defined by a
      plasma cortisol response <= 350 nmol/L at 60 min following a cold pressor test.
      The crossover intervention included 28-day treatment with either 10mg/m(2)/day of
      oral hydrocortisone in three divided doses or placebo. Improvement in wellbeing
      was assessed using Version 2 of the Short Form-36 (SF-36v2), Brief Pain Inventory
      Short Form, and Addison's disease quality of life questionnaires; improvement in
      analgesic response was assessed using cold pressor threshold and tolerance times.
      Following treatment with hydrocortisone, the bodily pain (P=0.042) and vitality
      (P=0.013) subscales of the SF-36v2 were significantly better than scores
      following treatment with placebo. There was also an improvement in pain
      interference on general activity (P=0.035), mood (P=0.03) and work (P=0.04)
      following hydrocortisone compared with placebo. This is the first randomized,
      double-blind placebo-controlled trial of glucocorticoid replacement in opioid
      users with chronic non-cancer pain and mild hypocortisolism. Our data suggest
      that physiologic hydrocortisone replacement produces improvements in vitality and
      pain experiences in this cohort compared with placebo. TRIAL REGISTRATION:
      Therapeutic Goods Administration Clinical Trials Notification Scheme (Drugs),
      Trial Number 2012/0476.

PMID- 25827961
TI  - Sexually dimorphic adaptations in basal maternal stress physiology during
      pregnancy and implications for fetal development.
AB  - There is clear evidence of reciprocal exchange of information between the mother
      and fetus during pregnancy but the majority of research in this area has focussed
      on the fetus as a recipient of signals from the mother. Specifically,
      physiological signals produced by the maternal stress systems in response to the
      environment may carry valuable information about the state of the external world.
      Prenatal stress produces sex-specific adaptations within fetal physiology that
      have pervasive and long-lasting effects on development. Little is known, however,
      about the effects of sex-specific fetal signals on maternal adaptations to
      pregnancy. The current prospective study examined sexually dimorphic adaptations
      within maternal stress physiology, including the hypothalamic-adrenal-pituitary
      (HPA) axis and the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and associations with fetal
      growth. Using diurnal suites of saliva collected in early and late pregnancy, we
      demonstrate that basal cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) differ by fetal
      sex. Women carrying female fetuses displayed greater autonomic arousal and
      flatter (but more elevated) diurnal cortisol patterns compared to women carrying
      males. Women with flatter daytime cortisol trajectories and more blunted sAA
      awakening responses also had infants with lower birth weight. These maternal
      adaptations are consistent with sexually dimorphic fetal
      developmental/evolutionary adaptation strategies that favor growth for males and
      conservation of resources for females. The findings provide new evidence to
      suggest that the fetus contributes to maternal HPA axis and ANS regulation during
      pregnancy and that these systems also contribute to the regulation of fetal
      growth. 

PMID- 25827962
TI  - Plasma adiponectin levels in schizophrenia and role of second-generation
      antipsychotics: a meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: People with schizophrenia are more likely than general population to
      suffer from metabolic abnormalities, with second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs)
      increasing the risk. Low plasma adiponectin levels may lead to metabolic
      dysregulations but evidence in people with schizophrenia, especially for the role
      of SGAs, is still inconclusive. OBJECTIVE: To compare plasma adiponectin levels
      between people with schizophrenia and healthy controls, and to estimate the
      relative effect of schizophrenia and SGAs on adiponectin. METHODS: We performed a
      systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies published up to 13
      June 2014 in main electronic databases. Pooled standardized mean differences
      (SMDs) between index and control groups were generated. Appropriate subanalyses
      and additional subgroup analyses were carried out. RESULTS: Data from 2735
      individuals, 1013 with and 1722 without schizophrenia, respectively, were
      analysed. Schizophrenia was not associated with lower adiponectin levels (SMD of 
      0.28, 95%CI: -0.59, 0.04; p=0.09). However, individuals with schizophrenia taking
      SGAs had plasma levels significantly lower than controls (p=0.002), which was not
      the case of drug free/drug naive subjects (p=0.52). As regards single
      antipsychotic drugs clozapine (p<0.001) and olanzapine (p=0.04)--but not
      risperidone (p=0.88)--were associated with adiponectin levels lower than
      controls. CONCLUSIONS: People with schizophrenia per se may not have levels of
      adiponectin lower than controls, though treatment with SGAs is associated with
      this metabolic abnormality. This bears clinical significance because of
      hypoadiponectinemia involvement in cardiovascular diseases, even if mechanisms
      whereby SGAs affect adiponectin remain unexplained. Longitudinal studies
      evaluating long-term effects of SGAs on adiponectin are needed.

PMID- 25827963
TI  - Integration of neural networks activated by amphetamine in females with different
      estrogen levels: a functional imaging study in awake rats.
AB  - Previous studies demonstrate that schizophrenia symptomatology in women is
      dependent upon estrogen levels. Estrogen has beneficial properties when
      administered in conjunction with antipsychotics, and estrogen also alters, in
      rats, dopamine neurotransmission, which is a common target of all antipsychotic
      medications, suggesting a possible interaction between the two. The aim of the
      current study was to investigate this possible interaction using functional
      magnetic resonance imaging in awake, female rats. Amphetamine-sensitized,
      ovariectomized rats receiving no, chronic low, or phasic high levels of estradiol
      replacement were used, and changes in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal
      were recorded over time in response to an acute amphetamine injection. Increasing
      levels of estradiol enhanced BOLD activation in pathways previously known to be
      implicated in schizophrenia symptomatology, such as the mesocorticolimbic,
      habenular and olfactory pathways, as well as more widespread areas. We propose
      here the first comprehensive "amphetamine activation map" integrating brain
      regions where amphetamine-related BOLD activity is influenced by estrogen levels
      in sensitized female rats. 

PMID- 25827964
TI  - In vivo evaluation of biomimetic fluorosurfactant polymer-coated expanded
      polytetrafluoroethylene vascular grafts in a porcine carotid artery bypass model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential for
      biomimetic self-assembling fluorosurfactant polymer (FSP) coatings incorporating
      heptamaltose (M7-FSP) to block nonspecific protein adsorption, the cell adhesive
      RGD peptide (RGD-FSP), or the endothelial cell-selective CRRETAWAC peptide (cRRE
      FSP) to improve patency and endothelialization in small-diameter expanded
      polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) vascular graft implants. METHODS: ePTFE vascular
      grafts (4 mm in diameter, 5 cm in length) were coated with M7-FSP, RGD-FSP, or
      cRRE-FSP by dissolving FSPs in distilled water and flowing solution through the
      graft lumen for 24 hours. Coatings were confirmed by receding water contact angle
      measurements on the lumen surface. RGD-FSP and cRRE-FSP grafts were presodded in
      vitro with porcine pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PPAECs) using a custom
      designed flow system. PPAEC coverage on the lumen surface was visualized with
      epifluorescent microscopy and quantified. Grafts were implanted as carotid artery
      interposition bypass grafts in seven pigs for 33 +/- 2 days (ePTFE, n = 3; M7
      FSP, n = 4; RGD-FSP, n = 3; cRRE-FSP, n = 4). Patency was confirmed immediately
      after implantation with duplex color flow ultrasound and at explantation with
      contrast-enhanced angiography. Grafts were sectioned for histology and stained:
      Movat pentachrome stain to outline vascular layers, immunofluorescent staining to
      identify endothelial cells (anti-von Willebrand factor antibody), and
      immunohistochemical staining to identify smooth muscle cells (anti-smooth muscle
      alpha-actin antibody). Neointima to lumen area ratio was determined to evaluate
      neointimal hyperplasia. RESULTS: Receding water contact angle measurements on
      graft luminal surfaces were significantly lower (P < .05) on FSP-coated ePTFE
      surfaces (M7-FSP, 40 +/- 16 degrees; RGD-FSP, 25 +/- 10 degrees; cRRE-FSP, 33 +/-
      16 degrees) compared with uncoated ePTFE (126 +/- 2 degrees), confirming presence
      of the FSP layer. In vitro sodding of PPAECs on RGD-FSP and cRRE-FSP grafts
      resulted in a confluent monolayer of PPAECs on the luminal surface, with a
      similar cell population on RGD-FSP (1200 +/- 187 cells/mm(2)) and cRRE-FSP (1134
      +/- 153 cells/mm(2)) grafts. All grafts were patent immediately after
      implantation, and one of three uncoated, two of three RGD-FSP, two of four M7
      FSP, and two of four cRRE-FSP grafts remained patent after 1 month. PPAEC
      coverage of the lumen surface was seen in all patent grafts. RGD-FSP grafts had a
      slightly higher neointima to lumen area ratio (0.53 +/- 0.06) compared with
      uncoated (0.29 +/- 0.15), M7-FSP (0.20 +/- 0.15), or cRRE-FSP (0.17 +/- 0.09)
      grafts. CONCLUSIONS: Biomimetic FSP-coated ePTFE grafts can be used successfully
      in vivo and have potential to support endothelialization. Grafts modified with
      the M7-FSP and cRRE-FSP showed lower intimal hyperplasia compared with RGD-FSP
      grafts.

PMID- 25827965
TI  - Rates and predictors of readmission after minor lower extremity amputations.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: One goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is to
      reduce hospital readmissions, with financial penalties applied for excessive
      rates of unplanned readmissions within 30 days among Medicare beneficiaries.
      Recent data indicate that as many as 24% of Medicare patients require readmission
      after vascular surgery, although the rate of readmission after limited digital
      amputations has not been specifically examined. The present study was therefore
      undertaken to define the rate of unplanned readmission among patients after
      digital amputations and to identify the factors associated with these
      readmissions to allow the clinician to implement strategies to reduce readmission
      rates in the future. METHODS: The electronic medical and billing records of all
      patients undergoing minor amputations (defined as toe or transmetatarsal
      amputations using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision,
      codes) from January 2000 through July 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. Data
      were collected for procedure- and hospital-related variables, level of
      amputation, length of stay, time to readmission, and level of reamputation.
      Patient demographics included hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, smoking
      history, and history of myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure,
      peripheral arterial disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and
      cerebrovascular accident. RESULTS: Minor amputations were performed in 717
      patients (62.2% male), including toe amputations in 565 (72.8%) and
      transmetatarsal amputations in 152 (19.5%). Readmission occurred in 100 patients
      (13.9%), including 28 (3.9%) within 30 days, 28 (3.9%) between 30 and 60 days,
      and 44 (6.1%) >60 days after the index amputation. Multivariable analysis
      revealed that elective admission (P < .001), peripheral arterial disease (P <
      .001), and chronic renal insufficiency (P = .001) were associated with
      readmission. The reasons for readmission were infection (49%), ischemia (29%),
      nonhealing wound (19%), and indeterminate (4%). Reamputation occurred in 95 (95%)
      of the readmitted patients, including limb amputation in 64 (64%) of the patients
      (below knee in 58, through knee in 2, and above knee in 4). CONCLUSIONS:
      Readmission after minor amputation was associated with limb amputation in the
      majority of cases. This study identified a number of nonmodifiable patient
      factors that are associated with an increased risk of readmission. Whereas
      efforts to reduce unplanned hospital readmissions are laudable, payers and
      regulators should consider these observations in defining unacceptable rates of
      readmission. Further, although beyond the scope of this study, it is not
      unreasonable to assume that pressure to reduce readmission rates in the
      population of patients with extensive comorbidity may induce practitioners to
      undertake amputation at a higher level initially to minimize the risk of
      readmission for reamputation and associated financial penalties and thus deprive
      the patient the chance for limb salvage.

PMID- 25827967
TI  - Risk factors for spinal cord ischemia after endovascular repair of
      thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The introduction of fenestrated and multibranched endografting
      transformed the treatment paradigm of patients with thoracoabdominal aortic
      aneurysms (TAAAs). However, despite the minimally invasive character of the
      procedure, spinal cord ischemia (SCI) remains a devastating complication. The aim
      of this study was to address the SCI rates after endovascular TAAA repair and to
      analyze potential risk factors leading to this complication. METHODS: A
      consecutive cohort of patients with nonruptured TAAAs treated by means of
      fenestrated and multibranched endografting between January 2010 and September
      2014 was analyzed. Neurologic examination was routinely performed by an
      independent neurologist before operation and at discharge. The main outcome
      measure was the onset of SCI (paraplegia or paraparesis). Secondary outcomes were
      neurologic complications associated with cerebrospinal fluid drainage (CSFD) and
      30-day mortality. Finally, a multivariate regression analysis identified risk
      factors for SCI. RESULTS: A consecutive 142 patients with TAAAs (Crawford type
      II, n = 54 [38%]; type III, n = 76 [54%]; type IV, n = 12 [8%]) were included in
      this study. The majority of patients (n = 129 [91%]) were treated for an
      atherosclerotic aneurysm, whereas 13 patients (9%) were treated for a
      postdissection aneurysm. The mean maximal aortic diameter was 65 +/- 13 mm. SCI
      developed in 23 patients (16%; paraplegia in 12 [8%] and paraparesis in 11 [8%]).
      Of these 23 patients, 10 patients (43%) showed the neurologic deficit directly
      after the procedure, 11 patients (48%) in the first 24 hours, and 2 patients (9%)
      after 24 hours. There was an improvement of the neurologic status in the majority
      of patients, with only three patients (2%) showing irreversible paraplegia at
      discharge. There was no difference in the 30-day mortality between patients with
      and without SCI (no SCI, n = 3 [3%] vs SCI, n = 1 [4%]; P = .511). Prophylactic
      use of CSFD before the procedure was performed in 64 patients (45%), and among
      them, 4 patients (6%) developed a CSFD-associated complication. No clinical
      benefit for patients receiving prophylactic placement of CSFD was found (P =
      .498). The multivariate analysis revealed the percentage of thoracic aortic
      coverage as the only significant risk factor for SCI (odds ratio, 1.03; 95%
      confidence interval, 1.01-1.05; P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: The SCI rate after
      endovascular repair of TAAA was 16%, with 8% of those patients suffering from
      paraplegia. Prophylactic use of CSFD could not reduce the SCI rate and was
      associated with 6% adverse events. The percentage of thoracic aortic coverage was
      the most powerful determinant of SCI in these series.

PMID- 25827966
TI  - Digital pressure and oxygen saturation measurements in the diagnosis of chronic
      hemodialysis access-induced distal ischemia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Hemodialysis access-induced distal ischemia (HAIDI) can be classified
      as acute (on the first postoperative day), subacute (<=1 month), or chronic (>1
      month), based on the time of onset after access creation. The diagnosis is mainly
      clinical. However, performing additional tests is beneficial in further
      assessment of patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of
      finger pressure and oxygen saturation measurements for the diagnosis of chronic
      HAIDI. METHODS: A total of 20 patients with chronic HAIDI (cases) and 40
      asymptomatic hemodialysis patients (controls) were matched for age, sex, etiology
      of end-stage renal disease, and type of arteriovenous access. Basal digital
      pressure (BDP), digital pressure during manual compression of access, digital
      brachial index (DBI), change in digital pressure with access compression (CDP),
      digital pressure of the contralateral side, and bilateral oxygen saturation (O2
      Sat) were measured in all patients. RESULTS: In the case group, compression of
      the arteriovenous fistula (AVF) increased mean BDP from 61 +/- 26 to 118 +/- 28
      mm Hg (P < .001), which failed to reach the non-AVF side mean digital pressure of
      151 +/- 25 mm Hg (P < .001). In addition, O2 Sat of the AVF side was
      significantly lower than the contralateral side (92.9% +/- 2.1% vs 95.6% +/-
      1.4%; P = .001). Among the controls, manual AVF compression raised the mean BDP
      from 114 +/- 36 mm Hg to 133 +/- 29 mm Hg (P < .001), which was still
      significantly lower than the contralateral side mean digital pressure of 141 +/-
      30 mm Hg (P = .002). In addition, O2 Sat values of the two sides were different
      (96.7% +/- 2.1% vs 97.1% +/- 1.9%; P = .01). Comparing the cases and controls,
      the mean BDP (61 +/- 26 mm Hg vs 114 +/- 36 mm Hg; P < .001), DBI (0.44 +/- 0.16
      vs 0.82 +/- 0.19; P < .001), and O2 Sat (92.9% +/- 2.1% vs 96.7% +/- 2.1%; P <
      .001) were significantly lower and CDP (57 +/- 24 mm Hg vs 19 +/- 17 mm Hg; P <
      .001) was significantly higher in the cases than in the controls. The optimal
      discriminatory thresholds of 80 mm Hg for BDP, 0.7 for DBI, 40 mm Hg for CDP, and
      94% for O2 Sat were determined. CONCLUSIONS: Digital pressure and O2 Sat
      measurements are useful additional methods to assist in the clinical evaluation
      of hemodialysis patients with access-related hand ischemia. BDP <80 mm Hg, DBI
      <0.7, CDP >40 mm Hg, and O2 Sat <94% are associated with chronic HAIDI.

PMID- 25827968
TI  - Cost-effectiveness of endovascular repair, open repair, and conservative
      management of splenic artery aneurysms.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Open repair (OPEN) and conservative management (CONS) have been the
      treatments of choice for splenic artery aneurysms (SAAs) for many years.
      Endovascular repair (EV) has been increasingly used with good short-term results.
      In this study, we evaluated the cost-effectiveness of OPEN, EV, and CONS for the
      treatment of SAAs. METHODS: A decision analysis model was developed using TreeAge
      Pro 2013 software (TreeAge Inc, Williamstown, Mass) to evaluate the cost
      effectiveness of the different treatments for SAAs. A hypothetical cohort of
      10,000 55-year-old female patients with SAAs was assessed in the reference-case
      analysis. Perioperative mortality, disease-specific mortality rates,
      complications, rupture risks, and reinterventions were retrieved from a recent
      and extensive meta-analysis. Costs were analyzed with the 2014 Medicare database.
      The willingness to pay was set to $60,000/quality-adjusted life years (QALYs).
      Outcomes evaluated were QALYs, costs from the health care perspective, and the
      incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Extensive sensitivity analyses were
      performed and different clinical scenarios evaluated. Probabilistic sensitivity
      analysis was performed to include the uncertainty around the variables. A
      flowchart for clinical decision-making was developed. RESULTS: For a 55-year-old
      female patient with a SAA, EV has the highest QALYs (11.32; 95% credibility
      interval [CI], 9.52-13.17), followed by OPEN (10.48; 95% CI, 8.75-12.25) and CONS
      (10.39; 95% CI, 8.96-11.87). The difference in effect for 55-year-old female
      patients between EV and OPEN is 0.84 QALY (95% CI, 0.42-1.34), comparable with 10
      months in perfect health. EV is more effective and less costly than OPEN and more
      effective and more expensive compared with CONS, with an ICER of $17,154/QALY.
      Moreover, OPEN, with an ICER of $223,166/QALY, is not cost-effective compared
      with CONS. In elderly individuals (age >78 years), the ICER of EV vs CONS is
      $60,503/QALY and increases further with age, making EV no longer cost-effective.
      Very elderly patients (age >93 years) have higher QALYs and lower costs when
      treated with CONS. The EV group has the highest number of expected
      reinterventions, followed by CONS and OPEN, and the number of expected
      reinterventions decreases with age. CONCLUSIONS: EV is the most cost-effective
      treatment for most patient groups with SAAs, independent of the sex and risk
      profile of the patient. EV is superior to OPEN, being both cost-saving and more
      effective in all age groups. Elderly patients should be considered for CONS,
      based on the high costs in relation to the very small gain in health when treated
      with EV. The very elderly should be treated with CONS.

PMID- 25827969
TI  - Percutaneous versus femoral cutdown access for endovascular aneurysm repair.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Prior studies suggest that percutaneous access for endovascular
      abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (pEVAR) offers significant operative and
      postoperative benefits compared with femoral cutdown (cEVAR). National data on
      this topic, however, are limited. We compared patient selection and outcomes for
      elective pEVAR and cEVAR. METHODS: We identified all patients undergoing either
      pEVAR (bilateral percutaneous access, whether successful or not) or cEVAR (at
      least one planned groin cutdown) for abdominal aortic aneurysms from January 2011
      to December 2013 in the Targeted Vascular data set from the American College of
      Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Emergent cases,
      ruptures, cases with an iliac conduit, and cases with a preoperative wound
      infection were excluded. Groups were compared by chi(2) test or t-test or the
      Mann-Whitney test where appropriate. RESULTS: We identified 4112 patients
      undergoing elective EVAR, 3004 cEVAR patients (73%) and 1108 pEVAR patients
      (27%). Of all EVAR patients, 26% had bilateral percutaneous access; 1.0% had
      attempted percutaneous access converted to cutdown (4% of pEVARs); and the
      remainder had a planned cutdown, 63.9% bilateral and 9.1% unilateral. There were
      no significant differences in age, gender, aneurysm diameter, or prior open
      abdominal surgery. Patients undergoing cEVAR were less likely to have congestive
      heart failure (1.5% vs 2.4%; P = .04) but more likely to undergo any concomitant
      procedure during surgery (32% vs 26%; P < .01) than patients undergoing pEVAR.
      Postoperatively, pEVAR patients had shorter operative time (mean, 135 vs 152
      minutes; P < .01), shorter length of stay (median, 1 day vs 2 days; P < .01), and
      fewer wound complications (2.1% vs 1.0%; P = .02). On multivariable analysis, the
      only predictor of percutaneous access failure was performance of any concomitant
      procedure (odds ratio, 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.0-4.0; P = .04).
      CONCLUSIONS: Currently, one in four patients treated at Targeted Vascular
      National Surgical Quality Improvement Program centers are getting pEVAR, which is
      associated with a high success rate, shorter operation time, shorter length of
      stay, and fewer wound complications compared with cEVAR.

PMID- 25827970
TI  - Test-retest reliability and responsiveness of centre of pressure measurements in
      patients with hip osteoarthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine a set of measures for the
      evaluation of balance in patients suffering from hip osteoarthritis (OA) that
      were both reliable and responsive to change. DESIGN: Three groups of subjects;
      Healthy, hip OA patients without surgery, and hip OA with surgery (pre and post
      surgery) were included in this study. Subjects had to perform balance tests in
      two positions: standard and narrowed stance. CoP-based measures test-retest
      reliability was assessed in hip OA without surgery group, responsiveness were
      assessed between all groups and between pre and post-surgery. RESULTS: Intraclass
      Correlation Coefficient (ICC) values from hip OA without surgery ranged from 
      0.03 to 0.9 for only five parameters (CoP path length, SD velocity, mean
      velocity, and antero-posterior Root Mean Square (RMS(AP)) having values over 0.7.
      SD velocity and RMS(AP) showed significant differences between healthy and
      surgery group in standard stance whereas narrowed stance revealed most
      differences between all groups. RMS(AP) showed the best responsiveness
      (Standardized Response Mean ~0.5) between pre vs post-surgery in both conditions.
      RMS(AP) was also capable of discriminating between hip OA with surgery vs without
      surgery groups with good sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSIONS: Our results
      showed there to be reliability and responsiveness of five postural parameters in
      hip OA patients in two conditions of standing balance. More parameters were
      significantly different in narrowed stance whereas sensitivity was better in
      standard stance. SD velocity and RMS(AP) discriminate between degrees of OA
      severity and highlight potential balance deficits even after arthroplasty.
      Selected parameters during standing balance could be assessed to complete the set
      of quantitative measures to quantify hip OA patient deficiencies.

PMID- 25827971
TI  - Mechanics and biology in intervertebral disc degeneration: a vicious circle.
AB  - Intervertebral disc degeneration is a major cause of low back pain. Despite its
      long history and large socio-economical impact in western societies, the
      initiation and progress of disc degeneration is not well understood and a generic
      disease model is lacking. In literature, mechanics and biology have both been
      implicated as the predominant inductive cause; here we argue that they are
      interconnected and amplify each other. This view is supported by the growing
      awareness that cellular physiology is strongly affected by mechanical loading. We
      propose a vicious circle of mechanical overloading, catabolic cell response, and
      degeneration of the water-binding extracellular matrix. Rather than simplifying
      the disease, the model illustrates the complexity of disc degeneration, because
      all factors are interrelated. It may however solve some of the controversy in the
      field, because the vicious circle can be entered at any point, eventually leading
      to the same pathology. The proposed disease model explains the comparable
      efficacy of very different animal models of disc degeneration, but also helps to
      consider the consequences of therapeutic interventions, either at the cellular,
      material or mechanical level. 

PMID- 25827972
TI  - Osteoarthritis progression: is diabetes a culprit?

PMID- 25827973
TI  - Third eyelid gland neoplasms of dogs and cats: a retrospective histopathologic
      study of 145 cases.
AB  - PURPOSE: To describe the various types of primary neoplasms affecting the third
      eyelid (TEL) gland of dogs and cats. METHODS: A retrospective search of the
      Comparative Ocular Pathology Laboratory of Wisconsin (COPLOW) database was
      performed. Veterinary ophthalmologists, primary care veterinarians, and, when
      appropriate, owners were contacted for patient follow-up information. Patient
      data points collected included species, age, sex, breed, laterality, tumor type,
      surgical margins, recurrence, metastasis, and length of follow-up. RESULTS: A
      total of 127 canine and 18 feline cases met the inclusion criteria. The most
      common canine TEL gland tumor was adenocarcinoma (n = 108; 85.0%) followed by
      adenoma (n = 18; 14.2%) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (n = 1; 0.8%). For
      canine cases with follow-up information available (n = 62), 8.1% had confirmed or
      suspected metastasis and 11.3% had confirmed or suspected local recurrence of
      disease. The most common feline TEL gland tumor was adenocarcinoma (n = 15;
      83.3%) followed by SCC (n = 3; 16.7%). For feline cases with follow-up
      information available (n = 9), 40.0% had confirmed or suspected metastasis and
      30.0% had confirmed or suspected local recurrence of disease. CONCLUSIONS: This
      study determined that adenocarcinoma was the most common third eyelid gland tumor
      in both dogs and cats. The overall survival times were less, and metastatic
      occurrence and recurrence rates appeared to be higher for feline tumors as
      compared to those diagnosed in dogs. This is the first report of SCC originating
      from glandular ductular epithelium.

PMID- 25827974
TI  - An exploration of factors associated with post-traumatic stress in ER nurses.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Emergency room (ER) nurses are frequently exposed to traumatic events
      (TE) at work. These events can lead to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
      (PTSD). AIM: The goal of the present study was to describe the factors associated
      with PTSD symptoms. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design
      was used. The sample consisted of 35 nurses from an ER in Quebec (Canada). Data
      were collected through self-administered questionnaires. RESULTS: TEs presenting
      a grief component (e.g. intentional injury to a child and patient suicide) are
      positively associated with peritraumatic distress (PD) in the days after the
      event. PD is positively associated with PTSD symptoms. Two personality traits
      (neuroticism and extraversion) should also be considered. Neuroticism is
      positively associated with PD whereas extraversion is negatively associated with
      PD and PTSD symptoms. CONCLUSION: The results are consistent with the literature,
      but some of these results are new to nurses. They suggest that in this
      population, TEs in the ER represent 'red flags'. Their occurrence should mobilise
      support structures. PD and its personality traits are also key factors to
      consider. IMPLICATION FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: To provide adequate support for
      nurses, ER managers should be on the alert for these conditions. Interventions
      should be adapted to these findings.

PMID- 25827975
TI  - Paclitaxel combined with oxaliplatin as first-line chemotherapy for locally
      advanced or metastatic gastric cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: This retrospective study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and
      safety of Paclitaxel (PTX) combined with Oxaliplatin (OXA) as first-line
      chemotherapy for locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer (AGC). METHODS:
      Untreated patients with histologically confirmed AGC who received PTX at 135
      mg/m(2) and OXA at 85 mg/m(2) every 2 weeks were studied. Antitumor activity was
      assessed by imaging and toxicities were evaluated. RESULTS: Thirty-nine (39)
      patients were enrolled. With 9.83 months median time of follow-up, 1 year OS rate
      was 42.0%. Complete response, partial response, stable disease and progressive
      disease was 2.6, 66.7, 17.9 and 12.0% respectively, the overall response rate was
      69.2%. The mPFS was 8.5 months and the mOS 14.4 months. Grade 3/4 of toxicities
      included neutropenia (38.5%), febrile neutropenia (20.5%), vomiting (7.7%) and
      hypertransaminasemia (7.7%). Grade 2 peripheral neuropathy occurred in 33.3%
      patients. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of PTX combined with OXA is an active and
      safe regime for AGC and has a high overall response rate.

PMID- 25827977
TI  - Help determine our Patient's Choice winner.

PMID- 25827976
TI  - Intellectual abilities in tuberous sclerosis complex: risk factors and correlates
      from the Tuberous Sclerosis 2000 Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is associated with intellectual
      disability, but the risk pathways are poorly understood. METHOD: The Tuberous
      Sclerosis 2000 Study is a prospective longitudinal study of the natural history
      of TSC. One hundred and twenty-five UK children age 0-16 years with TSC and born
      between January 2001 and December 2006 were studied. Intelligence was assessed
      using standardized measures at >=2 years of age. The age of onset of epilepsy,
      the type of seizure disorder, the frequency and duration of seizures, as well as
      the response to treatment was assessed at interview and by review of medical
      records. The severity of epilepsy in the early years was estimated using the E
      Chess score. Genetic studies identified the mutations and the number of cortical
      tubers was determined from brain scans. RESULTS: TSC2 mutations were associated
      with significantly higher cortical tuber count than TSC1 mutations. The extent of
      brain involvement, as indexed by cortical tuber count, was associated with an
      earlier age of onset and severity of epilepsy. In turn, the severity of epilepsy
      was strongly associated with the degree of intellectual impairment. Structural
      equation modelling supported a causal pathway from genetic abnormality to
      cortical tuber count to epilepsy severity to intellectual outcome. Infantile
      spasms and status epilepticus were important contributors to seizure severity.
      CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the proposition that severe, early onset
      epilepsy may impair intellectual development in TSC and highlight the potential
      importance of early, prompt and effective treatment or prevention of epilepsy in
      tuberous sclerosis.

PMID- 25827978
TI  - Labour's clear majority at health hustings.

PMID- 25827979
TI  - Registrants given extra time to prepare portfolios for revalidation.

PMID- 25827980
TI  - Students tested in emergency mock-up.

PMID- 25827981
TI  - Commission to improve urgent care for older people seeks nursing input.

PMID- 25827982
TI  - Employers to be rated by adherence to equality standards for BME staff.

PMID- 25827984
TI  - 'Give people with learning disabilities greater rights'.

PMID- 25827983
TI  - Student bursary 'forces nurses to work for free'.

PMID- 25827985
TI  - Trusts asked to act on flexible visiting.

PMID- 25827986
TI  - RCN fellow to chair review of English maternity services.

PMID- 25827988
TI  - Surprise at requirement for nursing students to attain Care Certificate.

PMID- 25827989
TI  - 'Calm down' boxes found to help service users manage agitation.

PMID- 25827990
TI  - 'Why should we vote for you?' Nurses give candidates a grilling.

PMID- 25827996
TI  - Maintaining a healthy weight.

PMID- 25827997
TI  - Workforce equality: raising the standard.
AB  - The NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard, which comes into effect this month,
      will require trusts to show progress against a number of indicators that reflect
      equality for staff.

PMID- 25827998
TI  - Grateful patients name their fab four.

PMID- 25828011
TI  - Only legislation and monitoring will improve food standards.

PMID- 25828012
TI  - Safe staffing levels will be achieved through legal mandate, not tool kits.

PMID- 25828013
TI  - Saying more nurses lead to safer care is a costly assumption.

PMID- 25828014
TI  - Nurses should use the election to make their opinions heard.

PMID- 25828015
TI  - Training and experience will help prevent patient suicide.

PMID- 25828017
TI  - Correction.

PMID- 25828020
TI  - Nutrition and fluid management.
AB  - Management of fluid intake and nutrition is an essential component of nursing
      care and should be practised skilfully by all nurses and nursing students. This
      requirement forms the basis of the fourth essential skills cluster, nutrition and
      fluid management. The essential skills clusters stipulate key skills and
      behaviours to be demonstrated to meet the standards for registration with the
      Nursing and Midwifery Council. This article, the fourth in a series on the
      essential skills clusters, discusses the core aspects of nutrition and fluid
      management and emphasises their importance in recovery from illness and in
      maintaining optimal health. 

PMID- 25828021
TI  - Quantitative research.
AB  - This article describes the basic tenets of quantitative research. The concepts of
      dependent and independent variables are addressed and the concept of measurement
      and its associated issues, such as error, reliability and validity, are explored.
      Experiments and surveys - the principal research designs in quantitative research
      - are described and key features explained. The importance of the double-blind
      randomised controlled trial is emphasised, alongside the importance of
      longitudinal surveys, as opposed to cross-sectional surveys. Essential features
      of data storage are covered, with an emphasis on safe, anonymous storage.
      Finally, the article explores the analysis of quantitative data, considering what
      may be analysed and the main uses of statistics in analysis.

PMID- 25828022
TI  - Supporting patients in shared decision making in clinical practice.
AB  - This article defines shared decision making in patient care and describes the
      background to this philosophy. The shared decision making approach is part of a
      wider initiative to promote patient-centred care and increase patient involvement
      in clinical decisions. Shared decision making recognises patients' rights to make
      decisions about their care and is used to assist them to make informed and
      individualised decisions about care and treatment. As well as reviewing the
      principles of shared decision making, the article offers practical guidance on
      how nurses can implement this initiative, including information on sharing
      expertise, agenda setting, assessing risks and benefits, setting goals, and
      support and follow up. 

PMID- 25828023
TI  - COPD.

PMID- 25828024
TI  - Find your dream job.

PMID- 25828026
TI  - Fast response, better outcomes.

PMID- 25828028
TI  - Spiritual connections.

PMID- 25828029
TI  - Super long viewing distance light homogeneous emitting three-dimensional display.
AB  - Three-dimensional (3D) display technology has continuously been attracting public
      attention with the progress in today's 3D television and mature display
      technologies. The primary characteristics of conventional glasses-free
      autostereoscopic displays, such as spatial resolution, image depths, and viewing
      angle, are often limited due to the use of optical lenses or optical gratings. We
      present a 3D display using MEMS-scanning-mechanism-based light homogeneous
      emitting (LHE) approach and demonstrate that the display can directly generate an
      autostereoscopic 3D image without the need for optical lenses or gratings. The
      generated 3D image has the advantages of non-aberration and a high-definition
      spatial resolution, making it the first to exhibit animated 3D images with image
      depth of six meters. Our LHE 3D display approach can be used to generate a
      natural flat-panel 3D display with super long viewing distance and alternative
      real-time image update. 

PMID- 25828030
TI  - Top down and bottom up selection drives variations in frequency and form of a
      visual signal.
AB  - The frequency and form of visual signals can be shaped by selection from
      predators, prey or both. When a signal simultaneously attracts predators and prey
      selection may favour a strategy that minimizes risks while attracting prey.
      Accordingly, varying the frequency and form of the silken decorations added to
      their web may be a way that Argiope spiders minimize predation while attracting
      prey. Nonetheless, the role of extraneous factors renders the influences of top
      down and bottom up selection on decoration frequency and form variation difficult
      to discern. Here we used dummy spiders and decorations to simulate four possible
      strategies that the spider Argiope aemula may choose and measured the prey and
      predator attraction consequences for each in the field. The strategy of
      decorating at a high frequency with a variable form attracted the most prey,
      while that of decorating at a high frequency with a fixed form attracted the most
      predators. These results suggest that mitigating the cost of attracting predators
      while maintaining prey attraction drives the use of variation in decoration form
      by many Argiope spp. when decorating frequently. Our study highlights the
      importance of considering top-down and bottom up selection pressure when devising
      evolutionary ecology experiments. 

PMID- 25828031
TI  - Mechanistic studies of copper(I)-catalyzed 1,3-halogen migration.
AB  - An ongoing challenge in modern catalysis is to identify and understand new modes
      of reactivity promoted by earth-abundant and inexpensive first-row transition
      metals. Herein, we report a mechanistic study of an unusual copper(I)-catalyzed
      1,3-migration of 2-bromostyrenes that reincorporates the bromine activating group
      into the final product with concomitant borylation of the aryl halide bond. A
      combination of experimental and computational studies indicated this reaction
      does not involve any oxidation state changes at copper; rather, migration occurs
      through a series of formal sigmatropic shifts. Insight provided from these
      studies will be used to expand the utility of aryl copper species in synthesis
      and develop new ligands for enantioselective copper-catalyzed halogenation. 

PMID- 25828032
TI  - Effects of long-term exercise on spatial learning, memory ability, and cortical
      capillaries in aged rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the effects of long-term running
      exercise on spatial learning, spatial memory, and cortical capillaries in aged
      rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fourteen-month-old female and male Sprague-Dawley
      rats were randomly divided into an exercised group (EG) and a non-exercised group
      (NG). The EG rats were trained on treadmill running for 4 or 14 months. The NG
      rats were housed under identical conditions without running. Spatial learning and
      memory were assessed with the Morris water maze. The cortical capillary
      parameters were quantitatively investigated using immunohistochemical and
      stereological methods. RESULTS: The escaped latencies of the EG were
      significantly different from those of the NG in 18-month-old females and 28-month
      old males (p<0.05). However, 28-month-old females and 18-month-old males showed
      no differences in escape latency between the EG and NG (p>0.05). In 28-month-old
      female rats, stereological techniques showed significant differences between the
      EG and NG in the cortical capillary volume (median, 22.55 vs. 11.42, p<0.05) and
      the cortical capillary surface area (median, 7474.13 vs. 3935.90, p<0.05). In 28
      month-old male rats, the EG had a significantly longer total cortical capillary
      length (median, 530.35 vs. 156.27, p<0.05), significantly larger cortical
      capillary volume (median, 16.47 vs. 3.65, p<0.01), and a significantly larger
      cortical capillary total surface area (median, 7885.79 vs. 1957.16, p<0.01)
      compared with the NG group. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate that exercise
      improved spatial learning, memory capacity and cortical capillaries in aged rats.

PMID- 25828033
TI  - Case report of a rare complication of open-heart surgery masquerading as a
      gunshot wound: an autopsy diagnosis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Poststernotomy mediastinitis is a rare feared sequelae of open
      heart surgery with low incidence of 1% to 3% but a high mortality rate (10%-35%).
      Poststernotomy mediastinitis can in uncommon instances give rise to
      sternocutaneous fistulas in 0.25% to 10% of cases. Although scant reports have
      documented prosthetic valve endocarditis occurring in a setting of deep sternal
      wire infections, it is an infrequent but well-documented fatal complication of
      valvular replacement surgery. CASE REPORT: A 52-year-old male smoker with aortic
      valve replacement (2011), on Coumadin and Monocor, was found dead on September
      2013 with a hole along a surgical scar over the sternum, masquerading as a
      gunshot wound. Chest radiograph revealed no foreign body, and no evidence of
      homicidal/suicidal or accidental cause was found at autopsy. Examination revealed
      a chronic fistulous tract from a deep sternal wire infection to the skin, in
      addition to a chronic sinus tract eroding into the root of the aorta with recent
      prosthetic valve endocarditis. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this is the first
      case report documenting poststernotomy mediastinitis causing a simultaneous
      occurrence of sternocutaneous fistula and prosthetic valve endocarditis. Either
      of these 2 exceptional but lethal complications would have sufficed as the cause
      of death.

PMID- 25828034
TI  - Hypostasis and time since death: state of the art in Italy and a novel approach
      for an operative instrumental protocol.
AB  - Hypostasis is a common postmortem change, whose presence or absence is used by
      forensic pathologists as a means of determining the approximate time of death.
      This assessment plays a primary role in Italian forensic practice, but blanching
      of hypostasis is still estimated only on the basis of subjective impressions. To
      understand how forensic pathologists test livor mortis on the crime scene and
      during forensic daily practice in Italy, an inquiry was made into lividity
      testing. Subsequently, with the aim of proposing a more objective approach, a
      study on postmortem lividity was performed; 101 cadavers were analyzed, and the
      color of hypostasis was measured by a colorimeter. Different conditions of time
      and pressure on hypostasis were tested. Linear regression analysis was performed
      to determine the relationship between postmortem interval and the color of the
      skin after a predefined intensity and duration of pressure. Herein we propose a
      novel operative instrumental protocol using new, more standardized conditions for
      the analysis of hypostasis, thus providing pathologists with a more rigorous
      approach to postmortem interval estimation. 

PMID- 25828035
TI  - New concepts in fillers.

PMID- 25828036
TI  - Basics of dermal filler rheology.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hyaluronic acid injectable fillers are the most widely used dermal
      fillers to treat facial volume deficits, providing long-term facial aesthetic
      enhancement outcomes for the signs of aging and/or facial contouring. OBJECTIVES:
      The purpose of this article was to explain how rheology, the study of the flow of
      matter, can be used to help physicians differentiate between dermal fillers
      targeted to certain areas of the face. METHODS: This article describes how
      rheological properties affect performance when filler is used in various parts of
      the face and exposed to mechanical stress (shear deformation and
      compression/stretching forces) associated with daily facial animation and other
      commonly occurring external forces. RESULTS: Improving facial volume deficits
      with filler is linked mainly to gel viscoelasticity and cohesivity. These 2
      properties set the level of resistance to lateral and vertical deformations of
      the filler and influence filler tissue integration through control of gel
      spreading. CONCLUSION: Selection of dermal filler with the right rheological
      properties is a key factor in achieving a natural-looking long-lasting desired
      aesthetic outcome.

PMID- 25828037
TI  - A randomized, evaluator-blinded, controlled study of effectiveness and safety of
      small particle hyaluronic acid plus lidocaine for lip augmentation and perioral
      rhytides.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the safety and effectiveness of small particle hyaluronic
      acid plus lidocaine (SPHAL) versus no treatment for lip augmentation and perioral
      rhytides. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Adults scoring 1 (very thin) to 2 (thin) on the
      Medicis Lip Fullness Scale (MLFS) for upper and lower lips were randomized (3:1)
      to SPHAL or no treatment. Treatment success was an MLFS increase >=1 point at
      Week 8. Secondary end points (MLFS score, independent photographic review, Global
      Aesthetic Improvement Scale, Wrinkle Assessment Scale for Upper Lip Lines) and
      safety were assessed throughout. RESULTS: Statistically significantly more
      patients were treatment successes with SPHAL (upper lip [80.2% vs 11.9%], lower
      lip [84.2% vs 18.4%], and upper and lower lips combined [76.1% vs 11.6%]),
      compared with no treatment (p <.001, all outcomes). Patients treated for both lip
      augmentation and perioral rhytides were rated as having an aesthetically
      meaningful improvement in perioral rhytides (p <.001). Most common treatment
      emergent adverse events (AEs) included lip bruising, swelling, and pain and were
      mostly mild and transient in nature, without anticipated device AEs. CONCLUSION:
      Small particle hyaluronic acid plus lidocaine was effective and well tolerated
      and significantly more effective when both lips and perioral rhytides were
      treated, with improvement evident up to 6 months after treatment.

PMID- 25828038
TI  - Functional safety assessments used in a randomized controlled study of small gel
      particle hyaluronic acid for lip augmentation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dermal fillers are commonly injected in the lips for aesthetic
      treatment. Small gel particle hyaluronic acid (SGP-HA) is the only filler
      approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for this indication, based on a
      pivotal trial of effectiveness and safety. OBJECTIVE: To assess multiple measures
      of tolerability and lip function in a randomized controlled trial of SGP-HA
      (without lidocaine) for lip augmentation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients were
      randomized to SGP-HA (n = 135) or no treatment (n = 45) at baseline; all could
      receive SGP-HA after 6 months. Assessments for tolerability and lip function at
      clinic visits throughout the study included lip texture, firmness, symmetry,
      movement, function, and sensation; device palpability; mass formation; and ease
      of repeat injection. RESULTS: Many assessments were normal (lip function,
      sensation) or unremarkable (movement, mass formation, ease of reinjection) in
      most patients. Nearly all abnormalities with other assessments (texture,
      firmness, symmetry, device palpability) were mild and transient (<4 weeks).
      CONCLUSION: Lip augmentation with SGP-HA showed excellent safety with the
      assessments used in this study. Further study should be conducted to validate
      these assessments with the goal of developing a comprehensive scale for measuring
      potential functional complications and risks.

PMID- 25828039
TI  - Ultrastructural analysis of 3 hyaluronic acid soft-tissue fillers using scanning
      electron microscopy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although hyaluronic acid (HA) specifications such as molecular weight
      and particle size are fairly well characterized, little information about HA
      ultrastructural and morphologic characteristics has been reported in clinical
      literature. OBJECTIVE: To examine uniformity of HA structure, the effects of
      extrusion, and lidocaine dilution of 3 commercially available HA soft-tissue
      fillers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using scanning electron microscopy and energy
      dispersive x-ray analysis, investigators examined the soft-tissue fillers at
      various magnifications for ultrastructural detail and elemental distributions.
      RESULTS: All HAs contained oxygen, carbon, and sodium, but with uneven
      distributions. Irregular particulate matter was present in RES but BEL and JUV
      were largely particle free. Spacing was more uniform in BEL than JUV and JUV was
      more uniform than RES. Lidocaine had no apparent effect on morphology; extrusion
      through a 30-G needle had no effect on ultrastructure. CONCLUSION: Descriptions
      of the ultrastructural compositions and nature of BEL, JUV, and RES are helpful
      for matching the areas to be treated with the HA soft-tissue filler architecture.
      Lidocaine and extrusion through a 30-G needle exerted no influence on HA
      structure. Belotero Balance shows consistency throughout the syringe and across
      manufactured lots.

PMID- 25828040
TI  - Facial treatment preferences in aesthetically aware women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Individuals typically self-identify symptoms of facial aging that
      lead them to seek facial aesthetic treatments. No systematic data exist to
      describe preferences for facial areas requiring treatment. OBJECTIVE: To
      determine (1) the facial areas most likely to be treated first, (2) the
      relationship between the most bothersome facial area and the area first planned
      for treatment, and (3) differences between younger and older women. METHODS: A
      total of 603 women aged 30 to 65 years considering aesthetic treatments
      participated in an online research survey using Maximum Difference scaling.
      RESULTS: Maximum Difference analysis revealed that crow's feet lines (CFLs) were
      most likely to be treated first (82% of the first preferences), followed by oral
      commissures (74%) and tear troughs (72%). There was a strong correlation between
      the most bothersome facial area and the area first planned for treatment. In
      women younger than 45 years, features of the upper face were more likely to be
      treated first, whereas women aged 50 years or older had an increased preference
      for treating features of the lower face, with a reduction in preference for upper
      face treatment. CONCLUSION: This cross-sectional survey suggests that
      aesthetically oriented women have changing facial treatment preferences with age;
      however, CFLs are of most concern.

PMID- 25828041
TI  - Commentary on Facial treatment preferences in aesthetically aware women.

PMID- 25828042
TI  - The use of nontraditional fillers and neuromodulators to improve patient
      satisfaction.

PMID- 25828043
TI  - An interesting reaction to a high- and low-molecular weight combination
      hyaluronic acid.

PMID- 25828044
TI  - Arginine, dimethylated arginine and homoarginine in relation to cardiovascular
      risk in patients with moderate chronic kidney disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Arginine, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), symmetric
      dimethylarginine (SDMA), arginine/ADMA ratio and homoarginine could potentially
      affect nitric oxide production and have been studied in relation to
      cardiovascular risk (CVR) in various clinical populations. Prospective studies on
      the CVR associated with arginine/ADMA ratio and homoarginine in patients with
      moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) are still scarce. We have studied how
      arginine, homoarginine and dimethylated arginine can predict cardiovascular
      events in such a population. DESIGN AND METHODS: We measured plasma
      concentrations of arginine (P-arginine), ADMA (P-ADMA), SDMA (P-SDMA),
      homoarginine (P-homoarginine) and other covariates in 160 patients with
      predialytic CKD (mean age 57 years and mean eGFR 43 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) and
      followed them for 58 months in median. The risks of fatal and non-fatal
      cardiovascular events associated with the predictors were evaluated with
      multivariable Cox proportional hazard analysis. RESULTS: There were 31
      cardiovascular events during the observation period. In a multivariable model
      adjusted for age, sex, previous cardiovascular disease, P-cystatin C and P
      homoarginine, the hazard ratio (HR) associated with an increase in arginine/ADMA
      ratio by 10 was 0.83 (P=0.03). The HR of a 1 MUmol/L increase in P-homoarginine
      in the same model was 1.78 (P=0.01). A statistically significant interaction
      between P-homoarginine and P-cystatin C was found in an extended multivariable
      model. P-SDMA was not associated with increased CVR after adjustment for basic
      covariates. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates a negative association between
      arginine/ADMA ratio and CVR in CKD patients and a positive association between P
      homoarginine and CVR. The latter is in contrast to what has been demonstrated by
      others.

PMID- 25828045
TI  - CT-pro-AVP as a tool for assessment of intravascular volume depletion in severe
      hyponatremia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Assessment of volume status is essential to best manage hyponatremic
      patients but is not always accurate in clinical practice. The aim of this study
      was to evaluate the reliability of C-terminal portion of pro-arginine-vasopressin
      (CT-pro-AVP), a surrogate biomarker of vasopressin release, in assessing
      intravascular volume (IVV) depletion in hypoosmolar hyponatremic patients.
      METHODS: Plasma CT-pro-AVP and urea-to-creatinine ratio (Ur/Cr) were performed in
      131 hospitalized patients presenting chronic severe hypoosmolar hyponatremia. At
      hospital discharge, their IVV was evaluated regardless of CT-pro-AVP
      concentrations. All patients were then classified as decreased or as
      normal/expanded IVV group. RESULTS: Plasma CT-pro-AVP levels were higher in
      patients with decreased IVV (34.6 vs. 11.3 pmol/L, p<0.001) and exhibited a
      reliable performance for assessment of decreased IVV (ROC AUC at 0.717 [95% CI
      0.629-0.805]). The combination of CT-pro-AVP and Ur/Cr resulted in an improved
      ROC AUC up to 0.787 (95% CI 0.709-0.866). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the
      hypothesis that CT-pro-AVP plasma level may reflect IVV and would be a tool for
      its assessment. This performance has been magnified by its combination with
      Ur/Cr. A dual-marker strategy may help clinicians to optimize the management of
      severe hyponatremia especially in case of confusing clinical presentations.

PMID- 25828046
TI  - Value of reflex testing based on hypogammaglobulinemia as demonstrated in serum
      protein electrophoresis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Hypo-gammaglobulinemia (hypoGG) in serum protein electrophoresis
      (SPE) reflects, variably, reduced serum immunoglobulin (Ig) concentrations, which
      may be caused by hematological neoplasms, among other causes. HypoGG in the
      absence of a discernible M-spike (MC) has been the basis of reflexive testing
      e.g., by immunofixation electrophoresis (IFE). However, the utility of this
      practice has not been fully evaluated. Thus, we aimed to (1) determine the
      predictive power of hypoGG for reduced Ig levels, (2) compare the IFE positive
      rates and sensitivity between hypoGG and non-hypoGG patients, and (3) examine the
      M-protein isotype distributions. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 3974
      matched SPE and IFE results at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre from January
      2010 to June 2013. SPE and IFE were performed on the Sebia CapillarysTM 2 and
      HydrasysTM systems respectively. RESULTS: 2723/3974 (68.5%) patients were SPE
      negative, 246/2723 (9%) had hypoGG and 192 (7.1%) were IFE positive. HypoGG
      predicted 93.1% cases with at least one Ig reduction. Among SPE-negative
      patients, the IFE positive rate and sensitivity in hypoGG were 12.2% and 15.6%
      respectively, compared to 6.4% and 77.1% in normo-GG. Proportion of non-IgG
      isotypes in both groups were comparable but fewer MC were detected in hypoGG.
      CONCLUSIONS: Both the 7% false negative rate of SPE and the poor sensitivity
      (16%) of reflex testing based on hypoGG should be taken into consideration when
      devising a screening strategy based on SPE.

PMID- 25828047
TI  - Digital PCR analysis of circulating nucleic acids.
AB  - Detection of plasma circulating nucleic acids (CNAs) requires the use of
      extremely sensitive and precise methods. The commonly used quantitative real-time
      polymerase chain reaction (PCR) poses certain technical limitations in relation
      to the precise measurement of CNAs whereas the costs of massively parallel
      sequencing are still relatively high. Digital PCR (dPCR) now represents an
      affordable and powerful single molecule counting strategy to detect minute
      amounts of genetic material with performance surpassing many quantitative
      methods. Microfluidic (chip) and emulsion (droplet)-based technologies have
      already been integrated into platforms offering hundreds to millions of nanoliter
      or even picoliter-scale reaction partitions. The compelling observations
      reported in the field of cancer research, prenatal testing, transplantation
      medicine and virology support translation of this technology into routine use.
      Extremely sensitive plasma detection of rare mutations originating from tumor or
      placental cells among a large background of homologous sequences facilitates
      unraveling of the early stages of cancer or the detection of fetal mutations.
      Digital measurement of quantitative changes in plasma CNAs associated with cancer
      or graft rejection provides valuable information on the monitoring of disease
      burden or the recipient's immune response and subsequent therapy treatment.
      Furthermore, careful quantitative assessment of the viral load offers great value
      for effective monitoring of antiviral therapy for immunosuppressed or transplant
      patients. The present review describes the inherent features of dPCR that make it
      exceptionally robust in precise and sensitive quantification of CNAs. Moreover, I
      provide an insight into the types of potential clinical applications that have
      been developed by researchers to date. 

PMID- 25828048
TI  - Synthesis and characterization of copper(ii) complexes with multidentate ligands
      as catalysts for the direct hydroxylation of benzene to phenol.
AB  - Four copper(ii) complexes with multidentate ligands, ([CuL1Cl2]), ([Cu(HL2)Cl2]),
      ([Cu2(L2)2](ClO4)2) and ([CuL3(HOCH3)ClO4]) {L1 = N,N-bis((pyridin-2-yl)methyl)
      prop-2-yn-1-amine, HL2 = 2-((((1-methyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)methyl)(pyridin-2
      ylmethyl)amino)methyl)phenol and HL3 = 2-((((1-methyl-1H-imidazol-2
      yl)methyl)(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)amino)methyl)-2-t-butyl-phenol} are reported. The
      complexes were characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, elemental analysis and
      electrochemical analysis. Complexes and were further characterized by X-ray
      single crystal diffraction analysis. The catalytic performances of these
      complexes were evaluated in the direct hydroxylation of benzene to phenol with
      hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant in aqueous acetonitrile media. Under optimized
      reaction conditions, complex with the most negative reduction potential exhibited
      the highest conversion without considering the dinuclear complex . A correlation
      between the catalytic efficiency and the reduction potentials of these complexes
      was observed, that is the more negative the reduction potential, the higher the
      benzene conversion. A radical mechanism for the catalysis was confirmed by the
      fact that addition of radical scavengers such as TEMPO into the reaction mixture
      could severely suppress the catalysis. 

PMID- 25828049
TI  - Porous Co3O4/CuO composite assembled from nanosheets as high-performance anodes
      for lithium-ion batteries.
AB  - Upon dealloying a carefully designed CoCuAl ternary alloy in NaOH solution at
      room temperature, a Co3 O4 /CuO nanocomposite with an interconnected porous
      microstructure assembled by a secondary structure of nanosheets was successfully
      fabricated. By using the dealloying strategy, the target metals directly grew to
      form uniform bimetallic oxide nanocomposites. Owing to the unique hierarchical
      structure and the synergistic effect of both active electrode materials, the Co3
      O4 /CuO nanocomposite exhibits much enhanced electrochemical performance with
      higher capacities and better cycling stability compared to anodes of pure Co3 O4
      . Moreover, it performs excellently in terms of cycle reversibility, Coulombic
      efficiency, and rate capability, at both low or high current rates. With the
      advantages of unique performance and ease of preparation, the as-made Co3 O4 /CuO
      nanocomposite demonstrates promising application potential as an advanced anode
      material for lithium-ion batteries. 

PMID- 25828050
TI  - Organic electronics: recent developments.

PMID- 25828051
TI  - Intracranial Vertebral Artery Aneurysms: Clinical Features and Outcome of 190
      Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Vertebral artery (VA) aneurysms comprise approximately one-third of
      posterior circulation aneurysms. They are morphologically variable, and located
      critically close to the cranial nerves and the brainstem. We aim to represent the
      characteristics of these aneurysms and their treatment, and to analyze the
      outcome. METHODS: We reviewed retrospectively 9709 patients with intracranial
      aneurysms. Of these, we included 190 with aneurysms at the VA or VA-posterior
      inferior cerebellar artery junction. These patients were treated in the
      Department of Neurosurgery, Helsinki, Finland, between 1934 and 2011. RESULTS:
      The 190 patients had 193 VA aneurysms, among which 131 (68%) were ruptured. The
      VA aneurysm caused a mass effect in 7 and ischemia in 2 patients. Compared to
      4387 patients with a ruptured aneurysm in other locations, those with a VA
      aneurysm were older, their aneurysms were more often fusiform, and more often
      caused intraventricular hemorrhages. Among surgically treated aneurysms, clipping
      was the treatment in 91 (88%) saccular and 11 (50%) fusiform aneurysms. Treatment
      was endovascular in 13 (9%), and multimodal in 6 (4%) aneurysms. Within a year
      after aneurysm diagnosis, 53 (28%) patients died. Among the survivors, 104 (93%)
      returned to an independent or to their previous state of life; only 2 (2%) were
      unable to return home. CONCLUSIONS: Microsurgery is a feasible treatment for VA
      aneurysms, although cranial nerve deficits are more common than in endovascular
      surgery. Despite the challenge of an often severe hemorrhage, of challenging
      morphology, and risk for laryngeal palsy, most patients surviving the initial
      stage return to normalcy.

PMID- 25828052
TI  - Socioeconomic disparities in neurocognitive development in the first two years of
      life.
AB  - Socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with cognition and achievement.
      Socioeconomic disparities in language and memory skills have been reported from
      elementary school through adolescence. Less is known about the extent to which
      such disparities emerge in infancy. Here, 179 infants from socioeconomically
      diverse families were recruited. Using a cohort-sequential design, 90 infants
      were followed at 9 and 15 months, and 89 were followed at 15 and 21 months. SES
      disparities in developmental trajectories of language and memory were present
      such that, at 21 months of age, children of highly educated parents scored
      approximately .8 standard deviations higher in both language and memory than
      children of less educated parents. The home language and literacy environment and
      parental warmth partially accounted for disparities in language, but not memory
      development.

PMID- 25828053
TI  - Pasteurellosis in lumpsucker Cyclopterus lumpus, farmed in Norway.

PMID- 25828054
TI  - Cultural Impact on Medication Instructions: The Case of the Turkish Teaspoon.
AB  - Medication errors are preventable events related to inappropriate medication use
      that could potentially result in patient harm. Here we present a patient
      encounter that has exemplified the importance of appropriate communication and
      the inevitable role of every individual in ensuring appropriate prescription
      medication use. Multidisciplinary efforts are required to ensure patient safety
      in today's systems based practice. This case highlights cultural barriers to the
      practice of medicine and the growing need to explore and address them
      appropriately.

PMID- 25828056
TI  - Structure versus function-The impact of computational methods on the discovery of
      specific GPCR-ligands.
AB  - Over the past decades, computational methods have become invaluable for drug
      design campaigns but also as auxiliary tool for structural biology. The
      combination of experimental and in silico methods in the field of G protein
      coupled receptors (GPCRs) is indispensable. Despite recent groundbreaking
      achievements in GPCR crystallography, structural information for the vast
      majority of this physiologically important protein class is only accessible
      through homology models. Since the understanding of the conformational changes
      resulting in multiple activation pathways is incomplete, the design of specific
      GPCR modulating drugs remains a major challenge. However, due to the highly
      interdisciplinary requirements for the investigation of receptor function and the
      necessity of joining scientist from different fields, computational approaches
      gain importance in rationalizing and illustrating certain specific effects. In
      silico methods, such as molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, pharmacophore
      modeling or docking, proved to be suitable to complement experimental approaches.
      In this review, we highlight recent examples of in silico studies that were
      successfully applied in the field of GPCR research. Those approaches follow two
      main goals: Firstly, structural investigations that help to understand the
      receptor function and the characterization of ligand binding and secondly the
      identification of novel GPCR modulators as potential drugs. 

PMID- 25828055
TI  - Rational design of allosteric-inhibition sites in classical protein tyrosine
      phosphatases.
AB  - Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs), which catalyze the dephosphorylation of
      phosphotyrosine in protein substrates, are critical regulators of metazoan cell
      signaling and have emerged as potential drug targets for a range of human
      diseases. Strategies for chemically targeting the function of individual PTPs
      selectively could serve to elucidate the signaling roles of these enzymes and
      would potentially expedite validation of the therapeutic promise of PTP
      inhibitors. Here we report a novel strategy for the design of non-natural
      allosteric-inhibition sites in PTPs; these sites, which can be introduced into
      target PTPs through protein engineering, serve to sensitize target PTPs to potent
      and selective inhibition by a biarsenical small molecule. Building on the recent
      discovery of a naturally occurring cryptic allosteric site in wild-type Src
      homology-2 domain containing PTP (Shp2) that can be targeted by biarsenical
      compounds, we hypothesized that Shp2's unusual sensitivity to biarsenicals could
      be strengthened through rational design and that the Shp2-specific site could
      serve as a blueprint for the introduction of non-natural inhibitor sensitivity in
      other PTPs. Indeed, we show here that the strategic introduction of a cysteine
      residue at a position removed from the Shp2 active site can serve to increase the
      potency and selectivity of the interaction between Shp2's allosteric site and the
      biarsenical inhibitor. Moreover, we find that 'Shp2-like' allosteric sites can be
      installed de novo in PTP enzymes that do not possess naturally occurring
      sensitivity to biarsenical compounds. Using primary-sequence alignments to guide
      our enzyme engineering, we have successfully introduced allosteric-inhibition
      sites in four classical PTPs-PTP1B, PTPH-1, FAP-1, and HePTP-from four different
      PTP subfamilies, suggesting that our sensitization approach can likely be applied
      widely across the classical PTP family to generate biarsenical-responsive PTPs.

PMID- 25828057
TI  - Hip arthroplasty with high chromium and cobalt blood levels--Case report of a
      patient followed during pregnancy and lactation period.
AB  - Metal-on-metal arthroplasty may lead to elevated blood chromium (Cr) and cobalt
      (Co) levels (>7 MUg/l). Since carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic effects
      have been suggested, there is concern of pregnancy hazards for women with this
      condition. The 34-year-old patient has had a unilateral hip replacement for seven
      years. Before her pregnancy high Cr (47 MUg/l) and Co (103 MUg/l) blood
      concentrations were measured, but she did not develop any symptoms. A male infant
      was delivered after 41 weeks with first degree hypospadias. His levels were
      increased at 3 weeks of age: 14 MUg/l (Cr) and 20 MUg/l (Co), but decreased by 9
      weeks to 6.7 MUg/l (Cr) and 10.0 MUg/l (Co). Maternal levels at delivery were 25
      MUg/l (Cr) and 51 MUg/l (Co). The child was fully breast-fed and developed
      normally. An association between hypospadias and Cr/Co has to be considered
      speculative. The otherwise favorable outcome of this case may be reassuring for
      pregnant and breast-feeding patients with metal-on-metal hip replacements.

PMID- 25828058
TI  - Manganese exposure through drinking water during pregnancy and size at birth: A
      prospective cohort study.
AB  - The essential element manganese (Mn) might be toxic at excess exposure. We
      assessed the impact of elevated Mn exposure through drinking water during
      pregnancy on birth size in a population-based cohort(n = 1695) in rural
      Bangladesh. Concentrations of water Mn (median = 236 MUg/L, range = 7.1-6336; n =
      1177) and erythrocyte Mn (median = 30 MUg/kg, range = 6.3-114; n = 758) were
      measured using ICP-MS. In regression analyses, newborns of women in the highest
      tertile of water Mn (median = 1495 MUg/L) were 0.49 cm (0.20 SD) shorter (B = 
      0.42; 95% CI: -0.77, -0.08) than those in the lowest tertile (56MUg/L). The
      inverse association was significant in girls and also in boys of mothers with
      lowest hemoglobin values, likely due to higher absorption of Mn. Manganese
      concentrations in water and erythrocytes did not correlate, and the associations
      of the latter with birth size were less obvious. This study suggests that
      consumption of water with highly elevated Mn levels during pregnancy may impair
      fetal growth.

PMID- 25828059
TI  - Impact of kudzu and puerarin on sperm function.
AB  - The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of kudzu (Pueraria mirifica)
      and the isoflavone puerarin in functional toxicological tests on spermatozoa and
      to assess the affinity of extracts and pure isoflavones for estrogen receptor
      (ER)-alpha and -beta (ERalpha, ERbeta) in receptor binding assays. Capacitation,
      acrosome reaction and chromatin decondensation in spermatozoa were analyzed using
      microscopic analysis. Kudzu, but not puerarin, reduced motility of sperm.
      Puerarin reduced the percent spontaneous acrosome reaction in spermatozoa. The
      pathways used by kudzu that affect sperm function are not fully mirrored by
      puerarin. Puerarin, kudzu and its other phytoestrogenic components displayed
      preferential affinity for ERbeta, however the diverse effects of kudzu and
      puerarin on sperm function implicate the involvement of multiple signaling
      systems. 

PMID- 25828060
TI  - Pharmacoepidemiology and thalidomide embryopathy surveillance in Brazil.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Thalidomide causes congenital defects in children, such as limb
      reduction defects. Currently, it is used for a few indications; in Brazil, where
      leprosy is endemic, thalidomide is used for the treatment of erythema nodosum
      leprosum, and recent cases of thalidomide embryopathy have been reported.
      METHODS: We analyzed the frequency of births with phenotypes consistent with
      thalidomide embryopathy (TEP) and correlated this with the distribution of
      thalidomide and the prevalence of leprosy between 2005 and 2010 in Brazil.
      RESULTS: A total of 5,889,210 thalidomide tablets were distributed; the
      prevalence of limb reduction defects was 1.60 (CI95%: 1.54-1.66) and TEP was 0.11
      (CI95%: 0.10-0.13) per 10,000 births. Poisson regression showed an increase in
      cases of TEP and limb reduction defects per 100,000 tablets dispensed. Clusters
      and geographical isolates were identified in several regions. CONCLUSIONS: There
      is a correlation between thalidomide and TEP showing that thalidomide embryopathy
      should be monitored in countries where this medication is available.

PMID- 25828061
TI  - Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) in neurobehavioural disorders induced by brain
      oxidative stress in rodents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Withania somnifera has been in use for several thousand years in
      Ayurveda to treat various neurological disorders. There is, however, not much
      scientific data on its protective role in neuronal pathology specifically against
      brain oxidative stress. Hence, an attempt is made in this work for systematic
      review and meta-analysis of W. somnifera on neurobehavioural disorders induced by
      brain oxidative stress in rodents. METHODS: A systematic search of the effect of
      W. somnifera on brain oxidative stress-induced neuronal pathology was performed
      using electronic databases. The systematic review was performed on
      neurobehavioural parameters, whereas meta-analysis of W. somnifera effect was
      done on oxidative stress markers (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione
      peroxidase, glutathione and lipid peroxidation), nitrite, protein carbonyl, AchE,
      ChAT and Ach of rodent brain. Data were analysed using Review Manager Software.
      KEY FINDINGS: Twenty-eight studies were selected based upon the inclusion and
      exclusion criteria. W. somnifera appreciably inhibited the neurological
      abnormalities due to oxidative stress in rodent brain produced by different
      physical and chemical stimuli. W. somnifera also significantly restored the
      altered oxidative and other stress markers in different parts of rodent brain.
      SUMMARY: The systematic review provides scientific evidence for the traditional
      claim of W. somnifera use in different neurological aliments. However, future
      clinical trials are mandated to establish the therapeutic efficacy and safety in
      human beings.

PMID- 25828062
TI  - Weighing privacy against effective epidemiology.

PMID- 25828063
TI  - The "first hit" toward alcohol reinforcement: role of ethanol metabolites.
AB  - This review analyzes literature that describes the behavioral effects of 2
      metabolites of ethanol (EtOH): acetaldehyde and salsolinol (a condensation
      product of acetaldehyde and dopamine) generated in the brain. These metabolites
      are self-administered into specific brain areas by animals, showing strong
      reinforcing effects. A wealth of evidence shows that EtOH, a drug consumed to
      attain millimolar concentrations, generates brain metabolites that are
      reinforcing at micromolar and nanomolar concentrations. Salsolinol administration
      leads to marked increases in voluntary EtOH intake, an effect inhibited by mu
      opioid receptor blockers. In animals that have ingested EtOH chronically, the
      maintenance of alcohol intake is no longer influenced by EtOH metabolites, as
      intake is taken over by other brain systems. However, after EtOH withdrawal brain
      acetaldehyde has a major role in promoting binge-like drinking in the condition
      known as the "alcohol deprivation effect"; a condition seen in animals that have
      ingested alcohol chronically, are deprived of EtOH for extended periods, and are
      allowed EtOH re-access. The review also analyzes the behavioral effects of
      acetate, a metabolite that enters the brain and is responsible for motor
      incoordination at low doses of EtOH. Also discussed are the paradoxical effects
      of systemic acetaldehyde. Overall, evidence strongly suggests that brain
      generated EtOH metabolites play a major role in the early ("first-hit")
      development of alcohol reinforcement and in the generation of relapse-like
      drinking. 

PMID- 25828065
TI  - Coagulase-negative staphylococcal bacteremia: risk factors for mortality and
      impact of initial appropriate antimicrobial therapy on outcome.
AB  - It is uncertain whether an initial inappropriate empirical antibiotic treatment
      of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) bacteremia adversely affects the
      outcome. A retrospective cohort study of CoNS bacteremia was performed at the
      Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital during a 3-year period. During the study
      period, 109 patients with CoNS bacteremia were enrolled. The median age of the
      patients was 72 years and most (96%, 105/109) had one or more comorbid diseases.
      Among the participants, 29% (32/109) received an appropriate empirical
      antimicrobial therapy. The 30-day mortality was 24% (26/109) and CoNS bacteremia
      related mortality was 14% (15/109). There was no difference in the CoNS
      bacteremia-related mortality between the group with an inappropriate empirical
      treatment (13%, 10/77) and that with an appropriate treatment (16%, 5/32) (p =
      0.46). In the multivariate analysis using the Cox regression analysis method,
      Pitt bacteremia scores [hazard ratio (HR) 1.48; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09
      2.01; p = 0.01] and retention of eradicable focus (HR 5.0; 95% CI 1.39-17.9; p =
      0.01) were found to be associated with CoNS bacteremia-related mortality. The
      results suggest that inappropriate empirical therapy might not necessarily be
      associated with the 30-day mortality or CoNS bacteremia-related mortality.
      Conversely, Pitt bacteremia scores and retention of eradicable focus were
      associated with poor outcomes.

PMID- 25828066
TI  - Prevalence of incidental pulmonary nodules on computed tomography of the thorax
      in trauma patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Lung cancer is the third leading cause of death in high-income
      countries. Early detection leads to improved clinical outcomes, with evidence
      showing that lung cancer screening reduces lung cancer mortality. Knowledge of
      the population prevalence of pulmonary nodules affects the efficacy and cost
      effectiveness of a local screening programme. METHODS: We performed a
      retrospective review of our trauma database looking for the prevalence of
      incidental pulmonary nodules on computed tomography of the thorax. Prevalence of
      nodules and follow up according to Fleischner Guidelines were reviewed. RESULTS:
      Two hundred and forty-eight patients underwent a computed tomography thorax as
      part of their trauma assessment. 8.5% (21/248) had incidental pulmonary nodules.
      Eighty-one per cent of these (17/21) required follow up according to the
      Fleischner Society Guidelines. One was subsequently diagnosed with primary lung
      cancer, one with metastatic sigmoid cancer and one with invasive aspergillus.
      CONCLUSIONS: Incidental pulmonary nodules are common in the general population.
      This has implications for possible lung cancer screening recommendations in the
      Australian population. Referral and/or review systems are essential to ensure
      adequate follow up of incidental findings, as it is likely some patients are not
      receiving adequate follow up at present.

PMID- 25828064
TI  - Capnocytophaga canimorsus: an emerging cause of sepsis, meningitis, and post
      splenectomy infection after dog bites.
AB  - Newly named in 1989, Capnocytophaga canimorsus is a bacterial pathogen found in
      the saliva of healthy dogs and cats, and is transmitted to humans principally by
      dog bites. This review compiled all laboratory-confirmed cases, animal sources,
      and virulence attributes to describe its epidemiology, clinical features, and
      pathogenesis. An estimated 484 patients with a median age of 55 years were
      reported, two-thirds of which were male. The case-fatality rate was about 26%.
      Its clinical presentations included severe sepsis and fatal septic shock,
      gangrene of the digits or extremities, high-grade bacteremia, meningitis,
      endocarditis, and eye infections. Predispositions were prior splenectomy in 59
      patients and alcoholism in 58 patients. Dog bites before illness occurred in 60%;
      additionally, in 27%, there were scratches, licking, or other contact with dogs
      or cats. Patients with meningitis showed more advanced ages, higher male
      preponderance, lower mortality, and longer incubation periods after dog bites
      than patients with sepsis (p < 0.05). Patients with prior splenectomy presented
      more frequently with high-grade bacteremia than patients with intact spleens (p <
      0.05). The organism possesses virulence attributes of catalase and sialidase
      production, gliding motility, cytotoxin production, and resistance to killing by
      serum complement due to its unique lipopolysaccharide. Penicillin is the drug of
      choice, but some practitioners prefer third-generation cephalosporins or beta
      lactamase inhibitor combinations. C. canimorsus has emerged as a leading cause of
      sepsis, particularly post-splenectomy sepsis, and meningitis after dog bites.

PMID- 25828067
TI  - Sorption and biodegradation of selected benzotriazoles and hydroxybenzothiazole
      in activated sludge and estimation of their fate during wastewater treatment.
AB  - Biodegradation of benzotriazole (BTR), 5-chlorobenzotriazole (CBTR), xylytriazole
      (XTR), 4-methyl-1H-benzotriazole (4TTR), 5-methy-1H-lbenzotriazole (5TTR) and 2
      hydroxybenzothiazole (OHBTH) was studied in activated sludge batch experiments
      under aerobic and anoxic conditions, presence of organic substrate and different
      sludge residence times (SRTs). Their sludge-water distribution coefficients were
      also calculated in sorption experiments and ranged between 87 and 220 L kg(-1).
      Significant biodegradation of BTR, CBTR, XTR and OHBTH was observed in all biotic
      experiments. Half-life values ranged between 23 and 45 h (BTR), 18 and 47 h
      (CBTR), 14 and 26 h (XTR), 6.5 and 24 h (OHBTH). The addition of substrate did
      not suppress biodegradation kinetics; whereas in some cases accelerated
      biodegradation of microcontaminants. Except for CBTR, no effect of SRT on
      biodegradation constants was observed. Prediction of micropollutants removal in
      Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) indicated that they will be partially removed,
      mainly due to aerobic biodegradation. Higher removal is expected at STPs
      operating at higher SRT and higher suspended solids concentrations.

PMID- 25828068
TI  - Longitudinal study of acute haematologic toxicity in cervical cancer patients
      treated with chemoradiotherapy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Acute hematologic toxicity (HT) limits optimal delivery of
      concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for patients with pelvic malignancies. We
      tested the hypothesis that pelvic bone marrow (PBM) dose-volume metrics were
      associated with weekly reductions in peripheral blood cell counts in cervical
      cancer patients undergoing CRT. METHODS: We included 102 cervical cancer patients
      treated with concurrent cisplatin (40 mg/m(2) /week) and pelvic radiotherapy
      treated at three US centres. No patient received granulocyte-monocyte colony
      stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or platelet transfusions. Using linear-mixed effects
      modelling, we analysed weekly reductions in log-transformed peripheral blood cell
      counts as a function of time (weeks), mean PBM dose and the PBM volume receiving
      >=10 Gy (V(10)), 20 Gy (V(20)), 30 Gy (V(30)) and 40 Gy (V(40)). RESULTS:
      Increases in mean PBM radiation dose, V(20), V(30) and V(40) were all
      significantly associated with a greater weekly reduction in white blood cell
      (WBC) and absolute neutrophil counts (ANCs). We estimated that with every 1 Gy
      increase in mean PBM dose, ln(ANC) was reduced by 9.6/MUL per week (95%
      confidence interval, 1.9-17.3, P = 0.015). Subregion analysis also identified
      significant associations between weekly reductions in ln(WBC) and ln(ANC) within
      lumbosacral spine, ischium and proximal femora, as opposed to ilium. CONCLUSIONS:
      PBM radiation dose-volume metrics are significantly associated with weekly
      reductions in peripheral blood cell counts in cervical cancer patients undergoing
      CRT, particularly within the lower pelvis and lumbosacral spine.

PMID- 25828070
TI  - Healing the health system after civil unrest.

PMID- 25828069
TI  - Review of HIV response in Pakistan using a system thinking framework.
AB  - Pakistan has moved from a 'low prevalence-high risk' to a 'concentrated epidemic'
      state, yet the forcefulness required for managing this silent escalation of HIV
      infected numbers is not being highlighted, as it should be. A more comprehensive
      review of the national strategy for HIV/AIDS would necessitate a system's
      thinking. For this purpose, the WHO's Health Systems Building Blocks have been
      discussed to analyse whether this framework can be employed to take some
      corrective measures. An extensive literature review in this regard helps to
      understand that the service delivery has to be responsive, but skilled human
      resources, a robust information system, an uninterrupted supplies and use of
      latest technology, adequate financing, and above all good governance at
      operational level are essential ingredients, which call for re-orienting the
      national programme today. Lack of coordination, capacity, and interventions with
      questionable sustainability pave a perilous path. Hitherto, the issue can be
      addressed by involving stakeholders from all levels of the society and managing
      the void between policy and implementation. Furthermore, interventions that focus
      on the long-term future are imperative to combat the menace threatening human
      lives. 

PMID- 25828071
TI  - The importance of considering the evidence in the MTP 2014 Amendment debate in
      India - unsubstantiated arguments should not impede improved access to safe
      abortion.
AB  - With the objective to improve access to safe abortion services in India, the
      Ministry of Health and Welfare, with approval of the Law Ministry, published
      draft amendments of the MTP Act on October 29, 2014. Instead of the expected
      support, the amendments created a heated debate within professional medical
      associations of India. In this commentary, we review the evidence in response to
      the current discourse with regard to the amendments. It would be unfortunate if
      unsubstantiated one-sided arguments would impede the intention of improving
      access to safe abortion care in India. 

PMID- 25828072
TI  - Use of glyburide to treat gestational diabetes is linked to adverse outcomes in
      babies, study finds.

PMID- 25828074
TI  - Interpreter-mediated dentistry.
AB  - The global movements of healthcare professionals and patient populations have
      increased the complexities of medical interactions at the point of service. This
      study examines interpreter mediated talk in cross-cultural general dentistry in
      Hong Kong where assisting para-professionals, in this case bilingual or
      multilingual Dental Surgery Assistants (DSAs), perform the dual capabilities of
      clinical assistant and interpreter. An initial language use survey was conducted
      with Polyclinic DSAs (n = 41) using a logbook approach to provide self-report
      data on language use in clinics. Frequencies of mean scores using a 10-point
      visual analogue scale (VAS) indicated that the majority of DSAs spoke mainly
      Cantonese in clinics and interpreted for postgraduates and professors.
      Conversation Analysis (CA) examined recipient design across a corpus (n = 23) of
      video-recorded review consultations between non-Cantonese speaking expatriate
      dentists and their Cantonese L1 patients. Three patterns of mediated interpreting
      indicated were: dentist designated expansions; dentist initiated interpretations;
      and assistant initiated interpretations to both the dentist and patient. The
      third, rather than being perceived as negative, was found to be framed either in
      response to patient difficulties or within the specific task routines of general
      dentistry. The findings illustrate trends in dentistry towards personalized care
      and patient empowerment as a reaction to product delivery approaches to patient
      management. Implications are indicated for both treatment adherence and the
      education of dental professionals. 

PMID- 25828073
TI  - Identification of systemic immune response markers through metabolomic profiling
      of plasma from calves given an intra-nasally delivered respiratory vaccine.
AB  - Vaccination procedures within the cattle industry are important disease control
      tools to minimize economic and welfare burdens associated with respiratory
      pathogens. However, new vaccine, antigen and carrier technologies are required to
      combat emerging viral strains and enhance the efficacy of respiratory vaccines,
      particularly at the point of pathogen entry. New technologies, specifically
      metabolomic profiling, could be applied to identify metabolite immune-correlates
      representative of immune protection following vaccination aiding in the design
      and screening of vaccine candidates. This study for the first time demonstrates
      the ability of untargeted UPLC-MS metabolomic profiling to identify metabolite
      immune correlates characteristic of immune responses following mucosal
      vaccination in calves. Male Holstein Friesian calves were vaccinated with Pfizer
      Rispoval(r) PI3 + RSV intranasal vaccine and metabolomic profiling of post
      vaccination plasma revealed 12 metabolites whose peak intensities differed
      significantly from controls. Plasma levels of glycocholic acid, N
      [(3alpha,5beta,12alpha)-3,12-Dihydroxy-7,24-dioxocholan-24-yl]glycine, uric acid
      and biliverdin were found to be significantly elevated in vaccinated animals
      following secondary vaccine administration, whereas hippuric acid significantly
      decreased. In contrast, significant upregulation of taurodeoxycholic acid and
      propionylcarnitine levels were confined to primary vaccine administration.
      Assessment of such metabolite markers may provide greater information on the
      immune pathways stimulated from vaccine formulations and benchmarking early
      metabolomic responses to highly immunogenic vaccine formulations could provide a
      means for rapidly assessing new vaccine formulations. Furthermore, the
      identification of metabolic systemic immune response markers which relate to
      specific cell signaling pathways of the immune system could allow for targeted
      vaccine design to stimulate key pathways which can be assessed at the metabolic
      level. 

PMID- 25828075
TI  - Characteristics of incident female breast cancer in Lebanon, 1990-2013:
      Descriptive study of 612 cases from a hospital tumor registry.
AB  - Despite the fact that breast cancer is a major health issue, very few studies
      describe its characteristics in the Arab world or the Middle East, particularly
      in Lebanon. We report in this article a retrospective pilot study of the
      characteristics of breast cancer in Lebanon. The pathological characteristics of
      624 patients diagnosed between 1990 and 2013 randomly chosen from the archives of
      an oncology clinic affiliated to Hotel Dieu de France Hospital are analyzed. The
      mean age at diagnosis is 54.6+/-13.4 years with 43% diagnosed before the age of
      50 years. The infiltrative ductal carcinoma represents the major pathological
      subtype. One third of the tumors had a size of more than 2 cm at diagnosis.
      Estrogen-receptors are positive in more than 50% of our patients and Her2-neu is
      overexpresssed in 30%. Luminal A represents 45.5% and the triple negative
      subgroup constitutes only 8.3%. Breast cancer in Lebanon is evolving to a more
      indolent disease. Therefore, public awareness and institution of screening
      programs are required. These programs should be based on national epidemiological
      data and necessitate the activation of the national cancer registry.

PMID- 25828076
TI  - Speech Auditory Brainstem Response through hearing aid stimulation.
AB  - Millions of people across the world are hearing impaired, and rely on hearing
      aids to improve their everyday life. Objective audiometry could optimize hearing
      aid fitting, and is of particular interest for non-communicative patients. Speech
      Auditory Brainstem Response (speech ABR), a fine electrophysiological marker of
      speech encoding, is presently seen as a promising candidate for implementing
      objective audiometry; yet, unlike lower-frequency auditory-evoked potentials
      (AEPs) such as cortical AEPs or auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs), aided
      speech ABRs (i.e., speech ABRs through hearing aid stimulation) have almost never
      been recorded. This may be due to their high-frequency components requesting a
      high temporal precision of the stimulation. We assess here a new approach to
      record high-quality and artifact-free speech ABR while stimulating directly
      through hearing aids. In 4 normal-hearing adults, we recorded speech ABR evoked
      by a /ba/ syllable binaurally delivered through insert earphones for quality
      control or through hearing aids. To assess the presence of a potential stimulus
      artifact, recordings were also done in mute conditions with the exact same
      potential sources of stimulus artifacts as in the main runs. Hearing aid
      stimulation led to artifact-free speech ABR in each participant, with the same
      quality as when using insert earphones, as shown with signal-to-noise (SNR)
      measurements. Our new approach consisting in directly transmitting speech stimuli
      through hearing aids allowed for a perfect temporal precision mandatory in speech
      ABR recordings, and could thus constitute a decisive step in hearing impairment
      investigation and in hearing aid fitting improvement.

PMID- 25828077
TI  - Tension Band Plating for Chronic Anterior Tibial Stress Fractures in High
      Performance Athletes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anterior tibial stress fractures are associated with high rates of
      delayed union and nonunion, which can be particularly devastating to a
      professional athlete who requires rapid return to competition. Current surgical
      treatment strategies include intramedullary nailing, which has satisfactory rates
      of fracture union but an associated risk of anterior knee pain. Anterior tension
      band plating is a biomechanically sound alternative treatment for these
      fractures. HYPOTHESIS: Tension band plating of chronic anterior tibial stress
      fractures leads to rapid healing and return to physical activity and avoids the
      anterior knee pain associated with intramedullary nailing. STUDY DESIGN: Case
      series; Level of evidence, 4. METHODS: Between 2001 and 2013, there were 13
      chronic anterior tibial stress fractures in 12 professional or collegiate
      athletes who underwent tension band plating after failing nonoperative
      management. Patient charts were retrospectively reviewed for demographics, injury
      history, and surgical details. Radiographs were used to assess time to osseous
      union. Follow-up notes and phone interviews were used to determine follow-up
      time, return to training time, and whether the patient was able to return to
      competition. RESULTS: Cases included 13 stress fractures in 12 patients (9
      females, 3 males). Five patients were track-and-field athletes, 4 patients played
      basketball, 2 patients played volleyball, and 1 was a ballet dancer. Five
      patients were Division I collegiate athletes and 7 were professional or Olympic
      athletes. Average age at time of surgery was 23.6 years (range, 20-32 years).
      Osseous union occurred on average at 9.6 weeks (range, 5.3-16.9 weeks) after
      surgery. Patients returned to training on average at 11.1 weeks (range, 5.7-20
      weeks). Ninety-two percent (12/13) eventually returned to preinjury competition
      levels. Thirty-eight percent (5/13) underwent removal of hardware for plate
      prominence. There was no incidence of infection or nonunion. CONCLUSION: Anterior
      tension band plating for chronic tibial stress fractures provides a reliable
      alternative to intramedullary nailing with excellent results. Compression plating
      avoids the anterior knee pain associated with intramedullary nailing but may
      result in symptomatic hardware requiring subsequent removal.

PMID- 25828078
TI  - Changes in involved and uninvolved limb function during rehabilitation after
      anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: implications for Limb Symmetry Index
      measures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Functional testing is used to assess anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
      reconstruction rehabilitation, with the goal of symmetric ability. The pattern of
      change in the uninvolved limb's function during rehabilitation is not
      established. HYPOTHESES: (1) Involved and uninvolved limb ability increases
      during rehabilitation, but the uninvolved limb ability increases to a lesser
      degree. (2) Hop tests will show larger initial asymmetry and will improve the
      most with rehabilitation. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.
      METHODS: This was a retrospective case series of 122 patients who underwent ACL
      reconstruction at our ambulatory surgery center and received multiple
      postoperative Standard Functional Tests (SFTs) between October 2009 and October
      2013. Ten of the 12 individual tests within the SFT battery were analyzed. The
      patients' earliest and latest SFTs were compared for changes in Limb Symmetry
      Index (LSI) and absolute function in each limb. We also analyzed the subgroup
      with SFTs (n = 38) at both 4 and 6 months postoperatively. RESULTS: In all
      patients with multiple SFTs, involved limb performance increased in all tests
      except eyes-closed stork. Uninvolved limb performance increased in 4 SFT
      component tests and decreased in none. LSI significantly improved in 6 tests, all
      of which also showed involved limb improvement that was significant. Of these 6
      tests, 5 showed initial LSI below 90%: single-leg squat, retro step-up, single
      leg hop, crossover triple hop, and timed hop. Retro step-up and single-leg hop
      showed LSI improvements greater than 10 percentage points. In patients with 4-
      and 6-month data, involved limb performance increased in all tests except single
      leg triple hop. Uninvolved limb performance increased in 5 SFT component tests
      and decreased in none. LSI significantly improved in 4 tests, all of which had
      initial LSI below 90%, and showed involved limb improvement that was significant.
      Retro step-up, single-leg hop, and crossover triple hop showed LSI improvements
      greater than 10 percentage points. CONCLUSION: During ACL reconstruction
      rehabilitation, LSI improvements indicated absolute increases in involved limb
      ability and were not attributable to uninvolved limb deterioration. The single
      leg squat, retro step-up, single-leg hop, crossover triple hop, and timed hop are
      suggested as highly useful tests, since all showed initial LSI below 90%, with
      significant LSI improvement after rehabilitation.

PMID- 25828079
TI  - The prevalence of radiographic findings of structural hip deformities in female
      collegiate athletes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Structural deformities of the hip, including femoroacetabular
      impingement (FAI) and acetabular dysplasia, often limit athletic activity.
      Previous studies have reported an increased prevalence of radiographic cam FAI in
      male athletes, but data on the prevalence of structural hip deformities in female
      athletes are lacking. PURPOSE: (1) To quantify the prevalence of radiographic FAI
      deformities and acetabular dysplasia in female collegiate athletes from 3 sports:
      volleyball, soccer, and track and field. (2) To identify possible relationships
      between radiographic measures of hip morphologic characteristics and physical
      examination findings. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.
      METHODS: Anteroposterior (AP) pelvis and frog-leg lateral radiographs were
      obtained from 63 female athletes participating in Division I collegiate
      volleyball, soccer, and track and field. Lateral center edge angle (LCEA) and
      acetabular index were measured on AP films. Alpha angle and head-neck offset were
      measured on frog-leg lateral films. Pain during the supine impingement
      examination and hip rotation at 90 degrees  of flexion were recorded. Random
      effects linear regression was used for group comparisons and correlation analyses
      to account for the lack of independence of observations made on left and right
      hips. RESULTS: Radiographic cam deformity (alpha angle >50 degrees  and/or head
      neck offset <8 mm) was found in 48% (61/126) of hips. Radiographic pincer
      deformity (LCEA >40 degrees ) was noted in only 1% (1/126) of hips. No hips had
      radiographic mixed FAI (at least 1 of the 2 cam criteria and LCEA >40 degrees ).
      Twenty-one percent (26/126) of hips had an LCEA <20 degrees , indicative of
      acetabular dysplasia, and an additional 46% (58/126) of hips had borderline
      dysplasia (LCEA >=20 degrees  and <=25 degrees ). Track and field athletes had
      significantly increased alpha angles (48.2 degrees  +/- 7.1 degrees ) compared
      with the soccer players (40.0 degrees  +/- 6.8 degrees ; P < .001) and volleyball
      players (39.1 degrees  +/- 5.9 degrees ; P < .001). There was no significant
      difference in the LCEA (all P > .914) or the prevalence of dysplasia (LCEA <20
      degrees ) between teams (all P > .551). There were no significant correlations
      between the radiographic measures and internal rotation (all P > .077). There
      were no significant differences (all P > .089) in radiographic measures between
      hips that were painful (n = 26) during the impingement examination and those that
      were not. CONCLUSION: These female athletes had a lower prevalence of
      radiographic FAI deformities compared with previously reported values for male
      athletes and a higher prevalence of acetabular dysplasia than reported for women
      in previous studies.

PMID- 25828080
TI  - Alterations in knee kinematics after partial medial meniscectomy are activity
      dependent.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Alterations in knee kinematics after partial meniscectomy have been
      linked to the increased risk of osteoarthritis in this population. Understanding
      differences in kinematics during static versus dynamic activities of increased
      demand can provide important information regarding the possible underlying
      mechanisms of these alterations. HYPOTHESIS: Differences in the following 2
      kinematics measures will increase with activity demand: (1) the offset toward
      external tibial rotation for the meniscectomized limb compared with the
      contralateral limb during stance and (2) the difference in knee flexion angle at
      initial foot contact between the meniscectomized and contralateral limbs. STUDY
      DESIGN: Controlled laboratory study. METHODS: This study compared side-to-side
      differences in knee flexion and rotation angles during static and dynamic
      activities. Thirteen patients (2 female) were tested in a motion capture
      laboratory at 6 +/- 2 months after unilateral, arthroscopic, partial medial
      meniscectomy during a static reference pose and during 3 dynamic activities:
      walking, stair ascent, and stair descent. RESULTS: The meniscectomized limb
      demonstrated more external tibial rotation compared with the contralateral limb
      during dynamic activities, and there was a trend that this offset increased with
      activity demand (repeated-measures analysis of variance [ANOVA] for activity, P =
      .07; mean limb difference: static pose, -0.1 degrees  +/- 3.3 degrees , P = .5;
      walking, 1.2 degrees  +/- 3.8 degrees , P = .1; stair ascent, 2.0 degrees  +/-
      3.2 degrees , P = .02; stair descent, 3.0 degrees  +/- 3.5 degrees , P = .005).
      Similarly, the meniscectomized knee was more flexed at initial contact than the
      contralateral limb during dynamic activities (repeated-measures ANOVA for
      activity P = .006; mean limb difference: reference pose, 1.0 degrees  +/- 2.5
      degrees , P = .09; walking, 2.0 degrees  +/- 3.9 degrees , P = .05; stair ascent,
      5.9 degrees  +/- 5.3 degrees , P = .009; stair descent, 3.5 degrees  +/- 4.0
      degrees , P = .004). CONCLUSION: These results suggest both a structural element
      and a potential muscular element for the differences in kinematics after partial
      medial meniscectomy and highlight the importance of challenging the knee with
      activities of increased demands to detect differences in kinematics from the
      contralateral limb. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: With further investigation, these
      findings could help guide clinical rehabilitation of patients with torn meniscus
      tissue, especially in the context of the patients' increased risk of joint
      degeneration.

PMID- 25828081
TI  - An ultrasensitive impedimetric glycan biosensor with controlled glycan density
      for detection of lectins and influenza hemagglutinins.
AB  - An impedimetric glycan biosensor with optimised glycan density was applied for
      the detection of lectins and influenza hemagglutinins down to attomolar
      concentrations (aM). 

PMID- 25828082
TI  - Mitochondrial Carnitine/Acylcarnitine Translocase: Insights in Structure/Function
      Relationship.
AB  - The mitochondrial carnitine/acylcarnitine translocase has been identified,
      purified and reconstituted in liposomes in 1990. Since that time it has been
      object of studies aimed to characterize its function and to define the molecular
      determinants of the translocation pathway. Thanks to these tenacious studies the
      molecular map of the amino acids involved in the catalysis has been constructed
      and the roles of critical residues in the translocation pathway have been
      elucidated. This has been possible through the combination of transport assay in
      reconstituted liposomes, site-directed mutagenesis, chemical labeling and
      bioinformatics. Recently some molecules which modulate CACT activity have been
      identified, such as glutathione and hydrogen peroxide, constituting some of the
      few cases of control mechanisms of mitochondrial carriers. The vast knowledge on
      the carnitine/acylcarnitine translocase is essential both as a progress in basic
      science and as instrument to foresee therapeutic or toxic effects of xenobiotics
      and drugs. Such studies have been already started pointing out the inhibitory
      action of drugs such as KM<sup>+</sup>/H<sup>+</sup>-ATPase inhibitors
      (omeprazole) or antibiotics (&#946;-lactams) on the carnitine/acylcarnitine
      translocase, which can explain some of their adverse effects.

PMID- 25828083
TI  - Resistin Promotes Angiogenesis in Endothelial Progenitor Cells Through Inhibition
      of MicroRNA206: Potential Implications for Rheumatoid Arthritis.
AB  - Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) promote angiogenesis and are therefore key
      contributors to a wide variety of angiogenesis-related autoimmune diseases such
      as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the signaling mechanisms through which
      these progenitor cells influence RA pathogenesis remain unknown. The aim of this
      study was to examine whether resistin plays a role in the pathogenesis of and
      angiogenesis associated with RA by circulating EPCs. We found that levels of
      resistin in synovial fluid and tissue from patients with RA and from mice with
      collagen-induced arthritis were overexpressed and promoted the homing of EPCs
      into the synovium, thereby inducing angiogenesis. EPCs isolated from healthy
      donors were used to investigate the signal transduction pathway underlying EPC
      migration and tube formation after treatment with resistin. We found that
      resistin directly induced a significant increase in expression of vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in EPCs. We also found that the expression of
      microRNA-206 (miR-206) was negatively correlated with the expression of resistin
      during EPC-mediated angiogenesis. Notably, the increased expression of VEGF was
      associated with decreased binding of miR-206 to the VEGF-A 3' untranslated region
      through protein kinase C delta-dependent AMP-activated protein kinase signaling
      pathway. Moreover, blockade of resistin reduced EPC homing into synovial fluid
      and angiogenesis in vivo. Taken together, our study is the first to demonstrate
      that resistin promotes EPCs homing into the synovium during RA angiogenesis via a
      signal transduction pathway that involves VEGF expression in primary EPCs. These
      findings provide support for resistin as a therapeutic target for the patients
      with RA. Stem Cells 2015;33:2243-2255. 

PMID- 25828084
TI  - JAK inhibitors and myelofibrosis, Einstein and ruxolitinib.

PMID- 25828085
TI  - Ofatumumab and its role as immunotherapy in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

PMID- 25828086
TI  - Hematopoietic cell transplantation for acute leukemia: selecting donors.

PMID- 25828087
TI  - Aging and blood disorders: new perspectives, new challenges.

PMID- 25828089
TI  - Student nurse perceptions on evidence-based practice and research: an exploratory
      research study involving students from the University of Greenwich, England and
      the Faculty of Health Care Jesenice, Slovenia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The importance of evidence-based practice (EBP) and research within
      nursing has been acknowledged since the 1970s. Research proficiencies for nurses
      include the abilities to search for and evaluate evidence, disseminate findings
      and apply findings to practice within the context of caring. However, there is a
      lack of information on how new undergraduate nursing curriculums have impacted on
      student nurses' perceptions on and importance of EBP and research. OBJECTIVES:
      The study aimed to explore student nurses' perceptions on and importance of EBP
      and research. METHODS: Data were collected via focus groups in 2013 with
      undergraduate student nurses from the University of Greenwich, England (n=7) and
      the Faculty of Health Care Jesenice, Slovenia (n=3). Cross-sectional sampling
      included focus groups with 1st year nursing students (4, n=22), 2nd year (4,
      n=38) and 3rd year (2, n=10). Data were analysed using Interpretative
      Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). RESULTS: Four emergent themes regarding
      students' perceptions of EBP and research were 'provided confidence, knowledge
      and empowerment in clinical practice', 'vital for improvements in patient care
      and safety', students' 'responsibility to develop nursing as a profession' and
      'realities of research in clinical practice'. DISCUSSION: Student nurses found
      EBP and research daunting and difficult to understand, although perceived EBP and
      research as necessary for their current and future practice. However, student
      nurses highlighted the lack of clinical nurses' involvement in research and
      therefore struggled to conceptualise how they could maintain their EBP and
      research skills on leaving the academic setting. CONCLUSION: The importance of
      EBP and research was realised by student nurses across the two institutions.
      However, further development and involvement of clinical nurses with EBP and
      research is required to enable students to develop a clear understanding of how
      to take these skills forward in their future careers.

PMID- 25828090
TI  - Who wants to work with older people? Swedish student nurses' willingness to work
      in elderly care--a questionnaire study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aging population is a globally recognized challenge for the
      health care service. The growing number of older people will probably lead to
      increased demands for nurses working in elderly care. Clinical practice has been
      shown to have an impact on how student nurses perceive a particular field of
      nursing. OBJECTIVES: To compare perceptions of the clinical learning environment
      in nursing homes among students considering a career in aged care or not, and to
      examine the difference in age, gender and previous working experience as health
      care assistants in elderly care between the two groups. DESIGN: This was a cross
      sectional study using the Swedish version of the Clinical Learning Environment
      and Nurse Teacher evaluation scale. METHODS: Consecutive sampling was performed
      over three semesters from September 2011 to December 2012. The survey was
      conducted with 183 student nurses. Mann-Whitney U-test was used to examine
      differences in relation to two groups namely student nurses who did or did not
      consider to work in elderly care. A chi-square test of independence was performed
      to examine the difference in age, gender and previous working experience between
      the two groups. RESULTS: The analysis leaned towards an overall positive
      evaluation of the clinical learning environment with more positive values for
      students considering a career. There were no significant differences between
      younger students (18-23) and older students (24-50) regarding willingness to work
      in elderly care or not. Neither was any significant difference displayed between
      students, based on gender nor for previous work experience. CONCLUSION: Age,
      gender and previous work experiences as health care assistants did not impact on
      students' willingness to work in elderly care. Future studies need to acknowledge
      the complexity of why student nurses choose a particular pathway in nursing by
      longitudinal studies following cohorts of students during the course of the
      nursing programme.

PMID- 25828088
TI  - beta-thalassemias: paradigmatic diseases for scientific discoveries and
      development of innovative therapies.
AB  - beta-thalassemias are monogenic disorders characterized by defective synthesis of
      the beta-globin chain, one of the major components of adult hemoglobin. A large
      number of mutations in the beta-globin gene or its regulatory elements have been
      associated with beta-thalassemias. Due to the complexity of the regulation of the
      beta-globin gene and the role of red cells in many physiological processes,
      patients can manifest a large spectrum of phenotypes, and clinical requirements
      vary from patient to patient. It is important to consider the major differences
      in the light of potential novel therapeutics. This review summarizes the main
      discoveries and mechanisms associated with the synthesis of beta-globin and
      abnormal erythropoiesis, as well as current and novel therapies. 

PMID- 25828091
TI  - Key influences identified by first year undergraduate nursing students as
      impacting on the quality of clinical placement: A qualitative study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that high quality clinical placement is an integral
      component of pre-registration nursing education for the development of the future
      nursing workforce, the literature identifies an ongoing struggle to 'get it
      right'. OBJECTIVE: To examine qualitative data gathered through the Quality
      Clinical Placements Evaluation project to identify what pre-registration nursing
      students deemed helpful and not helpful influences on their first year
      Professional Experience Placement. DESIGN: A total of 553 first year
      undergraduate nursing students from 2010 to 2012 were enrolled in the programme
      and all were invited to complete a validated survey to measure the quality of
      their first clinical placement. A total of 361 completed surveys were returned.
      This paper examines the data provided through open-ended questions within the
      survey related to most helpful and least helpful aspects of their clinical
      experience. METHODS: An inductive analysis approach using NVIVO allowed inherent
      areas to emerge from the raw data forming three key themes that influenced the
      experience of students. RESULTS: Feeling welcomed, individual versus team
      attitudes, and student expectations of supervising ward nurses were the themes
      identified that were perceived by the student as important to the success of
      learning and the quality of the experience overall. CONCLUSION: The findings echo
      previous research into the student experience of clinical placement; however the
      focus regarding the need for students to have a quality relationship with the
      supervising nurse is an area that warrants further exploration. Furthermore, we
      argue that students should be purposely engaged in the tertiary sector and
      provided guidance and strategies related to forming and maintaining relationships
      with those that supervise their clinical placement, in order to ensure consistent
      positive experiences. The outcomes from this study suggest that a missing
      component is teaching undergraduates how to manage relationships in clinical
      settings.

PMID- 25828092
TI  - An investigation of the validity of the Work Assessment Triage Tool clinical
      decision support tool for selecting optimal rehabilitation interventions for
      workers with musculoskeletal injuries.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the concurrent validity of a clinical decision support
      tool (Work Assessment Triage Tool (WATT)) developed to select rehabilitation
      treatments for injured workers with musculoskeletal conditions. DESIGN:
      Methodological study with cross-sectional and prospective components. SETTING:
      Data were obtained from the Workers' Compensation Board of Alberta rehabilitation
      facility in Edmonton, Canada. SUBJECTS: A total of 432 workers' compensation
      claimants evaluated between November 2011 and June 2012. MAIN MEASURES:
      Percentage agreement between the Work Assessment Triage Tool and clinician
      recommendations was used to determine concurrent validity. In claimants returning
      to work, frequencies of matching were calculated and compared between clinician
      and Work Assessment Triage Tool recommendations and the actual programs
      undertaken by claimants. The frequency of each intervention recommended by
      clinicians, Work Assessment Triage Tool, and case managers were also calculated
      and compared. RESULTS: Percentage agreement between clinician and Work Assessment
      Triage Tool recommendations was poor (19%) to moderate (46%) and Kappa = 0.37
      (95% CI -0.02, 0.76). The Work Assessment Triage Tool did not improve upon
      clinician recommendations as only 14 out of 31 claimants returning to work had
      programs that contradicted clinician recommendations, but were consistent with
      Work Assessment Triage Tool recommendations. Clinicians and case managers were
      inclined to recommend functional restoration, physical therapy, or no
      rehabilitation while the Work Assessment Triage Tool recommended additional
      evidence-based interventions, such as workplace-based interventions. CONCLUSIONS:
      Our findings do not provide evidence of concurrent validity for the Work
      Assessment Triage Tool compared with clinician recommendations. Based on these
      results, we cannot recommend further implementation of the Work Assessment Triage
      Tool. However, the Work Assessment Triage Tool appeared more likely than
      clinicians to recommend interventions supported by evidence; thus warranting
      further research.

PMID- 25828093
TI  - Is Stroke Early Supported Discharge still effective in practice? A prospective
      comparative study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Randomised controlled trials have shown the benefits of Early
      Supported Discharge (ESD) of stroke survivors. Our aim was to evaluate whether
      ESD is still beneficial when operating in the complex context of frontline
      healthcare provision. DESIGN: We conducted a cohort study with quasi experimental
      design. A total of 293 stroke survivors (transfer independently or with
      assistance of one, identified rehabilitation goals) within two naturally formed
      groups were recruited from two acute stroke units: 'ESD' n=135 and 'Non ESD'
      n=158 and 84 caregivers. The 'ESD' group accessed either of two ESD services
      operating in Nottinghamshire, UK. The 'Non ESD' group experienced standard
      practices for discharge and onward referral. Outcome measures (primary: Barthel
      Index) were administered at baseline, 6 weeks, 6 months and 12 months. RESULTS:
      The ESD group had a significantly shorter length of hospital stay (P=0.029) and
      reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction with services received
      (P<0.001). Following adjustment for age differences at baseline, participants in
      the ESD group (n=71) had significantly higher odds (compared to the Non ESD
      group, n=85) of being in the ?90 Barthel Index category at 6 weeks (OR = 1.557,
      95% CI 2.579 to 8.733), 6 months (OR = 1.541, 95% CI 2.617 to 8.340) and 12
      months (OR 0.837, 95% CI 1.306 to 4.087) respectively in relation to baseline.
      Carers of patients accessing ESD services showed significant improvement in
      mental health scores (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The health benefits of ESD are still
      evident when evidence based models of these services are implemented in practice.

PMID- 25828094
TI  - Feasibility of turbidity removal by high-gradient superconducting magnetic
      separation.
AB  - Several studies have focused on pollutant removal by magnetic seeding and high
      gradient superconducting magnetic separation (HGSMS). However, few works reported
      the application of HGSMS for treating non-magnetic pollutants by an industrial
      large-scale system. The feasibility of turbidity removal by a 600 mm bore
      superconducting magnetic separation system was evaluated in this study. The
      processing parameters were evaluated by using a 102 mm bore superconducting
      magnetic separation system that was equipped with the same magnetic separation
      chamber that was used in the 600 mm bore system. The double-canister system was
      used to process water pollutants. Analytical grade magnetite was used as a
      magnetic seed and the turbidity of the simulated raw water was approximately 110
      NTU, and the effects of polyaluminum chloride (PAC) and magnetic seeds on
      turbidity removal were evaluated. The use of more PAC and magnetic seeds had few
      advantages for the HGSMS at doses greater than 8 and 50 mg/l, respectively. A
      magnetic intensity of 5.0 T was beneficial for HGSMS, and increasing the flow
      rate through the steel wool matrix decreased the turbidity removal efficiency. In
      the breakthrough experiments, 90% of the turbidity was removed when 100 column
      volumes were not reached. The processing capacity of the 600 mm bore industry
      scale superconducting magnetic separator for turbidity treatment was
      approximately 78.0 m(3)/h or 65.5 * 10(4) m(3)/a. The processing cost per ton of
      water for the 600 mm bore system was 0.1 $/t. Thus, the HGSMS separator could be
      used in the following special circumstances: (1) when adequate space is not
      available for traditional water treatment equipment, especially the sedimentation
      tank, and (2) when decentralized sewage treatment HGSMS systems are easier to
      transport and install.

PMID- 25828095
TI  - Dehydroepiandrosterone and multiple measures of functional immunity in young
      adults.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Human immune function is strongly influenced by variation in hormone
      concentrations. The adrenal androgens dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and
      dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S) are thought to be beneficial to immune
      function and disease resistance, but physiologically interact with testosterone
      and cortisol. We predict that DHEA and DHEA-S will interact with these other
      hormones in determining immunological outcomes. Understanding the interactive
      effects of these hormones will aid in understanding variability in
      immunocompetence and clarify discrepancies in human studies of androgen-immune
      interactions. METHODS: Thirty-eight participants collected morning saliva over
      three days, from which concentrations of DHEA, DHEA-S, testosterone, and cortisol
      were measured, as well as salivary bacteria killing ability to measure innate
      immune function. From blood collection, serum was collected to measure innate
      immune function via a hemolytic complement assay, and whole blood collected and
      processed to measure proliferative responses of lymphocytes in the presence of
      mitogens. RESULTS: DHEA was negatively correlated with T cell proliferation, and
      positively correlated with salivary bacteria killing in male participants.
      Additionally, using regression models, DHEA-S was negatively associated with
      hemolytic complement activity, but interaction variables did not yield
      statistically significant relationships for any other outcome measure.
      CONCLUSIONS: While interactions with other hormones did not significantly relate
      with immune function measures in this sample, DHEA and DHEA-S did differentially
      impact multiple branches of the immune system. Generally characterized as
      immunosupportive in action, DHEA is shown to inhibit certain facets of innate and
      cell-mediated immunity, suggesting a more complex role in regulating
      immunocompetence.

PMID- 25828097
TI  - Blocking integrin inactivation as an anti-angiogenic therapy.

PMID- 25828096
TI  - Insm1 cooperates with Neurod1 and Foxa2 to maintain mature pancreatic beta-cell
      function.
AB  - Key transcription factors control the gene expression program in mature
      pancreatic beta-cells, but their integration into regulatory networks is little
      understood. Here, we show that Insm1, Neurod1 and Foxa2 directly interact and
      together bind regulatory sequences in the genome of mature pancreatic beta-cells.
      We used Insm1 ablation in mature beta-cells in mice and found pronounced deficits
      in insulin secretion and gene expression. Insm1-dependent genes identified
      previously in developing beta-cells markedly differ from the ones identified in
      the adult. In particular, adult mutant beta-cells resemble immature beta-cells of
      newborn mice in gene expression and functional properties. We defined Insm1,
      Neurod1 and Foxa2 binding sites associated with genes deregulated in Insm1 mutant
      beta-cells. Remarkably, combinatorial binding of Insm1, Neurod1 and Foxa2 but not
      binding of Insm1 alone explained a significant fraction of gene expression
      changes. Human genomic sequences corresponding to the murine sites occupied by
      Insm1/Neurod1/Foxa2 were enriched in single nucleotide polymorphisms associated
      with glycolytic traits. Thus, our data explain part of the mechanisms by which
      beta-cells maintain maturity: Combinatorial Insm1/Neurod1/Foxa2 binding
      identifies regulatory sequences that maintain the mature gene expression program
      in beta-cells, and disruption of this network results in functional failure. 

PMID- 25828098
TI  - An upp-based markerless gene replacement method for genome reduction and
      metabolic pathway engineering in Pseudomonas mendocina NK-01 and Pseudomonas
      putida KT2440.
AB  - A markerless gene replacement method was adapted by combining a suicide plasmid,
      pEX18Tc, with a counterselectable marker, the upp gene encoding uracil
      phosphoribosyltransferase (UPRTase), for the medium-chain length
      polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA(MCL))-producing strain Pseudomonas mendocina NK-01. An
      NK-01 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) resistant background strain was first constructed by
      deleting the chromosomal upp gene. The suicide plasmid pEX18Tc, carrying a
      functional allele of the upp gene of P. mendocina NK-01, was used to construct
      the vectors to delete the algA (encoding mannose-1-phosphate guanylyltransferase)
      and phaZ (encoding PHA(MCL) depolymerase) genes, and a 30 kb chromosomal fragment
      in the 5-FU resistant background host. The genes were removed efficiently from
      the genome of P. mendocina NK-01 and left a markerless chromosomal mutant. In
      addition, two exogenous genes were inserted into the phaC1 (PHA(MCL) polymerase)
      loci of Pseudomonas putida KT-?UPP simultaneously. Thus, we constructed a
      genetically stable and marker-free P. putida KT2440 mutant with integrated mpd
      (encoding methyl parathion hydrolase (MPH)) and pytH (encoding a pyrethroid
      hydrolyzing carboxylesterase (PytH)) gene on the chromosome. The upp-based
      counterselection system could be further adapted for P. mendocina NK-01 and P.
      putida KT2440 and used for genome reduction and metabolic pathway engineering.

PMID- 25828099
TI  - Brain metastatic cancer cells release microRNA-181c-containing extracellular
      vesicles capable of destructing blood-brain barrier.
AB  - Brain metastasis is an important cause of mortality in breast cancer patients. A
      key event during brain metastasis is the migration of cancer cells through blood
      brain barrier (BBB). However, the molecular mechanism behind the passage through
      this natural barrier remains unclear. Here we show that cancer-derived
      extracellular vesicles (EVs), mediators of cell-cell communication via delivery
      of proteins and microRNAs (miRNAs), trigger the breakdown of BBB. Importantly,
      miR-181c promotes the destruction of BBB through the abnormal localization of
      actin via the downregulation of its target gene, PDPK1. PDPK1 degradation by miR
      181c leads to the downregulation of phosphorylated cofilin and the resultant
      activated cofilin-induced modulation of actin dynamics. Furthermore, we
      demonstrate that systemic injection of brain metastatic cancer cell-derived EVs
      promoted brain metastasis of breast cancer cell lines and are preferentially
      incorporated into the brain in vivo. Taken together, these results indicate a
      novel mechanism of brain metastasis mediated by EVs that triggers the destruction
      of BBB. 

PMID- 25828101
TI  - Genomic profiles and predictors of early allograft dysfunction after human liver
      transplantation.
AB  - Early hepatic allograft dysfunction (EAD) manifests posttransplantation with high
      serum transaminases, persistent cholestasis, and coagulopathy. The biological
      mechanisms are poorly understood. This study investigates the molecular
      mechanisms involved in EAD and defines a gene expression signature revealing
      different biological pathways in subjects with EAD from those without EAD, a
      potential first step in developing a molecular classifier as a potential clinical
      diagnostic. Global gene expression profiles of 30 liver transplant recipients of
      deceased donor grafts with EAD and 26 recipients without graft dysfunction were
      investigated using microarrays of liver biopsies performed at the end of cold
      storage and after graft reperfusion prior to closure. Results reveal a shift in
      inflammatory and metabolic responses between the two time points and differences
      between EAD and non-EAD. We identified relevant pathways (PPARalpha and NF
      kappaB) and targets (such as CXCL1, IL1, TRAF6, TIPARP, and TNFRSF1B) associated
      with the phenotype of EAD. Preliminary proof of concept gene expression
      classifiers that distinguish EAD from non-EAD patients, with Area Under the Curve
      (AUC) >0.80 were also identified. This data may have mechanistic and diagnostic
      implications for EAD. 

PMID- 25828100
TI  - ANMS-ESNM position paper and consensus guidelines on biofeedback therapy for
      anorectal disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anorectal disorders such as dyssynergic defecation, fecal
      incontinence, levator ani syndrome, and solitary rectal ulcer syndrome are
      common, and affect both the adult and pediatric populations. Although they are
      treated with several treatment approaches, over the last two decades, biofeedback
      therapy using visual and verbal feedback techniques has emerged as an useful
      option. Because it is safe, it is commonly recommended. However, the clinical
      efficacy of biofeedback therapy in adults and children is not clearly known, and
      there is a lack of critical appraisal of the techniques used and the outcomes of
      biofeedback therapy for these disorders. PURPOSE: The American
      Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society and the European Society of
      Neurogastroenterology and Motility convened a task force to examine the
      indications, study performance characteristics, methodologies used, and the
      efficacy of biofeedback therapy, and to provide evidence-based recommendations.
      Based on the strength of evidence, biofeedback therapy is recommended for the
      short-term and long-term treatment of constipation with dyssynergic defecation
      (Level I, Grade A), and for the treatment of fecal incontinence (Level II, Grade
      B). Biofeedback therapy may be useful in the short-term treatment of Levator Ani
      Syndrome with dyssynergic defecation (Level II, Grade B), and solitary rectal
      ulcer syndrome with dyssynergic defecation (Level III, Grade C), but the evidence
      is fair. Evidence does not support the use of biofeedback for the treatment of
      childhood constipation (Level 1, Grade D).

PMID- 25828102
TI  - The screening value of baPWV and hs-crp to ASCVD in middle and elderly community
      population in Shanghai.

PMID- 25828103
TI  - Central venous cannulation and antegrade arterial perfusion for minimally
      invasive aortic valve surgery: Return to the basics.

PMID- 25828104
TI  - Combined angiotensin receptor blockade and neprilysin inhibition attenuates
      angiotensin-II mediated renal cellular collagen synthesis.

PMID- 25828105
TI  - Response to the letter by Akinori Sairaku et al.: Different mechanisms = synergic
      effect.

PMID- 25828106
TI  - Cardiovascular disease is associated with the perception of worsening
      psychosocial work characteristics.

PMID- 25828107
TI  - A case of malignant aortic calcification in congenital heart disease and
      rheumatoid arthritis.

PMID- 25828108
TI  - Exercise improves cardiac function and attenuates insulin resistance in Dahl salt
      sensitive rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The development of heart failure (HF) secondary to hypertension is a
      complex process related to a series of physiological and molecular factors
      including glucose dysregulation. The overall objective of this study was to
      investigate whether exercise training could improve cardiac function and insulin
      resistance in a rat model of hypertensive HF. METHODS: Seven week old Dahl salt
      sensitive rats received either 8% NaCl (n = 30) or 0.3% NaCl (n = 18) diet. After
      a 5-week diet, animals were randomly assigned to exercise training (treadmill
      running at 18 m/min, 5% inclination for 60 min, 5 days/week) or kept sedentary
      for 6 additional weeks. 2D echocardiography was used to calculate left
      ventricular (LV) dimensions, volumes and global functional parameters. LV global
      deformation parameters were measured with speckle tracking echocardiography.
      Insulin resistance was assessed using 1h oral glucose tolerance testing. RESULTS:
      High salt diet led to cardiac hypertrophy and HF, characterized by increased wall
      thicknesses and LV volumes as well as reduced deformation parameters. In
      addition, high salt diet was associated with the development of insulin
      resistance. Exercise training improved cardiac function, reduced the extent of
      interstitial fibrosis and reduced insulin levels 60 min post-glucose
      administration. CONCLUSIONS: Even if not fully reversed, exercise training in HF
      animals improved cardiac function and insulin resistance. Adjusted modalities of
      exercise training might offer new insights not only as a preventive strategy, but
      also as a treatment for HF patients.

PMID- 25828109
TI  - Impact of local endothelial shear stress on neointima and plaque following stent
      implantation in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction: A subgroup
      analysis of the COMFORTABLE AMI-IBIS 4 trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have demonstrated an association between endothelial
      shear stress (ESS) and neointimal formation after stent implantation. However,
      the role of ESS on the composition of neointima and underlying plaque remains
      unclear. METHODS: Patients recruited in the Comfortable AMI-IBIS 4 study
      implanted with bare metal stents (BMS) or biolimus eluting stents (BES) that had
      biplane coronary angiography at 13 month follow-up were included in the analysis.
      The intravascular ultrasound virtual-histology (IVUS-VH) and the angiographic
      data were used to reconstruct the luminal surface, and the stent in the stented
      segments. Blood flow simulation was performed in the stent surface, which was
      assumed to represent the luminal surface at baseline, to assess the association
      between ESS and neointima thickness. The predominant ESS was estimated in 3-mm
      segments and was correlated with the amount of neointima, neointimal tissue
      composition, and with the changes in the underlying plaque burden and
      composition. RESULTS: Forty three patients (18 implanted with BMS and 25 with
      BES) were studied. In both stent groups negative correlations were noted between
      ESS and neointima thickness in BMS (P < 0.001) and BES (P = 0.002). In BMS there
      was a negative correlation between predominant ESS and the percentage of the
      neointimal necrotic core component (P = 0.015). In BES group, the limited
      neointima formation did not allow evaluation of the effect of ESS on its tissue
      characteristics. ESS did not affect vessel wall remodeling and the plaque burden
      and composition behind BMS (P > 0.10) and BES (P > 0.45). CONCLUSIONS: ESS
      determines neointimal formation in both BMS and BES and affects the composition
      of the neointima in BMS. Conversely, ESS does not impact the plaque behind struts
      irrespective of stent type throughout 13 months of follow-up.

PMID- 25828110
TI  - The combined effect of physical activity and sedentary behaviors on a clustered
      cardio-metabolic risk score: The Helena study.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Increased physical activity (PA) and decreased sedentary
      behaviors (SBs) may have beneficial effects on cardio-metabolic risk in
      adolescents. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between
      independent/combined effects of PA and SB with individual/clustered cardio
      metabolic risk factors. METHODS: A sample of 769 adolescents (12.5-17.5 years)
      from the HELENA cross-sectional study (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition
      in Adolescence) and with valid data on metabolic risk factors were included.
      RESULTS: Concerning moderate-to-vigorous-PA (MVPA) and vigorous-PA (VPA),
      measured with accelerometers, girls tended to do more MVPA (36%) and VPA (114%)
      than boys. Unadjusted analyses show a positive association between "PA >= 60
      min/d; SB >= 2 h" and the ratio TC/HDL-c (beta = 0.27; 95%CI 0.01 to 0.52; p <
      0.05), and a negative association between "MVPA >= 60 min/d; SB < 2h" with the ?
      4Skinfolds (beta = -0.32; 95%CI -0.61 to -0.02; p<0.05). Moreover, "SB >= 2 h/d"
      was associated with increased cardio-metabolic risk (PR 1.59; 95%CI 1.05 to 2.39;
      p < 0.05), while "PA >= 60 min/d; SB < 2h" had a protective effect against cardio
      metabolic risk (PR 0.48; 95%CI 0.25 to 0.91; p < 0.05). After adjustment for
      potential confounders, a positive association between SB and ? 4Skinfolds was
      shown (beta = 0.28; 95%CI 0.04 to 0.53; p < 0.05). Furthermore, VO2max
      (mL/kg/min) tends to increase in those participants who do higher VPA and less SB
      (p = 0.042), and there was a protective effect of "VPA >= 30 min/d; SB < 2h"
      against cardio-metabolic risk (PR 0.24; 95%CI 0.07 to 0.85; p < 0.05).
      CONCLUSION: The current study suggests that adolescents should be encouraged to
      decrease sedentary lifestyle and increase physical activity, especially vigorous
      physical activity, in order to reduce cardio-metabolic risk.

PMID- 25828111
TI  - Accuracy of 64-slice coronary computed tomography in patients with tako-tsubo
      cardiomyopathy.

PMID- 25828112
TI  - Blood borne catecholamines and Takotsubo syndrome: An unsettled relationship.

PMID- 25828113
TI  - Increasing burden of psychiatric comorbidities amongst patients with Ischaemic
      Heart Disease.

PMID- 25828114
TI  - Relation of circumferential and longitudinal strain to other independent
      prognostic imaging markers in first time ST-elevation myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25828115
TI  - Impaired pain processing in patients with silent myocardial ischemia.

PMID- 25828116
TI  - Late presentation and surgical repair of ALCAPA.

PMID- 25828117
TI  - A case of repetitive and simultaneous stent thromboses.

PMID- 25828118
TI  - Safety of dabigatran or rivaroxaban for thoracoscopic ablation in patients with
      atrial fibrillation.

PMID- 25828119
TI  - Heart rate response to simulated obstructive apnea while awake predicts
      bradycardia during spontaneous obstructive sleep apnea.

PMID- 25828120
TI  - Prevalence of M4 macrophages within human coronary atherosclerotic plaques is
      associated with features of plaque instability.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The platelet chemokine CXCL4 induces monocyte differentiation
      resulting in a macrophage phenotype called "M4", which co-expresses CD68, MMP7,
      and S100A8. We hypothesized that M4 macrophages are associated with plaque
      destabilization. METHODS: Atherosclerotic arteries were obtained from explanted
      hearts of patients with severe coronary artery disease (CAD, n = 32) and of
      patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and no or mild CAD (controls, n = 19).
      Coronary arteries were stained with H&E, and immuno-fluorescence was performed
      against CD68, MMP7, and S100A8. RESULTS: Both CD68(+) macrophages representing
      the entire macrophage population and MMP7(+)S100A8(+)CD68(+) M4 macrophages could
      be reproducibly identified within all arterial layers. The average proportion of
      the M4 macrophage phenotype amongst all CD68(+) macrophages was 31.7 +/- 16.2%.
      The highest number of M4 macrophages was found in the adventitia, followed by the
      intima. CD68(+) and M4 macrophage numbers were significantly higher in patients
      with severe CAD. The presence of M4 macrophages within the intima and the media
      was significantly associated with plaque instability as determined by Stary
      class. Multivariate analysis showed a highly significant contribution of
      cardiovascular risk factors (P = 0.008) to plaque instability, while only trends
      were observed for age (P = 0.060) and intimal prevalence of M4 macrophages (P =
      0.098). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate for the first time that M4 macrophages can be
      reproducibly found in coronary artery plaques. The prevalence of M4 macrophages
      is associated with indexes of plaque instability, most likely representing a
      surrogate marker of inflammatory activity. These findings suggest a pathogenetic
      role of M4 macrophages in vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques.

PMID- 25828121
TI  - Simultaneous computerised activation of the primary percutaneous coronary
      intervention pathway reduces out-of-hours door-to-balloon time but not mortality.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In 2009 activation of out of hours (OOH) primary percutaneous
      coronary intervention (PPCI) in our institution changed from separate telephone
      calls to a simultaneous computerised alert. We assessed the impact of this
      protocol change on door-to-balloon (DTB) time, in hospital and 1 year mortality.
      METHODS: Retrospective survey of our Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project
      (MINAP) database. OOH patients were categorized--pre- (Group 1) and post- (Group
      2) introduction of the computerised alert protocol. RESULTS: OOH PPCI was
      performed for 793 patients (mean age 61, 73.4% male)--295 in Group 1 and 498 in
      Group 2. Median DTB times were 92 min (interquartile range [IQR] 75-111) for
      Group 1 and 76 min (IQR 64-97) for Group 2 (p < 0.0001). Forty-eight percent
      achieved DTB in <= 90 min in Group 1 compared to 70% in Group 2 (p < 0.0001).
      Computerised alert was associated with a shorter DTB time on multivariate
      analysis (beta coefficient -0.09, p = 0.03 for linear regression and OR 2.8, 95%
      CI 1.6-5.0, p < 0.0001 for logistic regression). In hospital mortality was 4.1%
      in Group 1 and 5% in Group 2 (p = 0.60). All-cause mortality at 1 year was 6.1%
      in Group 1 and 9.9% in Group 2 (p = 0.09). CONCLUSIONS: Simultaneous computerised
      activation for OOH PPCI reduced DTB times, increased the number of patients
      achieving target DTB times but did not affect mortality.

PMID- 25828122
TI  - Operative finding of aortic cusp prolapse in benfluorex-induced aortic
      regurgitation.

PMID- 25828123
TI  - Takotsubo (stress) cardiomyopathy and obstructive renal stones in an infant with
      norovirus gastroenteritis.

PMID- 25828124
TI  - Syncope associated with carotid sinus syndrome in an occult nasopharyngeal
      carcinoma.

PMID- 25828125
TI  - A honeycomb-like structure in chronic total occlusion demonstrated by frequency
      domain optical coherence tomography.

PMID- 25828126
TI  - Duration of daily TV/screen watching with cardiovascular, respiratory, mental and
      psychiatric health: Scottish Health Survey, 2012-2013.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The link of duration of TV and/or screen watching and chronic health
      conditions by subtypes is unclear. Therefore, the relationship between TV and/or
      screen watching hours and cardiovascular, respiratory, mental and psychiatric
      health and well-being (happiness) was assessed in an independent population-based
      survey to identify correlations of various hours with health conditions. METHODS:
      Data was retrieved from the Scottish Health Survey, 2012-2013. Information on
      demographics, lifestyle factors, self-reported health conditions and TV and/or
      screen watching duration in both Scottish adults and children was collected by
      annual household interviews. Chi-square test and survey weighted logistic and
      multi-nominal modelling were performed. RESULTS: 5527 (57.0%) Scottish adults
      aged 16-99 watched TV and/or screen daily for 3 + h on average. There was a trend
      toward more hypertension, angina, stroke, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary
      disease and poor self-rated health and mental health. Reporting watching TV
      and/or screen for 4 + h, for 5 + h and for 8 + h was associated with higher rates
      of heart attack, heart murmur or other heart troubles and abnormal heart rhythms,
      respectively. 414 (20.7%) Scottish children aged 4-12 watched TV and/or screen
      for 3h or more. They tended to have poor self-rated health and life difficulties
      perceived as emotional and behavioural problems. CONCLUSION: There were
      associations between various hours of TV and/or screen watching (3+h) and poor
      health observed both in Scottish adults and children. Future educational and
      public health programmes minimising TV and/or screen watching in order to protect
      cardiovascular, respiratory, mental and psychiatric health might be considered.

PMID- 25828127
TI  - Sudomotor function and obesity-related risk factors in an elderly healthy
      population: The PROOF-Synapse Study.

PMID- 25828129
TI  - Transparency in medical research: Time for a paradigm shift.

PMID- 25828128
TI  - Spectral analysis-based risk score enables early prediction of mortality and
      cerebral performance in patients undergoing therapeutic hypothermia for
      ventricular fibrillation and comatose status.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Early prognosis in comatose survivors after cardiac arrest due to
      ventricular fibrillation (VF) is unreliable, especially in patients undergoing
      mild hypothermia. We aimed at developing a reliable risk-score to enable early
      prediction of cerebral performance and survival. METHODS: Sixty-one out of 239
      consecutive patients undergoing mild hypothermia after cardiac arrest, with
      eventual return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and comatose status on
      admission fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Background clinical variables, VF
      time and frequency domain fundamental variables were considered. The primary and
      secondary outcomes were a favorable neurological performance (FNP) during
      hospitalization and survival to hospital discharge, respectively. The predictive
      model was developed in a retrospective cohort (n = 32; September 2006-September
      2011, 48.5 +/- 10.5 months of follow-up) and further validated in a prospective
      cohort (n = 29; October 2011-July 2013, 5 +/- 1.8 months of follow-up). RESULTS:
      FNP was present in 16 (50.0%) and 21 patients (72.4%) in the retrospective and
      prospective cohorts, respectively. Seventeen (53.1%) and 21 patients (72.4%),
      respectively, survived to hospital discharge. Both outcomes were significantly
      associated (p < 0.001). Retrospective multivariate analysis provided a prediction
      model (sensitivity = 0.94, specificity = 1) that included spectral dominant
      frequency, derived power density and peak ratios between high and low frequency
      bands, and the number of shocks delivered before ROSC. Validation on the
      prospective cohort showed sensitivity = 0.88 and specificity = 0.91. A model
      derived risk-score properly predicted 93% of FNP. Testing the model on follow-up
      showed a c-statistic >= 0.89. CONCLUSIONS: A spectral analysis-based model
      reliably correlates time-dependent VF spectral changes with acute cerebral injury
      in comatose survivors undergoing mild hypothermia after cardiac arrest.

PMID- 25828130
TI  - Paclitaxel-eluting vs. bare metal stent implantation in saphenous vein graft
      lesions: Very long-term follow-up of the SOS (Stenting of Saphenous vein grafts)
      trial.

PMID- 25828131
TI  - Post-infarction biventricular free wall rupture with an extracardiac left to
      right shunt thorough a pseudoaneurysm.

PMID- 25828132
TI  - Clinical outcomes among patients with extreme obesity undergoing elective
      coronary revascularization: Evaluation of major complications in contemporary
      practice.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Individuals with extreme obesity (EO), defined by a body
      mass index (BMI) >= 40 kg/m(2), constitute an increasingly prevalent population
      at higher risk of procedural complications. The implications of increasing weight
      burdens among this subset of patients in the setting of elective coronary
      revascularization have yet to be adequately studied. METHODS: We sought to define
      major complications in this group at one year following contemporary
      revascularization strategies by retrospectively analysing a cohort of consecutive
      EO patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or
      coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG). The primary endpoint was a composite of
      peri- and post-procedural complications. Secondary endpoints included a
      cardiovascular composite and target vessel revascularization (TVR). RESULTS:
      Adjusted event-free survival curves for the primary endpoint among 133 patients
      differed significantly with higher BMI (>43.2 kg/m(2)) associated with greater
      risk (p=0.02). The primary endpoint occurred more frequently with CABG compared
      to PCI (24.2% vs. 5.0%, p < 0.01), which remained significant after adjusting for
      differences in baseline variables. Rates of the cardiovascular composite and TVR
      were comparable. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing BMI was associated with greater risk for
      major complications among EO patients undergoing elective coronary
      revascularization. PCI was associated with fewer complications; however, both
      revascularization strategies demonstrated equivalent rates of death, MI, and/or
      stroke. Larger studies may permit a better understanding of the associations
      between increasing BMI and specific outcomes and to evaluate the role for pre
      procedural weight loss in this select population.

PMID- 25828133
TI  - Low birth weight and large adult waist circumference increase the risk of
      cardiovascular disease in remote indigenous Australians--An 18 year cohort study.

PMID- 25828134
TI  - The effects of angiotensin receptor blockers on outcomes of Chinese patients with
      atrial fibrillation.

PMID- 25828135
TI  - In vivo characterization of changes in composition of organized thrombus in
      patient with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension treated with balloon
      pulmonary angioplasty.

PMID- 25828136
TI  - CYP2C19*2 genotype influence in acute coronary syndrome patients undergoing
      serial clopidogrel dose tailoring based on platelet function testing: Analysis
      from randomized controlled trial NCT02096419.

PMID- 25828137
TI  - Clinical and anatomical predictors of MitraClip therapy failure for functional
      mitral regurgitation: single central clip strategy in asymmetric tethering.

PMID- 25828138
TI  - Coronary strictures, intraluminal thrombus and aneurysms: Unreported imaging
      appearance of ALCAPA syndrome post Takeuchi procedure.

PMID- 25828139
TI  - Ventricular aneurysms in cardiac sarcoidosis: From physiopathology to surgical
      treatment through a clinical case presenting with ventricular arrhythmias.

PMID- 25828140
TI  - Is there a "chronic Takotsubo syndrome"? Could "smart-phone"-based technology be
      of aid?

PMID- 25828141
TI  - Anxiety and depression scores in patients with coronary artery disease and
      coronary artery ectasia.

PMID- 25828142
TI  - Elevated serum soluble ST2 levels may predict the fatal outcomes in patients with
      chronic heart failure.

PMID- 25828143
TI  - The repeated bout effect of typical lower body strength training sessions on sub
      maximal running performance and hormonal response.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of two typical strength training
      sessions performed 1 week apart (i.e. repeated bout effect) on sub-maximal
      running performance and hormonal. METHODS: Fourteen resistance-untrained men (age
      24.0 +/- 3.9 years; height 1.83 +/- 0.11 m; body mass 77.4 +/- 14.0 kg; VOpeak
      48.1 +/- 6.1 M kg(-1) min(-1)) undertook two bouts of high-intensity strength
      training sessions (i.e. six-repetition maximum). Creatine kinase (CK), delayed
      onset muscle soreness (DOMS), counter-movement jump (CMJ) as well as
      concentrations of serum testosterone, cortisol and testosterone/cortisol ratio
      (T/C) were examined prior to and immediately post, 24 (T24) and 48 (T48) h post
      each strength training bout. Sub-maximal running performance was also conducted
      at T24 and T48 of each bout. RESULTS: When measures were compared between bouts
      at T48, the degree of elevation in CK (-58.4 +/- 55.6 %) and DOMS (-31.43 +/-
      42.9 %) and acute reduction in CMJ measures (4.1 +/- 5.4 %) were attenuated (p <
      0.05) following the second bout. Cortisol was increased until T24 (p < 0.05)
      although there were no differences between bouts and no differences were found
      for testosterone and T/C ratio (p > 0.05). Sub-maximal running performance was
      impaired until T24, although changes were not attenuated following the second
      bout. CONCLUSIONS: The initial bout appeared to provide protection against a
      number of muscle damage indicators suggesting a greater need for recovery
      following the initial session of typical lower body resistance exercises in
      resistance-untrained men although sub-maximal running should be avoided following
      the first two sessions.

PMID- 25828144
TI  - Evaluation of force-velocity and power-velocity relationship of arm muscles.
AB  - PURPOSE: A number of recent studies have revealed an approximately linear force
      velocity (F-V) and, consequently, a parabolic power-velocity (P-V) relationship
      of multi-joint tasks. However, the measurement characteristics of their
      parameters have been neglected, particularly those regarding arm muscles, which
      could be a problem for using the linear F-V model in both research and routine
      testing. Therefore, the aims of the present study were to evaluate the strength,
      shape, reliability, and concurrent validity of the F-V relationship of arm
      muscles. METHODS: Twelve healthy participants performed maximum bench press
      throws against loads ranging from 20 to 70 % of their maximum strength, and
      linear regression model was applied on the obtained range of F and V data. One
      repetition maximum bench press and medicine ball throw tests were also conducted.
      RESULTS: The observed individual F-V relationships were exceptionally strong (r =
      0.96-0.99; all P < 0.05) and fairly linear, although it remains unresolved
      whether a polynomial fit could provide even stronger relationships. The
      reliability of parameters obtained from the linear F-V regressions proved to be
      mainly high (ICC > 0.80), while their concurrent validity regarding directly
      measured F, P, and V ranged from high (for maximum F) to medium-to-low (for
      maximum P and V). CONCLUSIONS: The findings add to the evidence that the linear F
      V and, consequently, parabolic P-V models could be used to study the mechanical
      properties of muscular systems, as well as to design a relatively simple,
      reliable, and ecologically valid routine test of the muscle ability of force,
      power, and velocity production.

PMID- 25828145
TI  - Complex ophthalmoplaegia denoting Wernicke encephalopathy in a non-alcoholic
      individual.

PMID- 25828147
TI  - Clinical Profile and Quality of Life of Adult Patients After the Fontan
      Procedure.
AB  - Increasingly, more patients with univentricular heart reach adulthood. Therefore,
      long-term psychological features are an important concern. The aim of this study
      was to evaluate the clinical and psychological profile of post-Fontan adult
      patients and to identify the most significant determinants of quality of life. In
      this retrospective cross-sectional study, we reviewed the surgical and medical
      history of post-Fontan adult patients. Patients underwent a 24-h
      electrocardiogram, echocardiography and exercise testing. Self-report
      questionnaires were used to assess the Work Ability Index, quality of life
      (Satisfaction with Life Scale), perceived health status (SF-36 questionnaire),
      coping strategies (Brief Cope questionnaire) and presence of mood disorders
      (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Thirty-nine patients aged between 18 and
      48 years (mean 27.5 years) were enrolled. The mean follow-up was 21.5 years. Most
      patients were unmarried (82.9 %), had a high school diploma (62.9 %) and were
      employed (62.9 %). Twenty-nine patients (82.3 %) had at least one long-term
      complication. The median single ventricle ejection fraction was 57 %, and the
      median maximal oxygen consumption was 26.8 ml/min/kg. This population tended to
      be anxious and to use adaptive coping strategies. Quality of life was perceived
      as excellent or good in 57.2 % of cases and was not related to either cardiac
      function or exercise capacity. Both quality of life and SF-36 domains were
      related to the Work Ability Index. This cohort of post-Fontan adult patients
      enjoyed a good quality of life irrespective of disease severity.

PMID- 25828146
TI  - Highlights on mechanisms of drugs targeting MDSCs: providing a novel perspective
      on cancer treatment.
AB  - The hallmark of tumor microenvironment is that it makes up of numerous
      immunomodulatory cells and factors which exert essential roles in
      immunoprotection and immunosuppression in addition to tumor cells. Myeloid
      derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a heterogeneous population of immature
      myeloid cells reported to promote immunosuppression and angiogenesis and
      facilitate tumor metastasis and invasion. The wide scope of MDSCs functional
      activities make these cells promising targets for effective cancer treatments. In
      this review, we briefly discuss the origin, subpopulation, and functions of
      MDSCs, as well as the potential to target these cells for therapeutic benefit. We
      focus on the underlying molecular mechanisms of these drugs targeting MDSCs,
      mainly from the standpoint of molecules related to drug targets. 

PMID- 25828148
TI  - Standard error or standard deviation?

PMID- 25828149
TI  - A Budget Impact Analysis of Newly Available Hepatitis C Therapeutics and the
      Financial Burden on a State Correctional System.
AB  - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection continues to disproportionately affect
      incarcerated populations. New HCV drugs present opportunities and challenges to
      address HCV in corrections. The goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of
      the treatment costs for HCV infection in a state correctional population through
      a budget impact analysis comparing differing treatment strategies. Electronic and
      paper medical records were reviewed to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis C
      within the Rhode Island Department of Corrections. Three treatment strategies
      were evaluated as follows: (1) treating all chronically infected persons, (2)
      treating only patients with demonstrated fibrosis, and (3) treating only patients
      with advanced fibrosis. Budget impact was computed as the percentage of pharmacy
      and overall healthcare expenditures accrued by total drug costs assuming entirely
      interferon-free therapy. Sensitivity analyses assessed potential variance in
      costs related to variability in HCV prevalence, genotype, estimated variation in
      market pricing, length of stay for the sentenced population, and uptake of newly
      available regimens. Chronic HCV prevalence was estimated at 17% of the total
      population. Treating all sentenced inmates with at least 6 months remaining of
      their sentence would cost about $34 million-13 times the pharmacy budget and
      almost twice the overall healthcare budget. Treating inmates with advanced
      fibrosis would cost about $15 million. A hypothetical 50% reduction in total drug
      costs for future therapies could cost $17 million to treat all eligible inmates.
      With immense costs projected with new treatment, it is unlikely that correctional
      facilities will have the capacity to treat all those afflicted with HCV.
      Alternative payment strategies in collaboration with outside programs may be
      necessary to curb this epidemic. In order to improve care and treatment delivery,
      drug costs also need to be seriously reevaluated to be more accessible and
      equitable now that HCV is more curable.

PMID- 25828150
TI  - CCL7 contributes to the TNF-alpha-dependent inflammation of lesional psoriatic
      skin.
AB  - Chemokines are small chemotactic proteins that have a crucial role in leukocyte
      recruitment into tissue. Targeting these mediators has been suggested as a
      potential therapeutic option in inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis.
      Using quantitative RT-PCR, we found CCL7, a chemokine ligand known to interact
      with multiple C-C chemokine receptors, to be markedly increased in lesional
      psoriasis as opposed to atopic dermatitis, lichen planus, non-lesional psoriatic
      and normal control skin. Surprisingly, this increase in CCL7 mRNA expression
      exceeded that of all other chemokines investigated, and keratinocytes and dermal
      blood endothelial cells were identified as its likely cellular sources. In an
      imiquimod-induced psoriasis-like mouse model, CCL7 had a profound impact on
      myeloid cell inflammation as well as on the upregulation of key pro-psoriatic
      cytokines such as CCL20, IL-12p40 and IL-17C, while its blockade led to an
      increase in the antipsoriatic cytokine IL-4. In humans receiving the TNF-alpha
      blocker infliximab, CCL7 was downregulated in lesional psoriatic skin already
      within 16 hours after a single intravenous infusion. These data suggest that CCL7
      acts as a driver of TNF-alpha-dependent Th1/Th17-mediated inflammation in
      lesional psoriatic skin. 

PMID- 25828151
TI  - Lymphadenopathy in Patients With Chikungunya Virus Infection Imported From
      Hispaniola: Case Reports.
AB  - Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is currently spreading in the Caribbean and America.
      Lymphadenopathy, described in infections with other alphaviruses, is not commonly
      reported in CHIKV infections. Painful lymphadenopathy was found in three of the
      first six CHIKV infections from the current outbreak diagnosed at a reference
      center in Madrid, Spain. 

PMID- 25828152
TI  - Not just ordinary hand dermatitis: mechanic's hands revealing dermatomyositis.

PMID- 25828153
TI  - Expectations of pregnant women of Mexican origin regarding their health care
      providers.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the expectations of pregnant women of Mexican origin
      regarding trust and communication with their health care providers. DESIGN:
      Qualitative, descriptive inquiry. SETTING: A large metropolitan area community
      clinic in Texas that provided services to predominately Hispanic women.
      PARTICIPANTS: The sample consisted of 13 women between ages 19 and 36 (mean = 29)
      who received prenatal health care at a community clinic that offers care to
      Hispanic women. METHODS: Semistructured interviews were conducted with open-ended
      starter questions and follow-up questions based on the participant responses.
      Based on the women's language preference nine interviews were conducted in
      Spanish and four in English. RESULTS: Themes emerged from the beginning
      interviews, and after five interviews, saturation was reached. Data were arranged
      by the emerged themes of the model of trust and communication (Figure 1). The
      themes reflected the perception of trust, communication, patient centeredness,
      and satisfaction with health care providers. CONCLUSION: These women wanted their
      providers to provide them with "everything," to be direct, to speak their
      language, and to present information as friends. Health care providers need to be
      able to provide communication not only in the participant's preferred language,
      but also in a way that is culturally sensitive.

PMID- 25828154
TI  - Blink-related dynamic switching between internal and external orienting networks
      while viewing videos.
AB  - Humans spontaneously generate eyeblinks every few seconds. However, because this
      blink rate is several times more common than is required for ocular lubrication,
      the function of most spontaneous eyeblinks remains unknown. Because spontaneous
      eyeblinks tend to occur at implicit breakpoints in video stories, I hypothesized
      that spontaneous eyeblinks play an active role in attentional disengagement from
      external stimuli. Consistent with this, we previously found that spontaneous
      eyeblinks involve the concurrent deactivation of the dorsal attention network and
      activation of the default mode network when individuals are viewing videos.
      However, this previous study examined only the upper brain regions to increase
      the temporal resolution of the data. Therefore, the present study examined
      whether the temporal and subcortical regions exhibited blink-related activations
      or deactivations using the same visual stimuli as in the previous study. Data
      revealed that the bilateral hippocampus and cerebellum showed a prominent but
      momentary activation after the blink onset. In contrast, a blink-related
      deactivation was observed in both the right ventral and dorsal attention
      networks. These results suggest that spontaneous eyeblinks are involved in the
      attentional disengagement from external visual information via the massive and
      dynamic alteration of brain activity between the external and internal orienting
      networks. 

PMID- 25828155
TI  - Reliability of structure tensors in representing soft tissues structure.
AB  - Structure tensors have been applied as descriptors of tissue morphology for
      constitutive modeling. Here the reliability of these tensors in representing
      tissues structure is investigated by model simulations of a few examples of
      generated and measured planar fiber orientation distributions. Reliability was
      evaluated by comparing the data with the orientation density distribution
      recovered from the structure tensor representation, and with a orientation
      density recovered from an alternative representation by Fourier series of
      spherical harmonics. The results show that except for the case of uniform or
      close to uniform orientation distributions, the distributions recovered from the
      structure tensor fit the data poorly. On the other hand, orientation
      distributions recovered from Fourier series of spherical harmonics converge to
      the data distributions provided sufficient terms are included in the truncated
      series. These results suggest that the structure tensor is a reliable descriptor
      of tissue structure only under very limited cases. 

PMID- 25828156
TI  - Effects of aneurysm on the directional, regional, and layer distribution of
      residual strains in ascending thoracic aorta.
AB  - Stress analyses in ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms require measurement of the
      stress-free state of tissue, for which there is limited information. The true
      reference configuration can also be difficult to delineate with opening angle
      measurements, due to (a) the variability in aneurysmal shape and (b) layered wall
      structure, suggesting spatial dependency of the residual strain field, and (c)
      the non-consideration of axial residual strains. The present study was designed
      to overcome these difficulties, by providing extensive data about the
      consequences of aneurysm on the directional, regional, and layer distribution of
      residual strains in the ascending thoracic aorta. We demonstrate that the opening
      angle of rings cut-open anteriorly correlated positively with age, diameter,
      degree of atherosclerosis, and circumferential residual strain at the external
      wall and negatively with that at the internal wall. As anticipated from the
      highly curved and non-axisymmetric geometry, the opening angle of ascending
      thoracic aortic aneurysms from tricuspid aortic valve patients declined notably,
      from ~240 to 190 deg, along a relatively short vessel length and residual strains
      varied strongly from one layer to another, being compressive in the intima and
      tensile in the media and adventitia, and depended also on circumferential
      position and direction. Smaller opening angles were found in aneurysms from
      bicuspid aortic valve patients and non-aneurysmal aorta, but differences were
      only significant for the latter that also showed less pronounced axial decline
      and smaller layer-specific residual strains. Dimensional data of the aortic
      layers obtained via histology support the association between opening angle
      change and non-uniform tissue remodeling, with the greater cross-sectional area
      of the intima and media in the wall of tricuspid aortic valve aneurysms
      explaining the increase of opening angle in this patient class compared to
      control. 

PMID- 25828157
TI  - Microstructure and compressive mechanical properties of cortical bone in children
      with osteogenesis imperfecta treated with bisphosphonates compared with healthy
      children.
AB  - Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic disorder characterized by a change in
      bone tissue quality, but little data are available to describe the factors
      involved at the macroscopic scale. To better understand the effect of
      microstructure alterations on the mechanical properties at the sample scale, we
      studied the structural and mechanical properties of six cortical bone samples
      from children with OI treated with bisphosphonates and compared them to the
      properties of three controls. Scanning electron microscopy, high resolution
      computed tomography and compression testing were used to assess these properties.
      More resorption cavities and a higher osteocyte lacunar density were observed in
      OI bone compared with controls. Moreover, a higher porosity was measured for OI
      bones along with lower macroscopic Young's modulus, yield stress and ultimate
      stress. The microstructure was impaired in OI bones; the higher porosity and
      osteocyte lacunar density negatively impacted the mechanical properties and made
      the bone more prone to fracture. 

PMID- 25828158
TI  - FEM simulation of single beard hair cutting with foil-blade-shaving system.
AB  - The performance of dry-shavers depends on the interaction of the shaving
      components, hair and skin. Finite element models on the ABAQUS/Explicit platform
      are established to simulate the process of beard hair cutting. The skin is
      modelled as three-layer structure with a single cylindrical hair inserted into
      the skin. The material properties of skin are considered as Neo-Hookean hyper
      elastic (epidermis) and Prony visco-elastic (dermis and hypodermis) with finite
      deformations. The hair is modelled as elastic-plastic material with shear damage.
      The cutting system is composed of a blade and a foil of shaver. The simulation
      results of cutting processes are analyzed, including the skin compression, hair
      bending, hair cutting and hair severance. Calculations of cutting loads, skin
      stress, and hair damage show the impact of clearance, skin bulge height, blade
      dimension and shape on cutting results. The details show the build-up of finite
      element models for hair cutting, and highlight the challenges arising during
      model construction and numerical simulation. 

PMID- 25828159
TI  - Predicting composition-property relationships for glass ionomer cements: a
      multifactor central composite approach to material optimization.
AB  - Adjusting powder-liquid ratio (P/L) and polyacrylic acid concentration (AC) has
      been documented as a means of tailoring the handling and mechanical properties of
      glass ionomer cements (GICs). This work implemented a novel approach in which the
      interactive effects of these two factors on three key GIC properties (working
      time, setting time, and compressive strength) were investigated using a central
      composite design of experiments. Using nonlinear regression analysis, formulation
      property relationships were derived for each property, which enabled prediction
      of an optimal formulation (P/L and AC) through application of the desirability
      approach. A novel aluminum free GIC was investigated, as this material may
      present the first clinically viable GIC for use in injectable spinal
      applications, such as vertebroplasty. Ultimately, this study presents the first
      series of predictive regression models that explain the formulation-dependence of
      a GIC, and the first statistical method for optimizing both P/L and AC depending
      on user-defined inputs. 

PMID- 25828160
TI  - The effect of meat cuts and thermal processing on selected mineral concentration
      in beef from Holstein-Friesian bulls.
AB  - The impact of meat cuts (nine muscles and liver) and thermal processing on
      selected mineral (potassium, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, iron, including
      heme form) concentration in beef from Holstein-Friesian bulls was evaluated in
      the present study. The mineral's content widely varied depending on the tissue
      type (skeletal muscles/liver, except zinc) and between the different bovine
      muscles. The greatest diversity between the muscles demonstrated was zinc (3.5
      6.9 mg 100 g(-1)f/w) and iron (1.7-2.3 mg 100 g(-1)f/w), however, there were no
      significant differences in heme iron to total iron ratio (average 74%). Thermal
      processes conducted on longissimus dorsi muscles also significantly affected
      mineral concentration. Grilled, roasted and fried bovine meat was characterised
      by a higher content (by 6-26%) of most studied minerals (except sodium) as
      compared to raw meat. Sodium levels in processed meat were 16-33% lower than in
      raw samples.

PMID- 25828161
TI  - Increased work pace is unprofitable: a beef-cutting case study.
AB  - The beef industry worldwide is showing a trend towards increased cutting pace
      aimed at higher profits. However, prior research in the duck meat industry
      suggested that a higher cutting pace reduced quality and yield, leading to
      losses. This study aimed to test this hypothesis by investigating the effects of
      varying beef-cutting paces on yield, quality and economy. A field experiment was
      conducted on six workers cutting beef fillet, sirloin and entrecote. Three types
      of paces were sequentially tested: Baseline (i.e., status quo), 'Quantity focus'
      (i.e., pace required to maximise quantity) and 'Quality focus' (i.e., pace
      required to minimise errors). The results showed a significant drop in yield,
      increased rate of quality deficiency and economic losses with the change to
      'Quantity focus' (from Baseline and 'Quality focus') for all meat types. Workers
      supported these results and also added health problems to the list. The results
      confirmed that an increased cutting pace is unprofitable.

PMID- 25828162
TI  - Reverse electron transport effects on NADH formation and metmyoglobin reduction.
AB  - The objective was to determine if NADH generated via reverse electron flow in
      beef mitochondria can be used for electron transport-mediated reduction and
      metmyoglobin reductase pathways. Beef mitochondria were isolated from bovine
      hearts (n=5) and reacted with combinations of succinate, NAD, and mitochondrial
      inhibitors to measure oxygen consumption and NADH formation. Mitochondria and
      metmyoglobin were reacted with succinate, NAD, and mitochondrial inhibitors to
      measure electron transport-mediated metmyoglobin reduction and metmyoglobin
      reductase activity. Addition of succinate and NAD increased oxygen consumption,
      NADH formation, electron transport-mediated metmyoglobin reduction, and reductase
      activity (p<0.05). Addition of antimycin A prevented electron flow beyond complex
      III, therefore, decreasing oxygen consumption and electron transport-mediated
      metmyoglobin reduction. Addition of rotenone prevented reverse electron flow,
      increased oxygen consumption, increased electron transport-mediated metmyoglobin
      reduction, and decreased NADH formation. Succinate and NAD can generate NADH in
      bovine tissue postmortem via reverse electron flow and this NADH can be used by
      both electron transport-mediated and metmyoglobin reductase pathways.

PMID- 25828163
TI  - A comparison of technical replicate (cuts) effect on lamb Warner-Bratzler shear
      force measurement precision.
AB  - The Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) of 335 lamb m. longissimus lumborum (LL)
      caudal and cranial ends was measured to examine and simulate the effect of
      replicate number (r: 1-8) on the precision of mean WBSF estimates and to compare
      LL caudal and cranial end WBSF means. All LL were sourced from two experimental
      flocks as part of the Information Nucleus slaughter programme (CRC for Sheep
      Industry Innovation) and analysed using a Lloyd Texture analyser with a Warner
      Bratzler blade attachment. WBSF data were natural logarithm (ln) transformed
      before statistical analysis. Mean ln(WBSF) precision improved as r increased;
      however the practical implications support an r equal to 6, as precision improves
      only marginally with additional replicates. Increasing LL sample replication
      results in better ln(WBSF) precision compared with increasing r, provided that
      sample replicates are removed from the same LL end. Cranial end mean WBSF was
      11.2 +/- 1.3% higher than the caudal end.

PMID- 25828164
TI  - Simple and sensitive monitoring of beta2-agonist residues in meat by liquid
      chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry using a QuEChERS with preconcentration as
      the sample treatment.
AB  - A liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometric detection (LC-MS/MS)
      method was established for the simultaneous determination of the levels of 10
      beta2-agonists in meat. The samples were extracted using an aqueous acidic
      solution and cleaned up using a Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe
      (QuEChERS) technique utilising a DVB-NVP-SO3Na sorbent synthesised in-house.
      First, the beta2-agonist residues were extracted in an aqueous acidic solution,
      followed by matrix solid-phase dispersion for clean-up. The linearities of the
      method were R(2)=0.9925-0.9998, with RSDs of 2.7-15.3% and 73.7-103.5%
      recoveries. Very low limits of detection (LOD) and quantitation (LOQ) of 0.2-0.9
      MUg/kg and 0.8-3.2 MUg/kg, respectively, were achieved for spiked meat. The
      values obtained were lower than the maximum residue limits (MRLs) established by
      the EU and China. These results clearly demonstrate the feasibility of the
      proposed approach. The evaluated method provided reliable screening,
      quantification and identification of 10 beta2-agonists in meat.

PMID- 25828165
TI  - Species-specific effects on non-enzymatic metmyoglobin reduction in vitro.
AB  - Our objectives were to determine the non-enzymatic metmyoglobin reduction
      properties of bovine, porcine, and equine myoglobins and to characterize the
      effects of pre-incubation of 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) with myoglobins on non
      enzymatic metmyoglobin reduction in vitro. Purified bovine, porcine, and equine
      metmyoglobins (0.05 mM) were reduced at pH 5.6 and 7.4 in the presence or absence
      of HNE. Rates of metmyoglobin reduction were monitored by spectrophotometry, and
      myoglobin adducts were characterized by high-resolution mass-spectrometry.
      Results showed that the species origins of individual myoglobins determined rates
      of non-enzymatic reduction (beef>equine>pork; P<0.05). Irrespective of species,
      pre-incubation of HNE myoglobin decreased non-enzymatic metmyoglobin reduction
      compared with control at both pH 5.6 and 7.4 (P<0.05). Mass spectrometric
      analysis revealed adducts of HNE with bovine, porcine, and equine myoglobins. The
      results indicate that the amino acid composition and the covalent binding of HNE
      with myoglobin can significantly decrease the ability of heme to accept
      electrons.

PMID- 25828166
TI  - Does Suture Technique Affect Re-Rupture in Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair? A
      Meta-analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of suture configuration, repair method, and tear
      size on rotator cuff (RC) repair healing. METHODS: We conducted a literature
      search of articles that examined surgical treatment of RC tears published between
      January 2003 and September 2014. For single-row (SR) repairs, we calculated
      rerupture rates for simple, mattress, and modified Mason-Allen sutures while
      stratifying by tear size. All double-row repairs-those using 2 rows of suture
      anchors (DA) and those using a suture bridge (SB)--were performed using mattress
      sutures, and we compared rerupture rates by repair method while stratifying by
      tear size. A random-effects model with pooled estimates for between-study
      variance was used to estimate the overall rerupture proportion and corresponding
      95% confidence interval for each group. Statistical significance was defined as P
      < .05. RESULTS: A total of 682 RC repairs from 13 studies were included. For SR
      repairs of tears measuring less than 3 cm, there was no significant difference in
      rerupture rates for modified Mason-Allen sutures versus simple sutures (P = .18).
      For SR repairs of tears measuring 3 cm or more, there was no significant
      difference in rerupture rates for mattress sutures versus simple sutures (P =
      .23). The rates of rerupture did not differ between SB and DA repairs for tears
      measuring less than 3 cm (P = .29) and 3 cm or more (P = .50). CONCLUSIONS: For
      SR repairs, there were no significant differences in rerupture rates between
      suture techniques for any repair method or tear size. All DA and SB repairs were
      secured with mattress sutures, and there were no differences in the rates of
      rerupture between these methods for either size category. These findings suggest
      that suture technique may not affect rerupture rates after RC repair. LEVEL OF
      EVIDENCE: Level IV, systematic review of Level I through IV studies.

PMID- 25828167
TI  - Prognostic Factors of Arthroscopic Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis Release for
      Lateral Epicondylitis.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze factors affecting the treatment
      outcomes and prognoses of arthroscopic debridement for refractory lateral
      epicondylitis. METHODS: We included 45 patients who had undergone arthroscopic
      extensor carpi radialis brevis release for chronic refractory lateral
      epicondylitis between October 2008 and December 2012. Demographic data, magnetic
      resonance imaging studies, and arthroscopic findings were examined and analyzed.
      RESULTS: The mean age of the enrolled patients (23 men and 22 women) was 45.9 +/-
      7.8 years, and the mean follow-up duration was 26.9 +/- 9.0 months. All the
      patients showed significant clinical improvement on all parameters assessed using
      the visual analog scale (6.9 preoperatively to 0.9 postoperatively), the Upper
      Extremity Functional Scale (34.8 to 66.7), and the Mayo Elbow Score (63.5 to
      92.3) (P < .05). There were no reports of serious surgical complications. At
      final follow-up, 37 patients (82.2%) were satisfied with their outcomes whereas 8
      patients (17.8%) were dissatisfied. In terms of demographic factors, female sex
      was significantly different between the 2 groups. On preoperative magnetic
      resonance imaging, 7 patients in the satisfied group (18.9%) had a definite
      tendon lesion (grade III defect, >=6 mm) whereas 6 patients in the dissatisfied
      group (75%) had a grade III defect (P = .016). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, clinical
      outcome scores showed improvement after arthroscopic extensor carpi radialis
      brevis release for refractory lateral epicondylitis. However, preoperative tendon
      status and sex were associated with dissatisfaction and poor postoperative
      outcomes after the arthroscopic release procedure. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV,
      therapeutic case series.

PMID- 25828168
TI  - Multicenter Outcomes of Endoscopic Pubic Symphysectomy for Osteitis Pubis
      Associated With Femoroacetabular Impingement.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate outcomes of athletic patients treated with concurrent
      femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and osteitis pubis (OP) surgery including
      endoscopic pubic symphysectomy. METHODS: We performed a multicenter retrospective
      case series of 7 consecutive adult patients (4 men) with a mean age of 33 years
      with symptomatic FAI and OP who underwent arthroscopic surgery for the former and
      endoscopic pubic symphysectomy for the latter with a mean follow-up period of 2.9
      years (range, 2.0 to 5.0 years). The visual analog scale (VAS) score, the Non
      Arthritic Hip Score (NAHS), and patient satisfaction were measured. Complications
      and revision surgical procedures were reported, and preoperative and
      postoperative radiographs were assessed. RESULTS: The mean preoperative VAS score
      of 6.7 (range, 4 to 8) improved to a mean postoperative VAS score of 1.5 (range,
      0 to 7) (P = .03). The mean preoperative NAHS of 50.2 points (range, 21 to 78
      points) improved to a mean postoperative NAHS of 84.7 points (range, 41 to 99
      points) (P = .03). The mean patient satisfaction rating was 8.3 (range, 3 to 10).
      Two male patients had postoperative scrotal swelling that resolved spontaneously.
      There were no other complications. Preoperative and postoperative radiographs
      showed no anterior or posterior pelvic ring instability. One patient underwent
      pubic symphyseal arthrodesis because of continued pain. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic
      pubic symphysectomy is a minimally invasive treatment for athletic OP with
      encouraging early outcomes that may be performed concurrently with surgery for
      FAI in co-afflicted patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, therapeutic case
      series.

PMID- 25828170
TI  - Imaging in prostate cancer with multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging and
      gallium positron emission tomography-computed tomography: 'the real deal'?

PMID- 25828169
TI  - Porphyromonas gingivalis attenuates ATP-mediated inflammasome activation and
      HMGB1 release through expression of a nucleoside-diphosphate kinase.
AB  - Many intracellular pathogens evade the innate immune response in order to survive
      and proliferate within infected cells. We show that Porphyromonas gingivalis, an
      intracellular opportunistic pathogen, uses a nucleoside-diphosphate kinase (NDK)
      homolog to inhibit innate immune responses due to stimulation by extracellular
      ATP, which acts as a danger signal that binds to P2X7 receptors and induces
      activation of an inflammasome and caspase-1. Thus, infection of gingival
      epithelial cells (GECs) with wild-type P. gingivalis results in inhibition of ATP
      induced caspase-1 activation. However, ndk-deficient P. gingivalis is less
      effective than wild-type P. gingivalis in reducing ATP-mediated caspase-1
      activation and secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-1beta, from
      infected GECs. Furthermore, P. gingivalis NDK modulates release of high-mobility
      group protein B1 (HMGB1), a pro-inflammatory danger signal, which remains
      associated with chromatin in healthy cells. Unexpectedly, infection with either
      wild-type or ndk-deficient P. gingivalis causes release of HMGB1 from the nucleus
      to the cytosol. But HMGB1 is released to the extracellular space when uninfected
      GECs are further stimulated with ATP, and there is more HMGB1 released from the
      cells when ATP-treated cells are infected with ndk-deficient mutant than wild
      type P. gingivalis. Our results reveal that NDK plays a significant role in
      inhibiting P2X7-dependent inflammasome activation and HMGB1 release from infected
      GECs. 

PMID- 25828171
TI  - Survival after the diagnosis of prostate cancer for Australian Aboriginal and
      Maori men.

PMID- 25828172
TI  - Cognitive existential couple therapy (CECT) in men and partners facing localised
      prostate cancer: a randomised controlled trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of cognitive existential couple therapy (CECT)
      for relationship function, coping, cancer distress and mental health in men with
      localised prostate cancer and in their partners. PATIENTS SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A
      randomised controlled trial was conducted with 62 couples randomly assigned to
      the six-session CECT programme or care as usual. The couple's relationship
      function (primary outcome), and coping, cancer distress and mental health
      (secondary outcomes) were evaluated at T0 (baseline), T1 (after treatment) and T2
      (9 months from T0). A repeated-measures analysis of covariance model, which
      incorporated T0 measurements as a covariate, was used to compare treatment groups
      at T1 and T2. RESULTS: After CECT, patients reported significantly greater use of
      adaptive coping (P = 0.03) and problem-focused coping (P = 0.01). These gains
      were maintained at follow-up, while relationship cohesion had improved (P =
      0.03), as had relationship function for younger patients (P = 0.01). Younger
      partners reported less cancer-specific distress (P = 0.008), avoidance (P =
      0.04), intrusive thought (P = 0.006), and hyperarousal (P = 0.01). Gains were
      maintained at follow-up, while relationship cohesion (P = 0.007), conflict
      resolution (P = 0.01) and relational function (P = 0.009) all improved.
      CONCLUSION: CECT resulted in improved coping for patients and lower cancer
      distress for partners. Maintained over time this manifests as improved
      relationship function. CECT was acceptable to couples, alleviated long-term
      relationship decline, and is therefore suitable as a preventative mental health
      intervention for couples facing prostate cancer. Given resourcing demands, we
      recommend dissemination of CECT be targeted at younger couples, as CECT was more
      acceptable to the younger group, and they derived greater benefit from it.

PMID- 25828173
TI  - Evaluation of clinical efficacy, safety and patient satisfaction rate after low
      intensity extracorporeal shockwave therapy for the treatment of male erectile
      dysfunction: an Australian first open-label single-arm prospective clinical
      trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy, safety and patient satisfaction rate with
      low-intensity extracorporeal shockwave therapy (LiESWT) in Australian men with
      erectile dysfunction (ED), as LiESWT induces neovascularisation and potentially
      enhances penile perfusion and improves erectile function. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      Open-label single-arm prospective study of patients with ED with five-item
      version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) scores of >12 at
      baseline were enrolled after informed consent. Patient demographics, change in
      IIEF-5 and Erectile Dysfunction Inventory of Treatment Satisfaction (EDITS)
      scores, and overall satisfaction score (on a 5-point scale) were recorded.
      Treatment consists of 3000 shockwaves (1000 shockwaves to the distal penis, base
      of penis and corporal bodies at the perineum) twice weekly for 6 weeks. RESULTS:
      All patients had tried and failed oral phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors and
      most of the patients hah had ED for >18 months [mean (range) 21.8 (6-60) months].
      No side-effects to LiESWT were reported. Most patients reported an improvement in
      IIEF-5 score by 5 points (60%) and EDITS Index score by >50% (70%). Most patients
      were satisfied (scoring 4 out of 5; 67%) and would recommend the therapy to their
      friends (80%). CONCLUSION: LiESWT appears to improve erectile function, is safe
      and potential plays an important role in penile rehabilitation in men whom failed
      medical therapy.

PMID- 25828174
TI  - Nauru and detention of children.

PMID- 25828175
TI  - Floppy baby.

PMID- 25828176
TI  - Ethical dilemmas in child protection for paediatricians.

PMID- 25828177
TI  - Perspective: 'The forgotten children: national inquiry into children in
      immigration detention (2014)'.

PMID- 25828178
TI  - Diffuse small glistening papules in a child. Generalised lichen nitidus.

PMID- 25828179
TI  - Fever, abdominal distension and hepatomegaly. Pentastomiasis.

PMID- 25828186
TI  - Kawasaki disease in Campbelltown, a suburban hospital.

PMID- 25828187
TI  - Male circumcision debate has made progress.

PMID- 25828189
TI  - Small molecule glucagon receptor antagonists: a patent review (2011 - 2014).
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Glucagon receptor antagonists (GCGRAs) have been an area of ongoing
      research in the pharmaceutical industry for more than two decades. Blocking the
      action of the glucagon peptide leads to repression of hepatic glucose production
      and reduced blood glucose. Small molecule GCGRAs continue to be pursued as a
      potential new treatment for diabetes. AREAS COVERED: The current review
      summarizes small molecule GCGRA patents and patent applications that first
      appeared during 2011 - 2014. The search term 'glucagon receptor' was used to find
      patents of the desired type. EXPERT OPINION: Several companies have brought
      forward GCGRAs into human clinical trials with the most advanced to date being in
      Phase II. This field is mature and the number of patents has been decreasing in
      the last few years.

PMID- 25828190
TI  - Berry syndrome: the importance of genetic evaluation before surgical
      intervention.
AB  - Berry syndrome is a rare CHD. Approximately 29 cases have been described in the
      literature. Surgical correction has been successfully performed as well. We
      report the case of a newborn diagnosed with Berry syndrome who was subsequently
      diagnosed with trisomy 13. Cytogenetic analysis should be performed before
      surgical repair for optimal management. 

PMID- 25828192
TI  - Microscopic mechanisms contributing to the synchronous improvement of strength
      and plasticity (SISP) for TWIP copper alloys.
AB  - In this study, the concept of "twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) alloys" is
      broadened, and the underlying intrinsic microscopic mechanisms of the general
      TWIP effect are intensively explored. For the first aspect, "TWIP copper alloys"
      was proposed following the concept of "TWIP steels", as they share essentially
      the same strengthening and toughening mechanisms. For the second aspect, three
      intrinsic features of twinning: i.e. "dynamic development", "planarity", as well
      as "orientation selectivity" were derived from the detailed exploration of the
      deformation behavior in TWIP copper alloys. These features can be considered the
      microscopic essences of the general "TWIP effect". Moreover, the effective
      cooperation between deformation twinning and dislocation slipping in TWIP copper
      alloys leads to a desirable tendency: the synchronous improvement of strength and
      plasticity (SISP). This breakthrough against the traditional trade-off
      relationship, achieved by the general "TWIP effect", may provide useful
      strategies for designing high-performance engineering materials. 

PMID- 25828193
TI  - A 5-week whole body vibration training improves peak torque performance but has
      no effect on stretch reflex in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - AIM: This study aimed to investigate the neuromuscular adaptation following a 5
      week high frequency and low amplitude whole body vibration (WBV) exercise
      training. METHODS: The study is a prospective, double blind, randomized
      controlled intervention design with a total of 19 subjects volunteered to
      participate in the study. They were randomly assigned either to WBV exercise
      training or control group. Both groups participated in a 5-week training program.
      The intervention group received WBV in semi-squat position on a device with an
      amplitude of 0.76 mm, frequency of 40Hz, and peak acceleration of 23.9 m/s2. Each
      vibration training session consisted of 6 series of 60s on with 30s rest period
      in between. The control group underwent the same statically mini-squatting
      position without exposure to WBV. The effectiveness of the vibration program was
      evaluated by vertical jump test and the isokinetic knee extensor peak torque. The
      possible neural factors that contributed to the improved muscular performance
      were evaluated by the stretch induced knee jerk reflex. RESULTS: WBV training
      significantly enhanced the isokinetic knee extensor peak torque performance. Two
      way mixed repeated measures analysis of variance revealed significant time effect
      of the changes in the peak torque (P=0.043) and the effect was significantly
      different between the intervention and control group (P=0.042). WBV did not
      affect vertical jump height, reflex latency of VL, EMGVL, and knee jerk angle.
      CONCLUSION: The results of this study do not support the hypothesis that the
      improvement in the muscular performance when subjects exposed to WBV training is
      attributed by neuromuscular efficiency via modulation of the muscle spindle
      sensitivity.

PMID- 25828194
TI  - A comparison of upper and lower body energetics during high-intensity exercise.
AB  - AIM: The aim of the present study was to measure and compare the aerobic,
      anaerobic alactic and anaerobic lactic energy system contribution during the 30
      sec Wingate anaerobic test (WAnT) for the upper and lower body within the same
      individuals. METHODS: Physically active men (N.=14) completed two WAnTs on an
      electronic arm ergometer and a cycle ergometer separated by three days. A fly
      wheel braking force corresponding to 5% and 7.5% of the participants body weight
      was used for the upper and lower body WAnTs respectively. Oxygen uptake and blood
      lactate were measured before, during and after both WAnTs, and body composition
      was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). RESULTS: The
      anaerobic lactic energy system contribution was significantly (P<0.01) higher
      during the upper body (60.3+/-5.6%) compared to the lower body (46.9+/-6.9%)
      WAnT. The contribution of the anaerobic alactic system was significantly higher
      (P<0.01) during the lower body (36.5+/-6.3%) compared to the upper body (28.3+/
      4.9%) WAnT, with the aerobic system contribution significantly (P<0.05) higher
      for the lower body (16.8+/-2.5%) compared to the upper body (11.4+/-1.4%) WAnT.
      CONCLUSION: The anaerobic lactic energy system provides over 60% of the energy
      requirements during an upper body WAnT but provides less the 50% during the lower
      body WAnT. In contrast, the aerobic and anaerobic alactic energy system
      contribution was significantly less for the upper body WAnT compared to the lower
      body WAnT.

PMID- 25828191
TI  - A proposed set of metrics for standardized outcome reporting in the management of
      low back pain.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Outcome measurement has been shown to improve performance
      in several fields of healthcare. This understanding has driven a growing interest
      in value-based healthcare, where value is defined as outcomes achieved per money
      spent. While low back pain (LBP) constitutes an enormous burden of disease, no
      universal set of metrics has yet been accepted to measure and compare outcomes.
      Here, we aim to define such a set. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An international group
      of 22 specialists in several disciplines of spine care was assembled to review
      literature and select LBP outcome metrics through a 6-round modified Delphi
      process. The scope of the outcome set was degenerative lumbar conditions.
      RESULTS: Patient-reported metrics include numerical pain scales, lumbar-related
      function using the Oswestry disability index, health-related quality of life
      using the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire, and questions assessing work status and
      analgesic use. Specific common and serious complications are included.
      Recommended follow-up intervals include 6, 12, and 24 months after initiating
      treatment, with optional follow-up at 3 months and 5 years. Metrics for risk
      stratification are selected based on pre-existing tools. INTERPRETATION: The
      outcome measures recommended here are structured around specific etiologies of
      LBP, span a patient's entire cycle of care, and allow for risk adjustment. Thus,
      when implemented, this set can be expected to facilitate meaningful comparisons
      and ultimately provide a continuous feedback loop, enabling ongoing improvements
      in quality of care. Much work lies ahead in implementation, revision, and
      validation of this set, but it is an essential first step toward establishing a
      community of LBP providers focused on maximizing the value of the care we
      deliver.

PMID- 25828195
TI  - Jumping performance differences among elite professional handball players with or
      without previous ACL reconstruction.
AB  - AIM: Handball is one of the most challenging sports for the knee joint.
      Persistent strength and jumping capacity alterations may be observed among
      athletes who have suffered anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The aim of
      this study was to examine unilateral and bilateral jumping ability differences
      between previously ACL-reconstructed rehabilitated elite handball athletes and
      sex, age and uninjured sport activity level-pairs of control players. METHODS: It
      was a Cross-sectional study with one factor: previous ACL injury. We recruited 22
      male (6 ACL-reconstructed and 16 uninjured control players) and 21 female (6 ACL
      reconstructed and 15 uninjured control players) elite handball players who were
      evaluated 6.2+/-3.4 years after surgical ACL reconstruction. A battery of jump
      tests, including both bilateral and unilateral maneuvers, was performed. Two
      tailed unpaired (intergroup comparison) and paired (intragroup comparison) t
      tests were performed for mean comparisons. The P-value cut-off for significance
      was set at <0.05. RESULTS: The previously ACL-reconstructed female athletes
      showed a lower bilateral drop jump contact time (0.429+/-179.9 vs. 0.349+/-151 s,
      P<0.05) and less distance reached (3.820+/-0.54 vs. 4.428+/-0.44 m, P<0.05) in
      the unilateral triple hop for distance (UTHD) on their reconstructed leg compared
      with the dominant legs of the uninjured control athletes. No significant
      differences were observed for any other recorded variable. Among the male
      athletes, no significant differences between groups were found for the studied
      jumping variables. CONCLUSION: Previously ACL-reconstructed elite female handball
      athletes demonstrated both lower vertical bilateral drop jump (VBDJ) contact
      times and lower UTHD scores for the injured leg several years after injury. These
      deficits could contribute to an increase in ACL re-injury risk.

PMID- 25828196
TI  - Fitness and bone density in women: the role of age, weight, calcium, vitamin D,
      and menopause.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the relationship
      between manifold measures of fitness and bone mineral density (BMD) of the hip
      and spine in 233 middle-aged women. An additional objective was to determine the
      effect of several potential confounding variables, including age, body weight,
      calcium consumption, vitamin D intake, and menopause status on the relationships
      between fitness and BMD. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used. Fitness was
      indexed using multiple variables: bench press, sit-ups, best jump, VO2max, and
      total fitness. Total fitness was indexed using the mean Z-score of the other
      fitness tests. Hip and spine BMD were assessed using dual energy X-ray
      absorptiometry. RESULTS: The associations between hip BMD and bench press (F=5.3,
      P=0.0219), sit-up (F=7.5, P=0.0065), best jump (F=11.6, P=0.0008), VO2max (F=9.3,
      P=0.0025), and Total Fitness (F=16.1, P<=0.0001) were statistically significant.
      Relationships between spine BMD and four of the dimensions of fitness were
      significant: bench press (F=9.4, P=0.0025), sit-up (F=11.7, P=0.0007), best jump
      (F=6.9, P=0.0093), and the composite fitness score (F=13.4, P=0.0003). VO2max was
      not predictive of spine BMD (F=2.0, P=0.1610). Age had the strongest confounding
      effect on the hip BMD associations, whereas menopause status had the strongest
      influence on the spine BMD relationships. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, findings
      suggest that objectively measured fitness is a strong predictor of differences in
      BMD of the hip and spine in middle-aged women, before and after adjusting for
      differences in several potential confounding variables.

PMID- 25828197
TI  - Natural Killer Cell Activating Receptor NKG2D Is Involved in the
      Immunosuppressive Effects of Mycophenolate Mofetil and Hepatitis B Virus
      Infection.
AB  - The purpose of this study is to investigate whether mycophenolate mofetil (MMF),
      a new immunosuppressant, and its metabolite mycophenolic acid (MPA) affect the
      activity of liver resident natural killer (NK) cells, resulting in increased
      susceptibility to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Hepatic NK cells were
      isolated from C57BL/6 and C57BL/6JTgN (A1b1HBV) 44Bri transgenic mice treated
      with MMF in the presence or absence of IL-15. After incubation of isolated
      hepatic NK cells in the presence or absence of MPA, reverse transcription
      polymerase chain reaction and immunolabeling were used to assess the expression
      of NK receptors Ly49A, NKG2A and NKG2D. In addition, cytokine enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay and [H]-TdR-release assay were carried out to assess NK cell
      activation and cytotoxic capacity. After treatment with MMF in the presence or
      absence of IL-15, HBsAg titers were measured in C57BL/6JTgN (A1b1HBV) 44Bri
      transgenic mice. Treatment with either MPA or MMF resulted in reduced NK cell
      cytotoxicity, downregulated NKG2D and Ly49A expression and upregulated NKG2A.
      Interestingly, NKG2D downregulation was ameliorated by IL-15. In HBV-transgenic
      mice, MMF treatment impaired NK cell activity but did not affect virus
      replication, whereas IL-15 treatment reduced HBsAg titers. MPA and MMF mediate
      NKG2D downregulation both in vitro and in vivo, reducing the cytotoxic capacity
      of NK cells. These findings indicate that NKG2D regulation may be important in
      the immunosuppressive effect NK cells and involved in HBV infection. 

PMID- 25828198
TI  - Cardiovascular safety profile and clinical experience with high-dose domperidone
      therapy for nausea and vomiting.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Domperidone is a dopamine receptor antagonist with peripheral
      prokinetic and central antiemetic properties. Prolongation of the QTc interval
      with chronic use of oral domperidone in standard doses has been reported in the
      literature. Our goal was to investigate cardiac toxicity in patients receiving 2
      fold greater doses than in previous reports. METHODS: A retrospective chart
      review was conducted of patients with nausea (N) and vomiting (V) receiving
      domperidone from 2009 to 2013 under an Investigational New Drug (IND) protocol.
      Patient demographics, indications for therapy, clinical outcomes, cardiac
      symptoms and electrocardiogram tracings were reviewed. Prolonged QTc was verified
      if >470 milliseconds in females (F) and >450 milliseconds in males (M). RESULTS:
      A total of 64 patients, 44 female (37% Hispanic, 60% white, 3% African American),
      were taking domperidone for diabetic gastroparesis 45%; idiopathic gastroparesis
      36%; chronic N&V 8%; dumping syndrome 5%; cyclic vomiting 5% and conditioned
      vomiting 1%. Mean duration of therapy was 8 months (range, 3 months to 4 years).
      Doses ranged from 40 to 120 mg/d with 90% receiving 80 to 120 mg compared with
      the standard dose of 40 mg. Of note, 73% of subjects benefited from treatment
      with reduced nausea and vomiting. Thirty-seven patients had follow-up
      electrocardiograms available, and they showed that the mean QTc at baseline was
      424 milliseconds +/- 28.4 (SD) compared with 435 milliseconds +/- 27.2 (SD) at
      follow-up (not significant). Ten of these patients had prolonged QTc at F/U
      ranging from 453 to 509 milliseconds, without any cardiovascular complaints.
      There was no relationship between prolonged QTc and daily dose of domperidone,
      body mass index or age. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that at very high dosing,
      the prokinetic/antiemetic agent domperidone has a low risk of adverse
      cardiovascular events while exhibiting good clinical efficacy.

PMID- 25828199
TI  - The protein tyrosine phosphorylation during in vitro capacitation and
      cryopreservation of mammalian spermatozoa.
AB  - Before the process of fertilization, spermatozoa necessitate a period of
      residence in the female reproductive environment, and undergo a sequence of
      physiological and biochemical changes collectively referred to as capacitation.
      Accumulated evidences from several laboratories indicated that the protein
      tyrosine phosphorylation (PTP) is one of the most important intracellular
      signaling events regulating sperm function, and is a meaningful indicator of
      capacitation. Different factors that affect PTP are cholesterol efflux, influx of
      HCO3(-), increased intracellular Ca(2+), cAMP and reactive oxygen species (ROS).
      cAMP/PKA and extracellular signal regulated kinases (ERKs) are the known
      important signaling pathways primarily involved in PTP. Advanced proteomics
      approaches have revealed several proteins that undergo tyrosine phosphorylation
      during capacitation. Semen cryopreservation subjects spermatozoa to frequent
      stressors, which result in capacitation like changes (cryo-capacitation). The
      cryo-capacitated spermatozoa usually show different patterns of PTP than the
      normal in vitro capacitated spermatozoa. In the current manuscript, we have
      summarized some information about the proteins undergoing tyrosine
      phosphorylation during capacitation and the effect of cryopreservation on PTP as
      well as the possibilities to reduce the changes associated with cryopreservation
      process. 

PMID- 25828200
TI  - Two phosphaalkene radical cations with inverse spin density distributions.
AB  - Two phosphaalkene radical cations 1(*+) and 2(*+) have been reported. 1(*+) is
      stable in the solid state and has been structurally characterized. 2(*+) only
      remains persistent in solution. 1(*+) is described as a phosphorus-centered
      radical, while 2(*+) as a delocalized radical with little contribution from
      phosphorus.

PMID- 25828201
TI  - Water-soluble MoS3 nanoparticles for photocatalytic H2 evolution.
AB  - Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-modified MoS3 nanoparticles with unusual water
      solubility up to 1.0 mg mL(-1) were synthesized through a facile hydrothermal
      method in the presence of thioacetic acid. The amorphous nanoparticles wrapped by
      PVP have sizes of around 2.5 nm, which represent the smallest MoS3 clusters
      reported. The photocatalytic performance of the MoS3 nanoparticles was evaluated
      under visible light for H2 evolution using xanthene dyes as photosensitizers. The
      quantum efficiency of the optimized system for H2 evolution under green light
      irradiation (520 nm) is up to 36.2 %, which is comparable with those of other
      excellent photocatalytic systems involving earth-abundant catalysts. The
      excellent photocatalytic activity can be attributed to its good dispersion in
      water, amorphous nature and limited layers with abundant surface active sites,
      and possibly higher conduction band potential for proton reduction and larger
      indirect band gap for a longer lifetime of the excited electrons. 

PMID- 25828202
TI  - Schizencephaly: Dramatic Images in a Normally Functioning Adult.

PMID- 25828203
TI  - Spinal Schwannoma: An Unusual Case of Lumbar Radiculopathy.

PMID- 25828204
TI  - Clinical Experience With Continuous Intrathecal Baclofen Trials Prior to Pump
      Implantation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To report our clinical experience using continuous intrathecal
      baclofen (ITB) trials prior to permanent pump implantation. DESIGN: Retrospective
      chart review. SETTING: An inpatient neurosurgery unit and outpatient physical
      medicine and rehabilitation clinics. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-seven patients with
      refractory spasticity who underwent a continuous ITB trial during the years 2006
      2012. METHODS: Patients underwent placement of a temporary intrathecal catheter
      that was connected to an external pump. A successful trial was defined as a one
      level reduction in lower limb modified Ashworth scores in key spastic lower limb
      muscles identified for each individual patient. Subjective improvement in
      function or ease of performing functional tasks also were monitored. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Modified Ashworth scores, functional mobility in ambulatory patients
      only, and the incidence and severity of adverse events during the trial and up to
      1 year after implantation. RESULTS: Spasticity significantly decreased during the
      trial. Average ambulation distance was unchanged, although 34% of ambulatory
      patients progressed to a less restrictive assistive device by trial completion.
      Adverse events (AEs) occurred in 26 patients. Minor AEs were seen in 18 patients,
      with the most common being nausea, transient urinary retention, and headache.
      Pumps were implanted in 86% of patients; 14% did not receive a pump because of
      AEs or because goals were not met. Six patients had their pump removed at 12
      months for the following reasons: pump malfunctions (3), skin breakdown around
      the pump (1), infection (1), and expectations not met (1). CONCLUSIONS:
      Continuous trials via an external catheter could be an option if patients and
      clinicians desire a comprehensive assessment of systemic and functional effects
      of ITB before pump implantation. The majority of AEs were minor and resolved
      spontaneously, and the most effective starting intrathecal dose was determined by
      pump insertion.

PMID- 25828205
TI  - Impact of Organized Sports on Activity, Participation, and Quality of Life in
      People With Neurologic Disabilities.
AB  - Physical activity and exercise is the mainstay of chronic disease prevention and
      health maintenance for all people with and without a disability, and clear
      evidence exists of the benefits among various populations with neurologic
      disabilities. However, the potential benefits of organized sports for people with
      neurologic disabilities are not as well explored. In this narrative review,
      current evidence regarding the impact of organized sports on activity,
      participation, and quality of life in people with neurologic disabilities of all
      ages is summarized, and facilitators of and barriers to participation in sports
      for this population are discussed. The articles reviewed were divided into 2
      sets: (1) children and adolescents and (2) adults. The subjects of almost all of
      the studies were persons with a spinal cord injury. Children and adolescents with
      a disability who engaged in sports reported self-concept scores close to those of
      able-bodied athletes, as well as higher levels of physical activity. Adults with
      a spinal cord injury who engaged in organized sports reported decreased
      depression and anxiety, increased life satisfaction, and increased opportunity
      for gainful employment compared with nonathletic persons with disabilities.
      General facilitators, regardless of age, were fitness, fun, health, competence,
      and social aspects, whereas overall barriers were lack of or inappropriate
      medical advice and facilities, decreased self-esteem, poor finances, dependency
      on others, and views held by others. The importance of this topic for further
      research is highlighted, and suggestions for future studies are proposed. 

PMID- 25828206
TI  - The role and modulation of CCR6+ Th17 cell populations in rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - The IL-17A producing T-helper-17 (Th17) cell population plays a major role in
      rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathogenesis and has gained wide interest as treatment
      target. IL-17A expressing Th cells are characterized by the expression of the
      chemokine receptor CCR6 and the transcription factor RORC. In RA, CCR6+ Th cells
      were identified in peripheral blood, synovial fluid and inflamed synovial tissue.
      CCR6+ Th cells might drive the progression of an early inflammation towards a
      persistent arthritis. The CCR6+ Th cell population is heterogeneous and several
      subpopulations can be distinguished, including Th17, Th22, Th17.1 (also called
      non-classic Th1 cells), and unclassified or intermediate populations.
      Interestingly, some of these populations produce low levels of IL-17A but are
      still very pathogenic. Furthermore, the CCR6+ Th cells phenotype is unstable and
      plasticity exists between CCR6+ Th cells and T-regulatory (Treg) cells and within
      the CCR6+ Th cell subpopulations. In this review, characteristics of the
      different CCR6+ Th cell populations, their plasticity, and their potential impact
      on rheumatoid arthritis are discussed. Moreover, current approaches to target
      CCR6+ Th cells and future directions of research to find specific CCR6+ Th cell
      targets in the treatment of patients with RA and other CCR6+ Th cell mediated
      autoimmune diseases are highlighted. 

PMID- 25828207
TI  - Effect of diisocyanate linkers on the degradation characteristics of copolyester
      urethanes as potential drug carrier matrices.
AB  - In this study, the effect of three aliphatic diisocyanate linkers, L-lysine
      diisocyanate ethyl ester (LDI), hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI), and racemic
      2,2,4-/2,4,4-trimethyl hexamethylene diisocyanate (TMDI), on the degradation of
      oligo[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide] (64:36 mol%) based polyester urethanes (PEU)
      was examined. Samples were characterized for their molecular weight, mass loss,
      water uptake, sequence structure, and thermal and mechanical properties. Compared
      to non-segmented PLGA, the PEU showed higher water uptake and generally degraded
      faster. Interestingly, the rate of degradation was not directly correlating with
      the hydrophilicity of the diisocyanate moieties; instead, competing intra
      /intermolecular hydrogen bonds in between urethane moieties appear to
      substantially decrease the rate of degradation for LDI-derived PEU. By comparing
      microparticles (MUm) and films (mm) as matrices of different dimensions, it was
      shown that autocatalysis remains a contributor to degradation of the larger-sized
      PEU matrices as it is typical for non-segmented lactide/glycolide copolymers. The
      shown capacity of lactide/glycolide-based multiblock copolymers to degrade faster
      than PLGA and exhibit improved elastic properties could be of interest for
      medical implants and drug release systems.

PMID- 25828208
TI  - Quantitative detection of caffeine in human skin by confocal Raman spectroscopy-
      A systematic in vitro validation study.
AB  - For rational development and evaluation of dermal drug delivery, the knowledge of
      rate and extent of substance penetration into the human skin is essential.
      However, current analytical procedures are destructive, labor intense and lack a
      defined spatial resolution. In this context, confocal Raman microscopy bares the
      potential to overcome current limitations in drug depth profiling. Confocal Raman
      microscopy already proved its suitability for the acquisition of qualitative
      penetration profiles, but a comprehensive investigation regarding its suitability
      for quantitative measurements inside the human skin is still missing. In this
      work, we present a systematic validation study to deploy confocal Raman
      microscopy for quantitative drug depth profiling in human skin. After we
      validated our Raman microscopic setup, we successfully established an
      experimental procedure that allows correlating the Raman signal of a model drug
      with its controlled concentration in human skin. To overcome current drawbacks in
      drug depth profiling, we evaluated different modes of peak correlation for
      quantitative Raman measurements and offer a suitable operating procedure for
      quantitative drug depth profiling in human skin. In conclusion, we successfully
      demonstrate the potential of confocal Raman microscopy for quantitative drug
      depth profiling in human skin as valuable alternative to destructive state-of-the
      art techniques. 

PMID- 25828209
TI  - Effectiveness of eye armor during blast loading.
AB  - Ocular trauma is one of the most common types of combat injuries resulting from
      the interaction of military personnel with improvised explosive devices. Ocular
      blast injury mechanisms are complex, and trauma may occur through various injury
      mechanisms. However, primary blast injuries (PBI) are an important cause of
      ocular trauma that may go unnoticed and result in significant damage to internal
      ocular tissues and visual impairment. Further, the effectiveness of commonly
      employed eye armor, designed for ballistic and laser protection, in lessening the
      severity of adverse blast overpressures (BOP) is unknown. In this paper, we
      employed a three-dimensional (3D) fluid-structure interaction computational model
      for assessing effectiveness of the eye armor during blast loading on human eyes
      and validated results against free field blast measurements by Bentz and Grimm
      (2013). Numerical simulations show that the blast waves focused on the ocular
      region because of reflections from surrounding facial features and resulted in
      considerable increase in BOP. We evaluated the effectiveness of spectacles and
      goggles in mitigating the pressure loading using the computational model. Our
      results corroborate experimental measurements showing that the goggles were more
      effective than spectacles in mitigating BOP loading on the eye. Numerical results
      confirmed that the goggles significantly reduced blast wave penetration in the
      space between the armor and the eyes and provided larger clearance space for
      blast wave expansion after penetration than the spectacles. The spectacles as
      well as the goggles were more effective in reducing reflected BOP at higher
      charge mass because of the larger decrease in dynamic pressures after the impact.
      The goggles provided greater benefit of reducing the peak pressure than the
      spectacles for lower charge mass. However, the goggles resulted in moderate,
      sustained elevated pressure loading on the eye, that became 50-100% larger than
      the pressure loading experienced by the unprotected eye after 0.2 ms of impact of
      blast wave, for lower as well as higher charge mass. The present model provides
      fundamental insights of flow and pressure fields in the ocular region, which
      helps to explain the effectiveness of the eye armor. Since the measurements of
      these fields are not trivial, the computational model aids in better
      understanding of development of PBI.

PMID- 25828210
TI  - The Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities national program.
AB  - In 2007, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced a bold and unprecedented
      commitment of $500 million to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity by 2015,
      especially in communities at greatest risk based on income, race, ethnicity, and
      geographic location. To support this work, the foundation launched an array of
      complementary initiatives aimed at building the evidence base, testing advocacy
      approaches, and supporting on-the-ground action to reverse the childhood obesity
      epidemic. Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC), a 5-year $33.4 million
      national program, was one of the foundation's earliest such investments. Building
      on previous successes, HKHC was designed to address the policies, systems, and
      environments that make it easier for low-income children and their families to
      engage in physical activity and play and to access healthy food in their
      communities. As part of its strategy, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded
      50 multidisciplinary partnerships across the country, with a special focus on 15
      southern states where health disparities were most significant. The selection of
      Active Living By Design to lead the HKHC National Program Office and Transtria,
      LLC, to lead the evaluation leveraged these organizations' experience in
      addressing the systemic issues that contribute to physical inactivity and
      unhealthy eating, using a broader healthy community lens. Key elements of HKHC
      included funding, ongoing technical assistance and consultation, a peer learning
      network, and participatory evaluation. The successes of the HKHC grant program
      are well documented in this journal as well as through case studies and case
      reports, spotlights, leadership profiles, and other products available at
      www.healthykidshealthycommunities.org and http://www.transtria.com/hkhc.php. 

PMID- 25828211
TI  - Redesigning a neighborhood park to increase physical activity: a community-based
      participatory approach.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Community collaboration and active engagement of neighborhood
      residents in park redesign are promising strategies for creating public spaces
      that support physical activity. OBJECTIVE: This research brief describes the
      process of community engagement and discusses outcomes of a participatory park
      redesign project. METHODS: A community design charrette was held in collaboration
      with community organizations. Environmental audits of park features and amenities
      were completed before and after implementation of park redesign. A guided
      discussion with stakeholders following the park redesign was conducted to discuss
      challenges, successes, and next steps. RESULTS: Although level of activity among
      youth observed in the post implementation observations did not differ, there were
      a greater variety of activities observed among both children and adolescents.
      Furthermore, the goals of the project related to capacity building and meeting
      residents' needs were accomplished. CONCLUSIONS: Active participation of
      residents in a neighborhood park redesign requires time, commitment, and
      communication from a variety of stakeholders. However, the creation of a park
      that supports a variety of activity types, and builds community capacity,
      supports the need for involving stakeholders in redesigning neighborhood parks.

PMID- 25828212
TI  - Enhanced evaluation data initiates a collaborative out-of-school time food
      sponsors work group.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Philadelphia's Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities Out-of-School Time
      (OST) Initiative led by the Health Promotion Council developed 10 Healthy Living
      Guidelines for Out-of-School Time Programs to support a healthy environment for
      Philadelphia youth in 200 OST programs. Health Promotion Council participated in
      an enhanced cross-site evaluation with the national Robert Wood Johnson
      Foundation evaluator during the final year of funding to learn more about food
      and nutrition in the OST setting, and to share data and engage the OST food
      providers. METHODS: A plate waste study measured the quantity and nutrition
      composition of meals served to youth compared to food not eaten. Staff interviews
      measured program adherence to the Healthy Living Guidelines, along with other
      facets of the food environment in 7 Philadelphia OST programs. Online surveys
      were sent to OST programs. Food providers (sponsors) were interviewed using
      Appreciative Inquiry methodology to gain insight into systems, goals, and common
      interests. RESULTS: Aggregated plate waste data from 7 observations showed an
      average of 42% of the food uneaten after meal/snack consumption, and high sodium
      content of the meals. Twenty-nine staff at OST programs completed the online
      survey, and 3 food sponsors were interviewed. Recommendations to improve the food
      included increasing variety, offering more salads, fruits and vegetables, and
      culturally appropriate foods. Food sponsor interviews showed a variety of meal
      production, distribution, service and training systems, and an interest in
      working together. The food sponsors met to review the data and prioritized common
      goals. They continue to work together to improve systems and meals for food
      service. CONCLUSIONS: A food sponsors work group formed and continues as a result
      of sharing enhanced cross-site data about food in OST settings. Food sponsors
      continue to work together to improve systems and nutritional offerings for
      Philadelphia OST programs.

PMID- 25828213
TI  - Promoting active commuting to school through environmental and policy supports in
      Buffalo, New York.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Children in Buffalo, New York, have limited opportunities for safe,
      enjoyable physical activity. The Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities-Buffalo
      partnership established in 2009 created environmental and policy supports to
      facilitate physical activity among youth. METHODS: This article uses a mixed
      methods approach to document environment and policy changes in support of active
      commuting to school. Built environment data were collected using a pre-post
      research design with the Street Design Environmental Audit Tool. Supplementary
      sources of information include Geographic Information Systems, US Census data,
      and property parcel data. RESULTS: This exploratory study found modest
      improvements in the built environment during the period of assessment.
      Specifically, sidewalk conditions were improved. In addition, assessment of
      citywide policy indicates that systemic supports for active living have been put
      into place through the new (proposed) land use plan and the proposed zoning
      ordinance. CONCLUSIONS: Exploratory evaluation results suggest that Healthy Kids,
      Healthy Communities-Buffalo partnership was able to make some environmental and
      policy changes to promote active transportation. A long-term assessment is
      required to develop a fuller understanding of how environmental and policy
      changes impact active transportation.

PMID- 25828214
TI  - Using frameworks to diagram value in complex policy and environmental
      interventions to prevent childhood obesity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To date, few tools assist policy makers and practitioners in
      understanding and conveying the implementation costs, potential impacts, and
      value of policy and environmental changes to address healthy eating, active
      living, and childhood obesity. For the Evaluation of Healthy Kids, Healthy
      Communities (HKHC), evaluators considered inputs (resources and investments) that
      generate costs and savings as well as benefits and harms related to social,
      economic, environmental, and health-related outcomes in their assessment of 49
      HKHC community partnerships funded from 2009 to 2014. METHODS: Using data
      collected through individual and group interviews and an online performance
      monitoring system, evaluators created a socioecological framework to assess
      investments, resources, costs, savings, benefits, and harms at the individual,
      organizational, community, and societal levels. Evaluators customized frameworks
      for 6 focal strategies: active transportation, parks and play spaces, child care
      physical activity standards, corner stores, farmers' markets, and child care
      nutrition standards. RESULTS: To illustrate the Value Frameworks, this brief
      highlights the 38 HKHC communities implementing at least 1 active transportation
      strategy. Evaluators populated this conceptual Value Framework with themes from
      the strategy-specific inputs and outputs. The range of factors corresponding to
      the implementation and impact of the HKHC community partnerships are highlighted
      along with the inputs and outputs. CONCLUSIONS: The Value Frameworks helped
      evaluators identify gaps in current analysis models (ie, benefit-cost analysis,
      cost-effectiveness analysis) as well as paint a more complete picture of value
      for potential obesity prevention strategies. These frameworks provide a
      comprehensive understanding of investments needed, proposed costs and savings,
      and potential benefits and harms associated with economic, social, environmental,
      and health outcomes. This framing also allowed evaluators to demonstrate the
      interdependence of each socioecological level on the others in these
      multicomponent interventions. This model can be used by practitioners and
      community leaders to assess realistic and sustainable strategies to combat
      childhood obesity.

PMID- 25828215
TI  - Evaluating the implementation and impact of policy, practice, and environmental
      changes to prevent childhood obesity in 49 diverse communities.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this article is to assess and understand the
      intervention reach, dose, and impact of policy, practice, and environmental
      changes implemented by the 49 Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC) community
      partnerships across the United States and in Puerto Rico. These partnerships
      planned and implemented healthy eating and active living policy, system, and
      environmental interventions to support healthier communities for children and
      families, with special emphasis on reaching children at highest risk for obesity.
      METHODS: Using a mixed-methods, participatory evaluation design, investigators
      analyzed multiple qualitative and quantitative data sources collected during the
      HKHC initiative from 2009 to 2014. Evaluators used an inductive approach to
      develop indicators to assess intervention reach, dose, and impact for 6 cross
      site strategies, including corner stores, farmers' markets, child care nutrition
      standards, child care physical activity standards, active transportation, and
      parks and play spaces. RESULTS: Across HKHC community partnerships, 4261 policy,
      practice, or environmental changes occurred in 1536 intervention settings.
      Several trends emerged from the data related to how different levels of
      intervention (ie, community-level, setting-level, and within-setting), the size
      and access to intervention settings, the stage of implementation, and the
      sociodemographic composition of the intervention settings play important roles in
      the way policy, practice, and environmental changes "count" toward intervention
      reach, dose, and impact. CONCLUSIONS: This exploratory analysis provided a method
      and typology for increasing understanding in the field related to the reach,
      dose, and impact of policy, practice, and environmental changes promoting healthy
      eating and active living in order to reduce childhood overweight and obesity.

PMID- 25828216
TI  - Thoughts on supporting sustainable community change.

PMID- 25828217
TI  - Applying a mixed-methods evaluation to Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities.
AB  - From 2008 to 2014, the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC) national program
      funded 49 communities across the United States and Puerto Rico to implement
      healthy eating and active living policy, system, and environmental changes to
      support healthier communities for children and families, with special emphasis on
      reaching children at highest risk for obesity on the basis of race, ethnicity,
      income, or geographic location. Evaluators designed a mixed-methods evaluation to
      capture the complexity of the HKHC projects, understand implementation, and
      document perceived and actual impacts of these efforts. Eight complementary
      evaluation methods addressed 4 primary aims seeking to (1) coordinate data
      collection for the evaluation through the web-based project management system
      (HKHC Community Dashboard) and provide training and technical assistance for use
      of this system; (2) guide data collection and analysis through use of the
      Assessment and Evaluation Toolkit; (3) conduct a quantitative cross-site impact
      evaluation among a subset of community partnership sites; and (4) conduct a
      qualitative cross-site process and impact evaluation among all 49 community
      partnership sites. Evaluators identified successes and challenges in relation to
      the following methods: an online performance-monitoring HKHC Community Dashboard
      system, environmental audits, direct observations, individual and group
      interviews, partnership and community capacity surveys, group model building,
      photographs and videos, and secondary data sources (surveillance data and record
      review). Several themes emerged, including the value of systems approaches, the
      need for capacity building for evaluation, the value of focusing on upstream and
      downstream outcomes, and the importance of practical approaches for
      dissemination. The mixed-methods evaluation of HKHC advances evaluation science
      related to community-based efforts for addressing childhood obesity in complex
      community settings. The findings are likely to provide practice-relevant evidence
      for public health. 

PMID- 25828218
TI  - Partnership and community capacity characteristics in 49 sites implementing
      healthy eating and active living interventions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: One component of the Evaluation of Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities,
      funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was to assess partnership and
      community capacity characteristics of 49 cross-sector, multidisciplinary
      community demonstration projects to increase healthy eating and active living as
      well as to prevent and reduce childhood obesity. METHODS: From December 2012 to
      December 2013, an 82-item partnership and community capacity survey instrument
      assessed perspectives of community partnership members and community
      representatives from 48 of the 49 communities on the structure and function of
      their partnerships and the capacity of the community to create change. Through
      factor analysis and descriptive statistics, the evaluators described common
      characteristics of the partnerships, their leadership, and their relationships to
      the broader communities. RESULTS: A total of 603 individuals responded from 48 of
      the 49 partnerships. Evaluators identified 15 components, or factors that were
      broken into a themes, including leadership, partnership structure, relationship
      with partners, partnership capacity, political influence of partnership, and
      perceptions of partnership's involvement with the community and community
      members. CONCLUSIONS: Survey respondents perceived the Healthy Kids, Healthy
      Communities partnerships to have the capacity to ensure the partnerships'
      effectiveness in forming and growing their structures and functions,
      collaborating to implement policy and environmental change, and planning for
      sustainability.

PMID- 25828219
TI  - Paso a paso: the role of civic engagement and community capacity in the mixed
      methods evaluation of Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities and where to go next.

PMID- 25828220
TI  - HKHC Community Dashboard: design, development, and function of a Web-based
      performance monitoring system.
AB  - BACKGROUND: As part of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Healthy Kids, Healthy
      Communities (HKHC) national grant program, a technical assistance team designed
      the HKHC Community Dashboard, an online progress documentation and networking
      system. The Dashboard was central to HKHC's multimethod program evaluation and
      became a communication interface for grantees and technical assistance providers.
      METHODS: The Dashboard was designed through an iterative process of identifying
      needs and priorities; designing the user experience, technical development, and
      usability testing; and applying visual design. The system was created with an
      open-source content management system and support for building an online
      community of users. The site developer trained technical assistance providers at
      the national program office and evaluators, who subsequently trained all 49
      grantees. Evaluators provided support for Dashboard users and populated the site
      with the bulk of its uploaded tools and resource documents. The system tracked
      progress through an interactive work plan template, regular documentation by
      local staff and partners, and data coding and analysis by the evaluation team.
      Other features included the ability to broadcast information to Dashboard users
      via e-mail, event calendars, discussion forums, private messaging, a resource
      clearinghouse, a technical assistance diary, and real-time progress reports.
      RESULTS: The average number of Dashboard posts was 694 per grantee during the
      grant period. Technical assistance providers and grantees uploaded a total of
      1304 resource documents. The Dashboard functions with the highest grantee
      satisfaction were its interfaces for sharing and progress documentation. A
      majority of Dashboard users (69%) indicated a preference for continued access to
      the Dashboard's uploaded resource documents. CONCLUSIONS: The Dashboard was a
      useful and innovative tool for participatory evaluation of a large national grant
      program. While progress documentation added some burden to local project staff,
      the system proved to be a useful resource-sharing technology.

PMID- 25828221
TI  - Evaluation of Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities.

PMID- 25828222
TI  - Behavior-over-time graphs: assessing perceived trends in healthy eating and
      active living environments and behaviors across 49 communities.
AB  - CONTEXT: In the evaluation of the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities initiative,
      investigators implemented Group Model Building (GMB) to promote systems thinking
      at the community level. As part of the GMB sessions held in each community
      partnership, participants created behavior-over-time graphs (BOTGs) to
      characterize their perceptions of changes over time related to policies,
      environments, collaborations, and social determinants in their community related
      to healthy eating, active living, and childhood obesity. OBJECTIVE: To describe
      the process of coding BOTGs and their trends. DESIGN: Descriptive study of trends
      among BOTGs from 11 domains (eg, active living environments, social determinants
      of health, funding) and relevant categories and subcategories based on the
      graphed variables. In addition, BOTGs were distinguished by whether the variables
      were positively (eg, access to healthy foods) or negatively (eg, screen time)
      associated with health. SETTING: The GMB sessions were held in 49 community
      partnerships across the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Participants in the GMB
      sessions (n = 590; n = 5-21 per session) included key individuals engaged in or
      impacted by the policy, system, or environmental changes occurring in the
      community. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Thirty codes were developed to describe the
      direction (increasing, decreasing, stable) and shape (linear, reinforcing,
      balancing, or oscillating) of trends from 1660 graphs. RESULTS: The patterns of
      trends varied by domain. For example, among variables positively associated with
      health, the prevalence of reinforcing increasing trends was highest for active
      living and healthy eating environments (37.4% and 29.3%, respectively),
      partnership and community capacity (38.8%), and policies (30.2%). Examination of
      trends of specific variables suggested both convergence (eg, for cost of healthy
      foods) and divergence (eg, for farmers' markets) of trends across partnerships.
      CONCLUSIONS: Behavior-over-time graphs provide a unique data source for
      understanding community-level trends and, when combined with causal maps and
      computer modeling, can yield insights about prevention strategies to address
      childhood obesity.

PMID- 25828223
TI  - Systems thinking in 49 communities related to healthy eating, active living, and
      childhood obesity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Community partnerships to promote healthy eating and active living in
      order to prevent childhood obesity face a number of challenges. Systems science
      tools combined with group model-building techniques offer promising methods that
      use transdisciplinary team-based approaches to improve understanding of the
      complexity of the obesity epidemic. This article presents evaluation methods and
      findings from 49 Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities sites funded to implement
      policy, system, and environmental changes from 2008 to 2014. METHODS: Through
      half-day group model-building sessions conducted as part of evaluation site
      visits to each community between 2010 and 2013, a total of 50 causal loop
      diagrams were produced for 49 communities (1 community had 2 causal loop diagrams
      representing different geographic regions). The analysis focused on the following
      evaluation questions: (1) What were the most prominent variables in the causal
      loop diagrams across communities? (2) What were the major feedback structures
      across communities? (3) What implications from the synthesized causal loop
      diagram can be translated to policy makers, practitioners, evaluators, funders,
      and other community representatives? RESULTS: A total of 590 individuals
      participated with an average of 12 participants per session. Participants' causal
      loop diagrams included a total of 227 unique variables in the following major
      subsystems: healthy eating policies and environments, active living policies and
      environments, health and health behaviors, partnership and community capacity,
      and social determinants. In a synthesized causal loop diagram representing
      variables identified by at least 20% of the communities, many feedback structures
      emerged and several themes are highlighted with respect to implications for
      policy and practice as well as assessment and evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: The
      application of systems thinking tools combined with group model-building
      techniques creates opportunities to define and characterize complex systems in a
      manner that draws on the authentic voice of residents and community partners.

PMID- 25828224
TI  - Healthy Kids, Healthy Cuba: findings from a group model building process in the
      rural Southwest.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Healthy Kids, Healthy Cuba (HKHCuba) is 1 of 49 community
      partnerships that participated in the national Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities
      program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. One method of evaluation was to
      introduce systems thinking at the community level by identifying the essential
      parts of the HKHCuba system and how it influences policy and environmental
      changes to promote healthy eating and active living as well as to prevent
      childhood obesity in this unique, triethnic, rural community in New Mexico.
      METHODS: In this cross-sectional design, 12 HKHCuba partners participated in a
      group model building (GMB) session to develop behavior over time graphs and a
      causal loop diagram. RESULTS: Twenty-seven influences identified in the behavior
      over time graphs emerged as feedback loops and 5 subsystems emerged within the
      causal loop diagram. In addition to specific strategy-related influences (eg,
      access to healthy food, participation in community gardens), sense of cultural
      pride, sense of community, and social engagement, particularly among youth, were
      highly salient topics. CONCLUSIONS: The GMB process provided participants with
      the opportunity to explore the connections across their specific areas of work
      and make connections between policy and environmental influences on healthy
      eating and active living behaviors. The GMB processes and systems thinking
      approaches were new to the majority of participants, received positively, and
      perhaps should have been introduced earlier in the project period.

PMID- 25828225
TI  - Using group model building to understand factors that influence childhood obesity
      in an urban environment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite increased attention, conventional views of obesity are based
      upon individual behaviors, and children and parents living with obesity are
      assumed to be the primary problem solvers. Instead of focusing exclusively on
      individual reduction behaviors for childhood obesity, greater focus should be
      placed on better understanding existing community systems and their effects on
      obesity. The Milwaukee Childhood Obesity Prevention Project is a community-based
      coalition established to develop policy and environmental change strategies to
      impact childhood obesity in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The coalition conducted a Group
      Model Building exercise to better understand root causes of childhood obesity in
      its community. METHODS: Group Model Building is a process by which a group
      systematically engages in model construction to better understand the systems
      that are in place. It helps participants make their mental models explicit
      through a careful and consistent process to test assumptions. This process has 3
      main components: (1) assembling a team of participants; (2) conducting a behavior
      over-time graphs exercise; and (3) drawing the causal loop diagram exercise.
      RESULTS: The behavior-over-time graph portion produced 61 graphs in 10
      categories. The causal loop diagram yielded 5 major themes and 7 subthemes.
      CONCLUSIONS: Factors that influence childhood obesity are varied, and it is
      important to recognize that no single solution exists. The perspectives from this
      exercise provided a means to create a process for dialogue and commitment by
      stakeholders and partnerships to build capacity for change within the community.

PMID- 25828226
TI  - Group model building: a framework for organizing healthy community program and
      policy initiatives in Columbia, Missouri.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Between 2008 and 2012, the multidisciplinary Healthy Community
      Partnership of Columbia, Missouri, participated in a national program to address
      child obesity. This article describes a systems-level evaluation of their work to
      implement healthy eating and active living policy, system, and environmental
      changes to support healthier communities for children. METHODS: In 2011, the
      partnership participated in a Group Model Building session, consisting of 2
      primary activities. First, participants sketched behavior-over-time graphs,
      illustrating the evolution of community variables related to child obesity, such
      as prevalence of walking to school or the marketing of high-sugar drinks. Later,
      the graphs were arranged on a large area of wall space and connections were drawn
      between those variables that were believed to influence each other--either
      positively (reinforcing connections) or negatively (opposing connections). The
      resulting causal loop diagram is a visual representation of the interacting
      systems, as perceived by the partnership. RESULTS: In reviewing the diagram, the
      group identified areas where they felt the diagram "made sense" and other areas
      where there were inconsistencies between the diagram and their own mental model
      of the processes at work. To address the inconsistencies, participants were
      surveyed to determine which specific modifications should be made to the diagram
      so it would become an accurate representation of the group's shared concept of
      the relevant relationships. DISCUSSION: The group felt that the final Modified
      causal loop diagram achieved this goal and that it provides useful insight into
      how their work addresses child obesity. They believe the diagram also has the
      potential to improve community engagement by serving as a visual model, improve
      planning through better resource allocation, improve implementation by
      identifying policy leverage points, and increase resources when used in grant
      applications.

PMID- 25828227
TI  - Collaborating to support Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities partnerships.
AB  - The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) (http://www.rwjf.org/en.html) launched
      Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC) in 2008, with a $33.4 million commitment
      to help reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. With grant funding and
      technical assistance, HKHC supported 50 diverse community partnerships focusing
      on populations at greatest risk for obesity. Active Living By Design served as
      the national program office, and St. Louis-based Transtria conducted the
      evaluation. Collaboration fundamentally shaped HKHC's national program design and
      strategy, the grantee selection process, technical assistance, the HKHC learning
      network, and evaluation. This article describes the ways in which the concept of
      collaboration was defined and practiced among the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
      Active Living By Design, Transtria, and other national partners, and how it
      shaped the evolving vision for and expectations from HKHC grantees. Collaboration
      contributed to HKHC grantees' success, helped build the healthy communities
      movement, and influenced philanthropic practices.

PMID- 25828228
TI  - Improving park space access for the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities partnership
      in Denver, Colorado.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In 2010, Denver Public Health at Denver Health was awarded a Robert
      Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC) grant that
      supported policy, system, and environmental changes to expand healthy food access
      through gardens and large-chain grocery stores and expand environments that are
      safe for all children to play, walk, and bike. Systems-thinking approaches
      enhanced the Denver partnership's work to identify and address the multiple and
      complex factors affecting the environment changes implemented to increase active
      living and healthy eating. Continued application of the systems-thinking approach
      in Denver will sustain outcomes for obesity prevention efforts beyond the grant
      project cycle, specifically in park space redevelopment. METHODS: Key members of
      the Denver HKHC coalition were invited to participate in a half-day group model
      building workshop to create behavior-over-time graphs and a causal loop diagram.
      These activities were intended to build on the Denver HKHC partnership's work by
      identifying factors that affect or are affected by policy, system, and
      environmental changes that influence active living, healthy eating or childhood
      obesity. RESULTS: Environments (ie, park space, farms, gardens) developed or
      renovated should consider identifying and addressing a range of factors that may
      influence access and utilization of active living and healthy eating.
      CONCLUSIONS: Denver's partnership found the experience highly valuable for
      identifying the policy, system, and environment change pathways that lead to
      increases in active living and healthy food access. In addition, it highlighted
      the need to identify and address the multiple and complex change pathways to
      ensure the outcomes of environment change, especially with park space,
      implemented in Denver achieve increased access to active living and healthy
      eating.

PMID- 25828229
TI  - Advancing systems thinking through the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities
      evaluation.

PMID- 25828230
TI  - Increasing community capacity for participatory evaluation of healthy eating and
      active living strategies through direct observations and environmental audits.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Local partnerships from the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities
      initiative elected to participate in enhanced evaluation trainings to collect
      data through environmental audits and direct observations as well as to build
      their evaluation capacity. METHODS: Environmental audit and direct observation
      tools and protocols were adapted for the relevant healthy eating and active
      living policy and environmental change approaches being conducted by the Healthy
      Kids, Healthy Communities partnerships. Customized trainings were conducted by
      the evaluation team to increase capacity and understanding for evaluation
      activities. RESULTS: A total of 87 trainings were conducted by the evaluation
      team in 31 Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities community partnerships. Data were
      collected for a total of 41 environmental audits and 17 direct observations.
      Community case examples illustrate how these trainings developed evaluation
      capacity. For instance, youth from one community presented environmental audit
      findings to local elected officials. CONCLUSIONS: The 31 partnerships
      participating in the community-based evaluation efforts resulted in 164
      individuals trained in collecting context-specific data to assess the impact of
      healthy eating and active living policy and environmental strategies designed to
      create community change.

PMID- 25828231
TI  - Using an integrated approach to evaluate "Where do Flint's families play".
AB  - BACKGROUND: Once home to a thriving auto industry, Flint, Michigan, is now an
      economically distressed city of just over 100 000 people. With more than one
      third of the population obese and one-third of the population younger than 18
      years, it is essential to have safe spaces for children and families to be
      physically active. To address this, the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities Flint
      Community Partnership (Partnership) worked to revitalize local parks and evaluate
      these efforts to effectively guide future park resource allocation, investments,
      and approaches to create a more equitable, vibrant parks system. METHODS: After 2
      years of initial park investments, 2 intervention parks (Max Brandon Park and
      Bassett Park) and 2 comparison parks (Brennan Park and Whaley Park) were selected
      for direct observation to determine whether parks that experienced investment had
      more use and users participating in higher levels of physical activity than in
      parks with no investment. In addition, the Partnership implemented community
      engagement strategies to hear residents' needs and desires for parks, as well as
      technical assessments such as a park facilities assessment, policy review, and
      equity analysis. RESULTS: Intervention parks had a higher number of uses and
      higher physical activity levels than comparison parks. This complemented
      community engagement results that highlighted people do not use parks that are
      perceived as unsafe and in poor condition. Even though demand for parks can be
      met with the current supply of park space, many parks had outdated and hazardous
      equipment; this, plus inconsistent maintenance, (perceived) lack of safety, and
      lack of activities were the main deterrents to using city parks for physical
      activity. CONCLUSIONS: Parks receiving investment had higher use and physical
      activity levels; thus, investing in park facilities and programming could
      increase opportunities for Flint residents to lead more active, healthy
      lifestyles.

PMID- 25828232
TI  - The parasite Ichthyophonus sp. in Pacific herring from the coastal NE Pacific.
AB  - The protistan parasite Ichthyophonus occurred in populations of Pacific herring
      Clupea pallasii Valenciennes throughout coastal areas of the NE Pacific, ranging
      from Puget Sound, WA north to the Gulf of Alaska, AK. Infection prevalence in
      local Pacific herring stocks varied seasonally and annually, and a general
      pattern of increasing prevalence with host size and/or age persisted throughout
      the NE Pacific. An exception to this zoographic pattern occurred among a group of
      juvenile, age 1+ year Pacific herring from Cordova Harbor, AK in June 2010, which
      demonstrated an unusually high infection prevalence of 35%. Reasons for this
      anomaly were hypothesized to involve anthropogenic influences that resulted in
      locally elevated infection pressures. Interannual declines in infection
      prevalence from some populations (e.g. Lower Cook Inlet, AK; from 20-32% in 2007
      to 0-3% during 2009-13) or from the largest size cohorts of other populations
      (e.g. Sitka Sound, AK; from 62.5% in 2007 to 19.6% in 2013) were likely a
      reflection of selective mortality among the infected cohorts. All available
      information for Ichthyophonus in the NE Pacific, including broad geographic
      range, low host specificity and presence in archived Pacific herring tissue
      samples dating to the 1980s, indicate a long-standing host-pathogen relationship.

PMID- 25828233
TI  - Comparing and sharing information across health care settings: a difficult but
      potentially invaluable task.

PMID- 25828234
TI  - Multivitamin use and risk of stroke mortality: the Japan collaborative cohort
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: An effect of multivitamin supplement on stroke risk is
      uncertain. We aimed to examine the association between multivitamin use and risk
      of death from stroke and its subtypes. METHODS: A total of 72 180 Japanese men
      and women free from cardiovascular diseases and cancers at baseline in 1988 to
      1990 were followed up until December 31, 2009. Lifestyles including multivitamin
      use were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Cox proportional
      hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) of total
      stroke and its subtypes in relation to multivitamin use. RESULTS: During a median
      follow-up of 19.1 years, we identified 2087 deaths from stroke, including 1148
      ischemic strokes and 877 hemorrhagic strokes. After adjustment for potential
      confounders, multivitamin use was associated with lower but borderline
      significant risk of death from total stroke (HR, 0.87; 95% confidence interval,
      0.76-1.01), primarily ischemic stroke (HR, 0.80; 95% confidence interval, 0.63
      1.01), but not hemorrhagic stroke (HR, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.78-1.18).
      In a subgroup analysis, there was a significant association between multivitamin
      use and lower risk of mortality from total stroke among people with fruit and
      vegetable intake <3 times/d (HR, 0.80; 95% confidence interval, 0.65-0.98). That
      association seemed to be more evident among regular users than casual users.
      Similar results were found for ischemic stroke. CONCLUSIONS: Multivitamin use,
      particularly frequent use, was associated with reduced risk of total and ischemic
      stroke mortality among Japanese people with lower intake of fruits and
      vegetables.

PMID- 25828236
TI  - Effect of public awareness campaigns on calls to ambulance across Australia.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The National Stroke Foundation of Australia has run 12
      public awareness campaigns since 2004. Campaign exposure and funding has varied
      annually and regionally during this time. The aim of this study was to measure
      the effect of campaigns on calls to ambulance for stroke across Australia in
      exposed regions (paid or pro bono advertising). METHODS: All ambulance services
      in Australia provided monthly ambulance dispatch data between January 2003 and
      June 2014. We performed multivariable regression to measure the effect of
      campaign exposure on the volume of stroke-related emergency calls, after
      controlling for confounders. RESULTS: The final model indicated that 11 of the 12
      National Stroke Foundation campaigns were associated with increases in the volume
      of stroke-related calls (varying between 1% and 9.9%) in regions with exposure to
      advertising. This increase lasted ~3 months, with an additional 10.2% relative
      increase in the volume of the calls in regions with paid advertising. We found no
      significant additional effect of the campaigns on stroke calls where ambulance
      services are publicly funded. CONCLUSIONS: The National Stroke Foundation stroke
      awareness campaigns are associated with increases to calls to ambulance for
      stroke in regions receiving advertising and promotion. Research is now required
      to examine whether this increased use in ambulance is for appropriate
      emergencies.

PMID- 25828235
TI  - Reperfusion of very low cerebral blood volume lesion predicts parenchymal
      hematoma after endovascular therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Ischemic stroke patients with regional very low cerebral
      blood volume (VLCBV) on baseline imaging have increased risk of parenchymal
      hemorrhage (PH) after intravenous alteplase-induced reperfusion. We developed a
      method for automated detection of VLCBV and examined whether patients with
      reperfused-VLCBV are at increased risk of PH after endovascular reperfusion
      therapy. METHODS: Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to
      optimize a relative CBV threshold associated with PH in patients from the
      Diffusion and Perfusion Imaging Evaluation for Understanding Stroke Evolution 2
      (DEFUSE 2) study. Regional reperfused-VLCBV was defined as regions with low
      relative CBV on baseline imaging that demonstrated normal perfusion (Tmax <6 s)
      on coregistered early follow-up magnetic resonance imaging. The association
      between VLCBV, regional reperfused-VLCBV and PH was assessed in univariate and
      multivariate analyses. RESULTS: In 91 patients, the greatest area under the curve
      for predicting PH occurred at an relative CBV threshold of <0.42 (area under the
      curve, 0.77). At this threshold, VLCBV lesion volume >=3.55 mL optimally
      predicted PH with 94% sensitivity and 63% specificity. Reperfused-VLCBV lesion
      volume was more specific (0.74) and equally sensitive (0.94). In total, 18
      patients developed PH, of whom 17 presented with VLCBV (39% versus 2%; P=0.001),
      all of them had regional reperfusion (47% versus 0%; P=0.01), and 71% received
      intravenous alteplase. VLCBV lesion (odds ratio, 33) and bridging with
      intravenous alteplase (odds ratio, 3.8) were independently associated with PH. In
      a separate model, reperfused-VLCBV remained the single independent predictor of
      PH (odds ratio, 53). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that VLCBV can be used
      for risk stratification of patients scheduled to undergo endovascular therapy in
      trials and routine clinical practice.

PMID- 25828237
TI  - Acute cerebral infarction presenting with weakness in both legs and one arm.

PMID- 25828238
TI  - Trends in Door-to-Thrombolysis Time in the Safe Implementation of Stroke
      Thrombolysis Registry: Effect of Center Volume and Duration of Registry
      Membership.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Shorter delays between symptom onset and treatment
      translate into better outcomes after ischemic stroke thrombolysis. There are
      considerable intercenter variations in treatment delivery. We analyzed the trends
      of door-to-needle times (DNTs) in the Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in
      Stroke registry between 2003 and 2011. METHODS: We extracted from the Safe
      Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke registry (n=45 079) year of treatment,
      center code, DNT, sex, age, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and
      comorbidity. For each center, the year they joined the registry and the annual
      volume of patients were determined (<5, 5-24, 25-49, 50-74, 75-99, and >=100
      patients/y). RESULTS: DNT was not available for 720 (1.6%) patients. The overall
      mean (SD) DNT was 73 (37) minutes with a median (interquartile range) of 67 (47
      91) minutes. The DNT was 65 (46-90), 68 (50-92), and 72 (51-98) minutes for
      centers joined early (2003-2005), later (2006-2009), and recently (2009-2011),
      respectively. Center volume had more robust effect on DNT than year of treatment,
      and the shortest DNTs were seen in centers with volumes >=100 patients/y. Earlier
      enrollment period was also associated with shorter delays. CONCLUSIONS: Centers
      that joined the registry earlier and those with high annual volume achieved
      shorter DNT than centers that joined later and low-volume centers. However, in
      most of the centers, DNT did not change much during the registry period. A
      multicenter project aiming to reduce DNT is warranted.

PMID- 25828239
TI  - Door-to-Needle Times: Let's Not Leave Smaller Hospitals Behind.

PMID- 25828240
TI  - Impulsive choice predicts anxiety-like behavior, but not alcohol or sucrose
      consumption, in male Long-Evans rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prior human research indicates robust, positive relations between
      impulsive choice (i.e., preference for smaller, immediate over larger, delayed
      rewards) and alcohol use disorders. However, varied findings in the nonhuman
      literature reveal a relatively ambiguous relation between impulsive choice and
      alcohol consumption in rodents. In addition, few rodent studies have investigated
      potential relations between impulsive choice and common covariates of alcohol
      consumption (e.g., avidity for sweet substances or anxiety-like behavior).
      METHODS: Ninety-two male Long-Evans rats completed an impulsive-choice task. From
      this larger sample, extreme high- and low-impulsive groups (n = 30 each) were
      retained for further testing. In separate tests, subsequent open-field behavior
      and consumption of oral alcohol (12% w/v) and isocaloric sucrose were examined.
      Impulsive choice was then retested to examine whether behavior remained stable
      over the course of the experiment. RESULTS: No significant relations emerged
      between impulsive choice and either alcohol or sucrose consumption. However,
      impulsive choice predicted greater anxiety-like behavior (avoidance of the center
      field, defecation) in the open-field test. In turn, greater anxiety predicted
      lower alcohol and sucrose consumption. Finally, choice remained generally stable
      across the experiment, although high-impulsive rats tended toward less impulsive
      choice in the retest. CONCLUSIONS: Although impulsive choice and alcohol
      consumption appear to share some variance with anxiety-like behavior, the present
      data offer no support for a relation between impulsive choice and alcohol
      consumption in Long-Evans rats. Together with mixed rodent data from prior
      reports, these findings attenuate cross-species comparisons to human relations
      between impulsive choice and alcohol use disorders.

PMID- 25828241
TI  - Macroscopic nuclear spin diffusion constants of rotating polycrystalline solids
      from first-principles simulation.
AB  - A method for quantitatively calculating nuclear spin diffusion constants directly
      from crystal structures is introduced. This approach uses the first-principles
      low-order correlations in Liouville space (LCL) method to simulate spin diffusion
      in a box, starting from atomic geometry and including both magic-angle spinning
      (MAS) and powder averaging. The LCL simulations are fit to the 3D diffusion
      equation to extract quantitative nuclear spin diffusion constants. We demonstrate
      this method for the case of (1)H spin diffusion in ice and L-histidine, obtaining
      diffusion constants that are consistent with literature values for (1)H spin
      diffusion in polymers and that follow the expected trends with respect to magic
      angle spinning rate and the density of nuclear spins. In addition, we show that
      this method can be used to model (13)C spin diffusion in diamond and therefore
      has the potential to provide insight into applications such as the transport of
      polarization in non-protonated systems.

PMID- 25828242
TI  - Comparison of pulse sequences for R1-based electron paramagnetic resonance oxygen
      imaging.
AB  - Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spin-lattice relaxation (SLR) oxygen
      imaging has proven to be an indispensable tool for assessing oxygen partial
      pressure in live animals. EPR oxygen images show remarkable oxygen accuracy when
      combined with high precision and spatial resolution. Developing more effective
      means for obtaining SLR rates is of great practical, biological and medical
      importance. In this work we compared different pulse EPR imaging protocols and
      pulse sequences to establish advantages and areas of applicability for each
      method. Tests were performed using phantoms containing spin probes with oxygen
      concentrations relevant to in vivo oxymetry. We have found that for small animal
      size objects the inversion recovery sequence combined with the filtered
      backprojection reconstruction method delivers the best accuracy and precision.
      For large animals, in which large radio frequency energy deposition might be
      critical, free induction decay and three pulse stimulated echo sequences might
      find better practical usage. 

PMID- 25828243
TI  - Broadband electrically detected magnetic resonance using adiabatic pulses.
AB  - We present a broadband microwave setup for electrically detected magnetic
      resonance (EDMR) based on microwave antennae with the ability to apply
      arbitrarily shaped pulses for the excitation of electron spin resonance (ESR) and
      nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of spin ensembles. This setup uses non-resonant
      stripline structures for on-chip microwave delivery and is demonstrated to work
      in the frequency range from 4 MHz to 18 GHz. pi pulse times of 50 ns and 70 MUs
      for ESR and NMR transitions, respectively, are achieved with as little as 100 mW
      of microwave or radiofrequency power. The use of adiabatic pulses fully
      compensates for the microwave magnetic field inhomogeneity of the stripline
      antennae, as demonstrated with the help of BIR4 unitary rotation pulses driving
      the ESR transition of neutral phosphorus donors in silicon and the NMR
      transitions of ionized phosphorus donors as detected by electron nuclear double
      resonance (ENDOR).

PMID- 25828244
TI  - NMR spin-lattice relaxation time T(1) of thin films obtained by magnetic
      resonance force microscopy.
AB  - We obtained the NMR spectrum and the spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) for thin
      film samples by magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM). The samples were CaF2
      thin films which were 50 nm and 150 nm thick. T1 was measured at 18 K using a
      cyclic adiabatic inversion method at a fixed frequency. A comparison of the bulk
      and two thin films showed that T1 becomes shorter as the film thickness
      decreases. To make the comparison as accurate as possible, all three samples were
      loaded onto different beams of a multi-cantilever array and measured in the same
      experimental environment.

PMID- 25828245
TI  - Endoscopic bariatric therapies.

PMID- 25828246
TI  - CPUY11018, an azimilide derivative, ameliorates isoproterenol-induced cardiac
      insufficiency through relieving dysfunctional mitochondria and endoplasmic
      reticulum.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Deterioration of cardiac performance under stress may be partly
      mediated by dysfunctional mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that is
      likely related to an activation of NADPH oxidase (NOX) and an increase in pro
      inflammatory factors. We investigated if a new compound CPUY11018 (CPUY) derived
      from Azimilide could ameliorate the stress impaired cardiac performance. METHODS:
      Forty-eight male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into six groups and
      were injected with isoproterenol (ISO, 1 ml/kg, s.c.) for 10 days. Cardiac
      myocytes and fibroblasts from neonate rats were incubated with ISO. CPUY was
      employed and compared with apocynin (APO) - an inhibitor of NOX. KEY FINDINGS: In
      ISO-treated group, the compromised haemodynamics and cardiac remodelling were
      significant with dysfunctional mitochondria indicated by decreased MnSOD and
      mitochondrial membrane potential, and an enhanced reactive oxygen species
      genesis. Downregulation of FKBP12.6, CASQ2 and SERCA2a was also remarkable in
      vivo and in vitro implying an abnormal ER. Upregulated Nox4, p22(phox) and
      p47(phox) were significant, associated with upregulation of Src, IkappaBbeta and
      NFkappaB, and downregulation of pAMPK/AMPK and Cx40 in vivo and in vitro. These
      abnormalities were relieved by CPUY and APO. CONCLUSIONS: CPUY is potential in
      managing cardiac insufficiency through normalizing mitochondria and ER in the
      affected heart.

PMID- 25828247
TI  - Telomere Length as an Indicator of the Robustness of B- and T-Cell Response to
      Influenza in Older Adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Telomeres provide a key mechanism for protecting the integrity of
      chromosomes and their attrition after cell division and during aging are evident
      in lymphocytes. However, the significance of telomere shortening in age
      associated decline of immune function is unknown. METHODS: We selected 22 HLA-A2
      positive healthy older adults who have relatively short or long telomere lengths
      to compare their antibody response against the influenza vaccine, and their
      CD8(+) T-cell response against an influenza antigen. RESULTS: B cells from
      individuals with a robust antibody response to the influenza vaccine had
      significantly longer telomeres than those with a poor antibody response. Monocyte
      derived antigen-presenting cells of both short and long telomere groups induced
      similar expansions of influenza M1-specific CD8(+) T cells. Vaccination did not
      increase M1-specific CD8(+) T cells in blood, but M1-specific CD8(+) T cells from
      the long telomere group exhibited significantly greater expansion in vitro than
      those from the short telomere group. Finally, M1-specific CD8(+) T cells that
      underwent more expansions had significantly longer telomeres than cells with
      fewer divisions. CONCLUSIONS: Telomere length is positively associated with a
      robust lymphocyte response, and telomere attrition may contribute to the age
      associated decline of adaptive immunity.

PMID- 25828249
TI  - Simple education reduces inappropriate blood glucose self monitoring in type 2
      diabetes, study shows.

PMID- 25828248
TI  - 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography in Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus
      Associated Multicentric Castleman Disease: Correlation With Activity, Severity,
      Inflammatory and Virologic Parameters.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV)-associated multicentric Castleman
      disease (MCD) is a lymphoproliferative inflammatory disorder commonly associated
      with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Its presentation may be difficult to
      distinguish from HIV and its complications, including lymphoma. Novel imaging
      strategies could address these problems. METHODS: We prospectively characterized
      (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) findings in 27
      patients with KSHV-MCD. Patients were imaged with disease activity and at
      remission with scans evaluated blind to clinical status. Symptoms, C-reactive
      protein level, and HIV and KSHV loads were assessed in relation to imaging
      findings. RESULTS: KSHV-MCD activity was associated with hypermetabolic symmetric
      lymphadenopathy (median maximal standardized uptake value [SUVmax], 6.0; range,
      2.0-8.0) and splenomegaly (3.4; 1.2-11.0), with increased metabolism also noted
      in the marrow (2.1; range, 1.0-3.5) and salivary glands (3.0; range, 2.0-6.0).
      The (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET abnormalities improved at remission, with
      significant SUVmax decreases in the lymph nodes (P = .004), spleen (P = .008),
      marrow (P = .004), and salivary glands (P = .004). Nodal SUVmax correlated with
      symptom severity (P = .005), C-reactive protein level (R = 0.62; P = .004), and
      KSHV load (R = 0.54; P = .02) but not HIV load (P = .52). CONCLUSIONS: KSHV-MCD
      activity is associated with (18)F-FDG PET abnormalities of the lymph nodes,
      spleen, marrow, and salivary glands. These findings have clinical implications
      for the diagnosis and monitoring of KSHV-MCD and shed light on its pathobiologic
      mechanism.

PMID- 25828250
TI  - Low concentration toxic metal mixture interactions: Effects on essential and non
      essential metals in brain, liver, and kidneys of mice on sub-chronic exposure.
AB  - The deleterious effects of long term exposure to individual toxic metals in low
      doses are well documented. There is however, a paucity of information on
      interaction of low dose toxic metal mixtures with toxic and essential metals.
      This study reports on interactions between low dose mixtures of lead (Pb),
      mercury (Hg), arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) and toxic and essential metals. For
      120d, six groups of forty mice each were exposed to metal mixtures, however, the
      control group was given distilled water. Exposure to Pb+Cd increased brain Pb by
      479% in 30d, whiles Pb+Hg+As+Cd reduced liver Hg by 46.5%, but increased kidney
      As by 130% in 30d. Brain Cu, increased by 221% on Pb+Hg+As+Cd exposure, however,
      liver Ca reduced by 36.1% on Pb+Hg exposure in 60-d. Interactions within metal
      mixtures were largely synergistic. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that
      low dose metal exposures influenced greatly levels of Hg (in brain and liver) and
      As (brain). The influence exerted on essential metals was highest in liver (PC1)
      followed by kidney (PC2) and brain (PC3). Exposure to low dose metal mixtures
      affected homeostasis of toxic and essential metals in tissues of mice. 

PMID- 25828251
TI  - Toxicity and sublethal effects of six insecticides to last instar larvae and
      adults of the biocontrol agents Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) (Neuroptera:
      Chrysopidae) and Adalia bipunctata (L.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae).
AB  - To further develop Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies against crop
      pests, it is important to evaluate the effects of insecticides on biological
      control agents. Therefore, we tested the toxicity and sublethal effects
      (fecundity and fertility) of flonicamid, flubendiamide, metaflumizone,
      spirotetramat, sulfoxaflor and deltamethrin on the natural enemies Chrysoperla
      carnea and Adalia bipunctata. The side effects of the active ingredients of the
      insecticides were evaluated with residual contact tests for the larvae and adults
      of these predators in the laboratory. Flonicamid, flubendiamide, metaflumizone
      and spirotetramat were innocuous to last instar larvae and adults of C. carnea
      and A. bipunctata. Sulfoxaflor was slightly toxic to adults of C. carnea and was
      highly toxic to the L4 larvae of A. bipunctata. For A. bipunctata, sulfoxaflor
      and deltamethrin were the most damaging compounds with a cumulative larval
      mortality of 100%. Deltamethrin was also the most toxic compound to larvae and
      adults of C. carnea. In accordance with the results obtained, the compounds
      flonicamid, flubendiamide, metaflumizone and spirotetramat might be incorporated
      into IPM programs in combination with these natural enemies for the control of
      particular greenhouse pests. Nevertheless, the use of sulfoxaflor and
      deltamethrin in IPM strategies should be taken into consideration when releasing
      either of these biological control agents, due to the toxic behavior observed
      under laboratory conditions. The need for developing sustainable approaches to
      combine the use of these insecticides and natural enemies within an IPM framework
      is discussed. 

PMID- 25828252
TI  - The fate and transport of the Cry1Ab protein in an agricultural field and
      laboratory aquatic microcosms.
AB  - Genetically engineered crops expressing insecticidal crystalline proteins derived
      from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), were commercialized almost two decades ago as a
      means to manage agricultural pests. The Bt proteins are highly specific and only
      lethal upon ingestion, limiting the scope of toxicity to target insects. However,
      concern of exposure to non-target organisms and negative public perceptions
      regarding Bt crops has caused controversy surrounding their use. The objective of
      this research was to monitor the fate and transport of a Bt protein, Cry1Ab, in a
      large-scale agricultural field containing maize expressing the Cry1Ab protein and
      a non-Bt near isoline, and in aquatic microcosms. The highest environmental
      concentrations of the Cry1Ab protein were found in runoff water and sediment, up
      to 130ngL(-1) and 143ngg(-1) dry weight, respectively, with the Cry1Ab protein
      detected in both Bt and non-Bt maize fields. As surface runoff and residual crop
      debris can transport Bt proteins to waterways adjacent to agricultural fields, a
      series of laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the potential fate
      of the Cry1Ab protein under different conditions. The results showed that
      sediment type and temperature can influence the degradation of the Cry1Ab protein
      in an aquatic system and that the Cry1Ab protein can persist for up to two
      months. Although Cry1Ab protein concentrations measured in the field soil
      indicate little exposure to terrestrial organisms, the consistent input of Bt
      contaminated runoff and crop debris into agricultural waterways is relevant to
      understanding potential consequences to aquatic species. 

PMID- 25828253
TI  - Is excessive acetaminophen intake associated with transaminitis in adult patients
      with dengue fever?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dengue, an endemic infection causing severe flu-like symptoms and
      fever, is often treated with high-dose acetaminophen that can exceed recommended
      daily dosages. This leads to hepatotoxicity, although the underlying mechanism is
      poorly understood. We hypothesised that excessive acetaminophen causes hepatic
      toxicity in dengue patients. AIMS: To investigate a correlation between elevated
      serum transaminases and excessive acetaminophen intake, and other aggravating
      factors of liver injury in dengue cases. METHODS: This prospective observational
      study obtained blood samples from 150 participants with acute febrile illness for
      dengue serological tests, blood counts, and the detection of serum transaminases
      and acetaminophen levels. Other factors were determined by questionnaire.
      RESULTS: Of 150 participants enrolled, 77 had dengue fever. Abnormally high serum
      aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase levels were present in 97.0% and
      75.3% of dengue cases respectively. Multivariate analysis of cases with increased
      serum transaminases more than threefold normal upper limits indicated that male
      gender (odds ratio (OR) = 3.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.38-9.42) and
      consuming >8 g acetaminophen orally (OR = 4.62, 95% CI 1.37-13.18) correlated
      with transaminitis. No correlation was found for other factors such as age, fever
      day at presentation, body mass index, alcohol intake or dengue severity
      classification (all P > 0.05). Chronic alcohol consumption was higher in non
      dengue (2.6%) versus dengue cases (27.8%) (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Most dengue
      patients had mild-to-moderate transaminitis. Male gender and acetaminophen >8 g
      were associated with increased serum transaminases. Thus, 1000 mg acetaminophen
      every 8 h or <3000 mg/day is recommended for dengue cases. Chronic alcohol
      consumption might be protective against dengue infection.

PMID- 25828254
TI  - Use of traditional Chinese medicine in patients with hyperlipidemia: A population
      based study in Taiwan.
AB  - ETHNO-PHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Chinese herbal products (CHPs) are commonly used
      in patients with hyperlipidemia in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Because
      hyperlipidemia and related disease are common issues worldwide, this study
      analyzed the prescription patterns and frequencies of CHPs for treating patients
      with hyperlipidemia in Taiwan. BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has
      become popular as a therapy for controlling symptoms in patients with
      hyperlipidemia. This study aimed to analyze the prescription patterns of TCM for
      patients with hyperlipidemia in Taiwan. METHODS: The study population was
      recruited from a random-sampled cohort of 1,000,000 people from the National
      Health Insurance Research Database between 2003 and 2009. We identified 30,784
      outpatient visits related with hyperlipidemia diagnosis and collected these
      medical records. Association rules of data mining were conducted to explore the
      co-prescription patterns for Chinese herbal products (CHPs). RESULTS: The most
      commonly prescribed herbal formula for hyperlipidemia treatment was Xue-Fu-Zhu-Yu
      Tang (16.1%), and Shan Zha (Crataegi fructus; 25.0%) was the most commonly
      prescribed single herb. The most commonly prescribed combination of an herbal
      formula and a single herb was Xue-Fu-Zhu-Yu-Tang and Dan Shen (Radix Salviae
      Miltiorrhizae), and the most commonly prescribed combination of couplet herbs was
      Dan Shen and Shan Zha. CONCLUSION: Xue-Fu-Zhu-Yu-Tang is the most frequently
      prescribed formula and is typically prescribed with Shan Zha, Dan Shen, and He
      Shou Wu for patients with hyperlipidemia. Clinical trials are warranted in future
      research to investigate the effects of the CHPs in terms of safety and efficacy
      and in particular to evaluate potential interactions with conventional
      treatments.

PMID- 25828255
TI  - Evaluation of the effect of zoom function on lesion detection by soft-copy
      reading of screening mammograms.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of zooming in
      improving screen-reader performance in reporting digital mammograms. METHOD: Two
      experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, 5 readers were asked to
      report 59 two-view bilateral mammograms retrospectively with zooming function
      turned off. The second session was similar to the first one except that zooming
      was enabled. The task of readers was to assess if the mammograms were normal or
      abnormal and rate the confidence levels for each of the lesion they detected. The
      reader performances were evaluated via case sensitivity, lesion sensitivity,
      specificity, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) area under the curve (AUC)
      and jackknife free-response receiver operating characteristics (JAFROC) figure of
      merit (FOM). RESULTS: There was no significant improvement in overall reader
      performance in detecting abnormalities in zooming condition compared with no
      zooming in terms of case sensitivity (96% and 87%, P = 0.285) or lesion
      sensitivity (88% and 81%, P = 0.224). However, differences in ROC AUC and JAFROC
      FOM (P <= 0.05) were found in two readers when they performed the test set with
      zooming function. CONCLUSION: The results suggested that the use of the zooming
      function did improve the performance of some readers in detecting abnormal cases.

PMID- 25828256
TI  - Dynamic nuclear polarization of membrane proteins: covalently bound spin-labels
      at protein-protein interfaces.
AB  - We demonstrate that dynamic nuclear polarization of membrane proteins in lipid
      bilayers may be achieved using a novel polarizing agent: pairs of spin labels
      covalently bound to a protein of interest interacting at an intermolecular
      interaction surface. For gramicidin A, nitroxide tags attached to the N-terminal
      intermolecular interface region become proximal only when bimolecular channels
      forms in the membrane. We obtained signal enhancements of sixfold for the dimeric
      protein. The enhancement effect was comparable to that of a doubly tagged sample
      of gramicidin C, with intramolecular spin pairs. This approach could be a
      powerful and selective means for signal enhancement in membrane proteins, and for
      recognizing intermolecular interfaces. 

PMID- 25828257
TI  - Exploiting image registration for automated resonance assignment in NMR.
AB  - Analysis of protein NMR data involves the assignment of resonance peaks in a
      number of multidimensional data sets. To establish resonance assignment a three
      dimensional search is used to match a pair of common variables, such as chemical
      shifts of the same spin system, in different NMR spectra. We show that by
      displaying the variables to be compared in two-dimensional plots the process can
      be simplified. Moreover, by utilizing a fast Fourier transform cross-correlation
      algorithm, more common to the field of image registration or pattern matching, we
      can automate this process. Here, we use sequential NMR backbone assignment as an
      example to show that the combination of correlation plots and segmented pattern
      matching establishes fast backbone assignment in fifteen proteins of varying
      sizes. For example, the 265-residue RalBP1 protein was 95.4% correctly assigned
      in 10 s. The same concept can be applied to any multidimensional NMR data set
      where analysis comprises the comparison of two variables. This modular and robust
      approach offers high efficiency with excellent computational scalability and
      could be easily incorporated into existing assignment software.

PMID- 25828259
TI  - Intimate partner violence, modern contraceptive use and conflict in the
      Democratic Republic of the Congo.
AB  - Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been found to be negatively associated with
      contraceptive use in developing countries, but evidence from Africa is mixed.
      This study examines whether the above association differs in conflict settings,
      which have the potential for both higher levels of violence and more limited
      access to family planning. We use nationally representative data from the
      Democratic Republic of the Congo to examine the relationship between individual-
      and community-level IPV and modern contraceptive use, and to explore whether
      conflict modifies the relationship between IPV and contraceptive use. Nationally,
      only 6% of women reported current modern contraceptive use, while 53% reported
      experiencing physical IPV and 32% reported experiencing sexual IPV. In
      multivariate models, we found that individual-level sexual IPV was positively
      associated with current using modern contraceptive use, but that a combined
      measure of physical and sexual IPV did not demonstrate a similar association.
      Community-level IPV was not associated with individual-level contraceptive use.
      Conflict exposure was neither an independent predictor nor modifier of
      contraceptive use. Results suggest improved access to family planning should be a
      priority for programming in DRC, and efforts should ensure that sufficient
      resources are allocated towards the reproductive health needs of women in both
      conflict and non-conflict regions. 

PMID- 25828258
TI  - Grazing livestock are exposed to terrestrial cyanobacteria.
AB  - While toxins from aquatic cyanobacteria are a well-recognised cause of disease in
      birds and animals, exposure of grazing livestock to terrestrial cyanobacteria has
      not been described. This study identified terrestrial cyanobacteria,
      predominantly Phormidium spp., in the biofilm of plants from most livestock
      fields investigated. Lower numbers of other cyanobacteria, microalgae and fungi
      were present on many plants. Cyanobacterial 16S rDNA, predominantly from
      Phormidium spp., was detected in all samples tested, including 6 plant washings,
      1 soil sample and ileal contents from 2 grazing horses. Further work was
      performed to test the hypothesis that ingestion of cyanotoxins contributes to the
      pathogenesis of some currently unexplained diseases of grazing horses, including
      equine grass sickness (EGS), equine motor neuron disease (EMND) and hepatopathy.
      Phormidium population density was significantly higher on EGS fields than on
      control fields. The cyanobacterial neurotoxic amino acid 2,4-diaminobutyric acid
      (DAB) was detected in plant washings from EGS fields, but worst case scenario
      estimations suggested the dose would be insufficient to cause disease. Neither
      DAB nor the cyanobacterial neurotoxins beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine and N-(2
      aminoethyl) glycine were detected in neural tissue from 6 EGS horses, 2 EMND
      horses and 7 control horses. Phormidium was present in low numbers on plants
      where horses had unexplained hepatopathy. This study did not yield evidence
      linking known cyanotoxins with disease in grazing horses. However, further study
      is warranted to identify and quantify toxins produced by cyanobacteria on
      livestock fields, and determine whether, under appropriate conditions, known or
      unknown cyanotoxins contribute to currently unexplained diseases in grazing
      livestock. 

PMID- 25828260
TI  - Effectiveness of public deliberation methods for gathering input on issues in
      healthcare: Results from a randomized trial.
AB  - Public deliberation elicits informed perspectives on complex issues that are
      values-laden and lack technical solutions. This Deliberative Methods
      Demonstration examined the effectiveness of public deliberation for obtaining
      informed public input regarding the role of medical evidence in U.S. healthcare.
      We conducted a 5-arm randomized controlled trial, assigning participants to one
      of four deliberative methods or to a reading materials only (RMO) control group.
      The four deliberative methods reflected important differences in implementation,
      including length of the deliberative process and mode of interaction. The project
      convened 76 groups between August and November 2012 in four U.S. LOCATIONS:
      Chicago, IL; Sacramento, CA; Silver Spring, MD; and Durham, NC, capturing a
      sociodemographically diverse sample with specific attention to ensuring inclusion
      of Hispanic, African-American, and elderly participants. Of 1774 people
      recruited, 75% participated: 961 took part in a deliberative method and 377
      participants comprised the RMO control group. To assess effectiveness of the
      deliberative methods overall and of individual methods, we evaluated whether mean
      pre-post changes on a knowledge and attitude survey were statistically different
      from the RMO control using ANCOVA. In addition, we calculated mean scores
      capturing participant views of the impact and value of deliberation.
      Participating in deliberation increased participants' knowledge of evidence and
      comparative effectiveness research and shifted participants' attitudes regarding
      the role of evidence in decision-making. When comparing each deliberative method
      to the RMO control group, all four deliberative methods resulted in statistically
      significant change on at least one knowledge or attitude measure. These findings
      were underscored by self-reports that the experience affected participants'
      opinions. Public deliberation offers unique potential for those seeking informed
      input on complex, values-laden topics affecting broad public constituencies.

PMID- 25828261
TI  - Eating disorders and their putative risk factors among female German professional
      athletes.
AB  - This study examines putative non-sport-specific and sport-specific risk factors
      for eating disorders (ED) among groups of professional female athletes versus non
      athletes. In detail, societal pressure to be thin, its internalisation, body
      dissatisfaction, sports pressure and early specialisation were investigated. The
      cross-sectional study included 46 aesthetic and 62 ball game sports athletes, and
      108 age-matched non-athletes. Study methods comprised a clinical interview to
      detect ED and questionnaires. More athletes from aesthetic (17%) than from ball
      game sports (3%) and non-athletes (2%) suffered from ED. Aesthetic sports
      athletes did not differ from non-athletes in non-sport-specific factors but
      obtained higher levels than ball game sports athletes in sport-specific variables
      (p < .01). All factors together accounted for 57.3% of variation in disordered
      eating, with sports pressure and body dissatisfaction as significant predictors.
      The results confirm ED risk for German aesthetic athletes and indicate the
      importance of sports pressure and body dissatisfaction in explaining athletes'
      vulnerability.

PMID- 25828262
TI  - Intersectoral collaboration for physical activity in Korean Healthy Cities.
AB  - Intersectoral collaboration (ISC) is important in the health field because the
      complexity of determinants of health makes it difficult for one institution to
      resolve all health issues. Promotion of physical activity can especially benefit
      from a multi-sectoral approach. Despite so much emphasis on its importance in
      both primary health and health promotion, ISC has been underachieved in the
      field. This study aimed to examine the characteristics and level of ISC among
      physical activity programs in Healthy Cities as compared to non-Healthy Cities. I
      conducted a postal survey where 24 people from Healthy Cities and 72 people from
      non-Healthy Cities participated. The survey included questions to measure the
      level of ISC as well as to determine ISC partners and activities. Among the
      entire 393 physical activity programs, 336 (85.5%) had some kind of collaboration
      with one or more partners. The percentage having one or more partners was greater
      in Healthy Cities than in non-Healthy Cities. However, there were no statistical
      differences between the two groups in terms of the level of ISC within a
      municipal organization. Collaboration activities of the other departments were
      mostly supportive, such as providing a venue, recruiting participants and
      publicizing, and other kinds of administrative support. To strengthen ISC in
      Korean Healthy Cities, various actions including providing a legal basis,
      specific and substantive supports, financial incentives, and organizational
      recognitions will be helpful as well as the development of partnerships with
      other departments in urban planning, transport, urban design, and communication. 

PMID- 25828263
TI  - Current laboratory practices in flow cytometry for the enumeration of CD 4(+) T
      lymphocyte subsets.
AB  - BACKGROUND: CD4(+) T-lymphocyte subset enumeration is routinely used for
      monitoring HIV disease progression, with approximately 300,000 tests performed
      annually in the UK alone. Technical variables can impact upon any laboratory test
      and therefore the final result obtained. Here, we report the findings of a survey
      questionnaire issued to 1,587 clinical flow cytometry laboratories to: (a)
      determine if the UK NEQAS for Leucocyte Immunophenotyping (UK NEQAS LI)
      lymphocyte subset external quality assessment (EQA) programme was suitable for
      current laboratory needs and practices; and (b) assess the impact of these
      responses on clinical practice where CD4(+) T-lymphocyte subsets analysis is
      undertaken. The survey covered areas not traditionally examined by EQA such as:
      staffing numbers, flow cytometer age and service intervals, plus six test
      specific sections covering: leukaemia immunophenotyping, CD4(+) T-lymphocyte
      subsets analysis (reported here), CD34(+) stem cell testing, low level leucocyte
      enumeration, minimal residual disease testing and PNH testing. RESULTS: The
      responses revealed major methodological variations between centres undertaking
      CD4(+) T-lymphocyte subset analysis. Significant differences existed in basic
      laboratory practices such as: normal range derivation; pipetting techniques;
      instrument maintenance and units of reporting, all of which results in non
      adherence to international guidelines. DISCUSSION: Despite the availability of
      international guidelines our survey highlighted a lack of concordance amongst
      laboratory techniques. Such variation could adversely impact on patient care and
      clinical trial data. Therefore, it is recommended centres undertaking flow
      cytometric CD4(+) T-lymphocyte subsets analysis urgently review their
      methodologies and normal ranges to ensure they are fit for purpose and meet
      current international guidelines.

PMID- 25828264
TI  - Lactate kinetics and mitochondrial respiration in skeletal muscle of healthy
      humans under influence of adrenaline.
AB  - Plasma lactate is widely used as a biomarker in critical illness. The aims of the
      present study were to elucidate the usefulness of a three-compartment model for
      muscle lactate kinetics in humans and to characterize the response to an
      exogenous adrenaline challenge. Repeated blood samples from artery and femoral
      vein together with blood flow measurements and muscle biopsies were obtained from
      healthy male volunteers (n=8) at baseline and during an adrenaline infusion.
      Concentrations of lactate and enrichment of [13C]lactate were measured and
      kinetics calculated. Mitochondrial activity, glycogen concentration, oxygen
      uptake and CO2 release were assessed. The adrenaline challenge increased plasma
      lactate 4-fold as a result of a greater increase in the rate of appearance (R(a))
      than the increase in the rate of disappearance (R(d)). Leg muscle net release of
      lactate increased 3.5-fold, whereas intramuscular production had a high variation
      but did not change. Mitochondrial state 3 respiration increased by 30%. Glycogen
      concentration, oxygen uptake and CO2 production remained unchanged. In conclusion
      a three-compartment model gives additional information to the two-compartment
      model but, due to its larger variation and invasive muscle biopsy, it is less
      likely to become a regularly used tool in clinical research. Hyperlactataemia in
      response to adrenergic stimuli was driven by an elevated lactate release from
      skeletal muscle most probably due to a redirection of a high intramuscular
      turnover rather than an increased production.

PMID- 25828265
TI  - Anomalous small cardiac vein draining into the superior vena cava.
AB  - Coronary venous anatomy is little studied, and an abnormal coronary vein drainage
      is a rarely reported entity. Few cases about abnormal drainage of the great
      cardiac vein into the superior vena cava have been reported in literature. Herein
      we present a case of anomalous small cardiac vein draining into superior vena
      cava. 

PMID- 25828266
TI  - Enantioselective photolysis and quantitative chiral analysis of tryptophan
      complexed with alkali-metalized L-serine in the gas phase.
AB  - The enantioselective photolysis of a cold gas-phase noncovalent complex of
      tryptophan with alkali-metalized L-serine, M(+) (L-Ser)(Trp) (M = Na and Li), was
      examined using a tandem mass spectrometer containing a variable-temperature ion
      trap. CO2 loss from Trp in the clusters was enantiomerically selective in
      ultraviolet excitation with linearly polarized light. M(+) (L-Ser) promoted the
      enantioselective photolysis of Trp as a chiral auxiliary. The enantioselective
      photolysis of the D-enantiomer was applied to a quantitative chiral analysis, in
      which the optical purity of tryptophan could be determined by measuring the
      relative abundance ratio R of the enantioselective CO2 loss to the chiral
      independent evaporation of L-Ser in a single photodissociation mass spectrum of
      M(+) (L-Ser)(Trp).

PMID- 25828267
TI  - Incidence rates of atopic dermatitis, asthma, and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis in
      Danish and Swedish children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several studies have shown that the prevalence of the frequent
      chronic conditions of atopic dermatitis, asthma, and allergy has increased
      substantially for reasons not fully understood. Atopic diseases affect quality of
      life in both children and their family members. OBJECTIVE: Using national
      registers, we sought to establish up-to-date incidence rates of atopic
      dermatitis, asthma, and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis in the Danish and Swedish
      child populations. METHODS: Children born in Denmark from 1997 to 2011 or born in
      Sweden from 2006 to 2010 participated in this cross-national, population-based
      cohort study. Incidence rates of atopic dermatitis, asthma, and allergic
      rhinoconjunctivitis in the Danish and Swedish child cohorts were ascertained
      through disease-specific dispensed prescribed medication, specific hospital
      contacts, or both. RESULTS: In both countries the incidence rate of atopic
      dermatitis was stable during the study periods. The incidence rate of asthma
      increased until 2006 and stabilized for the rest of the study period in Denmark
      and increased in Sweden. The incidence rate of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis
      decreased in both countries. CONCLUSION: The study revealed similar trends, with
      stable incidence rates of atopic dermatitis in both Danish and Swedish children,
      an increase and then stabilization in asthma incidence rates in Denmark and an
      increase in Sweden, and a decrease in allergic rhinoconjunctivitis incidence
      rates. At age 5 years, one third of all children were affected with at least one
      of the conditions of atopic dermatitis, asthma, or allergic rhinoconjunctivitis.

PMID- 25828269
TI  - Exposing the gaps in awareness, knowledge and estimation of risk for anal cancer
      in men who have sex with men living with HIV: a cross-sectional survey in
      Australia.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The incidence of anal cancer is significantly higher in men who
      have sex with men (MSM) living with HIV when compared to the general population.
      We aimed to assess their awareness, knowledge and perceived level of personal
      risk for anal cancer to help inform educational strategies targeting this group.
      METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 327 HIV positive MSM in Melbourne, Australia,
      attending clinical settings (a sexual health centre, tertiary hospital HIV
      outpatients and high HIV caseload general practices) completed a written
      questionnaire in 2013/14. Poor knowledge was defined as those who had never heard
      of anal cancer, or scored 5 or less out of 10 in knowledge questions amongst
      those who reported ever hearing about anal cancer. Underestimation of risk was
      defined as considering themselves as having the same or lower risk for anal
      cancer compared to the general population. RESULTS: Of 72% (95% confidence
      interval (CI): 67-77) who had heard of anal cancer, 47% (95% CI: 41-53) could not
      identify any risk factors for anal cancer. Of total men surveyed, 51% (95% CI: 46
      57) underestimated their risk for anal cancer. Multivariate analysis showed that
      men who underestimated their risk were older (OR 1.04 (per year increase in age),
      95% CI: 1.01-1.07), had poor anal cancer knowledge (OR 2.06, 95% CI: 1.21-3.51),
      and more likely to have ever had an anal examination (OR 2.41, 95% CI: 1.18
      4.93). They were less likely to consult a physician if they had an anal
      abnormality (OR 0.54, 95% CI: 0.31-0.96), to have had receptive anal sex (OR
      0.12, 95% CI: 0.02-0.59) or speak English at home (OR 0.28, 95% CI: 0.09-0.90).
      CONCLUSIONS: This survey of MSM living with HIV demonstrated limited awareness,
      knowledge level and estimation of risk for anal cancer. Further educational and
      public health initiatives are urgently needed to improve knowledge and
      understanding of anal cancer risk in MSM living with HIV.

PMID- 25828270
TI  - Impact of fibrate therapy on plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor-1: a
      systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review was to perform a meta-analysis of
      randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the efficacy of fibrate therapy in
      reducing plasma concentration or activity of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1
      (PAI-1). METHODS: Scopus and MEDLINE databases were searched (up to October 15,
      2014) to identify RCTs investigating whether fibrates lower plasma PAI-1
      concentration or activity. A random-effects model and the generic inverse
      variance method were used for quantitative data synthesis. Sensitivity analyses
      were conducted using the one-study remove approach. Random-effects meta
      regression was performed to assess the impact of potential moderators on the
      estimated effect sizes. RESULTS: A total of 14 RCTs examining the effects of
      gemfibrozil (6 trials), bezafibrate (4 trials), and fenofibrate (5 trials) were
      included. Meta-analysis suggested that fibrate therapy did not significantly
      reduce plasma PAI-1 concentration (weighed mean difference [WMD]: -11.39 ng/mL,
      95% CI: -26.64, 3.85, p=0.143) or activity (WMD: 2.02 U/mL, 95% CI: -0.87, 4.90,
      p=0.170). These results remained unchanged after subgroup analysis according to
      duration of treatment (<12 and >=12 weeks) and type of fibrate administered
      (fenofibrate, bezafibrate or gemfibrozil). The estimated effects of fibrate
      therapy on plasma concentration and activity of PAI-1 were independent of
      treatment duration and changes in plasma triglyceride levels in the meta
      regression analysis. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis of RCTs suggested that
      fibrate therapy does not reduce plasma concentration or activity of PAI-I. The
      putative benefits of fibrate therapy in patients with cardiovascular disease
      appear to be exerted via mechanisms independent of effects on PAI-1.

PMID- 25828268
TI  - Oxidative stress-induced mitochondrial dysfunction drives inflammation and airway
      smooth muscle remodeling in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Inflammation and oxidative stress play critical roles in patients
      with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Mitochondrial oxidative stress
      might be involved in driving the oxidative stress-induced pathology. OBJECTIVE:
      We sought to determine the effects of oxidative stress on mitochondrial function
      in the pathophysiology of airway inflammation in ozone-exposed mice and human
      airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells. METHODS: Mice were exposed to ozone, and lung
      inflammation, airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), and mitochondrial function were
      determined. Human ASM cells were isolated from bronchial biopsy specimens from
      healthy subjects, smokers, and patients with COPD. Inflammation and mitochondrial
      function in mice and human ASM cells were measured with and without the presence
      of the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoQ. RESULTS: Mice exposed to ozone, a
      source of oxidative stress, had lung inflammation and AHR associated with
      mitochondrial dysfunction and reflected by decreased mitochondrial membrane
      potential (DeltaPsim), increased mitochondrial oxidative stress, and reduced
      mitochondrial complex I, III, and V expression. Reversal of mitochondrial
      dysfunction by the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoQ reduced inflammation
      and AHR. ASM cells from patients with COPD have reduced DeltaPsim, adenosine
      triphosphate content, complex expression, basal and maximum respiration levels,
      and respiratory reserve capacity compared with those from healthy control
      subjects, whereas mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were
      increased. Healthy smokers were intermediate between healthy nonsmokers and
      patients with COPD. Hydrogen peroxide induced mitochondrial dysfunction in ASM
      cells from healthy subjects. MitoQ and Tiron inhibited TGF-beta-induced ASM cell
      proliferation and CXCL8 release. CONCLUSIONS: Mitochondrial dysfunction in
      patients with COPD is associated with excessive mitochondrial ROS levels, which
      contribute to enhanced inflammation and cell hyperproliferation. Targeting
      mitochondrial ROS represents a promising therapeutic approach in patients with
      COPD.

PMID- 25828271
TI  - A novel structural Fenton-like nanocatalyst with highly improved catalytic
      performance for generalized preparation of iron oxide@organic dye polymer core
      shell nanospheres.
AB  - FexOy@FexOy/C nanoparticles with a soap-bubble-like shell have been synthesized,
      and the materials exhibit excellent Fenton catalytic performance. More
      importantly, FexOy@FexOy/C nanoparticles as catalysts and precursors could
      catalyze organic dye molecules to form iron oxide@organic dye polymer core-shell
      nanospheres. 

PMID- 25828272
TI  - Glycine plays a crucial role as a co-agonist of NMDA receptors in the neuronal
      circuit generating body movements in rat fetuses.
AB  - Neuronal circuits generating fetal movements in mammals are localized in the
      brainstem and the spinal cord. It has been shown that glycine plays an important
      role through the strychnine-sensitive glycine receptors in these circuits.
      However, the role of glycine as the NMDA receptor co-agonist in fetal period is
      not fully understood. In this study, we examined the contribution of glycine to
      the perinatal rat spinal circuit generating forelimb movements utilizing isolated
      brainstem-cervical-spinal-cord preparations. In late embryonic-days-preparations,
      spontaneous motor bursts related to forelimb movements (forelimb-movement-related
      bursts; FMRBs) and respiration-related activity were observed. In neonatal
      preparations, spontaneous FMRBs were not observed but periodic motor bursts
      resembling the FMRBs could be induced after bath application of strychnine
      (strychnine-induced motor bursts; SIMBs). Both FMRBs and SIMBs were blocked by
      either the NMDA receptor antagonist APV or the antagonists of the glycine binding
      site of NMDA receptors [5,7-dichlorokynurenic acid (DCKA) or L-689560].
      Furthermore, these motor bursts were facilitated by the glycine uptake blocker
      sarcosine. This effect of sarcosine was blocked by DCKA. The findings indicate
      that glycine plays a crucial role as a NMDA receptor co-agonist in generating
      spontaneous fetal motor activity before functioning as a classical inhibitory
      neurotransmitter in suppressing the fetal neuronal circuits. 

PMID- 25828273
TI  - Atmospheric chemistry of oxygenated volatile organic compounds: impacts on air
      quality and climate.

PMID- 25828274
TI  - New global viral threats.
AB  - Infectious diseases have caused great catastrophes in human history, as in the
      example of the plague, which wiped out half of the population in Europe in the
      14th century. Ebola virus and H7N9 avian influenza virus are 2 lethal pathogens
      that we have encountered in the second decade of the 21st century. Ebola
      infection is currently being seen in West Africa, and H7N9 avian flu appears to
      have settled in Southeast Asia. This article focuses on the current situation and
      the future prospects of these potential infectious threats to mankind. 

PMID- 25828275
TI  - Gestational diabetes mellitus.
AB  - Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is the most common medical complication of
      pregnancy. It is associated with maternal and neonatal adverse outcomes.
      Maintaining adequate blood glucose levels in GDM reduces morbidity for both
      mother and baby. There is a lack of uniform strategies for screening and
      diagnosing GDM globally. This review covers the latest update in the diagnosis
      and management of GDM. The initial treatment of GDM consists of diet and
      exercise. If these measures fail to achieve glycemic goals, insulin should be
      initiated. Insulin analogs are more physiological than human insulin, and are
      associated with less risk of hypoglycemia, and may provide better glycemic
      control. Insulin lispro, aspart, and detemir are approved to be used in
      pregnancy. Insulin glargine is not approved in pregnancy, but the existing
      studies did not show any contraindications. The use of oral hypoglycemic agents;
      glyburide and metformin seems to be safe and effective in pregnancy. 

PMID- 25828276
TI  - The association of interleukin-10 -1082, -819, -592 polymorphisms and
      tuberculosis risk.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the association between interleukin (IL)-10 -1082, -819, 
      592 polymorphisms and tuberculosis (TB) risk. METHODS: This study was conducted
      between July and October 2014 in West China Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. We
      searched and collected data from PUBMED, EMBASE, Web of Science, China National
      Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP, and WANGFANG up to October 2014. RESULTS: A total
      of 37 studies were enrolled, including 8625 TB cases, and 9928 healthy controls.
      The IL-10-1082G/A polymorphism was found to be associated with TB susceptibility
      in Caucasian (GG versus GA+AA, odds ratio [OR] - 1.83, 95% confidence interval
      [CI] - 1.03-3.24). The IL-10-819C/T polymorphism was related to TB susceptibility
      among Asians (C versus T, OR - 0.88, 95% CI - 0.81-0.97; CC versus TT: OR - 0.79,
      95% CI - 0.64-0.97; CC+CT versus TT: OR - 0.87, 95% CI - 0.77-0.98; CC versus
      CT+TT: OR - 0.82, 95% CI - 0.68-0.98). The IL-10-592C/A polymorphism was in
      association with TB susceptibility in Asians (C versus A: OR - 0.74, 95% CI -
      0.65-0.85; CC versus AA: OR - 0.55, 95% CI - 0.41-0.75; CA versus AA: OR - 0.73,
      95% CI - 0.60-0.89; CC+CA versus AA: OR - 0.69, 95% CI 0.58-0.83; CA versus AA:
      OR - 0.66, 95% CI 0.51-0.86), Caucasian (C versus A: OR - 1.25, 95% CI - 1.08
      1.45; CC versus CA+AA: OR-1.48, 95% CI - 1.16-1.89), and Europeans (C versus A:
      OR - 1.31, 95% CI - 1.02-1.67; CC versus AA: OR - 1.88, 95% CI - 1.05-3.37).
      CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis suggests that IL-10-1082G/A, IL-819C/T, and IL
      592C/A polymorphisms might be associated with TB susceptibility in certain
      ethnicities.

PMID- 25828277
TI  - Road safety and road traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia. A systematic review of
      existing evidence.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To identify the changing trends and crucial preventive approaches to
      road traffic accidents (RTAs) adopted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) over
      the last 2.5 decades, and to analyze aspects previously overlooked. METHODS: This
      systematic review was based on evidence of RTAs in KSA. All articles published
      during the last 25 years on road traffic accident in KSA were analyzed. This
      study was carried out from December 2013 to May 2014 in the Department of Family
      and Community Medicine, Taibah University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, KSA.
      RESULTS: Road traffic accidents accounted for 83.4% of all trauma admissions in
      1984-1989, and no such overall trend was studied thereafter. The most frequently
      injured body regions as reported in the latest studies were head and neck,
      followed by upper and lower extremities, which was found to be opposite to that
      of the studies reported earlier. Hospital data showed an 8% non-significant
      increase in road accident mortalities in contrast to police records of a 27%
      significant reduction during the years 2005-2010. Excessive speeding was the most
      common cause reported in all recent and past studies. CONCLUSION: Disparity was
      common in the type of reporting of RTAs, outcome measures, and possible causes
      over a period of 2.5 decade. All research exclusively looked into the drivers'
      faults. A sentinel surveillance of road crashes should be kept in place in the
      secondary and tertiary care hospitals for all regions of KSA.

PMID- 25828278
TI  - Culture and language differences as a barrier to provision of quality care by the
      health workforce in Saudi Arabia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To identify, synthesize, and summarize issues and challenges related
      to the culture and language differences of the health workforce in Saudi Arabia.
      METHODS: A comprehensive systematic review was conducted in May 2014 to locate
      published articles. Two independent researchers in consultation with several
      experts used 4 electronic databases (ISI Web of Knowledge, Science Direct,
      PubMed, and Cochrane) to scrutinize articles published from January 2000 - March
      2014. Each of the studies was given a quality assessment rating of weak,
      moderate, or strong, and was evaluated for methodological soundness using Russell
      and Gregory's criteria. RESULTS: The online literature search identified 12
      studies that met the inclusion criteria. Lack of knowledge of non-Muslim nurses
      or culture in Saudi Arabia, difficulties in achieving cultural competence, and
      culture shock were documented as cultural difference factors. Issues in language
      difference include the clarity of language use by health care providers in giving
      information and providing adequate explanation regarding their activities.
      CONCLUSION: The available information provided by this review study shows that
      there is a communication barrier between patients and health care workers such as
      healthcare workers demonstrate low cultural competency. Despite the fact that the
      government provides programs for expatriate healthcare workers, there is a need
      to further improve educational and orientation programs regarding the culture and
      language in Saudi Arabia.

PMID- 25828279
TI  - The comparison of ProSeal and I-gel laryngeal mask airways in anesthetized adult
      patients under controlled ventilation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To compare the insertion time, ease of device insertion, ease of
      gastric tube insertion, airway leakage pressure, and complications between the
      laryngeal mask airway (LMA) ProSeal (P-LMA) and I-gel (I-gel) groups. METHODS:
      Eighty patients with age range 18-65 years who underwent elective surgery were
      included in the study. The study took place in the operation rooms of Haydarpasa
      Numune Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey from November 2013 to April 2014. Patients were
      equally randomized into 2 groups; the I-gel group, and the P-LMA group. In both
      groups, the same specialist inserted the supraglottic airway devices. The
      insertion time of the devices, difficulty during insertion, difficulty during
      gastric tube insertion, coverage of airway pressure, and complications were
      recorded. RESULTS: The mean insertion time in the I-gel group was significantly
      lower than that of the P-LMA group (I-gel: 8+/-3; P-LMA: 13+/-5 s). The insertion
      success rate was higher in the I-gel group (100%, first attempt) than in the P
      LMA group (82.5%, first attempt). The gastric tube placement success rate was
      higher in the I-gel group (92.5%, first attempt) than in the P-LMA group (72.5%,
      first attempt). The airway leakage pressures were similar. CONCLUSION: Insertion
      was easier, insertion time was lower, and nasogastric tube insertion success was
      higher with the I-gel application, and is, therefore, the preferred LMA.

PMID- 25828280
TI  - Effect of preemptive intravenous oxycodone on low-dose bupivacaine spinal
      anesthesia with intrathecal sufentanil.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of preemptive intravenous oxycodone on low
      dose bupivacaine spinal anesthesia with intrathecal sufentanil in patients
      undergoing transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). METHODS: In this
      randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, 60 patients undergoing TURP
      were allocated into 2 groups: oxycodone group (group O, n=30) and a normal saline
      group (group N, n=30). Oxycodone 0.1 mg/kg, or normal saline 0.1 ml/kg was
      administered intravenously 10 minutes before surgical procedures in group O, or
      in group N. All patients received sufentanil 5 ug + bupivacaine 0.5% (0.8 ml) +
      normal saline 0.7 ml - in total, bupivacaine 0.25% (1.6 ml) intrathecally. Spinal
      block characteristics, hemodynamic values, the perioperative analgesic
      requirements, visual analogue scale (VAS) scores, Ramsay sedation scale, and side
      effects were assessed. The study was carried out at the First Hospital of Jilin
      University, Jilin, China between March and September 2014. RESULTS: The time to 2
      segment regression of sensory block, full recovery of sensory block, and first
      analgesic request was longer in group O. Fewer patients required postoperative
      analgesics, and the VAS pain scores at 4, 8, 16, and 24 hour after operation were
      significantly lower in group O. CONCLUSION: Preemptive intravenous oxycodone was
      an efficient and safe method to decrease postoperative pain and reduce tramadol
      analgesia in patients under low-dose dilute bupivacaine spinal anesthesia
      combined with intrathecal sufentanil.

PMID- 25828281
TI  - Prevalence and treatment outcomes of second primary malignancies in Saudi
      patients with differentiated thyroid cancers.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the clinicopathologic features, and explore the treatment
      outcomes of synchronous, or metachronous second primary malignancies (SPM) in
      conjunction with differentiated thyroid cancers (DTC). METHODS: This
      retrospective study was conducted on 823 DTC patients treated between 2000 and
      2012 at 2 tertiary care hospitals (King Fahad Medical City and King Khalid
      University Hospital) in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Forty-one (5%) DTC
      patients were found to have SPM (61% metachronous and 39% synchronous). These
      patients with SPM were studied for clinicopathological features and treatment
      outcomes. RESULTS: The patients with DTC and SPM were older (median age: 54.3
      years) than those without SPM (median age: 43.2 years); p=0.04. The frequency of
      SPM was breast (51.2%), colon (12.2%), kidney (7.3%), astrocytoma (7.3%), parotid
      (7.3%), rectum (4.9%), lymphoma (4.9%), nasopharynx (2.4%), and stomach (2.4%).
      Median follow-up was 8.05 years. Ten-year disease free survival, and overall
      survival (OS) rates were lower in DTC patients with SPM (56.1% for 10-year
      survival, and 71.7% for OS) than without SPM (95.5% for 10-year survival, and
      97.8% for OS); p=0.0001. Metachronous SPM had better 10-year disease free
      survival rates (60.2%) than synchronous SPM (45%). CONCLUSION: The co-occurrence
      of SPM with DTC affects long-term disease free survival and OS rates.

PMID- 25828282
TI  - Prevalence and causes of blindness and diabetic retinopathy in Southern Saudi
      Arabia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and causes of blindness and diabetic
      retinopathy (DR) in Jazan district, Southern Saudi Arabia. METHODS: Using the
      standardized Rapid Assessment for Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) and DR cross
      sectional methodology, 3800 subjects were randomly selected from the population
      of >=50 years of age in Jazan, Saudi Arabia between November 2011 and January
      2012. Participants underwent screening comprised of interview, random blood
      glucose test, and ophthalmic assessment including visual acuity (VA) and fundus
      examination. Among participants with VA less than 6/18 in either eye, the
      cause(s) of visual impairment was determined. Participants were classified as
      diabetic if they had previous diagnoses of diabetes, or random blood glucose more
      than 200 mg/dl. Diabetic participants were assessed for DR using dilated fundus
      examination. All data were recorded using the RAAB + DR standardized forms.
      RESULTS: The prevalence of bilateral blindness less than 3/60 was 3.3% (95%
      confidence interval [CI]: 2.74 - 3.90). Cataract was the leading cause of
      blindness (58.6%); followed by posterior segment diseases (20%), which included
      DR (7; 3.3%). The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) was 22.4%, (95% CI: 21.09 
      23.79]), among them; 27.8% had DR. The prevalence of sight-threatening DR was
      5.7%. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of DM and the corresponding proportion of DR in
      this region is lower than that reported in other regions of Saudi Arabia.
      However, the prevalence of blindness not related to DR is relatively higher than
      the other studies.

PMID- 25828283
TI  - Evaluation of knowledge and behavior of workers in Prince Mohammed International
      Airport in Western Saudi Arabia regarding public health emergency measures
      applied during Hajj season 2014.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the knowledge and behavior of workers at a Saudi airport
      regarding public health emergency measures applied during Hajj season. METHODS:
      This study is a cross-sectional study conducted at the Prince Mohammed
      International Airport in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia between August
      and September 2014. Data were collected by semi-structured questionnaires during
      personal interviews. Non-random purposive sampling was conducted to target
      workers at higher risk of acquiring infection from travellers. RESULTS: One
      hundred and eighty-six participants were recruited of whom 92.5% were males. The
      study participants were workers in 8 different sectors. Twenty-six percent of the
      participants were health workers. Non-health workers were more likely to be
      concerned on acquiring infection while working at the airport compared with
      health workers (p=0.023). The most commonly feared disease was Ebola viral
      disease (EBV) among 30% of health workers, and 47% of non-health workers.
      Approximately 47% of non-health workers reported no knowledge of the procedures
      implemented during public health emergencies. The proportion of participants who
      received public health related training among non-health workers was
      significantly lower compared with health workers (p less than 0.00001).
      CONCLUSION: More emphasis should be given to educating airport workers on the
      potential health threats at the airport. Specific guidelines for public health
      emergencies at the airport should be established and communicated with airport
      sectors.

PMID- 25828284
TI  - Periodontal findings in systemic lupus erythematosus patients and healthy
      controls.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To compare periodontal findings in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
      patients and healthy controls, and to determine, whether there is a correlation
      between periodontal parameters and SLE biomarkers. METHODS: This cross-sectional
      study was conducted in the Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University,
      Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia between November 2012 and February 2014. Twenty
      five participants diagnosed with SLE and 50 healthy controls were selected.
      Periodontal assessment consisted of clinical attachment level (CAL), probing
      depth (PD), bleeding on probing, and plaque scores. For the SLE group, several
      laboratory tests were obtained, such as, white blood cell count, hemoglobin
      level, platelet count, anti-nuclear antibody, anti-double-stranded DNA antibody,
      calcium level, and vitamin D. RESULTS: Periodontal findings in SLE patients and
      controls were not significantly different. The SLE patients who had no flare-ups
      for more than a year showed significant bleeding on probing and deeper PD
      compared with those who had flare-ups less than a year before starting the study.
      The SLE patients with arthritis symptoms showed more CAL than those without
      arthritis. In the SLE patients, no significant correlation was found between
      their periodontal findings and SLE biomarkers. CONCLUSION: Periodontal health was
      not different between SLE patients and healthy controls. In SLE patients however,
      flare-ups and presence of arthritis had a significant relation with periodontal
      health.

PMID- 25828285
TI  - Short term effects of periodontal therapy on inflammatory markers in patients
      with type-2 diabetes.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the influence of periodontal therapy on glycosylated
      hemoglobin and fasting blood glucose and serum levels of interleukin (IL)-4, IL
      6, IL-8, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in chronic
      periodontitis (CP) patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and in controls.
      METHODS: A total of 30 periodontal patients, 15 of which were systemically
      healthy (control group), and 15 were T2DM patients (test group) were included in
      this study. This prospective study was carried out at Istanbul University,
      Istanbul, Turkey between February 2011 and December 2013. Plaque index, gingival
      index, bleeding on probing, periodontal probing depth, and clinical attachment
      level were assessed and recorded at baseline, one, and 3 months after therapy.
      Serum samples were collected at the same time-points and analyzed using Luminex
      assay for the levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF-alpha. The change in the
      metabolic control was also monitored. RESULTS: All clinical parameters were
      significantly improved after the periodontal therapy in both groups (p less than
      l0.001). Glycosylated hemoglobin levels were decreased; however, the difference
      was not significant (p more than 0.05). Fasting blood glucose levels were
      decreased one month after therapy, and increased at 3 months. Patients with T2DM
      had significantly higher levels of circulating IL-8 at each time point, and TNF
      alpha (p less than 0.05) at baseline. The IL-4 and IL-10 levels were decreased at
      one month after therapy (p more than 0.05). CONCLUSION: Periodontal therapy has
      limited impact on the serum levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF-alpha.
      Metabolic control levels were not influenced by periodontal therapy.

PMID- 25828286
TI  - Comparing dental students' perceptions of their educational environment in
      Northwestern Saudi Arabia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To compare the perceptions of dental students over a 5-year period.
      METHODS: This cohort study was carried at Taibah University, College of
      Dentistry, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia between 2009 and 2014. Data was
      obtained using the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM), which
      consists of 50 items, 4 of these were irrelevant to this cohort and were
      excluded. All students registered in 2009 were included and followed up in 2014.
      Their responses were compared using the paired student's t-test. RESULTS: Thirty
      four students completed the questionnaire in 2009, and 30 of them participated in
      2014 (12% drop out rate). The mean domain and total scores decreased over time.
      The mean scores for 6 items decreased significantly, while 4 of them had a
      significant increase. The lowest mean score in 2009 regarding support for
      stressed students increased (p=0.004) in 2014. However, the highest mean score in
      2009 related to having a good social life, reduced (p=0.007) in 2014. This could
      be an indication of the high workload and its impact on their social lives.
      CONCLUSION: Student's perceptions were relatively low at the beginning, and
      remained low throughout the study. There were no significant changes in mean
      domain, and total scores and although scores of some items improved, most
      decreased over the study period.

PMID- 25828287
TI  - Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in children.
AB  - The Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a new human disease caused by a
      novel coronavirus (CoV). The disease is reported mainly in adults. Data in
      children are scarce. The disease caused by MERS-CoV in children presents with a
      wide range of clinical manifestations, and it is associated with a lower
      mortality rate compared with adults. Poor outcome is observed mainly in admitted
      patients with medical comorbidities. We report a new case of MERS-CoV infection
      in a 9-month-old child complicated by severe respiratory symptoms, multi-organ
      dysfunction, and death. We reviewed the literature in an attempt to characterize
      the mode of presentation, the risk factors, and outcome of MERS-CoV infection in
      the pediatric population. 

PMID- 25828288
TI  - Large multicystic pulmonary chondroid hamartoma in a child presenting as
      pneumothorax.
AB  - We describe a 10-year-old boy with a rare large multicystic pulmonary chondroid
      hamartoma in the right lower lobe presenting with severe respiratory distress.
      The radiological evaluation showed a large multicystic lesion in the right lower
      lobe with pneumothorax. Commonly, pulmonary hamartomas are asymptomatic, small in
      size, and are diagnosed incidentally in adults. Our case is highly unusual due to
      its young age, prominent clinical symptoms of severe respiratory distress with
      pneumothorax at presentation, very large size, and prominent cystic change. The
      lesion was surgically excised, and histopathological features were compatible
      with a multicystic chondroid hamartoma. 

PMID- 25828289
TI  - Facial fistula. Long-term sequelae of a complicated exodontia.
AB  - Facial cutaneous fistula is a complication of odontogenic infection that is often
      misdiagnosed with dermatological infection, and hence, mistreated. We report a
      case of facial fistula that developed 8 years following a dental extraction,
      presenting its clinical appearance, radiographical findings, and treatment
      approach. 

PMID- 25828290
TI  - Leishmaniasis, malaria, and schistosomiasis concurrently in an 8-year-old boy.
AB  - An overlap in the distribution of the 2 diseases (leishmaniasis and malaria) was
      reported in endemic areas, and it can cause significant delay in the diagnosis of
      leishmaniasis. Here, an 8-year-old Yemeni boy who was initially diagnosed as
      malaria and schistosomiasis, and later on as leishmaniasis is reported. He
      presented with prolonged fever, hepatosplenomegaly, and diarrhea. His blood film
      was positive for Plasmodium falciparum malaria, and his stool was positive for
      Schistosoma mansoni. Although a full therapeutic course of antimalarial and
      schistosoma was administered, his fever, weight loss, and increased
      hepatosplenomegaly continued. Bone marrow aspiration was carried out revealing
      Leishman-Donovan bodies (amastigote form). He was successfully treated with a
      full course of sodium stibogluconate. This case stresses the importance of
      alertness among the treating physicians to this disease occurring in a patient
      from an endemic area, presenting with prolonged fever, and hepatosplenomegaly. 

PMID- 25828291
TI  - Urinary tract infection in children younger than 5 years. Etiology and associated
      urological anomalies.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the most common underlying organisms, and associated
      urological anomalies in children presenting with urinary tract infection (UTI).
      METHODS: Retrospectively, all children with confirmed UTI between October 2013
      and February 2014 were evaluated at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Riyadh,
      Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The electronic files of 279 children presenting with
      UTI, aged less than 5 years were reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 153 patients (85
      males) with a mean (SD) age of 15 (19.86) months were included in the study.
      Recurrent UTI was present in 45.1%. Urine collection in children less than 2
      years of age was through trans-urethral catheterization in 69.4%, while midstream
      urine was the main method in those above 2 years (78.6%). Escherichia coli (E.
      coli) was the causative organism in 41.2% of first UTI. The second most common
      organism was Klebsiella Pneumoniae, seen in 19.6%. Urological anomalies were
      found in 28.1% of the overall study population. Ninety percent of those with
      single UTI did not have anomalies. However, urological anomalies were reported in
      50.7% of those with recurrent episodes of UTI (p less than 0.005). Non-E. coli
      cases were associated with a higher percentage of abnormal renal ultrasonography
      results (p=0.006). CONCLUSION: Escherichia coli was the most common causative
      organism for UTI, and a single episode of UTI signified normal urological
      anatomy.

PMID- 25828292
TI  - Unexpected cause of conjunctival injection.

PMID- 25828294
TI  - The nature of domain walls in ultrathin ferromagnets revealed by scanning
      nanomagnetometry.
AB  - The capacity to propagate magnetic domain walls with spin-polarized currents
      underpins several schemes for information storage and processing using spintronic
      devices. A key question involves the internal structure of the domain walls,
      which governs their response to certain current-driven torques such as the spin
      Hall effect. Here we show that magnetic microscopy based on a single nitrogen
      vacancy defect in diamond can provide a direct determination of the internal wall
      structure in ultrathin ferromagnetic films under ambient conditions. We find pure
      Bloch walls in Ta/CoFeB(1 nm)/MgO, while left-handed Neel walls are observed in
      Pt/Co(0.6 nm)/AlOx. The latter indicates the presence of a sizable interfacial
      Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, which has strong bearing on the feasibility of
      exploiting novel chiral states such as skyrmions for information technologies. 

PMID- 25828295
TI  - The TUDCA trial--innovative trial designs for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
      drugs?

PMID- 25828296
TI  - The effect of gum chewing on sensitivity associated with in-office whitening
      procedures.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Tooth sensitivity is the most common side effect of in-office tooth
      whitening procedures. The purpose of this study was to determine whether chewing
      gum containing 0.6% casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP)
      before tooth whitening would reduce tooth sensitivity during an in-office
      whitening procedure. METHODS: Thirty participants were enrolled and randomized
      into three groups as follows: group 1 was instructed to not chew gum during the
      study period; group 2 chewed five pieces of gum (with 0.6% CPP-ACP) for 10 min
      each day 1 week before whitening; and group 3 chewed five pieces of gum (without
      CPP-ACP) for 10 min each day 1 week before whitening. All participants had their
      teeth whitened with a 30% hydrogen peroxide in-office whitening procedure. The
      participants' shades of teeth were evaluated with a spectrophotometer four times
      during the study: at the initial screening visit, immediately before whitening,
      immediately after whitening and 1 week after whitening. Participants' sensitivity
      levels were evaluated each time the shades were evaluated and additionally at 24
      h after whitening using a 100-mm visual analogue scale. RESULTS: Thirty
      participants were enrolled in the study. The average shade change was -2.27 (+/-
      2.07). The average sensitivity for all groups at visit 1 was 5.12 (+/- 13.94).
      The average sensitivity for all groups after whitening was 19.81 (+/- 13.95).
      There were significant differences in sensitivity between groups 2 and 3 (P =
      0.02), but neither group was significantly different from the control group (P =
      0.86, P = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS: Chewing gum before whitening, including gum with
      CPP-ACP, did not reduce sensitivity during in-office whitening procedures.

PMID- 25828297
TI  - Multiple infective coronary arteritis complicated with bacterial pericarditis.

PMID- 25828298
TI  - Left main percutaneous coronary intervention improves left ventricular systolic
      function assessed by tissue Doppler echocardiography.

PMID- 25828299
TI  - Microvolt T-wave alternans in Chagas disease.

PMID- 25828300
TI  - Long-term effect of If-channel inhibition on diastolic function and exercise
      capacity in heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction.

PMID- 25828301
TI  - Impact of gender on outcomes after atrial fibrillation ablation.

PMID- 25828302
TI  - Longitudinal change in maximum phonation time and exercise capacity in chronic
      heart failure patients.

PMID- 25828303
TI  - SAP: structure, function, and its roles in immune-related diseases.
AB  - Serum amyloid P component (SAP), also known as pentraxin-2, is a member of the
      pentraxin protein family with an established relationship to the immune response.
      In the last century, SAP has been used as a diagnostic marker in amyloidosis
      diagnosis and patient follow-up. SAP has been thought to have potential for
      treating and curing amyloidosis and fibrosis diseases. More recently, it has been
      shown that SAP may serve as both a diagnostic marker and a therapeutic target for
      many immune-related diseases, such as cardiovascular, pulmonary, nephritic,
      neurological and autoimmune diseases. In the cardiovascular system, SAP has been
      defined as the culprit in amyloidosis in the heart. SAP may also exert a
      protective role during the early stage of atherosclerosis and myocardial
      fibrosis. In noncardiovascular system diseases, SAP is being developed for the
      treatment of pulmonary fibrosis. In this review, we summarize SAP history,
      structure, and its roles in immune-related diseases in different systems with
      emphasis on the cardiovascular system. 

PMID- 25828304
TI  - Relationships between nutritional status and markers of congestion in patients
      with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

PMID- 25828305
TI  - Is hypothyroidism (on levothyroxine replacement) a precipitant of Takotsubo
      syndrome?

PMID- 25828306
TI  - Blockade of mTOR pathway inhibition in the neointimal hyperplasia and promoting
      macrophage autophagy - Effect of statin-eluting stents to reduce in-stent
      restenosis.

PMID- 25828307
TI  - Potential contribution of virtual histology plaque composition to hemodynamic
      morphologic dissociation in patients with non-ST elevation acute coronary
      syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Histologic plaque characteristics may influence the hemodynamic effect
      generated by physiologically significant unstable coronary lesions where plaque
      content and surface related factors are expected to contribute to the maximum
      translesional pressure drop. In this study, we aimed to identify local lesion
      specific virtual histological characteristics that may potentially affect
      hemodynamic outcome measures. METHODS: Forty-eight consecutive patients with non
      ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) having paired hemodynamic and
      morphological data were enrolled. A dual sensor guide-wire was used for the
      assessment of fractional flow reserve (FFR) and stenosis resistance (HSR) in the
      culprit vessel. Virtual histology intravascular ultrasound imaging was performed
      after obtaining hemodynamic data. RESULTS: In a hemodynamically significant
      lesion subset (FFR<0.75 [n=34]), after controlling for lesion length, MLA and
      coronary artery compliance, FFR correlated with necrotic core (NC) area (r=
      0.423, p=0.028) at MLA and NC volume (r=-0.497, p=0.008) and dense calcium (DC)
      volume (r=-0.332, p=0.03) across the entire lesion segment. Likewise, NC (r=
      0.544, p=0.005) and DC (r=0.376, p=0.03) areas at MLA and NC (r=0.545, p=0.005)
      and DC (r=0.576, p=0.003) volumes across the entire lesion segment were
      associated with HSR in the hemodynamically significant lesion group (HSR>0.80
      [n=33]). However, no correlation has been observed between intracoronary
      hemodynamic end-points and plaque components in hemodynamically insignificant
      lesions. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that for a given coronary stenosis
      geometry and arterial compliance, plaque composition may influence hemodynamic
      outcome measures in functionally significant stenoses in patients with NSTEACS.

PMID- 25828308
TI  - Endothelial cell is critical in HMGB1 mediated cardiac impairment in ischemic
      heart disease.

PMID- 25828309
TI  - Consumption of 'gofio', a roasted cereal flour from the Canary Islands, is
      associated with exercise capacity and risk of coronary heart disease in the
      elderly.

PMID- 25828310
TI  - The right side or left side of noninvasive transcutaneous vagus nerve
      stimulation: Based on conventional wisdom or scientific evidence?

PMID- 25828311
TI  - Reverse remodelling in systolic heart failure: A puzzle yet to be solved?

PMID- 25828312
TI  - Coronary bifurcation lesions: Present status and future perspectives.
AB  - Coronary bifurcation lesions (CBLs) are challenging and associated with a higher
      rate of adverse events than non-bifurcation lesions. In the era of drug-eluting
      stents, 2 primary interventional strategies for treating CBL include the complex
      strategy the main vessel (MV) and side-branch (SB) stenting, and the simple
      strategy MV stenting combined with provisional SB stenting. The meta-analysis of
      the simple vs. complex strategies demonstrated an increased incidence of
      myocardial infarction in the complex strategy. Likewise, the Tryton dedicated
      bifurcation stents, as compared with the simple strategy, increased the rate of
      myocardial infarction. In contrast, the Nordic-Baltic Bifurcation Study IV
      demonstrated that event rates were not significantly different comparing the
      simple vs. complex strategies in true bifurcation lesions involving a large SB.
      Fractional flow reserve (FFR) has emerged as a powerful catheter based tool for
      the functional assessment of a stenosis, but the role of FFR on the long-term
      outcomes of patients with CBL has not been studied. Given the recent evidence
      that Tryton stents (a dedicated bifurcation stent) increased event rates, and the
      lack of benefit from using 2-stent techniques (the Nordic Baltic Bifurcation
      Study IV) in true CBL, assessing the FFR of the SB seems now of outmost
      importance, but randomized data are lacking. An intravascular study showed that
      kissing balloon inflation (KBI) significantly reduced SB stenosis, restored stent
      lumen at the carina, and expanded stent in the proximal segment. However, a
      recent randomized study showed no significant benefit of routine KBI. This review
      highlights current concepts and future perspectives in patients with CBL.

PMID- 25828313
TI  - The magic and mystery of statins in aging: The potent preventive and therapeutic
      agent.

PMID- 25828314
TI  - Genetic testing and antiplatelet treatment: Still way to go?
AB  - Despite medical and technical advancements stent thrombosis continued to poses a
      significant risk in patients after drug eluting stent (DES) implantation and
      clopidogrel resistance has been recognized as an important determinant of this
      risk. Novel antiplatelets such as prasugrel and ticagrelor can be used in cases
      of clopidogrel resistance however bleeding complications remain the Achilles'
      heel of antiplatelet therapy. Several genetic polymorphisms affect the
      clopidogrel absorption and bio-activation in the active form of the drug. CYP2C19
      is responsible for most of the clopidogrel bio-transformation and loss of
      function as well as, gain of function polymorphisms of this enzyme has been
      recognized. Early studies have linked CYP2C19 genetic polymorphisms with clinical
      events, although, these findings were not confirmed by later studies. However,
      when the estimated thrombotic risk is high a combination of genetic information
      and functional platelet tests should be essential for clinicians to access
      clopidogrel effectiveness and to recommend alternative antiplatelet management.

PMID- 25828315
TI  - Antiarrhythmic properties of ranolazine: A review of the current evidence.
AB  - Ranolazine was developed as an antianginal agent and was approved by the Food and
      Drug Administration in 2006 for use in chronic stable angina pectoris.
      Experimental and clinical studies have shown that it also has antiarrhythmic
      properties based on the frequency-dependent blockade of peak sodium channel
      current (peak INa) and rapidly activating delayed rectifier potassium current
      (IKr) in the atria and blockade of late phase of the inward sodium current (late
      INa) in the ventricles. Recent clinical studies have revealed the efficacy of
      ranolazine in prevention of atrial fibrillation in patients with acute coronary
      syndromes, prevention as well as conversion of postoperative atrial fibrillation
      after cardiac surgery, conversion of recent-onset atrial fibrillation and
      maintenance of sinus rhythm in recurrent atrial fibrillation. Ranolazine has also
      been shown to reduce ventricular tachycardia and drug-refractory implantable
      cardioverter defibrillator shocks. The antiarrhythmic effect of ranolazine is
      preserved in the setting of chronic heart failure and clinical studies have
      demonstrated its safety in patients with heart failure. This review discusses the
      available preclinical and clinical data on the antiarrhythmic effects of this
      novel antianginal agent. 

PMID- 25828316
TI  - Statin therapy and bone marrow CD34+ cell frequency in type 2 diabetes mellitus:
      Dose and form.

PMID- 25828317
TI  - ECG score correlates with myocardial fibrosis assessed by magnetic resonance: A
      study in Chagas heart disease.

PMID- 25828318
TI  - Is the use of risk scores an indicator of guideline adherence for patients with
      acute coronary syndromes? Insights from the EYESHOT Registry.

PMID- 25828319
TI  - Maternal and fetal outcomes of pregnancy with Fontan circulation: A multicentric
      observational study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite serious long-term sequel, women with Fontan palliation have
      reached childbearing age. However there is paucity of data on the pregnancy
      outcomes and management of this condition. We aimed to determine the maternal and
      fetal outcomes of pregnancy in women with Fontan palliation. METHODS: This
      multicentric, retrospective study included women with Fontan circulation followed
      in 13 French specialized centers from January 2000 to June 2014. All pregnancies
      were reviewed, including miscarriages, abortions, premature and term births. We
      reviewed maternal and fetal outcomes. RESULTS: Thirty-seven patients had 59
      pregnancies. Mean age was 27 +/- 5 years at first pregnancy. There were 16
      miscarriages (27%) and 36 live births with 1 twin pregnancy. Cardiac events
      occurred in 6 (10%) pregnancies, with no maternal death. The most common cardiac
      complication was atrial arrhythmia, which occurred in 3 patients. Hematological
      complications including thromboembolic/hemorrhagic events (n=3/7) occurred in 5
      women antepartum (n=2/3), and 4 women postpartum (n=1/4). Two of the 3
      thromboembolic events occurred in patients without anticoagulation. There was a
      high incidence of prematurity (n=25/36, 69%). Anticoagulation was associated with
      adverse neonatal outcome (OR=10.0, 95% CI [1.5-91.4], p<0.01). After a median
      follow-up of 24 months, there was no significant worsening of clinical status and
      thromboembolic disease noted. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-selected women can successfully
      complete pregnancy with Fontan circulation. There is an increase in cardiac and
      neonatal morbidity during pregnancy. Because thromboembolism could have a severe
      consequence on Fontan circulation, anticoagulation should be indicated during
      pregnancy and postpartum period.

PMID- 25828320
TI  - Meta-analysis on the impact of percutaneous coronary intervention of chronic
      total occlusions on left ventricular function and clinical outcome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of chronic total occlusions
      (CTOs) may have a beneficial effect on survival through a better-preserved or
      improved LVEF. Current literature consists of small observational studies
      therefore we performed a weighted meta-analysis on the impact of
      revascularization of CTOs on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left
      ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) and long-term mortality. METHODS: We
      conducted a meta-analysis evaluating LVEF before and after CTO PCI and long-term
      mortality. No language or time restrictions were applied. References from the
      identified articles and reviews were examined to find additional relevant
      manuscripts. RESULTS: Of the 812 citations, 34 studies performed between 1987
      2014 in 2243 patients were eligible for LVEF and 27 studies performed between
      1990-2013 in 11,085 patients with success and 4347 patients that failed CTO PCI
      were eligible for long-term mortality. After successful CTO PCI, LVEF increased
      with 4.44% (95% CI: 3.52-5.35, p<0.01) compared to baseline. In a small cohort of
      ~70 patients, no significant difference in LVEF was observed after non-successful
      CTO PCI or reocclusion. Additionally, 8 studies reported the change in left
      ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) in a total of 412 patients. LVEDV
      decreased with 6.14 ml/m(2) (95% CI: -9.31 to -2.97, p<0.01). Successful CTO PCI
      was also associated with reduced mortality in comparison with failed CTO PCI (OR:
      0.52, 95% CI: 0.43-0.62, p-value<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The current meta-analysis
      revealed that successful recanalization of a CTO resulted in an overall
      improvement of 4.44% absolute LVEF points, reduced adverse remodeling and an
      improvement of survival (OR: 0.52).

PMID- 25828321
TI  - Different optical coherence tomography findings for intracoronary stripe-like
      filling defects on coronary angiogram in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

PMID- 25828322
TI  - Regulator of G-protein signaling 6 (RGS6) in cardiology and oncology.

PMID- 25828323
TI  - Response to letter to the editor: "Exercise oscillatory ventilation - Perfusion
      abnormality in heart failure".

PMID- 25828324
TI  - Interval exercise training increases maximal and submaximal exercise performance
      in heart failure with biventricular assist device therapy.

PMID- 25828325
TI  - Dynamic drug-induced organic mitral regurgitation during exercise
      echocardiography following chronic exposure to ergotamine.

PMID- 25828326
TI  - Doctors should share their uncertainty with patients and make decisions together.

PMID- 25828327
TI  - Validity of SYNTAX score II for risk stratification of percutaneous coronary
      interventions: A patient-level pooled analysis of 5,433 patients enrolled in
      contemporary coronary stent trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the clinical profile and long-term mortality in SYNTAX
      score II based strata of patients who received percutaneous coronary
      interventions (PCI) in contemporary randomized trials. BACKGROUND: The SYNTAX
      score II was developed in the randomized, all-comers' SYNTAX trial population and
      is composed by 2 anatomical and 6 clinical variables. The interaction of these
      variables with the treatment provides individual long-term mortality predictions
      if a patient undergoes coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or PCI. METHODS:
      Patient-level (n=5433) data from 7 contemporary coronary drug-eluting stent (DES)
      trials were pooled. The mortality for CABG or PCI was estimated for every
      patient. The difference in mortality estimates for these two revascularization
      strategies was used to divide the patients into three groups of theoretical
      treatment recommendations: PCI, CABG or PCI/CABG (the latter means equipoise
      between CABG and PCI for long term mortality). RESULTS: The three groups had
      marked differences in their baseline characteristics. According to the predicted
      risk differences, 5115 patients could be treated either by PCI or CABG, 271
      should be treated only by PCI and, rarely, CABG (n=47) was recommended. At 3-year
      follow-up, according to the SYNTAX score II recommendations, patients recommended
      for CABG had higher mortality compared to the PCI and PCI/CABG groups (17.4%;
      6.1% and 5.3%, respectively; P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The SYNTAX score II
      demonstrated capability to help in stratifying PCI procedures.

PMID- 25828328
TI  - Acute coronary syndrome or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy: The suspect may not always
      be the culprit.

PMID- 25828329
TI  - Digoxin and risk of acute pancreatitis.

PMID- 25828330
TI  - Typical Takotsubo syndrome and McConnell's phenomenon: What else lies beneath?

PMID- 25828331
TI  - Health status, geriatric syndromes and prescription of oral anticoagulant therapy
      in elderly medical in-patients with atrial fibrillation: a prospective
      observational study.

PMID- 25828332
TI  - Waist to sitting height ratio may be a new useful index for screening obesity and
      related health risk.

PMID- 25828333
TI  - Reperfusion therapy for ST elevation acute myocardial infarction in Yemen:
      Description of the current situation: Data from Gulf Registry of Acute Coronary
      Events (the Gulf RACE-I).

PMID- 25828334
TI  - Effect of door-to-balloon time on in-hospital mortality in patients with
      myocardial infarction: A meta-analysis.

PMID- 25828335
TI  - Vectorcardiography: diagnostic advantage over electrocardiography in
      arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy.

PMID- 25828336
TI  - Myocardial fibrosis in stroke survivors.

PMID- 25828337
TI  - The butler did it! A very late stent thrombosis of TAXUS evaluated with Optical
      Coherence Tomography.

PMID- 25828338
TI  - First description of successful weaning from ECMO in a patient with Eisenmenger
      syndrome after repair of pulmonary artery dissection.

PMID- 25828339
TI  - Significance of QRS duration in non-ST elevation myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25828340
TI  - Atrial sympathetic remodeling in experimental hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism
      rats.

PMID- 25828341
TI  - Letter regarding the article: Changes in BNP and cardiac troponin I after high
      intensity interval and endurance exercise in heart failure patients and healthy
      controls.

PMID- 25828342
TI  - Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and co-existing coronary artery disease.

PMID- 25828343
TI  - The reproducibility of coronary artery calcium scoring on different software
      platforms.

PMID- 25828344
TI  - Intra-atrial reentrant tachycardia in adult patients after Fontan operation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atrial tachyarrhythmia is a major late complication in adult Fontan
      patients. This study examined the clinical features and risk factors of late
      intra-atrial reentrant tachyarrhythmia (IART) in adult patients after Fontan
      surgery and the mid-term outcome of Fontan conversion with or without
      antiarrhythmic surgery in these patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective
      study on adult patients who were born before 1994 and survived at least 3 months
      after a Fontan operation at Seoul National University Children's Hospital.
      RESULTS: We followed 160 patients over 20.9 +/- 4.1 years. Sustained atrial
      tachycardia was identified in 51 patients, and IART was found in 41, appearing a
      mean 13.6 years after surgery. By the 25 year follow-up, 40% had developed IART.
      The incidence of IART significantly increased over time. Patients with an
      atriopulmonary connection (APC) (n=65) had significantly longer follow-up
      duration and higher incidence of IART than patients with a lateral tunnel (n=86)
      or extracardiac conduit Fontan (n=9). On multivariate analysis, APC, sinus node
      dysfunction, and nonsustained atrial tachycardia were found to be significantly
      associated with IART. Twenty-four patients with IART underwent Fontan conversion.
      Over the follow-up period, IART severity scores in the 22 patients who survived
      after Fontan conversion decreased significantly, and New York Heart Association
      functional class significantly improved. On multivariate analysis, protein losing
      enteropathy and ventricular dysfunction were found to be significant risk factors
      for mortality. CONCLUSIONS: IART was common in adult Fontan patients, and Fontan
      conversion with or without antiarrhythmic surgery and pacemaker placement helped
      to control it.

PMID- 25828345
TI  - Heart against veno-arterial ECMO: Competition visualized.

PMID- 25828346
TI  - Distribution, genetic and cardiovascular determinants of FVIII:c - Data from the
      population-based Gutenberg Health Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Elevated levels of FVIII: c are associated with risk for both venous
      and arterial thromboembolism. However, no population-based study on the sex
      specific distribution and reference ranges of plasma FVIII: c and its
      cardiovascular determinants is available. METHODS:  FVIII: c was analyzed in a
      randomly selected sample of 2533 males and 2440 females from the Gutenberg Health
      Study in Germany. Multivariable regression analyses for FVIII: c were performed
      under adjustment for genetic determinants, cardiovascular risk factors and
      cardiovascular disease. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Females (126.6% (95% CI:
      125.2/128)) showed higher FVIII: c levels than males (121.2% (119.8/122.7)).
      FVIII: c levels increased with age in both sexes (beta per decade: 5.67%
      (4.22/7.13) male, 6.15% (4.72/7.57) female; p<0.001). Sex-specific reference
      limits and categories indicating the grade of deviation from the reference were
      calculated, and nomograms for FVIII: c were created. FVIII: c was approximately
      25% higher in individuals with non-O blood type. Adjusted for sex and age, ABO
      blood group accounted for 18.3% of FVIII: c variation. In multivariable analysis,
      FVIII: c was notably positively associated with diabetes mellitus, obesity,
      hypertension and dyslipidemia and negatively with current smoking. In a fully
      adjusted multivariable model, the strongest associations observed were of
      elevated FVIII: c with diabetes and peripheral artery disease in both sexes and
      with obesity in males. Effects of SNPs in the vWF, STAB2 and SCARA5 gene were
      stronger in females than in males. The use of nomograms for valuation of FVIII: c
      might be useful to identify high-risk cohorts for thromboembolism. Additionally,
      the prospective evaluation of FVIII: c as a risk predictor becomes feasible.

PMID- 25828347
TI  - Sports participation in adults with congenital heart disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether sports participation in adults with repaired
      congenital heart disease is safe and has benefits. METHODS: Congenital heart
      disease (ConHD) patients who underwent corrective surgery for Atrial Septal
      Defect, Ventricular Septal Defect, Pulmonary Stenosis, Tetralogy of Fallot or
      Transposition of the Great Arteries in our center between 1968 and 1980 were
      included, and participated in our longitudinal follow-up study with serial
      evaluations in 2001 and 2011. At both time points patients filled in
      questionnaires on sports participation, subjective physical functioning and
      quality of life. Exercise testing, echocardiogram and 24-hour continuous
      ambulatory ECG-monitoring were performed in both 2001 and 2011. All clinical
      events (re-intervention, arrhythmia, heart failure) were prospectively recorded.
      RESULTS: No relationship was found between practicing sports and the occurrence
      of sudden death, PVCs or SVTs. Patients with moderate/complex forms of ConHD
      practiced fewer hours of sports compared with the general Dutch normative
      population. Patients with both simple and moderate/complex ConHD who practiced
      sports showed a higher exercise capacity. More favorable subjective physical
      functioning was found for moderate/complex patients who practiced sports.
      CONCLUSIONS: Adults with repaired ConHD are less often involved in sports than
      the Dutch general population. The patients that were engaged in sports show a
      higher exercise capacity than those who did not. Sports participation in patients
      with ConHD was not associated with an increased incidence of adverse cardiac
      events.

PMID- 25828348
TI  - Increased visit-to-visit blood pressure variability is associated with worse
      cardiovascular outcomes in low ejection fraction heart failure patients: Insights
      from the HEAAL study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent data have highlighted shortcomings of the usual blood pressure
      (BP) hypothesis in several populations, and emphasized the importance of visit-to
      visit variability of BP in predicting cardiovascular events. Herein, we aimed at
      assessing the association between visit-to-visit BP variability and outcomes in
      chronic heart failure (CHF) patients enrolled in the Heart failure Endpoint
      evaluation of Angiotensin II Antagonist Losartan (HEAAL). METHODS AND RESULTS:
      The HEAAL study randomized 3834 patients with HF and reduced ejection fraction
      administered 150 mg or 50mg losartan daily in a double blind, randomized,
      controlled trial. The patients were followed up for up to 6.8 years after
      randomization, and BP was measured at 3 time points in the first year and at semi
      annual visits in the years thereafter. Three measures of visit-to-visit BP
      variability were computed for each subject: the standard deviation, the
      coefficient of variation and the average absolute visit-to-visit variation. Cox
      proportional hazard models were used to investigate the relationship between
      variations in systolic blood pressure, baseline covariates and the time to death
      or heart failure hospitalization (i.e. primary outcome). In multivariate analyses
      stratified on baseline BP, the patients with higher visit-to visit BP variability
      exhibited poorer outcomes (average absolute difference in SBP in mmHg:hazard
      ratio: 1.023 [95% CI (1.013, 1.034), P<0.0001]), independent from high dose
      losartan (still beneficial). CONCLUSIONS: For the first time, visit-to-visit BP
      variability was found elevated in CHF patients with reduced ejection fraction,
      and associated with poorer cardiovascular outcomes. Such assessments should be
      prioritized for testing prevention strategies in CHF. CLINICAL TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: This study is registered with the ClinicalTrials.gov, number
      NCT00090259.

PMID- 25828349
TI  - Length of hospital stay is shorter in South Asian patients with ischaemic stroke.

PMID- 25828350
TI  - HRA2pl peptide: a fusion inhibitor for human metapneumovirus produced in tobacco
      plants by transient transformation.
AB  - MAIN CONCLUSION: The HRA2pl peptide expressed by transient transformation in N.
      tabacum plants is capable of inhibiting the binding of the human metapneumovirus
      to HEp-2 cells at the fusion stage. Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is an agent
      responsible for acute respiratory infections that mainly affects children under 3
      years, the elderly and immunocompromised patients. In children younger than 5
      years, respiratory tract infections account for 20 % of deaths worldwide.
      However, there is currently no treatment or vaccine available against hMPV. The
      production of a safe, efficient and low cost treatment against this virus is a
      current challenge. Plants provide a system for recombinant protein production
      that is cost effective and is easier to scale up to an industrial level than
      other platforms; in addition, the plant tissue may be used as raw food, dried or,
      alternatively, proteins may be partially or fully purified and administered in
      aerosol or capsules as dry powder. In this study, we designed a gene expressing
      an antiviral peptide against hMPV based on the heptad repeat A domain of the F
      protein of the virus. We produced the recombinant peptide by a viral transient
      expression system (Magnifection((r))) in Nicotiana tabacum plants. The efficacy
      of this antiviral peptide was confirmed by in vitro assays in HEp-2 cell line.
      This is a promising result that can offer a prophylactic approach against hMPV.

PMID- 25828352
TI  - Ionization of EPA contaminants in direct and dopant-assisted atmospheric pressure
      photoionization and atmospheric pressure laser ionization.
AB  - Seventy-seven EPA priority environmental pollutants were analyzed using gas
      chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) equipped with an optimized atmospheric
      pressure photoionization (APPI) and an atmospheric pressure laser ionization
      (APLI) interface with and without dopants. The analyzed compounds included e.g.,
      polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nitro compounds, halogenated compounds,
      aromatic compounds with phenolic, acidic, alcohol, and amino groups, phthalate
      and adipatic esters, and aliphatic ethers. Toluene, anisole, chlorobenzene, and
      acetone were tested as dopants. The widest range of analytes was ionized using
      direct APPI (66/77 compounds). The introduction of dopants decreased the amount
      of compounds ionized in APPI (e.g., 54/77 with toluene), but in many cases the
      ionization efficiency increased. While in direct APPI the formation of molecular
      ions via photoionization was the main ionization reaction, dopant-assisted (DA)
      APPI promoted ionization reactions, such as charge exchange and proton transfer.
      Direct APLI ionized a much smaller amount of compounds than APPI (41/77
      compounds), showing selectivity towards compounds with low ionization energies
      (IEs) and long-lived resonantly excited intermediate states. DA-APLI, however,
      was able to ionize a higher amount of compounds (e.g. 51/77 with toluene), as the
      ionization took place entirely through dopant-assisted ion/molecule reactions
      similar to those in DA-APPI. Best ionization efficiency in APPI and APLI (both
      direct and DA) was obtained for PAHs and aromatics with O- and N-functionalities,
      whereas nitro compounds and aliphatic ethers were the most difficult to ionize.
      Halogenated aromatics and esters were (mainly) ionized in APPI, but not in APLI. 

PMID- 25828351
TI  - Defects in mitophagy promote redox-driven metabolic syndrome in the absence of
      TP53INP1.
AB  - The metabolic syndrome covers metabolic abnormalities including obesity and type
      2 diabetes (T2D). T2D is characterized by insulin resistance resulting from both
      environmental and genetic factors. A genome-wide association study (GWAS)
      published in 2010 identified TP53INP1 as a new T2D susceptibility locus, but a
      pathological mechanism was not identified. In this work, we show that mice
      lacking TP53INP1 are prone to redox-driven obesity and insulin resistance.
      Furthermore, we demonstrate that the reactive oxygen species increase in TP53INP1
      deficient cells results from accumulation of defective mitochondria associated
      with impaired PINK/PARKIN mitophagy. This chronic oxidative stress also favors
      accumulation of lipid droplets. Taken together, our data provide evidence that
      the GWAS-identified TP53INP1 gene prevents metabolic syndrome, through a
      mechanism involving prevention of oxidative stress by mitochondrial homeostasis
      regulation. In conclusion, this study highlights TP53INP1 as a molecular
      regulator of redox-driven metabolic syndrome and provides a new preclinical mouse
      model for metabolic syndrome clinical research. 

PMID- 25828353
TI  - Running a postmortem service--a business case and clinical experience.
AB  - The purpose of the postmortem examination is to offer answers to explain the
      cause and manner of death. In the case of perinatal, infant and paediatric
      postmortem examinations, the goal is to identify unsuspected associated features,
      to describe pathogenic mechanisms and new conditions, and to evaluate the
      clinical management and diagnosis. Additionally, the postmortem examination is
      useful to counsel families regarding the probability of recurrence in future
      pregnancies and to inform family planning. Worldwide the rate of paediatric
      autopsy examinations has significantly declined during the last few decades.
      Religious objections to postmortem dissection and organ retention scandals in the
      United Kingdom provided some of the impetus for a search for non-invasive
      alternatives to the traditional autopsy; however, until recently, imaging studies
      remained an adjunct to, rather than a replacement for, the traditional autopsy.
      In 2012, Sheffield Children's Hospital National Health Service Foundation Trust
      set up the service provision of minimally invasive fetal, perinatal and neonatal
      autopsy, while a postmortem imaging service has been running in Melbourne,
      Australia, since 2008. Here we summarise the essentials of a business case and
      practical British and Australian experiences in terms of the pathological and
      radiologic aspects of setting up a minimally invasive clinical service in the
      United Kingdom and of developing a clinical postmortem imaging service as a
      complementary tool to the traditional autopsy in Australia. 

PMID- 25828354
TI  - The future of pediatric and perinatal postmortem imaging.
AB  - The field and applications of postmortem imaging are exponentially growing. Its
      potential to identify the cause of death in trauma and ballistic cases is now
      properly documented, as well as its use in drug mule identification. In pediatric
      and perinatal practice, large significant series are less available, except for
      MRI and central nervous system analysis where scientific evidence is now robust.
      In this review, after a short historical review and analysis of current problems
      and challenges, we will try to depict the way we see the future of this
      subspecialty of postmortem cross-sectional imaging, including all specific
      situations: terminations of pregnancy, intrauterine death, sudden unexpected
      infant death and identification issues. 

PMID- 25828355
TI  - Normal pediatric postmortem CT appearances.
AB  - Postmortem radiology is a rapidly developing specialty that is increasingly used
      as an adjunct to or substitute for conventional autopsy. The goal is to find
      patterns of disease and possibly the cause of death. Postmortem CT images bring
      to light processes of decomposition most radiologists are unfamiliar with. These
      postmortem changes, such as the formation of gas and edema, should not be
      mistaken for pathological processes that occur in living persons. In this review
      we discuss the normal postmortem thoraco-abdominal changes and how these appear
      on CT images, as well as how to differentiate these findings from those of
      pathological processes. 

PMID- 25828356
TI  - Normal perinatal and paediatric postmortem magnetic resonance imaging
      appearances.
AB  - As postmortem imaging becomes more widely used following perinatal and paediatric
      deaths, the correct interpretation of images becomes imperative, particularly
      given the increased use of postmortem magnetic resonance imaging. Many
      pathological processes may have similar appearances in life and following death.
      A thorough knowledge of normal postmortem changes is therefore required within
      postmortem magnetic resonance imaging to ensure that these are not mistakenly
      interpreted as significant pathology. Similarly, some changes that are
      interpreted as pathological if they occur during life may be artefacts on
      postmortem magnetic resonance imaging that are of limited significance. This
      review serves to illustrate briefly those postmortem magnetic resonance imaging
      changes as part of the normal changes after death in fetuses and children, and
      highlight imaging findings that may confuse or mislead an observer to identifying
      pathology where none is present. 

PMID- 25828357
TI  - Postmortem cardiac imaging in fetuses and children.
AB  - Fetal and pediatric cardiac autopsies have a crucial role in the counseling of
      parents with regard to both the cause of death of their child and the
      implications of such findings for future pregnancies, as well as for quality
      assurance of antenatal screening programs and antemortem diagnostic procedures.
      Postmortem imaging allows an opportunity to investigate the heart in situ prior
      to dissection, and both postmortem CT and postmortem MRI have shown excellent
      accuracy in detecting the majority of clinically significant cardiac lesions in
      the perinatal and pediatric population. As less-invasive autopsy becomes
      increasingly popular, clinical guidelines for maximal diagnostic yield in
      specific circumstances can be developed. 

PMID- 25828359
TI  - Common normal variants of pediatric vertebral development that mimic fractures: a
      pictorial review from a national longitudinal bone health study.
AB  - Children with glucocorticoid-treated illnesses are at risk for osteoporotic
      vertebral fractures, and growing awareness of this has led to increased
      monitoring for these fractures. However scant literature describes developmental
      changes in vertebral morphology that can mimic fractures. The goal of this paper
      is to aid in distinguishing between normal variants and fractures. We illustrate
      differences using lateral spine radiographs obtained annually from children
      recruited to the Canada-wide STeroid-Associated Osteoporosis in the Pediatric
      Population (STOPP) observational study, in which 400 children with glucocorticoid
      treated leukemia, rheumatic disorders, and nephrotic syndrome were enrolled near
      glucocorticoid initiation and followed prospectively for 6 years. Normal variants
      mimicking fractures exist in all regions of the spine and fall into two groups.
      The first group comprises variants mimicking pathological vertebral height loss,
      including not-yet-ossified vertebral apophyses superiorly and inferiorly, which
      can lead to a vertebral shape easily over-interpreted as anterior wedge fracture,
      physiological beaking, or spondylolisthesis associated with shortened posterior
      vertebral height. The second group includes variants mimicking other radiologic
      signs of fractures: anterior vertebral artery groove resembling an anterior
      buckle fracture, Cupid's bow balloon disk morphology, Schmorl nodes mimicking
      concave endplate fractures, and parallax artifact resembling endplate
      interruption or biconcavity. If an unexpected vertebral body contour is detected,
      careful attention to its location, detailed morphology, and (if available) serial
      changes over time may clarify whether it is a fracture requiring change in
      management or simply a normal variant. Awareness of the variants described in
      this paper can improve accuracy in the diagnosis of pediatric vertebral
      fractures. 

PMID- 25828361
TI  - Basing RNA-seq explored the regulatory mechanism of the carbohydrate metabolism
      pathways during chicken male germ cell differentiation.
AB  - Our study aimed to explore the regulatory mechanism of the carbohydrate
      metabolism signaling pathways and related genes during the differentiation of
      chicken embryonic stem cells to male germ cells, providing the basis for
      improving the efficiency of the in vitro induction system. Cell sorting was used
      to obtain highly purified embryonic stem cells (ESCs), primitive germ cells
      (PGCs), and spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). The total RNA was then extracted
      from each cell type. The transcriptions of ESCs, PGCs, and SSCs were sequenced by
      DNA microarray and mRNA sequencing (RNA-seq). The results were analyzed by gene
      ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway
      database. The key pathways and genes of carbohydrate metabolism were screened
      during the differentiation process of chicken male germ cell. We concluded that
      419 differentially expressed genes enriched to 26 carbohydrate metabolism
      pathways during the differentiation process of ESCs to SSCs, all of the
      chondroitin sulfate (CS) signaling pathway was significant. We screened the key
      genes CHSY3, B3GAT1, CHPF, and B4GALT7 which was significantly expressed in CS
      pathway. Quantitative RT-PCR showed that the expression trend of these genes is
      consistent with DNA Microarray and RNA-seq results. Our study supports the
      opinion that CS pathway is significantly different during the differentiation of
      chicken male germ cell (P < 0.05) and that CHSY3, B3GAT1, CHPF, and B4GALT7 are
      key genes.

PMID- 25828362
TI  - Evidence that a neutrophil-keratinocyte crosstalk is an early target of IL-17A
      inhibition in psoriasis.
AB  - The response of psoriasis to antibodies targeting the interleukin (IL)-23/IL-17A
      pathway suggests a prominent role of T-helper type-17 (Th17) cells in this
      disease. We examined the clinical and immunological response patterns of 100
      subjects with moderate-to-severe psoriasis receiving 3 different intravenous
      dosing regimens of the anti-IL-17A antibody secukinumab (1 * 3 mg/kg or 1 * 10
      mg/kg on Day 1, or 3 * 10 mg/kg on Days 1, 15 and 29) or placebo in a phase 2
      trial. Baseline biopsies revealed typical features of active psoriasis, including
      epidermal accumulation of neutrophils and formation of microabscesses in >60% of
      cases. Neutrophils were the numerically largest fraction of infiltrating cells
      containing IL-17 and may store the cytokine preformed, as IL-17A mRNA was not
      detectable in neutrophils isolated from active plaques. Significant clinical
      responses to secukinumab were observed 2 weeks after a single infusion,
      associated with extensive clearance of cutaneous neutrophils parallel to the
      normalization of keratinocyte abnormalities and reduction of IL-17-inducible
      neutrophil chemoattractants (e.g. CXCL1, CXCL8); effects on numbers of T cells
      and CD11c-positive dendritic cells were more delayed. Histological and
      immunological improvements were generally dose dependent and not observed in the
      placebo group. In the lowest-dose group, a recurrence of neutrophils was seen in
      some subjects at Week 12; these subjects relapsed faster than those without
      microabscesses. Our findings are indicative of a neutrophil-keratinocyte axis in
      psoriasis that may involve neutrophil-derived IL-17 and is an early target of IL
      17A-directed therapies such as secukinumab.

PMID- 25828363
TI  - Comparison of intratumoral heterogeneity of HER2 expression between primary tumor
      and multiple organ metastases in gastric cancer: Clinicopathological study of
      three autopsy cases and one resected case.
AB  - Intratumoral heterogeneity of HER2 expression in the metastatic foci of HER2
      positive advanced gastric cancer remains unclear. In this study, we compared HER2
      expression between primary and metastatic tumors in HER2-positive three autopsied
      cases and one resected case with multiple organ metastases by
      immunohistochemistry (IHC) and dual color in situ hybridization (DISH). All four
      cases judged positive (IHC3+) at the primary tumor tissues showed varying HER2
      gene amplification (GA) status. One homogeneously HER2-positive autopsied case
      (Case 1) and one intratumorally heterogeneous positive resected case (Case 2)
      with high GA showed a homogeneous positive staining pattern in all the metastatic
      foci. One heterogeneously HER2-positive autopsied case (Case 3) with low GA
      showed a partially heterogeneous HER2 staining pattern in all the metastatic
      foci. In contrast, one heterogeneously HER2-positive autopsied case (Case 4) with
      equivocal GA showed a completely heterogeneous HER2 staining pattern in the
      metastatic foci. These results indicate that HER2-positive gastric cancers with
      low to high GA at the primary tumor show substantially homogeneous HER2
      overexpression in the metastatic foci, whereas HER2-positive gastric cancers with
      equivocal GA expressed HER2 heterogeneously within the metastatic tumor,
      suggesting that metastatic foci of the latter HER2-positive cases would be
      potentially resistant to trastuzumab. 

PMID- 25828364
TI  - Protein costs do not explain evolution of metabolic strategies and regulation of
      ribosomal content: does protein investment explain an anaerobic bacterial
      Crabtree effect?
AB  - Protein investment costs are considered a major driver for the choice of
      alternative metabolic strategies. We tested this premise in Lactococcus lactis, a
      bacterium that exhibits a distinct, anaerobic version of the bacterial
      Crabtree/Warburg effect; with increasing growth rates it shifts from a high yield
      metabolic mode [mixed-acid fermentation; 3 adenosine triphosphate (ATP) per
      glucose] to a low yield metabolic mode (homolactic fermentation; 2 ATP per
      glucose). We studied growth rate-dependent relative transcription and protein
      ratios, enzyme activities, and fluxes of L. lactis in glucose-limited chemostats,
      providing a high-quality and comprehensive data set. A three- to fourfold higher
      growth rate rerouted metabolism from acetate to lactate as the main fermentation
      product. However, we observed hardly any changes in transcription, protein levels
      and enzyme activities. Even levels of ribosomal proteins, constituting a major
      investment in cellular machinery, changed only slightly. Thus, contrary to the
      original hypothesis, central metabolism in this organism appears to be hardly
      regulated at the level of gene expression, but rather at the metabolic level. We
      conclude that L. lactis is either poorly adapted to growth at low and constant
      glucose concentrations, or that protein costs play a less important role in
      fitness than hitherto assumed. 

PMID- 25828365
TI  - Perinatal experiences of Somali couples in the United States.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the perspectives of Somali couples on care and support
      received during the perinatal period in the United States. DESIGN: Descriptive
      phenomenology. SETTING: A private room at the participants' homes or community
      center. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-eight immigrant women and men from Somalia (26 women
      and 22 men) who arrived in the United States within the past 5 years and had a
      child or children born in their homelands or refugee camps and at least one child
      born in the United States. All of the participants resided in the Pacific
      Northwest. METHODS: Semistructured individual interviews, interviews with
      couples, and a follow-up phone interview. Colaizzi's method guided the research
      process. RESULTS: Data analysis revealed an overarching theme of Navigating
      through the conflicting values, beliefs, understandings and expectations that
      infiltrated the experiences captured by the three subthemes: (a) Feeling
      vulnerable, uninformed, and misunderstood, (b) Longing for unconditional respect
      and acceptance and (c) Surviving and thriving as the recipients of health care.
      CONCLUSIONS: Integration of new Somali immigrant couples into the Western health
      care system can present many challenges. The perinatal experience for new Somali
      immigrant couples is complicated by cultural and language barriers, limited
      access to resources, and commonly, an exclusion of husbands from prenatal
      education and care. Nurses and other health care providers can play an important
      role in the provision of services that integrate Somali women and men into the
      plan of care and consider their culture-based expectations to improve childbirth
      outcomes.

PMID- 25828366
TI  - Use of hollow microneedles for targeted delivery of phenylephrine to treat fecal
      incontinence.
AB  - A hollow microneedle (HM) was prepared to deliver a phenylephrine (PE) solution
      into the anal sphincter muscle as a method for treating fecal incontinence. The
      goal of this study was the local targeted delivery of PE into the sphincter
      muscle through the perianal skin with minimal pain using hollow microneedles,
      resulting in the increase of resting anal sphincter pressure. PE was administered
      on the left and the right sides of the anus of a rat through the perianal skin
      using 1.5mm long HM. An in vivo imaging system study was conducted after
      injection of Rhodamine B, and a histological study was performed after injection
      of gentian violet. The resting anal sphincter pressure in response to various
      drug doses was measured by using an air-charged catheter. Anal pressure change
      produced by HM administration was compared with change produced by intravenous
      injection (IV), subcutaneous (SC) injection and intramuscular (IM) injection. The
      change in mean blood pressure produced by HM administration as a function of PE
      dose was compared with change produced by PBS injection. A pharmacokinetic study
      of the new HM administration method was performed. A model drug solution was
      localized in the muscle layer under the perianal skin at the injection site and
      then diffused out over time. HM administration of PE induced significant
      contraction of internal anal sphincter pressure over 12h after injection, and the
      maximum anal pressure was obtained between 5 and 6h. Compared to IV, SC and IM
      treatments, HM treatment produced greater anal pressure. There was no increase in
      blood pressure after HM administration of PE within the range of predetermined
      concentration. Administration of 800MUg/kg of PE using HM produced 0.81+/-0.38h
      of tmax. Our study suggests that HM administration enables local delivery of a
      therapeutic dose of PE to the anal sphincter muscle layer with less pain. This
      new treatment has great potential as a clinical application because of the ease
      of the procedure, minimal pain, and dose-dependent response. 

PMID- 25828367
TI  - Systematic study for DNA recovery and profiling from common IED substrates: From
      laboratory to casework.
AB  - Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) made from household items are encountered in
      terrorist attacks worldwide. Assembling an IED leaves trace DNA on its
      components, but deflagration degrades DNA. To maximize the amount of DNA
      recovered, a systematic evaluation of DNA collection methods was carried out and
      the most efficient methods were implemented with IED casework evidence as a
      validation exercise. Six swab types and six moistening agents were used to
      collect dried buffy coat stains on four common IED substrates. The most efficient
      swab/moistening agent combinations were then compared with tape-lifting using
      three brands of adhesive tape and also with direct DNA extraction from evidence.
      The most efficient collection methods for different IED substrates (post-study
      protocol) were then implemented for IED casework and compared with the pre-study
      protocol using 195 pieces of IED evidence. There was no single best swab type or
      moistening agent. Swab type had the largest effect on DNA recovery percentages,
      but moistening agents, substrates, and the interactions between factors all
      affected DNA recovery. The most efficient swab/moistening agent combinations
      performed equally well when compared with the best adhesive tape and direct
      extraction. The post-study protocol significantly improved STR profiles obtained
      from IED evidence. This paper outlines a comprehensive study of DNA collection
      methods for trace DNA and the validation of the most efficient collection methods
      with IED evidence. The findings from both parts of this study emphasize the need
      to continuously re-evaluate standard operating protocols with empirical studies. 

PMID- 25828368
TI  - Development and validation of a new STR 25-plex typing system.
AB  - In this study, a new STR 25-plex typing system, including 23 autosomal STRs
      (D1S1656, D2S1338, D2S441, D3S1358, D5S818, D6S1043, D7S820, D8S1179, D10S1248,
      D12S391, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D19S433, D21S11, D22S1045, CSF1PO, FGA, Penta
      D, Penta E, TH01, TPOX, vWA) and a Y-STR locus of DYS391 and amelogenin, was
      developed. The included 24 STRs belonged to the main international DNA databases
      (CODIS, ISSL, ESS-extended, UCL, GCL and NCIDD) except D6S1043 (specially chosen
      for Chinese population). Developmental validation indicated that the STR 25-plex
      typing system was reproducible, accurate, sensitive and robust. The sensitivity
      testing of the system was such that a full profile was obtainable even with 125pg
      of human DNA. Specificity testing was demonstrated by the lack of cross
      reactivity with a variety of commonly encountered animal species and microbial
      pool. For the stability testing, full profiles can been obtained with humic acid
      concentration<=60ng/MUL and hematin<500MUM. Also, this multiplex system is
      suitable for mixture study. All of the minor alleles were called for ratios of
      1:1, 1:3 and 3:1 of the mixture with the system. In addition, the whole PCR
      amplification can finish within 1h, making the system suitable for fast
      detection. For the forensic evaluation of the multiplex system, 23 autosomal STRs
      included followed the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. A total of 268 alleles were
      detected for the 23 autosomal STR loci among 200 individuals. Since 23 autosomal
      STRs were independent from each other, CMECduo was 0.99999916563607 and CMECtri
      was 0.99999999986525. All the forensic efficiency parameters demonstrated that
      this multiplex system is highly polymorphic and informative in the Han population
      of China. 

PMID- 25828369
TI  - An optimized procedure for obtaining DNA from fired and unfired ammunition.
AB  - Gun crimes are a significant problem facing law enforcement agencies. Traditional
      forensic examination of firearms involves comparisons of markings imparted to
      bullets and cartridge casings during the firing process. DNA testing of casings
      and cartridges may not be routinely done in crime laboratories due a variety of
      factors including the typically low amounts of DNA recovered. The San Diego
      Police Department (SDPD) Crime Laboratory conducted a study to optimize the
      collection and profiling of DNA from fired and unfired ammunition. The method was
      optimized to where interpretable DNA results were obtained for 26.1% of the total
      number of forensic casework evidence samples, and provided some insights into the
      level of secondary transfer that might be expected from this type of evidence.
      Briefly detailed are the results from the experimental study and the forensic
      casework analysis using the optimized process. Mixtures (samples having more DNA
      types than the loader's known genotype detected or visible at any marker) were
      obtained in 39.8% of research samples and the likely source of DNA mixtures is
      discussed. 

PMID- 25828371
TI  - Renal Denervation After SYMPLICITY HTN-3: Where Do We Go?
AB  - Previous preclinical and clinical studies provide insight into the mechanisms
      that account for the chronic lowering of blood pressure (BP) during suppression
      of central and peripheral sympathetic outflow. From these mechanisms, novel and
      alternative approaches to BP control in patients with hypertension resistant to
      medical therapy have been proposed. Over the past 5 years, data from prospective
      cohorts and randomized studies showed that renal denervation therapy is a safe
      procedure associated with a significant reduction of office BP but only a modest
      reduction in ambulatory BP despite intensive ongoing medical therapy. Recently,
      the failure of the most rigourously designed randomized study, SYMPLICITY HTN-3,
      to meet its primary efficacy end point has raised several questions and
      unresolved methodological issues. Further prospective randomized controlled
      trials are required to further assess the efficacy, durability, and cost
      effectiveness of renal denervation therapy and its effects on cardiovascular and
      renal outcomes in carefully selected patients with true treatment-resistant
      hypertension. 

PMID- 25828370
TI  - The interaction of patient race, provider bias, and clinical ambiguity on pain
      management decisions.
AB  - Although racial disparities in pain care are widely reported, much remains to be
      known about the role of provider and contextual factors. We used computer
      simulated patients to examine the influence of patient race, provider racial
      bias, and clinical ambiguity on pain decisions. One hundred twenty-nine medical
      residents/fellows made assessment (pain intensity) and treatment (opioid and
      nonopioid analgesics) decisions for 12 virtual patients with acute pain. Race
      (black/white) and clinical ambiguity (high/low) were manipulated across
      vignettes. Participants completed the Implicit Association Test and feeling
      thermometers, which assess implicit and explicit racial biases, respectively.
      Individual- and group-level analyses indicated that race and ambiguity had an
      interactive effect on providers' decisions, such that decisions varied as a
      function of ambiguity for white but not for black patients. Individual
      differences across providers were observed for the effect of race and ambiguity
      on decisions; however, providers' implicit and explicit biases did not account
      for this variability. These data highlight the complexity of racial disparities
      and suggest that differences in care between white and black patients are, in
      part, attributable to the nature (ie, ambiguity) of the clinical scenario. The
      current study suggests that interventions to reduce disparities should
      differentially target patient, provider, and contextual factors. PERSPECTIVE:
      This study examined the unique and collective influence of patient race, provider
      racial bias, and clinical ambiguity on providers' pain management decisions.
      These results could inform the development of interventions aimed at reducing
      disparities and improving pain care.

PMID- 25828372
TI  - Regular Drug-Eluting Stent vs Dedicated Coronary Bifurcation BiOSS Expert Stent:
      Multicenter Open-Label Randomized Controlled POLBOS I Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Results of regular drug-eluting stents (rDESs) in bifurcation
      treatment are not optimal. The aim of the Polish Bifurcation Optimal Stenting I
      (POLBOS I) trial was to compare bifurcation treatment with any rDES vs the
      dedicated bifurcation paclitaxel-eluting stent BiOSS Expert (Balton, Poland). The
      second aim was to study the effect of final kissing balloon (FKB) inflation on
      clinical outcomes. METHODS: Between October 2010 and January 2013 patients with
      stable coronary artery disease or non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome were
      assigned 1:1 to 1 of 2 treatment strategies: BiOSS Expert stent or rDES
      implantation. Coronary angiography was performed at 12 months. The primary end
      point was a composite of cardiac-related death, myocardial infarction (MI), and
      target lesion revascularization (TLR) at 12 months. RESULTS: The BiOSS Expert was
      implanted in 120 patients (49.4%), and an rDES was implanted in 123 patients. The
      target vessel was the left anterior descending (LAD) artery (52% vs 70%) followed
      by the left main stem (LMS) coronary artery (22% vs 15%). In the rDES group,
      38.2% received paclitaxel-eluting stents. There were 3 stent implantation
      failures (2 in the rDES group and 1 in the BiOSS Expert group). Side branch
      treatment with an rDES was required in 10% of cases in both groups. At 12 months,
      the incidence of cumulative major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) was
      similar in both groups: 13.3% vs 12.2% (P = 0.7). The TLR rate was significantly
      higher in the BiOSS Expert group compared with the rDES group (11.5% vs 7.3%; P =
      0.02). Significantly lower rates of restenosis were observed in FKB subgroups of
      both the BiOSS Expert (8.1% vs 13.2%; P < 0.05) and rDES groups (4.9% vs 9.5%; P
      < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: MACE rates were comparable between the 2 groups; however,
      the TLR rate was higher in the BiOSS Expert group. A more aggressive protocol
      yielded better angiographic and clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25828373
TI  - Targeting MicroRNA-208a to Suppress Adverse Postmyocardial Infarction Remodelling
      Related to RNA Activation of Endoglin Gene Expression.

PMID- 25828375
TI  - Morphine and children: An Australian perspective.

PMID- 25828374
TI  - A New Algorithm for the Diagnosis of Hypertension in Canada.
AB  - Accurate blood pressure measurement is critical to properly identify and treat
      individuals with hypertension. In 2005, the Canadian Hypertension Education
      Program produced a revised algorithm to be used for the diagnosis of
      hypertension. Subsequent annual reviews of the literature have identified 2 major
      deficiencies in the current diagnostic process. First, auscultatory measurements
      performed in routine clinical settings have serious accuracy limitations that
      have not been overcome despite great efforts to educate health care professionals
      over several years. Thus, alternatives to auscultatory measurements should be
      used. Second, recent data indicate that patients with white coat hypertension
      must be identified earlier in the process and in a systematic manner rather than
      on an ad hoc or voluntary basis so they are not unnecessarily treated with
      antihypertensive medications. The economic and health consequences of white coat
      hypertension are reviewed. In this article evidence for a revised algorithm to
      diagnose hypertension is presented. Protocols for home blood pressure measurement
      and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring are reviewed. The role of automated
      office blood pressure measurement is updated. The revised algorithm strongly
      encourages the use of validated electronic digital oscillometric devices and
      recommends that out-of-office blood pressure measurements, ambulatory blood
      pressure monitoring (preferred), or home blood pressure measurement, should be
      performed to confirm the diagnosis of hypertension. 

PMID- 25828376
TI  - Glycyrrhetinic acid potently suppresses breast cancer invasion and metastasis by
      impairing the p38 MAPK-AP1 signaling axis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Radix Glycyrrhiza has been used in China for thousand years to
      treat cancer. However, focus on its tumor-suppressing mechanism has been
      concentrated on its effect on tumor cell growth and apoptosis. OBJECTIVES: With
      the aid of a panel of human breast cancer cell lines, we reveal that
      glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), a major component of Radix Glycyrrhiza, is actually a
      significantly more potent agent to suppress invasion than cell survival. RESULTS:
      GA effectively inhibits breast cancer cell MMP-2/MMP-9 expression; GA-induced
      reduction in the MMP-2/9 expression is apparently mediated by GA's ability to
      specifically inhibit the p38 MAPK activity and its downstream AP1 activation.
      Moreover, we show that GA down regulates the levels of Fra-1 and c-Jun, two main
      components of AP1 transcription complex in invasive breast cancer cells and that
      AP1-specific inhibitor abrogates breast cancer cell invasion. These results
      suggest that GA impairs the p38 MAPK-AP1 signaling axis, leading to the
      repression of breast cancer cell invasion. Finally, we demonstrate that GA
      effectively suppresses breast tumor outgrowth and pulmonary metastasis without
      causing animal weight loss or eliciting liver/kidney toxicity to the recipient
      animals. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that GA represents a good candidate
      compound for the potential development of therapeutic drug.

PMID- 25828377
TI  - Prevalence and diagnostic accuracy of heart disease in children with asymptomatic
      murmurs.
AB  - This study was performed to determine the prevalence of CHD among children
      referred with asymptomatic murmurs and to determine the diagnostic accuracy of
      the assessment of asymptomatic heart murmurs by general paediatricians. We
      reviewed the records of children who had been referred by general paediatricians
      to a cardiology clinic for further evaluation of a heart murmur. The referring
      paediatricians' clinical assessment of the murmur was compared with the
      cardiologist's echocardiographic diagnosis. A total of 150 children were referred
      by paediatricians to a paediatric cardiologist for further assessment of a heart
      murmur. Out of 150 children, 72 had a paediatrician's diagnosis of innocent
      murmur; of these 72 patients, two (3%) had heart disease on echocardiography. In
      all, after echocardiography, a range of congenital heart lesions was found in 28
      (19%) of the 150 children. CHD is not rare among children with asymptomatic heart
      murmurs. In this series of children with asymptomatic murmurs, 19% had heart
      lesions on echocardiography. Most, but not all, of the children with heart
      lesions were identified on clinical examination by general paediatricians. 

PMID- 25828378
TI  - Novel experimental rabbit model of anterior glottic web formation.
AB  - CONCLUSION: The rabbit model of anterior glottic web (AGW) formation using the
      laryngofissure technique resulted in reproducible and stable AGW formation that
      may facilitate research into this area. OBJECTIVE: To introduce and validate a
      novel experimental animal model of AGW formation using the rabbit. METHODS: The
      inner larynges of eight New Zealand white rabbits were exposed through the
      laryngofissure technique. The mucosa of the bilateral true vocal fold was
      stripped off using the bevel of a needle tip. On the basis of the laryngoscopic
      findings at 8 weeks postoperatively, the extent of AGW was measured, and the
      success of this procedure was validated. Laryngeal specimens were sampled at 8
      weeks for high-speed recording and histological analysis. RESULTS: In seven
      (87.5%) rabbits, laryngoscopic examination revealed the formation of a scar band
      involving the anterior commissure. The mean extent of AGW ratio on the left and
      right sides was 0.58 +/- 0.073 and 0.55 +/- 0.075, respectively. The symmetric
      formation of AGW (p = 0.655, p = 0.128) and stability of the AGW procedure (p =
      0.491, left; p = 0.501, right) were statistically validated. On high-speed
      recording, the vocal mucosal wave was hindered by AGW formation. Histologically,
      fibro-connective tissue, especially collagen fiber, was observed in the anterior
      commissure.

PMID- 25828379
TI  - Towards source level evaluation of the evidential value of fibre examinations.
AB  - This paper aims to provide the first steps towards a numerical source level
      evaluation of fibre evidence. For that purpose, likelihood ratio equations are
      derived for four generic scenarios, in which the source frequency, the number of
      references and trace types investigated, and the number of matches vary. Previous
      experimental studies into the evaluation of fibre evidence are reviewed and we
      demonstrate how the results of these studies, as well as other data, can be used
      to evaluate the derived equations for the four scenarios. Evaluation is not
      straightforward and requires a number of assumptions. This is mainly because the
      relevant population under consideration in a specific case cannot be sufficiently
      evaluated. In addition, the subjective match-criterion in current forensic fibre
      examinations makes it impossible to implement a good evaluation of the within
      variation of samples. As a result, the discrimination power, currently calculated
      for discrimination studies, is only valid for samples with negligible
      heterogeneity. We conclude that reporting a numerical evidential value for
      forensic fibre examinations is not yet feasible as the data are available for
      only a few types of fibres and cannot be used without several assumptions. We
      propose a number of developments that are required to improve the accuracy and
      numerical analysis. 

PMID- 25828380
TI  - A new method to reduce false positives due to antimony in detection of gunshot
      residues.
AB  - False positives due to the presence of antimony in vehicle seat fabrics are a
      problem in gunshot residue (GSR) analysis, in particular, when graphite furnace
      atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) is employed. In this study, we sought to
      determine the reason for the prevalence of false positive results and to propose
      a new approach for the analysis of GSR on vehicle seats. GFAAS was used to
      examine adhesive tape swabs collected from 100 seats of 50 different automobiles.
      Characterization of seat fabrics was carried out by using Fourier transform
      infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy with energy
      dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX) spectroscopy. The results of FTIR analysis indicated
      that all seat covers containing antimony were composed of polyester. Experimental
      results obtained by SEM/EDX analysis revealed that the fabrics in these seat
      covers contained evenly distributed antimony within the structure of polyester
      fibers. This study shows that the type of seat fabric should be determined by
      FTIR spectroscopy before elemental GSR analysis. In this way, most of the false
      positives caused by polyester fibers in GSR analysis can be prevented. 

PMID- 25828381
TI  - A new disaster victim identification management strategy targeting "near
      identification-threshold" cases: Experiences from the Boxing Day tsunami.
AB  - The international disaster victim identification (DVI) response to the Boxing Day
      tsunami, led by the Royal Thai Police in Phuket, Thailand, was one of the largest
      and most complex in DVI history. Referred to as the Thai Tsunami Victim
      Identification operation, the group comprised a multi-national, multi-agency, and
      multi-disciplinary team. The traditional DVI approach proved successful in
      identifying a large number of victims quickly. However, the team struggled to
      identify certain victims due to incomplete or poor quality ante-mortem and post
      mortem data. In response to these challenges, a new 'near-threshold' DVI
      management strategy was implemented to target presumptive identifications and
      improve operational efficiency. The strategy was implemented by the DNA Team,
      therefore DNA kinship matches that just failed to reach the reporting threshold
      of 99.9% were prioritized, however the same approach could be taken by targeting,
      for example, cases with partial fingerprint matches. The presumptive DNA
      identifications were progressively filtered through the Investigation, Dental and
      Fingerprint Teams to add additional information necessary to either strengthen or
      conclusively exclude the identification. Over a five-month period 111 victims
      from ten countries were identified using this targeted approach. The new
      identifications comprised 87 adults, 24 children and included 97 Thai locals. New
      data from the Fingerprint Team established nearly 60% of the total near-threshold
      identifications and the combined DNA/Physical method was responsible for over
      30%. Implementing the new strategy, targeting near-threshold cases, had positive
      management implications. The process initiated additional ante-mortem information
      collections, and established a much-needed, distinct "end-point" for unresolved
      cases. 

PMID- 25828382
TI  - Systematic investigation of drip stains on apparel fabrics: The effects of prior
      laundering, fibre content and fabric structure on final stain appearance.
AB  - Bloodstain pattern analysis is the investigation of blood deposited at crime
      scenes and the interpretation of that pattern. The surface that the blood gets
      deposited onto could distort the appearance of the bloodstain. The interaction of
      blood and apparel fabrics is in its infancy, but the interaction of liquids and
      apparel fabrics has been well documented and investigated in the field of textile
      science (e.g. the processes of wetting and wicking of fluids on fibres, yarns and
      fabrics). A systematic study on the final appearance of drip stains on torso
      apparel fabrics (100% cotton plain woven, 100% polyester plain woven, blend of
      polyester and cotton plain woven and 100% cotton single jersey knit) that had
      been laundered for six, 26 and 52 cycles prior to testing was investigated in the
      paper. The relationship between drop velocity (1.66+/-0.50m/s, 4.07+/-0.03m/s,
      5.34+/-0.18m/s) and the stain characteristics (parent stain area, axes 1 and 2
      and number of satellite stains) for each fabric was examined using analysis of
      variance. The experimental design and effect of storing blood were investigated
      on a reference sample, which indicated that the day (up to five days) at which
      the drops were generated did not affect the bloodstain. The effect of prior
      laundering (six, 26 and 52 laundering cycles), fibre content (cotton vs.
      polyester vs. blend) and fabric structure (plain woven vs. single jersey knit) on
      the final appearance of the bloodstain were investigated. Distortion in the
      bloodstains produced on non-laundered fabrics indicated the importance of
      laundering fabrics to remove finishing treatments before conducting bloodstain
      experiments. For laundered fabrics, both the cotton fabrics and the blend had a
      circular to oval stain appearance, while the polyester fabric had a circular
      appearance with evidence of spread along the warp and weft yarns, which resulted
      in square-like stains at the lowest drop velocity. A significant (p<0.001)
      increase in the stain size on laundered blend fabric was identified. Bloodstain
      characteristics varied due to fibre content (p<0.001) and fabric structure
      (p<0.001). Blood on polyester fabric, after impact, primarily moved due to
      capillary force and wicking of the blood along the fibres/yarns, while for the
      cotton fabrics wicking was accompanied by movement of blood into the
      fibres/yarns. This study highlights the importance for forensic analysts of
      apparel evidence to consider the age, the fibre type and the fabric structure
      before interpreting bloodstain patterns. 

PMID- 25828383
TI  - Printing 2-dimentional droplet array for single-cell reverse transcription
      quantitative PCR assay with a microfluidic robot.
AB  - This paper describes a nanoliter droplet array-based single-cell reverse
      transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assay method for quantifying gene
      expression in individual cells. By sequentially printing nanoliter-scale droplets
      on microchip using a microfluidic robot, all liquid-handling operations including
      cell encapsulation, lysis, reverse transcription, and quantitative PCR with real
      time fluorescence detection, can be automatically achieved. The inhibition effect
      of cell suspension buffer on RT-PCR assay was comprehensively studied to achieve
      high-sensitivity gene quantification. The present system was applied in the
      quantitative measurement of expression level of mir-122 in single Huh-7 cells. A
      wide distribution of mir-122 expression in single cells from 3061 copies/cell to
      79998 copies/cell was observed, showing a high level of cell heterogeneity. With
      the advantages of full-automation in liquid-handling, simple system structure,
      and flexibility in achieving multi-step operations, the present method provides a
      novel liquid-handling mode for single cell gene expression analysis, and has
      significant potentials in transcriptional identification and rare cell analysis. 

PMID- 25828384
TI  - Light-induced lipid oxidation in sheep milk: effects of dietary grape seed and
      linseed, alone or in combination, on milk oxidative stability.
AB  - The present work aimed to investigate the milk oxidative stability when the sheep
      diet includes a source of polyphenols (grape seed, (GS)) and a source of
      polyunsaturated fatty acids (linseed, (LIN)), alone or in combination (MIX)
      compared to a control group (CON). For this purpose light-induced oxidation in
      milk was studied. After 24 h of light exposure the lipid hydroperoxides increased
      in milk in the LIN and MIX groups. The calculated ratio between the level of
      lipid hydroperoxides and unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) in milk was lower in the
      GS and MIX than in the LIN group. At the same time the level of the ratio between
      hexanal/linoleic acid in milk was lower in the GS and MIX than in the CON group.
      Although the dietary inclusion of grape seed did not reduce the level of lipid
      oxidation products in sheep milk, it effectively reduced the extent of oxidation
      of UFA. 

PMID- 25828385
TI  - Changes in cerebral oxygen saturation following prone positioning for orthopaedic
      surgery under general anaesthesia: a prospective observational study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prone positioning is often necessary in orthopaedic surgery. The
      prone position, however, may result in impaired cerebral venous drainage with a
      subsequent reduction in cerebral perfusion. As a consequence, cerebral hypoxia
      may occur with the potential for neurological impairment. OBJECTIVE: We assessed
      the changes in cerebral oxygen saturation with near-infrared spectroscopy using
      two different monitors after positioning the patient from supine to prone.
      DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: Primary Care University
      Hospital, from May 2010 to February 2011. PARTICIPANTS: Forty patients undergoing
      general anaesthetic procedures, of which 35 completed the investigation. Similar
      measurements were done in 35 volunteers, who were studied while awake.
      INTERVENTIONS: Near-infrared spectroscopy was measured throughout anaesthesia
      using INVOS (a trend monitor using two infrared wavelengths) for one hemisphere
      and FORE-SIGHT (a monitor using four wavelengths of laser light to calculate
      absolute oxygen saturation) for the other hemisphere in an alternate
      randomisation pattern. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was a change in
      cerebral oxygen saturation of more than 5% during prone positioning. A comparison
      with the changes obtained in awake volunteers following similar positioning was
      also made. RESULTS: Cerebral oxygen saturation increased during prone positioning
      with INVOS 0.032% per minute (P < 0.01) and with FORE-SIGHT 0.032% per minute (P
      < 0.01) in anaesthetised patients. Awake volunteers showed an increase of 0.171%
      per minute (INVOS) and 0.082% per minute (FORE-SIGHT) during prone positioning.
      Comparison of INVOS with FORE-SIGHT showed a good association, with a gradient of
      0.80% per 1% change (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Both monitors detected a small
      increase in cerebral oxygen saturation of less than 5% in patients undergoing
      orthopaedic surgery in the prone position and in awake volunteers. This small
      increase is of limited clinical relevance and prone positioning may be regarded
      as safe in terms of the maintenance of cerebral oxygen saturation. TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01275898.

PMID- 25828386
TI  - Dedifferentiated liposarcoma of the spermatic cord: a series of 42 cases.
AB  - Dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDL) of the spermatic cord is rare, with limited
      data regarding morphology and prognosis. We analyzed the morphologic spectrum of
      DDL of the spermatic cord and its clinical significance in 42 patients from 1990
      to 2014. The median age of the patients was 70.5 years (range: 43 to 90 y). The
      median tumor size was 10.9 cm (range: 3 to 30 cm). Six cases were low-grade DDL,
      28 were high-grade DDL, and in 8 cases both coexisted. Five cases had
      osteosarcoma, and 2 had leiomyosarcoma differentiation. Low-grade DDL had a
      fibrosarcoma-like (n=11), myxofibrosarcoma-like (n=2), and fibrosarcoma and
      inflammatory-like (n=1) pattern. High-grade DDL had a fibrosarcoma-like (n=22),
      undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma-like (n=7), myxofibrosarcoma and
      undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma-like (n=4), fibrosarcoma and
      undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma-like (n=2), and myxofibrosarcoma-like (n=1)
      pattern. Resection margins were positive in 22, negative in 13, and unknown in 7
      cases. MDM2 was positive in 24/24 cases. Two patients received neoadjuvant
      radiotherapy (1 with chemotherapy). Patients received postoperative radiation
      (n=13), reexcision (n=5) with radiation (n=3), chemotherapy (n=2), chemotherapy
      and radiation (n=1), no therapy (n=11), and unknown (n=6). Follow-up information
      was available in 31 patients (mean: 54.2 mo; median: 38.5 mo; range: 2 to 180
      mo). Seven patients developed local recurrence. Two patients had systemic
      metastases and succumbed to disease. Recurrence developed at an average of 40.9
      months (median: 24 mo; range: 12 to 100 mo) after resection. Average follow-up in
      patients without recurrence was 45.2 months (median: 25 mo; range: 2 to 180 mo)
      (P=0.87). Margin status, size, and grade did not correlate with recurrence
      (P>0.05). Thus, DDL of the spermatic cord includes a spectrum of morphologic
      patterns. Complete excision is difficult at first attempt. Local recurrence is
      common, and relatively few patients develop systemic disease. 

PMID- 25828387
TI  - Atypical Polypoid Adenomyoma of the Uterus: An Immunohistochemical and Molecular
      Study of 21 Cases.
AB  - Atypical polypoid adenomyoma (APA) is an uncommon uterine lesion that commonly
      recurs after local excision and is occasionally associated with or precedes the
      development of atypical hyperplasia or endometrioid adenocarcinoma. Despite the
      fact that about 230 cases have been reported in the literature, only 2 studies of
      6 and of 7 cases have investigated the molecular aspects; as such, molecular
      alterations that occur in APA remain largely unknown. We undertook a
      comprehensive immunohistochemical and molecular analysis of 21 cases of APA in 17
      patients (including 4 recurrent/persistent lesions). The analyzed genes were PTEN
      and TP53 (by fluorescence in situ hybridization) and KRAS, BRAF, EGFR, and NRAS
      (all by polymerase chain reaction). Immunohistochemical staining was performed
      for PTEN, p53, mTOR, beta-catenin, HNF-1beta, and GLUT1 and for the mismatch
      repair proteins MLH-1, MSH-2, MSH-6, and PMS-2. In most cases, there was nuclear
      expression of beta-catenin in squamous morules and expression of HNF-1beta, mTOR,
      and GLUT1 in the glandular component. All cases exhibited "wild-type" expression
      of p53. A common finding was loss of PTEN expression (6/19 cases). In 1 of these
      cases, loss of PTEN expression was accompanied by PTEN deletion. Mutation of the
      KRAS gene was found in 5/19 cases. Intact mismatch-repair protein expression was
      present in all cases, and TP53 abnormalities or mutations of EGFR, NRAS, or BRAF
      genes were not found. Given the association with atypical hyperplasia and
      endometrioid adenocarcinoma and the shared immunohistochemical and molecular
      features, we feel that, conceptually, APA is best regarded as analogous to a
      localized form of atypical hyperplasia. 

PMID- 25828388
TI  - Distinctive Patterns of Transthyretin Amyloid in Salivary Tissue: A
      Clinicopathologic Study of 92 Patients With Amyloid-containing Minor Salivary
      Gland Biopsies.
AB  - Accurate typing of amyloidosis is still a major issue for pathologists and
      clinicians. Besides clinical data and immunohistochemistry, the histologic
      distribution of amyloid could represent a useful tool to prevent typing errors,
      such as the misdiagnosis of hereditary and senile amyloidosis as light chain
      related amyloidosis (AL). Minor salivary gland biopsy (MSGB) is a widely
      performed procedure for amyloidosis diagnosis and typing. In the largest
      clinicopathologic series of amyloid-containing MSGB specimens to date, we
      investigated for the first time whether amyloidosis subtypes can be distinguished
      according to their pattern of salivary amyloid deposition. The histologic
      distribution and semiquantification of amyloid within salivary tissue were
      thoroughly reassessed for each case using Congo red-fluorescence. Clinical data
      were retrospectively collected. The cohort included 92 patients with amyloid
      containing minor salivary gland biopsies. The type of amyloidosis was AL in 51
      patients (55.4%), non-V30M mutant ATTR in 10 (10.9%), V30M mutant ATTR in 8
      (8.7%), serum amyloid A-derived amyloidosis (AA) in 6 (6.5%), wild-type ATTR in 4
      (4.3%), gelsolin in 3 (3.3%), and unclassified in 10 (10.9%). Amyloid was more
      abundant in AL and AA compared with ATTR amyloidosis, because of more extensive
      basement membranes and vascular deposits. Conversely, non-V30M mutant ATTR and wt
      ATTR were strongly associated with peculiar amyloid nodules located in close
      contact with salivary excretory ducts, with a specificity of 91.7%. In
      conclusion, our study suggests for the first time that MSGB, in addition to its
      high sensitivity for amyloidosis diagnosis, is a simple and effective tool for
      the recognition of ATTR amyloidosis. 

PMID- 25828389
TI  - MYC cytogenetic status correlates with expression and has prognostic significance
      in patients with MYC/BCL2 protein double-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
AB  - MYC/BCL2 double-hit lymphoma (DHL), defined by conventional cytogenetic or
      fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis, and MYC/BCL2 double-positive
      lymphoma (DPL), defined by immunohistochemistry, are associated with a poor
      prognosis. However, DHL and DPL are not concordant, and it is unclear whether MYC
      and BCL2 aberrations have prognostic impact in DPL patients. In a cohort of 135
      patients diagnosed with large B-cell lymphoma between 2010 and 2014 in whom
      MYC/8q24 and BCL2/t(14;18)(q32;q21) statuses were assessed by FISH at diagnosis,
      we evaluated MYC and BCL2 expression by immunohistochemistry. A total of 54 (40%)
      cases were positive for MYC and BCL2 supporting DPL. Among them, 19 (35%) had MYC
      rearrangement including 11 DHLs, 12 (22%) had multiple copies of MYC, 19 had no
      MYC abnormalities, and in 4 cases FISH analysis failed. BCL2 abnormalities were
      present in 28/54 (52%) cases (20 rearranged and 8 multiple copies). MYC
      rearrangement correlated with a significantly worse overall survival in DPL
      (P<0.05), whereas BCL2 genetic status did not correlate with survival (P>0.05).
      MYC and BCL2 expression by immunohistochemistry correlates with gene status by
      FISH; however, immunohistochemistry is neither specific nor adequately sensitive
      to be used as a surrogate for MYC and BCL2 gene status using any cutoff level. In
      conclusion, MYC rearrangement identifies a subset of patients with DPL who have a
      significantly worse prognosis. Although immunohistochemical assessment for MYC
      and BCL2 may be a helpful initial screen to identify higher-risk patients, FISH
      analysis for MYC remains important for further risk stratification in patients
      with DPL. 

PMID- 25828390
TI  - Yolk Sac Tumor of the Testis in Infants and Children: A Clinicopathologic
      Analysis of 33 Cases.
AB  - We report 33 pure yolk sac tumors of the testis from boys 5 to 71 months of age
      (mean 20.7 mo) diagnosed from 1918 to 2014. All except 1 underwent orchiectomy,
      with lymph node dissections (all negative) performed in 18; 21 also received
      chemotherapy and 12 radiotherapy. The tumors were 1.6 to 7.0 cm (mean 3.7 cm) and
      were nonencapsulated, with a gray to yellow, often mucoid, cut surface. The
      commonest pattern was reticular-microcystic, but macrocystic, papillary,
      endodermal sinus (Schiller-Duval bodies), labyrinthine, myxomatous, glandular,
      and solid patterns were also observed. Follow-up was available for 32 patients
      (mean 100.5 mo; range, 3 to 456 mo). Twenty-four patients (including 4 who did
      not receive adjuvant therapy) were without evidence of disease, 8 had metastatic
      disease; 5 of the latter died of tumor and 1 of treatment complications. Two
      patients with metastasis were cured with radiation with or without chemotherapy.
      Two or more of the following were associated with a poor outcome in patients
      presenting with stage I cases: tumor size >4.5 cm (4/6 tumors [67%]), invasion of
      rete testis and/or epididymis (3/7 tumors [43%]), and necrosis (6/17 tumors
      [35%]). In the nonmetastasizing group, 2 or more unfavorable features occurred in
      only 3/24 tumors (13%) (P=0.0001). It is crucial that this tumor be distinguished
      from the juvenile granulosa cell tumor, which occurs at a slightly younger age
      and has distinctive features, although there may be some morphologic overlap. The
      survival of young boys with testicular yolk sac tumor is very good because of
      both effective chemotherapy and likely, the inherent characteristics of the tumor
      in this age group. 

PMID- 25828391
TI  - Triple-hit B-cell Lymphoma With MYC, BCL2, and BCL6
      Translocations/Rearrangements: Clinicopathologic Features of 11 Cases.
AB  - Lymphomas with translocations/rearrangements of MYC, BCL2, and BCL6, so-called
      triple-hit B-cell lymphoma, are rare, and few studies on these tumors are
      available in the literature. We report 11 cases of triple-hit B-cell lymphoma and
      characterize their clinicopathologic findings. All patients were men, with a
      median age of 64 years (range, 45 to 80 y), and 4 patients had antecedent or
      concurrent follicular lymphoma. Using the 2008 World Health Organization
      classification, these cases were classified as: 5 B-cell lymphoma,
      unclassifiable, with features intermediate between diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
      (DLBCL) and Burkitt lymphoma; 4 DLBCL; 1 DLBCL with concurrent follicular
      lymphoma; and 1 low-grade follicular lymphoma. All cases were positive for CD10,
      BCL2, and FOXP1. Ten of 11 cases were positive for CD20. MYC expression was high
      in 10/11 (91%), BCL6 was positive in 8/11 (73%), and MUM1/IRF4 was positive in
      6/11 (55%) cases. T-cell antigens, TdT, and Epstein-Barr virus-encoded RNA were
      negative in all cases. Ten of 11 cases showed a high proliferation index-70% to
      100%, and the follicular lymphoma had a 30% proliferation rate. Using most
      algorithms, all cases belonged to germinal center B-cell-like group. All patients
      received standard or more aggressive immunochemotherapy regimens. Three patients
      had no response to chemotherapy; 4 patients showed a partial response; 2 patients
      had complete remission after chemotherapy; and 2 patients had just begun
      chemotherapy. Three patients underwent a stem cell transplant. The median follow
      up time was 5.3 months. Five patients died, and 6 patients were alive at last
      follow-up. Two patients who underwent stem cell transplant after complete
      response to chemotherapy were in remission with 16 to 19 months of clinical
      follow-up. In summary, triple-hit lymphomas are clinically aggressive tumors
      associated with a poor prognosis. Patients often respond poorly to chemotherapy,
      but a subset may completely respond to chemotherapy followed by stem cell
      transplant. 

PMID- 25828393
TI  - One-pot two-step synthesis of core-shell mesoporous silica-coated gold
      nanoparticles.
AB  - Gold nanoparticles coated with mesoporous silica (Au@mSiO2) have been prepared by
      a facile one-pot two-step method. The resultant Au@mSiO2 exhibit an ideal core
      shell structure with uniform mSiO2 coverage and without any interfacial adhesive
      layer on the Au surface. Some new explanations on the role that CTAB plays in the
      synthesis of Au@mSiO2 are discussed. 

PMID- 25828392
TI  - Intestinal organoids: a model of intestinal fibrosis for evaluating anti-fibrotic
      drugs.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Intestinal fibrosis is a critical complication of Crohn's
      disease (CD). Current in vitro models of intestinal fibrosis cannot model the
      complex intestinal architecture, while in vivo rodent models do not fully
      recapitulate human disease and have limited utility for large-scale screening.
      Here, we exploit recent advances in stem cell derived human intestinal organoids
      (HIOs) as a new human model of fibrosis in CD. METHODS: Human pluripotent stem
      cells were differentiated into HIOs. We identified myofibroblasts, the key
      effector cells of fibrosis, by immunofluorescence staining for alpha-smooth
      muscle actin (alphaSMA), vimentin, and desmin. We examined the fibrogenic
      response of HIOs by treatment with transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) in
      the presence or absence of the anti-fibrotic drug spironolactone. Fibrotic
      response was assayed by expression of fibrogenic genes (COL1A1 (collagen, type I,
      alpha 1), ACTA2 (alpha smooth muscle actin), FN1 (fibronectin 1), MYLK (myosin
      light chain kinase), and MKL1 (megakaryoblastic leukemia (translocation) 1)) and
      proteins (alphaSMA). RESULTS: Immunofluorescent staining of organoids identified
      a population of myofibroblasts within the HIO mesenchyme. TGFbeta stimulation of
      HIOs produced a dose-dependent pro-fibrotic response. Spironolactone treatment
      blocked the fibrogenic response of HIOs to TGFbeta. CONCLUSIONS: HIOs contain
      myofibroblasts and respond to a pro-fibrotic stimulus in a manner that is
      consistent with isolated human myofibroblasts. HIOs are a promising model system
      that might bridge the gap between current in vitro and in vivo models of
      intestinal fibrosis in IBD.

PMID- 25828394
TI  - Solid tumor metastases to the pancreas diagnosed by FNA: A single-institution
      experience and review of the literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pancreatic fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is useful for diagnosing
      pancreatic masses. This article describes the experience of a single institution
      with metastases to the pancreas sampled by FNA and provides a review of the
      literature. METHODS: Medical records were retrospectively searched for pancreatic
      FNA that showed metastatic disease. Data were gathered for the tumor size,
      focality, and time period between the primary tumor and the metastasis. A
      literature search using PubMed was performed. RESULTS: Pancreatic FNA was
      performed 2327 times in 14 years at the authors' institution. Twenty-two cases
      showed metastatic disease. The average size of the metastatic lesions in their
      greatest dimension was 3.7 cm (range, 1.5-6.5 cm). The majority of the tumors
      were unifocal (16 of 22 or 73%). A rapid onsite adequacy evaluation was performed
      for 13 patients (4 were diagnostic of metastasis, 3 were positive for malignant
      cells, 6 were atypical, and none were negative). There were 14 renal cell
      carcinomas, 2 colonic adenocarcinomas, 1 urothelial carcinoma, 1 non-small cell
      lung carcinoma, 1 ovarian serous carcinoma, 1 prostatic adenocarcinoma, 1
      papillary thyroid carcinoma, and 1 mesenchymal chondrosarcoma. The median time
      between the diagnosis of the primary tumor and the initial pancreatic metastasis
      was 9 years (range, concurrent diagnosis to 21 years). A literature review
      yielded 12 case series with a variety of metastases to the pancreas diagnosed by
      FNA and surgical pathology specimens. CONCLUSIONS: In agreement with prior
      series, the most common metastasis to the pancreas was renal cell carcinoma. A
      variety of other primary malignancies were also documented in this study and in
      the literature. Also, this article reports the first case of metastatic
      mesenchymal chondrosarcoma to the pancreas diagnosed by FNA.

PMID- 25828395
TI  - Use of a blood test incorporating age, sex, and gene expression influences
      medical decision-making in the evaluation of women presenting with symptoms
      suggestive of obstructive coronary artery disease: summary results from two
      ambulatory care studies in primary care.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Clinicians need better approaches to evaluating women at midlife and
      beyond who present to primary care with chest pain and related symptoms. A
      previously validated blood-based test, which includes age, sex, and gene
      expression levels, showed a 96% negative predictive value for determining an
      individual's current likelihood of having obstructive coronary artery disease
      (CAD) in a combined population of men and women. We hypothesized that
      age/sex/gene expression score (ASGES) would be incorporated into medical decision
      making and would influence the rate of further cardiac evaluation. METHODS: An
      aggregate analysis of female cohorts from the Investigation of a Molecular
      Personalized Coronary Gene Expression Test on Primary Care Practice Pattern
      (IMPACT-PCP; NCT01594411) and REGISTRY I (NCT01557855) studies was conducted.
      Data on 320 women presenting with stable symptoms suggestive of obstructive CAD
      and undergoing ASGES testing (from 16 primary care providers in geographically
      diverse sites) were pooled. The primary outcome of this analysis was the
      association between ASGES and referrals for further cardiac evaluation. RESULTS:
      The mean participant age was 57.8 years, and the mean ASGES (predefined as low
      [ASGES <=15] or elevated [ASGES >15]) was 10.3. The referral rate for further
      cardiac evaluation was 4.0% (10 of 248) for women with low ASGES versus 83.3% (60
      of 72) for women with elevated ASGES, with an overall follow-up major adverse
      cardiac event/revascularization rate of 1.2%. After adjustment for clinical
      covariates, women with low ASGES were significantly less likely to be referred
      for further cardiac evaluation (odds ratio, 0.013; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS:
      ASGES can be incorporated into medical decision-making to help primary care
      providers rule out obstructive CAD among symptomatic women who are unlikely to
      benefit from further cardiac testing.

PMID- 25828396
TI  - Activation of PPARbeta/delta protects cardiac myocytes from oxidative stress
      induced apoptosis by suppressing generation of reactive oxygen/nitrogen species
      and expression of matrix metalloproteinases.
AB  - Heart failure still remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality
      worldwide. A major contributing factor is reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (RONS)
      overproduction which is associated with cardiac remodeling partly through
      cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are
      ligand-activated transcription factors that belong to the nuclear receptor
      superfamily and have been implicated in cardioprotection. However, the molecular
      mechanisms are largely unexplored. In this study we sought to investigate the
      potential beneficial effects evoked by activation of PPARbeta/delta under the
      setting of oxidative stress induced by H2O2 in adult rat cardiac myocytes. The
      selective PPARbeta/delta agonist GW0742 inhibited the H2O2-induced apoptosis and
      increased cell viability. In addition, generation of RONS was attenuated in
      cardiac myocytes in the presence of PPARbeta/delta agonist. These effects were
      abolished in the presence of the PPARbeta/delta antagonist indicating that the
      effect was through PPARbeta/delta receptor activation. Treatment with
      PPARbeta/delta agonist was also associated with attenuation of caspase-3 and PARP
      cleavage, upregulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and concomitant downregulation of
      pro-apoptotic Bax. In addition, activation of PPARbeta/delta inhibited the
      oxidative-stress-induced MMP-2 and MMP-9 mRNA upregulation. It is concluded that
      PPARbeta/delta activation exerts a cytoprotective effect in adult rat cardiac
      myocytes subjected to oxidative stress via inhibition of oxidative stress, MMP
      expression, and apoptosis. Our data suggest that the novel connection between
      PPAR signaling and MMP down-regulation in cardiac myocytes might represent a new
      target for the management of oxidative stress-induced cardiac dysfunction. 

PMID- 25828397
TI  - Uniaxial and Multiaxial Fatigue Life Prediction of the Trabecular Bone Based on
      Physiological Loading: A Comparative Study.
AB  - Fatigue assessment of the trabecular bone has been developed to give a better
      understanding of bone properties. While most fatigue studies are relying on
      uniaxial compressive load as the method of assessment, in various cases details
      are missing, or the uniaxial results are not very realistic. In this paper, the
      effect of three different load histories from physiological loading applied on
      the trabecular bone were studied in order to predict the first failure surface
      and the fatigue lifetime. The fatigue behaviour of the trabecular bone under
      uniaxial load was compared to that of multiaxial load using a finite element
      simulation. The plastic strain was found localized at the trabecular structure
      under multiaxial load. On average, applying multiaxial loads reduced more than
      five times the fatigue life of the trabecular bone. The results provide evidence
      that multiaxial loading is dominated in the low cycle fatigue in contrast to the
      uniaxial one. Both bone volume fraction and structural model index were best
      predictors of failure (p < 0.05) in fatigue for both types of loading, whilst
      uniaxial loading has indicated better values in most cases. 

PMID- 25828398
TI  - Molecular evidence for a bacterium of the family Midichloriaceae (order
      Rickettsiales) in skin and organs of the rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss
      (Walbaum) affected by red mark syndrome.

PMID- 25828399
TI  - Origin, evolution, and population genetics of the selfish Segregation Distorter
      gene duplication in European and African populations of Drosophila melanogaster.
AB  - Meiotic drive elements are a special class of evolutionarily "selfish genes" that
      subvert Mendelian segregation to gain preferential transmission at the expense of
      homologous loci. Many drive elements appear to be maintained in populations as
      stable polymorphisms, their equilibrium frequencies determined by the balance
      between drive (increasing frequency) and selection (decreasing frequency). Here
      we show that a classic, seemingly balanced, drive system is instead characterized
      by frequent evolutionary turnover giving rise to dynamic, rather than stable,
      equilibrium frequencies. The autosomal Segregation Distorter (SD) system of the
      fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is a selfish coadapted meiotic drive gene
      complex in which the major driver corresponds to a partial duplication of the
      gene Ran-GTPase activating protein (RanGAP). SD chromosomes segregate at similar,
      low frequencies of 1-5% in natural populations worldwide, consistent with a
      balanced polymorphism. Surprisingly, our population genetic analyses reveal
      evidence for parallel, independent selective sweeps of different SD chromosomes
      in populations on different continents. These findings suggest that, rather than
      persisting at a single stable equilibrium, SD chromosomes turn over frequently
      within populations.

PMID- 25828400
TI  - Theoretical effects of fully ductile versus fully brittle behaviors of bone
      tissue on the strength of the human proximal femur and vertebral body.
AB  - The influence of the ductility of bone tissue on whole-bone strength represents a
      fundamental issue of multi-scale biomechanics. To gain insight, we performed a
      computational study of 16 human proximal femurs and 12 T9 vertebral bodies,
      comparing the whole-bone strength for the two hypothetical bounding cases of
      fully brittle versus fully ductile tissue-level failure behaviors, all other
      factors, including tissue-level elastic modulus and yield stress, held fixed. For
      each bone, a finite element model was generated (60-82 MUm element size; up to
      120 million elements) and was virtually loaded in habitual (stance for femur,
      compression for vertebra) and non-habitual (sideways fall, only for femur)
      loading modes. Using a geometrically and materially non-linear model, the tissue
      was assumed to be either fully brittle or fully ductile. We found that, under
      habitual loading, changing the tissue behavior from fully ductile to fully
      brittle reduced whole-bone strength by 38.3+/-2.4% (mean+/-SD) and 39.4+/-1.9%
      for the femur and vertebra, respectively (p=0.39 for site difference). These
      reductions were remarkably uniform across bones, but (for the femur) were greater
      for non-habitual (57.1+/-4.7%) than habitual loading (p<0.001). At overall
      structural failure, there was 5-10-fold less failed tissue for the fully brittle
      than fully ductile cases. These theoretical results suggest that the whole-bone
      strength of the proximal femur and vertebra can vary substantially between fully
      brittle and fully ductile tissue-level behaviors, an effect that is relatively
      insensitive to bone morphology but greater for non-habitual loading.

PMID- 25828401
TI  - Overcoming the barrier to implementing authentic research experiences through
      faculty mentorship.

PMID- 25828402
TI  - The grass isn't always greener: perceptions of and performance on open-note
      exams.
AB  - Undergraduate biology education is often viewed as being focused on memorization
      rather than development of students' critical-thinking abilities. We speculated
      that open-note testing would be an easily implemented change that would emphasize
      higher-order thinking. As open-note testing is not commonly used in the
      biological sciences and the literature on its effects in biology education is
      sparse, we performed a comprehensive analysis of this intervention on a primary
      literature-based exam across three large-enrollment laboratory courses. Although
      students believed open-note testing would impact exam scores, we found no effect
      on performance, either overall or on questions of nearly all Bloom's levels. Open
      note testing also produced no advantage when examined under a variety of
      parameters, including research experience, grade point average, course grade,
      prior exposure to primary literature-focused laboratory courses, or gender.
      Interestingly, we did observe small differences in open- and closed-note exam
      performance and perception for students who experienced open-note exams for an
      entire quarter. This implies that student preparation or in-test behavior can be
      altered by exposure to open-note testing conditions in a single course and that 
      increased experience may be necessary to truly understand the impact of this
      intervention. 

PMID- 25828403
TI  - Increasing persistence in undergraduate science majors: a model for institutional
      support of underrepresented students.
AB  - The 6-yr degree-completion rate of undergraduate science, technology,
      engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at U.S. colleges and universities is
      less than 40%. Persistence among women and underrepresented minorities (URMs),
      including African-American, Latino/a, Native American, and Pacific Islander
      students, is even more troubling, as these students leave STEM majors at
      significantly higher rates than their non-URM peers. This study utilizes a
      matched comparison group design to examine the academic achievement and
      persistence of students enrolled in the Program for Excellence in Education and
      Research in the Sciences (PEERS), an academic support program at the University
      of California, Los Angeles, for first- and second-year science majors from
      underrepresented backgrounds. Results indicate that PEERS students, on average,
      earned higher grades in most "gatekeeper" chemistry and math courses, had a
      higher cumulative grade point average, completed more science courses, and
      persisted in a science major at significantly higher rates than the comparison
      group. With its holistic approach focused on academics, counseling, creating a
      supportive community, and exposure to research, the PEERS program serves as an
      excellent model for universities interested in and committed to improving
      persistence of underrepresented science majors and closing the achievement gap. 

PMID- 25828404
TI  - Beyond the GRE: using a composite score to predict ?the success of Puerto Rican
      students in a biomedical ?PhD program.
AB  - The use and validity of the Graduate Record Examination General Test (GRE) to
      predict the success of graduate school applicants is heavily debated, especially
      for its possible impact on the selection of underrepresented minorities into
      science, technology, engineering, and math fields. To better identify candidates
      who would succeed in our program with less reliance on the GRE and grade point
      average (GPA), we developed and tested a composite score (CS) that incorporates
      additional measurable predictors of success to evaluate incoming applicants.
      Uniform numerical values were assigned to GPA, GRE, research experience, advanced
      course work or degrees, presentations, and publications. We compared the CS of
      our students with their achievement of program goals and graduate school
      outcomes. The average CS was significantly higher in those students completing
      the graduate program versus dropouts (p < 0.002) and correlated with success in
      competing for fellowships and a shorter time to thesis defense. In contrast,
      these outcomes were not predicted by GPA, science GPA, or GRE. Recent
      implementation of an impromptu writing assessment during the interview suggests
      the CS can be improved further. We conclude that the CS provides a broader
      quantitative measure that better predicts success of students in our program and
      allows improved evaluation and selection of the most promising candidates.

PMID- 25828405
TI  - In-vitro evaluation of performance of solid immediate release dosage forms of
      weak bases in upper gastrointestinal lumen: experience with miconazole and
      clopidogrel salts.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Evaluate the impact of salt and counterion identity on performance of
      solid immediate release dosage forms of miconazole and clopidogrel, respectively,
      in fasted upper gastrointestinal lumen using in-vitro methodologies. METHODS: Two
      miconazole chemical forms (free base and nitrate salt) and three clopidogrel
      chemical forms (bisulfate, besylate and hydrochloride salts) were studied.
      Solubilities of miconazole forms were measured in simulated gastric fluids.
      Gastrointestinal transfer of the five chemical forms was evaluated by using a
      flow-through, three-compartmental set-up. Precipitation in duodenal compartment
      was evaluated by using solutions in gastric compartment. KEY FINDINGS:
      Solubilities in simulated gastric fluids, concentrations in duodenal compartment
      and solubilities in duodenal compartment indicated poorer performance of
      miconazole nitrate vs. miconazole free base in upper gastrointestinal lumen. In
      line with the low crystallization tendency of free base, duodenal precipitation
      of miconazole from a free base solution was limited. Concentrations in duodenal
      compartment indicated that counterion identity does not affect the performance of
      clopidogrel; precipitation in duodenal compartment was extensive in all cases.
      CONCLUSIONS: Miconazole data indicate that salts may adversely affect performance
      of immediate release dosage forms of weak bases. In line with existing in-vivo
      data, clopidogrel data indicate that counterion identity is unimportant for the
      performance of clopidogrel salts in upper intestinal lumen.

PMID- 25828406
TI  - Impact of hydrocarbons, PCBs and heavy metals on bacterial communities in Lerma
      River, Salamanca, Mexico: Investigation of hydrocarbon degradation potential.
AB  - Freshwater contamination usually comes from runoff water or direct wastewater
      discharges to the environment. This paper presents a case study which reveals the
      impact of these types of contamination on the sediment bacterial population. A
      small stretch of Lerma River Basin, heavily impacted by industrial activities and
      urban wastewater release, was studied. Due to industrial inputs, the sediments
      are characterized by strong hydrocarbon concentrations, ranging from 2 935 to 28
      430MUg.kg(-1) of total polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These sediments are also
      impacted by heavy metals (e.g., 9.6MUg.kg(-1) of Cd and 246MUg.kg(-1) of Cu,
      about 8 times the maximum recommended values for environmental samples) and
      polychlorinated biphenyls (ranging from 54 to 123MUg.kg(-1) of total PCBs). The
      bacterial diversity on 6 sediment samples, taken from upstream to downstream of
      the main industrial and urban contamination sources, was assessed through TRFLP.
      Even though the high PAH concentrations are hazardous to aquatic life, they are
      not the only factor driving bacterial community composition in this ecosystem.
      Urban discharges, leading to hypoxia and low pH, also strongly influenced
      bacterial community structure. The bacterial bioprospection of these samples,
      using PAH as unique carbon source, yielded 8 hydrocarbonoclastic strains. By
      sequencing the 16S rDNA gene, these were identified as similar to Mycobacterium
      goodii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas lundensis or Aeromonas veronii. These
      strains showed high capacity to degrade naphthalene (between 92 and 100% at
      200mg.L(-1)), pyrene (up to 72% at 100mg.L(-1)) and/or fluoranthene (52% at
      50mg.L(-1)) as their only carbon source on in vitro experiments. These
      hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria were detected even in the samples upstream of the
      city of Salamanca, suggesting chronical contamination, already in place longer
      before. Such microorganisms are clearly potential candidates for hydrocarbon
      degradation in the treatment of oil discharges. 

PMID- 25828407
TI  - Simulating the effect of climate change on stream temperature in the Trout Lake
      Watershed, Wisconsin.
AB  - The potential for increases in stream temperature across many spatial and
      temporal scales as a result of climate change can pose a difficult challenge for
      environmental managers, especially when addressing thermal requirements for
      sensitive aquatic species. This study evaluates simulated changes to the thermal
      regime of three northern Wisconsin streams in response to a projected changing
      climate using a modeling framework and considers implications of thermal stresses
      to the fish community. The Stream Network Temperature Model (SNTEMP) was used in
      combination with a coupled groundwater and surface water flow model to assess
      forecasts in climate from six global circulation models and three emission
      scenarios. Model results suggest that annual average stream temperature will
      steadily increase approximately 1.1 to 3.2 degrees C (varying by stream) by the
      year 2100 with differences in magnitude between emission scenarios. Daily mean
      stream temperature during the months of July and August, a period when cold-water
      fish communities are most sensitive, showed excursions from optimal temperatures
      with increased frequency compared to current conditions. Projections of daily
      mean stream temperature, in some cases, were no longer in the range necessary to
      sustain a cold water fishery. 

PMID- 25828408
TI  - Forecasting of VOC emissions from traffic and industry using classification and
      regression multivariate methods.
AB  - In this study, advanced multivariate methods were applied for VOC source
      apportionment and subsequent short-term forecast of industrial- and vehicle
      exhaust-related contributions in Belgrade urban area (Serbia). The VOC
      concentrations were measured using PTR-MS, together with inorganic gaseous
      pollutants (NOx, NO, NO2, SO2, and CO), PM10, and meteorological parameters. US
      EPA Positive Matrix Factorization and Unmix receptor models were applied to the
      obtained dataset both resolving six source profiles. For the purpose of
      forecasting industrial- and vehicle exhaust-related source contributions,
      different multivariate methods were employed in two separate cases, relying on
      meteorological data, and on meteorological data and concentrations of inorganic
      gaseous pollutants, respectively. The results indicate that Boosted Decision
      Trees and Multi-Layer Perceptrons were the best performing methods. According to
      the results, forecasting accuracy was high (lowest relative error of only 6%), in
      particular when the forecast was based on both meteorological parameters and
      concentrations of inorganic gaseous pollutants. 

PMID- 25828409
TI  - Effects of rainfall patterns on water quality in a stratified reservoir subject
      to eutrophication: Implications for management.
AB  - The seasonal variation of hydrological conditions caused by shifting rainfall
      patterns observed in recent years has significant effects on water quality. High
      volume inflows following heavy rainfall events that significantly disturb
      stratification lead to increased dissolved oxygen (DO) at the bottom of the
      reservoir, inhibiting the release of nutrients from sediments and causing a rapid
      reduction of algal biomass in the reservoir. However, the duration and extent of
      these effects depend not only on the frequency and intensity of heavy rainfall
      events but also on the period of thermal stratification in the reservoir. The
      effects of heavy rainfall events on water quality during three typical
      stratification periods of the reservoir were systematically investigated using
      extensive field data. The continuous heavy rainfall that occurred in September
      2011 (stratification began to diminish) completely mixed the reservoir and
      produced a high concentration of DO along with a low phytoplankton concentration
      throughout the reservoir until stratification occurred the following year.
      Conversely, several days were required for anoxic conditions (in the hypolimnion)
      and cyanobacterial blooms to reappear after the storm runoff that occurred during
      the stable period of stratification (August 2012). In addition, the heavy
      rainfall that occurred in May 2013 accelerated the formation of an anoxic zone at
      the bottom of the reservoir and promoted cyanobacterial blooms due to the high
      nutrient input and the increased water temperature after the storm runoff ended.
      Water-lifting aerators (WLAs) were employed in the Shibianyu Reservoir to inhibit
      algal growth and to control the release of nutrients. Based on our field
      observations and theoretical analyses, optimized management strategies are
      recommended to improve water quality in the reservoir under different rainfall
      patterns at a reduced cost. 

PMID- 25828410
TI  - Effect of biochar on leaching of organic carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus from
      compost in bioretention systems.
AB  - Compost is used in bioretention systems to improve soil quality, water
      infiltration, and retention of contaminants. However, compost contains dissolved
      organic matter, nitrate, and phosphorus, all of which can leach out and
      potentially contaminate ground and surface waters. To reduce the leaching of
      nutrients and dissolved organic matter from compost, biochar may be mixed into
      the bioretention systems. Our objective was to test whether biochar and co
      composted biochar mixed into mature compost can reduce the leaching of organic
      carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. There was no significant difference between the
      effects of biochar and co-composted biochar amendments on nutrient leaching.
      Further, biochar amendments did not significantly reduce the leaching of
      dissolved organic carbon, nitrate, and phosphorus as compared to the compost only
      treatment. The compost-sand mix was the most effective in reducing nitrate and
      phosphorus leaching among the media. 

PMID- 25828411
TI  - Perchlorate in dust fall and indoor dust in Malta: An effect of fireworks.
AB  - We report on the presence of perchlorate in the settleable dust of Malta, a small
      central Mediterranean island. Both dust fall collected directly as it
      precipitated from atmosphere over a period of one month and deposited indoor dust
      from domestic residences were studied. Perchlorate was determined by ion
      chromatography of water extracts of the collected dusts. Dust fall was collected
      from 43 towns during 2011 to 2013 and indoor dust was sampled from homes in the
      same localities. Perchlorate was detected in 108 of 153 samples of dust fall
      (71%) and in 28 of 37 indoor dust samples (76%). Detectable perchlorate in dust
      fall ranged from 0.52MUgg(-1) to 561MUgg(-1) with a median value of 6.2MUgg(-1);
      in indoor dust, levels were from 0.79MUgg(-1) to 53MUgg(-1) with a median value
      of 7.8MUgg(-1), the highest recorded anywhere to date. Statistical analysis
      suggested that there was no significant difference in perchlorate content of
      indoor dust and dust fall. Perchlorate levels in dust fall escalate during the
      summer in response to numerous religious feasts celebrated with fireworks and
      perchlorate persists at low MUgg(-1) concentrations for several months beyond the
      summer festive period. In Malta, perchlorate derives exclusively from KClO4,
      imported for fireworks manufacture. Its residue in dust presents an exposure risk
      to the population, especially via ingestion by hand to mouth transfer. Our
      results suggest that wherever intensive burning of fireworks takes place, the
      environmental impact may be much longer lived than realised, mainly due to re
      suspension and deposition of contaminated settled dust in the urban environment. 

PMID- 25828412
TI  - Factors controlling accumulation of soil organic carbon along vegetation
      succession in a typical karst region in Southwest China.
AB  - Vegetation succession enhances the accumulation of carbon in the soil. However,
      little is known about the mechanisms underlying soil organic carbon (SOC)
      accumulation in different vegetation types in the karst region of Southwest
      China. The goal of this study was to identify and prioritize the effects of
      environmental parameters, including soil physico-chemical properties, microbial
      biomass, enzyme activities, and litter characteristics, on SOC accumulation along
      a vegetation succession sere (grassland, shrubland, secondary forest, and primary
      forest) in the karst landscape of Southwest China. Relationships between these
      parameters and SOC were evaluated by redundancy analysis. The results showed that
      SOC accumulation was significantly different among vegetation types (P<0.01) and
      increased with vegetation succession (from 29.10g.kg(-1) in grassland to
      73.92g.kg(-1) in primary forest). Soil biochemistry and physical characteristics
      significantly affected the accumulation of SOC. Soil microbial biomass showed a
      predominant effect on SOC in each of the four vegetation types. In addition, the
      soil physical property (especially the silt content) was another controlling
      factor in the early stages (grassland), and urease activity and saccharase
      activity were important controlling factors in the early-middle and middle-late
      stages, respectively. Litter characteristics only showed mild effects on SOC
      accumulation. Variation partitioning analysis showed that the contribution of
      sole main factors to SOC variation decreased, while the interaction effect among
      parameters increased along the succession gradient. 

PMID- 25828413
TI  - Pseudomonads biodegradation of aromatic compounds in oil sands process-affected
      water.
AB  - Aromatic naphthenic acids (NAs) have been shown to be more toxic than the
      classical NAs found in oil sands process-affected water (OSPW). To reduce this
      toxicity, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas putida were used to determine
      their ability to biodegrade aromatic compounds including treatments considering
      the impacts of external carbon and iron addition. Results showed that with added
      carbon P. fluorescens and P. putida have the capability of biodegrading these
      aromatics. In the presence of external carbon, gene expression of a functional
      PAH-ring hydroxylating dioxygenase (PAH-RHDalpha) was determined through reverse
      transcription real-time PCR, suggesting active degradation of OSPW aromatic
      compounds. Although no significant classical NAs removal was observed during this
      process, toxicity was reduced by 49.3% under optimal conditions. OSPW toxicity
      was eliminated with the combination of ozonation at a dose of 80 mg/L followed by
      biodegradation, indicating that it is a promising combined OSPW treatment
      approach for the safe discharge to the aquatic environment. 

PMID- 25828414
TI  - Prediction, risk and control of anti-influenza drugs in the Yodo River Basin,
      Japan during seasonal and pandemic influenza using the transmission model for
      infectious disease.
AB  - To reduce the risk of producing an anti-influenza drug-resistant virus from
      wildfowl, it is important to estimate the concentrations of anti-influenza drugs
      in river water during an influenza pandemic and to evaluate the concentrations
      that keep river basins safe. We first created a newly designed infectious disease
      transmission model based on the Susceptible-Infected-Recovered model. This model
      was then applied to replicate the transitional changes of three representative
      anti-influenza drugs, oseltamivir (OS), oseltamivir carboxylate (OC), and
      zanamivir (ZAN), in the urban area of the Yodo River system, which is one of the
      major basins in Japan with a population of 12 million; this region contains
      nearly 10% of the country's flu cases during the seasonal influenza outbreaks
      between 1999 and 2010. The results showed high correlations between the estimated
      number of influenza cases and the concentrations of the three investigated anti
      influenza drugs with the reported values. We then extended the application of the
      model to estimate the concentration level of these anti-influenza drugs during
      the several influenza pandemics. The maximum estimated concentrations for OS, OC,
      and ZAN were known to be 260-450ng/L, 1500-2600ng/L and 40-70ng/L, respectively,
      at the peak of the influenza pandemic. These results suggest that it is possible
      that a drug-resistant influenza virus can originate from wild mallard when there
      is a large-scale influenza pandemic. However, ozonation before discharge at
      sewage treatment plants is known to significantly reduce the release of such
      drugs into the aquatic environment to reduce the risk of a drug-resistant virus
      outbreak. It was also suggested that further environmental risk could be reduced
      by decreasing these concentrations further in river water. 

PMID- 25828415
TI  - Replicon typing of plasmids carrying blaCTX-M-15 among Enterobacteriaceae
      isolated at the environment, livestock and human interface.
AB  - One of the currently most important antibiotic resistance mechanisms in
      Enterobacteriaceae is based on the production of ESBL enzymes that inactivate
      beta-lactam antibiotics including cephalosporins and monobactams by hydrolyzing
      their beta-lactam ring. In humans, the most prevalent ESBL enzyme type is encoded
      by blaCTX-M-15. CTX-M-15 producing enterobacterial strains were also frequently
      isolated from environmental samples including surface water and freshwater fish.
      Plasmids, which can be grouped in different plasmid incompatibility types, play a
      key role in the horizontal spread of these multidrug resistance genes. The
      purpose of this study was to investigate the diversity of plasmids that carry
      blaCTX-M-15 genes among Enterobacteriaceae isolated at the environment, livestock
      and human interface. In total, 81 blaCTX-M-15-harboring isolates collected
      between 2009 and 2014 were tested for its ability to transfer blaCTX-M-15 by
      conjugation. These plasmids were further typed. Transfer of a single blaCTX-M-15
      harboring plasmid was observed in 32 (39.5%) of the isolates. The most frequent
      replicon types detected among these plasmids are IncF-type plasmids (n=12)
      (mostly multi replicon plasmids with a combination of following replicons:
      IncFII, IncFIA and IncFIB), followed by IncI1 (n=8), IncK (n=3) and IncR (n=1). A
      noticeable number of plasmids (n=8) could not be assigned to any of the tested
      replicon types. Knowledge about the plasmid types circulating in bacterial
      populations is indispensable for understanding epidemiological dynamics and for
      establishing intervention strategies to stop further dissemination of particular
      plasmids. 

PMID- 25828416
TI  - Elevated levels of perfluoroalkyl substances in estuarine sediments of
      Charleston, SC.
AB  - Urban areas are sources of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the environment,
      although little is known about specific point sources and distribution of PFASs.
      Sentinel species, like bottlenose dolphins, are important indicators of
      environmental perturbations. The high PFAS levels found in dolphins inhabiting
      Charleston, South Carolina prompted investigation of these chemicals in this
      area. This study provides further evidence on the extent of contamination and
      potential sources of PFASs. In this study, concentrations of 11 PFASs measured in
      estuarine sediments collected in 2012 from the Charleston Harbor and the Ashley
      and Cooper Rivers (n=36) in South Carolina revealed higher levels than those
      reported in any other U.S. urban areas. Detectable levels were found in all
      sample locations with mean total PFAS concentrations of 3.79ngg(-1) (range 0.22
      to 19.2ngg(-1) d.w.). Dominant compounds were perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)
      (mean 1.52ngg(-1); range 0.09-7.37ngg(-1) d.w.), followed by perfluorodecanoate
      (PFDA) (mean 0.83ngg(-1); range 0.06-4.76ngg(-1) d.w.) and perfluorooctanoate
      (PFOA) (mean 0.42ngg(-1); range 0.02-2.52ngg(-1) d.w.). PFOS levels in sediments
      at 19 of 36 sites (representing 52% of the study area) exceeded the published
      global median PFOS sediment concentration of 0.54ngg(-1). 

PMID- 25828418
TI  - Future proofing the NHS: the new care models.

PMID- 25828417
TI  - Occurrence of antibiotics in soils and manures from greenhouse vegetable
      production bases of Beijing, China and an associated risk assessment.
AB  - The occurrence of 15 antibiotics in soil and manure samples from 11 large-scale
      greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) bases in Beijing, China was investigated.
      Results showed that the greenhouse soils were ubiquitously contaminated with
      antibiotics, and that antibiotic concentrations were significantly higher in
      greenhouses than in open field soils. The mean concentrations of four antibiotic
      classes decreased in the following order: tetracyclines (102MUg/kg)>quinolones
      (86MUg/kg)>sulfonamides (1.1MUg/kg)>macrolides (0.62MUg/kg). This investigation
      also indicated that fertilization with manure and especially animal feces might
      be the primary source of antibiotics. A risk assessment based on the calculated
      risk quotients (RQs) demonstrated that oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline,
      norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin could pose a high risk to soil
      organisms. These results suggested that the ecological effects of antibiotic
      contamination in GVP bases and their potential adverse risks on human health need
      to be given special attention. 

PMID- 25828419
TI  - Proton pump inhibitors utilisation in older people in New Zealand from 2005 to
      2013.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prescriptions for proton pump inhibitors (PPI) to treat acid
      related disorders continue to rise internationally and in New Zealand. Concerns
      have been raised regarding its widespread use, costs and potential adverse
      effects in older people. AIMS: This study aimed to characterise the utilisation
      of PPI by older people (aged 65 years and older) in New Zealand from 2005 to
      2013. METHODS: Repeated cross-sectional analysis of population-level dispensing
      data was conducted from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2013. Dispensing data for
      all PPI prescriptions from 2005 to 2013 were obtained from the Ministry of
      Health, New Zealand. Utilisation was measured in defined daily doses (DDD) per
      1000 older people per day using the World Health Organization Collaborating
      Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology anatomic, therapeutic and chemical
      classification system. Utilisation was standardised by sex, age, ethnicity and
      district health board. RESULTS: Overall PPI utilisation showed a 26.7% increase
      from 2005 to 2013, from 273.41 to 346.53 DDD/1000/day. The greatest utilisation
      was observed in individuals aged between 80 and 84 years. Middle Eastern/Latin
      American/African utilised more PPI compared with other ethnic groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: Utilisation of PPI among older people in New Zealand increased by a
      fifth from 2005 to 2013. Given the concerns surrounding the long-term PPI use in
      older people, the appropriateness of the increased utilisation needs to be
      continuously re-evaluated by prescribers and health policy makers.

PMID- 25828420
TI  - Superior target volume and organ stability with the use of endorectal balloons in
      post-prostatectomy radiotherapy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: We investigated the endorectal balloon (ERB) as a method to improve
      post-prostatectomy clinical target volume (CTV) stability. METHODS: Seventy cone
      beam CT (CBCT) obtained during radiotherapy treatment from seven patients treated
      with an ERB and 68 CBCT from seven patients treated without an ERB were contoured
      according to published guidelines. CTV was subdivided into superior and inferior
      CTV; whole rectal volume was subdivided into superior and inferior rectum and
      anal volume. Concordance index (CI) of CBCT treatment volumes compared with
      planning volumes was calculated and displacements were measured. RESULTS: Whole
      rectal, superior and inferior rectum and anal CI were significantly improved with
      the ERB by 21%, 17%, 26% and 17% respectively (P < 0.0001). Overall CTV and
      inferior CTV CI was improved by 4% with the ERB (overall CTV P = 0.021; Inferior
      CTV P < 0.0001). In the ERB cohort, average displacement for superior CTV was
      0.37 cm anterior-posterior (AP) and 0.10 cm left-right (LR). Average standard
      deviation was 0.27 cm AP and 0.11 cm LR. Inferior CTV average displacement was
      0.11 cm AP and 0.02 cm LR. Average standard deviation was 0.11 cm AP and 0.02 cm
      LR. In the non-ERB cohort, average displacement for superior CTV was 0.43 cm AP
      and 0.10 mm left-right (LR). Average standard deviation was 0.45 cm AP and 0.13
      cm LR. Inferior CTV average displacement was 0.16 cm AP and 0.01 cm LR. Average
      standard deviation was 0.17 cm AP and 0.03 cm LR. There was no statistically
      significant impact of bladder filling on CTV CI in ERB patients (P = 0.551) as
      opposed to non-ERB patients (P = 0.0421). CONCLUSION: ERBs in the post
      prostatectomy setting resulted in increased rectal and CTV stability while
      negating the effects of bladder filling on CTV stability.

PMID- 25828421
TI  - Support Desired by Women Following Termination of Pregnancy for a Fetal Anomaly.
AB  - With the rapidly evolving field of prenatal testing, there is a growing need to
      provide support for women pursuing termination of pregnancy following the
      discovery of a fetal anomaly. Previous studies have documented that women in this
      situation often feel unsupported, but the type of resources desired by this
      population remains undetermined. We studied the awareness and utilization of
      support resources in 51 women at the time of the procedure, at 6 weeks, and at 3
      months following the event. Though largely knowledgeable of existing resources at
      the time of the procedure, only 50 % admitted contemplating their individualized
      need for support. Most expected to rely on the support of family and friends.
      Additionally, 50 % expressed the desire to commemorate the pregnancy, though none
      wanted direct contact with their healthcare provider(s). Responses from the 6
      weeks and 3 months assessments were consistent with previous literature as many
      women indicated not coping as expected and were unprepared for the psychological
      consequences following the procedure. Our findings indicate that women in these
      situations may not realize what their long-term support needs will be. They
      further indicate that guidelines for routine follow-up care should be established
      among healthcare providers that respect this population's initial desires to
      avoid reminders of the pregnancy and promote a flexible timeframe for support
      uptake. Additional support resources that promote flexible uptake as well as meet
      the desires of anonymity and ease of access need to be developed for this
      population.

PMID- 25828423
TI  - The role of phonology, morphology, and orthography in English and Russian
      spelling.
AB  - The purpose of the present study was to explore the role of phonology, morphology
      and orthography in predicting the spelling performance in English-speaking and
      Russian-speaking children. Tests that tap phonology, morphology and orthography
      were administered to students in grades 4 and 6 in the USA and Russia. Multiple
      regression analyses showed that phonology and morphology contributed more for
      spelling of English words while orthography and morphology contributed more to
      the spelling of Russian words. The results are explained in terms of the
      orthographic nature of English and Russian languages as well as the instructional
      practices and the importance of morphology in spelling in both the languages.

PMID- 25828422
TI  - Uptake of Genetic Counseling, Knowledge of Bleeding risks and Psychosocial Impact
      in a South African Cohort of Female Relatives of People with Hemophilia.
AB  - In excess of 200 people with hemophilia (PWH) and their families have received
      genetic counseling (GC) at the Hemophilia Comprehensive Care Centre at Charlotte
      Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. However, very few of their at-risk female
      relatives have attended GC to discuss their reproductive risks and options, or
      their potential bleeding risks. Limited research has been conducted
      internationally on factors influencing uptake of GC and testing amongst female
      relatives of PWH. This prospective study aimed to explore the factors that
      influence the uptake of GC and testing by female relatives of PWH. An open-ended
      semi-structured interview schedule was developed. Participants included female
      relatives of PWH who at least had a family member who had received GC. Seventeen
      participants were interviewed; 7 who had GC previously and 10 who had not. All
      participants who had previously received GC found the service helpful and were
      mothers referred because their sons had hemophilia. Of those who had not had GC,
      possible deterrents included: being unaware of GC service, focus in clinic on PWH
      and not potential carriers, misunderstood risks related to hemophilia and carrier
      status, fear of finding out carrier status, and non-disclosure in families. Most
      participants were unaware of potential bleeding risks for carriers. The
      information will be used to provide a better service to female relatives of PWH
      with a goal being to set up a dedicated hemophilia carrier clinic.

PMID- 25828424
TI  - Experimentally induced lameness in turkeys inoculated with a newly emergent
      turkey reovirus.
AB  - Newly emergent turkey arthritis reoviruses (TARVs) have been isolated from cases
      of lameness in male turkeys over 10 weeks of age. In a previous study,
      experimental inoculation of TARV in one-week-old turkey poults produced
      lymphocytic tenosynovitis at four weeks post inoculation but without causing
      clinical lameness. This study was undertaken to determine if TARV infection at an
      early age can lead to clinical lameness in birds as they age. One-week-old male
      turkeys were inoculated orally with a TARV (strain TARV-O'Neil) and monitored for
      the development of gait defects until 16 weeks of age. At 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks
      of age, a subset of birds was euthanized followed by the collection of
      gastrocnemius tendon, digital flexor tendon, and intestines for virus detection
      by rRT-PCR and for histologic inflammation scoring. Clinical lameness was first
      displayed in TARV-infected turkeys at 8 weeks of age and ruptured gastrocnemius
      tendons with progressive lameness were also seen at 12-16 weeks of age. The virus
      was detected in gastrocnemius tendon of 4- 8- and 12-week-old turkeys but not in
      16-week-old turkeys. Histologic inflammation scores of tendons at each of the
      four time points were significantly higher in the virus-inoculated group than in
      the control group (p < 0.01). Lesions began as lymphocytic tenosynovitis with
      mild synoviocyte hyperplasia at four weeks of age and progressed to fibrosis as
      the birds aged. These results demonstrate the potential of TARV to infect young
      turkeys and to produce subclinical tenosynovitis that becomes clinically
      demonstrable as the turkeys age. 

PMID- 25828425
TI  - Eyelid myokymia in patients with migraine taking topiramate.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Although ocular side effects of topiramate are common,
      neuroophthalmologic manifestations such as blepharospasm, myokymia and oculogyric
      crisis are scarcely reported. METHODS: We present a serie of 8 patients with
      migraine who developed eyelid myokymia after treatment with topiramate. We
      reviewed all patients with migraine treated with topiramate attending the
      headache outpatient clinic of our hospital from January 2008 to December 2012.
      RESULTS: During the study period, a total of 140 patients with migraine were
      treated with topiramate in our headache clinic. Eight presented eyelid myokymia
      after beginning treatment with topiramate (5,7%). Topiramate was stopped and
      myokymia disappeared in all patients, it was prescribed again and eyelid myokymia
      reappeared with their previous characteristics in all patients. CONCLUSIONS:
      Eyelid myokymia is an underreported side-effect of topiramate in patients with
      migraine, of unknown cause, so that in future, further studies are need to
      examine whether patients with migraine are predisposed or not to this adverse
      effect.

PMID- 25828426
TI  - The july effect: an analysis of never events in the nationwide inpatient sample.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prior studies examining the impact of the "July effect" on in
      hospital mortality rates have generated variable results. In 2008, the Centers
      for Medicare & Medicaid Services published a series of high-cost, high-volume,
      nonreimbursable hospital-acquired complications (HACs). These events were
      believed to be preventable and indicate deficiencies in healthcare delivery.
      OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to investigate the impact of July admissions on
      patient safety in a national sample using the HACs as a metric.
      DESIGN/SETTING/PATIENTS: Discharge data were collected from all admissions
      recorded in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database from 2008 to 2011. HAC
      incidence was evaluated as a function of admission month, adjusting for
      demographic and hospital factors in multivariable analysis. MEASURES: The outcome
      measures were HAC occurrence, prolonged length of stay (LOS), and higher
      inpatient costs. RESULTS: A total of 143,019,381 inpatient admissions were
      recorded, with an overall HAC occurrence of 4.7%. July admissions accounted for
      7.6% of the total number of inpatient admissions. July admissions experienced a
      6% increase in likelihood of HAC occurrence (odds ratio = 1.06, 95% confidence
      interval: 1.06-1.07, P < 0.001) when compared to those admitted during all other
      months. Patients with HAC occurrence had almost 2 times increased likelihood of
      prolonged LOS (P < 0.001) and higher inpatient costs (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS:
      July admissions are associated with increased likelihood of HAC occurrence. This
      trend may represent breakdowns in organization structure distinct from
      traditional quality measures, requiring novel transition protocols dedicated to
      improving HACs.

PMID- 25828427
TI  - The Effectiveness of 1 Hz rTMS Over the Primary Motor Area of the Unaffected
      Hemisphere to Improve Hand Function After Stroke Depends on Hemispheric
      Dominance.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Inhibition of motor cortex excitability of the contralesional
      hemisphere may improve dexterity of the affected hand after stroke. METHODS: 40
      patients (17 dominant hemispheric stroke, 23 non-dominant hemispheric stroke)
      with a mild to moderate upper limb motor impairment were enrolled in a double
      blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with two parallel-groups. Both groups
      received 15 daily sessions of motor training preceded by either 1 Hz rTMS or sham
      rTMS. Behavioral and neurophysiological evaluations were performed at baseline,
      after the first week and after the third week of treatment, and after a 6 months
      follow-up. RESULTS: In both groups motor function of the affected hand improved
      significantly. Patients with stroke of the non-dominant hemisphere made a similar
      improvement, regardless of whether the motor training was preceded by sham or 1
      Hz rTMS. Patients with stroke of the dominant hemisphere had a less favorable
      improvement than those with stroke of the non-dominant hemisphere after motor
      training preceded by sham rTMS. However, when 1 Hz rTMS preceded the motor
      training, patients with stroke of the dominant hemisphere made a similar
      improvement as those with stroke of the non-dominant hemisphere. INTERPRETATION:
      Motor recovery of the affected upper limb after stroke is determined by dominance
      of the affected hemisphere. Stroke of the dominant hemisphere is associated with
      per se poorer improvement of the affected hand. 1 Hz rTMS over the contralesional
      M1 significantly improves dexterity of the affected hand in patients with stroke
      of the dominant hemisphere, but not in those with stroke of the non-dominant
      hemisphere.

PMID- 25828428
TI  - Right intralobar sequestration with arterial supply from left gastric artery.

PMID- 25828429
TI  - Endobronchial lipoma mimicking bronchial carcinoid tumour.

PMID- 25828430
TI  - Improved embryonic cryosurvival observed after in vitro supplementation with
      conjugated linoleic acid is related to changes in the membrane lipid profile.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of supplementing serum
      containing media with a mixture of cis- and trans-9,11- and -10,12-conjugated
      isomers of linoleic acid (CLA) during different steps of the in vitro production
      (IVM, IVC, or IVM + IVC) of bovine embryos on their embryonic development,
      cryotolerance, and lipid profile. To evaluate the impact of the CLA on membrane
      lipids, such as phosphatidylcholine (PC) and sphingomyelin (SM), the embryos'
      lipid profiles were obtained using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization
      mass spectrometry. The cleavage rates (78.6%-84.8%) and blastocyst development
      (44.8%-51.2%) remained unaltered. The postthawing reexpansion rates were higher
      (P < 0.05) when the CLA was added to the IVM medium (82.6%) or to the IVM + IVC
      medium (83.8%) than the control (69.3%) or IVC medium (63.0%). Changes in the
      blastocysts' lipid profile occurred when supplementation was restricted to the
      IVM or IVC medium. However, the most prominent effects of the CLA on the
      embryonic PC and SM profiles were observed when the supplement was added to IVM +
      IVC media, which was an increase in the level of highly unsaturated PCs
      containing 36 or 38 carbons, which are likely to contain CLA residues. These
      results showed that the molecular mechanism resulting in the improved
      cryosurvival, observed with CLA supplementation during bovine embryonic in vitro
      production, was related to the composition of structural lipids of cellular
      membranes and is dependent on the treatment length. Monitoring the lipid profile
      of embryonic membranes may improve the CLA supplementation strategy and
      facilitate the development of new IVC systems to improve the cryopreservation of
      bovine embryos and those of other domestic species.

PMID- 25828431
TI  - Mesoporous metal-organic frameworks with size-, shape-, and space-distribution
      controlled pore structure.

PMID- 25828432
TI  - The structural and mechanical properties of the Achilles tendon 2 years after
      surgical repair.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute ruptures of the Achilles tendon affect the tendon's structural
      and mechanical properties. The long-term effects of surgical repair on these
      properties remain unclear. PURPOSE: To evaluate effects of early mobilization
      versus traditional immobilization rehabilitation programs 2 years after surgical
      Achilles tendon repair, by comparing force-elongation and stress-strain
      relationships of the injured tendon to those of the uninjured tendon. METHODS: A
      group of males with previous Achilles tendon rupture (n=18) and a group of
      healthy male controls (n=9) participated. Achilles tendon rupture group consisted
      of patients that had received early mobilization (n=9) and patients that had
      received traditional immobilization with a plaster cast (n=9). Comparisons of
      tendon structural and mechanical properties were made between Achilles tendon
      rupture and healthy control groups, and between the uninjured and injured sides
      of the two rehabilitation groups in Achilles tendon rupture group. Ultrasound was
      used to determine bilaterally tendon cross-sectional area, tendon resting length,
      and tendon elongation as a function of torque during maximal voluntary plantar
      flexion. From these data, Achilles tendon force-elongation and stress-strain
      relationships were determined. FINDINGS: The Achilles tendon rupture group
      uninjured side was not different from healthy control group. Structural and
      mechanical parameters of the injured side were not different between the Achilles
      tendon rupture early mobilization and the immobilization groups. Compared to the
      uninjured side, the injured side showed a reduction in stress at maximal
      voluntary force, in Young's modulus and in stiffness. INTERPRETATION: Two years
      post-surgical repair, the Achilles tendon mechanical properties had not returned
      to the uninjured contralateral tendon values.

PMID- 25828433
TI  - Effect of posterior cruciate ligament rupture on the radial displacement of
      lateral meniscus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The relationship between lateral meniscus tear and posterior cruciate
      ligament injury is not well understood. The present study aims to investigate and
      assess the effect of posterior cruciate ligament rupture on lateral meniscus
      radial displacement at different flexion angles under static loading conditions.
      METHODS: Twelve fresh human cadaveric knee specimens were divided into four
      groups such as posterior cruciate ligament intact, anterolateral band rupture,
      posteromedial band rupture and posterior cruciate ligament complete rupture
      groups, according to the purpose and order of testing. Radial displacement of
      lateral meniscus was measured under different loads (200-1000N) at 0 degrees , 30
      degrees , 60 degrees , and 90 degrees  of knee flexion. FINDINGS: Compared with
      posterior cruciate ligament intact group, the displacement values of lateral
      meniscus in anterolateral band rupture group increased at 0 degrees  flexion with
      600N, 800N, and 1000N and at 30 degrees , 60 degrees  and 90 degrees  flexion
      under all loading conditions. Posteromedial band rupture group exhibited higher
      displacement at 0 degrees  flexion under all loading conditions, at 30 degrees 
      and 60 degrees  flexion with 600, 800N and 1000N, and at 90 degrees  flexion with
      400N, 600N, 800N, and 1000N than the posterior cruciate ligament intact group.
      The posterior cruciate ligament complete rupture group had a higher displacement
      value of lateral medial meniscus at 0 degrees , 30 degrees , 60 degrees  and 90
      degrees  flexion under all loading conditions, as compared to the posterior
      cruciate ligament intact group. INTERPRETATION: The study concludes that partial
      and complete rupture of the posterior cruciate ligament can trigger the increase
      of radial displacement on lateral meniscus.

PMID- 25828434
TI  - The effect of water chemistry on homoaggregations of various nanoparticles:
      specific role of Cl- ions.
AB  - Colloidal behavior of various nanoparticles (NPs) could be quite different under
      the influence of complicated water chemistry. Homoaggregations of four types of
      nanoparticles (NPs) were investigated with a focus on the effects of electrolyte
      ions, pH, and natural organic matter (NOM). Results show that critical
      coagulation concentrations (CCCs) of NaCl and CaCl2 for anatase TiO2, rutile
      TiO2, or CeO2 NPs were all inversely proportional to the valence of cations,
      following the Schulze-Hardy Rule, and homoaggregations of the three NPs were
      similarly inhibited by the presence of NOM within pH 3-9. Although the
      homoaggregation of Ag NPs was also increased as the concentration or valence of
      cations increased, the relationship between CCC and valence of the cations was
      far away from the Schulze-Hardy Rule; moreover, NOM only slightly increased CCC
      of CaCl2 and surprisingly decreased CCC of NaCl for Ag NPs. Excessively-adsorbed
      Cl(-) on the formed Ag-AgCl colloidal nucleus was detected, which could increase
      the electronegativity of Ag NPs and thus limit the aggregation effect of
      chlorides and the dispersion effect of NOM as well. These results are expected to
      increase our knowledge on the colloidal behavior and fate of NPs in aquatic
      environments. 

PMID- 25828435
TI  - Dynamics of double emulsion break-up in three phase glass capillary microfluidic
      devices.
AB  - Pinch-off of a compound jet in 3D glass capillary microfluidic device, which
      combines co-flowing and countercurrent flow focusing geometries, was investigated
      using an incompressible three-phase axisymmetric Volume of Fluid-Continuum
      Surface Force (VOF-CSF) numerical model. The model showed good agreement with the
      experimental drop generation and was capable of predicting formation of
      core/shell droplets in dripping, narrowing jetting and widening jetting regimes.
      In dripping and widening jetting regimes, the presence of a vortex flow around
      the upstream end of the necking thread facilitates the jet break-up. No vortex
      flow was observed in narrowing jetting regime and pinch-off occurred due to
      higher velocity at the downstream end of the coaxial thread compared to that at
      the upstream end. In all regimes, the inner jet ruptured before the outer jet,
      preventing a leakage of the inner drop into the outer fluid. The necking region
      moves at the maximum speed in the narrowing jetting regime, due to the highest
      level of shear at the outer surface of the thread. However, in widening jetting
      regime, the neck travels the longest distance downstream before it breaks. 

PMID- 25828436
TI  - Characterization of gold nanoparticles with different hydrophilic coatings via
      capillary electrophoresis and Taylor dispersion analysis. Part I: determination
      of the zeta potential employing a modified analytic approximation.
AB  - Taking gold nanoparticles with different hydrophilic coatings as an example, it
      is investigated whether capillary electrophoresis in combination with Taylor
      dispersion analysis allows for the precise determination of mean electrophoretic
      mobilities, electrophoretic mobility distributions, and zeta potentials in a
      matrix of exactly known composition and the calibration-free determination of
      number-weighted mean hydrodynamic radii. Our experimental data confirm that the
      calculation of the zeta potential for colloidal nanoparticles with zeta>25 mV
      requires to take the relaxation effect into account. Because of the requirement
      to avoid particle-wall interactions, a solution of disodiumtetraborate
      decahydrate (borax) in deionized water had been selected as suitable electrolyte.
      Measurements of the electrophoretic mobility at different ionic strength and
      application of the analytic approximation developed by Ohshima show that in the
      present case of a buffered solution with a weak electrolyte co-ion and a strong
      electrolyte counterion, the effective ionic drag coefficient should be
      approximated with the ionic drag coefficient of the counterion. The obtained
      results are in good agreement with theoretical expectations regarding the
      dependence of the zeta potential and the electrokinetic surface charge density on
      the ionic strength. We also show that Taylor dispersion analysis (besides
      estimation of the number-weighted mean hydrodynamic radius) provides additional
      information on the type and width of the number-weighted particle distribution.

PMID- 25828438
TI  - Thermoresponsive Properties of PNIPAM-Based Hydrogels: Effect of Molecular
      Architecture and Embedded Gold Nanoparticles.
AB  - Thermoresponsive hydrogels were successfully prepared from poly(N
      isopropylacrylamide)-based polymers with different architectures (linear,
      branched, or hyperbranched). The macromolecular architectures strongly influence
      the internal structure of the hydrogels, therefore modulating their
      thermoresponsive and rheological properties. These hydrogels were used for the in
      situ synthesis of gold nanoparticles. Significant changes in hydrogel
      microstructures and in average pore size due to the presence of gold
      nanoparticles were observed. Additionally, their presence significantly increases
      both the mechanical strength and the toughness of the hydrogel networks. 

PMID- 25828439
TI  - Welcome to the first issue of Public Health Research & Practice.

PMID- 25828437
TI  - Flaviviral NS4b, chameleon and jack-in-the-box roles in viral replication and
      pathogenesis, and a molecular target for antiviral intervention.
AB  - Dengue virus and other flaviviruses such as the yellow fever, West Nile, and
      Japanese encephalitis viruses are emerging vector-borne human pathogens that
      affect annually more than 100 million individuals and that may cause debilitating
      and potentially fatal hemorrhagic and encephalitic diseases. Currently, there are
      no specific antiviral drugs for the treatment of flavivirus-associated disease. A
      better understanding of the flavivirus-host interactions during the different
      events of the flaviviral life cycle may be essential when developing novel
      antiviral strategies. The flaviviral non-structural protein 4b (NS4b) appears to
      play an important role in flaviviral replication by facilitating the formation of
      the viral replication complexes and in counteracting innate immune responses such
      as the following: (i) type I IFN signaling; (ii) RNA interference; (iii)
      formation of stress granules; and (iv) the unfolded protein response.
      Intriguingly, NS4b has recently been shown to constitute an excellent target for
      the selective inhibition of flavivirus replication. We here review the current
      knowledge on NS4b.

PMID- 25828440
TI  - The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre: systems thinking to prevent
      lifestyle-related chronic illness.
AB  - Chronic diseases are the major cause of death in Australia and the biggest
      contributor to premature death and disability. Although prevention of chronic
      disease can be effective and cost-effective, it has proven difficult to
      systematically implement interventions that target important lifestyle-related
      risk factors for chronic disease such as poor nutrition, physical inactivity and
      harmful alcohol use. Prevention efforts targeting these lifestyle-related risk
      factors have had mixed success due to issues around designing and implementing
      effective interventions that address the complexity of risk factors, and
      incorporating evidence and implementing interventions at a scale, duration,
      intensity and quality required to achieve population effects. There is increasing
      recognition that multilevel, multisector approaches are required for the
      effective and sustained prevention of complex chronic disease. The Australian
      Prevention Partnership Centre, one of two National Health and Medical Research
      Council Partnership Centres established in 2013, is researching and developing
      systems perspectives to prevent lifestyle-related chronic disease in Australia.
      The Centre's collaborative approach is providing opportunities for researchers to
      work with policy makers and practitioners to develop research questions, conduct
      research, and analyse, interpret and disseminate the findings. As such, it is the
      model of interaction that is being tested as much as the specific projects. With
      its funding partners, the Centre has developed plans for more than 30 projects.
      It has also established four capacity units that will improve the gathering,
      sharing and use of evidence to build a prevention system in Australia. The Centre
      is exploring new ways to advance prevention by bringing together researchers,
      policy makers and practitioners to determine the information and actions needed
      for an effective prevention system for Australia.

PMID- 25828441
TI  - Planning and evaluating population interventions to reduce noncommunicable
      disease risk - reconciling complexity and scientific rigour?
AB  - Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading global causes of morbidity and
      mortality. It is important to develop and deliver effective NCD prevention
      programs, but these have been difficult to evaluate. Technical approaches differ,
      with academic researchers, practitioners and policy makers each bringing
      different perspectives and priorities to the task of NCD program evaluation.
      Epidemiologically defined hierarchies of research evidence give preference to
      evaluation methods that are often unsuitable for assessing complex NCD prevention
      interventions. This may lead to interventions that provide the 'right answer to
      the wrong question', or to evaluation data that are insufficient to inform NCD
      prevention efforts. This paper recommends a set of standardised stages in the
      planning, development and evaluation of NCD prevention programs, including the
      use of logic models, the expanded use of process evaluation to better understand
      and record the context for implementation, and the use of appropriate research
      designs for assessing the impact of both subcomponents and the whole program. NCD
      prevention agencies and academic stakeholders need to recognise the limitations
      of established evaluation designs and support greater flexibility in the
      application of evaluation methods that are fit for purpose in describing the
      stages in NCD programs. This involves assessing policy development and
      implementation, measuring intermediate indicators, using mixed methods of
      evaluation, and employing population surveillance systems to assess long-term
      outcomes. 

PMID- 25828442
TI  - Putting the genie back in the bottle: protecting children from lead exposure in
      the 21st century. A report from the field.
AB  - This paper highlights progress on an important public health issue which, despite
      significant progress, has now stalled and is in need of renewed investment. The
      objective is to describe the effectiveness of efforts to reduce childhood lead
      exposure in Broken Hill - a historic mining town in western NSW - and what is
      required to further reduce exposure. Lead has no known function in the human
      body, and emerging evidence suggests that no level of exposure is without health
      effects. A 1991 blood lead survey of 1-4-year-old children identified lead
      exposure as a significant public health issue in Broken Hill. A major NSW
      Government-funded program to reduce lead exposure began in 1994, and, by 2001,
      blood lead levels had reduced by two-thirds. The program was then integrated into
      other services and funding significantly reduced; blood lead levels have remained
      relatively unchanged since 2005. At present, 53% of children in Broken Hill have
      blood lead levels above the recently released National Health and Medical
      Research Council draft reference value for lead. Participation in annual blood
      lead screening declined from 52% to 38% after project funding decreased, but
      recent changes have doubled participation rates. A comprehensive abatement
      program is required to further reduce lead exposure in this community, and
      further research is required into how to maintain low blood lead levels and how
      best to engage the community about reducing individual lead risks. Findings from
      such studies would be relevant to the broader Australian community.

PMID- 25828443
TI  - Group model building: a participatory approach to understanding and acting on
      systems.
AB  - With mounting appreciation of the complexity of chronic disease, there is a
      growing need to understand the systemic causes of current health trends. This
      will support the development of a prevention system and the use of systems
      thinking to achieve better, more equitable and more sustainable health outcomes.
      With new language and a need to change our thinking, the push towards systems
      practice in preventive health is challenging, and calls for a method to support
      its application. Group model building (GMB) is a participatory approach that is
      widely used to build the capacity of practitioners to think in a systems way.
      However, it is a resource-intensive approach that requires high-level buy-in and
      the investment of time. We discuss the evidence, including a systematic review of
      the literature examining the effectiveness of GMB approaches across a wide range
      of contexts. The results of the review are generally positive and suggest that
      GMB improves problem understanding, increases engagement in systems thinking,
      builds confidence in the use of systems ideas and develops consensus for action
      among diverse stakeholders. 

PMID- 25828444
TI  - Reconnecting urban planning with health: a protocol for the development and
      validation of national liveability indicators associated with noncommunicable
      disease risk behaviours and health outcomes.
AB  - AIM: Liveable communities create the conditions to optimise health and wellbeing
      outcomes in residents by influencing various social determinants of health - for
      example, neighbourhood walkability and access to public transport, public open
      space, local amenities, and social and community facilities. This study will
      develop national liveability indicators that are (a) aligned with state and
      federal urban policy, (b) developed using national data (where available), (c)
      standard and consistent over time, (d) suitable for monitoring progress towards
      creating more liveable, equitable and sustainable communities, (e) validated
      against selected noncommunicable disease risk behaviours and/or health outcomes,
      and (f) practical for measuring local, national and federal built environment
      interventions. STUDY TYPE: Protocol. METHOD: Over two years, the National
      Liveability Study, funded through The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre
      (TAPPC), will develop and validate a national set of spatially derived built
      environment liveability indicators related to noncommunicable disease risk
      behaviours and/or health outcomes, informed by a review of relevant policies in
      selected Australian state and territory governments. To create national
      indicators, we will compare measures developed using national data with finer
      grained state-level data, which have been validated against a range of outcomes.
      Finally, we will explore the creation of a national database of built environment
      spatial indicators. RESULTS: A national advisory group comprising stakeholders in
      state and federal government, federal nongovernment organisations and state-based
      technical working groups located in the ACT, Victoria, NSW, Queensland and WA has
      been established; a policy analysis is under way and work programs are being
      prepared. CONCLUSION: This project seeks to build the capacity for built
      environment and health systems research by developing national indicators to
      monitor progress towards creating healthy and liveable communities. This ambition
      requires multisector engagement and an interdisciplinary research team.

PMID- 25828445
TI  - What are the key organisational capabilities that facilitate research use in
      public health policy?
AB  - AIM: Literature about research use suggests that certain characteristics or
      capabilities may make policy agencies more evidence attuned. This study sought to
      determine policy makers' perceptions of a suite of organisational capabilities
      identified from the literature as potentially facilitating research uptake in
      policy decision making. METHOD: A literature scan identified eight key
      organisational capabilities that support research use in policy making. To
      determine whether these capabilities were relevant, practical and applicable in
      real world policy settings, nine Australian health policy makers were consulted
      in September 2011. We used an open-ended questionnaire asking what facilitates
      the use of research in policy and program decision making, followed by specific
      questions rating the proposed capabilities. Interviews were transcribed and the
      content analysed. RESULTS: There was general agreement that the capabilities
      identified from the literature were relevant to real world contexts. However,
      interviewees varied in whether they could provide examples of experiences with
      the capabilities, how essential they considered the different capabilities to be
      and how difficult they considered the capabilities were to achieve. CONCLUSION:
      Efforts to improve the use of research in policy decision making are likely to
      benefit from targeting multiple organisational capabilities, including staff
      skills and competence, tools such as templates and checklists to aid evidence use
      and leadership support for the use of research in policy development. However,
      such efforts should be guided by an understanding of how policy agencies use
      evidence and how they view their roles, and external factors such as resource
      constraints and availability of appropriate research.

PMID- 25828446
TI  - Approaches to maximising the accuracy of anthropometric data on children: review
      and empirical evaluation using the Australian Longitudinal Study of Indigenous
      Children.
AB  - AIM: Despite the burgeoning research interest in weight status, in parallel with
      the increase in obesity worldwide, research describing methods to optimise the
      validity and accuracy of measured anthropometric data is lacking. Even when 'gold
      standard' methods are employed, no data are 100% accurate, yet the accuracy of
      anthropometric data is critical to produce robust and interpretable findings. To
      date, described methods for identifying data that are likely to be inaccurate
      seem to be ad hoc or lacking in clear justification. METHODS: This paper reviews
      approaches to evaluating the accuracy of cross-sectional and longitudinal data on
      height and weight in children, focusing on recommendations from the World Health
      Organization (WHO). This review, together with expert consultation, informed the
      development of a method for processing and verifying longitudinal anthropometric
      measurements of children. This approach was then applied to data from the
      Australian Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children. RESULTS: The review
      identified the need to assess the likely plausibility of data by (a) examining
      deviation from the WHO reference population by calculating age- and sex-adjusted
      height, weight and body mass index z-scores, and (b) examining changes in height
      and weight in individuals over time. The method developed identified extreme
      measurements and implausible intraindividual trajectories. It provides evidence
      based criteria for the exclusion of data points that are most likely to be
      affected by measurement error. CONCLUSIONS: This paper presents a probabilistic
      approach to identifying anthropometric measurements that are likely to be
      implausible. This systematic, practical method is intended to be reproducible in
      other settings, including for validating large databases.

PMID- 25828447
TI  - Applying a performance monitoring framework to increase reach and adoption of
      children's healthy eating and physical activity programs.
AB  - The allocation of a significant amount of new funding for health promotion in
      Australia through the National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health (2009
      14) created a unique opportunity to implement a comprehensive approach to the
      prevention of chronic diseases and demonstrate significant health improvements.
      Building on existing health promotion infrastructure in Local Health Districts,
      the NSW Ministry of Health adopted a scaled-up state-wide capacity-building
      model, designed to alter policies and practices in key children's settings to
      increase healthy eating and physical activity among children. NSW also introduced
      a performance monitoring framework to track implementation and impacts. This
      paper describes the model that NSW developed for monitoring state-wide programs
      in the Children's Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Program and presents the
      model's application to early childhood education and care and primary school
      settings, including current results. This approach to monitoring the scaling up
      of program implementation at the state-wide level has potential for more
      widespread application in other policy areas in NSW. 

PMID- 25828448
TI  - An update on the epidemiology and key issues associated with the diagnosis and
      management of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease cases in NSW.
AB  - Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a fatal disease caused by the accumulation of
      abnormal prion proteins in neurological tissues. Routine notification data reveal
      that NSW has similar rates of CJD to other states and territories in Australia;
      however, it is likely that there is significant under-ascertainment of cases. It
      is important that clinicians and public health staff remain vigilant for the
      clinical signs of CJD and understand the limitations of the different diagnostic
      tests available. This paper provides a brief overview of the epidemiology of CJD
      in NSW, as well as current issues in the diagnosis and public health
      investigation of CJD.

PMID- 25828449
TI  - Alcohol summit calls for urgent action.

PMID- 25828450
TI  - Employees support incentives to cycle to work.

PMID- 25828451
TI  - Soda tax win brings hope to diabesity campaigners.

PMID- 25828452
TI  - Highly selective fluorescence imaging of zinc distribution in HeLa cells and
      Arabidopsis using a naphthalene-based fluorescent probe.
AB  - 2-(N,N-Dimethylamino)naphthalene-based probe 1 was found to exhibit a dramatic
      enhancement in fluorescence upon addition of Zn(2+), but not with any other metal
      ions. Probe 1 as a chemoprobe enabled high-resolution fluorescence imaging of
      zinc ions in HeLa cells and Arabidopsis.

PMID- 25828453
TI  - Folding of influenza virus hemagglutinin in insect cells is fast and efficient.
AB  - Folding of influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) in the endoplasmic reticulum has
      been well defined in mammalian cells. In different mammalian cell lines the
      protein follows the same folding pathway with identical folding intermediates,
      but folds with very different kinetics. To examine the effect of cellular context
      on HA folding and to test to which extent insect cells would support the HA
      folding process, we expressed HA in Sf9 insect cells. Strikingly, in this
      invertebrate system HA folded faster and more efficiently, still via the same
      folding intermediates as in vertebrate cells. Our results suggest that insect
      cells provide a highly efficient and effective folding environment for influenza
      virus HA and the ideal production platform for HA (emergency) vaccines. 

PMID- 25828454
TI  - Automated production of functional membrane proteins using eukaryotic cell-free
      translation systems.
AB  - Due to their high abundance and pharmacological relevance there is a growing
      demand for the efficient production of functional membrane proteins. In this
      context, cell-free protein synthesis represents a valuable alternative that
      allows for the high-throughput synthesis of functional membrane proteins. Here,
      we demonstrate the potential of our cell-free protein synthesis system, based on
      lysates from cultured Spodoptera frugiperda 21 cells, to produce pro- and
      eukaryotic membrane proteins with individual topological characteristics in an
      automated fashion. Analytical techniques, including confocal laser scanning
      microscopy, fluorescence detection of eYFP fusion proteins in a microplate reader
      and in-gel fluorescence of statistically incorporated fluorescent amino acid
      derivatives were employed. The reproducibility of our automated synthesis
      approach is underlined by coefficients of variation below 7.2%. Moreover, the
      functionality of the cell-free synthesized potassium channel KcsA was analyzed
      electrophysiologically. Finally, we expanded our cell-free membrane protein
      synthesis system by an orthogonal tRNA/synthetase pair for the site-directed
      incorporation of p-Azido-l-phenylalanine based on stop codon suppression.
      Incorporation was optimized by performance of a two-dimensional screening with
      different Mg(2+) and lysate concentrations. Subsequently, the selective
      modification of membrane proteins with incorporated p-Azido-l-phenylalanine was
      exemplified by Staudinger ligation with a phosphine-based fluorescence dye. 

PMID- 25828455
TI  - Metabolite-sensing receptors GPR43 and GPR109A facilitate dietary fibre-induced
      gut homeostasis through regulation of the inflammasome.
AB  - Diet and the gut microbiota may underpin numerous human diseases. A major
      metabolic product of commensal bacteria are short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that
      derive from fermentation of dietary fibre. Here we show that diets deficient or
      low in fibre exacerbate colitis development, while very high intake of dietary
      fibre or the SCFA acetate protects against colitis. SCFAs binding to the
      'metabolite-sensing' receptors GPR43 and GPR109A in non-haematopoietic cells
      mediate these protective effects. The inflammasome pathway has hitherto been
      reported as a principal pathway promoting gut epithelial integrity. SCFAs binding
      to GPR43 on colonic epithelial cells stimulates K(+) efflux and
      hyperpolarization, which lead to NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Dietary fibre
      also shapes gut bacterial ecology, resulting in bacterial species that are more
      effective for inflammasome activation. SCFAs and metabolite receptors thus
      explain health benefits of dietary fibre, and how metabolite signals feed through
      to a major pathway for gut homeostasis. 

PMID- 25828456
TI  - Interpreting important health-related quality of life change using the Haem-A
      QoL.
AB  - The Haemophilia Quality of Life Questionnaire for Adults (Haem-A-QoL) measures
      health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adults with haemophilia; however,
      change score thresholds for identifying individuals experiencing a HRQoL benefit
      have not been appropriately investigated. The objective of this analysis was to
      derive appropriate HRQoL responder definitions (RDs) for two Haem-A-QoL domains
      that reflect key impairments, 'Physical Health' and 'Sports & Leisure,' and the
      Haem-A-QoL 'Total Score' using anchor- and distribution-based methods. In this
      analysis, data from adults in A-LONG and B-LONG, two Phase 3 clinical studies of
      rFVIIIFc in haemophilia A and rFIXFc in haemophilia B, respectively, were used.
      The anchor-based approach identified Haem-A-QoL changes corresponding to EQ-5D
      item improvements between baseline and 6 months; the distribution-based methods
      examined the magnitude at baseline of one-half standard deviation and the
      standard error of measurement. Through triangulation, the most appropriate RDs
      were derived. Of the 133 A-LONG and 73 B-LONG subjects with baseline Haem-A-QoL
      scores, 67 and 51 subjects, respectively, completed the Haem-A-QoL questionnaire
      at both baseline and 6 months follow-up. Triangulation of anchor- and
      distribution-based estimates with the observed Haem-A-QoL change scores
      identified a 10-point reduction in the 'Physical Health' and 'Sports & Leisure'
      domains, and a 7-point reduction in 'Total Score' as the RD thresholds most
      indicative of HRQoL benefit. These empirically derived RDs for two key Haem-A-QoL
      domains and 'Total Score' are reasonable and practical thresholds for identifying
      subjects with notable improvements in HRQoL, and provides HRQoL RDs that can be
      used for further analysis and interpretation of data from haemophilia clinical
      trials.

PMID- 25828457
TI  - Toward assessment of density functionals for vibronic coupling in two-photon
      absorption: A case study of 4-nitroaniline.
AB  - In this study, we predict vibronic two-photon absorption (TPA) spectra for 4
      nitroaniline in vacuo. The simulations are performed using density functional
      theory and the approximate second-order coupled-cluster singles and doubles model
      CC2. Thereby we also demonstrate the possibility of simulations of vibronic TPA
      spectra with ab initio wavefunction methods that include electron correlation for
      medium-sized systems. A special focus is put on the geometric derivatives of the
      second-order transition moment and the dipole moment difference between the
      charge-transfer excited state and the ground state. The results of CC2
      calculations bring new insight into the vibronic coupling mechanism in TPA
      spectra of 4-nitroniline and demonstrate that the mixed term is quite large and
      that it also exhibits a negative interference with the Franck-Condon
      contribution.

PMID- 25828459
TI  - Almanac 2014: aortic valve disease.
AB  - The past few years have seen major advances in the diagnosis of aortic valve
      disease and in our understanding of the pathophysiology of disease. In addition,
      transcatheter aortic valve implantation has transformed our clinical management
      options. This article summarises new aortic valve disease research published in
      Heart in 2013 and 2014, within the context of other major studies published in
      general medical journals, including a discussion of the potential impact of these
      new research findings on the clinical approach to management of adults with
      aortic valve disease. 

PMID- 25828458
TI  - Information theory and artificial grammar learning: inferring grammaticality from
      redundancy.
AB  - In artificial grammar learning experiments, participants study strings of letters
      constructed using a grammar and then sort novel grammatical test exemplars from
      novel ungrammatical ones. The ability to distinguish grammatical from
      ungrammatical strings is often taken as evidence that the participants have
      induced the rules of the grammar. We show that judgements of grammaticality are
      predicted by the local redundancy of the test strings, not by grammaticality
      itself. The prediction holds in a transfer test in which test strings involve
      different letters than the training strings. Local redundancy is usually
      confounded with grammaticality in stimuli widely used in the literature. The
      confounding explains why the ability to distinguish grammatical from
      ungrammatical strings has popularized the idea that participants have induced the
      rules of the grammar, when they have not. We discuss the judgement of
      grammaticality task in terms of attribute substitution and pattern goodness. When
      asked to judge grammaticality (an inaccessible attribute), participants answer an
      easier question about pattern goodness (an accessible attribute). 

PMID- 25828460
TI  - Severe tricuspid regurgitation is predictive for adverse events in tetralogy of
      Fallot.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Patients with surgically repaired tetralogy of Fallot (rTOF) may
      develop functional tricuspid regurgitation (TR) due to annulus dilation.
      Guidelines suggest pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) in patients with rTOF with
      progressive TR, but data on clinical outcomes are lacking. Our objective was to
      determine whether TR was predictive for adverse events after PVR. METHODS: In
      this retrospective, multicenter cohort study, patients with rTOF who had
      undergone PVR after preoperative echocardiographic assessment of TR grade were
      included. Preoperative and postoperative imaging data and a composite of adverse
      clinical events (death, sustained ventricular tachycardia, heart failure, or
      supraventricular tachycardia) were collected. Multivariate Cox hazards regression
      analysis was used to determine which factors were predictive for adverse events
      after PVR. RESULTS: A total of 129 patients (61% men, age at PVR 32.9+/-10.4
      years) were included. The composite endpoint occurred in 39 patients during 8.4+/
      4.2 years of follow-up. In multivariate analysis, severe preoperative TR (HR
      2.49, 95% CI 1.11 to 5.52), right ventricular end-systolic volume (HR
      1.02/mL/m(2), 95% CI 1.01 to 1.03) and age at PVR (HR 1.07/year, 95% CI 1.04 to
      1.09) were predictive for adverse events. Early postoperative TR was not
      predictive for adverse events (p=0.96). In patients without any risk factor (age
      >40 years, right ventricular end-systolic volume >90 mL/m(2) or severe TR), 5
      year event-free survival was 100% as compared with 61% in patients with two or
      three risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with rTOF, severe preoperative TR
      was predictive for adverse events after PVR. Close surveillance is warranted in
      these patients irrespective of postoperative TR.

PMID- 25828461
TI  - A High Throughput, 384-Well, Semi-Automated, Hepatocyte Intrinsic Clearance Assay
      for Screening New Molecular Entities in Drug Discovery.
AB  - A high throughput, semi-automated clearance screening assay in hepatocytes was
      developed allowing a scientist to generate data for 96 compounds in one week. The
      384-well format assay utilizes a Thermo Multidrop Combi and an optimized LC-MS/MS
      method. The previously reported LCMS/ MS method reduced the analytical run time
      by 3-fold, down to 1.2 min injection-to-injection. The Multidrop was able to
      deliver hepatocytes to 384-well plates with minimal viability loss. Comparison of
      results from the new 384-well and historical 24-well assays yielded a correlation
      of 0.95. In addition, results obtained for 25 marketed drugs with various
      metabolism pathways had a correlation of 0.75 when compared with literature
      values. Precision was maintained in the new format as 8 compounds tested in >=39
      independent experiments had coefficients of variation <=21%. The ability to
      predict in vivo clearances using the new stability assay format was also
      investigated using 22 marketed drugs and 26 AbbVie compounds. Correction of
      intrinsic clearance values with binding to hepatocytes (in vitro data) and plasma
      (in vivo data) resulted in a higher in vitro to in vivo correlation when
      comparing 22 marketed compounds in human (0.80 vs 0.35) and 26 AbbVie Discovery
      compounds in rat (0.56 vs 0.17), demonstrating the importance of correcting for
      binding in clearance studies. This newly developed high throughput, semi
      automated clearance assay allows for rapid screening of Discovery compounds to
      enable Structure Activity Relationship (SAR) analysis based on high quality
      hepatocyte stability data in sufficient quantity and quality to drive the next
      round of compound synthesis. 

PMID- 25828462
TI  - Sensory uncertainty leads to systematic misperception of the direction of motion
      in depth.
AB  - Although we have made major advances in understanding motion perception based on
      the processing of lateral (2D) motion signals on computer displays, the majority
      of motion in the real (3D) world occurs outside of the plane of fixation, and
      motion directly toward or away from observers has particular behavioral
      relevance. Previous work has reported a systematic lateral bias in the perception
      of 3D motion, such that an object on a collision course with an observer's head
      is frequently judged to miss it, with obvious negative consequences. To better
      understand this bias, we systematically investigated the accuracy of 3D motion
      perception while manipulating sensory noise by varying the contrast of a moving
      target and its position in depth relative to fixation. Inconsistent with previous
      work, we found little bias under low sensory noise conditions. With increased
      sensory noise, however, we revealed a novel perceptual phenomenon: observers
      demonstrated a surprising tendency to confuse the direction of motion-in-depth,
      such that approaching objects were reported to be receding and vice versa.
      Subsequent analysis revealed that the lateral and motion-in-depth components of
      observers' reports are similarly affected, but that the effects on the motion-in
      depth component (i.e., the motion-in-depth confusions) are much more apparent
      than those on the lateral component. In addition to revealing this novel visual
      phenomenon, these results shed new light on errors that can occur in motion
      perception and provide a basis for continued development of motion perception
      models. Finally, our findings suggest methods to evaluate the effectiveness of 3D
      visualization environments, such as 3D movies and virtual reality devices.

PMID- 25828464
TI  - Revisiting the spread of sparing in the attentional blink.
AB  - The attentional blink (AB) refers to a deficit in reporting the second of two
      targets (T2) in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream when this target
      is presented less than 500 ms after the onset of the first target (T1). It is
      under debate whether the AB originates from a limitation of cognitive resources
      or from an attentional suppression process triggered by a distractor or by target
      discontinuity. In this study, we placed a distractor (D(inter)) or an extra
      target (T(inter)) between T1 and T2 while at the same time manipulating the time
      interval between D(inter) (or T(inter)) and T2 (0, 200, or 500 ms). The level of
      attentional enhancement induced by the detection of T1 was also manipulated by
      adding external noise to T1. The results showed that, as compared to the dual
      target condition, T2 performance was better in the consecutive-target condition,
      when T2 was close in time to T(inter) (i.e., the spread of sparing), but was
      worse with a longer interval between T2 and the preceding item. Adding external
      noise to T1 improved T2 performance when T2 was close in time to the preceding
      item, irrespective of whether this item was D(inter) or T(inter). These findings
      present difficulties for the existing models of the AB, although the overall
      pattern observed is generally more consistent with the episodic simultaneous
      type, serial-token (eSTST) model than with conventional resource accounts or
      distractor-based attentional selection accounts of the AB.

PMID- 25828465
TI  - Anti-programmed cell death-1 therapy and insulin-dependent diabetes: a case
      report.
AB  - The anti programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) antibodies pembrolizumab and nivolumab
      have been recently licensed by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment
      of advanced melanoma. Immune checkpoint inhibitors such as these can induce
      endocrine adverse events but autoimmune diabetes has not been described to date.
      However, there is a strong preclinical rationale that supports this autoimmune
      toxicity. We describe for the first time the case of an adult patient who
      developed autoimmune diabetes likely as a consequence of PD-1 inhibition with
      pembrolizumab. The presence of high serum titres of anti-glutamic acid
      decarboxylase antibodies together with a suggestive clinical presentation, age of
      the patient and preclinical data strongly support an autoimmune aetiology of the
      diabetes. Moreover, the patient was found to have a well-known high-risk human
      leucocyte antigen type for the development of type 1 diabetes in children, so the
      PD-1 inhibition is very likely to have triggered the autoimmune phenomenon. Our
      case suggests that insulin-dependent diabetes might be a rare but important anti
      PD-1 immune-related adverse event. 

PMID- 25828463
TI  - The cocktail-party problem revisited: early processing and selection of multi
      talker speech.
AB  - How do we recognize what one person is saying when others are speaking at the
      same time? This review summarizes widespread research in psychoacoustics,
      auditory scene analysis, and attention, all dealing with early processing and
      selection of speech, which has been stimulated by this question. Important
      effects occurring at the peripheral and brainstem levels are mutual masking of
      sounds and "unmasking" resulting from binaural listening. Psychoacoustic models
      have been developed that can predict these effects accurately, albeit using
      computational approaches rather than approximations of neural processing.
      Grouping-the segregation and streaming of sounds-represents a subsequent
      processing stage that interacts closely with attention. Sounds can be easily
      grouped-and subsequently selected-using primitive features such as spatial
      location and fundamental frequency. More complex processing is required when
      lexical, syntactic, or semantic information is used. Whereas it is now clear that
      such processing can take place preattentively, there also is evidence that the
      processing depth depends on the task-relevancy of the sound. This is consistent
      with the presence of a feedback loop in attentional control, triggering
      enhancement of to-be-selected input. Despite recent progress, there are still
      many unresolved issues: there is a need for integrative models that are
      neurophysiologically plausible, for research into grouping based on other than
      spatial or voice-related cues, for studies explicitly addressing endogenous and
      exogenous attention, for an explanation of the remarkable sluggishness of
      attention focused on dynamically changing sounds, and for research elucidating
      the distinction between binaural speech perception and sound localization.

PMID- 25828466
TI  - Integrative approach in prevention and therapy of basal cellular carcinoma by
      association of three actives loaded into lipid nanocarriers.
AB  - Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is one of the commonest malignancies occurred on sun
      exposed skin, mainly by UV-B radiation, of lighter-skinned individuals. The aim
      of the present study was to develop advanced drug delivery formulations used in
      BCC therapy that overcomes chemotherapy-induced side-effects of skin
      photosensitivity by an integrative approach of nanoencapsulation in conjunction
      with combination therapy that uses chemotherapeutic, chemoprotective and
      sunscreen agents. The combination of anticancer drug together with sunscreen
      agent is very useful in therapy, especially for individuals who are more exposed
      to the sun without using a sunscreen. Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs)
      employed as drug delivery systems were co-loaded with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), a
      hydrophilic chemotherapeutic drug, and ethylhexyl salicylate (EHS), a lipophilic
      UV-B sunscreen agent. The NLCs were developed using bioactive squalene (50.8%
      w/w) from amaranth seed oil as chemoprotective agent. By varying the
      concentrations of 5-FU and EHS, the co-loaded NLCs presented particle sizes of
      about 100nm, acceptable physical stability with values smaller than -25mV and
      appropriate entrapment efficiency that reaches values over 65% for both types of
      drugs. The UV-B blocking ability of EHS loaded into NLCs were influenced by the
      concentration of 5-FU. The amaranth oil offered a capacity of 70% in scavenging
      the free radicals. In vitro drug release showed that NLCs presented sustained
      release of 5-FU that followed the Fick's law of diffusion. 

PMID- 25828467
TI  - Has evidence-based medicine left quackery behind?
AB  - Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is generally considered as the most complete
      paradigm in the practice of clinical medicine. Its application should preclude
      all kinds of quackery. Therapeutic reformers of the second half of the twentieth
      century have convinced the medical community that the double-blind randomized
      controlled trial (RCT) versus placebo is the gold standard in clinical research
      to establish evidence of treatment usefulness. Nevertheless, this paradigm
      ignores the importance of non-specific effects in the healing process and can
      generate misrepresentations. Additionally, because of methodological limitations,
      RCTs as they are used in practice can give rise to new forms of quackery by
      promoting drugs that are not useful for the patients who actually receive them,
      or are so expensive that their value is open to criticism. This is precisely the
      case when surrogate outcomes, with questionable clinical significance, are used.
      These can divert attention from clinically relevant outcomes, such as safety
      issues that are probably the core of treatment evaluation. The boundaries between
      quackery and EBM that clinicians are faced with are not so clear-cut. There is a
      need for doctors to acknowledge their share in quackery and to be continually
      conscious of the possible pitfalls of their therapeutic practice. 

PMID- 25828468
TI  - Ex vivo human skin and SZ95 sebocytes exhibit a homoeostatic interaction in a
      novel coculture contact model.
AB  - The sebaceous gland displays key functions of the human skin, such as hormone
      synthesis in situ, antimicrobial activity and participation to inflammatory
      responses. Consequently, there is an emerging need of advanced in vitro models to
      study complex interactions between the sebaceous gland and the other skin
      compartments. Despite the evolution of both full-skin organ culture and
      reconstructed three-dimensional skin models, no satisfactory solutions have been
      provided for the integration of sebaceous glands and/or sebaceous gland cells in
      those models, probably due to their problematic maintenance both in vitro and ex
      vivo. We have developed a coculture model of explant skin in direct contact with
      immortalized SZ95 sebocytes, which resulted in overall improved structural
      integrity of the epidermis, higher percentage of proliferating basal epidermal
      cells and reduced apoptosis of differentiating keratinocytes after 6 days, as
      detected by Ki67 and TUNEL staining, respectively. Furthermore SZ95 sebocytes
      exhibited morphological and biochemical signs of normal differentiation and lipid
      accumulation, while interleukin-6 expression in the supernatant of the cocultures
      was decreased in comparison with the control. The data provide evidence of a
      beneficial interaction between sebocytes and skin explants and provide the
      rationale for their integration in future three-dimensional skin models. 

PMID- 25828469
TI  - Jean Delay Prize for Professor Mitsumoto Sato.

PMID- 25828470
TI  - Genetic mapping of ASIC4 and contrasting phenotype to ASIC1a in modulating innate
      fear and anxiety.
AB  - Although ASIC4 is a member of the acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC) family, we have
      limited knowledge of its expression and physiological function in vivo. To trace
      the expression of this ion channel, we generated the ASIC4-knockout/CreERT(2)
      knockin (Asic4(Cre) (ERT) (2)) mouse line. After tamoxifen induction in the
      Asic4(Cre) (ERT)(2)::CAG-STOP(floxed)-Td-tomato double transgenic mice, we mapped
      the expression of ASIC4 at the cellular level in the central nervous system
      (CNS). ASIC4 was expressed in many brain regions, including the olfactory bulb,
      cerebral cortex, striatum, hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, hypothalamus, brain
      stem, cerebellum, spinal cord and pituitary gland. Colocalisation studies further
      revealed that ASIC4 was expressed mainly in three types of cells in the CNS: (i)
      calretinin (CR)-positive and/or vasoactive intestine peptide (VIP)-positive
      interneurons; (ii) neural/glial antigen 2 (NG2)-positive glia, also known as
      oligodendrocyte precursor cells; and (iii) cerebellar granule cells. To probe the
      possible role of ASIC4, we hypothesised that ASIC4 could modulate the membrane
      expression of ASIC1a and thus ASIC1a signaling in vivo. We conducted behavioral
      phenotyping of Asic4(Cre) (ERT)(2) mice by screening many of the known behavioral
      phenotypes found in Asic1a knockouts and found ASIC4 not involved in shock-evoked
      fear learning and memory, seizure termination or psychostimulant-induced
      locomotion/rewarding effects. In contrast, ASIC4 might play an important role in
      modulating the innate fear response to predator odor and anxious state because
      ASIC4-mutant mice showed increased freezing response to 2,4,5-trimethylthiazoline
      and elevated anxiety-like behavior in both the open-field and elevated-plus maze.
      ASIC4 may modulate fear and anxiety by counteracting ASIC1a activity in the
      brain.

PMID- 25828471
TI  - Why is it so difficult to recruit patients to research in emergency care? Lessons
      from the AHEAD study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In February 2014, all 23 National Institute for Health Research
      medical research specialities were failing to meet recruitment targets, with
      'Injuries and Emergencies' research performing particularly poorly. In this
      paper, the multicentre AHEAD study was used to explore issues surrounding
      recruitment in UK emergency departments. METHOD: The AHEAD study investigated
      management and outcomes in over 3000 anticoagulated patients who suffered a head
      injury. Data from the study were used to compare patient recruitment at 33 Type-1
      emergency departments. A questionnaire was sent to a research nurse at each of
      these sites and 30 replied (91% response rate). The survey investigated the
      difficulties encountered during patient recruitment and whether these were
      related to recruitment methods. More detailed interviews were conducted with
      three research nurses, to gain further insight into the barriers and facilitators
      involved. RESULTS: Overall recruitment varied widely between sites with an
      eightfold variation in recruitment rates. Population demographics and other
      uncontrollable factors will partly contribute to this variation. However,
      research nurses reported many problems, including site resources, lack of staff
      engagement and flaws in recruitment strategies, which could be improved.
      CONCLUSIONS: Many of the barriers to recruiting patients for research studies
      encountered by research nurses have previously been reported in the literature,
      but there remain consistent problems. Until solutions are found, researchers will
      continue to miss recruitment targets and this will have implications for the
      efficiency and quality of emergency medicine research in the UK.

PMID- 25828472
TI  - Stimulation of hepatocarcinogenesis by neutrophils upon induction of oncogenic
      kras expression in transgenic zebrafish.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Chronic inflammation is a major etiological factor for
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but how immune cells respond in the initiation of
      hepatocarcinogenesis remains uncharacterized. This study aims to investigate the
      response and roles of neutrophils in early hepatocarcinogenesis. METHODS: By
      inducible expression of oncogenic kras(V12) in hepatocytes in transgenic
      zebrafish combined with live imaging of neutrophils in transparent larvae, the
      response of neutrophils to oncogenic liver was characterized and their roles
      investigated by pharmaceutical and genetic manipulations. RESULTS: We found a
      rapid recruitment of neutrophils to the liver upon induction of kras(V12)
      expression. Pharmaceutical stimulation of neutrophils resulted in further
      increases of neutrophils in oncogenic livers, liver size and tumor severity,
      while inhibition of neutrophils caused decreases of liver-associated neutrophils
      and liver size. Time-lapse video indicated that neutrophils had a stagnant
      migratory pattern meandering along the tumor edge but became relatively
      stationary upon entering the kras(V12)-expressing liver. Both oncogenic
      hepatocytes and tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) were isolated via
      fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Molecular analyses indicated a pro
      inflammatory microenvironment, as marked by increased tgfbeta1a expression in
      kras(V12)-expressing hepatocytes and a loss of anti-tumor activities in TANs.
      Depletion of Tgf-beta significantly reduced the number of TANs and the size of
      oncogenic liver. CONCLUSIONS: An inflammatory cue from oncogenic hepatocytes upon
      induction of kras(V12) expression causes a rapid recruitment of neutrophils to
      oncogenic liver and the neutrophils play a promoting role in early
      hepatocarcinogenesis.

PMID- 25828473
TI  - Essential roles of FoxM1 in Ras-induced liver cancer progression and in cancer
      cells with stem cell features.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Overexpression of FoxM1 correlates with poor prognosis in
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Moreover, the Ras-signaling pathway is found to
      be ubiquitously activated in HCC through epigenetic silencing of the Ras
      regulators. We investigated the roles of FoxM1 in Ras-driven HCC, and on HCC
      cells with stem-like features. METHODS: We employed a transgenic mouse model that
      expresses the oncogenic Ras in the liver. That strain was crossed with a strain
      that harbor floxed alleles of FoxM1 and the MxCre gene that allows conditional
      deletion of FoxM1. FoxM1 alleles were deleted after development of HCC, and the
      effects on the tumors were analyzed. Also, FoxM1 siRNA was used in human HCC cell
      lines to determine its role in the survival of the HCC cells with stem cell
      features. RESULTS: Ras-driven tumors overexpress FoxM1. Deletion of FoxM1
      inhibits HCC progression. There was increased accumulation of reactive oxygen
      species (ROS) in the FoxM1 deleted HCC cells. Moreover, FoxM1 deletion caused a
      disproportionate loss of the CD44+ and EpCAM+ HCC cells in the tumors. We show
      that FoxM1 directly activates expression of CD44 in human HCC cells. Moreover,
      the human HCC cells with stem cell features are addicted to FoxM1 for ROS
      regulation and survival. CONCLUSION: Our results provide genetic evidence for an
      essential role of FoxM1 in the progression of Ras-driven HCC. In addition, FoxM1
      is required for the expression of CD44 in HCC cells. Moreover, FoxM1 plays a
      critical role in the survival of the HCC cells with stem cell features by
      regulating ROS.

PMID- 25828474
TI  - Intussusception of the Meckel's diverticulum within its own lumen: Unknown
      complication.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Intussusception with the Meckel's diverticulum (MD) is a rare cause
      of chonic abdominal pain in the adults. We wish to present this first case of
      intussusception of MD within its own lumen without small bowel obstruction.
      PRESENTATION OF CASE: We report the case of a 27-year-old man who was admitted to
      the emergency room due to a diffuse abdominal pain. Abdominal CT scan showed
      invagination of MD. The exploratory laparoscopy revealed the presence of
      intussusception of MD within its own lumen. Segmental resection of the small
      intestine was performed. The patient was discharged on the third post-operative
      day. DISCUSSION: The prevalence of MD is 1 to 4%. Diagnosis is often difficult
      and delayed because clinical symptoms are not specific and the diagnosis is
      performed mainly by imaging studies. Factors pre-disposing these patients to
      intussusception of MD within its own lumen include a narrow diverticulum, large
      diverticululm, and associated inflammation of the diverticulum. Intestinal
      obstruction is a more common complication in adults, whereas in children,
      bleeding is the more common complication. In our case, the patient had a diffuse
      abdominal pain without small bowel obstruction because the intussusception of MD
      was within its own lumen. Laparoscopy may be useful for confirming the presence
      of intussusception, and demonstrating the underlying organic lesion serving as
      the lead point. CONCLUSION: It is important to differentiate this rare
      pathological feature of MD from other entities as the treatment is surgical
      rather than medical. Abdominal surgeons should bear in mind this rare entity.

PMID- 25828475
TI  - Femoral herniation of transplanted ureter after deceased-donor kidney
      transplantation.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Herniation of the ureter after kidney transplant is a rare and
      under documented event. Many of these herniations are due to abdominal wall
      defects or ureteral redundancy. After an extensive review of available
      literature, there has not been a reported case of a femoral herniation of ureter
      after kidney transplant. We report a case of late allograft renal transplant
      failure due to ureteral obstruction secondary to femoral herniation of the
      ureter. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of 64 year old male with a history of
      kidney transplant, who was found to have an inguinal bulge. He was diagnosed with
      a femoral hernia containing transplant ureter using transplant kidney ultrasound
      and CT of the abdomen and pelvis. Subsequently he developed transplant kidney
      failure due to obstructive uropathy from the femoral hernia. The patient
      underwent a femoral hernia repair with biologic mesh. Compromised ureter was
      excised and a neoureterocystostomy was created. Post operatively his creatinine
      returned to baseline. DISCUSSION: In our literature search there are two types of
      inguinal ureteral hernias described. Paraperitoneal, which makes up the majority
      of the cases, and extraperitoneal. There are no classifications for ureteral
      femoral hernias. We may extract these definitions to femoral hernias, as
      evidenced by our case where we encountered a paraperitoneal femoral hernia
      containing transplant kidney ureter. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge
      this is the first reported case of a femoral ureter hernia. Due to its rarity in
      the literature, an understanding of management is critical to patient outcome.

PMID- 25828476
TI  - A pancreatic pseudopapillary tumor enucleated curatively.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Pseudopapillary tumors (PPT) of the pancreas are very rare,
      comprising 0.3-2.7% of all pancreatic tumors, and they occur mostly in young
      women. Generally, they are benign, but in rare cases they can enlarge, invade
      adjacent organs, and metastasize distantly. Radiological assessments and
      biochemical markers are important for diagnosing tumor characteristics. The main
      treatment is tumor resection. PRESENTATION OF CASE: An 18-year-old female was
      referred to our department suffering from abdominal discomfort and upper quadrant
      abdominal pain. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) revealed a 6-*5-cm mass
      between the pancreatic head and right adrenal gland (Fig. 1). The histological
      assessment was a solid PPT of the pancreas with intact surgical borders.
      DISCUSSION: PPT are very rare, comprising approximately 5% of cystic pancreatic
      tumors and ~1% of exocrine pancreatic neoplasms and present mainly during the
      second and third decades of life. PPTs are usually indolent tumors. As such, they
      tend to produce vague nonspecific symptoms or may be detected incidentally on
      imaging. Complete surgical resection (R0) is the most effective therapy for PPT.
      CONCLUSION: Although PPT is a very rare, benign tumor, it has the potential to
      metastasize to adjacent and distant organs. Consequently, they should be detected
      early, so that they can be treated surgically before malignant conversion.

PMID- 25828477
TI  - Fat infiltration of paraspinal muscles is associated with low back pain,
      disability, and structural abnormalities in community-based adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Low back pain and disability are major public health problems
      and may be related to paraspinal muscle abnormalities, such as a reduction in
      muscle size and muscle fat content. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine
      the associations between paraspinal muscle size and fat content with lumbar spine
      symptoms and structure. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: This was a community-based magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI) cohort study. PATIENT SAMPLE: A total of 72 adults not
      selected on the basis of low back pain were included in the study. OUTCOME
      MEASURES: The outcomes measured were lumbar modic change and intervertebral disc
      height. Pain intensity and disability were measured from the Chronic Pain Grade
      Questionnaire at the time of MRI. METHODS: The cross-sectional area (CSA) and
      amount of fat in multifidus and erector spinae (high percentage defined by >50%
      of muscle) were measured, and their association with outcome was assessed.
      RESULTS: Muscle CSA was not associated with low back pain/disability or
      structure. High percentage of fat in multifidus was associated with an increased
      risk of high-intensity pain/disability (odds ratio [OR], 12.6; 95% confidence
      interval [CI], 2.0-78.3; p=.007) and modic change (OR, 4.3; 95% CI, 1.1-17.3;
      p=.04). High fat replacement of erector spinae was associated with reduced
      intervertebral disc height (beta=-0.9 mm; 95% CI, -1.4 to -0.3; p=.002) and modic
      change (OR, 4.9; 95% CI, 1.1-21.9; p=.04). CONCLUSIONS: Paraspinal fat
      infiltration, but not muscle CSA, was associated with high-intensity
      pain/disability and structural abnormalities in the lumbar spine. Although cause
      and effect cannot be determined from this cross-sectional study, longitudinal
      data will help to determine whether disabling low back pain and structural
      abnormalities of the spine are a cause or result of fat replacement of paraspinal
      muscles.

PMID- 25828478
TI  - Short-segment percutaneous pedicle screw fixation with cement augmentation for
      tumor-induced spinal instability.
AB  - BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Pathologic vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) represent a
      major source of morbidity and diminished quality of life in the spinal oncology
      population. Procedures with low morbidity that effectively treat patients with
      pathologic fractures are especially important in the cancer population where life
      expectancy is limited. Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty are often not effective for
      mechanically unstable pathologic fractures extending into the pedicle and facet
      joints. Combination of cement augmentation and percutaneous instrumented
      stabilization represents a minimally invasive treatment option that does not
      delay radiation and systemic therapy. PURPOSE: The objective of the study was to
      evaluate the safety and efficacy of cement-augmented short-segment percutaneous
      posterolateral instrumentation for tumor-associated VCF with pedicle and joint
      involvement. METHODS: Forty-four consecutive patients underwent cement-augmented
      percutaneous spinal fixation for unstable tumors between 2011 and 2014.
      Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data, including visual analog
      pain scale (VAS) response score and procedural complications, was performed.
      RESULTS: Patients with a median composite Spinal Instability Neoplastic Scale
      score of 10 (range=8-15) were treated with constructs spanning one to four disk
      spaces (median of two spaces, constituting 84% of all cases). The proportion of
      patients with severe pain decreased from 86% preoperatively to 0%; 65% of
      patients reported no referable instability pain postoperatively. There was one
      adjacent-level fracture responsive to kyphoplasty, and one case of asymptomatic
      screw pullout. Two patients subsequently required decompression in the setting of
      disease progression despite radiation; there was no perioperative morbidity.
      CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous cement-augmented posterolateral spinal fixation is a
      safe and effective option for palliation of appropriately selected mechanically
      unstable VCF that extends into pedicle and/or joint.

PMID- 25828479
TI  - Water immersion-induced skin wrinkling test in complex regional pain syndrome.

PMID- 25828480
TI  - Response.

PMID- 25828481
TI  - Plant-based oral delivery of beta-glucocerebrosidase as an enzyme replacement
      therapy for Gaucher's disease.
AB  - Gaucher's disease (GD), a lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations in the
      gene encoding glucocerebrosidase (GCD), is currently treated by enzyme
      replacement therapy (ERT) using recombinant GCD that is administered
      intravenously every 2 weeks. However, intravenous administration includes
      discomfort or pain and might cause local and systemic infections that may lead to
      low patient compliance. An orally administered drug has the potential to
      alleviate these problems. In this study, we describe the potential use of plant
      cells as a vehicle for the oral delivery of recombinant human GCD (prGCD)
      expressed in carrot cells. The in vitro results demonstrate that the plant cells
      protect the recombinant protein in the gastric fluids and may enable absorption
      into the blood. Feeding experiments, with rat and pig as model animals, using
      carrot cells containing prGCD, show that active recombinant prGCD was found in
      the digestive tract and blood system and reached both, liver and spleen, the
      target organs in GD. These results demonstrate that the oral administration of
      proteins encapsulated in plant cells is feasible. Specifically, carrot cells
      containing recombinant human prGCD can be used as an oral delivery system and are
      a feasible alternative to intravenous administration of ERT for GD. 

PMID- 25828482
TI  - Relationships between maternal overweight prior to pregnancy, feeding mode and
      infant feeding beliefs and practices.
AB  - AIM: This study aimed to examine whether pre-pregnancy weight status was
      associated with maternal feeding beliefs and practices in the early post-partum
      period. METHODS: This study uses secondary analysis of longitudinal data from
      Australian mothers. Participants (n = 486) were divided into two weight status
      groups based on self-reported pre-pregnancy weight and measured height: healthy
      weight (body mass index (BMI) <25 kg/m(2) ; n = 321) and overweight (BMI > 25
      kg/m(2) ; n = 165). Feeding beliefs and practices were self-reported via an
      established questionnaire that assessed concerns about infant overeating and
      undereating, awareness of infant cues, feeding to a schedule and using food to
      calm. RESULTS: Infants of overweight mothers were more likely to have been given
      solid foods in the previous 24 h (29% vs. 20%) and fewer were fully breastfed
      (50% vs. 64%). Multivariable regression analyses (adjusted for maternal
      education, parity, average infant weekly weight gain, feeding mode and
      introduction of solids) revealed that pre-pregnancy weight status was not
      associated with using food to calm, concern about undereating, awareness of
      infant cues or feeding to a schedule. However, feeding mode was associated with
      feeding beliefs and practices. CONCLUSIONS: Although no evidence for a
      relationship between maternal weight status and early maternal feeding beliefs
      and practices was observed, differences in feeding mode and early introduction of
      solids were observed. The emergence of a relationship between feeding practices
      and maternal weight status may occur when the children are older, solid feeding
      is established and they become more independent in feeding.

PMID- 25828483
TI  - Periodic Epileptiform Discharges in Children With Advanced Stages of Progressive
      Myoclonic Epilepsy.
AB  - Huntington's disease (HD) and dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA) are
      monogenic forms of neurodegenerative disorders with autosomal dominant
      inheritance. Compared with adult-onset HD and DRPLA, children with these
      disorders are more severely affected and are known to manifest the devastating
      symptoms of progressive myoclonic epilepsy (PME) syndrome. In this report, we
      present a 6-year-old girl with HD from a family, and 2 siblings with DRPLA from
      another unrelated family. Serial neuroimaging and electroencephalography (EEG)
      studies showed that periodic epileptiform discharges and synchronized paroxysmal
      activity became prominent with their disease progression. Periodic complexes in
      EEG may emerge at advanced stages of childhood PME as a consequence of rapidly
      degenerating processes of their brain functions.

PMID- 25828484
TI  - Clinical, Electroencephalographic, and Neuroradiological Outcome Predictors in
      Acute Nonhypoxic Encephalopathy: A Nine-Year Cohort Study.
AB  - Marked impairment of consciousness, brain lesion on neuroimaging, and nonreactive
      electroencephalographic (EEG) background activity are established outcome
      predictors in patients with hypoxic encephalopathy. In this observational cohort
      study, we aimed to assess the predictive value of clinical, neuroimaging and EEG
      characteristics for outcome in different types of acute nonhypoxic
      encephalopathic patients. All adult intensive care unit patients from a tertiary
      academic medical care center with clinical and EEG evidence of acute nonhypoxic
      encephalopathy were included from 2004 to 2012. Clinical data, neuroimaging
      studies, EEG characteristics, and outcome were assessed. In-hospital death was
      the main outcome. Median age of 262 patients was 65 years (range 18-98 years).
      Mortality was 12.6%. In Poisson regression analyses, older age (P=.02),
      intracranial hemorrhage (P=.008), coma (P=.012), and nonreactive EEG background
      activity (P<.0001) were independently associated with death with nonreactive EEG
      being the strongest predictor (relative risk 3.74; 95% confidence interval 2.02
      6.91). Subgroup analysis revealed no significant effect modification for the
      predictive value of nonreactive EEG by the presence or absence of coma and
      different types of acute brain lesions. In conclusion, this study identifies and
      quantifies the independent predictive value of older age, intracranial
      hemorrhage, coma, and nonreactive EEG for death, in patients with different types
      of acute nonhypoxic encephalopathy. These results add further credence to the
      limited body of evidence that EEG provides important prognostic information in
      different types of acute encephalopathy not related to hypoxic brain injury.
      Further studies are warranted to analyze the robustness of this predictor in
      larger subpopulations with specific etiologies of acute nonhypoxic
      encephalopathies.

PMID- 25828485
TI  - Introduction: craniocervical junction.

PMID- 25828486
TI  - Minimally invasive approach for small ventrally located intradural lesions of the
      craniovertebral junction.
AB  - OBJECT: The surgical management of lesions ventral to the neuraxis at the level
      of the craniovertebral junction (CVJ) and upper cervical spine is challenging.
      Here, the authors describe a minimally invasive dorsal approach for small
      ventrally located intradural lesions at the CVJ as an alternative for the more
      extensive classic transoral approach or variants of suboccipital approaches.
      METHODS: Between 2012 and 2014, 6 symptomatic patients with a small lesion of the
      ventral aspect at the CVJ level were treated using a minimally invasive dorsal
      approach at the University Medical Center in Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. The
      anatomical distance between the posterior atlantooccipital membrane and the
      posterior atlantoaxial ligament, as determined by CT images, was assessed in the
      treated patients and in 100 untreated persons. RESULTS: The authors treated 6
      patients (mean age 54.7 years) who had a clinical presentation of mild
      neurological symptoms that disappeared after resection. Minimally invasive
      surgical dorsal access was achieved by using tubular systems and using the
      natural space between the occiput (C-0) and C-1, and in 1 case between C-1 and C
      2, without having to remove bony structures. The postoperative course in each of
      the 6 patients was uneventful. The neuropatho-logical findings confirmed a
      meningotheliomatous meningioma (WHO Grade I) in 5 cases and an extramedullary
      cavernous hemangioma in 1 case. MRI confirmed complete resection of all the
      lesions. The atlantooccipital distances ranged from 3 to 17 mm (mean 8.98 mm) in
      the supine neutral position, and the atlantoaxial distances ranged from 5 to 17
      mm (mean 10.56 mm). There were no significant differences between women and men
      (atlantooccipital p = 0.14; atlantoaxial p = 0.72). CONCLUSIONS: The results of
      this study demonstrate that the minimally invasive dorsal approach using the
      space between C-0 and C-1 or C-1 and C-2 provides direct and sufficient exposure
      for the safe surgical resection of small ventrally located intradural lesions at
      the CVJ level while reducing the necessity for musculoskeletal preparation to a
      minimum.

PMID- 25828487
TI  - Surgical treatment of Type II odontoid fractures: anterior odontoid screw
      fixation or posterior cervical instrumented fusion?
AB  - Odontoid fractures comprise as many as 20% of all cervical spine fractures.
      Fractures at the dens base, classified by the Anderson and D'Alonzo system as
      Type II injuries, are the most common pattern of all odontoid fractures and are
      also the most common cervical injuries in patients older than 70 years of age.
      Surgical treatment is recommended for patients older than 50 years with Type II
      odontoid fractures, as well as in patients at a high risk for nonunion. Anterior
      odontoid screw fixation (AOSF) and posterior cervical instrumented fusion (PCIF)
      are both well-accepted techniques for surgical treatment but with unique
      indications and contraindications as well as varied reported outcomes. In this
      paper, the authors review the literature about specific patients and fracture
      characteristics that may guide treatment toward one technique over the other.
      AOSF can preserve atlantoaxial motion, but requires a reduced odontoid, an intact
      transverse ligament, and a favorable fracture line to achieve adequate fracture
      compression. Additionally, older patients may have a higher rate of
      pseudarthrosis using this technique, as well as postoperative dysphagia. PCIF has
      a higher rate of fusion and is indicated in patients with severe atlantoaxial
      misalignment and with poor bone quality. PCIF allows direct open reduction of
      displaced fragments and can reduce any atlantoaxial subluxation. It is also used
      as a salvage procedure after failed AOSF. However, this technique results in loss
      of atlantoaxial motion, requires prone positioning, and demands a longer
      operative duration than AOSF, factors that can be a challenge in patients with
      severe medical conditions. Although both anterior and posterior approaches are
      acceptable, many clinical and radiological factors should be taken into account
      when choosing the best surgical approach. Surgeons must be prepared to perform
      both procedures to adequately treat these injuries. 

PMID- 25828488
TI  - Chiari I malformation with and without basilar invagination: a comparative study.
AB  - OBJECT: Chiari I malformation is the most common craniocervical malformation. Its
      combination with basilar invagination in a significant proportion of patients is
      well established. This study presents surgical results for patients with Chiari I
      malformation with and without additional basilar invagination. METHOD: Three
      hundred twenty-three patients underwent 350 operations between 1985 and 2013
      (mean age 43 +/- 16 years, mean history of symptoms 64 +/- 94 months). The
      clinical courses were documented with a score system for individual neurological
      symptoms for short-term results after 3 and 12 months. Long-term outcomes were
      analyzed with Kaplan-Meier statistics. The mean follow-up was 53 +/- 58 months
      (the means are expressed +/- SD). RESULTS: Patients with (n = 46) or without (n =
      277) basilar invagination in addition to Chiari I malformation were identified.
      Patients with invagination were separated into groups: those with (n = 31) and
      without (n = 15) ventral compression by the odontoid in the foramen magnum. Of
      the 350 operations, 313 dealt with the craniospinal pathology, 28 surgeries were
      undertaken for degenerative diseases of the cervical spine, 3 were performed for
      hydrocephalus, and 6 syrinx catheters were removed for cord tethering. All
      craniospinal operations included a foramen magnum decompression with arachnoid
      dissection, opening of the fourth ventricle, and a duraplasty. In patients
      without invagination, craniospinal instability was detected in 4 individuals, who
      required additional craniospinal fusion. In patients with invagination but
      without ventral compression, no stabilization was added to the decompression. In
      all patients with ventral compression, craniospinal stabilization was performed
      with the foramen magnum decompression, except for 4 patients with mild ventral
      compression early in the series who underwent posterior decompression only. Among
      those with ventral compression, 9 patients with caudal cranial nerve dysfunctions
      underwent a combination of transoral decompression with posterior decompression
      and fusion. Within the 1st postoperative year, neurological scores improved for
      all symptoms in each patient group, with the most profound improvement for
      occipital pain. In the long term, late postoperative deteriorations were related
      to reobstruction of CSF flow in patients without invagination (18.3% in 10
      years), whereas deteriorations in patients with invagination (24.9% in 10 years)
      were exclusively related either to instabilities becoming manifest after a
      foramen magnum decompression or to hardware failures. Results for ventral and
      posterior fusions for degenerative disc diseases in these patients indicated a
      trend for better long-term results with posterior operations. CONCLUSIONS: The
      great majority of patients with Chiari I malformations with or without basilar
      invagination report postoperative improvements with this management algorithm.
      There were no significant differences in short-term or long-term outcomes between
      these groups. Chiari I malformations without invagination and those with
      invaginations but without ventral compression can be managed by foramen magnum
      decompression alone. The majority of patients with ventral compression can be
      treated by posterior decompression, realignment, and stabilization, reserving
      anterior decompressions for patients with profound, symptomatic brainstem
      compression.

PMID- 25828489
TI  - Dyspnea and dysphagia from upper airway obstruction after occipitocervical fusion
      in the pediatric age group.
AB  - Upper airway obstruction resulting from overflexion of the craniocervical
      junction after occipitocervical fusion is a rare but potentially life-threatening
      complication and is associated with morbidity. The authors retrospectively
      reviewed the medical records and diagnostic images of 2 pediatric patients who
      underwent occipitocervical fusion by the Neuro-Spine Program at Texas Children's
      Hospital and experienced dyspnea and/or dysphagia from new upper airway
      obstruction in the postoperative period. Patient demographics, operative data,
      and preoperative and postoperative occiput-C2 angles were recorded. A review of
      the literature for similar complications after occipitocervical fusion was
      performed. A total of 13 cases of prolonged upper airway obstruction after
      occipitocervical fusion were analyzed. Most of these cases involved adults with
      rheumatoid arthritis. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there have been no
      previous reports of prolonged upper airway obstruction in children after an
      occipitocervical fusion. Fixation of the neck in increased flexion (-18 degrees 
      to -5 degrees ) was a common finding among these adult and pediatric cases. The
      authors' cases involved children with micrognathia and comparatively large
      tongues, which may predispose the oropharynx to obstruction with even the
      slightest amount of increased flexion. Close attention to a satisfactory fixation
      angle (occiput-C2 angle) is necessary to avoid airway obstruction after an
      occipitocervical fusion. Children with micrognathia are particularly sensitive to
      changes in flexion at the craniocervical junction after occipitocervical
      fixation.

PMID- 25828490
TI  - "Lazy" far-lateral approach to the anterior foramen magnum and lower clivus.
AB  - The far-lateral approach (FLA) has become a mainstay for skull base surgeries
      involving the anterior foramen magnum and lower clivus. The authors present a
      surgical technique using the FLA for the management of lesions of the anterior/
      anterolateral foramen magnum and lower clivus. The authors consider this
      modification a "lazy" FLA. The vertebral artery (VA) is both a critical
      anatomical structure and a barrier that limits access to this region. The most
      important nuance of this FLA technique is the management of this critical vessel.
      When the lazy FLA is used, the VA is reflected laterally, encased in its
      periosteal sheath and wrapped in the dura, greatly minimizing the risk for
      vertebral injury while preserving a wide working space. To accomplish this step,
      drilling is performed lateral to the point where the VA pierces the dura. The
      dura is incised medial to the VA entry point by using a slightly curved
      longitudinal cut. Drilling of the condyle and the C-1 lateral mass is performed
      in a manner that preserves craniocervical stability. The lazy FLA is a true FLA
      that is based on manipulation of the VA and lateral bone removal to obtain
      excellent exposure ventral to the spinal cord and medulla, yet it is among the
      most conservative FLA techniques for management of the VA and provides a safer
      window for bone work and lesion management. Among 44 patients for whom this
      technique was used to resect 42 neoplasms and clip 2 posterior inferior cerebral
      artery aneurysms, there was no surgical mortality and no injury to the VA. 

PMID- 25828491
TI  - Endoscopic endonasal approach for craniovertebral junction pathology: a review of
      the literature.
AB  - OBJECT: The transoral approach is the gold standard for ventral decompression of
      the brainstem caused by craniovertebral junction (CVJ) pathology. This approach
      is often associated with significant morbidity, related to swallowing and
      respiratory complications. The endoscopic endonasal approach was introduced to
      reduce the rate of these complications. However, the exact role of this approach
      in the treatment of CVJ pathology is not well defined. METHODS: A comprehensive
      literature search was performed to identify series of patients with pathology of
      the CVJ treated via the endoscopie endonasal approach. Data on patient
      characteristics, indications for treatment, complications, and outcome were
      obtained and analyzed. RESULTS: Twelve studies involving 72 patients were
      included. The most common indications for treatment were rheumatoid pannus
      (38.9%) and basilar invagination (29.2%). Cerebrospinal fluid leak was found in
      18% of cases intraoperatively and 4.2% of cases postoperatively. One case of
      meningitis complicated by sepsis and death represents the procedure-related
      mortality of 1.4%. Of the patients without preoperative swallowing impairment,
      95% returned to oral feeding on the 3rd postoperative day. Ninety-three percent
      of patients experienced improvement in neurological symptoms after the procedure.
      CONCLUSIONS: The endonasal endoscopie approach is effective for the treatment of
      neural compression caused by CVJ pathology. It offers advantages such as lower
      rates of postoperative dysphagia and respiratory complications when compared with
      the more traditional transoral approach. However, these 2 approaches should be
      seen as complementary rather than alternatives. Patient-related factors as well
      as the surgeon's expertise must be considered when making treatment decisions.

PMID- 25828492
TI  - The rhinopalatine line as a reliable predictor of the inferior extent of
      endonasal odontoidectomies.
AB  - OBJECT: The endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) provides a minimally invasive
      corridor through which the cervicomedullary junction can be decompressed with
      reduced morbidity rates compared to those with the classic transoral approaches.
      The limit of the EEA is its inferior extent, and preoperative estimation of its
      reach is vital for determining its suitability. The aim of this study was to
      evaluate the actual inferior limit of the EEA in a surgical series of patients
      and develop an accurate and reliable predictor that can be used in planning
      endonasal odontoidectomies. METHODS: The actual inferior extent of surgery was
      determined in a series of 6 patients with adequate preoperative and postoperative
      imaging who underwent endoscopie endonasal odontoidectomy. The medians of the
      differences between several previously described predictive lines, namely the
      nasopalatine line (NPL) and nasoaxial line (NAxL), were compared with the actual
      surgical limit and the hard-palate line by using nonparametric statistics. A
      novel line, called the rhinopalatine line (RPL), was established and corresponded
      best with the actual limit of the surgery. RESULTS: There were 4 adult and 2
      pediatric patients included in this study. The NPL overestimated the inferior
      extent of the surgery by an average (+/- SD) of 21.9 +/- 8.1 mm (range 14.7-32.5
      mm). The NAxL and RPL overestimated the inferior limit of surgery by averages of
      6.9 +/- 3.8 mm (range 3.7-13.3 mm) and 1.7 +/- 3.7 mm (range -2.8 to 8.3 mm),
      respectively. The medians of the differences between the NPL and NAxL and the
      actual surgery were statistically different (both p = 0.0313). In contrast, there
      was no statistically significant difference between the RPL and the inferior
      limit of surgery (p = 0.4375). CONCLUSIONS: The RPL predicted the inferior limit
      of the EEA to the craniovertebral junction more accurately than previously
      described lines. The use of the RPL may help surgeons in choosing suitable
      candidates for the EEA and in selecting those for whom surgery through the
      oropharynx or the facial bones is the better approach.

PMID- 25828493
TI  - Endoscopic endonasal transclival transodontoid approach for ventral decompression
      of the craniovertebral junction: operative technique and nuances.
AB  - The transoral approach is considered the gold-standard surgical route for
      performing anterior odontoidectomy and ventral decompression of the
      craniovertebral junction for pathological conditions that result in symptomatic
      cervicomedullary compression, including basilar invagination, rheumatoid pannus,
      platybasia with retroflexed odontoid processes, and neoplasms. Extended
      modifications to increase the operative corridor and exposure include the
      transmaxillary, extended "open-door" maxillotomy, transpalatal, and
      transmandibular approaches. With the advent of extended endoscopic endonasal
      skull base techniques, there has been increased interest in the last decade in
      the endoscopic endonasal transclival transodontoid approach to the
      craniovertebral junction. The endonasal route represents an attractive minimally
      invasive surgical alternative, especially in cases of irreducible basilar
      invagination in which the pathology is situated well above the palatine line.
      Angled endoscopes and instrumentation can also be used for lower-lying pathology.
      By avoiding the oral cavity and subsequently using a transoral retractor, the
      endonasal route has the advantages of avoiding complications related to tongue
      swelling, tracheal swelling, prolonged intubation, velopharyngeal insufficiency,
      dysphagia, and dysphonia. Postoperative recovery is quicker, and hospital stays
      are shorter. In this report, the authors describe and illustrate their method of
      purely endoscopic endonasal transclival odonotoidectomy for anterior
      decompression of the craniovertebral junction and describe various operative
      pearls and nuances of the technique for avoiding complications.

PMID- 25828494
TI  - Pooled data analysis on anterior versus posterior approach for rheumatoid
      arthritis at the craniovertebral junction.
AB  - OBJECT: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most debilitating autoimmune
      diseases affecting the craniovertebral junction (CVJ). Patients predominantly
      present with myelopathic symptoms and intractable neck pain. The surgical
      approach traditionally has been either a combined anterior and posterior approach
      or a posterior-only approach. In this article, the authors review pooled data
      from the literature and discuss the benefits of the two types of approaches.
      METHODS: A search of the PubMed database was conducted using key words that
      describe spine deformities in RA and specific spinal interventions. The authors
      evaluated the neurological outcomes based on the Ranawat scale in both the groups
      through chi-square analysis. Multiple logistic regression was carried out to
      further examine for potential confounders. Any adverse sequalae resulting from
      either approach were also documented. Because all the procedures performed via a
      transoral approach in the analyzed articles also involved posterior fixation, for
      convenience of comparison, the combined procedures are referred to as "anterior
      approach" or "anterior-posterior" in the present study. RESULTS: The search
      yielded 233 articles, of which 11 described anterior approaches and 14 evaluated
      posterior approaches. The statistical analysis showed that patients treated with
      a posterior approach fared better than those treated with an anterior (combined)
      approach. It was noted that those patients in whom the cervical subluxations were
      reducible on traction predominantly underwent posterior approaches. CONCLUSIONS:
      CVJ instability is a serious complication of RA that requires surgical
      intervention. Although the anterior-posterior combined approach can provide
      direct decompression, it is associated with morbidity, and the analysis showed no
      statistically significant benefit to patients. In contrast, the posterior
      approach has been shown to provide statistically significant superiority with
      respect to stabilization and subsequent pannus reduction. Surgical approaches are
      undertaken based on the reducibility of subluxations with traction and the vector
      of compressive force. However, the choice of surgical approach should be based on
      the individual patient's pathology.

PMID- 25828495
TI  - National trends of incidence, treatment, and hospital charges of isolated C-2
      fractures in three different age groups.
AB  - OBJECT: Incidence of C-2 fracture is increasing in elderly patients. Patient age
      also influences decision making in the management of these fractures. There are
      very limited data on the national trends of incidence, treatment interventions,
      and resource utilization in patients in different age groups with isolated C-2
      fractures. The aim of this study is to investigate the incidence, treatment,
      complications, length of stay, and hospital charges of isolated C-2 fracture in
      patients in 3 different age groups by using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS)
      database. METHODS: The data were obtained from NIS from 2002 to 2011. Data on
      patients with closed fractures of C-2 without spinal cord injury were extracted
      using ICD-9-CM diagnosis code 805.02. Patients with isolated C-2 fractures were
      identified by excluding patients with other associated injuries. The cohort was
      divided into 3 age groups: < 65 years, 65-80 years, and > 80 years. Incidence,
      treatment characteristics, inpatient/postoperative complications, and hospital
      charges (mean and total annual charges) were compared between the 3 age groups.
      RESULTS: A total of 10,336 patients with isolated C-2 fractures were identified.
      The majority of the patients were in the very elderly age group (> 80 years;
      42.3%) followed by 29.7% in the 65- to 80-year age group and 28% in < 65-year age
      group. From 2002 to 2011, the incidence of hospitalization significantly
      increased in the 65- to 80-year and > 80-year age groups (p < 0.001). However,
      the incidence did not change substantially in the < 65-year age group (p =
      0.287). Overall, 21% of the patients were treated surgically, and 12.2% of the
      patients underwent nonoperative interventions (halo and spinal traction). The
      rate of nonoperative interventions significantly decreased over time in all age
      groups (p < 0.001). Regardless of treatment given, patients in older age groups
      had a greater risk of inpatient/postoperative complications, nonroutine
      discharges, and longer hospitalization. The mean hospital charges were
      significantly higher in older age groups (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence
      of hospitalization for isolated C-2 fractures is progressively increasing in
      older age groups. Simultaneously, there has been a steadily decreasing trend in
      the preference for nonoperative interventions. Due to more complicated hospital
      stay, longer hospitalizations, and higher rates of nonroutine discharges, the
      patients in older age groups seem to have a higher propensity for greater health
      care resource utilization.

PMID- 25828496
TI  - Anatomy and biomechanics of the craniovertebral junction.
AB  - The craniovertebral junction (CVJ) has unique anatomical structures that separate
      it from the subaxial cervical spine. In addition to housing vital neural and
      vascular structures, the majority of cranial flexion, extension, and axial
      rotation is accomplished at the CVJ. A complex combination of osseous and
      ligamentous supports allow for stability despite a large degree of motion. An
      understanding of anatomy and biomechanics is essential to effectively evaluate
      and address the various pathological processes that may affect this region.
      Therefore, the authors present an up-to-date narrative review of CVJ anatomy,
      normal and pathological biomechanics, and fixation techniques. 

PMID- 25828497
TI  - Magnetic resonance imaging of traumatic injury to the craniovertebral junction: a
      case-based review.
AB  - OBJECT: The craniovertebral junction (CVJ) is unique in the spinal column
      regarding the degree of multiplanar mobility allowed by its bony articulations. A
      network of ligamentous attachments provides stability to this junction. Although
      ligamentous injury can be inferred on CT scans through the utilization of
      craniometric measurements, the disruption of these ligaments can only be
      visualized directly with MRI. Here, the authors review the current literature on
      MRI evaluation of the CVJ following trauma and present several illustrative cases
      to highlight the utility and limitations of craniometric measures in the context
      of ligamentous injury at the CVJ. METHODS: A retrospective case review was
      conducted to identify patients with cervical spine trauma who underwent cervical
      MRI and subsequently required occipitocervical or atlantoaxial fusion.
      Craniometric measurements were performed on the CT images in these cases. An
      extensive PubMed/MEDLINE literature search was conducted to identify publications
      regarding the use of MRI in the evaluation of patients with CVJ trauma. RESULTS:
      The authors identified 8 cases in which cervical MRI was performed prior to
      operative stabilization of the CVJ. Craniometric measures did not reliably rule
      out ligamentous injury, and there was significant heterogeneity in the
      reliability of different craniometric measurements. A review of the literature
      revealed several case series and descriptive studies addressing MRI in CVJ
      trauma. Three papers reported the inadequacy of the historical Traynelis system
      for identifying atlantooccipital dislocation and presented 3 alternative
      classification schemes with emphasis on MRI findings. CONCLUSIONS: Recognition of
      ligamentous instability at the CVJ is critical in directing clinical decision
      making regarding surgical stabilization. Craniometric measures appear unreliable,
      and CT alone is unable to provide direct visualization of ligamentous injury.
      Therefore, while the decision to obtain MR images in CVJ trauma is largely based
      on clinical judgment with craniometric measures used as an adjunct, a high degree
      of suspicion is warranted in the care of these patients as a missed ligamentous
      injury can have devastating consequences.

PMID- 25828498
TI  - Radiological evaluation of cervical spine involvement in rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - Cervical spine involvement commonly occurs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
      (RA), especially those with inadequate treatment or severe disease forms. The
      most common site affected by RA is the atlantoaxial joint, potentially resulting
      in atlantoaxial instability, with cervical pain and neurological deficits. The
      second most common site of involvement is the subaxial cervical spine, often with
      subluxation, resulting in nerve root or spinal cord compression. In this paper,
      the authors review the most commonly used plain radiographic criteria to diagnose
      cervical instabilities seen with RA. Finally, we discuss the advantages and
      disadvantages of cervical CT and MRI in the setting of cervical involvement in
      RA. 

PMID- 25828499
TI  - Computed tomography evaluation of the normal craniocervical junction craniometry
      in 100 asymptomatic patients.
AB  - OBJECT: Most of the craniometric relationships of the normal craniocervical
      junction (CCJ), especially those related to angular craniometry, are still poorly
      studied and based on measurements taken from simple plain radiographs. In this
      study, the authors performed a craniometric evaluation of the CCJ in a population
      without known CCJ anomalies. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the normal
      CCJ craniometry based on measurements obtained from CT scans. METHOD: The authors
      analyzed 100 consecutive CCJ CT scans obtained in adult patients who were
      admitted at their tertiary hospital for treatment of non-CCJ conditions between
      2010 and 2012. A total of 17 craniometrical measurements were performed,
      including the relation of the odontoid with the cranial base, the atlantodental
      interval (ADI), the clivus length, the clivus-canal angle (CCA)-the angle formed
      by the clivus and the upper cervical spine, and the basal angle. RESULTS: The
      mean age of the 100 patients was 50.6 years, and the group included 52 men (52%)
      and 48 women (48%). In 5 patients (5%), the tip of the odontoid process was more
      than 2 mm above the Chamberlain line, and in one of these 5 patients (1% of the
      study group). it was more than 5 mm above it. One patient had a Grabb-Oakes
      measurement above 9 mm (suggesting ventral cervicomedullary encroachment). The
      mean ADI value was 1.1 mm. The thickness of the external occipital protuberance
      ranged from 7.42 to 22.36 mm. The mean clivus length was 44.74 mm, the mean CCA
      was 153.68 degrees  (range 132.32 degrees -173.95 degrees ), and the mean basal
      angle was 113.73 degrees  (ranging from 97.06 degrees -133.26 degrees ).
      CONCLUSIONS: The data obtained in this study can be useful for evaluating
      anomalies of the CCJ in comparison with normal parameters, potentially improving
      the diagnostic criteria of these anomalies. When evaluating CCJ malformations,
      one should take into account the normal ranges based on CT scans, with more
      precise bone landmarks, instead of those obtained from simple plain radiographs.

PMID- 25828500
TI  - Motion-related vascular abnormalities at the craniocervical junction:
      illustrative case series and literature review.
AB  - The craniocervical junction (CCJ) functions within a complicated regional anatomy
      necessary to protect and support vital neurovascular structures. In select
      instances, vascular pathology can be attributed to this complicated interplay of
      motion and structure found within this narrow space. The authors report 3 cases
      of complex vascular pathology related to motion at the CCJ and detail the
      management of these cases. Two cases involved posterior circulation vascular
      compression syndromes, and one case involved a vascular anomaly and its relation
      to aneurysm formation and rupture. The patient in Case 1 was a 66-year-old man
      with a history of syncopal episodes resulting from the bilateral vertebral artery
      becoming occluded when he rotated his head. Successful microsurgical
      decompression at the skull base resulted in patent bilateral vertebral artery V3
      segments upon head movement in all directions. The patient in Case 2 was a 53
      year-old woman who underwent elective resection of a right temporal meningioma
      and who experienced postoperative drowsiness, dysphagia, and mild right-arm
      ataxia. Subsequent MRI demonstrated bilateral posterior inferior cerebel-lar
      artery (PICA) strokes. Cerebral angiography showed a single PICA, of extradural
      origin, supplying both cerebellar hemispheres. The PICA exhibited dynamic
      extradural compression when the patient rotated her head; the bilateral PICA
      strokes were due to head rotation during surgical positioning. In Case 3, a 37
      year-old woman found unconscious in her home had diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhage
      and evidence of a right PICA aneurysm. A right far-lateral craniectomy was
      performed for aneurysm clipping, and she was found to have a dissecting aneurysm
      with an associated PICA originating extradurally. There was a shearing phenomenon
      of the extradural PICA along the dura of the foramen magnum, and this
      microtraumatic stress imposed on the vessel resulted in a dissecting aneurysm.
      This series of complex and unusual cases highlights the authors' understanding of
      vascular pathology of the CCJ and its management. 

PMID- 25828501
TI  - Bow hunter's syndrome revisited: 2 new cases and literature review of 124 cases.
AB  - Rotational occlusion of the vertebral artery (VA), or bow hunter's syndrome, is a
      rare yet surgically treatable cause of vertebrobasilar insufficiency. The
      underlying pathology is dynamic stenosis of the VA by osteophytes, fibrous bands,
      or lateral disc herniation with neck rotation or extension. The authors present 2
      previously unreported cases of bow hunter's syndrome and summarize 124 cases
      identified in a literature review. Both patients in the new cases were treated by
      VA decompression and fusion of the subaxial spine. Each had > 50% occlusion of
      the left VA at the point of entry into the transverse foramen with a
      contralateral VA that ended in the posterior inferior cerebellar artery.
      Analyzing data from 126 cases (the 2 new cases in addition to the previously
      published 124), the authors report that stenosis was noted within V1 in 4% of
      cases, in V2 in 58%, in V3 in 36%, and distal to C-1 in 2%. Patients presented in
      the 5th to 7th decade of life and were more often male than female. The stenotic
      area was decompressed in 85 (73%) of the 116 patients for whom the type of
      treatment was reported (V1, 4 [80%] of 5; V2, 52 [83%] of 63; V3/V4, 29 [60%] of
      48). Less commonly, fusion or combined decompression and fusion was used (V2, 7
      [11%] of 63; V3/V4, 14 [29%] of 48). Most patients reported complete resolution
      of symptoms. The authors conclude that patients with bow hunter's syndrome
      classically have an impaired collateral blood flow to the brainstem. This
      condition carries an excellent prognosis with decompression, fusion, or combined
      surgery, and individual patient characteristics should guide the choice of
      therapy. 

PMID- 25828502
TI  - Evolution of transoral approaches, endoscopic endonasal approaches, and reduction
      strategies for treatment of craniovertebral junction pathology: a treatment
      algorithm update.
AB  - The craniovertebral junction (CVJ), or the craniocervical junction (CCJ) as it is
      otherwise known, houses the crossroads of the CNS and is composed of the
      occipital bone that surrounds the foramen magnum, the atlas vertebrae, the axis
      vertebrae, and their associated ligaments and musculature. The musculoskeletal
      organization of the CVJ is unique and complex, resulting in a wide range of
      congenital, developmental, and acquired pathology. The refinements of the
      transoral approach to the CVJ by the senior author (A.H.M.) in the late 1970s
      revolutionized the treatment of CVJ pathology. At the same time, a physiological
      approach to CVJ management was adopted at the University of Iowa Hospitals and
      Clinics in 1977 based on the stability and motion dynamics of the CVJ and the
      site of encroachment, incorporating the transoral approach for irreducible
      ventral CVJ pathology. Since then, approaches and techniques to treat ventral CVJ
      lesions have evolved. In the last 40 years at University of Iowa Hospitals and
      Clinics, multiple approaches to the CVJ have evolved and a better understanding
      of CVJ pathology has been established. In addition, new reduction strategies that
      have diminished the need to perform ventral decompressive approaches have been
      developed and implemented. In this era of surgical subspecialization, to properly
      treat complex CVJ pathology, the CVJ specialist must be trained in skull base
      transoral and endoscopic endonasal approaches, pediatric and adult CVJ spine
      surgery, and must understand and be able to treat the complex CSF dynamics
      present in CVJ pathology to provide the appropriate, optimal, and tailored
      treatment strategy for each individual patient, both child and adult. This is a
      comprehensive review of the history and evolution of the transoral approaches,
      extended transoral approaches, endoscopie assisted transoral approaches,
      endoscopie endonasal approaches, and CVJ reduction strategies. Incorporating
      these advancements, the authors update the initial algorithm for the treatment of
      CVJ abnormalities first published in 1980 by the senior author. 

PMID- 25828503
TI  - Unilateral fixation for treatment of occipitocervical instability in children
      with congenital vertebral anomalies of the craniocervical junction.
AB  - OBJECT Patients with occipitocervical (OC) instability from congenital vertebral
      anomalies (CVAs) of the craniocervical junction (CCJ) often have bony
      abnormalities that make instrumentation placement difficult. Within this patient
      population, some bilateral instrumentation constructs either fail or are not
      feasible, and a unilateral construct must be used. The authors describe the
      surgical management and outcomes of this disorder in patients in whom unilateral
      fixation constructs were used to treat OC instability. METHODS From a database of
      OC fusion procedures, the authors identified patients who underwent unilateral
      fixation for the management of OC instability. Patient characteristics, surgical
      details, and radiographic outcomes were reviewed. In each patient, CT scans were
      performed at least 4 months after surgery to evaluate for fusion. RESULTS Eight
      patients with CVAs of the CCJ underwent unilateral fixation for the treatment of
      OC instability. For 4 patients, the procedure occurred after a bilateral OC
      construct failed or infection forced hardware removal. For the remainder, it was
      the primary procedure. Two patients required reoperation for hardware revision
      and 1 developed nonunion requiring revision of the bone graft. Ultimately, 7
      patients demonstrated osseous fusion on CT scans and 1 had a stable fibrous
      union. CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate that a unilateral OC fixation is
      effective for the treatment of OC instability in children with CVAs of the CCJ in
      whom bilateral screw placement fails or is not feasible. 

PMID- 25828504
TI  - Appraisals of Internal States and their Consequences: Relationship to Adolescent
      Analogue Bipolar Symptoms.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Extreme appraisals of internal states correlate with and
      prospectively predict mood symptoms in adults, and discriminate individuals with
      bipolar disorder from individuals with unipolar depression and non-clinical
      controls. AIMS: These findings required replication in adolescents. This study
      sought to investigate the relationships between appraisals of internal states,
      mood symptoms and risk for bipolar disorder in an adolescent sample. METHOD: A
      non-clinical sample (n = 98) of adolescents completed measures of mood symptoms,
      appraisals, and mania risk, alongside covariates. RESULTS: Appraisals of internal
      states were associated with analogue bipolar symptoms, independently of
      impulsivity and responses to positive affect. Positive appraisals of activated
      mood states were uniquely associated with hypomania, whilst negative appraisals
      were uniquely associated with depression and irritability symptoms. Individuals
      who appraised activated states as both extremely positive and extremely negative
      were more likely to score at high or moderate risk for future mania. CONCLUSIONS:
      This study is the first to demonstrate associations between appraisals of
      internal states, analogue mood symptoms and mania risk in adolescents. Clinical
      implications are discussed.

PMID- 25828505
TI  - Carnitine is associated with fatigue following chemoradiotherapy for head and
      neck cancer.
AB  - CONCLUSION: Longitudinal assessments of carnitine and fatigue in patients with
      head and neck squamous cell carcinoma suggest that cisplatin damages the
      carnitine system in patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy and that carnitine
      deficiency increases fatigue. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to
      monitor carnitine levels and fatigue in patients who received cisplatin-based CRT
      and, for comparison, in patients treated by surgery alone. METHODS: To
      investigate the level of carnitine, mice were administered cisplatin. Next, a
      prospective analysis was performed to compare plasma carnitine levels before and
      after cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy and to assess the relationship between
      carnitine levels and fatigue. RESULTS: The plasma levels of total carnitine (TC),
      free carnitine (FC), and fatty acylcarnitine (AC) were significantly lower in
      mice receiving cisplatin compared with control mice. Mean total carnitine and
      free carnitine levels were significantly lower 2 weeks after chemoradiotherapy
      (total carnitine: Mean = 45.6, SD = 16.5, p = 0.01; free carnitine: Mean = 37.8,
      SD = 12.7, p = 0.02) than before chemoradiotherapy (total carnitine: Mean = 57.7,
      SD = 12.2; free carnitine: Mean = 48.1, SD = 11.6). There was a significant
      inverse correlation between carnitine levels and fatigue after chemoradiotherapy.

PMID- 25828506
TI  - Chemometric analyses for the characterization of raw and processed seeds of
      Descurainia sophia (L.) based on HPLC fingerprints.
AB  - The seeds of Descurainia sophia (L.) (short for DSS below), with a long history
      of medicinal utilization in China, have attracted the attention of many Chinese
      medicine practitioners for the potent efficacy. In the present study, the raw and
      processed DSS were differentiated by several chemometrics methods based on HPLC
      fingerprints. Moreover, peaks which were mainly responsible for the
      differentiation between raw and roasted DSS were found. Therefore, the method of
      the chromatographic fingerprints combined with multivariate statistical analysis
      was effective and reasonable in orientating chemical constituents which were
      mainly responsible for the differentiation between raw and roasted materials,
      thus shedding light on illustrating the processing mechanism. What's more, this
      method can also be applied in the identification of authenticity. 

PMID- 25828507
TI  - Development of liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of dabigatran
      etexilate mesilate and its ten impurities supported by quality-by-design
      methodology.
AB  - In this paper, the development of reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method
      for the analysis of dabigatran etexilate mesilate and its ten impurities
      supported by quality by design (QbD) approach is presented. The defined
      analytical target profile (ATP) was the efficient baseline separation and the
      accurate determination of the investigated analytes. The selected critical
      quality attributes (CQAs) were the separation criterions between the critical
      peak pairs because the mixture complexity imposed a gradient elution mode. The
      critical process parameters (CPPs) studied in this research were acetonitrile
      content at the beginning of gradient program, acetonitrile content at the end of
      gradient program and the gradient time. Plan of experiments was defined by Box
      Behnken design. The experimental domains of the three selected factors x1-
      content of the acetonitrile at the start of linear gradient, x2--content of the
      acetonitrile at the end of linear gradient and x3--gradient time (tG) were [10%,
      30%], [48%, 60%] and [8 min, 15 min], respectively. In order to define the design
      space (DS) as a zone where the desired quality criteria is met providing also the
      quality assurance, Monte Carlo simulations were performed. The uniform error
      distribution equal to the calculated standard error was added to the model
      coefficient estimates. Monte Carlo simulation included 5000 iterations in each of
      3969 defined grid points and the region having the probability pi >= 95% to
      achieve satisfactory values of all defined CQAs was computed. As a working point,
      following chromatographic conditions suited in the middle of the DS were chosen:
      22% acetonitrile at the start of gradient program, 55.5% acetonitrile at the end
      of gradient program end and the gradient time of 11.5 min. The developed method
      was validated in order to prove its reliability.

PMID- 25828508
TI  - Novel strategy for herbal species classification based on UPLC-HRMS
      oligosaccharide profiling.
AB  - Oligosaccharides, which exist widely in herbs, present diverse important
      pharmacological activities. However, the complexity of oligosaccharides seriously
      challenges their profiling, quality control, and elucidation of activity. In this
      paper, a novel oligosaccharide analytical method based on a new derivatization
      pretreatment and ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high
      resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-HRMS) procedure was developed to
      rapidly profile and identify the oligosaccharides of Epimedium. Oligosaccharides
      are easily derivatized by 2,4-bis(diethylamino)-6-hydrazino-1,3,5-triazine under
      convenient and mild conditions. Without any further purification steps,
      oligosaccharides were analyzed by an established UPLC-HRMS/MS method with high
      sensitivity, good separation efficiency and speed. Benefitting from the
      derivatization, the oligosaccharides generated a response in the MS two orders of
      magnitude higher than that of the free oligosaccharide. Oligosaccharides of 52
      Epimedium samples were profiled and identified based on the high-resolution mass
      spectral data. A total of 66 oligosaccharide compounds detected in 52 Epimedium
      herbs were relatively quantified and statistically processed by principal
      component analysis (PCA). The 52 Epimedium herbs could be classified into
      different species based on their oligosaccharide composition and content.
      Thirteen oligosaccharide compounds demonstrated potential as markers for
      Epimedium species classification, and their structures were preliminarily
      identified using MS/MS spectra. 

PMID- 25828509
TI  - Development, validation and comparison of NIR and Raman methods for the
      identification and assay of poor-quality oral quinine drops.
AB  - Poor quality antimalarial drugs are one of the public's major health problems in
      Africa. The depth of this problem may be explained in part by the lack of
      effective enforcement and the lack of efficient local drug analysis laboratories.
      To tackle part of this issue, two spectroscopic methods with the ability to
      detect and to quantify quinine dihydrochloride in children's oral drops
      formulations were developed and validated. Raman and near infrared (NIR)
      spectroscopy were selected for the drug analysis due to their low cost, non
      destructive and rapid characteristics. Both of the methods developed were
      successfully validated using the total error approach in the range of 50-150% of
      the target concentration (20%W/V) within the 10% acceptance limits. Samples
      collected on the Congolese pharmaceutical market were analyzed by both techniques
      to detect potentially substandard drugs. After a comparison of the analytical
      performance of both methods, it has been decided to implement the method based on
      NIR spectroscopy to perform the routine analysis of quinine oral drop samples in
      the Quality Control Laboratory of Drugs at the University of Kinshasa (DRC). 

PMID- 25828510
TI  - Relating Water Deficiency to Berry Texture, Skin Cell Wall Composition, and
      Expression of Remodeling Genes in Two Vitis vinifera L. Varieties.
AB  - The cell wall (CW) is a dynamic structure that responds to stress. Water shortage
      (WS) impacts grapevine berry composition and its sensorial quality. In the
      present work, berry texture, skin CW composition, and expression of remodeling
      genes were investigated in two V. vinifera varieties, Touriga Nacional (TN) and
      Trincadeira (TR), under two water regimes, Full Irrigation (FI) and No Irrigation
      (NI). The global results allowed an evident separation between both varieties and
      the water treatments. WS resulted in increased anthocyanin contents in both
      varieties, reduced amounts in cellulose and lignin at maturation, but an increase
      in arabinose-containing polysaccharides more tightly bound to the CW in TR. In
      response to WS, the majority of the CW related genes were down-regulated in a
      variety dependent pattern. The results support the assumption that WS affects
      grape berries by stiffening the CW through alteration in pectin structure,
      supporting its involvement in responses to environmental conditions. 

PMID- 25828512
TI  - A Meta-analysis of Central Corneal Thickness Changes With Overnight
      Orthokeratology.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the change of central corneal thickness (CCT) in the
      treatment of orthokeratology in patients with myopia. METHODS: A systematic
      search of all relevant studies published through April 2014 was conducted, and
      95% confidence intervals (CI) of CCT change were calculated. Random or fixed
      effects models were used according to heterogeneity. Publication bias of the
      articles was evaluated using funnel plots and Begg test. RESULTS: A total of 10
      studies with 239 patients (339 eyes) from clinical studies were included. Central
      corneal thickness reduced significantly from 1 day to 1 week by 5.73 MUm (95% CI,
      1.75-9.70 MUm; P=0.005), and a significant mean reduction of 5.89 MUm also
      occurred from 1 day to 1 month (95% CI, 3.50-8.29 MUm; P<0.001). No significant
      reduction was found between 1 week and 1 month (P=0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Our meta
      analysis demonstrated that most reduction of CCT occurred during the first week
      and remained thinner for 1 month. Further randomized controlled trials with
      larger sample sizes, standardized outcome measurements, and different follow-up
      periods are warranted to find the precise change.

PMID- 25828511
TI  - ENaC in the Rabbit Lacrimal Gland and its Changes During Sjogren Syndrome and
      Pregnancy.
AB  - PURPOSE: Epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) plays a critical role in the control of
      Na(+) balance and the development and progression of exocrine gland pathologic
      condition. The aim of the present study was to investigate the presence of ENaC
      in the rabbit lacrimal gland (LG) and its potential changes during induced
      autoimmune dacryoadenitis (IAD) and pregnancy. METHODS: Total messenger RNA
      (mRNA) of alpha, beta, and gamma subunits was extracted from whole LG, acinar
      cells, and ductal cells by laser capture microdissection (LCM) for real-time
      reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Lacrimal glands were processed
      for Western blot and immunofluorescence. RESULTS: Messenger RNA for both alpha
      and gamma was expressed in whole LG lysates, whereas beta was undetectable. In
      rabbits with IAD, the levels of mRNA for alpha and gamma were 20.9% and 58.9%
      lower (P<0.05), whereas no significant changes were observed in term-pregnant
      rabbits (P=0.152). However, we were unable to detect mRNA of any subunit in LCM
      specimens of ductal cells because of their low levels. Western blot demonstrated
      bands for both alpha (90 kDa) and gamma (85 kDa) but beta was undetectable. In
      rabbits with IAD, densitometry analysis showed that expression of alpha decreased
      22%, whereas gamma decreased 26% (P<0.05). In pregnant rabbits, however, alpha
      expression was 31% lower, whereas gamma expression was 34% lower (P<0.05). From
      immunofluorescence studies, all subunits were present in ductal cells, whereas
      virtually no immunoreactivity was detected in acini. No noticeable changes of
      their distribution pattern and intensity were found in rabbits with IAD or during
      pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated the presence of ENaC in
      the rabbit LG and its alterations in IAD and pregnancy, suggesting that ENaC may
      contribute to the pathogenesis of altered LG secretion and ocular surface
      symptoms in these animals.

PMID- 25828513
TI  - Etiologies, Quantitative Hypoesthesia, and Clinical Outcomes of Neurotrophic
      Keratopathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To report a series of patients with neurotrophic keratopathy and to
      correlate visual outcomes with the causative condition, grade of ulceration, and
      degree of cornea hypoesthesia. METHODS: A retrospective review of patients with
      neurotrophic keratopathy was conducted. The causality, visual acuities, ulcer
      grade, quantitative corneal sensitivity, treatments, and ocular comorbidities
      were recorded. RESULTS: Forty-six eyes were identified, and 20 experienced
      corneal sensation quantified by the Cochet-Bonnet aesthesiometer. Diabetes
      followed by herpes simplex and neurosurgical sequelae were the most common
      causes. Grade II ulcers were the most commonly seen ulcers. Twenty-eight percent
      of eyes failed conservative treatment and required surgical therapy. Overall, the
      initial (20/289) and final (20/158) acuities were poor, although the improvement
      was significant (P=0.05). However, there was no difference in visual recovery by
      disease (P=0.46). There was little correlation between ulcer grade and visual
      improvement (rs=0.24). Corneal sensation ranged from 0 to 3 cm generally for all
      causality of disease. There were little correlations between corneal hypoesthesia
      and ulcer grade (rs=-0.25), between corneal hypoesthesia and visual improvement
      (r=0.16), or between corneal hypoesthesia and final visual outcome (r=-0.36). A
      large percentage of eyes had significant ocular comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS:
      Visual outcomes for neurotrophic keratopathy can be poor because of both the
      cornea and the underlying disease. We did not find correlations regarding the
      causality of the disease, severity of ulceration, or degree of hypoesthesia with
      visual recovery or outcome. We hope future studies will shed further light on the
      disease to help better predict patient outcomes and thereby improve therapies.

PMID- 25828514
TI  - Objective Assessment of Eye Dominance Using the VEP: A Pilot Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To develop a clinical protocol for the determination of eye dominance
      using an objective method (i.e., the visual evoked potential [VEP]), and
      furthermore to determine the correlation of these objective findings with
      clinical subjective tests of eye dominance to provide guidance in clinical
      monovision refractive correction. METHODS: The Diopsys NOVA-TR system was used to
      record the VEP amplitude and latency of 10 visually-normal, presbyopic, adult
      subjects aged 50 to 70 years ((Equation is included in full-text article.)=60,
      SEM=0.17 years). First, eye dominance was assessed in two ways: a sensory-based
      "sensitivity to blur task" and a motor-based "sighting task." Next, while
      monocularly defocused, subjects binocularly viewed a black-and-white checkerboard
      (20-min arc size), pattern-reversal stimulus under 7 different test conditions:
      (1) baseline, (2) dominant (DE) eye blurred +1 diopter (D), (3) nondominant (NDE)
      eye blurred +1 D, (4) DE +2 D, (5) NDE +2 D, (6) DE +3 D, and (7) NDE +3 D.
      RESULTS: Under nearly all conditions (22/24=92%), the amplitude and latency were
      significantly different from baseline with any amount of defocus (P<0.05).
      Monocular defocus decreased, and increased, the mean binocular VEP amplitude and
      latency, respectively. There were no significant differences in either the
      binocular VEP amplitude or latency values when comparing defocused dominant vs.
      nondominant eyes. CONCLUSIONS: Eye dominance type (i.e., sensory or motor) and
      status (i.e., DE or NDE) did not provide a differential effect with respect to
      the VEP findings. Thus, the VEP technique does not show promise as an objective
      adjunct in the fitting of monovision correction.

PMID- 25828515
TI  - Evaluation of contact lens multipurpose solutions on bacterial biofilm
      development.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: No sooner are contact lenses (CLs) inserted into the eyes than
      lipids, proteins, and glycoproteins rapidly accumulate on their surface, thus
      favoring the adhesion of commensal bacteria and biofilm formation. Infections may
      be caused by the proliferation of indigenous flora or other opportunistic
      pathogens. Our purpose was to evaluate the activity and the capacity of different
      CL solutions to interfere with the mechanisms of biofilm formation and stability
      and use of a system to study dynamically biofilm development. METHODS: We
      evaluated the antibiofilm activity of three different multipurpose solutions
      (MPSs): Regard, Biotrue, and OPTI-FREE PureMoist on four bacterial species
      (Serratia marcescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and
      Staphylococcus aureus). Static biofilm assay was first performed to analyze the
      effect of MPSs. Dynamic assays were performed with the BioFlux system to analyze
      the effect of the OxyChlorite solution Regard on the biofilm formation. RESULTS:
      Our studies show that MPSs are able to completely inhibit biofilm formation of
      Staphylococcus species and of S. marcescens after only 4 hr of incubation.
      Moreover, a reduction of biofilm formation by Pseudomonas was noted. Best results
      on P. aeruginosa were obtained with Regard. Regard was also used for dynamic
      assay, revealing its ability to disaggregate the mature biofilm. Regard
      completely inhibited biofilm formation by S. epidermidis and slowed down biofilm
      development by P. aeruginosa. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the CL
      solutions tested were all able to reduce biofilm formation. Furthermore, the
      BioFlux system was proven to be useful for the evaluation of the effectiveness of
      CL solutions against microbial biofilm formation.

PMID- 25828516
TI  - Faculty development programs improve the quality of Multiple Choice Questions
      items' writing.
AB  - The aim of this study was to assess the utility of long term faculty development
      programs (FDPs) in order to improve the quality of multiple choice questions
      (MCQs) items' writing. This was a quasi-experimental study, conducted with newly
      joined faculty members. The MCQ items were analyzed for difficulty index,
      discriminating index, reliability, Bloom's cognitive levels, item writing flaws
      (IWFs) and MCQs' nonfunctioning distractors (NFDs) based test courses of
      respiratory, cardiovascular and renal blocks. Significant improvement was found
      in the difficulty index values of pre- to post-training (p = 0.003). MCQs with
      moderate difficulty and higher discrimination were found to be more in the post
      training tests in all three courses. Easy questions were decreased from 36.7 to
      22.5%. Significant improvement was also reported in the discriminating indices
      from 92.1 to 95.4% after training (p = 0.132). More number of higher cognitive
      level of Bloom's taxonomy was reported in the post-training test items
      (p<0.0001). Also, NFDs and IWFs were reported less in the post-training items
      (p<0.02). The MCQs written by the faculties without participating in FDPs are
      usually of low quality. This study suggests that newly joined faculties need
      active participation in FDPs as these programs are supportive in improving the
      quality of MCQs' items writing. 

PMID- 25828517
TI  - Eicosapentaenoic Acid Versus Docosahexaenoic Acid as Options for Vascular Risk
      Prevention: A Fish Story.
AB  - Vascular inflammation is a key component involved in the process of
      arthrosclerosis, which in turn increases the risk for cardiovascular injury. In
      the last 10 years, there have been many trials that looked at omega-3 fatty acids
      as a way to reduce cardiovascular risk. These trials observed the effects of
      eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on the traditional
      lipid panel and found that both EPA and DHA reduce triglyceride (TG) level and
      increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels but also increase
      the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. In the 2 more recent
      trials, the MARINE and ANCHOR, EPA was given as an adjunct therapy to high-risk
      patients and not only was the traditional lipids measured but also examined the
      vascular inflammatory biomarkers. The results of these 2 trials not only showed
      reduction in cardiovascular risk because of reduction in vascular inflammation
      and reduction in the lipid panel but also showed that one of the MARINE-derived
      omega-3 fatty acid is superior to the other. Data search for omega-3 fatty acids
      and cardiovascular risk was performed, and articles were selected for review from
      2006 to date. The research studies were all double-blind randomized trials except
      for one, which was a single-blind and focused on the effects of omega-3 fatty
      acids on the entire lipid panel. The participants received DHA/EPA and compared
      with a placebo group on the effect seen in the lipid panel. The first 7 studies
      looked at the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on TG, LDL-C, and HDL-C; of the 7, 1
      directly compared DHA and EPA, 2 focused on EPA, and 4 were directed towards DHA
      alone. The MARINE and ANCHOR trials were more recent and also looked at the same
      parameter but also monitored vascular inflammatory biomarkers and how they were
      affected by omega-3 fatty acids. A second data search was performed for vascular
      biomarkers and cardiovascular risk, and articles that focused on high-sensitivity
      C-reactive protein and oxidized low-density lipoprotein were selected for review.
      Omega-3 fatty acids have shown to decrease TG level in multiple trials, but they
      have also shown to increase LDL and HDL levels, likely because omega-3 fatty
      acids promote TG conversion into HDL/LDL. The older data suggested that the
      benefits of omega-3 fatty acids are nullified by their effects on LDL levels. The
      data from the MARINE and ANCHOR trials have shown that EPA alone at 4 g per day
      has shown to decrease TG and total cholesterol without affecting the LDL levels.
      The earlier data showed that both EPA and DHA decreased TG level and increased
      levels of HDL-C, but that the DHA alone and direct comparison of DHA/EPA showed
      that DHA has more undesirable effects on LDL. Furthermore, the MARINE and ANCHOR
      trials have both shown that not only does EPA improve the lipid panel but also
      helps to decrease the levels of the vascular inflammatory biomarkers, thus
      further helping to decrease cardiovascular risk. The use of EPA as an adjunct
      therapy for high-risk patient has shown to help decrease cardiovascular risk. The
      reduction in risk is performed not only by decreasing TG but also by reducing
      vascular inflammation. Although because there are no randomized double-blind
      study looking at this, the research is inconclusive and requires further
      investigation. 

PMID- 25828518
TI  - CHFR methylation strongly correlates with methylation of DNA damage repair and
      apoptotic pathway genes in non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - DNA methylation occurs commonly in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We sought
      to determine the frequency and relationship of methylation of key genes involved
      in the pathways of mitotic checkpoint control, DNA damage repair, apoptosis, and
      growth factor signaling in these patients. We analyzed the DNA methylation status
      of eight genes (CHFR, FANCF, MGMT, p16, DAPK, ASC or TMS-1, RAR-B, and CRBP1)
      using nested methylation-specific PCR (MSP) on over 314 paraffin-embedded, human
      non-small cell lung cancer samples. We determined the methylation frequency of
      each gene in addition to the association of the methylation of each gene with
      other members of the panel. Methylation was a common event in these samples. Our
      methylation analysis showed frequencies of methylation of 10% for CHFR, 14% for
      FANCF, 30% for MGMT, 29% for p16, 17% for DAPK, 33% for ASC, 38% for RAR-B, and
      7% for CRBP1. There was a strong correlation between methylation of the mitotic
      G2-M checkpoint gene, CHFR, and methylation of other genes in our panel involved
      in DNA damage repair (FANCF and MGMT) and apoptosis (DAPK and ASC) but not with
      other genes in our panel, including p16 (the G1-S checkpoint gene), CRBP1, or RAR
      B. In addition, MGMT methylation strongly correlated with the pro-apoptotic gene,
      ASC. There are distinct associations of methylated genes in non-small cell lung
      cancer involving DNA damage repair, apoptosis, and the G2-M mitotic checkpoint
      control. Further studies are warranted to determine whether these methylation
      patterns have implications for prognosis in addition to prediction of response to
      chemotherapeutic agents commonly used in the treatment of non-small cell lung
      cancer, such as radiotherapy and platinum- or taxane-based chemotherapy. 

PMID- 25828519
TI  - Advances in mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment of pernicious anemia.
AB  - Pernicious anemia (PA) is an entity initially described in 1849 as a condition
      that consisted of pallor, weakness, and progressive health decline. Since then
      several advances led to the conclusion that PA is an autoimmune disease
      characterized by the deficient absorption of dietary cobalamin. It is currently
      recognized as the most common cause of cobalamin deficiency worldwide. We hereby
      review the current understanding of the disease and its neurological,
      hematological, and biochemical manifestations with emphasis on the diagnostic
      approach, treatment, and monitoring strategies. We propose an algorithm for the
      diagnostic approach considering the current performance and limitations of the
      available diagnostic tools for evaluation of cobalamin status and the presence of
      autoimmune chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). Patients with PA require lifelong
      treatment with cobalamin replacement therapy. The current widely available
      treatment can be provided through enteral or parenteral cobalamin supplements,
      with comparable efficacy and tolerability. 

PMID- 25828520
TI  - Dendritic-tumor fusion cells in cancer immunotherapy.
AB  - A promising area of clinical investigation is the use of cancer immunotherapy to
      treat cancer patients. Dendritic cells (DCs) operate as professional antigen
      presenting cells (APCs) and play a critical role in the induction of antitumor
      immune responses. Thus, DC-based cancer immunotherapy represents a powerful
      strategy. One DC-based cancer immunotherapy strategy that has been investigated
      is the administration of fusion cells generated with DCs and whole tumor cells
      (DC-tumor fusion cells). The DC-tumor fusion cells can process a broad array of
      tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), including unidentified molecules, and present
      them through major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and II pathways in
      the context of co-stimulatory signals. Improving the therapeutic efficacy of DC
      tumor fusion cell-based cancer immunotherapy requires increased immunogenicity of
      DCs and whole tumor cells. We discuss the potential ability of DC-tumor fusion
      cells to activate antigen-specific T cells and strategies to improve the
      immunogenicity of DC-tumor fusion cells as anticancer vaccines. 

PMID- 25828521
TI  - Genetic causes of pituitary hormone deficiencies.
AB  - In recent decades, dozens of genes that cause isolated and combined pituitary
      hormone deficiencies have been discovered. We will review the clinically relevant
      genes known to cause isolated and combined pituitary hormone deficiencies in
      humans. This review will address genetic causes of adrenocorticotropic hormone
      deficiency, thyroid stimulating hormone deficiency, growth hormone deficiency,
      hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, and diabetes insipidus. Additionally, we will
      discuss genetic causes of combined pituitary hormone deficiency, septo-optic
      dysplasia, holoprosencephaly, and multisystemic syndromes in which
      hypopituitarism is a significant component. With the widespread clinical
      availability of next generation sequencing and ongoing identification of new
      disease causing genes, genetic diagnoses are determined for increasing numbers of
      patients. With new insights into mechanisms of disease resulting from multiple
      gene interactions, an increasingly nuanced understanding of the underlying
      genetic etiology of pituitary hormone deficiencies is possible. 

PMID- 25828522
TI  - New concepts on functional chronic pelvic and perineal pain: pathophysiology and
      multidisciplinary management.
AB  - The management of chronic pelvic and perineal pain has been improved by a better
      understanding of the mechanisms of this pain and an optimized integrated
      multidisciplinary approach to the patient. The concept of organic lesions
      responsible for a persistent nociceptive factor has gradually been replaced by
      that of dysregulation of nociceptive messages derived from the pelvis and
      perineum. In this setting, painful diseases identified by organ specialists are
      usually also involved and share several common denominators (triggering factors,
      predisposing clinical context). These diseases include painful bladder syndrome,
      irritable bowel syndrome, vulvodynia, and chronic pelvic pain syndrome. The
      painful symptoms vary from one individual to another and according to his or her
      capacity to activate pain inhibition/control processes. Although the patient
      often attributes chronic pain to a particular organ (with the corollary that pain
      will persist until the organ has been treated), this pain is generally no longer
      derived from the organ but is expressed via this organ. Several types of clinical
      presentation of complex pelvic pain have therefore been pragmatically identified
      to facilitate the management of treatment failures resulting from a purely organ
      based approach, which can also reinforce the patient's impression of
      incurability. These subtypes correspond to neuropathic pain, central
      sensitization (fibromyalgia), complex regional pain syndrome, and emotional
      components similar to those observed in post-traumatic stress disorder. These
      various components are also often associated and self-perpetuating. Consequently,
      when pelvic pain cannot be explained by an organ disease, this model, using each
      of these four components associated with their specific mechanisms, can be used
      to propose personalized treatment options and also to identify patients at high
      risk of postoperative pelvic pain (multi-operated patients, central
      sensitization, post-traumatic stress disorder, etc.), which constitutes a major
      challenge for prevention of these types of pain that have major implications for
      patients and society. 

PMID- 25828523
TI  - Safety and efficacy of rivaroxaban versus warfarin in patients undergoing
      catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: a meta-analysis of observational
      studies.
AB  - The safety and efficacy of rivaroxaban in the periprocedural anticoagulation for
      patients undergoing catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation is not well
      established. We sought to systematically review this evidence using data from
      multiple studies. A thorough literature search was conducted in MEDLINE, EMABSE,
      Web of knowledge, clinicaltrials.gov, and the Cochrane library up to November
      2014. Studies of at least 100 patients in rivaroxaban and warfarin groups were
      included. Nine observational studies were identified enrolling a total of 4,334
      patients (1,210 treated with rivaroxaban and 3,124 with warfarin). The primary
      outcomes were thromboembolic events and major bleeding. The fixed-effects model
      meta-analysis was performed and risk ratios (RRs) were calculated. No significant
      differences were found between patients treated with rivaroxaban and warfarin
      with regard to thromboembolic events (0.25% rivaroxaban vs. 0.29% warfarin; RR:
      0.61; 95%CI: 0.21-1.76; P=0.36) and major bleeding (1.03% rivaroxaban vs. 1.83%
      warfarin; RR: 0.51; 95%CI: 0.26-1.00; P=0.05). This meta-analysis suggests that
      patients treated with rivaroxaban have a similar incidence of thromboembolic
      events and major bleeding compared to warfarin. Signals were seen favoring
      rivaroxaban; however, considering low events rates, more high-quality studies are
      necessary to thoroughly compare the two strategies. 

PMID- 25828524
TI  - Current and emerging roles of functional imaging in radiation therapy.
AB  - The advent of functional imaging facilitates the acquisition of patient-specific
      tumor characteristics, including its metabolic state and regional oxygen tension.
      Recent advances promote incorporating this information with data obtained from
      current imaging techniques, such as MRI and CT, to manage various malignancies.
      Functional imaging's vital roles progressively evolved to include: aiding in
      diagnosis, improving radiation treatment planning, differentiating tumor volume
      from surrounding normal tissues which enables dose escalation to the former while
      improving sparing of the latter, adapting radiation therapy regimens according to
      a tumor's response to initial treatment, and assessing radiation therapy response
      and toxicity. This review explores functional imaging in radiation oncology in
      the context of these five applications, as well as its comparison to, and
      integration with, existing imaging modalities. In parallel with advances in
      functional imaging and understanding of tumor microbiology, the emergence of
      diverse tracers provides a plethora of options to distinguish and manage
      malignancies on the basis of specific metabolic processes and changing
      microenvironmental cues. Current limitations, potential concerns, and future
      innovations of functional imaging are also discussed. 

PMID- 25828525
TI  - Hematopoietic cell transplantation in chronic myeloid leukemia in the age of
      tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
AB  - The development and widespread use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has
      relegated the use of hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT), in most countries, to
      chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients who fail or are intolerant to TKIs. Its
      long-term cost effectiveness compared to TKIs, however, has maintained its use as
      front-line treatment in some areas. Advances in HCT, including the development of
      intravenous busulfan and plasma assays permitting dose adjustment, have improved
      results of HCT in CML. Improved supportive care has lowered the incidence of non
      relapse mortality and improved survival. The availability of reduced-intensity
      preparative regimens, molecular typing of unrelated donors, and the use of cord
      blood and haploidentical donors has expanded the application of HCT to nearly any
      patient with an appropriate indication. From 2006 to 2010, approximately one
      thousand HCTs were performed annually in patients with CML. Better understanding
      of recent advances will improve the appropriate use and results of HCT in
      patients with CML. 

PMID- 25828526
TI  - Immune effects of targeted radiation therapy for cancer.
AB  - Radiation therapy plays an important role in the treatment of the majority of
      cancers, and is commonly used to treat both localized and metastatic disease.
      Immunotherapy has recently been firmly integrated into the treatment of
      metastatic melanoma, and holds significant promise in treating a variety of other
      cancers. Although large field radiation has historically been appreciated for its
      immunosuppressive ability, targeted radiation can induce substantial changes in
      the tumor microenvironment beyond cellular cytotoxicity that evoke innate and
      adaptive immune responses. Previous studies have highlighted radiation-induced
      changes in proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines, effector, and immunosuppressive
      T cell subsets, as well as in immune receptors on tumor cells. Some of these
      changes in localized and systemic immune mediators have been linked to expansion
      of tumor-reactive T cells, improved clinical responses, and increased overall
      survival in preclinical and clinical models. Taken together, this evidence
      suggests that targeted radiation therapy can impact anti-tumor immune responses,
      and may potentially be combined with immunotherapy for synergistic effect. 

PMID- 25828527
TI  - An unexpected journey: how cancer immunotherapy has paved the way for an HIV-1
      cure.
AB  - Over 30 million people worldwide are currently infected with human
      immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1). While HIV-1 infection was initially
      thought to be a death sentence, the advent of combination antiretroviral therapy
      (cART) in the mid-1990's resulted in decreases in viremia and an extended
      lifespan for infected persons. Despite this, long-term control of the virus in
      the absence of drug therapy has yet to be achieved, owing to the rebound in viral
      load and resumption of disease progression that follows removal of the patient
      from cART. Currently, the most promising candidates for an HIV-1 cure are
      immunotherapies that harness the patient's own immune system and induce cytotoxic
      T lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated clearance of infected cells. Most of these approaches
      were developed and optimized in the cancer setting and have had varying degrees
      of success, the findings from which have wide applications to various disease
      models. In this review, we evaluate the past successes and failures of cancer
      immunotherapy and how the findings have shaped our journey toward an HIV-1 cure. 

PMID- 25828528
TI  - Surgical team member assessment of the safety of surgery practice in 38 South
      Carolina hospitals.
AB  - We assessed surgical team member perceptions of multiple dimensions of safe
      surgical practice in 38 South Carolina hospitals participating in a statewide
      initiative to implement surgical safety checklists. Primary data were collected
      using a novel 35-item survey. We calculated the percentage of 1,852 respondents
      with strongly positive, positive, and neutral/negative responses about the safety
      of surgical practice, compared results by hospital and professional discipline,
      and examined how readiness, teamwork, and adherence related to staff perception
      of care quality. Overall, 78% of responses were positive about surgical safety at
      respondent's hospitals, but in each survey dimension, from 16% to 40% of
      responses were neutral/negative, suggesting significant opportunity to improve
      surgical safety. Respondents not reporting they would feel safe being treated in
      their operating rooms varied from 0% to 57% among hospitals. Surgeons responded
      more positively than nonsurgeons. Readiness, teamwork, and practice adherence
      related directly to staff perceptions of patient safety (p < .001). 

PMID- 25828529
TI  - Nutrient stress revamps cancer cell metabolism.
AB  - Efforts to identify new therapeutic targets in cancer primarily focused on
      oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, and their mechanisms of action. However,
      there is an emerging alternative strategy that involves identification of target
      proteins that are not encoded by oncogenes, but are, nonetheless, required to
      accommodate cancer-specific stresses. 

PMID- 25828530
TI  - Three-dimensional human facial morphologies as robust aging markers.
AB  - Aging is associated with many complex diseases. Reliable prediction of the aging
      process is important for assessing the risks of aging-associated diseases.
      However, despite intense research, so far there is no reliable aging marker. Here
      we addressed this problem by examining whether human 3D facial imaging features
      could be used as reliable aging markers. We collected > 300 3D human facial
      images and blood profiles well-distributed across ages of 17 to 77 years. By
      analyzing the morphological profiles, we generated the first comprehensive map of
      the aging human facial phenome. We identified quantitative facial features, such
      as eye slopes, highly associated with age. We constructed a robust age predictor
      and found that on average people of the same chronological age differ by +/- 6
      years in facial age, with the deviations increasing after age 40. Using this
      predictor, we identified slow and fast agers that are significantly supported by
      levels of health indicators. Despite a close relationship between facial
      morphological features and health indicators in the blood, facial features are
      more reliable aging biomarkers than blood profiles and can better reflect the
      general health status than chronological age. 

PMID- 25828531
TI  - Resolving sorting mechanisms into exosomes.
AB  - The complexity of mechanisms driving protein sorting into exosomes is only
      beginning to emerge. In a paper recently published in Cell Research, Roucourt et
      al. report that trimming of heparan sulfate side chains of syndecans by endosomal
      heparanase facilitates sorting into exosomes by the formation of tight syndecan
      clusters that are recruited by the multivalent adaptor syntenin to the ALIX-ESCRT
      sorting machinery at endosomes. 

PMID- 25828532
TI  - TREM2 enables amyloid beta clearance by microglia.
AB  - In a recent paper published in Cell, Wang et al. report that deficiency of
      triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) augments amyloid beta
      accumulation and neuronal loss in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. TREM2
      acts as a signaling receptor involved in innate immunity for the natural
      clearance of this toxic protein by microglia. 

PMID- 25828535
TI  - Induced-charge electroosmotic trapping of particles.
AB  - Position-controllable trapping of particles on the surface of a bipolar metal
      strip by induced-charge electroosmotic (ICEO) flow is presented herein. We
      demonstrate a nonlinear ICEO slip profile on the electrode surface accounting for
      stable particle trapping behaviors above the double-layer relaxation frequency,
      while no trapping occurs in the DC limit as a result of a strong upward fluidic
      drag induced by a linear ICEO slip profile. By extending an AC-flow field effect
      transistor from the DC limit to the AC field, we reveal that fixed-potential ICEO
      exceeding RC charging frequency can adjust the particle trapping position
      flexibly by generating controllable symmetry breaking in a vortex flow pattern.
      Our results open up new opportunities to manipulate microscopic objects in modern
      microfluidic systems by using ICEO. 

PMID- 25828534
TI  - Brain mitochondrial ATP-insensitive large conductance Ca+2-activated K+ channel
      properties are altered in a rat model of amyloid-beta neurotoxicity.
AB  - Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of amyloid-beta (Abeta)-induced neuronal
      toxicity in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the underlying mechanism of how
      Abeta affects mitochondrial function remains uncertain. Because mitochondrial
      potassium channels have been involved in several mitochondrial functions
      including cytoprotection, apoptosis and calcium homeostasis, a study was
      undertaken to investigate whether the gating behavior of the mitochondrial ATP-
      and ChTx-insensitive-IbTx-sensitive Ca(2+)-activated potassium channel (mitoBKCa)
      is altered in a rat model of Abeta neurotoxicity. Abeta1-42 (4 MUg/MUl) was
      intracerebroventricularly injected in male Wistar rats (220-250 g). Brain Abeta
      accumulation was confirmed two weeks later on the basis of an
      immunohistochemistry staining assay, and physiological impacts measured in
      passive avoidance task cognitive performance experiments. Brain mitochondrial
      inner membranes were then extracted and membrane vesicles prepared for channel
      incorporation into bilayer lipid. Purity of the cell fraction was confirmed by
      Western blot using specific markers of mitochondria, plasma membrane, endoplasmic
      reticulum, and Golgi. Our results first provide evidence for differences in
      mitoBKCa ion permeation properties with channels coming from Abeta vesicle
      preparations characterized by an inward rectifying I-V curve, in contrast to
      control mitoBKCa channels which showed a linear I-V relationship under the same
      ionic conditions (200 mM cis/50mM trans). More importantly the open probability
      of channels from Abeta vesicles appeared 1.5 to 2.5 smaller compared to controls,
      the most significant decrease being observed at depolarizing potentials (30 mV to
      50 mV). Because BKCa-beta4 subunit has been documented to shift the BKCa channel
      voltage dependence curve, a Western blot analysis was undertaken where expression
      of mitoBKCa alpha and beta4 subunits was estimated using anti-alpha and beta4
      subunit antibodies. Our results indicated a significant increase in mitoBKCa
      beta4 subunit expression coupled to a decrease in the expression of alpha
      subunit. Our results thus demonstrate a modification in the mitoBKCa channel
      gating properties in membrane preparations coming from a rat model of Abeta
      neurotoxicity, an effect potentially linked to a change in mitoBKCa-beta4 and 
      alpha subunits expression or increased ROS production due to an enhanced Abeta
      mitochondrial accumulation. Our results may provide new insights into the
      cellular mechanisms underlying mitochondrial dysfunctions in Abeta neurotoxicity.

PMID- 25828536
TI  - Small-scale purification of butyrylcholinesterase from human plasma and
      implementation of a MULC-UV/ESI MS/MS method to detect its organophosphorus
      adducts.
AB  - Human butyrylcholinesterase (hBChE) is a serine hydrolase (EC 3.1.1.8) present in
      all mammalian tissues and the bloodstream. Similar to acetylcholinesterase, the
      enzyme reacts with organophosphorus compounds (OP) like nerve agents or
      pesticides that cause enzyme inhibition (BChE adducts). These adducts represent
      valuable biomarkers for analytical verification of OP exposure. For establishment
      of these mass spectrometry based methods sufficient amounts of hBChE in high
      purity are required. Unfortunately, commercial lots are of inappropriate purity
      thus favouring in-house isolation. Therefore, we developed a small scale
      procedure to isolate hBChE from citrate plasma. After precipitation by
      polyethylene glycol (8% w/v and 20% w/v PEG 6000) hBChE was purified from plasma
      by four consecutive chromatographic steps including anion exchange, affinity
      extraction and size exclusion. Protein elution was monitored on-line by UV
      absorbance (280 nm) followed by continuous fractionation for off-line analysis of
      (1) hBChE enzyme activity by Ellman assay, (2) protein purity by gel
      electrophoresis, and (3) protein identity by matrix-assisted laser
      desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS). Numerous major impurities
      separated from hBChE were identified. The purified material was used for in vitro
      incubation with diverse OP to establish a MU-liquid chromatography-ultra violet
      detection/electrospray ionization tandem-mass spectrometric method (MULC-UV/ESI
      MS/MS) for detection of hBChE adducts suitable for verification analysis.
      Analytical data for diverse OP pesticides including deuterated analogues as well
      as G- and V-type nerve agents and their precursor are summarized. This method was
      successfully applied to plasma samples provided by the Organisation for the
      Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for the 4th Biomedical Exercise.

PMID- 25828533
TI  - Astrocyte roles in traumatic brain injury.
AB  - Astrocytes sense changes in neural activity and extracellular space composition.
      In response, they exert homeostatic mechanisms critical for maintaining neural
      circuit function, such as buffering neurotransmitters, modulating extracellular
      osmolarity and calibrating neurovascular coupling. In addition to upholding
      normal brain activities, astrocytes respond to diverse forms of brain injury with
      heterogeneous and progressive changes of gene expression, morphology,
      proliferative capacity and function that are collectively referred to as reactive
      astrogliosis. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) sets in motion complex events in which
      noxious mechanical forces cause tissue damage and disrupt central nervous system
      (CNS) homeostasis, which in turn trigger diverse multi-cellular responses that
      evolve over time and can lead either to neural repair or secondary cellular
      injury. In response to TBI, astrocytes in different cellular microenvironments
      tune their reactivity to varying degrees of axonal injury, vascular disruption,
      ischemia and inflammation. Here we review different forms of TBI-induced
      astrocyte reactivity and the functional consequences of these responses for TBI
      pathobiology. Evidence regarding astrocyte contribution to post-traumatic tissue
      repair and synaptic remodeling is examined, and the potential for targeting
      specific aspects of astrogliosis to ameliorate TBI sequelae is considered. 

PMID- 25828537
TI  - Spectroscopic and molecular modelling analysis of the interaction between ethane
      1,2-diyl bis(N,N-dimethyl-N-hexadecylammoniumacetoxy)dichloride and bovine serum
      albumin.
AB  - Several spectroscopic approaches namely fluorescence, time-resolved fluorescence,
      UV-visible, and Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectroscopy were employed to
      examine the interaction between ethane-1,2-diyl bis(N,N-dimethyl-N
      hexadecylammoniumacetoxy)dichloride (16-E2-16) and bovine serum albumin (BSA).
      Fluorescence studies revealed that 16-E2-16 quenched the BSA fluorescence through
      a static quenching mechanism, which was further confirmed by UV-visible and time
      resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. In addition, the binding constant and the
      number of binding sites were also calculated. The thermodynamic parameters at
      different temperatures (298 K, 303 K, 308 K and 313 K) indicated that 16-E2-16
      binding to BSA is entropy driven and that the major driving forces are
      electrostatic interactions. Decrease of the alpha-helix from 53.90 to 46.20% with
      an increase in random structure from 22.56 to 30.61% were also observed by FT-IR.
      Furthermore, the molecular docking results revealed that 16-E2-16 binds
      predominantly by electrostatic and hydrophobic forces to some residues in the BSA
      sub-domains IIA and IIIA.

PMID- 25828538
TI  - TGF-beta Suppresses Ift88 Expression in Chondrocytic ATDC5 Cells.
AB  - Ift88 is an intraflagella transport protein, critical for the cilium, and has
      been shown to be required for the maintenance of chondrocytes and cartilage.
      However, how Ift88 is controlled by cytokines that play a role in osteoarthritis
      is not well understood. Therefore, we examined the effects of TGF-beta on the
      expression of Ift88. We used ATDC5 cells as chondrocytes and analyzed the effects
      of TGF-beta on gene expression. TGF-beta treatment suppresses the levels of Ift88
      mRNA in a dose-dependent manner starting from as low as 0.5 ng/mL and reaching
      the nadir at around 2 ng/mL. TGF-beta treatment also suppresses the protein
      levels of Ift88. TGF-beta suppression of Ift88 is still observed when the cells
      are cultured in the presence of a transcriptional inhibitor while the TGF-beta
      suppression is weakened in the presence of a protein synthesis inhibitor,
      cycloheximide. TGF-beta treatment suppresses the levels of Ift88 mRNA stability
      suggesting the presence of posttranscriptional regulation. TGF-beta treatment
      reduces the number of cilia positive cells and suppresses average length of
      cilia. Knockdown of Ift88 by siRNA enhances TGF-beta-induced increase in type II
      collagen mRNA expression in ATDC5 cells revealing the suppressive role of Ift88
      on TGF-beta-induced regulation of extracellular matrix protein expression. TGF
      beta also suppresses Ift88 mRNA expression in primary culture of rib
      chondrocytes. These data indicate that TGF-beta regulates Ift88 gene expression
      at least in part via posttrascriptional manner.

PMID- 25828539
TI  - How Blink Anomalies Can Contribute to Post-LASIK Neurotrophic Epitheliopathy.
AB  - : Post-LASIK (laser in situ keratomileusis) symptoms and signs of dry eye have
      multiple causes. For example, tear osmolarity and the concentration of
      inflammatory mediators can increase because of reduced aqueous production and
      increased evaporative loss as a result of lower blink rates and increased
      interblink intervals. The tear concentration of inflammatory mediators can also
      increase because of surgical trauma, wound healing, comorbid systemic and ocular
      diseases, and the use of punctal plugs. Studies that examine only mechanical
      sensitivity of the cornea cannot detect changes in chemical sensitivity, which
      can persist longer. Symptoms may be partly attributed to sensitization of the
      traumatized corneal or lid wiper sensory nerves by inflammatory mediators.
      Increased lid wiper sensitivity could increase awareness of blinks, especially if
      ocular surface lubricity is reduced. Incomplete blinks have been found to
      represent 10 to 22% of the total number of blinks. Loss of neural stimuli and
      lower blink rates increase the significance of incomplete blinks that
      approximately double related interblink intervals and tear evaporation. The most
      common location of post-LASIK epitheliopathy is the inferior area of the cornea,
      which is overexposed by incomplete blinks. The relevance of incomplete blinking
      to post-LASIK epitheliopathy is supported by the relative absence of this
      complication in the similarly neurotrophically disadvantaged upper corneal areas
      for which blink rates and other tear functions usually appear to be adequate to
      prevent epitheliopathy, which stains. Occupational or leisure-time activities
      such as computer use and reading, which have been found to reduce blink rates and
      blink completeness, appear to be significant risk factors for symptoms and signs
      of dry eye. Apart from reducing symptoms and signs of dry eye, prophylactic and
      post-LASIK blink exercises to reduce incomplete blink rates and associated
      overexposure of the ocular surface may also contribute to more accurate
      refractive outcomes through faster wound healing. 

PMID- 25828540
TI  - Delayed post-treatment with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells is
      neurorestorative of striatal medium-spiny projection neurons and improves motor
      function after neonatal rat hypoxia-ischemia.
AB  - Perinatal hypoxia-ischemia is a major cause of striatal injury and may lead to
      cerebral palsy. This study investigated whether delayed administration of bone
      marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), at one week after neonatal rat
      hypoxia-ischemia, was neurorestorative of striatal medium-spiny projection
      neurons and improved motor function. The effect of a subcutaneous injection of a
      high-dose, or a low-dose, of MSCs was investigated in stereological studies.
      Postnatal day (PN) 7 pups were subjected to hypoxia-ischemia. At PN14, pups
      received treatment with either MSCs or diluent. A subset of high-dose pups, and
      their diluent control pups, were also injected intraperitoneally with
      bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), every 24h, on PN15, PN16 and PN17. This permitted
      tracking of the migration and survival of neuroblasts originating from the
      subventricular zone into the adjacent injured striatum. Pups were euthanized on
      PN21 and the absolute number of striatal medium-spiny projection neurons was
      measured after immunostaining for DARPP-32 (dopamine- and cAMP-regulated
      phosphoprotein-32), double immunostaining for BrdU and DARPP-32, and after cresyl
      violet staining alone. The absolute number of striatal immunostained calretinin
      interneurons was also measured. There was a statistically significant increase in
      the absolute number of DARPP-32-positive, BrdU/DARPP-32-positive, and cresyl
      violet-stained striatal medium-spiny projection neurons, and fewer striatal
      calretinin interneurons, in the high-dose mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) group
      compared to their diluent counterparts. A high-dose of MSCs restored the absolute
      number of these neurons to normal uninjured levels, when compared with previous
      stereological data on the absolute number of cresyl violet-stained striatal
      medium-spiny projection neurons in the normal uninjured brain. For the low-dose
      experiment, in which cresyl violet-stained striatal medium-spiny neurons alone
      were measured, there was a lower statistically significant increase in their
      absolute number in the MSC group compared to their diluent controls.
      Investigation of behavior in another cohort of animals showed that delayed
      administration of a high-dose of bone marrow-derived MSCs, at one week after
      neonatal rat hypoxia-ischemia, improved motor function on the cylinder test.
      Thus, delayed therapy with a high- or low-dose of adult MSCs, at one week after
      injury, is effective in restoring the loss of striatal medium-spiny projection
      neurons after neonatal rat hypoxia-ischemia and a high-dose of MSCs improved
      motor function. 

PMID- 25828541
TI  - Development of a metacognitive effort construct of empathy during clinical
      training: a longitudinal study of the factor structure of the Jefferson Scale of
      Empathy.
AB  - Empathy is crucial for effective clinical care but appears to decline during
      undergraduate medical training. Understanding the nature of this decline is
      necessary for addressing it. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) is used to
      measure medical students' clinical empathy attitudes. One recent study described
      a 3-factor model of the JSE. This model was found in responses from matriculating
      medical students, but little is known about how the factor structure of the scale
      changes during clinical training. The Learning Environment Study is a
      longitudinal prospective study of two cohorts from 28 medical schools. At
      matriculation and at the end of each subsequent year, students self-reported
      clinical empathy attitudes using the JSE. Data from 4,797 students were randomly
      partitioned for exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses using
      responses from preclinical and clinical years of medical school. Five models were
      compared for confirmatory factor analysis: two null models for control, the
      recent 3-factor model, and the two models resulting from the EFAs of preclinical
      and clinical year responses. Preclinical year responses yielded a 3-factor model
      similar to the recent 3-factor model. Clinical year responses yielded a 4-factor
      model ("feelings," "importance," "ease," and "metacognitive effort") suggesting
      changes in the structure of clinical empathy attitudes over time. Metacognitive
      effort showed the largest decline over time. The model is a better fit for both
      preclinical and clinical responses and may provide more insight into medical
      students' clinical empathy attitudes than other models. The emergence of
      metacognitive effort in the clinical years suggests empathy may become more
      nuanced for students after clinical exposure and may account for much of the
      observed decline in clinical empathy attitudes. 

PMID- 25828542
TI  - Understanding carbon partitioning and its role in determining plant growth.

PMID- 25828543
TI  - Clomiphene citrate as a preventive treatment for intractable chronic cluster
      headache: a second reported case with long-term follow-up.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe a second case of treatment refractory chronic cluster
      headache responsive to clomiphene citrate and with long-term follow-up. METHODS:
      Case report with 7-year evaluation. CASE: A 63-year-old man with a 17-year
      history of chronic cluster headache preceded to have significant adverse events
      or was nonresponsive to multiple cluster headache preventive medications
      including verapamil, lithium, valproic acid, topiramate, baclofen as well as
      greater occipital nerve blocks and inpatient hospitalization. The patient
      experienced 3-5 headaches per day. On clomiphene citrate 100 mg/day he became
      100% pain-free and remained so for 3.5 years with only mild fatigue as a side
      effect. He then had cluster headache recurrence and did well on gabapentin for
      another 3 years with repeat headache recurrence. Clomiphene was restarted, and he
      became pain-free once again. DISCUSSION: This is the second reported case of the
      effective use of clomiphene citrate for the preventive treatment of medicinal
      refractory chronic cluster headache. This is the first case to report long-term
      follow-up of this neurohormonal treatment. Clomiphene citrate appears to be safe
      for extended use in chronic cluster headache even in an elderly sufferer and has
      a minimal side effect profile. The mechanism of action of how clomiphene prevents
      cluster headache may involve both its ability to enhance testosterone production
      and its ability to bind to hypothalamic estrogen receptors. Clomiphene citrate
      should join the list of alternative cluster headache prophylactic treatments to
      be considered by headache specialists when conventional cluster headache
      preventives are ineffective.

PMID- 25828544
TI  - Separation of linear synthetic polymers in non-aqueous capillary zone
      electrophoresis using cationic surfactant.
AB  - A method for separating water-insoluble and neutral synthetic polymers using non
      aqueous capillary zone electrophoresis (NACZE) was developed. The non-aqueous
      solvent system comprising a mixture of tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile, and ethanol
      containing cetyltrimethylammonium chloride was used for solubilizing and
      conferring positive charges to the polymers. A mixture of polystyrene (PS,
      Mn=6500) and polybutadiene (PBD, Mn=5900) was successfully separated by the NACZE
      method using cationic surfactants. Evaluation of the effect of the molecular
      weight of the polymers on the electrophoretic behavior demonstrated that PSs with
      different molecular weights (Mn=6500, 10,200, 19,600, 200,000) were co-eluted as
      a single peak. That is, the apparent electrophoretic mobility of the PSs was
      independent of the molecular weight. In contrast, evaluation of PBD and
      polycarbonate (PC) demonstrated that the solubility of polymers in the medium
      affected the apparent electrophoretic mobility of the polymers, where low
      solubility resulted in reduced apparent electrophoretic mobility. Using the
      proposed method, poly(styrene-co-methylmethacrylate)s with different compositions
      were successfully separated. 

PMID- 25828546
TI  - Risk assessment for extending the Biopharmaceutics Classification System-based
      biowaiver of immediate release dosage forms of fluconazole in adults to the
      paediatric population.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The paediatric population undergoes developmental changes in gastric
      pH, gastric emptying, intestinal transit time, membrane permeability, protein
      binding, body water, distribution and metabolism. It is widely recognised that
      changes in these parameters may result in an alteration of the plasma profile and
      thus in key bioequivalence parameters such as Cmax (maximum plasma concentration
      of drug) and area under the plasma concentration vs time profile curve. The aim
      of this work is to assess the risk of extending the biowaiver for immediate
      release dosage formulations of fluconazole from the adult to the paediatric
      population. METHODS AND KEY FINDINGS: Fluconazole exhibits good solubility and
      very rapid dissolution characteristics in various pH media. The absorption of
      fluconazole in children is known to be complete (over 90%) and not impaired by
      elevated pH, which is prevalent during the early days of life. Dose numbers
      calculated using body surface area are less than 1. Therefore, the risk to drug
      absorption due to differences in gastric pH, gastric emptying, intestinal
      transit, membrane permeability and metabolising enzymes between adults and
      children is considered low. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, it can be safely concluded that
      fluconazole meets highly soluble and highly permeable criteria in the paediatric
      population and can be allocated to class 1 of the Biopharmaceutics Classification
      System (BCS) for this population as well as in adults. Additionally, fluconazole
      has an excellent safety profile in children, similar to that in adults. The BCS
      based biowaiver claimed in adults can be safely extended to the paediatric
      population provided that the requirements in excipient selection and dissolution
      profile comparison using BCS-based dissolution conditions as stated in the
      biowaiver monograph for fluconazole immediate release dosage forms in adults are
      fulfilled.

PMID- 25828545
TI  - Iron oxide functionalized graphene nano-composite for dispersive solid phase
      extraction of chemical warfare agents from aqueous samples.
AB  - Present study deals with the preparation and evaluation of graphene based
      magnetic nano-composite for dispersive solid phase extraction of Chemical Weapons
      Convention (CWC) relevant chemicals from aqueous samples. Nano-composite,
      Fe3O4@SiO2-G was synthesized by covalently bonding silica coated Fe3O4 onto the
      graphene sheets. Nerve agents (NA), Sulfur mustard (SM) and their non-toxic
      environmental markers were the target analytes. Extraction parameters like amount
      of sorbent, extraction time and desorption conditions were optimized. Dispersion
      of 20 milligram of sorbent in 200mL of water sample for 20min. followed by
      methanol/chloroform extraction produced average to good recoveries (27-94%) of
      targeted analytes. Recoveries of real agents exhibited great dependency upon
      sample pH and ionic strength. Sarin produced maximum recovery under mild acidic
      conditions (56% at pH 5) while VX demanded alkaline media (83% at pH 9). Salts
      presence in the aqueous samples was found to be advantageous, raising the
      recoveries to as high as 94% for SM. Excellent limits of detection (LOD) for
      sulphur mustard and VX (0.11ngmL(-1) and 0.19ngmL(-1) respectively) proved the
      utility of the developed method for the off-site analysis of CWC relevant
      chemicals. 

PMID- 25828547
TI  - International note: The relationship between achievement goals and academic
      related boredom.
AB  - In a sample of 520 Chinese high school students, the present study aimed to
      replicate the prior Western findings about the relationship between achievement
      goals and academic boredom. Our findings indicated that mastery-approach goals
      and performance-avoidance goals predicted academic boredom, but mastery-avoidance
      goals and performance-approach goals did not. 

PMID- 25828548
TI  - Understanding affluent adolescent adjustment: The interplay of parental
      perfectionism, perceived parental pressure, and organized activity involvement.
AB  - This cross-sectional study examined relations between affluent adolescent
      adjustment and culturally salient factors within parent-child relationship and
      extracurricular domain. Bootstrapping techniques evaluated mediated effects among
      parental perfectionism, perceived parental pressure, intensity of organized
      activity (OA) involvement, and adolescent adjustment (i.e., depressive and
      anxiety symptoms, life satisfaction) within a sample of 10th graders and their
      parents (n = 88 parent-child pairs) from four high schools in affluent
      communities. Findings indicated that adolescents with more perfectionistic
      parents perceived more parental pressure and experienced poorer adjustment.
      Results also demonstrated that affluent adolescents who perceived more parental
      pressure were more intensely involved in OAs, but that higher OA intensity was
      linked to better adjustment. Findings highlight the importance of considering
      parental perfectionism when understanding adolescent behaviors and psychological
      outcomes, confirm the negative direct effects of parental pressure on adjustment,
      and corroborate prior research dispelling that highly intense OA involvement is
      linked to adolescent maladjustment. 

PMID- 25828549
TI  - Back on the streets: Maturation and risk factors for recidivism among serious
      juvenile offenders.
AB  - This study examines how social and cognitive factors shape future criminal
      activity among serious juvenile offenders and assesses how adolescents' cognitive
      development affects the relative impact of those factors over time. The sample,
      from the Pathways to Desistance Study, is comprised of youth (aged 14-18 years)
      in the United States convicted of serious criminal offenses, and the outcome
      measure is self-reported crime. We rely on data collected when the youth were
      first interviewed (n = 1088) and 18-24 months later (n = 904). Logistic
      regression analyses reveal a strong relationship between impulsiveness and
      criminal behavior, regardless of age. Susceptibility to peer pressure and
      perceived risk that friends would be arrested were found to predict future
      criminal activity among younger adolescents, but have little impact at later
      ages. External factors such as amount of social support and gang membership have
      varying effects over time. 

PMID- 25828550
TI  - Non-suicidal self-injury in high school students: Associations with identity
      processes and statuses.
AB  - Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) refers to the direct, deliberate destruction of
      one's body tissue without suicidal intent. Research has highlighted the
      importance of identity synthesis versus confusion for NSSI. However, the
      association with identity processes and statuses remains unknown. A total of 568
      adolescents reported on NSSI, identity, anxiety, and depression. Although
      identity processes of identification with commitment (negatively) and ruminative
      exploration (positively) were related to NSSI variables, these relationships were
      no longer significant when controlling for anxiety and depression. When examining
      identity statuses (using cluster analysis), individuals who had engaged in NSSI
      in the past (but not currently) were more likely to be in the moratorium cluster
      and less likely to be in the achievement cluster. Individuals who were currently
      engaging in NSSI were more likely to be in the troubled diffusion cluster.
      Clinicians should be attentive to the complex interplay between identity and NSSI
      when treating adolescents. 

PMID- 25828551
TI  - Predicting adolescent's cyberbullying behavior: A longitudinal risk analysis.
AB  - The current study used the risk factor approach to test the unique and combined
      influence of several possible risk factors for cyberbullying attitudes and
      behavior using a four-wave longitudinal design with an adolescent US sample.
      Participants (N = 96; average age = 15.50 years) completed measures of
      cyberbullying attitudes, perceptions of anonymity, cyberbullying behavior, and
      demographics four times throughout the academic school year. Several logistic
      regression equations were used to test the contribution of these possible risk
      factors. Results showed that (a) cyberbullying attitudes and previous
      cyberbullying behavior were important unique risk factors for later cyberbullying
      behavior, (b) anonymity and previous cyberbullying behavior were valid risk
      factors for later cyberbullying attitudes, and (c) the likelihood of engaging in
      later cyberbullying behavior increased with the addition of risk factors.
      Overall, results show the unique and combined influence of such risk factors for
      predicting later cyberbullying behavior. Results are discussed in terms of
      theory. 

PMID- 25828552
TI  - Sex, violence, & rock n' roll: Longitudinal effects of music on aggression, sex,
      and prosocial behavior during adolescence.
AB  - The current study examined longitudinal associations between listening to
      aggression, sex, and prosocial behavior in music on a number of behavioral
      outcomes across a one-year period during adolescence. Adolescents (N = 548, M age
      = 15.32, 52% female) completed a number of questionnaires on musical preferences,
      general media use, aggression, sexual outcomes, and prosocial behavior at two
      different time points separated by about one year. Using structural equation
      modeling to analyze the data, results revealed that listening to aggression in
      music was associated with increased aggression and decreased prosocial behavior
      over time, even when controlling for initial levels of these behaviors. Listening
      to sexual content in music was associated with earlier initiation of sexual
      intercourse and a trend for a higher number of sexual partners (reported at Time
      2). Prosocial behavior in music was not associated with any behavioral outcome
      longitudinally. Collectively, these results suggest that listening to certain
      types of content in music can have a longitudinal effect on behavior during
      adolescence. 

PMID- 25828553
TI  - Nuclear medicine incident reporting in Australia: control charts and notification
      rates inform quality improvement.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Australia has a statutory incident reporting system for
      radiopharmaceutical maladministrations, but additional research into registry
      data is required for the purpose of quality improvement in nuclear medicine.
      AIMS: We (i) used control charts to identify factors contributing to special
      cause variation (indicating higher than expected rates) in maladministrations and
      (ii) evaluated the impact of heterogeneous notification criteria and extent of
      underreporting among jurisdictions and individual facilities, respectively.
      METHODS: Anonymised summaries of Australian Radiation Incident Register reports
      permitted calculation of national monthly maladministration notification rates
      for 2007-2012 and preparation of control charts. Multivariate logistic regression
      assessed the association of population, insurance and regulatory characteristics
      with maladministration notifications in each Australian State and Territory.
      Maladministration notification rates from two facilities with familiarity of
      notification processes and commitment to radiation protection were compared with
      those elsewhere. RESULTS: Special cause variation occurred in only 3 months, but
      contributed to 21% of all incidents (42 of 197 patients), mainly because of
      'clusters' of maladministrations (n = 24) arising from errors in bulk
      radiopharmaceutical dispensing. Maladministration notification rates varied
      significantly between jurisdictions (0 to 12.2 maladministrations per 100 000
      procedures (P < 0.05)) and individual facilities (31.7 vs 5.8 per 100 000; chi(2)
      = 40; 1 degree of freedom, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Unexpected increases in
      maladministration notifications predominantly relate to incident 'clusters'
      affecting multiple patients. The bulk preparation of radiopharmaceuticals is a
      vulnerable process and merits additional safeguards. Maladministration
      notification rates in Australia are heterogeneous. Adopting uniform
      maladministration notification criteria among States and Territories and methods
      to overcome underreporting are warranted.

PMID- 25828554
TI  - Certain performance values arising from mammographic test set readings correlate
      well with clinical audit.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Test sets have been increasingly utilised to augment clinical audit
      in breast screening programmes; however, their relationship has never been
      satisfactorily understood. This study examined the relationship between
      mammographic test set performance and clinical audit data. METHODS: Clinical
      audit data over a 2-year period was generated for each of 20 radiologists. Sixty
      mammographic examinations, consisting of 40 normal and 20 cancer cases, formed
      the test set. Readers located any identifiable cancer, and levels of confidence
      were scored from 2 to 5, where a score of 3 and above is considered a recall
      rating. Jackknifing free response operating characteristic (JAFROC) figure-of
      merit (FOM), location sensitivity and specificity were calculated for individual
      readers and then compared with clinical audit values using Spearman's rho.
      RESULTS: JAFROC FOM showed significant correlations to: recall rate at a first
      round of screening (r = 0.51; P = 0.02); rate of small invasive cancers per 10
      000 reads (r = 0.5; P = 0.02); percentage of all cancers read that were not
      recalled (r = -0.51; P = 0.02); and sensitivity (r = 0.51; P = 0.02). Location
      sensitivity demonstrated significant correlations with: rate of small invasive
      cancers per 10 000 reads (r = 0.46; P = 0.04); rate of DCIS (ductal carcinoma in
      situ) per 10 000 reads (r = 0.44; P = 0.05); detection rate of all invasive
      cancers and DCIS per 10 000 reads (r = 0.54; P = 0.01); percentage of all cancers
      read that were not recalled (r = -0.57; P = 0.009); and sensitivity (r = 0.57; P
      = 0.009). No other significant relationships were noted. CONCLUSION: Performance
      indicators from test set demonstrate significant correlations with specific
      aspects of clinical performance, although caution needs to be exercised when
      generalising test set specificity to the clinical situation.

PMID- 25828555
TI  - Modelling the spread of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) in a beef cattle herd
      and its impact on herd productivity.
AB  - Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is a common pathogen of cattle herds that
      causes economic losses due to reproductive disorders in breeding cattle and
      increased morbidity and mortality amongst infected calves. Our objective was to
      evaluate the impact of BVDV spread on the productivity of a beef cow-calf herd
      using a stochastic model in discrete time that accounted for (1) the difference
      in transmission rates when animals are housed indoors versus grazing on pasture,
      (2) the external risk of disease introductions through fenceline contact with
      neighboring herds and the purchase of infected cattle, and (3) the risk of
      individual pregnant cattle generating persistently infected (PI) calves based on
      their stage in gestation. The model predicted the highest losses from BVDV during
      the first 3 years after disease was introduced into a naive herd. During the
      endemic phase, the impact of BVDV on the yearly herd productivity was much lower
      due to herd immunity. However, cumulative losses over 10 years in an endemic
      situation greatly surpassed the losses that occurred during the acute phase. A
      sensitivity analysis of key model parameters revealed that herd size, the
      duration of breeding, grazing, and selling periods, renewal rate of breeding
      females, and the level of numerical productivity expected by the farmer had a
      significant influence on the predicted losses. This model provides a valuable
      framework for evaluating the impact of BVDV and the efficacy of different control
      strategies in beef cow-calf herds. 

PMID- 25828556
TI  - Cervical 10 kHz spinal cord stimulation in the management of chronic, medically
      refractory migraine: A prospective, open-label, exploratory study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A significant minority of chronic migraine (CM) subjects fail
      conventional medical treatment (rCM), becoming highly disabled. Implantation of
      an occipital nerve stimulator is a therapeutic option for these subjects.
      Paresthesia-free cervical 10 kHz spinal cord stimulation (HF10 SCS) may provide
      an alternative. We report the results of a prospective, open-label, exploratory
      study assessing the long-term safety, tolerability and efficacy of cervical HF10
      SCS in cohort of rCM subjects. METHODS: Included subjects were diagnosed with CM
      by an experienced headache specialist with the aid of an hourly headache diary.
      They were refractory to conventional medical treatments including
      onabotulinumtoxin-A injections. Medication overuse headache was not an exclusion
      criteria. Enrolled subjects underwent a 2- to 4-week tunnelled cervical HF10 SCS
      trial followed by a permanent system implant if a significant, subjective
      reduction in headache intensity/episodes was reported during the trial. Subjects
      were evaluated at baseline and 6 months after implantation with the aid of
      monthly diaries and headache-specific questionnaires. RESULTS: Seventeen subjects
      underwent a trial of cervical HF10 SCS; 14 were still implanted at 6 months (one
      trial failure, one trial infection, one implant site infection). Seven of the 14
      subjects had >30% reduction in headache days. The average reduction in headache
      days was 6.9 for the overall population and 12.9 among the responders. Three
      subjects reported tenderness over the IPG/connection site, and one had a lead
      migration that required surgical revision. CONCLUSION: Paresthesia-free cervical
      HF10 SCS may be a safe and effective therapeutic option for chronic migraineurs
      refractory to conventional treatments.

PMID- 25828557
TI  - Better use of public health facilities in India could improve kala-azar
      diagnosis, say researchers.

PMID- 25828558
TI  - Different Experiences and Goals in Different Advanced Diseases: Comparing Serial
      Interviews With Patients With Cancer, Organ Failure, or Frailty and Their Family
      and Professional Carers.
AB  - CONTEXT: Quality care for people living with life-limiting illnesses is a global
      priority. A detailed understanding of the varied experiences of people living and
      dying with different conditions and their family and professional caregivers
      should help policymakers and clinicians design and deliver more appropriate and
      person-centered care. OBJECTIVES: To understand how patients with different
      advanced conditions and their family and professional caregivers perceive their
      deteriorating health and the services they need. METHODS: We used a narrative
      framework to synthesize eight methodologically comparable, longitudinal, and
      multiperspective interview studies. We compared the end-of-life experiences of
      people dying from cancer (lung, glioma, and colorectal cancer), organ failure
      (heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and liver failure), and
      physical frailty and those of their family and professional caregivers in
      socioeconomically and ethnically diverse populations in Scotland. RESULTS: The
      data set comprised 828 in-depth interviews with 156 patients, 114 family
      caregivers, and 170 health professionals. Narratives about cancer typically had a
      clear beginning, middle, and an anticipated end. Cancer patients gave a well
      rehearsed account of their illness, hoping for recovery alongside fear of dying.
      In contrast, people with organ failure and their family caregivers struggled to
      pinpoint when their illness began, or to speak openly about death, hoping instead
      to avoid further deterioration. Frail older people tended to be frustrated by
      their progressive loss of independence, fearing dementia or nursing home
      admission more than dying. CONCLUSION: These contrasting illness narratives
      affect and shape the experiences, thoughts, and fears of patients and their
      carers in the last months of life. Palliative care offered by generalists or
      specialists should be provided more flexibly and equitably, responding to the
      varied concerns and needs of people with different advanced conditions.

PMID- 25828561
TI  - "We Are Strangers Walking Into Their Life-Changing Event": How Prehospital
      Providers Manage Emergency Calls at the End of Life.
AB  - CONTEXT: Emergency 911 calls are often made when the end stage of an advanced
      illness is accompanied by alarming symptoms and substantial anxiety for family
      caregivers, particularly when an approaching death is not anticipated. How
      prehospital providers (paramedics and emergency medical technicians) manage
      emergency calls near death influences how and where people will die, if their end
      of-life choices are upheld and how appropriately health care resources are used.
      OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to explore and describe how prehospital
      providers assess and manage end-of-life emergency calls. METHODS: In-depth and in
      person interviews were conducted with 43 prehospital providers. Interviews were
      audiotaped, transcribed, and entered into ATLAS.ti for data management and
      coding. Qualitative data analysis involved systematic and axial coding to
      identify and describe emergent themes. RESULTS: Four themes illustrate the nature
      and dynamics of emergency end-of-life calls: 1) multifocal assessment (e.g., of
      the patient, family, and environment), 2) family responses (e.g., emotional,
      behavioral), 3) conflicts (e.g., missing do-not-resuscitate order, patient-family
      conflicts), and 4) management of the dying process (e.g., family witnessed
      resuscitation or asking family to leave, decisions about hospital transport).
      After a rapid comprehensive multifocal assessment, family responses and the
      existence of conflicts mediate decision making about possible interventions.
      CONCLUSION: The importance of managing symptom crises and stress responses that
      accompany the dying process is particularly germane to quality care at life's
      end. The results suggest the importance of increasing prehospital providers'
      abilities to uphold advance directives and patients' end-of-life wishes while
      managing family emotions near death.

PMID- 25828562
TI  - Unusually High Optical Transparency in Hexagonal Nanopatterned Graphene with
      Enhanced Conductivity by Chemical Doping.
AB  - Graphene has received appreciable attention for its potential applications in
      flexible conducting film due to its exceptional optical, mechanical, and
      electrical properties. However increasing transmittance of graphene without
      sacrificing the electrical conductivity has been difficult. The fabrication of
      optically highly transparent (~98%) graphene layer with a reasonable electrical
      conductivity is demonstrated here by nanopatterning and doping. Anodized
      aluminium oxide nanomask prepared by facile and simple self-assembly technique is
      utilized to produce an essentially hexagonally nanopatterned graphene. The
      electrical resistance of the graphene increases significantly by a factor of ~15
      by removal of substantial graphene regions via nanopatterning into hexagonal
      array pores. However, the use of chemical doping on the nanopatterned graphene
      almost completely recovers the lost electrical conductivity, thus leading to a
      desirably much more optically transparent conductor having ~6.9 times reduced
      light blockage by graphene material without much loss of electrical conductivity.
      It is likely that the availability of large number of edges created in the
      nanopatterned graphene provides ideal sites for chemical dopant attachment,
      leading to a significant reduction of the sheet resistance. The results indicate
      that the nanopatterned graphene approach can be a promising route for
      simultaneously tuning the optical and electrical properties of graphene to make
      it more light-transmissible and suitable as a flexible transparent conductor. 

PMID- 25828559
TI  - Predictors and Trajectories of Morning Fatigue Are Distinct From Evening Fatigue.
AB  - CONTEXT: Fatigue is the most common symptom in oncology patients during
      chemotherapy. Little is known about the predictors of interindividual variability
      in initial levels and trajectories of morning fatigue severity in these patients.
      OBJECTIVES: An evaluation was done to determine which demographic, clinical, and
      symptom characteristics were associated with initial levels as well as the
      trajectories of morning fatigue and to compare findings with our companion paper
      on evening fatigue. METHODS: A sample of outpatients with breast,
      gastrointestinal, gynecological, and lung cancer (n = 586) completed demographic
      and symptom questionnaires a total of six times over two cycles of chemotherapy.
      Fatigue severity was evaluated using the Lee Fatigue Scale. Hierarchical linear
      modeling was used to answer the study objectives. RESULTS: A large amount of
      interindividual variability was found in the morning fatigue trajectories. A
      piecewise model fit the data best. Patients with higher body mass index, who did
      not exercise regularly, with a lower functional status, and who had higher levels
      of state anxiety, sleep disturbance, and depressive symptoms reported higher
      levels of morning fatigue at enrollment. Variations in the trajectories of
      morning fatigue were predicted by the patients' ethnicity and younger age.
      CONCLUSION: The modifiable risk factors that were associated with only morning
      fatigue were body mass index, exercise, and state anxiety. Modifiable risk
      factors that were associated with both morning and evening fatigue included
      functional status, depressive symptoms, and sleep disturbance. Using this
      information, clinicians can identify patients at higher risk for more severe
      morning fatigue and evening fatigue, provide individualized patient education,
      and tailor interventions to address the modifiable risk factors.

PMID- 25828560
TI  - Trajectories of Evening Fatigue in Oncology Outpatients Receiving Chemotherapy.
AB  - CONTEXT: Fatigue is a distressing persistent sense of physical tiredness that is
      not proportional to a person's recent activity. Fatigue impacts patients'
      treatment decisions and can limit their self-care activities. Although
      significant interindividual variability in fatigue severity has been noted,
      little is known about predictors of interindividual variability in initial levels
      and trajectories of evening fatigue severity in oncology patients receiving
      chemotherapy. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether demographic, clinical, and symptom
      characteristics were associated with initial levels and the trajectories of
      evening fatigue. METHODS: A sample of outpatients with breast, gastrointestinal,
      gynecological, and lung cancer (N = 586) completed demographic and symptom
      questionnaires a total of six times over two cycles of chemotherapy. Fatigue
      severity was evaluated using the Lee Fatigue Scale. Hierarchical linear modeling
      was used to answer the study objectives. RESULTS: A large amount of
      interindividual variability was found in the evening fatigue trajectories. A
      piecewise model fit the data best. Patients who were white, diagnosed with
      breast, gynecological, or lung cancer, and who had more years of education,
      childcare responsibilities, lower functional status, and higher levels of sleep
      disturbance and depression reported higher levels of evening fatigue at
      enrollment. CONCLUSION: This study identified both nonmodifiable (e.g.,
      ethnicity) and modifiable (e.g., childcare responsibilities, depressive symptoms,
      sleep disturbance) risk factors for more severe evening fatigue. Using this
      information, clinicians can identify patients at higher risk for more severe
      evening fatigue, provide individualized patient education, and tailor
      interventions to address the modifiable risk factors.

PMID- 25828563
TI  - Detection of Merkel cell and other human polyomavirus DNA in lesional and
      nonlesional skin from patients with Kaposi sarcoma.

PMID- 25828564
TI  - Use of Salad Bars in Schools to Increase Fruit and Vegetable Consumption: Where's
      the Evidence?

PMID- 25828565
TI  - Reprint of "The mitochondrial permeability transition pore and its adaptive
      responses in tumor cells".
AB  - This review covers recent progress on the nature of the mitochondrial
      permeability transition pore (PTP) - a key effector in the mitochondrial pathways
      to cell death - and on the adaptive responses of tumor cells that desensitize the
      PTP to Ca(2+) and reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby playing an important
      role in the resistance of tumors to cell death. The discovery that the PTP forms
      from dimers of F-ATP synthase; and the definition of the Ca(2+)- and ROS
      dependent signaling pathways affecting the transition of the F-ATP synthase from
      an energy-conserving to an energy-dissipating device open new perspectives for
      therapeutic intervention in cancer cells.

PMID- 25828566
TI  - An intelligent nano-antenna: Primary cilium harnesses TRP channels to decode
      polymodal stimuli.
AB  - The primary cilium is a solitary hair-like organelle on the cell surface that
      serves as an antenna sensing ever-changing environmental conditions. In this
      review, we will first recapitulate the molecular basis of the polymodal sensory
      function of the primary cilia, specifically focusing on transient receptor
      potential (TRP) channels that accumulate inside the organelle and conduct calcium
      ions (Ca(2+)). Each subfamily member, namely TRPP2 TRPP3, TRPC1 and TRPV4, is
      gated by multiple environmental factors, including chemical (receptor ligands,
      intracellular second messengers such as Ca(2+)), mechanical (fluid shear stress,
      hypo-osmotic swelling), or physical (temperature, voltage) stimuli. Both activity
      and heterodimer compositions of the TRP channels may be dynamically regulated for
      precise tuning to the varying dynamic ranges of the individual input stimuli. We
      will thus discuss the potential regulation of TRP channels by local second
      messengers. Despite its reported importance in embryonic patterning and tissue
      morphogenesis, the precise functional significance of the downstream Ca(2+)
      signals of the TRP channels remains unknown. We will close our review by
      featuring recent technological advances in visualizing and analyzing signal
      transduction inside the primary cilia, together with current perspectives
      illuminating the functional significance of intraciliary Ca(2+) signals. 

PMID- 25828568
TI  - The Dual-Loop Model and the Human Mirror Neuron System: an Exploratory Combined
      fMRI and DTI Study of the Inferior Frontal Gyrus.
AB  - The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is active during both goal-directed action and
      while observing the same motor act, leading to the idea that also the meaning of
      a motor act (action understanding) is represented in this "mirror neuron system"
      (MNS). However, in the dual-loop model, based on dorsal and ventral visual
      streams, the MNS is thought to be a function of the dorsal steam, projecting to
      pars opercularis (BA44) of IFG, while recent studies suggest that conceptual
      meaning and semantic analysis are a function of ventral connections, projecting
      mainly to pars triangularis (BA45) of IFG. To resolve this discrepancy, we
      investigated action observation (AO) and imitation (IMI) using fMRI in a large
      group of subjects. A grasping task (GR) assessed the contribution from movement
      without AO. We analyzed connections of the MNS-related areas within IFG with
      postrolandic areas with the use of activation-based DTI. We found that action
      observation with imitation are mainly a function of the dorsal stream centered on
      dorsal part of BA44, but also involve BA45, which is dorsally and ventrally
      connected to the same postrolandic regions. The current finding suggests that
      BA45 is the crucial part where the MNS and the dual-loop system interact. 

PMID- 25828569
TI  - Sensing Solvents with Ultrasensitive Porous Poly(ionic liquid) Actuators.

PMID- 25828567
TI  - A Major Human White Matter Pathway Between Dorsal and Ventral Visual Cortex.
AB  - Human visual cortex comprises many visual field maps organized into clusters. A
      standard organization separates visual maps into 2 distinct clusters within
      ventral and dorsal cortex. We combined fMRI, diffusion MRI, and fiber
      tractography to identify a major white matter pathway, the vertical occipital
      fasciculus (VOF), connecting maps within the dorsal and ventral visual cortex. We
      use a model-based method to assess the statistical evidence supporting several
      aspects of the VOF wiring pattern. There is strong evidence supporting the
      hypothesis that dorsal and ventral visual maps communicate through the VOF. The
      cortical projection zones of the VOF suggest that human ventral (hV4/VO-1) and
      dorsal (V3A/B) maps exchange substantial information. The VOF appears to be
      crucial for transmitting signals between regions that encode object properties
      including form, identity, and color and regions that map spatial information. 

PMID- 25828570
TI  - Dialysate and serum potassium in hemodialysis.
AB  - Most patients with end-stage renal disease depend on intermittent hemodialysis to
      maintain levels of serum potassium and other electrolytes within a normal range.
      However, one of the challenges has been the safety of using a low-potassium
      dialysate to achieve that goal, given the concern about the effects that rapid
      and/or large changes in serum potassium concentrations may have on cardiac
      electrophysiology and arrhythmia. Additionally, in this patient population, there
      is a high prevalence of structural cardiac changes and ischemic heart disease,
      making them even more susceptible to acute arrhythmogenic triggers. This concern
      is highlighted by the knowledge that about two-thirds of all cardiac deaths in
      dialysis are due to sudden cardiac death and that sudden cardiac death accounts
      for 25% of the overall death for end-stage renal disease. Developing new
      approaches and practice standards for potassium removal during dialysis, as well
      as understanding other modifiable triggers of sudden cardiac death, such as other
      electrolyte components of the dialysate (magnesium and calcium), rapid
      ultrafiltration rates, and safety of a number of medications (ie, drugs that
      prolong the QT interval or use of digoxin), are critical in order to decrease the
      unacceptably high cardiac mortality experienced by hemodialysis-dependent
      patients. 

PMID- 25828572
TI  - Inserting random and site-specific changes into the genome of chickens.
AB  - During the past decade, modifications to the chicken genome have evolved from
      random insertions of small transgenes using viral vectors to site-specific
      deletions using homologous recombination vectors and nontargeted insertions of
      large transgenes using phi-31 integrase. Primordial germ cells (PGC) and
      gonocytes are the germline-competent cell lines in which targeted modifications
      and large transgenes are inserted into the genome. After extended periods of in
      vitro culture, PGC retain their capacity to form functional gametes when
      reintroduced in vivo. Rates of stable germline modification vary from 1*10(-5)
      for nontargeted insertions to 1*10(-8) for targeted insertions. Following
      transfection, clonally derived cell lines are expanded, injected into Stage 13-15
      Hamburger and Hamilton embryos, and putative chimeras are incubated to term in
      surrogate shells. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) is incorporated into transgenes
      to reveal the presence of genetically modified PGC in culture and the extent of
      colonization of the gonad during the first week posthatch. If the extent of
      colonization is adequate, cohorts of putative chimeras are reared to sexual
      maturity. Semen is collected and the contribution from donor PGC is estimated by
      evaluating GFP expression using flow cytometry and PCR. The most promising
      candidates are selected for breeding to obtain G1 heterozygote offspring. To
      date, this protocol has been used to (1) knockout the immunoglobulin heavy and
      light chain genes and produce chickens lacking humoral immunity, (2) insert human
      V genes and arrays of pseudo V genes into the heavy and light immunoglobulin loci
      to produce chickens making antibodies with human V regions, (3) insert GFP into
      nontargeted locations within the genome to produce chickens expressing GFP, and
      (4) insert Cre recombinase into the genome to produce chickens that excise
      sequences of DNA flanked by loxP sites.

PMID- 25828571
TI  - Exploring avian deep-brain photoreceptors and their role in activating the
      neuroendocrine regulation of gonadal development.
AB  - In the eyes of mammals, specialized photoreceptors called intrinsically
      photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGC) have been identified that sense
      photoperiodic or daylight exposure, providing them over time with seasonal
      information. Detectors of photoperiods are critical in vertebrates, particularly
      for timing the onset of reproduction each year. In birds, the eyes do not appear
      to monitor photoperiodic information; rather, neurons within at least 4 different
      brain structures have been proposed to function in this capacity. Specialized
      neurons, called deep brain photoreceptors (DBP), have been found in the septum
      and 3 hypothalamic areas. Within each of the 4 brain loci, one or more of 3
      unique photopigments, including melanopsin, neuropsin, and vertebrate ancient
      opsin, have been identified. An experiment was designed to characterize
      electrophysiological responses of neurons proposed to be avian DBP following
      light stimulation. A second study used immature chicks raised under short-day
      photoperiods and transferred to long day lengths. Gene expression of
      photopigments was then determined in 3 septal-hypothalamic regions. Preliminary
      electrophysiological data obtained from patch-clamping neurons in brain slices
      have shown that bipolar neurons in the lateral septal organ responded to
      photostimulation comparable with mammalian ipRGC, particularly by showing
      depolarization and a delayed, slow response to directed light stimulation.
      Utilizing real-time reverse-transcription PCR, it was found that all 3
      photopigments showed significantly increased gene expression in the septal
      hypothalamic regions in chicks on the third day after being transferred to long
      day photoperiods. Each dissected region contained structures previously proposed
      to have DBP. The highly significant increased gene expression for all 3
      photopigments on the third, long-day photoperiod in brain regions proposed to
      contain 4 structures with DBP suggests that all 3 types of DBP (melanopsin,
      neuropsin, and vertebrate ancient opsin) in more than one neural site in the
      septal-hypothalamic area are involved in reproductive function. The neural
      response to light of at least 2 of the proposed DBP in the septal/hypothalamic
      region resembles the primitive, functional, sensory ipRGC well characterized in
      mammals. 

PMID- 25828573
TI  - Scan-rescan reproducibility of parallel transmission based amide proton transfer
      imaging of brain tumors.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the reproducibility of amide proton transfer (APT) imaging
      of brain tumors using a parallel transmission-based technique. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Thirteen patients with brain tumors (four low-grade gliomas, three
      glioblastoma multiforme, five meningiomas, and one malignant lymphoma) were
      included in the study. APT imaging was conducted at 3T using a 2-channel parallel
      transmission scheme with a saturation time of 2 seconds and B1 amplitude of 2
      MUT. A 2D fast spin-echo sequence with driven-equilibrium refocusing was used for
      imaging. Z-spectra were obtained at 25 frequency offsets from -6 to +6 ppm (step
      0.5 ppm). A point-by-point B0 correction was performed with a B0 map. A scan
      rescan reproducibility test was performed in two sessions on separate days for
      each patient. The interval between the two sessions was 4.8 +/- 3.5 days. Regions
      of-interest (ROIs) were placed to include the whole tumor for each case. A mean
      and 90-percentile value of APT signal for the whole tumor histogram was
      calculated for each session. The between-session and within-session
      reproducibility was evaluated using linear regression analysis, intraclass
      correlation coefficient (ICC), and a Bland-Altman plot. RESULTS: The mean and 90
      percentile values of the APT signal for whole tumor ROI showed excellent
      agreements between the two sessions, with R(2) of 0.91 and 0.96 in the linear
      regression analysis and ICC of 0.95 and 0.97, respectively. CONCLUSION: Parallel
      transmission-based APT imaging of brain tumors showed good reproducibility.

PMID- 25828574
TI  - Highly Emissive Nanoparticles Based on AIE-Active Molecule and PAMAM Dendritic
      "Molecular Glue".
AB  - The highly emissive nanoparticles Gn-TCMPE (n = 0-4) were prepared by using PAMAM
      dendrimers as "molecular glue" to adhere an AIE-active molecule tetra(4
      (carboxymethoxy)phenyl)ethylene (TCMPE). The electrostatic interaction of
      ammonium-carboxylate ion pairs provides a driving force between TCMPE and PAMAM
      dendrimers to form the nanoparticles Gn-TCMPE (n = 0-4), which is validated by
      the FTIR and (1)H NMR spectra. The formation of nanoparticles dramatically blocks
      the nonradiative pathway and enhances the fluorescence of TCMPE. The quantum
      yields of Gn-TCMPE gradually boost at first and then reach to a plateau with
      increasing the generation of PAMAM dendrimers, and the highest absolute quantum
      yields are obtained to be 0.42 and 0.64 for Gn-TCMPE (n = 2-4) in methanol
      dispersion and solid phases, respectively. The fluorescence of the nanoparticles
      can be tuned by addition of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). Furthermore, the G4-TCMPE
      has been successfully applied to selectively image cytoplasm of Hela cells with
      excellent photostability and low cytotoxicity. This study provides a novel
      noncovalent strategy for developing highly emissive and robust organic materials
      fitting for cell fluorescence imaging. 

PMID- 25828576
TI  - Characterizing in vivo stability and potential interactions of a UL5 helicase
      primase mutation previously shown to reduce virulence and in vivo replication of
      Marek's disease virus.
AB  - The unpredictable yet recurrent emergence of more virulent field strains of
      Marek's disease virus (MDV) in Marek's disease (MD) vaccinated flocks of chickens
      has prompted concerns regarding the sustainability of MD vaccines. A single non
      synonymous point mutation (I682R) within the UL5 helicase-primase unit was shown
      to reduce virulence by over 90%. Considering in vitro attenuation is commonly
      used to generate MD vaccines, this result prompted further characterization of
      this mutation, particularly to better understand the potential of point mutations
      for use in vaccine development. Incorporation of a second non-synonymous point
      mutation (UL46-Q117R; tegument) found at high frequencies in the same attenuated
      MDV as the UL5 mutation did not further reduce virulence compared to the single
      UL5 mutation alone. Furthermore, when the UL5-containing MDV was serially passed
      three times in vivo, the resulting viruses did not show increases in replication
      or virulence, and no revertant viruses could be detected. This suggests that
      point mutations that reduce fitness and in vivo replication may be more stable
      than initially anticipated, which may alleviate some concerns regarding
      rationally designed MD vaccines based upon point mutations. 

PMID- 25828575
TI  - Intracellular EP2 prostanoid receptor promotes cancer-related phenotypes in PC3
      cells.
AB  - Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) affect
      many mechanisms that have been involved in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer
      (PC). HIF-1alpha, which is up-regulated by PGE2 in LNCaP cells and PC3 cells, has
      been shown to contribute to metastasis and chemo-resistance of castrate-resistant
      PC (a lethal form of PC) and to promote in PC cells migration, invasion,
      angiogenesis and chemoresistance. The selective blockade of PGE2-EP2 signaling
      pathway in PC3 cells results in inhibition of cancer cell proliferation and
      invasion. PGE2 affects many mechanisms that have been shown to play a role in
      carcinogenesis such as proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion and
      angiogenesis. Recently, we have found in PC3 cells that most of these PGE2
      induced cancer-related features are due to intracellular PGE2 (iPGE2). Here, we
      aimed to study in PC3 cells the role of iPGE2-intracellular EP2 (iEP2)-HIF-1alpha
      signaling in several events linked to PC progression using an experimental
      approach involving pharmacological inhibition of the prostaglandin uptake
      transporter and EGFR and pharmacological and genetic modulation of EP2 receptor
      and HIF-1alpha. We found that iPGE2 increases HIF-1alpha expression through iEP2
      dependent EGFR transactivation and that inhibition of any of the axis iEP2-EGFR
      HIF-1alpha in cells treated with PGE2 or EP2 agonist results in prevention of the
      increase in PC3 cell proliferation, adhesion, migration, invasion and
      angiogenesis in vitro. Of note, PGE2 induced EP2 antagonist-sensitive DNA
      synthesis in nuclei isolated from PC3 cells, which indicates that they have
      functional EP2 receptors. These results suggest that PGE2-EP2 dependent
      intracrine mechanisms involving EGFR and HIF-1alpha play a role in PC. 

PMID- 25828578
TI  - Harvesting dissipated energy with a mesoscopic ratchet.
AB  - The search for new efficient thermoelectric devices converting waste heat into
      electrical energy is of major importance. The physics of mesoscopic electronic
      transport offers the possibility to develop a new generation of nanoengines with
      high efficiency. Here we describe an all-electrical heat engine harvesting and
      converting dissipated power into an electrical current. Two capacitively coupled
      mesoscopic conductors realized in a two-dimensional conductor form the hot source
      and the cold converter of our device. In the former, controlled Joule heating
      generated by a voltage-biased quantum point contact results in thermal voltage
      fluctuations. By capacitive coupling the latter creates electric potential
      fluctuations in a cold chaotic cavity connected to external leads by two quantum
      point contacts. For unequal quantum point contact transmissions, a net electrical
      current is observed proportional to the heat produced. 

PMID- 25828577
TI  - Repurposing de novo designed entities reveals phosphodiesterase 3B and cathepsin
      L modulators.
AB  - Using computational bioactivity prediction models we identified phosphodiesterase
      3B (PDE3B) and cathepsin L as macromolecular targets of de novo designed
      compounds. By disclosing the most potent cathepsin L activator known to date,
      small molecule repurposing by target panel prediction represents a feasible route
      towards innovative leads for chemical biology and molecular medicine. 

PMID- 25828579
TI  - The molecular basis of low activity levels of coagulation factor VII: a Brazilian
      cohort.
AB  - Inherited factor VII (FVII) deficiency is the most common among the rare bleeding
      disorders. It is transmitted as an autosomal recessive inheritance, due to
      mutations in the FVII gene (F7). Molecular studies of FVII deficiency are rare in
      non-Caucasian populations. The aim of the study was to evaluate the molecular
      basis behind low levels of FVII activity (FVII:C) levels in a cohort of Brazilian
      patients. A total of 34 patients with low FVII levels were clinically evaluated
      and submitted to laboratory tests, among these, prothrombin time and FVII:C, with
      different thromboplastins. All exons and intron/exon boundaries of F7 were
      amplified and sequenced. A total of 14 genetic alterations were identified, of
      which six were described previously, c.1091G>A, c.1151C>T, c.-323_
      313insCCTATATCCT, c.285G>A, c.525C>T, c.1238G>A and eight (54.0%) and eight were
      new, c.128G>A, c.252C>T, c.348G>A, c.417G>A, c.426G>A, c.745_747delGTG, c.843G>A
      and c.805+52C>T. In addition to the mutation c.1091G>A, known as FVII Padua, the
      mutation c.1151C>T also presented discrepant FVII:C levels when tested with human
      and rabbit brain thromboplastin. There was no association between phenotype and
      genotype. Most of the identified genetic alterations found were polymorphisms.
      Low levels of FVII:C in this population were mostly related to polymorphisms in
      F7 and associated with a mild clinical phenotype. Mutation c.1151C>T was
      associated with discrepant levels of FVII:C using different thromboplastins, such
      as reported with FVII Padua. 

PMID- 25828580
TI  - How do children complete a seated combined cognitive and motor multi-tasking
      paradigm?
AB  - Healthy children (n=12, age 7years) and young adults (n=11, age 21years) were
      asked to perform a bimanual balance and reaching protocol in a seated posture.
      Subjects balanced a ball on a Frisbee on the non-dominant palm of the hand while
      reaching with the dominant hand to pick up a toy off the ground. During half of
      the trials, an auditory Stroop task was administered simultaneous to onset of the
      participants' reach. All children (CH) and adults (AD) successfully completed
      both motor and cognitive tasks when combined: the ball and Frisbee were not
      dropped and cognitive accuracy rate for both groups was 77%. Angular range of
      motion (ROM) measures indicated that the trunk, upper arm (UA) and forearm (FA)
      segments were moving as articulated individual segments in both adults and
      children (ROM for trunk?UA?FA; p<.001). However, differences between CH and AD
      upper body segmental control were evident: greater variability existed between
      trials and between subjects for segmental ROM in CH compared to AD (p<.001),
      suggesting that adult-like control is still developing in this age group. Results
      indicate children aged 7years can successfully perform a simultaneous upper body
      motor and cognitive task in a seated posture, however motor performance control
      is not yet at the same level as adults. 

PMID- 25828581
TI  - Robustness to temporal constraint explains expertise in ball-over-net sports.
AB  - The present study investigated motor expertise in interpersonal competitive ball
      over-net sports in terms of a dynamical system with temporal input. In a
      theoretical framework, the behavior of the system is characterized by a fractal
      like structure according to switching input, which changes uniquely according to
      the duration of input and internal parameter of the system. We investigated
      periodic movements, in which the player executed a forehand or backhand stroke
      repeatedly, and continuous switching movements, in which the player continuously
      switched between two movement patterns corresponding to hitting the ball under
      two ball directions and with six temporal constraint conditions during a table
      tennis rally. In the periodic movement, we observed two limit-cycle attractors
      corresponding to each direction in the phase space independent of temporal
      constraint or skill level. Conversely, in the continuous switching movement, a
      transition in trajectories between the two limit-cycle attractors was observed in
      the phase space, and this transition was characterized by a fractal-like
      structure. The fractal-like structure moved closer to the random structure as
      temporal constraint increased independent of skill level. However, the temporal
      constraint condition closest to the random structure was higher for the advanced
      players than for the novices, indicating that robustness to the temporal
      constraint was higher for the advanced players than for the novices. Our results
      suggest that motor expertise in interpersonal competitive ball-over-net sports is
      more robust to temporal constraints with various inputs. 

PMID- 25828582
TI  - A minimal limit-cycle model to profile movement patterns of individuals during
      agility drill performance: Effects of skill level.
AB  - Identification of control strategies during agility performance is significant in
      understanding movement behavior. This study aimed at providing a fundamental
      mathematical model for describing the motion of participants during an agility
      drill and to determine whether skill level constrained model components. Motion
      patterns of two groups of skilled and unskilled participants (n=8 in each) during
      performance of a forward/backward agility drill modeled as limit-cycles.
      Participant movements were recorded by motion capture of a reflective marker
      attached to the sacrum of each individual. Graphical and regression analyses of
      movement kinematics in Hooke's plane, phase plane and velocity profile were
      performed to determine components of the models. Results showed that the models
      of both skilled and unskilled groups had terms from Duffing stiffness as well as
      Van der Pol damping oscillators. Data also indicated that the proposed models
      captured on average 97% of the variance for both skilled and unskilled groups.
      Findings from this study revealed the movement patterning associated with skilled
      and unskilled performance in a typical forward/backward agility drill which might
      be helpful for trainers and physiotherapists in enhancing agility. 

PMID- 25828584
TI  - Active role of small peptides in Arabidopsis reproduction: Expression evidence.

PMID- 25828585
TI  - Biologic therapy in ANCA-negative vasculitis.
AB  - Standard therapeutic schemes for vasculitis are usually associated with numerous
      side effects and uneven clinical response. However, recent advances in
      understanding of the pathogenesis of these systemic diseases have resulted in the
      development of a group of biologic agents potentially useful in patients with
      vasculitis. Thus, anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha drugs may be effective in
      patients with refractory Kawasaki disease but have failed to do so in giant cell
      arteritis, and their role in Takayasu arteritis is yet unclear. Preliminary
      reports on the use of the anti-IL6-receptor antibody, tocilizumab, in large
      vessel vasculitis have been encouraging. Interferon alpha has showed positive
      results in hepatitis B virus-associated polyarteritis nodosa, and hepatitis C
      virus-induced cryoglobulinemia. Early experience with rituximab in several types
      of vasculitis has been quite promising, but must be confirmed in ongoing
      randomized clinical trials. The development of new biologic targeted therapies
      will probably open a hopeful future for patients with vasculitis. 

PMID- 25828583
TI  - Manipulation of apoptosis and necroptosis signaling by herpesviruses.
AB  - Like apoptosis, necroptosis is an innate immune mechanism that eliminates
      pathogen-infected cells. Receptor-interacting protein kinase (RIP)3 (also called
      RIPK3) mediates necrotic death by phosphorylating an executioner protein, MLKL,
      leading to plasma membrane leakage. The pathway is triggered against viruses that
      block caspase 8. In murine CMV, the viral inhibitor of caspase 8 activation
      prevents extrinsic apoptosis but also has the potential to unleash necroptosis.
      This virus encodes the viral inhibitor of RIP activation to prevent RIP homotypic
      interaction motif (RHIM)-dependent signal transduction and necroptosis. Recent
      investigations reveal a similar mechanism at play in the human alpha
      herpesviruses, herpes simplex virus (HSV)1 and HSV2, where RHIM competitor
      function and caspase 8 suppression are carried out by the virus-encoded large
      subunit of ribonucleotide reductase (R1). In human cells, R1 inhibition of
      caspase 8 prevents TNF-induced apoptosis, but sensitizes to TNF-induced
      necroptosis. The RHIM and caspase 8 interaction domains of R1 collaborate to
      prevent RIP3-dependent steps and enable both herpesviruses to deflect host cell
      death machinery that would cut short infection. In mouse cells, HSV1 infection by
      itself triggers necroptosis by driving RIP3 protein kinase activity. HSV1 R1
      contributes to the activation of RIP3 adaptor function in mice, a popular host
      animal for experimental infection. Based on these studies, infection of RIP3
      kinase inactive mice should be explored in models of pathogenesis and latency.
      The necrotic death pathway that is suppressed during infection in the natural
      host becomes a cross-species barrier to infection in a non-natural host. 

PMID- 25828586
TI  - Temporary blindness after an anterior chamber cosmetic filler injection.
AB  - Blindness is a rare but devastating complication of cosmetic filler injection. A
      primary cause of blindness following hyaluronic acid filler injection is
      retrograde intravascular embolization into the small ocular arteries. We here
      report a case of temporary blindness associated with the injection of hyaluronic
      acid filler into the anterior chamber of eye. This is the first report of
      temporary blindness after cosmetic filler injection into the anterior chamber,
      and the first described case that recovered completely after the filler was
      removed. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE V: This journal requires that authors assign a level
      of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based
      Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online
      Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

PMID- 25828587
TI  - A new method for inframammary fold recreation using a barbed suture.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There are inherent limitations with previously reported inframammary
      fold (IMF) recreation methods. The IMF is firmly fixed to the chest wall, but not
      physiologically, and it is difficult to determine the correct IMF position in the
      supine position and in the absence of an implant. METHODS: With our new IMF
      reconstruction method (i.e., drawstring method), the IMF is recreated by drawing
      a barbed suture, penetrating the dermis, along the IMF. The barbed suture is
      fixed to the costal cartilage at the medial IMF, and the head is drawn and cut
      externally at the lateral IMF. The IMF level and depth can be finely adjusted by
      the tension, in a seated position after implant insertion. Furthermore, the
      approach can be from a small incision, and a smooth IMF curve is reconstructed.
      RESULTS: Our drawstring method was performed in 102 patients who underwent
      reconstruction using a breast implant (n = 95) or flap (n = 7). The mean patient
      age was 52.0 years (range 33-77 years) and the follow-up period was 12 months
      (range 3-18 months). Suture or implant infection or exposure did not occur.
      Suture slack occurred in ten patients with implant-based reconstruction; their
      IMF became shallow. Insufficient skin expansion (P < 0.005) and strong traction
      of the barbed suture from the caudal side (P < 0.05) were related to IMF slack.
      The total revision rate was 2.9 %. CONCLUSIONS: With sufficient skin expansion,
      the drawstring method using a barbed suture enables smooth and symmetrical IMF
      reconstruction. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a
      level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based
      Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online
      Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

PMID- 25828588
TI  - Expression of TNFalpha membrane-bound receptors in the peripheral blood
      mononuclear cells (PMBC) in rheumatoid arthritis patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of TNFalpha membrane-bound receptors:
      the percentage of cells expressing these receptors and the number of molecules
      expressed on different immune cell subsets, and to evaluate serum concentrations
      of soluble TNFalpha and its receptors (sTNFRI and sTNFRII) in patients with
      rheumatoid arthritis in acute stage and after response to treatment compared to
      healthy donors. METHODS: The objects of the study are peripheral blood
      mononuclear cells (PBMC) of healthy donors (n=150) and RA patients (n=40)
      subjected to hospital treatment with either biological agents (Rituximab) or
      glucocorticosteroids (methylprednisolone). To determine PBMC phenotype antibodies
      anti-hCD3-APC, anti-hCD19 PECy7, anti-hCD14 FITC (eBioscience), as well as anti
      hTNFRI-PE and anti-hTNFRII-PE (R&D Systems) were used. To determine receptor
      number on the cells Quantibrite PE Beads (BD) were used. RESULTS: Cells obtained
      from patients who responded to therapy and achieved disease remission exhibited
      either an increase in the percentage of TNFRI+ cells or elevated expression
      density of this receptor type. CONCLUSION: Subsets of immunocompetent cells from
      RA patients show variation in the percentage of membrane-bound receptor positive
      cells and receptor expression density, which influences the development and
      progression of the pathological processes in RA. Response to therapy and
      achievement of disease remission are associated with an increase of TNFRI
      expression.

PMID- 25828589
TI  - In vivo relative quantitative proteomics reveals HMGB1 as a downstream mediator
      of oestrogen-stimulated keratinocyte migration.
AB  - It is known that oestrogen influences skin wound healing by modulating the
      inflammatory response, cytokine expression and extracellular matrix deposition;
      accelerating re-epithelialization; and stimulating angiogenesis. To identify
      novel proteins associated with effects of oestrogen on keratinocyte, stable
      isotope labelling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC)-based mass spectrometry
      was performed. Using SILAC, quantification of 1085 proteins was achieved. Among
      these proteins, 60 proteins were upregulated and 32 proteins were downregulated.
      Among significantly upregulated proteins, high-mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1)
      has been further evaluated for its role in the effect of oestrogen on
      keratinocytes. HMGB1 expression was strongly induced in oestrogen-treated
      keratinocytes in dose- and time-dependent manner. Further, HMGB1 was able to
      significantly accelerate the rate of HaCaT cell migration. To determine whether
      HMGB1 is involved in E2-induced HaCaT cell migration, cells were transfected with
      HMGB1 siRNA. Knockdown of HMGB1 blocked oestrogen-induced keratinocyte migration.
      Collectively, these experiments demonstrate that HMGB1 is a novel downstream
      mediator of oestrogen-stimulated keratinocyte migration. 

PMID- 25828590
TI  - Reply: To PMID 24890124.

PMID- 25828591
TI  - Interplay of Drug-Metabolizing Enzymes and Transporters in Drug Absorption and
      Disposition.
AB  - In recent years, the functional interplay between drug-metabolizing enzymes
      (DMEs) and drug transporters (DTs) in drug absorption and disposition, as well as
      the complex drug interactions (DIs), has become an intriguing contention, which
      has also been termed the "transport-metabolism interplay". The current
      mechanistic understanding for this interplay is first discussed. In the present
      article, studies investigating the interplay between cytochrome P450 enzymes
      (CYPs) and efflux transporters have been systematically reviewed in vitro, in
      situ, in silico, in animals and humans, followed by CYPs-uptake transporters,
      CYPs-uptake transporters-efflux transporters, and phase II metabolic enzymes
      transporters interplay studies. Although several cellular, isolated organ and
      whole animal studies, in conjunction with simulation and modelling, have
      addressed the issue that DMEs and DTs can work cooperatively to affect the
      bioavailability of shared substrate drugs, convincing evidences in human studies
      are still lacking. Furthermore, the functional interplay between DMEs and DTs
      will be highly substrate- and dose- dependent. Additionally, we review recent
      studies to evaluate the influence of genetic variations in the interplay between
      DMEs and DTs, which might be helpful for the prediction of pharmacokinetics (PK)
      and possible DIs in human more correctly. There is strong evidence of
      coordinately regulated DEMs and DTs gene expression and protein activity (e.g.
      nuclear receptors). Taken together, further investigations and analysis are
      urgently needed to explore the functional interplay of DMEs and DTs and to
      delineate the underlying mechanisms. 

PMID- 25828592
TI  - PepT1, ASBT-Linked Prodrug Strategy to Improve Oral Bioavailability and Tissue
      Targeting Distribution.
AB  - With the rapid development of molecular biology, various of drug transporters
      have been discovered in several important organs of the body, which determine
      intracellular exposure and pharmacokinetic performances of drugs by modulating
      cellular entry and exit. This article focuses on the design of transporter-linked
      prodrug to enhance oral bioavailability and to acquire tissue-specific
      distribution pattern, especially paying attention to peptide transporter 1
      (PepT1) and apical sodium dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT). Conjugation of
      the native promotety to active drug was one of the effective methods to improve
      membrane permeability and distribution profiles of drugs. In this review, we
      highlight the transporter-linked prodrug design modality based on PepT1 and ASBT.
      The biology of transporters, structure-transport relationship, key features of
      natural substrates and successful examples of transporter-linked prodrugs are
      overviewed in detail. 

PMID- 25828593
TI  - Recent Advances in the Methodology and Application for the Metabolism of
      Phytochemical Compounds-An Update Covering the Period of 2009-2014.
AB  - The research of drug metabolism is essential for successful drug discovery.
      Phytochemicals, particularly those from herbal medicines, have the potential to
      affect diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure,
      etc., showing great advantages in disease prevention and personalized treatment.
      In the past decade, phytochemical metabolism played a major role in the discovery
      of valuable leading compounds of new drugs. However, the metabolic studies of
      phytochemical compounds are extremely challenging due to numerous analogs with
      similar structures, complex endogenous matrices with multi-components in
      biofluids and cell or tissue extracts. For the feasibility of monitoring
      phytochemical metabolism, suitable bioanalytical tools and strategies have to be
      developed and validated. Here we critically review the literature from 2009 to
      2014, and present generalized strategy for phytochemical metabolism in biological
      matrices, including the methodology of metabolism, sample preparation methods and
      detection techniques. In addition, the present paper covers the diverse aspects
      of metabolism studies on phenolic acids, flavonoids, anthraquinones, alkaloids,
      terpenoids, coumarins, lignans and steroids in medicinal plants. Finally,
      prospects for further research are also considered. 

PMID- 25828594
TI  - Nucleic Acids Delivery Systems: A Challenge for Pharmaceutical Technologists.
AB  - Nucleic acids (NA) therapies, including therapy with genes, aptamers or antisense
      oligonucleotides, have been showing promising results, especially in the
      treatment of severe diseases (e.g. cancer and AIDS). Nevertheless, the full
      success of medical treatments requires efficient achievement of the therapeutic
      target and also the safety and effectiveness of the pharmaceutical system. NA are
      not very efficient when administered alone, which means that the use of
      appropriate methods for in vivo transfection of these molecules into targeted
      cells is fundamental. Examples of these techniques are the use of viral and non
      viral vectors to transfer the NA to the cells nucleus. Despite viral vectors have
      been demonstrating superior effectiveness for NA transfer, some drawbacks have
      been pointed out, which focused the research in the non-viral vectors. However,
      the development of effective NA delivery systems remains a challenge for
      pharmaceutical technologists, mainly because of their in vivo failure, which
      hinders their clinical application. In this review article we address the
      characteristics of NA molecules and their respective limitations for formulation
      and administration. An update on the state of the art related to the latest and
      outstanding developments from the in vivo applications of NA viral and non-viral
      delivery systems is also presented. From this review, we can conclude that there
      is a lack of research regarding pre-clinical studies in specific animal models of
      disease, which is required for further human clinical trials and for their use in
      clinics. 

PMID- 25828595
TI  - Pulmonary acantholytic squamous cell carcinoma with focal signet ring cell
      morphology mimicking malignant mesothelioma on fine needle aspiration cytology: a
      case report.

PMID- 25828596
TI  - Binge eating in bariatric surgery candidates: The role of insecure attachment and
      emotion regulation.
AB  - Binge eating has a high prevalence among bariatric patients and is associated
      with post-surgical weight gain. This study examined the potential mediating role
      of emotion regulation difficulties in the relation between attachment insecurity
      and binge eating among this population. Participants were 1388 adult pre
      bariatric surgery candidates from an accredited bariatric surgery assessment
      centre in Toronto, Ontario. Participants completed measures of psychological
      functioning, including attachment style and emotion regulation. Mediation
      analyses revealed that difficulties with emotion regulation mediated a positive
      association between insecure-anxious attachment and binge eating. An insecure
      avoidant attachment was found to have a non-significant association with binge
      eating when examining the total effect. However, when difficulties with emotion
      regulation were controlled for in the model to examine its role as a mediator,
      this association became significant, and emotion regulation difficulties also
      mediated the relationship between attachment avoidance and binge eating. These
      findings suggest that difficulties in emotion regulation may be an important
      clinical issue to address in order to reduce binge eating in adult bariatric
      surgery candidates. 

PMID- 25828597
TI  - Artificial sweeteners are not the answer to childhood obesity.
AB  - While no single factor is responsible for the recent, dramatic increases in
      overweight and obesity, a scientific consensus has emerged suggesting that
      consumption of sugar-sweetened products, especially beverages, is casually linked
      to increases in risk of chronic, debilitating diseases including type 2 diabetes,
      cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke. One approach that might be
      beneficial would be to replace sugar-sweetened items with products manufactured
      with artificial sweeteners that provide sweet tastes but with fewer calories.
      Unfortunately, evidence now indicates that artificial sweeteners are also
      associated with increased risk of the same chronic diseases linked to sugar
      consumption. Several biologically plausible mechanisms may explain these
      counterintuitive negative associations. For example, artificial sweeteners can
      interfere with basic learning processes that serve to anticipate the normal
      consequences of consuming sugars, leading to overeating, diminished release of
      hormones such as GLP-1, and impaired blood glucose regulation. In addition,
      artificial sweeteners can alter gut microbiota in rodent models and humans, which
      can also contribute to impaired glucose regulation. Use of artificial sweeteners
      may also be particularly problematic in children since exposure to hyper
      sweetened foods and beverages at young ages may have effects on sweet preferences
      that persist into adulthood. Taken as a whole, current evidence suggests that a
      focus on reducing sweetener intake, whether the sweeteners are caloric or non
      caloric, remains a better strategy for combating overweight and obesity than use
      of artificial sweeteners. 

PMID- 25828598
TI  - 50 is the new 70: Short ventriculoatrial times are common in children with
      atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: One of the basic electrophysiological principles of atrioventricular
      reciprocating tachycardia (AVRT) is that ventriculoatrial (VA) times during
      tachycardia are >70 ms. We hypothesized, however, that children may commonly have
      VA times <70 ms in AVRT. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to determine the incidence
      and characteristics associated with short-VA AVRT in children. METHODS: A
      retrospective single-center review of children with AVRT from 2000 to 2014 was
      performed. All patients <=18 years of age with AVRT at electrophysiology study
      were included. Patients with persistent junctional reciprocating tachycardia,
      atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia, and tachycardia not unequivocally
      proven to be AVRT were excluded. VA time was defined as the time between earliest
      ventricular activation and earliest atrial activation in any lead and was
      confirmed by 2 electrophysiologists. Patients with VA times <70 ms (SHORT-VA) and
      those with standard VA times >=70 ms (STD-VA) were compared. Logistic regression
      analysis identified characteristics of SHORT-VA patients. RESULTS: A total of 495
      patients with AVRT were included (mean age 11.7 +/- 4.1 years). There were 265
      patients (54%) with concealed accessory pathways (APs) and 230 (46%) with Wolff
      Parkinson-White syndrome. AP location was left-sided in 301 patients (61%) and
      right-sided in 194 (39%). The mean VA time in AVRT was 100 +/- 33 ms. A total of
      63 patients (13%) had VA times <70 ms (SHORT-VA). The shortest VA time during
      AVRT was 50 ms. There was no difference in age, AV nodal block cycle, or body
      surface area between SHORT-VA and STD-VA patients, but SHORT-VA patients had
      lower weight (43 +/- 17 vs 51 +/- 23 kg, P = .02), lower AV nodal effective
      refractory period (AVNERP; 269 +/- 50 vs 245 +/- 52 ms, P < .01), and more left
      sided APs (50 [79%] vs 251 [58%]; P < .01]. On multivariate logistic regression,
      factors associated with SHORT-VA included left-sided AP (odds ratio [OR] 5.79,
      confidence interval [95% CI] 2.21-15.1, P < .01), shorter AVNERP (OR 0.99, CI
      0.98-0.99, P < .01), and lower weight (OR 0.97, CI 0.95-0.99, P < .01).
      CONCLUSIONS: Children with AVRT can frequently have VA times <70 ms, with 50 ms
      being the shortest VA time. This finding debunks the classic electrophysiology
      principle that VA times in AVRT must be >70 ms. SHORT-VA AVRT was more common in
      children with left-sided APs.

PMID- 25828599
TI  - "Needle-in-needle" epicardial access: Preliminary observations with a modified
      technique for facilitating epicardial interventional procedures.

PMID- 25828600
TI  - Differential diagnosis of regular, narrow-QRS tachycardias.
AB  - We present an update on clinical and electrophysiological criteria used for the
      differential diagnosis of regular supraventricular tachycardias. Although several
      electrocardiographic clues may assist in the differential diagnosis, this is
      usually accomplished at electrophysiology study, and most often, the differential
      diagnosis is between atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia,
      atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia due to a concealed accessory pathway, and
      atrial tachycardia. Atrial and ventricular pacing maneuvers during sinus rhythm
      or tachycardia have been used with various success rates. In clinical practice,
      these techniques cannot be applied to all cases, and multiple criteria must be
      used for the differential diagnosis of narrow-complex tachycardias with atypical
      characteristics. 

PMID- 25828601
TI  - His-bundle pacing versus biventricular pacing in cardiac resynchronization
      therapy patients: A crossover design comparison.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) typically is attempted with
      biventricular pacing (BiVP). One-third of patients are nonresponders. His-bundle
      pacing (HBP) has been evaluated as an alternative means of effecting CRT because
      it generates truly physiologic ventricular activation, as evidenced in part by
      the morphologic identity between normally conducted and paced QRS complexes.
      OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of, and
      clinical response to, permanent HBP as an alternative to BiVP in CRT-indicated
      patients. METHODS: Patients were implanted with a right atrial pacing lead,
      defibrillation lead, left ventricular (LV) lead via the coronary sinus, and HBP
      lead. His and LV leads were plugged into the LV port via a Y-adapter. After
      successful implant, patients were randomized in single patient-blinded fashion to
      either HBP or BiVP. After 6 months, patients were crossed over to the other
      pacing modality and followed for another 6 months. Quality-of-life assessments,
      echocardiographic measurements, New York Heart Association classification, and 6
      minute hall walk test were obtained at baseline and at each 6-month follow-up.
      RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients were enrolled; 21 (72%) demonstrated electrical
      resynchronization (QRS narrowing) at implant. Twelve patients completed the
      crossover analysis at 1 year. Clinical outcomes (quality of life, New York Heart
      Association functional class, 6-minute hall walk test, LV ejection fraction) were
      significantly improved for both pacing modes compared with baseline measures.
      CONCLUSION: In this crossover comparison between HBP and BiVP, HBP was found to
      effect an equivalent CRT response. QRS narrowing was observed in 21 of 29
      patients, suggesting this approach may be feasible in more patients with left
      bundle branch block than previously assumed.

PMID- 25828602
TI  - Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid status in obesity: a systematic review and
      meta-analysis.
AB  - Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCPUFA) status has recently been related
      to the pathogenesis of obesity. Our aims were to systematically review
      observational studies investigating LCPUFA status from different blood
      compartments in overweight or obese subjects and to assess the relationship
      between LCPUFA profile and obesity. The Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus and Cochrane Library
      CENTRAL databases were searched from inception to January 2014. The meta-analysis
      showed significant differences in the LCPUFA composition of total plasma lipids,
      plasma phospholipids and plasma cholesteryl esters between overweight or obese
      subjects and controls. Dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA) values were
      significantly higher in overweight or obese subjects compared with controls in
      all the investigated biomarkers. In addition, the DGLA/linoleic acid ratio
      (surrogate parameter for Delta6 desaturase activity) in plasma phospholipids was
      significantly elevated (mean difference [MD]: 0.05; 95% confidence interval [CI]:
      0.02, 0.08; n = 280), while the arachidonic acid/DGLA ratio (surrogate parameter
      for Delta5 desaturase activity) was significantly decreased (MD: -0.55; 95% CI: 
      0.71, -0.39; n = 347) in overweight or obese subjects compared with controls. The
      results of the present meta-analysis confirm that LCPUFA profile is altered in
      obesity and suggest that the differences observed in desaturase activities may be
      responsible for the disturbed LCPUFA metabolism in obesity.

PMID- 25828603
TI  - General Movements Assessment of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit
      following surgery.
AB  - AIM: There is an identified gap in the literature regarding the use of the
      General Movements (GMs) Assessment to identify risk in infants post-surgery. This
      paper aims to examine the GMs for infants who have undergone surgery to identify
      common risk profiles in the writhing age. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort
      study of 170 infants (99 male, 58%) admitted to a neonatal surgical unit from
      2012 until June 2014. Infants were born at a mean age of 38 weeks (standard
      deviation (SD) 2.3), and writhing GMs were conducted at term (40 weeks, SD 2.6)
      following either cardiac (n = 84, 49%) or non-cardiac surgery (n = 86, 51%). GMs
      were categorised by three trained assessors. RESULTS: Normal writhing was
      recorded in 64 infants (38%). The most common profile was poor repertoire (n =
      80, 47%), with 14 (8%) cramped synchronised. There was no difference in scores
      between infants who had undergone cardiac versus non-cardiac surgery (P = 0.45).
      CONCLUSION: This is the first report on the GMs assessment in an infant surgical
      population. Infants who have undergone surgery most commonly display poor
      repertoire writhing movements. Research is needed to determine the ability of the
      GMs to predict neurodevelopmental outcomes in this population.

PMID- 25828604
TI  - A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON APOPTOSIS INDUCTION BY AZADIRACHTIN IN Spodoptera
      frugiperda CULTURED CELL LINE Sf9.
AB  - The induction of apoptosis by azadirachtin, a well-known botanical
      tetranortriterpenoid isolated from the neem tree (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) and
      other members of the Meliaceae, was investigated in Spodoptera frugiperda
      cultured cell line (Sf9). Morphological changes in Sf9 cells treated by various
      concentrations of azadirachtin were observed at different times under light
      microscopy. Morphological and biochemical analysis indicated that Sf9 cells
      treated by 1.5 MUg/mL azadirachtin showed typical morphological changes, which
      were indicative of apoptosis and a clear DNA ladder. The flow cytometry analysis
      showed the apoptosis rate reached a maximum value of 32.66% at 24 h with 1.5
      MUg/mL azadirachtin in Sf9 cells. The inhibition of Sf9 cell proliferation
      suggested that the effect of azadirachtin was dose dependent and the EC50 at 48
      and 72 h was 2.727 * 10(-6) and 6.348 * 10(-9) MUg/mL, respectively. The
      treatment of azadirachtin in Sf9 cells could significantly increase the activity
      of Sf caspase-1, but showed no effect on the activity of Topo I, suggesting that
      the apoptosis induced by azadirachtinin Sf9 cells is through caspase-dependent
      pathway. These results provided not only a series of morphological, biochemical,
      and toxicological comprehensive evidences for induction of apoptosis by
      azadirachtin, but also a reference model for screening insect cell apoptosis
      inducers from natural compounds.

PMID- 25828605
TI  - Attenuating effect of bioactive coumarins from Convolvulus pluricaulis on
      scopolamine-induced amnesia in mice.
AB  - Convolvulus pluricaulis Chois. (Convolvulaceae) has been used in Ayurveda as
      Medhya Rasyana (nervine tonic) to treat various mental disorders. This study was
      designed to isolate the bioactive compound(s) of this plant and to evaluate their
      effect against scopolamine-induced amnesia. Column chromatography of the
      chloroform and ethyl-acetate fractions led to the isolation of three coumarins
      identified as scopoletin, ayapanin and scopolin. All the three compounds at 2.5,
      5, 10 and 15 mg/kg, p.o. were evaluated for memory-enhancing activity against
      scopolamine-induced amnesia using elevated plus maze and step down paradigms.
      Effect on acetylcholinesterase activity in mice brain was also evaluated.
      Scopoletin and scopolin, in both the paradigms, significantly and dose
      dependently attenuated the scopolamine-induced amnesic effect. Furthermore, these
      compounds at 10 and 15 mg/kg exhibited activity comparable to that of standard
      drug, donepezil. The compounds also exhibited significant acetylcholinesterase
      inhibitory activity.

PMID- 25828606
TI  - Household food insecurity and dietary intake in Korea: results from the 2012
      Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence of household food insecurity and compare
      dietary intake by food security status in a representative Korean population.
      DESIGN: Cross-sectional. Food security status of households was classified using
      an eighteen-item food security questionnaire. The nutrition survey comprised
      questions on dietary habits, a 24 h dietary recall and a semi-quantitative FFQ.
      SETTING: The 2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
      SUBJECTS: A total of 3007 households completed the food security questionnaire.
      Family members within each household aged >=1 year (n 7118) participated in the
      nutrition survey. RESULTS: Results from the 2012 survey indicated that 88.7% of
      Korean households showed food security. The remaining 11.3% (9.3% for food
      insecurity without hunger and 2.0% for food insecurity with hunger) were in food
      insecure households. The prevalence of household food insecurity was 13.2% in
      households with children and 10.3% in households without children. Mean daily
      intakes of energy, fat and carbohydrates were not significantly different between
      food-secure and food-insecure adults. In contrast, mean daily intakes of protein,
      crude fibre, vitamins and minerals as well as weekly consumption frequencies of
      vegetables, seaweeds, fruits, fruit juice, nuts, and milk and milk products were
      significantly lower in food-insecure adults compared with food-secure adults.
      CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated that food insecurity is associated with
      reduced intakes of healthy foods and nutrients essential for health and growth in
      a representative Korean population.

PMID- 25828607
TI  - Professionalism.

PMID- 25828609
TI  - Lightening the load: an overview of caregiver burden in dementia care.
AB  - Home health clinicians frequently encounter patients with dementia living in the
      community. The plan of care is usually developed around the needs of the affected
      person, with focus on safety and quality of life. In caring for these
      individuals, the clinician is faced with an even greater task of supporting the
      caregiver and identifying caregiver fatigue and burden. Improving the competence
      and knowledge of caregivers is valuable in minimizing burden. Home care
      clinicians have the knowledge, skills, and resources to ease the burden of
      caregiving and prolong the time that the person with dementia can remain in the
      home. This article describes current research and approaches to care,
      specifically with problems involving behavior, functional limitations, and
      safety. 

PMID- 25828611
TI  - Closing the transition gaps the changing context of home healthcare coordination.
AB  - Legislative enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010
      created an impetus for change within the healthcare industry. As a result, the
      entire healthcare continuum is under greater scrutiny and incentives for
      performance levels and subsequent outcomes. Home healthcare clinicians have a
      vital role in the emerging spotlight of care transitions from hospital to home.
      Home healthcare clinicians will need to understand the concepts of patient
      engagement and patient activation, and have tactical plans for success.
      Understanding best practices and recommendations will be an element of
      competitive differentiation. This article reviews these concepts, along with
      interventions to target health literacy, communication with patients and
      families, and the use of motivational interviewing. 

PMID- 25828612
TI  - Staff perceptions of social work student contributions to home health care
      services at an independent living facility.
AB  - This exploratory qualitative study examined staff perceptions of social work
      student contributions to client services, family and client communication, and
      staff workload in an independent living setting for older adults. Ten employees
      who had contact with the students, clients, and family were interviewed using a
      semistructured interview method. The findings suggest a positive response to the
      presence of social work students in the enhancement of home healthcare and in
      this independent living environment. In particular, their contributions were
      viewed as helpful in client quality of life, quality of care, communication with
      clients and families, and work performance. 

PMID- 25828613
TI  - Evolving role of the transitional care nurse in a small rural community.
AB  - The shift in focus from individual episodes of illness to a focus on health and
      wellness, and population health, has created a need for care coordination to
      address the complex needs of high-risk patients as they transition through the
      healthcare continuum. A Vermont medical center identified the Clinical Nurse
      Specialist as having the requisite skills to fill the role of care coordinator.
      This article describes the development of the Transitional Care Nurse (TCN)
      program and includes case studies that exemplify how the TCN can intervene to
      improve care coordination. 

PMID- 25828614
TI  - Management of the individual in the home suspected of having exposure to the
      ebola virus.

PMID- 25828615
TI  - Exercise and diabetes.

PMID- 25828616
TI  - ISMP Medication Errors.

PMID- 25828617
TI  - Don't tell momma...

PMID- 25828618
TI  - Growing our own.

PMID- 25828619
TI  - Home healthcare nursing: death spiral or ascending the spiral staircase.

PMID- 25828620
TI  - Emergence of double-dome superconductivity in ammoniated metal-doped FeSe.
AB  - The pressure dependence of the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) and
      unit cell metrics of tetragonal (NH3)yCs0.4FeSe were investigated in high
      pressures up to 41 GPa. The Tc decreases with increasing pressure up to 13 GPa,
      which can be clearly correlated with the pressure dependence of c (or FeSe layer
      spacing). The Tc vs. c plot is compared with those of various (NH3)yMxFeSe (M:
      metal atoms) materials exhibiting different Tc and c, showing that the Tc is
      universally related to c. This behaviour means that a decrease in two
      dimensionality lowers the Tc. No superconductivity was observed down to 4.3 K in
      (NH3)yCs0.4FeSe at 11 and 13 GPa. Surprisingly, superconductivity re-appeared
      rapidly above 13 GPa, with the Tc reaching 49 K at 21 GPa. The appearance of a
      new superconducting phase is not accompanied by a structural transition, as
      evidenced by pressure-dependent XRD. Furthermore, Tc slowly decreased with
      increasing pressure above 21 GPa, and at 41 GPa superconductivity disappeared
      entirely at temperatures above 4.9 K. The observation of a double-dome
      superconducting phase may provide a hint for pursuing the superconducting
      coupling-mechanism of ammoniated/non-ammoniated metal-doped FeSe. 

PMID- 25828622
TI  - Could the Mediterranean diet be effective in women with polycystic ovary
      syndrome? A proof of concept.

PMID- 25828621
TI  - A combination of palm oil tocotrienols and citrus peel polymethoxylated flavones
      does not influence elevated LDL cholesterol and high-sensitivity C-reactive
      protein levels.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Lipid-lowering and anti-inflammatory effects have been
      individually described for tocotrienols (TTs) and polymethoxylated flavones
      (PMFs). This study investigated low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C)- and
      high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP)-reducing effects of combined TT-PMF
      treatment in low doses in hypercholesterolemic individuals with subclinical
      inflammation. SUBJECTS/METHODS: In the double-blind, placebo-controlled study,
      240 Caucasians with LDL-C ?3.36 mmol/l and hsCRP ?1 mg/l were enrolled and
      randomized into group S1 (12 mg/day TT and 103 mg/day PMF), group S2 (27 mg/day
      TT and 32 mg/day PMF) or placebo. RESULTS: Twenty-three subjects dropped out of
      the study, 13 were excluded from the analysis because of lack of compliance. A
      total of 204 subjects per-protocol analysis were included. After 12 weeks of
      treatment, no significant differences in LDL-C levels (primary outcome) were
      observed between groups. LDL-C levels significantly decreased in all intervention
      groups (S1: -5.2%, S2: -4.8% and P: -4.2%). Total cholesterol and hsCRP
      (secondary outcome) did not change significantly. CONCLUSIONS: PMF-TT supplements
      had no effect beyond that of placebo on elevated LDL-C and hsCRP levels.

PMID- 25828623
TI  - Seasonal variation in food intake and the interaction effects of sex and age
      among adults in southern Brazil.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Because studies have evidenced variations in nutrient
      intake, further investigation of the interaction between demographic
      characteristics and the seasons is necessary. We aimed to test the differences in
      food intake throughout the seasons and the interaction between the seasons and
      sex and age. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study included 273 individuals. Food intake
      was evaluated with 24-hour dietary recalls, and the reported food items were
      sorted into food groups. We performed the test on the differences in intake of
      food groups throughout the seasons with repeated measures and on the interaction
      effect by using the Generalized Estimate Equation. RESULTS: Intake of fruits and
      natural fruit juices and sweetened beverages was lower, whereas that of grains
      and derivatives was higher in the winter. The intake of leafy vegetables and fish
      and seafood was lower in the autumn. The consumption of coffee and eggs was
      higher in the spring. Intake of chocolate powder and sugar, salt and lean poultry
      was higher in the winter. The variation in consumption of grains and derivatives,
      eggs, fatty poultry and processed meat over the seasons was more likely to be
      modified by sex. Age interacted with the seasons for leafy vegetables, beans and
      lentils, lean beef, lean poultry, low fat milk and light yogurt, vegetable oil
      and unsalted margarine, chocolate powder and sugar and processed meat.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that food intake may change seasonally and that
      seasonal variation depends on sex and age, which might aggregate a specific co
      variation component.

PMID- 25828624
TI  - Metabolic and physiologic effects from consuming a hunter-gatherer (Paleolithic)
      type diet in type 2 diabetes.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The contemporary American diet figures centrally in the
      pathogenesis of numerous chronic diseases--'diseases of civilization'--such as
      obesity and diabetes. We investigated in type 2 diabetes whether a diet similar
      to that consumed by our pre-agricultural hunter-gatherer ancestors ('Paleolithic'
      type diet) confers health benefits. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We performed an outpatient,
      metabolically controlled diet study in type 2 diabetes patients. We compared the
      findings in 14 participants consuming a Paleo diet comprising lean meat, fruits,
      vegetables and nuts, and excluding added salt, and non-Paleolithic-type foods
      comprising cereal grains, dairy or legumes, with 10 participants on a diet based
      on recommendations by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) containing moderate
      salt intake, low-fat dairy, whole grains and legumes. There were three ramp-up
      diets for 7 days, then 14 days of the test diet. Outcomes included the following:
      mean arterial blood pressure; 24-h urine electrolytes; hemoglobin A1c and
      fructosamine levels; insulin resistance by euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp and
      lipid levels. RESULTS: Both groups had improvements in metabolic measures, but
      the Paleo diet group had greater benefits on glucose control and lipid profiles.
      Also, on the Paleo diet, the most insulin-resistant subjects had a significant
      improvement in insulin sensitivity (r = 0.40, P = 0.02), but no such effect was
      seen in the most insulin-resistant subjects on the ADA diet (r = 0.39, P = 0.3).
      CONCLUSIONS: Even short-term consumption of a Paleolithic-type diet improved
      glucose control and lipid profiles in people with type 2 diabetes compared with a
      conventional diet containing moderate salt intake, low-fat dairy, whole grains
      and legumes.

PMID- 25828626
TI  - The EU pledge for responsible marketing of food and beverages to children:
      implementation in food companies.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Increasing political pressure on the food industry's
      marketing activities stimulated the formation of the collective EU Pledge for
      responsible marketing of foods and beverages to children. The objective of the
      study is to evaluate the commitments made by companies in joining the pledge for
      the purpose of assessing its effectiveness in regulating signatory companies'
      marketing activities. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Data on company commitments in relation
      to the EU Pledge were collected, analyzed and recalculated in order to enable
      comparison across companies and with general nutritional recommendations. Data on
      companies' product portfolio and market orientation were collected from their
      most recent available annual reports. Data on the companies' product profiles
      were generated via review of the companies' main websites. Similar data were
      generated for a reference group of companies outside the EU Pledge. RESULTS:
      Compared with a reference group of large food and beverage companies, EU Pledge
      signatory companies have a public image strongly based on products with appeal to
      children. The EU Pledge sets common standards for regulating signatory companies'
      marketing behaviour towards children. Further scrutiny of the companies' stated
      commitments revealed considerable variation in their actual content and in their
      de facto bindingness on the companies' marketing behavior--for example, in the
      definition of target audience for advertising or in nutritional characteristics
      making products eligible for advertising to children. CONCLUSIONS: In order for
      voluntary self-regulation schemes such as the EU Pledge to be a credible
      alternative to public regulation of marketing behaviour, more transparency and
      stringency are needed.

PMID- 25828625
TI  - Do patients with type 2 diabetes still need to eat snacks?

PMID- 25828627
TI  - Baseline characteristics associated with different BMI trajectories in weight
      loss trials: a case for better targeting of interventions.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Dietary weight loss interventions have heterogeneous
      outcomes in long-term studies, with many participants regaining part or all of
      the lost weight. Growth mixture modelling is a novel analytic approach that can
      be used to identify different trajectories of weight change during a trial rather
      than focussing on the total amount of weight lost. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Data were
      pooled from two 12-month dietary weight loss studies where no significant
      difference was detected between the treatment and control arms, thus allowing
      analysis independent of treatment. The data set included 231 subjects (74.5%
      female), with a mean weight loss of 6.40 kg (4.96). Growth mixture models were
      used to identify participants with similar trajectories of change in body mass
      index (BMI). RESULTS: Three subgroups were identified. A rapid and continuing BMI
      loss over the study period (rapid, n=53), a rapid initial weight loss in the
      first 3 months with a slowing rate over the remaining 9 months (maintainers,
      n=146) and those with an initial loss trajectory, which slowed and began to
      increase at 9 months (recidivists, n=53). Age (s.d.) and BMI (s.d.) were
      significantly different between the three groups (rapid 53 years (7), 28.99
      kg/m(2) (3.30); maintainers 47 years (9), 30.90 kg/m(2) (2.95); recidivists 44
      years (7), 34.84 kg/m(2) (1.92), both P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Older subjects with
      lower BMIs were more likely to have a rapid and continuing weight loss in a 1
      year dietary-based weight loss intervention. Different interventional approaches
      may be necessary for different ages and baseline BMIs and stratification prior to
      randomisation may be necessary to prevent confounding in weight loss trials.

PMID- 25828628
TI  - High intra- and inter-individual variability of plasma vitamin K concentrations
      in patients with atrial fibrillation under warfarin therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Vitamin K intake is considered as a controllable
      contributor to warfarin sensitivity. It is restricted in warfarin-treated
      patients. However, little study has assessed the vitamin K status in warfarin
      treated patients. We directly measured plasma vitamin K in warfarin-treated
      patients and evaluated its effect on anticoagulation. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total
      of 302 plasma vitamin K concentrations were assessed using high-performance
      liquid chromatography for 203 outpatients with atrial fibrillation under warfarin
      treatment. Clinical and laboratory information including warfarin dosage, plasma
      warfarin concentrations, prothrombin time international normalized ratio (PT INR)
      and CYP2C9/VKORC1 genotypes was reviewed retrospectively. The anticoagulation
      stability (intra-individual variability, frequency of PT INR tests and
      complications) was investigated in 163 patients with long-term warfarin therapy.
      Plasma vitamin K was measured in 40 healthy subjects and in 40 patients before
      and after initial warfarin treatment. RESULTS: Vitamin K concentrations were
      significantly decreased after the initiation of warfarin treatment (before
      treatment: 1.72 ng/ml; after treatment: 0.59 ng/ml, P<0.05). There was a large
      inter-individual variability in vitamin K levels (0.2-4.2 ng/ml) in warfarin
      treated patients. PT INR was more frequently checked in patients with low plasma
      vitamin K levels than in those with high vitamin K levels (9.5 times/year vs 7.5
      times/year, P=0.029). Two patients with gross hematuria showed very low vitamin K
      levels (<0.4 ng/ml). CONCLUSIONS: We found high inter- and intra-individual
      variability in vitamin K concentration in warfarin-treated patients. Low vitamin
      K concentration in warfarin-treated patients suggested excessive dietary
      restriction. Plasma vitamin K measurement would be helpful for dietary control
      and anticoagulation stability.

PMID- 25828629
TI  - Calibration of bioelectrical impedance analysis for body composition assessment
      in Ethiopian infants using air-displacement plethysmography.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Assessment of infant body composition (BC) is crucial to
      understand the consequences of suboptimal nutritional status and postnatal
      growth, and the effects of public health interventions. Bioelectrical impedance
      analysis (BIA) is a feasible, relatively inexpensive and noninvasive method for
      assessing BC. However, very little research has been conducted in low- and middle
      income populations, where efforts to prevent or treat malnutrition in early life
      are a public health priority. We aimed to develop equations for predicting fat
      free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) based on BIA in 0- to 6-month-old Ethiopian
      infants. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The study comprised a total of 186 BC assessments
      performed in 101 healthy infants, delivered at Jimma University Specialized
      Hospital. Infant air-displacement plethysmography (IADP) was the criterion
      method, whereas weight, length, sex, age and an impedance index (L(2)/Z50) were
      predictors. Prediction equations were developed using stepwise multiple linear
      regression and the accuracy was evaluated with a 10-fold cross-validation
      approach. RESULTS: A linear regression model based on body weight, age and sex
      predicted FFM, estimated by IADP, with an adjusted R(2) and root mean square
      error (RMSE) of 0.94 and 200 g, respectively. Adding impedance index to the model
      resulted in a significantly improved model fit (R(2)=0.95; RMSE=181 g). For
      infants below 3 months of age, inclusion of impedance index did not contribute to
      an improved model fit for predicting FFM compared with a model already comprising
      weight, sex and age. CONCLUSIONS: The derived equations predicted FFM with
      acceptable accuracy and may be used in future field surveys, epidemiological
      studies and clinical trials conducted in similar sub-Saharan African population
      groups aged 0-6 months.

PMID- 25828631
TI  - Microfluidic studies of polymer adsorption in flow.
AB  - Adsorption of polymers from solutions moving past solid or liquid surfaces
      controls a broad range of phenomena in science, technology, and medicine. In the
      present work, a microfluidic methodology was developed to study polymer
      adsorption in flow under well-defined conditions by integrating an attenuated
      total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectrometer with a
      microfluidic device. Polymer adsorption in flow using exemplary polyelectrolytes
      such as polystyrene sulfonate and polyacrylic acid was studied under varying flow
      rates, polymer concentrations, pH values, and ionic strengths of the solution.
      Furthermore, the microfluidic platform was utilized to study layer-by-layer
      adsorption of alternating anionic and cationic polyelectrolytes such as
      polyacrylic acid and polyallylamine hydrochloride. The proposed methodology paves
      the way for studies of in-flow adsorption of biologically relevant molecules,
      which would mimic processes occurring in the cardiovascular microcirculation
      system. 

PMID- 25828630
TI  - Predictors of body composition changes during tuberculosis treatment in Mwanza,
      Tanzania.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Gains in fat mass and lean mass during tuberculosis (TB)
      treatment may determine functional recovery and survival; yet, data are scarce.
      We aimed to assess predictors of fat and fat-free mass during 2 months of
      intensive TB treatment in a cohort in Mwanza, Tanzania. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Fat and
      fat-free mass were determined at the start of TB treatment and repeated after 2
      months using the deuterium dilution technique. Gains in fat and fat-free mass
      were determined and predictors assessed using regression analysis. RESULTS: Data
      for 116 patients were available at baseline and during follow-up. Of these, 38.8%
      were females, mean age was 37.3 (s.d. 13.5) years, 69% (81) had sputum-positive
      TB, 45.7% (53) were HIV infected and 25% (29) were current smokers. The mean
      weight gain was 3.3 kg (95% confidence interval: 2.7; 3.8), and it did not differ
      by sex. However, compared with females, males had 1.0 (0.4; 1.6) kg/m(2) lower
      fat mass but 0.7 (0.2; 1.3) kg/m(2) higher fat-free mass gain. Current smoking
      was associated with higher fat mass (0.7 kg/m(2), 0.04; 1.4) but lower fat-free
      mass (-0.5 kg/m(2), -1.2; 0.07) gain. Among HIV-infected patients, antiretroviral
      therapy (ART) led to a lower fat gain (-1.2 kg/m(2), -2.2; -0.2) but to a higher
      fat-free mass among sputum-negative (2.9 kg/m(2), 0.8; 5.1) but not sputum
      positive patients. CONCLUSIONS: During intensive phase of TB treatment, sex,
      smoking and ART were predictors of body composition. Larger studies are needed to
      further understand predictors of body composition during recovery, to help design
      interventions to improve treatment outcomes.

PMID- 25828632
TI  - Alternative reproductive tactics in female striped mice: Solitary breeders have
      lower corticosterone levels than communal breeders.
AB  - Alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs), where members of the same sex and
      population show distinct reproductive phenotypes governed by decision-rules, have
      been well-documented in males of many species, but are less well understood in
      females. The relative plasticity hypothesis (RPH) predicts that switches between
      plastic ARTs are mediated by changes in steroid hormones. This has received much
      support in males, but little is known about the endocrine control of female ARTs.
      Here, using a free-living population of African striped mice (Rhabdomys pumilio)
      over five breeding seasons, we tested whether females following different tactics
      differed in corticosterone and testosterone levels, as reported for male striped
      mice using ARTs, and in progesterone and oestrogen, which are important in female
      reproduction. Female striped mice employ three ARTs: communal breeders give birth
      in a shared nest and provide alloparental care, returners leave the group
      temporarily to give birth, and solitary breeders leave to give birth and do not
      return. We expected communal breeders and returners to have higher
      corticosterone, owing to the social stress of group-living, and lower
      testosterone than solitary breeders, which must defend territories alone.
      Solitary breeders had lower corticosterone than returners and communal breeders,
      as predicted, but testosterone and progesterone did not differ between ARTs.
      Oestrogen levels were higher in returners (measured before leaving the group)
      than in communal and solitary breeders, consistent with a modulatory role. Our
      study demonstrates hormonal differences between females following (or about to
      follow) different tactics, and provides the first support for the RPH in females.

PMID- 25828634
TI  - pH-responsive fluorescence chemical sensor constituted by conjugated polymers
      containing pyridine rings.
AB  - Poly(p-pyridinium phenylene ethynylene)s (PPyPE) functionalized with alternating
      donor-acceptor repeat units were synthesized by a Pd-catalyzed Sonogashira
      coupling reaction between diethynyl monomer and di-iodopyridine for use as a pH
      responsive fluorescence chemical sensor. The synthesized PPyPE, containing
      pyridine units, was characterized by FT-IR, (1)H and (13)C NMR, UV-visible and
      fluorescence spectroscopies. We investigated the relationship between changes of
      optical properties and protonation/deprotonation of PPyPE containing pyridine
      units in solution. Addition of HCl decreased and red-shifted the fluorescence
      intensity of the conjugated polymers that contained pyridine rings; fluorescence
      intensity of the polymers increased upon addition of NaOH solution. The
      synthesized PPyPE was found to be an effective and reusable chemical sensor for
      pH sensing.

PMID- 25828633
TI  - Optimal treatment scheduling of ionizing radiation and sunitinib improves the
      antitumor activity and allows dose reduction.
AB  - The combination of radiotherapy with sunitinib is clinically hampered by rare but
      severe side effects and varying results with respect to clinical benefit. We
      studied different scheduling regimes and dose reduction in sunitinib and
      radiotherapy in preclinical tumor models to improve potential outcome of this
      combination treatment strategy. The chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) was
      used as an angiogenesis in vivo model and as a xenograft model with human tumor
      cells (HT29 colorectal adenocarcinoma, OE19 esophageal adenocarcinoma). Treatment
      consisted of ionizing radiation (IR) and sunitinib as single therapy or in
      combination, using different dose-scheduling regimes. Sunitinib potentiated the
      inhibitory effect of IR (4 Gy) on angiogenesis. In addition, IR (4 Gy) and
      sunitinib (4 days of 32.5 mg/kg per day) inhibited tumor growth. Ionizing
      radiation induced tumor cell apoptosis and reduced proliferation, whereas
      sunitinib decreased tumor angiogenesis and reduced tumor cell proliferation. When
      IR was applied before sunitinib, this almost completely inhibited tumor growth,
      whereas concurrent IR was less effective and IR after sunitinib had no additional
      effect on tumor growth. Moreover, optimal scheduling allowed a 50% dose reduction
      in sunitinib while maintaining comparable antitumor effects. This study shows
      that the therapeutic efficacy of combination therapy improves when proper dose
      scheduling is applied. More importantly, optimal treatment regimes permit dose
      reductions in the angiogenesis inhibitor, which will likely reduce the side
      effects of combination therapy in the clinical setting. Our study provides
      important leads to optimize combination treatment in the clinical setting. 

PMID- 25828635
TI  - Evaluation of a pharmacokineticpharmacodynamic approach using software to
      optimize the carbapenem antibiotic regimen.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Meropenem (MEPM) and doripenem (DRPM), whose antipseudomonal activity
      is more potent than that of other carbapenem antimicrobials, were used in the
      study. Monte Carlo simulation of drug concentrations was performed to develop an
      administration plan for MEPM and DRPM that takes into account the
      pharmacokinetics (PK)-pharmacodynamics (PD) of MEPM and DRPM and the renal
      function of each patient. Drug administration plans were proactively applied to
      patients with pneumonia to determine the usefulness of the method by assessing
      treatment efficacy and safety. METHODS: Patients with healthcareassociated
      pneumonia and an indication for MEPM or DRPM chemotherapy underwent drug
      administration in accordance with the MEPM and DRPM treatment plan developed by
      the PK-PD software applications. The primary efficacy endpoints were the clinical
      and bacteriological efficacy of the drugs agains pneumonia. The safety of the
      antimicrobials was assessed based on abnormal laboratory findings and the seizure
      disorders in accordance with the criteria for safety evaluation of antimicrobial
      agents. RESULTS: This study examined 12 and 11 patients in the MEPM and DRPM
      group, respectively; however, 3 DRPM patients were excluded due to the
      administration of anti-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus drugs after
      the initiation of DRPM treatment. MEPM and DRPM drug administration was
      determined to be safe and effective in all patients. CONCLUSIONS: The present
      results suggest that the Monte Carlo simulation-based PK-PD software is an
      effective tool for planning individualized antimicrobial chemotherapy with
      carbapenem in accordance with the PK-PD theory of antimicrobials. It is also
      possible to propose safe and effective drug administration plans for patients
      with healthcare-associated pneumonia.

PMID- 25828636
TI  - Pharmacokinetic properties and bioequivalence of two irbesartan/
      hydrochlorothiazide fixed-dose combination tablets in healthy male Chinese
      volunteers.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to compare the pharmacokinetic
      profiles between a new generic and a branded reference formulation of irbesartan/
      hydrochlorothiazide FDC tablets, and to assess the bioequivalence of the two
      products in healthy Chinese male volunteers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 24 male
      healthy volunteers participated in the open-label, single-dose, randomized
      sequence, 2-way crossover study. Eligible subjects were randomly assigned (1:1)
      to receive a single 300/12.5-mg dose of either the test or reference formulation
      followed by a 1-week washout. Blood samples were obtained before (0 hours) and
      0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48, and 72 hours after dosing.
      Plasma concentrations of irbesartan and hydrochlorothiazide were analyzed by two
      separate validated liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS)
      methods. RESULTS: For irbesartan, the 90% confidence intervals (CIs) of AUC0-t,
      AUC0-infinity, and Cmax were 103.27-116.71%, 105.01-121.47%, and 84.15-96.88%,
      respectively. For hydrochlorothiazide, the 90% CIs of AUC0-t, AUC0-infinity, and
      Cmax were 96.11-109.02%, 95.15-107.35%, and 91.66-101.40%, respectively. A total
      of 3 mild AEs were reported in 3 subjects (12.5%). CONCLUSION: In this study, a
      single dose (300/12.5-mg) of the test formulation of irbesartan and
      hydrochlorothiazide FDC tablet in fasting healthy Chinese male volunteers met
      WHO's and China's FDA regulatory criteria for assumption of bioequivalence to the
      reference formulation based on AUC and Cmax. Both formulations were well
      tolerated.

PMID- 25828637
TI  - Bioequivalence study of two formulations of etoposide in advanced lung cancer
      patients.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The present randomized, two-period, cross-over bioequivalence study
      compared two soft capsules of etoposide (test and reference formulations), in
      treating 18 advanced lung cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The
      pharmacokinetic parameters were determined based on the concentrations of
      etoposide, using HPLC with fluorescence detector. In each of the two study
      periods, a single dose of test or reference product was administered. The
      pharmacokinetic parameters assessed included area under the plasma concentration
      time curve (AUC(0-12h)) from 0 to 12 hours, AUC(0-T) from time zero to infinity,
      the peak plasma concentration of the drug (C(max)), time to achieve C(max), and
      the elimination half-life. RESULTS: Comparison of the test and reference products
      containing etoposide showed that geometric mean ratios (90% confidence interval
      (CI)) of AUC(0-T), AUC(0-infinity)?, and C(max) were 99.7% (92.1 - 103.7%), 99.4%
      (92.3 - 105.2%), and 101.5% (94.2 - 109.6%), respectively. Both AUC and C(max)
      ratio 90% CI of test and reference formulations were within its acceptable range
      for bioequivalence. The values of tmax and t1/2 were not found to have a
      statistically significant difference between the test and the reference drug (p >
      0.05). No adverse events occurred in this bioequivalence study. CONCLUSION: The
      two etoposide soft capsules (the test and reference formulations) were
      bioequivalent.

PMID- 25828638
TI  - Trends and patterns of five antihypertensive drug classes between 2007 and 2012
      in China using hospital prescription data.
AB  - PURPOSE: To examine prescription trends and patterns in five antihypertensive
      drug classes during 2007 - 2012 in China. METHODS: A retrospective time series
      data was investigated from 2007 to 2012. Prescription data of five classes of
      antihypertensive drugs (calcium channel blockers (CCBs), angiotensin receptor
      blockers (ARBs), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), beta-blockers,
      and diuretics) were accessed from the Hospital Prescription Analysis Program
      Database, including 59 hospitals in four cities in China. The drugs were coded
      using the Anatomic Chemical Therapeutic (ATC) classification. Quantities were
      standardized using the defined daily dose (DDD) measurement methodology. RESULTS:
      The total number of DDDs of the five classes of antihypertensive drugs prescribed
      in the sample hospitals increased by 83.3% and the total cost of antihypertensive
      drugs increased by 92.4% from 2007 to 2012. During the whole study period, CCBs,
      ARBs, ACEIs, beta-blockers, and diuretics represented in DDDs 42.8%, 28.3%,
      13.3%, 10.8%, and 4.8%, respectively, of the total five classes of anti
      hypertensive drugs. The average annual increase rate of ARBs, beta-blockers,
      CCBs, ACEIs, and diuretics, in DDDs, was 23.4%, 13.3%, 13.2%, 1.4%, and -4.2%,
      respectively CONCLUSIONS: The consumption of the five classes of antihypertensive
      drugs in China nearly doubled from 2007 to 2012. The top-prescribed
      antihypertensive drug classes were CCBs and ARBs, and the latter increased most
      rapidly.

PMID- 25828639
TI  - Factors on trough teicoplanin levels, associations between levels, efficacy and
      safety in patients with gram-positive infections.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify the factors influencing
      trough teicoplanin concentrations (C(min)), to investigate the relationship
      between teicoplanin C(min) with efficacy and safety, and to determine a target
      therapeutic concentration. METHODS: An analysis was performed on 95 serum
      concentrations from 50 patients with gram-positive infections who received
      teicoplanin treatment. Teicoplanin serum concentrations were measured by high
      performance liquid chromatography. Univariate and multivariable analysis were
      performed to investigate the effect of independent variables on teicoplanin
      C(min). A logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship
      between teicoplanin C(min) and efficacy and safety. RESULTS: Teicoplanin therapy
      was effective in 74.0% (37/50) of patients, and 10.0% (5/50) of patients
      exhibited signs of adverse events. Using multivariable linear regression, two
      covariates were found to be a significant effect on teicoplanin C(min): dosage
      (mg/kg), and creatinine clearance rate (CL(cr). There was no covariate that has a
      significant impact on the safety of teicoplanin and only teicoplanin C(min) has a
      significant impact on the efficacy of treatment in the logistics regression. The
      logistics regression analysis showed that teicoplanin C(min) of 10 mg/L was
      associated with a 79.4% probability of success response. CONCLUSIONS: This study
      highlighted that teicoplanin C(min) was strongly influenced by the values of
      dosage (mg/kg) and CL(cr) and the teicoplanin C(min) range of 10 -?? 20 mg/L was
      identified as the therapeutic target with optimum clinical efficacy and safety.

PMID- 25828640
TI  - Modeling the dermatopharmacokinetic profile of two loxoprofen patches for
      bioequivalence confirmation.

PMID- 25828641
TI  - The oestrogen-leptin paradox.

PMID- 25828642
TI  - Computational diversity in the hippocampus: a matter of components.

PMID- 25828643
TI  - All ON pathways are not alike.

PMID- 25828644
TI  - Stimulation is never quite as simple as it seems.

PMID- 25828646
TI  - Reframing coalitions as systems interventions: a network study exploring the
      contribution of a youth violence prevention coalition to broader system capacity.
AB  - This longitudinal research conceptualizes community coalitions as events in local
      intervention systems (Hawe et al. in Am J Commun Psychol 43(3-4):267-276, 2009).
      It explores the potential contribution coalitions make, through the collaborative
      activities of their members, to the broader intervention systems in which they
      are embedded. Using social network analysis, it examines patterns of structural
      change in a network of 99 organizations focused on youth violence prevention
      (YVP) over a 5-year period in which 30 of the 99 organizations were involved in a
      local YVP Coalition. Both longitudinal modeling and cross sectional analyses are
      used to examine change in system capacity-strong interorganizational networks
      related to patterns of network density, centralization, and hierarchy. Somewhat
      surprisingly, the study found that capacity in the broader YVP Intervention
      System actually diminished during the 5-year period of the coalition's operation,
      though part of the system-the sub-network that made up the YVP Coalition-was
      marginally strengthened. In this case, therefore, the evidence suggests that
      power and relational resources in the broader YVP Intervention System were
      redistributed. The article explores how the definition of capacity related to
      density and hierarchy may be contextually dependent. Implications for the role of
      coalitions in building system capacity are discussed.

PMID- 25828645
TI  - Engineering physiologically stiff and stratified human cartilage by fusing
      condensed mesenchymal stem cells.
AB  - For a long time, clinically sized and mechanically functional cartilage could be
      engineered from young animal chondrocytes, but not from adult human mesenchymal
      stem cells that are of primary clinical interest. The approaches developed for
      primary chondrocytes were not successful when used with human mesenchymal cells.
      The method discussed here was designed to employ a mechanism similar to pre
      cartilaginous condensation and fusion of mesenchymal stem cells at a precisely
      defined time. The formation of cartilage was initiated by press-molding the
      mesenchymal bodies onto the surface of a bone substrate. By image-guided
      fabrication of the bone substrate and the molds, the osteochondral constructs
      were engineered in anatomically precise shapes and sizes. After 5 weeks of
      cultivation, the cartilage layer assumed physiologically stratified
      histomorphology, and contained lubricin at the surface, proteoglycans and type II
      collagen in the bulk phase, collagen type X at the interface with the bone
      substrate, and collagen type I within the bone phase. For the first time, the
      Young's modulus and the friction coefficient of human cartilage engineered from
      mesenchymal stem cells reached physiological levels for adult human cartilage. We
      propose that this method can be effective for generating human osteochondral
      tissue constructs.

PMID- 25828647
TI  - Contributions of photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic cell types to leaf
      respiration in Vicia faba L. and their responses to growth temperature.
AB  - In intact leaves, mitochondrial populations are highly heterogeneous among
      contrasting cell types; how such contrasting populations respond to sustained
      changes in the environment remains, however, unclear. Here, we examined
      respiratory rates, mitochondrial protein composition and response to growth
      temperature in photosynthetic (mesophyll) and non-photosynthetic (epidermal)
      cells from fully expanded leaves of warm-developed (WD) and cold-developed (CD)
      broad bean (Vicia faba L.). Rates of respiration were significantly higher in
      mesophyll cell protoplasts (MCPs) than epidermal cell protoplasts (ECPs), with
      both protoplast types exhibiting capacity for cytochrome and alternative oxidase
      activity. Compared with ECPs, MCPs contained greater relative quantities of
      porin, suggesting higher mitochondrial surface area in mesophyll cells.
      Nevertheless, the relative quantities of respiratory proteins (normalized to
      porin) were similar in MCPs and ECPs, suggesting that ECPs have lower numbers of
      mitochondria yet similar protein complement to MCP mitochondria (albeit with
      lower abundance serine hydroxymethyltransferase). Several mitochondrial proteins
      (both non-photorespiratory and photorespiratory) exhibited an increased abundance
      in response to cold in both protoplast types. Based on estimates of individual
      protoplast respiration rates, combined with leaf cell abundance data, epidermal
      cells make a small but significant (2%) contribution to overall leaf respiration
      which increases twofold in the cold. Taken together, our data highlight the
      heterogeneous nature of mitochondrial populations in leaves, both among
      contrasting cell types and in how those populations respond to growth
      temperature.

PMID- 25828648
TI  - Long-term efficacy of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study for
      repetitive sphenopalatine blockade with bupivacaine vs. saline with the Tx360
      device for treatment of chronic migraine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aims to determine if repetitive sphenopalatine ganglion
      (SPG) blockades with 0.5% bupivacaine delivered with the Tx360 device results in
      long-term improvement in chronic migraine (CM). The SPG is a small concentrated
      structure of neuronal tissue that resides within the pterygopalatine fossa in
      close proximity to the sphenopalatine foramen and is innervated by the maxillary
      division of the trigeminal nerve. In a previous article, these authors reported
      repetitive SPG blockades with 0.5% bupivacaine delivered by the Tx360 device,
      which was an effective and well-tolerated intervention to incrementally decrease
      baseline headache intensity of subjects with CM. METHODS: This was a double
      blind, parallel-arm, placebo-controlled, randomized pilot study using a novel
      intervention for acute treatment in CM. A total of 41 subjects were enrolled at
      two headache specialty clinics in the USA. Eligible subjects were between 18 and
      80 years of age and had a history of CM defined by International Classification
      of Headache Disorders-II definition. Subjects were allowed a stable dose of
      migraine preventive medications that was maintained throughout the study.
      Following a 28-day baseline period, subjects were randomized by computer
      generated lists 2:1 to receive 0.3 cc of 0.5% bupivacaine or saline,
      respectively, delivered with the Tx360 twice a week for 6 weeks. Secondary end
      points reported in this manuscript include post-treatment measures including
      number of headache days and quality of life measures. RESULTS: The final data set
      included 38 subjects: 26 in the bupivacaine group and 12 in the saline group. Our
      primary end-point for the study, difference in numeric pain rating scale scores,
      was met and reported in a previous article. The supplemental secondary end-points
      reported in this manuscript did not reach statistical significance. When looking
      collectively at these end-points, trends were noticed and worthy of reporting.
      Subjects receiving bupivacaine reported a decrease in the number of headache days
      1 month post-treatment (Mdiff  = -5.71), whereas those receiving saline only saw
      a slight improvement (Mdiff  = -1.93). Headache Impact Test 6 scores were
      decreased in the bupivacaine group at 1 month (Mdiff  = -5.13) and 6 months
      (Mdiff  = -4.78) post-treatment, but only a modest reduction was seen for those
      receiving saline at 1 and 6 months, respectively (Mdiff  = -2.08, Mdiff  = 
      1.58). Furthermore, subjects receiving bupivacaine reported a reduction in acute
      medication usage and improved quality of life measures (average pain in the
      previous 24 hours, mood, normal work, and general activity) up to 6 months post
      treatment. The changes in these measures for the saline group were minimal.
      CONCLUSIONS: Data from this exploratory pilot study suggest that there may be
      long-term clinical benefits with the use of repetitive SPG blockades with
      bupivacaine delivered with the simple to use Tx360 device. These include a
      sustained reduction of headache days and improvement in several important quality
      of life assessments. The SPG blockades were not associated with any significant
      or lasting adverse events. Further research on SPG blockade is warranted.

PMID- 25828649
TI  - The Use of Fall Risk Increasing Drugs (FRIDs) in Patients With Dizziness
      Presenting to a Neurotology Clinic.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To characterize the use of fall risk increasing drugs (FRIDs) in
      patients with dizziness who presented to a Neurotology academic practice and to
      evaluate for predictors of FRID use in this population. PATIENTS: A total of 292
      subjects presented with dizziness between July 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013.
      INTERVENTION: Demographic information and FRID use were recorded. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURE: The prevalence and type of FRIDs (psychotropics, antihypertensives,
      and/or narcotics) used among participants. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of any
      FRID use was 40.8%. Thirty-nine percent of patients were on psychotropic
      medications, 37% on antihypertensives, and 8.2% on narcotics. The proportion of
      patients on two or more FRIDs at presentation was 34%. When categorizing by age
      group, 40% of patients aged 50 years or greater versus 24% of younger patients (p
      = 0.004) were on two or more FRIDs. With every decade increase in age, the odds
      of being on two or more FRIDs increased by 7%. CONCLUSIONS: Forty percent of all
      patients presenting to a Neurotology Clinic for dizziness were on a FRID. Older
      patients were significantly more likely to be on multiple FRIDs, specifically
      antihypertensives and narcotic medications. These findings suggest that to fully
      assess and treat older patients with dizziness, the use of these medications
      should be evaluated.

PMID- 25828651
TI  - Hypersensitivity reaction during epirubicin infusion in a cat.

PMID- 25828650
TI  - 4D hyperspherical harmonic (HyperSPHARM) representation of surface anatomy: a
      holistic treatment of multiple disconnected anatomical structures.
AB  - Image-based parcellation of the brain often leads to multiple disconnected
      anatomical structures, which pose significant challenges for analyses of
      morphological shapes. Existing shape models, such as the widely used spherical
      harmonic (SPHARM) representation, assume topological invariance, so are unable to
      simultaneously parameterize multiple disjoint structures. In such a situation,
      SPHARM has to be applied separately to each individual structure. We present a
      novel surface parameterization technique using 4D hyperspherical harmonics in
      representing multiple disjoint objects as a single analytic function, terming it
      HyperSPHARM. The underlying idea behind HyperSPHARM is to stereographically
      project an entire collection of disjoint 3D objects onto the 4D hypersphere and
      subsequently simultaneously parameterize them with the 4D hyperspherical
      harmonics. Hence, HyperSPHARM allows for a holistic treatment of multiple
      disjoint objects, unlike SPHARM. In an imaging dataset of healthy adult human
      brains, we apply HyperSPHARM to the hippocampi and amygdalae. The HyperSPHARM
      representations are employed as a data smoothing technique, while the HyperSPHARM
      coefficients are utilized in a support vector machine setting for object
      classification. HyperSPHARM yields nearly identical results as SPHARM, as will be
      shown in the paper. Its key advantage over SPHARM lies computationally;
      HyperSPHARM possess greater computational efficiency than SPHARM because it can
      parameterize multiple disjoint structures using much fewer basis functions and
      stereographic projection obviates SPHARM's burdensome surface flattening. In
      addition, HyperSPHARM can handle any type of topology, unlike SPHARM, whose
      analysis is confined to topologically invariant structures. 

PMID- 25828652
TI  - A novel statistical approach to detect differences in fat and protein test values
      among mid-infrared spectrophotometers.
AB  - Our objective was to develop a statistical approach that could be used to
      determine whether a handler's fat, protein, or other solids mid-infrared (MIR)
      spectrophotometer test values were different, on average, from a milk regulatory
      laboratory's MIR test values when split-sampling test values are not available.
      To accomplish this objective, the Proc GLM procedure of SAS (SAS Institute Inc.,
      Cary, NC) was used to develop a multiple linear regression model to evaluate 4 mo
      of MIR producer payment testing data (112 to 167 producers per month) from 2
      different MIR instruments. For each of the 4 mo and each of the 2 components (fat
      or protein), the GLM model was Response=Instrument+Producer+Date+2-Way
      Interactions+3-Way Interaction. Instrument was significant in determining fat and
      protein tests for 3 of the 4 mo, and Producer was significant in determining fat
      and protein tests for all 4 mo. This model was also used to establish fat and
      protein least significant differences (LSD) between instruments. Fat LSD between
      instruments ranged from 0.0108 to 0.0144% (alpha=0.05) for the 4 mo studied,
      whereas protein LSD between instruments ranged from 0.0046 to 0.0085%
      (alpha=0.05). In addition, regression analysis was used to determine the effects
      of component concentration and date of sampling on fat and protein differences
      between 2 MIR instruments. This statistical approach could be performed monthly
      to document a regulatory laboratory's verification that a given handler's
      instrument has obtained a different test result, on average, from that of the
      regulatory laboratory's and that an adjustment to producer payment may be
      required.

PMID- 25828653
TI  - Seasonal trends in milk quality in Ireland between 2007 and 2011.
AB  - The objectives of this study were to evaluate annual and seasonal trends in bulk
      tank somatic cell count (SCC), total bacterial count (TBC), and laboratory
      pasteurization count (LPC) in Ireland between 2007 and 2011 (inclusive), and to
      compare trends based on herd type and herd size. The unadjusted median SCC and
      TBC of all records were 266,000 and 17,000 cfu/mL, respectively. Data were
      transformed to log values and analyzed using a mixed model. Fixed effects
      included milk processor, year, month, and total monthly milk volume; milk
      producer was fitted as a random variable. After analysis, means were back
      transformed for interpretation. Annual SCC increased slightly from 259,000
      cells/mL in 2007 to a peak of 272,647 cells/mL in 2009 and then declined slightly
      thereafter. Although statistically significant changes in annual TBC are probably
      not biologically relevant, values ranged between 23,922 and 26,290 cfu/mL. Annual
      LPC peaked in 2008 (265 cfu/mL), declined in 2009, and increased thereafter.
      Monthly mean SCC of all records increased from April onward, with the greatest
      increases seen from October to December, when the majority of cows entered late
      lactation. Monthly mean TBC exhibited a seasonal trend, whereby TBC was greatest
      at the beginning and end of the year, coinciding with winter housing. Seasonal
      milk production herds (n=8,002 herds) calve all cows in spring (February to
      April), whereas split-calving herds (n=1,829 herds) calve cows in the spring and
      autumn. From February to September, monthly SCC was lower for seasonal herds than
      for split-calving herds, whereas SCC was lower for split-calving herds for the
      remaining months. During winter (October to March), split-calving herds had lower
      monthly TBC than seasonal herds, most likely because of stricter regulations
      imposed upon them. Herd size was approximated using total annual milk production
      figures. Across all months, larger herds had lower SCC and TBC compared with
      smaller herds. No obvious improvements in milk quality were seen between 2007 and
      2011. Farmers have the opportunity to improve milk quality by reducing bulk tank
      SCC in late lactation and by imposing stricter hygiene practices at the beginning
      and end of the year to overcome the seasonal variation of bulk tank TBC. 

PMID- 25828654
TI  - Technical note: Improving the accuracy of mid-infrared prediction models by
      selecting the most informative wavelengths.
AB  - Mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIRS) is widely used to collect milk phenotypes at the
      population level. The aim of this study was to test the ability of the
      uninformative variable elimination (UVE) method to select and remove
      uninformative wavelength variables before partial least squares (PLS) analysis.
      Milk titratable acidity (TA) and Ca content were used as examples to illustrate
      the procedure. Reference values and MIRS spectra (n=208) of TA and Ca were
      retrieved from an existing database. The data set was randomly divided into
      calibration (70% of data) and validation (30% of data) sets, and PLS analysis was
      carried out before and after the UVE procedure. The UVE procedure selected 244
      and 113 informative wavelengths for TA and Ca, respectively, from a total of
      1,060. The elimination of uninformative variables before PLS regression increased
      the accuracy of MIRS prediction models, and it substantially reduced the
      computation time. Dealing with fewer variables is expected to enhance the
      efficiency of MIRS models to predict phenotypes at population level. 

PMID- 25828655
TI  - Colostrum composition of Santa Ines sheep and passive transfer of immunity to
      lambs.
AB  - This study aimed to analyze the chemical composition and the IgG concentration of
      the colostrum, transitional milk, and mature milk of Santa Ines ewes as well as
      the transfer of passive immunity to lambs. Thirty-two pregnant ewes and 38 lambs
      were used. Ewes were milked immediately after lambing and at 12, 24, 36 h and 10
      d postpartum. Colostrum was provided to the lambs at 40+/-15 min (mean+/-SE)
      after birth and then at 30-min intervals for obtaining the intake closest to 10%
      of body weight, and transitional milk was provided ad libitum. Blood from the
      lambs was collected 36 h after birth for measuring the serum concentrations of
      IgG, total protein, albumin, and gamma-globulin. The production was lower in
      primiparous than in multiparous ewes with body condition score (BCS)<2.75, but
      did not differ between primiparous and multiparous with BCS>=2.75 (interaction
      parity and BCS). The IgG concentration and fat, protein, lactose, and defatted
      dry extract percentages were not affected by the BCS of the ewe at lambing or by
      the parity. The total solids percentage in the colostrum was higher in ewes with
      BCS<2.75 (interaction BCS and time). The production and the protein, total solid,
      and defatted dry extract percentages showed quadratic behavior, the fat
      percentage decreased linearly, and the lactose percentage increased linearly with
      time postpartum. The IgG concentration in the colostrum was not correlated with
      the ewe's weight or BCS at the time of lambing. Moreover, the parity, the BCS,
      the ewe's type of gestation, and the lamb's sex did not influence the serum
      concentrations of IgG, total protein, albumin, and gamma-globulin in lambs.
      Adequate passive immune transfer (PIT) was observed in lambs for which the IgG
      intake was higher than 30 g. Failure in PIT was observed in 39.5% of lambs when
      considering a serum IgG concentration lower than 15 mg/mL and in 21% when
      considering a serum total protein concentration lower than 45 mg/mL. The mean
      apparent efficiency of absorption was 38.10%, with values between 0.02% and
      98.80%. The serum IgG concentration was correlated with the total protein
      concentration (according to the enzymatic colorimetric method), the gamma
      globulin concentration, and the absorption efficiency. The extreme variation on
      apparent efficiency of absorption may have an effect on the success of PIT. Lambs
      should consume at least 30 g of IgG in the first 24 h of life to ensure adequate
      PIT.

PMID- 25828656
TI  - Quantification of whey in fluid milk using confocal Raman microscopy and
      artificial neural network.
AB  - In this work, we assessed the use of confocal Raman microscopy and artificial
      neural network as a practical method to assess and quantify adulteration of fluid
      milk by addition of whey. Milk samples with added whey (from 0 to 100%) were
      prepared, simulating different levels of fraudulent adulteration. All analyses
      were carried out by direct inspection at the light microscope after depositing
      drops from each sample on a microscope slide and drying them at room temperature.
      No pre- or posttreatment (e.g., sample preparation or spectral correction) was
      required in the analyses. Quantitative determination of adulteration was
      performed through a feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN). Different ANN
      configurations were evaluated based on their coefficient of determination (R2)
      and root mean square error values, which were criteria for selecting the best
      predictor model. In the selected model, we observed that data from both training
      and validation subsets presented R2>99.99%, indicating that the combination of
      confocal Raman microscopy and ANN is a rapid, simple, and efficient method to
      quantify milk adulteration by whey. Because sample preparation and postprocessing
      of spectra were not required, the method has potential applications in health
      surveillance and food quality monitoring.

PMID- 25828657
TI  - Manufacture of modified milk protein concentrate utilizing injection of carbon
      dioxide.
AB  - Dried milk protein concentrate is produced from skim milk using a combination of
      processes such as ultrafiltration (UF), evaporation or nanofiltration, and spray
      drying. It is well established that dried milk protein concentrate (MPC) that
      contains 80% (MPC80) and greater protein content (relative to dry matter) can
      lose solubility during storage as a result of protein-protein interactions and
      formation of insoluble complexes. Previous studies have shown that partial
      replacement of calcium with sodium improves MPC80 functionality and prevents the
      loss in solubility during storage. Those studies have used pH adjustment with the
      addition of acids, addition of monovalent salts, or ion exchange treatment of UF
      retentate. The objective of this study was to use carbon dioxide to produce MPC80
      with improved functionality. In this study, reduced-calcium MPC80 (RCMPC) was
      produced from skim milk that was subjected to injection of 2,200 ppm of CO2
      before UF, along with additional CO2 injection at a flow rate of 1.5 to 2 L/min
      during UF. A control MPC80 (CtrlMPC) was also produced from the same lot of skim
      milk without injection of CO2. The above processes were replicated 3 times, using
      different lots of skim milk for each replication. All the UF retentates were
      spray dried using a pilot-scale dryer. Skim milk and UF retentates were tested
      for zeta-potential (net negative charge), particle size, and viscosity. All the
      MPC were stored at room (22+/-1 degrees C) and elevated (40 degrees C)
      temperatures for 6 mo. Solubility was measured by dissolving the dried MPC in
      water at 22 degrees C and at 10 degrees C (cold solubility). Injection of CO2 and
      the resultant solubilization of calcium phosphate had a significant effect on UF
      performance, resulting in 10 and 20% loss in initial and average flux,
      respectively. Processing of skim milk with injection of CO2 also resulted in
      higher irreversible fouling resistances. Compared with control, the reduced
      calcium MPC had 28 and 34% less ash and calcium, respectively. Injection of CO2
      resulted in a significant decrease in zeta-potential and a significant increase
      in the size of the casein micelle. Moreover, RCMPC had a significantly higher
      solubility after storage at room temperature and at elevated temperature. This
      study demonstrates that MPC80 with a reduced calcium and mineral content can be
      produced with injection of CO2 before and during UF of skim milk. 

PMID- 25828658
TI  - Effect of maternal dry period length on colostrum immunoglobulin content and on
      natural and specific antibody titers in calves.
AB  - The objective was to study the effect of dry period length in dairy cows on
      immunoglobulin content and natural antibodies (NAb) titers in colostrum, growth,
      and plasma natural and specific antibody titers in plasma of calves. Holstein
      Friesian dairy cows (n=167) were randomly assigned to 3 dry period lengths (0,
      30, or 60 d). Colostrum production, concentration of colostrum IgG and IgM, and
      titers of NAb (isotypes IgG and IgM) binding keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and
      human serum albumin (HuSA) in colostrum were measured. Female calves were
      immunized with both KLH and HuSA at wk 6 and 10 of life. Titers of NAb and
      specific antibody (SpAb) for isotypes IgG, IgM, and total immunoglobulin (IgT)
      binding KLH or HuSA were determined in plasma of female calves. Primary and
      secondary antibody responses to KLH or HuSA from wk 6 and 10 were expressed as
      the increase in antibody titers to wk 10 and 11 of life after primary and
      secondary challenges, respectively. Pregnancy length for cows with a 0-d dry
      period was 3d shorter compared with cows with a 30- or 60-d dry period. Birth
      weight of calves from cows with a 0-d dry period was lower compared with calves
      from cows with a 30-d dry period. Growth of calves until 12 wk of life was not
      affected by dry period length. Colostrum production and IgG and IgM concentration
      in colostrum were lower for cows with a 0-d dry period than a 60-d dry period.
      Natural IgG and IgM titers binding KLH or HuSA were lower in colostrum from cows
      with a 0-d dry period compared with cows with a 60-d dry period. Natural antibody
      titers (IgG, IgM, and IgT) binding KLH or HuSA in plasma were lower during the
      first 2 wk of life for calves from cows with a 0-d dry period compared with
      calves from cows with a 30- or 60-d dry period. After primary and secondary
      immunization of calves with KLH and HuSA, SpAb titers of calves were not affected
      by dry period length. After secondary immunization, the response of IgG and IgT
      binding KLH was higher in plasma of calves from cows with a 0-d dry period. The
      results of this study demonstrate that, although omission of the dry period of
      dairy cows leads to lower plasma NAb titers in calves during the first 2 wk of
      life, SpAb titers in calves were not affected and even the secondary antibody
      responses were enhanced compared with calves from cows with a 30- or 60-d dry
      period.

PMID- 25828659
TI  - Casein polymorphism heterogeneity influences casein micelle size in milk of
      individual cows.
AB  - Milk samples from individual cows producing small (148-155 nm) or large (177-222
      nm) casein micelles were selected to investigate the relationship between the
      individual casein proteins, specifically kappa- and beta-casein phenotypes, and
      casein micelle size. Only kappa-casein AA and beta-casein A1A1, A1A2 and A2A2
      phenotypes were found in the large casein micelle group. Among the small micelle
      group, both kappa-casein and beta-casein phenotypes were more diverse. kappa
      Casein AB was the dominant phenotype, and 3 combinations (AA, AB, and BB) were
      present in the small casein micelle group. A considerable mix of beta-casein
      phenotypes was found, including B and I variants, which were only found in the
      small casein micelle group. The relative amount of kappa-casein to total casein
      was significantly higher in the small micelle group, and the nonglycosylated and
      glycosylated kappa-casein contents were higher in the milks with small casein
      micelles (primarily with kappa-casein AB and BB variants) compared with the large
      micelle group. The ratio of glycosylated to nonglycosylated kappa-casein was
      higher in the milks with small casein micelles compared with the milks with large
      casein micelles. This suggests that although the amount of kappa-casein (both
      glycosylated and nonglycosylated) is associated with micelle size, an increased
      proportion of glycosylated kappa-casein could be a more important and favorable
      factor for small micelle size. This suggests that the increased spatial
      requirement due to addition of the glycosyl group with increasing extent of
      glycosylation of kappa-casein is one mechanism that controls casein micelle
      assembly and growth. In addition, increased electrostatic repulsion due to the
      sialyl residues on the glycosyl group could be a contributory factor.

PMID- 25828660
TI  - Short communication: A new minicurd model system for hard cooked cheeses.
AB  - The aim of this study was to propose and validate a new minicurd model of young
      hard cheese. Curd particles and whey obtained from conventional cheese making of
      Reggianito Argentino were separated and frozen. Then, both fractions were thawed
      and the mixture of whey and curds was reconstituted, from which minicurds were
      made on the laboratory scale. Repeatability and the effect of freezing on
      minicurd composition were investigated by assessing pH, protein and moisture
      contents, sodium chloride content, and total thermophilic lactic flora counts.
      Good repeatability was achieved, and no significant differences were found
      between minicurds made from fresh compared with frozen materials. Composition of
      the minicurd was appropriate for modeling Reggianito Argentino cheese. 

PMID- 25828661
TI  - Total volatile fatty acid concentrations are unreliable estimators of treatment
      effects on ruminal fermentation in vivo.
AB  - Volatile fatty acid concentrations ([VFA], mM) have long been used to assess the
      effect of dietary treatments on ruminal fermentation in vivo. However,
      discrepancies in statistical results between [VFA] and VFA pool size (VFAmol)
      possibly related to ruminal digesta liquid amount (LIQ, kg) indicate potential
      issues with the use of [VFA]. We investigated relationships among [VFA], VFAmol,
      and LIQ measured 2 h postfeeding using individual lactating cow data (n=175) from
      7 separate feeding studies. Regression analyses were performed using mixed models
      with "study" as a discrete random variable. The mean across studies and average
      range of values within studies, respectively, were 151 and 75 for [VFA], 11.2 and
      9.8 for VFAmol, 73.3 and 41.0 for LIQ, and 289 and 83 mmol/kg for rumen fluid
      osmolality. Liquid amount changed with VFAmol (3.76 VFAmol+31.2; average within
      study R2=0.69), but the relationship was weak between [VFA] and LIQ (0.524
      LIQ+112.8; average within-study R2=0.12). The relationship between LIQ and VFAmol
      was likely a function of the osmotic gradient between rumen liquid and blood. The
      VFA are a major ruminal solute; VFAmol amounts can affect water flux in the rumen
      as similar tonicities of rumen fluid and blood are maintained. This also has a
      damping effect on ruminal solute concentration, creating the weak relationship
      between [VFA] and LIQ. Within studies, similar [VFA] were found in LIQ differing
      by 30 kg or more. The difference between minimum and maximum LIQ within cow
      within study was 12.7 kg (standard deviation=7.1), so inclusion of "cow" in
      analyses did not correct for the variation in LIQ. To allow valid comparisons of
      experimental treatments, responses must be on an equivalent basis; concentrations
      in different LIQ are not on an equivalent basis and so are not valid to use for
      comparing treatment effects. The [VFA] changed with VFAmol (5.80 VFAmol+86.3;
      average within-study R2=0.56). However, the ratio of [VFA] to VFAmol ranged from
      9.0 to 24.1 as a function of 1,000/LIQ; this reflects the inherent calculated
      relationship among the variables. The varying relationship of [VFA] to VFAmol
      further indicates that [VFA] is not an appropriate measure to evaluate the
      progress or effect of treatments on ruminal fermentation. Predictions of LIQ and
      VFAmol using cow and ruminal measures were insufficiently precise to be used in
      research. Previously drawn conclusions based on [VFA] need to be reevaluated, and
      alternate evaluations for in vivo ruminal fermentation are needed.

PMID- 25828662
TI  - Foot and leg conformation traits have a small effect on genomic predictions of
      claw disorders in Norwegian Red cows.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the predictive correlation of
      genomic breeding values (GEBV) for claw disorders increased by including
      genetically correlated traits as additional information in the analyses.
      Predictive correlations of GEBV for claw disorders were calculated based on claw
      disorders only and by analyzing claw disorders together with genetically
      correlated foot and leg conformation traits. The claw disorders analyzed were
      corkscrew claw (CSC); infectious claw disorder, including dermatitis, heel horn
      erosion, and interdigital phlegmon; and laminitis-related claw disorder,
      including sole ulcer, white line disorder, and hemorrhage of sole and white line.
      The foot and leg conformation traits included were hoof quality, foot angle, rear
      leg rear view new, and rear leg rear view old. The data consisted of 183,728
      daughters with claw health records and 421,319 daughters with foot and leg
      conformation scores. A 25K/54K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data set
      containing 48,249 SNP was available for the analyses. The number of genotyped
      sires with daughter information in the analyses was 1,093 including claw
      disorders and 3,111 including claw disorders and foot and leg conformation
      traits. Predictive correlations of GEBV for CSC, infectious claw disorder, and
      laminitis-related claw disorder were calculated from a 10-fold cross-validation
      and from an additional validation set including the youngest sires. Only sires
      having daughters with claw health records were in the validation sets, thus
      increasing the reference population when adding foot and leg conformation traits.
      The results showed marginal improvement in the predictive correlation of GEBV for
      CSC when including hoof quality and foot angle, both in 10-fold cross-validation
      (from 0.35 to 0.37) and in the validation including the youngest sires (from 0.38
      to 0.49). For infectious claw disorder and laminitis-related claw disorder,
      including foot and leg conformation traits had no effect on the predictive
      correlation of GEBV. Claw disorders are novel traits with a limited amount of
      historical data and, therefore, a small reference population. Increasing the
      reference population by including sires with daughter information on foot and leg
      conformation traits had small effect on the predictive correlation of GEBV.
      However, the small increase in predictive correlation of GEBV for CSC shows a
      possible gain when including moderate to high genetically correlated traits. 

PMID- 25828663
TI  - Short communication: Evaluation of the microbiota of kefir samples using
      metagenetic analysis targeting the 16S and 26S ribosomal DNA fragments.
AB  - Milk kefir is produced by fermenting milk in the presence of kefir grains. This
      beverage has several benefits for human health. The aim of this experiment was to
      analyze 5 kefir grains (and their products) using a targeted metagenetic
      approach. Of the 5 kefir grains analyzed, 1 was purchased in a supermarket, 2
      were provided by the Ministry of Agriculture (Namur, Belgium), and 2 were
      provided by individuals. The metagenetic approach targeted the V1-V3 fragment of
      the 16S ribosomal (r)DNA for the grains and the resulting beverages at 2 levels
      of grain incorporation (5 and 10%) to identify the bacterial species population.
      In contrast, the 26S rDNA pyrosequencing was performed only on kefir grains with
      the aim of assessing the yeast populations. In parallel, pH measurements were
      performed on the kefir obtained from the kefir grains using 2 incorporation
      rates. Regarding the bacterial population, 16S pyrosequencing revealed the
      presence of 20 main bacterial species, with a dominance of the following:
      Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens, Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris, Gluconobacter
      frateurii, Lactobacillus kefiri, Acetobacter orientalis, and Acetobacter
      lovaniensis. An important difference was noticed between the kefir samples: kefir
      grain purchased from a supermarket (sample E) harbored a much higher proportion
      of several operational taxonomic units of Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc
      mesenteroides. This sample of grain was macroscopically different from the others
      in terms of size, apparent cohesion of the grains, structure, and texture,
      probably associated with a lower level of Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens. The
      kefir (at an incorporation rate of 5%) produced from this sample of grain was
      characterized by a lower pH value (4.5) than the others. The other 4 samples of
      kefir (5%) had pH values above 5. Comparing the kefir grain and the kefir, an
      increase in the population of Gluconobacter in grain sample B was observed. This
      was also the case for Acetobacter orientalis in sample D. In relation to 26S
      pyrosequencing, our study revealed the presence of 3 main yeast species:
      Naumovozyma spp., Kluyveromyces marxianus, and Kazachastania khefir. For
      Naumovozyma, further studies are needed to assess the isolation of new species.
      In conclusion, this study has proved that it is possible to establish the
      patterns of bacterial and yeast composition of kefir and kefir grain. This was
      only achieved with the use of high-throughput sequencing techniques. 

PMID- 25828664
TI  - Patterns of circulating serotonin and related metabolites in multiparous dairy
      cows in the peripartum period.
AB  - Dairy cows are challenged to maintain Ca and glucose homeostasis during the
      transition period. Serotonin (5-HT) is a monoamine that modulates Ca and glucose
      homeostasis in rodents. Serotonin is positively correlated with Ca and glucose
      status in dairy cows on d 1 of lactation. However, the pattern of circulating
      concentrations of 5-HT over the course of a 305-d lactation is unknown. In this
      observational, longitudinal study, we examined the metabolite patterns of 5-HT,
      Ca, glucose, parathyroid hormone-related protein, and beta-hydroxybutyrate on 2
      commercial dairy farms in south-central Wisconsin. Cows sampled on farm 1 were
      multiparous Jersey cows (n=30) that calved within a 23-d period; cows on farm 2
      were multiparous Holstein cows (n=35) that calved within a 20-d period. Blood
      samples were collected daily between d -5 and d 10 relative to parturition and on
      d 30, 60, 90, 150, and 300 of lactation. Farms 1 and 2 were analyzed individually
      because of the presence of a farm effect in the initial analysis; a time effect
      was present on both farms. Concentrations of 5-HT decreased near parturition
      compared with prepartum by 57.9 and 29.5% on farm 1 and 2, respectively.
      Transition period 5-HT nadirs were observed on d 1 on farm 1, and on d 1 and 9 on
      farm 2. Serotonin recovered to prepartum concentrations by d 5 on farm 1. On farm
      2, 5-HT recovered to prepartum concentrations by d 4, with a subsequent decrease
      of 34.6% on d 9 to a level similar to that observed on d 1. Furthermore, 5-HT
      increased markedly in cows on both farms near peak lactation (d 60, 90, and 150)
      and decreased on d 300. Compared with prepartum concentrations, Ca decreased by
      34.2 and 11.2% on farms 1 and 2, respectively. Circulating total Ca nadir was
      observed on d 1 on both farms. Circulating 5-HT and circulating Ca were
      positively correlated during the early lactation period (d 1 to 5 and d 6 to 10)
      on farm 1 (r=0.31 and r=0.22, respectively) and d 6 to 10 on farm 2 (r=0.16).
      Circulating 5-HT and glucose were negatively correlated during the early
      lactation period (d 1 to 5) on farm 1 (r=-0.21) and during mid-lactation (d 30 to
      150) on farm 2 (r=-0.26). Milk 5-HT and milk total Ca were positively correlated
      on farm 2 (r=0.34). These results demonstrate that 5-HT concentrations change
      dynamically throughout the transition period, with a pattern similar to that of
      total Ca concentrations. Further research using controlled experiments should be
      aimed at discerning the association between 5-HT and Ca and between 5-HT and
      glucose in dairy cows. 

PMID- 25828665
TI  - Effect of intrauterine dextrose on reproductive performance of lactating dairy
      cows diagnosed with purulent vaginal discharge under certified organic
      management.
AB  - The objectives of the study were to assess responses to treatments (clinical cure
      and resumption of estrous cycles) of cows with purulent vaginal discharge (PVD)
      that received intrauterine infusion of a hypertonic solution of 50% dextrose
      (DEX) or untreated control (CON) cows and the subsequent pregnancy per artificial
      insemination (PAI) in cows with and without PVD. Cows (n=2,852) from 2 dairy
      herds were screened for PVD using the gloved hand technique at exam 1 [26+/-3 d
      in milk (DIM)]. Cows with vaginal discharge scores of 2 or 3 (0-3 scale) were
      stratified by parity and randomly allocated into 1 of 2 treatment groups: (1)
      intrauterine infusion (~200 mL) of 50% DEX solution (n=456), or (2) untreated
      control animals (CON, n=491). Fourteen days posttherapy (40+/-3 DIM), cows with
      PVD were re-examined at exam 2 (40+/-3 DIM) to assess the response to treatments.
      All cows were subjected to the same reproductive program, which consisted of
      estrus detection twice daily (using tail chalking and visual observation) for the
      first 5 artificial inseminations; then, open lactating cows were turned out with
      bulls. Cows displaying signs of standing estrus underwent AI and no reproductive
      hormones were used. Pregnancy diagnosis (PD) was performed via transrectal
      palpation at 40+/-3 d post-AI. The risk of culling within 14 d posttherapy was
      not different among treatment groups. Cows with PVD had greater cervical diameter
      at exam 1 and decreased PAI compared with cows without PVD. Treatment with DEX
      increased the proportion of cows with clear vaginal discharge (clinical cure) and
      cyclicity 14 d posttherapy compared with CON cows. Pregnancy per AI for DEX
      (29.2+/-2%) cows was significantly greater than that for CON (22.5+/-2%) cows.
      Cows without PVD had a greater proportion of cycling cows (65.6%) and PAI (37%)
      with reduced pregnancy losses (5.7%) compared with DEX or CON cows. The use of
      intrauterine DEX alone improved reproductive performance of cows with PVD.

PMID- 25828666
TI  - Low body condition predisposes cattle to lameness: An 8-year study of one dairy
      herd.
AB  - Lameness in dairy cows is a multifactorial and progressive disease with complex
      interactions between risk factors contributing to its occurrence. Detailed
      records were obtained from one United Kingdom dairy herd over an 8-yr period.
      Weekly locomotion scores were used to classify cows as not lame (score 1 to 2),
      mildly lame (score 3) and severely lame (score 4 to 5). These outcomes were used
      to investigate the hypothesis that low body condition score (BCS) is associated
      with an increased risk of lameness in dairy cows. Mixed effect multinomial
      logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between prior
      BCS and repeat lameness events during the longitudinal period of the study.
      Discrete time survival models were used to explore the relationship between prior
      BCS and first lifetime lameness events. In total, 79,565 cow weeks at risk were
      obtained for 724 cows. The number of lameness events was 17,114, of which 8,799
      were categorized as mildly lame and 8,315 as severely lame. The median BCS was
      2.25 (range, 0.75 to 4.25) and the mean body weight (BW) and age at first calving
      were 619.5 kg (range, 355.6 to 956.4 kg) and 25.8 mo (range, 20.5 to 37.8 mo),
      respectively. Subsets of the data were used in the discrete time survival models:
      333 mild and 211 severe first lifetime lameness events in heifers (first
      lactation cows), and 81 mild and 49 severe first lifetime lameness events in cows
      second lactation or greater. Low BCS 3 wk before a repeated lameness event was
      associated with a significantly increased risk of lameness. Cows with BCS<2 were
      at greatest risk of mild or severe lameness, and an increased BCS above 2 was
      associated with a reduced risk of mild or severe lameness. Low BCS 16 or 8 wk
      before a first mild or severe lifetime lameness event, respectively, also had a
      positive association with risk of lameness in cows second lactation or greater.
      This provides evidence to support targeting management toward maintaining BCS to
      minimize the risk of lameness. Low BW (independent of BCS) and increased age at
      first calving above 24 mo were also associated with increased long-term risk of
      repeated lameness events. Overall, the model explained 62 and 60% of the
      variability for mild and severe lameness, respectively, highlighting the
      importance of these variables as risk factors and hence where management could be
      targeted to significantly affect reducing the risk of lameness.

PMID- 25828667
TI  - Radiofrequency Probe and Sharp Transection for Tenoscopic-Guided Desmotomy of the
      Accessory Ligament of the Superficial Digital Flexor Tendon.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare intra and postoperative clinical features of desmotomy of
      the accessory ligament of the superficial digital flexor tendon (ALSDFT) using
      the Saber radiofrequency (SaberRF) electrosurgical probe versus sharp transection
      with a tenotomy knife. STUDY DESIGN: Randomized, controlled, blocked (horse)
      design. ANIMALS: Adult horses (n = 6). METHODS: Each horse received bilateral,
      tenoscopic-guided ALSDFT desmotomy with a SaberRF and tenotomy knife, randomly
      assigned to left, or right limb. The desmotomy duration and intraoperative
      hemorrhage grades were recorded. Postoperatively, the grades for surgical
      incision, carpal sheath effusion, carpal range of motion, flexion pain, and
      lameness were recorded. Light microscopy using hematoxylin and eosin, and
      viability staining were performed on the ALSDFT, flexor carpi radialis tendon,
      radial head of the deep digital flexor tendon, and the deep digital flexor
      tendon. Variables were compared between desmotomy methods with a paired t-test,
      Wilcoxon signed rank test, or a repeated measures mixed model. Statistical
      significance was set at P < .05. RESULTS: Desmotomy of the ALSDFT was completed
      in all horses. Only mild hemorrhage was observed and not different between
      methods (SaberRF 2/5 limbs; tenotomy knife 5/6 limbs, P = .078). Carpal sheath
      effusion was greater for SaberRF at Day 1 (P = .019) but not different from
      tenotomy knife at any later time. There was no significant difference between
      methods for viability staining or other measured outcomes. CONCLUSIONS:
      Tenoscopic-guided ALSDFT desmotomy with the SaberRF probe showed no difference in
      measured outcomes to sharp transection with a tenotomy knife and minimal
      collateral tissue damage was observed.

PMID- 25828668
TI  - LAA CT contrast defects correlate with TEE LAA velocity and CHADS2-score and are
      a prognostic indicator for embolism in subjects with atrial fibrillation or
      flutter.

PMID- 25828669
TI  - Psoriasis and risk of atrial fibrillation.

PMID- 25828670
TI  - Mitral valve replacement therapy causes higher 30-day postoperative mortality
      than mitral valvuloplasty in patients with severe ischemic mitral regurgitation:
      A meta-analysis of 12 studies.

PMID- 25828671
TI  - Pre-hospital prediction of death or cardiovascular complications during
      hospitalisation and death within one year in suspected acute coronary syndrome
      patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To identify pre-hospital predictors of a) death or the development of
      cardiovascular complications during hospitalisation (primary objective) and b)
      all-cause death during one year of follow-up (secondary objective), in chest pain
      patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS). METHODS: A prospective
      study that comprised patients in western Sweden, who were transported to hospital
      by the emergency medical service (EMS) due to chest pain and suspected ACS.
      Multiple logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of
      adverse outcomes. RESULTS: Among all 1600 eligible patients, 21% died or had a
      cardiovascular complication during hospitalisation and 10% died during one year
      of follow-up. Nine factors were identified pre-hospitalisation as independent
      predictors of death or cardiovascular complications during hospitalisation. They
      were increasing age, a history of congestive heart failure, nausea and/or
      vomiting, rapid breathing rate, low oxygen saturation, high heart rate, together
      with ST-segment elevation, ST-segment depression and right bundle branch block on
      the pre-hospital electrocardiogram (ECG). For the secondary objective of death
      during one year of follow-up, the following five factors were identified as
      independent predictors: increasing age, a history of congestive heart failure,
      dyspnea, low oxygen saturation and left bundle branch block on the pre-hospital
      ECG. CONCLUSIONS: In the pre-hospital setting of chest pain and suspected ACS, we
      identified nine predictors of the primary adverse outcome. They were factors
      representing previous history, symptoms and ECG findings. This information may
      contribute to the development of a decision support system for the EMS, which
      then needs to be clinically tested.

PMID- 25828672
TI  - A victory for statins or a defeat for diet policies? Cholesterol falls in Poland
      in the past decade: A modeling study.
AB  - AIM: The present study is aimed to examine whether recent changes in population
      total cholesterol (TC) levels in Poland might be attributed to increased use
      statins. METHODS: Two independent, nationally representative cross-sectional
      studies were conducted in adults aged 18-79 years in 2002 (n=2993, mean age 46.2
      years) and 2011 (n=2413, mean age 45.8 years), including measurements of TC in
      venous blood samples. The mean change of TC between 2002 and 2011 was assessed.
      Then the expected therapeutic reduction in TC level in 2011 attributable to
      statins only was calculated based on already published statin effectiveness data.
      Uncertainty was quantified using probabilistic sensitivity analysis. RESULTS:
      Statin uptake in Poland rose to 11.2% in 2011 (95% Confidence Intervals (CI): 10%
      to 12.5%) and approximately 32% (95% CI: 28.4 to 36.0%) in subjects aged 60-79
      years. Mean TC in Poland in 2002 was 5.35 mmol/l, and fell by 0.21 mmol/l (95%
      CI: 0.14 to 0.28) by 2011. This fall would have been only 0.03 mmol/l (95% CI: 
      0.04 to 0.10) for the total adult population and 0.06 mmol/l (95% CI: -0.09 to
      0.22) in people aged 60-79 years if statins had not been used. Statin use thus
      apparently explained approximately 85% (95% CI: 49% to 120%) of the observed
      decrease. CONCLUSION: Between 2002 and 2011, statin medications apparently
      explained a large part of the observed fall in population cholesterol level,
      suggesting very little changes in population TC attributed to dietary changes.

PMID- 25828673
TI  - FGF-21 alleviates diabetes-associated vascular complications: Inhibiting NF
      kappaB/NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated inflammation?

PMID- 25828674
TI  - Free Light Chains in patients with acute coronary syndromes: Relationships to
      inflammation and renal function.
AB  - AIMS: We assessed changes of serum combined free immunoglobulin light chains
      (cFLC) levels, which are associated with increased all-cause mortality, in ST
      elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in relation to inflammation and renal
      function indices. METHODS: cFLC were measured in 48 patients with STEMI on days
      1, 3, 7 and 30 with assessment of their relationships with monocyte subsets, high
      sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and cystatin C. Day 1 levels in STEMI
      patients were compared to 40 patients with stable coronary artery disease, and 37
      healthy controls. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in cFLC levels
      between the study groups. In STEMI patients, cFLC values peaked on day 7 post-MI
      and remained elevated on day 30 (p<0.001 vs. day 1 for both). hsCRP
      concentrations peaked on day 3 of STEMI followed by their gradual reduction to
      the levels seen in the controls (p<0.001). In STEMI cFLC correlated with cystatin
      C (r=0.55, p<0.001), and negatively correlated with counts of CD14++CD16-
      monocytes (r=-0.55, p<0.001). On multivariate Cox regression analysis, cFLC
      concentrations were associated with increased need for future percutaneous
      coronary intervention (PCI) (p=0.019). CONCLUSION: cFLC levels increase during
      STEMI with peak values on day 7 after presentation and predict the need for
      future PCI.

PMID- 25828675
TI  - Non-surgical repair of ventricular septal rupture after acute myocardial
      infarction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ventricular septal rupture (VSR) following myocardial infarction is a
      rare complication with high mortality. Although transcatheter closure has emerged
      as a less invasive method of VSR closure, the optimal timing and technique remain
      unclear. METHODS: This is a single-center, retrospective, cohort study. Eleven
      patients that underwent transcatheter closure of post-AMI VSR from 2006 to 2013
      at the Second Xiangya Hospital were included in this study. The clinical,
      procedural, and outcome data were analyzed. RESULTS: VSR occurred in 4 patients
      at anterior, 4 at posterior, and 3 at apical ventricular septum. Atrial Septal
      Defect occluder was used in 2 patients, muscular Ventricular Septal Defect
      occluder was used in 6 patients, and Patent Ductus Arteriosus occluder was used
      in 3 patients. The median time between VSR diagnosis and transcatheter closure
      was 18 days (range, 13-30 days). The median size of the VSR was 12 mm (range, 8
      17 mm). The occlusion device was deployed successfully in 10 of 11 patients.
      Three patients died between zero and seven days after the procedure (30-day
      mortality, 27.3%). Eight patients survived during a follow-up of 150-1960 days. A
      follow-up TTE showed no residual shunt in three patients and a trivial or small
      residual shunt in five patients. CONCLUSION: Transcatheter closure of post-AMI
      VSR using Atrial Septal Defect, Ventricular Septal Defect, and Patent Ductus
      Arteriosus occluders is feasible and effective. If the clinical conditions
      permit, intervention can be delayed to the late phase (>2-3 weeks) after VSR
      diagnosis.

PMID- 25828676
TI  - Spreading patterns of the invasive Caulerpa cylindracea Sonder along the west
      Istrian Coast (northern Adriatic Sea, Croatia).
AB  - The northern Adriatic Sea represents the northernmost and thus the coldest
      biogeographic sector of the Mediterranean Sea. In 2004, the invasive green alga
      Caulerpa cylindracea was recorded for the first time in the northern Adriatic at
      a site of the west Istrian Coast. Until 2010, additional C. cylindracea mats have
      only formed up to 7 km northward from the first colonisation site. Subsequently,
      the alga was also recorded at sites widespread along the entire coast. Both the
      first 2004 colonisation event and the 2011-2014 colonisation of distant sites
      occurred during periods of winter seawater temperatures higher than 9  degrees C.
      In general, algal spreading was markedly slow. Approximately 10 years after the
      first record, C. cylindracea has affected less than 1% of the entire west Istrian
      coastline. The colonisation predominantly occurred in ports and urbanised bays
      (seaside resorts) suggesting that anthropogenic activities might enhance algal
      diffusion.

PMID- 25828677
TI  - Medical education and law: withholding/withdrawing treatment from adults without
      capacity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Law is increasingly involved in clinical practice, particularly at
      the end of life, but undergraduate and postgraduate education in this area
      remains unsystematic. We hypothesised that attitudes to and knowledge of the law
      governing withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatment from adults without
      capacity (the WWLST law) would vary and demonstrate deficiencies among medical
      specialists. AIMS: We investigated perspectives, knowledge and training of
      medical specialists in the three largest (populations and medical workforces)
      Australian states, concerning the WWLST law. METHODS: Following expert legal
      review, specialist focus groups, pre-testing and piloting in each state, seven
      specialties involved with end-of-life care were surveyed, with a variety of
      statistical analyses applied to the responses. RESULTS: Respondents supported the
      need to know and follow the law. There were mixed views about its helpfulness in
      medical decision-making. Over half the respondents conceded poor knowledge of the
      law; this was mirrored by critical gaps in knowledge that varied by specialty.
      There were relatively low but increasing rates of education from the
      undergraduate to continuing professional development (CPD) stages. Mean knowledge
      score did not vary significantly according to undergraduate or immediate
      postgraduate training, but CPD training, particularly if recent, resulted in
      greater knowledge. Case-based workshops were the preferred CPD instruction
      method. CONCLUSIONS: Teaching of current and evolving law should be strengthened
      across all stages of medical education. This should improve understanding of the
      role of law, ameliorate ambivalence towards the law and contribute to more
      informed deliberation about end-of-life issues with patients and families.

PMID- 25828678
TI  - Sleep regulatory factors.
AB  - The state of sleep consists of different phases that proceed in successive,
      tightly regulated order through the night forming a physiological program, which
      for each individual is different but stabile from one night to another. Failure
      to accomplish this program results in feeling of unrefreshing sleep and tiredness
      in the morning. The pro- gram core is constructed by genetic factors but
      regulated by circadian rhythm and duration and intensity of day time brain
      activity. Many environmental factors modulate sleep, including stress, health
      status and ingestion of vigilance-affecting nutrients or medicines (e.g.
      caffeine). Knowledge of the factors that regulate the spontaneous sleep-wake
      cycle and factors that can affect this regulation forms the basis for diagnosis
      and treatment of the many common disorders of sleep. 

PMID- 25828679
TI  - Sleep and bodily functions: the physiological interplay between body homeostasis
      and sleep homeostasis.
AB  - Body homeostasis and sleep homeostasis may both rely on the complex integrative
      activity carried out by the hypothalamus. Thus, the three main wake-sleep (WS)
      states (i.e. wakefulness, NREM sleep, and REM sleep) may be better understood if
      the different cardio-respiratory and metabolic parameters, which are under the
      integrated control of the autonomic and the endocrine systems, are studied during
      sleep monitoring. According to this view, many physiological events can be
      considered as an expression of the activity that physiological regulations should
      perform in order to cope with the need to fulfill body and sleep homeostasis.
      This review is aimed at making an assessment of data showing the existence of a
      physiological interplay between body homeostasis and sleep homeostasis, starting
      from the spontaneous changes observed in the somatic and autonomic activity
      during sleep, through evidence showing the deep changes occurring in the central
      integration of bodily functions during the different WS states, to the changes in
      the WS states observed when body homeostasis is challenged by the external
      environment and when the return to normal ambient conditions allows sleep homeo-
      stasis to run without apparent physiological restrictions. The data summarized in
      this review suggest that an approach to the dichotomy between NREM and REM sleep
      based on physiological regulations may offer a framework within which
      observations that a traditional behavioral approach may overlook can be
      interpreted. The study of the interplay between body and sleep homeostasis
      appears, therefore, to be a way to understand the function of complex organisms
      beyond that of the specific regulations. 

PMID- 25828680
TI  - Sleep and memory in the making. Are current concepts sufficient in children?
AB  - Memory consolidation is an active process wired in brain plasticity. How
      plasticity mechanisms develop and are modulated after learning is at the core of
      current models of sleep-dependent memory consolidation. Nowadays, two main
      classes of sleep-related memory consolidation theories are proposed, namely
      system consolidation and synaptic homeostasis. However, novel models of
      consolidation emerge, that might better account for the highly dynamic and
      interactive processes of encoding and memory consolidation. Processing steps can
      take place at various temporal phases and be modulated by interactions with prior
      experiences and ongoing events. In this perspective, sleep might support (or not)
      memory consolidation processes under specific neurophysiological and
      environmental circumstances leading to enduring representations in long-term
      memory stores. We outline here a discussion about how current and emergent models
      account for the complexity and apparent inconsistency of empirical data.
      Additionally, models aimed at understanding neurophysiological and/or cognitive
      processes should not only provide a satisfactory explanation for the phenomena at
      stake, but also account for their ontogeny and the conditions that disrupt their
      organisation. Looking at the available literature, this developmental condition
      appears to remain unfulfilled when trying to understand the relationships between
      sleep, learning and memory consolidation processes, both in healthy children and
      in children with pathological conditions.

PMID- 25828681
TI  - The reciprocal link between sleep and immune responses.
AB  - Good sleep is necessary for both physical and mental health; sleep and immune
      responses are reciprocally and closely linked. Sleep loss impairs the immune
      response, while, on the other hand, the immune response, activated for instance
      by an infection, alters sleep. Sleep alterations induced by immune activation are
      mediated by cytokines such as interleukin-1. In the past, it was thought that
      cytokines were produced only by the immune system, and active only there as
      signaling molecules. Today it is clear that IL-1 and other cytokines are present
      and active in the healthy brain, where they physiologically interact with the
      brain circuits and the neurotransmitter systems (for instance the serotonergic,
      GABAergic, and cholinergic systems) that control sleep. These interactions are
      altered by immune response, and, as a result, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep
      is increased and fragmented, whereas rapid eye movements (REM) sleep is
      inhibited.

PMID- 25828682
TI  - Effects of acute and chronic sleep deprivation on cardiovascular regulation.
AB  - Sleep is a fundamental physiological process, characterized by the activation of
      several cortical and subcortical neural networks. The relation between sleep and
      cardiovascular system is complex and bidirectional: sleep disorders may alter
      cardiovascular system, leading to an increased cardiovascular risk, while, on the
      contrary, cardio- vascular diseases are characterized by an alteration of
      physiological sleep. Autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a key role in the
      regulation of cardiovascular functions during different sleep stages, with
      sympatho-vagal balance dynamically shifting towards sympathetic or vagal
      predominance across different sleep stages. Sleep deprivation (SD) has becoming
      one of the most relevant health problem in modern societies. SD can be related to
      aging, which is associated with increased sleep fragmentation, and to sleep
      disorders, such as sleep disordered breathing and neurological disorders.
      Experimental studies in animals showed that SD significantly affects
      cardiovascular functions, altering heart rate and blood pressure responses, and
      increasing sympathetic activity and neuroendocrine response to stressor stimuli.
      Clinical studies in humans have shown that SD, either due to experimental sleep
      loss and to sleep disorders, can affect different biological pathways, such as
      cardiovascular autonomic control, inflammation, immunity responses and
      metabolism. All these alterations may predispose subjects with SD to an increased
      cardiovascular risk. Hence, it is fundamental to identify the presence of a sleep
      disorder, which could be per se responsible for sleep loss, or the presence of
      sleep deprivation due to other factors, such as social life, habits etc., in
      order to identify subjects at high risk for cardiovascular events.

PMID- 25828683
TI  - REM sleep alteration and depression.
AB  - Alterations in sleep patterns are often recognized as a premorbid symptom
      accompanied by affective disorders, particularly by major depression. However,
      the mechanism is rather complex, and differentiating its causalities from those
      of depression undergoes hardships. Indeed, depression is a complex disease. It
      has been clearly demonstrated that depressed patients display very characteristic
      changes in sleep architecture. Previous animal studies also demonstrated that
      several depression models, which had targeted elevated hypothalamic-pituitary
      adrenocortical (HPA) axis, showed increased rapid eye movement (REM) sleep while
      insomniac sleep phenotype did not evidently appear. However, all stress hormones
      seem to be elevated in those models. Therefore, it has been difficult to
      determine which particular hormone in the HPA axis is primarily responsible for
      altered sleep in depression. In recent years, we have widely analyzed sleep
      characteristics of conditional transgenic mouse lines focusing on corticotropin
      releasing hormone (CRH), the initial mediator of the HPA system, in which the
      levels of peripheral stress hormones are normal. Conditional CRH-overexpressing
      (COE) mice, especially those overexpress CRH limitedly within the forebrain
      including limbic structures (CRH-COE-Cam), dis- play enhanced REM sleep. Further,
      the higher occurrence of REM sleep in CRH-COE-Cam mice could be due to their
      hyper-cholinergic activity. REM sleep disinhibition observed in depressed
      patients similarly appears in animals which are genetically stress-vulnerable
      strain or chronically stressed, possibly due to enhanced action of limbic CRH.
      Indeed, REM sleep is a fragile vigilance state and closely connected with
      emotional control. Thus, depressive episodes may affect REM sleep earlier than
      nonREM sleep, and such altered REM sleep can be a state marker of depression.

PMID- 25828684
TI  - Animal models of REM dysfunctions: what they tell us about the cause of
      narcolepsy and RBD?
AB  - Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a parasomnia characterized by
      the loss of muscle atonia during paradoxical (REM) sleep (PS). Conversely,
      cataplexy, one of the key symptoms of narcolepsy, is a striking sudden episode of
      muscle weakness triggered by emotions during wakefulness, and comparable to REM
      sleep atonia. The neuronal dysfunctions responsible for RBD and cataplexy are not
      known. In the present review, we present the most recent results on the neuronal
      network responsible for PS. Based on these results, we propose an updated
      integrated model of the mechanisms responsible for PS and explore different
      hypotheses explaining RBD and cataplexy. We propose that RBD is due to a specific
      degeneration of a subpopulation of PS-on glutamatergic neurons specifically
      responsible of muscle atonia, localized in the caudal pontine sublaterodorsal
      tegmental nucleus (SLD). Another possibility is the occurrence in RBD patients of
      a specific lesion of the glycinergic/GABAergic premotor-neurons localized in the
      medullary ventral gigantocellular reticular nucleus. Conversely, cataplexy in
      narcoleptics would be due to the activation during waking of the caudal PS-on SLD
      neurons responsible for muscle atonia. A direct or indirect pathway activated
      during positive emotion from the central amygdala to the SLD PS-on neurons would
      induce such activation. In normal conditions, the activation of SLD neurons would
      be blocked by the simultaneous excitation by the hypocretins of the PS-off
      GABAergic neurons localized in the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray and the
      adjacent deep mesencephalic reticular nucleus gating the activation of the PS-on
      SLD neurons.

PMID- 25828685
TI  - REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) as a marker of neurodegenerative disorders.
AB  - Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) can occur in the absence
      of any other obvious associated neurologic disorder or in association with a
      neurodegenerative disease, in which case it is considered as symptomatic RBD. RBD
      is frequently associated with Parkinson's disease (PD), Lewy body dementia or
      multiple system atrophy (MSA), and in several cases may even antedate the
      occurrence of motor symptoms by decades. When no neurologic disorder is obvious,
      RBD can be considered as idiopathic (iRBD). Several studies have looked at
      neurophysiologic and neuropsychological functions in iRBD and have found evidence
      of CNS dysfunction during both wakefulness and sleep in a variable proportion of
      these patients, challenging the concept of iRBD. Identifying subjects with a high
      risk of developing a neurodegenerative process may be crucial in order to develop
      early intervention strategies. Some prospective results in iRBD showed that
      potential markers of neurodegeneration are the following: 1) marked EEG slowing
      on spectral analysis; 2) decreased striatal 123I-FPCIT; 3) impaired color vision.

PMID- 25828686
TI  - Slow wave activity as the default mode of the cerebral cortex.
AB  - The function of sleep remained one of largest enigmas of neuroscience for most of
      the 20th century. However in recent years different evidence has accumulated in
      support of a critical role of sleep on functions such as replay and memory
      consolidation. In particular slow wave sleep, and its underlying
      corticothalamocortical activity, slow oscillations, could be critical not only
      for memory but also for the maintenance of the brain's structural and func-
      tional connectivity. In this article we ask: why slow oscillations? To answer
      this question we put forward the idea that slow oscillations are the default
      activity of the cortical network based on both experimental and theoretical
      evidence. We go on to discuss why slow oscillations emerge from the cortical
      circuits and what are the dynamic advantages of this activity pattern, such as
      the resilience to perturbances and the facilitation of transitions between a
      disconnected (e.g. deep sleep) brain and a connected, awake brain. 

PMID- 25828687
TI  - Long-term history and immediate preceding state affect EEG slow wave
      characteristics at NREM sleep onset in C57BL/6 mice.
AB  - The dynamics of cortical activity across the 24-h day and at vigilance state
      transitions is regulated by an interaction between global subcortical
      neuromodulatory influences and local shifts in network synchrony and
      excitability. To address the role of long-term and immediate preceding history in
      local and global cortical dynamics, we investigated cortical EEG recorded from
      both frontal and occipital regions during an undisturbed 24-h recording in mice.
      As expected, at the beginning of the light period, under physiologically
      increased sleep pressure, EEG slow waves were more frequent and had higher
      amplitude and slopes, compared to the rest of the light period. Within discrete
      NREM sleep episodes, the incidence, amplitude and slopes of individual slow waves
      increased progressively after episode onset in both derivations by approximately
      10-30%. Interestingly, at the beginning of NREM sleep episodes slow waves in the
      frontal and occipital derivations frequently occurred in isolation, as quantified
      by longer latencies between consecutive slow waves in the two regions. Notably,
      slow waves during the initial period of NREM sleep following REM sleep episodes
      were significantly less frequent, lower in amplitude and exhibited shallower
      slopes, compared to those that occurred in NREM episodes after prolonged waking.
      Moreover, the latencies between consecutive frontal and occipital NREM slow waves
      were substantially longer when they occurred directly after REM sleep compared to
      following consolidated wakefulness. Overall these data reveal a complex picture,
      where both time of day and preceding state contribute to the characteristics and
      dynamics of slow waves within NREM sleep. These findings suggest that NREM sleep
      initiates in a more "local" fashion when it occurs following REM sleep episodes
      as opposed to sustained waking bouts. While the mechanisms and functional
      significance of such a re-setting of brain state after individual REM sleep
      episodes remains to be investigated, we suggest that it may be an essential
      feature of physiological sleep regulation.

PMID- 25828688
TI  - Fluid boundaries between wake and sleep: experimental evidence from Stereo-EEG
      recordings.
AB  - Sleep and waking have been traditionally considered global behavioural states
      regulated by subcortical neuromodulatory circuits in a top-down fashion. Over the
      last years, we have been experiencing a paradigm shift towards a view that both
      wake and sleep are in essence local processes. Here we review recent clinical and
      basic research works supporting this view by taking advantage of stereotactic
      electroencephalography (Stereo-EEG, SEEG) recordings performed in epileptic
      patients. Specifically, we will discuss a growing body of evidence showing how
      electrophysiological features of sleep and wakefulness are coexisting across
      diffuse brain areas in pathological and physiological sleep as well as during
      state transitions (sleep onset and awakenings). Finally, we will discuss their
      implication for sleep medicine to extent that, reconsidering the classical
      definition of wakefulness and sleep as separate and mutually exclusive states may
      offer new insight for the understanding of parasomnias and other dissociated
      states.

PMID- 25828689
TI  - PFR2: a curated database of planktonic foraminifera 18S ribosomal DNA as a
      resource for studies of plankton ecology, biogeography and evolution.
AB  - Planktonic foraminifera (Rhizaria) are ubiquitous marine pelagic protists
      producing calcareous shells with conspicuous morphology. They play an important
      role in the marine carbon cycle, and their exceptional fossil record serves as
      the basis for biochronostratigraphy and past climate reconstructions. A major
      worldwide sampling effort over the last two decades has resulted in the
      establishment of multiple large collections of cryopreserved individual
      planktonic foraminifera samples. Thousands of 18S rDNA partial sequences have
      been generated, representing all major known morphological taxa across their
      worldwide oceanic range. This comprehensive data coverage provides an opportunity
      to assess patterns of molecular ecology and evolution in a holistic way for an
      entire group of planktonic protists. We combined all available published and
      unpublished genetic data to build PFR(2), the Planktonic foraminifera Ribosomal
      Reference database. The first version of the database includes 3322 reference 18S
      rDNA sequences belonging to 32 of the 47 known morphospecies of extant planktonic
      foraminifera, collected from 460 oceanic stations. All sequences have been
      rigorously taxonomically curated using a six-rank annotation system fully
      resolved to the morphological species level and linked to a series of metadata.
      The PFR(2) website, available at http://pfr2.sb-roscoff.fr, allows downloading
      the entire database or specific sections, as well as the identification of new
      planktonic foraminiferal sequences. Its novel, fully documented curation process
      integrates advances in morphological and molecular taxonomy. It allows for an
      increase in its taxonomic resolution and assures that integrity is maintained by
      including a complete contingency tracking of annotations and assuring that the
      annotations remain internally consistent.

PMID- 25828690
TI  - Fundamental challenges for autism research: the science-practice gap, demarcating
      autism and the unsuccessful search for the neurobiological basis of autism.
AB  - One of the central aims of autism research is to identify specific
      neurodevelopmental mechanisms that cause and explain the visible autistic signs
      and symptoms. In this short paper, I argue that the persistent search for autism
      specific pathophysiologies has two fundamental difficulties. The first regards
      the growing gap between basic autism science and clinical practice. The second
      regards the difficulties with demarcating autism as a psychiatric condition.
      Instead of the unremitting search for the neurobiological basis of autism, I
      suggest that basic autism research should focus on experiences of impairment and
      distress, and on how these experiences relate to particular (autistic) behaviors
      in particular circumstances, regardless of whether we are dealing with an autism
      diagnosis or not. 

PMID- 25828691
TI  - Field and experimental data indicate that the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus
      floridanus) is susceptible to infection with European brown hare syndrome (EBHS)
      virus and not with rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) virus.
AB  - The eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) is an American lagomorph. In 1966,
      it was introduced to Italy, where it is currently widespread. Its ecological
      niche is similar to those of native rabbits and hares and increasing overlap in
      distribution brings these species into ever closer contact. Therefore,
      cottontails are at risk of infection with the two lagoviruses endemically present
      in Italy: Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease virus (RHDV) and European Brown Hare
      Syndrome Virus (EBHSV). To verify the susceptibility of Sylvilagus to these
      viruses, we analyzed 471 sera and 108 individuals from cottontail populations in
      9 provinces of north-central Italy from 1999 to 2012. In total, 15-20% of the
      cottontails tested seropositive for EBHSV; most titres were low, but some were as
      high as 1/1280. All the cottontails virologically tested for RHDV and EBHSV were
      negative with the exception of one individual found dead with hares during a
      natural EBHS outbreak in December 2009. The cottontail and the hares showed
      typical EBHS lesions, and the EBHSV strain identified was the same in both
      species (99.9% identity). To experimentally confirm the diagnosis, we performed
      two trials in which we infected cottontails with both EBHSV and RHDV. One out of
      four cottontails infected with EBHSV died of an EBHS-like disease, and the three
      surviving animals developed high EBHSV antibody titres. In contrast, neither
      mortality nor seroconversion was detected after infection with RHDV. Taken
      together, these results suggest that Sylvilagus is susceptible to EBHSV
      infection, which occasionally evolves to EBHS-like disease; the eastern
      cottontail could therefore be considered a "spill over" or "dead end" host for
      EBHSV unless further evidence is found to confirm that it plays an active role in
      the epidemiology of EBHSV. 

PMID- 25828692
TI  - No effect of the cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor etoricoxib on pre-emptive and post
      operative analgesia in visceral surgery: results of a randomized controlled
      trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pre-emptive analgesia in perioperative care has potential benefits
      for patients. The pre-emptive and postoperative analgesic effects of the
      cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor etoricoxib have been investigated using a 2 * 2
      factorial trial design. METHODS: According to the 2 * 2 factorial study design,
      103 patients scheduled for visceral surgery, were randomly allocated to two
      groups prior to surgery. Patients could receive either etoricoxib or placebo (to
      investigate pre-emptive analgesia). Subsequent to surgery, patients randomly
      received either etoricoxib or placebo, again. It follows, that four treatment
      modalities (continuous or replaced intervention) result, to investigate
      postoperative analgesia. Main Outcome Measure was the cumulative morphine use 48
      h post-surgery. Other outcomes included pain intensities, pain thresholds and
      sensory detection. RESULTS: Eighty-six patients (female n = 42; mean age 53.82 +/
      13.61 years) were evaluated on the basis of an intention to treat analysis. Pre
      emptive administration of 120 mg etoricoxib did not significantly reduce the
      cumulative morphine dose within the first 48 h after surgery, when compared to
      the administration of placebo. The analysis of the post-operative treatment
      groups showed a non-significant 8% reduction in morphine dose during the
      continuous administration of etoricoxib. There were no changes in sensory
      perception as detected with QST before and after surgery or between groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: The effect of administering etoricoxib was not superior to placebo
      in reducing the morphine dose required for postoperative analgesia. The lack of
      changes in peripheral nociception suggests that central algetic mechanisms are of
      higher impact in the development of postoperative pain following abdominal or
      thoracic surgery.

PMID- 25828693
TI  - Development and comparative evaluation of loop mediated isothermal amplification
      (LAMP) assay for simple visual detection of orf virus in sheep and goats.
AB  - A loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay targeting DNA Pol gene was
      optimized and evaluated for the rapid detection of orf virus in clinical samples.
      The LAMP assay was found to be specific and sensitive. The detection rate of LAMP
      (89.3%) was better than PCR (67.9%) and comparable to real-time PCR (91.1%) in
      clinical samples by gel electrophoresis and visual detection methods. This LAMP
      assay is simple and does not rely upon any special equipment and could be
      employed in clinical diagnosis and epidemiological survey of orf infection. 

PMID- 25828694
TI  - Employing a Flexible and Low-Cost Polypyrrole Nanotube Membrane as an Anode to
      Enhance Current Generation in Microbial Fuel Cells.
AB  - The flexible and low-cost polypyrrole nanotube membrane is demonstrated as a
      promising anode in microbial fuel cells, which significantly enhances the
      extracellular electron transfer between Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 and the
      electrode, owing to the large active surface area and high electrical
      conductivity. 

PMID- 25828695
TI  - Pentostatin, cyclophosphamide and rituximab for previously untreated advanced
      stage, low-grade B-cell lymphomas.
AB  - We conducted a prospective phase II trial of pentostatin, cyclophosphamide and
      rituximab as initial therapy for patients with previously untreated advanced
      stage low-grade or indolent B-cell lymphomas (iNHLs). Of 83 evaluable patients,
      91.6% attained an overall response and 86.8% a complete or unconfirmed complete
      response. The 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival rates
      were 73% and 93%, respectively. The 3-year PFS rate was significantly different
      for different diagnoses (P = 0.01): 83% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.72,
      0.96] for follicular lymphomas, 73% (95% CI: 0.54, 1.0) for marginal zone
      lymphomas and 61% (95% CI: 0.46, 0.81) for small lymphocytic lymphomas. The most
      common adverse events were haematological. Of 509 cycles of chemotherapy
      administered, grade 3 or 4 neutropenia was reported in 68 cycles (13% of cycles
      administered) and most frequently occurred during cycles 4-6. This is the first
      report demonstrating the effectiveness of pentostatin, cyclophosphamide and
      rituximab in patients with previously untreated iNHLs, including those over 60
      years of age. 

PMID- 25828696
TI  - Quantification of liver fat with respiratory-gated quantitative chemical shift
      encoded MRI.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate free-breathing chemical shift-encoded (CSE) magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI) for quantification of hepatic proton density fat-fraction
      (PDFF). A secondary purpose was to evaluate hepatic R2* values measured using
      free-breathing quantitative CSE-MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty patients (mean
      age, 56 years) were prospectively recruited and underwent the following four
      acquisitions to measure PDFF and R2*; 1) conventional breath-hold CSE-MRI (BH
      CSE); 2) respiratory-gated CSE-MRI using respiratory bellows (BL-CSE); 3)
      respiratory-gated CSE-MRI using navigator echoes (NV-CSE); and 4) single voxel MR
      spectroscopy (MRS) as the reference standard for PDFF. Image quality was
      evaluated by two radiologists. MRI-PDFF measured from the three CSE-MRI methods
      were compared with MRS-PDFF using linear regression. The PDFF and R2* values were
      compared using two one-sided t-test to evaluate statistical equivalence. RESULTS:
      There was no significant difference in the image quality scores among the three
      CSE-MRI methods for either PDFF (P = 1.000) or R2* maps (P = 0.359-1.000).
      Correlation coefficients (95% confidence interval [CI]) for the PDFF comparisons
      were 0.98 (0.96-0.99) for BH-, 0.99 (0.97-0.99) for BL-, and 0.99 (0.98-0.99) for
      NV-CSE. The statistical equivalence test revealed that the mean difference in
      PDFF and R2* between any two of the three CSE-MRI methods was less than +/-1
      percentage point (pp) and +/-5 s(-1) , respectively (P < 0.046). CONCLUSION:
      Respiratory-gated CSE-MRI with respiratory bellows or navigator echo are feasible
      methods to quantify liver PDFF and R2* and are as valid as the standard breath
      hold technique.

PMID- 25828697
TI  - Oligonucleotide delivery with cell surface binding and cell penetrating Peptide
      amphiphile nanospheres.
AB  - A drug delivery system designed specifically for oligonucleotide therapeutics can
      ameliorate the problems associated with the in vivo delivery of these molecules.
      The internalization of free oligonucleotides is challenging, and cytotoxicity is
      the main obstacle for current transfection vehicles. To develop nontoxic delivery
      vehicles for efficient transfection of oligonucleotides, we designed a self
      assembling peptide amphiphile (PA) nanosphere delivery system decorated with cell
      penetrating peptides (CPPs) containing multiple arginine residues (R4 and R8),
      and a cell surface binding peptide (KRSR), and report the efficiency of this
      system in delivering G-3129, a Bcl-2 antisense oligonucleotide (AON). PA/AON
      (peptide amphiphile/antisense oligonucleotide) complexes were characterized with
      regards to their size and secondary structure, and their cellular internalization
      efficiencies were evaluated. The effect of the number of arginine residues on the
      cellular internalization was investigated by both flow cytometry and confocal
      imaging, and the results revealed that uptake efficiency improved as the number
      of arginines in the sequence increased. The combined effect of cell penetration
      and surface binding property on the cellular internalization and its uptake
      mechanism was also evaluated by mixing R8-PA and KRSR-PA. R8 and R8/KRSR
      decorated PAs were found to drastically increase the internalization of AONs
      compared to nonbioactive PA control. Overall, the KRSR-decorated self-assembled
      PA nanospheres were demonstrated to be noncytotoxic delivery vectors with high
      transfection rates and may serve as a promising delivery system for AONs. 

PMID- 25828698
TI  - [Cardiovascular alterations associated with doping].
AB  - Doping -the abuse of anabolic-androgenic steroids in particular- is widespread in
      amateur and recreational sports and does not solely represent a problem of
      professional sports. Excessive overdose of anabolic steroids is well documented
      in bodybuilding or powerlifting leading to significant side effects.
      Cardiovascular damages are most relevant next to adverse endocrine
      effects.Clinical cases as well as forensic investigations of fatalities or
      steroid consumption in connection with trafficking of doping agents provide only
      anecdotal evidence of correlations between side effects and substance abuse.
      Analytical verification and self-declarations of steroid users have repeatedly
      confirmed the presumption of weekly dosages between 300 and 2000 mg, extra to the
      fact that co-administration of therapeutics to treat side-effects represent a
      routine procedure. Beside the most frequent use of medications used to treat
      erectile dysfunction or estrogenic side-effects, a substantial number of
      antihypertensive drugs of various classes, i.e. beta-blockers, diuretics,
      angiotensin II receptor antagonists, calcium channel blockers, as well as ACE
      inhibitors were recently confiscated in relevant doping cases. The presumptive
      correlation between misuse of anabolic steroids and self-treatment of
      cardiovascular side effects was explicitly confirmed by detailed user
      statements.Two representative fatalities of bodybuilders were introduced to
      outline characteristic, often lethal side effects of excessive steroid abuse.
      Moreover, illustrative autopsy findings of steroid acne, thrombotic occlusion of
      Ramus interventricularis anterior and signs of cardiac infarctions are
      presented.A potential steroid abuse should be carefully considered in cases of
      medical consultations of patients exhibiting apparent constitutional
      modifications and corresponding adverse effects. Moreover, common self
      medications -as frequently applied by steroid consumers- should be taken into
      therapeutic considerations.

PMID- 25828699
TI  - Zein-based films and their usage for controlled delivery: Origin, classes and
      current landscape.
AB  - Zein is a class of alcohol-soluble prolamine proteins present in maize endosperm,
      which was approved as a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) excipient in 1985 by
      the United States Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA) for film coating of
      pharmaceuticals, e.g., tablets. Despite its long-term application in tablet
      production, effects of zein coating on tablet properties are still not fully
      understood. Moreover, many studies have also been conducted to illustrate its
      potential as an active ingredient of direct compressed tablets and film-based
      delivery carriers. In addition, the use of zein as a functional film coating
      material for new biomedical applications was also widely investigated in recent
      reports, which involved medical devices, nanoparticles, quantum dots and
      nanofibers. In this review, the present status of zein in the form of a thin film
      and uniform layer for use as a biomedical material is discussed. In addition,
      studies related to the behaviors and properties of zein films are also summarized
      and analyzed based on published works to gain mechanistic insights into the
      relationship between zein film and various improved profiles. This review will
      benefit future prospects of the use of zein film in drug delivery and biomedical
      applications. 

PMID- 25828700
TI  - N,N'-Dialkyl-N,N'-diaryl-1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-dicarboxamides as donor ligands
      for separation of rare earth elements with a high and unusual selectivity. DFT
      computational and experimental studies.
AB  - N,N'-Dialkyl-N,N'-diaryl-1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-dicarboxamides (IV) were
      predicted (DFT simulation) and then were proved experimentally to be efficient
      donor ligands with high and unusual selectivity for the extraction separation of
      lanthanides. Distribution coefficients D of lanthanide cations in two-phase
      aqueous solution-polar organic solvent decrease with increasing Ln(3+) atomic
      number. The selectivity factors SFLn1/Ln2 for adjacent lanthanide ions were found
      to be about 3.

PMID- 25828702
TI  - Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer effects in the nucleus accumbens relate to
      relapse in alcohol dependence.
AB  - In detoxified alcohol-dependent patients, alcohol-related stimuli can promote
      relapse. However, to date, the mechanisms by which contextual stimuli promote
      relapse have not been elucidated in detail. One hypothesis is that such
      contextual stimuli directly stimulate the motivation to drink via associated
      brain regions like the ventral striatum and thus promote alcohol seeking, intake
      and relapse. Pavlovian-to-Instrumental-Transfer (PIT) may be one of those
      behavioral phenomena contributing to relapse, capturing how Pavlovian conditioned
      (contextual) cues determine instrumental behavior (e.g. alcohol seeking and
      intake). We used a PIT paradigm during functional magnetic resonance imaging to
      examine the effects of classically conditioned Pavlovian stimuli on instrumental
      choices in n = 31 detoxified patients diagnosed with alcohol dependence and n =
      24 healthy controls matched for age and gender. Patients were followed up over a
      period of 3 months. We observed that (1) there was a significant behavioral PIT
      effect for all participants, which was significantly more pronounced in alcohol
      dependent patients; (2) PIT was significantly associated with blood oxygen level
      dependent (BOLD) signals in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in subsequent relapsers
      only; and (3) PIT-related NAcc activation was associated with, and predictive of,
      critical outcomes (amount of alcohol intake and relapse during a 3 months follow
      up period) in alcohol-dependent patients. These observations show for the first
      time that PIT-related BOLD signals, as a measure of the influence of Pavlovian
      cues on instrumental behavior, predict alcohol intake and relapse in alcohol
      dependence. 

PMID- 25828701
TI  - Glycogen synthase kinase 3beta ubiquitination by TRAF6 regulates TLR3-mediated
      pro-inflammatory cytokine production.
AB  - TRAF6 is critical for the production of inflammatory cytokines in various TLR
      mediated signalling pathways. However, it is poorly understood how TRAF6
      regulates TLR3 responses. Here we demonstrate that GSK3beta interacts with TRAF6
      and positively regulates the TLR3-mediated signalling. Suppression of GSK3beta
      expression or its kinase activity drastically reduces the production of
      inflammatory cytokines and the induction of c-Fos by decreasing ERK and p38
      phosphorylation. GSK3beta physically associates with TRAF6 in a TLR3 ligand poly
      I:C-dependent manner. TRAF6 is determined to be a direct E3 ligase for GSK3beta,
      and TRAF6-mediated GSK3beta ubiquitination is essential for poly I:C-dependent
      cytokine production by promoting the TLR3 adaptor protein TRIF-assembled
      signalling complex. 

PMID- 25828703
TI  - Abnormal sonographic appearance of posterior brain at 11-14 weeks and fetal
      outcome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this retrospective study was to describe the sonographic
      appearance of the posterior brain anatomy in normal fetuses at 11 to 14 weeks of
      pregnancy and to determine the fetal outcome when one of the posterior brain
      anatomical space is not recognized. METHODS: Two groups of patients were included
      in the study: a control group of consecutive 311 healthy fetuses with a normal
      sonogram and a study group of 21 fetuses with absence of one of the three
      posterior brain spaces. In each fetus, images of the mid-sagittal view of the
      fetal face and brain at 11 to 14 weeks of gestation were obtained. RESULTS: In
      all fetuses with absence of one of the three posterior brain spaces, a severe
      anomaly, including open spina bifida, cephalocele, Dandy-Walker complex, and
      chromosomal aberrations, was associated. CONCLUSION: Our study indicates that the
      sonographic finding characterized by the absence of one of the three posterior
      brain spaces seems to facilitate not only the detection of open spina bifida, as
      previously reported, but also of other neural tube defects, such as cephalocele,
      and is an important risk factor for cystic posterior brain anomalies, and/or
      chromosomal abnormalities. Thus it seems a poor prognostic finding for major
      fetal abnormalities.

PMID- 25828704
TI  - Prevalence and characterization of ESBL- and AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae on
      retail vegetables.
AB  - In total 1216 vegetables obtained from Dutch stores during 2012 and 2013 were
      analysed to determine the prevalence of 3rd-generation cephalosporin (3GC)
      resistant bacteria on soil-grown fresh produce possibly consumed raw. Vegetables
      grown conventionally and organically, from Dutch as well as foreign origin were
      compared. Included were the following vegetable types; blanched celery (n=192),
      bunched carrots (n=190), butterhead lettuce (n=137), chicory (n=96), endive
      (n=188), iceberg lettuce (n=193) and radish (n=120). Overall, 3GC-resistant
      Enterobacteriaceae were detected on 5.2% of vegetables. Based on primary habitat
      and mechanism of 3GC-resistance, these bacteria could be divided into four
      groups: ESBL-producing faecal species (Escherichia coli, Enterobacter spp.), AmpC
      producing faecal species (Citrobacter freundii, Enterobacter spp.), ESBL
      producing environmental species (Pantoea spp., Rahnella aquatilis, Serratia
      fonticola), and AmpC-producing environmental species (Cedecca spp., Hafnia alvei,
      Pantoea spp., Serratia plymuthica), which were detected on 0.8%, 1.2%, 2.6% and
      0.4% of the vegetables analysed, respectively. Contamination with faecal 3GC
      resistant bacteria was most frequently observed in root and bulb vegetables
      (average prevalence 4.4%), and less frequently in stem vegetables (prevalence
      1.6%) and leafy greens (average prevalence 0.6%). In Dutch stores, only four of
      the included vegetable types (blanched celery, bunched carrots, endive, iceberg
      lettuce) were available in all four possible variants: Dutch/conventional,
      Dutch/organic, foreign/conventional, foreign/organic. With respect to these
      vegetable types, no statistically significant difference was observed in
      prevalence of 3GC-resistant Enterobacteriaceae between country of origin or
      cultivation type (5.2%, 5.7%, 5.7% and 3.3%, respectively). Vegetables consumed
      raw may be a source of dissemination of 3GC-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and
      their resistance genes to humans. The magnitude of the associated public health
      risk presumably depends on the types of bacteria that are ingested, i.e., faecal
      or environmental species, and may therefore be higher for root and bulb
      vegetables compared to leafy greens. 

PMID- 25828705
TI  - Identification of acetic acid bacteria in traditionally produced vinegar and
      mother of vinegar by using different molecular techniques.
AB  - Culture-dependent and culture-independent methods were combined for the
      investigation of acetic acid bacteria (AAB) populations in traditionally produced
      vinegars and mother of vinegar samples obtained from apple and grape. The culture
      independent denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis, which
      targeted the V7-V8 regions of the 16S rRNA gene, showed that Komagataeibacter
      hansenii and Komagataeibacter europaeus/Komagataeibacter xylinus were the most
      dominant species in almost all of the samples analyzed directly. The culture
      independent GTG5-rep PCR fingerprinting was used in the preliminary
      characterization of AAB isolates and species-level identification was carried out
      by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, 16S-23S rDNA internally transcribed to the
      spacer (ITS) region and tuf gene. Acetobacter okinawensis was frequently isolated
      from samples obtained from apple while K. europaeus was identified as the
      dominant species, followed by Acetobacter indonesiensis in the samples
      originating from grape. In addition to common molecular techniques, real-time PCR
      intercalating dye assays, including DNA melting temperature (Tm) and high
      resolution melting analysis (HRM), were applied to acetic acid bacterial isolates
      for the first time. The target sequence of ITS region generated species-specific
      HRM profiles and Tm values allowed discrimination at species level. 

PMID- 25828706
TI  - Prevalence, molecular characterization, and antibiotic susceptibility of
      Cronobacter spp. in Chinese ready-to-eat foods.
AB  - Cronobacter spp. are foodborne pathogens that cause rare but life-threatening
      diseases in neonates and infants; they can also cause disease in adults.
      Cronobacter spp. contamination of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods has been reported
      previously. However, to date, the prevalence and contamination levels of these
      bacteria in RTE foods in China have not yet been determined. Therefore, the aim
      of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Cronobacter spp. in RTE foods
      marketed in China. Two-hundred and eighty RTE food samples were collected from
      different producers and retailers and analyzed using quantitative methods. The
      isolates obtained were identified to the species level based on fusA sequences,
      and were subtyped using a PCR-based serotyping technique. Selected isolates were
      further characterized by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and antimicrobial
      sensitivity determination. Of 280 samples tested, 52 (18.6%) were positive for
      Cronobacter spp. The contamination levels were less than 110 MPN/g for 78.8%
      (41/52) of the samples. The results of the O-antigen serotyping for 111 isolates
      showed that Cronobacter sakazakii serogroup O2 (28 isolates) was the most
      prevalent serotype. MLST analyses produced 41 sequence types (STs), including 20
      novel STs. ST8 was the most prevalent ST (9 isolates) followed by ST4 (5
      isolates). Antimicrobial sensitivity testing showed that 84.5% and 46.5% of the
      isolates were resistant to penicillin G and cephalothin, respectively; in
      contrast, all of the tested isolates were susceptible to cefotaxime,
      ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, and nalidixic acid. To the best of our knowledge,
      this is the first report on Cronobacter spp. prevalence in RTE foods in China,
      and the findings of our study nonetheless suggested that Cronobacter spp.
      contamination of Chinese RTE foods poses a potential risk for the consumer. Thus,
      the study highlights the significance of developing more effective control
      strategies during the manufacturing process.

PMID- 25828707
TI  - Contribution of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and the glyoxylate shunt in
      Saccharomyces cerevisiae to succinic acid production during dough fermentation.
AB  - Succinic acid produced by yeast during bread dough fermentation can significantly
      affect the rheological properties of the dough. By introducing mutations in the
      model S288C yeast strain, we show that the oxidative pathway of the TCA cycle and
      the glyoxylate shunt contribute significantly to succinic acid production during
      dough fermentation. More specifically, deletion of ACO1 and double deletion of
      ACO1 and ICL1 resulted in a 36 and 77% decrease in succinic acid levels in
      fermented dough, respectively. Similarly, double deletion of IDH1 and IDP1
      decreased succinic acid production by 85%, while also affecting the fermentation
      rate. By contrast, double deletion of SDH1 and SDH2 resulted in a two-fold higher
      succinic acid accumulation compared to the wild-type. Deletion of fumarate
      reductase activity (FRD1 and OSM1) in the reductive pathway of the TCA cycle did
      not affect the fermentation rate and succinic acid production. The changes in the
      levels of succinic acid produced by mutants Deltaidh1Deltaidp1 (low level) and
      Deltasdh1Deltasdh2 (high level) in fermented dough only resulted in small pH
      differences, reflecting the buffering capacity of dough at a pH of around 5.1.
      Moreover, Rheofermentometer analysis using these mutants revealed no difference
      in maximum dough height and gas retention capacity with the dough prepared with
      S288C. The impact of the changed succinic acid profile on the organoleptic or
      antimicrobial properties of bread remains to be demonstrated. 

PMID- 25828708
TI  - Estrogen receptor alpha polymorphisms and the risk of prostate cancer
      development.
AB  - PURPOSE: The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of two
      polymorphisms in the estrogen receptor alpha, rs2077647 and rs3798577, on the
      development of prostate cancer, their correlation with selected clinical
      characteristics, as well as consideration of potential interactions between four
      estrogen receptor alpha polymorphisms (rs2077647, rs3798577, PvuII, XbaI).
      METHODS: The study was performed using 395 patients with histologically verified
      prostate cancer and 253 healthy male controls. RESULTS: The CC genotype of
      rs2077647 was significantly associated with prostate cancer (OR = 1.61). No
      association was found between rs3798577 polymorphism and prostate cancer. After
      stratification of patients according to the age at diagnosis and Gleason score,
      we observed significant correlation between rs2077647 polymorphism and prostate
      cancer risk in patients diagnosed before the age of 60 as well as patients with
      Gleason score <7, while rs3798577 was significantly associated with prostate
      cancer risk development in patients older than 60 and with Gleason score >=7.
      Double analysis of each combination of four studied polymorphisms showed that
      presence of at least three variant alleles was associated with prostate cancer
      risk in all combinations, while each containing rs3798577 was significantly
      associated with development of high-grade carcinomas. CONCLUSIONS: The present
      study suggests that rs2077647 polymorphism may be a risk factor for prostate
      cancer especially in patients diagnosed before the age of 60, while rs3798577
      polymorphism could probably serve rather as promoting factor in combination with
      other polymorphisms in estrogen receptor alpha contributing preferably to
      development of high-grade carcinomas.

PMID- 25828709
TI  - Transcriptome shock in an interspecific F1 triploid hybrid of Oryza revealed by
      RNA sequencing.
AB  - Interspecific hybridization is a driving force in evolution and speciation of
      higher plants. Interspecific hybridization often induces immediate and
      saltational changes in gene expression, a phenomenon collectively termed
      "transcriptome shock". Although transcriptome shock has been reported in various
      plant and animal taxa, the extent and pattern of shock-induced expression changes
      are often highly idiosyncratic, and hence entails additional investigations.
      Here, we produced a set of interspecific F1 triploid hybrid plants between Oryza
      sativa, ssp. japonica (2n = 2x = 24, genome AA) and the tetraploid form of O.
      punctata (2n = 4x = 48, genome, BBCC), and conducted RNA-seq transcriptome
      profiling of the hybrids and their exact parental plants. We analyzed both
      homeolog expression bias and overall gene expression level difference in the
      hybrids relative to the in silico "hybrids" (parental mixtures). We found that
      approximately 16% (2,541) of the 16,112 expressed genes in leaf tissue of the F1
      hybrids showed nonadditive expression, which were specifically enriched in
      photosynthesis-related pathways. Interestingly, changes in the maternal homeolog
      expression, including non-stochastic silencing, were the major causes for altered
      homeolog expression partitioning in the F1 hybrids. Our findings have provided
      further insights into the transcriptome response to interspecific hybridization
      and heterosis.

PMID- 25828710
TI  - Tips to treat the 5 most common nail disorders: brittle nails, onycholysis,
      paronychia, psoriasis, onychomycosis.
AB  - Nail disorders are difficult to treat and often frustrating both for patients and
      clinicians. Because of the slow growth rate of the nail plate and the difficulty
      of getting the drug actives to penetrate the nail tissues, it is usually
      necessary to wait several months before seeing the results of treatments. This
      delay often leads to discontinuation of therapy by the patients. This article
      therefore helps clinicians to find the right treatment of the 5 most common nail
      disorders (brittle nails, onycholysis, paronychia, psoriasis, and onychomycosis)
      and provides practical tips that might improve patients' compliance.

PMID- 25828711
TI  - Tips for diagnosis and treatment of nail pigmentation with practical algorithm.
AB  - The observation of a black-brown pigmentation of the nail is often alarming for
      the patient and for the clinician, as they are aware that it can be a possible
      clinical manifestation of melanoma of the nail apparatus. Luckily, however, nail
      melanoma is a much less frequent cause of brown-black nail color than other
      melanocytic and nonmelanocytic pigmentations, which include subungual hematoma,
      exogenous pigmentations, and melanonychia due to benign conditions. A correct
      clinical history and careful examination help the clinician to distinguish the
      different conditions and to decide the correct management of melanonychia both in
      children and in adults.

PMID- 25828712
TI  - Tips to diagnose uncommon nail disorders.
AB  - This article reviews 6 nail disorders that, although easy to diagnose, are
      misdiagnosed frequently by dermatologists and general practitioners. Diagnostic
      clues are emphasized to familiarize readers with features that indicate the
      correct diagnosis. We focus on two common tumors (onychomatricoma and
      onychopapilloma), two rare genetic conditions that can be diagnosed owing to nail
      changes (Darier disease and nail patella syndrome), and two uncommon acquired
      disorders (the yellow nail syndrome and lichen striatus). 

PMID- 25828713
TI  - Diagnosis using the proximal and lateral nail folds.
AB  - This article includes the etiology and pathophysiological data of each entity,
      classifying them as dermatologic, systemic, infectious, neoplastic, traumatic,
      and other classifications. The entities inherent to the periungual folds are also
      included, such as acute paronychia, chronic paronychia, retronychia, hangnails,
      hematomas of the proximal fold caused by oximeter, onychocryptosis, hypertrophy
      of the lateral folds, and infections caused by Candida albicans, Pseudomonas, and
      Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, pathologies caused by diabetes mellitus,
      sepsis, endocarditis, drug reactions, and finally less frequent diseases that
      also affect the nail folds are discussed.

PMID- 25828714
TI  - Diagnosis using nail matrix.
AB  - Diagnosing nail matrix diseases requires knowledge of the nail matrix function
      and anatomy. This allows recognition of the clinical manifestations and
      assessment of potential surgical risk. Nail signs depend on the location within
      the matrix (proximal or distal) and the intensity, duration, and extent of the
      insult. Proximal matrix involvement includes nail surface irregularities
      (longitudinal lines, transverse lines, roughness of the nail surface, pitting,
      and superficial brittleness), whereas distal matrix insult induces longitudinal
      or transverse chromonychia. Clinical signs are described and their main causes
      are listed to enable readers to diagnose matrix disease from the nail's clinical
      features. 

PMID- 25828715
TI  - Diagnosis using the nail bed and hyponychium.
AB  - "Nails protect the fingertips and toes. Diseases affecting the nail can cause
      cosmetic disfigurement and social embarrassment. Physical functioning may be
      impaired. Disorders of the nail bed may cause pain or create difficulty grasping
      fine objects. The nail bed is the area beneath the nail plate between the lunula
      and the hyponychium. Disorders of the nail bed can cause onycholysis, subungual
      hyperkeratosis, and/or onychogryphosis. Ventral pterygium is less common. Tumors
      of the nail bed are rare and commonly missed."

PMID- 25828716
TI  - Nail surgery: best way to obtain effective anesthesia.
AB  - Nail procedures require an effective and reliable approach to anesthesia of the
      distal digit. Several techniques have been described in the literature. Herein,
      the relevant anatomy of the nail unit, pain pathways, anesthetic options, and
      several injection approaches to achieve complete anesthesia are reviewed. Also
      considered are the potential pitfalls and complications and their management.
      Ultimately, the physician's approach must be individualized to the patient,
      procedure, and setting. 

PMID- 25828717
TI  - Best way to perform a punch biopsy.
AB  - Nail punch biopsy is used to obtain a tissue sample for the diagnosis and
      treatment of nail diseases. The best results will be possible if the surgeon is
      familiar with the anatomy and physiology of the nail apparatus. A punch biopsy
      can be used in all regions of the nail apparatus in the presence or absence of
      nail plate. When the procedure is performed with a careful handling of the
      anatomic site and specimen, in most cases a successful diagnosis can be achieved.

PMID- 25828718
TI  - Best way to treat an ingrown toenail.
AB  - Nail phenolization is considered a useful procedure for treating ingrowing
      toenails. Nail phenolization is indicated when partial and definitive removal of
      the nail plate is necessary. Nail phenolization is simple and inexpensive, and
      associated with little postoperative discomfort, a quick return to normal
      activities, and a low rate of complication and recurrence. The Howard-Dubois and
      super U techniques are indicated when ingrowing nails are caused by hypertrophy
      of nail folds, according to the degree of severity.

PMID- 25828719
TI  - Best way to remove a subungual tumor.
AB  - "Subungual tumors are relatively rare; yet dermatologists are often called upon
      to examine, diagnose, and treat these patients. Many dermatologists do not feel
      comfortable performing surgical procedures of the nail unit. With knowledge of
      the nail unit anatomy and execution of few simple techniques, dermatologist can
      safely and effectively remove subungual tumors in the office setting. This
      article reviews the basic steps for removal of a subungual tumor. It discusses
      preoperative evaluation, highlights techniques to avoid complete nail plate
      avulsion, and touches on potential complications and postoperative care."

PMID- 25828720
TI  - Diagnostic applications of nail clippings.
AB  - "Nail clipping is a simple technique for diagnosis of several nail unit
      dermatoses. This article summarizes the practical approach, utility, and
      histologic findings of a nail clipping in evaluation of onychomycosis, nail unit
      psoriasis, onychomatricoma, subungual hematoma, melanonychia, and nail cosmetics,
      and the forensic applications of this easily obtained specimen. It reviews
      important considerations in optimizing specimen collection, processing methods,
      and efficacy of special stains in several clinical contexts. Readers will develop
      a greater understanding and ease of application of this indispensable procedure
      in assessing nail unit dermatoses." 

PMID- 25828721
TI  - How to submit a nail specimen.
AB  - The scarcity of specific submission protocols for nail unit biopsies presents
      many challenges for appropriate specimen processing. Many nail biopsies are
      received fragmented or without orientation, often resulting in less-than-ideal
      tissue embedding and poor histologic sections, which are difficult to interpret.
      Methods are described for proper nail matrix/bed biopsy and plate submission that
      incorporate aspects of previous submission protocols and include inking the
      biopsy specimen along with submitting the tissue on a drawing of the nail. Also
      described is a technique for maintaining adherence of nail plate to glass slides,
      a chronic challenge in the laboratory.

PMID- 25828722
TI  - Nail disorders: practical tips for diagnosis and treatment. Preface.

PMID- 25828723
TI  - Retirement timing of women and the role of care responsibilities for
      grandchildren.
AB  - This article considers the potential relationship between providing care for
      grandchildren and retirement, among women nearing retirement age. Using 47,444
      person-wave observations from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we find that
      the arrival of a new grandchild is associated with more than an 8 % increase in
      the retirement hazard despite little overall evidence of a care/retirement
      interaction. We document that although family characteristics seem to be the most
      important factors driving the care decision, they are also important determinants
      of retirement. In contrast, although financial incentives such as pensions and
      retiree health insurance have the largest influence on retirement, the
      opportunity cost associated with outside income seems to have little effect on
      whether a grandmother provides care. There is little evidence of substitution
      between caring for grandchildren versus providing care for elderly parents or
      engaging in volunteer activities; grandchild care is instead taken on as an
      additional responsibility. Our findings suggest that policies aimed at prolonging
      work life may need to consider grandchild care responsibilities as a
      countervailing factor, while those policies focused on grandchild care may also
      affect elderly labor force participation. 

PMID- 25828724
TI  - How to Prepare a Patient for Transarterial Radioembolization? A Practical Guide.
AB  - Transarterial radioembolization consist in delivering small particles loaded with
      Yttrium90, a pure beta emitter, in order to treat primary and secondary liver
      tumors. This treatment needs precaution since inadequate delivery of these beads
      can lead to severe complications. Moreover, a precise radiation dosing is crucial
      to achieve a good clinical success and to avoid complications such as
      radioembolization-induced liver disease. This review describes all the
      precautions and highlights clinical and technical considerations that need to be
      taken to avoid complications. 

PMID- 25828725
TI  - Side-Hole Catheter Placement with Fixation and Embolization in Common Hepatic
      Artery for Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy (Modified CHA-Coil Method) for
      Patients with Celiac Artery Stenosis or Occlusion.
AB  - PURPOSE: We retrospectively assessed the feasibility of a side-hole catheter
      placement with fixation and embolization in the common hepatic artery (CHA)
      (modified CHA-coil method) for hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) chemotherapy.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: HAI catheter placement was attempted with modified CHA
      coil method in five patients with unresectable hepatic malignancies between 2000
      and 2013. The reason for using this method, the mode of catheter placement, and
      the duration of HAI were investigated. RESULTS: All patients had either occlusion
      or stenosis of the celiac artery (CA) or CHA, and, as a result, CHA blood flow
      had either reversed or decreased and hepatopetal GDA flow was observed. In three
      patients, the proper hepatic artery was extremely short. The side-hole catheter
      was inserted through the left subclavian artery and was placed from CA to the
      right gastroepiploic artery in an anterograde manner (n = 4) and from the
      superior mesenteric artery to the splenic artery in a retrograde manner through
      GDA (n = 1). The side hole of the catheter was positioned at the proximal portion
      of GDA. Using a separate catheter inserted from the right femoral artery, coils
      were placed around the indwelling catheter of CHA to embolize CHA and to fix the
      catheter. Coil mislocation was not observed, and catheter placement was
      successful in all patients. HAI chemotherapy was administered for a median of 136
      days. The catheter displacement was not observed during HAI. CONCLUSION: The
      modified CHA-coil method can be used as a stable method for catheter placement
      when CHA is narrow or there is retrograde CHA blood flow.

PMID- 25828726
TI  - Comparison of C-arm Computed Tomography and Digital Subtraction Angiography in
      Patients with Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the feasibility and diagnostic performance of contrast
      enhanced, C-arm computed tomography (CACT) of the pulmonary arteries compared to
      digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in patients suffering from chronic
      thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). MATERIALS: Fifty-two patients with
      CTEPH underwent ECG-gated DSA and contrast-enhanced CACT. Two readers (R1, R2)
      independently evaluated pulmonary artery segments and their sub-segmental
      branching using DSA and CACT for optimal image quality. Afterwards, the
      diagnostic findings, i.e., intraluminal filling defects, stenosis, and occlusion,
      were compared. Inter-modality and inter-observer agreement was calculated, and
      subsequently consensus reading was done and correlated to a reference standard
      representing the overall consensus of both modalities. Fisher's exact test and
      Cohen's Kappa were applied. RESULTS: A total of 1352 pulmonary segments were
      evaluated, of which 1255 (92.8 %) on DSA and 1256 (92.9 %) on CACT were rated to
      be fully diagnostic. The main causes of the non-diagnostic image quality were
      motion artifacts on CACT (R1:37, R2:78) and insufficient contrast enhancement on
      DSA (R1:59, R2:38). Inter-observer agreement was good for DSA (kappa = 0.74) and
      CACT (kappa = 0.75), while inter-modality agreement was moderate (R1: kappa =
      0.46, R2: kappa = 0.47). Compared to the reference standard, the inter-modality
      agreement for CACT was excellent (kappa = 0.96), whereas it was inferior for DSA
      (kappa = 0.61) due to the higher number of abnormal consensus findings read as
      normal on DSA. CONCLUSION: CACT of the pulmonary arteries is feasible and
      provides additional information to DSA. CACT has the potential to improve the
      diagnostic work-up of patients with CTEPH and may be particularly useful prior to
      surgical or interventional treatment.

PMID- 25828727
TI  - Comparison of in-cell lipid removal efficiency of adsorbent mixtures for
      extraction of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in fish.
AB  - Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have become ubiquitous environmental
      contaminants due to their incorporation into many consumer products. Their
      ability to bioaccumulate to alarming levels in fat-rich matrices such as fish
      demands fast and efficient methods to monitor these contaminants. We present an
      analytical method for selective-pressurised liquid extraction (S-PLE) of PBDEs
      from fish tissue. Fat removal performance of different mixtures of Florisil,
      silica gel and sulphuric acid-impregnated silica gel were evaluated using a
      response surface experimental design approach for determining the optimal fat
      retaining mixture for S-PLE. Acid-silica gel had the greatest individual effect
      on fat retention; with a two-thirds acid-silica one-third Florisil mixture found
      to be the most efficient (>97%). Method validation was performed using recovery
      experiments at three spiked concentration levels (0.05, 0.5 and 5ngg(-1) ww).
      Mean recoveries of target analytes in spiked samples ranged from 70 to 124%, with
      relative standard deviations <27%. The S-PLE lipid removal efficiency combined
      with the sensitivity of triple quadrupole mass spectrometers provides a fast and
      comparatively inexpensive analytical method for analysis of PBDEs in fish
      samples. 

PMID- 25828728
TI  - Purity determination of amphotericin B, colistin sulfate and tobramycin sulfate
      in a hydrophilic suspension by HPLC.
AB  - A suspension comprising of the three antibiotic substances amphotericin B,
      colistin sulfate and tobramycin sulfate is often used in clinical practice for
      the selective decontamination of the digestive tract of patients in intensive
      care. Since no detailed procedures, specifications or stability data are
      available for manufacturing this suspension, there may be discrepancies regarding
      formulation and stability of suspensions prepared in different pharmacies. The
      aim of this work is to develop a standardized formulation and to determine its
      stability under defined storage conditions. This would help guarantee that all
      patients receive the same preparation, therefore ensuring similar efficacy and
      improved safety. The first step in this process is to develop the required
      analytical tools to measure the content and purity of the drug substances in this
      complex mixture. In this paper, the development and validation of these tools as
      well as the development of the drug suspension formulation is described. The
      formulation comprises of Ampho-Moronal((r))-Suspension (Dermapharm) and a
      buffered, preservated aqueous solution of colistin sulfate and tobramycin
      sulfate. Two simple, well established high-performance liquid chromatography
      (HPLC) methods in the European Pharmacopoeia (EP) for impurity profiling of the
      two active ingredients amphotericin B and colistin sulfate were combined with a
      newly developed sample extraction procedure for the suspension. Sufficient
      selectivity and stability-indicating power have been demonstrated. Additionally,
      a new robust routine method was developed to determine possible degradation
      products of tobramycin sulfate in the investigated suspension. The specificity,
      precision, accuracy and linearity of the analytical procedures were demonstrated.
      The recovery rate was in the range of 90-110%. The precision results for the
      calculated impurities showed variation coefficients of <10%. The calibration
      curves were found to be linear with correlation of greater than 0.9994 for all
      components. The results show the suitability of the methods for the quality
      control analysis of the suspension. 

PMID- 25828730
TI  - Cryobiopsy and multidisciplinary diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

PMID- 25828729
TI  - Interaction of Mycobacterium leprae with the HaCaT human keratinocyte cell line:
      new frontiers in the cellular immunology of leprosy.
AB  - Leprosy is a chronic granulomatous disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae
      affecting the skin and peripheral nerves. Despite M. leprae invasion of the skin
      and keratinocytes importance in innate immunity, the interaction of these cells
      in vitro during M. leprae infection is poorly understood. Conventional and
      fluorescence optical microscopy, transmission electronic microscopy, flow
      cytometry and ELISA were used to study the in vitro interaction of M. leprae with
      the HaCaT human keratinocyte cell line. Keratinocytes uptake of M. leprae is
      described, and modulation of the surface expression of CD80 and CD209,
      cathelicidin expression and TNF-alpha and IL-1beta production of human
      keratinocytes are compared with dendritic cells and macrophages during M. leprae
      interaction. This study demonstrated that M. leprae interaction with human
      keratinocytes enhanced expression of cathelicidin and greatly increased TNF-alpha
      production. The highest spontaneous expression of cathelicidin was by dendritic
      cells which are less susceptible to M. leprae infection. In contrast,
      keratinocytes displayed low spontaneous cathelicidin expression and were more
      susceptible to M. leprae infection than dendritic cells. The results show, for
      the first time, an active role for keratinocytes during infection by irradiated
      whole cells of M. leprae and the effect of vitamin D on this process. They also
      suggest that therapies which target cathelicidin modulation may provide novel
      approaches for treatment of leprosy. 

PMID- 25828731
TI  - Successful transfusion of antigen positive blood to alloimmunised patients using
      a monocyte monolayer assay.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Providing adequate transfusion support for alloimmunised patients for
      whom antigen negative blood is not readily available is hampered by the risk of a
      haemolytic reaction. The monocyte monolayer assay (MMA) has shown good
      correlation between the antibody clinical significance and the fate of antigen
      positive blood. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 2006 to 2013, the clinical
      significance of red cell alloantibodies produced by 61 patients was evaluated
      using a MMA; and antigen positive blood offering the best survival advantage was
      selected for transfusion following a secondary MMA crossmatch. Post-transfusion,
      patients were evaluated for clinical signs of haemolysis. RESULTS: Overall, 19 of
      61 (31.1%) of our antibodies were potentially clinically significant, with a
      monocyte index (MI) > 5%. There was no correlation between the clinical
      significance as showed by the MMA, and the specificity of the antibody or the
      strength of reactivity at antihuman globulin (AHG) phase. Using the MMA as a
      secondary crossmatch method, 31 alloimmunised patients (including: eight anti
      hr(B), four anti-Yt(a), one each anti-Rg1, -Co(a), Er(a), Le(b), -LW, -Sl1)
      received 103 antigen positive blood units with no clinical sign of a post
      transfusion reaction. For three patients (one each anti-Jo(a), -AnWj,
      unidentified 'HTLA'), initial MMA was performed as part of an investigation of a
      suspected haemolytic reaction. In each case, the MMA accurately identified the
      unit responsible for the reaction. CONCLUSION: Used as a crossmatch surrogate,
      the MMA provided valuable information in the decision of transfusing antigen
      positive blood to alloimmunised patients, avoiding delay because of the search of
      rare antigen negative units.

PMID- 25828732
TI  - Impulse control disorder manifesting as hidden sexual self-injury.

PMID- 25828733
TI  - Death in pregnancy: a call for neurological action.

PMID- 25828734
TI  - A novel recombinant chlorophyllase from cyanobacterium Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142
      for the production of bacteriochlorophyllide a.
AB  - Bacteriopheophorbide a (BPheid a) is used as a precursor for bacteriochlorin a
      (BCA), which can be used for photodynamic therapy in both in vitro and in vivo
      biochemical applications. This study successfully isolated and expressed a
      photosynthetic bacterium (Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142) chlorophyllase called
      CyanoCLH, which can be used as a biocatalyst for the production of a BCA
      precursor by degrading bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl a). Substrate specificity and
      enzyme kinetic analyses were performed and the results verified that the
      recombinant CyanoCLH preferred hydrolyzing BChl a to produce
      bacteriochlorophyllide a (BChlide a), which can be converted to BPheid a by
      removing magnesium ion. The recombinant CyanoCLH was cloned and expressed in
      Escherichia coli BL-21 (DE3), and its molecular weight was 54.7 kDa. The deduced
      amino acid sequence of the recombinant CyanoCLH comprised a unique lipase-motif
      GHSLG, which differs from the GHSRG sequence of other plants and lacks a
      histidine of the typical and conserved catalytic triad Ser-Asp-His. The
      recombinant CyanoCLH was subjected to biochemical analyses, and the results
      indicated that its optimal pH and temperature were 7.0 and 60  degrees C,
      respectively. 

PMID- 25828735
TI  - Comparison of the susceptibility of porcine and human dipeptidyl-peptidase IV to
      inhibition by protein-derived peptides.
AB  - The enzyme dipeptidyl-peptidase IV (DPP-IV) is recognized to be a promising
      target for the management of type 2 diabetes. Over the last decade, numerous
      synthetic molecules and more recently, peptides from dietary proteins, have been
      reported to be able to inhibit DPP-IV activity. Most studies that have
      investigated the in vitro effect of these inhibitors have used porcine or human
      DPP-IV. Although structurally alike, it is unclear whether these two species
      display similar inhibition patterns. Therefore, the objective of this study was
      to compare the effects of protein-derived peptides on the activity of porcine and
      recombinant human DPP-IV. The two species showed different inhibition
      susceptibility to 43 of the 62 peptide sequences investigated. While 37 protein
      derived peptides were more effective at inhibiting the porcine DPP-IV, only six
      caused a stronger inhibition of the activity of the human enzyme. Although the
      peptides WR, IPIQY and WCKDDQNPHS were found to be among the most potent
      inhibitors of both species, the inhibitory effect was greater on the porcine
      enzyme than on human DPP-IV (alphaKi or Ki=11.5, 13.4, 13.3 MUM and 31.4, 28.2,
      75.0 MUM for porcine and human DPP-IV, respectively). Investigation into the mode
      of action of the most effective inhibitory peptides revealed that both species
      were inhibited in a similar manner by short fragments (<=5 amino acid residues),
      but that some of the longer peptides acted differently on the enzymes. This study
      shows that porcine DPP-IV is generally inhibited with greater potency by protein
      derived peptides than is the human enzyme.

PMID- 25828736
TI  - Ghrelin suppresses proliferation of fetal neural progenitor cells, and induces
      their differentiation into neurons.
AB  - Although considerable progress has been made in understanding how the temporal
      and regional control of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) dictates their fate, their
      key regulators during neural development are still unknown. Ghrelin, which is
      isolated from porcine stomach extract, is an endogenous ligand for the growth
      hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R). The widespread expression of ghrelin and
      GHS-R in the central nervous system during development suggests that ghrelin may
      be involved in developmental neural growth. However, its role in regulating fetal
      NPCs is still unclear. In this study, we investigated the effects of ghrelin on
      primary cultured NPCs derived from fetal mouse telencephalon. The expressions of
      both ghrelin and its receptor were observed in NPCs using RT-PCR, immunoblotting
      and immunocytostaining. Interestingly, the exposure of fetal NPCs to ghrelin at
      concentrations of 10(-7) and 10(-9)M suppressed their proliferation, and caused
      them to differentiate into neurons and to extend neurites. These results strongly
      suggest that ghrelin plays an autocrine modulatory role in fetal neural
      development. 

PMID- 25828737
TI  - Laparoscopic Removal of an Intramyometrial Fetus After Uterine Curettage.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVE: To show the removal of an intramyometrial fetus after uterine
      curettage using laparoscopy as a safe surgical technique that offers excellent
      results and fewer complications than laparotomy. DESIGN: Presentation of the
      clinical case and step-by-step explanation of the technique. SETTINGS: Uterine
      curettage is a frequently performed gynecologic abortion procedure. Dilatation
      and curettage is considered to be a safe surgical technique, with a low
      percentage of complications. The most common is uterine perforation, with higher
      risks in advanced gestational age, retroflexed uterus, or uterine leiomyomas.
      INTERVENTIONS: After institutional review board approval, we present the case of
      a 29-year-old women referred to our hospital from another clinic with a suspected
      uterine perforation after an elective curettage for a 14-week pregnancy. She
      presented with moderate abdominal pain. Vaginal ultrasound revealed
      intramyometrial fetal parts on isthmus and right parametrium and minimal free
      fluid in the pouch of Douglas. A laparoscopic approach was chosen. After a
      complete revision of the abdominal cavity, the right paravesical space was
      dissected, confirming no right uterine artery or ureter injury. One cavity was
      objectified in the posterior leaf of the broad ligament related to a uterine
      perforation and containing fetal bone parts, which were removed. The myometrial
      defect and the peritoneum were closed with intracorporeal sutures. The removal of
      fetal parts was done with a surgical glove thimble. After the procedure, the
      patient was treated with clindamycin and gentamycin, with a satisfactory
      recovery. CONCLUSION: The presence of an intramyometrial fetus is not a common
      complication of curettage. The use of laparoscopy is feasible and offers
      excellent results and advantages versus laparotomy regarding its treatment.

PMID- 25828738
TI  - Facial disfigurement due to osteitis fibrosa cystica or brown tumor from
      secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients on dialysis: A systematic review and an
      illustrative case report.
AB  - Osteitis fibrosa cystica (OFC) is the most frequent type of osseous change in
      renal osteodystrophy affecting the majority of dialysis patients. Brown tumors
      are a severe form of OFC. The involvement of the craniofacial skeleton causing
      facial disfigurement in patients on dialysis appears to be limited to case
      reports. After searching PubMed, we performed a systematic review of 127 cases
      with a severe form of OFC resulting in a facial disfigurement to understand
      possible determinants for this condition. We found that since the first published
      case in 1974, and after a peak in 1996, there appears to be an increase in
      published reported cases. Only 27.6% of these cases were published in nephrology
      journals. The most common region for reported cases was North America. Mean age
      of these patients was 31.2 years with a mean dialysis duration of 7 years. Almost
      67% were women, and almost all were on hemodialysis. The disease tended to most
      commonly localize to the maxilla (73.2%) and mandible (57.5%). As part of the
      treatment, 59% of patients had a parathyroidectomy. More than one-third (35.4%)
      had symptomatic improvement at follow-up. Mean follow-up was 1.6 years.
      Clinicians should be aware of this clinical presentation of a severe form of OFC
      and/or brown tumors. Timely diagnosis and intervention may help to prevent or
      decrease destructive bone changes and reduce negative psychological consequences
      of facial disfigurement. 

PMID- 25828739
TI  - Culture and the Immune System: Cultural Consonance in Social Support and C
      reactive Protein in Urban Brazil.
AB  - In this article, we examine the distribution of a marker of immune system
      stimulation-C-reactive protein-in urban Brazil. Social relationships are
      associated with immunostimulation, and we argue that cultural dimensions of
      social support, assessed by cultural consonance, are important in this process.
      Cultural consonance is the degree to which individuals, in their own beliefs and
      behaviors, approximate shared cultural models. A measure of cultural consonance
      in social support, based on a cultural consensus analysis regarding sources and
      patterns of social support in Brazil, was developed. In a survey of 258 persons,
      the association of cultural consonance in social support and C-reactive protein
      was examined, controlling for age, sex, body mass index, low-density lipoprotein
      cholesterol, depressive symptoms, and a social network index. Lower cultural
      consonance in social support was associated with higher C-reactive protein.
      Implications of these results for future research are discussed.

PMID- 25828740
TI  - Postconditioning attenuates early ventricular arrhythmias in patients with high
      risk ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It has been demonstrated that postconditioning (postcon), brief
      episodes of ischemia during reperfusion period, in patients with ST-segment
      elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) confers protection against ischemia
      reperfusion injury and as a result, postcon might reduce infarct size. However,
      whether postcon may exert its beneficial effect on STEMI patients by reducing the
      occurrence of early malignant ventricular arrhythmias (VA) is still unknown. The
      aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of postcon on the presence of VA
      in early presenters with high-risk STEMI treated with primary coronary
      intervention (PCI). METHODS: Seventy-five STEMI patients treated with primary PCI
      within 6h from symptoms onset were randomly assigned to postcon group (n=37) or
      conventional PCI group (n=38) in 1:1 ratio. Postcon was performed immediately
      after restoration of coronary flow as follows: the angioplasty balloon was
      inflated 4* 1min with low-pressure inflations, each separated by 1min of
      deflation. After that the patients were continuously monitored electrographically
      for 48h. The end-point of the study was the occurrence of VA (ventricular
      fibrillation-VF, sustained ventricular tachycardia-sVT, non-sustained ventricular
      tachycardia-nsVT) within 48h after the procedure. RESULTS: In the postcon group,
      the occurrence of VAs was significantly lower: VF-3, sVT-0, nsVT-15, i.e. (18
      patients - 48.6%) in comparison to control group: VF-2, sVT-4, nsVT-23 (29
      patients - 76.3%); p=0.013. The occurrence of accelerated idioventricular rhythm
      varied insignificantly between both groups (postcon - 45.9% vs control - 34.2%;
      p=NS). CONCLUSIONS: Postcon may reduce the occurrence of malignant VA in patients
      with STEMI treated with primary PCI.

PMID- 25828741
TI  - Social media in medicine: The volume that Twitter built.

PMID- 25828742
TI  - High prevalence of undernutrition and low dietary diversity in institutionalised
      elderly living in Sri Lanka.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to assess nutritional status, dietary
      diversity and lifestyle risk factors associated with undernutrition in an
      institutionalised Sri Lankan elderly population. DESIGN: The study was of cross
      sectional design followed by a stratified sampling method. SETTING: Twelve homes
      for the elderly recruited from six provinces in Sri Lanka. SUBJECTS: A total of
      311 institutionalised elderly aged >=60 years. RESULTS: The mean age of the study
      population was 75 (sd 8) years. Prevalence of undernutrition was 30 %. Mean food
      variety score, dietary diversity score and dietary serving score of the study
      population were 8.7 (sd 1.5), 7.3 (sd 1.2) and 10.9 (sd 2.0), respectively. Mean
      daily intakes of fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, eggs and pulses and dairy
      portions were below the national recommendations, whereas the mean consumption of
      sugar exceeded the national recommendation. Only the mean intake of starch was
      within the recommendation. Food allergies (OR=8.0; 95 % CI 3.9, 16.2), skipping
      meals (OR=3.8; 95 % CI 2.0, 7.5) and lack of leisure activities (OR=3.1; 95 % CI
      1.5, 6.7) significantly increased the risk of undernutrition, whereas the use of
      dentures decreased the risk (OR=0.20; 95 % CI 0.06, 0.69). CONCLUSIONS: High
      prevalence of undernutrition and low dietary diversity were observed in an
      institutionalised elderly Sri Lankan population. Therefore, there is an urgent
      need to implement nutrition interventions as part of geriatric care to reduce
      undernutrition and improve the diets of the institutionalised elderly population
      in Sri Lanka.

PMID- 25828743
TI  - Possible underestimation by sports medicine of the effects of early physical
      exercise practice on the prevention of diseases in adulthood.
AB  - In modern society, combatting cardiovascular and metabolic diseases has been
      highlighted as an urgent global challenge. In recent decades, the scientific
      literature has identified that behavioral variables (e.g. smoking, unhealthy diet
      and physical inactivity) are related to the development of these outcomes and,
      therefore, preventive actions should focus on the promotion of physical exercise
      practice and a healthy diet, as well as combatting the smoking habit from an
      early age. The promotion of physical exercise in the general population has been
      suggested as a relevant goal by significant health organizations around the
      world. On the other hand, recent literature has indicated that physical exercise
      performed in early life prevents the development of diabetes mellitus,
      dyslipidemia and arterial hypertension during adulthood, although this protective
      effect seems to be independent of the physical activity performed during
      adulthood. Apparently, the interaction between physical exercise and human growth
      in early life constitutes an issue which is not completely understood by sports
      medicine. The aim of the present review was therefore to discuss recent evidence
      on the effects of physical exercise performed during childhood and adolescence on
      cardiovascular and metabolic outcomes in adulthood. 

PMID- 25828744
TI  - Heme oxygenase-1 suppresses the apoptosis of acute myeloid leukemia cells via the
      JNK/c-JUN signaling pathway.
AB  - There are few studies on the correlation between heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and
      acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We found that HO-1 was aberrantly overexpressed in
      the majority of AML patients, especially in patients with acute monocytic
      leukemia (M5) and leukocytosis, and inhibited the apoptosis of HL-60 and U937
      cells. Moreover, silencing HO-1 prolonged the survival of xenograft mouse models.
      Further studies demonstrated that HO-1 suppressed the apoptosis of AML cells
      through activating the JNK/c-JUN signaling pathway. These data indicate a
      molecular role of HO-1 in inhibiting cell apoptosis, allowing it to be a
      potential target for treating AML. 

PMID- 25828745
TI  - Discontinuation of hypomethylating agent therapy in patients with myelodysplastic
      syndromes or acute myelogenous leukemia in complete remission or partial
      response: retrospective analysis of survival after long-term follow-up.
AB  - Hypomethylating agents (HMA), such as 5-azacitidine or decitabine, are currently
      used to treat patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) or acute myeloid
      leukemia (AML) until treatment failure. However, the outcomes for patients who
      discontinue therapy after achieving partial response (PR) or complete remission
      (CR) but before treatment failure have not been reported. We present a series of
      16 patients with higher-risk MDS (n=5; 31%) or AML (n=11; 69%) who achieved PR
      (n=1) or CR (n=15) and stopped HMA therapy while in response in the context of
      clinical trials. They received a median of 12 courses (range 1-24) and achieved
      response after a median of 1 course of therapy (1-4). Loss of response after
      discontinuation of therapy was rapid, with a median progression-free survival of
      4 months (95% CI: 2-6). Median overall survival (OS) from the time of therapy
      discontinuation was 15 months (95% CI: 6-24). Patients who received 12 cycles of
      therapy or more had significantly better OS (median: 20 months [95% CI: 12-27])
      than those who received fewer than 12 cycles (median: 4 months [95% CI: 1-8])
      (p=0.043). Poor-risk cytogenetics were also associated with lower 1-year OS (33%
      versus 69%; p=0.046). According to these results and considering the poor
      prognosis after HMA failure, HMA interruption should be avoided once a sustained
      response has been achieved. 

PMID- 25828750
TI  - The Impact of Percent Reduction in CA-125 Levels on Prediction of the Extent of
      Interval Cytoreduction and Outcome in Patients With Advanced-Stage Cancer of
      Mullerian Origin Treated With Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of CA-125 percent reduction after neoadjuvant
      chemotherapy in predicting the extent of the interval debulking surgery (IDS) and
      outcomes in patients with advanced-stage mullerian carcinoma. METHODS: Patients
      who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced-stage mullerian carcinoma from
      2000 to 2013 were identified. Percent reduction in CA-125 was categorized into 2
      groups: >= 90% (CA >= 90%) and <90% (CA < 90%) reduction from prechemotherapy to
      preoperative CA-125. RESULTS: Of the 115 patients identified, 73% had CA >= 90%
      and 27% had CA < 90%. Optimal and complete IDS were achieved in 87% and 38%,
      respectively. Compared with the CA < 90% group, the CA >= 90% group was more
      likely to have complete IDS (P = 0.035), less likely to have a bowel resection (P
      < 0.001), and more likely to have no viable tumor/microscopic disease with
      treatment effect (P < 0.001). No difference in overall survival (OS; P = 0.81)
      and progression-free survival (PFS; P = 0.60) was noted between the groups. In
      multivariable analysis, CA >= 90% was not a predictor of PFS (hazard ratio [HR],
      1.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.65-1.79; P = 0.77) or OS (HR, 1.45; 95% CI,
      0.73-2.9; P = 0.29). Patients with preoperative CA-125 < 20 had significantly
      longer OS (P = 0.05) and PFS (P = 0.005) than did those with preoperative CA-125
      >= 20. In multivariable analysis, preoperative CA-125 < 20 was a predictor of PFS
      (HR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.20-0.66; P < 0.001) but not OS (HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.34-1.21;
      P = 0.17). CONCLUSIONS: A reduction in CA-125 of at least 90% is associated with
      complete IDS, favorable pathologic response, and fewer bowel resections. A
      preoperative CA-125 < 20 suggests improved outcome. These findings are helpful
      for treatment planning and patient counseling.

PMID- 25828751
TI  - Outcome of patients with advanced-stage borderline ovarian tumors after a first
      peritoneal noninvasive recurrence: impact on further management.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to report the outcome of patients with
      advanced-stage serous borderline ovarian tumors (SBOT) after a first noninvasive
      recurrence and the impact of conservative treatment in that context and to define
      the best management for those patients. STUDY DESIGN: From 1973 to 2006, 168
      patients were treated at or referred to our institution for an SBOT with
      peritoneal implants. Their slides were reviewed by the same expert pathologist.
      Selection criteria were as follows: advanced stage (International Federation of
      Gynecology and Obstetrics >= II), with at least 1 recurrence (only noninvasive
      ones) and more than 5 years of follow-up. RESULTS: Twenty patients met the
      inclusion criteria. The median duration of follow-up was 12 years (range, 6-23
      years). Median age was 26 years (14-61 years). Initial surgical management was
      conservative for 14 patients and radical for 6. In the study population, 4
      patients recurred, all with invasive disease. Time to invasive recurrence was at
      least 3 years for 3 of 4 patients. None of those 4 patients had a second-look
      surgery initially or after the first recurrence. Two patients had small-sized
      residual disease after initial management; only 1 of these 4 patients is
      currently alive and disease-free. There was no significant difference between
      conservative and radical treatment of the risk of second recurrence. CONCLUSIONS:
      This study emphasizes the need for a long follow-up after recurrence of advanced
      stage SBOT and the risk of a new invasive recurrence after a first noninvasive
      peritoneal recurrence. Conservative treatment does not seem as a risk factor and
      is still justified after a first noninvasive recurrence for young patients who
      desire to preserve fertility.

PMID- 25828752
TI  - A hybrid chimeric system for versatile and ultra-sensitive RNase detection.
AB  - We developed a new versatile strategy that allows the detection of several
      classes of RNases (i.e., targeting ss- or ds-RNA, DNA/RNA hetero-hybrid or
      junctions) with higher sensitivity than existing assays. Our two-step approach
      consists of a DNA-RNA-DNA chimeric Hairpin Probe (cHP) conjugated to magnetic
      microparticles and containing a DNAzyme sequence in its terminal region, and
      molecular beacons for fluorescence signal generation. In the first step, the
      digestion of the RNA portion of the cHP sequences in presence of RNases leads to
      the release of multiple copies of the DNAzyme in solution. Then, after magnetic
      washing, each DNAzyme molecule elicits the catalytic cleavage of numerous
      molecular beacons, providing a strong amplification of the overall sensitivity of
      the assay. We successfully applied our approach to detect very low concentrations
      of RNase A, E. coli RNase I, and RNase H. Furthermore, we analyzed the effect of
      two antibiotics (penicillin and streptomycin) on RNase H activity, demonstrating
      the applicability of our strategy for the screening of inhibitors. Finally, we
      exploited our system to detect RNase activity directly in crude biological
      samples (i.e., blood and saliva) and in cell culture medium, highlighting its
      suitability as cheap and sensitive tool for the detection of RNase levels. 

PMID- 25828753
TI  - Letter to the editor: the evidence of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in
      endurance runners; genetic basis and gender differences.

PMID- 25828754
TI  - Relationship between Autophagy and Ventilator-induced Diaphragmatic Dysfunction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mechanical ventilation (MV) is associated with atrophy and weakness
      of the diaphragm muscle, a condition termed ventilator-induced diaphragmatic
      dysfunction (VIDD). Autophagy is a lysosomally mediated proteolytic process that
      can be activated by oxidative stress, which has the potential to either mitigate
      or exacerbate VIDD. The primary goals of this study were to (1) determine the
      effects of MV on autophagy in the diaphragm and (2) evaluate the impact of
      antioxidant therapy on autophagy induction and MV-induced diaphragmatic weakness.
      METHODS: Mice were assigned to control (CTRL), MV (for 6 h), MV + N
      acetylcysteine, MV + rapamycin, and prolonged (48 h) fasting groups. Autophagy
      was monitored by quantifying (1) autophagic vesicles by transmission electron
      microscopy, (2) messenger RNA levels of autophagy-related genes, and (3) the
      autophagosome marker protein LC3B-II, with and without administration of
      colchicine to calculate the indices of relative autophagosome formation and
      degradation. Force production by mouse diaphragms was determined ex vivo.
      RESULTS: Diaphragms exhibited a 2.2-fold (95% CI, 1.8 to 2.5) increase in
      autophagic vesicles visualized by transmission electron microscopy relative to
      CTRL after 6 h of MV (n = 5 per group). The autophagosome formation index
      increased in the diaphragm alone (1.5-fold; 95% CI, 1.3 to 1.8; n = 8 per group)
      during MV, whereas prolonged fasting induced autophagosome formation in both the
      diaphragm (2.5-fold; 95% CI, 2.2 to 2.8) and the limb muscle (4.1-fold; 95% CI,
      1.8 to 6.5). The antioxidant N-acetylcysteine further augmented the autophagosome
      formation in the diaphragm during MV (1.4-fold; 95% CI, 1.2 to 1.5; n = 8 per
      group) and prevented MV-induced diaphragmatic weakness. Treatment with the
      autophagy-inducing agent rapamycin also largely prevented the diaphragmatic force
      loss associated with MV (n = 6 per group). CONCLUSIONS: In this model of VIDD,
      autophagy is induced by MV but is not responsible for diaphragmatic weakness. The
      authors propose that autophagy may instead be a beneficial adaptive response that
      can potentially be exploited for therapy of VIDD.

PMID- 25828755
TI  - Serological evidence of increased susceptibility to varicella-zoster virus
      reactivation or reinfection in natalizumab-treated patients with multiple
      sclerosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Serious adverse drug reactions of disease-modifying drugs in multiple
      sclerosis (MS) therapy may include enhanced susceptibility to reactivation of
      neurotropic herpes viruses like varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and the John
      Cunningham (JC) polyomavirus. OBJECTIVE: Because symptomatic reactivation of
      these viruses are rare events, we determined the incidence of rises in anti-VZV
      IgG antibody levels as a potential marker for enhanced susceptibility to
      subclinical and symptomatic reactivation of neurotropic viruses. METHODS: Anti
      VZV IgG levels were measured in paired serum samples taken 6-8 months apart from
      natalizumab-treated MS patients, healthy blood donors and human immunodeficiency
      virus (HIV) infected patients. RESULTS: The incidence of significant rises in
      anti-VZV IgG levels in natalizumab-treated MS patients was 4.26 per 100 person
      years, which was significantly higher than in healthy blood donors. Retrospective
      evaluation of the available medical records of patients with rises of anti-VZV
      IgG levels did not reveal herpes zoster (i.e. shingles) manifestations.
      CONCLUSIONS: The increased incidence of significant rises of anti-VZV IgG levels
      in natalizumab-treated MS patients might indicate an association of natalizumab
      treatment of MS with an elevated risk of a subclinical VZV reactivation and/or
      reinfection events. Whether this is predictive of an increased risk of herpes
      zoster or even symptomatic reactivation of other neurotropic viruses remains to
      be determined in larger prospective studies.

PMID- 25828756
TI  - Cognitive impairment in Chinese neuromyelitis optica.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cognitive dysfunction is frequently seen in neuromyelitis optica
      (NMO). However, the features and influencing factors of cognitive impairment of
      Chinese NMO patients are unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the patterns of
      cognitive impairment in Chinese NMO patients, and correlate the neuropsychiatric
      scores with clinical and MRI parameters. METHODS: Thirty-six Chinese NMO
      patients, and 30 sex and age-matched healthy controls were recruited with
      extensive neuropsychological assessments, using the modified Minimal Assessment
      of Cognitive Function in MS (MACFIMS). The demographic and clinical
      characteristics as well as MRI parameters were compared between cognitively
      impaired (CI) and cognitively preserved (CP) patients. RESULTS: NMO patients were
      significantly impaired in the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (P<0.05), the
      Symbol Digit Modalities Test (P<0.001), the California Verbal Learning Test
      Second Edition (P<0.05), the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (P<0.05) and
      semantic fluency (P<0.001). Only lower education level was associated with
      cognitive dysfunction in NMO (odds ratio: 0.57, P<0.05). There were no
      significant differences of MRI parameters regarding white matter (WM) lesions,
      grey matter and WM brain volume between CI and CP patients. CONCLUSIONS: Chinese
      NMO patients particularly demonstrated cognitive impairment in information
      processing speed, executive function and memory. Lower education level was the
      main factor contributing to cognitive impairment in NMO.

PMID- 25828757
TI  - The only certain measure of the effectiveness of multiple sclerosis therapy is
      cerebrospinal neurofilament level - YES.

PMID- 25828758
TI  - A comparative optical coherence tomography study in neuromyelitis optica spectrum
      disorder and multiple sclerosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to find, using spectral domain-optical
      coherence tomography (SD-OCT), retinal imaging biomarkers differentiating
      neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), multiple sclerosis (MS) and
      healthy controls (HCs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The population was composed of
      patients with NMOSD (n=23) or MS (n=110) and of HCs (n=75). Evaluation criteria
      were retinal thickness/volume, visual acuity, low contrast vision acuity and
      Expanded Disability Status Scale score. RESULTS: Considering all eyes and after
      statistical adjustments including the number of optic neuritis (ON) episodes, we
      found that NMOSD patients did not have significantly more retinal atrophy than MS
      patients; whereas MS non-optic neuritis (NON) eyes had thinner temporal (p=0.032)
      and temporo-superior peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (pRNFL; p=0.011)
      thicknesses than NMOSD NON eyes; in addition, NMOSD NON eyes presented
      significant naso-inferior pRNFL (p=0.024), temporal pRNFL (p=0.039), macular
      ganglion cell complex (p=0.004) and ganglion cell layer (p=0.002) atrophy vs HC
      eyes. We identified significant correlations between visual and clinical
      disability and retinal thicknesses in both diseases. CONCLUSION: OCT may help to
      differentiate NMOSD and MS by focusing on the NON eyes (temporal pRNFL atrophy
      more severe in MS). Moreover, we discuss the possibility of a retinal
      degenerative process independent of ON in NMOSD.

PMID- 25828759
TI  - Uhthoff questioned.

PMID- 25828760
TI  - Production of indole antibiotics induced by exogenous gene derived from sponge
      metagenomes.
AB  - Sponge metagenomes are accessible genetic sources containing genes and gene
      clusters responsible for the biosynthesis of sponge-derived bioactive natural
      products. In this study, we obtained the clone pDC112, producing turbomycin A and
      2,2-di(3-indolyl)-3-indolone, based on the functional screening of the metagenome
      library derived from the marine sponge Discodermia calyx. The subcloning
      experiment identified ORF 25, which is homologous to inosine 5'-monophosphate
      dehydrogenase and required for the production of 2,2-di(3-indolyl)-3-indolone in
      Escherichia coli. 

PMID- 25828761
TI  - Predictors of change in weight and waist circumference: 15-year longitudinal
      study in Australian adults.

PMID- 25828763
TI  - Help-seeking behaviour among Finnish adolescent males.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adolescent males have a low rate of seeking help for mental health
      problems. The onset for many psychiatric disorders occur during the adolescence.
      Previous studies have identified previous help seeking, parental opinion,
      parental divorce and suicidal thoughts as factors associated with contacting
      mental health services. Yet studies on the rate of use of mental health services
      remain few, as do studies concerning factors associated with use of mental health
      services. AIMS: To study prevalence and risk factors of use of mental health
      services among Finnish adolescent males. METHODS: Factors associated with use of
      mental health services during the preceding 12 months were studied in a general
      population sample of 4309 men attending military call-up in 2009. The mean age
      was 18.3 +/- 0.45 years. RESULTS: Within the previous 12 months, 3.2% of men had
      used mental health services and an additional 2.3% had considered contacting
      mental health services. Factors associated with service use were living alone,
      having a poor paternal relationship, having no contact with father, death of
      father, high internalizing symptoms, suicidal thoughts, regular smoking and use
      of illicit drugs. Frequent drunkenness was associated with mental health service
      use, whereas occasional use of alcohol was inversely associated with use of
      mental health services. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of mental health service use among
      males in late adolescence is very low. The inability of young people to contact
      service providers should be addressed more efficiently. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: A
      majority of the troubled men did not contact professionals for help, although
      approximately a quarter of the men had a self-perceived mental health problem. A
      major challenge is to find ways for mental health services to be made more
      accessible to adolescent males.

PMID- 25828764
TI  - Screening efficiency of the self-report version of the Multidimensional Anxiety
      Scale for Children in a highly comorbid inpatient sample.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) is a widely
      used self-report questionnaire for the assessment of anxiety symptoms in children
      and adolescents with well documented predictive validity of the total score and
      subscales in internalizing and mixed clinical samples. However, no data exist on
      the screening efficiency in an inpatient sample of adolescents. AIM: To examine
      the psychometric properties and screening efficiency of the MASC in a high
      comorbid inpatient sample. METHOD: The current study used receiver operating
      characteristic (ROC) analyses to investigate the predictive value of the MASC
      total and subscale scores for the Schedule for Affective Disorders and
      Schizophrenia for School-age children-Present and Lifetime version (K-SADS-PL),
      DSM-IV diagnoses of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), separation anxiety
      disorder (SAD) and social phobia (SoP) in a highly comorbid inpatient sample of
      adolescents (11-18 years). RESULTS: The MASC total score predicted any anxiety
      disorder (AD) and GAD moderately well. Physical symptoms predicted GAD moderately
      well. Social anxiety and separation anxiety/panic did not predict SoP or SAD,
      respectively. Physical symptoms and harm avoidance also predicted the presence of
      major depressive disorder. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the utility of the
      MASC total score to predict the presence of any AD and GAD. However, the utility
      of the social anxiety and separation anxiety/panic subscales showed limited
      utility to predict the presence of SAD and SoP, respectively. The MASC has
      probably a more limited function in screening for AD among a highly comorbid
      inpatient sample of severely affected adolescents. Our results should be
      interpreted in the light of a small, mixed sample of inpatient adolescents.

PMID- 25828762
TI  - Cardiac myocyte alternans in intact heart: Influence of cell-cell coupling and
      beta-adrenergic stimulation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiac alternans are proarrhythmic and mechanistically link cardiac
      mechanical dysfunction and sudden cardiac death. Beat-to-beat alternans occur
      when beats with large Ca(2+) transients and long action potential duration (APD)
      alternate with the converse. APD alternans are typically driven by Ca(2+)
      alternans and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+) release alternans. But the
      effect of intercellular communication via gap junctions (GJ) on alternans in the
      intact heart remains unknown. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the effects of cell-to-cell
      coupling on local alternans in intact Langendorff-perfused mouse hearts,
      measuring single myocyte [Ca(2+)] alternans synchronization among neighboring
      cells, and effects of beta-adrenergic receptor (beta-AR) activation and reduced
      GJ coupling. METHODS AND RESULTS: Mouse hearts (C57BL/6) were retrogradely
      perfused and loaded with Fluo8-AM to record cardiac myocyte [Ca(2+)] in situ with
      confocal microscopy. Single cell resolution allowed analysis of alternans within
      the intact organ during alternans induction. Carbenoxolone (25 MUM), a GJ
      inhibitor, significantly increased the occurrence and amplitude of alternans in
      single cells within the intact heart. Alternans were concordant between
      neighboring cells throughout the field of view, except transiently during onset.
      beta-AR stimulation only reduced Ca(2+) alternans in tissue that had reduced GJ
      coupling, matching effects seen in isolated myocytes. CONCLUSIONS: Ca(2+)
      alternans among neighboring myocytes is predominantly concordant, likely because
      of electrical coupling between cells. Consistent with this, partial GJ uncoupling
      increased propensity and amplitude of Ca(2+) alternans, and made them more
      sensitive to reversal by beta-AR activation, as in isolated myocytes. Electrical
      coupling between myocytes may thus limit the alternans initiation, but also allow
      alternans to be more stable once established.

PMID- 25828765
TI  - Optimized extraction of a single-chain variable fragment of antibody by using
      aqueous micellar two-phase systems.
AB  - In this work, the purification of a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) of an
      antibody by using liquid-liquid extraction in aqueous micellar two-phase systems
      was optimized by means of central composite design. Protein partitioning assays
      were performed by using the selected system composition in previous works: Triton
      X-114 at 4% wt/wt, yeast fermentation supernatant at 60% wt/wt, McIlvaine buffer
      pH 7.00. The other system component concentrations, Cibacron Blue F3GA (CB),
      FabsorbentTM F1P HF (HF) and NaCl, were selected as independent variables. ScFv
      recovery percentage (%R) and purification factor (PF) were selected as the
      responses. According to the optimization process both, scFv recovery percentage
      and purification factor were favored with the addition of HF and NaCl in a range
      of concentrations around the central point of the second central composite design
      (HF 0.0120% w/w, CB 0.0200% w/w, NaCl 0.200% w/w). These experimental conditions
      allowed the concentration and pre-purification of scFv in the micelle-rich bottom
      phase of the systems with a recovery percentage superior to 88% and a
      purification factor of approximately 3.5. These results improved the previously
      presented works and demonstrated the convenience of using aqueous micellar two
      phase systems as a first step in the purification of scFv molecules. 

PMID- 25828766
TI  - Biofilm formation and fibrinogen and fibronectin binding activities by
      Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum invasive strains.
AB  - Biofilm-related infections are considered a major cause of morbidity and
      mortality in hospital environments. Biofilms allow microorganisms to exchange
      genetic material and to become persistent colonizers and/or multiresistant to
      antibiotics. Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum (CPS), a commensal bacterium
      that colonizes skin and mucosal sites has become progressively multiresistant and
      responsible for severe nosocomial infections. However, virulence factors of this
      emergent pathogen remain unclear. Herein, we report the adhesive properties and
      biofilm formation on hydrophilic (glass) and hydrophobic (plastic) abiotic
      surfaces by CPS strains isolated from patients with localized
      (ATCC10700/Pharyngitis) and systemic (HHC1507/Bacteremia) infections. Adherence
      to polystyrene attributed to hydrophobic interactions between bacterial cells and
      this negatively charged surface indicated the involvement of cell surface
      hydrophobicity in the initial stage of biofilm formation. Attached microorganisms
      multiplied and formed microcolonies that accumulated as multilayered cell
      clusters, a step that involved intercellular adhesion and synthesis of
      extracellular matrix molecules. Further growth led to the formation of dense
      bacterial aggregates embedded in the exopolymeric matrix surrounded by voids,
      typical of mature biofilms. Data also showed CPS recognizing human fibrinogen
      (Fbg) and fibronectin (Fn) and involvement of these sera components in formation
      of "conditioning films". These findings suggested that biofilm formation may be
      associated with the expression of different adhesins. CPS may form biofilms in
      vivo possibly by an adherent biofilm mode of growth in vitro currently
      demonstrated on hydrophilic and hydrophobic abiotic surfaces. The affinity to Fbg
      and Fn and the biofilm-forming ability may contribute to the establishment and
      dissemination of infection caused by CPS. 

PMID- 25828767
TI  - Lysobacter fragariae sp. nov. and Lysobacter rhizosphaerae sp. nov. isolated from
      rhizosphere of strawberry plant.
AB  - Two bacterial strains, designated THG-DN8.7(T) and THG-DN8.3(T), were isolated
      from the rhizosphere of a strawberry plant in Gyeryong Mountain, South Korea.
      Cells of both isolates were observed to be Gram-negative, yellow-coloured and rod
      shaped. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain THG
      DN8.7(T) had highest sequence similarities to Lysobacter yangpyeongensis KACC
      11407(T) (97.2 %), Lysobacter niabensis KACC 11587(T) (97.0 %) and Lysobacter
      oryzae KCTC 22249(T) (96.9 %), while strain THG-DN8.3(T) had closely similarity
      with L. niabensis KACC 11587(T) (98.1 %), L. oryzae KCTC 22249(T) (97.1 %) and L.
      yangpyeongensis KACC 11407(T) (96.1 %). DNA-DNA relatedness values between
      strains THG-DN8.7(T) and THG-DN8.3(T) and their closest phylogenetically
      neighbours were below 30.0 %, which indicates that strains THG-DN8.7(T) and THG
      DN8.3(T) represent distinct species within the genus Lysobacter. Both strains
      were found to contain iso-C15:0, iso-C16:0 and iso-C17:1 omega9c as predominant
      fatty acids and ubiquinone-8 as major isoprenoid quinone. The major polar lipids
      were identified as phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidyl-N-methylethanolamine,
      phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The DNA G+C content of strains
      THG-DN8.7(T) and THG-DN8.3(T) were determined to be 66.9 and 67.8 mol%,
      respectively. These data are consistent with the affiliation of the two new
      species represented by THG-DN8.7(T) and THG-DN8.3(T) to the genus Lysobacter. The
      names Lysobacter fragariae sp. nov. and Lysobacter rhizosphaerae sp. nov. are
      proposed for these species with the type strains THG-DN8.7(T) (=KCTC 42236(T) =
      JCM 30322(T)) and THG-DN8.3(T) (=KCTC 42237(T) = JCM 30321(T)), respectively. 

PMID- 25828772
TI  - Metabolic and transcriptomic signatures of rice floral organs reveal sugar
      starvation as a factor in reproductive failure under heat and drought stress.
AB  - Heat and drought stress are projected to become major challenges to sustain rice
      (Oryza sativa L.) yields with global climate change. Both stresses lead to yield
      losses when they coincide with flowering. A significant knowledge gap exists in
      the mechanistic understanding of the responses of rice floral organs that
      determine reproductive success under stress. Our work connects the metabolomic
      and transcriptomic changes in anthers, pistils before pollination and pollinated
      pistils in a heat-tolerant (N22) and a heat-sensitive (Moroberekan) cultivar.
      Systematic analysis of the floral organs revealed contrasts in metabolic profiles
      across anthers and pistils. Constitutive metabolic markers were identified that
      can define reproductive success in rice under stress. Six out of nine candidate
      metabolites identified by intersection analysis of stressed anthers were
      differentially accumulated in N22 compared with Moroberekan under non-stress
      conditions. Sugar metabolism was identified to be the crucial metabolic and
      transcriptional component that differentiated floral organ tolerance or
      susceptibility to stress. While susceptible Moroberekan specifically showed high
      expression of the Carbon Starved Anthers (CSA) gene under combined heat and
      drought, tolerant N22 responded with high expression of genes encoding a sugar
      transporter (MST8) and a cell wall invertase (INV4) as markers of high sink
      strength.

PMID- 25828773
TI  - An autopsied case of adult-onset bulbospinalform Alexander disease with a novel
      S393R mutation in the GFAP gene.
AB  - A 50-year-old Japanese man with no apparent family history noticed diplopia. He
      gradually showed gait disturbance and dysuria. Abducens disorder of eye movement
      with nystagmus, tongue atrophy with fasciculation, spastic tetraparesis, and
      sensory disturbance were also observed. MRI showed severe atrophy of the medulla
      oblongata to the cervical cord ("tadpole appearance"). Tracheotomy and
      gastrostomy were performed 7 years after onset due to the development of bulbar
      palsy. Death occurred following respiratory failure after 11 years total disease
      duration. The brain weighed 1,380 g. The cerebrum, cerebellum, midbrain, and
      upper pons were preserved from atrophy, but the medulla oblongata to the cervical
      cord showed severe atrophy. A few Rosenthal fibers were observed in the cerebral
      white matter, basal ganglia, and cerebellum, whereas numerous Rosenthal fibers
      were observed in the medulla oblongata to the cervical cord. Myelin loss with
      relatively preserved axons was extensively observed from the middle of the pons
      to the spinal cord. The clinicopathological diagnosis was adult-onset bulbospinal
      form Alexander disease. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) gene analysis
      revealed a novel mutation of S393R. Expression patterns of S393R mutant GFAP
      using adrenal carcinoma-derived cells (SW13 cells) showed a decreased number of
      filamentous structures and abnormal aggregates. 

PMID- 25828774
TI  - Does aberrant architecture of nuclear LINC complex stop muscle cell development?
AB  - The linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton (LINC) complex is a structure that
      spans the entire nuclear envelope (NE) and integrates the nuclear interior with
      the cytoskeleton. Lamin A/C together with nesprins that mainly reside along the
      inner nuclear membrane (INM) and outer nuclear membrane (ONM) are core components
      of the LINC complex. Integrity of this specific nuclear structure is critical for
      muscle cell maturation and function. In the present study, we analyzed the
      ultrastructure of the LINC complex observed in two neonates with severe hypotonia
      and respiratory distress. Disruption of the LINC complex manifests in a wide
      separation of the ONM from the INM; the loss of perinuclear space (PNS) and
      delayed muscle cell maturation were predominating findings. This nuclear
      phenomenon has never been reported and provides further support for the
      appearance of a neonatal form of laminopathy.

PMID- 25828775
TI  - Morphological changes of skeletal muscle in spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy
      (SBMA), Kennedy's disease: a case report.
AB  - Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA, Kennedy's disease) is an X-linked
      recessive disease affecting lower motor neurons. In the present case report, we
      describe morphological changes in a muscle biopsy obtained from a 62-year-old
      patient with gynecomastia and with the following neurological symptoms:
      dysphagia, dysarthria, wasting and fasciculation of the tongue, proximal
      weakness, fasciculations in the limb muscles, and an absence of all tendon
      reflexes. Neurogenic alternations were predominantly observed using light and
      electron microscopy. The angulated atrophic muscle fibers formed bundles. The
      numerous nuclei were pyknotic or pale, some of them were also ubiquitin positive;
      they were grouped inside so-called "nuclear sacks". At the ultrastructural level,
      atrophic muscle fibers revealed disruption and loss of sarcomeres, duplication of
      Z-line, and rod-like structures. The nuclei, often with irregular shapes,
      revealed varying degrees of chromatin condensation, from dispersed to highly
      condensed, like pyknotic nuclei. Occasionally electron-dense inclusions in the
      nuclei were found. Some myogenic features like hypertrophic muscle fibers and
      proliferation of connective tissue were also visible. The neurogenic and myogenic
      pathological changes suggested SBMA, which was confirmed with genetic analysis
      (trinucleotide CAG (glutamie)-repeat expansion in the androgen-receptor gene). 

PMID- 25828776
TI  - Dementia pugilistica: a severe tribute to a career.
AB  - A 59-year-old man, ex-professional boxer, met clinical criteria for probable
      Alzheimer's disease. The patient agreed to be included in a clinico-pathological
      study with donation to the brain bank, and he died at 71. The brain was grossly
      atrophic, with a prominent atrophy of the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus, and
      with pallor of the substantia nigra. Immunohistochemistry with anti-tau A4
      revealed abundant and diffuse deposits in the neo-cortex, whereas amyloid
      angiopathy was absent. Coupled anti-tau AT8 immunohistochemistry and Congo red
      staining showed no neuritic plaques. tau-AT8-positive glial tangles and
      neurofibrillary tangles involved preferentially the superficial cortical layers,
      and were irregularly concentrated in the depth of cortical sulci and near
      vessels. Neurofibrillary degeneration was marked in amygdala, hippocampus,
      substantia nigra, and locus ceruleus. Enlarged and/or distorted axons were
      numerous in hippocampus and mid-brain. TDP 43-positive neuronal inclusions were
      numerous in amygdala and hippocampus. There was no synucleinopathy. These
      observations are in accordance with the previously reported data on chronic
      traumatic encephalopathy. The discussion is focused on professional boxing as it
      becomes evident that repetitive trauma on the brain provokes the deposition of
      abnormal proteins involved in neurodegeneration. 

PMID- 25828777
TI  - The prevalence of IgG4-positive plasma cells in hypophysitis: a possible
      relationship to IgG4-related disease.
AB  - AIMS: Hypophysitis is a rare chronic inflammation of the pituitary gland
      corresponding currently to six histopathological subtypes. Among them,
      immunoglobulin- G4-related hypophysitis was recently added in this
      classification. The aim of this study was to perform a retrospective
      histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis to evaluate the prevalence of
      IgG4-related hypophysitis and review reported cases. METHODS: All samples of
      hypophysitis from Lariboisiere hospital were reviewed by two pathologists to
      assess their subtypes. An immunohistochemistry against IgG4 and IgG was
      performed. Slides were numerized, and IgG4-positive plasma cells and IgG plasma
      cells were counted in three high-power fields to evaluate the ratio. RESULTS:
      Eight cases were included: 5 lymphocytic hypophysitis, 1 granulomatous subtype,
      and 2 IgG4-related hypophysitis, affecting two young women without other
      coaffected organ. CONCLUSION: Our results show that IgG4-related hypophysitis is
      not an exceptional entity. Storiform fibrosis and obliterative phlebitis,
      histopathological characteristics of IgG4-related disease in other organs, are
      lacking in pituitary lesions. This study proves the interest of
      immunohistochemistry for diagnosis of IgG4-related hypophysitis. Due to the
      sensibility of IgG4-disease to steroids in other organs, this finding could be of
      clinical relevance.

PMID- 25828778
TI  - Chronic migraine is associated with reduced corneal nerve fiber density and
      symptoms of dry eye.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We used in vivo corneal confocal microscopy to investigate structural
      differences in the sub-basal corneal nerve plexus in chronic migraine patients
      and a normal population. We used a validated questionnaire and tests of lacrimal
      function to determine the prevalence of dry eye in the same group of chronic
      migraine patients. Activation of the trigeminal system is involved in migraine.
      Corneal nociceptive sensation is mediated by trigeminal axons that synapse in the
      gasserian ganglion and the brainstem, and serve nociceptive, protective, and
      trophic functions. Noninvasive imaging of the corneal sub-basal nerve plexus is
      possible with in vivo corneal confocal microscopy. METHODS: For this case-control
      study, we recruited chronic migraine patients and compared them with a sex- and
      age-similar group of control subjects. Patients with peripheral neuropathy, a
      disease known to be associated with a peripheral neuropathy, or prior corneal or
      intraocular surgery were excluded. Participants underwent in vivo corneal
      confocal microscopy using a Heidelberg Retinal Tomography III confocal microscope
      with a Rostock Cornea Module. Nerve fiber length, nerve branch density, nerve
      fiber density, and tortuosity coefficient were measured using established
      methodologies. Migraine participants underwent testing of basal tear production
      with proparacaine, corneal sensitivity assessment with a cotton-tip applicator,
      measurement of tear break-up time, and completion of a validated dry eye
      questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 19 chronic migraine patients and 30 control
      participants completed the study. There were no significant differences in age or
      sex. Nerve fiber density was significantly lower in migraine patients compared
      with controls (48.4 +/- 23.5 vs. 71.0 +/- 15.0 fibers/mm2 , P < .001). Nerve
      fiber length was decreased in the chronic migraine group compared with the
      control group, but this difference was not statistically significant (21.5 +/-
      11.8 vs. 26.8 +/- 5.9 mm/mm2, P < .084). Nerve branch density was similar in the
      two groups (114.0 +/- 92.4 vs. 118.1 +/- 55.9 branches/mm2 , P < .864).
      Tortuosity coefficient and log tortuosity coefficient also were similar in the
      chronic migraine and control groups. All migraine subjects had symptoms
      consistent with a diagnosis of dry eye syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: We found that in
      the sample used in this study, the presence of structural changes in nociceptive
      corneal axons lends further support to the hypothesis that the trigeminal system
      plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of migraine. In vivo corneal confocal
      microscopy holds promise as a biomarker for future migraine research as well as
      for studies examining alterations of corneal innervation. Dry eye symptoms appear
      to be extremely prevalent in this population. The interrelationships between
      migraine, corneal nerve architecture, and dry eye will be the subject of future
      investigations.

PMID- 25828779
TI  - Cardiac dysfunction following brain death in children: prevalence, normalization,
      and transplantation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Cardiac dysfunction has been reported to occur in as much as 42% of
      adults with brain death, and may limit cardiac donation after brain death.
      Knowledge of the prevalence and natural course of cardiac dysfunction after brain
      death may help to improve screening and transplant practices but adequately sized
      studies in pediatric brain death are lacking. The aims of our study are to
      describe the prevalence and course of cardiac dysfunction after pediatric brain
      death. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING/SUBJECTS: We examined an organ
      procurement organization database (Life Center Northwest) of potential pediatric
      cardiac donors diagnosed with brain death between January 2011 and November 2013.
      INTERVENTION: Transthoracic echocardiograms were reviewed for cardiac dysfunction
      (defined as ejection fraction <50% or the presence of regional wall motion
      abnormalities). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze clinical
      characteristics and describe longitudinal echocardiogram findings in a subgroup
      of patients. We examined for heterogeneity between cardiac dysfunction with
      respect to cause of brain death. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: We identified 60
      potential pediatric cardiac donors (age <= 18 yr) with at least one transthoracic
      echocardiogram following brain death. Cardiac dysfunction was present in 23
      patients (38%) with brain death. Mean ejection fraction (37.6% vs 62.2%) and
      proportion of procured hearts (56.5% vs 83.8%) differed significantly between the
      groups with and without cardiac dysfunction, respectively. Of the 11 subjects
      with serial transthoracic echocardiogram data, the majority of patients with
      cardiac dysfunction (73%) improved over time, leading to organ procurement. No
      heterogeneity between cardiac dysfunction and particular causes of brain death
      was observed. CONCLUSION: The frequency of cardiac dysfunction in children with
      brain death is high. Serial transthoracic echocardiograms in patients with
      cardiac dysfunction showed improvement of cardiac function in most patients,
      suggesting that initial decisions to procure should not solely depend on the
      initial transthoracic echocardiogram examination results.

PMID- 25828781
TI  - Nutritional status and clinical outcome in postterm neonates undergoing surgery
      for congenital heart disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Poor growth is a common complication in infants with congenital heart
      disease. There has been much focus on low birth weight as having increased risk
      of adverse outcomes following neonatal heart surgery. In this study, we examined
      whether preoperative nutritional status, measured by admission weight-for-age z
      score, was associated with postoperative clinical outcome. DESIGN: Retrospective
      case series. SETTING: Pediatric Cardiac ICU at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
      PATIENTS: Neonates undergoing surgery for congenital heart disease. Those
      undergoing ductus arteriosus ligation alone were excluded. Children with
      coexisting noncardiac morbidity were excluded. Outcome variables included
      prevalence of postoperative complications (including sepsis, delayed chest
      closure, renal impairment, and necrotizing enterocolitis), duration of
      ventilation, intensive care stay, postoperative mortality, and mortality at 1
      year after surgery. INTERVENTIONS: None. Analysis of patient data only.
      MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Two hundred forty-eight neonates fulfilled the
      entry criteria. Median (interquartile range) age was 7 days (2-15 d), median
      (interquartile range) weight was 3.3 kg (2.91-3.6 kg), and median weight-for-age
      z score was -0.77 (-1.44 to 0.01). Twenty-eight children (11%) had a weight-for
      age z score of less than -2. There was no evidence that children with lower
      weight-for-age z score had less severe surgery as measured by the Risk Adjustment
      for Congenital Heart Surgery 1 score. In multivariable regression analysis, the
      weight-for-age z at admission had strong correlation with the number of days free
      of respiratory support (invasive and noninvasive ventilation) at 28 days (p <
      0.0001) and with all-cause mortality at 1 year (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Poor
      nutritional status as measured by weight-for-age z is associated with adverse
      short- and long-term outcomes in neonates undergoing surgery for congenital heart
      disease.

PMID- 25828780
TI  - Evolution of Noninvasive Mechanical Ventilation Use: A Cohort Study Among Italian
      PICUs.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess how clinical practice of noninvasive ventilation has evolved
      in the Italian PICUs. DESIGN: National, multicentre, retrospective, observational
      cohort. SETTING: Thirteen Italian medical/surgical PICUs that participated in the
      Italian PICU Network. PATIENTS: Seven thousand one-hundred eleven admissions of
      children with 0-16 years old admitted from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2012.
      INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Cause of respiratory failure,
      length and mode of noninvasive ventilation, type of interfaces, incidence of
      treatment failure, and outcome were recorded. Data were compared with an
      historical cohort of children enrolled along 6 months from November 1, 2006, to
      April 30, 2007, over the viral respiratory season. Seven thousand one-hundred
      eleven PICU admissions were analyzed, and an overall noninvasive ventilation use
      of 8.8% (n = 630) was observed. Among children who were admitted in the PICU
      without mechanical ventilation (n = 3,819), noninvasive ventilation was used in
      585 patients (15.3%) with a significant increment among the three study years
      (from 11.6% in 2006 to 18.2% in 2012). In the endotracheally intubated group,
      17.2% children received noninvasive ventilation at the end of the weaning process
      to avoid reintubation: 11.9% in 2006, 15.3% in 2011, and 21.6% in 2012.
      Noninvasive ventilation failure rate raised from 10% in 2006 to 16.1% in 2012.
      CONCLUSIONS: Noninvasive ventilation is increasingly and successfully used as
      first respiratory approach in several, but not all, Italian PICUs. The current
      study shows that noninvasive ventilation represents a feasible and safe technique
      of ventilatory assistance for the treatment of mild acute respiratory failure.
      Noninvasive ventilation was used as primary mode of ventilation in children with
      low respiratory tract infection (mainly in bronchiolitis and pneumonia), in acute
      on chronic respiratory failure or to prevent reintubation.

PMID- 25828783
TI  - Neuromonitoring During Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: A Systematic Review
      of the Literature.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Neurologic injury remains a significant morbidity and risk factor for
      mortality in critically ill patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane
      oxygenation. Our goal was to systematically review the literature on the use of
      neuromonitoring methods during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. DATA SOURCES:
      Electronic searches of PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane, and
      Scopus were conducted in March 2014, using a combination of medical subject
      heading terms and text words to define concepts of extracorporeal life support,
      neurologic monitoring techniques, evaluation, and outcomes. STUDY SELECTION:
      Studies were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria defined a priori.
      DATA EXTRACTION: Two authors reviewed all citations independently. A standardized
      data extraction form was used to construct evidence tables by neuromonitoring
      method. Evidence was graded using the Oxford Evidence-Based Medicine scoring
      system. DATA SYNTHESIS: Of 3,459 unique citations, 39 studies met the inclusion
      criteria. Study designs were retrospective observational cohort studies (n = 20),
      prospective observational studies (n = 17), case-control studies (n = 2), and no
      interventional studies. Most studies evaluated newborns (n = 30). Extracorporeal
      membrane oxygenation neuromonitoring methods included neuroimaging (head
      ultrasound) (n = 12); intermittent, conventional, multichannel
      electroencephalography (n = 5); 1- to 2-channel amplitude-integrated
      electroencephalography (n = 2); Doppler ultrasound (n = 7); cerebral oximetry (n
      = 6); plasma brain injury biomarkers (n = 4); and other (n = 3). All evidence was
      graded 2B-4, with the majority of studies graded 3B (20/39 studies) and 4 (10/39
      studies). Due to the heterogeneity of the studies included, aggregate analysis
      was not possible. CONCLUSIONS: Data supporting the use and effectiveness of
      current neuromonitoring methods are limited. Most studies have modest sample
      sizes, are observational in nature, and include patient populations that are of
      different ages and pathologies, with very limited data for pediatric and adult
      ages. Well-designed studies with adequate power and standardized short- and long
      term outcomes are needed to develop guidelines for neuromonitoring and ultimately
      neuroprotection in patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

PMID- 25828782
TI  - Impact of Kidney Disease on Survival in Neonatal Extracorporeal Life Support.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence and survival to discharge of neonates
      with kidney disease who received extracorporeal life support. DESIGN: We analyzed
      the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization international registry of neonates
      (< 30 d old) who received extracorporeal life support from 1989 to 2012. We used
      International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 9th
      Revision, Clinical Modification, codes to identify neonates with kidney disease
      at time of cannulation for extracorporeal life support. SETTING: Participating
      Extracorporeal Life Support Organization centers. PATIENTS: All neonates who
      received extracorporeal life support at an Extracorporeal Life Support
      Organization center from 1989 to 2012. INTERVENTIONS: We performed bivariate
      logistic regression to estimate associations between survival and covariates. We
      used unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression to compare survival to discharge
      between neonates with and without kidney disease. Odds ratios were estimated
      separately for three groups based on extracorporeal life support indication:
      pulmonary indication without congenital diaphragmatic hernia, pulmonary
      indication with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, and cardiac indication. Adjusted
      models included covariates identified as significant in bivariate models for each
      group. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The primary outcome measure was survival to
      discharge from hospitalization. Of the 28,755 neonates who received
      extracorporeal life support, 405 had kidney disease (extracorporeal life support
      indication: 210 pulmonary indication without congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 65
      pulmonary indication with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, and 130 cardiac
      indication). Survival was lower in neonates with kidney disease than those
      without (49% vs 82% pulmonary indication without congenital diaphragmatic hernia,
      25% vs 51% pulmonary indication with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 21% vs 41%
      cardiac indication). Kidney disease was associated with reduced survival in
      adjusted models (95% CI for odds ratio 0.31-0.59 pulmonary indication without
      congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 0.27-0.89 pulmonary indication with congenital
      diaphragmatic hernia, 0.31-0.77 cardiac indication). CONCLUSIONS: Neonates with
      kidney disease who receive extracorporeal life support have poorer survival to
      discharge compared with other neonates who receive extracorporeal life support,
      suggesting that kidney disease should be considered when making extracorporeal
      life support initiation decisions.

PMID- 25828784
TI  - Factor VIII May Predict Catheter-Related Thrombosis in Critically Ill Children: A
      Preliminary Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: If we can identify critically ill children at high risk for central
      venous catheter-related thrombosis, then we could target them for pharmacologic
      thromboprophylaxis. We determined whether factor VIII activity or G value was
      associated with catheter-related thrombosis in critically ill children. DESIGN:
      Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Two tertiary academic centers. PATIENTS: We
      enrolled children younger than 18 years who were admitted to the PICU within 24
      hours after insertion of a central venous catheter. We excluded children with a
      recently diagnosed thrombotic event or those anticipated to receive
      anticoagulation. Children with thrombosis diagnosed with surveillance
      ultrasonography on the day of enrollment were classified as having prevalent
      thrombosis. Those who developed catheter-related thrombosis thereafter were
      classified as having incident thrombosis. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND
      MAIN RESULTS: We enrolled 85 children in the study. Once enrolled, we measured
      factor VIII activity with one-stage clotting assay and determined G value with
      thromboelastography. Of those enrolled, 25 had incident and 12 had prevalent
      thromboses. The odds ratio for incident thrombosis per SD increase in factor VIII
      activity was 1.98 (95% CI, 1.10-3.55). The area under the receiver operating
      characteristic curve was 0.66 (95% CI, 0.52-0.79). At factor VIII activity more
      than 100 IU/dL, which was the optimal threshold identified using Youden index,
      sensitivity and specificity were 92.0% and 41.3%, respectively. The association
      between factor VIII activity and incident thrombosis remained significant after
      adjusting for important clinical predictors of thrombosis (odds ratio, 1.93; 95%
      CI, 1.10-3.39). G value was associated with prevalent but not with incident
      thrombosis. CONCLUSION: Factor VIII activity may be used to stratify critically
      ill children based on their risk for catheter-related thrombosis.

PMID- 25828785
TI  - Anti-hyperplasia effects of Rosa rugosa polyphenols in rats with hyperplasia of
      mammary gland.
AB  - Rosa rugosa (Thunb.) is used in Chinese traditional medicine with the functions
      of promoting blood circulation, relieving the depressed liver and attenuating
      breast disorders. This study was to investigate the anti-hyperplasia effects of
      the polyphenols-rich fraction from R. rugosa (FRR) in rat. Rat model of
      hyperplasia of mammary gland (HMG) was induced by intramuscularly injected with
      estrogen (0.5mg/kg/d) for 25 days, and followed with progestogen (5mg/kg/d) for
      another 5 days. Meanwhile, FRR was orally given for 30 days. Then, the levels of
      estradiol and oxidative stress were assessed. The mammary expressions of AKT and
      JNK were evaluated by Western blot analysis. The expressions of NFkappaB-p65, COX
      2 and VEGF were measured by immunohistochemical analysis. The whole results
      indicated that FRR could exert anti-hyperplasia effects in rat via modulating the
      mammary expression of JNK and AKT, as well as alleviating the NFkappaB related
      oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. 

PMID- 25828786
TI  - Evaluation of a combination chemotherapy protocol including lomustine and
      doxorubicin in canine histiocytic sarcoma.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To describe a chemotherapy protocol combining lomustine and
      doxorubicin in canine histiocytic sarcoma, including outcomes and toxicity.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective review of case records for dogs with
      histiocytic sarcoma treated with lomustine and doxorubicin (+/- cyclophosphamide)
      alternating every 2 weeks. Data collected included signalment, clinical signs,
      clinicopathological abnormalities, extent of disease, response, toxicity, time to
      tumour progression and survival time. RESULTS: Of 17 dogs, 15 had disseminated or
      metastatic disease. The median number of chemotherapy cycles (one dose of each
      drug) received was three; most dogs discontinued therapy due to progressive
      disease. Dose reductions or delays occurred in 18% of cycles. The overall
      response rate was 58%, with a median time to tumour progression of 185 (range, 59
      to 268) days for responders. The overall median survival time was 185 (18 to 402)
      days. No significant prognostic factors were identified. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
      The protocol appeared well-tolerated, had some efficacy against canine
      histiocytic sarcoma in the study population and could be considered as an
      alternative to single-agent protocols; prospective comparison may be warranted.

PMID- 25828787
TI  - An in vitro bioassay for the quantitative evaluation of mosquito repellents
      against Stegomyia aegypti (=Aedes aegypti) mosquitoes using a novel cocktail
      meal.
AB  - To assess the efficacy of new insect repellents, an efficient and safe in vitro
      bioassay system using a multiple-membrane blood-feeding device and a cocktail
      meal was developed. The multiple-membrane blood-feeding device facilitates the
      identification of new insect repellents by the high-throughput screening of
      candidate chemicals. A cocktail meal was developed as a replacement for blood for
      feeding females of Stegomyia aegypti (=Aedes aegypti) (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae).
      The cocktail meal consisted of a mixture of salt, albumin and dextrose, to which
      adenosine triphosphate was added to induce engorging. Feeding rates of St.
      aegypti on the cocktail meal and pig blood, respectively, did not differ
      significantly, but were significantly higher than the feeding rate on citrate
      phosphate dextrose-adenine 1 (CPDA-1) solutions, which had been used to replace
      bloodmeals in previous repellent assays. Dose-dependent biting inhibition rates
      were analysed using probit analysis. The RD(50) (the dose producing 50%
      repellence of mosquito feeding) values of DEET, citronella, carvacrol, geraniol,
      eugenol and thymol were 1.62, 14.40, 22.51, 23.29, 23.83 and 68.05 ug/cm(2),
      respectively.

PMID- 25828788
TI  - Mammary analogue secretory carcinoma of the sinus ethmoidalis.

PMID- 25828789
TI  - Case report of chronic cough and legs edema of an 84-year-old man: when the
      solution is found in the nails.

PMID- 25828790
TI  - Undetected vitamin D deficiency in a Chinese nursing home older adult.

PMID- 25828791
TI  - English translation of the Kihon Checklist.

PMID- 25828792
TI  - Operationalization of a frailty index using routine data from the Toulouse
      Frailty Clinic.

PMID- 25828793
TI  - A new treatment algorithm for the management of myopic choroidal
      neovascularization using intravitreal ranibizumab.

PMID- 25828794
TI  - Leaf-trait plasticity and species vulnerability to climate change in a Mongolian
      steppe.
AB  - Climate change is expected to modify plant assemblages in ways that will have
      major consequences for ecosystem functions. How climate change will affect
      community composition will depend on how individual species respond, which is
      likely related to interspecific differences in functional traits. The
      extraordinary plasticity of some plant traits is typically neglected in assessing
      how climate change will affect different species. In the Mongolian steppe, we
      examined whether leaf functional traits under ambient conditions and whether
      plasticity in these traits under altered climate could explain climate-induced
      biomass responses in 12 co-occurring plant species. We experimentally created
      three probable climate change scenarios and used a model selection procedure to
      determine the set of baseline traits or plasticity values that best explained
      biomass response. Under all climate change scenarios, plasticity for at least one
      leaf trait correlated with change in species performance, while functional leaf
      trait values in ambient conditions did not. We demonstrate that trait plasticity
      could play a critical role in vulnerability of species to a rapidly changing
      environment. Plasticity should be considered when examining how climate change
      will affect plant performance, species' niche spaces, and ecological processes
      that depend on plant community composition. 

PMID- 25828796
TI  - Introducing a new senior editor.

PMID- 25828795
TI  - The potential spread of severe footrot in Norway if no elimination programme had
      been initiated: a simulation model.
AB  - When severe footrot was detected in Norway in 2008, a surveillance programme was
      initiated and followed by an elimination programme. By 2013 the disease had
      spread to two of 19 counties and a total of 119 (1%) sheep flocks had been
      diagnosed with severe footrot. A simulation model was developed to estimate the
      potential spread of severe footrot in Norway and to estimate the relative
      importance of the different spreading routes. The model parameters were based on
      the rate of spread of the first 38 diagnosed cases and the management and
      climatic factors particular for Norway. The model showed that by 2013, severe
      footrot would have spread to six counties and infected 16% of the sheep flocks if
      no elimination programme had been initiated. If this is compared with the 1% of
      flocks that were diagnosed in Norway by 2013, there seems to be a large effect of
      the implemented footrot elimination programme. By 2035, it was estimated that
      severe footrot would have spread to 16 counties and 64% of the sheep flocks. Such
      an extensive spread would probably impose a large negative impact on the sheep
      industry and welfare of the sheep. The most effective way to curb the spread of
      severe footrot was by decreasing the within county infection rate. This could be
      achieved by decreasing the contact between flocks or by decreasing the
      environmental load of D. nodosus, for example by footbathing sheep, culling
      diseased sheep or eliminating severe footrot in the flock. 

PMID- 25828799
TI  - ProSight Lite: graphical software to analyze top-down mass spectrometry data.
AB  - Many top-down proteomics experiments focus on identifying and localizing PTMs and
      other potential sources of "mass shift" on a known protein sequence. A simple
      application to match ion masses and facilitate the iterative hypothesis testing
      of PTM presence and location would assist with the data analysis in these
      experiments. ProSight Lite is a free software tool for matching a single
      candidate sequence against a set of mass spectrometric observations. Fixed or
      variable modifications, including both PTMs and a select number of
      glycosylations, can be applied to the amino acid sequence. The application
      reports multiple scores and a matching fragment list. Fragmentation maps can be
      exported for publication in either portable network graphic (PNG) or scalable
      vector graphic (SVG) format. ProSight Lite can be freely downloaded from
      http://prosightlite.northwestern.edu, installs and updates from the web, and
      requires Windows 7 or a higher version.

PMID- 25828801
TI  - Biosensor-based real-time monitoring of paracetamol photocatalytic degradation.
AB  - This paper presents for the first time the integration of a biosensor for the on
      line, real-time monitoring of a photocatalytic degradation process. Paracetamol
      was used as a model molecule due to its wide use and occurrence in environmental
      waters. The biosensor was developed based on tyrosinase immobilization in a
      polyvinylalcohol photocrosslinkable polymer. It was inserted in a computer
      controlled flow system installed besides a photocatalytic reactor including
      titanium dioxide (TiO2) as photocatalyst. It was shown that the biosensor was
      able to accurately monitor the paracetamol degradation with time. Compared with
      conventional HPLC analysis, the described device provides a real-time information
      on the reaction advancement, allowing a better control of the photodegradation
      process. 

PMID- 25828800
TI  - Spinal antinociceptive effects of the novel NOP receptor agonist PWT2
      nociceptin/orphanin FQ in mice and monkeys.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Using an innovative chemical approach, peptide welding
      technology (PWT), a tetrabranched derivative of nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ)
      has been generated and pharmacologically characterized. Both in vitro and in vivo
      PWT2-N/OFQ displayed the same pharmacological profile to the natural ligand. It
      was more potent and produced longer-lasting effects. The aim of the present study
      was to investigate the spinal effects of PWT2-N/OFQ in nociceptive and
      neuropathic pain models in mice and non-human primates. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH:
      Tail withdrawal assay in mice and monkeys was used as a nociceptive pain model
      and mechanical threshold in mice subjected to chronic constriction injury was
      used as a neuropathic pain model. The antinociceptive effects of spinally
      administered N/OFQ and PWT2-N/OFQ were assessed in these models. KEY RESULTS:
      PWT2-N/OFQ mimicked the spinal antinociceptive effects of N/OFQ both in
      nociceptive and neuropathic pain models in mice as well as in non-human primates
      displaying 40-fold higher potency and a markedly prolonged duration of action.
      The effects of N/OFQ and PWT2-N/OFQ were sensitive to the N/OFQ receptor (NOP)
      antagonist SB-612111, but not to opioid receptor antagonists. CONCLUSIONS AND
      IMPLICATIONS: The present study has demonstrated that PWT2-N/OFQ mimicked the
      antinociceptive effects of the natural peptide in rodents and non-human primates
      acting as a potent and longer-lasting NOP-selective agonist. More generally, PWT
      derivatives of biologically active peptides can be viewed as innovative
      pharmacological tools for investigating those conditions and states in which
      selective and prolonged receptor stimulation promotes beneficial effects.

PMID- 25828802
TI  - Integrated environmental quality monitoring around an underground methane storage
      station.
AB  - The study reports an integrated environmental quality monitoring of a 100 km2
      area in central Italy mostly occupied by an underground station of methane
      storage, working since 1982. The nitrogen oxides, ozone and isoprene
      concentration detached with a network monitoring of passive filters were compared
      with the results of lichens biomonitoring. Data from the two monitorings were in
      accordance: there was an inversely correlation between lichen biodiversity index
      (IBL) and NOx (-0.96) and ozone (-0.80), and a positive correlation between IBL
      and isoprene (0.67). IBL indicated that the area ranged between medium
      naturalness and medium alteration status, values fully compatible with the medium
      high level of eutrophication, caused by intensive agriculture. Only two areas
      were in high alteration status, due to their proximity to glass factories and to
      a quarries area. Despite almost thirty years of activity, the environment quality
      of the area around the station did not show signs of declining.

PMID- 25828803
TI  - Hand amyotrophy and ventral intraspinal fluid collection.

PMID- 25828804
TI  - [Primary tumor resection of neuroendocrine pancreatic tumors with liver
      metastases].

PMID- 25828805
TI  - Human RAD50 makes a functional DNA-binding complex.
AB  - The MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 (MRN) complex has several distinct functions in DNA repair
      including important roles in both non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and
      homologous recombination (HR). The biochemical activities of MR(N) have been well
      characterized implying specific functional roles for the components. The
      arrangement of proteins in the complex implies interdependence of their
      biochemical activities making it difficult to separate specific functions. We
      obtained purified human RAD50 and observed that it binds ATP, undergoes ATP
      dependent conformational changes as well as having ATPase activity. Scanning
      force microscopy analysis clearly showed that RAD50 binds DNA although not as
      oligomers. RAD50 alone was not functional in tethering DNA molecules. ATP
      increased formation of RAD50 multimers which were however globular lacking
      extended coiled coils, in contrast to the MR complex where ATP induced oligomers
      have obvious coiled coils protruding from a central domain. These results suggest
      that MRE11 is important in maintaining the structural arrangement of RAD50 in the
      protein complex and perhaps has a role in reinforcing proper alignment of the
      coiled coils in the ATP-bound state. 

PMID- 25828806
TI  - Mechanistic overview of ADP-ribosylation reactions.
AB  - ADP-ribosylation reactions consist of mono-ADP-ribosylation, poly-ADP
      ribosylation and cyclic ADP-ribosylation. These reactions play essential roles in
      many important physiological and pathophysiological events. The types of chemical
      linkages, the evolutionarily conserved motif within the enzymes to determine the
      target specificity, stereochemistry of the ADP-ribosylated products, and the
      chemical reactions taking place among the enzymes and substrates are discussed. 

PMID- 25828807
TI  - A new protocol for nickel-catalysed regio- and stereoselective hydrocyanation of
      allenes.
AB  - Regio- and stereoselective hydrocyanation under nickel catalysis is described.
      This report shows that allenyl C-C double bonds are discriminated and converted
      to the corresponding carbonitriles as a single product. The key functionalities
      for achieving high regio- and stereocontrol are aryl and cyclopropyl groups in
      the substrates. 

PMID- 25828808
TI  - Corrigendum: Interferon regulatory factor 9 is critical for neointima formation
      following vascular injury.

PMID- 25828810
TI  - UHPLC-MS method for determination of gambogic acid and application to
      bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, excretion and tissue distribution in rats.
AB  - A sensitive ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry
      (UHPLC-MS) method was developed for determination of gambogic acid (GA) in rat
      plasma, urine, bile and main tissues. GA was separated on an Agilent Zorbax XDB
      C18 column (50 * 2.1 mm, 1.8 um) with gradient mobile phase at the flow rate of
      0.2 mL/min. The detection was performed by negative electrospray ionization with
      multiple reaction monitoring mode. The calibration curves of GA were linear
      between 1.0 and 1000 ng/mL in rat plasma and bile and between 1.0 and 500 ng/mL
      in urine and tissues. The lowest limit of quantification for all matrices was 1.0
      ng/mL. Both accuracy and precision of the assay were satisfactory. This validated
      method was firstly applied to bioavailability (BA), pharmacokinetics, excretion
      and tissue distribution in rats. The BAs of GA (40 and 80 mg/kg) in rats were
      0.25 and 0.32%, respectively. GA was distributed extensively in rats after oral
      administration and exhibited the highest level in liver. GA reached the
      cumulative excretion amount of 25.3 +/- 1.7 ug in bile and 0.275 +/- 0.08 ug in
      urine after i.g. 80 mg/kg to rats at 24 h. The present results would be helpful
      for further clinical use of GA as a potential anticancer drug.

PMID- 25828809
TI  - Which alcohol use disorder criteria contribute to the association of ADH1B with
      alcohol dependence?
AB  - Although alcohol dependence (AD) is approximately 50% heritable, little is known
      about how specific genetic loci affect AD risk. In a genome-wide association
      study (GWAS), we identified highly significant associations between two
      population-specific functional variants in the alcohol dehydrogenase 1B gene
      (ADH1B) and AD in African-Americans (AAs; rs2066702) and European-Americans (EAs;
      rs1229984). In the current study, we determined which specific diagnostic
      criteria contributed to the observed associations of ADH1B SNPs with AD. Our
      analysis included both the DSM-IV and DSM-5 diagnostic systems. We also
      investigated the relationship of ADH1B variants to the maximum number of drinks
      consumed in a 24-hour period (MaxDrinks), a presumed intermediate phenotype of
      AD. We found that, although all criteria made strong individual contributions to
      the associations, the largest contributions came from those reflecting
      neuroadaptation: tolerance (rs2066702) and withdrawal (rs1229984). Overall,
      evidence for association with DSM-5 criteria was slightly stronger than for DSM
      IV criteria. For rs2066702, results were similar for DSM-IV and DSM-5 criteria.
      However, the most significant DSM-5 criterion associated with rs1229984 was
      alcohol-related social/interpersonal problems. Both ADH1B variants were
      associated with MaxDrinks, a measure of innate tolerance, and MaxDrinks mediated
      the associations between ADH1B and alcohol outcomes. We replicated the findings
      for rs2066702 and tolerance in an independent sample of AAs. Taken together,
      these results suggest that variation in ADH1B affects the adaptation to heavy
      drinking, highlighting population-specific differences in genetic risk for AUD.
      They also suggest that the revisions reflected in DSM-5 AUD may enhance the
      utility of that diagnosis for gene finding.

PMID- 25828811
TI  - Supportive care for men with prostate cancer: why are the trials not working? A
      systematic review and recommendations for future trials.
AB  - Men with prostate cancer are likely to have a long illness and experience
      psychological distress for which supportive care may be helpful. This systematic
      review describes the evidence for effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of
      supportive care for men with prostate cancer, taking into account treatment
      pathway and components of interventions. MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, CENTRAL, and
      Psychinfo were searched from inception--July 2013 for randomized controlled
      trials and controlled trials. Two authors independently assessed risk of bias and
      extracted data. Twenty-six studies were included (2740 participants).
      Interventions were delivered pre and during (n = 12), short-term (n = 8), and
      longer term (18 months) (n = 5) after primary treatment. No interventions were
      delivered beyond this time. Few trials recruited ethnic minorities and none
      recruited men in same sex relationships. Intervention components included
      information, education, health professional discussion, homework, peer
      discussion, buddy support, cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive restructuring,
      psychoeducation, Reiki and relaxation. Most interventions were delivered for 5-10
      weeks. Risk of bias of trials was assessed as unclear for most domains due to
      lack of information. The majority of trials measuring quality of life and
      depression found no effect. Relatively few trials measured anxiety, coping skills
      and self-efficacy, and the majority found no effect. No cost data were available.
      Trials of supportive care for men with prostate cancer cover a range of
      interventions but are limited by population diversity, inconsistent measurement
      and reporting of outcomes, and inability to assess risk of bias. Recommendations
      on design and conduct of future trials are presented.

PMID- 25828812
TI  - CsRNASET2 is an important component of Clonorchis sinensis responsible for
      eliciting Th2 immune response.
AB  - Many parasites can trigger the host immune response by releasing
      excretory/secretory proteins (ESPs). CsRNASET2, a glycosylated T2 ribonuclease
      present in ESPs of Clonorchis sinensis (C. sinensis, Cs), has recently been
      reported to possess potent effects in regulating mouse dendritic cells (DCs).
      However, it is unclear whether CsRNASET2 can induce adaptive immune response. In
      this study, we carried out further investigations on biochemical features of
      CsRNASET2. Besides, we immunized Balb/c mice with CsRNASET2 and orally infected
      Balb/c mice with C. sinensis, respectively. Sera of immunized mice were collected
      and evaluated for specific antibody titers by ELISA. Splenocytes of experimental
      mice were isolated and stimulated in vitro. The expression levels of IL-4 and IFN
      gamma in splenocytes of immunized mice and infected mice were detected by ELISA
      and flow cytometry. Our results showed that the sequence of CsRNASET2 had close
      relationship with the homologue from Echinococcus multilocularis. The conserved
      active site (CAS) motifs, active histidine residues, and N-linked glycosylation
      region of CsRNASET2 were close to each other in the three-dimensional structure.
      In addition, sera of CsRNASET2 immunized mice had obviously higher levels of
      specific antibody titers. Splenocytes from both CsRNASET2 immunized mice and C.
      sinensis infected mice expressed increased levels of IL-4, while the production
      of IFN-gamma exhibited no significant difference. Immunization with CsRNASET2
      elicited Th2 immune response by promoting the synthesis of IL-4, consistent with
      the immune response initiated by infection of C. sinensis. Taken together, these
      data suggested that CsRNASET2 was important for C. sinensis to trigger Th2 immune
      response. 

PMID- 25828813
TI  - Analysis of the effect of soil saprophytic fungi on the eggs of Baylisascaris
      procyonis.
AB  - Baylisascaris procyonis is a soil-transmitted helminth mainly found in raccoons
      (Procyon lotor) which can also affect other domestic and sylvatic animals, as
      well as humans, when the eggs released in the feces of parasitized raccoons are
      accidentally ingested. Three assays have been conducted to assess the effect of
      three saprophytic fungi, Mucor circinelloides, Paecilomyces lilacinus, and
      Verticillium sp., on the eggs of B. procyonis. Firstly, their ovicidal effect was
      in vitro ascertained by placing 1 mL with 2 * 10(6) spores of each fungus in
      Petri plates with water-agar (2 %) and simultaneously adding 200 eggs of
      Baylisascaris/plate. Two in vivo probes were carried out, by spraying the fungal
      spores (3 mL containing about 2 * 10(6) spores/mL) on the feces of raccoons and
      coatis (Nasua narica) passing eggs of B. procyonis in a zoological park; the
      other assay consisted of evaluating the activity of the fungi after adding sand
      to fecal samples from raccoons. An ovicidal type 3 activity characterized by
      morphological damage of the eggshell with hyphal penetration, internal egg
      colonization, and embryo alteration was observed for all the tested fungi. In the
      plate assays, viability of Baylisascaris eggs reduced significantly by 53-69 %
      with Mucor, 45-62 % with Paecilomyces, and 52-67 % with Verticillium. A similar
      ovicidal effect was detected in the feces with sand. These results demonstrate
      the usefulness of spraying spores of M. circinelloides, Pa. lilacinus, or
      Verticillium sp. on the feces of animals infected by Baylisascaris to decrease
      the numbers of viable eggs and, thus, the risk of infection. 

PMID- 25828814
TI  - A scanning electron microscope technique for studying the sclerites of
      Cichlidogyrus.
AB  - The genus Cichlidogyrus (Monogenea: Ancyrocephalidae) includes more than 90
      species, most of which are gill parasites of African cichlid fishes.
      Cichlidogyrus has been studied extensively in recent years, but scanning electron
      microscope (SEM) investigations of the isolated hard parts have not yet been
      undertaken. In this paper, we describe a method for isolating and scanning the
      sclerites of individual Cichlidogyrus worms. Twenty-year-old, formol-fixed
      specimens of Cichlidogyrus casuarinus were subjected to proteinase K digestion in
      order to release the sclerites from the surrounding soft tissues. SEM micrographs
      of the haptoral sclerites and the male copulatory organ are presented. The
      ability to digest formol-fixed specimens makes this method a useful tool for the
      study of historical museum collections. 

PMID- 25828815
TI  - Erratum to: Pediculicidal treatment using ethanol and Melia azedarach L.

PMID- 25828816
TI  - The intraocular pressure and central corneal thickness in healthy premature
      infants.
AB  - PURPOSE: To describe the normal values of intraocular pressure (IOP) and central
      corneal thickness (CCT) in healthy premature infants. METHODS: Infants of <32
      weeks' gestational age who underwent screened for retinopathy of prematurity were
      prospectively enrolled. The same ophthalmologist measured IOP by applanation
      tonometry and CCT using ultrasonic pachymetry. Infants were divided into four
      groups according to postconceptional ages (PCA). The mean values of the IOP and
      CCT were compared by nonparametric statistical tests, and the relationship of the
      PCA with IOP and CCT were analyzed with correlation tests. Only right eye
      measurements were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 470 infants (mean PCA, 35.94 +/-
      4.00 weeks) were enrolled. The mean IOP with standard deviation was 16.86 +/-
      2.93 mm Hg; the mean CCT, 590 +/- 58.26 MUm. Both IOP and CCT values were found
      to be significantly higher in infants with lower versus higher PCA (P < 0.001).
      There was a statistically significant negative linear relationship between the
      PCA and the values of IOP and CCT, separately. CONCLUSIONS: IOP and CCT values
      may be higher in infants with lower PCA. Higher IOP values in these infants may
      be associated with higher CCT values.

PMID- 25828817
TI  - Outcomes of three different vertical rectus muscle transposition procedures for
      complete abducens nerve palsy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the efficacy of three different vertical rectus muscle
      transposition (VRT) techniques performed as a sole procedure to correct ocular
      alignment and improve abduction in cases of complete abducens nerve palsy.
      METHODS: The medical records of patients with complete abducens nerve palsy who
      underwent one of three different VRT procedures without simultaneous medial
      rectus weakening over a period of 20 years were retrospectively reviewed. The
      following procedures were used: full-tendon transposition (FTT), FTT with 4 mm
      resections before reinsertion (FTTR), and FTT with myopexy sutures (FTTM). We
      recorded the pre- and postoperative alignments, limitations of adduction and
      abduction, and complications. Follow-up was at least 6 months. RESULTS: A total
      of 26 patients (age range, 8-74 years) were included: 25 unilateral and 1
      bilateral. Follow-up ranged from 6 to 21 months. Among 25 patients having
      unilateral surgery, the mean changes in esotropia were: 36.0(Delta) for FTT (n =
      9), 46.4(Delta) for FTTR (n = 7), and 41.3(Delta) for FTTM (n = 9). Mean
      improvements in abduction grading were 0.94 for FTT (9 eyes), 1.64 for FTTR (7
      eyes), and 1.41 for FTTM (11 eyes). For both measures the means were not
      significantly different. Three patients (2 FTT and 1 FTTM) had new postoperative
      vertical tropias >3(Delta). Only 1 patient (with FTTR) had an overcorrection.
      CONCLUSIONS: FTTR corrected the most esotropia and improved abduction to the
      greatest degree, with the advantages of a low risk of creating a new vertical
      deviation and avoiding the risks of extra scleral sutures.

PMID- 25828818
TI  - Photodynamic therapy for diffuse choroidal hemangioma in a child with Sturge
      Weber syndrome.
AB  - Sturge-Weber syndrome is a rare neurocutaneous disorder involving the
      leptomeninges, skin of the face, and, in 40% of cases, diffuse choroidal
      hemangioma. We report the case of a 6-year-old girl with Sturge-Weber syndrome
      and a large diffuse choroidal hemangioma with retinal detachment involving the
      majority of the retina. The patient underwent photodynamic therapy. The retinal
      detachment resolved completely within 3 months of treatment. This case represents
      the youngest patient in the literature to undergo successful treatment with
      photodynamic therapy for Sturge-Weber syndrome-associated diffuse choroidal
      hemangioma. 

PMID- 25828819
TI  - Nonsurgical treatment of cyclic esotropia.
AB  - Cyclic esotropia is characterized by a 24-hour period of straight eye position
      followed by 24 hours of large-angle esotropia. Possible mechanisms include
      notably progressive loss of compensation of a latent strabismus. The classic
      treatment is surgical correction of the angle measured on the days with manifest
      deviation. We report the first case of cyclic esotropia successfully treated by
      prismatic correction of the latent strabismus present on "straight" days. 

PMID- 25828820
TI  - Low cerebrospinal fluid protein in prepubertal children with idiopathic
      intracranial hypertension.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate a clinical observation that prepubertal children with
      idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) have low cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
      protein levels compared to healthy children and pubertal patients with IIH.
      METHODS: The medical records of prepubertal and pubertal IIH patients and
      controls seen in the pediatric neuro-ophthalmology clinic at Duke between 2003
      and 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. The control group consisted of children
      who had normal intracranial pressure on lumbar puncture performed to evaluate for
      headaches or anomalous-looking optic nerves. The records were analyzed with
      attention to demographic characteristics, clinical presentation, course, and
      lumbar puncture results. RESULTS: A total of 23 prepubertal children with IIH
      (age range, 0.75-13 years), 16 pubertal patients with IIH (age range, 13-21
      years), and 12 controls (age range 3-14 years) were included. CSF analysis
      revealed that prepubertal children with IIH had significantly lower CSF protein
      levels (17.3 +/- 5.7 mg/dL) compared to pubertal subjects with IIH (23.4 +/- 8.4
      mg/dL; P = 0.019) or healthy controls (23.5 +/- 6.4 mg/dL; P = 0.011).
      Furthermore, 9 of 23 prepubertal IIH patients (39%) had abnormally low CSF
      protein level (<15 mg/dL), compared to zero pubertal IIH patients (P = 0.005) and
      zero controls (P = 0.015). Acetazolamide increased CSF protein level in 100% of
      patients who underwent repeat lumbar puncture after starting the medication
      (average increase, 10.3 +/- 6.6 mg/dL). CONCLUSIONS: Low CSF protein level may
      have diagnostic utility as a biomarker for prepubertal IIH. Furthermore, this
      finding suggests that some cases of prepubertal IIH may be caused by CSF
      overproduction rather than decreased CSF resorption.

PMID- 25828821
TI  - The incidence and visual acuity outcomes of children identified with ametropic
      amblyopia by vision screening.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the incidence of ametropic amblyopia within a vision
      screening program's population and report the visual acuity outcomes of children
      identified with the condition. METHOD: The medical records of children who
      underwent vision screening as their first assessment at 4-5 years of age between
      September 1, 2005 and August 31, 2006, were retrospectively reviewed. Children
      referred with <=0.30 logMAR in each eye with at least 1 year of follow-up had
      their hospital notes reviewed and data on final visual acuity, refractive error,
      and follow-up period collected. RESULTS: A total of 33 children identified as
      having ametropic amblyopia with a follow-up of at least 1 year. The incidence of
      ametropic amblyopia was 2%-3.2%, depending on the definition used. The mean
      visual acuity achieved after treatment was 0.12 logMAR, which is significantly
      less than the age-appropriate mean of 0.00 logMAR (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS:
      Ametropic amblyopia responds to treatment, but most children demonstrate
      persistent reduced visual acuity at age 7 years. The incidence of ametropic
      amblyopia within a routine vision screening population shows that significant
      numbers fail to self-present.

PMID- 25828822
TI  - Risk factors associated with retinal hemorrhage in suspected abusive head trauma.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine risk factors associated with retinal hemorrhage (RH) in
      pediatric abusive head trauma (AHT) suspects. METHODS: Records of children aged 0
      3 years hospitalized for suspected AHT from January 2007 to November 2011 were
      retrospectively reviewed in this case-control study. Children were classified
      into case and control groups based on RH presence. Medical history, presenting
      symptoms, reasons, and characteristics of injury were recorded. Logistic
      regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors. RESULTS: A total of
      168 children (104 males) were included. Of these, 103 were classified as cases
      and 65 as controls. The mean age (with standard deviation) was 9.3 +/- 8.3 months
      (range, 1 day-36 months). Of the 103 cases, 22 (21%) had subretinal hemorrhage, 9
      (9%) had retinoschisis, and 1 (1%) had vitreous hemorrhage. Children presenting
      with lethargy or altered mental status (P < 0.0001), subdural hemorrhage (P <
      0.0001), and other radiologic findings (eg, cerebral ischemia, diffuse axonal
      injury, hydrocephalus, or solid organ injury; P = 0.01546) were likely to have
      RH. All 23 children with skull or nonskull fracture without intracranial
      hemorrhage did not have RH (P < 0.0001 both categories). CONCLUSIONS: Retinal
      hemorrhages were almost never found in the absence of intracranial hemorrhage and
      not found in the setting of fracture without intracranial hemorrhage.

PMID- 25828823
TI  - Anomalous optical coherence tomography findings in Wyburn-Mason syndrome and
      isolated retinal arteriovenous malformation.
AB  - We report 2 cases of unilateral retinal arteriovenous malformation (AVM) with
      previously unreported anomalies of the inner retinal layers detected on spectral
      domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT): a 5-year-old girl with a large
      unilateral retinal AVM, ipsilateral visual acuity of 20/200, and ipsilateral
      intracranial AVM; and a 10-year-old boy with a large unilateral retinal AVM,
      ipsilateral visual acuity of 20/20, ipsilateral temporal visual field defects,
      and no intracranial AVM. Both macular SD-OCT findings showed multiple large inner
      retinal vessels that created a prominent shadowing artifact, retinal thickening,
      and speckling and heterogeneity of inner retinal layers. 

PMID- 25828824
TI  - A case of familial exudative vitreoretinopathy identified after genetic testing.
AB  - We report the case of a 21-month-old girl who was found to have familial
      exudative vitreoretinopathy after genetic testing revealed a genetic deletion at
      7q22. She had previously been followed for exotropia; however, fundus
      examinations in the office were thought to be normal. After the pediatric
      geneticist identified the link between 7q22 deletions and vitreoretinopathies an
      examination under anesthesia was performed. Fluorescein angiography during this
      examination confirmed the presence of avascular areas of the retina. 

PMID- 25828825
TI  - Sagging eye syndrome presenting as a form of strabismus fixus.
AB  - Lateral rectus-superior rectus band degeneration with aging is the major cause of
      sagging eye syndrome, which usually presents with small-angle esotropia or
      hypotropia. In contrast, heavy eye syndrome, also called myopic strabismus fixus,
      is characterized by profound esotropia and hypotropia with the eyeball fixed
      nasally. We report the case of a 71-year-old man with sagging eye syndrome
      presenting with strabismus fixus and no myopia. 

PMID- 25828826
TI  - Design, synthesis and biological activity of novel asymmetric C66 analogs as anti
      inflammatory agents for the treatment of acute lung injury.
AB  - Acute lung injury (ALI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in
      critically-ill patients. Previously, we reported that a symmetric mono-carbonyl
      analog of curcumin, (C66), exhibits enhanced stability and was found to have
      efficacy and be involved in potential cytokines inhibition. In the present study,
      a series of novel asymmetric C66 analogs were designed and synthesized. A
      majority of them effectively inhibited the LPS-induced expression of TNF-alpha
      and IL-6. Significantly, compound 4b2 was found to effectively reduce LPS-induced
      pulmonary inflammation, as reflected by reductions in concentration of total
      protein, inflammatory cell count as well as the lung W/D ratio in bronchoalveolar
      lavage (BAL) fluid. Furthermore, in vivo administration of 4b2 resulted in
      remarkable improvement in histopathological changes of lung in rats.

PMID- 25828827
TI  - Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel pyrazoline-containing
      derivatives as potential tubulin assembling inhibitors.
AB  - A series of novel pyrazoline-containing derivatives (15-47) has been designed,
      synthesized and evaluated for their biological activities. Among them, compound
      18 displayed the most potent antiproliferative activity against A549, MCF-7 and
      HepG-2 cells line (IC50 = 0.07 MUM, 0.05 MUM, 0.03 MUM, respectively) and the
      tubulin polymerization inhibitory activity (IC50 = 1.88 MUM), being comparable to
      CA-4. Furthermore, we also tested that compound 18 was a potent inducer of
      apoptosis in HepG-2 cells and it had cellular effects typical for microtubule
      interacting agents, causing accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase of the cell
      cycle. These studies, along with molecular docking, provided a new molecular
      scaffold for the further development of antitumor agents that target tubulin.

PMID- 25828828
TI  - Thermoluminescence properties of lithium magnesium borate glasses system doped
      with dysprosium oxide.
AB  - We report the impact of dysprosium (Dy(3+)) dopant and magnesium oxide (MgO)
      modifier on the thermoluminescent properties of lithium borate (LB) glass via two
      procedures. The thermoluminescence (TL) glow curves reveal a single prominent
      peak at 190  degrees C for 0.5 mol% of Dy(3+). An increase in MgO contents by 10
      mol% enhances the TL intensity by a factor of 1.5 times without causing any shift
      in the maximum temperature. This enhancement is attributed to the occurrence of
      extra electron traps created via magnesium and the energy transfer to trivalent
      Dy(3+) ions. Good linearity in the range of 0.01-4 Gy with a linear correlation
      coefficient of 0.998, fading as low as 21% over a period of 3 months, excellent
      reproducibility without oven annealing and tissue equivalent effective atomic
      numbers ~8.71 are achieved. The trap parameters, including geometric factor
      (MUg), activation energy (E) and frequency factor (s) associated with LMB:Dy are
      also determined. These favorable TL characteristics of prepared glasses may
      contribute towards the development of Li2O-MgO-B2O3 radiation dosimeters.

PMID- 25828829
TI  - Ethionamide-induced Pellagra.
AB  - Pellagra is a disorder characterized by dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia and
      eventually death, resulting from a deficiency of niacin or its precursor
      tryptophan. Ethionamide (a second-line antituberculosis agent)-induced pellagra
      is rarely encountered in clinical practice. Prompt diagnosis and treatment with
      nicotinamide can prevent life-threatening complications. To date, only three
      cases have been reported. We report a 13-year-old girl presenting with
      ethionamide-induced pellagra that resolved after the administration of niacin. 

PMID- 25828830
TI  - Prevalence of Dicrocoelium dendriticum ova in Ghanaian school children.

PMID- 25828831
TI  - Anemia among school children in eastern Nepal.
AB  - Anemia is one of the most common public health problems in developing countries
      like Nepal. This study was done to find the prevalence of anemia among the
      children aged 4-13 years in eastern Nepal. A cross-sectional study was conducted
      in 2012 in four districts (Morang, Udayapur, Bhojpur and Ilam) of eastern Nepal
      to find the prevalence of anemia among the school children of eastern Nepal.
      Children aged 4-13 years were selected randomly from different schools of above
      districts and 618 venous blood samples were collected. Hemoglobin level was
      estimated by using cyanmethemoglobin method. The mean hemoglobin level was 12.2
      +/- 1.82 gm/dl. About 37.9% (n = 234) children were found anemic. Anemia
      prevalence was 42.4% (n = 78), 31.6% (n = 60), 45.3% (n = 48) and 34.8% (n = 48)
      among school children of Morang, Udayapur, Bhojpur and Ilam district,
      respectively. The study finds anemia as a significant health problem among the
      school children of eastern Nepal.

PMID- 25828832
TI  - Human milk banking and milk kinship: Perspectives of mothers in a Muslim country.
AB  - AIM: The present study aims to determine the knowledge, attitudes and views of
      mothers regarding infant feeding, breast milk, wet-nursing, milk kinship and
      human milk banks. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was composed of
      1042 mothers who delivered at two different hospitals in Turkey. RESULTS: Almost
      half of the participating mothers, 49.9%, agreed with the establishment of
      alternative HMBs in Turkey. Only 7.7% of the mothers in this study expressed
      views in favour of the establishment of Western-style HMBs. Approximately half of
      the mothers (42.4%) indicated that they were against the establishment of any
      kind of HMBs in Turkey. Only 9.2% of the mothers in this study stated that they
      would volunteer to donate their breast milk to the Western-style HMBs, and only
      6.9% of the mothers approved obtaining milk from this type of HMB. Finally, 44.2%
      of the mothers stated that they would donate their breast milk to the alternative
      HMBs, and 31.9% of the mothers approved obtaining milk from this type of HMB.
      CONCLUSION: This is the first study conducted among mothers in a Muslim community
      about issues such as infant feeding, breast milk, wet-nursing, milk kinship and
      HMBs. The majority of the mothers in this study are against the establishment of
      Western-style HMBs, whereas they have a more positive response to an alternative
      HMB when their religious concerns are relieved.

PMID- 25828833
TI  - Out-of-pocket nonmedical expenses associated with out-patient treatment of common
      childhood illnesses.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Out-of-pocket expenses, medical and non-medical, have an
      impoverishing effect on the family. OBJECTIVE: Determine non-medical out-of
      pocket expenses incurred during out-patient attendance for primary care services.
      METHODS: A descriptive survey was undertaken at a rural medical college using
      interviewer-administered questionnaire to parents of children <6 years over a
      period of 6 weeks. Seventy-six participants were interviewed for collecting
      demographic data and actual cost on travel and meals. RESULTS: Median expenditure
      for travel was Indian rupees (INR) 20 with inter-quartile range (IQR) 14-48 and
      on food it was INR 110 with IQR 40-155. Median total expenditure on the visit was
      INR 122 with IQR 61-220. Among those who travelled >5 km, 36% attendance was for
      respiratory complaints, 27% with fever and as many as 86% for vaccination.
      CONCLUSION: Families in rural India have substantial costs incurred in OPD
      attendance, most of which is for preventive health care such as immunization.

PMID- 25828834
TI  - Influenza virus infections in the tropics during the first year of life.
AB  - Pediatric influenza virus infections in the tropics, particularly during infancy,
      are not well described. We identified influenza virus infections among infants
      with non-dengue acute undifferentiated febrile illnesses in San Pablo, Laguna,
      Philippines, as part of an ongoing clinical study of dengue virus infections
      during infancy. We found that 31% of infants with non-dengue acute
      undifferentiated febrile illnesses in San Pablo, Laguna, Philippines, had
      influenza virus infections. The majority were influenza A virus infections and
      outpatient cases. The infant ages were 11.1 [9.8-13.0] months (median [95%
      confidence interval]), and the cases clustered between June and December.
      Influenza episodes are a common cause of non-dengue acute undifferentiated
      febrile illnesses in the tropics during the first year of life. 

PMID- 25828835
TI  - Editorial: Faux amis: Langerin-expressing DC in humans and mice.

PMID- 25828836
TI  - Editorial: Crossing the divide: a novel Cd8 enhancer with activity in CTLs and
      CD8alphaalpha+ dendritic cells.

PMID- 25828837
TI  - Traumatic atrial myxoma rupture mimicking post-concussive symptoms.

PMID- 25828838
TI  - Isolated blepharoptosis may point to HIV-associated Burkitt's lymphoma.

PMID- 25828839
TI  - Osteotomy of the greater trochanter: effect on gluteus medius function.
AB  - PURPOSE: Advancement of the greater trochanter alters the function of the gluteus
      medius muscle. However, with the exception of clinical studies and biomechanical
      lever arm studies, no publications that analyze the consequences of advancement
      of the greater trochanter on the muscle function exist. The aim of the study was
      to analyze the mechanical changes of gluteus medius after osteotomy of the
      greater trochanter in a lab setting. METHODS: An anatomical study of origin and
      insertion of the gluteus medius was carried out on four hips. Based on the
      dissections, a string model was developed dividing the muscle into five sectors.
      Changes in muscle fiber length were measured for every 10 degrees  of flexion,
      internal and external rotation and abduction with the trochanter in anatomic,
      proximalized and distalized positions. RESULTS: Distalization of the trochanter
      leads to an imbalance of muscle action, moving the isometric sector of the muscle
      anteriorly with more muscle sectors being active during flexion and less during
      extension. Stretching of the muscle increases passive forces but decreases the
      force generation capacity of the muscle and at the same time increased muscle
      fiber excursion may require more energy consumption, which may explain earlier
      fatigue of the abductor musculature after distalization of the trochanter. For
      abduction, distalization of the muscle attachment leads to a change in
      contraction pattern from isometric to isotonic. Optimal balancing and excursion
      of the muscle is when the tip of the greater trochanter is at level with the hip
      rotation center. CONCLUSIONS: In hips with high riding trochanter, the optimal
      position is at the level of the center of hip rotation. Excessive distalization
      should be avoided. As the conclusions and considerations are based on a lab
      setting, transfer to clinical practice may not necessarily apply.

PMID- 25828840
TI  - Not hating what you see: Self-compassion may protect against negative mental
      health variables connected to self-objectification in college women.
AB  - Self-objectification is related to maladaptive mental health variables, but
      little is known about what could ameliorate these associations. Self-compassion,
      a construct associated with mindfulness, involves taking a non-judgmental
      attitude toward the self. In this study, 306 college-aged women were recruited;
      those who were highest (n=106) and lowest (n=104) in self-compassion were
      retained for analyses. Levels of body surveillance, body shame, depression, and
      negative eating attitudes were lower in the high self-compassion group.
      Furthermore, the fit of a path model wherein body surveillance related to body
      shame, which, in turn, related to negative eating attitudes and depressive
      symptomatology was compared for each group, controlling for body mass index. The
      model fit significantly differently such that the connections between self
      objectification and negative body and eating attitudes were weaker in the high
      self-compassion group. Treatment implications of self-compassion as a potential
      means to interrupt the self-objectification process are discussed. 

PMID- 25828841
TI  - Confirmatory factor analysis of the Drive for Muscularity Scale-S (DMS-S) and
      Male Body Attitudes Scale-S (MBAS-S) among male university students in Buenos
      Aires.
AB  - Several studies have demonstrated that men express body dissatisfaction
      differently than women. Although specific instruments that address body
      dissatisfaction in men have been developed, only a few have been validated in
      Latin-American male populations. The aim of this study was to reassess the factor
      structure of the Spanish versions of the Drive for Muscularity Scale (DMS-S) and
      the Male Body Attitudes Scale (MBAS-S) in an Argentinian sample. A cross
      sectional study was conducted among 423 male students to examine: the factorial
      structure (confirmatory factor analysis), the internal consistency reliability,
      and the concurrent, convergent and discriminant validity of both scales. Results
      replicated the two factor structures for the DMS-S and MBAS-S. Both scales showed
      excellent levels of internal consistency, and various measures of construct
      validity indicated that the DMS-S and MBAS-S were acceptable and valid
      instruments to assess body dissatisfaction in Argentinian males. 

PMID- 25828842
TI  - The Breast Size Rating Scale: Development and psychometric evaluation.
AB  - Existing measures of breast size dissatisfaction have poor ecological validity or
      have not been fully evaluated in terms of psychometric properties. Here, we
      report on the development of the Breast Size Rating Scale (BSRS), a novel measure
      of breast size dissatisfaction consisting of 14 computer-generated images varying
      in breast size alone. Study 1 (N=107) supported the scale's construct validity,
      insofar as participants were able to correctly order the images in terms of
      breast size. Study 2 (N=234) provided evidence of the test-retest reliability of
      BSRS-derived scores after 3 months. Studies 3 (N=730) and 4 (N=234) provided
      evidence of the convergent validity of BSRS-derived breast size dissatisfaction
      scores, which were significantly associated with a range of measures of body
      image. The BSRS provides a useful tool for researchers examining women's breast
      size dissatisfaction. 

PMID- 25828843
TI  - Do fluoroscopy systems influence the level of scatter radiation exposure during
      endoscopic procedures?

PMID- 25828844
TI  - Multi-institutional retrospective cohort study of patients with severe pulmonary
      hypertension associated with respiratory diseases.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is often associated with
      respiratory diseases, but only a small number of patients present with severe PH
      defined as mean pulmonary arterial pressure >= 35 mm Hg. We here conducted a
      multicenter, retrospective study of patients with severe PH associated with
      respiratory diseases (R-PH) to reveal their demographics, treatment, prognosis
      and determinants of prognosis. METHODS: From 101 patients with severe R-PH
      collected by postal survey at the first stage, 70 patients with four major
      diseases (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), combined pulmonary
      fibrosis with emphysema (CPFE), interstitial pneumonia associated with connective
      tissue disease (CTD-IP), interstitial pneumonia (IP)) and normal pulmonary
      arterial wedge pressure were studied for clinical characteristics, treatment and
      prognosis. RESULTS: Three-year survival rates were 50% for COPD (n = 18), 35.7%
      for IP (n = 19) and 68.1% for CTD-IP (n = 20), and the 2-year survival rate for
      CPFE (n = 13) was only 22.6%. Eighty-one per cent of patients had been treated
      with pharmacotherapy specific for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Those patients
      who had received phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (PDE-5I) displayed significantly
      better survival from the date of diagnosis than those who had not (3-year
      survival: 61.8% vs 20.0% P < 0.0001), especially in the IP, CTD-IP and CPFE
      groups. Multivariate analysis also revealed that treatment with PDE-5I was a
      positive prognostic factor. CONCLUSIONS: We here demonstrated the dismal
      prognosis of patients with severe R-PH. The remarkably better survival in those
      patients who had received PDE-5I warrants and facilitates future prospective
      randomized studies in this particular population.

PMID- 25828846
TI  - Characterisation of an unusual telomere motif (TTTTTTAGGG)n in the plant Cestrum
      elegans (Solanaceae), a species with a large genome.
AB  - The characterization of unusual telomere sequence sheds light on patterns of
      telomere evolution, maintenance and function. Plant species from the closely
      related genera Cestrum, Vestia and Sessea (family Solanaceae) lack known plant
      telomeric sequences. Here we characterize the telomere of Cestrum elegans, work
      that was a challenge because of its large genome size and few chromosomes (1C
      9.76 pg; n = 8). We developed an approach that combines BAL31 digestion, which
      digests DNA from the ends and chromosome breaks, with next-generation sequencing
      (NGS), to generate data analysed in RepeatExplorer, designed for de novo repeats
      identification and quantification. We identify an unique repeat motif
      (TTTTTTAGGG)n in C. elegans, occurring in ca. 30 400 copies per haploid genome,
      averaging ca. 1900 copies per telomere, and synthesized by telomerase. We
      demonstrate that the motif is synthesized by telomerase. The occurrence of an
      unusual eukaryote (TTTTTTAGGG)n telomeric motif in C. elegans represents a switch
      in motif from the 'typical' angiosperm telomere (TTTAGGG)n . That switch may have
      happened with the divergence of Cestrum, Sessea and Vestia. The shift in motif
      when it arose would have had profound effects on telomere activity. Thus our
      finding provides a unique handle to study how telomerase and telomeres responded
      to genetic change, studies that will shed more light on telomere function. 

PMID- 25828845
TI  - Physicochemical and biomechanical stimuli in cell-based articular cartilage
      repair.
AB  - Articular cartilage is a unique load-bearing connective tissue with a low
      intrinsic capacity for repair and regeneration. Its avascularity makes it
      relatively hypoxic and its unique extracellular matrix is enriched with cations,
      which increases the interstitial fluid osmolarity. Several physicochemical and
      biomechanical stimuli are reported to influence chondrocyte metabolism and may be
      utilized for regenerative medical approaches. In this review article, we
      summarize the most relevant stimuli and describe how ion channels may contribute
      to cartilage homeostasis, with special emphasis on intracellular signaling
      pathways. We specifically focus on the role of calcium signaling as an essential
      mechanotransduction component and highlight the role of phosphatase signaling in
      this context. 

PMID- 25828847
TI  - Treatment of hypertension in patients with coronary artery disease: a scientific
      statement from the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology,
      and American Society of Hypertension.

PMID- 25828848
TI  - An organic solvent-stable lipase from a newly isolated Staphylococcus aureus ALA1
      strain with potential for use as an industrial biocatalyst.
AB  - In this study, a new strain, ALA1, was identified as Staphylococcus aureus by
      biochemical tests, and its 16S ribosomal DNA sequence was isolated from dromedary
      milk. ALA1 lipase production was optimized in shake flask experiments and
      measured with varying pH (3-11), temperature (20-55  degrees C) and substrate
      concentrations. The maximum lipase production was recorded at pH 8 and 30 
      degrees C for up to 30 H of culture period for the S. aureus ALA1 strain. Among
      the substrates tested, selected carbon sources, xylose, nitrogen source, yeast
      extract, and olive oil (1%) were suitable for maximizing lipase production. The
      effects of surfactants were investigated and showed that Tween 20, Tween 80, and
      Triton X-100 prevented lipase production. Interestingly, isolate ALA1 was able to
      grow in high concentrations of benzene or toluene (up to 50% (v/v)). Moreover,
      the lipolytic activity of the S. aureus ALA1 lipase was stimulated by diethyl
      ether, whereas almost 100% of S. aureus ALA1 lipase activity was retained in 25%
      acetone, acetonitrile, benzene, 2-propanol, ethanol, methanol, or toluene.
      Because of its stability in organic solvent, the S. aureus ALA1 lipase was used
      as a biocatalyst to synthesize high levels of added value molecules. S. aureus
      ALA1 lipase could be considered as an ideal choice for applications in detergent
      formulations because of its high stability and compatibility with various
      surfactants, oxidizing agents, and commercial detergents. 

PMID- 25828849
TI  - Imaging genetics studies on monoaminergic genes in major depressive disorder.
AB  - Although depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, current
      understanding of the neurobiology of depression has failed to be translated into
      clinical practice. Major depressive disorder (MDD) pathogenesis is considered to
      be significantly influenced by multiple risk genes, however genetic effects are
      not simply expressed at a behavioral level. Therefore the concept of
      endophenotype has been applied in psychiatric genetics. Imaging genetics applies
      anatomical or functional imaging technologies as phenotypic assays to evaluate
      genetic variation and their impact on behavior. This paper attempts to provide a
      comprehensive review of available imaging genetics studies, including reports on
      genetic variants that have most frequently been linked to MDD, such as the
      monoaminergic genes (serotonin transporter gene, monoamine oxidase A gene,
      tryptophan hydroxylase-2 gene, serotonin receptor 1A gene and catechol-O-methyl
      transferase gene), with regard to key structures involved in emotion processing,
      such as the hippocampus, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex and orbitofrontal
      cortex. 

PMID- 25828850
TI  - Extended full-genome phylogenetic analysis of the first human A/H5N1 avian
      influenza case in North America.

PMID- 25828851
TI  - Accuracy Comparison of Implant Impression Techniques: A Systematic Review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several studies link the seamless fit of implant-supported prosthesis
      with the accuracy of the dental impression technique obtained during acquisition.
      In addition, factors such as implant angulation and coping shape contribute to
      implant misfit. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to identify the most accurate
      impression technique and factors affecting the impression accuracy. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature was conducted analyzing
      articles published between 2009 and 2013. The following search terms were used:
      implant impression, impression accuracy, and implant misfit. A total of 417
      articles were identified; 32 were selected for review. RESULTS: All 32 selected
      studies refer to in vitro studies. Fourteen articles compare open and closed
      impression technique, 8 advocate the open technique, and 6 report similar
      results. Other 14 articles evaluate splinted and non-splinted techniques; all
      advocating the splinted technique. Polyether material usage was reported in nine;
      six studies tested vinyl polysiloxane and one study used irreversible
      hydrocolloid. Eight studies evaluated different copings designs. Intraoral
      optical devices were compared in four studies. CONCLUSIONS: The most accurate
      results were achieved with two configurations: (1) the optical intraoral system
      with powder and (2) the open technique with splinted squared transfer copings,
      using polyether as impression material.

PMID- 25828852
TI  - Higher Dietary Calcium Intakes Are Associated With Reduced Risks of Fractures,
      Cardiovascular Events, and Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study of Older Men and
      Women.
AB  - The aim of this population-based, prospective cohort study was to investigate
      long-term associations between dietary calcium intake and fractures, non-fatal
      cardiovascular disease (CVD), and death from all causes. Participants were from
      the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study, which was established in 1990 to 1994.
      A total of 41,514 men and women (~99% aged 40 to 69 years at baseline) were
      followed up for a mean (SD) of 12 (1.5) years. Primary outcome measures were time
      to death from all causes (n = 2855), CVD-related deaths (n = 557),
      cerebrovascular disease-related deaths (n = 139), incident non-fatal CVD (n =
      1827), incident stroke events (n = 537), and incident fractures (n = 788). A
      total of 12,097 participants (aged >=50 years) were eligible for fracture
      analysis and 34,468 for non-fatal CVD and mortality analyses. Mortality was
      ascertained by record linkage to registries. Fractures and CVD were ascertained
      from interview ~13 years after baseline. Quartiles of baseline energy-adjusted
      calcium intake from food were estimated using a food-frequency questionnaire.
      Hazard ratios (HR) and odds ratios (OR) were calculated for quartiles of dietary
      calcium intake. Highest and lowest quartiles of energy-adjusted dietary calcium
      intakes represented unadjusted means (SD) of 1348 (316) mg/d and 473 (91) mg/d,
      respectively. Overall, there were 788 (10.3%) incident fractures, 1827 (9.0%)
      incident CVD, and 2855 people (8.6%) died. Comparing the highest with the lowest
      quartile of calcium intake, for all-cause mortality, the HR was 0.86 (95%
      confidence interval [CI] 0.76-0.98, p(trend)  = 0.01); for non-fatal CVD and
      stroke, the OR was 0.84 (95% CI 0.70-0.99, p(trend)  = 0.04) and 0.69 (95% CI
      0.51-0.93, p(trend)  = 0.02), respectively; and the OR for fracture was 0.70 (95%
      CI 0.54-0.92, p(trend)  = 0.004). In summary, for older men and women, calcium
      intakes of up to 1348 (316) mg/d from food were associated with decreased risks
      for fracture, non-fatal CVD, stroke, and all-cause mortality.

PMID- 25828853
TI  - Catheter Ablation of Arrhythmia During Pregnancy.
AB  - Cardiac arrhythmia as a complication of pregnancy can be problematic to maternal
      health and fetal life and development. Catheter ablation of tachyarrhythmias
      during pregnancy has been successfully performed in selected patients with
      limited experience. Techniques to limit maternal and fetal radiation exposure,
      including intracardiac echo and electroanatomic mapping systems, are particularly
      important in this setting. Specific accommodations are necessary in the care of
      the gravid patient during catheter ablation. 

PMID- 25828854
TI  - Analysis of unique mutations in the LPAR6 gene identified in a Japanese family
      with autosomal recessive woolly hair/hypotrichosis: Establishment of a useful
      assay system for LPA6.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Woolly hair (WH) is a hair shaft anomaly characterized by tightly
      curled hair and is frequently associated with hypotrichosis. Non-syndromic forms
      of WH can show either autosomal dominant or recessive inheritance. The autosomal
      recessive form of WH (ARWH) is caused by mutations in either lipase H (LIPH) or
      lysophosphatidic acid receptor 6 (LPAR6) gene, encoding an LPA-producing enzyme
      PA-PLA1alpha and an LPA receptor LPA6, respectively. OBJECTIVE: To define the
      molecular basis of ARWH/hypotrichosis in a Japanese family. METHODS: We performed
      mutational analysis of candidate genes and a series of expression and in vitro
      functional analyses, which we improved in this study, to determine the
      consequences resulting from the mutations identified in the family. RESULTS:
      Novel compound heterozygous LPAR6 mutations were identified in the patient. One
      was a nonsense mutation c.756T>A (p.Tyr252*); the other was a large insertion
      mutation within the promoter region of LPAR6. Expression studies detected LPAR6
      mRNA only from the c.756T>A allele in the patient's hair follicles, suggesting
      that the insertion in the other allele disrupted the LPAR6 promoter and thus led
      to a failure of transcription. Furthermore, an improved LPA6 functional assay
      developed in this study demonstrated aberrant expression and a subsequent loss of
      function of the p.Tyr252*-mutant protein. CONCLUSION: Through establishing a
      useful assay system for LPA6, our results further underscore the crucial roles of
      LPAR6 in hair follicle development and hair growth in humans at molecular levels.

PMID- 25828855
TI  - NF-kappaB-regulated transcriptional control of CLCA in a differentiated mouse
      keratinocyte line.
AB  - BACKGROUND: CLCA was postulated to be a calcium-activated chloride channel
      accessory protein. Recent reports indicate that CLCA isoforms are likely to be
      expressed in different layers of the stratified epithelium of the skin.
      OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated the transcriptional mechanism by which
      murine CLCA2 (mCLCA2) is expressed in the transformed keratinocyte line Pam212
      that can differentiate. METHODS: A luciferase reporter assay, chromatin
      immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay, reverse transcription-PCR, and
      immunocytochemistry were performed using Pam212 cells. RESULTS: Promoter activity
      of mCLCA2 was inhibited profoundly by site-directed mutagenesis of a putative
      nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) binding site and by treatment with siRNA
      against p65. ChIP and transcription factor assays showed the specific association
      of endogenously activated p65 protein with the NF-kappaB binding domain. As
      confirmed by the nuclear translocation of p65, tumor necrosis factor alpha and
      caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) increased and decreased mCLCA2 promoter
      activity, respectively, but exhibited modest effects on endogenous mCLCA2
      expression in cells in culture medium containing 0.05 mM Ca(2+). When the Ca(2+)
      concentration was raised to 1.0mM, the mRNA and protein levels of mCLCA2
      increased as well as those of the differentiation markers keratin 1 (K1) and K10.
      CAPE profoundly suppressed only the Ca(2+)-triggered expression of mCLCA2, not K1
      or K10. Immunohistochemistry of native skin and organotypic 3D cultures confirmed
      the distribution of the CLCA2 homolog in differentiated cells. CONCLUSION: The
      present study revealed for the first time that basal NF-kappaB activity is
      involved in the Ca(2+)-dependent regulation of mCLCA2 expression in a mouse
      keratinocyte line.

PMID- 25828856
TI  - Efficacy and safety of paracetamol for spinal pain and osteoarthritis: systematic
      review and meta-analysis of randomised placebo controlled trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of paracetamol (acetaminophen)
      in the management of spinal pain and osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. DESIGN:
      Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: Medline, Embase, AMED, CINAHL,
      Web of Science, LILACS, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and Cochrane
      Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to December 2014.
      ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Randomised controlled trials
      comparing the efficacy and safety of paracetamol with placebo for spinal pain
      (neck or low back pain) and osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. DATA EXTRACTION:
      Two independent reviewers extracted data on pain, disability, and quality of
      life. Secondary outcomes were adverse effects, patient adherence, and use of
      rescue medication. Pain and disability scores were converted to a scale of 0 (no
      pain or disability) to 100 (worst possible pain or disability). We calculated
      weighted mean differences or risk ratios and 95% confidence intervals using a
      random effects model. The Cochrane Collaboration's tool was used for assessing
      risk of bias, and the GRADE approach was used to evaluate the quality of evidence
      and summarise conclusions. RESULTS: 12 reports (13 randomised trials) were
      included. There was "high quality" evidence that paracetamol is ineffective for
      reducing pain intensity (weighted mean difference -0.5, 95% confidence interval 
      2.9 to 1.9) and disability (0.4, -1.7 to 2.5) or improving quality of life (0.4, 
      0.9 to 1.7) in the short term in people with low back pain. For hip or knee
      osteoarthritis there was "high quality" evidence that paracetamol provides a
      significant, although not clinically important, effect on pain (-3.7, -5.5 to 
      1.9) and disability (-2.9, -4.9 to -0.9) in the short term. The number of
      patients reporting any adverse event (risk ratio 1.0, 95% confidence interval 0.9
      to 1.1), any serious adverse event (1.2, 0.7 to 2.1), or withdrawn from the study
      because of adverse events (1.2, 0.9 to 1.5) was similar in the paracetamol and
      placebo groups. Patient adherence to treatment (1.0, 0.9 to 1.1) and use of
      rescue medication (0.7, 0.4 to 1.3) was also similar between groups. "High
      quality" evidence showed that patients taking paracetamol are nearly four times
      more likely to have abnormal results on liver function tests (3.8, 1.9 to 7.4),
      but the clinical importance of this effect is uncertain. CONCLUSIONS: Paracetamol
      is ineffective in the treatment of low back pain and provides minimal short term
      benefit for people with osteoarthritis. These results support the reconsideration
      of recommendations to use paracetamol for patients with low back pain and
      osteoarthritis of the hip or knee in clinical practice guidelines. SYSTEMATIC
      REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO registration number CRD42013006367.

PMID- 25828857
TI  - Managing back pain and osteoarthritis without paracetamol.

PMID- 25828858
TI  - Evidence and rhetoric about access to UK primary care.

PMID- 25828859
TI  - Experiences of overweight/obese adolescents in navigating their home food
      environment.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore perceived factors that impede or facilitate healthful
      eating within the home environment among overweight/obese adolescents. DESIGN: In
      the present qualitative photovoice study, participants were instructed to take
      photographs of things that made it easier or harder to make healthful food
      choices at home. Digital photographs were reviewed and semi-structured interviews
      were conducted to promote discussion of the photographs. Data were analysed using
      constant comparative analysis. SETTING: Vancouver, Canada, in 2012-2013.
      SUBJECTS: Twenty-two overweight/obese adolescents who completed a family-based
      lifestyle modification intervention. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 14
      (sd 1.9) years, 77% were female and their mean BMI Z-score was 2.4 (sd 0.6).
      Adolescents talked about six aspects of the home environment that influenced
      their eating habits (in order of frequency): home cooking, availability and
      accessibility of foods/beverages, parenting practices, family modelling,
      celebrations and screen use/studying. In general, homes with availability of less
      healthful foods, where family members also liked to eat less healthful foods and
      where healthier foods were less abundant or inaccessible were described as
      barriers to healthful eating. Special occasions and time spent studying or in
      front of the screen were also conducive to less healthful food choices. Home
      cooked meals supported adolescents in making healthier food choices, while
      specific parenting strategies such as encouragement and restriction were helpful
      for some adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents struggled to make healthful
      choices in their home environment, but highlighted parenting strategies that were
      supportive. Targeting the home food environment is important to enable healthier
      food choices among overweight/obese adolescents.

PMID- 25828860
TI  - Prevalence and predictors of self-reported student maltreatment by teachers in
      South Korea.
AB  - This study first investigated the prevalence of emotional and physical
      maltreatment by teachers in South Korea and then identified factors that predict
      student maltreatment by teachers. Specific areas of interest were the
      associations between student demographic characteristics (gender and grade
      level), family (economic status), and school experience (academic performance and
      student-teacher relationships) and how these characteristics were related to
      student maltreatment. Data were obtained by questionnaire from a random sample of
      1,777 students in middle schools in Seoul, the largest metropolitan area, and its
      surrounding province, Gyeonggi-Do. Questionnaires were completed during school
      time. All information was collected anonymously. Of those surveyed, 18.2%
      reported emotional maltreatment by teachers and 24.3% physical maltreatment.
      Overall, 30.7% reported being either emotionally or physically mistreated by
      teachers at least once in the previous year. Hierarchical regression analysis
      showed that gender, family economic status, academic performance, and student
      teacher relationships were predictors of student maltreatment by teachers. The
      results have practical and policy implications for the design of programs that
      will results in altering abusive teacher classroom behavior. 

PMID- 25828861
TI  - Posttraumatic stress avoidance symptoms as mediators in the development of
      alcohol use disorders after exposure to childhood sexual abuse in a Swiss
      community sample.
AB  - This study examined the role of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms of
      re-experience, avoidance, and hyperarousal in the relationship between different
      types of trauma and alcohol use disorders (AUD). We used data from 731 trauma
      exposed individuals who participated in the first wave of the PsyCoLaus-study.
      Trauma characteristics were assessed relatively to the occurrence of lifetime
      PTSD symptoms and AUD. The results suggest that lifetime and childhood sexual
      abuse as well as overall childhood trauma were directly linked to AUD and PTSD
      symptoms, in particular to avoidance symptoms. From single symptom clusters PTSD
      avoidance was found to specifically mediate the trauma-AUD pathway. Both
      childhood and sexual trauma strongly contribute to the comorbidity of PTSD and
      AUD and avoidance-type symptoms appear to play a central role in maintaining this
      association. Hence, the alleviation of avoidance symptoms might be an important
      target for therapeutic intervention among victims of sexual abuse before specific
      addiction treatment is initiated. 

PMID- 25828862
TI  - Multifold fluorescence enhancement in nanoscopic fluorophore-clay hybrids in
      transparent aqueous media.
AB  - Valuable emissive properties of organic fluorophores have become indispensable
      analytical tools in biophotonics, but frequently suffer from low solubilities and
      radiationless deactivation in aqueous media, that is, in biological ambience as
      well. In this report, nanoscaled dye-clay hybrids based on laponite, Na0.7
      {(Li0.3 Mg5.5 )[Si8 O20 (OH)4 ]}, are taken advantage of to solubilize neutral
      dyes, which are natively not encountered in water. Previously reported efficiency
      and solubility bottlenecks of such hybrids can to a large extent be overcome by
      comparably simple chemical measures, as demonstrated here for two prominent
      examples, the fluorescent dyes Nile Red and Coumarin 153. On controlled co
      adsorption of small bifunctional quaternary ammonium ions (Me3 N(+) C2 H5 OH and
      Me3 N(+) C2 H5 NH2 ) we observed an outright efficiency boost by an order of
      magnitude, and a 30-fold brightness gain. Even at higher concentrations,
      transparency and stability of the hybrid dispersions are retained, rendering them
      useful for employment as optically functional nanoparticles in bioassays and
      beyond.

PMID- 25828863
TI  - Discovery, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Thiazoloquin(az)olin(on)es as
      Potent CD38 Inhibitors.
AB  - A series of thiazoloquin(az)olinones were synthesized and found to have potent
      inhibitory activity against CD38. Several of these compounds were also shown to
      have good pharmacokinetic properties and demonstrated the ability to elevate NAD
      levels in plasma, liver, and muscle tissue. In particular, compound 78c was given
      to diet induced obese (DIO) C57Bl6 mice, elevating NAD > 5-fold in liver and >1.2
      fold in muscle versus control animals at a 2 h time point. The compounds
      described herein possess the most potent CD38 inhibitory activity of any small
      molecules described in the literature to date. The inhibitors should allow for a
      more detailed assessment of how NAD elevation via CD38 inhibition affects
      physiology in NAD deficient states. 

PMID- 25828864
TI  - Functional impairment in patients with major depression in clinical remission:
      results from the VIVAL-D-Rem, a nationwide, naturalistic, cross-sectional survey.
AB  - In recent years, the standard for successful treatment of major depression has
      switched from response to remission; however, little is known about patients who
      have achieved remission, but still have some residual symptoms and whether they
      regain previous levels of functioning. In a large, nationwide, cross-sectional,
      naturalistic survey (VIVAL-D) of 907 patients with major depression treated with
      a new course of an antidepressant in 41 Italian community psychiatric centers,
      patients with a Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, 17-item version (HAM-D17)
      score up to 14 were selected (n=499). Of these, 169 were considered to be in
      remission (HAM-D17 <= 7) and the other 330 to be mildly depressed. Their level of
      functioning was evaluated using the SF-12. Only a few (3%) patients in remission
      were completely symptom free; most were affected by residual symptoms. Patients
      in remission had better SF-12 scores than those with mild depression, but their
      functioning was significantly worse than general population norms. In the
      logistic regression analysis, the HAM-D17 total score and individual items were
      predictive of poor functioning. Analysis of sensitivity and specificity values
      showed that a lower cut-off score (4/5) of the HAM-D17 scale was best for
      predicting poor performance so that a reconsideration of the usual cut-off for
      remission of 7/8 for HAM-D17 seems overdue.

PMID- 25828865
TI  - High sensitivity flexible Lamb-wave humidity sensors with a graphene oxide
      sensing layer.
AB  - This paper reports high performance flexible Lamb wave humidity sensors with a
      graphene oxide sensing layer. The devices were fabricated on piezoelectric ZnO
      thin films deposited on flexible polyimide substrates. Two resonant peaks, namely
      the zero order antisymmetric (A0) and symmetric (S0) mode Lamb waves, were
      observed and fitted well with the theoretical analysis and modelling. With
      graphene oxide microflakes as the sensing layer, the sensing performance of both
      wave modes was investigated. The humidity sensitivity of the A0 mode is 145.83
      ppm per %RH (at humidity 85%RH), higher than that of S0 mode of 89.35 ppm per
      %RH. For the first time, we have demonstrated that the flexible humidity sensors
      work as usual without noticeable deterioration in performance even under severe
      bending conditions up to 1500 MUepsilon. Also the sensors showed an excellent
      stability upon repeated bending for thousand times. All the results demonstrated
      that the Lamb wave flexible humidity sensors have a great potential for
      application in flexible electronics. 

PMID- 25828866
TI  - Preoperative Aspirin-dosing Strategy and Mortality After Coronary Artery Bypass
      Graft Surgery.

PMID- 25828867
TI  - Non-invasive prenatal testing for aneuploidy and beyond: challenges of
      responsible innovation in prenatal screening. Summary and recommendations.

PMID- 25828868
TI  - Mutation in the 3'untranslated region of APP as a genetic determinant of cerebral
      amyloid angiopathy.
AB  - Abeta-related cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a major cause of primary non
      traumatic brain hemorrhage. In families with an early onset of the disease, CAA
      can be due to amyloid precursor protein (APP) pathogenic variants or
      duplications. APP duplications lead to a ~1.5-fold increased APP expression,
      resulting in Abeta overproduction and deposition in the walls of leptomeningeal
      vessels. We hypothesized that rare variants in the 3'untranslated region (UTR) of
      APP might lead to APP overexpression in patients with CAA and no APP pathogenic
      variant or duplication. We performed direct sequencing of the whole APP 3'UTR in
      90 patients with CAA and explored the functional consequences of one previously
      unreported variant. We identified three sequence variants in four patients, of
      which a two-base pair deletion (c.*331_*332del) was previously unannotated and
      absent from 175 controls of same ethnicity. This latter variant was associated
      with increased APP expression in vivo and in vitro. Bioinformatics and functional
      assays showed that the APP c.*331_*332del variant affected APP messenger RNA
      (mRNA) structure and binding of two microRNAs (miR-582-3p and miR-892b),
      providing a mechanism for the observed effects on APP expression. These results
      identify APP 3'UTR sequence variants as genetic determinants of Abeta-CAA.

PMID- 25828870
TI  - Functional characterization of a conserved archaeal viral operon revealing single
      stranded DNA binding, annealing and nuclease activities.
AB  - The majority of archaeal viral genes are of unknown function hindering our
      understanding of the virus life cycle and viral interactions with their host.
      Here, we first describe functional characterization of ORF131b (gp17) and ORF436
      (gp18) of Sulfolobus islandicus rod-shaped virus 2 (SIRV2), both encoding
      proteins of unknown function and forming an operon with ORF207 (gp19). SIRV2 gp17
      was found to be a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) binding protein different in
      structure from all previously characterized ssDNA binding proteins. Mutagenesis
      of a few conserved basic residues suggested a U-shaped binding path for ssDNA.
      The recombinant gp18 showed an ssDNA annealing activity often associated with
      helicases and recombinases. To gain insight into the biological role of the
      entire operon, we characterized SIRV2 gp19 and showed it to possess a 5' -> 3'
      ssDNA exonuclease activity, in addition to the previously demonstrated ssDNA
      endonuclease activity. Further, in vitro pull-down assay demonstrated
      interactions between gp17 and gp18 and between gp18 and gp19 with the former
      being mediated by the intrinsically disordered C-terminus of gp17. The strand
      displacement replication mode proposed previously for rudiviruses and the close
      interaction among the ssDNA binding, annealing and nuclease proteins strongly
      point to a role of the gene operon in genome maturation and/or DNA recombination
      that may function in viral DNA replication/repair.

PMID- 25828871
TI  - Engaging Immigrants in Early Psychosis Treatment: A Clinical Challenge.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The study compared engagement in treatment and medication adherence of
      immigrants and nonimmigrants in early intervention services for persons with
      first-episode psychosis. METHODS: This two-year longitudinal prospective cohort
      study recruited patients with first-episode psychosis who were entering early
      intervention services in Montreal, Canada (N=223). Data on sociodemographic
      characteristics, symptoms, and social functioning were collected annually.
      RESULTS: At two years, immigrants had more than three times the odds of attrition
      than nonimmigrants after the analysis controlled for potential confounding
      factors (first-generation immigrants: odds ratio [OR]=3.11, 95% confidence
      interval [CI]=1.01-9.57, p=.049); second-generation immigrants: OR=3.65, CI=1.07
      12.50, p=.039). Medication adherence was similar among those who remained in the
      programs. CONCLUSIONS: During the two years after entering a program for first
      episode psychosis, immigrants were more likely than nonimmigrants to disengage
      from treatment. Further research is warranted to understand this phenomenon and
      to improve the ability of services to engage immigrants with first-episode
      psychosis.

PMID- 25828869
TI  - Non-coding RNAs and hypertension-unveiling unexpected mechanisms of hypertension
      by the dark matter of the genome.
AB  - Hypertension is a major risk factor of cardiovascular diseases and a most
      important health problem in developed countries. Investigations on
      pathophysiology of hypertension have been based on gene products from coding
      region that occupies only about 1% of total genome region. On the other hand, non
      coding region that occupies almost 99% of human genome has been regarded as
      "junk" for a long time and went unnoticed until these days. But recently, it
      turned out that noncoding region is extensively transcribed to non-coding RNAs
      and has various functions. This review highlights recent updates on the
      significance of non-coding RNAs such as micro RNAs and long non-coding RNAs
      (lncRNAs) on the pathogenesis of hypertension, also providing an introduction to
      basic biology of noncoding RNAs. For example, microRNAs are associated with
      hypertension via neuro-fumoral factor, sympathetic nerve activity, ion
      transporters in kidneys, endothelial function, vascular smooth muscle phenotype
      transformation, or communication between cells. Although reports of lncRNAs on
      pathogenesis of hypertension are scarce at the moment, new lncRNAs in relation to
      hypertension are being discovered at a rapid pace owing to novel techniques such
      as microarray or next-generation sequencing. In the clinical settings, clinical
      use of non-coding RNAs in identifying cardiovascular risks or developing novel
      tools for treating hypertension such as molecular decoy or mimicks is promising,
      although improvement in chemical modification or drug delivery system is
      necessary. 

PMID- 25828872
TI  - Surveys of Police Chiefs and Sheriffs and of Police Officers About CIT Programs.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Two surveys were conducted on the crisis intervention team (CIT)
      model, a police-based program designed to improve responses to individuals with
      mental illnesses. METHODS: Data were collected between July and September 2013
      from 171 police chiefs and sheriffs (42 had implemented CIT in their agency), and
      353 law enforcement officers (273 had CIT training) in Georgia. RESULTS: Police
      chiefs and sheriffs reported barriers to implementing CIT, such as not having
      enough officers and insufficient access to mental health services. CIT-trained
      officers differed from non-CIT-trained officers only with regard to being less
      likely to use force in response to a man with psychotic agitation described in a
      vignette, when the analysis controlled for whether the officer carried an
      electronic control device. CONCLUSIONS: Some hypothesized differences, such as in
      job satisfaction and work burnout, were not observed. However, CIT-trained
      officers appeared to be less likely to revert to force in a situation involving
      psychotic agitation.

PMID- 25828873
TI  - Predicting Participation in Psychiatric Randomized Controlled Trials: Insights
      From the STEP-BD.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Differences between patients who do and do not participate in
      randomized controlled trials (RCTs) could diminish the generalizability of
      results. This study examined whether RCT participants differ from non-RCT
      participants who are recruited from the same patient and provider population.
      METHODS: The Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP
      BD) was an observational study in which participants also could enroll in an RCT
      during exacerbations of acute depression. The odds that a patient was enrolled in
      the STEP-BD acute depression RCTs (pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy) were
      estimated by fitting logistic regression models to STEP-BD participants with
      acute bipolar depression (total N=2,222; RCT, N=413; observational arm, N=1,809).
      Predictor variables included demographic characteristics, clinical information
      (including severity scales and comorbidities), and study site. The extent to
      which site determined RCT participation was estimated by using the area under the
      receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). RESULTS: RCT participation was
      associated with having no insurance (odds ratio [OR]=1.58, 95% confidence
      interval [CI]=1.16-2.15), a Clinical Global Impression score indicating greater
      severity (severe versus mild: OR=1.52, CI=1.08-2.15), and site (predicted
      probability range 8%-31%). Site was the most significant predictor of RCT
      enrollment (model excluding site, AUC=.61, CI=.58-.64; full model, AUC=.70,
      CI=.67-.73). CONCLUSIONS: STEP-BD RCT participants differed from those in the
      observational arm in few clinical or demographic characteristics. Site was the
      strongest predictor of RCT participation. Future study is needed to understand
      site characteristics associated with RCT participation and whether these
      characteristics are associated with patient outcomes and to test these findings
      in usual-care settings.

PMID- 25828874
TI  - A potential role for family members in mental health care delivery: the family
      community navigation specialist.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Opening Doors to Recovery (ODR) in southeast Georgia included a family
      community navigation specialist (F-CNS) in addition to a peer specialist and a
      mental health professional. This qualitative study assessed the usefulness of the
      F-CNS role. METHODS: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 30 respondents
      (ten ODR participants with serious mental illnesses; ten family members; and ten
      ODR leaders and team members, including two F-CNSs). Interviews were recorded and
      transcribed for qualitative analysis. RESULTS: Many respondents found the F-CNS
      to be helpful, providing psychosocial support, serving as a communication
      liaison, and being a team member dedicated to the family. Aspects that might
      require improvement include insufficient description of the F-CNS role to
      participants and the limited experience and training of the F-CNSs. CONCLUSIONS:
      The F-CNS represents an unexplored role for family members of persons with
      serious mental illnesses that may complement the roles of other service providers
      and strengthen recovery-oriented teams.

PMID- 25828876
TI  - Psychiatric readmissions in a community-based sample of patients with mental
      disorders.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether receipt of outpatient psychiatric services
      after hospital discharge was associated with reduced risk of readmission.
      METHODS: Treatment records from patients admitted to San Diego County psychiatric
      hospitals over a one-year period were obtained from the San Diego County
      Behavioral Health Services electronic health record system. A discrete-time
      proportional hazards model was used to examine the association of receipt of
      outpatient psychiatric services with readmission within 30 days of discharge from
      the index hospitalization. RESULTS: Of the 4,663 patients, 16% were readmitted
      within 30 days. In an adjusted model, receipt of outpatient therapy after
      discharge was associated with a greater likelihood of being readmitted (hazard
      ratio=1.36, 95% confidence interval=1.14-1.67), whereas receipt of case
      management or medication management was not associated with readmission.
      CONCLUSIONS: The differential risk of readmission by service type suggests a need
      for studies that explore reasons for an increased risk of readmission with
      certain types of services.

PMID- 25828875
TI  - Forecasting Medicaid Expenditures for Antipsychotic Medications.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The ongoing transition from use of mostly branded to mostly generic
      second-generation antipsychotic medications could bring about a substantial
      reduction in Medicaid expenditures for antipsychotic medications, a change with
      critical implications for formulary restrictions on second-generation
      antipsychotics in Medicaid. This study provided a forecast of the impact of
      generics on Medicaid expenditures for antipsychotic medications. METHODS:
      Quarterly (N=816) state-level aggregate data on outpatient antipsychotic
      prescriptions in Medicaid between 2008 and 2011 were drawn from the Medicaid
      state drug utilization database. Annual numbers of prescriptions, expenditures,
      and cost per prescription were constructed for each antipsychotic medication.
      Forecasts of antipsychotic expenditures in calendar years 2016 and 2019 were
      developed on the basis of the estimated percentage reduction in Medicaid
      expenditures for risperidone, the only second-generation antipsychotic available
      generically throughout the study period. Two models of savings from generic
      risperidone use were estimated, one based on constant risperidone prices and the
      other based on variable risperidone prices. The sensitivity of the expenditure
      forecast to expected changes in Medicaid enrollment was also examined. RESULTS:
      In the main model, annual Medicaid expenditures for antipsychotics were
      forecasted to decrease by $1,794 million (48.8%) by 2016 and by $2,814 million
      (76.5%) by 2019. Adjustment for variable prices of branded medications and
      changes in Medicaid enrollment only moderately affected the magnitude of these
      reductions. CONCLUSIONS: Within five years, antipsychotic expenditures in
      Medicaid may decline to less than half their current levels. Such a spending
      reduction warrants a reassessment of the continued necessity of formulary
      restrictions for second-generation antipsychotics in Medicaid.

PMID- 25828877
TI  - The many faces of risk: a qualitative study of risk in outpatient involuntary
      treatment.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to derive a conceptualized model of risk in
      outpatient involuntary psychiatric treatment that has utility and meaning for
      stakeholders. METHODS: Thirty-eight participants-patients, caregivers,
      clinicians, and legal decision makers-participated in qualitative interviews
      about their experiences of outpatient involuntary psychiatric treatment.
      Interview data were analyzed by using a general inductive method. RESULTS: Six
      types of risk were identified: actual harm, social adversity, therapeutic outcome
      or compromised treatment, the system, interpersonal distress, and epistemic
      issues. There were overlaps between discourses on risk but variation in how
      different aspects of risk were emphasized by participant groups. CONCLUSIONS: A
      comprehensive model of risk contextualized to outpatient involuntary treatment is
      proposed. It incorporates domains of risk of harm to self or others, risk of
      social adversity, risk of excess distress, and risk of compromised treatment.
      This model may have instrumental value in the implementation and the scrutiny of
      risk-based mental health laws.

PMID- 25828878
TI  - System-Level Influences on the Sustainability of a Cognitive Therapy Program in a
      Community Behavioral Health Network.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine influences on the
      sustainability of a program to implement an evidence-based psychotherapy in a
      mental health system. METHODS: Interviews with program administrators, training
      consultants, agency administrators, and supervisors (N=24), along with summaries
      of program evaluation data and program documentation, were analyzed with a
      directed content-analytic approach. RESULTS: Findings suggested a number of
      interconnected and interacting influences on sustainability, including alignment
      with emerging sociopolitical influences and system and organizational priorities;
      program-level adaptation and evolution; intervention flexibility; strong
      communication, collaboration, planning, and support; and perceived benefit. These
      individual factors appeared to mutually influence one another and contribute to
      the degree of program sustainability achieved at the system level. Although most
      influences were positive, financial planning and support emerged as potentially
      both facilitator and barrier, and evaluation of benefits at the patient level
      remained a challenge. CONCLUSIONS: Several factors appeared to contribute to the
      sustainability of a psychosocial intervention in a large urban mental health
      system and warrant further investigation. Understanding interconnections between
      multiple individual facilitators and barriers appears critical to advancing
      understanding of sustainability in dynamic systems and adds to emerging
      recommendations for other implementation efforts. In particular, implications of
      the findings include the importance of implementation strategies, such as long
      term planning, coalition building, clarifying roles and expectations, planned
      adaptation, evaluation, diversification of financing strategies, and
      incentivizing implementation.

PMID- 25828879
TI  - Using distance technologies to facilitate a learning collaborative to implement
      stagewise treatment.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This report describes experiences and outcomes of an online learning
      collaborative focused on implementation of stagewise treatment. METHODS: Eleven
      participating programs convened online monthly for a year. Between meetings,
      program staff created an implementation plan and programs collected performance
      indicator data, including assessment of staff knowledge of integrated treatment
      for people with co-occurring disorders, whether a person's current stage of
      treatment was documented in his or her chart, and whether the treatments were
      appropriate for the stage of treatment. Descriptive statistics were used to
      characterize performance indicators and feedback. Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed
      rank tests examined changes in performance indicators over time. RESULTS: Program
      staff generally demonstrated significant improvements in performance indicators
      over time and rated the distance learning collaborative favorably. CONCLUSIONS:
      Distance learning collaboratives can be structured to provide opportunities for
      program staff to interact and learn from one another and to implement and sustain
      changes.

PMID- 25828880
TI  - Testing Alternative Definitions of Chronic Homelessness.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study examined the potential impact of a proposed change to the
      official federal definition of chronic homelessness. METHODS: Using
      administrative data from the emergency shelters in a large U.S. city, this study
      estimated the number of persons identified as chronically homeless under the
      current definition of chronic homelessness, a proposed new federal definition,
      and two alternative definitions and examined shelter utilization for each group.
      RESULTS: Fewer than half as many people were considered chronically homeless
      under the proposed new federal definition compared with the current definition.
      Persons considered chronically homeless by the proposed new definition and, to a
      lesser extent, by the two alternative definitions, made heavier use of shelter
      compared with persons who met the current definition. CONCLUSIONS: A proposed new
      and two alternative definitions of chronic homelessness are better suited than
      the existing federal definition for identifying persons with the most protracted
      experiences of homelessness.

PMID- 25828881
TI  - How Can the Use of Evidence in Mental Health Policy Be Increased? A Systematic
      Review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review was to explore what is known about the
      effectiveness of strategies to increase the use of research in mental health
      policies. METHODS: PsycINFO, MEDLINE, PubMed and EMBASE were searched for peer
      reviewed journal articles by using the terms information dissemination OR
      knowledge OR diffusion of innovation OR knowledge transfer OR knowledge exchange
      OR evidence based OR evidence informed AND mental health policy OR decision
      makers. Searches were limited to articles pertaining to humans, written in
      English, and published from 1995 to 2013. Studies were excluded if they did not
      include a component related either to mental health policy or to mental health
      policy and decision makers or did not describe the development, implementation,
      or evaluation of an intervention that included a component aimed at increasing
      use of evidence. Reference lists were scanned to identify additional papers.
      RESULTS: The search returned 2,677 citations. Fifty additional papers were
      identified via reference lists of relevant articles. Nine separate intervention
      studies were identified that included a component aimed at increasing use of
      evidence in mental health policy. All employed at least three strategies to
      increase evidence use, mostly in regard to implementation of a particular
      evidence-based policy. Methodologies of the identified studies did not enable
      estimation of the effectiveness of individual strategies to increase evidence
      use. CONCLUSIONS: Little research has examined how to increase the use of
      evidence in mental health policy. Available research suggests a number of
      potentially effective strategies for increasing the use of evidence that warrant
      further examination.

PMID- 25828882
TI  - Apoptin interacts with and regulates the activity of protein kinase C beta in
      cancer cells.
AB  - Apoptin, the VP3 protein from chicken anaemia virus (CAV), induces tumour cell
      specific cell death and represents a potential future anti-cancer therapeutic. In
      tumour but not in normal cells, Apoptin is phosphorylated and translocates to the
      nucleus, enabling its cytotoxic activity. Recently, the beta isozyme of protein
      kinase C (PKCbeta) was shown to phosphorylate Apoptin in multiple myeloma cell
      lines. However, the exact mechanism and nature of interaction between PKCbeta and
      Apoptin remain unclear. Here we investigated the physical and functional link
      between PKCbeta and CAV-Apoptin as well as with the recently identified Apoptin
      homologue derived from human Gyrovirus (HGyV). In contrast to HCT116 colorectal
      cancer cells the normal colon mucosa cell lines expressed low levels of PKCbetaI
      and showed reduced Apoptin activation, as evident by cytoplasmic localisation,
      decreased phosphorylation and lack of cytotoxic activity. Co-immunoprecipitation
      and proximity ligation assay studies identified binding of both CAV- and HGyV
      Apoptin to PKCbetaI in HCT116 cells. Using Apoptin deletion constructs the N
      terminal domain of Apoptin was found to be required for interacting with
      PKCbetaI. FRET-based PKC activity reporter assays by fluorescence lifetime
      imaging microscopy showed that expression of Apoptin in cancer cells but not in
      normal cells triggers a significant increase in PKC activity. Collectively, the
      results demonstrate a novel cancer specific interplay between Apoptin and
      PKCbetaI. Direct interaction between the two proteins leads to Apoptin-induced
      activation of PKC and consequently activated PKCbetaI mediates phosphorylation of
      Apoptin to promote its tumour-specific nuclear translocation and cytotoxic
      function.

PMID- 25828883
TI  - Antineoplastic impact of leishmanial sphingolipid in tumour growth with
      regulation of angiogenic event and inflammatory response.
AB  - Very often conventional therapy, i.e. chemotherapeutic treatment, develops
      resistance in cancer cells and fails to be effective against disease states. An
      alternative strategy or a new entity may resolve the problem. Interestingly, the
      microbial world has begun to be explored in medicinal research as a potential new
      source to deliver bio-active molecules such as sphingolipids for efficacious
      cancer treatment. A sphingolipid of microbial origin, especially from Leishmania
      donovani (LSPL), is a novel entity which may exert anti-cancer activity by
      regulating cellular growth. The present study reveals that among a range of
      cancer cells evaluated, LSPL-1 (a component of LSPL) reduces cell viability,
      annexin exposures and arrests cell cycle in B16F10 cells in a concentration and
      time dependent manner. Flowcytometric analysis showed that it alters
      mitochondrial membrane potential and generates a number of ROS positive melanoma
      cells. It activates p53 at serine anchor region via up-regulation of p21 subunit
      along with PUMA and NOXA. It also exerts activity in vivo by reducing tumor micro
      vessel and mitotic index while simultaneously improving the survival rate. The
      inflammatory responses including elevated level of cytokine-chemokine and
      increased expression of PCNA and F480 are subdued by LSPL-1 treatment in tumour
      bearing mice. Besides, it reduces the metastatic outburst of angiogenic factors
      like VEGF, Ang-2, and CD34 through the involvement of several growth promoting
      factors. These findings indicate that LSPL-1 may be explored as a potent entity
      against melanoma growth and the associated angiogenic promotion.

PMID- 25828884
TI  - Dynamic reorganization of brain functional networks during cognition.
AB  - How does cognition emerge from neural dynamics? The dominant hypothesis states
      that interactions among distributed brain regions through phase synchronization
      give basis for cognitive processing. Such phase-synchronized networks are
      transient and dynamic, established on the timescale of milliseconds in order to
      perform specific cognitive operations. But unlike resting-state networks, the
      complex organization of transient cognitive networks is typically not
      characterized within the graph theory framework. Thus, it is not known whether
      cognitive processing merely changes the strength of functional connections or,
      conversely, requires qualitatively new topological arrangements of functional
      networks. To address this question, we recorded high-density EEG while subjects
      performed a visual discrimination task. We conducted an event-related network
      analysis (ERNA) where source-space weighted functional networks were
      characterized with graph measures. ERNA revealed rapid, transient, and frequency
      specific reorganization of the network's topology during cognition. Specifically,
      cognitive networks were characterized by strong clustering, low modularity, and
      strong interactions between hub-nodes. Our findings suggest that dense and
      clustered connectivity between the hub nodes belonging to different modules is
      the "network fingerprint" of cognition. Such reorganization patterns might
      facilitate global integration of information and provide a substrate for a
      "global workspace" necessary for cognition and consciousness to occur. Thus,
      characterizing topology of the event-related networks opens new vistas to
      interpret cognitive dynamics in the broader conceptual framework of graph theory.

PMID- 25828885
TI  - New insights into an RNAi approach for plant defence against piercing-sucking and
      stem-borer insect pests.
AB  - Insect double-stranded (ds)RNA expression in transgenic crops can increase plant
      resistance to biotic stress; however, creating transgenic crops to defend against
      every insect pest is impractical. Arabidopsis Mob1A is required for organ growth
      and reproduction. When Arabidopsis roots were soaked in dsMob1A, the root lengths
      and numbers were significantly suppressed and plants could not bolt or flower.
      Twenty-four hours after rice roots were immersed in fluorescent-labelled dsEYFP
      (enhanced yellow fluorescent protein), fluorescence was observed in the rice
      sheath and stem and in planthoppers feeding on the rice. The expression levels of
      Ago and Dicer in rice and planthoppers were induced by dsEYFP. When rice roots
      were soaked in dsActin, their growth was also significantly suppressed. When
      planthoppers or Asian corn borers fed on rice or maize that had been irrigated
      with a solution containing the dsRNA of an insect target gene, the insect's
      mortality rate increased significantly. Our results demonstrate that dsRNAs can
      be absorbed by crop roots, trigger plant and insect RNAi and enhance piercing
      sucking and stem-borer insect mortality rates. We also confirmed that dsRNA was
      stable under outdoor conditions. These results indicate that the root dsRNA
      soaking can be used as a bioinsecticide strategy during crop irrigation.

PMID- 25828886
TI  - The specific relationship between vitamin D deficiency and diabetic nephropathy
      among patients with advanced chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional study in
      Gran Canaria, Spain.
AB  - AIMS: Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in subjects with advanced chronic
      kidney disease (CKD), but diabetes, the most common cause of CKD, has also been
      linked to low levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. We compare vitamin D
      status between subjects with type 2 diabetes-related advanced CKD and subjects
      with either advanced CKD without diabetes or type 2 diabetes without advanced
      CKD. METHODS: Subjects were patients with advanced CKD (estimated glomerular
      filtration rate (eGFR) < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2) from February 2011 to November 2013
      (113 with diabetes-related CKD and 80 without diabetes) and 61 patients with long
      lasting type 2 diabetes without advanced CKD, simultaneously enrolled from our
      center. Participants fulfilled a survey questionnaire and underwent physical
      examination, blood samples, and 24-h urine collection. Kidney disease was
      assessed using eGFR and 24-h urinary protein excretion. Serum 25(OH)D was
      measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay. RESULTS: The prevalence of vitamin D
      deficiency (25(OH)D < 20 ng/mL) was 70.8% in subjects with diabetes-related CKD,
      38.8% in subjects with non-diabetic CKD and 41% in subjects with diabetes without
      advanced CKD. Adjusted means (95% confidence interval (CI)) of 25(OH)D in
      participants with diabetes-related CKD, in nondiabetic participants with CKD, and
      in participants with diabetes without advanced CKD were, respectively, 17.5 (14.2
      - 20.7), 23.6 (19.4 - 27.8), and 23.5 (16.8 - 30.3) ng/mL (p = 0.023).
      CONCLUSIONS: Low vitamin D status is characteristically associated with advanced
      diabetic nephropathy. This relationship is not entirely attributable to the
      individual effects of CKD or long-lasting diabetes.

PMID- 25828887
TI  - The molecular structure of chloritoid: a mid-infrared and near-infrared
      spectroscopic study.
AB  - The mineral chloritoid collected from the argillite in the bottom of Yaopo
      Formation of Western Beijing was characterized by mid-infrared (MIR) and near
      infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. The MIR spectra showed all fundamental vibrations
      including the hydroxyl units, basic aluminosilicate framework and the influence
      of iron on the chloritoid structure. The NIR spectrum of the chloritoid showed
      combination (nu+delta)OH bands with the fundamental stretching (nu) and bending
      (delta) vibrations. Based on the chemical component data and the analysis result
      from the MIR and NIR spectra, the crystal structure of chloritoid from western
      hills of Beijing, China, can be illustrated. Therefore, the application of the
      technique across the entire infrared region is expected to become more routine
      and extend its usefulness, and the reproducibility of measurement and richness of
      qualitative information should be simultaneously considered for proper selection
      of a spectroscopic method for the unit cell structural analysis. 

PMID- 25828888
TI  - Managing hypophosphatemia in critically ill patients: a report on an under
      diagnosed electrolyte anomaly.
AB  - WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Correction of acute hypophosphatemia leaves no long
      term complications, but failure to recognize and treat an acute situation can be
      fatal. CASE SUMMARY: A 65-year-old female presented to the Emergency department
      with complaints of abdominal pain, multiple episodes of watery stools and
      vomiting for 3 days. On the 3rd day, she developed abdominal distension and
      breathlessness and was referred to this hospital for further management and
      finally diagnosed with hypophosphatemia. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: As
      hypophosphatemia is often underestimated, this case report emphasizes the
      importance of correcting hypophosphatemia in all critically ill patients.

PMID- 25828889
TI  - Lead accumulation, oxidative damage and histopathological alteration in testes
      and accessory glands of freshwater crab, Sinopotamon henanense, induced by acute
      lead exposure.
AB  - Lead (Pb) is one of the most toxic environmental pollutants and known to exert
      multiple toxic effects including gonadotoxic and spermiotoxic effects. In order
      to understand toxic mechanisms of lead (Pb) on the testes and the accessory
      glands of crabs, we investigated Pb accumulation in testes and accessory glands
      and the survival rate of sperms of freshwater crab, Sinopotamon henanense. The
      tissue damaging effects of Pb was also investigated by histopathological
      examination and analyses of antioxidant enzymes as well as lipid peroxidation.
      Crabs were exposed to different Pb concentrations (0, 3.675, 7.35, 14.7, 29.4 and
      58.8 mg/L) for 3, 5 and 7 days. The results showed that Pb levels in testes and
      accessory glands increased significantly following Pb exposure for 5 and 7 days
      in almost all treated groups, and survival rate of sperm decreased with
      increasing Pb concentrations at 5 and 7 days. Morphological changes identified
      histologically were discovered in testes, including a disordered arrangement of
      germ cells, a decreased number of sperm in the lumina of the seminiferous
      tubules, extensive necrosis in the germinal layer of the seminiferous tubules,
      etc. At the same time, histological abnormalities were discovered in accessory
      glands, the wall cells were separated from the basement membrane, and wall cells
      were missing partly. The activities of SOD, GPx and CAT in testes showed no
      statistically significant changes compared to the control for 3 days, and
      initially increased and subsequently decreased with increasing Pb concentrations
      at 5 and 7 days. The antioxidant enzyme activities in accessory glands initially
      increased and subsequently decreased with increasing Pb concentrations and Pb
      exposure. This was accompanied with an increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) content
      in a concentration-dependent manner. These results showed that acute Pb exposure
      led to a reduction of survival rate of sperm and harmful effects at the cellular
      level of crab testes and accessory glands, which are most likely linked to Pb
      induced oxidative stress.

PMID- 25828890
TI  - Seahorse (Hippocampus reidi) as a bioindicator of crude oil exposure.
AB  - This study explored the suitability of the seahorse Hippocampus reidi (Ginsburg,
      1933) for assessing biomarkers of genotoxic effects and its use as a sentinel
      organism to detect the effects of acute exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons. Fish
      were exposed to three concentrations of crude oil (10, 20 and 30 g/kg) for 96 h,
      and the activity of phase II biotransformation enzyme glutathione S-transferase
      (GST) was measured. In addition, we performed genotoxicity assays, such as comet
      assay, micronucleus (MN) test and nuclear abnormalities (NA) induction, on the
      erythrocytes of the fish species. Our results revealed that the inhibition of
      hepatic GST activity in H. reidi was dependent on increasing crude oil
      concentrations. In contrast, an increase in the damage index (DI) and MN
      frequency were observed with increased crude oil concentrations. These results
      indicate that the alkaline comet assay and micronucleus test were suitable and
      useful in the evaluation of the genotoxicity of crude oil, which could improve
      determinations of the impact of oil spills on fish populations. In addition, H.
      reidi is a promising "sentinel organism" to detect the genotoxic impact of
      petroleum hydrocarbons.

PMID- 25828891
TI  - Effects of chlorpyrifos ethyl on acetylcholinesterase activity in climbing perch
      cultured in rice fields in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
AB  - Climbing perch is commonly harvested in rice fields and associated wetlands in
      the Mekong Delta. Despite its importance in providing food and income to local
      households, there is little information how this fish species is affected by the
      high use of pesticides in rice farming. Organophosphate insecticides, such as
      chlorpyrifos ethyl, which are highly toxic to aquatic organisms, are commonly
      used in the Mekong Delta. This study shows that the brain acetylcholinesterase
      (AChE) activity in climbing perch fingerlings cultured in rice fields, was
      significantly inhibited by a single application of chlorpyrifos ethyl, at doses
      commonly applied by rice farmers (0.32-0.64 kg/ha). The water concentration of
      chlorpyrifos ethyl decreased below the detection level within 3 days, but the
      inhibition of brain AChE activity remained for more than 12 days. In addition,
      the chlorpyrifos ethyl treatments had a significant impact on the survival and
      growth rates of climbing perch fingerlings, which were proportional to the
      exposure levels. The results indicate that the high use of pesticides among rice
      farmers in the Mekong Delta could have a negative impact on aquatic organisms and
      fish yields, with implications for the aquatic biodiversity, local people's
      livelihoods and the aquaculture industry in the Mekong Delta.

PMID- 25828892
TI  - Little field evidence of direct acute and short-term effects of current
      pesticides on the grey partridge.
AB  - Direct lethal and sublethal effects of pesticides on farmland birds' populations
      are recurring questions and largely debated. In this context, we conducted an
      innovative study combining radiotelemetry, farmer surveys, residue analyses on
      carcasses and modelling to assess the unintentional effects of pesticides on
      terrestrial birds. We chose the grey partridge Perdix perdix as a case study
      because this typical bird of European cereal ecosystems is highly exposed to
      pesticides. In this paper we focused on acute and short-term impacts of
      pesticides on adult mortality during spring and summer in a one-substance
      approach (multiple exposure were not studied here) but for a large variety of
      active substances (a.s.) actually used in cultivated farmland of Northern France.
      The fate and the location of 529 partridges were monitored twice a day from early
      March to late August 2010 and 2011 on 12 sites (14,500 ha). Their daily potential
      exposure to 183 a.s. was determined by overlapping birds' habitat use and daily
      pesticide application data. Based on this procedure, we calculated mortality
      rates within 10 days following a potential exposure for 157 different a.s.. 5
      a.s. were associated with a "10-day mortality rate" higher than 10% but a single
      one (thiacloprid) is reported to be highly toxic to birds. We recorded 261
      mortalities among which 94 carcasses were in suitable condition for residue
      analyses. We detected at least one a.s in 39.4% of carcasses. However, only 2
      mortality cases were attributed to poisoning (carbofuran). Furthermore, modelling
      results showed that these lethal pesticide-related poisonings decreased the
      population growth rate by less than 1%. In conclusion, we did not point out
      important direct acute and short-term effects of pesticides currently used by
      farmers during the breeding season on the grey partridge. This is discussed with
      regards to the complexity of potential effects in operational conditions.

PMID- 25828895
TI  - Comments on the current status and future development of natural orifice
      transluminal endoscopic surgery.

PMID- 25828894
TI  - Distinct expression patterns of Toll-like receptor 7 in tumour cells and
      fibroblast-like cells in oral squamous cell carcinoma.
AB  - AIMS: Toll-like receptor (TLR)-7 agonists have been used in cancer immunotherapy,
      but tumour heterogeneity means that TLR-7 activity is variable in different
      components of the tumour microenvironment and the characteristics of TLR-7 in
      oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) are unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty
      healthy oral tissues, 50 oral leukoplakia tissues and 166 retrospective primary
      OSCC samples were collected for immunohistochemical staining of TLR-7 and showed
      up-regulated expression during carcinogenesis. Moreover, patients with high
      expression of TLR-7 in tumour cells (TCs) had poor differentiation and prognosis.
      Interestingly, patients with high expression of TLR-7 in stroma fibroblast-like
      cells (FLCs) had low tumour stage, no lymph node metastasis (LNM) and better
      prognosis. Furthermore, Ki-67, CD3, CD4, CD8 and forkhead box protein 3
      (FoxP3)(+) tumour-infiltrated lymphocytes were assessed and we found that TLR
      7(high) TCs were infiltrated by fewer CD3(+) CD4(+) but more FoxP3(+)
      lymphocytes. Importantly, patients with TLR-7(low) TCs and TLR-7(high) FLCs had
      less FoxP3(+) lymphocyte infiltration and longer survival time than those with
      TLR-7(high) TCs/TLR-7(low) FLCs, although TLR-7 was not an independent prognostic
      factor for OSCC. CONCLUSIONS: The low expression of TLR-7 in tumour and high
      expression of TLR-7 in stroma predict a good clinical outcome for OSCC patients,
      and stroma FLCs might be amenable to immunotherapy by a TLR-7 agonist.

PMID- 25828893
TI  - c-MYC Generates Repair Errors via Increased Transcription of Alternative-NHEJ
      Factors, LIG3 and PARP1, in Tyrosine Kinase-Activated Leukemias.
AB  - Leukemias expressing the constitutively activated tyrosine kinases (TK) BCR-ABL1
      and FLT3/ITD activate signaling pathways that increase genomic instability
      through generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA double-strand breaks
      (DSB), and error-prone repair. The nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway is a
      major pathway for DSB repair and is highly aberrant in TK-activated leukemias; an
      alternative form of NHEJ (ALT-NHEJ) predominates, evidenced by increased
      expression of DNA ligase IIIalpha (LIG3) and PARP1, increased frequency of large
      genomic deletions, and repair using DNA sequence microhomologies. This study, for
      the first time, demonstrates that the TK target c-MYC plays a role in
      transcriptional activation and subsequent expression of LIG3 and PARP1 and
      contributes to the increased error-prone repair observed in TK-activated
      leukemias. c-MYC negatively regulates microRNAs miR-150 and miR-22, which
      demonstrate an inverse correlation with LIG3 and PARP1 expression in primary and
      cultured leukemia cells and chronic myelogenous leukemia human patient samples.
      Notably, inhibition of c-MYC and overexpression of miR-150 and -22 decreases ALT
      NHEJ activity. Thus, BCR-ABL1 or FLT3/ITD induces c-MYC expression, leading to
      genomic instability via augmented expression of ALT-NHEJ repair factors that
      generate repair errors. IMPLICATIONS: In the context of TK-activated leukemias, c
      MYC contributes to aberrant DNA repair through downstream targets LIG3 and PARP1,
      which represent viable and attractive therapeutic targets.

PMID- 25828896
TI  - Low-energy falls.

PMID- 25828897
TI  - Emerging role of the robot in rectal cancer surgery.

PMID- 25828898
TI  - Re: Consensus statements in surgery: intra-operative neural monitoring for
      thyroid surgery.

PMID- 25828899
TI  - Re: Ward safety checklist in the acute surgical unit.

PMID- 25828900
TI  - Metastatic colorectal cancer presenting with haematochezia and disseminated
      intravascular coagulation.

PMID- 25828901
TI  - Increasing roles for surgical outpatients.

PMID- 25828902
TI  - Dr. Leon S. Dure, III (1931-2014).

PMID- 25828903
TI  - External cephalic version for breech presentation at term.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Management of breech presentation is controversial, particularly in
      regard to manipulation of the position of the fetus by external cephalic version
      (ECV). ECV may reduce the number of breech presentations and caesarean sections,
      but there also have been reports of complications with the procedure. OBJECTIVES:
      The objective of this review was to assess the effects of ECV at or near term on
      measures of pregnancy outcome. Methods of facilitating ECV, and ECV before term
      are reviewed separately. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and
      Childbirth Trials Register (28 February 2015) and reference lists of retrieved
      studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised trials of ECV at or near term (with or
      without tocolysis) compared with no attempt at ECV in women with breech
      presentation. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors assessed
      eligibility and trial quality, and extracted the data. MAIN RESULTS: We included
      eight studies, with a total of 1308 women randomised. The pooled data from these
      studies show a statistically significant and clinically meaningful reduction in
      non-cephalic presentation at birth (average risk ratio (RR) 0.42, 95% confidence
      interval (CI) 0.29 to 0.61, eight trials, 1305 women); vaginal cephalic birth not
      achieved (average RR 0.46, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.62, seven trials, 1253 women,
      evidence graded very low); and caesarean section (average RR 0.57, 95% CI 0.40 to
      0.82, eight trials, 1305 women, evidence graded very low) when ECV was attempted
      in comparison to no ECV attempted. There were no significant differences in the
      incidence of Apgar score ratings below seven at one minute (average RR 0.67, 95%
      CI 0.32 to 1.37, three trials, 168 infants) or five minutes (RR 0.63, 95% CI 0.29
      to 1.36, five trials, 428 infants, evidence graded very low), low umbilical vein
      pH levels (RR 0.65, 95% CI 0.17 to 2.44, one trial, 52 infants, evidence graded
      very low), neonatal admission (RR 0.80, 95% CI 0.48 to 1.34, four trials, 368
      infants, evidence graded very low), perinatal death (RR 0.39, 95% CI 0.09 to
      1.64, eight trials, 1305 infants, evidence graded low), nor time from enrolment
      to delivery (mean difference -0.25 days, 95% CI -2.81 to 2.31, two trials, 256
      women).All of the trials included in this review had design limitations, and the
      level of evidence was graded low or very low. No studies attempted to blind the
      intervention, and the process of random allocation was suboptimal in several
      studies. Three of the eight trials had serious design limitations, however
      excluding these studies in a sensitivity analysis for outcomes with substantial
      heterogeneity did not alter the results. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Attempting
      cephalic version at term reduces the chance of non-cephalic presentation at
      birth, vaginal cephalic birth not achieved and caesarean section. There is not
      enough evidence from randomised trials to assess complications of ECV at term.
      Large observational studies suggest that complications are rare.

PMID- 25828904
TI  - April 2015 at a glance.

PMID- 25828905
TI  - HFpEF vs. HFrEF: can microRNAs advance the diagnosis?

PMID- 25828906
TI  - Chagas, a cardiomyopathy emerging from obscurity.

PMID- 25828907
TI  - Structural insight in the inhibition of adherence of F4 fimbriae producing
      enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli by llama single domain antibodies.
AB  - Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli that cause neonatal and post-weaning diarrhea in
      piglets express F4 fimbriae to mediate attachment towards host receptors.
      Recently we described how llama single domain antibodies (VHHs) fused to IgA,
      produced in Arabidopsis thaliana seeds and fed to piglets resulted in a
      progressive decline in shedding of F4 positive ETEC bacteria. Here we present the
      structures of these inhibiting VHHs in complex with the major adhesive subunit
      FaeG. A conserved surface, distant from the lactose binding pocket, is targeted
      by these VHHs, highlighting the possibility of targeting epitopes on single
      domain adhesins that are non-involved in receptor binding. 

PMID- 25828909
TI  - Investigation of the electrical impedance of acupuncture points and non
      acupuncture points before and after acupuncture, using a four-electrode device.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the effect of acupuncture on skin electrical impedance of
      selected points, before and after acupuncture on one acupuncture point (PC6),
      using a four-electrode device. METHODS: Six acupuncture and non-acupuncture
      points on both sides of the body were selected to evaluate the effects of
      acupuncture on electrical properties of these points. RESULTS: There were no
      results significant differences of electrical impedance before and after
      acupuncture in the selected points. CONCLUSIONS: According to our experimental
      set-up, acupuncture at one point without stimulation does not alter skin
      electrical impedance in healthy volunteers and there is no difference between
      acupuncture points and non-acupuncture points.

PMID- 25828908
TI  - Effectiveness of acupuncture combined with rehabilitation for treatment of acute
      or subacute stroke: a systematic review.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the combination of acupuncture and
      rehabilitation produces better results in the treatment of acute or subacute
      stroke sequelae than rehabilitation alone. METHODS: A systematic review was
      carried out. A search was conducted in March 2014 using PubMed, Medline, the
      Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure database (CNKI) and
      Wanfang databases. English and Chinese language articles published within 10
      years of the search were reviewed for inclusion. Randomised control trials
      comparing combined treatment with acupuncture and rehabilitation and
      rehabilitation alone in patients with acute or subacute stroke (onset until 3
      months after stroke) were included in this review. Three review authors
      independently checked the titles and abstracts of trials for inclusion based on
      selection criteria. Studies measuring changes of motor function, activities of
      daily living, neurological deficit or spasticity/range of motion during the
      treatment period and at the end of follow-up were included. RESULTS: 17 trials
      met the inclusion criteria, of which five were of good quality. 14 trials had
      results favourable to acupuncture combined with rehabilitation, compared with
      conventional rehabilitation treatment alone. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture in
      combination with rehabilitation may have benefits for the treatment of acute and
      subacute stroke sequelae in comparison with rehabilitation alone. However, many
      of the studies were at risk of bias. Future studies should focus on reaching a
      consensus about the most appropriate modality of acupuncture intervention, and
      the appropriate length of treatment for both interventions, to maximise the
      potential synergistic outcomes.

PMID- 25828910
TI  - RcsAB is a major repressor of Yersinia biofilm development through directly
      acting on hmsCDE, hmsT, and hmsHFRS.
AB  - Biofilm formation in flea gut is important for flea-borne transmission of
      Yersinia pestis. There are enhancing factors (HmsHFRS, HmsCDE, and HmsT) and
      inhibiting one (HmsP) for Yersinia pestis biofilm formation. The RcsAB regulatory
      complex acts as a repressor of Yesinia biofilm formation, and adaptive
      pseudogenization of rcsA promotes Y. pestis to evolve the ability of biofilm
      formation in fleas. In this study, we constructed a set of isogenic strains of Y.
      pestis biovar Microtus, namely WT (RscB+ and RcsA-), c-rcsA (RscB+ and RcsA+),
      DeltarcsB (RscB- and RcsA-), and DeltarcsB/c-rcsA (RscB- and RcsA+). The
      phenotypic assays confirmed that RcsB alone (but not RcsA alone) had an
      inhibiting effect on biofilm/c-di-GMP production whereas assistance of RcsA to
      RcsB greatly enhanced this inhibiting effect. Further gene regulation experiments
      showed that RcsB in assistance of RcsA tightly bound to corresponding promoter
      proximal regions to achieve transcriptional repression of hmsCDE, hmsT and
      hmsHFRS and, meanwhile, RcsAB positively regulated hmsP most likely in an
      indirect manner. Data presented here disclose that pseudogenization of rcsA leads
      to dramatic remodeling of RcsAB-dependent hms gene expression between Y. pestis
      and its progenitor Y. pseudotuberculosis, enabling potent production of Y. pestis
      biofilms in fleas. 

PMID- 25828911
TI  - The Nordic Obstetric Surveillance Study: a study of complete uterine rupture,
      abnormally invasive placenta, peripartum hysterectomy, and severe blood loss at
      delivery.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the rates and characteristics of women with complete uterine
      rupture, abnormally invasive placenta, peripartum hysterectomy, and severe blood
      loss at delivery in the Nordic countries. DESIGN: Prospective, Nordic
      collaboration. SETTING: The Nordic Obstetric Surveillance Study (NOSS) collected
      cases of severe obstetric complications in the Nordic countries from April 2009
      to August 2012. SAMPLE AND METHODS: Cases were reported by clinicians at the
      Nordic maternity units and retrieved from medical birth registers, hospital
      discharge registers, and transfusion databases by using International
      Classification of Diseases, 10th revision codes on diagnoses and the Nordic
      Medico-Statistical Committee Classification of Surgical Procedure codes. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASURES: Rates of the studied complications and possible risk factors
      among parturients in the Nordic countries. RESULTS: The studied complications
      were reported in 1019 instances among 605 362 deliveries during the study period.
      The reported rate of severe blood loss at delivery was 11.6/10 000 deliveries,
      complete uterine rupture was 5.6/10 000 deliveries, abnormally invasive placenta
      was 4.6/10 000 deliveries, and peripartum hysterectomy was 3.5/10 000 deliveries.
      Of the women, 25% had two or more complications. Women with complications were
      more often >35 years old, overweight, with a higher parity, and a history of
      cesarean delivery compared with the total population. CONCLUSION: The studied
      obstetric complications are rare. Uniform definitions and valid reporting are
      essential for international comparisons. The main risk factors include previous
      cesarean section. The detailed information collected in the NOSS database
      provides a basis for epidemiologic studies, audits, and educational activities.

PMID- 25828912
TI  - Functional analysis of sex-determination genes by gene silencing with LNA-DNA
      gapmers in the silkworm, Bombyx mori.
AB  - The sexual fate of B. mori is determined genetically; ZW, female and ZZ, male.
      Recently, we successfully identified a strong candidate gene at the top of the
      sex determination cascade in B. mori. This gene was termed Feminizer (Fem) and
      revealed to be a source of Fem-piRNA. Further, we found that B. mori doublesex
      (Bmdsx) splicing was markedly altered to produce the male-type isoform when a Fem
      piRNA inhibitor was injected into ZW embryos. Moreover, knockdown of Masculinizer
      (Masc), a Fem-piRNA target gene, altered to produce the female-type isoform of
      Bmdsx in male embryos. However, it remains unclear as to whether Masc directly
      regulates the sex-specific expression of Bmdsx. In previous studies, we
      determined that the male-specific isoform of the Bombyx homolog of IGF-II mRNA
      binding protein (Imp(M)) was involved in the male-specific splicing of Bmdsx. In
      an attempt to clarify the genetic relationship between Fem, Masc, Imp(M), and
      Bmdsx, knockdown experiments were performed. Knockdown of Fem shifted into male
      type Bmdsx, Imp(M) and Masc in female embryos. Knockdown of Masc led to the
      production of the female-type Bmdsx and a dramatic reduction in Imp(M) expression
      in male embryos. Knockdown of Imp(M) shifted Bmdsx splice mode from the male-type
      into the female-type. Our results suggest that: (1) Fem reduces Masc expression,
      (2) Masc dramatically induces Imp(M) expression, and (3) Imp(M) shifting Bmdsx
      splice mode from the female-type into the male-type. Based on these findings, we
      propose a possible genetic cascade regulating sex determination in B. mori. 

PMID- 25828913
TI  - Chemo-Enzymatic Synthesis of Linear and Branched Cationic Peptides: Evaluation as
      Gene Carriers.
AB  - Cationic peptides such as poly(l-lysine) and poly(l-arginine) are important tools
      for gene delivery since they can efficiently condense DNA. It is difficult to
      produce cationic peptides by recombinant bacterial expression, and its chemical
      synthesis requires several steps of protection/deprotection and toxic agents.
      Chemo-enzymatic synthesis of peptides is a clean chemistry technique that allows
      fast production under mild conditions. With the aim to simplify the production of
      cationic peptides, the present work develops an enzymatic reaction which enables
      the synthesis of linear cationic peptides and, through terminal functionalization
      with tris(2-aminoethyl)amine, of branched cationic peptide conjugates, which show
      improved DNA complex formation. Cytotoxicity and transfection efficiency of all
      the chemo-enzymatically synthesized cationic peptides are evaluated for their
      novel use as gene delivery agents. Synthesized peptides exhibit transfection
      efficiencies comparable to previously reported monodisperse peptides. Chemo
      enzymatic synthesis opens the door for efficient production of cationic peptides
      for their use as gene delivery carriers. 

PMID- 25828915
TI  - Association of trace elements with lipid profiles and glycaemic control in
      patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus in northern Sardinia, Italy: An
      observational study.
AB  - Sardinia is an Italian region with a high incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus.
      This study aimed to determine the associations of trace elements with lipid
      profiles and glycaemic control in patients with T1DM. A total of 192 patients
      with T1DM who attended the Unit of Diabetology and Metabolic Diseases in Sassari,
      Italy, were enrolled. Trace elements zinc, copper, selenium, chromium, and iron
      were measured in whole blood by sector field inductively coupled plasma mass
      spectrometry. The correlations between metabolic variables and the levels of
      trace elements were determined. Zinc was positively correlated with total
      cholesterol (P=0.023), low-density lipoprotein (P=0.0015), and triglycerides
      (P=0.027). Iron as significantly correlated with TC (P=0.0189), LDL (P=0.0121),
      and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (P=0.0466). In males, Cr was positively
      correlated with HDL (P=0.0079) and Se, in females was correlated with TG
      (P=0.0113). The mean fasting plasma glucose was166.2mgdL(-1). Chromium was
      correlated with fasting plasma glucose (P=0.0149), particularly in males
      (P=0.0038). Overall, 63.5% of the patients had moderate HbA1c (7-9%). Copper was
      significantly correlated with HbA1c% in males (P=0.0155). In conclusion, the
      results of this study indicate that trace elements show different associations
      with lipid levels and glycaemic control in T1DM. Zinc, Fe, and Se were associated
      with lipid levels whereas Cu and Cr were associated with HbA1c%. 

PMID- 25828914
TI  - Acute morphine affects the rat circadian clock via rhythms of phosphorylated
      ERK1/2 and GSK3beta kinases and Per1 expression in the rat suprachiasmatic
      nucleus.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Opioids affect the circadian clock and may change the
      timing of many physiological processes. This study was undertaken to investigate
      the daily changes in sensitivity of the circadian pacemaker to an analgesic dose
      of morphine, and to uncover a possible interplay between circadian and opioid
      signalling. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: A time-dependent effect of morphine (1 mg.kg(
      1) , i.p.) applied either during the day or during the early night was followed,
      and the levels of phosphorylated ERK1/2, GSK3beta, c-Fos and Per genes were
      assessed by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. The effect of
      morphine pretreatment on light-induced pERK and c-Fos was examined, and day/night
      difference in activity of opioid receptors was evaluated by [(35) S]-GTPgammaS
      binding assay. KEY RESULTS: Morphine stimulated a rise in pERK1/2 and pGSK3beta
      levels in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) when applied during the day but
      significantly reduced both kinases when applied during the night. Morphine at
      night transiently induced Period1 but not Period2 in the SCN and did not
      attenuate the light-induced level of pERK1/2 and c-Fos in the SCN. The activity
      of all three principal opioid receptors was high during the day but decreased
      significantly at night, except for the delta receptor. Finally, we demonstrated
      daily profiles of pERK1/2 and pGSK3beta levels in the rat ventrolateral and
      dorsomedial SCN. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our data suggest that the phase
      shifting effect of opioids may be mediated via post-translational modification of
      clock proteins by means of activated ERK1/2 and GSK3beta.

PMID- 25828916
TI  - Toxicity of leachate from weathering plastics: An exploratory screening study
      with Nitocra spinipes.
AB  - Between 60% and 80% of all marine litter is plastic. Leachate from plastics has
      previously been shown to cause acute toxicity in the freshwater species Daphnia
      magna. Here, we present an initial screening of the marine environmental hazard
      properties of leachates from weathering plastics to the marine harpacticoid
      copepod [Crustacea] Nitocra spinipes. Twenty-one plastic products made of
      different polymeric materials were leached and irradiated with artificial
      sunlight. Eight of the twenty-one plastics (38%) produced leachates that caused
      acute toxicity. Differences in toxicity were seen for different plastic products,
      and depending on the duration of irradiation. There was no consistent trend in
      how toxicity of leachate from plastics changed as a function of irradiation time.
      Leachate from four plastics became significantly more toxic after irradiation,
      two became significantly less toxic and two did not change significantly.
      Analysis of leachates from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by liquid chromatography
      coupled to a full-scan high-resolution mass spectrometer showed that the
      leachates were a mixture of substances, but did not show evidence of degradation
      of the polymer backbone. This screening study demonstrates that leachates from
      different plastics differ in toxicity to N. spinipes and that the toxicity varies
      under simulated weathering. 

PMID- 25828917
TI  - Biological response of earthworm, Eisenia fetida, to five neonicotinoid
      insecticides.
AB  - Earthworms (Eisenia fetida) are one of the most abundant terrestrial species, and
      play an important role in maintaining the ecological function of soil.
      Neonicotinoids are some of the most widely used insecticides applied to crops.
      Studies on the effect of neonicotinoids on E. fetida are limited. In the present
      work, we evaluated the effects of five neonicotinoid insecticides on
      reproduction, cellulase activity and the tissues of E. fetida. The results showed
      that, the LC50 of imidacloprid, acetamiprid, nitenpyram, clothianidin and
      thiacloprid was 3.05, 2.69, 4.34, 0.93 and 2.68mgkg(-1), respectively. They also
      could seriously affect the reproduction of E. fetida, reducing the fecundity by
      84.0%, 39.5%, 54.3%, 45.7% and 39.5% at the sub-lethal concentrations of 2.0,
      1.5, 0.80, 2.0 and 1.5mgkg(-1), respectively. The cellulase activity of E. fetida
      was most sensitive to clothianidin. Significant disruption of the epidermal and
      midgut tissue was observed after 14d exposure. In summary, we demonstrate that
      imidacloprid, acetamiprid, nitenpyram, clothianidin and thiacloprid have high
      toxic to earthworm, and can significantly inhibited fecundity and cellulase
      activity of E. fetida, and they also damage the epidermal and midgut cells of
      earthworm. 

PMID- 25828918
TI  - Volcanogenic pollution and testicular damage in wild mice.
AB  - Many evidences have surfaced the adverse effects of environmental pollutants on
      male reproduction. Volcanogenic pollution is understudied, although it is a well
      known source of hazardous contaminants. This study aims to assess the effects of
      chronic exposure to volcanogenic pollution on wild mice testes by studying: (i)
      diameter of seminiferous tubules; (ii) relative volumetric density of different
      spermatogenic cells and interstitial space; (iii) damage in the seminiferous
      tubules and (iv) apoptotic level in the germinal epithelium. The mice from the
      polluted site showed higher levels of the selected heavy metals than those from
      the reference site. The mean diameter of seminiferous tubules and the relative
      volume occupied by spermatozoa and lumen in exposed mice were significantly lower
      than in the unexposed group. Contrarily, exposed mice showed a significantly
      higher relative volume occupied by interstitium, as well as, a higher degree of
      damage and a significantly higher number of apoptotic cells in the germinal
      epithelium. Results show that secondary manifestations of volcanic activity can
      pose a serious risk of testicular injury and therefore for male reproduction. 

PMID- 25828919
TI  - In situ measurements of organic carbon in soil profiles using vis-NIR
      spectroscopy on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau.
AB  - We wish to estimate the amount of carbon (C) stored in the soil at high
      altitudes, for which there is little information. Collecting and transporting
      large numbers of soil samples from such terrain are difficult, and we have
      therefore evaluated the feasibility of scanning with visible near-infrared (vis
      NIR) spectroscopy in situ for the rapid measurement of the soil in the field. We
      took 28 cores (~1 m depth and 5 cm diameter) of soil at altitudes from 2900 to
      4500 m in the Sygera Mountains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. Spectra were
      acquired from fresh, vertical faces 5 * 5 cm in area from the centers of the
      cores to give 413 spectra in all. The raw spectra were pretreated by several
      methods to remove noise, and statistical models were built to predict of the
      organic C in the samples from the spectra by partial least-squares regression
      (PLSR) and least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM). The bootstrap was used
      to assess the uncertainty of the predictions by the several combinations of
      pretreatment and models. The predictions by LS-SVM from the field spectra, for
      which R(2) = 0.81, the root-mean-square error RMSE = 8.40, and the ratio of the
      interquartile distance RPIQ = 2.66, were comparable to the PLSR predictions from
      the laboratory spectra (R(2) = 0.85, RMSE = 7.28, RPIQ = 3.09). We conclude that
      vis-NIR scanning in situ in the field is a sufficiently accurate rapid means of
      estimating the concentration of organic C in soil profiles in this high region
      and perhaps elsewhere. 

PMID- 25828920
TI  - Bone morphogenetic protein 4 inhibits insulin secretion from rodent beta cells
      through regulation of calbindin1 expression and reduced voltage-dependent calcium
      currents.
AB  - AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Type 2 diabetes is characterised by progressive loss of
      pancreatic beta cell mass and function. Therefore, it is of therapeutic interest
      to identify factors with the potential to improve beta cell proliferation and
      insulin secretion. Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) expression is increased in
      diabetic animals and BMP4 reduces glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS).
      Here, we investigate the molecular mechanism behind this inhibition. METHODS:
      BMP4-mediated inhibition of GSIS was investigated in detail using single cell
      electrophysiological measurements and live cell Ca(2+) imaging. BMP4-mediated
      gene expression changes were investigated by microarray profiling, quantitative
      PCR and western blotting. RESULTS: Prolonged exposure to BMP4 reduced GSIS from
      rodent pancreatic islets. This inhibition was associated with decreased
      exocytosis due to a reduced Ca(2+) current through voltage-dependent Ca(2+)
      channels. To identify proteins involved in the inhibition of GSIS, we
      investigated global gene expression changes induced by BMP4 in neonatal rat
      pancreatic islets. Expression of the Ca(2+)-binding protein calbindin1 was
      significantly induced by BMP4. Overexpression of calbindin1 in primary islet
      cells reduced GSIS, and the effect of BMP4 on GSIS was lost in islets from
      calbindin1 (Calb1) knockout mice. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: We found BMP4
      treatment to markedly inhibit GSIS from rodent pancreatic islets in a calbindin1
      dependent manner. Calbindin1 is suggested to mediate the effect of BMP4 by
      buffering Ca(2+) and decreasing Ca(2+) channel activity, resulting in diminished
      insulin exocytosis. Both BMP4 and calbindin1 are potential pharmacological
      targets for the treatment of beta cell dysfunction.

PMID- 25828921
TI  - Hemodynamic targets during therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest: A
      prospective observational study.
AB  - AIM: In analogy with sepsis, current post-cardiac arrest (CA) guidelines
      recommend to target mean arterial pressure (MAP) above 65 mmHg and SVO2 above
      70%. This is unsupported by mortality or cerebral perfusion data. The aim of this
      study was to explore the associations between MAP, SVO2, cerebral oxygenation and
      survival. METHODS: Prospective, observational study during therapeutic
      hypothermia (24h - 33  degrees C) in 82 post-CA patients monitored with near
      infrared spectroscopy. RESULTS: Forty-three patients (52%) survived in CPC 1-2
      until 180 days post-CA. The mean MAP range associated with maximal survival was
      76-86 mmHg (OR 2.63, 95%CI [1.01; 6.88], p = 0.04). The mean SVO2 range
      associated with maximal survival was 67-72% (OR 8.23, 95%CI [2.07; 32.68], p =
      0.001). In two separate multivariate models, a mean MAP (OR 3.72, 95% CI [1.11;
      12.50], p=0.03) and a mean SVO2 (OR 10.32, 95% CI [2.03; 52.60], p = 0.001) in
      the optimal range persisted as independently associated with increased survival.
      Based on more than 1625000 data points, we found a strong linear relation between
      SVO2 (range 40-90%) and average cerebral saturation (R(2) 0.86) and between MAP
      and average cerebral saturation for MAP's between 45 and 101 mmHg (R(2) 0.83).
      Based on our hemodynamic model, the MAP and SVO2 ranges associated with optimal
      cerebral oxygenation were determined to be 87-101 mmHg and 70-75%. CONCLUSION: we
      showed that a MAP range between 76-86 mmHg and SVO2 range between 67% and 72%
      were associated with maximal survival. Optimal cerebral saturation was achieved
      with a MAP between 87-101 mmHg and a SVO2 between 70% and 75%. Prospective
      interventional studies are needed to investigate whether forcing MAP and SVO2 in
      the suggested range with additional pharmacological support would improve
      outcome.

PMID- 25828922
TI  - Cost-effectiveness of a national public access defibrillation programme.
AB  - AIM: Proposed Irish legislation aimed at increasing survival from out-of-hospital
      cardiac-arrest (OHCA) mandates the provision of automated external defibrillators
      (AEDs) in a comprehensive range of publicly accessible premises in urban and
      rural areas. This study estimated the clinical and cost effectiveness of the
      legislation, compared with alternative programme configurations involving more
      targeted AED placement. METHODS: We used a cost-utility analysis to estimate the
      costs and consequences of public access defibrillation (PAD) programmes from a
      societal perspective, based on AED deployment by building type. Comparator
      programmes ranged from those that only included building types with the highest
      incidence of OHCA, to the comprehensive programme outline in the proposed
      legislation. Data on OHCA incidence and outcomes were obtained from the Irish Out
      of-Hospital-Cardiac-Arrest Register (OHCAR). Costs were obtained from the Irish
      health service, device suppliers and training providers. RESULTS: The incremental
      cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) for the most comprehensive PAD scheme was
      ?928,450/QALY. The ICER for the most scaled-back programme involving AED
      placement in transport stations, medical practices, entertainment venues, schools
      (excluding primary) and fitness facilities was ?95,640/QALY. A 40% increase in
      AED utilisation when OHCAs occur in a public area could potentially render this
      programme cost effective. CONCLUSION: National PAD programmes involving
      widespread deployment of static AEDs are unlikely to be cost-effective. To
      improve cost-effectiveness any prospective programmes should target locations
      with the highest incidence of OHCA and be supported by efforts to increase AED
      utilisation, such as improving public awareness, increasing CPR and AED training,
      and establishing an EMS-linked AED register.

PMID- 25828923
TI  - Piezochromic luminescence behaviors of two new benzothiazole-enamido boron
      difluoride complexes: intra- and inter-molecular effects induced by hydrostatic
      compression.
AB  - Two new propeller-shaped benzothiazole-enamide boron difluoride complexes
      exhibiting piezochromic luminescence upon mechanical grinding or hydrostatic
      compression were prepared. The two analogues displayed the red shift in
      luminescence under high pressure, while compound 2 with ICT effects showed a more
      sensitive piezochromic response at low pressure (<1.5 GPa). The different
      piezochromic luminescence behaviors of these compounds were investigated.

PMID- 25828924
TI  - Epistemic injustice in assessment of delusions.
AB  - Delusions are one of the most elusive concepts in psychiatry. There have been
      several theories on the nature and definition of delusions. Jaspers described
      them as entailing a total transformation of reality and considered primary
      delusions as un-understandable. When it comes to clinical practice, psychiatrists
      resort to criteria of falsity, incorrigibility, conviction and being out of
      keeping with the person's culture. All these criteria have been subject to
      various criticisms, some of which will be discussed in the paper. We will use the
      concept of epistemic injustice to explore the role of stereotypes and prejudice
      in the identification of delusions. We will discuss cases where patients are
      suffering from testimonial injustice by virtue of having a mental disorder that
      is so often associated with attributions of irrationality, bizarreness and
      incomprehensibility. Two vignettes will be presented to show that this is often
      the case in clinical practice. We will discuss relevant issues around the
      epistemology of the delusions. We think that in order to challenge the
      testimonial injustice, there needs to be an awareness of its possibility and thus
      recognition of the role of certain stereotypes in assessing these mental states.
      Challenging the stigma against mentally ill and adopting a holistic view of
      delusions can help tackle the prejudice that pre-empt the testimonial injustice. 

PMID- 25828925
TI  - HPLC with fluorescence detection assay of perampanel, a novel AMPA receptor
      antagonist, in human plasma for clinical pharmacokinetic studies.
AB  - Perampanel (Fycompa(r)), a novel alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4
      isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor antagonist, is registered for the
      adjunctive treatment of patients (aged >=12 years) with refractory partial-onset
      seizures. To support therapeutic drug monitoring, a simple high-performance
      liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay with fluorescence detection was developed to
      determine perampanel concentrations in human plasma and validated to support
      clinical trials. Human plasma samples (1.0 mL) were processed by liquid
      extraction using diethyl ether, followed by chromatographic separation on a YMC
      Pack Pro C18 column (150 * 4.6 mm i.d., 5 um) with isocratic elution of
      acetonitrile-water-acetic acid-sodium acetate (840:560:3:1.8, v/v/v/w) at a flow
      rate of 1.0 mL/min. Column eluent was monitored at excitation and emission
      wavelengths of 290 and 430 nm, respectively. The assay was linear (range 1.0-500
      ng/mL) and this could be extended to 25 ug/mL by 50-fold dilution integrity. No
      endogenous peaks were detected in the elution of analytes in drug-free blank
      human plasma from six individuals and no interference was observed with co
      medications tested. Intra- and inter-batch reproducibility studies demonstrated
      accuracy and precision within the acceptance criteria of bioanalytical
      guidelines. Validation data demonstrated that our assay is simple, selective,
      reproducible and suitable for therapeutic drug monitoring of perampanel.

PMID- 25828926
TI  - Simultaneous treatment of food-waste recycling wastewater and cultivation of
      Tetraselmis suecica for biodiesel production.
AB  - There is an increasing interest in the use of cultivated microalgae to
      simultaneously produce biodiesel and remove nutrients from various wastewaters.
      For this purpose, Tetraselmis suecica was cultivated in flasks and fermenters
      using diluted food-waste recycling wastewater (FRW). The effect of FRW dilution
      on T. suecica growth and nutrient removal was initially tested in flasks. The
      maximal microalgal concentration after 14 days was in medium with a twofold
      dilution (28.3 * 10(6) cells/mL) and a fivefold dilution (25.5 * 10(6) cells/mL).
      When fivefold diluted medium was used in fermenters, the final dry cell weight of
      T. suecica was 2.0 g/L. The removal efficiencies of ammonium and phosphate in the
      fermenters were 99.0 and 52.3%, respectively. In comparison with the results of
      previous studies, the growth data of T. suecica in the FRW medium indicate that
      microalgal cultivation system incorporating removal of nutrients in FRW is
      feasible at the field level.

PMID- 25828927
TI  - Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis due to Aspergillus lentulus: Successful
      treatment of a liver transplant patient.
AB  - We report a patient with severe invasive pulmonary fungal infection caused by
      Aspergilllus lentulus, which was identified by genetic analysis, following liver
      transplantation. The patient was initially suspected to have Aspergilllus
      fumigatus infection, but worsened clinically despite antifungal therapy
      appropriate for that species. The patient survived after accurate diagnosis, and
      detailed drug susceptibility testing led to adequate therapy, demonstrating the
      importance of performing these investigations for severely immunocompromised
      patients, including organ transplant recipients. 

PMID- 25828928
TI  - Thiophene containing trisubstituted methanes [TRSMs] as identified lead against
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
AB  - Triarylmethanes (TRAMs) and thiophene containing trisubstituted methanes (TRSMs)
      have been reported by us, having potential against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and
      Mycobacterium fortuitum strains, respectively. Further, extension through
      synthesis and biological evaluation of novel TRSMs resulted into an identified
      lead 36 (S006-830) [(diisopropyl-(2-{4-[(4-methoxy-phenyl)- thiophen-2-yl-methyl]
      phenoxy}-ethyl)-amine)] with MIC: 1.33 mg/L, non-toxic against Vero C-1008 cell
      line with selectivity index >10, ex vivo efficacy equivalent to first line TB
      drugs-isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RFM) and pyrazinamide (PZA) in the mouse and
      human macrophages, and lung CFU count of 2.2 * 10(7) (approximately 15 fold
      lesser than untreated mice, 31 * 10(7)) with efficacies comparable to ethambutol
      (EMB) (1.27 * 10(7)) and PZA (1.9 * 10(7)). Further, S006-830 also showed potent
      bactericidal activity against multi-drug resistant and single-drug resistant
      clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis. 

PMID- 25828929
TI  - Distinct novel quinazolinone exhibits selective inhibition in MGC-803 cancer
      cells by dictating mutant p53 function.
AB  - The mutant p53 proteins and their corresponding cellular response can be
      manipulated by novel quinazolinone derivatives 4-8 (a-i) in p53 mutant cancer
      cells. Of the two most potent compounds, 4a exhibited promising broad-spectrum
      anti-cancer effects, whereas 6c showed selective and exclusive inhibition
      activity in p53 mutant cancer cell lines but low toxicity to wild-type p53 cancer
      cell A375 and normal lung fibroblast WI-38 cells. Furthermore, 6c exhibited a
      more sophisticated mechanism for cell-destructive response by causing S/G2 phase
      arrest effect and cell size reduction. Compared with the cellular response of 6b
      and genetic background of cell lines studied, p53 mutation was found to be the
      key factor and main target for 6c evoked cell-destructive response. Molecular
      mechanism studies indicated that p53 phosphorylation and acetylation dual
      targeting inhibitor 6c exerted anti-cancer activities with a special mechanism in
      evoking cell apoptosis by arresting mutant p53 function to trigger the
      deregulation of Cdk2 caused Bim-mediated apoptosis. To the best of our knowledge,
      6c is the first quinazolinone derivative to dictate mutant p53 function for
      apoptotic cell death. 

PMID- 25828930
TI  - Structural, morphological and steady state photoluminescence spectroscopy studies
      of red Eu(3+)-doped Y2O3 nanophosphors prepared by the sol-gel method.
AB  - Europium trivalent (Eu(3+))-doped Y2O3 nanopowders of different concentrations
      (0.5, 2.5, 5 or 7 at.%) were synthesized by the sol-gel method, at different pH
      values (pH 2, 5 or 8) and annealing temperatures (600  degrees C, 800  degrees C
      or 1000  degrees C). The nanopowders samples were characterized by X-ray
      diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier
      transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and steady state photoluminescence
      spectroscopy. The effect of pH of solution and annealing temperatures on
      structural, morphological and photoluminescence properties of Eu(3+)-doped Y2O3
      were studied and are discussed. It was found that the average crystallite size of
      the nanopowders increased with increasing pH and annealing temperature values.
      The Y2O3:Eu(3+) material presented different morphology and its evolution
      depended on the pH value and the annealing temperature. Activation energies at
      different pH values were determined and are discussed. Under ultraviolet (UV)
      light excitation, Y2O3:Eu(3+) showed narrow emission peaks corresponding to the
      (5)D0- (7) FJ (J = 0, 1, 2 and 3) transitions of the Eu(3+) ion, with the most
      intense red emission at 611 assigned to forced electric dipole (5)D0 -> (7)F2.
      The emission intensity became more intense with increasing annealing temperature
      and pH values, related to the improvement of crystalline quality. For the 1000 
      degrees C annealing temperature, the emission intensity presented a maximum at pH
      5 related to the uniform cubic-shaped particles. It was found that for lower
      annealing temperatures (small crystallite size) the CTB (charge transfer band)
      position presented a red shift.

PMID- 25828931
TI  - Intraoral diode laser epiglottectomy for treatment of epiglottis chondrosarcoma
      in a dog.
AB  - Laryngeal tumours are rare in dogs. Surgery is the treatment of choice, but it is
      usually palliative in malignant conditions, due to advanced stage of the tumour
      at the time of diagnosis. In veterinary medicine, little information is available
      about the use of diode laser in laryngeal oncological surgery. In the case
      reported here, a dog with an epiglottic chondrosarcoma was successfully treated
      with diode laser epiglottectomy. The surgical technique and follow up are
      described. 

PMID- 25828932
TI  - Special issue: epigenetics: introduction.
AB  - Epigenetic studies focus on changes in genetic information that rely on histone
      modification, which complements information encoded by the DNA sequence. Research
      in this rapidly expanding field has greatly contributed to a better understanding
      of processes such as gene regulation, chromatin structure, and cell
      differentiation and disease. The most recent advances in this area are reviewed
      in the collection of papers included in this Special Issue. 

PMID- 25828933
TI  - Developing an educational video on lung lobectomy for the general surgery
      resident.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The educational resources available to general surgery residents
      preparing for complex thoracic surgeries vary greatly in content and target
      audience. We hypothesized that the preparatory resources could be improved in
      both efficiency of use and targeting. METHODS: A formal needs analysis was
      performed to determine residents' knowledge gaps and desired format and/or
      content of an educational tool while preparing for their first lung resections.
      The results of the needs assessment then guided the creation of a 20-min video
      tool. The video was evaluated by a focus group of experts for appropriateness to
      the target audience, ease of use, and relevance. RESULTS: The needs assessment
      illustrated that residents feel there is a paucity of appropriate resources
      available to them while preparing for the lung resection procedure; 82% of
      respondents felt that easy-to-use and concise resources on the lobectomy
      procedure were either "not at all" or "somewhat" accessible. Residents reported
      that video was their preferred format for a learning tool overall and identified
      a broad spectrum of most challenging procedural aspects. These results were used
      to guide the creation of a 20-min video tool. A focus group validated the
      efficacy and appropriateness of the video. CONCLUSIONS: Targeted and efficient
      tools for residents preparing for complex subspecialty procedures are needed and
      valued. These results clearly encourage further work in the creation of focused
      educational tools for surgical residents, especially in the format of short video
      overviews.

PMID- 25828934
TI  - Alternative treatment of symptomatic pancreatic fistula.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The management of symptomatic pancreatic fistula after
      pancreaticoduodenectomy is complex and associated with increased morbidity and
      mortality. We here report continuous irrigation and drainage of the pancreatic
      remnant to be a feasible and safe alternative to total pancreatectomy. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Between 2005 and 2011, patients were analyzed, in which
      pancreaticojejunal anastomosis was disconnected because of grade C fistula, and
      catheters for continuous irrigation and drainage were placed close to the
      pancreatic remnant. Clinical data were monitored and quality of life was
      evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 13 of 202 patients undergoing
      pancreaticoduodenectomy required reoperation due to symptomatic pancreatic
      fistula. Ninety-day mortality of these patients was 15.3%. Median length of stay
      on the intensive care unit and total length of stay was 18 d (range 3-45) and 46
      d (range 33-96), respectively. Patients with early reoperation (<10 d) had
      significantly decreased length of stay on the intensive care unit and operation
      time (P < 0.05). Global health status after a median time of 22 mo (range 6-66)
      was nearly identical, when compared with that of a healthy control group. Mean
      follow-up was 44.4 mo (+/-27.2). Four patients (36.6 %) died during the follow-up
      period; two patients from tumor recurrence, one patient from pneumonia, and one
      patient for unknown reasons. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of pancreatic fistula by
      continuous irrigation and drainage of the preserved pancreatic remnant is a
      simple and feasible alternative to total pancreatectomy. This technique maintains
      a sufficient endocrine function and is associated with low mortality and
      reasonable quality of life.

PMID- 25828935
TI  - Erratum to: Adrenal hypofunction from histoplasmosis: a literature review from
      1971 to 2012.

PMID- 25828936
TI  - Antibiotic use varies substantially among adults: a cross-national study from
      five European Countries in the ARITMO project.
AB  - PURPOSE: To examine patterns of outpatient and community antibiotic use among
      adults in five European countries. METHODS: We used healthcare data of 28.8
      million adults from six population-based ARITMO project databases to ascertain
      information on systemic antibiotic use in Denmark (2000-2008), the Netherlands
      (1999-2010), Italy (2000-2010), the UK (1996-2009), and Germany (2004-2008). We
      estimated overall, and age-group and sex specific antibiotic use as defined daily
      doses (DDD) per 1000 inhabitants per day. We computed annual age- and sex
      standardized population prevalence of antibiotic use per 1000 persons-years (p-y)
      and the mean duration (in days) of antibiotic use. RESULTS: The overall
      antibiotic use varied from 8.7 DDD per 1000 inhabitants per day in the UK to 18.1
      DDD in Denmark, representing a 2.1-fold geographical variation. In all countries,
      prescribing was relatively high among individuals aged 15-19 years; lower in
      those aged 20-50 years; and then increased steadily reaching 41.8 DDD per 1000
      inhabitants per day in individuals >= 85 years in Denmark. After age- and sex
      standardization, prevalence of antibiotic use varied threefold from 160.2/1000 p
      y in the UK to 421.1/1000 p-y in Italy. The ratio of broad- to narrow-spectrum
      penicillin, cephalosporin, and macrolide use varied from 0.6 in Denmark to 120.2
      in Italy. Women used more antibiotics than men did in all countries. Across
      countries, the mean duration of antibiotic use varied 1.3 to 21.1-fold for
      different antibiotics. CONCLUSIONS: Antibiotic use is high in women and the
      elderly. Prescribing patterns vary substantially across European countries, both
      according to overall consumption, user prevalence, duration, and narrow- versus
      broad-spectrum antibiotics.

PMID- 25828937
TI  - Recipient-born bloodstream infection due to extensively drug-resistant
      Acinetobacter baumannii after emergency heart transplant: report of a case and
      review of the literature.
AB  - Infections due to drug-resistant Gram-negative rods are an emerging risk factor
      for increased mortality after solid organ transplant. Extensively drug-resistant
      (XDR) Acinetobacter baumannii (Acb) is a major threat in several critical care
      settings. The limited available data on the outcome of XDR Acb infections in
      organ transplant recipients mostly comes from cases of donor-derived infections.
      However, recipients of life-saving organs are often critically ill patients,
      staying long term in intensive care units, and therefore at high risk for
      nosocomial infections. In this report, we describe our experience with the
      exceedingly complex management of a recipient-born XDR Acb bloodstream infection
      clinically ensued shortly after heart transplant. We also review the current
      literature on this mounting issue relevant for intensive care, transplant
      medicine and infectious diseases. 

PMID- 25828938
TI  - Retinal and central nervous system involvement in T cell large granular
      lymphocyte leukaemia.

PMID- 25828939
TI  - Primary intracranial low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma with FUS gene rearrangement.
AB  - Low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma (LGFMS) is a rare sarcoma typically presenting as a
      deep soft tissue mass in the lower extremities or trunk. Only four cases of
      primary intracranial LGFMS have been reported in the literature, but none with
      molecular/cytogenetic data. We report here a new bona fide case confirmed by the
      characteristic FUS gene rearrangement, as shown by fluorescence in situ
      hybridization analysis, in addition to typical histopathological findings. This
      would be the first genetically confirmed report of the extremely rare occurrence
      of intracranial LGFMS.

PMID- 25828940
TI  - ASIA: asbestos stop in Asia.

PMID- 25828942
TI  - What is the Utility Of a Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction Service in an
      Academic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Limb lengthening and reconstruction surgery is a relatively new
      subspecialty of orthopaedic surgery in the United States. Despite increased
      awareness and practice of the specialty, it is rarely vested as a separate
      clinical service in an academic department of orthopaedic surgery. We have had
      experience growing such a dedicated service within an academic department of
      orthopaedic surgery over the past 9 years. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: We explored (1)
      the use of a limb deformity service (LDS) in an academic department of
      orthopaedic surgery by examining data on referral patterns, our clinical volume,
      and academic productivity; and (2) the surgical breadth of cases comprising the
      patients of the LDS in an academic department of orthopaedic surgery by examining
      data on caseload by anatomic sites, category, and surgical techniques/tools.
      METHODS: We (SRR, ATF, EWB) retrospectively examined data on numbers of surgical
      cases and outpatient visits from the limb lengthening and complex reconstruction
      service at the Hospital for Special Surgery from 2005 to 2013 to evaluate growth.
      We studied 672 consecutive surgical cases performed by our service for a sample
      period of 1 year, assessing referral patterns within and outside our medical
      center, anatomic region, surgical category, and surgical technique/tool. Academic
      productivity was measured by review of our service's publications. RESULTS:
      During the time period studied (2005-2013), outpatient and surgical volume
      significantly increased by 120% (1530 to 3372) and 105% (346 to 708),
      respectively, on our LDS. Surgical volume growth was similar to the overall
      growth of the department of orthopaedic surgery. Referrals were primarily from
      orthopaedic surgeons (56%) and self/Internet research (25%). Physician referrals
      were predominantly from our own medical center (83%). Referrals from within our
      institution came from a variety of clinical services. Forty-nine peer-reviewed
      articles and 23 book chapters were published by staff members of our service.
      Anatomic surgical sites, surgical categories, and technique/tools used on our LDS
      were diverse, yet procedures were specialized to the discipline of limb
      deformity. CONCLUSIONS: There is a substantial role for an LDS within an academic
      department of orthopaedic surgery. With establishment of a dedicated service
      comes focus and resources that establish an environment for growth in volume,
      intramural and extramural referral, and purposeful research and education. The
      majority of referrals were from orthopaedic surgeons from our own medical center,
      suggesting needfulness. The LDS provides patients access to specialized surgery.
      The number of intramural referrals suggests that the specialty service helps
      retain patients within our academic orthopaedic department. Future research will
      try to determine if such a dedicated service leads to improved outcomes,
      efficiency, and value. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, retrospective study.

PMID- 25828944
TI  - CORR Insights((r)): The Chitranjan Ranawat Award: Running Subcuticular Closure
      Enables the Most Robust Perfusion After TKA: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

PMID- 25828943
TI  - Clinical Implications of Psychosocial Factors on Pediatric External Fixation
      Treatment and Recommendations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pediatric limb reconstruction using circular external fixation is a
      prolonged treatment that interrupts patients' daily function. Patient personality
      characteristics and expectations may interfere with planned treatment, making
      complicated medical procedures more challenging. The aims of this study are to
      identify factors impacting treatment outcome and recommendations for preoperative
      evaluation and planning. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: (1) Are there group differences
      between patients with and without a preexisting mental health condition(s) in
      terms of unplanned reoperations? (2) Does the number of surgical procedures
      before current external fixator placement correlate with the number of unplanned
      readmissions, unplanned reoperations, and days spent in circular external
      fixation? (3) Are there group differences between single- compared with two
      parent households in terms of inpatient narcotic doses, length of inpatient stay,
      number of unplanned readmissions, length of readmission(s), and/or unplanned
      outpatient clinic visits? (4) Does patient age at the time of surgery have an
      impact on treatment duration, postoperative complications, and treatment outcome?
      METHODS: This is a retrospective chart review of pediatric patients who underwent
      limb reconstruction between 2008 and 2012. Patients with limb length discrepancy
      > 4 cm or severe angular deformity and who agreed to intervention were treated
      with circular external fixation. Sixty-seven patients were included; 16 patients
      were excluded. Statistical analyses included Pearson r correlation and t-test.
      RESULTS: Patients who reported preexisting mental health diagnosis (13%) had more
      unplanned reoperations than patients who did not (no mental health diagnosis;
      87%) (mental health diagnosis 3.4 +/- 10.3 versus no mental health diagnosis 0.2
      +/- 0.5 reoperation[s], p = 0.022). Number of previous surgical procedures
      correlated with number of unplanned reoperations (r = 0.448, p < 0.001), number
      of unplanned readmissions (r = 0.375, p < 0.001), and number of days in an
      apparatus (r = 0.275, p = 0.018). Compared with patients from two-parent
      households, patients from single-parent households received a greater number of
      inpatient narcotic doses (single-parent 129 +/- 118 versus two-parent 73 +/- 109
      doses, p = 0.039), longer length of inpatient stay (single-parent 73 +/- 63
      versus two-parent 40 +/- 65 days, p = 0.036), more unplanned readmissions (single
      parent 0.4 +/- 0.1 versus two-parent 0.2 +/- 0.2 readmission, p = 0.024), longer
      hospitalization when readmitted (single-parent 5 +/- 11 versus two-parent 1 +/- 3
      day(s), p = 0.025), and fewer unplanned outpatient visits (single-parent 0.2 +/-
      0.8 versus two-parent 0.9 +/- 1.1 visit, p = 0.005). Apparatus applications with
      successful outcome had higher average age than those with poor outcome
      (successful outcome 16 +/- 3 versus poor outcome 13 +/- 4 years old, p = 0.011).
      Age at time of apparatus application correlated with number of prescribed
      antibiotics (r = 0.245, p = 0.036) and number of days in an apparatus (r = 0.233,
      p = 0.047). CONCLUSIONS: As a result of the inherent challenges of limb
      reconstruction, surgical candidates should be preoperatively assessed and
      mitigating psychosocial factors managed to maximize successful treatment outcome.
      LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, therapeutic study.

PMID- 25828941
TI  - Developmental Dislocation of the Hip Successfully Treated by Preoperative
      Traction and Medial Open Reduction: A 22-year Mean Followup.
AB  - BACKGROUND: During the last 35 years, the medial approach has been reported more
      frequently than the anterior approach for open reduction of developmental
      dislocation of the hip (DDH), however, few studies have followed children treated
      by medial open reduction to adulthood. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: The purposes of our
      study were: (1) to assess the development of 71 completely dislocated hips after
      medial open reduction, the incidence of additional surgery and avascular necrosis
      during the followup period, and the long-term radiographic and functional
      results; and (2) to compare our results with those obtained by others who
      performed open reduction either by the medial or anterior approach. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated, after the end of growth, 71 hips in 52
      patients who underwent open reduction by the medial approach. The mean age of the
      patients was 16 months (range, 3-36 months). After surgery, the hips were
      immobilized in 100 degrees  flexion, 60 degrees  abduction, and neutral rotation
      for an average of 6 months. All patients had staged clinical and radiographic
      followups until skeletal maturity. The length of followup averaged 22 years
      (range, 13-32 years). RESULTS: In all the surgically treated hips, the acetabular
      index normalized by the end of growth, the incidence of avascular necrosis was
      18%, and additional surgery was required in 15% of our cases. At the last
      followup, 93% of the hips were classified as Severin Classes I or II and 7% as
      Class III; 76% of the hips had an excellent result, 17% had a good result, and 7%
      had a fair result according to the McKay scale as modified by Barrett and
      colleagues. CONCLUSIONS: Open reduction of DDH through a medial approach provided
      good long-term radiographic and functional results in patients 3 to 36 months old
      and it was the only surgery performed in 85% of our cases. Future comparative
      studies are needed to confirm our results, especially in older children. LEVEL OF
      EVIDENCE: Level IV, therapeutic study.

PMID- 25828945
TI  - Blast Injury in the Spine: Dynamic Response Index Is Not an Appropriate Model for
      Predicting Injury.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Improvised explosive devices are a common feature of recent
      asymmetric conflicts and there is a persistent landmine threat to military and
      humanitarian personnel. Assessment of injury risk to the spine in vehicles
      subjected to explosions was conducted using a standardized model, the Dynamic
      Response Index (DRI). However, the DRI was intended for evaluating aircraft
      ejection seats and has not been validated in blast conditions.
      QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: We asked whether the injury patterns seen in blast are
      similar to those in aircraft ejection and therefore whether a single injury
      prediction model can be used for both situations. METHODS: UK military victims of
      mounted blast (seated in a vehicle) were identified from the Joint Theatre Trauma
      Registry. Each had their initial CT scans reviewed to identify spinal fractures.
      A literature search identified a comparison population of ejected aircrew with
      spinal fractures. Seventy-eight blast victims were identified with 294 fractures.
      One hundred eighty-nine patients who had sustained aircraft ejection were
      identified with 258 fractures. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the
      population injury distributions and Fisher's exact test was used to assess
      differences at each spinal level. RESULTS: The distribution of injuries between
      blast and ejection was not similar. In the cervical spine, the relative risk of
      injury was 11.5 times higher in blast; in the lumbar spine the relative risk was
      2.9 times higher in blast. In the thoracic spine, the relative risk was identical
      in blast and ejection. At most individual vertebral levels including the upper
      thoracic spine, there was a higher risk of injury in the blast population, but
      the opposite was true between T7 and T12, where the risk was higher in aircraft
      ejection. CONCLUSIONS: The patterns of injury in blast and aircraft are
      different, suggesting that the two are mechanistically dissimilar. At most
      vertebral levels there is a higher relative risk of fracture in the blast
      population, but at the apex of the thoracic spine and in the lower thoracic
      spine, there is a higher risk in ejection victims. The differences in relative
      risk at different levels, and the resulting overall different injury patterns,
      suggest that a single model cannot be used to predict the risk of injury in
      ejection and blast. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: A new model needs to be developed to aid
      in the design of mine-protected vehicles for future conflicts.

PMID- 25828946
TI  - Comparison of macular thickness and inflammatory cytokine levels after
      microincision versus small incision coaxial cataract surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the macular thickness and volume change, and inflammatory
      cytokine levels after cataract surgery performed using two different sizes of
      incision (microincision versus small incision). METHODS: In this randomized,
      comparative clinical trial, 84 eyes with nuclear density from Grade 3-4 were
      randomly divided into two groups (microincision, 2.2 mm; and small incision, 2.75
      mm). Forty-two patients underwent phacoemulsification with microincision coaxial
      cataract surgery and 42 patients underwent phacoemulsification with small
      incision coaxial cataract surgery. Clinical measurements included preoperative, 1
      week, 1-month and 2-month postoperative best corrected visual acuity, central
      corneal thickness (CCT) and endothelial cell count. ELISA and RT-PCR were
      performed for IL-1beta, IL-6, VEGF and PGE2 preoperatively and at 1 week
      postoperatively. RESULTS: The percentage increase in CCT in the microincision
      group was significantly higher than that in the small incision group at 1 week
      after cataract surgery (p = 0.01). The increase in macular thickness in the
      microincision group was significantly higher than that in small incision group at
      1 month after cataract operation (p = 0.04). Also, IL-1beta, IL-6, VEGF and PGE2
      concentrations and their expression ratio in the microincision group were
      significantly higher than those in the small incision group at 1 week after
      cataract surgery compared to the preoperative period (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:
      Phacoemulsification with microincision coaxial cataract surgery may increase the
      macular thickness compared to phacoemulsification with small incision coaxial
      cataract surgery. Blood-aqueous barrier breakdown may occur more frequently after
      microincision cataract surgery than after small incision cataract surgery.

PMID- 25828947
TI  - Upregulation of endoplasmic reticulum stress and reactive oxygen species by
      naturally occurring mutations in hepatitis B virus core antigen.
AB  - Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is associated with a broad spectrum of clinical
      manifestations, including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
      Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and subsequent oxidative stress have been
      implicated in liver carcinogenesis and disease progression with chronic
      inflammation. In our previous study, several mutations in the precore/core region
      of HBV genotype C were identified from 70 Korean chronic patients, and the
      mutations were associated with HCC and/or HBV e antigen serostatus. Here, we
      found that the naturally occurring mutations P5T/H/L of the HBV core antigen
      induced ER stress. The upregulation of ER stress resulted in higher reactive
      oxygen species production, intracellular calcium concentration, inflammatory
      cytokines as well as surface antigen production and apoptosis of cells. This
      study suggested that these mutations may contribute to the progression of liver
      disease in chronic patients. 

PMID- 25828948
TI  - MCF-7 cells--changing the course of breast cancer research and care for 45 years.
AB  - It is 45 years since a pleural effusion from a patient with metastatic breast
      cancer led to the generation of the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. MCF-7 is the
      most studied human breast cancer cell line in the world, and results from this
      cell line have had a fundamental impact upon breast cancer research and patient
      outcomes. But of the authors for the nearly 25000 scientific publications that
      used this cell line, how many know the unique story of its isolation and
      development? In this commentary we will review the past, present, and future of
      research using MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

PMID- 25828949
TI  - Depression and socio-economical burden are more common in primary caregivers of
      patients who are not aware of their cancer: TURQUOISE Study by the Palliative
      Care Working Committee of the Turkish Oncology Group (TOG).
AB  - In this study, we aimed to determine the personal, social and economic burden and
      the frequency of depression, as well as in caregivers of cancer patients who are
      being treated with chemotherapy in Turkey. The study is designed as a cross
      sectional survey study using a 5-point Likert-type response scale, and the last
      part of the questionnaire includes the Beck Depression Inventory. The depression
      rate was found to be 64% (n = 476) among all subjects (n = 968), with 91% of
      those with depression demonstrating signs of mild depression. In this study, a
      significant difference was found between the presence of depression and age
      (young), sex (female), educational level (high), economic status (low), financial
      loss during treatment, patient's lack of knowledge about his/her diagnosis,
      metastatic disease and short survival time. In addition, 64% of all subjects had
      concerns of getting cancer, and 44% of all subjects had feelings of anger/rage
      against other people. In a multivariate regression analysis, the patient's lack
      of knowledge of the diagnosis was the independent risk factor. In conclusion,
      depression incidence and burden rate increased among cancer caregivers, and care
      burden was highly associated with depression. Accordingly, approaches to reducing
      the psycho-social effects of cancer should focus intensively on both the patients
      and their caregivers in Turkey. 

PMID- 25828950
TI  - Effects of PaCO2 derangements on clinical outcomes after cerebral injury: A
      systematic review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide (PaCO2) is a major
      regulator of cerebral blood flow (CBF). Derangements in PaCO2 have been thought
      to worsen clinical outcomes after many forms of cerebral injury by altering CBF.
      Our aim was to systematically analyze the biomedical literature to determine the
      effects of PaCO2 derangements on clinical outcomes after cerebral injury.
      METHODS: We performed a search of Cochrane Library, PUBMED, CINHAL, conference
      proceedings, and other sources using a comprehensive strategy. Study inclusion
      criteria were (1) human subjects; (2) cerebral injury; (3) mechanical ventilation
      post-injury; (4) measurement of PaCO2; and (5) comparison of a clinical outcome
      measure (e.g. mortality) between different PaCO2 exposures. We performed a
      qualitative analysis to collate and summarize effects of PaCO2 derangements
      according to the recommended methodology from the Cochrane Handbook. RESULTS:
      Seventeen studies involving different etiologies of cerebral injury (six
      traumatic brain injury, six post-cardiac arrest syndrome, two cerebral vascular
      accident, three neonatal ischemic encephalopathy) met all inclusion and no
      exclusion criteria. Three randomized control trials were identified and only one
      was considered a high quality study as per the Cochrane criteria for assessing
      risk of bias. In 13/17 (76%) studies examining hypocapnia, and 7/10 (70%) studies
      examining hypercapnia, the exposed group (hypercapnia or hypocapnia) was
      associated with poor clinical outcome. CONCLUSION: The majority of studies in
      this report found exposure to hypocapnia and hypercapnia after cerebral injury to
      be associated with poor clinical outcome. However, the optimal PaCO2 range
      associated with good clinical outcome remains unclear.

PMID- 25828951
TI  - Maxillary Three-Implant Overdentures Opposing Mandibular Two-Implant
      Overdentures: 10-Year Surgical Outcomes of a Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The surgical placement of four maxillary implants for overdentures
      may not be obligatory when opposing mandibular two-implant overdentures. PURPOSE:
      To determine 10-year surgical outcomes and implant success of three narrow
      diameter implants in edentulous maxillae with conventional loading. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Forty participants with mandibular two-implant overdentures were
      randomly allocated for surgery for maxillary overdentures. Using osteotomes,
      three implants of similar systems were placed with a one-stage procedure and 12
      week loading with splinted and unsplinted prosthodontic designs. Marginal bone
      and stability measurements were done at surgery, 12 weeks, 1-, 2-, 5-, 7-, 10
      years. RESULTS: One hundred seventeen implants were placed in 39 participants,
      with 35 being seen at 1 year; 29 at 2 years; 28 at 5 years; 26 at 7 years; and 23
      (59%) at 10 years. Marginal bone loss was 1.35 mm between surgery and 12 weeks;
      0.36 mm between 12 weeks and 1 year; 0.48 mm between 1 and 5 years; and 0.22 mm
      between 5 and 10 years. Implant stability quotients were 56.05, 57.54, 60.88,
      58.80, 61.17 at surgery, 12 weeks, 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years. Four-field
      tables by implant showed success rates of 82% at 1 year; 69.2% at 2 years; 66.7%
      at 5 years; 61.5% at 7 years; 51.3% at 10 years. Data showed no differences
      between surgical technique, systems, or prosthodontic designs. CONCLUSIONS:
      Surgical placement with osteotomes of three narrow diameter implants for
      maxillary overdentures, opposing mandibular two-implant overdentures, is an
      acceptable approach, subject to strict patient selection. Implant success is
      independent of prosthodontic design.

PMID- 25828952
TI  - Heavy atom labeled nucleotides for measurement of kinetic isotope effects.
AB  - Experimental analysis of kinetic isotope effects represents an extremely powerful
      approach for gaining information about the transition state structure of complex
      reactions not available through other methodologies. The implementation of this
      approach to the study of nucleic acid chemistry requires the synthesis of
      nucleobases and nucleotides enriched for heavy isotopes at specific positions. In
      this review, we highlight current approaches to the synthesis of nucleic acids
      enriched site specifically for heavy oxygen and nitrogen and their application in
      heavy atom isotope effect studies. This article is part of a special issue
      titled: Enzyme Transition States from Theory and Experiment. 

PMID- 25828953
TI  - When gas analysis assists with postmortem imaging to diagnose causes of death.
AB  - Postmortem imaging consists in the non-invasive examination of bodies using
      medical imaging techniques. However, gas volume quantification and the
      interpretation of the gas collection results from cadavers remain difficult. We
      used whole-body postmortem multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) followed by
      a full autopsy or external examination to detect the gaseous volumes in bodies.
      Gases were sampled from cardiac cavities, and the sample compositions were
      analyzed by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/thermal conductivity
      detection (HS-GC-MS/TCD). Three categories were defined according to the presumed
      origin of the gas: alteration/putrefaction, high-magnitude vital gas embolism
      (e.g., from scuba diving accident) and gas embolism of lower magnitude (e.g.,
      following a traumatic injury). Cadaveric alteration gas was diagnosed even if
      only one gas from among hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide or methane was detected. In
      alteration cases, the carbon dioxide/nitrogen ratio was often >0.2, except in the
      case of advanced alteration, when methane presence was the best indicator. In the
      gas embolism cases (vital or not), hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide and methane were
      absent. Moreover, with high-magnitude vital gas embolisms, carbon dioxide content
      was >20%, and the carbon dioxide/nitrogen ratio was >0.2. With gas embolisms of
      lower magnitude (gas presence consecutive to a traumatic injury), carbon dioxide
      content was <20% and the carbon dioxide/nitrogen ratio was often <0.2. We found
      that gas analysis provided useful assistance to the postmortem imaging diagnosis
      of causes of death. Based on the quantifications of gaseous cardiac samples,
      reliable indicators were determined to document causes of death. MDCT examination
      of the body must be performed as quickly as possible, as does gas sampling, to
      avoid generating any artifactual alteration gases. Because of cardiac gas
      composition analysis, it is possible to distinguish alteration gases and gas
      embolisms of different magnitudes. 

PMID- 25828954
TI  - Polyclonality of Parathyroid Tumors in Neonatal Severe Hyperparathyroidism.
AB  - Neonatal severe hyperparathyroidism (NSHPT) is a rare disorder characterized by
      major hypercalcemia, elevated parathyroid hormone levels, and marked enlargement
      of multiple parathyroid glands, usually associated with germline mutations in the
      calcium receptor gene CASR. However, little is known about the outgrowth of
      parathyroid tumors in NSHPT, including whether they represent monoclonal or
      polyclonal expansions. We sought to examine the clonality of parathyroid tissues
      resected from a patient with NSHPT and biallelic CASR mutations. DNA from two
      distinct parathyroid tumors resected from a girl with NSHPT, plus
      polyclonal/monoclonal control samples, were subjected to analyses of clonality by
      two independent methods, X-chromosome inactivation analysis at the androgen
      receptor locus (HUMARA) and BAC array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH).
      Both parathyroid tumor samples revealed polyclonal patterns by X-inactivation
      analysis, with polyclonal and monoclonal controls yielding the expected patterns.
      Similarly, by BAC array CGH, neither parathyroid sample contained monoclonal copy
      number changes and both appeared identical to the patient-matched polyclonal
      controls. Our observations provide direct experimental evidence that the markedly
      enlarged parathyroid tumors in the setting of NSHPT constitute polyclonal,
      generalized hyperplastic growths rather than monoclonal neoplasms.

PMID- 25828955
TI  - Violation of Lower Rate Limit: What Is the Mechanism?

PMID- 25828956
TI  - Letter to the editor: re: Saliva and serum levels of pentraxin-3 and interleukin
      1beta in generalized aggressive or chronic periodontitis. Gumus P, Nizam N,
      Nalbantsoy A, Ozcaka O, Buduneli N. (J Periodontol 2014;85:e40-e46.).

PMID- 25828957
TI  - Letter to the editor: Authors' response.

PMID- 25828958
TI  - Letter to the editor: re: Coffee consumption and periodontal disease in males. Ng
      N, Kaye EK, Garcia RI. (J Periodontol 2014;85:1042-1049.).

PMID- 25828959
TI  - Letter to the editor: Authors' response.

PMID- 25828960
TI  - Asynchronous event-based corner detection and matching.
AB  - This paper introduces an event-based luminance-free method to detect and match
      corner events from the output of asynchronous event-based neuromorphic retinas.
      The method relies on the use of space-time properties of moving edges.
      Asynchronous event-based neuromorphic retinas are composed of autonomous pixels,
      each of them asynchronously generating "spiking" events that encode relative
      changes in pixels' illumination at high temporal resolutions. Corner events are
      defined as the spatiotemporal locations where the aperture problem can be solved
      using the intersection of several geometric constraints in events' spatiotemporal
      spaces. A regularization process provides the required constraints, i.e. the
      motion attributes of the edges with respect to their spatiotemporal locations
      using local geometric properties of visual events. Experimental results are
      presented on several real scenes showing the stability and robustness of the
      detection and matching. 

PMID- 25828961
TI  - Phase synchronization of coupled bursting neurons and the generalized Kuramoto
      model.
AB  - Bursting neurons fire rapid sequences of action potential spikes followed by a
      quiescent period. The basic dynamical mechanism of bursting is the slow currents
      that modulate a fast spiking activity caused by rapid ionic currents. Minimal
      models of bursting neurons must include both effects. We considered one of these
      models and its relation with a generalized Kuramoto model, thanks to the
      definition of a geometrical phase for bursting and a corresponding frequency. We
      considered neuronal networks with different connection topologies and
      investigated the transition from a non-synchronized to a partially phase
      synchronized state as the coupling strength is varied. The numerically determined
      critical coupling strength value for this transition to occur is compared with
      theoretical results valid for the generalized Kuramoto model. 

PMID- 25828962
TI  - Molecular biology and targeted therapies for urothelial carcinoma.
AB  - Metastatic urothelial cancer (UC) is associated with poor prognosis. In the first
      line setting, platinum-based chemotherapy is the standard of care but resistance
      rapidly occurs. With no validated treatment proven to increase survival after
      platinum failure, there is an urgent unmet medical need to develop new and
      efficacious cytotoxic agents. A better understanding of the molecular signaling
      pathways regulating UC has led to the development of new and innovative
      therapeutic strategies. Despite this, many recent drugs show only modest activity
      as single agents, and combining them with standard chemotherapy does not seem to
      enhance efficacy. Ongoing research is producing, however, a generation of new
      drugs that are showing promising results in clinical trials. This paper aims to
      review the most important mechanisms in bladder cancer tumorigenesis and describe
      the new therapeutic options currently undergoing evaluation in clinical trials. 

PMID- 25828963
TI  - Pincer-Type Platinum(II) Complexes Containing N-Heterocyclic Carbene (NHC)
      Ligand: Structures, Photophysical and Anion-Binding Properties, and Anticancer
      Activities.
AB  - Two classes of pincer-type Pt(II) complexes containing tridentate N-donor ligands
      (1-8) or C-deprotonated N^C^N ligands derived from 1,3-di(2-pyridyl)benzene (10
      13) and auxiliary N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand were synthesized.
      [Pt(trpy)(NHC)](2+) complexes 1-5 display green phosphorescence in CH2 Cl2 (Phi:
      1.1-5.3 %; tau: 0.3-1.0 MUs) at room temperature. Moderate-to-intense emissions
      are observed for 1-7 in glassy solutions at 77 K and for 1-6 in the solid state.
      The [Pt(N^C^N)(NHC)](+) complexes 10-13 display strong green phosphorescence with
      quantum yields up to 65 % in CHCl3 . The reactions of 1 with a wide variety of
      anions were examined in various solvents. The tridentate N-donor ligand of 1
      undergoes displacement reaction with CN(-) in protic solvents. Similar
      displacement of the N^C^N ligand by CN(-) has been observed for 10, leading to a
      luminescence "switch-off" response. The water-soluble 7 containing anthracenyl
      functionalized NHC ligand acts as a light "switch-on" sensor for the detection of
      CN(-) ion with high selectivity. The in vitro cytotoxicity of the Pt(II)
      complexes towards HeLa cells has been evaluated. Complex 12 showed high
      cytotoxicity with IC50 value of 0.46 MUM, whereas 1-4 and 6-8 are less cytotoxic.
      The cellular localization of the strongly luminescent complex 12 traced by using
      emission microscopy revealed that it mainly localizes in the cytoplasmic
      structures rather than in the nucleus. This complex can induce mitochondria
      dysfunction and subsequent cell death. 

PMID- 25828965
TI  - Does a nitrogen matter? Synthesis and photoinduced electron transfer of
      perylenediimide donors covalently linked to C59N and C60 acceptors.
AB  - The first perylenediimide (PDI) covalently linked to an azafullerene (C59N) is
      described. PDI-C59N and PDI-C60 dyads where PDI acts as an electron-donor moiety
      have been synthesized by connection of the balls to the PDI 1-bay position.
      Photoexcitation of the PDI unit in both systems results in formation of the
      charge-separated state by photoinduced electron transfer from the singlet excited
      state of the PDI moiety to the C59N or to the C60 moiety. The charge-separated
      state has a lifetime of 400 ps in the case of PDI-C59N and 120 ps for the PDI-C60
      dyad in benzonitrile at 298 K. This result has significant implications for the
      design of organic solar cells based on covalent donor-acceptor systems using C59N
      as an electron acceptor, indicating that longer-lived charge-separated states can
      be attained using C59N systems instead of C60 systems. 

PMID- 25828966
TI  - Major incidents in England.

PMID- 25828964
TI  - Monoclonal and Single Domain Antibodies Targeting beta-Integrin Subunits Block
      Sexual Transmission of HIV-1 in In Vitro and In Vivo Model Systems.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Poor adherence to prevention regimens for gel-based anti-HIV-1
      microbicides has been a major obstacle to more effective pre-exposure
      prophylaxis. Concern persists that the antiretroviral drug containing
      microbicides might promote development of antiretroviral resistance. METHODS:
      Using in vitro transwell systems and a humanized mouse model of HIV-1 sexual
      transmission, we examined, as candidate microbicides, antibodies targeting the
      heterodimeric leukocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1), a non-virally
      encoded protein acquired by the virus that also plays a critical role cell
      movement across endothelial and epithelial barriers. LFA-1-specific single domain
      variable regions from alpaca heavy-chain only antibodies (VHH) were identified
      and evaluated for their ability to inhibit HIV-1 transmission in the in vitro
      transwell system. RESULTS: Monoclonal antibodies targeting the CD11a and CD18
      components of LFA-1 significantly reduced cell-free and cell-associated HIV-1
      transmission in the in vitro transwell culture system and prevented virus
      transmission in the humanized mouse model of vaginal transmission. The broadly
      neutralizing monoclonal antibody b12 was unable to block transmission of cell
      free virus. CD11a-specific VHH were isolated and expressed and the purified
      variable region protein domains reduced in vitro transepithelial transmission
      with an efficacy comparable with that of the CD11a monoclonal antibody.
      CONCLUSIONS: Targeting integrins acquired by HIV-1 during budding and which are
      critical to interactions between epithelial cells and lymphocytes can reduce
      viral movement across epithelial barriers and prevent transmission in a humanized
      mouse model of sexual transmission. VHH capable of being produced by transformed
      bacteria can significantly reduce transepithelial virus transmission in in vitro
      model systems.

PMID- 25828967
TI  - Increasing procoagulant activity of circulating microparticles in patients with
      Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms: a single-centre experience.
AB  - Microparticles are small membrane fragments with dimension between 0.1 and 1 MUm,
      which are released during cell activation or apoptosis, exposing the phospholipid
      phosphatidylserine and membrane antigens typical for cellular origin.
      Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are characterized by an
      increased risk of thrombosis. Data from literature suggest an association between
      thrombosis and the procoagulant activity of microparticles. Association between
      the procoagulant activity of microparticles and the incidence of thrombosis was
      assesed in a group of 126 patients with Philadelphia-negative MPNs. Measurement
      of microparticles procoagulant activity was performed using a functional assay,
      namely the Zymuphen MP-activity (Hyphen Biomed, Neuville-sur-oise, France). A
      total of 539 samples were analysed within this group of patients, regardless of
      patients' state of health. A significantly higher circulating microparticles
      procoagulant activity was found in MPN patients as compared with the control
      group (P < 0.001). A pathological level of procoagulant activity was observed
      more frequently in patients with polycythaemia vera (88%, P = 0.002) than groups
      of patients with essential thrombocythaemia (73.2%) and primary myelofibrosis
      (68.3%); the same result was confirmed in patients with a history of venous
      thrombosis in comparison with patients without thrombosis (84.7 vs. 73.2%, P =
      0.029). Patients without cytoreductive treatment had a higher activity of
      microparticles (P = 0.010). Furthermore, presence of JAK2 V617F mutation was
      associated with an increased procoagulant activity (P = 0.007), as well as the
      higher JAK2 V617F allele burden (P = 0.001). Further prospective clinical studies
      will be necessary to evaluate the clinical relevance of microparticles in the
      prediction hypercoagulable state in these patients. 

PMID- 25828968
TI  - Insights into direct anticoagulants.
AB  - For the past five decades, vitamin K antagonists (VKA) have been the only class
      of oral anticoagulants available for treating or preventing venous and arterial
      thromboembolism. Recently, new oral anticoagulants were developed to address
      significant restrictions regarding the use of VKAs. These drugs act by direct
      blockade of activated coagulation factor X (FXa) or thrombin. This present mini
      review highlights the pharmacological properties of these new anticoagulants, and
      discusses the supporting evidence for their usage as well as points to potential
      advantages and disadvantages of using these novel drugs in clinical practice. 

PMID- 25828969
TI  - Factor XIII deficiency revealed by spontaneous intramedullary hemorrhage:
      confirmation of a severe mutation.
AB  - The factor XIII deficiency is a very rare disorder. We report here two cases of
      congenital deficiency of factor XIII, revealed by spontaneous intra-axial
      hemorrhage, one of them manifested with an intramedullary hemorrhage never
      described in the literature before. Our two patients were cousins from two
      consanguineous parents. We discuss in this study the clinical presentation, the
      diagnosis, the treatment, and the prevention of factor XIII deficiency
      coagulopathy. A mutation described only once before was confirmed and correlated
      again with a severe clinical presentation. 

PMID- 25828970
TI  - Two symptomatic cases of dysfibrinogenemia in China: one with gamma-chain
      Arg275Cys mutation and another without detectable mutation in fibrinogen genes.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate causative mutations of two unrelated
      symptomatic Chinese children with dysfibrinogenemia and their family
      members.Fibrinogen genes, including FGA, FGB and FGG of all participants were PCR
      amplified, followed by direct sequencing. Precipitated plasma fibrinogen of some
      family members was analyzed by western blotting, fibrin polymerization and
      scanning electron microscopy (SEM).Proband 1 associated with frequent epistaxis
      was identified to harbor a heterozygous Arg275Cys mutation in FGG, along with a
      polymorphism Arg448Lys in FGB. Proband 2 with apparently prolonged thrombin time
      and very low functional fibrinogen had undergone both spontaneous intracranial
      hemorrhages and deep venous thrombosis. Sequencing of all proximal promoters,
      coding regions, introns and 3'-untranslated region using genomic DNA of Proband 2
      yielded no mutation in three fibrinogen genes. Western blotting of this patient's
      precipitated plasma fibrinogen detected no truncated protein. Fibrinogen
      polymerization curve showed prolonged lag phase and severely decreased final
      turbidity, and SEM observations of fibrin clots made from Proband 2 revealed an
      abnormal sponge-like mass with large pores. We speculate that other underlying
      mechanisms responsible for dysfibrinogenemia such as abnormal posttranscriptional
      processing or posttranslational modification, which are independent of detectable
      mutations in the genomic DNA sequence, may exist. 

PMID- 25828971
TI  - Acute renal infarction associated with homozygous methylenetetrahydrofolate
      reductase mutation C677T and IgA beta-2-glycoprotein antibodies.
AB  - Arterial thrombosis of the kidney(s) is a rare clinical entity usually presenting
      as a result of cardioembolic disease, though rare inherited hypercoagulable
      states have also been implicated. Within this context, both hyperhomocysteinemia
      triggered by a mutated methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene product
      and the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies have been separately associated
      with arterial thrombotic events, including renal artery embolism. We present a
      case of combined homozygous MTHFR C677T mutation and IgA beta-2-glycoprotein
      antibody positivity resulting in acute renal infarction and previous silent
      myocardial infarction. An acute and otherwise unexplained thrombotic event of
      unusual location always warrants further investigation, which should include
      testing for hereditary thrombophilic disorders. 

PMID- 25828972
TI  - Effect of serum monoclonal protein concentration on haemostasis in patients with
      multiple myeloma.
AB  - Abnormalities in haemostasis are often detected in patients with multiple myeloma
      and the fundamental factors that lead to these abnormities are worthy of
      exploration. The objective of this study was to investigate bleeding diathesis
      and coagulopathy in different multiple myeloma types or stages and assess how
      paraprotein concentration contributes to differences in these conditions.
      Haemostasis screening tests and serum monoclonal protein (M protein)
      concentration were retrospectively analysed in 101 patients newly diagnosed with
      multiple myeloma from January 2012 to April 2014. No significant differences were
      found between bleeding diathesis and types or International Staging System (ISS)
      stages of multiple myeloma; however, prolonged thrombin time (TT) was found in
      most of patients (77.7%) and was positively related to light-chain concentration
      (P <= 0.01). Prolonged prothrombin time (PT) was more obvious in IgA and IgG-type
      multiple myeloma than in the light-chain type (P <= 0.01). With increased
      clinical staging, PT remarkably increased (P <= 0.01). M protein concentration
      was significantly higher in patients with prolonged PT than in those with normal
      PT (P <= 0.01). The D-dimer mean was significantly higher than normal (>0.5
      MUg/ml) (P <= 0.01). Fibrinogen was negatively related to M protein levels (P <=
      0.01); however, there was no correlation between activated partial thromboplastin
      time (APTT) and multiple myeloma stages or types, M protein levels and serum
      light-chain concentration (P >= 0.05). Patients with light-chain type multiple
      myeloma were more likely to have prolonged TT than patients with other types. M
      protein levels had an obvious effect on PT. Prolonged PT was more common in IgA
      and IgG-type multiple myeloma. Abnormal haemostasis test results are not always
      accompanied by clinically apparent haemostatic complications. 

PMID- 25828973
TI  - Brain Mechanisms Underlying Urge Incontinence and its Response to Pelvic Floor
      Muscle Training.
AB  - PURPOSE: Urge urinary incontinence is a major problem, especially in the elderly,
      and to our knowledge the underlying mechanisms of disease and therapy are
      unknown. We used biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training and functional
      brain imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to investigate cerebral
      mechanisms, aiming to improve the understanding of brain-bladder control and
      therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Before receiving biofeedback assisted pelvic
      floor muscle training functionally intact, older community dwelling women with
      urge urinary incontinence as well as normal controls underwent comprehensive
      clinical and bladder diary evaluation, urodynamic testing and brain functional
      magnetic resonance imaging. Evaluation was repeated after pelvic floor muscle
      training in those with urge urinary incontinence. Functional magnetic resonance
      imaging was done to determine the brain reaction to rapid bladder filling with
      urgency. RESULTS: Of 65 subjects with urge urinary incontinence 28 responded to
      biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training with 50% or greater improvement
      of urge urinary incontinence frequency on diary. However, responders and
      nonresponders displayed 2 patterns of brain reaction. In pattern 1 in responders
      before pelvic floor muscle training the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the
      adjacent supplementary motor area were activated as well as the insula. After the
      training dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/supplementary motor area activation
      diminished and there was a trend toward medial prefrontal cortex deactivation. In
      pattern 2 in nonresponders before pelvic floor muscle training the medial
      prefrontal cortex was deactivated, which changed little after the training.
      CONCLUSIONS: In older women with urge urinary incontinence there appears to be 2
      patterns of brain reaction to bladder filling and they seem to predict the
      response and nonresponse to biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training.
      Moreover, decreased cingulate activation appears to be a consequence of the
      improvement in urge urinary incontinence induced by training while prefrontal
      deactivation may be a mechanism contributing to the success of training. In
      nonresponders the latter mechanism is unavailable, which may explain why another
      form of therapy is required.

PMID- 25828974
TI  - Prostate Biopsy Markers of Inflammation are Associated with Risk of Clinical
      Progression of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: Findings from the MTOPS Study.
AB  - PURPOSE: Factors associated with worsening of benign prostatic hyperplasia are
      not well understood. We measured inflammatory markers from prostate biopsies to
      study if inflammation is related to clinical progression of benign prostatic
      hyperplasia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We measured inflammatory cell markers CD45,
      CD4, CD8 and CD68 in transition zone biopsies from 859 men in the MTOPS biopsy
      substudy. Using novel imaging techniques we quantified amounts of moderate/severe
      inflammation. Benign prostatic hyperplasia clinical progression was defined as a
      confirmed 4-point or greater increase in the AUA symptom score from baseline, or
      the occurrence of urinary incontinence or acute urinary retention. Baseline
      clinical parameters including concomitant medication use were determined. Kaplan
      Meier curves and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to
      determine the risk of progression. RESULTS: Inflammation as measured by CD45, CD4
      and CD68 increased the risk of clinical progression of benign prostatic
      hyperplasia. CD4 showed the highest risk where men in the highest tertile of
      moderate/severe inflammation were at twice the risk of progression compared to
      men in the lower 2 tertiles combined (HR 2.03, p=0.001). Inflammation was more
      strongly associated with progression defined by acute urinary retention or
      incontinence (HR ranging from 2.39 [CD8, p=0.03] to 3.08 [CD4, p=0.01]) than an
      AUA symptom score increase (CD4, HR 1.86, p=0.01). Men who reported use of
      nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or steroids at baseline tended to be at
      higher risk for progression. CONCLUSIONS: Although our data show that
      inflammation increases the risk of progression, our findings suggest that
      inflammation has a greater role in men who have conditions requiring anti
      inflammatory medications.

PMID- 25828975
TI  - Alternative modes of biofilm formation by plant-associated Bacillus cereus.
AB  - The ability to form multicellular communities known as biofilms is a widespread
      adaptive behavior of bacteria. Members of the Bacillus group of bacteria have
      been found to form biofilms on plant roots, where they protect against pathogens
      and promote growth. In the case of the model bacterium Bacillus subtilis the
      genetic pathway controlling biofilm formation and the production of an
      extracellular matrix is relatively well understood. However, it is unclear
      whether other members of this genus utilize similar mechanisms. We determined
      that a plant-associated strain of Bacillus cereus (905) can form biofilms by two
      seemingly independent pathways. In one mode involving the formation of floating
      biofilms (pellicles) B. cereus 905 appears to rely on orthologs of many of the
      genes known to be important for B. subtilis biofilm formation. We report that B.
      cereus 905 also forms submerged, surface-associated biofilms and in a manner that
      resembles biofilm formation by the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. This
      alternative mode, which does not rely on B. subtilis-like genes for pellicle
      formation, takes place under conditions of glucose fermentation and depends on a
      drop in the pH of the medium. 

PMID- 25828976
TI  - Hiring peers as vocational specialists.

PMID- 25828978
TI  - Step up to the bar: avoiding discrimination in professional licensure.
AB  - In their efforts to protect the public from impaired professionals, licensure
      boards often have created special rules for applicants with mental disorders. The
      authorities in charge of admission to the Louisiana bar required extensive
      disclosure of mental health status, even if an applicant's professional
      functioning was not impaired. After the U.S. Department of Justice found that
      Louisiana's practices violated applicants' rights under the Americans with
      Disabilities Act, the state agreed to focus on applicants' functional impairment
      rather than on mental disorders. This settlement may provide a model for
      licensure boards in other states and for other professions, including the health
      professions. 

PMID- 25828979
TI  - Finding Hannah.

PMID- 25828980
TI  - Associations between continuity of care and patient outcomes in mental health
      care: a systematic review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Research investigating the association between continuity of care
      (CoC) and patient outcomes in mental health care is limited. A previous review
      (1970-2002) concluded that evidence for an association between CoC and outcomes
      was inconsistent and limited. This systematic review, conducted a decade later,
      provides an update. METHODS: Searches (1950-2014) were conducted on MEDLINE and
      PsycINFO. Included studies used a clearly identified measure of CoC and examined
      its relation to an outcome among adults (ages 18-65). Only English-language
      publications were included. RESULTS: A total of 984 studies were identified that
      measured CoC. Eighteen met inclusion criteria, and 13 found an association
      between CoC and an outcome. As found in the previous review, studies reported
      conflicting results for the most frequently examined outcomes (hospitalization,
      symptom severity, social functioning, and service satisfaction). Little
      consistency was found between studies in choice of CoC measures and outcomes.
      Studies varied markedly in quality. Two of the three studies rated as good
      quality reported significant associations between CoC and social functioning.
      Compared with older studies, studies published since the previous systematic
      review (2002-2014) found a larger proportion of significant associations.
      CONCLUSIONS: Little consistency was found in the way CoC was measured, which made
      it difficult to compare studies. Therefore, clear evidence about the association
      between CoC and outcomes remains limited. Results in regard to social functioning
      are encouraging. However, in order for conclusions to be made, researchers need
      to be more consistent with the measures they choose to allow comparison of
      studies.

PMID- 25828981
TI  - First outpatient follow-up after psychiatric hospitalization: does one size fit
      all?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Claims-based indicators of follow-up within seven and 30 days after
      psychiatric discharge have face validity as quality measures: early follow-up may
      improve disease management and guide appropriate service use. Yet these
      indicators are rarely examined empirically. This study assessed their association
      with subsequent health care utilization for adults with comorbid conditions.
      METHODS: Postdischarge follow-up and subsequent utilization were examined among
      adults enrolled in North Carolina Medicaid who were discharged with claims-based
      diagnoses of depression or schizophrenia and not readmitted within 30 days. A
      total of 24,934 discharges (18,341 individuals) in fiscal years 2008-2010 were
      analyzed. Follow-up was categorized as occurring within 0-7 days, 8-30 days, or
      none in 30 days. Outcomes in the subsequent six months included psychotropic
      medication claims, adherence (proportion of days covered), number of hospital
      admissions, emergency department visits, and outpatient visits. RESULTS: Follow
      up within seven days was associated with greater medication adherence and
      outpatient utilization, compared with no follow-up in 30 days. This was observed
      for both follow-up with a mental health provider and with any provider. Adults
      receiving mental health follow-up within seven days had equivalent, or lower,
      subsequent inpatient and emergency department utilization as those without follow
      up within 30 days. However, adults receiving follow-up with any provider within
      seven days were more likely than those with no follow-up to have an inpatient
      admission or emergency department visit in the subsequent six months. Few
      differences in subsequent utilization were observed between mental health follow
      up within seven days versus eight to 30 days. CONCLUSIONS: For patients not
      readmitted within 30 days, follow-up within 30 days appeared to be beneficial on
      the basis of subsequent service utilization.

PMID- 25828982
TI  - Efficacy of aftercare services for people with severe mental disorders in Iran: a
      randomized controlled trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine whether aftercare services reduced the
      number of rehospitalizations and length of hospital stay among patients with
      severe mental disorders. METHODS: A total of 120 patients with schizophrenia and
      schizoaffective or bipolar disorder between the ages of 15 and 65 were recruited
      from 2010 to 2012 for a randomized controlled trial. The participants were
      followed up for 20 months after discharge from a university-affiliated hospital
      in Tehran, Iran. The selection procedure was random sampling. Sixty patients
      received aftercare services, which included treatment follow-up, family
      psychoeducation, and patient social skills training, and 60 patients received
      treatment as usual. Number of hospitalizations and length of hospital stay were
      primary outcome measures, and severity of psychopathology and severity of illness
      were secondary outcome measures. The quantitative primary and secondary outcomes
      measures were compared by using repeated-measures analysis. RESULTS: Three
      members of the control group did not complete the study. The cumulative number of
      hospitalizations during the follow-up period was 55 for the control group and 26
      for the intervention group. Length of stay was significantly greater in the
      control group compared with the intervention group (rate ratio=2.38, 95%
      confidence interval=2.17-2.62). Psychopathology was less severe in the
      intervention group compared with the control group (p<.001). CONCLUSIONS:
      Aftercare services are efficacious for reducing both the need for
      rehospitalization and the severity of psychopathology.

PMID- 25828983
TI  - Concurrent use of stimulants and second-generation antipsychotics among children
      with ADHD enrolled in Medicaid.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study examined the prevalence of and factors associated with
      concurrent use of long-acting stimulants (LAS) and second-generation
      antipsychotic agents among children and adolescents with attention-deficit
      hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS: The study involved retrospective
      longitudinal analysis of 2003-2007 Medicaid data from four states for children
      and adolescents between the ages of six and 17 years who were diagnosed as having
      ADHD and initiated LAS treatment. Concurrent use of LAS and second-generation
      antipsychotic medications was defined as simultaneous receipt of both medications
      for at least 14 days. On the basis of the conceptual framework of the Andersen
      behavioral model, multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine
      predisposing, enabling, and need factors associated with concurrent use. RESULTS:
      Among the 61,793 children who initiated LAS treatment for ADHD, 11,866 (19.2%)
      received LAS and second-generation antipsychotics concurrently for at least 14
      days. Overall, the average length of concurrent use was 130+/-98 days.
      Multivariable logistic regression revealed that concurrent use was higher among
      boys, blacks, and foster care children compared with their respective
      counterparts. Comorbid psychiatric conditions, including disorders that are not
      approved indications for second-generation antipsychotic use, were associated
      with concurrent use of LAS and second-generation antipsychotics. CONCLUSIONS:
      Almost one in five children and adolescents who initiated LAS also received
      second-generation antipsychotics concurrently for at least 14 days. Approved and
      nonapproved indications of second-generation antipsychotics influenced concurrent
      use in pediatric ADHD.

PMID- 25828984
TI  - Detection and treatment of mental health issues by pediatric PCPs in New York
      State: an evaluation of Project TEACH.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The authors evaluated Project TEACH (PT), a statewide training and
      consultation program for pediatric primary care providers (PCPs) on
      identification and treatment of mental health conditions. METHODS: An
      intervention group of 176 PCPs who volunteered for PT training was compared with
      a stratified random sample of 200 PCPs who did not receive PT training. Data on
      prescription practices, diagnoses, and follow-up care were from New York State
      Medicaid files (2009-2013) for youths seen by the trained (N=21,784) and
      untrained (N=46,607) PCPs. RESULTS: The percentage of children prescribed
      psychotropic medication increased after PT training (9% to 12%, p<.001), a larger
      increase than in the untrained group (4% to 5%, p<.001) (comparison, p<.001).
      Fewer differences were noted in diagnoses and in medication use and follow-up
      care among children with depression. CONCLUSIONS: This intervention may have an
      impact on providers' behaviors, but further research is needed to clarify its
      effectiveness.

PMID- 25828985
TI  - Smoking and smoking cessation treatment among hospitalized psychiatric patients.

PMID- 25828986
TI  - Grief, bereavement and depression: a clarification.

PMID- 25828987
TI  - Grief, bereavement and depression: a clarification: in reply.

PMID- 25828988
TI  - Symptom severity and readiness to quit among hospitalized smokers with mental
      illness.

PMID- 25828990
TI  - The Role of Breast Size and Areolar Pigmentation in Perceptions of Women's Sexual
      Attractiveness, Reproductive Health, Sexual Maturity, Maternal Nurturing
      Abilities, and Age.
AB  - Women's breast morphology is thought to have evolved via sexual selection as a
      signal of maturity, health, and fecundity. While research demonstrates that
      breast morphology is important in men's judgments of women's attractiveness, it
      remains to be determined how perceptions might differ when considering a larger
      suite of mate relevant attributes. Here, we tested how variation in breast size
      and areolar pigmentation affected perceptions of women's sexual attractiveness,
      reproductive health, sexual maturity, maternal nurturing abilities, and age.
      Participants (100 men; 100 women) rated images of female torsos modeled to vary
      in breast size (very small, small, medium, and large) and areolar pigmentation
      (light, medium, and dark) for each of the five attributes listed above. Sexual
      attractiveness ratings increased linearly with breast size, but large breasts
      were not judged to be significantly more attractive than medium-sized breasts.
      Small and medium-sized breasts were rated as most attractive if they included
      light or medium colored areolae, whereas large breasts were more attractive if
      they had medium or dark areolae. Ratings for perceived age, sexual maturity, and
      nurturing ability also increased with breast size. Darkening the areolae reduced
      ratings of the reproductive health of medium and small breasts, whereas it
      increased ratings for large breasts. There were no significant sex differences in
      ratings of any of the perceptual measures. These results demonstrate that breast
      size and areolar pigmentation interact to determine ratings for a suite of
      sociosexual attributes, each of which may be relevant to mate choice in men and
      intra-sexual competition in women. 

PMID- 25828991
TI  - Gender Differences and Similarities in Receptivity to Sexual Invitations: Effects
      of Location and Risk Perception.
AB  - Since the publication of the seminal paper by Clark and Hatfield (1989), there
      has been an ongoing discussion about their finding that men accept sexual
      invitations from females more willingly than vice versa. We focused on two
      questions that have not yet been answered: First, what happens when the same
      request for casual sex is made in a different setting where social pressure is
      lower and such a request more common? To address this issue, 6 male and 8 female
      average looking confederates approached 162 men and 119 women either at a
      university campus or in a nightclub and asked for a date or for casual sex. The
      gender difference remained, with significantly more men than women consenting to
      a sexual invitation. The second issue concerned the perceived risk for women of
      accepting such an offer. We made up an elaborate cover story and invited 60 male
      and female participants into our laboratory. They were shown 10 pictures of
      persons of the opposite sex and led to believe that these people either consented
      to date or to have sex with them. The participants then could choose from the
      pictures who they wanted to meet to engage in a date or sex. In this subjectively
      safer environment, the gender difference disappeared, with the same proportion of
      men and women consenting to a date or sex. However, men were more liberal in
      their choice in either condition, compared to the female subjects. We conclude
      that while gender differences remained in both experiments, women were more
      liberal in a subjectively safer situation. 

PMID- 25828992
TI  - Drug-induced cholestasis detection in cryopreserved rat hepatocytes in sandwich
      culture.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In vitro identification of compounds that cause cholestasis in vivo
      still remains a problem in pharmaceutical R&D. Currently existing in vitro
      systems show poor predictivity towards the clinical situation. Recently, our
      research group developed a model, based on sandwich-cultured (rat) hepatocytes
      (SC(R)H), to detect compounds causing cholestasis via altered bile acid (BA)
      homeostasis (Chatterjee et al., 2014). In the present study, we assessed whether
      this model performs equally well with freshly-isolated and cryopreserved
      hepatocytes. METHODS: We exposed sandwich cultures from rat hepatocytes before
      and after cryopreservation to the cholestatic compounds, cyclosporin A (CsA) and
      troglitazone (Tro), in the presence and in the absence of a BA mixture. At the
      end of the incubations, the capability of the hepatocytes to produce urea was
      measured to determine changes in the drug-induced cholestasis index (DICI).
      RESULTS: The mean (+/- SEM) urea production was significantly higher in sandwich
      cultures from freshly-isolated hepatocytes (27.88 (+/- 0.96) nmol/cm(2)),
      compared to cultures from cryopreserved hepatocytes (22.86 (+/- 1.91) nmol
      urea/cm(2)). However, after normalization for confluence rate (based on light
      microscopic image analysis), it appeared that the urea production was similar for
      all the batches of SCRH. The mean (+/- SEM) DICI values for CsA 10 MUM and Tro 75
      MUM were 0.89 (+/- 0.03) and 0.93 (+/- 0.03), respectively. Higher
      concentrations, CsA (>= 15 MUM) and Tro (>= 100 MUM), elicited a significant
      decrease in urea production when incubated in the presence of a BA mixture
      compared to the compound alone. This was the case for all the batches of SCRH,
      irrespective of cryopreservation history. DISCUSSION: In conclusion, no
      significant differences were seen when the previously described in vitro
      cholestasis model was applied in SCRH before or after cryopreservation. This
      study demonstrates the robustness of the model, which implies that it can be used
      with SCRH obtained from both freshly-isolated and cryopreserved hepatocytes.

PMID- 25828993
TI  - Clostridium difficile ribotype 027: relationship to age, detectability of toxins
      A or B in stool with rapid testing, severe infection, and mortality.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) can cause severe disease and
      death, especially in older adults. A better understanding of risk factors for
      adverse outcomes is needed. This study tests the hypotheses that infection with
      specific ribotypes and presence of stool toxins independently associate with
      severity and constructs predictive models of adverse outcomes. METHODS: Cases of
      non-recurrent CDI were prospectively included after positive stool tests for
      toxins A and/or B by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) or tcdB by polymerase chain
      reaction. Outcomes included severe CDI (intensive care unit admission, colectomy,
      or death attributable to CDI within 30 days of diagnosis) and 30-day all-cause
      mortality. Adjusted models were developed to test hypotheses and predict
      outcomes. RESULTS: In total, 1144 cases were included. The toxin EIA was positive
      in 37.2% and 35.6% of patients were of age >65 years. One of the 137 unique
      ribotypes was ribotype 027 (16.2%). Detectable stool toxin did not associate with
      outcomes. Adjusting for covariates, including age, Ribotype 027 was a significant
      predictor of severe CDI (90 cases; odds ratio [OR], 1.73; 95% confidence interval
      [CI], 1.03-2.89; P = .037) and mortality (89 cases; OR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.19-3.43;
      P = .009). Concurrent antibiotic use associated with both outcomes. Both
      multivariable predictive models had excellent performance (area under the curve
      >0.8). CONCLUSIONS: Detection of stool toxin A and/or B by EIA does not predict
      severe CDI or mortality. Infection with ribotype 027 independently predicts
      severe CDI and mortality. Use of concurrent antibiotics is a potentially
      modifiable risk factor for severe CDI.

PMID- 25828996
TI  - Editorial commentary: Clostridium difficile ribotype 027: an intrinsically
      virulent strain, but clinical virulence remains to be determined at the bedside.

PMID- 25828994
TI  - Concurrent Anemia and Elevated C-Reactive Protein Predicts HIV Clinical Treatment
      Failure, Including Tuberculosis, After Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anemia is a known risk factor for clinical failure following
      antiretroviral therapy (ART). Notably, anemia and inflammation are interrelated,
      and recent studies have associated elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), an
      inflammation marker, with adverse human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment
      outcomes, yet their joint effect is not known. The objective of this study was to
      assess prevalence and risk factors of anemia in HIV infection and to determine
      whether anemia and elevated CRP jointly predict clinical failure post-ART.
      METHODS: A case-cohort study (N = 470 [236 cases, 234 controls]) was nested
      within a multinational randomized trial of ART efficacy (Prospective Evaluation
      of Antiretrovirals in Resource Limited Settings [PEARLS]). Cases were incident
      World Health Organization stage 3, 4, or death by 96 weeks of ART treatment
      (clinical failure). Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine risk
      factors for pre-ART (baseline) anemia (females: hemoglobin <12.0 g/dL; males:
      hemoglobin <13.0 g/dL). Association of anemia as well as concurrent baseline
      anemia and inflammation (CRP >= 10 mg/L) with clinical failure were assessed
      using multivariable Cox models. RESULTS: Baseline anemia prevalence was 51% with
      15% prevalence of concurrent anemia and inflammation. In analysis of clinical
      failure, multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios were 6.41 (95% confidence interval
      [CI], 2.82-14.57) for concurrent anemia and inflammation, 0.77 (95% CI, .37-1.58)
      for anemia without inflammation, and 0.45 (95% CI, .11-1.80) for inflammation
      without anemia compared to those without anemia and inflammation. CONCLUSIONS:
      ART-naive, HIV-infected individuals with concurrent anemia and inflammation are
      at particularly high risk of failing treatment, and understanding the
      pathogenesis could lead to new interventions. Reducing inflammation and anemia
      will likely improve HIV disease outcomes. Alternatively, concurrent anemia and
      inflammation could represent individuals with occult opportunistic infections in
      need of additional screening.

PMID- 25828997
TI  - Assessing the Likely Impact of a Rotavirus Vaccination Program in England: The
      Contribution of Syndromic Surveillance.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In July 2013, a rotavirus vaccination program for 2- to 3-month-olds
      was introduced in the United Kingdom. We present an initial impact analysis of
      this new vaccine program using national syndromic surveillance systems. METHODS:
      General practitioner (GP) in-hours, GP out-of-hours, and emergency department
      (ED) syndromic surveillance systems were used to monitor GP consultations and ED
      visits for gastroenteritis, diarrhea, and vomiting. Data were stratified by age
      group and compared between pre- and postvaccine-year rotavirus seasons. Incidence
      rate ratios (IRRs) and percentage ratios were calculated for GP in-hours
      consultations and GP out-of-hours and ED data, respectively. RESULTS: There was a
      significant reduction in gastroenteritis, diarrhea, and vomiting GP in-hours
      consultations in children aged 0-4 years when comparing the rotavirus season in
      the pre- and postvaccine years (P < .001 for all indicators). IRRs illustrated a
      26%-33% and 23%-31% decrease in gastroenteritis incidence in the <1 and 1-4 years
      age groups, respectively, across the syndromic surveillance systems. There was
      also an 8% decrease recorded in the 5-14 years age group in the GP in-hours and
      ED systems. CONCLUSIONS: Syndromic surveillance revealed a marked decline in
      gastroenteritis, coinciding with the introduction of the new rotavirus vaccine
      program in England. The largest reduction in disease was observed in infants,
      although some impact was also demonstrated in children aged 1-4 and 5-14 years,
      suggesting possible herd protection in older age groups. This study was limited
      to the first postvaccine year, and further analysis is required to assess the
      longer-term impact of the vaccine.

PMID- 25828998
TI  - Extensive Household Outbreak of Urinary Tract Infection and Intestinal
      Colonization due to Extended-Spectrum beta-Lactamase-Producing Escherichia coli
      Sequence Type 131.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Reasons for the successful global dissemination of multidrug
      resistant Escherichia coli sequence type 131 (ST131) are undefined, but may
      include enhanced transmissibility or ability to colonize the intestine compared
      with other strains. METHODS: We identified a household in which 2 young children
      had urinary tract infection (UTI) caused by an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase
      (ESBL)-producing, multidrug-resistant ST131 E. coli strain. We assessed the
      prevalence of ST131 intestinal colonization among the 7 household members (6
      humans, 1 dog). Fecal samples, collected 3 times over a 19-week period, were
      cultured selectively for E. coli. Isolates were characterized using clone
      specific polymerase chain reaction to detect ST131 and its ESBL-associated H30Rx
      subclone, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, extended virulence genotyping, and
      antimicrobial susceptibility testing. RESULTS: In total, 8 different E. coli
      pulsotypes (strains) were identified. The index patient's urine isolate
      represented ST131-H30Rx strain 903. This was the most widely shared and
      persistent strain in the household, colonizing 5 individuals at each sampling. In
      contrast, the 7 non-ST131 strains were each found in only 1 or 2 household
      members at a time, with variable persistence. The ST131 strain was the only
      strain with both extensive virulence and antimicrobial resistance profiles.
      CONCLUSIONS: An ESBL-producing ST131-H30Rx strain caused UTI in 2 siblings, plus
      asymptomatic intestinal colonization in multiple other household members, and was
      the household's most extensively detected and persistent fecal E. coli strain.
      Efficient transmission and intestinal colonization may contribute to the
      epidemiologic success of the H30Rx subclone of E. coli ST131.

PMID- 25828999
TI  - Good syndrome: an adult-onset immunodeficiency remarkable for its high incidence
      of invasive infections and autoimmune complications.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Good syndrome (GS) is a rare condition in which thymoma is associated
      with hypogammaglobulinemia. It is characterized by increased susceptibility to
      bacterial, viral, and fungal infections, as well as autoimmunity. Most patients
      have no circulating B cells. METHODS: The French DEFicit Immunitaire de l'adulte
      cohort provides detailed clinical and immunological descriptions of 690 adults
      with primary hypogammaglobulinemia. Comparisons between patients with GS, those
      with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), and those with B(-) CVID
      (circulating B cells <1%) were performed. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients had GS and
      440 had CVID, including 39 B(-) CVID, with a median age at diagnosis of 60, 35,
      and 34 years, respectively. Invasive bacterial infections were observed in 90.5%
      of GS, 54% of CVID, and 72% of B(-) CVID patients. Eight patients with GS had
      opportunistic infections, despite normal peripheral CD4(+) T-cell numbers.
      Autoimmune complications were demonstrated in 76% of GS, 29% of CVID, and 26% of
      B(-) CVID patients. The spectrum of autoimmunity in GS was uncommon, consisting
      of oral lichen planus, graft-vs-host disease-like colitis, and pure red cell
      aplasia, different from the pattern observed in CVID patients. GS patients did
      not display lymphoid hyperplasia nor lymphoma, unlike those with CVID or B(-)
      CVID. CONCLUSIONS: GS differs notably from CVID and B(-) CVID: very late onset,
      no familial cases, and absence of lymphoid hyperplasia. The key observation is
      the very high frequency of invasive bacterial infections in GS, an issue that
      physicians should be aware of.

PMID- 25829001
TI  - Comparative effectiveness of high-dose versus standard-dose influenza vaccination
      in community-dwelling veterans.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Influenza is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in older
      adults. High-dose (HD) trivalent inactivated vaccine has increased immunogenicity
      in older adults compared with standard-dose (SD) vaccine. We assessed the
      relative effectiveness of HD influenza vaccination (vs SD influenza vaccination).
      METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among patients who receive
      primary care at Veteran Health Administration (VHA) medical centers, and who
      received influenza vaccine in the 2010-2011 influenza season. The primary outcome
      was hospitalization for influenza or pneumonia. We also conducted an analysis in
      subgroups defined by age. RESULTS: We evaluated 25 714 patients who received HD
      vaccine and 139 511 who received SD vaccine in 23 VHA medical centers. The rate
      of hospitalization for influenza or pneumonia was 0.3% in both groups in the
      influenza season. After accounting for patient characteristics in propensity
      adjusted analyses, the risk of hospitalization for influenza or pneumonia was not
      significantly lower among patients receiving HD vaccine vs those receiving SD
      vaccine (risk ratio, 0.98; 95% confidence interval, .68-1.40). In the subgroup of
      patients >=85 years of age, receiving HD (compared with SD) vaccine was
      associated with lower rates of hospitalization for influenza or pneumonia.
      CONCLUSIONS: HD vaccine was not found to be more effective than SD vaccine in
      protecting against hospitalization for influenza or pneumonia; however, we found
      a protective effect in the oldest subgroup of patients. Additional studies are
      needed to evaluate the effectiveness of HD vaccine.

PMID- 25829002
TI  - Editorial commentary: genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in China and
      missing links in the chain of ongoing transmission of tuberculosis.

PMID- 25829000
TI  - Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in China: a population-based molecular
      epidemiologic study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Understanding the transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is
      essential for the development of efficient tuberculosis control strategies. China
      has the second-largest tuberculosis burden in the world. Recent transmission and
      infection with M. tuberculosis, particularly drug-resistant strains, may account
      for many new tuberculosis cases. METHODS: We performed a population-based
      molecular epidemiologic study of pulmonary tuberculosis in China during 1 July
      2009 to 30 June 2012. We defined clusters as cases with identical variable number
      tandem repeat genotype patterns and identified the risk factors associated with
      clustering, by logistic regression. Relative transmission rates were estimated by
      the sputum smear status and drug susceptibility status of tuberculosis patients.
      RESULTS: Among 2274 culture-positive tuberculosis patients with genotyped
      isolates, there were 705 (31.0%) tuberculosis patients in 287 clusters. Multidrug
      resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.86; 95% confidence
      interval [CI], 1.25-2.63) and infection with a Beijing family strain (aOR, 1.56;
      95% CI, 1.23-2.96) were associated with clustering. Eighty-four of 280 (30.0%)
      clusters had a putative source case that was sputum smear negative, and 30.6% of
      their secondary cases were attributed to transmission by sputum smear-negative
      patients. The relative transmission rate for sputum smear negative compared with
      sputum smear-positive patients was 0.89 (95% CI, .68-1.10), and was 1.51 (95% CI,
      1.00-2.24) for MDR tuberculosis vs drug-susceptible tuberculosis. CONCLUSIONS:
      Recent transmission of M. tuberculosis, including MDR strains, contributes
      substantially to tuberculosis disease in China. Sputum smear-negative cases were
      responsible for at least 30% of the secondary cases. Interventions to reduce the
      transmission of M. tuberculosis should be implemented in China.

PMID- 25829004
TI  - High-dose oral amoxicillin plus probenecid is highly effective for syphilis in
      patients with HIV infection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intramuscular benzathine penicillin G (BPG) is widely used for the
      treatment of syphilis. However, BPG is not available in some countries. This
      study examined the effectiveness and safety of high-dose oral amoxicillin plus
      probenecid for the treatment of syphilis in patients with human immunodeficiency
      virus type 1 (HIV-1). METHODS: This retrospective observational study included
      286 HIV-infected male patients with syphilis (median age, 36 years; median CD4
      count, 389 cells/uL) who were treated with oral amoxicillin 3 g plus probenecid.
      Syphilis was diagnosed by both serum rapid plasma reagin (RPR) titers >=8 and
      positive Treponema pallidum hemagglutination test. Patients with neurosyphilis
      diagnosed by cerebrospinal fluid examination were excluded. Successful treatment
      was defined as a at least 4-fold decrement in RPR titer. RESULTS: The overall
      treatment efficacy was 95.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 92.4%-97.7%; 273/286
      patients), and efficacy for primary, secondary, early latent, late latent, and
      unknown duration syphilis was 93.8% (95% CI, 68.1%-99.8%; 15/16), 97.3% (95% CI,
      92.9%-99.2%; 142/146), 100% (95% CI, 90.5%-100%; 37/37), 85.7% (95% CI, 58.6%
      96.4%; 18/21), and 92.4% (95% CI, 81.9%-97.3%; 61/66), respectively. Treatment
      duration was mostly 14-16 days (49.7%) or 28-30 days (34.3%), with efficacy of
      94.4% (134/142) and 95.9% (94/98), respectively; 96.3% of successfully treated
      patients achieved a >=4-fold decrement in RPR titer within 12 months. Adverse
      events were noted in 28 (9.8%) patients, and 25 of these (89.3%) were
      successfully treated. Only 6% of patients underwent lumbar puncture. CONCLUSIONS:
      The combination of oral amoxicillin 3 g plus probenecid was highly effective and
      tolerable for the treatment of syphilis in patients with HIV-1 infection.

PMID- 25829005
TI  - Type VI secretion system.
AB  - Bacteria employ a variety of tools to survive in a competitive environment.
      Salomon and Orth describe one such tool-the Type 6 Secretion Systems used by
      bacteria to deliver a variety of toxins into competing cells. 

PMID- 25829006
TI  - Symmetry is less than meets the eye.
AB  - Symmetry is a ubiquitous feature in the visual environment and can be detected by
      a variety of species, ranging from insects through to humans [1,2]. Here we show
      it can also bias estimates of basic scene properties. Mirror (reflective)
      symmetry can be detected in as little as 50 ms, in both natural and artificial
      visual scenes, and even when embedded within cluttered backgrounds [1]. In terms
      of its biological relevance, symmetry is a key determinant in mate selection; the
      degree of symmetry in a face is positively associated with perceived healthiness
      and attractiveness ratings [3]. In short, symmetry processing mechanisms are an
      important part of the neural machinery of vision. We reveal that the importance
      of symmetry extends beyond the processing of shape and objects. Mirror symmetry
      biases our perception of scene content, with symmetrical patterns appearing to
      have fewer components than their asymmetric counterparts. This demonstrates an
      interaction between two fundamental dimensions of visual analysis: symmetry [1]
      and number [4]. We propose that this numerical underestimation results from a
      processing bias away from the redundant information within mirror symmetrical
      displays, extending existing theories regarding redundancy in visual analysis
      [5,6]. 

PMID- 25829007
TI  - Circadian biology: the early bird catches the morning shift.
AB  - Shift work misaligns the environment and the body's internal clock. A new study
      suggests that this 'social jet lag' can be remedied by a 'personalized schedule',
      an intervention that may help reduce circadian misalignment and pathologies in
      shift workers.

PMID- 25829008
TI  - Stomatal closure: the old guard takes up the SLAC.
AB  - Flowering plant stomata close through passive dehydration or by active pumping of
      anions through SLAC, a phospho-activated membrane channel. A new study reports
      that moss likely utilise this same mechanism, and thus supports an early origin
      for SLAC-mediated active stomatal control. 

PMID- 25829009
TI  - Neurobiology: imaging prey capture circuits in zebrafish.
AB  - Two recent studies used a virtual hunting assay and functional imaging to
      identify prey-capture circuits in zebrafish. Together they show that the optic
      tectum and a pretectal region are two retinorecipient areas important for the
      recognition and capture of prey. 

PMID- 25829010
TI  - Epithelial cell division: keeping aneuploidy levels in check.
AB  - Aneuploidy is deleterious at the cellular and organismal level and can promote
      tumorigenesis. Two new studies in Drosophila imaginal discs underscore the
      cellular and tissue-wide mechanisms that prevent the accumulation of aneuploid
      cells in symmetrically dividing epithelial tissues upon changes in centrosome
      number. 

PMID- 25829011
TI  - Synaptic dynamics: how network activity affects neuron communication.
AB  - Synaptic responses are generally studied in the absence of spontaneous spiking,
      contrasting with the situation in the intact brain. A new study shows that even
      small increases in spontaneous network firing can significantly affect the
      properties and dynamics of excitatory evoked response in sensory neocortex. 

PMID- 25829012
TI  - Small RNAs: artificial piRNAs for transcriptional silencing.
AB  - Technologies have been developed in animal germ cells that produce artificial
      piRNAs from transgenes in piRNA clusters to silence target genes by cleaving
      their transcripts. A new study provides a simple way to generate artificial
      piRNAs to direct de novo DNA methylation in mice. 

PMID- 25829013
TI  - Bioluminescence: a fungal nightlight with an internal timer.
AB  - A recent study shows that green light emission by Neonothopanus gardneri
      mushrooms, endemic to coconut forests of Northern Brazil, is controlled by a
      circadian clock. Furthermore, insects are attracted by the light, raising the
      possibility that bioluminescence functions in spore dispersal and fungal
      dissemination. 

PMID- 25829014
TI  - Evolution: tinkering within gene regulatory landscapes.
AB  - Recently evolved enhancers dominate mammalian gene regulatory landscapes. Mostly
      exapted from ancestral DNA sequences, many are linked to genes under positive
      selection. Just as RNA-seq some years ago, unbiased enhancer mapping is on the
      verge of changing evolutionary research. 

PMID- 25829015
TI  - Membrane trafficking: returning to the fold(ER).
AB  - Retrieval mechanisms are essential to dynamically maintain the composition and
      functional homeostasis of secretory organelles. A recent study has identified a
      novel class of cargo receptor that retrieves a specific subset of escaped ER
      folding machinery from the Golgi. 

PMID- 25829016
TI  - Enhancers: holding out for the right promoter.
AB  - Some transcriptional enhancers work best with one type of promoter, while
      ignoring others. How widespread is such specificity across the genome? A new
      study finds that, in a fair fight, most enhancers prefer to activate promoters
      resembling those of their parent genes. 

PMID- 25829017
TI  - The augmin connection in the geometry of microtubule networks.
AB  - Microtubules mediate important cellular processes by forming highly ordered
      arrays. Organization of these networks is achieved by nucleating and anchoring
      microtubules at centrosomes and other structures collectively known as
      microtubule-organizing centers (MTOCs). However, the diverse microtubule
      configurations found in different cell types may not be generated and maintained
      by MTOCs alone. Work over the last few years has revealed a mechanism that has
      the capacity to generate cell-type-specific microtubule arrays independently of a
      specific organizer: nucleation of microtubules from the lateral surface of pre
      existing microtubules. This type of nucleation requires cooperation between two
      different multi-subunit protein complexes, augmin and the gamma-tubulin ring
      complex (gammaTuRC). Here we review recent molecular insight into microtubule
      dependent nucleation and discuss the possibility that the augmin-gammaTuRC
      module, initially described in mitosis, may broadly contribute to microtubule
      organization also in non-mitotic cells.

PMID- 25829018
TI  - Capture of Prey, Feeding, and Functional Anatomy of the Jaws in Velvet Worms
      (Onychophora).
AB  - Onychophorans are carnivorous, terrestrial invertebrates that occur in tropical
      and temperate forests of the Southern Hemisphere and around the Equator. Together
      with tardigrades, onychophorans are regarded as one of the closest relatives of
      arthropods. One of the most peculiar features of onychophorans is their hunting
      and feeding behavior. These animals secrete a sticky slime, which is ejected via
      a pair of slime-papillae, to entangle the prey. After the prey has been
      immobilized, its cuticle is punctured using a pair of jaws located within the
      mouth. These jaws constitute internalized appendages of the second body segment
      and are innervated by the deutocerebrum; thus, they are homologous to the
      chelicerae of chelicerates, and to the (first) antennae of myriapods,
      crustaceans, and insects. The jaws are also serial homologs of the paired claws
      associated with each walking limb of the trunk. The structure of the jaws is
      similar in representatives of the two major onychophoran subgroups, the
      Peripatidae and Peripatopsidae. Each jaw is characterized by an outer and an
      inner blade; while the outer blade consists only of a large principal tooth and
      up to three accessory teeth, the inner blade bears numerous additional denticles.
      These denticles are separated from the remaining part of the inner jaw by a
      diastema and a soft membrane only in peripatids. The onychophoran jaws are
      associated with large apodemes and specialized muscles that enable their
      movement. In contrast to the mandibles of arthropods, the onychophoran jaws are
      moved along, rather than perpendicular to, the main axis of the body. Our
      elemental analysis reveals an increased incorporation of calcium at the tip of
      each blade, which might provide rigidity, whereas there is no evidence for
      incorporation of metal or prominent mineralization. Stability of the jaw might be
      further facilitated by the cone-in-cone organization of its cuticle, as each
      blade consists of several stacked, cuticular elements. In this work, we summarize
      current knowledge on the jaws of onychophorans, which are a characteristic
      feature of these animals. 

PMID- 25829020
TI  - High Expression of Human Leukocyte Antigen-G is Associated with a Poor Prognosis
      in Patients with PDAC.
AB  - Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most deadly malignant tumors
      worldwide. A variety of mechanisms are involved in PDAC biological behaviors, of
      which, the mechanisms of immune escape may be a pivotal hallmark. HLA-G is a
      tolerant molecule implicated in tumor escape and serves as a prognostic biomarker
      in tumors. Our study evaluated the expression of HLA-G in PDAC and explored its
      clinical significance. In a cohort of 122 PDAC patients, 78 patents (63.9%)
      exhibited high level of HLA-G tumor tissues. Multivariate analysis suggested that
      HLA-G level was an independent predictor for OS (HR = 3.894, 95% CI = 2.380
      6.370, p <0.001). High level of HLA-G significantly correlated with PDAC
      aggressive features, such as more advanced stage (TNM Stage II) (p<0.001),
      extrapancreatic infiltration (T3 stage) (p<0.001), lymph node involvement
      (p=0.019) and poor differentiation (p=0.010). In western blot analysis, almost
      all of the tumor cell lines (5/6) expressed high levels of HLA-G. In ELISA
      analysis, the level of plasma sHLA-G in PDAC patients were significantly
      increased than in healthy control (P=0.0037). Further analysis revealed the level
      of sHLA-G inversely related to numbers of peripheral activated T cells (CD8+CD28+
      T cells), which may indicate that sHLA-G inactivates T cell responses resulting
      in tumor immune escape. In conclusion, tumor-derived HLA-G may indicate the
      mechanism of immune escape and impaired PDAC clinical outcome, especially in
      early-stage patients, which may also be a potential therapeutic target. 

PMID- 25829019
TI  - Crocodilian Forebrain: Evolution and Development.
AB  - Organization and development of the forebrain in crocodilians are reviewed. In
      juvenile Caiman crocodilus, the following features were examined: identification
      and classification of dorsal thalamic nuclei and their respective connections
      with the telencephalon, presence of local circuit neurons in the dorsal thalamic
      nuclei, telencephalic projections to the dorsal thalamus, and organization of the
      thalamic reticular nucleus. These results document many similarities between
      crocodilians and other reptiles and birds. While crocodilians, as well as other
      sauropsids, demonstrate several features of neural circuitry in common with
      mammals, certain striking differences in organization of the forebrain are
      present. These differences are the result of evolution. To explore a basis for
      these differences, embryos of Alligator misissippiensis were examined to address
      the following. First, very early development of the brain in Alligator is similar
      to that of other amniotes. Second, the developmental program for individual
      vesicles of the brain differs between the secondary prosencephalon, diencephalon,
      midbrain, and hindbrain in Alligator. This is likely to be the case for other
      amniotes. Third, initial development of the diencephalon in Alligator is similar
      to that in other amniotes. In Alligator, alar and basal parts likely follow a
      different developmental scheme. 

PMID- 25829021
TI  - Crystal structure, vibrational spectra and DFT simulations of 2-fluoro-4
      bromobenzaldehyde.
AB  - Molecular structure and properties of 2-fluoro-4-bromobenzaldehyde (FBB,
      C7H4BrFO) was experimentally investigated by X-ray diffraction technique and
      vibrational spectroscopy. Experimental results on the molecular structure of FBB
      were supported with computational studies using the density functional theory,
      with the Becke-3-Lee-Yang-Parr functional and the 6-311+G(3df,p) basis set.
      Molecular dimer formed by the intermolecular hydrogen bonding was investigated.
      Potential energy distribution analysis of normal modes was performed to identify
      characteristic frequencies. FBB crystallizes in orthorhombic space group
      P2(1)2(1)2(1) with the O-trans conformation. In order to investigate halogen
      effect, the chloro- (CBB) and bromo- (BBB) analogs of FBB have also been studied
      theoretically. It is observed that all compounds prefer the stable O-trans
      conformation. Although the free energy difference between the O-cis and O-trans
      conformers is less than 2.5 kcal/mol, the free energy rotational barrier is at
      least 7.4 kcal/mol. There is a good agreement between the experimentally
      determined structural parameters, and vibrational frequencies of FBB and those
      predicted theoretically.

PMID- 25829023
TI  - Oral cyclosporine A treatment is feasible after myeloablative conditioning in
      allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
AB  - WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: The target level and route of administration of
      cyclosporine A (CsA) differ between transplantation centres. It is unclear
      whether oral CsA is sufficient to maintain target level of CsA. CASE SUMMARY: We
      retrospectively analysed data from 48 adult patients, who underwent myeloablative
      hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Twenty-one patients (44%) tolerated CsA
      orally throughout the transplantation period without increased incidence of acute
      graft versus host disease(aGVHD). Low concentration of CsA in week 2 was
      associated with increased incidence of aGVHD. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: Oral
      administration of CsA is safe, less time-consuming and economically advantageous.
      Close monitoring of CsA concentration is important.

PMID- 25829022
TI  - Primary central nervous system diffuse large B-cell lymphoma has poorer immune
      cell infiltration and prognosis than its peripheral counterpart.
AB  - AIMS: Primary central nervous system (CNS) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (PCNSL)
      is an ominous disease with a poor prognosis. The brain is an immune-privileged
      sanctuary, and this may contribute to an ineffective host immune response and
      thus a poorer outcome. The aim of this study was therefore to study the
      difference in the immune composition in PCNSL and non-CNS diffuse large B-cell
      lymphoma (DLBCL), and the role of the immune response in PCNSL prognosis. METHODS
      AND RESULTS: Thirty-two biopsy specimens of PCNSL and 30 specimens of low-stage
      non-CNS DLBCL from immunocompetent patients formed the study group. The density
      and distribution of immune cells, including dendritic cells (dendritic cell
      specific lysosomal-associated membrane protein-positive and S100-positive),
      effector/memory T cells (CD45RO-positive), and cytotoxic T cells (granzyme B
      positive), and the expression of HLA-DR by lymphoma cells, were evaluated
      immunohistochemically. PCNSL patients showed poorer overall survival (P = 0.032).
      On comparison of the PCNSL and DLBCL biopsy specimens, the PCNSL cells showed
      less HLA-DR expression (P = 0.003), and there were fewer S100-positive cells (P <
      0.01), and effector T cells (P = 0.026) infiltrating PCNSL than infiltrating
      DLBCL. For PCNSL patients, fewer cytotoxic T cells in the background constituted
      a poor prognostic factor (P = 0.004). Intratumoral S100-positive cell
      infiltration was positively correlated with T-cell infiltration, and a T-cell
      rimming pattern. CONCLUSIONS: In PCNSL, the baseline antitumour immune response
      is less as compared with non-CNS DLBCL, and this response may play a role in the
      poorer prognosis. Adjuvant dendritic cell and T-cell immunotherapy may further
      boost treatment responses in PCNSL patients.

PMID- 25829024
TI  - Fuel poverty increases risk of mould contamination, regardless of adult risk
      perception & ventilation in social housing properties.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Fuel poverty affects 2.4 million UK homes leading to poor
      hygrothermal conditions and risk of mould and house dust mite contaminations,
      which in turn increases risk of asthma exacerbation. For the first time we assess
      how fuel poverty, occupants' risk perception and use of mechanical ventilation
      mediate the risk of mould contamination in social housing. METHODS: Postal
      questionnaires were sent to 3867 social housing properties to collect adult risk
      perception, and demographic and environmental information on occupants.
      Participant details were linked to data pertaining to the individual properties.
      Multiple logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios and confidence
      intervals while allowing for clustering of individuals coming from the same
      housing estate. We used Structured Equation Modelling and Goodness of Fit
      analysis in mediation analyses to examine the role of fuel poverty, risk
      perception, use of ventilation and energy efficiency. RESULTS: Eighteen percent
      of our target social housing populations (671 households) were included into our
      study. High risk perception (score of 8-10) was associated with reduced risk of
      mould contamination in the bedrooms of children (OR 0.5 95% CI; 0.3-0.9) and
      adults (OR 0.4 95% CI; 0.3-0.7). High risk perception of living with inadequate
      heating and ventilation reduced the risk of mould contamination (OR 0.5 95% CI;
      0.3-0.8 and OR 0.5 95% CI; 0.3-0.7, respectively). Participants living with
      inadequate heating and not heating due to the cost of fuel had an increased risk
      of mould contamination (OR 3.4 95% CI; 2.0-5.8 and OR 2.2 95% CI; 1.5-3.2,
      respectively). Increased risk perception and use of extractor fans did not
      mediate the association between fuel poverty behaviours and increased risk of
      mould contamination. DISCUSSION: Fuel poverty behaviours increased the risk of
      mould contamination, which corresponds with existing literature. For the first
      time we used mediation analysis to assess how this association maybe modified by
      occupant behaviours. Increased risk perception and use of extractor fans did not
      modify the association between fuel poverty and mould contamination. This
      suggests that fuel poor populations may not benefit from energy efficiency
      interventions due to ineffective heating and ventilation practices of those
      occupants residing participating households. Our findings may be modified by a
      complex interaction between occupant behaviours and the built environment. We
      found that participant age, occupancy, SES, pets, drying washing indoors,
      geographic location, architectural design/age of the property, levels of
      insulation and type of heating regulated risk of mould contamination. CONCLUSION:
      Fuel poverty behaviours affected around a third of participating households and
      represent a risk factor for increased exposures to damp and mouldy conditions,
      regardless of adult risk perception, heating and ventilation practices. This
      requires multidisciplinary approach to assess the complex interaction between
      occupant behaviours, risk perception, the built environment and the effective use
      of heating and ventilation practices. STUDY IMPLICATIONS: Our findings have
      implications for housing policies and future housing interventions. Effective
      communication strategies focusing on awareness and perception of risk may help
      address indoor air quality issues. This must be supported by improved household
      energy efficiency with the provision of more effective heating and ventilation
      strategies, specifically to help alleviate those suffering from fuel poverty.

PMID- 25829025
TI  - Acupuncture: a cause of mediastinal abscess presenting as axillary infection.

PMID- 25829026
TI  - Andrew A. Benson, 1917-2015.
AB  - On January 16, 2015, Professor Andrew Alm Benson, one of the leading plant
      biochemists of the twentieth century, died in La Jolla, California, at the age of
      97; he was born on September 24, 1917. Benson was known especially for his
      pioneering studies on photosynthesis (CO2 assimilation, carbon reduction cycle)
      and plant lipids (phospholipid phosphatidyl glycerol; and the sulfolipid,
      sulfoquinovosyl diglyceride). A photograph of Benson is shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 1
      Photograph of Andrew A. Benson. SOURCE: Annual Review of Plant Biology, Vol. 53,
      2002, published with permission.

PMID- 25829027
TI  - Repetitive light pulse-induced photoinhibition of photosystem I severely affects
      CO2 assimilation and photoprotection in wheat leaves.
AB  - It was previously found that photosystem I (PSI) photoinhibition represents
      mostly irreversible damage with a slow recovery; however, its physiological
      significance has not been sufficiently characterized. The aim of the study was to
      assess the effect of PSI photoinhibition on photosynthesis in vivo. The
      inactivation of PSI was done by a series of short light saturation pulses applied
      by fluorimeter in darkness (every 10 s for 15 min), which led to decrease of both
      PSI (~60 %) and photosystem II (PSII) (~15 %) photochemical activity. No PSI
      recovery was observed within 2 days, whereas the PSII was fully recovered.
      Strongly limited PSI electron transport led to an imbalance between PSII and PSI
      photochemistry, with a high excitation pressure on PSII acceptor side and low
      oxidation of the PSI donor side. Low and delayed light-induced NPQ and P700(+)
      rise in inactivated samples indicated a decrease in formation of transthylakoid
      proton gradient (DeltapH), which was confirmed also by analysis of electrochromic
      bandshift (ECSt) records. In parallel with photochemical parameters, the CO2
      assimilation was also strongly inhibited, more in low light (~70 %) than in high
      light (~45 %); the decrease was not caused by stomatal closure. PSI electron
      transport limited the CO2 assimilation at low to moderate light intensities, but
      it seems not to be directly responsible for a low CO2 assimilation at high light.
      In this regard, the possible effects of PSI photoinhibition on the redox
      signaling in chloroplast and its role in downregulation of Calvin cycle activity
      are discussed. 

PMID- 25829028
TI  - Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine
      reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) for the prevention of migraine in adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This is an updated version of the original Cochrane review published
      in 2005 on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for preventing
      migraine and tension-type headache. The original review has been split in two
      parts and this review now only regards migraine prevention. Another updated
      review is under development to cover tension-type headache.Migraine is a common
      disorder. The chronic forms are associated with disability and have a high
      economic impact. In view of discoveries about the role of serotonin and other
      neurotransmitters in pain mechanisms, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
      (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) have been
      evaluated for the prevention of migraine. OBJECTIVES: To determine the efficacy
      and tolerability of SSRIs and SNRIs compared to placebo and other active
      interventions in the prevention of episodic and chronic migraine in adults.
      SEARCH METHODS: For the original review, we searched MEDLINE (1966 to January
      2004), EMBASE (1994 to May 2003), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled
      Trials (CENTRAL 2003, Issue 4), and Headache Quarterly (1990 to 2003). For this
      update, we applied a revised search strategy to reflect the broader type of
      intervention (SSRIs and SNRIs). We searched CENTRAL (2014, Issue 10), MEDLINE
      (1946 to November 2014), EMBASE (1980 to November 2014), and PsycINFO (1987 to
      November 2014). We also checked the reference lists of retrieved articles and
      searched trial registries for ongoing trials. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included
      randomised controlled trials comparing SSRIs or SNRIs with any type of control
      intervention in participants 18 years and older of either sex with migraine. DATA
      COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently extracted data (migraine
      frequency, index, intensity, and duration; use of symptomatic/analgesic
      medication; days off work; quality of life; mood improvement; cost-effectiveness;
      and adverse events) and assessed the risk of bias of trials. The primary outcome
      of this updated review is migraine frequency. MAIN RESULTS: The original review
      included eight studies on migraine. Overall, we now include 11 studies on five
      SSRIs and one SNRI with a total of 585 participants. Six studies were placebo
      controlled, four compared a SSRI or SNRI to amitriptyline, and one was a head-to
      head comparison (escitalopram versus venlafaxine). Most studies had
      methodological or reporting shortcomings (or both): all studies were at unclear
      risk of selection and reporting bias. Follow-up rarely extended beyond three
      months. The lack of adequate power of most of the studies is also a major
      concern.Few studies explored the effect of SSRIs or SNRIs on migraine frequency,
      the primary endpoint. Two studies with unclear reporting compared SSRIs and SNRIs
      to placebo, suggesting a lack of evidence for a difference. Two studies compared
      SSRIs or SNRIs versus amitriptyline and found no evidence for a difference in
      terms of migraine frequency (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.04, 95%
      confidence interval (CI) -0.72 to 0.80; I(2) = 72%), or other secondary outcomes
      such as migraine intensity and duration.SSRIs or SNRIs were generally more
      tolerable than tricyclics. However, the two groups did not differ in terms of the
      number of participants who withdrew due to adverse advents or for other reasons
      (one study, odds ratio (OR) 0.39, 95% CI 0.10 to 1.50 and OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.13 to
      1.34).We did not find studies comparing SSRIs or SNRIs with pharmacological
      treatments other than antidepressants (e.g. antiepileptics and anti
      hypertensives). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Since the last version of this review, the
      new included studies have not added high quality evidence to support the use of
      SSRIs or venlafaxine as preventive drugs for migraine. There is no evidence to
      consider SSRIs or venlafaxine as more effective than placebo or amitriptyline in
      reducing migraine frequency, intensity, and duration over two to three months of
      treatment. No reliable information is available at longer-term follow-up. Our
      conclusion is that the use of SSRIs and SNRIs for migraine prophylaxis is not
      supported by evidence.

PMID- 25829032
TI  - Recent advances in laboratory testing of cerebrospinal fluid improve the care of
      patients with meningitis.

PMID- 25829033
TI  - Reflections on the evolving role of Infection Services in New Zealand.

PMID- 25829034
TI  - Time to modernise response to sexually transmitted infections.

PMID- 25829035
TI  - Epidemiology and diagnostic testing for meningitis in adults as the meningococcal
      epidemic declined at Middlemore Hospital.
AB  - AIMS: To describe changes in epidemiology and diagnostic techniques for adult
      meningitis at Middlemore Hospital following the decline of the meningococcal
      epidemic. METHODS: Retrospective audit of cases of meningitis from 2000 to 2009.
      RESULTS: Microbiologically-confirmed diagnosis (MCD) was established in 296 of
      743 episodes (40%), most commonly enterovirus (123/296, 42%), Neisseria
      meningitidis (43/296, 15%) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (34/296, 11%). N.
      meningitidis meningitis declined and herpes viruses increased over time, without
      significant change in overall meningitis case numbers. By 2009, S. pneumoniae
      constituted a greater proportion of cases than N. meningitidis. Cerebrospinal
      fluid (CSF) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and pneumococcal
      immunochromatographic testing (PICT) increased over time as did the proportion of
      cases with MCD. CSF Gram stain was positive in 45% (53/118) and CSF culture made
      MCD in 37% (44/118) of confirmed bacterial episodes (CBE). PCR provided MCD in
      59% (26/54) of CBE and 99% (168/170) of viral episodes. CSF PICT was tested in
      76% (26/34) of S. pneumoniae meningitis (positive in 92% (24/26). CONCLUSIONS: As
      the epidemic waned, local incidence of meningococcal meningitis decreased without
      significant decreasing meningitis overall. Empiric treatment for meningitis in
      New Zealand adults should routinely include pneumococcal cover. Increased PCR
      testing increases MCD in meningitis.

PMID- 25829036
TI  - Lymphogranuloma venereum in men who have sex with men: evidence of local
      transmission in New Zealand.
AB  - Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) is a sexually transmitted infection caused by
      Chlamydia trachomatis. Five laboratory confirmed cases of LGV were detected in
      MSM (men who have sex with men) in the upper North Island; four in Auckland
      between September and December 2013 and a fifth case was detected in Waikato in
      June 2014. The absence of a recent travel history for four cases supports the
      likelihood of local transmission of this uncommon infection. 

PMID- 25829037
TI  - Synopsis of New Zealand's inaugural Influenza Symposium - influenza is a severe
      vaccine- preventable disease.
AB  - Influenza is a vaccine-preventable disease that can lead to serious acute
      respiratory illnesses and other complications. Influenza viruses are widespread
      in wild avian species and infect several animal species in addition to humans.
      Constant evolutionary changes to the influenza virus make the disease challenging
      to control. In November 2014, the Immunisation Advisory Centre held New Zealand's
      inaugural Influenza Symposium (NZiS) to focus upon influenza and vaccine
      strategies in New Zealand. International and local experts discussed advances in
      vaccine effectiveness, safety and disease prevalence and impact. Disease
      surveillance and vaccine effectiveness studies are identifying those at greatest
      risk from influenza to target vaccination campaigns. Influenza vaccine safety is
      closely monitored in order to improve public confidence. In New Zealand, around
      27% of the total population are vaccinated against influenza annually, with 67%
      coverage for those aged 65 years and over who are eligible to funded vaccine.
      Seasonal influenza vaccination is vigorously promoted each year to help to
      improve vaccine uptake. However, there are inequalities in disease impact, with
      the elderly and very young, socioeconomically deprived and those with Maori and
      Pacific Island ethnicity remaining at-risk of serious disease and
      hospitalisation, which may be addressed by further improving access to influenza
      vaccine. 

PMID- 25829038
TI  - Why do patients attend Dunedin's free clinic? An audit of general practice
      activity using the ICPC-2 classification system.
AB  - AIM: To describe the reasons for socially vulnerable patients at Dunedin's Free
      Clinic visiting their general practitioner, using the International
      Classification of Primary Care, Second Edition (ICPC-2). METHOD: An audit of
      electronic medical notes at Dunedin's Free Clinic for a 13-week period, to
      profile the health needs of patients and associated general practice activity
      RESULTS: There were 9.0 visits per patient over 12 months at the Free Clinic. An
      average of 1.2 presenting complaints or requests was made per visit. The most
      frequent "reasons for encounter" (RFE) at the Free Clinic were requests for
      prescriptions and Sickness Benefit medical certificates. An average of 1.9
      diagnostic or therapeutic procedures was recorded per consultation at the Free
      Clinic. CONCLUSION: Patients at Dunedin's Free Clinic had a high rate of
      prescription and Sickness Benefit medical certificate requests. However, they
      brought on average fewer RFEs and received fewer than expected "processes of
      care" than patients in the NatMedCa study.

PMID- 25829039
TI  - Plasmid-mediated AmpC beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli causing urinary
      tract infection in the Auckland community likely to be resistant to commonly
      prescribed antimicrobials.
AB  - AIM: To estimate the prevalence and characterise plasmid-mediated AmpC beta
      lactamase (PMACBL)- producing Escherichia coli in the Auckland community. METHOD:
      All cefoxitin non-susceptible (NS) E. coli identified at the two Auckland
      community laboratories between 1 January and 31 August 2011 were referred to ESR
      for boronic acid double-disc synergy testing, to detect the production of AmpC
      beta-lactamase, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to identify the presence of
      PMACBL genes. PMACBL-producing isolates were typed using pulsed-field gel
      electrophoresis (PFGE), and PCR was used to determine their phylogenetic group
      and to identify multilocus sequence type (ST)131. Antimicrobial susceptibility
      testing and detection of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) were performed
      according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute recommendations.
      RESULTS: 101 (51%) and 74 (37%) of 200 non-duplicate cefoxitin-NS E. coli were
      PMACBL producers or assumed hyper-producers of chromosomal AmpC beta-lactamase,
      respectively. The prevalence of PMACBL-producing E. coli was 0.4%. PMACBL
      producing E. coli were significantly less susceptible to norfloxacin,
      trimethoprim and nitrofurantoin than E. coli that produced neither a PMACBL nor
      an ESBL. Very few (4%) PMACBL-producing E. coli co-produced an ESBL. Most (88%)
      of the PMACBL-producing isolates had a CMY-2-like PMACBL. The PMACBL-producing E.
      coli isolates were diverse based on their PFGE profiles, 44% belonged to
      phylogenetic group D, and only four were ST131. 100 of the 101 PMACBL-producing
      E. coli were cultured from urine, and were causing urinary tract infection (UTI)
      in the majority of patients. The median patient age was 56 years and most (94%)
      of the patients were women. A greater proportion of patients with community
      acquired UTI caused by PMACBL-producing E. coli received a beta-lactam
      antimicrobial than patients with community-acquired UTI caused by other non-AmpC,
      non-ESBL-producing E. coli. Thirty-six (43%) patients with community-acquired UTI
      due to PMACBL-producing E. coli were neither hospitalised nor had any
      antimicrobial treatment in the previous 6 months. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of
      PMACBL-producing E. coli was relatively low in the Auckland community, but has
      increased in recent years. Typing revealed that the majority of the PMACBL
      producing E. coli in the Auckland region were genetically unrelated meaning that
      a point source or direct person to person transmission are not drivers of local
      community spread currently. The isolates were more resistant to non-beta-lactam
      antimicrobials than other non-AmpC, non-ESBL-producing E. coli, leaving few
      treatment options. The majority of the PMACBL-producing E. coli isolates seemed
      to be acquired in the community and were most frequently isolated from women with
      UTI. A large proportion of patients with community-acquired UTI had not been
      hospitalised nor had any antimicrobial treatment in the previous 6 months.

PMID- 25829041
TI  - Medical image. Epiploic appendages.

PMID- 25829040
TI  - Colonisation with Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes in New Zealand
      preschool children.
AB  - AIM: To describe colonisation patterns of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and
      Streptococcus pyogenes (S. pyogenes) among pre-school children in New Zealand.
      METHOD: Anterior nasal, oropharyngeal, and antecubital fossa swabs were collected
      from a diverse sample of 139 New Zealand children aged 4 years. Swabs were
      cultured for S. aureus and S. pyogenes. S. aureus isolates were tested for
      antibiotic susceptibility. RESULTS: S. aureus colonisation was more prevalent
      than S. pyogenes colonisation; 54% of the children were colonised with S. aureus
      whereas only 16% were colonised with S. pyogenes, at one or more sampling sites
      (P<0.0001). S. aureus was present in a larger proportion of swabs obtained from
      the anterior nasal (39%, P<0.0001) or oropharynx (32%, P=0.0002) than from the
      antecubital fossa (14%). S. pyogenes was present in a larger proportion of swabs
      obtained from the oropharynx (16%) than either the anterior nasal (4%, P=0.001)
      or the antecubital fossa (2%, P<0.0001). CONCLUSION: S. aureus and S. pyogenes
      are prevalent at superficial sites in preschool children in NZ, with S. aureus
      colonisation more prevalent than S. pyogenes colonisation. Colonisation frequency
      varies by site for both pathogens; S. aureus is more prevalent in the anterior
      nares and oropharynx while S. pyogenes is more prevalent in the oropharynx.

PMID- 25829042
TI  - Medical image. Terra firma-forme dermatosis.

PMID- 25829043
TI  - Health effects of water fluoridation: a response to the letter by Menkes et al.

PMID- 25829044
TI  - Infrastructure for supporting physical activity: a pilot survey of the quality of
      street-connecting walkways at night.

PMID- 25829045
TI  - Lies, damned lies and graphs.

PMID- 25829046
TI  - Rotavirus vaccine: dare to hope.

PMID- 25829047
TI  - Portrayal of violence, weapons, antisocial behaviour and alcohol: study of
      televised music videos in New Zealand.

PMID- 25829048
TI  - Effect of magnesium sulphate on sugammadex reversal time for neuromuscular
      blockade: a randomised controlled study.
AB  - Magnesium potentiates neuromuscular blockade. Sugammadex reverses rocuronium
      induced blockade. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of pre
      treatment with magnesium sulphate on sugammadex reversal time for neuromuscular
      blockade. Seventy-three patients were randomly assigned to receive magnesium
      sulphate (40 mg.kg(-1) ) or saline intravenously. After anaesthetic induction,
      continuous train-of-four monitoring was performed and rocuronium was administered
      (0.6 mg.kg(-1) ). When a second twitch appeared, the patients received sugammadex
      (2 mg.kg(-1) ). The median (IQR [range]) reversal time of moderate neuromuscular
      blockade to a train-of-four ratio of 0.9 facilitated by sugammadex was 115 (93
      177.5 [68-315]) s in the magnesium group and 120 (105-140 [70-298]) s in the
      saline group (p = 0.79). The median (IQR [range]) clinical duration was 45 (35.5
      53 [22-102]) min in the magnesium group and 37 (31-43 [19-73]) min in the saline
      group (p = 0.031). Pre-treatment with magnesium did not significantly affect
      sugammadex reversal time of moderate neuromuscular blockade induced by
      rocuronium.

PMID- 25829049
TI  - A novel dissolution method for evaluation of polysaccharide based colon specific
      delivery systems: A suitable alternative to animal sacrifice.
AB  - The most extensively used test for predicting in-vivo release kinetics of a drug
      from its orally administered dosage forms is dissolution testing. For
      polysaccharide based, colon targeted oral delivery systems, the entire path of
      the gut traversed by the dosage form needs to be simulated for assessing its in
      vivo dissolution pattern. This includes the dissolution testing sequentially in
      simulated gastric fluid (SGF), simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) and simulated
      colonic fluid (SCF). For SGF and SIF, simple and standardized composition is well
      known. However, preparation of SCF requires addition of either the colonic
      contents of rodents or human faecal slurry. A method is proposed, wherein a
      mixture of five probiotics cultured in the presence of a prebiotic under
      anaerobic conditions is able to surrogate the colonic fluid. Release profiles of
      drug from colon targeted delivery systems in this medium were studied and
      compared to those generated in the conventionally used media containing rodent
      caecal contents and human faecal slurry. The results from the three studies were
      found to be quite similar. These findings suggest that the proposed medium may
      prove to be useful not only as a biorelevant and discriminatory method but may
      also help in achieving the 3Rs objective regarding the ethical use of animals. 

PMID- 25829050
TI  - Vitamin Bc -Bearing Hydrophilic Photosensitizer Conjugate for Photodynamic Cancer
      Theranostics.
AB  - The accurate diagnosis and proper therapy for cancer are essential to improve the
      success rate of cancer treatment. Here, we demonstrated that the vitamin Bc 
      bearing hydrophilic photosensitizer conjugate folic acid-polyethylene glycol
      pheophorbideA (FA-PEG-PheoA) has been synthesized for the intracellular diagnosis
      and photodynamic therapy of a tumor. The synthesized vitamin Bc -bearing
      hydrophilic photosensitizer conjugate has been characterized for the folic acid
      receptor expressing the ability to target tumor cells, which is facilitated by
      the chemical conjugation with folic acid. The vitamin Bc -bearing hydrophilic
      photosensitizer conjugate internalization mechanism was identified through a
      competitive inhibition test with free folic acid. We optimized the laser
      sensitive, cytotoxicity changeable, vitamin Bc -bearing hydrophilic
      photosensitizer conjugate concentration, which is non-cytotoxic under normal
      conditions and specifically cytotoxic toward cancer cells (maximum 69.15%) under
      laser irradiation conditions used for theranostic agents. The cancer therapeutic
      and diagnosis effects of synthesized conjugate were confirmed in MDA-MB-231 cells
      and MDA-MB-231-bearing mice. As a result, the vitamin Bc -bearing hydrophilic
      photosensitizer conjugate exhibited a highly photodynamic therapeutic effect,
      which enabled the selective detection of a folic acid receptor expressing cancer
      using optical imaging. 

PMID- 25829055
TI  - Demographic, behavioral, dietary, and socioeconomic characteristics related to
      persistent organic pollutants and mercury levels in pregnant women in Japan.
AB  - Persistent organic pollutants and mercury are known environmental chemicals that
      have been found to be ubiquitous in not only the environment but also in humans,
      including women of reproductive age. The purpose of this study was to evaluate
      the association between personal lifestyle characteristics and environmental
      chemical levels during the perinatal period in the general Japanese population.
      This study targeted 322 pregnant women enrolled in the Hokkaido Study on
      Environment and Children's Health. Each participant completed a self-administered
      questionnaire and a food-frequency questionnaire to obtain relevant information
      on parental demographic, behavioral, dietary, and socioeconomic characteristics.
      In total, 58 non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls, 17 dibenzo-p-dioxins and 
      dibenzofuran, and 12 dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls congeners,
      perfluorooctane sulfonate, perfluorooctanoic acid, and mercury were measured in
      maternal samples taken during the perinatal period. Linear regression models were
      constructed against potential related factors for each chemical concentration.
      Most concentrations of environmental chemicals were correlated with the presence
      of other environmental chemicals, especially in the case of non-dioxin-like
      polychlorinated biphenyls and, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and 
      dibezofurans and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls which had similar exposure
      sources and persistence in the body. Maternal smoking and alcohol habits, fish
      and beef intake and household income were significantly associated with
      concentrations of environmental chemicals. These results suggest that different
      lifestyle patterns relate to varying exposure to environmental chemicals. 

PMID- 25829051
TI  - PKPD modelling to predict altered disposition of 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 in
      mice due to dose-dependent regulation of CYP27B1 on synthesis and CYP24A1 on
      degradation.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Concentrations of 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3
      [1,25(OH)2 D3 ], the active ligand of the vitamin D receptor, are tightly
      regulated by CYP27B1 for synthesis and CYP24A1 for degradation. However, the dose
      dependent pharmacokinetic (PK)-pharmacodynamic (PD) relationship between these
      enzymes and 1,25(OH)2 D3 concentrations has not been characterized. EXPERIMENTAL
      APPROACH: The pharmacokinetics of 1,25(OH)2 D3 were evaluated after
      administration of single (2, 60 and 120 pmol) and repeated (2 and 120 pmol q2d
      *3) i.v. doses to male C57BL/6 mice. mRNA expression of CYP27B1 and CYP24A1 was
      examined by quantitative PCR and 1,25(OH)2 D3 concentrations were determined by
      enzyme immunoassay. KEY RESULTS: CYP27B1 and CYP24A1 changes were absent for the
      2 pmol dose and biexponential decay profiles showed progressively shorter
      terminal half-lives with increasing doses. Fitting with a two-compartment model
      revealed decreasing net synthesis rates and increasing total clearances with
      dose, consistent with a dose-dependent down-regulation of renal CYP27B1 and the
      induction of renal/intestinal CYP24A1 mRNA expression. Upon incorporation of PD
      parameters for inhibition of CYP27B1 and induction of CYP24A1 to the simple two
      compartment model, fitting was significantly improved. Moreover, fitted estimates
      for the 2 pmol dose, together with the PD parameters as modifiers, were able to
      predict profiles reasonably well for the higher (60 and 120 pmol) doses. Lastly,
      an indirect response model, which considered the synthesis and degradation of
      enzymes, adequately described the PK and PD profiles. CONCLUSIONS AND
      IMPLICATIONS: The unique PK of exogenously administered 1,25(OH)2 D3 led to
      changes in PD of CYP27B1 and CYP24A1, which hastened the clearance of 1,25(OH)2
      D3 .

PMID- 25829057
TI  - Plasma-engineered MoS2 thin-film as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen
      evolution reaction.
AB  - Herein, for the first time, we reported a general approach of plasma engineering
      to tune the surface properties and edge reactive sites for greatly improving HER
      (hydrogen evolution) activity of MoS2. We show that the Ar or O2 plasma can be
      used to generate a large number of physical and chemical defects in 2D crystals
      to modify the electronic properties and increase the number of active sites in
      MoS2. Electrocatalytic studies show that the plasma-treated MoS2 exhibits
      significantly enhanced electrocatalytic activity for HER. 

PMID- 25829056
TI  - Accumulation of organochlorines in the European clam (Ruditapes decussatus) and
      sediment of the Oualidia lagoon (Morocco).
AB  - This study focused on the analysis of organochlorine pesticides and PCBs in
      tissue samples of the clam, Ruditapes decussatus, in the Oualidia lagoon. Tissue
      assays were conducted during February to December 2005 and sediment (October
      2005) was also tested. 13 organochlorine compounds and eight PCBs congeners were
      investigated, is HCB, gamma-HCH, chlordane, cis-chlordane and trans-nonachlor,
      DDT and its metabolites DDD, DDE, heptachlor, its epoxide, mirex and PCBs (PCB28
      + 50, PCB52, PCB101, PCB 118, PCB138, PCB153, PCB180). Analysis of these
      compounds was performed using a gas chromatography capillary column and an
      electron capture detector. Organochlorine contamination of clams and sediments in
      the lagoon did not exceed tolerable thresholds according to European standards.
      The levels of tPCB, tDDT and tOCP in clams are high at 49.4, 22.2, and 7.1 ng g(
      1) dw respectively. Concentrations of trans nonachlor and mirex are low compared
      to other chlorinated pesticides. PCB28 + 50, PCB52 and PCB101 show typical values
      in sediment, at 18.5, 10.8 and 17.8 ng g(-1) dw respectively.

PMID- 25829058
TI  - An LC-MS/MS method for determination of calceorioside B with cardiomyocyte
      protective activity in rat plasma and application to a pharmacokinetic study.
AB  - A simple, sensitive and rapid liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC
      MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of calceorioside
      B (CLB) in rat plasma. Detection was performed on a Thermo Scientific Hypersil
      Gold chromatography column using isocratic elution with a mobile phase of
      methanol-5 m m ammonium acetate-formic acid (70:30:0.1, v/v/v). Mass spectrometry
      was performed in selection reaction monitoring mode using a positive electrospray
      ionization interface. Good linearity was found for CLB in plasma in the linear
      range of 1.00-500 ng/mL (r > 0.9960). The validated method was successfully
      applied to the pharmacokinetic study of CLB in rats.

PMID- 25829059
TI  - UDP-Sugars as Extracellular Signaling Molecules: Cellular and Physiologic
      Consequences of P2Y14 Receptor Activation.
AB  - UDP-sugars, which are indispensable for protein glycosylation reactions in
      cellular secretory pathways, also act as important extracellular signaling
      molecules. We discuss here the broadly expressed P2Y14 receptor, a G-protein
      coupled receptor targeted by UDP sugars, and the increasingly diverse set of
      physiologic responses discovered recently functioning downstream of this receptor
      in many epithelia as well as in immune, inflammatory, and other cells. 

PMID- 25829060
TI  - Dual targeting of the androgen receptor and hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha
      pathways synergistically inhibits castration-resistant prostate cancer cells.
AB  - Enzalutamide is a potent second-generation androgen receptor (AR) antagonist with
      activity in metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Although
      enzalutamide is initially effective, disease progression inevitably ensues with
      the emergence of resistance. Intratumoral hypoxia is also associated with CRPC
      progression and treatment resistance. Given that both AR and hypoxia inducible
      factor-1 alpha (HIF-1alpha) are key regulators of these processes, dual targeting
      of both signaling axes represents an attractive therapeutic approach. Crosstalk
      of the AR and HIF-1alpha signaling pathways were examined in prostate cancer cell
      lines (LNCaP, 22Rv1) with assays measuring the effect of androgen and hypoxia on
      AR-dependent and hypoxia-inducible gene transcription, protein expression, cell
      proliferation, and apoptosis. HIF-1alpha inhibition was achieved by siRNA
      silencing HIF-1alpha or via chetomin, a disruptor of HIF-1alpha-p300
      interactions. In prostate cancer cells, the gene expression of AR targets (KLK3,
      FKBP5, TMPRSS2) was repressed by HIF-signaling; conversely, specific HIF-1alpha
      target expression was induced by dihydrotestosterone-mediated AR signaling.
      Treatment of CRPC cells with enzalutamide or HIF-1alpha inhibition attenuated AR
      regulated and HIF-1alpha-mediated gene transcription. The combination of
      enzalutamide and HIF-1alpha inhibition was more effective than either treatment
      alone. Similarly, the combination also reduced vascular endothelial growth factor
      protein levels. HIF-1alpha siRNA synergistically enhanced the inhibitory effect
      of enzalutamide on cell growth in LNCaP and enzalutamide-resistant 22Rv1 cells
      via increased enzalutamide-induced apoptosis. In conclusion, the combination of
      enzalutamide with HIF-1alpha inhibition resulted in synergistic inhibition of AR
      dependent and gene-specific HIF-dependent expression and prostate cancer cell
      growth. 

PMID- 25829061
TI  - Single-port laparoscopic resection for diverticular disease: experiences with
      more than 300 consecutive patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Single-port laparoscopic surgery (SILS) is a new minimally invasive
      technique, which has been developed to minimize the surgical access trauma. For
      colorectal resection, the access trauma can be limited to the one incision, which
      is needed for specimen extraction anyways, but dissection might be more demanding
      than in multiport laparoscopic surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the
      usefulness of SILS for the treatment of diverticular disease of the sigmoid
      colon. METHODS: Between July 2009 and December 2013, a total of 329 consecutive
      patients with intended SILS sigmoid colectomy for complicated or frequently
      recurring diverticulitis were studied. Clinical data were collected in a
      prospective database. Telephone follow-ups were performed to evaluate long-term
      morbidity and quality of life. RESULTS: Of the 329 patients (139 male) with
      intended SILS sigmoid colectomy, 309 were successfully operated on in SILS
      technique, while 20 (6.1%) were converted to open surgery. The mean duration of
      surgery was 153.5 (65-434) min. Total morbidity rate was 18.3%. Anastomotic
      leakage was the most serious complication occurring in 13 patients (leak rate 4%)
      with one consecutive death (mortality rate 0.3%). Quality of life had
      significantly improved 6 months after surgery in comparison with the preoperative
      value. At a mean follow-up of 18.6 months, 16 patients (4.9%) had incisional
      hernia and one patient had recurrent diverticulitis. CONCLUSION: In spite of
      almost 5% incisional hernia 6 months after surgery, single-incision sigmoid
      colectomy for diverticulitis is feasible and save and is therefore an alternative
      to multiport laparoscopic surgery. Further trials are necessary to evaluate its
      benefits over multiport laparoscopic surgery.

PMID- 25829062
TI  - Effect of a laparoscopic instrument with rotatable handle piece on biomechanical
      stress during laparoscopic procedures.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of a pistol grip laparoscopic instrument
      with a rotatable handle piece (rot-HP) on biomechanical stress and precision as
      well as a possible interaction between the instrument and working height (WH).
      BACKGROUND: Biomechanical stress induced by laparoscopic surgery (LS) is
      associated with work-related upper limb musculoskeletal disorders in surgeons.
      Ergonomic handle designs of laparoscopic instruments may reduce the risk of
      musculoskeletal disorders. METHODS: Without LS experience, 57 healthy subjects
      (30 women; 27 men, median age: 26) were observed while performing a laparoscopic
      exercise. Subjects had to pick up coloured pins and place them into a colour
      coded wooden set-up inside a pelvitrainer. The exercise was performed at two WHs
      using the rot-HP and a standard laparoscopic (fixed) handle piece in randomized
      sequence. Biomechanical stress was monitored via surface electromyography (sEMG)
      on fife muscles from the upper limb and shoulder region. Further, the wrist angle
      (palmar and dorsi flexion) and posture of the dominant upper arm were recorded.
      Precision was assessed using the number of validly placed pins and process time.
      RESULTS: sEMG parameters and upper arm postures indicated no differences in
      biomechanical stress related to either laparoscopic handle piece. The higher WH
      was associated with higher trapezius and deltoid activity and elevated arm
      postures (p < 0.05). Neutral wrist positions were more frequent using the rot-HP,
      and the lower WH resulted in slightly more neutral wrist positions. Precision was
      similar during all experimental conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The rot-HP did not
      decrease biomechanical stress in the shoulder or lower arm muscles. However,
      wrist angle position may be optimized without affecting precision. Long-term
      effects of the rot-HP on preventing complaints of the upper extremity should be
      evaluated. Low WH is recommended to reduce biomechanical stress in the shoulder
      during laparoscopic surgery.

PMID- 25829063
TI  - Feasibility, efficacy and safety of stent insertion as a palliative treatment for
      malignant strictures in the cervical segment of the esophagus and the
      hypopharynx.
AB  - BACKGROUND: 50% of esophageal cancers are inoperable at the time of diagnosis,
      and around 15% involve the cervical esophagus. The hypopharynx is often involved
      by these malignancies as well. Palliation of cervical esophageal malignancies
      through stent insertion is considered limited due to technical challenges, poor
      patient tolerance and high complication rate. The aim of this study is to review
      our experience with stent insertion in the cervical segment of the esophagus and
      to evaluate outcome differences between stent insertions involving or sparing the
      hypopharynx. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed data on 69 consecutive patients
      that underwent stent insertion for malignant strictures in the cervical esophagus
      at our Department. Patients were divided according to involvement or sparing of
      the lower hypopharynx. Dysphagia severity was measured with the Mellow-Pinkas
      scale before the procedure and on monthly follow-ups. Any complication and its
      management were recorded. The main outcome parameters were as follows: dysphagia
      improvement, rate of successful dysphagia palliation (i.e., a reduction of the
      score to 0 or 1 after stent insertion) and complication rate. Multivariable
      analysis was carried out to assess the influence of patient- and procedure
      related factors on the outcome of the procedure. RESULTS: Stent insertion was
      achieved in 100% patients. At 4 weeks, dysphagia score improved from a median of
      3-0 (p < 0.001), and a successful palliation was achieved in 76.8% patients. The
      30-day mortality rate was 14.5%. Successful palliation throughout the follow-up
      was achieved in 72.9% of the surviving patients. Complications occurred in 31.9%
      patients. Dilation before stent insertion was associated with a less efficient
      short-term dysphagia palliation (OR 6.77, 95% CI 1.46-31.29, p = 0.02).
      CONCLUSIONS: Stent insertion is a safe and effective palliative treatment for
      malignant cervical esophageal strictures. Results are consistent even in patients
      with hypopharyngeal lesions. Dilation should be avoided before stent insertion.

PMID- 25829064
TI  - One- and ten-year outcome of laparoscopic anterior 120 degrees  versus total
      fundoplication: a double-blind, randomized multicenter study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nissen fundoplication is an effective treatment for gastroesophageal
      reflux disease (GERD) but can cause adverse effects like flatulence and
      dysphagia. The aim was to compare laparoscopic anterior 120 degrees 
      fundoplication (APF) to total fundoplication (Nissen) concerning flatulence and
      other adverse effects, in a randomized blinded study. METHODS: Seventy-two
      patients were randomized to APF (n = 36) or Nissen (n = 36). Gastroscopy, 24-h pH
      monitoring and evaluation for symptoms and quality of life using questionnaires
      (GSRS, PGWB and 7-graded Likert scales) were performed preoperatively, at 1 and
      10 years postoperatively. Patients and the researchers were blinded to operative
      method. RESULTS: When entering the study, most patients had mild-moderate reflux
      disease according to the symptom score, the 24-h pH measurements, and frequency
      and grade of esophagitis. At 1-year (n = 68) flatulence, dysphagia, heartburn and
      acid regurgitation did not differ between groups. More patients could belch (p =
      0.005), and pH monitoring showed a higher time with pH < 4 in the APF group (p =
      0.006). At 10 years (n = 61), the APF group reported less dysphagia (p < 0.001),
      more heartburn (p = 0.019) and more patients could belch (p = 0.012) and vomit (p
      < 0.001) compared to the Nissen. No difference remained at 10 years in pH
      monitoring (n = 23) between groups. Symptoms of heartburn and acid regurgitation
      were less than preoperatively in both groups (p < 0.001). No revisional
      operations were performed. CONCLUSIONS: Both procedures offer good long-term
      control of reflux symptom, with modest post-fundoplication symptoms. Anterior 120
      degrees  fundoplication results in less dysphagia, better ability to belch and
      vomit than total fundoplication at 10-year follow-up. The results suggest that
      APF could be an alternative to Nissen fundoplication in the surgical treatment of
      mild-moderate GERD.

PMID- 25829065
TI  - A blinded assessment of video quality in wearable technology for telementoring in
      open surgery: the Google Glass experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The goal of telementoring is to recreate face-to-face encounters with
      a digital presence. Open-surgery telementoring is limited by lack of surgeon's
      point-of-view cameras. Google Glass is a wearable computer that looks like a pair
      of glasses but is equipped with wireless connectivity, a camera, and viewing
      screen for video conferencing. This study aimed to assess the safety of using
      Google Glass by assessing the video quality of a telementoring session. METHODS:
      Thirty-four (n = 34) surgeons at a single institution were surveyed and blindly
      compared via video captured with Google Glass versus an Apple iPhone 5 during the
      open cholecystectomy portion of a Whipple. Surgeons were asked to evaluate the
      quality of the video and its adequacy for safe use in telementoring. RESULTS:
      Thirty-four of 107 invited surgical attendings (32%) responded to the anonymous
      survey. A total of 50% rated the Google Glass video as fair with the other 50%
      rating it as bad to poor. A total of 52.9% of respondents rated the Apple iPhone
      video as good. A significantly greater proportion of respondents felt Google
      Glass video quality was inadequate for telementoring versus the Apple iPhone's
      (82.4 vs 26.5%, p < 0.0001). Intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.924 (95% CI
      0.660-0.999, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: While Google Glass provides a great breadth
      of functionality as a wearable device with two-way communication capabilities,
      current hardware limitations prevent its use as a telementoring device in surgery
      as the video quality is inadequate for safe telementoring. As the device is still
      in initial phases of development, future iterations or competitor devices may
      provide a better telementoring application for wearable devices.

PMID- 25829066
TI  - Outcomes of patients with early gastric cancer who underwent double endoscopic
      intraluminal surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has been used to
      treat patients with nonulcerated early gastric cancers of 2  cm or less, because
      the incidence of lymph node metastasis is negligible. However, the standard ESD
      procedure is long, complex, and associated with high complication rates. To
      overcome these limitations, we devised a double endoscopic intraluminal operation
      (DEILO) and assessed its efficacy and safety for superficial gastric neoplasms in
      a preliminary prospective study. METHODS: The DEILO procedure was performed on
      101 patients with gastric cancers. Two endoscopes were simultaneously inserted
      into the stomach. One endoscope was used to lift the lesion, and the other was
      used to excise the lesion. RESULTS: The DEILO technique was performed
      successfully, and en bloc resection was achieved for 98 (97.0%) of 101 patients.
      Histologically curative resection was achieved for 85 lesions (84.2%). The mean
      operating time was 70 min (range 20-178 min). Perforation occurred in four
      patients (4.0%), all of whom were successfully treated nonsurgically. Three
      patients developed postoperative hemorrhage, which was controlled endoscopically.
      CONCLUSION: The DEILO procedure appears to shorten the operating time for ESD,
      with efficacy and complication rates comparable with the standard procedure.

PMID- 25829067
TI  - Risk stratification and management of non-curative resection after endoscopic
      submucosal dissection for early gastric cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Non-curative resection after endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD)
      for early gastric cancer (EGC) can contribute to local recurrence or lymphatic
      and distant metastasis of the tumor. We stratified the risk of local recurrence
      according to the histological characteristics in non-curative resection after ESD
      for EGC. METHODS: Among 892 EGCs treated with ESD, 152 (17.0%) were classified as
      non-curative resection based on the histology after ESD. The clinical outcomes
      and risk factors associated with local recurrence were analyzed retrospectively
      in non-curative resections. RESULTS: Of 152 non-curative resections, 46 (30.3%)
      were stratified as Group 1 (incomplete resection and met the ESD criteria), 31
      (20.4%) as Group 2 (complete resection and exceeded the ESD criteria), 41 (27.0%)
      as Group 3 (incomplete resection and exceeded the ESD criteria), and 34 (22.4%)
      as Group 4 (lymphovascular invasion regardless of complete resection). Group 3
      [odds ratio (OR) 3.991; p = 0.015] and Group 4 (OR 4.487; p = 0.014) had higher
      rates of local recurrence after non-curative resection. In those high-risk
      groups, endoscopic surveillance without additional treatment detected
      significantly more local recurrence than in those receiving additional treatment
      (p = 0.029). CONCLUSION: Risk stratification for non-curative resection is
      important for EGC prognosis after ESD. Moreover, additional treatment for non
      curative resection influences long-term outcomes, especially in high-risk groups.

PMID- 25829068
TI  - Redefining early gastric cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The problem is that current definitions of early gastric cancer allow
      the inclusion of regional lymph node metastases. The increasing use of endoscopic
      submucosal dissection to treat early gastric cancer is a concern because regional
      lymph nodes are not addressed. The aim of the study was thus to critically
      evaluate current evidence with regard to tumour-specific factors associated with
      lymph node metastases in "early gastric cancer" to develop a more precise
      definition and improve clinical management. METHODS: A systematic and
      comprehensive search of major reference databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed and
      the Cochrane Library) was undertaken using a combination of text words "early
      gastric cancer", "lymph node metastasis", "factors", "endoscopy", "surgery",
      "lymphadenectomy" "mucosa", "submucosa", "lymphovascular invasion",
      "differentiated", "undifferentiated" and "ulcer". All available publications that
      described tumour-related factors associated with lymph node metastases in early
      gastric cancer were included. RESULTS: The initial search yielded 1494 studies,
      of which 42 studies were included in the final analysis. Over time, the
      definition of early gastric cancer has broadened and the indications for
      endoscopic treatment have widened. The mean frequency of lymph node metastases
      increased on the basis of depth of infiltration (mucosa 6% vs. submucosa 28%),
      presence of lymphovascular invasion (absence 9% vs. presence 53%), tumour
      differentiation (differentiated 13% vs. undifferentiated 34%) and macroscopic
      type (elevated 13% vs. flat 26%) and tumour diameter (<=2 cm 8% vs. >2 cm 25%).
      CONCLUSION: There is a need to re-examine the diagnosis and staging of early
      gastric cancer to ensure that patients with one or more identifiable risk factor
      for lymph node metastases are not denied appropriate chemotherapy and surgical
      resection.

PMID- 25829069
TI  - Hereditary geniospasm in a Korean family.

PMID- 25829070
TI  - Decreased vesicular storage and aldehyde dehydrogenase activity in multiple
      system atrophy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Parkinson disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) share some
      neuropathologic features (nigrostriatal dopaminergic lesion, alpha-synuclein
      deposition) but not others (Lewy bodies in PD, glial cytoplasmic inclusions in
      MSA). In PD evidence has accrued for a vesicular storage defect and decreased
      aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity in residual dopaminergic terminals,
      resulting in accumulation of the toxic dopamine (DA) metabolite 3,4
      dihydroxyphenylacetaldehyde (DOPAL). In this study we asked whether MSA entails a
      similar abnormal neurochemical pattern. METHODS: DA and its main neuronal
      metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), norepinephrine (NE) and its
      main neuronal metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol (DHPG), the catecholamine
      precursor DOPA, and DOPAL were measured in striatal and frontal cortical tissue
      from patients with pathologically proven end-stage MSA (N = 15), sporadic PD (N =
      17), and control subjects (N = 18). RESULTS: Compared to the control group, the
      MSA and PD groups had similarly decreased putamen DA (by 96% and 93%, p <
      0.0001), DOPAC (97% and 95%, p < 0.0001), NE (91% and 74%, p < 0.0001), and DHPG
      (81% and 74%, p < 0.0001). In the MSA and PD groups, ratios of DOPAL:DA were 2.3
      and 3.5 times control and DHPG:NE 3.1 and 2.6 times control, while DOPAC:DOPAL
      ratios were decreased by 61% and 74%. In both diseases cortical NE and DHPG were
      decreased, while DA and DOPAC were not. CONCLUSIONS: MSA and PD entail a
      catecholamine metabolic profile indicating impaired vesicular storage, decreased
      ALDH activity, and DOPAL buildup, which might be part of a common pathway in
      catecholamine neuronal death. Targeting this pathway by interfering with
      catecholaldehyde production or effects constitutes a novel treatment approach.

PMID- 25829071
TI  - Zolpidem withdrawal status dystonicus in the patient with advanced Parkinson's
      disease.

PMID- 25829073
TI  - Helsinki redux.

PMID- 25829072
TI  - Physiological roles of miR-155.
AB  - miR-155 is involved in non-coding microRNAs found in humans, mice and chickens of
      which the sequence is conserved. Historically, miR-155 was identified as a B-cell
      integration cluster (bic), which induces B-cell leucosis in chickens, by its
      activation through viral promoter insertion. Subsequent studies have shown that
      transgenic mice expressing miR-155 in B cells generated lymphoma, showing that
      miR-155 is oncogenic. Biochemical investigation identifies many substrates of miR
      155, and one of them in B cells and macrophages is the SH2-domain containing
      inositol-5'-phosphatase 1. A deficiency of miR-155 in the immune system causes
      attenuated immune functions. Clinically, several types of malignancy including
      diffuse large B-cell lymphoma have high miR-155 expression levels. 

PMID- 25829074
TI  - Protective equipment and sport-related concussion: letter to the editor.

PMID- 25829075
TI  - Protective equipment and sport-related concussion: response.

PMID- 25829076
TI  - Corrigendum.

PMID- 25829077
TI  - Genotoxic and immunotoxic potential effects of selected psychotropic drugs and
      antibiotics on blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) hemocytes.
AB  - The potential toxicity of pharmaceuticals towards aquatic invertebrates is still
      poorly understood and sometimes controversial. This study aims to document the in
      vitro genotoxicity and immunotoxicity of psychotropic drugs and antibiotics on
      Mytilus edulis. Mussel hemocytes were exposed to fluoxetine, paroxetine,
      venlafaxine, carbamazepine, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim and erythromycin, at
      concentrations ranging from MUg/L to mg/L. Paroxetine at 1.5 MUg/L led to DNA
      damage while the same concentration of venlafaxine caused immunomodulation.
      Fluoxetine exposure resulted in genotoxicity, immunotoxicity and cytotoxicity. In
      the case of antibiotics, trimethoprim was genotoxic at 200 MUg/L and immunotoxic
      at 20 mg/L whereas erythromycin elicited same detrimental effects at higher
      concentrations. DNA metabolism seems to be a highly sensitive target for
      psychotropic drugs and antibiotics. Furthermore, these compounds affect the
      immune system of bivalves, with varying intensity. This attests the relevance of
      these endpoints to assess the toxic mode of action of pharmaceuticals in the
      aquatic environment. 

PMID- 25829078
TI  - Binding properties of palmatine to DNA: spectroscopic and molecular modeling
      investigations.
AB  - Palmatine, an isoquinoline alkaloid, is an important medicinal herbal extract
      with diverse pharmacological and biological properties. In this work,
      spectroscopic and molecular modeling approaches were employed to reveal the
      interaction between palmatine and DNA isolated from herring sperm. The absorption
      spectra and iodide quenching results indicated that groove binding was the main
      binding mode of palmatine to DNA. Fluorescence studies indicated that the binding
      constant (K) of palmatine and DNA was ~ 10(4)L.mol(-1). The associated
      thermodynamic parameters, DeltaG, DeltaH, and DeltaS, indicated that hydrogen
      bonds and van der Waals forces played major roles in the interaction. The effects
      of chemical denaturant, thermal denaturation and pH on the interaction were
      investigated and provided further support for the groove binding mode. In
      addition to experimental approaches, molecular modeling was conducted to verify
      binding pattern of palmatine-DNA.

PMID- 25829079
TI  - Blocking PAR2 attenuates oxaliplatin-induced neuropathic pain via TRPV1 and
      releases of substance P and CGRP in superficial dorsal horn of spinal cord.
AB  - Oxaliplatin (OXL) is a third-generation chemotherapeutic agent commonly used to
      treat metastatic digestive tumors; however, neuropathic pain is one of the main
      limiting complications of OXL. The purpose of this study was to examine the
      underlying mechanisms by which neuropathic pain is induced by OXL in a rat model.
      Our results demonstrated that blocking spinal proteinase-activated receptor 2
      (PAR2) and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) attenuated pain
      responses evoked by mechanical stimulation and decreased the releases of
      substance P and CGRP in the superficial dorsal horn of the spinal cord. The
      attenuating effect on mechanical pain was significantly smaller in OXL-rats than
      that in control rats. Blocking PAR2 also attenuated a heightened cold sensitivity
      evoked by OXL; whereas blocking TRPV1 had little effects on OXL-evoked
      hypersensitive cold response. Our data also showed that OXL increased the protein
      expressions of PAR2 and TRPV1 in the superficial dorsal horn. In addition,
      blocking PAR2 decreased TRPV1 expression in OXL-rats. Overall, our data suggest
      that upregulated expression of PAR2 in the superficial dorsal horn contributes to
      mechanical hyperalgesia and cold hypersensitivity; whereas amplified TRPV1 plays
      a role in regulating mechanical hyperalgesia, but not cold hypersensitivity after
      administration of OXL. We further suggest that TRPV1 is likely one of the
      signaling pathways for PAR2 to play a role in regulating OXL-induced neuropathic
      pain. 

PMID- 25829080
TI  - Tuberculous optic neuritis: A case report.

PMID- 25829081
TI  - Fatal intracerebral haemorrhage following intravenous thrombolysis for acute
      ischaemic stroke: A hidden role for cerebral amyloid angiopathy?

PMID- 25829082
TI  - Heparin-responsive angiopathy in the central nervous system caused by
      intravascular large B-cell lymphoma.

PMID- 25829083
TI  - 18F FDG PET/CT and Head and Neck Cancer: Patient Management and Outcomes.
AB  - There is a growing body of evidence that point to the value of 18F fluoro
      deoxyglucose-PET/CT in the management of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients and
      predicting patient-related outcomes. FDG-PET/CT changes the baseline staging
      (compared with CT or MR imaging), guides appropriate therapy selection, separates
      the responders and non-responders for therapy assessment, adds value to clinical
      assessment in follow-up, and predicts patient survival outcomes. FDG-PET/CT can
      identify the recurrences in earlier stages and individualize follow-up regimens
      in HNC patients. This article reviews the value of FDG-PET/CT in management
      strategy and survival outcome of HNC patients. 

PMID- 25829084
TI  - Lung cancer.
AB  - (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG
      PET/CT) plays a key role in the evaluation of undiagnosed lung nodules, when
      primary lung cancer is strongly suspected, or when it has already been diagnosed
      by other techniques. Although technical factors may compromise characterization
      of small or highly mobile lesions, lesions without apparent FDG uptake can
      generally be safely observed, whereas FDG-avid lung nodules almost always need
      further evaluation. FDG-PET/CT is now the primary staging imaging modality for
      patients with lung cancer who are being considered for curative therapy with
      either surgery or definitive radiation therapy. 

PMID- 25829085
TI  - PET Imaging of Breast Cancer: Role in Patient Management.
AB  - Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in females. Imaging plays a critical
      role in diagnosis, staging and surveillance, and management of disease.
      Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET the imaging is indicated in specific clinical
      setting. Sensitivity of detection depends on tumor histology and size. Whole body
      FDG PET can change staging and management. In recurrent disease, distant
      metastasis can be detected. FDG PET imaging has prognostic and predictive value.
      PET/MR is evolving rapidly and may play a role management, assessment of
      metastatic lesions, and treatment monitoring. This review discusses current PET
      modalities, focusing on of FDG PET imaging and novel tracers. 

PMID- 25829086
TI  - PET with Fluorodeoxyglucose F 18/Computed Tomography in the Clinical Management
      and Patient Outcomes of Esophageal Cancer.
AB  - PET with fluorodeoxyglucose F 18/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) has
      evolved into an indispensable imaging technique in the management of patients
      with esophageal cancer. Staging with (18)F-FDG PET/CT is strongly associated with
      overall survival and certain (18)F-FDG PET/CT parameters predict patient
      survival. Current evidence supporting the validity of the use of (18)F-FDG PET/CT
      in the tumor delineation process for radiation treatment planning in patients
      with esophageal cancer is still limited. It is useful in determining treatment
      response after neoadjuvant therapy and thereby has an impact on management. (18)F
      FDG PET/CT plays a role in the diagnosis of recurrent disease in patients with a
      background of clinical suspicion. 

PMID- 25829087
TI  - Role of 2-Deoxy-2-[18F]-fluoro-d-glucose-PET/Computed Tomography in Lymphoma.
AB  - The role of PET and PET/computed tomography (CT) has evolved significantly in the
      last few decades. 2-Deoxy-2-[18F]-fluoro-d-glucose (FDG)-PET/CT is now an
      integral part of the management of patients with lymphoma. FDG-PET/CT at the time
      of initial staging can help in appropriate staging of the patients. Both interim
      and end-of-therapy PETs have significant prognostic value in patients with
      Hodgkin lymphoma and aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma and more accurately assess
      for the presence of residual malignancy than anatomic imaging. The impact of
      interim FDG-PET/CT on risk-adapted strategies is an area of active investigation
      and the results of ongoing clinical trials will be informative. 

PMID- 25829088
TI  - Multiple myeloma.
AB  - This article presents a review of multiple myeloma, precursor states, and related
      plasma cell disorders. The clinical roles of fluorodeoxyglucose PET/computed
      tomography (CT) and the potential to improve the management of patients with
      multiple myeloma are discussed. The clinical and research data supporting the
      utility of PET/CT use in evaluating myeloma and other plasma cell dyscrasias
      continues to grow. 

PMID- 25829089
TI  - PET/Computed Tomography and Patient Outcomes in Melanoma.
AB  - The performance of fludeoxyglucose F 18 (FDG)-PET/computed tomography (CT) in the
      initial and follow-up evaluation of patients with melanoma is well established.
      Groups are beginning to investigate whether the inclusion of FDG-PET/CT into a
      staging or surveillance algorithm results in an improvement in patient outcome
      and whether such an imaging program would be cost-effective. 

PMID- 25829091
TI  - Value of Fluorodeoxyglucose PET/Computed Tomography Patient Management and
      Outcomes in Thyroid Cancer.
AB  - "Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/computed tomography (CT) is used most frequently in
      the surveillance of iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer with
      increased thyroglobulin level after therapy. This article evaluates the impact of
      FDG-PET/CT on clinical management and the prognostic implications of a positive
      scan. In the studies reviewed, FDG-PET/CT changed the course of management in 14%
      to 78% of patients with suspected recurrence, and a positive scan was associated
      with poorer survival. Similar conclusions are supported in the literature for
      anaplastic and medullary thyroid cancers, although these are based on fewer
      studies on account of the lower prevalence of these subtypes." 

PMID- 25829092
TI  - Radiotherapy planning.
AB  - Incorporation of PET/computed tomography (CT) in radiotherapy planning plays a
      critical role in assisting gross tumor volume delineation for radiotherapy
      planning and delivery. As radiotherapy techniques evolve to become more conformal
      with the increasing use of intensity-modulated radiotherapy and stereotactic body
      radiotherapy, whereby sharp dose gradients exist between the target and adjacent
      normal tissue, accurate contouring of tumor targets is vital for the success of
      radiotherapy to achieve cure and locoregional control. This article outlines the
      integration of PET/CT into radiotherapy planning for head and neck, lung, and
      other solid tumors. 

PMID- 25829090
TI  - Prognostic Utility of PET in Prostate Cancer.
AB  - Many standard nonimaging-based prediction tools exist for prostate cancer.
      However, these tools may be limited in individual cases and need updating based
      on the improved understanding of the underlying complex biology of the disease
      and the emergence of the novel targeted molecular imaging methods. A new platform
      of automated predictive tools that combines the independent molecular, imaging,
      and clinical information can contribute significantly to patient care. Such a
      platform will also be of interest to regulatory agencies and payers as more
      emphasis is placed on supporting those interventions that have quantifiable and
      significant beneficial impact on patient outcome. 

PMID- 25829093
TI  - PET/CT: Adding Value to Patient Outcomes and Health Care Delivery.

PMID- 25829094
TI  - Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of bendamustine and its metabolites.
AB  - PURPOSE: Bendamustine is a unique alkylating agent indicated for the treatment of
      chronic lymphocytic leukemia and rituximab-refractory, indolent B cell non
      Hodgkin's lymphoma. Despite the extensive experience with bendamustine, its
      pharmacokinetic profile has only recently been described. This overview
      summarizes the pharmacokinetics, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic relationships,
      and drug-drug interactions of bendamustine in adult and pediatric patients with
      hematologic malignancies. METHODS: A literature search and data on file
      (including a human mass balance study, pharmacokinetic population analyses in
      adult and pediatric patients, and modeling analyses) were evaluated for
      inclusion. RESULTS: Bendamustine concentrations peak at end of intravenous
      infusion (~1 h). Subsequent elimination is triphasic, with the intermediate t 1/2
      (~40 min) as the effective t 1/2 since the final phase represents <1 % of the
      area under the curve. Bendamustine is rapidly hydrolyzed to monohydroxy
      bendamustine and dihydroxy-bendamustine, which have little or no activity.
      Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A2 oxidation yields the active metabolites gamma
      hydroxybendamustine and N-desmethyl-bendamustine, at low concentrations, which
      contribute minimally to cytotoxicity. Minor involvement of CYP1A2 in bendamustine
      elimination suggests a low likelihood of drug-drug interactions with CYP1A2
      inhibitors. Systemic exposure to bendamustine 120 mg/m(2) is comparable between
      adult and pediatric patients; age, race, and sex have been shown to have no
      significant effect on systemic exposure in either population. The effect of
      hepatic/renal impairment on bendamustine pharmacokinetics remains to be
      elucidated. Higher bendamustine concentrations may be associated with increased
      probability of nausea or infection. No clear exposure-efficacy response
      relationship has been observed. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, the findings support
      dosing based on body surface area for most patient populations.

PMID- 25829095
TI  - Erratum to: Bivalirudin Versus Heparin Plus Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa Inhibitors in
      Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A
      Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

PMID- 25829096
TI  - Revised force-field parameters for chlorophyll-a, pheophytin-a and plastoquinone
      9.
AB  - Biological photosynthetic machineries, such as photosystem I, photosystem II, or
      the bacterial reaction center, use cofactor molecules that absorb light or
      directly participate in chemical reactions. Accurate description of the structure
      of the cofactors, and of their interactions with protein groups, is an important
      step toward understanding how photosynthetic machineries work. Here we revisit
      the classical force field parameters for chlorophyll-a, pheophytin-a and
      plastoquinone-9. We present systematic quantum mechanical and classical
      mechanical computations that lead to a good description of the structure and non
      bonded interactions of these cofactors. 

PMID- 25829098
TI  - Erratum to: Selenium as a Feed Supplement for Heat-Stressed Poultry: a Review.

PMID- 25829097
TI  - Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation studies of Trypanosoma cruzi
      triosephosphate isomerase inhibitors. Insights into the inhibition mechanism and
      selectivity.
AB  - Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) triosephosphate isomerase (TcTIM) is a glycolytic
      enzyme essential for parasite survival and has been considered an interesting
      target for the development of new antichagasic compounds. The homodimeric enzyme
      is catalytically active only as a dimer. Interestingly, significant differences
      exist between the human and parasite TIMs interfaces with a sequence identity of
      52%. Therefore, compounds able to specifically disrupt TcTIM but not Homo sapiens
      TIM (hTIM) dimer interface could become selective antichagasic drugs. In the
      present work, the binding modes of 1,2,4-thiadiazol, phenazine and 1,2,6
      thiadiazine derivatives to TcTIM were investigated using molecular docking
      combined with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results show that
      phenazine and 1,2,6-thiadiazine derivatives, 2 and 3, act as dimer-disrupting
      inhibitors of TcTIM having also allosteric effects in the conformation of the
      active site. On the other hand, the 1,2,4-thiadiazol derivative 1 binds into the
      active site causing a significant decrease in enzyme mobility in both monomers.
      The loss of conformational flexibility upon compound 1 binding suggests that this
      inhibitor could be preventing essential motions of the enzyme required for
      optimal activity. The lack of inhibitory activity of 1 against hTIM was also
      investigated and seems to be related with the high mobility of hTIM which would
      hinder the formation of a stable ligand-enzyme complex. This work has contributed
      to understand the mechanism of action of this kind of inhibitors and could result
      of great help for future rational novel drug design.

PMID- 25829099
TI  - Whether Metal Element-Containing Herbal Formula Angong Niuhuang Pill Is Safe for
      Acute Brain Disorders?
AB  - "Angong Niuhuang Pill" (AGNH Pill) has been used as patented herbal formula for
      treatment of acute brain disorders including ischemic stroke, hemorrhage stroke,
      and trauma brain injury in traditional Chinese medicine for a thousand years. It
      is widely used in treatment of many diseases. As AGNH Pill contains metal
      elements named realgar and cinnabar, whether AGNH Pill is safe attracts great
      concerns. To address this question, we reviewed adverse drug reactions (ADR) and
      adverse events (AE) to assess the safety of AGNH Pill clinically. We searched
      PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library, TOXNET, and Chinese databases CNKI and Wanfang
      for articles published between January 1974 and January 2015. A total of 49 cases
      contained in 10 articles were included in this study. We were unable to determine
      the frequency of ADR/AE induced by AGNH Pill due to the lack of complete
      production and market information provided by pharmaceutical manufacturers and
      hospitals. Based on current literature data, we estimated that the risk of ADR/AE
      from AGNH Pill administration was low. The majority of ADR/AE was attributed to
      the improper use of AGNH Pill, such as use in children with overdosage or use
      with incompatible drugs. We were unable to distinguish whether incidents were ADR
      or AE because of the poor reports. To date, published evidence indicates that
      AGNH Pill appears to carry a relatively low risk of ADR/AE. As the quality of
      clinical assessment for the safety of AGNH Pill is poor, it is desirable to
      conduct well-designed randomized clinical trials to assess its safety for the
      treatment of acute brain disorders. 

PMID- 25829100
TI  - Effect of co-morbid depression on neurocognitive functioning in patients with
      obsessive-compulsive disorder: a study from India.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study neuropsychological function in subjects with obsessive
      compulsive disorder (OCD) with and without co-morbid depression in comparison
      with healthy controls (HC). METHODS: The 3 sample groups included subjects with
      OCD without depression (OCD group, n = 30); subjects with OCD and depression
      (OCDD group, n = 20); and HC (n = 25). All 3 groups were matched for age, gender,
      and years of education, and they were assessed on the following: Trail Making
      Tests A and B, Verbal Fluency Test, PGI Memory Scale, Stroop test, Tower of
      London Test, Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test,
      and the Object Alternation Test. RESULTS: Both OCD and OCDD groups performed more
      poorly than HC, whereas the OCDD group performed worse than OCD group. Besides,
      OCD and OCDD groups had significantly poorer performance on tests of attention,
      memory, executive functions, verbal fluency, and intelligence. The OCDD group
      performed worse than the OCD group notably on Verbal Fluency Test, PGI memory
      test, and Object Alternation Test. CONCLUSION: On tests of neurocognitive
      functioning, the performance of the OCDD group was poorer than the OCD group, and
      both performed poorer than HC, suggesting that OCD is associated with
      neurocognitive dysfunction and that this is exacerbated in the presence of
      depression.

PMID- 25829101
TI  - Transformation of a metaphor: semantic shift in a Cantonese term 'Chi Sin'
      denoting insanity.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The historical evolution of the existing terms used to describe
      insanity may be able to shed light on the formation of stigma towards psychosis
      patients. In Hong Kong, a widely used Cantonese term for insanity 'Chi Sin'
      provides a unique example because of its neutral original sense, as it literally
      means misconnection in a network circuit. We attempt to trace the origin and
      subsequent evolution of the term 'Chi Sin' from its early use to the present day
      to understand how local Hong Kong people have attached increasingly negative
      connotations to this scientific term since the mid-20th century. METHODS: We
      sampled as many newspapers and magazines published in Hong Kong from 1939 to June
      2014 as possible, and sampled 7 popular local movies from the 1950s and 1960s. We
      also searched all the newspapers published in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and
      Mainland China from January 1998 to June 2014, and searched several other local
      historical resources. RESULTS: In one early use of 'Chi Sin' in 1939, the term
      was only used in a technical sense to describe 'short circuiting'. We found that
      the development of the telephone system, the Strowger system, in Hong Kong is
      closely related to the evolution of the semantics of the term 'Chi Sin'.
      CONCLUSIONS: The original meaning of short circuitry of the term 'Chi Sin' is no
      longer used, and it has become a dead metaphor through repeated use with negative
      emotional connotations. This illustrates some of the factors facilitating the
      emergence of a metaphor with subsequent semantic drift.

PMID- 25829102
TI  - Concurrent validation of a neurocognitive assessment protocol for clients with
      mental illness in job matching as shop sales in supported employment.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Occupational therapists play a major role in the assessment and
      referral of clients with severe mental illness for supported employment.
      Nonetheless, there is scarce literature about the content and predictive validity
      of the process. In addition, the criteria of successful job matching have not
      been analysed and job supervisors have relied on experience rather than objective
      standards in recruitment. This study aimed to explore the profile of successful
      clients working in 'shop sales' in a supportive environment using a
      neurocognitive assessment protocol, and to validate the protocol against
      'internal standards' of the job supervisors. METHODS: This was a concurrent
      validation study of criterion-related scales for a single job type. The
      subjective ratings from the supervisors were concurrently validated against the
      results of neurocognitive assessment of intellectual function and work-related
      cognitive behaviour. RESULTS: A regression model was established for clients who
      succeeded and failed in employment using supervisor's ratings and a cutoff value
      of 10.5 for the Performance Fitness Rating Scale (R(2) = 0.918, F[41] = 3.794, p
      = 0.003). Classification And Regression Tree was also plotted to identify the
      profile of cases, with an overall accuracy of 0.861 (relative error, 0.26).
      CONCLUSION: Use of both inference statistics and data mining techniques enables
      the decision tree of neurocognitive assessments to be more readily applied by
      therapists in vocational rehabilitation, and thus directly improve the efficiency
      and efficacy of the process.

PMID- 25829103
TI  - Effectiveness of psycho-educational intervention in improving outcome of unipolar
      depression: results from a randomised clinical trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Depressive disorders are one of the leading components of the global
      burden of disease with a prevalence of up to 14% in the general population.
      Numerous studies have demonstrated that pharmacotherapy combined with non
      pharmacological measures offer the best treatment approach. Psycho-education as
      an intervention has been studied mostly in disorders such as schizophrenia and
      dementia, less so in depressive disorders. The present study aimed to assess the
      impact of psycho-education of patients and their caregivers on the outcome of
      depression. METHODS: A total of 80 eligible depressed subjects were recruited and
      randomised into 2 groups. The study group involved an eligible family member and
      all were offered individual structured psycho-educational modules. Another group
      (controls) received routine counselling. The subjects in both groups also
      received routine pharmacotherapy and counselling from the treating clinician and
      were assessed at baseline, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks using the Hamilton Depression
      Rating Scale (HDRS), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), and Psychological
      General Well-Being Index (PGWBI). Results from both groups were compared using
      statistical methods including Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, Student's t
      test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, as well as univariate and multiple
      regression analyses. RESULTS: Baseline socio-demographic and assessment measures
      were similar in both groups. The study group had consistent improvement in terms
      of outcome measures with HDRS, GAF, and PGWBI scores showing respective mean
      change of -15.08, 22, and 60 over 12 weeks. The comparable respective changes in
      the controls were -8.77, 18.1, and 43.25. CONCLUSION: Structured psycho-education
      combined with pharmacotherapy is an effective intervention for people with
      depressive disorders. Psycho-education optimises the pharmacological treatment of
      depression in terms of faster recovery, reduction in severity of depression, and
      improvement in subjective wellbeing and social functioning.

PMID- 25829104
TI  - Prodromal psychosis: a case series of ten symptomatic patients.
AB  - This case series provides an account of 10 patients with prodromal psychosis in
      Hong Kong over the course of 12 months between 2012 and 2014. Patterns of
      symptoms and functioning levels were noted each month and overall presentation
      was classified into 4 categories. Four patients' conditions were classified as
      fluctuating, 3 patients as improved, 2 patients as no change, and 1 patient as
      transition into psychosis. The noted observations were compared to the current
      conceptualisation of prodromal psychosis according to the clinical staging model
      of McGorry and colleagues. This case series provides insights into the condition
      in an Asian population and provides background data to inform future clinical
      research and mental health services. 

PMID- 25829105
TI  - MWCNT uptake in Allium cepa root cells induces cytotoxic and genotoxic responses
      and results in DNA hyper-methylation.
AB  - Advances in nanotechnology have led to the large-scale production of
      nanoparticles, which, in turn, increases the chances of environmental exposure.
      While humans (consumers/workers) are primarily at risk of being exposed to the
      adverse effect of nanoparticles, the effect on plants and other components of the
      environment cannot be ignored. The present work investigates the cytotoxic,
      genotoxic, and epigenetic (DNA methylation) effect of MWCNT on the plant system-
      Allium cepa. MWCNT uptake in root cells significantly altered cellular
      morphology. Membrane integrity and mitochondrial function were also compromised.
      The nanotubes induced significant DNA damage, micronucleus formation and
      chromosome aberration. DNA laddering assay revealed the formation of
      internucleosomal fragments, which is indicative of apoptotic cell death. This
      finding was confirmed by an accumulation of cells in the sub-G0 phase of the cell
      cycle. An increase in CpG methylation was observed using the isoschizomers
      MspI/HpaII. HPLC analysis of DNA samples revealed a significant increase in the
      levels of 5-methyl-deoxy-cytidine (5mdC). These results confirm the cyto
      genotoxic effect of MWCNT in the plant system and simultaneously highlight the
      importance of this epigenetic study in nanoparticle toxicity. 

PMID- 25829106
TI  - Electrocortical effects of a disgust placebo in children.
AB  - The electroencephalogram has been widely used to study voluntary emotion
      regulation (ER), whereas automatic ER has hardly been investigated. This
      experiment focused on automatic changes of disgust feelings and event-related
      potentials due to placebo treatment. Twenty-eight disgust-prone 8- to 13-year-old
      girls were presented with disgusting, fear-eliciting and neutral pictures once
      with and once without a placebo (syrup presented with the suggestion that it is
      able to ease disgust symptoms). In the disgust condition, the placebo reduced
      experienced disgust and increased frontal late positivity (400-1000 ms after
      picture onset). A similar electrocortical placebo effect was obtained for the
      fear pictures. These findings suggest that the placebo had the function of a
      safety signal which helped the children to direct their automatic attention to
      the aversive stimuli and to overcome visual avoidance. Future studies should
      integrate behavioral designs and should use additional psychophysiological
      measures (e.g., eye-tracking) in order to substantiate this interpretation.

PMID- 25829107
TI  - Characterization of biomimetic calcium phosphate labeled with fluorescent dextran
      for quantification of osteoclastic activity.
AB  - Bone resorbing osteoclasts represent an important therapeutic target for diseases
      associated with bone and joint destruction, such as rheumatoid arthritis,
      periodontitis, and osteoporosis. The quantification of osteoclast resorptive
      activity in vitro is widely used for screening new anti-resorptive medications.
      The aim of this paper was to develop a simplified semi-automated method for the
      quantification of osteoclastic resorption using fluorescently labeled biomimetic
      mineral layers which can replace time intensive, often subjective and clearly non
      sustainable use of translucent slices of tusks from vulnerable or endangered
      species such as the elephant. Osteoclasts were formed from RAW 264.7 mouse
      monocyte cell line using the pro-resorptive cytokine receptor activator of
      nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL). We confirmed that fluorescent labeling did
      not interfere with the biomimetic features of hydroxyapatite, and developed an
      automated method for quantifying osteoclastic resorption. Correlation between our
      assay and traditional manual measurement techniques was found to be very strong
      (R(2)=0.99). In addition, we modified the technique to provide depth and volume
      data of the resorption pits by confocal imaging at defined depths. Thus, our
      method allows automatic quantification of total osteoclastic resorption as well
      as additional data not obtainable by the current tusk slice technique offering a
      better alternative for high throughput screening of potential antiresorptives.

PMID- 25829108
TI  - Long bone maturation is driven by pore closing: A quantitative tomography
      investigation of structural formation in young C57BL/6 mice.
AB  - During mammalian growth, long bones undergo extensive structural reorganization,
      transforming from primitive shapes in the limb buds into mature bones. Here we
      shed light on the steps involved in structural formation of the mineralized
      tissue in midshafts of C57BL/6 femurs, shortly after birth. By combining 3D
      micrometer-resolution X-ray microtomography with 2D histology, we study the
      transformation of the tissue from a partially-mineralized scaffold into a compact
      bone structure. We identify three growth phases that take place during murine
      long bone maturation: During a patterning phase (I) mineralized struts form a
      loosely connected foam-like cortical network. During a transitioning phase (II),
      the extensive non-mineralized tracts vanish, transforming the foam into a fully
      continuous mass, by 14 days of age. Concomitantly, closed porosity increases to
      about ~ 1.4%, and stays at this level, also found in maturity. During a shaping
      phase (III), the bones gradually attain their characteristic intricate adult
      form. Architectured mineral depositioning--first in open foamy scaffolds, and
      later into solid bone material--is presumably a compromise between the mechanical
      needs of providing support to the body, and the biological requirements of
      vascularization and extensive nutritional needs in the early stages of bone
      formation.

PMID- 25829109
TI  - Everyone Swims: a community partnership and policy approach to address health
      disparities in drowning and obesity.
AB  - Well-known disparities exist in rates of obesity and drowning, two public health
      priorities. Addressing these disparities by increasing access to safe swimming
      and water recreation may yield benefits for both obesity and injury prevention.
      Everyone Swims, a community partnership, brought community health clinics and
      water recreation organizations together to improve policies and systems that
      facilitated learning to swim and access to swimming and water recreation for low
      income, diverse communities. Based in King County, Washington, Everyone Swims
      launched with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant funding from 2010
      to 2012. This partnership led to multiple improvements in policies and systems:
      higher numbers of clinics screening for swimming ability, referrals from clinics
      to pools, more scholarship accessibility, and expansion of special swim programs.
      In building partnerships between community health/public health and community
      recreation organizations to develop systems that address user needs in low-income
      and culturally diverse communities, Everyone Swims represents a promising model
      of a structured partnership for systems and policy change to promote health and
      physical activity. 

PMID- 25829110
TI  - Preventing unintentional injuries in the home using the Health Impact Pyramid.
AB  - Injuries continue to be the leading cause of death for the first four decades of
      life. These injuries result from a confluence of behavioral, physical,
      structural, environmental, and social factors. Taken together, these illustrate
      the importance of taking a broad and multileveled approach to injury prevention.
      Using examples from fall, fire, scald, and poisoning-related injuries, this
      article illustrates the utility of an approach that incorporates a social
      environmental perspective in identifying and selecting interventions to improve
      the health and safety of individuals. Injury prevention efforts to prevent home
      injuries benefit from multilevel modifications of behavior, public policy, laws
      and enforcement, the environment, consumer products and engineering standards, as
      demonstrated with Frieden's Health Impact Pyramid. A greater understanding,
      however, is needed to explain the associations between tiers. While interventions
      that include modifications of the social environment are being field-tested, much
      more work needs to be done in measuring social-environmental change and in
      evaluating these programs to disentangle what works best. 

PMID- 25829111
TI  - Influencing organizations to promote health: applying stakeholder theory.
AB  - Stakeholder theory may help health promoters to make changes at the
      organizational and policy level to promote health. A stakeholder is any
      individual, group, or organization that can influence an organization. The
      organization that is the focus for influence attempts is called the focal
      organization. The more salient a stakeholder is and the more central in the
      network, the stronger the influence. As stakeholders, health promoters may use
      communicative, compromise, deinstitutionalization, or coercive methods through an
      ally or a coalition. A hypothetical case study, involving adolescent use of
      harmful legal products, illustrates the process of applying stakeholder theory to
      strategic decision making. 

PMID- 25829112
TI  - Building the evidence base for population-level interventions: barriers and
      opportunities.
AB  - Population-level interventions focused on policy, systems, and environmental
      change strategies are increasingly being used to affect and improve the health of
      populations. At the same time, emphasis on implementing evidence-based public
      health practices and programming is increasing, particularly at the federal
      level. Valuing strategies in the population health domain without the benefit of
      demonstrated efficacy through highly rigorous methods introduces an inherent
      tension between planning and acting on the best evidence available, waiting for
      more rigorous evidence to emerge, as well as exploring innovative ways to
      evaluate and model evidence-based strategies. This article describes the creation
      of a resource that helps public health practitioners use current evidence for
      strategic decision making while building the evidence base for population-level
      interventions. The resource addresses topics of current discussion in the field
      of evaluating population-level interventions, including the tension between
      internal and external validity, the need to include measures of health equity,
      and the balance between fidelity to the intervention and adaptation to the
      community context. The resource is intended to advance development of evidence in
      the field by providing practitioners, project managers, and evaluators with a
      practical guide for using, reviewing, and adding to the existing evidence base. 

PMID- 25829113
TI  - Reflections on structural change: where do we go from here?

PMID- 25829114
TI  - Developing evidence for structural approaches to build a culture of health: a
      perspective from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
AB  - We believe that reframing the conversation to creating a culture around health
      rather than focusing on discrete actions or activities will capture national
      consciousness and enable us to make new progress as a nation. Thus, in 2014, the
      Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced a new vision to help build a
      "Culture of Health" to enable everyone in our diverse society to lead healthier
      lives now and for generations to come. In supporting the development of this
      supplement of Health Education & Behavior, RWJF sought to contribute to a better
      understanding of the ways in which policy, environmental, and financial
      approaches can contribute to such a Culture of Health. However, while this
      supplement issue of Health Education & Behavior stands as a testament to the fact
      that a broad evidence base, rather than a single approach to health improvement,
      is necessary to have an impact on social change, more empirical evidence is
      needed on structural approaches if we are to be successful in understanding and
      improving health outcomes for individuals, families, communities, states, and
      nations. 

PMID- 25829115
TI  - The impact of policy, environmental, and educational interventions: a synthesis
      of the evidence from two public health success stories.
AB  - Motor vehicle safety and tobacco control are among the greatest public health
      achievements of the 20th century, according to the Centers for Disease Control
      and Prevention. As the number of miles traveled in the United States multiplied
      10 times from the 1920s to the 1990s, the annual motor vehicle crash death rate
      per vehicle mile traveled decreased by 90%. Similarly, tobacco-related deaths
      from heart disease, stroke, and cancer were rapidly mounting over the first two
      thirds of the 20th century. Then, in the last third of the century, tobacco
      consumption decreased by more than 50%, and rates of heart disease and stroke
      deaths, and later cancer deaths, declined similarly. This analysis addresses the
      central question of what lessons can be learned from these success stories that
      will help public health professionals successfully tackle new and emerging health
      behavior problems of today and tomorrow? Surveillance, research, multilevel
      interventions, environmental modifications, and strong policies were key to
      reducing motor vehicle- and tobacco-related health problems. Generating public
      support and advocacy, and changing social norms also played critical roles in
      promoting the safer and smoke-free behaviors. Lessons learned include the need
      for evidence-based practices and interventions that are ecologically
      comprehensive with an emphasis on changing environmental determinants and
      capitalizing on the concept of reciprocal determinism. The analysis concludes
      with a description of how the PRECEDE-PROCEED planning framework can be used to
      apply the lessons from motor vehicle safety and tobacco control to other public
      health threats. 

PMID- 25829116
TI  - Working from the inside out: a case study of Mackay Safe Community.
AB  - Mackay Whitsunday Safe Community (MWSC) was established in 2000 in response to
      high rates of injury observed in the region. MWSC assumed an ecological
      perspective, incorporating targeted safety promotion campaigns reinforced by
      supportive environments and policy. By involving the community in finding its own
      solutions, MWSC attempted to catalyze structural, social, and political changes
      that empowered the community and, ultimately, individuals within the community,
      to modify their environment and their behavior to reduce the risk of injury. A
      community network consisting of 118 members and an external support network of 50
      members was established. A social network analysis conducted in 2000 and 2004
      indicated that the network doubled its cohesiveness, thereby strengthening its
      ability to collaborate for mutual benefit. However, while MWSC was rich in social
      resources, human and financial resources were largely controlled by external
      agencies. The bridging and linking relationships that connected MWSC to its
      external support network were the social mechanism MWSC used to access the
      resources it required to run programs. These boundary-spanning relationships
      accessed an estimated 6.5 full-time equivalents of human resources and US$750,000
      in 2004 that it used to deliver a suite of injury control and safety promotion
      activities, associated with a 33% reduction in injury deaths over the period 2002
      to 2010. MWSC can only be understood in its ecological context. The productivity
      of MWSC was vulnerable to the changing policy priorities of external sponsoring
      agents and critically dependent on the advocacy skills of its leaders. 

PMID- 25829117
TI  - New approaches for moving upstream: how state and local health departments can
      transform practice to reduce health inequalities.
AB  - Growing evidence shows that unequal distribution of wealth and power across race,
      class, and gender produces the differences in living conditions that are
      "upstream" drivers of health inequalities. Health educators and other public
      health professionals, however, still develop interventions that focus mainly on
      "downstream" behavioral risks. Three factors explain the difficulty in
      translating this knowledge into practice. First, in their allegiance to the
      status quo, powerful elites often resist upstream policies and programs that
      redistribute wealth and power. Second, public health practice is often grounded
      in dominant biomedical and behavioral paradigms, and health departments also face
      legal and political limits on expanding their scope of activities. Finally, the
      evidence for the impact of upstream interventions is limited, in part because
      methodologies for evaluating upstream interventions are less developed. To
      illustrate strategies to overcome these obstacles, we profile recent campaigns in
      the United States to enact living wages, prevent mortgage foreclosures, and
      reduce exposure to air pollution. We then examine how health educators working in
      state and local health departments can transform their practice to contribute to
      campaigns that reallocate the wealth and power that shape the living conditions
      that determine health and health inequalities. We also consider health educators'
      role in producing the evidence that can guide transformative expansion of
      upstream interventions to reduce health inequalities. 

PMID- 25829119
TI  - Policy and environmental approaches in health promotion: what is the state of the
      evidence?

PMID- 25829118
TI  - Policy, systems, and environmental change in the Mississippi Delta:
      considerations for evaluation design.
AB  - Community-level policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change strategies may
      offer an economical and sustainable approach to chronic disease prevention. The
      rapidly growing number of untested but promising PSE strategies currently
      underway offers an exciting opportunity to establish practice-based evidence for
      this approach. This article presents lessons learned from an evaluation of a
      community-based PSE initiative targeting stroke and cardiovascular disease
      prevention in the Mississippi Delta. Its purpose is to describe one approach to
      evaluating this type of PSE initiative, to stimulate discussion about best
      practices for evaluating PSE strategies, and to inform future evaluation and
      research efforts to expand practice-based evidence. The evaluation used a
      descriptive mixed-methods design and focused on the second year of a
      multisectoral, multiyear initiative. Cross-sectional data were collected in the
      summer and fall of 2010 using four data collection instruments: a grantee
      interview guide (n = 32), a health council member survey (n = 256), an
      organizational survey (n = 60), and a grantee progress report (n = 26). Fifty
      eight PSE changes were assessed across five sectors: health, faith, education,
      worksite, and community/city government. PSE strategies aligned with increased
      access to physical activity opportunities, healthy food and beverage options,
      quality health care, and reduced exposure to tobacco. Results showed that
      grantees were successful in completing a series of steps toward PSE change and
      that sector-specific initiatives resulted in a range of PSE changes that were
      completed or in progress. Considerations for designing evaluations of community
      based PSE initiatives are discussed. 

PMID- 25829120
TI  - Economic disruption and childhood obesity: distraction, disconnection,
      displacement of children's health, and a need for social change.
AB  - Using and adopting Simon Szreter's framework on how economic growth had a
      deleterious effect on children's health during the Industrial Revolution, this
      article presents a parallel argument that economic growth, in modern times, also
      has disrupted the lives of our children expressed by increasing rates of
      childhood obesity. A comprehensive perspective is presented that describes how
      economic growth in postindustrial United States has distracted our nation's
      attention away from a public health's concern for the health of children and
      social justice. The new normal of childhood obesity represents a disconnection
      from the harmful reality of childhood obesity and displaces the value of
      childhood health too far behind adult's pursuits of utility. To provide children
      a fair opportunity to health, and to help children secure their own future
      liberty and utility, children need to be able to achieve "just levels" of health
      that would ordinarily exist if remediable injustices that threaten health were
      reasonably addressed and eliminated. 

PMID- 25829121
TI  - Conflict and compromise in public health policy: analysis of changes made to five
      competitive food legislative proposals prior to adoption.
AB  - Competitive foods in schools have historically been scrutinized for their
      ubiquity and poor nutritional quality, leading many states to enact legislation
      limiting the availability and accessibility of these items. Evaluations of these
      policy approaches show their promise in improving the healthfulness of school
      food environments, considered an important strategy for reducing childhood
      obesity. Yet little is known about the decision-making processes by which such
      legislation is formed and adopted. Using a comparative case study design, this
      study describes and analyzes the policy formation processes surrounding five
      state-level competitive food bills introduced in 2009-2010. Data for each case
      were drawn from multiple key informant interviews and document reviews. Case
      studies were conducted, analyzed, and written independently using a standard
      protocol and were subsequently compared for recurring and unique themes.
      Abbreviated case studies and summary tables are provided. Results indicate that
      bill cost is a major barrier to achieving strong, health-promoting policy change.
      Additionally, findings reveal that supporters of stronger competitive food
      policies often concede to changes that weaken a bill in order to neutralize
      opposition and achieve stakeholder buy-in. These challenges suggest that
      continued research on the development, implementation, and evaluation of public
      health policies can contribute to the advancement of new strategies for effective
      health promotion. 

PMID- 25829122
TI  - A natural experiment opportunity in two low-income urban food desert communities:
      research design, community engagement methods, and baseline results.
AB  - A growing body of evidence has highlighted an association between a lack of
      access to nutritious, affordable food (e.g., through full-service grocery stores
      [FSGs]), poor diet, and increased risk for obesity. In response, there has been
      growing interest among policy makers in encouraging the siting of supermarkets in
      "food deserts," that is, low-income geographic areas with low access to healthy
      food options. However, there is limited research to evaluate the impact of such
      efforts, and most studies to date have been cross-sectional. The Pittsburgh
      Hill/Homewood Research on Eating, Shopping, and Health (PHRESH) is a longitudinal
      quasi-experimental study of a dramatic change (i.e., a new FSG) in the food
      landscape of a low-income, predominantly Black neighborhood. The study is
      following a stratified random sample of households (n = 1,372), and all food
      venues (n = 60) in both intervention and control neighborhoods, and the most
      frequently reported food shopping venues outside both neighborhoods. This article
      describes the study design and community-based methodology, which focused
      simultaneously on the conduct of scientifically rigorous research and the
      development and maintenance of trust and buy-in from the involved neighborhoods.
      Early results have begun to define markers for success in creating a natural
      experiment, including strong community engagement. Baseline data show that the
      vast majority of residents already shop at a FSG and do not shop at the nearest
      one. Follow-up data collection will help determine whether and how a new FSG may
      change behaviors and may point to the need for additional interventions beyond
      new FSGs alone. 

PMID- 25829123
TI  - Upending the social ecological model to guide health promotion efforts toward
      policy and environmental change.
AB  - Efforts to change policies and the environments in which people live, work, and
      play have gained increasing attention over the past several decades. Yet health
      promotion frameworks that illustrate the complex processes that produce health
      enhancing structural changes are limited. Building on the experiences of health
      educators, community activists, and community-based researchers described in this
      supplement and elsewhere, as well as several political, social, and behavioral
      science theories, we propose a new framework to organize our thinking about
      producing policy, environmental, and other structural changes. We build on the
      social ecological model, a framework widely employed in public health research
      and practice, by turning it inside out, placing health-related and other social
      policies and environments at the center, and conceptualizing the ways in which
      individuals, their social networks, and organized groups produce a community
      context that fosters healthy policy and environmental development. We conclude by
      describing how health promotion practitioners and researchers can foster
      structural change by (1) conveying the health and social relevance of policy and
      environmental change initiatives, (2) building partnerships to support them, and
      (3) promoting more equitable distributions of the resources necessary for people
      to meet their daily needs, control their lives, and freely participate in the
      public sphere. 

PMID- 25829124
TI  - Impact of Baltimore Healthy Eating Zones: an environmental intervention to
      improve diet among African American youth.
AB  - This study assessed the impact of a youth-targeted multilevel nutrition
      intervention in Baltimore City. The study used a clustered randomized design in
      which 7 recreation centers and 21 corner stores received interventions and 7
      additional recreation centers served as comparison. The 8-month intervention
      aimed to increase availability and selection of healthful foods through nutrition
      promotion and education using point-of purchase materials such as posters and
      flyers in stores and interactive sessions such as taste test and cooking
      demonstrations. Two hundred forty-two youth-caregiver dyads residing in low
      income areas of Baltimore City recruited from recreation centers were surveyed at
      baseline using detailed instruments that contained questions about food-related
      psychosocial indicators (behavioral intentions, self-efficacy, outcome
      expectancies, and knowledge), healthful food purchasing and preparation methods,
      and anthropometric measures (height and weight). The Baltimore Healthy Eating
      Zones intervention was associated with reductions in youth body mass index
      percentile (p = .04). In subgroup analyses among overweight and obese girls, body
      mass index for age percentile decreased significantly in girls assigned to the
      intervention group (p = .03) and in girls with high exposure to the intervention
      (p = .013), as opposed to those in comparison or lower exposure groups.
      Intervention youth significantly improved food-related outcome expectancies (p =
      .02) and knowledge (p < .001). The study results suggest that the Baltimore
      Healthy Eating Zones multilevel intervention had a modest impact in reducing
      overweight or obesity among already overweight low-income African American youth
      living in an environment where healthful foods are less available. Additional
      studies are needed to determine the relative impact of health communications and
      environmental interventions in this population, both alone and in combination. 

PMID- 25829125
TI  - Buried in the Middle but Guilty: Intronic Mutations in the TCIRG1 Gene Cause
      Human Autosomal Recessive Osteopetrosis.
AB  - Autosomal recessive osteopetrosis (ARO) is a rare genetic bone disease with
      genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity, sometimes translating into delayed
      diagnosis and treatment. In particular, cases of intermediate severity often
      constitute a diagnostic challenge and represent good candidates for exome
      sequencing. Here, we describe the tortuous path to identification of the
      molecular defect in two siblings, in which osteopetrosis diagnosed in early
      childhood followed a milder course, allowing them to reach the adult age in
      relatively good conditions with no specific therapy. No clearly pathogenic
      mutation was identified either with standard amplification and resequencing
      protocols or with exome sequencing analysis. While evaluating the possible impact
      of a 3'UTR variant on the TCIRG1 expression, we found a novel single nucleotide
      change buried in the middle of intron 15 of the TCIRG1 gene, about 150
      nucleotides away from the closest canonical splice site. By sequencing a number
      of independent cDNA clones covering exons 14 to 17, we demonstrated that this
      mutation reduced splicing efficiency but did not completely abrogate the
      production of the normal transcript. Prompted by this finding, we sequenced the
      same genomic region in 33 patients from our unresolved ARO cohort and found three
      additional novel single nucleotide changes in a similar location and with a
      predicted disruptive effect on splicing, further confirmed in one of them at the
      transcript level. Overall, we identified an intronic region in TCIRG1 that seems
      to be particularly prone to splicing mutations, allowing the production of a
      small amount of protein sufficient to reduce the severity of the phenotype
      usually associated with TCIRG1 defects. On this basis, we would recommend
      including TCIRG1 not only in the molecular work-up of severe infantile
      osteopetrosis but also in intermediate cases and carefully evaluating the
      possible effects of intronic changes.

PMID- 25829126
TI  - The relationship between skull morphology, masticatory muscle force and cranial
      skeletal deformation during biting.
AB  - The human skull is gracile when compared to many Middle Pleistocene hominins. It
      has been argued that it is less able to generate and withstand high masticatory
      forces, and that the morphology of the lower portion of the modern human face
      correlates most strongly with dietary characteristics. This study uses geometric
      morphometrics and finite element analysis (FEA) to assess the relationship
      between skull morphology, muscle force and cranial deformations arising from
      biting, which is relevant in understanding how skull morphology relates to
      mastication. The three-dimensional skull anatomies of 20 individuals were
      reconstructed from medical computed tomograms. Maximal contractile muscle forces
      were estimated from muscular anatomical cross-sectional areas (CSAs). Fifty-nine
      landmarks were used to represent skull morphology. A partial least squares
      analysis was performed to assess the association between skull shape and muscle
      force, and FEA was used to compare the deformation (strains) generated during
      incisor and molar bites in two individuals representing extremes of morphological
      variation in the sample. The results showed that only the proportion of total
      muscle CSA accounted for by the temporalis appears associated with skull
      morphology, albeit weekly. However, individuals with a large temporalis tend to
      possess a relatively wider face, a narrower, more vertically oriented maxilla and
      a lower positioning of the coronoid process. The FEAs showed that, despite
      differences in morphology, biting results in similar modes of deformation for
      both crania, but with localised lower magnitudes of strains arising in the
      individual with the narrowest, most vertically oriented maxilla. Our results
      suggest that the morphology of the maxilla modulates the transmission of forces
      generated during mastication to the rest of the cranium by deforming less in
      individuals with the ability to generate proportionately larger temporalis muscle
      forces. 

PMID- 25829127
TI  - N-Isopropylacrylamide-modified polyethylenimine-mediated p53 gene delivery to
      prevent the proliferation of cancer cells.
AB  - In this paper, N-isopropylacrylamide-modified polyethylenimine (PEN) was
      constructed through Michael addition and employed as a carrier to achieve the p53
      gene delivery, using HeLa (p53wt) and PC-3 cells (p53null) as models. After PEN
      mediated p53 transfection, expression level of p53 in HeLa and PC3 cells was up
      regulated at both mRNA and protein levels. Due to the exogenous p53 expression,
      the inhibition of cell proliferation was observed through MTT analysis,
      attributing to the activation of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Using flow
      cytometric analysis, early apoptotic ratios of 54.95% and 27.06% after PEN
      mediated p53 transfection were detected in PC-3 and HeLa cells, respectively,
      indicating that PC-3 cells were more sensitive to the exogenous p53 transfection
      than HeLa cells. Meanwhile, G1 phase arrest was detected in PC-3 cells while a
      unique G2 phase arrest was identified in HeLa cells after p53 transfection.
      Through Western blotting, activity analysis of caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9
      and mitochondrial membrane potential measurement, the apoptosis induced by PEN
      mediated p53 transfection was conducted in a mitochondria-dependent apoptosis
      pathway. These results demonstrated that PEN could successfully mediate the p53
      gene delivery and up-regulate the cellular p53 expression level, triggering a
      significant p53-dependent anti-proliferative effect on tumor cells. 

PMID- 25829128
TI  - Folate mediated self-assembled phytosterol-alginate nanoparticles for targeted
      intracellular anticancer drug delivery.
AB  - Self-assembled core/shell nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized from water-soluble
      alginate substituted by hydrophobic phytosterols. Folate, a cancer-cell-specific
      ligand, was conjugated to the phytosterol-alginate (PA) NPs for targeting folate
      receptor-overexpressing cancer cells. The physicochemical properties of folate
      phytosterol-alginate (FPA) NPs were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance,
      transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, electrophoretic light
      scattering, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Doxorubicin (DOX), an anticancer drug,
      was entrapped inside prepared NPs by dialysis method. The identification of
      prepared FPA NPs to folate-receptor-overexpressing cancer cells (KB cells) was
      confirmed by cytotoxicity and folate competition assays. Compared to the pure DOX
      and DOX/PA NPs, the DOX/FPA NPs had lower IC50 value to KB cells because of
      folate-receptor-mediated endocytosis process and the cytotoxicity of DOX/FPA NPs
      to KB cells could be competitively inhibited by free folate. The cellular uptake
      and internalization of pure DOX and DOX/FPA NPs was confirmed by confocal laser
      scanning microscopy image and the higher intracellular uptake of drug for DOX/FPA
      NPs over pure DOX was observed. The FPA NPs had the potential as a promising
      carrier to target drugs to cancer cells overexpressing folate receptors and avoid
      cytotoxicity to normal tissues. 

PMID- 25829129
TI  - Apolipoprotein B-100-targeted negatively charged nanoliposomes for the treatment
      of dyslipidemia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anionic nanoliposomes can interact with serum lipoproteins and
      regulate lipid metabolism through several mechanisms. This study aimed to
      evaluate the lipid-modifying effects of anionic immunoliposomes targeted against
      apoB, an important component of atherogenic lipoproteins. METHODS: Two sets of
      nanoliposomes (20mM) were prepared with low (including soy phosphatidylcholine
      [SPC] and egg phosphatidylglycerol [EPG]) and high (including hydrogenated soy
      phosphatidylcholine [HSPC] and distearoyl phosphatidylglycerol [DSPG]) phase
      transition temperature values without cholesterol. In each set, the anionic
      phospholipid (EPG or DSPG) constituted 75% of total phospholipid content.
      Immunoliposomes were prepared by conjugating a monoclonal antibody against apoB
      100 to the liposomal surface using a post-insertion technique. Fluorescently
      labeled immunoliposomes were assessed for their uptake by J774.A1 macrophages.
      Lipid-modifying effects of immunoliposomes were tested at different doses (50,
      100 or 200MUmole/g weight) using a tyloxapol-induced hyperlipidemic mouse model.
      Blood sampling was performed 1h after the injection of each immunoliposomal
      formulation. RESULTS: ApoB-targeted HSPC/DSPG and SPC/EPG nanoliposomes were both
      taken up by cultured macrophages but the uptake rate was higher with the former
      formulation. Both immunoliposomal formulations significantly reduced serum LDL
      cholesterol concentrations of hyperlipidemic animals at all tested doses
      (p<0.001) and this effect lasted for at least 48h. Significant reductions of
      serum levels of apoB, non-HDL-C, total cholesterol and triglycerides, and
      elevations of HDL-C levels were also observed. CONCLUSION: Intravenous injection
      of a single dose of apoB-targeted anionic nanoliposomes improves serum lipid
      profile parameters. These findings might have implications for the treatment of
      patients with severe dyslipidemias or statin intolerance.

PMID- 25829130
TI  - Radiosensitizing effect of zinc oxide and silica nanocomposites on cancer cells.
AB  - Nanoparticulates responsive to X-rays offer increased efficacy of radiation
      therapy. However, successful demonstrations of such nanoparticle use are limited
      so far due to lack of significant radiosensitizing effects or poor nanoparticle
      stability in a biological system. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is the most promising
      biocompatible material for medicinal applications. In this paper, we report
      preparation and characterization of scintillating ZnO/SiO2 core-shell
      nanoparticles. The ZnO/SiO2 nanoparticles absorb ultraviolet (UV) radiation
      (below 360nm) and emit green fluorescence (400-750nm, maximum 550nm). Under X-ray
      irradiation (200kVp), the nanoparticles scintillate emitting luminescence in the
      region 350-700nm (maximum 420nm). The synthesized ZnO/SiO2 nanoparticles are
      stable in a biologically relevant environment (water and cell growth medium). The
      potential of the ZnO/SiO2 nanoparticles for radiosensitization is demonstrated in
      human prostate adenocarcinoma cell lines (LNCaP and Du145). The nanoparticles
      enhance radiation-induced reduction in cell survival about 2-fold for LNCaP and
      1.5-fold for Du145 cells. Radiosensitizing effect can be attributed to X-ray
      induced radiocatalysis by the nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25829131
TI  - Cubosome formulations stabilized by a dansyl-conjugated block copolymer for
      possible nanomedicine applications.
AB  - We present here an innovative, fluorescent, monoolein-based cubosome dispersion.
      Rather than embedded within the monoolein palisade, the fluorescent imaging
      agent, namely dansyl, was conjugated to the terminal ethylene oxide moieties of
      the block copolymer Pluronic F108. We discuss the physicochemical and
      photophysical properties of this fluorescent Pluronic and of a cubosome
      formulation stabilized by a mixture of dansyl-conjugated and non-conjugated
      Pluronic, also including an anticancer drug (quercetin). Furthermore, we
      performed biocompatibility tests against HeLa cells to assess internalization and
      cytotoxicity features of this nanoparticles aqueous dispersion. Cryo-TEM, SAXS,
      and DLS analysis, proved the bicontinuous cubic inner nanostructure and the
      morphology of this fluorescent cubosome dispersion, while photophysical
      measurements and biocompatibility results basically validate their potential use
      for theranostic nanomedicine applications. 

PMID- 25829132
TI  - Mortality from alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder: Findings from the
      Vietnam Experience Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To examine the relationship of alcohol consumption, alcohol use
      disorder and mortality. METHOD: A cohort of 4316 male former Vietnam-era US army
      personnel participating in telephone survey and medical examination in middle age
      (mean age 38.3 years) in 1985-1986 was used. Alcohol consumption was reported in
      face-to-face interview on medical history and information on DSM-III alcohol use
      disorder was obtained from structured psychiatric interview (using the Diagnostic
      Interview Schedule). Mortality hazard during 15 years of follow-up was assessed
      with Cox proportional hazard regression modeling. RESULT: A total of 4251
      individuals participated in the psychiatric interview and the medical history
      interview. Of these 998 were abstainers, and for the remaining 3253 we calculated
      weekly average consumption and monthly frequency of binge drinking. A total of
      1988 had alcohol dependence, abuse or both. There were 237 deaths during follow
      up. A J-shaped association was found for both consumption and binging. In
      multivariable analysis jointly modeling average consumption and disorder, and
      binging and disorder, increased mortality remained significant for both very high
      consumption (Hazard Ratio (HR) 1.62, 95% Confidence Intervals [1.02-2.57]) for
      drinking 29 or more drinks per week, and frequent bingeing HR 1.81 [1.03-3.18]
      for bingeing 16 or more times per month). CONCLUSION: This study showed that
      alcohol consumption measures were associated with mortality, partly independent
      from the potential confounding effect of alcohol use disorder, which is an
      established risk factor for mortality. This further highlights the importance of
      alcohol consumption measures in public health.

PMID- 25829133
TI  - Highly Efficient AuPd/Carbon Nanotube Nanocatalysts for the Electro-Fenton
      Process.
AB  - Development of novel nanocatalysts for the highly efficient in situ synthesis of
      H2 O2 from H2 and O2 in the electro-Fenton (EF) process has potential for the
      remediation of water pollution. In this work, AuPd/carbon nanotube (CNT)
      nanocatalysts were successfully synthesized by the facile aggregation of AuPd
      bimetals on CNTs. Characterization by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron
      microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated that pure AuPd
      bimetallic heterogeneous nanospheres (~20 nm) were well dispersed outside the
      CNTs, which resulted in better catalytic performance than Pd/CNTs alone: 0.36 M
      H2 O2 was synthesized; 0.05 M Fe(2+) optimally initiated the EF process due to
      the superior in situ Fe(2+) regeneration; and the organic pollutant removal
      reached 100 % at 37 min, with a pseudo-first-order kinetic constant k1 =0.051
      min(-1) . Moreover, structural insights before/after catalysis revealed that Au
      strengthened the construction of the nanocrystals, avoided negative deactivation
      caused by AuPd agglomeration, and immobilized the active Pd(111). The catalytic
      stability of AuPd/CNTs over ten cycles implied long durability and promising
      applications of this material. 

PMID- 25829135
TI  - The Cardiac Rehabilitation Inventory: A New Method of Tailoring Patient Support.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Uptake and adherence to cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are low, and a
      contributing factor to this may be the practical difficulties of providing a
      tailored CR environment suited to individual preferences and needs. OBJECTIVE:
      The aim of this study was to develop and test a short questionnaire that CR
      practitioners can use to understand individual patient need and tailor support
      accordingly. METHODS: A conceptual framework of engagement in CR was derived from
      a comprehensive literature review and the content analysis of semistructured
      interviews with 15 CR patients. The conceptual framework was used to construct
      the first version of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Inventory (CRI), which comprised
      42 items. Responses on the CRI were measured using a 5-point Likert scale. The
      CRI was administered to 380 phase III and IV CR patients, and factor analysis
      (FA) was used to identify salient CR engagement factors. RESULTS: The simplest
      structure found using FA was three 6-item subscales that all had good levels of
      internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and were labeled (a) outcome anxiety,
      alpha = .726; (2) process anxiety, alpha = .724; and (3) autonomy, alpha = .653.
      The 3-factor CRI model was verified using confirmatory FA (CMin/df = 3.2, root
      mean-square error of approximation = 0.073). Attenders were found to have higher
      levels of outcome anxiety than nonattenders (P < .001), and precontemplator
      nonattenders were found to have lower autonomy compared with attenders (P <
      .001). Standard multiple regression analysis indicated outcome anxiety was a
      strong predictor of CR intentions (r = 0.716), followed by autonomy (r = 0.110)
      and process anxiety (r = 0.031). CONCLUSIONS: The CRI is a reliable method of
      measuring CR outcome anxiety, process anxiety, and autonomy. These CRI
      measurements provide rehabilitation practitioners with valuable information that
      can help provide individual tailored support.

PMID- 25829134
TI  - Trajectories of premorbid childhood and adolescent functioning in schizophrenia
      spectrum psychoses: A first-episode study.
AB  - Evidence of social and behavioral problems preceding the onset of schizophrenia
      spectrum psychoses is consistent with a neurodevelopmental model of these
      disorders. Here we predict that individuals with a first episode of schizophrenia
      spectrum psychoses will evidence one of three patterns of premorbid adjustment:
      an early deficit, a deteriorating pattern, or adequate or good social adjustment.
      Participants were 164 (38% female; 31% black) individuals ages 15-50 with a first
      episode of schizophrenia-spectrum psychoses. Premorbid adjustment was assessed
      using the Cannon-Spoor Premorbid Adjustment Scale. We compared the fit of a
      series of growth mixture models to examine premorbid adjustment trajectories, and
      found the following 3-class model provided the best fit with: a "stable-poor"
      adjustment class (54%), a "stable-good" adjustment class (39%), and a
      "deteriorating" adjustment class (7%). Relative to the "stable-good" class, the
      "stable-poor" class experienced worse negative symptoms at 1-year follow-up,
      particularly in the social amotivation domain. This represents the first known
      growth mixture modeling study to examine premorbid functioning patterns in first
      episode schizophrenia-spectrum psychoses. Given that the stable-poor adjustment
      pattern was most prevalent, detection of social and academic maladjustment as
      early as childhood may help identify people at increased risk for schizophrenia
      spectrum psychoses, potentially increasing feasibility of early interventions. 

PMID- 25829136
TI  - The Prevalence and Associated Distress of Physical and Psychological Symptoms in
      Patients With Advanced Heart Failure Attending a South African Medical Center.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the high prevalence of heart failure in low- and middle
      income countries, evidence concerning patient-reported burden of disease in
      advanced heart failure is lacking. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to measure
      patient-reported symptom prevalence and correlates of symptom burden in patients
      with advanced heart failure. METHODS: Adult patients diagnosed with New York
      heart Association (NYHA) stage III or IV heart failure were recruited from the
      emergency unit, emergency ward, cardiology ward, general medicine wards, and
      outpatient cardiology clinic of a public hospital in South Africa. Patients were
      interviewed by researchers using the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale-Short
      Form, a well-validated multidimensional instrument that assesses presence and
      distress of 32 symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 230 patients (response, 99.1%), 90%
      NYHA III and 10% NYHA IV (12% newly diagnosed), with a mean age of 58 years, were
      included. Forty-five percent were women, 14% had completed high school, and 26%
      reported having no income. Mean Karnofsky Performance Status Score was 50%.
      Patients reported a mean of 19 symptoms. Physical symptoms with a high prevalence
      were shortness of breath (95.2%), feeling drowsy/tired (93.0%), and pain (91.3%).
      Psychological symptoms with a high prevalence were worrying (94.3%), feeling
      irritable (93.5%), and feeling sad (93.0%). Multivariate linear regression
      analyses, with total number of symptoms as dependent variable, showed no
      association between number of symptoms and gender, education, number of
      healthcare contacts in the last 3 months, years since diagnosis, or
      comorbidities. Increased number of symptoms was significantly associated with
      higher age (b = 0.054, P = .042), no income (b = -2.457, P = .013), and fewer
      hospitalizations in the last 12 months (b = -1.032, P = .017). CONCLUSIONS:
      Patients with advanced heart failure attending a medical center in South Africa
      experience high prevalence of symptoms and report high levels of burden
      associated with these symptoms. Improved compliance with national and global
      treatment recommendations could contribute to reduced symptom burden. Healthcare
      professionals should consider incorporating palliative care into the care for
      these patients.

PMID- 25829137
TI  - Subclinical Carotid Atherosclerosis in Asymptomatic Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes
      Mellitus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus are considered to be at high
      risk for cardiovascular disease. The identification of carotid atherosclerosis is
      a validated surrogate marker of cardiovascular disease. Nurses are key
      professionals in the improvement and intensification of cardiovascular preventive
      strategies. AIMS: The aim is to study the presence of carotid atherosclerosis in
      a group of asymptomatic subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus and no previous
      clinical cardiovascular disease. METHODS: A total of 187 patients with type 2
      diabetes mellitus and 187 age- and sex-matched subjects without type 2 diabetes
      mellitus were studied in this cross-sectional, observational, cohort study.
      Standard operational procedures were applied by the nursing team regarding
      physical examination and carotid ultrasound assessment. Common, bulb, and
      internal carotid arteries were explored by measuring intima-media thickness and
      identifying atherosclerotic plaques. RESULTS: Carotid intima-media thickness (c
      IMT) and carotid plaque prevalence were significantly greater in diabetic
      subjects than in the control group. Carotid plaques and c-IMT were more frequent
      in men than in women and increased with increasing age. In the multivariate
      analysis, age, gender, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, and
      hypercholesterolemia were positively associated with c-IMT, whereas age, gender,
      and weight were positively associated with carotid plaque. CONCLUSION: The
      current nurse-led study shows that subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus have a
      high prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis that is associated with
      cardiovascular risk factors.

PMID- 25829138
TI  - Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Injury in Type 2 Diabetes and Potential Effects of
      Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibition.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the major cause of mortality and
      morbidity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The pathogenesis of
      CV disease in T2DM is complex and multifactorial and involves direct and indirect
      injury to the vasculature and heart. The impact of intensive glucose-lowering
      therapy with antihyperglycemic agents on CV outcomes is not clear, and questions
      remain as to which glucose-lowering agents may be beneficial to CV health in
      patients with T2DM. PURPOSE: This review discusses findings regarding the known
      mechanisms of CV injury in T2DM and current knowledge regarding the potential
      cardioprotective effects of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors.
      CONCLUSIONS: Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors are relatively new
      antihyperglycemic agents. Their main mechanism of action is to inhibit the
      degradation of the incretin hormones glucagon-like peptide-1 and glucose
      dependent insulinotropic peptide by DPP-4. By increasing levels of glucagon-like
      peptide-1, glucose-dependent insulin secretion is enhanced, glucagon secretion is
      suppressed, and the rate of gastric emptying is decreased. Dipeptidyl peptidase-4
      also degrades other substances that are important in the regulation of CV
      function and inflammation. Animal studies, small observational studies in humans,
      and analyses of clinical trial data suggest that DPP-4 inhibitors may have
      beneficial CV effects. Recent prospectively designed CV outcomes trials with
      saxagliptin and alogliptin in patients with T2DM and high CV risk presented
      evidence that these DPP-4 inhibitors neither increased nor decreased adverse CV
      outcomes in this select patient population. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Dipeptidyl
      peptidase-4 inhibitors are promising therapies for the treatment of T2DM. Able to
      improve glycemic control without the risk of weight gain or hypoglycemia, they
      provide a safe alternative to sulfonylureas and are an effective adjunct to
      metformin. To date, this class of drugs seems to be at least neutral in terms of
      CV effects. Time will tell if these findings translate into a benefit for our
      patients.

PMID- 25829139
TI  - Validation of the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool and Vital Signs in Relation
      to the Sensory and Affective Components of Pain During Mediastinal Tube Removal
      in Postoperative Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit Adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) is a behavioral scale
      recommended in clinical practice guidelines for the assessment of pain in
      nonverbal intensive care unit (ICU) adults. Although the CPOT has been validated
      in various ICU patient groups, its association with the affective component of
      pain has not yet been explored, and in most studies, turning was the used
      nociceptive procedure. AIM: In this study, we aim to validate the use of the CPOT
      and vital signs in association with the sensory and affective components of pain
      during mediastinal tube removal (MTR) in postoperative cardiac surgery ICU
      adults. METHODS: A sample of 125 patients participated in this prospective
      repeated-measures, within-subject study. A total of 6 assessments of the main
      study variables (CPOT scores and patients' self-reports of pain intensity and
      unpleasantness) were completed by trained research assistants while patients were
      in the ICU. Assessments were done before, during, and 15 minutes after the
      nonnociceptive procedure (ie, noninvasive blood pressure taking [NIBP]) and
      nociceptive procedure (ie, MTR). RESULTS: Discriminant validation of the scale
      use was supported as higher CPOT scores were obtained during MTR (mean [SD], 2.74
      [1.61]) compared with NIBP (mean [SD], 0.50 [0.747]) (t124 = 14.33, P < .001).
      Similarly, higher values were recorded for mean arterial pressure and heart and
      respiratory rates during MTR compared with NIBP (P < .01). During MTR, CPOT
      scores correlated significantly with self-report of pain intensity (r = 0.419, P
      < .01) and unpleasantness (r = 0.313, P < .01), supporting criterion and
      convergent validation. Conversely, vital signs did not correlate with either self
      report. CONCLUSIONS: Study findings confirmed the validity of the CPOT for the
      assessment of the sensory and affective components of pain in the postcardiac
      surgery ICU adults. Vital signs were not specific to pain and should be used only
      as cues to begin further assessment of pain using validated instruments for this
      purpose.

PMID- 25829140
TI  - Recent developments in superhydrophobic graphene and graphene-related materials:
      from preparation to potential applications.
AB  - In the past decade, graphene has revealed a cornucopia of both fundamental
      science and potential applications due to its exceptional electrical, mechanical,
      thermal, and optical properties. Recently, increasing effort has been devoted to
      exploiting its new features, for example, wetting properties. Benefitting from
      its inherent material properties, graphene shows great potential for the
      fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces, which could be potentially used for
      various anti-water applications. In this review, we summarize the recent
      developments in superhydrophobic graphene and graphene-related materials.
      Preparation strategies using pure graphene, graphene oxide, and graphene/polymer
      hybrids are presented and their potential applications are discussed. Finally,
      our own perspective of this dynamic field, including both current challenges and
      future demands, has been discussed. It is anticipated that the cooperation of the
      numerous merits of graphene and superhydrophobicity will lead to new
      opportunities for high-performance multifunctional devices. 

PMID- 25829141
TI  - Host Langerin (CD207) is a receptor for Yersinia pestis phagocytosis and promotes
      dissemination.
AB  - Yersinia pestis is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes plague. After Y. pestis
      overcomes the skin barrier, it encounters antigen-presenting cells (APCs), such
      as Langerhans and dendritic cells. They transport the bacteria from the skin to
      the lymph nodes. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in bacterial
      transmission are unclear. Langerhans cells (LCs) express Langerin (CD207), a
      calcium-dependent (C-type) lectin. Furthermore, Y. pestis possesses exposed core
      oligosaccharides. In this study, we show that Y. pestis invades LCs and Langerin
      expressing transfectants. However, when the bacterial core oligosaccharides are
      shielded or truncated, Y. pestis propensity to invade Langerhans and Langerin
      expressing cells decreases. Moreover, the interaction of Y. pestis with Langerin
      expressing transfectants is inhibited by purified Langerin, a DC-SIGN (DC
      specific intercellular adhesion molecule 3 grabbing nonintegrin)-like molecule,
      an anti-CD207 antibody, purified core oligosaccharides and several
      oligosaccharides. Furthermore, covering core oligosaccharides reduces the
      mortality associated with murine infection by adversely affecting the
      transmission of Y. pestis to lymph nodes. These results demonstrate that direct
      interaction of core oligosaccharides with Langerin facilitates the invasion of
      LCs by Y. pestis. Therefore, Langerin-mediated binding of Y. pestis to APCs may
      promote its dissemination and infection. 

PMID- 25829142
TI  - Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulation Increases Hippocampal Activity during
      Probabilistic Association Learning in Schizophrenia.
AB  - People with schizophrenia show probabilistic association learning impairment in
      conjunction with abnormal neural activity. The selective estrogen receptor
      modulator (SERM) raloxifene preserves neural activity during memory in healthy
      older men and improves memory in schizophrenia. Here, we tested the extent to
      which raloxifene modifies neural activity during learning in schizophrenia.
      Nineteen people with schizophrenia participated in a twelve-week randomized,
      double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over adjunctive treatment trial of the
      SERM raloxifene administered orally at 120 mg daily to assess brain activity
      during probabilistic association learning using functional magnetic resonance
      imaging (fMRI). Raloxifene improved probabilistic association learning and
      significantly increased fMRI BOLD activity in the hippocampus and parahippocampal
      gyrus relative to placebo. A separate region of interest confirmatory analysis in
      21 patients vs 36 healthy controls showed a positive association between
      parahippocampal neural activity and learning in patients, but no such
      relationship in the parahippocampal gyrus of healthy controls. Thus, selective
      estrogen receptor modulation by raloxifene concurrently increases activity in the
      parahippocampal gyrus and improves probabilistic association learning in
      schizophrenia. These results support a role for estrogen receptor modulation of
      mesial temporal lobe neural activity in the remediation of learning disabilities
      in both men and women with schizophrenia. 

PMID- 25829143
TI  - Cocaine Decreases Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor mGluR1 Currents in Dopamine
      Neurons by Activating mGluR5.
AB  - Midbrain dopamine neurons are important mediators of reward and movement and are
      sensitive to cocaine-induced plasticity. After even a single injection of
      cocaine, there is an increase in AMPA-dependent synaptic transmission. The
      present study examines cocaine-induced plasticity of mGluR-dependent currents in
      dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra. Activation of mGluR1 and mGluR5
      resulted in a mixture of inward and outward currents mediated by a nonselective
      cation conductance and a calcium-activated potassium conductance (SK),
      respectively. A single injection of cocaine decreased the current activated by
      mGluR1 in dopamine neurons, and it had no effect on the size of the mGluR5
      mediated current. When the injection of cocaine was preceded by treatment of the
      animals with a blocker of mGluR5 receptors (MPEP), cocaine no longer decreased
      the mGluR1 current. Thus, the activation of mGluR5 was required for the cocaine
      mediated suppression of mGluR1-mediated currents in dopamine neurons. The results
      support the hypothesis that mGluR5 coordinates a reduction in mGluR1 functional
      activity after cocaine treatment. 

PMID- 25829145
TI  - Downward trends in the prevalence of childhood overweight in two pilot towns
      taking part in the VIASANO community-based programme in Belgium: data from a
      national school health monitoring system.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Multilevel approaches involving environmental strategies are
      considered to be good practice to help reduce the prevalence of childhood
      overweight. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects
      of VIASANO, a community-based programme using the EPODE methodology, on the
      prevalence of overweight in two pilot towns in Belgium. METHODS: We analysed data
      from a national school health monitoring system to compare changes in the
      prevalence of overweight and obesity over a 3-year period (2007-2010) in children
      aged 3-4 and 5-6 years in the pilot towns with those of children of the same ages
      from the whole French-speaking community of Belgium. Heights and weights of all
      participants were measured by trained school nurses using a standardized method.
      RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight (-2.1%) and overweight + obesity (-2.4%)
      decreased in the pilot towns, but remained stable in the comparison population
      (+0.1% and +0.2%, respectively). After adjustment for lack of homogeneity between
      the study populations, there was a trend towards a decrease in overweight (P =
      0.054) and overweight + obesity (P = 0.058) in the pilot towns compared with the
      general population. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that a community-based
      programme, such as VIASANO, may be a promising strategy for reducing the
      prevalence of childhood overweight even over a short period of time.

PMID- 25829144
TI  - Progressive Brain Atrophy and Cortical Thinning in Schizophrenia after Commencing
      Clozapine Treatment.
AB  - Despite evidence that clozapine may be neuroprotective, there are few
      longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies that have specifically
      explored an association between commencement of clozapine treatment for
      schizophrenia and changes in regional brain volume or cortical thickness. A total
      of 33 patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia and 31 healthy controls
      matched for age and gender underwent structural MRI brain scans at baseline and 6
      9 months after commencing clozapine. MRI images were analyzed using SIENA
      (Structural Image Evaluation, using Normalization, of Atrophy) and FreeSurfer to
      investigate changes over time in brain volume and cortical thickness
      respectively. Significantly greater reductions in volume were detected in the
      right and left medial prefrontal cortex and in the periventricular area in the
      patient group regardless of treatment response. Widespread further cortical
      thinning was observed in patients compared with healthy controls. The majority of
      patients improved symptomatically and functionally over the study period, and
      patients who improved were more likely to have less cortical thinning of the left
      medial frontal cortex and the right middle temporal cortex. These findings
      demonstrate on-going reductions in brain volume and progressive cortical thinning
      in patients with schizophrenia who are switched to clozapine treatment. It is
      possible that this gray matter loss reflects a progressive disease process
      irrespective of medication use or that it is contributed to by switching to
      clozapine treatment. The clinical improvement of most patients indicates that
      antipsychotic-related gray matter volume loss may not necessarily be harmful or
      reflect neurotoxicity. 

PMID- 25829146
TI  - Analyzing transmission dynamics of cholera with public health interventions.
AB  - Cholera continues to be a serious public health concern in developing countries
      and the global increase in the number of reported outbreaks suggests that
      activities to control the diseases and surveillance programs to identify or
      predict the occurrence of the next outbreaks are not adequate. These outbreaks
      have increased in frequency, severity, duration and endemicity in recent years.
      Mathematical models for infectious diseases play a critical role in predicting
      and understanding disease mechanisms, and have long provided basic insights in
      the possible ways to control infectious diseases. In this paper, we present a new
      deterministic cholera epidemiological model with three types of control measures
      incorporated into a cholera epidemic setting: treatment, vaccination and
      sanitation. Essential dynamical properties of the model with constant
      intervention controls which include local and global stabilities for the
      equilibria are carefully analyzed. Further, using optimal control techniques, we
      perform a study to investigate cost-effective solutions for time-dependent public
      health interventions in order to curb disease transmission in epidemic settings.
      Our results show that the basic reproductive number (R0) remains the model's
      epidemic threshold despite the inclusion of a package of cholera interventions.
      For time-dependent controls, the results suggest that these interventions closely
      interplay with each other, and the costs of controls directly affect the length
      and strength of each control in an optimal strategy. 

PMID- 25829147
TI  - Complete hierarchies of SIR models on arbitrary networks with exact and
      approximate moment closure.
AB  - We first generalise ideas discussed by Kiss et al. (2015) to prove a theorem for
      generating exact closures (here expressing joint probabilities in terms of their
      constituent marginal probabilities) for susceptible-infectious-removed (SIR)
      dynamics on arbitrary graphs (networks). For Poisson transmission and removal
      processes, this enables us to obtain a systematic reduction in the number of
      differential equations needed for an exact 'moment closure' representation of the
      underlying stochastic model. We define 'transmission blocks' as a possible
      extension of the block concept in graph theory and show that the order at which
      the exact moment closure representation is curtailed is the size of the largest
      transmission block. More generally, approximate closures of the hierarchy of
      moment equations for these dynamics are typically defined for the first and
      second order yielding mean-field and pairwise models respectively. It is
      frequently implied that, in principle, closed models can be written down at
      arbitrary order if only we had the time and patience to do this. However, for
      epidemic dynamics on networks, these higher-order models have not been defined
      explicitly. Here we unambiguously define hierarchies of approximate closed models
      that can utilise subsystem states of any order, and show how well-known models
      are special cases of these hierarchies. 

PMID- 25829148
TI  - Impedance technology reveals correlations between cytotoxicity and lipophilicity
      of mono and bimetallic phosphine complexes.
AB  - Label free impedance technology enables the monitoring of cell response patterns
      post treatment with drugs or other chemicals. Using this technology, a
      correlation between the lipophilicity of metal complexes and the degree of
      cytotoxicity was observed. Au(L1)Cl (1), AuPd(L1)(SC4H8)Cl3 (1a) and Au(L2)Cl (2)
      [L1 = diphenylphosphino-2-pyridine; L2 = 2-(2-(diphenylphosphino)ethyl)-pyridine]
      were synthesised, in silico drug-likeness and structure-activity relationship
      monitored using impedance technology. Dose dependent changes in cytotoxicity were
      observed for the metal complexes resulting in IC50s of 12.5 +/- 2.5, 18.3 +/- 8.3
      and 16.9 +/- 0.5 uM for 1, 1a and 2 respectively in an endpoint assay. When a
      real time impedance assay was used, dose-dependent responses depicting patterns
      that suggested slower uptake (at a toxic 20 uM) and faster recovery of the cells
      (at the less toxic 10 uM) of the bimetallic complex (1a) compared to the
      monometallic complexes (1 and 2) was observed. These data agreed with the ADMET
      findings of lower aqueous solubility of 1a and non-ideal lipophilicity (AlogP98
      of 6.55) over more water soluble 1 and 2 with ideal lipophilicity (4.91 and 5.03
      respectively) values. The additional coordination of a Pd atom to the nitrogen
      atom of a pyridine ring, the sulfur atom of a tetrahydrothiophene moiety and two
      chlorine atoms in 1a could be contributing to the observed differences when
      compared to the monometallic complexes. This report presents impedance technology
      as a means of correlating drug-likeness of lipophilic phosphine complexes
      containing similar backbone structures and could prove valuable in filtering drug
      like compounds in a drug discovery project.

PMID- 25829149
TI  - Methemoglobin reduction by NADH-cytochrome b(5) reductase in Propsilocerus
      akamusi larvae.
AB  - For oxygen respiration, a methemoglobin (metHb) reduction system is needed in the
      cell because metHb cannot bind oxygen. We examined the insect Propsilocerus
      akamusi larvae to elucidate the metHb reduction system in an organism that
      inhabits an oxygen-deficient environment. NADH-dependent reduction of metHb in
      coelomic fluid suggested the coexistence of cytochrome b5 reductase (b5R) and
      cytochrome b5 with hemoglobin in the fluid and that these proteins were involved
      in physiological metHb reduction in the larvae. The presence of b5R was revealed
      by purifying b5R to homogeneity from the midge larvae. Using purified components,
      we showed that larval metHb was reduced via the NADH-b5R (FAD)-cytochrome b5
      metHb pathway, a finding consistent with that in aerobic vertebrates,
      specifically humans and rabbits, and b5R function between mammal and insect was
      conserved. b5R was identified as a monomeric FAD-containing enzyme; it had a
      molecular mass of 33.2 kDa in gel-filtration chromatography and approximately 37
      kDa in SDS-PAGE analysis. The enzyme's optimal pH and temperature were 6.4 and 25
      degrees C, respectively. The apparent Km and Vmax values were 345 MUM and 160
      MUmol min(-1) mg(-1), respectively, for ferricyanide and 328 MUM and 500 MUmol
      min(-1) mg(-1), respectively, for 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol. The enzyme
      reaction was inhibited by benzoate, p-hydroxymercuribenzoate, iodoacetamide, and
      iodoacetate, and was not inhibited by metal ions or EDTA.

PMID- 25829150
TI  - Molecular cloning and tissue expression of uncoupling protein 1, 2 and 3 genes in
      Chinese perch (Siniperca chuatsi).
AB  - Uncoupling proteins (UCPs) are mitochondrial anion carrier proteins, which play
      important roles in several physiological processes, including thermogenesis,
      reactive oxygen species generation, growth, lipid metabolism and insulin
      secretion. Although the roles of UCPs are well understood in mammals, little is
      known in fish. To investigate the thermogenesis roles in Chinese perch (Siniperca
      chuatsi), we cloned the UCP1, 2 and 3. The UCP1 consisted of six exons and five
      introns, and the UCP2 consisted of eight exons and seven introns. The UCP1 was
      primarily expressed in liver, UCP2 was ubiquitously expressed, and UCP3 was
      primarily expressed in muscle. The mRNA levels of UCP1 and UCP2 in liver, and
      UCP3 in muscle were significantly increased after prolonged cold exposure, but
      did not change after prolonged heat exposure, suggesting that Chinese perch might
      have a mechanism of response to cold environment, but not to hot environment. The
      intestinal UCP1 mRNA level was significantly up-regulated after prolonged heat
      exposure, while the UCP2 mRNA level was significantly up-regulated after
      prolonged cold exposure, suggesting that the two paralogs might play different
      roles in intestine of Chinese perch. In addition, the phylogenetic analysis could
      shed new light on the evolutionary diversification of UCP gene family. 

PMID- 25829151
TI  - cfMSP-1, an extremely acidic matrix protein involved in shell formation of the
      scallop Chlamys farreri.
AB  - Matrix proteins play an important role in biomineralization by mollusks. In this
      study, we cloned and characterized an acidic protein (pI=3.36) homolog of cfMSP-1
      that is highly expressed in the mantle transcriptome of the scallop Chlamys
      farreri. RT-PCR and in situ hybridization showed that cfMSP-1 is specifically
      expressed in the outer fold of the mantle edge and pallial part. The expression
      level of cfMSP-1 remarkably increased and then reduced gradually to a value that
      is ~2-fold higher than basal levels after shell notching. Knock-down expression
      of cfMSP-1 in adults via dsRNA injection gave a disordered folia surface. Both
      shell notching and RNAi experiments indicated that cfMSP-1 plays an essential
      role in the formation of the folia of C. farreri. 

PMID- 25829152
TI  - US aims to cut antibiotic use in new five year plan to combat antibiotic
      resistant bacteria.

PMID- 25829153
TI  - Collagenase Clostridium Histolyticum versus Limited Fasciectomy for Dupuytren's
      Contracture: Outcomes from a Multicenter Propensity Score Matched Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Controversy exists about the relative effectiveness of injectable
      collagenase (collagenase clostridium histolyticum) and limited fasciectomy in the
      treatment of Dupuytren's contracture. The authors compared the effectiveness of
      both techniques in actual clinical practice. METHODS: This study evaluated all
      subjects treated with collagenase clostridium histolyticum or limited fasciectomy
      for metacarpophalangeal and/or proximal interphalangeal joint contractures
      between 2011 and 2014 at seven practice sites. The authors compared the degree of
      residual contracture (active extension deficit), Michigan Hand Outcomes
      Questionnaire scores, and adverse events at follow-up visits occurring between 6
      and 12 weeks after surgery or the last injection with the use of propensity score
      matching. RESULTS: In 132 matched subjects who were treated with collagenase (n =
      66) or fasciectomy (n = 66), the degree of residual contracture at follow-up for
      affected metacarpophalangeal joints was not significantly different (13 degrees
      versus 6 degrees; p = 0.095) and affected proximal interphalangeal joints had
      significantly worse residual contracture in the collagenase group compared with
      those in the fasciectomy group (25 degrees versus 15 degrees; p = 0.010).
      Collagenase subjects experienced fewer serious adverse events than did
      fasciectomy subjects and reported larger improvements in the Michigan Hand
      Outcomes Questionnaire subscores evaluating satisfaction with hand function,
      activities of daily living, and work performance. CONCLUSIONS: This propensity
      score-matched study showed that collagenase clostridium histolyticum was not
      significantly different from limited fasciectomy in reducing metacarpophalangeal
      joint contractures, whereas proximal interphalangeal joint contractures showed
      slightly better reduction following limited fasciectomy. Collagenase provided a
      more rapid recovery of hand function than did fasciectomy and was associated with
      fewer serious adverse events. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic,
      III.

PMID- 25829154
TI  - So, You Want to Improve Your Plastic Surgery Papers? Introducing PRS' Friendly
      EQUATOR Reporting Guidelines.

PMID- 25829155
TI  - A Cadaveric Study of the Arterial Blood Supply of the Labia Minora.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Labiaplasty has become a rather common operation. The main
      complication of the different surgical techniques is the dehiscence of the suture
      line. The dehiscence rate varies among the different techniques, and this may
      imply that the vascular anatomy is not respected in some cases. The detailed
      arterial anatomy of labia minora is not well described, so the aim of the authors
      was to describe this anatomy with a cadaveric study. METHODS: Eleven fresh
      cadavers were dissected, and arterial study was made with injected computed
      tomography scans and rotational angiography. At the end, a cast of the arterial
      network was made and chemically exposed to verify the radiological findings.
      RESULTS: The findings of this study allowed identification of a dominant central
      artery that was named "C" artery, two posterior arteries named "P1" and "P2," and
      one small anterior artery, "A." Furthermore, a connection between the anterior
      system of the external pudendal artery and the posterior system of the internal
      pudendal artery was confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: The arterial network of the labia
      minora was identified with this study. This may help surgeons orientate the wedge
      excision when they perform labiaplasties. More precisely, when this wedge is
      placed at the most anterior part of the labia minora, the least perfused area is
      removed, and a posterior flap is created that will preserve a robust blood
      perfusion.

PMID- 25829156
TI  - A Prospective Randomized Outcomes Comparison of Two Temple Migraine Trigger Site
      Deactivation Techniques.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The authors compared the reduction of migraine headache frequency,
      days, severity, and duration after surgical decompression versus avulsion of the
      zygomaticotemporal branch of the trigeminal nerve for treatment of temporal
      migraine headache. METHODS: Twenty patients with bilateral temporal migraine
      headache were randomized to undergo avulsion of the zygomaticotemporal branch of
      the trigeminal nerve on one side and decompression via fasciotomy and removal of
      the zygomaticotemporal artery on the other side. Results were analyzed after a
      minimum of 12 months of follow-up. RESULTS: Nineteen patients completed the
      study. The patients experienced greater than 50 percent improvement in frequency,
      migraine days, severity, and duration in 34 of the 38 operative sites (89
      percent). Complete elimination of symptoms was noted in 21 of the 38 operative
      sites (55 percent). In the decompression group, migraine frequency was reduced
      from 14.6 to 2.2 per month, migraine days from 14.1 to 2.3, severity from 7.0 to
      2.9, duration from 9.6 to 4.8 hours, and Migraine Headache Index score from 42 to
      2.9. In the neurectomy group, frequency decreased from 14.2 to 1.9 per month,
      migraine days from 14.1 to 2.3, severity from 6.8 to 2.6, migraine duration from
      10.1 to 5.3 hours, and the Migraine Headache Index score from 41 to 2.5. There
      was no statistical significance in reduced migraine headache frequency, days,
      severity, and duration between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Neurectomy and
      decompression of the zygomaticotemporal branch of the trigeminal nerve are both
      appropriate treatment for temporal migraine headache. If decompression fails to
      provide sufficient relief, neurectomy is another option. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL
      OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, I.

PMID- 25829157
TI  - Unilateral Cleft Lip Repair Using the Anatomical Subunit Approximation:
      Modifications and Analysis of Early Results in 100 Consecutive Cases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The anatomical subunit approximation for unilateral cleft lip repair
      has gained acceptance; however, outcomes have not been reported since the
      original description. The purpose of this article is to report the experience
      using this technique. METHODS: One hundred two consecutive patients underwent
      primary cleft lip repair performed by a single surgeon over a 3-year period.
      Objective analysis involved anthropometric measurements performed on preoperative
      and postoperative three-dimensional images. Subjective analysis involved Asher
      McDade scores by blinded independent surgeons. Observational insights were gained
      by review of surgical records. Anthropometric measurements were expressed as
      ratios of the cleft side to the noncleft side. Differences in ratios were
      assessed by using the rank sum test. Differences in Asher-McDade scores were
      assessed using the Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: Demographic, cleft type, cleft
      extent, and cleft severity were consistent with our center's norms. The mean age
      at surgery was 6 months and the mean inferior triangle used was 1.8 +/- 0.9 mm.
      Anthropometric ratios were significantly improved postoperatively and approached
      1, regardless of initial cleft severity. Ten subjects who underwent repair early
      in the experience were compared with 10 subjects who underwent repair late in the
      experience. There was no significant difference in postoperative anthropometric
      measures or Asher-McDade scores. CONCLUSIONS: The anatomical subunit
      approximation for unilateral cleft lip repair in a single-surgeon series can
      achieve improvements in anthropometric measures and early favorable postoperative
      form. The technique could be applied to all cleft types and there was little
      change in outcome with greater surgeon experience. Long-term follow-up is
      necessary. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, IV.

PMID- 25829158
TI  - Studies in Fat Grafting: Part V. Cell-Assisted Lipotransfer to Enhance Fat Graft
      Retention Is Dose Dependent.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cell-assisted lipotransfer has shown much promise as a technique for
      improving fat graft take. However, the concentration of stromal vascular fraction
      cells required to optimally enhance fat graft retention remains unknown. METHODS:
      Human lipoaspirate was processed for both fat transfer and harvest of stromal
      vascular fraction cells. Cells were then mixed back with fat at varying
      concentrations ranging from 10,000 to 10 million cells per 200 MUl of fat. Fat
      graft volume retention was assessed by means of computed tomographic scanning
      over 8 weeks, and then fat grafts were explanted and compared histologically for
      overall architecture and vascularity. RESULTS: Maximum fat graft retention was
      seen at a concentration of 10,000 cells per 200 MUl of fat. The addition of
      higher number of cells negatively impacted fat graft retention, with
      supplementation of 10 million cells producing the lowest final volumes, lower
      than fat alone. Interestingly, fat grafts supplemented with 10,000 cells showed
      significantly increased vascularity and decreased inflammation, whereas fat
      grafts supplemented with 10 million cells showed significant lipodegeneration
      compared with fat alone CONCLUSIONS: : The authors' study demonstrates dose
      dependence in the number of stromal vascular fraction cells that can be added to
      a fat graft to enhance retention. Although cell-assisted lipotransfer may help
      promote graft survival, this effect may need to be balanced with the increased
      metabolic load of added cells that may compete with adipocytes for nutrients
      during the postgraft period.

PMID- 25829159
TI  - The New Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Next Accreditation
      System Milestones Evaluation System: What Is Expected and How Are Plastic Surgery
      Residency Programs Preparing?
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Next
      Accreditation System milestones were implemented for plastic surgery programs in
      July of 2014. Forward progress through the milestones is an indicator of trainee
      appropriate development, whereas regression or stalling may indicate the need for
      concentrated, targeted training. METHODS: Online software at www.surveymonkey.com
      was used to create a survey about the program's approaches to milestones and was
      distributed to program directors and administrators of 96 Accreditation Council
      for Graduate Medical Education-approved plastic surgery programs. RESULTS: The
      authors had a 63.5 percent response rate (61 of 96 plastic surgery programs).
      Most programs report some level of readiness, only 22 percent feel completely
      prepared for the Next Accreditation System milestones, and only 23 percent are
      completely satisfied with their planned approach for compliance. Seventy-five
      percent of programs claim to be using some form of electronic tracking system.
      Programs plan to use multiple tools to capture and report milestone data. Most
      programs (44.4 percent) plan to administer evaluations at the end of each
      rotation. Over 70 percent of respondents believe that the milestones approach
      would improve the quality of resident training. However, programs were less than
      confident that their current compliance systems would live up to their full
      potential. CONCLUSIONS: The Next Accreditation System has been implemented
      nationwide for plastic surgery training programs. Milestone-based resident
      training is a new paradigm for residency training evaluation; programs are in the
      process of making this transition to find ways to make milestone data meaningful
      for faculty and residents.

PMID- 25829160
TI  - Electronic structure investigations of 4-aminophthal hydrazide by UV-visible, NMR
      spectral studies and HOMO-LUMO analysis by ab initio and DFT calculations.
AB  - Combined experimental and theoretical studies were conducted on the molecular
      structure and vibrational spectra of 4-AminoPhthalhydrazide (APH). The FT-IR and
      FT-Raman spectra of APH were recorded in the solid phase. The molecular geometry
      and vibrational frequencies of APH in the ground state have been calculated by
      using the ab initio HF (Hartree-Fock) and density functional methods (B3LYP)
      invoking 6-311+G(d,p) basis set. The optimized geometric bond lengths and bond
      angles obtained by HF and B3LYP method show best agreement with the experimental
      values. Comparison of the observed fundamental vibrational frequencies of APH
      with calculated results by HF and density functional methods indicates that B3LYP
      is superior to the scaled Hartree-Fock approach for molecular vibrational
      problems. The difference between the observed and scaled wave number values of
      most of the fundamentals is very small. A detailed interpretation of the NMR
      spectra of APH was also reported. The theoretical spectrograms for infrared and
      Raman spectra of the title molecule have been constructed. UV-vis spectrum of the
      compound was recorded and the electronic properties, such as HOMO and LUMO
      energies, were performed by time dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT)
      approach. Finally the calculations results were applied to simulated infrared and
      Raman spectra of the title compound which show good agreement with observed
      spectra. And the temperature dependence of the thermodynamic properties of
      constant pressure (Cp), entropy (S) and enthalpy change (DeltaH0->T) for APH were
      also determined. 

PMID- 25829161
TI  - Preparation and characterization of host-guest system between inosine and beta
      cyclodextrin through inclusion mode.
AB  - Inosine is a nucleoside that is formed when hypoxanthine is attached to a ribose
      ring (also known as a ribofuranose) via a beta-N9-glycosidic bond. Inosine is
      commonly found in tRNAs. Inosine (INS) has been used widely as an antiviral drug.
      The inclusion complex of INS with beta-CDx in solution phase is studied by ground
      and excited state with UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy, respectively. A
      binding constant and stoichiometric ratio between INS and beta-CDx are calculated
      by BH equation. The lifetime and relative amplitude of INS is increases with
      increasing the concentrations of beta-CDx, confirms the formation of inclusion
      complex in liquid state. The solid complexes are prepared by kneading method (KM)
      and co-precipitation method (CP). The solid complex is characterized by Fourier
      transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM),
      powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning colorimetry (DSC). CP
      method gives the solid product with good yield than that of physical mixture and
      KM method. The structure of complex is proposed based on the study of Patch -
      Dock server.

PMID- 25829162
TI  - S values for 131I based on the ICRP adult voxel phantoms.
AB  - To improve the estimates of organ doses from nuclear medicine procedures using
      (131)I, the authors calculated a comprehensive set of (131)I S values, defined as
      absorbed doses in target tissues per unit of nuclear transition in source
      regions, for different source and target combinations. The authors used the
      latest reference adult male and female voxel phantoms published by the
      International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP Publication 110) and
      the (131)I photon and electron spectra from the ICRP Publication 107 to perform
      Monte Carlo radiation transport calculations using MCNPX2.7 to compute the S
      values. For each phantom, the authors simulated 55 source regions with an assumed
      uniform distribution of (131)I. They computed the S values for 42 target tissues
      directly, without calculating specific absorbed fractions. From these
      calculations, the authors derived a comprehensive set of S values for (131)I for
      55 source regions and 42 target tissues in the ICRP male and female voxel
      phantoms. Compared with the stylised phantoms from Oak Ridge National Laboratory
      (ORNL) that consist of 22 source regions and 24 target regions, the new data set
      includes 1662 additional S values corresponding to additional combinations of
      source-target tissues that are not available in the stylised phantoms. In a
      comparison of S values derived from the ICRP and ORNL phantoms, the authors found
      that the S values to the radiosensitive tissues in the ICRP phantoms were 1.1
      (median, female) and 1.3 (median, male) times greater than the values based on
      the ORNL phantoms. However, for several source-target pairs, the difference was
      up to 10-fold. The new set of S values can be applied prospectively or
      retrospectively to the calculation of radiation doses in adults internally
      exposed to (131)I, including nuclear medicine patients treated for thyroid cancer
      or hyperthyroidism. 

PMID- 25829163
TI  - Feasibility of combined unipolar and bipolar voltage maps to improve sensitivity
      of endomyocardial biopsy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) has a low sensitivity. Electroanatomic
      voltage mapping (EVM) is effective in guiding EMB thanks to its ability in
      identifying and locating low-voltage regions. The analysis of unipolar EVM can
      correlate with epicardial pathological involvement. We evaluated the unipolar EVM
      in EMB areas to determine whether it can increase EMB sensitivity in diagnosing
      epicardial diseases. METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed endocardial bipolar EVM
      guided EMBs in 29 patients and we analyzed unipolar EVM at withdrawal sites.
      Eighty myocardial samples were collected (mean, 2.8+/-0.9; median, 3 fragments
      per patient) and 60 were suitable for histological analysis. Ten specimens (17%)
      were collected from an area with discordant normal bipolar/low-voltage unipolar
      EVM and they were diagnostic or suggestive for arrhythmogenic right ventricular
      dysplasia/cardiomyopathy in 6 patients, for myocarditis and sarcoidosis in 1
      patient each. Six samples (10%) were collected from an area with discordant low
      voltage bipolar/normal unipolar EVM and they showed nonspecific features. The
      sensitivity of unipolar EVMs for a diagnostic biopsy finding EMB was
      significantly higher compared with bipolar EVMs analyzed according to samples
      (P<0.01) and patients (P=0.008). The specificity of unipolar EMB was better than
      bipolar EMB when analyzed for all samples (P=0.0014) but the difference did not
      reach statistical significance when analyzed by patient (P=0.083). The diagnostic
      yield was 63.3% for the bipolar and 83.3% for the unipolar EVM. CONCLUSIONS:
      These findings suggest that use of a combined bipolar/unipolar map may be able to
      improve the diagnostic yield of endomyocardial ventricular biopsy.

PMID- 25829164
TI  - Acute and chronic performance evaluation of a novel epicardial pacing lead placed
      by percutaneous subxiphoid approach in a canine model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Endovascularly implanted leads risk vascular injury and endocarditis,
      and can be difficult to locate in desired positions for LV pacing. We evaluated
      the acute and long-term stability, electric performance and histopathology of a
      percutaneously placed intrapericardial lead (IPL). METHODS AND RESULTS: Twelve
      adult mongrel dogs underwent defibrillator implants incorporating IPLs.
      Successful uncomplicated percutaneous implantation of an IPL was achieved in all.
      Early fluoroscopic shift noted with 3 of 6 of the initial version IPL-1 was not
      seen with the modified IPL-2. Mean+/-95% confidence interval bipolar capture
      threshold at 0.5-ms pulse width for the IPL increased from 0.69+/-0.14 V at
      implant to 1.50+/-0.34 V (P=0.003) at 12 weeks. The 12-week thresholds were
      higher for IPL compared with right ventricular endocardial leads (0.75+/-0.33 V;
      P=0.001) but not different compared with coronary sinus leads (1.33+/-0.58 V;
      P=0.994). IPL impedance increased from 742+/-46 Omega at implant to 1066+/-207
      Omega at 12 weeks (P=0.007). R-wave amplitude at 12 weeks was 8.37+/-1.52 mV.
      There was no important phrenic nerve stimulation from IPL pacing. Histopathology
      in 8 animals showed adequate adhesion of the electrodes or mesh to the epicardium
      without damage to underlying vasculature. There was no evidence for late
      pericardial inflammation or effusion. CONCLUSIONS: The IPL demonstrated adequate
      stability of position and acceptable electric parameters without chronic
      pericardial inflammation in this canine model and offers a potential alternative
      to endocardial pacing leads.

PMID- 25829165
TI  - Thoracoscopic tunnel technique for anatomical lung resections: a 'fissure first,
      hilum last' approach with staplers in the fissureless patient.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To minimize air leak after anatomical lung resections, many video
      assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) surgeons use a 'fissureless' technique, using
      staplers to divide the hilar bronchovascular structures first and the main part
      of the fissure last. We describe a cohort of 198 consecutive patients operated
      with an alternative fissureless technique, opening the fissure completely with
      staplers at an early stage of the VATS anatomical lung resection. METHODS: To
      open the incomplete fissure first and with staplers, a tunnel dissection is
      started anterior between the triangle of pulmonary veins and the parenchyma.
      After identification of the pulmonary artery, the anvil of a first stapler is
      placed on top of the artery and the anterior part of the fissure is divided.
      Dissection between artery and parenchyma is continued until the fissure is
      completely stapled. From a prospectively managed single institution database, we
      retrieved 405 patients scheduled for VATS anatomical resection between October
      2009 and December 2014. The patients were categorized in four consecutive
      periods: a learning curve with the first 50 cases of VATS lobectomy technique
      (LC), a period of consecutive 'hilum first, fissure last' (HF), a transition
      group (TG) during which both techniques were used and a period of consecutive
      'fissure first, hilum last' (FF). RESULTS: No significant differences in
      operating time, frequency of prolonged air leak or hospital stay were observed
      between HF (n = 45) and FF (n = 198). Chest tubes were removed earlier in the FF
      period (6.9 vs 5.2 days, P = 0.025). Excluding the learning curve, we found 2
      patients (2.8%) operated 'hilum first' with an intraoperative complication that
      potentially could have been avoided by a 'fissure first' technique. CONCLUSIONS:
      By making a tunnel between the bronchovascular structures and parenchyma from
      anteriorly to posteriorly, one can open the fissure completely with staplers at
      an early stage of an anatomical lung resection. This combines the advantages of
      both the 'fissureless' hilum first technique and classic (open) fissure first
      dissection, i.e. minimal air leak and optimal anatomical overview before
      bronchovascular structures are divided, potentially avoiding inadvertent
      transections. A cohort of 198 consecutive patients operated with this alternative
      fissureless technique demonstrates the feasibility and non-inferiority regarding
      hospital stay, chest tube duration, operation time and complications in
      comparison with the hilum first technique.

PMID- 25829166
TI  - Phenotypic switching of vascular smooth muscle cells in animal model of rat
      thoracic aortic aneurysm.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To explore if there is phenotypic switching in the vascular smooth
      muscle cells (vSMCs) of rat thoracic aortic aneurysms and the role it plays in
      the process of aneurysm formation. METHODS: Male SD white rats were assigned
      randomly to the aneurysm group (AG) and control group (CG). The animal aneurysm
      model was obtained by soaking the peri-adventitia with porcine pancreatic
      elastase (PPE). The rats in the CG were given saline to provide contrast. A
      vascular ultrasound was used to monitor the diameter of the aneurysm. Specimens
      were stained with haematoxylin and eosin (HE), and alpha-SMA, SM-MHC, matrix
      metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 were detected with immunohistochemistry
      staining. alpha-SMA, SM-MHC, MMP-2 and MMP-9 were conducted with western blot.
      vSMCs taken from the descending aorta of both of the CG and AG were separated and
      cultured until Passage 3. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium
      bromide (MTT) method were used to analyse cell proliferation. Western blot was
      used to evaluate MMP-2, MMP-9 expression and flow cytometry was employed to
      assess cell apoptosis. RESULTS: Vascular ultrasound showed obvious dilatation of
      soaked descending aorta. HE staining showed thickening of thoracic aorta and
      disarrangement of cells after soaking with PPE. Immunohistochemistry staining
      showed high expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 but low expression of SM-MHC and alpha
      SMA in the AG. Tissue western blot analysis of the AG showed that the protein
      gray value was high in MMP-2 and MMP-9, but low in alpha-SMA and SM-MHC, which
      had statistical differences compared with CG with a P-value of <0.05. MTT
      analysis showed vSMC proliferation activity was higher in the AG than in the CG.
      Flow cytometry analysis revealed that cell apoptosis between the control and
      aneurysm groups had significant statistical differences. CONCLUSIONS: There is
      vSMC phenotypic switching in animal models as seen through the rat thoracic
      aortic aneurysms. This may play an important role in the formation of aneurysms.
      Our findings are relevant to human aneurysms and may be conducive in the research
      of aortic aneurysm pathology and treatment.

PMID- 25829167
TI  - Monitoring Compliance to Promote Quality Assurance: Development of a Mental
      Health Clinical Chart Audit Tool in Belize, 2013.
AB  - Belize trained psychiatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) in the early 1990s to
      provide mental health services throughout the country. Despite overwhelming
      success, the program is limited by lack of monitoring, evaluation, and
      surveillance. To promote quality assurance, we developed a chart audit tool to
      monitor mental healthcare delivery compliance for initial psychiatric assessment
      notes completed by PNPs. After reviewing the Belize Health Information System
      electronic medical record system, we developed a clinical audit tool to capture
      20 essential components for initial assessment clinical notes. The audit tool was
      then piloted for initial assessment notes completed during July through September
      of 2013. One hundred and thirty-four initial psychiatric interviews were audited.
      The average chart score among all PNPs was 9.57, ranging from 3 to 15. Twenty
      three charts-or 17.2%-had a score of 14 or higher and met a 70% compliance
      benchmark goal. Among indicators most frequently omitted included labs ordered
      and named (15.7%) and psychiatric diagnosis (21.6%). Explicit statement of
      medications initiated with dose and frequency occurred in 47.0% of charts. Our
      findings provide direction for training and improvement, such as emphasizing the
      importance of naming labs ordered, medications and doses prescribed, and
      psychiatric diagnoses in initial assessment clinical notes. We hope this initial
      assessment helps enhance mental health delivery compliance by prompting creation
      of BHIS templates, development of audits tools for revisit follow-up visits, and
      establishment of corrective actions for low-scoring practitioners. These efforts
      may serve as a model for implementing quality assurance programming in other low
      resource settings.

PMID- 25829168
TI  - Transport characteristics of organic solvents through carbon nanotube filled
      styrene butadiene rubber nanocomposites: the influence of rubber-filler
      interaction, the degree of reinforcement and morphology.
AB  - The transport behaviour of some aromatic and aliphatic solvents through carbon
      nanotube filled styrene butadiene rubber composites has been investigated. The
      aim of the present work is to investigate the role of the sorption technique in
      analysing the compatibility and the reinforcing effect of MWCNTs as a filler in
      the SBR matrix. It also focuses on the investigation of the relationship between
      the dispersion of CNTs in the SBR matrix and its transport behaviour. The
      diffusion and transport of organic solvents through the membranes have been
      investigated in detail as a function of CNT content, nature of solvent and
      temperature in the range of 28-60  degrees C. Solvent uptake, diffusion, sorption
      and permeation constants were investigated and were found to decrease with the
      increase of CNT loading. Transport properties could be related to the morphology
      of the nanocomposites. At high concentration CNT particles form a local filler
      filler network in the rubber matrix. As a result, the transport of solvent
      molecules through the polymer is hindered. The rubber-solvent interaction
      parameter, enthalpy and entropy of sorption have also been estimated from the
      transport data. The values of rubber-solvent interaction parameters obtained from
      the diffusion experiments have been used to calculate the molecular mass between
      the crosslinks of the network polymer. The better reinforcement at higher filler
      loading was confirmed from the cross-link density values. The extent of
      reinforcement was evaluated using Kraus and Cunneen and Russel equations. The
      Affine and Phantom models for chemical crosslinks were used to predict the
      mobility of the crosslinks. The Phantom model gave better fitting indicating that
      the chains can move freely through one another, i.e. the junction points
      fluctuate over time around their mean position without any hindrance from the
      neighbouring molecule. The diffusivity datas of the systems have shown dependence
      on the temperature and microstructure of the nanocomposite. Finally, the
      diffusion data have been compared with theoretical predictions. 

PMID- 25829169
TI  - Biosynthesis and characterisation of silver nanoparticles using Sphingomonas
      paucimobilis sp. BDS1.
AB  - Sphingomonas is a novel and abundant microbial resource for biodegradation of
      aromatic compounds. It has great potential in environment protection and
      industrial production. The use of microorganisms for the synthesis of
      nanoparticles is in the limelight of modern nanotechnology, since it is cost
      effective, non-toxic and friendly to the ever-overwhelmed environment. In this
      paper, the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Sphingomonas
      paucimobilis sp. BDS1 under ambient conditions was investigated for the first
      time. Biosynthesised AgNPs were characterised with powder ultraviolet-visible
      spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR),
      field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray
      spectroscopy. The overall results revealed that well-dispersed face centred cubic
      spherical AgNPs in the range of 50-80 nm were produced on the surface of
      Sphingomonas paucimobilis sp. BDS1, after challenging pure wet biomass with
      silver nitrate solution. This suggests that the capture of silver ions may be a
      complex process of physical and chemical adsorption and the proteins on the
      surface of the bacteria may play the role of reduction and stabilising agent with
      regard to the result of FTIR. 

PMID- 25829170
TI  - Fabrication of long-acting drug release property of hierarchical porous
      bioglasses/polylactic acid fibre scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.
AB  - Hierarchical porous fibre scaffolds with mesoporous bioglasses (MBGs) and
      polylactic acid (PLA) were successfully fabricated by the electrospinning method.
      These compound scaffolds possess macropores with sizes of about 100 nm because of
      the solvent evaporation from the fibre and the mesoporous structure ( ~4.0 nm)
      originated from MBGs. The biomineralisation ability was investigated in simulated
      body fluid. The fibre structure is beneficial for inducing the growth of
      hydroxyapatite. In addition, compared with pure MBGs, the materials (MP-1 and MP
      2) exhibit a long-acting drug release process up to 140 h and the drug release
      process corresponds with the Fickian diffusion mechanism. With the special fibre
      morphology and the hierarchical porous structure, the MBGs/PLA fibre scaffolds
      are expected to have potential application for bone tissue repair and
      regeneration. 

PMID- 25829171
TI  - Gold nanoparticles: novel catalyst for the preparation of direct methanol fuel
      cell.
AB  - The authors report the biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) using plant
      pathogenic Phoma glomerata (MTCC 2210). The synthesis of nanoparticles was
      characterised by visual observation followed UV-visible spectrophotometric
      analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and nanoparticle tracking
      analysis. Later, direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) was constructed using two
      chambers (anodic chamber and cathodic chamber). These Au-NPs as catalysts have
      various advantages over the other catalysts that are used in the DMFC. Most
      importantly, it is cheaper as compared with other catalysts like platinum, and
      showed higher catalytic activity because of its effective surface structure.
      Being nano in size, it provides more surface area for the attachment of reactant
      molecules (methanol molecules). The DMFC catalysed by Au-NPs are found to be
      suitable to replace lithium ion battery technology in consumer electronics like
      cell phones, laptops and so on due to the fact that they can produce a high
      amount of energy in a small space. As long as fuel and air are supplied to the
      DMFC, it will continue to produce power, so it does not need to be recharged. The
      use of Au-NPs as catalyst in DMFC has not been reported in the past; it is
      reported here the first time. 

PMID- 25829172
TI  - Synthesis of silver nanoparticles by Phoma gardeniae and in vitro evaluation of
      their efficacy against human disease-causing bacteria and fungi.
AB  - The authors report the biological synthesis of silver nanoparticles (NPs) by
      Phoma gardeniae (ITCC 4554). The detection of silver NP formation was done by
      visual observation, and UV-vis spectrophotometer analysis. Further, these
      mycogenic silver NPs were characterised by Fourier transform infrared
      spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nanoparticle
      tracking and analysis system. The TEM analysis revealed the formation of
      spherical and polydispersed NPs within the range of 10-30 nm. FTIR analysis
      confirmed the presence of proteins as capping agents. They also evaluated the
      antimicrobial activity of silver NPs against Candida albicans, Salmonella
      choleraesuis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.
      They found remarkable inhibition of Escherichia coli followed by Staphylococcus
      aureus, Candida albicans, Salmonella choleraesuis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as
      compared with antibiotics. The main aim of the present study was to synthesise
      mycogenic silver NPs by P. gardeniae and to evaluate their antimicrobial activity
      in order to find their potential against human pathogenic microbes. 

PMID- 25829173
TI  - Electrospun scaffold containing TGF-beta1 promotes human mesenchymal stem cell
      differentiation towards a nucleus pulposus-like phenotype under hypoxia.
AB  - The study was aimed at evaluating the effect of electrospun scaffold containing
      TGF-beta1 on promoting human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) differentiation
      towards a nucleus pulposus-like phenotype under hypoxia. Two kinds of nanofibrous
      scaffolds containing TGF-beta1 were fabricated using uniaxial electrospinning
      (Group I) and coaxial electrospinning (Group II). Human MSCs were seeded on both
      kinds of scaffolds and cultured in a hypoxia chamber (2% O2), and then the
      scaffolds were characterised. Cell proliferation and differentiation were also
      evaluated after 3 weeks of cell culture. Results showed that both kinds of
      scaffolds shared similar diameter distributions and protein release. However,
      Group I scaffolds were more hydrophilic than that of Group II. Both kinds of
      scaffolds induced the MSCs to differentiate towards the nucleus pulposus-type
      phenotype in vitro. In addition, the expression of nucleus pulposus-associated
      genes (aggrecan, type II collagen, HIF-1alpha and Sox-9) in Group I increased
      more than that of Group II. These results indicate that electrospinning
      nanofibrous scaffolds containing TGF-beta1 supports the differentiation of MSCs
      towards the pulposus-like phenotype in a hypoxia chamber, which would be a more
      appropriate choice for nucleus pulposus regeneration. 

PMID- 25829174
TI  - Molecular dynamic simulation of Ca2+-ATPase interacting with lipid bilayer
      membrane.
AB  - In biomedical and drug delivery treatments, protein Ca2+-ATPase in the lipid
      bilayer (plasma) membrane plays a key role by reducing multidrug resistance of
      the cancerous cells. The lipid bilayer membrane and the protein Ca2+-ATPase were
      simulated by utilising the Gromacs software and by applying the all-atom/united
      atom and coarse-grained models. The initial structure of Ca2+-ATPase was derived
      from X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy patterns and was placed in a
      simulated bilayer membrane of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine. The conformational
      changes were investigated by evaluating the root mean square deviation, root mean
      square fluctuation, order parameter, diffusion coefficients, partial density,
      thickness and area per lipid.

PMID- 25829175
TI  - DNA adduct identification using gold-aptamer nanoprobes.
AB  - The optical and physico-chemical properties of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have
      prompted new and improved approaches which have greatly evolved the fields of
      biosensing and molecular detection. In this study, the authors took advantage of
      AuNPs' ease of modification and functionalised it with selected DNA aptamers
      using a salt aging method to produce gold-aptamer nanoprobes. After
      characterisation, these nanoprobes were subsequently used for biomolecular
      detection of glycidamide (GA)-guanine (Gua) adducts generated in vitro. The
      results are based on differences in nanoprobe stabilisation against salt-induced
      aggregation, similar to the non-cross-linking method developed by Baptista for
      discrimination of specific sequences. Alkylated Guas were efficiently
      discriminated from deoxyguanosine and GA in solution. Despite this, a clear
      identification of DNA adducts derived from genomic DNA alkylation has proven to
      be a more challenging task. 

PMID- 25829176
TI  - High-throughput assay and engineering of self-cleaving ribozymes by sequencing.
AB  - Self-cleaving ribozymes are found in all domains of life and are believed to play
      important roles in biology. Additionally, self-cleaving ribozymes have been the
      subject of extensive engineering efforts for applications in synthetic biology.
      These studies often involve laborious assays of multiple individual variants that
      are either designed rationally or discovered through selection or screening.
      However, these assays provide only a limited view of the large sequence space
      relevant to the ribozyme function. Here, we report a strategy that allows
      quantitative characterization of greater than 1000 ribozyme variants in a single
      experiment. We generated a library of predefined ribozyme variants that were
      converted to DNA and analyzed by high-throughput sequencing. By counting the
      number of cleaved and uncleaved reads of every variant in the library, we
      obtained a complete activity profile of the ribozyme pool which was used to both
      analyze and engineer allosteric ribozymes. 

PMID- 25829178
TI  - An update on LNCipedia: a database for annotated human lncRNA sequences.

PMID- 25829177
TI  - Robust meta-analysis of gene expression using the elastic net.
AB  - Meta-analysis of gene expression has enabled numerous insights into biological
      systems, but current methods have several limitations. We developed a method to
      perform a meta-analysis using the elastic net, a powerful and versatile approach
      for classification and regression. To demonstrate the utility of our method, we
      conducted a meta-analysis of lung cancer gene expression based on publicly
      available data. Using 629 samples from five data sets, we trained a multinomial
      classifier to distinguish between four lung cancer subtypes. Our meta-analysis
      derived classifier included 58 genes and achieved 91% accuracy on leave-one-study
      out cross-validation and on three independent data sets. Our method makes meta
      analysis of gene expression more systematic and expands the range of questions
      that a meta-analysis can be used to address. As the amount of publicly available
      gene expression data continues to grow, our method will be an effective tool to
      help distill these data into knowledge. 

PMID- 25829179
TI  - Nature journal's plan to fast track paper for a fee prompts resignation from
      editorial board.

PMID- 25829181
TI  - GP fails in attempt to reverse decision to suspend his practice.

PMID- 25829180
TI  - A Prospective, Longitudinal Study of the Effect of Remission on Cortical
      Thickness and Hippocampal Volume in Patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance imaging studies have provided evidence of
      structural modifications in cortical-limbic regions in major depressive disorder.
      To date, however, few studies have tracked structural changes in patients during
      treatment. This prospective, longitudinal imaging study investigated associations
      between brain structure and clinical responsiveness in a sample of patients with
      treatment-resistant major depressive disorder during an approximate 1-year follow
      up period. METHODS: FreeSurfer software was used to extract volume or cortical
      thickness values from 6 regions of interest (hippocampus, rostral middle frontal
      gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, rostral and caudal anterior cingulate cortices, and
      inferior temporal gyrus) in patients (n = 26) and matched healthy controls (n =
      28). Regions of interest were selected based on previous evidence of potential
      associations between morphometric characteristics in these regions and treatment
      response or remission. Analyses were conducted to compare volume and cortical
      thickness in patients and controls at baseline imaging, determine whether
      patients' brain structure at treatment initiation was associated with response
      over follow-up, and compare longitudinal changes in volume and cortical thickness
      in patients who achieved sustained 6-month remission (Montgomery-Asberg
      Depression Rating Scale Score <=12) with nonremitters. RESULTS: Patients and
      controls showed no structural differences at baseline. Among patients, thicker
      right caudal anterior cingulate cortex at baseline was associated with greater
      symptom improvement over follow-up. Remitters and nonremitters showed subtle
      changes in volume and thickness over time in opposing directions, with increased
      hippocampal volume and cortical thickness in the rostral middle frontal gyrus,
      orbitofrontal cortex, and inferior temporal gyrus in remitters, and decreased
      volume or thickness in these regions in nonremitters. CONCLUSIONS: The results
      suggest that longitudinal structural trajectories may differ in major depressive
      disorder patients according to their clinical response to treatment.

PMID- 25829182
TI  - Effect of titanium carbonitride (Ti(C,N)) decomposition on failure mechanisms in
      Inconel 617 alloy.
AB  - Titanium Carbonitride (Ti(C,N)) decomposition in Inconel 617 alloy creep-exposed
      at 650 degrees C for 574 hours is reported using analytical electron microscopy
      techniques. Cr-enriched M23C6-type carbides enveloped in fine gamma prime
      particles thought to be precipitated from the decomposition reaction are observed
      in the alloy. The morphology of the M23C6 carbides is irregular and blocky and
      the particle size up to 5 MUm, whereas the morphology of gamma prime particles is
      mostly spherical and up to 30 nm in size. Intergranular carbides are mostly
      secondary precipitates of the M23Cc type (M predominantly Cr) and these respond
      to solution heat treatment and precipitate on the grain boundaries as a result of
      ageing. The ability of intragranular MX to decompose is sensitive to the N
      content, high N resists decomposition. Decomposed intragranular MX provides an
      excess source of C which can react locally with Cr to form heat treatable
      intragranular fine Cr23C6 precipitates. M6C can segregate in interdendritic
      locations during melting which may be the reason for high content of Mo in M23C6.
      These precipitates are generally very small and contribute to an additional
      hardening effect and are the reason for the onset of voiding and cracking along
      the grain boundaries that ultimately lead to a reduced creep rupture life.

PMID- 25829183
TI  - Toll-like receptor 4 inhibition in lung ischemia-reperfusion injury: Time for a
      clinical trial?

PMID- 25829184
TI  - STAT4 genetic polymorphisms association with spontaneous clearance of hepatitis B
      virus infection.
AB  - STAT4 signal pathway plays an important role in IFN-gamma-mediated antiviral
      activity. Recent studies show an association of STAT4 polymorphisms with
      hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. We therefore investigated the influence of
      STAT4 polymorphisms on the susceptibility of spontaneous clearance of HBV in a
      Chinese Han population. Genomic DNA from 288 cases with chronic HBV infection and
      288 controls who spontaneously recovered from HBV infection was analyzed for five
      SNPs in the STAT4 gene (rs7574865, rs7572482, rs7582694 rs11889341, and
      rs8179673).Our analysis revealed that all the minor alleles of the four SNPs
      (rs7574865, rs7582694, rs11889341, and rs8179673) had an association with overall
      decreased risk to HBV infection [p = 0.040, OR 0.762 (95 % CI 0.593-0.981); p =
      0.011, OR 0.686 (95 % CI 0.535-0.878); p = 0.023, OR 0.751 (95 % CI 0.586-0.962);
      p = 0.002, OR 0.670 (95 % CI 0.521-0.861), respectively]. The major alleles of
      the four SNPs were found to be associated with increased risk of HBV-related
      cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Furthermore, the haplotype GGGCT
      constructed from the five SNPs was found to have a highly significant association
      with chronic HBV infection when compared to the controls who spontaneously
      recovered from HBV infection [p = 0.031, OR 1.368 (95 % CI 1.028-1.818)]. These
      findings indicate that STAT4 minor allele may be associated with the spontaneous
      clearance of HBV, whereas the major allele may be associated with the progress of
      the HBV-related liver disease.

PMID- 25829185
TI  - Evaluation of right ventricular function performed by 3D-echocardiography in
      scleroderma patients.
AB  - The impairment of the right ventricle (RV) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is usually
      related to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). New echocardiographic
      techniques, such as 3-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) and 2-dimensional
      speckle tracking (2DSTE), allow an accurate evaluation of the RV function. The
      aim of this study was to evaluate the RV function using 3DE and 2DSTE in SSc
      patients with no history of heart disease and no PAH. Forty-five SSc patients, 42
      females and 3 males, 28 with limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) and 17 with diffuse
      cutaneous SSc (dcSSc), were studied. Forty-three age- and gender-matched healthy
      subjects were enrolled as controls. All of them underwent a 3DE and 2DSTE
      ecocardiographic evaluation of the RV function. Systolic pulmonary arterial
      pressure (sPAP) and total pulmonary vascular resistance (tPVR) were also
      estimated by power doppler. RV echocardiographic parameters were compared in the
      different subsets of SSc patients. A statistical analysis was performed by t
      test, ANOVA and multiple logistic regression. RV areas in 2DSTE and volumes in
      3DE were higher and RV function parameters were reduced in SSc patients compared
      with controls. Also sPAP and tVPR were higher, but they did not reach
      pathological values. Echocardiographic alterations were more pronounced in
      patients with lcSSc. 3DE and 2DSTE echocardiography allowed us to detect
      morphological and functional alterations of the RV in a group of SSc patients
      with no clinical signs of heart disease and no PAH. These patients had
      significantly higher sPAP and tPVR than healthy controls without reporting values
      compatible with PAH. These data suggest that RV alterations are related to a
      pressure overload rather than to an intrinsic myocardial involvement in SSc.

PMID- 25829186
TI  - Adherence to recommendations for cervical and breast cancer screening in systemic
      sclerosis.
AB  - The aim of the study was to evaluate the adherence of systemic sclerosis (SSc)
      female patients to cervix and breast cancer screening procedures, as suggested by
      local guidelines. A cohort of 84 SSc women was asked if they had undergone
      mammography and Pap test during the previous 2- and 3-year intervals, as
      indicated according to the Italian recommendations. The results were compared
      with those collected in patients affected by other chronic rheumatic disorders
      and in the general population. More than 85% of SSc women declared to comply with
      an age-related cervix and breast cancer screening schedule. The data were similar
      to those collected in patients affected by other chronic rheumatic disorders,
      whereas the subjects belonging to the general population reported to undergo
      breast cancer screening more frequently. Among SSc women, neither the educational
      level, nor the lung and skin involvement influenced their cancer screening
      program compliance. Only a positive history of ischemic digital ulcers seemed to
      interfere with mammography. Our study reported a very high percentage of SSc
      female patients who adhered to programs for the early detection of cervical and
      breast cancer. The significant adherence to guidelines may be due to the schedule
      adopted by the local health public service, which regularly invites eligible
      subjects by mail to undergo cancer screening at no charge.

PMID- 25829187
TI  - Elevated serum levels of macrophage migration inhibitory factor and stem cell
      growth factor beta in patients with idiopathic and systemic sclerosis associated
      pulmonary arterial hypertension.
AB  - Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) can be idiopathic or secondary to
      autoimmune diseases, and it represents one of the most threatening complications
      of systemic sclerosis (SSc). Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a
      pleiotropic cytokine with proinflammatory functions that appears to be involved
      in the pathogenesis of hypoxia-induced PH. In SSc patients, high serum levels of
      MIF have been associated with the development of ulcers and PAH. Stem cell growth
      factor beta (SCGF beta) is a human growth factor that, together with MIF, is
      involved in the pathogenesis of chronic spinal cord injury. The aim of our study
      was to measure serum levels of MIF in patients with idiopathic and SSc-associated
      PAH. We enrolled 13 patients with idiopathic PAH and 15 with SSc-associated PAH.
      We also selected 14 SSc patients without PAH and 12 normal healthy controls,
      matched for sex and age. PAH was confirmed by right hearth catheterism (mPAP>25
      mmHg). MIF and SCGF beta levels were measured by ELISA. We found significantly
      higher circulating levels of MIF and of SCGF beta in patients with idiopathic PAH
      (P=0.03 and P=0.004) and with PAH secondary to SSc (P=0.018 and P=0.023) compared
      to SSc patients without PAH. Higher levels of MIF were found in those patients
      with an higher New York Heart Association (NYHA) class (P=0.03). We can
      hypothesize that MIF and SCGF beta are able to play a role in PAH, both
      idiopathic or secondary, and in the future they may be evaluated as useful
      biomarkers and prognostic factors for this serious vascular disease.

PMID- 25829188
TI  - Ex vivo and in vitro production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in Blau syndrome.
AB  - The objective was to study both ex vivo and in vitro secretion of pro
      inflammatory cytokines in patients affected by Blau syndrome (BS) and carrying
      p.E383K mutation in the CARD15/NOD2 gene associated with the disease. For ex vivo
      studies, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), serum from three patients
      and healthy controls have been collected. PBMCs have been cultured in the
      presence or absence of inflammatory enhancers, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS)
      and muramyl dipeptide (MDP). The levels of interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, IL-8,
      tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interferon (IFN)-gamma were assayed by
      either immunoassay or array-based system. For in vitro studies, different
      constructs were created cloning human wild-type and p.E383K-mutated NOD2 cDNA
      into the expression vector pCMV-Tag2c. HEK293 cell lines were stably transfected,
      cultured with or without MDP and IL-8 level was assayed in their surnatants.
      Statistical analysis in both studies was performed using non-parametric tests.
      Both ex vivo and in vitro studies have not identified a significant increase in
      secretion of the analyzed proinflammatory cytokines. p.E383K-mutated NOD2
      transfected cells express low level of IL-8. The ex vivo basal level results from
      both serum and PBMCs surnatants present similar levels of IL-1beta, IL-6, TNF
      alpha and IFN-gamma in patients and controls. The presence of the stimulant
      agents (LPS and MDP), either individual or paired, does not lead to significant
      increases in all cytokines concentrations in patients compared to controls. Taken
      together, the ex vivo and in vitro data suggest that there is not a primary
      mediation of IL-1beta and other pro-inflammatory cytokines in BS patients
      carrying p.E383K.

PMID- 25829189
TI  - Why golimumab in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and
      rheumatoid arthritis?
AB  - Golimumab is an anti-TNF monoclonal antibody administred subcutaneously once a
      month and produced with an innovative technology that minimizes immunogenicity.
      This paper reviews and updates the main studies on the efficacy, safety and
      pharmacoeconomic aspects of treatment with golimumab of psoriatic arthritis,
      ankylosing spondylitis and rheumatoid arthritis.

PMID- 25829190
TI  - Are biological drugs safe in pregnancy?
AB  - The introduction of biological therapies has significantly improved the outcome
      of inflammatory rheumatic diseases. As most of these diseases affect women and
      men in childbearing age, some concerns have been voiced as to the safety of these
      drugs in relation to reproduction and pregnancy. Data from many hundreds of
      pregnancies in patients affected by inflammatory bowel disease and inflammatory
      arthritis have suggested that exposure to anti-TNF therapies at conception and/or
      during pregnancy is not associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes or any
      increase in congenital abnormalities. However, the exposure to anti-TNFalpha
      agents, particularly to monoclonal antibodies, in late pregnancy is associated
      with high drug levels in the newborn and their long-term effects on children
      remain unknown. Therefore, limiting the use of anti-TNFalpha to the first 30
      weeks of pregnancy is recommended to reduce fetal exposure. Live-virus vaccines
      should be given only when levels of anti-TNFalpha drugs are undetectable in the
      serum of infants. Studies suggest that many of these drugs do enter breast milk
      in small amounts, but the extent to which the infant absorbs them is less clear.
      Limited reports have not suggested adverse pregnancy outcomes in women whose
      partners were exposed to anti-TNF therapies at the time of conception. Pregnancy
      data for rituximab, abatacept, anakinra, tocilizumab and belimumab are limited
      and their use in pregnancy cannot currently be recommended.

PMID- 25829191
TI  - Change perspective to increase diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography in calcium
      pyrophosphate dehydrate deposition disease! A new approach: the axial scan of the
      meniscus.
AB  - Ultrasonography (US) is a relevant tool in the study of calcium pyrophosphate
      dihydrate (CPP) deposition disease. However, differential diagnosis of
      hyperechoic deposits within the fibrocartilage can be difficult; moreover, US
      study is limited by the need of an adequate acoustic window. We describe a US
      scanning technique that offers a new viewpoint in the study of knee meniscal
      structure: a longitudinal scan performed according to the long axis of meniscus.
      This technique proves to be particularly useful for the identification of CPP
      deposition, but could also improve the US diagnostic utility and accuracy in
      other meniscal pathologies.

PMID- 25829192
TI  - Ribosomal protein L11- and retinol dehydrogenase 11-induced erythroid
      proliferation without erythropoietin in UT-7/Epo erythroleukemic cells.
AB  - Erythropoiesis is the process of proliferation, differentiation, and maturation
      of erythroid cells. Understanding these steps will help to elucidate the basis of
      specific diseases associated with abnormal production of red blood cells. In this
      study, we continued our efforts to identify genes involved in erythroid
      proliferation. Lentivirally transduced UT-7/Epo erythroleukemic cells expressing
      ribosomal protein L11 (RPL11) or retinol dehydrogenase 11 (RDH11) could
      proliferate in the absence of erythropoietin, and their cell-cycle profiles
      revealed G0/G1 prolongation and low percentages of apoptosis. RPL11-expressing
      cells proliferated more rapidly than the RDH11-expressing cells. The
      antiapoptotic proteins BCL-XL and BCL-2 were expressed in both cell lines. Unlike
      the parental UT-7/Epo cells, the expression of hemoglobins (Hbs) in the
      transduced cells had switched from adult to fetal type. Several signal
      transduction pathways, including STAT5, were highly activated in transduced
      cells; furthermore, expression of the downstream target genes of STAT5, such as
      CCND1, was upregulated in the transduced cells. Taken together, the data indicate
      that RPL11 and RDH11 accelerate erythroid cell proliferation by upregulating the
      STAT5 signaling pathway with phosphorylation of Lyn and cyclic AMP response
      element-binding protein (CREB). 

PMID- 25829193
TI  - Stroke and death prediction with CHA2DS2-vasc score after myocardial infarction
      in patients without atrial fibrillation.
AB  - AIMS: The CHA2DS2-VASc score is widely used to stratify the risk of stroke in
      patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. The aim of the study was to assess
      whether the CHA2DS2-VASc score might be useful to identify patients at a high
      risk of ischemic stroke and death among individuals after acute myocardial
      infarction and with no history of atrial fibrillation. METHODS: We analysed
      consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to our centre
      between 2003 and 2008. On the basis of the CHA2DS2-VASc score, four groups were
      distinguished: low-risk (1 point), intermediate-risk (2-3 points), high-risk (4-5
      points) and very high-risk (>5 points). Data on long-term follow-up were screened
      to identify patients who experienced stroke or died during remote observation.
      RESULTS: Out of 2980 registry participants, 333 were excluded because of atrial
      fibrillation and/or ongoing therapy with oral anticoagulants. Finally, 2647
      individuals were included into the analysis. An ischemic stroke occurred in 71
      (2.68%) patients, whereas 439 (16.58%) died during a median follow-up of 41.5
      months. The risk of stroke and death increased four-fold in the high-risk group
      compared with the low-risk group (P < 0.001). Every point in the CHA2DS2-VASc
      score was independently associated with 41% increase in stroke risk and 23%
      increase in mortality rate (for both P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The mortality rate
      and risk of stroke were strongly associated with the CHA2DS2-VASc scores. Hence,
      this scoring system could be useful to identify high-risk patients with no
      history of atrial fibrillation, in whom additional preventive measures might be
      beneficial to improve the outcome.

PMID- 25829194
TI  - Should prenatal hydronephrosis that resolves before birth be followed
      postnatally? Analysis and comparison to persistent prenatal hydronephrosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prenatal ultrasonography has greatly enhanced detection of congenital
      genitourinary abnormalities. However, although persistent prenatal hydronephrosis
      (PPH) is typically imaged and followed postnatally, it remains unclear if
      prenatal hydronephrosis that resolves in utero (RPH) should be similarly managed.
      We determined postnatal abnormalities associated with RPH and compared these to
      those associated with PPH. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of all
      consecutive patients evaluated for prenatal hydronephrosis over 24 months.
      Patients were followed prenatally with serial ultrasounds and postnatally with
      ultrasonography and a voiding cystourethrogram. RESULTS: Of the consecutive 165
      patients enrolled in the study, 72 had RPH. The average prenatal anterior
      posterior renal pelvis length was significantly longer in patients with PPH (5.5
      mm) than in those with RPH (4.9 mm) (p = 0.01). Recurrent postnatal
      hydronephrosis occurred in 44% of patients with RPH, with eventual resolution in
      34% of those affected. In comparison, 29% of PPH cases resolved postnatally. Mean
      time to resolution was statistically shorter for PPH (116 days) than for RPH (175
      days) (p = 0.01). Seven PPH patients required surgery, while no RPH patients
      needed intervention (difference was statistically significant). CONCLUSIONS: A
      significant number of RPH children had postnatal hydronephrosis. Despite a slower
      resolution time, no children with RPH required intervention. Although RPH may
      recur postnatally, the significantly lower chance of intervention being required
      suggests that these children may not require postnatal imaging.

PMID- 25829195
TI  - Patient access to health care and medicines across low-income countries.
AB  - This study explores the issue of demand for health care and medicines in low
      income country settings. Using the World Health Survey, multivariate analysis of
      cross-sectional household data from 35 low-income countries found that when ill,
      patient demand for health care to visit a clinic or hospital is inelastic ranging
      from -0.19 to 0.11. The main determinants of health seeking behaviour include
      having insurance, having a chronic condition, high household expenditure, and
      marital status. Women, the educated and those living in urban settings are more
      likely to seek care in a clinic. These findings suggest low-income patients will
      experience access problems, raising important policy implications to improve
      access to health care and medicines in these settings. 

PMID- 25829197
TI  - No vote in US Congress on proposal to create new pathway for approving
      antibiotics.

PMID- 25829196
TI  - Endothelial protective genes induced by statin are mimicked by ERK5 activation as
      triggered by a drug combination of FTI-277 and GGTI-298.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Statins are potent inhibitors of cholesterol biosynthesis and are
      clinically beneficial in preventing cardiovascular diseases, however, the
      therapeutic utility of these drugs is limited by myotoxicity. Here, we explored
      the mechanism of statin-mediated activation of ERK5 in the human endothelium with
      the goal of identifying compounds that confer endothelial protection but are
      nontoxic to muscle. METHODS: An ERK5-one hybrid luciferase reporter transfected
      into COS-7 cells with pharmacological and molecular manipulations dissected the
      signaling pathway leading to statin activation of ERK5. qRT-PCR of HUVEC cells
      documented the transcriptional activation of endothelial-protective genes.
      Lastly, morphological and cellular ATP analysis, and induction of atrogin-1 in
      C2C12 myotubes were used to assess statin-induced myopathy. RESULTS: Statin
      activation of ERK5 is dependent on the cellular reduction of GGPPs. Furthermore,
      we found that the combination of FTI-277 (inhibitor of farnesyl transferase) and
      GGTI-298 (inhibitor of geranylgeranyl transferase I) mimicked the statin-mediated
      activation of ERK5. FTI-277 and GGTI-298 together recapitulated the beneficial
      effects of statins by transcriptionally upregulating anti-inflammatory mediators
      such as eNOS, THBD, and KLF2. Finally, C2C12 skeletal myotubes treated with both
      FTI-277 and GGTI-298 evoked less morphological and cellular changes recognized as
      biomarkers of statin-associated myopathy. CONCLUSIONS: Statin-induced endothelial
      protection and myopathy are mediated by distinct metabolic intermediates and co
      inhibition of farnesyl transferase and geranylgeranyl transferase I confer
      endothelial protection without myopathy. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: The combinatorial
      FTI-277 and GGTI-298 drug regimen provides a promising alternative avenue for
      endothelial protection without myopathy.

PMID- 25829198
TI  - Relationship between subclinical cardiac troponin I elevation and culprit lesion
      characteristics assessed by optical coherence tomography in patients undergoing
      elective percutaneous coronary intervention.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prevalence of subclinical, cardiac troponin I (cTnI) elevation in
      stable patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention and its
      relationship to culprit lesion characteristics assessed by optical coherence
      tomography (OCT) are unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 206 native de novo
      culprit coronary lesions from 206 patients with stable angina pectoris who
      underwent OCT before elective percutaneous coronary intervention. Patients were
      divided into 2 groups according to the presence (cTnI group; n=47; 22.8%) or
      absence (non-cTnI group; n=159; 77.2%) of cTnI >=0.03 ng/mL at admission. The
      clinical and OCT findings were compared between these 2 groups. No significant
      difference was found in the clinical presentation between the groups except for
      the serum C-reactive protein levels and presence of multivessel disease. By OCT,
      cTnI elevation was associated with the presence of thin-cap fibroatheromas, a
      greater lipid arc, and a longer lipid length. In a multivariable analysis, the
      presence of positive C-reactive protein levels (odds ratio, 4.38; 95% confidence
      interval, 1.90-10.08; P=0.001) and OCT-derived thin-cap fibroatheromas (odds
      ratio, 2.89; 95% confidence interval, 1.22-6.86; P=0.016) were independent
      predictors of cTnI elevation. Periprocedural myocardial injury, defined as
      postpercutaneous coronary intervention peak cTnI levels >1.0 ng/mL (5* the upper
      reference limit), occurred more often in patients with cTnI elevation at
      admission (cTnI group: 41% versus non-cTnI group: 18%; P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The
      presence of subclinical cTnI elevation at admission was not uncommon and was
      associated with OCT-derived unstable plaque morphology in patients undergoing
      elective percutaneous coronary intervention, and may help to identify patients
      with stable angina pectoris at high risk for periprocedural myocardial injury.

PMID- 25829199
TI  - A retrospective study of end-to-side venous anastomosis for free flap in
      extremity reconstruction.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The success of end-to-side (ETS) venous anastomosis primarily
      depends on several mandatory factors including recipient vessel selection and
      reconstruction site. This retrospective study was designed to analyze the success
      rate of ETS venous anastomosis for free flap extremity reconstruction. METHODS:
      Between 2009 and 2011, ETS venous anastomosis was performed in 117 patients to
      reconstruct soft tissue defects of extremity at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital. The
      patients were divided into three groups: (1) only one large recipient vein left,
      (2) two deep venas, (3) one deep vein and one superficial vein. Medical records
      and the follow-up data were retrospectively reviewed. The success rates of the
      three groups were compared with Chi-squared test. RESULTS: Totally, 5, 52, and 60
      patients were included in Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3, respectively. The
      overall surgery success rate was 96.6% (113/117) with four failures: zero in
      Group 1, two in Group 2 (2/52, 3.8%) and two in Group 3 (2/60, 3.3%), due to
      venous thrombosis. The re-anastomosis rate in re-exploration in Group 1, 2 and 3
      was 0%, 1.9% (1/52), and 1.7% (1/60), respectively. No complication was observed
      during the operation. DISCUSSION: No statistical difference was observed in flap
      failure rate among the three different types of ETS anastomosis. This suggests
      that differences of the ETS anastomosis surgical site might not affect the
      surgery success rate. CONCLUSION: These results confirmed that the success rate
      of ETS anastomosis was not affected by the local conditions of surgery site.

PMID- 25829200
TI  - Body Surface Area: A new predictive factor of mortality and pancreatic fistula
      after pancreaticoduodenectomy: A cohort-study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: To assess the role of Body Surface Area (BSA) in predicting
      pancreatic fistula and mortality after pancreaticoduodenectomy. METHODS: The data
      of patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy between January 1992 to
      December 2012 at the University Hospital of Caen were collected prospectively and
      analyzed retrospectively. Pancreatic fistula was determined according to the
      ISPGF (International Study Group for Pancreatic Fistula) criteria. The Clavien
      and Dindo classification was used for grading post-operative complications and
      BSA was calculated according to the Boyd formula. Patients were classified as
      "large" and "non-large" using a BSA value >=1.82 to define the large group and
      the non-large group. The primary end points were post-operative mortality rate,
      and the rate and grade of post-operative pancreatic fistula. RESULTS: 411
      patients underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy with a mean age of 61.2 (+/-12.1)
      year. Six patients (1.45%) died post-operatively. Patients with a BSA >=1.82 had
      a significantly higher risk of post-operative death: OR 3.55 [1.43-8.80] (p <
      0.0005). Eighty-five patients (20.7%) developed a post-operative pancreatic
      fistulas. The grade A pancreatic fistula rate was 87.1%. Patients with a BSA
      >=1.82 had a significantly higher risk of developing overall post-operative
      pancreatic fistula (p < 0.038). Multivariate analysis showed that "large"
      patients (1.86, 95%CI[1.09-3.92], p = 0.0229), soft pancreas (6.5, 95%CI[2.39
      9.31], p = 0.0155) and a BMI >= 25 (1.09, 95%CI[1.031-1.163], p = 0.0407) were
      independent risk factors of pancreatic fistula. CONCLUSION: Body Surface Area is
      a useful factor after pancreaticoduodenectomy to predict mortality and post
      operative fistula.

PMID- 25829201
TI  - Mycolic acid-containing bacteria activate heterologous secondary metabolite
      expression in Streptomyces lividans.

PMID- 25829202
TI  - Synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of some teicoplanin pseudoaglycon
      derivatives containing alkyl- and arylthiosubstituted maleimides.
AB  - Bis-alkylthio maleimido derivatives have been prepared from teicoplanin
      pseudoaglycon by reaction of its primary amino group with N-ethoxycarbonyl bis
      alkylthiomaleimides. Some of the new derivatives displayed excellent
      antibacterial activity against resistant bacteria. 

PMID- 25829203
TI  - Curricular and pedagogical implications for the Carnegie Study, educating nurses:
      a call for radical transformation.

PMID- 25829204
TI  - Factors affecting mobility in community-dwelling older Koreans with chronic
      illnesses.
AB  - PURPOSE: This descriptive study aims to describe the levels of mobility in
      community-dwelling older Koreans with chronic illnesses, and to examine the
      associations of their mobility with sleep patterns, physical activity and
      physical symptoms including fatigue and pain. METHODS: The participants were a
      total of 384 community-dwelling older adults recruited from three senior centers
      in Seoul, Korea. Measures included mobility assessed using 6-minute walk test
      (6MWT), physical activity behavior, sleep profiles, fatigue and pain. Data were
      collected from July to December 2012. RESULTS: The mean 6MWT distance was 212.68
      meters. Over 90% of the study participants (n = 373) were classified as having
      impaired mobility using 400 meters as the cutoff point diagnostic criteria of
      normal mobility in 6MWT. The 6MWT distance was 246.68 meters for participants in
      their 60s, 212.32 meters for those in their 70s, and 175.54 meters for those in
      their 80s. Significant predictors of mobility included younger age, taking
      mediation, regular physical activity, female gender, higher income, higher
      fatigue and better perception on sleep duration, which explained 18% of the total
      variance of mobility. CONCLUSIONS: A high-risk group for mobility limitation
      includes low income, sedentary older men who are at risk for increased fatigue
      and sleep deficit. Further research should incorporate other psychological and
      lifestyle factors such as depression, smoking, drinking behavior, and/or obesity
      into the prediction model of mobility to generate specific intervention
      strategies for mobility enhancement recommendations for older adults.

PMID- 25829205
TI  - Teamwork and clinical error reporting among nurses in Korean hospitals.
AB  - PURPOSE: To examine levels of teamwork and its relationships with clinical error
      reporting among Korean hospital nurses. METHODS: The study employed a cross
      sectional survey design. We distributed a questionnaire to 674 nurses in two
      teaching hospitals in Korea. The questionnaire included items on teamwork and the
      reporting of clinical errors. We measured teamwork using the Teamwork Perceptions
      Questionnaire, which has five subscales including team structure, leadership,
      situation monitoring, mutual support, and communication. Using logistic
      regression analysis, we determined the relationships between teamwork and error
      reporting. RESULTS: The response rate was 85.5%. The mean score of teamwork was
      3.5 out of 5. At the subscale level, mutual support was rated highest, while
      leadership was rated lowest. Of the participating nurses, 522 responded that they
      had experienced at least one clinical error in the last 6 months. Among those,
      only 53.0% responded that they always or usually reported clinical errors to
      their managers and/or the patient safety department. Teamwork was significantly
      associated with better error reporting. Specifically, nurses with a higher team
      communication score were more likely to report clinical errors to their managers
      and the patient safety department (odds ratio = 1.82, 95% confidence intervals
      [1.05, 3.14]). CONCLUSIONS: Teamwork was rated as moderate and was positively
      associated with nurses' error reporting performance. Hospital executives and
      nurse managers should make substantial efforts to enhance teamwork, which will
      contribute to encouraging the reporting of errors and improving patient safety.

PMID- 25829206
TI  - Resilience and work-life balance in first-line nurse manager.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to explore how first-line nurse managers
      constructed the meaning of resilience and its relationship to work-life balance
      for nurses in Korea. METHODS: Participants were 20 first-line nurse managers
      working in six university hospitals. Data were collected through in-depth
      interviews from December 2011 to August 2012, and analyzed using Strauss and
      Corbin's grounded theory method. RESULTS: Analysis revealed that participants
      perceived work-life balance and resilience to be shaped by dynamic, reflective
      processes. The features consisting resilience included "positive thinking",
      "flexibility", "assuming responsibility", and "separating work and life". This
      perception of resilience has the potential to facilitate a shift in focus from
      negative to positive experiences, from rigidity to flexibility, from task
      centered to person-centered thinking, and from the organization to life.
      CONCLUSIONS: Recognizing the importance of work-life balance in producing and
      sustaining resilience in first-line nurse managers could increase retention in
      the Korean nursing workforce.

PMID- 25829207
TI  - Mapping and changing informal nurse leadership communication pathways in a health
      system.
AB  - PURPOSE: Social network analysis (SNA) is increasingly being used to provide a
      visual and quantitative analysis of relationships among groups of staff and other
      subjects of interest. This paper examines the role SNA can play in identifying
      existing networks, and measures the impact of participation in brief task-focused
      project groups on the underlying communication pathways. METHODS: An SNA of a
      closed group of nurse leaders was conducted in a health system in Scotland, UK.
      Data were collected on two occasions 6 months apart. Analysis of both whole
      network and individual node-based (nurse leader) measures were undertaken.
      RESULTS: Analysis revealed that the initial network structure was related to
      functional departments. By establishing task and finish groups, network density
      and other key measures could be improved. CONCLUSIONS: SNA is a useful tool in
      mapping existing networks and evaluating how these can be strengthened through
      the use of task orientated project work. This easy-to-use technique can provide
      useful insights and a means of targeting management action to improve
      communication pathways in a moderately large and complex nurse leadership group.
      Further clinical and academic potential uses of the technique are suggested.

PMID- 25829208
TI  - A qualitative approach of psychosocial adaptation process in patients undergoing
      long-term hemodialysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Professional hemodialysis (HD) nursing tends to be task-oriented and
      lack consideration of the client's viewpoint. This study aims to interpret the
      process of psychosocial adaptation to dealing with HD in people with end-stage
      renal disease (ESRD). METHODS: A grounded theory guided this study. Theoretical
      sampling included 15 people receiving HD at the HD center of a hospital from July
      to November 2010. Participants received an information sheet in writing, a verbal
      invitation, and informed consent forms before interviews were conducted. A
      constant comparative data analysis was analyzed using open, axial and selective
      coding. The computer software ATLAS.ti assisted data management. Credibility,
      transferability, dependability, and confirmability ensured the rigor of study
      process. RESULTS: This study identified "adopting life with hemodialysis", which
      captures the process of the psychosocial adaptation in people with ESRD as one
      transformation. Four categories that evolved from "adopting HD life" are (a)
      slipping into, (b) restricted to a renal world, (c) losing self control, and (d)
      stuck in an endless process. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this investigation
      indicate the multidimensional requirements of people receiving maintenance
      dialysis, with an emphasis on the deficiency in psychosocial and emotional care.
      The study's findings contribute to clinical practice by increasing the
      understanding of the experience of chronic HD treatment from the recipient's
      viewpoint. The better our understanding, the better the care provided will meet
      the needs of the people receiving HD.

PMID- 25829209
TI  - Efficacy of chronic disease self-management program in older Korean adults with
      low and high health literacy.
AB  - PURPOSE: We evaluated the efficacy of the Chronic Disease Self-management Program
      (CDSMP) among older Korean adults and investigated the question of whether the
      effects differed according to their levels of health literacy. METHODS: Measures
      of self efficacy, physical activity, physical health, and mental health were
      assessed at baseline, and at 6-week, and 18-week follow up for the CDSMP
      intervention group (n = 23) and control group (n = 31) according to their health
      literacy status. RESULTS: The older adults in the CDSMP intervention group showed
      significantly higher levels of self efficacy and physical activity at follow up.
      Participants with low health literacy had greater benefits from the intervention
      than had those with high health literacy. CONCLUSIONS: The CDSMP is a beneficial
      intervention for older Korean adults with chronic disease. Healthcare
      professionals should encourage older Korean adults with chronic illness to
      participate in the CDSMP, in particular for those with low health literacy.

PMID- 25829210
TI  - Health-related quality of life in symptomatic postmyocardial infarction patients
      with left ventricular dysfunction.
AB  - PURPOSE: Symptoms of postmyocardial infarction (post-MI) patients at risk for
      progression to heart failure are often ignored, and lack of symptom recognition
      or misinterpretation may diminish health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This
      study was conducted to evaluate the differences in HRQoL by symptom experience
      and determine factors that predict diminished HRQoL in post-MI patients. METHODS:
      Using a descriptive correlational study design, post-MI patients with left
      ventricular dysfunction (ejection fraction < 50%) completed face-to-face
      interviews for symptoms, HRQoL, covariates including self-care compliance, New
      York Heart Association class, and demographic and clinical questionnaires.
      RESULTS: A total of 105 post-MI patients participated (mean age 65 years, 79.0%
      male, mean ejection fraction 43.6%, New York Heart Association class III/IV
      33.3%). Mean length of time after the cardiac event was 48 months. Patients
      reported four or more symptoms, with fatigue being the most common symptom
      (63.8%), followed by shortness of breath (56.2%), weakness (54.3%), and dizziness
      (51.4%). HRQoL was moderately poor, with a mean score of 44.38 +/- 27.66. There
      was no significant relationship between self-care compliance and HRQoL. Patients
      who were female, with low monthly income, and had lower functional capacity and
      more symptoms had worse HRQoL, after controlling for age and length of time after
      the event (adjusted R(2) = 0.53, p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: A need for transitional
      care that assists post-MI patients take an active involvement in symptom
      monitoring arises so that they can get into the system earlier and benefit from
      treatment, and eventually achieve desirable HRQoL.

PMID- 25829211
TI  - Effects of self-esteem improvement program on self-esteem and peer attachment in
      elementary school children with observed problematic behaviors.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a self
      esteem improvement program on self-esteem and peer attachment in elementary
      school children with observed problematic behaviors. METHODS: This study is a
      quasi-experimental study with a nonequivalent control group pretest-post-test
      design. A total of 47 fourth grade elementary school students participated in
      this study. The program was provided for 45 minutes once a week; a total of 12
      sessions were completed with a group in the classroom for the experimental group.
      Child Problem-Behavior Screening Questionnaire was used to measure problematic
      behavior. Self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg's Self-esteem
      Questionnaire, and peer attachment was measured using the Inventory of Parent and
      Attachment. Measuring was performed right after the program was done (post 1) and
      1 month after the program was finished (post 2). To compare the differences in
      self-esteem and peer attachment between groups, repeated measures analysis of
      variance was used. RESULTS: Most participants in the experimental group were 10
      years old (62.5%, range 10-11), male (52.0%) and with middle grade point average
      (64.0%). The self-esteem scores in the experimental group were significantly
      higher than those of the control group (F = 26.64, p < .001). The peer attachment
      scores in the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the
      control group (F = 6.48, p = .014). CONCLUSIONS: The self-esteem improvement
      program in this study improved the self-esteem and peer attachment in elementary
      school children. The self-esteem program helped acknowledge the peer's name and
      increased their connections. The program needs to be considered as a formal and
      consistent program.

PMID- 25829212
TI  - Factors affecting fatigue in patients with type II diabetes mellitus in Korea.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to characterize and identify the factors affecting
      fatigue in patients with type II diabetes mellitus in Korea. METHODS: A total of
      180 patients with type II diabetes mellitus were recruited from the outpatient
      clinic of a tertiary care hospital. For data collection, a questionnaire survey
      of diabetes history, hypoglycemia symptoms, and fatigue was conducted between
      January and February 2011. Data were analyzed using t test, analysis of variance,
      Pearson's correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression. RESULTS: The mean
      fatigue and hypoglycemia symptom scores of patients with type II diabetes
      mellitus were 2.88 +/- 0.61 and 6.18 +/- 12.60, respectively. Hypoglycemia
      symptoms (p = .004), disease duration (p < .001), and age (p < .001) correlated
      positively with fatigue. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that
      hypoglycemia symptoms was the variable positively influencing fatigue in patients
      with type II diabetes mellitus after adjustment for influences of demographic and
      clinical characteristic variables. CONCLUSIONS: Hypoglycemia symptoms were
      confirmed to be a predictor of fatigue. Consequently, it is essential to consider
      age, and disease duration as well as hypoglycemia symptoms to intervene fatigue
      effectively among patients with type II diabetes mellitus.

PMID- 25829213
TI  - Geriatric hospital nurses' perceived barriers to research utilization and
      empowerment.
AB  - PURPOSE: The quality of nursing care in geriatric hospitals has been of concern.
      Nurses need to provide evidence-based nursing using best available research
      findings in order to maximize the quality of care. Research utilization is a
      major part of evidence-based nursing practice. Empowerment is an important factor
      that may influence the context of nursing practice. The purpose of this study was
      to identify the barriers to research utilization in nursing practice and its
      relationship to empowerment perceived by registered nurses (RNs) in geriatric
      hospitals. METHODS: A descriptive, correlational design was used. A total of 147
      RNs from six geriatric hospitals in K province of Korea participated. The
      BARRIERS scale and the Conditions of Work Empowerment Questionnaire-II were
      administered to identify perceived barriers to the use of research findings and
      the level of perceived empowerment respectively. RESULTS: Participants rated that
      research reports being written in English constituted the greatest barrier to the
      use of research findings. The score was the highest for the Communication domain,
      suggesting the greatest barrier, and the lowest for the Adopter domain. Subscales
      of the Conditions of Work Empowerment Questionnaire-II were significant
      predictors of the Adopter, Organization, and Communication domains of the
      BARRIERS scale. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that RNs in geriatric hospitals
      perceived that interpreting and understanding research reports in English was the
      greatest barrier to the use of research findings. Administrators and nurse
      managers of geriatric hospitals need to provide RNs with opportunities to
      participate in research-related activities and to empower RNs in order to
      facilitate research utilization.

PMID- 25829214
TI  - A predictive model of health outcomes for young people with type 2 diabetes.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study was conducted to develop and test a hypothetical model to
      predict health outcomes in young people with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Data were
      collected from 190 adults aged 23-45 with type 2 diabetes mellitus who visited
      the endocrinology outpatient department of the two university hospitals in South
      Korea from November 2, 2012 to March 7, 2013. Data collection used the structured
      questionnaires and patient medical records. The descriptive and correlation
      statistics were analyzed using PASW 18.0 and structural equation modeling
      procedure was performed using the AMOS 18.0 program. RESULTS: The fit of the
      hypothetical model was appropriate with the ratio of the chi-square statistic to
      degrees of freedom at 17.00, goodness-of-fit index at .975, adjusted goodness-of
      fit index at .930, root mean square error of approximation at .061, normed fit
      index at .926, Turker-Lewis index at .929, comparative fit index at .966.
      Behavioral skills were a critical factor that directly affects self-management
      behaviors. Through behavioral skills, motivation had a statistically significant
      indirect effect on self-management behavior. Self-management behavior had a
      statistically significant direct effect on health outcome. Through self
      management behavior, behavioral skills had a statistically significant indirect
      effect on health outcome. These variables explained 17.9% of the total variance
      for the health outcome in young people with type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: The
      results suggest that self-management behavior could be improved through nursing
      interventions promoting personal motivation (positive attitude), social
      motivation (social support), and behavioral skills (self efficacy), which can
      result in better health outcomes for young people with type 2 diabetes.

PMID- 25829215
TI  - The monitoring medicines project: a multinational pharmacovigilance and public
      health project.
AB  - The Monitoring Medicines project (MM), funded by the FP-7 EU framework, was
      carried out between 2009 and 2013 by a consortium of 11 partners. The objectives
      were to support and strengthen consumer reporting of adverse drug reactions
      (ADRs); expand the role and scope of national pharmacovigilance centres
      concerning medication errors; promote improved use of pharmacovigilance data; and
      develop methods to complement spontaneous reporting. The work was organised into
      four themes: patient reporting; medication errors; drug dependence, counterfeit
      and substandard medicines and clinical risk estimation; and active and targeted
      spontaneous pharmacovigilance. MM differed from some other major
      pharmacovigilance initiatives by having participants from developing countries in
      Asia and Africa and in leaning towards public health and communicable diseases.
      MM brought together stakeholders including WHO, drug regulators,
      pharmacovigilance centres, consumers, public health and disease specialists and
      patient safety networks. Resources and methodologies developed directly by, or
      with support from, MM include electronic systems/tools for consumer ADR reporting
      and cohort event monitoring; publication by WHO of handbooks on consumer
      reporting, medication errors and pharmacovigilance for TB medicines;
      methodologies for detecting drug dependence and substandard or counterfeit
      medicines in ADR databases; and a database on HIV treatment risks with a risk
      assessment tool. MM enabled stakeholders to achieve more than if they had worked
      alone in pursuit of patient safety. 

PMID- 25829216
TI  - Risks and benefits of triple oral anti-thrombotic therapies after acute coronary
      syndromes and percutaneous coronary intervention.
AB  - The key pathophysiological process underlying symptomatic coronary artery
      disease, including acute coronary syndromes (ACS), is usually a rupture or an
      erosion of an atherosclerotic plaque, followed by platelet activation and
      subsequent thrombus formation. Early clinical trials showed benefit with long
      term aspirin treatment, and later-based on large clinical trials-dual anti
      platelet therapy (DAPT), initially with clopidogrel, and more recently with
      prasugrel or ticagrelor, has become the established treatment in the post-ACS
      setting and after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Treatment with DAPT
      is recommended for both ST-elevation myocardial infarction and non-ST-elevation
      ACS, as well as after PCI with stenting, in American and European clinical
      guidelines. Notwithstanding the benefits observed with DAPT, including third
      generation P2Y12 receptor inhibitors plus aspirin, ACS patients remain at high
      risk for a recurrent cardiovascular event, suggesting that other treatment
      strategies, including the addition of a third oral anti-platelet agent or a novel
      oral anticoagulant (NOAC) to standard DAPT regimens, may provide additional
      benefit for post-ACS patients and for patients undergoing PCI. Adding a third
      anti-thrombotic agent to DAPT after an ACS event or a PCI procedure has been
      shown to have modest benefit in terms of ischemic event reduction, but has
      consistently been associated with increased bleeding complications. Therefore,
      the quest to optimize anti-thrombotic therapies post-ACS and post-PCI continues
      unabated but is tempered by the historical experiences to date that indicate that
      careful patient and dose selection will be critical features of future randomized
      trials. 

PMID- 25829217
TI  - Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase is upregulated in the brain of rats with acute
      pancreatitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute pancreatitis (AP) has an effect on both inflammatory/autoimmune
      processes and psychological states, but the pathophysiological causes of
      pancreatic encephalopathy in the brain are unclear. We hypothesized that the
      peripheral immune/inflammatory response during AP can affect indolamine 2,3
      dioxygenase (IDO) expression and serotonin content in the brain. METHODS: About
      210 male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups: control (0
      h) and 6 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h experimental groups. Acute pancreatitis was
      induced by an injection of a sodium taurocholate solution via a cannulated bile
      pancreatic duct. We measured the plasma TNF-alpha and IL-6 levels; serotonin, 5
      HIAA and the protein concentration levels of IDO and monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A)
      were evaluated in the striatum, hippocampus and left prefrontal cortex. RESULTS:
      The IL-6 and the TNF-alpha levels increased in the 24 h, 48 h and 72 h groups.
      The IDO concentrations of both the 72 h group in the hippocampus and 48 h, 72 h
      groups in the prefrontal cortex increased; in the corpus striatum, the IDO
      concentrations fluctuated without statistical significance. The MAO-A protein
      concentration of the 6 h and 24 h groups decreased in the striatum, hippocampus
      and prefrontal cortex. There were no statistically significant differences found
      in the serotonin and 5-HIAA concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: During the process of
      AP, cytokines, such as IL-6 and TNF-alpha, may play a role in activation of
      neuronal pathways utilizing the metabolic enzyme IDO, which may play an important
      role in determining the mental symptomatology accompanying AP.

PMID- 25829218
TI  - Hindlimb Skeletal Muscle Function and Skeletal Quality and Strength in +/G610C
      Mice With and Without Weight-Bearing Exercise.
AB  - Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a heterogeneous heritable connective tissue
      disorder associated with reduced bone mineral density and skeletal fragility.
      Bone is inherently mechanosensitive, with bone strength being proportional to
      muscle mass and strength. Physically active healthy children accrue more bone
      than inactive children. Children with type I OI exhibit decreased exercise
      capacity and muscle strength compared with healthy peers. It is unknown whether
      this muscle weakness reflects decreased physical activity or a muscle pathology.
      In this study, we used heterozygous G610C OI model mice (+/G610C), which model
      both the genotype and phenotype of a large Amish OI kindred, to evaluate hindlimb
      muscle function and physical activity levels before evaluating the ability of
      +/G610C mice to undergo a treadmill exercise regimen. We found +/G610C mice
      hindlimb muscles do not exhibit compromised muscle function, and their activity
      levels were not reduced relative to wild-type mice. The +/G610C mice were also
      able to complete an 8-week treadmill regimen. Biomechanical integrity of control
      and exercised wild-type and +/G610C femora were analyzed by torsional loading to
      failure. The greatest skeletal gains in response to exercise were observed in
      stiffness and the shear modulus of elasticity with alterations in collagen
      content. Analysis of tibial cortical bone by Raman spectroscopy demonstrated
      similar crystallinity and mineral/matrix ratios regardless of sex, exercise, and
      genotype. Together, these findings demonstrate +/G610C OI mice have equivalent
      muscle function, activity levels, and ability to complete a weight-bearing
      exercise regimen as wild-type mice. The +/G610C mice exhibited increased femoral
      stiffness and decreased hydroxyproline with exercise, whereas other biomechanical
      parameters remain unaffected, suggesting a more rigorous exercise regimen or
      another exercise modality may be required to improve bone quality of OI mice.

PMID- 25829219
TI  - Rapid and sensitive detection of multiple microRNAs in cell lysate by low-fouling
      surface plasmon resonance biosensor.
AB  - We report an ultra-low fouling surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) biosensor
      for the rapid simultaneous detection of multiple miRNAs in erythrocyte lysate
      (EL) at subpicomolar levels without need of RNA extraction. The SPRi chips were
      coated with ultra-low fouling functionalizable poly(carboxybetaine acrylamide)
      (pCBAA) brushes having optimized thicknesses and directly functionalized with
      amino-modified oligonucleotide probes. We have characterized the effect of the
      brush thickness on the probe loading capacity: a loading capacity of ~9.8*10(12)
      probes/cm(2) was achieved for pCBAA having a thickness of ~40 nm. The probe
      functionalized sensor also exhibited a high resistance to fouling from ~90% EL
      samples (<2 ng/cm(2)). A two-step detection assay was employed for multiplexed
      miRNA detection in EL. Specifically, the assay consisted of (i) a sandwich-type
      hybridization of the probe-functionalized pCBAA with target miRNA in EL (bound to
      biotinylated oligonucleotides) and (ii) the capture of streptavidin
      functionalized gold nanoparticles to the aforementioned biotinylated probes. We
      have demonstrated that this approach enables the detection of miRNAs in EL at
      concentrations as low as 0.5 pM. Finally, we have confirmed the detection of four
      endogenous miRNAs representing a set of potential miRNA biomarkers of
      myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in clinical EL samples (miR-16, miR-181, miR-34a,
      and miR-125b). The results revealed significantly higher levels of miR-16 in all
      the clinical EL samples compared to the other measured miRNAs.

PMID- 25829220
TI  - A carbon dot-based "off-on" fluorescent probe for highly selective and sensitive
      detection of phytic acid.
AB  - We herein report a facile, one-step pyrolysis synthesis of photoluminescent
      carbon dots (CDs) using citric acid as the carbon source and lysine as the
      surface passivation reagent. The as-prepared CDs show narrow size distribution,
      excellent blue fluorescence and good photo-stability and water dispersivity. The
      fluorescence of the CDs was found to be effectively quenched by ferric (Fe(III))
      ions with high selectivity via a photo-induced electron transfer (PET) process.
      Upon addition of phytic acid (PA) to the CDs/Fe(III) complex dispersion, the
      fluorescence of the CDs was significantly recovered, arising from the release of
      Fe(III) ions from the CDs/Fe(III) complex because PA has a higher affinity for
      Fe(III) ions compared to CDs. Furthermore, we developed an "off-on" fluorescence
      assay method for the detection of phytic acid using CDs/Fe(III) as a fluorescent
      probe. This probe enables the selective detection of PA with a linear range of
      0.68-18.69 MUM and a limit of detection (signal-to-noise ratio is 3) of 0.36 MUM.
      The assay method demonstrates high selectivity, repeatability, stability and
      recovery ratio in the detection of the standard and real PA samples. We believe
      that the facile operation, low-cost, high sensitivity and selectivity render this
      CD-based "off-on" fluorescent probe an ideal sensing platform for the detection
      of PA.

PMID- 25829221
TI  - DNA biosensor-based on fluorescence detection of E. coli O157:H7 by Au@Ag
      nanorods.
AB  - A novel DNA sensor for the detection of the Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli
      O157:H7) eaeA gene was constructed using surface enhanced fluorescence (SEF). The
      spacing distance dependence nature of Au@Ag nanorods surface enhanced
      fluorescence was investigated when the cy3-labled single strand DNA(ssDNA) and
      the stem-loop DNA probe modified on the nanorods was co-hybridized. The result
      revealed that the fluorescence intensity reached the maximum value with the
      spacing distance of about 10nm between cy3 and the Au@Ag nanorods surface. Based
      on this result, a fluorescence "ON/OFF" switch for detecting the eaeA gene of E.
      coli O157:H7 was constructed. Under optimal conditions, the DNA sensor produced a
      linear range from 10(-17) to 10(-11) M with a correlation coefficient of 0.9947
      and a detection limit of 3.33*10(-18) M, and was also found to be specific in
      targeting eaeA. The DNA sensor demonstrated a new strategy of combining eaeA
      recognition and Au@Ag nanorods for fluorescence signal enhancement, and increased
      sensitivity in the detection of bacterial specific genes.

PMID- 25829222
TI  - Fluorescence analysis of 6-mercaptopurine with the use of a nano-composite
      consisting of BSA-capped Au nano-clusters and core-shell Fe3O4-SiO2
      nanoparticles.
AB  - A magnetic and fluorescent nano-composite was prepared. It comprised of a core of
      Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs), a silica shell and satellitic Au nano-clusters (AuNCs)
      capped with bovine serum albumin (BSA). This nano-composite has many desirable
      properties, e.g. magnetism, red emission, high water solubility, and high
      resistance to photo-bleaching. On addition of the analyte, 6-mercaptopurine (6
      MP) or indeed other similar thiols, AuNCs formed aggregates because the existing
      cross-links within the Fe3O4 NPs@SiO2 and AuNC structure were broken in favor of
      the gold-thiol bonds. On suitable irradiation of such aggregates, red
      fluorescence was emitted at 613 nm. It decreased significantly as a function of
      the added 6-MP concentration, and the quenching ratio (F0 - F) / F0 was related
      linearly to the concentration of 6-MP in the range of 0.01 to 0.5 MUmol L(-1).
      The detection limit was 0.004 MUmol L(-1) (S/N=3). The method was strongly
      selective for 6-MP in the presence of oxidants, phenols, heavy-metal ions, and
      especially bio-thiols.

PMID- 25829223
TI  - Development of immunochromatographic strip test using fluorescent, micellar
      silica nanosensors for rapid detection of B. abortus antibodies in milk samples.
AB  - Presence of bacteria such as Brucella spp. in dairy products is an immense risk
      to public health. Point of care immunoassays are rapid in that they can quickly
      screen various samples in a relatively short amount of time, are sensitive,
      specific and offer a great advantage in accurate and fast diagnosis of infectious
      diseases. We have fabricated a point of care rapid diagnostic assay that employs
      fluorescent, micellar silica nanosensors capable of specifically detecting
      Brucella IgG antibodies in milk samples of afflicted animals. Currently, point of
      care detection assays are not commercially available for field testing of farm
      animals using milk samples. The nanosensing allows precise detection of
      antibodies with low sample volumes (50 MUl). We demonstrate recognition of B.
      abortus antibodies through capture by fluorescent silica nanosensors using spiked
      and raw milk samples validated by ELISA and PCR. The test results are accurate
      and repeatable with high sensitivity and specificity, and a short assay time of
      10 min for antigenic recognition and do not require any sample processing
      procedures such as isolation and separation. Additionally, well defined antigenic
      components and surface biomarkers of various disease causing microbes can be
      broadly incorporated within the purview of this technology for accurate and rapid
      detection of suspected bovine pathological conditions, and can largely enable
      rapid field testing that can be implemented in farms and food industry.

PMID- 25829224
TI  - Highly amplified detection of visceral adipose tissue-derived serpin (vaspin)
      using a cognate aptamer duo.
AB  - A cognate aptamer duo for visceral adipose tissue-derived serpin (vaspin) which
      distinctively bind to two different sites on vaspin with high affinity and
      specificity were successfully developed by using graphene oxide-based systematic
      evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (GO-SELEX), which offers
      immobilization-free screening of aptamers. The specific and simultaneous bindings
      of this aptamer duo (V1 and V49 aptamers) to the different sites of vaspin were
      confirmed by circular dichroism (CD) analysis and both sandwich-type surface
      plasmon resonance (SPR) and quantum dot labelled fluorescence imaging analysis
      (V1 aptamer serves as primary capturing aptamer and V49 aptamer as secondary
      signalling aptamer or vice versa). With this vaspin cognate aptamer duo on SPR
      platform, the detection of the target vaspin were improved to the limit of
      detection down to 3.5 ng/ml in buffer and 4.7 ng/ml in human serum samples. This
      cognate aptamer duo based biosensor could be utilized in the early diagnosis of
      type-2 diabetes.

PMID- 25829225
TI  - Reaction Optimization, Scalability, and Mechanistic Insight on the Catalytic
      Enantioselective Desymmetrization of 1,1-Diborylalkanes via Suzuki-Miyaura Cross
      Coupling.
AB  - A method for enantioselective desymmetrization of 1,1-diborylalkanes through a
      stereoselective Pd-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling has been thoroughly
      optimized. The most effective ligand was found to be a alpha,alpha,alpha,alpha
      tetra-aryl-1,3-dioxolane-4,5-dimethanol (TADDOL)-derived phosphoramidite. Results
      show that in order to achieve high selectivity, a suitable balance between the
      sterics of the aryl groups and the amino group on the ligand must be achieved.
      While the base has been known to facilitate transmetallation in cross-coupling
      reactions, mechanistic studies on this desymmetrization process reveal that the
      base, in the presence of KHF2, likely plays an additional role in the hydrolysis
      of the pinacol boronates to the corresponding boronic acids. Through an in depth
      optimization of the chiral ligand and mechanistic studies, it was possible to
      obtain ee values over 90% for several aryl bromides and to develop a reliably
      scalable process (up to one gram of 1,1-diborylalkane substrate).

PMID- 25829226
TI  - Successful treatment of a patient with SAPHO syndrome with certolizumab pegol.

PMID- 25829227
TI  - Health-related quality of life among children, young people and adults with
      esophageal atresia: a review of the literature and recommendations for future
      research.
AB  - PURPOSE: Esophageal atresia (EA) is a rare congenital malformation requisite of
      surgical treatment. Survival rates have significantly increased in recent
      decades, but treated children are at risk of chronic morbidity. This study aims
      to review the literature on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients
      with EA and describe the questionnaires used. METHODS: A literature search was
      conducted in Pubmed, Cinahl and PsycINFO, from inception to January 2015. A meta
      analysis of studies investigating HRQOL in patients with EA compared to healthy
      references was performed. The effect size was calculated as Cohen's d. RESULTS:
      Twelve articles (published 1995-2014) describing HRQOL among children, young
      people and adults were identified. Only European studies were found, and these
      had variable sample sizes (8-128). Overall HRQOL was reported to be reduced in
      five of the seven studies that compared overall HRQOL with a healthy reference
      population. Impaired physical or general health was described in eight articles.
      In the meta-analysis, eight eligible studies provided 16 estimates of the effect
      of EA, six of which reached statistical significance for worse HRQOL (p < 0.05).
      Using Cohen's criteria, the pooled estimate of the effect of EA was small for
      overall and physical HRQOL, and <0.2 for the mental and social HRQOL components.
      Altogether, 15 different questionnaires were used, and none were condition
      specific for EA. CONCLUSIONS: Different findings are reported; however, this
      study suggests that patients with EA may have a reduced HRQOL. Moreover, HRQOL is
      not adequately measured in this group. Additional research is required.

PMID- 25829228
TI  - VEGF can protect against blood brain barrier dysfunction, dendritic spine loss
      and spatial memory impairment in an experimental model of diabetes.
AB  - Clinical and experimental studies have shown a clear link between diabetes,
      vascular dysfunction and cognitive impairment. However, the molecular
      underpinnings of this association remain unclear. Since vascular endothelial
      growth factor (VEGF) signaling is important for maintaining vascular integrity
      and function, we hypothesized that vascular and cognitive impairment in the
      diabetic brain could be related to a deficiency in VEGF signaling. Here we show
      that chronic hyperglycemia (~8weeks) in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes leads to
      a selective reduction in the expression of VEGF and its cognate receptor (VEGF
      R2) in the hippocampus. Correlating with this, diabetic mice showed selective
      deficits in spatial memory in the Morris water maze, increased vessel area, width
      and permeability in the dentate gyrus/CA1 region of the hippocampus and reduced
      spine densities in CA1 neurons. Chronic low dose infusion of VEGF in diabetic
      mice was sufficient to restore VEGF signaling, protect them from memory deficits,
      as well as vascular and synaptic abnormalities in the hippocampus. These findings
      suggest that a hippocampal specific reduction in VEGF signaling and resultant
      vascular/neuronal defects may underlie early manifestations of cognitive
      impairment commonly associated with diabetes. Furthermore, restoring VEGF
      signaling may be a useful strategy for preserving hippocampal-related brain
      circuitry in degenerative vascular diseases. 

PMID- 25829230
TI  - Personality and breast cancer risk and survival: the Miyagi cohort study.
AB  - It has long been hypothesized that personality is associated with breast cancer
      risk and survival. The present population-based prospective cohort study in Japan
      tested this hypothesis. To investigate the association of personality with breast
      cancer risk, a total of 15,107 women aged 40-64 years who completed the Eysenck
      Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) Short Form were followed from 1990 to
      2007. To assess the association of personality with survival after breast cancer,
      250 identified cases were further followed up from the date of diagnosis to 2008,
      and 45 all-cause deaths were documented. Study subjects were categorized into
      four groups based on the quartile points of scores ranging between 0 and 12 on
      each EPQ-R subscale (extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism, and lie), and the
      hazard ratio (HR) for each category was computed using the lowest category as
      reference. Multivariate analysis revealed no association between any of the four
      personality subscales and the risk of breast cancer. In the analysis on survival,
      no significant association was found between any of these subscales and the risk
      of death, although breast cancer cases with a higher score of extraversion tended
      to have a lower risk of death (P for trend = 0.07; HR for highest score level =
      0.38). Exclusion of 32 cases diagnosed in the first 3 years of follow-up did not
      largely change the results with regard to either breast cancer risk or survival.
      The present findings suggest that personality does not impact significantly on
      the development and progression of breast cancer.

PMID- 25829229
TI  - Association of prior antiplatelet agents with mortality in sepsis patients: a
      nationwide population-based cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Antiplatelet agents are widely used for cardiovascular disea ses, but
      their pleiotropic effects in sepsis are controversial. OBJECTIVE: To investigate
      the association between antiplatelet agents and the survival benefit for sepsis
      patients. DESIGN: A nationwide population-based cohort and nested case-control
      study. SETTING: Taiwan National Health Insurance database. PARTICIPANTS: All
      patients (age >=18 years) who were hospitalized for sepsis between January 2000
      and December 2010. MEASUREMENTS: Conditional logistic regression was used to
      adjust for confounding. Adjusted odd ratios (ORs) were used to compare the
      mortality rate due to sepsis in antiplatelet drug users and nonusers. RESULTS: Of
      683,421 included patients, 229,792 (33.6 %) patients died during hospitalization
      for sepsis, and the rest (64.4 %) survived to discharge. Use of antiplatelet
      agents before admission was associated with a lower risk of mortality in sepsis
      patients (aOR 0.82, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.81-0.83, P < 0.001). By using
      another case-control study design, the beneficial effect was more significant in
      current users (aOR 0.78, 95 % CI 0.76-0.79) than in recent users (aOR 0.88, 95 %
      CI 0.85-0.91), but was not significant in past users (aOR 1.00, 95 % CI 0.98
      1.02). LIMITATIONS: Observational study. CONCLUSIONS: Prior use of antiplatelet
      agents was associated with a survival benefit in sepsis patients.

PMID- 25829231
TI  - Alteration of circulating type 2 follicular helper T cells and regulatory B cells
      underlies the comorbid association of allergic rhinitis with bronchial asthma.
AB  - Allergic rhinitis (AR), the most common allergic disorder of the airway, is often
      accompanied by bronchial asthma. However, little is known about the mechanism by
      which AR advances to AR comorbid with bronchial asthma (AR+Asthma). To determine
      the pathophysiologic features of AR and AR+Asthma, we examined subsets of
      follicular helper T (Tfh) cells and regulatory B (Breg) cells in peripheral blood
      from AR and AR+Asthma patients. The results showed polarization of Tfh2 cells
      within Tfh cell subsets in both AR and AR+Asthma cases. Interestingly, the %Breg
      cells in total B cells were decreased in AR cases and, more extensively, in
      AR+Asthma cases. Moreover, we found significant correlations of fractional
      exhaled nitric oxide and blood eosinophil levels with the index %Tfh2 cells per
      %Breg cells. Our findings indicate that relative decrease in Breg cells under the
      condition of Tfh2 cell skewing is a putative exaggerating factor of AR to
      bronchial asthma. 

PMID- 25829234
TI  - Utility of eosin Y as a complexing reagent for the determination of citalopram
      hydrobromide in commercial dosage forms by fluorescence spectrophotometry.
AB  - An accurate, selective and sensitive spectrofluorimetric method was developed for
      the determination of citalopram hydrobromide in commercial dosage forms. The
      method was based on the formation of a fluorescent ion-pair complex between
      citalopram hydrobromide and eosin Y in the presence of a disodium hydrogen
      phosphate/citric acid buffer solution of pH 3.4 that was extractable in
      dichloromethane. The extracted complex showed fluorescence intensity at lambdaem
      = 554 nm after excitation at 259 nm. The calibration curve was linear over at
      concentrations of 2.0-26.0 ug/mL. Under optimized experimental conditions, the
      proposed method was validated as per ICH guidelines. The effect of common
      excipients used as additives was tested and the tolerance limit calculated. The
      limit of detection for the proposed method was 0.121 MUg/mL. The proposed method
      was successfully applied to the determination of citalopram hydrobromide in
      commercial dosage forms. The results were compared with the reference RP-HPLC
      method.

PMID- 25829233
TI  - Cbl-b-deficient mice express alterations in trafficking-related molecules but
      retain sensitivity to the multiple sclerosis therapeutic agent, FTY720.
AB  - The variable response to therapy in multiple sclerosis (MS) suggests a need for
      personalized approaches based on individual genetic differences. GWAS have linked
      CBLB gene polymorphisms with MS and recent evidence demonstrated that these
      polymorphisms can be associated with abnormalities in T cell function and
      response to interferon-beta therapy. Cbl-b is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that
      regulates T cell activation and Cbl-b-deficient (Cbl-b(-/-)) mice show T cell
      abnormalities described in MS patients. We now show that Cbl-b(-/-) T cells
      demonstrate significant lymph node trafficking abnormalities. We thus asked
      whether the MS-approved drug, FTY720, postulated to trap T cells in lymphoid
      tissues, is less effective in the context of Cbl-b dysfunction. We now report
      that FTY720 significantly inhibits EAE in Cbl-b(-/-) mice. Our results newly
      document a role for Cbl-b in T cell trafficking but suggest nevertheless that MS
      patients with Cbl-b abnormalities may still be excellent candidates for FTY720
      treatment. 

PMID- 25829232
TI  - T cell PKCdelta kinase inactivation induces lupus-like autoimmunity in mice.
AB  - Genetic and environmental factors contribute to the onset and progression of
      lupus. CD4+ T cells from patients with active lupus show a decreased ERK
      signaling pathway, which causes changes in gene expression. The defect points to
      its upstream regulator, PKCdelta, which exhibits a deficient activity due to
      oxidative stress. Our aim was to investigate the effect of a defective PKCdelta
      in the development of lupus. We generated a double transgenic C57BL6 * SJL mouse
      that expresses a doxycycline-induced dominant negative PKCdelta (dnPKCdelta) in T
      cells. The transgenic mice displayed decreased T cell ERK signaling, decreased
      DNMT1 expression and overexpression of methylation sensitive genes involved in
      the exaggerated immune response in the pathogenesis of lupus. The mice developed
      anti-dsDNA autoantibodies and glomerulonephritis with IgG deposition. The study
      indicates common pathogenic mechanisms with human lupus, suggesting that
      environmentally-mediated T cell PKCdelta inactivation plays a causative role in
      lupus.

PMID- 25829235
TI  - Enhanced thermoelectric properties of Ga-doped In2O3 ceramics via synergistic
      band gap engineering and phonon suppression.
AB  - Ga doped In2O3-based thermoelectric materials were prepared by spark plasma
      sintering (SPS) using sintered powders in the low temperature solid phase. The
      solubility of Ga in In2O3 is about 10 at%, much larger than other elements such
      as Ge, Ce, etc. The larger solubility of Ga allows us to optimize the thermal and
      electrical transport properties of Ga doped In2O3 in a wider window. While tuning
      the concentration of dopants, the thermoelectric performance of Ga doped In2O3
      was enhanced through a synergistic approach combining band-gap engineering and
      phonon suppression. The power factor increases from ~0.5 * 10(-4) to ~9.6 * 10(
      4) W mK(-2) at 700  degrees C while thermal conductivity reduces from ~4 to ~2 W
      mK(-1) at 700  degrees C in In1.9Ga0.1O3. The maximum ZT of 0.37, increased by a
      factor of 4 from the pristine In2O3, is achieved in In1.9Ga0.1O3 at 700  degrees
      C. 

PMID- 25829236
TI  - Cardiovascular recovery from psychological and physiological challenge and risk
      for adverse cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Exaggerated cardiovascular (CV) reactivity to laboratory challenge has
      been shown to predict future CV morbidity and mortality. CV recovery has been
      less studied and has yielded inconsistent findings, possibly due to the presence
      of moderators. Reviews on the relationship between CV recovery and CV outcomes
      have been limited to cross-sectional studies and have not considered
      methodological factors. We performed a comprehensive meta-analytic review of the
      prospective literature investigating CV recovery to physical and psychological
      challenge and adverse CV outcomes. METHODS: We searched PsycINFO and PubMed for
      prospective studies investigating the relationship between CV recovery and
      adverse CV outcomes. Studies were coded for variables of interest and for effect
      sizes. We conducted a random-effects weighted meta-analysis. Moderators were
      examined with analysis of variance-analog and meta-regression analyses. RESULTS:
      Thirty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria (n = 125,386). Impaired recovery
      from a challenge predicted adverse CV outcomes (summary effect, r = 0.17, p <
      .001). Physical challenge was associated with larger predictive effects than
      psychological challenge. Moderator analyses revealed that recovery measured at 1
      minute postexercise, passive recovery, use of mortality as an outcome measure,
      and older sample age were associated with larger effects. CONCLUSIONS: Poor
      recovery from laboratory challenges predicts adverse CV outcomes, with recovery
      from exercise serving as a particularly strong predictor of CV outcomes. The
      overall effect size for recovery and CV outcomes is similar to that observed for
      CV reactivity and suggests that the study of recovery may have incremental value
      for understanding adverse CV outcomes.

PMID- 25829238
TI  - The association between depressive disorder and cardiac autonomic control in
      adults 60 years and older.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Altered cardiac autonomic control has often been reported in
      depressed persons and might play an important role in the increased risk for
      cardiovascular disease (CVD). A negative association between cardiac autonomic
      control and depression might become specifically clinically relevant in persons
      60 years or older as CVD risk increases with age. METHODS: This study included
      data of 321 persons with a depressive disorder and 115 controls participating in
      the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older Persons (mean age = 70.3 years,
      65.7% female). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), heart rate (HR), and
      preejection period (PEP) were measured and compared between depressed persons and
      controls. In addition, the role of antidepressants and clinical characteristics
      (e.g., age of depression onset and comorbid anxiety) was examined. RESULTS:
      Compared with controls, depressed persons had lower RSA (mean [standard error of
      the mean] = 23.5 [1.2] milliseconds versus 18.6 [0.7] milliseconds, p = .001, d =
      0.373) and marginally higher HR (73.1 [1.1] beats/min versus 75.6 [0.6]
      beats/min, p = .065, d = 0.212), but comparable PEP (113.9 [2.1] milliseconds
      versus 112.0 [1.2] milliseconds, p = .45, d = 0.087), fully adjusted.
      Antidepressants strongly attenuated the associations between depression and HR
      and RSA. Antidepressant-naive depressed persons had similar HR and RSA to
      controls, whereas users of antidepressants showed significantly lower RSA. In
      addition, tricyclic antidepressant users had higher HR (p < .001, d = 0.768) and
      shorter PEP (p = .014, d = 0.395) than did controls. CONCLUSIONS: Depression was
      not associated with cardiac autonomic control, but antidepressants were in this
      sample. All antidepressants were associated with low cardiac parasympathetic
      control and specifically tricyclic antidepressants with high cardiac sympathetic
      control.

PMID- 25829237
TI  - Socioeconomic status, daily affective and social experiences, and inflammation
      during adolescence.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the relation between socioeconomic status (SES) and
      inflammation during adolescence and determine whether daily affective and social
      experiences across a 15-day period mediate this relation. METHODS: Adolescents (n
      = 316) completed daily diary reports of positive affect, negative affect, and
      negative social interactions for 15 days and provided whole blood spot samples
      for the assessment of C-reactive protein (CRP). Parents provided information on
      SES, including the highest level of education they and their spouses completed
      and household income. RESULTS: Lower parent education was associated with higher
      levels of adolescent CRP, controlling for age, sex, ethnicity, and body mass
      index (beta = -.12, p = .031). Mean daily positive affect, negative affect, and
      negative social interactions were examined as potential mediators of this
      association. In these models, parent education was no longer associated with
      adolescent CRP (beta = -.09, p = .12), and only positive affect was related to
      CRP (beta = -.12, p = .025). Bootstrapping confirmed the mediating role of
      positive affect (indirect effect = -0.015, 95% confidence interval = -0.038 to 
      0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with less educated parents tended to have higher
      levels of CRP, which may be explained by their lower levels of positive affect.
      Findings suggest that a lack of positive affect may be a pathway by which SES
      confers early risk for poor health in adulthood. It is possible that adolescents
      who display positive affect during daily life in circumstances of relatively
      adverse socioeconomic circumstances may have better health outcomes related to
      lower inflammatory factors.

PMID- 25829239
TI  - Effects of long-term sertraline treatment and depression on coronary artery
      atherosclerosis in premenopausal female primates.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Major depressive disorder and coronary heart disease often co-occur
      in the same individuals. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are
      widely prescribed for depression and other disorders, but their effects on
      coronary heart disease risk remain unclear. We determined the effects of an SSRI
      on coronary artery atherosclerosis (CAA) in an established nonhuman primate model
      used to clarify the association between depression and CAA. METHODS: Forty-two
      adult female cynomolgus macaques consuming a Western diet were characterized
      during an 18-month pretreatment phase and assigned to SSRI (sertraline
      hydrochloride 20 mg/kg, per os, once a day) or placebo balanced on pretreatment
      depression, body weight (BW), and iliac artery atherosclerosis extent measured
      via biopsy. After 18 months, CAA extent was measured using histomorphometry.
      RESULTS: Before and during treatment, depressed monkeys had lower BW, body mass
      index, and plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and higher heart rates
      during the pretreatment (p < .01) but not the treatment phase (p = .17). There
      were no pretreatment differences between the sertraline and placebo groups.
      Sertraline reduced anxious behavior but had no effect on BW, body mass index,
      heart rate, plasma lipids, or depression. CAA, analyzed by a 2 (depressed,
      nondepressed) * 2 (placebo, sertraline) * 3 (coronary arteries) analysis of
      covariance adjusted for pretreatment iliac atherosclerosis, was greater in
      depressed than in nondepressed monkeys (p < .036), and in sertraline than in
      placebo-treated monkeys (p = .040). The observed CAA extent in depressed monkeys
      treated with sertraline was 4.9 times higher than that in untreated depressed
      monkeys, and 6.5 times higher than that in nondepressed monkeys, on average.
      CONCLUSIONS: Depressed animals developed more CAA, and long-term treatment with
      sertraline resulted in more extensive CAA.

PMID- 25829241
TI  - Can exaggerated stress reactivity and prolonged recovery predict negative health
      outcomes? The case of cardiovascular disease.
AB  - Researchers and laypersons have long argued that stress is bad for health,
      particularly when responses are large, prolonged, and frequent. By extension,
      individuals who have the largest and the most prolonged responses are assumed to
      have worse outcomes than do less reactive persons. Research in animals has been
      supportive of the connection between stress and poor health, but evidence in
      humans has been slow to accumulate. The current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine
      presents a meta-analysis of 33 studies of delayed recovery from stress and its
      association with poor cardiovascular disease outcomes and all-cause mortality.
      The analysis supports the contention that slower recovery to baseline after
      exercise or psychological stress may predict earlier death due to all causes.
      This finding raises questions for psychosomatic theories of disease and points
      the direction for further study of how or whether to incorporate reactivity
      measures into standard risk profiles. 

PMID- 25829240
TI  - Divorce and health: current trends and future directions.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Social relationships play a vital role in health and well-being, and
      it follows that loss experiences can be highly stressful for some people. This
      article reviews what is known about the association between marital separation,
      divorce, and health outcomes. METHODS: Key findings in the area of divorce and
      health are discussed, and the review outlines a series of specific questions for
      future research. In particular, the article integrates research in social
      epidemiology with research in social psychophysiology. The former approach
      provides a broad-based estimate of the association between marital status and
      health outcomes, whereas the latter approach studies mechanisms of action and
      individual differences associated with increased risk for poor outcomes. RESULTS:
      The experience of separation or divorce confers risk for poor health outcomes,
      including a 23% higher mortality rate. However, most people cope well and are
      resilient after their marriage or long-term relationship ends. Despite the fact
      that resilience is the most common response, a small percentage of people
      (approximately 10%-15%) struggle quite substantially, and it seems that the
      overall elevated adverse health risks are driven by the poor functioning of this
      group. Several candidate mechanisms and novel (ambulatory) assessment techniques
      that may elucidate the poor outcomes among people who adapt poorly to separation
      are discussed. CONCLUSIONS: To increase knowledge on the association between
      divorce and health, three primary areas require more research: a) genetic and
      third variable explanations for divorce-related health outcomes, (b) better
      studies of objective social behavior after separation, and (c) increased
      attention to interventions targeting high-risk adults.

PMID- 25829243
TI  - Characterization of colostrum from dams of BLV endemic dairy herds.
AB  - Bovine Leukemia Virus (BLV) is endemic in Argentina, where the individual
      prevalence is higher than 80% in dairy farms. The aim of this work was to find
      preliminary evidence to know if the high level of infection of the dam would
      implicate a higher challenge to her own offspring. We collected 65 sets of
      samples consisting of dam's blood and colostrum from two heavily infected dairy
      farms, and investigated the correlation between the dam's blood proviral load and
      the presence of provirus in colostrum. We also described the dual
      antibody/provirus profile in the colostrum. Provirus was detected in 69.23% of
      the colostrum samples, mostly from dams with a high proviral load, 36/45 (80%).
      Colostrum proviral load was significantly higher in dams with high blood proviral
      load (p<0.0001). Provirus was detected in colostrum samples all along the
      antibody distribution, even in those with a low amount of antibodies. These
      results show that even when high blood proviral load dams offer higher levels of
      infected cells to their offspring through colostrum they also offer higher levels
      of protection of antibodies. On the contrary, low blood proviral load dams also
      offer infected cells but a poor content of antibodies, suggesting that these
      animals could play an important role in the epidemiological cycle of
      transmission. 

PMID- 25829242
TI  - Mutant Rep protein of the porcine circovirus type 2 N-glycosylation:23-25aa, 256
      258aa mutation reduced virus replication but 286-288aa mutation enhanced virus
      replication in PK-15 cells.
AB  - Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) Rep protein and the splice variant Rep' protein
      impact genome replication. The Rep protein contains three potential N
      glycosylation at positions 23-25aa (NPS), 256-258aa (NQT) and 286-288aa (NAT).
      Three double copy infectious clones with Rep protein N-glycosylation at positions
      mutations 23-25aa (DPS), 256-258aa (DQT) and 286-288aa (DAT) were constructed and
      their function in virus replication in PK-15 cells was investigated. The results
      showed that the double copy infectious clone with N-glycosylation site mutation
      could be rescued in vitro and 23-25aa, 256-258aa mutation reduced virus
      replication but 286-288aa mutation enhanced virus replication. 

PMID- 25829244
TI  - Decidual expression and localization of human surfactant protein SP-A and SP-D,
      and complement protein C1q.
AB  - Surfactant proteins SP-A and SP-D, and complement protein C1q are soluble innate
      immune pattern recognizing molecules. SP-A, SP-D and C1q have an overall similar
      structure composed of an N-terminal triple-helical collagen region that is
      followed by a trimeric globular domain. While SP-A and SP-D belong to the
      collectin family (collagen containing lectin), C1q is the first recognition
      subcomponent of the classical pathway of the complement system. Recently, SP-A,
      SP-D and C1q have been considered to play important roles in early and late
      pregnancy. However, their expression in early human decidua has not been
      examined. Here, we investigated whether SP-A, SP-D and C1q are expressed within
      first trimester decidua in humans and their expression is associated with
      trophoblasts and decidual stromal cells. Decidual samples from women undergoing
      elective vaginal termination of pregnancy during first trimester were obtained
      from 25 subjects. Immunohistochemical studies using anti-human SP-A, anti-human
      SP-D and anti-human C1q antibodies were performed on decidual tissue sections
      along with anti-vimentin and cytokeratin-7 antibodies to identify stromal cells
      and trophoblasts. The expression was also examined by immunostaining and PCR
      using decidual and stromal cells. C1q expression was significantly higher when
      compared to SP-A and SP-D in the first trimester human decidua. Double
      immunostaining revealed that all stromal cells and trophoblasts expressed SP-A,
      SP-D and C1q, while only few invasive trophoblasts expressed C1q. Thus,
      expression of SP-A, SP-D and C1q in human decidua during first trimester suggests
      potential role of SP-A, SP-D and C1q during the early stages of pregnancy
      including implantation, trophoblast invasion and placental development.

PMID- 25829245
TI  - Synergy of anti-CD40, CpG and MPL in activation of mouse macrophages.
AB  - Activation of macrophages is a prerequisite for their antitumor effects. Several
      reagents, including agonistic anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody (anti-CD40), CpG
      oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG) and monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL), can stimulate
      activation of macrophages. Our previous studies showed synergy between anti-CD40
      and CpG and between anti-CD40 and MPL in macrophage activation and antitumor
      efficacy in mice. In the present study, we asked whether there was synergy among
      these three reagents. The activation of adherent peritoneal exudate cells (PEC)
      obtained from mice injected with anti-CD40 and then treated with CpG and/or MPL
      in vitro was determined by their ability to suppress proliferation of tumor cells
      and to produce various cytokines and chemokines in vitro. Cell sorting and
      histology followed by functional testing showed that macrophages were the main
      cell population in PEC activated by CD40 ligation in vivo. A combination of anti
      CD40, CpG or MPL activated PEC to suppress proliferation of B16 cells and produce
      nitric oxide far greater than the single reagents or any of the double
      combinations of these reagents. In addition, the combination of all three
      reagents activated PEC to secrete IL-12, IFN-gamma and MCP-1 to a greater degree
      than any single reagent or any two combined reagents. These results demonstrate
      that macrophages can be synergistically activated by anti-CD40, CpG and MPL,
      suggesting that this novel combined approach might be further investigated as
      potential cancer therapy.

PMID- 25829247
TI  - Design and synthesis of analogues of natural products.
AB  - In this article strategies for the design and synthesis of natural product
      analogues are summarized and illustrated with some selected examples. Proven
      strategies include diverted total synthesis (DTS), function-oriented synthesis
      (FOS), biology-oriented synthesis (BIOS), complexity to diversity (CtD), hybrid
      molecules, and biosynthesis inspired synthesis. The latter includes
      mutasynthesis, the synthesis of natural products encoded by silent genes, and
      propionate scanning. Most of the examples from our group fall in the quite
      general concept of DTS. Thus, in case an efficient strategy to a natural product
      is at hand, modifications are possible at almost any stage of a synthesis.
      However, even for compounds of moderate complexity, organic synthesis remains a
      bottle neck. Unless some method for predicting the biological activity of a
      designed molecule becomes available, the design and synthesis of natural product
      analogues will remain what it is now, namely it will largely rely on trial and
      error. 

PMID- 25829248
TI  - Comparisons of hospitalization rates among younger atrial fibrillation patients
      receiving different antiarrhythmic drugs.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs) are used to reduce the frequency,
      severity, and duration of atrial fibrillation (AF) events, which should reduce
      hospitalizations; however, little is known about the associations between
      different AADs and hospitalization-particularly among younger AF patients without
      structural heart disease. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using MarketScan(r) claims data,
      we identified AF patients without coronary artery disease or heart failure who
      received their first AAD prescription (amiodarone, sotalol, dronedarone, or Class
      Ic) within 14 days post-first AF encounter. The primary outcome was time from
      first AAD prescription to AF hospitalization, and secondary outcomes included
      time to cardiovascular and all-cause hospitalizations. We used inverse
      probability-weighted estimators to adjust for differences in treatment allocation
      in the Cox proportional hazards model for each outcome. Among 8562 AF patients
      with a median age of 56 years (interquartile range 49, 61), risk of AF
      hospitalization was greater with dronedarone than Class Ic (hazard ratio [HR]
      1.59; 95% confidence interval 1.13-2.24), amiodarone (HR 2.63; 1.77-3.89), and
      sotalol (HR 1.72; 1.17-2.54), but lower with amiodarone versus Class Ic (HR 0.68;
      0.57-0.80) and sotalol (HR 0.63; 0.53-0.75). Risk of cardiovascular
      hospitalization was lower with amiodarone than Class Ic (HR 0.80; 0.70-0.92), but
      not non-AF cardiovascular hospitalization (HR 1.26; 1.01-1.57). There was no
      difference in all-cause hospitalization between amiodarone, Class Ic, and
      sotalol. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in hospitalization rates were found between
      AADs in younger AF patients without structural heart disease. Amiodarone had the
      lowest risk of AF hospitalization and dronedarone had the greatest risk.
      Additional research is needed to better understand associations between AADs and
      hospitalization risk.

PMID- 25829246
TI  - Face processing in autism spectrum disorders: From brain regions to brain
      networks.
AB  - Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by reduced attention to social
      stimuli including the human face. This hypo-responsiveness to stimuli that are
      engaging to typically developing individuals may result from dysfunctioning
      motivation, reward, and attention systems in the brain. Here we review an
      emerging neuroimaging literature that emphasizes a shift from focusing on hypo
      activation of isolated brain regions such as the fusiform gyrus, amygdala, and
      superior temporal sulcus in ASD to a more holistic approach to understanding face
      perception as a process supported by distributed cortical and subcortical brain
      networks. We summarize evidence for atypical activation patterns within brain
      networks that may contribute to social deficits characteristic of the disorder.
      We conclude by pointing to gaps in the literature and future directions that will
      continue to shed light on aspects of face processing in autism that are still
      under-examined. In particular, we highlight the need for more developmental
      studies and studies examining ecologically valid and naturalistic social stimuli.

PMID- 25829249
TI  - Effect of super short pulse Er:YAG laser on human dentin--Scanning electron
      microscopy analysis.
AB  - This study evaluated the effect of different pulse widths in the morphological
      characteristics of human dentin irradiated with Er:YAG in cavity preparation
      protocols and dentin pretreatment. Dentin discs with 2 mm thickness were obtained
      from 18 human molars. The experimental groups were composed from two variables:
      (1) clinical protocol-cavity preparation (E = 200 mJ/20 Hz)-and pretreatment (E =
      80 mJ/2 Hz); and (2) pulse duration-50, 300, and 600 MUs. This formed six
      experimental groups (n = 3): G1 (E = 200 mJ/20 Hz/50 MUs); G2 (E = 200 mJ/20
      Hz/300 MUs); G3 (E = 200 mJ/20 Hz/600 MUs); G4 (E = 80 mJ/2 Hz/50 MUs); G5 (E =
      80 mJ/2 Hz/300 MUs); G6 (E = 80 mJ/2 Hz/600 MUs). The samples were irradiated
      with the Er:YAG laser by noncontact mode at a focal distance of 7 mm from the
      target point under continuous water spray (60% water and 40% air). After the
      irradiation, they were processed for scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
      Morphological analysis showed an irregular dentin surface, absence of smear layer
      with opening of the exposure of dentinal tubules and protruding peritubular
      dentin-without indications of changes for all protocols used. Regardless of the
      analyzed experimental group, the dentin surface showed a microretentive
      morphology characteristic of ablation. The G1 and G4 showed a rougher surface
      when compared to other groups. Finally, we concluded that the pulse width can
      influence the morphological characteristics of the irradiated dentin tested in
      different clinical indications. The larger surface irregularity caused by
      regulation with less pulse width (50 us) seems more appropriate to get a
      microretentive pattern necessary for successful adhesives restoration procedures.

PMID- 25829251
TI  - MiR-101 reverses the hypomethylation of the LMO3 promoter in glioma cells.
AB  - LIM-only protein 3 (LMO3), a member of the LIM-only protein group, is a new DNA
      methylation gene that was identified in gliomas via the MeDIP-Chip in our
      previous study. In this study, we found that LIM-only protein 3 (LMO3) is
      hypomethylated and overexpressed in glioma cells and tissues. The overexpression
      of LMO3 was correlated with a poor prognosis in glioma patients, and LMO3 was
      indirectly inhibited by the tumor suppressor miR-101, which is a potential
      prognosis marker of gliomas. MiR-101 decreased the expression of LMO3 by
      reversing the methylation status of the LMO3 promoter and by inhibiting the
      presence of the methylation-related histones H3K4me2 and H3K27me3 and increasing
      the presence of H3K9me3 and H4K20me3 on the promoter. It was determined that miR
      101 decreases the occupancy of H3K27me3 by inhibiting EZH2, DNMT3A and EED and
      decreases the H3K9me3 occupancy on the LMO3 promoter via SUV39H1, SUV39H2, G9a
      and PHF8. Furthermore, miR-101 suppresses the expression of LMO3 by decreasing
      USF and MZF1.

PMID- 25829252
TI  - CD133 initiates tumors, induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition and increases
      metastasis in pancreatic cancer.
AB  - CD133 has been implicated as a cancer stem cell (CSC) surface marker in several
      malignancies including pancreatic cancer. However, the functional role of this
      surface glycoprotein in the cancer stem cell remains elusive. In this study, we
      determined that CD133 overexpression induced "stemness" properties in MIA-PaCa2
      cells along with increased tumorigenicity, tumor progression, and metastasis in
      vivo. Additionally, CD133 expression induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition
      (EMT) and increased in vitro invasion. EMT induction and increased invasiveness
      were mediated by NF-kappaB activation, as inhibition of NF-kappaB mitigated these
      effects. This study showed that CD133 expression contributes to pancreatic cancer
      "stemness," tumorigenicity, EMT induction, invasion, and metastasis.

PMID- 25829253
TI  - Response to Denosumab Treatment for 2 Years in an Adolescent With
      Osteoradionecrosis.
AB  - Radiotherapy, an essential component of cancer treatment, is not without risk to
      bone, particularly to the immature or growing skeleton. Known side effects range
      from post-radiation osteitis to osteoradionecrosis. We report the case of a 14
      year-old male patient undergoing denosumab treatment, a new antiresorptive agent,
      for osteoradionecrosis. The patient exhibited fractures and associated pain and
      functional limitations secondary to radiation for the treatment of an embryonal
      rhabdomyosarcoma of prostate grade III administered at age 5 years. After
      treatment with denosumab, the pain disappeared, bone remodeling markers
      dramatically declined, bone mass increased, and pathological bone scan findings
      resolved without adverse effects or new fractures.

PMID- 25829255
TI  - Challenges in developing a cross-serotype rhinovirus vaccine.
AB  - A great burden of disease is attributable to human rhinovirus (HRV) infections
      which are the major cause of the common cold, exacerbations of both asthma and
      chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and are associated with asthma
      development. Despite this there is currently no vaccine for HRV. The first
      vaccine studies showed some promise in terms of serotype-specific protection
      against cold symptoms, but antigenic heterogeneity amongst the >150 HRVs has been
      regarded as a major barrier to effective vaccine development and has resulted in
      little progress over 50 years. Here we review those vaccine studies conducted to
      date, discuss the difficulties posed by antigenic heterogeneity and describe some
      recent advances in generating cross-reactive antibodies and T cell responses
      using peptide immunogens. 

PMID- 25829254
TI  - Affinity selection of epitope-based vaccines using a bacteriophage virus-like
      particle platform.
AB  - Display of epitopes on virus-like particles (VLPs) is a highly effective
      technique for enhancing the immunogenicity of antigens that are poorly
      immunogenic in their native context. VLP-based vaccines can be used to elicit
      long-lasting, high-titer antibody responses against diverse target antigens, even
      self-antigens. Most VLP platform-based vaccines are rationally engineered;
      specific target epitopes or domains are arrayed so that they are displayed at
      high-valency on the surface of VLPs. In this review, we describe an alternate
      technique for vaccine discovery using VLPs. This strategy, analogous to
      filamentous phage display, allows bacteriophage VLP-based vaccines to be
      identified from a vast library of potential vaccines by affinity selection. This
      technology integrates epitope discovery and immunization functions into a single
      platform. 

PMID- 25829256
TI  - Lessons from Reverse Vaccinology for viral vaccine design.
AB  - Although almost 15 years have passed since the birthdate of Reverse Vaccinology
      (RV), there are very limited applications of this approach to viral vaccines
      discovery. Undeniably, RV presents a series of advantages as it can virtually
      identify all potential antigens coded by a genome, irrespective of their
      abundance, phase of expression and immunogenicity. Additionally, it can be
      applied to all pathogens, including those that cannot be grown in vitro. In this
      review we summarize the few examples of RV application to viruses, in particular
      the Herpesviridae, and report the advantage and limitations of this approach.
      Next we focus on the novel approaches and additional technologies to vaccine
      development including structure based approach (Structural Vaccinology [SV]),
      synthetic biology and some examples of their application in the development of
      viral vaccines. 

PMID- 25829258
TI  - Do microsporidia function as "biological weapon" for Harmonia axyridis under
      natural conditions?
AB  - Invasive alien species, such as the multicoloured Asian ladybird Harmonia
      axyridis, are often regarded as major drivers of biodiversity loss. Therefore
      understanding which characteristics or mechanisms contribute to their invasive
      success is important. Here the role of symbiotic microsporidia in the hemolymph
      of H. axyridis was investigated in the context of intraguild predation between
      wild-caught H. axyridis and the native ladybird species Coccinella
      septempunctata. The microsporidia were recently discussed to contribute to the
      unpalatability of Harmonia for other coccinellids during intraguild predation and
      to function as "biological weapons". In the present study, visual detection of
      microsporidia in hemolymph samples revealed that 73.5% of H. axyridis were
      infected. Intraguild predation experiments between larvae of the two species
      showed a significant competitive advantage for H. axyridis, even against larger
      larvae of C. septempunctata. Adult C. septempunctata always killed and fed on H.
      axyridis larvae. However only 11.4% (4 of 47) of C. septempunctata that fed on
      infected H. axyridis died within 4 months. In contrast to previous studies this
      suggests that microsporidia or harmonine, the chemical defense compound of H.
      axyridis, do not lead to death of C. septempunctata preying on larvae of H.
      axyridis. Instead our results support the idea that competitive advantage during
      intraguild predation greatly facilitates the success of H. axyridis and that this
      may help this highly invasive species to outcompete native species. The impact of
      microsporidia on Harmonia itself as well as on interspecific interactions require
      further studies.

PMID- 25829257
TI  - Association of AluYb8 insertion/deletion polymorphism in the MUTYH gene with
      mtDNA maintain in the type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.
AB  - A common AluYb8-element insertion/deletion polymorphism of the MUTYH gene
      (AluYb8MUTYH) is a novel genetic risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
      In the present study, mtDNA sequencing analysis indicated that the mtDNA sequence
      heteroplasmy was not associated with AluYb8MUTYH polymorphism. To better
      understand the genetic risk for T2DM, we investigated the association of this
      polymorphism with mtDNA content, mtDNA breakage and mtDNA transcription in the
      leukocytes of T2DM patients. The mtDNA content and unbroken mtDNA were
      significantly increased in the mutant patients than in the wild-type patients (P
      <0.05, respectively). However, no association between mtDNA transcription and
      AluYb8MUTYH variant was observed. The results suggested that the AluYb8MUTYH
      variant was associated with an altered mtDNA maintain in T2DM patients. The high
      level of mtDNA content observed in the mutant patients may have resulted from
      inefficient base excision repair of mitochondrial MUTYH and a compensatory
      mechanism that is triggered by elevated oxidative stress. 

PMID- 25829250
TI  - Insights into the key roles of proteoglycans in breast cancer biology and
      translational medicine.
AB  - Proteoglycans control numerous normal and pathological processes, among which are
      morphogenesis, tissue repair, inflammation, vascularization and cancer
      metastasis. During tumor development and growth, proteoglycan expression is
      markedly modified in the tumor microenvironment. Altered expression of
      proteoglycans on tumor and stromal cell membranes affects cancer cell signaling,
      growth and survival, cell adhesion, migration and angiogenesis. Despite the high
      complexity and heterogeneity of breast cancer, the rapid evolution in our
      knowledge that proteoglycans are among the key players in the breast tumor
      microenvironment suggests their potential as pharmacological targets in this type
      of cancer. It has been recently suggested that pharmacological treatment may
      target proteoglycan metabolism, their utilization as targets for immunotherapy or
      their direct use as therapeutic agents. The diversity inherent in the
      proteoglycans that will be presented herein provides the potential for multiple
      layers of regulation of breast tumor behavior. This review summarizes recent
      developments concerning the biology of selected proteoglycans in breast cancer,
      and presents potential targeted therapeutic approaches based on their novel key
      roles in breast cancer. 

PMID- 25829259
TI  - Affordable and rapid HPTLC method for the simultaneous analysis of artemisinin
      and its metabolite artemisinic acid in Artemisia annua L.
AB  - Artemisinin (AN) and artemisinic acid (AA), valuable phyto-pharmaceutical
      molecules, are well known anti-malarials, but their activities against diseases
      like cancer, schistosomiasis, HIV, hepatitis-B and leishmaniasis are also being
      reported. For the simultaneous estimation of AN and AA in the callus and leaf
      extracts of A. annua L. plants, we embarked upon a simple, rapid, selective,
      reliable and fairly economical high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC)
      method. Experimental conditions such as band size, chamber saturation time,
      migration of solvent front and slit width were critically studied and the optimum
      conditions were selected. The separations were achieved using toluene-ethyl
      acetate, 9:1 (v/v) as mobile phase on pre-coated silica gel plates, G 60F254 .
      Good resolution was achieved with Rf values of 0.35 +/- 0.02 and 0.26 +/- 0.02 at
      536 nm for AN and 626 nm for AA, respectively, in absorption-reflectance mode.
      The method displayed a linear relationship with r(2) value 0.992 and 0.994 for AN
      and AA, respectively, in the concentration range of 300-1500 ng for AN and 200
      1000 ng for AA. The method was validated for specificity by obtaining in-situ UV
      overlay spectra and sensitivity by estimating limit of detection (30 ng for AN
      and 15 ng for AA) and limit of quantitation (80 ng for AN and 45 ng for AA)
      values. The accuracy was checked by the recovery studies conducted at three
      different levels with the known concentrations and the average percentage
      recovery was 101.99% for AN and 103.84% for AA. The precision was analyzed by
      interday and intraday precision and was 1.09 and 1.00% RSD for AN and 1.22 and
      6.05% RSD for AA. The analysis of statistical data substantiates that this HPTLC
      method can be used for the simultaneous estimation of AN and AA in biological
      samples.

PMID- 25829260
TI  - Global role of the membrane protease LonB in Archaea: Potential protease targets
      revealed by quantitative proteome analysis of a lonB mutant in Haloferax
      volcanii.
AB  - The membrane-associated LonB protease is essential for viability in Haloferax
      volcanii, however, the cellular processes affected by this protease in archaea
      are unknown. In this study, the impact of a lon conditional mutation (down
      regulation) on H. volcanii physiology was examined by comparing proteomes of
      parental and mutant cells using shotgun proteomics. A total of 1778 proteins were
      identified (44% of H. volcanii predicted proteome) and 142 changed significantly
      in amount (>=2 fold). Of these, 66 were augmented in response to Lon deficiency
      suggesting they could be Lon substrates. The "Lon subproteome" included soluble
      and predicted membrane proteins expected to participate in diverse cellular
      processes. The dramatic stabilization of phytoene synthase (57 fold) in concert
      with overpigmentation of lon mutant cells suggests that Lon controls
      carotenogenesis in H. volcanii. Several hypothetical proteins, which may reveal
      novel functions and/or be involved in adaptation to extreme environments, were
      notably increased (300 fold). This study, which represents the first proteome
      examination of a Lon deficient archaeal cell, shows that Lon has a strong impact
      on H. volcanii physiology evidencing the cellular processes controlled by this
      protease in Archaea. Additionally, this work provides a platform for the
      discovery of novel targets of Lon proteases. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The
      proteome of a Lon-deficient archaeal cell was examined for the first time showing
      that Lon has a strong impact on H. volcanii physiology and evidencing the
      proteins and cellular processes controlled by this protease in Archaea. This work
      will facilitate future investigations aiming to address Lon function in archaea
      and provides a platform for the discovery of endogenous targets of the archaeal
      type Lon as well as novel targets/processes regulated by Lon proteases. This
      knowledge will advance the understanding on archaeal physiology and the
      biological function of membrane proteases in microorganisms.

PMID- 25829261
TI  - Analysis of the molecular response of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 to the next
      generation biofuel n-butanol.
AB  - To increase the efficiency of biocatalysts a thorough understanding of the
      molecular response of the biocatalyst to precursors, products and environmental
      conditions applied in bioconversions is essential. Here we performed a
      comprehensive proteome and phospholipid analysis to characterize the molecular
      response of the potential biocatalyst Pseudomonas putida KT2440 to the next
      generation biofuel n-butanol. Using complementary quantitative proteomics
      approaches we were able to identify and quantify 1467 proteins, corresponding to
      28% of the total KT2440 proteome. 256 proteins were altered in abundance in
      response to n-butanol. The proteome response entailed an increased abundance of
      enzymes involved in n-butanol degradation including quinoprotein alcohol
      dehydrogenases, aldehyde dehydrogenases and enzymes of fatty acid beta oxidation.
      From these results we were able to construct a pathway for the metabolism of n
      butanol in P. putida. The initial oxidation of n-butanol is catalyzed by at least
      two quinoprotein ethanol dehydrogenases (PedE and PedH). Growth of mutants
      lacking PedE and PedH on n-butanol was significantly impaired, but not completely
      inhibited, suggesting that additional alcohol dehydrogenases can at least
      partially complement their function in KT2440. Furthermore, phospholipid
      profiling revealed a significantly increased abundance of lyso-phospholipids in
      response to n-butanol, indicating a rearrangement of the lipid bilayer.
      BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: n-butanol is an important bulk chemical and a promising
      alternative to gasoline as a transportation fuel. Due to environmental concerns
      as well as increasing energy prices there is a growing interest in sustainable
      and cost-effective biotechnological production processes for the production of
      bulk chemicals and transportation fuels from renewable resources. n-butanol
      fermentation is well established in Clostridiae, but the efficiency of n-butanol
      production is mainly limited by its toxicity. Therefore bacterial strains with
      higher intrinsic tolerance to n-butanol have to be selected as hosts for n
      butanol production. Pseudomonas bacteria are metabolically very versatile and
      exhibit a high intrinsic tolerance to organic solvents making them suitable
      candidates for bioconversion processes. A prerequisite for a potential production
      of n-butanol in Pseudomonas bacteria is a thorough understanding of the molecular
      adaption processes caused by n-butanol and the identification of enzymes involved
      in n-butanol metabolization. This work describes the impact of n-butanol on the
      proteome and the phospholipid composition of the reference strain P. putida
      KT2440. The high proteome coverage of our proteomics survey allowed us to
      reconstruct the degradation pathway of n-butanol and to monitor the changes in
      the energy metabolism of KT2440 induced by n-butanol. Key enzymes involved in n
      butanol degradation identified in study will be interesting targets for
      optimization of n-butanol production in Pseudomonads. The present work and the
      identification of key enzymes involved in butanol metabolism may serve as a
      fundament to develop new or improve existing strategies for the biotechnological
      production of the next-generation biofuel n-butanol in Pseudomonads.

PMID- 25829262
TI  - Proteomics profiling of ethylene-induced tomato flower pedicel abscission.
AB  - The control of abscission is an important agricultural concern because of its
      substantial effect on crop yield and quality. Changes in gene expression are
      correlated with the ethylene-mediated execution of abscission. However, only few
      large-scale proteomic studies focused on tomato pedicel abscission. Isobaric tag
      for relative and absolute quantification labeling was used to examine the protein
      and phosphoprotein changes in the tomato pedicel AZ (AZ) treated with ethylene or
      1-methylcyclopropene. Among the 1429 quantified proteins, 383 unique peptides
      corresponding to 166 proteins showed higher than 1.5-fold change in abundance. A
      total of 450 phosphopeptides were detected, among which 85 phosphopeptides
      corresponding to 73 phosphoproteins were significantly regulated (>1.5-fold
      abundance change) in response to ethylene. Protein and phosphoprotein sets showed
      26 similar proteins. Six phosphorylation motifs were extracted from the 138
      phosphorylation sites. By analyzing translational and modification levels, we
      found that the modification level was not due to the translational changes.
      Comparison between the protein and phosphoprotein functions revealed that the
      proteins acted mainly in the metabolic process and showed catalytic activity,
      whereas most of the phosphoproteins showed signaling and transporting activities.
      Data revealed the unique features of the AZ phosphoproteomics, thereby suggesting
      the involvement of a complex network of kinase-substrate and phosphatase
      substrate interactions in response to ethylene. Some phosphorylation sites from
      calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK5(S523)), CDPK5(S527), and SRL3(S329) were
      also found to perform protective functions for AZ and to be helpful in ethylene
      signal transduction. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Organ abscission has both positive
      and negative roles. Abscission is conducive for the fall of ripe fruits and the
      release and dispersion of seeds, but abscission has been a major limiting factor
      for crop productivity. Hence, more details about the process may aid in the
      regulation of organ abscission. However, at present, the detailed mechanism of
      abscission is still unclear. In tomato, several transcriptome analyses were
      performed using pedicels as materials. Yet, no large-scale proteomics and
      phosphoproteomic studies of abscission zone have been reported so far. Hence, in
      this present study, we determined the ethylene-induced changes in the proteomics
      and phosphoproteomics of tomato flower AZ tissue using the isobaric tag for
      relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ). Proteomics data from both data sets
      revealed the differentially expressed proteins that are associated with the
      translational and modification levels relevant to abscission mechanism. Two key
      proteins (CDPK (CDPK5(S523) and CDPK5(S527)) and SRL3(S329)) among ethylene
      signal transduction and defense-related proteins were obtained from the
      phosphoproteins. The set of tomato phosphorylation sites presented in this work
      is useful in at least two ways. First, as a database resource, the data would
      facilitate research on the identified phosphoproteins. Second, the identified
      sites of the related proteins could provide enough knowledge for further
      experiments. Hence, our results contribute to the understanding of the mechanism
      of abscission in plants.

PMID- 25829263
TI  - New educational approach for patients on warfarin improves knowledge and therapy
      control.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patient education is essential for a safe and efficient oral
      anticoagulant treatment. We examined if a newly launched booklet with information
      on anticoagulant treatment with warfarin improved patient knowledge and the time
      spent in the therapeutic-range (TTR). METHODS: Standardized questionnaire was
      administered to 235 consecutive patients on warfarin to assess their baseline
      knowledge and readministered it 2 months after they received the booklet. A
      control group of 51 patients was interviewed only after the booklet had been
      distributed. RESULTS: Patient's knowledge at the baseline was unsatisfying (mean
      questionnaire score: 11/16) and a substantial progress was achieved after the
      educational intervention (mean questionnaire score: 13/16, p = 0.001). TTR is
      significantly increased after the intervention (63.4 +/- 22.3 vs. 74.6 +/- 23.8
      %; p < 0.01). The mean questionnaire score and TTR after education were not
      different in the intervention and the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge about
      oral anticoagulant treatment and TTR is increased after the issue of the booklet
      in the majority of patients. However, for a small group of patients with
      unimproved knowledge new forms of education are needed.

PMID- 25829264
TI  - Serotypes and genotypes of invasive pneumococci in the central part of Slovenia.
AB  - To investigate epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in the central
      part of Slovenia in a population with no routine pneumococcal vaccination, we
      carried out serotyping of isolates by sequential multiplex polymerase chain
      reaction (PCR) and genotyping by repetitive sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) and some
      by multilocus sequence typing. IPD was confirmed in 134 (26.5 %) of 510 acutely
      ill patients, either by a positive blood culture or real-time PCR (rt-PCR). In 94
      patients, isolates were available for typing (24 from blood and 70 from
      nasopharynx). They belonged to 12 different serotypes; the most prevalent were 14
      (27.6 % isolates), 9V, 3 (12.7 % each), 7F (9.5 %), 19A, and 1 (7.4 % each)
      followed by 4, 6A/B, 19F, 23F, 18C, and 33F. Genotyping yielded 34 rep-PCR
      genotypes and 13 subtypes; six were found in serotype 14, one in 9V, four each in
      3, 19A, and 6A/B, three each in 7F and 1, and two each in 4, 19F, 23F, and 18C.
      Serotype 9V was the most homogenous and 14 and 19A were heterogenous and had two
      divergent clonal groups each. The most common genotypes belonged to virulent
      widespread clones, like ST162, ST9, ST15, ST156, ST191, and ST1377; however,
      sporadic clones were also observed.

PMID- 25829265
TI  - Finding the balance between capture and control: Oculomotor selection in early
      deaf adults.
AB  - Previous work investigating the consequence of bilateral deafness on attentional
      selection suggests that experience-dependent changes in this population may
      result in increased automatic processing of stimulus-driven visual information
      (e.g., saliency). However, adaptive behavior also requires observers to
      prioritize goal-driven information relevant to the task at hand. In order to
      investigate whether auditory deprivation alters the balance between these two
      components of attentional selection, we assessed the time-course of overt visual
      selection in deaf adults. Twenty early-deaf adults and twenty hearing controls
      performed an oculomotor additional singleton paradigm. Participants made a
      speeded eye-movement to a unique orientation target, embedded among homogenous
      non-targets and one additional unique orientation distractor that was more,
      equally or less salient than the target. Saliency was manipulated through color.
      For deaf participants proficiency in sign language was assessed. Overall, results
      showed that fast initiated saccades were saliency-driven, whereas later initiated
      saccades were goal-driven. However, deaf participants were overall slower than
      hearing controls at initiating saccades and also less captured by task-irrelevant
      salient distractors. The delayed oculomotor behavior of deaf adults was not
      explained by any of the linguistic measures acquired. Importantly, a multinomial
      model applied to the data revealed a comparable evolution over time of the
      underlying saliency- and goal-driven processes between the two groups, confirming
      the crucial role of saccadic latencies in determining the outcome of visual
      selection performance. The present findings indicate that prioritization of
      saliency-driven information is not an unavoidable phenomenon in deafness.
      Possible neural correlates of the documented behavioral effect are also
      discussed. 

PMID- 25829266
TI  - The European Medicines Agency's strategies to meet the challenges of Alzheimer
      disease.
AB  - Regulatory agencies have a key role in facilitating the development of new drugs
      for Alzheimer disease, particularly given the challenges associated with early
      intervention. Here, we highlight the strategies of the European Medicines Agency
      to help address such challenges. 

PMID- 25829267
TI  - The Roadmap Epigenomics Project opens new drug development avenues.

PMID- 25829268
TI  - HDAC inhibitors still need a home run, despite recent approval.

PMID- 25829272
TI  - Trial watch: Multikinase-targeting therapy finds potential niche in thyroid
      cancer.

PMID- 25829273
TI  - The breast cancer market.

PMID- 25829274
TI  - Anticancer drugs: On-site CAR parking.

PMID- 25829275
TI  - Muscular dystrophy: New exon-skipping strategy rescues dystrophin.

PMID- 25829276
TI  - Cancer: An epigenetic target for synthetic lethality.

PMID- 25829277
TI  - Inflammatory diseases: Starving inflammation.

PMID- 25829282
TI  - Parasite infection: Parasite-targeting compound sets identified and ready to go.

PMID- 25829284
TI  - Kinases: a remote control in inflammasome activity.

PMID- 25829283
TI  - Mitigating risk in academic preclinical drug discovery.
AB  - The number of academic drug discovery centres has grown considerably in recent
      years, providing new opportunities to couple the curiosity-driven research
      culture in academia with rigorous preclinical drug discovery practices used in
      industry. To fully realize the potential of these opportunities, it is important
      that academic researchers understand the risks inherent in preclinical drug
      discovery, and that translational research programmes are effectively organized
      and supported at an institutional level. In this article, we discuss strategies
      to mitigate risks in several key aspects of preclinical drug discovery at
      academic drug discovery centres, including organization, target selection, assay
      design, medicinal chemistry and preclinical pharmacology. 

PMID- 25829285
TI  - SPR analysis of the interaction between a recombinant protein of unknown function
      in Leishmania infantum immobilised on dendrimers and antibodies of the visceral
      leishmaniasis: A potential use in immunodiagnosis.
AB  - In this work, an SPR immunosensor was developed to elucidate the reaction
      kinetics between a protein of unknown function in Leishmania infantum
      (hypothetical C1 protein) and specific antibodies of the visceral leishmaniasis
      (VL). A platform, which is based on layer-by-layer assembly was formed by
      cysteamine in combination with a fourth-generation poly(amidoamine) dendrimer
      (PAMAM(G4)) on gold surface for the immobilisation of the protein. This film
      resulted in amplification of the signal of SPR. Then, a kinetic model based on a
      bivalent ligation suggested that the reaction between the C1 protein and the anti
      C1 antibody occurs in two steps. The value of the equilibrium dissociation
      constant (KD1*KD2=1.64*10(-7) mol L(-1)) demonstrated high binding affinity
      between the biomolecules. Furthermore, low limits of detection (LOD=7.37 nmol L(
      1)) and quantification (LOQ=7.83 nmol L(-1)) were presented with the proposed SPR
      immunosensor. Afterwards, the addition of real samples consisting of positive and
      negative canine sera for VL was accompanied by high sensitivity and selectivity
      by SPR immunosensor. Therefore, this study quantitatively demonstrated the strong
      antigenic character of a hypothetical protein and consequently its potential use
      in the immunodiagnosis of the VL.

PMID- 25829287
TI  - Consolidated Action Plan to Prevent and Combat Multidrug- and Extensively Drug
      resistant Tuberculosis in the WHO European Region 2011-2015: Cost-effectiveness
      analysis.
AB  - Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) has increased at an alarming rate in the WHO
      European Region. Of the 27 countries worldwide with a high burden of multidrug
      resistant-TB (MDR-TB), 15 are in the European Region. An estimated 78,000 new
      cases of MDR-TB occur annually in the Region, of which approximately 10% are
      extensively drug-resistant (XDR)-TB. In response, the WHO Regional Office for
      Europe developed a Consolidated Action Plan to Prevent and Combat Multidrug- and
      Extensively Drug-resistant Tuberculosis (2011-2015). Our objective was to analyse
      the cost-effectiveness of implementing the plan, with the expected achievements
      of diagnosing 85% of estimated MDR-TB cases and treating at least 75%
      successfully. A transmission model, using epidemiological data reported to WHO
      was developed to calculate expected achievements. WHO-CHOICE database was used
      for cost analyses. The highly cost-effective plan is expected to prevent the
      emergence of 250,000 new MDR-TB and 13,000 XDR-TB patients respectively, saving
      US$7 billion and 120,000 lives. The plan and accompanying Resolution were fully
      endorsed by the sixty-first session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in
      2011. Member States need to continuously improve health system performance and
      address TB determinants. Research and development of new medicines, tools and
      patient-friendly services are also crucial.

PMID- 25829286
TI  - MadR1, a Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell cycle stress response protein that is a
      member of a widely conserved protein class of prokaryotic, eukaryotic and archeal
      origin.
AB  - Stress-induced molecular programs designed to stall division progression are
      nearly ubiquitous in bacteria, with one well-known example being the
      participation of the SulA septum inhibiting protein in the SOS DNA damage repair
      response. Mycobacteria similarly demonstrate stress-altered growth kinetics,
      however no such regulators have been found in these organisms. We therefore set
      out to identify SulA-like regulatory proteins in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A
      bioinformatics modeling-based approach led to the identification of rv2216 as
      encoding for a protein with weak similarity to SulA, further analysis
      distinguished this protein as belonging to a group of uncharacterized growth
      promoting proteins. We have named the mycobacterial protein encoded by rv2216
      morphology altering division regulator protein 1, MadR1. Overexpression of madR1
      modulated cell length while maintaining growth kinetics similar to wild-type, and
      increased the proportion of bent or V-form cells in the population. The presence
      of MadR1-GFP at regions of cellular elongation (poles) and morphological
      differentiation (V-form) suggests MadR1 involvement in phenotypic heterogeneity
      and longitudinal cellular growth. Global transcriptional analysis indicated that
      MadR1 functionality is linked to lipid editing programs required for growth and
      persistence. This is the first report to differentiate the larger class of these
      conserved proteins from SulA proteins and characterizes MadR1 effects on the
      mycobacterial cell. 

PMID- 25829288
TI  - Effect of variable soil texture, metal saturation of soil organic matter (SOM)
      and tree species composition on spatial distribution of SOM in forest soils in
      Poland.
AB  - In this study we investigated the effect of fine (phi<0.05mm) fraction, i.e.,
      silt+clay (FF) content in soils, site moisture, metal (Al and Fe) of soil organic
      matter (SOM) and forest species composition on the spatial distribution of carbon
      (C) pools in forest soils at the landscape scale. We established 275 plots in
      regular 200*200m grid in a forested area of 14.4km(2). Fieldwork included soil
      sampling of the organic horizon, mineral topsoil and subsoil down to 40cm deep.
      We analysed the vertical and horizontal distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC)
      stocks, as well as the quantity of physically separated fractions including the
      free light (fLF), occluded light (oLF) and mineral associated fractions (MAF) in
      the mineral topsoil (A, AE) horizons. Distribution of C in soils was
      predominantly affected by the variation in the FF content. In soils richer in the
      FF more SOC was accumulated in mineral horizons and less in the organic horizons.
      Accumulation of SOC in mineral soil was also positively affected by the degree of
      saturation of SOM with Al and Fe. The increasing share of beech influenced the
      distribution of C stock in soil profiles by reducing the depth of O horizon and
      increasing C stored in mineral soil. The content of FF was positively correlated
      with the content of C in MAF and fLF fractions. The content of oLF and MAF
      fractions was also positively influenced by a higher degree of metal saturation,
      particularly Al. Our results confirmed that Al plays an important role in the
      stabilization of SOM inside aggregates (CoLF) and as in CMAF fractions. We also
      found a significant, positive effect of beech on the CfLF and fir on the CoLF
      content. 

PMID- 25829289
TI  - Methodology to assess and map the potential development of forest ecosystems
      exposed to climate change and atmospheric nitrogen deposition: A pilot study in
      Germany.
AB  - A methodology for mapping ecosystems and their potential development under
      climate change and atmospheric nitrogen deposition was developed using examples
      from Germany. The methodology integrated data on vegetation, soil, climate change
      and atmospheric nitrogen deposition. These data were used to classify ecosystem
      types regarding six ecological functions and interrelated structures. Respective
      data covering 1961-1990 were used for reference. The assessment of functional and
      structural integrity relies on comparing a current or future state with an
      ecosystem type-specific reference. While current functions and structures of
      ecosystems were quantified by measurements, potential future developments were
      projected by geochemical soil modelling and data from a regional climate change
      model. The ecosystem types referenced the potential natural vegetation and were
      mapped using data on current tree species coverage and land use. In this manner,
      current ecosystem types were derived, which were related to data on elevation,
      soil texture, and climate for the years 1961-1990. These relations were
      quantified by Classification and Regression Trees, which were used to map the
      spatial patterns of ecosystem type clusters for 1961-1990. The climate data for
      these years were subsequently replaced by the results of a regional climate model
      for 1991-2010, 2011-2040, and 2041-2070. For each of these periods, one map of
      ecosystem type clusters was produced and evaluated with regard to the development
      of areal coverage of ecosystem type clusters over time. This evaluation of the
      structural aspects of ecological integrity at the national level was added by
      projecting potential future values of indicators for ecological functions at the
      site level by using the Very Simple Dynamic soil modelling technique based on
      climate data and two scenarios of nitrogen deposition as input. The results were
      compared to the reference and enabled an evaluation of site-specific ecosystem
      changes over time which proved to be both, positive and negative. 

PMID- 25829290
TI  - An integrated crop model and GIS decision support system for assisting agronomic
      decision making under climate change.
AB  - The semi-arid tropical (SAT) regions of India are suffering from low productivity
      which may be further aggravated by anticipated climate change. The present study
      analyzes the spatial variability of climate change impacts on groundnut yields in
      the Anantapur district of India and examines the relative contribution of
      adaptation strategies. For this purpose, a web based decision support tool that
      integrates crop simulation model and Geographical Information System (GIS) was
      developed to assist agronomic decision making and this tool can be scalable to
      any location and crop. The climate change projections of five global climate
      models (GCMs) relative to the 1980-2010 baseline for Anantapur district indicates
      an increase in rainfall activity to the tune of 10.6 to 25% during Mid-century
      period (2040-69) with RCP 8.5. The GCMs also predict warming exceeding 1.4 to 2.4
      degrees C by 2069 in the study region. The spatial crop responses to the
      projected climate indicate a decrease in groundnut yields with four GCMs (MPI-ESM
      MR, MIROC5, CCSM4 and HadGEM2-ES) and a contrasting 6.3% increase with the GCM,
      GFDL-ESM2M. The simulation studies using CROPGRO-Peanut model reveals that
      groundnut yields can be increased on average by 1.0%, 5.0%, 14.4%, and 20.2%, by
      adopting adaptation options of heat tolerance, drought tolerant cultivars,
      supplemental irrigation and a combination of drought tolerance cultivar and
      supplemental irrigation respectively. The spatial patterns of relative benefits
      of adaptation options were geographically different and the greatest benefits can
      be achieved by adopting new cultivars having drought tolerance and with the
      application of one supplemental irrigation at 60days after sowing. 

PMID- 25829291
TI  - Multi-year ozone concentration and its spectra in Shanghai, China.
AB  - The periodic properties of surface ozone variation were studied at five stations
      with different environmental conditions in Shanghai based on multi-year
      observations of ozone concentration and UV radiation using spectral decomposition
      methods. The spectra of surface ozone have distinct peaks at semi-diurnal,
      diurnal, intraseasonal, semiannual, annual, and quasi-biennial periods. The
      spectra for the frequency band larger than the semi-diurnal follow a -5/3 power
      law at all the stations. The diurnal peak values for all stations in different
      years are similar to each other, while the semi-diurnal peak values are somewhat
      different among the stations. The peak value of semi-diurnal cycle at the station
      Dongtan (ecological environment area) is smaller than that at the other stations.
      The monthly mean of surface ozone has a significant seasonal variation with a
      maximum in May, a secondary maximum in fall, a lower value in summer (July and
      August), and a minimum in December or January. However the seasonal variation of
      UV radiation monthly mean shows a relatively higher value in summer (July and
      August), and for other months it is closely related to the ozone monthly mean.
      These secondary peaks of the ozone monthly mean in fall might be caused by the UV
      radiation coming back to its relevant value after falling off during the Asia
      summer monsoon; it was not related to biomass burning. The intraseasonal cycling
      of ozone might be related to the MJO (Madden-Julian Oscillation). Further studies
      are needed to understand the relationship between the local ozone intraseasonal
      variation and the MJO. The quasi-biennial variation of ozone in Shanghai might be
      a local reflection of climate change and could be associated with ENSO (El-Nino
      Southern Oscillation). Further studies will be needed to understand the
      relationship of the quasi-biennial variation of ozone to ENSO. 

PMID- 25829292
TI  - Concentration and transportation of heavy metals in vegetables and risk
      assessment of human exposure to bioaccessible heavy metals in soil near a waste
      incinerator site, South China.
AB  - There is limited study focusing on the bioaccumulation of heavy metals in
      vegetables and human exposure to bioaccessible heavy metals in soil. In the
      present study, heavy metal concentrations (Cr, Ni, Cu, Pb and Cd) were measured
      in five types of vegetables, soil, root, and settled air particle samples from
      two sites (at a domestic waste incinerator and at 20km away from the incinerator)
      in Guangzhou, South China. Heavy metal concentrations in soil were greater than
      those in aerial parts of vegetables and roots, which indicated that vegetables
      bioaccumulated low amount of heavy metals from soil. The similar pattern of heavy
      metal (Cr, Cd) was found in the settled air particle samples and aerial parts of
      vegetables from two sites, which may suggest that foliar uptake may be an
      important pathway of heavy metal from the environment to vegetables. The highest
      levels of heavy metals were found in leaf lettuce (125.52MUg/g, dry weight) and
      bitter lettuce (71.2MUg/g) for sites A and B, respectively, followed by bitter
      lettuce and leaf lettuce for sites A and B, respectively. Swamp morning glory
      accumulated the lowest amount of heavy metals (81.02MUg/g for site A and
      53.2MUg/g for site B) at both sites. The bioaccessibility of heavy metals in soil
      ranged from Cr (2%) to Cu (71.78%). Risk assessment showed that Cd and Pb in soil
      samples resulted in the highest non-cancer risk and Cd would result in
      unacceptable cancer risk for children and risk. The non-dietary intake of soil
      was the most important exposure pathway, when the bioaccessibility of heavy
      metals was taken into account. 

PMID- 25829293
TI  - Distribution of phthalates, pesticides and drug residues in the dissolved,
      particulate and sedimentary phases from transboundary rivers (France-Belgium).
AB  - Various drug residues, pesticides and phthalates are ubiquitous in the
      environment. Their presence in the environment has attracted considerable
      attention due to their potential impacts on ecosystem functioning and on public
      health. In this work, 14 drug residues, 24 pesticides and 6 phthalates have been
      quantified in three matrices (in the dissolved phase, associated to suspended
      solid matter (SSM), and in sediment) collected from fifteen watercourses and
      rivers located in a highly industrialized zone at the cross-border area of
      Northern France and Belgium. The extractions have been carried out using
      accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) for solid matrices (SSM and sediment) and
      using solid phase extraction (SPE) for liquid matrix. The final extract was
      analyzed using GC-MS technique. Among the three classes of compounds, phthalates
      have been found at highest level compared to pesticides and drug residues. The
      Sigma6PAE concentrations were ranging from 17.2+/-2.58 to 179.1+/-26.9MUgL(-1) in
      dissolved phase, from 2.9+/-0.4 to 21.1+/-3.2MUgL(-1) in SSM and from 1.1+/-0.2
      to 11.9+/-1.8MUgg(-1)dw in sediment. The Sigma14drug residue concentrations were
      lower than 1.3MUgL(-1) in the dissolved phases, lower than 30ngL(-1) associated
      to SSM and from nondetectable levels to 60.7+/-9.1ngg(-1)dw in sediment. For
      pesticides, all compounds were below the LOQ values in dissolved phase and in
      sediment, and only EPTC could be quantified in SSM. 

PMID- 25829294
TI  - Mesocosm validation of the marine No Effect Concentration of dissolved copper
      derived from a species sensitivity distribution.
AB  - The Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNEC) for dissolved copper based on the
      species sensitivity distribution (SSD) of 24 marine single species tests was
      validated in marine mesocosms. To achieve this, the impact of actively maintained
      concentrations of dissolved copper on a marine benthic and planktonic community
      was studied in 18 outdoor 4.6m(3) mesocosms. Five treatment levels, ranging from
      2.9 to 31MUg dissolved Cu/L, were created in triplicate and maintained for
      82days. Clear effects were observed on gastropod and bivalve molluscs,
      phytoplankton, zooplankton, sponges and sessile algae. The most sensitive
      biological endpoints; reproduction success of the bivalve Cerastoderma edule,
      copepod population development and periphyton growth were significantly affected
      at concentrations of 9.9MUg Cu/L and higher. The No Observed Effect Concentration
      (NOEC) derived from this study was 5.7MUg dissolved Cu/L. Taking into account the
      DOC concentration of the mesocosm water this NOEC is comparable to the PNEC
      derived from the SSD. 

PMID- 25829295
TI  - Pain characteristics and analgesic treatment in an aged adult population: a 4
      week retrospective analysis of advanced cancer patients followed at home.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies of cancer pain management in older people are lacking and
      more information is needed. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the
      possible differences in pain intensity, pain mechanisms, breakthrough pain (BTP)
      medications and use of opioids between adult cancer patients and older cancer
      patients. METHODS: A retrospective review of computerized charts was undertaken
      for advanced cancer patients in the home-care setting. Pain intensity, pain
      mechanisms, the presence of BTP, analgesic treatments in the last 4 weeks of
      life, and frequency of change in opioid or route of administration were measured.
      Patients were divided into two groups: adults (<65 years, A), and aged (>=65
      years, O). Within the latter group, three subgroups were assessed: old (65-74
      years, O1), older (75-84 years, O2), and the oldest (>=85 years, O3). RESULTS: A
      total of 412 patients were available for analysis. No differences in Karnofsky
      status and survival in the two age groups were found (p=0.2 and p=0.09,
      respectively). No differences in pain intensity were observed among age
      subgroups. The O3 group presented a lower prevalence of BTP in comparison with
      other groups. Significant changes in opioid doses were reported with an inverse
      relationship with age (p=0.0001). Opioid switching was less frequently present in
      the older patients (p<0.005). CONCLUSION: Careful opioid titration may achieve
      adequate analgesia in older patients by using lower doses of opioids, with a
      lower rate of opioid switching. The prevalence of BTP was only shown to be lower
      in the oldest group (O3).

PMID- 25829296
TI  - The inability of older adults to recall their drugs and medical conditions.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Previous research has shown that many older adults without
      known cognitive impairment are unable to recall basic knowledge about their
      medical history. We sought to determine whether older adult patients in our own
      clinic population were able to recall their drug regimens and medical conditions
      from memory. METHODS: Patients aged 65 years or older with no known cognitive
      impairment, dementia, or memory loss who were presenting for routine outpatient
      follow-up in our medical school neurology and general medicine clinics were
      recruited. Each patient was asked to recall the number and names of their
      presently prescribed drugs and their associated medical conditions. Each patient
      was also administered a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) cognitive screening
      test (range 0-30). RESULTS: Most patients were unable to recall their drug
      regimens or their medical conditions. Of 99 patients taking drugs, only 22%
      correctly named their drugs from memory, and only 34% correctly named their
      medical conditions associated with the drugs. Fewer than half (49%) correctly
      recalled the number of drugs they were taking. Poor recall performance was
      evident even in high-cognitive (MMSE>27) patients. CONCLUSION: The accuracy of
      recall memory in older adults regarding their drugs and medical conditions may be
      poor, which has important implications towards medication reconciliation within
      meaningful-use doctrine. Clinicians treating older adults should be very cautious
      before relying on their patients' memories for accurate recall of their medical
      conditions, their drug regimens, and even the number of drugs they are taking.

PMID- 25829297
TI  - Synthesis, Structure, and Air-stable N-type Field-Effect Transistor Behaviors of
      Functionalized Octaazanonacene-8,19-dione.
AB  - Increasing the length of N-heteroacenes or their analogues is highly desirable
      because such materials could have great potential applications in organic
      electronics. In this report, the large pi-conjugated N-heteroquinone 6,10,17,21
      tetra-((triisopropylsilyl)ethynyl)-5,7,9,11,16,18,20,22-octaazanonacene-8,19
      dione (OANQ) has been synthesized and characterized. The as-prepared OANQ shows
      high stability under ambient conditions and has a particularly low LUMO level,
      which leads to it being a promising candidate for air-stable n-type field-effect
      transistors (FETs). In fact, FET devices based on OANQ single crystals have been
      fabricated and an electron mobility of up to 0.2 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) under ambient
      conditions is reported. More importantly, no obvious degradation was observed
      even after one month. Theoretical calculations based on the single crystal are
      consistent with the measured mobility.

PMID- 25829298
TI  - A randomised, placebo-controlled, Phase II, dose-ranging trial of once-daily
      treatment with olodaterol, a novel long-acting beta2-agonist, for 4 weeks in
      patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Olodaterol is a novel long-acting beta2-agonist (LABA) with >=24-h
      duration of action in preclinical and clinical studies. OBJECTIVE: This Phase II,
      multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, dose
      finding study evaluated four doses of once-daily olodaterol over 4 weeks in
      patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), based on efficacy,
      safety and pharmacokinetic parameters. METHODS: Patients received olodaterol
      inhalation solution or placebo via Respimat(r) Soft MistTM inhaler once daily for
      4 weeks. Pulmonary function testing was performed pre-dose (trough) and up to 3
      or 6 h post-dose, depending on visit. Primary end point was change from baseline
      in trough forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) after 4 weeks' treatment.
      Secondary end points included change from baseline in peak FEV1 and FEV1 area
      under the curve from 0 to 6 h. RESULTS: 405 patients with COPD were randomised
      and assigned to treatment. Mean baseline post-bronchodilator FEV1 was 1.50 L (54%
      predicted). All olodaterol doses provided statistically significant increases in
      trough FEV1 compared to placebo (2 MUg: 0.061 L [p = 0.0233]; 5 MUg: 0.097 L [p =
      0.0003]; 10 MUg: 0.123 L [p < 0.0001]; 20 MUg: 0.132 L [p < 0.0001]). A clear
      dose-response relationship was demonstrated regarding pulmonary function; the two
      highest olodaterol doses (10 and 20 MUg) formed the plateau of the dose-response
      curve. All olodaterol doses were well tolerated, with no dose-dependent safety
      effects. CONCLUSION: Once-daily olodaterol demonstrated 24-h bronchodilator
      efficacy, confirming its potential as a once-daily LABA for the management of
      COPD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00452400.

PMID- 25829299
TI  - Detection of tyrosine sulfation on proteins.
AB  - Tyrosine sulfation is a post-translational modification (PTM) where a sulfate
      group is added to a tyrosine moiety. This PTM is responsible for strengthening
      interaction between proteins. One of the drawbacks of studying this PTM is the
      lack of an antibody that can detect all tyrosine-sulfated proteins. In addition,
      due to the labile nature of the tyrosine sulfate, other techniques such as mass
      spectrometry cannot be used to study this PTM unless special modification
      procedures are used. This requires considerable skill and knowledge of mass
      spectrometry. This unit describes an in vitro technique that can be used to study
      tyrosine-sulfated proteins by radiolabeling the recombinant protein. The protein
      is then subject to barium hydroxide hydrolysis and thin-layer electrophoresis
      (TLE). Co-localization of radioactive tyrosine-sulfate with nonradioactive
      tyrosine sulfate standard spiked in before TLE analysis identifies a protein as
      tyrosine-sulfated protein. The advantage of this technique is that, it identifies
      all tyrosine-sulfated proteins without any bias and is the only technique that
      identifies the tyrosine sulfate residues in the protein.

PMID- 25829300
TI  - Selective Proteomic Proximity Labeling Assay Using Tyramide (SPPLAT): A
      Quantitative Method for the Proteomic Analysis of Localized Membrane-Bound
      Protein Clusters.
AB  - This manuscript describes a new and general method to identify proteins localized
      into spatially restricted membrane microenvironments. Horseradish peroxidase
      (HRP) is brought into contact with a target protein by being covalently linked to
      a primary or secondary antibody, an antigen or substrate, a drug, or a toxin. A
      biotinylated tyramide-based reagent is then added. In the presence of HRP and
      hydrogen peroxide, the reagent is converted into a free radical that only
      diffuses a short distance before covalently labeling proteins within a few tens
      to hundreds of nanometers from the target. The biotinylated proteins can then be
      isolated by standard affinity chromatography and identified by liquid
      chromatography (LC) and mass spectrometry (MS). The assay can be made
      quantitative by using stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture
      (SILAC) or isobaric tagging at the peptide level.

PMID- 25829301
TI  - Preparing protein extracts for quantitative two-dimensional gel comparison.
AB  - This unit describes basic protocols for efficient and reproducible protein
      solubilization from a variety of biological samples, including cultured animal
      cells and tissues, plant cells and tissues, bacteria, nuclei, other subcellular
      organelles, plasma, serum, and other biological fluids. The optimized extraction
      process is strongly sample dependent and cannot be described for every type of
      sample. Instead, typical protocols are provided as general guidelines and
      illustrate good starting points for optimization of sample preparation. These
      solubilization procedures take into account the constraints imposed by two
      dimensional electrophoresis and are thus well suited for proteomic approaches.

PMID- 25829302
TI  - Overview of the purification of recombinant proteins.
AB  - When the first version of this unit was written in 1995, protein purification of
      recombinant proteins was based on a variety of standard chromatographic methods
      and approaches, many of which were described and mentioned throughout Current
      Protocols in Protein Science. In the interim, there has been a shift toward an
      almost universal usage of the affinity or fusion tag. This may not be the case
      for biotechnology manufacture where affinity tags can complicate producing
      proteins under regulatory conditions. Regardless of the protein expression
      system, questions are asked as to which and how many affinity tags to use, where
      to attach them in the protein, and whether to engineer a self-cleavage system or
      simply leave them on. We will briefly address some of these issues. Also,
      although this overview focuses on E.coli, protein expression and purification,
      other commonly used expression systems are mentioned and, apart from cell
      breakage methods, protein purification methods and strategies are essentially the
      same.

PMID- 25829303
TI  - Protein purification using PDZ affinity chromatography.
AB  - PDZ domains function in nature as protein-binding domains within scaffold and
      membrane-associated proteins. They comprise approximately 90 residues and undergo
      specific, high-affinity interactions with complementary C-terminal peptide
      sequences, other PDZ domains, and/or phospholipids. We have previously shown that
      the specific, strong interactions of PDZ domains with their ligands make them
      well suited for use in affinity chromatography. This unit provides protocols for
      the PDZ affinity chromatography procedure that are applicable for the
      purification of proteins that contain PDZ domains or PDZ domain-binding ligands,
      either naturally or introduced by genetic engineering. We detail the preparation
      of affinity resins composed of PDZ domains or PDZ domain peptide ligands coupled
      to solid supports. These resins can be used to purify proteins containing
      endogenous or genetically introduced PDZ domains or ligands, eluting the proteins
      with free PDZ domain peptide ligands.

PMID- 25829304
TI  - Walking and running in the desert ant Cataglyphis fortis.
AB  - Path integration, although inherently error-prone, is a common navigation
      strategy in animals, particularly where environmental orientation cues are rare.
      The desert ant Cataglyphis fortis is a prominent example, covering large
      distances on foraging excursions. The stride integrator is probably the major
      source of path integration errors. A detailed analysis of walking behaviour in
      Cataglyphis is thus of importance for assessing possible sources of errors and
      potential compensation strategies. Zollikofer (J Exp Biol 192:95-106, 1994a)
      demonstrated consistent use of the tripod gait in Cataglyphis, and suggested an
      unexpectedly constant stride length as a possible means of reducing navigation
      errors. Here, we extend these studies by more detailed analyses of walking
      behaviour across a large range of walking speeds. Stride length increases
      linearly and stride amplitude of the middle legs increases slightly linearly with
      walking speed. An initial decrease of swing phase duration is observed at lower
      velocities with increasing walking speed. Then it stays constant across the
      behaviourally relevant range of walking speeds. Walking speed is increased by
      shortening of the stance phase and of the stance phase overlap. At speeds larger
      than 370 mm s(-1), the stride frequency levels off, the duty factor falls below
      0.5, and Cataglyphis transitions to running with aerial phases.

PMID- 25829307
TI  - Assessing clinical reasoning in anesthesiology: Making the case for the Script
      Concordance Test.

PMID- 25829308
TI  - Pulse pressure respiratory variation to predict fluid responsiveness: From an
      enthusiastic to a rational view.

PMID- 25829309
TI  - The Script Concordance Test in anesthesiology: Validation of a new tool for
      assessing clinical reasoning.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether the Script Concordance Test (SCT) can discriminate
      between levels of experience among anesthesiology residents and attending
      physicians. STUDY TYPE: Multicenter (Toulouse, Nantes, Bordeaux and Limoges),
      prospective, observational study. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A SCT made of 60 items
      was used to evaluate "junior residents" (n=60), "senior residents" (n=47) and
      expert anesthesiologists (n=10). RESULTS: There were no missing data in our
      study. Mean scores (+/-SD) were 69.9 (+/-6.1), 73.1 (+/-6.5) and 82.0 (+/-3.5)
      out of a potential score of 100 for "junior residents", "senior residents" and
      expert anesthesiologists, respectively. Results were statistically different
      between the 3 groups (P=0.001) using the Kruskall-Wallis test. The Cronbach's
      alpha score was 0.63. CONCLUSIONS: The SCT is a valid and useful tool for
      discriminating between anesthesia providers with varying levels of experience in
      anesthesiology. It may be a useful tool for documenting the progression of
      reasoning during anesthesia residency.

PMID- 25829310
TI  - Residents in tutored practice exchange groups have better medical reasoning as
      measured by the script concordance test: A pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This pilot study attempted to evaluate the impact of a practice
      exchange group (PEG) tutored by a senior anaesthesiologist on clinical reasoning
      performance of anaesthesiology residents for uncertain situations. Changes in
      clinical reasoning were measured by script concordance tests (SCT). METHODS:
      First, a curriculum, with educational objectives and assessment tools, was
      proposed to all residents at the beginning of their 6-month training. The first
      group (control) consisted of residents undergoing a 6-month rotation without PEG
      training. The second group (PEG group) consisted of the residents starting a new
      rotation 6 months later, who followed a weekly PEG session. In both groups,
      clinical reasoning was assessed in the same manner, with SCTs, multiple-choice
      questions (MCQs) and questions with short answers. The primary outcome
      measurement of this study was the SCT results in the group with PEG training (PEG
      group) in comparison with those without (control group). RESULTS: The performance
      in the SCT, expressed as the degree of concordance with the panel [95% confidence
      interval or CI], was better in the PEG group including 19 residents (72 [68 to
      76] %) as compared to the control group including 17 residents (60 [57 to 63] %
      P<0.001). Performances (mean [95% CI]) in MCQs and short answers were better in
      the PEG group (64 [57 to 71] and 74 [68 to 72] %, respectively) when compared
      with the control group (32 [28 to 36]% [P<0.001] and 60 [52 to 68] % [P<0.01],
      respectively). CONCLUSION: Our pilot study suggested that a senior-directed, peer
      conducted educational training might improve the clinical reasoning of
      anaesthesia residents as measured by the SCT.

PMID- 25829312
TI  - Evaluation of the knowledge base of French intensivists and anaesthesiologists as
      concerns the interpretation of respiratory arterial pulse pressure variation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aims of the study were to assess the knowledge of intensivists
      and/or anaesthesiologists concerning respiratory arterial pulse pressure
      variation (PPV) and to define the criteria used to indicate a fluid challenge.
      STUDY DESIGN: A prospective observational study. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      Intensivists and anaesthesiologists from one region of France were evaluated for
      their knowledge about the prerequisites (continuous arterial pressure monitoring,
      regular sinus rhythm, mechanical ventilation without spontaneous breathing) and
      confounding factors shifting the threshold value of PPV (low tidal volume,
      decreased pulmonary compliance, low heart rate/respiratory rate ratio, right
      ventricular dysfunction, and/or intra-abdominal hypertension) using clinical
      vignettes. Criteria used by physicians to indicate a fluid challenge were also
      collected. RESULTS: One hundred and forty-five physicians were included in the
      study. Among them, 87 (60%) knew prerequisites but none of them had full
      knowledge of all confounding factors. Criteria used to perform a fluid challenge
      were mainly PPV and the passive leg-raising test for the residents and PPV, blood
      pressure, oliguria and hydric balance for the qualified physicians. CONCLUSIONS:
      PPV was widely employed to indicate a fluid challenge and 60% of the physicians
      knew the prerequisites. However, the physicians did not correctly interpret all
      confounding factors.

PMID- 25829311
TI  - Arterial pulse pressure variation suitability in critical care: A French national
      survey.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Arterial pulse pressure variation (PPV) has been used as an accurate
      index to predict fluid responsiveness. However, many confounding factors have
      been recently described. The aims of this study were to assess the conditions of
      applicability of PPV in intensive care units (ICU). STUDY DESIGN: A one-day
      French national survey. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A form assessing the suitability of
      PPV was completed by practitioners for each critically-ill patient included on a
      set day. RESULTS: Four hundred and sixty-five patients were included in 36 ICUs.
      A regular sinus rhythm was noted in 408 (88%) patients and the presence of an
      arterial line in 324 (70%) patients. One hundred and twenty-seven (27%) patients
      were mechanically ventilated without spontaneous breathing. Only six patients
      (1.3%) had no confounding factors modifying the threshold value of the PPV.
      CONCLUSION: The incidence of ICU patients in whom PPV was suitable and without
      confounding factors were respectively 18% and 1.3% in this one-day French
      national survey.

PMID- 25829313
TI  - French survey of the first three-years of liver transplantation activity from
      uncontrolled donors deceased after cardiac death.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the first three years of French activity related to liver
      transplantation from uncontrolled donation after cardiac death (uDCD). STUDY
      DESIGN: Prospective and observational study in the three active centres
      authorized by the French Biomedicine Agency. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All patients
      deceased between 2010 and 2012 after an uncontrolled cardiac arrest admitted to
      one of three centres (Pitie-Salpetriere, Saint-Louis or Bicetre hospitals, AP-HP,
      Paris, France) and potentially eligible for liver recovery were included.
      Abdominal normothermic oxygenated recirculation (ANOR) was used for graft
      preservation. RESULTS: One hundred twenty-six potential uDCD donors were
      identified as eligible for liver recovery after hospital admission. The main
      causes of organ recovery failure were technical failure related to ANOR (29
      patients, 23%), refusal of consent (39 patients, 31% of potential uDCD donors and
      40% of asked relatives) and abnormal hepatic transaminases up to 200 UI.L(-1)
      during ANOR (24 patients, 19%). Finally, 11 livers were transplanted. Process
      efficiency was 9% [95% CI: 4-15%]. One-year recipient survival was 82%, [95% CI:
      48-98%] and one-year graft survival was 64% [95% CI: 31-89%]. CONCLUSION: Liver
      transplantation from uDCD donors is achievable in France, despite low process
      efficiency.

PMID- 25829314
TI  - Implementation of lung ultrasound in polyvalent intensive care unit: Impact on
      irradiation and medical cost.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of implementing a daily lung ultrasound round
      on the number of chest radiographs and chest computed tomography (CT) scans in a
      polyvalent intensive care unit (ICU). STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study comparing
      two consecutive periods. PATIENTS: All patients hospitalized for longer than 48
      hours in a polyvalent ICU. METHODS: Implementation of a daily lung ultrasound
      round after a short educational program. The number of chest radiographs and
      chest CT scans and the patient outcome were measured before (group PRE) and after
      (group POST) the implementation of a daily lung ultrasound round. RESULTS: No
      demographic difference was found between the two groups, with the exception of a
      higher severity score in the group POST. For each ICU stay, the number of chest
      radiographs was 10.3 +/- 12.4 in the group PRE and 7.7 +/- 10.3 in the group
      POST, respectively (P<0.005) The number of chest CT scans was not reduced in the
      group POST, as compared with the group PRE (0.5 +/- 0.7 CT scan/patient/ICU stay
      versus 0.4 +/- 0.6 CT scan/patient/ICU stay, P=0.01). The ICU mortality was
      similar in both groups (21% versus 22%, P=0.75) CONCLUSION: The implementation of
      a daily lung ultrasound round was associated with a reduction in radiation
      exposure and medical cost without altering patient outcome.

PMID- 25829315
TI  - Diagnosis and management of the postoperative surgical and medical complications
      of bariatric surgery.
AB  - Perioperative complications following bariatric surgery (BS) have been poorly
      analysed and their management is not clearly assessed. The associated frequency
      of ICU admission is difficult to estimate. Among surgical complications,
      digestive perforations are the most frequent. The most common postoperative
      complications of sleeve gastrectomy are fistulas, but bleeding on the stapling
      line is also commonly reported. Complication rates are higher after Roux-en-Y
      gastric bypass, mainly due to anastomotic leaks. Medical complications are mainly
      thromboembolic or respiratory complications. All these surgical and medical
      complications are not easily detected; clinical signs can be atypical or
      insidious, often resulting in delayed management. Respiratory signs can be
      predominant and lead erroneously to pulmonary or thromboembolic diseases.
      Diagnostic criteria are based on minor clinical signs, tachycardia being probably
      the most frequent one. Lately, complications are revealed by haemodynamic
      instability, respiratory failure or renal dysfunction and radiographic findings.
      Management decision according to these abnormal signs is based on a combined
      multidisciplanary approach including surgical and/or endoscopic procedures and
      medical care, depending on the nature and severity of the surgical complication.
      Medical management is based on supportive ICU care of organ dysfunctions,
      curative anticoagulation if required, nutritional support, and appropriate anti
      infective therapy. Pharmacological data are limited in morbidly obese patients
      and the appropriate doses are debated, especially for anti-infective agents.
      Complicated BS cases have a poor outcome, probably largely related to delayed
      diagnosis and reoperation.

PMID- 25829316
TI  - Treatment of intra-abdominal haemorrhagic shock by Resuscitative Endovascular
      Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA).
AB  - PURPOSE: Haemorrhagic shock is commonly encountered in the emergency room and is
      associated with high morbidity and mortality. For intra-thoracic and intra
      abdominal bleeding, treatment usually requires either surgery or an
      interventional radiologic procedure. Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion
      of the Aorta (REBOA) has already been described for pelvic fractures and intra
      abdominal haemorrhages. In this case report, we present the use of REBOA in a
      patient admitted for haemorrhagic shock due to a ruptured splenic artery
      aneurysm. CASE REPORT: We describe the case of a 35-year-old male with suspected
      massive pulmonary embolism. Prior to diagnostic confirmation by CT-scan, the
      patient suffered several cardiac arrests. CT-scan revealed a massive
      haemoperitoneum secondary to a ruptured aneurysm of the splenic artery. Because
      of refractory hypotension despite maximal conventional therapy, we used REBOA
      before patient transfer to the operating room for splenectomy. CONCLUSIONS: This
      case underlines the feasibility of REBOA and discusses its role in uncontrollable
      intra-abdominal haemorrhagic shock.

PMID- 25829317
TI  - Accidental injection of patent blue dye during gynaecological surgery: Lack of
      knowledge constitutes a system error.
AB  - The authors report a case in which an intravenous injection of Patent Blue V dye
      instead of Indigo Carmine was given during routine gynaecological surgery. The
      patient presented with temporary arterial (spurious) desaturation and skin
      discoloration over a 48-hour period. Pharmacological differences between these
      dyes are described. Root cause analysis based on the ALARM (Association of
      Litigation and Risk Management) model is presented. The authors emphasise that
      use of this model should not be limited solely to describing and correcting well
      known systems errors such as working conditions or teamwork and communication.
      Furthermore, they conclude that insufficient knowledge must also be recognised as
      a systems error and as such should be sought out and corrected using similar
      strategies to those used to discover other contributory factors, without
      allocation of blame to any individual.

PMID- 25829318
TI  - Early diagnosis of Sheehan's syndrome.

PMID- 25829319
TI  - Guidelines on the use of ultrasound guidance for vascular access.
AB  - Insertion of vascular access is a common procedure with potential for iatrogenic
      events, some of which can be serious. The spread of ultrasound scanners in
      operating rooms, intensive care units and emergency departments has made
      ultrasound-guided catheterisation possible. The first guidelines were published a
      decade ago but are not always followed in France. The French Society of
      Anaesthesia and Intensive Care has decided to adopt a position on this issue
      through its Guidelines Committee in order to propose a limited number of simple
      guidelines. The method used was the GRADE((r)) method using the most recently
      published meta-analyses as the source of references. The level of evidence found
      ranged from low to high and all the positive aspects associated with ultrasound
      guidance, i.e. fewer traumatic complications at puncture, probably or definitely
      outweigh the potential adverse consequences regardless of whether an adult or
      child is involved and regardless of the site of insertion.

PMID- 25829320
TI  - Novel biallelic OTOGL mutations in a Chinese family with moderate non-syndromic
      sensorineural hearing loss.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss (DFNB) is a genetically
      heterogeneous disorder. So far, 55 pathogenic genes have been identified. In this
      study, we aim to characterize the clinical feature and the genetic cause of a
      Chinese DFNB family. METHODS: Whole exome sequencing was performed on the
      proband. Co-segregation between the hearing loss phenotype and the potential
      causative mutations was verified in all family members by Sanger sequencing.
      RESULTS: Audiologic profiles of the affected family members revealed a moderate
      hearing loss mainly affecting higher frequencies. Novel biallelic OTOGL
      mutations, c.6467C>A (p.Ser2156*) and c.6474dupA (p.Ser2159Metfs*2), were
      identified in this family segregating with the childhood onset DFNB. Both
      mutations were predicted to cause either nonsense mediated mRNA decay or
      premature terminations of protein synthesis. CONCLUSIONS: We identified novel
      biallelic OTOGL mutations in a Chinese DFNB family. To the best of our knowledge,
      this is the first report of OTOGL mutations causing hearing loss in the East
      Asian population. Our finding enriched the mutation spectrum of OTOGL associated
      hearing loss.

PMID- 25829321
TI  - Modified Sistrunk operation: New concept for management of thyroglossal duct
      cyst.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe a method of hyoid cartilage division during Sistrunk
      operation for management of thyroglossal duct cyst (TGDC) and compare
      postoperative outcomes with those of conventional hyoid bone cutting. METHODS:
      Fifty-nine patients who received operative treatment for TGDC from January 2005
      to July 2013 were enrolled. The degree of fusion in the cartilaginous portion of
      the hyoid was evaluated by preoperative neck computed tomography and classified
      into (1) non-fusion, (2) partial fusion, and (3) complete fusion. Techniques of
      hyoid management, division of the cartilaginous portion of the hyoid or
      conventional hyoid bone cutting, during Sistrunk operation were analyzed
      according to the fusion classification. RESULTS: Of the 59 patients, 27 were
      pediatric patients and 32 were adults. In 32 adults undergoing TGDC, there were
      13 cases (41%) of complete hyoid fusion and 7 (22%) of non-fusion. A total of 20
      adult patients (63%) were treated with the cartilage division. Among the
      pediatric patients, 96% of cases were classified as non-fusion of the hyoid, and
      all of these were treated with the cartilage division. Patients who were treated
      with the cartilage division showed better postoperative results. However, there
      were no statistical differences. CONCLUSIONS: Our cartilage division technique at
      Sistrunk operation for TGDC is feasible and comparable to conventional hyoid
      cutting with regard to postoperative results.

PMID- 25829322
TI  - Is there a need for a histological examination of the adenoid tissue after
      adenoidectomy?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: In Germany there is no uniform practice regarding the histological
      examination of removed tissue after an adenoidectomy. In addition, the unique
      benefits of routine histological examination of adenoid tissue cannot be
      ascertained from current literature due to varying opinion and evidence. METHODS:
      This study was approved by the Medical Association and Ethics Committee in
      Cottbus, Brandenburg, Germany. We evaluated the pre- and intra-operative
      examination findings (direct and indirect epipharyngoscopy, digital palpation,
      intraoperative macroscopic assessment and examination of removed tissue) and the
      histopathological findings of excised adenoid tissue. A statistical analysis of
      obtained results was undertaken thereafter. RESULTS: It was found that in all
      young patients included in the study, the histological results invariably
      represented lymphoepithelial hypertrophic mucosa with a varying inflammatory
      response, matching a clinical picture of adenoid vegetation and in keeping with
      the pre- and intraoperative investigations and findings. CONCLUSION: The
      characteristic history of adenoid vegetation in combination with a classic pre-
      and intraoperative clinical examination and an inconspicuous macroscopic
      examination of removed tissue, renders routine histopathological workup
      dispensable. On suspicion of deviant pathology a histopathological examination is
      recommended and should be undertaken.

PMID- 25829323
TI  - Iron supplementation associates with low mortality in pre-dialyzed advanced
      chronic kidney disease patients receiving erythropoiesis-stimulating agents: a
      nationwide database analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A risk/benefit analysis of iron supplementation in pre-dialysis
      advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients has not been conducted. We aim to
      assess the effectiveness and the safety of iron supplementation in patients with
      CKD Stage 5 who have not yet received dialysis (CKD 5 ND). METHODS: A prospective
      cohort study was conducted based on the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research
      Database. From 1 January 2000 to 30 June 2009, we enrolled 31 971 adult patients
      who had a serum creatinine >6 mg/dL and a haematocrit <28% and who were treated
      with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs). All patients were further divided
      into two groups with or without iron supplementation within 90 days after
      starting ESA therapy. Patient follow-up took place until dialysis, death before
      initiation of dialysis or 31 December 2009. The primary outcomes were death
      before initiating dialysis, hospitalization before death or long-term dialysis.
      RESULTS: After propensity score matching, the patients who received iron
      supplementation were associated with a lower risk of all-cause death [hazard
      ratio (HR), 0.85; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.80-0.90] compared with non
      users. The survival benefit of iron use was consistent across the majority of
      dosage groups, except for those who were treated with monthly IV iron >200 mg.
      Moreover, compared with the non-users, the iron users were associated with a
      lower risk of hospitalizations (HR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.94-0.99) but with a higher
      risk of faster progression to end-stage renal disease (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01
      1.08). CONCLUSIONS: Iron supplementation is associated with 15% risk reduction in
      death among CKD 5 ND patients who received ESA treatment. Randomized studies are
      needed to validate this association.

PMID- 25829324
TI  - Glutamate receptors in the kidney.
AB  - l-Glutamate (l-Glu) plays an essential role in the central nervous system (CNS)
      as an excitatory neurotransmitter, and exerts its effects by acting on a large
      number of ionotropic and metabotropic receptors. These receptors are also
      expressed in several peripheral tissues, including the kidney. This review
      summarizes the general properties of ionotropic and metabotropic l-Glu receptors,
      focusing on N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and Group 1 metabotropic glutamate
      receptors (mGluRs). NMDA receptors are expressed in the renal cortex and medulla,
      and appear to play a role in the regulation of renal blood flow, glomerular
      filtration, proximal tubule reabsorption and urine concentration within medullary
      collecting ducts. Sustained activation of NMDA receptors induces Ca(2+) influx
      and oxidative stress, which can lead to glomerulosclerosis, for example in
      hyperhomocysteinemia. Group 1 mGluRs are expressed in podocytes and probably in
      other cell types. Mice in which these receptors are knocked out gradually develop
      albuminuria and glomerulosclerosis. Several endogenous agonists of l-Glu
      receptors, which include sulfur-containing amino acids derived from l
      homocysteine, and quinolinic acid (QA), as well as the co-agonists glycine and d
      serine, are present in the circulation at concentrations capable of robustly
      activating ionotropic and metabotropic l-Glu receptors. These endogenous agonists
      may also be secreted from renal parenchymal cells, or from cells that have
      migrated into the kidney, by exocytosis or by transporters such as system x(
      )(c), or by transporters involved in ammonia secretion. l-Glu receptors may be
      useful targets for drug therapy, and many selective orally-active compounds exist
      for investigation of these receptors as potential drug targets for various kidney
      diseases.

PMID- 25829325
TI  - Short-Form 12 or Short-Form 36 to measure quality-of-life changes in dialysis
      patients?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Short-Form 36 (SF-36) is a self-report health-related quality-of-life
      (HRQOL) questionnaire, widely used in dialysis patients. It consists of physical
      and mental component scores (PCS/MCS), ranging from 0 to 100. To improve
      efficiency, the Short-Form 12 (SF-12) was developed to reproduce PCS and MCS. We
      assessed the ability of SF-12 versus SF-36 to detect change over time, and the
      association of SF-12 versus SF-36 with short-term and long-term mortality in
      dialysis patients. METHODS: Patients were selected from the Netherlands
      Cooperative Study on the Adequacy of Dialysis (N = 1379), a prospective follow-up
      study among incident dialysis patients (62.1% HD) who completed SF-36
      measurements every 6 months. Changes in scores of SF-12 versus SF-36 were
      compared with intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs). Subsequently, Bland
      Altman plots were used to assess limits of agreement. Relationship with mortality
      was assessed with Cox models with and without a time-dependent variable, adjusted
      for age, sex, ethnicity, comorbidity and dialysis modality at baseline. RESULTS:
      ICC for change in scores was 0.90 for MCS and 0.84 for PCS. Mean difference was 
      0.1 and 0.2, respectively, and limits of agreement were -8.3 to 8.4 for MCS
      change in scores and -8.8 to 9.2 for PCS. Adjusted hazard ratio's for mortality
      per 5 units increment were 0.87 (95% CI: 0.84-0.91) for MCS12, 0.87 (95% CI: 0.84
      0.90) for MCS36, 0.79 (95% CI: 0.76-0.83) for PCS12 and 0.75 (95% CI: 0.71-0.78)
      for PCS36. CONCLUSIONS: SF-12 can be used to detect change in HRQOL in cohort
      studies on dialysis patients. SF-12 and SF-36 were similarly associated with
      short-term and long-term mortality. However, the wide limits of agreement
      indicate that SF-12 and SF-36 can give different scores on the individual level,
      suggesting that for individual purposes SF-36 instead of SF-12 should be used.

PMID- 25829326
TI  - Hyperuricemia-induced inflammasome and kidney diseases.
AB  - Classically, urate nephropathy has been postulated to cause kidney disease by
      depositing intraluminal crystal in the collecting duct. Recently, molecular
      mechanisms of inflammasome have been investigated. Urate-induced inflammasome
      pathway is comprised of urate crystal uptake into intracellular lysosomes and
      subsequent lysosomal rupture with mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS)
      production, which activates the NLRP3 inflammasome. Against the lysosomal rupture
      and mitochondrial ROS production, autophagy acts to protect proximal tubular
      cells by isolating them from expanding the inflammation. In addition, increased
      cellular urate, directly or indirectly via xanthine oxidase-induced oxidative
      stress, may be associated with inflammasome. In addition to the traditional
      therapy against hyperuricemia, management of urate-induced inflammasome or
      augmentation of autophagy may offer the new effective therapies.

PMID- 25829327
TI  - Discoidin domain receptor-1 and periostin: new players in chronic kidney disease.
AB  - The incidence and prevalence of chronic kidney disease represents an important
      problem for public health. In renal diseases, the main histologic alterations
      derive from the development of renal fibrosis which results from the loss of the
      balance between pro- and anti-fibrotic factors. Tyrosine kinase receptors (RTKs)
      and matricellular proteins (MPs) are nowadays studied as potential modulators of
      renal injury. RTKs regulate cell cycle, migration, metabolism and cellular
      differentiation. Discoidin domain receptor-1 (DDR-1) is an RTK that has been
      extensively studied in cancer, and lung and renal diseases. It modulates
      inflammatory recruitment, extracellular matrix deposition and fibrosis; in renal
      diseases, it appears to act independently of the underlying disease. MPs regulate
      cell-matrix interactions and matrix accumulation, cellular adhesion and
      migration, and expression of inflammatory cells. Periostin is an MP, mainly
      studied in bone, heart, lung and cancer. Several studies demonstrated that it
      mediates cell-matrix interactions, migration of inflammatory cells and
      development of fibrosis. Recently, it has been reported in several nephropathies.
      In this review, we discuss the potential pathological roles of DDR-1 and
      periostin focussing on the kidney in both experimental models and human diseases.

PMID- 25829328
TI  - Microorganisms responsible for periprosthetic knee infections in England and
      Wales.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to delineate epidemiology of infecting microorganism
      genus in first-time revision knee arthroplasty for indication of periprosthetic
      joint infection in England and Wales using linked registry data. METHODS: From
      the National Joint Registry database for England and Wales, a consecutive series
      of primary knee arthroplasties performed between April 2003 and January 2014 that
      went on to have a revision for periprosthetic infection were identified (n =
      2810). Each case was then linked to microbiology data held by Public Health
      England in order to identify infecting microorganism at time of revision surgery
      established from intra-operative cultures. Following data linkage, 403 culture
      results at time of revision surgery were identified in a group of 331 patients.
      The demographic characteristics of five microorganism groups were compared: pure
      staphylococcus (single genus), pure streptococcus (single genus), other gram
      positive infections (single genus), gram-negative infections (single genus) and
      mixed genus infections. RESULTS: Staphylococcus species was the most common
      organism genus isolated after revision of a primary implant for infection and
      present in 72 % of cases overall (71.3 % of patients with a single-genus
      infection and 76.8 % of patients with mixed genus infection). A pure
      staphylococcal infection was present in 59 % of all cases. A single-genus
      infection was responsible for infection in 83.1 % of cases, and mixed genera were
      responsible in 16.9 % of cases. A significant difference was observed for mean
      age at primary procedure in the cohort of patients where there was an isolated
      pure streptococcal infection (73.2 years) when compared to gram-negative
      infections (65.0 years). No other significant differences were observed between
      microorganism groups in terms of BMI, gender, ASA grade, indication for primary
      procedure and primary implant characteristics. CONCLUSION: Staphylococci were the
      most commonly isolated organism species responsible for periprosthetic infection
      of primary arthroplasty in England and Wales. This information can be used by
      surgeons to benchmark and audit their own practice against national, publicly
      available data. Furthermore, this study has shown that even when using the
      largest national databases available, there is a substantial volume of missing
      data. Antimicrobial resistance represents a growing clinical problem with
      significant health and social costs. In order to counteract this threat, this
      study would advocate the consolidation of national microbial data in order to
      guide effective strategies towards targeting and combating the threat of
      antimicrobial resistance. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV.

PMID- 25829329
TI  - Youhaiella tibetensis gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from subsurface sediment.
AB  - A Gram-reaction-negative bacterial strain, designated fig4(T), was isolated from
      a subsurface sediment core of Qiangtang Basin permafrost in China. Cells were
      catalase- and oxidase-positive and rods. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA
      gene sequences revealed that strain fig4(T )was a member of the family
      Hyphomicrobiaceae and was most closely related to members of the genera
      Pelagibacterium, Vasilyevaea and Devosia with 93.8-96.2% sequence similarities.
      The major cellular fatty acids were C16 : 0, C18 : 0, 11-methyl C18 : 1 omega7c,
      C19 : 0 cyclo omega8c and summed feature 8 (C18 : 1omega7c and/or C18 :
      1omega6c). The major respiratory quinone was Q-10 and the major polar lipids were
      diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and two unknown glycolipids. The DNA
      G+C content was 60.7 mol%. Based on the phenotypic, phylogenetic and genotypic
      data, strain fig4(T) is considered to represent a novel species of a new genus in
      the family Hyphomicrobiaceae, for which the name Youhaiella tibetensis gen. nov.,
      sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is fig4(T) ( = CGMCC 1.12719(T) = JCM
      19854(T)).

PMID- 25829330
TI  - Bacillus taiwanensis sp. nov., isolated from a soil sample from Taiwan.
AB  - A Gram-stain-positive, rod-shaped, endospore-forming, aerobic bacterium (FJAT
      14571(T)) was isolated from a soil sample in Taiwan. Strain FJAT-14571(T) grew at
      20-40  degrees C (optimum 35  degrees C), pH 6-10 (optimum pH 8) and 0-2% (w/v)
      NaCl (optimum 0%). Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed
      that strain FJAT-14571(T) was a member of the genus Bacillus and was most closely
      related to Bacillus oceanisediminis DSM 24771(T) (96.2%). DNA-DNA relatedness
      between strain FJAT-14571(T) and B. oceanisediminis DSM 24771(T) was low (32.0%
      +/- 0.88%). The diagnostic diamino acid of the peptidoglycan of strain FJAT
      14571(T) was meso-diaminopimelic acid and the predominant menaquinone was MK-7
      (96.6%). The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 (46.4%), anteiso-C15 : 0
      (7.6%), iso-C17 : 0 (8.2%) and iso-C16 : 0 (10.0 %) and the DNA G+C content was
      40.8 mol%. Phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genotypic properties clearly indicated
      that strain FJAT-14571(T) represents a novel species within the genus Bacillus,
      for which the name Bacillus taiwanensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is
      FJAT-14571(T) ( = DSM 27845(T) = CGMCC1.1 2698(T)).

PMID- 25829331
TI  - Microbacterium enclense sp. nov., isolated from sediment sample.
AB  - A novel bacterium (strain NIO-1002(T)) belonging to the genus Microbacterium was
      isolated from a marine sediment sample in Chorao Island, Goa Province, India. Its
      morphology, physiology, biochemical features and 16S rRNA gene sequence were
      characterized. Cells of this strain were Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, non
      spore-forming rods that formed yellow-pigmented colonies. It grew in 0-12% (w/v)
      NaCl and at 25-37  degrees C, with optimal growth at 30  degrees C. Phylogenetic
      analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain NIO-1002(T) is
      associated with members of the genus Microbacterium, with highest sequence
      similarity with Microbacterium hominis CIP 105731(T) (98.1%) and Microbacterium
      testaceum KCTC 9103(T) (98.0%). Within the phylogenetic tree, this novel strain
      shared a branching point with M. hominis CIP 105731(T). The DNA G+C content was
      66.5 mol% and DNA-DNA hybridization relatedness between NIO-1002(T), M. hominis
      CIP 105731(T) and M. testaceum KCTC 9103(T) was 39.0 +/- 2.0% and 41.0 +/- 2.0%,
      respectively. The major fatty acids were ai-C15 : 0, i-C16 : 0 and ai-C17 : 0 and
      the diamino acid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan of NIO-1002(T) was lysine. Data
      obtained from DNA-DNA hybridization and chemotaxonomic phenotypic analysis
      support the conclusion that strain NIO-1002(T) represents a novel species within
      the genus Microbacterium. The name Microbacterium enclense sp. nov. is proposed,
      with NIO-1002(T) ( = NCIM 5454(T) = DSM 25125(T) = CCTCC AB 2011120(T)) as the
      type strain.

PMID- 25829332
TI  - Staphylococcus petrasii subsp. pragensis subsp. nov., occurring in human clinical
      material.
AB  - Seven coagulase-negative, oxidase-negative and novobiocin-susceptible
      staphylococci assigned tentatively as Staphylococcus petrasii were investigated
      in this study in order to elucidate their taxonomic position. All strains were
      initially shown to form a genetically homogeneous group separated from remaining
      species of the genus Staphylococcus by using a repetitive sequence-based PCR
      fingerprinting with the (GTG)5 primer. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA
      gene, hsp60, rpoB, dnaJ, gap and tuf sequences showed that the group is closely
      related to Staphylococcus petrasii but separated from the three hitherto known
      subspecies, S. petrasii subsp. petrasii, S. petrasii subsp. croceilyticus and S.
      petrasii subsp. jettensis. Further investigation using automated ribotyping,
      MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, fatty acid methyl ester analysis, DNA-DNA
      hybridization and extensive biotyping confirmed that the analysed group
      represents a novel subspecies within S. petrasii, for which the name
      Staphylococcus petrasii subsp. pragensis subsp. nov. is proposed. The type strain
      is NRL/St 12/356(T) ( = CCM 8529(T) = LMG 28327(T)).

PMID- 25829333
TI  - CRF1 and CRF2 receptors in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis modulate the
      cardiovascular responses to acute restraint stress in rats.
AB  - The corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is involved in behavioral and
      physiological responses to emotional stress through its action in several limbic
      structures, including the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST).
      Nevertheless, the role of CRF1 and CRF2 receptors in the BNST in cardiovascular
      adjustments during aversive threat is unknown. Therefore, in the present study we
      investigated the involvement of CRF receptors within the BNST in cardiovascular
      responses evoked by acute restraint stress in rats. For this, we evaluated the
      effects of bilateral treatment of the BNST with selective agonists and
      antagonists of either CRF1 or CRF2 receptors in the arterial pressure and heart
      rate increase and the decrease in tail skin temperature induced by restraint
      stress. Microinjection of the selective CRF1 receptor antagonist CP376395 into
      the BNST reduced the pressor and tachycardiac responses caused by restraint.
      Conversely, BNST treatment with the selective CRF1 receptor agonist CRF increased
      restraint-evoked arterial pressure and HR responses and reduced the fall in tail
      skin temperature response. All effects of CRF were inhibited by local BNST
      pretreatment with CP376395. The selective CRF2 receptor antagonist antisalvagine
      30 reduced the arterial pressure increase and the fall in tail skin temperature.
      The selective CRF2 receptor agonist urocortin-3 increased restraint-evoked
      pressor and tachycardiac responses and reduced the drop in cutaneous temperature.
      All effects of urocortin-3 were abolished by local BNST pretreatment with
      antisalvagine-30. These findings indicate an involvement of both CRF1 and CRF2
      receptors in the BNST in cardiovascular adjustments during emotional stress. 

PMID- 25829334
TI  - Thymoquinone and its therapeutic potentials.
AB  - Herbal medicine has attracted great attention in the recent years and is
      increasingly used as alternatives to chemical drugs. Several lines of evidence
      support the positive impact of medicinal plants in the prevention and cure of a
      wide range of diseases. Thymoquinone (TQ) is the most abundant constituent of the
      volatile oil of Nigella sativa seeds and most properties of N sativa are mainly
      attributed to TQ. A number of pharmacological actions of TQ have been
      investigated including anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti
      histaminic, anti-microbial and anti-tumor effects. It has also gastroprotective,
      hepatoprotective, nephroprotective and neuroprotective activities. In addition,
      positive effects of TQ in cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, reproductive
      disorders and respiratory ailments, as well as in the treatment of bone
      complications as well as fibrosis have been shown. In addition, a large body of
      data shows that TQ has very low adverse effects and no serious toxicity. More
      recently, a great deal of attention has been given to this dietary phytochemical
      with an increasing interest to investigate it in pre-clinical and clinical
      researches for assessing its health benefits. Here we report on and analyze
      numerous properties of the active ingredient of N. sativa seeds, TQ, in the
      context of its therapeutic potentials for a wide range of illnesses. We also
      summarize the drug's possible mechanisms of action. The evidence reported sugests
      that TQ should be developed as a novel drug in clinical trials. 

PMID- 25829335
TI  - Glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3beta) signaling: Implications for
      Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) dysregulation plays an important role in the
      pathogenesis of numerous disorders, affecting the central nervous system (CNS)
      encompassing both neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. Several lines
      of evidence have illustrated a key role of the GSK-3 and its cellular and
      molecular signaling cascades in the control of neuroinflammation. Glycogen
      synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK-3beta), one of the GSK-3 isomers, plays a major role
      in neuronal apoptosis and its inhibition decreases expression of alpha-Synuclein
      (alpha-Synuclein), which make this kinase an attractive therapeutic target for
      neurodegenerative disorders. Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic
      neurodegenerative movement disorder characterized by the progressive and massive
      loss of dopaminergic neurons by neuronal apoptosis in the substantia nigra pars
      compacta and depletion of dopamine in the striatum, which lead to pathological
      and clinical abnormalities. Thus, understanding the role of GSK-3beta in PD will
      enhance our knowledge of the basic mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of this
      disorder and facilitate the identification of new therapeutic avenues. In recent
      years, GSK-3beta has been shown to play essential roles in modulating a variety
      of cellular functions, which have prompted efforts to develop GSK-3beta
      inhibitors as therapeutics. In this review, we summarize GSK-3 signaling pathways
      and its association with neuroinflammation. Moreover, we highlight the
      interaction between GSK-3beta and several cellular processes involved in the
      pathogenesis of PD, including the accumulation of alpha-Synuclein aggregates,
      oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. Finally, we discuss about GSK
      3beta inhibitors as a potential therapeutic strategy in PD. 

PMID- 25829336
TI  - Gold(I)-catalyzed selective heterocyclization of propargylic thioureas:
      mechanistic study of competitive gold-activation mode.
AB  - A new selective gold(I)-catalyzed intramolecular heterocyclization of propargylic
      thioureas has been developed, efficiently affording two kinds of cycloadducts in
      moderate to excellent yields with a broad substrate scope. Further mechanistic
      investigations indicate that competitive different gold activation modes feature
      in these cyclization processes. Kinetic experiments reveal that the gold
      activation mode is influenced by the ligand of the gold catalyst and the reaction
      conditions. 

PMID- 25829337
TI  - Visceral pain and gastrointestinal microbiome.
AB  - A complex set of interactions between the microbiome, gut and brain modulate
      responses to visceral pain. These interactions occur at the level of the
      gastrointestinal mucosa, and via local neural, endocrine or immune activity; as
      well as by the pro-duction of factors transported through the circulatory system,
      like bacterial metabolites or hormones. Various psychological, in-fectious and
      other stressors can disrupt this harmonious relationship and alter both the
      microbiome and visceral pain responses. There are critical sensitive periods that
      can impact visceral pain responses in adulthood. In this review we provide a
      brief background of the intestinal microbiome and emerging concepts of the
      bidirectional interactions between the micro-biome, gut and brain. We also
      discuss recent work in animal models, and human clinical trials using prebiotics
      and probiotics that alter the microbiome with resultant alterations in visceral
      pain responses. 

PMID- 25829338
TI  - Thrombolytic efficacy and enzymatic activity of rt-PA-loaded echogenic liposomes.
AB  - Echogenic liposomes (ELIP), that can encapsulate both recombinant tissue-type
      plasminogen activator (rt-PA) and microbubbles, are under development to improve
      the treatment of thrombo-occlusive disease. However, the enzymatic activity,
      thrombolytic efficacy, and stable cavitation activity generated by this agent has
      yet to be evaluated and compared to another established ultrasound-enhanced
      thrombolytic scheme. A spectrophotometric method was used to compare the
      enzymatic activity of the rt-PA incorporated into ELIP (t-ELIP) to that of rt-PA.
      An in vitro flow model was employed to measure the thrombolytic efficacy and dose
      of ultraharmonic emissions from stable cavitation for 120-kHz ultrasound exposure
      of three treatment schemes: rt-PA, rt-PA and the perfluorocarbon-filled
      microbubble Definity((r)), and t-ELIP. The enzymatic activity of rt-PA
      incorporated into t-ELIP was 28 % that of rt-PA. Thrombolytic efficacy of t-ELIP
      or rt-PA and Definity((r)) was equivalent when the dose of t-ELIP was adjusted to
      produce comparable enzymatic activity. Sustained bubble activity was nucleated
      from Definity but not from t-ELIP exposed to 120-kHz ultrasound. These results
      emphasize the advantages of encapsulating a thrombolytic and the importance of
      incorporating an insoluble gas required to promote sustained, stable cavitation
      activity. 

PMID- 25829339
TI  - Synthesis, characterization and luminescent properties of europium complexes with
      2,4,6-tris-(2-pyridyl)-s-triazine as highly efficient sensitizers.
AB  - Using 2,4,6-tris-(2-pyridyl)-s-triazine (TPTZ) as a neutral ligand, and p
      hydroxybenzoic acid, terephthalic acid and nitrate as anion ligands, five novel
      europium complexes have been synthesized. These complexes were characterized
      using elemental analysis, rare earth coordination titrations, UV/vis absorption
      spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy. Luminescence spectra, luminescence
      lifetime and quantum efficiency were investigated and the mechanism discussed in
      depth. The results show that the complexes have excellent emission intensities,
      long emission lifetimes and high quantum efficiencies. The superior luminescent
      properties of the complexes may be because the triplet energy level of the
      ligands matches well with the lowest excitation state energy level of Eu(3+).
      Moreover, changing the ratio of the ligands and metal ions leads to different
      luminescent properties. Among the complexes, Eu2(TPTZ)2(C8H4O4)(NO3)4(C2H5OH).H2O
      shows the strongest luminescence intensity, longest emission lifetime and highest
      quantum efficiency.

PMID- 25829341
TI  - Editor's note.

PMID- 25829340
TI  - Treatment of hypertension in patients with coronary artery disease: a scientific
      statement from the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology,
      and American Society of Hypertension.

PMID- 25829342
TI  - Utilization of nutrition-focused physical assessment in identifying micronutrient
      deficiencies.
AB  - Heightened interest in and utilization of parts of the nutrition-focused physical
      assessment (NFPA) have increased with recent guidelines in defining malnutrition
      and the call to awareness among healthcare practitioners to recognize, document,
      and intervene in malnourished patients. Furthermore, an increased prevalence of
      nutrient deficiencies has been reported in surgical weight loss patients, those
      with various acute and chronic diseases, and the elderly requiring physical
      assessment and examination skills to identify these deficiencies. The registered
      dietitian nutritionist (RDN) can use the NFPA to note physical findings to use
      along with the other domains in the nutrition assessment to determine the
      nutrition-related diagnosis, while other nutrition professionals can use the NFPA
      findings to determine a differential diagnosis. This article outlines the NFPA
      and how to determine physical findings related to micronutrient deficiencies,
      which can have a profound impact on overall nutrition status. 

PMID- 25829343
TI  - Phase angle as a prognostic marker in patients with critical illness.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Phase angle (PA) is interpreted as an indicator of cell membrane
      integrity and a prognostic indicator in some clinical situations. This study aims
      to evaluate PA as a prognostic marker in critically ill patients admitted to the
      intensive care unit (ICU) and associate this marker with length of hospital stay,
      mortality, and clinical scores. METHODS: A cohort study was conducted with 95
      patients aged >=18 years admitted to the ICU, who were assessed in terms of
      prognostic indexes (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II [APACHE II]
      and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment [SOFA]), clinical evolution (ICU
      discharge, death, and length of ICU stay), and PA. RESULTS: Patients were
      predominantly male (63.1%) and had a mean age of 63.7 +/- 14.6 years; length of
      stay of 4 days (range, 3-9 days); mortality of 15.8%; mean APACHE II and SOFA
      scores of 17.3 +/- 8.2 and 6.1 +/- 3.1 points, respectively; and mean PA of 4.91
      +/- 1.36 degrees . An association was observed between females and PA <5.1
      degrees  (P = .035), which was the cutoff point determined from the receiver
      operating characteristic curve. PA was correlated with APACHE II score (r = 
      0.241; P = .02). This correlation became moderate only when patients without
      sepsis were considered (r = -0.506; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: PA seems to be a good
      prognostic marker for patients without sepsis. The weak correlation between PA
      and APACHE II score and the lack of association with other clinical outcomes are
      limitations for interpreting the prognostic value of PA in the entire study
      sample.

PMID- 25829344
TI  - Starved for attention: the prevalence and quality of nutrition-related research
      in gastroenterology.

PMID- 25829345
TI  - Interactive effects of explicit emergent structure: a major challenge for
      cognitive computational modeling.
AB  - David Marr's (1982) three-level analysis of computational cognition argues for
      three distinct levels of cognitive information processing-namely, the
      computational, representational, and implementational levels. But Marr's levels
      are-and were meant to be-descriptive, rather than interactive and dynamic. For
      this reason, we suggest that, had Marr been writing today, he might well have
      gone even farther in his analysis, including the emergence of structure-in
      particular, explicit structure at the conceptual level-from lower levels, and the
      effect of explicit emergent structures on the level (or levels) that gave rise to
      them. The message is that today's cognitive scientists need not only to
      understand how emergent structures-in particular, explicit emergent structures at
      the cognitive level-develop but also to understand how they feed back on the sub
      structures from which they emerged. 

PMID- 25829346
TI  - A 12-MONTH, SINGLE-MASKED, RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED STUDY OF EYES WITH PERSISTENT
      DIABETIC MACULAR EDEMA AFTER MULTIPLE ANTI-VEGF INJECTIONS TO ASSESS THE EFFICACY
      OF THE DEXAMETHASONE-DELAYED DELIVERY SYSTEM AS AN ADJUNCT TO BEVACIZUMAB
      COMPARED WITH CONTINUED BEVACIZUMAB MONOTHERAPY.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine whether a dexamethasone intravitreal implant 0.7 mg
      (dexamethasone delivery system [DDS], Ozurdex) combined with bevacizumab 1.25 mg
      (Avastin) provides greater benefit than bevacizumab monotherapy in eyes with
      diabetic macular edema with incomplete response to multiple antivascular
      endothelial growth factor injections. METHODS: Eyes with diabetic macular edema
      were randomly assigned to receive combination therapy (bevacizumab plus DDS) or
      bevacizumab monotherapy. Combination therapy eyes received intravitreal
      bevacizumab at baseline, DDS at Month 1, and subsequent DDS (at Months 5 and 9),
      whereas monotherapy eyes received bevacizumab (monthly) if indicated. Eyes were
      eligible for retreatment if the central subfield thickness measured >250 MUm, and
      Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study visual acuity was <80 letters
      (20/25). RESULTS: Forty eyes of 30 patients were enrolled. The mean visual acuity
      changes from baseline to 12 months were similar in the 2 groups (combined: +5.4
      letters; bevacizumab: +4.9 letters; difference = 0.2 letters, 95% confidence
      interval = -5.9 to 6.3; P = 0.75). The mean reduction in central subfield
      thickness was greater in the combination group (-45 MUm vs. -30 MUm, difference =
      69 MUm, 95% confidence interval = 9-129; P = 0.03) and more patients in the
      combination group had central subfield thickness <250 MUm. The combined treatment
      group received three fewer supplemental injections of bevacizumab, but this was
      counterbalanced by the need for an average of 2.1 DDS injections. CONCLUSIONS:
      The dexamethasone implant combined with bevacizumab significantly improves visual
      acuity and significantly improves macular morphology in eyes with refractory
      diabetic macular edema, although visual acuity changes are not superior to
      continued bevacizumab monotherapy.

PMID- 25829347
TI  - PLASMA CONCENTRATIONS OF VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR IN RETINOPATHY OF
      PREMATURITY AFTER INTRAVITREAL BEVACIZUMAB INJECTION.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the changes in plasma concentrations of vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF), insulin growth factor (IGF-1), erythropoietin,
      pigment epithelium-derived factor, and IgG1 after bevacizumab intravitreal
      injection in infants with retinopathy of prematurity. METHODS: Eleven eyes from
      six infants who received intravitreal injection of bevacizumab were enrolled in
      this study. At preinjection and postinjection 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 weeks,
      0.5 mL of blood was collected from each infant. The plasma concentrations of
      VEGF, insulin growth factor, erythropoietin, pigment epithelium-derived factor,
      and IgG1 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Five patients
      received simultaneous bilateral bevacizumab injection; one patient received
      unilateral injection. RESULTS: Of the infants who received intravitreal
      bevacizumab injection, two were males and four were females. The mean gestational
      age was 26 +/- 2 weeks. The mean birth weight was 870 g. The mean plasma VEGF
      concentration before bevacizumab injection was 2.05 +/- 3.00 ng/mL; plasma level
      decreased significantly to 0.16 +/- 0.10 ng/mL and to 0.14 +/- 0.14 ng/mL (P =
      0.028) after 1 week and 2 weeks, respectively. Moreover, the plasma
      concentrations of VEGF did not return to the original level in any of the samples
      until 8 weeks after the injection. However, mean plasma IgG1, erythropoietin,
      insulin growth factor, and PEDF concentrations did not change significantly
      during the interval between preinjection and any other follow-up time points.
      CONCLUSION: Intravitreal bevacizumab injections significantly reduce plasma VEGF
      concentration in infants with retinopathy of prematurity over a 7-week period.

PMID- 25829348
TI  - DIRECTIONAL OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY PROVIDES ACCURATE OUTER NUCLEAR LAYER
      AND HENLE FIBER LAYER MEASUREMENTS.
AB  - PURPOSE: The outer nuclear layer (ONL) contains photoreceptor nuclei, and its
      thickness is an important biomarker for retinal degenerations. Accurate ONL
      thickness measurements are obscured in standard optical coherence tomography
      (OCT) images because of Henle fiber layer (HFL). Improved differentiation of the
      ONL and HFL boundary is made possible by using directional OCT, a method that
      purposefully varies the pupil entrance position of the OCT beam. METHODS: Fifty
      seven normal eyes were imaged using multiple pupil entry positions with a
      commercial spectral domain OCT system. Cross-sectional image sets were registered
      to each other and segmented at the top of HFL, the border of HFL and the ONL and
      at the external limiting membrane. Thicknesses of the ONL and HFL were measured
      and analyzed. RESULTS: The true ONL and HFL thicknesses varied substantially by
      eccentricity and between individuals. The true macular ONL thickness comprised an
      average of 54.6% of measurements that also included HFL. The ONL and HFL
      thicknesses at specific retinal eccentricities were poorly correlated.
      CONCLUSION: Accurate ONL and HFL thickness measurements are made possible by the
      optical contrast of directional OCT. Distinguishing these individual layers can
      improve clinical trial endpoints and assessment of disease progression.

PMID- 25829350
TI  - PERIPAPILLARY ATROPHY WITH LARGE DEHISCENCES IN BRUCH MEMBRANE IN PSEUDOXANTHOMA
      ELASTICUM.
AB  - PURPOSE: To describe a new set of findings in eyes with pseudoxanthoma elasticum,
      specifically large defects in Bruch membrane. METHODS: Retrospective review of
      the optical coherence tomography image obtained with the Heidelberg Spectralis of
      the posterior pole of patients with pseudoxanthoma elasticum. Large dehiscences
      in Bruch membrane were defined as any defect in Bruch membrane greater than 250
      um in diameter that was not contiguous with a visible angioid streak. RESULTS:
      There were 28 eyes of 14 patients, with a mean age of 53.6 years; 10 were female.
      Large dehiscences in Bruch membrane were seen in nine eyes of six patients, and
      all were within peripapillary atrophy manifested by loss of the choroid and
      retinal pigment epithelium. The edges of Bruch membrane showed an abrupt
      termination in the optical coherence tomography images, and often with an
      upturned edge surrounding the region devoid of Bruch membrane. The mean
      refractive error of the patients was -2.1 diopters (D) in the right eye and -2.5
      D in the left. CONCLUSION: Pseudoxanthoma elasticum shares peripapillary atrophy
      and large dehiscences of Bruch membrane with pathologic myopia. Although theories
      of pathologic myopia involve stresses from ocular expansion, those of
      pseudoxanthoma elasticum typically do not. The Bruch membrane defect in
      pseudoxanthoma elasticum may be related to fragility secondary to abnormal
      calcification and to the surrounding abiotrophy of surrounding affected tissues
      of the posterior pole of the eye.

PMID- 25829349
TI  - INTRAOPERATIVE SPECTRAL DOMAIN OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY IMAGING AFTER
      INTERNAL LIMITING MEMBRANE PEELING IN IDIOPATHIC EPIRETINAL MEMBRANE WITH
      CONNECTING STRANDS.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report the intraoperative optical coherence tomography findings in
      idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM) with connecting strands and to describe the
      postoperative outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective, case series study within a
      prospective observational intraoperative optical coherence tomography imaging
      study was performed. Epiretinal membranes with connecting strands were
      characterized on preoperative spectral domain optical coherence tomography images
      and assessed against corresponding intraoperative (after internal limiting
      membrane [ILM] peeling) and postoperative spectral domain optical coherence
      tomography images. RESULTS: Eleven locations of the connecting strands in 7 eyes
      were studied. The connecting strands had visible connections from the inner
      retinal surface to the ERM in all locations, and the reflectivity was moderate in
      8 locations and high in 3 locations. After ERM and ILM peeling, disconnected
      strands were identified in all of the intraoperative optical coherence tomography
      images. The reflectivity of the remaining intraoperative strands was higher than
      that of the preoperative lesions and appeared as "finger-like" and branching
      projections. The remaining disconnected lesions were contiguous with the inner
      retinal layers. Postoperatively, the intraoperative lesions disappeared
      completely in all locations, and recurrent formation of ERM was not identified in
      any eyes. CONCLUSION: In ERM eyes with connecting strands, intraoperative
      spectral domain optical coherence tomography imaging showed moderately to highly
      reflective sub-ILM finger-like lesions that persist immediately after membrane
      and ILM peeling. Postoperatively, the hyperreflective lesions disappeared
      spontaneously without localized nerve fiber layer loss. The sub-ILM connecting
      strands may represent glial retinal attachments.

PMID- 25829351
TI  - Copper-catalysed cross-coupling: an untapped potential.
AB  - Copper is emerging as a viable catalytic metal for cross-coupling reactions to
      construct carbon-carbon (C-C) bonds. Recent revelations that Cu-catalysts can
      execute with high efficacy the cross-couplings of a variety of organometallic
      reagents, including organomagnesium, organoboron, organosilicon, organoindium and
      organomanganese, with alkyl, aryl and heteroaryl halides clearly demonstrate the
      versatility of Cu-based catalytic systems in conducting these reactions. In
      addition, Cu-catalysts are exhibiting a unique reactivity pattern that allows
      ligandless cross-coupling for aryl-heteroaryl and heteroaryl-heteroaryl bond
      formation, a transformation that generally requires special custom-designed
      ligands with Pd-catalysts. This review summarises early discoveries and
      subsequent advancements made in the area of Cu-catalysed cross-couplings of
      organometallic reagents with organohalides to form C-C bonds. 

PMID- 25829352
TI  - Stereoselective synthesis of the Halaven C14-C26 fragment from D-quinic acid:
      crystallization-induced diastereoselective transformation of an alpha-methyl
      nitrile.
AB  - Crystallization-induced diastereoselective transformation (CIDT) of an alpha
      methyl nitrile completes an entirely non-chromatographic synthesis of the
      halichondrin B C14-C26 stereochemical array. The requisite alpha-methyl nitrile
      substrate is derived from D-quinic acid through a series of substrate-controlled
      stereoselective reactions via a number of crystalline intermediates that benefit
      from a rigid polycyclic template. Therefore, all four stereogenic centers in the
      Halaven C14-C26 fragment were derived from the single chiral source D-quinic
      acid. 

PMID- 25829353
TI  - Effect of leaf incubation temperature profiles on Agrobacterium tumefaciens
      mediated transient expression.
AB  - Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transient expression is known to be highly
      dependent on incubation temperature. Compared with early studies that were
      conducted at constant temperature, we examined the effect of variable leaf
      incubation temperature on transient expression. As a model system, synthetic
      endoglucanase (E1) and endoxylanase (Xyn10A) genes were transiently expressed in
      detached whole sunflower leaves via vacuum infiltration for biofuel applications.
      We found that the kinetics of transient expression strongly depended on timing of
      the temperature change as well as leaf incubation temperature. Surprisingly, we
      found that high incubation temperature (27-30  degrees C) which is suboptimal for
      T-DNA transfer, significantly enhanced transient expression if the high
      temperature was applied during the late phase (Day 3-6) of leaf incubation
      whereas incubation temperature in a range of 20-25  degrees C for an early phase
      (Day 0-2) resulted in higher production. On the basis of these results, we
      propose that transient expression is governed by both T-DNA transfer and protein
      synthesis in plant cells that have different temperature dependent kinetics.
      Because the phases were separated in time and had different optimal temperatures,
      we were then able to develop a novel two phase optimization strategy for leaf
      incubation temperature. Applying the time-varying temperature profile, we were
      able to increase the protein accumulation by fivefold compared with the control
      at a constant temperature of 20  degrees C. From our knowledge, this is the first
      report illustrating the effect of variable temperature profiling for improved
      transient expression.

PMID- 25829354
TI  - Fixation and Immunolabeling of Brain Slices: SNAPSHOT Method.
AB  - Acute brain slices are widely used in neuroscience because this preparation
      enables pharmacological interventions in a timely manner, similar to what is
      currently done in cultured cell studies, while preserving the natural
      cytoarchitecture. However, compared with cells in culture and thin cryostat
      sections, acute brain slices are not commonly used for immunolabeling because of
      poor fixation and antibody penetration. Thus, we have established a novel
      protocol to overcome these issues. We named this protocol SNAPSHOT (StaiNing of
      dynAmic ProcesseS in HOt-fixed Tissue) because it describes a simple approach for
      preserving the morphology of fine dynamic cellular processes at the exact time of
      fixation and for improving the penetration of antibodies. We have previously
      shown that SNAPSHOT preserves the ultrastructure of the tissue and allows for a
      uniform immunolabeling throughout a 300 MUm thick slice. SNAPSHOT has recently
      proven to be beneficial in addressing several unique biological questions.

PMID- 25829355
TI  - Tracking neuronal migration in adult brain slices.
AB  - Neuronal migration is one of the fundamental processes underlying the proper
      assembly and function of neural circuitry. The majority of neuronal precursors
      are generated far away from their sites of integration and need to migrate
      substantial distances to reach their final destination. Neuronal migration occurs
      not only in the embryonic brain but also in a few regions of the adult brain such
      as the olfactory bulb (OB). The mechanisms orchestrating cell migration in the
      adult brain are, however, poorly understood, despite their clinical relevance.
      Here we describe a method for time-lapse imaging of cell migration in acute brain
      slices. This method, combined with genetic and/or pharmacological manipulations
      of different molecular pathways, makes it possible to determine the dynamics and
      molecular mechanisms of cell migration in the adult brain. In addition, time
      lapse imaging in acute brain slices makes it possible to monitor cell movement in
      a microenvironment that closely resembles in vivo conditions and to study
      neuroblast displacement along with other cellular elements such as astrocytes and
      blood vessels.

PMID- 25829356
TI  - Latent sensitization: a model for stress-sensitive chronic pain.
AB  - Latent sensitization is a rodent model of chronic pain that reproduces both its
      episodic nature and its sensitivity to stress. It is triggered by a wide variety
      of injuries ranging from injection of inflammatory agents to nerve damage. It
      follows a characteristic time course in which a hyperalgesic phase is followed by
      a phase of remission. The hyperalgesic phase lasts between a few days to several
      months, depending on the triggering injury. Injection of MU-opioid receptor
      inverse agonists (e.g., naloxone or naltrexone) during the remission phase
      induces reinstatement of hyperalgesia. This indicates that the remission phase
      does not represent a return to the normal state, but rather an altered state in
      which hyperalgesia is masked by constitutive activity of opioid receptors.
      Importantly, stress also triggers reinstatement. Here we describe in detail
      procedures for inducing and following latent sensitization in its different
      phases in rats and mice.

PMID- 25829357
TI  - Matrix Metalloproteinase 14 Overexpression Is Correlated with the Progression and
      Poor Prognosis of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Matrix metalloproteinase 14 (MMP14) has been identified to
      play a significant role in several types of cancers, but little is known about
      the significance of MMP14 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. The aim of
      this study was to explore the association of MMP14 expression with
      clinicopathologic features and prognosis in NPC. METHODS: MMP14 mRNA and protein
      expressions were examined in NPC and nasopharyngeal tissues through real-time PCR
      and immunohistochemistry. Meanwhile, the relationship of MMP14 expression levels
      with clinical features and prognosis of NPC patients was analyzed. RESULTS: MMP14
      mRNA expression was markedly higher in NPC tissues than in nasopharyngeal
      epithelium tissues (p = 0.002). Using immunohistochemistry, staining for MMP14
      protein was found in the normal nasopharyngeal epithelial cells and malignant
      epithelial cells, but increased expression of MMP14 was observed in NPC samples
      compared with normal nasopharyngeal epithelium samples (p = 0.027). In addition,
      high levels of MMP14 protein were positively correlated with the status of
      clinical stage (p = 0.009), N classification (p = 0.006), and distant metastasis
      (p = 0.005) of NPC patients. Patients with higher MMP14 expression had a
      significantly shorter overall survival time than did patients with low MMP14
      expression. Multivariate analysis indicated that the level of MMP14 expression
      was an independent prognostic indicator (p < 0.001) for the survival of patients
      with NPC. CONCLUSIONS: MMP14 overexpression is a potentially unfavorable
      prognostic factor for NPC patients.

PMID- 25829358
TI  - Histology of the heterostracan dermal skeleton: Insight into the origin of the
      vertebrate mineralised skeleton.
AB  - Living vertebrates are divided into those that possess a fully formed and fully
      mineralised skeleton (gnathostomes) versus those that possess only unmineralised
      cartilaginous rudiments (cyclostomes). As such, extinct phylogenetic
      intermediates of these living lineages afford unique insights into the
      evolutionary assembly of the vertebrate mineralised skeleton and its canonical
      tissue types. Extinct jawless and jawed fishes assigned to the gnathostome stem
      evidence the piecemeal assembly of skeletal systems, revealing that the dermal
      skeleton is the earliest manifestation of a homologous mineralised skeleton. Yet
      the nature of the primitive dermal skeleton, itself, is poorly understood. This
      is principally because previous histological studies of early vertebrates lacked
      a phylogenetic framework required to derive evolutionary hypotheses. Nowhere is
      this more apparent than within Heterostraci, a diverse clade of primitive jawless
      vertebrates. To this end, we surveyed the dermal skeletal histology of
      heterostracans, inferred the plesiomorphic heterostracan skeleton and, through
      histological comparison to other skeletonising vertebrate clades, deduced the
      ancestral nature of the vertebrate dermal skeleton. Heterostracans primitively
      possess a four-layered skeleton, comprising a superficial layer of odontodes
      composed of dentine and enameloid; a compact layer of acellular parallel-fibred
      bone containing a network of vascular canals that supply the pulp canals (L1); a
      trabecular layer consisting of intersecting radial walls composed of acellular
      parallel-fibred bone, showing osteon-like development (L2); and a basal layer of
      isopedin (L3). A three layered skeleton, equivalent to the superficial layer L2
      and L3 and composed of enameloid, dentine and acellular bone, is possessed by the
      ancestor of heterostracans + jawed vertebrates. We conclude that an osteogenic
      component is plesiomorphic with respect to the vertebrate dermal skeleton.
      Consequently, we interpret the dermal skeleton of denticles in chondrichthyans
      and jawless thelodonts as independently and secondarily simplified. J. Morphol.
      276:657-680, 2015. (c) 2015 The Authors Journal of Morphology Published by Wiley
      Periodicals, Inc. 

PMID- 25829359
TI  - Ungoutedly time for a change.

PMID- 25829360
TI  - Spectroscopic study on the interaction of bovine serum albumin with zinc(II)
      phthalocyanine.
AB  - The interaction between the photosensitive antitumour drug,
      2(3),9(10),16(17),23(24)-tetra-(((2
      aminoethylamino)methyl)phenoxy)phthalocyaninato-zinc(II) (ZnPc) and bovine serum
      albumin (BSA) has been investigated using various spectroscopic methods. This
      work may provide some useful information for understanding the interaction
      mechanism of anticancer drug-albumin binding and gain insight into the biological
      activity and metabolism of the drug in blood. Based on analysis of the
      fluorescence spectra, ZnPc could quench the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA and the
      quenching mechanism was static by forming a ground state complex. Meanwhile, the
      Stern-Volmer quenching constant (KSV), binding constant (Kb), number of binding
      sites (n) and thermodynamic parameters were obtained. Results showed that the
      interaction of ZnPc with BSA occurred spontaneously via hydrogen bond and van der
      Waal's force. According to Foster's non-radioactive energy transfer theory, the
      energy transfer from BSA to ZnPc occurred with high possibility. Synchronous
      fluorescence and circular dichroism (CD) spectra also demonstrated that ZnPc
      induced the secondary structure of and conformation changes in BSA, especially
      alpha helix.

PMID- 25829361
TI  - Chemical synthesis of phosphorylated ubiquitin and diubiquitin exposes positional
      sensitivities of e1-e2 enzymes and deubiquitinases.
AB  - Modification of ubiquitin by phosphorylation extends the signaling possibilities
      of this dynamic signal, as it could affect the activity of ligases and the
      processing of ubiquitin chains by deubiquitinases. The first chemical synthesis
      of phosphorylated ubiquitin and of Lys63-linked diubiquitin at the proximal,
      distal or both ubiquitins is reported. This enabled the examination of how such a
      modification alters E1-E2 activities of the ubiquitination machinery. It is found
      that E1 charging was not affected, while the assembly of phosphorylated ubiquitin
      chains was differentially inhibited with E2 enzymes tested. Moreover, this study
      shows that phosphorylation interferes with the recognition of linkage specific
      antibodies and the activities of several deubiquitinases. Notably,
      phosphorylation in the proximal or distal ubiquitin unit has differential effects
      on specific deubiquitinases. These results support a unique role of
      phosphorylation in the dynamics of the ubiquitin signal. 

PMID- 25829362
TI  - Cohort Profile: The Barwon Infant Study.
AB  - The modern environment is associated with an increasing burden of non
      communicable diseases (NCDs). Mounting evidence implicates environmental
      exposures, experienced early in life (including in utero), in the aetiology of
      many NCDs, though the cellular/molecular mechanism(s) underlying this elevated
      risk across the life course remain unclear. Epigenetic variation has emerged as a
      candidate mediator of such effects. The Barwon Infant Study (BIS) is a population
      derived birth cohort study (n = 1074 infants) with antenatal recruitment,
      conducted in the south-east of Australia (Victoria). BIS has been designed to
      facilitate a detailed mechanistic investigation of development within an
      epidemiological framework. The broad objectives are to investigate the role of
      specific environmental factors, gut microbiota and epigenetic variation in early
      life development, and subsequent immune, allergic, cardiovascular, respiratory
      and neurodevelopmental outcomes. Participants have been reviewed at birth and at
      1, 6, 9 and 12 months, with 2- and 4-year reviews under way. Biological samples
      and measures include: maternal blood, faeces and urine during pregnancy; infant
      urine, faeces and blood at regular intervals during the first 4 years; lung
      function at 1 month and 4 years; cardiovascular assessment at 1 month and 4
      years; skin-prick allergy testing and food challenge at 1 year; and
      neurodevelopmental assessment at 9 months, 2 and 4 years. Data access enquiries
      can be made at [www.barwoninfantstudy.org.au] or via
      [peter.vuillermin@deakin.edu.au]. 

PMID- 25829363
TI  - Evaluating the interaction between UCOE and DHFR-linked amplification and
      stability of recombinant protein expression.
AB  - Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are widely used in the biopharmaceutical
      industry. In the creation of mammalian cell lines plasmid DNA carrying the gene
      of-interest integrates randomly into the host cell genome, which results in
      variable levels of gene expression between cell lines due to gene silencing
      mechanisms. In addition, cell lines often show unstable protein production during
      long-term culture. This means that a large number of clones need to be screened
      in order to isolate stable, high producing cell lines making mammalian cell line
      development a long and laborious process. In this study an expression platform
      incorporating a Ubiquitous Chromatin Opening Element (UCOE; which are proposed to
      maintain chromatin in an open state) has been utilised for the expression of eGFP
      in CHO cells. Cell lines containing a UCOE vector, showed a significantly higher
      and more consistent eGFP expression than the non-UCOE cell lines without DHFR
      amplification. To further improve recombinant protein production cell lines were
      amplified with methotrexate (MTX). UCOE cell lines showed improved growth in MTX
      therefore amplification to 250 nM MTX was achieved following a one-step
      amplification procedure. However, non-UCOE cell lines showed higher levels of
      eGFP production following MTX amplification. In addition, UCOE cell lines did not
      improve stability during long-term culture in the absence of selective pressure.
      Stable eGFP production was achieved for all cell lines when MTX is present.
      Finally, UCOE cell lines displayed more consistent response to external stimuli
      than non-UCOE cell lines, suggesting that UCOE cell lines are less prone to
      clonal variability.

PMID- 25829364
TI  - Silent Synapses Speak Up: Updates of the Neural Rejuvenation Hypothesis of Drug
      Addiction.
AB  - A transient but prominent increase in the level of "silent synapses"--a signature
      of immature glutamatergic synapses that contain only NMDA receptors without
      stably expressed AMPA receptors--has been identified in the nucleus accumbens
      (NAc) following exposure to cocaine. As the NAc is a critical forebrain region
      implicated in forming addiction-associated behaviors, the initial discoveries
      have raised speculations about whether and how these drug-induced synapses mature
      and potentially contribute to addiction-related behaviors. Here, we summarize
      recent progress in recognizing the pathway-specific regulations of silent synapse
      maturation, and its diverse impacts on behavior. We provide an update of the
      guiding hypothesis--the "neural rejuvenation hypothesis"--with recently emerged
      evidence of silent synapses in cocaine craving and relapse.

PMID- 25829365
TI  - Continuous daily use of cilostazol prevents in-stent restenosis following carotid
      artery stenting: serial angiographic investigation of 229 lesions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported that cilostazol (CLS) may reduce in
      stent restenosis (ISR) after carotid artery stenting (CAS). However, it is not
      known for how long CLS must be continued to prevent ISR. METHODS: We
      retrospectively reviewed a prospectively collected database of patients who
      underwent elective CAS and follow-up angiography at 3 months and 1 year after the
      procedure. ISR was defined as stenosis of 50% or greater on digital subtraction
      angiography. The cumulative incidence rates of angiographic ISR were compared
      between the three groups, divided according to duration of CLS use : (1) patients
      who were maintained on CLS for 12 months or more after CAS (12M CLS group, n=70),
      (2) patients who were treated with CLS for the first 3 months after CAS (3M CLS
      group, n=23), and (3) patients who did not receive CLS (no CLS group, n=136).
      RESULTS: A total of 229 lesions in 199 patients were included in our analysis.
      During a median follow-up of 365 days, ISR was detected in 15 lesions. The
      cumulative ISR rates overall and in the 12M CLS, 3M CLS, and no CLS groups were
      5.6%, 0%, 5.0%, and 8.4%, respectively, at 1 year, and the log rank test showed
      that there was a significant difference between the three groups (p<0.05). Cox
      regression analysis demonstrated that the 12M CLS group had a significantly lower
      risk of ISR than the 3M CLS group (adjusted relative risk (aRR) 3.06e-10, 95% CI
      0 to 0.51, p<0.05) and the no CLS group (aRR 1.41e-10, 95% CI 0 to 0.15,
      p<0.001), whereas no difference was found between the 3M CLS group and the no CLS
      group. CONCLUSIONS: An overall cumulative ISR rate of 5.6% was documented
      angiographically at 1 year after CAS. Continuous daily use of CLS (for at least 1
      year) may have a beneficial effect on long term prevention of ISR.

PMID- 25829366
TI  - The Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative.
AB  - The Affordable Care Act enters its fifth year firmly entrenched in our national
      consciousness. One method that has entered the vernacular for achieving cost
      savings is accountable care. There are other approaches that are less well known.
      The Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative has the potential to
      significantly impact neurointerventionalists. We review that initiative here. 

PMID- 25829367
TI  - Pd nanoparticles on ZnO-passivated porous carbon by atomic layer deposition: an
      effective electrochemical catalyst for Li-O2 battery.
AB  - Uniformly dispersed Pd nanoparticles on ZnO-passivated porous carbon were
      synthesized via an atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique, which was tested as a
      cathode material in a rechargeable Li-O2 battery, showing a highly active
      catalytic effect toward the electrochemical reactions-in particular, the oxygen
      evolution reaction. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed discrete
      crystalline nanoparticles decorating the surface of the ZnO-passivated porous
      carbon support in which the size could be controlled in the range of 3-6 nm,
      depending on the number of Pd ALD cycles performed. X-ray absorption spectroscopy
      (XAS) at the Pd K-edge revealed that the carbon-supported Pd existed in a mixed
      phase of metallic palladium and palladium oxide. The ZnO-passivated layer
      effectively blocks the defect sites on the carbon surface, minimizing the
      electrolyte decomposition. Our results suggest that ALD is a promising technique
      for tailoring the surface composition and structure of nanoporous supports for Li
      O2 batteries. 

PMID- 25829368
TI  - Correction. Overweight and obesity on the island of Ireland: an estimation of
      costs.

PMID- 25829369
TI  - Educational interventions for improving control of blood pressure in patients
      with hypertension: a systematic review protocol.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of
      educational interventions on improving the control of blood pressure in patients
      with hypertension. METHODS: Randomised controlled trials including patients over
      18 years of age, regardless of sex and ethnicity, with a diagnosis of
      hypertension (either treated or not treated with antihypertensive medications)
      will be assessed in our analysis. We will electronically search four databases:
      MEDLINE, CINAHL, PEDro and ScienceDirect. There will be no language restrictions
      in the search for studies. The data will be extracted independently by two
      authors using predefined criteria. Disagreements will be resolved between the
      authors. The risk of bias will be assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool.
      After searching and screening of the studies, we will run a meta-analysis of the
      included randomised controlled trials. We will summarise the results as risk
      ratio for dichotomous data and mean differences for continuous data. ETHICS AND
      DISSEMINATION: The review will be published in a journal. The findings from the
      review will also be disseminated electronically and at conference presentations.
      TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD4201401071.

PMID- 25829370
TI  - Levels, trends and reasons for unmet need for family planning among married women
      in Botswana: a cross-sectional study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study are: (1) to estimate the prevalence of
      unmet need for family planning among married women using Botswana Family Health
      Survey 2007 data and (2) to identify risk factors for unmet need for family
      planning among married women. DESIGN: This study used secondary data from a cross
      sectional survey that was conducted to provide a snapshot of health issues in
      Botswana. SETTING: Nationally representative population survey data.
      PARTICIPANTS: 2601 married or in union women aged 15-49 years who participated in
      the 2007 Botswana Family Health Survey were included in the analysis. PRIMARY
      OUTCOME: Unmet need for family planning, which was defined as the percentage of
      all fecund married women who are not using a method of contraception even though
      they do not want to get pregnant. RESULTS: Married women who had unmet need for
      family planning were 9.6% in 2007. Most of the unmet need was for limiting (6.7%)
      compared to spacing (2.9%). Unmet need for family planning was more likely to be
      among women whose partners disapproved of family planning, non-Christians, had
      one partner and had never discussed family planning with their partner. Women of
      low parity, aged 25-34 years, and greater exposure to mass media, were less
      likely to have experienced unmet need. The patterns and magnitude of covariates
      differed between unmet need for limiting and for spacing. CONCLUSIONS: The
      prevalence of unmet need for family planning was low in Botswana compared to
      other sub-Saharan African countries. The findings from this study reemphasise the
      importance of women's empowerment and men's involvement in women's sexual and
      reproductive healthcare needs and services. Different approaches are needed to
      satisfy the demand for family planning for spacing and limiting.

PMID- 25829371
TI  - Impaired mental well-being and psychosocial risk: a cross-sectional study in
      female nursing home direct staff.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The present study sought to quantify the impaired mental well-being
      and psychosocial stress experienced by nursing home staff and to determine the
      relationship between impaired mental well-being assessed on the 12-item General
      Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and exposure to psychosocial stress assessed on
      Siegrist's effort/reward and overcommitment model. METHODS: A transverse study
      was conducted in France on 2471 female employees in 105 nursing homes for the
      elderly. Personal and occupational data were collected by questionnaire for 668
      housekeepers, 1454 nursing assistants and 349 nurses. RESULTS: 36.8% of
      participants (n=896) showed impaired mental well-being, 42.7% (n=1039)
      overcommitment and 9% (n=224) effort/reward imbalance. Overcommitment (prevalence
      ratio (PR)=1.27; 95% CI (1.21 to 1.34)) and effort-reward imbalance (PR=1.19; 95%
      CI (1.12 to 1.27)) were significantly associated with presence of impaired mental
      well-being after adjustment for personal factors (age and private life events).
      Taking effort and reward levels into account, the frequency of impaired mental
      well-being was highest in case of exposure to great extrinsic effort and low
      rewards of any type: esteem, PR=3.53, 95% CI (3.06 to 4.08); earnings, PR=3.48,
      95% CI (2.99 to 4.06); or job security, PR=3.30, 95% CI (2.88 to 3.78).
      Participants in situations of overcommitment and of effort/reward imbalance were
      at the highest risk of impaired mental well-being: PR=3.86, 95% CI (3.42 to
      4.35). CONCLUSIONS: Several changes in nursing home organisation can be suggested
      to reduce staff exposure to factors of psychosocial stress. Qualitative studies
      of the relation between impaired mental well-being and psychosocial stress in
      nursing home staff could guide prevention of impaired mental well-being at work.

PMID- 25829372
TI  - National Audit of Seizure management in Hospitals (NASH): results of the national
      audit of adult epilepsy in the UK.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: About 100,000 people present to hospitals each year in England with
      an epileptic seizure. How they are managed is unknown; thus, the National Audit
      of Seizure management in Hospitals (NASH) set out to assess prior care,
      management of the acute event and follow-up of these patients. This paper
      describes the data from the second audit conducted in 2013. SETTING: 154
      emergency departments (EDs) across the UK. PARTICIPANTS: Data from 4544
      attendances (median age of 45 years, 57% men) showed that 61% had a prior
      diagnosis of epilepsy, 12% other neurological problems and 22% were first seizure
      cases. Each ED identified 30 consecutive adult cases presenting due to a seizure.
      PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Details were recorded of the patient's
      prior care, management at hospital and onward referral to neurological
      specialists onto an online database. Descriptive results are reported at national
      level. RESULTS: Of those with epilepsy, 498 (18%) were on no antiepileptic drug
      therapy and 1330 (48%) were on monotherapy. Assessments were often incomplete and
      witness histories were sought in only 759 (75%) of first seizure patients, 58%
      were seen by a senior doctor and 57% were admitted. For first seizure patients,
      advice on further seizure management was given to 264 (27%) and only 55% were
      referred to a neurologist or epilepsy specialist. For each variable, there was
      wide variability among sites that was not explicable. For the sites who partook
      in both audits, there was a trend towards better care in 2013, but this was small
      and dwarfed by the intersite variability. CONCLUSIONS: These results have
      parallels with the Sentinel Audit of Stroke performed a decade earlier. There is
      wide intersite variability in care covering the entire care pathway, and a need
      for better organised and accessible care for these patients.

PMID- 25829373
TI  - Fosfomycin versus meropenem in bacteraemic urinary tract infections caused by
      extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (FOREST): study
      protocol for an investigator-driven randomised controlled trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Finding therapeutic alternatives to carbapenems in infections
      caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-EC)
      is imperative. Although fosfomycin was discovered more than 40 years ago, it was
      not investigated in accordance with current standards and so is not used in
      clinical practice except in desperate situations. It is one of the so-called
      neglected antibiotics of high potential interest for the future. METHODS AND
      ANALYSIS: The main objective of this project is to demonstrate the clinical non
      inferiority of intravenous fosfomycin with regard to meropenem for treating
      bacteraemic urinary tract infections (UTI) caused by ESBL-EC. This is a 'real
      practice' multicentre, open-label, phase III randomised controlled trial,
      designed to compare the clinical and microbiological efficacy, and safety of
      intravenous fosfomycin (4 g/6 h) and meropenem (1 g/8 h) as targeted therapy for
      this infection; a change to oral therapy is permitted after 5 days in both arms,
      in accordance with predetermined options. The study design follows the latest
      recommendations for designing trials investigating new options for multidrug
      resistant bacteria. Secondary objectives include the study of fosfomycin
      concentrations in plasma and the impact of both drugs on intestinal colonisation
      by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical
      approval was obtained from the Andalusian Coordinating Institutional Review Board
      (IRB) for Biomedical Research (Referral Ethics Committee), which obtained
      approval from the local ethics committees at all participating sites in Spain (22
      sites). Data will be presented at international conferences and published in peer
      reviewed journals. DISCUSSION: This project is proposed as an initial step in the
      investigation of an orphan antimicrobial of low cost with high potential as a
      therapeutic alternative in common infections such as UTI in selected patients.
      These results may have a major impact on the use of antibiotics and the
      development of new projects with this drug, whether as monotherapy or combination
      therapy. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02142751. EudraCT no: 2013-002922-21.
      Protocol V.1.1 dated 14 March 2014.

PMID- 25829374
TI  - Protocol for a pre-implementation and post-implementation study on shared
      decision-making in the surgical treatment of women with early-stage breast
      cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The majority of patients diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer are
      in a position to choose between having a mastectomy or lumpectomy with radiation
      therapy (breast-conserving therapy). Since the long-term survival rates for
      mastectomy and for lumpectomy with radiation therapy are comparable, patients'
      informed preferences are important for decision-making. Although most clinicians
      believe that they do include patients in the decision-making process, the
      information that women with breast cancer receive regarding the surgical options
      is often rather subjective, and does not invite patients to express their
      preferences. Shared decision-making (SDM) is meant to help patients clarify their
      preferences, resulting in greater satisfaction with their final choice. Patient
      decision aids can be very supportive in SDM. We present the protocol of a study
      to beta test a patient decision aid and optimise strategies for the
      implementation of SDM regarding the treatment of early-stage breast cancer in the
      actual clinical setting. METHODS/DESIGN: This paper concerns a pre-implementation
      and post-implementation study, lasting from October 2014 to June 2015. The
      intervention consists of implementing SDM using a patient decision aid. The
      intervention will be evaluated using qualitative and quantitative measures,
      acquired prior to, during and after the implementation of SDM. Outcome measures
      are knowledge about treatment, perceived SDM and decisional conflict. We will
      also conduct face-to-face interviews with a sample of these patients and their
      care providers, to assess their experiences with the implementation of SDM and
      the patient decision aid. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This protocol was approved by
      the Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC) ethics committee. The findings
      will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal articles and presentations at
      national conferences. Findings will be used to finalise a multi-faceted
      implementation strategy to test the implementation of SDM and a patient decision
      aid in terms of cost-effectiveness, in a multicentre cluster randomised
      controlled trial (RCT). STUDY REGISTRATION NUMBER: NTR4879.

PMID- 25829375
TI  - Cortisol and Inflammatory Biomarkers Predict Poor Treatment Response in First
      Episode Psychosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cortisol and inflammatory markers have been increasingly reported as
      abnormal at psychosis onset. The main aim of our study was to investigate the
      ability of these biomarkers to predict treatment response at 12 weeks follow-up
      in first episode psychosis. METHODS: In a longitudinal study, we collected saliva
      and blood samples in 68 first episode psychosis patients (and 57 controls) at
      baseline and assessed response to clinician-led antipsychotic treatment after 12
      weeks. Moreover, we repeated biological measurements in 39 patients at the same
      time we assessed the response. Saliva samples were collected at multiple time
      points during the day to measure diurnal cortisol levels and cortisol awakening
      response (CAR); interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, tumor
      necrosis factor-alpha, and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) levels were analyzed from
      serum samples. Patients were divided into Non-Responders (n = 38) and Responders
      (n = 30) according to the Remission symptom criteria of the Schizophrenia Working
      Group Consensus. RESULTS: At first onset, Non-Responders had markedly lower CAR
      (d = 0.6, P = .03) and higher IL-6 and IFN-gamma levels (respectively, d = 1.0, P
      = .003 and d = 0.9, P = .02) when compared with Responders. After 12 weeks, Non
      Responders show persistent lower CAR (P = .01), and higher IL-6 (P = .04) and IFN
      gamma (P = .05) when compared with Responders. Comparison with controls show that
      these abnormalities are present in both patients groups, but are more evident in
      Non-Responders. CONCLUSIONS: Cortisol and inflammatory biomarkers at the onset of
      psychosis should be considered as possible predictors of treatment response, as
      well as potential targets for the development of novel therapeutic agents.

PMID- 25829376
TI  - Interaction Between Functional Genetic Variation of DRD2 and Cannabis Use on Risk
      of Psychosis.
AB  - Both cannabis use and the dopamine receptor (DRD2) gene have been associated with
      schizophrenia, psychosis-like experiences, and cognition. However, there are no
      published data investigating whether genetically determined variation in DRD2
      dopaminergic signaling might play a role in individual susceptibility to cannabis
      associated psychosis. We genotyped (1) a case-control study of 272 patients with
      their first episode of psychosis and 234 controls, and also from (2) a sample of
      252 healthy subjects, for functional variation in DRD2, rs1076560. Data on
      history of cannabis use were collected on all the studied subjects by
      administering the Cannabis Experience Questionnaire. In the healthy subjects'
      sample, we also collected data on schizotypy and cognitive performance using the
      Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire and the N-back working memory task. In the
      case-control study, we found a significant interaction between the rs1076560 DRD2
      genotype and cannabis use in influencing the likelihood of a psychotic disorder.
      Among cannabis users, carriers of the DRD2, rs1076560, T allele showed a 3-fold
      increased probability to suffer a psychotic disorder compared with GG carriers
      (OR = 3.07; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.22-7.63). Among daily users, T
      carrying subjects showed a 5-fold increase in the odds of psychosis compared to
      GG carriers (OR = 4.82; 95% CI: 1.39-16.71). Among the healthy subjects, T
      carrying cannabis users had increased schizotypy compared with T carrying
      cannabis-naive subjects, GG cannabis users, and GG cannabis-naive subjects (all P
      <= .025). T carrying cannabis users had reduced working memory accuracy compared
      with the other groups (all P <= .008). Thus, variation of the DRD2, rs1076560,
      genotype may modulate the psychosis-inducing effect of cannabis use. 

PMID- 25829378
TI  - Non-structural carbohydrate profiles and ratios between soluble sugars and starch
      serve as indicators of productivity for a bioenergy grass.
AB  - There is a pressing need to find a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels that
      will not compromise food security or require extensive use of agrochemicals.
      Miscanthus is a perennial energy grass predominantly used for combustion but with
      the current advancement of ligno-cellulosic fermentation technologies there is an
      interest in using Miscanthus for bioethanol production. Currently, the only
      commercially grown genotype of Miscanthus is M.* giganteus; a high yielding,
      interspecific hybrid of M. sacchariflorus and M. sinensis. As M.* giganteus is a
      sterile triploid, it cannot be used as a parent so Miscanthus breeding effort is
      focused on producing new interspecific varieties that out-perform M.* giganteus.
      The carbohydrate profiles of four genotypes of Miscanthus, including M.
      sacchariflorus (Sac-5), M.* giganteus (Gig-311), M. sinensis (Sin-11) and M.
      sinensis (Goliath), were characterized at replicated field sites in Aberystwyth,
      West Wales and Harpenden, south-east England. Our hypothesis was that a
      distinctive carbohydrate profile underlies enhanced biomass accumulation. Biomass
      accumulation is greatest when day-lengths and solar intensity are highest; so,
      observations were made in the middle of UK summer (July) for 2 years. Gig-311 had
      a greater abundance of fructose in its stems at both sites, and both Gig-311 and
      Sac-5 had low abundance of starch. At both sites, the highest yielding genotype
      was Gig-311 and Sac-5 was also high yielding at Harpenden, but performed
      comparatively poorly at Aberystwyth. At both sites Gig-311 had a distinctly high
      concentration of fructose, low starch and a high ratio of soluble sugars: starch,
      and at Harpenden, Sac-5 was similar. We conclude that the abundance of starch and
      fructose and a greater partitioning of soluble sugars, relative to starch, are
      candidate biomarkers of productivity in Miscanthus. 

PMID- 25829377
TI  - Physical Exercise Keeps the Brain Connected: Biking Increases White Matter
      Integrity in Patients With Schizophrenia and Healthy Controls.
AB  - It has been shown that learning a new skill leads to structural changes in the
      brain. However, it is unclear whether it is the acquisition or continuous
      practicing of the skill that causes this effect and whether brain connectivity of
      patients with schizophrenia can benefit from such practice. We examined the
      effect of 6 months exercise on a stationary bicycle on the brain in patients with
      schizophrenia and healthy controls. Biking is an endemic skill in the Netherlands
      and thus offers an ideal situation to disentangle the effects of learning vs
      practice. The 33 participating patients with schizophrenia and 48 healthy
      individuals were assigned to either one of two conditions, ie, physical exercise
      or life-as-usual, balanced for diagnosis. Diffusion tensor imaging brain scans
      were made prior to and after intervention. We demonstrate that irrespective of
      diagnosis regular physical exercise of an overlearned skill, such as bicycling,
      significantly increases the integrity, especially of motor functioning related,
      white matter fiber tracts whereas life-as-usual leads to a decrease in fiber
      integrity. Our findings imply that exercise of an overlearned physical skill
      improves brain connectivity in patients and healthy individuals. This has
      important implications for understanding the effect of fitness programs on the
      brain in both healthy subjects and patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, the
      outcome may even apply to the nonphysical realm. 

PMID- 25829379
TI  - Improving methods to evaluate the impacts of plant invasions: lessons from 40
      years of research.
AB  - Methods used to evaluate the ecological impacts of biological invasions vary
      widely from broad-scale observational studies to removal experiments in invaded
      communities and experimental additions in common gardens and greenhouses.
      Different methods provide information at diverse spatial and temporal scales with
      varying levels of reliability. Thus, here we provide a synthetic and critical
      review of the methods used to evaluate the impacts of plant invasions and provide
      recommendations for future research. We review the types of methods available and
      report patterns in methods used, including the duration and spatial scale of
      studies and plant functional groups examined, from 410 peer-reviewed papers
      published between 1971 and 2011. We found that there has been a marked increase
      in papers published on plant invasion impacts since 2003 and that more than half
      of all studies employed observational methods while <5 % included predictive
      modelling. Most of the studies were temporally and spatially restricted with 51 %
      of studies lasting <1 year and almost half of all studies conducted in plots or
      mesocosms <1 m(2). There was also a bias in life form studied: more than 60 % of
      all studies evaluated impacts of invasive forbs and graminoids while <16 %
      focused on invasive trees. To more effectively quantify invasion impacts, we
      argue that longer-term experimental research and more studies that use predictive
      modelling and evaluate impacts of invasions on ecosystem processes and fauna are
      needed. Combining broad-scale observational studies with experiments and
      predictive modelling may provide the most insight into invasion impacts for
      policy makers and land managers seeking to reduce the effects of plant invasions.

PMID- 25829380
TI  - Dominant plant taxa predict plant productivity responses to CO2 enrichment across
      precipitation and soil gradients.
AB  - The Earth's atmosphere will continue to be enriched with carbon dioxide (CO2)
      over the coming century. Carbon dioxide enrichment often reduces leaf
      transpiration, which in water-limited ecosystems may increase soil water content,
      change species abundances and increase the productivity of plant communities. The
      effect of increased soil water on community productivity and community change may
      be greater in ecosystems with lower precipitation, or on coarser-textured soils,
      but responses are likely absent in deserts. We tested correlations among yearly
      increases in soil water content, community change and community plant
      productivity responses to CO2 enrichment in experiments in a mesic grassland with
      fine- to coarse-textured soils, a semi-arid grassland and a xeric shrubland. We
      found no correlation between CO2-caused changes in soil water content and changes
      in biomass of dominant plant taxa or total community aboveground biomass in
      either grassland type or on any soil in the mesic grassland (P > 0.60). Instead,
      increases in dominant taxa biomass explained up to 85 % of the increases in total
      community biomass under CO2 enrichment. The effect of community change on
      community productivity was stronger in the semi-arid grassland than in the mesic
      grassland, where community biomass change on one soil was not correlated with the
      change in either the soil water content or the dominant taxa. No sustained
      increases in soil water content or community productivity and no change in
      dominant plant taxa occurred in the xeric shrubland. Thus, community change was a
      crucial driver of community productivity responses to CO2 enrichment in the
      grasslands, but effects of soil water change on productivity were not evident in
      yearly responses to CO2 enrichment. Future research is necessary to isolate and
      clarify the mechanisms controlling the temporal and spatial variations in the
      linkages among soil water, community change and plant productivity responses to
      CO2 enrichment. 

PMID- 25829381
TI  - Palliative care patients' perceptions of the work involved in understanding and
      managing the network of care provision surrounding them.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the work carried out for cancer palliative care patients in
      understanding and dealing with the often large network of care provision
      surrounding them. METHOD: Qualitative thematic analysis of interviews with 24
      patients (aged 48-85 years) with 15 different types/sites of cancer and
      palliative care needs. RESULTS: The main theme of 'patient work-their strategies
      and project management' is presented. Subthemes included: being organised and
      keeping records; planning ahead and coordinating care; information gathering;
      understanding the hierarchy and knowing who the key people are; strategies to
      remember names and roles; understanding and 'working the system'. Insights are
      given into the work carried out on patients' behalf by family, although it was
      unclear who would do this work if no family was available. Some of the challenges
      faced by patients and families are identified. These included limited
      information; uncertainty when care is transferred between different teams or
      locations; deciding who to contact and how; and negotiating through gatekeepers.
      CONCLUSIONS: The number and variety of people contributing to the care of a
      cancer palliative care patient can be difficult for patients and family to
      comprehend. Work is required by patients or family on their behalf to achieve the
      level of understanding required to become accomplished at navigating the system
      and project managing their care organisation, and is probably influenced by role
      expectations and previous experience. Much of this additional, often hidden,
      workload for patients and family could probably be reduced with clear, timely
      information provision by health professionals.

PMID- 25829387
TI  - Transaxillary thyroidectomies: a comparative learning experience of robotic vs
      endoscopic thyroidectomies.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Robotic and endoscopic approaches have become more accepted in thyroid
      surgery, with current literature documenting the experience of high-volume
      centers. We adopted both approaches concurrently, and this series presents our
      initial experience to assess the more practical option for low- to moderate
      volume centers starting out with transaxillary thyroidectomies. STUDY DESIGN:
      Case series with chart review. SETTING: Tertiary academic center. SUBJECTS AND
      METHODS: Over a period of 4 years, 101 patients underwent transaxillary
      thyroidectomies, of whom 48 underwent robotic thyroidectomy and 53 underwent
      endoscopic thyroidectomy. Data analysis includes patient characteristics,
      procedure time, thyroid pathology, and postoperative complications. A survey was
      conducted among surgeons to assess the subjective experience. RESULTS: Endoscopic
      hemithyroidectomies had a significantly shorter duration of operation (145.8
      minutes) vs that of robotic hemithyroidectomies (193.6 minutes), P < .001. The
      mean time taken for the first 5 hemithyroidectomies vs the last 5
      hemithyroidectomies showed a greater drop in the endoscopic group (49.1%) vs the
      robotic group (18.6%). There were 2 cases of transient recurrent laryngeal nerve
      injury. In the surgeon survey, the endoscopic technique was perceived to have
      less need for peripheral support, while the robotic technique was preferred for
      its shorter learning curve. CONCLUSION: In terms of outcome, both techniques are
      comparable at least in the initial phase. Based on our early experience, the
      endoscopic technique may be less intuitive with a longer learning curve, although
      at steady state, it may be the quicker procedure. This is relevant for low- to
      moderate-volume centers starting their transaxillary thyroidectomy program.

PMID- 25829388
TI  - A swallow preservation protocol improves function for veterans receiving
      chemoradiation for head and neck cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Determine the efficacy of a swallow preservation protocol (SPP) on
      maintaining swallow function in patients undergoing chemoradiation (CRT) or
      radiation therapy alone (RT) for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).
      STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case series. SETTING: Veterans Affairs medical
      center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients treated with CRT or RT for HNSCC between
      February 2006 and November 2013 were studied. Those enrolled in the SPP
      participated in swallowing, jaw, and tongue exercises during cancer therapy. The
      comparator group received no swallowing intervention during CRT. A previously
      described functional outcome swallowing scale (FOSS; 0 = no symptoms and 5 =
      nonoral feeding for all nutrition) was used to quantify dysphagia prior to and at
      the completion of cancer therapy, and an analysis was performed to compare
      swallowing function. RESULTS: Forty-one (all male; mean age, 66 years) and 66
      patients (all male; mean age, 61 years) were included in the SPP and comparator
      groups, respectively. In the SPP group, mean pre- and posttreatment FOSS scores
      were 2.2 and 2.2, respectively, while the corresponding scores in the comparator
      group were 1.8 and 2.7, respectively, with posttreatment FOSS scores being
      significantly worse than pretreatment FOSS scores in the comparator group only.
      CONCLUSION: Patients enrolled in the SPP demonstrated preserved swallowing
      function over the course of cancer treatment compared with a comparator group.
      This confirms the importance of early evaluation and intervention for dysphagia
      prior to and during CRT or RT alone.

PMID- 25829389
TI  - Standardized outcome and reporting measures in pediatric head and neck lymphatic
      malformations.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To develop general and site-specific treatment effect and outcome
      measures to standardize the reporting of head and neck lymphatic malformation
      (HNLM) treatments. STUDY DESIGN: Consensus statement/expert opinion. SETTING:
      Multiple tertiary academic institutions. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The modified
      Delphi method is an iterative process of collecting expert opinions, refining
      opinions through discussion and feedback, statistically aggregating opinions, and
      using these aggregates to generate consensus opinion in the absence of other
      data. The modified Delphi method was used by a multi-institutional group of
      otolaryngology and interventional radiology experts in the field of vascular
      anomalies to formulate a list of recommended reporting outcomes for the study and
      treatment of head and neck lymphatic malformations. RESULTS: Through 3 rounds of
      iteration, 10 expert panelists refined 98 proposed outcome measures and 9 outcome
      categories to a final consensus set of 50 recommended outcome measures in 3
      global categories (general, demographics, and treatment complications) and 5 site
      specific categories (orbit, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, and neck). CONCLUSIONS:
      We propose the first consensus set of standardized reporting measures for
      clinical and treatment outcomes in studies of HNLMs. Consistent outcome measures
      across future studies will facilitate comparison of treatment options and allow
      systematic review. We hope that these guidelines facilitate the design and
      reporting of subsequent HNLM studies.

PMID- 25829390
TI  - Ambulatory thyroidectomy: a multistate study of revisits and complications.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Determine rates and reasons for revisits after ambulatory adult
      thyroidectomy. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of multistate ambulatory
      surgery and hospital databases. SETTING: Ambulatory surgery data from the State
      Ambulatory Surgery Databases of California, Florida, Iowa, and New York for
      calendar years 2010 and 2011. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Ambulatory thyroidectomy
      cases were linked to state ambulatory, emergency, and inpatient databases for
      revisit encounters occurring within 30 days. The numbers of revisits, mortality,
      and associated diagnoses were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 25,634 cases of
      ambulatory thyroid surgery were identified: 44.2% total thyroidectomy (TT) and
      55.8% partial thyroidectomy (PT). Common indications for surgery included
      goiter/cyst (39.5%), benign/uncertain neoplasm (24.2%), and malignant neoplasm
      (24.0%). The 30-day revisit rate was 7.2% (n = 1858; 61.8% emergency department,
      22.4% inpatient admission, and 15.8% ambulatory surgery center). The most common
      diagnosis at revisit was hypocalcemia (20.8% of revisits), followed by wound
      hematoma/seroma/bleeding (7.1%). Higher rates of revisit, hypocalcemia, and
      hematoma/seroma/bleeding were seen in patients undergoing TT (P < .016 for all).
      Sixteen patients had bleeding less than 24 hours after the index procedure (0.1%
      overall, 0.9% of revisits). Most hypocalcemia and hematoma/bleeding occurred over
      the first postoperative week. Three deaths occurred within 30 days of the index
      procedure. CONCLUSION: In carefully selected patients, ambulatory thyroidectomy
      demonstrates a good postoperative morbidity and mortality profile. Common reasons
      for revisits included hypocalcemia and bleeding/seroma/hematoma, which occurred
      with relatively high frequencies as late as a week after surgery. Quality
      improvement measures should be targeted at lowering revisit rates and safely
      managing complications.

PMID- 25829391
TI  - Characterization of Vestibulopathy in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Previous observational studies suggest higher rates of vestibular
      dysfunction among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) compared with those
      without diabetes. This study aims to functionally localize vestibular dysfunction
      in adults with type 2 DM. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING:
      Tertiary academic medical center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Adults 50 years of age
      and older with >=10-year history of type 2 DM were recruited (December 2011
      February 2013, n = 25). Vestibular function was assessed by cervical and ocular
      vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs), testing the saccule and utricle,
      respectively. Head thrust dynamic visual acuity testing assessed semicircular
      canal (SCC) function in all canal planes. Results were compared with nondiabetic
      age-matched controls (n = 25). RESULTS: Subjects were 64.7 +/- 7.6 years old,
      were 40% female, and had a mean hemoglobin A1c of 8.3% +/- 1.7%. SCC dysfunction
      was more common than otoconial organ dysfunction, with 70% of subjects with DM
      demonstrating impaired performance of at least 1 SCC (DeltalogMAR >=0.18) and 50%
      demonstrating otoconial organ impairment (absent ocular VEMP and/or cervical
      VEMP). Adults with type 2 DM had poorer lateral and superior SCC performance (P <
      .05) but similar posterior SCC performance compared with controls (P = .16). Both
      cervical VEMP peak-to-peak amplitude and ocular VEMP n1 amplitude were also
      decreased with diabetes (P < .01). CONCLUSION: Adults with type 2 DM have poorer
      performance on tests of vestibular function related to both SCC and otoconial
      organ function compared with nondiabetic age-matched adults. Future studies are
      needed to better understand the relationship between vestibular function and
      functional disability in persons with diabetes.

PMID- 25829392
TI  - Health service use and costs associated with excess weight in older adults in
      Germany.
AB  - BACKGROUND: excess weight is a risk factor for numerous co-morbidities that
      predominantly occur in later life. This study's purpose was to analyse the
      association between excess weight and health service use/costs in the older
      population in Germany. METHODS: this cross-sectional analysis used data of n =
      3,108 individuals aged 58-82 from a population-based prospective cohort study.
      Body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) were calculated based on
      clinical examinations. Health service use was measured by a questionnaire for a 3
      month period. Corresponding costs were calculated applying a societal
      perspective. RESULTS: 21.8% of the sample were normal weight, 43.0% overweight,
      25.5% obese class 1 and 9.6% obese class >=2 according to BMI. In 42.6%, WHtR was
      >=0.6. For normal weight, overweight, obese class 1 and obese class >=2
      individuals, mean costs (3-month period) of outpatient care were 384?, 435?, 475?
      and 525? (P < 0.001), mean costs of inpatient care were 284?, 408?, 333? and 652?
      (P = 0.070) and mean total costs 716?, 891?, 852? and 1,244? (P = 0.013). For
      individuals with WHtR <0.6 versus >=0.6, outpatient costs were 401? versus 499?
      (P < 0.001), inpatient costs 315? versus 480? (P = 0.016) and total costs 755?
      versus 1,041? (P < 0.001). Multiple regression analyses controlling for
      sociodemographic variables showed a significant effect of obesity on costs of
      outpatient care (class 1: +72?; class >=2: +153?) and total costs (class >=2:
      +361?) while the effect of overweight was not significant. WHtR >=0.6
      significantly increased outpatient costs by +79? and total costs by +189?.
      CONCLUSIONS: excess weight is associated with increased service use and cost in
      elderly individuals, in particular in obese class >=2 individuals.

PMID- 25829394
TI  - Performance of influenza-specific triage tools in an H1N1-positive cohort: P/F
      ratio better predicts the need for mechanical ventilation and critical care
      admission.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pandemic influenza presents a major threat to global health and
      socioeconomic well-being. Future demand for critical care may outstrip supply and
      force clinicians to triage patients for admission. We evaluated the Simple Triage
      Scoring System (STSS), Ontario Health Plan for an Influenza Epidemic (OHPIP) and
      PaO2 /FiO2  (P/F) ratio to determine utility in predicting need for mechanical
      ventilation. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective case note review of patients
      admitted to two centres, Royal Liverpool University Hospital and Countess of
      Chester Hospital, during the UK influenza pandemic of 2010-11. Demand for
      critical care during this period forced hospitals in Cheshire and Merseyside to
      implement escalation policies and increase capacity. Inclusion criteria were
      polymerase chain reaction-confirmed H1N1 influenza and age >18 years. Exclusion
      criteria were no evidence of treatment for influenza, patient not admitted to
      hospital or the inability to locate case notes. RESULTS: One hundred and one
      patients were included, 29 were admitted to critical care and 23 required
      mechanical ventilation. The P/F ratio predicted the need for mechanical
      ventilation with a receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC
      AUC) of 0.885 (CI 0.817-0.952). Predictive ability was not reduced when the P/F
      ratio had to be estimated using the Pandharipande tool. The STSS score predicted
      the need for mechanical ventilation [ROC AUC 0.798 (CI 0.704-0.891)]. The reverse
      triage component of the OHPIP tool was a poor predictor of patient outcome.
      CONCLUSIONS: The P/F ratio was a better predictor of need for mechanical
      ventilation than STSS. The P/F ratio is a simple and accepted determinant of
      hypoxaemia and should be used if secondary triaging becomes necessary during
      future influenza pandemics.

PMID- 25829385
TI  - International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. XCVI. Pattern recognition
      receptors in health and disease.
AB  - Since the discovery of Toll, in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, as the
      first described pattern recognition receptor (PRR) in 1996, many families of
      these receptors have been discovered and characterized. PRRs play critically
      important roles in pathogen recognition to initiate innate immune responses that
      ultimately link to the generation of adaptive immunity. Activation of PRRs leads
      to the induction of immune and inflammatory genes, including proinflammatory
      cytokines and chemokines. It is increasingly clear that many PRRs are linked to a
      range of inflammatory, infectious, immune, and chronic degenerative diseases.
      Several drugs to modulate PRR activity are already in clinical trials and many
      more are likely to appear in the near future. Here, we review the different
      families of mammalian PRRs, the ligands they recognize, the mechanisms of
      activation, their role in disease, and the potential of targeting these proteins
      to develop the anti-inflammatory therapeutics of the future. 

PMID- 25829393
TI  - Evidence for a link between gut microbiota and hypertension in the Dahl rat.
AB  - The gut microbiota plays a critical role in maintaining physiological
      homeostasis. This study was designed to evaluate whether gut microbial
      composition affects hypertension. 16S rRNA genes obtained from cecal samples of
      Dahl salt-sensitive (S) and Dahl salt-resistant (R) rats were sequenced. Bacteria
      of the phylum Bacteroidetes were higher in the S rats compared with the R rats.
      Furthermore, the family S24-7 of the phylum Bacteroidetes and the family
      Veillonellaceae of the phylum Firmicutes were higher in the S rats compared with
      the R rats. Analyses of the various phylogenetic groups of cecal microbiota
      revealed significant differences between S and R rats. Both strains were
      maintained on a high-salt diet, administered antibiotics for ablation of
      microbiota, transplanted with S or R rat cecal contents, and monitored for blood
      pressure (BP). Systolic BP of the R rats remained unaltered irrespective of S or
      R rat cecal transplantation. Surprisingly, compared with the S rats given S rat
      cecal content, systolic BP of the S rats given a single bolus of cecal content
      from R rats was consistently and significantly elevated during the rest of their
      life, and they had a shorter lifespan. A lower level of fecal bacteria of the
      family Veillonellaceae and increased plasma acetate and heptanoate were features
      associated with the increased BP observed in the S rats given R rat microbiota
      compared with the S rats given S rat microbiota. These data demonstrate a link
      between microbial content and BP regulation and, because the S and R rats differ
      in their genomic composition, provide the necessary basis to further examine the
      relationship between the host genome and microbiome in the context of BP
      regulation in the Dahl rats. 

PMID- 25829395
TI  - Efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetics of sugammadex 4 mg kg-1 for reversal of
      deep neuromuscular blockade in patients with severe renal impairment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study evaluated efficacy and safety of sugammadex 4 mg kg(-1)
      for deep neuromuscular blockade (NMB) reversal in patients with severe renal
      impairment (creatinine clearance [CLCR] <30 ml min(-1)) vs those with normal
      renal function (CLCR >=80 ml min(-1)). METHODS: Sugammadex 4 mg kg(-1) was
      administered at 1-2 post-tetanic counts for reversal of rocuronium NMB. Primary
      efficacy variable was time from sugammadex to recovery to train-of-four (T4/T1)
      ratio 0.9. Equivalence between groups was demonstrated if two-sided 95% CI for
      difference in recovery times was within -1 to +1 min interval. Pharmacokinetics
      of rocuronium and overall safety were assessed. RESULTS: The intent-to-treat
      group comprised 67 patients (renal n=35; control n=32). Median (95% CI) time from
      sugammadex to recovery to T4/T1 ratio 0.9 was 3.1 (2.4-4.6) and 1.9 (1.6-2.8) min
      for renal patients vs controls. Estimated median (95% CI) difference between
      groups was 1.3 (0.6-2.4) min; thus equivalence bounds were not met. One control
      patient experienced acceleromyography-determined NMB recurrence, possibly as a
      result of premature sugammadex (4 mg kg(-1)) administration, with no clinical
      evidence of NMB recurrence observed. Rocuronium, encapsulated by Sugammadex, was
      detectable in plasma at day 7 in 6 patients. Bioanalytical data for sugammadex
      were collected but could not be used for pharmacokinetics. CONCLUSIONS:
      Sugammadex 4 mg kg(-1) provided rapid reversal of deep rocuronium-induced NMB in
      renal and control patients. However, considering the prolonged sugammadex
      rocuronium complex exposure in patients with severe renal impairment, current
      safety experience is insufficient to support recommended use of sugammadex in
      this population. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT00702715.

PMID- 25829397
TI  - Detection and Dynamic Changes of EGFR Mutations from Circulating Tumor DNA as a
      Predictor of Survival Outcomes in NSCLC Patients Treated with First-line
      Intercalated Erlotinib and Chemotherapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: Blood-based circulating-free (cf) tumor DNA may be an alternative to
      tissue-based EGFR mutation testing in NSCLC. This exploratory analysis compares
      matched tumor and blood samples from the FASTACT-2 study. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN:
      Patients were randomized to receive six cycles of gemcitabine/platinum plus
      sequential erlotinib or placebo. EGFR mutation testing was performed using the
      cobas tissue test and the cobas blood test (in development). Blood samples at
      baseline, cycle 3, and progression were assessed for blood test detection rate,
      sensitivity, and specificity; concordance with matched tumor analysis (n = 238),
      and correlation with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).
      RESULTS: Concordance between tissue and blood tests was 88%, with blood test
      sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 96%. Median PFS was 13.1 versus 6.0
      months for erlotinib and placebo, respectively, for those with baseline EGFR
      mut(+) cfDNA [HR, 0.22; 95% confidence intervals (CI), 0.14-0.33, P < 0.0001] and
      6.2 versus 6.1 months, respectively, for the EGFR mut(-) cfDNA subgroup (HR,
      0.83; 95% CI, 0.65-1.04, P = 0.1076). For patients with EGFR mut(+) cfDNA at
      baseline, median PFS was 7.2 versus 12.0 months for cycle 3 EGFR mut(+) cfDNA
      versus cycle 3 EGFR mut(-) patients, respectively (HR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.21-0.48, P
      < 0.0001); median OS by cycle 3 status was 18.2 and 31.9 months, respectively
      (HR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.31-0.84, P = 0.0066). CONCLUSIONS: Blood-based EGFR mutation
      analysis is relatively sensitive and highly specific. Dynamic changes in cfDNA
      EGFR mutation status relative to baseline may predict clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25829396
TI  - The Impact of Macrophage- and Microglia-Secreted TNFalpha on Oncolytic HSV-1
      Therapy in the Glioblastoma Tumor Microenvironment.
AB  - PURPOSE: Oncolytic herpes simplex viruses (oHSV) represent a promising therapy
      for glioblastoma (GBM), but their clinical success has been limited. Early innate
      immune responses to viral infection reduce oHSV replication, tumor destruction,
      and efficacy. Here, we characterized the antiviral effects of macrophages and
      microglia on viral therapy for GBM. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Quantitative flow
      cytometry of mice with intracranial gliomas (+/-oHSV) was used to examine
      macrophage/microglia infiltration and activation. In vitro coculture assays of
      infected glioma cells with microglia/macrophages were used to test their impact
      on oHSV replication. Macrophages from TNFalpha-knockout mice and blocking
      antibodies were used to evaluate the biologic effects of TNFalpha on virus
      replication. TNFalpha blocking antibodies were used to evaluate the impact of
      TNFalpha on oHSV therapy in vivo. RESULTS: Flow-cytometry analysis revealed a 7.9
      fold increase in macrophage infiltration after virus treatment. Tumor
      infiltrating macrophages/microglia were polarized toward a M1, proinflammatory
      phenotype, and they expressed high levels of CD86, MHCII, and Ly6C.
      Macrophages/microglia produced significant amounts of TNFalpha in response to
      infected glioma cells in vitro and in vivo. Using TNFalpha-blocking antibodies
      and macrophages derived from TNFalpha-knockout mice, we discovered TNFalpha
      induced apoptosis in infected tumor cells and inhibited virus replication.
      Finally, we demonstrated the transient blockade of TNFalpha from the tumor
      microenvironment with TNFalpha-blocking antibodies significantly enhanced virus
      replication and survival in GBM intracranial tumors. CONCLUSIONS: The results of
      these studies suggest that FDA approved TNFalpha inhibitors may significantly
      improve the efficacy of oncolytic virus therapy.

PMID- 25829398
TI  - Pharmacological and Protein Profiling Suggests Venetoclax (ABT-199) as Optimal
      Partner with Ibrutinib in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.
AB  - PURPOSE: Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a critical enzyme in the B-cell
      receptor pathway and is inhibited by ibrutinib due to covalent binding to the
      kinase domain. Though ibrutinib results in impressive clinical activity in
      chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), most patients achieve only partial remission
      due to residual disease. We performed a pharmacologic profiling of residual
      circulating CLL cells from patients receiving ibrutinib to identify optimal
      agents that could induce cell death of these lymphocytes. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Ex
      vivo serial samples of CLL cells from patients on ibrutinib were obtained prior
      and after (weeks 2, 4, and 12) the start of treatment. These cells were incubated
      with PI3K inhibitors (idelalisib or IPI-145), bendamustine, additional ibrutinib,
      or BCL-2 antagonists (ABT-737 or ABT-199), and cell death was measured. In vitro
      investigations complemented ex vivo studies. Immunoblots for BTK signaling
      pathway and antiapoptotic proteins were performed. RESULTS: The BCL-2
      antagonists, especially ABT-199, induced high cell death during ex vivo
      incubations. In concert with the ex vivo data, in vitro combinations also
      resulted in high cytotoxicity. Serial samples of CLL cells obtained before and 2,
      4, 12, or 36 weeks after the start of ibrutinib showed inhibition of BTK activity
      and sensitivity to ABTs. Among the three BCL-2 family antiapoptotic proteins that
      are overexpressed in CLL, levels of MCL-1 and BCL-XL were decreased after
      ibrutinib while ABT-199 selectively antagonizes BCL-2. CONCLUSIONS: Our biologic
      and molecular results suggest that ibrutinib and ABT-199 combination should be
      tested clinically against CLL.

PMID- 25829399
TI  - Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma Classification Tied Up Nicely with a "String".
AB  - Molecular classification of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a critical
      biologic, prognostic, and predictive distinction. Since the discovery of two
      molecular types of DLBCL in otherwise morphologically indistinguishable cases,
      numerous methodologies for making this distinction have been published. A method
      and technical platform may now be reaching consensus.

PMID- 25829400
TI  - Correlation between Prostate-Specific Antigen Kinetics and Overall Survival in
      Abiraterone Acetate-Treated Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: We constructed a biomarker-survival modeling framework to explore the
      relationship between prostate-specific antigen (PSA) kinetics and overall
      survival (OS) in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients
      following oral administration of 1,000 mg/day of abiraterone acetate (AA).
      EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: The PSA-survival modeling framework was based on data from
      two phase III studies, COU-AA-301 (chemotherapy pretreated, n = 1,184) and COU-AA
      302 (chemotherapy naive, n = 1,081), and included a mixed-effects tumor growth
      inhibition model and a Cox proportional hazards survival model. RESULTS: The
      effect of AA on PSA kinetics was significant (P < 0.0001) and comparable between
      the chemotherapy-naive and -pretreated patients. PSA kinetics [e.g., PSA nadir,
      PSA response rate (>=30%, 50%, and 90%), time to PSA progression, PSA doubling
      time (PSADT)] were highly associated with OS in both populations. The model-based
      posttreatment PSADT had the strongest association with OS (HR ~0.9 in both
      populations). The models could accurately predict survival outcomes. After
      adjusting for PSA kinetic endpoints, the treatment effect of AA on survival was
      no longer statistically significant in both studies, and the Prentice criteria of
      surrogacy were met for the PSA kinetic endpoints. A strong correlation was also
      observed between PSA and radiographic progression-free survival. CONCLUSIONS: The
      analysis revealed a consistent treatment effect of AA on PSA kinetics and strong
      associations between PSA kinetics and OS in chemotherapy-pretreated and -naive
      patients, thereby providing a rationale to consider PSA kinetics as surrogacy
      endpoints to indicate clinical benefit in AA-treated patients with mCRPC
      regardless of chemotherapy treatment.

PMID- 25829401
TI  - A First Step toward Personalized Medicine in Osteosarcoma: Pharmacogenetics as
      Predictive Marker of Outcome after Chemotherapy-Based Treatment.
AB  - PURPOSE: Overall survival in patients with osteosarcoma is only 60%. Poor
      response to chemotherapy is the dominant risk factor for poor survival.
      Pharmacogenetic research can offer possibilities to optimize treatment and
      improve outcome. We applied a pathway-based approach to evaluate the cumulative
      effect of genes involved in the metabolism of cisplatin and doxorubicin in
      relationship to clinical outcome. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We included 126 patients
      with osteosarcoma. To comprehensively assess common genetic variation in the 54
      genes selected, linkage disequilibrium (LD; r(2) = 0.8)-based tag-single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) strategy was used. A final set of 384 SNPs was
      typed using Illumina Beadarray platform. SNPs significantly associated with 5
      year progression-free survival (PFS) were replicated in another 64 patients with
      osteosarcoma. RESULTS: We identified five variants in FasL, MSH2, ABCC5, CASP3,
      and CYP3A4 that were associated with 5-year PFS. Risk stratification based on the
      combined effects of the risk alleles showed a significant improvement of 5-year
      PFS. Patients that carried no or only one risk allele had a 5-year PFS of 100%
      compared with a 5-year PFS of 84.4% for carriers of two or three risk alleles,
      66.7% PFS if a patient carried four to five alleles, and a 5-year PFS of 41.8%
      for patients with >5 risk alleles (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We identified several
      genes that showed association with PFS in patients with osteosarcoma. These
      pharmacogenetic risk factors might be useful to predict treatment outcome and to
      stratify patients immediately after diagnosis and offer the possibility to
      improve treatment and outcome.

PMID- 25829403
TI  - Comparative cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of cobalt (II, III) oxide, iron (III)
      oxide, silicon dioxide, and aluminum oxide nanoparticles on human lymphocytes in
      vitro.
AB  - Despite the extensive use of nanoparticles (NPs) in various fields, adequate
      knowledge of human health risk and potential toxicity is still lacking. The human
      lymphocytes play a major role in the immune system, and it can alter the
      antioxidant level when exposed to NPs. Identification of the hazardous NPs was
      done using in vitro toxicity tests and this study mainly focuses on the
      comparative in vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of four different NPs
      including cobalt (II, III) oxide (Co3O4), iron (III) oxide (Fe2O3), silicon
      dioxide (SiO2), and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) on human lymphocytes. The Co3O4 NPs
      showed decrease in cellular viability and increase in cell membrane damage
      followed by Fe2O3, SiO2, and Al2O3 NPs in a dose-dependent manner after 24 h of
      exposure to human lymphocytes. The oxidative stress was evidenced in human
      lymphocytes by the induction of reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation, and
      depletion of catalase, reduced glutathione, and superoxide dismutase. The Al2O3
      NPs showed the least DNA damage when compared with all the other NPs. Chromosomal
      aberration was observed at 100 ug/ml when exposed to Co3O4 NPs and Fe2O3 NPs. The
      alteration in the level of antioxidant caused DNA damage and chromosomal
      aberration in human lymphocytes. 

PMID- 25829402
TI  - Genetic Engineering of T Cells to Target HERV-K, an Ancient Retrovirus on
      Melanoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: The human endogenous retrovirus (HERV-K) envelope (env) protein is a
      tumor-associated antigen (TAA) expressed on melanoma but not normal cells. This
      study was designed to engineer a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) on T-cell
      surface, such that they target tumors in advanced stages of melanoma.
      EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Expression of HERV-K protein was analyzed in 220 melanoma
      samples (with various stages of disease) and 139 normal organ donor tissues using
      immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis. HERV-K env-specific CAR derived from mouse
      monoclonal antibody was introduced into T cells using the transposon-based
      Sleeping Beauty (SB) system. HERV-K env-specific CAR(+) T cells were expanded ex
      vivo on activating and propagating cells (AaPC) and characterized for CAR
      expression and specificity. This includes evaluating the HERV-K-specific CAR(+) T
      cells for their ability to kill A375-SM metastasized tumors in a mouse xenograft
      model. RESULTS: We detected HERV-K env protein on melanoma but not in normal
      tissues. After electroporation of T cells and selection on HERV-K(+) AaPC, more
      than 95% of genetically modified T cells expressed the CAR with an effector
      memory phenotype and lysed HERV-K env(+) tumor targets in an antigen-specific
      manner. Even though there is apparent shedding of this TAA from tumor cells that
      can be recognized by HERV-K env-specific CAR(+) T cells, we observed a
      significant antitumor effect. CONCLUSIONS: Adoptive cellular immunotherapy with
      HERV-K env-specific CAR(+) T cells represents a clinically appealing treatment
      strategy for advanced-stage melanoma and provides an approach for targeting this
      TAA on other solid tumors.

PMID- 25829404
TI  - Long-term results of adipose-derived stem cell therapy for the treatment of
      Crohn's fistula.
AB  - A previous phase II clinical trial of adipose-derived stem cell (ASC) therapy for
      fistulae associated with Crohn's disease, a devastating condition with a high
      recurrence rate, demonstrated safety and therapeutic potential with a 1-year
      sustained response. In the present study, 41 of the 43 phase II trial patients
      were followed for an additional year, regardless of response in the initial year.
      At 24 months, complete healing was observed in 21 of 26 patients (80.8%) in
      modified per protocol analysis and 27 of 36 patients (75.0%) in modified
      intention-to-treat analysis. No adverse events related to ASC administration were
      observed. Furthermore, complete closure after initial treatment was well
      sustained. These results strongly suggest that autologous ASCs may be a novel
      treatment option for Crohn's fistulae. 

PMID- 25829406
TI  - Should the governments of 'developed' countries be held responsible for
      equalizing the indigenous health gap?
AB  - Across the globe there is significant variation between and within indigenous
      populations in terms of world view, culture, and socio-political forces. However,
      many indigenous groups do share a striking commonality: greater rates of non
      communicable diseases and shorter life expectancies than non-indigenous
      compatriots. Notably, this health gap persists for 'developed' countries,
      including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. The question of
      who is responsible for equalizing the gap is complicated. Using Australia as an
      exemplar context, this commentary will present arguments 'for' and 'against' the
      governments of developed nations being held liable for closing the indigenous
      health gap. We will discuss the history and nature of the health gap, actions
      needed to 'close the gap', and which party has the necessary resources to do so.

PMID- 25829405
TI  - Perceptions of barriers and facilitators in physical activity participation among
      women in Thiruvananthapuram City, India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the known benefits of physical activity, very few people,
      especially women, are found to engage in regular physical activity. This study
      explored the perceptions, barriers and facilitators related to physical activity
      among women in Thiruvananthapuram City, India. METHODS: Four focus group
      discussions were conducted among individuals between 25 and 60 years of age, in a
      few areas of Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation limits in Kerala, preparatory to
      the design of a physical activity intervention trial. An open-ended approach was
      used and emergent findings were analyzed and interpreted. RESULTS: Women
      associated physical activity mostly with household activities. The majority of
      the women considered their activity level adequate, although they engaged in what
      the researchers concluded were quite low levels of activity. Commonly reported
      barriers were lack of time, motivation, and interest; stray dogs; narrow roads;
      and not being used to the culture of walking. Facilitators of activity were
      seeing others walking, walking in pairs, and pleasant walking routes. Walking was
      reported as the most feasible physical activity by women. CONCLUSION: Physical
      activity promotion strategies among women should address the prevailing cultural
      norms in the community, and involve social norming and overcoming cultural
      barriers. They should also target the modifiable determinants of physical
      activity, such as improving self-efficacy, improving knowledge on the adequacy of
      physical activity and its recommendations, facilitating goal-setting, and
      enhancing social support through peer support and group-based activities.

PMID- 25829407
TI  - Pseudoparticle neutralization assay for detecting ebola- neutralizing antibodies
      in biosafety level 2 settings.

PMID- 25829408
TI  - Thyroid function in pregnancy: what is normal?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Gestational thyroid dysfunction is common and associated with
      maternal and child morbidity and mortality. During pregnancy, profound changes in
      thyroid physiology occur, resulting in different thyroid-stimulating hormone
      (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) reference intervals compared to the nonpregnant
      state. Therefore, international guidelines recommend calculating trimester- and
      assay-specific reference intervals per center. If these reference intervals are
      unavailable, TSH reference intervals of 0.1-2.5 mU/L for the first trimester and
      0.2-3.0 mU/L for the second trimester are recommended. In daily practice, most
      institutions do not calculate institution-specific reference intervals but rely
      on these fixed reference intervals for the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid
      disorders during pregnancy. However, the calculated reference intervals for
      several additional pregnancy cohorts have been published in the last few years
      and show substantial variation. CONTENT: We provide a detailed overview of the
      available studies on thyroid function reference intervals during pregnancy,
      different factors that contribute to these reference intervals, and the maternal
      and child complications associated with only minor variations in thyroid
      function. SUMMARY: There are large differences in thyroid function reference
      intervals between different populations of pregnant women. These differences can
      be explained by variations in assays as well as population-specific factors, such
      as ethnicity and body mass index. The importance of using correct reference
      intervals is underlined by the fact that even small subclinical variations in
      thyroid function have been associated with detrimental pregnancy outcomes,
      including low birth weight and pregnancy loss. It is therefore crucial that
      institutions do not rely on fixed universal cutoff concentrations, but calculate
      their own pregnancy-specific reference intervals.

PMID- 25829409
TI  - Personal home care workers' role in hospital: a qualitative study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Unlike in most high-income countries, in Israel personal (social)
      care of elderly patients in hospitals is provided either by relatives or friends,
      or, for those patients with live-in assistance at home, by their home care
      workers. Our aim was to understand the explicit and implicit roles of live-in
      carers and whether any difficulties occurred. METHODS: Interviews in the internal
      medicine unit of Hadassah Hospital with 17 patients, 16 relatives, 20 home care
      workers and 20 nurses. Data were subjected to categorical content analysis.
      RESULTS: Three major themes emerged: the development of teamwork with relatives
      and nurses; the varied roles of home care workers including nursing care,
      emotional care, and monitoring and supervision of the patient; and the conflicts
      and challenges associated with having a care worker related to their physical
      presence and the care worker's own social needs. CONCLUSIONS: Israel partially
      addresses its nursing shortage by allowing paid home care workers to take an
      active role in the care of hospitalized older adults. This can have both a
      positive and a negative impact on the role and perception of nursing.

PMID- 25829410
TI  - Variations in the persistence of health expenditures and the implications for the
      design of capitation payments in Taiwan.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The National Health Insurance (NHI) system in Taiwan launched a trial
      capitation provider payment programme in 2011, with the capitation formula based
      on patients' average NHI expenditure in the previous year. This study seeks to
      examine the concentration and persistence of health care expenditure among the
      elderly, and to assess the performance of the current capitation formula in
      predicting future high-cost users. METHODS: This study analysed NHI expenditures
      for a nationally representative sample of people aged 65 years and over who took
      part in Taiwan's National Health Interview Survey, 2005. Expenditure
      concentration was assessed by the proportion of NHI expenditures attributable to
      four groups by expenditure percentile. Four transition probability matrixes
      examined changes in a person's position in the expenditure percentiles and
      generalized estimation equation models were estimated to identify significant
      predictors of a patient being in the top 10% of users. RESULTS: Between 2005 and
      2009, the top 10% of users on average accounted for 55% of total NHI
      expenditures. Of the top 10% in 2005, 39% retained this position in 2006.
      However, expenditure persistence was the highest (77%) among the bottom 50% of
      users. NHI expenditure percentiles in both the baseline year and the prior year,
      and chronic conditions all significantly predicted future high expenditures. The
      model including chronic conditions performed better in predicting the top 10% of
      users (c-statistics increased from 0.772 to 0.904) than the model without.
      CONCLUSIONS: Given the increase in predictive ability, adding chronic conditions
      and baseline health care use data to Taiwan's capitation payment formula would
      correctly identify more high users.

PMID- 25829411
TI  - Influence of translaminar pressure dynamics on the position of the anterior
      lamina cribrosa surface.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine how the translaminar pressure difference (TLPD) and
      gradient (TLPG) influence the position of anterior lamina cribrosa (LC) surface.
      METHODS: Twenty-six eyes of 26 healthy subjects were subjected to enhanced-depth
      imaging volume scanning of the optic nerve using spectral-domain optical
      coherence tomography (SD-OCT). The anterior LC surface depth (LCD) relative to
      the Bruch's membrane (BM) opening was measured at 11 equidistant planes, and the
      LC thickness (LCT) was measured at three locations (superior midperipheral,
      midhorizontal, and inferior midperipheral). Intraocular pressure and lumbar
      cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFP) were measured on the same day as the SD-OCT
      examination. The TLPD was defined as the difference between IOP and CSFP (i.e.,
      IOP-CSFP), and the TLPG as the TLPD divided by LCT (i.e., TLPD/LCT). RESULTS:
      Subjects were aged 63.4 +/- 8.0 years and comprised 12 males and 14 females.
      Regression analyses revealed a significant association between a larger mean LCD
      and male sex (P = 0.002), and between a larger central LCD and male sex (P <=
      0.012), larger TLPD (P = 0.048), and higher TLPG (P = 0.029). There was no
      significant association between IOP, CSFP, and LCT, and either the mean LCD (P =
      0.438, 0.368, and 0.416, respectively) or central LCD (P = 0.284, 0.085, and
      0.144, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: A larger central LCD was associated with
      larger TLPD and higher TLPG in healthy eyes, which indicates that the
      translaminar pressure dynamics may play a role in the position of the anterior LC
      surface relative to BM opening in healthy human eyes.

PMID- 25829412
TI  - Optimal number of angle images for calculating anterior angle volume and iris
      volume measurements.
AB  - PURPOSE: We determined the optimal number of angle images required to obtain
      reliable measurements of trabecular-iris circumferential volume (TICV) and iris
      volume (IV) using swept-source Fourier domain anterior segment optical coherence
      tomography (SSFD-ASOCT) scans in narrow angle eyes. METHODS: Scleral spur
      landmarks (SSL) were manually identified on ASOCT angle images from 128 meridians
      from each of 24 eyes with chronic primary angle closure (PAC) spectrum of
      disease. The anterior and posterior corneal curves, and the anterior and
      posterior iris surfaces were identified automatically by the anterior chamber
      analysis and interpretation (ACAI) software, then manually examined and edited by
      the reader if required. Trabecular-iris circumferential volume at 750 MUm from
      SSL (TICV750) and IV were subsequently calculated using varying numbers of angle
      images. Threshold error was determined to be less than the lower 95% confidence
      limit of mean absolute percent error (MAPE) of the change in TICV or IV resulting
      from laser peripheral iridotomy, which would be 17% for TICV and 5% for IV, based
      on previous studies. The optimal number of angle images was the smallest number
      of images where MAPE was less than this threshold for TICV and IV. RESULTS: A
      total of 32 equally-spaced angle images (16 meridians) was required to estimate
      TICV750 and 16 angle images (8 meridians) to estimate IV. Both were within 4.6%
      and 1.6% of MAPE, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: It is possible to determine TICV and
      IV parameters reliably in narrow angles without evaluating all 128 meridians
      obtained with SSFD-ASOCT.

PMID- 25829413
TI  - Decorin Prevents Retinal Pigment Epithelial Barrier Breakdown Under Diabetic
      Conditions by Suppressing p38 MAPK Activation.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of decorin on the
      barrier function of human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells under high
      glucose (HG) plus hypoxia conditions. METHODS: Human RPE (ARPE-19) cells were
      cultured for 18 days in normal glucose (5.5 mM) or HG (25 mM) medium. In
      addition, to mimic the hypoxic impact which occurs in diabetic retinopathy, cells
      were treated with 100 MUM CoCl2 during the last 2 days of the experiment.
      Decorin, 100 nM, was applied 1 hour before CoCl2 was added. Retinal pigment
      epithelial barrier function was evaluated by measuring transepithelial electrical
      resistance (TER) and apical-basolateral permeability of fluorescein
      isothiocyanate (FITC)-dextran. The content and distribution of tight junction
      proteins (claudin-1, occludin, and zonula occludens-1 [ZO-1]) were examined by
      Western blotting and immunofluorescence. p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase
      (MAPK) phosphorylation was evaluated by Western blotting, and small interfering
      RNA transfection to p38 MAPK was also performed in ARPE-19 monolayers. RESULTS:
      High-glucose plus hypoxia significantly increased FITC-dextran permeability,
      paralleled by decreased TER. Decorin reversed both of these effects. High-glucose
      plus hypoxia-induced reduction and disorganization of occludin and ZO-1 were also
      reversed by decorin. Decorin prevented the activation of p38 MAPK induced by
      hypoxia. Silence of p38 MAPK by RNA interference also inhibited the breakdown of
      ARPE-19 cell monolayer induced by HG plus hypoxia. CONCLUSIONS: Retinal pigment
      epithelial barrier disruption induced by HG plus hypoxia was prevented by decorin
      through suppression of p38 MAPK activation, which could present a new therapeutic
      strategy for inhibition of diabetic macular edema.

PMID- 25829414
TI  - Chronic ocular hypertension induced by circumlimbal suture in rats.
AB  - PURPOSE: To induce chronic intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation in rat eyes by
      circumlimbal suture. METHODS: Anesthetized (isoflurane) Long-Evans rats underwent
      unilateral circumlimbal suture implantation while the fellow eyes served as
      untreated controls (n = 15). A sham group (n = 8) received the same procedure
      except that the suture was loosely tied. Intraocular pressure,
      electroretinography (ERG), and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were monitored
      for 15 weeks, after which retinal histology and immunofluorescence staining for
      glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and ionized calcium binding adapter
      molecule-1 (Iba-1) were undertaken. RESULTS: Both IOP and ERG remained unaltered
      in the sham and all control eyes over 15 weeks. In the ocular hypertensive eye,
      IOP spiked from 17 +/- 1 to 58 +/- 3 mm Hg immediately after suture application,
      recovering to 32 +/- 2 mm Hg by 24 hours, and remained elevated by 7 to 10 mm Hg
      above baseline for 15 weeks. At week 2, there was a small reduction of ERG
      components involving the photoreceptor a-wave, bipolar cell b-wave, and ganglion
      cell-mediated scotopic threshold response (pSTR). The reduction in a- and b-wave
      remained stable, while the pSTR became more affected from week 8 onward (P <
      0.05). By week 12, there was progressive retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL)
      thinning. At week 15, GFAP expression was upregulated in inner retina and on
      Muller cells. The ganglion cell dysfunction was associated with RNFL thinning and
      cell loss in the ganglion cell layer. CONCLUSIONS: Circumlimbal suture provides a
      simple and cost-effective way to induce mild chronic ocular hypertension in rat
      eyes. This model produces preferential ganglion cell dysfunction and RNFL
      reduction.

PMID- 25829416
TI  - Assessing the effectiveness of low vision rehabilitation in children: an
      observational study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the change in visual functioning (VF) using the L. V. Prasad
      Functional Vision Questionnaire II (LVP-FVQ II) following multidisciplinary low
      vision rehabilitation (LVR) services in children with low vision (LV). METHODS:
      Children with LV referred for the first time to the Centre for Sight Enhancement
      were administered the LVP-FVQ II at baseline and at 3 to 4 months' follow-up to
      assess the outcomes of LVR. Participants' responses to the LVP-FVQ II at baseline
      and follow-up were transformed into interval-level estimates of VF using Rasch
      analysis. Cohen's d values (effect size) were used to estimate the magnitude of
      change in VF. RESULTS: A total of 183 participants completed the rehabilitation
      (mean age, 11.9 years; male, 57%). More than one-half of the participants had
      retinal disorders (55%) and most were moderately visually impaired (<20/60
      20/200, 76.5%). Using the LVP-FVQ II, significant improvement in VF after
      rehabilitation was recorded (P < 0.0001) and the increase in VF (SD) was 1.20
      (1.82) logits. Using Cohen's d, the magnitude of the improvement in LVR
      intervention at follow-up was found to be 0.75, indicating nearly large treatment
      effect. CONCLUSIONS: Ours is the first study to provide strong evidence that LVR
      services result in nearly large and significant improvements in the overall VF in
      children with LV, regardless of the cause of LV. These results should encourage
      eye care professionals to refer children with LV to LVR services. Further
      investigation is needed to determine if the improvement in VF can be sustained
      over a longer duration (>4 months).

PMID- 25829415
TI  - A Novel Approach of Daunorubicin Application on Formation of Proliferative
      Retinopathy Using a Porous Silicon Controlled Delivery System: Pharmacodynamics.
AB  - PURPOSE: Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is the most common cause of poor
      visual outcomes in association with retinal detachment surgeries and ocular
      trauma. Daunorubicin (DNR) has shown the strongest efficacy in proliferation
      inhibition in vitro. However, clinical studies have shown only mild effect owing
      to limitations of narrow therapeutic window and short vitreous half-life.
      METHODS: Three milligrams of DNR-loaded particles were intravitreally injected
      into 18 pigmented rabbits, and vitreous samples were collected up to 84 days for
      analysis. Thirty-seven rabbits were used for a dose-escalation (1, 3, 6 mg)
      safety and efficacy study in a rabbit PVR model using a pretreatment design.
      RESULTS: Loading efficiency of DNR was 108.55 +/- 12 MUg per 1 mg particles.
      Eighty-four days of follow-up did not reveal any adverse reaction.
      Pharmacokinetic analysis demonstrated a vitreous half-life of 29 days with a
      maximum DNR concentration of 178 ng/mL and a minimum concentration of 29 ng/mL at
      day 84. Daunorubicin-loaded porous silicon (pSi) particles were dosed 8 to 9
      weeks before PVR induction, and PVR severity score was dose dependent (Spearman
      rho = -0.25, P = 0.0005). Proliferative vitreoretinopathy with tractional retinal
      detachment was 88% in the control group, 63% in the low-dose group, 14% in the
      medium-dose group, and 0% in the high-dose group (Cochran-Armitage Trend Test, Z
      = 8.99, rho = -0.67, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Daunorubicin-loaded pSi particles
      can safely reside in the vitreous for at least 3 months. The pSi-based delivery
      expanded the therapeutic window of DNR by a factor of 862 and drove down the
      minimum effective concentration by a factor of 175.

PMID- 25829417
TI  - Long-Term Reproducibility of Macular Ganglion Cell Analysis in Clinically Stable
      Glaucoma Patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the long-term reproducibility of macular ganglion cell
      analysis in clinically stable glaucoma patients using spectral-domain optical
      coherence tomography (SD-OCT). METHODS: One hundred nine eyes of 109 clinically
      stable open-angle glaucoma patients with a localized retinal nerve fiber layer
      (RNFL) defect and a corresponding macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer
      (GCIPL) defect were included in this retrospective, longitudinal study. Clinical
      stability was defined as showing no change on serial structural (stereo-disc and
      RNFL photography) and functional (visual field progression analysis) assessments.
      Three serial SD-OCT (Cirrus-HD) peripapillary and macular scans taken at 6-month
      intervals were analyzed. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), coefficient of
      variation (CV), test-retest standard deviation (TRTSD), and tolerance limit of
      area and angular width of GCIPL defect and GCIPL thickness measurements were
      assessed. RESULTS: The ICC of the GCIPL thickness parameters ranged from 0.966 to
      0.992, and the CV from 2.0% to 5.5%. The TRTSD was the lowest for the average
      GCIPL thickness (1.45 MUm), the highest for the minimum GCIPL thickness (3.42
      MUm), and varied from 1.54 to 2.16 MUm for the sectoral measurements. The ICC,
      CV, and TRTSD were 0.993, 3.9%, and 5.32 degrees  for angular width, and 0.930,
      6.7%, and 0.27 mm2 for area of GCIPL defect. Measurement variances (TRTSD) for
      the GCIPL measurements showed no significant association with the glaucomatous
      severity. CONCLUSIONS: The macular GCIPL thickness and deviation maps showed
      excellent long-term intervisit reproducibility. Macular ganglion cell analysis
      can be considered as an effective means of monitoring glaucomatous progression in
      macula.

PMID- 25829418
TI  - Proteomics Differentiate Between Thyroid-Associated Orbitopathy and Dry Eye
      Syndrome.
AB  - PURPOSE: In patients with thyroid-associated orbitopathy (TAO), the dry eye
      syndrome occurs frequently, and symptoms and signs of both disorders overlap
      making early and accurate differential diagnosis difficult. A differentiation via
      specific markers is warranted. METHODS: Tear fluid samples of 120 subjects with
      TAO, TAO + dry eye, dry eye, and controls were collected. The samples were
      measured using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry. The
      identified proteins were tested with antibody microarrays. RESULTS: Proteomics
      identified deregulated proteins in TAO and dry eye. Compared with dry eye,
      proline-rich protein 1 (PROL1, P = 0.002); uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucose
      dehydrogenase (UGDH, P = 0.017); calgranulin A (S10A8, P < 0.0001); transcription
      activator BRG1 (SMCA4, P < 0.0001); annexin A1 (P = 0.007); cystatin (P = 0.009);
      heat shock protein 27 (P = 0.03); and galectin (P = 0.04) were markedly
      downregulated in TAO. Compared with healthy controls, PROL1 (P < 0.05.); proline
      rich protein 4 (PRP4, P < 0.05), S10A8 (P = 0.004) and SMCA4 (P = 0.002) were
      downregulated in TAO. In contrast, the proteins midasin and POTE-ankyrin-domain
      family-member I were upregulated in TAO versus healthy controls (P < 0.05).
      Protein dysregulation was associated with inflammatory response and cell death.
      Antibody microarray confirmed significant changes of PRP4, PROL1, and UGDH
      between TAO and dry eye or healthy controls (P < 0.01). The presence of these
      three proteins was negatively correlated with smoking (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:
      Proteomics of tear fluid demonstrated an upregulation of inflammatory proteins
      versus a downregulation of protective proteins in TAO, and a significantly
      different protein panel in TAO versus dry eye and/or controls. The spectrum of
      inflammatory and protective proteins might be a useful indicator for disease
      activity and ocular surface disease in patients with TAO.

PMID- 25829419
TI  - How dangerous a toy can be? The magnetic effect.
AB  - During the last decade, there has been a significant increase in the number of
      magnetic toys available for children. Two or more magnets separate from each
      other along the gastrointestinal course can attract each other across bowel
      walls, resulting in pressure necrosis, bowel perforations and fistulas formation.
      This has led to an increasing number of case reports describing serious
      complications from ingesting more than one magnet. We report the ingestion of a
      large number of magnets from one toy (>60 pieces). Our patient presented with
      generalised peritonitis and shock. During emergency laparotomy, she was found to
      have gross abdominal contamination with multiple bowel perforations and fistulae.
      This report emphasises the danger of such toys and how important that parents,
      physicians and manufacturers are aware of such fatal hazards that can arise from
      'unsupervised' ingestion of these 'nice-looking' toys. 

PMID- 25829420
TI  - Why was this child not brought?

PMID- 25829421
TI  - Infant sleep-related deaths: why do parents take risks?

PMID- 25829423
TI  - Epigenome maps offer clues to disease origins.

PMID- 25829422
TI  - Using digital multimedia to improve parents' and children's understanding of
      clinical trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Data show that many research subjects have difficulty understanding
      study information using traditional paper consent documents. This study,
      therefore, was designed to evaluate the effect of an interactive multimedia
      program on improving parents' and children's understanding of clinical trial
      concepts and participation. METHODS: Parents (n=148) and children (n=135) were
      each randomised to receive information regarding clinical trials using either a
      traditional paper format (TF) or an interactive iPad program (IP) with inline
      exercises. Participants' understanding of the information was assessed using
      semistructured interviews prior to (pretest) and after (post-test) receiving the
      information. Participants also completed a short survey to assess their
      perceptions of information delivery and satisfaction with the process. RESULTS:
      Regardless of the mode of information delivery, all participants demonstrated
      improved pretest to post-test understanding. While there were no statistical
      differences in parents' post-test understanding between the TF and IP groups,
      children in the IP group had significantly greater post-test understanding
      compared with children in the TF group (11.65 (4.1) vs 8.85 (4.1) (2.8, 1.4, 4.2)
      0-18 scale where 18=complete understanding). Furthermore, the IP was found to be
      significantly 'easier to follow' and 'more effective' in presenting information
      compared with the TF. CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrated the importance of
      providing information regarding clinical trial concepts to parents and children.
      Importantly, the ability of interactive multimedia to improve understanding of
      clinical trial concepts and satisfaction with information delivery, particularly
      among children, supports this approach as a novel and effective vehicle for
      enhancing the informed consent process.

PMID- 25829424
TI  - HIF2alpha-Dependent Lipid Storage Promotes Endoplasmic Reticulum Homeostasis in
      Clear-Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma.
AB  - Two hallmarks of clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) are constitutive hypoxia
      inducible factor (HIF) signaling and abundant intracellular lipid droplets (LD).
      However, regulation of lipid storage and its role in ccRCC are incompletely
      understood. Transcriptional profiling of primary ccRCC samples revealed that
      expression of the LD coat protein gene PLIN2 was elevated in tumors and
      correlated with HIF2alpha, but not HIF1alpha, activation. HIF2alpha-dependent
      PLIN2 expression promoted lipid storage, proliferation, and viability in
      xenograft tumors. Mechanistically, lipid storage maintained integrity of the
      endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which is functionally and physically associated with
      LDs. Specifically, PLIN2-dependent lipid storage suppressed cytotoxic ER stress
      responses that otherwise result from elevated protein synthetic activity
      characteristic of ccRCC cells. Thus, in addition to promoting ccRCC proliferation
      and anabolic metabolism, HIF2alpha modulates lipid storage to sustain ER
      homeostasis, particularly under conditions of nutrient and oxygen limitation,
      thereby promoting tumor cell survival. SIGNIFICANCE: We demonstrate that
      HIF2alpha promotes lipid storage, ER homeostasis, and cell viability in ccRCC via
      upregulation of the LD coat protein PLIN2, revealing a novel function for the
      well-documented "clear-cell" phenotype and identifying ER stress as a targetable
      vulnerability created by HIF2alpha/PLIN2 suppression in this common renal
      malignancy.

PMID- 25829426
TI  - ERS guidelines, statements and technical standards published in the ERJ in 2014:
      a year in review.

PMID- 25829427
TI  - Lung cancer diagnosis in the emergency department.

PMID- 25829425
TI  - MYC Drives Pten/Trp53-Deficient Proliferation and Metastasis due to IL6 Secretion
      and AKT Suppression via PHLPP2.
AB  - We have recently recapitulated metastasis of human PTEN/TP53-mutant prostate
      cancer in the mouse using the RapidCaP system. Surprisingly, we found that this
      metastasis is driven by MYC, and not AKT, activation. Here, we show that cell
      cell communication by IL6 drives the AKT-MYC switch through activation of the AKT
      suppressing phosphatase PHLPP2, when PTEN and p53 are lost together, but not
      separately. IL6 then communicates a downstream program of STAT3-mediated MYC
      activation, which drives cell proliferation. Similarly, in tissues, peak
      proliferation in Pten/Trp53-mutant primary and metastatic prostate cancer does
      not correlate with activated AKT, but with STAT3/MYC activation instead.
      Mechanistically, MYC strongly activates the AKT phosphatase PHLPP2 in primary
      cells and prostate cancer metastasis. We show genetically that Phlpp2 is
      essential for dictating the proliferation of MYC-mediated AKT suppression.
      Collectively, our data reveal competition between two proto-oncogenes, MYC and
      AKT, which ensnarls the Phlpp2 gene to facilitate MYC-driven prostate cancer
      metastasis after loss of Pten and Trp53. SIGNIFICANCE: Our data identify IL6
      detection as a potential causal biomarker for MYC-driven metastasis after loss of
      PTEN and p53. Second, our finding that MYC then must supersede AKT to drive cell
      proliferation points to MYC inhibition as a critical part of PI3K pathway therapy
      in lethal prostate cancer.

PMID- 25829428
TI  - Treatment of COPD and the TOnado trial: a tempest in a teapot?

PMID- 25829429
TI  - Biomarkers in COPD: the search continues!

PMID- 25829430
TI  - Number needed to treat: enigmatic results for exacerbations in COPD.

PMID- 25829433
TI  - Salmeterol/fluticasone combination instead of indacaterol or vice-versa?

PMID- 25829434
TI  - Salmeterol/fluticasone combination instead of indacaterol or vice-versa?

PMID- 25829435
TI  - Sleep medicine certification for physicians in Spain.

PMID- 25829431
TI  - An official American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society statement:
      research questions in COPD.
AB  - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity,
      mortality, and resource use worldwide. The goal of this official American
      Thoracic Society (ATS)/European Respiratory Society (ERS) research statement is
      to describe evidence related to diagnosis, assessment and management; identify
      gaps in knowledge; and make recommendations for future research. It is not
      intended to provide clinical practice recommendations on COPD diagnosis and
      management. Clinicians, researchers, and patient advocates with expertise in COPD
      were invited to participate. A literature search of Medline was performed, and
      studies deemed relevant were selected. The search was not a systematic review of
      the evidence. Existing evidence was appraised and summarised, and then salient
      knowledge gaps were identified. Recommendations for research that addresses
      important gaps in the evidence in all areas of COPD were formulated via
      discussion and consensus. Great strides have been made in the diagnosis,
      assessment and management of COPD, as well as understanding its pathogenesis.
      Despite this, many important questions remain unanswered. This ATS/ERS research
      statement highlights the types of research that leading clinicians, researchers,
      and patient advocates believe will have the greatest impact on patient-centred
      outcomes. 

PMID- 25829436
TI  - Inherent weaknesses of the current ICD coding system regarding idiopathic
      pulmonary fibrosis.

PMID- 25829438
TI  - Cryolipolysis: The Importance of Scientific Evaluation of a New Technique.

PMID- 25829439
TI  - pH Regulation by NHX-Type Antiporters Is Required for Receptor-Mediated Protein
      Trafficking to the Vacuole in Arabidopsis.
AB  - Protein trafficking requires proper ion and pH homeostasis of the endomembrane
      system. The NHX-type Na(+)/H(+) antiporters NHX5 and NHX6 localize to the Golgi,
      trans-Golgi network, and prevacuolar compartments and are required for growth and
      trafficking to the vacuole. In the nhx5 nhx6 T-DNA insertional knockouts, the
      precursors of the 2S albumin and 12S globulin storage proteins accumulated and
      were missorted to the apoplast. Immunoelectron microscopy revealed the presence
      of vesicle clusters containing storage protein precursors and vacuolar sorting
      receptors (VSRs). Isolation and identification of complexes of VSRs with
      unprocessed 12S globulin by 2D blue-native PAGE/SDS-PAGE indicated that the nhx5
      nhx6 knockouts showed compromised receptor-cargo association. In vivo interaction
      studies using bimolecular fluorescence complementation between VSR2;1, aleurain,
      and 12S globulin suggested that nhx5 nhx6 knockouts showed a significant
      reduction of VSR binding to both cargoes. In vivo pH measurements indicated that
      the lumens of VSR compartments containing aleurain, as well as the trans-Golgi
      network and prevacuolar compartments, were significantly more acidic in nhx5 nhx6
      knockouts. This work demonstrates the importance of NHX5 and NHX6 in maintaining
      endomembrane luminal pH and supports the notion that proper vacuolar trafficking
      and proteolytic processing of storage proteins require endomembrane pH
      homeostasis. 

PMID- 25829440
TI  - Arabidopsis BIRD Zinc Finger Proteins Jointly Stabilize Tissue Boundaries by
      Confining the Cell Fate Regulator SHORT-ROOT and Contributing to Fate
      Specification.
AB  - Plant cells cannot rearrange their positions; therefore, sharp tissue boundaries
      must be accurately programmed. Movement of the cell fate regulator SHORT-ROOT
      from the stele to the ground tissue has been associated with transferring
      positional information across tissue boundaries. The zinc finger BIRD protein
      JACKDAW has been shown to constrain SHORT-ROOT movement to a single layer, and
      other BIRD family proteins were postulated to counteract JACKDAW's role in
      restricting SHORT-ROOT action range. Here, we report that regulation of SHORT
      ROOT movement requires additional BIRD proteins whose action is critical for the
      establishment and maintenance of the boundary between stele and ground tissue. We
      show that BIRD proteins act in concert and not in opposition. The exploitation of
      asymmetric redundancies allows the separation of two BIRD functions: constraining
      SHORT-ROOT spread through nuclear retention and transcriptional regulation of key
      downstream SHORT-ROOT targets, including SCARECROW and CYCLIND6. Our data
      indicate that BIRD proteins promote formative divisions and tissue specification
      in the Arabidopsis thaliana root meristem ground tissue by tethering and
      regulating transcriptional competence of SHORT-ROOT complexes. As a result, a
      tissue boundary is not "locked in" after initial patterning like in many animal
      systems, but possesses considerable developmental plasticity due to continuous
      reliance on mobile transcription factors. 

PMID- 25829441
TI  - Cytoplastic Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases Interact with ATG3 to
      Negatively Regulate Autophagy and Immunity in Nicotiana benthamiana.
AB  - Autophagy as a conserved catabolic pathway can respond to reactive oxygen species
      (ROS) and plays an important role in degrading oxidized proteins in plants under
      various stress conditions. However, how ROS regulates autophagy in response to
      oxidative stresses is largely unknown. Here, we show that autophagy-related
      protein 3 (ATG3) interacts with the cytosolic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate
      dehydrogenases (GAPCs) to regulate autophagy in Nicotiana benthamiana plants. We
      found that oxidative stress inhibits the interaction of ATG3 with GAPCs.
      Silencing of GAPCs significantly activates ATG3-dependent autophagy, while
      overexpression of GAPCs suppresses autophagy in N. benthamiana plants. Moreover,
      silencing of GAPCs enhances N gene-mediated cell death and plant resistance
      against both incompatible pathogens Tobacco mosaic virus and Pseudomonas syringae
      pv tomato DC3000, as well as compatible pathogen P. syringae pv tabaci. These
      results indicate that GAPCs have multiple functions in the regulation of
      autophagy, hypersensitive response, and plant innate immunity. 

PMID- 25829442
TI  - Natural variation in epigenetic pathways affects the specification of female
      gamete precursors in Arabidopsis.
AB  - In angiosperms, the transition to the female gametophytic phase relies on the
      specification of premeiotic gamete precursors from sporophytic cells in the
      ovule. In Arabidopsis thaliana, a single diploid cell is specified as the
      premeiotic female gamete precursor. Here, we show that ecotypes of Arabidopsis
      exhibit differences in megasporogenesis leading to phenotypes reminiscent of
      defects in dominant mutations that epigenetically affect the specification of
      female gamete precursors. Intraspecific hybridization and polyploidy exacerbate
      these defects, which segregate quantitatively in F2 populations derived from
      ecotypic hybrids, suggesting that multiple loci control cell specification at the
      onset of female meiosis. This variation in cell differentiation is influenced by
      the activity of ARGONAUTE9 (AGO9) and RNA-DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE6 (RDR6), two
      genes involved in epigenetic silencing that control the specification of female
      gamete precursors. The pattern of transcriptional regulation and localization of
      AGO9 varies among ecotypes, and abnormal gamete precursors in ovules defective
      for RDR6 share identity with ectopic gamete precursors found in selected
      ecotypes. Our results indicate that differences in the epigenetic control of cell
      specification lead to natural phenotypic variation during megasporogenesis. We
      propose that this mechanism could be implicated in the emergence and evolution of
      the reproductive alternatives that prevail in flowering plants. 

PMID- 25829443
TI  - Patient and carer experiences of clinical uncertainty and deterioration, in the
      face of limited reversibility: A comparative observational study of the AMBER
      care bundle.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Clinical uncertainty is emotionally challenging for patients and
      carers and creates additional pressures for those clinicians in acute hospitals.
      The AMBER care bundle was designed to improve care for patients identified as
      clinically unstable, deteriorating, with limited reversibility and at risk of
      dying in the next 1-2 months. AIM: To examine the experience of care supported by
      the AMBER care bundle compared to standard care in the context of clinical
      uncertainty, deterioration and limited reversibility. DESIGN: A comparative
      observational mixed-methods study using semi-structured qualitative interviews
      and a followback survey. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Three large London acute tertiary
      National Health Service hospitals. Nineteen interviews with 23 patients and
      carers (10 supported by AMBER care bundle and 9 standard care). Surveys completed
      by next of kin of 95 deceased patients (59 AMBER care bundle and 36 standard
      care). RESULTS: The AMBER care bundle was associated with increased frequency of
      discussions about prognosis between clinicians and patients (chi(2) = 4.09, p =
      0.04), higher awareness of their prognosis by patients (chi(2) = 4.29, p = 0.04)
      and lower clarity in the information received about their condition (chi(2) =
      6.26, p = 0.04). Although the consistency and quality of communication were not
      different between the two groups, those supported by the AMBER care bundle
      described more unresolved concerns about caring for someone at home. CONCLUSION:
      Awareness of prognosis appears to be higher among patients supported by the AMBER
      care bundle, but in this small study this was not translated into higher quality
      communication, and information was judged less easy to understand. Adequately
      powered comparative evaluation is urgently needed.

PMID- 25829444
TI  - Burnout, psychological morbidity and use of coping mechanisms among palliative
      care practitioners: A multi-centre cross-sectional study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prevalence of burnout, psychological morbidity and the use of
      coping mechanisms among palliative care practitioners in Singapore have not been
      studied. AIM: We aimed to study the prevalence of burnout and psychological
      morbidity among palliative care practitioners in Singapore and its associations
      with demographic and workplace factors as well as the use of coping mechanisms.
      DESIGN: This was a multi-centre, cross-sectional study of all the palliative care
      providers within the public healthcare sector in Singapore. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS:
      The study was conducted in hospital palliative care services, home hospice and
      inpatient hospices in Singapore. The participants were doctors, nurses and social
      workers. RESULTS: The prevalence of burnout among respondents in our study was 91
      of 273 (33.3%) and psychological morbidity was 77 (28.2%). Working >60 h per week
      was significantly associated with burnout (odds ratio: 9.02, 95% confidence
      interval: 2.3-35.8, p = 0.002) and psychological morbidity (odds ratio: 7.21, 95%
      confidence interval: 1.8-28.8, p = 0.005). Home hospice care practitioners
      (41.5%) were more at risk of developing psychological morbidity compared to
      hospital-based palliative care (17.5%) or hospice inpatient care (26.0%) (p =
      0.007). Coping mechanisms like physical well-being, clinical variety, setting
      boundaries, transcendental (meditation and quiet reflection), passion for one's
      work, realistic expectations, remembering patients and organisational activities
      were associated with less burnout. CONCLUSION: Our results reveal that burnout
      and psychological morbidity are significant in the palliative care community and
      demonstrate a need to look at managing long working hours and promoting the use
      of coping mechanisms to reduce burnout and psychological morbidity.

PMID- 25829445
TI  - Does ketamine target olfactory receptors in the brain?
AB  - The findings of Ho et al. in this issue of Science Signaling suggest that the
      anesthetic ketamine binds to and activates select olfactory receptors in mouse
      brain, raising the possibility that ketamine targets a similar set of GPCRs in
      humans. 

PMID- 25829446
TI  - PTEN inhibits PREX2-catalyzed activation of RAC1 to restrain tumor cell invasion.
AB  - The tumor suppressor PTEN restrains cell migration and invasion by a mechanism
      that is independent of inhibition of the PI3K pathway and decreased activation of
      the kinase AKT. PREX2, a widely distributed GEF that activates the GTPase RAC1,
      binds to and inhibits PTEN. We used mouse embryonic fibroblasts and breast cancer
      cell lines to show that PTEN suppresses cell migration and invasion by blocking
      PREX2 activity. In addition to metabolizing the phosphoinositide PIP3, PTEN
      inhibited PREX2-induced invasion by a mechanism that required the tail domain of
      PTEN, but not its lipid phosphatase activity. Fluorescent nucleotide exchange
      assays revealed that PTEN inhibited the GEF activity of PREX2 toward RAC1. PREX2
      is a frequently mutated GEF in cancer, and examination of human tumor data showed
      that PREX2 mutation was associated with high PTEN expression. Therefore, we
      tested whether cancer-derived somatic PREX2 mutants, which accelerate tumor
      formation of immortalized melanocytes, were inhibited by PTEN. The three stably
      expressed, somatic PREX2 cancer mutants that we tested were resistant to PTEN
      mediated inhibition of invasion but retained the ability to inhibit the lipid
      phosphatase activity of PTEN. In vitro analysis showed that PTEN did not block
      the GEF activity of two PREX2 cancer mutants and had a reduced binding affinity
      for the third. Thus, PTEN antagonized migration and invasion by restraining PREX2
      GEF activity, and PREX2 mutants are likely selected in cancer to escape PTEN
      mediated inhibition of invasion.

PMID- 25829447
TI  - Molecular recognition of ketamine by a subset of olfactory G protein-coupled
      receptors.
AB  - Ketamine elicits various neuropharmacological effects, including sedation,
      analgesia, general anesthesia, and antidepressant activity. Through an in vitro
      screen, we identified four mouse olfactory receptors (ORs) that responded to
      ketamine. In addition to their presence in the olfactory epithelium, these G
      protein (heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein)-coupled receptors
      (GPCRs) are distributed throughout the central nervous system. To better
      understand the molecular basis of the interactions between ketamine and ORs, we
      used sequence comparison and molecular modeling to design mutations that (i)
      increased, reduced, or abolished ketamine responsiveness in responding receptors,
      and (ii) rendered nonresponding receptors responsive to ketamine. We showed that
      olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) that expressed distinct ORs responded to
      ketamine in vivo, suggesting that ORs may serve as functional targets for
      ketamine. The ability to both abolish and introduce responsiveness to ketamine in
      GPCRs enabled us to identify and confirm distinct interaction loci in the binding
      site, which suggested a signature ketamine-binding pocket that may guide
      exploration of additional receptors for this general anesthetic drug. 

PMID- 25829448
TI  - T lymphocyte regulation by mevalonate metabolism.
AB  - Whereas resting T cells, which have low metabolic requirements, use oxidative
      phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to maximize their generation of ATP, activated T cells,
      similar to tumor cells, shift metabolic activity to aerobic glycolysis, which
      also fuels mevalonate metabolism. Both sterol and nonsterol derivatives of
      mevalonate affect T cell function. The intracellular availability of sterols,
      which is dynamically regulated by different classes of transcription factors,
      represents a metabolic checkpoint that modulates T cell responses. The electron
      carrier ubiquinone, which is modified with an isoprenoid membrane anchor, plays a
      pivotal role in OXPHOS, which supports the proliferation of T cells.
      Isoprenylation also mediates the plasma membrane attachment of the Ras, Rho, and
      Rab guanosine triphosphatases, which are involved in T cell immunological synapse
      formation, migration, proliferation, and cytotoxic effector responses. Finally,
      multiple phosphorylated mevalonate derivatives can act as danger signals for
      innate-like gammadelta T cells, thus contributing to the immune surveillance of
      stress, pathogens, and tumors. We highlight the importance of the mevalonate
      pathway in the metabolic reprogramming of effector and regulatory T cells. 

PMID- 25829449
TI  - The glenoid component in anatomic shoulder arthroplasty.
AB  - Ideal management of the glenoid in anatomic shoulder arthroplasty remains
      controversial. Glenoid component loosening remains a common source of clinical
      concern and, in young, active patients, implantation of a glenoid prosthesis is
      often avoided. Efforts to decrease glenoid loosening have resulted in changes to
      prosthetic design and implantation techniques. Currently, a wide variety of
      glenoid component options are available, including metal-backed or all
      polyethylene, bone ingrowth or ongrowth, inset, and augmented designs.
      Additionally, several alternatives are available for the young, active patient,
      including hemiarthroplasty, nonprosthetic resurfacing, and tissue interposition.
      Many recent clinical and biomechanical studies have examined these implant
      options. A thorough knowledge of glenoid anatomy, pathology, implant options,
      indications, and principles of implantation is necessary to optimize the outcome
      following anatomic shoulder arthroplasty. 

PMID- 25829450
TI  - Evaluation and management of the painful total ankle arthroplasty.
AB  - Total ankle arthroplasty (TAA) is an increasingly popular treatment option for
      patients with end-stage ankle arthritis. Although improved short- and long-term
      clinical and radiographic outcomes have been achieved with TAA, revision surgery
      may be necessary in the setting of aseptic loosening, subsidence, impingement,
      arthrofibrosis, or infection. Factors such as patient selection, implant design,
      and surgical technique can all contribute to TAA failure. Treatment of patients
      with a painful TAA is complex and requires careful consideration of symptom
      history, workup, and nonsurgical and surgical treatment options. Surgical
      management of failed TAA includes arthrodesis, revision surgery, or below-knee
      amputation. 

PMID- 25829451
TI  - Beyond fruit-flies: population genomic advances in non-Drosophila arthropods.
AB  - Understanding the evolutionary processes driving the adaptive differentiation of
      populations is of broad interest in biology. Genome-wide nucleotide polymorphisms
      provide the basis for population genetic studies powered by advances in high
      throughput sequencing technologies. These advances have led to an extension of
      genome projects to a variety of non-genetic model organisms, broadening our view
      on the evolution of gene families and taxonomic-restricted novelties. Here, we
      review the progress of genome projects in non-Drosophila arthropods, focusing on
      advances in the analysis of large-scale polymorphism data and functional genomics
      and examples of population genomic studies. 

PMID- 25829452
TI  - Glucose Tolerance Is Improved in Mice Invalidated for the Nuclear Receptor HNF
      4gamma: A Critical Role for Enteroendocrine Cell Lineage.
AB  - Intestine contributes to energy homeostasis through the absorption, metabolism,
      and transfer of nutrients to the organism. We demonstrated previously that
      hepatocyte nuclear receptor-4alpha (HNF-4alpha) controls intestinal epithelium
      homeostasis and intestinal absorption of dietary lipids. HNF-4gamma, the other
      HNF-4 form highly expressed in intestine, is much less studied. In HNF-4gamma
      knockout mice, we detect an exaggerated insulin peak and improvement in glucose
      tolerance during oral but not intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests,
      highlighting the involvement of intestine. Moreover, the enteroendocrine L-type
      cell lineage is modified, as assessed by the increased expression of
      transcription factors Isl1, Foxa1/2, and Hnf4a, leading to an increase of both
      GLP-1-positive cell number and basal and stimulated GLP-1 plasma levels
      potentiating the glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Using the GLP-1 antagonist
      exendin (9-39), we demonstrate a direct effect of GLP-1 on improved glucose
      tolerance. GLP-1 exerts a trophic effect on pancreatic beta-cells, and we report
      an increase of the beta-cell fraction correlated with an augmented number of
      proliferative islet cells and with resistance to streptozotocin-induced diabetes.
      In conclusion, the loss of HNF-4gamma improves glucose homeostasis through a
      modulation of the enteroendocrine cell lineage. 

PMID- 25829453
TI  - Perilipin 5-Driven Lipid Droplet Accumulation in Skeletal Muscle Stimulates the
      Expression of Fibroblast Growth Factor 21.
AB  - Perilipin 5 (PLIN5) is a lipid droplet protein and is highly expressed in
      oxidative tissue. Expression of the PLIN5 gene is regulated by peroxisome
      proliferator-activated receptor-alpha, fasting, and exercise. However, the effect
      of increased muscle PLIN5 expression on whole-body energy homeostasis remains
      unclear. To examine this, we developed a mouse line with skeletal muscle PLIN5
      overexpression (MCK-Plin5). We show that MCK-Plin5 mice have increased energy
      metabolism and accumulate more intramyocellular triacylglycerol but have normal
      glucose and insulin tolerance. MCK-Plin5 mice fed high-fat chow manifest lower
      expression of inflammatory markers in their liver and increased expression of
      "browning" factors in adipose tissue. This muscle-driven phenotype is, at least
      in part, mediated by myokines; the MCK-Plin5 mice have 80-fold higher FGF21 gene
      expression in muscle and increased serum FGF21 concentration. The increase in
      FGF21 occurs mainly in muscles with a predominance of fast-twitch fibers,
      suggesting that fiber type-specific lipid storage may be part of the mechanism
      conferring metabolic protection in MCK-Plin5 mice. In conclusion, upregulating
      the PLIN5 level in skeletal muscle drives expression of the FGF21 gene in fast
      twitch fibers and is metabolically protective. These findings provide insight
      into the physiology of PLIN5 and the potential contribution of its upregulation
      during exercise. 

PMID- 25829455
TI  - The Effectiveness of Aftercare for Juvenile and Young Adult Offenders.
AB  - This study examined the New Perspectives Aftercare Program (NPAP) for serious
      juvenile and young adult offenders in The Netherlands. Participants (n = 127)
      were randomly assigned to NPAP (n = 66) or existing aftercare services
      ("treatment as usual" [TAU], n = 61). The aim was to determine whether NPAP was
      effective in decreasing cognitive distortions and criminal thinking patterns and
      increasing prosocial skills of the juveniles compared with TAU. No direct
      intervention effects were found on any of the outcome measures. Moderator
      analyses, however, showed several interaction effects of ethnicity and coping
      skills for both NPAP and TAU youths. Furthermore, NPAP dropouts displayed
      significantly more indirect aggression at posttest compared with youths dropping
      out from TAU. Possible explanations for the mostly null effects are discussed,
      including implications for further research, policy, and practice. 

PMID- 25829454
TI  - Novel Association Between Immune-Mediated Susceptibility Loci and Persistent
      Autoantibody Positivity in Type 1 Diabetes.
AB  - Islet autoantibodies detected at disease onset in patients with type 1 diabetes
      are signs of an autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing beta-cells. To
      further investigate the genetic determinants of autoantibody positivity, we
      performed dense immune-focused genotyping on the Immunochip array and tested for
      association with seven disease-specific autoantibodies in a large cross-sectional
      cohort of 6,160 type 1 diabetes-affected siblings. The genetic association with
      positivity for GAD autoantibodies (GADAs), IA2 antigen (IA-2A), zinc transporter
      8, thyroid peroxidase, gastric parietal cells (PCAs), tissue transglutaminase,
      and 21-hydroxylase was tested using a linear mixed-model regression approach to
      simultaneously control for population structure and family relatedness. Four loci
      were associated with autoantibody positivity at genome-wide significance.
      Positivity for GADA was associated with 3q28/LPP, for IA-2A with 1q23/FCRL3 and
      11q13/RELA, and for PCAs with 2q24/IFIH1. The 3q28 locus showed association after
      only 3 years duration and might therefore be a marker of persistent GADA
      positivity. The 1q23, 11q13, and 2q24 loci were associated with autoantibodies
      close to diabetes onset and constitute candidates for early screening. Major
      susceptibility loci for islet autoantibodies are separate from type 1 diabetes
      risk, which may have consequences for intervention strategies to reduce
      autoimmunity. 

PMID- 25829456
TI  - Adaptation of the Texas Implementation Medication Algorithm for Bipolar Disorder
      in Adult Female Offenders.
AB  - Use of medication algorithms in the correctional setting may facilitate clinical
      decision making, improve consistency of care, and reduce polypharmacy. The
      objective of the present study was to evaluate effectiveness of algorithm (Texas
      Implementation of Medication Algorithm [TIMA])-driven treatment of bipolar
      disorder (BD) compared with Treatment as Usual (TAU) in the correctional
      environment. A total of 61 women inmates with BD were randomized to TIMA (n = 30)
      or TAU (n = 31) and treated over a 12-week period. The outcome measures included
      measures of BD symptoms, comorbid symptomatology, quality of life, and
      psychotropic medication utilization. In comparison with TAU, TIMA-driven
      treatment reduced polypharmacy, decreased overall psychotropic medication
      utilization, and significantly decreased use of specific classes of psychotropic
      medication (antipsychotics and antidepressants). This pilot study confirmed the
      feasibility and benefits of algorithm-driven treatment of BD in the correctional
      setting, primarily by enhancing appropriate use of evidence-based treatment. 

PMID- 25829457
TI  - Reentry Programming for High-Risk Offenders: Insights From Participants.
AB  - The mass increase in imprisonment of the last two decades has led to an
      increasing number of adults released from prison. Scholarly accounts of prisoner
      reentry have demonstrated that incarcerated individuals face barriers on release
      from prison and that intervention programs are necessary to assist their
      transition to the community. Here, we build from the insights of previous
      research by examining how high-risk offenders perceive a reentry program. Using a
      qualitative approach, our findings suggest that procedural and substantive
      justice affect their satisfaction and involvement with the program. This study
      highlights the importance of providing employment opportunities, social support,
      and fair and respectful delivery of services to assist incarcerated individuals
      transitioning to the community. 

PMID- 25829458
TI  - Severe antiphospholipid syndrome and cardiac surgery: Perioperative management.
AB  - Antiphospholipid syndrome is an antiphospholipid antibody-mediated prothrombotic
      state leading to arterial and venous thrombosis. This condition alters routine in
      vitro coagulation tests, making results unreliable. Antiphospholipid syndrome
      patients requiring cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass present a unique
      challenge in perioperative anticoagulation management. We describe 3 patients
      with antiphospholipid syndrome who had successful heart valve surgery at our
      institution. We have devised an institutional protocol for antiphospholipid
      syndrome patients, and all 3 patients were managed according to this protocol. An
      algorithm-based approach is recommended because it improves team work, optimizes
      treatment, and improves patient outcome. 

PMID- 25829459
TI  - Axillary Lymphadenopathy: An Outstanding Presentation for Breast Implant
      Associated ALK-Negative Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma.
AB  - Till date, there is only one reported case of breast implant-associated ALK
      negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) with an axillary presentation that
      followed an aggressive behavior. We report the case of a 50-year-old female
      presenting with an axillary lymphadenopathy 8 years after breast prostheses
      implantation. Clinical examination, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging
      detected no mammary lesions. The lymph node showed intrasinusoidal infiltration
      by large pleomorphic cells expressing CD30 and lacking ALK-immunoreactivity.
      Tumor staging was negative. Cells with identical features were found in the
      ipsilateral periprosthetic capsule. The patient was treated with CHOP and
      radiotherapy, and she is alive without evidence of disease after a 30-month
      follow-up. The diagnosis of an ALK-negative ALCL in an axillary lymph node of a
      patient with ipsilateral breast prosthesis and negative staging should prompt
      removal of the implant with capsulectomy, since the pathological study of this
      specimen allows the correct diagnosis with important prognostic implications. 

PMID- 25829460
TI  - Recommendations to improve the usability of drug-drug interaction clinical
      decision support alerts.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To establish preferred strategies for presenting drug-drug interaction
      (DDI) clinical decision support alerts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A DDI Clinical
      Decision Support Conference Series included a workgroup consisting of 24
      clinical, usability, and informatics experts representing academia, health
      information technology (IT) vendors, healthcare organizations, and the Office of
      the National Coordinator for Health IT. Workgroup members met via web-based
      meetings 12 times from January 2013 to February 2014, and two in-person meetings
      to reach consensus on recommendations to improve decision support for DDIs. We
      addressed three key questions: (1) what, how, where, and when do we display DDI
      decision support? (2) should presentation of DDI decision support vary by
      clinicians? and (3) how should effectiveness of DDI decision support be measured?
      RESULTS: Our recommendations include the consistent use of terminology, visual
      cues, minimal text, formatting, content, and reporting standards to facilitate
      usability. All clinicians involved in the medication use process should be able
      to view DDI alerts and actions by other clinicians. Override rates are common but
      may not be a good measure of effectiveness. DISCUSSION: Seven core elements
      should be included with DDI decision support. DDI information should be presented
      to all clinicians. Finally, in their current form, override rates have limited
      capability to evaluate alert effectiveness. CONCLUSION: DDI clinical decision
      support alerts need major improvements. We provide recommendations for healthcare
      organizations and IT vendors to improve the clinician interface of DDI alerts,
      with the aim of reducing alert fatigue and improving patient safety.

PMID- 25829461
TI  - Comparison of consumers' views on electronic data sharing for healthcare and
      research.
AB  - New models of healthcare delivery such as accountable care organizations and
      patient-centered medical homes seek to improve quality, access, and cost. They
      rely on a robust, secure technology infrastructure provided by health information
      exchanges (HIEs) and distributed research networks and the willingness of
      patients to share their data. There are few large, in-depth studies of US
      consumers' views on privacy, security, and consent in electronic data sharing for
      healthcare and research together. OBJECTIVE: This paper addresses this gap,
      reporting on a survey which asks about California consumers' views of data
      sharing for healthcare and research together. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The survey
      conducted was a representative, random-digit dial telephone survey of 800
      Californians, performed in Spanish and English. RESULTS: There is a great deal of
      concern that HIEs will worsen privacy (40.3%) and security (42.5%). Consumers are
      in favor of electronic data sharing but elements of transparency are important:
      individual control, who has access, and the purpose for use of data. Respondents
      were more likely to agree to share deidentified information for research than to
      share identified information for healthcare (76.2% vs 57.3%, p < .001).
      DISCUSSION: While consumers show willingness to share health information
      electronically, they value individual control and privacy. Responsiveness to
      these needs, rather than mere reliance on Health Insurance Portability and
      Accountability Act (HIPAA), may improve support of data networks. CONCLUSION:
      Responsiveness to the public's concerns regarding their health information is a
      pre-requisite for patient-centeredness. This is one of the first in-depth studies
      of attitudes about electronic data sharing that compares attitudes of the same
      individual towards healthcare and research.

PMID- 25829462
TI  - Reference intervals for plasma-free amino acid in a Japanese population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Plasma amino acid concentrations vary with various diseases. Although
      reference intervals are useful in daily clinical practice, no reference intervals
      have been reported for plasma amino acids in a large Japanese population.
      METHODS: Reference individuals were selected from 7685 subjects examined with the
      Japanese Ningen Dock in 2008. A total of 1890 individuals were selected based on
      exclusion criteria, and the reference samples were selected after the outlier
      samples for each amino acid concentration were excluded. The lower limit of the
      reference intervals for the plasma amino acid concentrations was set at the 2.5th
      percentile and the upper limit at the 97.5th percentile. RESULTS: By use of the
      nested analysis of variance, we analysed a large dataset of plasma samples and
      the effects of background factors (sex, age and body mass index [BMI]) on the
      plasma amino acid concentrations. Most amino acid concentrations were related to
      sex, especially those of branched-chained amino acid. The citrulline, glutamine,
      ornithine and lysine concentrations were related to age. The glutamate
      concentration was related to body mass index. CONCLUSIONS: The concentrations of
      most amino acids are more strongly related to sex than to age or body mass index.
      Our results indicate that the reference intervals for plasma amino acid
      concentrations should be stratified by sex when the background factors of age and
      body mass index are considered.

PMID- 25829463
TI  - Photosynthetic energy conversion efficiency: setting a baseline for gauging
      future improvements in important food and biofuel crops.
AB  - The conversion efficiency (epsilon(c)) of absorbed radiation into biomass (MJ of
      dry matter per MJ of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation) is a component
      of yield potential that has been estimated at less than half the theoretical
      maximum. Various strategies have been proposed to improve epsilon(c), but a
      statistical analysis to establish baseline epsilon(c) levels across different
      crop functional types is lacking. Data from 164 published epsilon(c) studies
      conducted in relatively unstressed growth conditions were used to determine the
      means, greatest contributors to variation, and genetic trends in epsilon(c
      )across important food and biofuel crop species. epsilon(c) was greatest in
      biofuel crops (0.049-0.066), followed by C4 food crops (0.046-0.049), C3
      nonlegumes (0.036-0.041), and finally C3 legumes (0.028-0.035). Despite confining
      our analysis to relatively unstressed growth conditions, total incident solar
      radiation and average growing season temperature most often accounted for the
      largest portion of epsilon(c) variability. Genetic improvements in epsilon(c),
      when present, were less than 0.7% per year, revealing the unrealized potential of
      improving epsilon(c) as a promising contributing strategy to meet projected
      future agricultural demand.

PMID- 25829464
TI  - Epigenetic Mechanisms Are Critical for the Regulation of WUSCHEL Expression in
      Floral Meristems.
AB  - The floral meristem (FM), which develops from the inflorescence meristem upon
      completion of the floral transition, terminates after producing a defined number
      of floral organs. This is in contrast to the shoot apical meristem, which is
      active throughout the entire life span of plants. WUSCHEL (WUS) encodes a
      homeodomain-containing protein and plays a critical role in shoot apical
      meristem, inflorescence meristem, and FM establishment and maintenance as well as
      FM determinacy. Although many genes have been implicated in FM determinacy
      through the regulation of WUS expression, precisely how these genes are
      coordinated to regulate WUS and consequently dictate FM fate remains unclear.
      Emerging lines of evidence indicate that epigenetic mechanisms, such as histone
      modification, chromatin remodeling, noncoding RNAs, and DNA methylation, play
      vital roles in meristem maintenance and termination. Here, recent findings
      demonstrating the involvement of the epigenetic network in the regulation of WUS
      expression in the context of FM determinacy are summarized and discussed. 

PMID- 25829465
TI  - The gymnosperm cytochrome P450 CYP750B1 catalyzes stereospecific monoterpene
      hydroxylation of (+)-sabinene in thujone biosynthesis in western redcedar.
AB  - Western redcedar (WRC; Thuja plicata) produces high amounts of oxygenated thujone
      monoterpenoids associated with resistance against herbivore feeding, particularly
      ungulate browsing. Thujones and other monoterpenoids accumulate in glandular
      structures in the foliage of WRC. Thujones are produced from (+)-sabinene by
      sabinol and sabinone. Using metabolite analysis, enzyme assays with WRC tissue
      extracts, cloning, and functional characterization of cytochrome P450
      monooxygenases, we established that trans-sabin-3-ol but not cis-sabin-3-ol is
      the intermediate in thujone biosynthesis in WRC. Based on transcriptome analysis,
      full-length complementary DNA cloning, and characterization of expressed P450
      proteins, we identified CYP750B1 and CYP76AA25 as the enzymes that catalyze the
      hydroxylation of (+)-sabinene to trans-sabin-3-ol. Gene-specific transcript
      analysis in contrasting WRC genotypes producing high and low amounts of
      monoterpenoids, including a glandless low-terpenoid clone, as well as assays for
      substrate specificity supported a biological role of CYP750B1 in alpha- and beta
      thujone biosynthesis. This P450 belongs to the apparently gymnosperm-specific
      CYP750 family and is, to our knowledge, the first member of this family to be
      functionally characterized. In contrast, CYP76AA25 has a broader substrate
      spectrum, also converting the sesquiterpene farnesene and the herbicide
      isoproturon, and its transcript profiles are not well correlated with thujone
      accumulation.

PMID- 25829466
TI  - The Experiences and Perceptions of Street-Involved Youth Regarding Emergency
      Department Services.
AB  - Street-involved (SI) youth comprise a substantial component of the urban homeless
      population. Despite being significant users of hospital emergency department (ED)
      services for acute and ongoing health needs, little is known about their
      experiences of ED care and the factors affecting their ED use. This study used a
      grounded theory and community-based approach to examine these issues. Focus
      groups and individual interviews were facilitated with 48 SI youth between ages
      15 and 26 years, recruited in hospital or through community agencies serving SI
      youth in a major Western Canadian city. Results demonstrate that SI youth often
      perceived suboptimal care and experienced long waiting periods that led to many
      avoiding or prematurely exiting the ED. Service gaps appeared to have a negative
      bearing on their care and health outcomes. Findings invite a critical review of
      ED care processes, structures, and staff interactions in the aim of enhancing ED
      services to SI youth. 

PMID- 25829467
TI  - On the Brink of Genuinely Collaborative Care: Experience-Based Co-Design in
      Mental Health.
AB  - Inpatient mental health services in the United Kingdom are currently
      dissatisfactory for service-users and staff. For young people with psychosis,
      being hospitalized is often distressing, and can lead to disengagement with
      mental health services. This article describes how we took three qualitative
      research studies about hospitalization in early psychosis (exploring the
      perspectives of service-users, parents, and staff) and translated them into
      service improvements developed in collaboration with a range of stakeholders,
      including service-users, carers, community and inpatient staff, and management.
      We used an adapted form of experience-based co-design (EBCD), a participatory
      action-research method for collaboratively improving health care services. The
      use of EBCD is still relatively novel in mental health settings, and we discuss
      how we adapted the methodology, and some of the implications of using EBCD with
      vulnerable populations in complex services. We reflect on both the
      disappointments and successes and give some recommendations for future research
      and methodological development. 

PMID- 25829468
TI  - Assessing the consistency of public human tissue RNA-seq data sets.
AB  - Sequencing-based gene expression methods like RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) have
      become increasingly common, but it is often claimed that results obtained in
      different studies are not comparable owing to the influence of laboratory batch
      effects, differences in RNA extraction and sequencing library preparation methods
      and bioinformatics processing pipelines. It would be unfortunate if different
      experiments were in fact incomparable, as there is great promise in data fusion
      and meta-analysis applied to sequencing data sets. We therefore compared reported
      gene expression measurements for ostensibly similar samples (specifically, human
      brain, heart and kidney samples) in several different RNA-seq studies to assess
      their overall consistency and to examine the factors contributing most to
      systematic differences. The same comparisons were also performed after
      preprocessing all data in a consistent way, eliminating potential bias from
      bioinformatics pipelines. We conclude that published human tissue RNA-seq
      expression measurements appear relatively consistent in the sense that samples
      cluster by tissue rather than laboratory of origin given simple preprocessing
      transformations. The article is supplemented by a detailed walkthrough with
      embedded R code and figures. 

PMID- 25829470
TI  - How many digits should be reported in forensic breath alcohol measurements?
AB  - Uncertainty is an inherent property of all measurements. The magnitude of this
      uncertainty will determine the number of meaningful digits that should be
      reported in a measurement result. Several statistical arguments are considered
      providing evidence that three digit truncated results are more appropriate than
      two since the first significant digit of the combined uncertainty (standard
      deviation) in breath alcohol measurement is found in the third decimal place.
      Probably, the most compelling reason for reporting three digits is the
      significant reduction in combined uncertainty compared with the use of two
      digits. For a breath alcohol concentration of 0.089 g/210 L, the combined
      uncertainty for two digit results is ~0.0042 g/210 L, compared with 0.0031 g/210
      L for three digit results. The historical practice of reporting two digit
      truncated results in forensic breath alcohol analysis has been largely based on
      the use of analog scale instruments with 0.01 g/210 L scale resolution. With
      today's modern digital instrumentation, this practice should be reconsidered.
      While the focus of this paper is on breath alcohol analysis, the general
      principles will apply to any quantitative analytical measurement. 

PMID- 25829469
TI  - Adapting bioinformatics curricula for big data.
AB  - Modern technologies are capable of generating enormous amounts of data that
      measure complex biological systems. Computational biologists and bioinformatics
      scientists are increasingly being asked to use these data to reveal key systems
      level properties. We review the extent to which curricula are changing in the era
      of big data. We identify key competencies that scientists dealing with big data
      are expected to possess across fields, and we use this information to propose
      courses to meet these growing needs. While bioinformatics programs have
      traditionally trained students in data-intensive science, we identify areas of
      particular biological, computational and statistical emphasis important for this
      era that can be incorporated into existing curricula. For each area, we propose a
      course structured around these topics, which can be adapted in whole or in parts
      into existing curricula. In summary, specific challenges associated with big data
      provide an important opportunity to update existing curricula, but we do not
      foresee a wholesale redesign of bioinformatics training programs. 

PMID- 25829471
TI  - A novel lamin A/C gene missense mutation (445 V > E) in immunoglobulin-like fold
      associated with left ventricular non-compaction.
AB  - AIMS: Two LMNA mutations (R644C and R190W) have been associated with familial and
      sporadic left ventricular non-compaction (LVNC). However, the mechanisms
      underlying these associations have not been elucidated. METHODS AND RESULTS:
      Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood leucocytes and analysed by direct
      sequencing. Human embryonic kidney 293 cells were transfected with either wild
      type or mutant LMNA and SCN5A for whole-cell patch-clamp experiment and
      fluorescence microscopy. Point mutation modeling for mutant LMNA was also
      performed. One novel LVNC-associated mutation (V445E) in beta2 sheet of
      immunoglobulin (Ig)-like fold was found in the proband and his father. We also
      found that the peak current of sodium channel was markedly reduced in mutant LMNA
      compared with WT while the activation, inactivation, and recovery curves were not
      significantly altered. The mutant lamin A/C were aggregated into multiple
      highlighted particles. Three beta sheets and multiple side chains in Ig-like fold
      were altered due to the replacement of a valine by glutamic acid. CONCLUSION: Our
      data associated a novel lamin A/C mutation (V445E) with a sudden death form of
      familial LVNC. The reduced sodium current in mutant LMNA may account for the
      advent of malignant ventricular arrhythmias. The altered structures of three beta
      sheets and side chains may partially explain the aggregation of lamin A/C protein
      subjacent to the nuclear envelope.

PMID- 25829472
TI  - Apical vs. non-apical right ventricular pacing in cardiac resynchronization
      therapy: a meta-analysis.
AB  - AIMS: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has been shown to improve outcomes
      in patients with heart failure. The optimal site of right ventricular (RV)
      stimulation in CRT has not been established. We aimed to conduct a meta-analysis
      of randomized-controlled trials and observational studies comparing the mid- and
      long-term effects of RV apical (RVA) and non-apical (RVNA) pacing on CRT
      outcomes. METHODS: We systematically searched the Cochrane library, EMBASE, and
      MEDLINE databases for studies evaluating RVA vs. RVNA pacing in CRT with regards
      to left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV) reduction, functional status
      improvement (defined as >=1 New York Heart Association class improvement), and
      the clinical outcome of mortality or cardiovascular hospitalization. Effect
      estimates [standardized mean difference (SMD) and odds ratio (OR) with 95%
      confidence intervals (CI)] were pooled using random-effect models. RESULTS:
      Twelve studies comprising 2670 patients (1655 with an apical and 1015 with a non
      apical RV lead position) were included. In meta-analyses, LVESV reduction and
      functional status improvement were similar in patients with RVA and RVNA pacing
      (SMD 0.13, 95% CI: -0.24 to 0.50, P = 0.48; OR 1.08, 95% CI: 0.81 to 1.45, P =
      0.60, respectively). Data regarding mortality and hospitalizations could not be
      pooled due to a small number of relevant studies with significant heterogeneity.
      CONCLUSION: Our meta-analysis suggests that in CRT patients the effects of RVA or
      RVNA pacing on LV remodelling and functional status are similar. Mortality and
      morbidity outcomes with different RV lead positions should be further assessed in
      randomized clinical trials.

PMID- 25829474
TI  - The SAMe-TT2R2 score and quality of anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation: a
      simple aid to decision-making on who is suitable (or not) for vitamin K
      antagonists.

PMID- 25829473
TI  - A Brugada syndrome proband with compound heterozygote SCN5A mutations identified
      from a Chinese family in Singapore.
AB  - AIMS: Brugada syndrome (BrS) is a rare heritable ventricular arrhythmia. Genetic
      defects in SCN5A, a gene that encodes the alpha-subunit of the sodium ion channel
      Nav1.5, are present in 15-30% of BrS cases. SCN5A remains by far, the highest
      yielding gene for BrS. We studied a young male who presented with syncope at age
      11. This proband was screened for possible disease causing SCN5A mutations. The
      inheritance pattern was also examined amongst his first-degree family members.
      METHODS AND RESULTS: The proband had a baseline electrocardiogram that showed
      Type 2 BrS changes, which escalated to a characteristic Type I BrS pattern during
      a treadmill test before polymorphic ventricular tachycardia onset at a cycle
      length of 250 ms. Mutational analysis across all 29 exons in SCN5A of the proband
      and first-degree relatives of the family revealed that the proband inherited a
      compound heterozygote mutation in SCN5A, specifically p.A226V and p.R1629X from
      each parent. To further elucidate the functional changes arising through these
      mutations, patch-clamp electrophysiology was performed in TSA201 cells expressing
      the mutated SCN5A channels. The p.A226V mutation significantly reduced peak
      sodium current (INa) to 24% of wild type (WT) whereas the p.R1629X mutation
      abolished the current. To mimic the functional state in our proband, functional
      expression of the compound variants A226V + R1629X resulted in overall peak INa
      of only 13% of WT (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Our study is the first to report a
      SCN5A compound heterozygote in a Singaporean Chinese family. Only the proband
      carrying both mutations displayed the BrS phenotype, thus providing insights into
      the expression and penetrance of BrS in an Asian setting.

PMID- 25829475
TI  - Slow pathway ablation in abdominal visceral heterotaxy with azygos continuation.

PMID- 25829476
TI  - Breastfeeding Support in a Community Pharmacy: Improving Access through the Well
      Babies at Walgreens Program.
AB  - Well Babies at Walgreens is a unique community-based corporate partnership
      program that offers breastfeeding support by a lactation professional in a
      private room at the pharmacy. Walgreens is a community pharmacy chain with more
      than 8000 locations in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
      The primary goal of Well Babies is to support breastfeeding women using a model
      that is expandable to other Walgreens pharmacy sites. The Well Babies program
      offers drop-in services, with a professional consultation by a lactation
      consultant and baby weight check, if desired. Well Babies creators are developing
      a business plan for Walgreens and a toolkit that would help other stores
      implement the program. An additional goal is to improve continuity of care for
      breastfeeding by engaging pharmacists as vital members of the health care team.
      Offering breastfeeding support at a pharmacy improves access and encourages
      support persons to attend while simultaneously allowing the family to complete
      other errands. This initiative included education for pharmacists to improve the
      recommendations they make for breastfeeding mothers and to improve awareness
      among pharmacists of the benefits associated with breastfeeding and the need to
      preserve the breastfeeding relationship. The first drop-in location opened in
      April 2012. Grant funding from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
      awarded to the Indiana State Department of Health, made it possible to open a
      second drop-in location in June 2013. Future plans include developing an employee
      lactation program and expanding Well Babies at Walgreens at other store
      locations. 

PMID- 25829477
TI  - Changes in Breastfeeding Attitudes in a Metropolitan Community in Tennessee.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Southern United States has low breastfeeding rates, particularly
      among African Americans. Breastfeeding rates are influenced by community
      attitudes and norms. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine changes in
      breastfeeding attitudes and demographic factors related to these attitudes.
      METHODS: Cross-sectional data from a community-based survey, repeated annually
      from 2004 to 2008, were analyzed. Univariable analysis examined trends over time
      and log binomial regression estimated the strength of the association between
      year of the survey, demographic factors, and outcome responses related to the
      survey questions. RESULTS: After adjusting for sex, race, marital status, age,
      and education, compared to 2004, 2008 respondents were 26% more likely to rate
      breastfeeding as extremely important compared to formula feeding (prevalence
      ratio [PR] = 1.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10-1.43). Similarly, 2008
      respondents were 29% more likely to rate the importance of breastfeeding for long
      term health as extremely important (PR = 1.29; 95% CI, 1.14-1.46). Comfort levels
      with breastfeeding outside the home also increased. Respondents to the 2008
      survey were more likely to report that they were comfortable with a mother
      breastfeeding in their workplace (PR = 1.20; 95% CI, 1.11-1.31) and in a mall or
      restaurant (PR = 1.15; 95% CI, 1.06-1.26). After controlling for demographic
      factors, there were no significant differences in responses between African
      Americans and other races. CONCLUSION: Despite significantly lower breastfeeding
      rates among African Americans, this analysis revealed significant positive
      changes in attitudes regarding breastfeeding between 2004 and 2008, regardless of
      race. These changes in attitude coincided with increased breastfeeding initiation
      rates, suggesting that federal, state, and local breastfeeding promotion efforts
      had an effect.

PMID- 25829478
TI  - Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy, Mood, and Breastfeeding Outcomes among Primiparous
      Women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A link between postpartum mood and breastfeeding has been established
      in the literature, but little is known about the relationship of breastfeeding
      self-efficacy (BSE) to breastfeeding and mood outcomes, particularly in
      primiparous women. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to prospectively
      evaluate the relationship among BSE, mood, and breastfeeding outcomes in
      primiparous women. A secondary purpose was to explore self-reported reasons for
      difficult emotional adjustment during the transition to motherhood. METHODS:
      Primiparous women who initiated breastfeeding were surveyed at 2 days, 6 weeks,
      and 6 months postpartum. Breastfeeding self-efficacy, depressive symptoms, work
      status, breastfeeding difficulties, partner support, and use of lactation
      services were included in a hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Women who
      identified as emotionally distressed provided open-ended responses identifying
      the main cause of their stress. RESULTS: High BSE at 2 days postpartum predicted
      positive emotional adjustment and fewer depressive symptoms at 6 weeks
      postpartum, as well as more exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months postpartum. Among
      distressed mothers, breastfeeding concerns were among the most commonly named
      reasons for stress, along with lack of sleep, lack of social support, and
      overwhelming learning demands involved with being a new parent. CONCLUSION:
      Breastfeeding perceptions are associated with emotional health and breastfeeding
      outcomes. Bolstering women's early BSE may be an important goal for multiple
      dimensions of postpartum health.

PMID- 25829479
TI  - 80-kVp CT angiography for endovascular aneurysm repair follow-up with halved
      contrast medium dose and preserved diagnostic quality.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Follow-up of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) with life-long
      computed tomography angiography (CTA) surveillance exposes patients with impaired
      renal function to repeated risks of contrast medium-induced nephropathy (CIN).
      PURPOSE: To retrospectively compare vascular attenuation, image noise, contrast
      to-noise ratio (CNR), subjective image quality and effective radiation dose (mSv)
      for CTA with a 16-multirow detector CT (MDCT) equipment at 80 kVp after EVAR
      using a contrast medium (CM) dose that is half of that used at 120 kVp. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: Forty patients with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <45
      mL/min underwent 80-kVp CTA with 160 mg I/kg, and 40 patients with eGFR >=45
      mL/min 120-kVp CTA with 320 mg I/kg (maximum dose weight, 80 kg). Arterial phase
      analysis included vascular attenuation, image noise and CNR, and calculated
      effective dose. Subjective image quality was assessed on a 4-point scale by two
      blinded readers at three different levels as well as overall. RESULTS: Median
      values in the 80/120 kVp cohorts were: age, 74-75 years; body weight, 77/80 kg;
      BMI 24/27 kg/m(2); CM dose, 13/25 gram-iodine; gram-iodine/GFR ratio, 0.35/0.38;
      mean aortic attenuation, 313/326 HU; image noise, 26/32 HU; CNR 10-11; subjective
      image quality score, 3.0-3.5 (Reader 1) and 3.0-3.3 (Reader 2); number of non
      diagnostic examinations, 0/1; and effective dose, 4.5/5.1 mSv. There was no
      statistically significant difference in aortic CNR and effective dose between the
      80 and 120 kVp cohorts. CONCLUSION: 80 kVp 16-MDCT with halved CM dose tailored
      to body weight for CTA follow-up of EVAR may provide satisfactory diagnostic
      results compared to common standards and be beneficial for patients at risk of
      CIN, though the present CT equipment may limit the use of the method to patients
      below 90 kg or with a BMI below 35 kg/m(2).

PMID- 25829480
TI  - How reliable is routine lumbar spine MRI for detection of renal cysts?
      Correlation with abdominal CT.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Incidental renal cysts are a very common finding in routine lumbar
      spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, there is no report of the renal
      cyst detection rate on routine lumbar spine MRI. PURPOSE: To determine the renal
      cyst detection rate in routine lumbar spine MRI based on findings of abdominal
      computed tomography (CT), and to investigate if the largest renal cyst seen by
      abdominal CT could be also detected by routine lumbar spine MRI. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted of 70 patients who underwent both
      routine lumbar spine MRI and abdominal CT between December 2011 and January 2014.
      The detection rate of all renal cysts>5 mm as well as the largest renal cyst seen
      by abdominal CT were assessed in routine lumbar spine MRI. RESULTS: On routine
      lumbar spine MRI, the detection rate of renal cysts was 46.5% (73/157) for>5-mm
      renal cysts and 68.0% (34/50) for>10-mm renal cysts, correlating with abdominal
      CT. The detection rate of the largest renal cyst seen by abdominal CT was 60.0%
      (27/45). Non-detection of the largest renal cyst could be caused by upper
      positioning (n = 7), lateral positioning (n = 6), or relatively small cyst size
      (n = 5). CONCLUSION: Approximately half of renal cysts>5 mm and two-thirds of
      renal cysts>10 mm were detected on routine lumbar spine MRI. However,
      radiologists should be aware that kidney lesions may not be included in the scan
      coverage of routine lumbar spine MRI.

PMID- 25829481
TI  - Why do psychiatric patients have higher cancer mortality rates when cancer
      incidence is the same or lower?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Studies of overall cancer incidence and mortality in psychiatric
      patients have had mixed results. Some have reported lower than expected cancer
      incidence or mortality, while others have found no association or an increased
      risk depending on sample, psychiatric diagnosis, cancer site and methodology. Few
      studies have compared cancer incidence and mortality using the same population
      and methodology. METHOD: A population-based record-linkage analysis to compare
      cancer incidence and mortality in psychiatric patients with that for the general
      Queensland population, using an historical cohort to calculate age- and sex
      standardised rate ratios and hazard ratios. Mental health records were linked
      with cancer registrations and death records from 2002 to 2007. RESULTS: There
      were 89,992 new cancer cases, of which 3349 occurred in people with mental
      illness. Cancer incidence was the same as the general population for most
      psychiatric disorders. Rates were actually lower for dementia (hazard ratio =
      0.77; 95% confidence interval = [0.67, 0.88]) and schizophrenia (hazard ratio =
      0.84; 95% confidence interval = [0.72, 0.98]). By contrast, mortality was
      increased in psychiatric patients (hazard ratio = 2.27; 95% confidence interval =
      [2.15, 2.39]) with elevated hazard ratios for all the main psychiatric diagnoses.
      CONCLUSIONS: Lifestyle, such as alcohol or tobacco use, would not explain our
      findings that people with mental illness are no more likely than the general
      population to develop cancer but more likely to die of it. Other factors may be
      the difficulty in differentiating medically explained and unexplained symptoms,
      greater case fatality or inequity in access to specialist procedures. The study
      highlights the need for improved cancer screening, detection and intervention in
      this population.

PMID- 25829483
TI  - Portrayal of violent male psychiatric patients by entertainment media and the
      stigma of psychiatric illness.

PMID- 25829482
TI  - Gender differences in depressive symptom profiles and patterns of psychotropic
      drug usage in Asian patients with depression: Findings from the Research on Asian
      Psychotropic Prescription Patterns for Antidepressants study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there were
      gender-specific depressive symptom profiles or gender-specific patterns of
      psychotropic agent usage in Asian patients with depression. METHOD: Clinical data
      from the Research on Asian Psychotropic Prescription Patterns for Antidepressant
      study (1171 depressed patients) were used to determine gender differences by
      analysis of covariates for continuous variables and by logistic regression
      analysis for discrete variables. In addition, a binary logistic regression model
      was fitted to identify independent clinical correlates of the gender-specific
      pattern on psychotropic drug usage. RESULTS: Men were more likely than women to
      have loss of interest (adjusted odds ratio = 1.379, p = 0.009), fatigue (adjusted
      odds ratio = 1.298, p = 0.033) and concurrent substance abuse (adjusted odds
      ratio = 3.793, p = 0.008), but gender differences in other symptom profiles and
      clinical features were not significant. Men were also more likely than women to
      be prescribed adjunctive therapy with a second-generation antipsychotic (adjusted
      odds ratio = 1.320, p = 0.044). However, men were less likely than women to have
      suicidal thoughts/acts (adjusted odds ratio = 0.724, p = 0.028). Binary logistic
      regression models revealed that lower age (odds ratio = 0.986, p = 0.027) and
      current hospitalization (odds ratio = 3.348, p < 0.0001) were independent
      clinical correlates of use of second-generation antipsychotics as adjunctive
      therapy for treating depressed Asian men. CONCLUSION: Unique gender-specific
      symptom profiles and gender-specific patterns of psychotropic drug usage can be
      identified in Asian patients with depression. Hence, ethnic and cultural
      influences on the gender preponderance of depression should be considered in the
      clinical psychiatry of Asian patients.

PMID- 25829484
TI  - Tropisetron for postoperative cognitive decline.

PMID- 25829485
TI  - The paradoxes of doubting in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PMID- 25829486
TI  - Association between topiramate use and serum bicarbonate levels in a veteran
      population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Topiramate has been associated with metabolic acidosis secondary to
      decreased serum bicarbonate. Product labeling recommends serum bicarbonate
      monitoring at baseline and periodically thereafter. OBJECTIVE: The study
      objective was to assess changes in serum bicarbonate within the first year of
      topiramate use in an outpatient veteran population. METHODS: This was a single
      center, retrospective study conducted at the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Health
      Care System. Inclusion criteria required a minimum of 1 topiramate outpatient
      prescription between October 1, 1999, and August 31, 2012, and at least 1 serum
      bicarbonate level within 12 months prior to topiramate initiation. Patients with
      topiramate nonadherence, concurrent use of sodium bicarbonate or oral carbonic
      anhydrase inhibitors, and individual serum bicarbonate values obtained during
      inpatient hospitalizations were excluded. Change in bicarbonate was evaluated
      using a paired t test. Decreases in bicarbonate of >=5 mEq/L, values <20 mEq/L,
      days to lowest value, and correlation between adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and
      topiramate discontinuation were evaluated. RESULTS: Of 546 patients reviewed, 350
      were included in the analysis. There was a statistically significant decrease of
      2.7 mEq/L in bicarbonate following initiation of topiramate. Only 1 patient had a
      bicarbonate value <17 mEq/L. There was no association between bicarbonate
      decrease >=5 mEq/L and ADRs. CONCLUSIONS: A statistically significant reduction
      in bicarbonate levels occurred with topiramate, which was clinically
      insignificant. ADR occurrence did not correlate with bicarbonate levels <17 mEq/L
      or a decrease >=5 mEq/L. Our results indicate that serum bicarbonate levels
      should only be monitored before topiramate initiation and in patients presenting
      with symptoms suggestive of acidosis.

PMID- 25829487
TI  - Macular structure-function relationship at various spatial locations in glaucoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: To study whether the structure-function (S-F) relationship in
      glaucoma differs according to macular location using spectral-domain optical
      coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and standard automated perimetry 10-2 and 24-2
      visual fields (VFs). METHODS: We enrolled 151 eyes of 151 healthy, preperimetric
      and perimetric glaucomatous subjects. Macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer
      thicknesses at different parafoveal locations were measured using Cirrus SD-OCT.
      The mean sensitivity of 10-2 and 24-2 VFs was recorded in the decibel and 1/L
      scales. The topographic relationships between structure and function were
      assessed at different parafoveal and hemimacular locations using 'weighted'
      correlation coefficients. The strength of S-F relationships between macular
      ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer thickness measurements and VF mean
      sensitivity in various parafoveal locations and in superior and inferior
      hemimacula was compared using Steiger's test. RESULTS: The temporal parafoveal
      sector showed a significantly greater S-F relationship in each hemimacula
      compared with other parafoveal sectors (p<0.05). The inferior hemimacula showed a
      significantly greater S-F relationship than superior hemimacula (p<0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: The strength of the S-F associations at the temporal parafoveal
      location is significantly greater than that of the central or nasal parafoveal
      location in each hemimacula. The strength of the S-F association is significantly
      greater in the inferior hemimacula than in the superior hemimacula.

PMID- 25829488
TI  - Defining the ideal femtosecond laser capsulotomy.
AB  - PURPOSE: We define the ideal anterior capsulotomy through consideration of
      capsular histology and biomechanics. Desirable qualities include preventing
      posterior capsular opacification (PCO), maintaining effective lens position (ELP)
      and optimising capsular strength. METHODS: Laboratory study of capsular
      biomechanics and literature review of histology and published clinical results.
      RESULTS: Parameters of ideal capsulotomy construction include complete overlap of
      the intraocular lens to prevent PCO, centration on the clinical approximation of
      the optical axis of the lens to ensure concentricity with the capsule equator,
      and maximal capsular thickness at the capsulotomy edge to maintain integrity.
      CONCLUSIONS: Constructing the capsulotomy centred on the clinical approximation
      of the optical axis of the lens with diameter 5.25 mm optimises prevention of
      PCO, consistency of ELP and capsular strength.

PMID- 25829489
TI  - Phosphatidylserine decarboxylase 1 autocatalysis and function does not require a
      mitochondrial-specific factor.
AB  - Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is a major cellular phospholipid that can be made
      by four separate pathways, one of which resides in the mitochondrion. The
      mitochondrial enzyme that generates PE is phosphatidylserine decarboxylase 1
      (Psd1p). The pool of PE produced by Psd1p, which cannot be compensated for by the
      other cellular PE metabolic pathways, is important for numerous mitochondrial
      functions, including oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial dynamics and
      morphology, and is essential for murine development. To become catalytically
      active, Psd1p undergoes an autocatalytic processing step involving a conserved
      LGST motif that separates the enzyme into alpha and beta subunits that remain non
      covalently attached and are anchored to the inner membrane by virtue of the
      membrane-embedded beta subunit. It was speculated that Psd1p autocatalysis
      requires a mitochondrial-specific factor and that for Psd1p to function in vivo,
      it had to be embedded with the correct topology in the mitochondrial inner
      membrane. However, the identity of the mitochondrial factor required for Psd1p
      autocatalysis has not been identified. With the goal of defining molecular
      requirements for Psd1p autocatalysis, we demonstrate that: 1) despite the
      conservation of the LGST motif from bacteria to humans, only the serine residue
      is absolutely required for Psd1p autocatalysis and function; 2) yeast Psd1p does
      not require its substrate phosphatidylserine for autocatalysis; and 3) contrary
      to a prior report, yeast Psd1p autocatalysis does not require mitochondrial
      specific phospholipids, proteins, or co-factors, because Psd1p re-directed to the
      secretory pathway undergoes autocatalysis normally and is fully functional in
      vivo. 

PMID- 25829490
TI  - Subtype-dependent N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor amino-terminal domain
      conformations and modulation by spermine.
AB  - The N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of the ionotropic glutamate receptors is
      the primary mediator of calcium-permeable excitatory neurotransmission in the
      central nervous system. Subunit composition and binding of allosteric modulators
      to the amino-terminal domain determine the open probability of the channel. By
      using luminescence resonance energy transfer with functional receptors expressed
      in CHO cells, we show that the cleft of the amino-terminal domain of the GluN2B
      subunit, which has a lower channel open probability, is on average more closed
      than the GluN2A subunit, which has a higher open probability. Furthermore, the
      GluN1 amino-terminal domain adopts a more open conformation when coassembled with
      GluN2A than with GluN2B. Binding of spermine, an allosteric potentiator, opens
      the amino-terminal domain cleft of both the GluN2B subunit and the adjacent GluN1
      subunit. These studies provide direct structural evidence that the inherent
      conformations of the amino-terminal domains vary based on the subunit and match
      the reported open probabilities for the receptor. 

PMID- 25829491
TI  - Nuclear localization and functional characteristics of voltage-gated potassium
      channel Kv1.3.
AB  - It is widely known that ion channels are expressed in the plasma membrane.
      However, a few studies have suggested that several ion channels including voltage
      gated K(+) (Kv) channels also exist in intracellular organelles where they are
      involved in the biochemical events associated with cell signaling. In the present
      study, Western blot analysis using fractionated protein clearly indicates that
      Kv1.3 channels are expressed in the nuclei of MCF7, A549, and SNU-484 cancer
      cells and human brain tissues. In addition, Kv1.3 is located in the plasma
      membrane and the nucleus of Jurkat T cells. Nuclear membrane hyperpolarization
      after treatment with margatoxin (MgTX), a specific blocker of Kv1.3 channels,
      provides evidence for functional channels at the nuclear membrane of A549 cells.
      MgTX-induced hyperpolarization is abolished in the nuclei of Kv1.3 silenced
      cells, and the effects of MgTX are dependent on the magnitude of the K(+)
      gradient across the nuclear membrane. Selective Kv1.3 blockers induce the
      phosphorylation of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) and c-Fos
      activation. Moreover, Kv1.3 is shown to form a complex with the upstream binding
      factor 1 in the nucleus. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay reveals that Sp1
      transcription factor is directly bound to the promoter region of the Kv1.3 gene,
      and the Sp1 regulates Kv1.3 expression in the nucleus of A549 cells. These
      results demonstrate that Kv1.3 channels are primarily localized in the nucleus of
      several types of cancer cells and human brain tissues where they are capable of
      regulating nuclear membrane potential and activation of transcription factors,
      such as phosphorylated CREB and c-Fos. 

PMID- 25829492
TI  - Importin beta2 Mediates the Spatio-temporal Regulation of Anillin through a
      Noncanonical Nuclear Localization Signal.
AB  - The compartmentalization of cell cycle regulators is a common mechanism to ensure
      the precise temporal control of key cell cycle events. For instance, many mitotic
      spindle assembly factors are known to be sequestered in the nucleus prior to
      mitotic onset. Similarly, the essential cytokinetic factor anillin, which
      functions at the cell membrane to promote the physical separation of daughter
      cells at the end of mitosis, is sequestered in the nucleus during interphase. To
      address the mechanism and role of anillin targeting to the nucleus in interphase,
      we identified the nuclear targeting motif. Here, we show that anillin is targeted
      to the nucleus by importin beta2 in a Ran-dependent manner through an atypical
      basic patch PY nuclear localization signal motif. We show that although importin
      beta2 binding does not regulate anillin's function in mitosis, it is required to
      prevent the cytosolic accumulation of anillin, which disrupts cellular
      architecture during interphase. The nuclear sequestration of anillin during
      interphase serves to restrict anillin's function at the cell membrane to mitosis
      and allows anillin to be rapidly available when the nuclear envelope breaks down
      to remodel the cellular architecture necessary for successful cell division. 

PMID- 25829493
TI  - Direct Evidence for the Formation of Precatenanes during DNA Replication.
AB  - The dynamics of DNA topology during replication are still poorly understood.
      Bacterial plasmids are negatively supercoiled. This underwinding facilitates
      strand separation of the DNA duplex during replication. Leading the replisome, a
      DNA helicase separates the parental strands that are to be used as templates.
      This strand separation causes overwinding of the duplex ahead. If this
      overwinding persists, it would eventually impede fork progression. In bacteria,
      DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV act ahead of the fork to keep DNA underwound.
      However, the processivity of the DNA helicase might overcome DNA gyrase and
      topoisomerase IV. It was proposed that the overwinding that builds up ahead of
      the fork could force it to swivel and diffuse this positive supercoiling behind
      the fork where topoisomerase IV would also act to maintain replicating the DNA
      underwound. Putative intertwining of sister duplexes in the replicated region are
      called precatenanes. Fork swiveling and the formation of precatenanes, however,
      are still questioned. Here, we used classical genetics and high resolution two
      dimensional agarose gel electrophoresis to examine the torsional tension of
      replication intermediates of three bacterial plasmids with the fork stalled at
      different sites before termination. The results obtained indicated that
      precatenanes do form as replication progresses before termination. 

PMID- 25829494
TI  - Heat shock inhibition of CDK5 increases NOXA levels through miR-23a repression.
AB  - Hyperthermia is a proteotoxic stress that is lethal when exposure is extreme but
      also cytoprotective in that sublethal exposure leads to the synthesis of heat
      shock proteins, including HSP70, which are able to inhibit stress-induced
      apoptosis. CDK5 is an atypical cyclin-dependent kinase family member that
      regulates many cellular functions including motility and survival. Here we show
      that exposure of a human lymphoid cell line to hyperthermia causes CDK5
      insolubilization and loss of tyrosine-15 phosphorylation, both of which were
      prevented in cells overexpressing HSP70. Inhibition of CDK5 activity with
      roscovitine-sensitized cells to heat induced apoptosis indicating a protective
      role for CDK5 in inhibiting heat-induced apoptosis. Both roscovitine and heat
      shock treatment caused increased accumulation of NOXA a pro-apoptotic BH3-only
      member of the BCL2 family. The increased abundance of NOXA by CDK5 inhibition was
      not a result of changes in NOXA protein turnover. Instead, CDK5 inhibition
      increased NOXA mRNA and protein levels by decreasing the expression of miR-23a,
      whereas overexpressing the CDK5 activator p35 attenuated both of these effects on
      NOXA and miR-23a expression. Lastly, overexpression of miR-23a prevented
      apoptosis under conditions in which CDK5 activity was inhibited. These results
      demonstrate that CDK5 activity provides resistance to heat-induced apoptosis
      through the expression of miR-23a and subsequent suppression of NOXA synthesis.
      Additionally, they indicate that hyperthermia induces apoptosis through the
      insolubilization and inhibition of CDK5 activity. 

PMID- 25829495
TI  - Sirtuin Inhibition Induces Apoptosis-like Changes in Platelets and
      Thrombocytopenia.
AB  - Sirtuins are evolutionarily conserved NAD(+)-dependent acetyl-lysine deacetylases
      that belong to class III type histone deacetylases. In humans, seven sirtuin
      isoforms (Sirt1 to Sirt7) have been identified. Sirtinol, a cell-permeable
      lactone ring derived from naphthol, is a dual Sirt1/Sirt2 inhibitor of low
      potency, whereas EX-527 is a potent and selective Sirt1 inhibitor. Here we
      demonstrate that Sirt1, Sirt2, and Sirt3 are expressed in enucleate platelets.
      Both sirtinol and EX-527 induced apoptosis-like changes in platelets, as revealed
      by enhanced annexin V binding, reactive oxygen species production, and drop in
      mitochondrial transmembrane potential. These changes were associated with
      increased phagocytic clearance of the platelets by macrophages. Expression of
      acetylated p53 and the conformationally active form of Bax were found to be
      significantly higher in both sirtinol- and EX-527-treated platelets, implicating
      the p53-Bax axis in apoptosis induced by sirtuin inhibitors. Administration of
      either sirtinol or EX-527 in mice led to a reduction in both platelet count and
      the number of reticulated platelets. Our results, for the first time, implicate
      sirtuins as a central player in the determination of platelet aging. Because
      sirtuin inhibitors are being evaluated for their antitumor activity, this study
      refocuses attention on the potential side effect of sirtuin inhibition in
      delimiting platelet life span and management of thrombosis. 

PMID- 25829496
TI  - Different ligands of the TRPV3 cation channel cause distinct conformational
      changes as revealed by intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence quenching.
AB  - TRPV3 is a thermosensitive ion channel primarily expressed in epithelial tissues
      of the skin, nose, and tongue. The channel has been implicated in environmental
      thermosensation, hyperalgesia in inflamed tissues, skin sensitization, and hair
      growth. Although transient receptor potential (TRP) channel research has vastly
      increased our understanding of the physiological mechanisms of nociception and
      thermosensation, the molecular mechanics of these ion channels are still largely
      elusive. In order to better comprehend the functional properties and the
      mechanism of action in TRP channels, high-resolution three-dimensional structures
      are indispensable, because they will yield the necessary insights into
      architectural intimacies at the atomic level. However, structural studies of
      membrane proteins are currently hampered by difficulties in protein purification
      and in establishing suitable crystallization conditions. In this report, we
      present a novel protocol for the purification of membrane proteins, which takes
      advantage of a C-terminal GFP fusion. Using this protocol, we purified human
      TRPV3. We show that the purified protein is a fully functional ion channel with
      properties akin to the native channel using planar patch clamp on reconstituted
      channels and intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence spectroscopy. Using intrinsic
      tryptophan fluorescence spectroscopy, we reveal clear distinctions in the
      molecular interaction of different ligands with the channel. Altogether, this
      study provides powerful tools to broaden our understanding of ligand interaction
      with TRPV channels, and the availability of purified human TRPV3 opens up
      perspectives for further structural and functional studies. 

PMID- 25829497
TI  - Reduced Expression of EXTL2, a Member of the Exostosin (EXT) Family of
      Glycosyltransferases, in Human Embryonic Kidney 293 Cells Results in Longer
      Heparan Sulfate Chains.
AB  - Heparan sulfate proteoglycans are ubiquitously located on cell surfaces and in
      the extracellular matrices. The negatively charged heparan sulfate chains
      interact with a multitude of different proteins, thereby influencing a variety of
      cellular and developmental processes, for example cell adhesion, migration,
      tissue morphogenesis, and differentiation. The human exostosin (EXT) family of
      genes contains five members: the heparan sulfate polymerizing enzymes, EXT1 and
      EXT2, and three EXT-like genes, EXTL1, EXTL2, and EXTL3. EXTL2 has been ascribed
      activities related to the initiation and termination of heparan sulfate chains.
      Here we further investigated the role of EXTL2 in heparan sulfate chain
      elongation by gene silencing and overexpression strategies. We found that siRNA
      mediated knockdown of EXTL2 in human embryonic kidney 293 cells resulted in
      increased chain length, whereas overexpression of EXTL2 in the same cell line had
      little or no effect on heparan sulfate chain length. To study in more detail the
      role of EXTL2 in heparan sulfate chain elongation, we tested the ability of the
      overexpressed protein to catalyze the in vitro incorporation of N
      acetylglucosamine and N-acetylgalactosamine to oligosaccharide acceptors
      resembling unmodified heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate precursor
      molecules. Analysis of the generated products revealed that recombinant EXTL2
      showed weak ability to transfer N-acetylgalactosamine to heparan sulfate
      precursor molecules but also, that EXTL2 exhibited much stronger in vitro N
      acetylglucosamine-transferase activity related to elongation of heparan sulfate
      chains. 

PMID- 25829499
TI  - The association between peer, parental influence and tobacco product features and
      earlier age of onset of regular smoking among adults in 27 European countries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Factors that influence smoking initiation and age of smoking onset
      are important considerations in tobacco control. We evaluated European Union (EU)
      wide differences in the age of onset of regular smoking, and the potential role
      of peer, parental and tobacco product design features on the earlier onset of
      regular smoking among adults <40 years old in 27 EU countries. METHODS: We
      analysed data from 4442 current and former smokers aged 15-39 years, collected
      for the Eurobarometer 77.1 survey (2012). Respondents reported their age at
      regular smoking onset and factors that influenced their decision to start
      smoking, including peer influence, parental influence and features of tobacco
      products. Multi-variable logistic regression, adjusted for age; geographic
      region; education; difficulty to pay bills; and gender, was used to assess the
      role of the various pro-tobacco influences on early onset of regular smoking
      (i.e. <18 years). RESULTS: Among ever smokers, the mean age of onset of regular
      smoking was 16.6 years, ranging from 15.8 to 18.8 years in member countries.
      68.1% responded that they started smoking regularly when they were <18 years old.
      Ever smokers who reported they were influenced by peers (OR = 1.70; 95%CI 1.30
      2.20) or parents (OR = 1.60; 95%CI 1.21-2.12) were more likely to have started
      smoking regularly <18 years old. No significant association between design and
      marketing features of tobacco products and an early initiation of regular smoking
      was observed (OR = 1.04; 95%CI 0.83-1.31). CONCLUSIONS: We identified major
      differences in smoking initiation patterns among EU countries, which may warrant
      different approaches in the prevention of tobacco use.

PMID- 25829498
TI  - Role of nucleotide binding and GTPase domain dimerization in dynamin-like
      myxovirus resistance protein A for GTPase activation and antiviral activity.
AB  - Myxovirus resistance (Mx) GTPases are induced by interferon and inhibit multiple
      viruses, including influenza and human immunodeficiency viruses. They have the
      characteristic domain architecture of dynamin-related proteins with an N-terminal
      GTPase (G) domain, a bundle signaling element, and a C-terminal stalk responsible
      for self-assembly and effector functions. Human MxA (also called MX1) is
      expressed in the cytoplasm and is partly associated with membranes of the smooth
      endoplasmic reticulum. It shows a protein concentration-dependent increase in
      GTPase activity, indicating regulation of GTP hydrolysis via G domain
      dimerization. Here, we characterized a panel of G domain mutants in MxA to
      clarify the role of GTP binding and the importance of the G domain interface for
      the catalytic and antiviral function of MxA. Residues in the catalytic center of
      MxA and the nucleotide itself were essential for G domain dimerization and
      catalytic activation. In pulldown experiments, MxA recognized Thogoto virus
      nucleocapsid proteins independently of nucleotide binding. However, both
      nucleotide binding and hydrolysis were required for the antiviral activity
      against Thogoto, influenza, and La Crosse viruses. We further demonstrate that
      GTP binding facilitates formation of stable MxA assemblies associated with
      endoplasmic reticulum membranes, whereas nucleotide hydrolysis promotes dynamic
      redistribution of MxA from cellular membranes to viral targets. Our study
      highlights the role of nucleotide binding and hydrolysis for the intracellular
      dynamics of MxA during its antiviral action. 

PMID- 25829500
TI  - An exploration of antecedents of positive affect among the elderly: a cross
      sectional study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Positive affect contributes to the healthy life style, which, in
      turn, explains life satisfaction and psychological well-being among the elderly.
      Existent literature has reinforced that physical activity participation
      influences development of positive affect for the elderly. Because of the
      increased life constraints and physical problems, however, maintenance of
      positive affect might be challenging for elderly people. METHODS: Data were drawn
      from a sample of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. A total
      sample of 3845 males and 3912 females aged between 65 and 103 years from 16
      European countries was analyzed. Perception of life constraints, health problems,
      physical activity engagement and positive affect were measured by a structured
      questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis and a technique of structural
      equation modelling were employed using Amos 18 to examine the hypothesized
      relationships between study variables. RESULTS: Perceived life constraints and
      physical problems significantly affected the acquisition of positive affect among
      the elderly. Physical activity was found to have a significant path coefficient
      towards the measure of positive attitude and emotion. Physical activity was also
      a significant mediator between physical problems and positive affect.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study extended our understanding of how the perception of life
      constraints and health problems influence the elderly's daily experience. Study
      finding reinforced the goodness of physical activity participation to enhance
      positive affect among the elderly. We should administer sustainable and evidence
      based physical activity including interventions and infrastructure to improve
      positive affect and psychological well-bing among the elderly.

PMID- 25829501
TI  - Unmet care needs of people with a neurological chronic disease: a cross-sectional
      study in Italy on Multiple Sclerosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Community-based studies are required to accurately describe the
      supportive services needed by people with multiple sclerosis (MS). METHODS: A
      total of 1205 people with MS participated in a cross-sectional study evaluating
      their unmet health and social care needs through a questionnaire collecting
      information used in the study. It was specifically developed by a multi
      disciplinary team. RESULTS: Overall, 79% of the responders declared at least one
      health or social care needs. The most prevalent health care need was the
      psychological support (27.5%), whereas the transport was the social care need
      more frequent (over 41%) in our sample. The multivariate analysis highlighted
      that unmet health care needs depended mainly on clinical factors such as disease
      stage, influenced by disease duration, and disability degree, whereas the social
      care needs were related to both clinical and socio-demographic factors.
      CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that MS needs significantly change over time
      during the disease development and to find the best way to personalize PwMS
      management is crucial. Moreover, more public funding directed at improving the
      health-related quality of life of people with MS is needed. For this reason, we
      think that these results will provide important information and baseline data on
      how to build the national service strategies thereby making healthcare planning
      more efficient.

PMID- 25829502
TI  - Transitions between health care settings in the final three months of life in
      four EU countries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transitions between care settings may be related to poor quality in
      end-of-life care. Yet there is a lack of cross-national population-based data on
      transitions at the end of life. METHOD: International mortality follow-back study
      with data collection in Belgium, Netherlands, Italy and Spain (2009-11) via
      existing representative epidemiological surveillance networks of general
      practitioners (GPs). All general practitioners reported weekly, on a standardized
      registration form, every deceased patient (>=18 years) in their practice and
      identified those who died 'non-suddenly'. RESULTS: Among 4791 non-sudden deaths
      in Belgium, Netherlands, Italy and Spain, 59%, 55%, 60% and 58%, respectively,
      were transferred between care settings at least once in the final 3 months of
      life (10%, 8%, 10% and 13% in final 3 days of life); 10%, 5%, 8% and 12% were
      transferred three times or more (P < 0.001 in multivariate analyses adjusting for
      country differences in age, sex, cause of death, presence of dementia). In all
      countries, transitions were more frequent among patients residing at home (61
      73%) than among patients residing in a care home (33-40%). Three months before
      death 5-7% of patients were in hospital, and this rose to 27-39% on the day of
      death. Patient wishes were cited as the reason for the last transition before
      death in 27%, 39%, 9% and 6% of cases in Belgium, Netherlands, Italy and Spain,
      respectively (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: End-of-life transitions between health care
      settings are common across EU countries, in particular late hospitalizations for
      people residing at home. Frequency, type and reasons for terminal
      hospitalizations vary between countries.

PMID- 25829503
TI  - Seven years' mortality in Roma and non-Roma patients after coronary angiography.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ethnicity is associated with differences in clinical course and
      outcomes of cardiac disease, often in association with a poorer socioeconomic
      position. The aim of this study was to compare the mortality after coronary
      angiography (CAG) of Roma and non-Roma patients matched for education and
      adjusted for gender and age. METHODS: In total, 816 patients were included in the
      study (167 Roma and 649 non-Roma). Data on socio-demographic background, disease
      history, use of drugs, coronary findings and type of treatment were obtained from
      medical records. Mortality was assessed up to seven years after CAG. Kaplan-Meier
      curves of mortality were plotted, and differences between the Roma and non-Roma
      patients were assessed using log-rank tests, matched for education and adjusted
      for gender and age. RESULTS: Mortality after CAG was significantly higher among
      Roma than non-Roma (log-rank test chi(2) = 7.59, P < 0.01) and remained so after
      matching for education and adjustment for gender, age, history of previous
      myocardial infarction and abnormal CAG (hazard ratio: 2.07, 95% confidence
      interval: 1.13-3.82). CONCLUSION: Mortality after CAG is higher among Roma, and
      this is not due to differences in age, gender or education. These results warrant
      further reconsideration of the management of Roma cardiac patients.

PMID- 25829504
TI  - The ballad of financial dependency: sponsoring in public health professional
      societies.

PMID- 25829505
TI  - European accreditation and the future public health workforce.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In 2011 the Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation (APHEA)
      was initially launched focusing on Master level (second cycle) education.
      METHODS: Between 2012 and 2013 the Association of Schools of Public Health in the
      European Region, APHEA and partner schools conducted a study on the compliance of
      Master level programmes of public health to the accreditation criteria. A web
      based survey of second cycle programmes of public health across 29 countries was
      conducted using the APHEA criteria. The 29 countries were categorized into four
      regions: Northern, Southern, Central and Eastern and Western. We applied a Chi
      square test to identify regional differences with regard to the compliance of the
      programmes to the criteria. RESULTS: Data from 51 out of 71 schools contacted
      were analyzed. The compliance to the two themes of student and faculty exchange
      and quality management were lowest for programmes of public health throughout the
      EHEA. There were significant differences in the compliance between the regions
      with higher compliance in the Northern European region. CONCLUSIONS: Student and
      faculty exchange and quality management are essential for schools and programmes
      of public health to improve the quality of their education through expanding
      international knowledge and the pertinence of skills taught within European and
      national contexts. The results show that there are intrinsic issues with exchange
      and quality management as well as the role of national accreditation agencies in
      defining public health education for the future workforce.

PMID- 25829506
TI  - Age-related socio-economic and geographic disparities in breast cancer stage at
      diagnosis: a population-based study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the impact of socio-economic and
      geographic disparities on disease stage at diagnosis according to age in breast
      cancer (BC) patients. Secondary purpose was to describe survival METHODS: All
      women with primary invasive BC, diagnosed from 1998 to 2009 in the department of
      Cote d'Or were retrospectively selected using data from the Cote d'Or BC
      registry. European transnational ecological deprivation index (French European
      Deprivation Index) was used to measure the socio-economic environment.
      Relationships between socio-geographic deprivation and disease stage at diagnosis
      according to age were assessed by a multilevel ordered logistic regression model.
      Relative survival rates (RSRs) were given at 5 years according to tumour and
      patients characteristics. RESULTS: In total, 4364 women were included. In
      multivariable analysis, socio-economic deprivation was associated with disease
      stage at diagnosis. Women aged between 50 and 74 years and living in deprived
      areas were more often diagnosed with advanced tumour stages (stages II/III vs. I
      or stages IV vs. II/III) with odds ratio = 1.27 (1.01-1.60). RSRs were lowest in
      women living in the most deprived area compared with those living in most
      affluent area with RSR = 88.4% (85.9-90.4) and 92.6% (90.5-94.2), respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: Socio-economic factors affected tumour stage at diagnosis and
      survival. Living in a deprived area was linked to advanced-stage BC at diagnosis
      only in women aged 50-74 years. This is probably due to the socio-economic
      disparities in participation in organized BC screening programmes. Furthermore,
      living in deprived area was associated with a poor survival rate.

PMID- 25829507
TI  - Smoking and obesity among pregnant women in Iceland 2001-2010.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prevalence of smoking during pregnancy in Western societies has
      decreased in the last decades, whereas prevalence of overweight and obesity has
      increased. Our objective was to study secular trends and patterns of smoking and
      body weight among pregnant women in Iceland, during a period of dramatic changes
      in the nation's economy. METHODS: On the basis of the Medical Birth Registry, we
      used a random sample of 1329 births between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2010.
      Information on smoking, body mass index and background factors during pregnancy
      was retrieved from the Medical Birth Register and maternity records. Trends in
      smoking, overweight, obesity and body mass index were assessed using logistic and
      linear regression analyses. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the
      annual odds of smoking and obesity and by socio-demographic characteristics.
      RESULTS: We found a decrease in the prevalence of continued smoking during
      pregnancy from 12.4% in 2001 to 7.9% in 2010 [odds ratio (OR) = 0.94, 95%
      confidence interval (CI) (0.88-1.00)], particularly among women with Icelandic
      citizenship [OR = 0.92, 95% CI (0.86-0.98)], whereas no changes in obesity [OR =
      1.02, 95% CI (0.96-1.07)] were observed. The highest prevalence of maternal
      smoking and obesity was observed in 2005-06. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate
      that smoking during pregnancy decreased among Icelandic women in 2001-10, whereas
      an initial increase in obesity prevalence seemed to level off towards the end of
      the observation period. Interestingly, we found that both of these maternal risk
      factors reached their highest prevalence in 2005-06, which coincides with a
      flourishing period in the nation's economy.

PMID- 25829508
TI  - "Data were saturated . . . ".

PMID- 25829509
TI  - Acceptable care? Illness constructions, healthworlds, and accessible chronic
      treatment in South Africa.
AB  - Achieving equitable access to health care is an important policy goal, with
      access influenced by affordability, availability, and acceptability of specific
      services. We explore patient narratives from a 5-year program of research on
      health care access to examine relationships between social constructions of
      illness and the acceptability of health services in the context of tuberculosis
      treatment and antiretroviral therapy in South Africa. Acceptability of services
      seems particularly important to the meanings patients attach to illness and care,
      whereas-conversely-these constructions appear to influence what constitutes
      acceptability and hence affect access to care. We highlight the underestimated
      role of individually, socially, and politically constructed healthworlds;
      traditional and biomedical beliefs; and social support networks. Suggested policy
      implications for improving acceptability and hence overall health care access
      include abandoning patronizing approaches to care and refocusing from treating
      "disease" to responding to "illness" by acknowledging and incorporating patients'
      healthworlds in patient-provider interactions. 

PMID- 25829510
TI  - Neuronal redox imbalance results in altered energy homeostasis and early
      postnatal lethality.
AB  - Redox imbalance is believed to contribute to the development and progression of
      several neurodegenerative disorders. Our aim was to develop an animal model that
      exhibits neuron-specific oxidative stress in the CNS to study the consequences
      and eventually find clues regarding the pathomechanisms of oxidative insults in
      neuronal homeostasis. We therefore generated a novel neuron-specific superoxide
      dismutase 2 (SOD2)-deficient mouse by deleting exon 3 of the SOD2 gene using
      CamKIIalpha promoter-driven Cre expression. These neuron-specific SOD2 knockout
      (SOD2(nko)) mice, although born at normal frequencies, died at the age of 4 weeks
      with critical growth retardation, severe energy failure, and several neurologic
      phenotypes. In addition, SOD2(nko) mice exhibited severe neuronal alterations
      such as reactive astrogliosis, neuronal cell cycle inhibition, and induction of
      apoptosis. JNK activation and stabilization of p53, as a result of reactive
      oxygen species accumulation, are most likely the inducers of neuronal apoptosis
      in SOD2(nko) mice. It is remarkable that hypothalamic regulation of glucose
      metabolism was affected, which in turn induced necrotic brain lesions in
      SOD2(nko) mice. Taken together, our findings suggest that exclusive deficiency of
      SOD2 in neurons results in an impaired central regulation of energy homeostasis
      that leads to persistent hypoglycemia, hypoglycemia-related neuropathology, and
      an early lethality of the mutant mice.

PMID- 25829511
TI  - 2014 winners: Anne-Lise Gaffuri and Elizabeth Crowell.

PMID- 25829514
TI  - Cooperative functions of the two F-BAR proteins Cip4 and Nostrin in the
      regulation of E-cadherin in epithelial morphogenesis.

PMID- 25829513
TI  - Cavin family proteins and the assembly of caveolae.
AB  - Caveolae are an abundant feature of the plasma membrane in many cells. Until
      recently, they were generally considered to be membrane invaginations whose
      formation primarily driven by integral membrane proteins called caveolins.
      However, the past decade has seen the emergence of the cavin family of peripheral
      membrane proteins as essential coat components and regulators of caveola
      biogenesis. In this Commentary, we summarise recent data on the role of cavins in
      caveola formation, highlighting structural studies that provide new insights into
      cavin coat assembly. In mammals, there are four cavin family members that
      associate through homo- and hetero-oligomerisation to form distinct subcomplexes
      on caveolae, which can be released into the cell in response to stimuli. Studies
      from several labs have provided a better understanding of cavin stoichiometry and
      the molecular basis for their oligomerisation, as well as identifying
      interactions with membrane phospholipids that may be important for caveola
      function. We propose a model in which coincident, low-affinity electrostatically
      controlled protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions allow the formation of
      caveolae, generating a meta-stable structure that can respond to plasma membrane
      stress by release of cavins. 

PMID- 25829515
TI  - Physician under the knife.

PMID- 25829512
TI  - Autophagosome dynamics in neurodegeneration at a glance.
AB  - Autophagy is an essential homeostatic process for degrading cellular cargo. Aging
      organelles and protein aggregates are degraded by the autophagosome-lysosome
      pathway, which is particularly crucial in neurons. There is increasing evidence
      implicating defective autophagy in neurodegenerative diseases, including
      amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and
      Huntington's disease. Recent work using live-cell imaging has identified
      autophagy as a predominantly polarized process in neuronal axons; autophagosomes
      preferentially form at the axon tip and undergo retrograde transport back towards
      the cell body. Autophagosomes engulf cargo including damaged mitochondria
      (mitophagy) and protein aggregates, and subsequently fuse with lysosomes during
      axonal transport to effectively degrade their internalized cargo. In this Cell
      Science at a Glance article and the accompanying poster, we review recent
      progress on the dynamics of the autophagy pathway in neurons and highlight the
      defects observed at each step of this pathway during neurodegeneration. 

PMID- 25829516
TI  - Inference of purifying and positive selection in three subspecies of chimpanzees
      (Pan troglodytes) from exome sequencing.
AB  - We study genome-wide nucleotide diversity in three subspecies of extant
      chimpanzees using exome capture. After strict filtering, Single Nucleotide
      Polymorphisms and indels were called and genotyped for greater than 50% of exons
      at a mean coverage of 35* per individual. Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes
      troglodytes) are the most polymorphic (nucleotide diversity, thetaw = 0.0023 per
      site) followed by Eastern (P. t. schweinfurthii) chimpanzees (thetaw = 0.0016)
      and Western (P. t. verus) chimpanzees (thetaw = 0.0008). A demographic scenario
      of divergence without gene flow fits the patterns of autosomal synonymous
      nucleotide diversity well except for a signal of recent gene flow from Western
      into Eastern chimpanzees. The striking contrast in X-linked versus autosomal
      polymorphism and divergence previously reported in Central chimpanzees is also
      found in Eastern and Western chimpanzees. We show that the direction of selection
      statistic exhibits a strong nonmonotonic relationship with the strength of
      purifying selection S, making it inappropriate for estimating S. We instead use
      counts in synonymous versus nonsynonymous frequency classes to infer the
      distribution of S coefficients acting on nonsynonymous mutations in each
      subspecies. The strength of purifying selection we infer is congruent with the
      differences in effective sizes of each subspecies: Central chimpanzees are
      undergoing the strongest purifying selection followed by Eastern and Western
      chimpanzees. Coding indels show stronger selection against indels changing the
      reading frame than observed in human populations. 

PMID- 25829517
TI  - Syphilis serology in pregnancy: an eight-year study (2005-2012) in a large
      teaching maternity hospital in Dublin, Ireland.
AB  - All cases of positive syphilis serology detected in antenatal and peripartum
      screening in a large teaching maternity hospital in inner city Dublin, Ireland
      over an eight-year period (2005-2012 inclusive) were reviewed and included in our
      study. Demographic, antenatal registration, laboratory (including co-infections),
      partner serology, treatment and delivery data were recorded in our database.
      Infant follow-up, treatment and outcome data were also collected. During this
      period, 194 women had positive syphilis serology, of which 182 completed their
      pregnancies at the institution. This accounts for 0.28% of the total number of
      women completing their pregnancies during this time (N = 66038); 79 had no
      previous diagnosis of infection. There was one case of re-infection during
      pregnancy. Thirty-two women were co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus,
      hepatitis B or hepatitis C. There was one case suggestive of congenital syphilis
      infection. Our study is a comprehensive analysis of the diagnosis, management and
      clinical outcomes of women testing positive for syphilis infection in pregnancy.
      It reveals the relatively high prevalence of syphilis infection in the population
      utilising the maternity services in north inner-city Dublin. It re-enforces the
      importance of continued active surveillance to prevent morbidity and mortality
      associated with maternal syphilis infection. It also highlights the importance of
      strategies such as re-testing high-risk groups and definitive screening of spouse
      serology. 

PMID- 25829518
TI  - Management of recalcitrant Trichomonas vaginalis in pregnancy: a case report.
AB  - A case report of a pregnant woman with recalcitrant Trichomonas vaginalis is
      described. This case was managed with suppressive treatment with metronidazole
      during pregnancy and cleared with paromomycin vaginal treatment after delivery. 

PMID- 25829521
TI  - Extending the quality and safety agenda from parenteral to oral chemotherapy.

PMID- 25829520
TI  - The Virtual Short Physical Performance Battery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Performance-based and self-report instruments of physical function
      are frequently used and provide complementary information. Identifying older
      adults with a mismatch between actual and perceived function has utility in
      clinical settings and in the design of interventions. Using novel, video-animated
      technology, the objective of this study was to develop a self-report measure that
      parallels the domains of objective physical function assessed by the Short
      Physical Performance Battery (SPPB)-the virtual SPPB (vSPPB). METHODS: The SPPB,
      vSPPB, the self-report Pepper Assessment Tool for Disability, the Mobility
      Assessment Tool-short form, and a 400-m walk test were administered to 110 older
      adults (mean age = 80.6+/-5.2 years). One-week test-retest reliability of the
      vSPPB was examined in 30 participants. RESULTS: The total SPPB (mean [+/-SD] =
      7.7+/-2.8) and vSPPB (7.7+/-3.2) scores were virtually identical, yet moderately
      correlated (r = .601, p < .05). The component scores of the SPPB and vSPPB were
      also moderately correlated (all p values <.01). The vSPPB (intraclass correlation
      = .963, p < .05) was reliable; however, individuals with the lowest function
      overestimated their overall lower extremity function while participants of all
      functional levels overestimated their ability on chair stands, but accurately
      perceived their usual gait speed. CONCLUSION: In spite of the similarity between
      the SPPB and vSPPB, the moderate strength of the association between the two
      suggests that they offer unique perspectives on an older adult's physical
      function.

PMID- 25829519
TI  - Effect of HIV diagnosis disclosure on psychosocial outcomes in Thai children with
      perinatal HIV infection.
AB  - A provider-assisted, counselling-based, paediatric HIV disclosure model was
      developed and implemented at two tertiary-care hospitals in Bangkok, Thailand.
      All undisclosed perinatally acquired HIV-infected children, aged 7-18 years, and
      their caretakers were offered the four-step disclosure service, including:
      screening, readiness assessments and preparation, disclosure sessions, and follow
      up evaluations. To assess psychosocial outcomes of disclosure, we compared the
      scores of the Children Depression Inventory and the PedsQL 4.0TM at baseline and
      at two-month and six-month follow-up visits, and compared the scores of the Child
      Behavioral Checklist at baseline and at six-month follow-up. Disclosure was made
      to 186 children, 160 of whom completed post-disclosure assessments. The median
      Children's Depression Inventory score in 135 children decreased significantly
      from 11 at baseline to 8 at two-month and six-month follow-up (p < 0.01). The
      median PedsQL 4.0TM scores in 126 children increased significantly from 78 at
      baseline to 80 at two-month and 84 at six-month follow-up (p = 0.04). The median
      Child Behavioral Checklist scores were not significantly changed. In conclusion,
      paediatric HIV diagnosis disclosure using this model was found to have positive
      effect on the children's mood and quality of life, and no negative effect on
      children's behaviours. This disclosure programme should be expanded to improve
      the psychosocial health of HIV-infected children. 

PMID- 25829522
TI  - Cost-related health literacy: a key component of high-quality cancer care.

PMID- 25829523
TI  - Transforming data from information to quality improvement: a panel discussion
      with electronic health record vendors.

PMID- 25829524
TI  - Oncology pharmaceutical funding in New Zealand: a different approach and a
      proposal.

PMID- 25829525
TI  - Processes of discontinuing chemotherapy for metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer
      at the end of life.
AB  - PURPOSE: Administration of chemotherapy close to death is widely recognized as
      poor-quality care. Prior research has focused on predictors and outcomes of
      chemotherapy administration at the end of life. This study describes processes of
      chemotherapy discontinuation and examines their relationships with timing before
      death, hospice referral, and hospital death. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reviewed
      health records of a prospective cohort of 151 patients with newly diagnosed
      metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer who participated in a trial of early
      palliative care. Chemotherapy treatments during final regimen were qualitatively
      analyzed to identify categories of discontinuation processes. We then
      quantitatively compared predictors and outcomes of the process categories.
      RESULTS: A total of 144 patients died, with 81 and 48 receiving intravenous (IV)
      and oral chemotherapies as their final regimen, respectively. Five processes were
      identified for IV chemotherapy: definitive decisions (19.7%), deferred decisions
      or breaks (22.2%), disruptions for radiation therapy (22.2%), disruptions
      resulting from hospitalization (27.2%), and no decisions (8.6%). The five
      processes occurred at significantly different times before death and, except for
      definitive decisions, ultimate decisions for no further chemotherapy and referral
      to hospice were often made months later. Among patients receiving oral
      chemotherapy, 83.3% (40 of 48) were switched from IV to oral delivery as their
      final regimen, sometimes concurrent with or even after hospice referral.
      CONCLUSION: Date of last chemotherapy is not a proxy for when a decision to stop
      treatment is made. Patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer stop their
      final chemotherapy regimen via different processes, which significantly vary in
      time before death and subsequent end-of-life care.

PMID- 25829526
TI  - Hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes: American Society of Clinical Oncology
      clinical practice guideline endorsement of the familial risk-colorectal cancer:
      European Society for Medical Oncology clinical practice guidelines.

PMID- 25829527
TI  - Prostate cancer survivorship care guidelines: American Society of Clinical
      Oncology practice guideline endorsement.

PMID- 25829528
TI  - Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Anxious and Depressive Symptoms in
      Caregivers of Children With Asthma.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To provide a review of the literature comparing anxious and depressive
      symptoms in caregivers of children with asthma with caregivers of healthy
      children. METHOD: A systematic search identified 25 studies from 17 articles,
      reporting outcomes on 4,300 caregivers of children with asthma and 25,064
      caregivers of healthy children. RESULTS: Overall, anxious (d = 0.50) and
      depressive symptoms (d = 0.44) were higher in caregivers of children with asthma
      compared with caregivers of healthy children. Age, site of recruitment, and
      whether the asthma diagnosis was medically confirmed were included as potential
      moderators. The relationship between parental psychopathology and asthma was
      stronger in those with medically confirmed asthma and participants recruited from
      clinical settings. Other moderators were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Caregivers
      of children with asthma appear to have greater anxious and depressive symptoms
      than caregivers of healthy children, but the reasons are unclear. More research
      that investigates modifiable factors that may moderate this association is
      urgently needed.

PMID- 25829530
TI  - The varying influence of socioeconomic deprivation on breast cancer screening
      uptake in London.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We assessed the relationship between screening uptake and
      socioeconomic deprivation for London women aged 50-52 invited to their first
      routine screening appointment between 2006 and 2009. METHODS: We examined uptake
      for London overall and within six screening areas, using deprivation quintile,
      based on post code of residence. RESULTS: After adjustment for age, area and
      ethnicity, overall uptake decreased with increasing deprivation (adjusted odds
      ratio (OR) = 0.95, P < 0.001). However, in two screening areas with lower uptake,
      women living in deprived areas had higher uptake than women from affluent areas.
      CONCLUSIONS: These potential inequalities in early diagnosis across London
      require further investigation.

PMID- 25829529
TI  - Amiloride and GMQ Allosteric Modulation of the GABA-A rho1 Receptor: Influences
      of the Intersubunit Site.
AB  - Amiloride, a diuretic used in the treatment of hypertension and congestive heart
      failure, and 2-guanidine-4-methylquinazoline (GMQ) are guanidine compounds that
      modulate acid-sensing ion channels. Both compounds have demonstrated affinity for
      a variety of membrane proteins, including members of the Cys-loop family of
      ligand-gated ion channels, such as the heteromeric GABA-A alphabetagamma
      receptors. The actions of these guanidine compounds on the homomeric GABA-A rho1
      receptor remains unclear, especially in light of how many GABA-A alphabetagamma
      receptor modulators have different effects in the GABA-A rho1 receptors. We
      sought to characterize the influence of amiloride and GMQ on the human GABA-A
      rho1 receptors using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology. The diuretic
      amiloride potentiated the human GABA-A rho1 GABA-mediated current, whereas GMQ
      antagonized the receptor. Furthermore, a GABA-A second transmembrane domain site,
      the intersubunit site, responsible for allosteric modulation in the heteromeric
      GABA-A receptors mediated amiloride's positive allosteric actions. In contrast,
      the mutation did not remove GMQ antagonism but only changed the guanidine
      compound's potency within the human GABA-A rho1 receptor. Through modeling and
      introduction of point mutations, we propose that the GABA-A rho1 intersubunit
      site plays a role in mediating the allosteric effects of amiloride and GMQ. 

PMID- 25829531
TI  - Lesion regression rate based on RECIST: prediction of treatment outcome in
      patients with head and neck cancer treated with chemoradiotherapy compared with
      FDG PET-CT.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the lesion regression rate
      (DeltaLR) based on the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST)
      criteria could be used for the prediction of treatment outcome in head and neck
      squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients treated with chemoradiotherapy (CRT)
      compared with FDG PET-CT. A total of 33 patients underwent MRI and PET-CT at
      pretreatment and at 8 weeks after CRT. We assessed the treatment outcome by
      analyzing the following parameters: the RECIST criteria, DeltaLR, the European
      Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) criteria, and
      pretreatment SUVmax of the primary tumor and node. The correlation between the
      analysis of the parameters and the results of the long-term follow-up of the
      patients was determined. The RECIST did not significantly correlate with
      locoregional control (LRC) or survival. The DeltaLR was significantly lower for
      the lesions with locoregional failure (LRF) than for those with LRC. A threshold
      DeltaLR of 48% revealed a sensitivity of 72.7% and specificity of 77.3% for the
      prediction of LRF. Progression-free survival (PFS) of patients with DeltaLR >=
      48% was significantly better than that of patients with DeltaLR < 48% (P =
      0.001), but not overall survival. There was a significant correlation between LRC
      and the EORTC (P = 0.02). The patients who achieved a complete response by the
      EORTC criteria showed significantly better PFS and overall survival (P = 0.01 and
      0.04, respectively). The DeltaLR was inferior to FDG PET-CT with respect to the
      prediction of patient survival; however, it may be useful for selecting patients
      in need of more aggressive monitoring after CRT. 

PMID- 25829533
TI  - Fournier's gangrene secondary to an acutely inflamed appendix herniating into the
      deep inguinal ring.
AB  - Fournier's gangrene (FG) requires prompt recognition and management. We report
      the case of a 68-year-old man who presented with extensive pain and purple
      discolouration from the right iliac fossa to perineum. Computed tomography
      demonstrated gas within the right hemiscrotum extending into the inguinal canal
      and right buttock, with a right pelvic fluid and air collection. At debridement
      necrotic fluid was arising from the superficial inguinal ring so laparotomy was
      performed, revealing a grossly inflamed appendix herniating into the inguinal
      canal; a right hemicolectomy was performed. Unfortunately, the patient went into
      cardiac arrest and passed away on the operating table. Histological analysis
      demonstrated acute-on-chronic inflammation involving the appendix. The condition
      where appendicitis is implicated in FG is usually due to retroperitoneal rupture
      and tracking into the perineal spaces. This is the first case reported of an
      inflamed appendix herniating into the inguinal canal and thus causing FG. 

PMID- 25829532
TI  - Abundance of BER-related proteins depends on cell proliferation status and the
      presence of DNA polymerase beta.
AB  - In mammalian cells, murine N-methylpurine DNA glycosylase (MPG) removes bases
      damaged spontaneously or by chemical agents through the process called base
      excision repair (BER). In this study, we investigated the influence of POL beta
      deficiency on MPG-initiated BER efficiency and the expression levels of BER
      related proteins in log-phase and growth-arrested (G(0)) mouse embryonic
      fibroblasts (MEFs). G(0) wild-type (WT) or POL beta-deficient (Pol beta-KO) cells
      showed greater resistance to methyl methanesulfonate than did log-phase cells,
      and repair of methylated bases was less efficient in the G(0) cells. Apex1 mRNA
      expression was significantly lower in Pol beta-KO or G(0) WT MEFs than in log
      phase WT MEFs. Moreover, although Mpg mRNA levels did not differ significantly
      among cell types, MPG protein levels were significantly higher in log-phase WT
      cells than in log-phase Pol beta-KO cells or either type of G(0) cells.
      Additionally, proliferating cell nuclear antigen protein levels were also reduced
      in log-phase Pol beta-KO cells or either type of G(0) cells. These results
      indicated that MPG-initiated BER functions mainly in proliferating cells, but
      less so in G(0) cells, and that POL beta may be involved in regulation of the
      amount of intracellular repair proteins.

PMID- 25829534
TI  - Maximizing the diagnostic yield from bone marrow aspirate material using the cell
      block technique on clot sections.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Paraffin section of bone-marrow aspirate (clot section) is one of
      several components of bone marrow biopsy. Improper acquisition of aspirate
      material results in lack of diagnostic tissue and a waste of resources.
      OBJECTIVE: To detail a novel cell block method of aspirated marrow as a way to
      ensure maximum yield. This is of particular value when the material gathered via
      core biopsy is inadequate. METHOD: We used the cell block method to evaluate
      paraffin-embedded sections of hematopoietic tissue from bone marrow aspirate.
      RESULTS: The range of diagnoses possible from an adequate clot section parallels
      those from a comparable core biopsy. Examples of an adequate clot section include
      lesions assessed by routine hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining, special and
      immunohistochemistry (IHC) stains, and molecular diagnostic studies such as
      fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
      CONCLUSION: A bone marrow clot section comprised of sinusoidal blood is
      inadequate for morphological interpretation and is a waste of resources. Hence,
      we recommend the cell block technique for procurement; this method ensures
      maximum capture of material needed to establish a diagnosis.

PMID- 25829535
TI  - Tuberculosis-resistant transgenic cattle.

PMID- 25829536
TI  - Equation-free modeling unravels the behavior of complex ecological systems.

PMID- 25829537
TI  - Climate change and California drought in the 21st century.

PMID- 25829538
TI  - Do the spatial frequencies of grid cells mold the firing fields of place cells?

PMID- 25829540
TI  - Novel Epac fluorescent ligand reveals distinct Epac1 vs. Epac2 distribution and
      function in cardiomyocytes.
AB  - Exchange proteins directly activated by cAMP (Epac1 and Epac2) have been recently
      recognized as key players in beta-adrenergic-dependent cardiac arrhythmias.
      Whereas Epac1 overexpression can lead to cardiac hypertrophy and Epac2 activation
      can be arrhythmogenic, it is unknown whether distinct subcellular distribution of
      Epac1 vs. Epac2 contributes to differential functional effects. Here, we
      characterized and used a novel fluorescent cAMP derivate Epac ligand 8-[Pharos
      575]-2'-O-methyladenosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (Phi-O-Me-cAMP) in mice
      lacking either one or both isoforms (Epac1-KO, Epac2-KO, or double knockout, DKO)
      to assess isoform localization and function. Fluorescence of Phi-O-Me-cAMP was
      enhanced by binding to Epac. Unlike several Epac-specific antibodies tested, Phi
      O-Me-cAMP exhibited dramatically reduced signals in DKO myocytes. In WT, the
      apparent binding affinity (Kd = 10.2 +/- 0.8 uM) is comparable to that of cAMP
      and nonfluorescent Epac-selective agonist 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)-2-O
      methyladenosine-3'-,5'-cyclicmonophosphate (OMe-CPT). Phi-O-Me-cAMP readily
      entered intact myocytes, but did not activate PKA and its binding was
      competitively inhibited by OMe-CPT, confirming its Epac specificity. Phi-O-Me
      cAMP is a weak partial agonist for purified Epac, but functioned as an antagonist
      for four Epac signaling pathways in myocytes. Epac2 and Epac1 were differentially
      concentrated along T tubules and around the nucleus, respectively. Epac1-KO
      abolished OMe-CPT-induced nuclear CaMKII activation and export of transcriptional
      regulator histone deacetylase 5. In conclusion, Epac1 is localized and
      functionally involved in nuclear signaling, whereas Epac2 is located at the T
      tubules and regulates arrhythmogenic sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca leak. 

PMID- 25829541
TI  - T-bet- and STAT4-dependent IL-33 receptor expression directly promotes antiviral
      Th1 cell responses.
AB  - During infection, the release of damage-associated molecular patterns, so-called
      "alarmins," orchestrates the immune response. The alarmin IL-33 plays a role in a
      wide range of pathologies. Upon release, IL-33 signals through its receptor ST2,
      which reportedly is expressed only on CD4(+) T cells of the Th2 and regulatory
      subsets. Here we show that Th1 effector cells also express ST2 upon
      differentiation in vitro and in vivo during lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus
      (LCMV) infection. The expression of ST2 on Th1 cells was transient, in contrast
      to constitutive ST2 expression on Th2 cells, and marked highly activated effector
      cells. ST2 expression on virus-specific Th1 cells depended on the Th1-associated
      transcription factors T-bet and STAT4. ST2 deficiency resulted in a T-cell
      intrinsic impairment of LCMV-specific Th1 effector responses in both mixed bone
      marrow-chimeric mice and adoptive cell transfer experiments. ST2-deficient virus
      specific CD4(+) T cells showed impaired expansion, Th1 effector differentiation,
      and antiviral cytokine production. Consequently, these cells mediated little
      virus-induced immunopathology. Thus, IL-33 acts as a critical and direct cofactor
      to drive antiviral Th1 effector cell activation, with implications for
      vaccination strategies and immunotherapeutic approaches. 

PMID- 25829542
TI  - Inversion of Sonic hedgehog action on its canonical pathway by electrical
      activity.
AB  - Sonic hedgehog (Shh) is a morphogenic protein that operates through the Gli
      transcription factor-dependent canonical pathway to orchestrate normal
      development of many tissues. Because aberrant levels of Gli activity lead to a
      wide spectrum of diseases ranging from neurodevelopmental defects to cancer,
      understanding the regulatory mechanisms of Shh canonical pathway is paramount.
      During early stages of spinal cord development, Shh specifies neural progenitors
      through the canonical signaling. Despite persistence of Shh as spinal cord
      development progresses, Gli activity is switched off by unknown mechanisms. In
      this study we find that Shh inverts its action on Gli during development.
      Strikingly, Shh decreases Gli signaling in the embryonic spinal cord by an
      electrical activity- and cAMP-dependent protein kinase-mediated pathway. The
      inhibition of Gli activity by Shh operates at multiple levels. Shh promotes
      cytosolic over nuclear localization of Gli2, induces Gli2 and Gli3 processing
      into repressor forms, and activates cAMP-responsive element binding protein that
      in turn represses gli1 transcription. The regulatory mechanisms identified in
      this study likely operate with different spatiotemporal resolution and ensure
      effective down-regulation of the canonical Shh signaling as spinal cord
      development progresses. The developmentally regulated intercalation of electrical
      activity in the Shh pathway may represent a paradigm for switching from canonical
      to noncanonical roles of developmental cues during neuronal differentiation and
      maturation. 

PMID- 25829543
TI  - Combinatorial proteomic analysis of intercellular signaling applied to the CD28 T
      cell costimulatory receptor.
AB  - Systematic characterization of intercellular signaling approximating the
      physiological conditions of stimulation that involve direct cell-cell contact is
      challenging. We describe a proteomic strategy to analyze physiological signaling
      mediated by the T-cell costimulatory receptor CD28. We identified signaling
      pathways activated by CD28 during direct cell-cell contact by global analysis of
      protein phosphorylation. To define immediate CD28 targets, we used phosphorylated
      forms of the CD28 cytoplasmic region to obtain the CD28 interactome. The
      interaction profiles of selected CD28-interacting proteins were further
      characterized in vivo for amplifying the CD28 interactome. The combination of the
      global phosphorylation and interactome analyses revealed broad regulation of CD28
      and its interactome by phosphorylation. Among the cellular phosphoproteins
      influenced by CD28 signaling, CapZ-interacting protein (CapZIP), a regulator of
      the actin cytoskeleton, was implicated by functional studies. The combinatorial
      approach applied herein is widely applicable for characterizing signaling
      networks associated with membrane receptors with short cytoplasmic tails. 

PMID- 25829546
TI  - Retraction for Cox et al., Pan-viral-microRNA screening identifies interferon
      inhibition as a common function of diverse viruses.

PMID- 25829544
TI  - The coreceptor CD4 is expressed in distinct nanoclusters and does not colocalize
      with T-cell receptor and active protein tyrosine kinase p56lck.
AB  - CD4 molecules on the surface of T lymphocytes greatly augment the sensitivity and
      activation process of these cells, but how it functions is not fully understood.
      Here we studied the spatial organization of CD4, and its relationship to T-cell
      antigen receptor (TCR) and the active form of Src kinase p56lck (Lck) using
      single and dual-color photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM) and direct
      stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM). In nonactivated T cells,
      CD4 molecules are clustered in small protein islands, as are TCR and Lck. By dual
      color imaging, we find that CD4, TCR, and Lck are localized in their separate
      clusters with limited interactions in the interfaces between them. Upon T-cell
      activation, the TCR and CD4 begin clustering together, developing into
      microclusters, and undergo a larger scale redistribution to form supramolecluar
      activation clusters (SMACs). CD4 and Lck localize in the inner TCR region of the
      SMAC, but this redistribution of disparate cluster structures results in enhanced
      segregation from each other. In nonactivated cells these preclustered structures
      and the limited interactions between them may serve to limit spontaneous and
      random activation events. However, the small sizes of these island structures
      also ensure large interfacial surfaces for potential interactions and signal
      amplification when activation is initiated. In the later activation stages, the
      increasingly larger clusters and their segregation from each other reduce the
      interfacial surfaces and could have a dampening effect. These highly
      differentiated spatial distributions of TCR, CD4, and Lck and their changes
      during activation suggest that there is a more complex hierarchy than previously
      thought. 

PMID- 25829547
TI  - Scattering-layer-induced energy storage function in polymer-based quasi-solid
      state dye-sensitized solar cells.
AB  - Photo-self-charging cells (PSCs) are compact devices with dual functions of
      photoelectric conversion and energy storage. By introducing a scattering layer in
      polymer-based quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells, two-electrode PSCs
      with highly compact structure were obtained. The charge storage function stems
      from the formed ion channel network in the scattering layer/polymer electrolyte
      system. Both the photoelectric conversion and the energy storage functions are
      integrated in only the photoelectrode of such PSCs. This design of PSC could
      continuously output power as a solar cell with considerable efficiency after
      being photo-charged. Such PSCs could be applied in highly-compact mini power
      devices.

PMID- 25829545
TI  - CFTR and sphingolipids mediate hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction.
AB  - Hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) optimizes pulmonary ventilation
      perfusion matching in regional hypoxia, but promotes pulmonary hypertension in
      global hypoxia. Ventilation-perfusion mismatch is a major cause of hypoxemia in
      cystic fibrosis. We hypothesized that cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance
      regulator (CFTR) may be critical in HPV, potentially by modulating the response
      to sphingolipids as mediators of HPV. HPV and ventilation-perfusion mismatch were
      analyzed in isolated mouse lungs or in vivo. Ca(2+) mobilization and transient
      receptor potential canonical 6 (TRPC6) translocation were studied in human
      pulmonary (PASMCs) or coronary (CASMCs) artery smooth muscle cells. CFTR
      inhibition or deficiency diminished HPV and aggravated ventilation-perfusion
      mismatch. In PASMCs, hypoxia caused CFTR to interact with TRPC6, whereas CFTR
      inhibition attenuated hypoxia-induced TRPC6 translocation to caveolae and Ca(2+)
      mobilization. Ca(2+) mobilization by sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) was also
      attenuated by CFTR inhibition in PASMCs, but amplified in CASMCs. Inhibition of
      neutral sphingomyelinase (nSMase) blocked HPV, whereas exogenous nSMase caused
      TRPC6 translocation and vasoconstriction that were blocked by CFTR inhibition.
      nSMase- and hypoxia-induced vasoconstriction, yet not TRPC6 translocation, were
      blocked by inhibition or deficiency of sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) or antagonism
      of S1P receptors 2 and 4 (S1P2/4). S1P and nSMase had synergistic effects on
      pulmonary vasoconstriction that involved TRPC6, phospholipase C, and rho kinase.
      Our findings demonstrate a central role of CFTR and sphingolipids in HPV. Upon
      hypoxia, nSMase triggers TRPC6 translocation, which requires its interaction with
      CFTR. Concomitant SphK1-dependent formation of S1P and activation of S1P2/4
      result in phospholipase C-mediated TRPC6 and rho kinase activation, which
      conjointly trigger vasoconstriction. 

PMID- 25829548
TI  - An acoustic filter based on layered structure.
AB  - Acoustic filters (AFs) are key components to control wave propagation in multi
      frequency systems. We present a design which selectively achieves acoustic
      filtering with a stop band and passive amplification at the high- and low
      frequencies, respectively. Measurement results from the prototypes closely match
      the design predictions. The AF suppresses the high frequency aliasing echo by
      14.5 dB and amplifies the low frequency transmission by 8.0 dB, increasing an
      axial resolution from 416 to 86 MUm in imaging. The AF design approach is proved
      to be effective in multi-frequency systems.

PMID- 25829549
TI  - Silicon on-chip bandpass filters for the multiplexing of high sensitivity
      photonic crystal microcavity biosensors.
AB  - A method for the dense integration of high sensitivity photonic crystal (PC)
      waveguide based biosensors is proposed and experimentally demonstrated on a
      silicon platform. By connecting an additional PC waveguide filter to a PC
      microcavity sensor in series, a transmission passband is created, containing the
      resonances of the PC microcavity for sensing purpose. With proper engineering of
      the passband, multiple high sensitivity PC microcavity sensors can be integrated
      into microarrays and be interrogated simultaneously between a single input and a
      single output port. The concept was demonstrated with a 2-channel L55 PC
      biosensor array containing PC waveguide filters. The experiment showed that the
      sensors on both channels can be monitored simultaneously from a single output
      spectrum. Less than 3 dB extra loss for the additional PC waveguide filter is
      observed.

PMID- 25829550
TI  - A new approach to cancer.

PMID- 25829552
TI  - Laparoscopic-assisted extirpation of falciform ligament hemangiosarcoma in a dog.
AB  - An 8-year-old, spayed female, bichon frise dog had incidental nodules within its
      falciform ligament identified on routine abdominal ultrasonography. A
      laparoscopic-assisted technique provided both a diagnostic and a therapeutic
      treatment option. A histopathological diagnosis of hemangiosarcoma was made. This
      is the second case reporting hemangiosarcoma of the falciform fat. 

PMID- 25829553
TI  - Anthrax vaccine associated deaths in miniature horses.
AB  - During a widespread anthrax outbreak in Canada, miniature horses were vaccinated
      using a live spore anthrax vaccine. Several of these horses died from an apparent
      immune-mediated vasculitis temporally associated with this vaccination. During
      the course of the outbreak, other miniature horses from different regions with a
      similar vaccination history, clinical signs, and necropsy findings were found. 

PMID- 25829554
TI  - Multiorgan dysfunction syndrome secondary to joint supplement overdosage in a
      dog.
AB  - A 5-year-old spayed female Bernese mountain dog, with a chief complaint of
      vomiting and melena ingested approximately 200 nutritional joint supplement
      tablets. Despite aggressive therapy, the patient developed a coagulopathy,
      pancreatitis, peritonitis, acute kidney injury, and was euthanized. Postmortem
      examination revealed myocardial necrosis, pneumonia, centrilobular hemorrhage and
      necrosis of the liver, vasculitis, and acute tubular necrosis. 

PMID- 25829556
TI  - The use of equine surfactant and positive pressure ventilation to treat a
      premature alpaca cria with severe hypoventilation and hypercapnia.
AB  - A 5-hour-old, premature alpaca cria was presented with failure to nurse,
      weakness, hypoglycemia, hypercapnia, and respiratory distress. The cria was
      treated with 3 doses of fresh, crude equine surfactant, positive pressure
      ventilation, and supplemental intranasal oxygen. Recovery to discharge was
      uneventful, and the cria regained apparently normal respiratory function. Three
      years after hospital discharge, the alpaca was a healthy adult. 

PMID- 25829555
TI  - Cranial vena cava syndrome secondary to cryptococcal mediastinal granuloma in a
      cat.
AB  - The successful management of cranial vena cava syndrome with suspected secondary
      chylothorax due to mediastinal cryptococcal granuloma in a 4-year-old male
      domestic shorthair cat is described. Treatment included long-term antifungal
      medication, short-term corticosteroids, intermittent thoracocentesis, rutin,
      octreotide, and enalapril. 

PMID- 25829557
TI  - Effects of incision closure method on infection prevalence following tibial
      plateau leveling osteotomy in dogs.
AB  - The goal of this study was to retrospectively investigate the effect of
      incisional closure with either stainless steel skin staples or intradermal
      poliglecaprone 25 on the prevalence of surgical site infection following tibial
      plateau leveling osteotomy in dogs. Medical records were reviewed for dogs
      treated with unilateral tibial plateau leveling osteotomy at Memphis Veterinary
      Specialists between 2006 and 2013. Procedures (n = 306) from 242 dogs were
      included in the study. The association of potential risk factors with the
      occurrence of postoperative infection was assessed using logistic regression. A
      value of P < 0.05 was considered significant. Weight and administration of
      postoperative antimicrobials were found to significantly influence surgical site
      infection prevalence. No significant association was noted between closure method
      and prevalence of postoperative infection. 

PMID- 25829558
TI  - Ceratohyoidectomy for treatment of equine temporohyoid osteoarthopathy (15
      cases).
AB  - This study investigated 15 horses diagnosed with temporohyoid osteoarthopathy
      (THO) and treated by ceratohyoidectomy between 2004 and 2012. The presenting
      complaint, duration and nature of the clinical signs, additional diagnostic
      procedures, and complications were reviewed retrospectively. Long-term follow-up
      on horses was used to determine prognosis. All horses were diagnosed by guttural
      pouch endoscopy. Follow-up was available for 14 horses that survived to
      discharge. Eight of 10 horses that were used athletically prior to surgery
      returned to previous levels of use. Persisting clinical signs included mild
      facial nerve paralysis (3/14; 21.4%) or head tilt (6/14; 42.8%) but these were
      not functionally limiting. It was concluded that equine THO affects a wide range
      of breeds, disciplines, and ages of horses, and has a variety of presenting
      clinical signs most commonly associated with vestibular and facial nerves.
      Prognosis following ceratohyoidectomy is good for resolution of ataxia but some
      cranial nerve deficits may persist. 

PMID- 25829559
TI  - Comparison of cardiorespiratory variables in dorsally recumbent horses
      anesthetized with guaifenesin-ketamine-xylazine spontaneously breathing 50% or
      maximal oxygen concentrations.
AB  - This study compared cardiorespiratory variables in dorsally recumbent horses
      anesthetized with guaifenesin-ketamine-xylazine and spontaneously breathing 50%
      or maximal (> 90%) oxygen (O2) concentrations. Twelve healthy mares were randomly
      assigned to breathe 50% or maximal O2 concentrations. Horses were sedated with
      xylazine, induced to recumbency with ketamine-diazepam, and anesthesia was
      maintained with guaifenesin-ketamine-xylazine to effect. Heart rate, arterial
      blood pressures, respiratory rate, lithium dilution cardiac output (CO), inspired
      and expired O2 and carbon dioxide partial pressures, and tidal volume were
      measured. Arterial and mixed-venous blood samples were collected prior to
      sedation (baseline), during 30 minutes of anesthesia, 10 minutes after
      disconnection from O2, and 30 minutes after standing. Shunt fraction, O2
      delivery, and alveolar-arterial O2 partial pressures difference [P(A-a)O2] were
      calculated. Recovery times were recorded. There were no significant differences
      between groups in cardiorespiratory parameters or in P(A-a)O2 at baseline or 30
      minutes after standing. Oxygen partial pressure difference in the 50% group was
      significantly less than in the maximal O2 group during anesthesia. 

PMID- 25829561
TI  - The Ontario Veterinary College after World War II: 1945-1953.

PMID- 25829560
TI  - Antimicrobial resistance trends among canine Escherichia coli isolates obtained
      from clinical samples in the northeastern USA, 2004-2011.
AB  - Our objectives were to describe the antimicrobial susceptibility of Escherichia
      coli isolates from dogs in the northeastern USA and to identify temporal trends
      in resistance to selected antimicrobial agents. Data were collected
      retrospectively for all canine E. coli isolates from clinical samples submitted
      to Cornell University's Animal Health Diagnostic Center between January 1, 2004
      and December 31, 2011. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed on 3519
      canine E. coli isolates; frequency of resistance to each agent ranged from 0.4%
      (amikacin) to 34.3% (ampicillin). No trends were evident among urinary isolates,
      but cephalosporin resistance remained consistently high. Among non-urinary
      isolates, there was evidence of a significantly increasing trend in prevalence of
      resistance to several agents, including cephalosporins, enrofloxacin, and
      tetracycline. These data suggest that some of the most commonly used
      antimicrobial agents in companion animal practice are becoming less effective
      against canine E. coli infections outside the urinary tract. 

PMID- 25829562
TI  - Efficacy of needle-free injection on antibody production against Clostridium
      chauvoei in beef calves under field conditions.
AB  - This study compared needle-free and needle-based injection devices for
      vaccination of calves against Clostridium chauvoei in warm and cold conditions.
      Both devices elicited comparable antibody responses in calves. Needle-free
      injection devices can be used to vaccinate calves provided appropriate
      precautions are taken in cold weather. 

PMID- 25829563
TI  - Hereditary hyperplastic gingivitis in North American farmed silver fox (Vulpes
      vulpes).
AB  - Hereditary hyperplastic gingivitis is a progressive growth of gingival tissues in
      foxes resulting in dental encapsulation. It is an autosomal recessive condition
      displaying a gender-biased penetrance, with an association with superior fur
      quality. This disease has been primarily described in European farmed foxes. Here
      we document its emergence in Canada. 

PMID- 25829564
TI  - The popularity paradox.

PMID- 25829565
TI  - Weighty communication challenges.

PMID- 25829566
TI  - Direct observations of field-induced assemblies in magnetite ferrofluids.
AB  - Evolution of microstructures in magnetite-based ferrofluids with weak dipolar
      moments (particle size <= 10 nm) is studied with an emphasis on examining the
      effects of particle concentration (phi) and magnetic field strength (H) on the
      structures. Nanoparticles are dispersed in water at three different
      concentrations, phi = 0.15%, 0.48%, and 0.59% (w/v) [g/ml%] and exposed to
      uniform magnetic fields in the range of H = 0.05-0.42 T. Cryogenic transmission
      electron microscopy is employed to provide in-situ observations of the field
      induced assemblies in such systems. As the magnetic field increases, the Brownian
      colloids are observed to form randomly distributed chains aligned in the field
      direction, followed by head-to-tail chain aggregation and then lateral
      aggregation of chains termed as zippering. By increasing the field in low
      concentration samples, the number of chains increases, though their length does
      not change dramatically. Increasing concentration increases the length of the
      linear particle assemblies in the presence of a fixed external magnetic field.
      Thickening of the chains due to zippering is observed at relatively high fields.
      Through a systematic variation of concentration and magnetic field strength, this
      study shows that both magnetic field strength and change in concentration can
      strongly influence formation of microstructures even in weak dipolar systems.
      Additionally, the results of two commonly used support films on electron
      microscopy grids, continuous carbon and holey carbon films, are compared. Holey
      carbon film allows us to create local regions of high concentrations that further
      assist the development of field-induced assemblies. The experimental observations
      provide a validation of the zippering effect and can be utilized in the
      development of models for thermophysical properties such as thermal conductivity.

PMID- 25829567
TI  - Flaxseed-a potential functional food source.
AB  - There is currently much interest in phytochemicals as bioactive molecules of
      food. Functional foods are an emerging field in food science due to their
      increasing popularity among health conscious consumers. Flaxseed is cultivated in
      many parts of world for fiber, oil as well as for medicinal purposes and also as
      nutritional product. In this review, nutrients, anti-nutrients, functional
      properties, processing, metabolism and health benefits of bioactive molecules
      viz., essential fatty acids, lignans and dietary fiber of flaxseed are discussed.

PMID- 25829568
TI  - Date canning: a new approach for the long time preservation of date.
AB  - Dramatic growth in date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) production, makes it clear to
      apply proper methods to preserve this nutritious fruit for a long time. Numerous
      methods have been used to gain this goal in recent years that can be classified
      into non-thermal (fumigation, ozonation, irradiation, and packaging) and thermal
      (heat treatment, cold storage, dehydration, jam etc.) processing methods. In this
      paper these methods were reviewed and novel methods for date preservation were
      presented. 

PMID- 25829569
TI  - Evaluation of antioxidant activities of bioactive compounds and various extracts
      obtained from saffron (Crocus sativus L.): a review.
AB  - Saffron (Crocus sativus L. stigma), the most valuable medicinal food product,
      belongs to the Iridaceae family which has been widely used as a coloring and
      flavoring agent. These properties are basically related to its crocins,
      picrocrocin and safranal contents which have all demonstrated health promoting
      properties. The present review article highlights the phytochemical constituents
      (phenolic and flavonoid compounds, degraded carotenoid compounds crocins and
      crocetin) that are important in antioxidant activity of saffron extracts.
      However, the synergistic effect of all the bioactive components presence in
      saffron gave a significant antioxidant activity similar to vegetables rich in
      carotenoids. Our study provides an updated overview focused on the antioxidant
      activity of saffron related to its bioactive compounds to design the different
      functional products in food, medicine and cosmetic industries. 

PMID- 25829570
TI  - Oxygen absorbers in food preservation: a review.
AB  - The preservation of packaged food against oxidative degradation is essential to
      establish and improve food shelf life, customer acceptability, and increase food
      security. Oxygen absorbers have an important role in the removal of dissolved
      oxygen, preserving the colour, texture and aroma of different food products, and
      importantly inhibition of food spoilage microbes. Active packaging technology in
      food preservation has improved over decades mostly due to the sealing of foods in
      oxygen impermeable package material and the quality of oxygen absorber. Ferrous
      iron oxides are the most reliable and commonly used oxygen absorbers within the
      food industry. Oxygen absorbers have been transformed from sachets of dried iron
      powder to simple self-adhesive patches to accommodate any custom size, capacity
      and application. Oxygen concentration can be effectively lowered to 100 ppm, with
      applications spanning a wide range of food products and beverages across the
      world (i.e. bread, meat, fish, fruit, and cheese). Newer molecules that preserve
      packaged food materials from all forms of degradation are being developed,
      however oxygen absorbers remain a staple product for the preservation of food and
      pharmaceutical products to reduce food wastage in developed nations and increased
      food security in the developing & third world. 

PMID- 25829571
TI  - Rheological behaviour of enzyme clarified sapota (Achras sapota L) juice at
      different concentration and temperatures.
AB  - Rheological behaviour of enzyme clarified sapota (Achras sapota L.) juice at
      different temperatures (10 to 85  degrees C) and total soluble solid content
      (10.2 to 55.6  degrees brix) corresponding to a water activity (aw) (0.986 to
      0.865) was studied using controlled stress rheometer by coaxial cylinders
      attachment. The rheological parameter shear stress (Pa) was measured upto a shear
      rate of 1,000 s(-1). The investigation showed that the enzyme clarified sapota
      juice and its concentrates behaved like a Newtonian liquid and the viscosity
      (eta) values were in the range 4.340 to 56.418 mPa s depending upon temperature
      and concentration studied. The temperature dependency of viscosity of enzyme
      clarified sapota juice was described by Arrhenius equation (r > 0.94) and
      activation energy (Ea) for viscous flow was in the range 5.218 to 25.439 KJ/mol
      depending upon concentration. The effect of total soluble solid content on flow
      activation energy was described by exponential relationship (r > 0.95, rmse%
      <13.5, p < 0.01) and that of water activity was described by power law relation
      (r > 0.99, rmse% <5.80, p < 0.01). The effect of total soluble solid content on
      viscosity of enzyme clarified sapota juice followed second order exponential type
      relationship (r > 0.99, rmse% < 3.53) at the temperature used. The effect of
      water activity on viscosity of enzyme clarified sapota juice followed power law
      equation (r > 0.98, rmse% < 4.38). A single equation representing combined effect
      of temperature and total soluble solid content/water activity on viscosity of
      enzyme clarified sapota was established. 

PMID- 25829572
TI  - Aqueous extract of some indigenous medicinal plants inhibits glycation at
      multiple stages and protects erythrocytes from oxidative damage-an in vitro
      study.
AB  - Azadirachta indica, Emblica officinalis, Syzygium cumini and Terminalia bellirica
      are common in Indian system of traditional medicine for the prevention of
      diabetes and its complications. The aim of the present study was to
      comprehensively and comparatively investigate the antiglycation potential of
      these plant extracts at multiple stages and their possible protective effect
      against glycated albumin mediated toxicity to erythrocytes. Antiglycation
      activities of these plant extracts was measured by co-incubation of plant extract
      with bovine serum albumin-fructose glycation model. The multistage glycation
      markers- fructosamines (early stage), protein carbonyls (intermediate stage) and
      AGEs (late stage) are investigated along with measurement of thiols and beta
      aggregation of albumin using amyloid-specific dyes-Congo red and Th T. Protection
      of erythrocytes from glycated albumin induced toxicity by these plant extracts
      was assessed by measuring erythrocytes hemolysis, lipid peroxidation, reduced
      glutathione and intracellular antioxidant capacity. Total phenolics, reducing
      power and antioxidant activities of the plant extracts were also measured. In
      vitro glycation assays showed that plant extracts exerted site specific
      inhibitory effects at multiple stages, with T. bellirica showing maximum
      attenuation. In erythrocytes, along with the retardation of glycated albumin
      induced hemolysis and lipid-peroxidation, T. bellirica considerably maintained
      cellular antioxidant potential. Significant positive correlations were observed
      between erythrocyte protection parameters with total phenolics. These plant
      extracts especially T. bellirica prevents glycation induced albumin modifications
      and subsequent toxicity to erythrocytes which might offer additional protection
      against diabetic vascular complications. 

PMID- 25829573
TI  - Antioxidant activities and phenolic contents of three red seaweeds (Division:
      Rhodophyta) harvested from the Gulf of Mannar of Peninsular India.
AB  - The antioxidant activities of methanol extract and its solvent fractions (n
      hexane, dichloromethane and ethyl acetate) of three red seaweeds (Hypnea
      musciformis, H. valentiae, and Jania rubens) collected from the Gulf of Mannar of
      South eastern coast of India were evaluated, using different in vitro systems,
      viz., DPPH, ABTS, HO radical scavenging activities, H2O2 scavenging ability,
      Fe(2+) ion chelating ability and reducing potential. Folin-Ciocalteu method was
      used to determine the total phenolic content of the extracts/fractions, and the
      results were expressed as mg of gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g of the seaweed
      extracts/fractions. Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) inhibition
      assay was employed to assess the ability of the seaweed extracts/fractions to
      inhibit lipid oxidation. Ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fractions of H. musciformis
      exhibited significantly higher total phenolic content (205.5 mg GAE/g), DPPH.
      scavenging activity (IC50 0.6 mg/mL), ABTS(.+) scavenging activity (IC50 0.51
      MUg/mL), Fe(2+) chelating ability (IC50 0.70 mg/mL), H2O2 scavenging activity
      (IC50 0.39 mg/mL), reducing ability (Abs700 nm 1.46) and lipid peroxidation
      inhibitory ability (2.71 MDAEC/kg) (P < 0.05) compared to its n-hexane, DCM
      fractions, crude MeOH extract and MeOH extracts/fractions of H. valentiae and J.
      rubens. DCM fraction of J. rubens showed significantly higher hydroxyl radical
      scavenging activity (IC50 0.55 mg/mL) compared with H. musciformis and H.
      valentiae (P < 0.05). This study indicated the potential use of red seaweeds, in
      particular, H. musciformis as candidate species to be used as food supplement for
      increasing the shelf-life of food industry, and candidates in combating
      carcinogenesis and inflammatory diseases. 

PMID- 25829574
TI  - Alternation of secondary metabolites and quality attributes in Valencia Orange
      fruit ( Citrus sinensis ) as influenced by storage period and edible covers.
AB  - Flavonoids (FGs) are a large group of polyphenolic compounds with low molecular
      weight, found in free and glycozidic forms in plants. Citrus fruits can be used
      as a food supplement containing hesperidin and flavonoids to prevent infections
      and boost the immune system in human body. The aim of this study was the
      investigation of the effect of clove oil and storage period on the amount of
      hesperidin and naringin component in orange peel (cv. Valencia). Four treatments
      including clove oil (1 %), wax, mixture of wax-clove oil, control and storage
      period were applied. Treated fruits were stored at 7  degrees C and 85 % relative
      humidity for 3 months and naringin, hesperidin, antioxidant activity, total
      pheenolic compounds, TSS, Vitamin C, fruits weight loss, pH, acidity and
      carbohydrates content were measured every 3 weeks. The amount of hesperidin and
      naringin was determined using high performance liquid chromatography at the
      detection wavelength of 285 nm. Antioxidant activity was measured using the 1, 1
      diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay. Total
      phenolic compounds were measured using the Folin-Ciocalteu micro method. Results
      showed that naringin and hesperidin were decreased during storage. Different
      treatment only had significant effect on the amount of hesperidin while storage
      period affected both of narigin and hesperidin. Results of correlation study,
      indicated strong relation between antioxidant activity and amount of naringin and
      hesperidin during storage time. However, at the end of storage period, the amount
      of hesperidin and naringin were diminished independent of different covers.
      Probably anaerobic condition caused such reduction. Results showed that the
      amount of TSS, fruit hardness, weight loss, total sugar and fructose content were
      increased during storage period while total acidity, pH and glucose content
      showed descending trend during storage periods. In conclusion, hesperidin and
      naringin of peels can be used as suitable quality indexes indicating proper
      conditions for storage. 

PMID- 25829575
TI  - Effect of containers on the quality of Chemlali olive oil during storage.
AB  - This study is undertaken to determine the storage stability of Chemlali extra
      virgin olive oil (EVOO) in different containers such as clear and dark glass
      bottles, polyethylene (PE) and tin containers. The different oil samples were
      stored under light at room temperature. Quality parameters monitored during a 6
      month-storage period included: acidity, peroxide value (PV), spectrophotometric
      indices (K232 and K270), chlorophyll and carotene pigments, fatty acids and
      sterol compositions, total phenols, Rancimat induction time as well as sensory
      evaluation. Tin containers and dark glass bottles recorded the lowest oxidation
      values. In addition, oil packed in tin containers and dark glass bottles showed
      better physicochemical and organoleptic characteristics than that stored in clear
      glass bottles and PE containers. A significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the
      antioxidant contents (carotenes, chlorophylls and total phenols) was observed in
      the oil stored in the clear glass bottles and PE containers. Such results proved
      that the storage of oil in tin containers and dark glass bottles appeared most
      adequate, and showed a gradual loss of quality during storage, especially in PE
      containers and clear glass bottles. This study has shown that the best packaging
      materials for the commercial packing of Chemlali extra-virgin olive oil are tin
      containers and dark glass bottles. 

PMID- 25829576
TI  - Effect of cinnamon powder addition during conching on the flavor of dark
      chocolate mass.
AB  - In the present study, refined dark chocolate mix was conched with the addition of
      finely powdered cinnamon in a laboratory-style conching machine to evaluate its
      aroma profile both analytically and sensorially. The analytical determinations
      were carried out by a combination of solid phase micro extraction (SPME)-gas
      chromatography (GC)-mass spectroscopy (MS) and-olfactometry(O), while the sensory
      evaluation was made with trained panelists. The optimum conditions for the SPME
      were found to be CAR/PDMS as the fiber, 60  degrees C as the temperature, and 60
      min as the time. SPME analyses were carried out at 60  degrees C for 60 min with
      toluene as an internal standard. 26 compounds were monitored before and after
      conching. The unconched sample had a significantly higher fruity odor value than
      the conched sample. This new product was highly acceptable according to the
      overall inclination test. However some of textural properties, such as
      coarseness, and hardness were below the general preference. 

PMID- 25829577
TI  - Standardized extract of Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) markedly offsets
      rotenone-induced locomotor deficits, oxidative impairments and neurotoxicity in
      Drosophila melanogaster.
AB  - Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha, WS) or Indian ginseng possesses multiple
      pharmacological properties which are mainly attributed to the active
      constituents, withanolides. Despite its extensive usage as a memory enhancer and
      a nerve tonic, few attempts have been made to ascertain its usage in the
      management of Parkinson's disease. In the present study, we investigated the
      neuroameliorative effects of WS in a rotenone (ROT) model of Drosophila
      melanogaster (Oregon-K). Initially, we ascertained the ability of WS-enriched
      diet (0-0.05 %) to protect against ROT induced lethality and locomotor phenotype
      in adult male flies. Further, employing a co-exposure paradigm, we investigated
      the propensity of WS to offset ROT-induced oxidative stress, mitochondrial
      dysfunctions and neurotoxicity. WS conferred significant protection against ROT
      induced lethality, while the survivor flies exhibited improved locomotor
      phenotype. Biochemical investigations revealed that ROT-induced oxidative stress
      was significantly diminished by WS enrichment. WS caused significant elevation in
      the levels of reduced GSH/non-protein thiols. Furthermore, the altered activity
      levels of succinate dehydrogenase, MTT, membrane bound enzymes viz., NADH
      cytochrome-c reductase and succinate-cytochrome-c reductase were markedly
      restored to normalcy. Interestingly, ROT-induced perturbations in cholinergic
      function and depletion in dopamine levels were normalized by WS. Taken together
      these data suggests that the neuromodulatory effect of WS against ROT- induced
      neurotoxicity is probably mediated via suppression of oxidative stress and its
      potential to attenuate mitochondrial dysfunctions. Our further studies aim to
      understand the underlying neuroprotective mechanisms of WS and withanolides
      employing neuronal cell models. 

PMID- 25829578
TI  - Antioxidant activity and anti-exercise-fatigue effect of highly denatured soybean
      meal hydrolysate prepared using neutrase.
AB  - Highly denatured soybean meal is a by-product of soybean oil extraction obtained
      through high-temperature desolventization. High-temperature treatment can result
      in soybean protein denaturation. Compare with ordinary soybean meal, the protein
      structure of highly denatured soybean meal has changed. Highly denatured soybean
      meal was pretreated with thermal treatment or ultrasonication, and then
      hydrolyzed with neutrase. The ultrasonicated hydrolysate exhibited better
      antioxidant activity than the thermally treated hydrolysate. The ultrasonication
      increased 1,1-diphenyl-2-pycryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity by
      8.31 % and reduction capacity by 10.19 %. The highly denatured soybean meal
      hydrolysate ultrasonicated at 400 W exhibited the highest antioxidant activity.
      The DPPH radical scavenging activity was 56.22 % and reduction capacity was
      0.717. The ultrasonicated hydrolysate at 400 W was fractionated using
      ultrafiltration into three fractions: I (>10 kDa), II (5 kDa to 10 kDa), and III
      (<5 kDa). The in vitro antioxidant activity and others in vivo anti-exercise
      fatigue effect of the three fractions (I, II, and III) were determined. Fraction
      III exhibited the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity and reduction
      capacity, improved the hemoglobin and hepatic glycogen content and reduced blood
      urea nitrogen and blood lactic acid. Fraction III improved the activity of
      superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) and reduced the
      malonaldehyde (MDA) content in mouse livers. Therefore, the highly denatured
      soybean meal hydrolysate has an anti-oxidative effect and it significantly
      alleviates exercise-fatigue in mice. Amino acids of hydrolysate were determined.
      Results showed that the antioxidant activity and anti-exercise-fatigue effect
      were related to the amino acid compositions. 

PMID- 25829579
TI  - Antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes status of rats fed on n-3 PUFA rich Garden
      cress (Lepidium Sativum L) seed oil and its blended oils.
AB  - Garden cress (Lepidium sativum L) seed oil (GCO) is a rich source of alpha
      linolenic acid (ALA, 33.6 %) and the oil has a fairly balanced SFA, MUFA and PUFA
      ratio. In this study we have investigated the effect of GCO and its blends with n
      6 PUFA rich edible vegetable oils sunflower oil (SFO), rice bran oil (RBO) and
      sesame oil (SESO) on antioxidant status of oils and antioxidative enzymes in
      Wistar rats. Physical blending of GCO with n-6 PUFA rich vegetable oils (SFO, RBO
      and SESO) increased content of natural antioxidants such as tocopherols, oryzanol
      and lignans, decreased the n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio and improved the radical scavenging
      activity of blended oils. Dietary feeding of GCO and its blended oils for 60
      days, increased the tocopherols levels (12.2-21.6 %) and activity of antioxidant
      enzymes namely catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), but did not affect the
      activity of glutathione reductase (GR), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and
      glutathione S-transferase (GST) in liver compared to native oil fed rats. Thus,
      blending of GCO with other vegetable oil decreased n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio (>2.0) and
      dietary feeding of GCO blended oils increased the antioxidant status and activity
      of antioxidant enzymes (catalase and GPx) in experimental rats. 

PMID- 25829580
TI  - Microwave assisted dehulling of black gram (Vigna mungo L).
AB  - This article summarises the results of the investigation of application of
      microwave exposure on the dehulling characteristics of the black gram and the
      properties of the dehulled grains. Black gram was exposed to 3 microwave power
      levels, viz., 450, 630 and 810 W for 7 different exposure, ranging from 60 to 150
      s at an interval of 15 s with a view to determine the suitable combination of
      dosage in order to get the maximum yield with little change in colour. Related
      changes in properties were also studied. It was observed that the surface
      temperature of the grain increased with the increase in microwave power level
      from 450 to 810 W as well as exposure time from 60 to 150 s in the range from 58
      to 123  degrees C while the dehulling time reduced from 445 to 170 s. The
      dehulling yield increased with increasing microwave dosage in the beginning and
      reached to the maximum value followed by decreasing trend. The colour of the
      dehulled grain changed slowly up to a microwave dosage of 972 J/g after that it
      changed vividly darker than the control. The dehulling and dhal yields and colour
      change were polynomial functions of microwave dosage. The highest yield of 73.7 %
      was achieved at about 972 J/g with a little change in colour (CIELAB DeltaE*
      value of 2.58). The corresponding dehulling time, cooking time and losses during
      dehulling were respectively 185 s, 10 min and 15.1 % as compared to 492 s, 20 min
      and 31.5 % for control respectively. It is concluded that a dosage of about 972
      J/g was the best for the black gram dehulling at a rate of 630 W or higher power
      level. 

PMID- 25829581
TI  - Thin-layer modeling of convective and microwave-convective drying of oyster
      mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus).
AB  - Oyster mushroom samples were dried under selected convective, microwave
      convective drying conditions in a recirculatory hot-air dryer and microwave
      assisted hot-air dryer (2.45 GHz, 1.5 kW) respectively. Only falling rate period
      and no constant rate period, was exhibited in both the drying technique. The
      experimental moisture loss data were fitted to selected semi-theoretical thin
      layer drying equations. The mathematical models were compared according to three
      statistical parameters, i.e. correlation coefficient, reduced chi-square and
      residual mean sum of squares. Among all the models, Midilli et al. model was
      found to have the best fit as suggested by 0.99 of square correlation
      coefficient, 0.000043 of reduced-chi square and 0.0023 of residual sum of square.
      The highest effective moisture diffusivity varying from 10.16 * 10(-8) to 16.18 *
      10(-8) m(2)/s over the temperature range was observed in microwave-convective
      drying at an air velocity of 1.5 m/s and the activation energy was calculated to
      be 16.95 kJ/mol. The above findings can aid to select the most suitable operating
      conditions, so as to design drying equipment accordingly. 

PMID- 25829582
TI  - The arils characterization of five different pomegranate (Punica granatum)
      genotypes stored after minimal processing technology.
AB  - In this study, the quality of minimally processed different Iranian pomegranate
      genotypes was investigated during storage at 4  degrees C for 14 days. The
      results showed that at the end of storage time, the lowest microbial count was
      found on the arils of "Torsh Syabe Lorestan" genotype. There was a significant
      difference in titratable acidity, total soluble solids, total anthocyanin,
      catechin, and quercetin content in most genotypes after 14-day cold storage;
      while no difference was found between studied genotypes in antioxidant capacity,
      total phenolic, and flavonoid content. In general, total phenolic content and
      antioxidant capacity of pomegranate arils gradually decreased over storage time.
      Diphenolase activity of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzyme with dopamine
      hydrochloride substrate and peroxidase (POD) decreased over storage time, whereas
      diphenolase activity of PPO with pyrocatechol substrate significantly increased.
      The lowest diphenolase activity with dopamine hydrochloride and pyrocatechol
      substrates, as well as POD activity was found in Torsh Syabe Lorestan. The
      results suggested that the genotype of Torsh Syabe Lorestan, which showed the
      lowest microbial count on the arils and enzymes, could be more appropriate for
      minimal processing technology. 

PMID- 25829583
TI  - Influence of calcium fortification on physical and rheological properties of
      sucrose-free prebiotic milk chocolates containing inulin and maltitol.
AB  - In the present study, chocolates were investigated that had been prepared
      according to the composition specified as a result of this previous work (9.00 %
      w/w inulin and 34.0 % w/w maltitol) Certain physical (particle size distribution
      [PSD], brightness, chroma, water activity and hardness) and rheological features
      of the samples resulting from the addition of calcium carbonate in different
      quantities (300, 450, 600, 750 and 900 mg calcium carbonate to 100 mg milk
      chocolate) were studied. Both the Herschel-Bulkley and Casson models were used to
      investigate the rheological findings. It was determined by comparing certain
      rheological (rate index, Casson yield stress and Casson viscosity) and physical
      (chroma and hardness) parameters that samples containing 409.5 mg calcium (nearly
      41.0 % of the RDA of calcium) per 100 g chocolate did not show significant
      differences from samples from the control group. Furthermore, these calcium
      containing samples were shown to exhibit positive differences in other physical
      properties (brightness and water activity) that could be noteworthy and
      significant with respect to visual quality and shelf life. 

PMID- 25829584
TI  - Concise and informative title: evaluation of selected spices in extending shelf
      life of paneer.
AB  - Black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and clove were tested for their relative
      efficacy in improving shelf life of paneer. All the spices were incorporated in
      paneer @ 0 (control), 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 % by wt. of expected yield of
      paneer. Addition of black pepper, cardamom or clove at the rate of 0.6 % by
      weight or cinnamon at the rate of 0.4 % by weight was found to be acceptable.
      Therefore, paneer was prepared by incorporating black pepper, cardamom and clove
      i.e. Bp, Ca and Cl @ 0.6 % and cinnamon (Ci) @ 0.4 % by wt. of expected yield of
      paneer. All the paneer samples viz. Bp, Ca, Cl and Ci were subjected to sensory
      evaluation when fresh and after interval of 7 days during storage at 7 +/- 1 
      degrees C up to 28 days. Results indicated that control remained acceptable up to
      7 days, Bp up to 14 days of storage and Cl up to 21st day of storage. The overall
      acceptability score of Ca remained well above the acceptable level even on 28th
      day of the storage. Results of changes in chemical characteristics indicate that
      amongst all the spices studied, cardamom had maximum ability to control the rate
      of increase in acidity, free fatty acids content and soluble nitrogen content in
      paneer during storage. The order of the relative effectiveness in enhancing shelf
      life of paneer was cardamom > cinnamon > clove > black pepper. The effect of
      cardamom on microbial counts of paneer viz. standard plate counts (SPC), yeast
      and mould count and coliform count were evaluated. Among the spices studied,
      cardamom was found to be the best spice to improve shelf life of paneer up to 28
      days of storage at 7 +/- 1  degrees C. 

PMID- 25829585
TI  - Effects of salicylic acid and putrescine on storability, quality attributes and
      antioxidant activity of plum cv. 'Santa Rosa'.
AB  - Plum fruit has a short shelf life with a rapid deterioration in quality after
      harvest. The primary goal of this study is to investigate and compare the effect
      of putrescine and salicylic acid on quality properties and antioxidant activity
      of plum during storage. The plum fruits (cv. 'Santa Rosa') were harvested at the
      mature ripe stage, and dipped in different concentrations of putrescine (1, 2, 3
      and 4 mmol/L) and salicylic acid (1, 2, 3 and 4 mmol/L), as well as distilled
      water (control) for 5 min. The fruits were then packed in boxes with polyethylene
      covers and stored at 4  degrees C with 95 % relative humidity for 25 days. A
      factorial trial based on completely randomized block design with 4 replications
      was carried out. The weight loss, fruit firmness, total soluble solids,
      titratable acidity, pH, maturity index, ascorbic acid, total phenolics and
      antioxidant activity at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 days after harvest were recorded.
      During the storage period, the weight loss, total soluble solids, pH and maturity
      index increased significantly while the fruit firmness, titratable acidity,
      ascorbic acid, total phenolics and antioxidant activity decreased significantly
      (P < 0.05) for all treatments. Statistically significant differences were
      observed between different treatments (putrescine, salicylic acid and control) in
      all measured parameters. The data showed that the weight loss and softening of
      the plum fruits were decreased significantly by the use of putrescine and
      salicylic acid. Also, exogenous treatments of putrescine and salicylic acid are
      found to be effective in maintaining titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, total
      phenolics and antioxidant activity in plum fruits during storage at 4  degrees C.
      It was concluded that postharvest treatment of plum fruit with putrescine and
      salicylic acid were effective on delaying the ripening processes and can be used
      commercially to extend the shelf life of plum fruit with acceptable fruit
      quality. 

PMID- 25829586
TI  - The encapsulation of flavourzyme in nanoliposome by heating method.
AB  - The main objective of this study was to use heating method (HM) to prepare
      liposome without employing any chemical solvent or detergent. Plackett-Burman
      design (PBD) was applied for the screening of significant process variables
      including the lecithin proportion, the cholesterol/lecithin ratio, the pH of
      solution for liposome preparation, the enzyme/lecithin ratio, the stirring time,
      the process temperature, the speed of stirrer, the ratio of stirrer to the tank
      diameter, the application of homogenization, the method of adding enzyme and
      centrifugation conditions on the encapsulation efficiency (EE %) of liposome and
      the activity of liposomal Flavourzyme (LAPU(-1)) (P < 0.05). Then, the response
      surface methodology based on the central composite design (CCD) was applied for
      the evaluation of the impacts of the significant mentioned variables on the EE
      (%) and the activity of the liposomal Flavourzyme. The results indicated that the
      lecithin proportion and the stirring time were the major influential variables
      for both responses. The most suitable formulation of the Flavourzyme-loaded
      liposome is 4.5 % lecithin, 45  degrees C temperature, 5 % Flavourzyme/lecithin
      ratio, 30 min stirring time and medium pH of 6. Under suitable operating
      conditions, the EE of liposome and the activity of the liposomal Flavourzyme were
      achieved as 26.5 % and 9.96 LAPU ml(-1), respectively. AFM technique and size
      distribution clearly showed the diameter of 189 nm for the spherical shape of the
      Flavourzyme- loaded nanoliposome. 

PMID- 25829587
TI  - Angiotensin I-Converting Enzyme inhibitory and antioxidant activities and
      surfactant properties of protein hydrolysates as obtained of Amaranthus
      hypochondriacus L. grain.
AB  - Even though some research has been carried out on surfactant properties of
      amaranth protein hydrolysates, their bio-functionality has not been studied yet.
      In this work amaranth grain Alb 1 and Glob were hydrolyzed (Alb 1H, Glob H) and
      foams and emulsions at optimal conditions (t, E/S, pH5) were prepared in order to
      assess techno-functional properties such as foaming (F) and emulsifying (E)
      (capacity (C) and stability (S)). FC and EC were much better for Glob H than for
      Alb H. Angiotensin I-converting enzyme-inhibitory activity was higher for Alb 1H
      (roughly 50 %) than that of Glob H (roughly 30 %). Scavenging of radicals
      activity (DPPH. or ABTS. (+) ) of Alb 1H and Glob H, at 2 mg/mL, was similar
      (approx. 40 %), but lower than Alb 1 (approx. 70 %), which was the best
      antioxidant. The low reducing power showed that hydrolysates barely donate an
      electron or hydrogen. Chelating activity on Cu(2+) was lower than that exhibited
      by Fe(2+,) which was remarkable, approx. 80 % as long as DH% > 10 %, where
      hydrolysates displayed high solubility (Alb 1H = 85 %, Glob H = 70 %) because of
      occurrence of 1-10 kDa peptides. Amaranth foams and emulsions prepared with
      protein hydrolysates have a potential as a nutraceutical food. 

PMID- 25829588
TI  - Chemical characterisation and application of acid whey in fermented milk.
AB  - Acid whey is a by-product from cheese processing that can be employed in beverage
      formulations due to its high nutritional quality. The objective of the present
      work was to study the physicochemical characterisation of acid whey from Petit
      Suisse-type cheese production and use this by-product in the formulation of
      fermented milk, substituting water. In addition, a reduction in the fermentation
      period was tested. Both the final product and the acid whey were analysed
      considering physicochemical determinations, and the fermented milk was evaluated
      by means of sensory analysis, including multiple comparison and acceptance tests,
      as well as purchase intention. The results of the physicochemical analyses showed
      that whey which was produced during both winter and summer presented higher
      values of protein (1.22 and 0.97 %, w/v, respectively), but there were no
      differences in lactose content. During the autumn, the highest solid extract was
      found in whey (6.00 %, w/v), with larger amounts of lactose (4.73 %, w/v) and ash
      (0.83 %, w/v). When analysing the fermented milk produced with added acid whey,
      the acceptance test resulted in 90 % of acceptance; the purchase intention showed
      that 54 % of the consumers would 'certainly buy' and 38 % would 'probably buy'
      the product. Using acid whey in a fermented milk formulation was technically
      viable, allowing by-product value aggregation, avoiding discharge, lowering water
      consumption and shortening the fermentation period. 

PMID- 25829589
TI  - Effect of conjugated linoleic acid enrichment on the quality characteristics of
      Turkish dry fermented sausage.
AB  - The effects of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) enrichment on lipid oxidation, the
      fatty acid profile, physico-chemical, sensory and microbiological features of
      sucuk were investigated. The control sucuk did not contain CLA, however, other
      groups contained 0.5 %, 1 %, 1.5 %, 2 %, 2.5 %, and 3 % CLA, respectively. The
      results indicated that CLA concentration was increased in sucuk with CLA addition
      (p < 0.05). CLA concentration decreased (p < 0.05) during the fermentation
      period, but did not alter during the storage. Lipid oxidation gradually increased
      with the increasing of storage in all treatments (p < 0.05). However, addition of
      CLA decreased lipid oxidation compared to control (p < 0.05). With regard to
      color, higher L* values were observed in 2 % CLA treatment group compared to
      other treatments during storage (p < 0.05). Moreover, CLA addition resulted in
      increased a* values in sucuk (p < 0.05). With the addition of CLA, saturated
      fatty acids in sucuk decreased and poly-unsaturated fatty acids and conjugated
      linoleic acids increased (p < 0.05). 

PMID- 25829590
TI  - Identification of phenolic compounds in polyphenols-rich extract of Malaysian
      cocoa powder using the HPLC-UV-ESI-MS/MS and probing their antioxidant
      properties.
AB  - The antioxidant components of cocoa powder, which is rich in polyphenols, were
      isolated using column chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography.
      Polyphenolic compounds were then characterized by high-performance liquid
      chromatography/Ultraviolet and electronspray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry
      (HPLC-UV-/ESI-MS-MS). As a result, five phenolic compounds were detected. In this
      study we also investigated scavenging or the total antioxidant capacity (%) of
      cocoa polyphenol (CP) fractionated from cocoa powder extract. 114.0 mg/g of
      gallic acid -equivalent phenolics and 94.3 mg/g catechin- equivalent flavonoids
      were quantified in this extract. Their free radical-scavenging activity was
      assessed by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) assay, beta-carotene
      bleaching test, and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity (OX). Total antioxidant
      capacity (TAC) was further assessed against the myoglobin-induced oxidation of 6
      hydroxy-2, 5, 7, 8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid (ABTS) and expressed as
      Trolox equivalent. A high correlation between TAC and phenolic contents indicated
      that phenolic compounds from cocoa were a major contributor of antioxidant
      activity (0.967 <= r <= 1.00). CP extract had significantly (P < 0.05) potential
      antioxidant activities with various concentrations. These results suggest that
      Polyphenols-rich cocoa extract possess prominent medical properties and can be
      exploited as natural drug to treat free radical associated diseases. 

PMID- 25829591
TI  - Quality characteristics of no added sugar ready to drink milk supplemented with
      mango pulp.
AB  - Removal of sugar as a sweetener and its replacement by a high potency sweetener
      introduces a number of sensory and technical challenges particularly diminution
      in mouthfeel. Thick consistency of pulpy fruits could be exploited to compensate
      for the loss of viscosity and mouthfeel in sugar substituted beverages. The
      investigation was undertaken to study the effect of mango pulp supplementation on
      the quality of flavoured low calorie milk drinks using sucralose as sugar
      substitute. The effect of 0.0 to 100 % sugar replacement on total solids (TS),
      total soluble solids (TSS), specific gravity, viscosity and sensory scores was
      studied. Sugar replacement considerably decreased TS, TSS, viscosity and sensory
      scores. The mango flavoured milk drinks(MFDs) prepared by replacing sugar with
      sucralose and adding 10 % mango pulp in milk of 0.5 % fat and 8.5 % milk solid
      not-fat. MFD were pasteurized and stored at refrigeration temperature for shelf
      life studies. A significant (p < 0.01) loss in the viscosity, ascorbic acid and
      reducing sugar content of pasteurized MFD was noticed during the storage period
      of 10 days at 5.0 +/- 0.1  degrees C. However, the titratable acidity increased
      to undesirable levels in MFD after 8 days which rendered it unacceptable.
      Standard plate count and yeast and mold count of MFDs increased during storage.
      The shelf life of the pasteurized MFD was found to be 8 days at 5.0 +/- 0.1 
      degrees C. 

PMID- 25829592
TI  - Development and quality evaluation of dehydrated chicken meat rings using spent
      hen meat and different extenders.
AB  - It is recommended that for effective utilization of spent hen meat, it should be
      converted into value added or shelf stable meat products. Since we are lacking in
      cold chain facilities, therefore there is imperative need to develop shelf stable
      meat products. The present study was envisaged with the objective to develop
      dehydrated chicken meat rings utilizing spent hen meat with different extenders.
      A basic formulation and processing conditions were standardized for dehydrated
      chicken meat rings. Extenders such as rice flour, barnyard millet flour and
      texturized soy granule powder at 5, 10 and 15 % levels were incorporated
      separately replacing the lean meat in pre standardized dehydrated chicken meat
      ring formulation. On the basis of physico-chemical properties and sensory scores
      optimum level of incorporation was adjudged as 10 %, 10 % and 5 % for rice flour,
      barnyard millet flour and texturized soy granule powder respectively. Products
      with optimum level of extenders were analysed for physico-chemical and sensory
      attributes. It was found that a good quality dehydrated chicken meat rings can be
      prepared by utilizing spent hen meat at 90 % level, potato starch 3 % and refined
      wheat flour 7 % along with spices, condiments, common salt and STPP. Addition of
      an optimum level of different extenders such as rice flour (10 %), barnyard
      millet flour (10 %) and TSGP (5 %) separately replacing lean meat in the
      formulation can give acceptable quality of the product. Rice flour was found to
      be the best among the three extenders studied as per the sensory evaluation. 

PMID- 25829593
TI  - Comparison of thawing assisted by low-intensity ultrasound on technological
      properties of pork Longissimus dorsi muscle.
AB  - The objective of the present study was to analyses technological and textural
      properties of pork thawed by low intensity ultrasound compared to meat thawed
      conventionally in air (control) or by immersion in water. The pork thawing was
      done by means of a generator of constant frequency, with adjusting ultrasound
      intensity, coupled with a transducer plate and a water bath. The frequency of 25
      kHz and the intensity of 0.6 W/cm(2) allowed reducing by 87 % the time required
      for thawing from -5  degrees C to -1  degrees C as well as the overall thawing
      time as compared to thawing in air. Using intensity of 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 W/cm(2)
      thawing rates were 0.62, 0.73, 1  degrees C/min, versus 0.16  degrees C/min in
      the control. The textural and technological properties of meat thawed by
      ultrasound are not impaired by the significant lowering of thawing time; there
      were no large mass loss or modification of meat ultrastructure as compared to
      control. 

PMID- 25829594
TI  - Influence of watermelon seed protein concentrates on dough handling, textural and
      sensory properties of cookies.
AB  - Fruit processing wastes contain numerous by products of potential use in food &
      allied industry. Watermelon seeds represent a major by-product of the processing
      waste and contain high amount of nutritional proteins. Protein rich cereal based
      products are in demand due to their health promoting benefits. With this aim,
      wheat flour was fortified with watermelon seed protein concentrates (2.5 %, 5 %,
      7.5 % and 10 % levels) to prepare cookies with desirable physical, nutritional,
      and textural and sensory properties. Substitution levels of 5 % and 10 %
      significantly (p <= 0.05) increased the dough stability and mixing tolerance
      index, however pasting properties and dough extensibility decreased considerably
      above 5 % substitution levels. Cookie fracture force (kg) increased significantly
      (p <= 0.05) above 5 % fortification levels. Cookie spread factor (W/T) increased
      from 2.5 % to 7.5 % fortification levels, further increase showed negative
      impact. Sensory scores of the cookies showed that protein concentrate may be
      added up to 7.5 % fortification levels. This study revealed that watermelon
      protein concentrates can be fortified with protein concentrates upto 5-7.5 %
      levels in cookies to improve their protein quality. 

PMID- 25829595
TI  - Enhanced bactericidal effect of enterocin A in combination with thyme essential
      oils against L. monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7.
AB  - The combined effects of enterocin A with Thymus vulgaris essential oils (EOs)
      against Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7 were investigated in
      vitro by enumeration of surviving populations of testing pathogens and minimal
      inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination. Enterocin A was purified to
      homogeneity by RP-HPLC from the culture fluid of Enterococcus strain and thyme
      EOs were extracted from local Thymus vulgaris plants. The major constituent of
      thyme EOs oils determined by GC-MS was thymol (78.4 %). Combination of enterocin
      A with thyme EOs showed an enhanced bactericidal effect against Listeria
      monocytogenes. Checkerboard assay and isobologram construction displayed a
      synergistic interaction between these compounds against Listeria (FIC index
      <0.5). Moreover, the MIC value of enterocin A has fallen fivefold (from 4.57 to
      0.9 MUg/ml), while the MIC of thyme EOs decreased threefold (from 3.6 to 1.2
      MUg/ml). Treatments with enterocin A alone did not affect the growth of the
      enteric pathogen E. coli O157:H7. However, the addition of thyme EOs and
      enterocin A yielded a synergistic antimicrobial effect against E. coli (MIC thyme
      EOs decrease from 2.2 to 0.71 MUg/ml). This is the first report on the combined
      effect of enterocin A and thyme EOs against food pathogen bacteria. This
      combination could be useful in food bio-preservation. 

PMID- 25829596
TI  - Quantitative analysis of flavonoids, sugars, phenylalanine and tryptophan in
      onion scales during storage under ambient conditions.
AB  - A comprehensive quantitative analysis of flavonoids, sugars, phenylalanine, and
      tryptophan have been carried out in different onion scales during storage at
      ambient temperature (20-23  degrees C) and relative humidity (60-80 %). Depending
      on the length of storage, dry matter content and composition shows variation
      inside the onion bulbs. Inner sprouts were observed on longitudinally cut bulbs
      after 2 months and visible sprouts appeared after 5 months of storage. The bulbs
      lost 20 to 30 % of their weight at the end of the storage. Higher dry matter
      content was observed in the inner scales. Significantly high content of quercetin
      in inner scales and high level of quercetin-3,4'-O-diglucoside and quercetin-4'-O
      monoglucoside in outer scales was observed during a 7 months storage. During
      storage period, high content of fructose and glucose was observed in the middle
      scales while sucrose was high in the inner scales. There was no particular trend
      observed within analyzed amino acids. However, the content of phenylalanine was
      higher than tryptophan. 

PMID- 25829597
TI  - Physico-chemical properties of gelatin from bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys
      nobilis) scales by ultrasound-assisted extraction.
AB  - In this study, gelatin was extracted from bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys
      nobilis) scales by water bath (WB) and ultrasound bath (UB) at 60  degrees C for
      1 h, 3 h and 5 h, named WB1, WB3, WB5, UB1, UB3 and UB5, respectively. The
      physicochemical properties of gelatin were investigated. The result indicated
      that gelatin extracted from bighead carp scales had a high protein content (84.15
      ~ 91.85 %) with moisture (7.11 ~ 13.65 %), low ash content (0.31 ~ 0.97 %). All
      extracted gelatin contained alpha-and beta-chains as the predominant components.
      Gelatin extracted by UB obtained much higher yield (30.94-46.67 %) than that of
      WB (19.15-36.39 %). More voids and less sheets of gelatin structure were
      observed, when the gelatin was extracted by UB for longer time. Gelatin of UB
      assisted extraction normally exhibited lower gel strength and melting points than
      that of WB, which may be resulted from the protein degradation reflected by the
      FTIR spectra and higher free amino group content. However, there was no
      significant difference between WB1 and UB1. Therefore, the ultrasound assisted
      extraction in a short time was a promising method to enhance the yield and obtain
      gelatin with high quality. 

PMID- 25829598
TI  - Nutritional composition, antinutritional factors, bioactive compounds and
      antioxidant activity of guava seeds (Psidium Myrtaceae) as affected by roasting
      processes.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to explore the influences of roasting process on
      the nutritional composition and nutritive value, antinutritional factors,
      bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of guava seeds. Roasting process
      caused significant (P <= 0.05) decreases in moisture content, crude protein,
      crude fiber, ash and mineral contents, isoleucine, arginine, glutamic and total
      aromatic and sulfur amino acids, antinutritional factors (tannins and phytic
      acid) and flavonoids, while oil content increased. Subjecting guava seeds to 150 
      degrees C for 10, 15 and 20 min increased the total essential amino acids from
      35.19 g/100 g protein in the raw sample to 36.96, 37.30 and 37.47 g/100 g protein
      in roasted samples, respectively. Protein efficiency ratio (PER) of guava seeds
      roasted at 150  degrees C for 10, 15 and 20 min were about 1.08, 1.14 and 1.18
      times as high as that in unroasted seeds. Lysine was the first limiting amino
      acid, while leucine was the second limiting amino acid in raw and roasted guava
      seeds. Total phenolic contents was significantly (P <= 0.05) increased by
      roasting at 150  degrees C for 10 min. However, roasting at 150  degrees C for 15
      and 20 min caused significant decrease in the phenolic content of guava seeds.
      Guava seeds subjected to roasting process showed higher DPPH radical scavenging
      and reducing power activities. 

PMID- 25829599
TI  - Effect of nisin as a biopreservative agent on quality and shelf life of vacuum
      packaged rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) stored at 4  degrees C.
AB  - Effect of nisin on biochemical and microbial quality and shelf life of vacuum
      packaged rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) during 16 days storage at 4  degrees
      C was investigated. According to the obtained results, nisin treated fish showed
      lower (p < 0.05) and acceptable biochemical (Peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid
      index, pH, and total volatile base nitrogen) and bacteriological (total viable
      counts, psychrotrophic viable counts, and lactic acid bacteria) attributes up to
      16 days storage at 4  degrees C compared with those treated without nisin.
      Furthermore, FAs composition analysis indicated that presence of the nisin
      preserved nutritional quality of fish lipid, so that nisin treated samples
      contained higher percentage (p > 0.05) of essential FAs such as eicosapentaenoic
      acid and docosahexaenoic acid. This study concluded that treatment of the vacuum
      packaged rainbow trout with nisin resulted in improvement of quality and
      extension of shelf life of the fish from 12 to 16 days at 4  degrees C. 

PMID- 25829600
TI  - Cultivar characterization of stone fruits for their minimal processing.
AB  - Due to their physicochemical properties, minimal processing of fruits is
      challenging because of their quick quality loss. Therefore, several preservative
      steps are needed, such as washing treatments, modified atmosphere packaging,
      cultivar selection, etc. The latter is an important pre-harvest condition due to
      the fact that many functional compounds and enzymes are dependent on the
      cultivar. The aim of this study was to compare the minimal processing adaptation
      of different stone fruits (nectarine, peach, and plum), focusing on visual and
      functional quality. The fruit underwent minimal processing in a clean room
      (temperature and relative humidity were kept at 8  degrees C and 70 %,
      respectively) and was washed during 2 min into 2 % w/v ascorbic acid, 1 % w/v
      citric acid, and 1 % w/v calcium lactate solution. To sum up, nectarine and peach
      offered a better adaptation, and medium-season cultivars had higher quality
      maintenance. Nevertheless, late cultivars should not be ruled out before hand on
      account of their remarkable functional content. 

PMID- 25829601
TI  - Optimization of beta-cyclodextrin-based flavonol extraction from apple pomace
      using response surface methodology.
AB  - The present study investigated five cyclodextrins (CDs) for the extraction of
      flavonols from apple pomace powder and optimized beta-CD based extraction of
      total flavonols using response surface methodology. A 2(3) central composite
      design with beta-CD concentration (0-5 g 100 mL(-1)), extraction temperature (20
      72  degrees C), extraction time (6-48 h) and second-order quadratic model for the
      total flavonol yield (mg 100 g(-1) DM) was selected to generate the response
      surface curves. The optimal conditions obtained were: beta-CD concentration, 2.8
      g 100 mL(-1); extraction temperature, 45  degrees C and extraction time, 25.6 h
      that predicted the extraction of 166.6 mg total flavonols 100 g(-1) DM. The
      predicted amount was comparable to the experimental amount of 151.5 mg total
      flavonols 100 g(-1) DM obtained from optimal beta-CD based parameters, thereby
      giving a low absolute error and adequacy of fitted model. In addition, the
      results from optimized extraction conditions showed values similar to those
      obtained through previously established solvent based sonication assisted
      flavonol extraction procedure. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first
      study to optimize aqueous beta-CD based flavonol extraction which presents an
      environmentally safe method for value-addition to under-utilized bio resources. 

PMID- 25829602
TI  - Roller milling process for fractionation of fenugreek seeds (Trigonella
      foenumgraecum) and characterization of milled fractions.
AB  - The fenugreek seed is the richest source of soluble and insoluble fiber and also
      known for its medicinal and functional properties. The major objective of this
      present study is fractionation of the fenugreek by roller milling method and
      characterization of roller milled fractions. The effects of moisture conditioning
      on fenugreek roller milling were studied using standard methods. The results
      observed were increase in coarse husk from 33.75-42.46 % and decrease in flour
      yield from 49.52-41.62 % with increase in addition of moisture from 12-20 %. At
      16 % conditioning moisture, the yield of coarse husk was 40.87 % with dietary
      fiber and protein content of 73.4 % and 6.96 % respectively. The yellowness value
      (b) for the coarse husk (29.68) found to be lowest at 16 % conditioning moisture
      compared to the other coarse husk samples, showing maximum clean separation. The
      fiber fractions showed the viscosity of 6,392 cps at 2 % w/v concentration. The
      flour fraction was higher in protein (41.83 %) and fat (13.22 %) content. Roller
      milling process of fenugreek was able to produce > 40 % of coarse husk with 73.4
      % dietary fiber (25.56 % soluble & 47.84 % insoluble) and > 48 % flour with 41.83
      % protein content, where as the whole fenugreek contained 22.5 % protein & 51.25
      % dietary fiber. Thus roller milling has proved to be a valuable method for the
      fractionation of fenugreek to obtain fiber and protein rich fractions. 

PMID- 25829603
TI  - Efficacy of Angelica archangelica essential oil, phenyl ethyl alcohol and alpha-
      terpineol against isolated molds from walnut and their antiaflatoxigenic and
      antioxidant activity.
AB  - Mold association, aflatoxin B1 contamination as well as oxidative deterioration
      of agri-food items during storage and processing are some global task for food
      industries. In view of the adverse effects of some synthetic preservatives on
      treated food items and subsequently on consumers health, recently plant based
      chemicals are encouraged by food industries as better alternatives of synthetics.
      The present study recommends the combination (1:1:1) of Angelica archangelica
      essential oil: Phenyl ethyl alcohol (PEA): alpha- terpineol as botanical
      preservative against molds, aflatoxin contamination and oxidative deterioration
      of walnut samples. Eight mold species were procured from stored walnut samples,
      including some aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus strains. The combination
      inhibited growth of aflatoxigenic strain Aspergillus flavus NKDW-7 and aflatoxin
      B1 production at 2.25 and 2.0 MUL mL(-1) respectively. The IC50 value of the
      combination was recorded as 3.89 MUL mL(-1), showing strong antioxidant
      potential. The antifungal action of the combination showed > 90 % decrease in
      ergosterol content in plasma membrane of A. flavus at 2.0 MUL mL(-1). The LD50 of
      the combination, through oral administration on mice, was 9562.9 MUL kg(-1) body
      weight, indication favourable safety profile as a plant based preservative. The
      combination may be recommended as safe preservative against molds, aflatoxin
      contamination and oxidative deterioration of walnut samples. 

PMID- 25829604
TI  - In vitro and in vivo activity of essential oils against major postharvest
      pathogens of Kinnow (Citrus nobilis * C. deliciosa) mandarin.
AB  - The present study envisages the influence of essential oils namely lemon grass,
      eucalyptus, clove and neem on Kinnow mandarin with the objective to combat major
      post harvest diseases and to prolong its availability for longer time in the
      season. For this, in vitro and in vivo studies were conducted. Poisoned food
      technique was used for in vitro studies, and for in vivo studies, Kinnow fruit
      were pre-inoculated with pathogens (Penicillium digitatum and P. italicum),
      treated with different essential oils and then stored at 5  degrees C +/-1 
      degrees C temperature and 85-90 % RH). Our results indicated that all essential
      oils inhibited the growth (colony diameter) of both pathogens over untreated PDA
      plates, but the inhibition was the strongest by lemon grass oil. Similarly, under
      in vivo conditions, all essential oils influenced decay incidence, decay loss,
      lesion diameter, respiration rate, ethylene evolution, overall acceptability and
      physiological loss in weight but lemon grass was the most effective. And also the
      incidence of Penicillium italicum was more noticed in fruits than P. digitatum,
      however, it was reverse under in vitro conditions. The decay rot at all stages of
      storage was less in EOs treated fruits than untreated fruits, thereby increasing
      their storage life significantly. Thus, it is evident from our studies that
      essential oils have the potential to control green and blue mold without causing
      any injury or harmful effects on Kinnow mandarin, and EOs can be recommended as a
      safe method for extending its storage life while maintaining fruit quality. 

PMID- 25829605
TI  - Effect of antioxidant tertiary butyl hydroquinone on the thermal and oxidative
      stability of sesame oil (sesamum indicum) by ultrasonic studies.
AB  - The aim of the current investigation is to evaluate the efficiency of tertiary
      butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) as an antioxidant in sesame oil (sesamum indicum) by
      density, viscosity and ultrasonic velocity. The effects of varying amounts of
      TBHQ on the oxidation stability of sesame oil have been investigated. The
      antioxidant incorporated sesame oil system and control edible oil were subjected
      to heating at 180 +/- 5  degrees C continuously for a period of 4 h per day for
      consecutive 4 days. The parameters used to assess the thermal degradation and
      oxidation properties of the oils include ultrasonic velocity, viscosity, density
      and peroxide value. The fatty acid compositions of the oils were measured by gas
      chromatography. Adiabatic compressibility, intermolecular free length, relaxation
      time and acoustic impedance have been calculated from experimental data.
      Viscosity, density and ultrasonic velocity change in control oil is from 3.6553 *
      10(-2) to 11.1729 * 10(-2) Nsm(-2), 912.59 to 940.31 kg/m(3) and 1,421 to 1,452
      m/s respectively and in sesame oil with 200 ppm TBHQ is from 3.6793 * 10(-2) to
      6.4842 * 10(-2) Nsm(-2), 913.78 to 922.45 kg/m(3) and 1,421 to 1,431 m/s
      respectively for 16 h of heat treated oil. The ultrasonic results obtained have
      shown reduction in thermal degradation and improvement in oxidation stability of
      antioxidant loaded oil in comparison to base oil. Hence, it can be recommended
      that sesame oil with 200 ppm TBHQ can be used for frying without adverse effect
      on physical properties. The ultrasonic velocity can be used for assessment of
      stability of frying oil. 

PMID- 25829606
TI  - Effects of different postharvest treatments on the physiology and quality of
      'Xiaobai' apricots at room temperature.
AB  - The effect of postharvest treatments on storage characteristics of harvested
      apricots in relation to fruit quality was investigated. 'Xiaobai' apricots
      treated with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), chlorine dioxide (ClO2), calcium, and
      heat in sealed container and then stored at 20  degrees C with 90 % relative
      humidity (RH) for 10 days. Results showed that the treatments could reduce
      respiration production and MDA content, delay softening, postharvest decay, the
      decrease of soluble solids (SSC), and visual changes. Furthermore, the polyphenol
      oxidase (PPO), polygalacturonase (PG), and pectin methylesterase (PME),
      superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) activities were
      reduced by treatments. Taken together, it is suggested that ClO2 treatment might
      be an effective way to maintain the quality of apricot fruit except 1-MCP
      treatment. 

PMID- 25829607
TI  - Organoleptic and glycemic properties of chickpea-wheat composite breads.
AB  - Prevalence of obesity and type-2-diabetes requires dietary manipulation. It was
      hypothesized that wheat-legume-composite breads will reduce the spike of blood
      glucose and increase satiety. Four pan bread samples were prepared: White bread
      (WB) as standard, Whole-wheat bread (WWB), WWB supplemented with chickpea flour
      at 25 % (25%ChB) and 35 % (35%ChB) levels. These breads were tested in healthy
      female subjects for acceptability and for effect on appetite, blood glucose, and
      physical discomfort in digestion. The breads were rated >5.6 on a 9-point hedonic
      scale with WB significantly higher than all other breads. No difference in area
      under the curve (AUC) for appetite was found, but blood glucose AUC was reduced
      as follows: 35%ChB < WB and WWB, WB >25%ChB = WWB or 35%ChB. We conclude that
      addition of chickpea flour at 35 % to whole wheat produces a bread that is
      acceptable to eat, causing no physical discomfort and lowers the glycemic
      response. 

PMID- 25829608
TI  - Effect of different alkali treatments on the chemical composition, physical
      properties, and microstructure of pidan white.
AB  - Changes in chemical composition, physical property and microstructure of pidan
      white treated with 4.5 % NaOH or 5.5 % KOH were monitored during pickling up to 4
      weeks, and followed by aging for another 2 weeks. As the pickling and ageing
      times increased, moisture content of pidan white decreased and salt content
      increased for both (4.5 % NaOH and 5.5 % KOH) treatments (P < 0.05). Free
      alkalinity and pH of pidan white treated with 4.5 % NaOH increased as pickling
      proceeded, but decreased during ageing for both pickling treatments (P < 0.05).
      At week 4 of pickling, pidan white treated with 5.5 % KOH had higher hardness,
      cohesiveness, gumminess and chewiness than those treated with 4.5 % NaOH. After
      ageing, higher springiness, elastic modulus (G') and viscous modulus (G") were
      generally found in pidan white treated with 5.5 % KOH (P < 0.05). As the pickling
      time increased, lower L*, b* values and higher a* value were observed in pidan
      white from both treatments (P < 0.05). As visualized by scanning electron
      microscope, the aggregation of egg proteins took place in pidan white gels,
      irrespective of pickling treatments used. Nevertheless, closer and more orderly
      protein aggregates with denser network were founded in pidan white treated with
      5.5 % KOH. 

PMID- 25829609
TI  - Antimicrobial activity of turmeric extract and its potential use in food
      industry.
AB  - The present study investigates the antimicrobial and preservative potentials of
      turmeric extracts for food industry. Turmeric extracts prepared in n-hexane,
      water, chloroform and ethanol were applied to meals as preservatives and
      antibacterial agent. The samples were assessed microbiologically (total
      bacterial, total fungal and total coliform counts) and organoleptically (color,
      odor, taste) at day zero and after 15 days intervals. Meals autoclaved for
      shorter time (5 min) and treated with combination of 1 % or 2 % turmeric extract
      preserved for longer period. These results were comparable with samples
      autoclaved for longer period (15 min) with out turmeric extract. The
      antibacterial activities of different turmeric extracts were also tested against
      Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Candida albicans by
      disc diffusion method. Water extracted samples of turmeric stored at room
      temperature inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi while
      aqueous extract autoclaved at 121  degrees C for 30 min reduced the growth of
      Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Methanol extracted samples stored at
      room temperature or autoclaved at 121  degrees C was effective to control the
      growth of all microbes under study. Chloroform and n-hexane extracts (stored at
      room temperature) showed weak activity against all tested microbes. 

PMID- 25829610
TI  - Evolution of antioxidants in dietary fiber powder produced from white cabbage
      outer leaves: effects of blanching and drying methods.
AB  - White cabbage outer leaves, which are usually discarded both during industrial
      processing and selling in a consumer market, have proven to be a good source of
      dietary fiber (DF) as well as antioxidants and can be effectively transformed
      into functional DF powder. In the past, however, only hot air drying was used to
      prepare DF powder from cabbage outer leaves although it is well recognized that
      this drying technique could lead to much quality degradation of a dried product.
      This work was therefore aimed at studying the evolution of selected important
      antioxidants, e.g., phenolic compounds and vitamin C, in white cabbage outer
      leaves during vacuum drying at 60, 70 and 80  degrees C. The effect of
      pretreatment viz. steam blanching was also evaluated. The results showed that
      there were losses of antioxidants during steam blanching; vacuum dried blanched
      leaves nevertheless contained higher antioxidant contents and activity than dried
      unblanched leaves. Losses of antioxidants during vacuum drying were also noted to
      be less than those during hot air drying. Overall, the results showed that there
      were no differences in the antioxidants retention among all the tested conditions
      performed in this study. Therefore, the most suitable condition for the
      production of antioxidant DF powder from cabbage outer leaves is vacuum drying at
      80  degrees C as this condition requires the minimum specific energy consumption.

PMID- 25829611
TI  - Quality characteristics of low fat chicken nuggets: effect of salt substitute
      blend and pea hull flour.
AB  - Effect of salt substitution (Treat I) and added pea hull flour (PHF) at 8 (Treat
      II), 10 (Treat-III) and 12 % (Treat-IV) levels on the quality of low fat chicken
      nuggets (Control) was investigated. Replacement of NaCl significantly affected (P
      < 0.05) emulsion and product pH, emulsion stability, cooking yield, ash content
      while PHF had additional effect on moisture and protein. Dietary fibre content in
      the product significantly (P < 0.05) increased at each level of PHF. The colour
      parameters remained similar to control due to salt replacement while added PHF
      decreased their values. Textural properties were lower (P < 0.05) in the treated
      products. Addition of PHF significantly (P < 0.05) decreased cholesterol and
      glycolipids contents at 8 % and 12 % levels, respectively. Sensory evaluation
      exhibited that 40 % NaCl can efficiently be replaced and 8 % PHF can be
      incorporated as a source of fibre in low fat chicken nuggets without significant
      effect on various attributes. 

PMID- 25829612
TI  - Standardization of Fat:SNF ratio of milk and addition of sprouted wheat fada
      (semolina) for the manufacture of halvasan.
AB  - Traditional Indian Dairy Products such as Halvasan are manufactured in India
      using an age old practice. For manufacture of such products industrially, a
      standard formulation is required. Halvasan is a region specific, very popular
      heat desiccated milk product but has not been studied scientifically. Fat and
      Solids-not-fat (SNF) plays an important role in physico-chemical, sensory,
      textural characteristics and also the shelf life of any milk sweet. Hence for
      process standardization of Halvasan manufacture, different levels of Fat:SNF
      ratios i.e. 0.44, 0.55, 0.66 and 0.77 of milk were studied so that an optimum
      level yielding best organoleptic characteristics in final product can be
      selected. The product was made from milk standardized to these ratios of Fat:SNF
      and the product was manufactured as per the method tentatively employed on the
      basis of characterization of market samples of the product in laboratory. Based
      on the sensory results obtained, a Fat:SNF ratio of 0.66 for the milk has been
      selected. In the similar way, for standardizing the rate of addition of fada
      (semolina); 30, 40, 50 and 60 g fada (semolina) per kg of milk were added and
      based on the sensory observations, the level of fada (semolina) addition @50
      gm/kg of milk was adjudged the best for Halvasan manufacture and hence selected. 

PMID- 25829613
TI  - Influence of drying temperature on dietary fibre, rehydration properties, texture
      and microstructure of Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.).
AB  - The effects of air drying temperature on dietary fibre, texture and
      microstructure of the Cape gooseberry fruits during convective dehydration in the
      range of 50-90 oC were investigated. The ratio of insoluble dietary fibre to
      soluble dietary fibre was higher than 7:1 for all dehydrated samples. At 50 oC
      tissue structure damage was evidenced leading to the maximum water holding
      capacity (47.4 +/- 2.8 g retained water/100 g water) and the lowest rehydration
      ratio (1.15 +/- 0.06 g absorbed water/g d.m.). Texture analysis showed effects of
      drying temperatures on TPA parameters. Changes in microstructure tissue were also
      observed at the studied drying temperatures. Hot air drying technology leads not
      only to fruit preservation but also increases and adds value to Cape gooseberry,
      an asset to develop new functional products. 

PMID- 25829614
TI  - Comparative evaluation of antioxidant and insecticidal properties of essential
      oils from five Moroccan aromatic herbs.
AB  - This study describes the antioxidant and insecticidal activities of essential
      oils (EOs) of Mentha suaveolens subsp. timija, Thymus satureioides, Achillea
      ageratum, Cotula cinerea and Salvia officinalis widely used in Morocco as
      flavorings, food additives and preservatives. Sixty seven components were
      identified accounting for more than 95.0 % of the total oils. M. suaveolens
      subsp. timija oil had as main components menthone and pulegone. A. ageratum oil
      was particularly rich in artemisyl acetate and yomogi alcohol. The essential oil
      of T. satureioides was characterized by high contents of carvacrol and borneol.
      C. cinerea oil contained trans-thujone and cis-verbenyl acetate as major
      constituents, whereas S. officinalis oil was characterized by trans-thujone and
      camphor. Antioxidant activities were examined by means of 2,2-diphenyl-1
      picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), reducing power, beta-carotene/linoleic acid
      bleaching and ABTS radical tests. In all assays, the highest antioxidant potency
      was observed in T. satureioides EO with IC50 values ranging from 0.15 +/- 0.36
      MUg mL(-1) to 0.23 +/- 0.67 MUg mL(-1) across the four assays. The in vitro
      evaluation of the insecticidal activity showed that M. suaveolens subsp. timija
      EO present the highest insecticidal efficiency against adults of Tribolium
      castaneum with LD50 and LD90 values of 0.17 MUL cm(-2) and 0.26 MUL cm(-2),
      respectively and LT50, LT90 values ranged from 44.19 h to 2.98 h and 98.14 h to
      6.02 h, respectively. Our data support the possible use of T. satureioides oil as
      potential antioxidant agent, while M. suaveolens subsp. timija oil can be
      developed as a new natural bio-insecticide. 

PMID- 25829615
TI  - Physical and chemical characteristics of goldenberry fruit (Physalis peruviana
      L.).
AB  - Some physical and chemical characteristics of goldenberry fruit (Physalis
      peruviana L.) were investigated. These characteristics are necessary for the
      design of equipments for harvesting, processing, transportation, sorting,
      separating and packing. The fruit length, diameter, geometric and arithmetic mean
      diameters, sphericity, surface area, projected areas (vertical-horizontal) and
      aspect ratio of goldenberries were determined as 17.52 mm, 17.31 mm, 17.33 mm,
      17.38 mm, 98.9 %, 0.949 cm(2), 388.67-387.85 mm(2) and 0.988, respectively. The
      mass of fruit, bulk density, fruit density, porosity and fruit hardness were
      3.091 g, 997.3 kg/m(3), 462.3 kg/m(3), 53.61 % and 8.01 N, respectively. The
      highest static coefficient of friction was observed on rubber surface, followed
      by stainless steel sheet, aluminum sheet, and plywood materials. The dry matter,
      water soluble dry matter, ash, protein, oil, carbohydrate, titratable acidity,
      pH, total sugar, reducing sugar, antioxidant capacity were 18.67 %, 14.17 %, 2.98
      %, 1.66 %, 0.18 %, 13.86 %, 1.26 %, 6.07, 63.90 g/kg, 31.99 g/kg and 57.67 %,
      respectively. The fresh fruits have 145.22 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g
      total phenol content and skin colour data represented as L*, a*, b*, Chroma (C)
      and Hue angle (alpha) were 49.92, 25.11, 50.23, 56.12 and 63.48, respectively. 

PMID- 25829616
TI  - Antioxidant, DNA protective efficacy and HPLC analysis of Annona muricata
      (soursop) extracts.
AB  - Annona muricata is a naturally occurring edible plant with wide array of
      therapeutic potentials. In India, it has a long history of traditional use in
      treating various ailments. The present investigation was carried out to
      characterize the phytochemicals present in the methanolic and aqueous leaf
      extracts of A. muricata, followed by validation of its radical scavenging and DNA
      protection activities. The extracts were also analyzed for its total phenolic
      contents and subjected to HPLC analysis to determine its active metabolites. The
      radical scavenging activities were premeditated by various complementary assays
      (DRSA, FRAP and HRSA). Further, its DNA protection efficacy against H2O2 induced
      toxicity was evaluated using pBR322 plasmid DNA. The results revealed that the
      extracts were highly rich in various phytochemicals including luteolin,
      homoorientin, tangeretin, quercetin, daidzein, epicatechin gallate, emodin and
      coumaric acid. Both the extracts showed significant (p < 0.05) radical scavenging
      activities, while methanolic extract demonstrated improved protection against
      H2O2-induced DNA damage when compared to aqueous extract. A strong positive
      correlation was observed for the estimated total phenolic contents and radical
      scavenging potentials of the extracts. Further HPLC analysis of the phyto
      constituents of the extracts provides a sound scientific basis for compound
      isolation. 

PMID- 25829617
TI  - Optimization of the extraction of total flavonoids from Scutellaria baicalensis
      Georgi using the response surface methodology.
AB  - The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the conditions for
      total flavonoid extraction from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi. The influences of
      the ethanol concentration, extraction time, temperature, and the liquid-solid
      ratio on flavonoid yield were investigated. Based on ANOVA results, a second
      order quadratic polynomial model could be applied to characterize the extraction
      process. The following optimal extraction conditions were identified: ethanol
      concentration, 52.98 %; extraction time, 2.12 h; extraction temperature, 62.46 
      degrees C; and liquid-solid ratio, 35.23. The predicted extraction yield was
      19.437 mg/g when these optimal conditions were used. The proposed method was
      successfully employed to extract flavonoids from S. baicalensis. 

PMID- 25829618
TI  - Characterization of collagen from emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) skins.
AB  - Collagen from emu skins as a by-product was prepared. The skins were hardly
      solubilized in acetic acid, however were successfully solubilized on digestion
      with 10 % pepsin (w/w) for 4 days. The yield of pepsin-solubilized collagen (PSC)
      was about 27.3 %, on a raw weight basis. By SDS-PAGE and CM-Toyopearl 650 M
      column chromatography, the presence of a fourth subunit that was previously
      designated alpha4 was confirmed. The denaturation temperature of the PSC was 31.5
      degrees C, about 6-7  degrees C lower than that from the porcine skins. ATR-FTIR
      analysis indicated that the helical arrangements of the PSC from emu skins
      existed and its structures of PSC were changed slightly due to the loss of N- and
      C-terminus domains in similar to that from the porcine skins. That is, the PSC
      from emu skins did not possess telopeptide chains as major portion of antigenic
      sites in collagen. The present study indicates that a large quantity of emu skins
      as by-products have potential as a good alternative source of high-quality
      collagen for industrial purposes in the foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical and
      biomedical fields. 

PMID- 25829619
TI  - Zinc enrichment of whole potato tuber by vacuum impregnation.
AB  - Zinc is a nutritionally essential truce element, and thus zinc deficiency (ZD)
      severely affects human health. More than 25% of the world's population is at risk
      of ZD. This study was initiated to examine the use of the vacuum impregnation
      (VI) technique for enriching zinc content of whole potatoes; the effect of vacuum
      time, restoration time, steam-cooking and storage at 4  degrees C on the zinc
      content of VI whole potatoes was evaluated. Whole potato tubers were immersed in
      a 9 g/100 g zinc (zinc gluconate) solution. Vacuum pressure of 1,000 Pa was
      applied for 0-120 min, and atmospheric pressure restoration for 0-4 h.
      Experimental results showed that the zinc content of VI potatoes increased with
      vacuum and restoration time. Moreover, VI-cooked unpeeled or peeled potatoes had
      63-94 times and 47-75 times higher zinc contents than un-VI-cooked unpeeled or
      peeled potatoes, respectively. The world daily potato consumption (86 g) of the
      VI-cooked unpeeled and peeled potatoes provided adult men with 130-148% and 100
      135% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of zinc, respectively. Also, the
      daily potato consumption of the unpeeled and peeled potatoes supplied adult women
      with 178-203% and 137-185% of the RDA level, respectively. In addition, the VI
      potatoes had 40 times higher zinc contents through 30 days of storage at 4 
      degrees C, compared with un-VI-treated potatoes. This study indicated that VI
      treatment of whole potatoes was useful for enriching the zinc content. 

PMID- 25829620
TI  - Effect of spinach powder on physico-chemical, rheological, nutritional and
      sensory characteristics of chapati premixes.
AB  - Effect of spinach powder on the physico-chemical, rheological, nutritional and
      sensory characteristics on chapati premixes was studied by incorporating spinach
      powder at different concentrations from 1 % to 10 % based on wheat flour.
      Addition of 5 % of spinach powder to wheat flour was found to be optimum for
      chapati preparation. Effect of incorporation of spinach powder on the alveo
      consistographic, mixographic and pasting characteristics were studied. It was
      observed that peak viscosity, breakdown viscosity significantly decreases
      whereas, peak time, tenacity increases with the increase in the concentration of
      spinach powder from 1 % to 10 % in chapati premixes. Addition of spinach powder
      also significantly affects the textural qualities of the chapaties. Premixes and
      prepared chapaties were also studied for chlorophyll content, total
      carotenoids,vitamins and minerals. 

PMID- 25829621
TI  - Gum cordia as carrier of antioxidants: effects on lipid oxidation of peanuts.
AB  - Performance of antioxidants is improved by incorporating them into polymer matrix
      such as polysaccharides based edible coatings. Gum cordia, an anionic
      polysaccharide extracted from the fruits of Cordia.myxa could be used as carrier
      of antioxidants by virtue of its strong adhering and emulsifying properties. This
      study aimed to explore the potential of gum cordia as carrier of antioxidants
      when applied as edible coating on peanuts. Gum Cordia was compared with
      carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) in delivering of antioxidants: butylated
      hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and ascorbic acid (AA).
      Coated and uncoated peanuts were stored at 35  degrees C for 126 days and coating
      carrier effectiveness was measured by following lipid oxidation using chemical
      parameters (peroxide value and thiobarbituric acid reactive species) and sensory
      evaluation (oxidized flavor). Significant differences (p < 0.05) between coated
      and uncoated samples were observed. Gum cordia was found better than CMC to
      deliver the antioxidants. Gum cordia based coating in combination with BHA/BHT
      exhibited highest protection (290 % higher shelf life than control) based on
      peroxide value (40 meq.O2 kg(-1)) followed by gum codia plus BHT (244 %), gum
      cordia plus BHA (232 %), CMC plus BHA/BHT (184 %), CMC plus BHA (139 %), CMC plus
      BHT (119 %), gum cordia plus AA (96 %) and CMC plus AA (46 %). 

PMID- 25829622
TI  - Aspartame: safety and stability in kalakand.
AB  - Aspartame was used in the manufacture of kalakand instead of sucrose. Sensory
      evaluation revealed that aspartame when used in the preparation of kalakand at a
      level of 0.065 % scored the highest in terms of sweetness perception and
      resembled control. Aspartame sweetened kalakand possessed the same desirable
      sweetness, colour, body and texture/consistency and mouthfeel even after 7 days
      of storage at 6-8  degrees C. Significant increase in titratable acidity of
      control as well as aspartame sweetened kalakand was observed during storage.
      However, only a slight drop in pH was observed in all samples on storage. The
      titratable acidity was higher in aspartame sweetened products than the
      corresponding control samples. Lightness (L*) was less in control samples with
      sucrose than the aspartame sweetened kalakand during storage. Total plate counts
      were higher in aspartame sweetened kalakand than its corresponding control
      throughout the storage period. Total plate counts increased linearly for both
      aspartame sweetened kalakand and control. A solid phase extraction method was
      standardized for the isolation of aspartame in kalakand. HPLC analytical
      conditions were standardized for separation of aspartame and its degradation
      products diketopiperazine and L-phenylalanine. HPLC analysis revealed that
      aspartame did not degrade in kalakand during storage establishing its stability
      in these products. 

PMID- 25829623
TI  - Effect of temperature and relative humidity on the water vapour permeability and
      mechanical properties of cassava starch and soy protein concentrate based edible
      films.
AB  - The effect of temperature and relative humidity on the water vapour permeability
      (WVP) and mechanical properties of cassava starch and soy protein concentrate
      (SPC) based edible films containing 20 % glycerol level were studied. Tensile
      strength and elastic modulus of edible films increased with increase in
      temperature and decreased with increase in relative humidity, while elongation at
      break decreased. Water vapour permeability of the films increased (2.6-4.3
      g.mm/m(2).day.kPa) with increase in temperature and relative humidity. The
      temperature dependence of water vapour permeation of cassava starch-soy protein
      concentrate films followed Arrhenius relationship. Activation energy (Ea) of
      water vapour permeation of cassava starch-soy protein concentrate edible films
      ranged from 1.9 to 5.3 kJ/mol (R (2)  >= 0.93) and increased with increase in SPC
      addition. The Ea values were lower for the bio-films than for polyvinylidene
      chloride, polypropylene and polyethylene which are an indication of low water
      vapour permeability of the developed biofilms compared to those synthetic films. 

PMID- 25829624
TI  - Antioxidant and antibacterial activity of Rhoeo spathacea (Swartz) Stearn leaves.
AB  - The decoction and infusion of Rhoeo spathacea (Swartz) Stearn leaves have been
      recognized as a functional food particularly in South America, but has not yet
      gained international popularity as a beverage. The primary aim of this study was
      to establish the viability of R. spathacea aqueous leaf extracts as a beverage,
      in terms of its antioxidant activity and antibacterial activity. The antioxidant
      contents of aqueous and methanol leaf extracts were evaluated by the total
      phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) assays. The antioxidant
      activities measured were DPPH radical scavenging activity (FRS), ferric reducing
      power (FRP) and ferrous ion chelating (FIC) activity. The aqueous leaf extracts
      in the forms of decoction and infusion, were found to have comparable TPC and
      antioxidant activity with other herbal teas previously reported by our research
      group. Both decoction and infusion also exhibited antibacterial activity against
      six species of Gram positive and four species of Gram negative bacteria, notably
      methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Neisseria gonorrhoeae. A total of
      four different known phenolic compounds were identified by HPLC and MS, three of
      which have not been previously reported to be found in this plant. Both the
      decoction and infusion of the leaves R. spathacea have potential to be
      popularized into a common beverage. 

PMID- 25829625
TI  - Potential utilization of Citrullus lanatus var. Colocynthoides waste as a novel
      source of pectin.
AB  - The Citrullus lanatus var. Colocynthoides is an ancestor type of watermelon. It
      was investigated as a new source of pectin. It was cultivated in Egypt for seeds
      only, while the remaining fruits are discarded as waste. Effect of different
      extraction conditions such as pH, solid: liquid ratio, temperature and extraction
      time on pectin yield of Citrullus lanatus var. Colocynthoides waste was
      investigated in the present study. The highest yield (19.75 % w/w) was achieved
      at pH 2, solid: liquid ratio1:15 and 85  degrees C, for 60 min. Methylation
      degree and galacturonic acid content of extracted pectin were 55.25 %, w/w and
      76.84 %, w/w. The main neutral sugars were galactose followed by arabinose and
      rhamnose. In addition, glucose, xylose and mannose existed as constituents in the
      pectin hydrolysate. The results indicated that Citrullus lanatus var.
      Colocynthoide waste is a potential new source of pectin. 

PMID- 25829626
TI  - Assessment of transesterified palm olein and Moringa oleifera oil blends as
      vanaspati substitutes.
AB  - This study aimed to investigate the suitability of Moringa oleifera oil and palm
      olein blends as vanaspati substitutes on the basis of physico-chemical and
      sensory characteristics. Blends were prepared either by blending Moringa oleifera
      oil or palm olein at 25:75, 50:50, 75:25, and 100 ratios, transesterified by
      Rhizopus miehei, compared with market vanaspati, designated as T1, T2, T3, T4 and
      T5, respectively. The blends were filled in 3-layer polyethylene pouch packs,
      stored at ambient temperature, sampled at every at 0, 90 and 180-days for the
      assessment of storage stability. The melting point and iodine value of T2 and
      control were 36.8, 37.2  degrees C and 62.2, 51.8, with no effect on free fatty
      acids content, peroxide, anisidine values and color of the deodorized stuffs.
      C18:1 content of T2 was 59.7 % with no trans fatty acids. Trans fatty acid
      content of the market vanaspati was 22.9 %. The addition of Moringa oleifera oil
      improved the induction period of the blends strongly inhibited the formation of
      primary and secondary oxidation products. The overall acceptability score of
      French fries prepared in T2 was 81 % of the total score (9). Blend containing 50
      % palm olein and 50 % Moringa oleifera oil can be used in the formulation of a
      functional shelf stable fat that can be used as a vanaspati substitute. 

PMID- 25829627
TI  - Single step aqueous two-phase extraction for downstream processing of C
      phycocyanin from Spirulina platensis.
AB  - C-phycocyanin, a natural food colorant, is gaining importance worldwide due to
      its several medical and pharmaceutical applications. In the present study,
      aqueous two-phase extraction was shown to be an attractive alternative for the
      downstream processing of C-phycocyanin from Spirulina platensis. By employing
      differential partitioning, C-phycocyanin selectively partitioned to the polymer
      rich (top) phase in concentrated form and contaminant proteins to the salt rich
      (bottom) phase. This resulted in an increase in the product purity (without
      losing much of the yield) in a single step without the need of multiple
      processing steps. Effect of process parameters such as molecular weight, tie line
      length, phase volume ratio, concentration of phase components on the partitioning
      behavior of C-phycocyanin was studied. The results were explained based on
      relative free volume of the phase systems. C-phycocyanin with a purity of 4.32
      and yield of about 79 % was obtained at the standardized conditions. 

PMID- 25829628
TI  - Choice of solvent extraction technique affects fatty acid composition of
      pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) oil.
AB  - Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) oil has important nutritional and therapeutic
      properties because of its high concentration of essential fatty acids. The
      extraction method used to obtain natural compounds from raw material is critical
      for product quality, in particular to protect nutritional value. This study
      compared the fatty acid composition of pistachio oil extracted by two
      conventional procedures, Soxhlet extraction and maceration, analyzed by a gas
      chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID). Four solvents with different
      polarities were tested: n-hexane (Hx), dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate
      (EtAc) and ethanol (EtOH). The highest unsaturated fatty acid content (88.493 %)
      was obtained by Soxhlet extraction with EtAc. The Soxhlet method extracted the
      most oleic and linolenic acids (51.99 % and 0.385 %, respectively) although a
      higher concentration (36.32 %) of linoleic acid was extracted by maceration. 

PMID- 25829629
TI  - Proteolytic and ACE-inhibitory activities of probiotic yogurt containing non
      viable bacteria as affected by different levels of fat, inulin and starter
      culture.
AB  - In this study, the effects of fat (0.5 %, 3.2 % and 5.0 %), inulin (0.0 and 1.0
      %) and starter culture (0.0 %, 0.5 %, 1.0 % and 1.5 %) on the angiotensin
      converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory activity of probiotic yogurt containing non
      viable bacteria were assessed. Proteolytic activities of bacteria were also
      investigated. Yogurts were prepared either using a sole yogurt commercial culture
      including Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subs.
      bulgaricus or bifidobacterium animalis BB-12 and Lactobacillus acidophilus La5 in
      addition to yogurt culture. Relative degrees of proteolysis were found to be
      considerably higher in yogurt samples than UHT milk as the control. Both regular
      and probiotic yogurts showed considerable ACE-inhibitory activities. Results
      showed that degree of proteolysis was not influenced by different fat contents,
      while was increased by high concentration of starter culture (1.5 % w/w) and
      reduced by inulin (1 % w/w). ACE-inhibitory activities of yogurt were also
      negatively affected by the presence of inulin and high levels of fat (5 % w/w).
      Moreover, yogurt containing probiotic bacteria showed higher inhibitory against
      ACE in comparison to the yogurt prepared with non-probiotic strains. 

PMID- 25829630
TI  - A validated dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction method for extraction of
      ochratoxin A from raisin samples.
AB  - A method based on dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) was developed
      for the quantitative extraction of Ochratoxin A (OTA) from raisin samples. The
      influence of various parameters on the recovery of OTA such as type and volume of
      DLLME extractant, centrifuging and sonication time, also volume of deionized
      water was investigated. Recovery values under the optimum conditions were between
      68.6 and 85.2 %, the inner and intra-day precision expressed as relative standard
      deviation (RSD%, n = 3), were less than 15 % at spiking levels of 2.5-30 MUg kg(
      1). Linearity was studied from 0.5 to 30 MUg L(-1), and the limits of detection
      (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 0.7 and 2.0 MUg kg(-1), respectively. Real
      samples were analyzed by DLLME method and compared with confirmative
      immunoaffinity Column Chromatography (IAC) clean-up. Low cost, simplicity of
      operation, speed and minimum consumption of organic solvent were the main
      advantages of proposed method. The mean contamination of samples was 0.88 MUg kg(
      1) that was lower than European Legal Limit. 

PMID- 25829631
TI  - Antimicrobial activities of active component isolated from Lawsonia inermis
      leaves and structure-activity relationships of its analogues against food-borne
      bacteria.
AB  - The antimicrobial activities of Lawsonia inermis leaf extract and 2-hydroxy-1,4
      naphthoquinone analogues against food-borne bacteria. The antimicrobial
      activities of five fractions derived from the methanol extract of Lawsonia
      inermis leaves were evaluated against 7 food-borne bacteria. 2-Hydroxy-1,4
      naphthoquinone was isolated by chromatographic analyses. 2-Hydroxy-1,4
      naphthoquinone showed the strong activities against Bacillus cereus, Listeria
      monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, Shigella sonnei, Staphylococcus epidermidis,
      and S. intermedius, but exerted no growth-inhibitory activities against S.
      typhimurium. The antimicrobial activities of the 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone
      analogues were tested against 7 food-borne bacteria to establish structure
      activity relationships. Hydroxyl (2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone and 5-hydroxy-1,4
      naphthoquinone), methoxy (2-methoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone), and methyl (2-methyl-1,4
      naphthoquinone, and 5-hydroxy-2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone) functional groups on
      the 1,4-naphthoquinone skeleton possessed potent activities, whereas bromo (2
      bromo-1,4-naphthoquinone and 2,3-dibromo-1,4-naphthoquione) and chloro (2,3
      dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone) exhibited no activity against 7 food-borne bacteria.
      The L. inermis leaf extract and 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone analogues should be
      useful as natural antimicrobial agents against food-borne bacteria. 

PMID- 25829632
TI  - Comparison of essential oil composition and antimicrobial activity of Coriandrum
      sativum L. extracted by hydrodistillation and microwave-assisted
      hydrodistillation.
AB  - Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), is an annual herb in the Apiaceae family which
      disperses in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions. The Coriander essential
      oil has been used in food products, perfumes, cosmetics and pharmaceutical
      industries for its flavor and odor. In Iran, fruits of Coriander used in pickle,
      curry powders, sausages, cakes, pastries, biscuits and buns. The aim of this
      study was to investigate microwave radiation effects on quality, quantity and
      antimicrobial activity of essential oil of Coriander fruits. The essential oils
      were obtained from the Coriander fruits by hydrodistillation (HD) and Microwave
      assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) then, the oils were analyzed by GC and GC-MS.
      Antimicrobial activities of essential oils were evaluated against Staphylococcus
      aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans by
      microdilution method. The results indicated that the HD and MAHD essential oils
      (EO) were dominated by monoterpenoids such as linalool, geranyl acetate and gamma
      terpinene. The major compound in both EO was linalool which its amount in HD and
      MAHD was 63 % and 66 %, respectively. The total amount of monoterpenes
      hydrocarbons in HD EO differ significantly with the amount in MAHD EO (12.56 %
      compare to 1.82 %). HD EO showed greater activity against Staphylococcus aureus
      and Candida albicans than MAHD EO. Moreover, their activities against Ecoli and
      P. aeruginosa were the same with Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) 0.781 and
      6.25 MUL mL(-1), respectively. By using MAHD method, it was superior in terms of
      saving energy and extraction time, although the oil yield and total composition
      decrease by using this method. 

PMID- 25829633
TI  - Relationships between antioxidant compounds and antioxidant activities of tartary
      buckwheat during germination.
AB  - Relationships of changes between major non-enzymatic antioxidant compounds and
      antioxidant capacities of tartary buckwheat during germination were evaluated by
      means of correlation analysis and principal component analysis in this paper. The
      changes of antioxidant compounds, including vitamin C, vitamin E, flavonoids,
      carotenoids, and chlorophyll, and antioxidant activities were detected. A good
      accumulation in the content of vitamin C (0.71 mg/g), total flavonoids (19.53 mg
      rutin/g), and rutin (11.34 mg/g) was found after 7-day germination, but
      germination decreased the vitamin E activity. Germination improved the activities
      of buckwheat extracts to scavenge DPPH, ABTS, and superoxide free radicals by
      107, 144, and 88 %, respectively. Furthermore, the correlation and principal
      component analysis showed that the vitamin C, total flavonoids, and rutin
      contents were closely related positively with free radicals scavenging
      properties, indicating that the compounds which play a key role in the elevated
      antioxidant activities during germination consisted of vitamin C, total
      flavonoids, and rutin, but not vitamin E and quercetin. 

PMID- 25829634
TI  - Roller milled black gram (Phaseolus mungo) semolina and its influence on the
      quality characteristics of high protein pasta.
AB  - Black gram (Phaseolus mungo) was roller milled into semolina (BGS) and was
      substituted at 25, 50 and 75 % levels in vermicelli making in this investigation.
      There was an increase in ash and protein content as the inclusion of BGS in
      blends increased. The quality characteristics of pasta showed marginal increase
      in cooking loss up to 50 % level of BGS. The firmness value did not change much
      up to 50 % BGS in pasta. At 75 % level of BGS, the cooking loss and stickiness
      value were highest (6.10 % and 0. 90 N) whereas firmness value and overall
      quality score were lowest (4 N and 27.5/40) indicating that the pasta had mushy,
      indiscrete, sticky strands and had a prominent beany odour making it
      unacceptable. Hence 50 % BGS was considered optimum in vermicelli. The pasta made
      with 50 % BGS inclusion had a protein and dietary fiber content of 15.30 % and 8
      % as against the control value of 11.30 and 4.20 % respectively. 

PMID- 25829635
TI  - Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of ultrasound-assisted extract of
      the endemic plant Haberlea rhodopensis Friv.
AB  - The antioxidant capacity of extracts from leaves of Haberlea rhodopensis Friv.
      obtained by a highly efficient and simple method of the ultrasound-assisted
      extraction was investigated. The total polyphenolic content was determined
      spectrophotometrically using the Folin - Ciocalteu's phenol reagent and the
      polyphenols composition was analyzed by HPLC method. Antioxidant activity of the
      extract was evaluated as 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging
      activity, 2,2-azinobis-3 ethyl benxothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) cation
      decolorization activity assays and the ferric reducing/antioxidant power method
      (FRAP). The total phenolics of the extract were determined to be 148.71 +/- 5.33
      mg GAE on a dry weight basis. The HPLC analysis showed a large number of
      flavonoids and phenolic acids present in the ultrasound ethanol extract of H.
      rhodopensis. Results also revealed that the major flavonoids were luteolin
      (2730.18 MUg/g DW), hesperidin (928.56 MUg/g DW) and kaempferol (578.52 MUg/g
      DW), whereas the most abundant phenolic acids identified in the extract were
      ferulic acid (630.48 MUg/g DW) and sinapic acid (580.80 MUg/g DW). DPPH(*) and
      ABTS(*+) values were 0.803 +/- 0.007 and 0.769 +/- 0.040 mmol TE/g DW,
      respectively and FRAP values were 1.362 +/- 0.05 mmol TE/g DW. 

PMID- 25829636
TI  - Application of ultrasound to microencapsulation of coconut milk fat by spray
      drying method.
AB  - Mixtures of coconut milk and gelatin solution were treated by ultrasound, mixed
      with maltodextrin and subsequently spray-dried to yield powder. The effects of
      ultrasonic power and sonication time on the microencapsulation efficiency (ME)
      and microencapsulation yield (MY) of coconut fat were investigated. The results
      indicated that increase in ultrasonic power from 0 to 5.68 W/g and in sonication
      time from 0 to 2.5 min augmented ME and MY of coconut fat. However, treatment
      with sonication power higher than 5.68 W/g led to a drop in fat ME and MY, mainly
      due to aggregation of fat particles and that blocked the adsorption of gelatin
      molecules on the particle surface. 

PMID- 25829637
TI  - Occurrence of mislabeling in meat products using DNA-based assay.
AB  - Considering that the authentication of food contents is one of the most important
      issues for the food quality sector, and given the increasing demand for
      transparency in the meat industry followed the horsemeat scandal in Europe, this
      study investigates processed-meat products from Italian markets and supermarkets
      using the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene qualitative PCR identification system
      in order to verify any species substitution or mislabeling. The results revealed
      a high substitution rate among the meat products, highlighting a mislabeling rate
      of 57 %, and consequently, considerable discordance with the indications on the
      labels, which raises significant food-safety and consumer-protection concerns. 

PMID- 25829638
TI  - Influence of moisture, particle size and pulse flour composition on phase
      transition behavior of rice flour.
AB  - Study on the phase transition characteristics is an important parameter in
      extrusion processing. The influence of Moisture Content (MC), particle size and
      level of cereal-pulse blend on the glass transition (Tg) and melt (Tm)
      temperatures of a ready to eat cereal-pulse formulation was determined. All
      samples were moisture conditioned in a 9 to 27 % with 3 % interval. Tg and Tm
      were measured by phase transition analyser (PTA). A substantial decrease in Tg
      and Tm was observed as moisture content level increased from 9 to 27 %. However
      Tg and Tm values could not be clearly defined below 9 % moisture content and
      above 27 % moisture content. The Tg and Tm values of the cereal-pulse formulation
      were found to be increased with increasing pulse composition (5 to 30 % with 5 %
      interval). Increase in particle size (150, 180, 212, 300, 425 and 500 MU)
      exhibited significant increase effect on Tg while less significant effect on Tm.
      This may be due to crystalline regions which play a role in cross linking
      amorphous regions of the polymeric network and thus suppress the mobility of
      amorphous regions. The observed differences in Tg and Tm induced by the moisture
      content, concentration of Bengal gram and particle size will be useful in
      simulation and optimization of barrel temperature set during extrusion
      processing. 

PMID- 25829639
TI  - Antibiotic utilization improvement with the Nanosphere Verigene Gram-Positive
      Blood Culture assay.
AB  - New technologies offer rapid identification of organisms and antimicrobial
      resistance markers in blood cultures several hours faster than conventional
      methods. We sought to determine whether implementation of the Verigene(r) Gram
      Positive Blood Culture (BC-GP) assay paired with a well-defined results reporting
      algorithm would lead to earlier deescalation of empiric therapy for inpatients
      with methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and vancomycin-resistant
      Enterococcus (VRE) bacteremia. The algorithm design focused on lessening the
      demand for pharmacist time by using electronic communications where possible. Our
      study compared inpatients with MSSA and VRE bacteremia from the time period
      before (pre-BC-GP) and after (post-BC-GP) implementation of the assay on June 25,
      2013. The time from blood draw to identification and susceptibility results was
      decreased by 36.4 hours (P < 0.001) in the post-BC-GP group. The mean time from
      collection to the first dose of optimal antibiotics was reduced in the post-BC-GP
      group by 18.9 hours (P = 0.004) overall, with a 20.6-hour reduction (P = 0.009)
      for patients with MSSA and a 20.7-hour reduction (P = 0.077) for patients with
      VRE. Additionally, the percent of patients on empiric therapy who were placed on
      optimal antibiotics at any time after the Gram stain result was available
      increased from 64% (45/70) pre-BC-GP to 80% (43/54) post-BC-GP. The BC-GP led to
      an increased rate of deescalation of empiric antibiotics and a reduction in the
      time to optimal antibiotics for patients with MSSA and VRE bacteremia. 

PMID- 25829640
TI  - The SUCCESS model for laboratory performance and execution of rapid molecular
      diagnostics in patients with sepsis.
AB  - Successful performance and execution of rapid diagnostics in a clinical
      laboratory hinges heavily on careful validation, accurate and timely
      communication of results, and real-time quality monitoring. Laboratories must
      develop strategies to integrate diagnostics with stewardship and evidence-based
      clinical practice guidelines. We present a collaborative SUCCESS model for
      execution and monitoring of rapid sepsis diagnostics to facilitate timely
      treatment. Six months after execution of the Verigene Gram-Positive Blood Culture
      (BC-GP) and the AdvanDx PNA-FISH assays, data were collected on 579 and 28
      episodes of bacteremia and fungemia, respectively. Clinical testing was executed
      using a SUCCESS model comprising the following components: stewardship,
      utilization of resources, core strategies, concierge services, education,
      support, and surveillance. Stewardship needs were identified by evaluating the
      specialty services benefiting from new testing. Utilization of resources was
      optimized by reviewing current treatment strategies and antibiogram and formulary
      options. Core strategies consisted of input from infectious disease leadership,
      pharmacy, and laboratory staff. Concierge services included automated Micro
      eUpdate and physician-friendly actionable reports. Education modules were user
      specific, and support was provided through a dedicated 24/7 microbiology hotline.
      Surveillance was performed by daily audit by the director. Using the SUCCESS
      model, the turnaround time for the detailed report with actionable guidelines to
      the physician was ~3 hours from the time of culture positivity. The overall
      correlation between rapid methods and culture was 94% (546/579). Discrepant
      results were predominantly contaminants such as a coagulase-negative
      staphylococci or viridans streptococci in mixed cultures. SUCCESS is a cost
      effective and easily adaptable model for clinical laboratories with limited
      stewardship resources. 

PMID- 25829641
TI  - Impact of the DASH diet on endothelial function, exercise capacity, and quality
      of life in patients with heart failure.
AB  - Endothelial dysfunction has been recognized as a pathophysiologic mechanism in
      the progression of heart failure (HF). However, little attention has been given
      to the ability of dietary approaches to improve endothelial function. This study
      examined the effects of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet
      on endothelial function, exercise capacity, and quality of life in patients with
      chronic symptomatic (stage C) HF. Forty-eight patients were randomized to follow
      the DASH diet (n = 24) or the general HF dietary recommendations (n = 24).
      Endothelial function was assessed by measuring large and small arterial
      elasticity (LAE and SAE) at rest. Exercise capacity (measured with the 6-minute
      walk test) and quality of life (measured with the Minnesota Living with Heart
      Failure Questionnaire) at baseline and 3 months were also evaluated. Patients
      were older adults with an average HF duration of 5 years. LAE at 1 month improved
      significantly in the DASH diet group (P < 0.01). Overall LAE and SAE scores at 3
      months also improved; however, the net changes were not statistically
      significant. The DASH group had better exercise capacity (292 m vs 197 m; P =
      0.018) and quality of life scores (21 vs 39; P = 0.006) over time, while sodium
      intake levels at 1, 2, and 3 months were comparable between the groups. Adhering
      to the DASH diet improved arterial compliance initially and improved exercise
      capacity and quality of life scores at 3 months. The DASH diet may be an
      important adjunctive therapy for patients with symptomatic HF. 

PMID- 25829642
TI  - A survey-based analysis of symptoms in patients with postural orthostatic
      tachycardia syndrome.
AB  - Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a type of dysautonomia seen
      most commonly in young women and children. It is defined as an increase in heart
      rate of 30 beats per minute (bpm) or more within 10 minutes of standing in
      adults, or by 40 bpm or more in children in the absence of orthostatic
      hypotension. In addition to typical autonomic symptoms, POTS patients report a
      wide range of subjective complaints in multiple organ systems, though the exact
      frequencies are unclear. To address the symptom frequency, we had 39 patients
      with POTS at our institution complete an intake form consisting of a list of 37
      symptoms. The most frequently reported symptoms included palpitations,
      lightheadedness, and headache, although sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal
      complaints, sensitivity to temperature, and rash were also common. 

PMID- 25829643
TI  - An interactive web-based project to stimulate internal medicine resident reading
      using board-type questions.
AB  - Since restricted resident work hours have reduced resident participation in
      traditional educational activities, we wanted to evaluate e-mail-based education
      in an internal medicine residency. One internal medicine faculty member sent four
      clinical case-based questions per week to all internal medicine residents over a
      10-month period (132 questions total). The mean percentage of participation on a
      set of questions was 69% (range, 43% to 97%). The mean percentage of correct
      answers on all questions for all residents was 70% (range, 15% to 100%). Seventy
      three percent of the question sets resulted in an electronic interaction between
      the residents and the faculty sponsor. Based on an anonymous survey, 96% of the
      residents found the program useful. The faculty sponsor spent 60 to 150 minutes
      per week on this activity. We think that this program increased overall reading
      since it did not replace any traditional activity; further, it provided practice
      with board-type questions. This approach can supplement the educational
      curriculum for internal medicine training. 

PMID- 25829645
TI  - History of neurologic examination books.
AB  - The objective of this study was to create an annotated list of textbooks
      dedicated to teaching the neurologic examination. Monographs focused primarily on
      the complete neurologic examination published prior to 1960 were reviewed. This
      analysis was limited to books with the word "examination" in the title, with
      exceptions for the texts of Robert Wartenberg and Gordon Holmes. Ten manuals met
      the criteria. Works dedicated primarily to the neurologic examination without a
      major emphasis on disease description or treatment first appeared in the early
      1900s. Georg Monrad-Krohn's "Blue Book of Neurology" ("Blue Bible") was the
      earliest success. These treatises served the important purpose of educating
      trainees on proper neurologic examination technique. They could make a reputation
      and be profitable for the author (Monrad-Krohn), highlight how neurology was
      practiced at individual institutions (McKendree, Denny-Brown, Holmes, DeJong,
      Mayo Clinic authors), and honor retiring mentors (Mayo Clinic authors). 

PMID- 25829646
TI  - Cecal adenocarcinoma presenting as colonic intussusception in adulthood.
AB  - Intussusception occurs when a proximal segment of intestine invaginates into a
      distal segment. It is a common cause of intestinal obstruction in children but is
      infrequent in adults. A 77-year-old woman presented with a 1-month history of
      intermittent abdominal pain associated with nausea and distended abdomen. Imaging
      showed a complex elongated sausage-shaped mass in the transverse colon with no
      obstructive pattern or free air. Surgery confirmed colonic intussusception in
      addition to a palpable cecal mass requiring a right hemicolectomy. Histologic
      study demonstrated adenocarcinoma in situ within a tubulovillous adenoma.
      Surgical excision of the affected intestine is the recommended treatment of
      choice. 

PMID- 25829644
TI  - The acute respiratory distress syndrome.
AB  - The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a major cause of acute
      respiratory failure. Its development leads to high rates of mortality, as well as
      short- and long-term complications, such as physical and cognitive impairment.
      Therefore, early recognition of this syndrome and application of demonstrated
      therapeutic interventions are essential to change the natural course of this
      devastating entity. In this review article, we describe updated concepts in ARDS.
      Specifically, we discuss the new definition of ARDS, its risk factors and
      pathophysiology, and current evidence regarding ventilation management,
      adjunctive therapies, and intervention required in refractory hypoxemia. 

PMID- 25829647
TI  - Large-volume barium aspiration.
AB  - We present a case of large-volume barium aspiration in a 56-year-old woman with
      stage IV tongue squamous cell carcinoma and longstanding dysphagia. The patient
      rapidly developed hypoxemic respiratory failure from the resultant chemical
      pneumonitis. However, her respiratory status improved with supportive care alone
      in 48 hours. Barium aspiration is rare and often produces dramatic radiographic
      findings, but is generally associated with a favorable prognosis. 

PMID- 25829648
TI  - Effect of resection of an orbital arteriovenous malformation on central venous
      pressure.
AB  - We report the first utilization of intraoperative central venous pressure (CVP)
      monitoring in the resection of an orbital arteriovenous malformation. A 24-year
      old woman with a history of a left orbital mass who had previously undergone
      resection of a cranio-orbital arteriovenous malformation presented with gradual
      recurrence in the left orbit. She visited the emergency department with sudden
      vision loss, which resolved over several hours. This transient vision loss was
      thought to be due to a steal phenomenon from the ophthalmic artery due to the
      residual vascular malformation. Further surgical resection was undertaken. A
      preoperative angiogram identified residual feeding vessels, and the larger
      vessels were embolized. At the start of the procedure, her CVP was elevated (29
      mm Hg), as measured by a central venous line. The remaining feeding vessels were
      surgically ligated, and an intraoperative arteriogram confirmed their successful
      ablation. At the conclusion of the procedure, the CVP had decreased to 9 mm Hg. 

PMID- 25829649
TI  - Acute nonrheumatic streptococcal myocarditis resembling ST-elevation acute
      myocardial infarction in a young patient.
AB  - Acute myocarditis can be induced by various concomitant disease processes
      including infections. Most of these cases are viral in origin; however, bacterial
      infections are also implicated to a lesser degree. Group A streptococcus is a
      frequent culprit in bacterial-induced myocarditis. Its diagnosis is suspected by
      the presence of signs and symptoms of rheumatic fever as established by the Jones
      criteria. The development and refinement of current diagnostic tools has improved
      our ability to identify specific pathogens. It has been found that group A
      streptococcus may be responsible for more cases of infection-induced acute
      myocarditis than previously thought, and often without the clinical features of
      rheumatic fever. We present the case of a 43-year-old man hospitalized with chest
      pain that was initially diagnosed as an acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction.
      Further evaluation confirmed that his chief complaint was due to acute
      nonrheumatic streptococcal myocarditis. 

PMID- 25829650
TI  - Invited Commentary: What is the definition of SPAM? Even if you cannot define it,
      you must recognize it!

PMID- 25829651
TI  - Cardiac arrhythmias during myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25829652
TI  - Takotsubo cardiomyopathy associated with hyperthyroidism treated with
      thyroidectomy.
AB  - Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is an uncommon clinical entity, also called apical
      ballooning syndrome, characterized by transient systolic dysfunction of the
      apical and/or mid segments of the left ventricle. We report a case that
      highlights takotsubo syndrome in the setting of thyrotoxicosis that required
      thyroidectomy. The association of takotsubo syndrome and hyperthyroidism has been
      reported before. We found 13 previously reported cases of thyrotoxicosis-induced
      cardiomyopathy, most associated with Grave's disease and none treated with
      thyroidectomy. Awareness of this possible association is important in
      establishing the diagnosis and instituting proper management. 

PMID- 25829653
TI  - Ventricular tachycardic storm with a chronic total coronary artery occlusion
      treated with percutaneous coronary intervention.
AB  - A 66-year-old man with a history of coronary artery disease was evaluated due to
      ventricular tachycardic (VT) storm. The patient continued to have frequent
      recurrences of VT despite treatment with amiodarone and lidocaine. Since the
      ventricular arrhythmia could be related to myocardial ischemia related to a
      chronic total occlusion (CTO) of the right coronary artery, the patient underwent
      successful percutaneous coronary intervention of the CTO, followed by implantable
      cardioverter defibrillator implantation. He had no further episodes of VT during
      his hospital stay. After 9 months of follow-up, he had no further chest pain or
      clinically apparent recurrent ischemia. Interrogation of his defibrillator has
      shown brief nonsustained episodes of ventricular tachycardia, but the patient has
      not required delivery of a shock. The temporal association between treatment of
      the CTO and resolution of the VT, as well as the lack of recurrence of sustained
      VT, suggest a causative link between underlying ischemia produced by a
      chronically occluded coronary artery and provocation of VT and lend supportive
      evidence to this treatment approach. 

PMID- 25829654
TI  - Myocardial ischemic hyperacute T-wave oversensing leading to a defibrillator
      shock storm.
AB  - Appropriate sensing is essential for the normal functioning of an implantable
      cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). T-wave oversensing is a potential clinical
      problem in ICD patients that may result in inappropriate shocks. Oversensing may
      have various underlying causes and can be treated with noninvasive or invasive
      means. We present the case of a 45-year-old man presenting with shock storm as a
      result of T-wave oversensing. Workup revealed a hemodynamically significant
      stenosis of the left anterior descending artery treated with percutaneous
      coronary intervention and drug-eluting stent placement. This resulted in the
      resolution of T-wave missensing and restoration of normal ICD functioning. 

PMID- 25829655
TI  - Usefulness of percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale for hypoxia.
AB  - We report a patient with hypoxia secondary to a right-to-left shunt through a
      patent foramen ovale, following aortic root, valve, and arch replacement due to
      an aortic dissection in the setting of the Marfan syndrome. Following the
      operation, he failed extubation twice due to hypoxia. An extensive workup
      revealed a right-to-left shunt previously not seen. The patent foramen ovale was
      closed using a percutaneous closure device. Following closure, our patient was
      extubated without difficulty and has done well postoperatively. 

PMID- 25829656
TI  - Mitral stenosis and acute ST elevation myocardial infarction.
AB  - We describe a patient who presented with acute (inferior wall) ST elevation
      myocardial infarction. Her echocardiogram showed severe mitral stenosis with ball
      valve thrombus in the left atrial body and thrombus in the left atrial appendage.
      Coronary angiogram revealed thromboembolic material in the right coronary artery.
      Mitral valve replacement was scheduled. 

PMID- 25829657
TI  - Effectiveness of exclusion of a persistent sciatic artery aneurysm with an
      AmplatzerTM plug.
AB  - Persistent sciatic artery is a rare developmental anomaly. In its complete form,
      it provides the major arterial supply to the lower leg since the femoral system
      is hypoplastic. These unique arteries are prone to aneurysm formation and most
      commonly present with complications related to aneurysm formation, which can lead
      to limb loss. We encountered a 68-year-old man presenting with bilateral lower
      extremity ischemia who was found to have bilateral persistent sciatic artery
      aneurysms. One aneurysm had already thrombosed, but the other was still patent.
      We treated this patient with a hybrid open and endovascular repair on the patent
      side. The aneurysm was excluded with an AmplatzerTM plug (St. Jude Medical, Inc.,
      St. Paul, MN) followed by a femoropopliteal bypass with saphenous vein in situ to
      revascularize the lower leg. To our knowledge, this is only the second report of
      a persistent sciatic artery aneurysm successfully treated with Amplatzer plug
      occlusion. 

PMID- 25829658
TI  - Immune thrombocytopenia associated with consumption of tonic water.
AB  - Thrombocytopenic purpura can develop from an induced antibody response that
      destroys platelets. Megakaryocyte production may also play a role. Although the
      inciting antigen is usually not identified, it is important to consider
      medications. This article presents the case of a man who developed sudden onset
      of severe thrombocytopenia associated with the ingestion of quinine-containing
      tonic water. 

PMID- 25829659
TI  - Paraneoplastic cerebellar ataxia and the paraneoplastic syndromes.
AB  - Paraneoplastic cerebellar ataxia, also known as paraneoplastic cerebellar
      degeneration, is one of the wide array of paraneoplastic neurological syndromes
      in which neurological symptoms are indirectly caused by an underlying malignancy,
      most commonly gynecological, breast, or lung cancer or Hodgkin's lymphoma. We
      describe a patient with severe cerebellar dysfunction attributed to a
      paraneoplastic neurological syndrome. The case highlights the need to look for
      paraneoplastic syndromes-both to discover malignancies early, at a treatable
      stage, and, as in our case, to address very distressing symptoms for the
      patient's relief even if the malignancy is not curable. 

PMID- 25829660
TI  - Carcinoma of the lungs causing enlarged kidneys.
AB  - Bilateral enlarged kidneys can be caused by a number of conditions. Renal
      metastasis is included in the differential diagnosis. We report a case of a 67
      year-old woman with a 6-month history of productive cough and unintentional
      weight loss. Cavitary pulmonary lesions and bilateral enlarged kidneys were noted
      on imaging studies. Hematuria, azotemia, and proteinuria were present. Renal
      biopsy showed squamous carcinoma cells invading normal-appearing glomeruli and
      atrophic tubules. The invasive squamous cells stained negative for CK7 and CK 20.
      Lung biopsy confirmed squamous cell carcinoma. Our case shows that in patients
      with renal enlargement, even with the absence of a focal mass, renal metastasis
      should be considered, especially in those with suspected or diagnosed malignancy
      elsewhere. 

PMID- 25829661
TI  - Mixed epithelial and stromal tumors of the kidney discovered incidentally at
      autopsy.
AB  - Mixed epithelial and stromal tumors (MEST) of the kidney are uncommon neoplasms
      that were added to the World Health Organization's renal tumor classification in
      2004. These entities are biphasic and contain both epithelial and mesenchymal
      components. MEST most commonly occur in women. Presented are two cases of MEST
      incidentally discovered at autopsy. 

PMID- 25829662
TI  - Superior sagittal sinus thrombosis as the initial presentation of renal cell
      carcinoma.
AB  - We describe a 68-year-old man who presented with headaches, nausea, and dizziness
      and was found to have a superior sagittal sinus venous thrombosis on magnetic
      resonance imaging. His initial hypercoagulable workup was negative. Computed
      tomography of the abdomen revealed a large mass originating from the kidney. A
      radical nephrectomy was performed at an outside hospital, and histological study
      of the excised mass disclosed clear cell renal carcinoma. 

PMID- 25829663
TI  - Hepatocellular carcinoma with extension to the heart via the inferior vena cava.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third-leading cause of cancer-related
      mortality worldwide. Most cases of HCC are associated with cirrhosis from various
      causes such as alcohol or viral hepatitis. Most patients are symptomatic as a
      result of cirrhosis itself or secondary to tumor extension. These tumors have an
      affinity for the vasculature and often invade the portal system. HCC rarely
      causes invasion of the inferior vena cava or the heart. We, however, present a
      case of HCC in a patient without cirrhosis who remained asymptomatic despite
      having tumor extension to the heart by way of the inferior vena cava. The mean
      survival in patients with intracardiac extension with or without aggressive
      treatment or intervention is approximately 4 months, but our patient greatly
      exceeded survival expectations after treatment with sorafenib. 

PMID- 25829665
TI  - Facts and ideas from anywhere.

PMID- 25829664
TI  - Leprosy in a texan.
AB  - A 69-year-old man from Texas with an unremarkable past medical history presented
      with a 2-year history of a diffuse, spreading annular eruption involving most of
      his trunk. He noticed progressive numbness of his hands and feet but no other
      systemic symptoms. He had never traveled outside of the United States. Skin
      biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of leprosy, and he was initiated on appropriate
      therapy. 

PMID- 25829666
TI  - Pediatric surgery in India: Time now for review.

PMID- 25829667
TI  - Disorders of sex development: The quintessence of perennial controversies-III -
      DSD, transgenders and the judgment by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.

PMID- 25829668
TI  - Study of prognostic significance of antenatal ultrasonography and renin
      angiotensin system activation in predicting disease severity in posterior
      urethral valves.
AB  - AIMS: Study on prognostic significance of antenatal ultrasonography and renin
      angiotensin system activation in predicting disease severity in posterior
      urethral valves. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Antenatally diagnosed hydronephrosis
      patients were included. Postnatally, they were divided into two groups, posterior
      urethral valve (PUV) and non-PUV. The studied parameters were: Gestational age at
      detection, surgical intervention, ultrasound findings, cord blood and follow up
      plasma renin activity (PRA) values, vesico-ureteric reflux (VUR), renal scars,
      and glomerular filtration rate (GFR). RESULTS: A total of 25 patients were
      included, 10 PUV and 15 non-PUV. All infants with PUV underwent primary valve
      incision. GFR was less than 60 ml/min/1.73 m(2) body surface area in 4 patients
      at last follow-up. Keyhole sign, oligoamnios, absent bladder cycling, and
      cortical cysts were not consistent findings on antenatal ultrasound in PUV. Cord
      blood PRA was significantly higher (P < 0.0001) in PUV compared to non-PUV
      patients. Gestational age at detection of hydronephrosis, cortical cysts, bladder
      wall thickness, and amniotic fluid index were not significantly correlated with
      GFR while PRA could differentiate between poor and better prognosis cases with
      PUV. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound was neither uniformly useful in diagnosing PUV
      antenatally, nor differentiating it from cases with non-PUV hydronephrosis. In
      congenital hydronephrosis, cord blood PRA was significantly higher in cases with
      PUV compared to non-PUV cases and fell significantly after valve ablation. Cord
      blood PRA could distinguish between poor and better prognosis cases with PUV.

PMID- 25829669
TI  - Laparoscopic repair of Morgagni's hernia: An innovative approach.
AB  - AIM: To review our experience of laparoscopic repair of Morgagni's hernia (MH)
      using transfascial sutures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective review
      of patients presenting to the first author with the diagnosis of MH over a 15
      year period. The variables analyzed included demographic data, clinical
      presentation, and operative details. RESULTS: In all there were five male with a
      median age of 2 years. They were asymptomatic and MH was detected incidentally by
      observing an air-filled density in the right cardiophrenic angle on plain X-ray
      of the chest. Computed tomography (CT) confirmed the diagnosis in all patients.
      All patients underwent laparoscopic repair of MH using transfascial sutures. The
      average operative time was 75 min. Oral feeding was started 6 h after surgery and
      patients were discharged on either 3(rd) or 4(th) postoperative day.
      Postoperative follow-up X-ray confirmed the intact repair. CONCLUSIONS:
      Laparoscopic repair of MH using transfascial sutures is an easy and effective
      solution. Multiple horizontal mattress sutures taking full thickness of abdominal
      wall muscles with the edge of the diaphragm leads to a strong repair. As sutures
      are tied extracorporeally, the technique is easily reproducible.

PMID- 25829670
TI  - The Bracka two-stage repair for severe proximal hypospadias: A single center
      experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgical correction of severe proximal hypospadias represents a
      significant surgical challenge and single-stage corrections are often associated
      with complications and reoperations. Bracka two-stage repair is an attractive
      alternative surgical procedure with superior, reliable, and reproducible results.
      PURPOSE: To study the feasibility and applicability of Bracka two-stage repair
      for the severe proximal hypospadias and to analyze the outcomes and complications
      of this surgical technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study was
      conducted from January 2011 to December 2013. Bracka two-stage repair was
      performed using inner preputial skin as a free graft in subjects with proximal
      hypospadias in whom severe degree of chordee and/or poor urethral plate was
      present. Only primary cases were included in this study. All subjects received
      three doses of intra-muscular testosterone 3 weeks apart before first stage.
      Second stage was performed 6 months after the first stage. Follow-up ranged from
      6 months to 24 months. RESULTS: A total of 43 patients operated for Bracka
      repair, out of which 30 patients completed two-stage repair. Mean age of the
      patients was 4 years and 8 months. We achieved 100% graft uptake and no revision
      was required. Three patients developed fistula, while two had metal stenosis.
      Glans dehiscence, urethral stricture and the residual chordee were not found
      during follow-up and satisfactory cosmetic results with good urinary stream were
      achieved in all cases. CONCLUSION: The Bracka two-stage repair is a safe and
      reliable approach in select patients in whom it is impractical to maintain the
      axial integrity of the urethral plate, and, therefore, a full circumference
      urethral reconstruction become necessary. This gives good results both in terms
      of restoration of normal function with minimal complication.

PMID- 25829671
TI  - A study of the effect of caudal epidural block on bispectral index targeted
      propofol requirement in children: A comparative study.
AB  - Caudal epidural block is one of the most commonly performed neuraxial block
      techniques with reliable peri-operative and post-operative analgesia in pediatric
      patients. In our randomized, prospective, double-blinded, open level, parallel
      group study, we have established the effect of caudal epidural block on
      maintenance requirement of intravenous (IV) propofol in targeted bispectral (BIS)
      monitored patients. CONTEXT: Neuraxial anesthesia exhibits sedative properties
      that may reduce the requirement for general anesthesia. TIVA with propofol has
      been administered as an established method of maintaining general anesthesia in
      children. Caudal analgesia being a type of neuraxial block, also seems to reduce
      the requirement of sedative hypnotics in pediatric patients. Numerous studies
      show that for patients, administered with caudal epidural block, they require
      reduced intra-operative volatile inhalation anesthetics. In the present study, we
      have established the anesthetic sparing effect of Caudal Epidural Analgesia in
      children undergoing infra-umbilical surgical procedure and calculated the
      efficacy of propofol-infusion in maintaining adequate depth of anesthesia. AIMS:
      (1) To study and compare the dose requirements of propofol using caudal epidural
      analgesia. (2) To calculate the efficacy of propofol as maintenance anesthetic
      agent in both groups and to compare hemodynamic stability of patients in both the
      techniques. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: In our study, after administering general
      anesthesia to pediatric patients, we have administered caudal analgesia and IV
      analgesia to monitor the requirement of intra-operative propofol infusion using
      BIS monitor with a target value of 40-60 in both groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      82 patients (aged between 3 and 6 years) have been selected undergoing infra
      umbilical surgery and randomly allocated into two groups containing 41 patients
      in each group. Both the groups group B and group A then intubated with
      glycopyrrolate, 2 mg/kg injection fentanyl, propofol till loss of verbal contact
      and atracurium at the rate of 0.5 mg/kg and group B has been administered caudal
      epidural blockade with 1 ml/kg 0.2% ropivacaine. Propofol infusion at the rate of
      10 mg/kg/h is given as maintenance. BIS value has been recorded throughout and
      propofol requirement at the end of surgery has been calculated. STATISTICAL
      ANALYSIS USED: Numerical variables between groups have been analyzed using the
      Student's t-test and the Mann-Whitney U-test as applicable. Categorical variables
      have been analyzed using the Pearson's Chi-square test. P < 0.05 is considered
      statistically significant. RESULTS: Consumption of propofol at the start of
      operation in the group A is 2.9 +/- 0.17 and group B is 2.91 +/- 0.17, which is
      not statistically significant (P > 0.05), whereas at the end of the operation in
      the group A is 11.33 +/- 0.17 and group B is 7.83 +/- 0.63, which is
      statistically significant (P < 0.05). Incidence of adverse effects is
      statistically insignificant between the two groups. The time for administration
      of rescue analgesic is 2.1 +/- 0.88 in group A and 6.5 +/- 0.17 in group B, which
      is statistically significant due to caudal analgesia. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude
      that in BIS-monitored patients (3-6 years) with infra-umbilical surgeries have
      shown a reduction in consumption of IV propofol due to caudal epidural blockade.

PMID- 25829672
TI  - A rare case of bilateral cystic nephroma associated with embryonal
      rhabdomyosarcoma of the penile urethra.
AB  - Bilateral cystic nephroma is an extremely rare benign renal neoplasm. Here we
      present a case of bilateral cystic nephroma in a four month old boy who
      subsequently developed embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the urethra. Both tumors
      were successfully treated. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of
      this association which could be related to Dicer-1 mutation. 

PMID- 25829673
TI  - Continent cutaneous diversion and external genitalia reconstruction in a child
      with severe variety urogenital sinus and ambiguous genitalia.
AB  - The diagnosis and management of a child with ambiguous genitalia and severe
      variety of urogenital sinus with a high vesico-vaginal confluence is challenging.
      This 4-year-old female child had solitary right kidney with ectopic ureter
      opening in high variety of urogenital sinus with hypo-plastic urinary bladder and
      incontinence. We describe genitourinary reconstruction with complete functional
      rehabilitation in this child. This complex problem was managed with continent
      urinary diversion with Penn pouch and refashioning of external genitalia,
      rendering continence and near normal female external genitalia. The child and
      parents are happy with continence and aesthetically normal external genitalia. 

PMID- 25829674
TI  - Esophageal lung resection and prosthesis placement in a preterm neonate.
AB  - This report describes a successful outcome in a preterm baby with an esophageal
      atresia and tracheo-esophageal fistula, who initially underwent a primary
      esophageal repair; but a persistent nonexpanding lung on the side of surgery led
      to further investigations. A further diagnosis of an esophageal lung resulted in
      pneumonectomy and prophylactic placement of an intra-thoracic prosthesis to
      prevent post-pneumonectomy syndrome. To the best of our knowledge, this is the
      first report of a prophylactic placement of an intra-thoracic prosthesis in a
      neonate with the condition of esophageal atresia and tracheo-esophageal fistula
      and associated esophageal lung. 

PMID- 25829675
TI  - Multiple singing magnet ingestion leading to pressure necrosis of the small
      bowel.
AB  - Multiple Magnet ingestion may cause a number of sinister complications. We report
      a case of multiple singing magnets ingestion by a 2-year-old girl resulting in
      intestinal obstruction and pressure necrosis of the small bowel. A bunch of seven
      magnets present in the small bowel was removed operatively. 

PMID- 25829676
TI  - Esophageal lung: A rare type of communicating bronchopulmonary foregut
      malformation, case report with review of literature.
AB  - A 2-year-old female child was referred from a private hospital as a case of
      recurrent lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI). The chest X ray revealed a
      hypoplastic right lung and further workup led to the diagnosis of esophageal lung
      - a rare type of communicating bronchopulmonary foregut malformation. A right
      posterolateral thoracotomy was done, anamolous bronchial communication with
      esophagus disrupted, esophageal fistula repaired and the lung resected.
      Postoperatively, diet was allowed from day 7. The patient tolerated the diet
      well. Repeat dye study revealed no leak and subsequently the patient was
      discharged on day 10. 

PMID- 25829677
TI  - Solitary crossed ectopia with vesicoureteric junction obstruction: A rare case
      report.
AB  - Solitary crossed renal ectopia (SCRE) is a very rare anomaly of urinary tract.
      Most cases are diagnosed incidentally. We report a case of SCRE associated with
      vesicoureteric junction obstruction in a 7-year-old child which has not been
      reported in the literature till date. 

PMID- 25829678
TI  - Patent vitellointestinal duct with ileal prolapse in a newborn.

PMID- 25829679
TI  - Primary hydatid cyst of fronto-temporo-zygomatic region: A rare presentation.

PMID- 25829680
TI  - Is Stephen-fowler staged approach the correct answer for orchidopexy in a peeping
      testis?

PMID- 25829681
TI  - Type V congenital pouch colon: A need to expand the scope of the definition.

PMID- 25829682
TI  - Biotoxicity of commonly used root canal sealers: A meta-analysis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The main objective of a root canal sealer is to provide a fluid
      tight seal. The purpose of this systematic meta-analysis was to determine the
      relative toxicity of commonly used root canal sealers like zinc oxide eugenol,
      calcium hydroxide, and resin-based sealers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An online
      search was conducted in peer-reviewed journals listed in PubMed, Cochrane, EBSCO,
      and IndMed databases between 2000 and 2012). Statistical analysis was carried out
      by using analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post-hoc comparison by
      Bonferroni method. The comparison between toxicity at 24 h and between 3 and 7
      days was done by using paired t-test for each sealer. RESULTS: At 24 h, the
      relative biotoxicity of the three sealers reported was insignificant (P- value
      0.29), but the difference in toxicity was found significant (P < 0.001) after 3
      days. CONCLUSION: Calcium hydroxide sealer and zinc oxide eugenol were found to
      be significantly biotoxic as compared to resin-based sealers after 3 days.

PMID- 25829683
TI  - The self-adjusting file instrumentation results in less debris extrusion apically
      when compared to WaveOne and ProTaper NEXT.
AB  - AIM: The present ex vivo study aimed to evaluate the debris extrusion after
      instrumenting the root canals by three different files systems. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Sixty extracted human mandibular premolars with single canals were
      selected and randomly divided into three groups (n = 20) for instrumentation with
      three different files. Group 1: WaveOne (primary) single reciprocating file (WO;
      Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland) (25/08), Group 2: Self-adjusting
      file (SAF; ReDent-Nova, Ra'anana, Israel) (1.5 mm), and Group 3: ProTaper NEXT X1
      and X2 (PTN; Dentsply Tulsa Dental, Tulsa, OK) (25/06). Debris extruding by
      instrumentation were collected into pre-weighed Eppendorf tubes. These tubes were
      then stored in an incubator at 70 degrees C for 5 days. The tubes were then
      weighed to obtain the final weight, with the extruded debris. Statistical
      analysis for the debris extruded apically was performed using one-way analysis of
      variance and post hoc Tukey's test. RESULTS: The statistical analysis showed a
      significant difference between all the three groups tested (P < 0.01). The
      following post hoc Tukey's test confirmed that Group 2 (SAF) exhibited
      significantly least (P < 0.01) debris extrusion between the three groups tested.
      CONCLUSIONS: The SAF resulted in significantly less extrusion of debris when
      compared to reciprocating WO and rotary PTN.

PMID- 25829684
TI  - Biological and chemical-physical properties of root-end filling materials: A
      comparative study.
AB  - AIM: The purpose of the study is to evaluate and compare the biological and
      chemical-physical properties of four different root-end filling materials.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cytotoxicity towards murine odontoblasts cells (MDPC-23)
      was evaluated using the Transwell insert methodology by Alamar blue test.
      Streptococcus salivarius, S. sanguis, and S. mutans strains were selected to
      evaluate the antimicrobial activity by agar disc diffusion test. Solubility was
      determined after 24 h and 2 months. pH values were measured after 3 and 24 h. To
      evaluate radiopacity, all materials were scanned on a GE Healthcare Lunar
      Prodigy. RESULTS: Excellent percentage of vitality were obtained by mineral
      trioxide aggregate (MTA)-based materials and Biodentine. MTA-Angelus, ProRoot
      MTA, and Intermediate Restorative Material (IRM) showed the highest values for
      the inhibition zones when tested for S. mutans, while Biodentine showed the
      largest inhibition zone when tested for S. sanguis. All the materials fulfilled
      the requirements of the International Standard 6876, demonstrating low solubility
      with a weight loss of less than 3%. No significant reduction in pH value was
      demonstrated after 24 h. ProRoot MTA and MTA-Angelus showed the highest values of
      radiographic density. CONCLUSIONS: The differences showed by the root-end filling
      materials tested do not cover completely the ideal clinical requests.

PMID- 25829685
TI  - Three-dimensional finite element analysis of stress distribution in a tooth
      restored with metal and fiber posts of varying diameters: An in-vitro study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare stress distribution in a tooth restored with metal and
      fiber posts of varying diameters (1.2 and 1.4 mm) by means of three-dimensional
      finite element analysis (3D-FEA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four 3D-FEA models were
      constructed: (1) fiber post (1.2 and 1.4 mm) and (2) metal post (1.2 and 1.4 mm).
      The material properties were assigned and a force of 100 N was applied at 45
      degrees  angle to the longitudinal axis of the tooth onto the palatal surface
      incisal to the cingulum. Analysis was run and stress distribution pattern was
      studied. RESULTS: Maximum stresses in the radicular tooth structure for fiber
      post were higher than that for metal post. In the former models, stresses in the
      tooth structure were slightly reduced with increase in fiber post diameter.
      CONCLUSIONS: To reduce stress in the remaining radicular tooth structure, it is
      better to use a fiber post of a large diameter.

PMID- 25829686
TI  - Influence of addition of calcium oxide on physicochemical properties of Portland
      cement with zirconium or niobium oxide.
AB  - CONTEXT: Calcium oxide (CaO) may be added to mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) or
      Portland cement (PC) to improve physicochemical and biological properties. AIMS:
      To evaluate the physicochemical properties of PC associated with radiopacifiers
      and CaO. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MTA Angelus, PC + 30% zirconium oxide (Zr), or
      30% niobium oxide (Nb) associated with 10 or 20% of CaO were evaluated. Gilmore
      needles were used to evaluate initial and final setting time. Compressive
      strength was evaluated after the periods of 24 hours and 21 days. pH was analyzed
      after 3, 12, 24 hours, 7, 14, 21 days. Solubility and flow tests were performed
      based on the ISO 6876. The data obtained were submitted to analysis of variance
      and Tukey tests (P <= 0.05). RESULTS: The associations with 10% CaO showed
      greater strength that the associations with 20% CaO. The shortest initial setting
      time was observed for the association PC + Zr + 20% CaO and MTA. All the cements
      presented alkaline pH. The flow of all cements was similar. The highest
      solubility was found in the associations with 20% CaO. CONCLUSION: The addition
      of CaO to PC favored the alkaline property and the PC + Zr + 20% CaO presented
      setting time similar to MTA.

PMID- 25829687
TI  - Marginal adaptation of mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) to root dentin surface
      with orthograde/retrograde application techniques: A microcomputed tomographic
      analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Achieving a good apical seal for root canals is known to be
      associated with good mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) adaptation to dentin. AIMS:
      This study aims to compare the marginal adaptation of MTA with root dentin
      between orthograde and retrograde application techniques using microcomputed
      tomography (micro-CT) analysis. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Fifty-two single-rooted
      human teeth were divided into four equal groups: (Group 1) Retrograde MTA (RMTA),
      (Group 2) Orthograde MTA (OMTA), (Group 3) Etched RMTA (ERMTA), and (Group 4)
      Etched OMTA (EOMTA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: For Group 1, 3-mm retrograde cavities
      were prepared and filled with MTA. For Group 2, the apical 6 mm of the canals
      were filled with MTA and sealed with sealer cement and warm gutta-percha. In
      Groups 3 and 4, canals were treated the same as Groups 1 and 2, respectively,
      except that before placing the MTA, canals were irrigated with 17%
      ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). After 48 hours, all the teeth were
      analyzed using a micro-CT scanner. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Mean dentin-MTA contact
      and the mean length and width of each gap was analysed using one-way analysis of
      variance (ANOVA). Statistical significance was set at an alpha level of 5%.
      RESULTS: No significant difference in gap volumes was observed in the dentin-MTA
      adaptation in both orthograde and retrograde application techniques. However,
      significant difference in the gap volumes was observed between RMTA and ERMTA (P
      = 0.045). Etching significantly improved the MTA-Dentin adaptation (P < 0.05).
      The type of application technique did not significantly improve the dentin-MTA
      adaptation, instead with the use of 17% EDTA, a significant improvement could be
      achieved. CONCLUSION: Within the limitations of the present study, it concludes
      that MTA adaptation to dentin tooth structure is not significantly different
      between an orthograde and retrograde approach. However, the use of EDTA
      significantly improved the MTA-Dentin adaptation.

PMID- 25829688
TI  - Effect of temperature, curing time, and filler composition on surface
      microhardness of composite resins.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the microhardness of two composite
      resins when subjected to three different temperatures and three different light
      curing times. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two composites were used; Filtek Z250 and
      Grandio. Three different temperatures (23, 37, and 55(o)C) were used, utilizing a
      composite warmer. The heated samples were immediately injected into cylindrical
      molds (6 mm * 2 mm) and the top surface of the specimens was polymerized for 10,
      20, and 40 sec, using a Quartz-Tungsten-Halogen light-curing unit (QTH LCU).
      Vickers microhardness measurements were performed from both the top and bottom
      surface of the specimens, following dry storage for 24 hours in the dark.
      Statistical analysis were performed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)
      and Tukey post-hoc test at a level of significance of a = 0.05. RESULTS: The
      results indicated that there was an increase in microhardness as the temperature
      of the composite was increased for either the top or the bottom surface (P <
      0.05). Furthermore, there was a general increase in microhardness for both
      composites as curing time increased (P < 0.05). The type of composites did not
      influence the surface microhardness (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Temperature of
      composites affects their surface microhardness. Also, light-curing time influence
      microhardness values of the composites tested.

PMID- 25829689
TI  - Effect of technique of sealer agitation on percentage and depth of MTA Fillapex
      sealer penetration: A comparative in-vitro study.
AB  - AIM: To compare the effect of three root canal sealer activation techniques on
      percentage and depth of sealer penetration of MTA Fillapex and AH Plus sealers.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty teeth prepared till F5 ProTaper size were divided
      into three equal groups on the basis of sealer activation technique (G1:
      Ultrasonics, G2: Lentulo spiral, and G3: Counter-clockwise rotary motion). Each
      group was further divided into two equal subgroups on the basis of type of sealer
      used: AH Plus (Denstply, Konstanz, Germany) or MTA Fillapex (Angelus, Londrina,
      PR, Brazil) and obturated with gutta-percha. Horizontal sections at 3 and 6 mm
      from the apex were obtained and the percentage and depth of penetration of
      sealers into dentinal tubules were measured using confocal laser scanning
      microscopy (CLSM). Statistical analysis was performed utilizing Kruskal-Wallis
      and Mann-Whitney U tests with a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: G1 showed
      significantly (P < 0.001) high percentage and depth of sealer penetration than G2
      and G3 while the difference was insignificant (P > 0.05) between G2 and G3.
      CONCLUSION: Percentage and depth of sealer penetration are influenced by the type
      of sealer used sealer activation technique and by the root canal level.
      Ultrasonic method of sealer activation and MTA Fillapex showed the best results.

PMID- 25829690
TI  - Evaluation of push-out bond strength of endosequence BC sealer with lateral
      condensation and thermoplasticized technique: An in vitro study.
AB  - AIMS: To evaluate and compare the push-out bond strength of root filled with
      Endosequence BC, AH Plus and Endomethasone N sealers using lateral condensation
      and thermoplasticized technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty mandibular
      premolars with completely formed roots were selected. Teeth were decoronated,
      working length was determined. Instrumentation and irrigation were performed.
      Teeth were then obturated with Group 1-Cold lateral compaction (n = 15) or Group
      2-Thermoplasticized technique (n = 15). Each group was again subdivided into
      three depending on the sealers used. Teeth in each subgroup were then sectioned
      perpendicularly to the long axis to obtain a disc of 2 mm each, which were then
      subjected to micro push-out test. Data was analyzed with ANOVA. RESULTS: AH Plus
      sealer in Group 1 showed the maximum (4.77 +/- 1.67 MPa) push-out bond strength
      among the three sealers and between two groups. The mean strength of Bioceramic
      sealer was lower in Group 1 (2.62 +/- 0.76 MPa) and higher in Group 2 (3.52 +/-
      0.69 MPa). CONCLUSIONS: The push-out bond strength of Endosequence BC sealer was
      lower than the AH Plus root canal sealer with cold lateral condensation
      technique.

PMID- 25829691
TI  - Comparative evaluation of antimicrobial efficacy of QMixTM 2 in 1, sodium
      hypochlorite, and chlorhexidine against Enterococcus faecalis and Candida
      albicans.
AB  - AIM/OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to compare the antimicrobial efficacy of
      QMixTM 2 in 1, sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), and chlorhexidine (CHX) against
      Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty freshly
      extracted, single-rooted human mandibular premolar teeth were instrumented and
      autoclaved. Samples were divided into two groups of 40 teeth each based on the
      type of microorganism used. Group I was inoculated with E. faecalis and Group II
      with C. albicans and incubated for 3 days. Each group was subdivided into four
      subgroups based on the type of irrigant used. Group IA, IIA, 5.25% NaOCl; Group
      IB, IIB, 2% CHX; Group IC, IIC, QMixTM 2 in 1; and Group ID, IID, 0.9% saline
      (the control group). Ten microliters of the sample from each canal was taken and
      was placed on Brain Heart Infusion agar and Sabouraud dextrose agar. The plates
      were incubated at 37 degrees C for 24 h and colony forming units (CFUs) that were
      grown were counted. Data was analyzed with analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed
      by post-hoc Games-Howell test. RESULTS: The greatest antimicrobial effects were
      observed in samples treated with QMixTM 2 in 1 (P < 0.001). No statistical
      significant difference was found between 5.25% NaOCl and 2% CHX (P > 0.001)
      against E. faecalis and C. albicans. CONCLUSION: QMixTM 2 in 1 demonstrated
      significant antimicrobial efficacy against E. faecalis and C. albicans.

PMID- 25829692
TI  - Assessment of apical seal obtained after irrigation of root end cavity with MTAD
      followed by subsequent retrofilling with MTA and Biodentine: An in vitro study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The present study is designed to assess the apical seal obtained
      after root end cavity irrigation with MTAD and retrograde filling with mineral
      trioxide aggregate (MTA) and Biodentine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty extracted
      maxillary central incisors were instrumented and obturated. Apical 3 mm of all
      the roots were resected and retrograde preparations of 3 mm were made in all the
      teeth using ultrasonic tips. Thirty root end preparations were irrigated with
      MTAD for 5 min (Group 1), while 30 were irrigated with saline for 5 min (Group
      2). Each main group was subdivided into two subgroups containing 15 samples each.
      Samples under each subgroup were then filled either with MTA (1A and 2A) or
      Biodentine (1B and 2B). The amount of microleakage was assessed using a UV
      spectrophotometer. RESULTS: Statistical analysis suggest a significant difference
      (P < 0.005) between group 1A and 2A and between the groups 1B and 2B (P < 0.1).
      There was a significant difference (P < 0.005) between group 1A and 1B and also
      between group 2A and 2B. CONCLUSION: Irrigation with MTAD significantly improved
      the apical seal of Biodentine, but it increased the microleakage in MTA-filled
      root end cavities. Also the apical seal obtained with Biodentine was superior to
      that obtained with MTA.

PMID- 25829693
TI  - Comparative evaluation of surface hardness and depth of cure of silorane and
      methacrylate-based posterior composite resins: An in vitro study.
AB  - AIM: This in vitro study was carried out to compare the effect of LED light
      curing system on polymerization and hardness of silorane-based and methacrylate
      based posterior composite resin. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 40 samples, 20
      of silorane-based composite Filtek P-90 and 20 of methacrylate-based composite
      Heliomolar HB measuring 2 mm thickness and 8 mm diameter were prepared using
      Teflon molds and cured using LED curing light. The samples were polished and
      tested in Knoop hardness tester using a 50-gram load and dwell time of 15 seconds
      on top and bottom surfaces. The percentage depth of cure was calculated, and
      statistical analysis was performed using two-way ANOVA test and Student t- test.
      RESULTS: Higher statistically significant values were seen for both the top and
      bottom surface hardness in silorane-based resins than methacrylate-based resins
      on LED light curing. CONCLUSION: Greater depth of cure was achieved in silorane
      based posterior composite than in methacrylate-based posterior composite resins
      with a statistically significant difference.

PMID- 25829694
TI  - Comparison of fracture resistance and failure pattern of endodontically treated
      premolars with different esthetic onlay systems: An in vitro study.
AB  - AIM: To compare the fracture resistance and modes of failures of three different
      aesthetic MOD onlays on endodontically treated premolars. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Forty sound maxillary premolars were selected of which 10 untreated teeth were
      taken as control (Group I). The other thirty premolars were subjected to
      standardized MOD onlay preparations and root canal treatments and divided into 3
      equal groups. Onlays were prepared in Group II- Indirect composite, Group III-
      Lithium Disilicate ceramic and Group IV- Full Zirconia. All onlays were cemented
      using Multilink Automix. All the 40 samples were subjected to fracture resistance
      testing on Universal testing machine. Also fractured specimens were observed
      under stereo-microscope for modes of failure. RESULTS: Group IV presented the
      highest fracture resistance. Groups II and III presented no significant
      difference in fracture resistance from each other (P > 0.05). Group II and Group
      III showed significantly lower fracture resistance values than Group I. Coming to
      modes of failure, only Group IV had showed no cracks in any of the restorations.
      CONCLUSION: Full Zirconia MOD onlays increased the fracture resistance of
      endodontically treated premolars to a significantly higher level than the sound
      teeth.

PMID- 25829695
TI  - Effect of three different antioxidants on the shear bond strength of composite
      resin to bleached enamel: An in vitro study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The effect of 10% sodium ascorbate, 10% grape seed extract, and 10%
      pine bark extract on the shear bond strength of composite resin to bleached
      enamel was evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety recently extracted human
      premolars were divided into six groups of 15 teeth each. Except Group I (negative
      control), the labial enamel surface of all specimens in the other groups were
      bleached with 37.5% hydrogen peroxide. After bleaching, Group II specimens were
      stored in artificial saliva for 3weeks before composite bonding. Immediately
      following bleaching; Groups III, IV, and V specimens were treated with
      antioxidants 10% sodium ascorbate, 10% grape seed extract, and 10% pine bark
      extract, respectively, for 10 min and bonded with composite resin. In Group VI
      (positive control), the composite bonding was done immediately after bleaching.
      All specimens were stored in deionized water for 24 h at 37?C before shear bond
      strength testing. The data obtained were tabulated and statistically analyzed
      using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan's multiple range test. RESULTS: The
      unbleached teeth showed the highest shear bond strength followed by the bleached
      teeth treated with the antioxidant 10% pine bark extract. CONCLUSION: Within the
      limitations of this study, it was observed that the use of antioxidants
      effectively reversed the compromised bond strength of bleached enamel. Among the
      antioxidants, 10% pine bark extract application after bleaching showed better
      bond strength.

PMID- 25829696
TI  - Solubility of a new calcium silicate-based root-end filling material.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to compare solubility of a new
      calcium silicate-based cement, Biodentine with three commonly used root-end
      filling materials viz. glass-ionomer cement (GIC), intermediate restorative
      material (IRM), and mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA). MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Twenty stainless steel ring molds were filled with cements corresponding to four
      groups (n = 5). The weight of 20 dried glass bottles was recorded. Samples were
      transferred to bottles containing 5 ml of distilled water and stored for 24 h.
      The bottles were dried at 105?C and weighed. This procedure was repeated for 3,
      10, 30, and 60 days. Data was analyzed with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)
      test (P < 0.05). RESULTS: Biodentine demonstrated significantly higher solubility
      than MTA for 30- and 60-day immersion periods. Statistical difference was noted
      between the solubility values of Biodentine samples amongst each of the five time
      intervals. CONCLUSIONS: Biodentine exhibited higher solubility in comparison with
      all other cements.

PMID- 25829698
TI  - Evaluation of minimal inhibitory concentration of two new materials using tube
      dilution method: An in vitro study.
AB  - AIM: The aim of the study is to evaluate and compare the antimicrobial efficacy
      of two new materials MTA Plus and Biodentine with ProRoot MTA using tube dilution
      method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The materials used were ProRoot MTA (Dentsply),
      MTA Plus (compounded by Prevest Denpro, Jammu, India for Avalon Biomed Inc, USA)
      and a calcium silicate based material Biodentine (Septodont, Saint-Maur-des
      Fosses, France). Doubling dilutions of the material were prepared in Sabouraud's
      dextrose broth (SDB) and Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) broth for Candida albicans
      and Enterococcus faecalis, respectively. The minimal concentration at which
      inhibition of microorganism occurred was measured and noted as minimal inhibitory
      concentration (MIC) of the material. RESULTS: There was no statistically
      significant difference between the materials against C. albicans. Biodentine was
      statistically significant than MTA Plus against E. faecalis (P-value-0.022).
      ProRoot MTA was statistically significant at different time intervals against E.
      faecalis (P-value-0.001). CONCLUSION: ProRoot MTA and Biodentine proved to have
      antimicrobial property. MTA Plusproved as a good antifungal agent.

PMID- 25829697
TI  - Comparison of variation in the light curing cycle with a time gap and its effect
      on polymerization shrinkage, degree of conversion and microhardness of a
      nanohybrid composite.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Giving a time gap and distance during curing can decrease the
      polymerization shrinkage. AIM: To evaluate the effect of time gap and distance
      between the curing tip and restoration on the polymerization shrinkage, degree of
      monomer conversion (DOC), and microhardness of a nanohybrid composite. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: A total of 50 standardized cylindrical specimens (Z350, 3M ESPE)
      were fabricated using a brass mould. The curing was done in contact with the
      sample surface for 20 seconds in the control group. In the four experimental
      groups, curing was initiated at 1-cm distance, followed by variation in the time
      gap and the curing cycle. The polymerization shrinkage, DOC, microhardness was
      calculated. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post
      hoc-Dunnett test were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Curing at 1-cm distance
      for 10 seconds with a gap of 10 seconds and finishing the curing cycle with 20
      seconds at 0 cm proved to be an appropriate technique to reduce the
      polymerization shrinkage without significantly affecting the DOC and
      microhardness. CONCLUSION: A simple innovative modification of varying the
      distance of curing and a time gap in the curing cycle can decrease the
      polymerization shrinkage without affecting the DOC and microhardness.

PMID- 25829699
TI  - Management of synodontia between dilacerated permanent maxillary central incisor
      and supernumerary tooth with aid of cone-beam computed tomography.
AB  - A malformed tooth characterized by one or more developmental disturbances is
      often difficult to treat. When such teeth are present in anterior region, they
      pose a technical challenge for the clinician to restore esthetics as well as
      function. This case describes endodontic, surgical, and restorative management of
      fused and dilacerated maxillary central incisor. Cone-beam computed tomography
      (CBCT) was used in the present case to aid in understanding of complicated tooth
      morphology and managing the case successfully. 

PMID- 25829700
TI  - Single C-shaped canal in mandibular first molar: A case report.
AB  - The variability of root canal system morphology presents a continuous challenge
      to endodontic diagnosis and therapeutics. There have been reports of teeth with
      multiple roots and canals as also those with lesser number of root and root
      canals. Variations of root canal systems need not always be in the form of extra
      canals. Clinicians should be aware that there is a possibility of existence of
      fewer numbers of roots and root canals than normal, which presents varied canal
      anatomy and poses a challenge to the clinician's expertise. This case report
      deals with the management of an unusual case of C-shaped canal in mandibular
      molar with two buccally fused roots. Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) was
      employed to confirm the extension of the unusual anatomy. The Self Adjusting File
      (SAF) system was used to ensure complete cleaning of the canal system. One-year
      follow-up of the case showed good healing. The clinician should expect to
      encounter unusual features when performing endodontic treatment. Use of
      diagnostic aids like CBCT, improved magnification with dental operating
      microscope, and the use of novel file systems like SAF ensure success. 

PMID- 25829702
TI  - Message from the president association of surgeons of India.

PMID- 25829701
TI  - SHARONLAY - A new onlay design for endodontically treated premolar.
AB  - Root-canal-treated teeth are structurally compromised as a result of loss of
      tooth structure due to caries, iatrogenic cavity preparation, and dehydration.
      Given that a direct relationship exists between the amount of remaining tooth
      structure and the ability to resist occlusal forces, it is vital to provide a
      restoration allowing cuspal coverage as soon as possible following completion of
      the root canal treatment. A decision to provide a full crown or an onlay depends
      on the remaining tooth structure; if the cuspal width to length ratio is 1:2 or
      more, an onlay can be placed. When the ratio is less than 1:2, a full crown has
      to be planned. In single-rooted teeth requiring post-endodontic restoration cast
      post and core or a prefabricated post can provide resistance to fracture with
      comparable results. However, in case of premolars contradictory to the practice
      of providing only cuspal coverage through Onlays, it would in addition require
      cervical reinforcement also to counter horizontal forces acting in cervical
      region. A new onlay design SHARONLAY patented design with I.P. no 1956475 dated
      27/04/2010 with a post extending into the radicular portion of the premolar
      providing the required reinforcement in a conservative manner and protecting it
      against both vertical and horizontal forces is proposed herewith. 

PMID- 25829703
TI  - Severe Colonic Complications requiring Sub-Total Colectomy in Acute Necrotizing
      Pancreatitis-A Retrospective Study of 8 Patients.
AB  - Colonic involvement in acute pancreatitis is associated with high mortality.
      Diagnosis of colonic pathology complicating acute pancreatitis is difficult. The
      treatment of choice is resection of the affected segment. The aim of this study
      is to evaluate the feasibility of aggressive surgical approach when colonic
      complication is suspected. Retrospectively, 8 patients with acute necrotizing
      pancreatitis and colonic complications (2006-2010) were reviewed. Eight patients
      with acute necrotizing pancreatitis requiring colonic resection were evaluated.
      Presentation was varied, including rectal bleeding (2), clinical deterioration
      during severe pancreatitis (4), colonic contrast leak on CT scan (1) and large
      bowel obstruction (1). Typically, patients with severe acute pancreatitis had
      colonic pathology obscured and unrecognized initially because of the ongoing,
      fulminant inflammatory process. All eight patients underwent Sub-total colectomy
      & ileostomy for suspected imminent or overt ischemia/perforation, based on the
      outer aspect of the colon. There was one mortality due to severe sepsis and
      multiorgan dysfunction syndrome. All other patients recovered well and later
      underwent closure of the stoma. Recognition of large bowel involvement may be
      difficult because of nonspecific symptoms or be masked by the systemic features
      of a critical illness. Clinicians should be aware that acute pancreatitis may
      erode or inflame the large bowel, resulting in lifethreatening colonic necrosis,
      bleeding or perforation. In our series of eight patients, we observed that
      mortality can be reduced by this aggressive surgical approach. We recommend a low
      threshold for colonic resection due to unreliable detection of ischemia or
      imminent perforation by outside inspection during surgery for acute necrotizing
      pancreatitis. 

PMID- 25829704
TI  - Left atrial and left ventricular diastolic function after the maze procedure for
      atrial fibrillation in mitral valve disease: degenerative versus rheumatic.
AB  - The present study was aimed to compare the left atrial and left ventricular
      diastolic functions amongst the rheumatic and degenerative mitral valve disease
      patients in atrial fibrillation who reverted to normal sinus rhythm following Cox
      maze procedure. We prospectively investigated the left atrial and left
      ventricular function with Doppler echocardiography, by dividing into the
      rheumatic (N = 105) and the degenerative group (N = 47). Over the follow-up
      period (mean: 4.4 +/- 1.2 years in the rheumatic group, 4.8 +/- 1.3 years in the
      degenerative group), the rheumatic group showed statistically significant
      decrease in A' velocity and E' velocity, on contrary to degenerative group (A'
      velocity: mean decrease of 0.43 +/- 0.13 cm/s in the rheumatic group, mean
      increase of 0.57 +/- 0.11 cm/s in the degenerative group, p = 0.029, E' velocity:
      mean decrease of 0.23 +/- 0.17 cm/s in the rheumatic group, mean increase of 0.21
      +/- 0.15 cm/s in the degenerative group, p = 0.031). In addition, the rheumatic
      group showed statistically significant increase in E/E' ratio than the
      degenerative group (mean increase of 4.49 +/- 1.98 in the rheumatic group, mean
      increase of 1.74 +/- 1.52 in the degenerative group, p = 0.047). Despite
      successful sinus rhythm restoration, the progressive loss of LA function as well
      as LV diastolic function is more prominent in the rheumatic group than the
      degenerative group. Therefore, differentiated strategies for postoperative
      surveillance are needed according to the pathology of mitral valve disease. 

PMID- 25829705
TI  - The relationship between holding time and the bacterial load on surgical
      instruments.
AB  - The aim of this investigation was to determine the bacterial load on used
      instruments and to evaluate the relationship between the bacterial load and the
      holding time prior to cleaning. Thirty six sets were evaluated to establish the
      average number of bacteria per square centimeter. For the experimental study,
      three different bacteria were prepared in sheep blood and used to contaminate
      sterile stainless steel pieces with the surface of 10 cm(2). After incubation at
      room temperature for 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 36, and 48 h, colonies were counted and
      compared to time zero. Bacterial counts were between 10 and 250 CFU/cm(2),
      depending on the operation site. Bacterial load was found to have increased after
      6 h. An increase of 3log10 CFU/cm(2) was measured after 12 h. It is imperative to
      clean surgical instruments in the first 6 h to ensure effective disinfection and
      sterility. 

PMID- 25829706
TI  - To study serum iron levels in patients of gall bladder stone disease and to
      compare with healthy individuals.
AB  - Gallstone disease is a common gastrointestinal problem in day-to-day practice.
      The Old concept that a typical gallstone sufferer is fat, fertile, flatulent
      female of 50. This is partially true as the disease has been found in women soon
      after their first delivery who are thin and underweight and in males also.
      Conditions that favor the formation of cholesterol gallstones are super
      saturation of bile with cholesterol, kinetically favorable nucleation and
      presence of cholesterol crystals in the gall bladder long enough to agglomerate
      into a stone. Recent studies have defined the role of trace elements (Fe, Ca, Zn
      and Cu) and defective pH in the formation of gallstones. The aim of the study was
      to correlate iron-deficiency anemia with gallstone disease. To estimate the serum
      ferritin level as a diagnostic tool of iron deficiency anemia in patients with
      gallstone disease, this prospective study of 100 patients was conducted over a
      period of 24 months in the Department of General Surgery, Jaipur Golden Hospital,
      New Delhi, India. Serum cholesterol, iron and ferritin levels were compared in
      patients having gallstones and healthy individuals. A low serum iron level is a
      factor in bile super saturation with respect to cholesterol, leading to gallstone
      formation. 

PMID- 25829707
TI  - Can Subepididymal Orchiectomy Re-emerge as the Treatment of Choice in Patients
      with Advanced Prostatic Carcinoma?
AB  - To study the effectiveness of bilateral subepididymal orchiectomy compared to
      bilateral simple and subcapsular orchiectomy in terms of androgen ablation,
      control of disease progression and esthetic superiority. 114 patients of advanced
      prostatic carcinoma (T3, T4, M1) were randomized to 3 groups- Group A: bilateral
      simple orchiectomy (38 patients), Group B: bilateral subcapsular orchiectomy (38
      patients), & Group C: bilateral subepididymal orchiectomy (38 patients). Serum
      PSA and serum testosterone values were checked pre-operatively and at 3 months
      follow-up. Patients' esthetic satisfaction was scored on a quality of life scale
      of 1-5. In Groups A, B and C, at 3 months the post-operative mean serum
      testosterone values were 34.7, 38.1 and 36.7 ng/dl (p = 0.0524); and mean serum
      PSA values were 4.2, 3.9 and 3.4 ng/ml (p = 0.09) respectively, the differences
      not being statistically significant. On esthetic satisfaction scale the average
      scores were 1.8, 2.7 and 4.0 respectively, the difference being highly
      significant (p < 0.0001). Subepididymal orchiectomy maintains esthetic appearance
      of scrotum and provides superior patient satisfaction as compared to standard
      total and subcapsular orchiectomy, while achieving equal efficacy. Bilateral sub
      epididymal orchiectomy may thus be considered procedure of choice to achieve
      androgen ablation in advanced prostatic carcinoma. 

PMID- 25829708
TI  - Comparison of inguinal hernia repairs performed with lichtenstein, rutkow
      robbins, and gilbert double layer graft methods.
AB  - Tension-free repairs are performed commonly in inguinal hernia operations. The
      objective of the present study is to compare the outcomes of three different
      tension-free repair methods known as Lichtenstein, Rutkow-Robbins, and Gilbert
      double layer. One-hundred and fifty patients diagnosed with inguinal hernia were
      randomly split into three groups. The comparisons across groups were carried out
      in terms of operation length, postoperative pain, femoral vein flow velocity,
      early and late complications, recurrence rates, length of hospital stay, time
      required to return to work, and cost analysis. No difference was found between
      the groups regarding age, gender, type and classification of hernia,
      postoperative pain, and late complications (p > 0.05). Operation length was 53.70
      +/- 12.32 min in the Lichtenstein group, 44.29 +/- 12.37 min in the Rutkow
      Robbins group, and 45.21 +/- 14.36 min in the Gilbert group (p < 0.05). Mean
      preoperative and postoperative femoral vein flow velocity values were 13.88 +/-
      2.237 and 13.42 +/- 2.239 cm/s for Lichtenstein group, 12.64 +/- 2.98 and 12.16
      +/- 2.736 cm/s for Rutkow-Robbins group, and 16.02 +/- 3.19 and 15.52 +/- 3.358
      cm/s for the Gilbert group, respectively. Statistical difference was found
      between all the groups (p < 0.001). However, no difference was determined between
      the groups regarding the decrease rates (p = 0.977). Among early complications,
      hematoma was observed in one (2 %) patient of Lichtenstein group, five (10 %)
      patients of Rutkow-Robbins group, and three (6 %) patients of Gilbert group (p =
      0.033). Cost analysis produced the following results for Lichtenstein, Rutkow
      Robbins, and Gilbert groups: US $157.94 +/- 50.05, $481.57 +/- 11.32, and $501.51
      +/- 73.59, respectively (p < 0.001). Lichtenstein operation was found to be more
      advantageous compared with the other techniques in terms of cost analysis as well
      as having unaffected femoral blood flow. Therefore, we believe that Lichtenstein
      repair is still the most appropriate surgical option in patients diagnosed with
      inguinal hernia. 

PMID- 25829709
TI  - Palliative radiotherapy in esophageal cancer.
AB  - The present study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of radiotherapy in
      palliation of dysphagia in patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of
      esophagus and to see the quality of life (QoL) following radiotherapy. This was a
      prospective clinical study done between September 2006 and May 2008. All
      consecutive patients with SCC of the esophagus, who are not candidates for
      definitive treatment, were included in the study. Dysphagia and QoL were assessed
      using modified Takita's grading and modified questionnaire based on EORTC QLQ 30
      respectively. External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) was delivered to all patients
      using linear accelerator 6 Mv photons. Patients who had good response with EBRT
      were further subjected to intraluminal brachytherapy (ILBT) at 700 cGy using
      Iridium-192. The cumulative dose each patient received was 65 Gy. Patients were
      followed up at 6 weeks from completion of treatment to look for any difference in
      dysphagia grade and QoL following therapy. Thirty-three patients were included in
      the study. The mean age among males and females was 60.9 and 49.8 years,
      respectively. Nineteen patients (57.6 %) received EBRT followed by ILBT; the
      remaining patients received only EBRT. Seven were lost during follow-up, and
      seven (21.2 %) died during the study period of 6 weeks. Nineteen (57.6 %) were
      followed up. On follow-up endoscopy, evidence of residual stricture was observed
      in 57.9 %, and growth in 36.8 %. Of the patients, 27.8 % had biopsy-confirmed
      residual disease. The median dysphagia score decreased from 4 to 3 after
      treatment (p = 0.002) in 17 (89.5 %) patients. The mean QoL score improved from
      107.5 to 114.1 at 6-week follow-up. Following radiotherapy, 26.3 % had persistent
      chest pain, increased cough with expectoration in 15.8 %, and hyperpigmentation
      of skin in 10.5 %. Radiotherapy gives significant relief of dysphagia and
      improves QoL in 90 % of patients with SCC of esophagus. However, following
      radiotherapy, a number of patients will have persistent stricture, ulceration,
      and residual disease. 

PMID- 25829710
TI  - Reconstruction of chest wall using a two-layer prolene mesh and bone cement
      sandwich.
AB  - Wide surgical resection is the most effective treatment for the vast majority of
      chest wall tumors. This study evaluated the clinical success of chest wall
      reconstruction using a Prolene mesh and bone cement prosthetic sandwich. The
      records of all patients undergoing chest wall resection and reconstruction were
      reviewed. Surgical indications, the location and size of the chest wall defect,
      diaphragm resection, pulmonary performance, postoperative complications, and
      survival of each patient were recorded. From 1998 to 2008, 43 patients (27 male,
      16 female; mean age of 48 years) underwent surgery in our department to treat
      malignant chest wall tumors: chondrosarcoma (23), osteosarcoma (8), spindle cell
      sarcoma (6), Ewing's sarcoma (2), and others (4). Nine sternectomies and 34
      antero-lateral and postero-lateral chest wall resections were performed.
      Postoperatively, nine patients experienced respiratory complications, and one
      patient died because of respiratory failure. The overall 4-year survival rate was
      60 %. Chest wall reconstruction using a Prolene mesh and bone cement prosthetic
      sandwich is a safe and effective surgical procedure for major chest wall defects.

PMID- 25829711
TI  - Pulsion Diverticulum of the Oesophagus: More than just an Out Pouch.
AB  - Oesophageal diverticulum is divided into two types based on the aetiology: the
      pulsion and the traction diverticula. Pulsion diverticulum occurs due to
      increased intraluminal pressure. This can be of three types based on the location
      along the oesophagus: the Zenker's diverticulum (ZD), the mid-oesophageal
      diverticulum (MD) and the epiphrenic diverticulum (ED). A PubMed search was
      conducted for the words 'pulsion', 'diverticulum' and 'oesophagus' for all
      studies published from January 1980 to March 2013 in the English language. A
      total of 31 studies were identified, and out of which, five were not included in
      the review. The pulsion diverticulum of the oesophagus is an uncommon disorder.
      Its aetiology is related to the motility disorders of the oesophagus. Patients
      usually present with chest-related symptoms or oesophageal symptoms, which are
      related to the underlying motility disorder. Evaluation includes barium studies,
      gastrointestinal endoscopy, CT scan and oesophageal manometry. Surgery is the
      treatment of choice for symptomatic and large diverticula, although the outcome
      in asymptomatic patients is unknown. The surgical options include
      diverticulectomy or diverticulopexy with an adequate myotomy. Most patients with
      ZD are now treated by using endoscopic techniques, although no randomised trial
      has shown its superiority over the open technique. Minimally invasive surgery has
      also been used for patients with MD and ED. Although isolated case series has
      shown good improvement in symptoms and reduction in mortality with minimally
      invasive techniques in patients with ED, its role in thoracic oesophageal
      diverticulum is debated. 

PMID- 25829712
TI  - Surgical trauma and immune functional changes following major lung resection.
AB  - Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) has evolved greatly over the last two
      decades. VATS major lung resection for early stage non-small cell lung carcinoma
      (NSCLC) has been shown to result in less postoperative pain, less pulmonary
      dysfunction postoperatively, shorter hospital stay, and better patient tolerance
      to adjuvant chemotherapy compared with patients who underwent thoracotomy.
      Several recent studies have even reported improved long-term survival in those
      who underwent VATS major lung resection for early stage NSCLC when compared with
      open technique. Interestingly, the immune status and autologous tumor killing
      ability of lung cancer patients have previously been associated with long-term
      survival. VATS major lung resection can result in an attenuated postoperative
      inflammatory response. Furthermore, the minimal invasive approach better preserve
      patients' postoperative immune function, leading to higher circulating natural
      killer and T cells numbers, T cell oxidative activity, and levels of
      immunochemokines such as insulin growth factor binding protein 3 following VATS
      compared with thoracotomy. Apart from host immunity, the angiogenic environment
      following surgery may also have a role in determining cancer recurrence and
      possibly survival. Whether differences in immunological and biochemical mediators
      contribute significantly towards improved clinical outcomes following VATS major
      lung resection for lung cancer remains to be further investigated. Future studies
      will also need to address whether the reduced access trauma from advanced
      thoracic surgical techniques, such as single-port VATS, can further attenuate the
      postoperative inflammatory response. 

PMID- 25829713
TI  - Facial dog attack injuries.
AB  - The exposed position of the face makes it vulnerable to dog bite injuries. This
      fact combined with the short stature of children makes them a high-risk group for
      such attacks. In contrast to wounds inflicted by assaults and accidents, dog bite
      wounds are deep puncture type wounds compounded by the presence of pathologic
      bacteria from the saliva of the attacking dog. This, combined with the presence
      of crushed, devitalized tissue makes these wounds highly susceptible to
      infection. Key to successful management of such wounds are meticulous cleansing
      of the wound, careful debridement, primary repair, appropriate antibiotic
      therapy, and rabies and tetanus immunization where indicated. This review
      presents an overview of the epidemiology, presentation, management of such
      emergencies, and the recent advances in the care of such patients. 

PMID- 25829714
TI  - Synchronous Jejunal Metastasis Presenting as Intussusception in a Case of
      Advanced RCC: a Rare Presentation.
AB  - Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) may metastasize to almost any organ, but metastasis to
      the small bowel is very rare. Factors responsible for a resistant behavior of
      small bowel wall are still not clear. Small bowel metastasis from RCC may cause
      obstruction, bleeding, and perforation. RCC metastasis to the small bowel
      presenting as intussusception is extremely rare. Only 20 cases of small bowel
      intussusceptions caused by metastatic RCC have been reported worldwide. Here, we
      are reporting this rare case of RCC with simultaneous solitary metastasis in
      jejunum which presented as intussusceptions and which was treated with
      simultaneous radical nephrectomy, jejunal resection, and anastomosis. 

PMID- 25829715
TI  - Haemophilic pseudotumour: surgical management of a rare case.
AB  - Haemophilia is a common cause of genetically inherited bleeding disorders.
      Pseudotumours occur in 1-2 % of persons with severe forms of haemophilia. These
      are a result of repeated haemorrhage into soft tissues, subperiosteum or a site
      of bone fracture with inadequate resorption of the extravasated blood. There are
      a number of therapeutic alternatives for this dangerous condition: surgical
      removal, percutaneous management, irradiation, embolization etc. In this case
      report, we describe the natural history, clinical course and successful surgical
      management of a patient with haemophilia who presented with a massive
      pseudotumour. We also briefly review the relevant literature on the various
      therapeutic modalities that have been implemented in the management of this rare
      complication. Though surgeons may be averse to operate on haemophiliacs, primary
      surgical management as done in our case may prove to be the definitive treatment
      option for such patients. 

PMID- 25829716
TI  - Management of cardiac injury by stab wounds on the right lateral chest wall: a
      case report.
AB  - The report presented a 20-year-old male case with multiple stab wounds on the
      right lateral chest wall, and a latent heart injury was found during the right
      lateral thoracotomy. A laceration on the right ventricle was verified by a median
      sternoctomy and repaired using an Inforce suture. The clinicians should not
      neglect the lower probability of life-threatening thoracic injuries following
      stab wounds to the chest, despite the initial location of anatomy. 

PMID- 25829717
TI  - Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor (DSRCT): an Unusual Intra-abdominal Tumor.
AB  - Desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) is a rare intra-abdominal tumor
      commonly seen in adolescents and young adult males. It is an important
      differential diagnosis in these patients presenting with abdominal masses and/or
      GI obstruction. The management and prognosis improve if preoperative diagnosis
      can be established. 

PMID- 25829718
TI  - Omphalocele major with absent lower limb.
AB  - A newborn delivered by Caesarian section presented with an absent anterior
      abdominal wall and visible bowel loops and liver. The defect was covered by a
      thin membrane. The patient had associated absent left lower limb and right foot
      fusion defect. The patient was haemodynamically stable; general condition was
      average. No genito-urinary abnormality was detected. The anal opening was present
      normally, and the patient passed meconium immediately after birth. A diagnosis of
      omphalocele major with amelia was made. The patient was initially managed by
      topical application of povidone-iodine for eschar formation and epithelisation of
      the sac. The patient was discharged after 1 week with advice for regular follow
      up. 

PMID- 25829719
TI  - Impalement injury with transanal prolapse of bowel content due to intraperitoneal
      rectal tear.
AB  - A 48-eight-year-old female patient came with prolapse of small intestines per
      rectum (Fig. 1) due to impalement injury with iron rod at a construction site. As
      the patient was hemodynamically unstable, she was taken for emergency laparotomy.
      A large rent in the intraperitoneal rectum was found (Fig. 2), with prolapse of
      intestines. Luckily for the patient, there was no other intra-abdominal organ
      injury. As there was no fecal contamination at all, a decision against proximal
      colostomy was made. The rent was closed in two layers after re-placing the small
      bowel contents with thorough lavage. Patient made a swift recovery thereafter. 

PMID- 25829720
TI  - Bezoar: an unusual palpable mass in the right iliac fossa.
AB  - A 64-year-old gentleman presented with a 12-h history of right iliac fossa pain.
      On examination, the patient had a tender 8 * 6 cm mass in the right iliac fossa
      with localised peritonitis. The working diagnosis at this time was an appendix
      mass or caecal cancer. A computed tomography scan revealed the characteristic
      'bird's nest' appearance of a bezoar. On further questioning, the patient
      confessed to regularly 'binging' on grapes. The patient described passing the
      mass and his symptoms completely resolved. This appears to be the only documented
      case of a bezoar affecting the ascending colon. 

PMID- 25829721
TI  - "One-stop hybrid procedure" in the treatment of vascular injury of lower
      extremity.
AB  - As a new surgical technique, "one-stop hybrid procedure" is rarely applied in
      trauma patients. This paper aims to explore its role in vascular injury of the
      lower extremity. Vascular intervention combined with open surgery was performed
      to treat three cases of vessel injuries of the lower extremity in our hybrid
      operating room. One patient with stab injury to the left femoral vein was treated
      by temporary artery blocking after excluding arterial injury by angiography,
      followed by blocking surgery and debridement and repair of the injured vein. The
      other two patients with drug addiction history, who were found to have pricking
      injuries to the femoral artery combined with local infection, were successfully
      treated by endovascular techniques and open debridement. One-stop hybrid
      procedure in treating vascular injury patients could simplify the operation
      procedure, reduce operative risk, and achieve good curative effect. 

PMID- 25829722
TI  - Schwannoma of parapharyngeal space: a case report.
AB  - The incidence of schwannoma in the head and neck region is between 25 and 45 %.
      The vestibular nerve is involved in most cases followed by the parapharyngeal
      space. Schwannoma, also known as neurilemmoma, is a benign neoplasm that
      originates from the Schwann cells. These cells form the myelin sheath around
      myelinated peripheral axons. Here, we report a case of parapharyngeal space
      schwannoma in a 27-year-old female. 

PMID- 25829723
TI  - Data conflicts: the dwindling power of a study.

PMID- 25829724
TI  - Study methodology: crux of a research article.

PMID- 25829725
TI  - 18-F flourodeoxy glucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography
      imaging: A viable alternative to three phase bone scan in evaluating diabetic
      foot complications?
AB  - BACKGROUND: This paper is based on the initial findings from a prospective
      ongoing study to evaluate the efficacy of flourodeoxy glucose positron emission
      tomography-computed tomography (FDG-PET CT) in diabetic foot evaluation.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim was to compare the diagnostic accuracies of three phase bone
      scan (TPBS) and FDG PET-CT (FDG-PET) in diabetic foot evaluation. METHODS:
      Seventy-nine patients with complicated diabetic foot (osteomyelitis/cellulitis,
      Charcot's neuropathy) were prospectively investigated. TPBS (15 mci methylene di
      phosphonate [MDP] intravenous [IV]), followed by FDG-PET (5 mci IV) within 5 days
      were performed in all patients. Based on referral indication, patients grouped
      into Group I, n = 36, (?osteomyelitis/cellulitis) and Group II, n = 43
      (?Charcot's neuropathy). Interpretation was based on intensity, extent, pattern
      of MDP and FDG uptake (standardized uptake value) along with CT correlation.
      Findings were compared with final diagnostic outcome based on bone/soft tissue
      culture in Group I and clinical, radiological or scintigraphic followup in Group
      II. RESULTS: Group I: For diagnosing osteomyelitis, TP: TN: FP: FN were 14:5:2:2
      by FDG PET and 13:02:05:03 by TPBS respectively. Sensitivity, specificity,
      positive predictive value and negative predictive value (NPV) of FDG-PET were
      87.5%, 71%, 87.5% and 71% and 81.25%, 28.5%, 72% and 40% for TPBS, respectively.
      Group II: charcot's: cellulitis: Normal were 22:14:7 by FDG PET and 32:5:6 by
      TPBS, respectively. CONCLUSION: Flourodeoxy glucose PET-CT has a higher
      specificity and NPV than TPBS in diagnosing pedal osteomyelitis. TPBS, being
      highly sensitive is more useful than FDG-PET in detecting Charcot's neuropathy.

PMID- 25829726
TI  - Three phase bone scan interpretation based upon vascular endothelial response.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A new method of interpretation of Three Phase Bone Scan (TPBS) scan
      based upon the normal physiological vascular endothelial related response.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty cases of TPBS were evaluated. Thirteen were normal.
      In remaining 37 positive studies, 20 showed localized hyperemic response. All
      localized hyperemic responses except one with vascular endothelial dysfunction
      were without infection (95.0%). Infection could be ruled out in absence of
      generalized massive flow and pool response. All 17 cases with generalized massive
      hyperemic response had infection, consistent with infection or CRPS/RSD. Micro
      bacterial or histological confirmation of infection was obtained in 11 cases. All
      11 cases with confirmed infection showed generalized massive hyperemic response
      (100.0%). Two were CRPS/RSD and 2 cases were of cellulitis (100.0%). Among
      remaining 2, one refused surgery and other was lost to follow-up. Additionally,
      20 published cases in the literature of osteomyelitis were also analyzed.
      Nineteen cases of bone and joint infection, (osteomyelitis/arthritis/cellulitis)
      except one with endothelial dysfunction showed generalized massive increased flow
      and pool response (95.0%). All published cases of osteomyelitis in the literature
      showed generalized massive hyperemic response (100.0%). RESULTS: The data clearly
      indicated that 100% of the cases of bone infection
      (osteomyelitis/arthritis/cellulitis) and cases of CRPS/RSD showed generalized
      massive flow and pool pattern. Infection could be ruled out in absence of
      generalized massive flow and pool response. All 100% published cases of
      osteomyelitis in the literature showed positive vascular endothelial response.
      CONCLUSION: By incorporating the concept of vascular endothelial related response
      causing massive vasodilatation in infection, the interpretation of the TPBS can
      be more precised as it is based upon the normal physiology. Larger studies are
      recommended.

PMID- 25829727
TI  - Effects of low-dose capecitabine on Samarium-153-EDTMP therapy for painful bone
      metastases.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Samarium-153 (Sm-153)-EDTMP is routinely used for pain palliation
      in skeletal metastasis, however most patients report partial response. Many
      strategies have been contemplated to make radiation therapy for pain more
      effective, one of them being the use of radiosensitizers. Capecitabine is a
      chemotherapeutic drug and is routinely combined with external beam radiation to
      make the target more radio-sensitive. Aim of the study was to evaluate whether
      combining capecitabine in radiosensitizing dose with Sm-153-EDTMP produces
      superior analgesia compared to Sm alone. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-four
      patients with skeletal metastases from various primaries were randomized into two
      groups: The study group received 1 mCi/kg Sm-153-EDTMP plus capecitabine (1,650
      mg/m(2)) orally for 8 days (equivalent to four t 1/2 of (153)Sm-EDTMP) and the
      control arm received 1 mCi/kg Sm-153-EDTMP plus placebo for the 8 days. After
      treatment, the patients were followed up for 12 weeks to evaluate the degree and
      duration of pain palliation and hematologic toxicity. RESULTS: All 44 patients
      reported different degrees of pain relief with none reporting complete pain
      relief for the entire duration of 12 weeks posttherapy observation period.
      However the level of pain relief obtained in study arm was significantly better
      than the control arm with mean posttherapy pain score being 1.29 +/- 1.05 and
      3.59 +/- 2.77 respectively with P of 0.001. Transient and mild hematologic
      toxicity, as determined by World Health Organization criteria, was apparent in
      both arms without significant differences. CONCLUSION: The addition of a low-dose
      of capecitabine significantly enhances the analgesic effect of Sm-153 without any
      additional side effects.

PMID- 25829728
TI  - Rate of thyroglossal duct remnant visualization after total thyroidectomy for
      differentiated thyroid carcinoma and its impact on clinical outcome of
      radioactive iodine (I-131) ablation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The rate and impact of thyroglossal duct remnant (TGDR) visualization
      in patients with hypothyroidism after total thyroidectomy for differentiated
      thyroid carcinoma (DTC) have not yet been fully determined. The aim of this study
      was to assess the rate of TGDR visualization in post total thyroidectomy whole
      body scan (WBS) for DTC and to evaluate its impact on the outcome of I-131
      ablation. METHODS: A total of 60 consecutive DTC patients (51 papillary thyroid
      Ca., and 9 Follicular thyroid Ca.), underwent total thyroidectomy, followed by
      WBS (using I-131 in 28 patients and I-123 in 32 patients), neck ultrasound (US),
      thyroglobulin (Tg) and Tg anti-bodies (TgAb) assay after 40 days and subsequent I
      131 ablation. At 6 months later follow-up I-131 WBS, neck U/S, Tg and TgAb were
      performed following suspension of L-thyroxine for 1-month (thyroid stimulating
      hormone [TSH] >30 MUIU/ml) in 53 patients and following recombinant human TSH
      stimulation in seven patients. RESULTS: Of the studied 60 patients, 19/60 (31.7%)
      had a linear or focal radioactivity at the superior midline of the neck,
      suggesting TGDR (Group 1), and 41/60 (68.3%) had no uptake to suggest TGDR (Group
      2). No significant difference regarding age, gender and histopathology between
      both groups. Neck US showed no evidence of thyroid tissue in the superior midline
      of the neck in both groups, and only a small or no residual thyroid tissue in
      patients of Group 1. There was a significant successful I-131 ablation rate among
      patients of group 1 compared to group 2 (79% in Group 1 vs. 41.5% in Group 2) (P
      = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Thyroglossal duct remnant visualization on WBS of
      hypothyroid subjects after total thyroidectomy suggests presence of only a small
      or no residual functioning thyroid tissue at the thyroid bed and can predict a
      good response to I-131 ablation.

PMID- 25829729
TI  - Deviation in the predefined calibration factors of the dose calibrators and the
      associated inaccuracy in the radioactivity measurements of beta-gamma emitters.
AB  - AIM: To determine whether the predefined calibration factors of the dose
      calibrators can provide accurate radioactivity measurements of beta-gamma
      emitters used in routine therapeutic nuclear medicine procedures. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Two models of dose calibrators were used in the present study for
      radioactivity measurements of (153)Sm ethylenediamine-N, N, N', N'-tetrakis
      methylene phosphonic acid (EDTMP) and (177)Lu (EDTMP). A known (precalibrated)
      activity of each of the two beta emitters received by us from our National
      Supplier for administration to the patients with extensive bony metastases for
      bone pain palliation, was used for experiments. RESULTS: When we used the
      manufacturers' provided dial setting of 450 * 10, each of the dose calibrators
      underestimated the radioactivity of (177)Lu by about 9.0%. Dial settings of 403 *
      10 and 408 * 10 for (177)Lu on CRC-15R and CRC-ultra dose calibrators
      respectively were calculated experimentally using an iterative approach. The
      radioactivity measurements made at these settings provided an excellent agreement
      with the specified values. Likewise, a dial setting of 230 for each of the two
      dose calibrators was calculated for (153)Sm, which provided a good agreement
      between the experimentally derived radioactivity values and the certified values.
      A deviation of +/- 5.0% was observed when radioactivity of (177)Lu and (153)Sm
      was measured over a wide range (4.0 MBq to 2.1 GBq) for time intervals equivalent
      to 4.5 half-lives of each of the two radionuclides. A deviation of +/- 5% was
      observed when radioactivity was counted in different dilution volumes and in
      syringes of varying size. CONCLUSION: These variations could lead to a cumulative
      error of about 20.0% toward the inaccuracy in the radioactivity measurements of
      the beta-gamma emitters and thus predefined calibration factors of the dose
      calibrators may require experimental re-setting of these parameters and periodic
      checking to provide accurate radioactivity estimates of beta-gamma emitters in a
      given clinical setting.

PMID- 25829730
TI  - Characterization of parallel-hole collimator using Monte Carlo Simulation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Accuracy of in vivo activity quantification improves after the
      correction of penetrated and scattered photons. However, accurate assessment is
      not possible with physical experiment. We have used Monte Carlo Simulation to
      accurately assess the contribution of penetrated and scattered photons in the
      photopeak window. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Simulations were performed with
      Simulation of Imaging Nuclear Detectors Monte Carlo Code. The simulations were
      set up in such a way that it provides geometric, penetration, and scatter
      components after each simulation and writes binary images to a data file. These
      components were analyzed graphically using Microsoft Excel (Microsoft
      Corporation, USA). Each binary image was imported in software (ImageJ) and
      logarithmic transformation was applied for visual assessment of image quality,
      plotting profile across the center of the images and calculating full width at
      half maximum (FWHM) in horizontal and vertical directions. RESULTS: The
      geometric, penetration, and scatter at 140 keV for low-energy general-purpose
      were 93.20%, 4.13%, 2.67% respectively. Similarly, geometric, penetration, and
      scatter at 140 keV for low-energy high-resolution (LEHR), medium-energy general
      purpose (MEGP), and high-energy general-purpose (HEGP) collimator were (94.06%,
      3.39%, 2.55%), (96.42%, 1.52%, 2.06%), and (96.70%, 1.45%, 1.85%), respectively.
      For MEGP collimator at 245 keV photon and for HEGP collimator at 364 keV were
      89.10%, 7.08%, 3.82% and 67.78%, 18.63%, 13.59%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Low
      energy general-purpose and LEHR collimator is best to image 140 keV photon. HEGP
      can be used for 245 keV and 364 keV; however, correction for penetration and
      scatter must be applied if one is interested to quantify the in vivo activity of
      energy 364 keV. Due to heavy penetration and scattering, 511 keV photons should
      not be imaged with HEGP collimator.

PMID- 25829731
TI  - Splenic and lymph nodal involvement in sarcoidosis mimicking lymphoma on fluorine
      18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography.
AB  - Sarcoidosis is a multisystemic disease presenting with well-defined, bilateral,
      symmetric hilar and right paratracheal lymph node enlargement. Recently, fluorine
      18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-18 FDG
      PET/CT) has been used to stage and detect occult site of active inflammation in
      sarcoidosis. F-18 FDG PET/CT has become a cornerstone imaging modality in the
      modern lymphoma management, which can present with generalized lymphadenopathy
      including mediastinal. We present a case series, which shows how sarcoidosis can
      be a "great mimic of lymphoma" on F-18 FDG PET/CT and how histopathology is
      essential in diagnosing sarcoidosis and ruling out lymphoma. 

PMID- 25829732
TI  - Role of dual time fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-computed
      tomography in identifying co-existing inflammatory and malignant disease: Who
      holds it (FDG) longer?
AB  - 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT)
      is an integral part of imaging in the follow-up of head and neck malignancies.
      Very often distinguishing inflammatory/infective from malignant recurrence cannot
      be made confidently with standard uptake value (SUV) alone, as inflammatory
      lesions have shown to have a very high SUV, and in some cases both can co-exist.
      In such doubtful cases, dual time PET-CT (3-5 h delayed) is of paramount
      importance in confidently differentiating inflammatory/infective from a malignant
      cause. 

PMID- 25829733
TI  - Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography
      in the detection of primary pulmonary angiosarcomas.
AB  - Angiosarcoma is a malignant vascular tumor that originates from the mesenchymal
      cells which have undergone angioblastic differentiation. Pulmonary angiosarcomas
      are invariably (>90%) metastatic tumors form primaries of the skin, bone, liver,
      breast, or heart. Primary pulmonary angiosarcomas are exceedingly rare, with just
      about 20 cases being reported in the literature. We report an additional case
      with a brief review of the literature of a primary pulmonary angiosarcoma in a 26
      year-old lady who presented with intractable hemoptysis. In addition, we
      highlight the potential of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission
      tomography/computed tomography as an important diagnostic tool in the evaluation
      of this tumor and thus contribute to the existing sparse literature on this
      fascinating yet devastating disease. 

PMID- 25829734
TI  - Metabolic flare phenomenon on 18 fluoride-fluorodeoxy glucose positron emission
      tomography-computed tomography scans in a patient with bilateral breast cancer
      treated with second-line chemotherapy and bevacizumab.
AB  - Increase in radiopharmaceutical uptake is an indicator of progression of disease.
      Paradoxical increase in the radiopharmaceutical uptake also occurs during
      favorable response to therapy, which is designated as flare phenomenon. Flare
      phenomenon is well documented on bone scinitgraphy when initially noted lesions
      show increased radiotracer uptake after therapy is instituted. This happens
      despite favorable response to the treatment. The osteoblastic activity associated
      with healing response of bone tumors is the cause of flare phenomenon. Recently,
      metabolic flare phenomenon has been described in patients with breast cancer who
      undergo hormonal therapy. Changes in the hormonal level during initial part of
      the treatment is the cause of metabolic flare. We describe a patient with
      bilateral breast cancer who underwent second line chemotherapy along with
      bevacizumab. Serial positron emission tomography scans done showed interesting
      phenomenon of metabolic flare. 

PMID- 25829735
TI  - FDG PET/CT detects benign neurofibromas presenting as nodal masses: Imaging
      hallmarks of a diagnostic "red herring".
AB  - Multi-modality positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with 18F
      fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG) depicts the enhancement pattern and metabolic
      intensity of lesions. Benign lesions with multiplicity, like neurofibromas often
      mimic similar appearing malignant neoplasms. We, report, a similar case where FDG
      PET/CT shows imaging hallmarks for diagnosing benign neurofibromas, in a patient
      with clinical presentation of lymphoma. 

PMID- 25829736
TI  - Paget's disease of pelvis mimicking metastasis in a patient with lung cancer
      evaluated using staging and follow-up imaging with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose
      positron emission tomography/computed tomography.
AB  - Paget's disease of bone is a benign disease, of uncertain etiology, characterized
      by an accelerated turnover, that is, bone resorption and formation. Paget's
      disease may be present in up to 5% of the population, and the majority of cases
      are asymptomatic. We report the imaging findings of Paget's disease of pelvis
      discovered incidentally in patient with lung cancer evaluated by fluorine-18
      fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography
      (PET/CT) for staging. FDG PET-CT scan showed intense uptake in the right lung
      lower lobe primary and mediastinal lymph nodes. Furthermore, increased uptake
      noted in left hemipelvis suggestive of Paget's disease. He underwent follow-up
      FDG PET-CT after chemotherapy showed decrease in lung mass and mediastinal nodes.
      However, the uptake in left hemipelvis remains same confirming Paget's disease. 

PMID- 25829737
TI  - Hepatic metastasis arising from diverse primary pathologies diagnosed on 99mTc
      Methylene diphosphonate bone scan.
AB  - We are presenting two cases that illustrate nonosseous localization of 99mTc
      Methylene diphosphonate (MDP) in hepatic metastases arising from varied primary
      pathology and review of the literature. This series emphasizes the evidence of
      MDP localization in hepatic metastases arising from adenocarcinoma of rectum and
      infiltrating duct cell carcinoma of the breast. 

PMID- 25829738
TI  - Missing sentinel lymph node in cutaneous melanoma.
AB  - The American Society of Clinical Oncology guidelines recommend sentinel lymph
      node biopsy (SLNB) for all patients with melanoma tumors of intermediate
      thickness (between 1 and 4 mm). In case of patients with thick melanoma tumors
      (>4 mm), SLNB may be recommended as well, for staging purposes and to facilitate
      regional disease control. We report a case of an 82-year-old man, undergone
      excision of a cutaneous melanoma of the right thigh, which shows some limitation
      of SLNB in thick melanoma. Lymphoscintigraphy, performed as single-photon
      emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT), failed to identify
      the real sentinel lymph node, as tracer uptake was seen in A right inguinal node.
      Due to the presence on CT co-registered images of another suspicious node (with
      no radiopharmaceutical uptake) in the crural region, and considering the "high
      risk" pathologic features of the removed primary lesion, a 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose
      positron emission tomography/CT (18F-FDG PET/CT) staging scan was planned. PET/CT
      showed high metabolic activity in the suspected crural lymphadenopathy.
      Histopathology demonstrated massive invasion of the crural ("sentinel") node and
      no metastatic cells in the inguinal node. This report highlights both the higher
      accuracy of lymphoscintigraphy, when performed as SPECT/CT and the potential
      utility of 18F-FDG PET/CT in regional staging. 

PMID- 25829739
TI  - Primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus.
AB  - Primary malignant melanoma most commonly originates from the skin; other less
      common extra cutaneous sites include squamous mucous membranes, uvea, retina,
      leptomeninges, genitourinary tract, digestive tract, biliary tract, and upper
      respiratory tract. Primary melanoma of the gastrointestinal tract is exceedingly
      rare. We are reporting a histo-pathologically proven rare case of primary
      malignant melanoma of the esophagus and its findings on fluorodeoxyglucose
      positron emission tomography and computed tomography. 

PMID- 25829740
TI  - Mycosis fungoides: Positron emission tomography/computed tomography in staging
      and monitoring the effect of therapy.
AB  - A 58-year-old woman, diagnosed as a case of mycosis fungoides (MF), underwent
      [18F]-fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG
      PET/CT) examination. The study revealed intense FDG uptake in a large
      ulceroproliferative right thigh lesion, indurated plaques in the chest wall and
      left thigh, along with multiple sites of cutaneous involvement, axillary and
      inguinal lymphadenopathy. The patient underwent chemotherapy with CHOP regimen,
      radiotherapy for the right thigh lesion, along with topical corticosteroids and
      emollients for the disseminated cutaneous involvement. Repeat [18F]-FDG PET/CT
      study performed a year later, showed near complete disease regression
      specifically of the ulceroproliferative lesion and indurated cutaneous plaques,
      no change in lymphadenopathy, and a subtle diffuse progression of the remaining
      cutaneous lesions. A multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis, staging and
      treatment of MF has long been suggested for optimizing outcomes from management
      of patients with this disease. This case highlights the potential role of
      incorporating PET/CT as a single modality imaging technique in the staging and
      assessment of response to therapy. 

PMID- 25829741
TI  - Rare case of axillary lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid carcinoma
      detected using Iodine-131 whole-body scintigraphy and single-photon emission
      computed tomography/computed tomography.
AB  - Differentiated thyroid cancer is, usually, associated with an excellent prognosis
      and indolent course. Distant metastases are rare events at the onset of thyroid
      cancer. Among these presentations, metastasis to the axillary lymph nodes is even
      more unusual. Only few cases of papillary carcinoma with axillary nodal
      metastasis were previously reported in the literature. We present a 38-year-old
      female who underwent Iodine-131 whole-body scintigraphy, after total
      thyroidectomy and bilateral neck lymph node dissection for papillary carcinoma of
      thyroid, showed intense uptake in the remnant thyroid, lung metastasis, left
      cervical and left axillary lymph nodes. Excision of left axillary lymph nodes
      confirmed metastatic papillary carcinoma. 

PMID- 25829742
TI  - Unusual sites of metastatic recurrence of osteosarcoma detected on fluorine-18
      fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography.
AB  - Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common nonhematolymphoid primary bone malignancy
      characterized by osteoid or new bone formation. Lungs and bones are the most
      common sites of metastases. We report a case where unusual sites of the soft
      tissue recurrence from OS were detected on restaging fluorine-18
      fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan done
      post 6 years of disease free interval. 

PMID- 25829744
TI  - Lymphoscintigraphy combined with single-photon emission computed tomography
      computed tomography (SPECT-CT): A very effective imaging approach for
      identification of the site of leak in postoperative chylothorax.
AB  - Post operative chylothorax is a known complication of various thoracic surgeries.
      It needs identification of precise site of leak in the thoracic duct.
      Lymphosicintigraphy can identify chyle leak but cannot delineate exact site of
      leak. SPECT-CT is precise in anatomic localisation and hence SPECT-CT should be
      combined with every lymphoscintigraphy in evaluation of clinically suspected case
      of post operative chylothorax. We report such a case. 

PMID- 25829743
TI  - Non heamoptytic massive Rasmussen's pulmonary artery aneurysm caused by
      aggressive cavitating squamous cell carcinoma metastasis.
AB  - The authors report an extremely rare occurrence of a massive aneurysm of a major
      pulmonary artery branch vessel caused by adjacent necrotizing aggressive squamous
      cell carcinoma metastatic mediastinal nodes. Despite the huge size, there was no
      hemoptysis due to the walling off effect by the necrotic nodes. 

PMID- 25829745
TI  - Mediastinal ectopic benign colloid goitre detected using iodine-131 whole body
      scintigraphy and single-photon emission computed tomography-computed tomography.
AB  - Ectopic thyroid tissue primarily occurs along the course of the embryologic
      migration of the thyroid gland. Mediastinal thyroid may be differentiated into
      primary and secondary form. Primary mediastinal goiters are quite rare, occurring
      in <1% of all goiters. We present findings of 29-year-old female, case of
      papillary carcinoma of the thyroid who underwent iodine-131 whole body
      scintigraphy after total thyroidectomy showed a primary mediastinal mass lesion
      along with residual thyroid. She underwent mediastinal mass excision through
      sternotomy and biopsy confirmed as ectopic nodular colloid goiter with no
      malignancy. 

PMID- 25829746
TI  - Bone single-photon emission computed tomography and three-dimensional computed
      tomography in the diagnosis of low costal variation and pathologies.
AB  - In general, there are five lumbar vertebras in normal human subjects. But
      occasionally there are six. In such a situation, a radiologist need to discern
      between lumbarization of S1 (S1 vertebra becomes segmented and mimics L5) or due
      to hypoplastic 12(th) ribs, hence the T12 vertebra is wrongly assumed to be L1.
      These interesting images serve a multimodality approach to right aplasia/left
      hypoplasia of 12(th) rib, injury of left 11(th) rib and subluxation of left
      11(th) Costovertebral joint in a patient with lumbar back pain. 

PMID- 25829747
TI  - F-18 fluoro-d-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography in a
      patient with corticobasal degeneration.
AB  - Corticobasal degeneration is a rare neurodegenerative disorder that often eludes
      clinical diagnosis. The present case shows the F-18 fluoro-d-glucose positron
      emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) of a 62-year-old man with a
      progressive movement disorder with asymmetric features. PET/CT examination showed
      a markedly right-brain hemispheric hypometabolism also involving basal ganglia. 

PMID- 25829748
TI  - Cold spot in the uniform Co-57 image may not necessarily be due to
      photomultiplier tube failure or variations in photomultiplier tube tuning: A
      technical note.

PMID- 25829749
TI  - Microbial infection imaging: A novel diagnostic approach.

PMID- 25829750
TI  - Flowtron foot-pumps for prevention of venous thromboembolism in total hip and
      knee replacement.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Mechanical prophylaxis with foot-pumps provides an interesting
      alternative to chemical agents in the prevention of venous thomboembolism
      following major orthopaedic surgery procedures. The aim of this prospective study
      was to assess efficacy and safety of the Flowtron((r)) foot-pumps system
      following total hip and knee replacement. The foot pumps were used as main tool
      for prevention of thromboembolic events, in most cases in association with a
      variety of chemicals. METHODS: The primary endpoint of the study was to assess
      the incidence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism after total hip and
      knee replacement. The secondary endpoints included postoperative bleeding,
      swelling, bruising and wound ooze. RESULTS: 424 consecutive patients were
      included in the study. Symptomatic deep vein thrombosis was detected in 7
      patients (1.6%). All symptomatic deep vein thromboses were detected after
      discharge before the six week follow-up clinic. Five non-fatal pulmonary
      embolisms occurred (1.2%). Only one patient presented a major wound bleeding
      (0.2%). The mean difference of swelling of thigh pre-versus postoperatively was
      only 22.8 mm. DISCUSSION: In conclusion, thromboembolism prophylaxis after total
      hip and knee replacement using Flowtron((r)) foot-pumps as main prevention tool
      of an individualised protocol appears effective and safe. This is the first
      clinical report related to this popular brand of foot pumps.

PMID- 25829751
TI  - Optimization of multiple quality characteristics in bone drilling using grey
      relational analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Drilling of bone is common during bone fracture treatment to fix the
      fractured parts with screws wires or plates. Minimally invasive drilling of the
      bone has a great demand as it helps in better fixation and quick healing of the
      broken bones. The purpose of the present investigation is to determine the
      optimum cutting condition for the minimization of the temperature, force and
      surface roughness simultaneously during bone drilling. METHOD: In this study,
      drilling experiments have been performed on bovine bone with different conditions
      of feed rate and drill rotational speed using full factorial design. Optimal
      level of the drilling parameters is determined by the grey relational grade (GRG)
      obtained from the GRA as the performance index of multiple quality
      characteristics. The effect of each drilling parameter on GRG is determined using
      analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the results obtained are validated by
      confirmation experiment. RESULTS: Grey relational analysis showed that the
      investigation with feed rate of 40 mm/min and spindle speed of 500 rpm has the
      highest grey relational grade and is recommended setting for minimum temperature,
      force and surface roughness simultaneously during bone drilling. Feed rate has
      the highest contribution (59.49%) on the multiple performance characteristics
      followed by the spindle speed (37.69%) as obtained from ANOVA analysis.
      CONCLUSIONS: The use of grey relational analysis will simplify the complex
      process of optimization of the multi response characteristics in bone drilling by
      converting them into a single grey relational grade. The use of the above
      suggested methodology can greatly minimize the bone tissue injury during
      drilling.

PMID- 25829752
TI  - Development and validation of the French version of a tool assessing patient's
      expectations in lower limb osteoarthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Hip Replacement Expectations
      Survey and Knee Replacement Expectations Survey are validated tools developed to
      measure patients' preoperative expectations for hip and knee arthroplasty. These
      instruments have possible uses in both daily practice and research. Our objective
      was to assess the test-retest reliability and the construct validity of the
      French version of the surveys. METHODS: Patients scheduled for total hip (n = 82)
      or knee replacement (n = 61) aged 38-90 years were included. All completed the
      HSS Hip or Knee Replacement Expectations Survey and the Expectation WOMAC to
      determine concurrent validity. The test-retest reliability was assessed using the
      intraclass coefficient correlation (ICC), the Bland and Altman Method and the
      coefficient of variation; the internal consistency was assessed by the Cronbach
      alpha coefficient. The construct validity was investigated using the Pearson
      correlation coefficient and floor and ceiling effects by percentage frequency of
      lowest or highest possible score achieved by respondents. RESULTS: 143 patients
      scheduled for hip or knee arthroplasty were included. The reliability was
      excellent between the test and the rested total score, with an ICC of 0.902
      (0.853-0.936) and CV of 4.06% for the French Hip Replacement Expectations Survey
      and 0.865 (0.786-0.917) and CV of 7.7% for the French Knee Replacement
      Expectations Survey, without bias. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.72 for
      hip Survey and 0.82 for knee Survey showing a good internal consistency. Pearson
      correlation coefficients of 0.45 and 0.48 between Expectations WOMAC and HSS,
      respectively for hip Survey and knee Survey, were observed but with systematic
      bias. The lowest possible score was not reported by any patient and only three
      patients (3.66%) scheduled for hip arthroplasty reported the highest possible
      score. CONCLUSIONS: The French version of the HSS Hip or Knee Replacement
      Expectations Survey is a reliable and valid questionnaire and compares favourably
      with the original English version. Therefore, this new version may help French
      speaking clinicians to evaluate expectations before lower limb arthroplasty.

PMID- 25829753
TI  - Navigation in TKA surgery - Evolutionary technique or blind alley?

PMID- 25829754
TI  - Tibial rotation kinematics subsequent to knee arthroplasty.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The use of computer assisted joint replacement has facilitated
      precise intraoperative measurement of knee kinematics. The changes in "screw home
      mechanism" (SHM) resulting from Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) with different
      prostheses and constraints has not yet been accurately described. METHODS: A
      pilot study was first completed. Intraoperative kinematic data was collected two
      groups of 15 patients receiving different prostheses. RESULTS: On average,
      patients lost 5.3 degrees  of ER (SD = 6.1 degrees ). There was no significant
      difference between the prostheses or different prosthetic constraints.
      CONCLUSIONS: There significant loss of SHM after TKA. Further research is
      required to understand its impact on patient function.

PMID- 25829755
TI  - 3D patient-specific model of the tibia from CT for orthopedic use.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: 3D patient-specific model of the tibia is used to determine the
      torque needed to initialize the tibial torsion correction. METHODS: The finite
      elements method is used in the biomechanical modeling of tibia. The geometric
      model of the tibia is obtained from CT images. The tibia is modeled as an
      anisotropic material with non-homogeneous mechanical properties. CONCLUSIONS: The
      maximum stress is located in the shaft of tibia diaphysis. With both meshes are
      obtained similar results of stresses and displacements. For this patient-specific
      model, the torque must be greater than 30 Nm to initialize the correction of
      tibial torsion deformity.

PMID- 25829756
TI  - Selective hemiepiphyseodesis for patellar instability with associated genu
      valgum.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Patellar instability limits activity and promotes arthritis.
      Correcting genu valgum with selective hemiepiphyseodesis can treat patellar
      instability. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 26 knees with patellar
      instability and associated genu valgum that underwent hemiepiphyseodesis.
      RESULTS: Average anatomic lateral distal femoral angle (aLDFA) significantly
      corrected. Symptoms improved in all patients. All competitive athletes returned
      to sports. One complication occurred. CONCLUSIONS: In genu valgum, the patella
      seeks an abnormal mechanical axis, resulting in patellar instability. By
      correcting the mechanical axis with hemiepiphyseodesis, patellar instability
      symptoms improve and patients return to sports. Complications are rare. Selective
      hemiepiphyseodesis is recommended when treating patellar instability with
      associated genu valgum.

PMID- 25829757
TI  - Ultrasound vs. MRI in the assessment of rotator cuff structure prior to shoulder
      arthroplasty.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: We compared the accuracy of US to 3 T Tesla MRI for the
      detection of rotator cuff and long biceps tendon pathologies before joint
      replacement. METHODS: 45 patients were prospectively included. RESULTS: For the
      supraspinatus tendon, the accuracy of US when using MRI as reference was 91.1%.
      For the infraspinatus tendon, the accuracy with MRI as reference was 84.4%. The
      subscapularis tendon was consistently assessed by US and MRI in 35/45 patients
      (accuracy 77.8%). For the long biceps tendon the accuracy was 86.7%. CONCLUSION:
      US detection of rotator cuff and biceps tendon integrity is comparable to MRI and
      should be preferred in revision cases.

PMID- 25829758
TI  - Achondroplasia and limb lengthening: Results in a UK cohort and review of the
      literature.
AB  - AIMS: We aim to review the results, complications and outcomes of a single
      surgeon's series of lower limb lengthening in patients with achondroplasia.
      METHODS: Ten achondroplastic children underwent limb lengthening. The patients,
      medical records and radiographs were reviewed. RESULTS: The average age at the
      time of the index operation was 7.8 years. A single surgeon undertook all
      procedures. The average total length gain was 20.5 cm. The commonest complication
      was a fractured femur after removal of the frame. CONCLUSION: Although
      complication rates were high (70%), none were left with any long-term sequelae
      and all were pleased with the results.

PMID- 25829759
TI  - An unusual complex karyotype in myopericytoma.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Myopericytoma is a perivascular neoplasm commonly found in the skin
      and soft tissue of extremities. These lesions often exhibit concentric vascular
      proliferation of spindle shaped myoid cells. METHODS/RESULTS: We present a case
      of a 76-year old male who was diagnosed with myopericytoma and subsequent
      cytogenetic analysis found a highly abnormal karyotype. This karyotype includes
      cytogenetic mutations that have not been described in previous case studies of
      myopericytoma. CONCLUSIONS: Some of these aberrations occur on genes that are
      involved in hedgehog signaling as well as pericyte proliferation, indicating a
      potential pericyte origin for myopericytoma tumors.

PMID- 25829760
TI  - New free radical scavenging neolignans from fruits of Piper attenuatum.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim was to study and identify free radicals scavenging and
      antihyperglycemic principles in fruit of Piper attenuatum. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Bioassay guided identification of extracts possessing potent free radical
      scavenging activity, and isolation of compounds was done. Chloroform extract of
      P. attenuatum possessing potent radical scavenging activity was also evaluated
      for antihyperglycemic activity following oral glucose tolerance test in rats.
      RESULTS: Nine neolignans namely, denudatin B (1), iso-4', 5'-dimethoxy-3, 4
      methylenedioxy-2'-oxo-Delta(3',5',8')-8.1'-lignan (2), lancifolin D (3),
      denudatin A (4), wallichinin (5), piperenone (6), lancifolin C (7), 2-oxo-piperol
      B (8), piperkadsin A (9) and a crotepoxide (10) was identified in Chloroform
      extract of P. attenuatum. Neolignans (1-9) displayed potent 2, 2'-azino-bis (3
      ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical and piperkadsin A (9) also
      displayed 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity. Analysis of
      structure-activity relationship revealed that presence of furan ring and methoxy
      groups is an important criterion to influence 2, 2'-azino-bis (3
      ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical scavenging potentials. Chloroform
      extract of P. attenuatum fruit could not display antihyperglycemic activity
      following oral glucose tolerance test in rats. CONCLUSION: Neolignans present in
      P. attenuatum fruits are potent free radical scavengers and this is the first
      report identifying these compounds and activities in this fruit.

PMID- 25829761
TI  - Anti-arthritic activity of Fu-Fang-Lu-Jiao-Shuang on collagen-induced arthritis
      in Balb/c mice and its underlying mechanisms.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common, autoimmune disorder
      characterized by progressive multiple joint destruction, deformity, disability
      and premature death in most patients. Fu-Fang-Lu-Jiao-Shuang (FFLJS) is an
      effective traditional Chinese medicine, which has long been used clinically to
      treat RA patients. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is aimed to evaluate
      the anti-rheumatic effects of FFLJS on collagen induced arthritis (CIA) model, as
      well as the underlying mechanisms, which have not previously been explored.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: CIA was induced by immunization with type II collagen
      (CII) in male Balb/c mice. The mice in the onset of arthritis were treated daily
      with FFLJS (125 or 500 mg/kg) or 1% carboxymethyl cellulose-Na for 28 days. Paw
      thickness and arthritic score were evaluated to confirm the anti-arthritic effect
      of FFLJS on CIA in mice. Levels of anti-CII antibody, proinflammatory cytokines
      interleukin-1 (IL-1) beta, IL-17, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) as
      well as prostaglandin E-2 (PGE-2) in serum and histological changes in the ankle
      joint were also analyzed. In addition, expressions of matrix metalloproteinases-1
      (MMP-1), MMP-3 and tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteases-1 (TIMP-1) in
      synovial tissue were also detected to further study the molecular mechanism of
      the anti-arthritic effects of FFLJS. RESULTS: During therapeutic treatment, FFLJS
      significantly reduced paw thickness and arthritic score in CIA mice, decreased
      the amounts of TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-17, PGE-2 and anti-CII antibody in serum.
      In addition, FFLJS treatment could prevent the bone destruction by reducing the
      expression of MMP-1 and MMP-3, increasing the expression of TIMP-1 in synovial
      tissue of CIA mice. CONCLUSION: These findings offer the convincing evidence for
      the first time that the anti-rheumatic effects of FFLJS might be related to down
      regulation of TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-17 and PGE-2 levels for acute arthritis,
      and regulation of MMP-1, MMP-3 and TIMP-1 protein expression for chronic
      arthritis.

PMID- 25829762
TI  - Shikonin induces apoptosis in the human gastric cancer cells HGC-27 through
      mitochondria-mediated pathway.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most frequently occurring digestive
      tract cancers and fewer chemotherapeutic drugs for GC have shown promising
      results. In this study, we investigated the anti-tumor activity of shikonin, a
      natural compound isolated from the Chinese plant Lithospermum erythrorhizon,
      against the human GC cell line HGC-27. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HGC-27 cells
      treated with shikonin at a concentration of 30MUM or above showed significant
      growth inhibition compared to control cells. Shikonin-treated cells also
      underwent apoptosis as detected by flow cytometric analysis and microscopic
      examination of cellular morphology. Further investigation into the underlying
      mechanism of apoptosis by western blot showed that the shikonin promoted the
      activation of poly-(ADP-ribose)-polymerase, caspase-3 and caspase-9 following 24
      h or 48 h of treatment time, as well as the activation of caspase-8, but only
      after 48 h of treatment time. Furthermore, the levels of mitochondrial membrane
      potential, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-extra large were reduced following
      shikonin treatment while the level of Bax was increased. In addition, shikonin
      also caused a significant reduction of the protein Survivin, while having little
      effect on the expression on X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein. CONCLUSION:
      Taken together, these results showed that the shikonin exhibited its anti-tumor
      activity against HGC-27 cells through inhibiting cell growth and promoting
      apoptosis by targeting mitochondrial-related signaling pathway. Our finding may
      represent a positive step in finding a natural and effective compound that could
      be important implication for future development of chemotherapeutic and/or
      chemopreventive agent against GC.

PMID- 25829763
TI  - The enriched fraction of Elephantopus scaber Triggers apoptosis and inhibits
      multi-drug resistance transporters in human epithelial cancer cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Medicinal plants have played an important role in the development of
      clinically useful anticancer agents. Elephantopus scaber (Asteraceae) (ES) is
      widely used in Indian traditional system of medicine for the treatment of various
      ailments including cancer. OBJECTIVE: To investigate anticancer effects of ES in
      human epithelial cancer cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cytotoxicity of ethanolic
      extract of ES (ES-ET) and its fractions, such as ES Petroleum ether fraction (ES
      PET), ES Dichloromethane fraction (ES DCM), n Butyl alcohol fraction (ES-BT), and
      ES-Rest (ES-R) were assessed in human epithelial cancer cell lines using
      sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. Acridine orange/ethidium bromide assay and Hoechst
      33342 assays were used to gauge induction of apoptosis. Cell cycle analysis and
      micronuclei assay were used to assess cell cycle specific pharmacological effects
      and drug induced genotoxicty. Further, the ability of ES to inhibit multi drug
      resistant (MDR) transporters (ABC-B1 and ABC-G2) was determined by Rhodamine
      (Rho) and Mitoxantrone (MXR) efflux assays. RESULTS: The enriched fraction of ES
      (ES DCM) possessed dose-dependent potent cytotoxicity in human epithelial cancer
      cells. Further, treatment of cancer cells (HeLa, A549, MCF-7, and Caco-2) with ES
      DCM showed hall mark properties of apoptosis (membrane blebbing, nuclear
      condensation etc.). Similarly, ES DCM caused enhanced sub G0 content and
      micronuclei formation indicating the induction of apoptosis and drug induced
      genotoxicity in cancer cells, respectively. Interestingly, ES DCM inhibited MDR
      transporters (ABC B1 and ABC G2) in cancer cells. CONCLUSION: The enriched
      fraction of ES imparted cytotoxic effects, triggered apoptosis, induced
      genotoxicity, and inhibited MDR transporters in human epithelial cancer cells.
      Thus, ES appears to be potential anticancer agent.

PMID- 25829764
TI  - Methyl gallate isolated from Spondias pinnata exhibits anticancer activity
      against human glioblastoma by induction of apoptosis and sustained extracellular
      signal-regulated kinase 1/2 activation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Spondias pinnata has been reported for its efficient anticancer
      effects, but the studies were mostly focused on its extract. OBJECTIVE: Since its
      bioactive compounds are largely unknown, this study was designed to characterize
      the lead components present in it and their anticancer activity against human
      glioblastoma cell line (U87). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Major compounds from the
      ethyl acetate fraction were isolated by column chromatography and their
      anticancer potentials against U87 cells were evaluated. Furthermore, flow
      cytometric and immunoblotting analyses were performed to demonstrate the
      mechanism of apoptosis inducing activity of methyl gallate (MG) against U87 cell
      line. RESULTS: Four major compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate
      fraction. Amongst these, two compounds showed promising activities and with the
      help of different spectroscopic methods they were identified as gallic acid and
      MG. Flow cytometric studies revealed that MG-induced apoptosis in U87 cells dose
      dependently; the same was confirmed by activation of caspases through cleavage of
      endogenous substrate poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase. MG treatment
      also induced the expression of p53 and B-cell lymphoma-2-associated X and
      cleavage of BH3 interacting-domain with a concomitant decrease in B-cell lymphoma
      2 expression. Moreover, MG-induced sustained phosphorylation of extracellular
      signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) in U87 cells with no change in the
      phosphorylation of other mitogen-activated protein kinases (c-Jun N-terminal of
      stress-activated protein kinases, p38). CONCLUSION: MG is a potent antioxidant
      and it induces sustained ERK1/2 activation and apoptosis in human glioblastoma
      U87, and provide a rationale for evaluation of MG for other brain carcinoma cell
      lines for the advancement of glioblastoma therapy.

PMID- 25829765
TI  - Comparative evaluation of standardized alcoholic, hydroalcoholic, and aqueous
      extracts of Phyllanthus maderaspatensis Linn. against galactosamine-induced
      hepatopathy in albino rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Phyllanthus maderaspatensis species (Euphorbiaceae) has been used in
      folk medicine of many countries as a remedy against several pathological
      conditions including jaundice and hepatitis. This study is an attempt to evaluate
      hepatoprotective activity of P. maderaspatensis against galactosamine-induced
      toxicity and also investigation of polyphenols in each extract. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: The extraction of P. maderaspatensis as per Ayurveda was simultaneously
      standardized and quantified for biochemical markers viz., polyphenols:
      Kaempferol, quercetin, catechin, rutin, and ellagic acid by high-performance thin
      layer chromatography. Hepatotoxicity was induced albino adult rats by
      intraperitoneal injection of galactosamine (400 mg/kg). The quantified aqueous,
      hydroalcoholic and alcoholic extract of P. maderaspatensis (200 and 400 mg/kg
      body weight/day) were compared for evaluation of hepatoprotective potential,
      which were assessed in terms of reduction in histological damage, change in serum
      enzymes such as aspartate amino transaminase, alanine amino transaminase and
      alkaline phosphatase and increase thiobarbituric acid reactive substances.
      RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The hydroalcoholic extract was found to contain
      comparatively high amount of kaempferol, quercetin, catechin, rutin, and ellagic
      acid which are responsible for hepatoprotection. Antioxidant parameters such as
      glutathione, catalase, and superoxide dismutase activity in liver tissues were
      restored toward the normalization more significantly by the hydroalcoholic
      extract when compared with other extracts. The biochemical observations were
      supplemented with histopathological examination. CONCLUSION: The hydroalcoholic
      extract standardized with respect to known biomarkers may be considered as a
      potent extract against hepatotoxicity.

PMID- 25829766
TI  - Attenuation of reactive oxygen/nitrogen species with suppression of inducible
      nitric oxide synthase expression in RAW 264.7 macrophages by bark extract of
      Buchanania lanzan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress is one of the most critical factors implicated in
      disease conditions. Buchanania lanzan Spr. (Anacardiaceae) bark powder
      preparation has been reported for treating an inflammatory condition in the
      Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we investigate
      the effect of the bark methanol extract (BLM) on reactive oxygen/nitrogen species
      (ROS/RNS), the expression of protein and mRNA of inducible nitric oxide synthase
      (iNOS) in RAW 264.7 macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and
      sodium nitroprusside (SNP) to provide scientific validation of the above said
      medicinal property. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The capacity to quench ROS and RNS was
      evaluated by 5-(and-6) chloromethyl-20,70-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate
      acetyl ester fluorescence and nitrite estimations in LPS/SNP-stimulated
      macrophages respectively. The protein and transcript expression of iNOS was
      evaluated through Western Blot and reverse transcription-polymerase chain
      reaction (RT-PCR) analysis respectively. RESULTS: Macrophages pretreated with BLM
      (>100 MUg/mL) for 24 h, stimulated with LPS for the last 18 h of experimental
      duration recorded a significantly (P < 0.05) reduced levels of ROS (3.45-fold)
      against LPS-stimulated conditions (5.7-fold). SNP-stimulation resulted in
      increased NO accumulation (17-fold) which was neutralized by BLM at >100 MUg/ml
      (1.6-fold) credited to a reduced protein and mRNA expression of iNOS as recorded
      by Western blots and RT-PCR results respectively. The reversed-phase liquid
      chromatography-diode array detection analysis identified the presence of 4
      hydroxybenzoic acid, quercetin and p-coumaric acid (Rt values 5.444, 5.569 and
      9.580 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The potential of BLM inhibiting ROS/RNS
      production validates the medical use of bark, could find beneficial application
      under conditions of immune stimulation and/or bacterial infection.

PMID- 25829767
TI  - Preconditioning with glycyrrhizic, ferulic, paeoniflorin, cinnamic prevents rat
      hearts from ischemia/reperfusion injury via endothelial nitric oxide pathway.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective was to investigate the endothelial nitric oxide synthase
      (eNOS/NO) pathway is involved or not in the protective effects of glycyrrhizic,
      ferulic, paeoniflorin, cinnamic (GFPC) in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury
      Sprague-Dawley rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) model was
      made by ligating the left anterior descending branch of the coronary artery for
      30 min and releasing for 120 min, then the left ventricular apical was fixed and
      sliced, morphological changes of myocardial microvascular endothelial cell
      (MMVEC) was observed by electron microscopy, apoptosis index of MMVEC was
      observed by means of TUNEL, serum NO was tested by methods of nitrate reduction,
      lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase MB (CK-MB) was detected by automatic
      biochemical analyzer; Phosphorylated eNOS (PeNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS)
      protein were measured by means of western blot. RESULTS: In positive product
      control group, the serum levels of NO, LDH, CK-MB significantly increased (P <
      0.05); MMVEC apoptosis was significantly decreased (P < 0.05); incidence of area
      at risk decreased significantly (P < 0.05); PeNOS protein increased (P < 0.05);
      iNOS protein decreased significantly (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Ischemic
      preconditioning of GFPC from GFPC plays a protective role in I/R heart through
      regulating the eNOS/NO signal pathway by increasing the PeNOS protein expression
      and decreasing the expression of iNOS protein.

PMID- 25829768
TI  - Simultaneous determination three phytosterol compounds, campesterol, stigmasterol
      and daucosterol in Artemisia apiacea by high performance liquid chromatography
      diode array ultraviolet/visible detector.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Artemisia apiacea is a traditional herbal medicine using treatment of
      eczema and jaundice in Eastern Asia, including China, Korea, and Japan.
      OBJECTIVE: An accurate and sensitive analysis method using high performance
      liquid chromatography-diode array ultraviolet/visible detector and liquid
      chromatography-mass spectrometry for the simultaneous determination of three
      phytosterol compounds, campesterol, stigmasterol and daucosterol in A. apiacea
      was established. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The analytes were separated on a Shiseido
      C18 column (5 MUm, 4.6 mm I.D. *250 mm) with gradient elution of 0.1%
      trifluoroacetic acid and acetonitrile. The flow rate was 1 mL/min and detection
      wavelengths were set at 205 and 254 nm. RESULTS: Validation of the method was
      performed to demonstrate its linearity, precision and accuracy. The calibration
      curves showed good linearity (R (2) > 0.9994). The limits of detection and limits
      of quantification were within the ranges 0.55-7.07 MUg/mL and 1.67-21.44 MUg/mL,
      respectively. And, the relative standard deviations of intra- and inter-day
      precision were <2.93%. The recoveries were found to be in the range of 90.03
      104.91%. CONCLUSION: The developed method has been successfully applied to the
      analysis for quality control of campesterol, stigmasterol and daucosterol in A.
      apiacea.

PMID- 25829769
TI  - A new method for identification of natural, artificial and in vitro cultured
      Calculus bovis using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Calculus bovis have been widely used in Chinese herbology for the
      treatment of hyperpyrexia, convulsions, and epilepsy. Nowadays, due to the
      limited source and high market price, the substitutes, artificial and in vitro
      cultured Calculus bovis, are getting more and more commonly used. The
      adulteration phenomenon is serious. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a fast
      and simple method in discriminating the natural, artificial and in vitro cultured
      Calculus bovis. Bile acids, one of the main active constituents, are taken as an
      important indicator for evaluating the quality of Calculus bovis and the
      substitutes. Several techniques have been built to analyze bile acids in Calculus
      bovis. Whereas, as bile acids are with poor ultraviolet absorbance and high
      structural similarity, effective technology for identification and quality
      control is still lacking. METHODS: In this study, high-performance liquid
      chromatography (HPLC) coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) was
      applied in the analysis of bile acids, which effectively identified natural,
      artificial and in vitro cultured Calculus bovis and provide a new method for
      their quality control. RESULTS: Natural, artificial and in vitro cultured
      Calculus bovis were differentiated by bile acids analysis. A new compound with
      protonated molecule at m/z 405 was found, which we called 3alpha, 12alpha
      dihydroxy-7-oxo-5alpha-cholanic acid. This compound was discovered in in vitro
      cultured Calculus bovis, but almost not detected in natural and artificial
      Calculus bovis. A total of 13 constituents was identified. Among them, three bio
      markers, including glycocholic acid, glycodeoxycholic acid and taurocholic acid
      (TCA) were detected in both natural and artificial Calculus bovis, but the
      density of TCA was different in two kinds of Calculus bovis. In addition, the
      characteristics of bile acids were illustrated. CONCLUSIONS: The HPLC coupled
      with tandem MS (LC/MS/MS) method was feasible, easy, rapid and accurate in
      identifying natural, artificial and in vitro cultured Calculus bovis.

PMID- 25829770
TI  - Effects of Pogostemon cablin Blanco extract on hypoxia induced rabbit
      cardiomyocyte injury.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pogostemonis Herba, the dried aerial part of Pogostemon cablin
      Blanco, is a well-known materia medica in Asia that is widely used for syndrome
      of gastrointestinal dysfunctions. OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to examine
      whether Pogostemon cablin extract (PCe) might have any beneficial effect on
      hypoxia induced rabbit cardiomyocyte injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Isolated
      cardiomyocytes were divided into three groups and the changes of cell viability
      in cardiomyocytes of hypoxic and hypoxia/reoxygenation group were determined. The
      effect of PCe on reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, intracellular
      formation of ROS was also measured by monitoring the 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein
      fluorescence. RESULTS: PCe effectively protected the cells against both the
      hypoxia and reoxygenation induced injury, and the protective effect of PCe is not
      mediated by interaction with adenosine triphosphate-sensitive K(+) channels. In
      the presence of PCe, production of ROS under chemical hypoxia was remarkably
      reduced which suggests that PCe might exert its effect as a ROS scavenger.
      CONCLUSION: The present study provides clear evidence for the beneficial effect
      of PCe on cardiomyocyte injury during hypoxia or reoxygenation following
      prolonged hypoxia.

PMID- 25829771
TI  - Quantitative analysis of the eight major compounds in the Samsoeum using a high
      performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection and
      electrospray ionization mass spectrometer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Samsoeum was traditionally used for treatment of a respiratory
      disease. OBJECTIVE: The simultaneous determination of eight major compounds,
      ginsenoside Rg3, caffeic acid, puerarin, costunolide, hesperidin, naringin,
      glycyrrhizin, and 6-gingerol in the Samsoeum using a high-performance liquid
      chromatography (HPLC) coupled with diode array detection (DAD) and an
      electrospray ionization mass spectrometer was developed for an accurate and
      reliable quality assessment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight compounds were
      qualitative identified based on their mass spectra and by comparing with standard
      compounds and quantitative analyzed by HPLC-DAD. Separation of eight compounds
      was carried out on a LUNA C18 column (S-5 MUm, 4.6 mm i.d. *250 mm) with gradient
      elution composed of acetonitrile and 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid. RESULTS: The data
      showed good linearity (R (2) > 0.9996). The limits of detection and the limits of
      quantification were <0.53 MUg and 1.62 MUg, respectively. Inter- and Intra-day
      precisions (expressed as relative standard deviation values) were within 1.94%
      and 1.91%, respectively. The recovery of the method was in the range of 94.24
      107.90%. CONCLUSION: The established method is effective and could be applied to
      quality control of Samsoeum.

PMID- 25829773
TI  - The influences of inorganic elements in soil on the development of famous -
      region Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC., is an important medicinal plant in
      China. Recently, researches of A. Lancea were focused on chemical composition and
      genetics, only a few were concerned with soil factors. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to
      discuss the relationship between geo-herbalism of A. Lancea (Thunb.) DC. and
      inorganic elements in soil. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The contents of 15 kinds of
      inorganic elements in the rhizoma of A. Lancea (Thunb.) DC. and soils from
      various regions were determined with inductively coupled plasma-optical emission
      spectrometer and the data were analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social
      Sciences 20.0 software. RESULTS: The contents of inorganic elements in rhizoma of
      A. Lancea and in soil with different geological background were different. The
      soils in the famous region contained high aluminum, iron, sodium and low sulfur
      content. The rhizoma of A. Lancea contained high aluminum, lithium, manganese and
      low iron, sulfur content. The famous-region crude drugs had a strong tendency to
      accumulate selenium, manganese. Ten characteristic elements of A. Lancea were K,
      Ca, S, Al, Li, Ti, Mn, Pb, Ni, SE. CONCLUSION: The contents of inorganic elements
      in rhizoma of A. Lancea showed a significant positive interrelationship with
      those in soil. It was identified that inorganic elements play an important role
      in forming authenticity A. Lancea (Thunb.) DC.

PMID- 25829772
TI  - Sesamol, a lipid lowering agent, ameliorates aluminium chloride induced
      behavioral and biochemical alterations in rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sesame oil from the seeds of Sesamum indicum Linn. (Pedaliaceae) has
      been used traditionally in Indian medical practice of Ayurveda in the treatment
      of central nervous system disorders and insomnia. A few published reports favor
      the anti-dementia effect of sesamol (SML), an active constituent of sesame oil.
      OBJECTIVE: Thus, the present study was aimed to explore the anti-dementia effect
      and possible mechanism (s) of SML in aluminium chloride (AlCl3)-induced cognitive
      dysfunction model in rodents with special emphasis on memory centers viz.,
      hippocampus and frontal cortex. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were exposed to AlCl3
      (175 mg/kg p.o.) for 60 days. SML (10 and 20 mg/kg) and rivastigmine (1 mg/kg)
      were administered orally 45 min before administration of AlCl3 for 60 days.
      Spatial memory was assessed using Morris water maze test. After 60 days of
      treatment animals were sacrificed, hippocampus and frontal cortex were collected
      and analyzed for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, tumor necrosis factor (TNF
      alpha) level, antioxidant enzymes (Glutathione, catalase), lipid peroxidation,
      and nitrite level. The circulating triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density
      lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels were also analyzed.
      RESULTS: SML significantly prevented behavioral impairments in aluminium-exposed
      rats. Treatment with SML reversed the increased cholesterol, triglycerides and
      LDL while raised the HDL levels. SML significantly corrected the effect of AlCl3
      on AChE activity. Further, SML reversed the elevated nitric oxide, TNF-alpha and
      reduced antioxidant enzymes in hippocampus and frontal cortex. CONCLUSION: The
      present study suggests the neuro-protection by SML against cognitive dysfunction
      induced by environmental toxin (AlCl3) in hippocampus and frontal cortex.

PMID- 25829774
TI  - Ethyl acetate extract from marine sponge Hyattella cribriformis exhibit potent
      anticancer activity by promoting tubulin polymerization as evidenced mitotic
      arrest and induction of apoptosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Marine sponges are important sources of bioactive compounds.
      OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the anticancer properties of Hyattella
      cribriformis ethyl acetate (EA) fraction in various cancer and normal cell lines.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: anticancer assay was carried out in 15 cell lines to
      evaluate the anticancer potential of the EA fraction. Impact on cell cycle
      distribution was determined using flow cytometry. The fraction was investigated
      for interfering microtubules assembly in both in vitro and cellular assay.
      Further studies were conducted to determine the fraction induced cell death
      (apoptosis) using calcein/propidium iodide dual staining, activated caspase-3 and
      phosphorylation of Bcl-2 protein at Ser70. DNA fragmentation assay was performed
      to confirm the apoptosis. RESULTS: EA fraction exhibited potent inhibition of
      cancer cell growth and resulted in 50% growth inhibition (GI50) of 0.27 MUg/mL in
      A673 cell line. Sarcoma (MG-63, Saos-2) and ovarian (SK-OV-3 and OVCAR-3) cancer
      cell lines also showed superior anticancer activity GI50 of 1.0 MUg/mL. Colon and
      breast cancer cell lines exhibited moderate GI compare other cancer cell lines
      and normal human lung fibroblast showed GI50 of 15.6 MUg/mL. EA fraction showed
      potent G2/M phase arrest in A673 cell line and induced apoptosis at 48 h
      exposure. EA fraction promoted microtubule polymerization in tubulin
      polymerization assay and increased level of polymerized tubulin in the HeLa
      cells. Fraction induced the activation of caspase-3 and phosphorylation of Bcl-2
      anti-apoptotic protein. Fraction induced DNA fragmentation in HeLa cells as
      evidence of apoptosis. CONCLUSION: Marine sponge H. cribriformis EA fraction
      exhibited potent anticancer activity through tubulin polymerization and induction
      of apoptosis.

PMID- 25829775
TI  - Identification of longevity, fertility and growth-promoting properties of
      pomegranate in Caenorhabditis elegans.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is commonly consumed as fresh fruit
      and fruit juice. It is also used in the production of jam, wine, food coloring
      agent, and flavor enhancer. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify the
      possible longevity, fertility and growth promoting properties of different
      ethanolic extract concentrations of pomegranate in Caenorhabditis elegans, which
      is increasingly popular and has proven to be a very useful experimental model
      organism for aging studies as well as for testing antioxidants and other
      compounds for effects on longevity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, five
      experimental groups (20, 10, 5, 2.5 and 1.25 mg pomegranate extract/mL and one
      control group) were used to determine the most effective dose of pomegranate in
      terms of longevity, fertility and growth parameters. RESULTS: It was seen that,
      pomegranate extracts up to the concentration of 5 mg/mL, had the potential to
      promote for the longevity, formation of new generations, fertility of new
      generations and growth properties of C. elegans although higher concentrations
      significantly reduced these parameters. CONCLUSION: these findings indicated that
      pomegranate could be used as a supplement to enhance longevity, fertility and
      growth rate for the other living organisms and human beings, but the dose should
      be carefully adjusted to avoid adverse effects.

PMID- 25829777
TI  - Evaluation of extraction method on the chemical composition in Apeiba tibourbou
      Aubl's extracts.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The extraction method of bioactive compounds is an important step in
      the manufacturing of herbal medicines, because secondary metabolites with
      therapeutic potential are usually found in small quantities in plant materials.
      OBJECTIVE: Due the potential of Apeiba tibourbou Aubl, this study aimed to
      evaluate the impact of the extraction method on the quality of herbal extract and
      optimize the extraction of fatty acid, rosmarinic (Ra) and caffeic (Ca) acid from
      A. tibourbou. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Determinations of residual moisture (Rm),
      proteins (Pt), lipids (Lp), total fiber (Tf), and carbohydrate (Cy) were
      performed in triplicate samples according assessment of antioxidant capacity.
      Extraction of fatty acids was carried out by two different methods: (i) By
      shoxlet and (ii) bligh and dyer. The optimized conditions were determined by
      surface response methodology (RSM), and the criterion of desirability was the
      maximum extraction of Ra and Ca. RESULTS: The method of bligh and dyer was able
      to extraction more total Lp than the shoxlet. However, the extraction of fatty
      acid was different for the two methods. The optimized conditions to extract RA
      and Ca was calculated by RSM, 42 degrees C, 30% (alcohol degree) and 24 min, this
      conditions maximize simultaneously the extraction of Ca (0, 04%) and Ry (1.89).
      CONCLUSION: It was observed that the extraction method alters the chemical
      composition of extract, and it is possible to extract Ca and Ra from A.
      tibourbou's leaves using ultrasound-assisted extraction.

PMID- 25829776
TI  - Simultaneous quantification of six alkaloid components from commercial stemonae
      radix by solid phase extraction-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled
      with evaporative light scattering detector.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Stemonae radix has been applied in traditional Chinese medicine for
      centuries. Alkaloids are the main active ingredient in stemonae radix, so their
      composition and concentration levels are directly linked to clinic effects.
      OBJECTIVE: The objective was to develop an analytical method with multiple
      markers for quality survey of commercial stemonae radix. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A
      method for simultaneous determination of six compounds in commercial stemonae
      radix was performed using solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid
      chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering detector. The separation
      was carried out on an Agilent TC-C18 column with 0.1% acetonitrile solution of
      triethylamine aqueous solution and acetonitrile as the mobile phase under
      gradient elution within 70 min. The hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) was
      successfully used to classify the samples in accordance with their chemical
      constituents. RESULTS: Linearity (R(2) > 0.9990), intra- and inter-day precision
      (relative standard deviations <4%), limit of detection (0.011-0.086 MUg/mL),
      limit of quantification (0.033-0.259 MUg/mL) of the six alkaloids were
      determined, and the recoveries were between 96.6% and 103.7%. The method was
      successfully applied to analysis 36 batches of commercial stemonae radix. All the
      samples could be classified into five clusters by HCA. CONCLUSION: This article
      provides an accurate and simple analytical method for quality survey of
      commercial stemonae radix. Because of the significant chemical variations,
      careful selection of Stemona sources with obvious antitussive value but devoid of
      croomine followed by good agricultural practice and good manufacturing practice
      process is suggested.

PMID- 25829778
TI  - In vitro regeneration and Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic
      transformation in asakura-sanshoo (Zanthoxylum piperitum (L.) DC. F. inerme
      Makino) an important medicinal plant.
AB  - CONTEXT: Asakura-sanshoo (Zanthoxylum piperitum [L.] DC. f. inerme Makino) is an
      important medicinal plant in East Asia. Transgenic technique could be applied to
      improve plant traits and analyze gene function. However, there is no report on
      regeneration and genetic transformation in Asakura-sanshoo. AIMS: To establish a
      regeneration and Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation system
      in Asakura-sanshoo, which could be used for cultivar improvement and gene
      function analysis. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: The various combinations of indole-3
      butyric acid (IBA), 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA)
      were explored for the optimal plant regeneration from petiole and stem of Asakura
      sanshoo. The half-strength woody plant medium (WPM) with different concentrations
      of NAA and IBA was used to induce root. For genetic transformation, A.
      tumefaciens strain EHA-105 harboring the plasmid pBin-Ex-H-ipt which carries the
      isopentenyl transferase (ipt) gene, beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene and kanamycin
      resistance gene neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPTII) were used. The
      transformation efficiency was detected by the kanamycin resistant frequency.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Petioles and stems were obtained from the in vitro
      cultured Asakura-sanshoo. The petiole and stem segments were precultured for 3
      days, and then inflected using the bacterium at the concentration of OD600 0.5
      0.8 for 10 min, followed by 3 days co-cultivation. Selection of the transgenic
      plants was carried out after 7 days the regeneration using gradient kanamycin at
      30 mg/L and 50 mg/L, respectively. Successful transformed plants were confirmed
      by GUS histochemical assays, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), reverse
      transcription-PCR (RT-PCR), and Southern blotting analysis. RESULTS: The highest
      shoots regeneration was obtained on WPM supplement with 0.5 mg/L BA and 0.2 mg/L
      NAA. The optimal rooting medium was half strength macro-element WPM. The
      kanamycin resistant frequency of petiole and stem was 24.66% and 25.93%,
      respectively. Thirty-five shoots in thousands adventitious buds were confirmed
      through GUS histochemical assays, PCR, RT-PCR, and Southern blotting. The
      regeneration shoot per explants elevated 5.85 fold compared with the wild-type
      plants. CONCLUSIONS: Individual transgenic Asakura-sanshoo lines were obtained.
      In this paper, it first revealed the expression of ipt gene significantly
      promoted the adventitious buds induction in Asakura-sanshoo as the same action as
      in other plants.

PMID- 25829779
TI  - Effects of Valerianae Radix et Rhizoma extract on psychological stress in mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to identify the effects of Valerianae Radix
      et Rhizoma water extract (VRe) originated from Valeriana fauriei Briquet on
      reducing psychological stress (PS) on mice. OBJECTIVE: Mice were put under PS
      with communication box method: Restraining mice and forcing to see other mice
      underfoot shock stress. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Measurements on plasma
      corticosterone, noradrenaline and lipid peroxidation, and elevated plus-maze
      (EPM) tests were carried out to determine the effect of VRe administration on
      physiological and behavioral responses of mice. RESULTS: VRe showed anxiolytic
      effects in plasma corticosterone, noradrenaline, and EPM transfer latency levels,
      but it did not show any significant effects on the other indicators. CONCLUSION:
      V. fauriei, which has been used as a natural anxiolytic drug, exerts positive
      effects in the communication box induced PS in mice.

PMID- 25829780
TI  - Antiradical and antidiabetic properties of standardized extract of Sunderban
      mangrove Rhizophora mucronata.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mangroves have the ability to grow where no other vascular plants
      survive. Rhizophora mucronata is a true mangrove and traditionally used to treat
      diabetes and its allied complications. OBJECTIVES: In the present study, we
      standardized the 80% methanolic standardized extract of R. mucronata leaves (RH)
      and found out its antiradical and antidiabetic activities. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      The methanolic extract of R. mucronata leaves (RH) was standardized and
      quantified for phenolics, flavonoinds, gallic acid, quercetin, and coumarin. The
      reducing abilities and antiradical activities of RH were performed in vitro
      methods like, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, nitric oxides, superoxides,
      hydroxyl, and ABTS (2,2'-azino-bis-3-ethyl benzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid).
      Thereafter, RH was evaluated for it antidiabetic potentialities on streptozotocin
      (STZ)-induced type-2 diabetes. STZ (90 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) was administered
      to 2 days old pups to induce diabetes. RH was fed at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg
      and glibenclamide (positive control) at 5 mg/kg, when the rats were 6 weeks old
      and continued for 10 weeks. Fasting glucose was monitored before and after the
      treatment. Further, lipid peroxides and reduced glutathione level were estimated
      on rat liver. RESULTS: The results obtained from this study revealed RH possesses
      flavonoinds and also gallic acid, quercetin, and coumarin. Further, it has
      antiradical activities. It has also reduced blood glucose level in type-2
      diabetic rats and reduced the formation of lipid peroxidation in liver. RH
      enhanced the level of glutathione in liver tissue. CONCLUSION: RH exhibits source
      of natural antioxidants and great potentialities as an antidiabetic agent by
      improving the hyperglycemia through its antiradical action.

PMID- 25829781
TI  - Effect of co-administration of Angelicae gigantis radix and Lithospermi radix on
      rat hepatic injury induced by carbon tetrachloride.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Co-administration of Angelicae gigantis radix (AGR) and Lithospermi
      radix (LR) has been commonly applied to patients to treat cardiac and hepatic
      disorders. Individual bioactivities of these herbal medicines have been widely
      investigated, but the hepatoprotective effects of co-treatment of AGR and LR have
      yet to be clarified. OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated the protective
      effects of extracts of AGR and LR on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced hepatic
      injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we measured the hepatoprotective
      activity of individual and co-treatment of the two herbal medicines on hepatic
      injury induced by CCl4 by measuring different biochemical parameters such as
      serum aspartate aminotransaminase (AST) and serum alanine aminotransaminase
      (ALT). Microarray technology also used to compare ontological difference with
      individual and co-treatment of these two. RESULTS: Combined treatment with AGR
      and LR (AGR + LR) decreased AST and ALT level in serum which demonstrate
      hepatoprotective effect of the therapy. When the effect of AGR and LR according
      to treatment conditions was measured, co-treatment showed the most prominent
      effect on hepatic injury by CCl4 rather than individual treatment condition. We
      further defined gene set that could be the molecular target of herbal effect on
      hepatic injury by CCl4 using bioinformatical analysis of interaction network.
      Highly recovered genes by treating AGR + LR play significant roles in response to
      hepatic injury induced by CCl4. CONCLUSION: Combined treatment with AGR and LR
      showed synergistic protective effects on the CCl4-induced rat hepatic tissue
      injury.

PMID- 25829782
TI  - Quercetin induces human colon cancer cells apoptosis by inhibiting the nuclear
      factor-kappa B Pathway.
AB  - Quercetin can inhibit the growth of cancer cells with the ability to act as
      chemopreventers. Its cancer-preventive effect has been attributed to various
      mechanisms, including the induction of cell-cycle arrest and/or apoptosis as well
      as the antioxidant functions. Nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-kappaB) is a signaling
      pathway that controls transcriptional activation of genes important for tight
      regulation of many cellular processes and is aberrantly expressed in many types
      of cancer. Inhibitors of NF-kappaB pathway have shown potential anti-tumor
      activities. However, it is not fully elucidated in colon cancer. In this study,
      we demonstrate that quercetin induces apoptosis in human colon cancer CACO-2 and
      SW-620 cells through inhibiting NF-kappaB pathway, as well as down-regulation of
      B-cell lymphoma 2 and up-regulation of Bax, thus providing basis for clinical
      application of quercetin in colon cancer cases. 

PMID- 25829783
TI  - Bacopa monnieri promotes longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans under stress
      conditions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bacopa monnieri (L.) Pennell, commonly known as Brahmi is an
      important medicinal plant traditionally used as memory enhancer and antiepileptic
      agent. OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated antioxidant and stress
      resistance potentials of B. monnieri aqueous extract (BMW) using Caenorhabditis
      elegans animal model system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The antioxidant activity of
      the BMW was measured using in vitro (DPPH, reducing power and total polyphenol
      content) and in vivo (DCF-DA assay) assays. The antistress potential of BMW (0.1,
      0.01, and 0.001 mg/ml) was evaluated through thermal stress (37 degrees C) and
      oxidative stress (10 mM paraquat) using C. elegans. Quantification of the HSP
      16.2 level was done using CL2070 transgenic worms. RESULTS: Present study reveals
      that BMW possess in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activities. BMW significantly
      enhanced stress tolerance and increased the mean lifespan of worms during thermal
      and oxidative stress, although it did not extend lifespan at 20 degrees C and
      attenuated age dependent decline in physiological behaviors. Moreover, it was
      shown that BMW was able to up-regulate expression of stress associated gene hsp
      16.2, which significantly (P < 0.001) extends the mean lifespan of worms under
      stress conditions. CONCLUSION: The study strongly suggests that BMW acts as an
      antistressor and potent reactive oxygen species scavenger which enhances the
      survival of the worms in different stress conditions.

PMID- 25829784
TI  - Yin-Chen-Hao-Tang alleviates biliary obstructive cirrhosis in rats by inhibiting
      biliary epithelial cell proliferation and activation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Yin-Chen-Hao-Tang (YCHT) consists of three aqueous extracts from
      Artemisia capillaris, Gardenia sp., and prepared Rheum rhabarbarum (rhubarb)
      (3:2:1). YCHT is characterized by its anti-inflammatory properties in liver
      regulation and relief of jaundice. We aimed to study the effects and mechanisms
      of action of YCHT on biliary obstructive cirrhosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Secondary biliary fibrosis was induced in rats by bile duct ligation (BDL) and
      scission. One week after BDL, rats were randomly divided into a saline-treated
      BDL or YCHT-treated BDL group for 4 weeks. Liver function and hepatic
      hydroxyproline (Hyp) content were assessed. Types I and IV collagen (Col-IV),
      laminin, fibronectin, alpha smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA), and proliferating
      cell nuclear antigen protein and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression
      were assessed with immunohistochemistry and real-time polymerase chain reaction.
      RESULTS: In the YCHT-treated BDL group, serum total bilirubin, total bile acids,
      aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and gamma-glutamyl
      transferase were lower than those in the sham-operated BDL group. The
      proliferation of bile ducts in hepatic tissues and the Hyp content and Col
      deposition were also significantly lower than those in control rats. In addition,
      alpha-SMA and Col-IV staining was less obvious, and mRNA expression of Procol
      alpha1 (IV), platelet derived growth factor subunit B (PDGF)-B, connective tissue
      growth factor, and transforming growth factor-beta in proliferative biliary
      epithelial cells (BECs) in the YCHT-treated BDL group was significantly lower
      than those in controls. CONCLUSIONS: YCHT effectively reduces the formation of
      biliary obstructive cirrhosis mainly via inhibition of BEC proliferation by down
      regulation of PDGF-B mRNA expression, inhibition of BEC profibrogenic paracrines,
      and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition pathological process.

PMID- 25829785
TI  - In vivo antitumor potential of Ipomoea pes-caprae on melanoma cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The incidence of skin cancers is rising gradually. The treatment of
      melanoma is also necessary to prevent the spread of cancer to other body organs.
      Scientific literatures have not documented any evidence of the antitumor
      potential of Ipomoea pes-caprae on melanoma. AIM OF THE STUDY: Explore in vivo
      antitumor potential of I. pes-caprae on melanoma cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Petroleum ether (60 degrees C-80 degrees C), methanolic and aqueous extracts, and
      swaras prepared from the whole herb of I. pes-caprae were assessed for their
      antitumor activity. The extracts and swaras at doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg b. wt.
      were administered intraperitoneal along with chemo and radiotherapy for 40 days
      for exploring antitumor activity against melanoma cancer (B16F10) in male C57BL
      mice. The results obtained from tumor volume, and histopathological studies were
      compared with the control and dacarbazine used as a standard. RESULTS: Antitumor
      effect of I. pes-caprae extracts and swaras on melanoma cancer was found to be
      significant (P < 0.01) compared to normal control. The tumor volume inhibition
      against tumor-bearing mice, although differed from each other, was concentration
      dependent. Administration of plant extracts and swaras from the day 1 since tumor
      inducted. The induction of tumor was found delayed by 10-15 days and the tumor
      volume on the day 40 was similar to the Dacarbazine treatment used as a standard.
      CONCLUSION: The results obtained from the tumor volume and histopathological
      studies clearly revealed the antitumor potential of I. pes-caprae on melanoma
      cancer.

PMID- 25829786
TI  - Cytotoxic activity of ten algae from the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea on human
      breast cancer cell lines; MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and T-47D.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Seaweeds have proven to be a promising natural source of bioactive
      metabolites for drug development. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to monitor the
      ethanol extract of ten algae from the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea, for their in
      vitro cytotoxic activity on three human breast cancer cell lines. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Three human breast cancer cell lines including MDA-MB-231(ER(-)), MCF
      7(ER(+)), and T-47D (ER(+)) were treated by different concentrations of total
      ethanol (90%) algae extracts and the cytotoxic effects were evaluated by 3-(4,5
      dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Doxorubicin (Ebewe,
      Austria) was used as a positive control. After 72 h of incubation, the cytotoxic
      effect of the algae was calculated and presented as 50%-inhibitory concentration
      (IC50). RESULTS: The results indicated Gracilaria foliifera and Cladophoropsis
      sp. to be the most active algae in terms of cytotoxic effects on the investigated
      cancer cell lines. The IC50 values against MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and T-47D cells
      were, respectively, 74.89 +/- 21.71, 207.81 +/- 12.07, and 203.25 +/- 30.98 ug/ml
      for G. foliifera and 66.48 +/- 4.96, 150.86 +/- 51.56 and >400 ug/ml for
      Cladophoropsis sp. The rest of the algal extracts were observed not to have
      significant cytotoxic effects in the concentration range from 6.25 ug/ml to 400
      ug/ml. CONCLUSION: Our data conclusively suggest that G. foliifera and
      Cladophoropsis sp. may be good candidates for further fractionation to obtain
      novel anticancer substances. Moreover, stronger cytotoxic effects on estrogen
      negative breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231(ER(-))) in comparison to estrogen
      positive cells (MCF-7 and T-47D) suggest that the extract of G. foliifera and
      Cladophoropsis sp. may have an estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor
      independent mechanism for their cellular growth inhibition.

PMID- 25829787
TI  - Chemical constituents and bioactivities of Glinus oppositifolius.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To isolate the secondary metabolites from the dichloromethane (DCM)
      extracts of Glinus oppositifolius; to test for the cytotoxicity of a new
      triterpene, oppositifolone (1); and to test for the hypoglycemic, analgesic, and
      antimicrobial potentials of 1, DCM and aqueous leaf extracts of G.
      oppositifolius. METHODS: The compounds were isolated by silica gel chromatography
      and identified by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The cytotoxicity
      potential of 1 was tested using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5
      diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Triterpene 1, DCM, and aqueous leaf extracts
      were tested for hypoglycemic potential using the oral glucose tolerance test;
      analgesic potential using the tail-flick assay, and antimicrobial potential using
      the disc diffusion method. RESULTS: The DCM extracts of G. oppositifolius
      afforded 1, squalene, spinasterol, oleanolic acid, phytol, and lutein from the
      leaves; squalene and spergulagenin A from the stems; and spinasterol from the
      roots. Triterpene 1 was cytotoxic against human colon carcinoma 116 with an IC50
      value of 28.7 but did not exhibit cytotoxicity against A549. The aqueous leaf
      extract at 200 mg/kg body weight (BW) exhibited hypoglycemic activity with a
      pronounced % blood glucose reduction of 70.76% +/-17.4% within 0.5 h after
      introduction. The DCM leaf extract showed a lower % blood glucose reduction of
      18.52% +/-13.5% at 200 mg/kg BW within 1.5 h after introduction, while 1 did not
      exhibit hypoglycemic activity. The samples did not exhibit analgesic property and
      were inactive against multiple drug resistant bacterial pathogens. CONCLUSION:
      The compounds responsible for the hypoglycemic activity of G. oppositifolius
      which are fast acting (0.5 h) are found in the aqueous leaf extract.

PMID- 25829788
TI  - Comparing and authenticating on anatomical aspects of Abrus cantoniensis and
      Abrus mollis by microscopy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Abrus cantoniensis is popularly used as traditional Chinese medicine
      and a cool tea in South of China. However, due to diminishing source of A.
      cantoniensis, it is usually interchanged or adulterated with other species of
      Abrus genus because of the limited knowledge in identification and
      differentiation. Especially, Abrus mollis is widely mixed on herbal markets and
      pharmaceutical preparation. OBJECTIVE: To ensure safety and efficacy, a detailed
      comparison was undertaken to carry out an anatomical and micro-morphological
      study of two species of A. cantoniensis and A. mollis. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Microscopic characteristics of roots, leaves and stems, including transverse
      sections and the crude drug powder, were observed using a light microscope
      according to the usual microscopic techniques. RESULTS: The basic diagnostic
      features of A. cantoniensis include that stem is extremely thin; xylem vessels of
      root are radially arranged in 10 or more bundles; pith is hollow in stem, and the
      palisade tissue is made up of two layers of palisade cells. Furthermore, scanning
      electron microscopy was used to compare nonglandular hairs and the stomata of the
      leaflet surface. A table of the key authentication parameters based on the
      analyzed microscopic characteristics was drawn up. CONCLUSION: The study
      demonstrated that the microscopy and related techniques provided a systematic
      method that is convenient, feasible, and can be unambiguously applied to the
      authentication of the species of Abrus.

PMID- 25829789
TI  - Evaluation of Antidiabetic and Antihyperlipidemic Effects of Hydroalcoholic
      Extract of Leaves of Ocimum tenuiflorum (Lamiaceae) and Prediction of Biological
      Activity of its Phytoconstituents.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim was to evaluate the anti-diabetic and anti-hyperlipidemic
      effects of hydroalcoholic extract of leaves of Ocimum tenuiflorum (Lamiaceae) and
      prediction of biological activities of its phytoconstituents using in vivo anti
      diabetic model and in silico analysis respectively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The
      leaves of O. tenuiflorum were extracted with 60% ethanol, and the extract was
      used for further pharmacological screening. The acute toxicity of the extract was
      evaluated as per the guidelines set by the Organization for Economic Co-operation
      and Development, revised draft guidelines 423. The oral anti-diabetic activity of
      the hydroalcoholic extract of O. tenuiflorum (125, 250 and 500 mg/kg) was studied
      against streptozotocin (STZ) (50 mg/kg; i.p.) + nicotinamide (120 mg/kg; i.p.)
      induced diabetes mellitus. The animals were treated with the investigational
      plant extract and standard drug (glibenclamide) for 21 consecutive days and the
      effect of hydroalcoholic extract of O. tenuiflorum on blood glucose levels was
      measured at regular intervals. At the end of the study, blood samples were
      collected from all the animals for biochemical estimation, then the animals were
      sacrificed and the liver and kidney were collected for organ weight analysis.
      Prediction for pharmacological and toxicological properties of phytoconstituents
      of O. tenuiflorum was carried out using online web tools such as online pass
      prediction and lazar toxicity prediction. RESULTS: The hydroalcoholic extract of
      O. tenuiflorum showed significant anti-diabetic and anti-hyperlipidemic activity
      at 250 and 500 mg/kg, and this effect was comparable with that of glibenclamide.
      Predicted biological activities of phytoconstituents of O. tenuiflorum showed
      presence of various pharmacological actions, which includes anti-diabetic and
      anti-hyperlipidemic activities. Prediction of toxicological properties of
      phytoconstituents of O. tenuiflorum did not show any major toxic effects.
      CONCLUSION: The hydroalcoholic extract of O. tenuiflorum showed significant anti
      diabetic and anti-hyperlipidemic activity against STZ + nicotinamide induced
      diabetes mellitus in rats. Further studies are required to confirm the anti
      diabetic and anti-hyperlipidemic activities of individual phytoconstituents of O.
      tenuiflorum.

PMID- 25829790
TI  - Psidium guajava Linn. leaf extract affects hepatic glucose transporter-2 to
      attenuate early onset of insulin resistance consequent to high fructose intake:
      An experimental study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Insulin resistance (IR) is amalgam of pathologies like altered glucos
      metabolism, dyslipidemia, impaired glucose tolerance, non-alcoholic fatty liver
      disease, and associated with type-II diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases. One
      of the reasons leading to its increased and early incidence is understood to be a
      high intake of processed fructose containing foods and beverages by individuals,
      especially, during critical developmental years. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the
      preventive potential of aqueous extract of Psidium guajava leaves (PG) against
      metabolic pathologies, vis-a-vis, IR, dyslipidemia, hyperleptinemia and
      hypertension, due to excess fructose intake initiated during developmental years.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Post-weaning (4 weeks old) male rats were provided
      fructose (15%) as drinking solution, ad libitum, for 8 weeks and assessed for
      food and water/fructose intake, body weight, fasting blood sugar, mean arterial
      pressure, lipid biochemistry, endocrinal (insulin, leptin), histopathological
      (fatty liver) and immunohistochemical (hepatic glucose transporter [GLUT2])
      parameters. Parallel treatment groups were administered PG in doses of 250 and
      500 mg/kg/d, po * 8 weeks and assessed for same parameters. Using extensive
      liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry protocols, PG was analyzed for the
      presence of phytoconstituents like Myrecetin, Luteolin, Kaempferol and Guavanoic
      acid and validated to contain Quercetin up to 9.9%w/w. RESULTS: High fructose
      intake raised circulating levels of insulin and leptin and hepatic GLUT2
      expression to promote IR, dyslipidemia, and hypertension that were favorably re
      set with PG. Although PG is known for its beneficial role in diabetes mellitus,
      for the first time we report its potential in the management of lifelong
      pathologies arising from high fructose intake initiated during developmental
      years.

PMID- 25829791
TI  - Development of phytovesicles containing triterpenoids from Samadera indica.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Samadera indica belonging to Simaroubaceae family is being used
      traditionally for many diseases including arthritis, edema, itching, skin
      diseases, constipation, and general debility. OBJECTIVE: The effectiveness of any
      drug delivery system depends upon its ability to deliver the active components at
      therapeutic level. In this study, a novel phyto vesicular formulation for the
      enhanced topical delivery of methanol extract of S. indica in order to treat skin
      infections was developed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The methanol extract fraction of
      leaves of S. indica which showed more antifungal activity was purified to
      separate an antifungal compound. Phytovesicles were formulated using the more
      antifungal fraction in order to treat topical and deep seated fungal infections.
      Pytovesicles were prepared using 1:2 molar ratio of antifungal triterpenoid from
      S. indica (AFTSI)-phosphatidylcholine by film hydration method. RESULTS AND
      DISCUSSION: Chloroform 100% fraction of methanol extract of S. indica showed more
      activity against the fungus Candida albicans. Further purification gave a
      fraction with minimum inhibitory concentration value of 15.6 mg/ml against C.
      albicans and showed positive test for triterpenoids. The fraction was named as
      AFTSI. A compound (20 mg) was isolated from this fraction at an RF value. The
      phytovesicle gel formulated using AFTSI showed enhanced skin permeability and
      antifungal activity. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated that the phytovesicular
      gel developed using methanol extract of S. indica would be beneficial for
      treating deep seated fungal infections.

PMID- 25829792
TI  - Serum total antioxidant capacity in oral carcinoma patients.
AB  - CONTEXT: Oxidative stress is a major determinant in carcinogenesis and serum
      total antioxidant capacity (TAC) indirectly reflects the level of oxidative
      stress. Although oral cancer is the third most frequent cancer in Indian
      population, there are no standard noninvasive marker for early detection and
      monitoring therapeutic response in oral cancer patients. AIMS: This study was
      carried out to investigate implications of serum TAC in oral cancer by evaluating
      pre- and post-operative levels in oral cancer patients. SETTINGS AND DESIGNS: It
      was a prospective single blinded study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Serum TAC was
      measured using ferric-reducing antioxidant power assay. Pre- and post-operative
      values were estimated and compared in 30 oral cancer patients who underwent
      surgery. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Paired t-test was used to compare pre- and
      post-operative values. RESULTS: Compared to the normal value, both pre- and post
      operative serum TAC were significantly low in oral cancer patients. However,
      there was no statistically significant difference between pre- and postoperative
      levels. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, low mean serum TAC was detected in oral
      cancer patients. However, its diagnostic and prognostic significance in oral
      cancer needs further investigation.

PMID- 25829793
TI  - Anti-inflammatory and antiarthritic activity of UNIM-301 (a polyherbal unani
      formulation) in Wistar rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: UNIM-301 is a polyherbal formulation used in the Unani system of
      medicine for the treatment of joint pain and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
      OBJECTIVE: The objective was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and antiarthritic
      activity of UNIM-301 in carrageenan-induced paw edema and complete Freund's
      Adjuvant (CFA) induced arthritis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The anti-inflammatory
      and antiarthritic activity of UNIM-301 was evaluated using carrageenan-induced
      paw edema and CFA induced animal arthritis models, respectively, in doses of 250,
      500, and 1000 mg/kg body weight. Anti-inflammatory activity of UNIM-301 was
      evaluated using carrageenan-induced paw edema model using a digital
      plethysmometer. Anti-arthritic activity was evaluated using CFA induced
      arthritis, and joint sizes were measured at regular intervals using a micrometer
      screw gauge. Serum was collected and subjected to estimation of pro-inflammatory
      cytokine. Indomethacin 3 mg/kg body weight) was used as a standard drug in both
      the models. The acute and chronic toxicity study was carried out to evaluate the
      safety of the test drug. RESULTS: UNIM-301 treatment produced a dose-dependent
      reduction in paw edema and paw thickness in carrageenan-induced paw edema and CFA
      induced arthritis, respectively, as compared to control. UNIM 301 also reduced
      the expression of pro-inflammatory mediator in a dose-dependent manner as
      compared to control. CONCLUSION: The result of the present study suggests that
      anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic activity of UNIM-301, which might be
      accredited to inhibitory activity on pro-inflammatory cytokines to its various
      individual constituents.

PMID- 25829794
TI  - A study of Nigella sativa induced growth inhibition of MCF and HepG2 cell lines:
      An anti-neoplastic study along with its mechanism of action.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the anticancer potential of seeds of Nigella sativa using
      MCF and HepG2 cell lines along with its mechanism of action. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay and
      acridine orange/ethidium bromide nuclear staining technique were selected to
      evaluate anticancer potential and mechanism of action of test extract. RESULTS:
      Aqueous extract of N.sativa at a test dose of 180 mg and 300 mg was identified to
      be the best as anticancer agent against MCF and HepG2 cell lines among different
      solvent test extract where doxorubicin and cisplatin were employed as standard
      references. DISCUSSION: Further study including separation and characterization
      of active principles in the aqueous extract shall prove beneficial.

PMID- 25829795
TI  - Assessment of in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo antitumor activity of
      Sphaeranthus amaranthoides burm.f.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A number of plants have been used in Indian system of medicine such
      as ayurveda, unani and siddha, but most of these plants were not explored
      properly. Sphaeranthus amaranthoides (SA) Burm.f., is one such plant used as an
      energizer in siddha. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the anticancer effect of chloroform
      extract of the whole plant of SA Burm.f. against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma
      bearing Swiss albino mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The anticancer effect of
      chloroform extract was investigated in Swiss albino mice bearing Ehrlich ascites
      carcinoma at two different dose levels. Acute toxicity studies were also
      performed to determine the safety of the extract. Mice injected with Ehrlich
      ascites carcinoma cells were treated with the extract of doses 200 and 400 mg/kg
      body weight and standard 5-fluorouracil 20 mg/kg body weight for 15 consecutive
      days. Animals were sacrificed on day 15 for determination of anticancer activity
      by evaluating tumor volume, nonviable and viable tumor cell count and
      hematological parameters. RESULTS: Mice treated with the extract showed a
      significant decrease in tumor volume and viable cell count and an increase in
      nonviable cell count and mean survival time. The hematological parameters were
      also found to be restored to a normal level. CONCLUSION: The results indicate
      that the chloroform extract was producing anticancer activity comparable with
      that of the standard 5-fluorouracil.

PMID- 25829796
TI  - Nucleotide sequence of Phaseolus vulgaris L. alcohol dehydrogenase encoding cDNA
      and three-dimensional structure prediction of the deduced protein.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are widely consumed as a source
      of proteins and natural products. However, its yield needs to be increased. In
      line with the agenda of Phaseomics (an international consortium), work of
      expressed sequence tags (ESTs) generation from bean pods was initiated.
      Altogether, 5972 ESTs have been isolated. Alcohol dehydrogenase (AD) encoding
      gene cDNA was a noticeable transcript among the generated ESTs. This AD is an
      important enzyme; therefore, to understand more about it this study was
      undertaken. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to elucidate P. vulgaris
      L. AD (PvAD) gene cDNA sequence and to predict the three-dimensional (3D)
      structure of deduced protein. MATERIALS AND METHODS: positive and negative
      strands of the PvAD cDNA clone were sequenced using M13 forward and M13 reverse
      primers to elucidate the nucleotide sequence. Deduced PvAD cDNA and protein
      sequence was analyzed for their basic features using online bioinformatics tools.
      Sequence comparison was carried out using bl2seq program, and tree-view program
      was used to construct a phylogenetic tree. The secondary structures and 3D
      structure of PvAD protein were predicted by using the PHYRE automatic fold
      recognition server. RESULTS: The sequencing results analysis showed that PvAD
      cDNA is 1294 bp in length. It's open reading frame encodes for a protein that
      contains 371 amino acids. Deduced protein sequence analysis showed the presence
      of putative substrate binding, catalytic Zn binding, and NAD binding sites.
      Results indicate that the predicted 3D structure of PvAD protein is analogous to
      the experimentally determined crystal structure of s-nitrosoglutathione reductase
      from an Arabidopsis species. CONCLUSIONS: The 1294 bp long PvAD cDNA encodes for
      371 amino acid long protein that contains conserved domains required for
      biological functions of AD. The predicted deduced PvAD protein's 3D structure
      reflects the analogy with the crystal structure of Arabidopsis thaliana s
      nitrosoglutathione reductase. Further study is required to validate the predicted
      structure.

PMID- 25829798
TI  - In vivo anti-inflammatory and antiarthritic activities of aqueous extracts from
      Thymelaea hirsuta.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aerial parts of Thymelaea hirsuta (TH) are used as a decoction in
      the treatment of different pathologies in folk medicine in Morocco. OBJECTIVE:
      The aqueous extracts were evaluated for its anti-inflammatory activity and in
      inhibition of adjuvant induction arthritis in male Wistar rats. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: The anti-inflammatory activity was carried out using carrageenan-induced
      rat paw edema model, and the antiarthritic activity was carried out using
      complete Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis model. RESULTS: The plant extract
      (500 mg/kg body weight) exhibited significant activity in acute inflammation
      produced 60% of inhibition after 4 h as compared with that of the standard anti
      inflammatory drug, the diclofenac (100 mg/kg) which showed 40% of inhibition. In
      arthritis model, the extract produced 85% inhibition after 18 days when compared
      with the diclofenac (10 mg/kg; 72%). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the
      aqueous extract of TH had an anti-inflammatory activity and inhibited the
      induction of adjuvant arthritis in male Wistar rats.

PMID- 25829797
TI  - Analysis of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L., genotype BAT93) calmodulin cDNA
      using computational tools.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important part of the human
      diet and serves as a source of natural products. Identification and understanding
      of genes in P. vulgaris is important for its improvement. Characterization of
      expressed sequence tags (ESTs) is one of the approaches in understanding the
      expressed genes. For the understanding of genes expression in P. vulgaris pod
      tissue, research work of ESTs generation was initiated by constructing cDNA
      libraries using 5-day and 20-day old bean-pod-tissues. Altogether, 5972 cDNA
      clones were isolated to have ESTs. While processing ESTs, we found a transcript
      for calmodulin (CaM) gene. It is an important gene that encodes for a calcium
      binding protein and known to express in all eukaryotic cells. Hence, this study
      was undertaken to analyse and annotate it. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study
      was to analyze and annotate P. vulgaris CaM (PvCaM) gene cDNA and its deduced
      protein (amino acids) sequence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Both strands of PvCaM cDNA
      clone were sequenced using M13 forward and reverse primer to elucidate the
      nucleotide sequence. The cDNA sequence and deduced protein sequence were analyzed
      and annotated using bioinformatics tools available online. The secondary
      structures and three-dimensional (3D) structure of PvCaM protein were predicted
      using the Phyre automatic fold recognition server. RESULTS: Results showed that
      PvCaM cDNA is 818 bp in length. The cDNA analysis results showed that it contains
      an open reading frame that encodes for 149 amino acid residues. The deduced
      protein sequence analysis results showed the presence of conserved domains
      required for CaM function. The predicted secondary structures and 3D structure
      are analogous to the Solanum tuberosum CaM. CONCLUSIONS: This study analyzed and
      annotated PvCaM cDNA and protein. However, in order to obtain a complete
      understanding of PvCaM protein, further study on its expression, structure and
      regulation is essential.

PMID- 25829799
TI  - It is time for doctors to start seeing the signs and hearing the cries of abused
      children as professional guardians.

PMID- 25829800
TI  - Vaccination policy in Korean armed forces: current status and future challenge.
AB  - Infectious diseases have historically resulted in suspended or cancelled military
      operations. Vaccination for disease prevention is a critical component of the
      military's force readiness doctrine. Until recently, Korea had not recognized the
      importance of vaccinating military personnel. However, a 2011 meningococcal
      disease outbreak at an army recruit training center led to dramatic changes in
      the paradigm of traditional medical practice in the Korean armed forces. A new
      vaccination policy was formed by a 2012 Military Healthcare Service Act. Since
      then, Neisseria meningitidis, hepatitis A, and measles-mumps-rubella vaccines
      have been routinely administered to all new recruits early in basic training to
      ensure protection against these diseases. All active-duty soldiers also receive
      seasonal influenza vaccination annually. Despite quantitative improvements in
      vaccination policies, several instances of major infectious diseases and adverse
      vaccine reactions have threatened soldier health. In the future, vaccination
      policies in the Korean armed forces should be based on epidemiologic data and
      military medical research for vaccine use and safety management. 

PMID- 25829801
TI  - Rewarding peer reviewers: maintaining the integrity of science communication.
AB  - This article overviews currently available options for rewarding peer reviewers.
      Rewards and incentives may help maintain the quality and integrity of scholarly
      publications. Publishers around the world implemented a variety of financial and
      nonfinancial mechanisms for incentivizing their best reviewers. None of these is
      proved effective on its own. A strategy of combined rewards and credits for the
      reviewers1 creative contributions seems a workable solution. Opening access to
      reviews and assigning publication credits to the best reviews is one of the
      latest achievements of digitization. Reviews, posted on academic networking
      platforms, such as Publons, add to the transparency of the whole system of peer
      review. Reviewer credits, properly counted and displayed on individual digital
      profiles, help distinguish the best contributors, invite them to review and offer
      responsible editorial posts. 

PMID- 25829802
TI  - The initial hyperglycemia in acute type II pyrethroid poisoning.
AB  - This retrospective observational case series study was conducted to describe the
      clinical feature of acute type II pyrethroid poisoning, and to investigate
      whether hyperglycemia at presentation can predict the outcome in patients with
      type II pyrethroid poisoning. This study included 104 type II pyrethroid poisoned
      patients. The complication rate and mortality rate was 26.9% and 2.9% in type II
      pyrethroid poisoned patients. The most common complication was respiratory
      failure followed by acidosis and hypotension. In non-diabetic type II pyrethroid
      poisoned patients, patients with complications showed a higher frequency of
      hyperglycemia, abnormalities on the initial X ray, depressed mentality, lower
      PaCO2 and HCO3- levels, and a higher WBC and AST levels at the time of admission
      compared to patients without complication. Hyperglycemia was an independent
      factor for predicting complications in non-diabetic patients. Diabetic patients
      had a significantly higher incidence of complications than non-diabetic patients.
      However, there was no significant predictive factor for complications in patients
      with diabetes mellitus probably because of small number of diabetes mellitus. In
      contrast to the relatively low toxicity of pyrethroids in mammals, type II
      pyrethroid poisoning is not a mild disease. Hyperglycemia at presentation may be
      useful to predict the critical complications in non-diabetic patients. 

PMID- 25829803
TI  - Pediatric medication error reports in Korea adverse event reporting system
      database, 1989-2012: comparing with adult reports.
AB  - Children have dynamic process of maturation and substantial changes in growth and
      development which eventually make the drug safety profiles different from adults.
      Medication errors (MEs) in pediatrics are reported to occur three times more
      likely than adults. The aims of this study were to identify the characteristics
      of pediatric MEs in Korea at national level and help raise awareness of risks
      from the MEs in pediatrics. We conducted a descriptive analysis with the
      pediatric ME reports in Korea Adverse Event Reporting System (KAERS) database
      from 1989 to 2012 and 208 ME reports in pediatrics were found. Based on KAERS
      database, the proportion of reported pediatric ME in adverse drug event (ADE)
      reports was 2.73 times (95% CI, 2.35-3.17) higher than that of adult ME. In 208
      ME reports, we found a total of 236 ME-related terms within 19 types of MEs. The
      most common type of MEs was "accidental overdose" (n=58, 24.6%), followed by
      "drug maladministration" (n=50, 21.2%) and "medication error" (n=41, 17.4%).
      After the narratives of ME reports were reviewed, we noticed that most of them
      did no harm to patients, but some cases were needed for medical treatment. Our
      data suggest that MEs in pediatrics are not negligible in Korea. We expect that
      this study would increase the awareness of the problem in pediatric MEs and
      induce the need for further development of an effective national ME preventing
      system in Korea. 

PMID- 25829804
TI  - A phase 2 multi-center, open-label, switch-over trial to evaluate the safety and
      efficacy of Abcertin(r) in patients with type 1 Gaucher disease.
AB  - Gaucher disease is a lysosomal storage disease for which enzyme replacement
      therapy has proven to be effective. A switch-over clinical trial was performed to
      evaluate the efficacy and safety of Abcertin(r) (ISU Abxis, Seoul, Korea) in
      subjects with type 1 Gaucher disease who were previously treated with
      imiglucerase. Five Korean patients with type 1 Gaucher disease were enrolled.
      Previous doses of imiglucerase ranged from 30 to 55 U/kg every other week. The
      same dose of Abcertin(r) was administered to all patients for 24 weeks. Primary
      efficacy endpoints were changes in hemoglobin levels and platelet counts, and the
      secondary efficacy endpoints included changes in liver and spleen volumes, serum
      biomarkers, skeletal status and bone mineral density (BMD). During the study
      period, no statistically significant changes were observed in all parameters
      including hemoglobin levels and platelet counts, liver and spleen volumes,
      skeletal status and BMD. Abcertin(r) administration was continued in three
      patients for another 24 weeks as an extension of the study. Hemoglobin levels and
      platelet counts were maintained in all three patients. In conclusion, the
      efficacy and safety of Abcertin(r) are similar to those of imiglucerase, and
      Abcertin(r) is an effective therapeutic agent for patients with type 1 Gaucher
      disease (Clinical Trial Registry No. NCT02053896 at www.clinicaltrials.gov). 

PMID- 25829805
TI  - Clinicopathological features of prostate ductal carcinoma: matching analysis and
      comparison with prostate acinar carcinoma.
AB  - We evaluated the clinicopathological features and prognosis of 29 cases of
      prostate ductal carcinoma was considered to be an aggressive subtype of prostate
      acinar carcinoma. We selected 29 cases who were diagnosed prostate ductal
      carcinoma and had a radical prostatectomy (RP). The acinar group (n = 116) was
      selected among 3,980 patients who underwent a prostatectomy. The acinar group was
      matched to the ductal group for prostate specific antigen (PSA), clinical stage,
      Gleason score, and age. The mean (range) of the follow-up periods for the ductal
      and acinar group was 23.8 +/- 20.6 and 58 +/- 10.5 months, respectively. The mean
      age of the prostate ductal and acinar carcinoma patients was 67.3 and 67.0 yr and
      the mean PSA level was 14.7 and 16.2 ng/mL, respectively. No statistical
      differences were evident between groups in terms of the final pathologic stage or
      positive resection margin rate other than the postoperative Gleason score. A
      greater proportion of the ductal group demonstrated a postoperative Gleason score
      >= 8 in comparison with the acinar group (P = 0.024). Additionally, we observed
      significant prognostic difference in our patient series in biochemical
      recurrence. The ductal group showed a poorer prognosis than the acinar group (P =
      0.016). There were no differences significantly in terms of final pathology and
      rate of positive resection margin, but a greater proportion of the ductal group
      demonstrated a Gleason score >= 8 than the acinar group after matching for PSA,
      Gleason score in biopsy and clinical stage. The ductal group also showed a poorer
      prognosis. 

PMID- 25829806
TI  - Increased expression of forkhead box M1 is associated with aggressive phenotype
      and poor prognosis in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.
AB  - Fox transcription factors play a critical role in the regulation of a variety of
      biological processes. While FoxM1 behaves like the oncogenic transcription
      factor, FoxO3a is known as a tumor suppressor by inhibiting FoxM1. This study
      aimed to investigate the clinicopathological significance of FoxM1 and FoxO3a
      expression in breast cancer. Expression of FoxM1 and FoxO3a were analyzed by
      immunohistochemical staining on tissue microarray sections from 236 breast cancer
      patients, and correlated with various clinicopathological characteristics.
      Overexpression of FoxM1 correlated with adverse clinicopathological features,
      such as larger tumor size, lymph node metastasis, advanced tumor stage, and
      lymphovascular invasion. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves revealed no prognostic
      significance of FoxM1 expression. However, in subgroup analyses with patients of
      estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancers, FoxM1 overexpression associated
      with poor disease free and overall survival. No association was found between
      FoxO3a and FoxM1 expression. Regarding clinicopathological variables, the only
      association between histologic grade and FoxO3a was observed. In conclusion,
      FoxM1 overexpression was significantly associated with aggressive phenotypes and
      poor prognosis of ER-positive breast cancer. These findings suggest the possible
      role of FoxM1 as a prognostic biomarker and putative target of anti-cancer
      therapy. 

PMID- 25829807
TI  - Meta-analysis of predictive clinicopathologic factors for lymph node metastasis
      in patients with early colorectal carcinoma.
AB  - The objective of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to determine risk
      factors that may facilitate patient selection for radical resections or
      additional resections after a polypectomy. Eligible articles were identified by
      searches of PUBMED, Cochrane Library and Korean Medical Database using the terms
      (early colorectal carcinoma [ECC], lymph node metastasis [LNM], colectomy,
      endoscopic resection). Thirteen cohort studies of 7,066 ECC patients who only
      underwent radical surgery have been analysed. There was a significant risk of LNM
      when they had submucosal invasion (>= SM2 or >= 1,000 um) (odds Ratio [OR], 3.00;
      95% confidence interval [CI], 1.36-6.62, P = 0.007). Moreover, it has been found
      that vascular invasion (OR, 2.70; 95% CI, 1.95-3.74; P < 0.001), lymphatic
      invasion (OR, 6.91; 95% CI, 5.40-8.85; P < 0.001), poorly differentiated
      carcinomas (OR, 8.27; 95% CI, 4.67-14.66; P < 0.001) and tumor budding (OR, 4.59;
      95% CI, 3.44-6.13; P < 0.001) were significantly associated with LNM.
      Furthermore, another analysis was carried out on eight cohort studies of 310
      patients who underwent additional surgeries after an endoscopic resection. The
      major factors identified in these studies include lymphovascular invasion on
      polypectomy specimens (OR, 5.47; 95% CI, 2.46-12.17; P < 0.001) and poorly or
      moderately differentiated carcinomas (OR, 4.07; 95% CI, 1.08-15.33; P = 0.04).
      For ECC patients with >= SM2 or >= 1,000 um submucosal invasion, vascular
      invasion, lymphatic invasion, poorly differentiated carcinomas or tumor budding,
      it is deemed that a more extensive resection accompanied by a lymph node
      dissection is necessary. Even if the lesion is completely removed by an
      endoscopic resection, an additional surgical resection should be considered in
      patients with poorly or moderately differentiated carcinomas or lymphovascular
      invasion. 

PMID- 25829808
TI  - Addition of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels to
      electrocardiography criteria for detection of left ventricular hypertrophy: the
      ARIRANG study.
AB  - The utility of electrocardiography (ECG) in screening for left ventricular
      hypertrophy (LVH) in general populations is limited mainly because its low
      sensitivity. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is released due to the remodeling
      processes of LVH and could improve the diagnostic accuracy for the ECG criteria
      for LVH. We hypothesized that addition of BNP levels to ECG criteria could aid
      LVH detection compared with ECG alone in a general population. We enrolled
      consecutive 343 subjects from a community-based cohort. LVH was defined as LV
      mass index > 95 g/m(2) for females and > 115 g/m(2) for males according to
      echocardiography. The area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve
      to detect LVH was 0.55 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.50-0.61) in Sokolow-Lyon
      criteria and 0.53 (0.47-0.59) in the Cornell voltage criteria. After addition of
      N-terminal-proBNP levels to the model, the corresponding areas under the ROC were
      0.63 (0.58-0.69) and 0.64 (0.59-0.69), respectively. P values for the comparison
      in areas under the ROC for models with and without N-terminal-proBNP levels were
      < 0.001. These data suggest that addition of N-terminal-proBNP levels to ECG
      criteria could significantly improve the diagnostic accuracy of LVH in general
      populations. 

PMID- 25829809
TI  - The effect of admission at weekends on clinical outcomes in patients with non-ST
      segment elevation acute coronary syndrome and its contributing factors.
AB  - We investigated the effects of weekend admission on adverse cardiac events in
      patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS).
      Patients with NSTE-ACS treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were
      divided into a "weekend group" and a "weekday group" according to the emergency
      room arrival time. The primary outcome was 30-day major adverse cardiac events
      (MACE) including cardiac death, recurrent myocardial infarction, repeat
      revascularization, and urgent PCI. Of 577 patients, 168 patients were allocated
      to the weekend and 409 patients to the weekday group. The incidence of 30-day
      MACE was significantly higher in the weekend group (Crude: 15.5% vs. 7.3%, P =
      0.005; propensity score matched: 12.8% vs. 4.8%, P = 0.041). After adjustment for
      all the possible confounding factors, in Cox proportional hazard regression
      analysis, weekend admission was associated with a 2.1-fold increased hazard for
      MACE (HR, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.26-3.60, P = 0.005). These findings indicate that
      weekend admission of patients with NSTE-ACS is associated with an increase in 30
      day adverse cardiac event. 

PMID- 25829810
TI  - Safety and efficacy of a novel, fenestrated aortic arch stent graft with a
      preloaded catheter for supraaortic arch vessels: an experimental study in Swine.
AB  - Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) shows limitations in cases in which
      the aortic pathology involves the aortic arch. The study aims were to test a
      fenestrated aortic arch stent graft (FASG) with a preloaded catheter for the
      supraaortic arch vessels and to perform a preclinical study in swine to evaluate
      the safety and efficacy of this device. Six FASGs with 1 preloaded catheter and 5
      FASGs with 2 preloaded catheters were advanced through the iliac artery in 11
      swines. The presence of endoleaks and the patency and deformity of the grafts
      were examined with computed tomography (CT) at 4 weeks postoperatively. A
      postmortem examination was performed at 8 weeks. The mean procedure time for the
      one and two FASG groups was 30.2 (27.9-34.5) min and 43.1 (39.2-53.7) min. The
      mean time for the selection of the carotid artery was 4.8 (4.2-5.5) min and 6.2
      (4.6-9.4) min. Major adverse event was observed in one of 11 pigs. One pig died
      at 4 weeks likely because of the effects of the high dose of ketamine, while the
      remaining 10 pigs survived 8-week. For both the one and two FASG groups, no
      endoleaks, no disconnection, no occlusion of the stent grafts were observed in
      the CT findings and the postmortem gross findings. The procedure with the FASG
      could be performed safely in a relatively short procedure time and involved an
      easy technique. The FASG is found to be safe and convenient in this preclinical
      study with swine. 

PMID- 25829811
TI  - Effects of high-dose atorvastatin pretreatment in patients with ST-segment
      elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary
      intervention: a cardiac magnetic resonance study.
AB  - It is uncertain that atorvastatin pretreatment can reduce myocardial damage in
      patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST
      segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The aim of this study was to
      investigate the effects of atorvastatin pretreatment on infarct size measured by
      contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) in STEMI patients. Patients
      undergoing primary PCI for STEMI within 12 hr after symptom onset were randomized
      to an atorvastatin group (n=30, 80 mg before PCI and for 5 days after PCI) or a
      control group (n=37, 10 mg daily after PCI). The primary end point was infarct
      size evaluated as the volume of delayed hyperenhancement by CE-MRI within 14 days
      after the index event. The median infarct size was 19% (IQR 11.1%-31.4%) in the
      atorvastatin group vs. 16.3% (7.2%-27.2%) in the control group (P=0.27). The
      myocardial salvage index (37.1% [26.9%-58.7%] vs. 46.9% [39.9-52.4], P=0.46) and
      area of microvascular obstruction (1.1% [0%-2.0%] vs. 0.7% [0%-1.8%], P=0.37) did
      not differ significantly between the groups. Frequency of the hemorrhagic and
      transmural infarctions was not significantly different in the 2 groups.
      Pretreatment with a high-dose atorvastatin followed by further treatment for 5
      days in STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI failed to reduce the extent of
      myocardial damage or improve myocardial salvage. 

PMID- 25829812
TI  - One-year prognosis and the role of brain natriuretic peptide levels in patients
      with chronic cor pulmonale.
AB  - Data on the clinical outcomes and role of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels
      in patients with chronic cor pulmonale are limited. A total of 69 patients with
      chronic cor pulmonale, admitted for dyspnea (January 2007 to September 2011) to
      three university hospitals, were retrospectively reviewed. All of the patients
      had right ventricular (RV) dysfunction on echocardiography. The median age was
      70.0 yr, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (40.6%) and tuberculosis
      destroyed lung (TDL, 27.5%) were the leading causes of chronic cor pulmonale. At
      the 1-yr follow-up, the mortality rate was 15.9%, and the readmission rate was
      53.7%; patients with TDL had higher mortality (31.6% vs. 10.0%; P=0.059) and
      readmission rates (78.9% vs. 43.8%; P=0.009) than those with non-TDL diseases.
      The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for admission BNP
      levels to predict readmission was 0.788 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.673
      0.904), and the sensitivity and specificity of the cut-off value were 80.6% and
      77.4%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, high admission BNP levels were a
      significant risk factor for subsequent readmission (hazard ratio, 1.049; 95% CI,
      1.005-1.094). Additionally, admission BNP levels were well correlated with
      cardiac troponin I (r=0.558), and delta BNP also correlated with delta RV
      systolic pressure (n=25; r=0.562). In conclusion, among hospitalized patients
      with chronic cor pulmonale, admission high BNP levels are a significant risk
      factor for subsequent readmission. Therefore, more intensive monitoring and
      treatment are needed in patients with higher BNP levels. 

PMID- 25829813
TI  - Validity of the ages and stages questionnaires in Korean compared to Bayley
      Scales of infant development-II for screening preterm infants at corrected age of
      18-24 months for neurodevelopmental delay.
AB  - This study aimed to evaluate the validity of the ages and stages questionnaire in
      Korean (ASQ 1st edition, Korean Questionnaires, Seoul Community Rehabilitation
      Center, 2000) for premature infants. The study population consisted of 90
      premature infants born between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2011, who were
      tested using the ASQ (Korean) and Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) (II)
      at a corrected age of 18-24 months. The validity of the ASQ (Korean) using cut
      off values set at < -2 SD was examined by comparing it to the BSID (II)
      components, namely, the mental developmental index (MDI) or psychomotor
      developmental index (PDI), which were both set at < 85. The calculation of the
      sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values, and negative predictive
      values of the ASQ (Korean) components revealed that they detected infants with
      neurodevelopmental delay with low sensitivity and positive predictive values,
      however, the communication domain showed moderate correlations with MDI. The
      failure in more than one domain of the ASQ (Korean) was significantly correlated
      with the failure in MDI. The ASQ (Korean) showed low validity for screening
      neurodevelopmentally delayed premature infants. 

PMID- 25829814
TI  - Risk factors for late-onset hyponatremia and its influence on neonatal outcomes
      in preterm infants.
AB  - Late-onset hyponatremia (LOH), hyponatremia occurring after two weeks of age with
      the achievement of full feeding, is the result of a negative sodium balance
      caused by inadequate salt intake or excessive salt loss due to immature renal or
      intestinal function in preterm infants. The aims of our study were to identify
      the risk factors for LOH and its influence on neonatal outcomes. This was a
      retrospective cohort analysis of 161 preterm infants born before 34 weeks of
      gestation between June 2009 and December 2010 at Seoul National University
      Hospital. LOH was defined as a sodium level <= 132 mEq/L or 133-135 mEq/L with
      oral sodium supplementation. LOH occurred in 49 (30.4%) of the studied infants. A
      lower gestational age, a shorter duration of parenteral nutrition, the presence
      of respiratory distress syndrome, the use of furosemide, and feeding with breast
      milk were significant risk factors for LOH. In terms of neonatal outcomes, the
      infants with LOH had longer hospital stays and higher risks of bronchopulmonary
      dysplasia and retinopathy of prematurity requiring surgery. LOH lasting at least
      7 days significantly increased moderate to severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia,
      periventricular leukomalacia, and extra-uterine growth retardation. LOH is
      commonly observed in preterm infants; it may be a risk factor for
      bronchopulmonary dysplasia and retinopathy of prematurity or a marker of illness
      severity. 

PMID- 25829815
TI  - Neurocognitive outcome in survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia:
      experience at a tertiary care hospital in Korea.
AB  - This study was conducted to investigate long-term neurocognitive outcomes and to
      determine associated risk factors in a cohort of Korean survivors of childhood
      acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Forty-two survivors of ALL were compared with
      42 healthy controls on measures of a neurocognitive test battery. We analysed
      potential risk factors (cranial irradiation, sex, age at diagnosis, elapsed time
      from diagnosis, and ALL risk group) on neurocognitive outcomes. ALL patients had
      lower, but non-significant full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ, 107.2+/-12.2
      vs. 111.7+/-10.2), verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ, 107.7+/-13.6 vs. 112.2+/
      11.4), and performance intelligence quotient (PIQ, 106.3+/-14.2 vs. 110.1+/-10.7)
      scores than healthy controls. However, patients treated with cranial irradiation
      performed significantly lower on FSIQ (102.2+/-8.1), VIQ (103.3+/-11.7), and PIQ
      (101.4+/-13.2) compared to non-irradiated patients and healthy controls. ALL
      patients also had poor attention, concentration, and executive functions. Among
      ALL survivors, cranial irradiation was a risk factor for poor FSIQ, being male
      was a risk factor for poor PIQ, and younger age was a risk factor for poor
      attention. Therefore, the delayed cognitive effects of ALL treatment and its
      impact on quality of life require continuing monitoring and management. 

PMID- 25829816
TI  - Coronary heart disease in moyamoya disease: are they concomitant or coincidence?
AB  - The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of
      symptomatic coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients with moyamoya disease (MMD).
      This retrospective study evaluated 456 patients who received examination for MMD
      between 1995 and 2012. We reviewed the patients' medical history and coronary
      imaging, including conventional coronary angiography and coronary computed
      tomography angiogram (CTA). Among 456 patients with MMD, 21 (4.6%) patients were
      found to have symptomatic CHD. Ten patients were treated with coronary artery
      bypass graft or percutaneous coronary intervention for unstable angina or
      myocardial infarction. Eleven were treated with medication for stable angina (n =
      6) and variant angina with mild degree of stenosis (n = 5).The median age of
      these patients was 44 yr (range, 27-59). The median Framingham score at
      diagnosing MMD was < 1% (range, < 1%-16%). The old age was associated with CHD in
      uni- and multivariate analyses (P = 0.021, OR, 1.053; 95% CI, 1.008-1.110).
      Considering low age of onset and low stroke risk factor, CHD might be a systemic
      manifestation that is clinically relevant to MMD. 

PMID- 25829817
TI  - Baseline predictors of visual acuity and retinal thickness in patients with
      retinal vein occlusion.
AB  - This study investigated the baseline predictors of best corrected visual acuity
      (BCVA) and central retinal thickness (CRT) at 6 months in patients with treatment
      naive branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) and central retinal vein occlusion
      (CRVO). This multicenter, interventional case series included 208 BRVO and 123
      CRVO patients with follow-up period of 6 months or more. Outcome measures of BCVA
      (logMAR) included absolute change from baseline and a gain or loss of >= 0.3 from
      baseline. Outcome measures of CRT included absolute change from baseline and a
      measurement of <= 250 um or >= 400 um at 6 months. Univariate and multiple
      regression analyses were done to find baseline predictors. For BRVO, younger age,
      worse baseline BCVA, and shorter duration of symptom were associated with more
      gain in BCVA. For CRVO, worse baseline BCVA was associated with more gain in
      BCVA. For CRT outcomes, higher baseline CRT predicted greater decrease at 6
      months in both BRVO and CRVO. Younger age and better baseline BCVA were
      associated with an increased likelihood of measurement of a <= 250 um outcome for
      BRVO and CRVO, respectively. For CRVO, smoking was associated with greater
      decrease from baseline and decreased likelihood of measurement of a CRT >= 400 um
      at 6 months. In conclusion, several baseline factors including age, symptom
      duration, and baseline BCVA and CRT are associated with BCVA and CRT outcomes at
      6 months, which may help to predict disease course for RVO patients. 

PMID- 25829818
TI  - Trend in hip fracture incidence and mortality in Korea: a prospective cohort
      study from 2002 to 2011.
AB  - This prospective longitudinal cohort study was to assess the 10-yr hip fracture
      incidence and mortality trend of person >=50 yr of age between 2002 and 2011 of
      eight hospitals in Jeju Island. Sex-specific incidence rate (per 100,000 person
      years) were calculated based on that estimated for the population in the United
      States in 2008. Poisson and logistic regressions were used to examine trends in
      incidence and mortality. There was a 101% increase in the number of hip fractures
      from 151 in 2002 to 304 in 2011. The crude incidence of hip fractures in the Jeju
      population >=50 yr of age increased from 126.6/100,000 to 183.7/100,000. The
      fracture incidence in the population standardized to the 2008 population in the
      United States increased from 100.6/100,000 for men and 194.4/100,000 for women in
      2002 to 114.2/100,000 for men and 278.4/100,000 for women in 2011. The annual
      increasing incidence rate of hip fracture was 4.3% (5.3% in women and 2.2% in
      men). Poisson regression did not show significant trends in the mortality rates
      for all age groups or for both genders. The total number of hip fractures
      increased two-fold and the incidence rate of hip fractures increased markedly
      during the 10-yr study period. 

PMID- 25829819
TI  - Perioperative complications of orthopedic surgery for lower extremity in patients
      with cerebral palsy.
AB  - Because complications are more common in patients with cerebral palsy (CP),
      surgeons and anesthesiologists must be aware of perioperative morbidity and be
      prepared to recognize and treat perioperative complications. This study aimed to
      determine the incidence of and risk factors for perioperative complications of
      orthopedic surgery on the lower extremities in patients with CP. We reviewed the
      medical records of consecutive CP patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. Medical
      history, anesthesia emergence time, intraoperative body temperature, heart rate,
      blood pressure, immediate postoperative complications, Gross Motor Function
      Classification System (GMFCS) level, Cormack-Lehane classification, and American
      Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification were analyzed. A
      total of 868 patients was included. Mean age at first surgery was 11.8 (7.6) yr.
      The incidences of intraoperative hypothermia, absolute hypotension, and absolute
      bradycardia were 26.2%, 4.4%, and 20.0%, respectively. Twenty (2.3%) patients had
      major complications, and 35 (4.0%) patients had minor complications
      postoperatively. The incidences of intraoperative hypothermia, absolute
      hypotension, and major postoperative complications were significantly higher in
      patients at GMFCS levels IV and V compared with patients at GMFCS levels I to III
      (P<0.001). History of pneumonia was associated with intraoperative absolute
      hypotension and major postoperative complications (P<0.001). These results
      revealed that GMFCS level, patient age, hip reconstructive surgery, and history
      of pneumonia are associated with adverse effects on intraoperative body
      temperature, the cardiovascular system, and immediate postoperative
      complications. 

PMID- 25829822
TI  - How to encourage best peer reviewers: an empiric approach.

PMID- 25829820
TI  - Ethical issues recognized by critical care nurses in the intensive care units of
      a tertiary hospital during two separate periods.
AB  - This research aimed to investigate the changes in ethical issues in everyday
      clinical practice recognized by critical care nurses during two observation
      periods. We conducted a retrospective analysis of data obtained by prospective
      questionnaire surveys of nurses in the intensive care units (ICU) of a tertiary
      university-affiliated hospital in Seoul, Korea. Data were collected prospectively
      during two different periods, February 2002-January 2003 (Period 1) and August
      2011-July 2012 (Period 2). Significantly fewer cases with ethical issues were
      reported in Period 2 than in Period 1 (89 cases [2.1%] of 4,291 ICU admissions
      vs. 51 [0.5%] of 9,302 ICU admissions, respectively; P < 0.001). The highest
      incidence of cases with identified ethical issues in both Periods occurred in
      MICU. The major source of ethical issues in Periods 1 and 2 was behavior-related.
      Among behaviorrelated issues, inappropriate healthcare professional behavior was
      predominant in both periods and mainly involved resident physicians. Ethical
      issue numbers regarding end-oflife (EOL) care significantly decreased in the
      proportion with respect to ethical issues during Period 2 (P = 0.044). In
      conclusion, the decreased incidence of cases with identified ethical issues in
      Period 2 might be associated with ethical enhancement related with EOL and
      improvements in the ICU care environment of the studied hospital. However,
      behaviorrelated issues involving resident physicians represent a considerable
      proportion of ethical issues encountered by critical care nurses. A systemic
      approach to solve behavior-related issues of resident physicians seems to be
      required to enhance an ethical environment in the studied ICU. 

PMID- 25829821
TI  - Multiple muscular variations in the neck, upper extremity, and lower extremity
      biased toward the left side of a single cadaver.
AB  - Although numerous reports have found accessory or supernumerary muscles
      throughout the human body, multiple appearances of these variations biased toward
      one side of body are rare. We report a 76-yr-old male cadaver with an accessory
      head of the biceps brachii and palmaris profundus, and a muscular slip between
      the biceps femoris and semitendinosus on the left side in addition to a bilateral
      accessory belly of the digastric muscle. No remarkable nervous, vascular, or
      visceral variation accompanied these variations. An interruption of normal
      somitogenesis or myogenesis may be a cause of these variations. 

PMID- 25829823
TI  - Deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty using irradiated acellular cornea with
      amniotic membrane transplantation for intractable ocular surface diseases.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report the clinical outcomes of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty
      (DALK) when sterile gamma-irradiated acellular corneal tissues (VisionGraft) are
      used in combination with amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) for intractable
      ocular surface diseases. METHODS: The medical records of fifteen patients who had
      DALK with AMT were retrospectively reviewed. Indications for surgery included
      ocular burn, bacterial keratitis, herpes simplex virus keratitis, corneal opacity
      with Stevens-Johnson syndrome, Mooren's ulcer, idiopathic myxoid degeneration of
      corneal stroma, and recurrent band keratopathy. DALK was performed using partial
      thickness acellular corneal tissue and a temporary amniotic membrane patch was
      added at the end of the operation. RESULTS: All cases that underwent DALK with
      AMT became epithelialized within 2 postoperative weeks. Twelve patients showed
      favorable outcomes without graft rejection, corneal opacification, or
      neovascularization. The other three grafts developed corneal opacification and
      neovascularization, and required additional penetrating keratoplasty (PK). Unlike
      the results of previous PKs, there were no graft rejections and the graft clarity
      was well-maintained in these three cases for at least 8 months after PK.
      CONCLUSIONS: DALK using sterile acellular corneal tissues in combination with AMT
      may be a good therapeutic strategy for treating intractable ocular surface
      diseases because of lowered immune rejection, fibroblast activation, and
      facilitation of epithelialization. Furthermore, DALK can help stabilize the
      ocular surface, prolong graft survival, and may allow better outcomes when
      combined with subsequent PK.

PMID- 25829824
TI  - Hyperhomocysteinemia, a biochemical tool for differentiating ischemic and
      nonischemic central retinal vein occlusion during the early acute phase.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to differentiate ischemic central retinal
      vein occlusion (CRVO) from nonischemic CRVO during the early acute phase using
      plasma homocysteine as a biochemical marker. METHODS: Fasting plasma
      homocysteine, serum vitamin B12, and folate levels were measured in 108
      consecutive unilateral elderly adult (age >50 years) ischemic CRVO patients in
      the absence of local and systemic disease and compared with a total of 144 age
      and sex matched nonischemic CRVO patients and 120 age and sex matched healthy
      control subjects. RESULTS: Homocysteine level was significantly increased in the
      patients with ischemic CRVO in comparison with nonischemic CRVO patients (p =
      0.009) and also in comparison with control subjects (p < 0.001). Analysis also
      showed that hyperhomocysteinemia was associated with increased incidence of
      ischemic CRVO (odds ratio, 18) than that for nonischemic CRVO (odds ratio, 4.5).
      Serum vitamin B12 and folate levels were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in CRVO
      patients compared to the control but were not significantly different between
      nonischemic and ischemic CRVO patients (p > 0.1). CONCLUSIONS:
      Hyperhomocysteinemia can be regarded as useful in differentiating nonischemic and
      ischemic CRVO during the early acute phase in absence of local and systemic
      disease in the elderly adult (age >50 years) population.

PMID- 25829825
TI  - Association between microperimetric parameters and optical coherent tomographic
      findings in various macular diseases.
AB  - PURPOSE: To analyze the correlation between microperimetric parameters and
      optical coherent tomographic findings in the eyes of patients with macular
      diseases. METHODS: A total of 64 eyes were included in this retrospective cross
      sectional study. Differences in the macular integrity index and microperimetric
      parameters were analyzed according to types of outer retinal band defects.
      Correlations between average threshold values and retinal thickness in the
      corresponding areas were analyzed. Finally, microperimetric parameters were
      compared between inner and outer retinal lesions. RESULTS: Measures of best
      corrected visual acuity, macular integrity index, and average threshold values
      were significantly worse in eyes with defects in the ellipsoid portion of the
      photoreceptor inner segment (ISe), the cone outer segment tip (COST), and the
      external limiting membrane (ELM) than in eyes without ISe, COST, and ELM defects.
      Also, visual functionality is more significantly impacted by ELM defects than by
      other hyper-reflective band defects. There was a significant negative correlation
      between retinal thickness and the average threshold of the corresponding area in
      the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study grid. Microperimetric parameters
      in the eyes of patients with inner retinal lesions were better than in the eyes
      of patients with outer retinal lesions. CONCLUSIONS: The macular integrity index
      may be a useful factor for reflecting the functional aspects of macular diseases.
      Specifically, ELM, ISe, and COST defects are significantly associated with poor
      retinal sensitivity and macular integrity index values that suggest
      abnormalities. Among eyes with these particular defects, the visual functionality
      of patients is most sensitively impacted by ELM defects. This finding suggests
      that microperimetric parameters are sensitive and useful for evaluating
      functional abnormalities in the eyes of patients with macular disease,
      particularly in patients with outer retinal pathology.

PMID- 25829826
TI  - Comparison of risk factors for initial central scotoma versus initial peripheral
      scotoma in normal-tension glaucoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the risk factors for initial central scotoma (ICS)
      compared with initial peripheral scotoma (IPS) in normal-tension glaucoma (NTG).
      METHODS: Fifty-six NTG patients (56 eyes) with an ICS and 103 NTG patients (103
      eyes) with an IPS were included. Retrospectively, the differences were assessed
      between the two groups for baseline characteristics, ocular factors, systemic
      factors, and lifestyle factors. Also, the mean deviation of visual field was
      compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Patients from both ICS and IPS groups
      were of similar age, gender, family history of glaucoma, and follow-up periods.
      Frequency of disc hemorrhage was significantly higher among patients with ICS
      than in patients with IPS. Moreover, systemic risk factors such as hypotension,
      migraine, Raynaud's phenomenon, and snoring were more prevalent in the ICS group
      than in the IPS group. There were no statistical differences in lifestyle risk
      factors such as smoking or body mass index. Pattern standard deviation was
      significantly greater in the ICS group than in the IPS group, but the mean
      deviation was similar between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: NTG Patients with ICS
      and IPS have different profiles of risk factors and clinical characteristics.
      This suggests that the pattern of initial visual field loss may be useful to
      identify patients at higher risk of central field loss.

PMID- 25829827
TI  - Surgical results of trabeculectomy and Ahmed valve implantation following a
      previous failed trabeculectomy in primary congenital glaucoma patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the surgical results of trabeculectomy and Ahmed glaucoma
      valve implantation after a previous failed trabeculectomy. METHODS: A
      retrospective comparative case series review was performed on 31 eye surgeries in
      20 patients with primary congenital glaucoma who underwent trabeculectomy or
      Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation after a previous failed trabeculectomy with
      mitomycin C. RESULTS: The preoperative mean intraocular pressure was 25.5 mmHg in
      the trabeculectomy group and 26.9 mmHg in the Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation
      group (p = 0.73). The 48-month postoperative mean intraocular pressure was 19.6
      mmHg in the trabeculectomy group and 20.2 mmHg in the Ahmed glaucoma valve
      implantation group (p = 0.95). The 12-month trabeculectomy success rate was 69%,
      compared with 64% for Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation, and the 48-month success
      rates were 42% and 36% for trabeculectomy and valve implantation, respectively.
      The success rates following the entire follow-up period were not significantly
      different between the two groups (p > 0.05 by log rank test). Postoperative
      complications occurred in 25% of the trabeculectomy-operated eyes and 9% of the
      Ahmed-implanted eyes (p = 0.38). CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference
      in surgical outcome between the trabeculectomy and Ahmed glaucoma valve
      implantation groups, neither of which had favorable results. However, the
      trabeculectomy group demonstrated a higher prevalence of adverse complications
      such as post-operative endophthalmitis.

PMID- 25829828
TI  - Clinical outcomes of individualized botulinum neurotoxin type A injection
      techniques in patients with essential blepharospasm.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the clinical outcomes following botulinum neurotoxin type A
      (BoNT-A) treatment with an individualized injection technique based on the types
      of spasms and to compare the results of the individualized injection technique
      with those of the conventional injection technique in the same patients. METHODS:
      From November 2011 to July 2013, 77 BoNT-A injections were performed in 38
      patients. Eighteen patients were treated with conventional BoNT-A injections
      before 2011, and 20 patients were referred to our hospital for unsatisfactory
      results after a conventional injection technique. We classified the patients by
      spasm-dominant sites: the lateral orbital area, representing the orbital
      orbicularis-dominant group (ODG); the glabella, representing the corrugator
      dominant group (CDG); and the ptosis, representing the palpebral part of the
      orbicularis-dominant group (PDG). We increased the injection dose into the spasm
      dominant sites of the blepharospasm groups. We assessed subjective symptom scores
      (functional disability score, FDS) after treatment. RESULTS: This study included
      38 patients (26 women, 12 men; mean age, 60.6 +/- 10.9 years). There were 21
      patients in the ODG, 10 patients in the CDG, and 7 patients in the PDG. Mean ages
      were 59.7 +/- 12.6, 59.8 +/- 8.5, and 66.8 +/- 9.0 years, and mean BoNT-A
      injection dose was 38.8 +/- 11.2, 38.8 +/- 11.2, and 38.8 +/- 10.8 U in each
      group, respectively (p = 0.44, 0.82 Kruskal-Wallis test). Mean FDS after
      injection was 1.7 +/- 0.7 in the ODG, 1.4 +/- 0.8 in the CDG, and 1.2 +/- 0.3 in
      the PDG. There were significant differences in reading and job scale among the
      three groups. In a comparison between the conventional and individualized
      injection techniques, there was a significant improvement in mean FDS and in the
      reading scale in the PDG with the individualized injection technique. The success
      rate was 92.1% in the conventional injection group and 94.1% in the
      individualized injection group. CONCLUSIONS: The individualized injection
      technique of BoNT-A according to the spasm-dominant site is an effective and safe
      treatment method for essential blepharospasm patients.

PMID- 25829829
TI  - Functional magnetic resonance imaging findings in Meares-Irlen syndrome: a pilot
      sudy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate patterns of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
      activation during sentence reading before and after wearing color-tinted lenses.
      METHODS: A total of 15 Meares-Irlen syndrome patients with a mean age of 23.4
      years (range, 13 to 42 years) with no history of neurological or psychiatric
      disorders were scanned using a 3T MR scanner (Siemens, Tim-Trio, Germany). Each
      patient underwent two sessions of fMRI imaging (before and after MISViS color
      tinted lens application). The fMRI paradigm included a block design of 20 seconds
      of rest (cross), 20 seconds of activation (sentence reading), and ten blocks (a
      total of 200 echo-planar image volumes) repeated for each session. Data
      preprocessing and analyses were performed using the SPM8 software package.
      RESULTS: The reading speed of patients improved more than 20% while wearing the
      selected lenses. When compared to the before-lens session, the after-lens session
      identified significant regions of activation in the left middle and superior
      temporal gyri (paired t-test; maximal z score, 5.38; Montreal Neurological
      Institute coordinate, -60 / -39 / 0; threshold at p < 0.05; corrected for
      multiple comparisons using family-wise error). No region of activation at the
      same threshold was found in the before-lens session as compared to the after-lens
      session. CONCLUSIONS: In the current study, we confirmed activation in the left
      middle and superior temporal gyri during sentence reading after wearing color
      tinted lenses. These results could explain the effectiveness of color-tinted
      lenses in patients with Meares-Irlen syndrome.

PMID- 25829830
TI  - Normative data of videonystagmography in young healthy adults under 40 years old.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to establish a set of normative data
      values for saccade movements using videonystagmography and to evaluate the
      effects of manual correction on this data. METHODS: We examined 25 healthy
      subjects (9 men and 16 women). All tests were carried out by one well-instructed
      physician. Errors such as the wrong detection of the inflection point, missing
      movement, and prediction occurred during some tests. Thus, the same physician
      manually corrected the data by deleting error data from row results. RESULTS: We
      established a set of normative data for horizontal saccade movements (amplitude
      size 15 and 30 degrees) for mean peak velocity, latency, and accuracy. Manual
      correction only impacted latency and accuracy at 30 degrees horizontal, which is
      likely related to possible errors during the test. CONCLUSIONS: The present study
      provides clinically useful videonystagmography-based normative data for
      clinicians regarding saccade movements in Korean individuals.

PMID- 25829831
TI  - Efficacy of the mineral oil and hyaluronic acid mixture eye drops in murine dry
      eye.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the therapeutic effects of mineral oil (MO) and
      hyaluronic acid (HA) mixture eye drops on the tear film and ocular surface in a
      mouse model of experimental dry eye (EDE). METHODS: Eye drops consisting of 0.1%
      HA alone or mixed with 0.1%, 0.5%, or 5.0% MO were applied to desiccating stress
      induced murine dry eyes. Tear volume, corneal irregularity score, tear film break
      up time (TBUT), and corneal fluorescein staining scores were measured at 5 and 10
      days after treatment. Ten days after treatment, goblet cells in the conjunctiva
      were counted after Periodic acid-Schiff staining. RESULTS: There was no
      significant difference in the tear volume between desiccating stress-induced
      groups. The corneal irregularity score was lower in the 0.5% MO group compared
      with the EDE and HA groups. The 0.5% and 5.0% MO groups showed a significant
      improvement in TBUT compared with the EDE group. Mice treated with 0.1% and 0.5%
      MO mixture eye drops showed a significant improvement in fluorescein staining
      scores compared with the EDE group and the HA group. The conjunctival goblet cell
      count was higher in the 0.5% MO group compared with the EDE group and HA group.
      CONCLUSIONS: The MO and HA mixture eye drops had a beneficial effect on the tear
      films and ocular surface of murine dry eye. The application of 0.5% MO and 0.1%
      HA mixture eye drops could improve corneal irregularity, the corneal fluorescein
      staining score, and conjunctival goblet cell count compared with 0.1% HA eye
      drops in the treatment of EDE.

PMID- 25829832
TI  - Bilateral macula-involving metastatic infection resulting from septic
      embolization.

PMID- 25829833
TI  - Bilateral sequential optic neuritis in Behcet's syndrome.

PMID- 25829834
TI  - Inferior rectus muscle restriction after sub-Tenon's anesthesia.

PMID- 25829835
TI  - Massive exudative retinal detachment following photodynamic therapy and
      intravitreal bevacizumab injection in retinal capillary hemangioma.

PMID- 25829836
TI  - Fast Implementation for Normal Mixed Effects Models With Censored Response.
AB  - We propose an EM algorithm for computing the maximum likelihood and restricted
      maximum likelihood for linear and nonlinear mixed effects models with censored
      response. In contrast with previous developments, this algorithm uses closed-form
      expressions at the E-step, as opposed to Monte Carlo simulation. These
      expressions rely on formulas for the mean and variance of a truncated multinormal
      distribution, and can be computed using available software. This leads to an
      improvement in the speed of computation of up to an order of magnitude. A wide
      class of mixed effects models is considered, including the Laird-Ware model, and
      extensions to different structures for the variance components, heteroscedastic
      and autocorrelated errors, and multilevel models. We apply the methodology to two
      case studies from our own biostatistical practice, involving the analysis of
      longitudinal HIV viral load in two recent AIDS studies. The proposed algorithm is
      implemented in the R package lmec. An appendix which includes further
      mathematical details, the R code, and datasets for examples and simulations are
      available as the online supplements.

PMID- 25829837
TI  - The effect of in-plane arterial curvature on blood flow and oxygen transport in
      arterio-venous fistulae.
AB  - Arterio-Venous Fistulae (AVF) are the preferred method of vascular access for
      patients with end stage renal disease who need hemodialysis. In this study,
      simulations of blood flow and oxygen transport were undertaken in various
      idealized AVF configurations. The objective of the study was to understand how
      arterial curvature affects blood flow and oxygen transport patterns within AVF,
      with a focus on how curvature alters metrics known to correlate with vascular
      pathology such as Intimal Hyperplasia (IH). If one subscribes to the hypothesis
      that unsteady flow causes IH within AVF, then the results suggest that in order
      to avoid IH, AVF should be formed via a vein graft onto the outer-curvature of a
      curved artery. However, if one subscribes to the hypothesis that low wall shear
      stress and/or low lumen-to-wall oxygen flux (leading to wall hypoxia) cause IH
      within AVF, then the results suggest that in order to avoid IH, AVF should be
      formed via a vein graft onto a straight artery, or the inner-curvature of a
      curved artery. We note that the recommendations are incompatible-highlighting the
      importance of ascertaining the exact mechanisms underlying development of IH in
      AVF. Nonetheless, the results clearly illustrate the important role played by
      arterial curvature in determining AVF hemodynamics, which to our knowledge has
      been overlooked in all previous studies.

PMID- 25829838
TI  - Sumatrellachelonica gen. n., sp. n., a new remarkable genus and species from
      Indonesia, Sumatra (Acari, Uropodina, Oplitidae).
AB  - A new genus Sumatrella gen. n. is described and illustrated based on the new
      species Sumatrellachelonica sp. n. collected in Sumatra, Indonesia. The new genus
      belongs to the family Oplitidae based on its hypertrichous internal malae and the
      absence of strongly sclerotized structures on the dorsal shield. The new genus is
      closely related to the genus Chelonuropoda Sellnick, 1954 but the transverse
      furrow on ventral idiosoma close to coxae IV and the strongly sclerotized C
      shaped dorsal line are missing in the new genus. These characters can be found in
      species of Chelonuropoda. 

PMID- 25829839
TI  - The distribution and taxonomy of Lissotriton newts in Turkey (Amphibia,
      Salamandridae).
AB  - Two and perhaps three taxa of Lissotriton newt occur in Turkey. Their species
      status is controversial. The distribution of these taxa and the taxonomic status
      of each are reviewed and discussed. A database of 128 Turkish Lissotriton
      localities was compiled and species distribution models were constructed. We
      reiterate that the presence of Lissotriton (vulgaris) lantzi in Turkey is
      disputed and needs confirmation. The range of Lissotriton (vulgaris) kosswigi is
      restricted to north-western Anatolia - given the small global range of this
      Turkey endemic, a closer look at its conservation status is warranted. The
      distribution of Lissotritonvulgarisschmidtleri covers western Asiatic and
      European Turkey. The findings support an allopatric distribution of the Turkish
      Lissotriton species. We reflect on the biological significance of previously
      reported morphological intermediates between Lissotriton (vulgaris) kosswigi and
      Lissotritonvulgarisschmidtleri in the light of the recent proposal to recognize
      kosswigi at the species level. The available data are in line with species status
      for Lissotriton (vulgaris) lantzi and Lissotriton (vulgaris) kosswigi. Although
      Lissotritonvulgarisschmidtleri is a genetically diverged taxon as well, the
      extent of gene flow with parapatric European Lissotriton taxa is as yet unknown. 

PMID- 25829841
TI  - Phylogenetic analysis of the sharpshooter genus Subrasaca Young, 1977 (Hemiptera,
      Cicadellidae, Cicadellini).
AB  - The South American sharpshooter genus Subrasaca comprises 14 species. Some
      species of this genus are quite common in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. In
      this paper, a phylogenetic analysis of Subrasaca, based on a matrix of 20
      terminal taxa and 72 morphological characters of the head, thorax, and male and
      female genitalia, is presented. The analysis yielded six equally most
      parsimonious trees (197 steps, CI = 0.6091, RI = 0.5722, and RC = 0.3486). The
      results suggest that Subrasaca is a monophyletic taxon, although the genus branch
      is not robust. The clade showing the highest bootstrap and Bremer scores is
      formed by species with longitudinal dark brown to black stripes on the forewings
      (Subrasacabimaculata, Subrasacaconstricta, Subrasacacurvovittata, and
      Subrasacaflavolineata), followed by Subrasacaatronasa + Subrasacaaustera. 

PMID- 25829840
TI  - The systematics of Echinorhynchus Zoega in Muller, 1776 (Acanthocephala,
      Echinorhynchidae) elucidated by nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data from
      eight European taxa.
AB  - The acanthocephalan genus Echinorhynchus Zoega in Muller, 1776 (sensuYamaguti
      1963) is a large and widespread group of parasites of teleost fish and
      malacostracan crustaceans, distributed from the Arctic to the Antarctic in
      habitats ranging from freshwaters to the deep-sea. A total of 52 species are
      currently recognised based on the conventional morphological species concept;
      however, the true diversity in the genus is masked by cryptic speciation. The
      considerable diversity within Echinorhynchus is an argument for subdividing the
      genus if monophyletic groups with supporting morphological characters can be
      identified. With this objective in mind, partial sequences of two genes with
      different rates of evolution and patterns of inheritance (nuclear 28S rRNA and
      mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) were used to infer the phylogenetic
      relationships among eight taxa of Echinorhynchus. These included representatives
      of each of three genus group taxa proposed in a controversial revision of the
      genus based on cement gland pattern, namely Echinorhynchus (sensu stricto),
      Metechinorhynchus Petrochenko, 1956 and Pseudoechinorhynchus Petrochenko, 1956.
      These groupings have previously been rejected by some authorities, because the
      diagnostic character is poorly defined; this study shows that Echinorhynchus
      (sensu stricto) and Metechinorhynchus are not natural, monophyletic groups. A
      revision of Echinorhynchus will require tandem molecular phylogenetic and
      morphological analyses of a larger sample of taxa, but this study has identified
      two morhological characters that might potentially be used to define new genera.
      The estimated phylogeny also provides insight into the zoogeographical history of
      Echinorhynchus spp. We postulate that the ancestral Echinorhynchus had a
      freshwater origin and the genus subsequently invaded the sea, probably several
      times. The freshwater taxa of the Echinorhynchusbothniensis Zdzitowiecki &
      Valtonen, 1987 clade may represent a reinvasion of freshwater by one or more
      ancestral marine species. 

PMID- 25829842
TI  - Three new species of Epicephala Meyrick (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae) associated
      with Phyllanthusmicrocarpus (Benth.) (Phyllanthaceae).
AB  - Three new species of Epicephala Meyrick, 1880 are described based on specimens
      reared from fruits of Phyllanthusmicrocarpus (Benth.): Epicephalamicrocarpa sp.
      n. and Epicephalalaeviclada sp. n. from Guangxi and Hainan, and
      Epicephalatertiaria sp. n. from Guangdong and Guangxi. Photographs of adults and
      illustrations of genital structures are provided. 

PMID- 25829843
TI  - A new genus and species of tettigarctid cicada from the early Miocene of New
      Zealand: Paratettigarctazealandica (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Tettigarctidae).
AB  - A new genus and species of primitive cicada (Hemiptera: Tettigarctidae) is
      described from the early Miocene of southern New Zealand.
      Paratettigarctazealandica gen. et sp. n. is the first cicada (Cicadoidea) fossil
      from New Zealand and exhibits wing venation patterns typical for the subfamily
      Tettigarctinae. It differs from other fossil taxa and the extant genus
      Tettigarcta in the early divergence of CuA2 from the nodal line in the forewing,
      its parallel-sided subcostal cell, the early bifurcation of vein M and long
      apical cells of the hindwing, and in wing pigmentation patterns. 

PMID- 25829844
TI  - On the desmitracheate "micronetine" genus Nippononeta Eskov, 1992 (Araneae,
      Linyphiidae).
AB  - The desmitracheate system in a "micronetine" genus Nippononeta Eskov, 1992 is
      recognized for the first time in the present study. This makes the subfamilial
      placement of this genus problematic. A morphological study was conducted for
      Nippononetakurilensis Eskov, 1992 (the type species of Nippononeta) and
      Nippononetacoreana (Paik, 1991). Characters of genitalia and tracheal system, as
      well as some somatic characters were studied in detail by using scanning
      electronic microscopy (SEM), and compared with those of Agyneta. Updated
      descriptions of the genus Nippononeta and its two species are presented. Putative
      synapomorphies for Nippononeta and Agyneta are provided, as well as some putative
      synapomorphies shared by the two genera. The results imply that both scaped
      epigynum and desmitracheate tracheal system are probably homoplastic. The
      placement of Nippononeta and Agyneta within Linyphiidae need to be resolved in
      future studies. 

PMID- 25829845
TI  - Description of a new soft scale insect of the genus Pulvinaria Targioni Tozzetti
      (Hemiptera, Coccoidea, Coccidae) from Bogota, Colombia.
AB  - A new soft scale (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae) species,
      Pulvinariacaballeroramosae Tanaka & Kondo, sp. n., is described from specimens
      collected on twigs of Ficussoatensis Dugand (Moraceae) in Bogota, Colombia. The
      new species resembles Pulvinariadrymiswinteri Kondo & Gullan, described from
      Chile on Drimyswinteri J.R. Forst. & G. Forst. (Winteraceae), but differs in the
      distribution of preopercular pores on the dorsum, the presence of dorsal tubular
      ducts, dorsal microducts, and reticulation on the anal plates; and in its feeding
      habits, i.e., Pulvinariacaballeroramosae feeds on the twigs whereas
      Pulvinariadrymiswinteri feeds on the leaves of its host. A key to the Colombian
      species of Pulvinaria Targioni Tozzetti is provided. 

PMID- 25829846
TI  - Morphological and molecular study of Symphyla from Colombia.
AB  - The symphylans are a poorly studied group. In Colombia the number of symphylan
      species is unknown with only Scutigerellaimmaculata (Symphyla: Scutigerellidae)
      being reported previously. The aim of this research was to collect and identify
      the symphylan pests of flower crops in Colombia. Morphological descriptions
      showed that our specimens shared more than one of the characters that define
      different genera within Scutigerellidae. The COI barcode haplotype showed
      interspecific level genetic divergence with Scutigerellacauseyae (at least 23%)
      and Hanseniella sp. (22%). Furthermore, our Colombian symphylans shared the same
      COI haplotype as some Symphyla found in Cameroon indicating a wide geographical
      distribution of this taxon. Our results suggest the presence of a new genus or
      subgenus in the class Symphyla. 

PMID- 25829847
TI  - Integrative taxonomy of New World Euplectrus Westwood (Hymenoptera, Eulophidae),
      with focus on 55 new species from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern
      Costa Rica.
AB  - 90 species of Euplectrus are treated: 55 newly described, all from Area de
      Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG), and 35 previously described species, of which 20
      occur in ACG. Three of the previously described species (Euplectrusbrasiliensis
      Ashmead, Euplectrushircinus (Say), Euplectrusronnai (Brethes)) have unknown
      status, owing to missing or severely damaged type material. The new species, all
      authored by C. Hansson, are: Euplectrusalejandrovalerioi, Euplectrusalexsmithi,
      Euplectrusalvarowillei, Euplectrusandybennetti, Euplectrusandydeansi,
      Euplectrusannettewalkerae, Euplectrusbillbrowni, Euplectrusbobwhartoni,
      Euplectruscarlosarmientoi, Euplectruscarlrettenmeyeri,
      Euplectruscharlesmicheneri, Euplectruscharlesporteri, Euplectruschrisdarlingi,
      Euplectruschrisgrinteri, Euplectruscorriemoreauae, Euplectrusdaveroubiki,
      Euplectrusdavesmithi, Euplectrusdavidwahli, Euplectrusdianariasae,
      Euplectrusdonquickei, Euplectruseowilsoni, Euplectrusgarygibsoni,
      Euplectrusgavinbroadi, Euplectrusgerarddelvarei, Euplectrushenrytownesi,
      Euplectrushowelldalyi, Euplectrushugokonsi, Euplectrusiangauldi,
      Euplectrusjacklonginoi, Euplectrusjesusugaldei, Euplectrusjimwhitfieldi,
      Euplectrusjjrodriguezae, Euplectrusjohnheratyi, Euplectrusjohnlasallei,
      Euplectrusjohnnoyesi, Euplectrusjosefernandezi, Euplectruslubomirmasneri,
      Euplectrusmarkshawi, Euplectrusmikegatesi, Euplectrusmikeschauffi,
      Euplectrusmikesharkeyi, Euplectrusninazitaniae, Euplectruspammitchellae,
      Euplectruspaulhansoni, Euplectruspaulheberti, Euplectruspaulhurdi,
      Euplectrusphilwardi, Euplectrusrobbinthorpi, Euplectrusronaldzunigai,
      Euplectrusroysnellingi, Euplectrusscottshawi, Euplectrussondrawardae,
      Euplectrussydneycameronae, Euplectrusvictoriapookae, Euplectruswonyoungchoi. The
      species are described or redescribed, and thoroughly and uniformly illustrated,
      and included in two identification keys, one for females and one for males.
      Lectotypes are designated for eight species: Euplectruscatocalae Howard (?),
      Euplectrusjunctus Gahan (?), Euplectrusleucotrophis Howard (?),
      Euplectrusmarginatus Ashmead (?), Euplectruspachyscaphus Girault (?),
      Euplectrusplatyhypenae Howard (?), Euplectrussemimarginatus Girault (?),
      Heteroscapusronnai Brethes (?). One synonym is established: Euplectruswalteri
      Schauff is a junior synonym of Euplectrustestaceipes (Cameron). Brief image notes
      and host records are provided on the natural history of the wasps as well as the
      details of their morphology. Hosts are known for 74 Euplectrus species. 

PMID- 25829848
TI  - Annotated type catalogue of the Chrysididae (Insecta, Hymenoptera) deposited in
      the collection of Radoszkowski in the Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow.
AB  - A critical and annotated catalogue of 183 types of HymenopteraChrysididae
      belonging to 124 taxa housed in the Radoszkowski collection is given.
      Radoszkowski type material from other institutes has also been checked. Six
      lectotypes are designated in Krakow (ISEA-PAN): Chrysisacceptabilis Radoszkowski,
      1891; Chrysispersica Radoczkowsky, 1881; Chrysisdaphnis Mocsary, 1889;
      Chrysislagodechii Radoszkowski, 1889; Chrysisremota Mocsary, 1889 and
      Chrysisvagans Radoszkowski, 1877. The lectotype of Brugmoiapellucida
      Radoszkowski, 1877 is designated in Moscow (MMU). Four new combinations are
      proposed: Philoctetesararaticus (Radoszkowski, 1890), comb. n.;
      Pseudomalushypocrita (du Buysson, 1893), comb. n.; Chrysiseldari (Radoszkowski,
      1893), comb. n.; and Chrysuramlokosewitzi (Radoszkowski, 1889), comb. n.. Ten new
      synonyms are given: Chrysisauropunctata Mocsary, 1889, syn. n. of
      Chrysisangolensis Radoszkovsky, 1881; Chrysischrysochlora Mocsary, 1889, syn. n.
      and Chrysisviridans Radoszkowski, 1891, syn. n. of Chrysiskeriensis Radoszkowski,
      1887; Chrysisangustifronsvar.ignicollis Trautmann, 1926, syn. n. of Chrysiseldari
      (Radoszkowski, 1893); Chrysismaracandensisvar.simulatrix Radoszkowski, 1891, syn.
      n. of Chrysismaracandensis Radoszkowski, 1877; Chrysispulchra Radoszkovsky, 1880,
      syn. n. of Spinoliadallatorreana (Mocsary, 1896); Chrysisrubricollis du Buysson,
      1900, syn. n. of Chrysiseldari (Radoszkowski, 1893); Chrysissubcoerulea
      Radoszkowski, 1891, syn. n. of Chrysischlorochrysa Mocsary, 1889; Chrysistherates
      Mocsary, 1889, syn. n. of Chrysisprincipalis Smith, 1874; and Notozuskomarowi
      Radoszkowski, 1893, syn. n. of Elampusobesus (Mocsary, 1890). One species is
      revaluated: Chrysischalcochrysa Mocsary, 1887. Chrysiskizilkumiana Rosa is the
      new name for Chrysisuljanini Radoszkowski & Mocsary, 1889 nec Radoszkowski, 1877.
      Pictures of seventy-seven type specimens are given. 

PMID- 25829849
TI  - The Diplommatinidae of Fiji - a hotspot of Pacific land snail biodiversity
      (Caenogastropoda, Cyclophoroidea).
AB  - The minute (adult size 1.3-4.8 mm) land snail species of the family
      Diplommatinidae in the Fiji archipelago are revised based on historical material
      and modern (1998-99) collections targeting limestone outcrops on the largest
      island, Viti Levu, and several smaller islands in the Lau group. The forty-two
      species (including 30 new species) belong to the genera Moussonia Semper, 1865,
      Palaina Semper, 1865 and Diancta Martens, 1867, which are briefly characterized
      and keyed. The diagnostic structure of the inner lamellar system of each species
      is illustrated. All species except one are endemic to Fiji. In Viti Levu, the 12
      localities surveyed each had 1-13 (average 5) species of Diplommatinidae; ten
      species were each found at a single site only. In the Lau islands, five islands
      were visited, with 1-4 species per island; four species are known from single
      islands. The number of historically known species not recollected in 1998-99 (7
      species), the number of single-site occurrences (14 species), and the numerous
      islands - including limestone islands - that have not been surveyed at all,
      indicate that the 42 species of Diplommatinidae currently known from Fiji
      represent perhaps only half of the Fiji diplommatinid fauna. Such numbers
      approach the diplommatinid diversity of Palau (39 described and more than 60
      undescribed species), and surpasses by far the diversity of other South Pacific
      archipelagos of comparable land area (New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Samoa).
      Nomenclatural acts: Lectotypes designated: Diplommatinafuscula,
      Diplommatinafusculavar.vitiana, Diplommatinagodeffroyana,
      Diplommatinagodeffroyanavar.latecostata, Diplommatinatuberosa,
      Diplommatinamartensivar.macrostoma, all Mousson, 1870. Neotypes designated:
      Diplommatinasubregularis, Diplommatinaascendens, Diplommatinaquadrata, all
      Mousson, 1870. New species: Dianctaaurea sp. n., Dianctaaurita sp. n.,
      Dianctabasiplana sp. n., Dianctacontroversa sp. n., Dianctadensecostulata sp. n.,
      Dianctadextra sp. n., Dianctadilatata sp. n., Dianctadistorta sp. n.,
      Dianctapulchella sp. n., Dianctarotunda sp. n., Dianctasubquadrata sp. n.,
      Dianctatrilamellata sp. n., Moussoniaacuta sp. n., Moussoniabarkeri sp. n.,
      Moussoniabrodieae sp. n., Moussonialongipalatalis sp. n., Moussoniaminutissima
      sp. n., Moussoniaobesa sp. n., Moussoniapolita sp. n., Moussoniauncinata sp. n.,
      Moussoniavitianoides sp. n., Palainaalberti sp. n., Palainaflammulata sp. n.,
      Palainaglabella sp. n., Palainakitteli sp. n., Palainalabeosa sp. n.,
      Palainaparietalis sp. n., Palainasulcata sp. n., Palainatruncata sp. n.,
      Palainatuberosissima sp. n. 

PMID- 25829850
TI  - Peruvian oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) from the German Biological Expedition,
      with description of a new species of the genus Pergalumna.
AB  - The present study is based on oribatid mite material (Acari, Oribatida) collected
      during the German Expedition in 2011 in Peru. An annotated checklist of
      identified oribatid mites, including 16 species from 14 genera and 8 families, is
      provided. Thirteen species and two genera (Notohermannia, Zetomimus) are recorded
      for the first time in Peru; the genus Notohermannia and species
      Notohermanniaobtusa are recorded for the first time in the Neotropical region. A
      new species of the genus Pergalumna (Galumnidae), Pergalumnaparaboliviana sp. n.,
      is described. The new species is most similar to Pergalumnaboliviana Ermilov,
      2013 from Bolivia, however, it differs from the latter by the body size,
      morphology of porose areas A1 and the presence of interlamellar setae. 

PMID- 25829851
TI  - A new species of Scolopocryptops Newport: a troglobitic scolopocryptopine
      centipede from a remarkable siliciclastic area of eastern Brazil
      (Scolopendromorpha, Scolopocryptopidae, Scolopocryptopinae).
AB  - We describe Scolopocryptopstroglocaudatus sp. n., a new troglobitic
      scolopocryptopine centipede species. The species was found in a remarkable
      siliciclastic karst area of Eastern Brazil, in three caves of the Chapada da
      Diamantina, in the state of Bahia. Scolopocryptopstroglocaudatus sp. n. is close
      to Scolopocryptopsmiersii Newport, 1845 and Scolopocryptopsferrugineusmacrodon
      (Kraepelin, 1903) but differs from them by troglomorphic features, such as
      depigmentation, long appendages and a thin cuticle. This new species is the
      second troglobitic scolopocryptopine described and is the first discovered in
      Brazil.

PMID- 25829852
TI  - Review of Canadian species of the genus Mocyta Mulsant & Rey (Coleoptera,
      Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae), with the description of a new species and a new
      synonymy.
AB  - Six species of the genus Mocyta Mulsant & Rey are reported from Canada:
      Mocytaamblystegii (Brundin), Mocytabreviuscula (Maklin), Mocytadiscreta (Casey),
      Mocytafungi (Gravenhorst), Mocytaluteola (Erichson), and Mocytasphagnorum
      Klimaszewski & Webster, sp. n. New provincial and state records include:
      Mocytabreviuscula - Saskatchewan and Oregon; Mocytadiscreta - Quebec, Ontario and
      Saskatchewan; Mocytaluteola - New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Massachusetts and
      Minnesota; and Mocytafungi - Saskatchewan. Mocytasphagnorum is described from
      eastern Canada from specimens captured in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Quebec and
      Ontario. Mocytanegligens Mulsant and Rey, a native European species suspected of
      occurring in Canada, is excluded from the Nearctic fauna based on comparison of
      European types with similarly coloured Canadian specimens, which are now
      identified as Mocytaluteola. The European species, Mocytagilvicollis
      (Scheerpeltz), is synonymized with another European nominal species,
      Mocytanegligens, based on examination of type material of the two species.
      Lectotypes are designated for Eurypronotadiscreta Casey, Athetagilvicollis
      Scheerpeltz, Homalotaluteola Erichson, Colpodotanegligens Mulsant and Rey,
      Acrotonaprudens Casey and Dolosotaredundans Casey. The latter species is here
      synonymized with Mocytaluteola. A review of the six Nearctic species is provided,
      including keys to species and closely related genera, colour habitus images,
      images of genitalia, biological information and maps of their distributions in
      Canada. 

PMID- 25829853
TI  - No need to replace an "anomalous" primate (Primates) with an "anomalous" bear
      (Carnivora, Ursidae).
AB  - By means of mitochondrial 12S rRNA sequencing of putative "yeti", "bigfoot", and
      other "anomalous primate" hair samples, a recent study concluded that two
      samples, presented as from the Himalayas, do not belong to an "anomalous
      primate", but to an unknown, anomalous type of ursid. That is, that they match
      12S rRNA sequences of a fossil Polar Bear (Ursusmaritimus), but neither of modern
      Polar Bears, nor of Brown Bears (Ursusarctos), the closest relative of Polar
      Bears, and one that occurs today in the Himalayas. We have undertaken direct
      comparison of sequences; replication of the original comparative study; inference
      of phylogenetic relationships of the two samples with respect to those from all
      extant species of Ursidae (except for the Giant Panda, Ailuropodamelanoleuca) and
      two extinct Pleistocene species; and application of a non-tree-based population
      aggregation approach for species diagnosis and identification. Our results
      demonstrate that the very short fragment of the 12S rRNA gene sequenced by Sykes
      et al. is not sufficiently informative to support the hypotheses provided by
      these authors with respect to the taxonomic identity of the individuals from
      which these sequences were obtained. We have concluded that there is no reason to
      believe that the two samples came from anything other than Brown Bears. These
      analyses afforded an opportunity to test the monophyly of morphologically defined
      species and to comment on both their phylogenetic relationships and future
      efforts necessary to advance our understanding of ursid systematics. 

PMID- 25829854
TI  - A new species of Cyanea (Campanulaceae, Lobelioideae), from the Ko'olau Mountains
      of O'ahu, Hawaiian Islands.
AB  - Cyaneakonahuanuiensis Sporck-Koehler, M. Waite, A.M. Williams, sp. nov., a
      recently documented, narrowly endemic species from the Hawaiian Island of O'ahu,
      is described and illustrated with photographs from the field. The closest likely
      relatives to the species, current conservation needs, and management future are
      discussed. It is currently known from 20 mature plants from two subpopulations
      and is restricted to a drainage below the Konahua-nui summit (K1), the highest
      summit of the Ko'olau Mountains, located on Windward O'ahu. It differs from all
      other Cyanea species by its combination of densely pubescent leaves, petioles,
      and flowers; sparsely pubescent to glabrous stems, long calyx lobes, and staminal
      column being adnate to the corolla. 

PMID- 25829856
TI  - Species richness and macronutrient content of wawo worms (Polychaeta, Annelida)
      from Ambonese waters, Maluku, Indonesia.
AB  - The aims of this research were to: (1) investigate the species richness of wawo
      worms, and to (2) analyze macronutrient content of the worms. Wawo worms were
      sampled using a fishing net on March 18(th)-19(th), 2014, from Ambonese waters,
      Maluku. As many as 26 wawo species belonging to 5 families were identified.
      Palola sp. was identified as the most abundant species of wawo, followed by
      Lysidiceoele, Horst 1905, Eunice spp. and nereidids. Results of the proximate
      analysis reveal that female epitokes of Palola sp. contain 10.78 % ash, 10.71 %
      moisture, 11.67 % crude fat, 54.72 % crude protein and 12.12 % carbohydrate. 

PMID- 25829855
TI  - PASSIFOR: A reference library of DNA barcodes for French saproxylic beetles
      (Insecta, Coleoptera).
AB  - Saproxylic beetles - associated with dead wood or with other insects, fungi and
      microorganisms that decompose it - play a major role in forest nutrient cycling.
      They are important ecosystem service providers and are used as key bio-indicators
      of old-growth forests. In France alone, where the present study took place, there
      are about 2500 species distributed within 71 families. This high diversity
      represents a major challenge for specimen sorting and identification. The
      PASSIFOR project aims at developing a DNA metabarcoding approach to facilitate
      and enhance the monitoring of saproxylic beetles as indicators in ecological
      studies. As a first step toward that goal we assembled a library of DNA barcodes
      using the standard genetic marker for animals, i.e. a portion of the COI
      mitochondrial gene. In the present contribution, we release a library including
      656 records representing 410 species in 40 different families. Species were
      identified by expert taxonomists, and each record is linked to a voucher specimen
      to enable future morphological examination. We also highlight and briefly discuss
      cases of low interspecific divergences, as well as cases of high intraspecific
      divergences that might represent cases of overlooked or cryptic diversity. 

PMID- 25829857
TI  - Thirteen new records of ferns from Brazil.
AB  - Thirteen fern species are reported for the first time for Brazil. Among the new
      records, eight are from Acre state (Cyatheasubincisa, Cyclodiumtrianae,
      Elaphoglossumstenophyllum, Hypoderrisbrauniana, Pleopeltisstolzei,
      Thelypterisarcana, Thelypteriscomosa, Thelypterisvaldepilosa), two are from Para
      state (Polypodiumflagellare, Tectariaheracleifolia), one from Minas Gerais state
      (Alsophilasalvinii), one from Ceara state (Campyloneurumcostatum) and one from
      Bahia state (Thelypterisrolandii). Part of the species shows a disjunct
      occurrence or illustrates floristic relations between Brazilian and Andean
      Mountains or Central American Mountains. 

PMID- 25829858
TI  - Vascular plant community composition from the campos rupestres of the Itacolomi
      State Park, Brazil.
AB  - Camposrupestres are rare and endangered ecosystems that accommodate a species
      rich flora with a high degree of endemism. Here, we make available a dataset from
      phytosociological surveys carried out in the Itacolomi State Park, Minas Gerais,
      southeastern Brazil. All species in a total of 30 plots of 10 x 10 m from two
      study sites were sampled. Their cardinality, a combination of cover and
      abundance, was estimated. Altogether, we registered occurrences from 161
      different taxa from 114 genera and 47 families. The families with the most
      species were Poaceae and Asteraceae, followed by Cyperaceae. Abiotic
      descriptions, including soil properties such as type, acidity, nutrient or
      aluminum availability, cation exchange capacity, and saturation of bases, as well
      as the percentage of rocky outcrops and the mean inclination for each plot, are
      given. This dataset provides unique insights into the campo rupestre vegetation,
      its specific environment and the distribution of its diversity. 

PMID- 25829859
TI  - Checklist of fabaceae lindley in balaghat ranges of maharashtra, India.
AB  - The present paper provides an enumeration of leguminous taxa of Balaghat Ranges
      of Maharashtra along with their habits, phenological deta and voucher specimen
      numbers. During the present work, a total of 123 species, 4 subspecies and 17
      varieties of Fabaceae have been recorded for Balaghat Ranges of Maharashtra, of
      which 119 taxa are occurring in wild while 25 are under cultivation. The members
      of Fabaceae are dominant in herbaceous vegetation of the Balaghat Ranges. There
      are more species in genera like Crotalaria (23 taxa), Indigofera (16 taxa),
      Alysicarpus (14 taxa), Vigna (11 taxa) and Desmodium (8 taxa). Twelve taxa are
      endemic to India of which Indigoferadeccanensis falls into Critically Endangered
      IUCN Red data category. The legumes of Balaghat Ranges have many actual and
      potential uses such as food, fodder and sources of edible oil, natural dyes,
      industrial lubricants, timber and medicines. About 19 leguminous taxa are wild
      relatives of food and fodder crops have resistance to pests and diseases, and
      abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity, can be used for crop improvement. 

PMID- 25829860
TI  - Updated list of the mosquitoes of Colombia (Diptera: Culicidae).
AB  - BACKGROUND: A revised list of the mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) known to occur
      in Colombia is presented. A total of 324 species from 28 genera of Culicidae are
      included. The species names are organized in alphabetical order according to the
      current generic and subgeneric classification, along with their authorship. The
      list is compiled in order to support mosquito research in Colombia. NEW
      INFORMATION: Our systematic review and literature survey found, by 16 February
      2015, 13 records of culicid species previously overlooked by mosquito catalogs
      for Colombia: Anophelescostai da Fonseca & da Silva Ramos, 1939, An.fluminensis
      Root, 1927, An.malefactor Dyar & Knab, 1907, An.shannoni Davis, 1931, An.vargasi
      Galbadon, Cova Garcia & Lopez, 1941, Culexmesodenticulatus Galindo & Mendez,
      1961, Haemagoguscapricornii Lutz, 1904, Isostomyiaespini (Martini, 1914),
      Johnbelkinialeucopus (Dyar & Knab, 1906), Mansoniaindubitans Dyar & Shannon,
      1925, Psorophorasaeva Dyar & Knab, 1906, Sabethesglaucodaemon (Dyar & Shannon,
      1925), and Wyeomyiaintonca Dyar & Knab, 1909. Moreover, Wyeomyia (Dendromyia)
      luteoventralis Theobald, 1901 is recorded for Colombia for the first time. This
      work provides important insights into mosquito diversity in Colombia, using the
      current nomenclature and phylogenetic rankings.

PMID- 25829861
TI  - Vignapandeyana (Fabaceae), a new species from northern Western Ghats, India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Vigna subg. Ceratotropis (Piper) Verdc. represents a homogenous and
      distinct group of species with highly specialized complex floral characters. It
      is most diverse in Asia. India, with 24 species, represents a secondary center of
      species diversity of the subgenus. NEW INFORMATION: A new species, Vignapandeyana
      RD Gore, SP Gaikwad & SD Randive, is described from hill slopes of the northern
      Western Ghats of India. It resembles Vignayadavii Gaikwad et al. and
      Vignadalzelliana (Kuntze) Verdc. but differs from the latter in its dimorphic
      shoots (some subterranean, with cleistogamous flowers) and densely hairy pods,
      from the former by its curved style, flattened style beak, foveolate seed coat
      and absence of standard protuberance and horn-like keel pocket in cleistogamous
      flowers.

PMID- 25829862
TI  - Review of Anasillomos Londt, 1983 with the description of a new species (Insecta:
      Diptera: Asilidae).
AB  - The southern African assassin-fly genus Anasillomos Londt, 1983 is reviewed. A
      new species, Anasillomosjuergeni sp. n., is described from the Namib desert and
      represents the second species in the genus. Descriptions/re-descriptions,
      photographs, and identification keys are provided to aid in the identification.
      Distribution, occurrence in biodiversity hotspots sensu Conservation
      International, and seasonal incidence are discussed. 

PMID- 25829863
TI  - Additions to the myxobiota of the Aland Islands.
AB  - Six myxomycete species new to the Aland Islands are presented: Comatrichaelegans,
      Cribrariaintricata, Didymiumminus, Hemitrichiaclavata, Liceavariabilis and
      Trichiafavoginea. The record of Cribrariaintricata is the third in Finland.
      Specimens were collected in September 2014. Altogether the number of myxomycete
      species found from the Aland Islands is now 55. 

PMID- 25829864
TI  - First report of Dicopuslongipes (Subba Rao) (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from
      India with new distribution data on some species.
AB  - Dicopuslongipes (Subba Rao) (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Mymaridae) is recorded
      from India for the first time. New additional distribution records of Mymaridae
      from the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala are documented. 

PMID- 25829865
TI  - History of research in Japan on electrocardiography in the racehorse.
AB  - Since the first recording of electrocardiograms (ECGs) of a horse in Japan was
      carried out in 1944, studies on ECGs have been performed intensively. During the
      early stages of research from the 1950s to 1960s, leads to use for ECG recording
      were evaluated using several different approaches including unipolar leads,
      bipolar limb leads, and bipolar chest leads. Based on these studies, the AB lead,
      which is oriented along the long axis of the heart, became the standard reference
      method in Japan. Electrodes of the AB lead are placed on the upper 1/4th point
      along a straight line between the withers and the left shoulder blade (base: B),
      and 10 cm posterior to the left olecranon (apex: A). The incidence of equine
      arrhythmias among racehorses has been surveyed, and details of the
      electrocardiographic characteristics of several arrhythmias have been
      investigated. In particular, atrial fibrillation (AF) has been extensively
      studied, and papers have reported findings such as that paroxysmal AF occurs
      during racing and described electrocardiographic changes that occur at the onset
      of AF during exercise. Development of a radiotelemetry system for ECG recording
      enabled the first recording of equine ECGs during galloping in 1964, the
      detection of arrhythmias, and calculation of heart rate during exercise. Studies
      on comparative and developmental changes of ECGs have described characteristics
      of the equine ECGs. Future research on changes in cardiac function, including
      autonomic function, that occur with aging may lead to new developments in equine
      electrocardiography and contribute to improving the health and welfare of the
      horse. 

PMID- 25829866
TI  - Anti-Mullerian hormone as an indicator of hemi-castrated unilateral cryptorchid
      horses.
AB  - Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), a glycoprotein secreted from the fetal testis, is
      responsible for regression of the Mullerian duct in the male fetus. The aim of
      this study was to evaluate the usefulness of serum AMH as a biomarker for
      diagnosis of cryptorchidism in horses. Serum AMH concentrations were measured in
      intact stallions, hemi-castrated unilateral cryptorchid stallions, and geldings.
      In addition, expression of AMH was characterized in cryptorchid testes by
      immunohistochemistry. Serum AMH was detected in intact stallions (n=11, 13.3 +/-
      1.8 ng/ml) and in hemi-castrated cryptorchid stallions (n=8, 17.6 +/- 3.0 ng/ml),
      but not in geldings (n=6, all data were below the limit of detection).
      Immunolabeling for AMH was detected in Sertoli cells of undescended testes from
      cryptorchid horses as well as those of normal testes. Our findings indicate that
      the cryptorchid testis after hemi-castration secretes AMH and that serum AMH
      concentrations may be a useful biomarker for diagnosis of equine cryptorchidism. 

PMID- 25829867
TI  - Prevalence and Antibiogram study of Rhodococcus equi in equines of Jammu and
      Kashmir, India.
AB  - The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Rhodococcus equi
      infection in equines of Jammu and Kashmir, India, and evaluate the zoonotic
      threat posed by this organism to equine owners and tourists. One hundred and
      forty-one samples (98 samples from adult animals >=5 years old and 43 samples
      from foals less than 6 months old) were collected in duplicate from
      nasopharyngeal tract of equines for isolation and direct PCR. A total of 12
      isolates of R. equi were recovered, of which 9 were from foals and 3 from adult
      animals. Therefore, the present study recorded prevalence rates of 20.93% and
      3.06% among foals and adult equines respectively. The prevalence rates were found
      to be 25.58% and 4.08% by 16S rRNA species-specific PCR among foals and adult
      animals respectively. Thus, the PCR-based assay was found to be more sensitive
      and helped in quick detection of R. equi than the culture based method which is
      time consuming and laborious. However, the culture-based method is still
      preferred due to some limitations of PCR. The antibiogram of the isolates
      revealed that erythromycin and rifampicin were the most effective antimicrobials
      with 100% sensitivity, followed by amoxicillin (66.67%), lincomycin (58.3%) and
      kanamycin (58.3%). The results also revealed that resistance was highest for
      penicillin G (50%), followed by kanamycin (25%) and streptomycin (25%). 

PMID- 25829868
TI  - Development of loop-mediated isothermal amplification methods for detecting
      Taylorella equigenitalis and Taylorella asinigenitalis.
AB  - Taylorella equigenitalis is a causative bacterium of contagious equine metritis
      (CEM), and Taylorella asinigenitalis is species belonging to genus Taylorella.
      The authors developed two loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) methods,
      Te-LAMP and Ta-LAMP, for detecting T. equigenitalis and T. asinigenitalis,
      respectively. Using experimentally spiked samples, Te-LAMP was as sensitive as a
      published semi-nested PCR method, and Ta-LAMP was more sensitive than
      conventional PCR. Multiplex LAMP worked well without nonspecific reactions, and
      the analytical sensitivities of multiplex LAMP in the spiked samples were almost
      equivalent to those of Te-LAMP and Ta-LAMP. Therefore, the LAMP methods are
      considered useful tools to detect T. equigenitalis and/or T. asinigenitalis, and
      preventive measures will be rapidly implemented if the occurrence of CEM is
      confirmed by the LAMP methods. 

PMID- 25829869
TI  - Functional activity of peripheral blood eosinophils in allergen-induced late
      phase airway inflammation in asthma patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate peripheral blood eosinophil chemotaxis,
      generation of spontaneous reactive oxygen species (ROS), and apoptosis in
      patients with allergic asthma after bronchial allergen challenge. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: A total of 18 patients with allergic asthma (AA), 14 with allergic
      rhinitis (AR), and 10 healthy subjects (HS) underwent bronchial challenge with a
      specific allergen extract. Eosinophils from peripheral blood were isolated 24 h
      before as well as 7 and 24 h after bronchial allergen challenge. Chemotaxis,
      spontaneous ROS production in eosinophils, and apoptosis were analyzed by flow
      cytometry. Serum and induced sputum IL-5 levels were measured by ELISA; the cell
      count in sputum was analyzed by the May-Grunwald-Giemsa method. RESULTS: Before
      bronchial allergen challenge, peripheral blood eosinophil chemotaxis, spontaneous
      ROS production was enhanced and eosinophil apoptosis was reduced in the patients
      with AA as compared with AR patients and HS (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, eosinophil
      chemotaxis and ROS generation markedly increased in the patients with AA 7 h and
      24 h after challenge compared with other groups and baseline values (P < 0.05).
      The percentage of apoptotic eosinophils in the patients with AA decreased at 7 h
      as well as 24 h after challenge when compared with other groups and the baseline
      values (P < 0.05). There was a significant correlation between the migrated
      peripheral blood eosinophil count and the sputum eosinophil count (Rs = 0.89, P <
      0.0001) and the sputum IL-5 level (Rs = 0.68, P = 0.002) at 24 h after bronchial
      challenge only in the patients with AA. Furthermore, the percentage of peripheral
      blood apoptotic eosinophils significantly correlated with eosinophil count in
      sputum (Rs = -0.53, P = 0.02), and ROS production correlated with the serum IL-5
      levels (Rs = 0.71, P = 0.01). CONCLUSION: During allergen-induced late-phase
      airway inflammation, peripheral blood eosinophils demonstrated further
      alterations of their functional activity manifested by enhanced spontaneous ROS
      production, increased chemotaxis, and diminished apoptosis in patients with AA.

PMID- 25829870
TI  - From the Editor's Desk.

PMID- 25829871
TI  - Letters to the editor.

PMID- 25829872
TI  - Bioethics in practice - a quarterly column about medical ethics: ebola and
      medical ethics - ethical challenges in the management of contagious infectious
      diseases.

PMID- 25829873
TI  - Clinical Images - A Quarterly Column: Rare Neonatal Look at Chiari II Thoracic
      Myelomeningocele.

PMID- 25829874
TI  - The importance of colorectal cancer screening.

PMID- 25829875
TI  - Long-term effects of a diabetes boot cAMP on measures of diabetic care.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diabetic patients should receive self-management education to improve
      self-care and quality of life but are frequently unable to attend such programs
      because of the time commitment. We instituted an intensive 2-hour Diabetes Boot
      Camp to provide this education in a condensed time frame. The objective was to
      determine the long-term effect of the boot camp on mean hemoglobin A1c (HgA1c)
      levels in patients with diabetes compared to diabetic patients receiving the
      standard of care. METHODS: The Diabetes Boot Camp population was defined as all
      diabetic patients referred to the boot camp from the 10 highest utilizing
      physicians between August 2009 and August 2010. A control population was randomly
      selected from these same physicians' diabetic patients during the same period.
      Baseline and postintervention HgA1c measurements on the same patients in both
      groups were extracted from the electronic medical record. Subpopulations studied
      included those with HgA1c >=9% and <9% at baseline. To evaluate long-term
      effects, we compared HgA1c levels 3 years later (between July 1, 2012 and
      December 31, 2012) for all groups. RESULTS: Using comparison-over-time analysis,
      the overall boot camp group (n=69) showed a mean decrease in HgA1c from 8.57% (SD
      +/- 2.32%) to 7.76% (SD +/- 1.85%) vs an increase from 7.92% (SD +/- 1.58%) to
      8.22% (SD +/- 1.82%) in the control group (n=107, P<0.001). Mean length of follow
      up was 3.2 (SD +/- 0.54) years. CONCLUSION: An intensive 2-hour multidisciplinary
      diabetes clinic was associated with significant long-term improvements in
      glycemic control in diabetic participants of the clinic.

PMID- 25829876
TI  - Robotic-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy: decreasing length of stay.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The number of robotic operations performed with the da Vinci Surgical
      System has increased during the past decade. This system allows for greater
      maneuverability and control than hand-assisted laparoscopic procedures, resulting
      in less tissue manipulation and irritation. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed
      the results of 100 consecutive robotic-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomies
      and compared them to our most recent 20 hand-assisted laparoscopic donor
      nephrectomies. RESULTS: Between May 2008 and June 2012, 120 laparoscopic donor
      nephrectomies were performed at Ochsner Clinic Foundation. Of those, 100 live
      kidney donors underwent robotic-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomies.
      Surgical time and hospital length of stay improved after the first 20 patients
      receiving robotic-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomies, which was considered the
      learning curve. Sixty percent of patients who underwent robotic-assisted
      laparoscopic donor nephrectomies were released on postoperative day 1 compared to
      45% of patients who underwent hand-assisted laparoscopic techniques. CONCLUSION:
      In our experience, robotic-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy resulted in
      decreased postoperative length of stay that decreased the global cost of the
      procedure and allowed our institution to admit more patients.

PMID- 25829877
TI  - Posttransplant nephrocalcinosis is associated with poor renal allograft function:
      a single-center experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nephrocalcinosis, characterized by intratubular and/or parenchymal
      deposition of calcium phosphate and calcium oxalate crystals, is frequently seen
      in renal allograft biopsies; however, the clinical consequence of this histologic
      finding remains unknown. Kidney transplant recipients with good allograft
      function usually demonstrate improvement in biochemical parameters; however,
      persistent hyperparathyroidism remains prevalent in this population of patients.
      We identified renal allografts with nephrocalcinosis and evaluated the effects on
      renal allograft function and survival. METHODS: We conducted a single-center,
      retrospective review of kidney allograft biopsies performed at our center from
      December 1, 2006 to November 30, 2012. Biopsies with nephrocalcinosis as the
      primary diagnosis were included in the final analysis. Biochemical parameters at
      the time of biopsy included serum creatinine, phosphate, calcium, intact
      parathyroid hormone (iPTH), 25-hydroxy vitamin D, and albumin. Serum creatinine
      was measured at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after nephrocalcinosis was diagnosed. The
      use of calcimimetics, vitamin D analogs, active vitamin D, and bisphosphonates
      was also reviewed. RESULTS: We identified 12 patients with nephrocalcinosis as
      the primary diagnosis on renal biopsy. The average age of these patients was 52.2
      +/- 11.9 years, and the average time since transplantation was 2.3 +/- 2.7 years.
      The baseline serum creatinine was 1.37 +/- 0.4 mg/dL before the onset of acute
      kidney injury (AKI). Mean iPTH and 25-hydroxy vitamin D at the time of AKI were
      495.66 +/- 358.9 pg/mL and 19.9 +/- 13.3 ng/mL, respectively. Renal function
      deteriorated in all patients, and mean serum creatinine at 12-month follow up was
      2.37 +/- 1.3 mg/dL (P=0.028). One patient progressed to end-stage renal disease
      at the end of the study period. CONCLUSION: The histologic finding of
      nephrocalcinosis is associated with poor renal allograft function. Metabolic
      abnormalities including hyperparathyroidism persist in renal allograft recipients
      despite normal allograft function and may be associated with the development of
      nephrocalcinosis in renal transplant recipients.

PMID- 25829878
TI  - Addressing the process improvement science knowledge and skills of program
      directors and associate program directors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Process improvement (PI) science is relatively new to healthcare and
      has only recently been introduced to medical education. Most residency faculty
      lack training or experience in PI science activities. We assessed the impact of
      PI science education on the knowledge and attitudes of a group of residency and
      fellowship program directors and associate program directors using their
      respective Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education annual program
      evaluations (APEs) as an experiential object. METHODS: For this pre/post study,
      16 program directors and 7 associate program directors were surveyed before and
      after 4 didactic modules. The APEs for the 2 years prior to the intervention and
      in the fall after the intervention were analyzed. Mentoring in the use of these
      skills in the preparation of the APEs was provided. RESULTS: The participants
      demonstrated improved knowledge in some areas and increased awareness of deficits
      in other areas. APE quality did not show consistent improvement following the
      intervention. CONCLUSION: The PI science knowledge and skill gaps of program
      directors and associate program directors are likely to impact the content and
      success of residency curricula. The designed PI science curriculum was slightly
      effective. Using the APE as the experiential object was convenient, but the APE
      was not the best project for a PI exercise. New, effective strategies and
      interventions to develop expertise in PI science are important as programs
      grapple with meeting new requirements, ensuring quality programs, and preparing
      residents and fellows for practice.

PMID- 25829879
TI  - Enhancing resilience among new nurses: feasibility and efficacy of a pilot
      intervention.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Orientation is one of the most stressful times in a registered
      nurse's career. Little information is available regarding the efficacy of stress
      management approaches among new nurses. The purpose of this study was to examine
      outcomes of the implementation of a brief Stress Management and Resiliency
      Training (SMART) program within a nurse orientation program. METHODS: In this
      randomized controlled pilot study, self-reported measures of stress, mindfulness,
      anxiety, and resilience were measured at baseline and 12 weeks following the
      intervention. For each group, the mean change from baseline to week 12 was
      evaluated using the paired t test. The change from baseline was compared between
      groups using the 2-sample t test. Feasibility of integrating the SMART program
      into the nurse orientation program was also analyzed. RESULTS: Of the 55
      participants enrolled, 40 (73%) completed the study. Mindfulness and resilience
      scores improved in the intervention group and declined in the control group,
      while stress and anxiety scores decreased in the intervention group and increased
      in the control group. The between-group change in each outcome, however, was not
      statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Integrating the SMART program within the
      nurse orientation program is feasible. While changes between groups were not
      significant, trends in the results indicate that the program has the potential
      for efficacy. Future research with larger numbers is indicated with a revised
      version of the program to increase its effect size.

PMID- 25829880
TI  - Drug-induced acute pancreatitis: a review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The majority of drug-induced pancreatitis cases are mild to moderate
      in severity, but severe and even fatal cases can occur. Management of drug
      induced pancreatitis requires withdrawal of the offending agent and supportive
      care. METHODS: This review focuses on differential diagnosis, clinical
      presentation, drug-mediated effects, treatments, and mechanisms of pancreatitis,
      with an emphasis on drug-induced pancreatitis. RESULTS: Although only a minority
      of cases associated with acute pancreatitis are linked to drugs, clinical
      presentation and mechanisms of injury to the pancreas are not well understood by
      clinicians in terms of individual drug effects in the mediation or modulation of
      injury to the pancreas. In recent years, a large number of commonly prescribed
      medications has been linked to drug-induced pancreatitis pathogenesis. Although
      mechanisms are proposed, the exact cause of injury is either not well understood
      or controversial. CONCLUSION: Future investigation into the mechanisms of
      pancreatitis and an appreciation by clinicians of the drugs commonly linked to
      the condition will help establish earlier diagnosis and quicker cessation of
      offending drugs in the treatment of drug-induced acute pancreatitis.

PMID- 25829881
TI  - iPhone and iPad Use in Orthopedic Surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Thousands of healthcare mobile applications (apps) are available, and
      physicians are increasingly recognizing that mobile technology can improve their
      workflow and allow them to practice medicine in a better and/or more efficient
      manner. METHODS: This article highlights apps compatible with the iPhone and iPad
      and their utility to the busy orthopedic surgeon. RESULTS: Currently available
      apps address every aspect of healthcare: patient management, reference,
      education, and research. CONCLUSION: Key aspects of helpful apps include low cost
      (preferably free), a user-friendly interface, and simplicity.

PMID- 25829882
TI  - Rhabdomyolysis: pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rhabdomyolysis is a complex medical condition involving the rapid
      dissolution of damaged or injured skeletal muscle. METHODS: This review focuses
      on the epidemiology, pathophysiology, causes, presentation, diagnosis,
      complications, management, and anesthetic considerations related to
      rhabdomyolysis. RESULTS: Any form of muscle damage--and by extension any entity
      that causes muscle damage--can initiate rhabdomyolysis. One of the most important
      treatment goals when rhabdomyolysis is suspected is avoiding acute kidney injury.
      CONCLUSION: All clinicians should be aware of common causes, diagnosis, and
      treatment options.

PMID- 25829883
TI  - Distended bladder presenting with altered mental status and venous obstruction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: New onset or acute worsening of bilateral lower extremity swelling is
      commonly caused by venous congestion from decompensated heart failure, pulmonary
      disease, liver dysfunction, or kidney insufficiency. A thromboembolic event,
      lymphatic obstruction, or even external compression of venous flow can also be
      the culprit. CASE REPORT: We report the case of an 83-year-old male with a
      history of myelodysplastic syndrome that progressed to acute myeloid leukemia,
      bipolar disorder, and benign prostatic hypertrophy. He presented with altered
      mental status and new onset lower extremity edema caused by acute bladder outflow
      obstruction. Computed tomography of the abdomen and pelvis showed the patient's
      distended bladder compressing bilateral external iliac veins. CONCLUSION:
      Insertion of a Foley catheter resulted in several liters of urine output and
      marked improvement in his lower extremity edema and mental status a few hours
      later. Our extensive workup failed to reveal a cause of the patient's acute
      change in mental status, and we attributed it to a concept known as cystocerebral
      syndrome.

PMID- 25829884
TI  - Resolution of refractory superior mesenteric artery syndrome with laparoscopic
      duodenojejunostomy: pediatric case series with spectrum of clinical imaging.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Superior mesenteric artery (SMA) syndrome is an uncommon condition
      resulting in partial small bowel obstruction because of external compression of
      the third portion of the duodenum between the SMA anteriorly and the aorta
      posteriorly. SMA syndrome often presents with postprandial nausea, bilious
      vomiting, and abdominal pain with associated weight loss. Onset of symptoms can
      be acute (occurring in the setting of rapid weight loss because of
      trauma/surgery) or can be vague and chronic over many years. CASE REPORTS: We
      present two cases of female adolescents who presented with symptoms of duodenal
      obstruction attributed to SMA syndrome. Both failed conservative treatment with
      weight gain and underwent successful laparoscopic duodenojejunostomy procedures
      with resolution of duodenal obstruction. CONCLUSION: In the differential
      diagnosis of persistent nausea and bilious vomiting, even in the setting of an
      eating disorder, SMA syndrome should be considered. Upper gastrointestinal
      examination is the primary modality for diagnosing SMA syndrome, but ultrasound
      is an inexpensive, rapid screening tool for patients with unexplained abdominal
      pain. Abdominal computed tomography may also be helpful in selected patients.
      Conservative therapy consisting of nutritional support to enhance weight gain is
      usually sufficient and is accomplished with placement of a nasojejunal feeding
      tube past the point of duodenal compression. When conservative therapy fails,
      laparoscopic duodenojejunostomy can provide definitive relief of the obstruction.

PMID- 25829885
TI  - Transient glaucoma after an epidural steroid injection: a case report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Steroids are recognized as a beneficial treatment for various medical
      conditions, yet clinically relevant side effects of steroids are common and
      problematic, ranging from a minor case of acne to a potentially life-threatening
      Addisonian crisis. In anesthetic medicine, the use of epidural steroid injections
      (ESIs) for chronic low back pain and other radicular pain-related conditions has
      become standard practice in interventional pain management. CASE REPORT: We
      report the case of a patient who experienced sudden bilateral blurred vision
      after receiving an ESI and required urgent ophthalmic interventions and follow-up
      care. The main clinical findings from this case showed that the patient had high
      intraocular pressure (IOP) that caused unexpected short-term vision loss. The
      symptom resolved after 31/2 months without ophthalmic treatment. CONCLUSION:
      Clinicians should inform patients about the possibility of visual complications
      associated with pain procedures involving steroids. Among the high-risk groups
      with predisposing factors, such as uncontrolled hypertension and diabetes
      mellitus, routine eye tests that include measuring IOP prior to ESI should be
      recommended as a preventive measure. Alternative pain management therapies should
      be considered if possible. Comprehensive planning of patient care will also
      ensure safety and prevent unwanted outcomes, particularly with high-risk patients
      receiving steroids for pain procedures.

PMID- 25829886
TI  - Acute idiopathic heart failure following laparoscopic myotomy for achalasia of
      the esophagus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Stress-induced cardiomyopathy, also known as takotsubo
      cardiomyopathy, is not fully understood. It is thought to occur in patients who
      have signs and symptoms consistent with acute myocardial infarction but display
      no obstructive coronary lesions during heart catheterization. Characteristics
      include transient left ventricular dysfunction, wall motion abnormalities on
      echocardiogram, new electrocardiographic ST-segment changes, and the occurrence
      of a precipitating stressor. CASE REPORT: We present a patient who underwent
      Heller myotomy and suffered acute heart failure in the immediate postoperative
      period. Left heart catheterization revealed clean coronary arteries, and the
      patient fully recovered days later. While difficult to fully exclude drug-related
      causes, we believe this case to be consistent with takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
      CONCLUSION: This unusual postoperative complication following uneventful
      laparoscopic surgery should be kept in mind when unsuspected cardiovascular
      compromise is seen in the early perioperative recovery period. In addition to the
      rare occurrence of acute coronary ischemia syndromes and possible perioperative
      pulmonary embolic events, cardiovascular decompensation related to acute stress
      syndromes or idiopathic pharmacologic responses must be considered. Even patients
      who seem most healthy can have complications that warrant immediate attention and
      treatment.

PMID- 25829887
TI  - Musical hallucinations in a patient with presbycusis: a case report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Musical hallucinations are a rare subtype of auditory hallucination
      characterized by the perception of musical sounds, instrumental music, or songs.
      They are most commonly seen in older women with age-related hearing loss but are
      also associated with neurologic and psychiatric conditions. The underlying
      pathophysiology is poorly understood and likely multifactorial. CASE REPORT: A 74
      year-old woman presented with subjective hearing loss 2-3 years in duration with
      a recent development of hearing continuous patriotic and children's songs playing
      in her head. After extensive interviewing and the documentation of a normal
      otologic/comprehensive head and neck examination, audiologic evaluation revealed
      evidence of a symmetric high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss consistent with
      presbycusis. She was counseled on the use of ambient noise and offered a trial of
      binaural hearing amplification. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of musical
      hallucinations requires the consideration of numerous possible etiologies.
      Treatment varies widely, but many patients improve with the use of ambient noise
      and hearing amplification. Lack of response requires the consideration of
      pharmacologic treatments such as anticonvulsants, antipsychotics, and
      anticholinesterases. It is important to reassure patients with a nonpsychiatric
      etiology that use of these drugs does not imply psychiatric illness.

PMID- 25829888
TI  - Multiple unilateral traumatic carotid-cavernous sphenoid sinus fistulas with
      associated massive epistaxis: a consequence of parkour.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Traumatic carotid-cavernous fistulas (CCFs) present the clinician
      with diagnostic and surgical challenges. Extension of a CCF into the sphenoid
      sinus presents additional management difficulties. Endovascular interventions
      using various thrombogenic materials such as balloons, coils, or liquids are
      effective treatment strategies. Ideally, these techniques are used to obliterate
      the fistula while maintaining the patency of the parent artery. CASE REPORT: We
      present a rare case of traumatic carotid-cavernous sphenoid sinus fistulas
      complicated by multiple tears in the internal carotid artery with direct
      communication to the cavernous and sphenoid sinus. As a result, the patient
      developed massive epistaxis requiring emergent endovascular intervention. A total
      of 87 detachable coils were placed into the cavernous and sphenoid sinuses via
      transarterial and transvenous routes in a staged procedure, resulting in complete
      obliteration of the patient's multiple fistulas. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge,
      this is the first reported case of multiple fistulous tears in the internal
      carotid artery with extension to the cavernous and sphenoid sinus. This report
      emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis and neurosurgical intervention.

PMID- 25829889
TI  - Early precursor of mixed endocrine-exocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract:
      histologic and molecular correlations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mixed endocrine-exocrine tumors display histologic features of
      endocrine and glandular differentiation. Unlike in collision tumors, the two
      components are thought to arise from a monoclonal precursor. Evidence from
      molecular testing supports the monoclonal theory and suggests that the exocrine
      component may give rise to the endocrine component but not vice versa. CASE
      REPORT: We report a case of an adenomatous polyp in the large intestine that had
      groups of endocrine cells arising from the crypt bases of the adenomatous
      (exocrine) epithelium. To our knowledge, ours is only the second report of an
      adenomatous polyp in which groups of microcarcinoid endocrine cells were
      recognized. The histologic findings in our case correlate with the molecular
      findings described in mixed endocrine-exocrine tumors. CONCLUSION: Our
      description may represent the primordial stage of a mixed endocrine-exocrine
      neoplasm.

PMID- 25829890
TI  - Intrahepatic stones from congenital biliary dilatation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Congenital or primary intrahepatic bile duct (IHBD) dilatation is a
      rare disorder with symptoms of abdominal pain and hepatomegaly that usually
      presents in childhood and adolescence. Recurrent cholangitis, liver abscesses,
      septicemia, and biliary cirrhosis may result secondary to biliary sludge and
      hepatolithiasis. CASE REPORT: We present a case of IHBD dilatation with
      hepatolithiasis cured with surgical resection and discuss the management of this
      disease. CONCLUSION: IHBD dilatation should be treated, as chronic biliary stasis
      and hepatolithiasis can lead to infection and recurrent cholangitis that can
      progress to cholangiocarcinoma. Treatment for IHBD dilatation usually involves
      multiple modalities including medical therapy, but ultimately resection of the
      diseased segments or lobes is required given the increased risk of malignancy.

PMID- 25829891
TI  - Simultaneous bilateral nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy in a
      patient with a history of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAAION) has a poorly
      understood etiology, and the onset of simultaneous bilateral NAAION in a patient
      <50 years without identifiable systemic risk factors is rare. CASE REPORT: We
      present the case of a patient with acute painless monocular vision loss and
      bilateral optic disc edema who subsequently developed painless vision loss in the
      fellow eye. The patient's history was significant for diffuse large B-cell
      lymphoma, and our pressing diagnostic concern was to determine if his vision loss
      and bilateral optic disc changes represented lymphomatous infiltrates. A complete
      ocular exam demonstrated findings consistent with simultaneous bilateral NAAION.
      After an extensive systemic workup for malignancy with central nervous system
      involvement, vasculitis, and other entities associated with NAAION, we determined
      that the patient's primary risk factor for developing bilateral ischemic optic
      neuropathies was his crowded optic discs. CONCLUSION: This case supports the
      hypothesis that a crowded optic disc is a sufficient primary risk factor for
      developing NAAION.

PMID- 25829893
TI  - 15(th) Annual Southern Hospital Medicine Conference Abstracts.

PMID- 25829892
TI  - Management challenges in the passing-through technique using a fogarty catheter
      to remove an endobronchial foreign body from an infant.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Foreign body aspiration (FBA) is a potentially life-threatening
      condition in children, and removal of an aspirated bead can be difficult. CASE
      REPORT: An 11-month-old male infant presented with a history of choking 6 days
      prior to admission. FBA was suspected, and initial examination revealed a bead
      occluding the left main bronchus. The surgeon tried to retrieve the foreign body,
      but the patient developed coughing episodes with desaturation. The patient was
      intubated and a bronchoscopy was performed with a flexible bronchoscope. A
      Fogarty catheter was passed through the bronchoscope and then advanced through
      the bead opening. The distal balloon was inflated, and the bead was removed as
      the Fogarty catheter was withdrawn. CONCLUSION: We successfully removed an
      aspirated bead from an infant using the passing-through technique with a Fogarty
      catheter. Maintaining spontaneous ventilation for as long as possible and good
      coordination between the anesthesiologist and surgeon are crucial in such cases.

PMID- 25829895
TI  - Bariatric anesthesia ladder.

PMID- 25829894
TI  - Dynamic knee joint function in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a chronic illness with a high
      risk of developing long-term disability. Disease activity is currently being
      monitored and quantified by ACR core set. Here, joint inflammation is determined;
      however joint function is the crucial component for developing disability. The
      aim of this study was to quantify and compare dynamic joint function in healthy
      and arthritic knee joints and to evaluate response to improvement. METHODS: A
      single center cohort study of consecutive children presenting to the rheumatology
      outpatient clinic was performed to measure dynamic knee joint function. Serial
      measures were performed if possible. Splint fixed electrogoniometers were used to
      measure dynamic knee joint function including ROM and flexion and extension
      torque. RESULTS: A total of 54 children were tested including 44 with JIA, of
      whom eight had to be excluded for non-JIA-related knee problems. The study
      included 36 JIA patients of whom eight had strictly unilateral knee arthritis,
      and nine controls. Dynamic joint function ROM and torque depended on age and
      bodyweight, as demonstrated in healthy joints. ROM and torques were significant
      lower in arthritic compared to unaffected knee joints in children with unilateral
      arthritis and across the cohort. Importantly, extension torque was the most
      sensitive marker of impaired joint function. Follow up measurements detected
      responsiveness to change in disease activity. CONCLUSIONS: Measuring dynamic
      joint function with electrogoniometers is feasible and objective. Active ROM and
      torque during flexion and extension of arthritic knee joints were significant
      lower compared to unaffected. In dynamic joint measurement extension torque is a
      sensitive marker for disease activity.

PMID- 25829896
TI  - Conscious sedation for middle ear surgeries: A comparison between fentanyl
      propofol and fentanyl-midazolam infusion.
AB  - INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Middle ear surgeries can be performed under local
      anesthesia and sedation and can be well tolerated by the patient with minimal
      discomfort. This study was undertaken to compare two techniques of conscious
      sedation, intravenous midazolam, and propofol infusion for tympanoplasty.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty patients scheduled for right or left tympanoplasty.
      American Society of Anesthesiologists I or II in age group 18-75 years were
      included in the study. The patients were randomly allocated into one of the two
      groups to receive either propofol (group I) or midazolam (group II). RESULTS: The
      mean duration of anesthesia was 116.00 +/- 33.94 min in group I, while 97.50 +/-
      30.76 min in group II (P = 0.07). The modified Ramsay sedation scale was not
      statistically significant in both the groups. In group I, 70% of the patients and
      95% of the patients in group II had amnesia during the surgery (P = 0.091). The
      mean visual analog scale (VAS) score for surgeons and patients was not
      statistically significant in both the groups. In group I there was a positive
      correlation between the total dose of fentanyl and VAS score for surgeons (P =
      0.02). There was also a positive correlation between the total dose of propofol
      and VAS score for surgeons (P = 0.034) and patients (P = 0.039) in group I.
      CONCLUSION: Though propofol had shown a faster recovery and less nausea vomiting,
      we need a larger sample size to conclude, which of the technique is better. Both
      the techniques are safe, simple and versatile and provide excellent sedation with
      rapid trouble free recovery.

PMID- 25829897
TI  - A randomized controlled prospective study comparing a low dose bupivacaine and
      fentanyl mixture to a conventional dose of hyperbaric bupivacaine for cesarean
      section.
AB  - CONTEXT: Hormonal and mechanical factors make obstetric patients need strict dose
      calculations of local anesthetics intrathecally for spinal anesthesia. Any
      greater dose of local anesthetics can cause hemodynamic instability, maternal
      morbidity and any lesser dose can produce inadequate block. Hence, we
      hypothesized in our study that by using low dose of bupivacaine with fentanyl can
      maintain stable hemodynamics and provide better analgesia. AIM: The aim was to
      compare the hemodynamics and duration of analgesia using a low dose (7.5 mg)
      bupivacaine fentanyl mixture to a conventional dose (10 mg) of hyperbaric
      bupivacaine for cesarean section. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Double-blinded,
      randomized, controlled prospective study was conducted at a tertiary academic
      hospital from 2008 to 2011. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty singleton parturient,
      scheduled for elective caesarean section were randomly allocated into two groups.
      Study group (group-S) received a combination of 25 MUg fentanyl and 7.5 mg of
      hyperbaric bupivacaine, whereas the control group (group-C) received 10 mg of
      hyperbaric bupivacaine. Maternal hemodynamics, sensory and motor block, duration
      of analgesia and the Apgar score of the newborn were compared between the groups.
      STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Observational descriptive statistics, statistical
      package for social sciences (SPSS Inc. Released 2006, SPSS for Windows, Version
      15.0. Chicago), paired t-test was used as applicable. RESULTS: The blood pressure
      significantly decreased with >25% fall from the baseline in group-C (98.76 +/-
      8.36) than in group-S (117.32 +/- 12.21) with P < 0.001. The duration of
      effective analgesia was significantly prolonged in the study group than in the
      control group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The combination of low dose bupivacaine
      and fentanyl in comparison to bupivacaine alone is hemodynamically stable and
      prolonged duration of analgesia in caesarean section.

PMID- 25829898
TI  - Caudal epidural blockade for major orthopedic hip surgery in adolescents.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There continues to be a significant focus on the value of regional
      and neuraxial anesthesia techniques for adjunctive use when combined with general
      anesthesia. The reported advantages include decreased patient opiate exposure,
      decreased medication-related adverse effects, decreased postanesthesia recovery
      room time and hospital stay, and increased patient satisfaction. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: The authors present a case-controlled series evaluating the use of a
      single caudal epidural injection prior to incision as an adjunct to general
      anesthesia for the open repair of slipped capital femoral epiphysis. Opiate
      consumption, pain scores, and hospital stay were compared between the two cohorts
      of 16 adolescent patients. All patients received a demand-only patient-controlled
      opiate delivery system. RESULTS: Although the failed block rate was high (31%),
      there was decreased opioid use in the perioperative arena as well as during the
      first 24 postoperative hours in patients who had a successful caudal epidural
      block. Furthermore, discharge home was possible in 27% of patients who received a
      caudal epidural block compared to 0% of patients who did not receive a caudal
      block. CONCLUSION: The potential utility of caudal epidural block as an adjunct
      to general anesthesia during major hip surgery in adolescents is presented.
      Factors resulting in a failed block in this patient population as well as the use
      of the ultrasound as an added modality to increase block success are reviewed.

PMID- 25829899
TI  - Role of regional anesthesia for placement of peritoneal dialysis catheter under
      ultrasound guidance: Our experience with 52 end-stage renal disease patients.
AB  - AIM: The number of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) has shown a
      consistent rise in India in recent years. Continuous ambulatory peritoneal
      dialysis (CAPD) remains one of the safe and effective forms of treatment. In this
      study, we have tried to assess the effectiveness of field block technique for
      analgesia during catheter placement surgery until 24 h postoperatively, also, if
      it can obviate the need for general anesthesia in these high-risk patients.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 52 ESRD patients from 2010 to 2012 who were
      posted for CAPD catheterization in the Department of Urology, Care Hospital,
      Hyderabad, India. Under ultrasound guidance, "unilateral posterior" and
      "unilateral subcostal" transversus abdominis plane block anesthesia were given
      for the placement of CAPD catheter. Patient's intra-operative pain and post
      operative pain were recorded with visual analog scores (VAS) and analyzed.
      RESULTS: All patients in our study belonged to American Society of
      Anesthesiologists category 2 or 3 with multiple co-morbidities. 41 out of 52
      patients required no supplemental analgesia during the procedure; 8 patients
      needed additional infiltration of local anesthetic during skin incisions. Three
      patients required supplemental analgesia and were considered as failure. A VAS of
      two was noted in 30 patients and 1 in 19 Patients. No Patient had significant
      pain 24 h post operatively. No local complication was noted in any patient.
      CONCLUSION: CAPD Catheterization under regional field block remains safe and
      effective options for ESRD patients.

PMID- 25829900
TI  - Comparison of acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II and Glasgow Coma
      Score in predicting the outcomes of Post Anesthesia Care Unit's patients.
AB  - CONTEXT: Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) is one of
      the most general classification systems of disease severity in Intensive Care
      Units and Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) is one of the most specific ones. AIMS: The
      aim of the current study was to assess APACHE II and GCS ability in predicting
      the outcomes (survivors, non-survivors) in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit's
      (PACU). SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was an observational and prospective study of
      150 consecutive patients admitted in the PACU during 6-month period. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Demographic information recorded on a checklist, also information
      about severity of disease calculated based on APACHE II scoring system in the
      first admission 24 h and GCS scale. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Logistic
      regression, Hosmer-Lemeshow test and receiver operator characteristic (ROC)
      curves were used in statistical analysis (95% confidence interval). RESULTS: Data
      analysis showed a significant statistical difference between outcomes and both
      APACHE II and Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) (P < 0.0001). The ROC-curve analysis
      suggested that the predictive ability of GCS is slightly better than APACHE II in
      this study. For GCS the area under the ROC curve was 86.1% (standard error [SE]:
      3.8%), and for APACHE II it was 85.7% (SE: 3.5%), also the Hosmer-Lemeshow
      statistic revealed better calibration for GCS (chi(2) = 5.177, P = 0.521), than
      APACHE II (chi(2) = 10.203, P = 0.251). CONCLUSIONS: The survivors had
      significantly lower APACHE II and higher GCS compared with non-survivors, also
      GCS showed more predictive accuracy than APACHE II in prognosticating the
      outcomes in PACU.

PMID- 25829901
TI  - Response to low-dose intrathecal clonidine in septuagenarians undergoing sub
      umbilical surgeries: A study.
AB  - Clonidine, an alpha-2-adrenergic agonist, may have a clinically relevant
      analgesic action but also a hypotensive action, when administered spinally. AIM:
      To evaluate the analgesic and circulatory effects of low-dose intrathecal
      clonidine co-administered with hyperbaric bupivacaine in septuagenarian patients
      undergoing sub-umbilical surgeries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 20 patients
      within the age group of 70-80 years of either sex, enrolled in this study, were
      randomly divided into groups of 10 each. Group I received clonidine 7.5 MUg as an
      adjuvant to 15 mg of hyperbaric bupivacaine and Group II (control group) received
      15 mg of bupivacaine with saline to make volume in the two solutions equal.
      RESULT: The level of subarachnoid block was comparable in the two groups.
      Duration of motor blockade was longer in the clonidine group (221.4 +/- 35.92
      min) compared with the control group (112.3 +/- 12.45 min). Request for 1(st)
      dose of analgesic was earlier in the control group (135.5 +/- 28.52 min) than the
      clonidine group (295 +/- 18.85 min). Mean arterial pressure (clonidine 77.67 +/-
      6.47 vs. control 93.87 +/- 3.03, P = 0.0002) and heart rate (clonidine 65.2 +/-
      5.20 vs. control 77.4 +/- 6.06, P = 0.003) were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in
      the clonidine group compared with the control group from 20 mins after the block
      to the end of 3 h. In the clonidine group, 3 patients had postoperative headache,
      4 had intra-operative shivering. 2 patients in the clonidine group also developed
      hypotension and 1 bradycardia and 1 of them developed bradyapnea along with acute
      hypotension 5 min after shifting to the postoperative ward and later recovered on
      resuscitation. In the control group 2 patients had bradycardia, 6 had intra
      operative shivering and 3 had postoperative headache. CONCLUSION: We conclude
      that addition of clonidine in the dose of 7.5 MUg to bupivacaine significantly
      increases the duration of spinal analgesia with clinically insignificant
      influence on hemodynamic parameters.

PMID- 25829902
TI  - Dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant to ropivacaine in supraclavicular brachial plexus
      block.
AB  - CONTEXT: Dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant to local anesthetics in peripheral nerve
      blocks has been used in only a few studies. AIMS: We aimed at assessing the
      effect of dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant to ropivacaine in supraclavicular
      brachial plexus block. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Random, controlled, and triple blind.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty American Society of Anesthesiologist grade I and II
      patients of either sex scheduled for elective upper limb surgery under
      supraclavicular brachial plexus block were divided into three equal groups in a
      prospective randomized double-blind controlled manner. For block patients in
      Group C received 0.5% ropivacaine (30cc), 0.5% ropivacaine with 50 MUg
      dexmedetomidine (30cc) in Group D and 0.5% ropivacaine (30cc) in Group D-IV along
      with intravenous infusion of 50 MUg dexmedetomidine in normal saline. STATISTICAL
      ANALYSIS USED: IBM-SPSS software version 17, Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U
      test. RESULTS: Demographic profile and surgical characteristics were similar in
      all the three groups. Sensory block and motor block onset was earlier in group D
      than in group D-IV and group C. The sensory block and motor block duration was
      also prolonged in group D when compared with group D-IV and group C. The duration
      of analgesia was significantly longer in group D and D-IV when compared to group
      C. CONCLUSIONS: Dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant to 0.5%ropivacaine in ultrasound
      guided brachial plexus block shortens the sensory as well as motor block onset
      time, prolongs sensory and motor block duration and also increases the duration
      of analgesia. The action of dexmedetomidine most probably is local rather than
      centrally mediated.

PMID- 25829903
TI  - The safety of ultrasound guided central venous cannulation in patients with liver
      disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Central venous cannulation (CVC) is frequently required during the
      management of patients with liver disease with deranged conventional coagulation
      parameters (CCP). Since CVC is known to be associated with vascular
      complications, it is standard practice to transfuse Fresh-Frozen Plasma or
      platelets to correct CCP. These CCP may not reflect true coagulopathy in liver
      disease. Additionally CVC when performed under ultrasound guidance (USG-CVC) in
      itself reduces the incidence of complications. AIM: To assess the safety of USG
      CVC and to evaluate the incidence of complications among liver disease patients
      with coagulopathy. SETTING AND DESIGN: An audit of all USG-CVCs was performed
      among adult patients with liver disease in a tertiary care center. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Data was collected for all the adult patients (18-60 years) of either
      gender suffering from liver disease who had required USG-CVC. Univariate and
      multivariate regression analysis was done to identify possible risk factors for
      complications. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 42.1 +/- 11.6 years.
      Mean international normalized ratio was 2.17 +/- 1.16 whereas median platelet
      count was 149.5 (range, 12-683) * 10(9)/L. No major vascular or non-vascular
      complications were recorded in our patients. Overall incidence of minor vascular
      complications was 18.6%, of which 13% had significant ooze, 10.3% had hematoma
      formation and 4.7% had both hematoma and ooze. Arterial puncture and multiple
      attempts were independent risk factors for superficial hematoma formation whereas
      low platelet count and presence of ascites were independent risk factors for
      significant oozing. CONCLUSION: Ultrasound guidance -CVC in liver disease
      patients with deranged coagulation is a safe and highly successful modality.

PMID- 25829904
TI  - Behavioral and emotional effects of repeated general anesthesia in young
      children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Preclinical and clinical data suggest the possibility of
      neurotoxicity following exposure of young children to general anesthetics with
      subsequent behavioral disturbances. The aim of the study was to determine the
      overall effect of repeated general anesthesia on behavior and emotions of young
      children aged 11/2-5 years old, compared to healthy children. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Thirty-five children underwent repeated anesthesia and surgery were
      matched with the same number of healthy children who attended vaccination clinic,
      as a control group. Both groups were administered the child behavior checklist
      (CBCL) 11/2-5 years and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
      (DSM) oriented scale. Behavior data were collected through a semi-structured
      questionnaire. RESULTS: The CBCL score revealed that children with repeated
      anesthesia were at risk to become anxious or depressed (relative risk [RR]; 95%
      confidence interval [CI] = 11 [1.5-80.7]), to have sleep (RR; 95% CI = 4.5 [1.1
      19.4]), and attention problems (RR; 95% CI = 8 [1.1-60.6]). There was no
      difference in the risk between the two groups regarding emotionally reactive,
      somatic complaints, withdrawn problems, aggressive behavior, internalizing or
      externalizing problems. On DSM scale, children with repeated anesthesia were at
      risk to develop anxiety problems (RR; 95% CI = 3.7 [1.1-12.0]), and attention
      deficit/hyperactivity problems (RR; 95% CI = 3 [1.1-8.4]). There was no
      difference in the risk between the two groups regarding affective, pervasive
      developmental and oppositional defiant problems. CONCLUSION: Young children who
      undergone repeated surgical procedures under general anesthesia were at risk for
      subsequent behavioral and emotional disturbances. Proper perioperative pain
      management, social support, and avoidance of unpleasant surgical experiences
      could minimize these untoward consequences.

PMID- 25829905
TI  - Comparison of intraoperative brain condition, hemodynamics and postoperative
      recovery between desflurane and sevoflurane in patients undergoing supratentorial
      craniotomy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Post operative recovery has been reported to be faster with
      desflurane than sevoflurane anesthesia in previous studies. The use of desflurane
      is often criticized in neurosurgery due to the concerns of cerebral vasodilation
      and increase in ICP and studies comparing desflurane and sevoflurane in
      neurosurgey are scarce. So we compared the intraoperative brain condition,
      hemodynamics and postoperative recovery in patients undergoing elective
      supratentorial craniotomy receiving either desflurane or sevoflurane. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Fifty three patients between 18-60yr undergoing elective
      supratentorial craniotomy receiving N2O and oxygen (60%:40%) and 0.8-1.2 MAC of
      either desflurane or sevoflurane were randomized to group S (Sevoflurane) or
      group D (Desflurane). Subdural intra cranial pressure (ICP) was measured and
      brain condition was assessed.. Emergence time, tracheal extubation time and
      recovery time were recorded. Cognitive behavior was evaluated with Short
      Orientation Memory Concentration Test (SOMCT) and neurological outcome (at the
      time of discharge) was assessed using Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) between the two
      groups. RESULTS: The emergence time [Group D 7.4 +/- 2.7 minutes vs. Group S 7.8
      +/- 3.7 minutes; P = 0.65], extubation time [Group D 11.8 +/- 2.8 minutes vs.
      Group S 12.9 +/- 4.9 minutes; P = 0.28] and recovery time [Group D 16.4 +/- 2.6
      minutes vs. Group S 17.1 +/- 4.8 minutes; P = 0.50] were comparable between the
      two groups. There was no difference in ICP [Group D; 9.1 +/- 4.3 mmHg vs. Group
      S; 10.9 +/- 4.2 mmHg; P = 0.14] and brain condition between the two groups. Both
      groups had similar post-operative complications, hospital and ICU stay and GOS.
      CONCLUSION: In patients undergoing elective supratentorial craniotomy both
      sevoflurane and desflurane had similar intra-operative brain condition,
      hemodynamics and post operative recovery profile.

PMID- 25829906
TI  - Postoperative pain assessment using four behavioral scales in Pakistani children
      undergoing elective surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several measurement tools have been used for assessment of
      postoperative pain in pediatric patients. Self-report methods have limitations in
      younger children and parent, nurse or physician assessment can be used as a
      surrogate measure. These tools should be tested in different cultures as pain can
      be influenced by sociocultural factors. The objective was to assess the inter
      rater agreement on four different behavioral pain assessment scales in our local
      population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective, descriptive, observational
      study was conducted in Pakistan. American Society of Anesthesiologists I and II
      children, 3-7 years of age, undergoing elective surgery were enrolled. Four pain
      assessment scales were used, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale
      (CHEOPS), Toddler Preschool Postoperative Pain Scale (TPPPS), objective pain
      scale (OPS), and Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC). After 15 and
      60 min of arrival in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), each child evaluated
      his/her postoperative pain by self-reporting and was also independently assessed
      by the PACU nurse, PACU anesthetist and the parent. The sensitivity and
      specificity of the responses of the four pain assessment scales were compared to
      the response of the child. RESULTS: At 15 min, sensitivity and specificity were
      >60% for doctors and nurses on FLACC, OPS, and CHEOPS scales and for FLACC and
      CHEOPS scale for the parents. Parents showed poor agreement on OPS and TPPS. At
      60 min, sensitivity was poor on the OPS scale by all three observers. Nurses
      showed a lower specificity on FLACC tool. Parents had poor specificity on CHEOPS
      and rate of false negatives was high with TPPS. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend the use
      of FLACC scale for assessment by parents, nurses, and doctors in Pakistani
      children aged between 3 and 7.

PMID- 25829907
TI  - A comparative evaluation of the effect of intravenous dexmedetomidine and
      clonidine on intraocular pressure after suxamethonium and intubation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In patients with penetrating eye injury and a full stomach,
      suxamethonium is still used for rapid sequence induction of anesthesia. But its
      use is associated with the rise in intraocular pressure (IOP) and this can result
      in permanent vision loss in these patients. Dexmedetomidine and clonidine are two
      alpha-2 adrenergic agonist drugs which prevent the rise in IOP. The aim of this
      study is to compare the efficacy of intravenous (i.v.) dexmedetomidine and
      clonidine in preventing an increase in IOP after administration of suxamethonium
      and tracheal intubation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty patients undergoing
      elective nonophthalmic surgery under general anesthesia were included in this
      clinical study. Patients were randomly assigned into three groups to receive 0.5
      mcg/kg dexmedetomidine (Group D), 2 mcg/kg clonidine (Group C) or normal saline
      (Group S) as premedication i.v. over a period of 10 min before induction. IOP,
      heart rate, and mean arterial pressure were recorded before and after
      premedication, after suxamethonium, after intubation and then after 5 min.
      RESULTS: Following administration of dexmedetomidine and clonidine IOP decreased
      in both groups. After suxamethonium IOP increased in all three groups but it
      never crossed the baseline in Group D and C. After laryngoscopy and intubation
      IOP again increased in all three groups but in dexmedetomidine group it never
      crossed the baseline whereas in clonidine group it was significantly higher than
      the baseline. CONCLUSION: Single i.v. dose of dexmedetomidine premedication (0.5
      mcg/kg) blunt the IOP and hemodynamic response to suxamethonium injection and
      tracheal intubation more effectively than single i.v. dose of clonidine
      premedication (2 mcg/kg).

PMID- 25829908
TI  - Comparison between general anesthesia and spinal anesthesia in attenuation of
      stress response in laparoscopic cholecystectomy: A randomized prospective trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Laparoscopy though minimally invasive produces significant
      hemodynamic surge and neuroendocrine stress response. Though general anesthesia
      (GA) is the conventional technique, now-a-days, regional anesthesia has been
      accepted for laparoscopic diagnostic procedures, and its use is also being
      extended to laparoscopic surgeries. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to compare the
      hemodynamic surge and neuroendocrine stress response during laparoscopic
      cholecystectomy (LC) under GA and spinal anesthesia (SA) in American Society of
      Anesthesiologists (ASA) PS 1 patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty ASA physical
      status I patients, aged 18-65 years were randomly allocated into two equal groups
      of 15 each. Group A received GA with controlled ventilation. Patients were
      preoxygenated for 5 min with 100/5 oxygen, premedicated with midazolam 0.03 mg/kg
      intravenous (i.v), fentanyl 2 mcg/kg i.v; induction was done with thiopentone 3-5
      mg/kg i.v; intubation was achieved after muscle relaxation with 0.5 mg/kg
      atracurium besylate i.v. Anesthesia was maintained with 1-2% sevoflurane and
      N2O:O2 (60:40) and intermittent i.v injection of atracurium besylate. Group B SA
      with 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine and 25 MUg fentanyl along with local anesthetic
      instillation in the subdiaphragmatic space. Mean arterial pressure, heart rate
      (HR), oxygen saturation, end tidal carbon-dioxide were recorded. Venous blood was
      collected for cortisol assay before induction and 30 min after pneumoperitoneum.
      All data were collected in Microsoft excel sheet and statistically analyzed using
      SPSS software version 16 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). All numerical data were
      analyzed using Student's t-test and paired t-test. Any value <0.05 was taken as
      significant. RESULTS: Mean arterial pressure and mean HR and postpneumoperitoneum
      cortisol level were lower in group B than group A though the difference was not
      statistically significant in hemodynamic parameters but significant in case of
      cortisol. CONCLUSION: Spinal anesthesia administered for LC maintained comparable
      hemodynamics compared to GA and did not produce any ventilatory depression. It
      also produced less neuroendocrine stress response as seen by reduction in the
      level of serum cortisol in ASA PS 1 patients put for LC.

PMID- 25829909
TI  - Does a single specialty intensive care unit make better business sense than a
      multi-specialty intensive care unit? A costing study in a trauma center in India.
AB  - CONTEXT: Though intensive care units (ICUs) only account for 10% of hospital
      beds, they consume nearly 22% of hospital resources. Few definitive costing
      studies have been conducted in Indian settings that would help determine
      appropriate resource allocation. AIM: To evaluate and compare the cost of
      intensive care delivery between multi-specialty and neurosurgery ICU in an apex
      trauma care facility in India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in
      a polytrauma and neurosurgery ICU at a 203 bedded level IV trauma care facility
      in New Delhi, India from May, 2012 to June 2012. The study was cross-sectional,
      retrospective, and record-based. Traditional costing was used to arrive at the
      cost for both direct and indirect cost estimates. The cost centers included in
      study were building cost, equipment cost, human resources, materials and
      supplies, clinical and nonclinical support services, engineering maintenance
      cost, and biomedical waste management. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Fisher's two-tailed
      t-test. RESULTS: Total cost/bed/day for the multi-specialty ICU was Rs. 14,976.9/
      and for the neurosurgery ICU was Rs. 14,306.7/-, manpower constituting nearly
      half of the expenditure in both ICUs. The cost center wise and overall difference
      in the cost among the ICUs were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS:
      Quantification of expenditure in running an ICU in a trauma center would assist
      healthcare decision makers in better allocation of resources. Although multi
      specialty ICUs are more expensive, other factors will also play a role in
      defining the kind of ICU that need to be designed.

PMID- 25829910
TI  - Influence of GlideScope assisted endotracheal intubation on intraocular pressure
      in ophthalmic patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Traditional Macintoch laryngoscopy is known to cause a rise in
      intraocular pressure (IOP), tachycardia and hypertension. These changes are not
      desirable in patients with glaucoma and open globe injury. GlideScope is a video
      laryngoscope that functions independent of the line of sight, reduces upward
      lifting forces for glottic exposure and requires less cervical neck movement for
      intubation, making it less stimulating than Macintosh laryngoscopy. AIM: The aim
      was to assess the variations in IOP and hemodynamic changes after GlideScope
      assisted intubation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After approval of the local
      Institutional Research and Ethical Board and informed patient consent, 50 adult
      American Society of Anesthesiologist I and II patients with normal IOP were
      enrolled in a prospective, randomized study for ophthalmic surgery requiring
      tracheal intubation. In all patients, trachea was intubated using either
      GlideScope or Macintoch laryngoscope. IOP of nonoperated eye, heart rate and
      blood pressure were measured as baseline, 1 min after induction, 1 min and 5 min
      after tracheal intubation. RESULTS: IOP was not significantly different between
      groups before and after anesthetic induction and 5 min after tracheal intubation
      (P = 0.217, 0.726, and 0.110 respectively). The only significant difference in
      IOP was at 1 min after intubation (P = 0.041). No significant difference noted
      between groups in mean arterial pressure (P = 0.899, 0.62, 0.47, 0.82
      respectively) and heart rate (P = 0.21, 0.72, 0.07, 0.29, respectively) at all
      measurements. CONCLUSION: GlideScope assisted tracheal intubation shown lesser
      rise in IOP at 1 min after intubation in comparison to Macintoch laryngoscope,
      suggesting that GlideScope may be preferable to Macintosh laryngoscope.

PMID- 25829911
TI  - Fascia Iliaca block as the sole anesthesia technique in a patient with recent
      myocardial infarction for emergency femoral thrombectomy.
AB  - Acute limb ischemia is a surgical emergency that precludes prolonged preoperative
      cardiac evaluation. A 70-year-old female with recent myocardial infarction was
      posted for emergency transfemoral thrombectomy. We discuss the perioperative
      anesthetic considerations in these case. Fascia iliaca block can be used as sole
      anesthesia technique for transfemoral thrombectomy in high-risk patients. 

PMID- 25829912
TI  - Anesthetic concerns in a huge congenital sublingual swelling obscuring airway
      access.
AB  - Presence of intraoral pathology poses a great challenge during management of
      pediatric airway. We report management of big intraoral cystic swelling
      physically occupying the entire oral cavity restricting access to airway.
      Preintubation aspiration of swelling was done to decrease its size and make room
      for airway manipulation, followed by laryngoscopy and intubation in lateral
      position. Airway patency is at risk in postoperative period also, in this case,
      though the swelling decreased in size postoperatively but presence of significant
      edema required placement of tongue stitch and modified nasopharyngeal airway.
      Case report highlights simple maneuvers to manage a difficult case. 

PMID- 25829913
TI  - Stellate ganglion block can relieve symptoms and pain and prevent facial nerve
      damage.
AB  - Ramsay hunt syndrome[1] is a varicella zoster virus infection of the geniculate
      ganglion of the facial nerve. It is typically associated with a red rash and
      blister (inflamed vesicles or tiny water filled sacks in the skin) in or around
      the ear and eardrum and sometimes on the roof of the mouth or tongue.
      Corticosteroid, oral acyclovir, and anticonvulsant are used for treatment of
      this. In addition to this sympathetic neural blockade via stellate ganglion block
      is used to prevent facial nerve damage and relieve symptoms. We present a case of
      Ramsay hunt syndrome in which pain and symptoms are not relieved by oral
      medication but by daily sittings of stellate ganglion block with local anesthetic
      and steroid, pain, and other symptoms are relieved, and facial nerve damage is
      prevented. 

PMID- 25829914
TI  - Simultaneous cesarean delivery and craniotomy in a term pregnant patient with
      traumatic brain injury.
AB  - The management of pregnant patients with traumatic brain injury is challenging. A
      multidisciplinary team approach is mandatory, and management should be
      individualized according to the type and extent of injury, maternal status,
      gestational age, and fetal status. We report a 27-year-old term primigravida
      presenting after head injury with Glasgow coma scale score 11 and anisocoria.
      Depressed temporal bone fracture and acute epidural hematoma were diagnosed,
      necessitating an urgent neurosurgery. Her fetus was viable with no signs of
      distress and no detected placental abnormalities. Cesarean delivery was performed
      followed by craniotomy in the same setting under general anesthesia with good
      outcome of the patient and her baby. 

PMID- 25829915
TI  - Novel management of methylene blue extravasation: A case report and review of
      literature.
AB  - Methylene blue is a highly irritant drug and has been used intraoperatively. Its
      accidental extravasation can lead to tissue necrosis. In this report, a unique
      management is described, and the patient recovered without any morbidity. 

PMID- 25829916
TI  - Cauda equina syndrome after repeated spinal attempts: A case report and review of
      the literature.
AB  - Spinal and epidural blocks are widely used for cesarean section. Spinal hematoma
      causing cauda equina syndrome is a rare complication after spinal anesthesia
      (SA), but can lead to severe neurological deficit. It is usually associated with
      difficult SA and requires surgical decompression in most of the cases. 

PMID- 25829917
TI  - I-gel assisted fiberoptic intubation in a child with Morquio's syndrome.
AB  - Morquio's syndrome, also known as mucopolysaccharidosis type IV is an autosomal
      recessive disorder, caused by deficiency of n-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulphate.
      Anesthetic management of this syndrome is a great challenge, especially in
      pediatric age group as "cannot ventilate, cannot intubate" scenario can be
      encountered by anesthesiologist due to the possibility of total airway collapse.
      Herewith, we are reporting a case of child with Morquio's syndrome where I-gel
      assisted fiber-optic intubation was used for safe endotracheal intubation. 

PMID- 25829918
TI  - Comments on "Fatal colchicine intoxication".

PMID- 25829919
TI  - Ultrafluoro guided caudal epidural injection: An innovative blend of two
      traditional techniques.

PMID- 25829920
TI  - Retromolar intubation: A better alternative to submental intubation or
      tracheostomy for dental occlusion by intermaxillary fixation.

PMID- 25829921
TI  - Ultrasound out of plane approach for pulsed radiofrequency treatment of post
      herniorrhaphy pain: Synchronizing treatment and imaging modality.

PMID- 25829922
TI  - Iatrogenic ascending aortic obstruction in the neonate: Significance of pressure
      gradients across the aorta.

PMID- 25829923
TI  - Fiberoptic endotracheal intubation through a supraglottic conduit using an
      exchange catheter.

PMID- 25829924
TI  - Right sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia: A rare neonatal emergency.

PMID- 25829925
TI  - Low oxygen saturation: Really a hypoxia?

PMID- 25829926
TI  - Pericardial effusion: Real and false.

PMID- 25829927
TI  - Mishap due to look alike ampule: Matter of serious concern.

PMID- 25829928
TI  - Capno cannula is useful for sedation management in patients undergoing
      esophagogastroduodenoscopy.

PMID- 25829929
TI  - Erratum: 0.5% levobupivacaine versus 0.5% ropivacaine: Are they different in
      ultrasound-guided sciatic block?: Erratum.
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. 3 in vol. 9, PMID: 25558190.]. 

PMID- 25829930
TI  - Comparison of three different techniques of low-dose-rate seed implantation for
      prostate cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: Three different techniques of low-dose-rate seed implantation for
      prostate cancer have been used since its use started in our hospital. The purpose
      of this study was to compare the results of the three different techniques.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: The data of 305 prostate cancer patients who underwent low
      dose-rate seed implantation were retrospectively analyzed. Pre-plan technique (n
      = 27), intraoperative pre-plan technique (n = 86), and interactive plan technique
      (n = 192) were tried in chronological order. The prescribed dose was set at 145
      Gy. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 66 months (range: 12-94 months). The 5-year
      biochemical control rate was 95.5% (pre-plan group: 100%, intraoperative pre-plan
      group: 90.7%, interactive plan group: 97.0%; p = 0.08). Dosimetric parameters
      were generally increased from the pre-plan group to the interactive group. The
      differences in some dosimetric parameters between the planning phase and the CT
      analysis were significantly reduced with the interactive plan compared to the
      other techniques. The interactive plan showed a significant reduction of the seed
      migration rate compared to the two other groups. Acute genitourinary toxicity,
      acute gastrointestinal toxicity, frequency, and urinary retention increased
      gradually from the pre-plan period to the interactive plan period. CONCLUSIONS:
      There was no significant difference in biochemical control among the three
      groups. Dose-volume parameters were increased from the pre-plan technique to the
      interactive plan technique. However, this may not necessarily be due to technical
      improvements, since dose escalation was started during the same period. Lower
      seed migration rates and the smaller differences between the planning phase and
      CT analysis with the interactive plan technique suggest the superiority of this
      technique to the two other techniques.

PMID- 25829931
TI  - High-dose-rate brachytherapy delivered in two fractions as monotherapy for low
      risk prostate cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy has been accepted as an effective and
      safe method to treat prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to describe acute
      toxicity following HDR brachytherapy to the prostate, and to examine the
      association between dosimetric parameters and urinary toxicity in low-risk
      prostate cancer patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients with low-risk prostate
      cancer were given HDR brachytherapy as monotherapy in two 12.5 Gy fractions.
      Planning objectives for the planning target volume (PTV) were V100% >= 90% and
      V150% <= 35%. Planning objectives for organs at risk were V75% <= 1 cc for the
      bladder, rectum and perineum, and V125% <= 1 cc for the urethra. Toxicity was
      assessed three months after treatment using the Common Terminology Criteria for
      Adverse Events. RESULTS: Seventy-three patients were included in the analysis.
      Thirty-three patients (45%) reported having any type of toxicity in the three
      months following HDR brachytherapy. Most toxicity cases (26%) were grade 1
      urinary toxicity. Mean coverage index was 0.89 and mean V100 was 88.85. Doses
      administered to the urethra were associated with urinary toxicity. Patients who
      received more than 111.3% of the prescribed dose in 1 cc of the urethra were four
      times more likely to have urinary toxicity compared to patients receiving less
      than 111.3% (OR = 4.71, 95% CI: 1.43-15.6; p = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS: High-dose
      rate brachytherapy administered as monotherapy for prostate cancer proved to be a
      safe alternative treatment for patients with low-risk prostate cancer. Urinary
      toxicity was associated with the dose administered to 1 cc and 0.1 cc of the
      urethra and was remarkably inferior to the reported toxicity in similar studies.

PMID- 25829932
TI  - Influence of zonal dosimetry on prostate brachytherapy outcomes.
AB  - PURPOSE: To examine the influence of zone-specific dosimetry on outcomes during
      permanent prostate implantation (PI), where the peripheral zone (PZ) and
      transitional zone (TZ) may receive varying radiation doses. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      Four hundred and sixteen patients treated with I-125 PI (target dose: 144 Gy)
      between 1996 and 2003 were included in this Institutional Review Board (IRB)
      approved, retrospective analysis. Whole prostate (WP), TZ, and PZ were contoured,
      and zone-specific D90 and V100 were computed. Their influence on biochemical
      failure (BF) was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards analysis. RESULTS: The
      median age and initial prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was 68 years and 6.1
      ng/ml, respectively, and the median follow-up time was 8.8 years. There were 329
      subjects with Gleason score (GS) 6 disease (79.1%), and 82 subjects had GS 7
      disease (19.7%). Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) was used in 20.4% of
      patients. Median D90 and V100% in the WP, PZ, and TZ were 141.2 Gy, 156.1 Gy, and
      134.5 Gy; and 88.8%, 93.3%, and 84.2%, respectively. Ten-year rates for
      biochemical recurrence-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, and
      prostate cancer-specific mortality were 82.4%, 92.4%, and 0.97% respectively.
      Only initial PSA, GS7+ disease, ADT, and PSA frequency were significant on
      multivariate analysis. Ten-year rates of grade 3 or higher GU and GI toxicity was
      10.9% and 1.8%, respectively. TZ V200 and TZ V300 were significantly associated
      with late genitourinary toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: The TZ received significantly
      lower doses of radiation compared to the PZ. On multivariate analysis, no
      dosimetric parameter was associated with efficacy. Higher TZ doses may be
      associated with higher late GU toxicity without improving efficacy.

PMID- 25829933
TI  - Comparison of radiation dose to the left anterior descending artery by whole and
      partial breast irradiation in breast cancer patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: Breast conserving surgery (BCS) followed by whole breast irradiation
      (WBI) is the standard of care for breast cancer patients. However, there is a
      risk of coronary events with WBI therapy. In this study, we compared the
      radiation dose in the left anterior descending artery (LAD) in patients receiving
      partial breast irradiation (PBI) with WBI. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We evaluated
      consecutive patients who underwent adjuvant radiotherapy after BCS between
      October 2008 and July 2014. Whole breast irradiation patients received 50 Gy in
      fractions of 2 Gy to the entire breast. Partial breast irradiation was performed
      using multicatheter brachytherapy at a dose of 32 Gy in eight fractions. The mean
      and maximal cumulative doses to LAD were calculated. The radiotherapeutic
      biologically effective dose of PBI was adjusted to WBI, and radiation techniques
      were compared. RESULTS: Of 379 consecutive patients with 383 lesions receiving
      radiotherapy (151 WBI and 232 PBI lesions), 82 WBI and 100 PBI patients were
      analyzed. In WBI patients, the mean and maximal cumulative doses for left-sided
      breast cancer (2.13 +/- 0.11 and 8.19 +/- 1.21 Gy, respectively) were
      significantly higher than those for right-sided (0.37 +/- 0.02 and 0.56 +/- 0.03
      Gy, respectively; p < 0.0001). In PBI patients with left-sided breast cancer, the
      doses for tumors in inner quadrants or central location (2.54 +/- 0.21 and 4.43
      +/- 0.38 Gy, respectively) were significantly elevated compared to outer
      quadrants (1.02 +/- 0.17 and 2.10 +/- 0.29 Gy, respectively; p < 0.0001). After
      the adjustment, the doses in PBI patients were significantly reduced in patients
      with tumors only in outer quadrants (1.12 +/- 0.20 and 2.43 +/- 0.37 Gy,
      respectively; p = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Tumor control and dose to LAD should be
      considered during treatment since PBI may reduce the risk of coronary artery
      disease especially in patients with lateral tumors in the left breast.

PMID- 25829934
TI  - The incidence of fat necrosis in balloon-based breast brachytherapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the incidence of and potential risk factors for fat
      necrosis in high dose-rate (HDR) balloon-based breast brachytherapy (BBB).
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty-four patients were treated postoperatively with HDR
      BBB between May 2007 and December 2010. Median age was 71 years (range: 50-88
      years). Median tumor size was 1 cm (range: 0.1-2.7 cm). Forty-four had invasive
      histology; 43% were grade 1, 24% grade 2, and 15% grade 3. The median margin size
      was 0.7 cm (range: 0.1-1.5 cm). RESULTS: With a median follow-up of 2.9 years
      (range: 0.5-5.2 years), local control was 98% with one in-breast failure, and
      overall survival was 89%. Fifty percent of patients experienced fat necrosis.
      Seven patients were symptomatic, with the remainder detected by mammography
      alone. Two patients required surgical resection with pathology confirming fat
      necrosis; 1 required i.v. steroids. At 1, 3, and 5 years following treatment,
      estimated cumulative incidences of fat necrosis were 7.5%, 52.7%, and 60.6%.
      Breast laterality, location, tumor size, histology, margin size, balloon volume,
      skin distance, skin dose, and number of dwell positions were not significantly
      associated with fat necrosis on univariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: In this
      retrospective review of HDR-BBB, we found a 50% incidence of both asymptomatic
      and symptomatic fat necrosis. Only three patients, however, required
      intervention. None of the risk factors considered were significantly associated
      with fat necrosis. Further studies evaluating factors associated with fat
      necrosis for patients undergoing HDR-BBB are necessary to appropriately assess
      the risks associated with treatment.

PMID- 25829935
TI  - High-dose-rate vaginal brachytherapy with chemotherapy for surgically staged
      localized uterine serous carcinoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate our institutional experience combining carboplatin
      paclitaxel (C/T) chemotherapy with high-dose-rate (HDR) intra-vaginal
      brachytherapy (IVB) following comprehensive surgical staging in localized uterine
      serous carcinoma (USC). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Institutional chart review
      identified 56 patients with FIGO 2009 stage I-II USC treated between 2000-2010.
      Patients underwent total hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oopherectomy, and
      comprehensive surgical staging including pelvic and para-aortic lymph node
      dissection, omentectomy, and peritoneal cytology. Chemotherapy was 6 cycles of
      C/T, and the IVB dose was 14 Gy in 2 fractions, prescribed to 0.5 cm from the
      cylinder surface. Kaplan-Meier methods were used to estimate recurrence-free
      survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). RESULTS: The median follow-up time was
      49 months (range: 9-145). The 5-yr RFS and OS were 85% and 93%, respectively. In
      all cases of recurrence (n = 8), the first site of failure was extra-pelvic.
      There were no isolated vaginal recurrences, however, there was one vaginal apex
      recurrence recorded at 19 months in a patient with simultaneous lung metastases.
      Thus, the 2-year vaginal RFS was 98%. CONCLUSIONS: Excellent vaginal/pelvic
      control rates were observed. Further study of HDR brachytherapy dose and
      fractionation in combination with chemotherapy is worthwhile.

PMID- 25829937
TI  - A novel intracavitary applicator design for the treatment of deep vaginal
      fornices: preliminary dose metrics and geometric analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the dose distributions associated with a novel balloon
      sleeve placed over a standard cylinder applicator. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A
      computed tomography (CT) scan of a sleeve balloon shaped to inflate into the
      vaginal fornices was used to digitize 1-, 3-, and 5-catheter configurations.
      Point doses for rectum, apex, and fornix were calculated and compared to the
      values associated with a standard cylinder plan not targeting the vaginal
      fornices. Inflation of the sleeve balloon in the vaginal fornices and dose
      coverage with constraints to the rectum, bladder, and sigmoid D2cc were
      evaluated. RESULTS: Rectum, apex, and fornix doses were respectively 76%, 119%,
      and 44% for a standard cylinder; 190%, 310%, and 93% for a 1-catheter
      configuration; 98%, 109%, and 109% for a 3-catheter configuration; and 91%, 107%,
      and 96% for the 5-catheter configuration. In a patient analysis, expansion of the
      sleeve balloon into the vaginal fornices was confirmed. The 5-catheter
      configurations were associated with best coverage of the fornices and acceptable
      doses to rectum, bladder, and sigmoid. CONCLUSIONS: A 1-catheter configuration
      cannot be used clinically due to high rectal and apex dose. In theoretical
      analysis, the 3- and 5-catheter configurations showed > 96% coverage to the
      vaginal fornices with a clinically acceptable rectal dose. In a treatment
      simulation in a patient, a 5-catheter configuration showed 90% coverage of the
      fornices with acceptable doses to the organs at risk. The treatment of deep
      vaginal fornices results in an increased rectal dose compared to a standard
      cylinder plan.

PMID- 25829936
TI  - Uterine perforation and its dosimetric implications in cervical cancer high-dose
      rate brachytherapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To retrospectively assess the incidence of sub-serosal and uterine
      perforation of intra-uterine tandem in intracavitary high-dose-rate (HDR)
      brachytherapy for cervical cancer, and to evaluate its dosimetric implications on
      computed tomography (CT)-based treatment planning. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Computed
      tomography images and brachytherapy plans of cervical cancer patients treated
      from February 2006 to December 2012 were reviewed for sub-optimal implants (sub
      serosal and uterine perforation), and their correlation with cancer FIGO stage
      and patients' age. For each patient, the plans showing sub-optimal insertion of
      intra-uterine tandem were analyzed and compared to plans with adequate insertion.
      The difference in dose coverage of clinical-target-volume (CTV) and variation of
      the dose delivered to organs-at-risk (OARs) rectum and bladder were evaluated.
      RESULTS: A total of 231 brachytherapy plans for 82 patients were reviewed. We
      identified 12 (14.6%) patients and 14 (6%) applications with uterine perforation,
      and 12 (14.6%) patients and 20 (8.6%) applications with sub-serosal insertion of
      tandem. Data analysis showed that advanced stage correlates with higher incidence
      of sub-optimal implants (p = 0.005) but not the age (p = 0.18). Dose-volume
      histograms (DVHs) analysis showed large variations for CTV dose coverage: D90
      significantly decreased with average of -115.7% +/- 134.9% for uterine
      perforation and -65.2% +/- 82.8% for sub-serosal insertion (p = 0.025). The
      rectum and bladder dose assessed by D2cc increased up to 70.3% and 43.8%,
      respectively, when sub-optimal insertion of uterine tandem occurred. CONCLUSIONS:
      We report a low incidence of uterine perforation and sub-serosal insertion of
      uterine tandem in intracavitary HDR brachytherapy for cervical cancer. However,
      the effects on treatment plan dosimetry can be considerably detrimental.
      Therefore, we recommend image-guided insertion, at least for the challenging
      cases.

PMID- 25829938
TI  - Multi-axis dose accumulation of noninvasive image-guided breast brachytherapy
      through biomechanical modeling of tissue deformation using the finite element
      method.
AB  - PURPOSE: Noninvasive image-guided breast brachytherapy delivers conformal HDR
      (192)Ir brachytherapy treatments with the breast compressed, and treated in the
      cranial-caudal and medial-lateral directions. This technique subjects breast
      tissue to extreme deformations not observed for other disease sites. Given that,
      commercially-available software for deformable image registration cannot
      accurately co-register image sets obtained in these two states, a finite element
      analysis based on a biomechanical model was developed to deform dose
      distributions for each compression circumstance for dose summation. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: The model assumed the breast was under planar stress with values of 30
      kPa for Young's modulus and 0.3 for Poisson's ratio. Dose distributions from
      round and skin-dose optimized applicators in cranial-caudal and medial-lateral
      compressions were deformed using 0.1 cm planar resolution. Dose distributions,
      skin doses, and dose-volume histograms were generated. Results were examined as a
      function of breast thickness, applicator size, target size, and offset distance
      from the center. RESULTS: Over the range of examined thicknesses, target size
      increased several millimeters as compression thickness decreased. This trend
      increased with increasing offset distances. Applicator size minimally affected
      target coverage, until applicator size was less than the compressed target size.
      In all cases, with an applicator larger or equal to the compressed target size, >
      90% of the target covered by > 90% of the prescription dose. In all cases, dose
      coverage became less uniform as offset distance increased and average dose
      increased. This effect was more pronounced for smaller target-applicator
      combinations. CONCLUSIONS: The model exhibited skin dose trends that matched MC
      generated benchmarking results within 2% and clinical observations over a similar
      range of breast thicknesses and target sizes. The model provided quantitative
      insight on dosimetric treatment variables over a range of clinical circumstances.
      These findings highlight the need for careful target localization and accurate
      identification of compression thickness and target offset.

PMID- 25829939
TI  - Thromboembolic events following brachytherapy: case reports.
AB  - Pulsed-dose-rate (PDR) brachytherapy is a recent brachytherapy modality combining
      the radiobiological advantages of low-dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy with
      increased possibilities of dose optimization and radiation safety. However,
      treatment duration remains protracted, as the prescribed dose is typically
      delivered through pulses that do not exceed 0.5 Gy/h for critical organs. It is
      frequently used for the treatment of gynaecological malignancies. Although, the
      relationship between thrombosis and cancer is well known, specific data on
      thromboembolic events during brachytherapy are scarce. We report two cases of
      major thromboembolic events during brachytherapy treatment for gynaecological
      malignancies. We discuss the possible causal relationship between brachytherapy
      procedures and the occurrence of thromboembolic events, drawing a preventive
      practical attitude. 

PMID- 25829940
TI  - A case report of ultrasound-guided interstitial brachytherapy for abdominal wall
      metastases of ovarian cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report the treatment effect of interstitial brachytherapy for
      abdominal wall metastases of ovarian cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The patient is
      a 44-year-old female with a diagnosis of stage IA ovarian cancer. After surgery
      and two cycles of chemotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin, the patient
      noticed dull pain in the lower abdomen and found a mass located in the
      subcutaneous tissue, below the operative incision. A diagnostic biopsy showed
      abdominal wall metastases. After external radiotherapy with a dose of 39.6 Gy in
      22 fractions, the residual tumor was treated with interstitial brachytherapy
      under ultrasound guidance. The brachytherapy dose was 18 Gy in 6 fractions of 3
      Gy each. RESULTS: After 3 weeks of brachytherapy, the tumor had disappeared
      completely. Interstitial brachytherapy was feasible. CONCLUSIONS: Interstitial
      brachytherapy may be a proposed treatment strategy for inoperable superficial
      metastases, especially for low radiosensitivity cancer.

PMID- 25829941
TI  - University Cooperation Platform (UCP) between Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel
      (Germany) and Chiang Mai University (Thailand): implementation of image-guided
      gynecological brachytherapy.
AB  - Starting in 1999, the University Cooperation Platform (UCP) implemented an
      exchange program of researchers and clinicians/physicists between the Christian
      Albrechts-University Kiel in Germany and Chiang Mai University in Thailand, to
      initiate a sustainable base for long-term development of image-guided
      brachytherapy and in general for high-technology radiotherapy in Chiang Mai. A
      series of UCP protocols, based constructively on each other, were performed and
      evaluated at intermediate term follow-up. The first protocol, addressing computed
      tomography (CT)-optimized brachytherapy for advanced cervical cancer (n = 17),
      showed a significant reduction of D2cc for the bladder and sigmoid (p < 0.001)
      while maintaining a very high dose in D90 high-risk clinical target volume (HR
      CTV) in comparison with standard point-based planning. In addition, after a
      follow-up of 19 months no tumor relapse was observed. The second UCP protocol,
      testing the impact of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance (n = 15) in
      patients with cervical cancer, proved significantly smaller D2cc doses for the
      bladder, rectum, and sigmoid (p = 0.003, p = 0.015, and p = 0.012), and secured
      highly curative mean doses in D90 HR-CTV of 99.2 Gy. The acute and late toxicity
      was excellent without any observed grade 3 or higher morbidity. In the third
      protocol, the combination of image-guided brachytherapy (IGBT) and whole pelvis
      intensity-modulated external beam radiotherapy (WP-IMRT) (n = 15) reaffirmed the
      significant reduction of D2cc doses for the bladder, rectum, and sigmoid (p =
      0.001 or p < 0.001) along with high equivalent dose at 2 Gy (EQD2) in the HR-CTV,
      and demonstrated very low acute therapy-related toxicity in absence of grade 3
      morbidity. The implementation of transabdominal ultrasound (TAUS) was the focus
      of the fourth UCP project aiming a more generous potential use of image-guidance
      on long-term, and enhancing the quality of soft tissue assessment complementary
      to conventionally planned gynecological brachytherapy. Analyses in 29 patients
      revealed significantly reduced OARs doses in bladder with a total EQD2 > 80 Gy
      for bladder in only 17.2% versus 62.1% in conventional planning, and in rectum
      EQD2 > 75 Gy in 44.8% versus 79.3%, respectively. In conclusion, analyses
      revealed excellent results for the high-dose-rate IGBT in patients with advanced
      gynecological cancer both by using CT and MRI, and/or the combination with WP
      IMRT. They also define MRI as gold standard for soft tissue assessment and to
      determine more accurately HR-CTV. The use of TAUS-guidance adds quality aspects
      to the "classical" conventional X-ray based planning, especially in terms of real
      time measures and adequate soft tissue information, and may lower significantly
      the dose in OARs. The review of all UCP-results reconfirms the importance of the
      established program that will continue to operate with subsequent projects. 

PMID- 25829942
TI  - Multi-capillary column-ion mobility spectrometry (MCC-IMS) as a new method for
      the quantification of occupational exposure to sevoflurane in anaesthesia
      workplaces: an observational feasibility study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Occupational exposure to sevoflurane has the potential to cause
      health damage in hospital personnel. Workplace contamination with the substance
      mostly is assessed by using photoacoustic infrared spectrometry with detection
      limits of 10 ppbv. Multi-capillary column-ion mobility spectrometry (MCC-IMS)
      could be an alternative technology for the quantification of sevoflurane in the
      room air and could be even more accurate because of potentially lower detection
      limits. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that MCC-IMS is able to
      detect and monitor very low concentrations of sevoflurane (<10 ppbv) and to
      evaluate the exposure of hospital personnel to sevoflurane during paediatric
      anaesthesia and in the post anaesthesia care unit (PACU). METHODS: A MCC-IMS
      device was calibrated to several concentrations of sevoflurane and limits of
      detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were calculated. Sevoflurane exposure of
      hospital personnel was measured at two anaesthesia workplaces and time-weighted
      average (TWA) values were calculated. RESULTS: The LOD was 0.0068 ppbv and the
      LOQ was 0.0189 ppbv. During paediatric anaesthesia the mean sevoflurane
      concentration was 46.9 ppbv (8.0 - 314.7 ppbv) with TWA values between 5.8 and
      45.7 ppbv. In the PACU the mean sevoflurane concentration was 27.9 ppbv (8.0 -
      170.2 ppbv) and TWA values reached from 8.3 to 45.1 ppbv. CONCLUSIONS: MCC-IMS
      shows a significantly lower LOD and LOQ than comparable methods. It is a reliable
      technology for monitoring sevoflurane concentrations at anaesthesia workplaces
      and has a particular strength in quantifying low-level contaminations of
      sevoflurane. The exposure of the personnel working in these areas did not exceed
      recommended limits and therefore adverse health effects are unlikely.

PMID- 25829943
TI  - Markets, breastfeeding and trade in mothers' milk.
AB  - This introduction to a special issue on the economics of breastfeeding draws
      attention to the lack of economic justice for women. Human milk is being bought
      and sold. Commodifying and marketing human milk and breastfeeding risk
      reinforcing social and gender economic inequities. Yet there are potential
      benefits for breastfeeding, and some of the world's poorest women might profit.
      How can we improve on the present situation where everyone except the woman who
      donates her milk benefits? Breastfeeding is a global food production system with
      unsurpassed capacity to promote children's food security and maternal and child
      health, but it is side-lined by trade negotiators who seek instead to expand
      world markets for cow's milk-based formula. Regulators focus on potential risks
      of feeding donated human milk, rather than on health risks of exposing infants
      and young children to highly processed bovine milk. Similarly, policymakers
      aspire to provide universal health care access that may be unaffordable when two
      thirds of the world's children are not optimally nourished in infancy, resulting
      in a global double burden of infectious and chronic disease. Universal
      breastfeeding requires greater commitment of resources, but such investment
      remains lacking despite the cost effectiveness of breastfeeding protection,
      support and promotion in and beyond health services. Women invest substantially
      in breastfeeding but current policy - epitomised by the G20 approach to the
      'gender gap' - fails to acknowledge the economic value of this unpaid care work.
      Economic incentives for mothers to optimally breastfeed are dwarfed by health
      system and commercial incentives promoting formula feeding and by government
      fiscal policies which ignore the resulting economic costs. 'The market' fails to
      protect breastfeeding, because market prices give the wrong signals. An economic
      approach to the problem of premature weaning from optimal breastfeeding may help
      prioritise global maternity protection as the foundation for sustainable
      development of human capital and labour productivity. It would remove fiscal
      subsidies for breast milk substitutes, tax their sale to recoup health system
      costs, and penalise their free supply, promotion and distribution. By removing
      widespread incentives for premature weaning, the resources would be available for
      the world to invest more in breastfeeding. 

PMID- 25829944
TI  - Research prospects in BioPsychoSocial medicine: new year reflections on the
      "Cross-Boarder Dialogue" paradigm.

PMID- 25829945
TI  - Adaptation of Scheffersomyces stipitis to hardwood spent sulfite liquor by
      evolutionary engineering.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hardwood spent sulfite liquor (HSSL) is a by-product of acid sulfite
      pulping process that is rich in xylose, a monosaccharide that can be fermented to
      ethanol by Scheffersomyces stipitis. However, HSSL also contains acetic acid and
      lignosulfonates that are inhibitory compounds of yeast growth. The main objective
      of this study was the use of an evolutionary engineering strategy to obtain
      variants of S. stipitis with increased tolerance to HSSL inhibitors while
      maintaining the ability to ferment xylose to ethanol. RESULTS: A continuous
      reactor with gradually increasing HSSL concentrations, from 20% to 60% (v/v), was
      operated for 382 generations. From the final obtained population (POP), a stable
      clone (C4) was isolated and characterized in 60% undetoxified HSSL. C4 isolate
      was then compared with both the parental strain (PAR) and POP. Both POP and C4
      were able to grow in 60% undetoxified HSSL, with a higher capability to withstand
      HSSL inhibitors than PAR. Higher substrate uptake rates, 7% higher ethanol
      efficiency and improved ethanol yield were obtained using C4. CONCLUSION: S.
      stipitis was successfully adapted to 60% (v/v) undetoxified eucalyptus HSSL. A
      stable isolate, C4, with an improved performance in undetoxified HSSL compared to
      PAR was successfully obtained from POP. Owing to its improved tolerance to
      inhibitors, C4 may represent a major advantage for the production of bioethanol
      using HSSL as substrate.

PMID- 25829946
TI  - Cellobiohydrolase and endoglucanase respond differently to surfactants during the
      hydrolysis of cellulose.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Non-ionic surfactants such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) can increase
      the glucose yield obtained from enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulosic
      substrates. Various explanations behind this effect include the ability of PEG to
      increase the stability of the cellulases, decrease non-productive cellulase
      adsorption to the substrate, and increase the desorption of enzymes from the
      substrate. Here, using lignin-free model substrates, we propose that PEG also
      alters the solvent properties, for example, water, leading the cellulases to
      increase hydrolysis yields. RESULTS: The effect of PEG differs for the individual
      cellulases. During hydrolysis of Avicel and PASC with a processive monocomponent
      exo-cellulase cellobiohydrolase (CBH) I, the presence of PEG leads to an increase
      in the final glucose concentration, while PEG caused no change in glucose
      production with a non-processive endoglucanase (EG). Also, no effect of PEG was
      seen on the activity of beta-glucosidases. While PEG has a small effect on the
      thermostability of both cellulases, only the activity of CBH I increases with
      PEG. Using commercial enzyme mixtures, the hydrolysis yields increased with the
      addition of PEG. In parallel, we observed that the relaxation time of the
      hydrolysis liquid phase, as measured by LF-NMR, directly correlated with the
      final glucose yield. PEG was able to boost the glucose production even in highly
      concentrated solutions of up to 150 g/L of glucose. CONCLUSIONS: The hydrolysis
      boosting effect of PEG appears to be specific for CBH I. The mechanism could be
      due to an increase in the apparent activity of the enzyme on the substrate
      surface. The addition of PEG increases the relaxation time of the liquid-phase
      water, which from the data presented points towards a mechanism related to PEG
      water interactions rather than PEG-protein or PEG-substrate interactions.

PMID- 25829947
TI  - Human lung myofibroblast TGFbeta1-dependent Smad2/3 signalling is Ca(2+)
      dependent and regulated by KCa3.1 K(+) channels.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a common and invariably lethal
      interstitial lung disease with poorly effective therapy. Blockade of the K(+)
      channel KCa3.1 reduces constitutive alpha-SMA and Smad2/3 nuclear translocation
      in IPF-derived human lung myofibroblasts (HLMFs), and inhibits several
      transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFbeta1)-dependent cell processes. We
      hypothesized that KCa3.1-dependent cell processes also regulate the TGFbeta1
      dependent Smad2/3 signalling pathway in HLMFs. HLMFs obtained from non-fibrotic
      controls (NFC) and IPF lungs were grown in vitro and examined for alphaSMA
      expression by immunofluorescence, RT-PCR, and flow cytometry. Two specific and
      distinct KCa3.1 blockers (TRAM-34 200 nM and ICA-17043 [Senicapoc] 100 nM) were
      used to determine their effects on TGFbeta1-dependent signalling. Expression of
      phosphorylated and total Smad2/3 following TGFbeta1 stimulation was determined by
      Western blot and Smad2/3 nuclear translocation by immunofluorescence. RESULTS:
      KCa3.1 block attenuated TGFbeta1-dependent Smad2/3 phosphorylation and nuclear
      translocation, and this was mimicked by lowering the extracellular Ca(2+)
      concentration. KCa3.1 block also inhibited Smad2/3-dependent gene transcription
      (alphaSMA, collagen type I), inhibited KCa3.1 mRNA expression, and attenuated
      TGFbeta1-dependent alphaSMA protein expression. CONCLUSIONS: KCa3.1 activity
      regulates TGFbeta1-dependent effects in NFC- and IPF-derived primary HLMFs
      through the regulation of the TGFbeta1/Smad signalling pathway, with promotion of
      downstream gene transcription and protein expression. KCa3.1 blockers may offer a
      novel approach to treating IPF.

PMID- 25829948
TI  - Mining severe drug-drug interaction adverse events using Semantic Web
      technologies: a case study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are a major contributing factor for
      unexpected adverse drug events (ADEs). However, few of knowledge resources cover
      the severity information of ADEs that is critical for prioritizing the medical
      need. The objective of the study is to develop and evaluate a Semantic Web-based
      approach for mining severe DDI-induced ADEs. METHODS: We utilized a normalized
      FDA Adverse Event Report System (AERS) dataset and performed a case study of
      three frequently prescribed cardiovascular drugs: Warfarin, Clopidogrel and
      Simvastatin. We extracted putative DDI-ADE pairs and their associated outcome
      codes. We developed a pipeline to filter the associations using ADE datasets from
      SIDER and PharmGKB. We also performed a signal enrichment using electronic
      medical records (EMR) data. We leveraged the Common Terminology Criteria for
      Adverse Event (CTCAE) grading system and classified the DDI-induced ADEs into the
      CTCAE in the Web Ontology Language (OWL). RESULTS: We identified 601 DDI-ADE
      pairs for the three drugs using the filtering pipeline, of which 61 pairs are in
      Grade 5, 56 pairs in Grade 4 and 484 pairs in Grade 3. Among 601 pairs, the
      signals of 59 DDI-ADE pairs were identified from the EMR data. CONCLUSIONS: The
      approach developed could be generalized to detect the signals of putative severe
      ADEs induced by DDIs in other drug domains and would be useful for supporting
      translational and pharmacovigilance study of severe ADEs.

PMID- 25829949
TI  - Sites of disease as predictors of outcome in metastatic renal cell carcinoma
      patients treated with first-line sunitinib or sorafenib.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study investigated whether the effectiveness of first-line
      tyrosine-kinase inhibitors was associated with sites of disease in patients with
      metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). METHODS: A retrospective cohort of
      consecutive mRCC patients receiving first-line sorafenib (SO) or sunitinib (SU)
      was analyzed. RESULTS: In total, 203 patients received SO and 99 SU. In patients
      with liver metastasis, SU was associated with a 18% higher risk of time-to
      treatment failure (TTF), and a 39% higher risk of death than SO: conversely,
      patients without liver metastases who received SU showed a 46% decreased risk of
      TTF and 62% decreased risk of death. CONCLUSIONS: mRCC patients with liver
      metastases treated with first-line SO showed a better outcome compared with SU,
      while mRCC patients without liver metastases treated with first-line SU showed a
      better outcome compared with SO.

PMID- 25829950
TI  - A report of a regional service for post-prostatectomy urinary incontinence: a
      model for best practice?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Post-prostatectomy incontinence (PPI) is a potentially highly
      significant complication of a common urological procedure. Pathophysiology may be
      multifactorial but most commonly involves urinary sphincter weakness. The gold
      standard treatment for severe incontinence is artificial urinary sphincter but
      multiple alternatives exist. The growing incidence of PPI has led to the
      development of a specialized regional service dedicated to management. PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: In 2004 a regional referral protocol for PPI was established with a
      dedicated clinic at a single centre for assessment and management including
      videourodynamics, pelvic floor rehabilitation, biofeedback and a consultant with
      a specialist interest in PPI surgery. Data regarding all in-house and tertiary
      referrals to this clinic between 2004 and 2011 were analysed with patients
      categorized by symptom severity. RESULTS: A total of 267 patients were referred
      to the post-prostatectomy service (mean age 66.6, range 49-83 years) with numbers
      increasing year on year. Two-thirds of these were tertiary referrals: 27.7% of
      referrals were for mild symptoms, 35.2% moderate and 33.3% severe. One-third of
      referrals were made within 2 years of the primary procedure. Just over half of
      referred patients underwent invasive treatment including 24.3 artificial
      sphincter (24.3%) and male slings (22.8%). 7.5% patients were managed with
      medication, 14.6% were managed conservatively with containment therapy only. One
      fifth remain under assessment or have deferred treatment. CONCLUSION: PPI is of
      increasing personal and societal impact which should be identified early and
      supported. Investigation and management can be standardized and intervention at a
      high volume centre achieved by early specialist referral.

PMID- 25829951
TI  - The double urethra: revisiting the surgical classification.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this article was to describe our experience with 14 patients with
      double urethra. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively examined the patients'
      records including their clinical presentations, investigations, operative
      findings, and outcome. In addition to Effmann's classification, we used a newly
      proposed classification that depends on the orientation of the double urethral
      channels. RESULTS: During the last 15 years, 18 patients were diagnosed to have
      double urethra at our pediatric surgical unit. We excluded four patients with 'Y
      type' urethral duplication. The remaining 14 patients were divided into either
      sagittal or collateral duplication. Their age at presentation ranged from the
      neonatal period to 9 years. The sagittal urethral duplication included 12 male
      patients. All patients had two urethral channels, one above the other. The dorsal
      urethral channel was always characterized by poor function and ectopic course.
      The ventral channel was always the more functioning urethra, with a normal course
      from the urinary bladder to end either at an orthotopic meatus (subgroup A), or
      more proximally in a hypospadiac location (subgroup B). The collateral urethral
      duplication included two patients. Both patients were associated with duplication
      of the urinary bladder and the external genitalia as a part of caudal duplication
      syndrome. In this group, both urethrae had comparable function, lying side by
      side, and each draining a separate urinary bladder. CONCLUSION: The double
      urethra is a diverse spectrum comprising different pathologies. Our proposed
      classification system of duplicated urethras is clinically relevant as it guides
      surgical management and allows prognostication of outcome.

PMID- 25829952
TI  - Management of idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis from the urologist's
      perspective.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis (IRF) is a rare disease
      characterized by a fibrotic reaction that affects retroperitoneal organs,
      especially the urinary tract. In this review we analyze the current imaging
      techniques, morphological characteristics, clinical aspects and therapeutic
      aspects of idiopathic retroperitoneal disease. METHODS: A PubMed search was
      conducted in December 2013 to find original articles, bibliographic reviews and
      series reports published in the past 15 years on idiopathic retroperitoneal
      fibrosis, its management and outcomes by combining terms like retroperitoneal
      fibrosis, periaortitis, treatment and autoimmune. A total of 89 articles were
      included in this review that referred strictly to IRF. We analyzed the imaging
      tools used for diagnostic and the decision making protocol used by physicians in
      the management of IRF. RESULTS: A computerized tomography (CT) scan represents
      the most commonly used imaging technique for diagnosis. Magnetic resonance
      imaging (MRI) is unable to differentiate more accurately between benign and
      malignant retroperitoneal fibrosis (RF) than a CT scan. Biopsy remains the most
      reliable diagnostic tool for IRF. However, the histological characteristics of
      IRF are not yet well-defined and the protocol for biopsy is not standardized in
      terms of template, number of biopsies and the immunohistochemical panel needed
      for positive diagnosis. The most common treatment reported is corticosteroid
      therapy alone or in combination with other immunosuppressants, whereas surgical
      treatment is reserved for severe cases. Indwelling ureteric stents represent the
      most common procedure for renal drainage, but their efficacy is questionable.
      Open ureterolysis remains the gold standard for surgical treatment, but its
      purpose is only to resolve the ureteric obstruction, not to treat the
      retroperitoneal fibrosis. Laparoscopic and robotic approaches have been reported
      to be feasible, but no prospective, comparative trials have been performed due to
      the rarity of the disease. Surgical technique is not standardized and the outcome
      of the treatment only evaluates the recovery of the renal function. CONCLUSIONS:
      The imaging procedures available today are unable to accurately differentiate
      between idiopathic and malignant RF. A biopsy is mandatory to confirm the
      diagnosis, but there is no consensus regarding the template, timing and number of
      biopsies needed to exclude malignancy. Open ureterolysis represents the main
      surgical treatment for cases with severe IRF, and laparoscopic or robotic
      approach may be an option in selected cases. The recovery of the renal function
      is a surrogate for evaluating the success of the treatment. More clinical studies
      are needed in order standardize the protocol for diagnostic, treatment and follow
      up after medical or surgical management.

PMID- 25829953
TI  - Association of Intact dupA (dupA1) rather than dupA1 cluster with duodenal ulcer
      in Indian population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The duodenal ulcer promoting gene (dupA) and dupA cluster in
      Helicobacter pylori have been described as a risk factor for duodenal ulcer
      development in some populations. Polymorphic gene dupA can be divided into two
      groups, intact dupA1 (long or short type based on the presence or absence of 615
      bp extra sequences at the 5' region) having complete reading frame and other
      truncated dupA2 having frame-shift mutation. This study was aimed to elucidate
      the role of dupA of H. pylori and their clusters in the disease manifestation of
      Indian population. METHODS: A total of 170 H. pylori strains were screened for
      the presence of dupA, dupA alleles and dupA cluster by PCR and sequencing. Pro
      inflammatory cytokine (IL-8) with different dupA variant H. pylori stimulated
      gastric epithelial cells (AGS cells) was measured by ELISA. RESULTS: A total of
      50 strains (29.4%) were positive for dupA among the tested 170 strains. The
      prevalence of dupA1 in duodenal ulcer (DU) and non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD)
      populations was found to be 25.5% (25/98) and 11.1% (8/72), respectively and
      16.4% (28/170) of the tested strains had dupA1, cagA and vacAs1m1 positive. The
      distribution of long and short type dupA1 has not been significantly associated
      with the disease outcome. The dupA cluster analysis showed that 10.2% (10/98) and
      8.3% (6/72) strains were positive among DU and NUD, respectively. IL-8 production
      was significantly higher in dupA1(+) , cagA (+), vacA (+) (902.5 +/- 79.01 pg/mL)
      than dupA2 (+) , cagA (+) , vacA (+) (536.0 +/- 100.4 pg/mL, P = 0.008) and dupA
      (-), cagA (+), vacA (+) (549.7 +/- 104.1 pg/mL, P = 0.009). Phylogenetic analysis
      of dupA indicated that the Indian H. pylori strains clustered with East Asian
      strains but distinct from Western strains. This is the first known genetic
      element of Indian H. pylori that is genetically closer to the East Asian strains
      but differed from the Western strains. CONCLUSIONS: The intact dupA1 was
      significantly associated with DU than NUD (P = 0.029) but the dupA1 cluster has
      no role in the disease manifestation at India (P = 0.79). Thus, dupA1 can be
      considered as a biomarker for DU patients in India.

PMID- 25829954
TI  - Therapeutic effects of prolotherapy with intra-articular dextrose injection in
      patients with moderate knee osteoarthritis: a single-arm study with 6 months
      follow up.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Prolotherapy is an injection-based complementary treatment, which has
      shown promising results in the treatment of different musculoskeletal disorders.
      The aim of this study was to determine the therapeutic efficacy of dextrose
      prolotherapy on pain, range of motion, and function in patients with knee
      osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: In this single-arm prospective study, participants
      with symptomatic moderate knee osteoarthritis underwent prolotherapy with intra
      articular injection of 20% dextrose water at baseline, and at 4 weeks and 8 weeks
      later. Patients were followed for 24 weeks. Pain severity at rest and activity,
      according to the visual analog scale (VAS), articular range of motion (ROM), and
      Western Ontario and McMaster Universities arthritis index (WOMAC) scores were
      measured at baseline, 4, 8, and 24 weeks later. RESULTS: A total of 24 female
      patients (average age: 58.37 +/- 11.8 years old) received 3-monthly injection
      therapies. Before the treatment, the mean articular range of motion was 105.41 +/
      11.22 degrees . Mean VAS scale at rest and activity was 8.83 +/- 1.37 and 9.37
      +/- 1.31, respectively. At the end of week 24, knee ROM increased by 8 degrees .
      Pain severity in rest and activity decreased to 4.87 +/- 1.39, 45.86%, and
      44.23%, respectively (p < 0.001). Total WOMAC score and its subcategories showed
      a continuous improvement trend in all the evaluation sessions, so that at the end
      of the study, the total score decreased by 30.5 +/- 14.27 points (49.58%) (p <
      0.001). Improvements of all parameters were considerable until week 8, and were
      maintained throughout the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Prolotherapy with three
      intra-articular injections of hypertonic dextrose given 4 weeks apart for
      selected patients with knee OA, resulted in significant improvement of validated
      pain, ROM, and WOMAC-based function scores, when baseline levels were compared at
      24 weeks. Further studies with randomized controlled trials involving a
      comparison group are suggested to confirm these findings.

PMID- 25829956
TI  - Distal biceps reconstruction 13 years post-injury.
AB  - Distal biceps tendon ruptures are relatively rare injuries most commonly caused
      by an eccentric contraction of the biceps brachii. The majority of complete
      ruptures receive early surgical intervention, however, some patients do present
      in a delayed fashion. There are many surgical options at this time for acute and
      chronic injuries, and this case report describes an Achilles allograft
      reconstruction in a male who sustained a complete tear 13 years prior to
      presentation. At 12-month follow up, he had regained full function of his
      dominant extremity as evidence by returning to work with no limitations and by a
      Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) score of zero. We are unaware
      of a successfully surgically reconstructed distal biceps tendon of this
      chronicity. As the literature on this subject is sparse, this case report gives
      credence to the idea that certain patients with a chronic distal biceps rupture
      should be considered for operative reconstruction and not relegated to continued
      failed conservative treatment. Discussed are the surgical treatment options and
      controversies for chronic distal biceps ruptures, and we review various outcome
      studies using different surgical techniques. 

PMID- 25829955
TI  - Diagnosis and therapeutic options for peripheral vasculitic neuropathy.
AB  - Vasculitis can affect the peripheral nervous system alone (nonsystemic vasculitic
      neuropathy) or can be a part of primary or secondary systemic vasculitis. In
      cases of pre-existing systemic vasculitis, the diagnosis can easily be made,
      whereas suspected vasculitic neuropathy as initial or only manifestation of
      vasculitis requires careful clinical, neurophysiological, laboratory and
      histopathological workout. The typical clinical syndrome is mononeuropathia
      multiplex or asymmetric neuropathy, but distal-symmetric neuropathy can
      frequently be seen. Standard treatments include steroids, azathioprine,
      methotrexate and cyclophosphamide. More recently the B-cell antibody rituximab
      and intravenous immunoglobulins have shown to be effective in some vasculitic
      neuropathy types. 

PMID- 25829957
TI  - Cardiopulmonary exercise testing in the assessment of exertional dyspnea.
AB  - Dyspnea on exertion is a commonly encountered problem in clinical practice. It is
      usually investigated by resting tests such as pulmonary function tests and
      echocardiogram, which may at times can be non-diagnostic. Cardiopulmonary
      exercise testing (CPET) measures physiologic parameters during exercise which can
      enable accurate identification of the cause of dyspnea. Though CPET has been
      around for decades and provides valuable and pertinent physiologic information on
      the integrated cardiopulmonary responses to exercise, it remains underutilized.
      The objective of this review is to provide a comprehensible overview of the
      underlying principles of exercise physiology, indications and contraindications
      of CPET, methodology and interpretative strategies involved and thereby increase
      the understanding of the insights that can be gained from the use of CPET. 

PMID- 25829958
TI  - Lights and shadows of non-invasive mechanical ventilation for chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations.
AB  - Despite the overwhelming evidence justifying the use of non-invasive ventilation
      (NIV) for providing ventilatory support in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
      (COPD) exacerbations, recent studies demonstrated that its application in real
      life settings remains suboptimal. European clinical audits have shown that 1) NIV
      is not invariably available, 2) its availability depends on countries and
      hospital sizes, and 3) numerous centers declare their inability to provide NIV to
      all of the eligible patients presenting throughout the year. Even with an
      established indication, the use of NIV in acute respiratory failure due to COPD
      exacerbations faces important challenges. First, the location and personnel using
      NIV should be carefully selected. Second, the use of NIV is not straightforward
      despite the availability of technologically advanced ventilators. Third, NIV
      therapy of critically ill patients requires a thorough knowledge of both
      respiratory physiology and existing ventilatory devices. Accordingly, an optimal
      team-training experience, the careful selection of patients, and special
      attention to the selection of devices are critical for optimizing NIV outcomes.
      Additionally, when applied, NIV should be closely monitored, and endotracheal
      intubation should be promptly available in the case of failure. Another topic
      that merits careful consideration is the use of NIV in the elderly. This patient
      population is particularly fragile, with several physiological and social
      characteristics requiring specific attention in relation to NIV. Several other
      novel indications should also be critically examined, including the use of NIV
      during fiberoptic bronchoscopy or transesophageal echocardiography, as well as in
      interventional cardiology and pulmonology. The present narrative review aims to
      provide updated information on the use of NIV in acute settings to improve the
      clinical outcomes of patients hospitalized for COPD exacerbations. 

PMID- 25829959
TI  - The association between glucose levels and hospital outcomes in patients with
      acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Corticosteroids used for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
      exacerbations can cause hyperglycemia in hospitalized patients, and hyperglycemia
      may be associated with increased mortality, length of stay (LOS), and re
      admissions in these patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We did three retrospective
      studies using charts from July 2008 through June 2009, January 2006 through
      December 2010, and October 2010 through March 2011. We collected demographic and
      clinical information, laboratory results, radiographic results, and information
      on LOS, mortality, and re-admission. RESULTS: Glucose levels did not predict
      outcomes in any of the studied cohorts, after adjustment for covariates in
      multivariable analysis. The first database included 30 patients admitted to non
      intensive care unit (ICU) hospital beds. Six of 20 non-diabetic patients had peak
      glucoses above 200 mg/dl. Nine of the ten diabetic patients had peak glucoses
      above 200 mg/dl. The maximum daily corticosteroid dose had no apparent effect on
      the glucose levels. The second database included 217 patients admitted to ICUs.
      The initial blood glucose was higher in patients who died than those who survived
      using bivariate analysis (P = 0.015; odds ratio, OR, 1.01) but not in
      multivariable analysis. Multivariable logistic regression analysis also
      demonstrated that glucose levels did not affect LOS. The third database analyzing
      COPD re-admission rates included 81 patients; the peak glucose levels were not
      associated with re-admission. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate that COPD
      patients treated with corticosteroids developed significant hyperglycemia, but
      the increase in blood glucose levels did not correlate with the maximum dose of
      corticosteroids. Blood glucose levels were not associated with mortality, LOS, or
      re-admission rates.

PMID- 25829960
TI  - Factors associated with poor asthma control in the outpatient clinic setting.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The goal of the study was to assess asthma control using
      asthma control test (ACT) and to explore the factors that effects asthma control
      among participants with bronchial asthma in the outpatient clinic setting.
      METHODS: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in the outpatient
      primary care clinic at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh. Adult patients who
      were diagnosed with bronchial asthma by their primary treating physician were
      recruited over a 6-month period. Patients completed the ACT and questionnaires,
      which identified factors that affect asthma control. RESULTS: Four hundred
      asthmatic patients (n = 400) were enrolled, and 70% of these patients were women.
      Fifty-four percent of patients inappropriately used the inhaler device. The
      estimated prevalence of uncontrolled asthma at the time of the study was 39.8%.
      Inappropriate device use by the patient was more frequently associated with
      uncontrolled asthma (P-value = 0.001). Active smoking (P-value = 0.007), passive
      smoking (P-value = 0.019), unsealed mattress (P-value = 0.030), and workplace
      triggers (P-value = 0.036) were also associated with uncontrolled asthma.
      However, the extent of asthma control did not appear to be related to the
      existence of regular follow-ups, bedroom carpets, outpatient clinic visits, age,
      body mass index (BMI), or duration of asthma. CONCLUSIONS: The present study
      identified a high prevalence of uncontrolled asthma in the primary outpatient
      clinic setting and common risk factors that may contribute to poor asthma
      control.

PMID- 25829961
TI  - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease severity is associated with severe
      pneumonia.
AB  - CONTEXT: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous
      disorder, and various aspects of COPD may be associated with the severity of
      pneumonia in such patients. AIMS: We examined the risk factors associated with
      severe pneumonia in a COPD population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a
      retrospective observational study using a prospectively collected database of
      pneumonia patients who were admitted to our hospital through emergency department
      between 2008 and 2012. Patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia and those with
      an immunocompromised status were excluded. RESULTS: Of 148 pneumonia patients
      with COPD for whom chest computed tomography (CT) scans were available, 106
      (71.6%) and 42 (28.4%) were classified as non-severe and severe pneumonia,
      respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the
      severity of airflow limitation [odds ratio (OR), 2.751; 95% confidence interval
      (CI), 1.074-7.050; P = 0.035] and the presence of emphysema on a chest CT scan
      (OR, 3.366; 95% CI, 1.104-10.265; P = 0.033) were independently associated with
      severe pneumonia in patients with COPD. CONCLUSIONS: The severity of COPD
      including the airflow limitation grade and the presence of pulmonary emphysema
      were independently associated with the development of severe pneumonia.

PMID- 25829962
TI  - Reliability and validity of an arabic version of the dyspnea-12 questionnaire for
      Saudi nationals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dyspnea is a distressing symptom experienced by people with chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The dyspnea-12 (D-12) questionnaire
      comprises of 12 items and assesses the quality of this symptom, its severity and
      the emotional response. The original (English) version of the D-12 is reliable
      and valid for the measurement of dyspnea in pulmonary diseases. AIM: To translate
      the D-12 into Arabic and determine whether this version is reliable and valid in
      Saudi nationals with COPD. METHODS: The D-12 was translated into Arabic version
      and reviewed by an expert panel before being back-translated into English. The
      Arabic version was administered to five patients with COPD to test whether it was
      easily understood after which a final Arabic version was produced. Thereafter, 40
      patients with COPD (aged 63 ? 9 years; 33 [82.5%] males; forced expiratory volume
      in one second (FEV 1) 47 ? 16% predicted) completed the D-12, the COPD Assessment
      Test (CAT) and the Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire (CRDQ). Lung
      function and 6-minute walk distance were also measured. The D-12 was re
      administered two weeks later. RESULTS: The Arabic version of the D-12
      demonstrated good reliability over the two administration (intraclass correlation
      coefficient = 0.94, P = 0.01). Strong associations were demonstrated between the
      (1) total score for the D-12 and the CAT, (2) quality sub-score of the D-12 and
      the CAT and (3) emotional response sub-score of the D-12 and emotional function
      domain of the CRDQ (r >= 0.6, all P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The Arabic version of
      the D-12 is a reliable and valid instrument in Saudi nationals with COPD.

PMID- 25829963
TI  - Excessive dynamic airway collapse in a small cohort of chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease patients.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of EDAC (Excessive Dynamic Airway Collapse) has not
      been studied specifically in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
      (COPD). OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of
      EDAC in COPD and to determine whether there are clinical factors or functional
      variables that could influence the degree of expiratory collapse of central
      airways. METHODS: Prospective observational study of a group of patients with
      COPD. The degree of tracheobronchial collapse was evaluated by low-dose dynamic
      airway computed tomography (CT). We recorded clinical and pulmonary function
      tests data, quality of life and BODE index. RESULTS: This study included 53
      patients with COPD, 46 (87%) males, mean age 65 (SD, 9) years. CONCLUSIONS: The
      prevalence of EDAC observed in a sample of patients with different levels of COPD
      severity is low. The degree of dynamic central airway collapse was not related to
      the patient's epidemiological or clinical features, and did not affect lung
      function, symptoms, capacity for effort, or quality of life.

PMID- 25829964
TI  - Poor asthma education and medication compliance are associated with increased
      emergency department visits by asthmatic children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute exacerbations of bronchial asthma remain a major cause of
      frequent Emergency Department (ED) visits by pediatric patients. However, other
      factors including psychosocial, behavioural and educational, are also reportedly
      associated with repetitive ED visits. Therefore, it is necessary to determine
      whether such visits are justifiable. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this cross
      sectional study was to identify risk factors associated with visits to ED by
      asthmatic children. METHODS: Asthmatic children (n = 297) between 1-17 years old
      were recruited and information collected at the time of visiting an ED facility
      at two major hospitals. RESULTS: Asthmatic patients visited the ED 3.9 ? 3.2
      times-per-year, on average. Inadequately controlled asthma was perceived in 60.3%
      of patients. The majority of patients (56.4%) reported not receiving education
      about asthma. Patients reflected misconceptions about the ED department,
      including the belief that more effective treatments are available (40.9%), or
      that the ED staff is better qualified (27.8%). About half of patients (48.2%)
      visited the ED because of the convenience of being open 24 hours, or because they
      are received immediately (38.4%). Uncontrolled asthma was associated with poor
      education about asthma and/or medication use. Patients educated about asthma,
      were less likely to stop corticosteroid therapy when their symptoms get better
      (OR:0.55; 95% CI:0.3-0.9; P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: This study reports that most
      patients had poor knowledge about asthma and were using medications improperly,
      thus suggesting inefficient application of management action plan. Unnecessary
      and frequent visits to the ED for asthma care was associated with poor education
      about asthma and medication use. Potential deficiencies of the health system at
      directing patients to the proper medical facility were uncovered and underline
      the necessity to improve education about the disease and medication compliance of
      patients and their parents/guardians.

PMID- 25829965
TI  - Determinants of functional status among survivors of severe sepsis and septic
      shock: One-year follow-up.
AB  - RATIONALE: Sepsis is a leading cause of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions
      worldwide and a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Limited data exist
      regarding the outcomes and functional status among survivors of severe sepsis and
      septic shock. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the functional status
      among survivors of severe sepsis and septic shock a year after hospital
      discharge. METHODS: Adult patients admitted between April 2007 and March 2010 to
      the medical-surgical ICU of a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia, were included in
      this study. The ICU database was investigated for patients with a diagnosis of
      severe sepsis or septic shock. Survival status was determined based on hospital
      discharge. Patients who required re-admission, stayed in ICU for less than 24
      hours, had incomplete data were all excluded. Survivors were interviewed through
      phone calls to determine their functional status one-year post-hospital discharge
      using Karnofsky performance status scale. RESULTS: A total of 209 patients met
      the eligibility criteria. We found that 38 (18.1%) patients had severe disability
      before admission, whereas 109 (52.2%) patients were with severe disability or
      died one-year post-hospital discharge. Only one-third of the survivors had good
      functional status one-year post-discharge (no/mild disability). After adjustment
      of baseline variables, age [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.03, 95% confidence
      interval (CI) = 1.01-1.04] and pre-sepsis functional status of severe disability
      (aOR = 50.9, 95% CI = 6.82-379.3) were found to be independent predictors of
      functional status of severe disability one-year post-hospital discharge among
      survivors. CONCLUSIONS: We found that only one-third of the survivors of severe
      sepsis and septic shock had good functional status one-year post-discharge
      (no/mild disability). Age and pre-sepsis severe disability were the factors that
      highly predicted the level of functional status one-year post-hospital discharge.

PMID- 25829966
TI  - Prognostic value of serum procalcitonin and C-reactive protein levels in
      critically ill patients who developed ventilator-associated pneumonia.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is an important cause of
      mortality and morbidity in critically ill patients. We sought to determine the
      prognostic value of procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) kinetics in
      critically ill patients who developed VAP. METHODS: Patients who were admitted to
      the intensive care unit (ICU) and developed VAP were eligible. Patients were
      followed for 28 days after the pneumonia diagnosis and blood samples for PCT and
      CRP were collected on the day of the pneumonia diagnosis (D0), and days 3 (D3)
      and 7 (D7) after the diagnosis. Patients were grouped as survivors and non
      survivors, and the mean PCT and CRP values and their kinetics were assessed.
      RESULTS: In total, 45 patients were enrolled. Of them, 22 (48.8%) died before day
      28 after the pneumonia diagnosis. There was no significant difference between the
      survivor and non-survivor groups in terms of PCT on the day of pneumonia
      diagnosis or CRP levels at any point. However, the PCT levels days 3 and 7 were
      significantly higher in the non-survivor group than the survivor group. Whereas
      PCT levels decreased significantly from D0 to D7 in the survivor group, CRP did
      not. A PCT level above 1 ng/mL on day 3 was the strongest predictor of mortality,
      with an odds ratio of 22.6. CONCLUSION: Serum PCT was found to be a superior
      prognostic marker compared to CRP in terms of predicting mortality in critically
      ill patients who developed VAP. The PCT level on D3 was the strongest predictor
      of mortality in VAP.

PMID- 25829967
TI  - A case of near fatal asthma: The role of ECMO as rescue therapy.
AB  - We report a case of an adolescent with near fatal asthma (NFA). He presented with
      severe hypoxemia and lifethreatening acidemia, who failed to respond to
      conventional therapy. His hospital course was complicated by barotrauma and
      hemodynamic instability. Early introduction of extracorporeal membrane
      oxygenation (ECMO) led to dramatic improvement in gas exchange and lung
      mechanics. This case illustrates the important role of ECMO as salvage therapy in
      NFA. 

PMID- 25829968
TI  - Clinical description of human bocavirus viremia in children with LRTI, Eastern
      Province, Saudi Arabia.
AB  - Human bocavirus (HBoV) is a major etiology of lower respiratory tract infection
      (LRTI) in young children. We tested 149 patients admitted to King Fahd Hospital
      of the University with diagnosis of LRTI. Viremia caused by the different studied
      viruses was detected in 31.5% of the total cases by Real-time Polymerase chain
      reaction. We report five patients who were positive for HBoV in serum samples.
      Clinical presentation ranged from mild to severe disease as one of them required
      admission to intensive care unit. Wheezing was a striking feature in most of our
      patients, but fever was not a consistent finding. 

PMID- 25829969
TI  - Neural mechanisms of negative reinforcement in children and adolescents with
      autism spectrum disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous research has found accumulating evidence for atypical reward
      processing in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), particularly in the context of
      social rewards. Yet, this line of research has focused largely on positive social
      reinforcement, while little is known about the processing of negative
      reinforcement in individuals with ASD. METHODS: The present study examined neural
      responses to social negative reinforcement (a face displaying negative affect)
      and non-social negative reinforcement (monetary loss) in children with ASD
      relative to typically developing children, using functional magnetic resonance
      imaging (fMRI). RESULTS: We found that children with ASD demonstrated
      hypoactivation of the right caudate nucleus while anticipating non-social
      negative reinforcement and hypoactivation of a network of frontostriatal regions
      (including the nucleus accumbens, caudate nucleus, and putamen) while
      anticipating social negative reinforcement. In addition, activation of the right
      caudate nucleus during non-social negative reinforcement was associated with
      individual differences in social motivation. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest
      that atypical responding to negative reinforcement in children with ASD may
      contribute to social motivational deficits in this population.

PMID- 25829970
TI  - Premature aging of leukocyte DNA methylation is associated with type 2 diabetes
      prevalence.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is highly prevalent in Middle-Eastern
      and North African Arab populations, but the molecular basis for this
      susceptibility is unknown. Altered DNA methylation levels were reported in
      insulin-secreting and responding tissues, but whether methylation in accessible
      tissues such as peripheral blood is associated with T2D risk remains an open
      question. Age-related alteration of DNA methylation level was reported in certain
      methylation sites, but no association with T2D has been shown. Here we report on
      a population-based study of 929 men and women representing the East Jerusalem
      Palestinian (EJP) Arab population and compare with the findings among Israeli
      Ashkenazi Jews. This is the first reported epigenetic study of an Arab population
      with a characteristic high prevalence of T2D. RESULTS: We found that DNA
      methylation of a prespecified regulatory site in peripheral blood leukocytes
      (PBLs) is associated with impaired glucose metabolism and T2D independent of sex,
      body mass index, and white blood cell composition. This CpG site (Chr16:
      53,809,231-2; hg19) is located in a region within an intron of the FTO gene,
      suspected to serve as a tissue-specific enhancer. The association between PBL
      hypomethylation and T2D varied by age, revealing differential patterns of
      methylation aging in healthy and diabetic individuals and between ethnic groups:
      T2D patients displayed prematurely low methylation levels, and this
      hypomethylation was greater and occurred earlier in life among Palestinian Arabs
      than Ashkenazi Jews. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that premature DNA
      methylation aging is associated with increased risk of T2D. These findings should
      stimulate the search for more such sites and may pave the way to improved T2D
      risk prediction within and between human populations.

PMID- 25829971
TI  - Somatic cancer mutations in the MLL3-SET domain alter the catalytic properties of
      the enzyme.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Somatic mutations in epigenetic enzymes are frequently found in
      cancer tissues. The MLL3 H3K4-specific protein lysine monomethyltransferase is an
      important epigenetic enzyme, and it is among the most recurrently mutated enzymes
      in cancers. MLL3 mainly introduces H3K4me1 at enhancers. RESULTS: We investigated
      the enzymatic properties of MLL3 variants that carry somatic cancer mutations.
      Asn4848 is located at the cofactor binding sites, and the N4848S exchange renders
      the enzyme inactive. Tyr4884 is part of an aromatic pocket at the active center
      of the enzyme, and Y4884C converts MLL3 from a monomethyltransferase with
      substrate preference for H3K4me0 to a trimethyltransferase with H3K4me1 as
      preferred substrate. Expression of Y4884C leads to aberrant H3K4me3 formation in
      cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that different somatic cancer mutations of MLL3
      affect the enzyme activity in distinct and opposing manner highlighting the
      importance of experimentally studying the effects of somatic cancer mutations in
      key regulatory enzymes in order to develop and apply targeted tumor therapy.

PMID- 25829972
TI  - Reporting and handling of missing data in predictive research for prevalent
      undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review.
AB  - Missing values are common in health research and omitting participants with
      missing data often leads to loss of statistical power, biased estimates and,
      consequently, inaccurate inferences. We critically reviewed the challenges posed
      by missing data in medical research and approaches to address them. To achieve
      this more efficiently, these issues were analyzed and illustrated through a
      systematic review on the reporting of missing data and imputation methods
      (prediction of missing values through relationships within and between variables)
      undertaken in risk prediction studies of undiagnosed diabetes. Prevalent diabetes
      risk models were selected based on a recent comprehensive systematic review,
      supplemented by an updated search of English-language studies published between
      1997 and 2014. Reporting of missing data has been limited in studies of prevalent
      diabetes prediction. Of the 48 articles identified, 62.5% (n = 30) did not report
      any information on missing data or handling techniques. In 21 (43.8%) studies,
      researchers opted out of imputation, completing case-wise deletion of
      participants missing any predictor values. Although imputation methods are
      encouraged to handle missing data and ensure the accuracy of inferences, this has
      seldom been the case in studies of diabetes risk prediction. Hence, we elaborated
      on the various types and patterns of missing data, the limitations of case-wise
      deletion and state-of the-art methods of imputations and their challenges. This
      review highlights the inexperience or disregard of investigators of the effect of
      missing data in risk prediction research. Formal guidelines may enhance the
      reporting and appropriate handling of missing data in scientific journals. 

PMID- 25829973
TI  - [Severe pneumonia with bronchial involvement complicating varicella in an
      immunocompetent adult].

PMID- 25829974
TI  - [Spinal cord compression due to metastases].

PMID- 25829975
TI  - Ovarian tuberculosis masquerading as ovarian cancer in HIV infected patient: a
      plea to avoid unnecessary surgery.
AB  - Female patients who present with adnexial mass and weight loss should not be
      presumed to have ovarian carcinoma until after extensive investigation. This is
      to avoid the mistake of radical surgery with its attendant morbidity and
      mortality. An important disease to consider in our environment is ovarian TB that
      respond well to medication. A 35 year old HIV-1 positive house wife presented
      with fever, persistent vomiting, progressive weight loss, vague abdominal pain
      and swelling. Patient occasionally ingest unpasteurized milk since childhood but
      had no sustained contact with adult with chronic cough. She had no menstrual
      abnormality. Imaging studies revealed right ovarian mass measuring 11.8 cm x 10
      cm. Right ovarian malignancy was highly suspected, for which she underwent
      exploratory laporotomy. Histopathology result was consistent with tuberculous
      granuloma. Chest radiograph was normal. Her CD4 count was 541 cells/ul. Patient
      was commenced on anti tuberculotic therapy based on the Nigerian National TB
      control and she responded well. Tuberculosis of the ovary can masquerade as
      ovarian cancer, especially among HIV patients in regions where TB-HIV co
      infections is endemic, it should be ruled out before performing extended surgery.

PMID- 25829976
TI  - [Diagnostic and therapeutic management of lymph node tuberculosis in Tunisia].

PMID- 25829977
TI  - [Place of double arthrodesis in the management of irreducible talipes
      equinovarus].

PMID- 25829978
TI  - Spontaneous subdural hematoma associated with preeclampsia: a case report and
      litterature review.
AB  - A patient with pre-eclampsia at 31 weeks' gestation developed neurologic signs.
      Computerized tomography revealed a large cranial subdural hematoma. This
      diagnostic should be considered in any pre-eclamptic patient demonstrating
      neurological symptoms and must be treated effectively because of the poor
      maternel and fetal prognosis. Our patient was succesfully treated. 

PMID- 25829979
TI  - Vitamin D, allergies and asthma: focus on pediatric patients.
AB  - In recent years, the interest of the scientific world towards vitamin D gradually
      increased, and several studies have been conducted to dissect its possible role
      in modulating the development/course of allergic diseases. Also, Vitamin D
      supplementation has been assessed as a beneficial approach for treating allergies
      in some, but not all studies. We reviewed herein the available and relevant
      literature concerning the possible links between Vitamin D, its supplementation
      and allergic diseases. A literature search was made independently by the Authors,
      identifying articles for a narrative review. As per literature, Vitamin D plays a
      key role in calcium and phosphate metabolism, and it is essential for bone health
      in infants, children and adolescents. However, there is presently insufficient
      evidence to support vitamin D supplementation for prevention or treatment of
      allergic diseases in infants, children and adolescents, concerning allergic
      rhinitis, asthma, food allergy and atopic dermatitis. 

PMID- 25829980
TI  - Current status and future perspectives of immunotherapy in Latin America and
      Cuba.
AB  - Most Latin-American countries use subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) extracts from
      the United States and Europe and sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) from Europe,
      with the exception of Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico. The number of
      researches on immunotherapy (IT) in Latin America has increased extensively in
      the last years. Only few Latin American countries have their own guidelines on
      IT, and, in general, the economic resources for medical research on IT are still
      low in the area. A global approach for the future of IT in Latin America includes
      to improve standardization, quality control and the production of allergen
      products, to develop IT guidelines and clinical investigation by the highest
      number of countries, to improve the regulatory status for allergens products in
      the area, and to expand IT accessibility for low-income patients. In Cuba, the
      first registered allergen vaccines were developed and registered in 2006: a
      standardized (in biologic units) and freeze dried product for SCIT, with a
      sublingual version developed in 2009. As much as 23.000 IT treatments were
      applied in 2011, all provided to patients free of charge. In 2012, Cuban
      researchers developed an IT vaccine with adjuvant for subcutaneous route, which
      uses Neisseria meningitidis proteoliposome as an adjuvant, added to the purified
      Dermatophagoides siboney major allergens: Der s1 and Der s2. Since December 2012,
      this vaccine is in Phase I clinical trial, evaluating its safety, tolerability
      and immunogenicity in asthmatic patients sensitized to this allergen. Cuban
      perspectives on IT includes to work on new indications for IT, to investigate the
      preventive effect and cost-effectiveness for the current vaccines, to develop new
      products with mixed formulas of house dust mites for SLIT, to complete the phase
      I and II clinical study for dust mite plus adjuvant vaccine, to develop allergen
      vaccines for fungi allergy and to complete the Cuban guideline for allergen IT
      management. 

PMID- 25829981
TI  - Comparative efficacy of non-sedating antihistamine updosing in patients with
      chronic urticaria.

PMID- 25829982
TI  - A World Allergy Organization international survey on physical activity as a
      treatment option for asthma and allergies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Physical exercise has been shown to improve asthma symptoms, QoL,
      exercise capacity, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and lung function and is
      recommended as a supplementary treatment to pharmacotherapy for asthma.
      Clinicians are well placed to promote physically active lifestyles, but their
      role and practice towards promoting physically active lifestyles among patients
      has not been fully investigated. This study was designed to investigate the
      knowledge, propensity, attitude and practices of clinicians towards the promotion
      of physical activity among patients with asthma and allergies. METHODS: Two
      hundred and eighty clinicians (mean age; 46 +/- 13 years; with a clinical
      experience of practice for 15 +/- 7 years) participated in a global survey. The
      survey comprised a 29-item questionnaire, which gathered information on attitudes
      of the clinicians towards promoting physical activity, their knowledge and their
      beliefs regarding evidence for benefits of physical activity as a supplementary
      treatment in patients with asthma and allergies. RESULTS: Almost all respondents
      were aware of the strong evidence in favor of physical activity for the
      psychological well-being, weight control, decreased risk of diabetes, ischemic
      heart disease and arterial hypertension. Evidence for reduction in the risk for
      developing asthma and for better asthma control were reported by 60.0% and 85.4%
      of participants, respectively. The majority (85.0%) of clinicians strongly agreed
      that promoting physical activity is important to health care, although 95.5%
      considered they required more educational training. Although two thirds of them
      usually recommended exercise to their asthmatic/allergic patients, only 24.0%
      reported having previous training on the subject of such counseling. Almost all
      believed that effective counseling about a healthy diet, exercise and weight
      management would be easier if the clinician himself/herself was physically fit
      and healthy. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this global survey indicate that
      clinicians working in the field of allergy and respiratory diseases are well
      aware of the evidence supporting the benefits of physical activity for asthma and
      allergic diseases although they need more training in such counseling. Therefore,
      concerted efforts are needed towards educating clinicians towards promoting
      physical activity and weight management, as a supplementary treatment for asthma
      and allergies.

PMID- 25829983
TI  - A proposal to prevent omissions and delays of antiparkinsonian drug
      administration in hospitals.

PMID- 25829984
TI  - Readmission for infective endocarditis after ischemic stroke or transient
      ischemic attack.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Providers vary in their thresholds for obtaining blood
      cultures in patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). We
      assessed the rate of missed diagnoses of infective endocarditis (IE) in patients
      discharged with stroke or TIA before blood culture results could have been
      available. METHODS: Using administrative claims data, we performed a
      retrospective cohort study of all patients discharged from nonfederal California
      emergency departments or acute care hospitals from 2005 through 2011 with stroke
      (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification
      [ICD-9-CM] codes 433.x1, 434.x1, or 436 in any position) or TIA (ICD-9-CM code
      435 in the primary diagnosis position). We excluded patients with a length of
      stay >2 days to focus on those discharged before conclusive blood culture results
      could have been available. Our outcome was hospitalization within 14 days with a
      new diagnosis of IE (ICD-9-CM codes 391.1 or 421.x in any position). RESULTS:
      Among 173 966 eligible patients, 24 were subsequently hospitalized for IE-a
      readmission rate of 1.4 per 10 000 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8-1.9 per 10
      000). Multiple logistic regression identified the following potential
      associations with readmission: prosthetic valve: odds ratio (OR), 15.8 (95% CI,
      1.9-129.0); other valvular disease: OR, 1.5 (95% CI, 0.2-10.8); urinary tract
      infection: OR, 3.5 (95% CI, 1.0-12.3; P = .05). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with
      acute cerebral ischemia discharged before blood culture results could have been
      available, the rate of subsequent IE was negligible. These findings argue against
      the liberal use of blood cultures for the routine evaluation of stroke or TIA.

PMID- 25829985
TI  - The role of magnetic resonance imaging in management of patients with nonlobar
      hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Despite the increased use and availability of magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI), its role in hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH)
      remains uncertain. In this retrospective study, we assessed the utility of MRI in
      diagnosis and management of patients with hypertensive ICH. METHODS: We
      retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients with ICH presenting to our
      hospital over an 18-month period. We included patients who presented with
      hypertensive ICH in typical locations and excluded lobar hemorrhages. We further
      isolated cases that had undergone MRI. Collected data included mean age, gender,
      location of hematoma, neuroradiologist's interpretative report of the MRI, and
      management steps taken in response to the results of the MRI. Logistic regression
      was used to determine whether the overall yield of MRI in these patients was
      significant. RESULTS: We found 222 patients with ICH in our database. Forty-eight
      patients met our inclusion criteria, of which 24 had brain MRI done as a part of
      their hospital workup. Brain MRI obtained in 2 (8%) of the 24 patients revealed
      abnormalities that led to a change in management. The diagnostic yield of MRI and
      the management decisions that followed were both insignificant. CONCLUSIONS: The
      diagnostic yield of brain MRI in patients with nonlobar hypertensive ICH is low
      and does not result in significant changes in management.

PMID- 25829986
TI  - An acute stroke evaluation app: a practice improvement project.
AB  - A point-of-care workflow checklist in the form of an iOS (iPhone Operating
      System) app for use by stroke providers was introduced with the objective of
      standardizing acute stroke evaluation and documentation at 2 affiliated academic
      medical centers. Providers used the app in unselected, consecutive patients
      undergoing acute stroke evaluation in an emergency department or hospital setting
      between August 2012 and January 2013 and August 2013 and February 2014.
      Satisfaction surveys were prospectively collected pre- and postintervention from
      residents, staff neurologists, and clinical data specialists. Residents (20
      preintervention and 16 postintervention), staff neurologists (6 pre and 5 post),
      and clinical data specialists (4 pre and 4 post) participated in this study. All
      16 (100%) residents had increased satisfaction with their ability to perform an
      acute stroke evaluation postintervention but only 9 (56%) of 16 felt the app was
      more help than hindrance. Historical controls aligned with preintervention
      results. Staff neurologists conveyed increased satisfaction with resident
      presentations and decision making when compared to preintervention surveys.
      Stroke clinical data specialists estimated a 50% decrease in data abstraction
      when the app data were used in the clinical note. Concomitant effect on door-to
      needle (DTN) time at 1 site, although not a primary study measure, was also
      evaluated. At that 1 center, the mean DTN time decreased by 16 minutes when
      compared to the corresponding months from the year prior. The point-of-care acute
      stroke workflow checklist app may assist trainees in presenting findings in a
      standardized manner and reduce data abstraction time. The app may help reduce DTN
      time, but this requires further study. 

PMID- 25829987
TI  - Hashimoto encephalopathy or neurosarcoidosis? A case report.
AB  - Hashimoto encephalopathy (HE) is a rare autoimmune disease characterized by
      symptoms of acute or subacute encephalopathy associated with increased
      antithyroid antibody levels. Neurosarcoidosis is also a rare entity that occurs
      in less than 5% of patients with systemic sarcoidosis. Neurosarcoidosis usually
      presents with cranial neuropathies, myelopathy, or new-onset seizure. We report a
      case of a 49-year-old caucasian woman, previously healthy, who initially
      presented for a workup of a new-onset seizure. She had a gradually progressive
      course with neurocognitive decline and recurrent partial seizures refractory to
      conventional antiepileptic drugs. Her seizures responded well to a course of
      intravenous immunoglobulin. She was subsequently diagnosed with HE and pulmonary
      sarcoidosis based on serological and pathological studies. She improved
      neurologically once the seizures were controlled. Hashimoto encephalopathy is a
      rare condition that is potentially treatable and presents with various
      neuropsychiatric manifestations. It is a diagnosis of exclusion that requires a
      strong clinical suspicion and is often underrecognized. 

PMID- 25829988
TI  - The "starfield" pattern of cerebral fat embolism from bone marrow necrosis in
      sickle cell crisis.
AB  - Sickle cell disease may manifest with cerebrovascular and systemic complications.
      Sickle crisis that results in avascular necrosis of long bones with resultant
      cerebral fat embolism syndrome is rare and has a characteristic "starfield"
      pattern on MRI. This "starfield" MRI pattern should raise suspicion for sickle
      cell crisis in patients without a known history of the disease, which can lead to
      earlier sickle cell red blood cell exchange transfusion and treatment. We present
      a case of a male who presented emergently with acute seizure, coma with a
      characteristic MRI pattern, which lead to the diagnosis of avascular bone marrow
      necrosis and cerebral fat embolism syndrome from sickle cell crisis. 

PMID- 25829990
TI  - Magnetic resonance imaging corticospinal tract hyperintensities in progressive
      supranuclear palsy.

PMID- 25829991
TI  - The resolution of central variant of posterior reversible encephalopathy
      syndrome.

PMID- 25829989
TI  - Emerging treatments for motor rehabilitation after stroke.
AB  - Although numerous treatments are available to improve cerebral perfusion after
      acute stroke and prevent recurrent stroke, few rehabilitation treatments have
      been conclusively shown to improve neurologic recovery. The majority of stroke
      survivors with motor impairment do not recover to their functional baseline, and
      there remains a need for novel neurorehabilitation treatments to minimize long
      term disability, maximize quality of life, and optimize psychosocial outcomes. In
      recent years, several novel therapies have emerged to restore motor function
      after stroke, and additional investigational treatments have also shown promise.
      Here, we familiarize the neurohospitalist with emerging treatments for poststroke
      motor rehabilitation. The rehabilitation treatments covered in this review will
      include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor medications, constraint-induced
      movement therapy, noninvasive brain stimulation, mirror therapy, and motor
      imagery or mental practice. 

PMID- 25829992
TI  - Hyperhomocysteinemia and MTHFR polymorphisms as antenatal risk factors of white
      matter abnormalities in two cohorts of late preterm and full term newborns.
AB  - Higher total homocysteine (tHcy) levels, and C677T and A1298C
      methylenetetrahydrofolate (MTHFR) polymorphisms, have been reported in preterm or
      full term newborns with neonatal encephalopathy following perinatal hypoxic
      ischemic insult. This study investigated the causal role of tHcy and MTHFR
      polymorphisms together with other acquired risk factors on the occurrence of
      brain white matter abnormalities (WMA) detected by cranial ultrasound scans (cUS)
      in a population of late preterm and full term infants. A total of 171 newborns
      (81 M, 47.4%), 45 (26.3%) born <37 wks, and 126 (73.7%) born >=37 wks were
      recruited in the study. cUS detected predominant WMA pattern in 36/171 newborns
      (21.1%) mainly characterized by abnormal periventricular white matter signal and
      mild-to-moderate periventricular white matter volume loss with ventricular
      dilatation (6/36, 16.6%). WMA resulted in being depending on tHcy levels (P <
      0.014), lower GA (P < 0.000), lower Apgar score at 1 minutes (P < 0.000) and 5
      minutes (P < 0.000), and 1298AC and 677CT/1298AC genotypes (P < 0.000 and P <
      0.000). In conclusion, both acquired and genetic predisposing antenatal factors
      were significantly associated with adverse neonatal outcome and WMA. The role of
      A1298C polymorphism may be taken into account for prenatal assessment and
      treatment counseling.

PMID- 25829993
TI  - Stem cell research and ethics: an update.

PMID- 25829995
TI  - The effect of low-dose intravenous ketamine on postoperative pain following
      cesarean section with spinal anesthesia: a randomized clinical trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Low-dose ketamine has been considered a good substitute for opioids
      for controlling postoperative pain. The purpose of this study was to determine
      the effect of low-dose intravenous ketamine following cesarean section with
      spinal anesthesia on postoperative pain and its potential complications. METHODS:
      One hundred and sixty pregnant women volunteered to participate in this
      randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomly divided into two groups
      (n=80 for each group). Five minutes after delivery, the experimental group
      received 0.25mg/kg ketamine while the control group received the same amount of
      normal saline. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between the two groups
      in the severity of pain at one, two, six, and 12 hours following surgery.
      Postoperative pain was significantly less severe in the experimental group.
      Compared to the control group, the experimental group felt pain less frequently
      and therefore asked for analgesics less often. On average, the number of doses of
      analgesics used for the participants in the experimental group was significantly
      less than the number of doses used for the control group. Analgesic side effects
      (including nausea, itching, and headache) were not significantly different
      between the two groups. However, vomiting was significantly more prevalent in the
      control group and hallucination was more common in the experimental group.
      CONCLUSION: We conclude that administration of low doses of ketamine after spinal
      anesthesia reduces the need for analgesics and has fewer side effects than using
      opioids. Further studies are required to determine the proper dose of ketamine
      which offers maximum analgesic effect. Furthermore, administration of low-dose
      ketamine in combination with other medications in order to minimize its side
      effects warrants further investigation.

PMID- 25829994
TI  - Excessive daytime sleepiness and unintended sleep episodes associated with
      Parkinson's disease.
AB  - This article looks at the issues of excessive daytime sleepiness and unintended
      sleep episodes in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and explores the reasons
      why patients might suffer from these symptoms, and what steps could be taken to
      manage them. During the last decade, understanding of sleep/wake regulation has
      increased. Several brainstem nuclei and their communication pathways in the
      ascending arousing system through the hypothalamus and thalamus to the cortex
      play key roles in sleep disorders. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder in
      PD patients, and excessive daytime sleepiness is also common. Excessive daytime
      sleepiness affects up to 50% of PD patients and a growing body of research has
      established this sleep disturbance as a marker of preclinical and premotor PD. It
      is a frequent and highly persistent feature in PD, with multifactorial underlying
      pathophysiology. Both age and disease-related disturbances of sleep-wake
      regulation contribute to hypersomnia in PD. Treatment with dopamine agonists also
      contribute to excessive daytime sleepiness. Effective management of sleep
      disturbances and excessive daytime sleepiness can greatly improve the quality of
      life for patients with PD. 

PMID- 25829996
TI  - The Cystic Fibrosis Symptom Progression Survey (CF-SPS) in Arabic: A Tool for
      Monitoring Patient's Symptoms.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to develop a survey that could be used by nurses
      during regular cystic fibrosis (CF) clinic visits, providing clinicians with a
      standardized means of longitudinally assessing and monitoring symptom progression
      in their patients. In addition, the use of this survey would provide an
      opportunity for patient engagement and relationship building, thereby enhancing
      patient education and improving adherence to treatment. This is the first such
      survey designed specifically for use in Arab populations. . METHODS: The Cystic
      Fibrosis Symptom Progression Survey (CF-SPS) was developed using previously
      published patient reported outcomes relating to pulmonary exacerbations in CF. It
      contains 10 items that provide a patient-focused account of symptoms. The survey
      was translated into Arabic and was completed by 12 patients on 139 occasions over
      22 months. The psychometric properties of the survey were evaluated, as was the
      relationship between the survey findings and other known clinical measures of
      health status in CF. . RESULTS: The CF-SPS performs well as a psychometrically
      valid clinical tool, with good internal consistency as determined by Cronbach's
      alpha analysis. Our results suggest that the CF-SPS is able to identify
      significant declines in health status in line with routine clinical patient
      assessment (chest sounds, body mass index and admissions). As such it is a useful
      tool that can support clinical decision making in the care of Arabic speaking CF
      patients. . CONCLUSION: We recommend the CF-SPSa (Arabic version) as a valid tool
      for the longitudinal monitoring of symptom progression in CF in Arabic speaking
      populations.

PMID- 25829997
TI  - Adolescents and adults with congenital heart diseases in oman.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study was to examine the spectrum, demographics, and
      mortality rate among adolescents and adults with congenital heart diseases (CHD)
      in Oman. METHODS: Data was collected retrospectively from the Royal Hospital,
      Muscat, electronic health records for all patients with a diagnosis of CHD aged
      13 years and above. Data was analyzed according to the type of CHD and in
      hospital mortality was assessed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. RESULTS: A
      total of 600 patients with CHD were identified, among them 145 (24%) were aged 18
      years or below. The median age was 24 years. The majority of patients had a
      simple form of CHD. Atrial and ventricular septal defects together constituted
      62.8% of congenital heart diseases. Most patients were clustered in Muscat (32%)
      and the Batinah regions (31.1%) of Oman. Patients with tetralogy of Fallot and
      Fontan had shorter survival time than recorded in the published literature.
      CONCLUSION: Mostly simple forms of CHD in younger patients was observed. The
      survival rate was significantly shortened in more complex lesions compared to
      simple lesions. A national data registry for CHD is needed to address the
      morbidities and mortality associated with the disease.

PMID- 25829998
TI  - Frequency of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome among patients with epilepsy
      attending a tertiary neurology clinic.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder with a median lifetime
      prevalence of 14 per 1000 subjects. Sleep disorders could influence epileptic
      seizure. The most common sleep disorder is obstructive sleep apnea syndrome
      (OSAS) which occurs in 2% of adult women and 4% of adult men in the general
      population. The aim of this study is to estimate the frequency of OSAS among
      patients with epilepsy and to study the seizure characteristics among those
      patients with co-morbid OSAS. METHODS: Patients with a confirmed diagnosis of
      epilepsy who attended the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital neurology clinic were
      recruited for the study between June 2011 and April 2012. Patients were screened
      for OSAS by direct interview using the validated Arabic version of the Berlin
      questionnaire. Patients identified as high-risk underwent polysomnography.
      RESULTS: A total of 100 patients with epilepsy (55 men and 45 women) were
      screened for OSAS. Generalized and focal seizure was found in 67% of male and 27%
      of female patients. Six percent of the participants had epilepsy of undetermined
      type. Only 9% of the sample was found to have high risk of OSAS based on the
      Berlin questionnaire. No significant correlation was found between risk of OSAS,
      type of epilepsy, and anti-epileptic drugs. CONCLUSION: The risk of OSAS was
      marginally greater in patients with epilepsy compared to the general population
      with the overall prevalence of 9%.

PMID- 25829999
TI  - The Relationship between Body Mass Index and Periodontitis in Arab Patients with
      Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our study sought to evaluate the association between periodontitis and
      body mass index (BMI) among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. . METHODS: In
      this cross-sectional case control study analysis of 186 diabetic patients, 112
      patients had a body mass index >=30kg/m(2) and 74 control patients had BMI
      <30kg/m(2). All participants underwent oral examinations including a full mouth
      recording of clinical attachment level (CAL). Information regarding HbA1c levels
      and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were also gathered. . RESULTS:
      Over half (61%) of patients had a BMI >=30. Of these 52% had CAL less than 2mm.
      Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that there was no association
      between BMI and CAL. In addition, hs-CRP levels were significantly and positively
      associated with CAL (OR:1.06, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.12; p=0.007). . CONCLUSION: Among
      patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, there was no association between
      periodontitis and BMI. More studies are needed to further explore this
      relationship taking into consideration additional lifestyle factors.

PMID- 25830000
TI  - Impact of acne on quality of life of students at sultan qaboos university.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of acne on the
      quality of life. Its secondary objective was to assess the influence of gender of
      students and severity of symptoms on the quality of life. . METHODS: A cross
      sectional study was conducted on 100 students at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU)
      (40 males and 60 females) diagnosed with acne who attended the Student Clinic
      during a period of three months from September to December 2009. The Acne Quality
      Of Life index (Acne-QoL) questionnaire was used to assess the patient's quality
      of life in four different domains: self-perception, social, emotional, and acne
      symptoms. . RESULTS: Acne affected all areas of the patients, quality of life
      with the emotional domain found to be the most affected. Overall, female patients
      reported more adverse QoL effects. The mean score for self-perception for female
      students was 2.5 and 2.8 for males (p=0.300). The role-social domain approached a
      significant difference between genders (p=0.078). There was a statistically
      significant correlation between severity of acne symptoms and the other three
      domains. The correlation was highest between acne symptoms score and self
      perception score. . CONCLUSION: This study showed that acne affects the quality
      of life of affected SQU students treated by primary care physicians at the
      Student Clinic. Therefore, physicians should take into account the effect of acne
      on the persons' quality of life when individualizing treatment.

PMID- 25830001
TI  - Quality of diabetes care at outpatient clinic, sultan qaboos university hospital.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical care of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) patients
      at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), a countrywide tertiary referral
      center in Muscat, Oman. . METHODS: We performed a retrospective, observational,
      cross-sectional study using a total of 673 Omani T2D patients from the Diabetes
      and Family Medicine Clinics at SQUH. We collected patient data from June 2010 to
      February 2012 from the Hospital Information System (HIS). Patients had to be
      Omani, aged more than 18 years old, and have T2D with active follow-up and at
      least three visits within one year to be included in the study. Ninety-three
      percent of the patients (n=622) were on oral hypoglycemic drugs and/or insulin,
      and 70% were on statins. Patients' anthropometric data, biochemical
      investigations, blood pressure, and duration of diabetes were recorded from the
      HIS. . RESULTS: Using the recommended standards and guidelines of medical care in
      diabetes (American Diabetes Association and the American National Cholesterol
      Education Program III NCDP NIII standards), we observed that 22% of the patients
      achieved a HbA1C goal of <7%, 47% achieved blood pressure goal of <140/80mm Hg,
      48% achieved serum low density lipoprotein cholesterol goal of <2.6mmol/L, 67%
      achieved serum triglycerides goal of <1.7 mmol/L, 59% of males and 43% of females
      achieved high density lipoprotein cholesterol goals (males>1.0; females
      >1.3mmol/L). Almost 60% of the patients had urinary microalbumin/creatinine ratio
      within the normal range. . CONCLUSIONS: The clinical outcomes of the care that
      T2D patients get at SQUH were lower than those reported in Europe and North
      America. However, it is similar to those reported in other countries in the
      Arabian Gulf.

PMID- 25830002
TI  - Acute myocardial infarction after switching from warfarin to dabigatran.
AB  - Dabigatran etexilate is a recently approved direct thrombin inhibitor (DTI),
      which is superior to warfarin in the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism
      in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, dabigatran use is associated
      with an increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI) compared to warfarin. The
      mechanisms for this association effect remain speculative. We present a case of
      an acute MI and cardiac arrest in a patient with chronic AF who had been recently
      switched from warfarin to dabigatran. Urgent coronary angiography, at St.
      Michael's hospital (Toronto, Canada), revealed evidence of thromboembolism to the
      distal posterior descending artery. The patient was treated medically and
      switched back from dabigatran to warfarin. He did well and was discharged after
      an uneventful stay in the coronary care unit. 

PMID- 25830003
TI  - Hughes-stovin syndrome and massive hemoptysis: a management challenge.
AB  - Hughes-Stovin syndrome is a very rare clinical entity characterized by pulmonary
      artery aneurysms and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Here we report the case of a 53
      year-old man, admitted to Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman, with
      bilateral pulmonary artery aneurysms and lower-limb DVT who developed massive
      hemoptysis. He was managed successfully with high-dose steroids in combination
      with cyclophosphamide. 

PMID- 25830004
TI  - Post-aural Nodular Fasciitis.
AB  - Nodular fasciitis is a rare benign lesion. Here we report a case of post
      auricular nodular fasciitis, which was misdiagnosed by fine-needle aspiration
      cytology (FNAC) as pleomorphic adenoma. An 18-year-old male presented at Al
      Nahdha Hospital, physical examination revealed a right post aural firm immobile
      mass. Radiology suggested the presence of a hypo-dense to iso-dense subcutaneous
      mass. The swelling was excised and sent for histopathological examination which
      suggested the diagnosis of nodular fasciitis. FNAC reported pleomorphic adenoma
      of unusual location should raise the suspicion of nodular fasciitis. 

PMID- 25830005
TI  - Extrahepatic biliary cystadenoma: a rare cause of biliary obstruction.
AB  - Biliary cystadenoma is a rare tumor of the biliary tree and a rare cause of
      obstructive jaundice. Most are intrahepatic, and pure extrahepatic biliary
      cystadenoma is less common. Cases are more common in women. Unless suspected,
      diagnosis of extrahepatic biliary cystadenoma is often delayed. Here, we report
      the case of a young woman with extrahepatic biliary cystadenoma who presented at
      Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Hospital with obstructive jaundice initially
      thought to be due to a large biliary stone based on the endoscopic cholangiogram
      image. She was successfully managed with resection of the cystadenoma. 

PMID- 25830006
TI  - Localized acral hypertrophy.

PMID- 25830007
TI  - Allergic rhinitis in oman and malaysia: the similarities and differences.

PMID- 25830008
TI  - Control or placebo group in a clinical trial.

PMID- 25830009
TI  - Motivating factors associated with receipt of asymptomatic colonoscopy screening.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Colonoscopy is the preferred screening method for colorectal cancer
      (CRC). This study aimed to identify factors motivating a beneficial health
      behavior, that is, the decision to complete a colonoscopy. METHODS: We surveyed
      91 primarily urban minority health care workers who were ineligible for a large
      randomized controlled trial due to self-reported asymptomatic colonoscopy
      screening. Participants were asked an open-ended question about what made them
      get screened. Responses were classified as external or internal motivations.
      RESULTS: The most commonly reported external motivation was a primary care
      physician's recommendation (n = 60, 65.9%). Other external motivations were
      familiarity with CRC or polyps through family or work (n = 16, 17.6%) and
      pressure from relatives or friends (n = 8, 8.8%). Seventeen respondents were
      deemed self-motivated; these individuals were more likely have income over
      $50K/year (P < 0.05) and to be US born (P = 0.05); they were more likely to
      mention being age-appropriate for screening (P < 0.05); knew more people who had
      colonoscopies (P < 0.001); they were less likely to believe that most of the age
      appropriate population in New York City has been screened (P < 0.01) and less
      likely to be deterred from colonoscopy by work schedule (P < 0.001) or by having
      to take a powerful laxative (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: A primary care physician's
      recommendation may be the most prevalent motivating factor in patients' decisions
      to receive a colonoscopy, but a subgroup seeks CRC screening on their own.
      Analysis of the motivations of individuals who have sought colonoscopy screening
      may offer useful insights into motivating those who have not.

PMID- 25830010
TI  - Road map to organ donation in Tamil Nadu: an excellent model for India.

PMID- 25830011
TI  - Preventive role of estradiol on kidney injury induced by renal ischemia
      reperfusion in male and female rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Renal ischemia-reperfusion (RIR) is the main cause of renal failure.
      The incidence of RIR injury seems to be gender-related due to female sex hormone;
      estrogen. This study was designed to investigate the protective role of estrogen
      against RIR injury in male and ovariectomized female rats. METHODS: Thirty-nine
      Wistar rats were used in this study as male and ovariectomized female rats in the
      sham-operated, RIR, and estradiol-treated plus RIR groups. The RIR was induced by
      clamping the renal vessels for 45 min and then 24 h of reperfusion. All animals
      finally were sacrificed for the measurements. RESULTS: The serum levels of
      creatinine and blood urea nitrogen and kidney tissue damage score significantly
      increased in both male and female RIR rats (P < 0.05). Estradiol however
      significantly attenuated theses parameters (P < 0.05) toward normal levels in
      female (P < 0.05), but not in male rats. Kidney weight increased in both genders
      and estradiol intensified it in the male rats (P < 0.05). Uterus weight was
      increased by estradiol in female rats (P < 0.05) and testis weight did not alter
      in male rats. CONCLUSIONS: Estradiol demonstrated a protective role against RIR
      injury in female rats; however, estradiol as an antioxidant could not protect the
      male kidney from RIR injury.

PMID- 25830012
TI  - Reliability of gingival blood sample to screen diabetes in dental hospital.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Early detection and treatment of diabetes mellitus may reduce the
      burden of diabetes and its complications. Screening of undiagnosed diabetes with
      gingival blood sample in patients attending to the dental hospital and to check
      the reliability with standard method. METHODS: Five hundred and fifty new
      patients age ranged from 30 to 50 years were randomly selected. Of 550 patients
      examined, gingival blood samples of 454 patients were collected from bleeding
      site and analyzed with self-monitoring device. Blood glucose values were
      recorded. In addition, all the patients were advised for the second visit with
      overnight fasting for fasting Blood glucose assessment. Among them, 442 patients
      returned for fasting blood glucose assessment in laboratory with blood glucose
      analyzer. RESULTS: In the total of 454 patients gingival blood glucose assessment
      with self-monitoring device, 64 patients showed >=200 mg/dL, which indicates
      diabetes, and the other 390 patients showed <=200 mg/dL, which indicates patients
      are not diabetic. Whereas, the results of the laboratory blood glucose analysis,
      24 (5.43%) patients showed >=126 mg/dL, 36 (8.14%) patients showed 100-125 mg/dL
      and the other 382 patients are not diabetic. Comparison of blood glucose
      measurements by two methods showed sensitivity 96.66% and specificity 99.47%.
      CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study showed blood obtained from
      periodontal pocket probing is a reliable sample to screen diabetes in periodontal
      disease population. Early diagnosis of diabetes in the dental hospitals can help
      improve the patient's oral health and overall health status by helping patients
      avoid or reduce complications from diabetes.

PMID- 25830013
TI  - Use of biosimilar filgrastim compared with lenograstim in autologous
      haematopoietic stem-cell transplant and in sibling allogeneic transplant.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Biosimilar filgrastim was compared with lenograstim for autologous
      haematopoietic stem-cell transplant (HSCT) in patients with haematological
      malignancies. Data from a separate group of sibling donors who underwent
      allogeneic HSCT are also reported. METHODS: Patients with lymphoma or multiple
      myeloma (MM) who underwent autologous HSCT with biosimilar filgrastim were
      compared with a historical control group of patients who received lenograstim.
      Peripheral blood (PB) cells counts were monitored after 7-8 consecutive days of
      granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) injection and apheresis was
      performed on day 8 if PB CD34+ cell count was ?10 cells/ul. The target PB CD34+
      cell doses were ?2.0 * 10(6)/kg (lymphoma), ?4.0 * 10(6)/kg (MM ?60 years old) or
      ?8.0 * 10(6)/kg (MM <60 years old). RESULTS: A total of 259 patients were
      included in the autologous HSCT comparison (biosimilar filgrastim, n = 104;
      lenograstim, n = 155). In patients with lymphoma and older MM patients (?60 years
      old), no significant differences were observed between groups with regard to stem
      cell mobilization parameters. However, in MM patients <60 years old, all
      parameters were significantly superior in the biosimilar filgrastim group,
      including the need for 1 rather than 2 apheresis procedures. No significant
      differences were observed between groups in median number of days to absolute
      neutrophil count (ANC) or platelet recovery. In the allogeneic setting, 47
      sibling donors received biosimilar filgrastim. Mean CD34+ count at the first
      apheresis was 6.1 * 10(6)/kg. A total of 13 donors needed a second apheresis and
      4 required a third. Among recipients, median days to ANC recovery was 16 (10-28)
      and to platelet recovery was 13 (9-54). CONCLUSIONS: Biosimilar filgrastim is as
      effective as lenograstim for autologous HSCT in patients with lymphoma or MM
      patients ?60 years old. However, mobilization with biosimilar filgrastim appeared
      to be superior to that with lenograstim in younger MM patients.

PMID- 25830015
TI  - Targeting polo-like kinase 1 in acute myeloid leukemia.
AB  - Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) plays a number of important roles in the passage of
      cells through mitosis. It is expressed at high levels in a variety of
      malignancies, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Inhibition of Plk1 results
      in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, and has anti-tumor effects in pre-clinical
      models. A number of Plk1 inhibitors have been developed, some of which have
      entered clinical trials. Of these, volasertib (BI6727) has been most extensively
      studied clinically in AML. Volasertib has demonstrated antileukemic activity in
      AML, both as a single agent and when combined with low-dose cytarabine. It is
      well tolerated, with the major toxicity being reversible myelosuppression. A
      recently completed phase III clinical trial in older AML patients will address
      the question of whether adding this agent to low-dose cytarabine is associated
      with a survival advantage. 

PMID- 25830014
TI  - Novel agents for the treatment of childhood acute leukemia.
AB  - Together, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
      make up approximately one-third of all pediatric cancer diagnoses. Despite
      remarkable improvement in the treatment outcomes of these diseases over the past
      several decades, the prognosis for certain high-risk groups of leukemia and for
      relapsed disease remains poor. However, recent insights into different types of
      'driver' lesions of leukemogenesis, such as the aberrant activation of signaling
      pathways and various epigenetic modifications, have led to the discovery of novel
      agents that specifically target the mechanism of transformation. In parallel,
      emerging approaches in cancer immunotherapy have led to newer therapies that can
      exploit and harness cytotoxic immunity directed against malignant cells. This
      review details the rationale and implementation of recent and specifically
      targeted therapies in acute pediatric leukemia. Topics covered include the
      inhibition of critical cell signaling pathways [BCR-ABL, FMS-like tyrosine kinase
      3 (FLT3), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and Janus-associated kinase
      (JAK)], proteasome inhibition, inhibition of epigenetic regulators of gene
      expression [DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors, histone deacetylase (HDAC)
      inhibitors, and disruptor of telomeric signaling-1 (DOT1L) inhibitors],
      monoclonal antibodies and immunoconjugated toxins, bispecific T-cell engaging
      (BiTE) antibodies, and chimeric antigen receptor-modified (CAR) T cells. 

PMID- 25830016
TI  - Treatment-related acute myeloid leukemia in a chronic lymphocytic leukemia
      patient: role of fludarabine?

PMID- 25830018
TI  - Reconstructing a comprehensive transcriptome assembly of a white-pupal
      translocated strain of the pest fruit fly Bactrocera cucurbitae.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bactrocera cucurbitae is a serious global agricultural pest. Basic
      genomic information is lacking for this species, and this would be useful to
      inform methods of control, damage mitigation, and eradication efforts. Here, we
      have sequenced, assembled, and annotated a comprehensive transcriptome for a mass
      rearing sexing strain of this species. This forms a foundational genomic and
      transcriptomic resource that can be used to better understand the physiology and
      biochemistry of this insect as well as being a useful tool for population
      genetics. FINDINGS: A transcriptome assembly was constructed containing 17,654
      transcript isoforms derived from 10,425 unigenes. This transcriptome size is
      similar to reports from other Tephritid species and probably includes about 70
      80% of the protein-coding genes in the genome. The dataset is publicly available
      in NCBI and GigaDB as a resource for researchers. CONCLUSIONS: Foundational
      knowledge on the protein-coding genes in B. cucurbitae will lead to improved
      resources for this species. Through comparison with a model system such as
      Drosophila as well as a growing number of related Tephritid transcriptomes,
      improved strategies can be developed to control this pest.

PMID- 25830017
TI  - RNA-Seq analysis and annotation of a draft blueberry genome assembly identifies
      candidate genes involved in fruit ripening, biosynthesis of bioactive compounds,
      and stage-specific alternative splicing.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Blueberries are a rich source of antioxidants and other beneficial
      compounds that can protect against disease. Identifying genes involved in
      synthesis of bioactive compounds could enable the breeding of berry varieties
      with enhanced health benefits. RESULTS: Toward this end, we annotated a
      previously sequenced draft blueberry genome assembly using RNA-Seq data from five
      stages of berry fruit development and ripening. Genome-guided assembly of RNA-Seq
      read alignments combined with output from ab initio gene finders produced around
      60,000 gene models, of which more than half were similar to proteins from other
      species, typically the grape Vitis vinifera. Comparison of gene models to the
      PlantCyc database of metabolic pathway enzymes identified candidate genes
      involved in synthesis of bioactive compounds, including bixin, an apocarotenoid
      with potential disease-fighting properties, and defense-related cyanogenic
      glycosides, which are toxic. Cyanogenic glycoside (CG) biosynthetic enzymes were
      highly expressed in green fruit, and a candidate CG detoxification enzyme was up
      regulated during fruit ripening. Candidate genes for ethylene, anthocyanin, and
      400 other biosynthetic pathways were also identified. Homology-based annotation
      using Blast2GO and InterPro assigned Gene Ontology terms to around 15,000 genes.
      RNA-Seq expression profiling showed that blueberry growth, maturation, and
      ripening involve dynamic gene expression changes, including coordinated up- and
      down-regulation of metabolic pathway enzymes and transcriptional regulators.
      Analysis of RNA-seq alignments identified developmentally regulated alternative
      splicing, promoter use, and 3' end formation. CONCLUSIONS: We report genome
      sequence, gene models, functional annotations, and RNA-Seq expression data that
      provide an important new resource enabling high throughput studies in blueberry.

PMID- 25830019
TI  - Improving functional magnetic resonance imaging reproducibility.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The ability to replicate an entire experiment is crucial to the
      scientific method. With the development of more and more complex paradigms, and
      the variety of analysis techniques available, fMRI studies are becoming harder to
      reproduce. RESULTS: In this article, we aim to provide practical advice to fMRI
      researchers not versed in computing, in order to make studies more reproducible.
      All of these steps require researchers to move towards a more open science, in
      which all aspects of the experimental method are documented and shared.
      CONCLUSION: Only by sharing experiments, data, metadata, derived data and
      analysis workflows will neuroimaging establish itself as a true data science.

PMID- 25830020
TI  - A rare presentation of gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) - The Bouveret's
      syndrome.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Bouveret's Syndrome is a rare cause of Gastric outlet obstruction
      (GOO) caused by a gall stone which has migrated into the duodenal bulb from a
      bilioduodenal fistula. It is an uncommon condition and only a few cases have been
      reported in the medical literature till to date. PRESENTATION OF CASE: We report
      a case of a 45 year old woman who presented to us with recurrent pain in the
      upper abdomen for the last 8 years, and that progressed to develop symptoms of
      gastric outlet obstruction. An upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed duodenal
      ulceration with a stony hard lesion in the first part of duodenum. An contrast
      enhanced computed tomography (CECT) scan of the abdomen performed later confirmed
      the presence of cholecystoduodenal fistula and a gall-stone in proximal jejunum.
      DISCUSSION: Bouveret's syndrome is a case of gastric outlet obstruction caused by
      the impaction of a large gall stone in the duodenum as a result of a
      cholecystoduodenal fistula. It constitutes 1-3% of cases of gall stone ileus
      which in turn complicates only 0.3-4% cases of cholelithisasis. Bouveret's
      syndrome is managed surgically. CONCLUSION: Bouveret's syndrome being an uncommon
      condition may pose a difficulty in diagnosis and dilemma in managing such
      patients. An awareness is hence essential.

PMID- 25830021
TI  - Caecal diverticulitis: Presentation and management.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: While left sided colonic diverticular disease is common in Western
      countries, right sided colonic diverticular disease is rare. With increasing
      migration from Asia, many western countries including Australia, are now seeing
      more right sided diverticular disease, of which caecal diverticulitis is the
      commonest. This study aims to determine the incidence of caecal diverticulitis in
      patients presenting with colonic diverticulitis, as well as identify the symptoms
      and clinical features that may aid in making a pre-operative diagnosis. METHODS:
      Data was collected using the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital medical records database
      identifying patients diagnosed with colonic diverticulitis and, more
      specifically, those with caecal diverticulitis from January 2007 to December
      2013. Only those patients who had confirmed caecal diverticulitis on imaging
      studies or at laparoscopy on their first admission were included in this study.
      RESULTS: A total of 632 patients with colonic diverticulitis were admitted to our
      institution over a seven-year period, of which 13 patients had caecal
      diverticulitis (2.06%). Of the 13 patients, twelve were of Asian background and
      ten were considered young (<=50 years of age). The main complaints were right
      sided abdominal pain (n = 11, 84.6%) and diarrhoea (n = 5, 38.5%). Nine were
      diagnosed using computed tomography (n = 9/10, 90%), three on laparoscopy and one
      using ultrasound (n = 1/2, 50%). Ten patients were treated successfully by
      conservative means. DISCUSSION: A high index of suspicion in Asian patients with
      atypical symptoms of appendicitis, especially diarrhoea, may provide the
      diagnosis of caecal diverticulitis.

PMID- 25830022
TI  - A molecular survey of Australian and North American termite genera indicates that
      vertical inheritance is the primary force shaping termite gut microbiomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Termites and their microbial gut symbionts are major recyclers of
      lignocellulosic biomass. This important symbiosis is obligate but relatively open
      and more complex in comparison to other well-known insect symbioses such as the
      strict vertical transmission of Buchnera in aphids. The relative roles of
      vertical inheritance and environmental factors such as diet in shaping the
      termite gut microbiome are not well understood. RESULTS: The gut microbiomes of
      66 specimens representing seven higher and nine lower termite genera collected in
      Australia and North America were profiled by small subunit (SSU) rRNA amplicon
      pyrosequencing. These represent the first reported culture-independent gut
      microbiome data for three higher termite genera: Tenuirostritermes,
      Drepanotermes, and Gnathamitermes; and two lower termite genera: Marginitermes
      and Porotermes. Consistent with previous studies, bacteria comprise the largest
      fraction of termite gut symbionts, of which 11 phylotypes (6 Treponema, 1
      Desulfarculus-like, 1 Desulfovibrio, 1 Anaerovorax-like, 1 Sporobacter-like, and
      1 Pirellula-like) were widespread occurring in >=50% of collected specimens.
      Archaea are generally considered to comprise only a minority of the termite gut
      microbiota (<3%); however, archaeal relative abundance was substantially higher
      and variable in a number of specimens including Macrognathotermes, Coptotermes,
      Schedorhinotermes, Porotermes, and Mastotermes (representing up to 54% of
      amplicon reads). A ciliate related to Clevelandella was detected in low abundance
      in Gnathamitermes indicating that protists were either reacquired after protists
      loss in higher termites or persisted in low numbers across this transition.
      Phylogenetic analyses of the bacterial communities indicate that vertical
      inheritance is the primary force shaping termite gut microbiota. The effect of
      diet is secondary and appears to influence the relative abundance, but not
      membership, of the gut communities. CONCLUSIONS: Vertical inheritance is the
      primary force shaping the termite gut microbiome indicating that species are
      successfully and faithfully passed from one generation to the next via
      trophallaxis or coprophagy. Changes in relative abundance can occur on shorter
      time scales and appear to be an adaptive mechanism for dietary fluctuations.

PMID- 25830024
TI  - Outcomes of a rapid refeeding protocol in Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The impact of severe malnutrition and medical instability in
      adolescent Anorexia Nervosa (AN) on immediate health and long-term development
      underscores the need for safe and efficient methods of refeeding. Current
      refeeding guidelines in AN advocate low initial caloric intake with slow
      increases in energy intake to avoid refeeding syndrome. This study demonstrates
      the potential for more rapid refeeding to promote initial weight recovery and
      correct medical instability in adolescent AN. METHODS: Seventy-eight adolescents
      with AN (12-18 years), hospitalised in two specialist paediatric eating disorder
      units, for medical instability (bradycardia, hypotension, hypothermia,
      orthostatic instability and/or cardiac arrhythmia) were followed during a 2.5
      week admission. Patients were refed using a standardised protocol commencing with
      24-72 hours of continuous nasogastric feeds (ceased with daytime medical
      stability) and routine oral phosphate supplementation, followed by nocturnal
      feeds and a meal plan of 1200-2400 kcal/day aiming for a total caloric intake of
      2400-3000 kcal/day. Along with indicators of medical stability, weight, phosphate
      and glucose levels were recorded. RESULTS: All patients gained weight in week one
      (M = 2.79 kg, SD = 1.27 kg) and at subsequent measurement points with an average
      gain of 5.12 kg (SD = 2.96) at 2.5 weeks. No patient developed hypophosphatemia,
      hypoglycaemia, or stigmata of the refeeding syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: The refeeding
      protocol resulted in immediate weight gain and was well tolerated with no
      indicators of refeeding syndrome. There were no significant differences in
      outcomes between the treatment sites, suggesting the protocol is replicable.
      TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian Clinical Trials Register number:
      ACTRN012607000009415.

PMID- 25830025
TI  - A case series investigation of association between co-morbid psychiatric disorder
      and the improvement in body mass index among patients with anorexia nervosa and
      eating disorder not otherwise specified of the anorexia nervosa type.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anorexia nervosa and eating disorder not otherwise specified* (not
      fulfilling Anorexia Nervosa DSM IV criteria) are increasing in Singapore.
      Patients with eating disorders may also present with other psychiatric disorders
      such as depression and anxiety. The paper aims to investigate the association of
      co-morbid psychiatric disorders with the improvement of body mass index (BMI) in
      these patients. METHODS: A retrospective cohort analysis of 182 patients with
      anorexia and eating disorder not otherwise specified at a tertiary hospital was
      done. The clinical course of co-morbid psychiatric disorders was correlated with
      the improvement of body mass index. RESULTS: 109 patients were included in the
      analysis and the mean BMI on resolution of co-morbid psychiatric disorders was
      BMI 16.9. There is a significant association between the BMI groups and the
      resolution of co-morbid psychiatric disorders, chi2 = 10.2, p = .03. Patients in
      BMI group 5 (BMI 16.6 - 18.5) were noted to be significantly less likely to
      resolve their psychiatric co-morbidity compared to the other 4 groups. (OR =
      0.323). CONCLUSION: Patients with anorexia nervosa and eating disorders not
      otherwise specified were at increased risk of having co-morbid psychiatric
      disorders and the clinical course of co-morbid psychiatric disorders appeared to
      correlate with improved BMI. Specifically patients with BMI < 16.5 with co-morbid
      psychiatric disorders were more likely to recover from their co-morbid
      psychiatric disorder with nutritional rehabilitation than patients with a higher
      BMI.

PMID- 25830026
TI  - Identification of Propionibacterium avidum from a breast abscess: an overlooked
      etiology of clinically significant infections.
AB  - We report the case of a 37-year-old previously healthy woman diagnosed with a
      breast abscess due to Propionibacterium avidum after breast reduction surgery.
      This case emphasizes the potential pathogenicity and morbidity associated with
      this commensal skin organism. 

PMID- 25830027
TI  - Palaeomicrobiology meets forensic medicine: time as a fourth-dimension for the
      crime scene.
AB  - The unrelenting progress of laboratory techniques is rapidly unleashing the huge
      potential of palaeomicrobiology. That bodies are often found in poor condition is
      common to both palaeomicrobiology and forensic medicine, and this might stimulate
      them towards a joint quest to extract reproducible data for reliable specimens. 

PMID- 25830028
TI  - Butyricimonas virosa: the first clinical case of bacteraemia.
AB  - The strictly anaerobic Gram-negative bacteria Butyricimonas species have recently
      been described in human faeces and have to our knowledge not been isolated in
      infectious clinical materials. We report the first case of Butyricimonas virosa
      bacteraemia in a 72-year-old man with colon adenocarcinoma, who underwent aortic
      aneurysm replacement surgery. 

PMID- 25830029
TI  - First detection of KPC-3-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in Albania.

PMID- 25830030
TI  - Evaluation of normal tissue exposure in patients receiving radiotherapy for
      pancreatic cancer based on RTOG 0848.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive malignancy.
      Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is utilized in many cases to improve locoregional
      control; however, toxicities associated with radiation can be significant given
      the location of the pancreas. RTOG 0848 seeks to evaluate chemoradiation using
      either intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or 3D conformal photon
      radiotherapy (3DCRT) modalities as an adjuvant treatment. The purpose of this
      study is to quantify the dosimetric changes seen when using IMRT or 3D CRT photon
      modalities, as well as proton radiotherapy, in patients receiving CRT for cancer
      of the pancreas treated per RTOG 0848 guidelines. MATERIALS: Ten patients with
      pancreatic head adenocarcinoma treated between 2010 and 2013 were evaluated in
      this study. All patients were simulated with contrast-enhanced CT imaging.
      Separate treatment plans using IMRT and 3DCRT as well as proton radiotherapy were
      created for each patient. All planning volumes were created per RTOG 0848
      protocol. Dose-volume histograms (DVH) were calculated and analyzed in order to
      compare plans between the three modalities. The organs at risk (OAR) evaluated in
      this study are the kidneys, liver, small bowel, and spinal cord. RESULTS: There
      was no difference between the IMRT and 3DCRT plans in dose delivered to the
      kidneys, liver, or bowel. The proton radiotherapy plans were found to deliver
      lower mean total kidney doses, mean liver doses, and liver D1/3 compared to the
      IMRT plans. The proton plans also gave less mean liver dose, liver D1/3, bowel
      V15, and bowel V50 in comparison to the 3DCRT. CONCLUSIONS: For patients
      receiving radiotherapy per ongoing RTOG 0848 for pancreatic cancer, there was no
      significant difference in normal tissue sparing between IMRT and 3DCRT treatment
      planning. Therefore, the choice between the two modalities should not be a
      confounding factor in this study. The proton plans also demonstrated improved OAR
      sparing compared to both IMRT and 3DCRT treatment plans.

PMID- 25830031
TI  - Efficacy of platinum chemotherapy agents in the adjuvant setting for
      adenosquamous carcinoma of the pancreas.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pancreatic adenosquamous carcinoma (PASC) accounts for only 1-4% of
      all exocrine pancreatic cancers and carries a particularly poor prognosis. This
      retrospective study was performed to determine whether inclusion of a platinum
      agent as part of adjuvant therapy is associated with improved survival in
      patients with resected PASC. METHODS: Records of all patients who underwent
      pancreatic resection at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1986 to 2012 were reviewed to
      identify those with PASC. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards modeling was
      used to assess for significant associations between patient characteristics and
      survival. RESULTS: In total, 62 patients (1.1%) with resected PASC were
      identified among 5,627 cases. Median age was 68 [interquartile range (IQR), 57
      77] and 44% were female. Multivariate analysis revealed that, among all patients
      (n=62), the following factors were independently predictive of poor survival:
      lack of adjuvant therapy [hazard ratio (HR) =3.6; 95% confidence interval (CI),
      1.8-7.0; P<0.001], margin-positive resection (HR =3.5; 95% CI, 1.8-6.8; P<0.001),
      lymph node involvement (HR =3.5; 95% CI, 1.5-8.2; P=0.004), and age (HR =1.0; 95%
      CI, 1.0-1.1; P=0.035). There were no significant differences between patients who
      did and did not receive adjuvant therapy following resection (all P>0.05). A
      second multivariable model included only those patients who received adjuvant
      therapy (n=39). Lack of inclusion of a platinum agent in the adjuvant regimen (HR
      =2.4; 95% CI, 1.0-5.8; P=0.040) and larger tumor diameter (HR =1.3; 95% CI, 1.0
      1.6; P=0.047) were independent predictors of inferior survival. CONCLUSIONS:
      Addition of a platinum agent to adjuvant regimens for resected PASC may improve
      survival among these high-risk patients, though collaborative prospective
      investigation is needed.

PMID- 25830032
TI  - Intensity-modulated radiotherapy following null-margin resection is associated
      with improved survival in the treatment of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The current study is the first to examine the effectiveness and
      toxicity of postoperative intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in the
      treatment of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) abutting the vasculature.
      Specifically, we aim to assess the role of IMRT in patients with ICC undergoing
      null-margin (no real resection margin) resection. METHODS: Thirty-eight patients
      with ICC adherent to major blood vessels were included in this retrospective
      study. Null-margin resection was performed on all patients; 14 patients were
      further treated with IMRT. The median radiation dose delivered was 56.8 Gy
      (range, 50-60 Gy). The primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and disease
      free survival (DFS). RESULTS: At a median follow-up of 24.6 months, the median OS
      and DFS of all patients (n=38) were 17.7 months (95% CI, 13.2-22.2) and 9.9
      months (95% CI, 2.8-17.0), respectively. Median OS was 21.8 months (95% CI, 15.5
      28.1) among the 14 patients in the postoperative IMRT group and 15.0 months (95%
      CI, 9.2-20.9) among the 24 patients in the surgery-only group (P=0.049). Median
      DFS was 12.5 months (95% CI, 6.8-18.2) in the postoperative IMRT group and 5.5
      months (95% CI, 0.7-12.3) in the surgery-only group (P=0.081). IMRT was well
      tolerated. Acute toxicity included one case of Grade 3 leukopenia; late toxicity
      included one case of asymptomatic duodenal ulcer discovered through endoscopy.
      CONCLUSIONS: The study results suggest that postoperative IMRT is a safe and
      effective treatment option following null-margin resections of ICC. Larger
      prospective and randomized trials are necessary to establish postoperative IMRT
      as a standard practice for the treatment of ICC adherent to major hepatic
      vessels.

PMID- 25830034
TI  - HER2 expression in gastric and oesophageal cancer: a meta-analytic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Since the advent and the success of adjuvant medical therapy for
      human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer in the
      form of trastuzumab there has been increasing interest in the development of
      similar therapies in other solid organ malignancies including gastric cancer and
      oesophageal cancer. Over the years, multiple observational studies have been
      inconsistent. Several meta-analyses have been published looking at the
      association between HER2 and gastric cancer and oesophageal cancer. This review
      aims to summarize the meta-analytic evidence for the association between HER2 in
      gastric and oesophageal cancer. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted using
      MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, Current Contents Connect, Cochrane Library, Google
      Scholar, Science Direct, and Web of Science. RESULTS: Of the articles selected,
      only nine studies met full criteria. Six of them reviewed the role of HER2 in
      gastric cancer and the remaining three reviewed its role in oesophageal cancer.
      CONCLUSIONS: The current evidence regarding the role of HER2 is unclear. However,
      it clearly plays a key role in the pathogenesis of gastric and oesophageal
      carcinomas. Targeted therapy towards this subgroup (despite variable frequency
      and association with survival) would offer a mortality benefit and improve
      survival.

PMID- 25830033
TI  - Multicenter evaluation of the safety and efficacy of radioembolization in
      patients with unresectable colorectal liver metastases selected as candidates for
      (90)Y resin microspheres.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Metastatic colorectal cancer liver metastases Outcomes after
      RadioEmbolization (MORE) was an investigator-initiated case-control study to
      assess the experience of 11 US centers who treated liver-dominant metastases from
      colorectal cancer (mCRC) using radioembolization [selective internal radiation
      therapy (SIRT)] with yttrium-90-((90)Y)-labeled resin microspheres. METHODS: Data
      from 606 consecutive patients who received radioembolization between July 2002
      and December 2011 were collected by an independent research organization. Adverse
      events (AEs) and survival were compared across lines of treatment using Fisher's
      exact test and Kaplan-Meier estimates, respectively. RESULTS: Patients received a
      median of 2 (range, 0-6) lines of prior chemotherapy; 35.1% had limited
      extrahepatic metastases. Median tumor-to-liver ratio and -activity administered
      at first procedure were 15% and 1.17 GBq, respectively. Hospital stay was <24
      hours in 97.8% cases. Common grade >=3 AEs over 184 days follow-up were:
      abdominal pain (6.1%), fatigue (5.5%), hyperbilirubinemia (5.4%), ascites (3.6%)
      and gastrointestinal ulceration (1.7%). There was no statistical difference in
      AEs across treatment lines (P>0.05). Median survivals [95% confidence interval
      (CI)] following radioembolization as a 2(nd)-line, 3(rd)-line, or 4(th)-plus line
      were 13.0 (range, 10.5-14.6), 9.0 (range, 7.8-11.0), and 8.1 (range, 6.4-9.3)
      months, respectively; and significantly prolonged in patients with ECOG 0 vs. >=1
      (P=0.009). Statistically significant independent variables for survival at
      radioembolization were: disease stage [extrahepatic metastases, extent of liver
      involvement (tumor-to-treated-liver ratio)], liver function (uncontrolled
      ascites, albumin, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate transaminase), leukocytes, and
      prior chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Radioembolization appears to have a favorable
      risk/benefit profile, even among mCRC patients who had received >=3 prior lines
      of chemotherapy.

PMID- 25830035
TI  - Factors influencing response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation and outcomes in rectal
      cancer patients: tertiary Indian cancer hospital experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the treatment of rectal cancers several randomized trials have
      demonstrated benefits of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NACRT) in downstaging as
      well as survival among these patients. We investigated the patient and tumor
      related variables dictating the outcomes in these patients. METHODS: Biopsy
      proven treatment naive 182 rectal cancer patients underwent NACRT from June 2006
      to December 2010. The entire patients received long course conventionally
      fractionated external beam radiotherapy with concurrent oral Capecitabine. At 6
      weeks from completion of NACRT clinico-radiological assessment was carried out
      for surgical feasibility. All patients were given postoperative adjuvant
      chemotherapy either single agent or multi drug regimen depending upon biopsy
      report. RESULTS: Among 182 patients, 131 (72%) underwent surgery and initial T
      stage and signet ring cell morphology were major determinant of operability.
      Among the 131 operated patients at median follow up of 36 months, 94 (72%) are
      alive and disease free. With a median follow up of 42 months the 5-year disease
      free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) was 60% and 77%. The majority of
      the failures were distal but with more advanced disease at presentation both
      local and distal failures were similar. While assessing survival by multivariate
      analysis patients having positive nodes post-surgery had a significantly poorer
      DFS (P=0.001), while signet ring cell morphology and pre-treatment carcino
      embryonic antigen (CEA) levels strongly influenced OS (P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: The
      outcome of our patients were similar to World Literature and signet ring cell
      morphology, pre-treatment CEA level, and pathological nodal staging all were
      influential in determining survival. Besides this, the study also highlights the
      fact that tumours with signet ring cell morphology appearing in younger
      population with poor survival needs prospective evaluation for more intense CRT
      regimen and aggressive surgical resections.

PMID- 25830036
TI  - Low bone mineral density linked to colorectal adenomas: a cross-sectional study
      of a racially diverse population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic studies suggest that lower bone mineral density (BMD)
      is associated with an increased risk for colorectal adenoma/cancer, especially in
      postmenopausal women. The aim of this study is to investigate the association
      between osteopenia and/or osteoporosis and colorectal adenomas in patients from a
      New York community hospital. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional
      observational study on 200 patients who underwent screening colonoscopies and
      bone density scan (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) at Nassau University Medical
      Center from November 2009 to March 2011. Among these, 83 patients were identified
      as osteoporosis (T score of -2.5 or below) and 67 were osteopenia (T score
      between -1.0 and -2.5). Logistic regression model was performed to assess the
      association between osteopenia and/or osteoporosis and colorectal adenomas.
      RESULTS: Among the patients with osteopenia and osteoporosis, the mean ages were
      59.1 years [standard deviation (SD) =8.9] and 61.5 (SD =8.9), respectively. There
      were 94.0%, 85.1% and 74.7% women, respectively, in normal BMD, osteopenia and
      osteoporosis groups. The prevalence of colorectal adenomas was 17.9% and 25.3% in
      the osteopenia and osteoporosis groups, respectively, and 18.0% in the normal BMD
      group. After adjustment for potential confounders including age, sex, race, body
      mass index (BMI), tobacco use, alcohol use, history of diabetes, hypertension, or
      dyslipidemia, osteoporosis was found to be associated with presence of colorectal
      adenomas more than 2, compared to the normal BMD group. No significant
      associations were found for the prevalence, size, and location of adenomas.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that osteoporosis is significantly associated
      with the presence of multiple colorectal adenomas. Prospective studies with a
      larger sample size are warranted in the future.

PMID- 25830037
TI  - Evolution of imaging in rectal cancer: multimodality imaging with MDCT, MRI, and
      PET.
AB  - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), multidetector computed tomography (MDCT), and
      positron emission tomography (PET) are complementary imaging modalities in the
      preoperative staging of patients with rectal cancer, and each offers their own
      individual strengths and weaknesses. MRI is the best available radiologic
      modality for the local staging of rectal cancers, and can play an important role
      in accurately distinguishing which patients should receive preoperative
      chemoradiation prior to total mesorectal excision. Alternatively, both MDCT and
      PET are considered primary modalities when performing preoperative distant
      staging, but are limited in their ability to locally stage rectal malignancies.
      This review details the role of each of these three modalities in rectal cancer
      staging, and how the three imaging modalities can be used in conjunction. 

PMID- 25830038
TI  - Review of systemic therapies for locally advanced and metastatic rectal cancer.
AB  - Rectal cancer, along with colon cancer, is the second leading cause of cancer
      related deaths in the U.S. Up to a quarter of patients have metastatic disease at
      diagnosis and 40% will develop metastatic disease. The past 10 years have been
      extremely exciting in the treatment of both locally advanced and metastatic
      rectal cancer (mRC). With the advent of neoadjuvant chemoradiation, increased
      numbers of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) are surviving
      longer and some are seeing their tumors shrink to sizes that allow for resection.
      The advent of biologics and monoclonal antibodies has propelled the treatment of
      mRC further than many could have hoped. Combined with regimens such as FOLFOX or
      FOLFIRI, median survival rates have been increased to an average of 23 months.
      However, the combinations of chemotherapy regimens seem endless for rectal
      cancer. We will review the major chemotherapies available for locally advanced
      and mRC as well as regimens currently under investigation such as FOLFOXIRI. We
      will also review vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and epidermal growth
      factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors as single agents and in combination with
      traditional chemotherapy regimens. 

PMID- 25830039
TI  - Management of oligometastatic rectal cancer: is liver first?
AB  - Twenty percent of patients with rectal cancer present with synchronous liver
      metastases at the time of initial diagnosis. These patients can be treated with a
      curative intent, although the choice and sequence of treatment modalities are not
      well established and are commonly debated in multi-disciplinary tumor boards. In
      this article we review clinical evidence for various treatment approaches and
      attempt to formulate a pathway for clinicians to use in evaluating and managing
      these patients. 

PMID- 25830040
TI  - Impact of the immune system and immunotherapy in colorectal cancer.
AB  - The development of cancer is a multi-step process involving the gradual loss of
      regulation over the growth and functional capabilities of normal cells. Much
      research has been focused on the numerous cell intrinsic factors that govern this
      process; however, recent attention has turned to understanding the cell extrinsic
      factors in the tumor microenvironment that appear equally critical to the
      progression and treatment of cancer. One critical component of the tumor
      microenvironment is the immune system and it has become increasingly evident that
      the immune system plays an integral role in preventing and promoting the
      development of cancer. Understanding the immune cell types and pathways involved
      in this process has enabled the development of novel biomarkers for prognosis and
      accelerated the development of immune-based therapeutics, both of which have the
      potential to forever change the treatment paradigms for colorectal cancer (CRC).
      In this review, we discuss the impact of the immune system on the initiation,
      progression and treatment of cancer, specifically focusing on CRC. 

PMID- 25830041
TI  - Non-operative therapies for colorectal liver metastases.
AB  - Locoregional therapies for colorectal liver metastases complement systemic
      therapy by providing an opportunity for local control of hepatic spread. The
      armamentarium for liver-directed therapy includes ablative therapies,
      embolization, and stereotactic body radiation therapy. At this time, prospective
      studies comparing these modalities are limited and decision-making relies on a
      multidisciplinary approach for optimal patient management. Herein, we describe
      multiple therapeutic non-surgical procedures and an overview of the results of
      these treatments. 

PMID- 25830042
TI  - Predicting complete response: is there a role for non-operative management of
      rectal cancer?
AB  - Pre-operative chemoradiotherapy followed by a total mesorectal excision (TME) is
      the standard of care for patients with locally advanced (stage II or III) rectal
      cancer. Approximately 20% of patients may achieve a pathologic complete response
      after chemoradiation therapy (CRT), which has been shown to be associated with
      better oncologic outcomes. Whether surgery can be avoided in this population is
      an area of active investigation. Recent studies demonstrated feasibility and
      safety of non-operative management in patients with clinical complete response
      (cCR) after chemoradiotherapy. In this article, we set out to review the current
      data on non-operative management and to identify areas requiring further
      investigation, including improvement in imaging for reassessment after CRT and
      identifying the optimal time frame for restaging. As the field moves forward with
      non-operative management in select patients with rectal cancer, there continues
      to be a need to better understand the prognostic factors and biomarkers that may
      more accurately characterize patients who are qualified for this "wait-and-see"
      approach and thereby avoid overtreatment, potentially leading to improvements in
      long-term quality of life. 

PMID- 25830043
TI  - Exploring signet-ring cells in pregnant female.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Primary signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) of the colon and rectum
      are rare form, which present at an advanced stage and have poor prognosis.
      Different treatment policies of SRCC during different gestational age of
      pregnancy are explored from the literature. CASE STUDY: A 26-year-old young
      pregnant female with 10-week gestation presented with constipation and blood in
      stools and on per rectal examination a tender circumferential stricture was
      present 2 cm above the anal verge. Magnetic resonant imaging (MRI) pelvis of the
      patient revealed rectal thickening, the biopsy of which revealed characteristic
      appearance of "linitis plastica" and diagnosed as poorly differentiated
      adenocarcinoma with signet ring morphology with wide spread positivity for
      cytokeratin & p53. With this diagnosis, patient underwent medical termination of
      pregnancy (MTP). DISCUSSION: SRCC of the colon comprises about only 1% of all
      cases of colon cancer. When compared with other types of adenocarcinoma, patients
      with SRCC in the colon are younger and more likely to experience lymph node
      metastasis. Its incidence in pregnancy is estimated to be less than 0.1%.
      Certainly, any pregnant patient who reports rectal bleeding or has hemoccult
      positive stool on examination deserves careful evaluation to rule out cancer. The
      complex treatment of colorectal cancer in pregnancy is based on the gestational
      age of the fetus, tumor stage and need for emergent vs. elective management.

PMID- 25830045
TI  - Liver regeneration following repeat SBRT.
AB  - Liver stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is an emerging treatment option
      for oligometastases and may confer a survival benefit in select patients. Herein,
      we document the first case of liver regeneration (LR) following repeat right
      hepatic lobe SBRT in a woman with breast cancer metastases. Retraction of the
      treated lobe was significant with a near 50% volume reduction. Compensatory
      contralateral lobe hypertrophy was noted with a 320% volume increase. The overall
      liver volume remained stable, within +/-5% of baseline. This case indicates that
      repeat liver SBRT can be delivered safely to individual patients and that
      compensatory contralateral lobe hypertrophy is observed to maintain a functional
      liver volume. 

PMID- 25830044
TI  - Numb chin syndrome secondary to leptomeningeal carcinomatosis from gastric
      adenocarcinoma.
AB  - Numb chin syndrome (NCS) can be a sign of malignancy. Its association with
      gastric adenocarcinoma is rare. We report a case of a 27-year-old Hispanic female
      that presented with complaint of left sided headache associated with numbness of
      the left side of chin and lower gingiva. Initial brain MRI, whole body gallium
      scan, high resolution CT of chest and elevated protein in the CSF were suggestive
      of sarcoidosis. She was treated with IV steroids with transient clinical
      improvement. Two weeks later, her symptoms worsened and further evaluation
      revealed the diagnosis of a poorly differentiated metastatic gastric
      adenocarcinoma with leptomeningeal involvement. This case report aims to
      emphasize the importance of identifying NCS as a possible indication of an
      underlying malignant condition. Reported cases of NCS associated with metastatic
      gastric adenocarcinoma are very rare. 

PMID- 25830046
TI  - A 26-year-old female with metastatic primary gastrointestinal malignancy
      presenting as menorrhagia.
AB  - Krukenberg tumor is a metastatic malignant tumor of the ovary arising from a wide
      variety of primary sources, with the stomach being the most common. The
      presenting symptoms are non-specific and the primary source is often un
      identified. Here, we describe a case of a 26-year-old Hispanic gravida 4, para 3
      female who presented to our hospital with dysuria, pelvic pain and irregular,
      heavy menstrual cycles for three months duration. An endometrial biopsy was
      suggestive of carcinosarcoma. The patient underwent debulking surgery with
      partial cystectomy and bladder repair. A week later, she presented with
      hematemesis and an endoscopic biopsy revealed a diagnosis of poorly
      differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma. The tissue specimen obtained during the
      initial surgery was identified as Krukenberg tumor. The patient underwent
      adjuvant chemotherapy with FOLFOX along with gastrectomy with intraperitoneal
      chemotherapy. 

PMID- 25830047
TI  - Exfoliative erythroderma as a paraneoplastic presentation of adenocarcinoma of
      the gallbladder.
AB  - We report a case of a 71-year-old Caucasian male presenting with an exfoliative
      skin rash all over his body. The patient was also found to have a huge gall
      bladder mass extending into the liver that turned out to be adenocarcinoma of the
      gall bladder on biopsy. Gall bladder cancer usually presents with abdominal pain,
      swelling or jaundice. We report only the second case in literature of a gall
      bladder adenocarcinoma presenting with exfoliative erythroderma as its
      paraneoplastic presentation. 

PMID- 25830048
TI  - Retroperitoneal nodular fasciitis: a benign etiology on the differential
      diagnosis of malignant gastric outlet obstruction.
AB  - Nodular fasciitis is a relatively rare, benign and proliferative lesion that is
      not typically found in the retroperitoneal (RP) space and has not been previously
      reported as a cause of gastric outlet obstruction (GOO). GOOs are frequently
      associated with malignancies, however, benign etiologies should be considered as
      well. We report the first case of GOO secondary to nodular fasciitis in the form
      of a spontaneously regressing RP mass that was initially concerning for
      malignancy. 

PMID- 25830049
TI  - Transition of a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor from ghrelinoma to insulinoma: a
      case report.
AB  - Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) are rare with an incidence of 1 in
      100,000 populations. PNETs can present either as a functional or non-functional
      tumor. In functional tumors the symptoms are a result of hormones such as
      insulin, gastrin, glucagon and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) or others.
      Ghrelin is a 28 amino acid peptide discovered in 1999 and is thought to be
      involved in various physiologic and pathologic processes. Due to relatively
      recent discovery of this hormone, its functions in normal homeostasis and its
      association with various pathologic processes are still being uncovered. PNETs
      are a rare entity and the natural history of disease is not well known. We have
      presented a first ever case of metastatic PNET which presented as a ghrelinoma
      and later transformed into a symptomatic insulinoma. This case gives us a glimpse
      into an unusual variant of metastatic PNET. It also tells us that change in
      functional tumor biology can sometime be more morbid than the metastatic disease
      itself. 

PMID- 25830050
TI  - Erratum to A case of esophageal squamous cell intraepithelial neoplasia with
      positivity for type 16 human papillomavirus successfully treated with
      radiofrequency ablation.
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. E36 in vol. 5, PMID: 24772344.]. 

PMID- 25830051
TI  - Extramedullary plasmacytoma of the gallbladder diagnosed by endoscopic ultrasound
      fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA).
AB  - Extramedullary plasmacytoma (EMP) is a rare entity that can exist independently
      or in conjunction with underlying plasma cell myeloma (PCM). When there is
      underlying multiple myeloma, the presence of EMP portends a poor prognosis. The
      most common locations for an EMP include the gastrointestinal tract, pleura,
      testis, skin, peritoneum, liver, endocrine glands and lymph nodes; involvement of
      the gallbladder is exceedingly rare with only five other cases reported and only
      one of which was associated with PCM. EMP of the gallbladder can manifest as
      acute cholecystitis, biliary obstruction, or may be asymptomatic. Treatment is
      traditionally surgical resection plus adjuvant chemotherapy or autologous stem
      cell transplant. We present a case of a 53-year-old man with PCM who was found to
      have a gallbladder mass on imaging and underwent endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)
      guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) of the mass, which was diagnostic of a plasma
      cell neoplasm. 

PMID- 25830052
TI  - A case of cardiac metastasis from uterine cervical carcinoma.
AB  - Cases of cardiac metastasis from uterine cervical carcinoma are rare. While they
      are occasionally found on autopsy, antemortem recognition is extremely rare. We
      confirmed a case of cardiac metastasis from cervical carcinoma antemortem,
      because we observed a decrease in platelet count during the course of treatment.
      The patient was a 27-year-old woman diagnosed with stage Ib1 uterine cervical
      carcinoma. Radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy was performed. Para
      aortic lymph node metastasis was detected on positron emission
      tomography/computed tomography (PET-CT). Adjuvant chemotherapy was started, and
      most of the metastatic lesions disappeared. Pelvic lymph node recurrence was
      suspected on PET-CT during continued chemotherapy; therefore, treatment was
      shifted to radiation therapy. Tumor shrinkage was recognized, and the initial
      therapy was completed. A noticeable decrease in platelet count was recognized
      seven months after treatment. Multidetector CT was performed, and an intracardiac
      tumor was detected. The patient did not desire any further treatment. She died
      three weeks after the intracardiac tumor was confirmed. Few previous autopsy
      studies have reported cardiac metastasis from cervical carcinoma. Thus, it is
      necessary to consider the possibility of cardiac metastasis for patients
      diagnosed with terminal cervical carcinoma. 

PMID- 25830053
TI  - Pleomorphic adenoma of breast: a radiological and pathological study of a common
      tumor in an uncommon location.
AB  - Pleomorphic adenoma occurs commonly in the major salivary glands but is
      uncommonly encountered in the breast. In both of these locations, the tumor is
      typically grossly circumscribed and has a "mixed" histological appearance, being
      composed of myoepithelial and epithelial components amid a myxochondroid matrix.
      Herein, we report a case of pleomorphic adenoma of the breast which was
      preoperatively thought to represent a fibroadenoma on clinical and radiological
      grounds. It is the rarity of the tumor in the breast, rather than its
      histological appearance, that causes diagnostic difficulty. 

PMID- 25830055
TI  - Quercetin Down-regulates IL-6/STAT-3 Signals to Induce Mitochondrial-mediated
      Apoptosis in a Nonsmall- cell Lung-cancer Cell Line, A549.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Quercetin, a flavonoid compound, has been reported to induce
      apoptosis in cancer cells, but its anti-inflammatory effects, which are also
      closely linked with apoptosis, if any, on non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have
      not so far been critically examined. In this study, we tried to determine if
      quercetin had any demonstrable anti-inflammatory potential, which also could
      significantly contribute to inducing apoptosis in a NSCLC cell line, A549.
      METHODS: In this context, several assays, including cytotoxicity, flow cytometry
      and fluorimetry, were done. Gene expression was analyzed by using a western blot
      analysis. RESULTS: Results revealed that quercetin could induce apoptosis in A549
      cells through mitochondrial depolarization by causing an imbalance in B-cell
      lymphoma 2/ Bcl2 Antagonist X (Bcl2/Bax) ratio and by down-regulating the
      interleukine-6/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (IL-6/STAT3)
      signaling pathway. An analysis of the data revealed that quercetin could block
      nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kappaB)
      activity at early hours, which might cause a down-regulation of the IL-6 titer,
      and the IL-6 expression, in turn, could inhibit p-STAT3 expression. Down
      regulation of both the STAT3 and the NF-kappaB expressions might, therefore,
      cause down-regulation of Bcl2 activity because both are major upstream effectors
      of Bcl2. Alteration in Bcl2 responses might result in an imbalance in the
      Bcl2/Bax ratio, which could ultimately bring about mitochondria mediated
      apoptosis in A549 cells. CONCLUSION: Overall, the finding of this study indicates
      that a quercetin induced anti-inflammatory pathway in A549 cells appeared to make
      a significant contribution towards induction of apoptosis in NSCLC and, thus, may
      have a therapeutic use such as a strong apoptosis inducer in cancer cells.

PMID- 25830054
TI  - Loranthus ferrugineus: a Mistletoe from Traditional Uses to Laboratory Bench.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Loranthus ferrugineus (L. ferrugineus) from Loranthaceae, a
      mistletoe, is a medicinal herb used for a variety of human ailments.
      Traditionally, decoctions of this parasitic shrub have been mainly used to treat
      high blood pressure (BP) and gastrointestinal complaints; usage which is
      supported by experimental based pharmacological investigations. Nonetheless,
      there is still limited data available evaluating this plant's traditions, and few
      studies have been scientifically translated toward evidence based phytomedicine.
      We therefore provide a concise review of the currently available L. ferrugineus
      literature and discuss potential directions for future areas of investigation.
      METHODS: We surveyed available literature covering ethnopharmacological usage of
      L. ferrugineus and discussed relevant findings, including important future
      directions and shortcomings for the medicinal values of this parasitic shrub.
      RESULTS: Evidence based pharmacological approaches significantly covered the
      medicinal application of L. ferrugineus for hypertension and gastrointestinal
      complaint management, with a particular focus on the active hydrophilic extract
      of this herb. CONCLUSION: Understanding the sites of action of this plant and its
      beneficial effects will provide justification for its use in old traditional
      treatments, and potentially lead to the development of therapies. Other medicinal
      applicative areas of this parasitic shrub, such as wound healing, gerontological
      effects, and antiviral and anticancer activities, are yet to be researched.

PMID- 25830056
TI  - Behaviors of providers of traditional korean medicine therapy and complementary
      and alternative medicine therapy for the treatment of cancer patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: In Korea, cancer is one of the most important causes of death. Cancer
      patients have sought alternative methods, like complementary and alternative
      medicine (CAM) together with Western medicine, to treat cancer. Also, there are
      many kinds of providers of CAM therapy, including providers of Korean oriental
      medicine therapy. The purpose of this study is to identify the behaviors of
      Korean oriental medicine therapy and CAM therapy providers who treat cancer
      patients and to provide background knowledge for establishing a new policy with
      the management and quality control of CAM. METHODS: Structured and well organized
      questionnaires were made, and 350 persons were surveyed concerning the providers
      of CAM or Korean oriental medicine. The questionnaires were collected and
      analyzed. RESULTS: The questionnaires (182) were collected. The questionnaires
      identified a total of 73 known providers, such as medicinal professionals or
      other providers of CAM suppliers, 35.6% of whom had had experience with treating
      cancer patients (52.6% vs. 29.6%). The treatment methods were a little different:
      alternative therapy and nutritional therapy being preferred by medicinal
      professionals and mind body modulation therapy and alternative therapy being
      preferred by other CAM providers. Four patients (7.4%) experienced side effects,
      and 6 patients (12.5%) experienced legal problems. As the method for managing the
      therapy, CAM providers, medicinal professionals, and other CAM providers had
      different viewpoints. For example, some CAM providers stated that both
      legislation and an official education on CAM or a national examination were
      needed as a first step to establish the provider's qualifications and that as a
      second step, a license test was needed for quality control. To the contrary,
      medicinal professionals stated that a license test was needed before legislation.
      CONCLUSION: Adequate management and quality control of CAM providers is thought
      to involve both education and legislation.

PMID- 25830057
TI  - Repeated Intramuscular-dose Toxicity Test of Watersoluble Carthami Flos (WCF)
      Pharmacopuncture in Sprague-Dawley Rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Water-soluble carthami flos (WCF) is a new mixture of Carthami flos
      (CF) pharmacopuncture. We conducted a 4-week toxicity test of repeated
      intramuscular injections of WCF in Sprague-Dawley rats. METHODS: Forty male and
      40 female rats were divided into 4 groups of 10 male and 10 female SD rats: The
      control group received 0.5 mL/animal/day of normal saline whereas the three
      experimental groups received WCF at doses of 0.125, 0.25, and 0.5 mL/animal/day,
      respectively. For 4 weeks, the solutions were injected into the femoral muscle of
      the rats alternating from side to side. Clinical signs, body weights, and food
      consumption were observed; opthalmological examinations and urinalyses were
      performed. On day 29, blood samples were taken for hematological and clinical
      chemistry analyses. Then, necropsy was conducted in all animals to observe
      weights and external and histopathological changes in the bodily organs. All data
      were tested using a statistical analysis system (SAS). RESULTS: No deaths were
      observed. Temporary irregular respiration was observed in male rats of the
      experimental group for the first 10 days. Body weights, food consumptions,
      opthalmological examinations, urinalyses, clinical chemistry analyses, organ
      weights and necropsy produced no findings with toxicological meaning. In the
      hematological analysis, delay of prothrombin time (PT) was observed in male rats
      of the 0.25- and the 0.5- mL/animal/day groups. In the histopathological test, a
      dose-dependent inflammatory cell infiltration into the fascia and panniculitis in
      perimuscular tissues was observed in all animals of the experimental groups.
      However, those symptoms were limited to local injection points. No toxicological
      meanings, except localized changes, were noted. CONCLUSION: WCF solution has no
      significant toxicological meaning, but does produce localized symptoms. No
      observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) of WCF in male and female rats is expected
      for doses over 0.5 mL/animal/day.

PMID- 25830058
TI  - Stability Test and Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses of the Amino Acids in
      Pharmacopuncture Extracted from Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans (S. subspinipes mutilans) is known
      as a traditional medicine and includes various amino acids, peptides and
      proteins. The amino acids in the pharmacopuncture extracted from S. subspinipes
      mutilans by using derivatization methods were analyzed quantitatively and
      qualitatively by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) over a 12
      month period to confirm its stability. METHODS: Amino acids of pharmacopuncture
      extracted from S. subspinipes mutilans were derived by using O-phthaldialdehyde
      (OPA) & 9-fluorenyl methoxy carbonyl chloride (FMOC) reagent and were analyzed
      using HPLC. The amino acids were detected by using a diode array detector (DAD)
      and a fluorescence detector (FLD) to compare a mixed amino acid standard (STD) to
      the pharmacopuncture from centipedes. The stability tests on the pharmacopuncture
      from centipedes were done using HPLC for three conditions: a room temperature
      test chamber, an acceleration test chamber, and a cold test chamber. RESULTS: The
      pharmacopuncture from centipedes was prepared by using the method of the Korean
      Pharmacopuncture Institute (KPI) and through quantitative analyses was shown to
      contain 9 amino acids of the 16 amino acids in the mixed amino acid STD. The
      amounts of the amino acids in the pharmacopuncture from centipedes were 34.37 ppm
      of aspartate, 123.72 ppm of arginine, 170.63 ppm of alanine, 59.55 ppm of leucine
      and 57 ppm of lysine. The relative standard deviation (RSD %) results for the
      pharmacopuncture from centipedes had a maximum value of 14.95% and minimum value
      of 1.795% on the room temperature test chamber, the acceleration test chamber and
      the cold test chamber stability tests. CONCLUSION: Stability tests on and
      quantitative and qualitative analyses of the amino acids in the pharmacopuncture
      extracted from centipedes by using derivatization methods were performed by using
      HPLC. Through research, we hope to determine the relationship between time and
      the concentrations of the amino acids in the pharmacopuncture extracted from
      centipedes.

PMID- 25830059
TI  - Single-dose Intramuscular Injection Toxicology of Danggui Pharmacopuncture (DGP)
      in Sprague-Dawley Rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study is to assess both the approximate lethal
      dose and the single dose intramuscular injection toxicity of Danggui (Angelica
      gigantis radix) pharmacopuncture (DGP) in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. METHODS: The
      experiments were conducted at the good laboratory practice (GLP) laboratory,
      Biotoxtech Co., which is a laboratory approved by the ministry of food and drug
      safety (MFDS). The study was performed according to the GLP regulation and the
      toxicity test guidelines of the MFDS (2009) after approval of the institutional
      animal care and use committee of Biotoxtech. Single doses of DGP were injected
      intramuscularly into the rats in three test groups of 6 week old SD rats (5 male
      and 5 female rats per groups) in the amounts of 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mL/animal for
      groups 2, 3, and 4, respectively, and normal saline solution in the amount of 1.0
      mL/animal was injected intramuscularly into the rats (5 male and 5 female rats)
      in the control group. Observations of the general symptoms and weight
      measurements were performed during the 14 day observation period after the
      injection. Hematologic and serum biochemical examination, necropsy, and a local
      tolerance test at the injection site were done after the observation period.
      RESULTS: No death was observed in three test groups (0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 mL/animal
      group). In addition, the injection of DGP had no effect on general symptoms,
      weights, hematologic and serum biochemical examination, and necropsy. The results
      from the local tolerance tests at injection site showed no treatment related
      effects in the SD rats. CONCLUSION: The results of single dose intramuscular
      injection of DGP suggest that the approximate lethal dose is above 1.0 mL/animal
      for both male and female SD rats and that intramuscular injection of DGP may be
      safe.

PMID- 25830060
TI  - Toxicity of Eun-bi San Pharmacopuncture Injection in the Muscle of Rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study was carried out to analyze the single-dose toxicity of Eun
      Bi San pharmacopuncture injected into the muscle of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats.
      METHODS: All experiments were performed at Biotoxtech, an institution certified
      to conduct non-clinical studies under the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP)
      regulations. Six week old SD rats reared by ORIENTBIO were chosen for this pilot
      study. The reason SD rats were chosen is that they have been widely used in
      safety tests in the field of medicine, so the results can be easily compared with
      many other databases. The Eun-Bi San pharmacopuncture was made in a clean room at
      the Korean Pharmacopuncture Institute (KPI, K-GMP). The constituents of the Eun
      Bi San pharmacopuncture are Angelicae gigantis radix, Strychni semen and
      Glycyrrhizae radix. These were extracted at low temperature and low pressure in
      an aseptic room at the KPI. Doses of Eun- Bi San pharmacopuncture, 0.25, 0.5 and
      1.0 mL, were administered to the experimental groups, and a dose of normal saline
      solution, 1.0 mL, was administered to the control group. This study was performed
      under the approval of the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee of Biotoxtech
      Co., Ltd. RESULTS: No deaths or abnormalities occurred in any of the four groups.
      No significant changes in weight, hematological parameters or clinical chemistry
      between the control group and the experimental groups were observed. To determine
      if abnormalities existed in any organs and tissues, we used microscopy to examine
      representative histological sections of each specified organ; the results showed
      no significant differences in any of the organs or tissues. CONCLUSION: The
      results of this study suggest that treatment with Eun-Bi San pharmacopuncture is
      relatively safe and that its clinical use may be beneficial. Further evaluations
      and studies on this subject will be needed to provide more concrete evidence in
      support of these conclusions.

PMID- 25830061
TI  - Ganoderma Lucidum Pharmacopuncture for Teating Ethanol-induced Chronic Gastric
      Ulcers in Rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The stomach is a sensitive digestive organ that is susceptible to
      exogenous pathogens from the diet. In response to such pathogens, the stomach
      induces oxidative stress, which might be related to the development of both
      gastric organic disorders such as gastritis, gastric ulcers, and gastric cancer,
      and functional disorders such as functional dyspepsia. This study was
      accomplished to investigate the effect of Ganoderma lucidum pharmacopuncture
      (GLP) on chronic gastric ulcers in rats. METHODS: The rats were divided into 4
      groups of 8 animals each: the normal, the control, the normal saline (NP) and the
      GLP groups. In this study, the modified ethanol gastritis model was used. The
      rats were administrated 56% ethanol orally every other day. The dose of ethanol
      was 8 g/kg body weight. The normal group received the same amount of normal
      saline instead of ethanol. The NP and the GLP groups were treated with injection
      of saline and GLP respectively. The control group received no treatment. Two
      local acupoints CV12 () and ST36 () were used. All laboratory rats underwent
      treatment for 15 days. On last day, the rats were sacrificed and their stomachs
      were immediately excised. RESULTS: Ulcers of the gastric mucosa appeared as
      elongated bands of hemorrhagic lesions parallel to the long axis of the stomach.
      In the NP and GLP groups, the injuries to the gastric mucosal injuries were not
      as severe as they were in the control group. Wound healings of the chronic
      gastric ulcers was promoted by using GLP and significant alterations of the
      indices in the gastric mucosa were observed. Such protection was demonstrated by
      gross appearance, histology and immunehistochemistry staining for Bcl-2
      associated X (BAX), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and Transforming growth factor-beta
      1 (TGF-beta1). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that GLP at CV12 and ST36 can
      provide significant protection to the gastric mucosa against an ethanol induced
      chronic gastric ulcer.

PMID- 25830062
TI  - Acupuncture in patients with a vertebral compression fracture: a protocol for a
      randomized, controlled, pilot clinical trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A vertebral compression fracture (VCF) is characterized by back pain
      and fracture of a vertebral body on spinal radiography. VCFs of the thoraco
      lumbar spine are common in the elderly. In general, appropriate analgesics should
      be prescribed to reduce pain and, thus, promote early mobilization. The ideal
      treatment approach for VCFs has not been determined. In Korea, acupuncture and
      herbal medication have been used to treat VCFs for many years. There is empirical
      evidence that acupuncture might benefit patients with a VCF. However, no
      randomized, controlled, clinical trials evaluating the efficacy and the safety of
      acupuncture for treating a VCF have been published. Therefore, we designed a
      randomized, controlled, pilot, clinical trial to obtain information for the
      design of a further full scale trial. METHODS: A five week protocol for a
      randomized, controlled, pilot, clinical trial is presented. Fourteen patients
      will be recruited and randomly allocated to two groups: a control group receiving
      interlaminar epidural steroid injections once a week for three weeks, and an
      experimental group receiving interlaminar epidural steroid injections plus
      acupuncture treatment (three acupuncture sessions per week for three weeks, nine
      sessions in total). The primary outcomes will be the pain intensity (visual
      analogue scale and PainVision(TM) system). The secondary outcome measurements
      will be the answers on the short form McGill pain questionnaire and the oswestry
      disability index. Assessments will be made at baseline and at one, three, and
      five weeks. The last assessment (week five) will take place two weeks after
      treatment cessation. This study will provide both an indication of feasibility
      and a clinical foundation for a future large scale trial. The outcomes will
      provide additional resources for incorporating acupuncture into existing
      treatments, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, narcotics and
      vertebral augmentation. This article describes the protocol.

PMID- 25830063
TI  - Obesity as a Possible Risk Factor for Lost-time Injury in Registered Nurses: A
      Literature Review.
AB  - Time-loss injuries are still a major occurrence in Canada, injuring thousands of
      Canadian workers each year. With obesity rates on the rise across the country, as
      well as around the world, it is important that the possible effects of obesity in
      the workplace be fully understood, especially those effects linked to lost-time
      injuries. The aim of this paper was to evaluate predictors of workplace lost-time
      injuries and how they may be related to obesity or high body mass index by
      examining factors associated with lost-time injuries in the health care sector, a
      well-studied industry with the highest number of reported time loss injuries in
      Canada. A literature review focusing on lost-time injuries in Registered Nurses
      (RNs) was conducted using the keywords and terms: lost time injury, workers'
      compensation, occupational injury, workplace injury, injury, injuries, work,
      workplace, occupational, nurse, registered nurse, RN, health care, predictors,
      risk factors, risk, risks, cause, causes, obese, obesity, and body mass index.
      Data on predictors or factors associated with lost-time injuries in RNs were
      gathered and organized using Loisel's Work Disability Prevention Management Model
      and extrapolated upon using existing literature surrounding obesity in the
      Canadian workplace. 

PMID- 25830064
TI  - Ergonomic evaluation of biomechanical hand function.
AB  - The human hand is a complex structure that performs various functions for
      activities of daily living and occupations. This paper presents a literature
      review on the methodologies used to evaluate hand functions from a biomechanics
      standpoint, including anthropometry, kinematics, kinetics, and electromyography
      (EMG). Anthropometry describes the dimensions and measurements of the hand.
      Kinematics includes hand movements and the range of motion of finger joints.
      Kinetics includes hand models for tendon and joint force analysis. EMG is used on
      hand muscles associated with hand functions and with signal-processing
      technology. 

PMID- 25830065
TI  - Low-Oxygen Atmosphere and its Predictors among Agricultural Shallow Wells in
      Northern Thailand.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In 2006, three farmers died at the bottom of an agricultural shallow
      well where the atmosphere contained only 6% oxygen. This study aimed to document
      the variability of levels of oxygen and selected hazardous gases in the
      atmosphere of wells, and to identify ambient conditions associated with the low
      oxygen situation. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey, conducted in June 2007 and
      July 2007, measured the levels of oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, and
      explosive gas (percentage of lower explosive limit) at different depths of the
      atmosphere inside 253 wells in Kamphaengphet and Phitsanulok provinces. Ambient
      conditions and well use by farmers were recorded. Carbon dioxide was measured in
      a subset of wells. Variables independently associated with low-oxygen condition
      (<19.5%) were identified using multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: One in
      five agricultural shallow wells had a low-oxygen status, with oxygen
      concentration decreasing with increasing depth within the well. The deepest-depth
      oxygen reading ranged from 0.0% to 20.9%. Low levels of other hazardous gases
      were detected in a small number of wells. The low-oxygen status was independently
      associated with the depth of the atmosphere column to the water surface [odds
      ratio (OR) = 13.5 for 8-11 m vs. <6 m], depth of water (OR = 0.17 for 3-<8 m vs.
      0-1 m), well cover (OR = 3.95), time elapsed since the last rainfall (OR = 7.44
      for >2 days vs. <1 day), and location of well in sandy soil (OR = 3.72). Among 11
      wells tested, carbon dioxide was detected in high concentration (>25,000 ppm) in
      seven wells with a low oxygen level. CONCLUSION: Oxygen concentrations in the
      wells vary widely even within a small area and decrease with increasing depth.

PMID- 25830066
TI  - Shift work and occupational stress in police officers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Shift work has been associated with occupational stress in health
      providers and in those working in some industrial companies. The association is
      not well established in the law enforcement workforce. Our objective was to
      examine the association between shift work and police work-related stress.
      METHODS: The number of stressful events that occurred in the previous month and
      year was obtained using the Spielberger Police Stress Survey among 365 police
      officers aged 27-66 years. Work hours were derived from daily payroll records. A
      dominant shift (day, afternoon, or night) was defined for each participant as the
      shift with the largest percentage of total time a participant worked (starting
      time from 4:00 AM to 11:59 AM, from 12 PM to 7:59 PM, and from 8:00 PM to 3:59 AM
      for day, afternoon, and night shift, respectively) in the previous month or year.
      Analysis of variance and covariance were used to examine the number of total and
      subscale (administrative/professional pressure, physical/psychological danger, or
      organizational support) stressful events across the shift. RESULTS: During the
      previous month and year, officers working the afternoon and night shifts reported
      more stressful events than day shift officers for total stress,
      administrative/professional pressure, and physical/psychological danger (p <
      0.05). These differences were independent of age, sex, race/ethnicity, and police
      rank. The frequency of these stressful events did not differ significantly
      between officers working the afternoon and night shifts. CONCLUSION: Non-day
      shift workers may be exposed to more stressful events in this cohort.
      Interventions to reduce or manage police stress that are tailored by shift may be
      considered.

PMID- 25830067
TI  - Evaluation of Coordination of Emergency Response Team through the Social Network
      Analysis. Case Study: Oil and Gas Refinery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the cohesions status of the
      coordination within response teams in the emergency response team (ERT) in a
      refinery. METHODS: For this study, cohesion indicators of social network analysis
      (SNA; density, degree centrality, reciprocity, and transitivity) were utilized to
      examine the coordination of the response teams as a whole network. The ERT of
      this research, which was a case study, included seven teams consisting of 152
      members. The required data were collected through structured interviews and were
      analyzed using the UCINET 6.0 Social Network Analysis Program. RESULTS: The
      results reported a relatively low number of triple connections, poor coordination
      with key members, and a high level of mutual relations in the network with low
      density, all implying that there were low cohesions of coordination in the ERT.
      CONCLUSION: The results showed that SNA provided a quantitative and logical
      approach for the examination of the coordination status among response teams and
      it also provided a main opportunity for managers and planners to have a clear
      understanding of the presented status. The research concluded that fundamental
      efforts were needed to improve the presented situations.

PMID- 25830068
TI  - Healthcare Work and Organizational Interventions to Prevent Work-related Stress
      in Brindisi, Italy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Organizational changes that involve healthcare hospital departments
      and care services of health districts, and ongoing technological innovations and
      developments in society increasingly expose healthcare workers (HCWs) to work
      related stress (WRS). Minimizing occupational exposure to stress requires
      effective risk stress assessment and management programs. METHODS: The authors
      conducted an integrated analysis of stress sentinel indicators, an integrated
      analysis of objective stress factors of occupational context and content areas,
      and an integrated analysis between nurses and physicians of hospital departments
      and care services of health districts in accordance with a multidimensional
      validated tool developed in Italy by the National Network for the Prevention of
      Work-Related Psychosocial Disorders. The purpose of this retrospective
      observational study was to detect and analyze in different work settings the
      level of WRS resulting from organizational changes implemented by hospital
      healthcare departments and care services of health districts in a sample of their
      employees. RESULTS: The findings of the study showed that hospital HCWs seemed to
      incur a medium level risk of WRS that was principally the result of work context
      factors. The implementation of improvement interventions focused on team
      development, safety training programs, and adopting an ethics code for HCWs, and
      it effectively and significantly reduced the level of WRS risk in the workplace.
      CONCLUSION: In this study HCW resulted to be exposed to occupational stress
      factors susceptible to reduction. Stress management programs aimed to improve
      work context factors associated with occupational stress are required to minimize
      the impact of WRS on workers.

PMID- 25830069
TI  - Integrating building information modeling and health and safety for onsite
      construction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Health and safety (H&S) on a construction site can either make or
      break a contractor, if not properly managed. The usage of Building Information
      Modeling (BIM) for H&S on construction execution has the potential to augment
      practitioner understanding of their sites, and by so doing reduce the probability
      of accidents. This research explores BIM usage within the construction industry
      in relation to H&S communication. METHODS: In addition to an extensive literature
      review, a questionnaire survey was conducted to gather information on the
      embedment of H&S planning with the BIM environment for site practitioners.
      RESULTS: The analysis of responses indicated that BIM will enhance the current
      approach of H&S planning for construction site personnel. CONCLUSION: From the
      survey, toolbox talk will have to be integrated with the BIM environment, because
      it is the predominantly used procedure for enhancing H&S issues within
      construction sites. The advantage is that personnel can visually understand H&S
      issues as work progresses during the toolbox talk onsite.

PMID- 25830070
TI  - Safety management practices in small and medium enterprises in India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are often the main pillar of an
      economy. Minor accidents, ergonomics problems, old and outdated machinery, and
      lack of awareness have created a need for implementation of safety practices in
      SMEs. Implementation of healthy working conditions creates positive impacts on
      economic and social development. METHODS: In this study, a questionnaire was
      developed and administered to 30 randomly chosen SMEs in and around Mumbai,
      Maharashtra, and other states in India to evaluate safety practices implemented
      in their facilities. The study also looked into the barriers and drivers for
      technology innovation and suggestions were also received from the respondent SMEs
      for best practices on safety issues. RESULTS: In some SMEs, risks associated with
      safety issues were increased whereas risks were decreased in others. Safety
      management practices are inadequate in most SMEs. Market competitiveness, better
      efficiency, less risk, and stringent laws were found to be most significant
      drivers; and financial constraints, lack of awareness, resistance to change, and
      lack of training for employees were found to be main barriers. CONCLUSION:
      Competition between SMEs was found to be major reason for implementation of
      safety practices in the SMEs. The major contribution of the study has been
      awareness building on safety issues in the SMEs that participated in the project.

PMID- 25830071
TI  - Cold exposure and health effects among frozen food processing workers in eastern
      Thailand.
AB  - Frozen food processing workers work under a cold environment which can cause
      several adverse health effects.This study explored factors affecting workers'
      health in the frozen food industry in Thailand. Participants comprised 497
      workers exposed to a cold working environment and 255 office workers who served
      as the controls. Data were collected by a survey on the work environment, and the
      interview of workers for abnormal symptoms. The exposed group had the following
      characteristics: 52.7% male, overall average age of 27 (SD 6.6) years old,
      attained elementary education (Grade 4 and Grade 6) (54.1%), married (48.9%),
      smokers (21.3%), alcohol consumption (31.0%), duration of work was between 1 and
      5 years (65.2%), working 6 days a week (82.7%), 1-5 hours of overtime per week
      (33.8%), office workers (33.9%); work category: sizing (6.9%), peeling (28.3%)
      dissecting (22.2%), and in the warehouse (8.6%). The temperature in the work
      environment ranged from 17.2 degrees C to 19.2 degrees C in most sections, -18.0
      degrees C in the warehouse, and 25 degrees C in the office areas. Warehouse
      workers had more abnormal symptoms than controls including repeated pain in the
      musculoskeletal system (OR 11.9; 95% CI 6.12-23.45), disturbance throughout the
      body (OR 4.60; 95% CI 2.00-10.56), respiratory symptoms (OR 9.73; 95% CI 3.53
      26.80), episodic finger symptoms (OR 13.51; 95% CI 5.17-35.33). The study results
      suggest that workers' health should be monitored especially with regard to back
      and muscle pain, respiratory symptoms, episodic finger symptoms, and
      cardiovascular symptoms. Health promotion campaigns such as antismoking and
      reduction of alcohol consumption should be established because smoking and
      alcohol consumption are contributing factors to the pathogenesis of Raynaud's
      phenomenon and peripheral vascular disorders such as hypertension and heart
      disease. 

PMID- 25830072
TI  - Evaluation of microbial load in oropharyngeal mucosa from tannery workers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Animal skin provides an ideal medium for the propagation of
      microorganisms and it is used like raw material in the tannery and footware
      industry. The aim of this study was to evaluate and identify the microbial load
      in oropharyngeal mucosa of tannery employees. METHODS: The health risk was
      estimated based on the identification of microorganisms found in the
      oropharyngeal mucosa samples. The study was conducted in a tanners group and a
      control group. Samples were taken from oropharyngeal mucosa and inoculated on
      plates with selective medium. In the samples, bacteria were identified by 16S
      ribosomal DNA analysis and the yeasts through a presumptive method. In addition,
      the sensitivity of these microorganisms to antibiotics/antifungals was evaluated.
      RESULTS: The identified bacteria belonged to the families Enterobacteriaceae,
      Pseudomonadaceae, Neisseriaceae, Alcaligenaceae, Moraxellaceae, and
      Xanthomonadaceae, of which some species are considered as pathogenic or
      opportunistic microorganisms; these bacteria were not present in the control
      group. Forty-two percent of bacteria identified in the tanners group are
      correlated with respiratory diseases. Yeasts were also identified, including the
      following species: Candida glabrata, Candida tropicalis, Candida albicans, and
      Candida krusei. Regarding the sensitivity test of bacteria identified in the
      tanners group, 90% showed sensitivity to piperacillin/tazobactam, 87% showed
      sensitivity to ticarcillin/clavulanic acid, 74% showed sensitivity to
      ampicillin/sulbactam, and 58% showed sensitivity to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid.
      CONCLUSION: Several of the bacteria and yeast identified in the oropharyngeal
      mucosa of tanners have been correlated with infections in humans and have already
      been reported as airborne microorganisms in this working environment,
      representing a health risk for workers.

PMID- 25830073
TI  - High-intensity Fitness Training Among a National Sample of Male Career
      Firefighters.
AB  - Obesity and fitness have been identified as key health concerns among USA
      firefighters yet little is known about the current habits related to exercise and
      diet. In particular, high-intensity training (HIT) has gained increasing
      popularity among this population but limited quantitative data are available
      about how often it is used and the relationship between HIT and other outcomes.
      Using survey methodology, the current study evaluated self-reported HIT and diet
      practice among 625 male firefighters. Almost one-third (32.3%) of participants
      reported engaging in HIT. Body composition, as measured by waist circumference
      and percentage body fat, was significantly related to HIT training, with HIT
      participants being approximately half as likely to be classified as obese using
      body fat [odds ratio (OR) = 0.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.34-0.78] or
      waist circumference (OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.37-0.98). Those who engaged in HIT
      were more than twice as likely as those who did not (OR = 2.24, 95% CI = 1.42
      3.55) to meet fitness recommendations. Findings highlight directions for future
      prevention and intervention efforts. 

PMID- 25830074
TI  - Letter on oral health of stone mine workers.

PMID- 25830075
TI  - Electronic Cigarettes: Vulnerability of Youth.
AB  - Electronic cigarettes have become popular and are heavily promoted as a safer
      cigarette and an aid to quit smoking. Although they may have value in reducing
      cigarette use among smokers, they are of limited value in smoking cessation and
      pose many problems, particularly in children. Nicotine is highly addictive and
      affects virtually all cells in the body. It is particularly harmful to developing
      brains and other organs. The electronic nicotine delivery systems are largely
      uncontrolled and safety risks are manifold. Initiating nicotine use and
      increasing dependence in the population may be linked with increased tobacco and
      other addictive substance abuse even if the individual electronic cigarette
      delivers less harm than a combustible cigarette does.

PMID- 25830076
TI  - Geographical, environmental and pathophysiological influences on the human blood
      transcriptome.
AB  - Gene expression variation provides a read-out of both genetic and environmental
      influences on gene activity. Geographical, genomic and sociogenomic studies have
      highlighted how life circumstances of an individual modify the expression of
      hundreds and in some cases thousands of genes in a co-ordinated manner. This
      review places such results in the context of a conserved set of 90 transcripts
      known as Blood Informative Transcripts (BIT) that capture the major conserved
      components of variation in the peripheral blood transcriptome. Pathophysiological
      states are also shown to associate with the perturbation of transcript abundance
      along the major axes. Discussion of false negative rates leads us to argue that
      simple significance thresholds provide a biased perspective on assessment of
      differential expression that may cloud the interpretation of studies with small
      sample sizes.

PMID- 25830077
TI  - Is Helicobacter Pylori Associated with an Increased Complication Rate after
      Sleeve Gastrectomy?
AB  - Introduction: Few studies have reported the prevalence and consequences of
      infection with Helicobacter pylori among obese patients undergoing sleeve
      gastrectomy. This study reviewed whether infection with H. pylori has any
      association with postoperative complications. This study also examined whether
      there was any difference in postoperative percent excess weight loss (%EWL).
      Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, the pathology reports of 400
      patients who underwent sleeve gastrectomy between 2008 and 2013 at the authors'
      institution were reviewed. Data examined included the demographics, perioperative
      and postoperative complications, and %EWL in the follow-up period. Results: In 68
      of 400 patients (17%), H. pylori was positive in the specimen. In the H. pylori
      negative group, 332 patients were eligible for follow-up. No perioperative and
      postoperative (30 days) complications were registered in the H. pylori positive
      group. There was one postoperative leak in the H. pylori negative group. No other
      complications were reported in patients during the 36 months follow-up. There
      were no significant differences between groups in terms of %EWL during
      postoperative follow-up. Conclusions: In this study, the prevalence of H. pylori
      infection among sleeve gastrectomy patient was 17%. H. pylori did not seem to
      have any influence on postoperative outcomes or %EWL. H. pylori did not increase
      perioperative complications.

PMID- 25830078
TI  - Stricture Rate after Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass with a 21-mm Circular
      Stapler versus a 25-mm Linear Stapler.
AB  - Background: Obesity is estimated to affect more than one and a half billion
      adults. Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) has become one of the
      preferred weight loss procedures. However, complications can occur. Strictures at
      the gastrojejunal anastomosis lead to clinical symptoms such as vomiting,
      dysphagia, and patient discomfort. The stricture rate has been correlated with
      the size and type of stapler used. Methods: A retrospective review of the
      clinical records of patients who underwent LRYGB was performed between 2003 and
      2010. A comparison was made between a 21-mm circular stapler technique and a 25
      mm linear stapler technique. Results: The stricture rate for the 21-mm circular
      stapler group was 7.12% and comparable to the national average. Using the 25-mm
      linear stapler, this complication rate significantly decreased to 1.09%
      (p<0.0004; odds ratio 6.5; [95% confidence interval 1.96-33.83]). Conclusions:
      Stricture after LRYGB is a serious complication. This study found that with a
      change in technique, this complication can be decreased considerably.

PMID- 25830080
TI  - An English vocabulary learning support system for the learner's sustainable
      motivation.
AB  - In English vocabulary learning, continuation is an important factor; however,
      many learners are not good at continuing learning because they tend to prefer
      amusement or rest. Our proposed system is targeting learners who are eager to
      learn but are not able to continue learning for various reasons. We especially
      focused on English vocabulary learning, and described an approach for learners
      who have difficulty with continuing learning. Our developed application
      aggressively supports the learners' sustainable motivation by gamification
      techniques and an efficient difficulty setting method. 

PMID- 25830079
TI  - Evaluating the Effect of Drain Site on Abdominal Pain after Laparoscopic Gastric
      Bypass Surgery for Morbid Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - Background: Most morbidly obese patients complain of abdominal pain after
      laparoscopic gastric bypass (LGBP) surgery. In this study, the relationship
      between the prevalence and severity of pain and the drain site was assessed.
      Methods: Fifty morbidly obese patients undergoing LGBP surgery were selected, and
      a drain was randomly inserted postoperatively to the left 5 mm port in 25 cases
      and to the right in the other 25. All patients filled out a questionnaire,
      including a visual analog scale for the quality and quantity of pain,
      exacerbating and alleviating factors and its relation to patient's positioning,
      in the first 24 hours, first week, and first month after the operation. Result:
      In both groups, all patients had abdominal pain 24 hours after the operation.
      However, in the right-sided drain group, most patients (52%) experienced mild
      pain, whereas most patients (56%) in the left-sided drain group had severe pain
      (p=0.028). At weeks 1 and 4, there was no significant difference between the two
      groups in terms of severity of pain (p=0.068 and 0.875, respectively, for both
      times). After the first 24 hours and first week, the mean pain score was
      significantly lower in the right-sited drain group compared to the left-sited
      drain group (p=0.012 and 0.006). Conclusion: Early abdominal pain after LGBP
      surgery is significantly reduced in the right-sided drain group.

PMID- 25830081
TI  - MEO based secured, robust, high capacity and perceptual quality image
      watermarking in DWT-SVD domain.
AB  - The aim of this paper is to present multiobjective evolutionary optimizer (MEO)
      based highly secured and strongly robust image watermarking technique using
      discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and singular value decomposition (SVD). Many
      researchers have failed to achieve optimization of perceptual quality and
      robustness with high capacity watermark embedding. Here, we achieved optimized
      peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and normalized correlation (NC) using MEO.
      Strong security is implemented through eight different security levels including
      watermark scrambling by Fibonacci-Lucas transformation (FLT). Haar wavelet is
      selected for DWT decomposition to compare practical performance of wavelets from
      different wavelet families. The technique is non-blind and tested with cover
      images of size 512x512 and grey scale watermark of size 256x256. The achieved
      perceptual quality in terms of PSNR is 79.8611dBs for Lena, 87.8446 dBs for
      peppers and 93.2853 dBs for lake images by varying scale factor K1 from 1 to 5.
      All candidate images used for testing namely Lena, peppers and lake images show
      exact recovery of watermark giving NC equals to 1. The robustness is tested
      against variety of attacks on watermarked image. The experimental demonstration
      proved that proposed method gives NC more than 0.96 for majority of attacks under
      consideration. The performance evaluation of this technique is found superior to
      all existing hybrid image watermarking techniques under consideration. 

PMID- 25830082
TI  - Presence and distribution of mosquito larvae predators and factors influencing
      their abundance along the Mara River, Kenya and Tanzania.
AB  - Among all the malaria controlling measures, biological control of mosquito larvae
      may be the cheapest and easiest to implement. This study investigated baseline
      predation of immature mosquitoes by macroinvertebrate predators along the Mara
      River, determined the diversity of predators and mosquito larvae habitats and the
      range of their adaptive capacity to water physico-chemical parameters. Between
      July and August 2011, sampling sites (n=39) along the Mara River were selected
      and investigated for the presence of macroinvertebrate predators and mosquito
      larvae. The selected sampling sites were geocoded and each dipped 20 times using
      standard mosquito larvae dipper to sample mosquito larvae, while a D-frame dip
      net was used to capture the macroinvertebrate predators. Water physico-chemical
      parameters (dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, conductivity, salinity and
      turbidity) were taken in situ at access points, while hardness and alkalinity
      were measured titrimetically. The influence of macroinvertebrate predator
      occurrence was correlated with mosquito larvae and water quality parameters using
      Generalized Linear Model (GLM). Predators (n=297) belonging to 3 orders of
      Hemiptera (54.2%), Odonata (22.9%) and Coleoptera (22.9%), and mosquito larvae
      (n=4001) belonging to 10 species, which included An.gambiae s.l (44.9%), Culex
      spp. (34.8%) and An. coustani complex (13.8%), An. maculipalpis (3.6%), An.
      phaorensis (1.2%), An. funestus group (0.5%), An. azaniae (0.4%), An. hamoni
      (0.3%), An. christyi (0.3%), An. ardensis (0.08%), An. faini (0.07%), An.
      sergentii (0.05%) and 0.05% of Aedes mosquito larvae which were not identified to
      species level, due to lack of an appropriate key, were captured from different
      habitats along the Mara river. It was established that invasion of habitats by
      the macroinvertebrate predators were partially driven by the presence of mosquito
      larvae (p < 0.001), and the prevailing water physico-chemical parameters (DO,
      temperature, and turbidity, p <0.001). Understanding abiotic and biotic factors
      which favour mosquitoes and macroinveterbrate co-occurrence may contribute to the
      control of malaria. 

PMID- 25830083
TI  - Phyllopertha horticola (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) larvae in eastern Austrian
      mountainous grasslands and the associated damage risk related to soil, topography
      and management.
AB  - The soil-dwelling larvae of several Scarabaeidae species (white grubs), like the
      cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha) and the garden chafer (Phyllopertha
      horticola), are serious pests in European cultivated grassland, reducing grass
      yield and destroying the turf by root-feeding. Nevertheless, the factors
      responsible for the development of large grub populations and the associated
      damage risk are poorly understood. The objectives of the study were to survey
      grub densities in grassland sites with different damage histories and find
      correlations with environmental and management variables. Data on grub densities
      were collected at 10 farms in the eastern Austrian Alps in September and October
      2011. At each farm, one recently damaged site (high risk) and one site at which
      grub damage had never been observed by the farmers (undamaged site = low risk;
      each site: 500 m(2)) were sampled. All sites were dominated by P. horticola (99%
      of 1,422 collected individuals; maximum density 303 grubs/m(2)), which indicates
      that grub damage there is mainly caused by that species. Recently damaged sites
      tended to higher grub densities than undamaged sites. However, 3 out of 10
      undamaged sites harbored high grub populations as well. Humus content together
      with the depth of the A-horizon significantly explained 38% of P. horticola grub
      density variance, with highest densities in deeper humus-rich soils. The risk of
      grub damage was positively connected to the humus content and negatively related
      to the cutting frequency. For the investigated mountainous grassland sites, these
      results suggest an important role of humus for the development of high grub
      densities and an effect of management intensity on grub damage. 

PMID- 25830084
TI  - Multiple extra-ischemic hemorrhages following intravenous thrombolysis in a
      patient with Trousseau syndrome: case study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intracerebral hemorrhage is the most feared complication of
      intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke. Such hemorrhage usually
      occurs within or at the margin of ischemic or manifestly infarcted brain tissue.
      A patient with Trousseau syndrome who developed multiple extra-ischemic
      hemorrhages following intravenous thrombolysis is described. CASE DESCRIPTION: An
      80-year-old Japanese man with no other underlying disease was diagnosed with
      unresectable advanced lung cancer (stage IV) without brain metastasis and had not
      yet been treated. The patient suddenly presented with disturbance of
      consciousness, right hemiplegia, and total aphasia, and was admitted to our
      hospital. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed acute cerebral infarction extending
      from the basal ganglia to the corona radiata of the left cerebrum and multiple
      small areas of bilateral cerebral cortices. Cardiogenic cerebral embolism was
      considered among the differential diagnoses, but the brain natriuretic peptide
      level was within the normal range, and no arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation
      were observed. With no other causes, the patient was diagnosed with Trousseau
      syndrome due to hypercoagulability associated with the advanced lung cancer. The
      patient received intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) at 96 minutes
      after onset of symptoms. His symptoms partially improved, but they suddenly
      deteriorated at 84 minutes after the thrombolysis. A computed tomography (CT)
      scan immediately after the neurological deterioration revealed a subcortical
      hemorrhage in the left occipital lobe. A repeat CT scan the day after onset
      showed enlargement of the left occipital hemorrhage and two new subcortical
      hemorrhages in the right frontal and right temporal lobes. These hemorrhages were
      located in areas remote from the acute ischemic lesions. CONCLUSION: To the best
      of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of multiple extra-ischemic
      hemorrhages following intravenous thrombolysis in a patient with Trousseau
      syndrome. The course of this case suggests that intravenous t-PA administration
      for acute ischemic stroke with Trousseau syndrome may be associated with a higher
      risk of intracranial hemorrhage.

PMID- 25830086
TI  - Genome-wide analysis of the AP2/ERF gene family in Salix arbutifolia.
AB  - AP2/ERF genes encode transcriptional regulators with a variety of functions in
      plant growth and development and in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. To
      date, there are no detailed classification and expression profiles for AP2/ERF
      genes in Salix. In this study, a comprehensive computational analysis identified
      173 AP2/ERF superfamily genes in willow (Salix arbutifolia), by using in silico
      cloning methods with the use of the AP2/ERF conserved domain amino acid sequence
      of Arabidopsis thaliana as a probe. Based on the results of phylogenetic analyses
      and the number of AP2/ERF domains, the AP2/ERF genes were classified into four
      groups: AP2, RAV, ERF and Soloist. The expression profile was analyzed using
      transcriptome data from different tissues. A comparative analysis of AP2/ERF
      superfamily genes among Salix, Populus and Arabidopsis was performed. The Salix
      DREB, AP2 and RAV groups had a similar number to those in Arabidopsis, and the
      size of the ERF subfamily in Salix was about 1.4-fold that of Arabidopsis. The
      Salix DREB subfamily was smaller compared to Populus, while the other families
      were similar in size to those in Populus. These results will be useful for future
      functional analyses of the ERF family genes. 

PMID- 25830085
TI  - Lysine nutrition in swine and the related monogastric animals: muscle protein
      biosynthesis and beyond.
AB  - Improving feed efficiency of pigs with dietary application of amino acids (AAs)
      is becoming increasingly important because this practice can not only secure the
      plasma AA supply for muscle growth but also protect the environment from nitrogen
      discharge with feces and urine. Lysine, the first limiting AA in typical swine
      diets, is a substrate for generating body proteins, peptides, and non-peptide
      molecules, while excess lysine is catabolized as an energy source. From a
      regulatory standpoint, lysine is at the top level in controlling AA metabolism,
      and lysine can also affect the metabolism of other nutrients. The effect of
      lysine on hormone production and activities is reflected by the change of plasma
      concentrations of insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1. Lysine residues in
      peptides are important sites for protein post-translational modification involved
      in epigenetic regulation of gene expression. An inborn error of a cationic AA
      transporter in humans can lead to a lysinuric protein intolerance condition.
      Dietary deficiency of lysine will impair animal immunity and elevate animal
      susceptibility to infectious diseases. Because lysine deficiency has negative
      impact on animal health and growth performance and it appears that dietary lysine
      is non-toxic even at a high dose of supplementation, nutritional emphasis should
      be put on lysine supplementation to avoid its deficiency rather than toxicity.
      Improvement of muscle growth of monogastric animals such as pigs via dietary
      lysine supply may be due to a greater increase in protein synthesis rather than a
      decrease in protein degradation. Nevertheless, the underlying metabolic and
      molecular mechanisms regarding lysine effect on muscle protein accretion merits
      further clarification. Future research undertaken to fully elucidate the
      metabolic and regulatory mechanisms of lysine nutrition could provide a sound
      scientific foundation necessary for developing novel nutritional strategies to
      enhance the muscle growth and development of meat animals. 

PMID- 25830087
TI  - Successful treatment of an invasive fungal infection caused by Talaromyces sp.
      with voriconazole.
AB  - Invasive fungal infections (IFI) are on the rise due to increasing numbers of
      immunosuppressed and critically ill patients. A malignant-looking pulmonary
      nodule in an immunosuppressed patient may indeed be caused by a fungal organism.
      We report a patient, who was eventually diagnosed with an IFI caused by an agent
      of hyalohyphomycosis, Talaromyces sp. determined via molecular methods and
      succesfully treated with voriconazole. 

PMID- 25830088
TI  - Disseminated Conidiobolus incongruus in a dog: A case report and literature
      review.
AB  - Conidiobolomycosis is a rare fungal disease of both humans and animals, occurring
      mainly in tropical and subtropical climates. We describe a disseminated fungal
      infection in a young, apparently immunocompetent dog who initially presented for
      antibiotic resistant pneumonia. Histopathology and mycology identified a
      Conidiobolus sp., further confirmed as Conidiobolus incongruus through DNA
      sequencing of D1/D2 regions. This is the first report of this species causing
      disease in dogs and the fifth reported infection in animals. 

PMID- 25830089
TI  - Clic4, a novel protein that sensitizes beta-cells to apoptosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Chloride intracellular channel protein 4 (Clic4) is a ubiquitously
      expressed protein involved in multiple cellular processes including cell-cycle
      control, cell differentiation, and apoptosis. Here, we investigated the role of
      Clic4 in pancreatic beta-cell apoptosis. METHODS: We used betaTC-tet cells and
      islets from beta-cell specific Clic4 knockout mice (betaClic4KO) and assessed
      cytokine-induced apoptosis, Bcl2 family protein expression and stability, and
      identified Clic4-interacting proteins by co-immunoprecipitation and mass
      spectrometry analysis. RESULTS: We show that cytokines increased Clic4 expression
      in betaTC-tet cells and in mouse islets and siRNA-mediated silencing of Clic4
      expression in betaTC-tet cells or its genetic inactivation in islets beta-cells,
      reduced cytokine-induced apoptosis. This was associated with increased expression
      of Bcl-2 and increased expression and phosphorylation of Bad. Measurement of Bcl
      2 and Bad half-lives in betaTC-tet cells showed that Clic4 silencing increased
      the stability of these proteins. In primary islets beta-cells, absence of Clic4
      expression increased Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL expression as well as expression and
      phosphorylation of Bad. Mass-spectrometry analysis of proteins co
      immunoprecipitated with Clic4 from betaTC-tet cells showed no association of
      Clic4 with Bcl-2 family proteins. However, Clic4 co-purified with proteins from
      the proteasome suggesting a possible role for Clic4 in regulating protein
      degradation. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, our data show that Clic4 is a cytokine
      induced gene that sensitizes beta-cells to apoptosis by reducing the steady state
      levels of Bcl-2, Bad and phosphorylated Bad.

PMID- 25830090
TI  - Chronic hyperglycemia downregulates GLP-1 receptor signaling in pancreatic beta
      cells via protein kinase A.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) enhances insulin secretion and
      protects beta-cell mass. Diabetes therapies targeting the GLP-1 receptor (GLP
      1R), expressed in numerous tissues, have diminished dose-response in patients
      with type 2 diabetes compared with healthy human controls. The aim of this study
      was to determine the mechanistic causes underlying the reduced efficacy of GLP-1R
      ligands. METHODS: Using primary mouse islets and the beta-cell line MIN6,
      outcomes downstream of the GLP-1R were analyzed: Insulin secretion;
      phosphorylation of the cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB); cAMP
      responses. Signaling systems were studied by immunoblotting and qRT-PCR, and PKA
      activity was assayed. Cell surface localization of the GLP-1R was studied by
      confocal microscopy using a fluorescein-tagged exendin-4 and GFP-tagged GLP-1R.
      RESULTS: Rodent beta-cells chronically exposed to high glucose had diminished
      responses to GLP-1R agonists including: diminished insulin secretory response;
      reduced phosphorylation of (CREB); impaired cAMP response, attributable to
      chronically increased cAMP levels. GLP-1R signaling systems were affected by
      hyperglycemia with increased expression of mRNAs encoding the inducible cAMP
      early repressor (ICER) and adenylyl cyclase 8, reduced PKA activity due to
      increased expression of the PKA-RIalpha subunit, reduced GLP-1R mRNA expression
      and loss of GLP-1R from the cell surface. To specifically examine the loss of GLP
      1R from the plasma membrane a GLP-1R-GFP fusion protein was employed to visualize
      subcellular localization. Under low glucose conditions or when PKA activity was
      inhibited, GLP-1R-GFP was found at the plasma membrane. Conversely high glucose,
      expression of a constitutively active PKA subunit, or exposure to exendin-4 or
      forskolin led to GLP-1R-GFP internalization. Mutation of serine residue 301 of
      the GLP-1R abolished the glucose-dependent loss of the receptor from the plasma
      membrane. This was associated with a loss of an interaction between the receptor
      and the small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO), an interaction that was found to
      be necessary for internalization of the receptor. CONCLUSIONS: These data show
      that glucose acting, at least in part, via PKA leads to the loss of the GLP-1R
      from the cell surface and an impairment of GLP-1R signaling, which may underlie
      the reduced clinical efficacy of GLP-1R based therapies in individuals with
      poorly controlled hyperglycemia.

PMID- 25830091
TI  - LKB1 and AMPKalpha1 are required in pancreatic alpha cells for the normal
      regulation of glucagon secretion and responses to hypoglycemia.
AB  - AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Glucagon release from pancreatic alpha cells is required for
      normal glucose homoeostasis and is dysregulated in both Type 1 and Type 2
      diabetes. The tumour suppressor LKB1 (STK11) and the downstream kinase AMP
      activated protein kinase (AMPK), modulate cellular metabolism and growth, and
      AMPK is an important target of the anti-hyperglycaemic agent metformin. While
      LKB1 and AMPK have emerged recently as regulators of beta cell mass and insulin
      secretion, the role of these enzymes in the control of glucagon production in
      vivo is unclear. METHODS: Here, we ablated LKB1 (alphaLKB1KO), or the catalytic
      alpha subunits of AMPK (alphaAMPKdKO, -alpha1KO, -alpha2KO), selectively in ~45%
      of alpha cells in mice by deleting the corresponding flox'd alleles with a
      preproglucagon promoter (PPG) Cre. RESULTS: Blood glucose levels in male
      alphaLKB1KO mice were lower during intraperitoneal glucose, aminoimidazole
      carboxamide ribonucleotide (AICAR) or arginine tolerance tests, and glucose
      infusion rates were increased in hypoglycemic clamps (p < 0.01). alphaLKB1KO mice
      also displayed impaired hypoglycemia-induced glucagon release. Glucose infusion
      rates were also elevated (p < 0.001) in alphaAMPKalpha1 null mice, and
      hypoglycemia-induced plasma glucagon increases tended to be lower (p = 0.06).
      Glucagon secretion from isolated islets was sensitized to the inhibitory action
      of glucose in alphaLKB1KO, alphaAMPKdKO, and -alpha1KO, but not -alpha2KO islets.
      CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: An LKB1-dependent signalling cassette, involving but
      not restricted to AMPKalpha1, is required in pancreatic alpha cells for the
      control of glucagon release by glucose.

PMID- 25830092
TI  - FTO is necessary for the induction of leptin resistance by high-fat feeding.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Loss of function FTO mutations significantly impact body composition
      in humans and mice, with Fto-deficient mice reported to resist the development of
      obesity in response to a high-fat diet (HFD). We aimed to further explore the
      interactions between FTO and HFD and determine if FTO can influence the adverse
      metabolic consequence of HFD. METHODS: We studied mice deficient in FTO in two
      well validated models of leptin resistance (HFD feeding and central palmitate
      injection) to determine how Fto genotype may influence the action of leptin.
      Using transcriptomic analysis of hypothalamic tissue to identify relevant
      pathways affected by the loss of Fto, we combined data from co
      immunoprecipitation, yeast 2-hybrid and luciferase reporter assays to identify
      mechanisms through which FTO can influence the development of leptin resistant
      states. RESULTS: Mice deficient in Fto significantly increased their fat mass in
      response to HFD. Fto (+/-) and Fto (-/-) mice remained sensitive to the
      anorexigenic effects of leptin, both after exposure to a HFD or after acute
      central application of palmitate. Genes encoding components of the NFkB
      signalling pathway were down-regulated in the hypothalami of Fto-deficient mice
      following a HFD. When this pathway was reactivated in Fto-deficient mice with a
      single low central dose of TNFalpha, the mice became less sensitive to the effect
      of leptin. We identified a transcriptional coactivator of NFkB, TRIP4, as a
      binding partner of FTO and a molecule that is required for TRIP4 dependent
      transactivation of NFkB. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that, independent of
      body weight, Fto influences the metabolic outcomes of a HFD through alteration of
      hypothalamic NFkB signalling. This supports the notion that pharmacological
      modulation of FTO activity might have the potential for therapeutic benefit in
      improving leptin sensitivity, in a manner that is influenced by the nutritional
      environment.

PMID- 25830093
TI  - TRAP-seq defines markers for novel populations of hypothalamic and brainstem
      LepRb neurons.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Leptin acts via its receptor (LepRb) on multiple subpopulations of
      LepRb neurons in the brain, each of which controls specific aspects of energy
      balance. Despite the importance of LepRb-containing neurons, the transcriptome
      and molecular identity of many LepRb subpopulations remain undefined due to the
      difficulty of studying the small fraction of total cells represented by LepRb
      neurons in heterogeneous brain regions. Here we sought to examine the
      transcriptome of LepRb neurons directly and identify markers for functionally
      relevant LepRb subsets. METHODS: We isolated mRNA from mouse hypothalamic and
      brainstem LepRb cells by Translating Ribosome Affinity Purification (TRAP) and
      analyzed it by RNA-seq (TRAP-seq). RESULTS: TRAP mRNA from LepRb cells was
      enriched for markers of peptidergic neurons, while TRAP-depleted mRNA from non
      LepRb cells was enriched for markers of glial and immune cells. Genes encoding
      secreted proteins that were enriched in hypothalamic and brainstem TRAP mRNA
      revealed subpopulations of LepRb neurons that contained neuropeptide-encoding
      genes (including prodynorphin, Pdyn) not previously used as functional markers
      for LepRb neurons. Furthermore, Pdyn (cre) -mediated ablation of Lepr (flox) in
      Pdyn-expressing neurons (LepRb (Pdyn) KO mice) blunted energy expenditure to
      promote obesity during high-fat feeding. CONCLUSIONS: TRAP-seq of CNS LepRb
      neurons defines the LepRb neuron transcriptome and reveals novel markers for
      previously unrecognized subpopulations of LepRb neurons.

PMID- 25830095
TI  - Enhanced insulin signaling in density-enhanced phosphatase-1 (DEP-1) knockout
      mice.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Insulin resistance can be triggered by enhanced dephosphorylation of
      the insulin receptor or downstream components in the insulin signaling cascade
      through protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs). Downregulating density-enhanced
      phosphatase-1 (DEP-1) resulted in an improved metabolic status in previous
      analyses. This phenotype was primarily caused by hepatic DEP-1 reduction.
      METHODS: Here we further elucidated the role of DEP-1 in glucose homeostasis by
      employing a conventional knockout model to explore the specific contribution of
      DEP-1 in metabolic tissues. Ptprj (-/-) (DEP-1 deficient) and wild-type C57BL/6
      mice were fed a low-fat or high-fat diet. Metabolic phenotyping was combined with
      analyses of phosphorylation patterns of insulin signaling components.
      Additionally, experiments with skeletal muscle cells and muscle tissue were
      performed to assess the role of DEP-1 for glucose uptake. RESULTS: High-fat diet
      fed-Ptprj (-/-) mice displayed enhanced insulin sensitivity and improved glucose
      tolerance. Furthermore, leptin levels and blood pressure were reduced in Ptprj (
      /-) mice. DEP-1 deficiency resulted in increased phosphorylation of components of
      the insulin signaling cascade in liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue after
      insulin challenge. The beneficial effect on glucose homeostasis in vivo was
      corroborated by increased glucose uptake in skeletal muscle cells in which DEP-1
      was downregulated, and in skeletal muscle of Ptprj (-/-) mice. CONCLUSION:
      Together, these data establish DEP-1 as novel negative regulator of insulin
      signaling.

PMID- 25830094
TI  - Therapeutic effects of adropin on glucose tolerance and substrate utilization in
      diet-induced obese mice with insulin resistance.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The peptide hormone adropin regulates fuel selection preferences in
      skeletal muscle under fed and fasted conditions. Here, we investigated whether
      adropin treatment can ameliorate the dysregulation of fuel substrate metabolism,
      and improve aspects of glucose homeostasis in diet-induced obesity (DIO) with
      insulin resistance. METHODS: DIO C57BL/6 mice maintained on a 60% kcal fat diet
      received five intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of the bioactive peptide
      adropin(34-76) (450 nmol/kg/i.p.). Following treatment, glucose tolerance and
      whole body insulin sensitivity were assessed and indirect calorimetry was
      employed to analyze whole body substrate oxidation preferences. Biochemical
      assays performed in skeletal muscle samples analyzed insulin signaling action and
      substrate oxidation. RESULTS: Adropin treatment improved glucose tolerance,
      enhanced insulin action and augmented metabolic flexibility towards glucose
      utilization. In muscle, adropin treatment increased insulin-induced Akt
      phosphorylation and cell-surface expression of GLUT4 suggesting sensitization of
      insulin signaling pathways. Reduced incomplete fatty acid oxidation and increased
      CoA/acetyl-CoA ratio suggested improved mitochondrial function. The underlying
      mechanisms appear to involve suppressions of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1B
      (CPT-1B) and CD36, two key enzymes in fatty acid utilization. Adropin treatment
      activated pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), a rate-limiting enzyme in glucose
      oxidation, and downregulated PDH kinase-4 (PDK-4) that inhibits PDH. Along with
      these changes, adropin treatment downregulated peroxisome proliferator-activated
      receptor-gamma coactivator-1alpha that regulates expression of Cpt1b, Cd36 and
      Pdk4. CONCLUSIONS: Adropin treatment of DIO mice enhances glucose tolerance,
      ameliorates insulin resistance and promotes preferential use of carbohydrate over
      fat in fuel selection. Skeletal muscle is a key organ in mediating adropin's
      whole-body effects, sensitizing insulin signaling pathways and altering fuel
      selection preference to favor glucose while suppressing fat oxidation.

PMID- 25830096
TI  - Angiotensin type 1a receptors in the forebrain subfornical organ facilitate
      leptin-induced weight loss through brown adipose tissue thermogenesis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Elevations in brain angiotensin-II cause increased energy expenditure
      and a lean phenotype. Interestingly, the metabolic effects of increased brain
      angiotensin-II mimic the actions of leptin, suggesting an interaction between the
      two systems. Here we demonstrate that angiotensin-type 1a receptors (AT1aR) in
      the subfornical organ (SFO), a forebrain structure emerging as an integrative
      metabolic center, play a key role in the body weight-reducing effects of leptin
      via brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis. METHODS: Cre/LoxP technology
      coupled with targeted viral delivery to the SFO in a mouse line bearing a
      conditional allele of the Agtr1a gene was utilized to determine the interaction
      between leptin and SFO AT1aR in metabolic regulation. RESULTS: Selective deletion
      of AT1aR in the SFO attenuated leptin-induced weight loss independent of changes
      in food intake or locomotor activity. This was associated with diminished leptin
      induced increases in core body temperature, blunted upregulation of BAT
      thermogenic markers, and abolishment of leptin-mediated sympathetic activation to
      BAT. CONCLUSIONS: These data identify a novel interaction between angiotensin-II
      and leptin in the control of BAT thermogenesis and body weight, and highlight a
      previously unrecognized role for the forebrain SFO in metabolic regulation.

PMID- 25830097
TI  - The expression of dominant negative TCF7L2 in pancreatic beta cells during the
      embryonic stage causes impaired glucose homeostasis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Disruption of TCF7L2 in mouse pancreatic beta-cells has generated
      different outcomes in several investigations. Here we aim to clarify role of beta
      cell TCF7L2 and Wnt signaling using a functional-knockdown approach. METHODS:
      Adenovirus-mediated dominant negative TCF7L2 (TCF7L2DN) expression was conducted
      in Ins-1 cells. The fusion gene in which TCF7L2DN expression is driven by P TRE3G
      was utilized to generate the transgenic mouse line TCF7L2DN Tet . The double
      transgenic line was created by mating TCF7L2DN Tet with Ins2-rtTA, designated as
      betaTCFDN. beta-cell specific TCF7L2DN expression was induced in betaTCFDN by
      doxycycline feeding. RESULTS: TCF7L2DN expression in Ins-1 cells reduced GSIS,
      cell proliferation and expression of a battery of genes including incretin
      receptors and beta-cell transcription factors. Inducing TCF7L2DN expression in
      betaTCFDN during adulthood or immediately after weaning generated no or very
      modest metabolic defect, while its expression during embryonic development by
      doxycycline feeding in pregnant mothers resulted in significant glucose
      intolerance associated with altered beta-cell gene expression and reduced beta
      cell mass. CONCLUSIONS: Our observations support a cell autonomous role for
      TCF7L2 in pancreatic beta-cells suggested by most, though not all,
      investigations. betaTCFDN is a novel model for further exploring the role of
      TCF7L2 in beta-cell genesis and metabolic homeostasis.

PMID- 25830098
TI  - The LXR inverse agonist SR9238 suppresses fibrosis in a model of non-alcoholic
      steatohepatitis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is characterized by hepatic
      steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis. There are currently no targeted therapies
      for NASH. We developed a liver-specific LXR inverse agonist, SR9238, which
      effectively reduces hepatic lipogenesis in models of obesity and hepatic
      steatosis. We hypothesized that suppression of lipogenesis, which is
      pathologically elevated in NASH may suppress progression of hepatic steatosis to
      NASH. METHODS: NASH was induced in B6 V-lep (ob)/J (ob/ob) mice using a custom
      complete rodent diet (HTF) containing high amounts of trans-fat, fructose, and
      cholesterol. Once NASH was induced, mice were treated with SR9238 for one month
      by i.p. injection. Plasma lipid levels and liver health were analyzed by clinical
      chemistry. QPCR, western blot, and immunohistochemistry were used to assess
      disease severity. RESULTS: Ob/ob mice are obese and diabetic thus they are
      commonly used as models for the study of metabolic diseases. These mice quickly
      developed the NASH phenotype when provided the HTF diet. The mice develop hepatic
      steatosis, severe hepatic inflammation and fibrosis on the HTF diet. Treatment
      with SR9238 significantly reduced the severity of hepatic steatosis and most
      importantly reduced hepatic inflammation and ameliorated hepatic fibrosis.
      CONCLUSIONS: Here, we demonstrate that an LXR inverse agonist, SR9238, is
      effective in reduction of hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis in an
      animal model of NASH. These results have important implications for the
      development of therapeutics for treatment NASH in humans.

PMID- 25830099
TI  - Ventral dermatitis in rowi (Apteryx rowi) due to cutaneous larval migrans.
AB  - The rowi is a critically endangered species of kiwi. Young birds on a creche
      island showed loss of feathers from the ventral abdomen and a scurfy dermatitis
      of the abdominal skin and vent margin. Histology of skin biopsies identified
      cutaneous larval migrans, which was shown by molecular sequencing to be possibly
      from a species of Trichostrongylus as a cause of ventral dermatitis and
      occasional ulcerative vent dermatitis. The predisposing factors that led to this
      disease are suspected to be the novel exposure of the rowi to parasites from
      seabirds or marine mammals due to the island creche and the limited management of
      roost boxes. This is the first instance of cutaneous larval migrans to be
      recorded in birds. Severe and fatal complications of the investigation resulted
      in the death of eight birds of aspergillosis and pulmonary complications
      associated with the use of bark as a substrate in hospital. Another bird died of
      renal failure during the period of hospitalisation despite oral and intravenous
      fluid therapy. The initiating cause of the renal failure was not determined.
      These complications have the potential to undermine the working relationship
      between wildlife veterinarians and conservation managers. This case highlights
      that intensive conservation management can result in increased opportunities for
      novel routes of cross-species pathogen transmission. 

PMID- 25830100
TI  - Evidence for intercontinental parasite exchange through molecular detection and
      characterization of haematozoa in northern pintails (Anas acuta) sampled
      throughout the North Pacific Basin.
AB  - Empirical evidence supports wild birds as playing a role in the interhemispheric
      exchange of bacteria and viruses; however, data supporting the redistribution of
      parasites among continents are limited. In this study, the hypothesis that
      migratory birds contribute to the redistribution of parasites between continents
      was tested by sampling northern pintails (Anas acuta) at locations throughout the
      North Pacific Basin in North America and East Asia for haemosporidian infections
      and assessing the genetic evidence for parasite exchange. Of 878 samples
      collected from birds in Alaska (USA), California (USA), and Hokkaido (Japan)
      during August 2011-May 2012 and screened for parasitic infections using molecular
      techniques, Leucocytozoon, Haemoproteus, and Plasmodium parasites were detected
      in 555 (63%), 44 (5%), and 52 (6%) samples, respectively. Using an occupancy
      modeling approach, the probability of detecting parasites via replicate genetic
      tests was estimated to be high (rho > 0.95). Multi-model inference supported
      variation of Leucocytozoon parasite prevalence by northern pintail age class and
      geographic location of sampling in contrast to Haemoproteus and Plasmodium
      parasites for which there was only support for variation in parasite prevalence
      by sampling location. Thirty-one unique mitochondrial DNA haplotypes were
      detected among haematozoa infecting northern pintails including seven lineages
      shared between samples from North America and Japan. The finding of identical
      parasite haplotypes at widely distributed geographic locations and general lack
      of genetic structuring by continent in phylogenies for Leucocytozoon and
      Plasmodium provides evidence for intercontinental genetic exchange of
      haemosporidian parasites. Results suggest that migratory birds, including
      waterfowl, could therefore facilitate the introduction of avian malaria and other
      haemosporidia to novel hosts and spatially distant regions. 

PMID- 25830101
TI  - History and development of research on wildlife parasites in southern Africa,
      with emphasis on terrestrial mammals, especially ungulates.
AB  - The history of wildlife parasitology in South Africa, and to some extent southern
      Africa, is reviewed, giving a brief overview of the early years and following its
      development from the founding of the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute in 1908
      until the turn of the century. An emphasis is placed on game species. The main
      findings on protozoan parasites, including those of carnivores, are presented,
      starting in the 1890s and leading up to the first decade of the 21st century.
      Important developments with regard to the studies of arthropod and helminth
      parasites took place during a period of three decades, starting from the 1970s.
      Because of the sheer volume of work done by parasitologists during this time,
      this particular part of the overview concentrates on South African authors or
      authors working in South Africa at the time, and is limited to hosts that are
      members of the order Perissodactyla and the superorder Cetartiodactyla. 

PMID- 25830103
TI  - A sylvatic lifecycle of Echinococcus equinus in the Etosha National Park,
      Namibia.
AB  - Various species of Echinococcus have been described in the past from wild mammals
      of sub-Saharan Africa. However, it is only recently, that a few isolates have
      become available for molecular identification; therefore, the involvement of
      wildlife in the lifecycles of the various cryptic species within Echinococcus
      granulosus sensu lato is still only partially known. A preliminary survey was
      undertaken in Etosha National Park, Namibia, from August to October 2012. Faecal
      samples were obtained from 34 individual wild carnivores, and metacestodes were
      collected from carcasses of 18 culled herbivores. Single eggs and metacestode
      tissue were lysed and identified from sequences of the mitochondrial nad1 gene.
      In case of metacestodes, the cox1 gene was additionally sequenced and haplotype
      networks were constructed. Echinococcus equinus was found in lions (4 of 6),
      black-backed jackals (2 of 7) and Burchell's zebras (11 of 12). The frequency of
      this parasite in the absence of domestic dogs, horses and donkeys strongly
      indicates its transmission in a wildlife cycle. Further, a variety of sequences
      were obtained from eggs and cysticerci from lions, cheetahs, caracals, spotted
      hyenas and oryx, which most closely clustered with species of Taenia. Only 3 of
      them, 2 of lion and 1 of hyena origin, could be allocated to Hydatigera (=Taenia)
      taeniaeformis (lion), Taenia regis (lions and oryx) and Taenia cf. crocutae
      (spotted hyena and oryx). 

PMID- 25830102
TI  - Wildlife reservoirs for vector-borne canine, feline and zoonotic infections in
      Austria.
AB  - Austria's mammalian wildlife comprises a large variety of species, acting and
      interacting in different ways as reservoir and intermediate and definitive hosts
      for different pathogens that can be transmitted to pets and/or humans. Foxes and
      other wild canids are responsible for maintaining zoonotic agents, e.g.
      Echinococcus multilocularis, as well as pet-relevant pathogens, e.g. Hepatozoon
      canis. Together with the canids, and less commonly felids, rodents play a major
      role as intermediate and paratenic hosts. They carry viruses such as tick-borne
      encephalitis virus (TBEV), bacteria including Borrelia spp., protozoa such as
      Toxoplasma gondii, and helminths such as Toxocara canis. The role of wild
      ungulates, especially ruminants, as reservoirs for zoonotic disease on the other
      hand seems to be negligible, although the deer filaroid Onchocerca jakutensis has
      been described to infect humans. Deer may also harbour certain Anaplasma
      phagocytophilum strains with so far unclear potential to infect humans. The major
      role of deer as reservoirs is for ticks, mainly adults, thus maintaining the life
      cycle of these vectors and their distribution. Wild boar seem to be an exception
      among the ungulates as, in their interaction with the fox, they can introduce
      food-borne zoonotic agents such as Trichinella britovi and Alaria alata into the
      human food chain. 

PMID- 25830104
TI  - Prevalence and genetic diversity of haematozoa in South American waterfowl and
      evidence for intercontinental redistribution of parasites by migratory birds.
AB  - To understand the role of migratory birds in the movement and transmission of
      haematozoa within and between continental regions, we examined 804 blood samples
      collected from eleven endemic species of South American waterfowl in Peru and
      Argentina for infection by Haemoproteus, Plasmodium, and/or Leucocytozoon blood
      parasites. Infections were detected in 25 individuals of six species for an
      overall apparent prevalence rate of 3.1%. Analysis of haematozoa mitochondrial
      DNA revealed twelve distinct parasite haplotypes infecting South American
      waterfowl, four of which were identical to lineages previously observed infecting
      ducks and swans sampled in North America. Analysis of parasite mitochondrial DNA
      sequences revealed close phylogenetic relationships between lineages originating
      from waterfowl samples regardless of continental affiliation. In contrast, more
      distant phylogenetic relationships were observed between parasite lineages from
      waterfowl and passerines sampled in South America for Haemoproteus and
      Leucocytozoon, suggesting some level of host specificity for parasites of these
      genera. The detection of identical parasite lineages in endemic, South American
      waterfowl and North American ducks and swans, paired with the close phylogenetic
      relationships of haematozoa infecting waterfowl on both continents, provides
      evidence for parasite redistribution between these regions by migratory birds. 

PMID- 25830105
TI  - Endoparasites in a Norwegian moose (Alces alces) population - Faunal diversity,
      abundance and body condition.
AB  - Many health surveillance programs for wild cervids do not include routine
      parasite screening despite evidence that gastrointestinal parasites can affect
      wildlife population dynamics by influencing host fecundity and survival.
      Slaughter weights of moose in some regions of Norway have been decreasing over
      recent decades but any role of parasites has not yet been considered. We
      investigated parasite faunal diversity of moose in Hedmark, SE Norway, by faecal
      analysis and identification of adult abomasal and caecal nematodes during the
      autumn hunting season. We related parasite prevalence and abundance to estimates
      of body condition, gender and age. We identified 11 parasite groups. Moose had
      high abomasal gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) burdens and all individuals were
      infected. Ostertagia antipini and Spiculopteragia alcis were the most prevalent
      abomasal GINs identified. O. leptospicularis and Telodorsagia circumcincta were
      also identified in the abomasa while a range of other GIN and Moniezia sp. eggs,
      and coccidia, Dictyocaulus sp. and Protostrongylid larvae were found in faeces.
      Female moose had higher mean abomasal nematode counts than males, particularly
      among adults. However, adult males had higher faecal egg counts than adult
      females which may reflect reduction in faecal volume with concentration of eggs
      among males during the rut. We found no strong evidence for the development of
      acquired immunity to abomasal nematodes with age, although there was a higher
      Protostrongylid and Moniezia infection prevalence in younger animals. High
      burdens of several parasites were associated with poor body condition in terms of
      slaughter weight relative to skeletal size but unrelated to visually evaluated
      fat reserves. Given findings from earlier experimental studies, our results imply
      sub-clinical effects of GI parasite infection on host condition. Managers should
      be aware that autumn faecal egg counts and field assessments of fat reserves may
      not be reliable indicators of parasitism and may underestimate impacts on
      wildlife populations. 

PMID- 25830106
TI  - Ectoparasites of the critically endangered insular cavy, Cavia intermedia
      (Rodentia: Caviidae), southern Brazil.
AB  - Cavia intermedia is a rodent species critically endangered and is found only on a
      10 hectare island off the southern Brazilian coast. To identify the ectoparasites
      of C. intermedia, 27 specimens (14 males and 13 females), representing
      approximately 65% of the estimated total population, were captured and examined.
      A total of 1336 chewing lice of two species were collected: Gliricola lindolphoi
      (Amblycera: Gyropidae) and Trimenopon hispidum (Amblycera: Trimenoponidae). In
      addition, chiggers Arisocerus hertigi (Acari: Trombiculidae) and Eutrombicula sp.
      (Acari: Trombiculidae) were collected from the ears of all captured animals. This
      low species richness compared to those for other Cavia species is expected for
      island mammals. Although the results presented here are not conclusive about the
      relationship between C. intermedia and ectoparasites, this low species richness
      found might be reflected in a low level of investment by the hosts in the basal
      immune defense, since investments in white blood cell production by mammals are
      influenced by the diversity of parasites in the environment. Additionally,
      considering that it might result in host vulnerability to other parasites that
      might be introduced through exotic or migratory host species, the monitoring of
      C. intermedia, including parasitological and immunological assessments, is
      recommended as a key component of conservation efforts. 

PMID- 25830107
TI  - Occurrence and seasonality of internal parasite infection in elephants, Loxodonta
      africana, in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.
AB  - It is known from studies in a wide range of wild and domestic animals, including
      elephants, that parasites can affect growth, reproduction and health. A total of
      458 faecal samples from wild elephants were analysed using a combination of
      flotation and sedimentation methods. Coccidian oocysts (prevalence 51%), and
      nematode (77%) and trematode (24%) eggs were found. Species were not identified,
      though trematode egg morphology was consistent with that of the intestinal fluke
      Protofasciola robusta. The following factors were found to have a significant
      effect on parasite infection: month, year, sex, age, and group size and
      composition. There was some evidence of peak transmission of coccidia and
      nematodes during the rainy season, confirmed for coccidia in a parallel study of
      seven sympatric domesticated elephants over a three month period. Nematode eggs
      were more common in larger groups and nematode egg counts were significantly
      higher in elephants living in maternal groups (mean 1116 eggs per gram, standard
      deviation, sd 685) than in all-male groups (529, sd 468). Fluke egg prevalence
      increased with increasing elephant age. Preservation of samples in formalin
      progressively decreased the probability of detecting all types of parasite over a
      storage time of 1-15 months. Possible reasons for associations between other
      factors and infection levels are discussed. 

PMID- 25830108
TI  - The role of wildlife in the transmission of parasitic zoonoses in peri-urban and
      urban areas.
AB  - During the last 100 years in many countries of the world, there have been
      dramatic changes in natural/rural landscapes due to urbanization. Since many
      wildlife species are unable to adapt to these alterations in their environment,
      urbanization is commonly responsible for a decline of biodiversity in areas of
      urban development. In contrast, some wild animal species are attracted to peri
      urban and urban habitats due to the availability of an abundant food supply and
      the presence of structures in which to shelter. Urban foxes and/or raccoons are
      common sights in many peri-urban and urban areas of Europe where they can reach
      far higher population densities than in their natural habitats. The same is true
      for foxes and dingoes in some urban areas of Australia. Unfortunately, some of
      these highly adaptable species are also hosts for a number of parasites of public
      health and veterinary importance. Due to the complexity of many parasitic life
      cycles involving several host species, the interactions between wild animals,
      domestic animals and humans are not fully understood. The role of potential hosts
      for transmission of a zoonotic disease in urban or peri-urban areas cannot be
      extrapolated from data obtained in rural areas. Since more than 75% of human
      diseases are of zoonotic origin, it is important to understand the dynamics
      between wildlife, domestic animal species and humans in urbanized areas, and to
      conduct more focused research on transmission of zoonotic parasites including
      arthropod vectors under such conditions. 

PMID- 25830109
TI  - (macro-) Evolutionary ecology of parasite diversity: From determinants of
      parasite species richness to host diversification.
AB  - The present review summarized the factors or determinants that may explain
      parasite diversity among host species and the consequences of this parasite
      diversity on the evolution of host-life history traits. As host-parasite
      interactions are asymmetrical exploited-exploiter relationships, ecological and
      epidemiological theories produce hypotheses to find the potential determinants of
      parasite species richness, while life-history theory helps for testing potential
      consequences on parasite diversity on the evolution of hosts. This review
      referred only to studies that have specifically controlled or took into account
      phylogenetic information illustrated with parasites of mammals. Several points
      needing more investigation were identified with a special emphasis to develop the
      metabolic theory of epidemiology. 

PMID- 25830111
TI  - Competing invaders: Performance of two Anguillicola species in Lake Bracciano.
AB  - Anguillicola crassus is one of the most successful parasitic invasive species as
      it has spread from its original habitat in East Asia throughout the world and has
      acquired five new eel host species in the course of its invasion within the last
      three decades. Records from an Italian lake indicate that this species has even
      displaced an established population of its close relative A. novaezelandiae
      originating from New Zealand. In order to analyze the reasons for its high
      invasive potential, this review highlights recent studies, which substantiate the
      selective advantages of A. crassus over A. novaezelandiae. Laboratory infection
      experiments revealed that A. crassus features a less synchronized development
      compared to A. novaezelandiae in the European eel, which enables this species to
      emit eggs over a longer period of time. Differences in the time period required
      for first egg output and in the maturation process of second stage larvae in
      intermediate hosts could also be detected, which may lead to differences in
      infection potential. Finally, microsatellite analyses have shown that
      hybridization processes are possible, but might only occur between A. crassus
      males and A. novaezelandiae females. Taken as a whole, the sum of minor selective
      advantages and differences in life cycle traits could have considerably
      contributed to a replacement of one species by the other. 

PMID- 25830112
TI  - Enhanced understanding of ectoparasite-host trophic linkages on coral reefs
      through stable isotope analysis.
AB  - Parasitism, although the most common type of ecological interaction, is usually
      ignored in food web models and studies of trophic connectivity. Stable isotope
      analysis is widely used in assessing the flow of energy in ecological communities
      and thus is a potentially valuable tool in understanding the cryptic trophic
      relationships mediated by parasites. In an effort to assess the utility of stable
      isotope analysis in understanding the role of parasites in complex coral-reef
      trophic systems, we performed stable isotope analysis on three common Caribbean
      reef fish hosts and two kinds of ectoparasitic isopods: temporarily parasitic
      gnathiids (Gnathia marleyi) and permanently parasitic cymothoids (Anilocra). To
      further track the transfer of fish-derived carbon (energy) from parasites to
      parasite consumers, gnathiids from host fish were also fed to captive Pederson
      shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) for at least 1 month. Parasitic isopods had
      delta(13)C and delta(15)N values similar to their host, comparable with results
      from the small number of other host-parasite studies that have employed stable
      isotopes. Adult gnathiids were enriched in (15)N and depleted in (13)C relative
      to juvenile gnathiids, providing insights into the potential isotopic
      fractionation associated with blood-meal assimilation and subsequent
      metamorphosis. Gnathiid-fed Pedersen shrimp also had delta(13)C values consistent
      with their food source and enriched in (15)N as predicted due to trophic
      fractionation. These results further indicate that stable isotopes can be an
      effective tool in deciphering cryptic feeding relationships involving parasites
      and their consumers, and the role of parasites and cleaners in carbon transfer in
      coral-reef ecosystems specifically. 

PMID- 25830113
TI  - Biodiversity of frog haemoparasites from sub-tropical northern KwaZulu-Natal,
      South Africa.
AB  - Since South Africa boasts a high biodiversity of frog species, a multispecies
      haemoparasite survey was conducted by screening the blood from 29 species and 436
      individual frogs. Frogs were collected at three localities in sub-tropical
      KwaZulu-Natal, a hotspot for frog diversity. Twenty per cent of the frogs were
      infected with at least one of five groups of parasites recorded.
      Intraerythrocytic parasites comprising Hepatozoon, Dactylosoma, and viral or
      bacterial organisms, as well as extracellular parasites including trypanosomes
      and microfilarid nematodes were found. A significant difference (P < 0.01) in the
      prevalence of parasitaemia was found across species, those semi-aquatic species
      demonstrating the highest, followed by semi-terrestrial frog species. None of
      those species described as purely terrestrial and aquatic were infected.
      Hepatozoon and Trypanosoma species accounted for most of the infections, the
      former demonstrating significant differences in intensity of infection across
      species, families and habitat types (P = 0.028; P = 0.006; P = 0.007
      respectively). Per locality, the first, the formally protected Ndumo Game
      Reserve, had the highest biodiversity of haemoparasite infections, with all five
      groups of parasites recorded. The other two sites, that is the area bordering the
      reserve and the Kwa Nyamazane Conservancy, had a lower diversity with no parasite
      infections recorded and only Hepatozoon species recorded respectively. Such
      findings could be ascribed to the anthropogenic impact on the latter two sites,
      the first by the rural village activities, and the second by the bordering
      commercial sugar cane agriculture. Future studies should include both
      morphological and molecular descriptions of the above parasites, as well as the
      identification of potential vectors, possibly clarifying the effects human
      activities may have on frog haemoparasite life cycles and as such their
      biodiversity. 

PMID- 25830114
TI  - Reproductive strategies of the kangaroo leech, Marsupiobdella africana
      (Glossiphoniidae).
AB  - The Kangaroo Leech, Marsupiobdella africana, is a hermaphroditic organism, with
      insemination taking place by the planting of a spermatophore on another leech.
      Spermatophores are mostly planted on the anterior of the recipient leech, but not
      always. Several spermatophores may be planted by different leeches on a single
      recipient. The spermatophore consists of two side by side lobes. Within minutes
      from planting of the spermatophore, the contents are squeezed out and into the
      body of the recipient. Sperm are believed to find the way to the ova by following
      chemical cues. Kangaroo Leeches display advanced parental care by transferring
      fertilized eggs from the reproductive opening to a brood pouch on the ventral
      side. Fully developed leeches may copulate after detaching from the amphibian
      host Xenopus laevis, or from the Cape River Crab Potamonautes perlatus with which
      it maintains a phoretic association. 

PMID- 25830110
TI  - A review of Theileria diagnostics and epidemiology.
AB  - An extensive range of serological and molecular diagnostic assays exist for most
      of the economically important Theileira species such as T. annulata, T. equi, T.
      lestoquardi, T. parva, T. uilenbergi and other more benign species. Diagnostics
      of Theileria is considered with regard to sensitivity and specificity of current
      molecular and serological assays and their use in epidemiology. In the case of
      serological assays, cross-reactivity of genetically closely related species
      reduces the use of the gold standard indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT).
      Development of antigen-specific assays does not necessarily address this problem,
      since closely related species will potentially have similar antigens. Even so,
      serological assays remain an important line of enquiry in epidemiological
      surveys. Molecular based assays have exploded in the last decade with significant
      improvements in sensitivity and specificity. In this review, the current
      interpretation of what constitute a species in Theileria and its impact on
      accurate molecular diagnostics is considered. Most molecular assays based on
      conventional or real-time PCR technology have proven to be on standard with
      regard to analytical sensitivity. However, consideration of the limits of
      detection in regard to total blood volume of an animal indicates that most assays
      may only detect >400,000 parasites/L blood. Even so, natural parasitaemia
      distribution in carrier-state animals seems to be above this limit of detection,
      suggesting that most molecular assays should be able to detect the majority of
      infected individuals under endemic conditions. The potential for false-negative
      results can, however, only be assessed within the biological context of the
      parasite within its vertebrate host, i.e. parasitaemia range in the carrier-state
      that will support infection of the vector and subsequent transmission. 

PMID- 25830115
TI  - Complex interactions within the ectoparasite community of the eastern rock sengi
      (Elephantulus myurus).
AB  - Concomitant infection with more than one parasite species is the rule in nature.
      Since co-infecting parasites are exploiting the same host, interspecific
      interactions at the infracommunity level are likely. The nature of such
      interactions can be expected to affect the distribution of parasites within host
      populations. Intraspecific interactions within the infracommunity are not easily
      discernible from cross-sectional studies and the focus of most of these studies
      lies on relationships between endoparasitic micro- and macroparasites. In the
      current study of the ectoparasite community of wild eastern rock sengis
      (Elephantulus myurus) we experimentally reduced tick and flea infestations and
      monitored ectoparasite burdens over the course of three years. We found a number
      of within-taxon facilitating interactions between tick species that might be the
      result of decreasing immune responses with increasing tick burden. In contrast,
      inter-taxon relationships appeared to be dominated by antagonistic relationships
      likely to be linked to competition over feeding sites. Only one of the observed
      interspecific interactions was reciprocal. Our experimental manipulation revealed
      additional antagonistic relationships that cross-sectional studies would not have
      captured. In addition, we found substantial long-term changes in the sengi
      ectoparasite community as a result of our experimental manipulation suggesting
      carry-over effects of our treatment. This study is the first that evaluates
      interspecific interactions within the entire ectoparasite community exploiting a
      mammalian host in Africa and highlights the complexity of interspecific
      interactions within an ectoparasite community. 

PMID- 25830116
TI  - Long-term surgery outcome for epilepsy and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures in a
      child with anterior cingulate gyrus dysplasia.
AB  - We present the case of a 13-year-old child with nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy
      (NFLE) related to a right cingulate gyrus cortical dysplasia, who also presented
      with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) and interictal antisocial behavior.
      The association of drug-resistant epilepsy with behavioral disorders is well
      established, but the role of epilepsy surgery in these patients is still
      controversial, especially in children. The key finding is represented by the
      excellent long-term outcome on both epilepsy and behavioral dysfunction after the
      surgical excision of the cingulate gyrus cortical dysplasia. 

PMID- 25830117
TI  - The effect of magnesium sulfate on motor and sensory axillary plexus blockade.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Magnesium is a physiologic cation that blocks neuromuscular
      transmission and does not allow the nerve to be stimulated. OBJECTIVES: This
      study investigates the effect of adding magnesium sulfate to lidocaine to extend
      the duration of sensory and motor blocks of the axillary plexus in orthopedic
      surgeries of the upper extremities. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This controlled
      randomized double-blind study was performed on patients who were candidates for
      orthopedic surgery of the upper extremities. A total of 60 patients between 18-60
      years with ASA Class 1 or 2 participated in the study. One group received
      lidocaine (5 mg/kg) with magnesium sulfate 20% (3 mL) as the case group, while
      the second group received lidocaine (5 mg/kg) with normal saline (3 mL) as a
      placebo to block the axillary plexus using the trans-arterial technique. The
      duration of the sensory and motor block of the axillary plexus was monitored and
      evaluated using the pinprick and modified Bromage scale. RESULTS: A total of 60
      patients were included in the study with 30 patients having received lidocaine
      plus magnesium and the other 30 patients having received lidocaine plus normal
      saline. The mean sensory block duration in the case group was 248.83 +/- 18.36
      and in control group was 204.67 +/- 22.62. The mean motor block duration in the
      case group was 207.0 +/- 16.64 and in control group was 147.33 +/- 21.52 (both P
      < 0.0001). The mean onset of sensory block in case group was 15.5 +/- 3.79 and
      the onset block in control group was 10.33 +/- 4.13 (P < 0.0001). The mean onset
      of motor block in case group was 20.66 +/- 4.09 and the onset block in control
      group was 19.73 +/- 26.18 (P < 0.848). CONCLUSIONS: The addition of magnesium
      sulfate to lidocaine increased the duration of motor and sensory axillary block
      in the upper extremities during surgeries when compared to the use of lidocaine
      alone.

PMID- 25830118
TI  - Premedication with oral pregabalin for the prevention of acute postsurgical pain
      in coronary artery bypass surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) sternotomy should be
      performed. The pain after surgery is severe and requires medical intervention.
      Use of the analgesics is limited by their side effects and studies suggest that
      prevention with some medications before surgery is effective in controlling the
      postoperative pain. OBJECTIVES: We investigated the efficacy of pregabalin
      administration before surgery in the treatment of acute postoperative pain after
      CABG surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty patients indicated for elective CABG
      surgery were randomly allocated to two groups. One group received placebo and the
      other received 150 mg of oral pregabalin before surgery. Heart rates, blood
      pressure, respiratory rate, intensive care unit (ICU) stay duration, morphine
      consumption, and pain score according to the visual analog scale (VAS) were
      measured and recorded at 4, 12, and 24 hours of surgery. RESULTS: Pregabalin
      consumption did not alter hemodynamic parameters and was safe in patients after
      CABG. Its consumption was associated with significant reduction in the pain score
      (P values were 0.035, 0.026, and 0.047 respectively at 4, 12, and 24 hours of
      surgery). Its use was not associated with changes in the morphine consumption at
      4, 12, and 24 hours of surgery (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Premedication with
      studied dose of pregabalin is effective for the prevention of postoperative pain
      in patients after CABG and has no adverse effects. Trials with other treating
      schedule and doses of the drug should be performed to determine the best
      treatment plan.

PMID- 25830119
TI  - The effect of intra-articular meperidine and bupivacaine 0.5% on postoperative
      pain of arthroscopic knee surgery; a randomized double blind clinical trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Arthroscopic knee surgeries have a painful postoperative course,
      which often necessitates acute pain management. Among different analgesia
      techniques, Intra-articular injection is the technique of choice for many pain
      specialists, based on its confined effect to the surgical site (knee), lack of
      systemic effects and promotion of safe early ambulation. OBJECTIVES: The aim of
      this study was to compare analgesic effects of intra-articular meperidine,
      bupivacaine 0.5% or their combination after knee arthroscopic surgery. PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: Sixty ASA class I-II patients' candidates for arthroscopy knee
      surgery enrolled in a randomized double blind study to receive either 20 mL of
      bupivacaine 0.5%; 100 mg meperidine (diluted in normal saline) or bupivacaine
      0.5% along with 100 mg meperidine. A written informed consent was obtained from
      all patients. Postoperative analgesia duration, VAS at 2, 6, 12 and 24 hours, the
      first analgesic request time, total fentanyl consumption in first 24 hours,
      patients' satisfaction and adverse effects were recorded. RESULTS: The
      bupivacaine-meperidine group had better duration of postoperative analgesia (P =
      0.001), latter first analgesic request (P <= 0.001), lower total fentanyl
      consumption in first 24 hours after the operation (P = 0.001), less mean VAS at 2
      hours (P = 0.001) and more patients' overall satisfaction (P = 0.01) compared
      with each medication alone. VAS at 6, 12 and 24 postoperative hours were not
      different between the groups of study. No adverse effects were observed.
      CONCLUSIONS: Although postoperative intra-articular meperidine is a better
      alternative for bupivacaine, their combination could improve their analgesic
      effects compared with each other alone.

PMID- 25830120
TI  - Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children undergoing peritoneal
      dialysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common
      childhood psychiatric disorder. This disorder is more prevalent in some chronic
      disease. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate ADHD in children
      with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal
      dialysis (CAPD) and to compare the results with those of healthy children.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: This case-control study was conducted for six months
      (December 22, 2013 to June 21, 2014) on five to 16-year-old children, visiting
      the Pediatric Dialysis Unit of Amirkabir Hospital, Arak, Iran, and Taleghani
      Hospital, Kermanshah, Iran. A total of 100 children with ESRD who had undergone
      CAPD for at least six months and 100 healthy children were included in this study
      as case and control groups, respectively. ADHD was diagnosed by Conner's Parent
      Rating Scale-48 (CPRS-48) and DSM-IV-TR criteria, and was confirmed through
      consultation by psychologist. Data were analyzed by Binomial test in SPSS 18.
      RESULTS: The ADHD inattentive type was observed in 16 cases (16%) with CAPD and
      five controls (5%) (P = 0.01). Moreover, ADHD hyperactive-impulsive type was
      observed in 27 cases (27%) with CAPD and seven controls (9%) (P = 0.002). Despite
      these significant differences, no children were diagnosed with ADHD combined type
      among all subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Inattentive type and hyperactive-impulsive type
      of ADHD are more prevalent in children with ESRD undergoing CAPD. Therefore
      screening methods for ADHD is necessary in these patients.

PMID- 25830121
TI  - Eltrombopag: a new treatment option for chronic refractory adult immune
      thrombocytopenia.

PMID- 25830122
TI  - Is cord blood worth saving for public or private banking?

PMID- 25830123
TI  - Splenic rupture in primary amyloidosis with chronic neutrophilic leukemia.

PMID- 25830124
TI  - Spontaneous bilateral suburothelial hemorrhage in immune thrombocytopenic
      purpura.

PMID- 25830126
TI  - Efficacy and safety of eltrombopag in adult refractory immune thrombocytopenia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Eltrombopag is a thrombopoietin receptor agonist with excellent
      treatment outcomes in immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Here, we analyzed the dose
      of eltrombopag required to achieve and maintain safe platelet counts in Korean
      ITP patients. METHODS: Adult refractory ITP patients (<30,000 platelets/uL) were
      enrolled. Eltrombopag doses were increased to achieve a target platelet count
      (>=50,000 cells/uL). After achieving the target platelet count, the dose of
      concomitant ITP medications and eltrombopag was reduced to identify the lowest
      effective dose required to maintain the platelet count. RESULTS: Among 18
      patients, 66.7% achieved complete response, 5.6% achieved platelet counts between
      50,000 and 100,000 cells/uL, and 27.8% failed to achieve the target platelet
      count. The median ITP duration was significantly shorter in patients who achieved
      the target platelet count. The initial dose required to achieve the target
      platelet count was 25 mg/d. The adjusted maintenance doses were 25 mg twice per
      week or 25 mg/d. After discontinuation, 83.3% relapsed, and the median relapse
      free survival was 15 days. Two relapsed and 1 failed patient switched to
      romiplostim. The response to romiplostim was similar to eltrombopag. During
      eltrombopag treatment, 38.9% showed hepatobiliary laboratory anomalies. Among 9
      follow-up bone marrow examinations, 1 revealed fibrosis after 1 year of
      treatment. CONCLUSION: Eltrombopag was well tolerated with excellent treatment
      outcomes in refractory adult ITP patients. Low-dose eltrombopag effectively
      maintained the target platelet count. However, some patients required longer or
      higher-dose treatment to maintain the target platelet count, especially in
      heavily pretreated or longer ITP cases.

PMID- 25830125
TI  - Use of lenalidomide in the management of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma:
      expert recommendations in Korea.
AB  - Multiple myeloma (MM) is the third most common hematologic malignancy in Korea.
      Historically, the incidence of MM in Korea has been lower than that in Western
      populations, although there is growing evidence that the incidence of MM in Asian
      populations, including Korea, is increasing rapidly. Despite advances in the
      management of MM, patients will ultimately relapse or become refractory to their
      current treatment, and alternative therapeutic options are required in the
      relapsed/refractory setting. In Korea, although lenalidomide/dexamethasone is
      indicated for the treatment of relapsed or refractory MM (RRMM) in patients who
      have received at least one prior therapy, lenalidomide is reimbursable
      specifically only in patients with RRMM who have failed bortezomib-based
      treatment. Based on evidence from pivotal multinational clinical trials as well
      as recent studies in Asia, including Korea, lenalidomide/dexamethasone is an
      effective treatment option for patients with RRMM, regardless of age or disease
      status. Adverse events associated with lenalidomide/dexamethasone, including
      hematologic toxicity, venous thromboembolism, fatigue, rash, infection, and
      muscle cramps, are largely predictable and preventable/manageable with
      appropriate patient monitoring and/or the use of standard supportive medication
      and dose adjustment/interruption. Lenalidomide/dexamethasone provides an optimal
      response when used at first relapse, and treatment should be continued long term
      until disease progression. With appropriate modification of the lenalidomide
      starting dose, lenalidomide/dexamethasone is effective in patients with renal
      impairment and/or cytopenia. This review presents updated evidence from the
      published clinical literature and provides recommendations from an expert panel
      of Korean physicians regarding the use of lenalidomide/dexamethasone in patients
      with RRMM. 

PMID- 25830127
TI  - Promoter methylation and expression levels of selected hematopoietic genes in
      pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-cell ALL) is the
      most common neoplasm in children and is characterized by genetic and epigenetic
      aberrations in hematopoietic transcription factor (TF) genes. This study
      evaluated promoter DNA methylation and aberrant expression levels of early- and
      late-acting hematopoietic TF genes homeobox A4 and A5 (HOXA4 and HOXA5), Meis
      homeobox 1 (MEIS1), T-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia 1 (TAL1), and interferon
      regulatory factors 4 and 8 (IRF4 and IRF8) in pediatric B-cell ALL. METHODS:
      Blood samples of 38 ALL patients and 20 controls were obtained. DNA was treated
      with sodium bisulfite and DNA methylation level of HOXA4, HOXA5, MEIS1, TAL1,
      IRF4, and IRF8 was assessed using quantitative methylation-specific polymerase
      chain reaction (PCR). Relative gene expression was measured using quantitative
      reverse transcription-PCR. RESULTS: Aberrant methylation of TAL1, IRF8, MEIS1,
      and IRF4 was observed in 26.3%, 7.9%, 5.3%, and 2.6% patients, respectively, but
      not in controls. HOXA4 and HOXA5 were methylated in some controls and
      hypermethylated in 16% and 5% patients, respectively. IRF8, MEIS1, and TAL1
      expression was lower in patients than in controls. MEIS1 expression was inversely
      correlated with white blood cell (WBC) count. HOXA4 expression was down-regulated
      in patients with high risk according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI)
      classification. TAL1 methylation was slightly elevated in patients aged >9 years
      and in patients showing relapse, suggesting its potential prognostic value.
      CONCLUSION: Aberrant methylation and expression of the selected hematopoietic
      genes were correlated with demographic/clinical prognostic factors of pediatric
      ALL, such as age, WBC count, and NCI risk classification.

PMID- 25830128
TI  - Anti-leukemic properties of deferasirox via apoptosis in murine leukemia cell
      lines.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although deferasirox (DFX) is reported to have anti-tumor effects,
      its anti-leukemic activity remains unclear. We evaluated the effect of DFX
      treatment on two murine lymphoid leukemia cell lines, and clarified the
      mechanisms underlying its potential anti-leukemic activity. METHODS: L1210 and
      A20 murine lymphoid leukemia cell lines were treated with DFX. Cell viability and
      apoptosis were evaluated by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthaizol-2-yl)-5-(3
      carboxymethylphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) assay and
      fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis, respectively. Immunoblotting
      was performed to detect the expression of key apoptotic proteins. RESULTS: In
      dose- and time-dependent manner, DFX decreased viability and increased apoptosis
      of murine leukemic cells. Fas expression was significantly higher in A20 cells
      than in L1210 cells at all DFX concentrations tested. Although both cell lines
      exhibited high caspase 3 and caspase 9 expression, a critical component of the
      intrinsic mitochondrial apoptotic pathway, expression was greater in L1210 cells.
      In contrast, caspase 8, a key factor in the extrinsic apoptotic pathway, showed
      greater expression in A20 cells. Cytochrome c expression was significantly higher
      in L1210 cells. In both cell lines, co-treatment with ferric chloride and DFX
      diminished the expression of these intracellular proteins, as compared to DFX
      treatment alone. CONCLUSION: Treatment with DFX increased caspase-dependent
      apoptosis in two murine lymphoid leukemia cell lines, with differing apoptotic
      mechanisms in each cell line.

PMID- 25830130
TI  - Comparative analysis of cellulose acetate hemoglobin electrophoresis and high
      performance liquid chromatography for quantitative determination of hemoglobin
      A2.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The present study is designed to evaluate the reliability and cost
      effectiveness of cellulose acetate Hb electrophoresis and high performance liquid
      chromatography (HPLC) in the determination of HbA2 levels. METHODS: The test
      population comprised 160 individuals divided into four groups: normal
      individuals, beta-thalassemia trait (BTT) patients, iron deficiency anemia (IDA)
      patients, and co-morbid patients (BTT with IDA). HbA2 levels determined using
      cellulose acetate Hb electrophoresis and HPLC were compared. RESULTS: HbA2 levels
      were found to be diagnostic for classical BTT using either method. In co-morbid
      cases, both techniques failed to diagnose all cases of BTT. The sensitivity,
      specificity, and Youden's index for detection of the co-morbid condition was 69%
      and 66% for HPLC and cellulose acetate Hb electrophoresis, respectively.
      CONCLUSION: This study revealed that semi-automated cellulose acetate Hb
      electrophoresis is more suitable for use in beta-thalassemia prevention programs
      in low-income countries like Pakistan. This technique is easily available, simple
      and cost effective.

PMID- 25830129
TI  - SOCS1 and SOCS3 are expressed in mononuclear cells in human cytomegalovirus
      viremia after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The expression of the SOCS genes in cytomegalovirus (CMV) viremia
      after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) remains largely unexplored.
      METHODS: Using quantitative RT-PCR of mononuclear cells, we conducted pairwise
      comparison of SOCS1 and SOCS3 expression levels among a healthy donor group
      (N=55), a pre-HSCT group (N=17), and the recipient subgroup (N=107), which were
      divided according to the occurrence of CMV viremia and acute graft-versus-host
      disease (aGVHD). RESULTS: Compared to that in the healthy donor group, SOCS1
      expression was higher in the CMV+ subgroup, especially in the CMV+GVHD- group,
      but decreased in the other subgroups. When compared to the expression in the pre
      HSCT group, SOCS1 expression was significantly higher in the CMV+ subgroup,
      especially in the CMV+GVHD+ subgroup. Meanwhile, compared to that in the healthy
      donor group, SOCS3 expression was significantly lower in all other groups. The
      CMV-GVHD- subgroup showed significantly lower SOCS3 expression compared to the
      CMV+ subgroup, the CMV+GVHD+ subgroup, and the CMV+GVHD- subgroup. CONCLUSION: We
      report differential expression of SOCS genes according to CMV viremia with acute
      GVHD occurrence after HSCT, suggesting that regulation of SOCS expression is
      associated with CMV viremia.

PMID- 25830131
TI  - HBV reactivation in a HBsAg-negative patient with multiple myeloma treated with
      prednisolone maintenance therapy after autologous HSCT.
AB  - Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation has previously occurred in hepatitis B
      surface antigen-negative patients with malignant lymphoma who received rituximab
      based combination chemotherapy. However, few reports have described cases of HBV
      reactivation in patients with multiple myeloma thus far. We report a case of HBV
      reactivation in a patient with multiple myeloma treated with chemotherapy,
      autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and maintenance steroid
      therapy. For the HBV reactivation, the patient was treated with the antiviral
      agent entecavir. The clinical symptoms and laboratory findings improved after 3
      months. Further studies should target the identification of patients at high risk
      of HBV reactivation in multiple myeloma treated with autologous hematopoietic
      stem cell transplantation and steroid therapy for maintenance and establish viral
      prophylaxis strategies, especially in Korea, in which HBV infection is endemic. 

PMID- 25830132
TI  - Regenerating blasts masquerading as relapse in a patient with ALL following G-CSF
      therapy.

PMID- 25830133
TI  - A case of pediatric ALL with t(16;21)(p11.2;q22) and FUS-ERG rearrangement.

PMID- 25830134
TI  - Chronic eosinophilic leukemia with a FIP1L1-PDGFRA rearrangement: Two case
      reports and a review of Korean cases.

PMID- 25830135
TI  - Diffuse large B cell lymphoma with high M protein: an unusual finding.

PMID- 25830136
TI  - Atypical HUS caused by anti-complement factor H antibody: a hematologist's
      perspective.

PMID- 25830137
TI  - Forbidden fruit for athletes, but possible divine blessing for rehabilitation:
      testosterone.
AB  - Testosterone is regarded as an attractive supplement for obtaining masculinity
      and sexuality; however, there have been pros and cons regarding its application
      as a treatment. In addition, there is also conventional repulsion on adoption of
      testosterone to any kind of exercise to anyone with concern with sports. However,
      we should keep in mind that in terms of rehabilitation, our main concern is not
      fairness but efficiency. And there are obvious advantages of testosterone in
      recovery and rejuvenation. We aim to introduce the possibility of testosterone in
      recovery and rejuvenation and are to bring up a topic the application of
      testosterone in exercise rehabilitation. Considering the light and darkness in
      testosterone, moderate use of testosterone under professional medication
      counseling might be an effective possibility to those with sickness and illness
      and should be considered as a possible option to assist the recovery from frailty
      and illness. 

PMID- 25830138
TI  - Treadmill exercise improves short-term memory by enhancing hippocampal cell
      proliferation in quinolinic acid-induced Huntington's disease rats.
AB  - Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited genetic disorder, characterized by
      cognitive dysfunction and abnormal body movements called chorea. Quinolinic acid
      (QA) is an endogenous metabolite of tryptophan in the kynurenine pathway. QA
      induced alterations are similar to the symptoms of HD patients. Physical exercise
      has beneficial effects on the brain functions. Exercise increases production of
      neurotrophic factors in the brain and improves learning ability and memory
      function. In the present study, we investigated the effects of treadmill exercise
      short-term memory on QA-induced HD rats in relation with cell proliferation. For
      the induction of Huntington's animal model, 2 MUL of 100 nmol QA was
      intrastriatal injected into the rats. The rats in the treadmill exercise groups
      were forced to run on a treadmill for 30 min once a day, five times a week for 2
      weeks. Step-down avoidance test was conducted for the determination of short-term
      memory. Cell proliferation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus was determined by 5
      bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) and doublecortin (DCX) immunohistochemistry. Western
      blot for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and tyrosine kinase B (TrkB)
      were performed. In the present results, treadmill exercise alleviated QA-induced
      short-term memory impairment in HD rats. Treadmill exercise increased cell
      proliferation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus through enhancing BDNF expression
      in the HD rats. These results revealed that treadmill exercise is effective for
      the symptom improvement in the HD patients. 

PMID- 25830139
TI  - Postnatal treadmill exercise attenuates prenatal stress-induced apoptosis through
      enhancing serotonin expression in aged-offspring rats.
AB  - Maternal stress during pregnancy affects negative impact on health of offspring.
      In the present study, we compared the effects of maternal treadmill exercise and
      offspring treadmill exercise on prenatal stress-induced apoptosis and serotonin
      expression in offspring. Stress to the pregnant rats was induced by exposure of
      maternal rats to the hunting dog in an enclosed room. Exposure time was 10 min,
      three times per day, with a 1-h interval between exposures. This regimen was
      maintained from the seventh day of gestation until delivery. The pregnant rats in
      the exercise group were forced to run on a motorized tread-mill for 30 min once a
      day, started 7 days after pregnancy until delivery. The offspring in the exercise
      group were forced to run on a motorized treadmill for 30 min once a day, started
      4 weeks after birth for 4 weeks. In the present results, offspring exposed to
      prenatal stress exhibited lower Bcl-2 level and higher Bax level in the
      hippocampus, lower 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH)
      expression in the dorsal raphe, and higher c-Fos expression in the locus
      coeruleus compared to age-matched control rats. Treadmill exercise of offspring
      suppressed Bax expression and enhanced Bcl-2 expression in the hippocampus,
      increased 5-HT and TPH expression in the dorsal raphe, and enhanced c-Fos
      expression in the locus coeruleus of offspring. Tread-mill exercise of offspring
      suppressed prenatal stress-induced apoptosis and normalized prenatal stress
      induced alterations in serotonin synthesis and neuronal activation. However
      maternal treadmill exercise during pregnancy exerted no significant effect on
      offspring. 

PMID- 25830140
TI  - Exercise facilitators and barriers following participation in a community-based
      exercise and education program for cancer survivors.
AB  - Cancer survivors participating in supervised exercise programs learn to exercise
      safely with oversight from care providers who monitor and facilitate their
      progress. This study investigated the long-term exercise participation levels and
      identified exercise barriers for graduates from a specialized cancer exercise and
      education program. Subjects were graduates from a 12-week supervised exercise
      program (www.canwellprogram.ca) who participated in a, prospective, long-term
      evaluation. Measures included: six-minute walk test (6-MWT), STEEP treadmill
      test, Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G), Edmonton Symptom
      Assessment System (ESAS), Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire, and exercise
      barriers survey. Analysis was performed using the paired t -test. Fifty-seven
      (55% of eligible cohort) CanWell participants (mean age= 60; 74% females) were
      included in this study. Post program changes included statistically significant
      reductions in total min on the treadmill and a trend towards improvements in 6
      MWT distance. No significant changes were recorded in total FACT-G or ESAS score,
      however functional well-being approached statistical significant improvements.
      The most commonly reported exercise barriers included fatigue, cost, and return
      to work. While most participants (86%) believed they were able to exercise, only
      63% reported being able to progress their exercise. These finding demonstrated
      that although CanWell graduates have substantial support from exercise
      specialists and most have early success with exercise, environment-related
      factors diminish long-term independent adherence to exercise. Providing cancer
      survivors with the skills needed to monitor and progress their exercise routines,
      or access to "tune-ups" may increase exercise adherence and maximize benefits. 

PMID- 25830141
TI  - A study on the effect of self bedside exercise program on resilience and
      activities of daily living for patients with hemiplegia.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to design a repeatable universal rehabilitation
      program in which patients with hemiplegia can participate voluntarily,
      complementing physical and occupational therapies to increase voluntary exercise
      practice rate. Also, this study attempted to identify the relationship between
      psychological resilience due to the implementation of self-bedside exercise and
      functional recovery of activity of daily living (ADL). 12 patients with
      hemiplegia voluntarily participated in 8 weeks of self-bedside exercise 5 times a
      day and more than 5 days a week. Their program implementation, resilience,
      activities of daily living (MBI), upper limb motor functions (MFT), and balance
      ability (BBS) were analyzed and compared before and after the program. Compared
      to before implementing the program, significant increases were found in
      resilience, MBI, BBS, and MFT in the affected side after the implementation, and
      the resilience scores showed statistically positive correlation in MBI and MFT.
      Also, the change in resilience before and after the program implementation showed
      a statistically positive correlation. Therefore, it can be concluded that the
      self-bedside exercise developed in this study had a positive effect on voluntary
      participation in exercise as well as resilience and ADL. However, many studies
      which complement the psychological aspects of hemiparetic patients with stroke
      are still needed. 

PMID- 25830142
TI  - The effects of band exercise using proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation on
      muscular strength in lower extremity.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to examine whether a six-week elastic band exercise
      program using proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) can increase
      isotonic strength of abductor muscles in the lower extremity. Twenty-eight
      healthy students from S university were divided into an experimental group and
      control group. Each group was participated in pre and post-measurement in
      isotonic strength using an isotonic analyzer, En-treeM. Experimental group
      performed elastic band exercise using PNF pattern for a six-weeks, in contrast,
      control group did not take any exercise. In the results of this study, isotonic
      strength measurements of abductor muscles in lower extremity in experimental
      group were significantly different after exercise, but control group did not show
      any significant changes. Therefore, we hope that resistive exercise would be very
      valuable for healthy people as well as the old people with weakened muscle
      strength. 

PMID- 25830143
TI  - On school violence in Korean middle school, prevention and reaction measures.
AB  - This study is aiming to explore the practical and realistic measure in more
      variable way, which enables us to manage the problems about school violence we
      are currently facing as well as to overcome limitations in the current situation
      where we react only with punishments, mainly in the form of the law enforcement,
      supported by the police. This study was conducted on male and female students (n=
      424) and teachers (n= 136) attending at the seven middle schools located in
      Seoul. The frequency analysis, one way ANOVA F-test, t -test, the multiple
      regression analysis were applied. Students recognize' harmful environmental
      cleanup' as an important variable or factor to reduce school violence. Also, both
      teachers and students are aware that 'regular survey on school violence' could
      reduce school violence. In conclusion, it is considered that as an effective and
      viable prevention measure against school violence, more attention and affection
      efforts need to be activated and addressed, on the part of home, school, and
      government, which will enable our young generations of students to be brought up,
      and take up the future of our country. 

PMID- 25830144
TI  - Effects of participation in swimming lessons on health perception and belief.
AB  - This study was conducted to investigate the effects of the degree of
      participation in swimming lessons and the participation styles on health
      perception and belief. To do this, several analyses were conducted-statistical
      analysis, frequency analysis, factorial analysis, reliability analysis,
      correlation analysis, and regression analysis-using SPSS 18.0. A total of 300
      copies of the questionnaire were distributed and after excluding those that are
      considered invalid, only 278 copies were used for the study. As a result, first,
      for the participants for "30 min-1 h," "1 h-2 h," and "more than 2 h" in time and
      "2-3 times a week" and "4-5 times a week" in frequency, swimming lessons in types
      had a significant effect on health interest and health concern. Second,
      participants for "30 min-1 h" and "1 h-2 h" in time and "hard' in intensity had a
      significant effect on resistance and sensitivity. Third, all frequencies and
      intensities excluding the participants for "15 min-30 min." and "swimming
      lessons" in types had a significant effect on perceived benefit. Fourth, all
      participants for a time period did not have a significant effect on the perceived
      disability, but they all had a significant effect on the former in terms of
      frequency and intensity. This being said, however, the participating types did
      not have any a significant effect. 

PMID- 25830145
TI  - A follow-up study on the physique, body composition, physical fitness, and
      isokinetic strength of female collegiate Taekwondo athletes.
AB  - The purpose of the study was to analyze changes in physique, body composition,
      physical fitness, and isokinetic strength in female collegiate taekwondo
      athletes. The study included 14 subjects, of whom 8 were followed up throughout
      the study. Anthropometric characteristics included body weight, height, sitting
      height, circumferences, and bone width. Physical fitness parameters included
      flexibility, agility, muscle strength, muscular endurance, power, speed, and
      cardiorespiratory endurance. Peak torque, mean power, and H/Q ratio were analyzed
      by using Cybex 770. All data were analyzed by using the SAS statistical program.
      Paired t test was performed, with 0.05 as the significance level. The results
      indicated significant changes in body weight, and upper arm and flexed upper arm
      circumferences during the experimental period. Test scores for plate tapping, and
      sit and reach significantly increased, but that for power decreased. In addition,
      the peak power of right flexion at 180 degrees /sec was significantly increased,
      as well as the mean power of right and left flexion, and the H/Q ratio at 180
      degrees /sec. 

PMID- 25830146
TI  - The Dallas Heart Study using the probability sample technique for ethnicity and
      cardiovascular health differences.
AB  - The decrease in cardiovascular death rates in the United States has been slower
      in blacks than whites, especially in patients < 65 years of age. The Dallas Heart
      Study was designed as a single-site, multiethnic, population-based probability
      sample to produce unbiased comparison of cardiovascular health among multiple
      ethnicities. 

PMID- 25830147
TI  - Left ventricular diastolic function and dysfunction: Central role of
      echocardiography.
AB  - Comprehensive and precise assessment of left ventricular (LV) systolic and
      diastolic function is necessary to establish, or exclude, heart failure as a
      cause or component of dyspnea. Echocardiography with Doppler readily assesses LV
      diastolic function; advantages include that echocardiography is non-invasive,
      does not require radiation, is portable, rapid, readily available, and in
      competent hands, can provide an accurate and comprehensive assessment of LV
      systolic and diastolic function. Correct assessment of LV diastolic function is
      relevant in patients with both depressed and preserved LV ejection fraction (EF
      >= 50%, and < 50%, respectively). Tissue Doppler (TD) imaging has been useful in
      demonstrating impaired LV relaxation in the setting of preserved LVEF, which, in
      the setting of increased cardiac volume, can result in elevated LV filling
      pressures, and dyspnea due to diastolic heart failure. TD imaging is not always
      critical in patients with depressed LVEF, since such patients by definition have
      impaired LV relaxation, and thus significant increases in volume will result in
      increases in LV filling pressure due to impaired LV compliance. Thus, in
      depressed LVEF, transmitral flow velocities (E and A, and E/A) and deceleration
      time, pulmonary venous Doppler, left atrial volume, and pulmonary artery (PA)
      pressures suffice for the accurate assessment of LV filling pressures. Overall,
      diastolic assessment by echo-Doppler can be readily achieved in by using a
      comprehensive diastolic assessment-incorporating many 2-dimensional, conventional
      and tissue Doppler variables-as opposed to relying on any single, diastolic
      parameter, which can lead to errors. 

PMID- 25830148
TI  - Dronedarone-digoxin interaction in PALLAS: A foxglove connection?
AB  - In the Permanent Atrial Fibrillation Outcome Study Using Dronedarone on Top of
      Standard Therapy (PALLAS) study, dronedarone use was associated with an excess
      risk of stroke, cardiovascular death and hospitalizations. However, an increased
      level in the serum digoxin level was observed in the dronedarone arm, as it is a
      potent inhibitor of the P-glycoprotein transport system. The PALLAS subanalysis
      suggests that digoxin-dronedarone interaction was responsible for the higher
      arrhythmic death rate observed in the trial. These data are consistent with
      several other studies that demonstrate the potential hazard of the use of digoxin
      in heart failure and/or atrial fibrillation. One must consider other safer
      alternatives before prescribing digoxin in atrial fibrillation patients. 

PMID- 25830149
TI  - 3D modelling of atrial and ventricular shape and function in a patient following
      the new modified Mustard operation.

PMID- 25830150
TI  - STABILITY and SOLID-TIMI 52: Lipoprotein associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) as
      a biomarker or risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.
AB  - Lipoprotein associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) - an enzyme with several pro
      inflammatory properties - has been hypothesized to be involved in the
      pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and plaque vulnerability. Lp-PLA2 activity has
      been demonstrated to be an independent predictor of coronary heart disease (CHD)
      and ischemic stroke. However, it has been recently reported that carriers of loss
      of function variants in PLA2G7 gene (encoding Lp-PLA2) had no lower CHD risk than
      non-carriers. The Stabilization of Atherosclerotic Plaque by Initiation of
      Darapladib Therapy (STABILITY), and the Stabilization of Plaque Using Darapladib 
      Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction 52 (SOLID-TIMI 52) studies are two phase
      III, randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trials that were conducted to
      evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of the Lp-PLA2 inhibitor (darapladib),
      against a background of optimal medical therapy, in patients with stable CHD and
      acute coronary syndrome, respectively. In both studies, darapladib failed to
      reduce the risk of major coronary events as compared to placebo. In addition,
      darapladib was associated with significantly higher rates of drug
      discontinuation, and adverse side effects such as diahrrea and malodorous feces,
      urine, and skin, as compared to placebo. These data suggest that Lp-PLA2 may be a
      biomarker of vascular inflammation rather than a causal pathway of cardiovascular
      (CV) diseases. It also challenges the notion that inhibition of Lp-PLA2 is a
      worthwhile approach in patients with CHD. Alternate therapies that target
      inflammation are awaited to reduce residual risk in patients with CV diseases. 

PMID- 25830151
TI  - INHERIT (INHibition of the renin angiotensin system in hypertrophic
      cardiomyopathy and the Effect on hypertrophy-a Randomised Intervention Trial with
      losartan).
AB  - Early pharmacological interventions on transgenic models of hypertrophic
      cardiomyopathy (HCM) using angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) may be effective
      in preventing development of clinical phenotype or causing phenotype regression
      in early stages of disease. In the clinical setting, however, the effects of ARBs
      on HCM phenotype have been less consistent. INHERIT (INHibition of the renin
      angiotensin system in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and the Effect on hypertrophy-a
      Randomised Intervention Trial with losartan) was designed to assess the effect of
      100 mg of losartan in promoting the regression of LV hypertrophy in HCM. The
      primary end-point of the study was the reduction in LV mass assessed by MRI or
      computed tomography. After 12 months, no reduction in LV mass was observed in the
      losartan arm, and there was no difference in LV mass change with the placebo arm.
      The same was true for all secondary endpoints. The implications of these findings
      are discussed in the light of further, ongoing study targeting the HCM phenotype.

PMID- 25830152
TI  - DECAAF: Emphasizing the importance of MRI in AF ablation.
AB  - Atrial fibrillation ablation is a complex and challenging procedure. Appropriate
      patient selection is the most critical step to ensure safe and successful atrial
      fibrillation ablation procedure. The DECAAF study (Delayed-Enhancement MRI
      Determinant of Successful Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Atrial
      Fibrillation) showed that atrial tissue fibrosis, as estimated by delayed
      enhancement magnetic resonance imaging, was independently associated with
      recurrent arrhythmia post atrial fibrillation ablation. Magnetic resonance
      imaging also detected left atrial volume and shape. Integrating the data provided
      by magnetic resonance imaging into the pre-procedural planning is crucial. 

PMID- 25830153
TI  - Comparison of the contraceptive use and its related factors among women seeking
      repeat and first-time induced abortions in iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Abortion in Iran, like other Islamic countries is severely restricted
      except in a few exceptions. However, some women who have an unwanted or mistimed
      pregnancy are seeking abortion. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare the
      contraceptive use and its related factors among repeat and first- time induced
      abortion seekers in Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study,
      417 married women (age range, 15-49 years) seeking abortion services at either a
      hospital or private office in Maku City, the northwest of Iran, were selected
      through convenience sampling between December 2010 and March 2011. All the
      subjects were asked about the contraceptive methods used during the three months
      before the current pregnancy and the use of any emergency contraception and
      forced sex. Women who mentioned reasons except than completing family size for
      their applying for abortion were excluded from the analysis. Characteristics of
      women were examined using chi-square and t test. T test and Mann-Whitney U test
      were used to compare contraceptive methods and the regularity of contraceptive
      use between repeat and first-time abortion seekers, respectively. RESULTS: About
      33.8% of the repeat abortion-seekers and 76.8% of first-time abortion seekers
      were using male methods (withdrawal and condom). Utilization of an intrauterine
      device for birth control was higher among women seeking repeat abortion than in
      first-time abortion seekers (P = 0.003). All of 31 pill users in the repeat
      abortion-seeking group missed three or more pills per month for three times
      during the three months before contraception. The repeat abortion seekers had
      used condom more regularly than those in the first-time abortion seekers. Forced
      sex was more prevalent in the abortion seekers who had used male method.
      CONCLUSIONS: Using male methods are prevalent in abortion-seeker women. An
      increased focus is needed on training the regular use of pills and using the
      emergency contraception for all of the couples who are first-time abortion
      seekers. Moreover, information about the role of forced sex might be efficacious
      in decreasing illegally induced repeat abortion in couples who use condom or
      withdrawal methods.

PMID- 25830154
TI  - Sex differences in Acute Myocardial Infarction.

PMID- 25830155
TI  - Patients dignity in nursing.

PMID- 25830156
TI  - Severity of menopausal symptoms and related factors among 40 to 60 year-old
      women.

PMID- 25830157
TI  - Psychological violence in the health care settings in iran: a cross-sectional
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Psychological violence is the most common form of workplace violence
      that can affect professional performance and job satisfaction of health care
      workers. Although several studies have been conducted in Iran, but there is no
      consensus regarding current status of such violence. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed
      to investigate the prevalence of psychological violence among healthcare workers
      employed at teaching hospitals in Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this cross
      sectional study, 5874 health professionals were selected using multistage random
      sampling. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire developed
      by the International Labor Organization, International Council of Nurses, World
      Health Organization, and Public Services International. Descriptive statistics
      were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: It was found that 74.7% of the
      participants were subjected to psychological violence during the past 12 months.
      Totally, 64.5% of psychological violence was committed by patients' families, but
      50.9% of participants had not reported the violence, and 69.9% of them believed
      that reporting was useless. CONCLUSIONS: The results are indicative of high
      prevalence of psychological violence against healthcare workers. Considering non
      reporting of violence in more than half of participants, use of an appropriate
      reporting system and providing training programs for health professionals in
      order to prevent and manage workplace violence are essential.

PMID- 25830158
TI  - A comparison between foley and nelatone urinary catheters in causing urinary
      tract infection in animal models.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Urinary catheterization is one of the main measures used to treat and
      care for hospitalized patients. Several complications have been attributed to the
      presence of latex with routine Foley catheters. Therefore, some studies have
      recommended that Nelatone catheters be substituted for the ordinary Foley
      catheters to prevent these complications. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare
      the rates of urinary tract infection (UTI) in rabbits catheterized either with
      Foley or with Nelatone catheters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A randomized controlled
      trial was conducted on 60 rabbits that were randomly assigned to three groups of
      twenty. The first group was catheterized using Nelatone catheter; the second
      group was catheterized using Foley catheter and the third group was studied
      without performing any catheterization. After seven days, urine samples were
      collected using suprapubic aspiration and were sent to the laboratory for
      culture. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Moreover, chi-square and
      Fisher's exact tests were used for data analysis. RESULTS: At the end of the
      study, four cases in the Nelatone group and 12 cases in the Foley group presented
      with UTI (P = 0.01). No positive urine cultures were found in the control group.
      CONCLUSIONS: The Nelatone catheters, compared with the Foley ones, had a lower
      risk of UTI in the long term use. Verifying this claim by further studies can
      have an important role in reducing UTIs in patients using urinary catheters.

PMID- 25830159
TI  - How baloch women make decisions about the risks associated with different
      childbirth settings in southeast iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In Zahedan City in Southeast Iran, some women prefer to give birth at
      home despite the availability of the equipped hospitals and expert advice that
      hospital births are safer. OBJECTIVES: This study explains how Baloch women make
      decisions regarding the risks associated with childbirth at home versus a
      hospital. This study identifies and defines the factors that influence the choice
      of the place of delivery by Baloch women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The article
      draws on data from a grounded theory. In particular, on in-depth interviews with
      25 Baloch women, 21 of whom had planned home births and 4 planned hospital births
      in their most recent childbirth. RESULTS: Six categories emerged from the data as
      follows: 1) deliberation and risk assessment; 2) obstacles to hospital births; 3)
      preference for hospital births; 4) obstacles to homebirth; 5) preference for
      homebirth; and 6) risk management. The core category was deliberation and risk
      assessment. Our interviews showed that Baloch woman weighed the negative and
      positive aspects of each option when deciding on a childbirth setting. In this
      process, their assessment of risk included physical wellbeing and sociao-cultural
      values. Furthermore, their assessment of risk can, in some circumstances, result
      in delays or avoidance of having hospital childbirth. CONCLUSIONS: Managers and
      service providers need to know an ordinary woman's perception of risk to address
      the gap between current and desired childbirth services and encourage women to
      use current hospital services.

PMID- 25830160
TI  - Critical thinking skills in nursing students: a comparison between freshmen and
      senior students.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Critical thinking is one of the most important concepts in the field
      of education. Despite studies published on nursing students' critical thinking
      skills (CTS), some suggest that there is not enough evidence supporting the
      relationship between content of nursing education programs and nursing students'
      CTS. OBJECTIVES: Given the existing discrepancies, this study aimed to compare
      the critical thinking skills of freshmen and senior nursing students. PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: This comparative study was conducted on 150 undergraduate freshmen
      and senior nursing students in Kashan University of Medical Sciences, during
      2012. The students in the first and the last semesters of their study in nursing
      were entered in the study using the census method. Data were collected using a
      questionnaire including questions on demographic data and the California Critical
      Thinking Skills Test, form B. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS v.13
      software. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Moreover, independent sample t
      test and Spearman and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used in the data
      analysis. RESULTS: Both the freshmen and senior nursing students had low CTS. The
      mean critical thinking scores were 11.79 +/- 4.80 and 11.21 +/- 3.17 for the
      freshmen and the senior students, respectively (P = 0.511). Moreover, no
      significant correlation was found between the students' score in CTS and their
      age, gender, high school grade point average (GPA), rank in university entrance
      examination (RUEE) and interest in the nursing profession. CONCLUSIONS: The
      students were low skilled in critical thinking and their CTS did not
      significantly change during their nursing degree. Thus it may be concluded that
      the nursing education program did not affect the CTS of its students.
      Longitudinal studies are suggested for assessing nursing students' critical
      thinking over time. Moreover, revising the curriculum and preparing nursing
      educators for implementing innovative and active teaching strategies are
      suggested.

PMID- 25830162
TI  - Testing of action of direct flame on concrete.
AB  - The paper states results of experimental exposition of concrete test specimens to
      direct flame. Concrete test specimens made from various mixtures differing in the
      type of aggregate, binder, dispersed reinforcement, and technological procedure
      were subjected to thermal load. Physicomechanical and other properties of all
      test specimens were tested before exposition to open flame: density, compressive
      strength, flexural strength, moisture content, and surface appearance. The
      specimens were visually observed during exposition to open flame and changes were
      recorded. Exposed surface was photographically documented before thermal load and
      at 10-minute intervals. Development of temperature of the specimens was
      documented with a thermocamera. After exposition to thermal load and cooling
      down, concrete specimens were visually observed, network of cracks was
      photographically documented, and maximal depth of spalled area was measured. 

PMID- 25830161
TI  - Comparing the effects of active and passive intradialytic pedaling exercises on
      dialysis efficacy, electrolytes, hemoglobin, hematocrit, blood pressure and
      health-related quality of life.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The effect of exercise during hemodialysis has been a controversial
      issue, however, there are just few studies about the effect of active exercise
      during hemodialysis. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare the effects of
      passive and active intradialytic pedaling exercises on dialysis efficacy,
      electrolytes, hemoglobin, hematocrit, blood pressure and health-related quality
      of life in hemodialysis patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This quasi-experimental
      study was conducted on 16 hemodialysis patients in Akhavan hemodialysis center in
      Kashan from April to November 2013. Active or passive intradialytic pedaling
      exercise was performed using a Mini-Bike for 30 minutes during the first two
      hours of the dialysis sessions. The quality of life (QOL) was assessed before and
      after the intervention. Blood pressure was examined at the beginning and then
      hourly during the dialysis sessions. Dialysis efficacy, levels of phosphorus,
      calcium, sodium, potassium and Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were measured at the end
      of the intervention. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, paired t test, Wilcoxon signed rank
      and Friedman tests and repeated measure analysis of variancewere used to analyze
      the data. RESULTS: No significant changes were observed in serum potassium,
      phosphorus and calcium levels at the end of the passive exercise program compared
      to the baseline. However, phosphorus levels were significantly decreased in the
      active exercise program (P < 0.05). Moreover, the mean diastolic blood pressure
      was significantly decreased after the passive exercise (P = 0.039). Passive
      exercise did not significantly change the dialysis efficacy, urea reduction rate,
      hemoglobin and calcium levels. The mean overall QOL was 63.78 +/- 21.15 at the
      beginning of the study, which was increased to 77.07 +/- 21.14 at the end of
      eight weeks of the intradialytic exercise (P = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: The passive
      intradialytic exercise had a positive effect on blood pressure. The active
      exercise could decrease the serum phosphorus and potassium levels. Moreover, both
      exercise programs could significantly improve the QOL. Both active and passive
      intradialytic exercises can have some beneficial effects.

PMID- 25830163
TI  - Repair Bond Strength of Aged Silorane-based Composite Using Intermediate Adhesive
      Systems Based on Different Monomers.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of pre-repair aging periods and intermediate
      adhesive systems based on different monomers on the repair bond strength of
      silorane-based resin composite. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 32 Filtek P90
      (3M ESPE) substrate specimens (4 mm diameter and 4 mm height) were made.
      Substrate specimens were grouped according to the pre-repair time periods into
      four groups (n = 8/group): 15 to 30 min, 24 h, 1 month, and 3 months. All
      substrate specimens were ground flat using a diamond stone and were etched using
      Scotchbond phosphoric acid etchant (3M ESPE). The specimens of each pre-repair
      time period were equally distributed among the two repair groups, using either
      silorane-based (P90 System Adhesive) or acrylamide-based (AdheSE One F, Ivoclar
      Vivadent) intermediate adhesive systems. Specimens of P90 System adhesive
      received Filtek P90 as the repair resin composite, and Tetric N-Ceram (Ivoclar
      Vivadent) was used with AdheSE One F specimens. Additional specimens were made
      from the repair resin composite materials to study the cohesive strength.
      Specimens were sliced into sticks (0.6 +/- 0.01 mm2) for microtensile bond
      strength testing (MUTBS). Modes of failure were determined. RESULTS: Two-way
      ANOVA with repeated measures revealed no significant effect for the pre-repair
      aging periods, intermediate adhesive systems based on different monomers, or
      their interaction on repair bond strength of silorane-based resin composite.
      CONCLUSION: Up to 3 months of pre-aging the repaired silorane-based resin
      composite had no negative effect on its repair bond strength, even when an
      intermediate adhesive system based on a different monomer (acrylamide) was used.

PMID- 25830165
TI  - Brain warfare: primates to humans?

PMID- 25830164
TI  - Bond Strength of Experimental Low-viscosity Resin Materials to Early Enamel
      Caries Lesions: Effect of Diluent/Solvent Addition.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of different concentrations of monomers and
      solvents/diluents on the microtensile bond strength (MUTBS) bond strength of
      experimental low-viscosity resins (infiltrants) to enamel caries-like lesions
      (ECLL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Flat enamel blocks obtained from sound human third
      molars were submitted to ECLL formation and randomly distributed into 9 groups (n
      = 10): G1: TEG-DMA 100%; G2: TEG-DMA 80%, ethanol 20%; G3; TEG-DMA 80%, HEMA 20%;
      G4: TEG-DMA 75%, UDMA 25%; G5: TEG-DMA 60%, UDMA 20%, ethanol 20%; G6: TEG-DMA
      60%, UDMA 20%, HEMA 20%; G7: TEG-DMA 75%, bis-EMA 25%; G8: TEG-DMA 60%, bis-EMA
      20%, ethanol 20%; G9: TEG-DMA 60%, bis-EMA 20%, HEMA 20%. After etching with 37%
      phosphoric acid for 60 s, experimental infiltrants were actively applied and
      photocured for 60 s, then stored in 100% humidity (24 h, 37 degrees C). Hourglass
      shaped specimens were obtained and the MUTBS test performed (MPa). The fracture
      patterns were assessed by SEM. Data were submitted to two way-ANOVA and Tukey's
      tests (alpha = 0.05). RESULTS: The highest MUTBS value was observed for G4 (TEG
      DMA/UDMA, 19.18 MPa) and the lowest for G5 (TEG-DMA/UDMA/ethanol, 9.00 MPa). A
      significant decrease in MUTBS was observed for all groups containing ethanol (G2,
      G5, and G8). The addition of HEMA did not affect MUTBS values. Most groups showed
      a high frequency of mixed failure between infiltrant and enamel. CONCLUSION: The
      addition of bis-EMA or UDMA to TEG-DMA-based infiltrants did not improve bond
      strength to carious enamel. The ethanol addition negatively affected the bonding
      strength of infiltrants to enamel caries-like lesions, regardless of the resin
      matrix composition of the infiltrant.

PMID- 25830166
TI  - Journeys in long-term care.

PMID- 25830167
TI  - Healthcare transitions of older adults: an overview for the general practitioner.
AB  - Healthcare transition refers to the care "hand-off" of a patient among providers
      and treatment settings. Older adults experience more frequent care transitions
      than younger patients due to the presence of co-morbidities, cognitive
      impairment, increased dependence and medication use. Hospitalization and
      subsequent readmission after discharge to a nursing home represents a unique care
      transition situation. It is estimated that as many as 60% of readmissions from
      nursing homes can be avoided. Poor communication between hospital and nursing
      home staff; delayed, inaccurate, or missing discharge summaries; lack of accurate
      medication reconciliation; pending test results; inappropriate follow-up; and
      poor education of patient and families all contribute to poor care transition
      quality, and increase the probability of rehospitalization. Interventions for
      improved care transitions are suggested. They focus on patient and family
      centered care effectiveness, minimizing adverse events, and increasing timely,
      accurate and complete communication.

PMID- 25830168
TI  - Health care transitions: perceptions from older patients in Rhode Island.
AB  - Health care transitions are often dangerous for older patients. Interviews with
      older adults about their health care moves in Rhode Island (RI) were conducted to
      develop an Internal Medicine (IM) curriculum designed to provide IM interns with
      insights about the impact of transitions on patients. This paper describes some
      ways patients talk about their transitional experiences. Following pilot
      interviews, 10 nursing home residents were interviewed about their care
      transitions, conversations with physicians, and advice to doctors beginning their
      careers. The interviews were analyzed to identify themes. Patients described
      multiple moves, often did not know what to expect, appreciated help from a family
      member and desired effective communications with physicians. Learning about
      patient experiences may help new physicians appreciate the experiences of
      transitions on patients.

PMID- 25830169
TI  - The goals of care conversation: a tool to improve patient care in the nursing
      home at the end of life.
AB  - Patients residing in nursing homes may undergo burdensome transitions in care
      during the final months of life. They may get care they do not want and are
      unlikely to benefit from. Patients and families may not understand prognosis or
      the potential benefits of treatment. A "goals of care" conversation can be the
      critical first step in identifying a patient's wishes and then developing a plan
      of care that honors those wishes. When the goal of care is to focus on comfort,
      hospice can be accessed. Hospice can help ensure that the patient's final time is
      spent in comfort and that the family's needs are attended to both before and
      after the patient dies.

PMID- 25830170
TI  - Hospice and palliative care in nursing homes: challenges and opportunities for
      enhanced access.
AB  - The use of hospice care in nursing homes (NHs) has grown exponentially, but an
      increasing concern is the lack of access to resident and family-centered
      palliative care when residents do not elect hospice, and in time periods prior to
      election. This concern is amplified by the high magnitude of palliative care
      needs present for NH residents (and their families) when the NH will be their
      final residence; and, it is amplified because of short hospice stays, half of
      which are 22 days or less. This manuscript describes the use of the Medicare
      hospice care in NHs and discusses the policy, staff and physician barriers to
      timely hospice referral. It also describes the challenges NHs face in expanding
      residents' access to palliative care. Opportunities and approaches for increasing
      palliative care expertise and practice in NHs are presented.

PMID- 25830171
TI  - Comparison of substance-use prevalence among Rhode Island and The Miriam Hospital
      Emergency Department patients to state and national general population prevalence
      estimates.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Compare the prevalence of recent alcohol, tobacco, and drug use among
      patients from two Rhode Island emergency departments (EDs) to Rhode Island state
      and United States national general population estimates between 2010 and 2012.
      METHODS: Secondary analysis of ED patient data and the National Survey of Drug
      Use and Health. RESULTS: Alcohol was the most commonly reported substance, and
      prevalence of its use was higher among ED patients than those in the national,
      but not the Rhode Island, general population. Drug use was higher among ED
      patients than in the state and national general population. For ED patients,
      tobacco and opioid use was highest among 26-34 year-olds, alcohol and marijuana
      highest among 18-25 years-olds, and cocaine highest among 35-49 years-olds.
      CONCLUSION: Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital ED patients report a
      greater prevalence of substance use than the national population and in many
      cases the state general population.

PMID- 25830172
TI  - Training family medicine residents to build and remodel a patient centered
      medical home in Rhode Island: a team based approach to PCMH education.
AB  - Primary Care practices in the United States are undergoing rapid transformation
      into Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs), prompting a need to train resident
      physicians in this new model of primary care. However, few PCMH curricula are
      described or evaluated in the literature. We describe the development and
      implementation of an innovative, month-long, team-based, block rotation,
      integrated into the Brown Family Medicine Residency Program, within the context
      of statewide PCMH practice transformation in Rhode Island. The PCMH resident team
      (first-, second- and third-year residents) gain PCMH skills, with progressive
      levels of responsibility through residency. In addition to traditional supervised
      direct outpatient care, learning activities include: active participation in PCMH
      transformation projects, population health level patient management, quality
      improvement activities, interdisciplinary teamwork, chronic disease management
      (including leading group medical visits), and PCMH specific didactics paired with
      weekly projects. This new clinical block rotation and team holds promise as a
      model to train residents for future PCMH primary care practices.

PMID- 25830173
TI  - Too weak to move.

PMID- 25830174
TI  - Uninsurance is only half the problem: Underinsurance and healthcare-related
      financial burden in RI.

PMID- 25830175
TI  - Versatile electronic properties and exotic edge states of single-layer tetragonal
      silicon carbides.
AB  - Three single-layer tetragonal silicon carbides (SiCs), termed as T1, T2 and T3,
      are proposed by density functional theory (DFT) computations. Although the three
      structures have the same topological geometry, they show versatile electronic
      properties from a semiconductor (T1), a semimetal (T2) to a metal (T3). The
      versatile properties originate from the rich bonds between Si and C atoms. The
      nanoribbons of the three SiCs also show interesting electronic properties.
      Especially, T1 nanoribbons possess exotic edge states, where electrons only
      distribute on one edge's silicon or carbon atoms. The band gaps of the T1
      nanoribbons are constant because of no interaction between the edge states. 

PMID- 25830176
TI  - The ligand polyhedral model approach to the mechanism of complete carbonyl
      exchange in [Rh4(CO)12] and [Rh6(CO)16].
AB  - The Ligand Polyhedral Model (LPM) is applied to the carbonyl scrambling observed
      on the NMR timescale for the two cluster carbonyls [Rh4(CO)12] and [Rh6(CO)16].
      For [Rh4(CO)12] the NMR data is completely consistent with the libration of the
      Rh4 central core about a C3 - rotational axis within the icosahedral shell of
      twelve CO ligands leading to a single-step concerted exchange process. Rotation
      of the Rh4 unit is also found to lead to the formation of a new all terminally
      bonded isomer which retains the icosahedral shell of CO ligands. Importantly,
      this new isomer does not have the [Ir4(CO)12] structure which is known to possess
      an cube-octahedral ligand shell. With [Rh6(CO)16] and its substituted derivative
      [Rh6(CO)15L] exchange is considered to take place via a polyhedral inter
      conversion in which the external tetra-capped truncated tetrahedral shell of
      carbonyl ligands observed in the ground-state undergoes rearrangement first to
      the 2 : 6 : 6' : 2 complementary geometry and then returns to the ground-state
      structure. This leads to a single-step fully concerted CO exchange. The LPM
      approach also provides an understanding of the variation of activation energies
      observed in going from [Rh4(CO)12] to [Rh6(CO)16] and of the driving force to the
      fluxional process. 

PMID- 25830177
TI  - Rotameric transformations in the photochemistry of TpM(CO)2(eta(3)-C3H4R), where
      Tp = tris(pyrazolyl)borate, M = Mo or W, and R = H or Me.
AB  - Low energy photolysis of TpM(CO)2(eta(3)-C3H4R), where Tp =
      tris(pyrazolyl)borate, M = Mo or W, and R = 2-H or 2-Me in PVC matrices at 85 K
      results in exo/gauche isomerism of the allyl ligand. This transformation comes in
      contrast to the behaviour observed in cyclopentadienyl analogues which undergo
      exo/endo isomerism. DFT computations reveal an eta(3) -> eta(1)* -> eta(3)
      mechanism for the allyl rotameric interconversion where the eta(1)*-allyl
      intermediate is generated upon MLCT excitation. 

PMID- 25830178
TI  - Arginine-assisted immobilization of silver nanoparticles on ZnO nanorods: an
      enhanced and reusable antibacterial substrate without human cell cytotoxicity.
AB  - Silver-based hybrid nanomaterials are gaining interest as potential alternatives
      for conventional antimicrobial agents. Herein, we present a simple, facile and
      eco-friendly approach for the deposition of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on ZnO
      nanorods, which act as a nanoreactor for in situ synthesis and as an immobilizing
      template in the presence of arginine. The presence of arginine enhanced the
      stability of ZnO deposition on the glass substrate by hindering the dissolution
      of zinc under alkaline conditions. Various Ag/ZnO hybrid nanorod (HNR) samples
      were screened to obtain a high amount of silver immobilization on the ZnO
      substrate. Ag/ZnO HNRs displayed potent antibacterial ability and could achieve
      100% kill for both Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis strains under various
      test conditions. The hybrid material mediated its dual mode of antibacterial
      action through direct contact-killing and release of silver ions/nanoparticles
      and showed superior bactericidal performance compared to pure ZnO nanorods and
      colloidal AgNPs. No significant decline in antibacterial efficacy was observed
      even after the same substrate was repeatedly reused multiple times.
      Interestingly, the amount of Ag and Zn release was much below their maximal limit
      in drinking water, thus preventing potential health hazards. Immobilized AgNPs
      showed no cytotoxic effects on the human hepatocarcinoma cell line (HepG2).
      Moreover, treating cells with the antibacterial substrate for 24 hours did not
      lead to significant generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The good
      biocompatibility and bactericidal efficacy would thus make it feasible to utilize
      this immobilization strategy for preparing new-generation antibacterial coatings.

PMID- 25830179
TI  - Regulatory and quality considerations for continuous manufacturing. May 20-21,
      2014 Continuous Manufacturing Symposium.
AB  - This paper assesses the current regulatory environment, relevant regulations and
      guidelines, and their impact on continuous manufacturing. It summarizes current
      regulatory experience and learning from both review and inspection perspectives.
      It outlines key regulatory aspects, including continuous manufacturing process
      description and control strategy in regulatory files, process validation, and key
      Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements. In addition, the paper identifies
      regulatory gaps and challenges and proposes a way forward to facilitate
      implementation.

PMID- 25830180
TI  - Effect of hydrogen peroxide and/or Flavobacterium psychrophilum on the gills of
      rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum).
AB  - The immune response and morphological changes in the gills of rainbow trout fry
      after immersion in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), Flavobacterium psychrophilum or
      combined exposure were examined. The gills were sampled 4, 48, 125 and 192 h
      after exposure, and the regulation of expression of the following genes was
      investigated using qPCR: IgT, IgM, CD8, CD4, MHC I, MHC II, IL-4/13A, TcR-beta,
      IL-10, IL-1beta, IL-17, SAA and FoxP3. Bacteria were not observed in haematoxylin
      and-eosin-stained gill tissue, but the presence of F. psychrophilum 16S rRNA was
      detected using qPCR. The 16S rRNA levels were correlated with gene expression.
      Although pretreatment with H2O2 before immersion in F. psychrophilum did not
      significantly alter the amount of bacteria found in the gill, the immune response
      was influenced: exposure to F. psychrophilum resulted in a negative correlation
      with expression of IL-17c1, MHC I and MHC II, while pretreatment with H2O2
      resulted in a positive correlation with IL-4/13A and IgM. Exposure to either H2O2
      or F. psychrophilum influenced the regulation of gene expression and damaged
      tissue. Exposure to both combined altered the immune response to infection and
      postponed healing of gill tissue.

PMID- 25830181
TI  - In memoriam: Dato Dr Khoo Kah-Lin--obituary.

PMID- 25830182
TI  - Retraction notice to 'Reduced syntaxin-5 in skeletal muscle of patients with type
      2 diabetes. A link between lipid storage and insulin resistance' [Atherosclerosis
      (Supplements) 12 (2011) 33-34].

PMID- 25830183
TI  - Response: Palliative cardiovascular care is not an oxymoron.

PMID- 25830184
TI  - Retraction statement: Analysis of association between the 5-HTTLPR and STin2
      polymorphisms in the serotonin-transporter gene and clinical response to a
      selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (sertraline) in patients with premature
      ejaculation.

PMID- 25830185
TI  - Retraction statement: A double-blind placebo-controlled study of the efficacy and
      safety of pentoxifylline in early chronic Peyronie's disease.

PMID- 25830186
TI  - Retraction statement: The effects of the adjunctive bupropion on male sexual
      dysfunction induced by a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor: a double-blind
      placebo-controlled and randomized study.

PMID- 25830187
TI  - Integrated treatment for diabetes, depression gains notice, with help from ACA.

PMID- 25830188
TI  - Aging and cognitive decline in diabetes.

PMID- 25830189
TI  - Re: Yang SS-D, Zhao L-L, and Chang S-J. Early initiation of toilet training for
      urine was associated with early urinary continence and does not appear to be
      associated with bladder dysfunction. Neurourol Urodyn 2011;30:1253-7.

PMID- 25830190
TI  - Value-engineered translation: developing biotherapeutics that align with health
      system needs.

PMID- 25830191
TI  - AJMC Peer Exchange: nationwide, patient-centered strategy needed to battle
      obesity, T2DM.

PMID- 25830192
TI  - Benefits, risks of SGLT2 inhibitors explored at session.

PMID- 25830193
TI  - Can early use of insulin, GLP-1 halt diabetes progression?

PMID- 25830194
TI  - Sessions highlight strides in "artificial pancreas" technology.

PMID- 25830195
TI  - Results presented on motivating patients with diabetes.

PMID- 25830196
TI  - Diabetes navigator program reduces A1C levels for patients in Alabama.

PMID- 25830197
TI  - Afrezza, inhaled insulin, wins FDA approval.

PMID- 25830198
TI  - Liquid-based cytology sample showing leishmaniasis in bronchoalveolar lavage
      fluid.

PMID- 25830199
TI  - Interface methods for biological and biomedical problems.

PMID- 25830200
TI  - Immersed boundary model of aortic heart valve dynamics with physiological driving
      and loading conditions.
AB  - The immersed boundary (IB) method is a mathematical and numerical framework for
      problems of fluid-structure interaction, treating the particular case in which an
      elastic structure is immersed in a viscous incompressible fluid. The IB approach
      to such problems is to describe the elasticity of the immersed structure in
      Lagrangian form, and to describe the momentum, viscosity, and incompressibility
      of the coupled fluid-structure system in Eulerian form. Interaction between
      Lagrangian and Eulerian variables is mediated by integral equations with Dirac
      delta function kernels. The IB method provides a unified formulation for fluid
      structure interaction models involving both thin elastic boundaries and also
      thick viscoelastic bodies. In this work, we describe the application of an
      adaptive, staggered-grid version of the IB method to the three-dimensional
      simulation of the fluid dynamics of the aortic heart valve. Our model describes
      the thin leaflets of the aortic valve as immersed elastic boundaries, and
      describes the wall of the aortic root as a thick, semi-rigid elastic structure. A
      physiological left-ventricular pressure waveform is used to drive flow through
      the model valve, and dynamic pressure loading conditions are provided by a
      reduced (zero-dimensional) circulation model that has been fit to clinical data.
      We use this model and method to simulate aortic valve dynamics over multiple
      cardiac cycles. The model is shown to approach rapidly a periodic steady state in
      which physiological cardiac output is obtained at physiological pressures. These
      realistic flow rates are not specified in the model, however. Instead, they
      emerge from the fluid-structure interaction simulation.

PMID- 25830201
TI  - Axisymmetric multicomponent vesicles: A comparison of hydrodynamic and geometric
      models.
AB  - Using a mathematical model, we investigate the role of hydrodynamic forces on
      three-dimensional axisymmetric multicomponent vesicles. The equations are derived
      using an energy variation approach that accounts for different surface phases,
      the excess energy associated with surface domain boundaries, bending energy and
      inextensibility. The equations are high-order (fourth order) nonlinear and
      nonlocal. To solve the equations numerically, we use a nonstiff, pseudo-spectral
      boundary integral method that relies on an analysis of the equations at small
      scales. We also derive equations governing the dynamics of inextensible vesicles
      evolving in the absence of hydrodynamic forces and simulate numerically the
      evolution of this geometric model. We find that compared with the geometric
      model, hydrodynamic forces provide additional paths for relaxing inextensible
      vesicles. The presence of hydrodynamic forces may enable the dynamics to overcome
      local energy barriers and reach lower energy states than those accessible by
      geometric motion or energy minimization algorithms. Because of the intimate
      connection between morphology, surface phase distribution and biological
      function, these results have important consequences in understanding the role
      vesicles play in biological processes.

PMID- 25830202
TI  - Modeling TGF-mediated flow dynamics in a system of three coupled nephrons.
AB  - This paper focuses on a mathematical model of a system of three closely coupled
      nephrons and accompanying analytical and computational analysis. In our previous
      modeling efforts, we have shown how coupling magnifies the tendency of many
      coupled identical nephrons to oscillate owing to tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF)
      mechanism. However, in this study, our focus is on the coupled nonidentical
      nephrons and their dynamics due to the TGF system. Our detailed analytical and
      computational results suggest that systems of three nonidentical nephrons coupled
      to their nearest neighbors are prone to be found in an oscillatory state,
      relative to a single-nephron case with the same properties; however, their steady
      state regions are not necessarily as small as it was predicted from the system of
      many coupled identical nephrons cases.

PMID- 25830203
TI  - Numerical studies of problems in biophysics, biomechanics and   mechanobiology.

PMID- 25830204
TI  - Numerical simulation of a thermodynamically consistent four-species tumor growth
      model.
AB  - In this paper, we develop a thermodynamically consistent four-species model of
      tumor growth on the basis of the continuum theory of mixtures. Unique to this
      model is the incorporation of nutrient within the mixture as opposed to being
      modeled with an auxiliary reaction-diffusion equation. The formulation involves
      systems of highly nonlinear partial differential equations of surface effects
      through diffuse-interface models. A mixed finite element spatial discretization
      is developed and implemented to provide numerical results demonstrating the range
      of solutions this model can produce. A time-stepping algorithm is then presented
      for this system, which is shown to be first order accurate and energy gradient
      stable. The results of an array of numerical experiments are presented, which
      demonstrate a wide range of solutions produced by various choices of model
      parameters.

PMID- 25830205
TI  - An active strain electromechanical model for cardiac tissue.
AB  - We propose a finite element approximation of a system of partial differential
      equations describing the coupling between the propagation of electrical potential
      and large deformations of the cardiac tissue. The underlying mathematical model
      is based on the active strain assumption, in which it is assumed that there is a
      multiplicative decomposition of the deformation tensor into a passive and active
      part holds, the latter carrying the information of the electrical potential
      propagation and anisotropy of the cardiac tissue into the equations of either
      incompressible or compressible nonlinear elasticity, governing the mechanical
      response of the biological material. In addition, by changing from a Eulerian to
      a Lagrangian configuration, the bidomain or monodomain equations modeling the
      evolution of the electrical propagation exhibit a nonlinear diffusion term.
      Piecewise quadratic finite elements are employed to approximate the displacements
      field, whereas for pressure, electrical potentials and ionic variables are
      approximated by piecewise linear elements. Various numerical tests performed with
      a parallel finite element code illustrate that the proposed model can capture
      some important features of the electromechanical coupling and show that our
      numerical scheme is efficient and accurate.

PMID- 25830206
TI  - Coupled electromechanical model of the heart: Parallel finite element
      formulation.
AB  - In this paper, a highly parallel coupled electromechanical model of the heart is
      presented and assessed. The parallel-coupled model is thoroughly discussed, with
      scalability proven up to hundreds of cores. This work focuses on the mechanical
      part, including the constitutive model (proposing some modifications to pre
      existent models), the numerical scheme and the coupling strategy. The model is
      next assessed through two examples. First, the simulation of a small piece of
      cardiac tissue is used to introduce the main features of the coupled model and
      calibrate its parameters against experimental evidence. Then, a more realistic
      problem is solved using those parameters, with a mesh of the Oxford ventricular
      rabbit model. The results of both examples demonstrate the capability of the
      model to run efficiently in hundreds of processors and to reproduce some basic
      characteristic of cardiac deformation.

PMID- 25830207
TI  - A continuum description of the damage process in the arterial wall of abdominal
      aortic aneurysms.
AB  - In the present work, we develop a three-dimensional isotropic finite-strain
      damage model for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) wall that considers both the
      characteristic softening of the material caused by damage and the spatial
      variation of the material properties. A strain energy function is formulated that
      accounts for a hyperelastic, slightly compressible, isotropic material behavior
      during the elastic phase, whereas the damage process only contributes to the
      material response when the elastic limit of the AAA wall is exceeded. Material
      and damage parameters are obtained by fitting the strain energy function to the
      experimental data obtained by uniaxial tensile tests of freshly harvested AAA
      wall samples. The damage model extends the validity of the material law to a
      strain range of up to 50%. Purely elastic material laws for AAA wall are only
      valid for a strain range of up to 17%. In a series of finite element simulations
      of patient-specific AAAs, serving as numerical examples, we investigate the
      applicability of the damage model. The use of the damage model does not yield a
      more distinct identification of rupture-prone AAAs than other computational-based
      risk indices. However, the benefit of the finite-strain damage model is the
      potential capability to trigger growth and remodeling processes in
      mechanobiological models.

PMID- 25830208
TI  - Dynamics of the aortic arch submitted to a shock loading: Parametric study with
      fluid-structure models.
AB  - This work aims to present some fluid-structure models for analyzing the dynamics
      of the aorta during a brusque loading. Indeed, various lesions may appear at the
      aortic arch during car crash or other accident such as brusque falling. Aortic
      stresses evolution are simulated during the shock at the cross section and along
      the aorta. One hot question was that if a brusque deceleration can generate
      tissue tearing, or a shock is necessary to provoke such a damage. Different
      constitutive laws of blood are then tested whereas the aorta is assumed linear
      and elastic. The overall shock model is inspired from an experimental jig. We
      show that the viscosity has strong influence on the stress and parietal moments
      and forces. The nonlinear viscosity has no significant additional effects for
      healthy aorta, but modifies the stress and parietal loadings for the stenotic
      aorta.

PMID- 25830209
TI  - Computational model of soft tissues in the human upper airway.
AB  - This paper presents a three-dimensional finite element model of the tongue and
      surrounding soft tissues with potential application to the study of sleep apnoea
      and of linguistics and speech therapy. The anatomical data was obtained from the
      Visible Human Project, and the underlying histological data was also extracted
      and incorporated into the model. Hyperelastic constitutive models were used to
      describe the material behaviour, and material incompressibility was accounted
      for. An active Hill three-element muscle model was used to represent the muscular
      tissue of the tongue. The neural stimulus for each muscle group was determined
      through the use of a genetic algorithm-based neural control model. The
      fundamental behaviour of the tongue under gravitational and breathing-induced
      loading is investigated. It is demonstrated that, when a time-dependent loading
      is applied to the tongue, the neural model is able to control the position of the
      tongue and produce a physiologically realistic response for the genioglossus.

PMID- 25830210
TI  - Semi-automatic surface and volume mesh generation for subject-specific biomedical
      geometries.
AB  - An overview of surface and volume mesh generation techniques for creating valid
      meshes to carry out biomedical flows is provided. The methods presented are
      designed for robust numerical modelling of biofluid flow through subject-specific
      geometries. The applications of interest are haemodynamics in blood vessels and
      air flow in upper human respiratory tract. The methods described are designed to
      minimize distortion to a given domain boundary. They are also designed to
      generate a triangular surface mesh first and then volume mesh (tetrahedrons) with
      high quality surface and volume elements. For blood flow applications, a simple
      procedure to generate a boundary layer mesh is also described. The methods
      described here are semi-automatic in nature because of the fact that the
      geometries are complex, and automation of the procedures may be possible if high
      quality scans are used.

PMID- 25830211
TI  - Automated extraction of the femoral anatomical axis for determining the
      intramedullary rod parameters in total knee arthroplasty.
AB  - The automated extraction of anatomical reference parameters may improve speed,
      precision and accuracy of surgical procedures. In this study, an automated method
      for extracting the femoral anatomical axis (FAA) from a 3D surface mesh, based on
      geometrical entity fitting, is presented. This was applied to conventional total
      knee arthroplasty, which uses an intramedullary rod (FIR) to orient the femoral
      prosthesis with respect to the FAA. The orientation and entry point of a FIR with
      a length of 200 mm are automatically determined from the FAA, as it has been
      shown that errors in these parameters may lead to malalignment of the mechanical
      axis. Moreover, the effect of partially scanning the leg was investigated by
      creating reduced femur models and comparing the results with the full models.
      Precise measurements are obtained for 50 models by using a central and two outer
      parts, with lengths of 20 and 120 mm, which correspond to 58% of the mean femoral
      length. The deviations were less than 2 mm for the FAA, 2.8 mm for the FAA
      endpoints and 0.7 degrees  and 1.3 mm for the FIR orientation and entry point.
      The computer-based techniques might eventually be used for preoperative planning
      of total knee arthroplasty.

PMID- 25830212
TI  - Human skull shape and masticatory induced stress: Objective comparison through
      the use of non-rigid registration.
AB  - Variation in masticatory induced stress, caused by shape changes in the human
      skull, is quantified in this article. A comparison on masticatory induced stress
      is presented subject to a variation in human skull shape. Non-rigid registration
      is employed to obtain appropriate computational domain representations. This
      procedure allows the isolation of shape from other variations that could affect
      the results. An added benefit, revealed through the use of non-rigid registration
      to acquire appropriate domain representation, is the possibility of direct and
      objective comparison and manipulation. The effect of mapping uncertainty on the
      direct comparison is also quantified. As shown in this study, exact difference
      values are not necessarily obtained, but a non-rigid map between subject shapes
      and numerical results gives an objective indication on the location of
      differences.

PMID- 25830213
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25830214
TI  - Editorial comment.

PMID- 25830215
TI  - Letting the data speak for themselves: a fully  Bayesian approach to
      transcriptome assembly.
AB  - A novel method for transcriptome assembly, Bayesembler, provides greater accuracy
      without sacrifice of computational speed, and particular advantages for
      alternative transcripts expressed at low levels.

PMID- 25830216
TI  - [International Schizophrenia Research Society conference].

PMID- 25830217
TI  - Dr Paul Batchelor responds.

PMID- 25830218
TI  - [Analysis on the removal efficiency and mechanisms of phosphorus by modified
      zeolites substrates coated with LDHs reacted by different metal compounds in
      laboratory-scale vertical-flow constructed wetlands].
AB  - Six kinds of metal compounds which were CaCl2 , ZnCl2, MgCl2, FeCl3, AlCl3, and
      CoCl3 were formed nine kinds of different combinations in the alkaline conditions
      to synthesized LDHs (Layered Double Hydroxides), which were in-situ coated on the
      surface of zeolites. With the filling of the original and nine kinds of modified
      zeolites in the columns to simulate a laboratory-scale vertical-flow constructed
      wetland system, the experiments of purified phosphorus were conducted. Combined
      removal efficiency with adsorption isotherm data of the ten kinds of zeolites,
      mechanism for strengthening the removal rates of the phosphorus by the modified
      zeolites was studied. The results showed that compared with the original
      zeolites, the removal rates of the phosphorus by nine kinds of modified zeolites
      were enhanced with various degrees. In the cases of Zn involved in the modified
      zeolites, the removal efficiencies of phosphorus reached a high quality.
      Especially, the ZnFe-LDHs had the average removal rates of the total phosphorus,
      the dissolved phosphorus and the phosphate were over 90%, and its maximum
      adsorption capacity of the phosphorus was three times higher than that of the
      original zeolites. Therefore, by means of increasing the adsorption capacity and
      improving the chemical adsorption ability of phosphorus, the modification to
      coated LDHs on the zeolites reached the aim of strengthening the purification of
      the phosphorus.

PMID- 25830219
TI  - A PEGylation-Free Biomimetic Porphyrin Nanoplatform for Personalized Cancer
      Theranostics.
AB  - PEGylation (PEG) is the most commonly adopted strategy to prolong nanoparticles'
      vascular circulation by mitigating the reticuloendothelial system uptake.
      However, there remain many concerns in regards to its immunogenicity, targeting
      efficiency, etc., which inspires pursuit of alternate, non-PEGylated systems. We
      introduced here a PEG-free, porphyrin-based ultrasmall nanostructure mimicking
      nature lipoproteins, termed PLP, that integrates multiple imaging and therapeutic
      functionalities, including positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, near
      infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging and photodynamic therapy (PDT). With an
      engineered lipoprotein-mimicking structure, PLP is highly stable in the blood
      circulation, resulting in favorable pharmacokinetics and biodistribution without
      the need of PEG. The prompt tumor intracellular trafficking of PLP allows for
      rapid nanostructure dissociation upon tumor accumulation to release monomeric
      porphyrins to efficiently generate fluorescence and photodynamic reactivity,
      which are highly silenced in intact PLP, thus providing an activatable mechanism
      for low-background NIR fluorescence imaging and tumor-selective PDT. Its
      intrinsic copper-64 labeling feature allows for noninvasive PET imaging of PLP
      delivery and quantitative assessment of drug distribution. Using a clinically
      relevant glioblastoma multiforme model, we demonstrated that PLP enabled accurate
      delineation of tumor from surrounding healthy brain at size less than 1 mm,
      exhibiting the potential for intraoperative fluorescence-guided surgery and tumor
      selective PDT. Furthermore, we demonstrated the general applicability of PLP for
      sensitive and accurate detection of primary and metastatic tumors in other
      clinically relevant animal models. Therefore, PLP offers a biomimetic theranostic
      nanoplatform for pretreatment stratification using PET and NIR fluorescence
      imaging and for further customized cancer management via imaging-guided surgery,
      PDT, or/and potential chemotherapy. 

PMID- 25830220
TI  - Moving from opinion-based Homo Medicus to evidence-based Homo Cochrane.

PMID- 25830221
TI  - Performance of a receptive language test among young children in Madagascar.
AB  - Language tests developed and validated in one country may lose their desired
      properties when translated for use in another, possibly resulting in misleading
      estimates of ability. Using Item Response Theory (IRT) methodology, we assess the
      performance of a test of receptive vocabulary, the U.S.-validated Peabody Picture
      Vocabulary Test-Third Edition (PPVT-III), when translated, adapted, and
      administered to children 3 to 10 years of age in Madagascar (N = 1372), in the
      local language (Malagasy). Though Malagasy is considered a single language, there
      are numerous dialects spoken in Madagascar. Our findings were that test scores
      were positively correlated with age and indicators of socio-economic status.
      However, over half (57/96) of items evidenced unexpected response variation
      and/or bias by local dialect spoken. We also encountered measurement error and
      reduced differentiation among person abilities when we used the publishers'
      recommended stopping rules, largely because we lost the original item ordering by
      difficulty when we translated test items into Malagasy. Our results suggest that
      bias and testing inefficiency introduced from the translation of the PPVT can be
      significantly reduced with the use of methods based on IRT at both the pre
      testing and analysis stages. We explore and discuss implications for cross
      cultural comparisons of internationally recognized tests, such as the PPVT. 

PMID- 25830222
TI  - Frugivorous bats maintain functional habitat connectivity in agricultural
      landscapes but rely strongly on natural forest fragments.
AB  - Anthropogenic changes in land use threaten biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
      by the conversion of natural habitat into agricultural mosaic landscapes, often
      with drastic consequences for the associated fauna. The first step in the
      development of efficient conservation plans is to understand movement of animals
      through complex habitat mosaics. Therefore, we studied ranging behavior and
      habitat use in Dermanura watsoni (Phyllostomidae), a frugivorous bat species that
      is a valuable seed disperser in degraded ecosystems. Radio-tracking of sixteen
      bats showed that the animals strongly rely on natural forest. Day roosts were
      exclusively located within mature forest fragments. Selection ratios showed that
      the bats foraged selectively within the available habitat and positively selected
      natural forest. However, larger daily ranges were associated with higher use of
      degraded habitats. Home range geometry and composition of focal foraging areas
      indicated that wider ranging bats performed directional foraging bouts from
      natural to degraded forest sites traversing the matrix over distances of up to
      three hundred meters. This behavior demonstrates the potential of frugivorous
      bats to functionally connect fragmented areas by providing ecosystem services
      between natural and degraded sites, and highlights the need for conservation of
      natural habitat patches within agricultural landscapes that meet the roosting
      requirements of bats. 

PMID- 25830223
TI  - Predator-specific effects on incubation behaviour and offspring growth in great
      tits.
AB  - In birds, different types of predators may target adults or offspring
      differentially and at different times of the reproductive cycle. Hence they may
      also differentially influence incubation behaviour and thus embryonic development
      and offspring phenotype. This is poorly understood, and we therefore performed a
      study to assess the effects of the presence of either a nest predator or a
      predator targeting adults and offspring after fledging on female incubation
      behaviour in great tits (Parus major), and the subsequent effects on offspring
      morphological traits. We manipulated perceived predation risk during incubation
      using taxidermic models of two predators: the short-tailed weasel posing a risk
      to incubating females and nestlings, and the sparrowhawk posing a risk to adults
      and offspring after fledging. To disentangle treatment effects induced during
      incubation from potential carry-over effects of parental behaviour after
      hatching, we cross-fostered whole broods from manipulated nests with broods from
      unmanipulated nests. Both predator treatments lead to a reduced on- and off-bout
      frequency, to a slower decline in on-bout temperature as incubation advanced and
      showed a negative effect on nestling body mass gain. At the current state of
      knowledge on predator-induced variation in incubation patterns alternative
      hypotheses are feasible, and the findings of this study will be useful for
      guiding future research. 

PMID- 25830224
TI  - Comparative effectiveness of tocilizumab with either methotrexate or leflunomide
      in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In agreement with EULAR recommendations, a DMARD in combination with a
      biotherapy is the reference treatment because of the superior long-term clinical
      and radiographic outcomes. Methotrexate (MTX) is the cornerstone of combination
      therapy but is in some cases contra-indicated or poorly tolerated. This
      observational study aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of TCZ in
      combination with either MTX or leflunomide (LEF) in the treatment of patients
      with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and an inadequate response to one or more
      DMARDs and/or biological agents in a real-world setting. METHODS: We performed an
      ambispective review of 91 patients with active RA who were routinely treated with
      TCZ plus MTX or LEF. A comparative study between the two combinations of
      treatment was performed at 6 months of follow-up considering 3 outcomes:
      improvement of RA disease activity, evolution of functional disability, and
      tolerability and side effect profile. RESULTS: Of the 91 patients, 62 received
      TCZ with MTX and 29 received TCZ with LEF. Eighty-one patients were followed for
      6 months, and the remaining 10 patients discontinued treatment due to serious
      adverse events. At baseline, there were no significant differences between the
      groups in terms of the main clinical and laboratory data or in the number of
      previous DMARDs and biological agents used. At 6 months, there were no
      significant differences between the combinations in terms of disease activity and
      functional disability. Serious adverse events occurred in 11% and 10% of the
      patients treated in combination with MTX and LEF, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our
      preliminary data support the argument that LEF is an effective and safe
      (equivalent) alternative to MTX for combination treatment with TCZ.

PMID- 25830225
TI  - New genetic and linguistic analyses show ancient human influence on baobab
      evolution and distribution in Australia.
AB  - This study investigates the role of human agency in the gene flow and
      geographical distribution of the Australian baobab, Adansonia gregorii. The genus
      Adansonia is a charismatic tree endemic to Africa, Madagascar, and northwest
      Australia that has long been valued by humans for its multiple uses. The
      distribution of genetic variation in baobabs in Africa has been partially
      attributed to human-mediated dispersal over millennia, but this relationship has
      never been investigated for the Australian species. We combined genetic and
      linguistic data to analyse geographic patterns of gene flow and movement of word
      forms for A. gregorii in the Aboriginal languages of northwest Australia.
      Comprehensive assessment of genetic diversity showed weak geographic structure
      and high gene flow. Of potential dispersal vectors, humans were identified as
      most likely to have enabled gene flow across biogeographic barriers in northwest
      Australia. Genetic-linguistic analysis demonstrated congruence of gene flow
      patterns and directional movement of Aboriginal loanwords for A. gregorii. These
      findings, along with previous archaeobotanical evidence from the Late Pleistocene
      and Holocene, suggest that ancient humans significantly influenced the geographic
      distribution of Adansonia in northwest Australia. 

PMID- 25830226
TI  - The activity of TcCYS4 modified by variations in pH and temperature can affect
      symptoms of witches' broom disease of cocoa, caused by the fungus Moniliophthora
      perniciosa.
AB  - The phytocystatins regulate various physiological processes in plants, including
      responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, mainly because they act as inhibitors
      of cysteine proteases. In this study, we have analyzed four cystatins from
      Theobroma cacao L. previously identified in ESTs libraries of the interaction
      with the fungus Moniliophthora perniciosa and named TcCYS1, TcCYS2, TcCYS3 and
      TcCYS4. The recombinant cystatins were purified and subjected to the heat
      treatment, at different temperatures, and their thermostabilities were monitored
      using their ability to inhibit papain protease. TcCYS1 was sensitive to
      temperatures above 50 degrees C, while TcCYS2, TcCYS3, and TcCYS4 were
      thermostable. TcCYS4 presented a decrease of inhibitory activity when it was
      treated at temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees C, with the greater decrease
      occurring at 65 degrees C. Analyses by native gel electrophoresis and size
      exclusion chromatography showed that TcCYS4 forms oligomers at temperatures
      between 60 and 70 degrees C, condition where reduction of inhibitory activity was
      observed. TcCYS4 oligomers remain stable for up to 20 days after heat treatment
      and are undone after treatment at 80 degrees C. TcCYS4 presented approximately
      90% of inhibitory activity at pH values between 5 and 9. This protein treated at
      temperatures above 45 degrees C and pH 5 presented reduced inhibitory activity
      against papain, suggesting that the pH 5 enhances the formation of TcCYS4
      oligomers. A variation in the titratable acidity was observed in tissues of T.
      cacao during the symptoms of witches' broom disease. Our findings suggest that
      the oligomerization of TcCYS4, favored by variations in pH, is an endergonic
      process. We speculate that this process can be involved in the development of the
      symptoms of witches' broom disease in cocoa. 

PMID- 25830227
TI  - Impact of nutrition and salinity changes on biological performances of green and
      white sturgeon.
AB  - Green and white sturgeon are species of high conservational and economic
      interest, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Delta (SFBD) for which
      significant climate change-derived alterations in salinity and nutritional
      patterns are forecasted. Although there is paucity of information, it is critical
      to test the network of biological responses underlying the capacity of animals to
      tolerate current environmental changes. Through nutrition and salinity
      challenges, climate change will likely have more physiological effect on young
      sturgeon stages, which in turn may affect growth performance. In this study, the
      two species were challenged in a multiple-factor experimental setting, first to
      levels of feeding rate, and then to salinity levels for different time periods.
      Data analysis included generalized additive models to select predictors of growth
      performance (measured by condition factor) among the environmental stressors
      considered and a suite of physiological variables. Using structural equation
      modeling, a path diagram is proposed to quantify the main linkages among
      nutrition status, salinity, osmoregulation variables, and growth performances.
      Three major trends were anticipated for the growth performance of green and white
      sturgeon in the juvenile stage in the SFBD: (i) a decrease in prey abundance will
      be highly detrimental for the growth of both species; (ii) an acute increase in
      salinity within the limits studied can be tolerated by both species but possibly
      the energy spent in osmoregulation may affect green sturgeon growth within the
      time window assessed; (iii) the mechanism of synergistic effects of nutrition and
      salinity changes will be more complex in green sturgeon, with condition factor
      responding nonlinearly to interactions of salinity and nutrition status or time
      of salinity exposure. Green sturgeon merits special scientific attention and
      conservation effort to offset the effects of feed restriction and salinity as key
      environmental stressors in the SFBD.

PMID- 25830229
TI  - Problem-solving skills appraisal mediates hardiness and suicidal ideation among
      malaysian undergraduate students.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Recent evidence suggests that suicidal ideation is increased among
      university students, it is essential to increase our knowledge concerning the
      etiology of suicidal ideation among university students. This study was conducted
      to examine the relationships between problem-solving skills appraisal, hardiness,
      and suicidal ideation among university students. In addition, this study was
      conducted to examine problem-solving skills appraisal (including the three
      components of problem-solving confidence, approach-avoidance style, and personal
      control of emotion) as a potential mediator between hardiness and suicidal
      ideation. METHODS: The participants consisted of 500 undergraduate students from
      Malaysian public universities. RESULTS: Structural Equation Modelling (SEM)
      estimated that undergraduate students with lower hardiness, poor problem-solving
      confidence, external personal control of emotion, and avoiding style was
      associated with higher suicidal ideation. Problem-solving skills appraisal
      (including the three components of problem-solving confidence, approach-avoidance
      style, and personal control of emotion) partially mediated the relationship
      between hardiness and suicidal ideation. CONCLUSION: These findings underline the
      importance of studying mediating processes that explain how hardiness affects
      suicidal ideation.

PMID- 25830228
TI  - Positive effects of voluntary running on metabolic syndrome-related disorders in
      non-obese hereditary hypertriacylglycerolemic rats.
AB  - While metabolic syndrome is often associated with obesity, 25% of humans
      suffering from it are not obese and the effect of physical activity remains
      unclear in such cases. Therefore, we used hereditary hypertriaclyglycerolemic
      (HHTg) rats as a unique model for studying the effect of spontaneous physical
      activity [voluntary running (VR)] on metabolic syndrome-related disorders, such
      as dyslipidemia, in non-obese subjects. Adult HHTg males were fed standard (CD)
      or high-sucrose (HSD) diets ad libitum for four weeks. Within both dietary
      groups, some of the rats had free access to a running wheel (CD+VR, HSD+VR),
      whereas the controls (CD, HSD) had no possibility of extra physical activity. At
      the end of the four weeks, we measured the effects of VR on various metabolic
      syndrome-associated parameters: (i) biochemical parameters, (ii) the content and
      composition of triacylglycerols (TAG), diacylglycerols (DAG), ceramides and
      membrane phospholipids, and (iii) substrate utilization in brown adipose tissue.
      In both dietary groups, VR led to various positive effects: reduced epididymal
      and perirenal fat depots; increased epididymal adipose tissue lipolysis;
      decreased amounts of serum TAG, non-esterified fatty acids and insulin; a higher
      insulin sensitivity index. While tissue ceramide content was not affected,
      decreased TAG accumulation resulted in reduced and modified liver, heart and
      skeletal muscle DAG. VR also had a beneficial effect on muscle membrane
      phospholipid composition. In addition, compared with the CD group, the CD+VR rats
      exhibited increased fatty acid oxidation and protein content in brown adipose
      tissue. Our results confirm that physical activity in a non-obese model of severe
      dyslipidemia has many beneficial effects and can even counteract the negative
      effects of sucrose consumption. Furthermore, they suggest that the mechanism by
      which these effects are modulated involves a combination of several positive
      changes in lipid metabolism. 

PMID- 25830230
TI  - Nanodelivery: An Emerging Avenue for Nutraceuticals and Drug Delivery.
AB  - Aquaculture has been globally recognized as the fastest growing food production
      sector which plays a major role in meeting the increasing demand for animal
      protein requirement. A consensus is growing that a dramatic increase in
      aquaculture is needed to supply future aquatic food needs. However, there are
      sustained problems with the aquaculture like disease outbreaks, chemical
      pollution, the environmental destruction, and inefficient feed utilization. These
      altogether raise question mark on sustainability of aquaculture. In spite of the
      several strategy adopted on national and international level, as improved
      laboratory facilities, diagnostic expertise, and control and therapeutic
      strategies in order to handle disease outbreaks more effectively. Aquaculture
      industry is under uncertainty and the progress has not matched that of the
      rapidly developing aquaculture sector. In order to control disease prevalence and
      ensure better health of system and sustainable production, the sector demand more
      technical innovation for the drug use, disease treatment, water quality
      management, production of tailored fish for suiting better health, productivity
      drive by epigenetic and nutrigenomic interaction, better breeding success by
      efficient delivery of maturation and spawning inducing agent, nutraceutical
      delivery for rapid growth promotion and culture time reduction, successful use of
      autotransgenic, and effective vaccine. Nanotechnology has a tremendous potential
      to revolutionize agriculture and allied fields including aquaculture and
      fisheries. For these multiple purposes effort, importance of nanotechnology and
      nanodelivery of drugs, vaccine, nutraceutical, inducing hormones, and growth
      promoting anabolics open tremendous opportunity. The paper has been targeted to
      delineate the possible future application of nanodelivery for the aquaculture
      development. 

PMID- 25830232
TI  - Current and novel therapeutic approaches in myelodysplastic syndromes.
AB  - Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of hematologic
      neoplasms with an annual incidence of 4.1 cases per 100,000 Americans. Patients
      with MDS suffer from chronic cytopenias that may lead to recurrent transfusions,
      infections, and increased risk for bleeding. They are also at risk for
      progression to acute myeloid leukemia. Allogeneic hematopoietic cell
      transplantation is the only potentially curative treatment for MDS, although 3
      drugs have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for its
      treatment: lenalidomide, 5-azacitidine, and decitabine. These therapies can be
      effective in the relief of cytopenias, achievement of cytogenetic remissions, and
      reduction in bone marrow blasts. 5-azacitidine has also been shown to improve
      overall survival. However, there remain many unmet needs in the treatment of MDS.
      Breakthroughs in our understanding of the complex pathogenesis of MDS through
      epigenetic, genetic, immunologic, and other biological mechanisms have allowed us
      to develop new therapeutic strategies that can lead to improvements in outcomes
      in MDS. In this review, we aim to provide an overview of the evolution in
      classifcation and risk stratifcation in MDS and to illustrate how we can use this
      to guide us in tailoring therapeutic choices in this disease. Responses and
      outcomes related to com monly used MDS therapies will be discussed together with
      novel therapies that have evolved with the improved understanding of MDS
      pathophysiology. 

PMID- 25830231
TI  - The Singapore Liver Cancer Recurrence (SLICER) Score for relapse prediction in
      patients with surgically resected hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Surgery is the primary curative option in patients with
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Current prognostic models for HCC are developed
      on datasets of primarily patients with advanced cancer, and may be less relevant
      to resectable HCC. We developed a postoperative nomogram, the Singapore Liver
      Cancer Recurrence (SLICER) Score, to predict outcomes of HCC patients who have
      undergone surgical resection. METHODS: Records for 544 consecutive patients
      undergoing first-line curative surgery for HCC in one institution from 1992-2007
      were reviewed, with 405 local patients selected for analysis. Freedom from
      relapse (FFR) was the primary outcome measure. An outcome-blinded modeling
      strategy including clustering, data reduction and transformation was used. We
      compared the performance of SLICER in estimating FFR with other HCC prognostic
      models using concordance-indices and likelihood analysis. RESULTS: A nomogram
      predicting FFR was developed, incorporating non-neoplastic liver cirrhosis,
      multifocality, preoperative alpha-fetoprotein level, Child-Pugh score, vascular
      invasion, tumor size, surgical margin and symptoms at presentation. Our nomogram
      outperformed other HCC prognostic models in predicting FFR by means of log
      likelihood ratio statistics with good calibration demonstrated at 3 and 5 years
      post-resection and a concordance index of 0.69. Using decision curve analysis,
      SLICER also demonstrated superior net benefit at higher threshold probabilities.
      CONCLUSION: The SLICER score enables well-calibrated individualized predictions
      of relapse following curative HCC resection, and may represent a novel tool for
      biomarker research and individual counseling.

PMID- 25830233
TI  - Palonosetron versus older 5-HT3 receptor antagonists for nausea prevention in
      patients receiving chemotherapy: a multistudy analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: No clinical standard currently exists for the optimal management of
      nausea induced by emetogenic chemotherapy, 7particularly delayed nausea.
      OBJECTIVES: To compare the effcacy and safety of palonosetron with older 5-HT3
      receptor antagonists (RAs) in preventing chemotherapy-induced nausea. METHODS:
      Data were pooled from 4 similarly designed multicenter, randomized, double-blind,
      clinical trials that compared single intravenous doses of palonosetron 0.25 mg or
      0.75 mg with ondansetron 32 mg, dolasetron 100 mg, or granisetron 40 MUg/kg,
      administered 30 minutes before moderately emetogenic chemotherapy (MEC) or highly
      emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC). Pooled data within each chemotherapy category
      (MEC: n = 1,132; HEC: n = 1,781) were analyzed by a logistic regression model.
      Nausea endpoints were complete control rates (ie, no more than mild nausea, no
      vomiting, and no rescue medication), nausea-free rates, nausea severity, and
      requirement for rescue antiemetic/antinausea medication over 5 days following
      chemotherapy. Pooled safety data were summarized descriptively. RESULTS:
      Numerically more palonosetron-treated patients were nausea-free on each day, and
      fewer had moderate-severe nausea. Similarly, usage of rescue medication was less
      frequent among palonosetron-treated patients. Complete control rates for
      palonosetron and older 5-HT3 RAs in the acute phase were 66% vs 63%, 52% vs 42%
      in the delayed phase (24-120 hours), and 46% vs 37% in the overall phase. The
      incidence of adverse events was similar for palonosetron and older 5-HT3 RAs.
      LIMITATIONS: This post hoc analysis summarized data for palonosetron and several
      other 5-HT3 RAs but was not powered for statistical comparisons between
      individual agents. Because nausea is inherently subjective, the reliability of
      assessments of some aspects (eg, severity) may be infuenced by interindividual
      variability. CONCLUSION: Palonosetron may be more effective than older 5-HT3 RAs
      in preventing nausea, with comparable tolerability. DISCLOSURES AND FUNDING: Dr
      Schwartzberg is a consultant to and Dr Cox an employee at Esai. Mr Ballinari is a
      member of staff at and Dr Thorn consults for Helsinn Healthcare SA. Funding to
      support this study and the preparation of this manuscript was provided by Eisai
      Inc.

PMID- 25830234
TI  - Combined effect of insulin-like growth factor-1 and CC chemokine ligand 2 on
      angiogenic events in endothelial cells.
AB  - Therapeutic angiogenesis may be applied in medical conditions to promote
      stimulation of angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is a multistep process, which includes
      endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and tube formation, which is mediated
      by various angiogenic polypeptides. Thus, studies that elucidate the cellular
      mechanisms involved in these processes are necessary to develop novel therapeutic
      strategies. This study investigated the in vitro effects of the pro-angiogenic
      factors, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and/or chemokine (CC motif) ligand
      2 (CCL2), on endothelial cells. Flow cytometry analysis showed that IGF-1 and
      CCL2 treatment did not interfere with IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) expression, but
      CCL2 treatment increased CCL2 receptor (CCR2) expression. Immunofluorescence
      analysis revealed that the IGF-1/CCL2 combination induced a greater increase in
      fibronectin deposition, but the treatments did not alter the expression of the
      fibronectin receptors, CD49e and CD44. The interaction of fibronectin with
      cytokines demonstrated that IGF-1/CCL2 promoted changes in intermediate F-actin
      remodeling that may result in increased endothelial cell adhesion and cell
      migration mediated by fibronectin. Furthermore, IGF-1/CCL2 stimulated endothelial
      cells, grown on fibronectin, to form capillary-like structures and intercellular
      lumina with greater luminal area. These data suggest that IGF-1/CCL2 combination
      and a fibronectin matrix may contribute to the angiogenesis process to stimulate
      adhesion, migration, and tube formation by endothelial cells as a result of F
      actin remodeling. 

PMID- 25830235
TI  - Positional demands of professional rugby.
AB  - Rugby union is a physically intense intermittent sport coupled with high force
      collisions. Each position within a team has specific requirements which are
      typically based on speed, size and skill. The aim of this study was to
      investigate the contemporary demands of each position and whether they can
      explain changes in psychophysiological stress. Urine and saliva samples were
      collected before and after five selected Super 15 rugby games from 37 players.
      Total neopterin (NP), cortisol and immunoglobulin A were analysed by SCX-high
      performance liquid chromatography and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Global
      positioning system software provided distance data, while live video analysis
      provided impact data. All contemporary demands were analysed as events per minute
      of game time. Forwards were involved in more total impacts, tackles and rucks
      compared to backs (p < 0.001), while backs were involved in more ball carries and
      covered more total distance and distance at high speed per minute of game time (p
      < 0.01). Loose forwards, inside and outside backs covered significantly more
      distance at high speed (p < 0.01), while there was a negligible difference with
      number of impacts between the forward positions. There was also minimal
      difference between positions in the percentage change in NP, cortisol and sIgA.
      The results indicate distance covered and number of impacts per minute of game
      time is position-dependent whereas changes in psychophysiological stress are
      independent. This information can be used to adapt training and recovery
      interventions to better prepare each position based on the physical requirements
      of the game. 

PMID- 25830236
TI  - Dissecting Lewis score under the light of fecal calprotectin; an analysis of
      correlation of score components with calprotectin levels in capsule endoscopy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lewis Score (LS) is an inflammatory score in small-bowel capsule
      endoscopy (SBCE). Fecal calprotectin (FC) is considered the non-invasive, 'gold
      standard' marker of gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation. Recently, we reported
      that LS shows only a moderate correlation with FC. In this study, we aim to
      evaluate which LS parameters have greater correlation with FC. METHODS: A
      retrospective, two-center study; 74 patients who underwent SBCE within 7 (median
      1.5) days from a FC measurement. LS was calculated; univariate and multivariate
      analyses were performed, investigating LS correlation with FC, and which LS
      parameters had stronger correlation coefficient (rs) with FC. RESULTS: 74
      patients had an FC measurement within 7 days of their SBCE examination (median 22
      time-interval: 1.5 days; IQR: 5). Coefficient rs between LS and FC was moderate
      (0.454). In univariate analysis, the variables that gave the strongest
      association with FC were: the higher tertile subscore for ulcer, the summative
      ulcer subscore, the higher tertile ulcer score (only with descriptors of ulcer
      size and number), the summative ulcer score (only with descriptors of ulcer size
      and number), and subscores including various combinations of the stenosis
      descriptors. In multivariate analysis, the only positive predictor for FC was the
      higher tertile ulcer subscore (only with descriptors of ulcer size and number).
      CONCLUSION: LS shows only moderate correlation to FC. This is due to a) an
      inherent limitation of LS, and b) the notion of correlating the 2 parameters, and
      consideration should be given to development of a new, simplified (or composite)
      inflammation score/index for SBCE.

PMID- 25830237
TI  - [Stock based medicine: the patient waiting in a weary medical procedure].
AB  - This essay attempts to bring on a new perspective for healthcare professionals
      regarding the problems that surround this institutionalized profession, based on
      a system of stock balances and not on the real needs of patients and their
      community. The healthcare professional not only engages in biomedical healing but
      also possesses knowledge and expertise regarding the dialectical process of
      health/disease. Thus, his or her practice and actions should be centered on
      social practices and not just the healing process. 

PMID- 25830238
TI  - Menage a quoi? Optimal number of peer reviewers.
AB  - Peer review represents the primary mechanism used by funding agencies to allocate
      financial support and by journals to select manuscripts for publication, yet
      recent Cochrane reviews determined literature on peer review best practice is
      sparse. Key to improving the process are reduction of inherent vulnerability to
      high degree of randomness and, from an economic perspective, limiting both the
      substantial indirect costs related to reviewer time invested and direct
      administrative costs to funding agencies, publishers and research institutions.
      Use of additional reviewers per application may increase reliability and decision
      consistency, but adds to overall cost and burden. The optimal number of reviewers
      per application, while not known, is thought to vary with accuracy of judges or
      evaluation methods. Here I use bootstrapping of replicated peer review data from
      a Post-doctoral Fellowships competition to show that five reviewers per
      application represents a practical optimum which avoids large random effects
      evident when fewer reviewers are used, a point where additional reviewers at
      increasing cost provides only diminishing incremental gains in chance-corrected
      consistency of decision outcomes. Random effects were most evident in the
      relative mid-range of competitiveness. Results support aggressive high- and low
      end stratification or triaging of applications for subsequent stages of review,
      with the proportion and set of mid-range submissions to be retained for further
      consideration being dependent on overall success rate. 

PMID- 25830240
TI  - Correction: Orai3 constitutes a native store-operated calcium entry that
      regulates non small cell lung adenocarcinoma cell proliferation.

PMID- 25830239
TI  - Co-chaperone p23 regulates C. elegans Lifespan in Response to Temperature.
AB  - Temperature potently modulates various physiologic processes including organismal
      motility, growth rate, reproduction, and ageing. In ectotherms, longevity varies
      inversely with temperature, with animals living shorter at higher temperatures.
      Thermal effects on lifespan and other processes are ascribed to passive changes
      in metabolic rate, but recent evidence also suggests a regulated process. Here,
      we demonstrate that in response to temperature, daf-41/ZC395.10, the C. elegans
      homolog of p23 co-chaperone/prostaglandin E synthase-3, governs entry into the
      long-lived dauer diapause and regulates adult lifespan. daf-41 deletion triggers
      constitutive entry into the dauer diapause at elevated temperature dependent on
      neurosensory machinery (daf-10/IFT122), insulin/IGF-1 signaling (daf-16/FOXO),
      and steroidal signaling (daf-12/FXR). Surprisingly, daf-41 mutation alters the
      longevity response to temperature, living longer than wild-type at 25 degrees C
      but shorter than wild-type at 15 degrees C. Longevity phenotypes at 25 degrees C
      work through daf-16/FOXO and heat shock factor hsf-1, while short lived
      phenotypes converge on daf-16/FOXO and depend on the daf-12/FXR steroid receptor.
      Correlatively daf-41 affected expression of DAF-16 and HSF-1 target genes at high
      temperature, and nuclear extracts from daf-41 animals showed increased occupancy
      of the heat shock response element. Our studies suggest that daf-41/p23 modulates
      key transcriptional changes in longevity pathways in response to temperature. 

PMID- 25830241
TI  - Flexible, fast and accurate sequence alignment profiling on GPGPU with PaSWAS.
AB  - MOTIVATION: To obtain large-scale sequence alignments in a fast and flexible way
      is an important step in the analyses of next generation sequencing data.
      Applications based on the Smith-Waterman (SW) algorithm are often either not fast
      enough, limited to dedicated tasks or not sufficiently accurate due to
      statistical issues. Current SW implementations that run on graphics hardware do
      not report the alignment details necessary for further analysis. RESULTS: With
      the Parallel SW Alignment Software (PaSWAS) it is possible (a) to have easy
      access to the computational power of NVIDIA-based general purpose graphics
      processing units (GPGPUs) to perform high-speed sequence alignments, and (b)
      retrieve relevant information such as score, number of gaps and mismatches. The
      software reports multiple hits per alignment. The added value of the new SW
      implementation is demonstrated with two test cases: (1) tag recovery in next
      generation sequence data and (2) isotype assignment within an immunoglobulin 454
      sequence data set. Both cases show the usability and versatility of the new
      parallel Smith-Waterman implementation.

PMID- 25830242
TI  - The effect of VoorZorg, the Dutch nurse-family partnership, on child maltreatment
      and development: a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Child maltreatment is a great public health concern that has long
      term mental and physical health consequences and can result in death. We studied
      the effect of a nurse home visiting program on child maltreatment among young
      disadvantaged families in The Netherlands. This study is the first to investigate
      the effects of this program outside of the United States. METHODS: We conducted a
      single blind, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial that compared usual
      care with the nurse home visitation program, which began during pregnancy and
      continued until the children's second birthdays, in 460 disadvantaged women who
      were pregnant for the first time and <26 years of age. The primary outcome was
      the existence of a report about the child from a child protecting services agency
      (CPS reports). Secondary outcome measures included home environment and child
      behavior. RESULTS: Two hundred twenty-three participants were assigned to the
      control group, and 237 were assigned to the intervention group. Three years after
      birth, 19% of the children in the control group had a CPS report. The 11 percent
      of children in the intervention group with CPS files was significantly lower
      (relative risk 0.91, p-value 0.04). At 24 months, the intervention group scored
      significantly better on the IT-HOME. At 24 months after birth, the children in
      the intervention group exhibited a significant improvement in internalizing
      behavior (relative risk 0.56, p-value 0.04) but no evidence of a difference from
      the control group in externalizing behavior (relative risk 0.71, p-value 0.12).
      CONCLUSION: The number of CPS reports for the intervention group was
      significantly lower than that of the control group. Additionally, the long-term
      home environments were improved and internalizing behaviors of the children were
      lower in the intervention group. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Dutch Trial Register NTR854.

PMID- 25830244
TI  - Dark field transmission electron microscopy as a tool for identifying inorganic
      nanoparticles in biological matrices.
AB  - Dark field transmission electron microscopy has been applied herein to visualize
      the interactions of inorganic nanomaterials with biological systems. This new
      application of a known technique addresses a deficiency in status quo
      visualization techniques. High resolution and low noise images can be acquired to
      locate and identify crystalline nanoparticles in complex biological matrices.
      Moreover, through the composition of multiple images taken at different angular
      beam tilts, it is possible to image a majority of nanoparticles present at a site
      in dark field mode. This facilitates clarity regarding the internalization of
      nanomaterials in cellular systems. In addition, comparing dark field images
      recorded at different angular tilts yields insight into the character of
      nanoparticle faceting. 

PMID- 25830245
TI  - It is my pleasure and great honor to serve as the guest editor for this issue.
      Introduction.

PMID- 25830243
TI  - Tobacco smoke activates human papillomavirus 16 p97 promoter and cooperates with
      high-risk E6/E7 for oxidative DNA damage in lung cells.
AB  - We have previously shown a functional interaction between human papillomavirus
      type 16 (HPV-16) E6 and E7 oncoproteins and cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) in
      lung cells suggesting cooperation during carcinogenesis. The molecular mechanisms
      of such interaction, however, remain to be elucidated. Here we first present
      evidence showing that cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) has the ability to
      activate the HPV-16 p97 promoter by acting on the long control region (LCR) in
      lung epithelial cells. Interestingly, we observed that CSC-induced p97 promoter
      activation occurs in a dose-dependent manner in both tumor A-549 (lung
      adenocarcinoma), H-2170 (bronchial carcinoma), SiHa or Hela (cervical carcinoma)
      cells but not in non-tumor BEAS-2B (bronchial) or NL-20 (alveolar) lung cells
      unless they ectopically expressed the HPV-16 E6 and E7 oncogenes. In addition, we
      also observed a significant increase of primary DNA damage in tumor and non-tumor
      CSC-treated lung cells expressing HPV-16 E6 and E7 oncogenes suggesting a
      cooperative effect in this process, even though the contribution of E7 was
      significantly higher. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that tobacco
      smoke is able to induce the activation of the HPV-16 p97 promoter in cooperation
      with HPV-16 E6 and E7 oncogenes that, in turn, sensitize lung cells to tobacco
      smoke-induced DNA damage. 

PMID- 25830246
TI  - Update on botulinum neurotoxin use in aesthetic dermatology.
AB  - Botulinum toxins are among the most widely studied and versatile drugs in the
      medicinal market. Since their extraction from Clostridium botulinum, they have
      been harnessed and incorporated into different formulations with varied
      properties and actions. These products have been used to treat countless
      disorders such as musculoskeletal disorders, headaches, and eye disorders, among
      many others. In the realm of aesthetic cutaneous medicine, the evolution and
      creativity in the use of botulinum toxins has been swift and ever changing.
      Knowledge of the science and innovation behind this toxin enables the user to
      provide the patient with a variety of treatment options founded in evidence-based
      medicine. This review will highlight the properties and actions of the newer,
      more recent neurotoxin preparations, as well as some of the latest and novel
      therapeutic applications of botulinum toxins. 

PMID- 25830247
TI  - Filler frontier: what's new and heading West to the US market.
AB  - The amount of fillers approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration
      (FDA) for use in facial volume augmentation is diminutive in comparison to filler
      products employed worldwide. In the near future, several new hyaluronic acid
      filler products will be available to the United States market. Already approved
      fillers include Belotero Balance for fine lines, Juvederm Voluma XC for midfacial
      volume loss replacement, and Restylane Silk for perioral lines and lip
      augmentation. Volbella, currently under FDA evaluation, will be used for fine
      line correction and lip augmentation. The physiochemical properties, best
      practices, clinical uses, and side effects of these fillers are discussed.
      Additionally, evolving techniques such as the use of blunt-tipped microcannulas
      are explained. 

PMID- 25830248
TI  - Picosecond lasers: the next generation of short-pulsed lasers.
AB  - Selective photothermolysis, first discussed in the context of targeted
      microsurgery in 1983, proposed that the optimal parameters for specific thermal
      damage rely critically on the duration over which energy is delivered to the
      tissue. At that time, nonspecific thermal damage had been an intrinsic limitation
      of all commercially available lasers, despite efforts to mitigate this by a
      variety of compensatory cooling mechanisms. Fifteen years later, experimental
      picosecond lasers were first reported in the dermatological literature to
      demonstrate greater efficacy over their nanosecond predecessors in the context of
      targeted destruction of tattoo ink. Within the last 4 years, more than a decade
      after those experiments, the first commercially available cutaneous picosecond
      laser unit became available (Cynosure, Westford, Massachusetts), and several
      pilot studies have demonstrated its utility in tattoo removal. An experimental
      picosecond infrared laser has also recently demonstrated a nonthermal tissue
      ablative capability in soft tissue, bone, and dentin. In this article, we review
      the published data pertaining to dermatology on picosecond lasers from their
      initial reports to the present as well as discuss forthcoming technology. 

PMID- 25830249
TI  - The evolution of laser surgery for acne and other scarring processes.
AB  - The treatment of acne scars is an important part of a laser specialist's
      practice. For the last 20 years, the technology available for this application
      has progressed from nonablative to ablative and eventually to fractional lasers
      that are effective for a range of scar types. Although patients with mild to
      severe acne scarring have long been good laser candidates, we are beginning to
      understand the use of lasers for severe traumatic scars which can be disfiguring
      and functionally limiting in nature. 

PMID- 25830250
TI  - Convergence of anatomy, technology, and therapeutics: a review of laser-assisted
      drug delivers.
AB  - This is a very exciting time in cutaneous laser surgery with an ever-expanding
      therapeutic armamentarium and an increased sophistication of available
      technology. These recent trends have allowed for both a rapid development of
      interest and exploration of laser-assisted drug delivery and its potential
      applications. We review the current literature on anatomy, technology, and
      therapeutics as it relates to laser-assisted drug delivery. The focus of our
      review is on two areas of interest that have received much attention to date -
      photodynamic therapy in the treatment of actinic keratoses and nonmelanoma skin
      cancers as well as the treatment of scarring. We will also discuss potential
      complications of existing modalities used independently and in laser-assisted
      drug delivery and conclude with future indications for this burgeoning
      therapeutic methodology. 

PMID- 25830251
TI  - Updates in noninvasive and minimally invasive skin tightening.
AB  - The demand for noninvasive and minimally invasive skin-tightening procedures is
      rising within the aesthetic world. Although these treatments will not replace
      surgery,a growing patient population is seeking results through low-risk
      procedures with associated minimal downtime.The technology within this realm is
      changing due to an increased ability to safely deliver energy to deeper tissue
      planes. Within the last year alone, research has led to the introduction of a
      subdermal radiofrequency device, advancements in minimally invasive lasers, and
      the use of microfocused ultrasound off the facial tissue. Through research
      studies, protocols are being optimized and clinical results are becoming more
      reliable. 

PMID- 25830252
TI  - Men's aesthetic dermatology.
AB  - Cosmetic dermatology is continuing to see a dramatic increase in both procedures
      performed and technological advancements. Men's aesthetic dermatology is
      burgeoning with more men seeking cosmetic consultations and intervention. Whether
      it is targeted cosmeceuticals for men or male-specific procedures, dermatologists
      must be aware of this evolving demographic and understand the biological,
      anatomical, and psychological aspects that separate this cohort from their female
      counterparts. Cosmetic dermatology has moved beyond just applying the same
      techniques used for females onto males. The use of our cosmetic toolbox can
      differ for men in terms of technique and dosage. This article will review the
      state of men's aesthetic dermatology with.

PMID- 25830253
TI  - Home-use devices in aesthetic dermatology.
AB  - The world of aesthetic medicine is increasingly a consumer-driven market with a
      wide variety of home-use devices from which the consumer can choose for treating
      hair removal, hair loss, acne, facial rejuvenation, and other dermatologic
      conditions. Where these devices fit in the physician practice and consumer
      routine can be confusing, as scientific studies may be weak or lacking. The
      specifications, price, ease-of-use, maintenance, and technology can differ
      greatly between devices. Thus, the physician and consumer need to define exp. 

PMID- 25830254
TI  - Dissection of the water cavity of yeast thioredoxin 1: the effect of a
      hydrophobic residue in the cavity.
AB  - The water cavity of yeast thioredoxin 1 (yTrx1) is an ancestral, conserved
      structural element that is poorly understood. We recently demonstrated that the
      water cavity is involved in the complex protein dynamics that are responsible for
      the catalytically relevant event of coupling hydration, proton exchange, and
      motion at the interacting loops. Its main feature is the presence of the
      conserved polar residue, Asp24, which is buried in a hydrophobic cavity. Here, we
      evaluated the role of the solvation of Asp24 as the main element that is
      responsible for the formation of the water cavity in thioredoxins. We showed that
      the substitution of Asp24 with a hydrophobic residue (D24A) was not sufficient to
      completely close the cavity. The dynamics of the D24A mutant of yTrx1 at multiple
      time scales revealed that the D24A mutant presents motions at different time
      scales near the active site, interaction loops, and water cavity, revealing the
      existence of a smaller dissected cavity. Molecular dynamics simulation, along
      with experimental molecular dynamics, allowed a detailed description of the water
      cavity in wild-type yTrx1 and D24A. The cavity connects the interacting loops,
      the central beta-sheet, and alpha-helices 2 and 4. It is formed by three
      contiguous lobes, which we call lobes A-C. Lobe A is hydrophilic and the most
      superficial. It is formed primarily by the conserved Lys54. Lobe B is the central
      lobe formed by the catalytically important residues Cys33 and Asp24, which are
      strategically positioned. Lobe C is the most hydrophobic and is formed by the
      conserved cis-Pro73. The central lobe B is closed upon introduction of the D24A
      mutation, revealing that independent forces other than solvation of Asp24
      maintain lobes A and C in the open configuration. These data allow us to better
      understand the properties of this enzyme.

PMID- 25830255
TI  - Alternative for carpal tunnel injection: palmar injection site (Rankin's zone).
AB  - This study investigates an alternative approach for steroid injection into the
      carpal canal through a palmar site and its exposure of vital wrist structures to
      potential injury. The Rankin's zone entry site is more distally located than
      conventional sites. This cadaveric study investigated 28 wrists from 26 cadavers.
      Red latex dye was injected as a localizing aid. Layered dissections were
      performed to localize the needle tip with respect to vital wrist structures.
      Calipers measured the distance from the needle to nerves. Twenty-three of the 28
      injections using this approach demonstrated dye solely within the carpal tunnel.
      One median nerve was punctured. The mean distance from the median nerve was 5.76
      +/- 2.9 mm and 18.27 +/- 5.27 mm from the palmar cutaneous branch. This study
      suggests that the Rankin's zone approach might be utilized with diminished
      frequency of neural puncture. 

PMID- 25830256
TI  - Morphometric analysis of distal interphalangeal joint and implications for
      arthrodesis with a headless compression screw.
AB  - Using radiographs of a cross section of patients, measurements of phalanges were
      done to aid in surgical planning for distal interphalangeal joint (DIPJ)
      arthrodesis using a headless compression screw. Measurements were performed of
      the distal and middle phalanx of all fingers and the proximal and distal phalanx
      of the thumb. Three independent reviewers measured 50 patients. The average
      measurements (in mm) of anteroposterior (AP) dimensions were as follows: for the
      thumb P1 and P2: 5.7 and 5.5, lateral 4.2 and 3.5; for the index P2 and P3 AP:
      4.2 and 3.3, lateral 2.1 and 1.8; for the long P2 and P3 AP: 4.5 and 3.5, lateral
      2.2 and 1.8; for the ring P2 and P3 AP: 4.3 and 3.1, lateral 1.8 and 1.7; and for
      the small P2 and P3 AP: 3.7 and 2.2, lateral 1.8 and 1.5. Careful surgical
      planning by measuring the involved digit and knowledge of screw size is paramount
      to avoid complications from DIPJ arthrodesis with a compression screw. 

PMID- 25830257
TI  - Effect of body mass index on early outcomes of minimally invasive degenerative
      lumbar surgery.
AB  - This retrospective study examined the early outcomes of healthy weight and
      severely obese subjects who underwent minimally invasive (MI) fusion and
      decompression surgery for degenerative lumbar disease at one to two spinal
      levels. A single surgeon (D.A.) operated on all subjects. Subjects were
      categorized based on body mass index [normal (18.5-24.9 kg/m(2)) or severely
      obese (over 35 kg/m(2))]. Surgical data included blood loss, hospital length of
      stay, narcotic use, discharge disposition, and postoperative infection. Data were
      compared using Levene's test for equality of variances, t test for equality of
      means, Pearson chi-square test, and Cramer's V correlation test (alpha <= .05 for
      all). SPSS software was utilized for all tests. Significant differences between
      the groups included blood loss, hospital length of stay, and early narcotic use.
      In the early postoperative setting, healthy weight subjects went home sooner and
      lost less blood, but needed more narcotic prescriptions filled than their obese
      counterparts. The use of MI spinal surgery in the severely obese population
      provides manageable issues for the patient and no significant complications when
      compared with the healthy weight population, indicating that it is a good
      alternative for obese patients. 

PMID- 25830258
TI  - Comparison of intramedullary fixation techniques in the maintenance of functional
      anatomy of the elbow after fixation of the proximal ulna.
AB  - The objective of this study was to compare intramedullary (IM) nail and IM screw
      fixation for reattachment of the proximal ulna. Preserved elbow anatomy served as
      the primary outcome and was defined as the distance between the coronoid process
      and the olecranon. A retrospective cohort study of 31 patients treated with IM
      fixation of the proximal ulna was performed. Radiographs were used to compare
      displacement distances between the coronoid process and the olecranon, with
      average follow-up of approximately 5 months. IM nail fixation corresponded to a
      mean displacement of -0.65 mm between the olecranon and coronoid process, versus
      0.23 mm for IM screw fixation. No patients were identified with loss of reduction
      of bone fragments. Both IM fixation techniques maintained the functional anatomy
      of the elbow. Minimal displacement of bone fragments and no identified loss of
      reduction suggest that both techniques could be reasonable alternatives to more
      traditional approaches. 

PMID- 25830259
TI  - Documentation of acute compartment syndrome during medical evacuation.
AB  - The purpose of this study is to evaluate the documentation of acute compartment
      syndrome (ACS) in combat casualties in an effort to identify potential areas for
      improvement. Medical records of U.S. service members wounded during the current
      conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq who underwent fasciotomies were reviewed. Key
      descriptors including signs and symptoms of ACS were recorded. Injury severity
      scores and muscle excision at the time of fasciotomy were also included for
      analysis. Of 134 patients who met inclusion criteria, documentation was
      inadequate overall in 65 patients (49%). Fourteen (10%) had muscle excised at the
      time of fasciotomy, but this was not associated with a higher rate of inadequate
      documentation. This study demonstrates the need for improved awareness and
      documentation of impending compartment syndrome in the austere setting to improve
      the continuity of care during the medical evacuation process. 

PMID- 25830260
TI  - Techniques for periarticular infiltration with liposomal bupivacaine for the
      management of pain after hip and knee arthroplasty: a consensus recommendation.
AB  - Periarticular infiltration analgesia when used as a component of multimodal
      analgesia regimen has been shown to provide excellent pain relief after major
      joint replacement surgery. Recently, a liposomal formulation of bupivacaine
      (Exparel) has been approved for administration into the surgical site to produce
      postsurgical analgesia. It is a sustained release preparation of bupivacaine that
      has been shown to provide pain relief for up to 72 hours with a single local
      administration. Because the success of infiltration technique depends on
      systematic, extensive, meticulous tissue injection before surgical wound closure,
      a group convened to address the best practice for periarticular injection
      techniques for hip and knee replacement surgery. This article provides
      recommendations for optimal solution for injection (i.e., drug combinations or
      ''cocktail'' and total volume) as well as detailed description (including
      illustrations) of the infiltration technique for primary, revision, and
      unicompartmental knee arthroplasty and primary and revision hip arthroplasty
      using various surgical approaches. 

PMID- 25830261
TI  - Effect of setting of initial surgical drainage on outcome of finger infections.
AB  - This study sought to determine the optimal treatment setting (emergency
      department vs. operating room) for the initial incision and drainage of acute
      suppurative finger infections. A search of hospital medical records over a 5-year
      period identified 152 cases. In 108 cases (71%), a single drainage successfully
      resolved infection; 44 cases (29%) required multiple drainage procedures.
      Treatment setting did not decrease the risk for multiple procedures. Seventy-six
      cases (57%) of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA
      MRSA) were identified. Bivariate analysis identified CA-MRSA infection as a
      significant, independent risk factor for multiple procedures. Obtaining initial
      cultures correlated with a decreased need for multiple procedures. In conclusion,
      initial surgical drainage in the emergency department is a safe alternative to
      the operating room. However, patients with CA-MRSA infection have an increased
      risk for persistent infection requiring multiple procedures. Prompt organism
      identification and appropriate antibiotics following surgical drainage remain
      most crucial for the successful treatment of finger infections. 

PMID- 25830262
TI  - A low-cost digital templating system for total hip arthroplasty.
AB  - Acetate templating for total hip arthroplasty (THA) is cumbersome and inaccurate.
      High cost hampers mainstream use of digital templating despite ease of use and
      accuracy. The aim of this study was to validate a low-cost digital THA templating
      system. Low-cost digital templating software was created using C# programming
      language. On the basis of power calculations, three surgeons templated 20
      consecutive anteroposterior pelvis X-rays using this software against an industry
      standard. Intraclass correlation coefficient for both systems was approximately
      .90 for component size and femoral neck cut position. Bland-Altman plots
      demonstrated that both systems predicted actual implant size with similar
      accuracy. Interrater reliability was not significantly different between the two
      systems. This low-cost digital THA templating system is up to 12-fold lower in
      cost than currently available software with similar accuracy. 

PMID- 25830263
TI  - Design comparison: manipulation after total knee arthroplasty.
AB  - Postoperative stiffness is a relatively uncommon issue in total knee arthroplasty
      (TKA). However, it can be a debilitating complication when it occurs.
      Manipulation under anesthesia (MUA) is commonly used as the primary treatment
      modality following failed physiotherapy. The Advance medial pivot knee (Wright
      Medical Technology) was created in an effort to prevent stiffness postoperatively
      and increase range of motion. The Evolution medial pivot knee is a second
      generation design that builds on the technology of the Advance knee. This article
      presents a retrospective review of prospectively collected data on 881 primary
      medial pivot knees (592 Advance knees, 289 Evolution knees). It was theorized
      that the design changes made to the Evolution knees might contribute toward
      reducing the need for MUA. It was found that the Evolution knees required
      significantly fewer manipulations under anesthesia (p = .036). The design
      modifications made to the Evolution knees may have contributed to the lower rate
      of MUA. 

PMID- 25830264
TI  - Intraoperative frozen section analysis for failed metal-on-metal total hip
      arthroplasty: is it useful?
AB  - Recent failure mechanisms seen with metal-on-metal (MOM) total hip arthroplasty
      (THA) include a spectrum of inflammatory and immune-mediated reactions of
      lymphocyte predominance. Frozen section (FS) analysis has been used to evaluate
      joints for acute inflammation indicative of infection. However, the impact of the
      inflammatory response to metal debris on FS analysis is unknown and the
      usefulness of FS analysis in failed MOM THA has not been reported. This study
      investigated the impact of intraoperative FS analysis in evaluating the
      possibility of infection in 30 patients undergoing revision of a failed MOM THA.
      The authors' experience suggests that FS has acceptable specificity (96.6%) for
      infection in revision MOM surgery, although one false positive was noted in this
      series and the addition of FS did not provide obvious diagnostic utility. The
      authors believe that FS should be used selectively (if at all) in conjunction
      with other studies to avoid misdiagnosis in failed MOM THA. 

PMID- 25830265
TI  - Radiation exposure in the young level 1 trauma patient: a retrospective review.
AB  - Computed tomography (CT) has become an increasingly popular and powerful tool for
      clinicians managing trauma patients with life-threatening injuries, but the
      ramifications of increasing radiation burden on individual patients are not
      insignificant. This study examines a continuous series of 337 patients less than
      40 years old admitted to a level 1 trauma center during a 4-month period. Primary
      outcome measures included number of scans; effective dose of radiation from
      radiographs and CT scans, respectively; and total effective dose from both
      sources over patients' hospital stays. Several variables, including hospital
      length of stay, initial Glasgow Coma Scale score, and Injury Severity Score,
      correlated with greater radiation exposure. Blunt trauma victims were more prone
      to higher doses than those with penetrating or combined penetrating and blunt
      trauma. Location and mechanism of injury were also found to correlate with
      radiation exposure. Trauma patients as a group are exposed to high levels of
      radiation from X-rays and CT scans, and CT scans contribute a very high
      proportion (91.3% +/- 11.7%) of that radiation. Certain subgroups of patients are
      at a particularly high risk of exposure, and greater attention to cumulative
      radiation dose should be paid to patients with the above mentioned risk factors. 

PMID- 25830266
TI  - Musculoskeletal ultrasound education: orthopaedic resident ability following a
      multimedia tutorial.
AB  - Musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSK-US) is a quick and effective imaging tool that
      can be utilized by orthopaedic surgeons to identify common musculoskeletal
      pathology such as ankle tendinopathy. This study evaluated the ability of 15
      orthopaedic surgery residents to identify and measure ankle tendons after
      attending a multimedia tutorial on MSK-US. Afterwards, proficiency of usage was
      assessed by identification and quantification of three ankle tendons (Achilles,
      tibialis posterior, and flexor hallucis longus) in a cadaver limb. Resident
      comfort level and plan for future use were also assessed. After completing the
      tutorial, accuracy measuring the Achilles, tibialis posterior, and flexor
      hallucis longus tendons was 94.8%, 90.2%, and 90.1%, respectively. Resident
      comfort level improved from a level of 2.3 before the tutorial to 6.8 afterwards.
      Seventy-one percent of residents plan to use ultrasound in clinical practice.
      These results show that orthopaedic surgery residents can identify and assess
      tendon size via MSK-US with sufficient accuracy after a multimedia tutorial. 

PMID- 25830267
TI  - Arthroscopy and manipulation versus home therapy program in treatment of adhesive
      capsulitis of the shoulder: a prospective randomized study.
AB  - This study determined in a prospective manner if arthroscopic shoulder capsular
      release can decrease the duration of adhesive capsulitis symptoms when compared
      with a nonoperative home therapy program. Patients randomized to the operative
      group underwent arthroscopic capsular release and manipulation of the shoulder.
      Immediately after surgery they began the same stretching program as the
      nonoperative group, which consisted of terminal range of motion low-grade
      stretches twice daily for at least 15 minutes per session for 3 months. Twenty
      six patients granted consent for the study (final analyses included 10 operative
      and 7 nonoperative). There were no statistical differences between the groups
      regarding gender, age (operative mean age, 51.5 +/- 11.1 years; nonoperative mean
      age, 52.0 +/- 6.8 years) or treatment outcome. This prospective, randomized
      study, which compared arthroscopic capsular release to a gentle home stretching
      program, demonstrated both treatment options to be effective treatment
      modalities. 

PMID- 25830268
TI  - Achilles allograft reconstruction for chronic achilles tendinopathy.
AB  - Reconstruction of chronic rupture and resection of chronic tendinosis of the
      Achilles tendon can be challenging when there is insufficient tendon for repair.
      This article describes the demographics, diagnosis, surgical technique, and
      results of a series of patients having Achilles allograft reconstruction of the
      Achilles tendon. A retrospective chart review identified patients who required
      Achilles reconstruction. Between 2006 and 2013, 78 patients had surgical repair
      for Achilles rupture or resection of tendinosis. Eight patients required use of
      Achilles tendon allograft with calcaneal block. In all patients, there was
      insufficient viable tendon to repair by direct reattachment. The postdebridement
      gap was greater than 5 cm. All patients had good function at last follow-up. This
      series of patients undergoing Achilles allograft reconstruction technique
      demonstrated promising results and suggests that allograft reconstruction is a
      reasonable solution. 

PMID- 25830269
TI  - Imaging of the Lisfranc injury.
AB  - Lisfranc ligament and joint injuries are relatively uncommon but can result from
      a variety of low- and high-impact trauma. Up to 20% of Lisfranc fracture
      dislocations are misdiagnosed or missed during the initial evaluation. Timely and
      accurate diagnosis of the injury and early anatomical reduction and stabilization
      of the Lisfranc joint are crucial to avoid long-term sequelae and functional
      impairment. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a sensitive and specific imaging
      modality and should be considered in injuries with equivocal physical and
      radiographic findings. In this article, the mechanism and the classification of
      the Lisfranc joint and ligament injuries are outlined, and imaging findings of
      different modalities are discussed with the emphasis on MRI. 

PMID- 25830270
TI  - [Considerations on the evolution of the Spanish language in medicine].

PMID- 25830271
TI  - Assessment of excitability at the brainstem and cortex in primary headaches with
      allodynia.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aims were to assess the excitability of motor cortex and trigeminal
      structures in patients with primary headaches experiencing allodynia and to
      investigate the alterations in interictal allodynia and blink reflex excitability
      after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). METHODS: Patients with
      strictly lateralized primary headaches were included, and Allodynia Symptom
      Checklist was used to detect allodynia. Paired transcranial magnetic stimulation
      and blink reflex recovery studies were performed on both sides. Ten Hertz or sham
      rTMS was applied on the motor cortex in patients with interictal allodynia.
      Allodynic symptoms were registered quantitatively, and blink reflex study was
      repeated after these trials. RESULTS: Seventeen of 34 patients with headache
      described allodynia. Our findings showed bilateral hyperexcitability of cortical
      and trigeminal structures in the allodynic group. Interictal allodynia, detected
      in 13 allodynic patients, improved after rTMS as compared with sham stimulation,
      and this effect appeared to be more evident in the late period. CONCLUSIONS:
      Bilateral increases in the cortical and trigeminal excitability were shown in
      patients with allodynia, and rTMS was effective for reducing clinical allodynia.
      The authors suggest that allodynic condition of the patients should be taken into
      account in the planning and evaluation of electrophysiological studies, and rTMS
      may be considered as a treatment alternative for troublesome allodynia.

PMID- 25830272
TI  - Severe hemispatial neglect as a manifestation of seizures and nonconvulsive
      status epilepticus: utility of prolonged EEG monitoring.
AB  - PURPOSE: Seizures and status epilepticus causing hemispatial neglect syndromes
      are seldom diagnosed, in part because, without motor signs, EEGs are not
      performed. Also, nonconvulsive seizures are often intermittent and missed on a
      single EEG. Two patients had severe neglect syndromes thought due to strokes.
      Correct diagnosis of epileptic seizures required longer-term EEG monitoring.
      METHODS: Review of clinical history, neurologic examination, imaging, and
      findings on prolonged EEG monitoring. RESULTS: A patient with a new onset of a
      profound left neglect had normal strength and language use, with no obvious
      clinical seizures. A right hemisphere embolic stroke was diagnosed, but MRI with
      diffusion-weighted imaging showed no evidence of ischemia. The initial EEG showed
      marked right parietal voltage suppression, with subsequent brief electrographic
      seizures and later, right parietal periodic discharges. The second patient had an
      earlier right subdural hematoma and focal motor seizures but was admitted with a
      new neglect syndrome and no clear clinical seizures. Head computed tomography
      showed no new lesion. EEG showed frequent right parieto-temporal epileptiform
      discharges and electrographic seizures. The neglect syndromes resolved with
      anticonvulsant treatment, but in both cases, electrographic seizures were
      intermittent, and there was no strict correlation between the clinical deficit
      and EEG manifestations of seizures. CONCLUSIONS: Infrequently, the sudden onset
      of new hemispatial neglect can be caused by nonconvulsive seizures and
      nonconvulsive status epilepticus, even when there is no weakness and no clear
      clinical seizure activity. Nonconvulsive status epilepticus can cause primarily
      perceptual and cognitive syndromes. The correlation between the clinical deficits
      and seizure activity on the EEG, however, is imprecise. A single EEG may miss
      seizure activity, and repeated or prolonged EEG recording may be necessary to
      make the diagnosis.

PMID- 25830274
TI  - Statistics: why meaningful statistics cannot be generated from a private
      practice.

PMID- 25830273
TI  - Our other vital organ.

PMID- 25830275
TI  - Massage therapy improves in vitro fertilization outcome in patients undergoing
      blastocyst transfer in a cryo-cycle.
AB  - CONTEXT: Massage therapy is increasingly used to relieve physical and mental
      discomfort and is suggested as a safe therapeutic modality, without any
      significant risks or any known side effects. Although a multitude of
      complementary therapies, such as acupuncture, are applied in reproductive
      medicine, no information is available with regard to the application of massage
      as an adjuvant therapy in assisted-reproduction techniques (ARTs). OBJECTIVES:
      This study was intended to assess the effectiveness of a deep relaxation
      (andullation) therapy based on oscillating vibrations when used prior to embryo
      transfer (ET) in in vitro fertilization (IVF) cryo-cycles. DESIGN: The research
      team designed a retrospective, observational study. Participants willing to
      undergo the massage treatment were allocated to the intervention (andullation)
      group. SETTING: The study was performed at the IVF Centers Prof. Zech-Bregenz in
      Bregenz, Austria. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 267 IVF patients, with a mean age of
      36.3 y, participated in this single-center study. INTERVENTION: All patients
      receiving a transfer of vitrified and warmed blastocysts between January and
      December 2012 were included in the evaluation. Prior to ET, the andullation group
      received a standardized program of therapy-a 30-min, deep relaxation massage on
      an oscillating (vibrating) device, whereas the control group did not. OUTCOME
      MEASURES: To determine efficacy, the primary outcomes that the study measured
      were (1) pregnancy rates (PRs), by testing urine and obtaining a positive beta
      human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG); and (2) ongoing, pregnancies (oPR), by
      observation of fetal heartbeat and birth rates (BR) as well as miscarriage rates.
      The patients' medical histories and types of infertility as well as the quality
      of the embryo transfers (ETs) were evaluated. RESULTS: In patients using the
      massage therapy prior to ET, significantly higher PRs, oPRs, and BRs were
      observed compared with the control group-PR: 58.9% vs 41.7%, P<.05; oPR: 53.6% vs
      33.2%, P<.01; and BR: 32.0% vs 20.3%, P<.05. No differences were detected among
      groups for patients' ages, hormonal substitution protocols, endometrium
      structures and buildups, quality of transferred embryos, or quality of transfers.
      No adverse effects were noted in the massage group. CONCLUSIONS: The research
      team's results suggested that andullation therapy prior to blastocyst transfer in
      a cryo-cycle improves embryo implantation, most likely due to a reduction in
      stress (ie, a relaxation effect on patients), a reduction in uterine
      contractions, and, probably, an enhancement of the blood flow in the abdominal
      region. These findings provide support for use of andullation as a complementary
      therapy for ART.

PMID- 25830276
TI  - A broader conclusion to a well-conceived study: must it be massage before
      reproductive technology?

PMID- 25830277
TI  - Medical ozone and radiotherapy in a peritoneal, Erlich-ascites, tumor-cell model.
AB  - CONTEXT: Medical ozone therapy is used for treatment of inflammation in
      alternative and complementary medicine. It has been reported that the beneficial
      effects of radiotherapy increased with the addition of medical ozone therapy.
      OBJECTIVES: This study intended to investigate the antitumor and antiedema
      effects of ozone therapy when applied in different concentrations in mice with
      peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) and to evaluate the contribution of medical ozone
      therapy to the outcomes for radiotherapy in vivo. DESIGN: Ehrlich ascites
      carcinoma (EAC) cells were inoculated intraperitoneally (IP) to develop
      peritoneal carcinomatosis in 60 adult male Swiss albino mice. The animals were
      divided into 5 groups. Groups 1 and 2 were treated IP for a period of 10 d with
      daily medical ozone therapy. Group 3 received radiotherapy into the abdomen for 5
      d. Groups 4 and 5 were treated with medical ozone therapy for 10 d and
      radiotherapy for 5 d. Groups 1 and 4 received a 20 mg/L concentration of ozone
      and groups 2 and 5 received a 40 mg/L concentration. A sixth group acted as
      controls, and serum physiologic was given to them IP. OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes
      in body weight and abdominal circumference were measured daily for each mouse.
      Survival rates of the groups of mice were also determined. The results were
      compared between groups and were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: Changes in body
      weights and abdominal circumferences in the different groups were statistically
      different. The longest survival rates were found for groups 3 and 5, and survival
      rates for the 5 experimental groups were significantly higher than for the
      control group. CONCLUSIONS: Medical ozone therapy or radiotherapy was found to be
      effective when administered alone or concurrently to mice with PC, suggesting
      that medical ozone therapy might serve as a method of obtaining antiedema and
      antitumor effects, providing a longer survival time.

PMID- 25830278
TI  - Examining the association between patient-centered communication and provider
      avoidance, CAM use, and CAM-use disclosure.
AB  - CONTEXT: Patients' perceptions of the quality of their relationships with health
      care providers may influence their health care-seeking behaviors and future
      interactions with providers, including use of conventional health care, use of
      complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and disclosure of CAM use.
      OBJECTIVE: The study examined the associations between perceived patient-centered
      communication and provider avoidance, CAM use, and CAM-use disclosure. DESIGN:
      This study used cross-sectional survey data from the Health Information National
      Trends Survey (HINTS) 3, a nationally representative survey of US adults
      collected between January 2008 and May 2008. OUTCOME MEASURES: Two questions
      asked about CAM use and CAM-use disclosure, and another asked about avoidance of
      doctors. For the independent variable, responses from 6 questions on patient
      centered communication were averaged to create a scale score ranging from 1-4.
      The research team conducted multiple logistic regressions of the 3 primary
      outcome measures, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, presence or
      absence of a regular source of care, insurance status, frequency of visits to
      providers, and health status. All analyses were weighted to make the results
      representative of the US population aged >=18 y. RESULTS: Approximately one-third
      of respondents (36%) had avoided seeing their doctors within the 12 mo prior to
      the survey. Approximately 24% had used CAM within the prior 12 mo, and 51.7% of
      CAM users had discussed their CAM use with their doctors. Higher levels of
      patient-centered communication were significantly associated with lower odds of
      provider avoidance (AOR=0.63; 95% CI=0.52, 0.76) and CAM use (AOR=0.60; 95%
      CI=0.46, 0.78) but were not associated with CAM-use disclosure. CONCLUSIONS:
      Findings suggest that patients may be more likely to avoid seeing their doctors
      and more likely to use CAM when they perceive low levels of patient-centered
      communication. Further research to understand the role of the characteristics of
      patient-provider relationships on provider avoidance, CAM use, and CAM-use
      disclosure is warranted.

PMID- 25830279
TI  - Antioxidant agents: a future alternative approach in the prevention and treatment
      of radiation-induced oral mucositis?
AB  - Radiotherapy is a therapeutic modality frequently employed for patients with head
      and neck cancer (HNC). It destroys tumor cells, but it is not selective, also
      affecting healthy tissues and producing adverse effects. One that stands out is
      oral mucositis because of the morbidity that it is capable of causing. This
      lesion is characterized by the presence of erythema, ulcerations, pain,
      opportunistic infections, and weight loss. These side effects can lead to serious
      situations that require the interruption of the antineoplastic treatment and can
      result in hospitalization and even death. The complex mechanisms linked to the
      pathogenesis of oral mucositis were recently established, and since then, the
      control of oxidative stress (OS) has been tied to the prevention and management
      of this disease. The authors have carried out a review of the literature about
      the use of antioxidant agents in the prevention and treatment of radiation
      induced oral mucositis, using the PubMed database. This review has shown that the
      research on use of antioxidants (AOX) has proved insufficient to justify
      suggesting the products in treatment protocols. Results are promising, however,
      and AOX may represent a future alternative in the prevention and treatment of
      oral mucositis. 

PMID- 25830280
TI  - Mumijo attenuates chemically induced inflammatory pain in mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mumijo (shilajit) has been well known in traditional medicine as a
      remedy for a number of diseases, such as bone fractures, wounds, inflammation,
      and headache. It is also widely used as an analgesic agent in folk medicine, but
      no scientific documentation exists concerning that effect. OBJECTIVE: The current
      study was conducted to evaluate the ability of mumijo to reduce sensitivity to
      painful stimuli when compared with morphine sulfate and sodium diclofenac.
      METHODS: A total of 176 animals were randomly and equally divided into 2 groups
      with 88 mice each-one for formalin test and the other for writhing test. For each
      test, the animals were allocated into 10 equal groups, based on the dosage of the
      analgesic, plus a negative control group, with 8 mice in each group.
      INTERVENTION: The analgesic effect of mumijo extract in doses of 0.75, 7.5, 75,
      and 750 mg/kg was assessed and compared witha group receiving distilled water-the
      negative control group, and that for groups receiving 1, 2, or 4 mg/kg of
      morphine sulfate or 10, 20, or 30 mg/kg of sodium diclofenac-the positive control
      groups. RESULTS: The results showed a significant decrease in pain intensity for
      all mice receiving doses of mumijo extract during a 1-h formalin test when
      compared with the distilled water group. For all the mumijo groups except the one
      receiving 750 mg/kg, the analgesic effect was significantly lower than that for
      the morphine sulfate group receiving 4 mg/kg. No significant differences existed
      between all mumijo and all diclofenac groups. In a writhing test, a significant
      inhibition of the pain response induced by acetic acid also occurred in all 4
      mumijo-administered groups as opposed to the group receiving distilled water. No
      significant differences existed between the writhing response in groups receiving
      75 and 750 mg/kg of mumijo and any doses of diclofenac or morphine. The
      comparison among the different doses of mumijo in the formalin test did not show
      any significant differences, but in the writhing test, the maximum dose showed a
      more effective analgesic action. CONCLUSION: The findings indicated a significant
      analgesic effect for mumijo extract on chronic pain in mice, occurring in a dose
      independent manner.

PMID- 25830281
TI  - Development of a modified yoga program for pulmonary hypertension: a case series.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a hemodynamic condition in which the
      pressure in the bed of the pulmonary arteries is elevated. Although medications
      have improved both symptoms and mortality, PH remains a debilitating and
      devastating disease. Little is known about the effects of nonpharmacologic
      approaches, such as yoga and meditative breathing, in treatment of the disease.
      OBJECTIVE: Given the unique hemodynamic concerns of PH patients, the research
      team intended to describe the development and subsequent initiation of a
      therapeutic treatment plan that uses modified yoga and to evaluate its benefits
      and safety. DESIGN: This study was a case series with 3 PH patients of varying
      functional abilities. Each patient was provided with a DVD, access to YouTube
      video segments, and a download of the Yoga for PH application. The patients were
      asked to document their use of the home exercise regimen and journal around their
      subjective observations. They were also administered the Health Promoting
      Lifestyle Profile II (HPLPII) at the beginning and end of the 8 wk. SETTING: The
      study took place in a tertiary care, academic hospital in a large urban setting.
      PARTICIPANTS: In this case series, 3 patients with group 1 pulmonary arterial
      hypertension, with varying functional abilities, are described. INTERVENTION:
      Three discreet yoga programs were designed with modifications specific to PH
      patients: chair yoga, intermediate yoga with a chair assist, and experienced
      yoga. Patients were provided with a video, Yoga for PH, in the form of a DVD, a
      video on YouTube, and a downloadable application and were instructed to log
      activity and subjective markers of well-being. OUTCOME MEASURES: Subjective and
      objective effects on clinical, physical function, and psychological outcomes were
      measured. Subjective effects were identified through journaling as well as the
      self-administered questionnaire HPLPII. When available, 6-min walk distance
      (6MWD) testing and oxygen saturation were also used. RESULTS: The modified yoga
      program proved feasible, safe, and effective in the 3 described cases. Patients
      described decreases in anxiety and joint pain, with improvements in health
      promoting behaviors as measured by the HPLPII. Overall mean scores for health
      promoting lifestyle increased in each patient, though due to the small sample
      size, statistical significance cannot be measured. No patient experienced an
      adverse event associated with the practice. CONCLUSIONS: The modified yoga
      program for PH patients can provide a standardized, accessible starting point for
      further study on the feasibility, efficacy, and safety of such a program on a
      larger scale.

PMID- 25830282
TI  - James Forsythe, MD, HMD: the success of integrative cancer therapy based on
      chemosensitivity testing and insulin potentiation therapy.

PMID- 25830283
TI  - Incidence and survival of lacunar infarction in a southern Chinese population: A
      7-year prospective study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Little attention has been paid to the epidemiological characteristics
      of lacunar infarction (LAC) in China before. This study aimed to examine the
      incidence and survival of LAC in a southern Chinese population. METHODS: From
      2004-2010 in Changsha, two communities with a registered population of ~100 000
      were selected and data from first-ever ischaemic stroke (IS) cases were
      prospectively collected. Then the epidemiological characteristics of LAC and non
      LAC were evaluated. RESULTS: During the study period, the age-standardized
      incidence increased at an annual rate of 0.7% (p < 0.001) for LAC and 2.0% (p <
      0.001) for non-LAC. The mean annual age-standardized incidence of LAC and non-LAC
      was 28.2/100 000 and 45.0/100 000, respectively. Compared with non-LAC patients,
      the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia was significantly
      higher in patients with LAC (p < 0.05). Although the 30-day fatality rate was
      significantly lower in patients with LAC than non-LAC (0.5% vs. 14.9%, p <
      0.001), there was no significant difference in survival between the two groups
      (96.7% vs. 95.2%, p = 0.203) after excluding the patients who died within 1 year
      of stroke onset. CONCLUSION: LAC is a common stroke sub-type in southern China
      and the long-term prognosis is not benign.

PMID- 25830285
TI  - Scientific Abstracts of the Skin Disease Education Foundation's 15th Annual Las
      Vegas Dermatology Seminar.

PMID- 25830284
TI  - Fluctuation of the water environmental carrying capacity in a huge river
      connected lake.
AB  - A new method, with the non-fully mixed coefficient (NFMC) considered, was put
      forward to calculate the water environmental carrying capacity (WECC) for huge
      river-connected lakes, of which the hydrological conditions always vary widely
      during a year. Poyang Lake, the most typical river-connected lake and the largest
      freshwater lake in China, was selected as the research area. Based on field
      investigations and numerical simulation, the monthly pollutant degradation
      coefficients and non-fully mixed coefficients of different lake regions were
      determined to explore the WECCs of COD, TN and TP of Poyang Lake in a common
      water year. It was found that under the hydrological conditions of a common water
      year the total WECCs of COD, TN and TP in the lake were respectively 181.9 * 104
      t, 33.3 * 104 t and 1.86 * 104 t. Due to the varied lake water volume and self
      purification ability, an evident temporal fluctuation of WECCs in Poyang Lake was
      observed. The dry seasons were characterized by a higher NFMCs but lower WECCs
      owing to the lower water level and degradation ability. Variation coefficients of
      COD and TN WECC were close to each other, of which the average level was about
      58.5%, a little higher than that of TP. 

PMID- 25830286
TI  - Immobilization of horseradish peroxidase on beta-cyclodextrin-capped silver
      nanoparticles: Its future aspects in biosensor application.
AB  - This study aimed to work out a simple and high-yield procedure for the
      immobilization of horseradish peroxidase on silver nanoparticle. Ultraviolet
      visible (UV-vis) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission
      electron microscopy were used to characterize silver nanoparticles. Horseradish
      peroxidase was immobilized on beta-cyclodextrin-capped silver nanoparticles via
      glutaraldehyde cross-linking. Single-cell gel electrophoresis (Comet assay) was
      also performed to confirm the genotoxicity of silver nanoparticles. To decrease
      toxicity, silver nanoparticles were capped with beta-cyclodextrin. A comparative
      stability study of soluble and immobilized enzyme preparations was investigated
      against pH, temperature, and chaotropic agent, urea. The results showed that the
      cross-linked peroxidase was significantly more stable as compared to the soluble
      counterpart. The immobilized enzyme exhibited stable enzyme activities after
      repeated uses. 

PMID- 25830287
TI  - Site-specific cassette exchange systems in the Aedes aegypti mosquito and the
      Plutella xylostella moth.
AB  - Genetically engineered insects are being evaluated as potential tools to decrease
      the economic and public health burden of mosquitoes and agricultural pest
      insects. Here we describe a new tool for the reliable and targeted genome
      manipulation of pest insects for research and field release using recombinase
      mediated cassette exchange (RMCE) mechanisms. We successfully demonstrated the
      established PhiC31-RMCE method in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, which
      is the first report of RMCE in mosquitoes. A new variant of this RMCE system,
      called iRMCE, combines the PhiC31-att integration system and Cre or FLP-mediated
      excision to remove extraneous sequences introduced as part of the site-specific
      integration process. Complete iRMCE was achieved in two important insect pests,
      Aedes aegypti and the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, demonstrating the
      transferability of the system across a wide phylogenetic range of insect pests. 

PMID- 25830288
TI  - Neurofunctional correlates of ethical, food-related decision-making.
AB  - For consumers today, the perceived ethicality of a food's production method can
      be as important a purchasing consideration as its price. Still, few studies have
      examined how, neurofunctionally, consumers are making ethical, food-related
      decisions. We examined how consumers' ethical concern about a food's production
      method may relate to how, neurofunctionally, they make decisions whether to
      purchase that food. Forty-six participants completed a measure of the extent to
      which they took ethical concern into consideration when making food-related
      decisions. They then underwent a series of functional magnetic resonance imaging
      (fMRI) scans while performing a food-related decision-making (FRDM) task. During
      this task, they made 56 decisions whether to purchase a food based on either its
      price (i.e., high or low, the "price condition") or production method (i.e., with
      or without the use of cages, the "production method condition"), but not both.
      For 23 randomly selected participants, we performed an exploratory, whole-brain
      correlation between ethical concern and differential neurofunctional activity in
      the price and production method conditions. Ethical concern correlated negatively
      and significantly with differential neurofunctional activity in the left
      dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). For the remaining 23 participants, we
      performed a confirmatory, region-of-interest (ROI) correlation between the same
      variables, using an 8-mm3 volume situated in the left dlPFC. Again, the variables
      correlated negatively and significantly. This suggests, when making ethical, food
      related decisions, the more consumers take ethical concern into consideration,
      the less they may rely on neurofunctional activity in the left dlPFC, possibly
      because making these decisions is more routine for them, and therefore a more
      perfunctory process requiring fewer cognitive resources. 

PMID- 25830290
TI  - Correction: Detection of MPLW515L/K mutations and determination of allele
      frequencies with a single-tube PCR assay.

PMID- 25830289
TI  - What do Pneumocystis organisms tell us about the phylogeography of their hosts?
      The case of the woodmouse Apodemus sylvaticus in continental Europe and western
      Mediterranean islands.
AB  - Pneumocystis fungi represent a highly diversified biological group with numerous
      species, which display a strong host-specificity suggesting a long co-speciation
      process. In the present study, the presence and genetic diversity of Pneumocystis
      organisms was investigated in 203 lung samples from woodmice (Apodemus
      sylvaticus) collected on western continental Europe and Mediterranean islands.
      The presence of Pneumocystis DNA was assessed by nested PCR at both large and
      small mitochondrial subunit (mtLSU and mtSSU) rRNA loci. Direct sequencing of
      nested PCR products demonstrated a very high variability among woodmouse-derived
      Pneumocystis organisms with a total number of 30 distinct combined mtLSU and
      mtSSU sequence types. However, the genetic divergence among these sequence types
      was very low (up to 3.87%) and the presence of several Pneumocystis species
      within Apodemus sylvaticus was considered unlikely. The analysis of the genetic
      structure of woodmouse-derived Pneumocystis revealed two distinct groups. The
      first one comprised Pneumocystis from woodmice collected in continental Spain,
      France and Balearic islands. The second one included Pneumocystis from woodmice
      collected in continental Italy, Corsica and Sicily. These two genetic groups were
      in accordance with the two lineages currently described within the host species
      Apodemus sylvaticus. Pneumocystis organisms are emerging as powerful tools for
      phylogeographic studies in mammals. 

PMID- 25830292
TI  - In vitro growth of Curcuma longa L. in response to five mineral elements and
      plant density in fed-batch culture systems.
AB  - Plant density was varied with P, Ca, Mg, and KNO3 in a multifactor experiment to
      improve Curcuma longa L. micropropagation, biomass and microrhizome development
      in fed-batch liquid culture. The experiment had two paired D-optimal designs,
      testing sucrose fed-batch and nutrient sucrose fed-batch techniques. When sucrose
      became depleted, volume was restored to 5% m/v sucrose in 200 ml of modified
      liquid MS medium by adding sucrose solutions. Similarly, nutrient sucrose fed
      batch was restored to set points with double concentration of treatments'
      macronutrient and MS micronutrient solutions, along with sucrose solutions.
      Changes in the amounts of water and sucrose supplementations were driven by the
      interaction of P and KNO3 concentrations. Increasing P from 1.25 to 6.25 mM
      increased both multiplication and biomass. The multiplication ratio was greatest
      in the nutrient sucrose fed-batch technique with the highest level of P, 6
      buds/vessel, and the lowest level of Ca and KNO3. The highest density (18
      buds/vessel) produced the highest fresh biomass at the highest concentrations of
      KNO3 and P with nutrient sucrose fed-batch, and moderate Ca and Mg
      concentrations. However, maximal rhizome dry biomass required highest P, sucrose
      fed-batch, and a moderate plant density. Different media formulations and fed
      batch techniques were identified to maximize the propagation and storage organ
      responses. A single experimental design was used to optimize these dual purposes.

PMID- 25830291
TI  - Sex differences in epidemiology and risk factors of acute coronary syndrome in
      Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes: a long-term prospective cohort study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Diabetic patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are at higher
      risk of poor outcome than are non-diabetic patients with ACS. Few studies have
      focused on sex-related ACS incidence, ACS-related mortality or risk factors to
      affects sex specific ACS in Chinese with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Based
      on a hospital-based cohort of Chinese patients with T2DM, we aimed to investigate
      whether there was sex difference in ACS or ACS-related mortality or risk factors
      of ACS. METHODS: Totally 2,135 Hong Kong Chinese with T2DM were recruited during
      1994-1996 and followed up until August 2012. We systematically analyzed sex
      related ACS incidence and ACS-related mortality and risk factors with chi2
      squared test, descriptive statistics and survival analysis. RESULTS: Regular
      follow-up was completed in 2,105 subjects (98.6%), with a median period of 14.53
      years. The occurrence of ACS was recorded among 414 patients (19.7%) and ACS
      related death among 104 patients (4.9%). ACS incidences increased with age in
      both men and women, and men had a higher prevalence of ACS than women across
      different age categories and different follow-up periods (log rank chi2=20.32,
      P<0.001). The transition of ACS incidences from slow to rapid increase were about
      5 years earlier in men (at 51-55 years) than in women (55-60 years). Among ACS
      patients, cumulative ACS-related mortalities was similar between men and women
      (log rank chi2=0.063, P=0.802). Besides age and albuminuria, different profiles
      of risk factors accounted for the occurrence of ACS between men and women.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrated sex differences in ACS incidence and risk
      factors, but not in ACS-related mortality in Chinese patients withT2DM. These
      findings suggest that screening and prevention campaigns should be optimized for
      men and women, which may help to identify diabetic patients at higher risk of
      coronary heart disease.

PMID- 25830293
TI  - Managing marine plastic pollution: policy initiatives to address wayward waste.

PMID- 25830294
TI  - Factors that affect transfer of the IncI1 beta-lactam resistance plasmid pESBL
      283 between E. coli strains.
AB  - The spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria worldwide presents a major health
      threat to human health care that results in therapy failure and increasing costs.
      The transfer of resistance conferring plasmids by conjugation is a major route by
      which resistance genes disseminate at the intra- and interspecies level. High
      similarities between resistance genes identified in foodborne and hospital
      acquired pathogens suggest transmission of resistance conferring and
      transferrable mobile elements through the food chain, either as part of intact
      strains, or through transfer of plasmids from foodborne to human strains. To
      study the factors that affect the rate of plasmid transfer, the transmission of
      an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) plasmid from a foodborne Escherichia
      coli strain to the beta-lactam sensitive E. coli MG1655 strain was documented as
      a function of simulated environmental factors. The foodborne E. coli isolate used
      as donor carried a CTX-M-1 harboring IncI1 plasmid that confers resistance to
      beta-lactam antibiotics. Cell density, energy availability and growth rate were
      identified as factors that affect plasmid transfer efficiency. Transfer rates
      were highest in the absence of the antibiotic, with almost every acceptor cell
      picking up the plasmid. Raising the antibiotic concentrations above the minimum
      inhibitory concentration (MIC) resulted in reduced transfer rates, but also
      selected for the plasmid carrying donor and recombinant strains. Based on the
      mutational pattern of transconjugant cells, a common mechanism is proposed which
      compensates for fitness costs due to plasmid carriage by reducing other cell
      functions. Reducing potential fitness costs due to maintenance and expression of
      the plasmid could contribute to persistence of resistance genes in the
      environment even without antibiotic pressure. Taken together, the results
      identify factors that drive the spread and persistence of resistance conferring
      plasmids in natural isolates and shows how these can contribute to transmission
      of resistance genes through the food chain. 

PMID- 25830296
TI  - Adverse Event Reporting in Clinical Trials of Finasteride for Androgenic
      Alopecia: A Meta-analysis.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Two meta-analyses conclude that finasteride treatment of androgenic
      alopecia (AGA) is safe but do not assess quality of safety reporting. OBJECTIVE:
      To assess safety reporting for clinical trial reports of finasteride for AGA.
      DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, ClinicalTrials.gov, and a clinical data repository for an
      academic medical center. STUDY SELECTION: Published clinical trial reports for
      finasteride treatment of AGA. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: For each trial, we
      assessed quality of adverse event reporting, extracted the number and type of
      adverse events in treatment and placebo groups, and assessed duration of safety
      evaluation and adequacy of blinding. Two observers independently extracted the
      data; differences were resolved by consensus. We assessed generalizability in a
      large cohort of men prescribed finasteride, 1.25 mg/d or less, by assessing for
      eligibility in the finasteride-AGA pivotal trials. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES:
      Quality was assessed as adequate, partially adequate, inadequate, or no events
      reported. We used funnel plots of the hazard ratio to assess bias. RESULTS: Of 34
      clinical trials, none had adequate safety reporting, 19 were partially adequate,
      12 were inadequate, and 3 reported no adverse events. Funnel plots were
      asymmetric with a bias toward lower odds ratio for sexual adverse effects,
      suggesting systematic underdetection. No reports assessed adequacy of blinding,
      18 (53%) disclosed conflicts of interest, and 19 (56%) received funding from the
      manufacturer. Duration of drug safety evaluation was 1 year or less for 26 of 34
      trials (76%). Of 5704 men in the clinical data repository who were treated for
      AGA with finasteride, 1.25 mg/d or less, for AGA, only 31% met inclusion criteria
      for the pivotal trials referenced in the manufacturer's full prescribing
      information and 33% took finasteride for more than 1 year. CONCLUSIONS AND
      RELEVANCE: Available toxicity information from clinical trials of finasteride in
      men with AGA is very limited, is of poor quality, and seems to be systematically
      biased. In a cohort of men prescribed finasteride for routine treatment of AGA,
      most would have been excluded from the pivotal studies that supported US Food and
      Drug Administration approval for AGA. Published reports of clinical trials
      provide insufficient information to establish the safety profile for finasteride
      in the treatment of AGA.

PMID- 25830295
TI  - Systematic mutagenesis of genes encoding predicted autotransported proteins of
      Burkholderia pseudomallei identifies factors mediating virulence in mice, net
      intracellular replication and a novel protein conferring serum resistance.
AB  - Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of the severe tropical disease
      melioidosis, which commonly presents as sepsis. The B. pseudomallei K96243 genome
      encodes eleven predicted autotransporters, a diverse family of secreted and outer
      membrane proteins often associated with virulence. In a systematic study of these
      autotransporters, we constructed insertion mutants in each gene predicted to
      encode an autotransporter and assessed them for three pathogenesis-associated
      phenotypes: virulence in the BALB/c intra-peritoneal mouse melioidosis model, net
      intracellular replication in J774.2 murine macrophage-like cells and survival in
      45% (v/v) normal human serum. From the complete repertoire of eleven
      autotransporter mutants, we identified eight mutants which exhibited an increase
      in median lethal dose of 1 to 2-log10 compared to the isogenic parent strain
      (bcaA, boaA, boaB, bpaA, bpaC, bpaE, bpaF and bimA). Four mutants, all
      demonstrating attenuation for virulence, exhibited reduced net intracellular
      replication in J774.2 macrophage-like cells (bimA, boaB, bpaC and bpaE). A single
      mutant (bpaC) was identified that exhibited significantly reduced serum survival
      compared to wild-type. The bpaC mutant, which demonstrated attenuation for
      virulence and net intracellular replication, was sensitive to complement-mediated
      killing via the classical and/or lectin pathway. Serum resistance was rescued by
      in trans complementation. Subsequently, we expressed recombinant proteins of the
      passenger domain of four predicted autotransporters representing each of the
      phenotypic groups identified: those attenuated for virulence (BcaA), those
      attenuated for virulence and net intracellular replication (BpaE), the BpaC
      mutant with defects in virulence, net intracellular replication and serum
      resistance and those displaying wild-type phenotypes (BatA). Only BcaA and BpaE
      elicited a strong IFN-gamma response in a restimulation assay using whole blood
      from seropositive donors and were recognised by seropositive human sera from the
      endemic area. To conclude, several predicted autotransporters contribute to B.
      pseudomallei virulence and BpaC may do so by conferring resistance against
      complement-mediated killing. 

PMID- 25830297
TI  - Optimizing tuberculosis case detection through a novel diagnostic device
      placement model: the case of Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) is being widely adopted in high TB burden
      countries. Analysis is needed to guide the placement of devices within health
      systems to optimize the tuberculosis (TB) case detection rate (CDR). METHODS: We
      used epidemiological and operational data from Uganda (139 sites serving 87,600
      individuals tested for TB) to perform a model-based comparison of the following
      placement strategies for Xpert devices: 1) Health center level (sites ranked by
      size from national referral hospitals to health care level III centers), 2) Smear
      volume (sites ranked from highest to lowest volume of smear microscopy testing),
      3) Antiretroviral therapy (ART) volume (sites ranked from greatest to least
      patients on ART), 4) External equality assessment (EQA) performance (sites ranked
      from worst to best smear microscopy performance) and 5) TB prevalence (sites
      ranked from highest to lowest). We compared two clinical algorithms, one where
      Xpert was used only for smear microscopy negative samples versus another
      replacing smear microscopy. The primary outcome was TB CDR; secondary outcomes
      were detection of multi-drug resistant TB, number of sites requiring device
      placement to achieve specified rollout coverage, and cost. RESULTS: Placement
      strategies that prioritized sites with higher TB prevalence maximized CDR, with
      an incremental rate of 6.2-12.6% compared to status quo (microscopy alone).
      Diagnosis of MDR-TB was greatest in the TB Prevalence strategy when Xpert was
      used in place of smear microscopy. While initial implementation costs were lowest
      in the Smear Volume strategy, cost per additional TB case detected was lowest in
      the TB prevalence strategy. CONCLUSION: In Uganda, placement of Xpert devices in
      sites with high TB prevalence yielded the highest TB CDR at the lowest cost per
      additional case diagnosed. These results represent novel use of program level
      data to inform the optimal placement of new technology in resource-constrained
      settings.

PMID- 25830298
TI  - Modulation of recombinant antigenic constructs containing multi-epitopes towards
      effective reduction of atherosclerotic lesion in B6;129S
      Ldlr(tm1Her)Apob(tm2Sgy)/J mice.
AB  - Atherosclerosis is increasingly recognized as a complex chronic inflammatory
      disease. Many more studies have extended vaccination against atherosclerosis by
      using epitopes from self-antigens or beyond and demonstrated that vaccination
      with antigens or derivatives could reduce the extent of the lesions in
      atherosclerosis-prone mice. Our previous study has demonstrated that construct
      AHHC [ApoB100688-707 + hHSP60303-312 + hHSP60153-163 + Cpn derived peptide (C)]
      significantly reduced atherosclerotic lesion. The aim of this study was to
      investigate whether AHHC can be modulated towards increased lesion reduction in
      mice by creating two other derivatives with a sequential epitope-substitution
      named RHHC in which A was replaced by an "R" (C5aR1-31) and RPHC with a further
      "H" (hHSP60303-312) conversion into "P" (protease-activated receptor-142-55) in
      mice. Antigenic epitopes were incorporated into a dendroaspin scaffold.
      Immunization of B6;129S-Ldlrtm1HerApobtm2Sgy/J mice with three constructs
      elicited production of high levels of antibodies against each epitope (apart from
      hHSP60153-163 and P which induced a low antibody response). Histological analyses
      demonstrated that the mice immunized with either RPHC or RHHC showed significant
      reductions in the size of atherosclerostic lesions compared to those with AHHC
      (69.5+/-1.1% versus 55.7+/-3.4%, P<0.01 or 65.6+/-1.3% versus 55.7+/-3.4%,
      P<0.01). Reduction of plaque size in the aortic sinus and descending aorta
      correlated with alterations in cellular immune responses when compared with
      controls. We conclude that a recombinant construct RPHC may provide new antigenic
      and structural features which are favorable for significant reduction in
      atherosclerotic lesion formation. This approach offers a novel strategy for
      developing anti-atherosclerotic agents. 

PMID- 25830299
TI  - Na+/H+ exchanger isoform 1 induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy involves activation
      of p90 ribosomal s6 kinase.
AB  - Studies using pharmacological and genetic approaches have shown that increased
      activity/expression of the Na+/H+ exchanger isoform 1 (NHE1) play a critical role
      in the pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy. Despite the importance of NHE1 in
      cardiac hypertrophy, severe cerebrovascular side effects were associated with the
      use of NHE1 inhibitors when administered to patients with myocardial infarctions.
      p90 ribosomal S6 Kinase (RSK), a downstream regulator of the mitogen-activated
      protein kinase pathway, has also been implicated in cardiac hypertrophy. We
      hypothesized that RSK plays a role in the NHE1 induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophic
      response. Infection of H9c2 cardiomyoblasts with the active form of the NHE1
      adenovirus induced hypertrophy and was associated with an increase in the
      phosphorylation of RSK (P<0.05). Parameters of hypertrophy such as cell area,
      protein content and atrial natriuretic mRNA expression were significantly reduced
      in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts infected with active NHE1 in the presence of dominant
      negative RSK (DN-RSK) (P<0.05). These results confirm that NHE1 lies upstream of
      RSK. Increased phosphorylation and activation of GATA4 at Ser261 was correlated
      with increased RSK phosphorylation. This increase was reversed upon inhibition of
      RSK or NHE1. These findings demonstrate for the first time that the NHE1 mediated
      hypertrophy is accounted for by increased activation and phosphorylation of RSK,
      which subsequently increased the phosphorylation of GATA4; eventually activating
      fetal gene transcriptional machinery. 

PMID- 25830301
TI  - Free-Standing and Transparent Graphene Membrane of Polyhedron Box-Shaped Basic
      Building Units Directly Grown Using a NaCl Template for Flexible Transparent and
      Stretchable Solid-State Supercapacitors.
AB  - Transparency has never been integrated into freestanding flexible graphene paper
      (FF-GP), although FF-GP has been discussed extensively, because a thin
      transparent graphene sheet will fracture easily when the template or substrate is
      removed using traditional methods. Here, transparent FF-GP (FFT-GP) was developed
      using NaCl as the template and was applied in transparent and stretchable
      supercapacitors. The capacitance was improved by nearly 1000-fold compared with
      that of the laminated or wrinkled chemical vapor deposition graphene-film-based
      supercapacitors. 

PMID- 25830300
TI  - Spatial fluctuations in expression of the heterocyst differentiation regulatory
      gene hetR in Anabaena filaments.
AB  - Under nitrogen deprivation, filaments of the cyanobacterium Anabaena undergo a
      process of development, resulting in a one-dimensional pattern of nitrogen-fixing
      heterocysts separated by about ten photosynthetic vegetative cells. Many aspects
      of gene expression before nitrogen deprivation and during the developmental
      process remain to be elucidated. Furthermore, the coupling of gene expression
      fluctuations between cells along a multicellular filament is unknown. We studied
      the statistics of fluctuations of gene expression of HetR, a transcription factor
      essential for heterocyst differentiation, both under steady-state growth in
      nitrogen-rich conditions and at different times following nitrogen deprivation,
      using a chromosomally-encoded translational hetR-gfp fusion. Statistical analysis
      of fluorescence at the individual cell level in wild-type and mutant filaments
      demonstrates that expression fluctuations of hetR in nearby cells are coupled,
      with a characteristic spatial range of circa two to three cells, setting the
      scale for cellular interactions along a filament. Correlations between cells
      predominantly arise from intercellular molecular transfer and less from cell
      division. Fluctuations after nitrogen step-down can build up on those under
      nitrogen-replete conditions. We found that under nitrogen-rich conditions, basal,
      steady-state expression of the HetR inhibitor PatS, cell-cell communication
      influenced by the septal protein SepJ and positive HetR auto-regulation are
      essential determinants of fluctuations in hetR expression and its distribution
      along filaments. A comparison between the expression of hetR-gfp under nitrogen
      rich and nitrogen-poor conditions highlights the differences between the two HetR
      inhibitors PatS and HetN, as well as the differences in specificity between the
      septal proteins SepJ and FraC/FraD. Activation, inhibition and cell-cell
      communication lie at the heart of developmental processes. Our results show that
      proteins involved in these basic ingredients combine together in the presence of
      inevitable stochasticity in gene expression, to control the coupled fluctuations
      of gene expression that give rise to a one-dimensional developmental pattern in
      this organism. 

PMID- 25830302
TI  - Mulberry leaf polysaccharides modulate murine bone-marrow-derived dendritic cell
      maturation.
AB  - Various components of mulberry leaves, such as iminosugars, flavonoids and
      polysaccharides, have been reported to exert anti-diabetic activity. The purpose
      of our present study was to examine the modulating effect of mulberry leaf
      polysaccharides (MLPs) on murine bone-marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs). The
      ultrastructure, phenotype and functional maturation of BMDCs were studied using
      transmission electron microscopy (TEM), flow cytometry (FCM), and tested for
      phagocytosis, acid phosphatase (ACP) activity using an enzyme linked
      immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Our results demonstrated that MLPs could markedly
      induce BMDC maturation by up-regulating the expression of membrane phenotypic
      markers, such as CD80, CD86, CD83,CD40, and MHC II, down-regulating phagocytosis
      and ACP activity, and by enhancing the production of interleukin 12 (IL-12) and
      tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) secreted by BMDCs. We therefore concluded
      that MLPs can positively modulate BMDCs. 

PMID- 25830303
TI  - Trees grow on money: urban tree canopy cover and environmental justice.
AB  - This study examines the distributional equity of urban tree canopy (UTC) cover
      for Baltimore, MD, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Raleigh, NC,
      Sacramento, CA, and Washington, D.C. using high spatial resolution land cover
      data and census data. Data are analyzed at the Census Block Group levels using
      Spearman's correlation, ordinary least squares regression (OLS), and a spatial
      autoregressive model (SAR). Across all cities there is a strong positive
      correlation between UTC cover and median household income. Negative correlations
      between race and UTC cover exist in bivariate models for some cities, but they
      are generally not observed using multivariate regressions that include additional
      variables on income, education, and housing age. SAR models result in higher r
      square values compared to the OLS models across all cities, suggesting that
      spatial autocorrelation is an important feature of our data. Similarities among
      cities can be found based on shared characteristics of climate, race/ethnicity,
      and size. Our findings suggest that a suite of variables, including income,
      contribute to the distribution of UTC cover. These findings can help target
      simultaneous strategies for UTC goals and environmental justice concerns. 

PMID- 25830304
TI  - No dopamine cell loss or changes in cytoskeleton function in transgenic mice
      expressing physiological levels of wild type or G2019S mutant LRRK2 and in human
      fibroblasts.
AB  - Mutations within the LRRK2 gene have been identified in Parkinson's disease (PD)
      patients and have been implicated in the dysfunction of several cellular
      pathways. Here, we explore how pathogenic mutations and the inhibition of LRRK2
      kinase activity affect cytoskeleton dynamics in mouse and human cell systems. We
      generated and characterized a novel transgenic mouse model expressing
      physiological levels of human wild type and G2019S-mutant LRRK2. No neuronal loss
      or neurodegeneration was detected in midbrain dopamine neurons at the age of 12
      months. Postnatal hippocampal neurons derived from transgenic mice showed no
      alterations in the seven parameters examined concerning neurite outgrowth sampled
      automatically on several hundred neurons using high content imaging. Treatment
      with the kinase inhibitor LRRK2-IN-1 resulted in no significant changes in the
      neurite outgrowth. In human fibroblasts we analyzed whether pathogenic LRRK2
      mutations change cytoskeleton functions such as cell adhesion. To this end we
      compared the adhesion characteristics of human skin fibroblasts derived from six
      PD patients carrying one of three different pathogenic LRRK2 mutations and from
      four age-matched control individuals. The mutant LRRK2 variants as well as the
      inhibition of LRRK2 kinase activity did not reveal any significant cell adhesion
      differences in cultured fibroblasts. In summary, our results in both human and
      mouse cell systems suggest that neither the expression of wild type or mutant
      LRRK2, nor the inhibition of LRRK2 kinase activity affect neurite complexity and
      cellular adhesion. 

PMID- 25830306
TI  - Correction: cardiac mechanics and ventricular twist by three-dimensional strain
      analysis in relation to B-type natriuretic Peptide as a clinical prognosticator
      for heart failure patients.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115260.]. 

PMID- 25830305
TI  - Analyses of the transcriptome and metabolome demonstrate that HIF1alpha mediates
      altered tumor metabolism in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
AB  - Hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF1alpha) is a transcription factor that is
      frequently stabilized and active in human clear cell renal cell carcinoma
      (ccRCC). We have found that constitutively active HIF1alpha is sufficient to
      cause neoplastic transformation in a murine model of ccRCC termed the TRACK
      model. RNA sequencing (RNAseq) and untargeted metabolomics analyses of samples
      from TRACK kidneys demonstrate that HIF1alpha activates the transcription of
      genes that cause increased glucose uptake, glycolysis, and lactate production, as
      well as a decrease in the flux of pyruvate entering the tricarboxylic acid (TCA)
      cycle and a decrease in oxidative phosphorylation; these changes are identical to
      those observed in human ccRCC samples. These studies show that a constitutively
      active HIF1alpha promotes tumorigenesis in TRACK mice by mediating a metabolic
      switch to aerobic glycolysis, i.e., the Warburg effect, and suggest that TRACK
      mice are a valid model to test novel therapies targeting metabolic changes to
      inhibit human ccRCC. 

PMID- 25830307
TI  - Metabolic and cardiovascular complications in the liver transplant recipient.
AB  - Metabolic syndrome (MS) is an established risk factor for atherosclerosis and
      cardiovascular disease that affects 20-30% of the adult population in the western
      world, correlating with increased incidence of cardiovascular disease. Survival
      following liver transplantation (LT) has been steadily improving over the last 2
      decades, with graft loss becoming a relatively rare cause of morbidity and
      mortality post LT. The improvement in short-term survival following LT has
      resulted in an increased incidence of metabolic and cardiovascular complications,
      which affect the mid- and long term survival. Patients following LT typically
      gain weight and might develop diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia as a
      consequence of their immunosuppressive therapy and their lifestyle. In this paper
      we review the prevalence of metabolic and cardiovascular complications following
      LT, their impact on post-transplant morbidity and mortality and their optimal
      management.

PMID- 25830308
TI  - Detrusor myocyte autophagy protects the bladder function via inhibiting the
      inflammation in cyclophosphamide-induced cystitis in rats.
AB  - Autophagy, a highly conserved homeostatic cellular process that removes and
      recycles damaged proteins and organelles in response to cellular stress, is
      believed to play a crucial role in the immune response and inflammation. The role
      of autophagy in bladder cystitis, however, has not well been clarified. Here we
      investigate the role of detrusor myocytes autophagy (DMA) in cyclophosphamide
      induced cystitis animal model. 164 female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized
      into three experimental groups and compared to three control groups,
      respectively. The expressions of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3
      (LC3), p-p70s6k (the phosphorylated form of ribosomal protein S6), SOD2
      (superoxide dismutase 2) in the bladder muscular layer were measured using
      western blot. The co-location of LC3, alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA), and
      autophagic vacuoles were investigated with double-labeled immunofluorescence and
      transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The expression of lL-1beta, IL-6, IL-8,
      malondialdehyde (MDA), and glutathione (GSH) in the detrusor layer were analyzed
      using ELISA. The bladder inflammation and the number of mast cells in the
      muscular layer were analyzed by histology. The bladder function was evaluated
      using cystometry. In cyclophosphamide-induced cystitis, autophagy was detected in
      detrusor myocytes by increased LC3, p-p70s6k expression, and autophagosomes.
      However, the presence of enhanced inflammation and oxidative stress in the
      cyclophosphamide-treated group suggest autophagy of detrusor myocytes may not be
      sufficiently activated. Inflammation and oxidative stress were significantly
      decreased and the bladder histology and micturition function were significantly
      improved with rapamycin (RAPA, autophagy agonist) pre-treatment. In contrast,
      inflammation and oxidative stress were dramatically increased and the bladder
      histology and function were negatively affected with chloroquine (CQ, autophagy
      blocker) pre-treated. These findings preferentially provide evidence of the
      association between DMA and cyclophosphamide-induced cystitis in rats. The
      autophagy agonist RAPA significantly decreased the inflammation and protected the
      bladder function, which might be considered as a potential treatment for
      interstitial cystitis. 

PMID- 25830310
TI  - The importance of population growth and regulation in human life history
      evolution.
AB  - Explaining the evolution of human life history traits remains an important
      challenge for evolutionary anthropologists. Progress is hindered by a poor
      appreciation of how demographic factors affect the action of natural selection. I
      review life history theory showing that the quantity maximized by selection
      depends on whether and how population growth is regulated. I show that the common
      use of R, a strategy's expected lifetime number of offspring, as a fitness
      maximand is only appropriate under a strict set of conditions, which are
      apparently unappreciated by anthropologists. To concretely show how demography
      free life history theory can lead to errors, I reanalyze an influential model of
      human life history evolution, which investigated the coevolution of a long
      lifespan and late age of maturity. I show that the model's conclusions do not
      hold under simple changes to the implicitly assumed mechanism of density
      dependence, even when stated assumptions remain unchanged. This analysis suggests
      that progress in human life history theory requires better understanding of the
      demography of our ancestors. 

PMID- 25830309
TI  - The association of statin use after cancer diagnosis with survival in pancreatic
      cancer patients: a SEER-medicare analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cancer has poor prognosis and existing interventions
      provide a modest benefit. Statin has anti-cancer properties that might enhance
      survival in pancreatic cancer patients. We sought to determine whether statin
      treatment after cancer diagnosis is associated with longer survival in those with
      pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). METHODS: We analyzed data on 7813
      elderly patients with PDAC using the linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End
      Results (SEER) - Medicare claims files. Information on the type, intensity and
      duration of statin use after cancer diagnosis was extracted from Medicare Part D.
      We treated statin as a time-dependent variable in a Cox regression model to
      determine the association with overall survival adjusting for follow-up, age,
      sex, race, neighborhood income, stage, grade, tumor size, pancreatectomy,
      chemotherapy, radiation, obesity, dyslipidemia, diabetes, chronic pancreatitis
      and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). RESULTS: Overall, statin use
      after cancer diagnosis was not significantly associated with survival when all
      PDAC patients were considered (HR = 0.94, 95%CI 0.89, 1.01). However, statin use
      after cancer diagnosis was associated with a 21% reduced hazard of death (Hazard
      ratio = 0.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.67, 0.93) in those with grade I or
      II PDAC and to a similar extent in those who had undergone a pancreatectomy, in
      those with chronic pancreatitis and in those who had not been treated with statin
      prior to cancer diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: We found that statin treatment after
      cancer diagnosis is associated with enhanced survival in patients with low-grade,
      resectable PDAC.

PMID- 25830311
TI  - The repertoire of archaea cultivated from severe periodontitis.
AB  - In previous studies, the abundance and diversity of methanogenic archaea in the
      dental microbiota have been analysed by the detection of specific DNA sequences
      by PCR-based investigations and metagenomic studies. Few data issued regarding
      methanogens actually living in dental plaque. We collected dental plaque
      specimens in 15 control individuals and 65 periodontitis patients. Dental plaque
      specimens were cultured in an anoxic liquid medium for methanogens in the
      presence of negative control tubes. Dental plaque methanogens were cultured from
      1/15 (6.67%) control and 36/65 (55.38%) periodontitis patient samples (p<0.001).
      The cultures yielded Methanobrevibacter oralis in one control and thirty-one
      patients, Methanobrevibacter smithii in two patients and a potential new species
      named Methanobrevibacter sp. strain N13 in three patients with severe
      periodontitis. Our observations of living methanogens, strengthen previous
      observations made on DNA-based studies regarding the role of methanogens, in
      periodontitis. 

PMID- 25830312
TI  - Heroin use is associated with suppressed pro-inflammatory cytokine response after
      LPS exposure in HIV-infected individuals.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Opioid use is associated with increased incidence of infectious
      diseases. Although experimental studies have shown that opioids affect various
      functions of immune cells, only limited data are available from human studies.
      Drug use is an important risk factor for HIV transmission; however no data are
      available whether heroin and/or methadone modulate immune response. Therefore, we
      examined the effect of heroin and methadone use among HIV-infected individuals on
      the production of cytokines after ex vivo stimulation with various pathogens.
      METHODS: Treatment naive HIV-infected individuals from Indonesia were recruited.
      Several cohorts of individuals were recruited: 1) using heroin 2) receiving
      methadone opioid substitution 3) using heroin over 1 year ago and 4) controls
      (never used opioids). Whole blood was stimulated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
      Candida albicans and LPS for 24 to 48 hours. Cytokine production (IL-1 beta, IL
      6, IL-10, IFN-alpha, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha) was determined using multiplex
      beads assay. RESULTS: Among 82 individuals, the cytokine levels in unstimulated
      samples did not differ between groups. Overall, heroin users had significantly
      lower cytokine response after exposure to LPS (p<0.05). After stimulation with
      either M. tuberculosis or C. albicans the cytokine production of all groups were
      comparable. CONCLUSION: The cytokine production after exposure to LPS is
      significantly down-regulated in HIV-infected heroin users. Interesting, methadone
      use did not suppress cytokine response, which could have implications guidelines
      of opioid substitution.

PMID- 25830315
TI  - Market Performance and Food Safety Compliance for Small Food Businesses: The Case
      of Fifth Town Artisan Cheese.
AB  - Few studies have investigated how small businesses in the food sector cope with
      federally mandated recalls. The available literature is also unclear as to how
      small businesses, particularly those in food production with limited resources,
      manage with newly approved regulations, while working to achieve commercial
      success. The aim of this paper is to address this information gap through the
      exploration of how one firm coped with a situation that threatened its existence.
      This study will explore links between small firms, supply-chain resources for
      small food businesses and food safety regimes. This study is based on a recall
      experienced by an artisan cheese maker in Prince Edward County in Ontario,
      Canada, called Fifth Town Cheese (FTC). A conceptual framework was developed and
      results are presented. Finally, the paper concludes with theoretical and
      managerial implications, and presents avenues for future research.

PMID- 25830313
TI  - Genome-destabilizing effects associated with top1 loss or accumulation of top1
      cleavage complexes in yeast.
AB  - Topoisomerase 1 (Top1), a Type IB topoisomerase, functions to relieve
      transcription- and replication-associated torsional stress in DNA. We
      investigated the effects of Top1 on genome stability in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
      using two different assays. First, a sectoring assay that detects loss of
      heterozygosity (LOH) on a specific chromosome was used to measure reciprocal
      crossover (RCO) rates. Features of individual RCO events were then molecularly
      characterized using chromosome-specific microarrays. In the second assay, cells
      were sub-cultured for 250 generations and LOH was examined genome-wide using
      microarrays. Though loss of Top1 did not destabilize single-copy genomic regions,
      RCO events were more complex than in a wild-type strain. In contrast to the
      stability of single-copy regions, sub-culturing experiments revealed that top1
      mutants had greatly elevated levels of instability within the tandemly-repeated
      ribosomal RNA genes (in agreement with previous results). An intermediate in the
      enzymatic reaction catalyzed by Top1 is the covalent attachment of Top1 to the
      cleaved DNA. The resulting Top1 cleavage complex (Top1cc) is usually transient
      but can be stabilized by the drug camptothecin (CPT) or by the top1-T722A allele.
      We found that increased levels of the Top1cc resulted in a five- to ten-fold
      increase in RCOs and greatly increased instability within the rDNA and CUP1
      tandem arrays. A detailed analysis of the events in strains with elevated levels
      of Top1cc suggests that recombinogenic DNA lesions are introduced during or after
      DNA synthesis. These results have important implications for understanding the
      effects of CPT as a chemotherapeutic agent. 

PMID- 25830314
TI  - Honey glycoproteins containing antimicrobial peptides, Jelleins of the Major
      Royal Jelly Protein 1, are responsible for the cell wall lytic and bactericidal
      activities of honey.
AB  - We have recently identified the bacterial cell wall as the cellular target for
      honey antibacterial compounds; however, the chemical nature of these compounds
      remained to be elucidated. Using Concavalin A-affinity chromatography, we found
      that isolated glycoprotein fractions (glps), but not flow-through fractions,
      exhibited strong growth inhibitory and bactericidal properties. The glps
      possessed two distinct functionalities: (a) specific binding and agglutination of
      bacterial cells, but not rat erythrocytes and (b) non-specific membrane
      permeabilization of both bacterial cells and erythrocytes. The isolated glps
      induced concentration- and time-dependent changes in the cell shape of both E.
      coli and B. subtilis as visualized by light and SEM microscopy. The appearance of
      filaments and spheroplasts correlated with growth inhibition and bactericidal
      effects, respectively. The time-kill kinetics showed a rapid, >5-log10 reduction
      of viable cells within 15 min incubation at 1xMBC, indicating that the glps
      induced damage of the cell wall was lethal. Unexpectedly, MALDI-TOF and
      electrospray quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry, (ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS)
      analysis of glps showed sequence identity with the Major Royal Jelly Protein 1
      (MRJP1) precursor that harbors three antimicrobial peptides: Jelleins 1, 2, and
      4. The presence of high-mannose structures explained the lectin-like activity of
      MRJP1, while the presence of Jelleins in MRJP1 may explain cell wall disruptions.
      Thus, the observed damages induced by the MRJP1 to the bacterial cell wall
      constitute the mechanism by which the antibacterial effects were produced.
      Antibacterial activity of MRJP1 glps directly correlated with the overall
      antibacterial activity of honey, suggesting that it is honey's active principle
      responsible for this activity.

PMID- 25830317
TI  - Correction: association of dietary factors with presence and severity of tinnitus
      in a middle-aged UK population.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114711.]. 

PMID- 25830316
TI  - HCV genotyping from NGS short reads and its application in genotype detection
      from HCV mixed infected plasma.
AB  - Genotyping of hepatitis C virus (HCV) plays an important role in the treatment of
      HCV. As new genotype-specific treatment options become available, it has become
      increasingly important to have accurate HCV genotype and subtype information to
      ensure that the most appropriate treatment regimen is selected. Most current
      genotyping methods are unable to detect mixed genotypes from two or more HCV
      infections. Next generation sequencing (NGS) allows for rapid and low cost mass
      sequencing of viral genomes and provides an opportunity to probe the viral
      population from a single host. In this paper, the possibility of using short NGS
      reads for direct HCV genotyping without genome assembly was evaluated. We
      surveyed the publicly-available genetic content of three HCV drug target regions
      (NS3, NS5A, NS5B) in terms of whether these genes contained genotype-specific
      regions that could predict genotype. Six genotypes and 38 subtypes were included
      in this study. An automated phylogenetic analysis based HCV genotyping method was
      implemented and used to assess different HCV target gene regions. Candidate
      regions of 250-bp each were found for all three genes that have enough genetic
      information to predict HCV genotypes/subtypes. Validation using public datasets
      shows 100% genotyping accuracy. To test whether these 250-bp regions were
      sufficient to identify mixed genotypes, we developed a random primer-based method
      to sequence HCV plasma samples containing mixtures of two HCV genotypes in
      different ratios. We were able to determine the genotypes without ambiguity and
      to quantify the ratio of the abundances of the mixed genotypes in the samples.
      These data provide a proof-of-concept that this random primed, NGS-based short
      read genotyping approach does not need prior information about the viral
      population and is capable of detecting mixed viral infection. 

PMID- 25830318
TI  - Neurodevelopmental disorders and agricultural pesticide exposures: Shelton and
      Hertz-Picciotto respond.

PMID- 25830321
TI  - Cell-free DNA analysis for noninvasive examination of trisomy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing for fetal trisomy is highly effective
      among high-risk women. However, there have been few direct, well-powered studies
      comparing cfDNA testing with standard screening during the first trimester in
      routine prenatal populations. METHODS: In this prospective, multicenter, blinded
      study conducted at 35 international centers, we assigned pregnant women
      presenting for aneuploidy screening at 10 to 14 weeks of gestation to undergo
      both standard screening (with measurement of nuchal translucency and biochemical
      analytes) and cfDNA testing. Participants received the results of standard
      screening; the results of cfDNA testing were blinded. Determination of the birth
      outcome was based on diagnostic genetic testing or newborn examination. The
      primary outcome was the area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve
      (AUC) for trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome) with cfDNA testing versus standard
      screening. We also evaluated cfDNA testing and standard screening to assess the
      risk of trisomies 18 and 13. RESULTS: Of 18,955 women who were enrolled, results
      from 15,841 were available for analysis. The mean maternal age was 30.7 years,
      and the mean gestational age at testing was 12.5 weeks. The AUC for trisomy 21
      was 0.999 for cfDNA testing and 0.958 for standard screening (P=0.001). Trisomy
      21 was detected in 38 of 38 women (100%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 90.7 to
      100) in the cfDNA-testing group, as compared with 30 of 38 women (78.9%; 95% CI,
      62.7 to 90.4) in the standard-screening group (P=0.008). False positive rates
      were 0.06% (95% CI, 0.03 to 0.11) in the cfDNA group and 5.4% (95% CI, 5.1 to
      5.8) in the standard-screening group (P<0.001). The positive predictive value for
      cfDNA testing was 80.9% (95% CI, 66.7 to 90.9), as compared with 3.4% (95% CI,
      2.3 to 4.8) for standard screening (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In this large, routine
      prenatal-screening population, cfDNA testing for trisomy 21 had higher
      sensitivity, a lower false positive rate, and higher positive predictive value
      than did standard screening with the measurement of nuchal translucency and
      biochemical analytes. (Funded by Ariosa Diagnostics and Perinatal Quality
      Foundation; NEXT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01511458.).

PMID- 25830320
TI  - Screening of the Pan-African natural product library identifies ixoratannin A-2
      and boldine as novel HIV-1 inhibitors.
AB  - The continued burden of HIV in resource-limited regions such as parts of sub
      Saharan Africa, combined with adverse effects and potential risks of resistance
      to existing antiretroviral therapies, emphasize the need to identify new HIV
      inhibitors. Here we performed a virtual screen of molecules from the pan-African
      Natural Product Library, the largest collection of medicinal plant-derived pure
      compounds on the African continent. We identified eight molecules with structural
      similarity to reported interactors of Vpu, an HIV-1 accessory protein with
      reported ion channel activity. Using in vitro HIV-1 replication assays with a
      CD4+ T cell line and peripheral blood mononuclear cells, we confirmed antiviral
      activity and minimal cytotoxicity for two compounds, ixoratannin A-2 and boldine.
      Notably, ixoratannin A-2 retained inhibitory activity against recombinant HIV-1
      strains encoding patient-derived mutations that confer resistance to protease,
      non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase, or integrase inhibitors. Moreover,
      ixoratannin A-2 was less effective at inhibiting replication of HIV-1 lacking
      Vpu, supporting this protein as a possible direct or indirect target. In
      contrast, boldine was less effective against a protease inhibitor-resistant HIV-1
      strain. Both ixoratannin A-2 and boldine also inhibited in vitro replication of
      hepatitis C virus (HCV). However, BIT-225, a previously-reported Vpu inhibitor,
      demonstrated antiviral activity but also cytotoxicity in HIV-1 and HCV
      replication assays. Our work identifies pure compounds derived from African
      plants with potential novel activities against viruses that disproportionately
      afflict resource-limited regions of the world. 

PMID- 25830324
TI  - Use of cell-free DNA to screen for Down's syndrome.

PMID- 25830323
TI  - Copy-number variation and false positive prenatal aneuploidy screening results.
AB  - Investigations of noninvasive prenatal screening for aneuploidy by analysis of
      circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) have shown high sensitivity and specificity in
      both high-risk and low-risk cohorts. However, the overall low incidence of
      aneuploidy limits the positive predictive value of these tests. Currently, the
      causes of false positive results are poorly understood. We investigated four
      pregnancies with discordant prenatal test results and found in two cases that
      maternal duplications on chromosome 18 were the likely cause of the discordant
      results. Modeling based on population-level copy-number variation supports the
      possibility that some false positive results of noninvasive prenatal screening
      may be attributable to large maternal copy-number variants. (Funded by the
      National Institutes of Health and others.). 

PMID- 25830325
TI  - Accurate description of DNA-based noninvasive prenatal screening.

PMID- 25830322
TI  - A Recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Ebola Vaccine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The worst Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in history has resulted
      in more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths. We present the final results of two
      phase 1 trials of an attenuated, replication-competent, recombinant vesicular
      stomatitis virus (rVSV)-based vaccine candidate designed to prevent EVD. METHODS:
      We conducted two phase 1, placebo-controlled, double-blind, dose-escalation
      trials of an rVSV-based vaccine candidate expressing the glycoprotein of a Zaire
      strain of Ebola virus (ZEBOV). A total of 39 adults at each site (78 participants
      in all) were consecutively enrolled into groups of 13. At each site, volunteers
      received one of three doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine (3 million plaque-forming
      units [PFU], 20 million PFU, or 100 million PFU) or placebo. Volunteers at one of
      the sites received a second dose at day 28. Safety and immunogenicity were
      assessed. RESULTS: The most common adverse events were injection-site pain,
      fatigue, myalgia, and headache. Transient rVSV viremia was noted in all the
      vaccine recipients after dose 1. The rates of adverse events and viremia were
      lower after the second dose than after the first dose. By day 28, all the vaccine
      recipients had seroconversion as assessed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
      (ELISA) against the glycoprotein of the ZEBOV-Kikwit strain. At day 28, geometric
      mean titers of antibodies against ZEBOV glycoprotein were higher in the groups
      that received 20 million PFU or 100 million PFU than in the group that received 3
      million PFU, as assessed by ELISA and by pseudovirion neutralization assay. A
      second dose at 28 days after dose 1 significantly increased antibody titers at
      day 56, but the effect was diminished at 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: This Ebola
      vaccine candidate elicited anti-Ebola antibody responses. After vaccination, rVSV
      viremia occurred frequently but was transient. These results support further
      evaluation of the vaccine dose of 20 million PFU for preexposure prophylaxis and
      suggest that a second dose may boost antibody responses. (Funded by the National
      Institutes of Health and others; rVSV?G-ZEBOV-GP ClinicalTrials.gov numbers,
      NCT02269423 and NCT02280408 .).

PMID- 25830328
TI  - Correction: Fc receptors for immunoglobulins and their appearance during
      vertebrate evolution.

PMID- 25830327
TI  - Leisure-Time Physical Activity Does not Attenuate the Association Between
      Occupational Sedentary Behavior and Obesity: Results From Alberta's Tomorrow
      Project.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sedentary behavior has been proposed as a risk factor for obesity
      that is distinct from physical inactivity. This study aimed to examine the
      association between occupational sedentary behavior and obesity, and to determine
      if this association is independent of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA).
      METHODS: Fully employed participants enrolled between 2001 and 2008 to Alberta's
      Tomorrow Project, a prospective cohort study in Alberta, Canada, were studied (n
      = 12,409). Associations between occupational sedentary behavior and waist
      circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and body mass index (BMI) were
      examined using multiple binary and multinomial logistic regressions. RESULTS: In
      men, a positive association was observed between daily occupational sedentary
      hours and WC, WHR, BMI, and with high risk profiles that incorporated both BMI
      and WC (P < .01). Controlling for vigorous-intensity LTPA in all models
      strengthened associations between sedentary behavior and measures of obesity. In
      contrast, inverse associations were observed for occupational sedentary hours and
      WHR for women (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: In fully employed men, occupational
      sedentary behavior was positively associated with obesity risk that was not
      attenuated by physical activity. In women, an increase in obesity risk was not
      observed with sedentary behavior. Gender differences in the health effects of
      sedentary behavior require further study.

PMID- 25830329
TI  - Modification of nitrate uptake pathway in plants affects the cadmium uptake by
      roots.
AB  - NRT1.1 is a dual-affinity nitrate (NO3(-)) transporter involved in both high- and
      low-affinity NO3(-) uptake in Arabidopsis plants. In a recent study, we showed
      that, under cadmium (Cd) exposure, blocking the NRT1.1-mediated NO3(-) uptake
      reduces Cd entry into roots, thus lowing Cd levels in plants and improving plant
      growth. In addition, we also found that the Cd levels in edible parts of 11
      Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis) cultivars correlated well with
      the NO3(-) uptake rates of their roots. These results suggested that the NO3(-)
      uptake of roots negatively regulate Cd uptake. Modification of NO3(-) uptake in
      crops by modulating NO3(-) uptake pathway might provide a biological engineering
      approach to reducing Cd accumulation in edible organs, thus improving food
      safety. 

PMID- 25830326
TI  - Phase 1 Trials of rVSV Ebola Vaccine in Africa and Europe.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The replication-competent recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus
      (rVSV)-based vaccine expressing a Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV) glycoprotein was
      selected for rapid safety and immunogenicity testing before its use in West
      Africa. METHODS: We performed three open-label, dose-escalation phase 1 trials
      and one randomized, double-blind, controlled phase 1 trial to assess the safety,
      side-effect profile, and immunogenicity of rVSV-ZEBOV at various doses in 158
      healthy adults in Europe and Africa. All participants were injected with doses of
      vaccine ranging from 300,000 to 50 million plaque-forming units (PFU) or placebo.
      RESULTS: No serious vaccine-related adverse events were reported. Mild-to
      moderate early-onset reactogenicity was frequent but transient (median, 1 day).
      Fever was observed in up to 30% of vaccinees. Vaccine viremia was detected within
      3 days in 123 of the 130 participants (95%) receiving 3 million PFU or more; rVSV
      was not detected in saliva or urine. In the second week after injection,
      arthritis affecting one to four joints developed in 11 of 51 participants (22%)
      in Geneva, with pain lasting a median of 8 days (interquartile range, 4 to 87); 2
      self-limited cases occurred in 60 participants (3%) in Hamburg, Germany, and
      Kilifi, Kenya. The virus was identified in one synovial-fluid aspirate and in
      skin vesicles of 2 other vaccinees, showing peripheral viral replication in the
      second week after immunization. ZEBOV-glycoprotein-specific antibody responses
      were detected in all the participants, with similar glycoprotein-binding antibody
      titers but significantly higher neutralizing antibody titers at higher doses.
      Glycoprotein-binding antibody titers were sustained through 180 days in all
      participants. CONCLUSIONS: In these studies, rVSV-ZEBOV was reactogenic but
      immunogenic after a single dose and warrants further evaluation for safety and
      efficacy. (Funded by the Wellcome Trust and others; ClinicalTrials.gov numbers,
      NCT02283099, NCT02287480, and NCT02296983; Pan African Clinical Trials Registry
      number, PACTR201411000919191.).

PMID- 25830330
TI  - Selection of reference genes for transcriptional analysis of edible tubers of
      potato (Solanum tuberosum L.).
AB  - Potato (Solanum tuberosum) yield has increased dramatically over the last 50
      years and this has been achieved by a combination of improved agronomy and
      biotechnology efforts. Gene studies are taking place to improve new qualities and
      develop new cultivars. Reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain
      reaction (RT-qPCR) is a bench-marking analytical tool for gene expression
      analysis, but its accuracy is highly dependent on a reliable normalization
      strategy of an invariant reference genes. For this reason, the goal of this work
      was to select and validate reference genes for transcriptional analysis of edible
      tubers of potato. To do so, RT-qPCR primers were designed for ten genes with
      relatively stable expression in potato tubers as observed in RNA-Seq experiments.
      Primers were designed across exon boundaries to avoid genomic DNA contamination.
      Differences were observed in the ranking of candidate genes identified by geNorm,
      NormFinder and BestKeeper algorithms. The ranks determined by geNorm and
      NormFinder were very similar and for all samples the most stable candidates were
      C2, exocyst complex component sec3 (SEC3) and ATCUL3/ATCUL3A/CUL3/CUL3A (CUL3A).
      According to BestKeeper, the importin alpha and ubiquitin-associated/ts-n genes
      were the most stable. Three genes were selected as reference genes for potato
      edible tubers in RT-qPCR studies. The first one, called C2, was selected in
      common by NormFinder and geNorm, the second one is SEC3, selected by NormFinder,
      and the third one is CUL3A, selected by geNorm. Appropriate reference genes
      identified in this work will help to improve the accuracy of gene expression
      quantification analyses by taking into account differences that may be observed
      in RNA quality or reverse transcription efficiency across the samples. 

PMID- 25830331
TI  - Whole-genome optical mapping and finished genome sequence of Sphingobacterium
      deserti sp. nov., a new species isolated from the Western Desert of China.
AB  - A novel Gram-negative bacterium, designated ZWT, was isolated from a soil sample
      of the Western Desert of China, and its phenotypic properties and phylogenetic
      position were investigated using a polyphasic approach. Growth occurred on TGY
      medium at 5-42 degrees C with an optimum of 30 degrees C, and at pH 7.0-11.0 with
      an optimum of pH 9.0. The predominant cellular fatty acids were summed feature 3
      (C16:1omega7c/C16:1omega6c or C16:1omega6c/C16:1omega7c) (39.22%), iso-C15:0
      (27.91%), iso-C17:0 3OH (15.21%), C16:0 (4.98%), iso-C15:0 3OH (3.03%), C16:0 3OH
      (5.39%) and C14:0 (1.74%). The major polar lipid of strain ZWT is
      phosphatidylethanolamine. The only menaquinone observed was MK-7. The GC content
      of the DNA of strain ZWT is 44.9 mol%. rDNA phylogeny, genome relatedness and
      chemotaxonomic characteristics all indicate that strain ZWT represents a novel
      species of the genus Sphingobacterium. We propose the name S. deserti sp. nov.,
      with ZWT (= KCTC 32092T = ACCC 05744T) as the type strain. Whole genome optical
      mapping and next-generation sequencing was used to derive a finished genome
      sequence for strain ZWT, consisting of a circular chromosome of 4,615,818 bp in
      size. The genome of strain ZWT features 3,391 protein-encoding and 48 tRNA
      encoding genes. Comparison of the predicted proteome of ZWT with those of other
      sphingobacteria identified 925 species-unique proteins that may contribute to the
      adaptation of ZWT to its native, extremely arid and inhospitable environment. As
      the first finished genome sequence for any Sphingobacterium, our work will serve
      as a useful reference for subsequent sequencing and mapping efforts for
      additional strains and species within this genus. 

PMID- 25830332
TI  - Notch1 is pan-endothelial at the onset of flow and regulated by flow.
AB  - Arteriovenous differentiation is a key event during vascular development and
      hemodynamic forces play an important role. Arteriovenous gene expression is
      present before the onset of flow, however it remains plastic and flow can alter
      arteriovenous identity. Notch signaling is especially important in the genetic
      determination of arteriovenous identity. Nevertheless, the effect of the onset of
      circulation on Notch expression and signaling has not been studied. The aim of
      this study is therefore to investigate the interaction of Notch1 signaling and
      hemodynamic forces during early vascular development. We find that the onset of
      Notch1 expression coincides with the onset of flow, and that expression is pan
      endothelial at the onset of circulation in mouse embryos and only becomes
      arterial-specific after remodeling has occurred. When we ablate flow in the early
      embryo, endothelial cells fail to express Notch1. We show that low and disturbed
      flow patterns upregulate Notch1 expression in endothelial cells in vitro, but
      that higher shear stress levels do not (>=10 dynes/cm2). Using siRNA, we knocked
      down Notch1 to investigate the role of Notch1 in mechanotransduction. When we
      applied shear stress levels similar to those found in embryonic arteries, we
      found an upregulation of Klf2, Dll1, Dll4, Jag1, Hey1, Nrp1 and CoupTFII but that
      only Dll4, Hey1, Nrp1 and EphB4 required Notch1 for flow-induced expression. Our
      results therefore indicate that Notch1 can modulate mechanotransduction but is
      not a critical mediator of the process since many genes mechanotransduce normally
      in the absence of Notch1, including genes involved in arteriovenous
      differentiation. 

PMID- 25830333
TI  - Behavioural differences between single scandinavian brown bears (Ursus arctos)
      and females with dependent young when experimentally approached by humans.
AB  - Carnivore-human encounters that result in human injury present a conservation and
      management challenge and it is therefore important to understand under what
      conditions such incidents occur. Females with cubs are often involved when humans
      are injured by brown bears Ursus arctos. In Scandinavia, this is particularly
      true for unarmed recreational forest users. Our aim was to document behavioural
      differences between single bears and females with cubs in order to develop
      recommendations to minimize the risk of injuries to recreational forest users. We
      documented the reactions of GPS-collared females with cubs and single brown bears
      to experimental approaches by humans to 50 m from the bear on 42 and 108
      occasions, respectively. The majority of females with cubs (95%) and single bears
      (89%) left when approached. Bears that left were passed at shorter distances and
      were in more open areas than those that stayed. Both groups had similar flight
      initiation distances, which were longer for bears that were active at the time of
      the disturbance. Females with cubs selected more open habitat than single bears,
      also for the new site they selected following disturbance. Females with cubs,
      particularly active females with cubs of the year, moved greater distances and
      spent more time active following the approach. Females with cubs and single bears
      were seen or heard in 26% and 14% of the approaches, respectively. None of the
      bears displayed any aggressive behaviour during the approaches. Females with cubs
      selected more open habitat, perhaps predisposing them to encountering people that
      are not involved in hunting activities, which might be the primary explanation
      why females with cubs are most frequently involved when unarmed people are
      injured by bears in Scandinavia. To mitigate injury risks, one must consider
      factors that bring bears closer to human activity in the first place. 

PMID- 25830336
TI  - The effect of mixing entire male pigs prior to transport to slaughter on
      behaviour, welfare and carcass lesions.
AB  - Research is needed to validate lesions recorded at meat inspection as indicators
      of pig welfare on farm. The aims were to determine the influence of mixing pigs
      on carcass lesions and to establish whether such lesions correlate with pig
      behaviour and lesions scored on farm. Aggressive and mounting behaviour of pigs
      in three single sex pens was recorded on Day -5, -2, and -1 relative to slaughter
      (Day 0). On Day 0 pigs were randomly allocated to 3 treatments (n = 20/group)
      over 5 replicates: males mixed with females (MF), males mixed with males (MM),
      and males unmixed (MUM). Aggressive and mounting behaviours were recorded on Day
      0 at holding on farm and lairage. Skin/tail lesions were scored according to
      severity at the farm (Day -1), lairage, and on the carcass (Day 0). Effect of
      treatment and time on behaviour and lesions were analysed by mixed models.
      Spearman rank correlations between behaviour and lesion scores and between scores
      recorded at different stages were determined. In general, MM performed more
      aggressive behaviour (50.4 +/- 10.72) than MUM (20.3 +/- 9.55, P < 0.05) and more
      mounting (30.9 +/- 9.99) than MF (11.4 +/- 3.76) and MUM (9.8 +/- 3.74, P <
      0.05). Skin lesion scores increased between farm (Day -1) and lairage (P <
      0.001), but this tended to be significant only for MF and MM (P = 0.08). There
      was no effect of treatment on carcass lesions and no associations were found with
      fighting/mounting. Mixing entire males prior to slaughter stimulated mounting and
      aggressive behaviour but did not influence carcass lesion scores. Carcass
      skin/tail lesions scores were correlated with scores recorded on farm (rskin =
      0.21 and rtail = 0.18, P < 0.01) suggesting that information recorded at meat
      inspection could be used as indicators of pig welfare on farm. 

PMID- 25830335
TI  - A conserved transcriptional signature of delayed aging and reduced disease
      vulnerability is partially mediated by SIRT3.
AB  - Aging is the most significant risk factor for a range of diseases, including many
      cancers, neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Caloric
      restriction (CR) without malnutrition delays aging in diverse species, and
      therefore offers unique insights into age-related disease vulnerability. Previous
      studies suggest that there are shared mechanisms of disease resistance associated
      with delayed aging, however quantitative support is lacking. We therefore sought
      to identify a common response to CR in diverse tissues and species and determine
      whether this signature would reflect health status independent of aging. We
      analyzed gene expression datasets from eight tissues of mice subjected to CR and
      identified a common transcriptional signature that includes functional categories
      of mitochondrial energy metabolism, inflammation and ribosomal structure. This
      signature is detected in flies, rats, and rhesus monkeys on CR, indicating
      aspects of CR that are evolutionarily conserved. Detection of the signature in
      mouse genetic models of slowed aging indicates that it is not unique to CR but
      rather a common aspect of extended longevity. Mice lacking the NAD-dependent
      deacetylase SIRT3 fail to induce mitochondrial and anti-inflammatory elements of
      the signature in response to CR, suggesting a potential mechanism involving
      SIRT3. The inverse of this transcriptional signature is detected with consumption
      of a high fat diet, obesity and metabolic disease, and is reversed in response to
      interventions that decrease disease risk. We propose that this evolutionarily
      conserved, tissue-independent, transcriptional signature of delayed aging and
      reduced disease vulnerability is a promising target for developing therapies for
      age-related diseases. 

PMID- 25830338
TI  - Correction: experiential thinking in creationism-a textual analysis.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118314.]. 

PMID- 25830337
TI  - Serving first in isolation increases vegetable intake among elementary
      schoolchildren.
AB  - Many people want to eat healthier, but they often fail in these attempts. We
      report two field studies in an elementary school cafeteria that each demonstrate
      children eat more of a vegetable (carrots, broccoli) when we provide it first in
      isolation versus alongside other more preferred foods. We propose this healthy
      first approach succeeds by triggering one's inherent motivation to eat a single
      food placed in front of them, and works even though they have prior knowledge of
      the full menu available and no real time constraints. Consistent with this
      theory, and counter to simple contrast effects, an additional lab study found
      that presenting a food first in isolation had the unique ability to increase
      intake whether the food was healthy (carrots) or less healthy (M&M's). Our
      findings demonstrate the effectiveness of this simple intervention in promoting
      healthier eating, which should interest consumers, food marketers, health
      professionals, and policy makers.

PMID- 25830339
TI  - Antiviral Effect of Interferon Lambda Against Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus.
AB  - Lambda interferons inhibit replication of many viruses, but their role in the
      inhibition of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection remains
      unclear. In this study, we examined the antiviral effects of interferon (IFN)
      lambda2 and IFN-lambda3 against LCMV in A549 cells. We found that IFN-lambda2 is
      a more potent inhibitor of LCMV strain MX compared with IFN-lambda3, whereas both
      cytokines have similar antiviral effects against an immunosuppressive variant of
      LCMV, clone-13. We also demonstrated that the antiviral activity of IFN-lambda2
      is more effective if it is delivered early rather than after establishment of a
      long-term infection, suggesting that virus replication is only partially
      responsive to the cytokine. In agreement with this observation, we showed that
      LCMV infection significantly reduces IFNLR1 mRNA expression in infected cells. In
      addition, LCMV infection, to some extent, compromises the signal transduction
      pathway of IFN-lambda2. This implies that IFN receptors as well as their
      downstream signaling components could be selectively targeted either directly by
      LCMV proteins or indirectly by cellular factor(s) that are induced or activated
      by LCMV infection. 

PMID- 25830340
TI  - Invariant NKT cells act as an adjuvant to enhance Th2 inflammatory response in an
      OVA-induced mouse model of asthma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT cells) are a unique subset of
      T lymphocytes and are considered to play an important role in the development of
      allergic bronchial asthma. Recently, iNKT cells were shown to play an
      immunoregulatory role in CD4+ and CD8+ T cell-mediated adaptive immune response.
      Allergen-specific Th2 inflammatory responses are an important part of the
      adaptive immune response in asthma. However, the regulatory functions of the Th2
      inflammatory response in asthma have not been studied in detail. METHOD: In this
      study, we have investigated the regulatory functions of iNKT cells on the Th2
      inflammatory response in an ovalbumin (OVA)-induced murine model of asthma.
      RESULTS: Our results demonstrate that alpha-Galactosylceramide (alpha-GalCer)
      administration activated iNKT cells but could not induce the Th2 inflammatory
      response in wild-type (WT) mice. In the OVA-induced asthma model, alpha-GalCer
      administration and adoptive transfer of iNKT cells significantly augmented the
      Th2 inflammatory responses, including elevated inflammatory cell infiltration in
      the lung and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF); increased levels of IL-4, IL-5,
      and IL-13 in the BALF and splenocyte culture supernatant; and increased serum
      levels of OVA-specific IgE and IgG1. In addition, the Th2 inflammatory response
      was reduced, but not completely abrogated in CD1d-/- mice immunized and
      challenged with OVA, compared with WT mice. CONCLUSION: These results suggest
      that iNKT cells may serve as an adjuvant to enhance Th2 inflammatory response in
      an OVA-induced murine model of asthma.

PMID- 25830341
TI  - CAPER is vital for energy and redox homeostasis by integrating glucose-induced
      mitochondrial functions via ERR-alpha-Gabpa and stress-induced adaptive responses
      via NF-kappaB-cMYC.
AB  - Ever since we developed mitochondria to generate ATP, eukaryotes required
      intimate mito-nuclear communication. In addition, since reactive oxygen species
      are a cost of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, this demands safeguards as
      protection from these harmful byproducts. Here we identified a critical
      transcriptional integrator which eukaryotes share to orchestrate both nutrient
      induced mitochondrial energy metabolism and stress-induced nuclear responses,
      thereby maintaining carbon-nitrogen balance, and preserving life span and
      reproductive capacity. Inhibition of nutrient-induced expression of CAPER arrests
      nutrient-dependent cell proliferation and ATP generation and induces autophagy
      mediated vacuolization. Nutrient signaling to CAPER induces mitochondrial
      transcription and glucose-dependent mitochondrial respiration via coactivation of
      nuclear receptor ERR-alpha-mediated Gabpa transcription. CAPER is also a
      coactivator for NF-kappaB that directly regulates c-Myc to coordinate nuclear
      transcriptome responses to mitochondrial stress. Finally, CAPER is responsible
      for anaplerotic carbon flux into TCA cycles from glycolysis, amino acids and
      fatty acids in order to maintain cellular energy metabolism to counter
      mitochondrial stress. Collectively, our studies reveal CAPER as an evolutionarily
      conserved 'master' regulatory mechanism by which eukaryotic cells control vital
      homeostasis for both ATP and antioxidants via CAPER-dependent coordinated control
      of nuclear and mitochondrial transcriptomic programs and their metabolisms. These
      CAPER dependent bioenergetic programs are highly conserved, as we demonstrated
      that they are essential to preserving life span and reproductive capacity in
      human cells-and even in C. elegans. 

PMID- 25830343
TI  - Indications for Fetal Invasive Procedures at the End of an Era.
AB  - Purpose The introduction of first trimester screening has changed the attitude
      towards and the number of invasive procedures in prenatal medicine. We evaluated
      the indications in patients who underwent an invasive procedure before the
      introduction of the analysis of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma in
      prenatal medicine. Materials and Methods 680 pregnant women between the 10th and
      35th week of gestation were included in the study from July 1, 2010 to June 30,
      2013. Retrospectively, we reviewed the data for indications, type, gestational
      age at the time of, and result of the invasive procedure. Results We performed
      247 chorionic villus samplings (CVSs) and 433 amniocenteses (ACs) during the
      study interval. The main indication for CVS was an abnormal result from the first
      trimester screening (75 %), whereas in AC it was advanced maternal age (39 %). 33
      % of all CVSs and 8 % of all ACs revealed an abnormal karyotype. All these
      findings were significantly different. Conclusion Despite the broad acceptance of
      first trimester screening, there are still women undergoing AC for advanced
      maternal age, whereas abnormal results from the first trimester screening are the
      most common indication for CVS. Based on our results, we can conclude that
      indications derived from first trimester findings have the highest positive
      predictive value.

PMID- 25830344
TI  - Ultrasound Evaluation of Carotid Atherosclerosis in Post-Radiotherapy
      Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients, Type 2 Diabetics, and Healthy Controls.
AB  - Purpose To comprehensively evaluate and compare the degree of carotid
      atherosclerosis in patients treated with radiotherapy (RT) for nasopharyngeal
      carcinoma (NPC) and in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), and using
      healthy subjects as controls. Materials and Methods The present study recruited
      69 post-RT NPC patients without conventional cardiovascular risk factors, 70 type
      2 diabetic patients without previous RT, and 76 healthy controls without
      conventional cardiovascular risk factors and previous RT. For each participant, 5
      carotid atherosclerotic parameters, namely carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT),
      carotid arterial stiffness (CAS), presence of carotid plaque, carotid plaque
      score, and presence of >= 50 % carotid stenosis, were assessed using
      ultrasonography. The differences in these carotid atherosclerotic parameters
      between study groups were compared using ANCOVA or logistic regression after the
      adjustment for age and gender. Multiple comparisons were corrected using the
      Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate. Results Post-RT NPC patients and type 2
      diabetics had a significantly higher CIMT, CAS and carotid plaque burden compared
      to the healthy subjects (corrected P-value, Pcor < 0.05). In addition, carotid
      atherosclerosis in post-RT NPC patients tended to be more severe with
      significantly higher CAS and carotid plaque burden than that in type 2 diabetics
      (Pcor < 0.05). Conclusion Neck RT for NPC is an independent risk factor of
      carotid atherosclerosis, and radiation induces more severe carotid
      atherosclerosis in post-RT NPC patients. Thus, assessment of carotid
      atherosclerosis using ultrasonography may be necessary for these patients and
      should be indicated in the routine follow-up of NPC.

PMID- 25830345
TI  - Complexity and health functionality of plant cell wall fibers from fruits and
      vegetables.
AB  - The prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases is increasing in developing
      countries with the causes for death starting to follow the same pattern in the
      developed world. Lifestyle factors including inadequate dietary intake of fruits
      and vegetables and over consumption of nutrient-poor processed foods, are
      considered to be major causal risk factors associated with increased
      susceptibility to developing certain diseases (Alldrick, 1998 ; Kiani, 2007 ).
      Recent epidemiological evidence confirms a strong association between dietary
      fiber and reduced all-cause mortality risk, as well as a risk reduction for a
      number of non-communicable diseases (Chuang et al., 2012 ). The relationship
      between dietary fiber and mortality has been described as "convincing
      observations that call for mechanistic investigations" (Landberg, 2012 ). In
      particular, the health protective roles played by dietary fibers of different
      origin are not well understood. Whilst Hippocrates was the earliest known
      physician to study the health benefits of fiber derived from grains (Burkitt,
      1987 ), the functionality of fruit and vegetable fiber, especially in association
      with other compounds such as polyphenols and carotenoids, is an area of more
      recent interest. Hence the objective of this review is to assess the complexity
      and health-related functional role of plant cell wall (PCW) fibers from fruits
      and vegetables with a particular emphasis on interactions between cell walls and
      phytonutrients.

PMID- 25830342
TI  - Effects of lifestyle interventions that include a physical activity component in
      class II and III obese individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In class II and III obese individuals, lifestyle intervention is the
      first step to achieve weight loss and treat obesity-related comorbidities before
      considering bariatric surgery. A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta
      regression were performed to assess the impact of lifestyle interventions
      incorporating a physical activity (PA) component on health outcomes of class II
      and III obese individuals. METHODS: An electronic search was conducted in 4
      databases (Medline, Scopus, CINAHL and Sportdiscus). Two independent
      investigators selected original studies assessing the impact of lifestyle
      interventions with PA components on anthropometric parameters, cardiometabolic
      risk factors (fat mass, blood pressure, lipid and glucose metabolism), behaviour
      modification (PA and nutritional changes), and quality of life in adults with
      body mass index (BMI) >= 35 kg/m2. Estimates were pooled using a random-effect
      model (DerSimonian and Laird method). Heterogeneity between studies was assessed
      by the Cochran's chi-square test and quantified through an estimation of the I2.
      RESULTS: Of the 3,170 identified articles, 56 met our eligibility criteria, with
      a large majority of uncontrolled studies (80%). The meta-analysis based on
      uncontrolled studies showed significant heterogeneity among all included studies.
      The pooled mean difference in weight loss was 8.9 kg (95% CI, 10.2-7.7; p < 0.01)
      and 2.8 kg/m2 in BMI loss (95% CI, 3.4-2.2; p < 0.01). Long-term interventions
      produced superior weight loss (11.3 kg) compared to short-term (7.2 kg) and
      intermediate-term (8.0 kg) interventions. A significant global effect of
      lifestyle intervention on fat mass, waist circumference, blood pressure, total
      cholesterol, LDL-C, triglycerides and fasting insulin was found (p<0.01), without
      significant effect on HDL-C and fasting blood glucose. CONCLUSIONS: Lifestyle
      interventions incorporating a PA component can improve weight and various
      cardiometabolic risk factors in class II and III obese individuals. However,
      further high quality trials are needed to confirm this evidence, especially
      beyond weight loss.

PMID- 25830346
TI  - Increasing 3D Supramolecular Order by Decreasing Molecular Order. A Comparative
      Study of Helical Assemblies of Dendronized Nonchlorinated and Tetrachlorinated
      Perylene Bisimides.
AB  - A nonplanar, twisted, and flexible tetrachlorinated perylene bisimide (Cl4PBI)
      was functionalized with two AB3 minidendrons containing hydrogenated or
      semifluorinated dodecyl groups. The hydrogenated dendron was attached to the
      imide groups of Cl4PBI via m = 0, 1, and 2 methylenic units, whereas the dendron
      containing semifluorinated groups was attached via m = 3 or a di(ethylene oxide)
      linker (m = 2EO). The supramolecular structures of these compounds, determined by
      a combination of differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and solid
      state NMR, were compared with those of nonchlorinated planar and rigid PBI
      reported previously, which demonstrated the thermodynamically controlled
      formation of 2D periodic arrays at high temperatures and 3D arrays at low
      temperatures. The molecularly less ordered Cl4PBI containing hydrogenated
      dendrons self-organize into exclusively 3D crystalline periodic arrays under
      thermodynamic control for m = 0 and 2, while the more highly molecularly ordered
      PBI produced less stable and ordered 3D crystals and also 2D assemblies. This
      induction of a higher degree of 3D order in supramolecular assemblies of the less
      well-ordered molecular building blocks was unanticipated. The semifluorinated
      dendronized Cl4PBI with m = 3 formed a 2D columnar hexagonal array under kinetic
      control, whereas the compound with m = 2EO formed an unusual 2D honeycomb-like
      hexagonal phase under thermodynamic control. These Cl4PBI compounds provide a new
      route to stable crystalline assemblies via thermodynamic control at lower
      temperatures than previously obtained with PBI, thus generating 3D order in an
      accessible range of temperature of interest for structural analysis and for
      technological applications. 

PMID- 25830348
TI  - The Institute of Medicine Report on Graduate Medical Education Funding:
      Implications for Surgical Training.

PMID- 25830347
TI  - Pharmacological inhibition of FTO.
AB  - In 2007, a genome wide association study identified a SNP in intron one of the
      gene encoding human FTO that was associated with increased body mass index.
      Homozygous risk allele carriers are on average three kg heavier than those
      homozygous for the protective allele. FTO is a DNA/RNA demethylase, however, how
      this function affects body weight, if at all, is unknown. Here we aimed to
      pharmacologically inhibit FTO to examine the effect of its demethylase function
      in vitro and in vivo as a first step in evaluating the therapeutic potential of
      FTO. We showed that IOX3, a known inhibitor of the HIF prolyl hydroxylases,
      decreased protein expression of FTO (in C2C12 cells) and reduced maximal
      respiration rate in vitro. However, FTO protein levels were not significantly
      altered by treatment of mice with IOX3 at 60 mg/kg every two days. This treatment
      did not affect body weight, or RER, but did significantly reduce bone mineral
      density and content and alter adipose tissue distribution. Future compounds
      designed to selectively inhibit FTO's demethylase activity could be
      therapeutically useful for the treatment of obesity. 

PMID- 25830349
TI  - An improved perforator-based island flap: the heart balloon flap.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Reconstructive surgery has entered a "perforator flap era" with more
      surgeons performing successful perforator flap procedures. The perforator-based
      island flap is an extension of this perforator concept and one of the most
      successful. In perforator-rich or -reliable areas, this allows for primary
      closure of the donor site and the construction of highly customized flaps with
      little tissue waste. METHODS: The authors present a design modification of the
      perforator-based island flap used in 73 patients who underwent heart balloon
      perforator-based island flap reconstruction between 2008 and 2012. RESULTS: There
      were no reported cases of total flap necrosis. Marginal necrosis of the flap was
      noted in three cases, which resolved with simple dressings. The donor sites were
      closed primarily in all cases. CONCLUSIONS: The heart balloon perforator-based
      island flap enables tension-free closure of the donor site, reduces donor-site
      complications, and minimizes tissue waste. The resulting shape resembles a heart
      and gives rise to the flap's name. Key principles for success are perforators
      close to the defect, a flap axis that allows for primary donor-site closure, flap
      border adjacent to the defect that is smaller than the postresection defect, flap
      harvest until an adequate arc of rotation is obtained, primary closure of the
      donor site before flap inset, and preservation of a triangular area between the
      proximal apex of the flap and the defect. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:
      Therapeutic, IV.

PMID- 25830350
TI  - Peach water relations, gas exchange, growth and shoot mortality under water
      deficit in semi-arid weather conditions.
AB  - In this study the sensitivity of peach tree (Prunus persica L.) to three water
      stress levels from mid-pit hardening until harvest was assessed. Seasonal
      patterns of shoot and fruit growth, gas exchange (leaf photosynthesis, stomatal
      conductance and transpiration) as well as carbon (C) storage/mobilization were
      evaluated in relation to plant water status. A simple C balance model was also
      developed to investigate sink-source relationship in relation to plant water
      status at the tree level. The C source was estimated through the leaf area
      dynamics and leaf photosynthesis rate along the season. The C sink was estimated
      for maintenance respiration and growth of shoots and fruits. Water stress
      significantly reduced gas exchange, and fruit, and shoot growth, but increased
      fruit dry matter concentration. Growth was more affected by water deficit than
      photosynthesis, and shoot growth was more sensitive to water deficit than fruit
      growth. Reduction of shoot growth was associated with a decrease of shoot
      elongation, emergence, and high shoot mortality. Water scarcity affected tree C
      assimilation due to two interacting factors: (i) reduction in leaf photosynthesis
      (-23% and -50% under moderate (MS) and severe (SS) water stress compared to low
      (LS) stress during growth season) and (ii) reduction in total leaf area (-57% and
      -79% under MS and SS compared to LS at harvest). Our field data analysis
      suggested a Psistem threshold of -1.5 MPa below which daily net C gain became
      negative, i.e. C assimilation became lower than C needed for respiration and
      growth. Negative C balance under MS and SS associated with decline of trunk
      carbohydrate reserves--may have led to drought-induced vegetative mortality.

PMID- 25830351
TI  - Risk factors for Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte positivity in a longitudinal
      cohort.
AB  - Malaria transmission intensity is highly heterogeneous even at a very small
      scale. Implementing targeted intervention in malaria transmission hotspots offers
      the potential to reduce the burden of disease both locally and in adjacent areas.
      Transmission of malaria parasites from man to mosquito requires the production of
      gametocyte stage parasites. Cluster analysis of a 19-year long cohort study for
      gametocyte carriage revealed spatially defined gametocyte hotspots that occurred
      during the time when chloroquine was the drug used for clinical case treatment.
      In addition to known risk factors for gametocyte carriage, notably young age (<15
      years old) and associated with a clinical episode, blood groups B and O increased
      risk compared to groups A and AB. A hotspot of clinical P. falciparum clinical
      episodes that overlapped the gametocyte hotspots was also identified. Gametocyte
      positivity was found to be increased in individuals who had been treated with
      chloroquine, as opposed to other drug treatment regimens, for a clinical P.
      falciparum episode up to 30 days previously. It seems likely the hotspots were
      generated by a vicious circle of ineffective treatment of clinical cases and
      concomitant gametocyte production in a sub-population characterized by an
      increased prevalence of all the identified risk factors. While rapid access to
      treatment with an effective anti-malarial can reduce the duration of gametocyte
      carriage and onward parasite transmission, localised hotspots represent a
      challenge to malaria control and eventual eradication. 

PMID- 25830353
TI  - Retinal vessel segmentation: an efficient graph cut approach with retinex and
      local phase.
AB  - Our application concerns the automated detection of vessels in retinal images to
      improve understanding of the disease mechanism, diagnosis and treatment of
      retinal and a number of systemic diseases. We propose a new framework for
      segmenting retinal vasculatures with much improved accuracy and efficiency. The
      proposed framework consists of three technical components: Retinex-based image
      inhomogeneity correction, local phase-based vessel enhancement and graph cut
      based active contour segmentation. These procedures are applied in the following
      order. Underpinned by the Retinex theory, the inhomogeneity correction step aims
      to address challenges presented by the image intensity inhomogeneities, and the
      relatively low contrast of thin vessels compared to the background. The local
      phase enhancement technique is employed to enhance vessels for its superiority in
      preserving the vessel edges. The graph cut-based active contour method is used
      for its efficiency and effectiveness in segmenting the vessels from the enhanced
      images using the local phase filter. We have demonstrated its performance by
      applying it to four public retinal image datasets (3 datasets of color fundus
      photography and 1 of fluorescein angiography). Statistical analysis demonstrates
      that each component of the framework can provide the level of performance
      expected. The proposed framework is compared with widely used unsupervised and
      supervised methods, showing that the overall framework outperforms its
      competitors. For example, the achieved sensitivity (0:744), specificity (0:978)
      and accuracy (0:953) for the DRIVE dataset are very close to those of the manual
      annotations obtained by the second observer. 

PMID- 25830352
TI  - Decidualization and syndecan-1 knock down sensitize endometrial stromal cells to
      apoptosis induced by embryonic stimuli.
AB  - Human embryo invasion and implantation into the inner wall of the maternal
      uterus, the endometrium, is the pivotal process for a successful pregnancy.
      Whereas disruption of the endometrial epithelial layer was already correlated
      with the programmed cell death, the role of apoptosis of the subjacent
      endometrial stromal cells during implantation is indistinct. The aim was to
      clarify whether apoptosis plays a role in the stromal invasion and to
      characterize if the apoptotic susceptibility of endometrial stromal cells to
      embryonic stimuli is influenced by decidualization and Syndecan-1. Therefore, the
      immortalized human endometrial stromal cell line St-T1 was used to first generate
      a new cell line with a stable Syndecan-1 knock down (KdS1), and second to further
      decidualize the cells with progesterone. As a replacement for the ethically
      inapplicable embryo all cells were treated with the embryonic factors and
      secretion products interleukin-1beta, interferon-gamma, tumor necrosis factor
      alpha, transforming growth factor-beta1 and anti-Fas antibody to mimic the embryo
      contact. Detection of apoptosis was verified via Caspase ELISAs, PARP cleavage
      and Annexin V staining. Apoptosis-related proteins were investigated via antibody
      arrays and underlying signaling pathways were analyzed by Western blot. Non
      decidualized endometrial stromal cells showed a resistance towards apoptosis
      which was rescinded by decidualization and Syndecan-1 knock down independent of
      decidualization. This was correlated with an altered expression of several pro-
      and anti-apoptotic proteins and connected to a higher activation of pro-survival
      Akt in non-differentiated St-T1 as an upstream mediator of apoptotis-related
      proteins. This study provides insight into the largely elusive process of
      implantation, proposing an important role for stromal cell apoptosis to
      successfully establish a pregnancy. The impact of Syndecan-1 in attenuating the
      apoptotic signal is particularly interesting in the light of an already described
      influence on pregnancy disorders and therefore might provide a useful clinical
      tool in the future to prevent pregnancy complications provoked by inadequate
      implantation. 

PMID- 25830355
TI  - Acquired phototrophy through retention of functional chloroplasts increases
      growth efficiency of the sea slug Elysia viridis.
AB  - Photosynthesis is a fundamental process sustaining heterotrophic organisms at all
      trophic levels. Some mixotrophs can retain functional chloroplasts from food
      (kleptoplasty), and it is hypothesized that carbon acquired through kleptoplasty
      may enhance trophic energy transfer through increased host growth efficiency.
      Sacoglossan sea slugs are the only known metazoans capable of kleptoplasty, but
      the relative fitness contributions of heterotrophy through grazing, and
      phototrophy via kleptoplasts, are not well understood. Fitness benefits (i.e.
      increased survival or growth) of kleptoplasty in sacoglossans are commonly
      studied in ecologically unrealistic conditions under extended periods of complete
      darkness and/or starvation. We compared the growth efficiency of the sacoglossan
      Elysia viridis with access to algal diets providing kleptoplasts of differing
      functionality under ecologically relevant light conditions. Individuals fed
      Codium fragile, which provide highly functional kleptoplasts, nearly doubled
      their growth efficiency under high compared to low light. In contrast,
      individuals fed Cladophora rupestris, which provided kleptoplasts of limited
      functionality, showed no difference in growth efficiency between light
      treatments. Slugs feeding on Codium, but not on Cladophora, showed higher
      relative electron transport rates (rETR) in high compared to low light.
      Furthermore, there were no differences in the consumption rates of the slugs
      between different light treatments, and only small differences in nutritional
      traits of algal diets, indicating that the increased growth efficiency of E.
      viridis feeding on Codium was due to retention of functional kleptoplasts. Our
      results show that functional kleptoplasts from Codium can provide sacoglossan sea
      slugs with fitness advantages through photosynthesis. 

PMID- 25830354
TI  - A strategy for O-glycoproteomics of enveloped viruses--the O-glycoproteome of
      herpes simplex virus type 1.
AB  - Glycosylation of viral envelope proteins is important for infectivity and
      interaction with host immunity, however, our current knowledge of the functions
      of glycosylation is largely limited to N-glycosylation because it is difficult to
      predict and identify site-specific O-glycosylation. Here, we present a novel
      proteome-wide discovery strategy for O-glycosylation sites on viral envelope
      proteins using herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) as a model. We identified 74 O
      linked glycosylation sites on 8 out of the 12 HSV-1 envelope proteins. Two of the
      identified glycosites found in glycoprotein B were previously implicated in virus
      attachment to immune cells. We show that HSV-1 infection distorts the secretory
      pathway and that infected cells accumulate glycoproteins with truncated O
      glycans, nonetheless retaining the ability to elongate most of the surface
      glycans. With the use of precise gene editing, we further demonstrate that
      elongated O-glycans are essential for HSV-1 in human HaCaT keratinocytes, where
      HSV-1 produced markedly lower viral titers in HaCaT with abrogated O-glycans
      compared to the isogenic counterpart with normal O-glycans. The roles of O-linked
      glycosylation for viral entry, formation, secretion, and immune recognition are
      poorly understood, and the O-glycoproteomics strategy presented here now opens
      for unbiased discovery on all enveloped viruses. 

PMID- 25830356
TI  - Involvement of GluR2 up-regulation in neuroprotection by electroacupuncture
      pretreatment via cannabinoid CB1 receptor in mice.
AB  - We investigated whether glutamate receptor subunit 2 (GluR2) is involved in EA
      pretreatment-induced neuroprotection via cannabinoid CB1 receptors (CB1R) after
      global cerebral ischemia in mice. Two hours after electric acupuncture (EA)
      pretreatment, global cerebral ischemia (GCI) was induced by bilateral common
      carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) for 20 min. The GluR2 expression was examined in
      the hippocampus after reperfusion. Cell survival, neuronal apoptosis, the Bax/Bcl
      2 ratio and neurological scores were evaluated at 24 h after BCCAO in the
      presence or absence of the GluR2 inhibitor. Furthermore, the GluR2 was determined
      in the presence and absence of CB1R inhibitor. Our results showed EA pretreatment
      enhanced expression of GluR2 in the hippocampus 2 h after reperfusion. Moreover,
      EA pretreatment improved neurological outcome, promoted cell survival, inhibited
      neuronal apoptosis, and decreased the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio after reperfusion. GluR2
      knockdown by GluR2 siRNA effectively reversed the beneficial effects of EA
      pretreatment. Furthermore, CB1R siRNA and two CB1R antagonists blocked the
      elevation of GluR2 expression by EA pretreatment, whereas the two CB1R agonists
      up-regulated GluR2 expression as EA pretreatment. In conclusion, GluR2 up
      regulation is involved in neuroprotection of EA pretreatment against GCI through
      CB1R, suggesting that GluR2 may be a novel target for stroke intervention. 

PMID- 25830359
TI  - Isolation and characterization of two squalene epoxidase genes from Botryococcus
      braunii, race B.
AB  - The B race of the green microalga Botryococcus braunii produces triterpene
      hydrocarbons, botryococcenes and methylsqualenes that can be processed into jet
      fuels with high heating values. In this alga, squalene is also converted into
      membrane sterols after 2,3-epoxidation. In the present study, cDNA clones of two
      distinct squalene epoxidases (BbSQE-I and -II) were isolated. Predicted amino
      acid sequences encoded on these genes are 45% identical with each other.
      Introduction of BbSQE-I or -II into Saccharomyces cerevisie erg1 mutants resulted
      in the complementation of ergosterol auxotrophy. The relative expression level of
      SQE-II increased 3.5-fold from the early stage to the middle phase of a culture
      period of 42 days, while that of SQE-I was almost constant throughout the culture
      period. Southern blot analyses suggested that these genes are single-copied
      genes. This is the first report on the isolation of functional SQEs that are
      encoded in duplicated loci in the algal genome. 

PMID- 25830357
TI  - Electroacupuncture prevents cognitive impairments by regulating the early changes
      after brain irradiation in rats.
AB  - Cognitive impairments severely affect the quality of life of patients who undergo
      brain irradiation, and there are no effective preventive strategies. In this
      study, we examined the therapeutic potential of electroacupuncture (EA)
      administered immediately after brain irradiation in rats. We detected changes in
      cognitive function, neurogenesis, and synaptic density at different time points
      after irradiation, but found that EA could protect the blood-brain barrier (BBB),
      inhibit neuroinflammatory cytokine expression, upregulate angiogenic cytokine
      expression, and modulate the levels of neurotransmitter receptors and
      neuropeptides in the early phase. Moreover, EA protected spatial memory and
      recognition in the delayed phase. At the cellular/molecular level, the
      preventative effect of EA on cognitive dysfunction was not dependent on
      hippocampal neurogenesis; rather, it was related to synaptophysin expression. Our
      results suggest that EA applied immediately after brain irradiation can prevent
      cognitive impairments by protecting against the early changes induced by
      irradiation and may be a novel approach for preventing or ameliorating cognitive
      impairments in patients with brain tumors who require radiotherapy. 

PMID- 25830360
TI  - Gait Characteristics of People with Lateral Knee Osteoarthritis after ACL
      Reconstruction.
AB  - PURPOSE: Lateral knee osteoarthritis (OA) is common after anterior cruciate
      ligament reconstruction (ACLR), yet gait characteristics associated with lateral
      knee OA after ACLR are not well understood. This cross-sectional study aimed to
      compare knee, trunk, pelvis, hip, and ankle kinematics and moments between people
      with predominant lateral knee OA after ACLR and healthy controls. METHODS:
      Nineteen post-ACLR people with lateral knee OA and 25 healthy controls were
      recruited. Quantitative gait analysis was conducted during walking, and knee
      pain, confidence, and kinesiophobia were assessed. Between-group differences in
      peak kinematics and moments were evaluated, and Pearson correlations evaluated
      relations between biomechanical and patient-reported measures (P < 0.05).
      RESULTS: Participants with lateral knee OA after ACLR had greater peak knee
      flexion (mean difference, 3.5 degrees ; 95% confidence interval, 0.9-6.1) and
      lower knee internal rotation angles (-3.3 degrees ; -6.2 to -0.5) than the
      controls. Those with lateral knee OA also had greater peak pelvic anterior tilt
      (3.1 degrees , 0.4-5.9), hip flexion angles (5.1 degrees , 1.9-8.3), and peak
      ankle dorsiflexion moment (0.1 N.m.kg(-1), 0.0-0.2). In the lateral knee OA
      group, worse knee confidence and kinesiophobia were significantly correlated with
      greater peak trunk flexion angle (r = 0.654 and r = 0.535, respectively) and
      greater knee pain was significantly correlated with greater peak knee flexion
      angle (r = 0.535). CONCLUSIONS: Gait characteristics associated with lateral knee
      OA after ACLR differ from those in healthy individuals, predominantly in the
      sagittal plane. Increased sagittal plane knee and trunk kinematics seem to be
      related to worse knee pain, confidence, and kinesiophobia. These findings will
      assist the development of compartment-specific interventions for individuals with
      posttraumatic lateral knee OA.

PMID- 25830358
TI  - Mapping publication trends and identifying hot spots of research on Internet
      health information seeking behavior: a quantitative and co-word biclustering
      analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Internet has become an established source of health information
      for people seeking health information. In recent years, research on the health
      information seeking behavior of Internet users has become an increasingly
      important scholarly focus. However, there have been no long-term bibliometric
      studies to date on Internet health information seeking behavior. OBJECTIVE: The
      purpose of this study was to map publication trends and explore research hot
      spots of Internet health information seeking behavior. METHODS: A bibliometric
      analysis based on PubMed was conducted to investigate the publication trends of
      research on Internet health information seeking behavior. For the included
      publications, the annual publication number, the distribution of countries,
      authors, languages, journals, and annual distribution of highly frequent major
      MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms were determined. Furthermore, co-word
      biclustering analysis of highly frequent major MeSH terms was utilized to detect
      the hot spots in this field. RESULTS: A total of 533 publications were included.
      The research output was gradually increasing. There were five authors who
      published four or more articles individually. A total of 271 included
      publications (50.8%) were written by authors from the United States, and 516 of
      the 533 articles (96.8%) were published in English. The eight most active
      journals published 34.1% (182/533) of the publications on this topic. Ten
      research hot spots were found: (1) behavior of Internet health information
      seeking about HIV infection or sexually transmitted diseases, (2) Internet health
      information seeking behavior of students, (3) behavior of Internet health
      information seeking via mobile phone and its apps, (4) physicians' utilization of
      Internet medical resources, (5) utilization of social media by parents, (6)
      Internet health information seeking behavior of patients with cancer (mainly
      breast cancer), (7) trust in or satisfaction with Web-based health information by
      consumers, (8) interaction between Internet utilization and physician-patient
      communication or relationship, (9) preference and computer literacy of people
      using search engines or other Web-based systems, and (10) attitude of people
      (especially adolescents) when seeking health information via the Internet.
      CONCLUSIONS: The 10 major research hot spots could provide some hints for
      researchers when launching new projects. The output of research on Internet
      health information seeking behavior is gradually increasing. Compared to the
      United States, the relatively small number of publications indexed by PubMed from
      other developed and developing countries indicates to some extent that the field
      might be still underdeveloped in many countries. More studies on Internet health
      information seeking behavior could give some references for health information
      providers.

PMID- 25830361
TI  - Effects of Endurance Training at the Crossover Point in Women with Metabolic
      Syndrome.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: On the basis of theoretical evidence, intensity at the crossover
      point (COP) of substrate utilization could be considered as potential exercise
      intensity for metabolic syndrome (MetS). This study aimed to examine the effects
      of a training program at COP on exercise capacity parameters in women with MetS
      and to compare two metabolic indices (COP and the maximal fat oxidation rate
      point LIPOXmax(r)) with ventilatory threshold (VT). METHODS: Nineteen women with
      MetS volunteered to perform a 12-wk training program on a cycle ergometer, with
      intensity corresponding to COP. Pre- and posttraining values of anthropometric
      and exercise capacity parameters were compared to determine the effects of
      exercise training. The pre-post training change of COP, LIPOXmax(r), and VT were
      also investigated. RESULTS: After training, anthropometric parameters were
      significantly modified, with reduction of body mass (3.0% +/- 3.0%, P < 0.001),
      fat mass (3.3% +/- 3.4%, P < 0.001), and body mass index (3.2% +/- 3.4%, P <
      0.001). Exercise capacity was improved after the training program, with
      significant increase of maximal power output (25.0% +/- 18.4%, P < 0.001) and
      maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max, 9.0% +/- 11.2%; P < 0.01). Lastly, when expressed
      in terms of power output, COP, LIPOXmax(r), and VT occurred at a similar exercise
      intensity, but the occurrence of these three indices is different when expressed
      in terms of oxygen uptake, HR, or RPE. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the
      effectiveness of a 12-wk training program at COP to improve physical fitness in
      women with MetS. The relations between metabolic indices and VT in terms of power
      output highlight the determination of VT from a shorter maximal exercise as a
      useful method for determining metabolic indices in MetS.

PMID- 25830363
TI  - Lower Limb Interjoint Postural Coordination One Year after First-Time Lateral
      Ankle Sprain.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Longitudinal analyses of participants with a history of lateral
      ankle sprain are lacking. This investigation combined measures of lower limb
      interjoint coordination and stabilometry to evaluate static unipedal stance with
      the eyes open (condition 1) and closed (condition 2) in a group of participants
      with chronic ankle instability (CAI) compared to lateral ankle sprain "copers"
      (both recruited 12 months after sustaining an acute first-time lateral ankle
      sprain) and a group of noninjured controls. METHODS: Twenty-eight participants
      with CAI, 42 lateral ankle sprain "copers," and 20 noninjured controls completed
      three 20-s single-limb stance trials in conditions 1 and 2. An adjusted
      coefficient of multiple determination statistic was used to compare stance limb
      three-dimensional kinematic data for similarity to establish patterns of
      interjoint coordination. The fractal dimension of the stance limb center of
      pressure path was also calculated. RESULTS: Between-group analyses revealed that
      participants with CAI displayed notable increases in ankle-hip linked
      coordination compared with both lateral ankle sprain "copers" (-0.52 (1.05) vs
      0.28 (0.9), P = 0.007) and controls (-0.52 (1.05) vs 0.63 (0.64), P = 0.006) in
      condition 1 and compared with controls only (0.62 (1.92) vs 0.1 (1.0) P = 0.002)
      in condition 2. Participants with CAI also exhibited a decrease in the fractal
      dimension of the center-of-pressure path during condition 2 compared with both
      controls and lateral ankle sprain "copers." CONCLUSIONS: Participants with CAI
      present with a hip-dominant strategy of eyes-open and eyes-closed static unipedal
      stance. This coincided with reduced complexity of the stance limb center of
      pressure path in the eyes-closed condition.

PMID- 25830364
TI  - Predictors of Beneficial Coronary Plaque Changes after Aerobic Exercise.
AB  - PURPOSE: It has been demonstrated that aerobic exercise induces beneficial
      changes in coronary atherosclerosis via reduced necrotic core and plaque burden.
      Clinical factors that may be associated with favorable exercise-induced
      intracoronary effects are unknown. METHODS: This study used post hoc analysis of
      associations between baseline clinical variables and reductions in coronary
      necrotic core and plaque burden after aerobic exercise intervention. Coronary
      plaque characteristics were measured with grayscale and radiofrequency
      intravascular ultrasound in 36 patients (median age, 58.5 yr; seven women) with
      stable CAD (SCAD) or non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS).
      Screening of clinical variables was performed with random forest analysis
      followed by multivariate linear regression. RESULTS: The only significant
      clinical variable for necrotic core reduction was clinical presentation of
      disease (SCAD vs NSTE-ACS, P = 0.011). The changes in necrotic core after
      exercise were -4.94 mm3 (-10.33; -1.33) in patients with SCAD and 1.03 mm3 (
      4.29; 3.71) in patients with NSTE-ACS (P = 0.01). Necrotic core was reduced in 17
      patients (94%) with SCAD and eight patients (44%) with NSTE-ACS (P = 0.01). R2
      for the model including baseline clinical presentation and baseline necrotic core
      volume was 0.90. There were no significant explanatory variables for plaque
      burden reduction. CONCLUSIONS: Exercise-induced plaque stabilization via reduced
      coronary necrotic core may be strongly dependent on clinical presentation of CAD.
      We hypothesized that an increased proinflammatory load renders patients with NSTE
      ACS more resistant to exercise-induced plaque stabilization than patients with
      SCAD. Furthermore, aerobic exercise may have a particular potential for inducing
      beneficial effects on coronary atherosclerosis in patients with SCAD compared
      with patients in the early phase after an acute coronary syndrome.

PMID- 25830362
TI  - MRS Evidence of Adequate O2 Supply in Human Skeletal Muscle at the Onset of
      Exercise.
AB  - PURPOSE: At exercise onset, intramuscular oxidative energy production responds
      relatively slowly in comparison with the change in adenosine triphosphate demand.
      To determine whether the slow kinetics of oxidative adenosine triphosphate
      production is due to inadequate O2 supply or metabolic inertia, we studied the
      kinetics of intramyocellular deoxygenation (deoxy-myoglobin (Mb)) and metabolism
      (phosphocreatine (PCr)) using proton (1H) and phosphorus (31P) magnetic resonance
      spectroscopy in six healthy subjects (33 +/- 5 yr). METHODS: Specifically, using
      dynamic plantarflexion exercise, rest to exercise and recovery were assessed at
      both 60% of maximum work rate (moderate intensity) and 80% of maximum work rate
      (heavy intensity). RESULTS: At exercise onset, [PCr] fell without delay and with
      a similar time constant (tau) at both exercise intensities (approximately 33 s).
      In contrast, the increase in deoxy-Mb was delayed at exercise onset by 5-7 s,
      after which it increased with kinetics (moderate tau = 37 +/- 9 s; heavy tau = 29
      +/- 6 s) that was not different from tauPCr (P > 0.05). At cessation, deoxy-Mb
      recovered without time delay and more rapidly (tau = ~20 s) than PCr (tau = ~33
      s) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Using a unique combination of in vivo magnetic
      resonance spectroscopy techniques with high time resolution, this study revealed
      a delay in intramuscular deoxygenation at the onset of exercise and rapid
      reoxygenation kinetics upon cessation. Together, these data imply that
      intramuscular substrate-enzyme interactions, and not O2 availability, determine
      the exercise onset kinetics of oxidative metabolism in healthy human skeletal
      muscles.

PMID- 25830366
TI  - Chiral surfactant-type catalyst: enantioselective reduction of long-chain
      aliphatic ketoesters in water.
AB  - A series of amphiphilic ligands were designed and synthesized. The rhodium
      complexes with the ligands were applied to the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation
      of broad range of long-chained aliphatic ketoesters in neat water. Quantitative
      conversion and excellent enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee) was observed for alpha
      , beta-, gamma-, delta- and epsilon-ketoesters as well as for alpha- and beta
      acyloxyketone using chiral surfactant-type catalyst 2. The CH/pi interaction and
      the strong hydrophobic interaction of long aliphatic chains between the catalyst
      and the substrate in the metallomicelle core played a key role in the catalytic
      transition state. Synergistic effects between the metal-catalyzed site and the
      hydrophobic microenvironment of the core in the micelle contributed to high
      stereoselectivity. 

PMID- 25830365
TI  - Tandem fusion of hepatitis B core antigen allows assembly of virus-like particles
      in bacteria and plants with enhanced capacity to accommodate foreign proteins.
AB  - The core protein of the hepatitis B virus, HBcAg, assembles into highly
      immunogenic virus-like particles (HBc VLPs) when expressed in a variety of
      heterologous systems. Specifically, the major insertion region (MIR) on the HBcAg
      protein allows the insertion of foreign sequences, which are then exposed on the
      tips of surface spike structures on the outside of the assembled particle. Here,
      we present a novel strategy which aids the display of whole proteins on the
      surface of HBc particles. This strategy, named tandem core, is based on the
      production of the HBcAg dimer as a single polypeptide chain by tandem fusion of
      two HBcAg open reading frames. This allows the insertion of large heterologous
      sequences in only one of the two MIRs in each spike, without compromising VLP
      formation. We present the use of tandem core technology in both plant and
      bacterial expression systems. The results show that tandem core particles can be
      produced with unmodified MIRs, or with one MIR in each tandem dimer modified to
      contain the entire sequence of GFP or of a camelid nanobody. Both inserted
      proteins are correctly folded and the nanobody fused to the surface of the tandem
      core particle (which we name tandibody) retains the ability to bind to its
      cognate antigen. This technology paves the way for the display of natively folded
      proteins on the surface of HBc particles either through direct fusion or through
      non-covalent attachment via a nanobody. 

PMID- 25830367
TI  - Fighting while parasitized: can nematode infections affect the outcome of staged
      combat in beetles?
AB  - The effects of non-lethal parasites may be felt most strongly when hosts engage
      in intense, energy-demanding behaviors. One such behavior is fighting with
      conspecifics, which is common among territorial animals, including many beetle
      species. We examined the effects of parasites on the fighting ability of a
      saproxylic beetle, the horned passalus (Odontotaenius disjunctus, Family:
      Passalidae), which is host to a non-lethal nematode, Chondronema passali. We
      pitted pairs of randomly-chosen (but equally-weighted) beetles against each other
      in a small arena and determined the winner and aggression level of fights. Then
      we examined beetles for the presence, and severity of nematode infections. There
      was a non-significant tendency (p = 0.065) for the frequency of wins, losses and
      draws to differ between beetles with and without C. passali; non-parasitized
      individuals (n = 104) won 47% of their fights while those with the parasite (n =
      88) won 34%, a 13% difference in wins. The number of nematodes in a beetle
      affected the outcome of fights between infected and uninfected individuals in an
      unexpected fashion: fighting ability was lowest in beetles with the lowest (p =
      0.033), not highest (p = 0.266), nematode burdens. Within-fight aggression was
      highest when both beetles were uninfected and lowest when both were infected (p =
      0.034). Collectively, these results suggest the nematode parasite, C. passali, is
      associated with a modest reduction in fighting ability in horned passalus
      beetles, consistent with the idea that parasitized beetles have lower energy
      available for fighting. This study adds to a small but growing body of evidence
      showing how parasites negatively influence fighting behavior in animals. 

PMID- 25830368
TI  - High-throughput in vivo genotoxicity testing: an automated readout system for the
      somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART).
AB  - Genotoxicity testing is an important component of toxicity assessment. As
      illustrated by the European registration, evaluation, authorization, and
      restriction of chemicals (REACH) directive, it concerns all the chemicals used in
      industry. The commonly used in vivo mammalian tests appear to be ill adapted to
      tackle the large compound sets involved, due to throughput, cost, and ethical
      issues. The somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) represents a more
      scalable alternative, since it uses Drosophila, which develops faster and
      requires less infrastructure. Despite these advantages, the manual scoring of the
      hairs on Drosophila wings required for the SMART limits its usage. To overcome
      this limitation, we have developed an automated SMART readout. It consists of
      automated imaging, followed by an image analysis pipeline that measures
      individual wing genotoxicity scores. Finally, we have developed a wing score
      based dose-dependency approach that can provide genotoxicity profiles. We have
      validated our method using 6 compounds, obtaining profiles almost identical to
      those obtained from manual measures, even for low-genotoxicity compounds such as
      urethane. The automated SMART, with its faster and more reliable readout,
      fulfills the need for a high-throughput in vivo test. The flexible imaging
      strategy we describe and the analysis tools we provide should facilitate the
      optimization and dissemination of our methods.

PMID- 25830369
TI  - Development and uniform evaluation of ropinirole osmotic pump tablets with REQUIP
      XL both in vitro and in beagle dogs.
AB  - REQUIP XL, prolonged release formulation of ropinirole hydrochloride (RH) in
      market, could release ropinirole constantly and showed satisfactory therapeutic
      effect and good compliance. REQUIP XL was composed of more than 10 kinds of
      excipients and prepared by Geomatrix technology, which was complex and laborious.
      The purpose of this study was to obtain a dosage form of RH with similar in vitro
      release profile and bioequivalence in vivo compared to REQUIP XL. Osmotic pump
      tablet combined with fast release phase was selected as the delivery system of RH
      and similar release curves were obtained in different media. The tablets were
      also administered to beagle dogs and the pharmacokinetic parameters were
      calculated using a non-compartmental model. Cmax, tmax, mean residence time
      (MRT), and area under the curve from 0 to 24 h (AUC0-24) were 3.97 +/- 0.53
      ng/mL, 3.58 +/- 0.49 h, 8.29 +/- 0.93 h, and 35.20 +/- 8.11 ng/mL c h for
      ropinirole osmotic pump tablets (ROPT) and 4.15 +/- 1.07 ng/mL, 2.92 +/- 0.49 h,
      7.84 +/- 1.09 h, and 34.34 +/- 10.06 ng/mL c h for REQUIP XL. The log-transformed
      mean Cmax and AUC0-24 of ROPT were about 92.15% and 102.49% relative to that of
      REQUIP XL, respectively. The 90% confidence intervals of Cmax and AUC0-24 for
      ROPT were 75.69-115.31% and 88.89-122.30%, respectively. So it could be concluded
      that ROPT was uniform with REQUIP XL both in vitro and in beagles and the release
      profiles of Geomatrix technology may be obtained by osmotic pump combined with
      fast release technology.

PMID- 25830370
TI  - Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies of nisoldipine-loaded solid lipid
      nanoparticles developed by central composite design.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Nisoldipine (ND) is a potential antihypertensive drug with low oral
      bioavailability. The aim was to develop an optimal formulation of ND-loaded solid
      lipid nanoparticles (ND-SLNs) for improved oral bioavailability and
      pharmacodynamic effect by using a two-factor, three-level central composite
      design. Glyceryl trimyristate (Dynasan 114) and egg lecithin were selected as
      independent variables. Particle size (Y1), PDI (Y2) and entrapment efficiency
      (EE) (Y3) of SLNs were selected as dependent response variables. METHODS: The ND
      SLNs were prepared by hot homogenization followed by ultrasonication. The size,
      PDI, zeta potential, EE, assay, in vitro release and morphology of ND-SLNs were
      characterized. Further, the pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic behavior of
      ND-SLNs was evaluated in male Wistar rats. RESULTS: The optimal ND-SLN
      formulation had particle size of 104.4 +/- 2.13 nm, PDI of 0.241 +/- 0.02 and EE
      of 89.84 +/- 0.52%. The differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction
      analyses indicated that the drug incorporated into ND-SLNs was in amorphous form.
      The morphology of ND-SLNs was found to be nearly spherical by scanning electron
      microscopy. The optimized formulation was stable at refrigerated and room
      temperature for 3 months. PK studies showed that 2.17-fold increase in oral
      bioavailability when compared with a drug suspension. In pharmacodynamic studies,
      a significant reduction in the systolic blood pressure was observed, which
      sustained for a period of 36 h when compared with a controlled suspension.
      CONCLUSION: Taken together, the results conclusively demonstrated that the
      developed optimal ND-SLNs caused significant enhancement in oral bioavailability
      along with pharmacodynamic effect.

PMID- 25830373
TI  - Dynamics of bimolecular reactions in solution.
AB  - Mechanisms of bimolecular chemical reactions in solution are amenable to study on
      picosecond timescales, both by transient absorption spectroscopy and by computer
      simulation. The dynamics of exothermic reactions of CN radicals and of Cl and F
      atoms with organic solutes in commonly used solvents are contrasted with the
      corresponding dynamics in the gas phase. Many characteristics of the gas-phase
      reaction dynamics persist in solution, such as efficient energy release to
      specific vibrational modes of the products. However, additional complexities
      associated with the presence of the solvent are open to investigation. These
      features of liquid-phase reactions include the role of solvent-solute complexes,
      solvent caging, coupling of the product motions to the solvent bath,
      thermalization of internally excited reaction products, incipient hydrogen bond
      formation, and involvement of charge-separated states that arise from proton
      transfer. 

PMID- 25830374
TI  - DFT: A Theory Full of Holes?
AB  - This article is a rough, quirky overview of both the history and present state of
      the art of density functional theory. The field is so huge that no attempt to be
      comprehensive is made. We focus on the underlying exact theory, the origin of
      approximations, and the tension between empirical and nonempirical approaches.
      Many ideas are illustrated on the exchange energy and hole. Features unique to
      this article include how approximations can be systematically derived in a
      nonempirical fashion and a survey of warm dense matter. 

PMID- 25830371
TI  - Experience-related structural changes of degenerated occipital white matter in
      late-blind humans - a diffusion tensor imaging study.
AB  - Late-blind humans can learn to understand speech at ultra-fast syllable rates
      (ca. 20 syllables/s), a capability associated with hemodynamic activation of the
      central-visual system. Thus, the observed functional cross-modal recruitment of
      occipital cortex might facilitate ultra-fast speech processing in these
      individuals. To further elucidate the structural prerequisites of this skill,
      diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was conducted in late-blind subjects differing in
      their capability of understanding ultra-fast speech. Fractional anisotropy (FA)
      was determined as a quantitative measure of the directionality of water
      diffusion, indicating fiber tract characteristics that might be influenced by
      blindness as well as the acquired perceptual skills. Analysis of the diffusion
      images revealed reduced FA in late-blind individuals relative to sighted controls
      at the level of the optic radiations at either side and the right-hemisphere
      dorsal thalamus (pulvinar). Moreover, late-blind subjects showed significant
      positive correlations between FA and the capacity of ultra-fast speech
      comprehension within right-hemisphere optic radiation and thalamus. Thus,
      experience-related structural alterations occurred in late-blind individuals
      within visual pathways that, presumably, are linked to higher order frontal
      language areas. 

PMID- 25830375
TI  - Electron transfer mechanisms of DNA repair by photolyase.
AB  - Photolyase is a flavin photoenzyme that repairs two DNA base damage products
      induced by ultraviolet (UV) light: cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and 6-4
      photoproducts. With femtosecond spectroscopy and site-directed mutagenesis,
      investigators have recently made significant advances in our understanding of UV
      damaged DNA repair, and the entire enzymatic dynamics can now be mapped out in
      real time. For dimer repair, six elementary steps have been characterized,
      including three electron transfer reactions and two bond-breaking processes, and
      their reaction times have been determined. A unique electron-tunneling pathway
      was identified, and the critical residues in modulating the repair function at
      the active site were determined. The dynamic synergy between the elementary
      reactions for maintaining high repair efficiency was elucidated, and the
      biological nature of the flavin active state was uncovered. For 6-4 photoproduct
      repair, a proton-coupled electron transfer repair mechanism has been revealed.
      The elucidation of electron transfer mechanisms and two repair photocycles is
      significant and provides a molecular basis for future practical applications,
      such as in rational drug design for curing skin cancer. 

PMID- 25830376
TI  - Correction: decoding vigilance with NIRS.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0101729.]. 

PMID- 25830377
TI  - Does Helicobacter pylori eradication or proton pump inhibitor use benefit
      gastroesophageal reflux disease?

PMID- 25830378
TI  - Transcriptomic identification of ADH1B as a novel candidate gene for obesity and
      insulin resistance in human adipose tissue in Mexican Americans from the Veterans
      Administration Genetic Epidemiology Study (VAGES).
AB  - Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a complex metabolic disease that is more prevalent in
      ethnic groups such as Mexican Americans, and is strongly associated with the risk
      factors obesity and insulin resistance. The goal of this study was to perform
      whole genome gene expression profiling in adipose tissue to detect common
      patterns of gene regulation associated with obesity and insulin resistance. We
      used phenotypic and genotypic data from 308 Mexican American participants from
      the Veterans Administration Genetic Epidemiology Study (VAGES). Basal fasting RNA
      was extracted from adipose tissue biopsies from a subset of 75 unrelated
      individuals, and gene expression data generated on the Illumina BeadArray
      platform. The number of gene probes with significant expression above baseline
      was approximately 31,000. We performed multiple regression analysis of all probes
      with 15 metabolic traits. Adipose tissue had 3,012 genes significantly associated
      with the traits of interest (false discovery rate, FDR <= 0.05). The significance
      of gene expression changes was used to select 52 genes with significant (FDR <=
      10(-4)) gene expression changes across multiple traits. Gene sets/Pathways
      analysis identified one gene, alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B) that was
      significantly enriched (P < 10(-60)) as a prime candidate for involvement in
      multiple relevant metabolic pathways. Illumina BeadChip derived ADH1B expression
      data was consistent with quantitative real time PCR data. We observed significant
      inverse correlations with waist circumference (2.8 x 10(-9)), BMI (5.4 x 10(-6)),
      and fasting plasma insulin (P < 0.001). These findings are consistent with a
      central role for ADH1B in obesity and insulin resistance and provide evidence for
      a novel genetic regulatory mechanism for human metabolic diseases related to
      these traits.

PMID- 25830380
TI  - Variability of the perception of dyspnea in healthy subjects assessed through
      inspiratory resistive loading.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Few studies have evaluated the variability of the perception of
      dyspnea in healthy subjects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the
      variability of the perception of dyspnea in healthy subjects during breathing
      against increasing inspiratory resistive loads, as well as to assess the
      association between the level of perception of dyspnea and the level of physical
      activity. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study involving healthy individuals
      16 years of age or older. Subjects underwent inspiratory resistive loading
      testing, in which the level of perception of dyspnea was quantified with the
      modified Borg scale. We also determined body mass indices (BMIs), assessed
      maximal respiratory pressures, performed pulmonary function tests, applied the
      international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ)-long form, and conducted six
      minute walk tests (6 MWTs). The level of perception of dyspnea was classified as
      low (Borg score < 2), intermediate (Borg score, 2-5), or high (Borg score > 5).
      RESULTS: We included 48 healthy subjects in the study. Forty-two subjects
      completed the test up to a load of 46.7 cmH2O/L/s. The level of perception of
      dyspnea was classified as low, intermediate, and high in 13, 19, and 10 subjects,
      respectively. The level of perception of dyspnea was not significantly associated
      with age, gender, BMI, IPAQ-long form score, maximal respiratory pressures, or
      pulmonary function test results. CONCLUSIONS: The scores for perceived dyspnea
      induced by inspiratory resistive loading in healthy subjects presented wide
      variability. The perception of dyspnea was classified as low in 31% of the
      subjects, intermediate in 45%, and high in 24%. There was no association between
      the level of perception of dyspnea and the level of physical activity (IPAQ or
      six-minute walk distance).

PMID- 25830379
TI  - Capsules, toxins and AtxA as virulence factors of emerging Bacillus cereus biovar
      anthracis.
AB  - Emerging B. cereus strains that cause anthrax-like disease have been isolated in
      Cameroon (CA strain) and Cote d'Ivoire (CI strain). These strains are unusual,
      because their genomic characterisation shows that they belong to the B. cereus
      species, although they harbour two plasmids, pBCXO1 and pBCXO2, that are highly
      similar to the pXO1 and pXO2 plasmids of B. anthracis that encode the toxins and
      the polyglutamate capsule respectively. The virulence factors implicated in the
      pathogenicity of these B. cereus bv anthracis strains remain to be characterised.
      We tested their virulence by cutaneous and intranasal delivery in mice and guinea
      pigs; they were as virulent as wild-type B. anthracis. Unlike as described for
      pXO2-cured B. anthracis, the CA strain cured of the pBCXO2 plasmid was still
      highly virulent, showing the existence of other virulence factors. Indeed, these
      strains concomitantly expressed a hyaluronic acid (HA) capsule and the B.
      anthracis polyglutamate (PDGA) capsule. The HA capsule was encoded by the hasACB
      operon on pBCXO1, and its expression was regulated by the global transcription
      regulator AtxA, which controls anthrax toxins and PDGA capsule in B. anthracis.
      Thus, the HA and PDGA capsules and toxins were co-regulated by AtxA. We explored
      the respective effect of the virulence factors on colonisation and dissemination
      of CA within its host by constructing bioluminescent mutants. Expression of the
      HA capsule by itself led to local multiplication and, during intranasal
      infection, to local dissemination to the adjacent brain tissue. Co-expression of
      either toxins or PDGA capsule with HA capsule enabled systemic dissemination,
      thus providing a clear evolutionary advantage. Protection against infection by B.
      cereus bv anthracis required the same vaccination formulation as that used
      against B. anthracis. Thus, these strains, at the frontier between B. anthracis
      and B. cereus, provide insight into how the monomorphic B. anthracis may have
      emerged. 

PMID- 25830381
TI  - Efficacy and safety of fluticasone furoate/vilanterol (50/25 mcg; 100/25 mcg;
      200/25 mcg) in Asian patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a
      randomized placebo-controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Three strengths of fluticasone furoate/vilanterol
      (FF/VI) were previously evaluated for the treatment of chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease (COPD) in a program of global Phase 3 studies that included
      only a small subgroup of Asian patients. This study further evaluated the
      efficacy and safety of the same three strengths of FF/VI exclusively in Asian
      patients. METHODS: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel
      group, multicenter study. Patients with post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC <=0.70, FEV1
      <=70% predicted and modified Medical Research Council score >=2 were randomized
      (1:1:1:1) to placebo, FF/VI 50/25 mcg, 100/25 mcg or 200/25 mcg once daily via
      the ELLIPTA dry powder inhaler. The primary efficacy endpoint was change from
      baseline in trough FEV1 at Week 24. RESULTS: The intent-to-treat population
      comprised 643 patients. Statistically significant (p < 0.001) improvements in
      trough FEV1 were observed with all strengths of FF/VI versus placebo at Week 24
      (0.14-0.19 L). Reduction of supplemental albuterol use was observed with all
      strengths of FF/VI versus placebo. The incidence of on-treatment adverse events
      (AEs) was 48% with FF/VI 200/25 mcg and 37-40% with other treatments. The
      incidence of on-treatment serious AEs was 4-9% with FF/VI treatments versus 9%
      with placebo; however, the study only covered a 6 month treatment period and was
      not powered to assess effects on exacerbations. No clinically significant
      treatment effects versus placebo were identified for electrocardiogram, vital
      signs, 24 hour urinary cortisol excretion and pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: All
      strengths of FF/VI improved lung function with an acceptable safety profile.
      There is no evidence to suggest that dose adjustment may be required in Asian
      patients using FF/VI 100/25 mcg for the treatment of COPD. CLINICAL TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: NCT01376245.

PMID- 25830382
TI  - Plk1 phosphorylation of IRS2 prevents premature mitotic exit via AKT
      inactivation.
AB  - Insulin receptor substrate (IRS) proteins play important roles by acting as a
      platform in transducing signals from transmembrane receptors upon growth factor
      stimulation. Although tyrosine phosphorylation on IRS proteins plays critical
      roles in signal transduction, phosphorylation of IRS proteins on serine/threonine
      residues is believed to play various regulatory roles in IRS protein function.
      However, studies of serine/threonine phosphorylation of IRS proteins are very
      limited, especially for insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS2), one member of the
      IRS protein family. In this study, we identify Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) as the
      responsible kinase for phosphorylation of IRS2 on two serine residues, Ser 556
      and Ser 1098. Phosphorylation of IRS2 at these two serine residues by Plk1
      prevents the activation of the PI3K pathway upon growth factor stimulation by
      inhibiting the binding between IRS2 and the PI3K pathway components and
      increasing the level of IRS2 protein degradation. Significantly, we show that
      IRS2 phosphorylation is cell cycle-regulated and that Plk1 phosphorylation of
      IRS2 prevents premature mitotic exit via AKT inactivation.

PMID- 25830384
TI  - Unconventional charge distribution in the planar wheel-type M(c)B6H6(-/0/+) (M =
      Mn, Fe and Co): central M with negative charges and peripheral boron ring with
      positive charges.
AB  - Planar wheel-type D6h M(c)B6H6(-/0/+) (M = Mn, Fe and Co for anion, neutral and
      cation, respectively.) clusters with a planar hexacoordinate transition-metal at
      the center of the boron ring were designed and investigated by density functional
      theory. These planar clusters are chemically stable as a result of their large
      binding energy, vertical ionization potential, and vertical electron affinity.
      The detailed natural population and molecular orbital analyses suggest that not
      only does the M atom donate electrons to the boron ring for participation in the
      pi-delocalized bonding, but also the boron ring donates electrons back to the M
      atom for the formation of the sigma-delocalized bonding, which leads to a strong
      aromaticity and unconventional charge distribution, i.e., the M atom is
      negatively charged, while the boron ring is positively charged. This study may
      open a new area in coordination chemistry for planar hexacoordinate transition
      metals and we expect further experimental exploration of their synthesis and
      potential applications. 

PMID- 25830383
TI  - The antisaccade task: visual distractors elicit a location-independent planning
      'cost'.
AB  - The presentation of a remote - but not proximal - distractor concurrent with
      target onset increases prosaccade reaction times (RT) (i.e., the remote
      distractor effect: RDE). The competitive integration model asserts that the RDE
      represents the time required to resolve the conflict for a common saccade
      threshold between target- and distractor-related saccade generating commands in
      the superior colliculus. To our knowledge however, no previous research has
      examined whether remote and proximal distractors differentially influence
      antisaccade RTs. This represents a notable question because antisaccades require
      decoupling of the spatial relations between stimulus and response (SR) and
      therefore provide a basis for determining whether the sensory- and/or motor
      related features of a distractor influence response planning. Participants
      completed pro- and antisaccades in a target-only condition and conditions wherein
      the target was concurrently presented with a proximal or remote distractor. As
      expected, prosaccade RTs elicited a reliable RDE. In contrast, antisaccade RTs
      were increased independent of the distractor's spatial location and the magnitude
      of the effect was comparable across each distractor location. Thus, distractor
      related antisaccade RT costs are not accounted for by a competitive integration
      between conflicting saccade generating commands. Instead, we propose that a
      visual distractor increases uncertainty related to the evocation of the response
      selection rule necessary for decoupling SR relations. 

PMID- 25830386
TI  - Survival analysis and other clinical outcomes of immediate implant placement in
      sites with periapical lesions: systematic review.
AB  - PURPOSE: Immediate implantation has become one of the therapeutic options for
      replacement of a hopeless tooth. In the case of a tooth with a periapical lesion,
      this approach remains controversial. The aims of this article were to
      systematically review the evidence on immediate implants in sites with periapical
      lesions with reference to: (1) survival rates, (2) changes in crestal bone levels
      and marginal tissues, (3) complication rates, and (4) comparison of clinical
      outcomes with other implant treatments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An electronic
      search was conducted in MEDLINE (PubMed), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled
      Trials (CENTRAL), and EMBASE for articles published between January 1990 and
      August 2013. Publications were screened, and data extraction and quality
      assessment were performed. Implant survival rates were calculated using predicted
      Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Crestal bone level changes, soft tissue outcomes,
      complications, and procedure characteristics were analyzed descriptively.
      RESULTS: Initially, 301 articles were identified. Three prospective controlled
      trials of immediate implant placement in sites with periapical lesions with a
      follow-up period of at least 1 year were selected for the survival analysis. The
      predicted cumulative 5-year survival rate of immediate implants in sites with
      periapical lesions was 96.23%. Bone and gingival level changes were comparable to
      those of implants placed in sites without periapical pathology. The complication
      rates, reported in only one study, were 15.4% (2/13) in sites with periapical
      lesions and 6.7% (1/15) in healthy sites. CONCLUSION: Limited evidence suggests
      that immediate implant placement in sites with periapical lesions leads to
      clinical outcomes comparable to those of immediate implants in healthy sites.
      Additional prospective controlled trials with large sample sizes and long-term
      follow-up are needed to further investigate these results.

PMID- 25830385
TI  - Pathway as a pharmacological target for herbal medicines: an investigation from
      reduning injection.
AB  - As a rich natural resource for drug discovery, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
      plays an important role in complementary and alternative medical systems. TCM
      shows a daunting complexity of compounds featuring multi-components and multi
      targets to cure diseases, which thus always makes it extremely difficult to
      systematically explain the molecular mechanisms adequately using routine methods.
      In the present work, to reveal the systematic mechanism of herbal formulae, we
      developed a pathway-based strategy by combining the pathways integrating, target
      selection, reverse drug targeting and network analysis together, and then
      exemplified it by Reduning injection (RDN), a clinically widely used herbal
      medicine injection, in combating inflammation. The anti-inflammatory effects
      exerted by the major ingredients of RDN at signaling pathways level were
      systematically investigated. More importantly, our predicted results were also
      experimentally validated. Our strategy provides a deep understanding of the
      pharmacological functions of herbal formulae from molecular to systematic level,
      which may lead to more successful applications of systems pharmacology for drug
      discovery and development. 

PMID- 25830387
TI  - Experimental evaluation of the effects of Ankaferd Blood Stopper and collagenated
      heterologous bone graft on bone healing in sinus floor augmentation.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of collagenated
      heterologous bone graft (CHBG) and Ankaferd Blood Stopper (ABS), a plant extract,
      on bone healing after sinus floor augmentation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-six
      New Zealand rabbits were used. Bilateral sinus augmentation was performed, and 72
      bone defects were created. The maxillary sinuses were grafted with four different
      biomaterials: blood clot (control group), CHBG (Apatos Mix, OsteoBiol, Tecnoss)
      (graft group), ABS (ABS group), and ABS + CHBG (ABS+graft group). The rabbits
      were sacrificed at 1, 4, and 8 weeks after surgery. Histochemical and
      immunohistochemical examinations were performed on all samples. Staining with
      hematoxylin-eosin and Masson trichrome was performed, and bone marker activity
      was evaluated. RESULTS: Lymphocyte infiltration was high at the first week in all
      groups and decreased from 1 to 8 weeks. All materials were biocompatible.
      Osteoclast numbers increased in the control group from 1 to 8 weeks and decreased
      in the other groups. There was no new bone formation in week 1 in all groups. New
      bone formation increased in all groups from 1 to 8 weeks, and at the fourth week,
      new bone formation was greater in the ABS and ABS+graft groups than in the other
      groups. There were osteoclasts around the bone graft materials, but degeneration
      of the graft was seen only in the ABS+graft group at week 8. CONCLUSION: ABS
      accelerates bone healing in sinus augmentation procedures and can be used alone
      or with CHBG. CHBG has osteoconductive properties, and ABS can accelerate bone
      graft degeneration.

PMID- 25830388
TI  - Measuring bone density at orthodontic miniscrew implantation sites using
      microcomputed tomography.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study was performed to determine the accuracy of measurements of
      bone mineral density (BMD) and cortical bone thickness (CBT) at miniscrew
      implantation sites in small animals and to verify the usefulness of in vivo
      microcomputed tomography (micro-CT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rat femurs were
      scanned before and after placing miniscrews using in vivo micro-CT. The images
      were superimposed using a subtraction method with bone volume measurement
      software. At each screw site, the total BMD was calculated as the average BMD of
      a cylinder 1.6 mm in diameter and 2.0 mm in depth, while the cortical BMD was the
      average BMD of a cylinder 1.6 mm in diameter and 1.0 mm in depth. CBT was
      measured three times on transaxial images of the rat femurs, and the average
      value was used. All miniscrews were placed using the maximum torque, verified
      with a digital torque tester. To verify the usefulness and accuracy of in vivo
      micro-CT, CBT on micro-CT images was compared with that measured on histologic
      sections. RESULTS: Significant correlations were observed between placement
      torque and cortical BMD (R = 0.572), total BMD (R = 0.732), and CBT (R = 0.788).
      There was a significant correlation between CBT measured via field-emission
      scanning electron microscopy images and CBT measured with in vivo micro-CT (R =
      0.974). CONCLUSIONS: The BMD over a narrow range can be measured accurately in
      small animals with high reproducibility of the trabecular structure using a
      combination of high-resolution in vivo micro-CT and image superimposition using a
      three-dimensional subtraction method.

PMID- 25830389
TI  - Reliability of four zygomatic implant-supported prostheses for the rehabilitation
      of the atrophic maxilla: a systematic review.
AB  - PURPOSE: The reliability of oral rehabilitation by four zygomatic implants with
      no anterior support remains to be determined. The aim of this systematic review
      was to assess the predictability of this approach in regard to implant survival,
      technical and biologic complications, and quality of life. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      An electronic literature search was conducted from September 2000 to November
      2013. Human clinical trials in which oral rehabilitation was achieved by the use
      of four zygomatic implants with no additional placement of standard implants were
      included. The primary outcome was the survival rate of the zygomatic implants. In
      addition, random effects meta-analyses of the selected studies were applied to
      avoid potential bias caused by methodologic differences among studies. RESULTS:
      Zygomatic implant survival rate weighted mean (WM) was 96.7% (range, 95.8% to
      99.9%), with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 92.5% to 98.5%. Only a limited
      number of surgical complications were reported, with orbital perforation the most
      significant. Similar results were obtained for prosthetic complications (few
      occurrences). Additionally, patient satisfaction levels were shown to be high,
      approaching that of the general population. CONCLUSION: Data from the present
      systematic review suggest that maxillary rehabilitation by four zygomatic
      implants with no anterior support is a reliable approach.

PMID- 25830390
TI  - Microcomputed tomography-based assessment of retrieved dental implants.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the potential of microcomputed
      tomography (micro-CT) technology in the assessment of retrieved dental implants.
      Cases are presented to illustrate the value of micro-CT imaging techniques in
      determining possible mechanical causes for dental implant failures. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Eight retrieved dental implants were randomly selected from a pool and
      imaged using a micro-CT device. Source voltages (80 to 100 kV) and source-to
      detector distances (65 to 70 mm) were based on signal quality requirements with
      an additional criterion of achieving the highest resolution with the sample
      entirely in the field of view in the projection plane. One additional sample was
      chosen for histology and tomographic imaging so that the information contained
      therein could be compared. RESULTS: The micro-CT images displayed high contrast
      between the implant, bone, and background, with negligible metal artifacts. The
      micro-CT technology used in this study delivered excellent images of the
      retrieved implants. As a result of the quality and resolution (pixel size: 5.52
      to 6.15 MUm) of the images, surface morphology as well as internal structures of
      the retrieved implants could be observed in great detail. The majority of the
      retrieved implants had increased wear, dents, pits, regular shallow scratches,
      and deep scratches in the implant-to-abutment engagement area. Furthermore,
      plastic deformations, microcracks, and brittle implant fractures were observed in
      two implants. CONCLUSION: The mechanical competence of dental implant components
      plays a major role in the success of implant treatment. When failures do occur, a
      nondestructive three-dimensional assessment of such failed implants and their
      components is helpful in understanding the underlying factors. Micro-CT was found
      to be a useful tool for the morphologic assessment of retrieved dental implants.

PMID- 25830391
TI  - Ridge preservation surgery after single and multiple adjacent tooth extractions:
      a microcomputed tomography study in dogs.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine, before implant placement, the
      outcome of ridge preservation surgery after extractions of one or more adjacent
      teeth on the dimensions of the edentulous ridge. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nineteen
      extraction sites in four dogs were randomly divided into three groups: group 1 =
      single premolars (n = 7 sites); group 2 = two adjacent premolars (n = 6 sites);
      group 3 = three adjacent premolars (n = 6 sites). Extraction was followed by
      ridge preservation surgery using a combination of xenograft and collagen membrane
      after full-thickness flap reflection. All animals were sacrificed 4 months later,
      and each extraction site was sectioned in the sagittal plane so that alveolar
      bone measurements could be made in both the buccolingual and apicocoronal
      directions using microcomputed tomography. RESULTS: Mean buccolingual width of
      the ridges postsurgery was 4.80 +/- 2.78 mm, 4.98 +/- 2.65 mm, and 4.79 +/- 2.79
      mm in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The mean vertical distance from the
      cementoenamel junction to the crest of the ridge was 1.94 +/- 0.42 mm, 2.05 +/-
      0.48 mm, and 2.60 +/- 0.67 mm in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. No
      statistically significant difference was seen between single and multiple
      extraction sites. CONCLUSION: Ridge preservation surgery results in a similar
      pattern of bone remodeling in the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the
      edentulous ridge after single and multiple adjacent tooth extractions.

PMID- 25830392
TI  - Digitally produced fiber-reinforced composite substructures for three-unit
      implant-supported fixed dental prostheses.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the probability of survival, Weibull
      modulus, characteristic strength, and failure modes of computer-aided
      design/computer-assisted manufacture (CAD/CAM) fiber-reinforced composite (FRC)
      substructures used for implant-supported fixed dental prostheses (ISFDPs).
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three-unit ISFDPs (first molar pontic) fabricated as a
      monolithic composite piece or as composite veneered on a CAD/CAM FRC substructure
      with either a 12-mm2 or 3-mm2 connector area (n = 18 each) were subjected to step
      stress accelerated life testing in water. Use-level probability Weibull curves
      and the probability of survival were calculated. Fractographic analysis was
      performed under polarized light and scanning electron microscopy. RESULTS:
      Fatigue did not accelerate the failure of any group, whereas prosthesis strength
      was the main factor in increased failure (beta < 1). The probability Weibull
      contour plot showed no differences between the ISFDPs with 12 mm2 and the
      monolithic composite ISFDP in characteristic strength (eta = 643.5 N and 742.7 N,
      respectively) or Weibull modulus (6.7 and 5.8, respectively), whereas both were
      significantly higher than 3 mm2 (444.91 N and 9.57). The probability of survival
      was not statistically different between groups at 100,000 mission cycles at 300
      N. Differences were observed in fatigue failures above 800 N; monolithic
      composite ISFDPs failed catastrophically, whereas those with CAD/CAM FRC
      substructures presented veneer/composite cohesive or adhesive failures. Cracks
      evolved from the occlusal contact toward the margins of the cohesively failed
      composite, and in CAD/CAM FRC prostheses, competing failure modes of cracks
      developing at the connector area with those at the indentation contact were
      observed. CONCLUSION: The probability of survival did not differ between CAD/CAM
      FRC with either 3-mm2 or 12-mm2 connector areas, monolithic composite, or metal
      ceramic ISFDPs previously tested under the same methodology. However, differences
      in failure modes were detected between groups.

PMID- 25830393
TI  - Systematic literature review of digital three-dimensional superimposition
      techniques to create virtual dental patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: Digital developments have led to the opportunity to compose simulated
      patient models based on three-dimensional (3D) skeletal, facial, and dental
      imaging. The aim of this systematic review is to provide an update on the current
      knowledge, to report on the technical progress in the field of 3D virtual patient
      science, and to identify further research needs to accomplish clinical
      translation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Searches were performed electronically
      (MEDLINE and OVID) and manually up to March 2014 for studies of 3D fusion imaging
      to create a virtual dental patient. Inclusion criteria were limited to human
      studies reporting on the technical protocol for superimposition of at least two
      different 3D data sets and medical field of interest. RESULTS: Of the 403 titles
      originally retrieved, 51 abstracts and, subsequently, 21 full texts were selected
      for review. Of the 21 full texts, 18 studies were included in the systematic
      review. Most of the investigations were designed as feasibility studies. Three
      different types of 3D data were identified for simulation: facial skeleton,
      extraoral soft tissue, and dentition. A total of 112 patients were investigated
      in the development of 3D virtual models. CONCLUSION: Superimposition of data on
      the facial skeleton, soft tissue, and/or dentition is a feasible technique to
      create a virtual patient under static conditions. Three-dimensional image fusion
      is of interest and importance in all fields of dental medicine. Future research
      should focus on the real-time replication of a human head, including dynamic
      movements, capturing data in a single step.

PMID- 25830394
TI  - Comparison of the efficacy of different types of lasers for the treatment of peri
      implantitis: a systematic review.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of various types of lasers (neodymium-doped
      yttrium-aluminum-garnet [Nd:YAG], carbon dioxide [CO2], diode, erbium/chromium
      doped yttrium-scandium-gallium-garnet [Er,Cr:YSGG], and erbium-doped yttrium
      aluminum-garnet [Er:YAG]) in the treatment of peri-implantitis and their use in
      surgical and nonsurgical procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human studies for the
      treatment of peri-implantitis with laser therapy, published between 2002 and
      January 2014, were collected utilizing the electronic databases PubMed, Ovid,
      MEDLINE, Cochrane, and Google Scholar. Two reviewers conducted the study
      selection, data collection, and validity assessment. RESULTS: Eight hundred
      twelve studies were selected in the initial title search; 13 studies were then
      chosen for this review. No human studies evaluated the effect of the Nd:YAG laser
      on peri-implantitis. The CO2 laser is reported to be safe and able to enhance
      bone regeneration. The diode laser (980 nm) seems to be effective in its
      bactericidal effect without changing the implant surface pattern. The Er,Cr:YSGG
      laser was reported to obtain bone regeneration around a failing implant in one
      case, while the Er:YAG laser exhibits a strong bactericidal effect against
      periodontopathic bacteria at a low energy level. CONCLUSION: Although lasers have
      shown promising results in reducing clinical signs of peri-implantitis, because
      of the limited sample sizes and short follow-up periods, no firm conclusion can
      be drawn at this moment. Hence, there is a need for more well-designed,
      longitudinal, randomized controlled clinical trials.

PMID- 25830395
TI  - Fracture strength study of internally connected zirconia abutments reinforced
      with titanium inserts.
AB  - PURPOSE: The implant-abutment connection area is known to be the weakest part of
      an internal-connection zirconia abutment and therefore the most likely to
      fracture. The aim of this study was to evaluate the complementary effect of a
      titanium insert on the fracture strength of a zirconia abutment. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Three types of abutments with internal connection structures were
      selected and assembled: titanium abutment-titanium abutment screw (Ti-Ti),
      zirconia abutment-titanium abutment screw (Zr-Ti), and zirconia abutment-titanium
      insert-titanium abutment screw (Zr+Ti-Ti). Fifteen abutments and 15 implants were
      used and divided into three groups of five specimens each. Compressive loading
      was applied to the specimens at 30 degrees off-axis with dislocation speed of 1
      mm/min and was increased until deformation occurred. RESULTS: The Ti-Ti specimens
      showed the highest maximum fracture load, followed by the Zr+Ti-Ti specimens; the
      Zr-Ti assemblies were the weakest. Significant differences in fracture strength
      were found between the groups. All of the investigated Zr abutments fractured.
      However, in the Zr+Ti-Ti specimens, 60% of the Ti abutment screws fractured and
      40% bent, whereas all of the abutment screws in the Zr-Ti group were only bent.
      CONCLUSION: The Ti insert, as a substitute for the weakest part of a Zr abutment
      in an implant with an internal friction connection, can reinforce the fracture
      strength of a Zr abutment.

PMID- 25830396
TI  - Assessment of implant cumulative survival rates in sites with different bone
      density and related prognostic factors: an 8-year retrospective study of 2,684
      implants.
AB  - PURPOSE: This retrospective study was set to explore the influence of local bone
      density (BD) on implant cumulative survival rates (ICSRs) and to assess
      prognostic factors associated with implant failure at sites with different BD.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2005 and December 2011, 2,684 implants
      were placed in 1,377 patients and included in the study. Implants at sites with
      different BD were divided into four groups (G1 to G4) according to the Lekholm
      and Zarb classification, corresponding to bone types 1 to 4. ICSRs and the
      reasons for failure in each group were evaluated. Factors related to the local
      distribution of BD were also analyzed. A number of predictive variables were
      examined by univariate and multivariate analyses to evaluate prognostic factors
      and their influence on implant failure rates. RESULTS: In total, 45 implants were
      lost, resulting in ICSRs for G1 to G4 of 100%, 98.18%, 96.83%, and 92.25%,
      respectively. The main reasons for failure in each group were failed
      osseointegration and occlusal overloading. Low BD was associated with advanced
      age (> 50 years) and the posterior maxilla. Based on multivariate analysis,
      diabetes mellitus and nonthreaded implants were significant factors in the high
      BD group (G2), while advanced age, smoking, nonthreaded implants, and immediate
      loading were risk factors for the low-BD group (G3 and G4). CONCLUSION: BD is one
      of the most important factors influencing the long-term ICSR, which decreases
      with decreasing BD values. Accurate risk evaluation for sites with different BD
      before implantation will be beneficial to implant survival.

PMID- 25830398
TI  - Retrospective study of pterygoid implants in the atrophic posterior maxilla:
      implant and prosthesis survival rates up to 3 years.
AB  - PURPOSE: Few reports have evaluated cumulative survival rates of implants placed
      in the pterygoid region in the medium term. The objective of this study was to
      evaluate success rates of pterygoid implants and prostheses in patients treated
      in the atrophic posterior maxilla. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study
      was performed of patients with an atrophic posterior maxilla rehabilitated with
      pterygoid implants between 1999 and 2010 and followed for at least 36 months
      after implant loading. Two outcome variables were considered: implant success and
      prosthesis success. The following predictor variables were recorded: sex, age,
      implant placement angulation, number and size of implants, prosthetic
      rehabilitation, bone loss, date of prosthesis delivery, and date of last follow
      up. A statistical model was used to estimate the survival rates and associated
      confidence intervals. Data were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and log
      rank test to compare survival curves. RESULTS: A total of 238 titanium implants
      (172 anterior and 66 pterygoid) were placed in 56 patients. The 3-year overall
      pterygoid implant survival rate was 99%. The 3-year overall prosthesis survival
      rate was 97.7%. The mean bone loss around pterygoid implants after 3 years of
      loading was 1.21 mm (range, 0.31 to 1.75). All patients were wearing the
      prostheses at the most recent follow-up examination. CONCLUSION: Placement of
      implants in the pterygoid region is a viable alternative treatment modality for
      rehabilitation of patients with an atrophic posterior maxilla.

PMID- 25830397
TI  - Prediction of implant loss and marginal bone loss by analysis of dental panoramic
      radiographs.
AB  - PURPOSE: One of the major factors governing implant success is the quantity and
      density of the host bone. The aim of this work was to determine whether
      mandibular bone texture and cortical width measurements on plain radiographs
      could be associated with implant failure and/or marginal bone loss. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A statistical model was built to predict implant failure; it
      incorporated several radiographic features of cortical and cancellous bone
      texture, cortical width, and patient smoking habits. Cortical width measurements
      and texture measurements of cortical and cancellous bone were made on the
      panoramic radiographs of 460 subjects. These were used to predict implant failure
      and marginal bone loss after 5 years. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC)
      curve analysis and area under the curve (AUC) were used to determine the
      diagnostic accuracy of the variables in predicting implant failure and marginal
      bone loss. Additionally, for 91 of 460 subjects with periapical radiographs,
      marginal bone levels around implants were measured over a 5-year period. RESULTS:
      Of the 460 patients assessed for implant failure, 29 had failed implants (93.7%
      success rate). The ROC curve built from this model had a sensitivity of 62.1% and
      specificity of 67.5%. The AUC from the model was 0.690 (95% confidence interval
      [CI] 0.597 to 0.783). A model was also built to predict marginal bone loss. The
      ROC curve had 78.6% sensitivity and 74.6% specificity (AUC = 0.880, 95% CI =
      0.810 to 0.953). Mandibular cortical width was not a significant predictor of
      either implant failure or bone loss. CONCLUSION: In a retrospective analysis 5
      years after implant placement, features of cancellous and cortical bone of the
      mandible were significant in predicting implant failure and marginal bone loss in
      a sample of 460 patients.

PMID- 25830399
TI  - Influence of the crown-implant connection on the preservation of peri-implant
      bone: a retrospective multifactorial analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Control over marginal bone loss (MBL) and its progression is critical
      for preserving peri-implant tissue health. A moderate MBL over the first year has
      conventionally been associated with clinical success. However, different implants
      are associated with distinct amounts of MBL during their first functional year.
      Therefore, this study evaluated the MBL in pristine maxillary bone around
      implants with different types of implant-abutment connections and sought to
      determine the effect of other clinical factors on this tissue response. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Two hundred forty-six implants were placed in 101 patients with a
      mean age of 54.43 years. The MBL around two different types of implants (internal
      versus external prosthetic connection) was evaluated at 6 and 18 months after
      loading. Different variables were recorded to analyze their influence on
      radiographic parameters using a complex samples general linear model. RESULTS: At
      18 months, MBL ranged from 0 to 3.56 mm; less than 1 mm was lost around 46.3%
      (mesial) and 40.2% (distal) of the implants, while no bone was lost around 19.5%
      (mesial) and 19.9% (distal). The MBL was significantly higher around external
      than internal connections (0.714 vs 0.516 mm/year, respectively). Age, smoking
      habit, and connection type were directly related to mesial and distal MBL at 6
      and 18 months postloading. CONCLUSION: Implant design is a key factor in peri
      implant MBL. Age and smoking also play major roles in maintaining the stability
      of peri-implant bone.

PMID- 25830400
TI  - Effects of implant-based prostheses on mastication, nutritional intake, and oral
      health-related quality of life in partially edentulous patients: a paired
      clinical trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study evaluated the effects of different implant-based prostheses
      on swallowing threshold, dietary intake, and oral health-related quality of life
      (OHRQoL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective paired controlled clinical
      trial followed partially edentulous subjects, who sequentially used implant
      supported removable partial dentures and implant-supported fixed partial dentures
      (IFPDs). Swallowing threshold was assessed by counting the masticatory cycles and
      median particle size (X50) calculation. Nutritional intake was verified by a 3
      day food record. OHRQoL was measured with the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP
      49). Data were evaluated with repeated-measures analysis of variance. RESULTS:
      Twelve subjects (mean age 62.6 +/- 7.8 years; range, 55 to 87) took part in the
      study. IFPD treatment significantly reduced X50 values and the number of chewing
      cycles. Higher intake of fiber, calcium, and iron and lower consumption of
      cholesterol-rich food were observed after IFPD use. OHIP summary score and OHIP
      physical pain domain were lower with the IFPD. CONCLUSION: IFPD use leads to more
      efficient mastication and improves dietary intake and OHRQoL. This information
      will guide dentists to better clinical management of partially edentulous
      patients.

PMID- 25830401
TI  - Innovative approach to computer-guided surgery and fixed provisionalization
      assisted by screw-retained transitional implants.
AB  - PURPOSE: The objectives of this case series are to describe a novel clinical
      approach to treat completely edentulous patients and determine its viability.
      Computer-guided implant planning was used to create a screw-retained surgical
      template (ST) supported by transitional implants and a fixed screw-retained
      provisional prosthesis supported by the transitional implants at the time of
      definitive implant placement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five patients with at least
      one edentulous arch were treated. After the diagnostic tooth setup was performed,
      a duplicate with radiopaque acrylic resin was fabricated to serve as a surgical
      template (ST) for the placement of screw-form transitional implants and a
      radiographic guide (RG). Four transitional implants were strategically placed
      through the guide where they would not interfere with the future definitive
      implants. The transitional implants were used to support the RG during computed
      tomographic scanning. Subsequently, the RG was converted into a second ST based
      on three-dimensional virtual planning. Eight implants were placed by the computer
      guided system, and an immediate prefabricated fixed provisional was connected to
      the transitional implants. RESULTS: All the implants included in the study
      achieved primary stability and osseointegrated successfully. For 4 months, the
      transitional implants served successfully as abutments for the provisional
      prosthesis. CONCLUSION: This innovative clinical approach overcomes the
      limitations of a mucosa/bone-supported ST by offering fixed, reproducible support
      for the RG and ST by means of transitional implants. The delivery of a
      prefabricated screw-retained provisional on transitional implants allows for
      passive healing and minimum chairside adjustments.

PMID- 25830402
TI  - Clinical evaluation of marginal bone level change around multiple adjacent
      implants restored with splinted and nonsplinted restorations: a 10-year
      randomized controlled trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: The management of occlusal forces on implant restorations may influence
      their long-term prosthetic success. The purpose of this randomized controlled
      trial was to compare marginal bone level changes around adjacent splinted and
      nonsplinted implants, functionally loaded with cemented restorations, up to 10
      years in maxillae. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During 2002 and 2003, all patients who
      received three adjacent implants in a private office and a university setting
      were included in this study. All implants featured an external-hexagon design and
      were placed in the posterior maxilla. Implants in the left maxilla were randomly
      selected to be restored with splinted cemented restorations; maxillary right
      implants were restored with nonsplinted cemented restorations. Marginal bone
      resorption was measured with intraoral radiographs yearly over a period of at
      least 10 years after placement of abutments and restorations. The amount of bone
      loss in each group was analyzed with the two-sample Wilcoxon rank-sum (Mann
      Whitney) test because variable bone loss was normally distributed at the fifth
      year only. RESULTS: One hundred thirty-two implants were placed in 44 patients.
      Three implants failed at stage-two surgery. Five years after initial loading, two
      patients moved away and were lost to follow-up (6 implants in total); three
      additional patients did not complete the study (9 implants in total). Of the
      remaining 114 implants, 60 left implants were restored with splinted cemented
      restorations and 54 right implants were restored with nonsplinted cemented
      restorations. At 10 years, the splinted group showed a mean of 1.2 mm
      (interquartile range: 0.2 mm) of bone loss; the nonsplinted group showed 1.3 mm
      (interquartile range: 0.2 mm). CONCLUSION: A significant difference in bone loss
      was seen between the two groups. However, the difference of 0.1 mm was not
      considered clinically meaningful.

PMID- 25830403
TI  - Biomechanical in vitro evaluation of two full-arch rehabilitations supported by
      four or five implants.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the stress pattern on the
      abutments in two different full-arch implant-supported clinically equivalent
      prosthetic rehabilitations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two steel master casts were
      created and titanium implants were inserted in two different configurations. One
      configuration used four implants, with the distal implants tilted 30 degrees
      (4IMP configuration), and the other used five axially inclined implants (5IMP
      configuration). A straight multiunit abutment (MUA) was connected to every axial
      implant and a 30-degree angulated MUA was connected to each tilted implant. One
      titanium framework was fabricated for each configuration, with a 5-mm (4IMP
      configuration) or a 15-mm (5IMP configuration) distal cantilever length. Six
      cycles of vertical loading between 20 and 200 N were applied unilaterally at the
      most distal point of the frameworks on both sides. Readings of the deformations
      at the abutment level were obtained with the use of linear strain gauges.
      RESULTS: A similar pattern of deformation was seen in both configurations. The
      greatest compressive stress was measured by the strain gauge on the abutment
      closest to load application and was similar for the 4IMP and 5IMP configurations.
      The tensile stress measured on the same abutment was higher in the 5IMP
      configuration than in the 4IMP configuration. In terms of the distribution of
      stresses, the deformation measured on the central abutment in the 5IMP
      configuration was less than 10% of the overall stress in all the tested
      conditions. CONCLUSION: There was no difference in strain between the two
      different designs, so the use of tilted implants with angulated abutments to
      reduce cantilever length could be considered a viable clinical option.

PMID- 25830404
TI  - Immediate versus conventional loading with fixed full-arch prostheses in
      mandibles with failing dentition: a prospective controlled study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare immediate and conventional loading protocols for fixed full
      arch mandibular prostheses supported by immediate and nonimmediate implants.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective controlled nonrandomized study with 12
      months of follow-up included patients requiring fixed full-arch rehabilitations
      supported by immediate and nonimmediate implants. Eighteen patients were treated
      with conventional loading (control group), and 18 were treated with immediate
      loading (test group). Each patient received four to six implants; implants with
      insertion torque < 35 Ncm were excluded from the study and loaded conventionally.
      The following variables were assessed: implant success, biologic and prosthetic
      complications, success of the immediately loaded provisional prostheses, and
      marginal bone loss. Statistical analysis was performed with nonparametric tests
      (chi-square, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis) with an alpha value of .05. RESULTS:
      Thirty-six patients consecutively enrolled in the study. Two control group
      patients failing to attend control visits and 12 implants that did not achieve an
      insertion torque of 35 Ncm were excluded. The final sample consisted of 34
      patients and 183 implants (98 test and 85 control implants). Implant success
      rates were 99.0% (test) and 97.6% (control). Within the test group, success rates
      for immediate and nonimmediate implants were 100% and 97.6%, respectively.
      Differences were not statistically significant. All immediately loaded prostheses
      were successful. Five provisional fixed prostheses presented with loosened
      screws; all control group patients reported discomfort with the provisional
      denture. Average bone loss was 0.71 mm (standard deviation 0.25 mm) in the test
      group and 0.60 mm (standard deviation 0.28 mm) in the control group. CONCLUSION:
      No significant differences were seen in implant success and peri-implant marginal
      bone loss between immediate and conventional loading of mandibular fixed full
      arch prostheses supported by immediate and nonimmediate implants. Biologic and
      prosthetic complications were rare, and all immediately loaded provisional fixed
      prostheses performed successfully.

PMID- 25830405
TI  - Bone repair of surgical defects filled with autogenous bone and covered with
      demineralized bone matrix membrane or polytetrafluoroethylene membrane in rats.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the behavior of a demineralized
      bone matrix membrane and a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane in the process
      of bone repair of surgical defects filled with autogenous bone in rats. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Sixty rats weighing approximately 250 g each were selected and
      separated into three groups: control group without membrane, demineralized bone
      matrix membrane group, and PTFE membrane group. Bilaterally, surgical defects of
      2 mm in diameter were prepared in the tibiae. The defect in the left tibia was
      filled with particulate autogenous bone collected during the creation of the two
      defects and was left uncovered (control) or was covered with the membranes
      investigated by the present study. At 10 or 60 days postoperatively, the rats
      were euthanized and the left tibiae were submitted to routine laboratory
      processing for histomorphometric analysis. All groups were evaluated separately
      on the 10th and 60th days after surgery. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for
      group comparison. RESULTS: The membrane-treated defects showed a delay in
      healing. Sites treated with demineralized bone matrix membrane showed, as early
      as day 10, more newly formed bone and slow replacement until day 60. At day 60,
      the sites covered with demineralized bone matrix membrane and with synthetic
      membrane showed statistically significant results. CONCLUSION: The demineralized
      bone matrix membrane proved to be biocompatible. In terms of newly formed bone
      area, both membranes showed similar performance.

PMID- 25830406
TI  - Clinical outcome of the use of fresh frozen allogeneic bone grafts for the
      reconstruction of severely resorbed alveolar ridges: preliminary results of a
      prospective study.
AB  - PURPOSE: The objectives of this study were to evaluate: (1) the clinical outcome
      of fresh frozen human allogeneic bone grafts (FFB) used for the reconstruction of
      severely atrophied edentulous ridges; (2) the survival rate of implants placed in
      the reconstructed areas; and (3) bone resorption. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During a
      2-year period, 19 patients with severely atrophied partially or totally
      edentulous ridges who were candidates for an implant-supported prosthesis were
      consecutively enrolled and reconstructed with FFB iliac blocks. Five to 7 months
      later, 117 implants were placed in the reconstructed areas, and prosthetic
      rehabilitation was started 5 to 6 months afterward. RESULTS: The mean follow-up
      of patients after prosthetic loading was 27 months (range, 20 to 32 months).
      Prior to implant placement, graft exposure with partial or total loss of the
      graft occurred in four patients. After implant placement, bone graft exposures
      with partial loss of the grafts occurred in nine patients; in two patients, both
      grafts and implants were removed. The cumulative survival rate of implants was
      90.2%. The mean (+/- standard deviation) graft resorption before implant
      placement was 0.98 +/- 0.77 mm (range, 0 to 4 mm), while these values were 1.21
      +/- 1.05 mm (range, 0 to 6 mm) at loading, 1.55 +/- 1.57 mm (range, 0 to 8 mm) at
      12 months, and 1.93 +/- 1.38 mm (range, 1 to 9 mm) at 24 months. CONCLUSION:
      Within the limits of this study (limited sample of patients and short follow-up),
      the reconstruction of severely atrophic edentulous ridges with FFB is associated
      with a relevant incidence of bone exposures and partial or total loss of the
      grafts, which may compromise the long-term survival of implants placed in the
      reconstructed areas.

PMID- 25830407
TI  - Osteogenesis of rat mesenchymal stem cells and osteoblastic cells on strontium
      doped nanohydroxyapatite-coated titanium surfaces.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare the promotion of osteogenesis in
      vitro on three types of titanium surfaces: a strontium-hydroxyapatite (Sr-HA)
      coated surface, a nano-HA-coated surface, and an uncoated roughened surface.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sr-HA and HA were placed on disks with a roughened
      titanium surface by electrochemical deposition. MC3T3-E1 preosteoblast cells and
      rat bone mesenchymal stem cells were cultured on the Sr-HA, HA-coated, and
      uncoated roughened disks, and cell adhesion, proliferation, viability, osteogenic
      differentiation, and formation of mineralized nodules were measured at various
      time points. RESULTS: The Sr-HA coating produced by a simple electrochemical
      deposition treatment evidently enhanced the attachment, spreading, alkaline
      phosphatase activity, and extracellular matrix calcium mineralization of mouse
      bone mesenchymal stem cells and MC3T3-E1 cells compared with an untreated
      roughened titanium surface and a nano-HA-coated surface. CONCLUSION: This study
      suggests that a Sr-doped nano-HA coating produced through electrochemical
      deposition improves the osteoconductivity of a microrough titanium surface.

PMID- 25830408
TI  - In vitro and in vivo imaging of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene orbital
      implants.
AB  - The aim of this study is to compare magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with
      computed tomography (CT) for visualization of an orbital alloplastic prosthesis
      made of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) both in vitro and in
      vivo. A study of 15 test implants from UHMW-PE visualized in vitro in CT and MRI
      and an in vivo visualization in a patient who suffered from orbital injury and
      underwent reconstructive surgery is presented. The postsurgery MRI showed the
      UHMW-PE material clearly, with no significant artifacts. The surrounding tissues
      could be satisfactorily evaluated. The CT scans did not present the graft
      material. Both techniques were sufficient tools for in vitro evaluation of the
      shape and measurement of the prosthesis. 

PMID- 25830409
TI  - Investigation of the electronic ground states for a reduced pyridine(diimine)
      uranium series: evidence for a ligand tetraanion stabilized by a uranium dimer.
AB  - The electronic structures of a series of highly reduced uranium complexes bearing
      the redox-active pyridine(diimine) ligand, (Mes)PDI(Me) ((Mes)PDI(Me) = 2,6
      (2,4,6-Me3-C6H2-N?CMe)2C5H3N) have been investigated. The complexes,
      ((Mes)PDI(Me))UI3(THF) (1), ((Mes)PDI(Me))UI2(THF)2 (2), [((Mes)PDI(Me))UI]2 (3),
      and [((Mes)PDI(Me))U(THF)]2 (4), were examined using electronic and X-ray
      absorption spectroscopies, magnetometry, and computational analyses. Taken
      together, these studies suggest that all members of the series contain
      uranium(IV) centers with 5f (2) configurations and reduced ligand frameworks,
      specifically [(Mes)PDI(Me)](*/-), [(Mes)PDI(Me)](2-), [(Mes)PDI(Me)](3-) and
      [(Mes)PDI(Me)](4-), respectively. In the cases of 2, 3, and 4 no unpaired spin
      density was found on the ligands, indicating a singlet diradical ligand in
      monomeric 2 and ligand electron spin-pairing through dimerization in 3 and 4.
      Interaction energies, representing enthalpies of dimerization, of -116.0 and 
      144.4 kcal mol(-1) were calculated using DFT for the monomers of 3 and 4,
      respectively, showing there is a large stabilization gained by dimerization
      through uranium-arene bonds. Highlighted in these studies is compound 4, bearing
      a previously unobserved pyridine(diimine) tetraanion, that was uniquely
      stabilized by backbonding between uranium cations and the eta(5)-pyridyl ring. 

PMID- 25830410
TI  - Potentiometric study of antioxidant activity: development and prospects.
AB  - The increasing interest in the study of the antioxidant activity of different
      objects is caused by an unbalance between the formation of reactive oxygen
      species (ROS) and the performance of the antioxidant system in humans under
      certain conditions, which leads to oxidative stress and pathological states of
      the organism. This article presents a brief critical review of the methods that
      are used to measure integrated antioxidant activity (AOA). It is shown that the
      most promising methods for measuring AOA are electrochemical ones, particularly
      potentiometry, as it best fits the nature of the processes causing oxidative
      stress. The article gives the theoretical rational for requirements that an
      oxidizer of antioxidants (AO) should meet. The work presents the thermodynamic
      grounds for the use of an earlier proposed mediator system, kinetics of chemical
      reactions between AO and the mediator system. In order to confirm reliability and
      accuracy of the results, numerous correlation studies were conducted, aiming to
      compare the data obtained with the use the proposed method and independent
      analytical methods. The article presents the results of the potentiometric study
      of AOA for a variety of objects, including individual antioxidant -> nutritional
      supplements -> food -> blood and blood fractions. 

PMID- 25830411
TI  - Motor imagery and cortico-spinal excitability: A review.
AB  - Motor imagery (MI) has received a lot of interest during the last decades as its
      chronic or acute use has demonstrated several effects on improving sport
      performances or skills. The development of neuroimagery techniques also helped
      further our understanding of the neural correlates underlying MI. While some
      authors showed that MI, motor execution and action observation activated similar
      motor cortical regions, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies brought
      great insights on the role of the primary motor cortex and on the activation of
      the cortico-spinal pathway during MI. After defining MI and describing the TMS
      technique, a short report of MI activities only at cortical level is provided.
      Then, a main focus on the specificities of cortico-spinal modulations during MI,
      investigated by TMS, is provided. Finally, a brief overview of sub-cortical
      mechanisms gives importance to the activation of peripheral neural structures
      during MI. 

PMID- 25830412
TI  - Cutaneous vasculitis and inflammatory bowel diseases.
AB  - Extraintestinal manifestations occur in up to 40% of patients living with
      inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and may precede the onset of gastrointestinal
      symptoms by many years. Vasculitides are considered rare cutaneous
      manifestations, but they often represent an important cause of morbidity and a
      relevant diagnostic issue in IBD. In addition, the increasing use of biological
      therapies for IBD may also play a pivotal role in the development of vascular
      disorders of different type. Hence, we provide a complete and in-depth review of
      the main features of cutaneous vasculitides observed in IBD, with a specific
      focus on their clinical presentation and possible pathophysiological mechanisms. 

PMID- 25830413
TI  - Oral infections: clinical and biological perspectives.

PMID- 25830414
TI  - Distinct cathepsins control necrotic cell death mediated by pyroptosis inducers
      and lysosome-destabilizing agents.
AB  - Necrotic cell death triggers a range of biological responses including a strong
      adaptive immune response, yet we know little about the cellular pathways that
      control necrotic cell death. Inhibitor studies suggest that proteases, and in
      particular cathepsins, drive necrotic cell death. The cathepsin B-selective
      inhibitor CA-074-Me blocks all forms of programmed necrosis by an unknown
      mechanism. We found that cathepsin B deficiency does not prevent induction of
      pyroptosis and lysosome-mediated necrosis suggesting that CA-074-Me blocks
      necrotic cell death by targeting cathepsins other than cathepsin B. A single
      cathepsin, cathepsin C, drives necrotic cell death mediated by the lysosome
      destabilizing agent Leu-Leu-OMe (LLOMe). Here we present evidence that cathepsin
      C-deficiency and CA-074-Me block LLOMe killing in a distinct and cell type
      specific fashion. Cathepsin C-deficiency and CA-074-Me block LLOMe killing of all
      myeloid cells, except for neutrophils. Cathepsin C-deficiency, but not CA-074-Me,
      blocks LLOMe killing of neutrophils suggesting that CA-074-Me does not target
      cathepsin C directly, consistent with inhibitor studies using recombinant
      cathepsin C. Unlike other cathepsins, cathepsin C lacks endoproteolytic activity,
      and requires activation by other lysosomal proteases, such as cathepsin D.
      Consistent with this theory, we found that lysosomotropic agents and cathepsin D
      downregulation by siRNA block LLOMe-mediated necrosis. Our findings indicate that
      a proteolytic cascade, involving cathepsins C and D, controls LLOMe-mediated
      necrosis. In contrast, cathepsins C and D were not required for pyroptotic cell
      death suggesting that distinct cathepsins control pyroptosis and lysosome
      mediated necrosis. 

PMID- 25830415
TI  - Tctex1d2 associates with short-rib polydactyly syndrome proteins and is required
      for ciliogenesis.
AB  - Short-rib polydactyly syndromes (SRPS) arise from mutations in genes involved in
      retrograde intraflagellar transport (IFT) and basal body homeostasis, which are
      critical for cilia assembly and function. Recently, mutations in WDR34 or WDR60
      (candidate dynein intermediate chains) were identified in SRPS. We have
      identified and characterized Tctex1d2, which associates with Wdr34, Wdr60 and
      other dynein complex 1 and 2 subunits. Tctex1d2 and Wdr60 localize to the base of
      the cilium and their depletion causes defects in ciliogenesis. We propose that
      Tctex1d2 is a novel dynein light chain important for trafficking to the cilium
      and potentially retrograde IFT and is a new molecular link to understanding SRPS
      pathology. 

PMID- 25830416
TI  - The effect of cluster size variability on statistical power in cluster-randomized
      trials.
AB  - The frequency of cluster-randomized trials (CRTs) in peer-reviewed literature has
      increased exponentially over the past two decades. CRTs are a valuable tool for
      studying interventions that cannot be effectively implemented or randomized at
      the individual level. However, some aspects of the design and analysis of data
      from CRTs are more complex than those for individually randomized controlled
      trials. One of the key components to designing a successful CRT is calculating
      the proper sample size (i.e. number of clusters) needed to attain an acceptable
      level of statistical power. In order to do this, a researcher must make
      assumptions about the value of several variables, including a fixed mean cluster
      size. In practice, cluster size can often vary dramatically. Few studies account
      for the effect of cluster size variation when assessing the statistical power for
      a given trial. We conducted a simulation study to investigate how the statistical
      power of CRTs changes with variable cluster sizes. In general, we observed that
      increases in cluster size variability lead to a decrease in power. 

PMID- 25830418
TI  - Simplified process for preparation of schizophyllan solutions for biomaterial
      applications.
AB  - Schizophyllan is a biopolymer commercially produced for pharmaceutical and
      cosmetics uses. However, schizophyllan also has potential biomaterial
      applications. Schizophyllan is conventionally produced from glucose and recovered
      by diafiltration and ultrafiltration to produce a highly purified product. Here
      we demonstrate a simplified process for preparation of schizophyllan solutions
      for biomaterial applications. Schizophyllan was produced in 1.5-L bioreactors
      from distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS), an abundant coproduct of dry
      grind fuel ethanol production. Downstream processing eliminated filtration and
      concentration steps, providing solutions containing 4.2 +/- 0.3 g
      schizophyllan/L. Solutions contained high-molecular-weight schizophyllan and
      exhibited viscosity properties similar to those of commercial schizophyllan.
      Schizophyllan solutions showed promise as a component of biolubricants in
      friction and wear tests and by dynamic surface and interfacial tension
      measurements.

PMID- 25830417
TI  - Recent developments in imaging of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
AB  - Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) are very rare, accounting for 1-2% of
      all pancreatic neoplasms. They are classified into functioning and non
      functioning and their behavior varies widely from benign to highly malignant. For
      their investigation, a variety of anatomical and functional imaging methods are
      available. Anatomical methods include computed tomography (CT), magnetic
      resonance imaging, and ultrasonography. Functional methods include scintigraphy
      and positron emission tomography (PET). A combination of anatomical and
      morphological methods results in the so-called hybrid imaging, such as PET/CT. We
      herein discuss the currently available imaging modalities for the investigation
      of PNETs and, more specifically, their applications in tumor detection and
      staging as well as in choice of therapy, imaging follow up and prediction of
      response, with emphasis on the recent developments.

PMID- 25830419
TI  - Lessons from the East--China's rapidly evolving health care system.

PMID- 25830420
TI  - Informed consent and the First Amendment.

PMID- 25830421
TI  - Antibiotic treatment strategies for community-acquired pneumonia in adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The choice of empirical antibiotic treatment for patients with
      clinically suspected community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) who are admitted to non
      intensive care unit (ICU) hospital wards is complicated by the limited
      availability of evidence. We compared strategies of empirical treatment (allowing
      deviations for medical reasons) with beta-lactam monotherapy, beta-lactam
      macrolide combination therapy, or fluoroquinolone monotherapy. METHODS: In a
      cluster-randomized, crossover trial with strategies rotated in 4-month periods,
      we tested the noninferiority of the beta-lactam strategy to the beta-lactam
      macrolide and fluoroquinolone strategies with respect to 90-day mortality, in an
      intention-to-treat analysis, using a noninferiority margin of 3 percentage points
      and a two-sided 90% confidence interval. RESULTS: A total of 656 patients were
      included during the beta-lactam strategy periods, 739 during the beta-lactam
      macrolide strategy periods, and 888 during the fluoroquinolone strategy periods,
      with rates of adherence to the strategy of 93.0%, 88.0%, and 92.7%, respectively.
      The median age of the patients was 70 years. The crude 90-day mortality was 9.0%
      (59 patients), 11.1% (82 patients), and 8.8% (78 patients), respectively, during
      these strategy periods. In the intention-to-treat analysis, the risk of death was
      higher by 1.9 percentage points (90% confidence interval [CI], -0.6 to 4.4) with
      the beta-lactam-macrolide strategy than with the beta-lactam strategy and lower
      by 0.6 percentage points (90% CI, -2.8 to 1.9) with the fluoroquinolone strategy
      than with the beta-lactam strategy. These results indicated noninferiority of the
      beta-lactam strategy. The median length of hospital stay was 6 days for all
      strategies, and the median time to starting oral treatment was 3 days
      (interquartile range, 0 to 4) with the fluoroquinolone strategy and 4 days
      (interquartile range, 3 to 5) with the other strategies. CONCLUSIONS: Among
      patients with clinically suspected CAP admitted to non-ICU wards, a strategy of
      preferred empirical treatment with beta-lactam monotherapy was noninferior to
      strategies with a beta-lactam-macrolide combination or fluoroquinolone
      monotherapy with regard to 90-day mortality. (Funded by the Netherlands
      Organization for Health Research and Development; CAP-START ClinicalTrials.gov
      number, NCT01660204.).

PMID- 25830423
TI  - Demographic and epidemiologic drivers of global cardiovascular mortality.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Global deaths from cardiovascular disease are increasing as a result
      of population growth, the aging of populations, and epidemiologic changes in
      disease. Disentangling the effects of these three drivers on trends in mortality
      is important for planning the future of the health care system and benchmarking
      progress toward the reduction of cardiovascular disease. METHODS: We used
      mortality data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013, which includes data
      on 188 countries grouped into 21 world regions. We developed three counterfactual
      scenarios to represent the principal drivers of change in cardiovascular deaths
      (population growth alone, population growth and aging, and epidemiologic changes
      in disease) from 1990 to 2013. Secular trends and correlations with changes in
      national income were examined. RESULTS: Global deaths from cardiovascular disease
      increased by 41% between 1990 and 2013 despite a 39% decrease in age-specific
      death rates; this increase was driven by a 55% increase in mortality due to the
      aging of populations and a 25% increase due to population growth. The relative
      contributions of these drivers varied by region; only in Central Europe and
      Western Europe did the annual number of deaths from cardiovascular disease
      actually decline. Change in gross domestic product per capita was correlated with
      change in age-specific death rates only among upper-middle income countries, and
      this correlation was weak; there was no significant correlation elsewhere.
      CONCLUSIONS: The aging and growth of the population resulted in an increase in
      global cardiovascular deaths between 1990 and 2013, despite a decrease in age
      specific death rates in most regions. Only Central and Western Europe had gains
      in cardiovascular health that were sufficient to offset these demographic forces.
      (Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others.).

PMID- 25830424
TI  - Clinical practice. Emergency contraception.

PMID- 25830422
TI  - A randomized trial of laparoscopic versus open surgery for rectal cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic resection of colorectal cancer is widely used. However,
      robust evidence to conclude that laparoscopic surgery and open surgery have
      similar outcomes in rectal cancer is lacking. A trial was designed to compare 3
      year rates of cancer recurrence in the pelvic or perineal area (locoregional
      recurrence) and survival after laparoscopic and open resection of rectal cancer.
      METHODS: In this international trial conducted in 30 hospitals, we randomly
      assigned patients with a solitary adenocarcinoma of the rectum within 15 cm of
      the anal verge, not invading adjacent tissues, and without distant metastases to
      undergo either laparoscopic or open surgery in a 2:1 ratio. The primary end point
      was locoregional recurrence 3 years after the index surgery. Secondary end points
      included disease-free and overall survival. RESULTS: A total of 1044 patients
      were included (699 in the laparoscopic-surgery group and 345 in the open-surgery
      group). At 3 years, the locoregional recurrence rate was 5.0% in the two groups
      (difference, 0 percentage points; 90% confidence interval [CI], -2.6 to 2.6).
      Disease-free survival rates were 74.8% in the laparoscopic-surgery group and
      70.8% in the open-surgery group (difference, 4.0 percentage points; 95% CI, -1.9
      to 9.9). Overall survival rates were 86.7% in the laparoscopic-surgery group and
      83.6% in the open-surgery group (difference, 3.1 percentage points; 95% CI, -1.6
      to 7.8). CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic surgery in patients with rectal cancer was
      associated with rates of locoregional recurrence and disease-free and overall
      survival similar to those for open surgery. (Funded by Ethicon Endo-Surgery
      Europe and others; COLOR II ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00297791.).

PMID- 25830425
TI  - Molecular physiology of water balance.

PMID- 25830426
TI  - Images in clinical medicine. Peritoneal loose body.

PMID- 25830427
TI  - Clinical problem-solving. A history lesson.

PMID- 25830428
TI  - Adipocytes armed against Staphylococcus aureus.

PMID- 25830429
TI  - Duration of dual antiplatelet therapy after drug-eluting stents.

PMID- 25830430
TI  - Duration of dual antiplatelet therapy after drug-eluting stents.

PMID- 25830431
TI  - Duration of dual antiplatelet therapy after drug-eluting stents.

PMID- 25830432
TI  - Duration of dual antiplatelet therapy after drug-eluting stents.

PMID- 25830433
TI  - Duration of dual antiplatelet therapy after drug-eluting stents.

PMID- 25830434
TI  - Duration of dual antiplatelet therapy after drug-eluting stents.

PMID- 25830435
TI  - Multiple-system atrophy.

PMID- 25830436
TI  - Multiple-system atrophy.

PMID- 25830437
TI  - Multiple-system atrophy.

PMID- 25830438
TI  - Multiple-system atrophy.

PMID- 25830439
TI  - Severe Ebola virus infection complicated by gram-negative septicemia.

PMID- 25830440
TI  - Severe Ebola virus infection complicated by gram-negative septicemia.

PMID- 25830441
TI  - A case of iced-tea nephropathy.

PMID- 25830442
TI  - Images in clinical medicine. Transdiaphragmatic intercostal herniation of the
      gallbladder.

PMID- 25830443
TI  - Physical Activity Enjoyment, Perceived Barriers, and Beliefs Among Adolescents
      With and Without Intellectual Disabilities.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Youths with intellectual disabilities (ID) exhibit low levels of
      physical activity, but the underlying contributors to behavior are unclear. We
      compared physical activity enjoyment, perceived barriers, beliefs, and self
      efficacy among adolescents with ID and typically developing (TD) adolescents.
      METHODS: A questionnaire was administered to 38 adolescents with ID (mean age,
      16.8 years) and 60 TD adolescents (mean age, 15.3 years). Of the original 33
      questionnaire items, 23 met the test-retest reliability criteria and were
      included in the group comparisons. RESULTS: Fewer adolescents with ID reported
      that they have someone with whom to do physical activity (64% vs 93%: P < .001),
      and a greater percentage of adolescents with ID perceived that physical
      activities were too hard to learn (41% vs 0%; P < .001). Fewer adolescents with
      ID believed that physical activity would be good for their health (92% vs 100%; P
      = .05). More adolescents with ID reported a dislike of individual physical
      activities (P = .02). A large percentage of adolescents with ID (84%) responded
      that they were good at doing physical activities, but the difference between
      groups was only of borderline significance (95% of TD adolescents, P = .06).
      CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents shared many of the same perceptions about physical
      activity, but some important differences between groups were identified.

PMID- 25830445
TI  - Effectiveness evaluation of existing noise controls in a deep shaft underground
      mine.
AB  - Noise exposures and hearing loss in the mining industry continue to be a major
      problem, despite advances in noise control technologies. This study evaluated the
      effectiveness of engineering, administrative, and personal noise controls using
      both traditional and in-ear dosimetry by job task, work shift, and five types of
      earplug. The noise exposures of 22 miners performing deep shaft-sinking tasks
      were evaluated during 56 rotating shifts in an underground mine. Miners were
      earplug-insertion trained, earplug fit-tested, and monitored utilizing
      traditional and in-ear dosimetry. The mean TWA8 noise exposure via traditional
      dosimetry was 90.1 +/- 8.2 dBA, while the mean in-ear TWA8 was 79.6 +/- 13.8 dBA.
      The latter was significantly lower (p < 0.05) than the Mine Safety and Health
      Administration (MSHA) personal exposure limit (PEL) of 90 dBA. Dosimetry mean
      TWA8 noise exposures for bench blowing (103.5 +/- 0.9 dBA), jumbo drill operation
      (103.0 +/- 0.8 dBA), and mucking tasks (99.6 +/- 4.7 dBA) were significantly
      higher (p < 0.05) than other tasks. For bench blowing, cable pulling, grinding,
      and jumbo drill operation tasks, the mean in-ear TWA8 was greater than 85 dBA.
      Those working swing shift had a significantly higher (p < 0.001) mean TWA8 noise
      exposure (95.4 +/- 7.3 dBA) than those working day shift. For percent difference
      between traditional vs. in-ear dosimetry, there was no significant difference
      among types of earplug used. Reflective of occupational hearing loss rate trends
      across the mining industry, this study found that, despite existing engineering
      and administrative controls, noise exposure levels exceeded regulatory limits,
      while the addition of personal hearing protection limited excessive exposures. 

PMID- 25830444
TI  - 'Preconditioning' with low dose lipopolysaccharide aggravates the organ injury /
      dysfunction caused by hemorrhagic shock in rats.
AB  - METHODS: Male rats were 'pretreated' with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS; i.p.)
      or LPS (1 mg/kg; i.p.) 24 h prior to HS. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was
      maintained at 30 +/- 2 mmHg for 90 min or until 25% of the shed blood had to be
      re-injected to sustain MAP. This was followed by resuscitation with the remaining
      shed blood. Four hours after resuscitation, parameters of organ dysfunction and
      systemic inflammation were assessed. RESULTS: HS resulted in renal dysfunction,
      and liver and muscular injury. At a first glance, LPS preconditioning attenuated
      organ dysfunction. However, we discovered that HS-rats that had been
      preconditioned with LPS (a) were not able to sustain a MAP at 30 mmHg for more
      than 50 min and (b) the volume of blood withdrawn in these animals was
      significantly less than in the PBS-control group. This effect was associated with
      an enhanced formation of the nitric oxide (NO) derived from inducible NO synthase
      (iNOS). Thus, a further control group in which all animals were resuscitated
      after 50 min of hemorrhage was performed. Then, LPS preconditioning aggravated
      both circulatory failure and organ dysfunction. Most notably, HS-rats pretreated
      with LPS exhibited a dramatic increase in NF-kappaB activation and pro
      inflammatory cytokines. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, LPS preconditioning
      predisposed animals to an earlier vascular decompensation, which may be mediated
      by an excess of NO production secondary to induction of iNOS and activation of NF
      kappaB. Moreover, LPS preconditioning increased the formation of pro-inflammatory
      cytokines, which is likely to have contributed to the observed aggravation of
      organ injury/dysfunction caused by HS.

PMID- 25830447
TI  - Cultural background and barriers to mental health care for African American
      adults.

PMID- 25830446
TI  - The RAISE early treatment program for first-episode psychosis: background,
      rationale, and study design.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The premise of the National Institute of Mental Health Recovery After
      an Initial Schizophrenia Episode Early Treatment Program (RAISE-ETP) is to
      combine state-of-the-art pharmacologic and psychosocial treatments delivered by a
      well-trained, multidisciplinary team in order to significantly improve the
      functional outcome and quality of life for first-episode psychosis patients. The
      study is being conducted in non-academic (ie, real-world) treatment settings,
      using primarily extant reimbursement mechanisms. METHOD: We developed a treatment
      model and training program based on extensive literature review and expert
      consultation. Our primary aim is to compare the experimental intervention to
      "usual care" on quality of life. Secondary aims include comparisons on remission,
      recovery, and cost-effectiveness. Patients 15-40 years old with a first episode
      of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, psychotic
      disorder not otherwise specified, or brief psychotic disorder according to DSM-IV
      and no more than 6 months of treatment with antipsychotic medications were
      eligible. Patients are followed for a minimum of 2 years, with major assessments
      conducted by blinded, centralized raters using live, 2-way video. We selected 34
      clinical sites in 21 states and utilized cluster randomization to assign 17 sites
      to the experimental treatment and 17 to usual care. Enrollment began in July 2010
      and ended in July 2012 with 404 subjects. The results of the trial will be
      published separately. The goal of the article is to present both the overall
      development of the intervention and the design of the clinical trial to evaluate
      its effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS: We believe that we have succeeded in both
      designing a multimodal treatment intervention that can be delivered in real-world
      clinical settings and implementing a controlled clinical trial that can provide
      the necessary outcome data to determine its impact on the trajectory of early
      phase schizophrenia. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier:
      NCT01321177.

PMID- 25830448
TI  - Impulsive versus planned suicide attempts: different phenotypes?

PMID- 25830449
TI  - Prevalence and correlates of past 12-month suicide attempt among adults with past
      year suicidal ideation in the United States.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence and correlates of attempting suicide in the
      past 12 months among adults with past-year suicidal ideation in the United
      States. METHOD: Data were from 229,600 persons aged 18 years or older who
      participated in the 2008-2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Among them,
      12,300 reported having past-year suicidal ideation, and over 2,000 of those
      reported attempting suicide within the past 12 months prior to survey interview.
      Descriptive analyses and pooled and stratified (by suicide plan and major
      depressive episode [MDE]) multivariate logistic regression models were applied.
      Major depressive episode was based on assessments of individual diagnostic
      criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth
      Edition (DSM-IV). RESULTS: Among persons aged 18 years or older in the United
      States, 3.8% reported having suicidal ideation in the past 12 months. Among past
      year suicidal ideators, 13.2% attempted suicide in the past 12 months. The
      prevalence of past 12-month suicide attempt among past-year ideators with MDE was
      higher than among those without MDE (14.1% vs 12.0%). Past 12-month suicide
      attempt was more common among ideators with a suicide plan than among ideators
      without a plan (37.0% vs 3.7%). However, the prevalence of suicide attempt was
      higher among ideators with a plan but without MDE than among ideators with a plan
      and MDE (42.1% vs 32.9%). Compared with ideators without a plan, ideators with a
      plan had a higher (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.2; 95% confidence interval [CI],
      1.47-3.45) suicide attempt risk among those without MDE (AOR = 22.4; 95% CI,16.55
      30.27) than among those with MDE (AOR = 10.7; 95% CI, 7.91-14.49). CONCLUSIONS:
      Among adult suicidal ideators, factors associated with their progression from
      ideation to suicide attempt may vary by their suicide plan and major depression
      status. Focusing attention on high-risk subgroups may be warranted.

PMID- 25830450
TI  - Insight into mental disorders and suicidal behavior: a qualitative and
      quantitative multimodal investigation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between insight into mental disorders
      and suicidal behavior. DATA SOURCES: English and French MEDLINE databases up to
      January 2014 were searched using suicide combined with awareness, consciousness,
      insight and anosognosia, unawareness, and awareness of illness. We also conducted
      a cross-sectional study comparing Mood Disorder Insight Scale (MDIS) and 24-item
      Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-24), item 17, performance between 22
      depressed (DSM-IV-TR criteria) suicide attempters and 22 patient controls. STUDY
      SELECTION: Study selection was based on the STROBE checklist. Selected studies
      were published in an English- or French-language peer-reviewed journal, included
      at least 1 measure of insight, and included patients with a history of suicidal
      behavior. Thirty-two studies were reviewed, of which 12 were longitudinal. DATA
      EXTRACTION: A review of the literature and meta-analysis of studies were
      conducted to compare insight in patients with versus those without a history of
      suicidal behavior. RESULTS: Most studies (25) were conducted in psychotic
      disorders. A small majority showed a positive association between 1 measure of
      insight and higher risk of suicidal ideas or acts in both psychotic and mood
      disorders. Our study found that suicide attempters, mostly female attempters,
      tended to have better insight into depression than patient controls according to
      the HDRS-24 (P = .06, effect size = 1.43 [95% CI, 0.77 to 2.09]) but not MDIS.
      Finally, a meta-analysis of 7 studies confirmed significantly better insight
      scores in suicide attempters, with a small effect size (Hedges g = -0.16 [95% CI,
      -0.3 to -0.03]). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, a significant but weak association was
      found between insight and the risk of suicidal behavior. We also raised
      methodological and conceptual concerns and discussed new measures (eg, test
      based).

PMID- 25830451
TI  - A role for profiles of patient-specific depression characteristics and
      socioeconomic factors in the prediction of antidepressant treatment outcome.

PMID- 25830452
TI  - Mr Jakubovski and Dr Bloch reply.

PMID- 25830453
TI  - Improving outcomes in patients with bipolar depression: a comprehensive review.
AB  - Only 3 medications are currently approved in the US for acute bipolar depression:
      2 atypical antipsychotics and a combination atypical antipsychotic-selective
      serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Metabolic, neurologic, and hormonal adverse events
      are associated with all of the atypical antipsychotics approved for this
      indication. However, these agents differ in their propensity to cause weight gain
      or other side effects that significantly impact a patient's physical health and
      ability to function, and the selection of medication-which may also include a
      mood stabilizer-as well as other forms of treatment, will affect the outcome. It
      is important to design treatment based on individual needs. Evidence suggests
      that the collaborative care model, which incorporates individualized systematic
      treatment, may be more appropriate for the management of bipolar depression than
      the acute care model. 

PMID- 25830454
TI  - The numbers needed to treat and harm (NNT, NNH) statistics: what they tell us and
      what they do not.
AB  - Research papers and research summaries frequently present information in the form
      of derived statistics such as the number needed to treat (NNT) and the number
      needed to harm (NNH). These statistics are not always correctly understood by the
      reader. This article explains what NNT and NNH mean; presents a simple,
      nontechnical explanation for the calculation of the NNT; addresses the
      interpretation of the NNT; considers applications of the NNT; and discusses the
      limitations of this statistic. The NNH is also briefly considered. 

PMID- 25830455
TI  - Time trends in incidence rates of diagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity
      disorder across 16 years in a nationwide Danish registry study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate time trends in incidence rates of first-time diagnosed
      attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a nationwide sample aged 4-65
      years across 16 years and identify potential contributing factors to these time
      trends. METHOD: Incidence rates of first-time diagnosed ADHD based on ICD-10
      criteria in Danish psychiatric hospitals per 100,000 person years (PY) were
      calculated for the total population, the 2 sexes, and 4 age groups using data
      from the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Registry and annual census data.
      Time trends and the role of contributing factors were analyzed and identified
      using joinpoint regression procedures by calculating annual percent changes for
      the time period 1995-2010. RESULTS: A total of 20,281 patients were diagnosed
      with ADHD and incidence rates increased from 7.3 to 91.2 per 100,000 PY during
      the study period. Joinpoint analysis suggested that incidence rates for diagnosed
      ADHD rapidly increased from 1998 to 2002, peaked from 2002 to 2008, and slowed
      down from 2008 to 2010. Contributing factors to the observed time trends were a
      general increase in patients seen in psychiatry for any mental disorder and an
      increased awareness and recognition of ADHD in females, adolescents, and adults.
      CONCLUSIONS: These results provide empirical data needed in the public and
      professional debate often based on theoretical rather than empirical arguments.
      Results support the notion of increasing incidence rates of diagnosed ADHD and
      identify that contributing factors are a general increase in the number of
      patients assessed in psychiatry and an increased recognition of females,
      adolescents, and adults with ADHD.

PMID- 25830457
TI  - Mixed features in patients with a major depressive episode: the BRIDGE-II-MIX
      study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To estimate the frequency of mixed states in patients diagnosed with
      major depressive episode (MDE) according to conceptually different definitions
      and to compare their clinical validity. METHOD: This multicenter, multinational
      cross-sectional Bipolar Disorders: Improving Diagnosis, Guidance and Education
      (BRIDGE)-II-MIX study enrolled 2,811 adult patients experiencing an MDE. Data
      were collected per protocol on sociodemographic variables, current and past
      psychiatric symptoms, and clinical variables that are risk factors for bipolar
      disorder. The frequency of mixed features was determined by applying both DSM-5
      criteria and a priori described Research-Based Diagnostic Criteria (RBDC).
      Clinical variables associated with mixed features were assessed using logistic
      regression. RESULTS: Overall, 212 patients (7.5%) fulfilled DSM-5 criteria for
      MDE with mixed features (DSM-5-MXS), and 818 patients (29.1%) fulfilled
      diagnostic criteria for a predefined RBDC depressive mixed state (RBDC-MXS). The
      most frequent manic/hypomanic symptoms were irritable mood (32.6%),
      emotional/mood lability (29.8%), distractibility (24.4%), psychomotor agitation
      (16.1%), impulsivity (14.5%), aggression (14.2%), racing thoughts (11.8%), and
      pressure to keep talking (11.4%). Euphoria (4.6%), grandiosity (3.7%), and
      hypersexuality (2.6%) were less represented. In multivariate logistic regression
      analysis, RBDC-MXS was associated with the largest number of variables including
      diagnosis of bipolar disorder, family history of mania, lifetime suicide
      attempts, duration of the current episode > 1 month, atypical features, early
      onset, history of antidepressant-induced mania/hypomania, and lifetime
      comorbidity with anxiety, alcohol and substance use disorders, attention
      deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and borderline personality disorder. CONCLUSIONS:
      Depressive mixed state, defined as the presence of 3 or more manic/hypomanic
      features, was present in around one-third of patients experiencing an MDE. The
      valid symptom, illness course and family history RBDC criteria we assessed
      identified 4 times more MDE patients as having mixed features and yielded
      statistically more robust associations with several illness characteristics of
      bipolar disorder than did DSM-5 criteria.

PMID- 25830456
TI  - Assessing cognitive function in bipolar disorder: challenges and recommendations
      for clinical trial design.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Neurocognitive impairment in schizophrenia has been recognized for
      more than a century. In contrast, only recently have significant neurocognitive
      deficits been recognized in bipolar disorder. Converging data suggest the
      importance of cognitive problems in relation to quality of life in bipolar
      disorder, highlighting the need for treatment and prevention efforts targeting
      cognition in bipolar patients. Future treatment trials targeting cognitive
      deficits will be met with methodological challenges due to the inherent
      complexity and heterogeneity of the disorder, including significant diagnostic
      comorbidities, the episodic nature of the illness, frequent use of polypharmacy,
      cognitive heterogeneity, and a lack of consensus regarding measurement of
      cognition and outcome in bipolar patients. Guidelines for use in designing future
      trials are needed. PARTICIPANTS: The members of the consensus panel (each of the
      bylined authors) were selected based upon their expertise in bipolar disorder. Dr
      Burdick is a neuropsychologist who has studied cognition in this illness for 15
      years; Drs Ketter, Calabrese, and Goldberg each bring considerable expertise in
      the treatment of bipolar disorder, both within and outside of controlled clinical
      trials. This consensus statement was derived from work together at scientific
      meetings (eg, symposium presentation at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American
      Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology, among others) and ongoing discussions by
      conference call. With the exception of the public presentations on this topic,
      these meetings were closed to outside participants. EVIDENCE: A literature review
      was undertaken by the authors to identify illness-specific challenges relevant to
      the design and conduct of treatment trials targeting neurocognition in bipolar
      disorder. Expert opinion from each of the authors guided the consensus
      recommendations. CONSENSUS PROCESS: Consensus recommendations, reached by
      unanimous opinion of the authors, are provided here as a preliminary guide for
      future trial design. Recommendations comprise exclusion of certain syndromal
      level comorbid diagnoses and current affective instability, restrictions on
      numbers and types of medications, and use of prescreening assessment to ensure
      enrollment of subjects with adequate objective evidence of baseline cognitive
      impairment. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical trials to address cognitive deficits in bipolar
      disorder face distinctive design challenges. As such trials move from proof-of
      concept to confirmation of clinical efficacy, it will be important to incorporate
      distinctive design modifications to adequately address these challenges and
      increase the likelihood of demonstrating cognitive remediation effects. The field
      is now primed to address these challenges, and a comprehensive effort to
      formalize best practice guidelines will be a critically important next step.

PMID- 25830458
TI  - Thinking about dying and trying and intending to die: results on suicidal
      behavior from a large Web-based sample.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Suicide is an important worldwide public health problem. The aim of
      this study was to characterize risk factors of suicidal behavior using a large
      Web-based sample. METHOD: The data were collected by the Brazilian Internet Study
      on Temperament and Psychopathology (BRAINSTEP) from November 2010 to July 2011.
      Suicidal behavior was assessed by an instrument based on the Suicidal Behaviors
      Questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 48,569 volunteers (25.9% men) with a
      mean +/- SD age of 30.7 +/- 10.1 years. RESULTS: More than 60% of the sample
      reported having had at least a passing thought of killing themselves, and 6.8% of
      subjects had previously attempted suicide (64% unplanned). The demographic
      features with the highest risk of attempting suicide were female gender (OR =
      1.82, 95% CI = 1.65 to 2.00); elementary school as highest education level
      completed (OR = 2.84, 95% CI = 2.48 to 3.25); being unable to work (OR = 5.32,
      95% CI = 4.15 to 6.81); having no religion (OR = 2.08, 95% CI = 1.90 to 2.29);
      and, only for female participants, being married (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.08 to
      1.32) or divorced (OR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.41 to 1.96). A family history of a
      suicide attempt and of a completed suicide showed the same increment in the risk
      of suicidal behavior. The higher the number of suicide attempts, the higher was
      the real intention to die (P < .05). Those who really wanted to die reported more
      emptiness/loneliness (OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.35 to 1.85), disconnection (OR =
      1.54, 95% CI = 1.30 to 1.81), and hopelessness (OR = 1.74, 95% CI = 1.49 to
      2.03), but their methods were not different from the methods of those who did not
      mean to die. CONCLUSIONS: This large Web survey confirmed results from previous
      studies on suicidal behavior and pointed out the relevance of the number of
      previous suicide attempts and of a positive family history, even for a
      noncompleted suicide, as important risk factors.

PMID- 25830459
TI  - Does indication drive use, or does use drive indication?

PMID- 25830461
TI  - Suicide in men.

PMID- 25830460
TI  - Cariprazine in bipolar disorders.

PMID- 25830462
TI  - Naturally occurring low-dose lithium in drinking water.

PMID- 25830463
TI  - Cognitive dysfunction in psychiatric illness: a neglected domain.

PMID- 25830464
TI  - Mixed depression: a farewell to differential diagnosis?

PMID- 25830465
TI  - "Mixed" depression: drawbacks of DSM-5 (and other) polythetic diagnostic
      criteria.

PMID- 25830466
TI  - Suicidology meets "Big Data".

PMID- 25830467
TI  - Culturally competent approaches to assessing ADHD in African American adults and
      overcoming cultural issues with patients and families.
AB  - To better diagnose and treat African American patients with ADHD, clinicians
      should consider the mental health field from a cultural and historical
      perspective. This perspective can aid clinicians in assessing patients'
      culturally informed resistance or ambivalence toward ADHD treatment and in
      adopting strategies for communicating with patients about their diagnosis and
      treatment. Clinicians must learn to recognize and manage their own biases as well
      as their patients' biases. Using a culturally competent approach is critical to
      assessing ADHD in African American adults and overcoming cultural issues with
      patients and their families.

PMID- 25830468
TI  - Identifying and addressing unmet therapeutic needs in MS.
AB  - Current disease-modifying treatments in multiple sclerosis (MS) are partially
      effective in reducing relapses and slowing disease progression, but these
      treatments do not restore function and are effective mainly in relapsing forms of
      MS. Unmet needs in MS include treatments for progressive forms of MS, agents with
      improved efficacy and safety profiles and that comprehensively manage MS
      symptoms, and medications with neuroprotective or remyelinating properties. Some
      adverse effects of disease-modifying agents could be reduced if medications are
      developed with more specific treatment targets, and research into the
      pathogenesis of MS may lead to agents that could restore myelin or protect nerves
      from inflammation.

PMID- 25830469
TI  - Effective communication strategies to help patients and caregivers cope with
      moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - As the number of people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) increases, clinicians must
      learn to educate patients and their caregivers about the communication problems
      associated with different stages of illness. Patients with AD will experience
      varying degrees of language impairments, concentration problems, and difficulty
      expressing themselves. Caregivers can learn to avoid common communication
      mistakes, such as correcting, reasoning with, and arguing with the person with
      AD. By equipping caregivers with strategies to aid verbal and nonverbal
      communication, clinicians can improve the interactions between patients with AD
      and their caregivers and lessen frustration on both sides. 

PMID- 25830470
TI  - Worldwide Status of Fresh Fruits Irradiation and Concerns about Quality, Safety,
      and Consumer Acceptance.
AB  - Development of knowledge-based food preservation techniques have been a major
      focus of researchers in providing safe and nutritious food. Food irradiation is
      one of the most thoroughly investigated food preservation techniques, which has
      been shown to be effective and safe through extensive research. This process
      involves exposing food to ionizing radiations in order to destroy microorganisms
      or insects that might be present on and/or in the food. In addition, the effects
      of irradiation on the enzymatic activity and improvement of functional properties
      in food have also been well established. In the present review, the potential of
      food irradiation technology to address major problems, such as short shelf life,
      high-initial microbial loads, insect pest management (quarantine treatment) in
      supply chain, and safe consumption of fresh fruits was described. With improved
      hygienic quality, other uses, such as delayed ripening and enhanced physical
      appearance by irradiation were also discussed. Available data showed that the
      irradiation of fruits at the optimum dose can be a safe and cost-effective
      method, resulting in enhanced shelf life and hygienic quality with the least
      amount of compromise on the various nutritional attributes, whereas the consumer
      acceptance of irradiated fruits is a matter of providing the proper scientific
      information. 

PMID- 25830471
TI  - Emissions and Cost Implications of Controlled Electric Vehicle Charging in the
      U.S. PJM Interconnection.
AB  - We develop a unit commitment and economic dispatch model to estimate the
      operation costs and the air emissions externality costs attributable to new
      electric vehicle electricity demand under controlled vs uncontrolled charging
      schemes. We focus our analysis on the PJM Interconnection and use scenarios that
      characterize (1) the most recent power plant fleet for which sufficient data are
      available, (2) a hypothetical 2018 power plant fleet that reflects upcoming plant
      retirements, and (3) the 2018 fleet with increased wind capacity. We find that
      controlled electric vehicle charging can reduce associated generation costs by
      23%-34% in part by shifting loads to lower-cost, higher-emitting coal plants.
      This shift results in increased externality costs of health and environmental
      damages from increased air pollution. On balance, we find that controlled
      charging of electric vehicles produces negative net social benefits in the recent
      PJM grid but could have positive net social benefits in a future grid with
      sufficient coal retirements and wind penetration. 

PMID- 25830472
TI  - Noninvasive biomarkers FibroTest and ActiTest versus liver biopsy in chronic
      hepatitis C patients: the Middle East experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare noninvasive biomarkers,
      FibroTest and ActiTest in predicting fibrosis stage and inflammation grade in
      chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients with liver biopsy (LB). METHODS: In 107
      patients with CHC, levels of six serum biomarkers (alanine aminotransferase,
      gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, total bilirubin, haptoglobin, apolipoprotein,
      alpha-2 macroglobulin) were determined at the time of LB. LB was evaluated by
      Metavir score for fibrosis and inflammation. Voluntary blood donors (n=106) were
      taken as controls for the study. RESULTS: Fibrosis estimated by Fibrotest was
      significantly higher in patients compared to control group. The observed area
      under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) for advanced fibrosis
      (F3, F4) adjusted according to the observed difference between advanced and non
      advanced fibrosis prevalence (DANA) was 0.80 (0.69-0.88) and the AUROC for
      cirrhosis (F4) was 0.94 (0.86-0.98). ActiTest AUROC for moderate to severe
      activity (A2A3) was 0.72 (0.61-0.81), and for severe activity (A3) was 0.88 (0.78
      0.93). The diagnostic values in the group of good quality biopsy (n=41) showed
      Fibrotest AUROC (DANA-adjusted): for advanced fibrosis 0.90 (0.72-0.99); for
      cirrhosis 0.93 (0.76-0.98); and ctiTest AUROC: for moderate/severe activity 0.86
      (0.67-0.94); and for severe activity 0.90 (0.76-0.93). There was good concordance
      between FibroTest and LB (with discordance for two or more stages in <20% for
      advanced fibrosis and <10% for cirrhosis) and between ActiTest and LB.
      Specificity for FibroTest and ActiTest in the control population were 95% and
      100% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Fibrotest and ActiTest had high observed and
      standardized diagnostic values for predicting fibrosis and activity respectively.

PMID- 25830473
TI  - Highly sensitive and selective microRNA detection based on DNA-bio-bar-code and
      enzyme-assisted strand cycle exponential signal amplification.
AB  - Herein, a highly sensitive and selective microRNA (miRNA) detection strategy
      using DNA-bio-bar-code amplification (BCA) and Nb.BbvCI nicking enzyme-assisted
      strand cycle for exponential signal amplification was designed. The DNA-BCA
      system contains a locked nucleic acid (LNA) modified DNA probe for improving
      hybridization efficiency, while a signal reported molecular beacon (MB) with an
      endonuclease recognition site was designed for strand cycle amplification. In the
      presence of target miRNA, the oligonucleotides functionalized magnetic nanoprobe
      (MNP-DNA) and gold nanoprobe (AuNP-DNA) with numerous reported probes (RP) can
      hybridize with target miRNA, respectively, to form a sandwich structure. After
      sandwich structures were separated from the solution by the magnetic field, the
      RP were released under high temperature to recognize the MB and cleaved the
      hairpin DNA to induce the dissociation of RP. The dissociated RP then triggered
      the next strand cycle to produce exponential fluorescent signal amplification for
      miRNA detection. Under optimized conditions, the exponential signal amplification
      system shows a good linear range of 6 orders of magnitude (from 0.3 pM to 3 aM)
      with limit of detection (LOD) down to 52.5 zM, while the sandwich structure
      renders the system with high selectivity. Meanwhile, the feasibility of the
      proposed strategy for cell miRNA detection was confirmed by analyzing miRNA-21 in
      HeLa lysates. Given the high-performance for miRNA analysis, the strategy has a
      promising application in biological detection and in clinical diagnosis. 

PMID- 25830475
TI  - Car Licensing Trends of the Babyboomer Cohort (b. 1946-1965) Compared to Earlier
      Birth Cohorts: Effects on the Driving Population in the State of Victoria,
      Australia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of this article was to explore trends in licensing among
      babyboomer older drivers in the state of Victoria, Australia. The study aims were
      to (1) compare the car licensing trends of the babyboomer cohort to that of
      previous birth cohorts and (2) predict the number of babyboomers licensed to
      drive a car in 2021 when the babyboomer cohort reaches an average age of 65
      years. METHODS: The residential population of Victoria, Australia, for 2001-2013
      was obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics; car licensing statistics
      were obtained from VicRoads. Birth cohorts from 1916 to 1975 were defined in 10
      year birth-year intervals. Population size was modeled using logistic regression.
      License prevalence was modeled using a logit model. RESULTS: The babyboomer
      cohort (1946-1965) in Victoria is 1.7 times larger than the cohort before them.
      At age 60 years, license prevalence among babyboomers was higher than in previous
      cohorts: 88% in the 1936-1945 cohort vs. 96% in the 1946-1955 cohort. When the
      babyboomers reach 65 years (average) in 2021, we estimate there to be over twice
      as many license holders among them than in the preceding cohort (n = 1,300,094
      vs. 630,830, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Aging of the babyboomer cohort will have
      a greater impact on the driving population than on the general population, due to
      the multiplicative effect of cohort size and license prevalence. The impact of
      road user aging on burden of injury can be minimized by focusing prevention at
      crashes typical to older drivers, such as intersection crashes, and promoting car
      safety features among older drivers.

PMID- 25830476
TI  - Method validation for automated isolation of viable peripheral blood mononuclear
      cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This article is part of a series of publications providing formal
      method validation for biospecimen processing in the context of accreditation in
      laboratories and biobanks. We report the optimization and validation for fitness
      for-purpose of automated and manual protocols for isolating peripheral blood
      mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from whole blood, and compare the two methods. METHODS:
      The manual method was optimized for whole blood centrifugation speed, gradient
      type (Ficoll, Leucosep, CPT), and freezing method (Mr Frosty, Controlled Rate
      Freezing). Various parameters of the automated protocol using a CPT gradient on a
      Tecan liquid handler were optimized. Optimal protocols were validated in parallel
      for reproducibility and robustness. Optimization and validation were assessed in
      terms of cell yield, viability, recovery, white blood cell (WBC) subpopulation
      distribution, gene expression, and lymphoblastoid cell line (LCL) transformation.
      RESULTS: An initial centrifugation of whole blood at 2000 g was considered
      optimal for further processing, allowing isolation of plasma and PBMCs from a
      single sample. The three gradients gave similar outcomes in terms of cell yield,
      viability, and WBC subpopulation distribution. Ficoll showed some advantages and
      was selected for further evaluations. Optimization of the automated protocol
      script using a CPT gradient gave 61% cell recovery. No significant differences in
      quality, quantity, and WBC subpopulation distribution were seen between the two
      freezing methods, and Mr. Frosty was selected. The manual and automated protocols
      were reproducible in terms of quantity, recovery, viability, WBC subpopulation
      distribution, gene expression, and LCL transformation. Most (75%-100%) of the 13
      robustness parameters were accepted for both methods with an 8 h pre
      centrifugation delay versus 38%-85% after 24 h. Differences identified between
      the automated and manual methods were not considered consequential. CONCLUSIONS:
      We validated the first fully automated method for isolating viable PBMCs,
      including RNA analysis and generation of LCLs. We recommend processing within 8 h
      of blood collection.

PMID- 25830474
TI  - Role of mannose-binding lectin deficiency in HIV-1 and schistosoma infections in
      a rural adult population in Zimbabwe.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Polymorphism in the MBL2 gene lead to MBL deficiency, which has been
      shown to increase susceptibility to various bacterial, viral and parasitic
      infections. We assessed role of MBL deficiency in HIV-1 and schistosoma
      infections in Zimbabwean adults enrolled in the Mupfure Schistosomiasis and HIV
      Cohort (MUSH Cohort). METHODS: HIV-1, S. haematobium and S. mansoni infections
      were determined at baseline. Plasma MBL concentration was measured by ELISA and
      MBL2 genotypes determined by PCR. We calculated and compared the proportions of
      plasma MBL deficiency, MBL2 structural variant alleles B (codon 54A>G), C (codon
      57A>G), and D (codon 52T>C) as well as MBL2 promoter variants -550(H/L), 
      221(X/Y) and +4(P/Q) between HIV-1 and schistosoma co-infection and control
      groups using Chi Square test. RESULTS: We assessed 379 adults, 80% females,
      median age (IQR) 30 (17-41) years. HIV-1, S. haematobium and S. mansoni
      prevalence were 26%, 43% and 18% respectively in the MUSH baseline survey. Median
      (IQR) plasma MBL concentration was 800MUg/L (192-1936MUg/L). Prevalence of plasma
      MBL deficiency was 18% with high frequency of the C (codon 57G>A) mutant allele
      (20%). There was no significant difference in median plasma MBL levels between
      HIV negative (912MUg/L) and HIV positive (688MUg/L), p = 0.066. However plasma
      MBL levels at the assay detection limit of 20MUg/L were more frequent among the
      HIV-1 infected (p = 0.007). S. haematobium and S. mansoni infected participants
      had significantly higher MBL levels than uninfected. All MBL2 variants were not
      associated with HIV-1 infection but promoter variants LY and LL were
      significantly associated with S. haematobium infection. CONCLUSION: Our data
      indicate high prevalence of MBL deficiency, no evidence of association between
      MBL deficiency and HIV-1 infection. However, lower plasma MBL levels were
      protective against both S. haematobium and S. mansoni infections and MBL2
      promoter and variants LY and LL increased susceptibility to S. haematobium
      infection.

PMID- 25830477
TI  - Polygenic Risk Score, Parental Socioeconomic Status, Family History of
      Psychiatric Disorders, and the Risk for Schizophrenia: A Danish Population-Based
      Study and Meta-analysis.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Schizophrenia has a complex etiology influenced both by genetic and
      nongenetic factors but disentangling these factors is difficult. OBJECTIVE: To
      estimate (1) how strongly the risk for schizophrenia relates to the mutual effect
      of the polygenic risk score, parental socioeconomic status, and family history of
      psychiatric disorders; (2) the fraction of cases that could be prevented if no
      one was exposed to these factors; (3) whether family background interacts with an
      individual's genetic liability so that specific subgroups are particularly risk
      prone; and (4) to what extent a proband's genetic makeup mediates the risk
      associated with familial background. DESIGN, SETTINGS, AND PARTICIPANTS: We
      conducted a nested case-control study based on Danish population-based registers.
      The study consisted of 866 patients diagnosed as having schizophrenia between
      January 1, 1994, and December 31, 2006, and 871 matched control individuals.
      Genome-wide data and family psychiatric and socioeconomic background information
      were obtained from neonatal biobanks and national registers. Results from a
      separate meta-analysis (34,600 cases and 45,968 control individuals) were applied
      to calculate polygenic risk scores. EXPOSURES: Polygenic risk scores, parental
      socioeconomic status, and family psychiatric history. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES:
      Odds ratios (ORs), attributable risks, liability R2 values, and proportions
      mediated. RESULTS: Schizophrenia was associated with the polygenic risk score
      (OR, 8.01; 95% CI, 4.53-14.16 for highest vs lowest decile), socioeconomic status
      (OR, 8.10; 95% CI, 3.24-20.3 for 6 vs no exposures), and a history of
      schizophrenia/psychoses (OR, 4.18; 95% CI, 2.57-6.79). The R2 values were 3.4%
      (95% CI, 2.1-4.6) for the polygenic risk score, 3.1% (95% CI, 1.9-4.3) for
      parental socioeconomic status, and 3.4% (95% CI, 2.1-4.6) for family history.
      Socioeconomic status and psychiatric history accounted for 45.8% (95% CI, 36.1
      55.5) and 25.8% (95% CI, 21.2-30.5) of cases, respectively. There was an
      interaction between the polygenic risk score and family history (P = .03). A
      total of 17.4% (95% CI, 9.1-26.6) of the effect associated with family history of
      schizophrenia/psychoses was mediated through the polygenic risk score.
      CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Schizophrenia was associated with the polygenic risk
      score, family psychiatric history, and socioeconomic status. Our study
      demonstrated that family history of schizophrenia/psychoses is partly mediated
      through the individual's genetic liability.

PMID- 25830478
TI  - Blunt Snout Bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) MyD88 and TRAF6: characterisation,
      comparative homology modelling and expression.
AB  - MyD88 and TRAF6 play an essential role in the innate immune response in most
      animals. This study reports the full-length MaMyD88 and MaTRAF6 genes identified
      from the blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) transcriptome profile.
      MaMyD88 is 2501 base pairs (bp) long, encoding a putative protein of 284 amino
      acids (aa), including the N-terminal DEATH domain of 78 aa and the C-terminal TIR
      domain of 138 aa. MaTRAF6 is 5474 bp long, encoding a putative protein of 542 aa,
      including the N-terminal low-complexity region, RING domain (40 aa), a coiled
      coil region (64 aa) and C-terminal MATH domain (147 aa). Coding regions of
      MaMyD88 and MaTRAF6 genomic sequences consisted of five and six exons,
      respectively. Physicochemical and functional characteristics of the proteins were
      analysed. Alpha helices were dominant in the secondary structure of the proteins.
      Homology models of the MaMyD88 and MaTRAF6 domains were constructed applying the
      comparative modelling method. RT-qPCR was used to analyse the expression of
      MaMyD88 and MaTRAF6 mRNA transcripts in response to Aeromonas hydrophila
      challenge. Both genes were highly upregulated in the liver, spleen and kidney
      during the first 24 h after the challenge. While MyD88 and TRAF6 have been
      reported in various aquatic species, this is the first report and
      characterisation of these genes in blunt snout bream. This research also provides
      evidence of the important roles of these two genes in the blunt snout bream
      innate immune system. 

PMID- 25830479
TI  - Identification and functional analysis of microRNAs and their targets in Platanus
      acerifolia under lead (Pb) stress.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important regulatory roles in development and stress
      responses in plants. Lead (Pb) is a non-essential element that is highly toxic to
      living organisms. Platanus acerifolia is grown as a street tree in cities
      throughout temperate regions for its importance in improving the urban ecological
      environment. MiRNAs that respond to abiotic stresses have been identified in
      plants; however, until now, the influence of Pb stress on P. acerifolia miRNAs
      has not been reported. To identify miRNAs and predict their target genes under Pb
      stress, two small RNA and two degradome libraries were constructed from Pb
      treated and Pb-free leaves of P. acerifolia seedlings. After sequencing, 55 known
      miRNAs and 129 novel miRNAs were obtained, and 104 target genes for the miRNAs
      were identified by degradome sequencing. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of
      Genes and Genomes pathway analyses were performed to predict the functions of the
      targets. The expressions of eight differentially expressed miRNAs were validated
      by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). This is the first
      report about P. acerifolia miRNAs and their target genes under Pb stress. This
      study has provided data for further research into molecular mechanisms involved
      in resistance of P. acerifolia to Pb stress. 

PMID- 25830480
TI  - MicroRNA-16 modulates HuR regulation of cyclin E1 in breast cancer cells.
AB  - RNA binding protein (RBPs) and microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are post
      transcriptional regulators of gene expression that are implicated in development
      of cancers. Although their individual roles have been studied, the crosstalk
      between RBPs and miRNAs is under intense investigation. Here, we show that in
      breast cancer cells, cyclin E1 upregulation by the RBP HuR is through specific
      binding to regions in the cyclin E1 mRNA 3' untranslated region (3'UTR)
      containing U-rich elements. Similarly, miR-16 represses cyclin E1, dependent on
      its cognate binding sites in the cyclin E1 3'UTR. Evidence in the literature
      indicates that HuR can regulate miRNA expression and recruit or dissociate RNA
      induced silencing complexes (RISC). Despite this, miR-16 and HuR do not affect
      the other's expression level or binding to the cyclin E1 3'UTR. While HuR
      overexpression partially blocks miR-16 repression of a reporter mRNA containing
      the cyclin E1 3'UTR, it does not block miR-16 repression of endogenous cyclin E1
      mRNA. In contrast, miR-16 blocks HuR-mediated upregulation of cyclin E1. Overall
      our results suggest that miR-16 can override HuR upregulation of cyclin E1
      without affecting HuR expression or association with the cyclin E1 mRNA. 

PMID- 25830481
TI  - Unfolding the unfolded protein response: unique insights into brain ischemia.
AB  - The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is responsible for processing of proteins that are
      destined to be secreted, enclosed in a vesicle, or incorporated in the plasma
      membrane. Nascent peptides that enter the ER undergo a series of highly regulated
      processing steps to reach maturation as they transit the ER. Alterations in the
      intracellular environment that induce ER stress are thought to interrupt these
      processing steps, and result in unfolding of proteins in the ER. Accumulation of
      unfolded proteins concurrently activates three transmembrane stress sensors,
      IRE1, ATF6 and PERK, and is referred to as the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR).
      Our understanding of the mechanisms of UPR induction has been assembled primarily
      from experiments inducing ER stress with chemical and genetic manipulations.
      However, physiological stress often induces activation of ER stress sensors in a
      distinct manner from the canonical UPR. The unique activation profiles in vivo
      have prompted us to examine the mechanism of UPR activation in neurons following
      cerebral ischemia. 

PMID- 25830482
TI  - Organocatalytic upgrading of furfural and 5-hydroxymethyl furfural to C10 and C12
      furoins with quantitative yield and atom-efficiency.
AB  - There is increasing interest in the upgrading of C5 furfural (FF) and C6 5
      hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) into C10 and C12 furoins as higher energy-density
      intermediates for renewable chemicals, materials, and biofuels. This work
      utilizes the organocatalytic approach, using the in situ generated N,S
      heterocyclic carbene catalyst derived from thiazolium ionic liquids (ILs), to
      achieve highly efficient self-coupling reactions of FF and HMF. Specifically,
      variations of the thiazolium IL structure have led to the most active and
      efficient catalyst system of the current series, which is derived from a new
      thiazolium IL carrying the electron-donating acetate group at the 5-ring
      position. For FF coupling by this IL (0.1 mol %, 60  degrees C, 1 h), when
      combined with Et3N, furoin was obtained in >99% yield. A 97% yield of the C12
      furoin was also achieved from the HMF coupling by this catalyst system (10 mol %
      loading, 120  degrees C, 3 h). On the other hand, the thiazolium IL bearing the
      electron-withdrawing group at the 5-ring position is the least active and
      efficient catalyst. The mechanistic aspects of the coupling reaction by the
      thiazolium catalyst system have also been examined and a mechanism has been
      proposed. 

PMID- 25830483
TI  - A double-edged sword: the role of VEGF in wound repair and chemoattraction of
      opportunist pathogens.
AB  - Wound healing is a complex process essential to repairing damaged tissues and
      preventing infection. Skin is the first line of defense, a chief physical barrier
      to microbe entry. Wound healing is a physical rebuilding process, but at the same
      time it is an inflammatory event. In turn, molecules for wound repair are
      secreted by fibroblasts and others present at the wound site. Vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a critical cytokine that exhibits
      chemoattractant properties, recruiting other immune cells to the site. Although
      generally beneficial, VEGF may also act as a chemoattractant for invading
      microorganisms, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. P. aeruginosa is problematic
      during wound infection due to its propensity to form biofilms and exhibit
      heightened antimicrobial resistance. Here, we explored the influence of VEGF
      gradients (in a microfluidic device wound model) on the motility and chemotactic
      properties of P. aeruginosa. At lower concentrations, VEGF had little effect on
      motility, but as the maximal concentration within the gradient increased, P.
      aeruginosa cells exhibited directed movement along the gradient. Our data provide
      evidence that while beneficial, VEGF, in excess, may aid colonization by P.
      aeruginosa. This highlights the necessity for the efficient resolution of
      inflammation. Understanding the dynamics of wound colonization may lead to
      new/enhanced therapeutics to hasten recovery. 

PMID- 25830484
TI  - Interaction of tRNA with eukaryotic ribosome.
AB  - This paper is a review of currently available data concerning interactions of
      tRNAs with the eukaryotic ribosome at various stages of translation. These data
      include the results obtained by means of cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray
      crystallography applied to various model ribosomal complexes, site-directed cross
      linking with the use of tRNA derivatives bearing chemically or photochemically
      reactive groups in the CCA-terminal fragment and chemical probing of 28S rRNA in
      the region of the peptidyl transferase center. Similarities and differences in
      the interactions of tRNAs with prokaryotic and eukaryotic ribosomes are discussed
      with concomitant consideration of the extent of resemblance between molecular
      mechanisms of translation in eukaryotes and bacteria. 

PMID- 25830486
TI  - Calcium Handling Abnormalities as a Target for Atrial Fibrillation Therapeutics:
      How Close to Clinical Implementation?
AB  - Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia with a substantial
      impact on morbidity and mortality. Antiarrhythmic drugs play a major role in
      rhythm-control therapy of AF. However, currently available agents exhibit limited
      efficacy and pronounced adverse effects, notably drug-induced proarrhythmia.
      Recent experimental studies have identified that Ca handling abnormalities are
      critical elements in AF pathophysiology with central roles in atrial ectopic
      activity, reentry, and atrial remodeling suggesting that Ca handling
      abnormalities could be promising targets for novel AF therapeutics. Here, we
      summarize key aspects of AF-related Ca-handling abnormalities, describe currently
      available compounds targeting atrial Ca handling, and highlight potential novel
      targets and experimental drugs currently under investigation. Finally, we assess
      how close AF therapeutics based on Ca-handling abnormalities are to clinical
      implementation. 

PMID- 25830485
TI  - Role of Calcium-activated Potassium Channels in Atrial Fibrillation
      Pathophysiology and Therapy.
AB  - Small-conductance Ca(2+)-activated potassium (SK) channels are relative newcomers
      within the field of cardiac electrophysiology. In recent years, an increased
      focus has been given to these channels because they might constitute a relatively
      atrial-selective target. This review will give a general introduction to SK
      channels followed by their proposed function in the heart under normal and
      pathophysiological conditions. It is revealed how antiarrhythmic effects can be
      obtained by SK channel inhibition in a number of species in situations of atrial
      fibrillation. On the contrary, the beneficial effects of SK channel inhibition in
      situations of heart failure are questionable and still needs investigation. The
      understanding of cardiac SK channels is rapidly increasing these years, and it is
      hoped that this will clarify whether SK channel inhibition has potential as a new
      anti-atrial fibrillation principle.

PMID- 25830488
TI  - SNAP-Tag-Reactive Lipid Anchors Enable Targeted and Spatiotemporally Controlled
      Localization of Proteins to Phospholipid Membranes.
AB  - The natural mechanisms that direct proteins to membranes are typically complex,
      requiring multiple steps and accessory components. It would be advantageous to
      develop simplified methods to direct proteins of interest to phospholipid
      membranes in a single step. Here we report a modular method for membrane
      localization of proteins by using chemically modified phospholipid anchors
      capable of covalent attachment to O(6)-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (SNAP
      tag) fusion proteins. To our knowledge, this is the first use of SNAP-tag
      reactions to modify benzylguanine-functionalized lipid membranes. We demonstrate
      that photocaged lipid precursors enable light-triggered spatial and temporal
      control over protein localization. The anchoring system is compatible with cell
      free expression, allowing for genetic targeting of proteins to lipid membranes of
      giant unilamellar vesicles. This technique can be used to control membrane
      curvature effects, similar to what has been previously observed with certain
      membrane-bound proteins. This work addresses a current need in synthetic biology
      for simplified and robust methods to control membrane localization of expressed
      proteins and shows promise as a general tool for protein targeting to lipid
      vesicles and cellular membranes. 

PMID- 25830490
TI  - (Electro)Sensing of Phenicol Antibiotics-A Review.
AB  - The presence of residues from frequent antibiotic use in animal feed can cause
      serious health risks by contaminating products meant for human consumption such
      as meat and milk. The present paper gives an overview of the electrochemical
      methods developed for the detection of phenicol antibiotic residues
      (chloramphenicol, thiamphenicol, and florfenicol) in different kinds of
      foodstuffs. Electrochemical sensors based on different biomolecules and
      nanomaterials are described. The detection limit of various developed methods
      with their advantages and disadvantages will be highlighted. 

PMID- 25830489
TI  - Immunogenicity and safety of the 10-valent pneumococcal nontypeable Haemophilus
      influenzae protein D conjugate vaccine (PHiD-CV) co-administered with DTPa
      vaccine in Japanese children: A randomized, controlled study.
AB  - This phase III, randomized, open-label, multicenter study (NCT01027845) conducted
      in Japan assessed the immunogenicity, safety, and reactogenicity of 10-valent
      pneumococcal nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae protein D conjugate vaccine (PHiD
      CV, given intramuscularly) co-administered with diphtheria-tetanus-acellular
      pertussis vaccine (DTPa, given subcutaneously). Infants (N=360 ) were randomized
      (2:1) to receive either PHiD-CV and DTPa (PHiD-CV group) or DTPa alone (control
      group) as 3-dose primary vaccination (3-4-5 months of age) and booster
      vaccination (17-19 months of age). Immune responses were measured before and one
      month after primary/booster vaccination and adverse events (AEs) were recorded.
      Post-primary immune responses were non-inferior to those in pivotal/efficacy
      European or Latin American pneumococcal protein D-conjugate vaccine studies. For
      each PHiD-CV serotype, at least 92.6% of infants post-primary vaccination and at
      least 97.7% of children post-booster had pneumococcal antibody concentrations
      >=0.2 MUg/ml, and at least 95.4% post-primary and at least 98.1% post-booster had
      opsonophagocytic activity (OPA) titers >=8 . Geometric mean antibody
      concentrations and OPA titers (except OPA titer for 6B) were higher post-booster
      than post-priming for each serotype. All PHiD-CV-vaccinated children had anti
      protein D antibody concentrations >=100 EL.U/ml one month post-primary/booster
      vaccination and all were seroprotected/seropositive against each DTPa antigen.
      Redness and irritability were the most common solicited AEs in both groups.
      Incidences of unsolicited AEs were comparable between groups. Serious AEs were
      reported for 47 children (28 in PHiD-CV group); none were assessed as vaccine
      related. In conclusion, PHiD-CV induced robust immune responses and was well
      tolerated when co-administered with DTPa in a 3-dose priming plus booster regimen
      to Japanese children. 

PMID- 25830492
TI  - Brain activity and the perception of self-agency while viewing a video of hand
      grasping: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.
AB  - Self-agency is the recognition of one's own movement and plays a vital role in
      purposeful, voluntary movement. A sense of self-agency can be elicited in
      individuals who view their own simple finger movements as they are projected onto
      a screen and aligned with their actual hand position. Here, we examined whether
      individuals perceived self-agency when they viewed a video of a hand grasping a
      wooden cylinder and whether the perception of self-agency correlated with
      simultaneous changes in oxy-hemoglobin in the parietal or the prefrontal cortical
      areas. All participants reported the perception of self-agency, which was
      correlated with oxy-hemoglobin increases in the right prefrontal area. We
      conclude that self-agency also relates to hand-held objects displayed on video. 

PMID- 25830491
TI  - Brainstem morphological changes in Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - As brainstem nuclei are interconnected with several cortical structures and
      regulate several autonomic, cognitive, and behavioral functions, it might be
      important to place the brainstem within an important pathologic core in the
      progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although there have been several
      postmortem studies reporting neuropathological alterations of the brainstem in
      AD, there has been no in-vivo structural neuroimaging study of the brainstem in
      the patients with AD. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in the
      brainstem volume and shape between patients with AD and elderly normal controls.
      Fifty AD patients (the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale >= 1) and 50 normal
      controls were recruited, and the brainstem volumes and deformations were compared
      between the AD and the controls. Patients with AD showed significant total volume
      [(mean +/- SD) 21007 +/- 1640 mm] reduction in the brainstem compared with the
      controls [(mean +/- SD) 22530 +/- 1750 mm] (P<0.001). In addition, AD patients
      showed significant brainstem deformations in the upper posterior brainstem
      corresponding to the midbrain compared with the healthy individuals (false
      discovery rate corrected P<0.05). This study is the first to explore brainstem
      volume change and deformations in AD. These structural changes in the midbrain
      areas might be at the core of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of
      brainstem dysfunction with relevance to their various cognitive and behavioral
      symptoms such as memory impairment, sleep, and emotional disturbance in AD.
      However, further longitudinal studies might be needed to confirm these findings.

PMID- 25830493
TI  - Differential motor and sensory functional recovery in male but not female adult
      rats is associated with remyelination rather than axon regeneration after sciatic
      nerve crush.
AB  - Peripheral nerve functional recovery after injuries relies on both axon
      regeneration and remyelination. Both axon regeneration and remyelination require
      intimate interactions between regenerating neurons and their accompanying Schwann
      cells. Previous studies have shown that motor and sensory neurons are
      intrinsically different in their regeneration potentials. Moreover, denervated
      Schwann cells accompanying myelinated motor and sensory axons have distinct gene
      expression profiles for regeneration-associated growth factors. However, it is
      unknown whether differential motor and sensory functional recovery exists. If so,
      the particular one among axon regeneration and remyelination responsible for this
      difference remains unclear. Here, we aimed to establish an adult rat sciatic
      nerve crush model with the nonserrated microneedle holders and measured rat motor
      and sensory functions during regeneration. Furthermore, axon regeneration and
      remyelination was evaluated by morphometric analysis of electron microscopic
      images on the basis of nerve fiber classification. Our results showed that Aalpha
      fiber-mediated motor function was successfully recovered in both male and female
      rats. Adelta fiber-mediated sensory function was partially restored in male rats,
      but completely recovered in female littermates. For both male and female rats,
      the numbers of regenerated motor and sensory axons were quite comparable.
      However, remyelination was diverse among myelinated motor and sensory nerve
      fibers. In detail, Abeta and Adelta fibers incompletely remyelinated in male, but
      not female rats, whereas Aalpha fibers fully remyelinated in both sexes. Our
      result indicated that differential motor and sensory functional recovery in male
      but not female adult rats is associated with remyelination rather than axon
      regeneration after sciatic nerve crush.

PMID- 25830494
TI  - Incremental Validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form
      (TEIQue-SF).
AB  - This study examined the incremental validity of the adult short form of the Trait
      Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue-SF) in predicting 7 construct
      relevant criteria beyond the variance explained by the Five-factor model and
      coping strategies. Additionally, the relative contributions of the
      questionnaire's 4 subscales were assessed. Two samples of Canadian university
      students completed the TEIQue-SF, along with measures of the Big Five, coping
      strategies (Sample 1 only), and emotion-laden criteria. The TEIQue-SF showed
      consistent incremental effects beyond the Big Five or the Big Five and coping
      strategies, predicting all 7 criteria examined across the 2 samples. Furthermore,
      2 of the 4 TEIQue-SF subscales accounted for the measure's incremental validity.
      Although the findings provide good support for the validity and utility of the
      TEIQue-SF, directions for further research are emphasized. 

PMID- 25830495
TI  - An Electrochemical Capacitor with Applicable Energy Density of 7.4 Wh/kg at
      Average Power Density of 3000 W/kg.
AB  - Electrochemical capacitors represent a new class of charge storage devices that
      can simultaneously achieve high energy density and high power density. Previous
      reports have been primarily focused on the development of high performance
      capacitor electrodes. Although these electrodes have achieved excellent specific
      capacitance based on per unit mass of active materials, the gravimetric energy
      densities calculated based on the weight of entire capacitor device were fairly
      small. This is mainly due to the large mass ratio between current collector and
      active material. We aimed to address this issue by a 2-fold approach of
      minimizing the mass of current collector and increasing the electrode
      performance. Here we report an electrochemical capacitor using 3D graphene hollow
      structure as current collector, vanadium sulfide and manganese oxide as anode and
      cathode materials, respectively. 3D graphene hollow structure provides a
      lightweight and highly conductive scaffold for deposition of pseudocapacitive
      materials. The device achieves an excellent active material ratio of 24%.
      Significantly, it delivers a remarkable energy density of 7.4 Wh/kg (based on the
      weight of entire device) at the average power density of 3000 W/kg. This is the
      highest gravimetric energy density reported for asymmetric electrochemical
      capacitors at such a high power density. 

PMID- 25830498
TI  - Non-immune Hydrops fetalis due to Parvovirus B19 Infection in 2 Extremely Preterm
      Infants: Perinatal Management and Long-term Neurodevelopmental Outcome.
AB  - Parvovirus B19 (B19V) infection during pregnancy can lead to fetal damage and
      even fetal loss. In some cases a severe fetal anemia with hydrops fetalis occurs.
      An intrauterine red blood cell transfusion can reduce the mortality rate.
      Neurodevelopmental outcome after fetal B19V infection is affected by fetal anemia
      and presumably direct infection of the CNS. There are only a few studies on long
      term neurodevelopmental outcome after B19V infection induced hydrops fetalis.
      There are hardly any long-term data especially in preterm infants. We report on
      the long-term outcomes of 2 extremely preterm children after non-immune hydrops
      fetalis due to intrauterine B19V Infection. 

PMID- 25830496
TI  - Alanine aminotransferase variants conferring diverse NUE phenotypes in
      Arabidopsis thaliana.
AB  - Alanine aminotransferase (AlaAT, E.C. 2.6.1.2), is a pyridoxal-5'-phosphate
      dependent (PLP) enzyme that catalyzes the reversible transfer of an amino group
      from alanine to 2-oxoglutarate to produce glutamate and pyruvate, or vice versa.
      It has been well documented in both greenhouse and field studies that tissue
      specific over-expression of AlaAT from barley (Hordeum vulgare, HvAlaAT) results
      in a significant increase in plant NUE in both canola and rice. While the
      physical phenotypes associated with over-expression of HvAlaAT have been well
      characterized, the role this enzyme plays in vivo to create a more N efficient
      plant remains unknown. Furthermore, the importance of HvAlaAT, in contrast to
      other AlaAT enzyme homologues in creating this phenotype has not yet been
      explored. To address the role of AlaAT in NUE, AlaAT variants from diverse
      sources and different subcellular locations, were expressed in the wild-type
      Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 background and alaat1;2 (alaat1-1;alaat2-1) knockout
      background in various N environments. The analysis and comparison of both the
      physical and physiological properties of AlaAT over-expressing transgenic plants
      demonstrated significant differences between plants expressing the different
      AlaAT enzymes under different external conditions. This analysis indicates that
      the over-expression of AlaAT variants other than HvAlaAT in crop plants could
      further increase the NUE phenotype(s) previously observed. 

PMID- 25830499
TI  - [Indication-Related Effectivity of Cervical Occlusion Techniques in Women with
      Threatening Preterm Birth].
AB  - The aim of this study was to identify which operation technique [total cervical
      occlusion (TMV), cerclage (C) or combination of both (TMV+C)] would lead to the
      greatest pregnancy prolongation in 3 different collectives of patients at risk
      (history of preterm birth, cervical insufficiency, prolapsing membranes). In this
      retrospective data collection, 200 cervical occlusions performed between 1997 and
      2010 were analysed. In patients with a history of preterm birth/stillbirth (n=80)
      a prophylactic TMV increased the lifebirth rate from 35% without TMV to 95% with
      TMV (p<0.001). The risk diminuation after TMV was - 60% for stillbirth (p<0.001)
      and - 30% for preterm birth (p=0.01). In this subcollective the TMV seemed to be
      more effective in pregnancy prolongation (days) than C (139 vs. 113 days),
      however the combination of both (C+TMV) did not add much benefit (142 days). In
      patients with cervical insuffiency (n=86) the pregnancy could be prolonged by 82
      (C), 79 (TMV) und 109 days (C+TMV) (p=0.003-0.017) and in patients with membrane
      prolaps (n=34) by 63 (C), 61 (TMV) und 76 (C+TMV) days. According to present
      data, the combination of cerclage and TMV has the highest benefit on pregnancy
      prolongation. This analysis should provide a basis for randomised controlled
      studies on this topic.

PMID- 25830501
TI  - Pitfalls in the analysis of volatile breath biomarkers: suggested solutions and
      SIFT-MS quantification of single metabolites.
AB  - The experimental challenges presented by the analysis of trace volatile organic
      compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath with the objective of identifying reliable
      biomarkers are brought into focus. It is stressed that positive identification
      and accurate quantification of the VOCs are imperative if they are to be
      considered as discreet biomarkers. Breath sampling procedures are discussed and
      it is suggested that for accurate quantification on-line real time sampling and
      analysis is desirable. Whilst recognizing such real time analysis is not always
      possible and sample collection is often required, objective recognition of the
      pitfalls involved in this is essential. It is also emphasized that mouth-exhaled
      breath is always contaminated to some degree by orally generated compounds and
      so, when possible, analysis of nose-exhaled breath should be performed. Some
      difficulties in breath analysis are mitigated by the choice of analytical
      instrumentation used, but no single instrument can provide solutions to all the
      analytical challenges. Analysis and interpretation of breath analysis data,
      however acquired, needs to be treated circumspectly. In particular, the excessive
      use of statistics to treat imperfect mass spectrometry/mobility spectra should be
      avoided, since it can result in unjustifiable conclusions. It is should be
      understood that recognition of combinations of VOCs in breath that, for example,
      apparently describe particular cancer states, will not be taken seriously until
      they are replicated in other laboratories and clinics. Finally, the inhibiting
      notion that single biomarkers of infection and disease will not be identified and
      utilized clinically should be dispelled by the exemplary and widely used single
      biomarkers NO and H2 and now, as indicated by recent selected ion flow tube mass
      spectroscopy (SIFT-MS) results, triatomic hydrogen cyanide and perhaps pentane
      and acetic acid. Hopefully, these discoveries will provide encouragement to
      research workers to be more open-minded on this important and desirable issue. 

PMID- 25830502
TI  - A network centrality method for the rating problem.
AB  - We propose a new method for aggregating the information of multiple users rating
      multiple items. Our approach is based on the network relations induced between
      items by the rating activity of the users. Our method correlates better than the
      simple average with respect to the original rankings of the users, and besides,
      it is computationally more efficient than other methods proposed in the
      literature. Moreover, our method is able to discount the information that would
      be obtained adding to the system additional users with a systematically biased
      rating activity. 

PMID- 25830500
TI  - [Knee-related Pain Problems during Pregnancy Correlate with an Increase in Body
      Weight. Results of a Prospective Study].
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of knee pain or the
      intensification of knee-related problems during pregnancy. We hypothesised that
      the occurrence of knee problems correlates with an increase in body weight during
      pregnancy. METHODS: A total of 326 women (30(th)-40(th) week of pregnancy) were
      involved in this study. At onset of the pregnancy, the patients were 29.4 [95% CI
      28.8-29.9] years of age. We asked all patients retrospectively about their
      anthropometric data at the beginning of pregnancy. All patients provided
      information about former knee problems, knee problems occurring after onset of
      pregnancy or any increase in these problems. These knee patients were re
      evaluated 6 weeks after childbirth. At follow-up, the patients were asked about
      their knee problems and about their body weight. RESULTS: At the beginning of
      pregnancy, the mean body weight was 68.0 kg (95% CI 64.4-69.6; range 41-117). The
      mean BMI of all patients was 24.5 kg/m2 (25% CI 23.9-25.0; range 17.0-26.0). The
      absolute body weight increased by 13.8 kg (95% CI 13.2-1.5; range 3-38). A total
      of 24 patients (7.4%) reported new knee problems during pregnancy. 2 patients
      reported an increase in knee-related problems during pregnancy (0.6%). The
      incidence of knee-related problems (new cases and increase of problems n=26) was
      26/326 or 7.6/100 pregnancies. In patients without knee problems, the pregnancy
      related increase in the BMI (DeltaBMI) was 4.8 kg/m2 (95% CI 4.6-5.1, range 1.1
      14.1). In cases with incident knee problems, the DeltaBMI was 5.9 kg/m2 (95% CI
      4.9-6.9, range 2.1-11.8). The increase in body weight (Deltabody weight) in
      patients without knee problems was 13.5 kg (95% CI 12.9-14.2, range 3-38).
      Patients with incident knee pain experienced a Deltabody weight of 16.8 kg (95%
      CI 13.9-19.4, range 6-35). The differences in DeltaBMI and Deltabody weight were
      significant (p=0.009). A Deltabody weight >20 kg was a significant risk factor
      for pregnancy-related knee pain significant risk factor pregnancy related pain. A
      total of 23 incident cases (92%) underwent a follow-up interview 6 weeks after
      parturition. At this time, a total of 6 patients (26.1%) had not experienced
      further knee problems, whereas persistent knee problems were reported in the
      remaining patients (73.9%). Patients without any knee complaints [body weight
      72.5 kg (CI 95% 60.9-83.9)] tended to have a lower body weight at follow-up than
      patients with persistent knee pain [85.5 kg (CI 95% 71.8-99.1), p=0.162].
      CONCLUSION: There is a body weight-associated increase in the incidence of
      functional knee pain in pregnant women. In about one-third of the cases, knee
      problems persist after pregnancy and are associated with a residual increase in
      body weight. Thus, we conclude that body weight is a potential risk factor for
      functional knee pain.

PMID- 25830504
TI  - The popularity of benzodiazepines, their advantages, and inadequate
      pharmacological alternatives.

PMID- 25830503
TI  - A Web-based health promotion program for older workers: randomized controlled
      trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent evidence supports the efficacy of programs that promote
      improvements in the health practices of workers 50 years and older who are at
      higher risk for chronic diseases than younger workers are. Internet-based
      programs that promote healthy practices have also shown promise and, therefore,
      should be especially appropriate for workers aged 50 years and older. OBJECTIVE:
      The purpose of the research was to evaluate the effectiveness of HealthyPast50, a
      fully automated Web-based health promotion program based on social cognitive
      theory and aimed specifically at workers 50 years and older. METHODS: The
      randomized controlled trial was conducted across multiple US offices of a large
      global information technology company. The sample included 278 employees aged 50
      to 68 who were recruited online and randomly assigned to the Web-based
      HealthyPast50 program or to a wait-list control condition. Self-report measures
      of diet, physical activity, stress, and tobacco use were collected online before
      and 3 months after the program group was given access to the program. Use data
      included number of log-ins and number of pages accessed. The primary analysis was
      multiple linear regression, following intent-to-treat principles with multiple
      imputation using the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach for nonmonotone
      missing data. Potential moderators from demographic characteristics and program
      dosage effects were assessed using multiple linear regression models. Additional
      analyses were conducted on complete (nonimputed) cases, excluding program
      participants who used the program for less than 30 minutes. RESULTS: Retention
      rates were good for both groups: 80.4% (111/138) for the program group and 94.3%
      (132/140) for the control group. Program group participants spent a mean of
      102.26 minutes in the program (SD 148.32), logged in a mean of 4.33 times (SD
      4.28), and viewed a mean of 11.04 pages (SD 20.08). In the analysis of the
      imputed dataset, the program group performed significantly better than the
      control group on diet behavioral change self-efficacy (estimated adjusted
      difference [Delta]=0.16, P=.048), planning healthy eating (Delta=0.17, P=.03),
      and mild exercise (Delta=1.03, P=.01). Moderator and dosage analyses of the
      dataset found no significant program effects. Analyses of the nonimputed dataset
      comparing program users with controls found additional significant program
      effects on eating practices (Delta=0.09, P=.03), exercise self-efficacy
      (Delta=0.12, P=.03), exercise planning (Delta=0.18, P=.03), and aging beliefs
      (Delta=0.17, P=.01). Moderator analysis of this dataset also found significant
      moderator effects of gender on multiple measures of exercise. CONCLUSIONS: A Web
      based health promotion program showed promise for making a significant
      contribution to the short-term dietary and exercise practices of older working
      adults. Gender effects suggest that the program effects on exercise are due
      mainly to improvements among women.

PMID- 25830506
TI  - Interferon-Gamma Increases Endothelial Permeability by Causing Activation of p38
      MAP Kinase and Actin Cytoskeleton Alteration.
AB  - Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) is known to potentiate the progression of
      inflammatory diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease and atherosclerosis.
      IFN-gamma has been found to disrupt the barrier integrity of epithelial and
      endothelial cell both in vivo and in vitro. However, the mechanisms of IFN-gamma
      underlying increased endothelial cell permeability have not been extensively
      elucidated. We reported that IFN-gamma exhibits a biphasic nature in increasing
      endothelial permeability. The changes observed in the first phase (4-8 h) involve
      cell retraction and rounding in addition to condensed peripheral F-actin without
      a significant change in the F-/G-actin ratio. However, cell elongation, stress
      fiber formation, and an increased F-/G-actin ratio were noticed in the second
      phase (16-24 h). Consistent with our finding from the permeability assay, IFN
      gamma induced the formation of intercellular gaps in both phases. A delayed phase
      of increased permeability was observed at 12 h, which paralleled the onset of
      cell elongation, stress fiber formation, and increased F-/G-actin ratio. In
      addition, IFN-gamma stimulated p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase
      phosphorylation over a 24 h period. Inhibition of p38 MAP kinase by SB203580
      prevented increases in paracellular permeability, actin rearrangement, and
      increases in the F-/G-actin ratio caused by IFN-gamma. Our results suggest that
      p38 MAP kinase is activated in response to IFN-gamma and causes actin
      rearrangement and altered cell morphology, which in turn mediates endothelial
      cell hyperpermeability. The F-/G-actin ratio might be involved in the regulation
      of actin distribution and cell morphology rather than the increased permeability
      induced by IFN-gamma.

PMID- 25830509
TI  - Correlated Conformational Motions of the KH Domains of Far Upstream Element
      Binding Protein Complexed with Single-Stranded DNA Oligomers.
AB  - Single-stranded DNA binding (SSB) proteins bind with single-stranded DNA (ss-DNA)
      segments that are generated as intermediates during DNA metabolic processes. The
      primary function of an SSB protein is to protect the ss-DNA from being degraded
      so that other enzymes can effectively act on it. We have performed atomistic
      molecular dynamics simulations of the two DNA binding K homology (KH) domains
      (KH3 and KH4) of the far upstream element (FUSE) binding protein (FBP) complexed
      with two ss-DNA oligomers in aqueous solutions. Attempts have been made to study
      the effects of complexation on the internal motions of the protein domains and
      the correlated dynamics of the amino acid residue side chains. In agreement with
      experiments, KH3 domain has been found to be relatively more flexible in the
      complexed state. The calculations reveal increased long-range anticorrelated
      motions among several amino acid residues in the complexed forms. Compared to the
      KH4 domain, noticeable increase in N-H dipole ordering on complexation has been
      observed for the KH3 domain. Importantly, it is demonstrated that the effects of
      the DNA strands on the side chain orientations of the arginine and lysine
      residues and their ordering and dynamics play critical roles in forming the
      complexes and their structural stability. 

PMID- 25830507
TI  - Ubiquitous promoter-localization of essential virulence regulators in Francisella
      tularensis.
AB  - Francisella tularensis is a Gram-negative bacterium whose ability to replicate
      within macrophages and cause disease is strictly dependent upon the coordinate
      activities of three transcription regulators called MglA, SspA, and PigR. MglA
      and SspA form a complex that associates with RNA polymerase (RNAP), whereas PigR
      is a putative DNA-binding protein that functions by contacting the MglA-SspA
      complex. Most transcription activators that bind the DNA are thought to occupy
      only those promoters whose activities they regulate. Here we show using chromatin
      immunoprecipitation coupled with high-throughput DNA sequencing (ChIP-Seq) that
      PigR, MglA, and SspA are found at virtually all promoters in F. tularensis and
      not just those of regulated genes. Furthermore, we find that the ability of PigR
      to associate with promoters is dependent upon the presence of MglA, suggesting
      that interaction with the RNAP-associated MglA-SspA complex is what directs PigR
      to promoters in F. tularensis. Finally, we present evidence that the ability of
      PigR (and thus MglA and SspA) to positively control the expression of genes is
      dictated by a specific 7 base pair sequence element that is present in the
      promoters of regulated genes. The three principal regulators of virulence gene
      expression in F. tularensis therefore function in a non-classical manner with
      PigR interacting with the RNAP-associated MglA-SspA complex at the majority of
      promoters but only activating transcription from those that contain a specific
      sequence element. Our findings reveal how transcription factors can exert
      regulatory effects at a restricted set of promoters despite being associated with
      most or all. This distinction between occupancy and regulatory effect uncovered
      by our data may be relevant to the study of RNAP-associated transcription
      regulators in other pathogenic bacteria. 

PMID- 25830510
TI  - The preconception needs of women with severe mental illness: a consecutive
      clinical case series.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Women with severe mental illness (SMI) are having babies at an
      increasing rate, but continue to face many challenges across the perinatal
      period. There is little research into the preconception needs of women with SMI
      and the aim of this study was to investigate the social circumstances, general
      health, mental health and reproductive health care needs in these at risk women.
      METHOD: Women with SMI referred for specialist preconception counselling at a
      tertiary obstetric hospital in 2012 were eligible to participate. The data source
      was a semi-structured study-specific interview schedule with open-ended questions
      incorporated into the routine assessment protocol. RESULTS: In a one-year period,
      23 women were referred to the service and 22 consented to data from the interview
      being pooled for the study. All women were taking at least one psychotropic
      medication at the time of referral. Overall, 40% (n = 9) were aged at least 35
      years, 36% (n = 8) smoked cigarettes daily and over half (54.5% n = 12) reported
      their body mass index as being in the overweight or obese range. Thematic
      analysis revealed the importance of maternal desire, and concerns relating to age
      and biological time pressure, the impact of the illness and medication on
      pregnancy and motherhood. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that preconception
      counselling should be routine in the care of women with SMI of reproductive age,
      and should take into account the potential centrality of motherhood in the
      woman's rehabilitation, as well as the complex appraisals of risks, general
      health and support.

PMID- 25830508
TI  - Alcohol, binge drinking and associated mental health problems in young urban
      Chileans.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the link between alcohol use, binge drinking and mental
      health problems in a representative sample of adolescent and young adult
      Chileans. METHODS: Age and sex-adjusted Odds Ratios (OR) for four mental
      wellbeing measures were estimated with separate conditional logistic regression
      models for adolescents aged 15-20 years, and young adults aged 21-25 years, using
      population-based estimates of alcohol use prevalence rates from the Chilean
      National Health Survey 2010. RESULTS: Sixty five per cent of adolescents and 85%
      of young adults reported drinking alcohol in the last year and of those 83% per
      cent of adolescents and 86% of young adults reported binge drinking in the
      previous month. Adolescents who reported binging alcohol were also more likely,
      compared to young adults, to report being always or almost always depressed (OR
      12.97 [95% CI, 1.86-19.54]) or to feel very anxious in the last month (OR 9.37
      [1.77-19.54]). Adolescent females were more likely to report poor life
      satisfaction in the previous year than adolescent males (OR 8.50 [1.61-15.78]),
      feel always or almost always depressed (OR 3.41 [1.25-9.58]). Being female was
      also associated with a self-reported diagnosis of depression for both age groups
      (adolescents, OR 4.74 [1.49-15.08] and young adults, OR 4.08 [1.65-10.05]).
      CONCLUSION: Young people in Chile self-report a high prevalence of alcohol use,
      binge drinking and associated mental health problems. The harms associated with
      alcohol consumption need to be highlighted through evidence-based prevention
      programs. Health and education systems need to be strengthened to screen and
      support young people. Focussing on policy initiatives to limit beverage companies
      targeting alcohol to young people will also be needed.

PMID- 25830511
TI  - Early parental loss and self-rated health of older women and men: a population
      based, multi-country study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Death of a parent in childhood can diminish both the nurturing that
      promotes healthy development, and household income. We consider, for the first
      time, whether this adverse childhood experience is associated with self-rated
      health decades later, among seniors and whether this lifelong effect is different
      for women and men. METHODS: The International Mobility in Aging (IMIAS) study is
      a prospective cohort with survey information and biophysical measures and markers
      from 2000 community-dwelling 65-74 year olds in Canada, Colombia, Brazil and
      Albania. We assessed the independent impact of death of a parent, early hunger,
      and witnessing violence, while controlling for current income sufficiency and
      other early adversities on self-rated health using baseline (2012) IMIAS data.
      Regressions grouping and then separating women and men were compared. RESULTS:
      Approximately 17% of the 1991 participants had experienced early parental loss.
      Overall 56% rated their health as good however parental loss predicted poorer
      adult health, as did early hunger but not witnessing violence. Disaggregated
      analyses revealed that the health consequences of parental loss were significant
      only among men (p = 0.000 versus p = 0.210 for women) whereas early hunger
      predicted poor self-rated health for both (p = 0.000). CONCLUSION: Parental loss
      should be considered as a potent adverse childhood experience with life-long
      consequences for health. The gender difference in its effect, speaks to
      unidentified and modifiable traits that appear to be more common among women and
      that may build resilience to long-term harms of early parental death.

PMID- 25830512
TI  - A systematic review of the efficacy and safety experience reported for sorafenib
      in advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the post-approval setting.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sorafenib was FDA approved in 2005 for treatment of renal cell
      carcinoma (RCC) based on the results of the pivotal phase 3 clinical trial,
      TARGET (Treatment Approaches in Renal Cancer Global Evaluation Trial). Since that
      time, numerous clinical studies have been undertaken that substantially broaden
      our knowledge of the use of sorafenib for this indication. METHODS: We
      systematically reviewed PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, and
      www.clinicaltrials.gov for prospective clinical studies using single agent
      sorafenib in RCC and published since 2005. Primary endpoints of interest were
      progression-free survival (PFS) and safety. PROSPERO International prospective
      register of systematic reviews #CRD42014010765. RESULTS: We identified 30 studies
      in which 2182 patients were treated with sorafenib, including 1575 patients who
      participated in randomized controlled phase 3 trials. In these trials, sorafenib
      was administered as first-, second- or third-line treatment. Heterogeneity among
      trial designs and reporting of data precluded statistical comparisons among
      trials or with TARGET. The PFS appeared shorter in second- vs. first-line
      treatment, consistent with the more advanced tumor status in the second-line
      setting. In some trials, incidences of grade 3/4 hypertension or hand-foot skin
      reaction (HFSR) were more than double that seen in TARGET (4% and 6%,
      respectively). These variances may be attributable to increased recognition of
      HFSR, or potentially differences in dose adjustments, that could be consequences
      of increased familiarity with sorafenib usage. Several small studies enrolled
      exclusively Asian patients. These studies reported notably longer PFS than was
      observed in TARGET. However, no obvious corresponding differences in disease
      control rate and overall survival were seen. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, more
      recent experiences using sorafenib in RCC are consistent with results reported
      for TARGET with no marked changes of response endpoints or new safety signals
      observed.

PMID- 25830513
TI  - A common pathway to obesity and allergic asthma.

PMID- 25830514
TI  - The Dutch hypothesis meets genomics.

PMID- 25830515
TI  - Imaging to predict therapeutic outcomes.

PMID- 25830516
TI  - Show me the SNPs. How bacterial sex generates diversity in the cystic fibrosis
      lung.

PMID- 25830517
TI  - Bringing comfort to endobronchial ultrasound bronchoscopy.

PMID- 25830518
TI  - Global participation in core data sets for emerging pathogens.

PMID- 25830519
TI  - Continuous positive airway pressure plus weight loss for obstructive sleep apnea
      (OSA), association of cancer with OSA, and hypoglossal nerve stimulation for OSA
      treatment.

PMID- 25830520
TI  - Fulminant invasive tracheobronchial aspergillosis.

PMID- 25830521
TI  - Endothelial chromosome 13 deletion in congenital heart disease-associated
      pulmonary arterial hypertension dysregulates SMAD9 signaling.

PMID- 25830523
TI  - Attenuation of obstructive sleep apnea and overnight rostral fluid shift by
      physical activity.

PMID- 25830522
TI  - Genetic heterogeneity of circulating cells from patients with
      lymphangioleiomyomatosis with and without lung transplantation.

PMID- 25830524
TI  - No significant reduction in antibiotic treatment using a procalcitonin algorithm
      with low cutoff value in the intensive care unit?

PMID- 25830526
TI  - Expression of concern: Alveolar macrophages from overweight/obese subjects with
      asthma demonstrate a proinflammatory phenotype.

PMID- 25830525
TI  - Reply: No significant reduction in antibiotic treatment using a procalcitonin
      algorithm with low cutoff value in the intensive care unit?

PMID- 25830528
TI  - Web-Based Remote Monitoring Systems for Self-Managing Type 2 Diabetes: A
      Systematic Review.
AB  - This systematic review aims to evaluate evidence for viability and impact of Web
      based telemonitoring for managing type 2 diabetes mellitus. A review protocol
      included searching Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, the Cochrane Library, and
      PubMed using the following terms: telemonitoring, type 2 diabetes mellitus, self
      management, and web-based Internet solutions. The technology used, trial design,
      quality of life measures, and the glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels were
      extracted. This review identified 426 publications; of these, 19 met preset
      inclusion criteria. Ten quasi-experimental research designs were found, of which
      seven were pre-posttest studies, two were cohort studies, and one was an
      interrupted time-series study; in addition, there were nine randomized controlled
      trials. Web-based remote monitoring from home to hospital is a viable approach
      for healthcare delivery and enhances patients' quality of life. Six of these
      studies were conducted in South Korea, five in the United States, three in the
      United Kingdom, two in Taiwan, and one each in Spain, Poland, and India. The
      duration of the studies varied from 4 weeks to 18 months, and the participants
      were all adults. Fifteen studies showed positive improvement in HbA1c levels. One
      study showed high acceptance of the technology among participants. It remains
      challenging to identify clear evidence of effectiveness in the rapidly changing
      area of remote monitoring in diabetes care. Both the technology and its
      implementations are complex. The optimal design of a telemedicine system is still
      uncertain, and the value of the real-time blood glucose transmissions is still
      controversial. 

PMID- 25830527
TI  - An Official American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society Statement:
      Research questions in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of
      morbidity, mortality, and resource use worldwide. The goal of this Official
      American Thoracic Society (ATS)/European Respiratory Society (ERS) Research
      Statement is to describe evidence related to diagnosis, assessment, and
      management; identify gaps in knowledge; and make recommendations for future
      research. It is not intended to provide clinical practice recommendations on COPD
      diagnosis and management. METHODS: Clinicians, researchers, and patient advocates
      with expertise in COPD were invited to participate. A literature search of
      Medline was performed, and studies deemed relevant were selected. The search was
      not a systematic review of the evidence. Existing evidence was appraised and
      summarized, and then salient knowledge gaps were identified. RESULTS:
      Recommendations for research that addresses important gaps in the evidence in all
      areas of COPD were formulated via discussion and consensus. CONCLUSIONS: Great
      strides have been made in the diagnosis, assessment, and management of COPD as
      well as understanding its pathogenesis. Despite this, many important questions
      remain unanswered. This ATS/ERS Research Statement highlights the types of
      research that leading clinicians, researchers, and patient advocates believe will
      have the greatest impact on patient-centered outcomes.

PMID- 25830529
TI  - Effects of estradiol, progestogens, and of tibolone on breast proliferation and
      apoptosis.
AB  - AIM: To study the effects of estrogen therapy, alone or combined with
      progestogens, and of tibolone on the expression of proliferation and apoptosis
      markers in normal breast tissue. METHODS: Thirty 250-day-old Wistar rats were
      castrated and 3 weeks later received one of the following treatments by gavage
      for 5 weeks: (1) estradiol benzoate; (2) estradiol benzoate + medroxyprogesterone
      acetate; (3) estradiol benzoate + norethisterone acetate; (4) estradiol benzoate
      + dydrogesterone; (5) tibolone; (6) placebo. Following treatment, the expression
      of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and caspase-3 was analyzed by
      quantitative immunohistochemistry in the breast tissue, and proliferation and
      apoptosis were analyzed semiquantitatively by microscopic imaging. RESULTS: There
      was a statistically significant difference among the groups for PCNA, caspase-3
      and the caspase-3 : PCNA ratio. Tibolone was associated with the lowest
      proliferative activity, followed by estradiol benzoate + dydrogesterone; however,
      estradiol benzoate + dydrogesterone showed the greatest rate of apoptosis.
      CONCLUSIONS: The various progestogens can have more or less proliferative and pro
      apoptotic effects than estradiol alone. Among the treatment schemes analyzed, the
      estradiol + dydrogesterone combination resulted in a higher apoptosis rate in
      relation to the proliferation rate and tibolone was associated with the lowest
      proliferation.

PMID- 25830532
TI  - Authors' reply.

PMID- 25830531
TI  - Plasmodium knowlesi genome sequences from clinical isolates reveal extensive
      genomic dimorphism.
AB  - Plasmodium knowlesi is a newly described zoonosis that causes malaria in the
      human population that can be severe and fatal. The study of P. knowlesi parasites
      from human clinical isolates is relatively new and, in order to obtain maximum
      information from patient sample collections, we explored the possibility of
      generating P. knowlesi genome sequences from archived clinical isolates. Our
      patient sample collection consisted of frozen whole blood samples that contained
      excessive human DNA contamination and, in that form, were not suitable for
      parasite genome sequencing. We developed a method to reduce the amount of human
      DNA in the thawed blood samples in preparation for high throughput parasite
      genome sequencing using Illumina HiSeq and MiSeq sequencing platforms. Seven of
      fifteen samples processed had sufficiently pure P. knowlesi DNA for whole genome
      sequencing. The reads were mapped to the P. knowlesi H strain reference genome
      and an average mapping of 90% was obtained. Genes with low coverage were removed
      leaving 4623 genes for subsequent analyses. Previously we identified a DNA
      sequence dimorphism on a small fragment of the P. knowlesi normocyte binding
      protein xa gene on chromosome 14. We used the genome data to assemble full-length
      Pknbpxa sequences and discovered that the dimorphism extended along the gene. An
      in-house algorithm was developed to detect SNP sites co-associating with the
      dimorphism. More than half of the P. knowlesi genome was dimorphic, involving
      genes on all chromosomes and suggesting that two distinct types of P. knowlesi
      infect the human population in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. We use P. knowlesi
      clinical samples to demonstrate that Plasmodium DNA from archived patient samples
      can produce high quality genome data. We show that analyses, of even small
      numbers of difficult clinical malaria isolates, can generate comprehensive
      genomic information that will improve our understanding of malaria parasite
      diversity and pathobiology. 

PMID- 25830530
TI  - Interaction between fibronectin and beta1 integrin is essential for tooth
      development.
AB  - The dental epithelium and extracellular matrix interact to ensure that cell
      growth and differentiation lead to the formation of teeth of appropriate size and
      quality. To determine the role of fibronectin in differentiation of the dental
      epithelium and tooth formation, we analyzed its expression in developing
      incisors. Fibronectin mRNA was expressed during the presecretory stage in
      developing dental epithelium, decreased in the secretory and early maturation
      stages, and then reappeared during the late maturation stage. The binding of
      dental epithelial cells derived from postnatal day-1 molars to a fibronectin
      coated dish was inhibited by the RGD but not RAD peptide, and by a beta1 integrin
      neutralizing antibody, suggesting that fibronectin-beta1 integrin interactions
      contribute to dental epithelial-cell binding. Because fibronectin and beta1
      integrin are highly expressed in the dental mesenchyme, it is difficult to
      determine precisely how their interactions influence dental epithelial
      differentiation in vivo. Therefore, we analyzed beta1 integrin conditional
      knockout mice (Intbeta1lox-/lox-/K14-Cre) and found that they exhibited partial
      enamel hypoplasia, and delayed eruption of molars and differentiation of
      ameloblasts, but not of odontoblasts. Furthermore, a cyst-like structure was
      observed during late ameloblast maturation. Dental epithelial cells from knockout
      mice did not bind to fibronectin, and induction of ameloblastin expression in
      these cells by neurotrophic factor-4 was inhibited by treatment with RGD peptide
      or a fibronectin siRNA, suggesting that the epithelial interaction between
      fibronectin and beta1 integrin is important for ameloblast differentiation and
      enamel formation. 

PMID- 25830533
TI  - Involvement of the caleosin/peroxygenase RD20 in the control of cell death during
      Arabidopsis responses to pathogens.
AB  - Caleosins, mostly found in lipid droplets of seeds and leaves, are believed to
      play physiological roles through their enzymatic capacities to produce oxylipins.
      We recently identified the caleosin RD20 as a peroxygenase reducing endogenous
      fatty acid hydroperoxides into their corresponding alcohols. Such oxylipins
      confer tolerance to oxidative stress by decreasing reactive oxygen species
      accumulation and by minimizing cell death. RD20 expression being induced by
      pathogens, we have examined the mode of action of this caleosin in response to
      biotic stress. Plants overexpressing RD20 exhibited an alteration of their leaf
      cuticle wax components and an increased resistance to the fungus Alternaria
      brassicicola. Conversely, silencing RD20 led to an enhanced propagation of the
      fungus and to reduced severity of the damages caused by the inoculation of the
      bacteria Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato. We discuss these findings and propose
      that the major function of RD20 is to generate oxylipins modulating oxidative
      status and cell death. 

PMID- 25830534
TI  - Understanding of the viscoelastic response of the human corneal stroma induced by
      riboflavin/UV-a cross-linking at the nano level.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the viscoelastic changes of the human cornea induced by
      riboflavin/UV-A cross-linking using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) at the nano
      level. METHODS: Seven eye bank donor corneas were investigated, after gently
      removing the epithelium, using a commercial AFM in the force spectroscopy mode.
      Silicon cantilevers with tip radius of 10 nm and spring elastic constants between
      26- and 86-N/m were used to probe the viscoelastic properties of the anterior
      stroma up to 3 um indentation depth. Five specimens were tested before and after
      riboflavin/UV-A cross-linking; the other two specimens were chemically cross
      linked using glutaraldehyde 2.5% solution and used as controls. The Young's
      modulus (E) and the hysteresis (H) of the corneal stroma were quantified as a
      function of the application load and scan rate. RESULTS: The Young's modulus
      increased by a mean of 1.1-1.5 times after riboflavin/UV-A cross-linking
      (P<0.05). A higher increase of E, by a mean of 1.5-2.6 times, was found in
      chemically cross-linked specimens using glutaraldehyde 2.5% (P<0.05). The
      hysteresis decreased, by a mean of 0.9-1.5 times, in all specimens after
      riboflavin/UV-A cross-linking (P<0.05). A substantial decrease of H, ranging
      between 2.6 and 3.5 times with respect to baseline values, was observed in
      glutaraldehyde-treated corneas (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides
      the first evidence that riboflavin/UV-A cross-linking induces changes of the
      viscoelastic properties of the cornea at the scale of stromal molecular
      interactions.

PMID- 25830535
TI  - Transforming primary care residency training: a collaborative faculty development
      initiative among family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatric residencies.
AB  - PROBLEM: The scope and scale of developments in health care redesign have not
      been sufficiently adopted in primary care residency programs. APPROACH: The
      interdisciplinary Primary Care Faculty Development Initiative was created to
      teach faculty how to accelerate revisions in primary care residency training. The
      program focused on skill development in teamwork, change management, leadership,
      population management, clinical microsystems, and competency assessment. The 2013
      pilot program involved 36 family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatric
      faculty members from 12 residencies in four locations. OUTCOMES: The percentage
      of participants rating intention to implement what was learned as "very likely
      to" or "absolutely will" was 16/32 (50%) for leadership, 24/33 (72.7%) for change
      management, 23/33 (69.7%) for systems thinking, 25/32 (75.8%) for population
      management, 28/33 (84.9%) for teamwork, 29/33 (87.8%) for competency assessment,
      and 30/31 (96.7%) for patient centeredness.Content analysis revealed five key
      themes: leadership skills are key drivers of change, but program faculty face big
      challenges in changing culture and engaging stakeholders; access to data from
      electronic health records for population management is a universal challenge;
      readiness to change varies among the three disciplines and among residencies
      within each discipline; focusing on patients and their needs galvanizes
      collaborative efforts across disciplines and within residencies; and
      collaboration among disciplines to develop and use shared measures of residency
      programs and learner outcomes can guide and inspire program changes and urgently
      needed educational research. NEXT STEPS: Revise and reevaluate this rapidly
      evolving program toward widespread engagement with family medicine, internal
      medicine, and pediatric residencies.

PMID- 25830536
TI  - Sociomateriality: a theoretical framework for studying distributed medical
      education.
AB  - Distributed medical education (DME) is a type of distance learning in which
      students participate in medical education from diverse geographic locations using
      Web conferencing, videoconferencing, e-learning, and similar tools. DME is
      becoming increasingly widespread in North America and around the world.Although
      relatively new to medical education, distance learning has a long history in the
      broader field of education and a related body of literature that speaks to the
      importance of engaging in rigorous and theoretically informed studies of distance
      learning. The existing DME literature is helpful, but it has been largely
      descriptive and lacks a critical "lens"-that is, a theoretical perspective from
      which to rigorously conceptualize and interrogate DME's social (relationships,
      people) and material (technologies, tools) aspects.The authors describe DME and
      theories about distance learning and show that such theories focus on social,
      pedagogical, and cognitive considerations without adequately taking into account
      material factors. They address this gap by proposing sociomateriality as a
      theoretical framework allowing researchers and educators to study DME and (1)
      understand and consider previously obscured actors, infrastructure, and other
      factors that, on the surface, seem unrelated and even unimportant; (2) see
      clearly how the social and material components of learning are intertwined in
      fluid, messy, and often uncertain ways; and (3) perhaps think differently, even
      in ways that disrupt traditional approaches, as they explore DME. The authors
      conclude that DME brings with it substantial investments of social and material
      resources, and therefore needs careful study, using approaches that embrace its
      complexity. 

PMID- 25830538
TI  - The role of medical culture in the journey to resilience.
AB  - There is growing concern about the difficulty primary care practices are
      experiencing both recruiting and retaining practitioners. Frustrations stemming
      from integrating electronic medical records, satisfying external documentation
      requirements for oversight and billing, and the divide created between inpatient
      and ambulatory care teams all contribute to practitioner and staff burnout.
      Addressing the current culture of medical education and primary care is clearly
      an essential issue for health care leaders and medical educators.Using two
      experiences, a workshop on resilience with a large primary care practice group
      and a medical student studying for the United States Medical Licensing
      Examination Step 1, the author describes the cultural imperative, beginning in
      medical school, to sacrifice self-care for productivity and individual
      achievement. This approach has consequences for practitioners' levels of burnout
      and selecting primary care as a career. The author concludes by providing
      recommendations for both individual and organizational approaches to addressing
      these concerns. 

PMID- 25830537
TI  - A facilitated peer mentoring program for junior faculty to promote professional
      development and peer networking.
AB  - PURPOSE: To explore the design, implementation, and efficacy of a faculty
      development program in a cohort of early career junior faculty. METHOD:
      Interested junior faculty members were divided into interdisciplinary small
      groups led by senior faculty facilitators. The groups met monthly for 1.5 hours
      to review a modular curriculum from 2011 to 2013. Using a survey at two time
      points (September 2011 and 2013) and an interim program evaluation, the authors
      collected data on participants' demographics, faculty interconnectedness, and
      self-reported knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA) in the domains of
      professional development and scholarship, including the ability to write career
      goals and align activities with those goals. RESULTS: A total of 104 junior
      faculty participated in the program. They demonstrated changes in self-reported
      KSA in the domains of professional development (P = .013, P = .001) and
      scholarship (P = .038, P = .015) with an increase in ability to write career
      goals (P < .001), ability to align activities with those goals (P < .001), and
      number of and amount of time spent pursuing activities related to those goals (P
      = .022). These changes were more significant among female faculty and were not
      affected by academic rank or time since last training. Interconnectedness among
      faculty increased during the period of study-the number of nodes and ties between
      nodes within the network increased. CONCLUSIONS: This facilitated peer mentoring
      program for junior faculty was effective in improving the KSA necessary to
      promote early career advancement and peer networking, especially for women.

PMID- 25830539
TI  - Air pollution and neonatal blood pressure: examining earlier exposures.

PMID- 25830543
TI  - New scenarios of Trypanosoma cruzi transmission in the Orinoco region of
      Colombia.
AB  - Rhodnius prolixus, a blood-sucking triatomine with domiciliary anthropophilic
      habits, is the main vector of Chagas disease. The current paradigm of Trypanosoma
      cruzi transmission in Columbia includes a sylvatic and domiciliary cycle co
      existing with domestic and sylvatic populations of reservoirs. The aim of this
      study is to evaluate the population densities and relative abundance of
      triatomines and mammals that may be involved in the sylvatic cycle of Chagas
      disease to clarify the epidemiological scenario in an endemic area in the
      province of Casanare. Insect vectors on Attalea butyracea palms were captured
      using both manual searches and bait traps. The capture of mammals was performed
      using Sherman and Tomahawk traps. We report an infestation index of 88.5% in 148
      palms and an index of T. cruzi natural infection of 60.2% in 269 dissected
      insects and 11.9% in 160 captured mammals. High population densities of
      triatomines were observed in the sylvatic environment and there was a high
      relative abundance of reservoirs in the area, suggesting a stable enzootic cycle.
      We found no evidence of insect domiciliation. Taken together, these observations
      suggest that eco-epidemiological factors shape the transmission dynamics of T.
      cruzi, creating diverse scenarios of disease transmission.

PMID- 25830545
TI  - Material properties and constitutive modeling of infant porcine cerebellum tissue
      in tension at high strain rate.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The mechanical characterization of infant porcine cerebellum tissue
      in tension at high strain rate is crucial for modeling traumatic cerebellum
      injury, which is in turn helpful for understanding the biomechanics of such
      injuries suffered in traffic accidents. MATERIAL AND METHOD: In this study, the
      infant porcine cerebellum tissue was given three loading velocities, ie, 2s-1,
      20s-1 and 100s-1 with up to 30% strain to investigate the tensile properties. At
      least six tensile tests for each strain rate were validly performed. Fung, Gent,
      Ogden and exponential models were applied to fit the constitutive equations, so
      as to obtain material parameters from the experimental data. RESULTS: The
      Lagrange stress of infant porcine cerebellum tissue in tension appeared to be no
      more than 3000Pa at each loading velocity. More specifically, the Lagrange stress
      at 30% strain was (393.7+/-84.4)Pa, (928.3+/-56.3)Pa and (2582.4+/-282.2)Pa at
      strain rates of 2s-1, 20s-1 and 100s-1, respectively. Fung (0.833<=R2<=0.924),
      Gent (0.797<=R2<=0.875), Ogden (0.859<=R2<=0.944) and exponential
      (0.930<=R2<=0.972) models provided excellent fitting to experimental data up to
      30% strain. CONCLUSIONS: The infant cerebellum tissue shows a stiffer response
      with increase of the loading speed, indicating a strong strain-rate sensitivity.
      This study will enrich the knowledge on the material properties of infant brain
      tissue, which may augment the biofidelity of finite element model of human
      pediatric cerebellum.

PMID- 25830546
TI  - Development of a dry-reagent-based qPCR to facilitate the diagnosis of
      Mycobacterium ulcerans infection in endemic countries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Buruli ulcer is a neglected tropical disease caused by Mycobacterium
      ulcerans. This skin disease is the third most common mycobacterial disease and
      its rapid diagnosis and treatment are necessary. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
      is considered to be the most sensitive method for the laboratory confirmation of
      Buruli ulcer. However, PCR remains expensive and involves reagents unsuitable for
      use in tropical countries with poor storage conditions, hindering the development
      of reliable quantitative PCR (qPCR) diagnosis. We aimed to overcome this problem
      by developing a ready-to-use dry qPCR mix for the diagnosis of M. ulcerans
      infection. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We compared the efficiency of three
      different dry qPCR mixes, lyophilized with various concentrations of
      cryoprotectants, with that of a freshly prepared mixture, for the detection of a
      standard range of M. ulcerans DNA concentrations. We evaluated the heat
      resistance of the dry mixes, comparing them with the fresh mix after heating. We
      also evaluated one of the dry mixes in field conditions, by analyzing 93
      specimens from patients with suspected Buruli ulcers. The dry mix was (i) highly
      resistant to heat; (ii) of similar sensitivity and efficiency to the fresh mix
      and (iii) easier to use than the fresh mix. CONCLUSIONS: Dry qPCR mixes are
      suitable for use in the diagnosis of M. ulcerans infection in endemic countries.
      The user-friendly format of this mix makes it possible for untrained staff to
      perform diagnostic tests with a limited risk of contamination. The possibility of
      using this mix in either vial or strip form provides considerable flexibility for
      the management of small or large amounts of sample. Thus, dry-mix qPCR could be
      used as a reliable tool for the diagnosis of Buruli ulcer in the field.

PMID- 25830547
TI  - "Why Not Stoichiometry" versus "Stoichiometry-Why Not?" Part III: Extension of
      GATES/GEB on Complex Dynamic Redox Systems.
AB  - In the third part of a series of articles issued under a common title, some
      examples of complex dynamic redox systems are presented and considered from
      analytical and physico-chemical viewpoints; the analysis is a leitmotiv for
      detailed, physico-chemical considerations. All attainable physico-chemical
      knowledge is involved in algorithms applied for resolution of the systems,
      realized with use of iterative computer programs. The first redox system (System
      I) is related to titration of FeSO4 + H2C2O4 with KMnO4 solution in acidic
      (H2SO4) medium, where simultaneous determination of both analytes from a single
      curve of potentiometric titration is possible. The possibility of the formation
      of precipitates (FeC2O4 and/or MnC2O4) in this system is taken into
      considerations. The second system (System II) relates to the complete analytical
      procedure involved in the iodometric determination of Cu; four consecutive steps
      of this analysis are considered. As a reasonable tool for explanation of
      processes occurring during simulated redox titration, speciation diagrams are
      suggested. This explanation is based on graphical presentation of results
      obtained from the calculations. The calculations made for this purpose are
      performed in accordance with principles of the generalized approach to
      electrolytic systems (GATES) with generalized electron balance (GEB) or GATES/GEB
      and realized with use of iterative computer programs offered by MATLAB. The
      reactions proceeding in this system can be formulated, together with their
      efficiencies, at any stage of the titration. Stoichiometry is considered as the
      derivative concept when put in context with GATES/GEB. The article illustrates
      the enormous possibilities and advantages offered by GATES/GEB. 

PMID- 25830548
TI  - Iron starvation induces apoptosis in Rhizopus oryzae in vitro.
AB  - Mortality associated with mucormycosis remains high despite current antifungals.
      Iron-starvation strategies have been shown to have promising activity against
      Mucorales. We hypothesized that iron starvation enhances apoptosis in Rhizopus
      oryzae. Apoptosis was characterized in R. oryzae transformed with RNAi plasmid
      targeting FTR1 expression (iron permease mutant) or empty plasmid grown in iron
      rich (0.125% FeCl3) and iron depleted media (YNB+1mM ferrozine and 1 mM ascorbic
      acid). Increased apoptosis was observed with dihydrorhodamine-123 and rhodamine
      123 staining in the iron starved mutant FTR1 when compared to empty plasmid,
      followed by increased extracellular ATP levels. In addition, DNA fragmentation
      and metacaspase activity were prominent in FTR1. In contrast, Rhizopus strains
      grown in iron-rich medium displayed minimal apoptosis. Our results demonstrate a
      metacaspase dependent apoptotic process in iron deprived condition and further
      support the role of iron starvation strategies as an adjunct treatment for
      mucormycosis, a mechanism by which iron starvation affects R. oryzae.

PMID- 25830549
TI  - Norwegian PUQE (Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis and nausea) identifies
      patients with hyperemesis gravidarum and poor nutritional intake: a prospective
      cohort validation study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The English questionnaire Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis
      and nausea (PUQE) identifies women with severe Hyperemesis Gravidarum. Our aim
      was to investigate whether scores from the translated Norwegian version; SUKK
      (SvangerskapsUtlost Kvalme Kvantifisering) was associated with severity of
      hyperemesis and nutritional intake. DESIGN: A prospective cohort validation
      study. SETTING: Hospital cohort of Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) patients from
      western Norway and healthy pregnant women from Bergen, Norway. SAMPLE: 38 women
      hospitalized due to HG and 31 healthy pregnant controls attending routine
      antenatal check-up at health centers. METHODS: Data were collected May 2013
      January 2014. The study participants answered the Norwegian PUQE-questionnaire
      (scores ranging from 3 to 15) and registered prospectively 24-hours nutritional
      intake by a food list form. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Differences of PUQE-scores,
      QOL-score and nutritional intake between hyperemesis patients and controls.
      RESULTS: Hyperemesis patients had shorter gestational age compared to controls
      (median 9.7 weeks; 95% CI 8.6-10.6 versus 11.9; 95% CI 10.1-12.9, p=0.004), and
      larger weight-change from pre-pregnant weight (loss of median 3 kg; 95% CI 3-4
      versus gain of 2 kg; 95% CI 0.5-2, p<0.001) otherwise groups were similar
      regarding pre-pregnant BMI, age, gravidity, and inclusion weight. Compared to
      controls, hyperemesis patients had significant higher PUQE-score (median 13; 95%
      CI 11-14 vs. 7; 95% CI 4-8), lower QOL (median score 3; 95% CI 2-4 vs. 6; 95% CI
      4.5-8) and lower nutritional intake (energy intake median 990 kcal/24 hours; 95%
      CI 709-1233 vs. 1652; 95% CI 1558-1880 all p<0.001). PUQE-score was inversely
      correlated to nutritional intake (-0.5, p<0.001). At discharge PUQE-score had
      fallen to median 6 (95% CI 5-8) and QOL score risen to 7 (95% CI 6-8) in the HG
      group, (both p<0.001 compared to admission values). CONCLUSION: PUQE-scoring has
      been validated as a robust indicator of severe hyperemesis gravidarum and
      insufficient nutritional intake in a Norwegian setting.

PMID- 25830550
TI  - B7H6-specific chimeric antigen receptors lead to tumor elimination and host
      antitumor immunity.
AB  - Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies have demonstrated durable and
      potentially curative therapeutic efficacy against B-cell leukemia in clinical
      trials. A CAR strategy can target any tumor surface antigens as long as an
      antigen-binding receptor can be generated. New CARs that target solid tumors and
      have the potential to target multiple tumor types are needed. In this study,
      B7H6, a ligand for the NK cell activating receptor NKp30, was targeted to create
      a CAR that targets multiple tumor types. B7H6 is expressed on various primary
      human tumors, including leukemia, lymphoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumors,
      but it is not constitutively expressed on normal tissues. B7H6-specific CAR T
      cells have robust cellular cytotoxicity and interferon-gamma secretion when co
      cultured with B7H6+ tumor cells, and they exhibit little self-reactivity to
      immature dendritic cells or pro-inflammatory monocytes. In vivo, B7H6-specific
      CAR T cells greatly enhanced the survival of RMA/B7H6 lymphoma-bearing mice. The
      long-term survivor mice were protected against a B7H6-deficient tumor re
      challenge. This CAR therapy also decreased tumor burden in a murine ovarian
      cancer model. In conclusion, B7H6-specific CARs have the potential to treat B7H6+
      hematologic and solid tumors. 

PMID- 25830551
TI  - Long-term and efficient expression of human beta-globin gene in a hematopoietic
      cell line using a new site-specific integrating non-viral system.
AB  - Targeted integration of a therapeutic gene at specific loci in safe genomic
      regions by a non-viral vector can restore the function of the damaged gene. This
      approach also minimizes the potential genotoxic effects of transferred DNA. In
      this study, we have developed a non-viral vector that functions according to site
      specific recombination (SSR). The vector contained a bacterial backbone and
      puromycin resistance gene (pur(r)), a beta-globin expressing cassette and an attB
      recombination site. We used phiC31 integrase to insert a copy of the vector into
      specific genomic locations of a human hematopoietic cell line. Site-specific
      integration of the vector with one or two copies in the transcriptionally active
      regions of the genome was confirmed. After genomic integration, we used Cre
      recombinase to remove the bacterial backbone and pur(r). This removal was
      verified by negative selection and genomic PCR screening. Following deletion of
      these sequences, the stable beta-chain expression was continued for several
      months in the absence of selective pressure. Consequently, this vector may
      potentially be a powerful tool for ex vivo correction of beta-globinopathies such
      as beta-thalassemia through successful genomic integration of a functional copy
      of the globin gene into the patient's target cells. 

PMID- 25830552
TI  - Protective effects of non-anticoagulant activated protein C variant
      (D36A/L38D/A39V) in a murine model of ischaemic stroke.
AB  - Ischaemic stroke is caused by occlusive thrombi in the cerebral vasculature.
      Although tissue-plasminogen activator (tPA) can be administered as thrombolytic
      therapy, it has major limitations, which include disruption of the blood-brain
      barrier and an increased risk of bleeding. Treatments that prevent or limit such
      deleterious effects could be of major clinical importance. Activated protein C
      (APC) is a natural anticoagulant that regulates thrombin generation, but also
      confers endothelial cytoprotective effects and improved endothelial barrier
      function mediated through its cell signalling properties. In murine models of
      stroke, although APC can limit the deleterious effects of tPA due to its cell
      signalling function, its anticoagulant actions can further elevate the risk of
      bleeding. Thus, APC variants such as APC(5A), APC(Ca-ins) and APC(36-39) with
      reduced anticoagulant, but normal signalling function may have therapeutic
      benefit. Human and murine protein C (5A), (Ca-ins) and (36-39) variants were
      expressed and characterised. All protein C variants were secreted normally, but 5
      20% of the protein C (Ca-ins) variants were secreted as disulphide-linked dimers.
      Thrombin generation assays suggested reductions in anticoagulant function of 50-
      to 57-fold for APC(36-39), 22- to 27-fold for APC(Ca-ins) and 14- to 17-fold for
      APC(5A). Interestingly, whereas human wt APC, APC(36-39) and APC(Ca-ins) were
      inhibited similarly by protein C inhibitor (t1/2 - 33 to 39 mins), APC(5A) was
      inactivated ~9-fold faster (t1/2 - 4 mins). Using the murine middle cerebral
      artery occlusion ischaemia/repurfusion injury model, in combination with tPA,
      APC(36-39), which cannot be enhanced by its cofactor protein S, significantly
      improved neurological scores, reduced cerebral infarct area by ~50% and reduced
      oedema ratio. APC(36-39) also significantly reduced bleeding in the brain induced
      by administration of tPA, whereas wt APC did not. If our data can be extrapolated
      to clinical settings, then APC(36-39) could represent a feasible adjunctive
      therapy for ischaemic stroke. 

PMID- 25830553
TI  - The identification and characterization of specific ARF-Aux/IAA regulatory
      modules in plant growth and development.
AB  - The current model of auxin-inducible transcription describes numerous regulatory
      interactions between AUXIN RESPONSE FACTORs (ARFs) and Aux/IAAs. However,
      specific relationships between individual members of these families in planta
      remain largely uncharacterized. Using a systems biology approach, the entire
      suite of Aux/IAA genes directly regulated by the developmentally pivotal ARF
      MONOPTEROS (MP) was recently determined for multiple Arabidopsis tissue types.
      This study showed that MP directly targets distinct subclades of Aux/IAAs,
      revealing potential regulatory modules of redundantly acting Aux/IAAs involved in
      MP-dependent processes. Further, functional analyses indicated that the protein
      products of these targeted Aux/IAAs negatively feedback on MP. Thus,
      comprehensive identification of Aux/IAAs targeted by individual ARFs will
      generate biologically meaningful networks of ARF-Aux/IAA regulatory modules
      controlling distinct plant pathways. 

PMID- 25830555
TI  - Molecular Detection of Foodborne Pathogens: A Rapid and Accurate Answer to Food
      Safety.
AB  - Food safety is a global health concern. For the prevention and recognition of
      problems related to health and safety, detection of foodborne pathogen is of
      utmost importance at all levels of food production chain. For several decades, a
      lot of research has been targeted at the development of rapid methodology as
      reducing the time needed to complete pathogen detection tests has been the
      primary goal of food microbiologists. With the result, food microbiology
      laboratories now have a wide array of detection methods and automated
      technologies such as enzyme immunoassay, polymerase chain reaction, and
      microarrays, which can cut test times considerably. Nucleic acid amplification
      strategies and advances in amplicon detection methodologies have been the key
      factors in the progress of molecular microbiology. A comprehensive literature
      survey has been carried out to give an overview in the field of foodborne
      pathogen detection. In this paper, we describe the conventional methods, as well
      as recent developments in food pathogen detection, identification, and
      quantification, with a major emphasis on molecular detection methods. 

PMID- 25830554
TI  - The SKINT1-like gene is inactivated in hominoids but not in all primate species:
      implications for the origin of dendritic epidermal T cells.
AB  - Dendritic epidermal T cells, which express an invariant Vgamma5Vdelta1 T-cell
      receptor and account for 95% of all resident T cells in the mouse epidermis, play
      a critical role in skin immune surveillance. These gammadelta T cells are
      generated by positive selection in the fetal thymus, after which they migrate to
      the skin. The development of dendritic epidermal T cells is critically dependent
      on the Skint1 gene expressed specifically in keratinocytes and thymic epithelial
      cells, suggesting an indispensable role for Skint1 in the selection machinery for
      specific intraepithelial lymphocytes. Phylogenetically, rodents have functional
      SKINT1 molecules, but humans and chimpanzees have a SKINT1-like (SKINT1L) gene
      with multiple inactivating mutations. In the present study, we analyzed SKINT1L
      sequences in representative primate species and found that all hominoid species
      have a common inactivating mutation, but that Old World monkeys such as olive
      baboons, green monkeys, cynomolgus macaques and rhesus macaques have apparently
      functional SKINT1L sequences, indicating that SKINT1L was inactivated in a common
      ancestor of hominoids. Interestingly, the epidermis of cynomolgus macaques
      contained a population of dendritic-shaped gammadelta T cells expressing a semi
      invariant Vgamma10/Vdelta1 T-cell receptor. However, this population of macaque T
      cells differed from rodent dendritic epidermal T cells in that their
      Vgamma10/Vdelta1 T-cell receptors displayed junctional diversity and expression
      of Vgamma10 was not epidermis-specific. Therefore, macaques do not appear to have
      rodent-type dendritic epidermal T cells despite having apparently functional
      SKINT1L. Comprehensive bioinformatics analysis indicates that SKINT1L emerged in
      an ancestor of placental mammals but was inactivated or lost multiple times in
      mammalian evolution and that Skint1 arose by gene duplication in a rodent
      lineage, suggesting that authentic dendritic epidermal T cells are presumably
      unique to rodents. 

PMID- 25830556
TI  - Enhanced production of protease by Pseudoalteromonas arctica PAMC 21717 via
      statistical optimization of mineral components and fed-batch fermentation.
AB  - The objective of this study was to statistically optimize the mineral components
      of the nutritional medium required for enhancing the production of a cold-active
      extracellular serine-type protease, W-Pro21717, by the Antarctic bacterium
      Pseudoalteromonas arctica PAMC 21717. Skim milk was identified as the major
      efficient inducer. Among the 12 components included in the unoptimized medium,
      skim milk, NaCl, Na2SO4, Fe(C6H5O7) (ferric citrate), and KCl were determined, by
      the Plackett-Burman and Box-Behnken design, to have a major effect on W-Pro21717
      production. Fed-batch fermentation (5 L scale) using the mineral-optimized medium
      supplemented with concentrated skim milk (critical medium component) resulted in
      a W-Pro21717 activity of 53.4 U/L, a 15-fold increment in production over that
      obtained using unoptimized flask culture conditions. These findings could be
      applied to scale up the production of cold-active protease. 

PMID- 25830557
TI  - Acute recanalization of carotid stenosis is not proper: an experimental ischaemic
      stroke study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: In a rat common carotid artery (CCA) stenosis model, the author
      determined the function of blood-brain barrier (BBB) at different time points and
      established an optimal time for CCA recanalization in rats with CCA stenosis
      combined with cerebral infarction. METHODS: Common carotid artery severe stenosis
      combined with cerebral infarction was divided into two groups: CCA stenosis group
      (n = 48) and CCA stenosis recanalization group (n = 48). Common carotid artery
      stenosis recanalization was opened at time points of 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 14  days.
      Twenty-four hours after recanalization, neurological behaviour, motor function,
      brain water content and immunohistochemistry of laminin and fibronectin were used
      to assess brain injury. The peak systolic velocity (PSV) determined by colour
      Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) was used to assess blood flow of the CCA. RESULTS: In
      contrast to CCA stenosis without recanalization, in which severe neurological
      deficits and foot fault were observed at 1, 2 and 3  days, significantly less
      neurological deficits at 14 days and less foot fault placing at 5, 7 and 14  days
      were observed after recanalization (P < 0.05). Although the brain water content
      was enhanced in the recanalization group at the stage of 1-3  days (P < 0.05), a
      decrease in recanalization group at all time points (1-14  days) was found. Being
      consistent with reduced brain oedema, the expression of laminin and fibronectin
      gradually increased in both groups. However, at the early phase of 7-14  days (vs
      acute phase), the levels of basal laminar proteins were significantly (P < 0.05)
      enhanced by vascular recanalization in both the ischaemic core and penumbra. Peak
      systolic velocity of CCA after recanalization reached the control level without
      stenosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that the optimal time to open the CCA
      stenosis complicating cerebral infarction is at or after 7  days of CCA stenosis.

PMID- 25830559
TI  - Structural Equation Modeling Supports a Moderating Role of Personality in the
      Relationship Between Physical Activity and Mental Health in College Women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A positive association between physical activity and mental health is
      well established, particularly for lower symptoms of depression and anxiety among
      active adults. However, it is unclear whether the association is influenced by
      personality, which might moderate or otherwise explain the association. In
      addition, past studies have not confirmed the association using an objective
      measure of physical activity. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to examine whether
      Extraversion and Neuroticism influence the association between mental health and
      physical activity measured by convergent self-reports and an accelerometer.
      METHODS: Structural equation modeling was used to test competing models of the
      relationships between personality, physical activity, and mental health in a
      sample of female undergraduates. RESULTS: In bivariate analysis, mental health
      was negatively related to Neuroticism and positively related to Extraversion,
      self-reported physical activity (which was related only to Extraversion,
      positively), and objective physical activity (which was related only to
      Neuroticism, negatively). In structural equation modeling, a 3-way interaction
      indicated that objective physical activity and mental health were unrelated in
      extraverts, but related positively in neurotic-introverts and negatively in
      stable-introverts. CONCLUSIONS: Higher levels of physical activity were
      associated with better mental health only in neurotic-introverts, who are at
      higher risk for mental health problems.

PMID- 25830558
TI  - The gut-brain axis: interactions between enteric microbiota, central and enteric
      nervous systems.
AB  - The gut-brain axis (GBA) consists of bidirectional communication between the
      central and the enteric nervous system, linking emotional and cognitive centers
      of the brain with peripheral intestinal functions. Recent advances in research
      have described the importance of gut microbiota in influencing these
      interactions. This interaction between microbiota and GBA appears to be
      bidirectional, namely through signaling from gut-microbiota to brain and from
      brain to gut-microbiota by means of neural, endocrine, immune, and humoral links.
      In this review we summarize the available evidence supporting the existence of
      these interactions, as well as the possible pathophysiological mechanisms
      involved. Most of the data have been acquired using technical strategies
      consisting in germ-free animal models, probiotics, antibiotics, and infection
      studies. In clinical practice, evidence of microbiota-GBA interactions comes from
      the association of dysbiosis with central nervous disorders (i.e. autism, anxiety
      depressive behaviors) and functional gastrointestinal disorders. In particular,
      irritable bowel syndrome can be considered an example of the disruption of these
      complex relationships, and a better understanding of these alterations might
      provide new targeted therapies.

PMID- 25830560
TI  - Carotene Degradation and Isomerization during Thermal Processing: A Review on the
      Kinetic Aspects.
AB  - Kinetic models are important tools for process design and optimization to balance
      desired and undesired reactions taking place in complex food systems during food
      processing and preservation. This review covers the state of the art on kinetic
      models available to describe heat-induced conversion of carotenoids, in
      particular lycopene and beta-carotene. First, relevant properties of these
      carotenoids are discussed. Second, some general aspects of kinetic modeling are
      introduced, including both empirical single-response modeling and mechanism-based
      multi-response modeling. The merits of multi-response modeling to simultaneously
      describe carotene degradation and isomerization are demonstrated. The future
      challenge in this research field lies in the extension of the current multi
      response models to better approach the real reaction pathway and in the
      integration of kinetic models with mass transfer models in case of reaction in
      multi-phase food systems. 

PMID- 25830561
TI  - Bone cells in birds show exceptional surface area, a characteristic tracing back
      to saurischian dinosaurs of the late Triassic.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dinosaurs are unique among terrestrial tetrapods in their body sizes,
      which range from less than 3 gm in hummingbirds to 70,000 kg or more in
      sauropods. Studies of the microstructure of bone tissue have indicated that large
      dinosaurs, once believed to be slow growing, attained maturity at rates
      comparable to or greater than those of large mammals. A number of structural
      criteria in bone tissue have been used to assess differences in rates of
      osteogenesis in extinct taxa, including counts of lines of arrested growth and
      the density of vascular canals. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we examine
      the density of the cytoplasmic surface of bone-producing cells, a feature which
      may set an upper limit to the rate of osteogenesis. Osteocyte lacunae and
      canaliculi, the cavities in bone containing osteocytes and their extensions, were
      measured in thin-sections of primary (woven and parallel fibered) bone in a
      diversity of tetrapods. The results indicate that bone cell surfaces are more
      densely organized in the Saurischia (extant birds, extinct Mesozoic Theropoda and
      Sauropodomorpha) than in other tetrapods, a result of denser branching of the
      cell extensions. The highest postnatal growth rates among extant tetrapods occur
      in modern birds, the only surviving saurischians, and the finding of exceptional
      cytoplasmic surface area of the cells that produce bone in this group suggests a
      relationship with bone growth rate. In support of this relationship is finding
      the lowest cell surface density among the saurischians examined in Dinornis, a
      member of a group of ratites that evolved in New Zealand in isolation from
      mammalian predators and show other evidence of lowered maturation rates.

PMID- 25830563
TI  - Charging a capacitor from an external fluctuating potential using a single
      conical nanopore.
AB  - We explore the electrical rectification of large amplitude fluctuating signals by
      an asymmetric nanostructure operating in aqueous solution. We show experimentally
      and theoretically that a load capacitor can be charged to voltages close to 1 V
      within a few minutes by converting zero time-average potentials of amplitudes in
      the range 0.5-3 V into average net currents using a single conical nanopore. This
      process suggests that significant energy conversion and storage from an
      electrically fluctuating environment is feasible with a nanoscale pore immersed
      in a liquid electrolyte solution, a system characteristic of bioelectronics
      interfaces, electrochemical cells, and nanoporous membranes. 

PMID- 25830562
TI  - Nrg1 is an injury-induced cardiomyocyte mitogen for the endogenous heart
      regeneration program in zebrafish.
AB  - Heart regeneration is limited in adult mammals but occurs naturally in adult
      zebrafish through the activation of cardiomyocyte division. Several components of
      the cardiac injury microenvironment have been identified, yet no factor on its
      own is known to stimulate overt myocardial hyperplasia in a mature, uninjured
      animal. In this study, we find evidence that Neuregulin1 (Nrg1), previously shown
      to have mitogenic effects on mammalian cardiomyocytes, is sharply induced in
      perivascular cells after injury to the adult zebrafish heart. Inhibition of
      Erbb2, an Nrg1 co-receptor, disrupts cardiomyocyte proliferation in response to
      injury, whereas myocardial Nrg1 overexpression enhances this proliferation. In
      uninjured zebrafish, the reactivation of Nrg1 expression induces cardiomyocyte
      dedifferentiation, overt muscle hyperplasia, epicardial activation, increased
      vascularization, and causes cardiomegaly through persistent addition of wall
      myocardium. Our findings identify Nrg1 as a potent, induced mitogen for the
      endogenous adult heart regeneration program. 

PMID- 25830564
TI  - Biomass pyrolysis for biochar or energy applications? A life cycle assessment.
AB  - The application of biochar as a soil amendment is a potential strategy for carbon
      sequestration. In this paper, a slow pyrolysis system for generating heat and
      biochar from lignocellulosic energy crops is simulated and its life-cycle
      performance compared with that of direct biomass combustion. The use of the char
      as biochar is also contrasted with alternative use options: cofiring in coal
      power plants, use as charcoal, and use as a fuel for heat generation.
      Additionally, the influence on the results of the long-term stability of the
      biochar in the soil, as well as of biochar effects on biomass yield, is
      evaluated. Negative greenhouse gas emissions are obtained for the biochar system,
      indicating a significant carbon abatement potential. However, this is achieved at
      the expense of lower energy efficiency and higher impacts in the other assessed
      categories when compared to direct biomass combustion. When comparing the
      different use options of the pyrolysis char, the most favorable result is
      obtained for char cofiring substituting fossil coal, even assuming high long-term
      stability of the char. Nevertheless, a high sensitivity to biomass yield increase
      is found for biochar systems. In this sense, biochar application to low-quality
      soils where high yield increases are expected would show a more favorable
      performance in terms of global warming. 

PMID- 25830565
TI  - Nanodiscs as a Modular Platform for Multimodal MR-Optical Imaging.
AB  - Nanodiscs are monodisperse, self-assembled discoidal particles that consist of a
      lipid bilayer encircled by membrane scaffold proteins (MSP). Nanodiscs have been
      used to solubilize membrane proteins for structural and functional studies and
      deliver therapeutic phospholipids. Herein, we report on tetramethylrhodamine
      (TMR) tagged nanodiscs that solubilize lipophilic MR contrast agents for
      generation of multimodal nanoparticles for cellular imaging. We incorporate both
      multimeric and monomeric Gd(III)-based contrast agents into nanodiscs and show
      that particles containing the monomeric agent (ND2) label cells with high
      efficiency and generate significant image contrast at 7 T compared to nanodiscs
      containing the multimeric agent (ND1) and Prohance, a clinically approved
      contrast agent. 

PMID- 25830566
TI  - Hepatic artery duplex Doppler ultrasound in severe alcoholic hepatitis and
      correlation with Maddrey's discriminant function.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Alcoholic hepatitis is associated with altered hepatic artery
      hemodynamics. Maddrey's discriminant function (MDF) can identify patients with
      poor prognosis (DF >32). We studied hepatic artery hemodynamic parameters of
      hepatic artery diameter (HAD), resistive index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI) in
      severe acute alcoholic hepatitis (SAAH) and for the presence of correlation of
      parameters with severity factor MDF. METHODS: A total of 20 consecutive SAAH
      patients defined as MDF >32 and a group of 20 alcoholic cirrhosis patients
      without alcoholic hepatitis formed the two study groups. Hepatic artery Doppler
      parameters HAD, RI, PI were determined after admission in the Gastroenterology
      Department, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, India. MDF score of
      SAAH was calculated at the time of admission to the hospital. RESULTS: The mean
      HAD showed statistically significant increase in SAAH compared with cirrhosis
      (3.96+/-0.51 vs. 2.86+/-0.41, P<0.001). There was statistically significant
      decrease in mean RI (0.49+/-0.08 vs. 0.81+/-0.09, P<0.001) and mean PI (1.67+/
      0.13 vs. 1.80+/-0.13, P<0.001) in SAAH compared with alcoholic cirrhosis.
      Statistically significant correlation between MDF and HAD (r=0.63, P<0.003) was
      found in SAAH. On linear regression, 36% of the variability in MDF could be
      independently predicted by HAD. CONCLUSION: Hepatic artery parameters of HAD, RI,
      PI had a significant difference in SAAH compared with alcoholic cirrhosis
      patients thereby being useful as a diagnostic tool. HAD showed correlation with
      MDF score assessing the severity of alcoholic hepatitis and may be a useful non
      invasive prognostic tool.

PMID- 25830567
TI  - Stanniocalicin 2 suppresses breast cancer cell migration and invasion via the
      PKC/claudin-1-mediated signaling.
AB  - Stanniocalcin (STC), a glycoprotein hormone, is expressed in a wide variety of
      tissues to regulate Ca2+ and PO4- homeostasis. STC2, a member of STC family, has
      been reported to be associated with tumor development. In this study, we
      investigated whether the expression of STC2 is associated with migration and
      invasion of breast cancer cells. We found that breast cancer cell line 231 HM
      transfected with STC2 shRNA displayed high motility, fibroblast morphology, and
      enhanced cell migration and invasion. Introduction of STC2 in 231 cells reduced
      cell migration and invasion. In response to irradiation, silencing of STC2 in 231
      HM cells reduced apoptosis, whereas overexpression of STC2 in 231 cells promoted
      apoptosis, compared with in control cells. Mechanistic study showed that STC2
      negatively regulated PKC to control the expression of Claudin-1, which
      subsequently induced the expressions of EMT-related factors including ZEB1, ZO-1,
      Slug, Twist, and MMP9. Suppression of PKC activity by using a PKC inhibitor (Go
      6983) restored the normal motility of STC2-silenced cells. Furthermore, in vivo
      animal assay showed that STC2 inhibited tumorigenesis and metastasis of breast
      cancer cells. Collectively, these results indicate that STC2 may inhibit EMT at
      least partially through the PKC/Claudin-1-mediated signaling in human breast
      cancer cells. Thus, STC2 may be exploited as a biomarker for metastasis and
      targeted therapy in human breast cancer. 

PMID- 25830568
TI  - Epidemiology of Road Traffic Injuries Treated in a Large Romanian Emergency
      Department in Tirgu-Mures Between 2009 and 2010.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Road traffic injuries are one of the leading causes of preventable
      unintentional injury. The European Injury Database estimated that in European
      Union (EU)-27 countries, road traffic injuries account for 10% of all injuries
      treated in the emergency department or admitted to the hospital, accounting for
      4.2 million victims each year. We examined the characteristics and outcomes of
      road traffic injuries treated in a large emergency department in Romania by
      different types of road users. METHODS: Secondary data analysis was conducted on
      a sample of patients who suffered a transport-related injury and received care at
      the Emergency Department of Mures County Emergency Hospital in Romania. Data was
      collected by 2 trained emergency physicians between March 2009 and July 2010, as
      part of the European Injury Database project. Information about demographics,
      mechanism, nature, place of occurrence, and activity of injury; treatment and
      follow-up; and mode of transport were described for 5 different categories of
      road users: animal-drawn vehicle (operator and passenger), passenger car (driver
      and passenger), motorcycle (driver and passenger), bicyclist, and pedestrian.
      RESULTS: A total of 2,782 patients were treated in the emergency department, of
      which 718 (25.8%) were road traffic injuries. The male-to-female ratio was 2:1.
      The highest percentage of patients were injured in passenger cars (49%), followed
      by motorcycles (16.7%). For both types of road users, the majority of patients
      were between the ages of 18 and 29. Pedestrian injuries accounted for 14.6%, of
      which a third were children up to the age of 17 and 40% were adults and elderly
      over the age of 50. The majority of patients were injured due to contact with a
      moving object (48.1%), followed by contact with static object (23.5%), then
      falling, stumbling, jumping, or being pushed (19.6%). Contusion and bruises
      (54.9%) were the most common diagnosis, followed by fractures (20.1%) and open
      wounds (10.2%) for all road user categories. The most common part of the body
      injured for all road user categories was the head region (42.3%). Of the 34.9%
      patients treated and admitted to the hospital, 30% had a length of stay between 4
      and 7 days. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the extent, nature, and characteristics of
      road traffic injuries may help to identify vulnerable road users in specific
      settings and implement the most effective prevention strategies targeting the
      most affected populations.

PMID- 25830571
TI  - Transitions in osteopathic medical education.

PMID- 25830569
TI  - Gender-specific prevalence and associated risk factors of high normal blood
      pressure and hypertension among multi-ethnic Chinese adolescents aged 8-18 years
      old.
AB  - AIM: To date, accurate reports about the prevalence of high normal blood pressure
      (BP) and hypertension among Chinese adolescents have been rare. We examine the
      sex-specific and age-specific prevalence of high normal BP and hypertension, and
      the associated risk factors among multi-ethnic Chinese adolescents from a large
      and representative sample. METHODS: 29,997 adolescents aged 8-18 years old
      received blood pressure measurement on one clinical visit. RESULTS: The overall
      prevalence was 4.15% for hypertension (4.73% for boys and 3.62% for girls) and
      29.85% for high normal BP (33.40% for boys and 26.65% for girls). The odds ratios
      (ORs) increased with age, but the absolute changes of ORs were significantly
      different between boys and girls. Compared with that of the Han counterparts, the
      risk of high normal BP was 1.960-fold, 1.283-fold and 1.618-fold for Yi boys,
      Mongolian boys and Yi girls, respectively, whereas the OR was 0.440 for Tibetan
      boys, 0.492 for Tibetan girls and 0.794 for Korean girls. Compared with those of
      normal weight, overweight and obese adolescents had significantly increased risk
      of high normal BP (OR = 3.377 for obese boys and OR = 2.009 for overweight boys;
      OR = 2.865 for obese girls and OR = 1.738 for overweight girls). Rural
      adolescents had a higher risk of hypertension than those living in urban areas.
      CONCLUSION: The prevalence of high normal BP and hypertension was high in Chinese
      adolescents. Age, ethnicity, obesity, overweight, abnormal waist circumference,
      family history of cardiovascular diseases and dwelling at rural districts were
      significantly associated with pediatric high normal BP or hypertension.

PMID- 25830572
TI  - A structural examination of medical education reform.

PMID- 25830573
TI  - Single accreditation system: opportunity and duty to promote osteopathic training
      for all interested residency programs.

PMID- 25830574
TI  - The CAST model: enhancing medical student and resident clinical performance
      through feedback.

PMID- 25830575
TI  - Challenges of teaching live and distance audiences simultaneously.

PMID- 25830576
TI  - Developing technology-enhanced active learning for medical education: challenges,
      solutions, and future directions.
AB  - Growing up in an era of video games and Web-based applications has primed current
      medical students to expect rapid, interactive feedback. To address this need, the
      A.T. Still University-School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (Mesa) has
      developed and integrated a variety of approaches using technology-enhanced active
      learning for medical education (TEAL-MEd) into its curriculum. Over the course of
      3 years (2010-2013), the authors facilitated more than 80 implementations of
      games and virtual patient simulations into the education of 550 osteopathic
      medical students. The authors report on 4 key aspects of the TEAL-MEd initiative,
      including purpose, portfolio of tools, progress to date regarding challenges and
      solutions, and future directions. Lessons learned may be of benefit to medical
      educators at academic and clinical training sites who wish to implement TEAL-MEd
      activities. 

PMID- 25830577
TI  - Innovative approach to teaching osteopathic manipulative medicine: the
      integration of ultrasonography.
AB  - CONTEXT: Noninvasive diagnostic methods and palpatory physical examination skills
      are especially important for osteopathic medical students intending to work in
      rural, underresourced, or underserved areas. The A.T. Still University-Kirksville
      College of Osteopathic Medicine integrates ultrasonography into the osteopathic
      manipulative medicine (OMM) courses required during the first 2 years of medical
      school, allowing students to learn the technology and to visualize anatomical
      structures and regions. OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of integrating
      ultrasonography into the first-year and second-year OMM curriculum through the
      evaluation of students' success in demonstrating the technology and visualizing
      the anatomy. METHODS: As part of their OMM requirements at the A.T. Still
      University-Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, all first- and second-year
      students in OMM courses were given ultrasonography assignments that required them
      to obtain images of musculoskeletal structures in different regions of the body.
      First-year students studied craniocervical structures and the thoracic, lumbar,
      and sacral regions. Second-year students studied the glenohumeral joint and the
      suprapatellar recess. The assignments focused on identifying structures of
      interest, making annotations, and measuring the structures of interest. Handouts
      with detailed instructions and a demonstration were provided before each
      assignment. RESULTS: A total of 183 first-year students and 165 second-year
      students participated. Of the first-year students, on average, 177 of 181 were
      able to successfully complete the assignments, with an average completion rate of
      98%. The costotransverse joint assignment yielded the lowest completion rate
      (97%), and the craniocervical landmarks assignment had the highest completion
      rate (99%). Of the second-year students, 162 of 165 participants were able to
      successfully complete the assignments, with an average completion rate of 98%.
      Mean scores were the same for both second-year assignments. CONCLUSION: First
      year and second-year osteopathic medical students successfully demonstrated their
      use and understanding of ultrasonography and found their assigned structures
      using live ultrasound imaging. The skills gained through these assignments added
      another dimension to students' understanding of normal and pathologic
      musculoskeletal anatomy and vasculature. The integration of ultrasonography into
      OMM courses may have created a foundation for learning ultrasound-guided
      injection techniques.

PMID- 25830578
TI  - Comparison of COMLEX-USA scores, medical school performance, and preadmission
      variables between women and men.
AB  - CONTEXT: Previous studies by the author showed differences in preadmission
      variables and Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination-USA (COMLEX
      USA) scores between women and men at the New York Institute of Technology College
      of Osteopathic Medicine (NYIT-COM). It is pertinent to reexamine the preadmission
      variables, medical school performance, and COMLEX-USA scores of women and men to
      determine whether these differences still exist. OBJECTIVE: To examine the
      relationship between student sex and performance on COMLEX-USA Level 1 and Level
      2-Cognitive Evaluation (CE), performance during medical school, and preadmission
      academic variables at NYIT-COM. METHODS: Scores on COMLEX-USA Level 1 and COMLEX
      USA Level 2-CE, grades in all courses taken during the first 2 years of medical
      school, the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners' clinical science
      subject examination scores, Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores, and
      undergraduate grade point averages (GPAs) were compared between women and men in
      the classes graduating between 2009 and 2012. RESULTS: Data from 748 students
      were analyzed. Men had statistically significantly higher scores than women on
      COMLEX-USA Level 1 in 2009 (540 vs 500; P<.001) and 2010 (537 vs 496; P<.001). No
      statistically significant difference in COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE scores was found
      between women and men. The performance of women and men was comparable during the
      first 2 years of medical school and on clinical science subject examinations in
      years 3 and 4. Men had statistically significantly higher MCAT scores than women,
      but no statistically significant differences were found between women's and men's
      undergraduate GPAs. CONCLUSION: Men were found to have higher scores than women
      on COMLEX-USA Level 1 and the MCAT. However, the reasons behind these data have
      yet to be elucidated. Although a stronger background in basic science could
      explain the discrepancy in scores between women and men, women were found to have
      equally high science GPAs and performed comparably to men in osteopathic medical
      school. The results were in agreement with previous studies at NYIT-COM.

PMID- 25830579
TI  - Relationship between residency placement and clerkship site enrollment: a
      retrospective analysis.
AB  - CONTEXT: Osteopathic medical students frequently engage in clinical clerkships
      away from their home teaching institution, which can help them decide on a
      residency program, gain additional experience in a new environment, and further
      their professional contacts. Conventional wisdom states that these audition
      clerkships are an important factor in residency placement, but the educational
      literature concerning the topic is lacking. OBJECTIVE: To determine the
      relationship between clerkship site enrollment and residency placement so that
      empirical guidelines can be established for osteopathic medical students in the
      process of making informed decisions about their clerkships, particularly during
      the fourth year. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted. Data on
      clerkship and residency placement were compiled for the classes of 2008, 2009,
      and 2010 at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine,
      and chi2 goodness-of-fit analysis and chi2 tests of independence were used to
      explore relationships between clerkship and residency placement. RESULTS: Of 862
      graduates, data were available for 812 (94.2%). Statistically significant
      relationships were noted between residency program status (osteopathic,
      allopathic, and military) and audition clerkship, with fewer graduates completing
      audition clerkships in allopathic programs and with more graduates completing
      audition clerkships in osteopathic and military residency programs than expected
      from an independent relationship. A total of 416 graduates (51.2%) did not enroll
      in the residency program where they completed their audition clerkship. A total
      of 352 graduates (43.3%) enrolled in the residency program where they completed
      their audition clerkship. An additional 44 graduates (5.4%) did not complete an
      audition clerkship in the discipline of their residency program but rotated at a
      hospital. A total of 364 graduates (44.8%) enrolled in osteopathic residency
      programs, 425 (52.3%) enrolled in allopathic programs, and 23 (2.8%) enrolled in
      military programs. CONCLUSION: Although the results of this study are specific to
      1 medical school, they provide evidence to counter long-held beliefs that
      audition clerkships determine residency placement.

PMID- 25830580
TI  - Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination-USA level 1 and level 2
      cognitive evaluation preparation and outcomes.
AB  - The Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination-USA (COMLEX-USA)
      assesses the competence of osteopathic physicians in training. It is designed to
      protect the public by setting minimum competence standards. All osteopathic
      medical students must pass COMLEX-USA Level 1, Level 2-Cognitive Evaluation, and
      Level 2-Performance Evaluation before being allowed to graduate from an
      osteopathic medical school. Residency training programs use COMLEX-USA scores as
      a major factor in deciding whom they will interview and admit into their
      programs. In addition, colleges of osteopathic medicine use student COMLEX-USA
      scores as an external assessment of their success in educating students. Because
      COMLEX-USA is a high-stakes examination series, it is important to understand
      predictive factors for performance. The authors review the literature on the
      relationship between COMLEX-USA scores and correlated student variables. Results
      from the Council on Osteopathic Student Government Presidents' survey on
      students' preparation methods and performance are also provided. 

PMID- 25830581
TI  - International medical graduates in the US physician workforce.
AB  - International medical graduates (IMGs) play a vital role in the US health care
      system. These graduates represent 26% of physicians in practice and 24% of
      residents in specialty programs. All IMGs go through US medical licensing
      examination and credentialing verification to receive certification from the
      Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates to become eligible to enter
      the US graduate medical education process. Compared with US graduates, IMGs tend
      to practice in primary care specialties and in underserved and rural areas. The
      author summarizes available data regarding IMGs in training and in practice to
      convey the role IMGs play in the US health care system. 

PMID- 25830582
TI  - New colleges of osteopathic medicine, branch campuses, and additional locations-
      what is the difference?
AB  - The American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College
      Accreditation (AOA COCA) is recognized by the US Secretary of Education as the
      only accrediting agency for predoctoral osteopathic medical education. To
      maintain its recognition with the US Secretary of Education, the AOA COCA is
      required to adhere to all federal laws and regulations associated with
      recognition of accrediting agencies. In this article, the authors discuss the
      development of new colleges of osteopathic medicine (COMs). They also discuss the
      development of additional locations and branch campuses of existing COMs and
      compare the 2 processes. Also included is a review of the AOA COCA- approved
      class sizes of the accredited COMs. 

PMID- 25830583
TI  - The single graduate medical education accreditation system.
AB  - In 2014, the American Osteopathic Association, the American Association of
      Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Accreditation Council for Graduate
      Medical Education signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding, which creates a
      single accreditation system for graduate medical education. The present article
      outlines the history of the agreement and the 5-year transition process, which
      begins July 1, 2015, and ends June 30, 2020. 

PMID- 25830584
TI  - Osteopathic postdoctoral training institutions' 2014 annual report.
AB  - In 2013, the Board of Trustees of the American Osteopathic Association approved
      the new mission and vision statements of osteopathic postdoctoral training
      institutions (OPTIs) to ensure that OPTIs were operating effectively as academic
      sponsors of osteopathic graduate medical education. Since then, OPTIs have made
      substantial strides in meeting and exceeding the new mandates. The authors
      discuss the revised OPTI accreditation standards, the OPTI annual report, and
      recent activities. 

PMID- 25830585
TI  - Evolution of AOA specialty board certification.
AB  - The launch of Osteopathic Continuous Certification (OCC) signifes the next stage
      of the osteopathic board certification process. The OCC process replaces the old
      recertification system for all osteopathic physicians who earned time-limited
      certificates from American Osteopathic Association (AOA) certifying boards. All
      18 AOA certifying boards are now engaged in the continuous certification process.
      With the advent of any new system, many questions and concerns will arise. The
      AOA Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists continues to evaluate its new certification
      system and prepare for modifcations in response to this feedback.

PMID- 25830589
TI  - Large paraesophageal hiatal hernia in a patient with chest pain.

PMID- 25830591
TI  - Modeling the Role of pH on Baltic Sea Cyanobacteria.
AB  - We simulate pH-dependent growth of cyanobacteria with an ecosystem model for the
      central Baltic Sea. Four model components-a life cycle model of cyanobacteria, a
      biogeochemical model, a carbonate chemistry model and a water column model-are
      coupled via the framework for aquatic biogeochemical models. The coupled model is
      forced by the output of a regional climate model, based on the A1B emission
      scenario. With this coupled model, we perform simulations for the period 1968
      2098. Our simulation experiments suggest that in the future, cyanobacteria growth
      is hardly affected by the projected pH decrease. However, in the simulation phase
      prior to 1980, cyanobacteria growth and N2-fixation are limited by the relatively
      high pH. The observed absence of cyanobacteria before the 1960s may thus be
      explained not only by lower eutrophication levels, but also by a higher
      alkalinity. 

PMID- 25830590
TI  - Evolutionary Aspects and Regulation of Tetrapyrrole Biosynthesis in Cyanobacteria
      under Aerobic and Anaerobic Environments.
AB  - Chlorophyll a (Chl) is a light-absorbing tetrapyrrole pigment that is essential
      for photosynthesis. The molecule is produced from glutamate via a complex
      biosynthetic pathway comprised of at least 15 enzymatic steps. The first half of
      the Chl pathway is shared with heme biosynthesis, and the latter half, called the
      Mg-branch, is specific to Mg-containing Chl a. Bilin pigments, such as
      phycocyanobilin, are additionally produced from heme, so these light-harvesting
      pigments also share many common biosynthetic steps with Chl biosynthesis. Some of
      these common steps in the biosynthetic pathways of heme, Chl and bilins require
      molecular oxygen for catalysis, such as oxygen-dependent coproporphyrinogen III
      oxidase. Cyanobacteria thrive in diverse environments in terms of oxygen levels.
      To cope with Chl deficiency caused by low-oxygen conditions, cyanobacteria have
      developed elaborate mechanisms to maintain Chl production, even under microoxic
      environments. The use of enzymes specialized for low-oxygen conditions, such as
      oxygen-independent coproporphyrinogen III oxidase, constitutes part of a
      mechanism adapted to low-oxygen conditions. Another mechanism adaptive to hypoxic
      conditions is mediated by the transcriptional regulator ChlR that senses low
      oxygen and subsequently activates the transcription of genes encoding enzymes
      that work under low-oxygen tension. In diazotrophic cyanobacteria, this
      multilayered regulation also contributes in Chl biosynthesis by supporting energy
      production for nitrogen fixation that also requires low-oxygen conditions. We
      will also discuss the evolutionary implications of cyanobacterial tetrapyrrole
      biosynthesis and regulation, because low oxygen-type enzymes also appear to be
      evolutionarily older than oxygen-dependent enzymes. 

PMID- 25830592
TI  - Pregnancy outcome following maternal exposure to mirtazapine: a multicenter,
      prospective study.
AB  - This multicenter, observational prospective cohort study addresses the risk
      associated with exposure to mirtazapine during pregnancy. Pregnancy outcomes
      after exposure to mirtazapine were compared with 2 matched control groups: (1)
      exposure to any selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI, control subjects
      with a psychiatric condition) and (2) no exposure to medication known to be
      teratogenic or any antidepressant (general control subjects). Data were collected
      by members of the European Network of Teratology Information Services between
      1995 and 2011. Observations from 357 exposed pregnancies were compared with 357
      pregnancies from each control group. The rate of major birth defects between the
      mirtazapine and the SSRI group did not differ significantly (4.5% vs 4.2%; odds
      ratio [OR], 1.1; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.5-2.3; P = 0.9). A trend
      toward a higher rate of birth defects in the mirtazapine group compared with
      general control subjects (4.5% vs 1.9%; OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 0.9-6.3; P = 0.08)
      reached statistical significance after exclusion of chromosomal or genetic
      anomalies (4.1% vs 1.3%; OR, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.04-10.3; P = 0.03), but this
      difference became again nonsignificant if cases of exposure not comprising the
      first trimester were excluded from the analysis (3.4% vs 1.9%; OR, 1.8; 95% CI,
      0.6-5.0; P = 0.26). The crude miscarriage rate did not differ significantly
      between the mirtazapine, the SSRI, and the general control groups (12.1% vs 12.0%
      vs 9.3%; P = 0.44). However, a higher rate of elective pregnancy termination was
      observed in the mirtazapine group compared with SSRI and general control subjects
      (7.8% vs 3.4% vs 5.6%; P = 0.03). This study did not observe a statistically
      significant difference in the rate of major birth defects after first-trimester
      exposure between mirtazapine, SSRI-exposed, and nonexposed pregnancies. A
      marginally higher rate of birth defects was, however, observed in the mirtazapine
      and SSRI groups compared with the low rate of birth defects in our general
      control subjects. Overall pregnancy outcome after mirtazapine exposure was
      similar to that of the SSRI-exposed control group. 

PMID- 25830593
TI  - Suicide attempt during late pregnancy with quetiapine: nonfatal outcome despite
      severe intoxication.

PMID- 25830594
TI  - Efficacy and safety of sertindole in schizophrenia: a clinical review.
AB  - Sertindole is an atypical antipsychotic reintroduced into the European market in
      2005 after a reevaluation of its risks and benefits, under the agreement that
      close electrocardiographic screening would be conducted. It has a high affinity
      for dopamine D2, serotonin 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C, and alpha1 adrenergic receptors.
      Moreover, sertindole shows modest affinity for H1-histaminergic and muscarinic
      receptors. The pharmacological properties, clinical efficacy, safety, and
      tolerability of sertindole are covered in this article based on a literature
      review from 1990 to 2014. Given current available findings, sertindole is at
      least effective as haloperidol, risperidone, and olanzapine on schizophrenia
      symptoms. Regarding its efficacy on cognitive symptoms, sertindole effect is
      supported by both preclinical and clinical studies versus haloperidol and
      olanzapine; however, its role on cognition needs further clarification.
      Concerning safety and tolerability issues, sertindole is characterized by a low
      potential to cause sedation and extrapyramidal symptoms, and by an acceptable
      metabolic profile; nevertheless, cardiac safety remains a major concern, and the
      electrocardiographic monitoring should be carried out during treatment to
      substantially reduce cardiovascular risk. In conclusion, although it has an
      equivalent profile compared to other antipsychotic drugs, sertindole actually
      remains a second-line choice for schizophrenic patients intolerant to at least
      one other antipsychotic agent. 

PMID- 25830595
TI  - Correction to Nematicidal activities of 4-quinolone alkaloids isolated from the
      aerial part of Triumfetta grandidens against Meloidogyne incognita.

PMID- 25830596
TI  - Blood lead levels in children aged 0-6 years old in Hunan Province, China from
      2009-2013.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to describe blood lead levels (BLLs) and the
      prevalence of elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs) in children aged 0-6 years old
      and to analyze the BLL trend in children from 2009 to 2013 in China. METHODS: A
      total of 124,376 children aged 0-6 years old were recruited for this study from
      January 1st 2009 to December 31st 2013. Their blood lead levels were analyzed
      using atomic absorption spectrometry. RESULTS: The median BLL was 64.3 MUg/L
      (IQR: 49.6-81.0), and the range was 4.3-799.0 MUg/L. Blood lead levels were
      significantly higher in boys (66.0 MUg/L) than in girls (61.9 MUg/L) (P<0.001).
      The overall prevalence of BLLs>=100 MUg/L was 10.54% in children aged 0-6 years
      in Hunan Province. Between 2009 and 2013, the prevalence of EBLLs (>=100 MUg/L)
      decreased from 18.31% to 4.26% in children aged 0-6 years and increased with age.
      The prevalence of EBLLs has dramatically decreased in two stages (2009-2010 and
      2012-2013), with a slight fluctuation in 2010 and 2011. CONCLUSIONS: Both BLLs
      and the prevalence of EBLLs in children aged 0-6 years old declined substantially
      from 2009 to 2013 in Hunan Province; however, both remain at unacceptably high
      levels compared to developed countries. Comprehensive strategies are required to
      further reduce blood lead levels in children.

PMID- 25830597
TI  - Circulatory endotoxin concentration and cytokine profile in response to
      exertional-heat stress during a multi-stage ultra-marathon competition.
AB  - Exertional-heat stress has the potential to disturb intestinal integrity, leading
      to enhanced permeability of enteric pathogenic micro-organisms and associated
      clinical manifestations. The study aimed to determine the circulatory endotoxin
      concentration and cytokine profile of ultra-endurance runners (UER, n=19) and a
      control group (CON, n=12) during a five stage 230km ultra-marathon (mean +/- SD:
      27h38min +/- 3h55min) conducted in hot and dry environmental conditions (30oC to
      40oC and 31% to 40% relative humidity). Body mass and tympanic temperature were
      measured, and venous blood samples were taken before (pre-stage) and immediately
      after (post-stage) each stage of the ultra-marathon for the analysis of gram
      negative bacterial endotoxin, C-reactive protein, cytokine profile (IL-6, IL
      1beta, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, IL-10, and IL- 1ra), and plasma osmolality.
      Gastrointestinal symptoms and perceptive thermal tolerance rating were also
      monitored throughout competition. Mean exercise-induced body mass loss over the
      five stages ranged 1.0% to 2.5%. Pre- and poststage plasma osmolality in UER
      ranged277 to 282mOsmol/kg and 286 to 297 mOsmol/kg, respectively. Pre-stage
      concentrations of endotoxin (peak: 21% at Stage 5), C-reactive protein (889% at
      Stage 3), IL-6 (152% at Stage 2), IL-1beta (95% at Stage 5), TNF-alpha (168% at
      Stage 5), IFN-gamma (102% at Stage 5),IL-10 (1271% at Stage 3), and IL-1ra (106%
      at Stage 5) increased as the ultra-marathon progressed in UER; while no changes
      in CON were observed (except for IL-1beta, 71% at Stage 5). Pre- to post-stage
      increases were observed for endotoxin (peak: 22% at Stage 3), C-reactive protein
      (25% at Stage 1), IL-6 (238% at Stage 1), IL-1beta (64% at Stage 1), TNF-alpha
      (101% at Stage 1), IFN-gamma (39% at Stage 1), IL-10 (1100% at Stage 1), and IL
      1ra(207% at Stage 1) concentrations in UER. Multi-stage ultra-marathon
      competition in the heat resulted in a modest circulatory endotoxaemia accompanied
      by a pronounced pro-inflammatory cytokinaemia by post-Stage 1, both of which were
      sustained throughout competition at rest (pre-stage) and after stage completion.
      Compensatory anti-inflammatory responses and other external factors (i.e.,
      training status, cooling strategies, heat acclimatization, nutrition and
      hydration) may have contributed towards limiting the extent of pro-inflammatory
      responses in the current scenario. 

PMID- 25830598
TI  - Iron bioavailability in iron-fortified cereal foods: The contribution of in vitro
      studies.
AB  - Iron deficiency anemia is the most common nutritional deficiency in humans. Not
      all dietary ingested iron, heme or nonheme, will be available to absorption and
      negative imbalance between iron requirements and absorption leads to iron
      deficiency and/or anemia. The recommended iron values usually are based on the
      genetic and on diet iron-bioavailability, which can be considered as the
      principal factor that change among the cultures and influences the distinct
      levels of recommendation among countries. Dietary changes present practical
      limitations due to be difficult to change food habits. The iron food
      fortification is considered more cost effective and economically more attractive
      than iron supplementation. There are many iron compounds available to be used in
      iron fortification. Cereals represent a target food group to iron fortification
      programs due to high consumption and the in vitro studies can be useful to
      estimate the relative iron bioavailability in large number of products in short
      time and with a low cost. Wheat flour baked into bread or not was the main
      product tested in in vitro bioavailability studies and ferrous sulfate was the
      principal iron compound used in the fortification studies. However, iron
      bioavailability from ferrous sulfate is lower than from other compounds, such
      FeNaEDTA or ferric pyrophosphate. The variables level of fortification, storage,
      level of extraction, baking and also the association or not with other chemical
      compound seems to influence the results obtained.

PMID- 25830599
TI  - Negative life events have detrimental effects on in-vitro fertlization outcome.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of negative life events on in
      vitro-fertilization (IVF) outcome. Depression and negative life events were
      measured using Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and List of Recent Events in 83
      women attending the IVF clinic of a tertiary research and education hospital with
      the diagnosis of unexplained infertility between January 2013 and August 2013.
      Demographic features, stimulation parameters, depression scores, and negative
      life events of pregnant and non-pregnant participants were compared and the
      relation between negative life events, depression scores, and IVF outcome was
      investigated. Women who did not achieve a pregnancy experienced more negative
      life events than women who became pregnant (77.2% vs. 23.1%) (p > 0.001). The
      number of patients with moderate-to-severe depression (BDI scores > 16) was
      higher in the non-pregnant group than pregnant group (49.1% vs. 26.9%), however
      the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.057). Clinical pregnancy
      showed a significant moderate negative correlation with the number of negative
      life events (r = -0.513, p = 0.001), but the correlation between clinical
      pregnancy and BDI scores was not statistically significant (r = -0.209, p =
      0.059). Stressful life events have a negative influence on the quality of life,
      which eventually affects in IVF outcome, possibly through maladaptive lifestyle
      behavior. 

PMID- 25830600
TI  - The Energy Index Does Not Affect Local Control of Brain Metastases Treated by
      Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The energy index (EI) is a measure of dose homogeneity within a
      target volume calculated by the integral dose divided by the product of
      prescription dose and tumor volume. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether a higher EI is
      associated with greater local control for brain metastases (BMs) treated by Gamma
      Knife radiosurgery (GKRS). METHODS: We reviewed all patients treated with GKRS
      for BM at our institution between January 2009 and February 2014. Data on the
      prescription dose, prescription isodose line, minimum dose, mean dose, integral
      dose, tumor volume, and EI were collected. Tumor response was assessed by
      reviewing follow-up brain imaging studies and classified according to the
      Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. Local control per lesion and
      dosimetric prognostic factors for local control were assessed by univariate and
      multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses. RESULTS: Of 213
      patients treated, 126 had follow-up imaging available with a median follow-up of
      6 months. Three hundred seventy-three individual tumors were analyzed. Of these,
      133 showed a complete response, 157 showed a partial response, 46 remained
      stable, and 37 developed local failure. Tumors with EI >=1.6 mJ.mL(-1).Gy(-1)
      showed a higher rate of complete response. Local control rates at 6, 11, and 17
      months were 95.4%, 86.5%, and 81.5%, respectively. On univariate analysis, the
      following factors were associated with higher rates of local failure:
      prescription doses of 16 and 18 Gy compared with a prescription dose of 20 Gy.
      The following factors were associated with a greater rate of local control:
      maximum dose and mean dose. On multivariate analysis, the only statistically
      significant factor associated with a greater rate of local failure was
      prescription dose of 16 Gy compared with 20 Gy. CONCLUSION: GKRS for BM results
      in a high rate of local control with an 11-month rate of 86.5%. A higher EI was
      not significantly associated with a higher rate of local control on multivariate
      analysis. Prescription dose was found to be the only significant predictor of
      local control on multivariate analysis.

PMID- 25830601
TI  - Endovascular Treatment of Cavernous Sinus Dural Arteriovenous Fistula With
      Ipsilateral Inferior Petrosal Sinus Occlusion: A Single-Center Experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although a transvenous route via the ipsilateral inferior petrosal
      sinus (IPS) is preferred in treating cavernous sinus dural arteriovenous fistula
      (CSdAVF), this option may be limited if an occluded ipsilateral IPS undermines
      microcatheter delivery to the cavernous sinus. OBJECTIVE: To describe our
      experience with endovascular treatment of CSdAVF complicated by ipsilateral IPS
      occlusion. METHODS: From January 2003 through September 2014, a total of 49
      CSdAVFs with ipsilateral IPS occlusion were identified in 49 patients, who then
      underwent endovascular treatment. Clinical and radiologic data were
      retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Either transvenous (n = 38) or transarterial
      (n = 11) access was initially elected, the latter reserved for single-hole or
      dominant arterial feeder fistulas. Access via occluded ipsilateral IPS was
      usually attempted (n = 34) by transvenous approach, with a 54.3% success rate.
      Anterior (n = 3) or posterior (n = 1) facial vein was alternatively used. Direct
      surgical exposure of ophthalmic vein (n = 3) or radiosurgery (n = 4) was
      performed for access failure or unsuccessful occlusion by other means. In 46
      fistulas (93.9%), complete occlusion was achieved, with no procedure-related
      morbidity or mortality. Postprocedural symptom improvement was noted in all but 2
      patients, who separately experienced paradoxical worsening of cranial nerve palsy
      and access failure. CONCLUSION: In patients with CSdAVF and ipsilateral IPS
      occlusion, various treatment strategies may be applied (given angioanatomic
      suitability), resulting in excellent procedural and short-term follow-up results.
      Reopening of an occluded IPS is reasonable as an initial access attempt.

PMID- 25830602
TI  - The enigmatic psalterium: a review and anatomic study with relevance to
      callosotomy procedures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recalcitrant seizures after callosotomy procedures are challenging to
      treat. One commissure, the psalterium, has received little attention. OBJECTIVE:
      To review the literature on this structure, and with dissection, better elucidate
      its morphology and relationships. METHODS: Twenty adult cadaver brains underwent
      microsurgical dissection of the psalterium. Measurements included the size and
      distance from the splenium of the corpus callosum and posterior border of the
      hippocampus tail. Observations included the relationships between the psalterium
      and the vein of Galen and the fiber direction within this structure. RESULTS: The
      psalterium was identified in all specimens. It intimately contacted the
      undersurface of the splenium superiorly and the velum interpositum inferiorly. It
      was always in the midline. Just posterior to the psalterium, the internal
      cerebral veins were found leaving the velum interpositum to drain into the vein
      of Galen. In most specimens, the psalterium fibers traveled in the same plane as
      the commissural fibers of the splenium. Mean width of the psalterium was 11 mm;
      mean length was 13 mm. Average thickness in the midline was 1.4 mm, and at the
      lateral edges, it was generally thicker as it joined the fornix with an average
      of 2 mm. In 30%, efferents from the hippocampus were arranged in the form of a
      sheet bilaterally rather than the normal bundle-like formation forming the
      posterior crura. CONCLUSION: Better understanding of the commissures of the human
      brain, including the psalterium, might help the neurosurgeon during procedures
      near this structure.

PMID- 25830603
TI  - Interhospital Transfer of Neurosurgical Patients to a High-Volume Tertiary Care
      Center: Opportunities for Improvement.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neurosurgical indications for patient transfer include absence of
      local or available neurosurgical coverage, subspecialty or interdisciplinary
      requirements, and family preference. Transfer of patients to regional centers
      will increase with further centralization of medical care. OBJECTIVE: To report
      the transfer records of a large tertiary care center to identify trends,
      failures, and opportunities to improve interhospital transfer of neurosurgical
      patients. METHODS: All consecutive, prospectively documented requests for
      interhospital patient transfer to the adult neurosurgical service of Emory
      University Hospitals were retrospectively identified from a centralized transfer
      center database for a 1-year study period. RESULTS: Requests for neurosurgical
      care constituted 1323 of the 9087 calls (14.6%); 81.1% of these requests were
      accepted, and a total of 984 patients (74.4%) arrived at our institutions.
      Patients arrived from 133 unique facilities throughout a catchment area of 66 287
      sq miles. Although the median travel time for transfer patients was 36 minutes,
      the median interval between the request and patient arrival was 4 hours 2
      minutes. The most frequent diagnoses were intracranial hemorrhage (31.8%),
      subarachnoid hemorrhage (31.2%), and intracranial tumor (15.2%). The overall
      diagnostic error rate was 10.3%. Only 42.5% of patients underwent neurosurgical
      intervention, and 57 patients admitted to intensive care were immediately
      transitioned to a lower level of care. CONCLUSION: Interhospital transfer
      requires a coordinated effort among hospital administrators, physicians, and
      staff to make complex decisions that govern this important and costly process.
      These data suggest common failures and numerous opportunities for improvement in
      transfer efficiency, diagnostic accuracy, triage, and resource allocation.

PMID- 25830604
TI  - Maximizing the petroclival region exposure via a suboccipital retrosigmoid
      approach: where is the intrapetrous internal carotid artery?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent reports have validated the use of retrosigmoid approach
      extensions to deal with petroclival lesions. OBJECTIVE: To describe the
      topographic retrosigmoid anatomy of the intrapetrous internal carotid artery
      (IICA), providing guidelines for maximizing the petroclival region exposure via
      this route. METHODS: The IICA was exposed bilaterally in 6 specimens via a
      retrosigmoid approach in the semisitting position. Its topographic relationship
      with pertinent posterolateral cranial base landmarks was quantified with
      neuronavigation. RESULTS: Safe exposure of the IICA and the surrounding
      inframeatal/petroclival regions was accomplished in all specimens. On average,
      the IICA genu was 15.08 mm anterolateral to the XI nerve in the jugular foramen,
      16.18 mm anteroinferolateral to the endolymphatic sac, and 10.63 mm
      anteroinferolateral to the internal acoustic meatus. On average, the IICA
      horizontal segment was 9.92 mm inferolateral to the Meckel cave, and its midpoint
      was 19.96 mm anterolateral to the XI nerve in the jugular foramen. The mean
      distance from the IICA genu to the cochlea was 1.96 mm. The genu and the midpoint
      of the horizontal segment of the IICA were exposed at a depth of approximately
      14.50 mm from the posterior pyramidal wall with the use of different drilling
      angles (49.74 degrees  vs 39.54 degrees , respectively). CONCLUSION: Knowledge of
      the IICA general relationship with these landmarks (combined with a careful
      assessment of the preoperative imaging and with the use of intraoperative
      navigation and micro-Doppler) may help to enhance the inframeatal/petroclival
      region exposure via a retrosigmoid route, maximizing safe inframeatal and
      suprameatal petrous bone removal while minimizing neurovascular complications.

PMID- 25830605
TI  - Efficient Coupling of an Antenna-Enhanced nanoLED into an Integrated InP
      Waveguide.
AB  - Increasing power consumption in traditional on-chip metal interconnects has made
      optical links an attractive alternative. However, such a link is currently
      missing a fast, efficient, nanoscale light-source. Coupling nanoscale optical
      emitters to optical antennas has been shown to greatly increase their spontaneous
      emission rate and efficiency. Such a structure would be an ideal emitter for an
      on-chip optical link. However, there has never been a demonstration of an antenna
      enhanced emitter coupled to a low-loss integrated waveguide. In this Letter we
      demonstrate an optical antenna-enhanced nanoLED coupled to an integrated InP
      waveguide. The nanoLEDs are comprised of a nanoridge of InGaAsP coupled to a gold
      antenna that exhibits a 36* enhanced rate of spontaneous emission. Coupling
      efficiencies as large as 70% are demonstrated into an integrated waveguide.
      Directional antennas also demonstrate direction emission down one direction of a
      waveguide with observed front-to-back ratios as high as 3:1. 

PMID- 25830606
TI  - Correction: Enzyme and voltage stimuli-responsive controlled release system based
      on beta-cyclodextrin-capped mesoporous silica nanoparticles.
AB  - Correction for 'Enzyme and voltage stimuli-responsive controlled release system
      based on beta-cyclodextrin-capped mesoporous silica nanoparticles' by Yu Xiao et
      al., Dalton Trans., 2015, 44, 4355-4361. 

PMID- 25830607
TI  - Ultrafine particle content in exhaled breath condensate in airways of asthmatic
      children.
AB  - Air pollution triggers and exacerbates airway inflammation. Particulate material
      (PM) in ambient is characterized as being coarse (PM 10, aerodynamic diameter
      range 2.5-10 um), fine (PM 2.5, 2.5-0.1 um) and ultrafine (UFP, nano-sized, <0.1
      um). It is known that smaller inhaled PM produced more inflammation than larger
      ones. Most data on human exposure to PM are based on environmental monitoring. We
      evaluated the effect of individual exposure to UFP on functional respiratory
      parameters and airway inflammation in 52 children aged 6-18 years referred to the
      Pulmonary and Allergic Diseases Laboratory due to respiratory symptoms.
      Spirometry, bronchial provocation challenge, induced sputum (IS), exhaled breath
      condensate (EBC) and franctional exhaled nitric oxide evaluations were performed
      by conventional methods. UFP content in EBC was analyzed by using a NanoSight
      Light Microscope LM20. The total EBC UFP content correlated with wheezing (r =
      0.28, p = 0.04), breath symptom score (r = 0.3, p = 0.03), and sputum
      eosinophilia (R = 0.64, p = 0.005). The percent of EBC particles in the nano
      sized range also correlated with wheezing (r = 0.36, p = 0.007), breath symptom
      score (r = 0.33, p <= 0.02), and sputum eosinophilia (r = 0.72, p = 0.001).
      Respiratory symptoms and airway inflammation positively correlated to UFP content
      in EBC of symptomatic children.

PMID- 25830608
TI  - CIMIDx: Prototype for a Cloud-Based System to Support Intelligent Medical Image
      Diagnosis With Efficiency.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Internet has greatly enhanced health care, helping patients stay
      up-to-date on medical issues and general knowledge. Many cancer patients use the
      Internet for cancer diagnosis and related information. Recently, cloud computing
      has emerged as a new way of delivering health services but currently, there is no
      generic and fully automated cloud-based self-management intervention for breast
      cancer patients, as practical guidelines are lacking. OBJECTIVE: We investigated
      the prevalence and predictors of cloud use for medical diagnosis among women with
      breast cancer to gain insight into meaningful usage parameters to evaluate the
      use of generic, fully automated cloud-based self-intervention, by assessing how
      breast cancer survivors use a generic self-management model. The goal of this
      study was implemented and evaluated with a new prototype called "CIMIDx", based
      on representative association rules that support the diagnosis of medical images
      (mammograms). METHODS: The proposed Cloud-Based System Support Intelligent
      Medical Image Diagnosis (CIMIDx) prototype includes two modules. The first is the
      design and development of the CIMIDx training and test cloud services. Deployed
      in the cloud, the prototype can be used for diagnosis and screening mammography
      by assessing the cancers detected, tumor sizes, histology, and stage of
      classification accuracy. To analyze the prototype's classification accuracy, we
      conducted an experiment with data provided by clients. Second, by monitoring
      cloud server requests, the CIMIDx usage statistics were recorded for the cloud
      based self-intervention groups. We conducted an evaluation of the CIMIDx cloud
      service usage, in which browsing functionalities were evaluated from the end
      user's perspective. RESULTS: We performed several experiments to validate the
      CIMIDx prototype for breast health issues. The first set of experiments evaluated
      the diagnostic performance of the CIMIDx framework. We collected medical
      information from 150 breast cancer survivors from hospitals and health centers.
      The CIMIDx prototype achieved high sensitivity of up to 99.29%, and accuracy of
      up to 98%. The second set of experiments evaluated CIMIDx use for breast health
      issues, using t tests and Pearson chi-square tests to assess differences, and
      binary logistic regression to estimate the odds ratio (OR) for the predictors'
      use of CIMIDx. For the prototype usage statistics for the same 150 breast cancer
      survivors, we interviewed 114 (76.0%), through self-report questionnaires from
      CIMIDx blogs. The frequency of log-ins/person ranged from 0 to 30, total
      duration/person from 0 to 1500 minutes (25 hours). The 114 participants continued
      logging in to all phases, resulting in an intervention adherence rate of 44.3%
      (95% CI 33.2-55.9). The overall performance of the prototype for the good
      category, reported usefulness of the prototype (P=.77), overall satisfaction of
      the prototype (P=.31), ease of navigation (P=.89), user friendliness evaluation
      (P=.31), and overall satisfaction (P=.31). Positive evaluations given by 100
      participants via a Web-based questionnaire supported our hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS:
      The present study shows that women felt favorably about the use of a generic
      fully automated cloud-based self- management prototype. The study also
      demonstrated that the CIMIDx prototype resulted in the detection of more cancers
      in screening and diagnosing patients, with an increased accuracy rate.

PMID- 25830609
TI  - The popularity of benzodiazepines, their advantages, and inadequate
      pharmacological alternatives-reply.

PMID- 25830612
TI  - From the editor.

PMID- 25830611
TI  - EEG classification of different imaginary movements within the same limb.
AB  - The task of discriminating the motor imagery of different movements within the
      same limb using electroencephalography (EEG) signals is challenging because these
      imaginary movements have close spatial representations on the motor cortex area.
      There is, however, a pressing need to succeed in this task. The reason is that
      the ability to classify different same-limb imaginary movements could increase
      the number of control dimensions of a brain-computer interface (BCI). In this
      paper, we propose a 3-class BCI system that discriminates EEG signals
      corresponding to rest, imaginary grasp movements, and imaginary elbow movements.
      Besides, the differences between simple motor imagery and goal-oriented motor
      imagery in terms of their topographical distributions and classification
      accuracies are also being investigated. To the best of our knowledge, both
      problems have not been explored in the literature. Based on the EEG data recorded
      from 12 able-bodied individuals, we have demonstrated that same-limb motor
      imagery classification is possible. For the binary classification of imaginary
      grasp and elbow (goal-oriented) movements, the average accuracy achieved is
      66.9%. For the 3-class problem of discriminating rest against imaginary grasp and
      elbow movements, the average classification accuracy achieved is 60.7%, which is
      greater than the random classification accuracy of 33.3%. Our results also show
      that goal-oriented imaginary elbow movements lead to a better classification
      performance compared to simple imaginary elbow movements. This proposed BCI
      system could potentially be used in controlling a robotic rehabilitation system,
      which can assist stroke patients in performing task-specific exercises. 

PMID- 25830613
TI  - A multidisciplinary three-phase approach to improve the clinical utility of
      patient safety indicators.
AB  - PURPOSE: The AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) are used for calculation of
      risk-adjusted postoperative rates for adverse events. The payers and quality
      consortiums are increasingly requiring public reporting of hospital performance
      on these metrics. We discuss processes designed to improve the accuracy and
      clinical utility of PSI reporting in practice. METHODS: The study was conducted
      at a 793-bed tertiary care academic medical center where PSI processes have been
      aggressively implemented to track patient safety events at discharge. A three
      phased approach to improving administrative data quality was implemented. The
      initiative consisted of clinical review of all PSIs, documentation improvement,
      and provider outreach including active querying for patient safety events.
      RESULTS: This multidisciplinary effort to develop a streamlined process for PSI
      calculation reduced the reporting of miscoded PSIs and increased the clinical
      utility of PSI monitoring. Over 4 quarters, 4 of 41 (10%) PSI-11 and 9 of 138
      (7%) PSI-15 errors were identified on review of clinical documentation and
      appropriate adjustments were made. CONCLUSION: A multidisciplinary, phased
      approach leveraging existing billing infrastructure for robust metric coding,
      ongoing clinical review, and frontline provider outreach is a novel and effective
      way to reduce the reporting of false-positive outcomes and improve the clinical
      utility of PSIs.

PMID- 25830614
TI  - Do hospital-acquired condition scores correlate with patients' perspectives of
      care?
AB  - Beginning in fiscal year 2015, the federal Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC)
      Reduction Program requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to reduce
      payments by 1% for hospitals in the top quartile of risk-adjusted national HAC
      scores. The HAC penalty underscores the need for hospitals to become increasingly
      quality- and safety-focused, which could negatively affect their performance on
      patient satisfaction with care, another key performance metric tied to
      reimbursement. Using publicly available data through the Centers for Medicare &
      Medicaid Services Hospital Compare program, we assessed the correlation between
      preliminary HAC scores and patients' perspectives of care, as measured by the
      Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey. Higher
      quality of care (lower HAC score) was modestly associated with a better patient
      experience (r = -0.090, P < .001). Additional research is needed to ensure that
      national policy efforts are not working at cross purposes and there need not be a
      trade-off between delivering high quality of care and patient satisfaction. 

PMID- 25830615
TI  - Pocket change: a simple educational intervention increases hospitalist
      documentation of comorbidities and improves hospital quality performance
      measures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Complete documentation of patient comorbidities in the medical record
      is important for clinical care, hospital reimbursement, and quality performance
      measures. We designed a pocket card reminder and brief educational intervention
      aimed at hospitalists with the goal of improving documentation of 6 common
      comorbidities present on admission: coagulation abnormalities, metastatic cancer,
      anemia, fluid and electrolyte abnormalities, malnutrition, and obesity. METHODS:
      Two internal medicine inpatient teams led by 10 hospitalist physicians at an
      academic medical center received the educational intervention and pocket card
      reminder (n = 520 admissions). Two internal medicine teams led by nonhospitalist
      physicians served as a control group (n = 590 admissions). Levels of
      documentation of 6 common comorbidities, expected length of stay, and expected
      mortality were measured at baseline and during the 9-month study period. RESULTS:
      The intervention was associated with increased documentation of anemia, fluid and
      electrolyte abnormalities, malnutrition, and obesity in the intervention group,
      both compared to baseline and compared to the control group during the study
      period. The expected length of stay increased in the intervention group during
      the study period. CONCLUSIONS: A simple educational intervention and pocket card
      reminder were associated with improved documentation and hospital quality
      measures at an academic medical center.

PMID- 25830616
TI  - Utility of an integrated electronic suicide alert system in a psychiatric
      hospital.
AB  - Management of suicide-related behaviors in a hospital is challenging. This
      article (1) describes integration of an electronic suicide risk notification
      system to improve assessment of psychiatric inpatients, (2) details the manner in
      which these alerts complement standard of care, and (3) provides support of using
      aggregate data to inform administrative decision-making. Complementing routine
      clinical care and under the supervision of an assessment coordinator, adult
      inpatients at a specialty psychiatric hospital complete a computerized battery of
      outcome assessments throughout the course of their hospitalization. A critical
      item response notification system for suicide-related behaviors was implemented
      within the larger, assessment architecture, sending an alert e-mail to unit staff
      if patients endorsed suicidal ideation on any 1 of 6 critical items. Analysis of
      aggregate data over a 19-month period reveal a linear trend of increasing rate of
      suicide alerts from October 2012 to April 2013 (Phase A) with a stabilization at
      the heightened level from July 2013 to April 2014 (Phase B), R = 0.697, P = .007.
      Findings suggest that more nuanced training in the management of suicide-related
      behavior may be necessary and that traditional approaches to staffing may need to
      accommodate patient acuity. The communication innovation of this system is in
      line with the Joint Commission's emphasis on designing and implementing patient
      centered systems that enhance quality of care, including improved safety. 

PMID- 25830617
TI  - Using quality improvement methods to change surgical practice: a case example of
      pediatric soft-tissue abscesses.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgical treatments of soft-tissue abscesses (STAs) include packing
      and ring drain (RD) and straight drain (SD) placement. Potential benefits of SDs
      include a single incision, less scarring, and no need for a follow-up
      appointment. We used a multidisciplinary quality improvement (QI) process to
      promote surgeon adoption of an STA drainage technique to improve efficiency and
      quality of care. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Outcome measures included the proportion
      of STAs drained using SDs, the number of postoperative clinic visits, the
      proportion of patients requiring follow-up with a pediatric surgeon and other
      providers, and the postoperative complication rate, defined as need for an
      additional drainage procedure. RESULTS: After beginning the QI initiative, the
      proportion of STAs drained by SDs increased from 23% to 78% (P < .00001) and the
      proportion of patients requiring a surgical follow-up clinic appointment
      decreased from 71% to 32% (P < .00001). The mean number of surgical clinic visits
      per patient decreased from 0.79 to 0.39 visits per patient (P < .00001).
      Complication rates were similar between drain types (RD: 2.4%; SD: 1.7%; P =
      .57). This QI initiative produced a rapid sustained shift in surgeon practice
      with increased use of SDs, decreased number of follow-up visits, and no increase
      in complications.

PMID- 25830618
TI  - Tailoring your heart failure project for success in rural areas.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this project was to decrease heart failure (HF)
      readmissions in a rural community by redesigning the inpatient education model.
      METHODS: An integrated plan of care (ICP) was developed using 6 interventions,
      tailored to the needs of patients in this community. The interventions in this
      quality improvement project included (1) upgraded HF education for patients and
      families using teach-back methodology, (2) a discharge HF packet with survival
      skills, (3) nutrition education, (4) case management, (5) making appointments for
      patients with their primary care provider for a visit 5 to 7 days postdischarge
      and with their cardiologist for 2 weeks after discharge, and (6) a follow-up
      phone call to each patient within 48 hours postdischarge. RESULTS: Readmission
      rates decreased 36.9% with implementation of the ICP. Patients without the
      discharge teaching/packet were almost 7 times more likely to be readmitted.
      IMPLICATIONS: The IPC was effective in decreasing HF readmissions. CONCLUSIONS:
      These findings suggest that organizations should focus on developing their
      discharge teaching methods and ICP to meet the needs of their community. Projects
      such as these can be used for many chronic disease processes, not only HF.

PMID- 25830619
TI  - Senior alert: a quality registry to support a standardized, structured, and
      systematic preventive care process for older adults.
AB  - The average life expectancy and the proportion of the elderly in the Western
      countries are increasing. The care processes used for the elderly are known to
      differ between the care providers in Sweden. Accordingly, the need to develop a
      system to support the processes in order to attain a standardized, structured,
      and systematic approach to improve preventive care processes for the elderly has
      been called for. The County Council of Jonkoping developed a national Web-based
      quality registry, Senior Alert, with a focus on the following areas: falls,
      pressure ulcers, malnutrition, and oral health. The patients are evaluated using
      validated risk assessment instruments, and the care is planned, executed,
      evaluated. The registry supports the users to work with preventive care
      systematically and in a standardized way and provides feedback to the care
      providers on their preventive care processes. The registry helps the caregivers
      fulfill the preventive care according to the best available clinical knowledge
      and practice. The registry also provides the government and health care
      politicians with data for setting aims for elderly care. The registry is used in
      90% of the municipalities and county councils throughout the country. The total
      number of risk assessments completed from 2009 to 2014 exceeded 1 000 000. 

PMID- 25830623
TI  - Accurate evaluation of charge asymmetry in aqueous solvation.
AB  - Charge hydration asymmetry (CHA)-a characteristic dependence of hydration free
      energy on the sign of the solute charge-quantifies the asymmetric response of
      water to electric field at microscopic level. Accurate estimates of CHA are
      critical for understanding hydration effects ubiquitous in chemistry and biology.
      However, measuring hydration energies of charged species is fraught with
      significant difficulties, which lead to unacceptably large (up to 300%) variation
      in the available estimates of the CHA effect. We circumvent these difficulties by
      developing a framework which allows us to extract and accurately estimate the
      intrinsic propensity of water to exhibit CHA from accurate experimental hydration
      free energies of neutral polar molecules. Specifically, from a set of 504 small
      molecules we identify two pairs that are analogous, with respect to CHA, to the
      K(+) /F(-) pair-a classical probe for the effect. We use these "CHA-conjugate"
      molecule pairs to quantify the intrinsic charge-asymmetric response of water to
      the microscopic charge perturbations: the asymmetry of the response is strong,
      ~50% of the average hydration free energy of these molecules. The ability of
      widely used classical water models to predict hydration energies of small
      molecules correlates with their ability to predict CHA. 

PMID- 25830624
TI  - Effects of losartan on expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1)
      in hyperuricemic nephropathy rats.
AB  - The monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) plays an important role in the
      pathogenesis of progression of renal failure. This is based on the observations
      done both in various animal models of renal damage and in different types of
      human renal disease. During the development of non-infectious kidney stones,
      crystals are formed and deposited on the kidneys and the kidneys are surrounded
      by monocytes/macrophages. We have proposed that in response to crystal exposure,
      renal epithelial cells produce chemokines, which attract the
      monocytes/macrophages to the sites of crystal deposition. In this study, we
      investigated the expression of MCP-1 protein by SD rats exposed to oxonic acid
      (OA). Our study showed that hyperuricemia accelerates renal progression via a
      mechanism linked to high MCP-1 which may mediate the inflammation reaction of
      renal diseases induced by hyperuricemia. Losartan may retard the progression of
      advanced renal dysfunction, and the mechanism was partly due to blocking of renal
      inflammation induced by the uric acid. Because the number of experiments
      performed here is very few, results must be confirmed by more extensive studies
      with a larger sample size. 

PMID- 25830625
TI  - Intranasally applied neuropeptide S shifts a high-anxiety electrophysiological
      endophenotype in the ventral hippocampus towards a "normal"-anxiety one.
AB  - The neurobiological basis of pathological anxiety and the improvement of its
      pharmacological treatment are a matter of intensive investigation. Here, using
      electrophysiological techniques in brain slices from animals of the high anxiety
      related behavior (HAB) and normal anxiety-related behavior (NAB) mouse model, we
      show that basal neurotransmission at ventral hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapses is
      weaker in HAB compared to NAB mice. We further demonstrate that paired-pulse
      facilitation (PPF) and long-term potentiation (LTP) at these synapses are more
      pronounced in slices from HAB animals. Based on previous findings, we also
      examined whether intranasal delivery of neuropeptide S (NPS), which increasingly
      emerges as a potential novel treatment option for anxiety symptoms occurring in a
      variety of diseases like anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, and
      major depression, impacts on the high-anxiety electrophysiological endophenotype
      in HAB mice. Strikingly, we detected enhanced basal neurotransmission and reduced
      PPF and LTP in slices from NPS-treated HAB animals. Collectively, our study
      uncovers a multifaceted high-anxiety neurophysiological endophenotype in the
      murine ventral hippocampus and provides the first evidence that an intranasally
      applied neuropeptide can shift such an endophenotype in an anxiety-regulating
      brain structure towards a "normal"-anxiety one. 

PMID- 25830626
TI  - Improvement of anti-tumor abilities on human non-small cell lung carcinoma by
      micellization and cross-linking of N-(2-hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide copolymers.
AB  - Non-small cell lung carcinoma is one of the most frequently occurred cancers with
      a very high rate of recurrence. Self-assembly N-(2-hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide
      (HPMA) micelles and cross-linked micelles were developed to improve antitumor
      ability of linear HPMA copolymer. The characters of HPMA micelles were
      investigated and compared using human non-small cell lung carcinoma 3-D culture
      model and nude mice xenograft model. Cross-linked micelles showed highest
      cytotoxicity on A549 cell monolayers after a short time treatment in vitro.
      Moreover, both of the two micelles exhibited better in vitro anti-tumor activity
      on A549 tumor spheroids than linear HPMA conjugates especially the cross-linked
      micelles. On BALB/c nude mice bearing A549 xenograft tumors, the cross-linked
      micelles exhibited the greatest tumor accumulation and the best anti-tumor
      activity due to the highly improved stabilities and the more pronounced enhanced
      permeability and retention (EPR) effect, which were followed by the non-cross
      linked micelles. Meanwhile, neither the two micelles nor the linear HPMA
      copolymers showed significant toxicity on the main organs of mice while free
      doxorubicin (DOX) showed obvious cardiac toxicity. All the results suggested that
      micellization improved the anti-tumor activity of HPMA copolymers on A549 human
      non-small cell lung carcinoma, furthermore, cross-linked HPMA copolymer micelles
      with pH-sensitivity and biodegradability showed more excellent anti-tumor
      activity. 

PMID- 25830628
TI  - Working women and the menopause.
AB  - Women are living longer, working more and retiring later. About 45% of the over
      50-year-old workforce in virtually all forms of employment are women, all of whom
      will experience the menopause and its symptoms, which in some women will be mild
      to moderate, whilst in others they may be severe and debilitating. About half of
      these women will find it somewhat, or fairly difficult, to cope with their work,
      about half will not be affected and only about 5% will be severely compromised.
      Poor concentration, tiredness, poor memory, depression, feeling low, lowered
      confidence, sleepiness and particularly hot flushes are all cited as contributing
      factors. As with any longstanding health-related condition, the need for support
      and understanding from line management is crucial and can make a major difference
      to how a woman will deal with the adverse impact the menopausal symptoms may have
      on her productivity, her job satisfaction and her efficiency. A number of
      plausible strategies have been proposed that can be realistically implemented in
      the workplace and which could certainly make a significant difference. Careful
      thought, planning, consideration and effort may be required but, if instituted,
      they will, in the final analysis, benefit both employer and employee. 

PMID- 25830627
TI  - Novel disease susceptibility factors for fungal necrotrophic pathogens in
      Arabidopsis.
AB  - Host cells use an intricate signaling system to respond to invasions by
      pathogenic microorganisms. Although several signaling components of disease
      resistance against necrotrophic fungal pathogens have been identified, our
      understanding for how molecular components and host processes contribute to plant
      disease susceptibility is rather sparse. Here, we identified four transcription
      factors (TFs) from Arabidopsis that limit pathogen spread. Arabidopsis mutants
      defective in any of these TFs displayed increased disease susceptibility to
      Botrytis cinerea and Plectosphaerella cucumerina, and a general activation of non
      immune host processes that contribute to plant disease susceptibility.
      Transcriptome analyses revealed that the mutants share a common transcriptional
      signature of 77 up-regulated genes. We characterized several of the up-regulated
      genes that encode peptides with a secretion signal, which we named PROVIR (for
      provirulence) factors. Forward and reverse genetic analyses revealed that many of
      the PROVIRs are important for disease susceptibility of the host to fungal
      necrotrophs. The TFs and PROVIRs identified in our work thus represent novel
      genetic determinants for plant disease susceptibility to necrotrophic fungal
      pathogens. 

PMID- 25830630
TI  - Giant esophageal gastrointestinal stromal tumor mimicking mediastinal tumor
      treated by thoracic approach.

PMID- 25830629
TI  - Sex differences between CRF1 receptor deficient mice following naloxone
      precipitated morphine withdrawal in a conditioned place aversion paradigm:
      implication of HPA axis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Extinction period of positive affective memory of drug taking and
      negative affective memory of drug withdrawal, as well as the different response
      of men and women might be important for the clinical treatment of drug addiction.
      We investigate the role of corticotropin releasing factor receptor type one
      (CRF1R) and the different response of male and female mice in the expression and
      extinction of the aversive memory. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDING: We used
      genetically engineered male and female mice lacking functional CRF1R. The animals
      were rendered dependent on morphine by intraperitoneally injection of increasing
      doses of morphine (10-60 mg/kg). Negative state associated with naloxone (1 mg/kg
      s.c.)-precipitated morphine withdrawal was examined by using conditioned place
      aversion (CPA) paradigm. No sex differences for CPA expression were found in wild
      type (n = 29) or CRF1R knockout (KO) mice (n = 29). However, CRF1R KO mice
      presented less aversion score than wild-type mice, suggesting that CRF1R KO mice
      were less responsive than wild-type to continuous associations between drug
      administration and environmental stimuli. In addition, CPA extinction was delayed
      in wild-type and CRF1R KO male mice compared with females of both genotypes. The
      genetic disruption of the CRF1R pathway decreased the period of extinction in
      males and females suggesting that CRF/CRF1R is implicated in the duration of
      aversive memory. Our results also showed that the increase in adrenocorticotropic
      hormone (ACTH) levels observed in wild-type (n = 11) mice after CPA expression,
      were attenuated in CRF1R KO mice (n = 10). In addition, ACTH returned to the
      baseline levels in males and females once CPA extinction was finished.
      CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These results suggest that, at least, CPA expression is
      partially due to an increase in plasma ACTH levels, through activation of CRF1R,
      which can return when CPA extinction is finished.

PMID- 25830631
TI  - Impact of chain length on antibacterial activity and hemocompatibility of
      quaternary N-alkyl and n,n-dialkyl chitosan derivatives.
AB  - A highly efficient method for chemical modification of chitosan biopolymers by
      reductive amination to yield N,N-dialkyl chitosan derivatives was developed. The
      use of 3,6-O-di-tert-butyldimethylsilylchitosan as a precursor enabled the first
      100% disubstitution of the amino groups with long alkyl chains. The corresponding
      mono N-alkyl derivatives were also synthesized, and all the alkyl compounds were
      then quaternized using an optimized procedure. These well-defined derivatives
      were studied for antibacterial activity against Gram positive S. aureus, E.
      faecalis, and Gram negative E. coli, P. aeruginosa, which could be correlated to
      the length of the alkyl chain, but the order was dependent on the bacterial
      strain. Toxicity against human red blood cells and human epithelial Caco-2 cells
      was found to be proportional to the length of the alkyl chain. The most active
      chitosan derivatives were found to be more selective for killing bacteria than
      the quaternary ammonium disinfectants cetylpyridinium chloride and benzalkonium
      chloride, as well as the antimicrobial peptides melittin and LL-37. 

PMID- 25830632
TI  - Retraction: Maternal diesel inhalation increases airway hyperreactivity in ozone
      exposed offspring.

PMID- 25830633
TI  - News from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: Allowable content in new
      applications.

PMID- 25830634
TI  - Dominant negative RPW8.2 fusion proteins reveal the importance of haustorium
      oriented protein trafficking for resistance against powdery mildew in
      Arabidopsis.
AB  - Powdery mildew fungi form feeding structures called haustoria inside epidermal
      cells of host plants to extract photosynthates for their epiphytic growth and
      reproduction. The haustorium is encased by an interfacial membrane termed the
      extrahaustorial membrane (EHM). The atypical resistance protein RPW8.2 from
      Arabidopsis is specifically targeted to the EHM where RPW8.2 activates haustorium
      targeted (thus broad-spectrum) resistance against powdery mildew fungi. EHM
      specific localization of RPW8.2 suggests the existence of an EHM-oriented
      protein/membrane trafficking pathway during EHM biogenesis. However, the
      importance of this specific trafficking pathway for host defense has not been
      evaluated via a genetic approach without affecting other trafficking pathways.
      Here, we report that expression of EHM-oriented, nonfunctional RPW8.2 chimeric
      proteins exerts dominant negative effect over functional RPW8.2 and potentially
      over other EHM-localized defense proteins, thereby compromising both RPW8.2
      mediated and basal resistance to powdery mildew. Thus, our results highlight the
      importance of the EHM-oriented protein/membrane trafficking pathway for host
      resistance against haustorium-forming pathogens such as powdery mildew fungi. 

PMID- 25830635
TI  - alphaII-spectrin regulates invadosome stability and extracellular matrix
      degradation.
AB  - Invadosomes are actin-rich adhesion structures involved in tissue invasion and
      extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling. alphaII-Spectrin, an ubiquitous
      scaffolding component of the membrane skeleton and a partner of actin regulators
      (ABI1, VASP and WASL), accumulates highly and specifically in the invadosomes of
      multiple cell types, such as mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) expressing
      SrcY527F, the constitutively active form of Src or activated HMEC-1 endothelial
      cells. FRAP and live-imaging analysis revealed that alphaII-spectrin is a highly
      dynamic component of invadosomes as actin present in the structures core.
      Knockdown of alphaII-spectrin expression destabilizes invadosomes and reduces the
      ability of the remaining invadosomes to digest the ECM and to promote invasion.
      The ECM degradation defect observed in spectrin-depleted-cells is associated with
      highly dynamic and unstable invadosome rings. Moreover, FRAP measurement showed
      the specific involvement of alphaII-spectrin in the regulation of the
      mobile/immobile beta3-integrin ratio in invadosomes. Our findings suggest that
      spectrin could regulate invadosome function and maturation by modulating integrin
      mobility in the membrane, allowing the normal processes of adhesion, invasion and
      matrix degradation. Altogether, these data highlight a new function for spectrins
      in the stability of invadosomes and the coupling between actin regulation and ECM
      degradation. 

PMID- 25830636
TI  - Dietary factors associated with faecal consistency and other indicators of
      gastrointestinal health in the captive cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus).
AB  - Gastrointestinal diseases pose significant risks to captive cheetah survival and
      welfare. Multiple factors are thought to be associated with these diseases, but
      to date a comprehensive epidemiological survey of disease risk factors has not
      been conducted. A survey of diet and health parameters was completed for 184
      captive cheetahs in 86 international facilities. Comparisons were made among
      dietary factors with respect to disease status and observed faecal consistency,
      incidence of vomiting and diarrhoea in the past 4 weeks. Extremely dry faeces
      were most common in cheetahs fed carcasses, but was still of low incidence (15%).
      Contrastingly, cheetahs fed commercially prepared diets had the highest
      prevalence of liquid faeces "always" or "often" (9%). Cheetahs fed raw meat diets
      had the highest prevalence of soft faeces with no shape (22%), as well as of firm
      and dry faeces (40%). No broad category of diet exerted any influence on the
      health parameters investigated. However, feeding of ribs at least once per week
      reduced the odds of diarrhoea (P = 0.020) and feeding of long bones (limbs) at
      least once per week was associated with a lower odds of vomiting (P = 0.008).
      Cheetahs fed muscle meat at least once per week had reduced odds of suffering
      from chronic gastritis (P = 0.005) or non-specific gastrointestinal disease (P <
      0.001). The only factor identified as increasing the odds of chronic gastritis
      was feeding of horse "often" or "always" (P = 0.023). The findings of the current
      study build on existing empirical research to support a recommendation towards a
      greater inclusion of skeletal components. Current husbandry guidelines advocating
      the use of supplemented raw meat diets are likewise supported, but the use of
      horse meat, as well as commercially prepared diets for captive cheetahs, warrants
      caution until further research is conducted. 

PMID- 25830637
TI  - New tool for EDC research: in vivo assay screens for estrogenic effects.

PMID- 25830638
TI  - The volume ratio of ground glass opacity in early lung CT predicts mortality in
      acute paraquat poisoning.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pulmonary injury is the main cause of death in acute paraquat (PQ)
      poisoning. However, whether quantitative lung computed tomography (CT) can be
      useful in predicting the outcome of PQ poisoning remains unknown. We aimed to
      identify early findings of quantitative lung CT as predictors of outcome in acute
      PQ poisoning. METHODS: Lung CT scanning (64-slide) and quantitative CT lesions
      were prospectively measured for patients after PQ intoxication within 5 days. The
      study outcome was mortality during 90 days follow-up. Survival curves were
      derived by the Kaplan-Meier method, and mortality risk factors were analyzed by
      the forward stepwise Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: Of 97 patients, 41 (42.3%)
      died. Among the eight different types of lung CT findings which appeared in the
      first 5-day of PQ intoxication, four ones discriminated between survivors and non
      survivors including ground glass opacity (GGO), consolidation, pneumomediastinum
      and "no obvious lesion". With a cutoff value of 10.8%, sensitivity of 85.4% and
      specificity of 89.3%, GGO volume ratio is better than adopted outcome indicators
      in predicting mortality, such as estimated amount of PQ ingestion, plasma or
      urine PQ concentration, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE)
      II and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores. GGO volume ratios above
      10.8% were associated with increased mortality (hazard ratio, 5.82; 95%
      confidence interval, 4.77-7.09; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The volume ratio of GGO
      exceeding 10.8% is a novel, reliable and independent predictors of outcome in
      acute PQ poisoning.

PMID- 25830639
TI  - Bioorganic fertilizer enhances soil suppressive capacity against bacterial wilt
      of tomato.
AB  - Tomato bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the most
      destructive soil-borne diseases. Many strategies have been taken to improve soil
      suppressiveness against this destructive disease, but limited success has been
      achieved. In this study, a novel bioorganic fertilizer revealed a higher
      suppressive ability against bacterial wilt compared with several soil management
      methods in the field over four growing seasons from March 2011 to July 2013. The
      application of the bioorganic fertilizer significantly (P<0.05) reduced disease
      incidence of tomato and increased fruit yields in four independent trials. The
      association among the level of disease incidence, soil physicochemical and
      biological properties was investigated. The soil treated with the bioorganic
      fertilizer increased soil pH value, electric conductivity, organic carbon, NH4+
      N, NO3--N and available K content, microbial activities and microbial biomass
      carbon content, which were positively related with soil suppressiveness.
      Bacterial and actinomycete populations assessed using classical plate counts were
      highest, whereas R. solanacearum and fungal populations were lowest in soil
      applied with the bioorganic fertilizer. Microbial community diversity and
      richness were assessed using denaturing gel gradient electrophoresis profile
      analysis. The soil treated with the bioorganic fertilizer exhibited higher
      bacterial community diversity but lower fungal community diversity. Redundancy
      analysis showed that bacterial community diversity and richness negatively
      related with bacterial wilt suppressiveness, while fungal community richness
      positively correlated with R. solanacearum population. We concluded that the
      alteration of soil physicochemical and biological properties in soil treated with
      the bioorganic fertilizer induced the soil suppressiveness against tomato
      bacterial wilt. 

PMID- 25830641
TI  - [Limits in the immunological and genetical investigation of recurrent abortion].

PMID- 25830640
TI  - Antibiotic resistance modulation and modes of action of (-)-alpha-pinene in
      Campylobacter jejuni.
AB  - The aim of the study was to investigate the mode of action of (-)-alpha-pinene in
      terms of its modulation of antibiotic resistance in Campylobacter jejuni. Broth
      microdilution and ethidium bromide accumulation assays were used to evaluate the
      (-)-alpha-pinene antimicrobial activity, modulation of antimicrobial resistance,
      and inhibition of antimicrobial efflux. The target antimicrobial efflux systems
      were identified using an insertion mutagenesis approach, and C. jejuni adaptation
      to (-)-alpha-pinene was evaluated using DNA microarrays. Knock-out mutants of the
      key up-regulated transcriptional regulators hspR and hrcA were constructed to
      investigate their roles in C. jejuni adaptation to several stress factors,
      including osmolytes, and pH, using Biolog phenotypical microarrays. Our data
      demonstrate that (-)-alpha-pinene efficiently modulates antibiotic resistance in
      C. jejuni by decreasing the minimum inhibitory concentrations of ciprofloxacin,
      erythromycin and triclosan by up to 512-fold. Furthermore, (-)-alpha-pinene
      promotes increased expression of cmeABC and another putative antimicrobial efflux
      gene, Cj1687. The ethidium bromide accumulation was greater in the wild-type
      strain than in the antimicrobial efflux mutant strains, which indicates that
      these antimicrobial efflux systems are a target of action of (-)-alpha-pinene.
      Additionally, (-)-alpha-pinene decreases membrane integrity, which suggests that
      enhanced microbial influx is a secondary mode of action of (-)-alpha-pinene.
      Transcriptomic analysis indicated that (-)-alpha-pinene disrupts multiple
      metabolic pathways, and particularly those involved in heat-shock responses.
      Thus, (-)-alpha-pinene has significant activity in the modulation of antibiotic
      resistance in C. jejuni, which appears to be mediated by multiple mechanisms that
      include inhibition of microbial efflux, decreased membrane integrity, and
      metabolic disruption. These data warrant further studies on (-)-alpha-pinene to
      develop its use in the control of antibiotic resistance in Campylobacter. 

PMID- 25830642
TI  - Efficacy of paraspinal anesthetic block in patients with chronic pelvic pain
      refractory to drug therapy: a randomized clinical trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine whether paraspinal block reduces pain scores compared to
      placebo in women with chronic pelvic pain refractory to drug therapy. METHODS:
      Subjects with chronic pelvic pain due to benign conditions and refractory to drug
      therapy were invited to participate in a randomized, double blind, superiority
      trial at a tertiary reference center. Subjects were randomly allocated to receive
      paraspinal anesthetic block with 1% lidocaine without epinephrine or placebo
      (control). Lidocaine was injected along the spinal process of the painful segment
      in the supra- and interspinal ligaments using a 25G X 2" needle. Placebo
      consisted of introduction of the needle in the same segment without injecting any
      substance. The main outcome measured was the pain score based on a visual analog
      scale at T0 (baseline), T1 (within 15 min after the procedure) and T2 (one week
      after the procedure). Data were statistically analyzed by ANOVA and the 95%
      confidence interval (95%CI). RESULTS: Mean age was similar for both groups, i.e.,
      51.2 (paraspinal anesthetic block) and 51.8 years (control). A blind examiner
      measured the degree of pain according to the visual analog scale from 0 (no pain)
      to 10 (worst pain imaginable). Based on the visual analog scale, the mean pain
      scores of the paraspinal anesthetic block group at T0, T1 and T2 were 5.50
      (SD=2.92; 95%CI 3.84-7.15), 2.72 (SD=2.10; 95%CI 1.53-3.90), and 4.36 (SD=2.37;
      95%CI 1.89-6.82), respectively. The difference between T0 and T1 was
      statistically significant, with p=0.03. CONCLUSIONS: Paraspinal anesthetic block
      had a small effect on visual analog scale pain score immediately after the
      injections, but no sustained benefit after one week. Further studies are needed
      to determine the efficacy of paraspinal anesthetic block with different lidocaine
      doses for the treatment of visceral pain of other causes.

PMID- 25830643
TI  - [Reproductive outcomes after hysteroscopic septoplasty: a retrospective study].
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the reproductive outcomes after hysteroscopic septoplasty.
      METHODS: A retrospective observational study was performed with analysis of the
      medical records of 28 women with infertility or recurrent abortions undergoing
      hysteroscopic septoplasty. To evaluate reproductive outcomes we consulted the
      medical records of our hospital and of primary health care units between
      septoplasty and the present or first pregnancy. Primary outcomes were pregnancy
      rate, newborns, and abortions after septoplasty. Uterine septum was diagnosed by
      2D or 3D ultrasound and classified according to the American Fertility Society.
      All procedures were performed in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle
      using monopolar or bipolar energy and/or microscissors. To compare the
      reproductive outcomes before and after septoplasty we used Microsoft Excel and
      SPSS version 17. Fisher's exact test was considered statistically significant if
      p<0.05. RESULTS: Hysteroscopic septoplasty was performed in 20 patients (72%)
      with secondary infertility and in 8 patients (28%) with primary infertility. The
      septum was incompletely removed during the first hysteroscopy in 5 cases (18%),
      which required a second surgery. One case was complicated with minor uterine
      perforation. After hysteroscopic septoplasty, 64% of women became pregnant and
      48% live neonates were delivered; 4% of the patients had a tubal pregnancy; and
      19% had miscarriages. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study are consistent with
      those described in the literature. Patients obtained a significant improvement of
      reproductive outcomes with a fivefold reduction in miscarriage rate after
      hysteroscopic septoplasty.

PMID- 25830644
TI  - Minimally invasive approach of tubo-ovarian abscesses.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the treatment outcome of tubo-ovarian abscesses managed by
      transvaginal ultrasound-guided aspiration. METHODS: Descriptive analysis of all
      patients with tubo-ovarian abscesses treated with a minimally invasive procedure,
      ultrasound-guided drainage, at the Department of Gynecology, Centro Hospitalar
      Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, during a period of 5 years (from June 2009 to June
      2014). RESULTS: Twenty-six cases were included in the study. The mean age of the
      study group was 42.8 years. All patients were submitted to transvaginal
      ultrasound-guided aspiration and sclerosis with iodated solution, as well as
      received broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics. The mean time from admission to
      drainage was 2.5 days. Cultures for aerobic and anaerobic pathogens were positive
      in 14 of the 26 cases. A complete response was noted in 23 of the 26 cases. No
      complications or morbidity were noted as a consequence of the drainage
      procedures. CONCLUSION: Minimally invasive treatment of tubo-ovarian abscesses by
      transvaginal ultrasound-guided drainage is an effective and safe approach.

PMID- 25830645
TI  - Fatigue and quality of life in breast cancer survivors: a comparative study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess fatigue and quality of life in disease-free breast cancer
      survivors in relation to a sample of age-matched women with no cancer history and
      to explore the relationship between fatigue and quality of life. METHODS: A cross
      sectional study was conducted in a sample of 202 consecutive disease-free
      Brazilian breast cancer survivors, all of whom had completed treatment, treated
      at 2 large hospitals. The patients were compared to age-matched women with no
      cancer history attending a primary health care center. The Piper Fatigue Scale
      Revised and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL
      BREF) were used to measure the fatigue and quality of life, respectively. Socio
      demographic and clinical variables were also obtained. The chi2 test, generalized
      linear model, and Spearman correlation coefficient were used for statistical
      purposes. The adopted level of significance was 5%. RESULTS: Breast cancer
      survivors experienced significantly greater total and subscale fatigue scores
      than comparison group (all p-values<0.05). In addition, survivors reported a
      poorer quality of life in physical (p=0.002), psychological (p=0.03), and social
      relationships (p=0.03) domains than comparison group. No difference was found for
      the environmental domain (p=0.08) for both groups. For survivors of breast cancer
      and for comparison group, the total and subscale fatigue scores were related to
      lower quality of life (all p-values<0.01). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study
      highlight the importance of assessing fatigue and quality of life in breast
      cancer survivors.

PMID- 25830646
TI  - [Mechanical method of induction of labor in high-risk pregnant women with
      previous cesarean section].
AB  - PURPOSE: To describe the maternal and fetal outcomes with the use of the Foley
      catheter for induction of labor in high-risk pregnant women with previous
      caesarean section. METHODS: An interventive and descriptive study was conducted
      from November 2013 to June 2014. A total of 39 pregnant women at term, with a
      live fetus, cephalic presentation, estimated fetal weight <4,000 g, with previous
      cesarean section, medical indications for induction of labor, Bishop score <=6
      and amniotic fluid index >5 cm were included. A number 16F Foley catheter was
      introduced for a maximum of 24 hours, and was considered to be satisfactory when
      the patient began labor within 24 hours. RESULTS: Labor was successfully induced
      in 79.5% of pregnant women. Nine women achieved vaginal delivery (23.1%), with a
      frequency of 18% of vaginal births occurring within 24 hours. The main
      indications for the induction of labor were hypertensive disorders (75%). The
      mean interval between the placement of the Foley catheter and the beginning of
      labor and delivery were 8.7+/-7.1 and 14.7+/-9.8 hours, respectively. Meconium
      stained amniotic fluid was observed in two patients; and an Apgar score <7 in the
      first minute was detected in 5 newborns (12.8%). CONCLUSIONS: The Foley catheter
      is an alternative for the induction of labor in women with previous caesarean
      section, despite the low vaginal delivery rate.

PMID- 25830647
TI  - Fetal heart rate responses during maternal resistance exercise: a pilot study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine fetal heart rate (FHR) responses to maternal resistance
      exercise for the upper and lower body at two different volumes, and after 25
      minutes post-exercise. METHODS: Ten pregnant women (22-24 weeks gestation, 25.2+/
      4.4 years of age, 69.8+/-9.5 kg, 161.6+/-5.2 cm tall) performed, at 22-24, 28-32
      and 34-36 weeks, the following experimental sessions: Session 1 was a
      familiarization with the equipment and the determination of one estimated maximum
      repetition. For sessions 2, 3, 4 and 5,FHR was determined during the execution of
      resistance exercise on bilateral leg extension and pec-deck fly machines, with 1
      and 3 sets of 15 repetitions; 50% of the weight load and an estimated repetition
      maximum. FHR was assessed with a portable digital cardiotocograph. Results were
      analyzed using Student's t test, ANOVA with repeated measures and Bonferroni
      (alpha=0.05; SPSS 17.0). RESULTS: FHR showed no significant differences between
      the exercises at 22-24 weeks (bilateral leg extension=143.8+/-9.4 bpm, pec-deck
      fly=140.2+/-10.2 bpm, p=0.34), 28-30 weeks (bilateral leg extension=138.4+/-12.2
      bpm, pec-deck fly=137.6+/-14.0 bpm, p=0.75) and 34-36 weeks (bilateral leg
      extension=135.7+/-5.8 bpm, pec-deck fly=139.7+/-13.3 bpm, p=0.38), between the
      volumes(bilateral leg extension at 22-24 weeks: p=0.36, at 28-30 weeks: p=0.19
      and at 34-36 weeks: p=0.87; pec-deck fly at 22-24 weeks: p=0.43, at 28-30 weeks:
      p=0.61 and at 34-36 weeks: p=0.49) and after 25 minutes post-exercise.
      CONCLUSION: Results of this pilot study would suggest that maternal resistance
      exercise is safe for the fetus.

PMID- 25830648
TI  - [Prenatal management of congenital diaphragmatic hernia: present, past and
      future].
AB  - The congenital diaphragmatic hernia is a defect in the formation of the
      diaphragm, which affects between 1:2,000 and 1:4,000 live births and represents
      8% of major congenital anomalies. Medical advances in the last 30 years involving
      prenatal diagnosis, fetal intervention, neonatal surgical and clinical management
      have changed the survival of these patients. The historical evolution of these
      advances helps us to understand the effort in pursuit of better results of this
      defect, which is often lethal. Perspectives on the use of bioengineering and
      therapy involving stem cells may bring new hope for fetuses with congenital
      diaphragmatic hernia. 

PMID- 25830649
TI  - Fluorescent Probes Used for Detection of Hydrogen Peroxide under Biological
      Conditions.
AB  - Hydrogen peroxide is a well-established precursor of reactive oxygen and nitrogen
      species that are known to contribute to oxidative stress-the crucial factor
      responsible for the course of a wide range of phy-sicochemical processes as well
      as the genesis of various diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative
      disorders. Thus, the development of sensitive and selective methods for the
      detection and quantitative determination of hydrogen peroxide is of great
      importance in monitoring the in vivo production of that species and elucidating
      its biological functions. This review highlights the progress that has been made
      in the development of fluorescent and luminescent probes (excluding
      nanoparticles) employed to monitor hydrogen peroxide under biological conditions.
      Attention was focused on probes developed in the past 10 years. 

PMID- 25830650
TI  - Impact of daptomycin resistance on Staphylococcus aureus virulence.
AB  - Daptomycin resistance (DAP(R)) in Staphylococcus aureus is associated with
      mutations in genes that are also implicated in staphylococcal pathogenesis. Using
      a laboratory-derived series of DAP exposed strains, we showed a relationship
      between increasing DAP MIC and reduced virulence in a Galleria mellonella
      infection model. Point mutations in walK and rpoC led to cumulative reductions in
      virulence and simultaneous increases in DAP MIC. A point mutation to mprF did not
      impact on S.aureus virulence; however deletion of mprF led to virulence
      attenuation and hyper-susceptibility to DAP. To validate our findings in G.
      mellonella, we confirmed the attenuated virulence of select isolates from the
      laboratory-derived series using a murine septicaemia model. As a corollary, we
      showed significant virulence reductions for clinically-derived DAP(R) isolates
      compared to their isogenic, DAP-susceptible progenitors (DAP(S)). Intriguingly,
      each clinical DAP(R) isolate was persistent in vivo. Taken together, it appears
      the genetic correlates underlying daptomycin resistance in S. aureus also alter
      pathogenicity. 

PMID- 25830651
TI  - Cooperative stabilization of the SIR complex provides robust epigenetic memory in
      a model of SIR silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
AB  - How alternative chromatin-based regulatory states can be made stable and
      heritable in order to provide robust epigenetic memory is poorly understood.
      Here, we develop a stochastic model of the silencing system in Saccharomyces
      cerevisiae that incorporates cooperative binding of the repressive SIR complex
      and antisilencing histone modifications, in addition to positive feedback in Sir2
      recruitment. The model was able to reproduce key features of SIR regulation of an
      HM locus, including heritable bistability, dependence on the silencer elements,
      and sensitivity to SIR dosage. We found that antisilencing methylation of H3K79
      by Dot1 was not needed to generate these features, but acted to reduce spreading
      of SIR binding, consistent with its proposed role in containment of silencing. In
      contrast, cooperative inter-nucleosome interactions mediated by the SIR complex
      were critical for concentrating SIR binding around the silencers in the absence
      of barriers, and for providing bistability in SIR binding. SIR-SIR interactions
      magnify the cooperativity in the Sir2-histone deacetylation positive feedback
      reaction and complete a double-negative feedback circuit involving antisilencing
      modifications. Thus, our modeling underscores the potential importance of
      cooperative interactions between nucleosome-bound complexes both in the SIR
      system and in other chromatin-based complexes in epigenetic regulation. 

PMID- 25830652
TI  - Circulating Melanoma Cell Subpopulations: Their Heterogeneity and Differential
      Responses to Treatment.
AB  - Metastatic melanoma is a highly heterogeneous tumor; thus, methods to analyze
      tumor-derived cells circulating in blood should address this diversity. Taking
      this into account, we analyzed, using multiparametric flow cytometry, the co
      expression of the melanoma markers melanoma cell adhesion molecule and melanoma
      associated chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan and the tumor-initiating markers ATP
      binding cassette sub-family B member 5 (ABCB5), CD271, and receptor activator of
      NF-kappabeta (RANK) in individual circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from 40 late
      stage (III-IV) and 16 early-stage (I-II) melanoma patients. CTCs were
      heterogeneous within and between patients, with limited co-expression between the
      five markers analyzed. Analysis of patient matched blood and metastatic tumors
      revealed that ABCB5 and RANK subpopulations are more common among CTCs than in
      the solid tumors, suggesting a preferential selection for these cells in
      circulation. Pairwise comparison of CTC subpopulations longitudinally before and
      6-13 weeks after treatment initiation showed that the percentage of RANK(+) CTCs
      significantly increased in the patients undergoing targeted therapy (N=16,
      P<0.01). Moreover, the presence of ?5 RANK(+) CTCs in the blood of patients
      undergoing targeted therapies was prognostic of shorter progression-free survival
      (hazards ratio 8.73, 95% confidence interval 1.82-41.75, P<0.01). Taken together,
      our results provide evidence of the heterogeneity among CTC subpopulations in
      melanoma and the differential response of these subpopulations to targeted
      therapy. 

PMID- 25830653
TI  - A Drosophila Model of Epidermolysis Bullosa Simplex.
AB  - The blistering skin disorder epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS) results from
      dominant mutations in keratin 5 (K5) or keratin 14 (K14) genes, encoding the
      intermediate filament (IF) network of basal epidermal keratinocytes. The
      mechanisms governing keratin network formation and collapse due to EBS mutations
      remain incompletely understood. Drosophila lacks cytoplasmic IFs, providing a
      'null' environment to examine the formation of keratin networks and determine
      mechanisms by which mutant keratins cause pathology. Here, we report that
      ubiquitous co-expression of transgenes encoding wild-type human K14 and K5
      resulted in the formation of extensive keratin networks in Drosophila epithelial
      and non-epithelial tissues, causing no overt phenotype. Similar to mammalian
      cells, treatment of transgenic fly tissues with phosphatase inhibitors caused
      keratin network collapse, validating Drosophila as a genetic model system to
      investigate keratin dynamics. Co-expression of K5 and a K14(R125C) mutant that
      causes the most severe form of EBS resulted in widespread formation of EBS-like
      cytoplasmic keratin aggregates in epithelial and non-epithelial fly tissues.
      Expression of K14(R125C)/K5 caused semi-lethality; adult survivors developed wing
      blisters and were flightless due to a lack of intercellular adhesion during wing
      heart development. This Drosophila model of EBS is valuable for the
      identification of pathways altered by mutant keratins and for the development of
      EBS therapies. 

PMID- 25830655
TI  - Correction: population biology of schistosoma mating, aggregation, and
      transmission breakpoints: more reliable model analysis for the end-game in
      communities at risk.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115875.]. 

PMID- 25830654
TI  - Correlation between Reversal of DNA Methylation and Clinical Symptoms in
      Psoriatic Epidermis Following Narrow-Band UVB Phototherapy.
AB  - Epigenetic modifications by DNA methylation are associated with a wide range of
      diseases. Previous studies in psoriasis have concentrated on epigenetic changes
      in immune cells or in total skin biopsies that include stromal-associated
      changes. In order to improve our understanding of the role of DNA methylation in
      psoriasis, we sought to obtain a comprehensive DNA methylation signature specific
      for the epidermal component of psoriasis and to analyze methylation changes
      during therapy. Genome-wide DNA methylation profiling of epidermal cells from 12
      patients undergoing narrow-band UVB phototherapy and 12 corresponding healthy
      controls revealed a distinct DNA methylation pattern in psoriasis compared with
      controls. A total of 3,665 methylation variable positions (MVPs) were identified
      with an overall hypomethylation in psoriasis patient samples. DNA methylation
      pattern was reversed at the end of phototherapy in patients showing excellent
      clinical improvement. Only 7% of phototherapy-affected MVPs (150 out of 2,108)
      correlate with nearby gene expression. Enrichment of MVPs in enhancers indicates
      tissue-specific modulation of the transcriptional regulatory machinery in
      psoriasis. Our study identified key epigenetic events associated with psoriasis
      pathogenesis and helps understand the dynamic DNA methylation landscape in the
      human genome. 

PMID- 25830656
TI  - The prevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus infection among blood donors in
      southeast China, 2004-2013.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) which is associated
      with the diseases of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma, HTLV-1 associated myelopathy
      / tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) and HTLV-associated uveitis, can cause
      transfusion-transmitted infections. Although HTLV screening of blood donors was
      already routinely performed in developed countries, little is know about the HTLV
      prevalence among blood donors in developing countries which do not perform HTLV
      screening, such as China. OBJECTIVES &AIMS: To systematically characterize the
      prevalence of HTLV infection among bloods in southeast China. METHODS: A 10-year
      survey for HTLV prevalence in blood donors was performed in Xiamen, southeast
      China, during 2004-2013. The HTLV-1/2 of blood donations were screened by enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay, following with confirmation by western blot assay and
      9nucleic acid testing. The HTLV-1 prevalences in donors from different cities
      were calculated. Viral sequences derived from identified HTLV-positive cases were
      sequenced and analyzed. RESULTS: Among 253,855 blood donors, 43 were confirmed to
      be seropositive for HTLV-1 (16.9 per 100,000 95% CI: 12.3-22.8) and none HTLV-2
      infection was found. The HTLV-1 prevalence varied significantly in donors from
      different cities. Donors from cities in Fujian province (24.3 per 100,000, 95%CI:
      17.4-33.1) had a significantly higher (p=0.001) HTLV-1 seroprevalence than those
      who were born in non-Fujian cities (3.4 per 100,000, 95%CI: 0.7-9.8). Among nine
      cities in Fujian province, the highest prevalence was found in blood donors from
      Ningde (171.3 per 100,000, 95%CI: 91.3-292.8) which is a coastal city in the
      northeast of Fujian. Molecular characterization of viral sequences from 27 HTLV-1
      carriers revealed 25 were Transcontinental subtype of genotype A and 2 were
      Japanese subtype of genotype A. Interestingly, 12 of 25 Transcontinental subtype
      sequences harbored a characteristic L55P mutation in viral gp46 protein, which
      was only presented in the Transcontinental subtype sequences from Japan and
      Taiwan but not in that from other countries. CONCLUSIONS: Although China is
      considered to be a non-endemic region for HTLV, the HTLV-1 prevalence in blood
      donors is significantly higher in Fujian province, southeast China. A higher
      prevalence of HTLV-1 in the Fujian may be attributed to endemic foci in the city
      of Ningde.

PMID- 25830657
TI  - Structural Characterization, Technological Functionality, and Physiological
      Aspects of Fungal beta-D-glucans: A Review.
AB  - beta-D-glucans are a (1->3)-linked glucose polymer with (1->6)-linked side chains
      and a major component of fungal cell walls. They exhibit structural integrity to
      the fungal cell wall. In addition, beta-glucans are widely used as food adjuvant
      in food and pharmaceutical industries because of their physico-chemical
      properties. Several studies have focused on different isolation processes of (1
      >3) (1->6)-beta-glucan that could affect the physico-chemical and functional
      properties of beta-glucan such as chemical composition, solubility, viscosity,
      hydration properties, and oil binding capacity. Immunological activity is one of
      the most important properties of beta-glucans. Thus, they are effective in
      inhibiting growth of cancer cells and metastasis and preventing bacterial
      infection. In humans, beta-glucans reduce blood cholesterol, improve glucose
      absorption by body cells, and so help wound healing. This review described the
      prebiotic potentiality of fungal beta-D-glucans with the objective to detail the
      methodologies applied for their extraction, their structure and techno-functional
      properties, and finally their biological effects. 

PMID- 25830659
TI  - Isolation and screening of endophytes from the rhizomes of some Zingiberaceae
      plants for L-asparaginase production.
AB  - Endophytes are described as microorganisms that colonize the internal tissues of
      healthy plants without causing any disease. Endophytes isolated from medicinal
      plants have been attracting considerable attention due to their high biodiversity
      and their predicted potential to produce a plethora of novel compounds. In this
      study, an attempt was made to isolate endophytes from rhizomes of five medicinal
      plants of Zingiberaceae family, and to screen the endophytes for L-asparaginase
      activity. In total, 50 endophytes (14 bacteria, 22 actinomycetes, and 14 fungi)
      were isolated from Alpinia galanga, Curcuma amada, Curcuma longa, Hedychium
      coronarium, and Zingiber officinale; of these, 31 endophytes evidenced positive
      for L-asparaginase production. All the L-asparaginase-positive isolates showed L
      asparaginase activity in the range of 54.17-155.93 U/mL in unoptimized medium. An
      endophytic fungus isolated from Curcuma amada, identified as Talaromyces
      pinophilus, was used for further experiments involving studies on the effect of
      certain nutritional and nonnutritional factors on L-asparaginase production in
      submerged fermentation. Talaromyces pinophilus initially gave an enzyme activity
      of 108.95 U/mL, but gradually reduced to 80 U/mL due to strain degeneration.
      Perhaps this is the first report ever on the production of L-asparaginase from
      endophytes isolated from medicinal plants of Zingiberaceae family.

PMID- 25830660
TI  - Planning Mediates Between Self-Efficacy and Physical Activity Among Motivated
      Young Adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Often, motivation to be physically active is a necessary precondition
      of action but still does not suffice to initiate the target behavior. Instead,
      motivation needs to be translated into action by a self-regulatory process. Self
      efficacy and planning are considered to be useful constructs that help to
      facilitate such translations. OBJECTIVE: The aim is to examine the roles of
      motivation, planning, and self-efficacy as well as the mechanisms that operate in
      the change of physical activity levels. METHODS: In a longitudinal observation
      study with 249 young adults, self-efficacy, planning, motivation, and physical
      activity were assessed at 2 points in time, 3 months apart. RESULTS: Planning
      served as a mediator between self-efficacy and physical activity, controlling for
      baseline activity. In addition to this indirect effect, a moderator effect was
      found between self-efficacy and stages of change on planning. The mediation
      operated only in motivated, but not in unmotivated students. CONCLUSIONS: A
      mediation from self-efficacy via planning to physical activity seems to be likely
      only when people are motivated to become more active.

PMID- 25830661
TI  - Herbal and plant therapy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
AB  - The use of herbal therapy in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasing
      worldwide. The aim of this study was to review the literature on the efficacy of
      herbal therapy in IBD patients. Studies on herbal therapy for IBD published in
      Medline and Embase were reviewed, and response to treatment and remission rates
      were recorded. Although the number of the relevant clinical studies is relatively
      small, it can be assumed that the efficacy of herbal therapies in IBD is
      promising. The most important clinical trials conducted so far refer to the use
      of mastic gum, tormentil extracts, wormwood herb, aloe vera, triticum aestivum,
      germinated barley foodstuff, and boswellia serrata. In ulcerative colitis, aloe
      vera gel, triticum aestivum, andrographis paniculata extract and topical Xilei
      san were superior to placebo in inducing remission or clinical response, and
      curcumin was superior to placebo in maintaining remission; boswellia serrata gum
      resin and plantago ovata seeds were as effective as mesalazine, whereas oenothera
      biennis had similar relapse rates as omega-3 fatty acids in the treatment of
      ulcerative colitis. In Crohn's disease, mastic gum, Artemisia absinthium, and
      Tripterygium wilfordii were superior to placebo in inducing remission and
      preventing clinical postoperative recurrence, respectively. Herbal therapies
      exert their therapeutic benefit by different mechanisms including immune
      regulation, antioxidant activity, inhibition of leukotriene B4 and nuclear factor
      kappa B, and antiplatelet activity. Large, double-blind clinical studies
      assessing the most commonly used natural substances should urgently be conducted.

PMID- 25830662
TI  - Short-term variation in occupational exposure to air contaminants.
AB  - Many industrial workers are exposed to air contaminants. A significant proportion
      of this exposure is found to occur as short peaks, a fact that has received
      limited attention in the literature. The present study focuses on short-term
      variation in air contaminant exposure measured at the level of seconds, linking
      exposure peaks to typical work situations in selected Swedish industries. The
      video exposure monitoring method was used to characterize this variation. Ten
      different videos were analyzed, from recordings varying in length between 15 and
      34 minutes. Cumulative exposure for sampling intervals ranked from high to low,
      relative to the total exposure was calculated as a function of time. Measures of
      exposure variation included geometric standard deviation and maximum exposure
      divided by arithmetic mean. The results show that the characteristics of the
      variation differ between industrial situations. Samples from the stone, wood, and
      pharmaceutical industries generated the highest variation, implying that exposure
      peaks of short duration explain a large proportion of the total exposure. It can
      be concluded that video monitoring of exposure, combined with calculation of
      exposure variation as percentage of time accounting for given percentages of
      exposure, can help to reduce exposure to air contaminants in industrial
      situations by introducing more targeted control measures. 

PMID- 25830663
TI  - Effect of High-pressure CO2 Processing on Bacterial Spores.
AB  - High-pressure CO2 (HPCD) is a nonthermal technology that can effectively
      inactivate the vegetative forms of pathogenic and spoilage bacteria, yeasts, and
      molds at pressures less than 30 MPa and temperatures in the range of 20 degrees C
      to 40 degrees C. However, HPCD alone at moderate temperatures (20-40 degrees C)
      is often insufficient to obtain a substantial reduction in bacterial spore counts
      because their structures are more complex than those of vegetative cells. In this
      review, we first thoroughly summarized and discussed the inactivation effect of
      HPCD treatment on bacterial spores. We then presented and discussed the kinetics
      by which bacterial spores are inactivated by HPCD treatment. We also summarized
      hypotheses drawn by different researchers to explain the mechanisms of spore
      inactivation by HPCD treatment. We then summarized the current research status
      and future challenges of spore inactivation by HPCD treatment. 

PMID- 25830664
TI  - The efficacy of traditional Chinese Medical Exercise for Parkinson's disease: a
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Several studies assessed the efficacy of traditional
      Chinese medical exercise in the management of Parkinson's disease (PD), but its
      role remained controversial. Therefore, the purpose of this systematic review is
      to evaluate the evidence on the effect of traditional Chinese medical exercise
      for PD. METHODS: Seven English and Chinese electronic databases, up to October
      2014, were searched to identify relevant studies. The PEDro scale was employed to
      assess the methodological quality of eligible studies. Meta-analysis was
      performed by RevMan 5.1 software. RESULTS: Fifteen trials were included in the
      review. Tai Chi and Qigong were used as assisting pharmacological treatments of
      PD in the previous studies. Tai Chi plus medication showed greater improvements
      in motor function (standardized mean difference, SMD, -0.57; 95% confidence
      intervals, CI, -1.11 to -0.04), Berg balance scale (BBS, SMD, -1.22; 95% CI -1.65
      to -0.80), and time up and go test (SMD, -1.06; 95% CI -1.44 to -0.68). Compared
      with other therapy plus medication, Tai Chi plus medication also showed greater
      gains in motor function (SMD, -0.78; 95% CI -1.46 to -0.10), BBS (SMD, -0.99; 95%
      CI -1.44 to -0.54), and functional reach test (SMD, -0.77; 95% CI -1.51 to 
      0.03). However, Tai Chi plus medication did not showed better improvements in
      gait or quality of life. There was not sufficient evidence to support or refute
      the effect of Qigong plus medication for PD. CONCLUSIONS: In the previous
      studies, Tai Chi and Qigong were used as assisting pharmacological treatments of
      PD. The current systematic review showed positive evidence of Tai Chi plus
      medication for PD of mild-to-moderate severity. So Tai Chi plus medication should
      be recommended for PD management, especially in improving motor function and
      balance. Qigong plus medication also showed potential gains in the management of
      PD. However, more high quality studies with long follow-up are warrant to confirm
      the current findings.

PMID- 25830665
TI  - Associations between subjective happiness and dry eye disease: a new perspective
      from the Osaka study.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Dry eye disease has become an important health problem. A lack of
      concordance between self-reported symptoms and the outcome of dry eye
      examinations has raised questions about dry eye disease. OBJECTIVE: To explore
      the association between subjective happiness and objective and subjective
      symptoms of dry eye disease. DESIGN: The study adopted a cross-sectional design.
      SETTING: All the employees of a company in Osaka, Japan. PARTICIPANTS: 672
      Japanese office workers using Visual Display Terminals (age range: 26-64 years).
      METHODS: The dry eye measurement tools included the Schirmer test,
      conjunctivocorneal staining, the tear film break-up time, as well as the
      administration of a dry eye symptoms questionnaire. Happiness was measured by the
      Subjective Happiness Scale. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Dry eye examination
      parameters, dry eye symptoms questionnaires, and the Subjective Happiness Scale
      score. RESULTS: Of the 672 workers, 561 (83.5%) completed the questionnaires and
      examinations. The mean Subjective Happiness Scale score was 4.91 (SD = 1.01).
      This score was inversely correlated with the dry eye symptom score (r = -0.188, p
      < 0.001), but was not associated with objective findings which include
      conjunctivocorneal staining, low Schirmer test score, or low tear film break-up
      time. The level of subjective happiness was the lowest in the group without
      objective results, but reported subjective symptoms of dry eyes (p < 0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: There is evidence of the relationship between
      subjective happiness and self-reported symptoms of dry eyes. Findings of this
      study revealed a new perspective on dry eye disease, including the potential for
      innovative treatments of a specific population with dry eye disease.

PMID- 25830667
TI  - MALDI-MS Imaging Analysis of Fungicide Residue Distributions on Wheat Leaf
      Surfaces.
AB  - Improved retention and distribution of agrochemicals on plant surfaces is an
      important attribute in the biological activity of pesticide. Although retention
      of agrochemicals on plants after spray application can be quantified using
      traditional analytical techniques including LC or GC, the spatial distribution of
      agrochemicals on the plants surfaces has received little attention. Matrix
      assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) imaging technology has been widely
      used to determine the distribution of proteins, peptides and metabolites in
      different tissue sections, but its application to environmental research has been
      limited. Herein, we probed the potential utility of MALDI imaging in
      characterizing the distribution of three commercial fungicides on wheat leaf
      surfaces. Using this MALDI imaging method, we were able to detect 500 ng of
      epoxiconazole, azoxystrobin, and pyraclostrobin applied in 1 MUL drop on the leaf
      surfaces using MALDI-MS. Subsequent dilutions of pyraclostrobin revealed that the
      compound can be chemically imaged on the leaf surfaces at levels as low as 60 ng
      of total applied in the area of 1 MUL droplet. After application of
      epoxiconazole, azoxystrobin, and pyraclostrobin at a field rate of 100 gai/ha in
      200 L water using a track sprayer system, residues of these fungicides on the
      leaf surfaces were sufficiently visualized. These results suggest that MALDI
      imaging can be used to monitor spatial distribution of agrochemicals on leaf
      samples after pesticide application. 

PMID- 25830666
TI  - Phenotypic dysregulation of microglial activation in young offspring rats with
      maternal sleep deprivation-induced cognitive impairment.
AB  - Despite the potential adverse effects of maternal sleep deprivation (MSD) on
      physiological and behavioral aspects of offspring, the mechanisms remain poorly
      understood. The present study was intended to investigate the roles of microglia
      on neurodevelopment and cognition in young offspring rats with prenatal sleep
      deprivation. Pregnant Wistar rats received 72 h sleep deprivation in the last
      trimester of gestation, and their prepuberty male offspring were given the
      intraperitoneal injection with or without minocycline. The results showed the
      number of Iba1(+) microglia increased, that of hippocampal neurogenesis
      decreased, and the hippocampus-dependent spatial learning and memory were
      impaired in MSD offspring. The classical microglial activation markers (M1
      phenotype) IL-1beta, IL-6, TNF-alpha, CD68 and iNOS were increased, while the
      alternative microglial activation markers (M2 phenotype) Arg1, Ym1, IL-4, IL-10
      and CD206 were reduced in hippocampus of MSD offspring. After minocycline
      administration, the MSD offspring showed improvement in MWM behaviors and
      increase in BrdU(+)/DCX(+) cells. Minocycline reduced Iba1(+) cells, suppressed
      the production of pro-inflammatory molecules, and reversed the reduction of M2
      microglial markers in the MSD prepuberty offspring. These results indicate that
      dysregulation in microglial pro- and anti-inflammatory activation is involved in
      MSD-induced inhibition of neurogenesis and impairment of spatial learning and
      memory. 

PMID- 25830668
TI  - Unique Surface Modification of Silica Nanoparticles with Polyethylenimine (PEI)
      for siRNA Delivery Using Cerium Cation Coordination Chemistry.
AB  - The discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) as a naturally occurring mechanism for
      gene knockdown has attracted considerable attention toward the use of small
      interfering RNAs (siRNAs) for therapeutic purposes. The main obstacles of
      harnessing siRNAs as drugs are their inefficient delivery to cells and off-target
      effect making clinical applications very challenging. The positively charged,
      branched 25 kDa polyethylenimine (b-PEI) polymer is widely regarded as one of the
      most efficient nonviral commercially available transfection agents. However, it
      has also been shown that 25 kDa b-PEI is highly cytotoxic and can readily lead to
      cell death. In this specific context, this study presents the preparation and
      characterization of innovative 25 kDa b-PEI-decorated polycationic silica
      nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) for cellular siRNA delivery and subsequent gene
      silencing. A new method of b-PEI attachment onto the SiO2 NP surface has been
      developed that makes use of cerium(III) cations (Ce(3+)), a lanthanide group
      element, as an effective noncovalent inorganic linker between both polyNH2-SiO2
      nanoparticle (SPA NPs) surface and polycationic 25 kDa b-PEI polymer. Two
      resulting novel SPA-Ce-PEI NPs consist of similar amounts of b-PEI, while
      possessing different amounts of Ce(3+). Various analytical techniques (TEM, DLS,
      zeta potential, ICP-AES, and TGA) have been used to deeply characterize NPs
      physicochemical qualities. The observed results of Ce(3+)-dependent gene
      silencing and cytotoxic activities led us to conclusions about the role of Ce(3+)
      N bonding during the chemical attachment of the 25 kDa b-PEI shell onto the NP
      surface. 

PMID- 25830669
TI  - Hepatitis B immunization in healthcare workers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk for hepatitis B virus
      (HBV) infection. The aim of the study was to evaluate HBV immunization status and
      anti-HBs titer among HCWs. METHODS: AntiHBs titer was prospectively examined in
      all vaccinated of the 464 HCWs enrolled. A comparison was done between two groups
      who had received vaccination within or beyond 5 years (Group A >5 years, Group B
      <5 years) and also between those who received a booster dose, Group I (<1 year)
      and Group II (>1 year). RESULTS: 49.6% HCWs were vaccinated, 46.1% were
      unvaccinated, and 4.3% were partially vaccinated. Among HCWs, doctors had the
      highest vaccination rate of 92.5%, followed by medical students (62.4%), nursing
      staff (41.6%), technical staff (24.2%), administrative staff (12.1%), nursing
      students (8.5%), and grade IV/laundry staff (0%). Of the vaccinated HCWs, 30% had
      anti-HBs titer <10 mIU/mL, 10.8% between 10-100 mIU/mL, and 59.2% >100 mIU/mL.
      Mean anti-HBs titer between groups A and B was 334.8 and 649.2 mIU/mL,
      respectively (P<0.05); mean anti-HBs titer between groups I and II was 1742.7 and
      629.2 mIU, respectively (P<0.002). CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of HCWs
      is unvaccinated. A fair proportion of fully vaccinated HCWs can have low titers
      to protect them against HBV infection. Measuring anti-HBs titer, administering a
      booster dose, and offering general screening for HBs antigen should be made
      compulsory for HCWs.

PMID- 25830658
TI  - Assessing associations between the AURKA-HMMR-TPX2-TUBG1 functional module and
      breast cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers.
AB  - While interplay between BRCA1 and AURKA-RHAMM-TPX2-TUBG1 regulates mammary
      epithelial polarization, common genetic variation in HMMR (gene product RHAMM)
      may be associated with risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 mutation carriers.
      Following on these observations, we further assessed the link between the AURKA
      HMMR-TPX2-TUBG1 functional module and risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 or BRCA2
      mutation carriers. Forty-one single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were
      genotyped in 15,252 BRCA1 and 8,211 BRCA2 mutation carriers and subsequently
      analyzed using a retrospective likelihood approach. The association of HMMR
      rs299290 with breast cancer risk in BRCA1 mutation carriers was confirmed: per
      allele hazard ratio (HR) = 1.10, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04-1.15, p = 1.9
      x 10(-4) (false discovery rate (FDR)-adjusted p = 0.043). Variation in CSTF1,
      located next to AURKA, was also found to be associated with breast cancer risk in
      BRCA2 mutation carriers: rs2426618 per-allele HR = 1.10, 95% CI 1.03-1.16, p =
      0.005 (FDR-adjusted p = 0.045). Assessment of pairwise interactions provided
      suggestions (FDR-adjusted pinteraction values > 0.05) for deviations from the
      multiplicative model for rs299290 and CSTF1 rs6064391, and rs299290 and TUBG1
      rs11649877 in both BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. Following these
      suggestions, the expression of HMMR and AURKA or TUBG1 in sporadic breast tumors
      was found to potentially interact, influencing patients' survival. Together, the
      results of this study support the hypothesis of a causative link between altered
      function of AURKA-HMMR-TPX2-TUBG1 and breast carcinogenesis in BRCA1/2 mutation
      carriers.

PMID- 25830670
TI  - BAP1 missense mutation c.2054 A>T (p.E685V) completely disrupts normal splicing
      through creation of a novel 5' splice site in a human mesothelioma cell line.
AB  - BAP1 is a tumor suppressor gene that is lost or deleted in diverse cancers,
      including uveal mela!noma, malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), clear cell renal
      carcinoma, and cholangiocarcinoma. Recently, BAP1 germline mutations have been
      reported in families with combinations of these same cancers. A particular
      challenge for mutation screening is the classification of non-truncating BAP1
      sequence variants because it is not known whether these subtle changes can affect
      the protein function sufficiently to predispose to cancer development. Here we
      report mRNA splicing analysis on a homozygous substitution mutation, BAP1 c. 2054
      A&T (p.Glu685Val), identified in an MPM cell line derived from a mesothelioma
      patient. The mutation occurred at the 3rd nucleotide from the 3' end of exon 16.
      RT-PCR, cloning and subsequent sequencing revealed several aberrant splicing
      products not observed in the controls: 1) a 4 bp deletion at the end of exon 16
      in all clones derived from the major splicing product. The BAP1 c. 2054 A&T
      mutation introduced a new 5' splice site (GU), which resulted in the deletion of
      4 base pairs and presumably protein truncation; 2) a variety of alternative
      splicing products that led to retention of different introns: introns 14-16;
      introns 15-16; intron 14 and intron 16; 3) partial intron 14 and 15 retentions
      caused by activation of alternative 3' splice acceptor sites (AG) in the introns.
      Taken together, we were unable to detect any correctly spliced mRNA transcripts
      in this cell line. These results suggest that aberrant splicing caused by this
      mutation is quite efficient as it completely abolishes normal splicing through
      creation of a novel 5' splice site and activation of cryptic splice sites. These
      data support the conclusion that BAP1 c.2054 A&T (p.E685V) variant is a
      pathogenic mutation and contributes to MPM through disruption of normal splicing.

PMID- 25830671
TI  - Attitudes of Greek Drivers with Focus on Mobile Phone Use While Driving.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This article investigates the attitudes and behavior of Greek drivers
      with specific focus on mobile phone use while driving. METHODS: The research is
      based on the data of the pan-European SARTRE 4 survey, which was conducted on a
      representative sample of Greek drivers in 2011. Analysis of the drivers' behavior
      was carried out by the statistical methods of factor and cluster analysis.
      RESULTS: According to the results of factor analysis, Greek drivers' responses in
      the selected questions were summarized into 4 factors, describing road behavior
      and accident involvement probability as well as their views on issues concerning
      other drivers' road behaviors, fatigued driving, enforcement of road safety, and
      mobile phone use while driving. The results of cluster analysis indicated 5
      different groups of Greek drivers--the moderate, the optimistic, the
      conservative, the risky, and the reasonably cautious--and the characteristics of
      each group where identified. CONCLUSIONS: These results may be useful for the
      appropriate design of targeted road safety campaigns and other countermeasures.

PMID- 25830673
TI  - Structures of Ras superfamily effector complexes: What have we learnt in two
      decades?
AB  - The Ras superfamily small G proteins are master regulators of a diverse range of
      cellular processes and act via downstream effector molecules. The first structure
      of a small G protein-effector complex, that of Rap1A with c-Raf1, was published
      20 years ago. Since then, the structures of more than 60 small G proteins in
      complex with their effectors have been published. These effectors utilize a
      diverse array of structural motifs to interact with the G protein fold, which we
      have divided into four structural classes: intermolecular beta-sheets, helical
      pairs, other interactions, and pleckstrin homology (PH) domains. These classes
      and their representative structures are discussed and a contact analysis of the
      interactions is presented, which highlights the common effector-binding regions
      between and within the small G protein families. 

PMID- 25830676
TI  - Childhood trauma-specific reductions in limbic gray matter volume: still in the
      dark.

PMID- 25830672
TI  - Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging of trigeminal nerves in relapsing
      herpetic keratouveitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Corneal hypoesthesia is the landmark of HSV and VZV keratitis and can
      lead to neurotrophic keratitis. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a new magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI) derived technique, which offers possibilities to study
      axonal architecture. We aimed at assessing the potential impact of recurrent HSV
      or VZV-related keratitis on the axonal architecture of trigeminal nerves using
      DTI. DESIGN: Prospective non-interventional study. PARTICIPANTS: Twelve patients
      and 24 controls. METHODS: DTI using MRI of the trigeminal fibers and corneal
      esthesiometry using the Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer were acquired for patients
      affected by unilateral and recurrent HSV or VZV-related keratitis (3 months after
      the last corneal inflammatory event), and control subjects with no history of
      ocular or neuronal disease affecting the trigeminal pathways. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)
      were compared between the 2 eyes of both patients and controls, and correlated
      with corneal esthesiometry. RESULTS: FA was lower in the trigeminal fibers
      ipsilateral to the affected eye compared to the non-affected side (0.39+/-0.02
      versus 0.46+/-0.04, P=0.03). This difference was more important than the intra
      individual variability observed in controls. Concomitantly, the asymmetry in ADC
      results was significantly correlated with the loss of corneal sensitivity in the
      affected eye. CONCLUSIONS: Corneal hypoesthesia related to HSV and VZV keratitis
      is associated with persistent modifications in the architecture and functionality
      of the trigeminal fibers. These results add further explanation to the
      pathogenesis of HSV and VZV-induced neurotrophic keratitis, which may occur
      despite an apparent quiescence of the disease.

PMID- 25830677
TI  - Childhood trauma-specific reductions in limbic gray matter volume--reply.

PMID- 25830679
TI  - Seco-taondiol, an unusual meroterpenoid from the Chilean seaweed Stypopodium
      flabelliforme and its gastroprotective effect in mouse model.
AB  - Ten known meroterpenoids and the new meroterpenoid 7 were isolated from the
      Chilean seaweed Stypopodium flabelliforme as their acetylated derivatives.
      Furthermore, the known metabolite taondiol has been isolated for the first time
      from this species. The molecular structure of the new metabolite was determined
      by spectroscopic methods based on 1D- and 2D-NMR. Isolation of 7 represents a key
      step toward a better understanding of the biogenesis of this class of
      meroterpenoids. Among the meroditerpenoids isolated, stypodiol, isoepitaondiol,
      epitaondiol and sargaol exhibited gastroprotective activity on the HCl/Ethanol
      induced gastric lesions model in mice. Regarding the mode of gastroprotective
      action, the activity of epitaondiol was reversed significantly when animals were
      pretreated with indomethacin, N-ethylmaleimide and N-nitro-l-arginine methyl
      ester (L-NAME) suggesting that prostaglandins, sulfhydryl groups and nitric oxide
      are involved in their mode of gastroprotective action. In the case of sargaol the
      gastroprotective activity was attenuated with indomethacin and N-ethylmaleimide,
      which suggests that prostaglandins and sulfhydryl groups are also involved in the
      mode of action using this model. 

PMID- 25830680
TI  - Co-processed chitin-mannitol as a new excipient for Oro-dispersible tablets.
AB  - This study describes the preparation, characterization and performance of a novel
      excipient for use in oro-dispersible tablets (ODT). The excipient (Cop-CM)
      consists of chitin and mannitol. The excipient with optimal physicochemical
      properties was obtained at a chitin: mannitol ratio of 2:8 (w/w) and produced by
      roll compaction (RC). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform
      Infrared (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and scanning electron
      microscope (SEM) techniques were used to characterize Cop-CM, in addition to
      characterization of its powder and ODT dosage form. The effect of particle size
      distribution of Cop-CM was investigated and found to have no significant
      influence on the overall tablet physical properties. The compressibility
      parameter (a) for Cop-CM was calculated from a Kawakita plot and found to be
      higher (0.661) than that of mannitol (0.576) due to the presence of the highly
      compressible chitin (0.818). Montelukast sodium and domperidone ODTs produced,
      using Cop-CM, displayed excellent physicochemical properties. The exceptional
      binding, fast wetting and superdisintegration properties of Cop-CM, in comparison
      with commercially available co-processed ODT excipients, results in a unique
      multifunctional base which can successfully be used in the formulation of oro
      dispersible and fast immediate release tablets. 

PMID- 25830681
TI  - Low molecular weight chitosan-insulin polyelectrolyte complex: characterization
      and stability studies.
AB  - The aim of the work reported herein was to investigate the effect of various low
      molecular weight chitosans (LMWCs) on the stability of insulin using USP HPLC
      methods. Insulin was found to be stable in a polyelectrolyte complex (PEC)
      consisting of insulin and LMWC in the presence of a Tris-buffer at pH 6.5. In the
      presence of LMWC, the stability of insulin increased with decreasing molecular
      weight of LMWC; 13 kDa LMWC was the most efficient molecular weight for enhancing
      the physical and chemical stability of insulin. Solubilization of insulin-LMWC
      polyelectrolyte complex (I-LMWC PEC) in a reverse micelle (RM) system,
      administered to diabetic rats, results in an oral delivery system for insulin
      with acceptable bioactivity. 

PMID- 25830682
TI  - First evidence that Ecklonia cava-derived dieckol attenuates MCF-7 human breast
      carcinoma cell migration.
AB  - We investigated the effect of Ecklonia cava (E. cava)-derived dieckol on movement
      behavior and the expression of migration-related genes in MCF-7 human breast
      cancer cell. Phlorotannins (e.g., dieckol, 6,6'-biecko, and 2,7"-phloroglucinol
      6,6'-bieckol) were purified from E. cava by using centrifugal partition
      chromatography. Among the phlorotannins, we found that dieckol inhibited breast
      cancer cell the most and was selected for further study. RadiusTM-well was used
      to assess cell migration, and dieckol (1-100 uM) was found to suppress breast
      cancer cell movement. Metastasis-related gene expressions were evaluated by RT
      PCR and Western blot analysis. In addition, dieckol inhibited the expression of
      migration-related genes such as matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 and vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF). On the other hand, it stimulated the expression
      of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 and TIMP-2. These results
      suggest that dieckol exerts anti-breast cancer activity via the regulation of the
      expressions of metastasis-related genes, and this is the first report on the anti
      breast cancer effect of dieckol. 

PMID- 25830684
TI  - Evaluation of Anti-inflammatory Activity of Seeds of Phalaris canariensis.
AB  - Chloroform extract (ALC) from the seeds of Phalaris canariensis were assayed for
      antiinflammatory activity by carrageenan-induced oedema, cotton pellets-induced
      granuloma, histamine-induced inflammation, croton oil-induced oedema, activity of
      myeloperoxidase (MPO), adjuvant-induced arthritis, quantification of TNFalpha, IL
      1beta, PGE2 and LTB4 and nitric oxide (NO) assay. ALC exhibited significant anti
      inflammatory activity in different chemically-induced edemas in a dose dependent
      manner. In the chronic model cotton pellets-induced granuloma showed decreased
      formation of granuloma tissue. Also caused inhibition of ear inflammation edema
      and influx of polymorphonuclear cells, as evidence by a decrease in ear thickness
      and reduced myeloperoxidase activity and inhibit mediators of inflammation as
      TNFalpha, IL-1beta, PGE2 and LTB4. When RAW 264.7 macrophages were treated with
      ALC together with LPS a significant inhibition of NO production was detected.
      These data provide evidence for antiinflammatory effect of P. canariensis by
      mechanisms that involve a reduced neutrophil influx and decreased production of
      inflammatory cytokines.

PMID- 25830683
TI  - Morphological and proteomic analyses reveal that unsaturated guluronate
      oligosaccharide modulates multiple functional pathways in murine macrophage
      RAW264.7 cells.
AB  - Alginate is a natural polysaccharide extracted from various species of marine
      brown algae. Alginate-derived guluronate oligosaccharide (GOS) obtained by
      enzymatic depolymerization has various pharmacological functions. Previous
      studies have demonstrated that GOS can trigger the production of inducible nitric
      oxide synthase (iNOS)/nitric oxide (NO), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and tumor
      necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha by macrophages and that it is involved in the nuclear
      factor (NF)-kappaB and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling pathways.
      To expand upon the current knowledge regarding the molecular mechanisms
      associated with the GOS-induced immune response in macrophages, comparative
      proteomic analysis was employed together with two-dimensional electrophoresis (2
      DE), matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry
      (MALDI-TOF/TOF MS) and Western blot verification. Proteins showing significant
      differences in expression in GOS-treated cells were categorized into multiple
      functional pathways, including the NF-kappaB signaling pathway and pathways
      involved in inflammation, antioxidant activity, glycolysis, cytoskeletal
      processes and translational elongation. Moreover, GOS-stimulated changes in the
      morphologies and actin cytoskeleton organization of RAW264.7 cells were also
      investigated as possible adaptations to GOS. This study is the first to reveal
      GOS as a promising agent that can modulate the proper balance between the pro-
      and anti-inflammatory immune responses, and it provides new insights into
      pharmaceutical applications of polysaccharides. 

PMID- 25830685
TI  - Epiploic appendagitis: a non-surgical cause of acute abdomen.

PMID- 25830686
TI  - Quantitative analysis of volatile metabolites released in vitro by bacteria of
      the genus Stenotrophomonas for identification of breath biomarkers of respiratory
      infection in cystic fibrosis.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to characterize the volatile metabolites
      produced by genotypically diverse strains of the Stenotrophomonas genus in order
      to evaluate their potential as biomarkers of lung infection by non-invasive
      breath analysis. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from 15 clinical and
      five environmental strains belonging to different genogroups of Stenotrophomonas
      maltophilia (n = 18) and Stenotrophomonas rhizophila (n = 2) cultured in Mueller
      Hinton Broth (MHB) liquid media were analysed by gas chromatography mass
      spectrometry (GC-MS) and selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS).
      Several VOCs were detected in high concentration, including ammonia, propanol,
      dimethyl disulphide propanol and dimethyl disulphide. The GC-MS measurements
      showed that all 15 clinical strains produced similar headspace VOCs compositions,
      and SIFT-MS quantification showed that the rates of production of the VOCs by the
      genotypically distinct strains were very similar. All in vitro cultures of both
      the Stenotrophomonas species were characterised by efficient production of two
      isomers of methyl butanol, which can be described by known biochemical pathways
      and which is absent in other pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These
      in-vitro data indicate that methyl butanol isomers may be exhaled breath
      biomarkers of S. maltophilia lung infection in patients with cystic fibrosis. 

PMID- 25830687
TI  - A mobile cloud-based Parkinson's disease assessment system for home-based
      monitoring.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most prevalent movement disorder of
      the central nervous system, and affects more than 6.3 million people in the
      world. The characteristic motor features include tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity,
      and impaired postural stability. Current therapy based on augmentation or
      replacement of dopamine is designed to improve patients' motor performance but
      often leads to levodopa-induced adverse effects, such as dyskinesia and motor
      fluctuation. Clinicians must regularly monitor patients in order to identify
      these effects and other declines in motor function as soon as possible. Current
      clinical assessment for Parkinson's is subjective and mostly conducted by brief
      observations made during patient visits. Changes in patients' motor function
      between visits are hard to track and clinicians are not able to make the most
      informed decisions about the course of therapy without frequent visits. Frequent
      clinic visits increase the physical and economic burden on patients and their
      families. OBJECTIVE: In this project, we sought to design, develop, and evaluate
      a prototype mobile cloud-based mHealth app, "PD Dr", which collects quantitative
      and objective information about PD and would enable home-based assessment and
      monitoring of major PD symptoms. METHODS: We designed and developed a mobile app
      on the Android platform to collect PD-related motion data using the smartphone 3D
      accelerometer and to send the data to a cloud service for storage, data
      processing, and PD symptoms severity estimation. To evaluate this system, data
      from the system were collected from 40 patients with PD and compared with
      experts' rating on standardized rating scales. RESULTS: The evaluation showed
      that PD Dr could effectively capture important motion features that differentiate
      PD severity and identify critical symptoms. For hand resting tremor detection,
      the sensitivity was .77 and accuracy was .82. For gait difficulty detection, the
      sensitivity was .89 and accuracy was .81. In PD severity estimation, the captured
      motion features also demonstrated strong correlation with PD severity stage, hand
      resting tremor severity, and gait difficulty. The system is simple to use, user
      friendly, and economically affordable. CONCLUSIONS: The key contribution of this
      study was building a mobile PD assessment and monitoring system to extend current
      PD assessment based in the clinic setting to the home-based environment. The
      results of this study proved feasibility and a promising future for utilizing
      mobile technology in PD management.

PMID- 25830689
TI  - Gene therapy for inherited diseases of liver metabolism.
AB  - Gene therapy is entering the stage of initial clinical development to treat a
      growing number of inherited metabolic diseases. This review outlines the
      development of liver-directed gene therapy for diseases caused by deficiencies of
      enzymes that are primarily expressed in the liver and discusses the disorders
      that appear most promising for clinical translation. 

PMID- 25830688
TI  - Abnormalities in hemispheric specialization of caudate nucleus connectivity in
      schizophrenia.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Hemispheric specialization of the human brain is a marker of
      successful neurodevelopment. Altered brain asymmetry that has been repeatedly
      reported in schizophrenia may represent consequences of disrupted
      neurodevelopment in the disorder. However, a complete picture of functional
      specialization in the schizophrenic brain and its connectional substrates is yet
      to be unveiled. OBJECTIVES: To quantify intrinsic hemispheric specialization at
      cortical and subcortical levels and to reveal potential disease effects in
      schizophrenia. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Resting-state functional
      connectivity magnetic resonance imaging has been previously used to
      quantitatively measure hemispheric specialization in healthy individuals in a
      reliable manner. We quantified the intrinsic hemispheric specialization at the
      whole brain level in 31 patients with schizophrenia and 37 demographically
      matched healthy controls from November 28, 2007, through June 29, 2010, using
      resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: The caudate nucleus
      and cortical regions with connections to the caudate nucleus had markedly
      abnormal hemispheric specialization in schizophrenia. Compared with healthy
      controls, patients exhibited weaker specialization in the left, but the opposite
      pattern in the right, caudate nucleus (P < .001). Patients with schizophrenia
      also had a disruption of the interhemispheric coordination among the cortical
      regions with connections to the caudate nucleus. A linear classifier based on the
      specialization of the caudate nucleus distinguished patients from controls with a
      classification accuracy of 74% (with a sensitivity of 68% and a specificity of
      78%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: These data suggest that hemispheric
      specialization could serve as a potential imaging biomarker of schizophrenia
      that, compared with task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging measures, is
      less prone to the confounding effects of variation in task compliance, cognitive
      ability, and command of language.

PMID- 25830690
TI  - Crohn's disease in remission or simply smouldering?

PMID- 25830691
TI  - The Effect of Brief Exposure to Sub-Therapeutic Concentrations of Chlorhexidine
      Digluconate on the Susceptibility of Staphylococci to Platelet Microbicidal
      Protein.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Antiseptic agents are widely used in hospitals and are essential when
      prevention and control of nosocomial infections is required. It is necessary to
      consider several aspects that affect the biocide activity because they have
      direct impact on the nosocomial infection rate. Organisms belonging to the
      Staphylococcus genus are involved in such infections and chlorhexidine
      digluconate (CHXD) is one of the most used antiseptic agents for human and animal
      health. In the context of such infections, anti-bacterial peptides have been
      isolated from platelets and have been termed platelet microbicidal proteins
      (PMP). Platelet microbicidal proteins have been shown to enhance the bacterial
      inhibitory activities of sub-therapeutic concentrations of antibiotics. The main
      objective of this study was to investigate the effect of brief exposure to
      different sub-therapeutic concentrations of CHXD on the susceptibility of
      staphylococci to PMP. METHODS: The influence of brief exposure to three different
      sub-therapeutic concentrations of CHXD (0.005%, 0.0025%, and 0.00125%) on the
      subsequent staphylocidal effect of PMP was evaluated. RESULTS: Among all clinical
      staphylococcal strains studied, all isolates were considered to be resistant to
      the bactericidal action of PMP. Exposure of staphylococci to CHXD prior to PMP
      resulted in significantly increased staphylococcal killing compared with the
      killing achieved with PMP alone. This enhanced effect was most marked for
      concentrations of CHXD of 0.005%. CONCLUSION: The combined data indicate that PMP
      exerts cooperative bactericidal effect with CHXD. The anti-staphylococcal PMP and
      CHXD synergistic activity in vitro demonstrated in the present study make these
      molecules potentially useful for preventing endovascular catheter-associated
      infections. Future research based on animal and human models is needed to
      elucidate the in vivo efficacies and toxicities and utility in clinical practice.

PMID- 25830692
TI  - Proton Transfer Dynamics of 4'-N,N-Dimethylamino-3-hydroxyflavone Observed in
      Hydrogen-Bonding Solvents and Aqueous Micelles.
AB  - Photophysical studies on the 4'-N,N-dimethylamino-3-hydroxyflavone fluorophore
      were performed in hydrogen-bonding solvents. Both in hydrogen-bonding acids and
      bases, clear evidence of excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT)
      emerged from steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopies. The same was also
      observed for the fluorophores residing in the hydrophilic shell region of aqueous
      micelles, where they come into close contact with water molecules at the micelle
      water interface. Slow ~100 ps ESIPT time-constants were determined in these
      systems that correlated well with solvation dynamics. The slow ESIPT time
      constants are attributed to activated barrier crossing from the solvent-relaxed
      enol form to tautomer form in the excited state energy surface of the flavone. In
      contrast to the barrier-less ESIPT occurring in early (<1 ps) time-scales, this
      activated proton-transfer event necessarily requires extensive reorganization of
      flavone...solvent intermolecular hydrogen bonds, a process heavily modulated by
      the relatively slower dynamics of solvent relaxation around the excited
      fluorophore. 

PMID- 25830693
TI  - High-performance inkjet-printed four-terminal microelectromechanical relays and
      inverters.
AB  - We report the first demonstration of inkjet-printed 4-terminal
      microelectromechanical (MEM) relays and inverters with hyper-abrupt switching
      that exhibit excellent electrical and mechanical characteristics. This first
      implementation of a printed 4-terminal device is critically important, since it
      allows for the realization of full complementary logic functions. The floated
      fourth terminal (body electrode), which allows the gate switching voltage to be
      adjusted, is bonded to movable channel beams via a printed epoxy layer in a
      planar structure, which can move downward together via the electrostatic force
      between the gate electrodes and body such that the channel can also actuate
      downward and touch the drain electrode. Because the body, channel, and drain
      electrodes are completely electrically separated, no detectable leakage or
      electrical interference between the electrodes is observed. The printed MEM relay
      exhibited an on-state resistance of only 3.48 Omega, immeasurable off-state
      leakage, subthreshold swing <1 mV/dec, and a stable operation over 10(4) cycles
      with a switching delay of 47 MUs, and the relay inverter exhibits abrupt
      transitions between on/off states. The operation of the printed 4-terminal MEM
      relay was also verified against the results of a 3-dimensional (3D) finite
      element simulation. 

PMID- 25830694
TI  - BEVACIZUMAB LEVELS IN BREAST MILK AFTER LONG-TERM INTRAVITREAL INJECTIONS.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to determine whether bevacizumab is
      detectable in the breast milk of nursing mothers. METHODS: Breast milk samples
      were collected from 2 patients receiving monthly intravitreal bevacizumab
      injections for choroidal neovascularization over the course of 16 months. Enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot analysis was used to determine the
      levels of bevacizumab in the milk samples. RESULTS: An enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay was developed using antibodies specific to bevacizumab in
      which the sensitivity threshold was 3 ng/mL. All breast milk samples assayed from
      the two patients actively undergoing treatment did not have detectable levels of
      bevacizumab. Samples collected 1.5 hours and 7 hours after an injection and 2
      randomly chosen samples were negative by Western blot analysis. CONCLUSION: A
      sensitive assay to detect bevacizumab in breast milk samples assayed suggests
      that intravitreal injections do not result in detectable bevacizumab in breast
      milk.

PMID- 25830695
TI  - THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF OPHTHALMOLOGISTS' NATIONAL OPHTHALMOLOGY DATABASE STUDY OF
      VITREORETINAL SURGERY: Report 4, Epiretinal Membrane.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report pragmatic outcomes from a database study of epiretinal
      membrane surgery. METHODS: Prospective anonymized clinical audit data from
      electronic medical records were pooled over 10 years into a national database,
      from 1,131 primary epiretinal membrane operations, by 69 surgeons, in 16 U.K.
      vitreoretinal units. RESULTS: The median age of 1,131 patients was 71.6 years. A
      pars plana vitrectomy and epiretinal membrane peel were combined with internal
      limiting membrane peel in 17.0% of operations, and cataract surgery in 49.9%. Use
      of general anesthesia declined from 94.1% in 2001 to 28.9% in 2010. One or more
      intraoperative complication occurred in 9.8% (8.1% excluding cataract surgery
      complications). The median preoperative logarithm of the minimum angle of
      resolution (logMAR) visual acuity improved from 0.60 to 0.30 (Snellen 20/80
      20/40) after a median follow-up of 7.0 months; 41.7% of eyes improved >=0.30
      logMAR units (approximately 2 Snellen's lines). The percentages of eyes
      undergoing subsequent surgery were 3.3%, 1.0%, 0.4%, and 0.8% for epiretinal
      membrane, retinal detachment, macular hole, and other vitreoretinal indications,
      respectively. Excluding pseudophakic eyes, 51.7%, 73.2%, and 76.2% of eyes
      underwent cataract surgery within 1 year, 2 year, and 3 years respectively.
      CONCLUSION: These results may help vitreoretinal surgeons to benchmark their
      surgical outcomes, and patients to assess the risks and benefits of surgery.

PMID- 25830696
TI  - ANTI-VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR THERAPY FOR NAIVE IDIOPATHIC CHOROIDAL
      NEOVASCULARIZATION: A Comparative Study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the clinical characteristics of patients with idiopathic
      choroidal neovascularization and to compare outcomes between intravitreal
      bevacizumab (IVB) and ranibizumab as therapy. METHODS: Retrospective analysis
      included demographics, the corrected distance visual acuity, details of the
      ocular examination, imaging, treatment, outcomes, and adverse events. Patients
      with minimum of 1-year follow-up were included in the study. Primary outcome
      measure was change in corrected distance visual acuity at the final visit
      compared with baseline. Secondary outcome measures were change in central macular
      thickness and subretinal fluid (if present) with treatment and adverse events.
      RESULTS: This study included 47 eyes of 45 patients with 30 males. Intravitreal
      bevacizumab group included 29 eyes (27 patients; with a median age of 39.4 +/-
      7.3 years). Intravitreal ranibizumab group included 18 eyes (18 patients; median
      age: 36.8 +/- 9.3 years). Median baseline corrected distance visual acuity
      (logMAR) improved from 0.59 +/- 0.38 to 0.2 +/- 0.18 (P = 0.03) in intravitreal
      ranibizumab group and from 0.62 +/- 0.41 to 0.18 +/- 0.15 logMAR (P = 0.023) in
      intravitreal bevacizumab group. Median central macular thickness (in micrometers)
      improved from 315.11 +/- 75.24 to 228.24 +/- 67 (P = 0.036) in intravitreal
      bevacizumab group and from 327.24 +/- 61.56 to 208 +/- 53.42 (P = 0.031) in
      intravitreal ranibizumab group. There was no significant difference between
      groups in final corrected distance visual acuity (P = 0.31) or central macular
      thickness (P = 0.51). No adverse events were noted. CONCLUSION: Both intravitreal
      ranibizumab and intravitreal bevacizumab seem equally effective in treating
      idiopathic choroidal neovascularization with a good safety profile without
      recurrence.

PMID- 25830697
TI  - MULTIMODAL IMAGING FINDINGS AND MULTIMODAL VISION TESTING IN NEOVASCULAR AGE
      RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the interactions among multimodal imaging findings and
      multimodal vision testing in neovascular age-related macular degeneration.
      METHODS: Patients enrolled in a prospective study of neovascular age-related
      macular degeneration with at least 3 previous intravitreal anti-vascular
      endothelial growth factor injections. Each patient underwent multimodal fundus
      imaging including spectral domain optical coherence tomography and fundus
      autofluorescence, and multimodal vision testing, including visual acuity,
      contrast sensitivity, reading speed, and microperimetry. RESULTS: There were 73
      eyes of 49 consecutive patients enrolled. Generalized estimating equations'
      modelling showed that the significant independent predictors of visual acuity
      were the area of confluent hypoautofluorescence and involvement of the foveal
      center with either granular or confluent hypoautofluorescence (P < 0.001).
      Contrast sensitivity was negatively correlated with the area of confluent
      hypoautofluorescence (P < 0.001), involvement of the foveal center with granular
      hypoautofluorescence (P = 0.017), and subfoveal choroidal thickness (P = 0.042).
      The only significant predictor of reading speed was the size of confluent
      hypoautofluorescence (P < 0.001). The size of the defect in the ellipsoid zone (P
      < 0.001) and the presence of intraretinal fluid (P = 0.045) were correlated with
      microperimetry score. CONCLUSION: Confluent absence of autofluorescence was a
      highly significant predictor of vision testing and serves as an easy parameter to
      obtain in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

PMID- 25830698
TI  - INITIAL VERSUS DELAYED PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY IN COMBINATION WITH RANIBIZUMAB FOR
      TREATMENT OF POLYPOIDAL CHOROIDAL VASCULOPATHY: The Fujisan Study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the 1-year results of initial or deferred photodynamic
      therapy (PDT) combined with intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) for eyes with
      polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. METHODS: Prospectively, 72 men with treatment
      naive polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy were randomized to initial or later PDT
      combined with IVR. In both groups, 2 additional monthly IVR followed. From Month
      3, PDT and IVR were administered according to the retreatment criteria. Mean
      changes in the best-corrected visual acuity between baseline and Month 12 and
      central retinal thickness, the rate of eyes showing regression of polypoidal
      lesions, and number of additional treatments were compared. RESULTS: The best
      corrected visual acuity increased by a mean of 8.1 Early Treatment of Diabetic
      Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) letters in the initial PDT group and 8.8 ETDRS letters
      in the later PDT group, and there was a no significant difference (P = 0.59). The
      mean central retinal thickness decreased significantly in both groups but more so
      with combination therapy within the first 4 months; the difference was not
      significant at Month 12 (P = 0.30). The rate of eyes showing resolution of
      polypoidal lesions at 12 months was 62.1% in the initial PDT group and 54.8% in
      the later PDT group and again, there was no significant difference (P = 0.53).
      The mean number of additional IVR was 1.5 in initial PDT and 3.8 in later PDT;
      that of additional PDTs was 0.14 and 0.45, respectively, and they were
      significantly different (P < 0.001 and P = 0.013, respectively). CONCLUSION: Both
      initial and deferred PDT combined with IVR to treat polypoidal choroidal
      vasculopathy show the similar visual and anatomical improvements at 12 months.
      Initial PDT combination leads to significantly fewer additional treatments.

PMID- 25830699
TI  - Effectiveness of step therapy policies for specialty pharmaceuticals in immune
      disorders.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of managed care plans that limited access
      to infusion biologics via a step therapy policy. STUDY DESIGN: This was a
      retrospective cohort study using Symphony Health Solutions claims databases that
      included payer, prescription (Rx), diagnosis (Dx) and procedure (Px) information
      with unique anonymized patient identifiers. METHODS: The percentage of patients
      with claims for infusion and subcutaneous (SQ) biologics were evaluated across
      three increasingly restrictive cohorts: (1) patients in step therapy plans versus
      all others in the database (population), (2) patients in step therapy plans
      versus patients that were members of plans that were roughly matched (matched)
      and (3) a subsample of patients that were members of step therapy plans that had
      sufficient data for a pre/post analysis (pre/post). RESULTS: The population
      analysis comparison showed 5.1% fewer patients (p < 0.0001) with claims for
      infusion biologics among step therapy plans than among the overall plans. The
      more controlled matched and pre/post analyses showed a greater percentage of
      patients with claims for intravenous products in the plans with step therapy
      policies versus plans without step therapy policies, differences of +7.0% (p <
      0.0001) and +2.8% (p = 0.0522), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Policies designed to
      limit utilization of infusion biologics showed equivocal results. In the near
      term, the intended effects of implementing step therapy policies may be limited
      by relatively small numbers of patients that are affected relative to the total
      number of users.

PMID- 25830700
TI  - Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and the treatment of depression.
AB  - Depression is a common, recurrent, and debilitating illness that has become more
      prevalent over the past 100 years. This report reviews the etiology and
      pathophysiology of depression, and explores the role of omega 3 polyunsaturated
      fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) as a possible treatment. In seeking to understand
      depression, genetic factors and environmental influences have been extensively
      investigated. Research has led to several hypotheses for the pathophysiological
      basis of depression but a definitive pathogenic mechanism, or group thereof, has
      hitherto remained equivocal. To date, treatment has been based on the monoamine
      hypothesis and hence, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been the most
      widely used class of medication. In the last decade, there has been considerable
      interest in n-3 PUFAs and their role in depression. These fatty acids are
      critical for development and function of the central nervous system. Increasing
      evidence from epidemiological, laboratory, and randomized placebo-controlled
      trials suggests deficiency of dietary n-3 PUFAs may contribute to development of
      mood disorders, and supplementation with n-3 PUFAs may provide a new treatment
      option. Conclusions based on systematic reviews and meta-analyses of published
      trials to date vary. Research into the effects of n-3 PUFAs on depressed mood is
      limited. Furthermore, results from such have led to conflicting conclusions
      regarding the efficacy of n-3 PUFAs in affecting reduction in symptoms of
      depression. PUFAs are generally well tolerated by adults and children although
      mild gastrointestinal effects are reported. There is mounting evidence to suggest
      that n-3 PUFAs play a role in depression and deserve greater research efforts.

PMID- 25830701
TI  - Transcriptome sequencing of mung bean (Vigna radiate L.) genes and the
      identification of EST-SSR markers.
AB  - Mung bean (Vigna radiate (L.) Wilczek) is an important traditional food legume
      crop, with high economic and nutritional value. It is widely grown in China and
      other Asian countries. Despite its importance, genomic information is currently
      unavailable for this crop plant species or some of its close relatives in the
      Vigna genus. In this study, more than 103 million high quality cDNA sequence
      reads were obtained from mung bean using Illumina paired-end sequencing
      technology. The processed reads were assembled into 48,693 unigenes with an
      average length of 874 bp. Of these unigenes, 25,820 (53.0%) and 23,235 (47.7%)
      showed significant similarity to proteins in the NCBI non-redundant protein and
      nucleotide sequence databases, respectively. Furthermore, 19,242 (39.5%) could be
      classified into gene ontology categories, 18,316 (37.6%) into Swiss-Prot
      categories and 10,918 (22.4%) into KOG database categories (E-value < 1.0E-5). A
      total of 6,585 (8.3%) were mapped onto 244 pathways using the Kyoto Encyclopedia
      of Genes and Genome (KEGG) pathway database. Among the unigenes, 10,053 sequences
      contained a unique simple sequence repeat (SSR), and 2,303 sequences contained
      more than one SSR together in the same expressed sequence tag (EST). A total of
      13,134 EST-SSRs were identified as potential molecular markers, with mono
      nucleotide A/T repeats being the most abundant motif class and G/C repeats being
      rare. In this SSR analysis, we found five main repeat motifs: AG/CT (30.8%),
      GAA/TTC (12.6%), AAAT/ATTT (6.8%), AAAAT/ATTTT (6.2%) and AAAAAT/ATTTTT (1.9%). A
      total of 200 SSR loci were randomly selected for validation by PCR amplification
      as EST-SSR markers. Of these, 66 marker primer pairs produced reproducible
      amplicons that were polymorphic among 31 mung bean accessions selected from
      diverse geographical locations. The large number of SSR-containing sequences
      found in this study will be valuable for the construction of a high-resolution
      genetic linkage maps, association or comparative mapping and genetic analyses of
      various Vigna species. 

PMID- 25830702
TI  - A comparison of health outcomes in older versus younger adults following a road
      traffic crash injury: a cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Given the aging demographics of most developed countries,
      understanding the public health impact of mild/moderate road traffic crash
      injuries in older adults is important. We aimed to determine whether health
      outcomes (pain severity and quality of life measures) over 24 months differ
      significantly between older (65+) and younger adults (18-64). METHODS:
      Prospective cohort study of 364, 284 and 252 participants with mild/moderate
      injury following a vehicle collision at baseline, 12 and 24 months, respectively.
      A telephone-administered questionnaire obtained information on socio-economic,
      pre- and post-injury psychological and heath characteristics. RESULTS: At
      baseline, there were 55 (15.1%) and 309 (84.9%) participants aged >=65 and 18-64
      years, respectively. At 12- and 24-month follow-up, older compared to younger
      participants who had sustained a mild/moderate musculoskeletal injury had lower
      physical functioning (3.9-units lower Short Form-12 Physical Composite Score,
      multivariable-adjusted p = 0.03 at both examinations). After multivariable
      adjustment, older (n = 45) versus younger (n = 207) participants had lower self
      perceived health status (8.1-units lower European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions
      Visual Acuity Scale scores at 24 months, p = 0.03), 24 months later. CONCLUSIONS:
      Older compared to younger participants who sustained a mild/moderate injury
      following a road-traffic crash demonstrated poorer physical functioning and
      general health at 24 months.

PMID- 25830703
TI  - A novel LTE scheduling algorithm for green technology in smart grid.
AB  - Smart grid (SG) application is being used nowadays to meet the demand of
      increasing power consumption. SG application is considered as a perfect solution
      for combining renewable energy resources and electrical grid by means of creating
      a bidirectional communication channel between the two systems. In this paper,
      three SG applications applicable to renewable energy system, namely, distribution
      automation (DA), distributed energy system-storage (DER) and electrical vehicle
      (EV), are investigated in order to study their suitability in Long Term Evolution
      (LTE) network. To compensate the weakness in the existing scheduling algorithms,
      a novel bandwidth estimation and allocation technique and a new scheduling
      algorithm are proposed. The technique allocates available network resources based
      on application's priority, whereas the algorithm makes scheduling decision based
      on dynamic weighting factors of multi-criteria to satisfy the demands (delay,
      past average throughput and instantaneous transmission rate) of quality of
      service. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate that the proposed mechanism
      achieves higher throughput, lower delay and lower packet loss rate for DA and DER
      as well as provide a degree of service for EV. In terms of fairness, the proposed
      algorithm shows 3%, 7 % and 9% better performance compared to exponential rule
      (EXP-Rule), modified-largest weighted delay first (M-LWDF) and exponential/PF
      (EXP/PF), respectively. 

PMID- 25830704
TI  - Brown Adipose Tissue Transplantation Reverses Obesity in Ob/Ob Mice.
AB  - Increasing evidence indicates that brown adipose tissue (BAT) transplantation
      enhances whole-body energy metabolism in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity.
      However, it remains unclear whether BAT also has such beneficial effects on
      genetically obese mice. To address this issue, we transplanted BAT from C57/BL6
      mice into the dorsal subcutaneous region of age- and sex-matched leptin deficient
      Ob/Ob mice. Interestingly, BAT transplantation led to a significant reduction of
      body weight gain with increased oxygen consumption and decreased total body fat
      mass, resulting in improvement of insulin resistance and liver steatosis. In
      addition, BAT transplantation increased the level of circulating adiponectin,
      whereas it reduced the levels of circulating free T3 and T4, which regulate
      thyroid hormone sensitivity in peripheral tissues. BAT transplantation also
      increased beta3-adrenergic receptor and fatty acid oxidation related gene
      expression in subcutaneous and epididymal (EP) white adipose tissue. Accordingly,
      BAT transplantation increased whole-body thermogenesis. Taken together our
      results demonstrate that BAT transplantation may reduce obesity and its related
      diseases by activating endogenous BAT. 

PMID- 25830705
TI  - Bisphenol-A treatment during pregnancy in mice: a new window of susceptibility
      for the development of diabetes in mothers later in life.
AB  - Evidence now exists supporting the hypothesis that endocrine-disrupting chemicals
      (EDCs) can harmfully impact glucose metabolism. Thus, EDCs are beginning to be
      considered important contributors to the increased incidence of diabetes,
      obesity, or both. The possible effect of exposure to EDCs during pregnancy on
      glucose homeostasis in mothers later in life is presently unknown. Here we show
      that several months after delivery, mothers treated with the widespread EDC
      bisphenol-A (BPA) during gestation, at environmentally relevant doses, exhibit
      profound glucose intolerance and altered insulin sensitivity as well as increased
      body weight. These mice presented a decreased insulin secretion both in vivo and
      in vitro together with reduced pancreatic beta-cell mass. The proliferation
      capacity was decreased in association with a diminished expression of the cell
      cycle activators: cyclin D2 and cyclin-dependent kinase-4. In addition, the rate
      of beta-cells apoptosis was increased as well as the expression of the cell cycle
      inhibitors p16 and p53. Conversely, no effects on glucose metabolism or insulin
      sensitivity were observed when female nonpregnant mice were treated with BPA at
      the same doses. Taken together, these findings reveal that BPA exposure during
      gestation has harmful long-term implications in glucose metabolism for the
      mother. This finding highlights a new window of susceptibility for EDC exposure
      that may be important for the development of type 2 diabetes. 

PMID- 25830706
TI  - Not So Giants: Mice Lacking Both Somatostatin and Cortistatin Have High GH Levels
      but Show No Changes in Growth Rate or IGF-1 Levels.
AB  - Somatostatin (SST) and cortistatin (CORT) are two highly related neuropeptides
      involved in the regulation of various endocrine secretions. In particular, SST
      and CORT are two primary negative regulators of GH secretion. Consequently,
      single SST or CORT knockout mice exhibit elevated GH levels; however, this does
      not lead to increased IGF-1 levels or somatic growth. This apparent lack of
      correspondence has been suggested to result from compensatory mechanisms between
      both peptides. To test this hypothesis, in this study we explored, for the first
      time, the consequences of simultaneously deleting endogenous SST and CORT by
      generating a double SST/CORT knockout mouse model and exploring its endocrine and
      metabolic phenotype. Our results demonstrate that simultaneous deletion of SST
      and CORT induced a drastic elevation of endogenous GH levels, which,
      surprisingly, did not lead to changes in growth rate or IGF-1 levels, suggesting
      the existence of additional factors/systems that, in the absence of endogenous
      SST and CORT, could counteract GH actions. Notably, elevation in circulating GH
      levels were not accompanied by changes in pituitary GH expression or by
      alterations in the expression of its main regulators (GHRH and ghrelin) or their
      receptors (GHRH receptor, GHS receptor, or SST/CORT receptors) at the
      hypothalamic or pituitary level. However, although double-SST/CORT knockout male
      mice exhibited normal glucose and insulin levels, they had improved insulin
      sensitivity compared with the control mice. Therefore, these results suggest the
      existence of an intricate interplay among the known (SST/CORT), and likely
      unknown, inhibitory components of the GH/IGF-1 axis to regulate somatic growth
      and glucose/insulin homeostasis. 

PMID- 25830707
TI  - The clinical significance of endometrial fluid collection in asymptomatic
      postmenopausal women.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the clinical significance of endometrial fluid
      collection (EFC) in asymptomatic postmenopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A
      total of 564 postmenopausal females were enrolled into this retrospective study,
      of whom 141, with EFC, comprised the study group; the remaining 423
      postmenopausal women (the three consecutive patients) who had been admitted to
      the menopause outpatient clinic for their routine annual check formed the control
      group. Data, including age, gravidity, parity, body mass index, hypertension,
      diabetes mellitus, menopause duration, endometrial thickness and
      histopathological endometrium results, were compared between groups using the
      SPSS for Windows software package (version 15.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
      RESULTS: There were no significant group differences in gravidity, parity, body
      mass index, rates of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, endometrial thickness or
      histopathological endometrium results. However, there were group differences in
      age (62.0 +/- 7.6 vs. 57.2 +/- 8.9 years, p < 0.001) and menopause duration (13.4
      +/- 7.8 vs. 7.9 +/- 5.4 years, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The results indicate that
      EFC in asymptomatic postmenopausal women is a benign condition, influenced by
      older age and commensurately longer menopause duration due to a lack of hormonal
      stimulation. The presence of EFC by itself does not affect the decision to
      provide further evaluation; that is determined by the presence of confirmed risk
      factors (e.g. thickened endometrial stripe). However, further studies are needed
      to assess any long-term prognostic impact of this finding.

PMID- 25830708
TI  - Susceptibility of Ialpha- and Ibeta-Dominated Cellulose to TEMPO-Mediated
      Oxidation.
AB  - The susceptibility of Ialpha- and Ibeta-dominated cellulose to TEMPO-mediated
      oxidation was studied in this work since the cellulose Ialpha-allomorph is
      generally considered to be thermodynamically less stable and therefore more
      reactive than the cellulose Ibeta-allomorph. Highly crystalline Cladophora
      nanocellulose, which is dominated by the Ialpha-allomorph, was oxidized to
      various degrees with TEMPO oxidant via bulk electrolysis in the absence of co
      oxidants. Further, the Cladophora nanocellulose was thermally annealed in
      glycerol to produce its Ibeta-dominated form and then oxidized. The produced
      materials were subsequently studied using FTIR, CP/MAS (13)C NMR, XRD, and SEM.
      The solid-state analyses confirmed that the annealed Cladophora cellulose was
      successfully transformed from an Ialpha- to an Ibeta-dominated form. The results
      of the analyses of pristine and annealed TEMPO-oxidized samples suggest that
      Ialpha- and Ibeta-dominated cellulose do not differ in susceptibility to TEMPO
      oxidation. This work hence suggests that cellulose from different sources are not
      expected to differ in susceptibility to the oxidation due to differences in
      allomorph composition. 

PMID- 25830709
TI  - Maximum principal strain as a criterion for prediction of orthodontic mini
      implants failure in subject-specific finite element models.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the most reliable stress or strain parameters in
      subject-specific finite element (FE) models to predict success or failure of
      orthodontic mini-implants (OMIs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Subject-specific FE
      analysis was applied to 28 OMIs used for anchorage. Each model was developed
      using two computed tomography data sets, the first taken before OMI placement and
      the second taken immediately after placement. Of the 28 OMIs, 6 failed during the
      first 5 months, and 22 were successful. The bone compartment was divided into
      four zones in the FE models, and peak stress and strain parameters were
      calculated for each. Logistic regression of the failure (vs success) of OMIs on
      the stress and strain parameters in the models was conducted to verify the
      ability of these parameters to predict OMI failure. RESULTS: Failure was
      significantly dependent on principal strain parameters rather than stress
      parameters. Peak maximum principal strain in the bone 0.5 to 1 mm from the OMI
      surface was the best predictor of failure (R(2) = 0.8151). CONCLUSIONS: We
      propose the use of the maximum principal strain as a criterion for predicting OMI
      failure in FE models.

PMID- 25830710
TI  - The effect of corticision on root resorption with heavy and light forces.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between corticision and different force
      magnitudes with the amount of root resorption. METHODS: Forty-four male Wistar
      rats (7 week old) were evaluated after an orthodontic spring delivering either 10
      or 100 g was placed on the left maxillary first molars to move molars mesially.
      Experimental rats were divided into four groups, with 11 animals in each group:
      (1) LF, no corticision and 10 g of orthodontic force; (2) LFC, corticision and 10
      g of force; (3) HF, no corticision and 100 g of force; and (4) HFC, corticision
      and 100 g of force. Contralateral sides were used as unloaded controls. The total
      duration of the experimental period was 14 days. Two-dimensional
      (histomorphometric) and three-dimensional (volumetric, micro-focus X-ray computed
      tomography [microCT]) analysis of root craters were performed on maxillary first
      molars. RESULTS: Histomorphometric and microCT analysis revealed a significant
      amount of resorptive areas in the experimental groups when compared to unloaded
      controls. However, no significant difference was detected in the amount of
      resorption among the four experimental groups. CONCLUSIONS: At day 14, neither
      the amount of force nor the cortical incision caused significant effect on root
      resorption that was registered by histomorphometric or microCT analysis.

PMID- 25830711
TI  - Mechanisms Involved in Exercise-Induced Cardioprotection: A Systematic Review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute myocardial infarction is the leading cause of morbidity and
      mortality worldwide. Furthermore, research has shown that exercise, in addition
      to reducing cardiovascular risk factors, can also protect the heart against
      injury due to ischemia and reperfusion through a direct effect on the myocardium.
      However, the specific mechanism involved in exerciseinduced cardiac
      preconditioning is still under debate. OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review
      of the studies that have addressed the mechanisms by which aerobic exercise
      promotes direct cardioprotection against ischemia and reperfusion injury.
      METHODS: A search was conducted using MEDLINE, Literatura Latino-Americana e do
      Caribe de Informacao em Ciencias da Saude, and Scientific Electronic Library
      Online databases. Data were extracted in a standardized manner by two independent
      researchers, who were responsible for assessing the methodological quality of the
      studies. RESULTS: The search retrieved 78 studies; after evaluating the
      abstracts, 30 studies were excluded. The manuscripts of the remaining 48 studies
      were completely read and, of these, 20 were excluded. Finally, 28 studies were
      included in this systematic review. CONCLUSION: On the basis of the selected
      studies, the following are potentially involved in the cardioprotective response
      to exercise: increased heat shock protein production, nitric oxide pathway
      involvement, increased cardiac antioxidant capacity, improvement in ATP-dependent
      potassium channel function, and opioid system activation. Despite all the
      previous investigations, further research is still necessary to obtain more
      consistent conclusions.

PMID- 25830712
TI  - 4-Second Exercise Test: Reference Values for Ages 18-81 Years.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Physiological reflexes modulated primarily by the vagus nerve allow
      the heart to decelerate and accelerate rapidly after a deep inspiration followed
      by rapid movement of the limbs. This is the physiological and pharmacologically
      validated basis for the 4-s exercise test (4sET) used to assess the vagal
      modulation of cardiac chronotropism. OBJECTIVE: To present reference data for
      4sET in healthy adults. METHODS: After applying strict clinical
      inclusion/exclusion criteria, 1,605 healthy adults (61% men) aged between 18 and
      81 years subjected to 4sET were evaluated between 1994 and 2014. Using 4sET, the
      cardiac vagal index (CVI) was obtained by calculating the ratio between the
      duration of two RR intervals in the electrocardiogram: 1) after a 4-s rapid and
      deep breath and immediately before pedaling and 2) at the end of a rapid and
      resistance-free 4-s pedaling exercise. RESULTS: CVI varied inversely with age (r
      = -0.33, p < 0.01), and the intercepts and slopes of the linear regressions
      between CVI and age were similar for men and women (p > 0.05). Considering the
      heteroscedasticity and the asymmetry of the distribution of the CVI values
      according to age, we chose to express the reference values in percentiles for
      eight age groups (years): 18-30, 31-40, 41-45, 46-50, 51-55, 56-60, 61-65, and
      66+, obtaining progressively lower median CVI values ranging from 1.63 to 1.24.
      CONCLUSION: The availability of CVI percentiles for different age groups should
      promote the clinical use of 4sET, which is a simple and safe procedure for the
      evaluation of vagal modulation of cardiac chronotropism.

PMID- 25830714
TI  - Different heavy metals have various effects on Picea wilsonii pollen germination
      and tube growth.
AB  - Heavy metal pollution has became one of the realistic matters of globality.
      Previous reports indicated that heavy metals could significantly inhibit pollen
      germination and tube growth. In the present study, comparative studies on the
      effects of different heavy metals (As, Hg, Cd, Cr and Cu) on in-vitro picea
      wilsonii pollen germination and tube growth were carried out. Microscopic
      evaluation revealed that different heavy metals had various degree of toxicity on
      P. wilsonii pollen tube development. As showed the most toxic effects on pollen
      germination, which was followed by Hg and Cd, while Cr and Cu showed relatively
      lower toxicity. Besides, pollen tubes showed varying shapes in response to
      different heavy metal stress. Pollen tubes treated with Cd, Hg and As were
      usually characterized by irregularly increasing diameters and swelling tips with
      distinct cytoplasimic vacuolation. On the other hand, except for the slightly
      increased diameters, no obvious abnormal shape were observed in tubes treated
      with Cr or Cu. Lyso-Tracker Green staining indicated that only Cd-treated pollen
      tubes showed numerous vacuole-like acidic organelles, though cytoplasmic
      vacuolization were also observed in pollen tubes treated with Hg and A. In brief,
      our data indicated that different heavy metals have various effects on Picea
      wilsonii pollen germination and tube growth, and that in-vitro pollen culture
      might be used as a competent system for biomonitoring of air pollution.

PMID- 25830715
TI  - Polymer Brushes under Shear: Molecular Dynamics Simulations Compared to
      Experiments.
AB  - Surfaces coated with polymer brushes in a good solvent are known to exhibit
      excellent tribological properties. We have performed coarse-grained equilibrium
      and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate dextran
      polymer brushes in an aqueous environment in molecular detail. In a first step,
      we determined simulation parameters and units by matching experimental results
      for a single dextran chain. Analyzing this model when applied to a multichain
      system, density profiles of end-tethered polymer brushes obtained from
      equilibrium MD simulations compare very well with expectations based on self
      consistent field theory. Simulation results were further validated against and
      correlated with available experimental results. The simulated compression curves
      (normal force as a function of surface separation) compare successfully with
      results obtained with a surface forces apparatus. Shear stress (friction)
      obtained via nonequilibrium MD is contrasted with nanoscale friction studies
      employing colloidal-probe lateral force microscopy. We find good agreement in the
      hydrodynamic regime and explain the observed leveling-off of the friction forces
      in the boundary regime by means of an effective polymer-wall attraction. 

PMID- 25830716
TI  - Perchlorate: water and infant formulae contamination in France and risk
      assessment in infants.
AB  - Perchlorate ions ClO4(-), known to inhibit competitively the uptake of iodine by
      the thyroid, have been detected in drinking water in France as well as in infant
      formulae. A tolerable daily intake (TDI) has been established at 0.7 ug kg(-1) bw
      day(-1) based on the inhibition of iodine uptake. Due to this mechanism of
      action, the iodine status could strongly influence the biological effect of
      perchlorate. Perchlorate concentrations in water and infant formulae were
      measured and the exposure of children under 6 months of age calculated. It
      appeared that the TDI could be exceeded in some children. As the iodine status is
      not optimal within the entire French population, there appears to be a need to
      clarify the sources of perchlorate ultimately to decrease exposure.

PMID- 25830717
TI  - PET-MRI: clinical application of the new hybrid technology.
AB  - There is huge emphasis on noninvasive study of disease processes in the field of
      biomedical research. Combined PET-MRI allows simultaneous acquisition of
      physiologic information provided by PET images and morphologic and functional
      information obtained from MRI. The potential clinical and research applications
      of this technique in different organ systems and pathologies are promising (i.e.
      brain, cardiovascular, oncological, and inflammatory conditions). The purpose of
      this review is to illustrate the potential clinical advantages of this new
      technology, based on the authors' experience. 

PMID- 25830718
TI  - Myxoid onychomatricoma: an unusual variant of a rare nail unit tumor.
AB  - A 57-year-old woman presented with a 3-year history of a thickened, yellowed,
      over-curved nail plate of the left second toe. The proximal nail fold had an
      associated nodule. When observed head-on, the distal nail plate demonstrated
      multiple circular perforations. Avulsion of the nail plate revealed a 0.7 cm pale
      white mass within the proximal nail matrix, which was excised. Histologic
      sections of the nail plate showed longitudinal cystic spaces associated with
      papillary projections of nail matrix epithelium. The parenchyma of the lesion
      demonstrated bland-appearing spindled cells in a prominent myxoid stroma with
      abundant mast cells. The spindled cells were focally positive for CD34 and factor
      XIIIa and negative for S100, pan-cytokeratin, desmin, smooth muscle actin,
      epithelial membrane antigen, and MART-1. Onychomatricoma (OM) is a rare nail unit
      biphasic fibroepithelial tumor with multiple radiating digitations lined by
      papillomatous matrix epithelium. The epithelial component is consisted of matrix
      cells that generate the thickened nail plate, and the digitations cause
      characteristic "wormwood" perforations of the nail plate. A fibrous stroma is
      characteristic with staining positive for CD34 and negative for CD99, epithelial
      membrane antigen, and S100. This case is unique with the presence of a prominent
      myxoid stroma associated with the fibrous component of the OM. Only 1 previous
      report of OM highlights a related finding of a myxocollagenous stroma. This
      purely myxoid variant represents a new distinct form of OM. Clinicopathologic
      correlation is essential to avoid confusion with other myxoid tumors such as a
      superficial acral myxoma, superficial angiomyxoma, or a digital myxoid cyst. 

PMID- 25830719
TI  - Sebocyte-like cell primary cutaneous melanoma: a rare cytologic variant of
      malignant melanoma.
AB  - Although rising incidence rates of cutaneous melanoma have been observed during
      the last 4 decades in white populations worldwide, the sebocyte-like cell variant
      has been described only twice in the literature to date. In our case, a 64-year
      old man presented for evaluation of a changing pigmented lesion on the left upper
      back. Excision of the lesion revealed an invasive melanoma with a Breslow depth
      of 3.3 mm. Microscopic sections showed a predominantly dermal-based tumor
      composed of sheets and nests of enlarged epithelioid melanocytes, most of which
      showed an uncommon phenotype with multivacuolated cytoplasms and scalloped
      nuclei, features that gave them a strong resemblance to mature sebocytes. The
      lesional cells expressed S100 protein, Melan-A, and p16, whereas adipophilin was
      positive only within the sebocyte-like component of the neoplasm and showed focal
      nonspecific staining. The patient's sentinel lymph node biopsy was positive for
      micrometastases, although a subsequent position emission tomography scan was
      unremarkable. Sebocyte-like melanocytes are a rare distinctive type of
      melanocytes that can be found mostly in benign but also in malignant melanocytic
      lesions. They usually present focally within the lesions and, therefore, do not
      represent a diagnostic problem in nevus or primary cutaneous melanoma. However,
      when sebocyte-like melanocytes are the main cellular component of a melanocytic
      lesion or when they are found in the context of metastatic melanoma, they may
      create a potential diagnostic pitfall; for this reason, awareness of this cell
      type is important. 

PMID- 25830720
TI  - Spiradenocarcinoma in Preexisting Spiradenoma With a Large In Situ Adenocarcinoma
      Component.
AB  - Spiradenocarcinoma is a very rare malignant tumor. In situ adenocarcinoma has
      recently been observed and defined by the preservation of a peripheral
      myoepithelial cell layer. The pathway for this phenomenon has been hypothesized
      to involve a sequence of adenomatous changes followed by atypical adenomatous
      changes, adenocarcinoma in situ, and invasive adenocarcinoma. However, there are
      no clearly defined morphological distinctions between atypical adenomatous
      changes and adenocarcinoma in situ. The authors present a case of
      spiradenocarcinoma in a preexisting spiradenoma in the left inguinal area of a 71
      year-old woman. Adenomatous changes, atypical adenomatous changes, adenocarcinoma
      in situ, and invasive adenocarcinoma were found within the same lesion. The
      majority of the malignant component was an in situ adenocarcinoma. Although a
      loss of the myoepithelial cell layer and coalescing, irregular, glandular nests
      were present in several discrete foci, this case did not show infiltrative growth
      beyond the fibrous connective tissue. The authors speculate that this case
      represents a very early invasive spiradenocarcinoma lesion. We present this case
      to discuss the histological and/or immunohistochemical criteria of atypical
      adenomatous changes and to discuss the optimal treatment in cases with a
      disparity between the preservation of the whole architecture and the loss of the
      myoepithelial cell layer, which may be associated with favorable biological
      behavior. 

PMID- 25830721
TI  - Chromoblastomycosis in a Diabetic Patient Without a History of Trauma.
AB  - Chromoblastomycosis (CBM) is a slowly progressive cutaneous and subcutaneous
      mycosis mostly seen in tropical and subtropical areas and Fonsecaea pedrosoi is
      the most common cause. The authors describe the case of a diabetic Haitian woman,
      presenting with a chronic verrucous plaque without any history of trauma. Her
      histopathologic results showed epidermal hyperplasia and sclerotic bodies, which
      are diagnostic for CBM. Her therapy began with itraconazole 200 mg tablets twice
      a day. The unique feature of this patient is the coincidence of diabetes and CBM.
      However, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first documented case of human
      CBM in Miami, FL, which develops the awareness regarding this diagnosis among
      doctors in this area. There should be a close communication between
      dermatologists and pathologists to make an early diagnosis of CBM and also
      adequate therapy, which both are fundamental to improve patient's quality of
      life. 

PMID- 25830722
TI  - Interstitial Granulomatous Dermatitis: A Clinicopathological Study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Interstitial granulomatous dermatitis (IGD) is an uncommon
      granulomatous dermatitis occurring in the setting of highly reactive immune
      states, with a polymorphic clinical presentation. Because there is overlap with
      other entities [namely palisading neutrophilic granulomatous dermatitis (PNGD)],
      controversy exists regarding its classification. OBJECTIVE: To understand if
      there are features allowing clear-cut distinction between IGD and PNGD. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 10 cases previously diagnosed as IGD or
      PNGD, from 2000 to 2013, with review of the histopathologic findings and clinical
      correlation. RESULTS: Six females and 4 males presented mostly with erythematous
      papules/nodules (n = 7) but also with erythematous annular plaques (n = 3). In 2
      patients, the lesions coexisted. They were mostly distributed symmetrically on
      the limbs. Associated disease was observed in 6 patients. Regarding
      histopathology, an inflammatory infiltrate occupying the superficial and mid
      dermis was present in 40% of cases, with an interstitial component in all
      biopsies and a palisaded arrangement in 60%. Neutrophils and mononuclear cells
      were present in all cases in varying proportions. Necrobiosis was found in 70%,
      and leukocytoclasia was observed in 80% of biopsies. CONCLUSIONS: Coexistence of
      the interstitial and palisaded inflammatory patterns occurred in 90% of cases,
      with no correlation between tissue neutrophilia and the predominant pattern of
      the infiltrate. There was also no clear-cut correlation between the infiltrate
      pattern and semiologic aspect of the lesions. Therefore, the features described
      in our study suggest that IGD and PNGD belong to the same clinicopathological
      spectrum.

PMID- 25830723
TI  - Sigmund Freud and Moritz Kaposi: A Resurfaced Collision.

PMID- 25830724
TI  - Application of Ionic Liquids in Amperometric Gas Sensors.
AB  - This article presents an analysis of available literature data on metrological
      parameters of the amperometric gas sensors containing ionic liquids as an
      electrolyte. Four mechanism types of signal generation in amperometric sensors
      with ionic liquid are described. Moreover, this article describes the influence
      of selected physico-chemical properties of the ionic liquids on the metrological
      parameters of these sensors. Some metrological parameters are also compared for
      amperometric sensors with GDE and SPE electrodes and with ionic liquids for
      selected analytes. 

PMID- 25830726
TI  - Low prevalence of rmpA and high tendency of rmpA mutation correspond to low
      virulence of extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae
      isolates.
AB  - Invasive syndrome caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP), including liver abscess,
      is mainly caused by community-acquired strains with characteristics of positive
      hypermucoviscosity (HV) phenotype and regulator of mucoid phenotype A (rmpA) and
      transcriptional activator (rmpA2) genes. Extended- spectrum beta-lactamase
      producing KP (ESBL-KP) is commonly nosocomial and rarely HV-positive. We aimed to
      explore the reasons of the rarer prevalence of HV phenotype, rmpA and rmpA2 as
      well as the virulence phenotype among the ESBL-KP isolates from clinical
      specimens than those non-ESBL isolates. The beta-lactamase genes, rmpA, rmpA2 and
      genes for K capsule serotype of 440 KP isolates were analyzed. The virulence of
      the isolates was characterized by the mouse lethality experiments. The prevalence
      rates of HV phenotype (~ 50% vs. < 10%) as well as rmpA and rmpA2 genes (~ 50-60%
      vs. < 20-30%) were significantly higher in non-ESBL group than in the ESBL group
      (p < 0.0001). Expression of HV phenotype in the rmpA-positive KP isolates was
      significantly rarer in the ESBL group than in non-ESBL group (33.3% vs. 91.9%, p
      < 0.0001). The frameshift mutations of rmpA and/or rmpA2 corresponded to negative
      HV phenotype of KP isolates that harbored the rmpA and/or rmpA2, resulting in
      variable mouse lethality (LD50, ~ 10(3) - >5 * 10(7) CFU). The mutation rates
      might significantly differ among KP isolates from various sources. Virulence was
      dependent on rmpA-related HV phenotype. In conclusion, ESBL-KP isolates were less
      hypermucoviscous and less virulent than non-ESBL KP isolates, mostly due to
      concurrently lower carriage and higher mutation rates of the rmpA and rmpA2
      genes.

PMID- 25830725
TI  - Prolonged re-expression of the hypermethylated gene EPB41L3 using artificial
      transcription factors and epigenetic drugs.
AB  - Epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) is considered a significant
      event in the progression of cancer. For example, EPB41L3, a potential biomarker
      in cervical cancer, is often silenced by cancer-specific promoter methylation.
      Artificial transcription factors (ATFs) are unique tools to re-express such
      silenced TSGs to functional levels; however, the induced effects are considered
      transient. Here, we aimed to improve the efficiency and sustainability of gene re
      expression using engineered zinc fingers fused to VP64 (ZF-ATFs) or DNA
      methylation modifiers (ZF-Tet2 or ZF-TDG) and/or by co-treatment with epigenetic
      drugs [5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine or Trichostatin A (TSA)]. The EPB41L3-ZF
      effectively bound its methylated endogenous locus, as also confirmed by ChIP-seq.
      ZF-ATFs reactivated the epigenetically silenced target gene EPB41L3 (~ 10-fold)
      in breast, ovarian, and cervical cancer cell lines. Prolonged high levels of
      EPB41L3 (~ 150-fold) induction could be achieved by short-term co-treatment with
      epigenetic drugs. Interestingly, for otherwise ineffective ZF-Tet2 or ZF-TDG
      treatments, TSA facilitated re-expression of EPB41L3 up to twofold. ATF-mediated
      re-expression demonstrated a tumor suppressive role for EPB41L3 in cervical
      cancer cell lines. In conclusion, epigenetic reprogramming provides a novel way
      to improve sustainability of re-expression of epigenetically silenced promoters.

PMID- 25830727
TI  - Dust emissions from cattle feed yards: a source of antibiotic resistance?

PMID- 25830728
TI  - Consolidacao e fortalecimento dos estudos qualitativos nas diversas vertentes da
      area de saude.

PMID- 25830729
TI  - Spectra of mothers of premature children about the educative circle of culture.
AB  - We sought to know the spectra of mothers of premature children regarding their
      experience with circle of culture of educational character and identifying the
      learning provided by the circle of culture about newborn care after hospital
      discharge. A descriptive study was performed in a hospital located in Fortaleza,
      Brazil. Three meetings of a circle of culture with 17 mothers of premature
      newborns were performed. The interpretation of the corpus was performed using
      thematic analysis. Emerged from the categories: Maternal experience in a circle
      of culture; Promoted social support among mothers through the circle of culture;
      and Learning provided by the circle of culture. It was concluded that teaching
      parents during the hospitalization of the child should be held in a way to
      involve parents in the care of the newborn, provide moments of health education,
      opportunities for support and dialogue between professionals and family. 

PMID- 25830730
TI  - Health care to immigrant and Portuguese pregnant women in Portugal.
AB  - This study aimed to assess the care received and the barriers faced by immigrants
      and Portuguese pregnant women in Portugal. This is an exploratory qualitative
      study, resorting to applying semi-structured interviews to 60 immigrant and 22
      Portuguese women. Content analysis supported by QSR Nvivo10 program was used. The
      study was approved by an Ethics Committee. The results showed four categories
      related to affective dimensions-relational, cognitive, technical-instrumental and
      health care policy for pregnant women. As for the barriers in health care, these
      were mentioned by some of the expectant mothers, especially immigrant women.
      Almost all, both immigrant and Portuguese, pregnant women were satisfied with the
      health care. 

PMID- 25830731
TI  - Pregnancy and childbirth: What changes in the lifestyle of women who become
      mothers?
AB  - Pregnancy is a period influenced by the interaction of several factors, therefore
      this study aimed to identify changes in lifestyles due to pregnancy and
      childbirth in Portuguese and immigrant women in Portugal. This is a qualitative
      study, using the semi-structured interview, with eighty-two Portuguese and
      immigrant women. Content analysis was used, with verbatim classification
      supported by Nvivo 10. It was authorized by an Ethics Commission. Results
      revealed that the primary changes in lifestyles due to pregnancy were in eating
      habits (nutrition), daily activity, exposure to danger, sleep and rest patterns,
      social and family relationships, going out, self-care, work, clothing and
      footwear, travel, health monitoring and sexual activity and substances
      consumption. The main change after the birth, manifested by these women, was that
      their lives began to revolve around their baby. 

PMID- 25830732
TI  - BETWEEN DREAMS AND REALITY: Migration of Brazilian women to Switzerland.
AB  - The general objective of this article was to study the process of illegal
      migration of Brazilian women to Switzerland and, more specifically, to analyze
      the motivations for migration, the difficulties found upon arrival, the
      circumstances that led them to get married and lastly an evaluation of the whole
      experience. The methodology was based in a qualitative approach. The participants
      were eight Brazilian women that illegally migrated to Switzerland but now are
      married with Swiss or European men. They responded to an interview focused in the
      objectives of the study. The appreciation of the data was realized with Minayo's
      Content Analysis. The motivations were related to a bettering of the financial
      situation. In the difficulties encountered, we can bring out illegality, language
      and prejudice. Regarding marriage, they married to stay legally in the country.
      Finally, the evaluation of the experience was negative for most participants. 

PMID- 25830733
TI  - Violence as a research object and intervention in the health field: an analysis
      from the production of the Research Group on Gender, Health and Nursingi.
AB  - The study aimed to describe how violence is revealed in the production of the
      Research Group on Gender, Health and Nursing. This is a historical research of
      qualitative approach, which evaluated the production of the Research Group,
      through content analysis. The results show gender as a central category in
      determining violence and health practices. This aspect determines limitations on
      professional practices of coping, such as the invisibility of the problem. The
      female autonomy, the use of alcohol and drugs and social vulnerability play an
      important relation with the phenomenon and the bond is revealed as potentiality
      of health practices to address the problem. CONCLUSION: The gender perspective in
      nursing research is an innovative field and counter-hegemonic, a possibility to
      assume a meaning of praxis by transforming potential of understanding and modes
      of intervention in the phenomenon of gender violence.

PMID- 25830734
TI  - Understanding the experiences of caregivers of children with tuberculosis in
      directly observed therapy.
AB  - Objective To understand the situations and communications experienced by
      caregivers of children with tuberculosis (TB) with regard to directly observed
      therapy (DOT). Method A descriptive exploratory study with a qualitative approach
      was applied and developed in the ambulatory of Programa Einstein na Comunidade de
      Paraisopolis (PECP). The data were collected using semi-structured interviews of
      13 caregivers of children with TB in DOT. The Collective Subject Discourse (CSD)
      method was used to analyze the data. Results Seven CSDs were identified and
      grouped into four categories: "Living in a difficult situation", "Changing the
      family routine", "Responsibility almost always fall son the mother", and
      "Adapting to the DOT". Conclusions The difficulties faced by the caregiver of the
      child at the beginning of DOT significantly changed the familiar routine. The
      responsibility for its continuity was assigned to the mother, who must adapt to
      the demands of the treatment and face the situation. 

PMID- 25830735
TI  - In the context of a daycare center: nursing and their representations of child
      care as an educational act.
AB  - This study aimed to analyze the social representations in the professionals of
      technical staff, who work with children at USP daycare centers. Eight
      professionals of the nursing field underwent a semi-structured interview. The
      interviews were recorded and transcribed in their entirety and the content of the
      discourse was subjected to thematic-categorical analysis. The categories were
      transformed into variables and processed by the software Classification
      Hierarchique Classificatoire et Cohesitive (CHIC(r)) and analyzed by the
      hierarchical similarity tree. The results indicate that actions to promote health
      are reported as educational and transformative, in which health care gains new
      meaning through contextualized conceptions in the field of child education. We
      conclude that professionals attribute new meanings to their practices in the
      health care environment of daycare centers as their representations shifts from
      the logic of the biomedical field to a logic of educational care. In this sense,
      they perceive themselves as being challenged to establish an interaction with the
      children in terms of their activities related to the promotion of health and in
      an educational act. 

PMID- 25830736
TI  - Cumulative Vulnerability: A Case Study on intrafamilial violence, Drug Addiction
      and Adolescent Pregnancy.
AB  - A pregnant adolescent's vulnerability increases when she is a victim of
      intrafamilial violence and drug addiction, which cause physical and
      biopsychosocial damage to the mother and her baby. Objective Present and analyze
      the case of an adolescent who is addicted to drugs, pregnant and the victim of
      lifelong intrafamilial violence. Method A case study based on a semi-structured
      interview conducted in the Obstetrics Emergency Unit at the Teaching Hospital of
      the University of Sao Paulo. The data were interpreted and analyzed using Content
      Analysis. Results intrafamilial violence experienced at the beginning of the
      adolescent's early relationships seriously affected her emotional maturity,
      triggering the development of psychopathologies and leaving her more susceptible
      to the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs. The adolescent is repeating her
      history with her daughter, reproducing the cycle of violence. Conclusion
      Adolescent pregnancy combined with intrafamilial violence and drug addiction and
      multiplies the adolescent's psychosocial vulnerability increased the adolescent's
      vulnerability. 

PMID- 25830737
TI  - Supplemental nursing staff's experiences at a Spanish hospital: Qualitative
      phenomenology research.
AB  - The objective of this study was to describe the Supplemental Nursing Staff's
      experiences at different hospital units. A qualitative phenomenological approach
      was conducted; a purposeful and theoretical sampling was implemented with
      supplemental nursing staff at Santa Barbara Hospital of Soria (Spain), to gain a
      more in-depth understanding of the Supplemental Nursing Staff 's experience. Data
      were collected by in-depth interviews and through a field notebook. Data were
      analyzed using the Giorgi proposal. Twenty-one nurses with a mean age of 46 years
      were included. Three main topics emerged from the data analysis: building the
      first contact, carving out a niche and establishing
      interprofessional/interpersonal relationships. We conclude that the experience of
      hosting the supplemental nursing staff in changing clinical environments is
      conditioned by various factors. It is necessary for nurses and hospital managers
      to establish clear objectives with regard to the supplemental nursing staff's
      role in the units. 

PMID- 25830738
TI  - Primary Care Sensitive Hospitalization: users detect flaws on the access to
      services.
AB  - The aim of this study is to analyze and understand the reasons for the occurrence
      of sensitive hospitalizations in accordance with users. Qualitative study
      conducted with users who were admitted to Pedreira General Hospital, in Sao
      Paulo. The data was collected through semi structured interviews and thereafter,
      transcribed and processed in the electronic program Alceste. When analyzing the
      content, the access was seized fundamentally as an empirical category, bringing
      up problems that later deserved, from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, a
      specific Program to improve the quality and access to primary care. The
      hierarchical and pyramidal organization shape from the health system in the city
      of Sao Paulo can be one of the important aspects for the access matter and
      established as an important restricting factor in the primary care role in
      reducing or even preventing the occurrence of these hospitalizations. 

PMID- 25830739
TI  - Distinct temporalities in the breast cancer disease process.
AB  - Comprehensive approach study aimed understanding the reflections and contrasts
      between personal time and medical therapy protocol time in the life of a young
      woman with breast cancer. Addressed as a situational study and grounded in Beth's
      life story about getting sick and dying of cancer at age 34, the study's data
      collection process employed interviews, observation and medical record analysis.
      The construction of the analytic-synthetic box based on the chronology of Beth's
      clinical progression, treatment phases and temporal perception of occurrences
      enabled us to point out a linear medical therapy protocol time identified by the
      diagnosis and treatment sequencing process. On the other hand, Beth's experienced
      time was marked by simultaneous and non-linear events that generated suffering
      resulting from the disease. Such comprehension highlights the need for healthcare
      professionals to take into account the time experienced by the patient, thus
      providing an indispensable cancer therapeutic protocol with a personal character.

PMID- 25830740
TI  - Perceptions and experiences of elderly residents in a nursing home.
AB  - The objective of this study was to evaluate the perception of the elderly
      residents of a long-stay nursing home on the process of institutionalization. We
      interviewed 14 subjects, five women and nine men, aged between 60 and 92 years.
      Data collection was conducted with a semi-structured sociodemographic interview,
      which presented the guiding question: "Tell me about how is your life, what do
      you do and how did you come to live here". From the analysis, we found topics
      related to feelings of abandonment, loneliness, anger, ingratitude, living with
      chronic pain, satisfaction of property in the nursing home, productivity and
      social relationship. Given the thematic analysis, it was possible to group them
      into three categories such as: what the elderly feel, what the elderly perceive
      and what the elderly desire. As a result, we need public policies that addresses
      to the service provided by institutions regarding elderly expectations. 

PMID- 25830741
TI  - Chronic disease in the elderly: spirituality and coping.
AB  - This is an exploratory study using a qualitative methodology which aimed to
      identify and understand the role of spirituality in the management of chronic
      disease in the elderly. The discourse analysis revealed the following central
      themes: multidimensional impact of chronic diseases, coping and expectations of
      the elderly. Regarding coping with chronic diseases, the individual coping,
      social support and religiosity/spirituality/faith were analyzed. The results
      showed the changes brought about the diagnosis of chronic disease and its
      implications for the adaptation to the new way of life. The management of these
      changes is complex and many factors influence positively and negatively in order
      to deal with the new condition. The results showed that spirituality/religiosity
      /faith interfere positively in addressing the barriers and difficulties of life,
      strengthening the resilience of the patient, thus improving their quality of
      life. 

PMID- 25830742
TI  - Perceptions of representatives of a committee against dengue in the health
      education actions, Goias, Brazil.
AB  - This study aimed to analyze how the educational actions of prevention and control
      of dengue are performed in Goias, from the perspective of representatives of the
      State Mobilization Committee against Dengue. It is a cross-sectional descriptive
      analytical study, carried out in Goiania with 43 representatives of public
      private institutions, members of the State Mobilization Committee against Dengue
      of Goias, in 2013. The data collection was done through questioning about the
      perception of health education for dengue prevention. Data were analyzed using
      content analysis and the WebQDA software. Three dimensions emerged from the
      analysis: educational aspects, management aspects, and community involvement.
      Respondents recognized the importance of health education for the prevention of
      dengue, and of the planning to strengthen the activities of the Committee. 

PMID- 25830743
TI  - Modes of acquisition of health literacy skills in informal learning contexts.
AB  - In this article we try to analyze the learning processes of health literacy
      skills in informal contexts. We intend to broaden the understanding of the
      learning process beyond the formal contexts, thus contributing to the elucidation
      of health professionals on how individuals acquire and manage their knowledge in
      health matters. Given our goal, we use an analytic corpus constituted by one
      hundred autobiographical narratives written between 2006 and 2011, in educational
      contexts but with recognized potential for use in different scientific fields,
      including health. The results reveal the existence of three different types of
      modes of learning health literacy skills in informal context: : i) learning that
      takes place in action, in achieving daily tasks; ii) learning processes that
      result from problem solving; iii) learning that occurs in an unplanned manner,
      resulting from accidental circumstances and, in some cases, devoid of
      intentionality. 

PMID- 25830744
TI  - Newspapers folha de sao paulo e correio braziliense: what they say about the
      program more doctors?
AB  - Analyzes publications related More Medical Program from July to September of 2013
      and its impact on Correio Braziliense and Folha de Sao Paulo. This is a
      descriptive study using a qualitative-quantitative methodology. The analyzed and
      related data represent what the program takes in print. 363 publications were
      found, 262 in Folha de Sao Paulo and 101 in Correio. The word "Doctor" appeared
      in more titles, and Folha de Sao Paulo were 110 negative titles; to Correio
      neutral character was in 50 publications. In the character of news, 178 of these
      are pessimistic. The "neutral" and 101 representing "optimistic" 83. Was found
      that the media is critical to the impact of the program, but the truth is not
      apparent, but the opinion of journalists who wrote the stories related to the
      theme. 

PMID- 25830745
TI  - Identity of care in a Psychosocial Care Center for Children and Adolescents who
      uses drugs.
AB  - Objective To associate the territory of identity with the production of care
      within a PCC focusing on children and adolescents with drug abuse and their
      institutional identity. Method We used the " process tracing methodology" in four
      research categories: focus groups, characterization of professionals, observing
      the everyday and interviewing two members of emblematic cases of the service.
      Results territory of identity of the institution, which operates the production
      of care is crossed by the difficulty of dealing with the complexity brought by
      the users and the performance of the PCC network. This paper is also permeated by
      different conceptions of care and small problematization of these issues in
      collective spaces of service. Conclusion The discussion in focus groups and other
      devices can be powerful resources to reframe the meaning of care and identity of
      collective service. 

PMID- 25830746
TI  - Professional knowledge in primary health care of the person/family in mental
      distress: Le Boterf perspective.
AB  - Aim of this study was to identify knowing-doing actions constituted the practice
      of Family Health (FH), in view of nurses in relation to the person and family
      care in mental distress in terms of professional knowledge of Le Boterf. METHOD:
      Descriptive exploratory qualitative study, to deepen contruction of nurse in FH.
      The survey was conducted in 3 Units FH. RESULT: Doing a thematic analysis, came
      to the following categories: "Knowing how to act and react with relevance";
      "Knowing how to combine resources and mobilize them in a professional context";
      "Knowing how to interact with multiple knowledges"; "Knowing how to transpose";
      "Knowing how to learn and knowing how to learn to learn"; "Knowing how to
      engage". FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: the greatest difficulty was "be able to
      transpose," and that the daily demand of the FH teams requires a lot of this
      knowledge. Little transposition of knowing-doing in real situations has been
      verified.

PMID- 25830747
TI  - Mental ill health in the elderly: medical students' social representations in the
      United Kingdom.
AB  - Objective This study aims to explore medical students' social representations of
      mental ill health in older adults. Method It comprises an exploratory and
      qualitative investigation based on the theory of social representations. Two
      focus groups with pre-clinical medics (group 1, N=4; group 2, N=4) and 10
      individual interviews with clinical medical students were conducted. Thematic
      analysis at a latent level explored meanings and differences between groups.
      Results Three overarching themes reflect participants' representations of mental
      health problems in later life - mental ill health in old age, polarisation of
      care, and challenges to care. Primary health care appears as an important
      strategy to overcome barriers to mental health care in the community.
      Nevertheless, disqualifying representations, stigma and organization of services
      constitute the main challenges to quality mental health care in later life.
      Conclusion This paper highlights the need to address cultural and organizational
      barriers to promote quality care. 

PMID- 25830748
TI  - Approach and treatment of suicidal behavior in the clinical practice of different
      groups of health professionals in Spain: results of the project euregena.
AB  - According to the WHO (World Health Organization) and the European Union, suicide
      is considered to be a health problem of prime importance and to be one of the
      principal causes of unnatural death. In Spain, the number of suicides has
      increased 12% since 2005 . The Research Project "European Regions Enforcing
      Actions against Suicide (EUREGENAS), funded by the Health Program 2008-2013, has
      as main objective the description of an integrated model of Mental Health
      orientated to the prevention of suicide. The differences that allow
      distinguishing the meaning of prevention in suicide behavior are described and
      explained through a qualitative methodological strategy and through the creation
      of discussion groups formed by different groups of health professionals. The
      results highlight the existing differences between the diverse health
      professionals who come more in contact with this problem and it shows as well the
      coincidence of meaning that suicide has to be considered as a priority in the
      field of health. 

PMID- 25830749
TI  - Ethical dimension of circle Integrative Community Therapy on qualitative
      research.
AB  - This study discusses ethical issues in research involving human beings and seeks
      to understand the relationship between qualitative research and the ethical care
      guidelines for Integrative Community Therapy (ICT) circles based on Resolution
      466/12 of the National Health Council of the Ministry of Health of Brazil. This
      is documentary research, which analyzed Resolution 466/12 and ICT circles seeking
      to make a connection between the ethical guidelines contained in both. The
      analysis of the corpus was directed toward the construction of the following
      results: the person's perception, cultural diversity and community. It also
      brings in consideration of the influence of the ethical dimension of the ICT
      circles on qualitative research. We conclude that ICT circles are innovative in
      the sense of the diversity of participants and respect for cultural and social
      differences. Thus, ICT circles promote acquisition of quality information for
      social research as well as compliance with the ethical guidelines outlined in
      Resolution No. 466/12. 

PMID- 25830750
TI  - Nursing teaching strategies by encouraging students' questioning, argumentation
      and explanation.
AB  - Nursing students need to develop competences in the field of explanation,
      argumentation and questioning as they are pivotal to foster a relationship with
      their patients and achieve a greater humanisation of care. The objective of this
      paper is to analyse the perception of 1st-year nursing students with regard to
      the humanisation of care provided to patients by encouraging them to discuss real
      life episodes. The study is qualitative and content analysis used the students'
      questions, explanations and argumentation as core discourses. Among other
      conclusions, results point towards the importance of promoting activities that
      encourage the different nursing students' discourses and the ability to
      understand the humanisation and dehumanisation patterns arising from the real
      life episodes used as case study. 

PMID- 25830751
TI  - The art and learning patterns of knowing in nursing.
AB  - Objective To identify the perception of the students about the use of art as a
      pedagogical strategy in learning the patterns of knowing in nursing; to identify
      the dimensions of each pattern valued in the analysis of pieces of art. Method
      Descriptive mixed study. Data collection used a questionnaire applied to 31
      nursing students. Results In the analysis of the students' discourse, it was
      explicit that empirical knowledge includes scientific knowledge, tradition and
      nature of care. The aesthetic knowledge implies expressiveness, subjectivity and
      sensitivity. Self-knowledge, experience, reflective attitude and relationships
      with others are the subcategories of personal knowledge and the moral and ethics
      support ethical knowledge. Conclusion It is possible to learn patterns of
      knowledge through art, especially the aesthetic, ethical and personal. It is
      necessary to investigate further pedagogical strategies that contribute to the
      learning patterns of nursing knowledge. 

PMID- 25830752
TI  - Nurse educators' perceptions of the way nursing students protect patient privacy.
AB  - The aim of this study was to assess the teaching-learning process related to
      patient privacy during the care process and the way nursing students' protect
      patient privacy. Descriptive/correlational study using a qualitative approach and
      nonprobability sampling of 19 nurse educators from two schools of nursing. Data
      was collected using semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was undertaken
      using the SPSS version 20 and Alceste 2010 programs. The study complied with
      ethical standards. Two classes were assigned (protection of patient privacy and
      care process) with four subcategories (protection, empathy, relational
      competencies and technoscientific competencies).The findings show the need to
      adopt a reflective approach to the teaching-learning process by using
      experiential learning activities and real-life activities. We believe that
      intimacy and the protection of privacy should be core themes of nurse education
      and training. 

PMID- 25830753
TI  - Medical student in the family health strategy on the first years of college:
      perception of graduates.
AB  - There is a lack of knowledge about the effective value of the experience gained
      by medical students who participate in the Family Health Strategy (Estrategia
      Saude da Familia (ESF)) during the early stages of their medical training. This
      teaching strategy is based on learning by experiencing the problems that exist in
      real life. This study proposed to understand the value of this teaching strategy
      from the viewpoint of the students who had participated, after their graduation.
      The method adopted was a qualitative study conducted through interviews with
      students who graduated in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011. The data analysis used
      the hermeneutic dialectic technique as its model. The graduates considered that
      this experience enabled them to understand the organization and functioning of
      the health service and the context of the daily life of the users. This
      experience facilitated the doctor patient relationship, the development of
      clinical reasoning and the bond with the user. However the students emphasized
      that a lack of maturity prevented them gaining a higher level of benefit from the
      experience. Therefore, although the structure of the course is permeated by
      advances and challenges, it was concluded that this experience contributed to the
      student's learning of certain essential elements of medical training. 

PMID- 25830754
TI  - Narrative interviews: an important resource in qualitative research.
AB  - Objetives This methodological study explain and emphasize the extent and
      fertility of the narrative interview in qualitative research. Methods To describe
      the narrative method within the qualitative research. Results The qualitative
      research method is characterized by addressing issues related to the
      singularities of the field and individuals investigated, being the narrative
      interviews a powerful method for use by researchers who aggregate it. They allow
      the deepening of research, the combination of life stories with socio-historical
      contexts, making the understanding of the senses that produce changes in the
      beliefs and values that motivate and justify the actions of possible informants.
      Conclusion The use of narrative is an advantageous investigative resource in
      qualitative research, in which the narrative is a traditional form of
      communication whose purpose is to serve content from which the subjective
      experiences can be transmitted. 

PMID- 25830755
TI  - Nursing Supervision: Studying the "Case" of the phenomenon of interorganizational
      articulation Nursing School and Hospital.
AB  - The history of this research found a suitable ethos not only by the route of the
      researcher, but also by the current public policies of modernization and reform
      that are capable of regulating and transforming the educational and health
      systems, as well as their professional groups. The reflection meantime developed
      had raised a clear perception of the organizational change processes by which
      they interfered with the interorganizational coordination between School of
      Nursing and Hospital, where internship supervision would be the main protagonist,
      supported by the meanings that intervening actors have assigned to them. In this
      context, the search for explicit epistemological and methodological choices leads
      to look more attentively at the problem, ascertaining it, taking into account the
      organizational dimensions. In this regard, the choice of a case study was related
      to the fact that the method allowed to answer the purpose of knowing and
      understanding the interorganizational coordination phenomenon between School of
      Nursing and Hospital, namely through the supervision of internships. 

PMID- 25830756
TI  - The Brazilian policy for reduction of accidents and violence aligns with
      international perspectives?
AB  - The study analyzed The Brazilian Policy for Reduction of Morbidity and Mortality
      from Accidents and Violence, in the socio-political perspective. We used as a
      base the chapter "Violence: a global public health problem" from the World Report
      on Violence and Health. The analysis revealed convergent and divergent elements
      of the Brazilian Policy in comparison with the international perspectives. We
      verified that the Brazilian Policy tried to converge to the international
      policies, however: it emphasizes the health promotion actions, but are limited to
      the context and behavior of individuals and individual communities; the
      performance of health professionals is expected without providing more structural
      investments, as the improvement in work conditions, the increase of financial and
      material resources; there are few clear definitions of the government and
      economical sector responsibilities. 

PMID- 25830757
TI  - Model endophenotype for bipolar disorder: Qualitative Analysis, etiological
      factors, and research areas.
AB  - The aim of this study is to present an updated view of the writings on the
      endophenotype model for bipolar disorder using analytical methodologies. A review
      and analysis of networks was performed through descriptors and keywords that
      characterize the composition of the endophenotype model as a model of health.
      Information was collected from between 1992 and 2014, and the main thematic areas
      covered in the articles were identified. We discuss the results and question
      their cohesion, emphasizing the need to strengthen and identify the points of
      connection between etiological factors and characteristics that make up the model
      of endophenotypes for bipolar disorder. 

PMID- 25830758
TI  - Competency-based training in nursing: limits and possibilities.
AB  - Objective To analyze the possibilities and limits of competency-based training in
      nursing. Method An integrative review of the literature on the subject was
      carried out, and an analysis was made of the results of a survey evaluating a
      nursing course based on areas of competency. A dialog was then established
      between the review and the results of the research. Results On the question of
      which theoretical type of competency the articles from the literature relate to,
      there is a predominance of the constructivist perspective, followed by the
      functionalist approach and the dialog-based approach. In the dialog between the
      literature and the research, limits and possibilities were observed in the
      development of a training by areas of competency. Conclusion The dialog-based
      approach to competency is the proposition that most approximates to the profile
      defined by the National Curriculum Guidelines for training in nursing, and this
      was also identified in the evaluation survey that was studied. However, it is
      found that there are aspects on better work is needed, such as: partnership
      between school and the workplace, the role of the teacher, the role of the
      student, and the process of evaluation. 

PMID- 25830759
TI  - Symmetrical Versus Asymmetrical PresbyLASIK: Results After 18 Months and Patient
      Satisfaction.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to report visual, topographic, and
      satisfaction comparative results between symmetrical and asymmetrical presbyLASIK
      after 18 months. METHODS: Longitudinal, comparative case series of hyperopic
      presbyopes who underwent presbyLASIK, in a private clinical setting. Monovision
      symmetrical (plano target both eyes) versus asymmetrical [dominant eye (DE) =
      plano target; nondominant eye (NDE) = -0.50 diopter (D) target]. Pre- and
      postoperative variables included monocular and binocular, distance and near,
      uncorrected visual acuity (VA), best corrected visual acuity, spherical
      equivalent, addition (Add), topography SimK (Km), and topographic astigmatism.
      Topographic central corneal power increase was measured 3 and 18 months
      postoperatively. Data were reported as mean, range, and standard deviation and
      analyzed with Student t-test (P < 0.05 for statistical significance) and Pearson
      correlation coefficients. RESULTS: The symmetrical group consisted of 16 patients
      and the asymmetrical group of 14 patients, with a mean age of 53.5 +/- 2.3 and
      51.9 +/- 2.5 years. Postoperative results, after 18 months, for symmetrical
      versus asymmetrical presbyLASIK were as follows: distance UCVA 0.8 +/-0.20; 0.9
      +/- 0.2 (P < 0.01); near UCVA 0.9 +/- 0.2; 0.8 +/- 0.2 (P < 0.01); SE -0.20 +/-
      0.50; -0.3 +/- 0.3D (P < 0.01); Add 0.5 +/- 0.5; 0.9 +/- 0.9 (P < 0.01); mean Km
      44.8 +/- 1 D; 43.9 +/- 1.1 D (P < 0.01); mean central corneal power differential
      1.4 +/- 0.8 D; 1.7 +/- 1.1 D (P < 0.01), respectively. Stability: -0.16 D, DE 
      0.13 D and NDE -0.16 D, and SE predictability -0.40; DE -0.28 D and NDE -0.53 D.
      Safety index 1.0; 1.0, efficacy distance VA 0.8; 0.9, and near VA 0.90; 0.8. More
      than 90% were within +/-0.50 D of the intended target. Twenty eyes required
      enhancement, and results were not significantly different. Mean satisfaction (0
      10 points) for symmetrical patients was 7.0 +/- 2.6 and 7.3 +/- 2.8 points for
      asymmetrical patients. CONCLUSIONS: Symmetrical and asymmetrical presbyLASIK
      significantly improved distance UCVA, near UCVA, after 18 months.

PMID- 25830760
TI  - B-lymphocytes support and regulate indirect T-cell alloreactivity in individual
      patients with chronic antibody-mediated rejection.
AB  - We explored how B-lymphocytes influence in vitro T-cell alloresponses in patients
      with antibody-mediated rejection (AMR), testing whether B-cells would be
      preferentially involved in this group of patients. Peripheral blood mononuclear
      cells were collected from 65 patients having biopsy: 14 patients with AMR and 5
      with no pathology on protocol; 38 with AMR and 8 with nonimmunologic damage on
      'for cause'. Using enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assays, we found interferon
      gamma production by indirect allorecognition in 45 of 119 total samples from the
      65 patients. B-cells preferentially processed and presented donor alloantigens in
      samples from AMR patients. In a further 25 samples, B-cell-dependent allo
      specific reactivity was shown by depletion of CD25(+) cells and these individuals
      had higher percentages of CD4CD25hi cells. In 21 samples, reactivity was shown by
      depletion of CD19(+) cells, associated with polarized cytokine production toward
      IL-10 after polyclonal activation by IgG/IgM. Overall, this shows a significant
      contribution by B-cells to indirect donor-specific T-cell reactivity in vitro in
      patients with AMR. Active suppression by distinct phenotypes of T- or B-cells in
      approximately half of the patients indicates that chronic AMR is not
      characterized by a universal loss of immune regulation. Thus, stratified
      approaches that accommodate the heterogeneity of cell-mediated immunity might be
      beneficial to treat graft dysfunction. 

PMID- 25830761
TI  - High prevalence of and potential mechanisms for chronic kidney disease in
      patients with acute intermittent porphyria.
AB  - Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) is a genetic disorder of the synthesis of heme
      caused by a deficiency in hydroxymethylbilane synthase (HMBS), leading to the
      overproduction of the porphyrin precursors delta-aminolevulinic acid and
      porphobilinogen. The aim of this study is to describe the clinical and biological
      characteristics, the renal pathology, and the cellular mechanisms of chronic
      kidney disease associated with AIP. A total of 415 patients with HMBS deficiency
      followed up in the French Porphyria Center were enrolled in 2003 in a population
      based study. A follow-up study was conducted in 2013, assessing patients for
      clinical, biological, and histological parameters. In vitro models were used to
      determine whether porphyrin precursors promote tubular and endothelial
      cytotoxicity. Chronic kidney disease occurred in up to 59% of the symptomatic AIP
      patients, with a decline in the glomerular filtration rate of ~1 ml/min per 1.73
      m(2) annually. Proteinuria was absent in the vast majority of the cases. The
      renal pathology was a chronic tubulointerstitial nephropathy, associated with a
      fibrous intimal hyperplasia and focal cortical atrophy. Our experimental data
      provide evidence that porphyrin precursors promote endoplasmic reticulum stress,
      apoptosis, and epithelial phenotypic changes in proximal tubular cells. In
      conclusion, the diagnosis of chronic kidney disease associated with AIP should be
      considered in cases of chronic tubulointerstitial nephropathy and/or focal
      cortical atrophy with severe proliferative arteriosclerosis. 

PMID- 25830762
TI  - Perioperative heart-type fatty acid binding protein is associated with acute
      kidney injury after cardiac surgery.
AB  - Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after cardiac surgery and is
      associated with worse outcomes. Since heart fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP)
      is a myocardial protein that detects cardiac injury, we sought to determine
      whether plasma H-FABP was associated with AKI in the TRIBE-AKI cohort; a multi
      center cohort of 1219 patients at high risk for AKI who underwent cardiac
      surgery. The primary outcomes of interest were any AKI (Acute Kidney Injury
      Network (AKIN) stage 1 or higher) and severe AKI (AKIN stage 2 or higher). The
      secondary outcome was long-term mortality after discharge. Patients who developed
      AKI had higher levels of H-FABP pre- and postoperatively than patients who did
      not have AKI. In analyses adjusted for known AKI risk factors, first
      postoperative log(H-FABP) was associated with severe AKI (adjusted odds ratio
      (OR) 5.39 (95% confidence interval (CI), 2.87-10.11) per unit increase), while
      preoperative log(H-FABP) was associated with any AKI (2.07 (1.48-2.89)) and
      mortality (1.67 (1.17-2.37)). These relationships persisted after adjustment for
      change in serum creatinine (for first postoperative log(H-FABP)) and biomarkers
      of cardiac and kidney injury, including brain natriuretic peptide, cardiac
      troponin-I, interleukin-18, liver fatty acid binding protein, kidney injury
      molecule-1, and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin. Thus, perioperative
      plasma H-FABP levels may be used for risk stratification of AKI and mortality
      following cardiac surgery. 

PMID- 25830763
TI  - Interactions of DPP-4 and integrin beta1 influences endothelial-to-mesenchymal
      transition.
AB  - Integrin beta1 and dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 play roles in endothelial cell
      biology. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A inhibits endothelial-to
      mesenchymal transition (EndMT) through VEGF-R2, but through VEGF-R1 promotes
      EndMT by reducing the bioavailability of VEGF-A. Here we tested whether DPP-4
      integrin beta1 interactions have a role in EndMT in the renal fibrosis of
      diabetic nephropathy. In streptozotocin-induced fibrotic kidneys in diabetic CD-1
      mice, levels of endothelial DPP-4, integrin beta1, and phospho-integrin beta1
      were all higher and associated with plasma cystatin C elevation. The DPP-4
      inhibitor linagliptin ameliorated kidney fibrosis, reduced plasma cystatin C
      levels, and suppressed endothelial levels of DPP-4, integrin beta1, and phospho
      integrin beta1. In cultured endothelial cells, DPP-4 and integrin beta1
      physically interacted. Suppression of DPP-4 by siRNA was associated with
      suppression of integrin beta1 and vice versa. Knockdown of either integrin beta1
      or DPP-4 resulted in the silencing of TGF-beta2-induced TGF-beta receptor
      heterodimer formation, smad3 phosphorylation, and EndMT. DPP-4 negatively
      regulated endothelial viability signaling by VEGF-R2 suppression and VEGF-R1
      induction in endothelial cells. Thus, DPP-4 and integrin beta1 interactions
      regulate key endothelial cell signal transduction in both physiological and
      pathological conditions including EndMT. Hence, inhibiting DPP-4 may be a
      therapeutic target for treating kidney fibrosis in diabetes. 

PMID- 25830764
TI  - A comparison of ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging shows that kidney
      length predicts chronic kidney disease in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney
      disease.
AB  - Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is marked by gradual renal
      cyst and kidney enlargement and ultimately renal failure. Magnetic resonance
      based, height-adjusted total kidney volume (htTKV) over 600 cc/m predicts the
      development of CKD stage 3 within 8 years in the Consortium for Radiologic
      Imaging in Polycystic Kidney Disease cohort. Here we compared simultaneous
      ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging to determine whether ultrasound and
      kidney length (KL) predict future CKD stage 3 over longer periods of follow-up. A
      total of 241 ADPKD patients, 15-46 years, with creatinine clearance of 70 ml/min
      and above had iothalamate clearance, magnetic resonance, and ultrasound
      evaluations. Participants underwent an average of five repeat clearance
      measurements over a mean follow-up of 9.3 years. Ultrasound and magnetic
      resonance-based TKV and KL were compared using Bland-Altman plots and intraclass
      correlations. Each measure was tested to predict future CKD stage 3. Relatively
      strong intraclass correlations between ultrasound and magnetic resonance were
      found for both htTKV and KL (0.81 and 0.85, respectively). Ultrasound and
      magnetic resonance-based htTKV and KL predicted future CKD stage 3 similarly (AUC
      of 0.87, 0.88, 0.87, and 0.88, respectively). An ultrasound kidney length over
      16.5 cm and htTKV over 650 ml/min had the best cut point for predicting the
      development of CKD stage 3. Thus, kidney length alone is sufficient to stratify
      the risk of progression to renal insufficiency early in ADPKD using either
      ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging. 

PMID- 25830766
TI  - Ultrahigh pressure extraction of bioactive compounds from plants-A review.
AB  - Extraction of bioactive compounds from plants is one of the most important
      research areas for pharmaceutical and food industries. Conventional extraction
      techniques are usually associated with longer extraction times, lower yields,
      more organic solvent consumption, and poor extraction efficiency. A novel
      extraction technique, ultrahigh pressure extraction, has been developed for the
      extraction of bioactive compounds from plants, in order to shorten the extraction
      time, decrease the solvent consumption, increase the extraction yields, and
      enhance the quality of extracts. The mild processing temperature of ultrahigh
      pressure extraction may lead to an enhanced extraction of thermolabile bioactive
      ingredients. A critical review is conducted to introduce the different aspects of
      ultrahigh pressure extraction of plants bioactive compounds, including principles
      and mechanisms, the important parameters influencing its performance, comparison
      of ultrahigh pressure extraction with other extraction techniques, advantages,
      and disadvantages. The future opportunities of ultrahigh pressure extraction are
      also discussed.

PMID- 25830767
TI  - Correction: characterization of the integration and modular excision of the
      integrative conjugative element PAISt in Streptomyces turgidiscabies Car8.

PMID- 25830765
TI  - Optimum AT1 receptor-neprilysin inhibition has superior cardioprotective effects
      compared with AT1 receptor blockade alone in hypertensive rats.
AB  - Neprilysin inhibitors prevent the breakdown of bradykinin and natriuretic
      peptides, promoting vasodilation and natriuresis. However, they also increase
      angiotensin II and endothelin-1. Here we studied the effects of a low and a high
      dose of the neprilysin inhibitor thiorphan on top of AT1 receptor blockade with
      irbesartan versus vehicle in TGR(mREN2)27 rats with high renin hypertension. Mean
      arterial blood pressure was unaffected by vehicle or thiorphan alone. Irbesartan
      lowered blood pressure, but after 7 days pressure started to increase again. Low-
      but not high-dose thiorphan prevented this rise. Only during exposure to low-dose
      thiorphan plus irbesartan did heart weight/body weight ratio, cardiac atrial
      natriuretic peptide expression, and myocyte size decrease significantly.
      Circulating endothelin-1 was not affected by low-dose thiorphan with or without
      irbesartan, but increased after treatment with high-dose thiorphan plus
      irbesartan. This endothelin-1 rise was accompanied by an increase in renal sodium
      hydrogen exchanger 3 protein abundance, and an upregulation of constrictor
      vascular endothelin type B receptors. Consequently, the endothelin type B
      receptor antagonist BQ788 no longer enhanced endothelin-1-induced
      vasoconstriction (indicative of endothelin type B receptor-mediated
      vasodilation), but prevented it. Thus, optimal neprilysin inhibitor dosing
      reveals additional cardioprotective effects on top of AT1 receptor blockade in
      renin-dependent hypertension. 

PMID- 25830768
TI  - Identification of new genomospecies in the Mycobacterium terrae complex.
AB  - Members of the Mycobacterium terrae complex are slow-growing, non-chromogenic
      acid-fast bacilli found in the natural environment and occasionally in clinical
      material. These genetically closely-related members are difficult to
      differentiate by conventional phenotypic and molecular tests. In this paper we
      describe the use of whole genome data for the identification of four strains
      genetically similar to Mycobacterium sp. JDM601, a newly identified member of the
      M. terrae complex. Phylogenetic information from the alignment of genome-wide
      orthologous genes and single nucleotide polymorphisms show consistent clustering
      of the four strains together with M. sp. JDM601 into a distinct clade separate
      from other rapid and slow growing mycobacterial species. More detailed inter
      strain comparisons using average nucleotide identity, tetra-nucleotide
      frequencies and analysis of synteny indicate that our strains are closely related
      to but not of the same species as M. sp. JDM601. Besides the 16S rRNA signature
      described previously for the M. terrae complex, five more hypothetical proteins
      were found that are potentially useful for the rapid identification of
      mycobacterial species belonging to the M. terrae complex. This paper illustrates
      the versatile utilization of whole genome data for the delineation of new
      bacterial species and introduces four new genomospecies to add to current members
      in the M. terrae complex. 

PMID- 25830769
TI  - Glowing seashells: diversity of fossilized coloration patterns on coral reef
      associated cone snail (Gastropoda: Conidae) shells from the Neogene of the
      Dominican Republic.
AB  - The biology of modern Conidae (cone snails)--which includes the hyperdiverse
      genus Conus--has been intensively studied, but the fossil record of the clade
      remains poorly understood, particularly within an evolutionary framework. Here,
      ultraviolet light is used to reveal and characterize the original shell
      coloration patterns of 28 species of cone snails from three Neogene coral reef
      associated deposits from the Cibao Valley, northern Dominican Republic. These
      fossils come from the upper Miocene Cercado Fm. and lower Pliocene Gurabo Fm.,
      and range in age from about 6.6-4.8 Ma. Comparison of the revealed coloration
      patterns with those of extant species allow the taxa to be assigned to three
      genera of cone snails (Profundiconus, Conasprella, and Conus) and at least nine
      subgenera. Thirteen members of these phylogenetically diverse reef faunas are
      described as new species. These include: Profundiconus? hennigi, Conasprella
      (Ximeniconus) ageri, Conus anningae, Conus lyelli, Conus (Atlanticonus?)
      franklinae, Conus (Stephanoconus) gouldi, Conus (Stephanoconus) bellacoensis,
      Conus (Ductoconus) cashi, Conus (Dauciconus) garrisoni, Conus (Dauciconus?)
      zambaensis, Conus (Spuriconus?) kaesleri, Conus (Spuriconus?) lombardii, and
      Conus (Lautoconus?) carlottae. Each of the three reef deposits contain a minimum
      of 14-16 cone snail species, levels of diversity that are similar to modern Indo
      Pacific reef systems. Finally, most of the 28 species can be assigned to modern
      clades and thus have important implications for understanding the biogeographic
      and temporal histories of these clades in tropical America.

PMID- 25830770
TI  - Subclinical hypothyroidism is associated with increased risk for cancer mortality
      in adult Taiwanese-a 10 years population-based cohort.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The association between subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) and cancer
      mortality is seldom discussed. METHODS: A total of 115,746 participants without
      thyroid disease history, aged 20 and above, were recruited from four nationwide
      health screening centers in Taiwan from 1998 to 1999. SCH was defined as a serum
      thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level of 5.0-19.96 mIU/L with normal total
      thyroxine concentrations. Euthyroidism was defined as a serum TSH level of 0.47
      4.9 mIU/L. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to estimate the
      relative risks (RRs) of death from cancer for adults with SCH during a 10-year
      follow-up period. RESULTS: Among 115,746 adults, 1,841 had SCH (1.6%) and 113,905
      (98.4%) had euthyroidism. There were 1,532 cancer deaths during the 1,034,082
      person-years follow-up period. Adjusted for age, gender, body mass index,
      diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking, alcohol drinking, betel nut
      chewing, physical activity, income, and education level, the RRs (95% confidence
      interval) of cancer deaths among subjects with SCH versus euthyroid subjects were
      1.51 (1.06 to 2.15). Cancer site analysis revealed a significant increased risk
      of bone, skin and breast cancer among SCH subjects (RR 2.79, (1.01, 7.70)). The
      risks of total cancer deaths were more prominent in the aged (RR 1.71, (1.02 to
      2.87)), in females (RR 1.69 (1.08 to 2.65)), and in heavy smokers (RR 2.24, (1.19
      to 4.21)). CONCLUSIONS: Subjects with SCH had a significantly increased risk for
      cancer mortality among adult Taiwanese. This is the first report to demonstrate
      the association between SCH and cancer mortality.

PMID- 25830771
TI  - The Malaria Parasite's Achilles' Heel: Functionally-relevant Invasion Structures.
AB  - Malaria parasites have their Achilles' heel; they are vulnerable in small parts
      of their relevant molecules where they can be wounded and killed. These are
      sporozoite and merozoite protein conserved high activity binding peptides
      (cHABPs), playing a critical role in binding to and invasion of host cells
      (hepatocytes and erythrocytes, respectively). cHABPs can be modified by specific
      amino acid replacement, according to previously published physicochemical rules,
      to produce analogues (mHABPs) having left-handed polyproline II (PPIIL)-like
      structures which can modulate an immune response due to fitting perfectly into
      the HLA-DRbeta1* peptide binding region (PBR) and having an appropriate
      presentation to the T-cell receptor (TCR).

PMID- 25830773
TI  - Generalised extreme value distributions provide a natural hypothesis for the
      shape of seed mass distributions.
AB  - Among co-occurring species, values for functionally important plant traits span
      orders of magnitude, are uni-modal, and generally positively skewed. Such data
      are usually log-transformed "for normality" but no convincing mechanistic
      explanation for a log-normal expectation exists. Here we propose a hypothesis for
      the distribution of seed masses based on generalised extreme value distributions
      (GEVs), a class of probability distributions used in climatology to characterise
      the impact of event magnitudes and frequencies; events that impose strong
      directional selection on biological traits. In tests involving datasets from 34
      locations across the globe, GEVs described log10 seed mass distributions as well
      or better than conventional normalising statistics in 79% of cases, and revealed
      a systematic tendency for an overabundance of small seed sizes associated with
      low latitudes. GEVs characterise disturbance events experienced in a location to
      which individual species' life histories could respond, providing a natural,
      biological explanation for trait expression that is lacking from all previous
      hypotheses attempting to describe trait distributions in multispecies
      assemblages. We suggest that GEVs could provide a mechanistic explanation for
      plant trait distributions and potentially link biology and climatology under a
      single paradigm. 

PMID- 25830772
TI  - 18F-Mefway PET imaging of serotonin 1A receptors in humans: a comparison with 18F
      FCWAY.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this research is to evaluate the prospects for the
      use of 4-(trans-18F-fluoranylmethyl)-N-[2-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)piperazin-1
      yl]ethyl]-N-pyridin-2-ylcyclohexane-1-carboxamide (18F-Mefway) in comparison to
      18F-trans-4-fluoro-N-2-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)piperazin-1-yl]ethyl]-N-(2
      pyridyl)cyclohexanecarboxamide (18F-FCWAY) for the quantification of 5-HT1A
      receptors in human subjects. METHOD: Five healthy male controls were included for
      two positron emission tomography (PET) studies: 18F-FCWAY PET after the
      pretreatment with 500 mg of disulfiram and two months later, 18F-Mefway PET
      without disulfiram. Regional time-activity curves (TACs) were extracted from nine
      cortical and subcortical regions in dynamic PET images. Using cerebellar cortex
      without vermis as reference tissue, in vivo kinetics for both radioligands were
      compared based on the distribution volume ratio (DVR) calculated by non-invasive
      Logan graphical analysis and area under the curve ratio of the TACs (AUC ratio).
      RESULT: Although the pattern of regional uptakes in the 18F-Mefway PET was
      similar to that of the 18F-FCWAY PET (highest in the hippocampus and lowest in
      the cerebellar cortex), the amount of regional uptake in 18F-Mefway PET was
      almost half of that in 18F-FCWAY PET. The skull uptake in 18F-Mefway PET was only
      25% of that in 18F-FCWAY PET with disulfiram pretreatment. The regional DVR
      values and AUC ratio values for 18F-Mefway were 17-40% lower than those of 18F
      FCWAY. In contrast to a small overestimation of DVR values by AUC ratio values (<
      10%) in 18F-FCWAY PET, the overestimation bias of AUC ratio values was much
      higher (up to 21%) in 18F-Mefway PET. CONCLUSION: As 18F-Mefway showed lower DVR
      values and greater overestimation bias of AUC ratio values, 18F-Mefway may appear
      less favorable than 18F-FCWAY. However, in contrast to 18F-FCWAY, the resistance
      to in vivo defluorination of 18F-Mefway obviates the need for the use of a
      defluorination inhibitor. Thus, 18F-Mefway may be a good candidate PET
      radioligand for 5-HT1A receptor imaging in human.

PMID- 25830774
TI  - Dose-dependent effects of allopurinol on human foreskin fibroblast cells and
      human umbilical vein endothelial cells under hypoxia.
AB  - Allopurinol, an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase, has been used in clinical trials
      of patients with cardiovascular and chronic kidney disease. These are two
      pathologies with extensive links to hypoxia and activation of the transcription
      factor hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) family. Here we analysed the effects of
      allopurinol treatment in two different cellular models, and their response to
      hypoxia. We explored the dose-dependent effect of allopurinol on Human Foreskin
      Fibroblasts (HFF) and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC) under
      hypoxia and normoxia. Under normoxia and hypoxia, high dose allopurinol reduced
      the accumulation of HIF-1alpha protein in HFF and HUVEC cells. Allopurinol had
      only marginal effects on HIF-1alpha mRNA level in both cellular systems.
      Interestingly, allopurinol effects over the HIF system were independent of prolyl
      hydroxylase activity. Finally, allopurinol treatment reduced angiogenesis traits
      in HUVEC cells in an in vitro model. Taken together these results indicate that
      high doses of allopurinol inhibits the HIF system and pro-angiogenic traits in
      cells. 

PMID- 25830775
TI  - Multi-scale compositionality: identifying the compositional structures of social
      dynamics using deep learning.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Social media exhibit rich yet distinct temporal dynamics which cover a
      wide range of different scales. In order to study this complex dynamics, two
      fundamental questions revolve around (1) the signatures of social dynamics at
      different time scales, and (2) the way in which these signatures interact and
      form higher-level meanings. METHOD: In this paper, we propose the Recursive
      Convolutional Bayesian Model (RCBM) to address both of these fundamental
      questions. The key idea behind our approach consists of constructing a deep
      learning framework using specialized convolution operators that are designed to
      exploit the inherent heterogeneity of social dynamics. RCBM's runtime and
      convergence properties are guaranteed by formal analyses. RESULTS: Experimental
      results show that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches
      both in terms of solution quality and computational efficiency. Indeed, by
      applying the proposed method on two social network datasets, Twitter and Yelp, we
      are able to identify the compositional structures that can accurately
      characterize the complex social dynamics from these two social media. We further
      show that identifying these patterns can enable new applications such as anomaly
      detection and improved social dynamics forecasting. Finally, our analysis offers
      new insights on understanding and engineering social media dynamics, with direct
      applications to opinion spreading and online content promotion.

PMID- 25830776
TI  - Spatio-temporal analysis of the accuracy of tropical multisatellite precipitation
      analysis 3B42 precipitation data in mid-high latitudes of China.
AB  - Satellite-based precipitation data have contributed greatly to quantitatively
      forecasting precipitation, and provides a potential alternative source for
      precipitation data allowing researchers to better understand patterns of
      precipitation over ungauged basins. However, the absence of calibration satellite
      data creates considerable uncertainties for The Tropical Rainfall Measuring
      Mission (TRMM) Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) 3B42 product over
      high latitude areas beyond the TRMM satellites latitude band (38 degrees NS).
      This study attempts to statistically assess TMPA V7 data over the region beyond
      40 degrees NS using data obtained from numerous weather stations in 1998-2012.
      Comparative analysis at three timescales (daily, monthly and annual scale)
      indicates that adoption of a monthly adjustment significantly improved
      correlation at a larger timescale increasing from 0.63 to 0.95; TMPA data always
      exhibits a slight overestimation that is most serious at a daily scale (the
      absolute bias is 103.54%). Moreover, the performance of TMPA data varies across
      all seasons. Generally, TMPA data performs best in summer, but worst in winter,
      which is likely to be associated with the effects of snow/ice-covered surfaces
      and shortcomings of precipitation retrieval algorithms. Temporal and spatial
      analysis of accuracy indices suggest that the performance of TMPA data has
      gradually improved and has benefited from upgrades; the data are more reliable in
      humid areas than in arid regions. Special attention should be paid to its
      application in arid areas and in winter with poor scores of accuracy indices.
      Also, it is clear that the calibration can significantly improve precipitation
      estimates, the overestimation by TMPA in TRMM-covered area is about a third as
      much as that in no-TRMM area for monthly and annual precipitation. The systematic
      evaluation of TMPA over mid-high latitudes provides a broader understanding of
      satellite-based precipitation estimates, and these data are important for the
      rational application of TMPA methods in climatic and hydrological research. 

PMID- 25830777
TI  - Purification and biochemical characterization of an extracellular serine
      peptidase from Aspergillus terreus.
AB  - Peptidases are important because they play a central role in pharmaceutical,
      food, environmental, and other industrial processes. A serine peptidase from
      Aspergillus terreus was isolated after two chromatography steps that showed a
      yield of 15.5%. Its molecular mass was determined to be 43 kD, by sodium dodecyl
      sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). This peptidase was active
      between pH 5.0 to 8.0 and had maximum activity at pH 7.0, at 45 degrees C. When
      exposited with 1 M of urea, the enzyme maintained 100% activity and used
      azocasein as substrate. The N-terminal (first 15 residues) showed 33% identity
      with the serine peptidase of Aspergillus clavatus ES1. The kinetics assays showed
      that subsite S2 did not bind polar basic amino acids (His and Arg) nonpolar
      acidic amino acids (Asp and Glu). The subsite S1 showed higher catalytic
      efficiency than the S2 and S3 subsites. 

PMID- 25830778
TI  - Ohmic Heating: Concept and Applications-A Review.
AB  - Ohmic heating, also known as Joule heating, electrical resistance heating, and
      direct electrical resistance heating, is a process of heating the food by passing
      electric current. In ohmic heating the energy is dissipated directly into the
      food. Electrical conductivity is a key parameter in the design of an effective
      ohmic heater. A large number of potential applications exist for ohmic heating,
      including blanching, evaporation, dehydration, fermentation, sterilization,
      pasteurization, and heating of foods. Beyond heating, applied electric field
      under ohmic heating causes electroporation of cell membranes, which increase
      extraction rates, and reduce gelatinization temperature and enthalpy. Ohmic
      heating results in faster heating of food along with maintenance of color and
      nutritional value of food. Water absorption index, water solubility index,
      thermal properties, and pasting properties are altered with the application of
      ohmic heating. Ohmic heating results in pre-gelatinized starches, which reduce
      energy requirement during processing. But its higher initial cost, lack of its
      applications in foods containing fats and oils, and less awareness limit its use.

PMID- 25830779
TI  - The spectrum of HBV/HCV coinfection: epidemiology, clinical characteristics,
      viralinteractions and management.
AB  - Monoinfection with either hepatitis B (HBV) or C virus (HCV) represents one of
      the major causes of chronic liver disease globally. However, in endemic areas a
      substantial number of patients are infected with both viruses mainly as a result
      of the common routes of transmission. Numerous studies have demonstrated that
      dually infected patients carry a greater risk of advanced liver disease,
      cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma compared with monoinfected patients. The
      choice of treatment is based on the virological profile of each patient taking
      into account the dominant virus pattern. In predominant HCV, standard combination
      treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin has proven equally effective in
      HBV/HCV-coinfected patients as well as in HCV-monoinfected patients. Strikingly,
      approximately 60% of patients with inactive HBV infection before HCV treatment
      may present HBV reactivation while others experience hepatitis B surface antigen
      seroconversion after clearing HCV, demonstrating the complexity of the
      interaction between the two viruses during the follow up. The therapeutic
      strategies for the predominant HBV dually infected patients are more vague,
      although high genetic barrier nucleos(t)ide analogues play an indisputable role.
      Finally, the recently approved combination treatments for chronic hepatitis C
      containing direct-acting antivirals may definitely change the treatment protocols
      in the future although there is no experience with these drugs in dually infected
      patients until today.

PMID- 25830780
TI  - Prediction of new thermodynamically stable aluminum oxides.
AB  - Recently, it has been shown that under pressure, unexpected and counterintuitive
      chemical compounds become stable. Laser shock experiments (A. Rode, unpublished)
      on alumina (Al2O3) have shown non-equilibrium decomposition of alumina with the
      formation of free Al and a mysterious transparent phase. Inspired by these
      observations, we have explored the possibility of the formation of new chemical
      compounds in the system Al-O. Using the variable-composition structure prediction
      algorithm USPEX, in addition to the well-known Al2O3, we have found two
      extraordinary compounds Al4O7 and AlO2 to be thermodynamically stable in the
      pressure ranges 330-443 GPa and above 332 GPa, respectively. Both of these
      compounds at the same time contain oxide O(2-) and peroxide O2(2-) ions, and both
      are insulating. Peroxo-groups are responsible for gap states, which significantly
      reduce the electronic band gap of both Al4O7 and AlO2. 

PMID- 25830781
TI  - Antibiotic body burden of Chinese school children: a multisite biomonitoring
      based study.
AB  - To explore the antibiotic body burden of Chinese school children, total urinary
      concentrations (free and conjugated) of 18 representative antibiotics (5
      macrolides, 2 beta-lactams, 3 tetracyclines, 4 quinolones, and 4 sulfonamides)
      were measured by ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole
      time-of-flight mass spectrometry among 1064 school students recruited from 3
      economically and geographically distinct areas in east China in 2013. All 18
      antibiotics were detected in urine samples with the detection frequencies ranging
      from 0.4 to 19.6%. The antibiotics were detected in 58.3% of urine samples
      overall, and this detection frequency reached at 74.4% in one study site. Of
      them, 47.8% of the urine samples had a sum of mass concentration of all
      antibiotics between 0.1 (minimum) and 20.0 ng/mL, and 8 antibiotics had their
      concentrations of above 1000 ng/mL in some urine samples. Three veterinary
      antibiotics, 4 human antibiotics, and 11 human/veterinary antibiotics were found
      overall in 6.3, 19.9, and 49.4% of urine samples, respectively. The detection
      frequencies and concentration levels of antibiotics in urine samples differed by
      study areas. Concerning mixed exposures, a total of 137 combinations of
      antibiotics and 20 combinations of antibiotic categories were found overall. Two
      or more antibiotics or categories were concurrently detected in more than 20% of
      urine samples. On the basis of a usage analysis, contaminated food or environment
      might be relevant exposure sources for tetracyclines, quinolones, and
      sulfonamides. 

PMID- 25830782
TI  - Patterns of impact resulting from a 'sit less, move more' web-based program in
      sedentary office employees.
AB  - PURPOSE: Encouraging office workers to 'sit less and move more' encompasses two
      public health priorities. However, there is little evidence on the effectiveness
      of workplace interventions for reducing sitting, even less about the longer term
      effects of such interventions and still less on dual-focused interventions. This
      study assessed the short and mid-term impacts of a workplace web-based
      intervention (Walk@WorkSpain, W@WS; 2010-11) on self-reported sitting time, step
      counts and physical risk factors (waist circumference, BMI, blood pressure) for
      chronic disease. METHODS: Employees at six Spanish university campuses (n=264;
      42+/-10 years; 171 female) were randomly assigned by worksite and campus to an
      Intervention (used W@WS; n=129; 87 female) or a Comparison group (maintained
      normal behavior; n=135; 84 female). This phased, 19-week program aimed to
      decrease occupational sitting time through increased incidental movement and
      short walks. A linear mixed model assessed changes in outcome measures between
      the baseline, ramping (8 weeks), maintenance (11 weeks) and follow-up (two
      months) phases for Intervention versus Comparison groups. RESULTS: A significant
      2 (group) * 2 (program phases) interaction was found for self-reported
      occupational sitting (F[3]=7.97, p=0.046), daily step counts (F[3]=15.68,
      p=0.0013) and waist circumference (F[3]=11.67, p=0.0086). The Intervention group
      decreased minutes of daily occupational sitting while also increasing step counts
      from baseline (446+/-126; 8,862+/-2,475) through ramping (+425+/-120; 9,345+/
      2,435), maintenance (+422+/-123; 9,638+/-3,131) and follow-up (+414+/-129;
      9,786+/-3,205). In the Comparison group, compared to baseline (404+/-106),
      sitting time remained unchanged through ramping and maintenance, but decreased at
      follow-up (-388+/-120), while step counts diminished across all phases. The
      Intervention group significantly reduced waist circumference by 2.1cms from
      baseline to follow-up while the Comparison group reduced waist circumference by
      1.3cms over the same period. CONCLUSIONS: W@WS is a feasible and effective
      evidence-based intervention that can be successfully deployed with sedentary
      employees to elicit sustained changes on "sitting less and moving more".

PMID- 25830783
TI  - Fibroscan versus simple noninvasive screening tools in predicting fibrosis in
      high-risk nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients from Western India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to determine the efficacy of Fibroscan
      versus noninvasive markers, i.e. nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
      fibrosis score (NFS); Aspartate-aminotransferase (AST)/platelet ratio (APRI); and
      AST/Alanine-aminotransferase (AAR) as a screening tool in NAFLD patients with
      high risk of liver fibrosis. METHODS: This is a single-center study carried out
      in patients attending the outpatient department for dyspepsia and diagnosed with
      fatty liver on ultrasound. Liver biopsy was advised in diabetics, metabolic
      syndrome, body mass index >30 kg/m2, raised transaminases and hypothyroidism.
      Fibroscan, APRI, AAR and NFS were calculated. Area under the curve (AUROC),
      negative (NPV) and positive predictive values (PPV) were calculated for each
      diagnostic test. RESULTS: Of the 1500 patients screened, 110 with the above
      described risk factors underwent liver biopsy (stage 3/4 fibrosis = 38). Diabetes
      predicted severe fibrosis (stage 3/4). Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and
      AUROC for Fibroscan at value 12 kPa were 0.9, 0.8, 0.70, 0.93 and 0.91
      respectively for predicting stage 3/4 fibrosis. With increase in severity of
      liver fibrosis there was stepwise increase in Fibroscan values (P=0.000038,
      Kruskal-Wallis test). Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for AAR and NFS at
      cutoff of 1.5 and 0.676 were 0.8, 1.0, 1.0 and 0.92 and 0.8, 1.0, 1.0 and 0.92
      respectively. CONCLUSION: Fibroscan, NFS and AAR are simple noninvasive markers
      of fibrosis that can be utilized as screening tools in patients with high risk
      for fibrosis to determine the need for biopsy. The cutoff of Fibroscan for stage
      3/4 fibrosis was 12 kPa.

PMID- 25830784
TI  - Correction: novel biogenic aggregation of moss gemmae on a disappearing African
      glacier.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112510.]. 

PMID- 25830785
TI  - Analysis of acetohydroxyacid synthase1 gene in chickpea conferring resistance to
      imazamox herbicide.
AB  - Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) production in the Canadian prairies is challenging
      due to a lack of effective weed management mainly because of poor competition
      ability of the crop and limited registered herbicide options. Chickpea genotype
      with resistance to imidazolinone (IMI) herbicides has been identified. A point
      mutation in the acetohydroxyacid synthase1 (AHAS1) gene at C581 to T581,
      resulting in an amino acid substitution from Ala194 to Val194 (position 205,
      standardized to arabidopsis), confers the resistance to imazamox in chickpea.
      However, the molecular mechanism leading to the resistance is not fully
      understood. In many plant species, contrasting transcription levels of AHAS gene
      has been implicated in the resistant and susceptible genotypes in response to
      IMI. The objectives of this research were to compare the AHAS gene expression and
      AHAS enzyme activity in resistant and susceptible chickpea cultivars in response
      to imazamox herbicide treatment. Results from RT-qPCR indicated that there is no
      significant change in the transcript levels of AHAS1 between the susceptible and
      the resistant genotypes in response to imazamox treatment. Protein hydrophobic
      cluster analysis, protein-ligand docking analysis, and AHAS enzyme activity assay
      all indicated that the resistance to imazamox in chickpea is due to the
      alteration of interaction of the AHAS1 enzyme with the imazamox herbicide. 

PMID- 25830786
TI  - Closing the health gap in a generation: exploring the association between
      household characteristics and schooling status among orphans and vulnerable
      children in Swaziland.
AB  - Swaziland has one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalences in the world, which has
      contributed to many Swazi children being left as "orphans and vulnerable
      children" (OVC). In 2010, there were 78,000 AIDS orphans in the country and the
      number is expected to increase given the current HIV prevalence. The WHO aims to
      close the gap in a generation and eliminate health inequality; as a result the
      Swazi Government began in 2005 to provide financial support to the education of
      OVC. Prior research has indicated that household characteristics are some of the
      major determinants with respect to schooling status among children. We have
      examined the association between household characteristics and schooling status
      of OVC. Schooling status may vary by gender and by age, as well as by other
      sociodemographic factors, in sub-Saharan African societies, and therefore we have
      also included a comprehensive set of appropriate variables in all of our
      multivariate analyses. Using existing data from the Swaziland Multiple Indicator
      Cluster Survey 2010, a total of 5890 children aged 7-18 years old were analyzed.
      The results from the multivariate logistic regressions showed that non-OVC were
      more likely than OVC to be in school (OR = 2.18, p < 0.001), even after taking
      other variables into considerations. The OVC in socioeconomically disadvantaged
      households, such as those with lower levels of household wealt, and those who
      resided in an urban area, were less likely to be in school. These findings
      suggest that education programs for OVC need to be household-appropriate. 

PMID- 25830787
TI  - Role of sleep disturbances in occupational accidents among women.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This population-based cohort study was performed to assess the
      association between sleep disturbances and the risk of occupational accidents
      among women. METHODS: Data were collected by questionnaires on two different
      occasions (2000 and 2010) and data on work injuries were also collected from
      Swedish government records (ISA). Insomnia symptoms were defined as having severe
      or very severe problems with (i) difficulty initiating sleep, (ii) difficulty
      maintaining sleep, or (iii) early morning awakening. Symptom of obstructive sleep
      apnea syndrome (OSAS) was defined as reporting both snoring and daytime
      sleepiness. Working-age respondents (20-67 years of age) who responded to both
      baseline and follow-up questionnaires and had worked for part or all of the 10
      year follow-up period (N=4320) were included in the study. RESULTS: Of the
      subjects responding to the questionnaire, 12.2% reported >=1 accident and 6.3%
      reported an accident requiring sick leave in the government register. Blue-collar
      workers and night and shift work were more common in the group with occupational
      accidents. Subjects with insomnia symptoms both at baseline and follow-up
      (persistent insomnia symptoms) ran a higher risk of being involved in an self
      reported occupational accident [adjusted OR (OR adj) 1.5, 95% confidence interval
      (95% CI) 1.2-2.0] after adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking, alcohol
      dependency, white- or blue-collar worker, years at work, night work, and physical
      activity. Persistent insomnia symptoms did not reach statistical significance as
      an independent predictor of register-reported occupational accident with sick
      leave (OR adj1.4, 95% CI 0.99-2.1). No significant association was found between
      symptoms of OSAS and self-reported or register-based occupational accidents.
      CONCLUSIONS: Persistent insomnia symptoms were associated with an increased risk
      of self-reported occupational accidents, while no significant association was
      found with occupational accidents with sick leave reported to government
      register.

PMID- 25830788
TI  - The absolute configuration of salicortin, HCH-salicortin and tremulacin from
      Populus trichocarpa * deltoides Beaupre.
AB  - The absolute configuration of salicortin, HCH-salicortin and tremulacin, isolated
      from leaves of Populus trichocarpa * deltoides Beaupre, was determined by
      comparing spectroscopic data of these compounds with those of idescarpin,
      isolated from leaves of Idesia polycarpa. All compounds were characterized by
      nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectrometry, and
      circular dichroism spectroscopy. It was found that the hydroxy cyclohexenonoyl
      (HCH) moiety in all compounds is (S)-configured. In addition, it was shown that
      leaves of Idesia polycarpa contain high amounts of (-)-idescarpin (1.1%, based on
      dry weight). 

PMID- 25830789
TI  - A review of heterogeneous photocatalysis for water and surface disinfection.
AB  - Photo-excitation of certain semiconductors can lead to the production of reactive
      oxygen species that can inactivate microorganisms. The mechanisms involved are
      reviewed, along with two important applications. The first is the use of
      photocatalysis to enhance the solar disinfection of water. It is estimated that
      750 million people do not have accessed to an improved source for drinking and
      many more rely on sources that are not safe. If one can utilize photocatalysis to
      enhance the solar disinfection of water and provide an inexpensive, simple method
      of water disinfection, then it could help reduce the risk of waterborne disease.
      The second application is the use of photocatalytic coatings to combat healthcare
      associated infections. Two challenges are considered, i.e., the use of
      photocatalytic coatings to give "self-disinfecting" surfaces to reduce the risk
      of transmission of infection via environmental surfaces, and the use of
      photocatalytic coatings for the decontamination and disinfection of medical
      devices. In the final section, the development of novel photocatalytic materials
      for use in disinfection applications is reviewed, taking account of materials,
      developed for other photocatalytic applications, but which may be transferable
      for disinfection purposes. 

PMID- 25830790
TI  - New flavonolignan glycosides from the aerial parts of Zizania latifolia.
AB  - Two new flavonolignan glycosides, tricin-4'-O-(threo-beta-guaiacylglyceryl) ether
      7''-O-beta-D-glucopyranose (4) and tricin-4'-O-(erythro-beta-guaiacylglyceryl)
      ether 7''-O-beta-D-glucopyranose (5) were isolated from the roots of Zizania
      latifolia, together with tricin-7-O-beta-D-glucopyranose (1), tricin-4'-O-(threo
      beta-guaiacylglyceryl) ether 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranose (2), and tricin-4'-O
      (erythro-beta-guaiacylglyceryl) ether 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranose (3). Their
      structures were identified on the basis of spectroscopic techniques, including HR
      ESI/MS, 1D-NMR (1H, 13C, DEPT), 2D-NMR (gCOSY, gHSQC, gHMBC), and IR
      spectroscopy. 

PMID- 25830792
TI  - Developing effective leadership competencies in military social workers.
AB  - Military social workers are facing transformative times in that demand for
      military social work has increased and become more complex, challenging, and
      diverse due to the last 13 years of combat experiences. Developing military
      social work leaders must be deliberate, continuous, and progressive in order to
      impact and improve organizational performance in the healthcare delivery system.
      The transformational leadership model has been proven to be effective in both the
      military and social service organizations. The strength of this leadership model
      coincides well with the values of the social work profession. Incorporating
      leadership development in a clinical Master of Social Work program has the
      potential to improve service provision and offer strategies for military social
      workers to effectively manage the ongoing challenges in the field of social work.

PMID- 25830791
TI  - Design, synthesis, and insecticidal activity of some novel diacylhydrazine and
      acylhydrazone derivatives.
AB  - In this study a series of diacylhydrazine and acylhydrazone derivatives were
      designed and synthesized according to the method of active group combination and
      the principles of aromatic group bioisosterism. The structures of the novel
      derivatives were determined on the basis on 1H-NMR, IR and ESI-MS spectral data.
      All of the compounds were evaluated for their in vivo insecticidal activity
      against the third instar larvae of Spodoptera exigua Hiibner, Helicoverpa
      armigera Hubner, Plutella xyllostella Linnaeus and Pieris rapae Linne,
      respectively, at a concentration of 10 mg/L. The results showed that all of the
      derivatives displayed high insecticidal activity. Most of the compounds presented
      higher insecticidal activity against S. exigua than the reference compounds
      tebufenozide, metaflumizone and tolfenpyrad, and approximately identical
      insecticidal activity against H. armigera, P. xyllostella and P. rapae as the
      references metaflumizone and tolfenpyrad. 

PMID- 25830793
TI  - Evolution of the combat and operational stress control detachment.
AB  - Medical units designed to provide combat and operational stress control services
      have evolved since World War II into the current Combat and Operational Stress
      Control (COSC) detachments. Yet the structure of these COSC detachments differ
      greatly between what is authorized in the table of organization and equipment
      (TO&E) and what is doctrinally described in the current field manual guiding
      combat and operational stress control operations. We therefore explore the
      evolution of the COSC detachment, compare the organizations found in current
      doctrine with that currently authorized on the TO&E, and conclude with a proposed
      structure of a modern COSC detachment that is functionally modular with more
      clear chains of command. 

PMID- 25830794
TI  - The psychosocial challenges of conducting counterinsurgency operations.
AB  - Counterinsurgency (COIN) operations have served as the fundamental component of
      the nation's military strategy. Without the established boundaries of
      conventional operations, switching between diplomatic and combative roles can
      expose Soldiers to unique stressors when conducting COIN operations. An
      exploratory study of descriptive data obtained from a retrospective records
      review of 140 service members deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom identified
      and described problems in psychosocial functioning. Behavioral health records for
      the first 7 months of the deployment and throughout the first year of
      redeployment were reviewed. The most common problems reported by Soldiers were
      operational stress characterized by anxiety, fear, irritability, frustration, and
      isolation. Additionally, most of the Soldiers engaged services for psychosocial
      challenges within the first year of returning from deployment. Establishing
      reliable access to behavioral healthcare has emerged as an essential component of
      total force protection in COIN deployments. 

PMID- 25830795
TI  - Sleep and the use of energy products in a combat environment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The use of energy products appears to be widespread among deployed
      personnel, presumably to combat fatigue and sleep deprivation. However, these
      products have been associated with unpleasant side effects and adverse events,
      including insomnia, mood swings, fatigue, cardiac arrest, and even death.
      OBJECTIVE: To quantify the sleep habits and energy products used among deployed
      service members in Afghanistan from 2010-2011. METHODS: Participants completed an
      anonymous survey querying their demographic information, sleep habits, combat
      exposure, and energy product use. RESULTS: Respondent data: 83% experienced some
      degree of insomnia; 28% were using a prescription or over-the-counter sleep aid;
      81% reported using at least one energy product daily. The most frequently
      consumed energy products were caffeinated coffee and soda. Only 4 energy products
      were used more frequently during deployment than prior to deployment: Rip-It,
      Tiger, Hydroxycut, and energy drink powders. On average, respondents who
      increased their use consumed only 2 more servings per week during deployment than
      they had prior to deployment. Only degree of combat exposure, not quantity of
      energy products consumed, predicted degree of insomnia. CONCLUSION: Energy
      product consumption by service members during deployment was not dramatically
      different than predeployment and was not associated with insomnia.

PMID- 25830796
TI  - Telebehavioral health: practical application in deployed and garrison settings.

PMID- 25830797
TI  - Effectiveness of Telebehavioral Health Program Nurse Case Managers (NCM): Data
      Collection Tools and the Process for NCM-Sensitive Outcome Measures.
AB  - As a part of our nation's pursuit of improvements in patient care outcomes,
      continuity of care, and cost containment, the case manager has become a vital
      member on interdisciplinary teams and in health care agencies. Telebehavioral
      health programs, as a relatively new method of delivering behavioral health care,
      have recently begun to incorporate case management into their multidisciplinary
      teams. To determine the efficacy and efficiency of healthcare programs, program
      managers are charged with the determination of the outcomes of the care rendered
      to patient populations. However, programs that use telehealth methods to deliver
      care have unique structures in place that impact ability to collect outcome data.
      A military medical center that serves the Pacific region developed surveys and
      processes to distribute, administer, and collect information about a telehealth
      environment to obtain outcome data for the nurse case manager. This report
      describes the survey development and the processes created to capture nurse case
      manager outcomes. Additionally, the surveys and processes developed in this
      project for measuring outcomes may be useful in other settings and disciplines. 

PMID- 25830798
TI  - Military service member and veteran self reports of efficacy of cranial
      electrotherapy stimulation for anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, insomnia,
      and depression.
AB  - Cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) is being prescribed for service members
      and veterans for the treatment of anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
      insomnia and depression. The purpose of this study was to examine service
      members' and veterans' perceptions of the effectiveness and safety of CES
      treatment. Service members and veterans (N=1,514) who had obtained a CES device
      through the Department of Defense or Veterans Affairs Medical Center from 2006
      2011 were invited to participate in the web based survey via email. One hundred
      fifty-two participants returned questionnaires. Data were analyzed using
      descriptive statistics. Participants reported clinical improvement of 25% or more
      from using CES for anxiety (66.7%), PTSD (62.5%), insomnia (65.3%) and depression
      (53.9%). The majority of these participants reported clinical improvement of 50%
      or more. Respondents also perceived CES to be safe (99.0%). Those individuals who
      were not taking any prescription medication rated CES more effective than the
      combined CES and prescription medication group. CES provides service members and
      veterans with a safe, noninvasive, nondrug, easy to use treatment for anxiety,
      PTSD, insomnia, and depression that can be used in the clinical setting or self
      directed at home. 

PMID- 25830799
TI  - Raising the clinical standard of care for suicidal soldiers: an army process
      improvement initiative.
AB  - From 2004 to 2008, the suicide rate among US Army Soldiers increased 80%,
      reaching a record high in 2008 and surpassing the civilian rate for the first
      time in recorded history. In recent years, the rate of Army suicides rose again;
      the year 2012 reflects the highest rate of military suicides on record. There is
      a need to assess current behavioral health practices to identify both effective
      and ineffective practices, and to adapt services to meet the needs of the Army
      behavioral health patient population. This paper discusses a process improvement
      initiative developed in an effort to improve clinical processes for suicide risk
      mitigation in an Army behavioral health clinic located in the catchment area of
      the US Army Southern Regional Medical Command. 

PMID- 25830800
TI  - Mild traumatic brain injury in the military: improving the referral/consultation
      process.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Clinical practice inconsistencies in the identification and referral
      of patients suspected of mild traumatic brain injury have been identified within
      primary care clinics in a major military medical center. OBJECTIVE: To determine
      if the use of an overprinted communication tool would improve the
      referral/consultation process between identified clinics in one Army medical
      center. DESIGN: The consultation/referral process was evaluated following an
      educational presentation regarding the use of a situation, background,
      assessment, and recommendation (SBAR) communication form. Data were collected
      from consultation charts before and after two months of use of the SBAR
      communication form. RESULTS: The communication tool improved capture of dates of
      injury, prior treatment, history of testing, patient education, and request for
      therapy. CONCLUSION: Findings from this project demonstrated that a communication
      tool such as the TBI-SBAR would be beneficial for use in primary care clinics.

PMID- 25830801
TI  - Directorate of treatment programs: providing behavioral health services at the US
      Disciplinary Barracks.

PMID- 25830802
TI  - The effects of military deployment on early child development.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this observational, point prevalence study is to
      determine if parental deployment affects the cognitive, social and emotional
      development of preschool age children in the military family. METHODS:
      Demographic information was collected and an age-appropriate Ages and Stages
      Questionnaire (ASQ-3) and Ages and Stages Social-Emotional Inventory (ASQ:SE)
      were administered. The primary outcome measure was the failure rates on the
      developmental instruments. RESULTS: We identified 151 parents of eligible
      children; 95 children had a parent that deployed during their lifetime. We found
      a significant difference in ASQ-3 failure rates for children in the deployed
      group compared to those in the nondeployed group. Children of deployed parents
      were at least twice as often to fail the ASQ-3 or ASQ:SE developmental screen
      compared to children whose parents did not deploy. 30.5% of children in the
      deployed group failed the ASQ-3 screen while 12.5% of children who did not have a
      deployed parent failed (P=.009). On the ASQ:SE developmental screen, 16.8% of
      children who had a parent deploy failed versus 5.4% of children who did not have
      a parent deploy (P=.031). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that parental
      deployment is related to adverse risk for developmental delays in children in
      military families. The psychological burden on military children could be life
      long or require significant resources to address. These adverse outcomes could be
      possibly mitigated by early detection of developmental delay and firm attention
      to aggressive screening techniques in military communities.

PMID- 25830803
TI  - The effect of deployment, distress, and perceived social support on Army spouses'
      weight status.
AB  - This study examined the relationship between deployment status, psychological
      distress, perceived social support, age, rank, and gender with Army spouses'
      (N=1863) weight status. We posited that spouses of deployed Soldiers have a
      higher body mass index (BMI) than spouses of nondeployed Soldiers; spouses with
      higher psychological distress scores have a higher BMI than those with lower
      distress scores; and spouses with low social support scores have higher BMIs than
      those with higher social support scores. METHOD: Secondary analysis of data from
      the 2008 Active Duty Spouse Survey was used to examine the relationship between
      weight status (health versus overweight or obese) and Army spouses' deployment
      status, demographic characteristics, psychological distress, and perceived social
      support. RESULTS: Deployment status and weight status were not related (P=.097).
      Male spouses were significantly more likely than female spouses to be overweight
      or obese. Psychological distress increased in direct correlation with increased
      age, and as perceived social support decreased, the incidents of being overweight
      or obese increased. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest several risk factors are
      associated with being overweight or obese: male spouse, noncommissioned officers
      in the ranks of E5 through E9, older age, higher psychological distress scores,
      and lower perceived social support scores. The risk factors support the use of
      the Army Surgeon General's Performance Triad of sleep, activity, and nutrition as
      a tool to assist Army personnel and Department of the Army civilians in teaching
      spouses awareness and methods of changing behaviors that may result in choosing
      healthy options.

PMID- 25830804
TI  - Applying the Korem Profiling System to domestic violence.
AB  - Soldiers involved in domestic violence are a focus of concern for the US Army.
      The Family Advocacy Program is designed to prevent and intervene to mitigate
      future violence. Some of the Family Advocacy Program assessment tools are limited
      in their ability to identify contributing factors of situational couple violence.
      This article proposes incorporating the Korem Profiling System, a rapid
      assessment tool, to help identify underlying causes of situational couple
      violence and provide appropriate interventions to prevent future incidents. 

PMID- 25830805
TI  - Understanding the student veterans' college experience: an exploratory study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Students with active duty military experience are a unique and growing
      population on college campuses in the United States. This study explores student
      veterans' perceptions of their transition to and experience in higher education.
      METHOD: This mixed methods study used a sample of 10 active military and reserve
      component student veterans to explore their perceptions of their personal
      strengths, challenges, factors impacting participation in university resource
      programs, and suggestions for ideal resources to support their academic success.
      RESULTS: Content analysis yielded primary themes such as the strength of self
      discipline, the challenge of social interactions, and the desire for programs
      that connect student-veterans and assist with social integration. CONCLUSION:
      Implications for education, retention, and transition from active duty are
      discussed.

PMID- 25830806
TI  - Mental health outreach and screening among returning veterans: are we asking the
      right questions?
AB  - This study looked at predictors of mental health treatment utilization in a
      unique cohort of recently separated Veterans coming to the Department of Veterans
      Affairs (VA) (N=152). This convenience sample voluntarily completed
      questionnaires, which included mental health screening tools, during an outreach
      event at a large urban VA Medical Center. Researchers reviewed computerized
      medical records of these consenting participants to record VA treatment
      utilization. There is a statistically significant association between
      posttraumatic stress disorder screening results, functional impairment, and
      treatment-seeking. Certain functional impairments increase the odds of
      participation in VA mental health care. These include problems with school and/or
      work (odds ratio (OR)=2.8), physical fights (OR=2.8), physical health problems
      (OR=3.0), financial difficulties (OR=3.0), irritability/anger (OR=3.4), isolation
      (OR=3.8), drug use (OR=5.7), and problems with social support (OR=7.0). This
      study concluded that asking about symptoms alone may not capture the breadth and
      nature of Veterans' postdeployment difficulties. 

PMID- 25830807
TI  - Analyzing large gene expression and methylation data profiles using StatBicRM:
      statistical biclustering-based rule mining.
AB  - Microarray and beadchip are two most efficient techniques for measuring gene
      expression and methylation data in bioinformatics. Biclustering deals with the
      simultaneous clustering of genes and samples. In this article, we propose a
      computational rule mining framework, StatBicRM (i.e., statistical biclustering
      based rule mining) to identify special type of rules and potential biomarkers
      using integrated approaches of statistical and binary inclusion-maximal
      biclustering techniques from the biological datasets. At first, a novel
      statistical strategy has been utilized to eliminate the insignificant/low
      significant/redundant genes in such way that significance level must satisfy the
      data distribution property (viz., either normal distribution or non-normal
      distribution). The data is then discretized and post-discretized, consecutively.
      Thereafter, the biclustering technique is applied to identify maximal frequent
      closed homogeneous itemsets. Corresponding special type of rules are then
      extracted from the selected itemsets. Our proposed rule mining method performs
      better than the other rule mining algorithms as it generates maximal frequent
      closed homogeneous itemsets instead of frequent itemsets. Thus, it saves elapsed
      time, and can work on big dataset. Pathway and Gene Ontology analyses are
      conducted on the genes of the evolved rules using David database. Frequency
      analysis of the genes appearing in the evolved rules is performed to determine
      potential biomarkers. Furthermore, we also classify the data to know how much the
      evolved rules are able to describe accurately the remaining test (unknown) data.
      Subsequently, we also compare the average classification accuracy, and other
      related factors with other rule-based classifiers. Statistical significance tests
      are also performed for verifying the statistical relevance of the comparative
      results. Here, each of the other rule mining methods or rule-based classifiers is
      also starting with the same post-discretized data-matrix. Finally, we have also
      included the integrated analysis of gene expression and methylation for
      determining epigenetic effect (viz., effect of methylation) on gene expression
      level. 

PMID- 25830808
TI  - A hybrid biomechanical intensity based deformable image registration of lung
      4DCT.
AB  - Deformable image registration (DIR) has been extensively studied over the past
      two decades due to its essential role in many image-guided interventions (IGI).
      IGI demands a highly accurate registration that maintains its accuracy across the
      entire region of interest. This work evaluates the improvement in accuracy and
      consistency by refining the results of Morfeus, a biomechanical model-based DIR
      algorithm. A hybrid DIR algorithm is proposed based on, a biomechanical model
      based DIR algorithm and a refinement step based on a B-spline intensity-based
      algorithm. Inhale and exhale reconstructions of four-dimensional computed
      tomography (4DCT) lung images from 31 patients were initially registered using
      the biomechanical DIR by modeling contact surface between the lungs and the chest
      cavity. The resulting deformations were then refined using the intensity-based
      algorithm to reduce any residual uncertainties. Important parameters in the
      intensity-based algorithm, including grid spacing, number of pyramids, and
      regularization coefficient, were optimized on 10 randomly-chosen patients (out of
      31). Target registration error (TRE) was calculated by measuring the Euclidean
      distance of common anatomical points on both images after registration. For each
      patient a minimum of 30 points/lung were used. Grid spacing of 8 mm, 5 levels of
      grid pyramids, and regularization coefficient of 3.0 were found to provide
      optimal results on 10 randomly chosen patients. Overall the entire patient
      population (n = 31), the hybrid method resulted in mean +/- SD (90th%) TRE of 1.5
      +/- 1.4 (2.9) mm compared to 3.1 +/- 1.9 (5.6) using biomechanical DIR and 2.6 +/
      2.5 (6.1) using intensity-based DIR alone. The proposed hybrid biomechanical
      modeling intensity based algorithm is a promising DIR technique which could be
      used in various IGI procedures. The current investigation shows the efficacy of
      this approach for the registration of 4DCT images of the lungs with average
      accuracy of 1.5 mm.

PMID- 25830809
TI  - Use of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Adolescents With Treatment-Resistant
      Depressive Disorders: A Case Series.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study presents a comprehensive case series of adolescents who
      received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for treatment-resistant depression.
      METHODS: Conducting a chart review, we identified 13 adolescents who had ECT for
      treatment of depression over a 5-year interval (2008-2013) at a Canadian tertiary
      care psychiatric hospital. Details about participants' clinical profile, index
      course of ECT, outcome, side effects, and comorbidities were extracted and
      analyzed. RESULTS: Thirteen adolescents aged 15 to 18 years, received a mean of
      14 (SD, 4.5) ECT sessions per patient. Based on the Beck Depression Inventory-II
      at baseline and after treatment with ECT, a reliable improvement was observed in
      10 patients, with 3 achieving full recovery. Through mixed effects linear
      modeling, we found a decrease of 0.96 points (95% CI, -1.31 to -0.67, P < 0.001)
      on the Beck Depression Inventory-II total score for every ECT treatment received.
      The Montreal Cognitive Assessment was used for monitoring of cognitive function
      throughout the treatment. Adverse effects included transient subjective cognitive
      impairment (n = 11), headache (n = 10), muscular pain (n = 9), prolonged seizure
      (n = 3), and nausea and/or vomiting (n = 3). CONCLUSIONS: A clinically
      significant improvement was observed for 10 (77%) adolescents receiving ECT for
      treatment-resistant depression. These observations suggest that ECT is a
      potential treatment option for refractory depression in selected adolescents.
      More data are needed to draw conclusions about efficacy and possible predictors
      of treatment response.

PMID- 25830810
TI  - Apps seeking theories: results of a study on the use of health behavior change
      theories in cancer survivorship mobile apps.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Thousands of mobile health apps are now available for use on mobile
      phones for a variety of uses and conditions, including cancer survivorship. Many
      of these apps appear to deliver health behavior interventions but may fail to
      consider design considerations based in human computer interface and health
      behavior change theories. OBJECTIVE: This study is designed to assess the
      presence of and manner in which health behavior change and health communication
      theories are applied in mobile phone cancer survivorship apps. METHODS: The
      research team selected a set of criteria-based health apps for mobile phones and
      assessed each app using qualitative coding methods to assess the application of
      health behavior change and communication theories. Each app was assessed using a
      coding derived from the taxonomy of 26 health behavior change techniques by
      Abraham and Michie with a few important changes based on the characteristics of
      mHealth apps that are specific to information processing and human computer
      interaction such as control theory and feedback systems. RESULTS: A total of 68
      mobile phone apps and games built on the iOS and Android platforms were coded,
      with 65 being unique. Using a Cohen's kappa analysis statistic, the inter-rater
      reliability for the iOS apps was 86.1 (P<.001) and for the Android apps, 77.4
      (P<.001). For the most part, the scores for inclusion of theory-based health
      behavior change characteristics in the iOS platform cancer survivorship apps were
      consistently higher than those of the Android platform apps. For personalization
      and tailoring, 67% of the iOS apps (24/36) had these elements as compared to 38%
      of the Android apps (12/32). In the area of prompting for intention formation,
      67% of the iOS apps (34/36) indicated these elements as compared to 16% (5/32) of
      the Android apps. CONCLUSIONS: Mobile apps are rapidly emerging as a way to
      deliver health behavior change interventions that can be tailored or personalized
      for individuals. As these apps and games continue to evolve and include
      interactive and adaptive sensors and other forms of dynamic feedback, their
      content and interventional elements need to be grounded in human computer
      interface design and health behavior and communication theory and practice.

PMID- 25830811
TI  - Risk of Suicide Following Deliberate Self-poisoning.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, and
      its rate has risen by 16% in the past decade. Deliberate self-poisoning is the
      leading method of attempted suicide. Unlike more violent methods, which are
      almost universally fatal, survival following self-poisoning is common, providing
      an opportunity for secondary prevention. However, the long-term risk of suicide
      following a first episode of self-poisoning is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine
      the risk of suicide and mortality from other causes following a first self
      poisoning episode. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Population-based cohort
      study using multiple linked health care databases. We identified all individuals
      with a first self-poisoning episode in Ontario, Canada, from April 1, 2002,
      through December 31, 2010, and followed up all surviving participants until
      December 31, 2011, or death, whichever occurred first. For each individual with a
      deliberate self-poisoning episode, we randomly selected 1 control from the same
      population with no such history, matched for age (within 3 months), sex, and
      calendar year. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary analysis examined the risk
      of suicide following discharge after self-poisoning. The secondary analyses
      explored factors associated with suicide and examined the risk of death caused by
      accidents or any other cause. RESULTS: We identified 65 784 patients (18 482
      [28.1%] younger than 20 years) who were discharged after a first self-poisoning
      episode. During a median follow-up of 5.3 years (interquartile range, 3.1-7.6
      years), 4176 died, including 976 (23.4%) by suicide. The risk of suicide
      following self-poisoning was markedly increased relative to controls (hazard
      ratio, 41.96; 95% CI, 27.75-63.44), corresponding to a suicide rate of 278 vs 7
      per 100 000 person-years, respectively. The median time from hospital discharge
      to completed suicide was 585 days (interquartile range, 147-1301 days). Older
      age, male sex, multiple intervening self-poisoning episodes, higher socioeconomic
      status, depression, and recent psychiatric care were strongly associated with
      suicide. Patients with a self-poisoning episode were also more likely to die
      because of accidents (hazard ratio, 10.45; 95% CI, 8.10-13.47) and all causes
      combined (hazard ratio, 5.55; 95% CI, 5.12-6.02). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: A
      first self-poisoning episode is a strong predictor of subsequent suicide and
      premature death. Most suicides occur long after the index poisoning, emphasizing
      the importance of longitudinal, sustained secondary prevention initiatives.

PMID- 25830812
TI  - Labor pain relief for parturients: We can do better: Retraction.
AB  - [This retracts the article on p. 1 in vol. 9, PMID: 25558189.]

PMID- 25830813
TI  - Effect of cigarette design on biomarkers of exposure, puffing topography and
      respiratory parameters.
AB  - Despite the lack of evidence, many reports exist which have implied that smokers
      inhale low-yield cigarette smoke more deeply than that of high-yield cigarettes.
      The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of short-term switching
      between smoker's own brand and test cigarettes with different smoke yields on
      puffing topography, respiratory parameters and biomarkers of exposure.
      Participants were randomly assigned to smoke either a Test Cigarette-High Tar
      (TCH), for two days, and then switched to a Test Cigarette-Low Tar (TCL), for two
      days or the reverse order (n = 10 each sequence). Puffing topography (CReSS
      microdevice), respiratory parameters (inductive plethysmography) and biomarkers
      of exposure (BOE, urinary nicotine equivalents - NE and blood carboxyhemoglobin -
      COHb) were measured at baseline and on days 2 and 4. The average puffs per
      cigarette, puff volume and puff durations were statistically significantly lower,
      and inter-puff interval was significantly longer for the TCH compared to the TCL
      groups. Respiratory parameters were not statistically significantly different
      between the TCH and TCL groups. Post-baseline NE and COHb were statistically
      significantly lower in the TCL compared to the TCH groups. Under the conditions
      of this study, we found no indication of changes in respiratory parameters,
      particularly inhalation time and volume, between study participants smoking lower
      versus higher yield cigarettes. Likewise, the BOE provides no indication of
      deeper inhalation when smoking low- versus high-yield cigarettes. These findings
      are consistent with the published literature indicating smoking low-yield
      cigarettes does not increase the depth of inhalation.

PMID- 25830815
TI  - Factors Affecting Surgical Site Infection Rates in Hepatobiliary Surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There are several studies regarding risk factors affecting surgical
      site infections (SSIs); nevertheless, there are an insufficient number of studies
      focusing on risk factors for SSI in hepatobiliary (HPB) surgery. In this study,
      we aimed to determine risk factors related to HPB surgery. METHODS: A total of
      1,418 patients were included in this study, all of whom underwent hepatobiliary
      system surgery in a five-year period between January 2005 and December 2009.
      Demographic data, patient- and surgery-related risk factors, and laboratory
      parameters were analyzed retrospectively from a database maintained
      prospectively. RESULTS: The overall incidence of SSI was 3.94% for HPB surgery.
      In multivariable analysis, blood transfusion (OR: 20.9), the presence of surgical
      drains (OR: 10.7), a pre-operative hospital stay of more than eight days (OR:
      8.1), diabetes mellitus (OR: 6.2), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR:
      6.127), inappropriate antimicrobial prophylaxis (OR: 6), obesity (OR: 3.2), the
      presence of an external-internal biliary drainage catheter (OR: 2), and a direct
      bilirubin concentrations more than 15 mg/dL (OR: 1.4) were determined as
      independent risk factors related to SSI. E.coli and Enterococcus spp. were the
      pathogens isolated most commonly in SSIs. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the independent
      risk factors for hepatobiliary system surgery are similar to those for other
      general abdominal surgical procedures. The presence of an external-internal
      biliary drainage catheter and direct bilirubin concentrations higher than 15
      mg/dL were found to be specific risk factors for HPB surgery.

PMID- 25830814
TI  - Propofol causes vasodilation in vivo via TRPA1 ion channels: role of nitric oxide
      and BKCa channels.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels of the A1 (TRPA1) and
      V1 (TRPV1) subtypes are key regulators of vasomotor tone. Propofol is an
      intravenous anesthetic known to cause vasorelaxation. Our objectives were to
      examine the extent to which TRPA1 and/or TRPV1 ion channels mediate propofol
      induced depressor responses in vivo and to delineate the signaling pathway(s)
      involved. METHODS: Mice were subjected to surgery under 1.5-2.5% sevoflurane gas
      with supplemental oxygen. After a stable baseline in mean arterial pressure (MAP)
      was achieved propofol (2.5, 5.0, 10.0 mg/kg/min) was administered to assess the
      hemodynamic actions of the intravenous anesthetic. The effect of nitric oxide
      synthase (NOS) inhibition with L-NAME and/or calcium-gated K+ channel (BKCa)
      inhibition with Penetrim A (Pen A), alone and in combination, on propofol-induced
      decreases in mean arterial pressure were assessed in control C57Bl/6J, TRPA1-/-,
      TRPV1-/- and double-knockout mice (TRPAV-/-). RESULTS: Propofol decreased MAP in
      control mice and this effect was markedly attenuated in TRPA1-/- and TRPAV-/-
      mice but unaffected in TRPV1-/-mice. Moreover, pretreatment with L-NAME or Pen A
      attenuated the decrease in MAP in control and TRPV1-/- mice, and combined
      inhibition abolished the depressor response. In contrast, the markedly attenuated
      propofol-induced depressor response observed in TRPA1-/- and TRPAV-/- mice was
      unaffected by pre-treatment with Pen A or L-NAME when used either alone or in
      combination. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate for the first time that propofol
      induced depressor responses in vivo are predominantly mediated by TRPA1 ion
      channels with no involvement of TRPV1 ion channels and includes activation of
      both NOS and BKCa channels.

PMID- 25830816
TI  - Theoretical Characterization of the Flavin-Based Fluorescent Protein iLOV and its
      Q489K Mutant.
AB  - The iLOV protein is one of the most promising members of the family of engineered
      flavin-based fluorescent proteins (FbFPs), considered as an alternative to the
      green fluorescent protein family. We modeled the spectral properties of iLOV
      using quantum chemistry, quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM), and
      molecular dynamics approaches. Computational results predict that the conserved
      Gln489 side chain in iLOV adopts two almost equally populated conformations,
      Glnin and Glnout, altering hydrogen bonding near the flavin chromophore.
      Formation of the flavinN5-Gln489 and flavinO4-Gln489 hydrogen bonds in the case
      of Glnin accounts for the pronounced shifts of the flavin absorption and
      fluorescence maxima to the longer wavelengths. Following these results, we
      propose to introduce a point mutation in iLOV, Q489K, with the aim to obtain a
      more red-shifted variant. According to our simulations, this mutation should lead
      to a considerable, about 50 nm, red shift of the absorption and emission band
      maxima, thus introducing a new color in the FbFP palette. 

PMID- 25830817
TI  - Electronic properties of electrical vortices in ferroelectric nanocomposites from
      large-scale ab initio computations.
AB  - An original ab initio procedure is developed and applied to a ferroelectric
      nanocomposite, in order to reveal the effect of electrical vortices on electronic
      properties. Such procedure involves the combination of two large-scale numerical
      schemes, namely, the effective Hamiltonian (to incorporate ionic degrees of
      freedom) and the linear-scaling three-dimensional fragment method (to treat
      electronic degrees of freedom). The use of such procedure sheds some light into
      the origin of the recently observed current that is activated at rather low
      voltages in systems possessing electrical vortices. It also reveals a novel
      electronic phenomena that is a systematic control of the type of the band
      alignment (i.e., type I versus type II) within the same material via the
      temperature-driven annihilation/formation of electrical topological defects. 

PMID- 25830818
TI  - Epidemiology of irritable bowel syndrome.

PMID- 25830819
TI  - Teamwork skills in actual, in situ, and in-center pediatric emergencies:
      performance levels across settings and perceptions of comparative educational
      impact.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Pediatric emergencies require effective teamwork. These skills are
      developed and demonstrated in actual emergencies and in simulated environments,
      including simulation centers (in center) and the real care environment (in situ).
      Our aims were to compare teamwork performance across these settings and to
      identify perceived educational strengths and weaknesses between simulated
      settings. We hypothesized that teamwork performance in actual emergencies and in
      situ simulations would be higher than for in-center simulations. METHODS: A
      retrospective, video-based assessment of teamwork was performed in an academic,
      pediatric level 1 trauma center, using the Team Emergency Assessment Measure
      (TEAM) tool (range, 0-44) among emergency department providers (physicians,
      nurses, respiratory therapists, paramedics, patient care assistants, and
      pharmacists). A survey-based, cross-sectional assessment was conducted to
      determine provider perceptions regarding simulation training. RESULTS: One
      hundred thirty-two videos, 44 from each setting, were reviewed. Mean total TEAM
      scores were similar and high in all settings (31.2 actual, 31.1 in situ, and 32.3
      in-center, P = 0.39). Of 236 providers, 154 (65%) responded to the survey. For
      teamwork training, in situ simulation was considered more realistic (59% vs. 10%)
      and more effective (45% vs. 15%) than in-center simulation. DISCUSSION: In a
      video-based study in an academic pediatric institution, ratings of teamwork were
      relatively high among actual resuscitations and 2 simulation settings,
      substantiating the influence of simulation-based training on instilling a culture
      of communication and teamwork. On the basis of survey results, providers favored
      the in situ setting for teamwork training and suggested an expansion of our
      existing in situ program.

PMID- 25830820
TI  - Simulated patients' perspectives of and perceived role in medical students'
      professional identity development.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Much has been written about medical students' professional identity
      formation, the process of "becoming" a doctor. During their training, medical
      students interact with a range of teachers and trainers. Among these are
      simulated patients (SPs) who role-play patients, assisting students with their
      communication, procedural, and physical examination skills. With SPs regularly
      interacting with students, this qualitative study explored their views of
      students' emerging professional identities at one Australian medical school. SPs'
      contributions to developing professional identities were also explored. METHODS:
      Fourteen SPs were interviewed individually or in pairs. After template analysis
      of the transcripts using a priori themes, a follow-up focus group (n = 7) was
      arranged. FINDINGS: Although being older (implying maturity and more life
      experience) and exposure to real patients and previous health care experience
      were identified as contributing to developing an identity as a doctor, SPs
      recognized that for some, an existing professional identity might impede the
      development of a new identity. Simulated patients were of the opinion that they
      contributed to students' professional identities by creating a supportive
      environment for honing skills, which they did by realistically role-playing
      patient scripts, by making their bodies available, and by providing feedback as
      "patients." CONCLUSIONS: Through their authentic portrayal of patients and
      through their feedback, we are of the opinion that our SPs can contribute to
      students' developing identities as doctors. As lay individuals who often
      encounter students longitudinally, we believe that SPs offer a particular lens
      through which to view students' emerging identities as future doctors.

PMID- 25830821
TI  - Suffering to change.

PMID- 25830822
TI  - Quality and Safety Aspects of Cereals (Wheat) and Their Products.
AB  - Cereals and, most specifically, wheat are described in this chapter highlighting
      on their safety and quality aspects. Moreover, wheat quality aspects are
      adequately addressed since they are used to characterize dough properties and
      baking quality. Determination of dough properties is also mentioned and pasta
      quality is also described in this chapter. Chemometrics-multivariate analysis is
      one of the analyses carried out. Regarding production weighing/mixing of flours,
      kneading, extruded wheat flours, and sodium chloride are important processing
      steps/raw materials used in the manufacturing of pastry products. Staling of
      cereal-based products is also taken into account. Finally, safety aspects of
      cereal-based products are well documented with special emphasis on mycotoxins,
      acrylamide, and near infrared methodology.

PMID- 25830823
TI  - Accurate and inexpensive prediction of the color optical properties of
      anthocyanins in solution.
AB  - The simulation of the color optical properties of molecular dyes in liquid
      solution requires the calculation of time evolution of the solute absorption
      spectra fluctuating in the solvent at finite temperature. Time-averaged spectra
      can be directly evaluated by combining ab initio Car-Parrinello molecular
      dynamics and time-dependent density functional theory calculations. The inclusion
      of hybrid exchange-correlation functionals, necessary for the prediction of the
      correct transition frequencies, prevents one from using these techniques for the
      simulation of the optical properties of large realistic systems. Here we present
      an alternative approach for the prediction of the color of natural dyes in
      solution with a low computational cost. We applied this approach to
      representative anthocyanin dyes: the excellent agreement between the simulated
      and the experimental colors makes this method a straightforward and inexpensive
      tool for the high-throughput prediction of colors of molecules in liquid
      solvents. 

PMID- 25830825
TI  - Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with hormone replacement therapy.
AB  - Many peri- and postmenopausal women suffer from a reduced quality of life due to
      menopausal symptoms and preventable diseases. The importance of cardiovascular
      disease in women must be emphasized, as it is the leading cause of mortality and
      morbidity in women. It is well known that female hormones contribute to the later
      onset of cardiovascular disease in women. The effect of estrogens has for decades
      been understood from observational studies of postmenopausal women treated with
      hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Later, treatment with HRT was disregarded due
      to the fear of side-effects and an ambiguity of the cardiovascular advantages.
      Accumulating knowledge from the large number of trials and studies has elucidated
      the cause for the disparity in results. In this paper, the beneficial effects of
      HRT, with emphasis on cardiovascular disease are explained, and the relative and
      absolute risks of side-effects are discussed. 

PMID- 25830824
TI  - Patients' perspectives of accessibility and digital delivery of factual content
      provided by official medical and surgical specialty society websites: a
      qualitative assessment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Health care websites provide a valuable resource of health
      information to online consumers, especially patients. Official surgical and
      medical society websites should be a reliable first point of contact. OBJECTIVE:
      The primary aim of this study was to quantitatively assess medical and surgical
      society websites for content and highlight the essential features required for a
      high-quality, user-friendly society website. METHODS: Twenty specialty
      association websites from each of the regions, Australia, UK, Canada, Europe, and
      the USA were selected for a total of 100 websites. Medical and surgical
      specialities were consistent across each region. Each website was systematically
      and critically analysed for content and usability. RESULTS: The average points
      scored per website was 3.2 out of 10. Of the total (N=100) websites, 12 scored at
      least 7 out of 10 points and 2 scored 9 out of 10. As well, 35% (35.0/100) of the
      websites had an information tab for patients on their respective homepages while
      38% (38.0/100) had download access to patient information. A minority of the
      websites included different forms of multimedia such as pictures and diagrams
      (24.0/100, 24%) and videos (18.0/100, 18%). CONCLUSIONS: We found that most
      society websites did not meet an adequate standard for delivery of information.
      Half of the websites were not patient accessible, with the primary focus being
      for health professionals. As well, most required logins for information access.
      Specialty health care societies should create patient-friendly websites that
      would be beneficial to all online consumers.

PMID- 25830827
TI  - Introduction to the 57th annual Thomas L. Petty Aspen Lung Conference: Rebuilding
      the injured lung.

PMID- 25830826
TI  - Bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate binds pro-inflammatory bacterial compounds
      and prevents immune activation in an intestinal co-culture model.
AB  - Intestinal barrier dysfunction is associated with chronic gastrointestinal tract
      inflammation and diseases such as IBD and IBS. Serum-derived bovine
      immunoglobulin/protein isolate (SBI) is a specially formulated protein
      preparation (>90%) for oral administration. The composition of SBI is greater
      than 60% immunoglobulin including contributions from IgG, IgA, and IgM.
      Immunoglobulin within the lumen of the gut has been recognized to have anti
      inflammatory properties and is involved in maintaining gut homeostasis. The
      binding of common intestinal antigens (LPS and Lipid A) and the ligand Pam3CSK4,
      by IgG, IgA, and IgM in SBI was shown using a modified ELISA technique. Each of
      these antigens stimulated IL-8 and TNF-alpha cytokine production by THP-1
      monocytes. Immune exclusion occurred as SBI (<=50 mg/mL) bound free antigen in a
      dose dependent manner that inhibited cytokine production by THP-1 monocytes in
      response to 10 ng/mL LPS or 200 ng/mL Lipid A. Conversely, Pam3CSK4 stimulation
      of THP-1 monocytes was unaffected by SBI/antigen binding. A co-culture model of
      the intestinal epithelium consisted of a C2BBe1 monolayer separating an apical
      compartment from a basal compartment containing THP-1 monocytes. The C2BBe1
      monolayer was permeabilized with dimethyl palmitoyl ammonio propanesulfonate
      (PPS) to simulate a damaged epithelial barrier. Results indicate that Pam3CSK4
      was able to translocate across the PPS-damaged C2BBe1 monolayer. However, binding
      of Pam3CSK4 by immunoglobulins in SBI prevented Pam3CSK4 translocation across the
      damaged C2BBe1 barrier. These results demonstrated steric exclusion of antigen by
      SBI which prevented apical to basal translocation of antigen due to changes in
      the physical properties of Pam3CSK4, most likely as a result of immunoglobulin
      binding. This study demonstrates that immunoglobulins in SBI can reduce antigen
      associated inflammation through immune and steric exclusion mechanisms and
      furthers the mechanistic understanding of how SBI might improve immune status and
      reduce inflammation in various intestinal disease states. 

PMID- 25830829
TI  - Epithelial-mesenchymal interactions in fibrosis and repair. Transforming growth
      factor-beta activation by epithelial cells and fibroblasts.
AB  - Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) plays a central role in driving tissue
      fibrosis. TGF-beta is secreted in a latent form, held latent by noncovalent
      association of the active cytokine with a peptide derived from cleavage of the N
      terminal domain of the same gene product, and needs to be activated
      extracellularly to exert any of its diverse biological effects. We have shown
      that two of the three mammalian isoforms of TGF-beta, TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta3,
      depend on interactions with cell surface integrins for activation. We found that
      the integrin alphavbeta6 is highly induced on injured alveolar epithelial cells,
      potently induces TGF-beta activation, and is critical for the development of
      pulmonary fibrosis and acute lung injury. However, although TGF-beta drives
      fibrosis in virtually every anatomic site, alphavbeta6-mediated TGF-beta
      activation is much more restricted. For example, alphavbeta6 is not induced on
      injured hepatocytes and plays little or no role in cirrhosis induced by
      repetitive hepatocyte injury. Fibroblasts are highly contractile cells that
      express multiple integrins closely related to alphavbeta6, which share the
      promiscuous alphav subunit, so we reasoned that perhaps one or more of these
      alphav integrins on fibroblasts might substitute for alphavbeta6 and activate the
      TGF-beta required to drive liver fibrosis. Indeed, deletion of the alphav subunit
      from activated fibroblasts protected mice from carbon tetrachloride-induced liver
      fibrosis. Importantly, these same mice were protected from bleomycin-induced
      pulmonary fibrosis and renal fibrosis caused by unilateral ureteral obstruction,
      despite the presence of epithelial alphavbeta6 in these mice. These results
      suggest that the generation and maintenance of sufficient quantities of active
      TGF-beta to cause tissue fibrosis in multiple organs probably depends on at least
      two sources-TGF-beta activation by injured epithelial cells that drives
      fibroblast expansion and activation and an amplification step that involves TGF
      beta activation by an alphav integrin on activated fibroblasts. These results
      suggest that intervening at either of these steps could be useful for the
      treatment of fibrotic diseases. 

PMID- 25830828
TI  - Mechanisms of alveolar epithelial injury, repair, and fibrosis.
AB  - The challenge facing many fibrotic lung diseases is that these conditions usually
      present late, often after several decades of repetitive alveolar epithelial
      injury, during which functional alveolar units are gradually obliterated and
      replaced with nonfunctional connective tissue. The resulting fibrosis is often
      progressive and, in the case of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), invariably
      leads to respiratory insufficiency and, ultimately, the premature death of
      affected individuals. Recent years have seen a greater appreciation of the
      relative importance of chronic inflammation as a driver of fibrotic responses.
      Current evidence suggests that IPF arises as a result of repetitive epithelial
      injury and a highly aberrant wound healing response in genetically susceptible
      and aged individuals. Nonspecific anti-inflammatory agents offer no clinical
      benefit, but the potential contribution of maladaptive immune responses in
      determining outcome is gaining increasing recognition. The importance of key
      differences in the tissue-regenerative potential in young versus aged individuals
      is also beginning to be more fully appreciated. Moreover, there is considerable
      overlap in the mechanisms underlying tissue repair and cancer, and patients with
      IPF are at heightened risk of developing lung cancer. Progressive fibrosis and
      cancer may therefore represent the extremes of a highly dysregulated tissue
      injury response. This brief review focuses on some of this evidence and on our
      current understanding of abnormal tissue repair responses after chronic
      epithelial injury in the specific context of IPF. 

PMID- 25830831
TI  - Mechanisms and clinical consequences of acute lung injury.
AB  - Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was first described in 1967, and since
      then there have been a large number of studies addressing its pathogenesis and
      therapies. Despite intense research efforts, very few therapies for ARDS have
      been shown to be effective other than the use of lung protection strategies. The
      scarcity of therapeutic choices is related to the intricate pathogenesis of the
      syndrome and to insensitive and aspecific criteria to diagnose this profound
      acute respiratory failure. The aim of this paper is to summarize advances of new
      ARDS definitions and provide an overview of new relevant signaling pathways that
      mediate acute lung injury. 

PMID- 25830830
TI  - Matrix, mesenchyme, and mechanotransduction.
AB  - The extracellular matrix (ECM) of the lung serves as both a scaffold for resident
      cells and a mechanical support for respiratory function. The ECM is deposited
      during development and undergoes continuous turnover and maintenance during organ
      growth and homeostasis. Cells of the mesenchyme, including the tissue resident
      fibroblast, take a leading role in depositing and organizing the matrix and do so
      in an anatomically distinct fashion, with differing composition, organization,
      and mechanical properties within the airways, vessels, and alveoli of the lung.
      Recent technological advancements have allowed the lung's ECM biochemical
      composition and mechanical properties to be studied with improved resolution,
      thereby identifying novel disease-related changes in ECM characteristics. In
      parallel, efforts to study cells seeded on normal and disease-derived matrices
      have illustrated the powerful role the ECM can play in altering key functions of
      lung resident cells. The mechanical properties of the matrix have been identified
      as an important modifier of cell-matrix adhesions, with matrices of pathologic
      stiffness promoting profibrotic signaling and cell function. Ongoing work is
      identifying both mechanically activated pathways in mesenchymal cells and disease
      related ECM molecules that biochemically regulate cell function. Uncovering the
      control systems by which cells respond to and regulate the matrix, and the
      failures in these systems that underlie aberrant repair, remains a major
      challenge. Progress in this area will be an essential element in efforts to
      engineer functional lung tissue for regenerative approaches and will be key to
      identifying new therapeutic strategies for lung diseases characterized by
      disturbed matrix architecture. 

PMID- 25830832
TI  - Lung extracellular matrix and fibroblast function.
AB  - Extracellular matrix (ECM) is a tissue-specific macromolecular structure that
      provides physical support to tissues and is essential for normal organ function.
      In the lung, ECM plays an active role in shaping cell behavior both in health and
      disease by virtue of the contextual clues it imparts to cells. Qualities
      including dimensionality, molecular composition, and intrinsic stiffness all
      promote normal function of the lung ECM. Alterations in composition and/or
      modulation of stiffness of the focally injured or diseased lung ECM
      microenvironment plays a part in reparative processes performed by fibroblasts.
      Under conditions of remodeling or in disease states, inhomogeneous stiffening (or
      softening) of the pathologic ECM may both precede modifications in cell behavior
      and be a result of disease progression. The ability of ECM to stimulate further
      ECM production by fibroblasts and drive disease progression has potentially
      significant implications for mesenchymal stromal cell-based therapies; in the
      setting of pathologic ECM stiffness or composition, the therapeutic intent of
      progenitor cells may be subverted. Taken together, current data suggest that lung
      ECM actively contributes to health and disease; thus, mediators of cell-ECM
      signaling or factors that influence ECM stiffness may represent viable
      therapeutic targets in many lung disorders. 

PMID- 25830833
TI  - Characteristic patterns in the fibrotic lung. Comparing idiopathic pulmonary
      fibrosis with chronic lung allograft dysfunction.
AB  - Tissue fibrosis, a major cause of death worldwide, leads to significant organ
      dysfunction in any organ of the human body. In the lung, fibrosis critically
      impairs gas exchange, tissue oxygenation, and immune function. Idiopathic
      pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is the most detrimental and lethal fibrotic disease of
      the lung, with an estimated median survival of 50% after 3-5 years. Lung
      transplantation currently remains the only therapeutic alternative for IPF and
      other end-stage pulmonary disorders. Posttransplant lung function, however, is
      compromised by short- and long-term complications, most importantly chronic lung
      allograft dysfunction (CLAD). CLAD affects up to 50% of all transplanted lungs
      after 5 years, and is characterized by small airway obstruction with pronounced
      epithelial injury, aberrant wound healing, and subepithelial and interstitial
      fibrosis. Intriguingly, the mechanisms leading to the fibrotic processes in the
      engrafted lung exhibit striking similarities to those in IPF; therefore,
      antifibrotic therapies may contribute to increased graft function and survival in
      CLAD. In this review, we focus on these common fibrosis-related mechanisms in IPF
      and CLAD, comparing and contrasting clinical phenotypes, the mechanisms of
      fibrogenesis, and biomarkers to monitor, predict, or prognosticate disease
      status. 

PMID- 25830834
TI  - A human breathing lung-on-a-chip.
AB  - Here we describe a microphysiological system that replicates the functional unit
      of the living human lung. This human "breathing lung-on-a-chip" microdevice
      provides unique capabilities to reconstitute three-dimensional microarchitecture,
      dynamic mechanical activity, and integrated physiological function of the
      alveolar-capillary interface. We demonstrate the potential of this
      microengineered biomimetic model for screening environmental particulates and
      modeling complex human disease processes. 

PMID- 25830835
TI  - Using nature's platform to engineer bio-artificial lungs.
AB  - Native lung extracellular matrix can be isolated from cadaveric organs via
      perfusion decellularization and provides a novel scaffold material for lung
      engineering. Based on this platform, several proof-of-principle studies have
      demonstrated the feasibility of whole organ recellularization and culture in
      rodent models and have helped us better understand the numerous challenges in up
      scaling to clinically relevant tissues. Standardized protocols to generate whole
      lung scaffolds of porcine and human scale have been reported, but our
      understanding of the remaining extracellular matrix components and their
      properties is incomplete. Effective recellularization will require the isolation
      and in vitro expansion of clinically relevant cell sources, either from primary
      or stem cell-derived populations, and techniques to effectively deliver these
      populations throughout the lung scaffold. Ultimately, only tightly controlled
      recapitulation of tissue development and repair in vitro will enable us to mature
      lung grafts to function before implantation. Although substantial progress has
      been made, we are only beginning to grasp the complexity of this exciting new
      technology. 

PMID- 25830836
TI  - Embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells for lung regeneration.
AB  - The discovery of embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (ESCs and iPSCs)
      has ushered in an exciting new era of regenerative medicine. Human pluripotent
      stem cells can be "directed" in vitro toward lung epithelium by applying specific
      stepwise combinations of growth factors that recapitulate the molecular
      mechanisms of respiratory development in animal models. In a relatively short
      time, there has been significant progress in deriving lung epithelium from
      ESCs/iPSCs. These directed differentiation protocols include high concentrations
      of activin A to induce definitive endoderm followed by dual inhibition of bone
      morphogenic protein and TGF-beta signaling pathways to produce anterior foregut
      endoderm. Subsequent stimulation of Wnt, bone morphogenic protein, and fibroblast
      growth factor signaling leads to lung epithelial lineage specification,
      identified by the expression of Nkx2.1. These cells subsequently express other
      markers of the developing lung and a variety of lung epithelial subtypes. The
      major limitation in the field currently is deriving and characterizing mature,
      functional lung epithelium. The generation of iPSCs is now well established, and
      researchers have generated iPSCs from patients with acquired and inherited lung
      diseases. This platform offers unparalleled opportunities to model lung
      development and disease using human cells. 

PMID- 25830837
TI  - Therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stromal cells for acute respiratory distress
      syndrome.
AB  - Based on preclinical data, cell-based therapy with bone marrow-derived
      mesenchymal stem (stromal) cells (MSCs) is a potentially attractive new
      therapeutic option for treating patients with the acute respiratory distress
      syndrome. Small and large animal models of acute lung injury from endotoxin, live
      bacteria, and sepsis have shown that MSCs can decrease lung injury and increase
      survival. The mechanisms for benefit are mediated in part by paracrine release of
      several antiinflammatory cytokines, keratinocyte growth factor, angiopoietin-1,
      as well as the release of antimicrobial peptides. There is also evidence that
      MSCs can transfer mitochondria and restore normal bioenergetics to injured
      alveolar epithelium. Some of the beneficial effects are mediated by
      microvesicles. A phase 1 safety and dose-escalation trial was completed and a
      randomized, double-blind clinical trial is currently underway. 

PMID- 25830838
TI  - Confronting the frustrations of negative clinical trials in acute respiratory
      distress syndrome.
AB  - Despite robust successes in trials of mechanical ventilation, pharmacologic
      interventions in acute respiratory distress syndrome have been disappointing.
      Although ineffective therapy remains the compelling explanation for these
      negative trials, other possible explanations exist. These negative trials, better
      termed "statistically negative trials" or "indeterminate trials," cannot prove
      that a therapy is ineffective. It is important for clinicians and investigators
      to appreciate the alternative explanations for negative trials of potentially
      effective therapies because these indicate options for improving clinical trials
      in acute respiratory distress syndrome. These options can be organized into
      strategies that increase sample size, increase the signal from the therapy, and
      reduce the noise or variation in the study. Each of the strategies to improve the
      likelihood of a positive clinical trial poses a potential tradeoff in
      generalizability, cost, sample size, signal, or noise. 

PMID- 25830839
TI  - Rebuilding the injured lung.
AB  - The 57th annual Thomas L. Petty Aspen Lung Conference, entitled "Rebuilding the
      Injured Lung," was held from June 4 to 7, 2014 at the Gant Conference Center in
      Aspen, Colorado. Investigators from a wide range of disciplines and perspectives
      convened to discuss the biology of lung injury, how the lung repairs itself, how
      and why repair fails, and how the repair process can be enhanced. Among the
      challenges identified in the course of the conference was how to develop more
      predictive experimental models that capture the multidimensional complexity of
      lung injury and repair in a tractable manner. From such approaches that
      successfully fuse the biological and physical sciences, the group envisioned that
      new therapies for acute and chronic lung injury would emerge. The discussion of
      experimental therapeutics ranged from pharmaceuticals and cells that interdict
      fibrosis and enhance repair to a de novo lung derived from stem cells
      repopulating a decellularized matrix. 

PMID- 25830857
TI  - Acute effects of continuous positive airway pressure on pulse pressure in CHF.

PMID- 25830855
TI  - Conceptual approaches to lung injury and repair.
AB  - Lung injury and repair is a broad topic that includes many cell types and is
      relevant to the pathogenesis of most lung diseases. Here, we focus on injury and
      repair of the alveolus, the principal function of which is to achieve gas
      exchange. The many cell types and structures present in the alveolus are
      discussed, with emphasis on their interactions in both health and disease. We
      define injury as damage resulting in impaired gas exchange; physiologic repair,
      then, requires restoration of normal alveolar architecture and function. The role
      of inflammation in both injury and repair of structural alveolar cells,
      particularly epithelial cells, as well as mechanisms of resolution of
      inflammation will be addressed. Finally, emphasis is placed on the importance of
      addressing quantitatively the dynamic and complex multidirectional interactions
      between the many alveolar cell types and structures in three dimensions over time
      and in relating such mechanistic studies to physiologic outcomes and human
      disease. 

PMID- 25830858
TI  - Case 2/2015 a 33-year-old woman with double right ventricular chamber and
      ventricular septal defect.

PMID- 25830859
TI  - Giant left atrial thrombus with double coronary vascularization.

PMID- 25830860
TI  - Mitral valve aneurysm secondary to probable infective endocarditis.

PMID- 25830861
TI  - Body dissatisfaction and mirror exposure: evidence for a dissociation between
      self-report and physiological responses in highly body-dissatisfied women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Weight and shape concerns are widespread in the general population.
      Mirror exposure has been used to reduce body dissatisfaction but little is known
      about the mechanisms which underlie this therapeutic technique. The present study
      examined emotional, cognitive, and psychophysiological responses, in women with
      high and low levels of body dissatisfaction, exposed to their own bodies in a
      mirror. METHOD: Forty-two university-attending women (21 high body-dissatisfied
      (HBD) and 21 low body-dissatisfied (LBD)), were confronted with their own body
      during four 5-min trials in which participants were instructed to focus their
      attention on different parts of their body under standardized conditions.
      Emotional and cognitive measures were taken after each exposure trial. Heart rate
      (HR) and skin conductance (SC) were recorded continuously. RESULTS: HBD women
      experienced more negative emotions and cognitions following body exposure
      compared to LBD women but, conversely, showed a reduced physiological reaction in
      terms of HR and SC. In both groups greater physiological responses were observed
      looking at the thighs, buttocks, and abdomen. Extent of negative emotions and
      cognitions were positively associated with HR and/or SC in LBD women but no
      associations were observed in HBD women. CONCLUSION: The dissociation between
      self-report and psychophysiological measures in HBD women supports the existence
      of a passive-behavioral inhibited coping style in HBD women and suggests
      deficiencies in the generation of physiological correlates of emotion related to
      body dissatisfaction.

PMID- 25830862
TI  - Meta-analysis of microRNA-146a rs2910164 G>C polymorphism association with
      autoimmune diseases susceptibility, an update based on 24 studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Published data showed that the susceptibility of autoimmune diseases
      (ADs) was associated with the polymorphism rs2910164 in microRNA-146a (miR-146a).
      However, the results remain controversial so far. Two meta-analyses published in
      2013 and 2014 came to opposite conclusions. In order to derive a more precise
      estimation of the relationship, we performed this meta-analysis. METHODS: We
      searched the PubMed, OvidSP and CNKI databases (published prior to September 8th,
      2014) and extracted data from eligible studies. The procedure of meta-analysis
      was performed by using the Stata 12.0 software. Random effect model or fixed
      effect model were chosen respectively, according to the between study
      heterogeneities. RESULTS: A total of 24 case-control studies, 11 more than
      previous meta-analysis on this topic, were involved. We took stratified analyses
      by different ethnicities and different types of diseases in different genetic
      models. In Caucasian subgroup, significant increased risks of GC genotype and
      GC+CC genotype with ADs susceptibility were found in heterozygote model (GC vs
      GG, OR = 1.38, 95% CI 1.04-1.83, p = 0.024) and dominant model (GC+CC vs GG, OR =
      1.37, 95% CI 1.01-1.85, p = 0.041), respectively. Meanwhile, in other disease
      subgroup, significant increased risks of C allele, CC genotype and GC+CC genotype
      were found in allele model (C vs G, OR = 1.16, 95% CI 1.04-1.31, p = 0.010),
      homozygote model (CC vs GG, OR = 1.42, 95% CI 1.10-1.84, p = 0.006) and dominant
      model (GC+CC vs GG, OR = 1.25, 95% CI 1.04-1.51, p = 0.020), respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: MiR-146a rs2910164 G>C polymorphism was associated with the
      susceptibility of ADs.

PMID- 25830863
TI  - PDH45 overexpressing transgenic tobacco and rice plants provide salinity stress
      tolerance via less sodium accumulation.
AB  - Salinity stress negatively affects the crop productivity worldwide, including
      that of rice. Coping with these losses is a major concern for all countries. The
      pea DNA helicase, PDH45 is a unique member of helicase family involved in the
      salinity stress tolerance. However, the exact mechanism of the PDH45 in salinity
      stress tolerance is yet to be established. Therefore, the present study was
      conducted to investigate the mechanism of PDH45-mediated salinity stress
      tolerance in transgenic tobacco and rice lines along with wild type (WT) plants
      using CoroNa Green dye based sodium localization in root and shoot sections. The
      results showed that under salinity stress root and shoot of PDH45 overexpressing
      transgenic tobacco and rice accumulated less sodium (Na(+)) as compared to their
      respective WT. The present study also reports salinity tolerant (FL478) and
      salinity susceptible (Pusa-44) varieties of rice accumulated lowest and highest
      Na(+) level, respectively. All the varieties and transgenic lines of rice
      accumulate differential Na(+) ions in root and shoot. However, roots accumulate
      high Na(+) as compared to the shoots in both tobacco and rice transgenic lines
      suggesting that the Na(+) transport in shoot is somehow inhibited. It is proposed
      that the PDH45 is probably involved in the deposition of apoplastic hydrophobic
      barriers and consequently inhibit Na(+) transport to shoot and therefore confers
      salinity stress tolerance to PDH45 overexpressing transgenic lines. This study
      concludes that tobacco (dicot) and rice (monocot) transgenic plants probably
      share common salinity tolerance mechanism mediated by PDH45 gene. 

PMID- 25830864
TI  - Single Molecule Investigation of Glycine-Chlorite Interaction by Cross-Correlated
      Scanning Probe Microscopy and Quantum Mechanics Simulations.
AB  - In this work, we studied the interaction of glycine with the (001) surface of
      chlorite mineral at a single molecule level by cross-correlating scanning probe
      microscopy (SPM) and ab initio quantum mechanics (QM) investigations. Chlorite
      mineral is particularly interesting and peculiar for the interaction with organic
      molecules because it presents an alternated stacking of brucite-like
      (hydrophobic) and talc-like (hydrophilic) layers of different polarities. Brucite
      like is positive, whereas talc-like is negative. The experimental atomic force
      microscopy (AFM) observations show that glycine is stably and selectively
      adsorbed on the brucite-like layer, organized in monolayers with different
      patterns. The sizes of single molecules of glycine measured by AFM are in
      agreement with those calculated by QM. Glycine molecules were found to align both
      at the edges and on the terraces of the brucitic surface. QM simulations
      confirmed the AFM observations that glycine molecule is adsorbed with high
      adsorption energy preferentially with its plane parallel to the (001) brucite
      like surface. QM also provided the geometry conformation of the molecule and the
      bonding scheme between glycine and brucite surface. This kind of data can be very
      helpful both to biotechnological applications of this substrate and to depict
      some important processes that might have been occurred in prebiotic environments.

PMID- 25830865
TI  - Tissue distribution and residue depletion of metronidazole in rainbow trout
      (Oncorhynchus mykiss).
AB  - Tissue distribution and residue depletion of metronidazole (MNZ) was studied in
      rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) following oral administration of MNZ in feed
      at the average dose of 25 mg kg(-1) body weight day(-1) for 7 days at 11 +/- 2
      degrees C. The MNZ concentration in feed was 0.25% while daily feed intake was 1%
      of body weight. The concentrations of MNZ and its main metabolite,
      hydroxymetronidazole (MNZOH), in fish tissues were determined by LC-MS/MS. The
      drug was well distributed in tissues with maximum concentrations on day 1 post
      administration. At this time, the mean MNZ concentrations in muscle, skin,
      kidney, liver and gill were 14,999, 20,269, 15,070, 10,102 and 16,467 ug kg(-1)
      respectively. MNZ was converted into MNZOH with the ratio of MNZOH:MNZ up to 7%
      in all fish tissues throughout the withdrawal period. This shows that MNZ itself
      is the main residue in rainbow trout. MNZ was detected at the level close to the
      decision limit (0.20 ug kg(-1)) in muscle, skin and muscle with adhering skin up
      to 42 days, while in kidney, liver and gill it was up to 28 days post
      administration. MNZOH was eliminated more rapidly from fish tissues and it was
      present in muscle alone up to 21 days. The elimination half-lives of MNZ and
      MNZOH in rainbow trout tissues were 1.83-2.53 and 1.24-2.12 days, respectively.
      When muscle without skin was analysed, higher MNZ and MNZOH concentrations were
      detected, and for a longer period of time, than in muscle with adhering skin.
      Thus muscle alone could be more appropriate for the effective residue control of
      MNZ in rainbow trout. For the same reason, it is also essential to ensure direct
      cooling immediately after sampling, since MNZ and its metabolite degrade in fish
      muscle and skin stored in non-freezing conditions.

PMID- 25830866
TI  - Remifentanil-acute opioid tolerance and opioid-induced hyperalgesia: a systematic
      review.
AB  - The use of opioids may seem to be a double-edged sword; they provide straight
      analgesic and antihyperalgesic effects initially, but subsequently are associated
      with the expression of acute opioid tolerance (AOT) and opioid-induced
      hyperalgesia (OIH) that have been reported in experimental studies and clinical
      observations. It has been suggested that opioids can induce an acute tolerance
      and hyperalgesia in dose- and/or time-dependent manners even when used within the
      clinically accepted doses. Recently, remifentanil has been used for pain
      management in clinical anesthesia and in the intensive care units because of its
      rapid onset and offset. We reviewed articles analyzing AOT and/or OIH by
      remifentanil and focused on the following issues: (1) evidence of remifentanil
      inducing AOT and/or OIH and (2) importance of AOT and/or OIH in considering the
      reduction of remifentanil dosage or adopting preventive modulations. Twenty-four
      experimental and clinical studies were identified using electronic searches of
      MEDLINE (PubMed, Ovid, Springer, and Elsevier). However, the development of AOT
      and OIH by remifentanil administration remains controversial. There is no
      sufficient evidence to support or refute the existence of OIH in humans.

PMID- 25830868
TI  - Successful Treatment of Life-Threatening Interstitial Lung Disease Secondary to
      Antisynthetase Syndrome Using Rituximab: A Case Report and Review of the
      Literature.
AB  - We are presenting a case of antisynthetase syndrome (ASS) that manifested with
      severe interstitial pneumonitis in the presence of anti-Jo-1 and Ro (SSA)
      antibodies. Our patient developed respiratory failure with high oxygen
      requirements despite treatment by high-dose steroids. The patient was then
      treated with rituximab. This treatment led to significant improvement in the
      patient condition, with resolution of the ground glass opacities on high
      resolution computerized tomography and near normalization of pulmonary function
      tests. In this communication, we performed a literature review and summarized
      previous reports pertinent to using of rituximab to treat interstitial lung
      disease (ILD) secondary to ASS by searching the PubMed database from 1980 to
      2014. We were able to find 14 reports that included total of 45 patients with ILD
      secondary to ASS. A significant improvement in ILD was reported in the majority
      of reported patients who received rituximab, while there was only 1 mortality
      related to Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia. Rituximab treatment was tolerated
      well in the majority of cases. It is our conclusion that rituximab can be
      considered a therapeutic option in ILD secondary to ASS based on our experience
      with this case and the currently available evidence in the literature.
      Nevertheless, there is a need for additional controlled studies to assess the
      efficacy and safety of rituximab in ILD secondary to ASS compared with other
      immunosuppressive regimens. 

PMID- 25830867
TI  - Case Study: Ticagrelor in PLATO and Prasugrel in TRITON-TIMI 38 and TRILOGY-ACS
      Trials in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes.
AB  - Cross-trial comparisons are typically inappropriate as there are often numerous
      differences in study designs, populations, end points, and loading doses of the
      study drugs. These differences are clearly reflected in the most recent updates
      to the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) non-ST elevation acute coronary
      syndrome (NSTE-ACS) and ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) guidelines,
      which include recommendations for the use of the antiplatelet agents ticagrelor,
      prasugrel, and clopidogrel, based in part on results from the TRial to assess
      Improvement in Therapeutic Outcomes by optimizing platelet inhibitioN with
      prasugrel-Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TRITON-TIMI) 38, TaRgeted
      platelet Inhibition to cLarify the Optimal strateGy to medicallY manage Acute
      Coronary Syndromes (TRILOGY-ACS) and PLATelet inhibition and patient Outcomes
      (PLATO) trials. Here, we describe each of these trials in detail and explain the
      differences between them that make direct comparisons difficult. In conclusion,
      this information, along with the current guidelines and recommendations, will
      assist clinicians in deciding the most appropriate treatment pathway for their
      patients with NSTE-ACS and STEMI.

PMID- 25830869
TI  - Clinical Predictors Associated With Warfarin Sensitivity.
AB  - Our study aimed to identify predictors of warfarin sensitivity like demographic,
      clinical, and genetic data from a previously collected cohort of patients (n =
      4272) with a stable warfarin dose who were able to achieve an observed
      international normalized ratio of 2-3. Predictors of warfarin sensitivity (dose
      <=21 mg/wk) were identified using a 2-stage approach. First, bivariate analysis,
      using analysis of variance for continuous variables and chi test for categorical
      variables, was performed to identify possible predictors of warfarin sensitivity
      (P < 0.05). Second, logistic regression with backward stepwise selection was then
      performed using predictors identified in bivariate analysis step to produce final
      model containing independent predictors at P < 0.05. Increased warfarin
      sensitivity was associated with increased age; CYP2C9 genotypes 2/3, 1/3, and
      3/3; VKORC1 genotypes AA and AG; and amiodarone use. Decreased warfarin
      sensitivity (ie, weekly warfarin dose of >21 mg) was associated with increased
      height, increased weight, having diabetes mellitus, VKORC1 genotype GG, and
      CYP2C9 genotype 1/1. In conclusion, we identified patients' characteristics
      associated with warfarin sensitivity. This project is expected to improve patient
      care by identifying patients who need a low warfarin dose before warfarin
      administration. Early identification of this subset of patients helps minimize
      the incidence of bleeding.

PMID- 25830870
TI  - Decision-making on childhood vaccination by highly educated parents.
AB  - OBJECTIVE To analyze the sociocultural aspects involved in the decision-making
      process of vaccination in upper-class and highly educated families. METHODS A
      qualitative approach based on in-depth interviews with 15 couples from the city
      of Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, falling into three categories: vaccinators,
      late or selective vaccinators, and nonvaccinators. The interpretation of produced
      empirical material was performed through content analysis. RESULTS The study
      showed diverse and particular aspects surrounding the three groups' decisions
      whether to vaccinate their children. The vaccinators' decision to vaccinate their
      children was spontaneous and raised no questions. Most late or selective
      vaccinators experienced a wide range of situations that were instrumental in the
      decision to delay or not apply certain vaccines. The nonvaccinator's decision
      making process expressed a broader context of both criticism of hegemonic
      obstetric practices in Brazil and access to information transmitted via social
      networks and the internet. The data showed that the problematization of vaccines
      (culminating in the decision to not vaccinate their children) occurred in the
      context of humanized birth, was protagonized by women and was greatly influenced
      by health information from the internet. CONCLUSIONS Sociocultural aspects of the
      singular Brazilian context and the contemporary society were involved in the
      decision-making on children's vaccination. Understanding this process can provide
      a real basis for a deeper reflection on health and immunization practices in
      Brazil in light of the new contexts and challenges of the world today. 

PMID- 25830871
TI  - Weather parameters and nosocomial bloodstream infection: a case-referent study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE To evaluate if temperature and humidity influenced the etiology of
      bloodstream infections in a hospital from 2005 to 2010. METHODS The study had a
      case-referent design. Individual cases of bloodstream infections caused by
      specific groups or pathogens were compared with several references. In the first
      analysis, average temperature and humidity values for the seven days preceding
      collection of blood cultures were compared with an overall "seven-days moving
      average" for the study period. The second analysis included only patients with
      bloodstream infections. Several logistic regression models were used to compare
      different pathogens and groups with respect to the immediate weather parameters,
      adjusting for demographics, time, and unit of admission. RESULTS Higher
      temperatures and humidity were related to the recovery of bacteria as a whole
      (versus fungi) and of gram-negative bacilli. In the multivariable models,
      temperature was positively associated with the recovery of gram-negative bacilli
      (OR = 1.14; 95%CI 1.10;1.19) or Acinetobacter baumannii (OR = 1.26; 95%CI
      1.16;1.37), even after adjustment for demographic and admission data. An inverse
      association was identified for humidity. CONCLUSIONS The study documented the
      impact of temperature and humidity on the incidence and etiology of bloodstream
      infections. The results correspond with those from ecological studies, indicating
      a higher incidence of gram-negative bacilli during warm seasons. These findings
      should guide policies directed at preventing and controlling healthcare
      associated infections. 

PMID- 25830872
TI  - Treatment of depression in older adults beyond fluoxetine.
AB  - This review aimed to discuss the importance of the comprehensive treatment of
      depression among older adults in Brazil. The abuse of selective serotonin
      reuptake inhibitors, including fluoxetine hydrochloride, as antidepressants has
      been considered a serious public health problem, particularly among older adults.
      Despite the consensus on the need for a comprehensive treatment of depression in
      this population, Brazil is still unprepared. The interface between
      pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy is limited due to the lack of healthcare
      services, specialized professionals, and effective healthcare planning.
      Fluoxetine has been used among older adults as an all-purpose drug for the
      treatment of depressive disorders because of psychosocial adversities, lack of
      social support, and limited access to adequate healthcare services for the
      treatment of this disorder. Preparing health professionals is a sine qua non for
      the reversal of the age pyramid, but this is not happening yet. 

PMID- 25830873
TI  - Targeted Exome Sequencing of Deafness Genes After Failure of Auditory Phenotype
      Driven Candidate Gene Screening.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the efficacy and advantages of targeted exome
      sequencing (TES) of known deafness genes in cases with failed or misleading
      auditory phenotype-driven candidate gene screening. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective
      cohort survey. SETTING: Otolaryngology department of a tertiary referral
      hospital. PATIENTS: Six hearing-impaired probands with seemingly non-syndromic
      features from six deaf families were enrolled in this study after failure of
      genetic diagnosis using auditory phenotype-driven candidate gene screening.
      INTERVENTION: TES of known deafness genes was performed in the six probands, and
      a final causative variant was pursued using subsequent filtering steps. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASURE: Potential causative variants determined using TES were confirmed
      by previously introduced filtering steps. RESULTS: We detected causative variants
      in three (50%) of six families, and these variants were in the COCH, PAX3, and
      GJB2 genes. Additionally, we also recapitulated the recent finding from other
      report arguing for the non-pathogenic potential of MYO1A variant. CONCLUSIONS:
      TES of a deafness panel provides a comprehensive genetic screening tool that can
      be implemented without being misled by the audiogram configuration information
      and can complement incomplete clinical physical examinations. In addition, the
      secondary incidental finding obtained by TES contributes useful information
      regarding the deafness field.

PMID- 25830874
TI  - Dexamethasone Regulates Cochlear Expression of Deafness-associated Proteins
      Myelin Protein Zero and Heat Shock Protein 70, as Revealed by iTRAQ Proteomics.
AB  - AIM: Using proteomics, we aimed to identify the proteins differentially regulated
      by dexamethasone in the mouse cochlea based on mass-spectrometry data.
      BACKGROUND: Glucocorticoid therapy is widely used for many forms of sensorineural
      hearing loss; however, the molecular mechanism of its action in the cochlea
      remains poorly understood. METHODS: Dexamethasone or control saline was
      intratympanically applied to the cochleae of mice. Twelve hours after
      application, proteins differentially regulated by dexamethasone in the cochlea
      were analyzed by isobaric Tag for Relative and Absolute Quantitation (iTRAQ)-mass
      spectrometry. Next, dexamethasone-dependent regulation of these proteins was
      verified in the cochleae of mice with noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and
      systemic administration of dexamethasone by western blotting. Immunolocalizations
      of these proteins were examined in cochleae with NIHL. RESULTS: A total of 247
      proteins with a greater than 95% confidence interval of protein identification
      were found, and 11 differentially expressed proteins by dexamethasone were
      identified by the iTRAQ-mass spectrometry. One protein, myelin protein zero
      (Mpz), was upregulated (1.870 +/- 0.201-fold change, p < 0.01) at 6 hours post
      systemic dexamethasone and noise exposure in a mouse model of NIHL. Heat shock
      protein 70 (Hsp70) was downregulated (0.511 +/- 0.274-fold change, p < 0.05) at
      12 hours post-systemic dexamethasone. Immunohistochemistry confirmed Mpz
      localization to the efferent and afferent processes of the spiral neurons,
      whereas Hsp70 showed a more ubiquitous expression pattern in the cochlea.
      CONCLUSION: Both Mpz and Hsp70 have been reported to be closely associated with
      sensorineural hearing loss in humans. Dexamethasone significantly modulated the
      expression levels of these proteins in the cochleae of mice.

PMID- 25830875
TI  - Head-shaking and Vibration-induced Nystagmus During and Between the Attacks of
      Unilateral Meniere's Disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To aid in defining each phase of Meniere's disease (MD) and underlying
      vestibular pathophysiology by analyzing the evolving patterns of spontaneous,
      head-shaking (HSN), and vibration-induced nystagmus (VIN) during and between the
      attacks of MD. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case series review. METHODS: We
      analyzed the patterns of HSN and VIN during 123 attacks from 87 patients who had
      definite unilateral MD and underwent recording of eye movements both during and
      between the attacks using video-oculography. RESULTS: HSN tended to beat toward
      the lesion side during the irritative phase (80.0%) and toward the healthy side
      during the paretic phase (82.9%). In contrast, VIN was more commonly induced
      during the irritative phase (63.7%) and more likely beat toward the healthy side
      irrespective of the phases evaluated (84.3%). Directional dissociation may occur
      between HSN and VIN, especially during the irritative phase when HSN mostly beat
      to the lesion side, but VIN is toward the healthy side. CONCLUSION: The
      characteristic patterns of HSN and VIN during each phase of MD would aid in
      defining the acute phases of MD and understanding the underlying vestibular
      pathophysiology.

PMID- 25830876
TI  - The maternal-age-associated risk of congenital heart disease is modifiable.
AB  - Maternal age is a risk factor for congenital heart disease even in the absence of
      any chromosomal abnormality in the newborn. Whether the basis of this risk
      resides with the mother or oocyte is unknown. The impact of maternal age on
      congenital heart disease can be modelled in mouse pups that harbour a mutation of
      the cardiac transcription factor gene Nkx2-5 (ref. 8). Here, reciprocal ovarian
      transplants between young and old mothers establish a maternal basis for the age
      associated risk in mice. A high-fat diet does not accelerate the effect of
      maternal ageing, so hyperglycaemia and obesity do not simply explain the
      mechanism. The age-associated risk varies with the mother's strain background,
      making it a quantitative genetic trait. Most remarkably, voluntary exercise,
      whether begun by mothers at a young age or later in life, can mitigate the risk
      when they are older. Thus, even when the offspring carry a causal mutation, an
      intervention aimed at the mother can meaningfully reduce their risk of congenital
      heart disease. 

PMID- 25830884
TI  - New cosmogenic burial ages for Sterkfontein Member 2 Australopithecus and Member
      5 Oldowan.
AB  - The cave infills at Sterkfontein contain one of the richest assemblages of
      Australopithecus fossils in the world, including the nearly complete skeleton StW
      573 ('Little Foot') in its lower section, as well as early stone tools in higher
      sections. However, the chronology of the site remains controversial owing to the
      complex history of cave infilling. Much of the existing chronology based on
      uranium-lead dating and palaeomagnetic stratigraphy has recently been called into
      question by the recognition that dated flowstones fill cavities formed within
      previously cemented breccias and therefore do not form a stratigraphic sequence.
      Earlier dating with cosmogenic nuclides suffered a high degree of uncertainty and
      has been questioned on grounds of sediment reworking. Here we use isochron burial
      dating with cosmogenic aluminium-26 and beryllium-10 to show that the breccia
      containing StW 573 did not undergo significant reworking, and that it was
      deposited 3.67 +/- 0.16 million years ago, far earlier than the 2.2 million year
      flowstones found within it. The skeleton is thus coeval with early
      Australopithecus afarensis in eastern Africa. We also date the earliest stone
      tools at Sterkfontein to 2.18 +/- 0.21 million years ago, placing them in the
      Oldowan at a time similar to that found elsewhere in South Africa at Swartkans
      and Wonderwerk. 

PMID- 25830885
TI  - Corrigendum: Deterministic direct reprogramming of somatic cells to pluripotency.

PMID- 25830878
TI  - Early reprogramming regulators identified by prospective isolation and mass
      cytometry.
AB  - In the context of most induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell reprogramming methods,
      heterogeneous populations of non-productive and staggered productive
      intermediates arise at different reprogramming time points. Despite recent
      reports claiming substantially increased reprogramming efficiencies using
      genetically modified donor cells, prospectively isolating distinct reprogramming
      intermediates remains an important goal to decipher reprogramming mechanisms.
      Previous attempts to identify surface markers of intermediate cell populations
      were based on the assumption that, during reprogramming, cells progressively lose
      donor cell identity and gradually acquire iPS cell properties. Here we report
      that iPS cell and epithelial markers, such as SSEA1 and EpCAM, respectively, are
      not predictive of reprogramming during early phases. Instead, in a systematic
      functional surface marker screen, we find that early reprogramming-prone cells
      express a unique set of surface markers, including CD73, CD49d and CD200, that
      are absent in both fibroblasts and iPS cells. Single-cell mass cytometry and
      prospective isolation show that these distinct intermediates are transient and
      bridge the gap between donor cell silencing and pluripotency marker acquisition
      during the early, presumably stochastic, reprogramming phase. Expression
      profiling reveals early upregulation of the transcriptional regulators Nr0b1 and
      Etv5 in this reprogramming state, preceding activation of key pluripotency
      regulators such as Rex1 (also known as Zfp42), Dppa2, Nanog and Sox2. Both
      factors are required for the generation of the early intermediate state and fully
      reprogrammed iPS cells, and thus represent some of the earliest known regulators
      of iPS cell induction. Our study deconvolutes the first steps in a hierarchical
      series of events that lead to pluripotency acquisition. 

PMID- 25830887
TI  - Materials science: Unique wrinkles as identity tags.

PMID- 25830886
TI  - Cardiology: Race for healthy hearts.

PMID- 25830880
TI  - The evolutionary history of lethal metastatic prostate cancer.
AB  - Cancers emerge from an ongoing Darwinian evolutionary process, often leading to
      multiple competing subclones within a single primary tumour. This evolutionary
      process culminates in the formation of metastases, which is the cause of 90% of
      cancer-related deaths. However, despite its clinical importance, little is known
      about the principles governing the dissemination of cancer cells to distant
      organs. Although the hypothesis that each metastasis originates from a single
      tumour cell is generally supported, recent studies using mouse models of cancer
      demonstrated the existence of polyclonal seeding from and interclonal cooperation
      between multiple subclones. Here we sought definitive evidence for the existence
      of polyclonal seeding in human malignancy and to establish the clonal
      relationship among different metastases in the context of androgen-deprived
      metastatic prostate cancer. Using whole-genome sequencing, we characterized
      multiple metastases arising from prostate tumours in ten patients. Integrated
      analyses of subclonal architecture revealed the patterns of metastatic spread in
      unprecedented detail. Metastasis-to-metastasis spread was found to be common,
      either through de novo monoclonal seeding of daughter metastases or, in five
      cases, through the transfer of multiple tumour clones between metastatic sites.
      Lesions affecting tumour suppressor genes usually occur as single events, whereas
      mutations in genes involved in androgen receptor signalling commonly involve
      multiple, convergent events in different metastases. Our results elucidate in
      detail the complex patterns of metastatic spread and further our understanding of
      the development of resistance to androgen-deprivation therapy in prostate cancer.

PMID- 25830888
TI  - Corrigendum: Derivation of novel human ground state naive pluripotent stem cells.

PMID- 25830889
TI  - Reducing the energy cost of human walking using an unpowered exoskeleton.
AB  - With efficiencies derived from evolution, growth and learning, humans are very
      well-tuned for locomotion. Metabolic energy used during walking can be partly
      replaced by power input from an exoskeleton, but is it possible to reduce
      metabolic rate without providing an additional energy source? This would require
      an improvement in the efficiency of the human-machine system as a whole, and
      would be remarkable given the apparent optimality of human gait. Here we show
      that the metabolic rate of human walking can be reduced by an unpowered ankle
      exoskeleton. We built a lightweight elastic device that acts in parallel with the
      user's calf muscles, off-loading muscle force and thereby reducing the metabolic
      energy consumed in contractions. The device uses a mechanical clutch to hold a
      spring as it is stretched and relaxed by ankle movements when the foot is on the
      ground, helping to fulfil one function of the calf muscles and Achilles tendon.
      Unlike muscles, however, the clutch sustains force passively. The exoskeleton
      consumes no chemical or electrical energy and delivers no net positive mechanical
      work, yet reduces the metabolic cost of walking by 7.2 +/- 2.6% for healthy human
      users under natural conditions, comparable to savings with powered devices.
      Improving upon walking economy in this way is analogous to altering the structure
      of the body such that it is more energy-effective at walking. While strong
      natural pressures have already shaped human locomotion, improvements in
      efficiency are still possible. Much remains to be learned about this seemingly
      simple behaviour. 

PMID- 25830890
TI  - Metabolism: Growth in the fat lane.

PMID- 25830892
TI  - Cancer: The complex seeds of metastasis.

PMID- 25830891
TI  - In vivo genome editing using Staphylococcus aureus Cas9.
AB  - The RNA-guided endonuclease Cas9 has emerged as a versatile genome-editing
      platform. However, the size of the commonly used Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes
      (SpCas9) limits its utility for basic research and therapeutic applications that
      use the highly versatile adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivery vehicle. Here, we
      characterize six smaller Cas9 orthologues and show that Cas9 from Staphylococcus
      aureus (SaCas9) can edit the genome with efficiencies similar to those of SpCas9,
      while being more than 1 kilobase shorter. We packaged SaCas9 and its single guide
      RNA expression cassette into a single AAV vector and targeted the cholesterol
      regulatory gene Pcsk9 in the mouse liver. Within one week of injection, we
      observed >40% gene modification, accompanied by significant reductions in serum
      Pcsk9 and total cholesterol levels. We further assess the genome-wide targeting
      specificity of SaCas9 and SpCas9 using BLESS, and demonstrate that SaCas9
      mediated in vivo genome editing has the potential to be efficient and specific. 

PMID- 25830894
TI  - Urinary biomarkers as exposure surrogates: controlling for possible bias.

PMID- 25830895
TI  - Strategies to avoid Shiga toxin effects.

PMID- 25830893
TI  - Fatty acid carbon is essential for dNTP synthesis in endothelial cells.
AB  - The metabolism of endothelial cells during vessel sprouting remains poorly
      studied. Here we report that endothelial loss of CPT1A, a rate-limiting enzyme of
      fatty acid oxidation (FAO), causes vascular sprouting defects due to impaired
      proliferation, not migration, of human and murine endothelial cells. Reduction of
      FAO in endothelial cells did not cause energy depletion or disturb redox
      homeostasis, but impaired de novo nucleotide synthesis for DNA replication.
      Isotope labelling studies in control endothelial cells showed that fatty acid
      carbons substantially replenished the Krebs cycle, and were incorporated into
      aspartate (a nucleotide precursor), uridine monophosphate (a precursor of
      pyrimidine nucleoside triphosphates) and DNA. CPT1A silencing reduced these
      processes and depleted endothelial cell stores of aspartate and
      deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates. Acetate (metabolized to acetyl-CoA, thereby
      substituting for the depleted FAO-derived acetyl-CoA) or a nucleoside mix rescued
      the phenotype of CPT1A-silenced endothelial cells. Finally, CPT1 blockade
      inhibited pathological ocular angiogenesis in mice, suggesting a novel strategy
      for blocking angiogenesis. 

PMID- 25830896
TI  - Comparing and Contrasting Three Cultural Food Customs from Nigeria and Analyzing
      the Nutrient Content of Diets from These Cultures with the Aim of Proffering
      Nutritional Intervention.
AB  - Nigeria is a multicultural country with a diverse cultural food. Most Nigerians'
      cultural diet is based on staple food accompanied by stew. In the South West and
      Eastern region (where Yorubas and Igbos are the dominant ethnic groups), staple
      foods are yam and cassava by-product (garri, fufu and lafun) with vegetables
      prepared as stew, often over cooked, thereby losing essential micronutrients. In
      Northern Nigeria (where the Hausas and Fulanis are the dominant ethnic groups),
      grains such as sorghum, millet form the main diet; these are served with palm oil
      based soup made with tomatoes and okra. Meat is sometimes added. Among the
      Hausas, meat is usually reserved for special occasions. Various types of
      malnutrition prevalent in developing countries such as Nigeria are iron
      deficiency anemia (ID/A), protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), Vitamin A deficiency
      (VAD), iodine deficiency disorder (IDD). The proposed long-term measure by the
      Federal government of Nigeria for the resolution of these various types of
      malnutrition is dietary diversification. A review of the literature on Nigerian
      cultural diets identified gaps in knowledge with respect to the nutritional
      values of Nigerian ethnic diets.

PMID- 25830898
TI  - Allopurinol and the incidence of bladder cancer: a Taiwan national retrospective
      cohort study.
AB  - Our aim is to investigate the risk association between allopurinol use and cancer
      incidence among gout patients using clinical evidence. Newly diagnosed male
      patients with gout, 20 years or older, were included after excluding those who
      had a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, and were followed up for 12 years in a
      retrospective cohort study of one million outpatients of a national database. The
      gout patients were matched to male controls by age and first diagnosis date of
      gout disease. We then estimated the risk associations between incident cancers
      and duration of allopurinol use by Cox hazard regression, age-adjusted
      standardized incidence ratio, and incidence per 1000 person-years. A total of 24
      050 gout patients and 76 129 controls were included. The incidence of all-cause
      cancers for gout patients and controls was 8.26 cases and 7.49 cases/1000 person
      years, respectively; it was markedly increased in gout patients who used
      allopurinol for over 90 days. The hazard ratio of all-cause cancers was 1.21 (95%
      confidence interval=1.03-1.42, P=0.019) after adjustment for age and 2.26 for
      bladder cancer (95% confidence interval=1.32-3.87, P=0.003) on comparing those
      who used allopurinol for over 90 days with nonusers. Meanwhile, other cancers did
      not show the same significant result. We concluded that those who used
      allopurinol for a long duration had a higher occurrence of both bladder cancer
      and all-cause cancers in clinical evidence. 

PMID- 25830897
TI  - Influence of sample return time and ambient temperature on the performance of an
      immunochemical faecal occult blood test with a new buffer for colorectal cancer
      screening.
AB  - The haemoglobin concentration measured by faecal immunochemical tests (FIT) may
      be decreased in cases of delayed sample return or high temperature. It is an
      issue of great importance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects
      of sample return time and of season on the performance of an FIT (FOB-Gold) with
      a new buffer. The study included 20 371 participants involved in the French
      organized colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programme. The probability of a
      positive screening test, detection rates and positive predictive values for CRC
      and advanced adenoma were analysed according to sample return time and season of
      screening. A sample of positive FIT was stored for 7 days in an incubator at 20
      degrees C or 30 degrees C. The positivity rate was 4.1% for a sample return time
      of up to 3 days, 4.1% for 4-5 days and 4.6% for 6-7 days (P=0.25). In
      multivariate analysis, there was no association between positivity rates,
      detection rates and positive predictive values for CRC and advanced adenoma and
      the sample return time or the season of screening. At a constant temperature of
      20 degrees C, there was a decrease in the haemoglobin concentration of 5.1% after
      7 days. The decrease reached 20.5% at a temperature of 30 degrees C. It was only
      4.5% during the first 4 days of storage in the incubator. With the new buffer,
      delay in sample return or season did not affect the clinical outcome. When
      temperatures reach 30 degrees C, the faecal sample must be returned promptly.

PMID- 25830899
TI  - The RAB GTPase RABA1e localizes to the cell plate and shows distinct subcellular
      behavior from RABA2a under Endosidin 7 treatment.
AB  - Cytokinesis in plants requires the activity of RAB GTPases to regulate vesicle
      mediated contribution of material to the developing cell plate. While some plant
      RAB GTPases have been shown to be involved in cell plate formation, many still
      await functional assignment. Here, we report cell plate localization for YFP
      RABA1e in Arabidopsis thaliana and use the cytokinesis inhibitor Endosidin 7 to
      provide a detailed description of its localization compared to YFP-RABA2a.
      Differences between YFP-RABA2a and YFP-RABA1e were observed in late-stage cell
      plates under DMSO control treatment, and became more apparent under Endosidin 7
      treatment. Taken together, our results suggest that individual RAB GTPases might
      make different contributions to cell plate formation and further demonstrates the
      utility of ES7 probe to dissect them. 

PMID- 25830900
TI  - Different Analytical Procedures for the Study of Organic Residues in
      Archeological Ceramic Samples with the Use of Gas Chromatography-mass
      Spectrometry.
AB  - The analysis of the composition of organic residues present in pottery is an
      important source of information for historians and archeologists. Chemical
      characterization of the materials provides information on diets, habits,
      technologies, and original use of the vessels. This review presents the problem
      of analytical studies of archeological materials with a special emphasis on
      organic residues. Current methods used in the determination of different organic
      compounds in archeological ceramics are presented. Particular attention is paid
      to the procedures of analysis of archeological ceramic samples used before gas
      chromatography-mass spectrometry. Advantages and disadvantages of different
      extraction methods and application of proper quality assurance/quality control
      procedures are discussed. 

PMID- 25830903
TI  - Random forests in non-invasive sensorimotor rhythm brain-computer interfaces: a
      practical and convenient non-linear classifier.
AB  - There is general agreement in the brain-computer interface (BCI) community that
      although non-linear classifiers can provide better results in some cases, linear
      classifiers are preferable. Particularly, as non-linear classifiers often involve
      a number of parameters that must be carefully chosen. However, new non-linear
      classifiers were developed over the last decade. One of them is the random forest
      (RF) classifier. Although popular in other fields of science, RFs are not common
      in BCI research. In this work, we address three open questions regarding RFs in
      sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) BCIs: parametrization, online applicability, and
      performance compared to regularized linear discriminant analysis (LDA). We found
      that the performance of RF is constant over a large range of parameter values. We
      demonstrate - for the first time - that RFs are applicable online in SMR-BCIs.
      Further, we show in an offline BCI simulation that RFs statistically
      significantly outperform regularized LDA by about 3%. These results confirm that
      RFs are practical and convenient non-linear classifiers for SMR-BCIs. Taking into
      account further properties of RFs, such as independence from feature
      distributions, maximum margin behavior, multiclass and advanced data mining
      capabilities, we argue that RFs should be taken into consideration for future
      BCIs. 

PMID- 25830902
TI  - A novel Werner Syndrome mutation: pharmacological treatment by read-through of
      nonsense mutations and epigenetic therapies.
AB  - Werner Syndrome (WS) is a rare inherited disease characterized by premature aging
      and increased propensity for cancer. Mutations in the WRN gene can be of several
      types, including nonsense mutations, leading to a truncated protein form. WRN is
      a RecQ family member with both helicase and exonuclease activities, and it
      participates in several cell metabolic pathways, including DNA replication, DNA
      repair, and telomere maintenance. Here, we reported a novel homozygous WS
      mutation (c.3767 C > G) in 2 Argentinian brothers, which resulted in a stop codon
      and a truncated protein (p.S1256X). We also observed increased WRN promoter
      methylation in the cells of patients and decreased messenger WRN RNA (WRN mRNA)
      expression. Finally, we showed that the read-through of nonsense mutation
      pharmacologic treatment with both aminoglycosides (AGs) and ataluren (PTC-124) in
      these cells restores full-length protein expression and WRN functionality. 

PMID- 25830904
TI  - Interactive near-real-time high-resolution imaging for MR-guided lumbar
      interventions using ZOOM imaging in an open 1.0 Tesla MRI system--initial
      experience.
AB  - PURPOSE: Different techniques for magnetic resonance-guided lumbar interventions
      have been introduced in recent years. Appropriate pulse sequence design is
      crucial since high spatial resolution often comes at the cost of lower temporal
      resolution. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of accelerated
      reduced field of view (ZOOM)-based imaging sequences for lumbar interventions.
      METHODS: ZOOM imaging was used in 31 interventions (periradicular, facet joint,
      epidural infiltrations, and discography) performed in 24 patients (10 women, 14
      men; age 43 +/- 13.3 years). Signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio
      (CNR) were determined and retrospectively compared with standard
      preinterventional (T2 weighted), peri-interventional (proton density), and
      postinterventional (spectral presaturation with inversion recovery [SPIR])
      imaging. Needle artifacts were assessed by direct measurement as well as with
      parallel and perpendicular needle profiles. Puncture times were compared to
      similar interventions previously performed in our department. RESULTS: No
      significant differences in signal intensities (standard/ZOOM: 152.0/151.6;
      p=0.136) and CNR values (2.0/4.0; p=0.487) were identified for T2-weighted
      sequences. The needle artifact signal intensity was comparable (648.1/747.5;
      p=0.172) for peri-interventional imaging. Standard interventional (fat needle:
      43.8/23.4; p<0.001; muscle needle: 6.2/2.4; p<0.001) and SPIR sequences
      (43.3/13.9; p=0.010) showed a higher CNR than corresponding ZOOM sequences did.
      Needle artifacts were larger in ZOOM (2.4 mm/2.9 mm; p=0.005). The profiles
      revealed that ZOOM imaging delivers more overall signal intensity. The turning
      points of both profiles were comparable. ZOOM reduced intervention times
      significantly (329.1 s/228.5 s; p=0.026). CONCLUSION: ZOOM imaging is a feasible
      interactive sequence for lumbar interventions. It ameliorates the tradeoff
      between image quality and temporal resolution. Moreover, the sequence design
      reduces intervention times significantly.

PMID- 25830905
TI  - Spuriously high platelet counts by various automated hematology analyzers in a
      patient with disseminated intravascular coagulation.

PMID- 25830906
TI  - An integrative review: instructional strategies to improve nurses' retention of
      cardiopulmonary resuscitation priorities.
AB  - Recognizing and responding to a cardiac arrest in the hospital setting is a high
      stress, high anxiety event for all healthcare providers. It requires the
      performance of several basic, but extremely important cardiopulmonary
      resuscitation (CPR) skills and response priorities. If not executed correctly and
      in a timely manner, a bad outcome may result. Poor retention of cardiopulmonary
      resuscitation skills and priorities is well documented in the literature. An
      integrative review of the evidence was conducted to answer the question, "Is
      there a more effective training method to improve nurses' retention of CPR
      priorities during an in hospital cardiac arrest as compared to traditional
      American Heart Association training? "This review evaluated high fidelity and low
      fidelity simulation training, online or computer-based training and video
      instruction as potential teaching strategies focusing on CPR priorities. The role
      of deliberate practice is discussed. The strongest evidence suggests that a
      teaching plan employing brief, frequent, repetitive or deliberate practice used
      in collaboration with low fidelity or high fidelity simulation may be a potential
      strategy to improve nurses' retention of CPR priorities over time. 

PMID- 25830907
TI  - 3-MCPD: A Worldwide Problem of Food Chemistry.
AB  - 3-Monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) is a heat-induced food contaminant that has
      been widely investigated for decades. This paper presents an overview of current
      knowledge about 3-MCPD, including its formation routes, occurrence in various
      foodstuffs, analytical approach, toxicological aspects, and future research
      perspectives. So far, 3-MCPD was determined in its free and bound form in
      thermally treated foods, edible oils and fats, and infant foods including human
      breast milk. Contaminants in infant foods and human breast milk were highlighted
      in this paper as a serious problem as they can pose a potential hazard for
      infants. The analytical approach of 3-MCPD determination has been modified for
      over a decade. Nowadays, the method based on determining the derivative of this
      compound by using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry is widely used.
      However, there is still a big need for developing new methods that would produce
      repeatable results. Some of the toxicologic aspects associated with 3-MCPD still
      remain unknown. A number of studies on the carcinogenicity and genotoxicity of 3
      MCPD were carried out on rodents; however, no clinical studies on humans have
      been reported so far. Moreover, both detrimental effect on kidneys and
      antifertility activity have been widely reported. The knowledge of 3-MCPD
      absorption into body fluids and tissues and its metabolic pathways is based on
      sometimes conflicting data derived from different studies. In conclusion,
      although a lot of research has been carried out on 3-MCPD, there is still a need
      for further research in this area. 

PMID- 25830908
TI  - A process optimization study on ultrasonic extraction of paclitaxel from Taxus
      cuspidata.
AB  - This study aimed to improve the extraction rate of paclitaxel from Taxus
      cuspidata in order to determine the most effective combination of ultrasonic
      extraction and thin-layer chromatography-ultraviolet (TLC-UV) rapid separation
      method. The study was performed using the Box-Behnken test design to conduct
      single-factor experiments using ultrasonic extraction of paclitaxel from Taxus
      cuspidata. The study showed ethanol to be the best extraction solvent. When mixed
      with dichloromethane (1:1), the ratio of material to liquid was 1:50 when using
      an ultrasonic time of 1 hr at a power of 200 W. The correction coefficient K for
      the separation and detection of paclitaxel using the TLC-UV spectrophotometric
      method was 0.009152. Multifactor experiments determined the effect of the rate of
      liquid to material (X1), ultrasonic time (X2), and ultrasonic power (X3) on
      extraction using extraction volume as the dependent variable. Response surface
      analysis allowed a regression equation to be obtained, with the optimal
      conditions for extraction when the rate of liquid to material was 53.23 mL/g as
      an ultrasonic time of 1.11 hr and an ultrasonic power of 207.88 W. Using these
      parameters, the average amount of extracted paclitaxel was about 130.576 ug/g,
      which was significantly better than for other extraction methods.

PMID- 25830909
TI  - Direct healthcare cost of obesity in brazil: an application of the cost-of
      illness method from the perspective of the public health system in 2011.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obesity is a global public health problem and a risk factor for
      several diseases that financially impact healthcare systems. OBJECTIVE: To
      estimate the direct costs attributable to obesity (body mass index {BMI} >= 30
      kg/m2) and morbid obesity (BMI >= 40 kg/m2) in adults aged >= 20 incurred by the
      Brazilian public health system in 2011. SETTINGS: Public hospitals and outpatient
      care. METHODS: A cost-of-illness method was adopted using a top-down approach
      based on prevalence. The proportion of the cost of each obesity-associated
      comorbidity was calculated and obesity prevalence was used to calculate
      attributable risk. Direct healthcare cost data (inpatient care, bariatric
      surgery, outpatient care, medications and diagnostic procedures) were extracted
      from the Ministry of Health information systems, available on the web. RESULTS:
      Direct costs attributable to obesity totaled US$ 269.6 million (1.86% of all
      expenditures on medium- and high-complexity health care). The cost of morbid
      obesity accounted for 23.8% (US$ 64.2 million) of all obesity-related costs
      despite being 18 times less prevalent than obesity. Bariatric surgery costs in
      Brazil totaled US$ 17.4 million in 2011. The cost of morbid obesity in women was
      five times higher than it was in men. CONCLUSION: The cost of morbid obesity was
      found to be proportionally higher than the cost of obesity. If the current
      epidemic were not reversed, the prevalence of obesity in Brazil will increase
      gradually in the coming years, as well as its costs, having serious implications
      for the financial sustainability of the Brazilian public health system.

PMID- 25830910
TI  - Diversity dynamics in Nymphalidae butterflies: effect of phylogenetic uncertainty
      on diversification rate shift estimates.
AB  - The species rich butterfly family Nymphalidae has been used to study evolutionary
      interactions between plants and insects. Theories of insect-hostplant dynamics
      predict accelerated diversification due to key innovations. In evolutionary
      biology, analysis of maximum credibility trees in the software MEDUSA (modelling
      evolutionary diversity using stepwise AIC) is a popular method for estimation of
      shifts in diversification rates. We investigated whether phylogenetic uncertainty
      can produce different results by extending the method across a random sample of
      trees from the posterior distribution of a Bayesian run. Using the MultiMEDUSA
      approach, we found that phylogenetic uncertainty greatly affects diversification
      rate estimates. Different trees produced diversification rates ranging from high
      values to almost zero for the same clade, and both significant rate increase and
      decrease in some clades. Only four out of 18 significant shifts found on the
      maximum clade credibility tree were consistent across most of the sampled trees.
      Among these, we found accelerated diversification for Ithomiini butterflies. We
      used the binary speciation and extinction model (BiSSE) and found that a
      hostplant shift to Solanaceae is correlated with increased net diversification
      rates in Ithomiini, congruent with the diffuse cospeciation hypothesis. Our
      results show that taking phylogenetic uncertainty into account when estimating
      net diversification rate shifts is of great importance, as very different results
      can be obtained when using the maximum clade credibility tree and other trees
      from the posterior distribution. 

PMID- 25830911
TI  - Characterization of phospho-(tyrosine)-mimetic calmodulin mutants.
AB  - Calmodulin (CaM) phosphorylated at different serine/threonine and tyrosine
      residues is known to exert differential regulatory effects on a variety of CaM
      binding enzymes as compared to non-phosphorylated CaM. In this report we describe
      the preparation and characterization of a series of phospho-(Y)-mimetic CaM
      mutants in which either one or the two tyrosine residues present in CaM (Y99 and
      Y138) were substituted to aspartic acid or glutamic acid. It was expected that
      the negative charge of the respective carboxyl group of these amino acids mimics
      the negative charge of phosphate and reproduce the effects that distinct phospho
      (Y)-CaM species may have on target proteins. We describe some physicochemical
      properties of these CaM mutants as compared to wild type CaM, after their
      expression in Escherichia coli and purification to homogeneity, including: i)
      changes in their electrophoretic mobility in the absence and presence of Ca2+;
      ii) ultraviolet (UV) light absorption spectra, far- and near-UV circular
      dichroism data; iii) thermal stability in the absence and presence of Ca2+; and
      iv) Tb3+-emitted fluorescence upon tyrosine excitation. We also describe some
      biochemical properties of these CaM mutants, such as their differential
      phosphorylation by the tyrosine kinase c-Src, and their action as compared to
      wild type CaM, on the activity of two CaM-dependent enzymes: cyclic nucleotide
      phosphodiesterase 1 (PDE1) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) assayed
      in vitro. 

PMID- 25830912
TI  - Four-dimensional characterization of thrombosis in a live-cell, shear-flow assay:
      development and application to xenotransplantation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Porcine xenografts are a promising source of scarce transplantable
      organs, but stimulate intense thrombosis of human blood despite targeted genetic
      and pharmacologic interventions. Current experimental models do not enable study
      of the blood/endothelial interface to investigate adhesive interactions and
      thrombosis at the cellular level under physiologic conditions. The purpose of
      this study was to develop and validate a live-cell, shear-flow based thrombosis
      assay relevant to general thrombosis research, and demonstrate its potential in
      xenotransplantation applications. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Confluent wild
      type (WT, n = 48) and Gal transferase knock-out (GalTKO, which resist hyperacute
      rejection; n = 11) porcine endothelia were cultured in microfluidic channels. To
      mimic microcirculatory flow, channels were perfused at 5 dynes/cm2 and 37 degrees
      C with human blood stained to fluorescently label platelets. Serial fluorescent
      imaging visualized percent surface area coverage (SA, for adhesion of labeled
      cells) and total fluorescence (a metric of clot volume). Aggregation was
      calculated by the fluorescence/SA ratio (FR). WT endothelia stimulated diffuse
      platelet adhesion (SA 65 +/- 2%) and aggregation (FR 120 +/- 1 a.u.), indicating
      high-grade thrombosis consistent with the rapid platelet activation and
      consumption seen in whole-organ lung xenotransplantation models. Experiments with
      antibody blockade of platelet aggregation, and perfusion of syngeneic and allo
      incompatible endothelium was used to verify the biologic specificity and validity
      of the assay. Finally, with GalTKO endothelia thrombus volume decreased by 60%,
      due primarily to a 58% reduction in adhesion (P < 0.0001 each); importantly,
      aggregation was only marginally affected (11% reduction, P < 0.0001).
      CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This novel, high-throughput assay enabled dynamic
      modeling of whole-blood thrombosis on intact endothelium under physiologic
      conditions, and allowed mechanistic characterization of endothelial and platelet
      interactions. Applied to xenogeneic thrombosis, it enables future studies
      regarding the effect of modifying the porcine genotype on sheer-stress-dependent
      events that characterize xenograft injury. This in-vitro platform is likely to
      prove broadly useful to study thrombosis and endothelial interactions under
      dynamic physiologic conditions.

PMID- 25830913
TI  - Predictive simulation generates human adaptations during loaded and inclined
      walking.
AB  - Predictive simulation is a powerful approach for analyzing human locomotion.
      Unlike techniques that track experimental data, predictive simulations synthesize
      gaits by minimizing a high-level objective such as metabolic energy expenditure
      while satisfying task requirements like achieving a target velocity. The fidelity
      of predictive gait simulations has only been systematically evaluated for
      locomotion data on flat ground. In this study, we construct a predictive
      simulation framework based on energy minimization and use it to generate normal
      walking, along with walking with a range of carried loads and up a range of
      inclines. The simulation is muscle-driven and includes controllers based on
      muscle force and stretch reflexes and contact state of the legs. We demonstrate
      how human-like locomotor strategies emerge from adapting the model to a range of
      environmental changes. Our simulation dynamics not only show good agreement with
      experimental data for normal walking on flat ground (92% of joint angle
      trajectories and 78% of joint torque trajectories lie within 1 standard deviation
      of experimental data), but also reproduce many of the salient changes in joint
      angles, joint moments, muscle coordination, and metabolic energy expenditure
      observed in experimental studies of loaded and inclined walking. 

PMID- 25830914
TI  - Transcriptome analysis in patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis
      disclosing a key role for CD16+CX3CR1+ monocytes.
AB  - The risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality is increased in chronic
      kidney disease; in this process micro-inflammation plays an essential role.
      Responsible mechanisms remain to a large extent unidentified. In this pilot study
      transcriptome analysis of peripheral blood monocytes was used to identify in an
      unprejudiced manner which factors could be discriminative for cardiovascular
      disease in patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis. Forty gender-
      and age-matched, non-diabetic, non-smoking subjects with CRP < 20 mg/L were
      recruited: 9 healthy controls, 11 patients with eGFR > 60 mL/min/1.73m2 and a
      history of cardiovascular event (CVE), 10 patients with chronic kidney disease
      stage 5 on hemodialysis without previous cardiovascular event (CKD5HD) and 10
      with a previous cardiovascular event (CKD5HD/CVE). Monocytes were isolated and
      their mRNA was submitted to focused transcriptome analysis using a macroarray
      platform containing ca. 700 genes associated with macrophage functional capacity.
      The macroarray data indicated 9 genes (8 upregulated and 1 downregulated) with a
      significant differential expression in CKD5HD/CVE vs. CVE alone, after excluding
      genes differentially expressed in CKD5HD vs. CONTROL: For FCGR3A (CD16) and
      CX3CR1 (chemokine receptor) the upregulation vs. control and vs. CVE could be
      confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR for all CKD5HD patients. Furthermore, CX3CR1
      relative expression on monocytes correlated with CRP. Flow cytometric analysis of
      purified monocytes confirmed a significant increase in the percentage of CD16
      positive monocytes in all CKD5HD patients vs. control and CVE. The present study
      indicates the importance of a specific pro-inflammatory monocyte subpopulation,
      positive for CD16 and the co-expressed chemokine receptor, CX3CR1, discriminative
      for CKD5HD patients.

PMID- 25830915
TI  - A stochastic delay differential model of cerebral autoregulation.
AB  - Mathematical models of the cardiovascular system and of cerebral autoregulation
      (CAR) have been employed for several years in order to describe the time course
      of pressures and flows changes subsequent to postural changes. The assessment of
      the degree of efficiency of cerebral auto regulation has indeed importance in the
      prognosis of such conditions as cerebro-vascular accidents or Alzheimer. In the
      quest for a simple but realistic mathematical description of cardiovascular
      control, which may be fitted onto non-invasive experimental observations after
      postural changes, the present work proposes a first version of an empirical
      Stochastic Delay Differential Equations (SDDEs) model. The model consists of a
      total of four SDDEs and two ancillary algebraic equations, incorporates four
      distinct delayed controls from the brain onto different components of the
      circulation, and is able to accurately capture the time course of mean arterial
      pressure and cerebral blood flow velocity signals, reproducing observed auto
      correlated error around the expected drift. 

PMID- 25830916
TI  - Micronutrients in HIV: a Bayesian meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Approximately 28.5 million people living with HIV are eligible for
      treatment (CD4<500), but currently have no access to antiretroviral therapy.
      Reduced serum level of micronutrients is common in HIV disease. Micronutrient
      supplementation (MNS) may mitigate disease progression and mortality. OBJECTIVES:
      We synthesized evidence on the effect of micronutrient supplementation on
      mortality and rate of disease progression in HIV disease. METHODS: We searched
      MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central, AMED and CINAHL databases through December
      2014, without language restriction, for studies of greater than 3 micronutrients
      versus any or no comparator. We built a hierarchical Bayesian random effects
      model to synthesize results. Inferences are based on the posterior distribution
      of the population effects; posterior distributions were approximated by Markov
      chain Monte Carlo in OpenBugs. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: From 2166 initial references,
      we selected 49 studies for full review and identified eight reporting on disease
      progression and/or mortality. Bayesian synthesis of data from 2,249 adults in
      three studies estimated the relative risk of disease progression in subjects on
      MNS vs. control as 0.62 (95% credible interval, 0.37, 0.96). Median number needed
      to treat is 8.4 (4.8, 29.9) and the Bayes Factor 53.4. Based on data reporting on
      4,095 adults reporting mortality in 7 randomized controlled studies, the RR was
      0.84 (0.38, 1.85), NNT is 25 (4.3, infinity). CONCLUSIONS: MNS significantly and
      substantially slows disease progression in HIV+ adults not on ARV, and possibly
      reduces mortality. Micronutrient supplements are effective in reducing
      progression with a posterior probability of 97.9%. Considering MNS low cost and
      lack of adverse effects, MNS should be standard of care for HIV+ adults not yet
      on ARV.

PMID- 25830917
TI  - Uptake of mass drug administration programme for schistosomiasis control in Koome
      Islands, Central Uganda.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Schistosomiasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases targeted
      for elimination in Uganda through the Mass Drug Administration (MDA) programme.
      Praziquantel has been distributed using community resource persons in fixed sites
      and house-to-house visits; however the uptake is still below target coverage. In
      2011/2012 MDA exercise, uptake stood at 50% yet WHO target coverage is 75% at
      community level. We assessed the uptake of MDA and the associated factors in
      Koome Islands, Central Uganda. METHODS: In March 2013, we conducted a mixed
      methods cross sectional study in 15 randomly selected villages. We interviewed a
      total of 615 respondents aged 18 years and above using semi structured
      questionnaires and five key informants were also purposively selected. Univariate
      and multivariate analysis was done. MDA uptake was defined as self reported
      swallowing of praziquantel during the last (2012) MDA campaign. We conducted key
      informant interviews with Ministry of Health, district health personnel and
      community health workers. RESULTS: Self reported uptake of praziquantel was 44.7%
      (275/615), 95% confidence interval (CI) 40.8-48.7%. Of the 275 community members
      who said they had swallowed praziquantel, 142 (51.6%) reported that they had
      developed side effects. Uptake of MDA was more likely if the respondent was
      knowledgeable about schistosomiasis transmission and prevention (adjusted odds
      ratio [AOR] 1.85, 95% CI 1.22-2.81) and reported to have received health
      education from the health personnel (AOR 5.95, 95% CI 3.67-9.65). Service
      delivery challenges such as drug shortages and community health worker attrition
      also influenced MDA in Koome Islands. CONCLUSIONS: Uptake of MDA for
      schistosomiasis control in Koome was sub optimal. Lack of knowledge about
      schistosomiasis transmission and prevention, inadequate health education and drug
      shortages are some of the major factors associated with low uptake. These could
      be addressed through routine health education and systematic drug supply for the
      successful elimination of schistosomiasis on the islands.

PMID- 25830918
TI  - The neural basis of risky choice with affective outcomes.
AB  - Both normative and many descriptive theories of decision making under risk are
      based on the notion that outcomes are weighted by their probability, with
      subsequent maximization of the (subjective) expected outcome. Numerous
      investigations from psychology, economics, and neuroscience have produced
      evidence consistent with this notion. However, this research has typically
      investigated choices involving relatively affect-poor, monetary outcomes. We
      compared choice in relatively affect-poor, monetary lottery problems with choice
      in relatively affect-rich medical decision problems. Computational modeling of
      behavioral data and model-based neuroimaging analyses provide converging evidence
      for substantial differences in the respective decision mechanisms. Relative to
      affect-poor choices, affect-rich choices yielded a more strongly curved
      probability weighting function of cumulative prospect theory, thus signaling that
      the psychological impact of probabilities is strongly diminished for affect-rich
      outcomes. Examining task-dependent brain activation, we identified a region-by
      condition interaction indicating qualitative differences of activation between
      affect-rich and affect-poor choices. Moreover, brain activation in regions that
      were more active during affect-poor choices (e.g., the supramarginal gyrus)
      correlated with individual trial-by-trial decision weights, indicating that these
      regions reflect processing of probabilities. Formal reverse inference Neurosynth
      meta-analyses suggested that whereas affect-poor choices seem to be based on
      brain mechanisms for calculative processes, affect-rich choices are driven by the
      representation of outcomes' emotional value and autobiographical memories
      associated with them. These results provide evidence that the traditional notion
      of expectation maximization may not apply in the context of outcomes laden with
      affective responses, and that understanding the brain mechanisms of decision
      making requires the domain of the decision to be taken into account. 

PMID- 25830920
TI  - [(Pb6I8){Mn(CO)5}6](2-): an octahedral (M6X8)-like cluster with inverted bonding.
AB  - [BMIm]2[{PbMn(CO)5)}6I8] (BMIm: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium) is obtained by ionic
      liquid mediated reaction of PbI2 and Mn2(CO)10. Central is a cubelike (Pb6I8)
      unit containing a nonfilled Pb6 octahedron. Each Pb of this (Pb6I8) unit is
      terminated on its outside by Mn(CO)5, exhibiting Pb-Mn metal-to-metal bonding
      (280 pm). Structurally, the (Pb6I8) unit is similar to the well-known octahedral
      (M6Xn) cluster-type family (M = Zr, Nb, Ta, Mo, W; X = Cl, Br, I). In contrast to
      most similar cluster compounds, such as W6Br12 ([W6Br8]Br2/1Br4/2, according to
      Niggli notation) or the carbonyl cluster [Sn6{Cr(CO5)6}](2-), however, the
      nonfilled central Pb6 octahedron in [{PbMn(CO)5)}6I8](2-) does not exhibit any
      metal-to-metal bonding. Structure and bonding of the title compound are validated
      by single-crystal structure analysis, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX),
      infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.
      Based on the isolobal principle, electronegativity considerations, bond lengths,
      and DFT calculations including Mulliken population analysis and natural
      population analysis (NPA), in sum, the charge distribution of Pb is best
      reflected by an oxidation state of +1. 

PMID- 25830922
TI  - Efficient synthesis of C-N-coupled heterobiaryls by sequential N-H
      functionalization reactions.
AB  - C-N-coupled heterobiaryls were synthesized by sequential N-H functionalization
      reactions: stereoselective rhodium-catalyzed N-H insertion, followed by
      regioselective palladium-catalyzed C-H amination. Because of the good substrate
      scope and excellent selectivity, the developed method presents a novel approach
      for the synthesis of heterobiaryls, which are potent antibiotics. 

PMID- 25830921
TI  - Evaluating outcomes used in cardiothoracic surgery interventional research: a
      systematic review of reviews to develop a core outcome set.
AB  - BACKGROUND: When planning clinical trials, it is a key element to choose
      appropriate outcomes that ensure the comparability of effects of interventions in
      ways that minimise bias. We hypothesise that outcome measures in cardiothoracic
      surgical trials are inconsistent and without standard. Therefore, comparing the
      relative effectiveness of interventions across studies is problematic. We surmise
      that cardiothoracic research has focused habitually on the identification of risk
      factors and on the reduction of adverse outcomes with less consideration of
      factors that contribute to well being and positive health outcomes
      (salutogenesis). METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted a systematic review of
      reviews to determine both the type and number of outcomes reported in current
      cardiothoracic surgery interventional research, in order to identify a list of
      potential outcomes for a minimum core outcome set (COS). Special focus was placed
      on outcomes that emphasise salutogenesis. We interpreted salutogenic outcomes as
      those relating to optimum and/or positive health and well being. We searched
      Issue 7 (July 2014) of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Systematic
      reviews of randomised trials on non-minimal-invasive off- or on-pump
      cardiothoracic surgery (elective and emergency, excluding transplants)
      investigating pre-, intra- or postsurgical interventions related to the outcome
      of the procedure were eligible for inclusion. We excluded protocols and withdrawn
      systematic reviews. Two review authors extracted outcome data independently.
      Unique lists of salutogenically and non-salutogenically focused outcomes were
      established. 15 systematic reviews involving 371 randomized trials and 58,253
      patients were included in this review. Applied definitions of single and
      composite endpoints varied significantly, and patient-centred, salutogenically
      focused outcomes were seldom reported. One third of included reviews did not
      assess patient-centred outcomes at all; all other reviews were unable to perform
      meta-analyses due to an absence of data or heterogeneity in outcome measures.
      This compares to 36 non-salutogenically focused outcome domains representing 121
      individual non-salutogenically focused outcomes, whereof 50% were assessed only
      once. Measures of mortality, cerebrovascular complications and hospitalisation
      were reported most frequently. Two reviews chose a composite endpoint as primary
      outcome. Pooled analysis of composite endpoints was not possible, as the required
      data was not reported per patient in all components. CONCLUSION: In
      cardiothoracic surgical trials, choice and definition of non-salutogenically
      focused single and composite outcomes are inconsistent. There is an absence of
      patient centred, salutogenically focused outcome parameters in cardiac trials. We
      recommend the development of a core outcome set of salutogenically focused and
      non-salutogenically focused outcomes for cardiothoracic surgical research.

PMID- 25830919
TI  - Whole-brain mapping of inputs to projection neurons and cholinergic interneurons
      in the dorsal striatum.
AB  - The dorsal striatum integrates inputs from multiple brain areas to coordinate
      voluntary movements, associative plasticity, and reinforcement learning. Its
      projection neurons consist of the GABAergic medium spiny neurons (MSNs) that
      express dopamine receptor type 1 (D1) or dopamine receptor type 2 (D2).
      Cholinergic interneurons account for a small portion of striatal neuron
      populations, but they play important roles in striatal functions by synapsing
      onto the MSNs and other local interneurons. By combining the modified rabies
      virus with specific Cre- mouse lines, a recent study mapped the monosynaptic
      input patterns to MSNs. Because only a small number of extrastriatal neurons were
      labeled in the prior study, it is important to reexamine the input patterns of
      MSNs with higher labeling efficiency. Additionally, the whole-brain innervation
      pattern of cholinergic interneurons remains unknown. Using the rabies virus-based
      transsynaptic tracing method in this study, we comprehensively charted the brain
      areas that provide direct inputs to D1-MSNs, D2-MSNs, and cholinergic
      interneurons in the dorsal striatum. We found that both types of projection
      neurons and the cholinergic interneurons receive extensive inputs from discrete
      brain areas in the cortex, thalamus, amygdala, and other subcortical areas,
      several of which were not reported in the previous study. The MSNs and
      cholinergic interneurons share largely common inputs from areas outside the
      striatum. However, innervations within the dorsal striatum represent a
      significantly larger proportion of total inputs for cholinergic interneurons than
      for the MSNs. The comprehensive maps of direct inputs to striatal MSNs and
      cholinergic interneurons shall assist future functional dissection of the
      striatal circuits. 

PMID- 25830923
TI  - A central role for spinal dorsal horn neurons that express neurokinin-1 receptors
      in chronic itch.
AB  - We investigated roles for spinal neurons expressing the neurokinin-1 receptor
      (NK1R) and/or gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) in a mouse model of
      ovalbumin (OVA)-induced chronic atopic dermatitis. Mice receiving repeated
      topical application of OVA exhibited atopic-like skin lesions and behavioral
      signs of chronic itch including spontaneous scratching, touch-evoked scratching
      (alloknesis), and enhancement of chloroquine-evoked scratching (hyperknesis).
      Substance P-saporin (SP-SAP) and bombesin-saporin (BB-SAP) were intrathecally
      injected into OVA-sensitized mice to neurotoxically ablate NK1R- or GRPR
      expressing spinal neurons, respectively. SP-SAP diminished the expression of NK1R
      in the superficial spinal dorsal horn and significantly attenuated all behavioral
      signs of chronic itch. BB-SAP reduced the spinal dorsal horn expression of GRPR
      and significantly attenuated hyperknesis, with no effect on spontaneous
      scratching or alloknesis. To investigate whether NK1R-expressing spinal neurons
      project in ascending somatosensory pathways, we performed a double-label study.
      The retrograde tracer, Fluorogold (FG), was injected into either the
      somatosensory thalamus or lateral parabrachial nucleus. In the upper cervical (C1
      2) spinal cord, most neurons retrogradely labeled with FG were located in the
      dorsomedial aspect of the superficial dorsal horn. Of FG-labeled spinal neurons,
      89% to 94% were double labeled for NK1R. These results indicate that NK1R
      expressing spinal neurons play a major role in the expression of symptoms of
      chronic itch and give rise to ascending somatosensory projections. Gastrin
      releasing peptide receptor-expressing spinal neurons contribute to hyperknesis
      but not to alloknesis or ongoing itch. NK1R-expressing spinal neurons represent a
      potential target to treat chronic itch. 

PMID- 25830925
TI  - Perioperative use of pregabalin for acute pain-a systematic review and meta
      analysis.
AB  - Evidence supporting postoperative pain management using pregabalin as an adjunct
      intervention across various surgical pain models is lacking. The objective of
      this systematic review was to evaluate "model-specific" comparative effectiveness
      and harms of pregabalin following a previously published systematic review
      protocol. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials
      were searched from inception through August 2013. Data were screened and single
      extraction with independent verification and dual risk of bias assessment was
      performed. Quality of evidence (QoE) was rated using the GRADE approach. Primary
      outcomes were pain relief at rest and on movement and reduction in postoperative
      analgesic consumption. A total of 1423 records were screened, and 43 studies were
      included. Perioperative pregabalin resulted in: 16% (95% confidence interval
      [CI], 9%-21%) reduction in analgesic consumption (moderate QoE, 24 trials) and a
      small reduction in the magnitude of pain in surgeries associated with
      pronociceptive pain. Per 1000 patients, 10 more will experience blurred vision
      (95% CI, 5-20 more; moderate QoE, 17 trials) and 41 more sedation (95% CI, 13-77
      more, 17 trials). To prevent 1 case of perioperative nausea and vomiting, the
      number needed to treat is 11 (95% CI: 7-28, 25 trials). Inadequate evidence
      addressed outcomes of enhanced recovery and serious harms. Pregabalin analgesic
      effectiveness is largely restricted to surgical procedures associated with
      pronociceptive mechanisms. The clinical significance of observed pregabalin
      benefits must be weighed against the uncertainties about serious harms and
      enhanced recovery to inform the careful selection of surgical patients.
      Recommendations for future research are proposed. 

PMID- 25830924
TI  - Right secondary somatosensory cortex-a promising novel target for the treatment
      of drug-resistant neuropathic orofacial pain with repetitive transcranial
      magnetic stimulation.
AB  - High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the motor
      cortex has analgesic effect; however, the efficacy of other cortical targets and
      the mode of action remain unclear. We examined the effects of rTMS in neuropathic
      orofacial pain, and compared 2 cortical targets against placebo. Furthermore, as
      dopaminergic mechanisms modulate pain responses, we assessed the influence of the
      functional DRD2 gene polymorphism (957C>T) and the catechol-O-methyltransferase
      (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism on the analgesic effect of rTMS. Sixteen patients
      with chronic drug-resistant neuropathic orofacial pain participated in this
      randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study. Navigated high-frequency rTMS
      was given to the sensorimotor (S1/M1) and the right secondary somatosensory (S2)
      cortices. All subjects were genotyped for the DRD2 957C>T and COMT Val158Met
      polymorphisms. Pain, mood, and quality of life were monitored throughout the
      study. The numerical rating scale pain scores were significantly lower after the
      S2 stimulation than after the S1/M1 (P = 0.0071) or the sham (P = 0.0187)
      stimulations. The Brief Pain Inventory scores were also lower 3 to 5 days after
      the S2 stimulation than those at pretreatment baseline (P = 0.0127 for the
      intensity of pain and P = 0.0074 for the interference of pain) or after the S1/M1
      (P = 0.001 and P = 0.0001) and sham (P = 0.0491 and P = 0.0359) stimulations. No
      correlations were found between the genetic polymorphisms and the analgesic
      effect in the present small clinical sample. The right S2 cortex is a promising
      new target for the treatment of neuropathic orofacial pain with high-frequency
      rTMS. 

PMID- 25830926
TI  - The relationship between adolescents' pain catastrophizing and attention bias to
      pain faces is moderated by attention control.
AB  - This study considered the attentional functioning of adolescents with varying
      levels of pain catastrophizing. Specifically, we investigated the relationship
      between pain catastrophizing and attention bias to pain facial expressions.
      Furthermore, drawing on dual process models in the context of pain, we
      investigated the moderating role of attention control on this relationship.
      Adolescents (N = 73; age, 16-18 years) performed a dot-probe task in which facial
      expressions of pain and neutral expressions were presented for 100 milliseconds
      and 1250 milliseconds. Participants also completed self-report pain
      catastrophizing and attention control measures. We found that although there was
      no main effect of pain catastrophizing on attention bias towards pain faces,
      attention control did significantly moderate this relationship. Further analysis
      revealed that lower levels of attention control were significantly associated
      with increasing attentional vigilance towards pain faces only within high
      catastrophizing adolescents. In addition, we found that poorer attention control
      was related to increased attention bias for pain faces (regardless of pain
      catastrophizing level) when these faces were presented for relatively longer
      durations (ie, 1250 milliseconds) but not for short durations (ie, 100
      milliseconds). This study supports a dual process model of attentional processes
      in pain, thus replicating previous findings within the psychopathology literature
      but extending them to the study of pain. Theoretical and clinical implications of
      our findings are discussed. 

PMID- 25830927
TI  - Acute and chronic pain associated with leprosy.

PMID- 25830929
TI  - Development and Validation of an HPLC-UV Assay to Quantify Plasma Levels of
      Sulfametrol: A Preferential Antibiotic in Children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sulfonamides in combination with trimethoprim are frequently used
      antibiotics. They work synergistic. In infections with Pneumocystis jiroveci or
      Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, higher dosages are indicated than in other
      infections. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is warranted to assure the efficacy
      while limiting toxicity. Although trimethoprim in combination with
      sulfamethoxazole is the most common combination with established TDM target
      concentrations, the intravenous formulation is not suited for children because of
      its additives ethanol and propylene glycol to increase solubility. An alternative
      can be sulfametrol in combination with trimethoprim. When sulfametrol was
      introduced in the hospital, there was a need for a TDM method for sulfametrol.
      METHODS: A High Pressure Liquid Chromatography-Ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) detection
      method for sulfametrol determination in plasma was developed and validated
      according to the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. Linearity,
      limit of detection, lower limit of quantification, recovery, process efficiency,
      selectivity, within-run precision, between-run precision, and sample stability
      were tested. RESULTS: All tested parameters met the required criteria. For
      linearity, r was 0.9948, lower limit of quantification was 10 mg/L, and limit of
      detection was 6 mg/L. Recovery was 100.4% and process efficiency 94.4%.
      Selectivity was met with no interfering peaks at the retention time of 4.2
      minutes. Between-run precision and within-run precision were evaluated by
      replicating quality control levels, resulting in a within-run relative average
      standard deviation of 0.8% and a between-run relative standard deviation of 2.3%.
      Recovery of the samples after storing 8 days was 101.9% and recovery of already
      tested vials was 98.8% after 48 hours. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, an HPLC-UV
      method for sulfametrol determination in human plasma was developed and validated.
      The method is fast, accurate, reproducible, and has a short analysis time. It is
      now being used in routine TDM in our clinic.

PMID- 25830928
TI  - Evidence of field-evolved resistance of Spodoptera frugiperda to Bt corn
      expressing Cry1F in Brazil that is still sensitive to modified Bt toxins.
AB  - Brazil ranked second only to the United States in hectares planted to genetically
      modified crops in 2013. Recently corn producers in the Cerrado region reported
      that the control of Spodoptera frugiperda with Bt corn expressing Cry1Fa has
      decreased, forcing them to use chemicals to reduce the damage caused by this
      insect pest. A colony of S. frugiperda was established from individuals collected
      in 2013 from Cry1Fa corn plants (SfBt) in Brazil and shown to have at least more
      than ten-fold higher resistance levels compared with a susceptible colony
      (Sflab). Laboratory assays on corn leaves showed that in contrast to SfLab
      population, the SfBt larvae were able to survive by feeding on Cry1Fa corn
      leaves. The SfBt population was maintained without selection for eight
      generations and shown to maintain high levels of resistance to Cry1Fa toxin. SfBt
      showed higher cross-resistance to Cry1Aa than to Cry1Ab or Cry1Ac toxins. As
      previously reported, Cry1A toxins competed the binding of Cry1Fa to brush border
      membrane vesicles (BBMV) from SfLab insects, explaining cross-resistance to Cry1A
      toxins. In contrast Cry2A toxins did not compete Cry1Fa binding to SfLab-BBMV and
      no cross-resistance to Cry2A was observed, although Cry2A toxins show low
      toxicity to S. frugiperda. Bioassays with Cry1AbMod and Cry1AcMod show that they
      are highly active against both the SfLab and the SfBt populations. The bioassay
      data reported here show that insects collected from Cry1Fa corn in the Cerrado
      region were resistant to Cry1Fa suggesting that resistance contributed to field
      failures of Cry1Fa corn to control S. frugiperda. 

PMID- 25830930
TI  - Generic Olanzapine Substitution in Patients With Schizophrenia: Assessment of
      Serum Concentrations and Therapeutic Response After Switching.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several reports of loss of efficacy or adverse effects have been
      described after generic substitution of antipsychotics. To date, studies
      comparing serum drug levels in patients switched to generic antipsychotics in a
      standard clinical setting are lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate
      if switching to generic olanzapine in patients affected by schizophrenia is
      associated with differences in its serum concentrations and therapeutic response.
      METHODS: Preswitching and postswitching serum olanzapine concentrations were
      compared in schizophrenic outpatients who were switched from a chronic treatment
      with branded olanzapine to the same dose of its generic alternative. The Positive
      and Negative Syndrome Scale was concurrently administered to assess modifications
      in schizophrenia symptom control. RESULTS: A total of 25 patients (13 women and
      12 men, mean age 41.2 +/- 12.8 years) concluded the study. Mean olanzapine dose
      was 12.2 +/- 5.4 mg/d. The mean olanzapine serum concentrations decreased from
      27.7 +/- 14.4 ng/mL during treatment with the branded formulation to 22.6 +/-
      12.3 ng/mL after switching to the generic formulation (P < 0.01). The log
      transformed ratio of generic/brand-name olanzapine serum concentration at steady
      state was 0.81 (90% confidence interval: 0.72-0.91). The total Positive and
      Negative Syndrome Scale scores did not significantly change after switching from
      branded to generic formulation (49.6 +/- 8.3 versus 48.6 +/- 9.5, P = 0.777). No
      patient exhibited disease relapse or required dose adjustment after switching.
      CONCLUSIONS: Significantly lower serum olanzapine concentrations were found after
      switching from branded to generic olanzapine. Although these modifications did
      not significantly impair schizophrenia symptoms control, it cannot be excluded
      that a longer exposure to lower olanzapine serum concentrations may result in
      relapse of schizophrenic symptoms. Generic substitution should be considered as
      an indication for therapeutic drug monitoring in psychiatry.

PMID- 25830932
TI  - Indium Tin Oxide-Free Transparent Conductive Electrode for GaN-Based Ultraviolet
      Light-Emitting Diodes.
AB  - Transparent conducting electrodes are important components of highly efficient
      ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs). Indium tin oxide (ITO) is commonly
      used to form a current spreading layer, but its UV-range optical transparency is
      limited with a low sheet resistance. We demonstrate a simple solution-based
      coating technique to obtain large-area, highly uniform, and conductive silver
      nanowire-based electrodes that exhibit UV-range optical transparency better than
      that of ITO for the same sheet resistance. The UV LEDs fabricated using this
      current spreading layer showed improved optical power emission as well as
      improvement in electrical properties. 

PMID- 25830931
TI  - Association between the CD24 Ala57Val polymorphism and risk for multiple
      sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus: a meta-analysis.
AB  - The cluster of differentiation 24 (CD24) Ala57Val polymorphism has been
      implicated as a risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS) and systemic lupus
      erythematosus (SLE); however, genetic studies have produced controversial
      results. A meta-analysis was performed on this topic. We used odds ratio (OR) and
      95% confidence interval (95% CI) to investigate the strength of association.
      Eleven studies from nine publications consisting of 2466 cases and 2650 controls
      were included. The results suggested that the CD24 Val/Val genotypes were
      associated with an increased risk of MS in all study subjects and Caucasians (OR
      = 2.28, 95% CI: 1.68-3.10, Pz < 0.001 and OR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.66-3.20, Pz <
      0.001, respectively). Sensitivity analysis showed that no individual study was
      found to be significantly biasing the pooled results. Although meta-analysis also
      suggested an association between the CD24 Val/Val genotypes and SLE risk in
      Caucasians (OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.31-2.24, Pz < 0.001), sensitivity analysis
      demonstrated that the association was not statistically significant after
      removing a Spanish study. In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggests that the
      CD24 Ala57Val polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of MS in
      Caucasians. However, the available evidence is not sufficient to support an
      association between the CD24 Ala57Val polymorphism and SLE risk. 

PMID- 25830933
TI  - Producing The Lancet and University College London Commission on Culture and
      Health.

PMID- 25830934
TI  - Impact of Device-Associated Infection on Trauma Patient Outcomes at a Major
      Trauma Center.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) and ventilator
      associated pneumonia (VAP) are considered performance measures. We analyzed the
      incidence, prevalence, and risk of CAUTI and VAP in trauma patients, as well as
      the demographic and injury factors related to these infections and their relative
      risks of negative outcomes (prolonged length of stay [LOS], sepsis, and death).
      METHODS: Trauma registry data were analyzed (age >18 y; LOS >24 h) from January
      1, 2007, to December 31, 2011. Demographics and injury location, severity, and
      type were analyzed relative to outcomes along with device-associated infection,
      as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outcomes
      analyzed were intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital LOS, sepsis, and in-hospital
      death. Multivariable logistic regression was then used to identify the factors
      contributing to sepsis, including device-associated infections. RESULTS: The
      included population (n=10,755) was 66.6% male and had a mean age of 45.1 y, with
      blunt trauma in 91.8% and a median Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 10 points.
      Patients developing CAUTI (n=324; 3.0%; p<0.005) were more likely to be female
      (59.4%), had a higher median ISS (20.5), and were older (56.7 years). Patients
      with VAP (n=161; 1.5%; p<0.005) had a higher median ISS (27). Patients with
      sepsis (n=149; 1.4%; p<0.005) had a higher median ISS (24.0) and were older (52.3
      y). Sepsis was associated with prolonged LOS and death, as expected (p<0.005). In
      multivariable analysis, independent predictors of sepsis were CAUTI (odds ratio
      [OR] 16.15; p<0.001), VAP (OR 6.95; p<0.001), ISS (OR 1.05 per unit; p<0.001),
      age (OR 1.02 per year; p<0.001), and penetrating, abdominal, pelvic, or chest
      injury. CONCLUSION: Development of CAUTI and VAP are significantly associated
      with a higher risk of sepsis in trauma patients after adjustment for age and
      injury type, location, and severity. This study suggests the importance of device
      associated infections as vectors for sepsis in trauma and highlights the
      importance of prevention initiatives.

PMID- 25830935
TI  - Perioperative bleeding in patients undergoing liver transplantation.
AB  - Liver transplantation (LT) remains one of the most challenging surgical
      procedures. For many years uncontrolled bleeding and catastrophic haemorrhages
      were one of the major causes of perioperative mortality and morbidity. During the
      past fifty years or so, significant progress in surgical techniques and
      perioperative management has led to a marked change in transfusion practice over
      time, where up to 79.6% of LTs in experienced transplant centers are performed
      without any blood product transfusion. Despite this, perioperative bleeding and
      transfusion requirements remain potent predictors of patient's mortality, as well
      as postoperative complications and graft survival. The major impact of blood
      product transfusion on LT recipient outcomes implies that all patients on waiting
      lists should be carefully screened for the presence of risk factors of
      perioperative bleeding. Although multiple predictors of transfusion requirements
      during LT have been identified, no predictive model validated across centers has
      been constructed. The most suitable strategies to reduce intraoperative blood
      loss in this group should be employed on a case-to-case basis. This paper aims to
      summarize the most up-to-date evidence in the management of haemostasis in LT
      recipients. 

PMID- 25830936
TI  - A combination of KingVision video-laryngoscope and flexible fibroscope for awake
      intubation in patient with laryngeal tumor--case report and literature review.

PMID- 25830937
TI  - Pyeloduodenal fistula diagnosed by esophagogastroduodenoscopy.

PMID- 25830938
TI  - Malnutrition in South Asia-A Critical Reappraisal.
AB  - Malnutrition continues to be a major public health challenge especially in South
      Asian developing countries. The aim of the present review is to spotlight the
      magnitude of the prevalence of malnutrition and its dynamics in South Asian
      region and to suggest potential approaches for the prevention and control of this
      issue of public health significance. An extensive review of literature, covering
      malnutrition and its determinants, health and economic consequences and pragmatic
      preventive strategies was performed on computer based bibliographic databases
      (PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Medline and Sciencedirect.com ) to retrieve
      abstracts and full texts for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
      All relevant titles and abstracts were examined and evaluated for malnutrition
      and its prevalence in South Asia. The results revealed malnutrition to be a major
      public health problem and a potential cause of high disease burden and mortality
      in South Asia. Compelling evidence suggests malnutrition to be the leading cause
      of stunting, wasting and underweight with drastic economic consequences among
      vulnerable populations. Reduced cognitive performance and low productivity have
      also been associated with micronutrients malnutrition. Suboptimal breastfeeding,
      inadequate food supply, micronutrient deficiencies, low household income, poor
      health care system, increased healthcare costs, illiteracy, unhygienic and
      substandard living, inappropriate child's care and the caregiver, food insecurity
      and on top of that vicious cycle of poverty, have been recognized as principal
      indicators for growing malnutrition prevalence in South Asia. Global
      organizations, local governments, program managers, NGOs, academia, industry in
      particular and the society at large need to take up the challenge to completely
      confiscate malnutrition from the region for economic prosperity and a healthier
      future. 

PMID- 25830939
TI  - Ethanolamine oleate versus botulinum toxin in the treatment of idiopathic
      achalasia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Botulinum toxin (BT) injection reduces lower esophageal sphincter
      pressure and alleviates symptoms in idiopathic achalasia (IA). Ethanolamine
      oleate (EO) has also been introduced for the treatment of IA. We compared the
      long-term efficacy of BT and EO injections in the treatment of IA. METHODS: A
      total of 189 IA patients were evaluated prospectively, of whom 21 were unwilling
      to undergo or were poor candidates for pneumatic balloon dilation and Heller
      myotomy and were enrolled in the study. Eleven patients were treated by BT, and
      10 by EO injections. Patients were followed up by achalasia symptom score (ASS),
      timed barium esophagogram (TBE), and high-resolution manometry at baseline and
      post-treatment. A good initial response was defined as a decrease in ASS to 4 or
      less, and a reduction in barium column height and volume in TBE by >50%. RESULTS:
      All 10 EO group patients and 10 of 11 BT group patients showed a good initial
      response. Four EO group relapsers and 6 BT group relapsers were managed
      effectively by re-injections. Mean duration of follow up was 27.38 months. On
      completion of the study, a sustained good response was seen in 9 and 6 patients
      in EO and BT groups, respectively (P=0.149). CONCLUSION: This study revealed that
      BT and EO have comparable efficacy in the treatment of IA. However, the cost of
      EO is about 2 times lower than BT.

PMID- 25830940
TI  - Retraction notice to "Antimicrobial secondary metabolites from marine gastropod
      egg capsules and egg masses".
AB  - [This retracts the article DOI: 10.1016/S2221-1691(12)60253-6.][This retracts the
      article DOI: 10.1016/S2221-1691(12)60253-6.].

PMID- 25830941
TI  - Risk of Suicide Among US Military Service Members Following Operation Enduring
      Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom Deployment and Separation From the US
      Military.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: A pressing question in military suicide prevention research is
      whether deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi
      Freedom relates to suicide risk. Prior smaller studies report differing results
      and often have not included suicides that occurred after separation from military
      service. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between deployment and suicide
      among all 3.9 million US military personnel who served during Operation Enduring
      Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom, including suicides that occurred after
      separation. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort design
      used administrative data to identify dates of deployment for all service members
      (October 7, 2001, to December 31, 2007) and suicide data (October 7, 2001, to
      December 31, 2009) to estimate rates of suicide-specific mortality. Hazard ratios
      were estimated from time-dependent Cox proportional hazards regression models to
      compare deployed service members with those who did not deploy. MAIN OUTCOMES AND
      MEASURES: Suicide mortality from the Department of Defense Medical Mortality
      Registry and the National Death Index. RESULTS: Deployment was not associated
      with the rate of suicide (hazard ratio, 0.96; 99% CI, 0.87-1.05). There was an
      increased rate of suicide associated with separation from military service
      (hazard ratio, 1.63; 99% CI, 1.50-1.77), regardless of whether service members
      had deployed or not. Rates of suicide were also elevated for service members who
      separated with less than 4 years of military service or who did not separate with
      an honorable discharge. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Findings do not support an
      association between deployment and suicide mortality in this cohort. Early
      military separation (<4 years) and discharge that is not honorable were suicide
      risk factors.

PMID- 25830942
TI  - Development of small diameter nanofiber tissue engineered arterial grafts.
AB  - The surgical repair of heart and vascular disease often requires implanting
      synthetic grafts. While synthetic grafts have been successfully used for medium
      to-large sized arteries, applications for small diameter arteries (<6 mm) is
      limited due to high rates of occlusion by thrombosis. Our objective was to
      develop a tissue engineered vascular graft (TEVG) for small diameter arteries.
      TEVGs composed of polylactic acid nanofibers with inner luminal diameter between
      0.5 and 0.6 mm were surgically implanted as infra-renal aortic interposition
      conduits in 25 female C17SCID/bg mice. Twelve mice were given sham operations.
      Survival of mice with TEVG grafts was 91.6% at 12 months post-implantation (sham
      group: 83.3%). No instances of graft stenosis or aneurysmal dilatation were
      observed over 12 months post-implantation, assessed by Doppler ultrasound and
      microCT. Histologic analysis of explanted TEVG grafts showed presence of CD31
      positive endothelial monolayer and F4/80-positive macrophages after 4, 8, and 12
      months in vivo. Cells positive for alpha-smooth muscle actin were observed within
      TEVG, demonstrating presence of smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Neo-extracellular
      matrix consisting mostly of collagen types I and III were observed at 12 months
      post-implantation. PCR analysis supports histological observations. TEVG group
      showed significant increases in expressions of SMC marker, collagen-I and III,
      matrix metalloproteinases-2 and 9, and itgam (a macrophage marker), when compared
      to sham group. Overall, patency rates were excellent at 12 months after
      implantation, as structural integrity of these TEVG. Tissue analysis also
      demonstrated vessel remodeling by autologous cell. 

PMID- 25830944
TI  - Antioxidant activity and nutritional status in anorexia nervosa: effects of
      weight recovery.
AB  - Few studies are focused on the antioxidant status and its changes in anorexia
      nervosa (AN). Based on the hypothesis that renutrition improves that status, the
      aim was to determine the plasma antioxidant status and the antioxidant enzymes
      activity at the beginning of a personalized nutritional program (T0) and after
      recovering normal body mass index (BMI) (T1). The relationship between changes in
      BMI and biochemical parameters was determined. Nutritional intake, body
      composition, anthropometric, hematological and biochemical parameters were
      studied in 25 women with AN (19.20 +/- 6.07 years). Plasma antioxidant capacity
      and antioxidant enzymes activity were measured. Mean time to recover normal
      weight was 4.1 +/- 2.44 months. Energy, macronutrients and micronutrients intake
      improved. Catalase activity was significantly modified after dietary intake
      improvement and weight recovery (T0 = 25.04 +/- 1.97 vs. T1 = 35.54 +/- 2.60
      MUmol/min/mL; p < 0.01). Total antioxidant capacity increased significantly after
      gaining weight (T0 = 1033.03 +/- 34.38 vs. T1 = 1504.61 +/- 99.73 MUmol/L; p <
      0.01). Superoxide dismutase activity decreased (p < 0.05) and glutathione
      peroxidase did not change. Our results support an association between nutrition
      improvement and weight gain in patients with AN, followed by an enhancement of
      antioxidant capacity and catalase antioxidant system.

PMID- 25830945
TI  - Monounsaturated fatty acids-rich diets in hypercholesterolemic-growing rats.
AB  - The effects of replacing dietary saturated fat by different monounsaturated fatty
      acid (omega-9MUFA) sources on serum lipids, body fat and bone in growing
      hypercholesterolemic rats were studied. Rats received one of the six different
      diets: AIN-93G (control, C); extra virgin olive oil (OO) + C; high-oleic
      sunflower oil (HOSO) + C or atherogenic diet (AT) for 8 weeks; the remaining two
      groups received AT for 3 weeks and then, the saturated fat was replaced by an oil
      mixture of soybean oil added with OO or HOSO for 5 weeks. Rats consuming MUFA
      rich diets showed the highest body fat, hepatic index and epididymal, intestinal
      and perirenal fat, and triglycerides. T-chol and non-HDL-chol were increased in
      HOSO rats but decreased in OO rats. Bone mineral content and density were higher
      in both OO and HOSO groups than in AT rats. This study casts caution to the
      generalization of the benefits of MUFA for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia.

PMID- 25830946
TI  - Validation of a food frequency questionnaire for use in Italian adults living in
      Sicily.
AB  - The objective of this study was to validate two interviewer-led food frequency
      questionnaires (FFQs) of very different lengths: a medium-length FFQ (medium-FFQ)
      of 36 items and a short-length FFQ (short-FFQ) of 18 items, intending to measure
      levels of intakes in a local population. Both FFQs were validated against intakes
      derived from a 3-day dietary record (3-day DR). Sixty-five non-diabetic adults
      with no known cardiovascular, renal or other systemic diseases were included.
      High correlation coefficients between the FFQ and the 3-day DR (0.45-0.73) were
      observed for energy intake, carbohydrates and lipid and protein intake. Bland
      Altman plots showed good agreement between the methods. Low (0.26-0.37)
      correlation coefficients of the different nutrient intakes obtained with the
      short-FFQ and the 3-day DR were observed, with the exception of alcohol intake
      (rho = 0.49). This study showed promising evidence for the use of a medium-FFQ as
      a potentially useful tool for investigating the relationship between habitual
      diet and diseases in clinical and research settings. 

PMID- 25830947
TI  - Impact of probiotics during weaning on the metabolic and inflammatory profile:
      follow-up at school age.
AB  - We hypothesised that feeding the probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei
      F19 (LF19) (dep. nr LMG P-17806) during weaning would program the metabolic and
      inflammatory profile and studied its association with previously assessed body
      composition. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 179 infants were
      randomised to daily feeding of cereals with or without LF19 10(8) CFU from 4 to
      13 months of age. At age 8-9 years, 120 children were re-assessed. Using high
      sensitivity multiplex immunoassay technology and ELISA, we found that
      overweight/obese children had increased plasma C-peptide, plasminogen activator
      inhibitor-1, leptin and serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) after
      overnight fasting compared with normal weight children, independently of LF19.
      After excluding the obese, leptin and hsCRP were still increased, revealing an
      aberrant metabolic and inflammatory state already in overweight, pre-pubertal
      children. Higher body mass index z-score, sagittal abdominal diameter, truncal
      and total body fat % were associated with an aberrant metabolic and inflammatory
      profile, emphasising the need for early prevention strategies although no
      programming effect of LF19 was observed. 

PMID- 25830943
TI  - B vitamins, homocysteine and bone health.
AB  - Nutrition is one of the most important modifiable factors involved in the
      development and maintenance of good bone health. Calcium and Vitamin D have
      confirmed and established roles in the maintenance of proper bone health.
      However, other nutritional factors could also be implicated. This review will
      explore the emerging evidence of the supporting role of certain B Vitamins as
      modifiable factors associated with bone health. Individuals with high levels of
      homocysteine (hcy) exhibit reduced bone mineral density (BMD), alteration in
      microarchitecture and increased bone fragility. The pathophysiology caused by
      high serum homocysteine is not completely clear regarding fractures, but it may
      involve factors, such as bone mineral density, bone turnover, bone blood flow and
      collagen cross-linking. It is uncertain whether supplementation with B Vitamins,
      such as folate, Vitamin B1, and Vitamin B6, could decrease hip fracture
      incidence, but the results of further clinical trials should be awaited before a
      conclusion is drawn. 

PMID- 25830948
TI  - Black soybean extract reduces fatty acid contents in subcutaneous, but not in
      visceral adipose triglyceride in high-fat fed rats.
AB  - It is known that black soybean (BS) extract, rich in polyphenols, has beneficial
      effects against obesity, inflammation and insulin resistance. However, detailed
      effects of BS on lipid metabolism have not been documented well. In the present
      study, we compared fatty acid composition in visceral and subcutaneous adipose
      tissues of high-fat fed (HFF) rats and BS administered HFF rats. Black soybean
      administration for 6 weeks influenced neither body nor adipose tissue weights,
      blood glucose, plasma insulin levels, or insulin sensitivity. However, BS reduced
      several saturated (C14:0 and C16:0), monounsaturated (C14:1n-5 and C18:1n-9) and
      n-6 polyunsaturated (C18:2n-6, C20:3n-6, C20:4n-6 and C22:4n-6) fatty acid
      contents in subcutaneous fat without any change in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid
      contents. No such effect was observed in fatty acid composition in visceral fat.
      Long-chain fatty acids are involved in regulation of inflammation. Therefore,
      those reduced fatty acids may be linked to the effects on suppressing
      inflammation. 

PMID- 25830950
TI  - Access to tuberculosis services for individuals with disability in rural Malawi,
      a qualitative study.
AB  - Tuberculosis occurs in all populations, but with higher prevalence in poor
      contexts. Vulnerable groups, including individuals with disability, run a
      particular risk due to poorer access to information and health services. Studying
      access to tuberculosis services for vulnerable groups in poor contexts may
      provide useful insight into the quality of such services in low-income contexts.
      This article aims to present a contextual understanding of access to tuberculosis
      services for people with disabilities in one district in southern Malawi. A
      qualitative method with semi-structured interviews and site observations was
      applied. In all, 89 participants were interviewed: 47 persons with disability, 11
      parents/guardians of youths with disability, and the remaining 31 comprising
      eight health workers, four community rehabilitation assistants and volunteers,
      and 19 leaders in the community.Our main findings are that lack of information
      and knowledge, and considerable confusion related to tuberculosis, its cause and
      how to protect oneself, are major barrier to accessing services. Disease
      awareness and personal risk perception are key factors in this regard. Further
      findings concerns the pathways to tuberculosis related health services, in
      particular having a test and completing the treatment. The combination of lack of
      knowledge and barriers in accessing tests implies substantial availability and
      access problems.It is of importance to understand the combined impact of
      individual, social, contextual, and systems barriers to fully address the
      complexity of accessing tuberculosis services for vulnerable groups in poor
      populations. Lack of disability specific strategies in the local health services
      may be part of the reason why individuals with disability to not access such
      services. 

PMID- 25830949
TI  - Current endoscopic ultrasound-guided approach to incidental subepithelial
      lesions: optimal or optional?
AB  - Subepithelial lesions (SEL) are identified during endoscopic procedures on a
      regular basis. They can occur anywhere in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and are
      located beneath the normal epithelial layer, which explains why a tissue
      diagnosis is difficult to obtain with routine biopsies. Endoscopic ultrasound
      (EUS) is used to further characterize these lesions. EUS can distinguish
      intramural lesion from extramural compression. Furthermore, it allows allocation
      of intramural lesions to a specific layer of the GI wall and offers additional
      information as to whether a lesion could be benign or malignant. EUS also assists
      in choosing the optimal means of tissue acquisition. The choice of tissue
      acquisition is based on a number of factors, such as tumor size, EUS features,
      and location within the GI tract or within a specific layer of the GI wall.
      Furthermore, local expertise and patient factors should be considered when
      deciding whether tissue acquisition, surgical intervention or follow up is
      recommended. In this review we offer an EUS-guided approach to the evaluation of
      incidental SEL based on current evidence and point out areas of uncertainty,
      which explain why the proposed algorithmic approach may be optional rather than
      optimal.

PMID- 25830952
TI  - Diabetes Text-Message Self-Management Support Program (SMS4BG): A Pilot Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The increasing prevalence of diabetes and costly long-term
      complications associated with poor glycemic control are issues facing health
      services worldwide. Diabetes self-management, with the support of health care
      providers, is critical for successful outcomes, however, frequent clinical
      contact is costly. Text messages via short message service (SMS) have the
      advantage of instant transmission at low cost and, given the ubiquity of mobile
      phones, may be the ideal platform for the delivery of diabetes self-management
      support. A tailored text message-based diabetes support intervention called Self
      Management Support for Blood Glucose (SMS4BG) was developed. The intervention
      incorporates prompts around diabetes education, management, and lifestyle factors
      (healthy eating, exercise, and stress management), as well as blood glucose
      monitoring reminders, and is tailored to patient preferences and clinical
      characteristics. OBJECTIVE: To determine the usability and acceptability of
      SMS4BG among adults with poorly controlled diabetes. METHODS: Adults (aged 17 to
      69 years) with type 1 (n=12) or type 2 diabetes (n=30), a hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)
      over 70 mmol/mol (8.6%), and who owned a mobile phone (n=42) were recruited to
      take part in a 3-month pilot study of SMS4BG. At registration, participants
      selected the modules they would like to receive and, where appropriate, the
      frequency and timing of blood glucose monitoring reminders. Patient satisfaction
      and perceptions of the usability of the program were obtained via semistructured
      phone interviews conducted at completion of the pilot study. HbA1c was obtained
      from patient records at baseline and completion of the pilot study. RESULTS:
      Participants received on average 109 messages during the 3-month program with 2
      participants withdrawing early from the study. Follow-up interviews were
      completed with 93% of participants with all reporting SMS4BG to be useful and
      appropriate to their age and culture. Participants reported a range of perceived
      positive impacts of SMS4BG on their diabetes and health behaviors. HbA1c results
      indicated a positive impact of the program on glycemic control with a significant
      decrease in HbA1c from baseline to follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: A tailored text
      message-based intervention is both acceptable and useful in supporting self
      management in people with poorly controlled diabetes. A randomized controlled
      trial of longer duration is needed to assess the efficacy and sustainability of
      SMS4BG.

PMID- 25830951
TI  - Intravenous infusion of monocytes isolated from 2-week-old mice enhances
      clearance of Beta-amyloid plaques in an Alzheimer mouse model.
AB  - Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the deposition of beta-amyloid
      (Abeta) senile plaques and tau-associated neurofibrillary tangles. Other disease
      features include neuroinflammation and cholinergic neurodegeneration, indicating
      their possible importance in disease propagation. Recent studies have shown that
      monocytic cells can migrate into the AD brain toward Abeta plaques and reduce
      plaque burden. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the
      administration of intravenous infusions of 'young' CD11b-positive (+) monocytes
      into an AD mouse model can enhance Abeta plaque clearance and attenuate cognitive
      deficits. Peripheral monocytes were isolated from two-week-old wildtype mice
      using the Pluriselect CD11b+ isolation method and characterized by FACS analysis
      for surface marker expression and effective phagocytosis of 1 MUm fluorescent
      microspheres, FITC-Dextran or FITC-Abeta1-42. The isolated monocytes were infused
      via the tail vein into a transgenic AD mouse model, which expresses the Swedish,
      Dutch/Iowa APP mutations (APPSwDI). The infusions began when animals reached 5
      months of age, when little plaque deposition is apparent and were repeated again
      at 6 and 7 months of age. At 8 months of age, brains were analyzed for Abeta+
      plaques, inflammatory processes and microglial (Iba1) activation. Our data show
      that infusions of two-week-old CD11b+ monocytes into adult APPSwDI mice results
      in a transient improvement of memory function, a reduction (30%) in Abeta plaque
      load and significantly in small (<20 MUm) and large (>40 MUm) plaques. In
      addition, we observe a reduction in Iba1+ cells, as well as no marked elevations
      in cytokine levels or other indicators of inflammation. Taken together, our
      findings indicate that young CD11b+ monocytes may serve as therapeutic candidates
      for improved Abeta clearance in AD. 

PMID- 25830953
TI  - Electrical Properties and Defect Chemistry of In-Doped TiO2 in Terms of the
      Jonker Formalism.
AB  - The present work considers the semiconducting properties of In-doped TiO2 in
      terms of the Jonker formalism applied for both electrical conductivity and
      thermoelectric power data determined simultaneously in equilibrium with the gas
      phase of controlled oxygen activity. It is shown that the electrical properties
      of In-doped TiO2 annealed in oxidizing conditions [p(O2) > 10 Pa] can be
      described by the Jonker formalism very well. However, annealing of In-doped TiO2
      in strongly reducing conditions [p(O2) < 10(-10) Pa], imposed by the gas phase
      involving hydrogen, results in a deviation of the experimental data from the
      Jonker's theoretical model derived for the Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics. This
      departure is considered in terms of the effect of hydrogen on the formation of
      structural domains, which are expected to be entirely different from those of
      oxidized TiO2 in terms of its electronic properties. It is argued that In-doped
      TiO2 annealed in the gas phase involving hydrogen exhibits a high concentration
      of donor-type ionic defects, which lead to the formation of high concentration of
      electrons. The related semiconducting properties are inconsistent with the model
      of classical semiconductor where the electrons are described by the Maxwell
      Boltzmann statistics. It is concluded that strong interactions within the
      electron gas lead, in consequence, to the behavior resembling correlated
      transport of electrons. The obtained results suggest that indium incorporation
      into the rutile structure of TiO2 results in the formation of structural
      properties that exhibit extraordinary charge transport. 

PMID- 25830954
TI  - Investigation of recovery of volatiles of Bidens tripartita L. using solid-phase
      extraction trap in supercritical fluid extraction.
AB  - Recovery of Bidens tripartita L. volatiles using supercritical CO2 extraction
      with solid-phase trap was performed in this study. Three points were analyzed:
      the impact of rinse solvent (heptane, methanol or acetonitrile) for analytes
      desorption from the trap; the impact of the amount of plant material used for
      extraction; the release of volatiles from plant matrix using multiple extraction.
      alpha-Pinene, p-cymene, beta-ocimene, and beta-elemene were predominant in all
      extracts prepared in different ways. beta-Ocimene was the main compound (40-46%)
      in all extracts despite of the solvent used. No significant difference between
      the amount of alpha-pinene observed using different trap desorption solvent,
      while heptane desorbed significantly higher amounts (12-31%) of other compounds.
      The composition of volatiles using different amount of sample showed both
      qualitative and quantitative differences. The study showed different extraction
      extent of the main compounds during the first and repeated extractions. 

PMID- 25830955
TI  - Theoretical considerations regarding the thione-thiol tautomerism in 2-(5
      mercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-ylthio)acetic acid.
AB  - The acidity constants Ka1 and Ka2 of 2-(5-mercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2
      ylthio)acetic acid have been determined both by experimental and theoretical
      methods. pKa computations at B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) level of theory were carried out
      for the two tautomeric forms, thiol and thione, of the above-mentioned acid.
      Comparisons between the experimental and theoretical values led to the
      establishing of the most stable tautomer of 2-(5-mercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2
      ylthio)acetic acid in aqueous solution. Also, a DFT study regarding the
      reactivity, aromaticity and population analysis of the two tautomers has been
      performed. 

PMID- 25830956
TI  - Spectroscopic methods and theoretical studies of bromoacetyl substituted
      derivatives of bile acids.
AB  - The structure of seven bromoacetic substituted derivatives of bile acids are
      characterized by 1H MMR, 13C NMR, 2D NMR, FT-IR and mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) as
      well as PM5 semiempirical and B3LYP ab initio methods. Estimation of the
      pharmacotherapeutic potential has been accomplished for the synthesized compounds
      on the basis of Prediction of Activity Spectra for Substances (PASS). 

PMID- 25830957
TI  - Composite electrodes with carbon supported Ru nanoparticles for H2O2 detection.
AB  - A new carbon paste electrode (CPE) incorporating Ru - nanoparticles (RuNP)
      stabilized on graphite powder was developed for H(2)O(2) amperometric detection.
      Cyclic voltammetric measurements, performed in phosphate buffer solutions at
      different potential scan rates and different potential ranges were carried out in
      order to evaluate the electrochemical behavior of the CPE-RuNP modified
      electrodes. From amperometric measurements performed at -0.1 V vs. Ag/AgCl,
      KClsat, the electrocatalytic efficiency toward H(2)O(2) reduction was evaluated
      and it was found in the range: 28.47% (CPE) < 94.81% (CPE-RuNP (2.5:1)) < 118.19
      % (CPE-RuNP (2.5:3)) < 152.43% (CPE-RuNP (2.5:2), recommending the new electrodes
      as promising sensors for hydrogen peroxide detection.

PMID- 25830958
TI  - Theoretical and experimental study of organic nano-material for acetate anion
      based on 1, 10-phenanthroline.
AB  - New phenanthroline derivatives (1, 2, 3, 4) containing phenol groups have been
      synthesized and optimized. The nano-material of compound 2 was also developed.
      Their binding properties were evaluated for various biological anions (F(-), Cl(
      ), Br(-), I(-), AcO(-) and H(2)PO(4)(-)) by theoretical investigation, UV-vis,
      fluorescence, (1)HNMR titration experiments and these compounds all showed strong
      binding ability for AcO(-) without the interference of other anions tested. The
      anion binding ability could be regularized by electron push-pull properties of
      the ortho- or para- substituent on benzene. Theoretical investigation analysis
      revealed the effect of intramolecular hydrogen bond existed between -OH and other
      atoms in the structure of these compounds.

PMID- 25830959
TI  - Development and validation of chromatographic methods for simultaneous
      determination of ibuprofen and famotidine in presence of related substances in
      pharmaceutical formulations.
AB  - Two validated methods for the simultaneous determination of ibuprofen and
      famotidine in the presence of ibuprofen impurity (4-isobutylacetophenone) and or
      famotidine degradation products were described. The first method was a simple TLC
      method where separation was performed on silica gel platesusing ethyl acetate:
      methanol: ammonia (9:2:1, by volume) as a mobile phase. Rf values were found to
      be 0.40, 0.94, 0.66, 0.27, 0.83 for ibuprofen, 4-isobutylacetophenone,
      famotidine, famotidine acid and basic degradation products, respectively. The
      second method is by HPLC on C18 column using methanol: phosphate buffer pH 3
      (80:20, v/v) as a mobile phase. Retention times were found to be 2.2, 9.9, and
      8.6 for famotidine, ibuprofen, and 4-isobutylacetophenone, respectively. Both
      methods were validated according to the ICH guidelines and applied for the
      determination of the two drugs in pure powder and combined dosage form without
      interference from the excipients. 

PMID- 25830960
TI  - The influence of Co/Sr and Fe/Sr driers on film formation of high solid alkyd
      coatings.
AB  - High solid (HS) alkyd resins with low amount of volatile organic compounds (VOC)
      were developed as the result of new VOC solvent directive that limit the amount
      of VOC in decorative paints. Due to specific chemical structure of HS alkyd
      resins and possible deterioration of some applicative properties the optimal
      combination of driers is an important subject of research. In our present work we
      studied the influence of iron (Fe) and cobalt (Co) surface driers with strontium
      (Sr) through drier on the film formation of HS alkyd coatings. The kinetics of
      autoxidation was analysed using FT-IR spectroscopy. Further, applicative
      properties like drying time and film hardness were examined. In the end,
      electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to evaluate the quality of
      cured HS alkyd coating films after exposure in the humidity chamber. It was
      established that the addition of the Sr drier to surface driers accelerates the
      film formation process. As higher amounts of the Sr drier were added, final
      drying times were reduced and film hardness increased. The highest quality of
      cured films were observed for Co/Sr and Fe/Sr drier combination at 1:1
      concentration ratio. 

PMID- 25830961
TI  - A Four-step Synthesis of Novel (S)-1-(heteroaryl)-1-aminoethanes from (S)-Boc
      alanine.
AB  - A series of (S)-1-(pyrimidin-4-yl)-, and regioisomeric (S)-1-(pyrazolo[1,5
      a]pyrimidin-7-yl)-, and (S)-1-(pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-5-yl)ethan-1-amines were
      prepared by cyclisation of (S)-N-Boc-alanine-derived ynone with N,N-1,3
      dinucleophiles, such as amidines and alpha-aminoazoles, followed by acidolytic
      removal of the Boc group. Stereoselective catalytic hydrogenation of (S)-1
      (pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-7-yl)ethanamines lead to saturation of the pyrimidine
      ring to afford ~4:1 mixture of diastereomeric 4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5
      a]pyrimidines. The structures of novel compounds were elucidated with NMR. 

PMID- 25830962
TI  - Quality by design based optimization of a high performance liquid chromatography
      method for assay determination of low concentration preservatives in complex
      nasal formulations.
AB  - The effects of seven different chromatographic parameters and five sample
      preparation parameters in a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method
      for assay determination of benzalkonium chloride (BKC) in a nasal formulation
      were evaluated using two fractional factorial experimental designs. The design
      space of the analytical method was modeled using Umetrics Modde software and the
      optimal method conditions were predicted. The optimum HPLC chromatographic
      conditions were obtained using a Luna CN column (150 x 4.6 mm, 3 um). The results
      show that mobile phase pH, amount of acetonitrile in the mobile phase and column
      temperature are the most important factors in obtaining good separation of BKC
      homologs from an interfering peak. In the sample preparation step, the use of an
      aqueous solution for dissolving the samples was the most important factor since
      it eliminated the interfering effect of the active compound. The optimal method
      was validated for linearity, accuracy and precision. The use of experimental
      designs enables obtaining the maximum amount of information with the least
      possible number of experiments. Such designs are an economical manner in
      evaluating a variety of different factors and their interactions. 

PMID- 25830963
TI  - Initial conditioning of polymer eelectrolyte membrane fuel cell by temperature
      and potential cycling.
AB  - Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells need initial conditioning, activation or
      break-in the first time they are operated after being assembled. During this
      period performance of the fuel cell improves until it reaches its nominal
      performance. The exact mechanism of this initial conditioning is not completely
      understood, but it is assumed that during the conditioning process the polymer
      membrane, as well as the polymer in the catalyst layer, get humidified, and the
      number of active catalyst sites increases. Activation procedure proposed here
      consists of temperature and potential cycling. Temperature cycling is a new
      approach for the conditioning and the idea is to rapidly cool the running cell at
      some point to allow the membrane to equilibrate with condensed water which should
      result in higher intake of water within the membrane. The results show that
      proposed procedure is better or at least comparable to some conventional
      procedures for the initial conditioning. 

PMID- 25830964
TI  - Synthesis, X-ray structural and thermal analysis of a novel copper compound
      containing dissymmetric independent 5- and 6-coordinate CuL(H2O)n (n = 2, 3)
      units and hydrogen bond bridges.
AB  - The synthesis, thermogravimetric and X-ray structure analysis of a highly unusual
      copper compound prepared from a chiral tridentate Schiff base ligand is reported.
      The title compound [CuL(H(2)O(2)]. CuL(H(2)O(3)].H(2)O crystallizes in the
      orthorhombic crystal system in space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) with Z = 4. Two
      independent CuL(H(2)O)(n) complexes are present in the same unit cell, one five-
      and the other six- coordinate. The five-coordinate copper(II) centre occupies a
      distorted square-pyramidal geometry whereas the six-coordinate copper(II) centre
      has a distorted octahedral geometry. The independent copper complexes and the
      uncoordinated water molecule are joined together with intermolecular hydrogen
      bonds in a two-dimensional supramolecular network which lies parallel to the ab
      plane.

PMID- 25830965
TI  - N-Functionalized L-proline anchored MCM-41: a novel organic-inorganic hybrid
      material for solvent-free aminolysis of styrene oxide under microwave
      irradiation.
AB  - A novel organic-inorganic hybrid material, namely L-prol-N-pMCM-41, was
      synthesized via two steps by covalently anchoring N-functionalized proline
      derivative (L-prol-N-pTMS) into the pore channels of MCM-41 silica. The prepared
      material was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis
      (TGA), nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET)
      surface area analysis, and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The
      immobilized catalyst demonstrated moderate to high catalytic activity and
      excellent regioselectivity for the ring opening of styrene oxide with aniline
      derivatives under microwave irradiation and solvent-free conditions. The catalyst
      could be rapidly separated from the reaction mixture and reused up to five runs
      with good conversion and high regioselectivity. 

PMID- 25830966
TI  - CuI nanoparticles as a remarkable catalyst in the synthesis of
      benzo[b][1,5]diazepines: an eco-friendly approach.
AB  - Highly efficient CuI nanoparticles catalyzed one-pot synthesis of some
      benzo[b][1,5]diazepine derivatives via multi-component condensation of aromatic
      diamines, Meldrum's acid and isocyanides. The present approach creates a variety
      of benzo[b][1,5]diazepines as pharmaceutical and biologically active heterocyclic
      compounds in excellent yields and short reaction times. The salient features of
      the copper iodide nanoparticles are: easy preparation, cost-effective, high
      stability, low loading and reusability of the catalyst. The prepared copper
      iodide nanoparticles were fully characterized by XRD, EDX, FT-IR, SEM and TEM
      analysis. 

PMID- 25830967
TI  - Application of mesoporous SBA-15 silica functionalized with 4-amino-2
      mercaptopyrimidine for the adsorption of Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), Ni(II), and
      Pb(II) from water.
AB  - This work reports the sol-gel synthesis of a SBA-15 silica, and its
      functionalization with 4-amino-2-mercaptopyrimidine to perform adsorption of
      metal species from aqueous media. The functionalization of the material was
      confirmed by FTIR and superficial area measurements. The final material was
      tested through batch experiments to uncover its adsorptive properties towards the
      adsorption of Cu(II), Cd(II), Zn(II), Pb(II) and Ni(II). Contact time and pH
      conditions were investigated, and the material presented slow adsorption
      kinetics, which was best described by the pseudo-second order model. In addition,
      at pH 5 - 6, the adsorption of the metal ions was favored. Under optimized
      conditions, the material had its maximum adsorption capacities determined for all
      metal species studied, and the obtained values were 13.0 umol g(-1) for Zn(II),
      12.3 umol g(-1) for Cu(II), 3.45 umol g(-1) for Ni(II), 2.45 umol g(-1) for
      Pb(II) and 0.60 umol g(-1) for Cd(II). The capacity differences between each
      metal ion were discussed in terms of their ionic radii and Person's soft/hard
      acids/bases concept.

PMID- 25830968
TI  - Synthesis, structure characterization, DNA binding, and cleavage properties of
      mononuclear and tetranuclear cluster of copper(II) complexes.
AB  - Two copper(II) complexes, cluster 1, and mononuclear 2, have been synthesized by
      reacting acetylacetone and benzohydrazide (1:1 ratio for 1 and 1:2 ratio for 2)
      with CuCl(2) in a methanol solution. In 2, which is a new complex, the ligand
      acts as a tetradentate which binds the metal ion via two amide-O atoms and two
      imine-N atoms providing an N(2)O(2) square-planar around the copper(II) ion. The
      absorption spectra data evidence strongly suggested that the two copper(II)
      compounds could interact with CT-DNA (intrinsic binding constant, K(b) =
      0.45*10(4) M-1 for 1 and K(b) = 2.39*10(4) M-1 for 2). The super coiled plasmid
      pBR322 DNA cleavage ability was studied with 1 and 2 in the presence and absence
      of H(2)O(2) as an oxidant. In both the absence and the presence of an oxidizing
      agent, complex 2 exhibited no nuclease activity. However, even in the absence of
      an oxidant, complex 1 exhibited significant DNA cleavage activity.

PMID- 25830969
TI  - Relation of the aged gels microstructure on the zeolite a particulate properties.
AB  - The microstructure of the starting hydrogel has extremely important role in the
      synthesis of the microporous materials. Due to the fact that very limited number
      of experimental methods (techniques) can be used for gel analysis, there are
      still a lot of missing informations about the processes on molecular level, which
      occur before and during the nuclei formation. In this paper, various methods were
      used in characterization of pretreated (aged) hydrogel before the process of its
      hydrothermal transformation to zeolite A. Results show the changes in chemical
      composition and in microstructure of the solid phase (FTIR, PALS, BET, DTG),
      indicating that the structure of the ordered phase (potential nuclei) within gel
      matrix (completely amorphous according to PXRD patterns) is rather of different
      structural units typical for FAU and SOD (or their mixture) than the final
      product (LTA) only! 

PMID- 25830970
TI  - Convenient synthesis, characterization, cytotoxicity and toxicity of pyrazole
      derivatives.
AB  - 3-Methyl-1H-pyrazol-5(4H)-one (1) was used as a template to develop new
      anticancer compounds and investigate their SAR. The ring modification of compound
      1 occurred through its reaction with aromatic aldehydes and different reagents to
      afford the corresponding 6-oxopyrano[2,3-c]pyrazoles4a-c and their amino
      analogues 6-aminopyrano[2,3-c]pyrazoles6a-c, 8; the pyrazolopyrano[2,3
      b]pyridines 10a-c and the chromenopyrano[2,3-c]pyrzolones13, 14. The reaction of
      compound 1 with thiourea and appropriate aromatic aldehydes afforded the
      pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives 17a-c. On the other hand, the pyrazolo[3,4
      d]thiazole derivatives 22a-d were obtained via the reaction of 1 with sulpher and
      aryl isothiocyanates in presence of triethylamine. The reaction of compound 1
      with phenylisothiocyanate followed by treatment with the a-halocarbonyl compounds
      24a-c afforded the thiazole derivatives 25a-c. The synthesized products were
      evaluated for their cytotoxicity against cancer and normal cell lines. Most
      compounds showed significant anticancer activity without affecting the normal
      fibroblast cells. The toxicity of the mostpontent cytotoxic compounds was
      measured using Brine-Shrimp Lethality Assay. 

PMID- 25830971
TI  - Determination of nitrites in water by in-electrode coulometric titration in
      reticulated vitreous carbon electrode.
AB  - Nitrite in water samples was determined by in-electrode coulometric titration in
      a reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) electrode of 100 ppi porosity. The sample was
      mixed with dilute sulphuric acid and sodium sulphate, filled into a flow cell
      with the porous electrode and nitrite was oxidised to nitrate by constant current
      of 5 uA at which the potential of the electrode was monitored. The limits of
      detection and quantification were found to be 0.4 and 1.2 ug/L, respectively. The
      repeatability and reproducibility were 2.2 % and 2.6 %, respectively. The bias at
      100 ug/L were found to be 0.3 %. The duration of the measurement is 2-3 min
      depending on the nitrite concentration. There were few interferences only,
      neutral and cationic surfactants decreased and increased slightly the signal,
      respectively. Humic acids above 30 mg/L increased the signal by 10 %. Drinking
      and surface water samples were analysed and the results matched well those from
      the photometric method. 

PMID- 25830972
TI  - Spectrophotometric studies of 4-[N'-(4-imino-2-oxo-thiazolidin-5-ylidene)
      hydrazino]-benzenesulfonic acid as a reagent for the determination of palladium.
AB  - The spectrophotometric behavior of a new, first-time synthesized reagent - 4-[N'
      (4-imino-2-oxo-thiazolidin-5-ylidene)hydrazino]-benzenesulfonic acid (ITHBA), has
      been investigated. A simple, rapid, accurate, selective and sensitive method for
      the spectrophotometric determination of Pd(II) ions using this reagent was
      developed. The optimal conditions for the formation of the complexes were found.
      The molar absorptivity at lambda = 438 nm is 7.5 * 10(3) L mol(-1) cm(-1), and
      Beer's law is observed for the concentrations ranging from 0.2-2.2 ug mL-1Pd(II).
      The effects of extraneous ions were investigated. The method proved to be
      successful in determination of palladium in the intermetallides and resistor. The
      accuracy of spectrophotometric palladium assay in real objects with 4-[N'-(4
      imino-2-oxo-thiazolidin-5-ylidene)-hydrazino]-benzenesulfonic acid has been
      confirmed by voltammetric or atomic absorption spectroscopy method.

PMID- 25830973
TI  - Synthesis and antitumor evaluation of novel dihydropyrimidine, thiazolo[3,2
      a]pyrimidine and pyrano[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives.
AB  - A simple and efficient method has been developed for the synthesis of 4,5-dihydro
      2-mercapto-4-oxo-6-substituted arylpyrimidine derivatives (2a-e) and their fused
      rings (3b, 4b, 5b & 6b) and also 1,4-dihydro-2-mercaptopyrimidine derivatives (7a
      e) & (9a-e) using triethylamine as a catalyst. The structure of the newly
      synthesized compounds was confirmed on the basis of their spectral data and
      elemental analysis. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in
      vitro anticancer activity against six human cancer cell lines and normal
      fibroblasts. Thirteen of the tested compounds: 2a-e, 3b, 4b, 5b, 7d, 8, 9a, 9c
      and 9d exhibited significant cytotoxicity against most cell lines. Among these
      derivatives compounds 2a, 3b and 9c are the most potent, they exhibited cytotoxic
      effect against the six cancer cell lines with IC(50) values < 330 nM compared to
      the standard CHS 828. Normal fibroblast cells (WI38) were affected to a much
      lesser extent (IC(50) >10,000 nM).

PMID- 25830974
TI  - The effect of tyrosine residues on alpha-synuclein fibrillation.
AB  - Aggregation of the intrinsically disordered protein alpha-synuclein into ordered
      amyloid fibrils is implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. To
      unravel the role of Tyr residues in alpha-synuclein fibrillation, we prepared
      recombinant N-terminal (Y39A) and C-terminal (Y(125,133,136)A) mutants of alpha
      synuclein and examined their fibrillation propensities by thioflavin T and 1
      anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonate (ANS) fluorescent probes, SDS-PAGE and atomic
      force microscopy. We demonstrate that in contrast to wild-type alpha-synuclein,
      both mutants show large, but comparable delays in the fibrillation process and
      exhibit enhanced hydrophobicity during fibril-like assembly. Both Tyr mutants
      form fibril-like structures after prolonged incubation periods, which are
      morphologically distinct from those of the wild-type protein. Our results suggest
      that the N-terminal and C-terminal Tyr residues of alpha-synuclein are important
      primarily for the initiation of the fibrillation process. 

PMID- 25830975
TI  - Artificial neural network approach to modelling of metal contents in different
      types of chocolates.
AB  - The relationships between the contents of various metals in different types of
      chocolates were studied using chemometric approach. Chemometric analysis was
      based on the application of artificial neural networks (ANN). ANN was performed
      in order to select the significant models for predicting the metal contents. ANN
      equations, that represent the content of one metal as a function of the contents
      of other metals were established. The statistical quality of the generated
      mathematical models was determined by standard statistical measures and cross
      validation parameters. High agreement between experimental and predicted values,
      obtained in the validation procedure, indicated the good quality of the models.
      The obtained results indicate the possibility of predicting the metal contents in
      different types of chocolate. 

PMID- 25830976
TI  - Ion pair-dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction coupled to microsample
      injection system-flame atomic absorption spectrometry for determination of gold
      at trace level in real samples.
AB  - A novel ion pair-dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (IP-DLLME) of gold
      followed by its determination with microsample injection system-flame atomic
      absorption spectrometry (MIS-FAAS) detection was developed. The extraction method
      was based on the reaction of anionic tetrachloro gold(III) complex with the
      cationic form of Rhodamine B to give a violet ion pair complex, which is
      extracted from 1.0 mol L(-1) HCl solution of 8.0 mL to fine droplets of
      chloroform of 500 uL. A Plackett-Burman experimental design of MINITAB
      statistical program was employed to optimize the influence of main parameters to
      be controlled in DLLME. After optimizing the extraction conditions, gold was
      quantitatively recovered by preconcentration factor of 40, limit of detection
      (LOD) of 1.8 MUg L(-1) and relative standard deviation of less than 6.8%. The
      proposed method was successfully applied to the preconcentration and
      determination of gold in some samples such as tap water, waste water, copper
      electrolysis solution and copper wire coated nickel.

PMID- 25830977
TI  - Dialkyltin(IV)bis(O-tolyl/benzyldithiocarbonate) complexes: spectroscopic,
      thermogravemetric, antifungal and crystal analysis of n-Bu2Sn(S2COCH2C6H5)2.
AB  - Novel compounds of dimethyl- and dibutyltin(IV) with O
      tolyl/benzyldithiocarbonates were successfully obtained by the reaction of
      Me(2)SnC(l2) and n-Bu(2)SnCl(2) with sodium salt of O
      tolyl/benzyldithiocarbonates, [o-, m- and p-CH(3)C(6)H(4)OCS(2)Na and
      C(6)H(5)CH(2)OCS(2)Na], in 1:2 molar ratio in dry toluene. The structure of these
      newly synthesized complexes has been examined by elemental analysis, FT-IR,
      multinuclear NMR ((1)H, (13)C and (119)Sn) spectroscopy. The thermal behaviour of
      the complex (8) has been studied by TGA/DTA analysis. The complex (8), n
      Bu2Sn(S2COCH2C6H5)2, crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/c, in which
      tin adopts a distorted octahedron or skew trapezoidal bipyramidal geometry
      accompanied by two n-butyl chains and the two dithiocarbonate ligands coordinated
      in an anisobidentate fashion. Antifungal activities against fungus Fusarium sp.
      of these organotin(IV) derivatives exhibited enhanced activity compared to the
      free ligands.

PMID- 25830978
TI  - Bioacid hydroconversion over Co, Ni, Cu Mono- and indium-doped bimetallic
      catalysts.
AB  - Caprylic acid (CA) as model reactant was selectively reduced in a flow-through
      reactor in hydrogen stream at 21 bar total pressure and 240-360  degrees C over
      alumina loaded with the adjacent Co, Ni, Cu host and In guest metals. The main
      target of this research is the recognition of efficient cobalt catalysts for
      carboxylic group hydroconversion compared to more familiar nickel and copper
      composites. The catalysts were activated in H(2) flow at 21 bar and 450  degrees
      C. By variation of main metal or modification with indium, mono- or bimetallic
      catalysts can be obtained with low hydrodecarbonylation activity and high alcohol
      selectivity. These composites have higher hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) activity and
      alcohol selectivity than the conventional commercial catalysts applied for fatty
      alcohol production. Great variety of catalytic behavior indicates complexity of
      the surface reactions determined by several interacting factors.

PMID- 25830979
TI  - Two binuclear cyanide-bridged Cr(III)-Mn(III) complexes based-on [Cr(2,2'
      bipy)(CN)4]- building block: synthesis, crystal structures and magnetic
      properties.
AB  - Tetracyanide building block [Cr(2,2'-bipy)(CN)(4)]- and two bicompartimental
      Schiff-base based manganese(III) compounds have been employed to assemble cyanide
      bridged heterometallic complexes, resulting in two cyanide-bridged CrIII-MnIII
      complexes: [Mn(L(1))(H(2)O)][Cr(2,2'-bipy)(CN)(4)].CH(3)OH.2.5H(2)O (1) and
      [Mn(L(2))(H(2)O)][Cr(2,2'-bipy)(CN)(4)].CH(3)OH.(3)H(2)O (2) (L1 = N,N'-(1,3
      propylene)-bis(3-methoxysalicylideneiminate), L2 = N,N'-ethylene-bis(3
      ethoxysalicylideneiminate)). Single X-ray diffraction analysis shows their
      similar cyanide-bridged binuclear structures, in which the cyanide precursor
      acting as monodentate ligand connects the manganese(III) ion. The binuclear
      complexes are self-complementary through coordinated aqua ligand and the free O4
      compartment from the neighboring complex, giving H-bond linking dimer structure.
      Investigation over magnetic properties reveals the antiferromagnetic magnetic
      coupling between the cyanide-bridged Cr(III) and Mn(III) ions. A best-fit to the
      magnetic susceptibilities of these two complexes leads to the magnetic coupling
      constants J = -5.95 cm(-1), j = -0.61 cm(-1) (1) and J = -4.15 cm(-1), j = -0.57
      cm(-1) (2), respectively.

PMID- 25830980
TI  - New platinum(II) complexes of cycloalkanespiro-5-(2-thiohydantoins). Synthesis
      and quantum chemical investigation.
AB  - Synthesis and characterization of new Pt(II) complexes of cyclohexanespiro-5-(2
      thiohydantoin) (L1) and cycloheptanespiro-5-(2-thiohydantoin) (L2) are discussed.
      The new complexes are studied by elemental analysis, IR, ATR FTIR spectroscopy.
      The free ligands are investigated by UV-Vis, FT-IR, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR and Raman
      spectroscopy. The ground-state equilibrium geometries of the ligands L1 and L2
      and their complexes with Pt(II) are optimized at the BLYP/CEP-31G theoretical
      level.

PMID- 25830981
TI  - Fast determination of diesel fuel oxidation stability by 1H NMR spectroscopy.
AB  - (1)H NMR spectroscopy and multiple linear regression analysis were used to
      determine diesel fuel oxidation stability. Oxidation stability is one of the most
      important properties which affect diesel fuel characteristics and quality. It has
      been demonstrated that integrated peak intensities of certain functional groups
      in (1)H NMR spectra correlated well with the oxidation stability. This approach
      is fast, nondestructive and requires small amounts of samples. It has a potential
      to be used as an alternative to existing standard methods.

PMID- 25830982
TI  - Saponification reaction system: a detailed mass transfer coefficient
      determination.
AB  - The saponification of an aromatic ester with an aqueous sodium hydroxide was
      studied within a heterogeneous reaction medium in order to determine the overall
      kinetics of the selected system. The extended thermo-kinetic model was developed
      compared to the previously used simple one. The reaction rate within a
      heterogeneous liquid-liquid system incorporates a chemical kinetics term as well
      as mass transfer between both phases. Chemical rate constant was obtained from
      experiments within a homogeneous medium, whilst the mass-transfer coefficient was
      determined separately. The measured thermal profiles were then the bases for
      determining the overall reaction-rate. This study presents the development of an
      extended kinetic model for considering mass transfer regarding the saponification
      of ethyl benzoate with sodium hydroxide within a heterogeneous reaction medium.
      The time-dependences are presented for the mass transfer coefficient and the
      interfacial areas at different heterogeneous stages and temperatures. The results
      indicated an important role of reliable kinetic model, as significant difference
      in k(L)a product was obtained with extended and simple approach.

PMID- 25830983
TI  - The effect of ultrasonic pretreatment and sample preparation on the extraction
      yield of antioxidant compounds and activity of black currant fruits.
AB  - The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficiency of an ultrasonic pretreatment
      at different amplitudes and extraction times, on the content of antioxidant
      compounds (phenolics, anthocyanins, ascorbic acid) and total antioxidant capacity
      of black currant fruits. Additionally, the influence of sample preparation
      (frozen storage/drying) was evaluated. Extraction was performed in 60% ethanol
      with 0.15% HCl at a solvent-to-sample ratio of 15/1. Our results show that the
      ultrasonic pretreatment proved particularly useful for the recovery of high
      amounts of total anthocyanins in freeze-dried samples, ascorbic acid in frozen
      and oven air-dried samples, and total antioxidant capacity in freeze-dried and
      oven air-dried samples. The total phenolics content was not significantly
      influenced by the ultrasonic pretreatment. Freeze-drying increased the content of
      targeted compounds, to a very high significant level (p < 0.001) for anthocyanins
      and ascorbic acid. Oven air-drying at 45  degrees C drastically decreased the
      ascorbic acid content. Ultrasonication enhanced the extraction yield of black
      currant valuable compounds in strong relation to the operating conditions. 

PMID- 25830984
TI  - Skin changes after bariatric surgery.
AB  - Today, obesity is considered an epidemic all over the world and it is recognized
      as one of the major public health problems. Bariatric surgery is considered an
      appropriate therapeutic option for obesity with progressively increasing demands.
      The changes resulting from massive weight loss after bariatric surgery are
      related to numerous complications. This article will present the dermatological
      alterations that can be found after bariatric surgery. They will be subdivided
      into dermatoses that are secondary to metabolic and nutritional disorders, those
      derived from cutaneous structural modifications after major weight loss and the
      influence the latter may have in improving of certain dermatoses. 

PMID- 25830985
TI  - Evaluation of the social, clinical and laboratorial profile of patients diagnosed
      with leprosy in a reference center in Sao Paulo.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Leprosy is the main infectious cause of disability. It is said to be
      eradicated in Sao Paulo since 2005, but diagnosis is still late. OBJECTIVES: To
      investigate the social, clinical and laboratorial profile of leprosy patients
      diagnosed between 01/2007 and 12/2011, in a reference center in Sao Paulo.
      METHODS: Retrospective descriptive study. Data of all new leprosy cases diagnosed
      between 01/2007 and 12/2011 were raised in Sao Paulo. RESULTS: 103 men and 71
      women were diagnosed, most of them were multibacillary. Mean age at diagnosis was
      49 yrs; 2,2% were children; 70% had incomplete primary education; 50% were
      referred without diagnostic suspicion of leprosy. Mean time since first
      symptoms/signs and diagnosis was 2 years; 64% of patients had some degree of
      disability, and 26% had grade 2. 23 cases were diagnosed only after being
      summoned, and 80% of these had no disability. Agreement between the Ridley and
      Jopling and the WHO classification was 75% (kappa index = 0.44). Serology for IgM
      anti-PGL1 (87 patients) showed a mean value of 0.25, and an association between
      MB classification and test positivity (p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Leprosy diagnosis
      in Sao Paulo is late. The disease mainly affected the socially disadvantaged and
      economically active population. Failure to detect the disease (41% in the last 10
      years) could be due to the lack of suspicion and to decentralization. For the
      classification of patients with advanced leprosy, both the WHO and R&J
      classifications proved to be helpful tools.

PMID- 25830986
TI  - Dermoscopic and clinical features of pigmented skin lesions of the genital area.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The dermoscopic features of vulvar melanosis lesions are well known.
      To our knowledge, there are only a few case reports about dermoscopic features of
      pigmented genital lesions in male patients. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate dermoscopic
      and clinical characteristics of benign lesions of the genital area in both males
      and females, and to assess the distinguishing dermoscopic criteria of vulvar
      melanosis and atypical melanocytic nevi of the genital type. METHODS: 68 patients
      with pigmented genital lesions were included in this observational study (28 male
      and 40 female). A punch biopsy was taken from all pigmented lesions and
      histopathological examination was performed on all specimens. RESULTS: We
      histopathologically diagnosed: genital melanosis in 40 lesions, atypical
      melanocytic nevi of the genital type in 15 lesions, melanocytic nevi in 9
      lesions, seborrheic keratosis in 4 lesions. The most frequent locations were the
      glans penis (19 patients, 67.9%) in males and the labia minora (19 patients,
      47.5%) in females. The mean age of patients with atypical nevi (28,6 +/- 11,36)
      was significantly lower than the mean age of patients with genital melanosis
      (47,07 +/- 15,33). CONCLUSIONS: Parallel pattern is prominent in genital
      melanosis, ring-like pattern is only observed in genital melanosis. Most
      pigmented lesions on the genital area are solitary. Blue-white veil and irregular
      dots are only observed in AMNGT. According to these results, we propose that
      histopathological examination is performed, especially if blue-white veil and
      irregular dots are found by dermoscopy.

PMID- 25830987
TI  - Epidemiology of melanoma in the South of Brazil: study of a city in the Vale do
      Itajai from 1999 to 2013.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cutaneous melanoma is a highly aggressive malignancy with increasing
      incidence worldwide. The southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina has one of
      the highest incidence rates of melanoma in the country. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate
      the epidemiological profile of melanoma patients in a southern city of Brazil.
      METHODS: a cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted, aiming to detect
      the clinical and histopathological characteristics of cutaneous melanoma
      diagnosed in the city of Brusque - SC, between 1999 and 2013. RESULTS: A total of
      213 cases in 212 individuals were studied. More than 50% of the patients were
      females (p< 0.05). The trunk was the most commonly affected site (p< 0.05),
      followed by the upper limbs. Nodular and superficial spreading melanomas were the
      most commonly detected in histological analyses. They did not differ
      statistically in frequency, but were more prevalent than other histopathological
      subtypes (p< 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between
      invasive and noninvasive melanomas (p= 0.2441). Among the invasive melanomas,
      those with Breslow thicknesses < 1 mm and between 1-2mm were more prevalent (p<
      0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In this study we found a higher frequency of melanomas in
      female patients and patients aged over 51. The trunk was the most commonly
      affected site. Nodular and superficial spreading melanomas prevailed. Among
      invasive melanomas, those with Breslow thicknesses < 2 mm were the most frequent.
      This paper highlights the epidemiological profile of melanoma patients in the
      city and may help to identify and aid in the follow-up of those who are most
      likely to present the disease.

PMID- 25830988
TI  - Quality of life index in autoimmune bullous dermatosis patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Autoimmune bullous dermatoses are complex diseases triggered by
      autoantibodies action against epidermal antigens or the dermoepidermal junction.
      Blisters and vesicles that evolve with erosion areas characterize them. Although
      rare, they present high morbidity, affecting the quality of life of patients.
      OBJECTIVES: To assess the magnitude of autoimmune bullous dermatoses on life
      quality of patients treated in a public university service in countryside of
      Brazil. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was based on an inquiry with
      autoimmune bullous dermatoses patients assisted at outpatient university referral
      service. Elements related to quality of life were evaluated by the Dermatology
      Life Quality Index, as well as clinical and demographic data. RESULTS: The study
      evaluated 43 patients with pemphigus foliaceus, 32 with pemphigus vulgaris, 6
      with bullous pemphigoid and 3 with dermatitis herpetiformis. The average age was
      48 +/- 16 years and 34 (40%) were female. The median score (p25-p75) of the
      Dermatology Life Quality Index was 16 (9-19), classified as "severe impairment"
      of life quality, in which the greater impact was related to symptoms and
      feelings, daily and leisure activities. CONCLUSIONS: Autoimmune bullous
      dermatoses inflict severe impairment of quality of life for patients followed by
      a public outpatient clinic in the countryside of Brazil.

PMID- 25830990
TI  - Teledermatology protocol for screening of skin cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Telemedicine refers to the use of technology as improvement of
      healthcare delivery to places where distance becomes an obstacle. Its use
      represents a great potential for dermatology, a specialty whose visual analysis
      phase is essential in diagnosis. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the compatibility index
      of skin cancer diagnoses between primary care and teledermatology, and to
      validate a protocol for standardization of digital imaging to obtain the reports
      in teledermatology. METHODS: An observational cross-sectional study developed
      through the census of 333 examination requests, received between January/2012 and
      July/2012, in the Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth of SES-SC. We used a
      protocol for photographic lesion standardization, consisting of three steps
      (panoramic photo, close-up with ruler and dermoscopy). After collection, the data
      were sent to a virtual site on the Internet, and recorded with the use of an
      electronic health record containing the images, the skin phototype and
      demographic characteristics. RESULTS: The level of compatibility between the
      diagnosis of skin cancer in Santa Catarina's primary care and the diagnosis
      proposed by teledermatology was 19.02%. Proportionally, it was 21.21% for BCC,
      44.44% for SCC and 6.98% for MM. The protocol was statistically significant (p
      <0.05), with an OR of 38.77. CONCLUSION: The rate of diagnostic compatibility of
      skin cancer was low and the use of the protocol optimized the chance of
      validating requests for examination.

PMID- 25830989
TI  - Melasma and assessment of the quality of life in Brazilian women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Melasma is a chronic, acquired hyperpigmentation disease on sun
      exposed areas of the skin, which affects patients' quality of life. OBJECTIVE: To
      assess the impact on the quality of life of women living in Florianopolis,
      Brazil, through questionnaire (MelasQol), and investigate the clinical aspects
      and risk factors for melasma, correlating them with the MelasQol scores. METHODS:
      This study was performed on 51 melasma patients cared for at the University
      Hospital of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. The variables included
      were: age, gender, age of onset of melasma, Fitzpatrick phototype (I-VI),
      duration and family history of melasma, onset of melasma during pregnancy, use of
      hormonal contraceptive, thyroid disorder and distribution of melasma. The
      MelasQoL questionnaire, validated for Brazilian Portuguese (MelasQoL-BP), was
      applied. RESULTS: The mean age was 38.43+/-6.75 years. All patients were women.
      The most common Fitzpatrick skin phototypes were III (49.02%) and IV (33.33%).
      Melasma had a mean age of onset of 29.18+/-7.05 years and a mean duration of
      9.25+/-6.18 years. The majority of patients did not have familial history of
      melasma (50.98%). Melasma onset was associated with pregnancy (45.10%). The
      MelasQoL-BP analysis revealed significant emotional impact on patients, such as
      feeling bothered (94.11%), frustrated and embarrassed (64.71%), and depressed
      (52.94%) about their skin appearance, as well as unattractive (78.43%). No social
      impact was observed (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Melasma has a strong emotional impact
      on quality of life, resulting especially from feelings about skin appearance.

PMID- 25830991
TI  - Sebaceous hyperplasia: systemic treatment with isotretinoin.
AB  - The study aimed to verify the therapeutic action of isotretinoin in the treatment
      of sebaceous hyperplasia. During two months, 20 patients with sebaceous
      hyperplasia took isotretinoin at a dosage of 1mg/kg per day. Their skin lesions
      were counted and photographed before and after treatment and re-evaluated two
      years later. The average number of sebaceous hyperplasia lesions before treatment
      was 24 per patient. At the end of two months of therapy, the number of lesions
      decreased to 2 per patient. The statistically analyzed data showed a reduction in
      the number of lesions following isotretinoin use (p < 0.05). Two years after the
      end of the treatment, the average number of sebaceous hyperplasia lesions was 4
      per patient. There were no severe side effects. Thus, the data analysis suggests
      that isotretinoin is a safe and effective drug for treating the disease under
      study. 

PMID- 25830992
TI  - Nutritional aspects of children and adolescents with epidermolysis bullosa:
      literature review.
AB  - Epidermolysis Bullosa is a genetic disorder that affects mainly the skin,
      however, all others systems are influenced. The nutritional care of children and
      adolescents with Epidermolysis Bullosa is a key treatment strategy, since the
      energy needs are increased due to the disease's metabolism, burdening the immune
      system and cicatrization process, symptoms caused by the disease hinder the
      intake and adequate absorption of nutrients, which may result in inadequate
      growth and development. Because this is a rare disease, there are few
      professionals who know the characteristics of both the clinical evolution and
      nutritional and dietary treatments. This literature review discusses the latest
      knowledge on energy and specific nutrient requirements to the dietary treatment
      and monitoring of children and adolescents with Epidermolysis Bullosa. 

PMID- 25830993
TI  - Mammary and extramammary Paget's disease.
AB  - Paget's disease, described by Sir James Paget in 1874, is classified as mammary
      and extramammary. The mammary type is rare and often associated with intraductal
      cancer (93-100% of cases). It is more prevalent in postmenopausal women and it
      appears as an eczematoid, erythematous, moist or crusted lesion, with or without
      fine scaling, infiltration and inversion of the nipple. It must be distinguished
      from erosive adenomatosis of the nipple, cutaneous extension of breast carcinoma,
      psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, chronic eczema, lactiferous
      ducts ectasia, Bowen's disease, basal cell carcinoma, melanoma and intraductal
      papilloma. Diagnosis is histological and prognosis and treatment depend on the
      type of underlying breast cancer. Extramammary Paget's disease is considered an
      adenocarcinoma originating from the skin or skin appendages in areas with
      apocrine glands. The primary location is the vulvar area, followed by the
      perianal region, scrotum, penis and axillae. It starts as an erythematous plaque
      of indolent growth, with well-defined edges, fine scaling, excoriations,
      exulcerations and lichenification. In most cases it is not associated with
      cancer, although there are publications linking it to tumors of the vulva,
      vagina, cervix and corpus uteri, bladder, ovary, gallbladder, liver, breast,
      colon and rectum. Differential diagnoses are candidiasis, psoriasis and chronic
      lichen simplex. Histopathology confirms the diagnosis. Before treatment begins,
      associated malignancies should be investigated. Surgical excision and
      micrographic surgery are the best treatment options, although recurrences are
      frequent. 

PMID- 25830994
TI  - Alopecia secondary to anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha therapy.
AB  - Biologic drugs represent a substantial progress in the treatment of chronic
      inflammatory immunologic diseases. However, its crescent use has revealed seldom
      reported or unknown adverse reactions, mainly associated with anti-tumor necrosis
      factor (anti-TNF). Psoriasiform cutaneous reactions and few cases of alopecia can
      occur in some patients while taking these drugs. Two cases of alopecia were
      reported after anti-TNF therapy. Both also developed psoriasiform lesions on the
      body. This is the second report about a new entity described as 'anti-TNF therapy
      related alopecia', which combines clinical and histopathological features of both
      alopecia areata and psoriatic alopecia. The recognition of these effects by
      specialists is essential for the proper management and guidance of these
      patients. 

PMID- 25830995
TI  - Concurrence of Sweet's syndrome, pathergy phenomenon and erythema nodosum-like
      lesions.
AB  - We report the case of a 54-year-old woman with concurrent Sweet's syndrome,
      pathergy phenomenon and eythema nodosum-like lesions associated with suppurative
      tonsillitis. Tender, violaceous and highly edematous papules and plaques were
      detected on the forearms and legs, some of which were pseudovesicular. Similar
      edematous papules were detected on the dorsum of the hands at the sites of
      intravenous injection. Biopsies of a plaque on the forearm and a papule at the
      site of intravenous injection confirmed the presence of Sweet's syndrome.
      Multiple, tender, violet-red, subcutaneous erythematous nodules were revealed on
      the legs. A biopsy taken from a nodule on the leg revealed septal panniculitis.
      To our knowledge, no patient with concurrent Sweet's syndrome, pathergy
      phenomenon, and erythema nodosum-lesions had been reported yet in previous
      literature. 

PMID- 25830996
TI  - Bed bug dermatitis, description of two cases in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
AB  - Bed bugs are hematophagous insects which due to their morphological and
      biological characteristics are able to easily adapt themselves to human
      households. The authors describe two cases of dermatitis caused by bed bug bites
      in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Patients presented linear lesions in the
      usual "breakfast, lunch and dinner" arrangement, suggesting this diagnosis. A
      visit to their dwellings showed infestation of insects identified as Cimex
      hemipterus. The knowledge of these insects by the dermatological community will
      contribute to an accurate diagnosis as well as subsidize the dissemination of
      information aiming for prevention. 

PMID- 25830997
TI  - Kikuchi's disease of the xanthomathous type with cutaneous manifestations.
AB  - Kikuchi's disease is a benign, self-limiting disease, whose pathogenesis remains
      unknown. Patients most often present with cervical lymphadenopathy, sometimes
      associated with fever and leukopenia. It has been reported that up to 40% of
      patients with Kikuchi's disease have also cutaneous eruptions, but no specific
      skin changes have been described. Kikuchi's disease can be subclassified into
      three histologic subtypes: a proliferative type, a necrotizing type and a
      xantomathous type. Most patients with Kikuchi's disease require no specific
      treatment, because the disease regresses spontaneously, within a few weeks to
      months. We report a case of a 31-year-old woman with xanthomatous type of
      Kikuchi's disease, whose first manifestation was the onset of erythematous
      papules with central suppuration on her face and on her left hand. 

PMID- 25830998
TI  - Brazilian spotted fever: the importance of dermatological signs for early
      diagnosis.
AB  - Brazilian spotted fever is an acute febrile infectious disease caused by
      Rickettsia rickettsii, transmitted by tick bite. As this disease is rare and has
      high mortality rates in Brazil, the clinical aspects and epidemiological data may
      help the diagnosis. We report a case of Brazilian spotted fever in a 19-year-old
      patient who presented maculopapular exanthema in the palmar region and upper
      limbs, lymphadenopathy, fever, chills, headache, conjunctival hyperemia, nausea,
      vomiting, dyspnea, myalgia, developing neurological signs and abdominal pain. He
      was treated with doxycycline with clinical improvement. We emphasize the
      importance of the recognition of this disease by dermatologists as cutaneous
      manifestations are the key findings to establish early diagnosis and prevent
      complications. 

PMID- 25830999
TI  - Majocchi's granuloma - case report.
AB  - We report the case of a three-year-old child who, following long term treatment
      with topical corticosteroids and their associations for a case of ringworm on the
      face developed a form of folliculitis known as Majocchi's Granuloma. Treatment
      with oral Griseofulvin was successful. 

PMID- 25831000
TI  - Primary cutaneous histoplasmosis developed in the penis of an immunocompetent
      patient.
AB  - A 70-year-old male presenting a 3-month history of genital painless erythematous
      nodules in the balanopreputial sulcus was referred to our service.
      Histopathological exam presented a chronic dermatitis with epithelioid granulomas
      and Grocott staining revealed numerous fungal structures with a suggestive
      morphology of Histoplasma sp. Cultures evidenced Histoplasma capsulatum var.
      capsulatum. Treatment with oral itraconazole led to complete remission of
      lesions. 

PMID- 25831001
TI  - O to Z flaps in facial reconstructions.
AB  - Local flaps are the standard procedure to reconstruct facial defects. As it
      occurs in any surgical procedure, the incision should be planned so that scars
      are located in the minimum skin tension lines. We report two cases of O to Z
      flaps in the supra and infraciliary regions. One of them is a hatchet flap. 

PMID- 25831002
TI  - Cutaneous Lymphangioma circumscriptum - dermoscopic features.
AB  - Lymphangiomas are congenital lymphatic malformations and cutaneous lymphangioma
      circumscriptum is the most common type. It is clinically characterized by
      clusters of translucent vesicles and the presence of dermoscopically yellow
      lacunae surrounded by pale septa, as well as reddish to bluish lacunae. In our
      case, the recently described hypopyon-like feature manifested, aiding in the
      sometimes difficult differential diagnosis of cutaneous lymphangioma
      circumscriptum with vascular lesions, further highlighting the importance of
      dermoscopy in what can be a diagnostic challenge. 

PMID- 25831003
TI  - Onychomatricoma: a tumor unknown to dermatologists.
AB  - A sixty-one year old white female was referred to the Dermatology Department to
      treat an ingrown nail in the inner corner of the left hallux. Examination of the
      entire nail unit showed the presence of xanthonychia in the outer corner besides
      thickening and increase in the transverse curvature of the nail plate. Dermoscopy
      and nuclear magnetic resonance of the free edge of the nail plate detected
      characteristic signs of onychomatricoma, a diagnosis that was later confirmed by
      anatomopathological exam. 

PMID- 25831004
TI  - Lacaziosis - unusual clinical presentation.
AB  - Lacaziosis or Jorge Lobo's disease is a fungal, granulomatous, chronic infectious
      disease caused by Lacazia loboi, which usually affects the skin and subcutaneous
      tissue. It is characterized by slow evolution and a variety of cutaneous
      manifestations with the most common clinical expression being nodular keloid
      lesions that predominate in exposed areas. We report the case of a patient who
      had an unusual clinical presentation, with a single-plated lesion on the back.
      Histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of Lacaziosis. 

PMID- 25831005
TI  - Syndrome in question. Immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis.
AB  - Immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis is the most common acquired systemic
      amyloidosis. Its presentation is often insidious and progressive, which may delay
      diagnosis. The authors describe a rare case of immunoglobulin light chain
      amyloidosis in a 34-year-old man with scleroderma-like manifestation
      substantiated by multifarious laboratory investigations and the histopathologic
      feature of involved skin lesions stained with Congo red and crystal violet. This
      helps to maintain a high clinical suspicion of the disease when confronting
      similar skin presentation. 

PMID- 25831006
TI  - Characterization of sporotrichosis cases treated in a dermatologic teaching unit
      in the state of Sao Paulo - Brazil, 2003 - 2013.
AB  - We conducted a transversal retrospective study with secondary data collection
      from 25 cases of sporotrichosis, treated at a teaching unit in inner Sao Paulo
      (Brazil), between the years 2003-2013. We found that the prevalence was higher in
      men (72%), rural workers (44%) and those living in rural areas (60%), with an
      average age of 42.48 years. The median between the onset of lesions and diagnosis
      was six weeks. Lesions predominated in the upper limbs (92%), and were classified
      as lymphocutaneous (80%) and fixed cutaneous (20%) forms. Clinical cure was
      observed in 62.5% of the cases treated with potassium iodide and 100% of cases
      treated with itraconazole. 

PMID- 25831007
TI  - Shiitake dermatitis.
AB  - Shiitake Dermatitis is a skin eruption that resembles whiplash marks and occurs
      after consumption of raw shiitake mushrooms. It is caused by a toxic reaction to
      lentinan, a thermolabil polysaccharide which decomposes upon heating. We report
      the second case of this dermatitis in Brazil. A 25-year-old man presented with
      linearly arranged erythematous, pruritic papules on the trunk and limbs, after
      ingestion of a salad containing raw shiitake mushrooms. The eruption was self
      limited, resolving within 10 days of onset. The recognition of this entity gains
      importance due to the increased consumption of shiitake mushrooms in occidental
      countries. 

PMID- 25831008
TI  - Bullous pemphigoid and neurological disease: statistics from a dermatology
      service.
AB  - Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune, acquired, cutaneous disease caused by
      the production of autoantibodies against hemidesmosomes' components in the
      basement membrane. The estimated incidence in Europe ranges from 7 to 43 cases
      per million inhabitants per year. Several studies have reported an association
      between BP and neurological disorders (ND). Our cohort of Bullous pemphigoid and
      ND is the first in Brazil and showed a significantly high prevalence of
      neurological and/or psychiatric diseases, especially cerebrovascular accident
      (CVA) and dementia, in agreement with the prevalence reported in several studies
      published in the medical literature in recent years. 

PMID- 25831009
TI  - Disseminated lichen sclerosus in a child: a case report.

PMID- 25831010
TI  - Renal involvement in Malignant Atrophic Papulosis (Degos Disease).

PMID- 25831011
TI  - Erratum.

PMID- 25831012
TI  - Long-distance autophagy.

PMID- 25831013
TI  - Mitophagy is primarily due to alternative autophagy and requires the MAPK1 and
      MAPK14 signaling pathways.
AB  - In cultured cells, not many mitochondria are degraded by mitophagy induced by
      physiological cellular stress. We observed mitophagy in HeLa cells using a method
      that relies on the pH-sensitive fluorescent protein Keima. With this approach, we
      found that mitophagy was barely induced by carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl
      hydrazone treatment, which is widely used as an inducer of PARK2/Parkin-related
      mitophagy, whereas a small but modest amount of mitochondria were degraded by
      mitophagy under conditions of starvation or hypoxia. Mitophagy induced by
      starvation or hypoxia was marginally suppressed by knockdown of ATG7 and ATG12,
      or MAP1LC3B, which are essential for conventional macroautophagy. In addition,
      mitophagy was efficiently induced in Atg5 knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts.
      However, knockdown of RAB9A and RAB9B, which are essential for alternative
      autophagy, but not conventional macroautophagy, severely suppressed mitophagy.
      Finally, we found that the MAPKs MAPK1/ERK2 and MAPK14/p38 were required for
      mitophagy. Based on these findings, we conclude that mitophagy in mammalian cells
      predominantly occurs through an alternative autophagy pathway, requiring the
      MAPK1 and MAPK14 signaling pathways. 

PMID- 25831014
TI  - Shiga toxins induce autophagic cell death in intestinal epithelial cells via the
      endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway.
AB  - Shiga toxins (Stxs) are a family of cytotoxic proteins that lead to the
      development of bloody diarrhea, hemolytic-uremic syndrome, and central nervous
      system complications caused by bacteria such as S. dysenteriae, E. coli O157:H7
      and E. coli O104:H4. Increasing evidence indicates that macroautophagy
      (autophagy) is a key factor in the cell death induced by Stxs. However, the
      associated mechanisms are not yet clear. This study showed that Stx2 induces
      autophagic cell death in Caco-2 cells, a cultured line model of human
      enterocytes. Inhibition of autophagy using pharmacological inhibitors, such as 3
      methyladenine and bafilomycin A1, or silencing of the autophagy genes ATG12 or
      BECN1 decreased the Stx2-induced death in Caco-2 cells. Furthermore, there were
      numerous instances of dilated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in the Stx2-treated Caco
      2 cells, and repression of ER stress due to the depletion of viable candidates of
      DDIT3 and NUPR1. These processes led to Stx2-induced autophagy and cell death.
      Finally, the data showed that the pseudokinase TRIB3-mediated DDIT3 expression
      and AKT1 dephosphorylation upon ER stress were triggered by Stx2. Thus, the data
      indicate that Stx2 causes autophagic cell death via the ER stress pathway in
      intestinal epithelial cells. 

PMID- 25831016
TI  - The Controversy Surrounding Surgical Care Improvement Project-Venous
      Thromboembolism Process Measures.

PMID- 25831017
TI  - Development, physical properties and clinical applicability of a mechanical
      Multileaf Collimator for the use in Cobalt-60 radiotherapy.
AB  - According to the Directory of Radiotherapy Centres (DIRAC) there are 2348 Cobalt
      60 (Co-60) teletherapy units worldwide, most of them in low and middle income
      countries, compared to 11046 clinical accelerators. To improve teletherapy with
      Co-60, a mechanical Multi-Leaf Collimator (MLC) was developed, working with
      pneumatic pressure and thus independent of electricity supply. Instead of
      tungsten, brass was used as leaf material to make the mechanical MLC more
      affordable. The physical properties and clinical applicability of this mechanical
      MLC are presented here. The leakage strongly depends on the fieldsize of the
      therapy unit due to scatter effects. The maximum transmission through the leaves
      measured 2.5 cm from the end-to-end gap, within a field size of 20 cm * 30 cm
      defined by jaws of the therapy unit at 80 cm SAD, amounts 4.2%, normalized to an
      open 10 cm * 10 cm field, created by the mechanical MLC. Within a precollimated
      field size of 12.5 cm * 12.5 cm, the end-to-end leakage is 6.5% normalized to an
      open 10 cm * 10 cm field as well. This characteristic is clinically acceptable
      considering the criteria for non-IMRT MLCs of the International Electrotechnical
      Commission (IEC 60601-2-1). The penumbra for a 10 cm * 10 cm field was measured
      to be 9.14 mm in plane and 8.38 mm cross plane. The clinical applicability of the
      designed mechanical MLC was affirmed by measurements relating to all relevant
      clinical properties such as penumbra, leakage, output factors and field widths.
      Hence this novel device presents an apt way forward to make radiotherapy with
      conformal fields possible in low-infrastructure environments, using gantry based
      Co-60 therapy units.

PMID- 25831015
TI  - AU4S: a novel synthetic peptide to measure the activity of ATG4 in living cells.
AB  - ATG4 plays a key role in autophagy induction, but the methods for monitoring ATG4
      activity in living cells are limited. Here we designed a novel fluorescent
      peptide named AU4S for noninvasive detection of ATG4 activity in living cells,
      which consists of the cell-penetrating peptide (CPP), ATG4-recognized sequence
      "GTFG," and the fluorophore FITC. Additionally, an ATG4-resistant peptide AG4R
      was used as a control. CPP can help AU4S or AG4R to penetrate cell membrane
      efficiently. AU4S but not AG4R can be recognized and cleaved by ATG4, leading to
      the change of fluorescence intensity. Therefore, the difference between AU4S- and
      AG4R-measured fluorescence values in the same sample, defined as "F-D value," can
      reflect ATG4 activity. By detecting the F-D values, we found that ATG4 activity
      paralleled LC3B-II levels in rapamycin-treated cells, but neither paralleled LC3B
      II levels in starved cells nor presented a correlation with LC3B-II accumulation
      in WBCs from healthy donors or leukemia patients. However, when DTT was added to
      the system, ATG4 activity not only paralleled LC3B-II levels in starved cells in
      the presence or absence of autophagy inhibitors, but also presented a positive
      correlation with LC3B-II accumulation in WBCs from leukemia patients (R(2) =
      0.5288). In conclusion, this study provides a convenient, rapid, and quantitative
      method to monitor ATG4 activity in living cells, which may be beneficial to basic
      and clinical research on autophagy. 

PMID- 25831018
TI  - Density functional theory study on the cross-linking of mussel adhesive proteins.
AB  - The water-resistant adhesion of mussel adhesive proteins (MAPs) to a wet surface
      requires a cross-linking step, where the catecholic ligands of MAPs coordinate to
      various transition-metal ions. Fe(III), among the range of metal ions, induces
      particularly strong cross-linking. The molecular details underlying this cross
      linking mediated by transition-metal ions are largely unknown. Of particular
      interest is the metal-ligand binding energy, which is the molecular origin of the
      mechanical properties of cross-linked MAPs. Using density functional theory, this
      study examined the structures and binding energies of various trivalent metal
      ions (Ti-Ga) forming coordination complexes with a polymeric ligand similar to a
      MAP. These binding energies were 1 order of magnitude larger than the
      physisorption energy of a catechol molecule on a metallic surface. On the other
      hand, the coordination strength of Fe(III) with the ligand was not particularly
      strong compared to the other metal ions studied. Therefore, the strong cross
      linking in the presence of Fe(III) is ascribed to its additional ability as an
      oxidant to induce covalent cross-linking of the catecholic groups of MAPs. 

PMID- 25831019
TI  - Characterisation and potential migration of silver nanoparticles from
      commercially available polymeric food contact materials.
AB  - The potential for consumer exposure to nano-components in food contact materials
      (FCMs) is dependent on the migration of nanomaterials into food. Therefore,
      characterising the physico-chemical properties and potential for migration of
      constituents is an important step in assessing the safety of FCMs. A number of
      commercially available food storage products, purchased domestically within the
      United States and internationally, that claim to contain nanosilver were
      evaluated. The products were made of polyethylene, polypropylene and
      polyphenylene ether sulfone and all contained silver (0.001-36 mg kg(-1) of
      polymer). Silver migration was measured under various conditions, including using
      3% acetic acid and water as food simulants. Low concentrations (sub-ppb levels)
      of silver were detected in the migration studies generally following a trend
      characterised by a surface desorption phenomenon, where the majority of the
      silver migration occurred in the first of three consecutive exposures. Silver
      nanoparticles were not detected in food simulants, suggesting that the silver
      migration may be due solely to ionic silver released into solution from oxidation
      of the silver nanoparticle surface. The absence of detectable silver
      nanoparticles was consistent with expectations from a physico-chemical view
      point. For the products tested, current USFDA guidance for evaluating migration
      from FCMs was applicable. 

PMID- 25831020
TI  - Social media as a sensor of air quality and public response in China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent studies have demonstrated the utility of social media data
      sources for a wide range of public health goals, including disease surveillance,
      mental health trends, and health perceptions and sentiment. Most such research
      has focused on English-language social media for the task of disease
      surveillance. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the value of Chinese social media for
      monitoring air quality trends and related public perceptions and response. The
      goal was to determine if this data is suitable for learning actionable
      information about pollution levels and public response. METHODS: We mined a
      collection of 93 million messages from Sina Weibo, China's largest microblogging
      service. We experimented with different filters to identify messages relevant to
      air quality, based on keyword matching and topic modeling. We evaluated the
      reliability of the data filters by comparing message volume per city to air
      particle pollution rates obtained from the Chinese government for 74 cities.
      Additionally, we performed a qualitative study of the content of pollution
      related messages by coding a sample of 170 messages for relevance to air quality,
      and whether the message included details such as a reactive behavior or a health
      concern. RESULTS: The volume of pollution-related messages is highly correlated
      with particle pollution levels, with Pearson correlation values up to .718 (n=74,
      P<.001). Our qualitative results found that 67.1% (114/170) of messages were
      relevant to air quality and of those, 78.9% (90/114) were a firsthand report. Of
      firsthand reports, 28% (32/90) indicated a reactive behavior and 19% (17/90)
      expressed a health concern. Additionally, 3 messages of 170 requested that action
      be taken to improve quality. CONCLUSIONS: We have found quantitatively that
      message volume in Sina Weibo is indicative of true particle pollution levels, and
      we have found qualitatively that messages contain rich details including
      perceptions, behaviors, and self-reported health effects. Social media data can
      augment existing air pollution surveillance data, especially perception and
      health-related data that traditionally requires expensive surveys or interviews.

PMID- 25831021
TI  - Thienothiophenes, dithienothiophenes, and thienoacenes: syntheses, oligomers,
      polymers, and properties.

PMID- 25831023
TI  - Friedreich's ataxia--a case of aberrant transcription termination?
AB  - Reduced expression of the mitochondrial protein Frataxin (FXN) is the underlying
      cause of Friedreich's ataxia. We propose a model of premature termination of FXN
      transcription induced by pathogenic expanded GAA repeats that links R-loop
      structures, antisense transcription, and heterochromatin formation as a novel
      mechanism of transcriptional repression in Friedreich's ataxia.

PMID- 25831024
TI  - Diffusion weighted imaging and apparent diffusion coefficient in 3 tesla magnetic
      resonance imaging of breast lesions.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the utility of diffusion-weighted-imaging (DWI) and
      apparent-diffusion-coefficient (ADC) in a 3T magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI)
      study of breast cancer. In particular, the study aims to classify ADC-values
      according to histology either for benign or malignant lesions. METHODS: 110
      Breast MRI with MRI-DWI sequences and quantitative evaluation of the ADC were
      retrospectively reviewed. Results obtained with MRI-DWI and with biopsy were
      analyzed and ADC values were compared to histological results. RESULTS: MRI
      showed a 95.5% sensitivity and a 83.7% specificity. The mean ADC values of benign
      and malignant lesions were 2.06 +/- 0.19 and 1.03 +/- 0.07 mm(2)/s, respectively
      (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: DWI and ADC-values could help distinguishing malignant
      and benign breast masses.

PMID- 25831025
TI  - Unifi nootropics from the lab to the web: a story of academic (and industrial)
      shortcomings.
AB  - This paper is a review of the work of my former academic group of research in the
      past 15 years, in the field of cognition enhancers (also called nootropics) that
      identified two very potent molecules: Unifiram and Sunifiram that for a variety
      of reasons were not protected by a patent. Some 12 years after their disclosure
      (2000) I casually found that on the web, there were dozens of sites offering
      Unifiram and Sunifiram as drugs that improve cognition in healthy individuals
      even if only few preclinical studies were done and their long-term toxicity was
      unknown. 

PMID- 25831022
TI  - Genetic code expansion enables live-cell and super-resolution imaging of site
      specifically labeled cellular proteins.
AB  - Methods to site-specifically and densely label proteins in cellular
      ultrastructures with small, bright, and photostable fluorophores would
      substantially advance super-resolution imaging. Recent advances in genetic code
      expansion and bioorthogonal chemistry have enabled the site-specific labeling of
      proteins. However, the efficient incorporation of unnatural amino acids into
      proteins and the specific, fluorescent labeling of the intracellular
      ultrastructures they form for subdiffraction imaging has not been accomplished.
      Two challenges have limited progress in this area: (i) the low efficiency of
      unnatural amino acid incorporation that limits labeling density and therefore
      spatial resolution and (ii) the uncharacterized specificity of intracellular
      labeling that will define signal-to-noise, and ultimately resolution, in imaging.
      Here we demonstrate the efficient production of cystoskeletal proteins (beta
      actin and vimentin) containing bicyclo[6.1.0]nonyne-lysine at genetically defined
      sites. We demonstrate their selective fluorescent labeling with respect to the
      proteome of living cells using tetrazine-fluorophore conjugates, creating densely
      labeled cytoskeletal ultrastructures. STORM imaging of these densely labeled
      ultrastructures reveals subdiffraction features, including nuclear actin
      filaments. This work enables the site-specific, live-cell, fluorescent labeling
      of intracellular proteins at high density for super-resolution imaging of
      ultrastructural features within cells. 

PMID- 25831026
TI  - 2-alkyl(aryl)-quinazolin-4(3H)-thiones, 2-R-(quinazolin-4(3H)-ylthio)carboxylic
      acids and amides: synthesis, molecular docking, antimicrobial and anticancer
      properties.
AB  - In this study, a series of novel 2-alkyl(aryl)-quinazolin-4(3H)-thiones, 2-R
      (quinazolin-4(3H)-ylthio)carboxylic acids and amides were synthesized and
      evaluated for antimicrobial and anticancer activities. Their structure was
      confirmed by elemental analysis and spectral data (FT-IR, LC-MS, (1)H-NMR).
      Antimicrobial activity was tested in vitro against Staphylococcus aureus,
      Enterococcus faecalis, Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa,
      Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Candida albicans and NCI in vitro
      preliminary anticancer activity against nine different cancer types. The most
      active antibacterial and antifungal compounds were: 2.1, 2.2 and 2.4. The
      introduction of the carboxylic acid or amide residue into the fourth position of
      quinazolin-4(3H)-thione resulted in the absence of antimicrobial activity.
      Substance 3.8 inhibited renal cancer UO-31 line and 2.18 - leukemia CCRF-CEM. The
      results of in silico molecular docking for DHFR and CK2 kinase had no correlation
      with in vitro properties, proposing the presence of other biological activity
      pathways. 

PMID- 25831027
TI  - Intranasal midazolam for the emergency management of hypercyanotic spells in
      tetralogy of Fallot.
AB  - The case of a 2-month-old boy with previously diagnosed tetralogy of Fallot who
      was brought to the emergency department with a hypercyanotic spell is described.
      Because partly of the difficulty of intravenous placement, especially in an
      infant crying with marked hypernea and deeply cyanotic, intranasal midazolam was
      administered. Before 3 minutes of hypernea terminated increasing the oxygen
      saturation successfully and intravenous line was easily placed with the baby
      remaining in calm. Sedation is an important step in the management of patients
      with cyanotic spells. Intranasal midazolam offers an alternative use as an
      initial method of calming the child that was effective in a patient with a severe
      cyanotic spell because of tetralogy of Fallot in the emergency department.

PMID- 25831028
TI  - Primary hyperparathyroidism: an uncommon cause of hip pain.
AB  - Hip pain is a common complaint in a pediatric emergency department. The causes of
      hip pain are diverse and generally include traumatic and infectious causes. We
      report a case of hip pain caused by deep soft tissue infection associated with
      hypercalcemia and primary hyperparathyroidism. Atypical presentation of primary
      hyperparathyroidism may result in a delay in diagnosis. 

PMID- 25831029
TI  - Recurrent rhabdomyolysis in a teenager with psychosis-intermittent hyponatremia
      polydipsia syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To report a case of recurrent hyponatremia and rhabdomyolysis in a
      teenager with psychogenic polydipsia. CASE SUMMARY: A 16-year-old boy was
      admitted with recurrent episodes of hyponatremia and rhabdomyolysis secondary to
      psychogenic polydipsia. He was treated with hypertonic saline, intravenous
      fluids, and supportive care. DISCUSSION: Psychogenic polydipsia is a condition
      characterized by compulsive drinking. Severe hyponatremia is a rare, but serious
      complication in patients with psychogenic polydipsia. Failure in cell volume
      regulatory mechanisms, defective osmoregulation, defective urinary dilution, and
      enhanced secretion of vasopressin are believed to play a role in the development
      of hyponatremia. Rhabdomyolysis can complicate severe hyponatremia, although the
      exact mechanism is not known. Antipsychotic drugs are also implicated in
      rhabdomyolysis. CONCLUSIONS: Severe hyponatremia and rhabdomyolysis can
      complicate psychogenic polydipsia. Patients receiving antipsychotic drugs with
      concomitant severe hyponatremia need to be monitored for rhabdomyolysis.

PMID- 25831030
TI  - Amatoxin-containing mushroom (Lepiota brunneoincarnata) familial poisoning.
AB  - Serious to fatal toxicity may occur with amanitin-containing mushrooms
      ingestions. A Lepiota brunneoincarnata familial poisoning with hepatic toxicity
      is reported. In such poisonings, acute gastroenteritis may be firstly
      misdiagnosed leading to delay in preventing liver dysfunction by silibinin or
      penicillin G. Mushroom picking finally requires experience and caution. 

PMID- 25831031
TI  - Cervical lung herniation complicating a case of acute asphyxial asthma in a
      child.
AB  - The abrupt onset of respiratory failure secondary to asthma, known as acute
      asphyxial asthma (AAA) in adults, is uncommonly reported in children. Here, we
      report a case of a child with the acute onset of respiratory failure consistent
      with AAA complicated by the finding of a neck mass during resuscitation. This 11
      year-old boy with a history of asthma initially presented in respiratory failure
      with altered mental status after the complaint of difficulty in breathing minutes
      before collapsing at home. Initially, his respiratory failure was thought to be
      secondary to status asthmaticus, and treatment was initiated accordingly.
      However, a neck mass noted during the resuscitation was cause for concern, and
      other etiologies for his respiratory failure were considered, including an airway
      obstructing neck mass. After pediatric surgery and anesthesia consultation for
      intubation and possible tracheostomy placement, general anesthesia was induced in
      the operating room with an inhaled anesthetic, with prompt resolution of the
      bronchspasm and decompression of the neck mass. Review of the imaging and
      clinical course ultimately yielded a diagnosis of cervical lung herniation as the
      etiology of his neck mass. We report this case of AAA and cervical lung
      herniation and a review of the literature of these 2 uncommon phenomena in
      children. 

PMID- 25831032
TI  - Massive spontaneous intraperitoneal hemorrhage in a young female with chronic
      immune thrombocytopenic purpura masquerading as ruptured ovarian cyst: successful
      nonsurgical management of this rare catastrophic event.
AB  - Chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura has mild bleeding manifestations and
      severe bleeding requiring hospitalization is rare. We are reporting a case of a
      19-year-old girl with chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura who presented with
      spontaneous massive hemoperitoneum without any identifiable source of hemorrhage.
      We chose nonsurgical treatment over laparotomy, and the patient was managed
      successfully with parenteral steroids and platelet transfusion. In young women
      presenting with massive hemoperitoneum, undiagnosed immune thrombocytopenia
      should be considered as an etiology. In absence of any identifiable source of
      hemoperitoneum, these patients may not require laparotomy and treatment with
      intravenous corticosteroid and platelet transfusions may be preferrable and
      lifesaving. 

PMID- 25831033
TI  - Long-acting reversible contraception in the pediatric emergency department:
      clinical implications and common challenges.
AB  - Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) is recommended as first-line
      contraception for adolescents and young adults. As the use of LARC increases,
      pediatric emergency medicine clinicians should be able to recognize different
      types of LARC and address their common adverse effects, adverse reactions, and
      complications. This continuing medical education activity provides an overview of
      LARC and will assist clinicians in the evaluation and management of patients with
      LARC-associated complaints. 

PMID- 25831035
TI  - Therapeutic hypothermia in children after cardiac arrest: a systematic review and
      meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) has been shown to be effective in
      resuscitation of some adults following cardiac arrest and infants with hypoxic
      ischemic encephalopathy, but has not been well studied in children. OBJECTIVES:
      The purpose of this systematic review/meta-analysis was to examine mortality,
      neurologic outcomes, and adverse events in children following use of TH. RESULTS:
      A search of PubMed, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature,
      and the Institute for Scientific Information's Web of Knowledge from 1946 to 2014
      yielded 6 studies (3 retrospective and 3 prospective cohort studies) that met our
      inclusion criteria. Quantitative synthesis of mortality following TH (136
      subjects) was 44% (95% confidence interval, 32-57) with 28% (95% confidence
      interval, 11-53) of survivors (42 subjects) demonstrating poor neurologic
      outcome. The most frequently reported adverse events were electrolyte imbalances
      and pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence is insufficient to support the advantage of
      TH compared with normothermia in pediatric resuscitation. The adverse event
      profile appears to be different than that reported in adults. Further studies are
      needed before TH may be considered a standard protocol for children after cardiac
      arrest.

PMID- 25831036
TI  - Identification of optic disc elevation and the crescent sign using point-of-care
      ocular ultrasound in children.
AB  - Point-of-care ocular ultrasound has been used to detect papilledema. In previous
      studies, investigators have evaluated only optic nerve sheath diameter as a
      screen for increased intracranial pressure. In this series of 4 children, we
      demonstrate 2 additional optic nerve abnormalities using point-of-care ocular
      ultrasound: optic disc elevation and the crescent sign. Assessing the optic nerve
      for each of these 3 findings may assist the examiner in detecting papilledema. 

PMID- 25831037
TI  - Pediatric emergency medicine fellowship programs.

PMID- 25831038
TI  - ECGs in the ED.

PMID- 25831039
TI  - Effects of emergency department crowding on the delivery of timely care in an
      inner-city hospital in the Netherlands.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The impact of delays in emergency department (ED) care has not been
      described in European countries where ED crowding is not universally recognized.
      The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of ED crowding with
      delays in triage and treatment, and 24-h mortality in patients admitted to the
      ED. METHODS: Five years of data from adults admitted to the hospital were
      analysed retrospectively from an inner-city ED in the Netherlands. Variables
      included the following: crowded versus noncrowded time, time to triage, triage
      category, time to treatment, age, 24-h mortality and 10-day mortality. RESULTS: A
      total of 39 110 patients met the inclusion criteria. ED crowding occurred 30.8%
      of the time. There were no differences in mortality between patients arriving
      during crowding versus those arriving during noncrowding. Delays in triage during
      ED crowding occurred 29.7% of the time versus 14.6% during noncrowding. Delays in
      treatment occurred 11.7 and 7.3% of the time during crowding and noncrowding,
      respectively. CONCLUSION: In this hospital, ED crowding results in increased
      times to triage and to treatment, not in increased 24-h or 10-day mortality.

PMID- 25831041
TI  - Genetic diversity and population structure analysis between Indian red jungle
      fowl and domestic chicken using microsatellite markers.
AB  - The present study was conducted to assess the genetic diversity, population
      structure, and relatedness in Indian red jungle fowl (RJF, Gallus gallus murgi)
      from northern India and three domestic chicken populations (gallus gallus
      domesticus), maintained at the institute farms, namely White Leghorn (WL), Aseel
      (AS) and Red Cornish (RC) using 25 microsatellite markers. All the markers were
      polymorphic, the number of alleles at each locus ranged from five (MCW0111) to
      forty-three (LEI0212) with an average number of 19 alleles per locus. Across all
      loci, the mean expected heterozygosity and polymorphic information content were
      0.883 and 0.872, respectively. Population-specific alleles were found in each
      population. A UPGMA dendrogram based on shared allele distances clearly revealed
      two major clusters among the four populations; cluster I had genotypes from RJF
      and WL whereas cluster II had AS and RC genotypes. Furthermore, the estimation of
      population structure was performed to understand how genetic variation is
      partitioned within and among populations. The maximum ?K value was observed for K
      = 4 with four identified clusters. Furthermore, factorial analysis clearly showed
      four clustering; each cluster represented the four types of population used in
      the study. These results clearly, demonstrate the potential of microsatellite
      markers in elucidating the genetic diversity, relationships, and population
      structure analysis in RJF and domestic chicken populations. 

PMID- 25831042
TI  - 100% citrus juice: Nutritional contribution, dietary benefits, and association
      with anthropometric measures.
AB  - Citrus juices such as 100% orange (OJ) and grapefruit juice (GJ) are commonly
      consumed throughout the world. This review examines the contributions of OJ and
      GJ to nutrient intake, diet quality, and fruit intake, and supports citrus juices
      as nutrient-dense beverages. This review also explores the research examining
      associations between OJ and GJ intake and anthropometric measures. Citrus juices
      are excellent sources of vitamin C and contribute other key nutrients such as
      potassium, folate, magnesium, and vitamin A. OJ intake has been associated with
      better diet quality in children and adults. OJ intake has not been associated
      with adverse effects on weight or other body measures in observational studies in
      children and adults. In adults, some observational studies report more favorable
      body mass index or body measure parameters in OJ consumers compared to
      nonconsumers. Intervention studies in adults report no negative impacts of OJ or
      GJ consumption on anthropometric measures, although these measures were typically
      not the primary outcomes examined in the studies. Moderate consumption of citrus
      juices may provide meaningful nutritional and dietary benefits and do not appear
      to negatively impact body weight, body composition, or other anthropometric
      measures in children and adults.

PMID- 25831043
TI  - Insights into Campylobacter jejuni colonization of the mammalian intestinal tract
      using a novel mouse model of infection.
AB  - A lack of relevant disease models for Campylobacter jejuni has long been an
      obstacle to research into this common enteric pathogen. We recently published
      that mice deficient in Single IgG Interleukin-1 related receptor (SIGIRR), a
      repressor of MyD88-dependent innate immune signaling, were highly susceptible to
      enteric infection by murine bacterial pathogens. Subsequently, we successfully
      employed these mice as an animal model for the human pathogen C. jejuni and
      gained substantial new insights into infection by this pathogen. The infected
      mice developed significant intestinal inflammation, primarily via TLR4
      stimulation. Furthermore, the resulting gastroenteritis was dependent on C.
      jejuni pathogenesis as bacterial strains suffering mutations in key virulence
      factors were attenuated in causing disease. The ability to infect SIGIRR
      deficient mice with C. jejuni sheds new light onto how these bacteria colonize
      the mucus layer of the intestinal tract, invade epithelial cells, and raises new
      prospects for studying the virulence strategies and pathogenesis of C. jejuni. 

PMID- 25831044
TI  - High-yield production of lipoglycopeptide antibiotic A40926 using a mutant strain
      Nonomuraea sp. DP-13 in optimized medium.
AB  - The lipoglycopeptide antibiotic A40926 produced by Nonomuraea sp. is a complex of
      structurally related components differing in the fatty acid moiety. Besides
      showing an intrinsic antibacterial activity, A40926 is the precursor of the
      semisynthetic antibiotic Dalvance. In this work, A40926 production by a mutant
      strain Nonomuraea sp. DP-13 was investigated. It was found that A40926 production
      was markedly promoted by using poorly assimilated carbon source maltodextrin and
      nitrogen source soybean meal. Addition of Cu(2+) resulted in a stimulation of
      A40926 production, but Co(2+) had an inhibitory effect. L-Leucine addition
      greatly improved total A40926 production and modified the complex composition
      toward factor B0. An optimized production medium IM-3 was developed and a maximum
      A40926 production of 1096 mg/L was obtained in the 10-L fermenter. This was the
      highest A40926 productivity so far reported.

PMID- 25831045
TI  - Beetle feeding induces a different volatile emission pattern from black poplar
      foliage than caterpillar herbivory.
AB  - Herbivore-induced plant volatile emission is often considered to be attacker
      species-specific, but most experimental evidence comes from short lived
      herbaceous species. In a recent study we showed that black poplar (Populus nigra)
      trees emit a complex blend of volatiles from damaged leaves when they are
      attacked by generalist gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) caterpillars. Minor
      nitrogenous volatiles were especially characteristic of this blend. Here we show
      that attack on P. nigra by a beetle species, Phratora vulgatissima (Coleoptera,
      Chrysomelidae), led to the emission of the same compounds as already observed
      after caterpillar herbivory, but with striking quantitative changes in the blend.
      The consequences for attraction of herbivore enemies are discussed. 

PMID- 25831046
TI  - Methods for the Determination of Endocrine-Disrupting Phthalate Esters.
AB  - Phthalates are endocrine disruptors frequently occurring in the general and
      industrial environment and in many industrial products. Moreover, they are also
      suspected of being carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic, and they show
      diverse toxicity profiles depending on their structures. The European Union and
      the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) have included many
      phthalates in the list of priority substances with potential endocrine-disrupting
      action. They are: dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), dibutyl
      phthalate (DBP), butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP), diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), di
      iso-nonyl phthalate (DINP), di-iso-decyl phthalate (DIDP), di-n-decyl phthalate
      (DnDP), and dioctyl phthalate (DOP). There is an ever-increasing demand for new
      analytical methods suitable for monitoring different phthalates in various
      environmental, biological, and other matrices. Separation and spectrometric
      methods are most frequently used. However, modern electroanalytical methods can
      also play a useful role in this field because of their high sensitivity,
      reasonable selectivity, easy automation, and miniaturization, and especially low
      investment and running costs, which makes them suitable for large-scale
      monitoring. Therefore, this review outlines possibilities and limitations of
      various analytical methods for determination of endocrine-disruptor phthalate
      esters in various matrices, including somewhat neglected electroanalytical
      methods. 

PMID- 25831047
TI  - Genomic differences between pure ductal carcinoma in situ and synchronous ductal
      carcinoma in situ with invasive breast cancer.
AB  - Although ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) precedes invasive ductal carcinoma
      (IDC), the related genomic alterations remain unknown. To identify the genomic
      landscape of DCIS and better understand the mechanisms behind progression to IDC,
      we performed whole-exome sequencing and copy number profiling for six cases of
      pure DCIS and five pairs of synchronous DCIS and IDC. Pure DCIS harbored well
      known mutations (e.g., TP53, PIK3CA and AKT1), copy number alterations (CNAs) and
      chromothripses, but had significantly fewer driver genes and co-occurrence of
      mutation/CNAs than synchronous DCIS-IDC. We found neither recurrent nor
      significantly mutated genes with synchronous DCIS-IDC compared to pure DCIS,
      indicating that there may not be a single determinant for pure DCIS progression
      to IDC. Of note, synchronous DCIS genomes were closer to IDC than pure DCIS.
      Among the clinicopathologic parameters, progesterone receptor (PR)-negative
      status was associated with increased mutations, CNAs, co-occurrence of
      mutations/CNAs and driver mutations. Our results indicate that although pure DCIS
      has already acquired some drivers, more changes are needed to progress to IDC. In
      addition, IDC-associated DCIS is more aggressive than pure DCIS at genomic level
      and should really be considered IDC. Finally, the data suggest that PR-negativity
      could be used to predict aggressive breast cancer genotypes.

PMID- 25831048
TI  - Cisplatin fails to induce puma mediated apoptosis in mucosal melanomas.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Mucosal melanomas (MM) are aggressive subtypes of common melanomas.
      It remains unclear whether limitations in their resectability or their
      distinctive molecular mechanisms are responsible for the aggressive phenotype.
      METHODS: In total, 112 patients with cutaneous melanomas (CM) and 27 patients
      with MM were included. Clinical parameters were analysed using Chi square, Fisher
      exact and student's t-test. Survival rates were calculated by Kaplan-Meier.
      Analysis of p53, p21, Mdm2, Hipk2, Gadd45, Puma, Bax, Casp9 and Cdk1 via
      quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed. TP53 induction
      after cisplatin treatment was analysed in 10 cell lines (melanocytes, four MM and
      five CM) using western blot (WB) and qPCR. RESULTS: The overall/recurrence-free
      survival differed significantly between MM (40 months and 30 months) and CM (90
      months and 107 months; p < 0.001). IHC and WB confirmed high p53 expression in
      all melanomas. Hipk2 and Gadd45 showed significantly higher expressions in CM (p
      < 0.005; p = 0.004). QPCR and WB of wild-type cell lines demonstrated no
      differences for p53, p21, Mdm2, Bax and Casp9. WB failed to detect Puma in MM,
      while Cdk1 regulation occurred exclusively in MM. CONCLUSIONS: The aggressive
      phenotype of MM did not appear to be due to differential expressions of p53, p21,
      Mdm2, Bax or Casp9. A non-functional apoptosis in MM may have further clinical
      implications.

PMID- 25831049
TI  - Anti-tumour effects of antibodies targeting the extracellular cysteine-rich
      region of the receptor tyrosine kinase EphB4.
AB  - EphB4 is a membrane-bound receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) commonly over-produced
      by many epithelial cancers but with low to no expression in most normal adult
      tissues. EphB4 over-production promotes ligand-independent signaling pathways
      that increase cancer cell viability and stimulate migration and invasion. Several
      studies have shown that normal ligand-dependent signaling is tumour suppressive
      and therefore novel therapeutics which block the tumour promoting ligand
      independent signaling and/or stimulate tumour suppressive ligand-dependent
      signaling will find application in the treatment of cancer. An EphB4-specific
      polyclonal antibody, targeting a region of 200 amino acids in the extracellular
      portion of EphB4, showed potent in vitro anti-cancer effects measured by an
      increase in apoptosis and a decrease in anchorage independent growth. Peptide
      exclusion was used to identify the epitope targeted by this antibody within the
      cysteine-rich region of the EphB4 protein, a sequence defined as a potential
      ligand interacting interface. Addition of antibody to cancer cells resulted in
      phosphorylation and subsequent degradation of the EphB4 protein, suggesting a
      mechanism that is ligand mimetic and tumour suppressive. A monoclonal antibody
      which specifically targets this identified extracellular epitope of EphB4
      significantly reduced breast cancer xenograft growth in vivo confirming that
      EphB4 is a useful target for ligand-mimicking antibody-based anti-cancer
      therapies.

PMID- 25831051
TI  - Experimental shifts in intraclutch egg color variation do not affect egg
      rejection in a host of a non-egg-mimetic avian brood parasite.
AB  - Avian brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, and impose the
      costs associated with rearing parasitic young onto these hosts. Many hosts of
      brood parasites defend against parasitism by removing foreign eggs from the nest.
      In systems where parasitic eggs mimic host eggs in coloration and patterning,
      extensive intraclutch variation in egg appearances may impair the host's ability
      to recognize and reject parasitic eggs, but experimental investigation of this
      effect has produced conflicting results. The cognitive mechanism by which hosts
      recognize parasitic eggs may vary across brood parasite hosts, and this may
      explain variation in experimental outcome across studies investigating egg
      rejection in hosts of egg-mimicking brood parasites. In contrast, for hosts of
      non-egg-mimetic parasites, intraclutch egg color variation is not predicted to co
      vary with foreign egg rejection, irrespective of cognitive mechanism. Here we
      tested for effects of intraclutch egg color variation in a host of nonmimetic
      brood parasite by manipulating egg color in American robins (Turdus migratorius),
      hosts of brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater). We recorded robins' behavioral
      responses to simulated cowbird parasitism in nests where color variation was
      artificially enhanced or reduced. We also quantified egg color variation within
      and between unmanipulated robin clutches as perceived by robins themselves using
      spectrophotometric measures and avian visual modeling. In unmanipulated nests,
      egg color varied more between than within robin clutches. As predicted, however,
      manipulation of color variation did not affect rejection rates. Overall, our
      results best support the scenario wherein egg rejection is the outcome of
      selective pressure by a nonmimetic brood parasite, because robins are efficient
      rejecters of foreign eggs, irrespective of the color variation within their own
      clutch. 

PMID- 25831050
TI  - Zipper-interacting protein kinase promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition,
      invasion and metastasis through AKT and NF-kB signaling and is associated with
      metastasis and poor prognosis in gastric cancer patients.
AB  - Zipper-interacting Protein Kinase (ZIPK) belongs to the death-associated protein
      kinase family. ZIPK has been characterized as a tumor suppressor in various
      tumors, including gastric cancer. On the other hand, ZIPK also promotes cell
      survival. In this study, both in vitro and in vivo assays indicated that ZIPK
      promoted cell growth, proliferation, migration, invasion, tumor formation and
      metastasis in nude mice. ZIPK induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)
      with increasing expression of beta-catenin, mesenchymal markers, Snail and Slug,
      and with decreasing expression of E-cadherin. Furthermore, ZIPK activated the
      AKT/IkappaB/NF-kappaB pathway, which can promote EMT and metastasis.
      Additionally, ZIPK expression was detected in human primary gastric cancer and
      their matched metastatic lymph node samples by immunohistochemistry. Increased
      expression of ZIPK in lymph node metastases was significantly associated with
      stage VI and abdominal organ invasion. Survival analysis revealed that patients
      with increased ZIPK expression in metastatic lymph nodes had poor disease
      specific survival. Taken together, our study reveals that ZIPK is a pro-oncogenic
      factor, which promotes cancer metastasis. 

PMID- 25831052
TI  - In situ observation of meniscus shape deformation with colloidal stripe pattern
      formation in convective self-assembly.
AB  - Vertical convective self-assembly is capable of fabricating stripe-patterned
      structures of colloidal particles with well-ordered periodicity. To unveil the
      mechanism of the stripe pattern formation, in the present study, we focus on the
      meniscus shape and conduct in situ observations of shape deformation associated
      with particulate line evolution. The results reveal that the meniscus is
      elongated downward in a concave fashion toward the substrate in accordance with
      solvent evaporation, while the concave deformation is accelerated by solvent
      flow, resulting in the rupture of the liquid film at the thinnest point of the
      meniscus. The meniscus rupture triggers the meniscus to slide off from the
      particulate line, followed by the propagation of the sliding motion of the three
      phase contact line, resulting in the formation of stripe spacing. 

PMID- 25831053
TI  - Multimodality imaging to predict response to systemic treatment in patients with
      advanced colorectal cancer.
AB  - AIM: Aim of this study was to investigate the potential of 18F-FDG PET, diffusion
      weighted imaging (DWI) and susceptibility-weighted (T2*) MRI to predict response
      to systemic treatment in patients with colorectal liver metastases. The
      predictive values of pretreatment measurements and of early changes one week
      after start of therapy, were evaluated. METHODS: Imaging was performed prior to
      and one week after start of first line chemotherapy in 39 patients with
      colorectal liver metastases. 18F-FDG PET scans were performed on a PET/CT scanner
      and DWI and T2* were performed on a 1.5T MR scanner. The maximum standardized
      uptake values (SUV), total lesion glycolysis (TLG), apparent diffusion
      coefficient (ADC) and T2* value were assessed in the same lesions. Up to 5 liver
      metastases per patient were analyzed. Outcome measures were progression free
      survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and size response. RESULTS: Pretreatment,
      high SUVmax, high TLG, low ADC and high T2* were associated with a shorter OS.
      Low pretreatment ADC value was associated with shorter PFS. After 1 week a
      significant drop in SUVmax and rise in ADC were observed. The drop in SUV was
      correlated with the rise in ADC (r=-0.58, p=0.002). Neither change in ADC nor in
      SUV was predictive of PFS or OS. T2* did not significantly change after start of
      treatment. CONCLUSION: Pretreatment SUVmax, TLG, ADC, and T2* values in
      colorectal liver metastases are predictive of patient outcome. Despite
      sensitivity of DWI and 18F-FDG PET for early treatment effects, change in these
      parameters was not predictive of long term outcome.

PMID- 25831054
TI  - Control of origin of sesame oil from various countries by stable isotope analysis
      and DNA based markers--a pilot study.
AB  - The indication of origin of sesame seeds and sesame oil is one of the important
      factors influencing its price, as it is produced in many regions worldwide and
      certain provenances are especially sought after. We joined stable carbon and
      hydrogen isotope analysis with DNA based molecular marker analysis to study their
      combined potential for the discrimination of different origins of sesame seeds.
      For the stable carbon and hydrogen isotope data a positive correlation between
      both isotope parameters was observed, indicating a dominant combined influence of
      climate and water availability. This enabled discrimination between sesame
      samples from tropical and subtropical/moderate climatic provenances. Carbon
      isotope values also showed differences between oil from black and white sesame
      seeds from identical locations, indicating higher water use efficiency of plants
      producing black seeds. DNA based markers gave independent evidence for geographic
      variation as well as provided information on the genetic relatedness of the
      investigated samples. Depending on the differences in ambient environmental
      conditions and in the genotypic fingerprint, a combination of both analytical
      methods is a very powerful tool to assess the declared geographic origin. To our
      knowledge this is the first paper on food authenticity combining the stable
      isotope analysis of bio-elements with DNA based markers and their combined
      statistical analysis. 

PMID- 25831055
TI  - Effects of acute restraint stress, prolonged captivity stress and transdermal
      corticosterone application on immunocompetence and plasma levels of
      corticosterone on the cururu Toad (Rhinella icterica).
AB  - Glucocorticoid steroids modulate immunocompetence in complex ways with both
      immunoenhancing and immunosuppressive effects in vertebrates exposed to different
      stressors. Such bimodal effects have been associated with variation in duration
      and intensity of the stress response. Given that natural populations have been
      exposed to a multitude of stressors, a better understanding of the functional
      association between duration and intensity of the stress response, the resulting
      changes in glucocorticoid plasma levels and their impact on different aspects of
      immunocompetence emerges as a cornerstone for vertebrate conservation strategies.
      We investigated the effects of a restraint challenge (with and without movement
      restriction), long-term captivity, and transdermal corticosterone application on
      plasma levels of corticosterone (hereinafter referred to as CORT) and different
      parameters of innate immunocompetence in the male cururu toads (Rhinella
      icterica). We show that for R. icterica restraint for 24h proved to be a
      stressful condition, increasing CORT by 3-fold without consistent immunological
      changes. However, the application of a more intense stressor (restraint with
      movement restriction), for the same period, potentiated this response resulting
      in a 9-fold increase in CORT, associated with increase Neutrophil/Lymphocyte
      ratio (N:L) and a lower bacterial killing ability (BKA). Transdermal application
      of corticosterone efficiently mimics repeated acute stress response events,
      without changing the immune parameters even after 13 days of treatment.
      Interestingly, long-term captivity did not mitigate the stress response, since
      the toads maintained 3-fold increased CORT even after 3 months under these
      conditions. Moreover, long-term captivity in the same condition increased total
      leukocyte count (TLC) and generated an even greater decrease in BKA, suggesting
      that consequences of the stress response can be aggravated by time in captivity. 

PMID- 25831056
TI  - Visceral leishmaniasis and immunocompromise as a risk factor for the development
      of visceral leishmaniasis: a changing pattern at the hospital for tropical
      diseases, london.
AB  - METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A retrospective study of imported VL to the HTD,
      London including patients diagnosed and/or managed at the HTD between January
      1995 and July 2013. We analyse patient demographics, risk factors for developing
      VL, diagnosis, investigation, management and outcome. Twenty-eight patients were
      treated for VL at the HTD over an 18 year period. The median age at VL diagnosis
      was 44 years (range 4-87 years) with a male to female ratio of 2:1. Most patients
      were British and acquired their infection in the Mediterranean basin. The median
      time from first symptom to diagnosis was six months with a range of 1-12 months
      and diagnosis included microscopic visualisation of leishmania amastigotes,
      positive serological tests (DAT and k39 antibody) or identification of leishmania
      DNA. Nineteen patients had some form of immunocompromise and this has increased
      proportionally compared to previously described data. Within the
      immunocompromised group, the ratio of those with autoimmune disease has
      increased. Immunocompromised patients had lower cure and higher relapse rates.
      CONCLUSIONS: The rise of VL in patients with immunocompromise secondary to
      autoimmune disease on immunomodulatory drugs presents new diagnostic and
      therapeutic challenges. VL should be a differential diagnosis in
      immunocompromised patients with pyrexia of unknown origin returning from travel
      in leishmania endemic areas.

PMID- 25831057
TI  - Representative literature on the phytonutrients category: Phenolic acids.
AB  - Research concerning the benefits derived from dietary polyphenols, a significant
      class within the family of phytonutrients, has increased considerably in the last
      decade. Prior to the late 1990s, the nutritional spotlight focused on the
      antioxidant capabilities of carotenoids, vitamins, and minerals. More recently,
      however, research has emerged in strong support of the antioxidant capacity of
      polyphenols and their role in the prevention and/or treatment of certain cancers,
      diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and inflammation. Polyphenols are categorized
      according to the nature of their carbon skeleton, ranging from basic phenolic
      molecules to highly complex compounds, such as flavonoids, the most common and
      widely studied of all phenolic compounds. The most prevalent phenolic acids
      include ellagic acid, gallic acid, tannic acid, and capsaicin.

PMID- 25831058
TI  - Behavioral cost & overdominance in Anopheles gambiae.
AB  - In response to the widespread use of control strategies such as Insecticide
      Treated Nets (ITN), Anopheles mosquitoes have evolved various resistance
      mechanisms. Kdr is a mutation that provides physiological resistance to the
      pyrethroid insecticides family (PYR). In the present study, we investigated the
      effect of the Kdr mutation on the ability of female An. gambiae to locate and
      penetrate a 1cm-diameter hole in a piece of netting, either treated with
      insecticide or untreated, to reach a bait in a wind tunnel. Kdr homozygous, PYR
      resistant mosquitoes were the least efficient at penetrating an untreated damaged
      net, with about 51% [39-63] success rate compared to 80% [70-90] and 78% [65-91]
      for homozygous susceptible and heterozygous respectively. This reduced
      efficiency, likely due to reduced host-seeking activity, as revealed by mosquito
      video-tracking, is evidence of a recessive behavioral cost of the mutation. Kdr
      heterozygous mosquitoes were the most efficient at penetrating nets treated with
      PYR insecticide, thus providing evidence for overdominance, the rarely-described
      case of heterozygote advantage conveyed by a single locus. The study also
      highlights the remarkable capacity of female mosquitoes, whether PYR-resistant or
      not, to locate holes in bed-nets. 

PMID- 25831061
TI  - Genome-wide DNA methylation modified by soy phytoestrogens: role for epigenetic
      therapeutics in prostate cancer?
AB  - In prostate cancer, DNA methylation is significantly associated with tumor
      initiation, progression, and metastasis. Previous studies have suggested that soy
      phytoestrogens might regulate DNA methylation at individual candidate gene loci
      and that they play a crucial role as potential therapeutic agents for prostate
      cancer. The purpose of our study was to examine the modulation effects of
      phytoestrogens on a genome-wide scale in regards to DNA methylation in prostate
      cancer. Prostate cancer cell lines DU-145 and LNCaP were treated with 40 MUM of
      genistein and 110 MUM of daidzein. DNMT inhibitor 5-azacytidine (2 MUM) and the
      methylating agent budesonide (2 MUM) were used to compare their
      demethylation/methylation effects with phytoestrogens. The regulatory effects of
      phytoestrogens on DNA methylation were analyzed by using a methyl-DNA
      immunoprecipitation method coupled with Human DNA Methylation Microarrays (MeDIP
      chip). We observed that the methylation profiles of 58 genes were altered by
      genistein and daidzein treatments in DU-145 and LNCaP prostate cancer cells. In
      addition, the methylation frequencies of the MAD1L1, TRAF7, KDM4B, and hTERT
      genes were remarkably modified by genistein treatment. Our results suggest that
      the modulation effects of phytoestrogens on DNA methylation essentially lead to
      inhibition of cell growth and induction of apoptosis. Genome-wide methylation
      profiling reported here suggests that epigenetic regulation mechanisms and, by
      extension, epigenetics-driven novel therapeutic candidates warrant further
      consideration in future "omics" studies of prostate cancer. 

PMID- 25831062
TI  - PTPRD is homozygously deleted and epigenetically downregulated in human
      hepatocellular carcinomas.
AB  - PTPRD (protein tyrosine phosphatase, receptor type, D) is a tumor suppressor
      gene, frequently inactivated through deletions or epigenetic mechanisms in
      several cancers with importance for global health. In this study, we provide new
      and functionally integrated evidence on genetic and epigenetic alterations of
      PTPRD gene in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). Importantly, HCC is the sixth
      most common malignancy and the third most common cause of cancer-related
      mortality worldwide. We used a high throughput single nucleotide polymorphism
      (SNP) microarray assay (Affymetrix, 10K2.0 Assay) covering the whole genome to
      screen an extensive panel of HCC cell lines (N=14 in total) to detect DNA copy
      number changes. PTPRD expression was determined in human HCCs by Q-RT-PCR and
      immunohistochemistry. Promoter hypermethylation was assessed by combined
      bisulfite restriction analysis (COBRA). DNA methyl transferase inhibitor 5
      azacytidine (5-AzaC) and/or histone deacetylase inhibitor Trichostain A (TSA)
      were used to restore the expression. We identified homozygous deletions in
      Mahlavu and SNU475 cells, in the 5'UTR and coding regions, respectively. PTPRD
      mRNA expression was downregulated in 78.5% of cell lines and 82.6% of primary
      HCCs. PTPRD protein expression was also found to be lost or reduced in HCC tumor
      tissues. We found promoter hypermethylation in 22.2% of the paired HCC samples
      and restored PTPRD expression by 5-AzaC and/or TSA treatments. In conclusion,
      PTPRD is homozygously deleted and epigenetically downregulated in HCCs. We
      hypothesize PTPRD as a tumor suppressor candidate and potential cancer biomarker
      in human HCCs. This hypothesis is consistent with compelling evidences in other
      organ systems, as discussed in this article. Further functional assays in larger
      samples may ascertain the contribution of PTPRD to hepatocarcinogenesis in
      greater detail, not to forget its broader importance for diagnostic medicine and
      the emerging field of personalized medicine in oncology. 

PMID- 25831059
TI  - The placental protein syncytin-1 impairs antiviral responses and exaggerates
      inflammatory responses to influenza.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pregnancy increases susceptibility to influenza. The placenta
      releases an immunosuppressive endogenous retroviral protein syncytin-1. We
      hypothesised that exposure of peripheral monocytes (PBMCs) to syncytin-1 would
      impair responses to H1N1pdm09 influenza. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Recombinant
      syncytin-1 was produced. PBMCs from non-pregnant women (n=10) were exposed to
      H1N1pdm09 in the presence and absence of syncytin-1 and compared to responses of
      PBMCs from pregnant women (n=12). PBMCs were characterised using flow cytometry,
      release of interferon (IFN)-alpha, IFN-lambda, IFN-gamma, IL-10, IL-2, IL-6 and
      IL-1beta were measured by cytometric bead array or ELISA. Exposure of PBMCs to
      H1N1pdm09 resulted in the release of IFN-alpha, (14,787 pg/mL, 95% CI 7311-22,264
      pg/mL) IFN-lambda (1486 pg/mL, 95% CI 756-2216 pg/mL) and IFN-gamma (852 pg/mL,
      95% CI 193-1511 pg/mL) after 48 hours. This was significantly impaired in
      pregnant women (IFN-alpha; p<0.0001 and IFN-lambda; p<0.001). Furthermore, in the
      presence of syncytin-1, PBMCs demonstrated marked reductions in IFN-alpha and IFN
      lambda, while enhanced release of IL-10 as well as IL-6 and IL-1beta.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicates that a placental derived protein, syncytin-1 may
      be responsible for the heightened vulnerability of pregnant women to influenza.

PMID- 25831060
TI  - The promise of multi-omics and clinical data integration to identify and target
      personalized healthcare approaches in autism spectrum disorders.
AB  - Complex diseases are caused by a combination of genetic and environmental
      factors, creating a difficult challenge for diagnosis and defining subtypes. This
      review article describes how distinct disease subtypes can be identified through
      integration and analysis of clinical and multi-omics data. A broad shift toward
      molecular subtyping of disease using genetic and omics data has yielded
      successful results in cancer and other complex diseases. To determine molecular
      subtypes, patients are first classified by applying clustering methods to
      different types of omics data, then these results are integrated with clinical
      data to characterize distinct disease subtypes. An example of this molecular-data
      first approach is in research on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a spectrum of
      social communication disorders marked by tremendous etiological and phenotypic
      heterogeneity. In the case of ASD, omics data such as exome sequences and gene
      and protein expression data are combined with clinical data such as psychometric
      testing and imaging to enable subtype identification. Novel ASD subtypes have
      been proposed, such as CHD8, using this molecular subtyping approach. Broader use
      of molecular subtyping in complex disease research is impeded by data
      heterogeneity, diversity of standards, and ineffective analysis tools. The future
      of molecular subtyping for ASD and other complex diseases calls for an integrated
      resource to identify disease mechanisms, classify new patients, and inform
      effective treatment options. This in turn will empower and accelerate precision
      medicine and personalized healthcare. 

PMID- 25831063
TI  - A systematic gene-gene and gene-environment interaction analysis of DNA repair
      genes XRCC1, XRCC2, XRCC3, XRCC4, and oral cancer risk.
AB  - Oral cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide with a high mortality rate.
      Biomarkers that anticipate susceptibility, prognosis, or response to treatments
      are much needed. Oral cancer is a polygenic disease involving complex
      interactions among genetic and environmental factors, which require multifaceted
      analyses. Here, we examined in a dataset of 103 oral cancer cases and 98 controls
      from Taiwan the association between oral cancer risk and the DNA repair genes X
      ray repair cross-complementing group (XRCCs) 1-4, and the environmental factors
      of smoking, alcohol drinking, and betel quid (BQ) chewing. We employed logistic
      regression, multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR), and hierarchical
      interaction graphs for analyzing gene-gene (G*G) and gene-environment (G*E)
      interactions. We identified a significantly elevated risk of the XRCC2 rs2040639
      heterozygous variant among smokers [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 3.7, 95% confidence
      interval (CI)=1.1-12.1] and alcohol drinkers [adjusted OR=5.7, 95% CI=1.4-23.2].
      The best two-factor based G*G interaction of oral cancer included the XRCC1
      rs1799782 and XRCC2 rs2040639 [OR=3.13, 95% CI=1.66-6.13]. For the G*E
      interaction, the estimated OR of oral cancer for two (drinking-BQ chewing), three
      (XRCC1-XRCC2-BQ chewing), four (XRCC1-XRCC2-age-BQ chewing), and five factors
      (XRCC1-XRCC2-age-drinking-BQ chewing) were 32.9 [95% CI=14.1-76.9], 31.0 [95%
      CI=14.0-64.7], 49.8 [95% CI=21.0-117.7] and 82.9 [95% CI=31.0-221.5],
      respectively. Taken together, the genotypes of XRCC1 rs1799782 and XRCC2
      rs2040639 DNA repair genes appear to be significantly associated with oral
      cancer. These were enhanced by exposure to certain environmental factors. The
      observations presented here warrant further research in larger study samples to
      examine their relevance for routine clinical care in oncology. 

PMID- 25831064
TI  - Terminal ileum hemosiderosis secondary to prolonged oral iron ingestion.

PMID- 25831065
TI  - Apple fruit diameter and length estimation by using the thermal and sunshine
      hours approach and its application to the digital orchard management information
      system.
AB  - In apple cultivation, simulation models may be used to monitor fruit size during
      the growth and development process to predict production levels and to optimize
      fruit quality. Here, Fuji apples cultivated in spindle-type systems were used as
      the model crop. Apple size was measured during the growing period at an interval
      of about 20 days after full bloom, with three weather stations being used to
      collect orchard temperature and solar radiation data at different sites.
      Furthermore, a 2-year dataset (2011 and 2012) of apple fruit size measurements
      were integrated according to the weather station deployment sites, in addition to
      the top two most important environment factors, thermal and sunshine hours, into
      the model. The apple fruit diameter and length were simulated using physiological
      development time (PDT), an indicator that combines important environment factors,
      such as temperature and photoperiod, as the driving variable. Compared to the
      model of calendar-based development time (CDT), an indicator counting the days
      that elapse after full bloom, we confirmed that the PDT model improved the
      estimation accuracy to within 0.2 cm for fruit diameter and 0.1 cm for fruit
      length in independent years using a similar data collection method in 2013. The
      PDT model was implemented to realize a web-based management information system
      for a digital orchard, and the digital system had been applied in Shandong
      Province, China since 2013. This system may be used to compute the dynamic curve
      of apple fruit size based on data obtained from a nearby weather station. This
      system may provide an important decision support for farmers using the website
      and short message service to optimize crop production and, hence, economic
      benefit. 

PMID- 25831066
TI  - Combining Raman and FT-IR spectroscopy with quantitative isotopic labeling for
      differentiation of E. coli cells at community and single cell levels.
AB  - There is no doubt that the contribution of microbially mediated bioprocesses
      toward maintenance of life on earth is vital. However, understanding these
      microbes in situ is currently a bottleneck, as most methods require culturing
      these microorganisms to suitable biomass levels so that their phenotype can be
      measured. The development of new culture-independent strategies such as stable
      isotope probing (SIP) coupled with molecular biology has been a breakthrough
      toward linking gene to function, while circumventing in vitro culturing. In this
      study, for the first time we have combined Raman spectroscopy and Fourier
      transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, as metabolic fingerprinting approaches,
      with SIP to demonstrate the quantitative labeling and differentiation of
      Escherichia coli cells. E. coli cells were grown in minimal medium with fixed
      final concentrations of carbon and nitrogen supply, but with different ratios and
      combinations of (13)C/(12)C glucose and (15)N/(14)N ammonium chloride, as the
      sole carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. The cells were collected at
      stationary phase and examined by Raman and FT-IR spectroscopies. The multivariate
      analysis investigation of FT-IR and Raman data illustrated unique clustering
      patterns resulting from specific spectral shifts upon the incorporation of
      different isotopes, which were directly correlated with the ratio of the
      isotopically labeled content of the medium. Multivariate analysis results of
      single-cell Raman spectra followed the same trend, exhibiting a separation
      between E. coli cells labeled with different isotopes and multiple isotope levels
      of C and N. 

PMID- 25831068
TI  - Correction: Implementation of a surgical safety checklist: interventions to
      optimize the process and hints to increase compliance.

PMID- 25831067
TI  - Increased rates of pregnancy complications in women with celiac disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Celiac disease is an immune-mediated small bowel disorder that
      develops in genetically susceptible individuals upon exposure to dietary gluten.
      Celiac disease could have extra-intestinal manifestations that affect women's
      reproductive health. The aim of this study was to investigate fertility and
      outcomes of pregnancy among women with celiac disease. METHODS: In a
      retrospective cohort study, we analyzed information collected from patients at a
      tertiary care celiac center and from members of 2 national celiac disease
      awareness organizations. Women without celiac disease were used as controls.
      Women completed an anonymous online survey, answering 43 questions about
      menstrual history, fertility, and outcomes of pregnancy (329 with small bowel
      biopsy-confirmed celiac disease and 641 controls). RESULTS: Of the 970 women
      included in the study, 733 (75.6%) reported that they had been pregnant at some
      point; there was no significant difference between women with celiac disease
      (n=245/329, 74.5%) and controls (488/641, 76.1%; P=0.57). However, fewer women
      with celiac disease than controls (79.6% vs. 84.8%) gave birth following 1 or
      more pregnancies (P=0.03). Women with celiac disease had higher percentages of
      spontaneous abortion than controls (50.6% vs. 40.6%; P=0.01), and of premature
      delivery (23.6% vs. 15.9% among controls; P=0.02). The mean age at menarche was
      higher in the celiac disease group (12.7 years) than controls (12.4 years;
      P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In a retrospective cohort analysis examining reproductive
      features of women with celiac disease, we associated celiac disease with
      significant increases in spontaneous abortion, premature delivery, and later age
      of menarche.

PMID- 25831069
TI  - Do Written Disclosures of Serious Events Increase Risk of Malpractice Claims? One
      Health Care System's Experience.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine whether Pennsylvania ACT 13 of 2002
      (Mcare) requiring the written and verbal disclosure of "serious events" was
      accompanied by increased malpractice claims or compensation costs in a large U.S.
      health system. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was the rate of
      malpractice claims. The secondary outcome was the amount paid for compensation of
      malpractice claims. The analyses tested the relationship between the rate of
      serious event disclosures and the outcome variables, adjusted for the year of the
      event, category of claim, and the degree of "harm" related to the event. RESULTS:
      There were 15,028 serious event disclosures and 1302 total malpractice claims
      among 1,587,842 patients admitted to UPMC hospitals from May 17, 2002, to June
      30, 2011. As the number of serious event disclosures increased, the number of
      malpractice claims per 1000 admissions remained between 0.62 and 1.03. Based on a
      matched analysis of claims that were disclosed and those that were not (195
      pairs), disclosure status was significantly associated with increased claim
      payout (disclosures had 2.71 times the payout; 95% confidence interval, 1.56
      4.72). Claims with higher harm levels H and I were independently associated with
      higher payouts than claims with lower harm levels A to D (11.15 times the payout;
      95% confidence interval, 2.30-54.07). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Implementation
      of a mandated serious event disclosure law in Pennsylvania was not associated
      with an overall increase in malpractice claims filed. Among events of similar
      degree of harm, disclosed events had higher compensation paid compared with those
      that had not been disclosed.

PMID- 25831070
TI  - Heart disease prevention in children: the road to 2020.

PMID- 25831071
TI  - Outcome after discontinuation of nucleot(s)ide analogues in chronic hepatitis B:
      relapse rate and associated factors.
AB  - The introduction of nucleot(s)ide analogues (NAs) for oral antiviral therapy has
      dramatically improved the clinical outcome of patients with chronic hepatitis B.
      NAs appear to be safe and induce potent suppression of viral replication.
      However, they are associated with a low rate of HBsAg seroclearance, the gold
      standard of successful treatment, and also with a relatively high rate of
      virological relapse after discontinuation. As a result, long-term treatment is
      needed. The optimal duration of NA treatment currently remains unclear,
      nevertheless in some patients NA treatment can be stopped with a relatively low
      probability of relapse. Whether NAs are able to induce a sustained off-treatment
      response is an important area for research. This article reviews the relapse rate
      after cessation of treatment with NAs in chronic hepatitis B patients with the
      goal of identifying possible predictive factors of relapse.

PMID- 25831073
TI  - Shape-selective oriented cerium oxide nanocrystals permit assessment of the
      effect of the exposed facets on catalytic activity and oxygen storage capacity.
AB  - The catalytic performance of a range of nanocrystalline CeO2 samples, prepared to
      have different morphologies, was measured using two accepted indicators; oxygen
      storage and diesel soot combustion. The same powders were characterized in detail
      by HR-TEM, XRD, XPS, and Raman methods. The study demonstrates that activity is
      determined by the relative fraction of the active crystallographic planes, not by
      the specific surface area of the powders. The physical study is a step toward
      quantitative evaluation of the relative contribution to activity of the different
      facets. The synthetic protocol permits fabrication of CeO2 nanostructures with
      preferentially grown active planes, and therefore has potential in developing
      catalytic applications and in nanocompositing. 

PMID- 25831072
TI  - Antibiotic use: a cross-sectional survey assessing the knowledge, attitudes and
      practices amongst students of a school of medicine in Italy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Since antibiotic resistance has become a worldwide public health
      concern and is in part related to physicians' lack of knowledge, it is essential
      to focus our attention on healthcare profession students. The present study aims
      at evaluating the knowledge and attitudes of the School of Medicine's students
      towards antibiotic usage and antibiotic resistance. METHODS: In December 2013, a
      cross sectional study was conducted amongst medical, dental, nursing and other
      health care profession students of the School of Medicine at the University of
      Torino. Students of all the academic years took part in this study.
      Questionnaires were submitted during regular lectures (only students who attended
      courses on one specific day were surveyed) and the data collected was analyzed
      using StataMP11 statistical software. RESULTS: Overall, 1,050 students were
      interviewed. The response rate was 100%. Around 20% of the sample stated that
      antibiotics are appropriate for viral infections and 15% of the students that
      they stop taking those drugs when symptoms decrease. Results of the multivariate
      analyses showed that females were more likely than males to take antibiotics only
      when prescribed (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.04-1.98). Interestingly, students with a
      relative working in a health-related field, as well as those who took at least
      one course of antibiotics in the last year, had a lower probability of taking
      those drugs only under prescription (OR = 0.69 95% CI: 0.49-0.97 and OR = 0.38
      95% CI: 0.27-0.53, respectively). CONCLUSION: The present paper shows how
      healthcare profession students do not practice what they know. Since those
      students will be a behavioral model for citizens and patients, it is important to
      generate more awareness around this issue throughout their studies. It would be
      advisable to introduce a specific course and training on antibiotics in the core
      curriculum of the School of Medicine.

PMID- 25831074
TI  - Structural revision of (+)-uprolide F diacetate confirmed by asymmetric total
      synthesis.
AB  - A new structure for the cytotoxic cembranolide uprolide F diacetate (UFD) was
      proposed, and an enantioselective total synthesis was accomplished to confirm
      that our revised structure correctly represented the natural UFD and its absolute
      configuration. Our synthesis features a late-stage, highly efficient, and
      diastereoselective Nozaki-Hiyama-Kishi macrocyclization (95% yield) and an
      unexpected reagent-controlled reversible translactonization, which, being the
      first example within the cembranolide family, might have biogenetic implications
      and be of great importance to synthetic studies of the alpha-methylene-gamma
      lactone-bearing cembranolides. 

PMID- 25831075
TI  - 1D magnetic interactions in Cu(II) oxovanadium phosphates (VPO), magnetic
      susceptibility, DFT, and single-crystal EPR.
AB  - We report the crystal face indexing and molecular spatial orientation, magnetic
      properties, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra, and density functional
      theory (DFT) calculations of two previously reported oxovanadium phosphates
      functionalized with Cu(II) complexes, namely, [Cu(bipy)(VO2)(PO4)]n (1) and
      [{Cu(phen)}2(VO2(H2O)2)(H2PO4)2 (PO4)]n (2), where bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine and
      phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, obtained by a new synthetic route allowing the growth
      of single crystals appropriate for the EPR measurements. Compounds 1 and 2
      crystallize in the triclinic group P1 and in the orthorhombic Pccn group,
      respectively, containing dinuclear copper units connected by two -O-P-O- bridges
      in 1 and by a single -O-P-O- bridge in 2, further connected through -O-P-O-V-O-
      bridges. We emphasize in our work the structural aspects related to the chemical
      paths that determine the magnetic properties. Magnetic susceptibility data
      indicate bulk antiferromagnetism for both compounds, allowing to calculate J = 
      43.0 cm(-1) (dCu-Cu = 5.07 A; J defined as Hex(i,j) = -J Si.Sj), considering
      dinuclear units for 1, and J = -1.44 cm(-1) (dCu-Cu = 3.47 A) using the molecular
      field approximation for 2. The single-crystal EPR study allows evaluation of the
      g matrices, which provide a better understanding of the electronic structure. The
      absence of structure of the EPR spectra arising from the dinuclear character of
      the compounds allows estimation of weak additional exchange couplings |J'| > 0.3
      cm(-1) for 1 (dCu-Cu = 5.54 A) and a smaller value of |J'| >= 0.15 cm(-1) for 2
      (dCu-Cu = 6.59 A). DFT calculations allow evaluating two different exchange
      couplings for each compound, specifically, J = -36.60 cm(-1) (dCu-Cu = 5.07 A)
      and J' = 0.20 cm(-1) (dCu-Cu =5.54 A) for 1 and J = -1.10 cm(-1) (dCu-Cu =3.47 A)
      and J' = 0.01 cm(-1) (dCu-Cu = 6.59 A) for 2, this last value being in the range
      of the uncertainties of the calculations. Thus, these values are in good
      agreement with those provided by magnetic and single-crystal EPR measurements. 

PMID- 25831076
TI  - Prevalence and management of back pain in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis
      patients: A retrospective study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Back pain (BP) has often been associated with adolescent idiopathic
      scoliosis (AIS), which is a three-dimensional deviation of the vertebral column.
      In adolescents, chronic pain appears to be a predictor of health care utilization
      and has a negative impact on physical, psychological and family well-being. In
      this population, BP tends to be persistent and may be a predictor of BP in
      adulthood. OBJECTIVE: To document the prevalence and management of BP in AIS
      patients. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of AIS patients who were referred
      to Sainte-Justine University Teaching Hospital (Montreal, Quebec) from 2006 to
      2011 was conducted. RESULTS: A total of 310 randomly selected charts were
      reviewed. Nearly one-half of the patients (47.3%) mentioned that they experienced
      BP, most commonly in the lumbar (19.7%) and thoracic regions (7.7%). The type of
      BP was documented in only 36% (n=112) of the charts. Pain intensity was specified
      in only 21% (n=65) of the charts. In approximately 80% (n=248) of the charts, no
      pain management treatment plan was documented. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of BP
      was moderately high among the present sample of adolescents with AIS. An improved
      system for documenting BP assessment, type, treatment plan and treatment
      effectiveness would improve pain management for these patients.

PMID- 25831077
TI  - Patients' recall of diagnostic and treatment information improves with use of the
      Pain Explanation and Treatment Diagram in an outpatient chronic pain clinic.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To maximize the benefit of therapies, patients must understand their
      condition, recall treatment suggestions and comply with treatments. The Pain
      Explanation and Treatment Diagram (PETD) is a one-page worksheet that identifies
      risk factors (health-related habits, sleep, exercise, ergonomics and psychosocial
      factors) involved in chronic pain. Clinician and patient complete the PETD
      together, and the clinician notes recommended treatments and lifestyle changes.
      OBJECTIVES: To examine the effect of use of the PETD on patient recall of
      diagnostic and treatment information on the sheet. METHODS: The present study was
      a cross-sectional analysis. Patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain seen by
      one physiatrist at an outpatient pain clinic in a university-affiliated hospital
      between 2009 and 2012 (all of whom received the PETD) were eligible. A structured
      telephone interview lasting approximately 1 h was used to determine recall of
      PETD diagnostic and treatment information. RESULTS: Of the 84 eligible patients,
      46 were contacted and 29 completed the telephone interview. Participants recalled
      an average of 12.2% (95% CI 7.8% to 17.4%) of items without prompting and 48.5%
      (95% CI 42.0% to 53.5%) when prompted. Participants who referred to the PETD at
      home (n=13) recalled significantly more items than those who did not (n=15)
      (17.6% [95% CI 11.1% to 23.9%] versus 5.2% [95% CI 3.0% to 14.5%], P=0.004); when
      prompted, the rates increased to 54.3% (95% CI 48.3% to 61.2%) and 41.2% (95% CI
      34.7% to 50.7%), respectively (P=0.032). CONCLUSIONS: The PETD is a promising,
      feasible and inexpensive tool that can improve patients' recall of diagnostic-
      and treatment-related information.

PMID- 25831078
TI  - Development of a cell system for siRNA screening of pathogen responses in human
      and mouse macrophages.
AB  - Macrophages play a critical role in the innate immune response to pathogen
      infection, but few tools exist for systematic dissection of these responses using
      modern genome-wide perturbation methods. To develop an assay platform for high
      throughput analysis of macrophage activation by pathogenic stimuli, we generated
      reporter systems in human and mouse macrophages with dynamic readouts for NF
      kappaB and/or TNF-alpha responses. These reporter cells show responsiveness to a
      broad range of TLR ligands and to gram-negative bacterial infection. There are
      significant challenges to the use of RNAi in innate immune cells, including
      efficient small RNA delivery and non-specific immune responses to dsRNA. To
      permit the interrogation of the macrophage pathogen response pathways with RNAi,
      we employed the stably expressed reporter genes to develop efficient siRNA
      delivery protocols for maximal target gene silencing with minimal activation of
      the innate macrophage response to nucleic acids. We demonstrate the utility of
      these macrophage cell systems for siRNA screening of pathogen responses by
      targeting components of the human and mouse TLR pathways, and observe species
      specific perturbation of signaling and cytokine responses. Our approach to
      reporter cell development and siRNA delivery optimization provides an
      experimental paradigm with significant potential for developing genetic screening
      platforms in mammalian cells. 

PMID- 25831080
TI  - Employing XIAP to enhance the duration of antigen expression and immunity against
      an avian influenza H5 DNA vaccine.
AB  - DNA vaccine represents a powerful approach for prevention of avian H5N1 influenza
      infection. Yet, DNA vaccine-induced immune responses might be limited by the
      short duration of antigen expression. As a strategy to enhance adaptive immune
      responses elicited by a hemagglutinin 5 (H5) DNA vaccine, we explored the effect
      of co-administration of a DNA encoding X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein
      (XIAP) as a modulator of apoptosis and a stimulator of inflammatory signaling. In
      cultured cells as early as 24 hours (h), we found that the DNA vaccine encoded H5
      antigen was a potent stimulator of apoptosis, and the H5 pro-apoptotic activity
      was significantly suppressed by the co-expression of full-length XIAP or mutant
      XIAP (DeltaRING). However, full-length XIAP showed a higher potency than mutant
      XIAP (DeltaRING) in the inhibition of H5-induced apoptosis. We also compared the
      immunizing ability of transmembrane and secretory forms of H5. Mice vaccinated
      (twice with 3-week intervals) with the secretory form of H5 showed higher
      hemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibody titers than mice vaccinated with the
      transmembrane form of H5. Furthermore, co-administration of XIAP with the
      secretory form of H5 resulted into a stronger antibody response than the
      transmembrane form of H5. Our findings suggest that in the design of DNA vaccines
      for a given pro-apoptotic antigen, using an anti-apoptotic molecular adjuvant and
      the secretory form of antigen may be a greater stimulus to induce immune
      responses. 

PMID- 25831079
TI  - Aryl hydrocarbon receptor is necessary to protect fetal human pulmonary
      microvascular endothelial cells against hyperoxic injury: Mechanistic roles of
      antioxidant enzymes and RelB.
AB  - Hyperoxia contributes to the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in
      premature infants. Activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) protects
      adult and newborn mice against hyperoxic lung injury by mediating increases in
      the expression of phase I (cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A) and phase II (NADP(H)
      quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1)) antioxidant enzymes (AOE). AhR positively
      regulates the expression of RelB, a component of the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF
      kappaB) protein that contributes to anti-inflammatory processes in adult animals.
      Whether AhR regulates the expression of AOE and RelB, and protects fetal primary
      human lung cells against hyperoxic injury is unknown. Therefore, we tested the
      hypothesis that AhR-deficient fetal human pulmonary microvascular endothelial
      cells (HPMEC) will have decreased RelB activation and AOE, which will in turn
      predispose them to increased oxidative stress, inflammation, and cell death
      compared to AhR-sufficient HPMEC upon exposure to hyperoxia. AhR-deficient HPMEC
      showed increased hyperoxia-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation,
      cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), and cell death compared to AhR
      sufficient HPMEC. Additionally, AhR-deficient cell culture supernatants displayed
      increased macrophage inflammatory protein 1alpha and 1beta, indicating a
      heightened inflammatory state. Interestingly, loss of AhR was associated with a
      significantly attenuated CYP1A1, NQO1, superoxide dismutase 1(SOD1), and nuclear
      RelB protein expression. These findings support the hypothesis that decreased
      RelB activation and AOE in AhR-deficient cells is associated with increased
      hyperoxic injury compared to AhR-sufficient cells. 

PMID- 25831081
TI  - Fascin regulates TLR4/PKC-mediated translational activation through miR-155 and
      miR-125b, which targets the 3' untranslated region of TNF-alpha mRNA.
AB  - Fascin is a well-known cytoskeletal regulatory protein that, as a substrate of
      protein kinase C (PKC), is involved in PKC-mediated translational regulation of
      TNF-alpha in macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The regulatory
      effects of fascin targeted the 3'-untraslated region (UTR) of the TNF-alpha mRNA,
      and suppression of PKC activity or fascin expression resulted in specific
      blockage of the LPS-induced translational activation of the mRNA. In an effort to
      identify the molecular mechanism of this fascin-mediated translational
      regulation, the expression levels of micro-RNA (miRNA) after stimulation of the
      toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling pathways were analyzed in cells with down
      regulation of fascin. The LPS-induced translation of TNF-alpha is known to be
      regulated by miR-155 and miR-125b, which have positive and negative effects,
      respectively. Interestingly, suppression of fascin expression reversed LPS
      induced down-regulation of miR-125b and abolished the LPS-induced increase in miR
      155. Furthermore, introduction of miR-155 precursor, blocking of miR-125b
      activity, or introduction of a mutation into the miR-125b binding site of the TNF
      alpha 3'-UTR restored translational activation in cells with suppressed fascin
      expression. These data indicate that fascin regulates translation through miR-155
      and miR-125b, which target 3' UTR in TNF-alpha mRNA. 

PMID- 25831082
TI  - Fukuyoa paulensis gen. et sp. nov., a new genus for the globular species of the
      dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus (Dinophyceae).
AB  - The marine epiphytic dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus is a toxicologically important
      genus responsible for ciguatera fish poisoning, the principal cause of non
      bacterial illness associated with fish consumption. The genus currently contains
      species exhibiting either globular or anterior-posteriorly compressed
      morphologies with marked differences in cell shape and plate arrangement. Here we
      report a third globular, epiphytic and tychoplanktonic species from the coasts of
      Ubatuba, Brazil. The new species can be distinguished from G. yasumotoi and G.
      ruetzleri by its broader first apical plate that occupies a larger portion of the
      epitheca. Accordingly, phylogenetic trees from small subunit (SSU) and large
      subunit (LSU) ribosomal DNA sequences also showed strongly supported separation
      of the new species from the G. yasumotoi/G. ruetzleri group albeit with short
      distance. The molecular phylogenies, which included new sequences of the
      planktonic species Goniodoma polyedricum, further indicated that the globular
      species of Gambierdiscus formed a tight clade, clearly separated (with strong
      bootstrap support) from the clade of lenticular species including the type for
      Gambierdiscus. The morphological and molecular data in concert support the split
      of Gambierdiscus sensu lato into two genera. Gambierdiscus sensu stricto should
      be reserved for the species with lenticular shapes, highly compressed
      anterioposteriorly, with short-shank fishhook apical pore plate, large 2' plate,
      low and ascending cingular displacement, and pouch-like sulcal morphology. The
      new genus name Fukuyoa gen. nov. should be applied to the globular species,
      slightly laterally compressed, with long-shank fishhook apical pore plate, large
      1' plate, greater and descending cingular displacement, and not pouch-like
      vertically-oriented sulcal morphology. Fukuyoa contains the new species Fukuyoa
      paulensis gen. et sp. nov., and F. yasumotoi comb. nov. and F. ruetzleri comb.
      nov.

PMID- 25831083
TI  - Highly sensitive measurement of liquid density in air using suspended
      microcapillary resonators.
AB  - We report the use of commercially available glass microcapillaries as
      micromechanical resonators for real-time monitoring of the mass density of a
      liquid that flows through the capillary. The vibration of a suspended region of
      the microcapillary is optically detected by measuring the forward scattering of a
      laser beam. The resonance frequency of the liquid filled microcapillary is
      measured for liquid binary mixtures of ethanol in water, glycerol in water and
      Triton in ethanol. The method achieves a detection limit in an air environment of
      50 ug/mL that is only five times higher than that obtained with state-of-the-art
      suspended microchannel resonators encapsulated in vacuum. The method opens the
      door to novel advances for miniaturized total analysis systems based on
      microcapillaries with the add-on of mechanical transduction for sensing the
      rheological properties of the analyzed fluids without the need for vacuum
      encapsulation of the resonators. 

PMID- 25831084
TI  - PAD-MAC: primary user activity-aware distributed MAC for multi-channel cognitive
      radio networks.
AB  - Cognitive radio (CR) has emerged as a promising technology to solve problems
      related to spectrum scarcity and provides a ubiquitous wireless access
      environment. CR-enabled secondary users (SUs) exploit spectrum white spaces
      opportunistically and immediately vacate the acquired licensed channels as
      primary users (PUs) arrive. Accessing the licensed channels without the prior
      knowledge of PU traffic patterns causes severe throughput degradation due to
      excessive channel switching and PU-to-SU collisions. Therefore, it is
      significantly important to design a PU activity-aware medium access control (MAC)
      protocol for cognitive radio networks (CRNs). In this paper, we first propose a
      licensed channel usage pattern identification scheme, based on a two-state Markov
      model, and then estimate the future idle slots using previous observations of the
      channels. Furthermore, based on these past observations, we compute the rank of
      each available licensed channel that gives SU transmission success assessment
      during the estimated idle slot. Secondly, we propose a PU activity-aware
      distributed MAC (PAD-MAC) protocol for heterogeneous multi-channel CRNs that
      selects the best channel for each SU to enhance its throughput. PAD-MAC controls
      SU activities by allowing them to exploit the licensed channels only for the
      duration of estimated idle slots and enables predictive and fast channel
      switching. To evaluate the performance of the proposed PAD-MAC, we compare it
      with the distributed QoS-aware MAC (QC-MAC) and listen-before-talk MAC schemes.
      Extensive numerical results show the significant improvements of the PAD-MAC in
      terms of the SU throughput, SU channel switching rate and PU-to-SU collision
      rate. 

PMID- 25831085
TI  - A non-chemical system for online weed control.
AB  - Non-chemical weed control methods need to be directed towards a site-specific
      weeding approach, in order to be able to compete the conventional herbicide
      equivalents. A system for online weed control was developed. It automatically
      adjusts the tine angle of a harrow and creates different levels of intensity:
      from gentle to aggressive. Two experimental plots in a maize field were harrowed
      with two consecutive passes. The plots presented from low to high weed
      infestation levels. Discriminant capabilities of an ultrasonic sensor were used
      to determine the crop and weed variability of the field. A controlling unit used
      ultrasonic readings to adjust the tine angle, producing an appropriate harrowing
      intensity. Thus, areas with high crop and weed densities were more aggressively
      harrowed, while areas with lower densities were cultivated with a gentler
      treatment; areas with very low densities or without weeds were not treated.
      Although the weed development was relatively advanced and the soil surface was
      hard, the weed control achieved by the system reached an average of 51% (20%
      91%), without causing significant crop damage as a result of harrowing. This
      system is proposed as a relatively low cost, online, and real-time automatic
      harrow that improves the weed control efficacy, reduces energy consumption, and
      avoids the usage of herbicide. 

PMID- 25831086
TI  - A robust method to detect zero velocity for improved 3D personal navigation using
      inertial sensors.
AB  - This paper proposes a robust zero velocity (ZV) detector algorithm to accurately
      calculate stationary periods in a gait cycle. The proposed algorithm adopts an
      effective gait cycle segmentation method and introduces a Bayesian network (BN)
      model based on the measurements of inertial sensors and kinesiology knowledge to
      infer the ZV period. During the detected ZV period, an Extended Kalman Filter
      (EKF) is used to estimate the error states and calibrate the position error. The
      experiments reveal that the removal rate of ZV false detections by the proposed
      method increases 80% compared with traditional method at high walking speed.
      Furthermore, based on the detected ZV, the Personal Inertial Navigation System
      (PINS) algorithm aided by EKF performs better, especially in the altitude aspect.

PMID- 25831087
TI  - Maximum stress estimation model for multi-span waler beams with deflections at
      the supports using average strains.
AB  - The safety of a multi-span waler beam subjected simultaneously to a distributed
      load and deflections at its supports can be secured by limiting the maximum
      stress of the beam to a specific value to prevent the beam from reaching a limit
      state for failure or collapse. Despite the fact that the vast majority of
      accidents on construction sites occur at waler beams in retaining wall systems,
      no safety monitoring model that can consider deflections at the supports of the
      beam is available. In this paper, a maximum stress estimation model for a waler
      beam based on average strains measured from vibrating wire strain gauges (VWSGs),
      the most frequently used sensors in construction field, is presented. The model
      is derived by defining the relationship between the maximum stress and the
      average strains measured from VWSGs. In addition to the maximum stress, support
      reactions, deflections at supports, and the magnitudes of distributed loads for
      the beam structure can be identified by the estimation model using the average
      strains. Using simulation tests on two multi-span beams, the performance of the
      model is evaluated by estimating maximum stress, deflections at supports, support
      reactions, and the magnitudes of distributed loads. 

PMID- 25831088
TI  - The application of a piezo-resistive cardiorespiratory sensor system in an
      automobile safety belt.
AB  - Respiratory and heart failure are conditions that can occur with little warning
      and may also be difficult to predict. Therefore continuous monitoring of these
      bio-signals is advantageous for ensuring human health. The car safety belt is
      mainly designed to secure the occupants of the vehicle in the event of an
      accident. In the current research a prototype safety belt is developed, which is
      used to acquire respiratory and heart signals, under laboratory conditions. The
      current safety belt is constructed using a copper ink based nonwoven material,
      which works based on the piezo-resistive effect due to the pressure exerted on
      the sensor as a result of expansion of the thorax/abdomen area of the body for
      respiration and due to the principle of ballistocardiography (BCG) in heart
      signal sensing. In this research, the development of a theoretical model to
      qualitatively describe the piezo-resistive material is also presented in order to
      predict the relative change in the resistance of the piezo-resistive material due
      to the pressure applied. 

PMID- 25831089
TI  - Simple Method to Genotype the ACTN3 r577x Polymorphism.
AB  - The alpha-actinin-3 r577x polymorphism (rs1815739) is one of the most important
      polymorphisms associated with athletic performance. This single-nucleotide
      mutation leads to a premature stop codon, resulting in a nonfunctional protein
      product. The presence of the dominant R allele is associated with full power
      skeletal muscle contraction. Homozygosity for the X allele is correlated with
      more efficient energy disposure. Restriction fragment length polymorphism and
      real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are the standard methods used to
      genotype this polymorphism, but they are expensive and require special
      equipments. Here, we present a simple and cost-efficient method to genotype the
      ACTN3 r577x polymorphism by a single PCR. External primers yield a 690-bp product
      that indicates the template quality. Internal primers produce a 413-bp product if
      the R allele is present and a 318-bp product if the X allele is present. Our four
      primer genotyping PCR was validated by the standard real-time PCR, generally used
      to genotype this single-nucleotide polymorphism, demonstrating the accuracy of
      this method. This protocol is perfect for small- or large-scale cohort genotyping
      of the ACTN3 r577x polymorphism. 

PMID- 25831090
TI  - The Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance in Managing Intra-Abdominal Infections.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In recent years, there has been a worldwide increase in infections
      caused by microorganisms resistant to multiple antimicrobial agents. METHODS: In
      the past few decades, an increased prevalence of infections caused by antibiotic
      resistant pathogens, including Enterococcus spp., carbapenem-resistant
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii, extended-spectrum beta
      lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp., carbapenemase
      producing Klebsiella pneumoniae, and resistant Candida spp., also has been
      observed among intra-abdominal infections (IAIs). RESULTS: The increasing
      prevalence of multi-drug resistance is responsible for a substantial increase in
      morbidity and mortality rates associated with IAIs. CONCLUSIONS: It is necessary
      for every surgeon treating IAIs to understand the underlying epidemiology and
      clinical consequences of antimicrobial resistance. Emergence of drug resistance,
      combined with the lack of new agents in the drug development pipeline, indicates
      that judicious antimicrobial management will be necessary to preserve the utility
      of the drugs available currently.

PMID- 25831091
TI  - Erythematous Papules on the Forearms.

PMID- 25831092
TI  - Effects of ALDH2 genotype, PPI treatment and L-cysteine on carcinogenic
      acetaldehyde in gastric juice and saliva after intragastric alcohol
      administration.
AB  - Acetaldehyde (ACH) associated with alcoholic beverages is Group 1 carcinogen to
      humans (IARC/WHO). Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2), a major ACH eliminating
      enzyme, is genetically deficient in 30-50% of Eastern Asians. In alcohol
      drinkers, ALDH2-deficiency is a well-known risk factor for upper aerodigestive
      tract cancers, i.e., head and neck cancer and esophageal cancer. However, there
      is only a limited evidence for stomach cancer. In this study we demonstrated for
      the first time that ALDH2 deficiency results in markedly increased exposure of
      the gastric mucosa to acetaldehyde after intragastric administration of alcohol.
      Our finding provides concrete evidence for a causal relationship between
      acetaldehyde and gastric carcinogenesis. A plausible explanation is the gastric
      first pass metabolism of ethanol. The gastric mucosa expresses alcohol
      dehydrogenase (ADH) enzymes catalyzing the oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde,
      especially at the high ethanol concentrations prevailing in the stomach after the
      consumption of alcoholic beverages. The gastric mucosa also possesses the
      acetaldehyde-eliminating ALDH2 enzyme. Due to decreased mucosal ALDH2 activity,
      the elimination of ethanol-derived acetaldehyde is decreased, which results in
      its accumulation in the gastric juice. We also demonstrate that ALDH2 deficiency,
      proton pump inhibitor (PPI) treatment, and L-cysteine cause independent changes
      in gastric juice and salivary acetaldehyde levels, indicating that intragastric
      acetaldehyde is locally regulated by gastric mucosal ADH and ALDH2 enzymes, and
      by oral microbes colonizing an achlorhydric stomach. Markedly elevated
      acetaldehyde levels were also found at low intragastric ethanol concentrations
      corresponding to the ethanol levels of many foodstuffs, beverages, and dairy
      products produced by fermentation. A capsule that slowly releases L-cysteine
      effectively eliminated acetaldehyde from the gastric juice of PPI-treated ALDH2
      active and ALDH2-deficient subjects. These results provide entirely novel
      perspectives for the prevention of gastric cancer, especially in established risk
      groups. 

PMID- 25831094
TI  - Care Models of eHealth Services: A Case Study on the Design of a Business Model
      for an Online Precare Service.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With a growing population of health care clients in the future, the
      organization of high-quality and cost-effective service providing becomes an
      increasing challenge. New online eHealth services are proposed as innovative
      options for the future. Yet, a major barrier to these services appears to be the
      lack of new business model designs. Although design efforts generally result in
      visual models, no such artifacts have been found in the literature on business
      model design. This paper investigates business model design in eHealth service
      practices from a design perspective. It adopts a research by design approach and
      seeks to unravel what characteristics of business models determine an online
      service and what are important value exchanges between health professionals and
      clients. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to analyze the construction of
      care models in-depth, framing the essential elements of a business model, and
      design a new care model that structures these elements for the particular context
      of an online pre-care service in practice. METHODS: This research employs a
      qualitative method of an in-depth case study in which different perspectives on
      constructing a care model are investigated. Data are collected by using the
      visual business modeling toolkit, designed to cocreate and visualize the business
      model. The cocreated models are transcribed and analyzed per actor perspective,
      transactions, and value attributes. RESULTS: We revealed eight new actors in the
      business model for providing the service. Essential actors are: the intermediary
      network coordinator connecting companies, the service dedicated information
      technology specialists, and the service dedicated health specialist. In the
      transactions for every service providing we found a certain type of contract,
      such as a license contract and service contracts for precare services and
      software products. In addition to the efficiency, quality, and convenience,
      important value attributes appeared to be: timelines, privacy and credibility,
      availability, pleasantness, and social interaction. Based on the in-depth
      insights from the actor perspectives, the business model for online precare
      services is modeled with a visual design. A new care model of the online precare
      service is designed and compiled of building blocks for the business model.
      CONCLUSIONS: For the construction of a care model, actors, transactions, and
      value attributes are essential elements. The design of a care model structures
      these elements in a visual way. Guided by the business modeling toolkit, the care
      model design artifact is visualized in the context of an online precare service.
      Important building blocks include: provision of an online flow of information
      with regular interactions to the client stimulates self-management of personal
      health and service-dedicated health expert ensure an increase of the perceived
      quality of the eHealth service.

PMID- 25831093
TI  - The benefits of social influence in optimized cultural markets.
AB  - Social influence has been shown to create significant unpredictability in
      cultural markets, providing one potential explanation why experts routinely fail
      at predicting commercial success of cultural products. As a result, social
      influence is often presented in a negative light. Here, we show the benefits of
      social influence for cultural markets. We present a policy that uses product
      quality, appeal, position bias and social influence to maximize expected profits
      in the market. Our computational experiments show that our profit-maximizing
      policy leverages social influence to produce significant performance benefits for
      the market, while our theoretical analysis proves that our policy outperforms in
      expectation any policy not displaying social signals. Our results contrast with
      earlier work which focused on showing the unpredictability and inequalities
      created by social influence. Not only do we show for the first time that, under
      our policy, dynamically showing consumers positive social signals increases the
      expected profit of the seller in cultural markets. We also show that, in
      reasonable settings, our profit-maximizing policy does not introduce significant
      unpredictability and identifies "blockbusters". Overall, these results shed new
      light on the nature of social influence and how it can be leveraged for the
      benefits of the market. 

PMID- 25831095
TI  - Jahn-Teller distortion in polyoligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) cations.
AB  - We investigated the symmetry breaking mechanism in cubic octa-tert-butyl
      silsesquioxane and octachloro silsesquioxane monocations (Si8O12(C(CH3)3)8(+) and
      Si8O12Cl8(+)) using density functional theory (DFT) and group theory. Under Oh
      symmetry, these ions possess (2)T2g and (2)Eg electronic states and undergo
      different symmetry breaking mechanisms. The ground states of Si8O12(C(CH3)3)8(+)
      and Si8O12Cl8(+) belong to the C3v and D4h point groups and are characterized by
      Jahn-Teller stabilization energies of 3959 and 1328 cm(-1), respectively, at the
      B3LYP/def2-SVP level of theory. The symmetry distortion mechanism in Si8O12Cl8(+)
      is Jahn-Teller type, whereas in Si8O12(C(CH3)3)8(+) the distortion is a
      combination of both Jahn-Teller and pseudo-Jahn-Teller effects. The distortion
      force acting in Si8O12(C(CH3)3)8(+) is mainly localized on one Si-(tert-butyl)
      group, while in Si8O12Cl8(+) it is distributed over the oxygen atoms. The main
      distortion forces acting on the Si8O12 core arise from the coupling between the
      electronic state and the vibrational modes, identified as 9t2g + 1eg + 3a2u for
      the Si8O12(C(CH3)3)8(+) and 1eg + 2eg for Si8O12Cl8(+). 

PMID- 25831096
TI  - Influence of poly-L-lactic acid scaffold's pore size on the proliferation and
      differentiation of dental pulp stem cells.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the poly-L-lactic acid
      (PLLA)-based scaffold's pore size on the proliferation and differentiation of
      dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). The scaffolds were prepared in pulp chambers of 1
      mm-thick tooth slices from third molars using salt crystals (150-250 um or 251
      450 um) as porogen. DPSC (1x105 cells) were seeded in the scaffolds with
      different pore sizes, and cultured in 24-well plates. The cell proliferation was
      evaluated using the WST-1 assay after 3-21 days. Furthermore, RT-PCR was used to
      assess the differentiation of the DPSCs into odontoblasts, using markers of
      odontoblastic differentiation (DSPP, DSP-1 and MEPE). RNA from human odontoblasts
      was used as control. Cell proliferation rate was similar in both scaffolds except
      at the 14th day period, in which the cells seeded in the scaffolds with larger
      pores showed higher proliferation (p<0.05). After 21 days DPSCs seeded in both
      evaluated scaffolds were able of expressing odontoblastic markers DMP-1, DSPP and
      MEPE. In summary, both scaffolds tested in this study allowed the proliferation
      and differentiation of DPSCs into odontoblast-like cells. 

PMID- 25831097
TI  - Antifungal susceptibility in vitro determined by the Etest(r) for Candida
      obtained from the oral cavity of irradiated and elderly individuals.
AB  - This study aimed to evaluate the in vitro antifungal susceptibility of Candida
      species of head-and-neck-irradiated patients (Group 1), non-institutionalized
      (Group 2) and institutionalized elders (Group 3) using Etest(r) methodology.
      Candida was isolated from saliva and presumptively identified by CHROMagar
      Candida(r), confirmed by morphological criteria, carbohydrate assimilation (API
      20C AUX(r)) and genetic typing (OPE 18). The collection was made from 29, 34 and
      29 individuals (Groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively) with 67 isolates. Etest(r)
      strips (ketoconazole, itraconazole, fluconazole, amphotericin B and flucytosine)
      on RPMI (Roswell Park Memorial Institute) agar, on duplicate, were used to
      evaluate susceptibility. ATTC (American Type Culture Collection) 10231 (Candida
      albicans) was used as quality control. Among the 67 isolates of Candida species,
      most were susceptible to azoles, flucytosine and amphotericin B. None of the
      isolates showed resistance and dose-dependent susceptibility to amphotericin B.
      There were nine strains resistant to itraconazole, six to fluconazole and two to
      ketoconazole and ten dose-dependent, mainly to flucytocine. The highest MIC
      (minimum inhibitory concentration) to C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis
      was 2.671 MUg.mL-1, 8.104 MUg.mL-1, 4.429 MUg.mL-1, all for flucytosine. C.
      krusei and C. glabrata were associated with higher MIC for azoles and C. glabrata
      with higher MIC to flucytosine. In summary, susceptibility to all tested
      antifungal agents was evident. The isolates were more resistant to itraconazole
      and dose-dependent to flucytosine. A comparison of C. albicans in the three
      groups showed no outliers. Higher MIC was associated with C. krusei and C.
      glabrata.

PMID- 25831098
TI  - Different extracts of Zingiber officinale decrease Enterococcus faecalis
      infection in Galleria mellonella.
AB  - Dried, fresh and glycolic extracts of Zingiber officinale were obtained to
      evaluate the action against G. mellonella survival assay against Enterococcus
      faecalis infection. Eighty larvae were divided into: 1) E. faecalis suspension
      (control); 2) E. faecalis + fresh extract of Z. officinale (FEO); 3) E. faecalis
      + dried extract of Z. officinale (DEO); 4) E. faecalis + glycolic extract of Z.
      officinale (GEO); 5) Phosphate buffered saline (PBS). For control group, a 5 MUL
      inoculum of standardized suspension (107 cells/mL) of E. faecalis (ATCC 29212)
      was injected into the last left proleg of each larva. For the treatment groups,
      after E. faecalis inoculation, the extracts were also injected, but into the last
      right proleg. The larvae were stored at 37  degrees C and the number of dead
      larvae was recorded daily for 168 h (7 days) to analyze the survival curve. The
      larvae were considered dead when they did not show any movement after touching.
      E. faecalis infection led to the death of 85% of the larvae after 168 h.
      Notwithstanding, in treatment groups with association of extracts, there was an
      increase in the survival rates of 50% (GEO), 61% (FEO) and 66% (DEO) of the
      larvae. In all treatment groups, the larvae exhibited a survival increase with
      statistically significant difference in relation to control group (p=0.0029).
      There were no statistically significant differences among treatment groups with
      different extracts (p=0.3859). It may be concluded that the tested extracts
      showed antimicrobial activity against E. faecalis infection by increasing the
      survival of Galleria mellonella larvae. 

PMID- 25831099
TI  - Use of traditional Indian plants in the inhibition of caries-causing bacteria-
      Streptococcus mutans.
AB  - The aim of the study was to comparatively evaluate the antibacterial activity of
      six Indian plant extracts and 0.2% chlorhexidine against clinical strains of
      Streptococcus mutans, which were isolated from the plaque samples of 45 pediatric
      patients. Six plant extracts were prepared in three different forms, namely
      aqueous extracts, organic solvent-based extracts and crude (raw) extracts. The
      antimicrobial sensitivity testing was done by agar well diffusion method.
      Antimicrobial activity of the extracts was determined by measuring the mean zones
      of inhibition (mm) produced against the bacterial isolates. Results showed that
      crude garlic extract exhibited greater antibacterial activity than chlorhexidine.
      Aqueous extract of amla and organic solvent-based extract of ginger showed the
      maximum antibacterial activity against S. mutans, whereas aqueous extract of
      tulsi and organic solvent based extract of amla showed the minimum antibacterial
      activity. This study suggests that plant extracts like garlic in crude form, amla
      as aqueous infusion and ginger as alcoholic tincture have potential for the
      control of S. mutans. These extracts can be used as an alternative remedy for
      dental caries prevention or in the form of mouthwash, which is safe and
      economical. 

PMID- 25831100
TI  - Clinical evaluation of residual tetrasodium pyrophosphate released from two
      different anticalculus flosses.
AB  - The aim of this study was to compare the residual content of tetrasodium
      pyrophosphate released by two different anticalculus dental flosses (Reach PP(r)-
      entangled polypropylene floss and Reach NT(r)--texturized nylon) in the oral
      cavity. Ten healthy individuals (aged between 18 and 30 years) were enrolled in
      this randomized crossover clinical investigation. Participants received
      instructions on daily dental flossing and the interventions were randomly
      performed in 2 different groups (NT or PP) of five individuals each according to
      the dental flosses. Individuals were instructed to use each dental floss with a
      total of six slides on the two interproximal aspects of target teeth (3 slides on
      each interproximal aspect). A washout period of one week was used before start
      flossing interventions and after each type of dental floss to prevent any bias
      related to the exposure to any product that contained the active ingredient.
      Samples were collected by #35 sterilized absorbent paper points from interdental
      fluid after flossing and assessed by ion chromatography. The levels of residual
      tetrasodium pyrophosphate were evaluated by means of binomial generalized linear
      model proportions and canonical link function. Both dental flosses were effective
      in tetrasodium pyrophosphate release at therapeutic levels in the interdental
      gingival crevicular fluid for a period of up to 2 h after use. No significant
      differences were found between both groups (p>0.05). It may be concluded that
      both material composition and physical structure of the new dental floss did not
      affect the release or the maintenance of anticalculus agent at therapeutic levels
      for a period of up to 2 h after single use.

PMID- 25831101
TI  - Surface characteristics of reciprocating instruments before and after use--a SEM
      analysis.
AB  - The presence of debris, defects and deformations of endodontic reciprocating
      instruments before and after chemical-mechanical preparation (MCP) was analyzed
      using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The following 26 instruments were
      divided into 2 groups: Waveone (n=13) and Reciproc (n=13) and examined by SEM
      (150 x magnification) prior to canal preparation at 2 and 4 mm from the tip. The
      instruments were used in the preparation of mesial root canals of 26 extracted
      human permanent mandibular molars. The instruments were then washed in ultrasonic
      bath and subjected to new microscopic analysis of debris and deformation by a
      score that used the presence or absence of irregular edges, grooves,
      microcavities and burrs as criteria. After the SEM analysis and with the scores
      of the examiners, the collected data were subjected to descriptive statistical
      analysis using the Kruskall-Walis and Mann Whitney test at a 5% significance
      level. All instruments examined presented debris before and after use. A
      statistically significant difference was found for defects and deformation
      between the groups (p<0.05). The presence of defects and deformities was higher
      in the WaveOne instruments, and Reciproc instruments presented a lower rate. 

PMID- 25831102
TI  - Influence of cariogenic challenge on bond strength stability of dentin.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of cariogenic challenge on the
      microtensile bond strength values (MUTBS) of dentin pre-treated with
      chlorhexidine digluconate (CHX) or sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). Thirty-six sound
      molars were selected and randomly assigned to 3 dentin pre-treatments (distilled
      water - control, 2% CHX and 10% NaOCl) and 4 aging protocols (24h control,
      biofilm without cariogenic challenge, biofilm with cariogenic challenge, and 18
      month water storage). The same etch-and-rinse adhesive system and composite resin
      were used for all groups (n=30 beams). For the biofilm groups, dental microcosm
      biofilms originated from saliva of a healthy donor were grown on the samples with
      a defined medium enriched with mucin, with or without 10% sucrose, according to
      the group. After the experimental period, the microtensile test was performed.
      Data were analyzed with ANOVA followed by Tukey test (p<0.05). The pre-treatment
      did not influence MUTBS for all aging conditions (p=0.188), but the type of aging
      affected the bond strength (p<0.001). Cariogenic challenge and water storage
      aging affected the bond stability resulting in a decrease of the MUTBS, but the
      pre-treatments did not influence the MUTBS. 

PMID- 25831103
TI  - Demineralization and hydrogen peroxide penetration in teeth with incipient
      lesions.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the demineralization and hydrogen peroxide
      (HP) penetration in teeth with incipient lesions submitted to bleaching
      treatment. For analysis of HP penetration, sound and demineralized enamel/dentin
      discs were placed in artificial pulp chambers containing acetate buffer solution.
      After bleaching treatment, this solution was subjected for analysis of optical
      density by spectrophotometry and the disc surfaces were analyzed with scanning
      electron microscopy (SEM) and polarized light microscopy (PLM). The remaining
      discs were subjected for cross-sectional hardness analysis at different depths.
      Data were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA and PLSD Fisher test (a=0.05). It
      was observed that previously demineralized teeth showed greater HP penetration
      (p<0.05). The bleaching treatment caused changes to a depth of 20 um in sound
      enamel and up to 90 um in demineralized enamel. SEM and PLM images revealed that
      the bleaching treatment caused superficial changes that were considerably more
      accentuated in previously demineralized teeth. It may be concluded that the
      enamel mineralization level influences HP penetration and the bleaching agent
      contributed to increase the demineralization depth. 

PMID- 25831104
TI  - Does the moment of fiber post cutting influence on the retention to root dentin?
AB  - Despite several advantages associated with pre-fabricated glass-fiber posts, the
      coronal portion of these posts must be cut to allow their use in various clinical
      situations. However, cutting the cemented post can generate stress on the bonding
      interface and affect the bond strength. The aim of this study was to investigate
      the effect the of fiber post cutting on the bond strength of root canals. Sixty
      bovine incisor roots were included in resin cylinders with simulated periodontal
      ligaments. Glass-fiber posts were luted using regular resin cement RelyX ARC (3M
      ESPE) or self-adhesive cement RelyX Unicem (3M ESPE). The posts were cut prior to
      cementation, immediately after luting or after building up the core (n=10). After
      storage for 24 h, the samples were cut and subject to push-out testing using a
      mechanical testing machine (EMIC DL 2000). Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA
      (resin cement x moment of post cutting) and Tukey's post hoc test (alpha=0.05).
      The moment of fiber post cutting did not affect the bond strength when Unicem was
      used. However, the bond strength was reduced when ARC was used and when the post
      was cut immediately. In conclusion, the moment of fiber post cutting may affect
      the retention of root canal posts when a regular resin cement is used. 

PMID- 25831105
TI  - Effect of ceramic thickness and composite bases on stress distribution of inlays-
      a finite element analysis.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of cavity depth, ceramic
      thickness, and resin bases with different elastic modulus on von Mises stress
      patterns of ceramic inlays. Tridimensional geometric models were developed with
      SolidWorks image software. The differences between the models were: depth of
      pulpal wall, ceramic thickness, and presence of composite bases with different
      thickness and elastic modulus. The geometric models were constrained at the
      proximal surfaces and base of maxillary bone. A load of 100 N was applied. The
      stress distribution pattern was analyzed with von Mises stress diagrams. The
      maximum von Mises stress values ranged from 176 MPa to 263 MPa and varied among
      the 3D-models. The highest von Mises stress value was found on models with 1-mm
      thick composite resin base and 1-mm-thick ceramic inlay. Intermediate values (249
      250 MPa) occurred on models with 2-mm-thick composite resin base and 1-mm-thick
      ceramic inlay and 1-mm-thick composite resin base and 2-mm-thick ceramic inlay.
      The lowest values were observed on models restored exclusively with ceramic inlay
      (176 MPa to 182 MPa). It was found that thicker inlays distribute stress more
      favorably and bases with low elastic modulus increase stress concentrations on
      the internal surface of the ceramic inlay. The increase of ceramic thickness
      tends to present more favorable stress distribution, especially when bonded
      directly onto the cavity without the use of supporting materials. When the use of
      a composite base is required, composite resin with high elastic modulus and
      reduced thickness should be preferred. 

PMID- 25831106
TI  - Surface treatments for repair of feldspathic, leucite - and lithium disilicate
      reinforced glass ceramics using composite resin.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of different surface
      conditioning methods on the microtensile bond strength of a restorative composite
      repair in three types of dental ceramics: lithium disilicate-reinforced, leucite
      reinforced and feldspathic. Twelve blocks were sintered for each type of ceramic
      (n=3) and stored for 3 months in distilled water at 37  degrees C. The bonding
      surface of ceramics was abraded with 600-grit SiC paper. Surface treatments for
      each ceramic were: GC (control) - none; GDB - diamond bur #30 um; GHF -
      hydrofluoric acid (10%); GT- tribochemical silica coating (45-MUm size
      particles). Treatments were followed by cleaning with phosphoric acid 37% for 20
      s + silane + adhesive. The composite resin was used as restorative material.
      After repair, samples were subjected to thermocycled ageing (10,000 cycles
      between 5  degrees C and 55  degrees C for 30 s). Thereafter, the samples were
      sectioned into 1.0 mm2 sticks and tested for microtensile bond strength with 0.5
      mm/min crosshead speed. Data were compared by two-way ANOVA and Tukey's test
      (alpha=0.05). The superficial wear with diamond bur proved to be suitable for
      feldspathic porcelain and for leucite-reinforced glass ceramic while hydrofluoric
      acid-etching is indicated for repairs in lithium disilicate-reinforced ceramic;
      tribochemical silica coating is applicable to leucite-reinforced ceramic.
      Predominance of adhesive failures was observed (>85% in all groups). In
      conclusion, the success of surface treatments depends on the type of ceramic to
      be repaired. 

PMID- 25831107
TI  - Compressive resistance of abutments with different diameters and transmucosal
      heights in Morse-taper implants.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the compressive resistance under oblique
      loads of abutments with two different diameters and transmucosal heights used for
      cement-retained implant-supported prostheses in Morse-taper implants. Forty Morse
      taper implants were divided into four groups with different abutment sizes for
      cement-retained prostheses in order to perform the compressive test. The groups
      were divided by abutment diameter and transmucosal height as follows: Group 1:
      4.5 x 2.5 mm; Group 2: 4.5 x 3.5 mm; Group 3: 3.3 x 2.5 mm; and Group 4: 3.3 x
      3.5 mm. An oblique compressive loading test was performed on each sample located
      in a platform at 30 degrees  using a universal testing machine with a load cell
      of 1,000 kgf and 0.5 mm/min speed until achieving the deformation of abutment's
      neck. The compressive resistance and its mechanical behavior were recorded for
      each group and the data were analyzed using ANOVA, the Shapiro-Wilk and Scheffe
      tests. In addition, the detailed damage of all samples was recorded with a
      conventional camera linked to the endoscopic equipment. Significant differences
      were observed among the groups, except between Groups 2 and 3 (p>0.005). All the
      abutments showed permanent deformations in the upper region and at the
      transmucosal portion, but the threads of the screws were intact. Fractures were
      only identified in Groups 3 and 4. Stronger mechanical behavior and compressive
      resistance was observed in the abutments with 4.5 mm diameter and 2.5 mm
      transmucosal height. 

PMID- 25831108
TI  - Cytotoxicity of universal, self-etching and etch-and-rinse adhesive systems
      according to the polymerization time.
AB  - This in vitro study evaluated in fibroblast cultures the direct cytotoxicity of
      universal, self-etching and etch-and-rinse adhesive systems according to the
      polymerization time. Paper discs were impregnated with adhesives and light-cured
      (10, 20 or 40 s). The discs were then immersed in culture medium to obtain the
      eluates for the experimental groups (A1-Single Bond 2; A2-Scotchbond Multi
      purpose; A3-Clearfil SE Bond; A4 Scotchbond Universal). As a negative control,
      paper discs were immersed in culture medium only. After 24 h or 7 days, the
      eluate obtained was applied on fibroblast culture. Cell viability, cell
      morphology, membrane damage and the presence of residual monomers were evaluated
      by MTT assay, SEM, flow cytometry and high-performance liquid chromatography
      (HPLC), respectively. Data were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests
      (?=0.05). All adhesive systems significantly reduced 33-51% cell metabolism when
      compared to the negative control, regardless of polymerization time, storage
      period and adhesive system. Moreover, the adhesives caused intense morphological
      alterations and cell membrane damage. Toxicity was directly related to the
      presence of residual monomers in the eluates. Residual monomers and additional
      components are capable of reducing mitochondrial activity, causing morphological
      alterations and disruption of the cell membrane in fibroblasts, regardless of the
      polymerization time. This study highlights that despite the more complex
      composition of the universal adhesive system, its biological response was not
      more toxic when compared with other systems, even when the shortest
      polymerization time was tested in cell culture. 

PMID- 25831110
TI  - Effects of coffee intake and intraperitoneal caffeine on bone repair process--a
      histologic and histometric study.
AB  - Studies have suggested that caffeine acts on bone promoting an increase of
      calcium excretion, inhibition of osteoblast proliferation and delay in tissue
      repair process, raising the risk of fractures, osteoporosis, periodontal disease
      and affecting the success of bone reconstructive procedures. The aim of this
      study was to analyze histomorphometrically the process of alveolar bone healing
      after tooth extraction in rats subjected to daily intake of boiled coffee or
      intraperitoneal administration of caffeine. Forty-five male rats were divided
      according to the treatment in Control group (C); Coffee group (CO) - treated with
      coffee since birth; and Caffeine (CAF) - intraperitoneal injection of aqueous
      solution of caffeine 1.5% (0.2 mL/100g body weight) for 30 days. When weighing
      between 250-300 g they were anesthetized, subjected to extraction of the
      maxillary right incisor, and euthanized 7, 21 and 42 days after surgery for
      histological assessments of bone volume and the quality of formed bone in the
      dental socket. The qualitative results demonstrated larger amounts of blood clot
      and immature bone in animals under treatment of pure caffeine compared to coffee
      and control. Histometric analysis revealed that coffee treatment led to a 40%
      drop in bone formation, and caffeine a 60% drop in comparison to control animals
      (ANOVA p<=0.01). It was concluded that both the daily ingestion of coffee and the
      intraperitoneal administration of caffeine in rats delayed the alveolar bone
      reparative process after tooth extraction, and this effect was more aggressive
      when pure caffeine was used. 

PMID- 25831109
TI  - Serum adipokine levels and their relationship with fatty acids in patients with
      chronic periodontitis.
AB  - Adipokines are present in inflammatory processes and may be directly related to
      periodontal disease. Moreover, their activities may be regulated by fatty acids.
      The goal of this study was to quantify the concentrations of the main adipokines,
      leptin, adiponectin and resistin, and the docosahexaenoic (DHA), docosapentaenoic
      (DPA), eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and arachidonic (AA) fatty acids, in patients with
      generalized chronic periodontitis. As a secondary objective, the ratios of these
      substances in the blood of these patients were evaluated. The study included 15
      systemically healthy patients with generalized chronic periodontitis (test group)
      and 15 patients with gingivitis (control group). Medical and periodontal
      parameters and blood samples were collected. Serum concentrations of fatty acids
      were analyzed by gas chromatography and adipokines by multiplex bead immunoassay.
      There was no significant difference in adipokines between groups. However, there
      was a tendency for lower values of adiponectin in periodontitis patients.
      Regarding the fatty acids, they were significantly higher in the test group
      compared with controls. The res/DHA, res/AA, adipon/DHA, adipon/AA and adipon/DPA
      ratios were significantly lower in the test group. There was no significant
      correlation between adipokines and clinical parameters and between adipokines and
      fatty acids levels. It was concluded that generalized chronic periodontitis
      patients showed significantly higher levels of fatty acids in comparison to
      gingivitis; adiponectin revealed a trend to lower values in the periodontitis
      group, even after Ancova correction. The ratios suggest a minor proportion of
      adiponectin and resistin in relation to the fatty acids in patients with
      generalized chronic periodontitis. 

PMID- 25831111
TI  - Is the masticatory function changed in patients with temporomandibular disorder?
AB  - Patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) often complain and have
      limitation in masticatory function, which can be affected by a complex
      interaction of factors. The aim of this study was analyze the masticatory
      function in patients with TMD using surface electromyography (EMG) and
      masticatory efficiency (ME). Twenty-seven patients with TMD and 25 considered
      control (n), aged between 18 and 60 years, paired by age and gender, were
      evaluated according to RDC/TMD. In both groups were performed: EMG with chewing
      gum, clinical evaluation of habitual chewing with stuffed cookie (CE) (number of
      chewing strokes and time) and analysis of ME with fuchsin beads. Nonparametric
      statistical analyses were used (Mann-Whitney) for comparisons between groups,
      with 5% significance level. For all variables, the TMD group showed higher values
      than the control, with statistical significance for ME (p<0.0001), number of
      chewing strokes (p=0.04), chewing time (p=0.009), right masseter EMG activity
      (p=0.05), left masseter (p=0.005), right anterior temporal (p=0.05) and left
      anterior temporal (p=0.001). The conclusion is that patients with TMD showed
      changed chewing pattern, but without impairment of masticatory function. 

PMID- 25831112
TI  - Accuracy of two cephalometric analyses in the treatment of patients with skeletal
      class III malocclusion.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to compare the treatment plan outlined from the
      diagnosis obtained by two different cephalometric analyses with the clinical
      decision made for surgical treatment of patients with skeletal Class III
      malocclusion. For this purpose, 82 skeletal Class III patients were evaluated,
      divided into three groups according to the surgical procedure performed for
      dentofacial deformity correction. Their preoperative cephalometric radiographs
      were submitted to McNamara and Steiner cephalometric analyses. The association of
      variables was evaluated by Kappa correlation (alpha=5%). The agreement between
      indication of surgical procedures performed based on clinical decision and
      surgical treatment indicated based on the evaluation of McNamara and Steiner
      cephalometric analyses were not significant (p=0.609 and p=0.544, respectively).
      McNamara and Steiner analyses showed reasonable agreement with each other as to
      the diagnosis, but did not agree with the clinical decision to treat skeletal
      CIII patients. Both tests were equally inaccurate in the indication of the
      surgical treatment. 

PMID- 25831113
TI  - Use of a titanium mesh "shelter" combined with the soft tissue matrix expansion
      (tent pole) grafting in the reconstruction of a severely resorbed edentulous
      mandible. Technical note.
AB  - Patients wearing complete dentures for a long time usually exhibit lack of bone
      and keratinized mucosa in the bearing area due to bone resorption. The patients
      suffering from this phenomenon usually have unstable and non-retentive complete
      denture, which result in constant trauma to the mucosa, pain, functional
      limitations and worsening of facial esthetics. An innovative technique has been
      described in which a novel surgical approach using osseointegrated dental
      implants as "tent poles" was applied concomitant with particulate autogenous bone
      graft. The authors claim that the control and maintenance of the surgically
      expanded soft tissue volume should prevent graft resorption in the long term.
      Nevertheless, resorption of the bone graft is usually more significant where the
      bone mass is poorer, in the mandibular body. This paper describes a case of
      severely resorbed edentulous mandible in which the "tent pole" technique was
      applied with some modifications. Use of the titanium mesh "shelters" and two
      additional implants was effective in "protecting" the bone graft in the posterior
      portion of the mandibular body increasing bone mass volume in this area.
      Furthermore, we believe that this kind of graft "protection" on the whole
      residual alveolar ridge can increase the width of bone mass gain optimizing the
      "tent pole" technique. 

PMID- 25831114
TI  - Influence of inner circular sealing area impression method on the retention of
      complete dentures.
AB  - The aims of the present study were to describe an impression method of "inner
      circular sealing area" and to evaluate the effect of the method on retention,
      aesthetics and comfort of complete dentures, which lack labial base for patients
      with maxillary protrusions. Three patients were subjected to the experiment, and
      two sets of complete maxillary dentures were made for each patient; the first set
      was made without labial base via an inner circular sealing area method
      (experimental group) and the second had an intact base that was made with
      conventional methods (control group). Retention force tests were implemented with
      a tensile strength assessment device to assess the retention and a visual
      analogue scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the comfort between the two groups.
      Results showed larger retention force, better aesthetics and more comfort in the
      experimental group. The improved two-step impression method formed an inner
      circular sealing area that prevented damage to the peripheral border seal effect
      of the denture caused by incomplete bases and obtained better denture retention. 

PMID- 25831115
TI  - Uncommon oral cleft in Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome.
AB  - Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) is a syndrome with craniofacial and systemic
      abnormalities, which is related to 4p deletion. A 3-month old girl with an
      undiagnosed syndrome was referred for evaluation of the cleft lip and palate.
      Hypotonia, short stature, cardiac malformation, hypertrophied clitoris, and
      atypical thumb of both hands was observed. Microcephaly, low-set ear, prominent
      glabella, downslanting palpebral fissures, a characteristic "Greek warrior
      helmet" appearance, micrognathia, ears with pits/tags and bilateral incomplete
      cleft lip apart from incomplete cleft palate were observed as craniofacial
      findings. With clinical diagnosis of WHS, blood was subjected to karyotyping,
      which showed a 4p15.2 deletion, consistent with the condition. Here is reported
      the case of this WHS patient with an uncommon oral cleft extending the phenotypic
      spectrum of the disorder. The child was referred to a multidisciplinary team to
      reparative surgery of the cleft lip and palate. The patient is on regular medical
      follow-up and will be further assisted by dentists, physical therapists,
      occupational therapists and psychologists. The genotype-phenotype correlation of
      the affected patient with previous WSH syndrome reports is described. 

PMID- 25831116
TI  - Ligand-Dependent Nanoparticle Clustering within Lipid Membranes Induced by
      Surrounding Medium.
AB  - The interactions between hydrophobic or semihydrophobic gold and silver
      nanoparticles (NPs) and a dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) bilayer as a
      model cell membrane in two ionic solutions result in the structural
      reorganization within the bilayer manifested as locally increased nanomechanical
      compaction in the vicinity of NP clusters as well as changed overall thermotropic
      properties. The effects of NP surface charge and hydrophobicity were examined
      using AFM imaging, force spectroscopy and IR spectroscopy. The NP clustering
      occurred during hydration process of dry films containing both the DMPC molecules
      and the NPs by the mechanism in which the number of bilayer deformations was
      reduced by NP clustering. The force spectroscopy showed increased bilayer density
      around (semi)hydrophobic NP clusters and thus locally increased lateral
      compaction of the bilayer. The strengthening effect was observed for both the
      silver and the gold NPs in a high ionic strength solution such as seawater, while
      it was absent under physiological conditions. The local lipid rearrangement
      induces the long-range lipid reorganization resulting in the bilayer phase
      transition shifting toward lower or higher temperatures depending on the solution
      ionic strength (at the most by -1.0  degrees C in phosphate buffered saline and
      at the most by +0.5  degrees C in seawater). 

PMID- 25831117
TI  - [How are thyroid nodules diagnosed?].
AB  - The prevalence of thyroid nodules in Germany - depending on the diagnostic
      technique used - ranges from 20 to 50 %. The overall incidence increases, partly
      because by the use of modern ultrasound modalities ever smaller morphological
      changes are detected. Most nodules are asymptomatic - and therefore often
      incidental findings. In this article you will learn how to identify and
      differentiate thyroid nodules using different diagnostic tests. 

PMID- 25831118
TI  - [Therapy of thyroid nodules].
AB  - Thyroid nodules are frequent in Germany. In about every fourth person thyroid
      nodules can be detected. Most of them are benign. Signs for malignancy are
      hypoechogenicity, microcalcifications, an unregular margin and increased blood
      perfusion. There is no strict indication for the treatment of benign nodules. In
      most cases iodine supplementation is sufficient. A combination therapy with
      levothyroxine and iodine is more efficient for the treatment of larger nodules.
      Subclinical hyperthyroidism caused by an adenoma does not necessarily need to be
      treated, whereas manifest hyperthyroidism needs to treated in most cases with
      antithyroid drug therapy. Radioiodine therapy is the classical indication for the
      treatment of unifocal autonomous adenomas. A largely increased thyroid gland with
      and without uni- / multifocal adenomas are often operated. 

PMID- 25831119
TI  - Antimicrobial activity of coriander oil and its effectiveness as food
      preservative.
AB  - ABTRACT Foodborne illness represents a major economic burden worldwide and a
      serious public health threat, with around 48 million people affected and 3,000
      death each year only in the USA. One of the possible strategies to reduce
      foodborne infections is the development of effective preservation strategies
      capable of eradicating microbial contamination of foods. Over the last years, new
      challenges for the food industry have arisen such as the increase of
      antimicrobial resistance of foodborne pathogens to common preservatives and
      consumers demand for naturally based products. In order to overcome this, new
      approaches using natural or bio-based products as food preservatives need to be
      investigated. Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is a well-known herb widely used
      as spice, or in folk medicine, and in the pharmacy and food industries. Coriander
      seed oil is the world's second most relevant essential oil, exhibiting
      antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, some
      yeasts, dermatophytes and filamentous fungi. This review highlights coriander oil
      antimicrobial activity and possible mechanisms of action in microbial cells and
      discusses the ability of coriander oil usage as a food preservative, pointing out
      possible paths for the successful evolution for these strategies towards a
      successful development of a food preservation strategy using coriander oil.

PMID- 25831121
TI  - A sunken ship of the desert at the river Danube in Tulln, Austria.
AB  - Rescue excavations recovered a skeleton that resurrect the contemporary dramatic
      history of Austria in the 17th century as troops besieged Vienna in the second
      Osmanic-Habsburg war. Unique for Central Europe is the evidence of a completely
      preserved camel skeleton uncovered in a large refuse pit. The male individual of
      slender stature indicates a few but characteristic pathological changes revealing
      not a beast of burden but probably a valuable riding animal. Anatomical and
      morphometrical analyses suggest a hybrid confirmed by the ancient DNA analyses
      resulting in the presence of a dromedary in the maternal and a Bactrian camel in
      the paternal line. 

PMID- 25831122
TI  - Rumor diffusion and convergence during the 3.11 earthquake: a twitter case study.
AB  - We focus on Internet rumors and present an empirical analysis and simulation
      results of their diffusion and convergence during emergencies. In particular, we
      study one rumor that appeared in the immediate aftermath of the Great East Japan
      Earthquake on March 11, 2011, which later turned out to be misinformation. By
      investigating whole Japanese tweets that were sent one week after the quake, we
      show that one correction tweet, which originated from a city hall account,
      diffused enormously. We also demonstrate a stochastic agent-based model, which is
      inspired by contagion model of epidemics SIR, can reproduce observed rumor
      dynamics. Our model can estimate the rumor infection rate as well as the number
      of people who still believe in the rumor that cannot be observed directly. For
      applications, rumor diffusion sizes can be estimated in various scenarios by
      combining our model with the real data. 

PMID- 25831124
TI  - Determining Chances for Survival in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma.

PMID- 25831123
TI  - Cyclin-dependent kinase five mediates activation of lung xanthine oxidoreductase
      in response to hypoxia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) is involved in oxidative metabolism of
      purines and is a source of reactive oxygen species (ROS). As such, XOR has been
      implicated in oxidant-mediated injury in multiple cardiopulmonary diseases. XOR
      enzyme activity is regulated, in part, via a phosphorylation-dependent, post
      translational mechanism, although the kinase(s) responsible for such
      hyperactivation are unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using an in silico approach, we
      identified a cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) consensus motif adjacent to the XOR
      flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) binding domain. CDK5 is a proline-directed
      serine/threonine kinase historically linked to neural development and injury. We
      tested the hypothesis that CDK5 and its activators are mediators of hypoxia
      induced hyperactivation of XOR in pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (EC)
      and the intact murine lung. Using complementary molecular and pharmacologic
      approaches, we demonstrated that hypoxia significantly increased CDK5 activity in
      EC. This was coincident with increased expression of the CDK5 activators, cyclin
      dependent kinase 5 activator 1 (CDK5r1 or p35/p25), and decreased expression of
      the CDK5 inhibitory peptide, p10. Expression of p35/p25 was necessary for XOR
      hyperactivation. Further, CDK5 physically associated with XOR and was necessary
      and sufficient for XOR phosphorylation and hyperactivation both in vitro and in
      vivo. XOR hyperactivation required the target threonine (T222) within the CDK5
      consensus motif. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: These results indicate that
      p35/CDK5-mediated phosphorylation of T222 is required for hypoxia-induced XOR
      hyperactivation in the lung. Recognizing the contribution of XOR to oxidative
      injury in cardiopulmonary disease, these observations identify p35/CDK5 as novel
      regulators of XOR and potential modifiers of ROS-mediated injury.

PMID- 25831125
TI  - Systems Medicine 2.0: potential benefits of combining electronic health care
      records with systems science models.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The global burden of disease is increasingly dominated by non
      communicable diseases.These diseases are less amenable to curative and
      preventative interventions than communicable disease. This presents a challenge
      to medical practice and medical research, both of which are experiencing
      diminishing returns from increasing investment. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to (1)
      review how medical knowledge is generated, and its limitations, (2) assess the
      potential for emerging technologies and ideas to improve medical research, and
      (3) suggest solutions and recommendations to increase medical research efficiency
      on non-communicable diseases. METHODS: We undertook an unsystematic review of
      peer-reviewed literature and technology websites. RESULTS: Our review generated
      the following conclusions and recommendations. (1) Medical knowledge continues to
      be generated in a reductionist paradigm. This oversimplifies our models of
      disease, rendering them ineffective to sufficiently understand the complex nature
      of non-communicable diseases. (2) Some of these failings may be overcome by
      adopting a "Systems Medicine" paradigm, where the human body is modeled as a
      complex adaptive system. That is, a system with multiple components and levels
      interacting in complex ways, wherein disease emerges from slow changes to the
      system set-up. Pursuing systems medicine research will require larger datasets.
      (3) Increased data sharing between researchers, patients, and clinicians could
      provide this unmet need for data. The recent emergence of electronic health care
      records (EHR) could potentially facilitate this in real-time and at a global
      level. (4) Efforts should continue to aggregate anonymous EHR data into large
      interoperable data silos and release this to researchers. However, international
      collaboration, data linkage, and obtaining additional information from patients
      will remain challenging. (5) Efforts should also continue towards "Medicine 2.0".
      Patients should be given access to their personal EHR data. Subsequently, online
      communities can give researchers the opportunity to ask patients for direct
      access to the patient's EHR data and request additional study-specific
      information. However, selection bias towards patients who use Web 2.0 technology
      may be difficult to overcome. CONCLUSIONS: Systems medicine, when combined with
      large-scale data sharing, has the potential to raise our understanding of non
      communicable diseases, foster personalized medicine, and make substantial
      progress towards halting, curing, and preventing non-communicable diseases. Large
      scale data amalgamation remains a core challenge and needs to be supported. A
      synthesis of "Medicine 2.0" and "Systems Science" concepts into "Systems Medicine
      2.0" could take decades to materialize but holds much promise.

PMID- 25831126
TI  - Changes to serum sample tube and processing methodology does not cause Intra
      Individual [corrected] variation in automated whole serum N-glycan profiling in
      health and disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Serum N-glycans have been identified as putative biomarkers for
      numerous diseases. The impact of different serum sample tubes and processing
      methods on N-glycan analysis has received relatively little attention. This study
      aimed to determine the effect of different sample tubes and processing methods on
      the whole serum N-glycan profile in both health and disease. A secondary
      objective was to describe a robot automated N-glycan release, labeling and
      cleanup process for use in a biomarker discovery system. METHODS: 25 patients
      with active and quiescent inflammatory bowel disease and controls had three
      different serum sample tubes taken at the same draw. Two different processing
      methods were used for three types of tube (with and without gel-separation
      medium). Samples were randomised and processed in a blinded fashion. Whole serum
      N-glycan release, 2-aminobenzamide labeling and cleanup was automated using a
      Hamilton Microlab STARlet Liquid Handling robot. Samples were analysed using a
      hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography/ethylene bridged hybrid(BEH) column
      on an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography instrument. Data were analysed
      quantitatively by pairwise correlation and hierarchical clustering using the area
      under each chromatogram peak. Qualitatively, a blinded assessor attempted to
      match chromatograms to each individual. RESULTS: There was small intra-individual
      variation in serum N-glycan profiles from samples collected using different
      sample processing methods. Intra-individual correlation coefficients were between
      0.99 and 1. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering and principal coordinate
      analyses accurately matched samples from the same individual. Qualitative
      analysis demonstrated good chromatogram overlay and a blinded assessor was able
      to accurately match individuals based on chromatogram profile, regardless of
      disease status. CONCLUSIONS: The three different serum sample tubes processed
      using the described methods cause minimal inter-individual variation in serum
      whole N-glycan profile when processed using an automated workstream. This has
      important implications for N-glycan biomarker discovery studies using different
      serum processing standard operating procedures.

PMID- 25831127
TI  - Optimization of anticancer exopolysaccharide production from probiotic
      Lactobacillus acidophilus by response surface methodology.
AB  - Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in
      the Western world. Recently, much attention has been focused on decreasing the
      risk of CRC by consuming probiotics. In the present study, exopolysaccharide
      (EPS) extracted from Lactobacillus acidophilus was found to inhibit the growth of
      CaCo2 colon cancer cell line in a dose-dependent manner. The experiment was
      performed in both normoxic and hypoxic conditions, and EPS was found to reduce
      the survival of CaCo2 cell line in both the conditions. Quantitative polymerase
      chain reaction (qPCR) studies demonstrated that EPS treatment upregulated the
      expression of peroxisome proliferator activator receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma) in
      both normoxia and hypoxia conditions, whereas it upregulated the expression of
      erythropoietin (EPO) in the normoxic condition, but there was no significant
      expression under hypoxic conditions. Hence, the EPS production was optimized by
      Plackett-Burman design followed by central composite rotatory design. The
      optimized production of EPS at 24 hr was found to be 400 mg/L. During batch
      cultivation the production peaked at 21 hr, resulting in an EPS concentration of
      597 mg/L.

PMID- 25831128
TI  - Discovery and cardioprotective effects of the first non-Peptide agonists of the G
      protein-coupled prokineticin receptor-1.
AB  - Prokineticins are angiogenic hormones that activate two G protein-coupled
      receptors: PKR1 and PKR2. PKR1 has emerged as a critical mediator of
      cardiovascular homeostasis and cardioprotection. Identification of non-peptide
      PKR1 agonists that contribute to myocardial repair and collateral vessel growth
      hold promises for treatment of heart diseases. Through a combination of in silico
      studies, medicinal chemistry, and pharmacological profiling approaches, we
      designed, synthesized, and characterized the first PKR1 agonists, demonstrating
      their cardioprotective activity against myocardial infarction (MI) in mice. Based
      on high throughput docking protocol, 250,000 compounds were computationally
      screened for putative PKR1 agonistic activity, using a homology model, and 10
      virtual hits were pharmacologically evaluated. One hit internalizes PKR1,
      increases calcium release and activates ERK and Akt kinases. Among the 30
      derivatives of the hit compound, the most potent derivative, IS20, was confirmed
      for its selectivity and specificity through genetic gain- and loss-of-function of
      PKR1. Importantly, IS20 prevented cardiac lesion formation and improved cardiac
      function after MI in mice, promoting proliferation of cardiac progenitor cells
      and neovasculogenesis. The preclinical investigation of the first PKR1 agonists
      provides a novel approach to promote cardiac neovasculogenesis after MI. 

PMID- 25831129
TI  - Plastic accumulation in the Mediterranean sea.
AB  - Concentrations of floating plastic were measured throughout the Mediterranean Sea
      to assess whether this basin can be regarded as a great accumulation region of
      plastic debris. We found that the average density of plastic (1 item per 4 m2),
      as well as its frequency of occurrence (100% of the sites sampled), are
      comparable to the accumulation zones described for the five subtropical ocean
      gyres. Plastic debris in the Mediterranean surface waters was dominated by
      millimeter-sized fragments, but showed a higher proportion of large plastic
      objects than that present in oceanic gyres, reflecting the closer connection with
      pollution sources. The accumulation of floating plastic in the Mediterranean Sea
      (between 1,000 and 3,000 tons) is likely related to the high human pressure
      together with the hydrodynamics of this semi-enclosed basin, with outflow mainly
      occurring through a deep water layer. Given the biological richness and
      concentration of economic activities in the Mediterranean Sea, the affects of
      plastic pollution on marine and human life are expected to be particularly
      frequent in this plastic accumulation region. 

PMID- 25831130
TI  - Adding vitamin E-TPGS to the formulation of Genexol-PM: specially mixed micelles
      improve drug-loading ability and cytotoxicity against multidrug-resistant tumors
      significantly.
AB  - Genexol-PM, produced by Samyang Company (Korea) is an excellent preparation of
      paclitaxel (PTX) for clinical cancer treatment. However, it cannot resolve the
      issue of multidrug resistance (MDR)-a significant problem in the administration
      of PTX to cancer patients. To increase the efficacy of Genexol-PM against MDR
      tumors, a mixed micelle capable of serving as a vehicle for PTX was developed,
      and two substances were chosen as carrier materials: 1) Polyethylene glycol
      polylactic acid (PEG-PLA), the original vehicle of Genexol-PM. 2) Vitamin E-TPGS,
      an inhibitor of P-glycoprotein (P-gp). P-gp has been proven to be the main cause
      of MDR. In vitro evaluation indicated that the mixed micelle was an ideal PTX
      delivery system for the treatment of MDR tumors; the mixed micelle also showed a
      significantly better drug-loading coefficient than Genexol-PM. 

PMID- 25831131
TI  - Effects of nitrogen stress on the photosynthetic CO2 assimilation, chlorophyll
      fluorescence, and sugar-nitrogen ratio in corn.
AB  - A field experiment was conducted using three corn cultivars (Jingyu7, Nongda80,
      and Tangyu10) and three nitrogen (N) application rates (0, 75, and 150 kg N ha(
      1)). The objectives of this study were to investigate the responses of
      photosynthetic CO2 assimilation (Ph), the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II
      (Fv/Fm), leaf dry weight (LDW), leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC), leaf sugar
      concentration (LSC), and the sugar-to-nitrogen concentration ratio (S/N) to N
      levels in three different field-grown corn cultivars on three sampling dates. The
      results showed that the LDW, Fv/Fm, Ph, LNC, and LSC increased with increasing N
      levels, and the variation patterns of Fv/Fm, Ph, and LNC were "low-high-low". In
      contrast, S/N decreased with increasing N levels, and its variation pattern was
      "high-low-high". The values of LDW, Fv/Fm, Ph, LNC, LSC, and S/N were greatest
      under high N conditions, followed by medium N conditions, and finally low N
      conditions. Significant interactions occurred between Ph, Fv/Fm, LNC, LSC, LDW,
      and S/N, with the exception of the interaction between LSC and S/N and between
      LSC and LDW. The correlation coefficients between Ph and S/N and between Fv/Fm
      and S/N were -0.714 and -0.798, respectively. 

PMID- 25831132
TI  - Cannabinoid receptor 1 antagonism in hepatocellular carcinoma: killing two birds
      with one stone.

PMID- 25831133
TI  - Integrated medical-psychiatric outpatient care in functional gastrointestinal
      disorders improves outcome: a pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Functional gastrointestinal disorders have a
      multifactorial etiology, including somatic and psychosocial factors. We provide
      multidisciplinary outpatient consultations by a gastroenterologist and a
      psychiatrist using an integrated approach toward somatic and psychosocial factors
      in complex functional gastrointestinal disorders. The aim of this study was to
      determine the efficacy of this approach assessing gastrointestinal and
      psychiatric symptoms and quality of life. METHODS: All patients with complex
      functional gastrointestinal disorders visiting for consultation were included and
      treated with antidepressants, psychotherapy, or both, or given advice for
      treatment in their own region. Questionnaires testing gastrointestinal and
      psychiatric symptoms, and quality of life at first visit and after 6 and 12
      months were completed. RESULTS: A total of 124 patients were included (70% women,
      mean age 48 years): 57% were diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and about
      80% had a psychiatric diagnosis (50% anxiety disorder, 20% mood disorder). Of the
      patients, 57% were treated with antidepressants and psychotherapy, 6% with
      psychotherapy alone, and 38% received advice for treatment in their own region.
      After 1 year, patients showed significant improvement in all questionnaires, with
      the exception of those testing gastrointestinal symptoms, although there were
      significant improvements in these at 6 months. CONCLUSION: This is the first
      prospective study on the efficacy of an integrated medical-psychiatric outpatient
      care model in patients with complex functional gastrointestinal disorders,
      showing significant improvement in gastrointestinal and psychiatric symptoms as
      well as quality of life after 6 months. With the exception of improvement in
      gastrointestinal symptoms, improvement persisted at the 1-year follow-up. This
      indicates that longer follow-up focusing on gastrointestinal symptoms may be
      needed.

PMID- 25831134
TI  - Consumption of vegetables and fruit and the risk of inflammatory bowel disease: a
      meta-analysis.
AB  - To date, associations between consumption of vegetables and fruit and the risk of
      inflammatory bowel disease have been a controversial subject. Therefore, we
      carried out a meta-analysis to evaluate the associations. A comprehensive search
      was performed in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the China National Knowledge
      Infrastructure to identify all relevant studies. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) with
      95% confidence intervals (CIs) from random-effects or fixed-effects models were
      calculated. Publication bias was estimated using Egger's test and the funnel
      plot. A total of 14 case-control studies were included in this meta-analysis. On
      the basis of the highest versus the lowest analysis, consumption of vegetables
      was associated inversely with the risk of ulcerative colitis (UC) (OR=0.71, 95%
      CI 0.58-0.88, n=9 studies), but not with Crohn's disease (CD) (OR=0.66, 95% CI
      0.40-1.09, n=8 studies). Higher consumption of fruit was associated inversely
      with the risk of UC (OR=0.69, 95% CI 0.49-0.96, n=8 studies) and CD (OR=0.57, 95%
      CI 0.44-0.74, n=10 studies). For intake of vegetables and the risk of CD,
      subgroup analysis showed a significant association for studies carried out in
      Europe (OR=0.36, 95% CI 0.23-0.57), but not in Asia (OR=1.00, 95% CI 0.50-2.03).
      No significant publication bias was found for the analysis of intake of
      vegetables and the risk of UC, intake of fruit and the risk of UC, and intake of
      vegetables and the risk of CD. This meta-analysis indicates that consumption of
      vegetables and fruit might be associated inversely with the risk of UC and CD,
      and the results need to be further confirmed. 

PMID- 25831135
TI  - Rates of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis B and the
      role of surveillance: a 10-year follow-up of 673 patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma
      (HCC) are critical milestones in the natural history of chronic hepatitis B virus
      (HBV) infection. There are no prospective data on the risk of these critical
      milestones in HBV patients in Singapore. The efficacy and justification of HCC
      surveillance is determined by the rate of HCC development. Our study aims to
      determine the rates of cirrhosis and HCC in HBV patients in Singapore and hence
      the appropriateness of HCC surveillance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 673
      HBV patients were enrolled between March 2003 and March 2004 and followed up for
      10 years with regular surveillance for HCC using alpha-fetoprotein and abdominal
      ultrasound. RESULTS: Overall, 62.6% of the patients were men, mean age 56.4
      years. In all, 31% were hepatitis B e antigen-positive and 14.9% had cirrhosis at
      baseline. Seventy-four patients developed cirrhosis and 42 patients developed HCC
      after 10 years. The overall 10-year incidence of cirrhosis and HCC was 16.2%
      (1.6%/year) and 7.8% (0.8%/year), respectively. The overall incidence of HCC in
      cirrhotics was 29.7% (3.0%/year), highest within a year of diagnosis of cirrhosis
      (7.9%). The rate of cirrhosis was significantly higher in those aged more than 55
      years (P=0.001). Sex and hepatitis B e antigen status did not affect the rate of
      cirrhosis. Factors with significantly higher overall rates of HCC were age 55
      years or more (P=0.001), male sex (P=0.001), and baseline alpha-fetoprotein of
      4.1 ug/l or more (P<0.0001). However, age more than 55 years was not significant
      in the development of HCC in cirrhotics. CONCLUSION: The rate of cirrhosis in HBV
      patients in Singapore is about 1.6% per year. The rate of HCC is about 0.8% per
      year overall and 3.0% per year in cirrhotics, which justifies HCC surveillance.

PMID- 25831136
TI  - A proposed role for selective autophagy in regulating auxin-dependent lateral
      root development under phosphate starvation in Arabidopsis.
AB  - Plants respond to limited soil nutrient availability by inducing more lateral
      roots (LR) to increase the root surface area. At the cellular level, nutrient
      starvation triggers the process of autophagy through which bulk degradation of
      cellular materials is achieved to facilitate nutrient mobilization. Whether there
      is any link between the cellular autophagy and induction of LR had remained
      unknown. We recently showed that the S-Domain receptor Kinase (ARK2) and U
      Box/Armadillo Repeat-Containing E3 ligase (PUB9) module is required for lateral
      root formation under phosphate starvation in Arabidopsis thaliana.(1) We also
      showed that PUB9 localized to autophagic bodies following either activation by
      ARK2 or under phosphate starvation and ark2-1/pub9-1 plants displayed lateral
      root defects with inability to accumulate auxin in the root tips under phosphate
      starvation.(1) Supplementing exogenous auxin was sufficient to rescue the LR
      defects in ark2-1/pub9-1 mutant. Blocking of autophagic responses in wild-type
      Arabidopsis also resulted in inhibition of both lateral roots and auxin
      accumulation in the root tips indicating the importance of autophagy in mediating
      auxin accumulation under phosphate starved conditions.(1) Here, we propose a
      model for ARK2/AtPUB9 module in regulation of lateral root development via
      selective autophagy. 

PMID- 25831137
TI  - Drug-triggered and cross-linked self-assembling nanofibrous hydrogels.
AB  - Self-assembly of multidomain peptides (MDP) can be tailored to carry payloads
      that modulate the extracellular environment. Controlled release of growth
      factors, cytokines, and small-molecule drugs allows for unique control of in
      vitro and in vivo responses. In this study, we demonstrate this process of ionic
      cross-linking of peptides using multivalent drugs to create hydrogels for
      sustained long-term delivery of drugs. Using phosphate, heparin, clodronate,
      trypan, and suramin, we demonstrate the utility of this strategy. Although all
      multivalent anions result in good hydrogel formation, demonstrating the
      generality of this approach, suramin led to the formation of the best hydrogels
      per unit concentration and was studied in greater detail. Suramin ionically cross
      linked MDP into a fibrous meshwork as determined by scanning and transmission
      electron microscopy. We measured material storage and loss modulus using
      rheometry and showed a distinct increase in G' and G" as a function of suramin
      concentration. Release of suramin from scaffolds was determined using UV
      spectroscopy and showed prolonged release over a 30 day period. Suramin
      bioavailability and function were demonstrated by attenuated M1 polarization of
      THP-1 cells compared to positive control. Overall, this design strategy has
      allowed for the development of a novel class of polymeric delivery vehicles with
      generally long-term release and, in the case of suramin, cross-linked hydrogels
      that can modulate cellular phenotype. 

PMID- 25831140
TI  - New beginnings.

PMID- 25831139
TI  - Farewell.

PMID- 25831138
TI  - Latent tuberculosis screening tests and active tuberculosis infection rates in
      Turkish inflammatory bowel disease patients under anti-tumor necrosis factor
      therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha inhibitors increase the risk of
      tuberculosis (TB). The objective of the present study was to determine the rate
      of active TB infection in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients receiving
      anti-TNF therapy and to determine the results of their latent TB infection (LTBI)
      screening tests during the follow up. METHODS: This is a retrospective
      observational study of IBD patients receiving anti-TNF therapy. Tuberculin skin
      test (TST), interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA), and chest radiography were
      used to determine LTBI. Active TB infection rate during anti-TNF treatment was
      determined. RESULTS: Seventy-six IBD patients (25 with ulcerative colitis, 51
      with Crohn's disease; 53 male; mean age 42.0+/-12.4 years) were included. Forty
      four (57.9%) patients received infliximab and 32 (42.1%) adalimumab. Their median
      duration of anti-TNF therapy was 15 months. Forty-five (59.2%) patients had LTBI
      and received isoniazid (INH) prophylaxis. During the follow-up period, active TB
      was identified in 3 (4.7%) patients who were not receiving INH prophylaxis. There
      was a moderate concordance between the TST and the IGRA (kappa coefficient 0.44,
      95% CI 0.24-0.76). Patients with or without immunosuppressive therapy did not
      differ significantly with respect to TST (P=0.318) and IGRA (P=0.157).
      CONCLUSION: IBD patients receiving anti-TNF therapy and prophylactic INH have a
      decreased risk of developing active TB infection. However, despite LTBI
      screening, the risk of developing active TB infection persists.

PMID- 25831141
TI  - Relationship of maternal perceptions of workplace breastfeeding support and job
      satisfaction.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Decades of research supports the health benefits of breastfeeding.
      Prior research has shown that unsupportive work environments are frequently cited
      as reasons women abandon breastfeeding early. The objective of this study is to
      determine if mothers' perceptions of workplace lactation support are associated
      with job satisfaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Female employees of Seattle
      Children's Hospital (SCH) and a large corporation were e-mailed a survey to
      measure perceptions of workplace lactation support. Women were eligible to
      participate if they had a child born within the last 5 years. Questions were
      asked about lactation support across five domains; organization, manager,
      coworker, time, and physical environment. The main outcome was job satisfaction.
      Linear regression models were run to evaluate the association between workplace
      support scores and the outcome of interest. RESULTS: The survey was completed by
      420 women at SCH and 131 women at the large corporation (response rate, 47%).
      Ninety-eight percent of study participants initiated breastfeeding, and most
      sustained breastfeeding for at least 6 months. Increased total workplace support
      score was associated with increased job satisfaction at both companies (p<0.001).
      Increased support scores within each domain were independently associated with
      increased job satisfaction (p values<0.005). When all domains were considered
      together, only manager and coworker supports were significant at SCH (p=0.04),
      and only time support was significant at the large corporation (p=0.01). The
      workplace support score was not significantly associated with breastfeeding
      duration at either institution. CONCLUSIONS: Improved lactation support in the
      workplace may improve new mothers' job satisfaction, which could be beneficial to
      businesses.

PMID- 25831142
TI  - Nintedanib: examining the development and mechanism of action of a novel triple
      angiokinase inhibitor.
AB  - Antiangiogenic agents are effective standard-of-care options in several
      malignancies, but are generally associated with only modest improvements in
      survival, as well as leading to additional toxicities. Furthermore, almost all
      patients develop acquired resistance to therapy, possibly due to the activation
      of alternative proangiogenic pathways. Here we discuss: the rationale for
      developing nintedanib, an agent that simultaneously inhibits signaling pathways
      activated by platelet-derived growth factor, FGF, as well as VEGF; how its
      distinctive inhibitory and pharmacokinetic profile could underlie promising
      efficacy and tolerability observed in Phase II trials in patients with
      relapsed/refractory non-small cell lung cancer, advanced ovarian cancer and
      metastatic colorectal cancer; the ongoing Phase III program that is assessing
      nintedanib in these areas of major unmet medical need; and recent progress in the
      development of biomarkers that may predict response to nintedanib. 

PMID- 25831144
TI  - Magnetic resonance imaging of the carotid artery in long-term head and neck
      cancer survivors treated with radiotherapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In head and neck cancer (HNC) patients, long-term treatment-related
      complications include radiotherapy (RT)-induced carotid vasculopathy and stroke.
      The current study investigated the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
      characteristics of the carotid wall in long-term HNC survivors treated with RT.
      METHODS: MRI of the carotid arteries was performed within a prospective cohort of
      42 HNC patients on average 7 years after RT. Two independent radiologists
      assessed maximal vessel wall thickness of common and internal carotid arteries.
      In case of wall thickening (>= 2 mm) the MRI signals as well as length of the
      thickened segment were assessed. RESULTS: Mean (SD) age of the 42 patients at
      baseline was 53 (13) years and mean (SD) follow-up time after RT was 6.8 (1.3)
      years. In total 62% were men and 60% had one or more cerebrovascular risk
      factors. Mean (SD) dose of RT on the common carotid arteries and internal carotid
      arteries was 57 Gy (11) and 61 Gy (10), respectively. Wall thickening was
      observed in 58% of irradiated versus 27% of non-irradiated common carotid
      arteries and 24% of irradiated versus 6% of non-irradiated internal carotid
      arteries (p < 0.05). Mean (SD) thickness of the irradiated and non-irradiated
      common carotid arteries was 2.5 (0.9) and 2 (0.7) mm (p = 0.02). Mean thickness
      of the irradiated and non-irradiated internal carotid arteries was 1.8 (0.8) and
      1.5 mm (0.3) (n.s.). Mean length of the thickened vessel wall was 48 mm versus 36
      mm in the irradiated versus non-irradiated common carotid arteries (p = 0.03) and
      20 mm versus 15 mm in the irradiated versus non-irradiated internal carotid
      arteries (n.s.). No significant differences were observed for signal intensities
      of the vessel walls. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed significantly more vessel wall
      thickening in irradiated versus non-irradiated carotid arteries years after RT
      for HNC, while no differences in signal intensities were observed.

PMID- 25831143
TI  - Is radiotherapy still necessary for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma therapy?

PMID- 25831145
TI  - Interactions between Starch, Lipids, and Proteins in Foods: Microstructure
      Control for Glycemic Response Modulation.
AB  - In real food, starch is usually forming part of a matrix with lipids and
      proteins. However, research on this ternary system and interactions between such
      food components has been scarce so far. The control of food microstructure is
      crucial to determine the product properties, including sensorial and nutritionals
      ones. This paper reviews the microstructural principles of interactions between
      starch, lipids, and proteins in foods as well as their effect on postprandial
      glycemic response, considering human intrinsic differences on postprandial
      glycemic responses. Several lines of research support the hypothesis that foods
      without rapidly digestible starch will not mandatorily generate the lowest
      postprandial glycemic response, highlighting that the full understanding of food
      microstructure, which modulates starch digestion, plays a key role on food design
      from a nutritional viewpoint. 

PMID- 25831146
TI  - Continuous nanoflow-scanning electrochemical microscopy: voltammetric
      characterization and application for accurate and reproducible imaging of enzyme
      labeled protein microarrays.
AB  - The coupling of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) to a continuous
      nanoflow (CNF) system is accomplished with the use of a microconcentric ring
      electrode/injector probe. The gold microring electrode encapsulated by a glass
      sheath is robust and can be beveled and polished. The CNF system, comprising a
      precision gas displacement pump and a rotary valve, is capable of delivering
      solution to the center of the SECM probe in the range of 1-150 nL/min. Major
      advantages of the CNF-SECM imaging mode over the conventional SECM
      generation/collection (G/C) mode include higher imaging resolution, immunity from
      interferences by species in the bulk solution or at other sites of the substrate,
      elimination of the feedback current that could interfere with the G/C data
      interpretation, and versatility of initiating surface reactions/processes via
      introducing different reactants into the flowing stream. Parameters such as flow
      rates, probe/substrate separations, and collection efficiencies are examined and
      optimized. Higher resolution, reproducibility, and accuracy are demonstrated
      through the application of CNF-SECM to horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-amplified
      imaging of protein microarrays. By flowing H2O2 and ferrocenemethanol through the
      injector and detecting the surface-generated ferriceniummethanol, human IgG spots
      covered with HPR-labeled antihuman IgG can be detected in the range of 13 nM
      1.333 MUM with a detection limit of 3.0 nM. In addition, consistent images of
      microarray spots for selective and high-density detection of analytes can be
      attained. 

PMID- 25831147
TI  - Medullary carcinoma of the colon: an adenocarcinoma with better prognosis.

PMID- 25831148
TI  - Abnormal Expression of miR-21 and miR-95 in Cancer Stem-Like Cells is Associated
      with Radioresistance of Lung Cancer.
AB  - This study demonstrated that miR-21 and miR-95 expression were significantly
      higher in the ALDH1(+)CD133(+)subpopulation than in the ALDH1(-)CD133(-)
      subpopulation of lung cancer cells. Combined delivery of anti-miR-21 and anti-miR
      95 by calcium phosphate nanoparticles significantly inhibited tumor growth in a
      xenograft tumor model and sensitized radiotherapy. The anti-miRNAs significantly
      reduced miR-21 and miR-95 levels, increased PTEN, SNX1, and SGPP1 protein
      expression, but reduced Akt Ser(473) and Thr(308) phosphorylation.
      ALDH1(+)CD133(+) subpopulation of NSCLC tumor cells confers radioresistance due
      to high expression of miR-21 and miR-95. Targeting inhibition of miR-21 and miR
      95 can inhibit tumor growth through elevating PTEN, SNX1, and SGPP1 expression
      and inhibiting Akt phosphorylation. 

PMID- 25831150
TI  - Future challenges: general discussion.

PMID- 25831151
TI  - Primary Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma of the Breast: Ultrasonography, Elastography,
      Digital Mammography, Contrast-Enhanced Digital Mammography, and Pathology
      Findings.
AB  - Lymphomas constitute approximately 0.15% of malignant mammary neoplasms. Less
      than 0.5% of all malignant lymphomas involve the breast primarily. Primary non
      Hodgkin breast lymphoma is usually right sided. The combined therapy approach,
      with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, is the most successful treatment. Mastectomy
      offers no benefit in the treatment of primary non-Hodgkin breast lymphoma. To the
      author's knowledge, this is the first published case of primary non-Hodgkin
      breast lymphoma reported with conventional ultrasonography, elastography (both
      freehand and acoustic radiation force impulse imaging), digital mammography,
      contrast-enhanced digital mammography, and pathology findings. A 45-year-old
      woman presented with a lump in the right breast for 2 months. There was no
      evidence of systemic lymphoma or leukemia when the breast lesion was detected.
      Imaging findings were negative for lymphoma. Ipsilateral lymph nodes were not
      palpable. The mass was resected, and histopathology findings were diagnostic of
      non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Immunohistochemistry was confirmatory of non-Hodgkin
      lymphoma, diffuse large cell type of B-cell lineage. Although primary and
      secondary lymphomas of the breast are rare entities, they should be considered in
      the differential diagnosis of breast malignancies. 

PMID- 25831152
TI  - A Case of Glomangiomatosis of the Ankle and Foot: Ultrasonographic Appearance
      Correlated With the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings.
AB  - Glomangiomatosis, a rare category of glomus tumors, comprises 2% to 3% of glomus
      tumors in adults. We report a case of glomangiomatosis in a 48-year-old man who
      underwent multiple excisions of recurrent soft tissue masses in the ankle and
      foot. Ultrasonography revealed multiple nodular soft tissue tumors and dilated
      vascular channels with increased blood flow, suggesting the presence of vascular
      tumors. Here, we discuss the ultrasonography imaging features of
      glomangiomatosis, which have not been previously reported, correlate them with
      magnetic resonance imaging findings, and provide a brief review of the
      literature. 

PMID- 25831153
TI  - Synthesis and solid-state structural characterization of a series of aqueous
      heterometallic tridecameric group 13 clusters.
AB  - The synthesis and solid-state characterization of a complete series of new
      heterometallic aqueous nanoscale Ga/In tridecameric clusters is presented. These
      hydroxo-aquo species significantly expand the library of discrete, aqueous group
      13 clusters. This report details the synthetic and structural characterization of
      these compounds, which are of interest as precursors (inks) for thin-film oxides
      with materials applications. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) data show
      that the hexagonal unit cell lengths of these clusters fall within the range a, b
      = 20.134-20.694 A and c = 18.266-18.490 A. The unit cell volumes become larger (V
      = 6494-6774 A(3)) with increasing indium occupancy. The compositions of several
      Ga/In clusters determined by electron probe microanalysis and elemental analysis
      are in agreement with single-crystal XRD results. The transformation of the Ga/In
      clusters to metal oxides at high temperature was studied using variable
      temperature powder XRD. With heating, the Ga/In clusters with lower indium
      occupancies convert to the beta-Ga2O3 structure. For clusters with higher indium
      occupancies, phase separation occurs, and an In2O3 bixbyite-type structure forms.
      The stoichiometric control at the molecular level demonstrated herein is
      important in designing functional thin films of metal oxides due to the tunable
      nature of these heterometallic solution precursors. In addition, information
      about the solid-state structure of these compounds leads to a fundamental
      understanding of the materials properties of these clusters for future thin-film
      and precursor development. 

PMID- 25831154
TI  - Trifluoromethyl sulfoxides from allylic alcohols and electrophilic SCF3 donor by
      [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement.
AB  - An electrophilic trifluoromethylthiolation of allylic alcohols produces the
      corresponding allylic trifluoromethanesulfenates, which spontaneously rearrange
      into trifluoromethyl sulfoxides via a [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement. The
      reaction is straightforward and proceeds in good to high yields for the
      preparation of various allylic trifluoromethyl sulfoxides. 

PMID- 25831155
TI  - A cost-effective RNA sequencing protocol for large-scale gene expression studies.
AB  - RNA sequencing has increasingly become an indispensable tool for biological
      research. While sequencing costs have fallen dramatically in recent years, the
      current cost of RNA sequencing, nonetheless, remains a barrier to even more
      widespread adoption. Here, we present a simple RNA sequencing protocol with
      substantially reduced costs. This protocol uses as little as 10 ng of total RNA,
      allows multiplex sequencing of up to 96 samples per lane, and is strand specific.
      Extensive validation using human embryonic stem cells showed high consistency
      between technical replicates at various multiplexing levels. 

PMID- 25831156
TI  - Electrode array extrusion through the posterior canal wall presenting as a
      delayed post-cochlear implant complication.
AB  - OBJECTIVES AND IMPORTANCE: Cochlear implantation is an established, reliable, and
      safe procedure with a low complication rate. Electrode array extrusion through
      the posterior aspect of external ear canal is a potential major complication of
      cochlear implant surgery that may result in revision surgery or explantation.
      Although there have been previous case reports of such extrusions through the
      tympanic membrane, this is the first well-documented report of an extrusion
      through the posterior canal wall which was previously intact. CLINICAL
      PRESENTATION: In this case report, we present a case of electrode array extruding
      through an initially intact posterior canal wall presenting as a delayed post
      operative complication in a 13-year old Asian boy. INTERVENTION: With reference
      to existing relevant literature, the case is discussed focusing on its
      management, possible contributing factors, and prevention strategies. CONCLUSION:
      Excessive thinning of the bony wall should be avoided as it can potentially break
      down. Abutment on the posterior canal wall by a coiled electrode array in the
      mastoid cavity exerting undue pressure on the bony wall can further contribute to
      additional stress. The implant surgeon must be cognizant of mastoid growth
      patterns in children. Life-long regular follow-up in implanted patients is
      crucial.

PMID- 25831157
TI  - The dormant virus: a rare case of herpes simplex virus hemorrhagic necrotizing
      enterocolitis.

PMID- 25831158
TI  - Selective nonoperative management of foramen of Winslow hernias.

PMID- 25831159
TI  - Peritoneal decortication: an innovative technique for treatment of obstructive
      sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis.

PMID- 25831160
TI  - Interval asymptomatic infected postpancreatic resection fluid collections managed
      with endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage.

PMID- 25831161
TI  - Stump appendicitis after remote appendectomy.

PMID- 25831162
TI  - Management of a misplaced endovascular stent in pulmonary artery.

PMID- 25831163
TI  - The indication for colectomy does not influence the management of anastomotic
      leaks.

PMID- 25831164
TI  - Solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas in a teenager.

PMID- 25831165
TI  - Intraoperative testing after end-to-end anastomotic stapling and its ability to
      detect sound anastomoses.

PMID- 25831166
TI  - Parathyroid cysts.

PMID- 25831167
TI  - Transcatheter coil embolization of renal artery pseudoaneurysm in a pediatric
      patient.

PMID- 25831168
TI  - Angiosarcoma of the colon.

PMID- 25831169
TI  - A decade of work-hour restrictions: increasing pass rate trends on the American
      Board of Urology Qualifying Examination.

PMID- 25831170
TI  - Abdominal aortic and iliac injury in blunt trauma: a single center's experience.

PMID- 25831171
TI  - The plight of the general surgeon: an analysis of urgent and emergent surgeries
      at a community hospital.

PMID- 25831172
TI  - Current treatment guidelines for postoperative surgical site infection: clinical
      considerations in the surgical care improvement project era.

PMID- 25831173
TI  - Cholangiocarcinoma: a pan-Pacific perspective.

PMID- 25831174
TI  - Oncologic management dilemma of locally advanced occult rectal cancer presenting
      as Fournier's gangrene.

PMID- 25831175
TI  - James Lawrence Cabell, one of the most influential of America's early surgeons.
AB  - Dr. James Lawrence Cabell was one of the most important, farsighted, and
      influential surgical educators and leaders in the United States in the 19th
      century. He was appointed as Chair of Surgery and Physiology at the University of
      Virginia by Thomas Jefferson's successor as Rector of the University, James
      Madison, and held that Chair for over 50 years, the longest tenure of any
      American medical academician. He was a founding member of the American Medical
      Association, the American Surgical Association, and the National Board of Health.
      He is best remembered as an articulate, incessant, and early proponent of public
      health and the delivery of quality health care in the United States. His legacy
      and that of his proteges has continued to influence health care in this country,
      especially in the realm of the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases,
      even into the present time. 

PMID- 25831176
TI  - Can routine trauma bay chest x-ray be bypassed with an extended focused
      assessment with sonography for trauma examination?
AB  - The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using
      ultrasound (US) in place of portable chest x-ray (CXR) for the rapid detection of
      a traumatic pneumothorax (PTX) requiring urgent decompression in the trauma bay.
      All patients who presented as a trauma alert to a single institution from August
      2011 to May 2012 underwent an extended focused assessment with sonography for
      trauma (FAST). The thoracic cavity was examined using four-view US imaging and
      were interpreted by a chief resident (Postgraduate Year 4) or attending staff. US
      results were compared with CXR and chest computed tomography (CT) scans, when
      obtained. The average age was 37.8 years and 68 per cent of the patients were
      male. Blunt injury occurred in 87 per cent and penetrating injury in 12 per cent
      of activations. US was able to predict the absence of PTX on CXR with a
      sensitivity of 93.8 per cent, specificity of 98 per cent, and a negative
      predictive value of 99.9 per cent compared with CXR. The only missed PTX seen on
      CXR was a small, low anterior, loculated PTX that was stable for transport to CT.
      The use of thoracic US during the FAST can rapidly and safely detect the absence
      of a clinically significant PTX. US can replace routine CXR obtained in the
      trauma bay and allow more rapid initiation of definitive imaging studies. 

PMID- 25831177
TI  - Radiocephalic fistulas for hemodialysis: a comparison of techniques.
AB  - The radiocephalic fistula dates back to the 1960s with good long-term survival
      and a low incidence of complications. The standard practice of creating an end
      cephalic vein to side radial artery fistula (ETS) has a high incidence of early
      thrombosis and failure to mature, which limits its efficacy. The hypothesis is
      that a 1.3- to 1.5-cm side-to-side with distal vein ligation anastomosis (STS) is
      associated with a lower early thrombosis rate and higher primary patency rate. We
      retrospectively evaluated all radiocephalic fistulas created at our hospital from
      January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2012, comparing a 1.3- to 1.5-cm STS anastomosis
      to the ETS anastomosis. Primary endpoints were patency at three and six months
      and the secondary outcome was suitability for cannulation. An ETS anastomosis
      resulted in an early thrombosis rate, 3-month cannulation rate, and 6-month
      primary patency rate of 14, 30, and 48 per cent, respectively. Outcomes from the
      STS technique were significantly improved with no early thrombosis (P < 0.05), 3
      month cannulation rate of 67 per cent (P < 0.03), and a primary patency of 75 per
      cent (P = 0.03). A STS radiocephalic fistula with distal vein ligation is
      superior to the ETS radiocephalic fistula. Early thrombosis, 6-month primary
      patency, and cannulation rates were significantly improved. 

PMID- 25831178
TI  - Chest radiography does not alter the treatment course for children after rigid
      bronchoscopy.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of chest radiography in
      the direction of postbronchoscopy clinical therapy. From 2001 to 2011, 368 rigid
      bronchoscopies were performed at a single institution in 221 children.
      Indications for bronchoscopy, concomitant bronchoscopic procedures, and results
      of postoperative chest radiography were evaluated. Rigid bronchoscopy was
      performed in children at a median age of 2.21 years (range, two days to 20
      years). Chest radiography was performed at the discretion of the primary surgeon
      after 275 (74.7%) procedures. Malpositioning of the endotracheal or tracheostomy
      tube occurred in 1.5 per cent (n = three of 203) of ventilated patients
      postbronchoscopy. Pneumothorax occurred in 0.5 per cent (n = two of 368) of
      children and followed laser degranulation (n = one of 117 [0.9%]) and removal of
      an aspirated foreign body (n = one of 80 [1.3%]). Neither child required tube
      thoracostomy. Three children necessitated intraoperative tube thoracostomy
      placement for symptomatic pneumothoraces before radiographic assessment. No
      children sustained postprocedural complications in the absence of
      postbronchoscopy radiography. Postbronchoscopy chest radiography in the absence
      of defined symptomatology is not associated with a change in the postprocedural
      treatment course, suggesting selective application may be appropriate after at
      risk bronchoscopic interventions. Such practice will limit the future cost and
      radiation exposure associated with this common procedure. 

PMID- 25831179
TI  - Pharyngostomy.
AB  - A retrospective analysis of a prospective observational study of a cohort of
      patients who required prolonged foregut/midgut decompression/intraluminal
      stenting and/or enteral nutritional support was conducted. Those patients were
      intolerant of protracted nasogastric intubation. They also manifested hostile
      peritoneal cavities and therefore were not candidates for a laparoendoscopic
      gastrostomy or jejunostomy. Accordingly, they underwent insertion of a
      pharyngogastric or pharyngojejunal tube. With patients properly positioned and
      anesthetized and with attention to the anatomy of the superior carotid cervical
      triangle, those pharyngostomies and cannulations were performed safely and
      efficiently. The tubes remained indefinitely or were changed/removed ad libitum.
      Morbidity was nil and no mortality attributable to the procedure was observed.
      Pharyngostomy should be part of the armamentarium of all general surgeons. 

PMID- 25831180
TI  - High-resolution manometry findings in patients with an intrathoracic stomach.
AB  - Intrathoracic stomach is a rare finding. The real value of the high-resolution
      manometry (HRM) in the preoperative evaluation of these patients has not yet
      being fully tested. This study aims to evaluate: 1) the HRM pattern of patients
      with an intrathoracic stomach; and 2) HRM findings as predictors for prosthetic
      reinforcement of the hiatus. We reviewed 33 patients (27 women, mean age 66
      years) with an intrathoracic stomach who underwent HRM. Fifteen patients did the
      HRM as part of preoperative workup and were operated on in our institution. All
      patients were submitted to a laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication. HRM results show
      that the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) was transposed in all patients. Hiatal
      hernia was diagnosed in 21 (63%) patients. The length of the hernia was 4 +/- 2
      cm (range, 1 to 9 cm). LES oscillation was observed in 23 (69%) patients with a
      mean of 1 +/- 0.4 cm (range, 0.4 to 2 cm). Hiatal mesh reinforcement was
      necessary in five (33%) of the operated patients. HRM findings did not predict
      hiatal mesh reinforcement. Our results show that: 1) HRM has a poor sensibility
      for hiatal hernia diagnosis; 2) half of the patients with an intrathoracic
      stomach have a normal HRM; and 3) HRM does not predict mesh hiatal hernia repair.

PMID- 25831181
TI  - Risk factors of postoperative myocardial infarction after colorectal surgeries.
AB  - There are limited data regarding the specific risk factors of postoperative
      myocardial infarction (MI) in patients undergoing colorectal resectional surgery.
      We sought to identify risk factors of acute MI after colorectal resection
      operations. The National Inpatient Sample database was used to identify patients
      who had postoperative MI after colorectal resection operations between 2002 and
      2010. Statistical analysis was performed to identify factors predictive of
      postoperative MI. We sampled a total of 2,513,124 patients undergoing colorectal
      resection, of whom 38,317 (1.5%) sustained a postoperative MI. Patients with
      postoperative MI had associated 28.5 per cent in-hospital mortality. Risk factors
      identified include (P < 0.01): history of congestive heart failure (odds ratio
      [OR], 8.18), chronic renal failure (OR, 3.86), age 70 years or older (OR, 3.68),
      peripheral vascular disorders (OR, 2.93), fluid and electrolyte disorders (OR,
      2.69), emergency admission (OR, 2.56), preoperative weight loss (OR, 2.49),
      cardiac valvular disease (OR, 2.46), chronic lung disease (OR, 1.75), deficiency
      anemia (OR, 1.22), colorectal cancer (OR, 1.77), and hypertension (OR, 1.14).
      Postoperative MI occurs in less than 2 per cent of colorectal resections.
      However, patients sustaining postoperative MI are over six times more likely to
      die. Congestive heart failure and chronic renal failure are the strongest
      predictors of postoperative MI. 

PMID- 25831182
TI  - The surgical anatomy of the inguinal lymphatics.
AB  - Knowledge of the lymphatic system plays critical importance in surgical oncology.
      The study of the lymphatic system and its role in tumor metastasis continues to
      advance with new anatomical and surgical studies, and with a new study, we can
      gain a better understanding on how aggressive surgeons need to be with nodal
      dissection while balancing the complications with overly aggressive approaches.
      The lymphatics of the inguinal region represent a network of lymph nodes and
      vessels, which act as the bridge among the lower extremities, pelvis, perineum,
      and rest of the body. These lymph nodes are of particular importance in the
      metastatic spread of genitourinary and lower gastrointestinal epithelial cancer
      to the inguinal nodes. The aim of this article is to reveal the literature with
      regard to the inguinal lymph nodes and their relation in various carcinomas. 

PMID- 25831183
TI  - Medical student quality-of-life in the clerkships: a scale validation study.
AB  - Many aspects of medical school are stressful for students. To empirically assess
      student reactions to clerkship programs, or to assess efforts to improve such
      programs, educators must measure the overall well-being of the students reliably
      and validly. The purpose of the study was to develop and validate a measure
      designed to achieve these goals. The authors developed a measure of quality of
      life for medical students by sampling (public domain) items tapping general
      happiness, fatigue, and anxiety. A quality-of-life scale was developed by factor
      analyzing responses to the items from students in two different clerkships from
      2005 to 2008. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Validity was
      assessed by factor analysis, convergence with additional theoretically relevant
      scales, and sensitivity to change over time. The refined nine-item measure is a
      Likert scaled survey of quality-of-life items comprised of two domains:
      exhaustion and general happiness. The resulting scale demonstrated good
      reliability and factorial validity at two time points for each of the two
      samples. The quality-of-life measure also correlated with measures of depression
      and the amount of sleep reported during the clerkships. The quality-of-life
      measure appeared more sensitive to changes over time than did the depression
      measure. The measure is short and can be easily administered in a survey. The
      scale appears useful for program evaluation and more generally as an outcome
      variable in medical educational research. 

PMID- 25831184
TI  - Quality and extent of locum tenens coverage in pediatric surgical practices.
AB  - The prevalence and quality of locum tenens coverage in pediatric surgery have not
      been determined. An Internet-based survey of American Pediatric Surgical
      Association members was conducted: 1) practice description; 2) use and frequency
      of locum tenens coverage; 4) whether the surgeon provided such coverage; and 5)
      Likert scale responses (strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly
      agree) to statements addressing its acceptability and quality (two * five
      contingency table and chi(2) analyses, significance at P < 0.05). Three hundred
      sixteen of 1163 members (27.2% response rate) responded. One-fourth (24.1%) used
      a locum tenens regularly. Reasons were long-term inability to recruit a full-time
      surgeon (35.2%) and short-term vacancies (32.4%). One-fifth (20.4%) did locum
      tenens work; one-fourth (27.0%) plan to do so in the future. Two-thirds (64.2%)
      believe that surgical care in a locum tenens situation does not provide the same
      level of care as a full-time community-based surgeon. Most support locum tenens
      for short-term coverage (87.3%) and recruitment problems (72.1%), but not long
      term vacancies (38.8%; P < 0.001) or permanent coverage (27.0%; P < 0.001). locum
      tenens coverage is an established feature of pediatric surgery. Most view it as a
      stopgap solution to the surgical workforce shortage. 

PMID- 25831185
TI  - Reasons for 30-day postoperative readmissions for Medicare patients at a
      community-based teaching hospital.
AB  - Healthcare reform initiatives have proposed reducing reimbursement for certain 30
      day readmissions among Medicare patients. Our objective was to evaluate the
      incidence and reasons for 30-day postoperative readmissions at our institution.
      The medical records of Medicare patients who underwent surgery from January 1,
      2010, through May 16, 2011, were reviewed. Statistical analysis included chi(2),
      Wilcoxon rank sum, and t tests. Two thousand eight hundred sixty-five patients
      were included; 199 (7%) had a 30-day readmission. The readmission group included
      a higher proportion of men (53.8 vs 43.6%, P = 0.005), and patients with an
      American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Class 3 or greater (84 vs 66%, P <
      0.001) versus the nonreadmission group. Mean index length of stay and operative
      time were longer in the readmitted versus nonreadmitted group (4.8 vs 2.8 days, P
      < 0.001; 122.8 vs 98.2 minutes, P < 0.001). Readmission reasons were surgically
      related (53%), surgically unrelated (35%), planned (7%), and patient-related
      (5%). Higher 30-day postoperative readmission rates were associated with male
      sex, higher ASA class, and longer index length of stay and operative time.
      Reasons for readmission included surgical- and patient-related factors. Decreased
      reimbursement should be discouraged for readmissions directly related to patient
      noncompliance. 

PMID- 25831186
TI  - Synthetic mesh repair for incisional hernia treatment in high-risk patients for
      surgical site occurrences.
AB  - Patients with incisional hernias (IH) and risk factors for surgical site
      occurrences (SSOs) such as defined comorbidities and/or potential contaminations
      are considered to be treated with bioprosthetics. A retrospective analysis of
      consecutive patients who had undergone elective IH repair with synthetic mesh
      materials between 2009 and 2013 was conducted. Only patients who were classified
      into Grades II and III according to the classification of the Ventral Hernia
      Working Group (VHWG) were considered for the study. Primary outcome parameter was
      the incidence of SSO. The relationships among demographics, hernia
      characteristics, surgical technique, and SSOs were also evaluated. Overall, 108
      patients were included (Grade II: 68, Grade III: 40). SSO was identified in 14
      patients. Having two or more comorbidities (P = 0.04), an open sublay technique
      (P = 0.005), duration of operation (P = 0.02), larger hernia defects (P = 0.001),
      and using larger mesh sizes (P = 0.01) were associated with significantly higher
      rates of SSO. Affiliation to VHWG Grading II or III showed no impact on SSO
      occurrence. Synthetic mesh repair both in an "open sublay" and laparoscopic
      intraperitoneal technique is safe regarding patients with risk factors for SSO.
      The recommendations of the VHWG must be declined and a modification of the
      grading system is warranted overlooking a more liberal use of synthetic meshes. 

PMID- 25831187
TI  - You cannot go home: routine concussion evaluation is not enough.
AB  - Traditional care of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is to discharge patients
      from the emergency department (ED) if they have a Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) of 15
      and a normal head computed tomography (CT) scan. However, this does not address
      short-term neurocognitive deficits. Our hypothesis is that a notable percentage
      of patients will need outpatient neurocognitive therapy despite a reassuring
      initial presentation. This is a retrospective review of patients with MTBI at an
      urban Level I trauma center. Inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of MTBI in
      patients 14 years old or older, GCS 15, negative head CT scan, a completed
      neurocognitive evaluation, blunt mechanism, and no confounding psychiatric
      comorbidities. Six thousand thirty-two patients were admitted over 18 months.
      Three hundred ninety-five patients met inclusion criteria. Average age was 38
      years (range, 14 to 93 years), 64 per cent were male, and mean Injury Severity
      Score (ISS) was 8.1. Forty-one per cent were cleared for discharge without follow
      up. Twenty-seven per cent required ongoing neurocognitive therapy. Three per cent
      were deemed unsafe for discharge home. Of the patients cleared for discharge, 88
      per cent had positive/questionable loss of consciousness (LOC), whereas 81 per
      cent who required additional therapy had positive/questionable LOC (P = 0.20).
      Age, gender, ISS, and alcohol use were compared between the groups and not found
      to be statistically different rendering them poor predictors for appropriate
      discharge from the ED. A surprisingly high percentage (27%) of patients who would
      have met traditional ED discharge criteria were found to have persistent deficits
      after neurocognitive testing and were referred for ongoing therapy. We provide
      evidence to suggest that we should take pause before discharging patients with
      MTBI without a cognitive evaluation. 

PMID- 25831188
TI  - Use and accuracy of computed tomography scan in diagnosing perforated
      appendicitis.
AB  - Perforated appendicitis has major implications on patient care. The ability of
      computed tomography (CT) scan to distinguish perforation in the absence of
      phlegmon or abscess is unknown. The purpose of this study is to assess the use
      and accuracy of CT scans in diagnosing perforated appendicitis without phlegmon
      or abscess. A retrospective chart review of 102 patients who underwent
      appendectomy from 2011 to 2013 was performed. Patient demographics and operative
      and postoperative course were recorded. Two radiologists were then blinded to
      operative findings and CT scans reread and results correlated. Findings on CT
      scan were also analyzed for correlation with perforation. Univariate and
      multivariate statistical analysis was performed. Of the 102 patients, 49 were
      perforated and 53 nonperforated. Analysis of patient populations demonstrated
      patients with perforation were significantly older (45 vs 34 years, P = 0.002),
      had longer operative times (132 vs 81 minutes, P = 0.001), and longer length of
      stay (8.2 vs 1.5 days, P < 0.001). Nineteen perforations (37%) were correctly
      diagnosed by CT scan. The sensitivity of CT scan to detect perforation was 38 per
      cent, specificity 96 per cent, and positive predictive value of 90 per cent.
      After multivariate analysis of significant variables, three were demonstrated to
      significantly correlate with presence of perforation: presence of extraluminal
      air (odds ratio [OR], 28.9; P = 0.02); presence of intraluminal fecalith (OR,
      5.7; P = 0.03); and wall thickness greater than 3 mm (OR, 3.2; P = 0.02). CT scan
      has a low sensitivity for diagnosing perforated appendicitis without abscess or
      phlegmon. Presence of extraluminal air bubbles, increased wall thickness, and
      intraluminal fecalith should increase suspicion for perforation and are highly
      correlated with outcomes after appendectomy. 

PMID- 25831189
TI  - The ACT Alert: preliminary results of a novel protocol to assess geriatric head
      trauma patients on anticoagulation.
AB  - In busy emergency departments (EDs), elderly patients on anticoagulation (AC)
      sustaining minor injuries who are triaged to a lower priority for evaluation are
      at risk for potentially serious consequences. We sought to determine if a novel
      ED protocol prioritizes workup and improves outcome. In a Pennsylvania-verified
      Level II trauma center, the ACT (AntiCoagulation and Trauma) Alert was
      implemented in March 2012. Triage parameters include: age 65 years or older, AC
      agents, Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) 13 or greater, and head trauma 24 hours or less.
      ACT Alerts are announced overhead in the ED and require assessment by an ED
      physician, nurse, and phlebotomist in 15 minutes or less. Furthermore, they
      necessitate Point of Care international normalized ratio (INR) 20 minutes or less
      and head computed tomography (CT) scan 30 minutes or less. Positive CT findings
      mandate trauma service consultation. ACT Alert patients from March to December
      2012 were compared with ED patients 65 years or older, GCS 13 or greater, on AC
      with the same chief complaints as ACT Alerts from June 2011 to February 2012
      (control). A P value <= 0.05 was considered significant. Of 752 study patients,
      415 were ACT and 337 were controls. There were no significant differences between
      groups in age, elevated INR, or head bleeds. ACT patients had significantly
      shorter median times from ED arrival to INR (ACT 13 minutes vs control 80
      minutes; P < 0.001) and to head CT (ACT 35 minutes vs control 65 minutes; P <
      0.001). Of admitted patients, ACT had a significantly shorter median length of
      stay (LOS) (ACT 3.7 days vs control 5.0 days; P < 0.001). Although trends toward
      improved outcome were noted, no statistically significant differences were
      identified. The ACT Alert improves ED throughput and reduces hospital LOS while
      effectively identifying at-risk, mildly head injured geriatric patients on AC.

PMID- 25831190
TI  - Outcomes of open splenectomy for hematologic malignancy with splenomegaly: a
      contemporary perspective.
AB  - Splenectomy for hematologic malignancy (HM) is considered a high-risk procedure,
      especially in cases of splenomegaly. We analyzed the postoperative course of 82
      patients undergoing open splenectomy for HM-related splenomegaly (splenic
      craniocaudal length 15 cm or greater) in a high-volume center. Primary outcome
      measures were: perioperative clinical course, rate and severity of postoperative
      complications (Clavien-Dindo classification), and length of hospital stay. Risk
      factors analyzed for morbidity and mortality by logistic regression analysis
      were: gender, age, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA)grade, body mass
      index (BMI), steroidal treatment, preoperative white blood cell count, spleen
      size, spleen weight, and operative time. The postoperative mortality rate was 1.2
      per cent. Only 15.9 per cent of patients required surgical, endoscopic, or
      radiological intervention after splenectomy (Grade 3 or greater complication).
      Overall postoperative morbidity rate (as Grade 2 or greater complication) was
      52.4 per cent. Surgical complications, mainly bleeding, occurred in 40.2 per cent
      of patients and 32.9 per cent of patients required blood transfusion. Medical
      complication rate was 24.4 per cent. Pulmonary disorders were prevalent among
      medical complications. At multivariate analysis, only ASA score was an
      independent risk factor for postoperative complications. Open splenectomy can be
      performed in high-volume centers with low mortality and acceptable morbidity in
      patients with HM-related splenomegaly, provided that patients at highest risk of
      postoperative complication (ASA greater than 3) are carefully evaluated. 

PMID- 25831191
TI  - Preservation of beta cell function after pancreatic islet autotransplantation:
      University of Chicago experience.
AB  - The aim of the study was to assess the rate of insulin independence in patients
      after total pancreatectomy (TP) and islet autotransplantation in our center. TP
      followed by islet autotransplantation was performed in 10 patients. Severe
      unrelenting pain associated with chronic pancreatitis was the major indication
      for surgery. Islets were isolated using the modified Ricordi method and infused
      through the portal vein. Exogenous insulin therapy was implemented for at least
      two months posttransplant to support islet engraftment and was subsequently
      weaned off, if possible. Median follow-up was 26 months (range, 2 to 60 months).
      Median islet yield was 158,860 islet equivalents (IEQ) (range, 40,203 to 330,472
      IEQ) with an average islet yield of 2,478 IEQ/g (range, 685 to 6,002 IEQ/g) of
      processed pancreas. One patient developed transient partial portal vein
      thrombosis, which resolved without sequela. Five (50%) patients are currently off
      insulin with excellent glucose control and HbA1c below 6. Patients who achieved
      and maintained insulin independence were transplanted with significantly more
      islets (median, 202,291 IEQ; range, 145,000 to 330,474 IEQ) than patients who
      required insulin support (64,348 IEQ; range, 40,203 to 260,476 IEQ; P < 0.05).
      Patient body mass index and time of chronic pancreatitis prior transplant
      procedure did not correlate with the outcome. The remaining five patients, who
      require insulin support, had present C-peptide in blood and experience good
      glucose control without incidence of severe hypoglycemic episodes. Islet
      autotransplantation efficiently preserved beta cell function in selected patients
      with chronic pancreatitis and the outcome correlated with transplanted islet
      mass. 

PMID- 25831192
TI  - Low retrieval rates of temporary inferior vena cava filters in trauma patients.

PMID- 25831193
TI  - Serum calcium changes in response to varied surgical procedures.

PMID- 25831194
TI  - Parameter estimation using macroscopic diffusion MRI signal models.
AB  - Macroscopic models of the diffusion MRI (dMRI) signal can be helpful to
      understanding the relationship between the tissue microstructure and the dMRI
      signal. We study the least squares problem associated with estimating tissue
      parameters such as the cellular volume fraction, the residence times and the
      effective diffusion coefficients using a recently developed macroscopic model of
      the dMRI signal called the Finite Pulse Karger model that generalizes the
      original Karger model to non-narrow gradient pulses. In order to analyze the
      quality of the estimation in a controlled way, we generated synthetic noisy dMRI
      signals by including the effect of noise on the exact signal produced by the
      Finite Pulse Karger model. The noisy signals were then fitted using the
      macroscopic model. Minimizing the least squares, we estimated the model
      parameters. The bias and standard deviations of the estimated model parameters as
      a function of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) were obtained. We discuss the
      choice of the b-values, the least square weights, the extension to experimentally
      obtained dMRI data as well noise correction. 

PMID- 25831195
TI  - SNP identification from RNA sequencing and linkage map construction of rubber
      tree for anchoring the draft genome.
AB  - Hevea brasiliensis, or rubber tree, is an important crop species that accounts
      for the majority of natural latex production. The rubber tree nuclear genome
      consists of 18 chromosomes and is roughly 2.15 Gb. The current rubber tree
      reference genome assembly consists of 1,150,326 scaffolds ranging from 200 to
      531,465 bp and totalling 1.1 Gb. Only 143 scaffolds, totalling 7.6 Mb, have been
      placed into linkage groups. We have performed RNA-seq on 6 varieties of rubber
      tree to identify SNPs and InDels and used this information to perform target
      sequence enrichment and high throughput sequencing to genotype a set of SNPs in
      149 rubber tree offspring from a cross between RRIM 600 and RRII 105 rubber tree
      varieties. We used this information to generate a linkage map allowing for the
      anchoring of 24,424 contigs from 3,009 scaffolds, totalling 115 Mb or 10.4% of
      the published sequence, into 18 linkage groups. Each linkage group contains
      between 319 and 1367 SNPs, or 60 to 194 non-redundant marker positions, and
      ranges from 156 to 336 cM in length. This linkage map includes 20,143 of the
      69,300 predicted genes from rubber tree and will be useful for mapping studies
      and improving the reference genome assembly. 

PMID- 25831196
TI  - Human, oceanographic and habitat drivers of central and western Pacific coral
      reef fish assemblages.
AB  - Coral reefs around US- and US-affiliated Pacific islands and atolls span wide
      oceanographic gradients and levels of human impact. Here we examine the relative
      influence of these factors on coral reef fish biomass, using data from a
      consistent large-scale ecosystem monitoring program conducted by scientific
      divers over the course of >2,000 hours of underwater observation at 1,934 sites,
      across ~40 islands and atolls. Consistent with previous smaller-scale studies,
      our results show sharp declines in reef fish biomass at relatively low human
      population density, followed by more gradual declines as human population density
      increased further. Adjusting for other factors, the highest levels of oceanic
      productivity among our study locations were associated with more than double the
      biomass of reef fishes (including ~4 times the biomass of planktivores and
      piscivores) compared to islands with lowest oceanic productivity. Our results
      emphasize that coral reef areas do not all have equal ability to sustain large
      reef fish stocks, and that what is natural varies significantly amongst
      locations. Comparisons of biomass estimates derived from visual surveys with
      predicted biomass in the absence of humans indicated that total reef fish biomass
      was depleted by 61% to 69% at populated islands in the Mariana Archipelago; by
      20% to 78% in the Main Hawaiian islands; and by 21% to 56% in American Samoa. 

PMID- 25831197
TI  - Focus Groups Move Online: Feasibility of Tumblr Use for eHealth Curriculum
      Development.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Constructing successful online programs requires engaging potential
      users in development. However, assembling focus groups can be costly and time
      consuming. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to assess whether Tumblr can be
      used to prioritize activities for an online younger worker risk reduction and
      health promotion program. METHODS: Younger summer parks and recreation employees
      were encouraged to visit Tumblr using weekly announcements and competitions. Each
      week, new activities were posted on Tumblr with linked survey questions.
      Responses were downloaded and analyzed. RESULTS: An average of 36 young workers
      rated each activity on its likeability and perceived educational value. The
      method was feasible, efficient, and sustainable across the summer weeks. Ratings
      indicated significant differences in likeability among activities (P<.005).
      CONCLUSIONS: Tumblr is a means to crowdsource formative feedback on potential
      curricular components when assembling an online intervention. This paper
      describes its initial use as well as suggestions for future refinements.

PMID- 25831198
TI  - Finasteride and the Uncertainties of Establishing Harms.

PMID- 25831199
TI  - Information and communication technology-enabled person-centered care for the
      "big five" chronic conditions: scoping review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Person-centered information and communication technology (ICT) could
      encourage patients to take an active part in their health care and decision
      making process, and make it possible for patients to interact directly with
      health care providers and services about their personal health concerns. Yet,
      little is known about which ICT interventions dedicated to person-centered care
      (PCC) and connected-care interactions have been studied, especially for shared
      care management of chronic diseases. The aim of this research is to investigate
      the extent, range, and nature of these research activities and identify research
      gaps in the evidence base of health studies regarding the "big 5" chronic
      diseases: diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease,
      cancer, and stroke. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper was to review the
      literature and to scope the field with respect to 2 questions: (1) which ICT
      interventions have been used to support patients and health care professionals in
      PCC management of the big 5 chronic diseases? and (2) what is the impact of these
      interventions, such as on health-related quality of life and cost efficiency?
      METHODS: This research adopted a scoping review method. Three electronic medical
      databases were accessed: PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library. The research
      reviewed studies published between January 1989 and December 2013. In 5 stages of
      systematic scanning and reviewing, relevant studies were identified, selected,
      and charted. Then we collated, summarized, and reported the results. RESULTS:
      From the initial 9380 search results, we identified 350 studies that qualified
      for inclusion: diabetes mellitus (n=103), cardiovascular disease (n=89), chronic
      respiratory disease (n=73), cancer (n=67), and stroke (n=18). Persons with one of
      these chronic conditions used ICT primarily for self-measurement of the body,
      when interacting with health care providers, with the highest rates of use seen
      in chronic respiratory (63%, 46/73) and cardiovascular (53%, 47/89) diseases. We
      found 60 relevant studies (17.1%, 60/350) on person-centered shared management
      ICT, primarily using telemedicine systems as personalized ICT. The highest impact
      measured related to the increase in empowerment (15.4%, 54/350). Health-related
      quality of life accounted for 8%. The highest impact connected to health
      professionals was an increase in clinical outcome (11.7%, 41/350). The impacts on
      organization outcomes were decrease in hospitalization (12.3%, 43/350) and
      increase of cost efficiency (10.9%, 38/350). CONCLUSIONS: This scoping review
      outlined ICT-enabled PCC in chronic disease management. Persons with a chronic
      disease could benefit from an ICT-enabled PCC approach, but ICT-PCC also yields
      organizational paybacks. It could lead to an increase in health care usage, as
      reported in some studies. Few interventions could be regarded as "fully"
      addressing PCC. This review will be especially helpful to those deciding on areas
      where further development of research or implementation of ICT-enabled PCC may be
      warranted.

PMID- 25831200
TI  - Mechanisms involved in the vasorelaxant effects produced by the acute application
      of amfepramone in vitro to rat aortic rings.
AB  - Amfepramone (diethylpropion) is an appetite-suppressant drug used for the
      treatment of overweight and obesity. It has been suggested that the systemic and
      central activity of amfepramone produces cardiovascular effects such as transient
      ischemic attacks and primary pulmonary hypertension. However, it is not known
      whether amfepramone produces immediate vascular effects when applied in vitro to
      rat aortic rings and, if so, what mechanisms may be involved. We analyzed the
      effect of amfepramone on phenylephrine-precontracted rat aortic rings with or
      without endothelium and the influence of inhibitors or blockers on this effect.
      Amfepramone produced a concentration-dependent vasorelaxation in phenylephrine
      precontracted rat aortic rings that was not affected by the vehicle, atropine, 4
      AP, glibenclamide, indomethacin, clotrimazole, or cycloheximide. The vasorelaxant
      effect of amfepramone was significantly attenuated by NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl
      ester (L-NAME) and tetraethylammonium (TEA), and was blocked by removal of the
      vascular endothelium. These results suggest that amfepramone had a direct
      vasorelaxant effect on phenylephrine-precontracted rat aortic rings, and that
      inhibition of endothelial nitric oxide synthase and the opening of Ca2+-activated
      K+ channels were involved in this effect. 

PMID- 25831201
TI  - Puerarin protects against damage to spatial learning and memory ability in mice
      with chronic alcohol poisoning.
AB  - We evaluated the effect of puerarin on spatial learning and memory ability of
      mice with chronic alcohol poisoning. A total of 30 male C57BL/6 mice were
      randomly divided into model, puerarin, and control groups (n=10 each). The model
      group received 60% (v/v) ethanol by intragastric administration followed by
      intraperitoneal injection of normal saline 30 min later. The puerarin group
      received intragastric 60% ethanol followed by intraperitoneal puerarin 30 min
      later, and the control group received intragastric saline followed by
      intraperitoneal saline. Six weeks after treatment, the Morris water maze and Tru
      Scan behavioral tests and immunofluorescence staining of cerebral cortex and
      hippocampal neurons (by Neu-N) and microglia (by Ib1) were conducted. Glutamic
      acid (Glu) and gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) in the cortex and hippocampus were
      assayed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and tumor necrosis
      factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin (IL)-1beta were determined by ELISA. Compared
      with mice in the control group, escape latency and distance were prolonged, and
      spontaneous movement distance was shortened (P<0.05) by puerarin. The number of
      microglia was increased in both the cortex and hippocampal dentate gyrus
      (P<0.01), and neurons were reduced only in the hippocampal dentate gyrus (P<0.01)
      in puerarin-treated mice. In the model group, Glu and GABA levels decreased
      (P<0.05), and Glu/GABA, TNF-alpha, and IL-1beta increased (P<0.01) with puerarin
      treatment, returning to near normal levels. In conclusion, puerarin protected
      against the effects of chronic alcohol poisoning on spatial learning and memory
      ability primarily because of anti-inflammatory activity and regulation of the
      balance of Glu and GABA. 

PMID- 25831202
TI  - Caffeic acid improves cell viability and protects against DNA damage: involvement
      of reactive oxygen species and extracellular signal-regulated kinase.
AB  - Hormesis is an adaptive response to a variety of oxidative stresses that renders
      cells resistant to harmful doses of stressing agents. Caffeic acid (CaA) is an
      important antioxidant that has protective effects against DNA damage caused by
      reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, whether CaA-induced protection is a
      hormetic effect remains unknown, as is the molecular mechanism that is involved.
      We found that a low concentration (10 MUM) of CaA increased human liver L-02 cell
      viability, attenuated hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-mediated decreases in cell
      viability, and decreased the extent of H2O2-induced DNA double-strand breaks
      (DSBs). In L-02 cells exposed to H2O2, CaA treatment reduced ROS levels, which
      might have played a protective role. CaA also activated the extracellular signal
      regulated kinase (ERK) signal pathway in a time-dependent manner. Inhibition of
      ERK by its inhibitor U0126 or by its specific small interfering RNA (siRNA)
      blocked the CaA-induced improvement in cell viability and the protective effects
      against H2O2-mediated DNA damage. This study adds to the understanding of the
      antioxidant effects of CaA by identifying a novel molecular mechanism of enhanced
      cell viability and protection against DNA damage. 

PMID- 25831203
TI  - Adult male circumcision with a circular stapler versus conventional circumcision:
      A prospective randomized clinical trial.
AB  - Male circumcision is the most frequently performed procedure by urologists.
      Safety and efficacy of the circumcision procedure requires continual improvement.
      In the present study, we investigated the safety and efficacy of a new male
      circumcision technique involving the use of a circular stapler. In total, 879
      consecutive adult male patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: 441
      underwent stapler circumcision, and 438 underwent conventional circumcision. The
      operative time, pain score, blood loss volume, healing time, treatment costs, and
      postoperative complications were compared between the two groups. The operative
      time and blood loss volume were significantly lower in the stapler group than in
      the conventional group (6.8 +/- 3.1 vs 24.2 +/- 3.2 min and 1.8 +/- 1.8 vs 9.4 +/
      1.5 mL, respectively; P<0.01 for both). The intraoperative and postoperative
      pain scores were significantly lower in the stapler group than in the
      conventional group (0.8 +/- 0.5 vs 2.4 +/- 0.8 and 4.0 +/-0.9 vs 5.8 +/- 1.0,
      respectively; P<0.01 for both). Additionally, the stapler group had significantly
      fewer complications than the conventional group (2.7% vs 7.8%, respectively;
      P<0.01). However, the treatment costs in the stapler group were much higher than
      those in the conventional group (US$356.60 +/- 8.20 vs US$126.50 +/- 7.00,
      respectively; P<0.01). Most patients (388/441, 88.0%) who underwent stapler
      circumcision required removal of residual staple nails. Overall, the present
      study has shown that stapler circumcision is a time-efficient and safe male
      circumcision technique, although it requires further improvement. 

PMID- 25831205
TI  - Circulating endothelial cells are increased in chronic myeloid leukemia blast
      crisis.
AB  - We measured circulating endothelial precursor cells (EPCs), activated circulating
      endothelial cells (aCECs), and mature circulating endothelial cells (mCECs) using
      four-color multiparametric flow cytometry in the peripheral blood of 84 chronic
      myeloid leukemia (CML) patients and 65 healthy controls; and vascular endothelial
      growth factor (VEGF) by quantitative real-time PCR in 50 CML patients and 32
      healthy controls. Because of an increase in mCECs, the median percentage of CECs
      in CML blast crisis (0.0146%) was significantly higher than in healthy subjects
      (0.0059%, P<0.01) and in the accelerated phase (0.0059%, P=0.01). There were no
      significant differences in the percentages of CECs in chronic- or active-phase
      patients and healthy subjects (P>0.05). In addition, VEGF gene expression was
      significantly higher in all phases of CML: 0.245 in blast crisis, 0.320 in the
      active phase, and 0.330 in chronic phase patients than it was in healthy subjects
      (0.145). In conclusion, CML in blast crisis had increased levels of CECs and VEGF
      gene expression, which may serve as markers of disease progression and may become
      targets for the management of CML. 

PMID- 25831206
TI  - Dynamic resistance training decreases sympathetic tone in hypertensive
      ovariectomized rats.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of resistance exercise
      training on hemodynamics and cardiac autonomic control in ovariectomized
      spontaneously hypertensive rats. Female rats were divided into 4 groups:
      sedentary control (SC), sedentary hypertensive (SH), sedentary hypertensive
      ovariectomized (SHO), and resistance-trained hypertensive ovariectomized (RTHO).
      Resistance exercise training was performed on a vertical ladder (5 days/week, 8
      weeks) at 40-60% maximal load. Direct arterial pressure was recorded. Vagal and
      sympathetic tones were measured by heart rate (HR) responses to methylatropine (3
      mg/kg, iv) and propranolol (4 mg/kg, iv). Ovariectomy resulted in additional
      increases in blood pressure in hypertensive rats and was associated with
      decreased vagal tone. Resistance exercise trained rats had lower mean arterial
      pressure than untrained rats (RTHO: 159+/-2.2 vs SHO: 177+/-3.4 mmHg), as well as
      resting bradycardia (RTHO: 332+/-9.0 vs SHO: 356+/-5 bpm). Sympathetic tone was
      also lower in the trained group. Moreover, sympathetic tone was positively
      correlated with resting HR (r=0.7, P<0.05). The additional arterial pressure
      increase in hypertensive rats caused by ovarian hormone deprivation was
      attenuated by moderate-intensity dynamic resistance training. This benefit may be
      associated with resting bradycardia and reduced cardiac sympathetic tone after
      training, which suggests potential benefits of resistance exercise for the
      management of hypertension after ovarian hormone deprivation. 

PMID- 25831207
TI  - Comparative pathogenicity of Coxsackievirus A16 circulating and noncirculating
      strains in vitro and in a neonatal mouse model.
AB  - An enterovirus 71 (EV71) vaccine for the prevention of hand, foot, and mouth
      disease (HMFD) is available, but it is not known whether the EV71 vaccine cross
      protects against Coxsackievirus (CV) infection. Furthermore, although an
      inactivated circulating CVA16 Changchun 024 (CC024) strain vaccine candidate is
      effective in newborn mice, the CC024 strain causes severe lesions in muscle and
      lung tissues. Therefore, an effective CV vaccine with improved pathogenic safety
      is needed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vivo safety and in vitro
      replication capability of a noncirculating CVA16 SHZH05 strain. The replication
      capacity of circulating CVA16 strains CC024, CC045, CC090 and CC163 and the
      noncirculating SHZH05 strain was evaluated by cytopathic effect in different cell
      lines. The replication capacity and pathogenicity of the CC024 and SHZH05 strains
      were also evaluated in a neonatal mouse model. Histopathological and viral load
      analyses demonstrated that the SHZH05 strain had an in vitro replication capacity
      comparable to the four CC strains. The CC024, but not the SHZH05 strain, became
      distributed in a variety of tissues and caused severe lesions and mortality in
      neonatal mice. The differences in replication capacity and in vivo pathogenicity
      of the CC024 and SHZH05 strains may result from differences in the nucleotide and
      amino acid sequences of viral functional polyproteins P1, P2 and P3. Our findings
      suggest that the noncirculating SHZH05 strain may be a safer CV vaccine candidate
      than the CC024 strain.

PMID- 25831208
TI  - Expression of intronic miRNAs and their host gene Igf2 in a murine unilateral
      ureteral obstruction model.
AB  - The objective of this study was to determine the expression of miR-483 and miR
      483* and the relationship among them, their host gene (Igf2), and other cytokines
      in a murine model of renal fibrosis. The extent of renal fibrosis was visualized
      using Masson staining, and fibrosis was scored 3 days and 1 and 2 weeks after
      unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO). Expression of miR-483, miR-483* and
      various cytokine mRNAs was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
      Expression of miR-483 and miR-483* was significantly upregulated in the UUO
      model, particularly miR-483 expression was the greatest 2 weeks after surgery.
      Additionally, miR-483 and miR-483* expression negatively correlated with Bmp7
      expression and positively correlated with Igf2, Tgfbeta, Hgf, and Ctgf
      expression, as determined by Pearson's correlation analysis. Hgf expression
      significantly increased at 1 and 2 weeks after the surgery compared to the
      control group. This study showed that miR-483 and miR-483* expression was
      upregulated in a murine UUO model. These data suggest that miR-483 and miR-483*
      play a role in renal fibrosis and that miR-483* may interact with miR-483 in
      renal fibrosis. Thus, these miRNAs may play a role in the pathogenesis of renal
      fibrosis and coexpression of their host gene Igf2. 

PMID- 25831209
TI  - Role of mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium channel-mediated PKC-epsilon in
      delayed protection against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in isolated
      hearts of sevoflurane-preconditioned rats.
AB  - This study aimed to determine the role of mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate
      sensitive potassium (mitoKATP) channels and protein kinase C (PKC)-epsilon in the
      delayed protective effects of sevoflurane preconditioning using Langendorff
      isolated heart perfusion models. Fifty-four isolated perfused rat hearts were
      randomly divided into 6 groups (n=9). The rats were exposed for 60 min to 2.5%
      sevoflurane (the second window of protection group, SWOP group) or 33% oxygen
      inhalation (I/R group) 24 h before coronary occlusion. The control group (CON)
      and the sevoflurane group (SEVO) group were exposed to 33% oxygen and 2.5%
      sevoflurane for 60 min, respectively, without coronary occlusion. The mitoKATP
      channel inhibitor 5-hydroxydecanoate (5-HD) was given 30 min before sevoflurane
      preconditioning (5-HD+SWOP group). Cardiac function indices, infarct sizes, serum
      cardiac troponin I (cTnI) concentrations, and the expression levels of
      phosphorylated PKC-epsilon (p-PKC-epsilon) and caspase-8 were measured. Cardiac
      function was unchanged, p-PKC-epsilon expression was upregulated, caspase-8
      expression was downregulated, cTnI concentrations were decreased, and the
      infarcts were significantly smaller (P<0.05) in the SWOP group compared with the
      I/R group. Cardiac function was worse, p-PKC-epsilon expression was
      downregulated, caspase-8 expression was upregulated, cTnI concentration was
      increased and infarcts were larger in the 5-HD+SWOP group (P<0.05) compared with
      the SWOP group. The results suggest that mitoKATP channels are involved in the
      myocardial protective effects of sevoflurane in preconditioning against I/R
      injury, by regulating PKC-epsilon phosphorylation before ischemia, and by
      downregulating caspase-8 during reperfusion. 

PMID- 25831211
TI  - Ultrasensitive colorimetric assay of cadmium ion based on silver nanoparticles
      functionalized with 5-sulfosalicylic acid for wide practical applications.
AB  - Low-level cadmium ion (Cd(2+)) exposure contributes much toward the causation of
      chronic disease. Due to its low permissible exposure limit, overexposures may
      occur even in situations where trace quantities of Cd(2+) exist. So far, no
      effective treatment for Cd(2+) toxicity has been reported. Prevention of further
      exposure is the most important step in management of patients suggestive of
      Cd(2+) intoxication. Development of sensors for Cd(2+) is of great interest to
      ensure early diagnosis and improve management. We propose here a simple, low-cost
      (0.1$ per sample) yet very sensitive (limit of detection is 3.0 nM) and selective
      colorimetric assay for rapid (2 min) determination of Cd(2+) based on 5
      sulfosalicylic acid functionalized silver nanoparticles (SAA-AgNPs). This method
      shows excellent selectivity for Cd(2+) over the other 16 metal ions. It is also
      precise and highly reproducible in determining Cd(2+) in real samples such as tap
      water, milk, serum, and urine with recoveries ranging from 93 to 110%, indicating
      the wide practical application to samples suspected of Cd(2+) exposure. 

PMID- 25831210
TI  - Estimation of salivary nitric oxide in oral precancer patients.
AB  - The role of nitric oxide (NO) in the initiation, promotion and progression of
      cancer has been the subject of speculation and conflicting reports in the
      literature. The high incidence of oral cancer and precancer has been linked to
      tobacco chewing and smoking habits; NO is considered an indicator of tobacco
      related diseases. We compared salivary NO levels in oral precancer and normal
      patients. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected from 15 patients with oral
      precancer (group 1) and 15 healthy age and sex matched subjects (group 2).
      Salivary nitrite levels were estimated using a colorimetric method and a
      spectrophotometer. The salivary nitrite concentration of group 2 (median = 4.21
      MUg/ml) was significantly less than for group 1 (median = 12.91 MUg/ml). We have
      added evidence concerning involvement of NO in the pathogenesis of oral cancer,
      but whether it is a potentially carcinogenic agent at the concentration at which
      it is present in oral precancer patients requires further evaluation. 

PMID- 25831212
TI  - Virulence profile: George N Belibasakis.

PMID- 25831213
TI  - A unifying model for adsorption and nucleation of vapors on solid surfaces.
AB  - Vapor interaction with solid surfaces is traditionally described with adsorption
      isotherms in the undersaturated regime and with heterogeneous nucleation theory
      in the supersaturated regime. A class of adsorption isotherms is based on the
      idea of vapor molecule clustering around so-called active sites. However, as the
      isotherms do not account for the surface curvature effects of the clusters, they
      predict an infinitely thick adsorption layer at saturation and do not recognize
      the existence of the supersaturated regime. The classical heterogeneous
      nucleation theory also builds on the idea of cluster formation, but describes the
      interactions between the surface and the cluster with a single parameter, the
      contact angle, which provides limited information compared with adsorption
      isotherms. Here, a new model of vapor adsorption on nonporous solid surfaces is
      derived. The basic assumption is that adsorption proceeds via formation of
      molecular clusters, modeled as liquid caps. The equilibrium of the individual
      clusters with the vapor phase is described with the Frenkel-Halsey-Hill (FHH)
      adsorption theory modified with the Kelvin equation that corrects for the
      curvature effect on vapor pressure. The new model extends the FHH adsorption
      isotherm to be applicable both at submonolayer surface coverages and at
      supersaturated conditions. It shows good agreement with experimental adsorption
      data from 12 different adsorbent-adsorbate systems. The model predictions are
      also compared against heterogeneous nucleation data, and they show much better
      agreement than predictions of the classical heterogeneous nucleation theory. 

PMID- 25831214
TI  - Extensive temporal transcriptome and microRNA analyses identify molecular
      mechanisms underlying mitochondrial dysfunction induced by multi-walled carbon
      nanotubes in human lung cells.
AB  - Understanding toxicity pathways of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) has recently
      been brought forward as a key step in twenty-first century ENM risk assessment.
      Molecular mechanisms linked to phenotypic end points is a step towards the
      development of toxicity tests based on key events, which may allow for grouping
      of ENM according to their modes of action. This study identified molecular
      mechanisms underlying mitochondrial dysfunction in human bronchial epithelial
      BEAS 2B cells following exposure to one of the most studied multi-walled carbon
      nanotubes (Mitsui MWCNT-7). Asbestos was used as a positive control and a non
      carcinogenic glass wool material was included as a negative fibre control.
      Decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP?) was observed for MWCNTs at a
      biologically relevant dose (0.25 MUg/cm(2)) and for asbestos at 2 MUg/cm(2), but
      not for glass wool. Extensive temporal transcriptomic and microRNA expression
      analyses identified a 330-gene signature (including 26 genes with known
      mitochondrial function) related to MWCNT- and asbestos-induced MMP?. Forty-nine
      of the MMP?-associated genes showed highly similar expression patterns over time
      (six time points) and the majority was found to be regulated by two transcription
      factors strongly involved in mitochondrial homeostasis, APP and NRF1. In
      addition, four miRNAs were correlated with MMP? and one of them, miR-1275, was
      found to negatively correlate with a large part of the MMP?-associated genes.
      Cellular processes such as gluconeogenesis, mitochondrial LC-fatty acid beta
      oxidation and spindle microtubule function were enriched among the MMP?
      associated genes and miRNAs. These results are expected to be useful in the
      identification of key events in ENM-related toxicity pathways for the development
      of molecular screening techniques. 

PMID- 25831215
TI  - Free energy surface of the Michaelis complex of lactate dehydrogenase: a network
      analysis of microsecond simulations.
AB  - It has long been recognized that the structure of a protein creates a hierarchy
      of conformations interconverting on multiple time scales. The conformational
      heterogeneity of the Michaelis complex is of particular interest in the context
      of enzymatic catalysis in which the reactant is usually represented by a single
      conformation of the enzyme/substrate complex. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)
      catalyzes the interconversion of pyruvate and lactate with concomitant
      interconversion of two forms of the cofactor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
      (NADH and NAD(+)). Recent experimental results suggest that multiple substates
      exist within the Michaelis complex of LDH, and they show a strong variance in
      their propensity toward the on-enzyme chemical step. In this study, microsecond
      scale all-atom molecular dynamics simulations were performed on LDH to explore
      the free energy landscape of the Michaelis complex, and network analysis was used
      to characterize the distribution of the conformations. Our results provide a
      detailed view of the kinetic network of the Michaelis complex and the structures
      of the substates at atomistic scales. They also shed light on the complete
      picture of the catalytic mechanism of LDH. 

PMID- 25831216
TI  - Alginate lyase: Review of major sources and classification, properties, structure
      function analysis and applications.
AB  - Alginate lyases catalyze the degradation of alginate, a complex copolymer of
      alpha-L-guluronate and its C5 epimer beta-D-mannuronate. The enzymes have been
      isolated from various kinds of organisms with different substrate specificities,
      including algae, marine mollusks, marine and terrestrial bacteria, and some
      viruses and fungi. With the progress of structural biology, many kinds of
      alginate lyases of different polysaccharide lyases families have been
      characterized by obtaining crystal structures, and the catalytic mechanism has
      also been elucidated. Combined with various studies, we summarized the source,
      classification and properties of the alginate lyases from different
      polysaccharide lyases families. The relationship between substrate specificity
      and protein sequence was also investigated. 

PMID- 25831217
TI  - Can fecal calprotectin better stratify Crohn's disease activity index?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Crohn's disease (CD) activity index (CDAI) is still widely used for
      monitoring clinical activity in CD patients, but is of little value as indicator
      of persistent inflammation in symptomless patients. Fecal calprotectin levels
      >=150 ug/g are strongly indicative of endoscopically and/or histologically active
      disease. Our aim was to study, in a large cohort of CD patients, the relationship
      between CDAI and fecal calprotectin levels. METHODS: CDAI and fecal calprotectin
      levels were evaluated in consecutive patients from a CD outpatient clinic.
      RESULTS: We enrolled 193 CD patients, of whom 38% with CDAI <150 had a
      calprotectin value >=150 ug/g, suggestive of active disease. A logistic
      regression model showed that for CDAI levels between 100 and 150, the estimated
      logistic probability of calprotectin >=150 ug/g increased progressively to 76%,
      reaching 94% where disease activity was localized in the colon. With a CDAI cut
      off >120, we found a high diagnostic accuracy of 72%, with 88% specificity and
      50% sensitivity (positive predictive value: 76%, negative predictive value: 71%)
      to identify a calprotectin value >=150 ug/g. CONCLUSION: CDAI scores between 100
      and 150 display an acceptable ability to quantify the risk of persistent
      inflammation as expressed by the high calprotectin level.

PMID- 25831218
TI  - Chemiluminescence efficiency of catalyzed 1,2-dioxetanone decomposition
      determined by steric effects.
AB  - The chemiluminescent decomposition of 1,2-dioxetanones (alpha-peroxylactones),
      catalyzed by an appropriate fluorescent activator, is an important simple model
      for efficient bioluminescent transformations. In this work, we report
      experimental data on the catalyzed decomposition of two spiro-substituted 1,2
      dioxetanone derivatives, which support the occurrence of an intermolecular
      electron transfer from the activator to the peroxide. The low efficiency of the
      studied systems is associated with steric hindrance during the chemiexcitation
      sequence, rationalized using the concept of supermolecule formation between the
      peroxide and the catalyst. This approach explains the difference in the
      chemiexcitation efficiencies in the decomposition of four-membered cyclic
      peroxide derivatives: 1,2-dioxetanes, 1,2-dioxetanones, and 1,2-dioxetanedione
      (the intermediate in the peroxyoxalate reaction), which are the most important
      model compounds for excited-state formation in chemiluminescence and
      bioluminescence processes. 

PMID- 25831219
TI  - Is there a need to increase the dose of efavirenz during concomitant rifampicin
      based antituberculosis therapy in sub-Saharan Africa? The HIV-TB pharmagene
      study.
AB  - AIMS: The current HIV treatment guidelines are inconsistent about the need for
      weight-based efavirenz dose adjustment during rifampicin containing
      antituberculosis (anti-TB) cotreatment. We investigated effect of rifampicin
      based anti-TB cotreatment on plasma efavirenz exposure and treatment outcome,
      considering effect of CYP2B6 genotype and bodyweight. PATIENTS & METHODS: HIV
      only (arm 1, n = 285) or TB-HIV (arm 2, n = 208) coinfected patients were
      enrolled and received efavirenz-based ART alone or with rifampicin-based anti-TB
      therapy, respectively. Plasma efavirenz concentrations at 4th and 16th weeks,
      viral load and CD4 cell count at 24th and 48th weeks were determined. RESULTS:
      The mean plasma efavirenz concentration at weeks 4 (p = 0.03) and 16 (p = 0.08)
      was inconsistently higher in arm 2 than arm 1, mainly in CYP2B6*6 carriers.
      Effect of bodyweight on efavirenz pharmacokinetics was significant only in arm 1,
      but not in arm 2. Proportion of patients with nondetectable viral load (<=50
      copies/ml) at week 24 was higher in arm 1 than arm 2 patients (91.0 vs 76.3%; p =
      0.002), but no significant difference was observed at week 48 (89.5 vs 87.8%; p =
      0.22). CONCLUSION: Rifampicin-based anti-TB cotreatment has no significant
      influence on long-term efavirenz plasma exposure and efficacy. Hence, there is no
      need to increase the dose of efavirenz during concomitant rifampicin-based anti
      TB cotreatment in the sub-Saharan African population.

PMID- 25831220
TI  - Affordable Care Act and telemedicine.

PMID- 25831221
TI  - [Thumb Reconstruction after Oncological Resection of a Rare Aggressive Digital
      Papillary Adenocarcinoma: A Case Report].
AB  - We present the case of a 44-year-old female with an aggressive digital papillary
      adenocarcinoma of the right thumb. Aggressive digital papillary adenocarcinomas
      are rare tumours originating from sweat glands of the skin on the hand or foot.
      The tumour was located at the extensor side and had been excised in 2 operations
      after diagnosis as an eccine hidradenoma, which is exceptional in this case. The
      tumour was radically excised and the defect was reconstructed using arthrodesis,
      and a retrogradely perfused pedicle radialis fascial flap with skin graft, due to
      which amputation was avoided. 

PMID- 25831222
TI  - Coronary computed tomography angiography predicts subsequent cardiac outcome
      events: results of the Visipaque CCTA registry study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the diagnostic performance and predictive value of
      coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) on subsequent cardiac outcomes.
      BACKGROUND: CCTA has been suggested as an alternative method to invasive coronary
      angiography for detection of and ruling out coronary artery disease (CAD).
      However, the usefulness of CCTA findings in predicting patient outcome in routine
      clinical practice is still uncertain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective,
      multicenter registry study of CCTA with a Visipaque injection 320 mg I/ml was
      carried out in symptomatic patients suspected of having CAD as part of their
      medical care. CCTA findings were used to guide patient management decisions.
      Patient cardiac outcomes were followed at 1, 6, and 12 months after the CCTA
      procedure for the occurrence of major adverse cardiac event (MACE) (cardiac
      death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or unstable angina requiring
      hospitalization). All cardiac outcome events or deaths were adjudicated
      independently. RESULTS: Of 874 patients (mean age=59 years; 51% men) who received
      Visipaque, 857 were included in the efficacy analysis. Using cardiac outcomes as
      the endpoint, the sensitivity of CCTA was 96.1, 95.8, and 94.7%, specificity was
      84.5, 86.6, and 87.0%, and negative predictive value more than 99.0% at 1, 6, and
      12 months, respectively. At 12 months, the rate of MACE was 5.7% (10/174) in
      patients with a positive CCTA (one or more >=50% stenosis) and 0.1% (1/683) in
      patients with a negative CCTA (99.9% MACE-free survival rate). The Cox
      proportional hazards analysis with CCTA outcome, age, sex, reasons for CCTA, and
      cardiac risk factors as covariates showed a hazard ratio of 87.6 for positive
      versus negative CCTA (P=0.0001). CONCLUSION: CCTA is a highly accurate,
      noninvasive tool to detect or rule out subsequent cardiovascular events in
      patients with intermediate pretest probability of CAD or an
      uninterpretable/equivocal stress test. A positive CCTA finding contributed
      significantly toward the prediction of subsequent MACE whereas a negative CCTA
      carried excellent prognostic outcomes at 12 months.

PMID- 25831223
TI  - White blood cell counts in predicting cardiovascular events: the racial ratios.

PMID- 25831224
TI  - Quantitative aspects of the identification of Fe(ii) moieties in ZSM-5 zeolites
      with various pore hierarchies.
AB  - This work was attempted in order to provide a new and well-established approach
      for the quantification of Fe(2+) sites in zeolites. The experimental procedure
      was based on carbon monoxide and nitrogen monoxide sorption in Fe-exchanged ZSM-5
      zeolites with different pore hierarchies, which was followed by IR spectroscopy.
      The values of the absorption coefficients of the respective monocarbonyl
      Fe(2+)(CO) and mononitrosyl Fe(2+)(NO) IR bands were obtained. In turn, the
      concentrations of Fe(ii) moieties of various kinds were calculated and discussed
      with regard to the composition (Si/Al and Fe/Al ratios) of the zeolites studied. 

PMID- 25831225
TI  - Conversion of zirconacyclopentadienes into metalloles: Fagan-Nugent reaction and
      beyond.
AB  - Metalloles are derivatives of cyclopentadiene in which the methylene unit is
      replaced by a heteroatom, such as S, Se, Te, N, P, As, Sb, Bi, Si, Ge, Sn, B, Al,
      Ga, and so on. Many metallole derivatives have been widely used as photovoltaic
      cells, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), chemical sensors, electrochromic
      devices, microelectronic actuators, and organic field effect transistors (OFETs).
      In the meantime, many of them showed promising biological actives. Due to the
      similarity to cyclopentadiene, the anionic forms of metalloles were also widely
      explored in coordination chemistry. As a result, development of a general method
      for the formation of metalloles from available starting materials is highly
      desired. In this Account, we outline formation of various p-block element
      metalloles from zirconacyclopentadienes. The zirconacyclopentadienes can be
      easily prepared from two molecules of alkynes and a low-valent zirconocene
      species "Cp2Zr(II)" (Cp = cyclopentadienyl). Fagan and Nugent first reported the
      formation of main group metalloles from zirconacyclopentadiene, which provided a
      versatile approach for the construction of metalloles, especially for the
      formation of metalloles in heavier p-block elements. To further expand the
      substrate scope, a number of stepwise conversions were developed, which involve
      1,4-dimetallo- or dihalo-1,3-butadiene as intermediates from
      zirconacyclopentadienes. Here, four processes are classified based on direct and
      indirect conversion of zirconacyclopentadienes into metalloles. Direct reaction
      of zirconacyclopentadienes with element halides afforded heterocycles of main
      group elements, which provided a versatile method for the synthesis of
      metalloles. Nonetheless, the reaction scope was restricted to heavier p-block
      elements such as S, Se, P, As, Sb, Bi, Ge, Sn, Ga, and In. And these reactions
      usually suffered low yields and long reaction time. Transmetalation of
      zirconacyclopentadiene with copper chloride greatly enriched the
      zirconacyclopentadiene chemistry. The synthesis of stannoles and pyrroles from
      zirconacyclopentadienes has been developed in the presence of CuCl. The direct
      reaction of the zirconacyclopentadienes with SiCl4 or R2SiCl2 does not give the
      desired silacyclopendadiene derivatives, even in the presence of CuCl. It can be
      circumvented by using dilithiated dienes from diiododienes, which are easily
      prepared by the iodination of zirconacyclopentadienes using CuCl as an additive.
      Finally, an umpolung strategy, reaction of electrophilic 1,4-diiodo-1,3-butadiene
      with nucleophilic amine or sulfide reagents, was successfully used in the
      formation of pyrroles and thiophenes. 

PMID- 25831226
TI  - Alteration in the expression of cytochrome P450s (CYP1A1, CYP2E1, and CYP3A11) in
      the liver of mouse induced by microcystin-LR.
AB  - Microcystins (MCs) are cyclic heptapeptide toxins and can accumulate in the
      liver. Cytochrome P450s (CYPs) play an important role in the biotransformation of
      endogenous substances and xenobiotics in animals. It is unclear if the CYPs are
      affected by MCs exposure. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects
      of microcystin-LR (MCLR) on cytochrome P450 isozymes (CYP1A1, CYP2E1, and
      CYP3A11) at mRNA level, protein content, and enzyme activity in the liver of mice
      the received daily, intraperitoneally, 2, 4, and 8 ug/kg body weight of MCLR for
      seven days. The result showed that MCLR significantly decreased ethoxyresorufin-O
      deethylase (EROD) (CYP1A1) and erythromycin N-demthylase (ERND) (CYP3A11)
      activities and increased aniline hydroxylase (ANH) activity (CYP2E1) in the liver
      of mice during the period of exposure. Our findings suggest that MCLR exposure
      may disrupt the function of CYPs in liver, which may be partly attributed to the
      toxicity of MCLR in mice.

PMID- 25831228
TI  - Directed assembly of single colloidal gold nanowires by AFM nanoxerography.
AB  - Ultrathin gold nanowires (NWs) dispersed in hexane were prepared by chemical
      reduction of HAuCl4 in oleylamine, along with nanospheres (NSs), side products of
      the reaction. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering
      evidenced a stabilization of these nano-objects by oleylammonium chloride
      surfactants. The directed assembly of these nano-objects on surfaces was
      performed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) nanoxerography in a few seconds.
      Selective assembly of gold NWs only occurred on positively charged patterns,
      while NSs assembled more specifically on the negatively charged ones. This
      sorting suggests that the strong electric field generated by the charge patterns
      induced a negative effective charge on the gold NWs and a weak positive effective
      charge on the NSs. Such difference could be explained by the ion organization at
      the colloid surface, monolayered in the case of NWs, and bilayered in the case of
      NSs. By adjusting the design of the positive patterns and the experimental
      conditions of development, single gold nanowires were successfully assembled by
      AFM nanoxerography on predefined sites of surfaces without damaging them, opening
      the way for future electrical and mechanical characterizations. 

PMID- 25831227
TI  - Clinical significance of microscopic melanoma metastases in the nonhottest
      sentinel lymph nodes.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: A practice gap exists in the surgical removal of sentinel lymph
      nodes, from removal of only the most radioactive (hottest) lymph node to removal
      of all lymph nodes with radioactivity greater than 10% of the hottest lymph node.
      OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinical significance of melanoma in sentinel lymph
      nodes that are not the hottest sentinel node and to determine the risk for
      disease progression based on sentinel lymph node status and primary tumor
      characteristics. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Consecutive patients with
      cutaneous melanoma with sentinel lymph nodes resected from January 5, 2004, to
      June 30, 2008, with a mean follow-up of 59 months, at Massachusetts General
      Hospital were included in this retrospective review. The last year of follow-up
      was 2012. The operative protocol led to resection of all sentinel lymph nodes
      with radioactivity greater than 10% of the hottest lymph node. The number of
      lymph nodes removed, technetium-99m counts for each sentinel lymph node, presence
      or absence of sentinel lymph node metastases, primary tumor characteristics,
      disease progression, and melanoma-specific survival were recorded. MAIN OUTCOMES
      AND MEASURES: Microscopic melanoma metastases in the hottest and nonhottest
      sentinel lymph nodes and factors that correlate with disease progression and
      mortality. RESULTS: A total of 1575 sentinel lymph nodes were analyzed in 475
      patients. Ninety-one patients (19%) had positive sentinel lymph nodes. Of these,
      72 (79%) had metastases in the hottest sentinel lymph node. Of 19 cases with
      tumor present, but not in the hottest sentinel lymph node, counts ranged from 26%
      to 97% of the hottest node. Progression occurred in 43% of patients with sentinel
      node metastasis, regardless of whether the hottest lymph node was positive. In
      patients with negative sentinel lymph nodes, 11% developed metastases beyond the
      sentinel lymph node basin and 3.4% recurred in the basin. Mitogenicity of the
      primary tumor was associated with mortality (odds ratio, 2.435; 95% CI, 1.351
      4.391; P < .001). Removing only the hottest sentinel lymph node would have led to
      false-negative results in 19 of 475 (4%) of all patients and 19 of 91 patients
      (21%) with positive sentinel lymph nodes. The 8-year survival in patients with at
      least 1 positive sentinel lymph node was less than 55%. The presence of more than
      1 mitosis per square millimeter in the primary cutaneous melanoma was associated
      with decreased survival. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Microscopic melanoma
      metastases was associated with disease progression and mortality, whether present
      in the hottest sentinel lymph node or not. These observations emphasize the
      importance of removing the less hot nodes, addressing a practice gap in the
      surgical approach to patients with melanoma.

PMID- 25831229
TI  - Green sample preparation for liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis
      of anionic and cationic analytes.
AB  - A sample preparation device for the simultaneous enrichment and separation of
      cationic and anionic analytes was designed and implemented in an eight-channel
      configuration. The device is based on the use of an electric field to transfer
      the analytes from a large volume of sample into small volumes of electrolyte that
      was suspended into two glass micropipettes using a conductive hydrogel. This
      simple, economical, fast, and green (no organic solvent required) sample
      preparation scheme was evaluated using cationic and anionic herbicides as test
      analytes in water. The analytical figures of merit and ecological aspects were
      evaluated against the state-of-the-art sample preparation, solid-phase
      extraction. A drastic reduction in both sample preparation time (94% faster) and
      resources (99% less consumables used) was observed. Finally, the technique in
      combination with high-performance liquid chromatography and capillary
      electrophoresis was applied to analysis of quaternary ammonium and
      phenoxypropionic acid herbicides in fortified river water as well as drinking
      water (at levels relevant to Australian guidelines). The presented sustainable
      sample preparation approach could easily be applied to other charged analytes or
      adopted by other laboratories. 

PMID- 25831230
TI  - Increasing physical activity and exercise in lung cancer: reviewing safety,
      benefits, and application.
AB  - Lung cancer continues to be a difficult disease frequently diagnosed in late
      stages with a high mortality and symptom burden. In part because of frequent lung
      comorbidity, even lung cancer survivors often remain symptomatic and functionally
      limited. Though targeted therapy continues to increase treatment options for
      advanced-stage disease, symptom burden remains high with few therapeutic options.
      In the last several decades, exercise and physical activity have arisen as
      therapeutic options for obstructive lung disease and lung cancer. To date,
      exercise has been shown to reduce symptoms, increase exercise tolerance, improve
      quality of life, and potentially reduce length of stay and postoperative
      complications. Multiple small trials have been performed in perioperative non
      small-cell lung cancer patients, although fewer studies are available for
      patients with advanced-stage disease. Despite the increased interest in this
      subject over the last few years, a validated exercise regimen has not been
      established for perioperative or advanced-stage disease. Clinicians underutilize
      exercise and pulmonary rehabilitation as a therapy, in part because of the lack
      of evidence-based consensus as to how and when to implement increasing physical
      activity. This review summarizes the existing evidence on exercise in lung cancer
      patients. 

PMID- 25831231
TI  - GNeosomes: Highly Lysosomotropic Nanoassemblies for Lysosomal Delivery.
AB  - GNeosomes, lysosomotropic lipid vesicles decorated with guanidinoneomycin, can
      encapsulate and facilitate the cellular internalization and lysosomal delivery of
      cargo ranging from small molecules to high molecular weight proteins, in a
      process that is exclusively dependent on cell surface glycosaminoglycans. Their
      cellular uptake mechanism and co-localization with lysosomes, as well as the
      delivery, release, and activity of internalized cargo, are quantified. GNeosomes
      are proposed as a universal platform for lysosomal delivery with potential as a
      basic research tool and a therapeutic vehicle. 

PMID- 25831232
TI  - Classification of KIT/PDGFRA wild-type gastrointestinal stromal tumors:
      implications for therapy.
AB  - Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are driven mostly by oncogenic KIT or
      PDGFRA mutations. However, in 10-15% of all GIST, no such activating mutations
      can be found and these tumors are classified as 'wild-type GIST' (KIT/PDGFRA wt
      GIST). Subgroups of KIT/PDGFRA wt-GIST are driven by other sporadic mutations
      involving the RAS/RAF/MAP-kinase pathway, such as BRAF or KRAS mutations.
      Furthermore, KIT/PDGFRA wt-GIST are observed in the context of hereditary
      syndromes, such as neurofibromatosis Type 1, in which the lack of neurofibromin 1
      also leads to the activation of the RAS/RAF/MAP-kinase pathway. Finally, the
      deficiency succinate dehydrogenase seems to play a major role in KIT/PDGFRA wt
      GIST. In conclusion, KIT/PDGFRA wt-GIST belong to different subgroups defined by
      diverse underlying genetic alterations leading to different biological
      phenotypes. The vast majority of KIT/PDGFRA wt-GIST will not respond to imatinib.
      Further research to unravel the pathogenesis of KIT/PDGFRA wt-GIST is
      prerequisite to the development of effective treatment strategies. 

PMID- 25831233
TI  - Introduction to special issue in memorial of Nicki R. Crick: Development of peer
      victimization in children and adolescents.

PMID- 25831234
TI  - Racial and ethnic disparities in breastfeeding.
AB  - This article's aim is to review the literature on racial and ethnic disparities
      in breastfeeding rates and practices, address barriers to breastfeeding among
      minority women, conduct a systematic review of breastfeeding interventions, and
      provide obstetrician-gynecologists with recommendations on how they can help
      increase rates among minority women. In order to do so, the literature of racial
      and ethnic disparities in breastfeeding rates and barriers among minority women
      was reviewed, and a systematic review of breastfeeding interventions among
      minority women on PubMed and MEDLINE was conducted. Racial and ethnic minority
      women continue to have lower breastfeeding rates than white women and are not
      close to meeting the Healthy People 2020 goals. Minority women report many
      barriers to breastfeeding. Major efforts are still needed to improve
      breastfeeding initiation and duration rates among minority women in the United
      States. Obstetrician-gynecologists have a unique opportunity to promote and
      support breastfeeding through their clinical practices and public policy, and
      their efforts can have a meaningful impact on the future health of the mother and
      child. 

PMID- 25831235
TI  - The anticancer and antiobesity effects of Mediterranean diet.
AB  - Cancers have been the leading cause of death worldwide and the prevalence of
      obesity is also increasing in these few decades. Interestingly, there is a direct
      association between cancer and obesity. Each year, more than 90,000 cancer deaths
      are caused by obesity or overweight. The dietary pattern in Crete, referred as
      the traditional Mediterranean diet, is believed to confer Crete people the low
      mortality rates from cancers. Nevertheless, the antiobesity effect of the
      Mediterranean diet is less studied. Given the causal relationship between obesity
      and cancer, the antiobesity effect of traditional Mediterranean diet might
      contribute to its anticancer effects. In this regard, we will critically review
      the anticancer and antiobesity effects of this diet and its dietary factors. The
      possible mechanisms underlying these effects will also be discussed.

PMID- 25831236
TI  - Gut bacteria require neutrophils to promote mammary tumorigenesis.
AB  - Recent studies suggest that gastrointestinal tract microbiota modulate cancer
      development in distant non-intestinal tissues. Here we tested mechanistic
      hypotheses using a targeted pathogenic gut microbial infection animal model with
      a predilection to breast cancer. FVB-Tg(C3-1-TAg)cJeg/JegJ female mice were
      infected by gastric gavage with Helicobacter hepaticus at three-months-of-age
      putting them at increased risk for mammary tumor development. Tumorigenesis was
      multifocal and characterized by extensive infiltrates of myeloperoxidase-positive
      neutrophils otherwise implicated in cancer progression in humans and animal
      models. To test whether neutrophils were important in etiopathogenesis in this
      bacteria-triggered model system, we next systemically depleted mice of
      neutrophils using thrice weekly intraperitoneal injections with anti-Ly-6G
      antibody. We found that antibody depletion entirely inhibited tumor development
      in this H. hepaticus-infected model. These data demonstrate that host neutrophil
      associated immune responses to intestinal tract microbes significantly impact
      cancer progression in distal tissues such as mammary glands, and identify gut
      microbes as novel targets for extra-intestinal cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25831239
TI  - Introduction.

PMID- 25831238
TI  - Heterogeneous chromosome 12p deletion is an independent adverse prognostic factor
      and resistant to bortezomib-based therapy in multiple myeloma.
AB  - The deletion of 12p (del(12p)) has been described as a novel negative prognostic
      marker in multiple myeloma (MM) and has gained increasing attention in recent
      years. However, its impact on MM is still controversial. In this study, we
      comprehensively evaluated the clinical impact of 12p13 deletion using
      fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on 275 newly diagnosed MM cases treated
      in a prospective, non-randomized clinical trial (BDH 2008/02). The results showed
      that deletion of 12p13 was detected in 10.5% of newly diagnosed cases and
      associated with multiple indicators for high tumor burden including ISS III, BM
      plasmacytosis larger than 50%, and renal lesion. Moreover, the cases with 12p13
      deletion typically had higher incidence of del(17p), IGH translocation and
      t(4;14). Patients with del(12p) conferred significantly adverse prognosis for PFS
      and OS, even in patients subjected to bortezomib-based therapy. When adjusted to
      the established prognostic variables including del(13q), del(17p), t(4;14),
      amp(1q21), ISS stage and LDH, del(12p13) remained the powerful independent
      adverse factor for PFS (P = 0.007) and OS (P = 0.032). In addition, del(12p13)
      combined with high beta2-MG, high LDH and bone lesion can further identify
      subpopulations with high-risk features. Our results strongly supported that
      del(12p13) can be used as a valuable prognostic marker in MM. 

PMID- 25831237
TI  - miR-340 suppresses glioblastoma multiforme.
AB  - Deregulation of microRNAs (miRs) contributes to tumorigenesis. Down-regulation of
      miR-340 is observed in multiple types of cancers. However, the biological
      function of miR-340 in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remains largely unknown. In
      the present study, we demonstrated that expression of miR-340 was downregulated
      in both glioma cell lines and tissues. Survival of GBM patients with high levels
      of miR-340 was significantly extended in comparison to patients expressing low
      miR-340 levels. Biological functional experiments showed that the restoration of
      miR-340 dramatically inhibited glioma cell proliferation, induced cell-cycle
      arrest and apoptosis, suppressed cell motility and promoted autophagy and
      terminal differentiation. Mechanistic studies disclosed that, miR-340 over
      expression suppressed several oncogenes including p-AKT, EZH2, EGFR, BMI1 and
      XIAP. Furthermore, ROCK1 was validated as a direct functional target miR-340 and
      silencing of ROCK1 phenocopied the anti-tumor effect of mR-340. Our findings
      indicate an important role of miR-340 as a glioma killer, and suggest a potential
      prognosis biomarker and therapeutic target for GBM. 

PMID- 25831240
TI  - Intestinal Fatty Acid Binding Protein: A Sensitive Marker in Abdominal Surgery
      and Abdominal Infection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intestinal fatty acid binding protein (iFABP) is elevated in plasma
      by intestinal injury. We investigated the influence of surgical trauma and severe
      sepsis caused by abdominal and pulmonary infection on plasma iFABP
      concentrations. METHODS: Seventy-nine patients were included in this prospective
      observational study: 31 patients before elective major abdominal surgery (EMS),
      33 patients with severe sepsis on admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), and
      15 healthy volunteers who served as controls. Blood samples were taken before and
      after surgery for a period up to 5 d. RESULTS: Prior to surgery, EMS patients had
      increased iFABP concentrations in those patients with intestinal cancer compared
      with patients without intestinal cancer (217 pg/mL, interquartile range [IQR] I
      III 100-369 pg/mL versus 79 pg/mL, IQR I-III: 0-182 pg/mL; p<0.01) and with
      controls (114 pg/mL, IQR I-III: 103-124 pg/mL; p<0.01). Surgical trauma increased
      iFABP levels in patients without intestinal cancer (240 pg/mL, IQR I-III 111-305
      pg/mL; p<0.01). Within 24 h after surgery, iFABP levels decreased to normal
      values. Patients with severe sepsis of abdominal origin had elevated
      concentrations compared with controls (324 pg/mL [IQR I-III 0-649 pg/mL];
      p=0.05); in patients with pneumonia, iFABP levels were not significantly
      increased. Discrimination between intestinal- and pulmonary-induced sepsis was
      low (area under the curve [AUC] 0.693; 95% confidence interval 0.512-0.874).
      CONCLUSIONS: Surgical trauma and severe sepsis lead to elevated iFABP
      concentrations. However, intestinal malignant disease and in some patients severe
      sepsis caused by pneumonia also resulted in elevated iFABP concentrations. The
      results support the idea that epithelial injury of many causes leads to elevated
      concentrations of iFABP. The value of iFABP for differentiating pulmonary from
      intestinal sepsis is limited.

PMID- 25831241
TI  - Synchrotron-based and globar-sourced molecular (micro)spectroscopy contributions
      to advances in new hulless barley (with structure alteration) research on
      molecular structure, molecular nutrition, and nutrient delivery.
AB  - This paper aimed to review synchrotron-based and globar-sourced molecular
      infrared (micro)spectroscopy contributions to advances in new hulless barley
      (with structure alteration) research on molecular structure, molecular nutrition,
      and nutrient delivery in ruminants. It reviewed recent progress in barley
      varieties, its utilization for animal and human, inherent structure features and
      chemical make-up, evaluation and research methodology, breeding progress, rumen
      degradation, and intestinal digestion. The emphasis of this review was focused on
      the effect of alteration of carbohydrate traits of newly developed hulless barley
      on molecular structure changes and nutrient delivery and quantification of the
      relationship between molecular structure features and changes and truly absorbed
      nutrient supply to ruminants. This review provides an insight into how inherent
      structure changes on a molecular basis affect nutrient utilization and
      availability in ruminants.

PMID- 25831242
TI  - Stereotactic body radiotherapy for oligometastases confined to the para-aortic
      region: clinical outcomes and the significance of radiotherapy field and dose.
AB  - We retrospectively reviewed 88 patients with oligometases in the para-aortic
      region from any controlled primary tumor site who were treated with stereotactic
      body radiotherapy (SBRT). The 5-year local control, disease-free survival, and
      overall survival rates were 83%, 31%, and 41%, respectively. A 90% tumor-control
      probability was predicted at a biological effective dose of 90 Gy. Severe
      gastrointestinal toxicities (grade >=3) were observed in 2 of 88 patients (1%).
      The results of this study are limited by the retrospective nature of the study
      but could serve as the background and rationale for future prospective trials on
      SBRT-based treatment for oligometastses. 

PMID- 25831244
TI  - Give leadership a try.

PMID- 25831245
TI  - Effect of 6-minute colonoscopy withdrawal time policy on polyp detection rate in
      a community hospital.
AB  - In 2002, a U.S. Multi-Society Task Force on colorectal cancer recommended a 6
      minute or more withdrawal time as an indicator of a quality colonoscopy. In 2006,
      found a correlation between longer withdrawal time and an increased rate in the
      detection of adenomas. In January 2008, the endoscopy department at our
      institution adopted the Multi-Society Task Force recommendation. The aim of our
      study was to evaluate the effect of a minimal 6-minute withdrawal time policy at
      our institution on polyp detection rate. All colonoscopies performed for
      screening indications from April 2007 to September 2008 were reviewed
      retrospectively. Group I (pre-policy) was compared with Group II (post-policy).
      Data collected included age, gender, indication, polyp detection rate, size, and
      withdrawal time. Unpaired t tests evaluated pre- and postprocedure results.
      Fisher's exact tests were used to compare detection rates between withdrawal time
      less than 6 minutes and more than 6 minutes. Mann-Whitney U Tests were performed
      to analyze the significance between the number of polyps detected for withdrawal
      time less than 6 minutes versus more than 6 minutes. A total of 1,342
      colonoscopies were available for analysis in Group I and 1,316 in Group II. Polyp
      detection rate was 46.6% in Group I versus 48.2% in Group II (p = .39), a non
      statistically significant difference; however, there was a trend toward
      identifying small- and medium-sized polyps in Group II. Small polyps can carry a
      risk of severe dysplasia (). Data were then analyzed for withdrawal time. The
      polyp detection rate was 20.9 in procedures that took less than 6 minutes versus
      48.3 in those that took more than 6 minutes (p <= .01). In this study, a 6-minute
      or more withdrawal time increased the polyp detection rate by 133% for all polyp
      sizes, especially small and medium. Small polyps (5 mm or less) should be removed
      and not ignored. A 6-minute or more withdrawal time should be mandatory in those
      patients without a previous colon resection. 

PMID- 25831243
TI  - Non-caloric artificial sweeteners and the microbiome: findings and challenges.
AB  - Non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS) are common food supplements consumed by
      millions worldwide as means of combating weight gain and diabetes, by retaining
      sweet taste without increasing caloric intake. While they are considered safe,
      there is increasing controversy regarding their potential ability to promote
      metabolic derangements in some humans. We recently demonstrated that NAS
      consumption could induce glucose intolerance in mice and distinct human subsets,
      by functionally altering the gut microbiome. In this commentary, we discuss these
      findings in the context of previous and recent works demonstrating the effects of
      NAS on host health and the microbiome, and the challenges and open questions that
      need to be addressed in understanding the effects of NAS consumption on human
      health. 

PMID- 25831246
TI  - Have you had an ERCP lawsuit yet?
AB  - Endoscopic Retrograde CholangioPancreatography (ERCP) is the most dangerous
      procedure performed regularly by gastroenterologists. While serious adverse
      events cannot all be avoided, there are many ways to reduce the risk of their
      resulting in a lawsuit. The most important is for the endoscopist to communicate
      carefully and fully with patients and family members before the procedure
      providing truly informed consent-and afterwards, especially when there is a poor
      outcome. 

PMID- 25831247
TI  - Accuracy of trained nurses in finding small bowel lesions at video capsule
      endoscopy.
AB  - The video capsule endoscopy is an accurate tool to investigate the entire small
      bowel. Currently, the nurse actively participates in the procedure from patient
      preparation to the video download, whereas a gastroenterologist interprets the
      endoscopic findings. However, few studies recently showed high accuracy of nurses
      in detecting lesions in the small bowel on video capsule endoscopy recordings.
      This prospective study aimed to assess the ability of experienced and trained
      nurses in detecting small bowel lesions as compared with gastroenterologists.
      Forty-six consecutive video capsule endoscopy procedures were analyzed. Overall,
      the nurse evaluation was highly (95.6%) accurate in detecting small bowel
      lesions, with a 100% concordance with the gastroenterologist for the relevant
      findings. In addition, the absence of lesions was confirmed by the endoscopist in
      all cases classified as negative by the nurse. Data of this study found that
      trained nurses, with a large experience in endoscopic features, correctly
      identified small bowel lesions on video capsule endoscopy recordings. Therefore,
      a trained nurse may accurately select the thumbnails of all mucosal
      irregularities that may be faster reviewed by the endoscopist for a final
      diagnosis. 

PMID- 25831248
TI  - The impact of laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication on the long-term quality of life
      in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease.
AB  - Laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication is now the most common surgical procedure for
      treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), offering promising long-term
      outcomes. Outcomes for 46 patients with GERD who underwent Nissen fundoplication
      during the last 5 years (November 2007-June 2012) were prospectively studied
      using a structured questionnaire that evaluated clinical symptom scores for
      heartburn, dysphagia, and satisfaction with clinical outcomes. Postoperative care
      of the patients including analgesia, median hospital stay, overall cost, and
      complications was also studied. Clinical follow-up data for 2 years after surgery
      were available for all 46 patients. Forty-two patients (91.3%) were satisfied
      with their quality of life and only eight patients (17.4%) continued to receive
      antacids after surgery. Dysphagia to solid and liquid occasionally appeared in
      26.1% (N = 12) and 17.4% (N = 8) of patients, respectively. Laparoscopic Nissen
      fundoplication was an effective long-term treatment for GERD. The operation
      resulted in a significant reduction of symptoms and minimized the use of antacid
      drugs with a high degree of patient satisfaction. Although some patients may have
      returned to antacid treatment at late follow-up or continued to complain of mild
      discomfort, they were overall pleased with the outcome. 

PMID- 25831249
TI  - A nurse-driven outpatient clinic for thiopurine-treated inflammatory bowel
      disease patients reduces physician visits and increases follow-up efficiency.
AB  - Patients on thiopurine therapy need frequent monitoring to prevent drug adverse
      events. To describe the structure and main results of a nurse-driven outpatient
      clinic (NDOC) program for the follow-up of patients receiving treatment with
      thiopurine immunosuppressants, we retrospectively reviewed patients' clinical
      charts on thiopurine drugs, azathioprine (AZA), and 6-mercaptopurine. We
      evaluated the efficacy of the NDOC by comparing the number of physician visits
      and the adequacy of laboratory controls for each patient before and after
      inclusion in the program. From January 2006 to December 2008, 179 patients were
      included. Of these, 102 had received thiopurines for at least 1 year before the
      start of the NDOC. Mean age was 42 +/- 15 years; 83 were female. In all, 137 of
      the 179 patients (76%) had Crohn disease. AZA was the most frequent drug used
      (97%). Mean time of follow-up was 2.03 +/- 0.9 years. Implementation of this
      program decreased the number of physician visits per year-from 4.6 +/- 1.9 to 2.4
      +/- 1.3 (p < .001)-and the number of periods longer than 4 months without
      laboratory control (from 68% to 45%; p = .01). Leucopenia episodes and
      complications did not differ significantly before and after the start of the
      NDOC. Nurse-driven follow-up of these patients reduces physician visits while
      improving tightness of the follow-up. 

PMID- 25831250
TI  - The removal of a gastric balloon: a case study.

PMID- 25831251
TI  - Gastrointestinal stromal tumor in Turcot syndrome.

PMID- 25831252
TI  - The state of the science of proton pump inhibitors causing osteoporotic changes
      in postmenopausal women.

PMID- 25831253
TI  - Reuse of single-use critical medical devices.

PMID- 25831255
TI  - Correction to Pb7Bi4Se13: a lillianite homologue with promising thermoelectric
      properties.

PMID- 25831256
TI  - Endoscopic ultrasound-guided transmural drainage of calcified pseudocyst in a
      patient with chronic calcific pancreatitis.

PMID- 25831257
TI  - Understanding the Radioactive Ingrowth and Decay of Naturally Occurring
      Radioactive Materials in the Environment: An Analysis of Produced Fluids from the
      Marcellus Shale.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The economic value of unconventional natural gas resources has
      stimulated rapid globalization of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
      However, natural radioactivity found in the large volumes of "produced fluids"
      generated by these technologies is emerging as an international environmental
      health concern. Current assessments of the radioactivity concentration in liquid
      wastes focus on a single element-radium. However, the use of radium alone to
      predict radioactivity concentrations can greatly underestimate total levels.
      OBJECTIVE: We investigated the contribution to radioactivity concentrations from
      naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), including uranium, thorium,
      actinium, radium, lead, bismuth, and polonium isotopes, to the total
      radioactivity of hydraulic fracturing wastes. METHODS: For this study we used
      established methods and developed new methods designed to quantitate NORM of
      public health concern that may be enriched in complex brines from hydraulic
      fracturing wastes. Specifically, we examined the use of high-purity germanium
      gamma spectrometry and isotope dilution alpha spectrometry to quantitate NORM.
      RESULTS: We observed that radium decay products were initially absent from
      produced fluids due to differences in solubility. However, in systems closed to
      the release of gaseous radon, our model predicted that decay products will begin
      to ingrow immediately and (under these closed-system conditions) can contribute
      to an increase in the total radioactivity for more than 100 years. CONCLUSIONS:
      Accurate predictions of radioactivity concentrations are critical for estimating
      doses to potentially exposed individuals and the surrounding environment. These
      predictions must include an understanding of the geochemistry, decay properties,
      and ingrowth kinetics of radium and its decay product radionuclides.

PMID- 25831258
TI  - Improved beam angle arrangement in intensity modulated proton therapy treatment
      planning for localized prostate cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study investigates potential gains of an improved beam angle
      arrangement compared to a conventional fixed gantry setup in intensity modulated
      proton therapy (IMPT) treatment for localized prostate cancer patients based on a
      proof of principle study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three patients with localized
      prostate cancer retrospectively selected from our institution were studied. For
      each patient, IMPT plans were designed using two, three and four beam angles,
      respectively, obtained from a beam angle optimization algorithm. Those plans were
      then compared with ones using two lateral parallel-opposed beams according to the
      conventional planning protocol for localized prostate cancer adopted at our
      institution. RESULTS: IMPT plans with two optimized angles achieved significant
      improvements in rectum sparing and moderate improvements in bladder sparing
      against those with two lateral angles. Plans with three optimized angles further
      improved rectum sparing significantly over those two-angle plans, whereas four
      angle plans found no advantage over three-angle plans. A possible three-beam
      class solution for localized prostate patients was suggested and demonstrated
      with preserved dosimetric benefits because individually optimized three-angle
      solutions were found sharing a very similar pattern. CONCLUSIONS: This study has
      demonstrated the potential of using an improved beam angle arrangement to better
      exploit the theoretical dosimetric benefits of proton therapy and provided
      insights of selecting quality beam angles for localized prostate cancer
      treatment.

PMID- 25831259
TI  - Hepatitis B infection and vaccination coverage in men who have sex with men
      consulting a Danish venereal disease clinic.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Vaccination guidelines from the Danish Health and Medicines Authority
      recommend vaccination of all men who have sex with men (MSM) against hepatitis B
      virus (HBV). The only existing data on HBV infection in Danish MSM stem from
      1984: 58% of MSM attending venereal clinics in Copenhagen had a prior and 4% had
      a chronic HBV infection. The aim of this study was to provide up-to-date data on
      the prevalence of HBV infection and vaccination coverage among Danish MSM.
      METHODS: At the venereal clinic at Aarhus University Hospital, 1525 consecutive
      patients received a questionnaire covering risk group and vaccination status;
      moreover, HBV serology was performed. Prevalence proportions of serological signs
      of vaccination, infection, etc. were stratified according to self-reported risk
      group and vaccination status. RESULTS: In total, 141 patients were MSM. Among
      these, 14% (CI = 9-21%) were vaccinated, 7% (CI = 3-13%) had a prior infection
      and 1.4% (CI = 0.2-5%) were HBsAg positive. In patients recalling three doses of
      vaccination, 18% (CI = 11-26%) were anti-HBs negative and 0.8% (CI = 0.02-5%)
      were HBsAg positive. Similar data for other risk groups and the total clientele
      are presented. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents the first Scandinavian data on
      the prevalence of HBV infection and vaccination among MSM since the introduction
      of the vaccine. Danish health authorities should evaluate whether a carrier
      frequency of 1.4% and a vaccination coverage of 14% in MSM is acceptable or
      warrants intensified focus on vaccination. Prospective vaccination campaigns
      should consider prevaccination testing, since 18% of patients recalling three
      doses of vaccination were anti-HBs negative.

PMID- 25831260
TI  - Transfusion of D+ red blood cells to D- individuals in trauma situations.
AB  - To conserve D- red blood cells (RBCs), our facility developed a policy for
      transfusion of D+ units to D- patients, particularly in trauma situations. To our
      knowledge, this is the first study looking at D-mismatched RBC transfusion in
      trauma patients. We developed guidelines for the transfusion of D-mismatched
      RBCs. patients were followed by anti body screening and direct antiglobulin
      testing. Twenty-six patients were identified, and 57.7 percent of the cases were
      the result of trauma. Follow-up ranged from 7 to 455 days. The trauma cohort had
      a follow-up of 7 to 102 days. Overall, patients were transfused with 1 to 36
      units of D-mismatched RBCs. Three patients produced alloanti-D, resulting in a 20
      percent rate of antibody formation rate of 11.5 percent compared with 21.4 to
      30.4 percent in previous studies. Approximately 58 percent of our study
      population was composed of trauma patients. Within that cohort, the formation of
      anti-D was 20 percent, similar to the rate seen in previous studies looking at
      primarily non-trauma populations.

PMID- 25831261
TI  - Allogeneic red blood cell adsorption for removal of warm autoantibody.
AB  - Adsorption studies are usually required to confirm or rule out the presence of
      underlying alloantibodies in samples containing warm autoantibody. Allogeneic
      adsorptions are necessary if the patient has been recently transfused. Most
      commonly, allogeneic adsorptions are performed using a trio of phenotyped reagent
      red blood cells to rule out clinically significant alloantibodies to common
      antigens. The adsorbing cells may be used untreated or treated with enzymes or
      with ZZAP before adsorption. Adsorption may also be performed using enhancement
      such as low-tonic strength saline or polyethylene glycol added to the mixture.
      Multiple adsorptions may be necessary to remove strongly reactive autoantibodies.
      Allogeneic adsorptions will not detect alloantibodies to high-prevalence
      antigens.

PMID- 25831262
TI  - Anti-Ge2: further evidence for lack of clinical significance.
AB  - Anti-Ge2 may be immune or naturally occurring, and it reacts with an antigen on
      glycophorin D. Ge2 is encoded by a gene, GYPC, which is located on the long arm
      of chromosome 2. Anti-Ge2 is usually an immunoblobulin G (IgG) antibody. In the
      available literature, we have not been able to find any reported cases of proven
      acute hemolytic transfusion reactions caused by Anti-Ge2. We present the case of
      a 67-year-old man with metastatic pancreatic carcinoma who had symptomatic anemia
      and a hemoglobin concentration of 6.3 g/dL. During pretransfusion testing, Anti
      Ge2 was identified in his serum. Only a single unit of compatible, Ge:-2 frozen
      red blood cells (RBCs) could be provided by the blood supplier. A second unit of
      crossmatched, least-incompatible, leukocyte-reduced RBCs, presumably Ge:-2, was
      also transfused. The transfusion was completed without incident, and the
      patient's hemoglobin concentration rose appropriately. Posttransfusion values for
      haptoglobin, lactate dehydrogenase, and urine hemoglobin were within normal
      limits. A monocyte monolayer assay performed on this anti-Ge2 supports the data
      that antibodies of this specificity do not cause hemolysis. The clinical and
      laboratory data obtained in our patient clearly indicated that no hemolysis of
      transformed RBCs occurred during and for 24 hours after transfusion. We believe
      that this report adds to a limited experience with anti-Ge2 and provides further
      evidence for concluding that, to all likelihood, this is not a clinically
      important RBC antibody. The risk of transfusing apparently "incompatible" (Ge:2)
      RBCs seems remote and should allow for timely administration of RBCs when
      treating patients with serious anemia.

PMID- 25831263
TI  - Polyethylene glycol antiglobulin test (PEG-AGT).
AB  - Polyethylene glycol (PEG) ws described in 1987 as a new technique for
      immunohematology testing. The original paper described its use in detection and
      identification of weakly reactive antibodies. PEG is used as an additive to
      enhance reactivity and to reduce incubation time when testing for unexpected
      antibodies. PEG can be used as an alternative to low-ionic-strength saline and
      whenever weak reactions are encountered.

PMID- 25831264
TI  - Validation of a blood group genotyping method based on high-resolution melting
      curve analysis.
AB  - The detection of polymorphism is the basis of blood group genotyping and
      phenotype prediction. Genotyping may be useful to determine blood groups when
      serologic results are unclear. The development and application of different
      methods for blood group genotyping may be needed as a substitute for blood group
      typing. The purpose of this study is to establish an approach for blood group
      genotyping based on a melting curve analysis of real-time polymerase chain
      reaction (PCR). Using DNA extracted from whole blood, we developed and validated
      a DNA typing method for detecting DO*01/DO*02, DO*01/DI*02, LU*01/LU*02, and
      GYPB*03/GYBP*04 alleles using a melting curve analysis. All assays were confirmed
      with a commercial reagent containing sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP), and a
      cohort of the samples was confirmed with sequencing. Results for all blood groups
      were within the range of specificity and assay variability. Genotypes of 300
      blood donors were fully consistent with PCR-SSP data. The obtained genotype
      distribution is in complete concordance with existing data for the Chinese
      population. There are several advantages for this approach of blood group
      genotyping: lower contamination rates with PCR products in this laboratory, ease
      of performance, automation potential, and rapid cycling time.

PMID- 25831266
TI  - Boundary-enhancement in propagation-based x-ray phase-contrast tomosynthesis
      improves depth position characterization.
AB  - Propagation-based x-ray phase-contrast (PB XPC) tomosynthesis combines the
      concepts of tomosynthesis and XPC imaging to realize the advantages of both for
      biological imaging applications. Tomosynthesis permits reductions in acquisition
      times compared with full-view tomography, while XPC imaging provides the
      opportunity to resolve weakly absorbing structures. In this note, an
      investigation of the depth resolving properties of PB XPC tomosynthesis is
      conducted. The results demonstrate that in-plane structures display strong
      boundary-enhancement while out-of-plane structures do not. This effect can
      facilitate the identification of in-plane structures in PB XPC tomosynthesis that
      could normally not be distinguished from out-of-plane structures in absorption
      based tomosynthesis. 

PMID- 25831265
TI  - Working With Parents to Prevent Childhood Obesity: Protocol for a Primary Care
      Based eHealth Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Parents play a central role in preventing childhood obesity. There is
      a need for innovative, scalable, and evidence-based interventions designed to
      enhance parents' motivation to support and sustain healthy lifestyle behaviors in
      their children, which can facilitate obesity prevention. OBJECTIVE: (1) Develop
      an online screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT)
      eHealth tool to enhance parents' concern for, and motivation to, support
      children's healthy lifestyle behaviors, (2) refine the SBIRT eHealth tool by
      assessing end-user acceptability, satisfaction, and usability through focus
      groups, and (3) determine feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of the
      refined SBIRT eHealth tool through a randomized controlled trial. METHODS: This
      is a three-phase, multi-method study that includes SBIRT eHealth tool development
      (Phase I), refinement (Phase II), and testing (Phase III). Phase I: Theoretical
      underpinnings of the SBIRT tool, entitled the Resource Information Program for
      Parents on Lifestyle and Education (RIPPLE), will be informed by concepts applied
      within existing interventions, and content will be based on literature regarding
      healthy lifestyle behaviors in children. The SBIRT platform will be developed in
      partnership between our research team and a third-party intervention development
      company. Phase II: Focus groups with parents, as well as health care
      professionals, researchers, and trainees in pediatrics (n=30), will explore
      intervention-related perceptions and preferences. Qualitative data from the focus
      groups will inform refinements to the aesthetics, content, structure, and
      function of the SBIRT. Phase III: Parents (n=200) of children-boys and girls, 5
      to 17 years old-will be recruited from a primary care pediatric clinic while they
      await their children's clinical appointment. Parents will be randomly assigned to
      one of five groups-four intervention groups and one control group-as they
      complete the SBIRT. The randomization function is built into the tool. Parents
      will complete the eHealth SBIRT using a tablet that will be connected to the
      Internet. Subsequently, parents will be contacted via email at 1-month follow-up
      to assess (1) change in concern for, and motivation to, support children's
      dietary and physical activity behaviors (primary outcome), and (2) use of online
      resources and referrals to health services for obesity prevention (secondary
      outcome). RESULTS: This research was successfully funded and received ethics
      approval. Development of the SBIRT started in summer 2012, and we expect all
      study-related activities to be completed by fall 2016. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed
      research is timely and applies a novel, technology-based application designed to
      enhance parents concern for, and motivation to, support children's healthy
      lifestyle behaviors and encourage use of online resources and community services
      for childhood obesity prevention. Overall, this research builds on a foundation
      of evidence supporting the application of SBIRTs to encourage or "nudge"
      individuals to make healthy lifestyle choices. Findings from Phase III of this
      project will directly inform a cluster randomized controlled trial to study the
      effectiveness of our intervention across multiple primary care-based settings.
      TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02330588;
      http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02330588 (Archived by WebCite at
      http://www.webcitation.org/6WyUOeRlr).

PMID- 25831268
TI  - Communicating biopsy results to patients in a new technological era.

PMID- 25831267
TI  - Auxin as an inducer of asymmetrical division generating the subsidiary cells in
      stomatal complexes of Zea mays.
AB  - The data presented in this work revealed that in Zea mays the exogenously added
      auxins indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and 1-napthaleneacetic acid (NAA), promoted the
      establishment of subsidiary cell mother cell (SMC) polarity and the subsequent
      subsidiary cell formation, while treatment with auxin transport inhibitors 2,3,5
      triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA) and 1-napthoxyacetic acid (NOA) specifically blocked
      SMC polarization and asymmetrical division. Furthermore, in young guard cell
      mother cells (GMCs) the PIN1 auxin efflux carriers were mainly localized in the
      transverse GMC faces, while in the advanced GMCs they appeared both in the
      transverse and the lateral ones adjacent to SMCs. Considering that phosphatidyl
      inositol-3-kinase (PI3K) is an active component of auxin signal transduction and
      that phospholipid signaling contributes in the establishment of polarity,
      treatments with the specific inhibitor of the PI3K LY294002 were carried out. The
      presence of LY294002 suppressed polarization of SMCs and prevented their
      asymmetrical division, whereas combined treatment with exogenously added NAA and
      LY294002 restricted the promotional auxin influence on subsidiary cell formation.
      These findings support the view that auxin is involved in Z. mays subsidiary cell
      formation, probably functioning as inducer of the asymmetrical SMC division.
      Collectively, the results obtained from treatments with auxin transport
      inhibitors and the appearance of PIN1 proteins in the lateral GMC faces indicate
      a local transfer of auxin from GMCs to SMCs. Moreover, auxin signal transduction
      seems to be mediated by the catalytic function of PI3K. 

PMID- 25831270
TI  - Fe protein-independent substrate reduction by nitrogenase MoFe protein variants.
AB  - The reduction of substrates catalyzed by nitrogenase normally requires nucleotide
      dependent Fe protein delivery of electrons to the MoFe protein, which contains
      the active site FeMo cofactor. Here, it is reported that independent substitution
      of three amino acids (beta-98(Tyr->His), alpha-64(Tyr->His), and beta-99(Phe
      >His)) located between the P cluster and FeMo cofactor within the MoFe protein
      endows it with the ability to reduce protons to H2, azide to ammonia, and
      hydrazine to ammonia without the need for Fe protein or ATP. Instead, electrons
      can be provided by the low-potential reductant polyaminocarboxylate-ligated
      Eu(II) (Em values of -1.1 to -0.84 V vs the normal hydrogen electrode). The
      crystal structure of the beta-98(Tyr->His) variant MoFe protein was determined,
      revealing only small changes near the amino acid substitution that affect the
      solvent structure and the immediate vicinity between the P cluster and the FeMo
      cofactor, with no global conformational changes observed. Computational normal
      mode analysis of the nitrogenase complex reveals coupling in the motions of the
      Fe protein and the region of the MoFe protein with these three amino acids, which
      suggests a possible mechanism for how Fe protein might communicate subtle changes
      deep within the MoFe protein that profoundly affect intramolecular electron
      transfer and substrate reduction.

PMID- 25831269
TI  - Know your audience: predictors of success for a patient-centered texting app to
      augment linkage to HIV care in rural Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite investments in infrastructure and evidence for high
      acceptability, few mHealth interventions have been implemented in sub-Saharan
      Africa. OBJECTIVE: We sought to (1) identify predictors of uptake of an mHealth
      application for a low-literacy population of people living with HIV (PLWH) in
      rural Uganda and (2) evaluate the efficacy of various short message service (SMS)
      text message formats to optimize the balance between confidentiality and
      accessibility. METHODS: The trial evaluated the efficacy of a SMS text messaging
      app to notify PLWH of their laboratory results and request return to care for
      those with abnormal test results. Participants with a normal laboratory result
      received a single SMS text message indicating results were normal. Participants
      with an abnormal test result were randomized to 1 of 3 message formats designed
      to evaluate trade-offs between clarity and privacy: (1) an SMS text message that
      stated results were abnormal and requested return to clinic ("direct"), (2) the
      same message protected by a 4-digit PIN code ("PIN"), and (3) the message
      "ABCDEFG" explained at enrollment to indicate abnormal results ("coded").
      Outcomes of interest were (1) self-reported receipt of the SMS text message, (2)
      accurate identification of the message, and (3) return to care within 7 days (for
      abnormal results) or on the date of the scheduled appointment (for normal
      results). We fit regression models for each outcome with the following
      explanatory variables: sociodemographic characteristics, CD4 count result,
      ability to read a complete sentence, ability to access a test message on
      enrollment, and format of SMS text message. RESULTS: Seventy-two percent
      (234/385) of participants successfully receiving a message, 87.6% (219/250)
      correctly identified the message format, and 60.8% (234/385) returned to clinic
      at the requested time. Among participants with abnormal tests results (138/385,
      35.8%), the strongest predictors of reported message receipt were the ability to
      read a complete sentence and a demonstrated ability to access a test message on
      enrollment. Participants with an abnormal result who could read a complete
      sentence were also more likely to accurately identify the message format (AOR
      4.54, 95% CI 1.42-14.47, P=.01) and return to clinic appropriately (AOR 3.81, 95%
      CI 1.61-9.03, P=.002). Those who were sent a PIN-protected message were less
      likely to identify the message (AOR 0.11, 95% CI 0.03-0.44, P=.002) or return
      within 7 days (AOR 0.26, 95% CI 0.10-0.66, P=.005). Gender, age, and
      socioeconomic characteristics did not predict any outcomes and there were no
      differences in outcomes between those receiving direct or coded messages.
      CONCLUSIONS: Confirmed literacy at the time of enrollment was a robust predictor
      of SMS text message receipt, identification, and appropriate response for PLWH in
      rural Uganda. PIN-protected messages reduced odds of clinic return, but coded
      messages were as effective as direct messages and might augment privacy. TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT 01579214;
      https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01579214 (Archived by WebCite at
      http://www.webcitation.org/6Ww8R4sKq).

PMID- 25831271
TI  - Enzyme-free and label-free signal amplification for monitoring endonuclease
      activity and inhibition via hybridization chain reaction.
AB  - A label-free and enzyme-free amplification protocol has been proposed for
      studying endonuclease activity and inhibition on the basis of the enzyme-digested
      product triggered hybridization chain reaction (HCR). Three hairpin
      oligonucleotides were designed as probes which could not open or hybridize with
      each other at room temperature until the initiator DNA was released by specific
      enzymatic cleavage in the presence of endonuclease to trigger the hybridization
      chain reaction. SYBR Green I was chosen as a signal probe which intercalated into
      the grooves of the nicked double DNA polymer, generating a substantially apparent
      increase in fluorescence intensity. Once the activity of endonuclease is
      inhibited by enzyme inhibitors, the efficiency of HCR will be greatly decreased.
      Therefore, screening of endonuclease inhibitors can be achieved effectively as
      well as the assay of endonuclease activity. Meanwhile, the assay of endonuclease
      activity and inhibition achieves a better performance as compared to the previous
      reports. Importantly, it is a more universal method that can be simply used to
      study activity and inhibition of other endonucleases by changing the specific
      recognition site. So, the protocol was proved to be a sensitive and cost
      effective approach for studying endonuclease activity and inhibition, and as
      such, it is promising for broad potential application in various biological
      reactions. 

PMID- 25831272
TI  - Neurodevelopmental disorders and agricultural pesticide exposures.

PMID- 25831273
TI  - [Retrospective study comparing low-dose versus standard dose of bortezomib in
      patients with multiple myeloma].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Bortezomib is a selective inhibitor of the proteosoma that is used
      in multiple myeloma. In combination with other antineoplastic drugs, it has a
      well-documented impact in progression-free survival rates and overall survival
      rates with standard doses (1.3-1.5 mg/m(2)). However, up to 88% of patients on
      standard doses have unwanted side effects (neutropenia, neuropathy or anemia.
      Standard dose (1.3 mg/m(2)) is used in almost all patients and low dose (0.7-0.8
      mg/m(2)) is reserved for patients with kidney disease and neuropathy. OBJECTIVE:
      We aim to describe clinical, cytological, and cytometric outcomes, as well as
      overall survival and side effects of low dose versus standard dose of bortezomib
      in our institution. METHODS: Retrospective, descriptive study based on data
      recovered from clinical charts of 48 multiple myeloma patients treated in our
      hospital between 2011 and 2013. We included data on age, gender, type of multiple
      myeloma, serum albumin, serum creatinine, beta 2 microglobulin, calcemia, imaging
      studies, disease stage, pre-and post-therapy bone marrow studies, adverse events
      and rate of progression. We also recorded events like date of death or of the
      last medical appointment. RESULTS: Forty-eight multiple myeloma patients were
      treated with bortezomib-cyclophosphamide-dexamethasone. Twenty-one patients
      received low dose and 27 patients were treated with the standard dose. No
      statistical differences between the two groups were found for clinical response
      (p=0.6), cytological response (p=0.28), flow cytometric response (p= 0.3), rate
      of adverse effects and overall survival rates. CONCLUSION: This retrospective
      analysis suggests that lower doses of bortezomib have similar effects in disease
      control measured by flow cytometry and cytology compared to standard doses in
      multiple myeloma patients.

PMID- 25831274
TI  - Cyberknife treatment for low and intermediate risk prostate cancer.
AB  - Cyberknife is an emerging treatment for early stage prostate cancer. Between
      October 2012 and January 2014, 32 patients were treated in our institution.
      Prescribed dose was 35-36.25 Gy in five fractions. Biochemical response was
      observed in 22 patients. Four patients experienced G2 acute genitourinary
      toxicity and in two cases we recorded G3 acute GU toxicity. 5 patients
      experienced G2 acute proctitis. At last follow up visit, all patients were still
      alive. 29 remained free of disease at last follow up appointment, while three
      developed a biochemical recurrence. Our experience confirms the efficacy and
      safety of Cyberknife for localized prostate cancer. 

PMID- 25831275
TI  - Effects of Amendments on Growth and Uptake of Cd and Zn by Wetland Plants, Typha
      angustifolia and Colocasia esculenta from Contaminated Sediments.
AB  - A pot study was conducted to compare the effects of amendments (CaHPO4 and cow
      manure) on growth and uptake of Cd and Zn from contaminated sediments by two
      wetland plant species, Typha angustifolia and Colocasia esculenta. Contaminated
      sediments (Cd 33.2 mg kg(-1) and Zn 363 mg kg(-1)) were collected from Mae Tao
      basin, Mae Sot district, Tak province, Thailand. The experiment consisted of 4
      treatments: control (uncontaminated sediment), Cd/Zn, Cd/Zn + 5% CaHPO4, and
      Cd/Zn + 10% cow manure. Plants were grown for 3 months in the greenhouse. The
      addition of CaHPO4 resulted in the highest relative growth rate (RGR) and highest
      Cd accumulation in both T. angustifolia and C. esculenta while the lowest RGR was
      found in C. esculenta grown in the cow manure treatment. Both plant species had
      higher concentrations of metals (Cd, Zn) in their belowground parts. None of the
      amendments affected Zn accumulation. C. esculenta exhibited the highest uptake of
      both Cd and Zn. The results clearly demonstrated the phytoremediation potential
      of C. esculenta and the enhancement of this potential by CaHPO4 amendment.

PMID- 25831276
TI  - Microscopic lensing by a dense, cold atomic sample.
AB  - We demonstrate that a cold, dense sample of Rb87 atoms can exhibit a micron-scale
      lensing effect, much like that associated with a macroscopically sized lens. The
      experiment is carried out in the fashion of traditional z-scan measurements but
      in much weaker fields and where close attention is paid to the detuning
      dependence of the transmitted light. The results are interpreted using numerical
      simulations and by modeling the sample as a thin lens with a spherical focal
      length. 

PMID- 25831277
TI  - Label-free imaging of melanoma with nonlinear photothermal microscopy.
AB  - Nonlinear photothermal microscopy, in which the intensity of the pump heating
      beam is modulated at f and the photothermal signal is extracted from the probe
      beam with a lock-in amplifier referred to 2f, is applied to the imaging of mouse
      melanoma without any staining. The pump and probe pulses, with central
      wavelengths of 488 and 632 nm, and a pulse duration of ~100  ps, are filtered
      from a compact commercial supercontinuum fiber laser source. An auto-balanced
      detector is applied to accumulate the signal and remove the laser noise of the
      probe. The spatial resolution of the nonlinear photothermal imaging is enhanced
      by ~18% in both theoretical calculations and experiments, compared with a linear
      photothermal mechanism, and the resolution enhancement is theoretically ~42%
      compared with conventional optical microscopy. This imaging technique shows
      possibilities for the clinical evaluation of melanoma with a high contrast and
      spatial resolution.

PMID- 25831278
TI  - Simultaneous dual-wavelength photoacoustic radar imaging using waveform
      engineering with mismatched frequency modulated excitation.
AB  - The spectroscopic imaging capability of photoacoustics (PA) without the depth
      limitations of optical methods offers a major advantage in preclinical and
      clinical applications. Consecutive PA measurements with properly chosen
      wavelengths allow composition related information about blood or tissue. In this
      work, we propose and experimentally introduce modulation waveform engineering
      through the use of mismatched (uncorrelated or weakly correlated) linear
      frequency modulated signals for PA characterization and imaging. The feasibility
      of the method was tested on oxygen saturated hemoglobin and deoxygenated
      hemoglobin in vitro in a blood circulating rig. The method was also employed for
      in vivo imaging of a neck carcinoma tumor grown in a mouse thigh. The proposed
      method can increase the accuracy and speed of functional imaging by simultaneous
      PA probing with two wavelengths using portable laser-diode based PA imaging
      systems. 

PMID- 25831279
TI  - Noise reduction in solid-state lasers using a SHG-based buffer reservoir.
AB  - The cancellation of resonant intensity noise, from a few kHz up to several GHz,
      is reported using a second-harmonic generation (SHG) buffer reservoir in a Nd:YAG
      solid-state laser. This approach is shown to be well suited and easily
      optimizable for reducing the excess noise lying at the laser relaxation
      oscillations as well as that originating from the beating between the lasing mode
      and nonlasing adjacent longitudinal modes. A thorough analysis of noise spectra
      of both laser and SHG signals confirms definitely that noise reduction is a
      consequence of a deep laser dynamics modification rather than noise evacuation
      mechanism. 

PMID- 25831280
TI  - Mode-locked Er:Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser with 75-nm tuning range.
AB  - We demonstrate a widely tunable Er:Yb-doped double-clad multiple-soliton fiber
      laser based on nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR). Based on both an artificial
      birefringent filtering effect of the cavity and population inversion related gain
      variation, the central wavelength can be continuously tuned over 75 nm range
      (1545-1620 nm). Wavelength tunability is achieved by controlling both the linear
      loss of the cavity and the polarization controllers (PCs). This is the widest
      tunable range yet reported in tunable passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber
      lasers. 

PMID- 25831281
TI  - Analytical calculation of two-dimensional spectra.
AB  - We demonstrate an analytical calculation of two-dimensional (2D) coherent spectra
      of electronic or vibrational resonances. Starting with the solution to the
      optical Bloch equations for a two-level system in the 2D time domain, we show
      that a fully analytical 2D Fourier transform can be performed if the projection
      slice and Fourier-shift theorems of Fourier transforms are applied. Results can
      be fit to experimental 2D coherent spectra of resonances with arbitrary
      inhomogeneity. 

PMID- 25831282
TI  - Elimination of artifacts derived from the residual birefringence of a phase
      modulator for circular dichroism by retardation domain analysis.
AB  - It is well known that various artifacts interfere with circular dichroism (CD)
      measurement using the polarization modulation technique. In this report, we
      propose a simple analysis method for eliminating the artifacts derived from the
      residual birefringence of a phase modulator. We consider the origin of the
      artifacts and find that those in CD can be distinguished by analyzing signals as
      a function of the retardation of the phase modulator using a Mueller matrix
      method. We experimentally obtain pure CD from a sample with CD and linear
      dichroism by applying retardation domain analysis. 

PMID- 25831283
TI  - Improved resolution in SPR and MCWG microscopy by combining images acquired with
      distinct mode propagation directions.
AB  - In high-resolution surface plasmon (SPR) imaging, lateral resolution is limited
      along the direction of plasmon propagation by the longitudinal decay length.
      Though SPR systems can achieve sub-micrometer resolution, the decay length causes
      a degradation in the images in the direction of plasmon propagation akin to a
      blurring artifact, with ringing along resonant to nonresonant transition edges.
      We present a method to significantly reduce this effect based on combining images
      of a sample acquired with distinct guided-mode propagation directions. As SPR is
      a special case of the class of optical structures known as metal-clad waveguides
      (MCWG) that are also affected by the decay length, this work is broadly
      applicable. 

PMID- 25831284
TI  - Incoherent wavefront reconstruction by a retroemission device.
AB  - This Letter addresses wavefront reconstruction by a retroemission device (REM).
      REM represents a lenslet array mounted on a substrate made of photoluminescent
      optical material, such as a polymer film impregnated with upconversion
      nanoparticles. An excitation light wavefront incident on the REM was sampled by
      the lenslet array piece-wise. Each wavelet at the lenslet aperture was converged
      into a voxel in the substrate, with its coordinates encoding the angle of
      incidence and curvature of the wavelet. Photoluminescence excited in the voxel
      was radiated isotropically, its back-propagating fraction was captured by the
      lenslet and transformed into a back-propagating wavelet, which contributed to
      reproduction of the entire incident wavefront with some fidelity. We
      experimentally proved the wavefront reconstruction based on REM, and present its
      theoretical model based on a Fresnel-Kirchhoff approximation. 

PMID- 25831285
TI  - Optimum generation of annular vortices using phase diffractive optical elements.
AB  - An annular vortex of arbitrary integer topological charge q can be obtained at
      the Fourier domain of appropriate phase diffractive optical elements. In this
      context we prove that the diffractive element that generates the vortex with
      maximum peak intensity has the phase modulation of a propagation-invariant qth
      order Bessel beam. We discuss additional advantages of this phase element as
      annular vortex generator. 

PMID- 25831286
TI  - Laser-diode-pumped thin-slice c-cut Nd:GdVO(4) multimode laser with coherent
      vector fields.
AB  - Spontaneous formation of coherent vector fields, which results from
      synchronization of longitudinal modes of orthogonally polarized transverse modes,
      has been observed in a laser-diode (LD)-pumped thin-slice c-cut Nd:GdVO(4) laser
      with reflective end faces operating under the multi-longitudinal mode oscillation
      condition. The suppression of antiphase dynamics inherent to multimode solid
      state lasers as well as the enhanced self-mixing interference effect as compared
      with a linearly polarized multimode laser have been identified.

PMID- 25831287
TI  - Experimental performance evaluation of analog signal transmission in a silicon
      microring resonator.
AB  - We experimentally evaluate the performance of analog signal transmission in a
      silicon microring resonator. The spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) of the second
      order harmonic distortion (SHD) and third-order harmonic distortion (THD) is used
      to assess the analog link. The performance dependence on the input signal
      wavelength and input signal power is comprehensively studied. The obtained
      results indicate that the analog signal transmission performance through
      microring resonator is mainly affected by the notch filtering effect for low
      level input signal power. Moreover, with the increase of input signal power, the
      enhanced nonlinear resonance in the microring resonator could cause the shift of
      the resonance wavelength, which might also impact on the analog signal
      transmission performance. 

PMID- 25831288
TI  - 100.29-Gb/s direct detection optical OFDM/OQAM 32-QAM signal over 880  km SSMF
      transmission using a single photodiode.
AB  - We propose a novel guard-band-shared direct-detection (GBS-DD) scheme for a 100
      Gb/s single-photodiode direct-detection transmission system. The 100.29 Gb/s
      signal is successfully transmitted over 880 km standard single mode fiber (SSMF)
      with Raman amplification under the 20% forward error correction (FEC) threshold
      within 52 GHz optical bandwidth. The signal is modulated with orthogonal
      frequency-division multiplexing/offset quadrature-amplitude-modulation 32-ary QAM
      (OFDM/OQAM 32-QAM). The signal-to-signal beat interference (SSBI) terms fall and
      overlap in the same guard band. Adopting the proposed approach, the bandwidth
      usage efficiency of the photodiode is greatly enhanced, which brings benefits on
      the data rate and transmission performance. 

PMID- 25831289
TI  - Millijoule pulse energy 100-nanosecond Er-doped fiber laser.
AB  - We report, for the first time to our knowledge, on a single-mode millijoule-level
      100-nanosecond Er-doped fiber laser operating near 1550 nm. The system features a
      newly developed 35-MUm-core Yb-free double-clad Er-doped fiber based on P(2)O(5)
      Al(2)O(3)-SiO(2) glass matrix and produces pulses with energy as high as 1 mJ at
      repetition rates of 1-10 kHz.

PMID- 25831290
TI  - Single-trial estimation of the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen with imaging
      photoplethysmography and laser speckle contrast imaging.
AB  - Cortical cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO(2)) could conventionally be
      measured by combining laser Doppler flowmetry and multispectral reflectance
      imaging across multiple trials of stimulation, which compromises the real-time
      capacity. Monitoring transient change of CMRO(2) has been challenging. In this
      Letter, imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG) and laser speckle contrast imaging
      were combined into a multi-modal optical imaging system for single-trial
      estimation of CMRO(2). In a physiologically stable experiment, the iPPG-based
      method showed a less than 4% variance in comparison with the conventional method
      over 20 trials, and its temporal stability could be comparable to that by
      conventional method over 6 trials. While the oxygen supply was decreased
      deliberately, the new method was able to detect the transient changes of CMRO(2)
      in real time, which could not be revealed by the conventional method.

PMID- 25831291
TI  - Phase correction for a distorted orbital angular momentum beam using a Zernike
      polynomials-based stochastic-parallel-gradient-descent algorithm.
AB  - A stochastic-parallel-gradient-descent algorithm (SPGD) based on Zernike
      polynomials is proposed to generate the phase correction pattern for a distorted
      orbital angular momentum (OAM) beam. The Zernike-polynomial coefficients for the
      correction pattern are obtained by monitoring the intensity profile of the
      distorted OAM beam through an iteration-based feedback loop. We implement this
      scheme and experimentally show that the proposed approach improves the quality of
      the turbulence-distorted OAM beam. Moreover, we apply phase correction patterns
      derived from a probe OAM beam through emulated turbulence to correct other OAM
      beams transmitted through the same turbulence. Our experimental results show that
      the patterns derived this way simultaneously correct multiple OAM beams
      propagating through the same turbulence, and the crosstalk among these modes is
      reduced by more than 5 dB.

PMID- 25831292
TI  - Electrically induced red, green, and blue scattering in chiral-nematic thin
      films.
AB  - Cholesteric liquid-crystalline materials are abundant in nature such as condensed
      phases of DNA, plant cell walls, and chiral biopolymers. These self-organized
      helical structures produce unique optical properties, giving rise to the
      selective Bragg reflection of colorful light. In this Letter, we focus on the
      focal conic state of cholesteric liquid crystals and report on stable, tunable,
      and reversible color switching among red, green, and blue in polymer-stabilized
      cholesteric films. The experimental results indicate that, with appropriate
      voltage pulses, the electrically induced color switching of all six routes can be
      realized in a single cell reflecting green light. The scattered transmissive
      color persists at zero voltage due to the polymer stabilization. 

PMID- 25831293
TI  - Modeling light scattering by forsterite particles.
AB  - Laboratory optical measurements of forsterite particles reveal remarkably similar
      light-scattering responses in two samples that were thought to obey different
      size distributions. These measurements are modeled with irregularly shaped
      agglomerated debris particles having a refractive index of m=1.6+0.0005i that is
      representative of forsterite in the visible. Modeling closely reproduces the
      measurements of both samples, making retrieval of their size distributions
      possible. 

PMID- 25831294
TI  - Multi-color carrier-envelope-phase stabilization for high-repetition-rate multi
      pulse coherent synthesis.
AB  - Using a zero-offset carrier-envelope locking technique, we have synthesized an
      octave-spanning composite frequency comb exhibiting 132-attosecond timing jitter
      between the constituent pulses over a one-second observation window. In the
      frequency domain, this composite comb has a modal structure and coherence which
      are indistinguishable from those of a comb that might be produced by a
      hypothetical single mode locked oscillator of equivalent bandwidth. The
      associated phase stability enables the participating multi-color pulse sequences
      to be coherently combined, representing an example of multi-pulse synthesis using
      a femtosecond oscillator. 

PMID- 25831295
TI  - Nonlinear optimization of slot Si waveguides: TPA minimization with FOM(TPA) up
      to 4.25.
AB  - The chi(3) nonlinear properties of slotted crystalline silicon photonic
      waveguides filled with third-order nonlinear materials (NM) are studied by
      calculating the effective nonlinear susceptibilities associated to the silicon
      and cladding material, respectively. The adopted approach circumvents the
      assumptions that the introduced NM dominates the nonlinear behavior of the
      slotted waveguide and that strong light confinement in the slot allows neglecting
      the two-photon absorption (TPA) process in the silicon rails. Optimization of the
      geometry of silicon-slotted waveguides is performed on the basis of the nonlinear
      figure of merit (FOM(TPA)) of the guided mode, which is related to the balance
      between the Kerr and the TPA effects, allowing to reach a FOM(TPA)=4.25. The
      obtained results reveal the importance of properly choosing the waveguide width
      of the silicon rails in order to minimize the TPA effect even by tolerating a
      reduced overall nonlinearity.

PMID- 25831296
TI  - Free space self-similar beams.
AB  - It is well known that self-similar wave dynamics can happen with the coexistence
      of diffraction and nonlinearity. However, things are clearly different in linear
      systems, since simple extrapolation by approaching the nonlinear coefficient
      toward zero will lead to trivial solutions. Here, we show that a broad class of
      self-similar beams can propagate in linear wave systems governed by a paraxial
      wave equation or the free particle Schrodinger equation. The linearity of free
      space allows us to construct these beams by superposition, and eliminates
      instability problems. The technique of seeking exact or approximate solutions of
      the wave equations in transformed coordinates presented here should be a useful
      avenue toward the manipulation of wave propagation in various linear systems. 

PMID- 25831297
TI  - Fiber in-line Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on an inner air-cavity for high
      pressure sensing.
AB  - We demonstrate a fiber in-line Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on an inner air
      cavity with open micro-channel for high-pressure sensing applications. The inner
      air-cavity is fabricated by combining femtosecond laser micromachining and the
      fusion splicing technique. The micro-channel is drilled on the top of the inner
      air-cavity to allow the high-pressure gas to flow in. The fiber in-line device is
      miniature, robust, and stable in operation and exhibits a high pressure
      sensitivity of ~8,239  pm/MPa. 

PMID- 25831298
TI  - Low wavenumber efficient single-beam coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering using
      a spectral hole.
AB  - We demonstrate an approach to detect low wavenumber vibrational signals based on
      single-beam coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) with a spectral hole.
      Using a 4f pulse shaper for both pulse shaping and signal collection, we achieve
      an enhanced efficiency in collecting back-reflected CARS signals. 

PMID- 25831299
TI  - Experimental determination of generalized Stokes parameters.
AB  - A new technique to determine generalized Stokes parameters by making use of the
      speckle holographic technique and the two-point intensity correlation is proposed
      and experimentally demonstrated. Assuming Gaussian statistics and spatial
      stationarity, a speckle hologram is generated prior to the fourth-order
      correlation, i.e., the two-point intensity correlation. This measurement
      technique offers a complete retrieval of complex generalized Stokes parameters.
      The application of the proposed technique is experimentally demonstrated for two
      different, random source structures. 

PMID- 25831300
TI  - Multi-directional 3D flame chemiluminescence tomography based on lens imaging.
AB  - Flame chemiluminescence tomography (FCT) has been widely used in flame
      diagnostics for three-dimensional (3D), spatially resolved measurements of
      instantaneous flame geometry and, to some extent, of species concentrations.
      However, in most studies, tomographic reconstructions are based on a traditional
      parallel projection model. Due to the light collection characteristics of a lens,
      a parallel projection model is not appropriate for the practical optical setups
      that are used for emission imaging, particularly at small F-numbers. Taking the
      light collection effect of the lens into account, this Letter establishes a
      complete and novel tomographic theory for a multi-directional tomography system
      consisting of a lens and CCD cameras. A modified camera calibration method is
      presented first. It determines the exact spatial locations and intrinsic
      parameters of the cameras. A 3D projection model based on the lens imaging theory
      is then proposed and integrated into the multiplicative algebraic reconstruction
      technique (MART). The new approach is demonstrated with a 12-camera system that
      is used to reconstruct the emission field of a propane flame, thereby resolving
      space and time. 

PMID- 25831301
TI  - Wavefront sensorless adaptive optics based on the trust region method.
AB  - We present what is to the best of our knowledge the first implementation of a
      trust region method for derivative-free optimization (TRDF) in a wavefront
      sensorless (WFSless) adaptive optics (AO) system. We compare the trust region
      method with the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm and stochastic parallel
      gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate that the
      trust region method is superior to both the SA algorithm and SPGD algorithm with
      respect to convergence rates. These results indicate that the trust region method
      is a promising approach for correcting static or slowly changing wavefront
      aberrations in practical applications. 

PMID- 25831302
TI  - Compressing MUJ-level pulses from 250  fs to sub-10  fs at 38-MHz repetition rate
      using two gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber stages.
AB  - Compression of 250-fs, 1-MUJ pulses from a KLM Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator down
      to 9.1 fs is demonstrated. A kagome-PCF with a 36-MUm core-diameter is used with
      a pressure gradient from 0 to 40 bar of krypton. Compression to 22 fs is achieved
      by 1200  fs<sup>2</sup> group-delay-dispersion provided by chirped mirrors. By
      coupling the output into a second kagome-PCF with a pressure gradient from 0 to
      25 bar of argon, octave spanning spectral broadening via the soliton-effect is
      observed at 18-W average output power. Self-compression to 9.1 fs is measured,
      with compressibility to 5 fs predicted. Also observed is strong emission in the
      visible via dispersive wave generation, amounting to 4% of the total output
      power. 

PMID- 25831303
TI  - Brightness calibrates particle size in single particle fluorescence imaging.
AB  - This Letter provides a novel approach to quantify the particle sizes of highly
      bright semiconductor polymer dots (Pdots) for single-particle imaging and
      photobleaching studies. A quadratic dependence of single-particle brightness on
      particle size was determined by single-particle fluorescence imaging and
      intensity statistics. In terms of the same imaging conditions, the particle
      diameter can be quantified by comparing the individual brightness intensity with
      associated calibration curve. Based on this sizing method, photobleaching
      trajectories and overall photon counts emitted by single particles were analyzed.
      It is found that photobleaching rate constants of different sized Pdots are not
      strongly dependent on particle diameter except the sparsely occurring
      fluorescence blinking in certain dim particles and the rapid photobleaching
      component in some bright particles. The overall photon counts increase with
      increasing particle diameter. However, those larger than 30 nm deviate away from
      the increasing tendency. These results reveal the significance of selecting
      appropriate Pdots (<=30  nm) for single-particle imaging and tracking
      applications. 

PMID- 25831304
TI  - Experimental demonstration of a novel indoor optical wireless localization system
      for high-speed personal area networks.
AB  - In this Letter, we propose a novel indoor localization system based on optical
      wireless technology. By using the same architecture as the high-speed full-duplex
      indoor optical wireless communication system, the "search and scan" process, and
      the added transmission power and beam footprint information in the "search and
      scan" message, indoor localization functionality is achieved. Proof-of-concept
      experiments are carried out, and results show that an average error of <15  cm is
      achieved with a localization beam size of 1 m. In addition, the major
      localization-accuracy-limiting factors are analyzed both theoretically and
      experimentally. When incorporated with the optical wireless communication system,
      high-speed indoor wireless personal area networks can be achieved.

PMID- 25831305
TI  - Diode end-pumped passively Q-switched Tm:YAP laser with 1.85-mJ pulse energy.
AB  - Passive Q switching of a Tm:YAP solid-state laser at 1935 nm with Cr:ZnSe and
      Cr:ZnS polycrystalline saturable absorbers is demonstrated for the first time, to
      the best of our knowledge. With Cr:ZnS, a maximum pulse energy of 1.85 mJ is
      obtained for a pulse duration of 35.8 ns, resulting in a peak power of 51.7 kW.
      With Cr:ZnSe, the achieved pulse energy of 1.55 mJ with a pulse duration of 42.2
      ns leads to 36.7-kW peak power. These high pulse energies, together with the
      unique lasing wavelength at 1935 nm, make this laser a promising tool for
      biomedical and microsurgery applications.

PMID- 25831306
TI  - Fast electric field switched 2D-photonic liquid crystals.
AB  - We demonstrate field-induced 2D-photonic liquid crystals (LC). The 2D spatially
      periodic modulation of the LC director field is achieved using a geometry with
      two crossed interdigitated systems of electrodes located at opposite sides of the
      LC layer. With a special method of dual-field driving, a very fast switching
      between different spatially periodic LC director distributions is achieved. The
      director field distribution and potential use of these photonic crystals for fast
      switched multidirectional lasing is discussed. 

PMID- 25831307
TI  - Fast-beam self-trapping in LiNbO(3) films by pyroelectric effect.
AB  - We report light-beam self-trapping triggered by the pyroelectric effect in an
      isolated ferroelectric thin film. Experiments are performed in an 8-MUm-thick
      congruent undoped LiNbO(3) film bonded onto a silicon wafer. Response time two
      orders of magnitude faster than in bulk LiNbO(3) is reported. The original
      underlying physics specific of this arrangement is discussed.

PMID- 25831308
TI  - Thermally induced light-scattering effects as responsible for the degradation of
      cholesteric liquid crystal lasers.
AB  - We have studied the degradation process of the laser emission in a cholesteric
      liquid crystal laser. We have found that there exists a negative correlation
      between the laser efficiency and the amount of light scattered by the liquid
      crystal sample in the illuminated area. The growth of scattering is attributed to
      the appearance of small imperfections generated in the sample as a result of
      certain thermal processes that involve the dye molecules. The scattering implies
      an increase of the coefficient of distributed losses, which is the main response
      of the rise of the laser threshold. 

PMID- 25831309
TI  - Femtosecond laser writing of Bragg grating waveguide bundles in bulk glass.
AB  - Waveguide bundles in bulk glass materials, consisting of several parallel scans
      of refractive index modifications, have been generated with a low-repetition
      femtosecond laser. Additionally, Bragg grating (BG) structures for 840 and 1550
      nm have been introduced by segmentation of the central scan. A spectral loss in
      the transmission signal of >36  dB was achieved at 1550 nm with a second-order
      Bragg grating waveguide (BGW) in fused silica, which corresponds to an intrinsic
      grating efficiency of >16  dB/cm. This is to our knowledge the strongest BG
      structure realized in glass with a femtosecond laser. The BGW were proven to be
      stable up to a temperature of 250 degrees C in fused silica. The diameter of the
      waveguide bundles can be adapted very easily for a broad range of wavelengths and
      have been demonstrated for diameters between 1 and 50 MUm. The transmission
      properties of the waveguide bundles are affected minorly by the insertion of BG
      structures, which opens the ability for adjusting the BGW for a broad range of
      wavelength in single-mode or multimode optical circuits. BGW have been realized
      successfully in fused silica, borosilicate glass (BOROFLOAT 33), and AF 32 eco
      Thin Glass from Schott. 

PMID- 25831311
TI  - Tunable Q-factor silicon microring resonators for ultra-low power parametric
      processes.
AB  - A compact silicon ring resonator is demonstrated that allows simple electrical
      tuning of the ring coupling coefficient and Q-factor and therefore the resonant
      enhancement of on-chip nonlinear optical processes. Fabrication-induced variation
      in designed coupling fraction, crucial in the resonator performance, can be
      overcome using this post-fabrication trimming technique. Tuning of the microring
      resonator across the critical coupling point is demonstrated, exhibiting a Q
      factor tunable between 9000 and 96,000. Consequently, resonantly enhanced four
      wave mixing shows tunable efficiency between -40 and -16.3  dB at an ultra-low on
      chip pump power of 0.7 mW.

PMID- 25831310
TI  - Full characterization of dichroic samples from a single measurement by circular
      polarization orthogonality breaking.
AB  - We report a novel method to unambiguously determine the magnitude and orientation
      of linear dichroism in a simultaneous way. It is based on the use of a dedicated
      dual-frequency dual-polarization coherent source providing two orthogonal
      circularly polarized modes at the output. We show that the interaction of such a
      beam with dichroic media gives rise to a beatnote signal whose amplitude and
      phase enable the full determination of the diattenuation coefficient and axis
      orientation, respectively. The application of this method to polarimetric imaging
      provides single-shot sample characterization by its diattenuation coefficient and
      optical axis angle, with potential applications in biomedical imaging. 

PMID- 25831312
TI  - Non-reciprocal transmission in photonic lattices based on unidirectional coherent
      perfect absorption.
AB  - A method for realizing asymmetric (one-way) transmission of discretized light in
      modulated, linear, and purely passive optical lattices is suggested, which
      exploits the idea of unidirectional coherent perfect absorption. The system
      consists of a linear photonic lattice of coupled resonators or waveguides, side
      coupled to a chain of lossy elements, in which light can avoid the occupation of
      the dissipative sites when propagating in one way, but not in the opposite one.
      Non-reciprocity requires modulation of the resonator/waveguide parameters,
      realizing a dissipative optical Aharonov-Bohm diode with non-reciprocal behavior.

PMID- 25831313
TI  - Determination of the basic optical parameters of ZnSnN(2).
AB  - Polycrystalline ZnSnN(2) thin films were successfully prepared by DC magnetron
      sputtering at room temperature. Both the as-deposited and annealed films showed n
      type conduction, with electron concentration varying between 1.6*10(18) and
      2.3*10(17)  cm(-3) and the maximum mobility of 3.98  cm(2)  V(-1) s(-1). The
      basic optical parameters such as the refraction index, extinction coefficient,
      and absorption coefficient were precisely determined through the spectroscopic
      ellipsometry measurement and analysis. The optical bandgap of the ZnSnN(2)films
      was calculated to around 1.9 eV, with the absorption coefficient greater than
      10(4)  cm(-1) at wavelengths less than 845 nm. The easy-fabricated ZnSnN(2)
      possesses a sound absorption coefficient ranging from the ultraviolet through
      visible light and into the near-infrared, comparable to some typical photovoltaic
      materials such as GaAs, CdTe, and InP.

PMID- 25831314
TI  - Actively tunable Fano resonances based on colossal magneto-resistant
      metamaterials.
AB  - In this Letter, a periodic structure in which each unit cell consists of one
      manganese oxide (La(0.7)Ca(0.3)MnO(3)) strip and two gold strips is designed. By
      simulating the electromagnetic responses of the structure, we confirm that Fano
      resonances can be actively controlled in the infrared region by modulating the
      intensity of the external magnetic field applied to the structure. This is due to
      the colossal magneto-resistance of the La(0.7)Ca(0.3)MnO(3) material.
      Furthermore, a transmission phase can also be effectively tuned. The phase has a
      shift of DeltaPhi=1.05  rad at a frequency of 130 THz when the intensity of the
      external magnetic field varies from 5083 to 5193  kA/m. Such a tunable method has
      potential applications in controllable photoelectric elements.

PMID- 25831315
TI  - Performance enhancement in a-Si:H/MUc-Si:H tandem solar cells with periodic
      microstructured surfaces.
AB  - Here we report on an efficient light-coupling scheme with a periodic
      microstructured surface to enhance the performance of thin film silicon solar
      cells. The centerpiece of the surface structure is the hemispherical pit arrays
      (HPAs), which are fabricated using an inexpensive and scalable process. The
      integration of HPAs into micromorph tandem thin film silicon solar cells leads to
      superior broadband reflection suppression properties. With this design, the
      reflection losses of the tandem cell are reduced to only 1.5%. We demonstrate an
      efficiency increase from 11.67% to 12.23% compared to a conventional cell with a
      flat surface, with a 4.6% increase in short circuit current density. The surface
      microstructures reported here can be applied to a variety of photovoltaic devices
      to further improve their performance. 

PMID- 25831316
TI  - Light-shift-modulated photon-echo.
AB  - We show that the AC-Stark shift (light-shift) is a powerful and versatile tool to
      control the emission of a photon-echo in the context of optical storage. As a
      proof-of-principle, we demonstrate that the photon-echo efficiency can be fully
      modulated by applying light-shift control pulses in an erbium-doped solid. The
      control of the echo emission is attributed to the spatial gradient induced by the
      light-shift beam. 

PMID- 25831317
TI  - Strong enhancement of nano-sized circularly polarized light using an aperture
      antenna with V-groove structures.
AB  - We present a new type of aperture antenna with V-groove structures that are made
      of Au to enhance strong circularly polarized light (CPL). Simulations using the
      finite element method revealed that strong CPL was enhanced within the aperture
      with a diameter of 10 nm. The intensity of the electric field was enhanced and
      was 22,700 times greater than that of the incident light. The channel plasmon
      polaritons generated in the V-groove structures were responsible for the strong
      enhancement. The influence of the angle and length of the V-groove on the
      enhancement of the CPL was investigated. 

PMID- 25831318
TI  - Self-adaptive vibrometry with CMOS-LCOS digital holography.
AB  - A self-adaptive interferometer based on digital holography is here reported for
      applications involving measurements of very small amplitude vibrations. The two
      beam coupling gain is optimized through an electronic feedback, while the dynamic
      character of the hologram allows reaching a high sensitivity of the
      interferometric measurements even in unstable environments and with strongly
      distorted wave-fronts. The frequency bandwidth of the adaptive interferometer and
      its spatial resolution are determined, respectively, by the maximum frame rate
      and the pixel size of the camera and of the spatial light modulator used to build
      the digital holographic setup. 

PMID- 25831319
TI  - Diffraction of waves by a boundary between two half-planes with different
      resistivities.
AB  - The solution of the diffraction problem of waves by a junction between two
      resistive half-screens is obtained by using the wedge diffraction field
      expression, introduced by Maliuzhinets [Ann. Phys.461, 107 (1960)]. The two half
      planes, located at the same coordinate plane, have different surface
      resistivities. The new field expression is compared with the solution of Senior
      ["Diffraction by a material junction,"
      http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/21043] for the scattered waves. The
      important aspects of the approach are discussed in the light of the numerical
      results. 

PMID- 25831320
TI  - Kinetics of optically pumped Kr metastables.
AB  - Optically-pumped atomic gas lasers that utilize metastable excited states of rare
      gas atoms (Rg(*)) have been demonstrated using both pulsed and CW pump sources.
      These devices resemble diode-pumped alkali vapor lasers, but have the advantage
      of using a chemically inert lasing medium. Collisional energy transfer is needed
      to sustain a population inversion, and He is used as the transfer agent.
      Consequently, values for the Kr(*)+He state-to-state energy transfer rate
      constants are needed for the analysis and prediction of laser performance
      characteristics. In the present study, we report He energy transfer rate
      constants for Kr(*) in the 5p[5/2](2), 5p[5/2](3), 5p[1/2](1), and 5s[3/2](1)
      states.

PMID- 25831321
TI  - Multiple quasi-phase-matching in nonlinear Raman-Nath diffraction.
AB  - The method of the superposition of a nonlinearity modulation is employed to
      design a two-dimensional (2D) nonlinear photonic lattice for efficient multiple
      quasi-phase-matched second harmonic generation in the process of nonlinear Raman
      Nath diffraction (NRND). An analytical solution is proposed to calculate the
      second harmonic intensity in rectangular 2D lattices. This approach can be useful
      for the generation of multiple second harmonic beams with the efficiency a few
      orders of magnitude higher than in the case of nonphase-matched generation via
      NRND. 

PMID- 25831322
TI  - Effect of intrinsic surface roughness on the efficiency of intermodal phase
      matching in silica optical nanofibers.
AB  - We investigate the effect of intrinsic surface roughness associated to frozen
      thermal oscillations from the fiber fabrication process on the efficiency of
      third-harmonic generation via intermodal phase matching in silica nanofibers.
      Already a periodic wave with roughness of 0.2 nm reduces the efficiency by
      roughly 50% in a 1-mm optical nanofiber, with the divergence growing
      quadratically with distance. The surface wave period does not exhibit a large
      impact on the efficiency, due to averaging effects. However, both the location of
      the surface waves with respect to the phase matching radius as well as the
      surface wave amplitude have substantial effect on the efficiency, with the former
      presenting the possibility of transferring the power back to the pump wavelength.
      Simulations with a realistic superposition of random surface waves indicate that
      the conversion efficiency increases only for a few mm of propagation and reaches
      a maximum of less than 1%. 

PMID- 25831323
TI  - Dual-mode-locking mechanism for an akinetic dispersive ring cavity swept source.
AB  - A fast dual-mode-locked akinetic optical swept source in the 1550-nm wavelength
      band is presented that is tested up to a sweep rate of 797 KHz. It comprises a
      voltage-controlled oscillator-driven wideband semiconductor optical amplifier
      (SOA) along with a dispersion compensation fiber, in a ring laser configuration.
      A Faraday rotating mirror is employed in the cavity as a reflective element in
      order to achieve better polarization control. By driving the SOA at a high-MHz
      frequency value multiple of the resonant frequency f(R), equal to the inverse
      round trip time, a first-mode locking mechanism is imposed. A second locking
      mechanism consists in sweeping the radio frequency of the locking signal at a
      rate slightly detuned from f(R). A dynamic linewidth of 0.8 nm is assessed by
      measuring the decay of interference signal strength versus optical path
      difference in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

PMID- 25831324
TI  - Phase noise measurement of wideband microwave sources based on a microwave
      photonic frequency down-converter.
AB  - An approach for phase noise measurement of microwave signal sources based on a
      microwave photonic frequency down-converter is proposed. Using the same optical
      carrier, the microwave signal under test is applied to generate two +1st-order
      optical sidebands by two stages of electro-optical modulations. A time delay is
      introduced between the two sidebands through a span of fiber. By beating the two
      +1st-order sidebands at a photodetector, frequency down-conversion is
      implemented, and phase noise of the signal under test can be calculated
      thereafter. The system has a very large operation bandwidth thanks to the
      frequency conversion in the optical domain, and good phase noise measurement
      sensitivity can be achieved since the signal degradation caused by electrical
      amplifiers is avoided. An experiment is carried out. The phase noise measured by
      the proposed system agrees well with that measured by a commercial spectrum
      analyzer or provided by the datasheet. A large operation bandwidth of 5-40 GHz is
      demonstrated using the proposed system. Moreover, good phase noise floor is
      achieved (-123  dBc/Hz at 1 kHz and -137  dBc/Hz at 10 kHz at 10 GHz), which is
      nearly constant over the full measurement range. 

PMID- 25831326
TI  - Broadband near-to-shot-noise suppression of arbitrary cw-laser excess intensity
      noise in the gigahertz range.
AB  - Broadband near-to-shot-noise suppression of the intensity noise from a continuous
      wave (cw) fiber laser at 1550 nm is demonstrated at GHz-frequencies using feed
      forward phase-matched destructive noise interference impressed onto the optical
      signal with a fiber electro-optic power modulator. The scheme is independent of
      the laser frequency and therefore is suitable for tunable lasers. It can be used
      with some modifications after an optical fiber-amplifier boosting a cw laser
      signal. A noise residual of down to 2 dB above the shot-noise was measured, which
      is about 2 dB below the prediction with a rigorous noise model. While the total
      laser noise can be removed, inclusive shot noise, because the latter is still 10
      dB above the thermal noise, the power splitter introduces some partition noise
      above the shot level. In that case, a sub-shot-noise suppression scheme should be
      possible by replacing the photon anti-correlation of the power splitter by the co
      correlation obtained from a paired photon or twin beam source. 

PMID- 25831325
TI  - Impact of substrate pits on laser-induced damage performance of 1064-nm high
      reflective coatings.
AB  - The laser damage resistance of coatings in high-power laser systems depends
      significantly on the surface quality of the substrate. In our experiment, pits
      were precisely fabricated on the surface of fused silica substrate using a
      femtosecond laser processing bench. The HfO<sub>2</sub>/SiO<sub>2</sub> high
      reflective coatings at 1064 nm were deposited by conventional e-beam evaporation
      onto fused silica substrates with and without pits, respectively. The internal
      crack that was induced by the substrate geometrical structure was first observed
      in our experiment. The laser-induced damage threshold test showed negative
      effects of the substrate pits on the laser resistance of high-reflective
      coatings. Simulations by the finite element method were carried out, and results
      demonstrated that the modulation of a high reflector multilayer geometry could
      lead to electrical-field amplification and reduce laser damage resistance.
      Combined with its poor mechanical properties, the pits on substrate could
      contribute to the occurrence of damages. 

PMID- 25831327
TI  - Enhanced intermodal four-wave mixing for visible and near-infrared wavelength
      generation in a photonic crystal fiber.
AB  - We demonstrate experimentally an enhanced intermodal four-wave mixing (FWM)
      process through coupling positively chirped femtosecond pulses into the deeply
      normal dispersion region of the fundamental mode of an in-house fabricated
      photonic crystal fiber (PCF). In the intermodal phase-matching scheme, the energy
      of the pump waves at 800 nm in the fundamental mode is efficiently converted into
      the anti-Stokes waves around 553 nm and the Stokes waves within the wavelength
      range of 1445-1586 nm in the second-order mode. The maximum conversion efficiency
      of eta(as) and eta(s) of anti-Stokes and Stokes waves can be up to 21% and 16%,
      respectively. The Stokes frequency shift Omega is 5580  cm(-1). The fiber bending
      and intermodal walk-off effect of pulses do not have significant influence on the
      nonlinear optical process.

PMID- 25831328
TI  - Radiocarbon dioxide detection based on cavity ring-down spectroscopy and a
      quantum cascade laser.
AB  - Monitoring of radiocarbon (C14) in carbon dioxide is demonstrated using mid
      infrared spectroscopy and a quantum cascade laser. The measurement is based on
      cavity ring-down spectroscopy, and a high sensitivity is achieved with a simple
      setup. The instrument was tested using a standardized sample containing elevated
      levels of radiocarbon. Radiocarbon dioxide could be detected from samples with an
      isotopic ratio C14/C as low as 50 parts-per-trillion, corresponding to an
      activity of 5  kBq/m(3) in pure CO(2), or 2  Bq/m(3) in air after extraction of
      the CO(2) from an air sample. The instrument is simple, compact, and robust,
      making it the ideal tool for on-site measurements. It is aimed for monitoring
      radioactive gaseous emissions in a nuclear power environment, during the
      operation and decommissioning of nuclear power plants. Its high sensitivity also
      makes it the ideal tool for the detection of leaks in radioactive waste
      repositories.

PMID- 25831329
TI  - Fabrication of low-stray-light gratings by broad-beam scanning exposure in the
      direction perpendicular to the grating grooves.
AB  - Previous research on making low-stray-light gratings is mainly focused on process
      steps after the photoresist mask has been made. We propose to improve the quality
      of the photoresist mask directly in exposure. We present a broad-beam scanning
      exposure method along the grating vector (i.e., in the direction perpendicular to
      the grating grooves), utilizing a reference grating clamped below the substrate
      on the translation stage for phase and attitude locking. Scanning-exposed
      gratings with a size of 40  mm*40  mm are successfully made, which have
      straighter grooves and smoother surfaces, and their stray light levels around the
      first and second diffraction orders are decreased significantly.

PMID- 25831330
TI  - In vivo optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy using glancing angle
      deposited nanostructured Fabry-Perot etalons.
AB  - In this Letter, reflection-mode optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR
      PAM) using glancing angle-deposited (GLAD) nanostructured Fabry-Perot
      interferometers (FPI) for in vivo applications is reported. GLAD is a single-step
      physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique used to fabricate porous nanostructured
      thin films. Using titanium dioxide, a transparent semiconductor with a high
      refractive index (n=2.4), the GLAD technique can be employed to fabricate samples
      with tailored nano-porosity, refractive index periodicities, and high Q-factor
      reflectance spectra. The OR-PAM in vivo images of chorioallantoic membrane (CAM)
      of 5-day chicken embryo model are demonstrated. The phantom study shows lateral
      resolution and signal-to-noise ratio better than 7 MUm and 35 dB, respectively.
      The sensitive GLAD FPI allows photoacoustic imaging down to a few-nJ pulse
      energy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a FPI-based
      reflection mode optical resolution photoacoustic imaging technique is
      demonstrated for in vivo applications. 

PMID- 25831331
TI  - Third-harmonic generation microscopy reveals dental anatomy in ancient fossils.
AB  - Fossil teeth are primary tools in the study of vertebrate evolution, but standard
      imaging modalities have not been capable of providing high-quality images in
      dentin, the main component of teeth, owing to small refractive index differences
      in the fossilized dentin. Our first attempt to use third-harmonic generation
      (THG) microscopy in fossil teeth has yielded significant submicrometer level
      anatomy, with an unexpectedly strong signal contrasting fossilized tubules from
      the surrounding dentin. Comparison between fossilized and extant teeth of
      crocodilians reveals a consistent evolutionary signature through time, indicating
      the great significance of THG microscopy in the evolutionary studies of dental
      anatomy in fossil teeth. 

PMID- 25831332
TI  - Frequency-agile dual-frequency lidar for integrated coherent radar-lidar
      architectures.
AB  - We propose a novel architecture for implementing a dual-frequency lidar (DFL)
      exploiting differential Doppler shift measurement. The two frequency tones,
      needed for target velocity measurements, are selected from the spectrum of a mode
      locked laser operating in the C-band. The tones' separation is easily controlled
      by using a programmable wavelength selective switch, thus allowing for a dynamic
      trade-off among robustness to atmospheric turbulence and sensitivity. Speed
      measurements for different tone separations equal to 10, 40, 80, and 160 GHz are
      demonstrated, proving the system's capability of working in different
      configurations. Thanks to the acquisition system based on an analog-to-digital
      converter and digital-signal processing, real-time velocity measurements are
      demonstrated. The MLL-based proposed architecture enables the integration of the
      DFL with a photonic-based radar that exploits the same laser for generating and
      receiving radio-frequency signal with high performance, thus allowing for
      simultaneous or complementary target observations by exploiting the advantages of
      both radar and lidar. 

PMID- 25831333
TI  - Temperature characteristics of silicon core optical fiber Fabry-Perot
      interferometer.
AB  - Silicon core optical fiber expanded silicon photonics to specialty fiber
      platform. Although great challenges still exist for the fiber fabrication, the
      presence of semiconductor material has already given optical fiber new features
      and enormous possibilities for fiber-based devices and sensors. In this Letter,
      an all fiber silicon cavity Fabry-Perot interferometer was made by splicing
      silicon core silica cladding fiber with conventional single-mode silica fiber.
      The cavity shows high temperature sensitivity around 82 pm/ degrees C due to the
      larger thermo-optical coefficient of silicon material compared with that of
      silica material. 

PMID- 25831334
TI  - Rogue waves in a normal-dispersion fiber laser.
AB  - Experimental evidence of rogue-wave formation in a normal-dispersion ytterbium
      fiber laser is reported. Spectral filtering is a primary component of pulse
      shaping in normal-dispersion lasers, and we find that the choice of filter
      dramatically influences the distribution of noise-pulse energies produced by
      these lasers. With an interference filter in the cavity, non-Gaussian
      distributions with pulses as large as 6 times the significant wave height are
      observed. These correspond to pulse energies as high as ~50  nJ. To our
      knowledge, the results presented are not accounted for by existing theoretical
      models of rogue-wave formation. 

PMID- 25831335
TI  - Optical coherence photoacoustic microscopy for in vivo multimodal retinal
      imaging.
AB  - We developed an optical coherence photoacoustic microscopy (OC-PAM) system, which
      can accomplish optical coherence tomography (OCT) and photoacoustic microscopy
      (PAM) simultaneously by using a single pulsed broadband light source. With a
      center wavelength of 800 nm and a bandwidth of 30 nm, the system is suitable for
      imaging the retina. Generated from the same group of photons, the OCT and PAM
      images are intrinsically registered in the lateral directions. To test the
      capabilities of the system on multimodal ophthalmic imaging, we imaged the retina
      of pigmented rats. The OCT images showed the retinal structures with quality
      similar to conventional OCT, while the PAM images revealed the distribution of
      absorbers in the retina. Since the absorption of hemoglobin is relatively weak at
      around 800 nm, the NIR PAM signals are generated mainly from melanin in the
      posterior segment of the eye, thus providing melanin-specific imaging of the
      retina. 

PMID- 25831336
TI  - 463-MHz fundamental mode-locked fiber laser based on few-layer MoS(2) saturable
      absorber.
AB  - We report on the passive-mode-locking operation of a fiber laser with a
      fundamental repetition rate of 463 MHz based on molybdenum disulfide (MoS(2))
      saturable absorber (SA). By embedding MoS(2) into polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) thin
      film, MoS(2)-PVA SA was prepared with a modulation depth of 2.7% and a saturation
      intensity of 137  MW/cm(2). The mode-locked fiber laser-employed MoS(2)-PVA SA
      was achieved with center wavelength of 1556.3 nm, 3-dB bandwidth of 6.1 nm,
      output power of 5.9 mW, and an extinction ratio of up to 97 dB in the RF
      spectrum. The demonstration of mode-locking operation with high fundamental
      repetition rate and high spectral purity indicates that MoS(2)-PVA SA can be a
      good candidate for high-precision ultrafast applications.

PMID- 25831337
TI  - Heterogeneously integrated III-V laser on thin SOI with compact optical vertical
      interconnect access.
AB  - A new heterogeneously integrated III-V/Si laser structure is reported in this
      report that consists of a III-V ridge waveguide gain section on silicon, III-V/Si
      optical vertical interconnect accesses (VIAs), and silicon-on-insulator (SOI)
      nanophotonic waveguide sections. The III-V semiconductor layers are introduced on
      top of the 300-nm-thick SOI layer through low temperature, plasma-assisted direct
      wafer-bonding and etched to form a III-V ridge waveguide on silicon as the gain
      section. The optical VIA is formed by tapering the III-V and the beneath SOI in
      the same direction with a length of 50 MUm for efficient coupling of light down
      to the 600 nm wide silicon nanophotonic waveguide or vice versa. Fabrication
      details and specification characterizations of this heterogeneous III-V/Si Fabry
      Perot (FP) laser are given. The fabricated FP laser shows a continuous-wave
      lasing with a threshold current of 65 mA at room temperature, and the slope
      efficiency from single facet is 144  mW/A. The maximal single facet emitting
      power is about 4.5 mW at a current of 100 mA, and the side-mode suppression ratio
      is ~30  dB. This new heterogeneously integrated III-V/Si laser structure
      demonstrated enables more complex laser configuration with a sub-system on-chip
      for various applications.

PMID- 25831338
TI  - Brewster effect in metafilms composed of bi-anisotropic split-ring resonators.
AB  - The Brewster effect is extended to single-layer metafilms. In contrast to bulk
      media, the Brewster effect in metafilms can be realized by tailoring the
      radiation pattern of a distribution of meta-atoms rather than the effective
      medium parameters. A metafilm composed of bi-anisotropic split-ring resonators is
      designed based on the theory, and its characteristics are numerically analyzed.
      The simulation demonstrates that there exists a condition for which the
      polarization of the reflected wave becomes independent of the incident
      polarization at a particular angle of incidence. 

PMID- 25831339
TI  - Volume integrated phase modulator based on funnel waveguides for reconfigurable
      miniaturized optical circuits.
AB  - We demonstrate the integration of a miniaturized 30(x)  MUm*30(y)  MUm*2.7(z)  mm
      electro-optic phase modulator operating in the near-IR (lambda=980  nm) based on
      the electro-activation of a funnel waveguide inside a paraelectric sample of
      photorefractive potassium lithium tantalate niobate. The modulator forms a basic
      tassel in the realization of miniaturized reconfigurable optical circuits
      embedded in a single solid-state three-dimensional chip.

PMID- 25831340
TI  - Image quality improvement by the structured light illumination method in an
      optical readout cantilever array infrared imaging system.
AB  - The structured light illumination method is applied in an optical readout
      uncooled infrared imaging system to improve the IR image quality. The unavoidable
      nonuniform distribution of the initial bending angles of the bimaterial
      cantilever pixels in the focal plane array (FPA) can be well compensated by this
      method. An ordinary projector is used to generate structured lights of different
      intensity distribution. The projected light is divided into patches of
      rectangular regions, and the brightness of each region can be set automatically
      according to the deflection angles of the FPA and the light intensity focused on
      the imaging plane. By this method, the FPA image on the CCD plane can be much
      more uniform and the image quality of the IR target improved significantly. A
      comparative experiment is designed to verify the effectiveness. The theoretical
      analysis and experimental results show that the proposed structured light
      illumination method outperforms the conventional one, especially when it is
      difficult to perfect the FPA fabrication. 

PMID- 25831341
TI  - Plane-wave decomposition of spatially random fields.
AB  - We investigate the uniqueness of the plane-wave decomposition of temporally
      deterministic, spatially random fields. Specifically, we consider the
      decomposition of spatially ergodic and, thus, statistically homogeneous fields.
      We show that when the spatial power spectrum is injective, the plane waves are
      the only possible coherent modes. Furthermore, the randomness of such fields
      originates in the spatial spectral phase, i.e., the phase associated with the
      coefficients of each plane wave in the expansion. By contrast, the spectral
      amplitude is deterministic and is specified by the spatial power spectrum. We end
      with a discussion showing how the results can be translated in full to the time
      domain. 

PMID- 25831342
TI  - High-power femtosecond mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator at 7  MUm based
      on CdSiP(2).
AB  - We report a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) for the mid-infrared
      (mid-IR), generating a record average power of 110 mW at 7 MUm. The OPO, based on
      CdSiP(2) (CSP) as the nonlinear crystal, provides idler wavelength tuning across
      6540-7186 nm with spectral bandwidths >400  nm at -10  dB level over the entire
      range, and a maximum bandwidth of 478 nm at 6.9 MUm. To the best of our
      knowledge, this is the highest average power generated from a femtosecond OPO in
      the deep mid-IR. The OPO also provides near-IR signal wavelengths tunable across
      1204-1212 nm with a usable power of 450 mW in 418-fs pulses at 1207 nm. The
      simultaneously measured signal and idler power exhibit a passive stability better
      than 1.6% rms and 3% rms, respectively. A mid-IR idler spectral stability with a
      standard deviation of the frequency fluctuations better than 40 MHz over 15 min,
      limited by the measurement resolution, is realized. Using the mid-IR idler from
      the CSP OPO, we perform Fourier-transform spectroscopy to detect liquid phase
      organic solvent, toluene (C(7)H(8)), in the molecular fingerprint region.

PMID- 25831344
TI  - Swept optical SSB-SC modulation technique for high-resolution large-dynamic-range
      static strain measurement using FBG-FP sensors.
AB  - This Letter presents a static strain demodulation technique for FBG-FP sensors
      using a suppressed carrier LiNbO(3) (LN) optical single sideband (SSB-SC)
      modulator. A narrow-linewidth tunable laser source is generated by driving the
      modulator using a linear chirp signal. Then this tunable single-frequency laser
      is used to interrogate the FBG-FP sensors with the Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH)
      technique, which is beneficial to eliminate the influence of light intensity
      fluctuation of the modulator at different tuning frequencies. The static strain
      is demodulated by calculating the wavelength difference of the PDH signals
      between the sensing FBG-FP sensor and the reference FBG-FP sensor. As an
      experimental result using the modulator, the linearity (R<sup>2</sup>) of the
      time-frequency response increases from 0.989 to 0.997, and the frequency-swept
      range (dynamic range) increases from hundreds of MHz to several GHz compared with
      commercial PZT-tunable lasers. The high-linearity time-wavelength relationship of
      the modulator is beneficial for improving the strain measurement resolution, as
      it can solve the problem of the frequency-swept nonlinearity effectively. In the
      laboratory test, a 0.67 nanostrain static strain resolution, with a 6 GHz dynamic
      range, is demonstrated.

PMID- 25831343
TI  - Reconfigurable nonblocking 4-port silicon thermo-optic optical router based on
      Mach-Zehnder optical switches.
AB  - We demonstrate a reconfigurable nonblocking 4-port silicon thermo-optic optical
      router based on Mach-Zehnder optical switches. For all optical links in its 9
      routing states, the optical signal-to-noise ratios are larger than 15 dB in the
      wavelength range from 1525 to 1565 nm. Each optical link of the optical router
      can manipulate 50 wavelength-division-multiplexing channels with the data rate of
      32 Gbps for each channel in the same wavelength range. Its average energy
      efficiency is about 16.3 fJ/bit, and its response time is about 19 MUs.

PMID- 25831345
TI  - Low-loss partial rib polarization rotator consisting only of silicon core and
      silica cladding.
AB  - We present a low-loss and small-footprint polarization rotator based on mode
      evolution. The polarization rotator is composed of an asymmetric-rib waveguide
      and a tapered waveguide, both of which consist only of a silicon core and a
      silica cladding. The rotator is fabricated under the same design rules as other
      device blocks, such as rib-waveguide phase shifters for photonic integration. The
      polarization rotator is fabricated using CMOS-based processes and provides
      polarization rotations with an on-chip insertion loss lower than 0.5 dB from
      transverse-electric (TE) to transverse-magnetic (TM) polarization and a loss
      lower than 1.0 dB from the TM to TE polarization in a 200 nm wavelength range
      extending over C and L bands. 

PMID- 25831346
TI  - High-energy dissipative solitons generation from a large normal dispersion Er
      fiber laser.
AB  - We report on a passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser featuring a large
      normal dispersion and emitting high-energy dissipative solitons. Mode-locking is
      stabilized by the combined actions of a high nonlinearity amplitude modulator and
      a narrow band spectral filter. The laser routinely delivers highly chirped pulses
      with more than 38 nJ energy that can be compressed down to 700 fs duration using
      bulk gratings. Numerical simulations confirm the experimental results and reveal
      the self-similar pulse evolution along the normal dispersion fibers included
      inside the cavity.

PMID- 25831347
TI  - Determining the vortex densities of random nondiffracting beams.
AB  - The evolutionary and statistical properties of the optical vortices that exist in
      random nondiffracting beams (RNDBs) are analyzed. It is found that the phase
      singularities (PSs) in the RNDBs originate from the zero rings of Bessel beams
      with the same ring-shaped spatial spectrum structure (but with zero phase
      fluctuations) as those of the RNDBs provided. It is also found that the average
      PS density or vortex density is determined by the average duration of the zero
      rings of the corresponding Bessel function. According to this model, we
      successfully derived, for the first time to our knowledge, an analytical formula
      for quantitatively predicting the PS density of the RNDBs. This formula could be
      helpful for understanding and designing RNDBs in their applications. 

PMID- 25831348
TI  - 40-GHz photonic waveform generator by linear shaping of four spectral sidebands.
AB  - We show that the amplitude and phase shaping of only four sidebands of the
      optical spectrum is sufficient to synthesize parabolic, triangular, or flat-top
      pulse trains at high repetition rates. Selection of the symmetric carrier
      suppressed waveform is easily achieved by changing the phase difference between
      the inner and outer spectral lines. Experiments carried out at a repetition rate
      of 40 GHz confirm the high quality of the intensity profiles that are obtained. 

PMID- 25831350
TI  - Nanobump microresonator.
AB  - We introduce a whispering gallery-mode (WGM) nanobump microresonator (NBMR) and
      develop its theory. This microresonator is formed by an asymmetric nanoscale-high
      deformation of the translationally symmetric optical fiber surface, which is
      employed in fabrication of surface nanoscale axial photonics (SNAP) structures.
      It is shown that an NBMR causes strong localization of WGMs near a closed ray
      (geodesic) at the fiber surface, provided that this ray is stable. Our theory
      explains and describes the experimentally observed localization of WGMs by NBMRs
      and is useful for the design and fabrication of SNAP devices. 

PMID- 25831349
TI  - In vivo molecular contrast OCT imaging of methylene blue.
AB  - An 830-nm spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) system with an
      integrated 663-nm diode pump laser has been developed to enable molecular
      contrast OCT imaging of methylene blue (MB), a common vital dye used clinically.
      The introduction of the 663-nm diode laser, which acts as the pump in this
      implementation of pump-probe OCT (PPOCT), represents a minor modification to an
      otherwise typical OCT system. A newly developed background subtraction technique
      completely removes all background from intensity noise at the pump modulation
      frequency, simplifying the interpretation of PPOCT images. These developments
      have enabled the first in vivo imaging of MB with PPOCT. Volumetric images of a
      zebrafish, stained by submersion in a 0.01% (w/v) solution of MB for 6 h, show
      accumulation of MB in the mesonephros, the primordial filtration organ. 

PMID- 25831351
TI  - Hydrated-electron resonance enhancement O-H stretching vibration of water hexamer
      at air-water interface.
AB  - Raman scattering of the O-H stretching vibration mode inside water, as well as
      near and at the air-water interface, was investigated by laser-induced breakdown
      (LIB). An intense and characteristic higher wavenumber Raman shift of the O-H
      vibration was observed at the air-water interface, which was attributed to the
      hydrated-electron resonance enhancement of the O-H stretching vibration mode of
      water hexamer. The hydrated electron in the water hexamer structure was formed by
      excess electrons injected into the gas-like phase with low hydrogen bond order
      under LIB. The electron-phonon coupled mechanism was discussed. 

PMID- 25831352
TI  - Incoherent-light temporal stretching of high-speed intensity waveforms: comment.
AB  - Time lens and pinhole time camera imaging systems can effectively image both
      coherent and incoherent (large time-bandwidth product) waveforms. Broadband,
      coherent light pulses used to create quadratic phase modulation in the parametric
      time lens are but one class of several time lens mechanisms and are independent
      of the time-bandwidth nature of the input waveform unless derived from the same
      source in an experimental demonstration. Clarification of these points, made in
      an earlier paper [Opt. Lett.39, 4243 (2014)10.1364/OL.39.004243OPLEDP0146-9592],
      is presented.

PMID- 25831353
TI  - Incoherent-light temporal stretching of high-speed intensity waveforms: reply to
      comment.
AB  - This is a reply to the recent comment [Opt. Lett.40, 1438
      (2015)10.1364/OL.40.001438OPLEDP0146-9592] by Brian H. Kolner. We offer some
      additional explanations for his clarifications. 

PMID- 25831354
TI  - Two-photon-induced Forster resonance energy transfer in a hybrid material
      engineered from quantum dots and bacteriorhodopsin.
AB  - Energy transfer from nanostructures to biological supramolecular photosystems is
      an important fundamental issue related to the possible influence of nanoobjects
      on biological functions. We demonstrate here two-photon-induced Forster resonance
      energy transfer (FRET) from fluorescent CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) to the
      photosensitive protein bacteriorhodopsin (bR) in a QD-bR hybrid material. The two
      photon absorption cross section of QDs has been found to be about two orders of
      magnitude larger than that of bR. Therefore, highly selective two-photon
      excitation of QDs in QD-bR complexes is possible. Moreover, the efficiency of
      FRET from QDs to bR is sufficient to initiate bR photoconversion through two
      photon excitation of QDs in the infrared spectral region. The data demonstrate
      that the effective spectral range in which the bR biological function is excited
      can be extended beyond the band where the protein itself utilizes light energy,
      which could open new ways to use this promising biotechnological material. 

PMID- 25831355
TI  - Closed-form expressions for nonparaxial accelerating beams with pre-engineered
      trajectories.
AB  - In this Letter, we propose a general real-space method for the generation of
      nonparaxial accelerating beams with arbitrary predefined convex trajectories. Our
      results lead to closed-form expressions for the required phase at the input
      plane. We present such closed-form results for a variety of caustic curves:
      beside circular, elliptic, and parabolic, we find for the first time general
      power-law and exponential trajectories. Furthermore, by changing the initial
      amplitude, we can design different intensity profiles along the caustic. 

PMID- 25831356
TI  - Reconfigurable dual-channel all-optical logic gate in a silicon waveguide using
      polarization encoding.
AB  - A reconfigurable dual-channel all-optical logic gate is proposed and
      experimentally demonstrated using four-wave mixing in a silicon waveguide for
      polarization encoding signals. Six logic functions, XNOR, AND, NOR, XOR, AB-, and
      A-B are implemented at two different wavelength channels by adjusting the
      polarization states of two 10 Gb/s non-return-to-zero polarization-shift keying
      (NRZ-PolSK) signals modulated by 10-bit on-off keying (OOK) sequences. The eye
      diagrams of the logic signals are clearly observed, and the logic functions are
      well demonstrated as the two incident NRZ-PolSK signals are both modulated by the
      OOK sequences, which originate from 2(31)-1 pseudo-random binary sequences.

PMID- 25831357
TI  - Ultra-compact TE and TM pass polarizers based on vanadium dioxide on silicon.
AB  - Vanadium dioxide (VO(2)) is a metal-insulator transition (MIT) oxide recently
      used in plasmonics, metamaterials, and reconfigurable photonics. Because of the
      MIT, VO(2)shows great change in its refractive index allowing for ultra-compact
      devices with low power consumption. We theoretically demonstrate a transverse
      electric (TE) and a transverse magnetic (TM) pass polarizer with an ultra-compact
      length of only 1 MUm and tunable using the MIT of the VO<sub>2</sub>. During the
      insulating phase, both devices exhibit insertion losses below 2 dB at 1550 nm.
      Changing to the metallic phase, the unwanted polarization is attenuated above 15
      dB while insertion losses are kept below 3 dB. Broadband operation over a range
      of 60 nm is also achieved.

PMID- 25831358
TI  - Simple way to analyze Brillouin spectra from turbid liquids.
AB  - The shape of the Brillouin light-scattering spectrum recorded from turbid liquids
      is distinctly distorted compared to that from a transparent sample. The reason
      for this is the multiple scattering of light within the medium. The usual
      expression for the Brillouin spectrum does not apply to the multiple scattering
      situation. In this Letter, we consider a Brillouin spectrum from opaque samples
      composed of a distribution of spectra resulting from elementary scattering
      events, each occurring in single scattering vector conditions. We introduce a one
      parameter test function to define the probability distribution of scattering
      events occurring at a given value of the scattering vector. The proposed
      procedure was tested on model liquids that consisted of suspensions of sub
      micrometer spherical particles of different size and concentration, dispersed in
      different carrier liquids and studied as a function of temperature. Our analysis
      made it possible to account for the effect of multiple scattering and to recover
      the values of mechanical parameters describing the pure solvents. 

PMID- 25831359
TI  - Effect of scattering loss on connections between classical and quantum processes
      in second-order nonlinear waveguides.
AB  - We show that a useful connection exists between spontaneous parametric
      downconversion (SPDC) and sum frequency generation in nonlinear optical
      waveguides with arbitrary scattering loss, while the same does not hold true for
      SPDC and difference frequency generation. This result refines the relationship
      between these quantum and classical second-order nonlinear optical processes in
      waveguides, and identifies the most accurate characterization of a waveguide's
      quantum performance in the presence of loss based solely on classical
      measurements. 

PMID- 25831360
TI  - Actively mode-locked Tm(3+)-doped silica fiber laser with wavelength-tunable,
      high average output power.
AB  - A diode-pumped, actively mode-locked high-power thulium (Tm<sup>3+</sup>)-doped
      double-clad silica fiber laser is demonstrated, providing an average output power
      in mode-locked (continuous wave) operation of 53 W (72 W) with a slope efficiency
      of 34% (38%). Mode-locking in the 6th-harmonic order was obtained by an acousto
      optic modulator driven at 66 MHz without dispersion compensation. The shortest
      measured output pulse width was 200 ps. Owing to a diffraction grating as cavity
      end mirror, the central wavelength could be tuned from 1.95 to 2.13 MUm. The
      measured beam quality in mode-locked and continuous wave operation has been close
      to the diffraction limit.

PMID- 25831361
TI  - Compact fiber-optic curvature sensor based on super-mode interference in a seven
      core fiber.
AB  - A compact, low loss, and highly sensitive optical fiber curvature sensor is
      presented. The device consists of a few-millimeter-long piece of seven-core fiber
      spliced between two single-mode fibers. When the optical fiber device is kept
      straight, a pronounced interference pattern appears in the transmission spectrum.
      However, when the device is bent, a spectral shift of the interference pattern is
      produced, and the visibility of the interference notches changes. This allows for
      using either visibility or spectral shift for sensor interrogation. The dynamic
      range of the device can be tailored through the proper selection of the length of
      the seven-core fiber. The effects of temperature and refractive index of the
      external medium on the response of the curvature sensor are also discussed.
      Linear sensitivity of about 3000  nm/mm(-1) for bending was observed
      experimentally.

PMID- 25831362
TI  - Hybrid M-mode-like OCT imaging of three-dimensional microvasculature in vivo
      using reference-free processing of complex valued B-scans.
AB  - We propose a novel OCT-based method for visualizing microvasculature in three
      dimension using reference-free processing of individual complex valued B-scans
      with highly overlapped A-scans. In the lateral direction of such a B-scan, the
      amplitude and phase of speckles corresponding to vessel regions exhibit faster
      variability and, thus, can be detected without comparison with other B-scans
      recorded in the same plane. This method combines elements of several existing OCT
      angiographic approaches and exhibits: (1) enhanced robustness with respect to
      bulk tissue motion with frequencies up to tens of Hz, (2) resolution of
      microcirculation images equal to that of structural images, and (3) possibility
      of quantifying the vessels in terms of their decorrelation rates. 

PMID- 25831363
TI  - Time-dependent variation of fiber Bragg grating reflectivity in PMMA-based
      polymer optical fibers.
AB  - In this Letter, we investigate the effects of viscoelasticity on both the
      strength and resonance wavelength of two fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) inscribed in
      microstructured polymer optical fiber (mPOF) made of undoped PMMA. Both FBGs were
      inscribed under a strain of 1% in order to increase the material
      photosensitivity. After the inscription, the strain was released, and the FBGs
      spectra were monitored. We initially observed a decrease of the reflection down
      to zero after which it began to increase. After that, strain tests were carried
      out to confirm the results, and finally the gratings were monitored for a further
      120 days, with a stable reflection response being observed beyond 50 days. 

PMID- 25831364
TI  - Heterogeneously integrated 2.0 MUm CW hybrid silicon lasers at room temperature.
AB  - Here we experimentally demonstrate room temperature, continuous-wave (CW), 2.0
      MUm wavelength lasers heterogeneously integrated on silicon. Molecular wafer
      bonding of InP to Si is employed. These hybrid silicon lasers operate CW up to 35
      degrees C and emit up to 4.2 mW of single-facet CW power at room temperature. III
      V tapers transfer light from a hybrid III-V/silicon optical mode into a Si
      waveguide mode. These lasers enable the realization of a number of sensing and
      detection applications in compact silicon photonic systems. 

PMID- 25831365
TI  - Characterization and mitigation of phase-modulation-dependent loss of liquid
      crystal on silicon.
AB  - We characterize the phase-modulation-dependent loss (PMDL) arising from the
      commercial liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) and find that it severely degrades
      the fidelity of mode-selective conversion and orbital-angular-momentum (OAM)
      generation, as well as the performance of LCOS-based wavelength-selective switch
      (WSS). For the LP<sub>11</sub> mode conversion, an offset-launch technique is
      proposed to mitigate such effect. For the LP<sub>l,m</sub> (l>1) mode conversion,
      the superposition of OAMs with conjugation vortices is demonstrated to achieve
      perfect mode conversion. Experimental outcomes verify that both solutions are
      able to improve the fidelity quality factor by at least 15 dB. 

PMID- 25831366
TI  - Few-mode fiber multi-parameter sensor with distributed temperature and strain
      discrimination.
AB  - We propose a unique few-mode fiber (FMF)-based multi-parameter optical-fiber
      sensor for distributed measurement of temperature and strain. We launch a pump
      and a probe signal through specific linearly polarized modes into a FMF, and
      monitor the Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) in each mode. By analyzing the
      temperature and strain coefficients of the BFS of the two lowest order (LP(01),
      LP(11)) modes, discrimination of temperature and strain are successfully
      demonstrated, with an accuracy of 1.2 degrees C and 21.9  MUepsilon.

PMID- 25831367
TI  - Fabrication of highly stable microfiber structures via high-substituted
      hydroxypropyl cellulose coating for device and sensor applications.
AB  - We demonstrate a cost-effective approach to fabricate stable microfiber
      structures taking advantage of high-substituted hydroxypropyl cellulose (H-HPC)
      coating. The microfibers are bent, twisted, or coiled to form desired geometries,
      and then the segments in contact are coated to resist the existing bending or
      twisting stresses to stabilize the structures. Coated devices including a twisted
      Sagnac interferometer, a ring resonator, and a Fabry-Perot cavity have been
      exhibited. Measured result suggests that the coated structures are highly stable
      over 20 days. The thin, low-index coating material allows for a strong evanescent
      field interaction between the mode field and ambient solution. As an example, the
      coated twisted Sagnac interferometer can act as a refractive-index sensor with a
      sensitivity as high as 2600 nm/RIU. The present technique is greatly beneficial
      for long-term working of microfiber devices and sensors and offers a possible
      approach for the development of integrated microphotonic devices and platforms. 

PMID- 25831368
TI  - Multispectral opto-acoustic tomography of exercised muscle oxygenation.
AB  - Unlike near-infrared spectroscopy, multispectral opto-acoustic tomography (MSOT)
      has the potential to offer high-resolution imaging assessment of hemodynamics and
      blood saturation levels in muscle. However motion artifacts impede the real-time
      applications of the technique. We developed fast-MSOT with motion tracking that
      reduces motion artifacts. We used this algorithm to follow blood oxygenation
      level changes associated with muscle exercise in the muscle and the skin of
      healthy volunteers. 

PMID- 25831369
TI  - Enhanced third-harmonic generation in Si-compatible epsilon-near-zero indium tin
      oxide nanolayers.
AB  - We experimentally demonstrate enhanced third-harmonic generation from indium tin
      oxide nanolayers at telecommunication wavelengths with an efficiency that is
      approximately 600 times larger than crystalline silicon (Si). The increased
      optical nonlinearity of the fabricated nanolayers is driven by their epsilon-near
      zero response, which can be tailored on-demand in the near-infrared region. The
      present material platform is obtained without any specialized nanofabrication
      process and is fully compatible with the standard Si-planar technology. The
      proposed approach can lead to largely scalable and highly integrated optical
      nonlinearities in Si-integrated devices for information processing and optical
      sensing applications. 

PMID- 25831370
TI  - Narrow-spectral-linewidth silicon photonic wavelength-tunable laser with highly
      asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer.
AB  - We propose a narrow-spectral-linewidth silicon photonic wavelength-tunable laser
      with a novel external wavelength-tunable filter, which consists of two silicon
      ring resonators with different circumferences and a highly asymmetric Mach
      Zehnder interferometer (MZI), the two optical paths of which have significantly
      different lengths. Calculations and experimental results indicated that the gain
      difference between longitudinal modes was increased by the highly asymmetric MZI.
      Consequently, a narrow spectral linewidth of 12 kHz and a stable single-mode
      oscillation were obtained. 

PMID- 25831371
TI  - High-sensitivity and high-Q-factor glass photonic crystal cavity and its
      applications as sensors.
AB  - We investigate the properties of a planar photonic crystal cavity on glass and
      its applications as sensors. An airbridged twofold defect cavity on Schott glass
      background and Gorilla glass substrate has been designed for high Q-factor up to
      4459. The average sensitivity of the cavity resonance to background refractive
      index is 388 nm/Refractive Index Unit. The resonant wavelength is sensitive to
      background temperature by 18.5 pm/ degrees C. The designed sensors show much
      higher sensitivity than those based on waveguide interferometers or photonic
      bandgap structures without cavity resonance. The results are also useful for
      experimental studies of glass photonic devices. 

PMID- 25831372
TI  - Enhancing near-infrared light absorption in PtSi thin films for Schottky barrier
      IR detectors using moth-eye surface structures.
AB  - Si-based Schottky barrier infrared detectors typically use thin (1-10 nm) PtSi or
      Pd<sub>2</sub>Si layers grown on Si substrates as an absorption medium. Herein,
      we demonstrate the use of sub-wavelength moth-eye (ME) structures on the Si
      substrate of such detectors to enhance absorption of near infrared (NIR) light in
      the active PtSi layer to increase detector efficiency. Absorbance enhancement of
      70%-200% in the lambda=1-2.5  MUm range is demonstrated in crystalline PtSi films
      grown via electron beam evaporation of Pt and subsequent vacuum annealing. Low
      total reflectance (<10%) was measured for ME films, demonstrating the efficacy of
      the ME effect. Effective medium approximation calculations show that absorption
      enhancement at short wavelengths is partially due to forward scattering, which
      increases the effective optical path length in PtSi. Results also suggest that ME
      structuring of substrates is a general and low-cost method to enhance absorption
      in a variety of IR material platforms used for back-illuminated detectors.

PMID- 25831373
TI  - Near-infrared electro-optic modulator based on plasmonic graphene.
AB  - We propose a novel scheme for an electro-optic modulator based on plasmonically
      enhanced graphene. As opposed to previously reported designs where the switchable
      absorption of graphene itself was employed for modulation, here a graphene
      monolayer is used to actively tune the plasmonic resonance condition through the
      modification of interaction between optical field and an indium tin oxide (ITO)
      plasmonic structure. Strong plasmonic resonance in the near infrared wavelength
      region can be supported by accurate design of ITO structures, and tuning the
      graphene chemical potential through electrical gating switches on and off the ITO
      plasmonic resonance. This provides much increased electro-absorption efficiency
      as compared to systems relying only on the tunable absorption of the graphene. 

PMID- 25831374
TI  - Polarization controlled coupling and shaping of surface plasmon polaritons by
      nanoantenna arrays.
AB  - We demonstrate experimentally the use of ordered arrays of nanoantennas for
      polarization controlled plasmonic beam shaping and excitation. Rod- and cross
      shaped nanoantennas are used as local point-like sources of surface plasmon
      polaritons, and the desired phase of the generated plasmonic beam is set directly
      through their spatial arrangement. The polarization selectivity of the optical
      nanoantennas allows us to further control the excitation, enabling the
      realization of a variety of complex and functional plasmonic beam shaping
      elements. We demonstrate this concept by generating plasmonic self-accelerating
      beams, plasmonic bottle beams, and switchable dual-focii plasmonic lenses. The
      freedom in the design and arrangement of these nanoantennas enables us to
      specifically tailor and control the shapes, wavelengths, and coupling
      efficiencies of complex plasmonic beams. 

PMID- 25831375
TI  - Slowing down light to 300  km/s in a deuterium-loaded fiber Bragg grating.
AB  - We report light propagation with a group velocity of only 300  km/s, a group
      index of 1010, and a group delay of 42 ns, in a strong apodized fiber Bragg
      grating 12.5 mm in length. The grating was fabricated in a deuterium-loaded fiber
      using a femtosecond laser and a phase mask, followed by annealing to reduce
      residual losses. Data analysis indicates a strong index modulation of 1.98*10(-3)
      and an ultra-low single-pass power loss of 0.010 dB.

PMID- 25831376
TI  - Polarization control of quantum dot emission by chiral photonic crystal slabs.
AB  - We investigate theoretically the polarization properties of the quantum dot's
      (QDs) optical emission from chiral photonic crystal structures made of achiral
      materials in the absence of external magnetic field at room temperature. The
      mirror symmetry of the local electromagnetic field is broken in this system due
      to the decreased symmetry of the chiral modulated layer. As a result, the
      radiation of randomly polarized QDs normal to the structure becomes partially
      circularly polarized. The sign and degree of circular polarization are determined
      by the geometry of the chiral modulated structure and depend on the radiation
      frequency. A degree of circular polarization up to 99% can be achieved for
      randomly distributed QDs, and can be close to 100% for some single QDs. 

PMID- 25831377
TI  - Single-grating-mirror intracavity stretcher design for chirped pulse regenerative
      amplification.
AB  - We report for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, an innovative design
      concept for intracavity pulse stretching in a regenerative amplifier, employing a
      single "grating-mirror" based on a leaky-mode grating-waveguide design. The very
      compact and flexible layout allows for femtosecond pulses to be in principle
      easily stretched up to nanosecond durations. The design has been tested in a
      diode-pumped Yb:CALGO regenerative amplifier followed by a standard transmission
      grating compressor. Sub-200-fs pulses (stretched pulses ~110  ps) with 205-MUJ
      energy at 20-kHz repetition rate have been demonstrated. In order to prove the
      robustness and potential for energy scaling of leaky-mode grating-waveguide
      intracavity stretcher, we generated stretched pulses with energies of up to ~700 
      MUJ (400-ps long) at a lower repetition rate of 10 kHz. A simple model is
      proposed for the study of the cavity in presence of induced spatial chirp. 

PMID- 25831378
TI  - Mounting with compliant cylinders for deformable mirrors.
AB  - A method is presented to mount large aperture unimorph deformable mirrors by
      compliant cylinders (CC). The CCs are manufactured from a soft silicone, and
      shear testing is performed in order to evaluate the Young's modulus. A scale
      mirror model is assembled to evaluate mount-induced change of piezoelectric
      deformation, and its applicability for tightly focusing mirrors. Experiments do
      not show any decrease of piezoelectric stroke. Further it is shown that the
      changes of surface fidelity by the attachment of the deformable mirror to its
      mount are neglectable. 

PMID- 25831379
TI  - Shot-by-shot imaging of Hong-Ou-Mandel interference with an intensified sCMOS
      camera.
AB  - We report the first observation of Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference of highly
      indistinguishable photon pairs with spatial resolution. Direct imaging of two
      photon coalescence with an intensified sCMOS camera system clearly reveals
      spatially separated photons appearing pairwise within one of the two modes. With
      the use of the camera system, we quantified the number of pairs and recovered the
      full HOM dip yielding 96.3% interference visibility, as well as counted the
      number of coalesced pairs. We retrieved the spatial modes of both interfering
      photons by performing a proof-of-principle demonstration of a new, low-noise,
      high-resolution coincidence imaging scheme. 

PMID- 25831380
TI  - Universal polarization terahertz phase controllers using randomly aligned liquid
      crystal cells with graphene electrodes.
AB  - We present a universal polarization terahertz (THz) phase controller using a
      randomly aligned liquid crystal (LC) cell with graphene electrodes. The LC cell
      was fabricated using a nematic LC and two quartz substrates that were coated with
      a monolayer of graphene as the transparent electrode. The LC in the cell was
      prepared without any alignment treatments and was randomly aligned. The size of
      the random domains and the width of the disclination lines in the LC layer were
      several tens of microns. These textures disappeared when an alternating voltage
      was applied to the LC through the graphene layers. Using a THz time domain
      spectroscopic technique, we investigated the complex transmittance of the LC
      cell. The LC cell was highly transparent in the THz frequency range, and there
      was little change in the transmittance with the applied voltage. This indicated
      that the scattering loss originating in the randomly aligned LC molecules was
      small for the THz waves. We also demonstrated that the THz phase shift could be
      controlled by the applied voltage. The amplitude of the phase shift was explained
      by the ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices of the LC. These LC cells
      with graphene electrodes can be used to realize universal polarization THz phase
      controllers because of the random alignment. 

PMID- 25831381
TI  - Positive operator-valued measure reconstruction of a beam-splitter tree-based
      photon-number-resolving detector.
AB  - Here we present a reconstruction of the positive operator-value measurement of a
      photon-number-resolving detector comprised of three 50?50 beam-splitters in a
      tree configuration, terminated with four single-photon avalanche detectors. The
      four detectors' outputs are processed by an electronic board that discriminates
      detected photon number states from 0 to 4 and implements a "smart counting"
      routine to compensate for dead time issues at high count rates. 

PMID- 25831382
TI  - Distributed feedback and random lasing in DCNP aggregates dispersed in a
      polymeric layer.
AB  - Here, we report on the realization of random lasing (RL) and distributed feedback
      (DFB) lasing in a layer of luminescent 3-(1,1-dicyanoethenyl)-1-phenyl-4,5
      dihydro-1H-pyrazole (DCNP) organic nonlinear optical dye that has been dispersed
      in a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix. The RL phenomenon appears due to
      the presence of spontaneously formed micro- and nano-crystals of DCNP in the bulk
      of the PMMA during the sample preparation. DFB can be realized in an optical
      system by using degenerated two-wave mixing in the pumping beams. The period of
      the interference pattern can be easily changed by changing the intersection angle
      of the pumping beams, resulting in a real time, fully reversible method of DFB
      lasing emission tuning. Because of the two neighboring stimulated emission bands
      of DCNP, it is possible to tune the lasing wavelength over a long range of about
      65 nm. 

PMID- 25831383
TI  - Stimulated Raman scattering and nonlinear focusing of high-power laser beams
      propagating in water.
AB  - The physical processes associated with propagation of a high-power (power >
      critical power for self-focusing) laser beam in water include nonlinear focusing,
      stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), optical breakdown, and plasma formation. The
      interplay between nonlinear focusing and SRS is analyzed for cases where a
      significant portion of the pump power is channeled into the Stokes wave.
      Propagation simulations and an analytical model demonstrate that the Stokes wave
      can re-focus the pump wave after the power in the latter falls below the critical
      power. It is shown that this novel focusing mechanism is distinct from cross
      phase focusing. The phenomenon of gain-focusing discussed here for propagation in
      water is expected to be of general occurrence applicable to any medium supporting
      nonlinear focusing and stimulated Raman scattering. 

PMID- 25831384
TI  - First observation of the temperature-dependent light-induced response of
      Ge(25)As(10)Se(65) thin films.
AB  - Ge-rich ternary chalcogenide glasses (ChGs) exhibit photobleaching (PB) when
      illuminated with bandgap light. This effect originates from the combined effects
      of intrinsic structural changes and photo-oxidation. In a sharp contradiction to
      previous observations, in this Letter, we demonstrate, for the first time, that
      Ge-rich Ge(25)As(10)Se(65) ChG thin films exhibit photodarkening (PD) at 20 K and
      PB at 300 and 420 K after having been continuously illuminated for ~3 hours. The
      temporal evolution of PD/PB shows distinct characteristics at the temperature of
      illumination, and provides valuable information on the light-induced structural
      changes. Furthermore, structure-specific far-infrared (FIR) absorption
      measurements give direct evidence of different structural units involved in PD/PB
      at the contrasting temperatures. By comparing the light-induced effects in vacuum
      and air, we conclude that intrinsic structural changes dominate over photo
      oxidation in the observed PB in Ge(25)As(10)Se(65) ChG thin films.

PMID- 25831385
TI  - Microfluidic channels with ultralow-loss waveguide crossings for various chip
      integrated photonic sensors.
AB  - Traditional silicon waveguides are defined by waveguide trenches on either side
      of the high-index silicon core that leads to fluid leakage orifices for over
      layed microfluidic channels. Closing the orifices needs additional fabrication
      steps which may include oxide deposition and planarization. We experimentally
      demonstrated a new type of microfluidic channel design with ultralow-loss
      waveguide crossings (0.00248 dB per crossings). The waveguide crossings and all
      other on-chip passive-waveguide components are fabricated in one step with no
      additional planarization steps which eliminates any orifices and leads to leak
      free fluid flow. Such designs are applicable in all optical-waveguide-based
      sensing applications where the analyte must be flowed over the sensor. The new
      channel design was demonstrated in a L55 photonic crystal sensor operating
      between 1540 and 1580 nm.

PMID- 25831386
TI  - Kerr optical frequency comb generation in strontium fluoride whispering-gallery
      mode resonators with billion quality factor.
AB  - We report the fabrication for the first time of a strontium fluoride (SrF(2))
      whispering-gallery mode resonator with quality factor in excess of 1 billion. The
      millimeter-size disk-resonator is polished until the surface roughness decreases
      down to a root-mean square value of 1.2 nm, as measured with a vertical scanning
      profilometer. We also demonstrate that this ultrahigh Q resonator allows for the
      generation of a normal-dispersion Kerr optical frequency comb at 1550 nm.

PMID- 25831387
TI  - Plasmon ruler with gold nanorod dimers: utilizing the second-order resonance.
AB  - The idea of utilizing the second-order plasmon resonance of gold nanorod pi
      dimers for plasmon rulers is introduced. We report on a qualitatively different
      dependence of the plasmon resonance shift on the interparticle distance for the
      first- and second-order longitudinal modes of the nanorods, extending the working
      range of plasmon rulers up to the distance values of approximately 400 nm.

PMID- 25831388
TI  - On-sky demonstration of optimal control for adaptive optics at Palomar
      Observatory.
AB  - High-order adaptive optics systems often suffer from significant computational
      latency, which ultimately limits the temporal error rejection bandwidth when
      classical controllers are employed. This Letter presents results from an on-sky,
      real-time implementation of an optimal controller on the PALM-3000 adaptive
      optics system at Palomar Observatory. The optimal controller is computed directly
      from open-loop wavefront measurements using a multichannel subspace system
      identification algorithm, and mitigates latency by explicitly predicting incident
      turbulence. Experimental results show a significant reduction in the residual
      wavefront error over the controlled spatial modes, illustrating the superior
      performance of the optimal control approach versus the nominal integral control
      architecture. 

PMID- 25831389
TI  - Long-range micro-pulse aerosol lidar at 1.5  MUm with an upconversion single
      photon detector.
AB  - A micro-pulse lidar at eye-safe wavelength is constructed based on an
      upconversion single-photon detector. The ultralow-noise detector enables using
      integration technique to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the atmospheric
      backscattering even at daytime. With pulse energy of 110 MUJ, pulse repetition
      rate of 15 kHz, optical antenna diameter of 100 mm and integration time of 5 min,
      a horizontal detection range of 7 km is realized. In the demonstration
      experiment, atmospheric visibility over 24 h is monitored continuously, with
      results in accordance with the weather forecasts.

PMID- 25831391
TI  - Twisted Gaussian Schell-model beams as series of partially coherent modified
      Bessel-Gauss beams.
AB  - We show that twisted Gaussian Schell-model (TGSM) beams can be represented
      through an incoherent superposition of partially coherent beams carrying optical
      vortices and whose cross-spectral densities are expressed in terms of modified
      Bessel functions. Moreover, starting from this result, we show that the modal
      expansion of the cross-spectral density of a TGSM source can be directly obtained
      through simple mathematics. 

PMID- 25831390
TI  - Ultrafast all-optical technologies for bidirectional optical wireless
      communications.
AB  - In this Letter, a spherical retro-modulator architecture is introduced for
      operation as a bidirectional transceiver in passive optical wireless
      communication links. The architecture uses spherical retroreflection to enable
      retroreflection with broad directionality (2pi steradians), and it uses all
      optical beam interaction to enable modulation on ultrafast timescales (120 fs
      duration). The spherical retro-modulator is investigated from a theoretical
      standpoint and is fabricated for testing with three glasses, N-BK7, N-LASF9, and
      S-LAH79. It is found that the S-LAH79 structure provides the optimal refraction
      and nonlinearity for the desired retroreflection and modulation capabilities. 

PMID- 25831392
TI  - Anti-Stokes photoluminescence in Ga/Bi co-doped sol-gel silica glass.
AB  - Unusual temperature dependence of the anti-Stokes photoluminescence (ASPL) at 734
      nm was found in Ga/Bi co-doped sol-gel silica glass. While in the temperature
      range of 450-873 K, the behavior of ASPL is completely determined by the thermal
      population of the excited state levels, its intensity is continuously increasing
      with decreasing temperature in the range of 77-430 K. By measuring the pump power
      dependence of ASPL at 300 K, we show that the latter can be described via the two
      step intracenter excitation process and subsequent relaxation. Based on the
      measurements of temperature dependence of the excitation spectra of near infrared
      band (at 1140 nm) and that corresponding to the ASPL (at 734 nm), we propose a
      simple rate equation model to explain the unusual behavior of ASPL.

PMID- 25831393
TI  - High spatial resolution recording of near-infrared hologram based on photo
      induced phase transition of vanadium dioxide film.
AB  - We present a method to record near-infrared (NIR) hologram at high spatial
      resolution. This method up-converts the NIR holograms to visible holograms taking
      advantage of the photo-induced phase transition characteristic of vanadium
      dioxide (VO<sub>2</sub>) material, and subsequently, the visible holograms are
      recorded by a high-resolution visible CMOS sensor. Obviously the pitch of visible
      sensor is much smaller than NIR sensors, so our method can extremely increase the
      recording resolution of NIR holograms. The experiments demonstrate the
      effectiveness of our method. Our method can improve the viewing angle of NIR
      holography to observe large-scale objects and shorten the observation distance so
      that the application area of NIR holography is expanded. It has the potential to
      become a more effective NIR hologram recording method. 

PMID- 25831394
TI  - Compensating thermal drift of hybrid silicon and lithium niobate ring resonances.
AB  - We present low-power compensation of thermal drift of resonance wavelengths in
      hybrid silicon and lithium niobate ring resonators based on the linear electro
      optic effect. Fabricated devices demonstrate a resonance wavelength tunability of
      12.5  pm/V and a tuning range of 1 nm. A capacitive geometry and low thermal
      sensitivity result in the compensation of 17 degrees C of temperature variation
      using tuning powers at sub-nanowatt levels. The method establishes a route for
      stabilizing high-quality factor resonators in chip-scale integrated photonics
      subject to temperature variations. 

PMID- 25831395
TI  - Toward integrated electrically controllable directional coupling based on
      dielectric loaded graphene plasmonic waveguide.
AB  - We propose and numerically analyze a mid-infrared electrically controllable
      plasmonic waveguide directional coupler that is composed of two parallel
      identical straight dielectric loaded graphene plasmonic waveguide and S-shaped
      waveguide bends. By varying the Fermi energy level of the graphene sheet, the
      maximum power coupled from the input waveguide to the cross-waveguide and the
      corresponding coupling length could be effectively tuned. Under different Fermi
      energy level, this directional coupler could serve as an electrically controlled
      optical switch or a 3-dB splitter around the wavelength of 10.5 MUm. Moreover,
      the size of the entire device is really in sub-wavelength scale making it very
      facilitative for high density integration. 

PMID- 25831396
TI  - Thermal oscillatory behavior analysis and dynamic modulation of refractive index
      in microspherical resonator.
AB  - The thermal nonlinear effects in whispering-gallery-mode resonators are
      characterized by oscillatory behavior in the transmission spectrum. Although the
      thermal linewidth broadening is proven to be practical in mode-locking and
      dynamic control of the optical path, the oscillatory behavior always leads to
      instability of mode-locking and influences the control accuracy. We theoretically
      and experimentally illustrate the thermal oscillatory behavior using a model that
      combines slow and fast thermal relaxation processes of the microsphere and
      fluctuations of the pump wavelength. We also report dynamic modulation of the
      refractive index based on the fast thermal relaxation process. 

PMID- 25831397
TI  - Tuning random lasing in photonic glasses.
AB  - We present a detailed numerical investigation of the tunability of a diffusive
      random laser when Mie resonances are excited. We solve a multimode diffusion
      model and calculate multiple light scattering in presence of optical gain that
      includes dispersion in both scattering and gain, without any assumptions about
      the beta parameter. This allows us to investigate a realistic photonic glass made
      of latex spheres and rhodamine and to quantify both the lasing wavelength
      tunability range and the lasing threshold. Beyond what is expected by diffusive
      monochromatic models, the highest threshold is found when the competition between
      the lasing modes is strongest and not when the lasing wavelength is furthest from
      the maximum of the gain curve. 

PMID- 25831398
TI  - Arbitrary holographic spectral shaping of plasmonic broadband excitations.
AB  - We demonstrate a new method for controlling the broadband excitations of surface
      plasmons. This method is based on computer-generated holographic gratings and
      enables not only the coupling of the broadband illumination with surface
      plasmons, but also the arbitrary shaping of their spectra. As an example, we
      demonstrate several spectral shapes numerically and measure them experimentally,
      finding a good agreement with the simulation results. In addition, we show the
      potential for shaping the plasmonic spatial profile simultaneously with its
      spectral profile. This method may be useful for on-chip communication and light
      filtering as well as for sensing and temporal manipulation of ultrashort pulses. 

PMID- 25831399
TI  - The importance of the "V"-Factor: Escherichia coli bacteremia and sepsis.

PMID- 25831400
TI  - Selective loss of younger erythrocytes from blood circulation and changes in
      erythropoietic patterns in bone marrow and spleen in mouse anemia induced by poly
      dispersed single-walled carbon nanotubes.
AB  - Administration of poly-dispersed acid-functionalized single-walled carbon
      nanotubes (AF-SWCNTs, 10 ug intravenously on alternate days) induced a sustained
      anemia in mice. Using a modified double in vivo biotinylation (DIB) technique,
      blood counts of reticulocytes and erythrocytes of different age groups were
      simultaneously enumerated in control and AF-SWCNT treated mice. A sustained
      reticulocytosis was observed in AF-SWCNT treated mice. Young erythrocytes (up to
      7 days old) that are normally resistant to elimination in control mice were
      eliminated at a significant rate in AF-SWCNT treated mice. Old erythrocytes,
      however, accumulated in circulation indicating that younger erythrocytes were
      selectively eliminated from the blood circulation of AF-SWCNT treated mice. Cells
      representing various stages of erythroid differentiation in bone marrow and
      spleen were enumerated flow cytometrically by double staining with anti-Ter119
      and anti-transferrin receptor (CD71) monoclonal antibodies. Proportion of
      erythroid cells was significantly reduced (up to 27%) in bone marrow (BM)
      indicating a fall in erythropoietic activity. A concomitant increase in the
      spleen erythroid population was however observed that could be a compensatory
      response. Changes in erythroid populations in bone marrow and spleen correlated
      with changes in erythroblast-A population in these organs that represent an early
      stage of erythroid differentiation. Uptake of intravenously administered
      fluorescence tagged AF-SWCNTs (FAF-SWCNTs) was relatively low (3-4%) in erythroid
      cells in bone marrow and spleen. A significantly higher proportion of pro
      erythroblasts and erythroblast-A (early stages of erythroid differentiation) took
      up FAF-SWCNTs. Uptake of AF-SWCNTs by early precursors of erythroid
      differentiation with toxic consequences may be a contributing factor in AF-SWCNT
      induced anemia. 

PMID- 25831401
TI  - Acylcarnitine ester utilization by the hindlimb of warmblood horses at rest and
      following low intensity exercise and carnitine supplementation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acylcarnitines play an important role in fuel metabolism in skeletal
      muscle. OBJECTIVE: To assess acylcarnitine ester utilization by the hindlimb of
      horses at rest and following low intensity exercise and carnitine
      supplementation. ANIMALS AND METHODS: Acylcarnitine ester uptake by the hindlimb
      was investigated using the arteriovenous difference technique. Blood from six
      warmblood mares (mean age 12 +/- 3 (SD) years and weighing 538 +/- 39 kg) was
      collected simultaneously from the transverse facial artery and from the caudal
      vena cava. Food was withheld for 12 hours prior to exercise. Exercise comprised a
      standardized treadmill protocol consisting of 5 minutes of walk, 20 minutes of
      trot and thereafter another 5 minutes of walk. At the end of the first exercise
      day, three horses were given carnitine supplementation (100 mg/kg bodyweight),
      whereas the other horses received saline. The next day the exercise was repeated
      and blood samples collected similarly. Free carnitine and acylcarnitines were
      analyzed as their butyl ester derivatives in heparinized plasma by electrospray
      tandem mass spectrometry. Statistical analysis was performed using a general
      linear mixed model. RESULTS: C3-carnitine, C6-carnitine and C14:1-carnitine
      showed the largest average extraction by the hindlimb at rest and C3-carnitine,
      C5:1-carnitine and C16-carnitine immediately after low-intensity exercise.
      Carnitine supplementation significantly increased free carnitine, C5-carnitine
      and C8-carnitine extraction. CONCLUSION: Carnitine supplementation altered the
      extraction of acylcarnitines by the hindlimb in horses exercising at low
      intensity. CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Findings might aid in optimizing performance and
      myopathy prevention of the equine athlete.

PMID- 25831402
TI  - Influence of Ankle Braces on the Maximum Strength of Plantar and Toe Flexor
      Muscles.
AB  - This study sought to investigate the influence of ankle braces on maximum
      strength of plantar and toe flexor muscles. 21 healthy participants volunteered,
      and their maximum isometric toe flexor muscle strength (TFS), plantar flexor
      muscle strength (PFS) and passive range of motion of the ankle joint (ROM) were
      measured. TFS, PFS and ROM were compared among barefoot as a control (BAR), ankle
      support (SUP) and ankle splint (SPL) conditions. TFS was significantly lower in
      SPL (90.7+/-32.5 N, p<0.0001) compared to BAR (117.3+/-39.5 N) and it was
      significantly lower in SPL than in SUP (110.5+/-36.7 N, p=0.0001), whereas it was
      not significantly different between SUP and BAR (p=0.2587). On the contrary, PFS
      and ROM were significantly lower in SUP (p=0.0087 for PFS; p=0.0095 for ROM) and
      SPL (p<0.0001 for PFS; p<0.0001 for ROM) compared to BAR, and they were
      significantly lower in SPL than in SUP (p=0.0073 for PFS; p<0.0001 for ROM). The
      ankle support could provide ankle joint stabilization without a large decrease in
      the muscle strength of the foot. The proper use of an ankle brace is required to
      prevent major impairment of the muscle functions of the ankle-foot complex. 

PMID- 25831403
TI  - Countermovement Jump Performance with Increased Training Loads in Elite Female
      Rugby Athletes.
AB  - Countermovement jump (CMJ) performance is typically analyzed through single-point
      concentric-based variables (e. g., peak power or force and height). However,
      methodological approaches examining movement strategies may be more sensitive to
      neuromuscular fatigue. 12 elite female rugby sevens athletes undertook weekly CMJ
      testing throughout a 6-week training block involving progressively increased
      training loads. Athletes self-reported training load (TRIMP) and wellness daily.
      22 CMJ variables were assessed, incorporating analyses of force, velocity, power
      and time measured during eccentric and concentric jump phases. Differences over
      time were examined using the magnitude of change (effect sizes; ES) compared to
      baseline. Pearson correlations examined relationships between CMJ variables,
      wellness and TRIMP. TRIMP displayed large increases (mean ES; weeks 2-6: 2.47).
      Wellness decreased in week 3 (-0.41), with small reductions following (weeks 4-6:
      -0.34). Flight time (weeks 3-6: -1.84), peak displacement (weeks 2-6: -2.24),
      time to peak force (weeks 3-6: 2.58), force at zero velocity (F@0V) (weeks 5-6: 
      1.28) displayed multiple changes indicative of diminished neuromuscular function.
      Wellness scores and max rate of force development (mean; r=0.32), F@0V (r=0.28)
      and flight time (r=0.34) displayed positive correlations. Intensified training
      decreased CMJ output and altered CMJ mechanics. Longitudinal neuromuscular
      fatigue monitoring of team-sport athletes appears improved through CMJ mechanics
      analysis. 

PMID- 25831404
TI  - Can Heart Rate Variability be used to Estimate Gas Exchange Threshold in Obese
      Adolescents?
AB  - This study investigated the agreement and reliability of oxygen uptake (VO2), VO2
      reserve (VO2 R), heart rate (HR) and power output at intensities corresponding to
      the gas exchange threshold (GET) and heart rate variability threshold (HRVT)
      during maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in obese and eutrophic
      adolescents. A further aim was to establish whether the HRVT was able to detect
      changes in cardio-respiratory fitness in obese adolescents after 3 months of
      recreational soccer practice. First, 25 obese and 10 eutrophic adolescents (ages
      12-17) visited the laboratory twice to perform cycling CPET to test the
      reliability of CPET outcomes at GET and HRVT. Furthermore, the level of agreement
      between GET and HRVT was determined for a subgroup of 10 obese adolescents after
      performing a 3-month recreational soccer program. No significant difference was
      found for VO2, %VO2 R, HR and power output at the GET and HRVT (P>0.05), which
      were equally able to detect improvements in aerobic fitness after the soccer
      intervention. Correlations between GET and HRVT for VO2 and %VO2 R ranged from
      0.89 to 0.95 (P<0.001) and test-retest reliability ranged from 0.59 to 0.82
      (P<0.006). Overall, HRVT seems to be a reliable alternative for prescribing
      aerobic exercise intensity in obese adolescents. 

PMID- 25831406
TI  - Analytics of Quinine and its Derivatives.
AB  - The objective of this study was to perform a synthesis and analysis of the most
      important information on quinine and its derivatives, which are still very
      important in the treatment of malaria. The analysis of stereoisomers of quinine
      and its derivatives was conducted using two techniques, high-performance liquid
      chromatography and capillary electrophoresis. Particularly noteworthy is the
      technique used for the determination of isotachophoresis, referred to as one of
      the so-called green chemistry techniques. Particular attention was paid to
      properties and the use of quinine and its derivatives in the treatment of
      malaria. The analytical part will supplement knowledge about quinidine, quinine,
      and cinchonidine, and will contribute to the growth of research on the so-much
      needed drugs against malaria. 

PMID- 25831405
TI  - H2N2 live attenuated influenza vaccine is safe and immunogenic for healthy adult
      volunteers.
AB  - H2N2 influenza viruses have not circulated in the human population since 1968,
      but they are still being regularly detected in the animal reservoir, suggesting
      their high pandemic potential. To prepare for a possible H2N2 pandemic, a number
      of H2N2 vaccine candidates have been generated and tested in preclinical and
      clinical studies. Here we describe the results of a randomized, double-blind
      placebo-controlled phase 1 clinical trial of an H2N2 live attenuated influenza
      vaccine (LAIV) candidate prepared from a human influenza virus isolated in 1966.
      The vaccine candidate was safe and well-tolerated by healthy adults, and did not
      cause serious adverse events or an increased rate of moderate or severe
      reactogenicities. The H2N2 vaccine virus was infectious for Humans. It was shed
      by 78.6% and 74.1% volunteers after the first and second dose, respectively, most
      probably due to the human origin of the virus. Importantly, no vaccine virus
      transmission to unvaccinated subjects was detected during the study. We employed
      multiple immunological tests to ensure the adequate assessment of the H2N2
      pandemic LAIV candidate and demonstrated that the majority (92.6%) of the
      vaccinated subjects responded to the H2N2 LAIV in one or more immunological
      tests, including 85.2% of subjects with antibody responses and 55.6% volunteers
      with cell-mediated immune responses. In addition, we observed strong correlation
      between the H2N2 LAIV virus replication in the upper respiratory tract and the
      development of antibody responses. 

PMID- 25831407
TI  - Predicting diffusion coefficients of chemicals in and through packaging
      materials.
AB  - Most of the physicochemical properties in polymers such as activity and partition
      coefficients, diffusion coefficients, and their activation with temperature are
      accessible to direct calculations from first principles. Such predictions are
      particularly relevant for food packaging as they can be used (1) to demonstrate
      the compliance or safety of numerous polymer materials and of their constitutive
      substances (e.g. additives, residues...), when they are used: as containers,
      coatings, sealants, gaskets, printing inks, etc. (2) or to predict the indirect
      contamination of food by pollutants (e.g. from recycled polymers, storage
      ambiance...) (3) or to assess the plasticization of materials in contact by food
      constituents (e.g. fat matter, aroma...). This review article summarizes the
      classical and last mechanistic descriptions of diffusion in polymers and
      discusses the reliability of semi-empirical approaches used for compliance
      testing both in EU and US. It is concluded that simulation of diffusion in or
      through polymers is not limited to worst-case assumptions but could also be
      applied to real cases for risk assessment, designing packaging with low leaching
      risk or to synthesize plastic additives with low diffusion rates.

PMID- 25831409
TI  - De Novo Cerebral Palsy Diagnosis in 9-Year-Old Soccer Player Presenting With Knee
      Pain.
AB  - A 9-year-old boy presented to our outpatient specialized sport and exercise
      medicine clinic complaining of a subacute onset of unilateral knee pain, after an
      increased level of soccer training. His knee examination was unremarkable.
      However, he demonstrated significant tenderness on palpation of his ipsilateral
      hip flexor and adductor tendons. Abnormalities in muscle tone and difficulty in
      relaxing and resisting the examiner properly were noted and lead to a complete
      neurological examination. It demonstrated multiple abnormalities such as
      increased tone and deep tendon reflexes, greater in lower than upper extremities,
      and abnormal patterning. A mild form of spastic diplegia was suspected and the
      patient was referred to a pediatric neurologist who confirmed our initial
      diagnosis. This case draws attention to the importance of maintaining a high
      level of suspicion for milder forms of diseases that can go unnoticed for years. 

PMID- 25831408
TI  - Effectiveness Analysis of Active Stretching Versus Active Stretching Plus Low
      Frequency Electrical Stimulation in Children Who Play Soccer and Who Have the
      Short Hamstring Syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of active stretching (AS) versus AS
      plus electrical stimulation (stretching + TENS) in young soccer players with the
      short hamstring syndrome (SHS). DESIGN: Randomized, controlled, single-blind
      parallel clinical trial with 3 arms and a 2-month follow-up. The assignment ratio
      was 1:1:1. SETTING: The study involved young federated soccer players in the town
      of Jumilla, in the region of Murcia (Spain), who were controlled in a
      physiotherapy office in 2012. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-one young soccer players (10-16
      years) with SHS. INTERVENTIONS: Stretching + TENS, AS, and conventional
      stretching. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Straight leg raise (SLR) test, popliteal angle
      with the passive knee extension (PKE) test, and the toe-touch test (TT). RESULTS:
      Significant results (P < 0.05) were group 1 versus 2: (1) SLR, -5.5 degrees
      right; (2) PKE, +10.2 degrees right and +6.2 degrees left; and (3) range of
      values of clinically relevant parameters (RVCRP): relative risk (RR), 0.35 to
      0.38; relative risk reduction (RRR), 0.62 to 0.65; absolute risk reduction (ARR),
      0.32 to 0.39; number needed to treat (NNT), 3 to 4. Group 1 versus 3: (1) SLR, 
      12.3 degrees right and -10 degrees left; (2) PKE, +12.9 degrees right and +8.5
      degrees left; (3) TT, -8.9 cm; and (4) RVCRP: RR, 0.12 to 0.28; RRR, 0.72 to
      0.88; ARR, 0.60 to 0.83; NNT, 2 to 2. Group 2 versus 3: (1) SLR, -6.8 degrees
      right and -6.2 degrees left; (2) TT, -6.7 cm; (3) RVCRP: RR, 0.44 to 0.53; RRR,
      0.47 to 0.56; ARR, 0.40 to 0.56; NNT, 2 to 3. CONCLUSIONS: Stretching + TENS
      produces greater improvement than AS alone, and these are both better than
      conventional stretching. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The use of electrical stimulation
      combined with AS is a relevant technique for habitual clinical practice that
      should be systematically integrated in children aged 10 to 16 years who play
      soccer and who have the SHS.

PMID- 25831410
TI  - Wobble Board Rehabilitation for Improving Balance in Ankles With Chronic
      Instability.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To quantify improvements in clinical impairments using a wobble board
      rehabilitation protocol for chronic ankle instability (CAI). DESIGN: Prospective
      randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Laboratory. PATIENTS: Thirty-four
      participants with "giving way" and history of ankle sprains were randomly
      assigned to a rehabilitation group (REH) (170.22 +/- 8.71 cm; 75.57 +/- 13.55 kg;
      22.94 +/- 2.77 years) or control group (CON) (168.57 +/- 9.81 cm; 77.19 +/- 19.93
      kg; 23.18 +/- 3.64 years). INTERVENTIONS: Four weeks with no intervention for CON
      or wobble board rehabilitation for REH, consisting of 3 sessions per week of 5
      repetitions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Dependent variables were preintervention and
      postintervention score on foot lift test (average number of errors), Time-in
      Balance Test (TBT) (longest time), Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT)
      anteromedial, medial, and posteromedial (average reach distance normalized to leg
      length), side hop test (fastest time), and figure-of-eight hop test (fastest
      time). RESULTS: Main effects for time were significant for all measures (P <
      0.05); but main effects for groups were not (P > 0.05) except for SEBT
      anteromedial reach direction. Significant interactions were found for all
      dependent measures (P < 0.05) except for TBT (P > 0.05). Post hoc testing of
      significant interactions showed REH improved performance at posttest, whereas CON
      did not. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that a single intervention using
      a wobble board improved static and dynamic balance deficits associated with CAI.
      CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This approach provides a potentially more economical, time
      efficient, and space efficient means of improving clinical outcome measures
      associated with CAI in patients who are physically active.

PMID- 25831411
TI  - Are angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin 2 receptor
      antagonists effective in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction?
AB  - Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blockers
      (ARB) constitute first line treatment for patients with heart failure with
      reduced ejection fraction. However, their role in patients with preserved
      ejection fraction remains controversial. Searching in Epistemonikos database,
      which is maintained by screening 30 databases, we identified five systematic
      reviews including five randomized trials. We combined the evidence using meta
      analysis and generated a summary of findings table following the GRADE approach.
      We concluded ACEI and ARB do not decrease mortality or hospitalization risk in
      this group of patients. 

PMID- 25831412
TI  - Association Between Inpatient Surveillance and Venous Thromboembolism Rates After
      Hospital Discharge.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) surveillance practices in hospitals, but
      not adherence to Surgical Care Improvement Program VTE prophylaxis measures, have
      been reported to explain the variation in VTE rates in hospitals. OBJECTIVE: To
      examine the relationship between inpatient surveillance testing for VTE and
      postdischarge VTE rates at the hospital level to determine whether more frequent
      inpatient surveillance is associated with reduced occurrence of postdischarge
      VTEs. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective study of a US national
      cohort of Veterans Affairs (VA) patients. National VA Surgical Quality
      Improvement Program outcome data were linked to VA administrative data on
      patients undergoing inpatient surgery from 2005 to 2009 and were included in the
      Surgical Care Improvement Program VTE measurement population. MAIN OUTCOMES AND
      MEASURES: Surveillance was identified using Current Procedural Terminology codes
      for diagnostic VTE imaging. Relationships between hospital-level surveillance and
      VTE rates were assessed with Pearson correlation coefficients, and the
      postdischarge VTE rate was modeled using linear regression, adjusting for
      hospital volume, inpatient VTE rate, inpatient surveillance rate, and case mix.
      RESULTS: Of 25 975 patients at 79 VA facilities, 296 (1.4%) experienced a VTE
      during the index hospitalization, and 114 (0.4%) experienced a postdischarge VTE
      within 30 days after surgery. The median length of stay was 11 days for those
      with a positive surveillance test result and 9 days for those with a negative
      test result. There was a positive correlation between inpatient surveillance and
      inpatient VTE rates (R = 0.33, P = .003) but no significant correlation of
      inpatient surveillance with either postdischarge surveillance (R = 0.11, P = .29)
      or postdischarge VTE rates (R = 0.03, P = .76). In an adjusted regression model
      of the postdischarge VTE rate, only the inpatient VTE rate was significant (beta
      = 0.13, P = .05). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Hospitals with higher VTE
      surveillance rates have higher inpatient VTE rates but not decreased
      postdischarge VTE rates. However, hospitals with higher inpatient VTE rates have
      higher postdischarge VTE rates, which suggests that surveillance may be
      influenced by higher observed rates and not surveillance practices alone.

PMID- 25831413
TI  - Anthrax in injecting drug users: the need for increased vigilance in the clinic.
AB  - The emergence of a previously unrecognized route of Bacillus anthracis infection
      over the last few years has led to concern: sporadic anthrax outbreaks among
      heroin users in northern Europe have demonstrated the severe pathology associated
      with the newly described 'injectional anthrax'. With a high case fatality rate
      and non-specific early symptoms, this is a novel clinical manifestation of an old
      disease. Lack of awareness of this syndrome among emergency room clinicians can
      lead to a delayed diagnosis among heroin users; indeed, for many health workers
      in developed countries, where infection by B. anthracis is rare, this may be the
      first time they have encountered anthrax infections. As the putative route of
      contamination of the heroin supply is potentially ongoing, it is important that
      clinicians and public health workers remain vigilant for early signs of
      injectional anthrax. 

PMID- 25831414
TI  - Epidemiological features of irritable bowel syndrome and its subtypes among
      Iranian adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The epidemiological features of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have
      not been properly investigated in Iran. Also, worldwide there is limited
      knowledge about the characteristics of IBS subtypes. The aim of the study was to
      explore the epidemiological features of IBS and its subtypes among Iranian
      adults. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study in Iranian adults living in
      Isfahan province. Demographic characteristics and common gastrointestinal
      symptoms were assessed using a self-administered modified Persian version of the
      Rome III questionnaire. RESULTS: In 4763 subjects aged 19-70 years the overall
      prevalence of IBS was 21.5%. IBS was more prevalent in women than men (24.0 vs.
      18.3%, P<0.001). In multivariate analysis, being married was associated with 27%
      increased odds of IBS (95% confidence interval: 1.03-1.57, P<0.05). However, IBS
      was not associated with age (P=0.71) or educational attainment (P=0.61).
      Constipation-predominant IBS (IBS-C) was the most prevalent subtype of IBS
      followed by mixed IBS (IBS-M), diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D), and unsubtyped
      IBS. Female gender was associated with IBS-C while male gender was associated
      with IBS-D and IBS-M. CONCLUSION: IBS is highly prevalent among Iranian adults,
      affecting particularly women in whom IBS-C is the most prevalent subtype.

PMID- 25831415
TI  - Anatomic and pathological characterization of choroidal melanoma using multimodal
      imaging: what is practical, what is needed?
AB  - Choroidal melanoma is the most frequently occurring intraocular tumor in adults.
      The aim of this work is to assess the potential of state-of-the art in-vivo and
      ex-vivo imaging modalities for the characterization of choroidal melanoma.
      Multimodal imaging of a choroidal melanoma was performed in a 53-year-old male
      patient. In-vivo ophthalmoscopy, ultrasound microscopy, duplex ultrasound, and
      7.0 T MRI were performed. Ex-vivo examination of the enucleated eye included 7.0
      and 9.4 T magnetic resonance microscopy as well as histopathology with
      hematoxylin and eosin staining. Imaging of choroidal melanoma with ultrahigh
      field MRI and duplex sonography provides detailed morphologic and functional
      information of the eye. High-spatial-resolution MRI at 9.4 T shows details of the
      internal texture of melanoma and other structures of the eye with an in-plane
      spatial resolution of 32 MUm. Ultrahigh field in-vivo MRI at 7.0 T and ex-vivo
      MRI at 7.0 and 9.4 T correlate well with histologic evaluation. In-vivo ultrahigh
      field MRI is an emerging technique for the characterization and staging of ocular
      tumors. The combination of in-vivo ultrahigh-field MRI and duplex sonography has
      the potential to complement or even substitute complex and invasive biopsies. 

PMID- 25831416
TI  - A case of bullous pemphigoid in a patient with metastatic melanoma treated with
      pembrolizumab.
AB  - The innovative blockade of immune checkpoints with targeted immunotherapies, such
      as monoclonal antibodies against programmed cell death-1, is pioneering the
      treatment for advanced melanoma. Potential adverse events of particular interest
      associated with immunotherapy are of an inflammatory or immune-related nature.
      Reported dermatological side effects mostly comprise nonspecific rash and
      pruritus. This is a report of a 75-year-old man with metastatic melanoma who was
      initially administered pembrolizumab at 10 mg/kg every 3 weeks. He developed
      spongiotic dermatitis that was partially treated with topical steroids after
      cycle 3. Pembrolizumab cycles were stopped because of disease progression after
      cycle 6. On the 30-day follow-up, the patient presented with extensive
      erythematous papules and plaques, in addition to a few intact and ruptured
      vesicles and bullae over the upper and lower limbs, especially over the knees and
      elbows. Both punch skin biopsies (haematoxylin and eosin and direct
      immunofluorescence studies) confirmed a bullous pemphigoid diagnosis. He was
      treated with a tapering dose of oral prednisone, resulting in rapid clinical
      improvement after only a week of treatment, which was switched to dexamethasone
      following the diagnosis of new brain metastases. 

PMID- 25831417
TI  - Ebola Virus Disease: Focus on Children.
AB  - Ebola virus is one of the most deadly pathogens known to infect humans. The
      current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented in magnitude and duration
      and, as of November 30, 2014, shows no signs of abating. For the first time,
      cases of Ebola virus disease have been diagnosed in the US, originating from
      patients who traveled during the incubation period. The outbreak has generated
      worldwide concern. It is clear that U.S. physicians need to be aware of this
      disease, know when to consider Ebola and how to care for the patient as well as
      protect themselves. Children comprise a small percentage of all cases globally,
      likely because of their lower risk of exposure given social and cultural
      practices. Limited evidence is available on pediatric disease course and
      prognosis. In this article, we present an overview of the pathogen, its
      epidemiology and transmission, clinical and laboratory manifestations, treatment
      and infection control procedures, with an emphasis on what is known about Ebola
      virus disease in the pediatric population. 

PMID- 25831418
TI  - Genetic analysis of invasive pneumococcal isolates from children in Ontario,
      Canada, 2007-2012.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is commonly used to understand the
      genetic background of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) isolates. This study
      was conducted to identify serotype and genetic change among IPD isolates in
      Canadian children following vaccine use. METHODS: Clinical isolates collected
      from children <=5 years old of Ontario, Canada with IPD during 2007-2012 were
      characterized with serotyping, multilocus sequence typing and antimicrobial
      susceptibility testing. RESULTS: One year after 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate
      vaccine (PCV13) implementation, a decline in 19A and 7F was observed in 2012,
      coincident with the rise of serogroup 15 and 22F. Clonal complex (CC) 199, CC320
      and CC695 are 3 major CCs in 19A (74%). From 2007 to 2012, clonal shift was
      detected in the 19A population as CC320 and CC199 declined, whereas CC695 rose to
      a majority. Genetically, serogroup 15 was composed of 2 CCs and 7 sequence types
      (STs), making it more diverse than serotypes 3, 7F and 22F. Interestingly, 60% of
      15C isolates were a novel ST, suggesting high single nucleotide polymorphism
      frequency in house-keeping genes of 15C. Several newly appeared STs found in 19A
      and 15 indicate the possibility of recent serotype switching events. CONCLUSION:
      Genetic shift because of PCV13 impact may have resulted in the decline of 19A in
      IPD. Recent rise of serogroup 15 infections in children could be because of its
      selective advantage conferred by genetic diversity, frequent recombination in the
      population plus drug resistance potential related to CC63 genotype. Close
      monitoring of serotype replacement and genetic change in IPD among children post
      PCV13 is warranted.

PMID- 25831419
TI  - Immunodeficiency among children with recurrent invasive pneumococcal disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recurrent invasive pneumococcal disease (rIPD) occurs mostly in
      children with an underlying disease, but some cases remain unexplained.
      Immunodeficiency has been described in children with rIPD, but the prevalence is
      unknown. We used a nationwide registry of all laboratory-confirmed cases of rIPD
      to identify cases of unexplained rIPD and examine them for immunodeficiency.
      METHODS: Cases of rIPD in children 0-15 years of age from 1980 to 2008 were
      identified. Children without an obvious underlying disease were screened for
      complement function, T-cell, B-cell, natural killer--cell counts and
      concentration of immunoglobulins. B-cell function was evaluated by measuring
      antibody response to polysaccharide-based pneumococcal vaccination and the extent
      of fraction of somatic hypermutation. Toll-Like receptor (TLR) signaling function
      and mutations in key TLR-signaling molecules were examined. RESULTS: In total,
      rIPD were observed in 54 children (68 cases of rIPD of 2192 IPD cases). Children
      with classical risk factors for IPD were excluded, and among the remaining 22
      children, 15 were eligible for analysis. Of these 6 (40%) were complement C2
      deficient. Impaired vaccination response was found in 6 children of whom 3 were
      C2 deficient. One patient had a severe TLR signaling dysfunction. No mutations in
      IRAK4, IKBKG or MYD88 were found. CONCLUSION: Of an unselected cohort of children
      with rIPD at least 11% were C2 deficient. Data suggest that screening for
      complement deficiencies and deficient antibody response to pneumococcal vaccines
      in patients with more than 1 episode of IPD is warranted.

PMID- 25831420
TI  - An open-label, randomized study of a 9-valent human papillomavirus vaccine given
      concomitantly with diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and poliomyelitis vaccines to
      healthy adolescents 11-15 years of age.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A 9-valent human papillomavirus (9vHPV) vaccine has recently been
      reported to be safe and highly efficacious against infection and disease related
      to HPV6/11/16/18/31/33/45/52/58. We evaluated the immunogenicity and safety of
      the 9vHPV vaccine administered concomitantly with REPEVAX (diphtheria, tetanus,
      acellular pertussis and inactivated poliomyelitis vaccine). METHODS: This open
      label, randomized, multicenter study enrolled 1054 males and females ages 11-15
      years. Subjects were randomly assigned to each group in a 1:1 ratio. Subjects
      received a 0.5 mL dose of 9vHPV vaccine intramuscularly at day 1, months 2 and 6
      and a 0.5 mL dose of REPEVAX either on day 1 (concomitant vaccination group; n =
      526) or at month 1 (nonconcomitant vaccination group, n = 528). Serologic
      responses for each vaccine component were tested by 1-sided tests of
      noninferiority between groups. Systemic and injection-site adverse experiences
      (AEs) and serious AEs were monitored. RESULTS: Noninferiority of anti-HPV
      geometric mean titers and seroconversion rates for all 9vHPV antigens were
      demonstrated for the concomitant group compared with the nonconcomitant group.
      Seroconversion rates for the 9vHPV vaccine types were >=99.8% in both groups at
      month 7. For REPEVAX, noninferiority of immune response was established for
      diphtheria, tetanus, all polio and pertussis antigens for both groups. There were
      no vaccine-related serious AEs. CONCLUSION: Overall, concomitant administration
      of 9vHPV vaccine and REPEVAX was generally well tolerated and did not interfere
      with the immune response to either vaccine. This strategy would minimize the
      number of visits required to deliver each vaccine individually.

PMID- 25831421
TI  - Evidence of herd immunity and sustained impact of rotavirus vaccination on the
      reduction of rotavirus-related medical encounters among infants from 2006 through
      2011 in the United States.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rotavirus (RV) is the leading cause of severe acute gastroenteritis
      among young children. Since the US licensure of the pentavalent RV vaccine (RV5)
      and the monovalent RV vaccine (RV1), a decline of RV activity has been observed.
      OBJECTIVE: To describe patterns of RV-related health care utilization among
      infants receiving RV vaccines (RVVs). METHODS: A large national health insurance
      claims database was used to identify infants born from January 2002 through July
      2011. From this cohort, infants were divided into three groups: (1) those who
      received a RVV, (2) those receiving a diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular
      pertussis (DTaP) vaccine before the introduction of RVV (February 2006), and (3)
      those receiving DTaP without a concurrent RVV during the period of RVV
      availability. Study outcomes were rotavirus gastroenteritis (RGE) and acute
      gastroenteritis. Longitudinal, seasonal RGE incidence patterns among the RVV
      cohort (n = 140,952) were compared with the referent DTaP-vaccine cohort (n =
      131,529). RESULTS: More than 91% of administered RVV were RV5. Mean peak
      incidence of RV medical encounters in RV-vaccinated infants was 95-96% lower than
      among DTaP-vaccinated infants who did not receive RVV. RGE incidence among the
      non-RV-vaccinated DTaP recipients in the RVV-available period (110 per 100,000
      infants) was lower than among DTaP recipients in the pre-RVV period (151 per
      100,000 infants). The highest RGE incidence in the 2007-2011 period was among
      older non-RV-vaccinated infants. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of a national medical
      claims database indicates a sustained and substantial decrease in the seasonal RV
      medical claims pattern after the introduction of RVV. This analysis also reveals
      evidence of herd immunity, although unvaccinated infants continue to be at risk
      and contribute to smaller seasonal peaks in RV disease activity.

PMID- 25831422
TI  - Important of Angiopoietic System in Evaluation of Endothelial Damage in Children
      with Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) causes endothelial activation
      and dysfunction by affecting the endothelium directly or indirectly. In
      maintaining the vascular integrity, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A)
      and its receptor (VEGFR1) and angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) and its receptor (Tie-2) are
      very important mediators. For this reason, we aimed at studying the association
      of Ang-2 and VEGF and their receptors Tie-2 and VEGFR1 with CCHF infection.
      METHODS: Thirty one CCHF patients and 31 healthy controls (HC) were included in
      the study. CCHF patients were classified into 2 groups in terms of disease
      severity (severe and nonsevere). VEGF-A, VEGFR1, Ang-2 and Tie-2 levels were
      measured in all groups. RESULT: Serum levels of Tie-2, Ang-2, VEGF-A and VEGFR1
      were significantly increased in CCHF patients compared with the HC. Furthermore,
      serum Tie-2, Ang-2, VEGF and VEGFR1 levels were found to be significantly higher
      in the severe group than in the nonsevere and HC groups (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001,
      respectively). Also, Tie-2, Ang-2, VEGF-A and VEGFR1 levels were significantly
      higher in the nonsevere group than in the HC group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Having
      statistically significant higher Ang-2, Tie-2, VEGF-A and VEGFR1 levels in the
      severe group when compared with the other groups suggested that VEGF-related Ang
      2/Tie-2 system played a critical role in the pathogenesis of the disease, and
      these markers could be used as the severity criteria.

PMID- 25831423
TI  - Increased prevalence of elevated blood pressures in HIV-infected children,
      adolescents and young adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: HIV-infected children and young adults have cardiovascular disease
      risk factors reflecting chronic infection and the effects of combination
      antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. We thus sought to characterize the prevalence of
      and risk factors for high blood pressure (HBP) in this population. METHODS:
      Retrospective chart review classified subjects aged 2-25 years based on a single
      clinic blood pressure (BP) reading as normal BP, pre-HBP or HBP. Variables
      suspected to contribute to elevated BP were compared including body mass index,
      tobacco use, medical comorbidities, ARV or other medication use, dyslipidemia,
      ethnicity and family history. RESULTS: In all, 47 of 266 subjects (18%) were
      found to have HBP. Among children and adolescents aged 2-17 years, 21 of 107
      (20%) had HBP. Comorbidities believed to elevate BP, such as polycystic ovarian
      syndrome, obstructive sleep apnea or cocaine exposure, were significant risk
      factors for elevated BP, with 35% of subjects with these comorbidities having
      HBP, compared with 16% of subjects without (P = 0.01). Male gender and tobacco
      use were also risk factors associated with elevated BPs. HBP was more common in
      overweight subjects (26%) than not overweight (15%) but did not reach statistical
      significance (P = 0.15). ARV medication use and higher HIV-1 RNA were not
      associated with HBP. CONCLUSIONS: Our finding of 20% prevalence of HBP in a
      cohort of HIV-infected children represents a potentially alarming figure. The
      explanation for this finding is unclear, but even if it is because of comorbid
      conditions, the life-long cardiovascular risks associated with HIV infection and
      its management mandate the need for closer monitoring and possibly treatment of
      elevated BP in this population.

PMID- 25831424
TI  - Preparation and evaluation of luteolin-phospholipid complex as an effective drug
      delivery tool against GalN/LPS induced liver damage.
AB  - CONTEXT: The phyto-phospholipid complexation technique is a promising approach to
      improve the bioavailability and efficacy of flavonoids. OBJECTIVE: The objective
      of this study was to improve the bioavailability and efficacy of luteolin by
      phospholipid complexation against inflammatory liver damage. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: The phospholipid complex of luteolin (LPC) was prepared by solvent
      evaporation accompanied by freeze drying. The physicochemical properties of LPC
      were investigated by means of spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry
      (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Pharmacokinetic parameters in rats were
      determined and the hepatoprotective potential was assessed against D
      galactosamine and lipopolysaccharide (GalN/LPS) induced hepatic damage. RESULTS:
      LPC showed drug loading of 74.14% and average particle size 147.4 nm. The results
      of FTIR, thermal and diffraction studies confirmed the formation of complex. The
      aqueous/n-octanol solubility showed improvements. LPC showed an increase in
      relative in vivo bioavailability to 535.31% of pure luteolin. The histological
      and biochemical changes induced by GalN/LPS were significantly ameliorated by
      LPC. DISCUSSION: Hepatoprotective effect of LPC was more profound than luteolin
      with a particle size suitable for passive targeting of inflammatory sites.
      CONCLUSION: LPC was successfully formulated under optimized conditions and is an
      efficient drug delivery system for oral administration of luteolin with enhanced
      bioavailability and hepatoprotective potential.

PMID- 25831425
TI  - Balanced cell proliferation and expansion is essential for flowering stem growth
      control.
AB  - The postembryonic development of aboveground plant organs relies on a continuous
      supply of cells from the shoot apical meristem. Previous studies of developmental
      regulation in leaves and flowers have revealed the crucial role of coordinated
      cell proliferation and differentiation during organogenesis. However, the
      importance of this coordination has not been examined in flowering stems. Very
      recently, we attempted to identify regulatory factors that maintain flowering
      stem integrity. We found that the increased cell number in clavata (clv) mutants
      and the decreased cell size in de-etiolated (det)3-1 resulted in flowering stems
      that were thicker and thinner, respectively, than in wild-type (WT) plants.
      Interestingly, in the cell proliferation- and cell expansion-defective double
      mutant clv det3-1, the flowering stems often exhibited severe cracking, resulting
      in exposure of their inner tissues. In this study, further quantification of the
      cellular phenotypes in the cotyledons and leaves revealed no differences between
      det3-1 and clv3 det3-1. Together, the above findings suggest that the clv3
      mutation in a det3-1 background primarily affects flowering stems, while its
      effect on other organs is likely negligible. We propose that the coordination
      between cell proliferation and differentiation is not only important during leaf
      development, but also plays a role in the growth control of Arabidopsis flowering
      stems. 

PMID- 25831426
TI  - Ih channels control feedback regulation from amacrine cells to photoreceptors.
AB  - In both vertebrates and invertebrates, photoreceptors' output is regulated by
      feedback signals from interneurons that contribute to several important visual
      functions. Although synaptic feedback regulation of photoreceptors is known to
      occur in Drosophila, many questions about the underlying molecular mechanisms and
      physiological implementation remain unclear. Here, we systematically investigated
      these questions using a broad range of experimental methods. We isolated two Ih
      mutant fly lines that exhibit rhythmic photoreceptor depolarization without light
      stimulation. We discovered that Ih channels regulate glutamate release from
      amacrine cells by modulating calcium channel activity. Moreover, we showed that
      the eye-enriched kainate receptor (EKAR) is expressed in photoreceptors and
      receives the glutamate signal released from amacrine cells. Finally, we presented
      evidence that amacrine cell feedback regulation helps maintain light sensitivity
      in ambient light. Our findings suggest plausible molecular underpinnings and
      physiological effects of feedback regulation from amacrine cells to
      photoreceptors. These results provide new mechanistic insight into how synaptic
      feedback regulation can participate in network processing by modulating neural
      information transfer and circuit excitability. 

PMID- 25831427
TI  - Usability and Feasibility of an mHealth Intervention for Monitoring and Managing
      Pain Symptoms in Sickle Cell Disease: The Sickle Cell Disease Mobile Application
      to Record Symptoms via Technology (SMART).
AB  - Patients with sickle cell disease frequently experience severe pain events that
      lead to unplanned healthcare utilization. Mobile health tools (mHealth) may help
      prevent these events by providing remote monitoring and self-management support.
      This article describes the feasibility of the Sickle cell disease Mobile
      Application to Record symptoms via Technology (SMART), an mHealth app developed
      to help sickle cell disease patients monitor and manage their day-to-day
      symptoms. Fifteen patients recorded their pain intensity using a paper visual
      analog scale (VAS) and then repeated this measurement using an electronic VAS
      pain measure on SMART. Patients continued using SMART to record clinical
      symptoms, pain intensity, location and perceived severity, and treatment
      strategies for at least 28 days. Patient median age was 29 years (range 16-54);
      60.0% were male. There was a high intraclass correlation between pain
      measurements entered on the paper VAS and SMART on the iPhone and the iPad We
      found a strong association between patient perceived pain severity and pain
      intensity entries using SMART (b = 1.71; p < 0.01). Daily compliance with SMART
      entries was a mean 75.0%, with a high of 85.7% in week 1 and low of 57.9% in week
      4; however, one-third (n = 5) of the patients were 100.0% compliant even in week
      4. Patients who were over age 35 or used an iPad for the study had the highest
      compliance rates. This study showed that SMART is a useable and feasible method
      for monitoring daily pain symptoms among adolescents and adults with sickle cell
      disease-related pain. 

PMID- 25831428
TI  - Our old and new scourges.

PMID- 25831429
TI  - Teacher-led relaxation response curriculum in an urban high school: impact on
      student behavioral health and classroom environment.
AB  - CONTEXT: Recent data suggest that severe stress during the adolescent period is
      becoming a problem of epidemic proportions. Elicitation of the relaxation
      response (RR) has been shown to be effective in treating anxiety, reducing
      stress, and increasing positive health behaviors. OBJECTIVE: The research team's
      objective was to assess the impact of an RR-based curriculum, led by teachers, on
      the psychological status and health management behaviors of high-school students
      and to determine whether a train-the-trainer model would be feasible in a high
      school setting. DESIGN: The research team designed a pilot study. SETTING: The
      setting was a Horace Mann charter school within Boston's public school system.
      PARTICIPANTS: Participants were teachers and students at the charter school.
      INTERVENTION: The team taught teachers a curriculum that included (1) relaxation
      strategies, such as breathing and imagery; (2) psychoeducation regarding mind
      body pathways; and (3) positive psychology. Teachers implemented this curriculum
      with students. OUTCOME MEASURES: The research team assessed changes in student
      outcomes (eg, stress, anxiety, and stress management behaviors) using
      preintervention/postintervention surveys, including the Perceived Stress Scale
      (PSS), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Form Y (STAI-Y), the stress management
      subscale of the Health-promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II), the Rosenberg
      Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Locus of Control (LOC) questionnaire, and the Life
      Orientation Test-Revised (LOTR). Classroom observations using the Classroom
      Assessment Scoring System (CLASS)-Secondary were also completed to assess changes
      in classroom environment. RESULTS: Using a Bonferroni correction (P < .007), the
      study found that students experienced a significant reduction (P < .001) in
      measures of state-level anxiety on the STAI from pre- to postintervention. The
      study also found an increase in the use of stress management behaviors at that
      point. Using a Bonferroni correction (P < .007), the study found that students
      had significantly less perceived stress (P < .001), less state anxiety (P < .001)
      and trait anxiety (P < . 001), and increased use of positive stress management
      behaviors (P < .004) at the follow-up assessment in the fall of the following
      year. Using a Bonferroni correction (P < .002), the study found a significant
      increase in overall classroom productivity (eg, increased time spent on
      activities and instruction from pre- to postintervention). CONCLUSIONS: This
      study showed that teachers can lead an RR curriculum with fidelity and suggests
      that such a curriculum has positive benefits on student emotional and behavioral
      health and on classroom functioning.

PMID- 25831430
TI  - Sutherland's legacy in the new millennium: the osteopathic cranial model and
      modern osteopathy.
AB  - The concept of cranial osteopathy was introduced by W. G. Sutherland, DO, and
      became the foundation for setting the rules for use of skull palpation and many
      other techniques in the many types of dysfunctional patterns that craniosacral
      therapy treats. Sutherland's theories enabled modern osteopathy to develop and
      improve. The mechanism of primary respiration as well as the motion of
      neurocranial and viscerocranial sutures are phenomena intrinsic to the field and
      can be found in every living organism, independent of thoracic breathing and
      cardiac impulse. The sphenobasilar synchondrosis (ie, the joint between the base
      of the occiput and the body of the sphenoid bone) is the pillar supporting the
      concepts of craniosacral therapy. This article compares the cranial model devised
      by Sutherland with the present, relevant scientific research, aiming at
      clarifying the possibility of applying the craniosacral model in the new
      millennium. 

PMID- 25831431
TI  - Autism spectrum disorder and pet therapy.
AB  - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) encompasses a wide range of social and mental
      afflictions that are difficult to treat. Due to a lack of established treatments
      for ASD, alternative therapies have been the primary form of intervention. One of
      these alternatives is pet therapy, a field that has experienced growing interest
      and has recently accumulated studies that investigate its efficacy. This article
      reviews and summarizes that effectiveness as well as the findings and limitations
      associated with pet therapy for ASD. The majority of research on ASD and pet
      therapy has examined children and has primarily used dogs and horses for therapy.
      Studies have shown positive effects for the therapy, including high satisfaction
      rates among the participants' families. Major limitations of studies in the
      current literature include the lack of control groups and small sample sizes.
      Future research should incorporate better study designs and large samples to
      validate pet therapy as an appropriate treatment for ASD. 

PMID- 25831432
TI  - Acupuncture for the temporary treatment of essential tremor: a case report.
AB  - This case report describes the successful, temporary treatment of essential
      tremor in a 74-y-old Caucasian woman, using weekly acupuncture sessions for a 10
      wk period. The outcome measures included the patient's (1) subjective evaluation
      of her percentage of improvement before and after weekly treatments, (2)
      subjective evaluation of her ability to write personal checks and to hold a cup
      with 1 hand to drink, and (3) improved ability to write handwriting samples in
      the university health center. The patient continued to maintain these benefits
      through monthly acupuncture sessions at 12 mo after the initial acupuncture
      treatment. 

PMID- 25831433
TI  - Datis Kharrazian, DHSc, DC, FACN, CNS: neuroinflammation-ignited by toxic burden
      or immune reactivity?

PMID- 25831434
TI  - Maternal neuroendocrine serum levels in exclusively breastfeeding mothers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Low milk supply is a common cause of early weaning, and supply issues
      are associated with dysregulation of thyroid function and prolactin. However,
      hormone levels compatible with successful breastfeeding are not well defined,
      limiting interpretation of clinical lab results. In this study we sought to
      quantify ranges for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (T4), total
      T4, and prolactin in a cohort of exclusively breastfeeding women. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Women planning to breastfeed were recruited in the third trimester of
      pregnancy. Maternal endocrine function was assessed before and after a
      breastfeeding session at 2 and 8 weeks postpartum. We used paired t tests to
      determine whether values changed from the 2- to 8-week visit. RESULTS: Of 52
      study participants, 28 were exclusively breastfeeding, defined as only breastmilk
      feeds in the prior 7 days, at both the 2- and 8-week study visits. Endocrine
      function changed with time since delivery: the TSH level was higher, whereas
      total T4, free T4, and prolactin levels were lower, at the 8-week visit than at
      the 2-week visit (by paired t test, p<=0.01). We found a wide range of prolactin
      values at the 8-week visit, with a 5th percentile value of 9 ng/dL before feeding
      and 74 ng/dL at 10 minutes after feeding. CONCLUSIONS: Neuroendocrine function
      changes during the first 8 weeks after birth, and a wide range of values is
      compatible with successful breastfeeding. Further studies are needed to define
      reference values in breastfeeding women.

PMID- 25831435
TI  - Iron-doped nickel oxide nanocrystals as highly efficient electrocatalysts for
      alkaline water splitting.
AB  - Efficient electrochemical water splitting to hydrogen and oxygen is considered a
      promising technology to overcome our dependency on fossil fuels. Searching for
      novel catalytic materials for electrochemical oxygen generation is essential for
      improving the total efficiency of water splitting processes. We report the
      synthesis, structural characterization, and electrochemical performance in the
      oxygen evolution reaction of Fe-doped NiO nanocrystals. The facile solvothermal
      synthesis in tert-butanol leads to the formation of ultrasmall crystalline and
      highly dispersible FexNi1-xO nanoparticles with dopant concentrations of up to
      20%. The increase in Fe content is accompanied by a decrease in particle size,
      resulting in nonagglomerated nanocrystals of 1.5-3.8 nm in size. The Fe content
      and composition of the nanoparticles are determined by X-ray photoelectron
      spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy measurements, while
      Mossbauer and extended X-ray absorption fine structure analyses reveal a
      substitutional incorporation of Fe(III) into the NiO rock salt structure. The
      excellent dispersibility of the nanoparticles in ethanol allows for the
      preparation of homogeneous ca. 8 nm thin films with a smooth surface on various
      substrates. The turnover frequencies (TOF) of these films could be precisely
      calculated using a quartz crystal microbalance. Fe0.1Ni0.9O was found to have the
      highest electrocatalytic water oxidation activity in basic media with a TOF of
      1.9 s(-1) at the overpotential of 300 mV. The current density of 10 mA cm(-2) is
      reached at an overpotential of 297 mV with a Tafel slope of 37 mV dec(-1). The
      extremely high catalytic activity, facile preparation, and low cost of the single
      crystalline FexNi1-xO nanoparticles make them very promising catalysts for the
      oxygen evolution reaction. 

PMID- 25831436
TI  - Multiparameter optimization method and enhanced production of secreted
      recombinant single-chain variable fragment against the HIV-1 P17 protein from
      Escherichia coli by fed-batch fermentation.
AB  - The single-chain fragment variable (scFv) was used to produce a completely
      functional antigen-binding fragment in bacterial systems. The advancements in
      antibody engineering have simplified the method of producing Fv fragments and
      made it more efficient and generally relevant. In a previous study, the scFv anti
      HIV-1 P17 protein was produced by a batch production system, optimized by the
      sequential simplex optimization method. This study continued that work in order
      to enhance secreted scFv production by fed-batch cultivation, which supported
      high volumetric productivity and provided a large amount of scFvs for diagnostic
      and therapeutic research. The developments in cell culture media and process
      parameter settings were required to realize the maximum production of cells. This
      study investigated the combined optimization methods, Plackett-Burman design
      (PBD) and sequential simplex optimization, with the aim of optimize feed medium.
      Fed-batch cultivation with an optimal feeding rate was determined. The result
      demonstrated that a 20-mL/hr feeding rate of the optimized medium can increase
      cell growth, total protein production, and scFv anti-p17 activity by 4.43, 1.48,
      and 6.5 times more than batch cultivation, respectively. The combined
      optimization method demonstrated novel power tools for the optimization strategy
      of multiparameter experiments. 

PMID- 25831437
TI  - Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy as a rare cause of dysphagia.
AB  - Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is a rare cause for late-onset
      dysphagia. OPMD normally follows an autosomal dominant inheritance. Herein we
      describe a rare case of an autosomal recessive inheritance of OPMD. An 80-year
      old male presented with progressive dysphagia, frequent aspiration and change of
      voice getting inarticulate and hoarse. Physical examination showed ptosis of the
      right eyelid. Endoscopic and manometric investigation revealed a nonspecific
      motility disorder with hypopharyngeal esophageal hypotension. The severity of
      dysphagia became apparent when significant aspiration occurred during a barium
      swallow. Magnetic resonance imaging of the head ruled out a malignant or cerebral
      ischemic process. Based on the neurological examination, neurogenic muscular
      dystrophy was suspected and DNA analysis was performed. The analysis confirmed
      the extremely rare diagnosis of an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern of
      OPMD with homozygous (GCN)6(GCN)4(GCN) expansion of the poly-(A) binding protein
      nuclear 1 gene. As OPMD normally follows an autosomal dominant inheritance,
      consanguinity of the patient's parents was suspected.

PMID- 25831439
TI  - A conversation with Bill Paul.

PMID- 25831438
TI  - Microsatellite instability use in mismatch repair gene sequence variant
      classification.
AB  - Inherited mutations in the DNA mismatch repair genes (MMR) can cause MMR
      deficiency and increased susceptibility to colorectal and endometrial cancer.
      Microsatellite instability (MSI) is the defining molecular signature of MMR
      deficiency. The clinical classification of identified MMR gene sequence variants
      has a direct impact on the management of patients and their families. For a
      significant proportion of cases sequence variants of uncertain clinical
      significance (also known as unclassified variants) are identified, constituting a
      challenge for genetic counselling and clinical management of families. The effect
      on protein function of these variants is difficult to interpret. The presence or
      absence of MSI in tumours can aid in determining the pathogenicity of associated
      unclassified MMR gene variants. However, there are some considerations that need
      to be taken into account when using MSI for variant interpretation. The use of
      MSI and other tumour characteristics in MMR gene sequence variant classification
      will be explored in this review. 

PMID- 25831440
TI  - Louis Ptacek receives the 2015 ASCI/Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award. Interview by
      Sarah Jackson.

PMID- 25831443
TI  - Nuclear receptor PXR: discovery of a pharmaceutical anti-target.
AB  - Transcriptional induction of the gene encoding cytochrome P450 3A oxygenase
      (CYP3A) causes a prominent class of dangerous drug-drug interactions wherein one
      drug accelerates the metabolism of another. In our 1998 JCI paper, we reported
      the cloning of the human nuclear receptor PXR and demonstrated that it mediates
      CYP3A induction. We determined that PXR is expressed in liver, acts through a DNA
      response element located in the CYP3A promoter, and is activated by a
      structurally diverse collection of drugs that induce CYP3A. Our findings revealed
      the molecular basis for the CYP3A induction class of drug-drug interactions and
      provided a high-throughput means for screening out drug candidates with this
      activity. 

PMID- 25831444
TI  - Retraction. Novel APC-like properties of human NK cells directly regulate T cell
      activation.

PMID- 25831445
TI  - A human immunodeficiency caused by mutations in the PIK3R1 gene.

PMID- 25831442
TI  - Emerging biology of sphingosine-1-phosphate: its role in pathogenesis and
      therapy.
AB  - Membrane sphingolipids are metabolized to sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a
      bioactive lipid mediator that regulates many processes in vertebrate development,
      physiology, and pathology. Once exported out of cells by cell-specific
      transporters, chaperone-bound S1P is spatially compartmentalized in the
      circulatory system. Extracellular S1P interacts with five GPCRs that are widely
      expressed and transduce intracellular signals to regulate cellular behavior, such
      as migration, adhesion, survival, and proliferation. While many organ systems are
      affected, S1P signaling is essential for vascular development, neurogenesis, and
      lymphocyte trafficking. Recently, a pharmacological S1P receptor antagonist has
      won approval to control autoimmune neuroinflammation in multiple sclerosis. The
      availability of pharmacological tools as well as mouse genetic models has
      revealed several physiological actions of S1P and begun to shed light on its
      pathological roles. The unique mode of signaling of this lysophospholipid
      mediator is providing novel opportunities for therapeutic intervention, with
      possibilities to target not only GPCRs but also transporters, metabolic enzymes,
      and chaperones. 

PMID- 25831441
TI  - No quiet surrender: molecular guardians in multiple sclerosis brain.
AB  - The brain under immunological attack does not surrender quietly. Investigation of
      brain lesions in multiple sclerosis (MS) reveals a coordinated molecular response
      involving various proteins and small molecules ranging from heat shock proteins
      to small lipids, neurotransmitters, and even gases, which provide protection and
      foster repair. Reduction of inflammation serves as a necessary prerequisite for
      effective recovery and regeneration. Remarkably, many lesion-resident molecules
      activate pathways leading to both suppression of inflammation and promotion of
      repair mechanisms. These guardian molecules and their corresponding physiologic
      pathways could potentially be exploited to silence inflammation and repair the
      injured and degenerating brain and spinal cord in both relapsing-remitting and
      progressive forms of MS and may be beneficial in other neurologic and psychiatric
      conditions. 

PMID- 25831447
TI  - Vitamin D status and glucose metabolism in youth.
AB  - This study aimed to review and synthesize the available scientific evidence on
      the relationship between serum 25(OH)D concentrations and glucose metabolism
      among adolescents. A total of 19 studies were included. Many studies did not find
      a relation between 25(OH)D concentrations and insulin sensitivity, but most
      studies have shown that vitamin D status influences glucose dysregulation in
      youth due to particularities of this life stage. Considering the prevalence of
      vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency were high among adolescents, the
      importance for vitamin D status correction in this young group, in which chronic
      diseases are not expected but getting every day more common, is mandatory.

PMID- 25831448
TI  - The equivalence of information-theoretic and likelihood-based methods for neural
      dimensionality reduction.
AB  - Stimulus dimensionality-reduction methods in neuroscience seek to identify a low
      dimensional space of stimulus features that affect a neuron's probability of
      spiking. One popular method, known as maximally informative dimensions (MID),
      uses an information-theoretic quantity known as "single-spike information" to
      identify this space. Here we examine MID from a model-based perspective. We show
      that MID is a maximum-likelihood estimator for the parameters of a linear
      nonlinear-Poisson (LNP) model, and that the empirical single-spike information
      corresponds to the normalized log-likelihood under a Poisson model. This
      equivalence implies that MID does not necessarily find maximally informative
      stimulus dimensions when spiking is not well described as Poisson. We provide
      several examples to illustrate this shortcoming, and derive a lower bound on the
      information lost when spiking is Bernoulli in discrete time bins. To overcome
      this limitation, we introduce model-based dimensionality reduction methods for
      neurons with non-Poisson firing statistics, and show that they can be framed
      equivalently in likelihood-based or information-theoretic terms. Finally, we show
      how to overcome practical limitations on the number of stimulus dimensions that
      MID can estimate by constraining the form of the non-parametric nonlinearity in
      an LNP model. We illustrate these methods with simulations and data from primate
      visual cortex. 

PMID- 25831450
TI  - Determinants of weight gain prevention in young adult and midlife women: study
      design and protocol of a randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Treatment of overweight and obesity through body weight reduction has
      been monumentally ineffective as few individuals are able to sustain weight loss.
      Rather than treating weight gain once it has become problematic, prevention of
      weight gain over time may be more effective. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research
      is to preclude the burden of adult obesity in women by identifying the
      determinants of weight gain prevention. The objective of this randomized
      controlled trial (RCT) is to compare a weight gain prevention intervention
      delivered by the registered dietitian versus counselor. METHODS: This is a 12
      month parallel-arm weight gain prevention RCT designed to increase self-efficacy,
      self-regulation, outcome expectations and family and social support through the
      use of a nutrition education intervention in women, aged 18-45 years, from the
      Urbana-Champaign (Illinois, USA) area. Women have been randomized to registered
      dietitian, counselor or wait-list control groups (August 2014) and are undergoing
      weekly nutrition education sessions for four months, followed by monthly sessions
      for eight months (through August 2015). Outcome measures, including: (1) dietary
      intake, (2) physical activity, (3) anthropometric and blood pressure
      measurements, (4) biochemical markers of health, (5) eating behaviors and health
      perceptions, and (6) mediators of behavior change, were collected before the
      intervention began (baseline) and will be collected at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of
      the study. RESULTS: In total, 87 women have been randomized to intervention
      groups, and 81 women have completed first week of the study. Results are expected
      in early 2016. CONCLUSIONS: This RCT is one of the first to examine weight gain
      prevention in women across normal, overweight, and obese body mass index
      categories. Results of this research are expected to have application to evidence
      based practice in weight gain prevention for women and possibly have implication
      for policy regarding decreasing the encumbrance of overweight and obesity in the
      United States.

PMID- 25831451
TI  - Multiple single-molecule magnet behaviors in dysprosium dinuclear complexes
      involving a multiple functionalized tetrathiafulvalene-based ligand.
AB  - The reaction between the 2-(1-(2,6-di(pyrazol-1-yl)-4-methylpyridyl)-4,5-(4,5
      bis(propylthio)-tetrathiafulvalenyl)-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-pyridine ligand (L)
      and 2 equiv of Dy(hfac)3.2H2O (hfac(-) = 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoroacetylacetonate)
      and 1 equiv each of Dy(hfac)3.2H2O and Dy(tta)3.2H2O (tta(-) = 2
      thenoyltrifluoroacetonate) metallic precursors leads to two dinuclear complexes,
      [Dy2(hfac)6(L)].(CH2Cl2)2.C6H14 (1) and [Dy2(hfac)3(tta)3(L)] (2), respectively.
      Their X-ray structures reveal that the two coordination sites are occupied by one
      Dy(III) ion. The Dy(III) ion coordinated to the benzoimidazolylpyridine (bzip)
      moiety adopts a D4d coordination sphere, while the Dy(III) ion coordinated to the
      2,6-di(pyrazol-1-yl)-4-pyridine (dpp) moiety is in a D3h surrounding. In a zero
      dc field, the dynamic magnetic measurements show a slow relaxation for the D4d
      eight-coordination Dy(III) magnetization for 1 and 2. Application of an external
      dc field induces multirelaxation signals of the magnetic susceptibility for both
      compounds. The low frequency and high frequency of the out-of-phase magnetic
      signals are attributed to the Dy(III) ion in D4d and D3h surroundings,
      respectively. The two complexes can be described as double induced-field
      mononuclear single-molecule magnets. 

PMID- 25831452
TI  - Insight into Transannular Cyclization Reactions To Synthesize
      Azabicyclo[X.Y.Z]alkanone Amino Acid Derivatives from 8-, 9-, and 10-Membered
      Macrocyclic Dipeptide Lactams.
AB  - An efficient method for synthesizing different functionalized
      azabicyclo[X.Y.0]alkanone amino acid derivatives has been developed employing
      electrophilic transannular cyclizations of 8-, 9-, and 10-membered unsaturated
      macrocycles to form 5,5-, 6,5-, 7,5-, and 6,6-fused bicylic amino acids,
      respectively. Macrocycles were obtained by a sequence featuring peptide coupling
      of vinyl-, allyl-, homoallyl-, and homohomoallylglycine building blocks followed
      by ring-closing metathesis. X-ray crystallographic analyses of the 8-, 9-, and 10
      membered macrocyclic lactam starting materials as well as certain bicyclic amino
      acid products provided insight into their conformational preferences as well as
      the mechanism for the diastereoselective formation of specific azabicycloalkanone
      amino acids by way of transannular iodolactamization reactions. 

PMID- 25831453
TI  - Pushing the limits of aminocatalysis: enantioselective transformations of alpha
      branched beta-ketocarbonyls and vinyl ketones by chiral primary amines.
AB  - Enantioselective alpha-functionalizations of carbonyl compounds are fundamental
      transformations for the asymmetric synthesis of organic compounds. One of the
      more recent developments along this line is in aminocatalysis, which leads to the
      direct alpha-functionalization of simple aldehydes and ketones. However, most of
      the advances have been achieved with linear aldehydes and ketones as substrates.
      Effective aminocatalysis with alpha-branched carbonyls, particularly alpha
      branched ketones, has remained elusive. The primary difficulty arises from the
      space-demanding alpha-substituent, which impedes iminium/enamine formation. In
      2005, synthetic organic chemists revived catalysis using primary amines, which
      brought new attention to these challenges, because of the conformational
      flexibility of primary amines. On the basis of early biomimetic studies by Hine,
      in 2007 we developed the bioinspired chiral primary amine catalysts featuring
      primary-tertiary diamines. This type of catalyst involves enamine/iminium
      catalysis, and we could apply this chemistry to all of the major types of ketones
      and aldehydes. In this Account, we present research from our laboratory that
      significantly expands aminocatalysis to include alpha-branched ketones such as
      beta-ketocarbonyls and alpha-substituted vinyl ketones. Our primary amine
      catalysis methodology, when used alone or in conjunction with metal catalysts,
      provides convenient access to both enantiopure alpha-tertiary and quaternary
      ketones, structures that are not available via other approaches. Our mechanistic
      studies showed that acidic additives play the critical role in facilitating
      catalytic turnover, most likely by shuttling protons during the enamine/iminium
      tautomerizations. These additives are also critical to induce the desired
      stereochemistry via ammonium N-H hydrogen bonding. Proton transfer by shuttling
      is also stereoselective, resulting in enantioselective enamine protonation as
      observed in the reactions of alpha-substituted vinyl ketones. In addition, we
      have carried out density functional theory studies that help to delineate the
      origins of the stereoselectivity in these reactions. 

PMID- 25831454
TI  - Program and Abstracts Thirty-fifth Annual Meeting of the Surgical Infection
      Society Westlake Village, California April 15-18, 2015.

PMID- 25831456
TI  - Platelet Count After Chemotherapy is a Predictor for Outcome for Ovarian Cancer
      Patients.
AB  - Elevated platelet count occasionally is associated with gynecologic malignancies.
      We investigated the level of platelet count in 450 patients with gynecologic
      tumors. Ovarian cancer patients have increased platelet count associated with the
      course of treatment and disease progression. In multivariate analysis, the
      decrease of platelet count less than 25% after chemotherapy was an unfavorable
      prognostic factor for PFS (HR, 1.948; 95% CI, 1.083-3.505; p = 0.026) and overall
      survival (HR, 2.093; 95% CI, 1.022-4.287; p = 0.043). An insufficient decrease of
      the platelet count increased the risk of recurrence. Thus platelet count could be
      used for monitoring the disease progression and to predict treatment response. 

PMID- 25831457
TI  - 'The biggest thing is trying to live for two people': Spousal experiences of
      supporting decision-making participation for partners with TBI.
AB  - PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To understand how the spouses of individuals with severe TBI
      experience the process of supporting their partners with decision-making. DESIGN:
      This study adopted a constructivist grounded theory approach, with data
      consisting of in-depth interviews conducted with spouses over a 12-month period.
      Data were analysed through an iterative process of open and focused coding,
      identification of emergent categories and exploration of relationships between
      categories. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were four spouses of individuals with
      severe TBI (with moderate-severe disability). Spouses had shared committed
      relationships (marriage or domestic partnerships) for at least 4 years at initial
      interview. Three spouses were in relationships that had commenced following
      injury. MAIN OUTCOME AND RESULTS: Two main themes emerged from the data. The
      first identified the saliency of the relational space in which decision-making
      took place. The second revealed the complex nature of decision-making within the
      spousal relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Spouses experience decision-making as a
      complex multi-stage process underpinned by a number of relational factors.
      Increased understanding of this process can guide health professionals in their
      provision of support for couples in exploring decision-making participation after
      injury.

PMID- 25831458
TI  - Study of the one-photon and two-photon properties of two water-soluble
      terpyridines and their zinc complexes.
AB  - Two water soluble 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine derivatives (TPYOH and O3TPY) with a
      di(hydroxyethyl)amino or a long (2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)benzyl group,
      respectively, were designed and synthesized. The two terpyridine ligands and
      their Zn(ii) complexes display strong one-photon fluorescence. An unusually large
      solvatochromism effect in ethanol and water was found, which was ascribed to
      their interactions with the solvent through hydrogen bonds. All the four
      compounds show evident two-photon absorption ability when evaluated by Z-scan
      technology. The free ligands could give distinct two-photon excited fluorescence,
      and the emission of O3TPY responded linearly with Zn(2+) under the excitation of
      a 780 nm femtosecond laser. Only the complex ZnO3TPY, which possesses a large pi
      conjugation system and suitable election-donating groups, displayed emission
      maxima at 595 nm when excited by a 680-880 nm laser. 

PMID- 25831460
TI  - Erratum: A longitudinal cohort study of body mass index and childhood exposure to
      secondhand tobacco smoke and air pollution: the Southern California Children's
      Health Study.

PMID- 25831459
TI  - Complete topology of the RNF complex from Vibrio cholerae.
AB  - RNF is a redox-driven ion (Na(+) and in one case possibly H(+)) transporter
      present in many prokaryotes. It has been proposed that RNF performs a variety of
      reactions in different organisms, delivering low-potential reducing equivalents
      for specific cellular processes. RNF shares strong homology with the Na(+)
      pumping respiratory enzyme Na(+)-NQR, although there are significant differences
      in subunit and redox cofactor composition. Here we report a topological analysis
      of the six subunits of RNF from Vibrio cholerae. Although individual subunits
      from other organisms have previously been studied, this is the first complete,
      experimentally derived, analysis of RNF from any one source. This has allowed us
      to identify and confirm key properties of RNF. The putative NADH binding site in
      RnfC is located on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane. FeS centers in RnfB and
      RnfC are also located on the cytoplasmic side. However, covalently attached FMNs
      in RnfD and RnfG are both located in the periplasm. RNF also contains a number of
      acidic residues that correspond to functionally important groups in Na(+)-NQR.
      The acidic residues involved in Na(+) uptake and many of those implicated in
      Na(+) translocation are topologically conserved. The topology of RNF closely
      matches the topology represented in the newly published structure of Na(+)-NQR,
      consistent with the close relation between the two enzymes. The topology of RNF
      is discussed in the context of the current structural model of Na(+)-NQR, and the
      proposed functionality of the RNF complex itself.

PMID- 25831461
TI  - Spatially Resolved Doping Concentration and Nonradiative Lifetime Profiles in
      Single Si-Doped InP Nanowires Using Photoluminescence Mapping.
AB  - We report an analysis method that combines microphotoluminescence mapping and
      lifetime mapping data of single semiconductor nanowires to extract the doping
      concentration, nonradiative lifetime, and internal quantum efficiency along the
      length of the nanowires. Using this method, the doping concentration of single Si
      doped wurtzite InP nanowires are mapped out and confirmed by the electrical
      measurements of single nanowire devices. Our method has important implication for
      single nanowire detectors and LEDs and nanowire solar cells applications. 

PMID- 25831462
TI  - Conditional Probability of Long-term Survival After Liver Resection for
      Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma: A Multi-institutional Analysis of 535 Patients.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Whereas conventional actuarial overall survival (OS) estimates rely
      exclusively on static factors determined around the time of surgery, conditional
      survival (CS) estimates take into account the years that a patient has already
      survived. OBJECTIVE: To define the CS of patients following liver resection for
      intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Between
      January 1, 1990, and December 31, 2013, a total of 535 patients who underwent
      resection of ICC were identified from an international multi-institutional
      database. In this retrospective international study conducted from January to
      June 2014, clinicopathological characteristics, operative details, and long-term
      survival data were analyzed. Conditional survival estimates were calculated as
      the probability of survival for an additional 3 years. INTERVENTION: Resection of
      ICC. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Overall survival and CS. RESULTS: While
      actuarial OS decreased over time from 39% at 3 years to 16% at 8 years (P =
      .002), the 3-year CS (CS3) increased over time among those patients who survived.
      The CS3 at 5 years-the probability of surviving to postoperative year 8 after
      having already survived to postoperative year 5-was 65% compared with 8-year OS
      of 16% (P = .002). Factors that were associated with worse OS included larger
      tumor size (hazard ratio [HR], 1.02; 95% CI, 1.00-1.05; P = .05), multifocal
      disease (HR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.19-1.86; P = .01), lymph node metastasis (HR, 2.21;
      95% CI, 1.67-2.93; P < .01), and vascular invasion (HR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.10-1.75;
      P = .006). The calculated CS3 exceeded the actuarial survival for all high-risk
      subgroups. For example, patients with lymph node metastasis had an actuarial OS
      of 11% at 6 years vs a CS3 of 49% at 3 years (Delta38%). Similarly, patients with
      vascular invasion had an actuarial OS of 15% at 6 years compared with a CS3 of
      50% at 3 years (Delta35%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Conditional survival
      estimates may provide critical quantitative information about the changing
      probability of survival over time among patients undergoing liver resection for
      ICC. Therefore, such estimates can be of significant value to patients and health
      care professionals.

PMID- 25831463
TI  - Endothelial PAS domain-containing protein 1 confers TKI-resistance by mediating
      EGFR and MET pathways in non-small cell lung cancer cells.
AB  - Mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) rendering it constitutively
      active is one of the major causes for metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer
      (NSCLC), and EGFR-targeted therapies utilizing tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs)
      are often used clinically as the first-line treatment. But approximately half of
      NSCLC patients develop resistance to these therapies, where the MET proto
      oncogene is amplified by EGFR through the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha.
      Here we report that endothelial PAS domain-containing protein 1 (EPAS1), with 48%
      sequence identity to HIF-1alpha, specifically binds to TKI-resistant T790M EGFR,
      but not to wild-type EGFR, in NSCLC cell lines. Expression of EPAS1 enhances
      amplification of MET when simultaneously expressed with T790M EGFR but not with
      wild-type EGFR, and this enhancement is independent of ligand binding domain of
      EGFR. MET amplification requires EPAS1, since EPAS1 knock-down reduced MET
      levels. When NSCLC cells expressing T790M EGFR were treated with TKIs, reduced
      EPAS1 levels significantly enhanced the drug effect, whereas over-expression of
      EPAS1 increased the drug resistant effect. This EPAS1-dependent TKI-resistance
      was abolished by knocking-down MET, suggesting that EPAS1 does not cause TKI
      resistance itself but functions to bridge EGFR and MET interactions. Our findings
      suggest that EPAS1 is a key factor in the EGFR-MET crosstalk in conferring TKI
      resistance in NSCLC cases, and could be used as a potential therapeutic target in
      TKI-resistant NSCLC patients. 

PMID- 25831465
TI  - Structured illumination microscopy improves visualization of lytic granules in
      HIV-1 specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte immunological synapses.

PMID- 25831464
TI  - Immune Reconstitution in Severely Immunosuppressed Antiretroviral-Naive HIV-1
      Infected Patients Starting Efavirenz, Lopinavir-Ritonavir, or Atazanavir
      Ritonavir Plus Tenofovir/Emtricitabine: Final 48-Week Results (The Advanz-3
      Trial).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Few randomized clinical trials have investigated antiretroviral
      regimens in very advanced HIV-1-infected patients. The objective was to study the
      immune reconstitution in very immunosuppressed antiretroviral-naive, HIV-1
      infected individuals by comparing an efavirenz-based regimen with 2 ritonavir
      boosted protease inhibitor regimens. METHODS: Randomized, controlled, open-label,
      multicenter clinical trial. Eighty-nine HIV-1-infected antiretroviral-naive
      patients with <100 CD4 cells per cubic millimeter were randomly assigned in a
      1:1:1 ratio to efavirenz (n = 29), atazanavir/ritonavir (n = 30), or
      lopinavir/ritonavir (n = 30) combined with tenofovir plus emtricitabine. The
      primary outcome was median increase in CD4 cell count at week 48. Secondary end
      points were the proportion of patients with HIV-1 RNA <50 copies per milliliter,
      adverse events, disease progression, and death. RESULTS: In the on-treatment
      analysis, the median (interquartile range) increase in the CD4 count after 48
      weeks was +193 (129-349) cells per microliter in the efavirenz arm, +197 (146
      238) cells per microliter in the ritonavir-boosted atazanavir arm, and +205 (178
      327) cells per microliter in the ritonavir-boosted lopinavir arm (P = 0.73). The
      percentage of patients achieving viral suppression was similar in all 3 treatment
      arms at 48 weeks {efavirenz, 85.71% [95% confidence interval (CI): 68.5 to 94.3];
      atazanavir, 80% [95% CI: 62.7 to 90.5]; and lopinavir, 82.8% [95% CI: 65.5 to
      92.4]; P = 0.88}. Bacterial translocation, inflammation, immune activation, and
      apoptotic markers, but not D-dimer, declined significantly and similarly in the 3
      treatment arms. Adverse events had a similar incidence in all 3 antiretroviral
      regimens. No patients died. CONCLUSIONS: The immune reconstitution induced by an
      efavirenz-based regimen in very advanced HIV-1-infected patients was similar to
      that induced by a ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor-based regimen
      (ClinicalTrials.gov registration number: NCT00532168).

PMID- 25831467
TI  - A triazole-bearing picket fence type nickel porphyrin as a cyanide selective
      allosteric host.
AB  - A triazole-bearing picket fence type nickel porphyrin (1) has been synthesized as
      a host compound for anion binding. Among the various anionic species examined,
      cyanide was the only one that affected a spectral change of 1. Moreover, 1
      exhibited strong homotropic positive allosterism against cyanide binding due to
      an electronic effect as well as multiple hydrogen bonds formed between cyanide
      and the triazole groups.

PMID- 25831468
TI  - Prevalence of Subclinical Coronary Artery Disease in Middle-Aged, Male Marathon
      Runners Detected by Cardiac CT.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in middle
      aged, male marathon runners using coronary dual source CT angiography (DSCTA).
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: 50 male marathon runners older than 45 years (mean age:
      52.7, standard deviation: 5.9 years, range: 45 to 67 years) received DSCTA
      including calcium scoring (CS) in addition to standard pre-participation
      screening. Based on standard risk factors, the risk for coronary events was
      calculated using the PROCAM score. Coronary status was defined using the
      following system: 1. absence of CAD (CS zero, no coronary plaques) 2. mild
      coronary atherosclerosis (CS > 0, coronary plaques with luminal narrowing < 50
      %), 3. moderate coronary atherosclerosis (CS > 0, luminal narrowing > 50 %), 4.
      significant CAD (CS > 0, luminal narrowing > 75 %). RESULTS: The mean PROCAM
      score was 1.85 % (standard deviation = 1.56, range 0.39 to 8.47 %). 26/50
      marathon runners had no atherosclerosis. 1 of the remaining 24 participants had
      significant CAD, 3 had moderate coronary atherosclerosis and 20 had mild coronary
      atherosclerosis. Treadmill exercise testing was unremarkable in terms of
      myocardial ischemia in all participants. Age, systolic blood pressure, personal
      minimum time, family history of cardiovascular disease and PROCAM score were
      factors associated with an increased risk for coronary atherosclerosis.
      CONCLUSION: Coronary atherosclerosis can be detected in almost 50 % of male
      marathon runners aged older than 45 years. In 24 % of the participants plaques
      were located in the proximal coronary system. However, only a minority of these
      persons have obstructive CAD. As expected, treadmill exercise testing failed to
      detect these persons that possibly have a higher risk for coronary events. KEY
      POINTS: * Coronary atherosclerosis can be detected in ~50 % of male marathon
      runners > 45 years. * Only a minority of these persons have obstructive CAD. *
      Treadmill exercise testing failed to detect these persons. * Cardiac CT might
      help to identify athletes with elevated risk for coronary events, especially in
      persons with a family history of coronary artery.

PMID- 25831469
TI  - Thrombectomy vs. Systemic Thrombolysis in Acute Embolic Stroke with High Clot
      Burden: A Retrospective Analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: The efficacy of i. v. thrombolysis in acute stroke with high clot burden
      is limited. Successful recanalization is very unlikely if the thrombus length
      exceeds 7 mm. Thus this retrospective controlled study evaluated the efficacy and
      safety of neurothrombectomy in the treatment of acute embolic stroke in patients
      selected by a thrombus length of >= 8 mm using the stent retriever Trevo((r))
      device. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 40 patients with acute occlusion of the anterior
      intracranial arteries with a thrombus length of >= 8 mm were treated with
      neurothrombectomy. We compared the outcome with a historical cohort of 42
      patients with a thrombus length of >= 8 mm that received i. v. thrombolysis only.
      Clinical outcome was assessed by modified Rankin scale in both groups at
      discharge and on day 90. RESULTS: Patients did not differ in age, mRS on
      admission, thrombus length or time from symptom onset to i. v. thrombolysis, but
      the thrombectomy group had higher NIHSS on admission. Successful recanalization
      was achieved in 33/40 patients (83 %) with neurothrombectomy. 15 patients
      received i. v. thrombolysis prior to neurothrombectomy. Median mRS at discharge
      was 3.5 (1.25 - 5) vs. 5 (4 - 6; p < 0.01) and on day 90 3 (1 - 4) vs. 5 (4 - 6;
      p < 0.01). Symptomatic hemorrhage occurred in 3 vs. 7 patients. 3 vs. 17 patients
      died within 90 days (thrombectomy vs. control each). There were only a few
      intervention-related complications. CONCLUSION: Thrombectomy in acute stroke with
      high clot burden using the Trevo((r)) device has a low risk and improved clinical
      outcome compared to i. v. thrombolysis alone. Treatment selection by a clot
      length of >= 8 mm might be a powerful approach to improve the outcome of
      mechanical thrombectomy. KEY POINTS: * Clot length of >= 8 mm might be a valuable
      criterion for indicating neurothrombectomy. * Thrombolysis only in high clot
      burden is associated with poor clinical outcome. * Thrombectomy using the
      Trevo((r)) stent retriever is safe and effective.

PMID- 25831470
TI  - [Traumatic severance of the hypophyseal stalk - MRI image].

PMID- 25831472
TI  - X-ray diffraction: instrumentation and applications.
AB  - X-ray diffraction (XRD) is a powerful nondestructive technique for characterizing
      crystalline materials. It provides information on structures, phases, preferred
      crystal orientations (texture), and other structural parameters, such as average
      grain size, crystallinity, strain, and crystal defects. X-ray diffraction peaks
      are produced by constructive interference of a monochromatic beam of X-rays
      scattered at specific angles from each set of lattice planes in a sample. The
      peak intensities are determined by the distribution of atoms within the lattice.
      Consequently, the X-ray diffraction pattern is the fingerprint of periodic atomic
      arrangements in a given material. This review summarizes the scientific trends
      associated with the rapid development of the technique of X-ray diffraction over
      the past five years pertaining to the fields of pharmaceuticals, forensic
      science, geological applications, microelectronics, and glass manufacturing, as
      well as in corrosion analysis. 

PMID- 25831471
TI  - Complete Regression of Xenograft Tumors upon Targeted Delivery of Paclitaxel via
      Pi-Pi Stacking Stabilized Polymeric Micelles.
AB  - Treatment of cancer patients with taxane-based chemotherapeutics, such as
      paclitaxel (PTX), is complicated by their narrow therapeutic index. Polymeric
      micelles are attractive nanocarriers for tumor-targeted delivery of PTX, as they
      can be tailored to encapsulate large amounts of hydrophobic drugs and achiv
      prolonged circulation kinetics. As a result, PTX deposition in tumors is
      increased, while drug exposure to healthy tissues is reduced. However, many PTX
      loaded micelle formulations suffer from low stability and fast drug release in
      the circulation, limiting their suitability for systemic drug targeting. To
      overcome these limitations, we have developed PTX-loaded micelles which are
      stable without chemical cross-linking and covalent drug attachment. These
      micelles are characterized by excellent loading capacity and strong drug
      retention, attributed to pi-pi stacking interaction between PTX and the aromatic
      groups of the polymer chains in the micellar core. The micelles are based on
      methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-b-(N-(2-benzoyloxypropyl)methacrylamide) (mPEG-b
      p(HPMAm-Bz)) block copolymers, which improved the pharmacokinetics and the
      biodistribution of PTX, and substantially increased PTX tumor accumulation (by
      more than 2000%; as compared to Taxol or control micellar formulations). Improved
      biodistribution and tumor accumulation were confirmed by hybrid MUCT-FMT imaging
      using near-infrared labeled micelles and payload. The PTX-loaded micelles were
      well tolerated at different doses, while they induced complete tumor regression
      in two different xenograft models (i.e., A431 and MDA-MB-468). Our findings
      consequently indicate that pi-pi stacking-stabilized polymeric micelles are
      promising carriers to improve the delivery of highly hydrophobic drugs to tumors
      and to increase their therapeutic index. 

PMID- 25831473
TI  - Z-Selective Olefin Synthesis via Iron-Catalyzed Reductive Coupling of Alkyl
      Halides with Terminal Arylalkynes.
AB  - Selective catalytic synthesis of Z-olefins has been challenging. Here we describe
      a method to produce 1,2-disubstituted olefins in high Z selectivity via reductive
      cross-coupling of alkyl halides with terminal arylalkynes. The method employs
      inexpensive and nontoxic catalyst (iron(II) bromide) and reductant (zinc). The
      substrate scope encompasses primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl halides, and
      the reaction tolerates a large number of functional groups. The utility of the
      method is demonstrated in the synthesis of several pharmaceutically relevant
      molecules. Mechanistic study suggests that the reaction proceeds through an iron
      catalyzed anti-selective carbozincation pathway. 

PMID- 25831474
TI  - Clinical and pathological features of head and neck follicular dendritic cell
      sarcoma.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Follicular dendritic cell sarcoma (FDCS) in the head and neck is
      uncommon. The etiology, pathogenesis, optimal treatment, and prognosis are not
      well understood. In this review, we investigated these features to deepen the
      understanding of the disease. METHODS: We reviewed FDCS in the head and neck in
      the English language literature through Medline. We analyzed the clinical
      characteristics, pathologic features, immunophenotypic profile, and treatments of
      FDCS. RESULTS: Of 137 reported cases of FDCS in the head and neck region, 127
      included data on age and gender. Among those, 64 were females and 63 were males.
      The mean age was 46 years (9-79 years). In the 106 cases with complete follow-up
      data, fourteen patients (13.2%) had local recurrence. Fourteen patients (13.2%)
      had distant metastasis. The metastatic site involved the lung, liver, adrenal,
      rib, vertebral body, and iliac bone. The overall 5-year survival rate was 80.0%.
      Compared to nodal FDCS and extranodal FDCS, the overall 5-year survival rates
      were 71.1 and 85.3%, respectively, with no significance (P = 0.42), 0.8% waived
      treatment, 46.6% received surgery alone, 30.5% received surgery combined with
      postoperative radiotherapy, 8.4% received surgery combined with postoperative
      radiotherapy and chemotherapy, 7.6% received surgery combined with postoperative
      chemotherapy, 3.1% received chemotherapy alone, 2.2% received chemotherapy
      combined with radiotherapy, 0.8% received radiotherapy alone. CONCLUSIONS: FDCS
      in the head and neck is rare. There was no difference in the survival between
      nodal and extranodal FDCS. The optimal treatment was undetermined.

PMID- 25831475
TI  - Patients' preferences for biopsy result notification in an era of electronic
      messaging methods.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Effective patient-physician communication is essential for optimal
      health care. Recent introduction of online patient portals to access test results
      are changing the communication landscape, but regulatory guidelines for the
      online release of biopsy results vary from state to state. OBJECTIVES: To assess
      patient preferences for receiving skin biopsy results to rule out melanoma and to
      compare those preferences to current physicians' practices for notification.
      DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: English-speaking individuals 18 years or older
      were recruited consecutively from melanoma clinics at 3 academic tertiary
      referral medical centers: University of California, San Francisco, University of
      Pennsylvania, and Duke University. Patients were surveyed from July 1, 2012,
      through July 31, 2013. A second survey of physicians at these institutions was
      conducted to assess physician notification practices. RESULTS: A total of 301 of
      305 patients agreed to participate (98.7 response rate). Most of the patients
      (67.1%) preferred to speak directly with their physician by telephone to receive
      their skin biopsy results, followed by a distant second choice (19.5%) of being
      notified in person at a clinic visit. Voice message or online patient portal were
      each the preferred method of communication for 5.1% of patients. The most
      important consideration for patients was a communication modality that provided
      test results in the most rapid manner; 51.7% wanted a method that was rapid, and
      7.8% preferred a method that was not only speedy but also allowed them an
      opportunity to ask questions. A total of 59.5% of the study participants would
      choose the same communication method regardless of the biopsy results, but 40.5%
      preferred a different mode of notification if their biopsy results revealed a
      malignant tumor. Younger and more highly educated patients favored the online
      portal. Of 84 physicians surveyed, 47 responded (56% response rate). Physicians'
      overall preferred method of contacting patients aligned with patient preference
      for speaking by telephone (56.5%). However, for benign results, 31.2% of
      physicians chose to speak by telephone, whereas patients preferred voicemail
      (32.1%). There was physician uncertainty as to guidelines regarding communication
      of test results. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Patient preference has shifted from
      face-to-face visit to discussion over the telephone because of a desire for rapid
      notification. Experience with online portal delivery of results favorably
      inclined patients toward that modality. We recommend that patients be queried
      regarding their notification preference on the biopsy consent form.

PMID- 25831476
TI  - Structures, physicochemical properties, and applications of amaranth starch.
AB  - Amaranth as a rediscovered "new" crop is becoming a research focus in the recent
      two decades. The major carbohydrate of some amaranth species is starch, which
      accounts up to around 60% of the dry grains. This review summarizes the present
      knowledge of the isolation, composition, structures, physiochemical properties,
      modifications, and applications of amaranth starches, and provides suggestions
      for research to further improve the utilization.

PMID- 25831477
TI  - Evening chronotype is associated with metabolic disorders and body composition in
      middle-aged adults.
AB  - CONTEXT: Chronotype is a trait determining individual circadian preference in
      behavioral and biological rhythm relative to external light-dark cycle. However,
      little is known about the relationship between chronotype and metabolic
      disorders. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine whether late
      chronotype is related to metabolic abnormalities and body composition in middle
      aged adults, independent of sleep duration and lifestyle. DESIGN AND
      PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1620 participants aged 47-59 years were recruited from
      the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Chronotype was
      assessed by the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire. Associations of chronotype
      with diabetes, metabolic syndrome, sarcopenia, and visceral obesity were
      analyzed. All participants underwent the oral glucose tolerance test, and body
      composition was measured with dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. Visceral obesity
      was designated as visceral fat area, measured by abdominal computed tomography,
      of >100 cm(2). RESULTS: Chronotype was classified as morning in 29.6% of
      subjects, evening in 5.9%, neither morning nor evening in 64.5%. Evening type,
      when compared with morning type, was significantly associated with diabetes (odds
      ratio [OR], 1.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-2.95), metabolic syndrome
      (OR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.05-2.87), and sarcopenia (OR, 3.16; 95% CI, 1.36-7.33) after
      adjusting for confounding factors. Gender differences in the associations were
      evident. In men, evening type was associated with diabetes (OR, 2.98; 95% CI,
      1.39-6.39) and sarcopenia (OR, 3.89; 95% CI, 1.33-11.33). Only metabolic syndrome
      was associated with evening type in women (OR, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.11-4.43).
      CONCLUSIONS: At the population level, evening chronotype was independently
      associated with diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and sarcopenia. These results
      support the importance of circadian rhythms in metabolic regulation.

PMID- 25831478
TI  - Microbial conversion of ginsenoside Rd from Rb1 by the fungus mutant Aspergillus
      niger strain TH-10a.
AB  - Ginsenoside Rd, one of the ginsenosides with significant pharmaceutical
      activities, is getting more and more attractions on its biotransformation. In
      this study, a novel fungus mutant, the Aspergillus niger strain TH-10a, which can
      efficiently convert ginsenoside Rd from Rb1, was obtained through screening
      survival library of LiCl and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. The transformation
      product ginsenoside Rd, generated by removing the outer glucose residue from the
      position C20 of ginsenoside Rb1, was identified through high-performance liquid
      chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Factors for the microbial culture and
      biotransformation were investigated in terms of the carbon sources, the nitrogen
      sources, pH values, and temperatures. This showed that maximum mycelia growth
      could be obtained at 28 degrees C and pH 6.0 with cellobiose and tryptone as the
      carbon source and the nitrogen source, respectively. The highest transformation
      rate (~86%) has been achieved at 32 degrees C and pH 5.0 with the feeding time of
      substrate 48 hr. Also, Aspergillus niger strain TH-10a could tolerate even 40
      mg/mL ginseng root extract as substrate with 60% bioconversion rate after 72 hr
      of treatment at the optimal condition. Our results highlight a novel ginsenoside
      Rd transformation fungus and illuminate its potentially practical application in
      the pharmaceutical industries. 

PMID- 25831480
TI  - [Amphibians in Spanish popular medicine and the pharmacopoeia of Pliny and
      Dioscorides].
AB  - This article presents a list of medical remedies based on the use of amphibians
      in Spanish popular medicine and in the classical world. It provides an overview
      of bibliography relative to folklore studies, ethnographic work and research on
      social or medical anthropology. It documents a total of 113 remedies and the use
      of nine species of amphibians, two from the family of caudates (urodeles) and
      seven anurans. Most of these remedies are based on the popular "preconception"
      about the influence of amphibians and healing by transmitting an illness to a
      living creature. The traditional use of certain threatened species is emphasized,
      an issue to bear in mind in decision-making in the field of conservation biology
      and environmental education. 

PMID- 25831481
TI  - Total syntheses of the resorcylic acid lactone neocosmosin A and its enantiomer.
AB  - A total synthesis of the structure, 1, assigned to the recently reported
      resorcylic acid lactone (RAL) neocosmosin A has been established. Olefin-cross
      metathesis, ring-closing metathesis, palladium-catalyzed Meinwald rearrangement,
      and Mitsunobu esterification reactions were used as key steps. A late-stage and
      simple modification to the reaction sequence also provided compound ent-1 that,
      in fact, represents the true structure of the natural product. 

PMID- 25831482
TI  - Fighting fire with fire: mass antimalarial drug administrations in an era of
      antimalarial resistance.
AB  - The emergence and spread of antimalarial resistance has been a major liability
      for malaria control. The spread of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum
      strains had catastrophic consequences for people in malaria-endemic regions,
      particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The recent emergence of artemisinin-resistant
      P. falciparum strains is of highest concern. Current efforts to contain
      artemisinin resistance have yet to show success. In the absence of more promising
      plans, it has been suggested to eliminate falciparum malaria from foci of
      artemisinin resistance using a multipronged approach, including mass drug
      administrations. The use of mass drug administrations is controversial as it
      increases drug pressure. Based on current knowledge it is difficult to
      conceptualize how targeted malaria elimination could contribute to artemisinin
      resistance, provided a full treatment course is ensured. 

PMID- 25831483
TI  - "It's got to be on this page": age and cognitive style in a study of online
      health information seeking.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The extensive availability of online health information offers the
      public opportunities to become independently informed about their care, but what
      affects the successful retrieval and understanding of accurate and detailed
      information? We have limited knowledge about the ways individuals use the
      Internet and the personal characteristics that affect online health literacy.
      OBJECTIVE: This study examined the extent to which age and cognitive style
      predicted success in searching for online health information, controlling for
      differences in education, daily Internet use, and general health literacy.
      METHODS: The Online Health Study (OHS) was conducted at Johns Hopkins School of
      Public Health and Stanford University School of Medicine from April 2009 to June
      2010. The OHS was designed to explore the factors associated with success in
      obtaining health information across different age groups. A total of 346 men and
      women aged 35 years and older of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds
      participated in the study. Participants were evaluated for success in searching
      online for answers to health-related tasks/questions on nutrition, cancer,
      alternative medicine, vaccinations, medical equipment, and genetic testing.
      RESULTS: Cognitive style, in terms of context sensitivity, was associated with
      less success in obtaining online health information, with tasks involving visual
      judgment most affected. In addition, better health literacy was positively
      associated with overall success in online health seeking, specifically for tasks
      requiring prior health knowledge. The oldest searchers were disadvantaged even
      after controlling for education, Internet use, general health literacy, and
      cognitive style, especially when spatial tasks such as mapping were involved.
      CONCLUSIONS: The increasing availability of online health information provides
      opportunities to improve patient education and knowledge, but effective use of
      these resources depends on online health literacy. Greater support for those who
      are in the oldest cohorts and for design of interfaces that support users with
      different cognitive styles may be required in an age of shared medical decision
      making.

PMID- 25831484
TI  - Clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of elemental nutrition for the
      maintenance of remission in Crohn's disease: a systematic review and meta
      analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although enteral nutrition has been shown to be a viable treatment
      option for the management of active Crohn's disease (CD), the evidence regarding
      its clinical benefits compared with standard treatments (e.g. steroids) for
      maintaining remission in patients with CD has been inconsistent. If enteral
      nutrition was to be effective, the use of drugs such as steroids and
      immunosuppressive drugs could be reduced, thereby reducing the likelihood of
      adverse events associated with these medications. OBJECTIVES: This systematic
      review aimed to assess the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of
      elemental nutrition (a type of enteral nutrition) for maintenance of remission in
      patients with CD. DATA SOURCES: Major bibliographic databases (e.g. MEDLINE,
      EMBASE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) were searched from inception to
      August/September 2013. Searches were not limited by study design, language or
      publication date. Websites for relevant organisations and references of included
      studies were checked. METHODS: Experimental randomised and non-randomised
      controlled trials (RCTs and nRCTs) reporting clinical effectiveness and cost
      effectiveness of elemental nutrition in the maintenance of remission in patients
      with CD were eligible. Study selection, data extraction and risk of bias (RoB)
      assessment were performed independently. Risk ratios (RRs) and mean differences
      (MDs) were pooled using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed via
      forest plots, Cochran's Q and the I2 statistics. Overall, quality of evidence for
      each outcome was rated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment,
      Development, and Evaluation approach. RESULTS: Eight studies (three RCTs and five
      nRCTs) were included in the review. RCTs indicated a significant benefit of
      elemental nutrition vs. no intervention (an unrestricted diet) in maintaining
      remission at 24 months [one RCT; RR 2.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00 to
      4.43; very low-grade evidence] and preventing relapse at 12-24 months post
      baseline (two RCTs; pooled RR 0.57, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.84; I2 = 0%; high-grade
      evidence). Similarly, three nRCTs showed significant benefits of elemental
      nutrition over no intervention in maintaining remission at 12-48 months and
      preventing relapse at 12 months post baseline (MD 1.20 months, 95% CI 0.35 to
      2.04 months). The incidence of mucosal healing was not significantly different in
      the intervention and control groups (RR 2.70, 95% CI 0.62 to 11.72). Adherence to
      an elemental nutrition regime was significantly worse than adherence to polymeric
      nutrition (RR 0.68, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.92) and, when compared with other active
      treatments (medications, polymeric nutrition or a combination), elemental
      nutrition yielded non-significant results with wide 95% CIs, rendering these
      results inconclusive. Complications and adverse events were too sparse to allow
      meaningful comparisons. None of the studies reported cost-effectiveness of
      elemental nutrition. Owing to scarcity of data, subgroup and sensitivity analyses
      could not be performed to explore methodological and clinical sources of
      heterogeneity. LIMITATIONS: The findings warrant cautious interpretation given
      the limitations of the evidence in methodological quality (small samples, short
      follow-up) and the RoB in individual studies (lack of blinding, confounding).
      CONCLUSIONS: Limited evidence indicates potential benefits of elemental nutrition
      against no intervention in the maintenance of remission and prevention of relapse
      in adult patients with CD. There was a lack or insufficient evidence on adverse
      events and complications. Future large and long-term randomised trials are
      warranted to draw more definitive conclusions regarding the effects of elemental
      nutrition in maintaining remission in CD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study is
      registered as PROSPERO CRD42013005134. FUNDING: The National Institute for Health
      Research Health Technology Assessment programme.

PMID- 25831486
TI  - Microbiology of Fresh Produce: Route of Contamination, Detection Methods, and
      Remedy.
AB  - Fresh fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthful diet. They
      provide vitamins, minerals and fiber to help keep our body healthy. Occasionally,
      fresh fruits and vegetables can become contaminated with harmful bacteria or
      viruses, which are also known as pathogens. The major family of pathogen
      associated with food are members of Enterobacteriaceae which commonly form a part
      of microbiological criteria and their presence is traditionally related to
      hygiene and safety of foods. Organic fertilizers, irrigation water quality and
      soil are major source of contamination. For removal of pathogens, various
      decontamination procedures are also followed to reduce microbial load on the
      fruits. These are chemical preservatives and irradiation. Microbiological study
      of fresh produce can be done by various phenotypic, biochemical and molecular
      techniques so that pathogen can properly be identified. The World Health
      Organization (WHO) developed global risk communication message and training
      materials to assist countries in strengthening their food educating programs.
      There is a need for improved surveillance systems on food-borne pathogens, on
      food products and on outbreaks so that comparable data are available from a wider
      range of countries. 

PMID- 25831487
TI  - Quenched phonon drag in silicon nanowires reveals significant effect in the bulk
      at room temperature.
AB  - Existing theory and data cannot quantify the contribution of phonon drag to the
      Seebeck coefficient (S) in semiconductors at room temperature. We show that this
      is possible through comparative measurements between nanowires and the bulk.
      Phonon boundary scattering completely quenches phonon drag in silicon nanowires
      enabling quantification of its contribution to S in bulk silicon in the range 25
      500 K. The contribution is surprisingly large (~34%) at 300 K even at doping of
      ~3 * 10(19) cm(-3). Our results contradict the notion that phonon drag is
      negligible in degenerate semiconductors at temperatures relevant for
      thermoelectric energy conversion. A revised theory of electron-phonon momentum
      exchange that accounts for a phonon mean free path spectrum agrees well with the
      data. 

PMID- 25831488
TI  - Warming trend: how climate shapes Vibrio ecology.

PMID- 25831489
TI  - Modulation of orthogonal body waves enables high maneuverability in sidewinding
      locomotion.
AB  - Many organisms move using traveling waves of body undulation, and most work has
      focused on single-plane undulations in fluids. Less attention has been paid to
      multiplane undulations, which are particularly important in terrestrial
      environments where vertical undulations can regulate substrate contact. A
      seemingly complex mode of snake locomotion, sidewinding, can be described by the
      superposition of two waves: horizontal and vertical body waves with a phase
      difference of +/- 90 degrees . We demonstrate that the high maneuverability
      displayed by sidewinder rattlesnakes (Crotalus cerastes) emerges from the
      animal's ability to independently modulate these waves. Sidewinder rattlesnakes
      used two distinct turning methods, which we term differential turning (26 degrees
      change in orientation per wave cycle) and reversal turning (89 degrees ).
      Observations of the snakes suggested that during differential turning the animals
      imposed an amplitude modulation in the horizontal wave whereas in reversal
      turning they shifted the phase of the vertical wave by 180 degrees . We tested
      these mechanisms using a multimodule snake robot as a physical model,
      successfully generating differential and reversal turning with performance
      comparable to that of the organisms. Further manipulations of the two-wave system
      revealed a third turning mode, frequency turning, not observed in biological
      snakes, which produced large (127 degrees ) in-place turns. The two-wave system
      thus functions as a template (a targeted motor pattern) that enables complex
      behaviors in a high-degree-of-freedom system to emerge from relatively simple
      modulations to a basic pattern. Our study reveals the utility of templates in
      understanding the control of biological movement as well as in developing control
      schemes for limbless robots.

PMID- 25831490
TI  - Human RECQ1 helicase-driven DNA unwinding, annealing, and branch migration:
      insights from DNA complex structures.
AB  - RecQ helicases are a widely conserved family of ATP-dependent motors with diverse
      roles in nearly every aspect of bacterial and eukaryotic genome maintenance.
      However, the physical mechanisms by which RecQ helicases recognize and process
      specific DNA replication and repair intermediates are largely unknown. Here, we
      solved crystal structures of the human RECQ1 helicase in complexes with tailed
      duplex DNA and ssDNA. The structures map the interactions of the ssDNA tail and
      the branch point along the helicase and Zn-binding domains, which, together with
      reported structures of other helicases, define the catalytic stages of helicase
      action. We also identify a strand-separating pin, which (uniquely in RECQ1) is
      buttressed by the protein dimer interface. A duplex DNA-binding surface on the C
      terminal domain is shown to play a role in DNA unwinding, strand annealing, and
      Holliday junction (HJ) branch migration. We have combined EM and analytical
      ultracentrifugation approaches to show that RECQ1 can form what appears to be a
      flat, homotetrameric complex and propose that RECQ1 tetramers are involved in HJ
      recognition. This tetrameric arrangement suggests a platform for coordinated
      activity at the advancing and receding duplexes of an HJ during branch migration.

PMID- 25831491
TI  - A new regime of nanoscale thermal transport: Collective diffusion increases
      dissipation efficiency.
AB  - Understanding thermal transport from nanoscale heat sources is important for a
      fundamental description of energy flow in materials, as well as for many
      technological applications including thermal management in nanoelectronics and
      optoelectronics, thermoelectric devices, nanoenhanced photovoltaics, and
      nanoparticle-mediated thermal therapies. Thermal transport at the nanoscale is
      fundamentally different from that at the macroscale and is determined by the
      distribution of carrier mean free paths and energy dispersion in a material, the
      length scales of the heat sources, and the distance over which heat is
      transported. Past work has shown that Fourier's law for heat conduction
      dramatically overpredicts the rate of heat dissipation from heat sources with
      dimensions smaller than the mean free path of the dominant heat-carrying phonons.
      In this work, we uncover a new regime of nanoscale thermal transport that
      dominates when the separation between nanoscale heat sources is small compared
      with the dominant phonon mean free paths. Surprisingly, the interaction of
      phonons originating from neighboring heat sources enables more efficient
      diffusive-like heat dissipation, even from nanoscale heat sources much smaller
      than the dominant phonon mean free paths. This finding suggests that thermal
      management in nanoscale systems including integrated circuits might not be as
      challenging as previously projected. Finally, we demonstrate a unique capability
      to extract differential conductivity as a function of phonon mean free path in
      materials, allowing the first (to our knowledge) experimental validation of
      predictions from the recently developed first-principles calculations. 

PMID- 25831492
TI  - Biochemical characterization of a Naegleria TET-like oxygenase and its
      application in single molecule sequencing of 5-methylcytosine.
AB  - Modified DNA bases in mammalian genomes, such as 5-methylcytosine ((5m)C) and its
      oxidized forms, are implicated in important epigenetic regulation processes. In
      human or mouse, successive enzymatic conversion of (5m)C to its oxidized forms is
      carried out by the ten-eleven translocation (TET) proteins. Previously we
      reported the structure of a TET-like (5m)C oxygenase (NgTET1) from Naegleria
      gruberi, a single-celled protist evolutionarily distant from vertebrates. Here we
      show that NgTET1 is a 5-methylpyrimidine oxygenase, with activity on both (5m)C
      (major activity) and thymidine (T) (minor activity) in all DNA forms tested, and
      provide unprecedented evidence for the formation of 5-formyluridine ((5f)U) and 5
      carboxyuridine ((5ca)U) in vitro. Mutagenesis studies reveal a delicate balance
      between choice of (5m)C or T as the preferred substrate. Furthermore, our results
      suggest substrate preference by NgTET1 to (5m)CpG and TpG dinucleotide sites in
      DNA. Intriguingly, NgTET1 displays higher T-oxidation activity in vitro than
      mammalian TET1, supporting a closer evolutionary relationship between NgTET1 and
      the base J-binding proteins from trypanosomes. Finally, we demonstrate that
      NgTET1 can be readily used as a tool in (5m)C sequencing technologies such as
      single molecule, real-time sequencing to map (5m)C in bacterial genomes at base
      resolution. 

PMID- 25831493
TI  - Cross-talk between PKA-Cbeta and p65 mediates synergistic induction of PDE4B by
      roflumilast and NTHi.
AB  - Phosphodiesterase 4B (PDE4B) plays a key role in regulating inflammation.
      Roflumilast, a phosphodiesterase (PDE)4-selective inhibitor, has recently been
      approved for treating severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
      patients with exacerbation. However, there is also clinical evidence suggesting
      the development of tachyphylaxis or tolerance on repeated dosing of roflumilast
      and the possible contribution of PDE4B up-regulation, which could be
      counterproductive for suppressing inflammation. Thus, understanding how PDE4B is
      up-regulated in the context of the complex pathogenesis and medications of COPD
      may help improve the efficacy and possibly ameliorate the tolerance of
      roflumilast. Here we show that roflumilast synergizes with nontypeable
      Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi), a major bacterial cause of COPD exacerbation, to
      up-regulate PDE4B2 expression in human airway epithelial cells in vitro and in
      vivo. Up-regulated PDE4B2 contributes to the induction of certain important
      chemokines in both enzymatic activity-dependent and activity-independent manners.
      We also found that protein kinase A catalytic subunit beta (PKA-Cbeta) and
      nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) p65 subunit were required for the synergistic
      induction of PDE4B2. PKA-Cbeta phosphorylates p65 in a cAMP-dependent manner.
      Moreover, Ser276 of p65 is critical for mediating the PKA-Cbeta-induced p65
      phosphorylation and the synergistic induction of PDE4B2. Collectively, our data
      unveil a previously unidentified mechanism underlying synergistic up-regulation
      of PDE4B2 via a cross-talk between PKA-Cbeta and p65 and may help develop new
      therapeutic strategies to improve the efficacy of PDE4 inhibitor. 

PMID- 25831494
TI  - Sae2 promotes DNA damage resistance by removing the Mre11-Rad50-Xrs2 complex from
      DNA and attenuating Rad53 signaling.
AB  - The Mre11-Rad50-Xrs2/NBS1 (MRX/N) nuclease/ATPase complex plays structural and
      catalytic roles in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and is the DNA
      damage sensor for Tel1/ATM kinase activation. Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sae2 can
      function with MRX to initiate 5'-3' end resection and also plays an important
      role in attenuation of DNA damage signaling. Here we describe a class of mre11
      alleles that suppresses the DNA damage sensitivity of sae2Delta cells by
      accelerating turnover of Mre11 at DNA ends, shutting off the DNA damage
      checkpoint and allowing cell cycle progression. The mre11 alleles do not suppress
      the end resection or hairpin-opening defects of the sae2Delta mutant, indicating
      that these functions of Sae2 are not responsible for DNA damage resistance. The
      purified M(P110L)RX complex shows reduced binding to single- and double-stranded
      DNA in vitro relative to wild-type MRX, consistent with the increased turnover of
      Mre11 from damaged sites in vivo. Furthermore, overproduction of Mre11 causes DNA
      damage sensitivity only in the absence of Sae2. Together, these data suggest that
      it is the failure to remove Mre11 from DNA ends and attenuate Rad53 kinase
      signaling that causes hypersensitivity of sae2Delta cells to clastogens. 

PMID- 25831495
TI  - Regulatory vs. inflammatory cytokine T-cell responses to mutated insulin peptides
      in healthy and type 1 diabetic subjects.
AB  - Certain class II MHC (MHCII) alleles in mice and humans confer risk for or
      protection from type 1 diabetes (T1D). Insulin is a major autoantigen in T1D, but
      how its peptides are presented to CD4 T cells by MHCII risk alleles has been
      controversial. In the mouse model of T1D, CD4 T cells respond to insulin B-chain
      peptide (B:9-23) mimotopes engineered to bind the mouse MHCII molecule, IA(g7),
      in an unfavorable position or register. Because of the similarities between
      IA(g7) and human HLA-DQ T1D risk alleles, we examined control and T1D subjects
      with these risk alleles for CD4 T-cell responses to the same natural B:9-23
      peptide and mimotopes. A high proportion of new-onset T1D subjects mounted an
      inflammatory IFN-gamma response much more frequently to one of the mimotope
      peptides than to the natural peptide. Surprisingly, the control subjects bearing
      an HLA-DQ risk allele also did. However, these control subjects, especially those
      with only one HLA-DQ risk allele, very frequently made an IL-10 response, a
      cytokine associated with regulatory T cells. T1D subjects with established
      disease also responded to the mimotope rather than the natural B:9-23 peptide in
      proliferation assays and the proliferating cells were highly enriched in certain
      T-cell receptor sequences. Our results suggest that the risk of T1D may be
      related to how an HLA-DQ genotype determines the balance of T-cell inflammatory
      vs. regulatory responses to insulin, having important implications for the use
      and monitoring of insulin-specific therapies to prevent diabetes onset. 

PMID- 25831496
TI  - T-cell receptor alpha enhancer is inactivated in alphabeta T lymphocytes.
AB  - The Tcra enhancer (Ealpha) is essential for Tcra locus germ-line transcription
      and primary Valpha-to-Jalpha recombination during thymocyte development. We found
      that Ealpha is inhibited late during thymocyte differentiation and in alphabeta T
      lymphocytes, indicating that it is not required to drive transcription of
      rearranged Tcra genes. Ealpha inactivation resulted in the disruption of
      functional long-range enhancer-promoter interactions and was associated with loss
      of Ealpha-dependent histone modifications at promoter and enhancer regions, and
      reduced expression and recruitment of E2A to the Ealpha enhanceosome in T cells.
      Enhancer activity could not be recovered by T-cell activation, by forced
      expression of E2A or by the up-regulation of this and other transcription factors
      in the context of T helper differentiation. Our results argue that the major
      function of Ealpha is to coordinate the formation of a chromatin hub that drives
      Valpha and Jalpha germ-line transcription and primary rearrangements in
      thymocytes and imply the existence of an Ealpha-independent mechanism to activate
      transcription of the rearranged Tcra locus in alphabeta T cells. 

PMID- 25831497
TI  - The frequency natural antisense transcript first promotes, then represses,
      frequency gene expression via facultative heterochromatin.
AB  - The circadian clock is controlled by a network of interconnected feedback loops
      that require histone modifications and chromatin remodeling. Long noncoding
      natural antisense transcripts (NATs) originate from Period in mammals and
      frequency (frq) in Neurospora. To understand the role of NATs in the clock, we
      put the frq antisense transcript qrf (frq spelled backwards) under the control of
      an inducible promoter. Replacing the endogenous qrf promoter altered
      heterochromatin formation and DNA methylation at frq. In addition, constitutive,
      low-level induction of qrf caused a dramatic effect on the endogenous rhythm and
      elevated circadian output. Surprisingly, even though qrf is needed for
      heterochromatic silencing, induction of qrf initially promoted frq gene
      expression by creating a more permissible local chromatin environment. The
      observation that antisense expression can initially promote sense gene expression
      before silencing via heterochromatin formation at convergent loci is also found
      when a NAT to hygromycin resistance gene is driven off the endogenous vivid (vvd)
      promoter in the Deltavvd strain. Facultative heterochromatin silencing at frq
      functions in a parallel pathway to previously characterized VVD-dependent
      silencing and is needed to establish the appropriate circadian phase. Thus,
      repression via dicer-independent siRNA-mediated facultative heterochromatin is
      largely independent of, and occurs alongside, other feedback processes. 

PMID- 25831498
TI  - Infection by Toxoplasma gondii, a severe parasite in neonates and AIDS patients,
      causes impaired anion secretion in airway epithelia.
AB  - The airway epithelia initiate and modulate the inflammatory responses to various
      pathogens. The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator-mediated Cl(-)
      secretion system plays a key role in mucociliary clearance of inhaled pathogens.
      We have explored the effects of Toxoplasma gondii, an opportunistic intracellular
      protozoan parasite, on Cl(-) secretion of the mouse tracheal epithelia. In this
      study, ATP-induced Cl(-) secretion indicated the presence of a biphasic short
      circuit current (Isc) response, which was mediated by a Ca(2+)-activated Cl(-)
      channel (CaCC) and the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator.
      However, the ATP-evoked Cl(-) secretion in T. gondii-infected mouse tracheal
      epithelia and the elevation of [Ca(2+)]i in T. gondii-infected human airway
      epithelial cells were suppressed. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR revealed
      that the mRNA expression level of the P2Y2 receptor (P2Y2-R) increased
      significantly in T. gondii-infected mouse tracheal cells. This revealed the
      influence that pathological changes in P2Y2-R had on the downstream signal,
      suggesting that P2Y2-R was involved in the mechanism underlying T. gondii
      infection in airways. These results link T. gondii infection as well as other
      pathogen infections to Cl(-) secretion, via P2Y2-R, which may provide new
      insights for the treatment of pneumonia caused by pathogens including T. gondii. 

PMID- 25831499
TI  - Phosphorylation of ORF1p is required for L1 retrotransposition.
AB  - Although members of the L1 (LINE-1) clade of non-LTR retrotransposons can be
      deleterious, the L1 clade has remained active in most mammals for ~100 million
      years and generated almost 40% of the human genome. The details of L1-host
      interaction are largely unknown, however. Here we report that L1 activity
      requires phosphorylation of the protein encoded by the L1 ORF1 (ORF1p). Critical
      phospho-acceptor residues (two serines and two threonines) reside in four
      conserved proline-directed protein kinase (PDPK) target sites. The PDPK family
      includes mitogen-activated protein kinases and cyclin-dependent kinases. Mutation
      of any PDPK phospho-acceptor inhibits L1 retrotransposition. The phosphomimetic
      aspartic acid can restore activity at the two serine sites, but not at either
      threonine site, where it is strongly inhibitory. ORF1p also contains conserved
      PDPK docking sites, which promote specific interaction of PDPKs with their
      targets. As expected, mutations in these sites also inhibit L1 activity. PDPK
      mutations in ORF1p that inactivate L1 have no significant effect on the ability
      of ORF1p to anneal RNA in vitro, an important biochemical property of the
      protein. We show that phosphorylated PDPK sites in ORF1p are required for an
      interaction with the peptidyl prolyl isomerase 1 (Pin1), a critical component of
      PDPK-mediated regulation. Pin1 acts via isomerization of proline side chains at
      phosphorylated PDPK motifs, thereby affecting substrate conformation and
      activity. Our demonstration that L1 activity is dependent on and integrated with
      cellular phosphorylation regulatory cascades significantly increases our
      understanding of interactions between L1 and its host. 

PMID- 25831500
TI  - A viral regulator of glycoprotein complexes contributes to human cytomegalovirus
      cell tropism.
AB  - Viral glycoproteins mediate entry of enveloped viruses into cells and thus play
      crucial roles in infection. In herpesviruses, a complex of two viral
      glycoproteins, gH and gL (gH/gL), regulates membrane fusion events and influences
      virion cell tropism. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) gH/gL can be incorporated into
      two different protein complexes: a glycoprotein O (gO)-containing complex known
      as gH/gL/gO, and a complex containing UL128, UL130, and UL131 known as
      gH/gL/UL128-131. Variability in the relative abundance of the complexes in the
      virion envelope correlates with differences in cell tropism exhibited between
      strains of HCMV. Nonetheless, the mechanisms underlying such variability have
      remained unclear. We have identified a viral protein encoded by the UL148 ORF
      (UL148) that influences the ratio of gH/gL/gO to gH/gL/UL128-131 and the cell
      tropism of HCMV virions. A mutant disrupted for UL148 showed defects in gH/gL/gO
      maturation and enhanced infectivity for epithelial cells. Accordingly,
      reintroduction of UL148 into an HCMV strain that lacked the gene resulted in
      decreased levels of gH/gL/UL128-131 on virions and, correspondingly, decreased
      infectivity for epithelial cells. UL148 localized to the endoplasmic reticulum,
      but not to the cytoplasmic sites of virion envelopment. Coimmunoprecipitation
      results indicated that gH, gL, UL130, and UL131 associate with UL148, but that gO
      and UL128 do not. Taken together, the findings suggest that UL148 modulates HCMV
      tropism by regulating the composition of alternative gH/gL complexes. 

PMID- 25831501
TI  - Structural mechanisms of DNA binding and unwinding in bacterial RecQ helicases.
AB  - RecQ helicases unwind remarkably diverse DNA structures as key components of many
      cellular processes. How RecQ enzymes accommodate different substrates in a
      unified mechanism that couples ATP hydrolysis to DNA unwinding is unknown. Here,
      the X-ray crystal structure of the Cronobacter sakazakii RecQ catalytic core
      domain bound to duplex DNA with a 3' single-stranded extension identifies two DNA
      dependent conformational rearrangements: a winged-helix domain pivots ~90 degrees
      to close onto duplex DNA, and a conserved aromatic-rich loop is remodeled to
      bind ssDNA. These changes coincide with a restructuring of the RecQ ATPase active
      site that positions catalytic residues for ATP hydrolysis. Complex formation also
      induces a tight bend in the DNA and melts a portion of the duplex. This bending,
      coupled with translocation, could provide RecQ with a mechanism for unwinding
      duplex and other DNA structures. 

PMID- 25831503
TI  - Using wavelength and slope to infer the historical origin of semiarid vegetation
      bands.
AB  - Landscape-scale patterns of vegetation occur worldwide at interfaces between
      semiarid and arid climates. They are important as potential indicators of climate
      change and imminent regime shifts and are widely thought to arise from positive
      feedback between vegetation and infiltration of rainwater. On gentle slopes the
      typical pattern form is bands (stripes), oriented parallel to the contours, and
      their wavelength is probably the most accessible statistic for vegetation
      patterns. Recent field studies have found an inverse correlation between pattern
      wavelength and slope, in apparent contradiction with the predictions of
      mathematical models. Here I show that this "contradiction" is based on a flawed
      approach to calculating the wavelength in models. When pattern generation is
      considered in detail, the theory is fully consistent with empirical results. For
      realistic parameters, degradation of uniform vegetation generates patterns whose
      wavelength increases with slope, whereas colonization of bare ground gives the
      opposite trend. Therefore, the empirical finding of an inverse relationship can
      be used, in conjunction with climate records, to infer the historical origin of
      the patterns. Specifically, for the African Sahel my results suggest that banded
      vegetation originated by the colonization of bare ground during circa 1760-1790
      or since circa 1850. 

PMID- 25831502
TI  - Systematic identification of signal integration by protein kinase A.
AB  - Cellular processes and homeostasis control in eukaryotic cells is achieved by the
      action of regulatory proteins such as protein kinase A (PKA). Although the
      outbound signals from PKA directed to processes such as metabolism, growth, and
      aging have been well charted, what regulates this conserved regulator remains to
      be systematically identified to understand how it coordinates biological
      processes. Using a yeast PKA reporter assay, we identified genes that influence
      PKA activity by measuring protein-protein interactions between the regulatory and
      the two catalytic subunits of the PKA complex in 3,726 yeast genetic-deletion
      backgrounds grown on two carbon sources. Overall, nearly 500 genes were found to
      be connected directly or indirectly to PKA regulation, including 80 core
      regulators, denoting a wide diversity of signals regulating PKA, within and
      beyond the described upstream linear pathways. PKA regulators span multiple
      processes, including the antagonistic autophagy and methionine biosynthesis
      pathways. Our results converge toward mechanisms of PKA posttranslational
      regulation by lysine acetylation, which is conserved between yeast and humans and
      that, we show, regulates protein complex formation in mammals and carbohydrate
      storage and aging in yeast. Taken together, these results show that the extent of
      PKA input matches with its output, because this kinase receives information from
      upstream and downstream processes, and highlight how biological processes are
      interconnected and coordinated by PKA. 

PMID- 25831504
TI  - Continental erosion and the Cenozoic rise of marine diatoms.
AB  - Marine diatoms are silica-precipitating microalgae that account for over half of
      organic carbon burial in marine sediments and thus they play a key role in the
      global carbon cycle. Their evolutionary expansion during the Cenozoic era (66 Ma
      to present) has been associated with a superior competitive ability for silicic
      acid relative to other siliceous plankton such as radiolarians, which evolved by
      reducing the weight of their silica test. Here we use a mathematical model in
      which diatoms and radiolarians compete for silicic acid to show that the observed
      reduction in the weight of radiolarian tests is insufficient to explain the rise
      of diatoms. Using the lithium isotope record of seawater as a proxy of silicate
      rock weathering and erosion, we calculate changes in the input flux of silicic
      acid to the oceans. Our results indicate that the long-term massive erosion of
      continental silicates was critical to the subsequent success of diatoms in marine
      ecosystems over the last 40 My and suggest an increase in the strength and
      efficiency of the oceanic biological pump over this period. 

PMID- 25831505
TI  - Plexin D1 determines body fat distribution by regulating the type V collagen
      microenvironment in visceral adipose tissue.
AB  - Genome-wide association studies have implicated PLEXIN D1 (PLXND1) in body fat
      distribution and type 2 diabetes. However, a role for PLXND1 in regional
      adiposity and insulin resistance is unknown. Here we use in vivo imaging and
      genetic analysis in zebrafish to show that Plxnd1 regulates body fat distribution
      and insulin sensitivity. Plxnd1 deficiency in zebrafish induced hyperplastic
      morphology in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and reduced lipid storage. In
      contrast, subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) growth and morphology were
      unaffected, resulting in altered body fat distribution and a reduced VAT:SAT
      ratio in zebrafish. A VAT-specific role for Plxnd1 appeared conserved in humans,
      as PLXND1 mRNA was positively associated with hypertrophic morphology in VAT, but
      not SAT. In zebrafish plxnd1 mutants, the effect on VAT morphology and body fat
      distribution was dependent on induction of the extracellular matrix protein
      collagen type V alpha 1 (col5a1). Furthermore, after high-fat feeding, zebrafish
      plxnd1 mutant VAT was resistant to expansion, and excess lipid was
      disproportionately deposited in SAT, leading to an even greater exacerbation of
      altered body fat distribution. Plxnd1-deficient zebrafish were protected from
      high-fat-diet-induced insulin resistance, and human VAT PLXND1 mRNA was
      positively associated with type 2 diabetes, suggesting a conserved role for
      PLXND1 in insulin sensitivity. Together, our findings identify Plxnd1 as a novel
      regulator of VAT growth, body fat distribution, and insulin sensitivity in both
      zebrafish and humans. 

PMID- 25831506
TI  - The uncertain climate footprint of wetlands under human pressure.
AB  - Significant climate risks are associated with a positive carbon-temperature
      feedback in northern latitude carbon-rich ecosystems, making an accurate analysis
      of human impacts on the net greenhouse gas balance of wetlands a priority. Here,
      we provide a coherent assessment of the climate footprint of a network of wetland
      sites based on simultaneous and quasi-continuous ecosystem observations of CO2
      and CH4 fluxes. Experimental areas are located both in natural and in managed
      wetlands and cover a wide range of climatic regions, ecosystem types, and
      management practices. Based on direct observations we predict that sustained CH4
      emissions in natural ecosystems are in the long term (i.e., several centuries)
      typically offset by CO2 uptake, although with large spatiotemporal variability.
      Using a space-for-time analogy across ecological and climatic gradients, we
      represent the chronosequence from natural to managed conditions to quantify the
      "cost" of CH4 emissions for the benefit of net carbon sequestration. With a
      sustained pulse-response radiative forcing model, we found a significant increase
      in atmospheric forcing due to land management, in particular for wetland
      converted to cropland. Our results quantify the role of human activities on the
      climate footprint of northern wetlands and call for development of active
      mitigation strategies for managed wetlands and new guidelines of the
      Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) accounting for both sustained
      CH4 emissions and cumulative CO2 exchange. 

PMID- 25831507
TI  - Expanded palette of Nano-lanterns for real-time multicolor luminescence imaging.
AB  - Fluorescence live imaging has become an essential methodology in modern cell
      biology. However, fluorescence requires excitation light, which can sometimes
      cause potential problems, such as autofluorescence, phototoxicity, and
      photobleaching. Furthermore, combined with recent optogenetic tools, the light
      illumination can trigger their unintended activation. Because luminescence
      imaging does not require excitation light, it is a good candidate as an
      alternative imaging modality to circumvent these problems. The application of
      luminescence imaging, however, has been limited by the two drawbacks of existing
      luminescent protein probes, such as luciferases: namely, low brightness and poor
      color variants. Here, we report the development of bright cyan and orange
      luminescent proteins by extending our previous development of the bright
      yellowish-green luminescent protein Nano-lantern. The color change and the
      enhancement of brightness were both achieved by bioluminescence resonance energy
      transfer (BRET) from enhanced Renilla luciferase to a fluorescent protein. The
      brightness of these cyan and orange Nano-lanterns was ~20 times brighter than
      wild-type Renilla luciferase, which allowed us to perform multicolor live imaging
      of intracellular submicron structures. The rapid dynamics of endosomes and
      peroxisomes were visualized at around 1-s temporal resolution, and the slow
      dynamics of focal adhesions were continuously imaged for longer than a few hours
      without photobleaching or photodamage. In addition, we extended the application
      of these multicolor Nano-lanterns to simultaneous monitoring of multiple gene
      expression or Ca(2+) dynamics in different cellular compartments in a single
      cell. 

PMID- 25831508
TI  - TRAPPII regulates exocytic Golgi exit by mediating nucleotide exchange on the
      Ypt31 ortholog RabERAB11.
AB  - The oligomeric complex transport protein particle I (TRAPPI) mediates nucleotide
      exchange on the RAB GTPase RAB1/Ypt1. TRAPPII is composed of TRAPPI plus three
      additional subunits, Trs120, Trs130, and Trs65. Unclear is whether TRAPPII
      mediates nucleotide exchange on RAB1/Ypt1, RAB11/Ypt31, or both. In Aspergillus
      nidulans, RabO(RAB1) resides in the Golgi, RabE(RAB11) localizes to exocytic post
      Golgi carriers undergoing transport to the apex, and hypA encodes Trs120.
      RabE(RAB11), but not RabO(RAB1), immunoprecipitates contain Trs120/Trs130/Trs65,
      demonstrating specific association of TRAPPII with RabE(RAB11) in vivo. hypA1(ts)
      rapidly shifts RabE(RAB11), but not RabO(RAB1), to the cytosol, consistent with
      HypA(Trs120) being specifically required for RabE(RAB11) activation. Missense
      mutations rescuing hypA1(ts) at 42  degrees C mapped to rabE, affecting seven
      residues. Substitutions in six, of which four resulted in 7- to 36-fold
      accelerated GDP release, rescued lethality associated to TRAPPII deficiency,
      whereas equivalent substitutions in RabO(RAB1) did not, establishing that the
      essential role of TRAPPII is facilitating RabE(RAB11) nucleotide exchange. In
      vitro, TRAPPII purified with HypA(Trs120)-S-tag accelerates nucleotide exchange
      on RabE(RAB11) and, paradoxically, to a lesser yet substantial extent, on
      RabO(RAB1). Evidence obtained by exploiting hypA1-mediated destabilization of
      HypA(Trs120)/HypC(Trs130)/Trs65 assembly onto the TRAPPI core indicates that
      these subunits sculpt a second RAB binding site on TRAPP apparently independent
      from that for RabO(RAB1), which would explain TRAPPII in vitro activity on two
      RABs. Using A. nidulans in vivo microscopy, we show that HypA(Trs120) colocalizes
      with RabE(RAB11), arriving at late Golgi cisternae as they dissipate into
      exocytic carriers. Thus, TRAPPII marks, and possibly determines, the Golgi-to
      post-Golgi transition. 

PMID- 25831509
TI  - Single-molecule analysis of RAG-mediated V(D)J DNA cleavage.
AB  - The recombination-activating gene products, RAG1 and RAG2, initiate V(D)J
      recombination during lymphocyte development by cleaving DNA adjacent to conserved
      recombination signal sequences (RSSs). The reaction involves DNA binding,
      synapsis, and cleavage at two RSSs located on the same DNA molecule and results
      in the assembly of antigen receptor genes. We have developed single-molecule
      assays to examine RSS binding by RAG1/2 and their cofactor high-mobility group
      box protein 1 (HMGB1) as they proceed through the steps of this reaction. These
      assays allowed us to observe in real time the individual molecular events of RAG
      mediated cleavage. As a result, we are able to measure the binding statistics
      (dwell times) and binding energies of the initial RAG binding events and
      characterize synapse formation at the single-molecule level, yielding insights
      into the distribution of dwell times in the paired complex and the propensity for
      cleavage on forming the synapse. Interestingly, we find that the synaptic complex
      has a mean lifetime of roughly 400 s and that its formation is readily
      reversible, with only ~40% of observed synapses resulting in cleavage at
      consensus RSS binding sites. 

PMID- 25831510
TI  - DNA-mediated engineering of multicomponent enzyme crystals.
AB  - The ability to predictably control the coassembly of multiple nanoscale building
      blocks, especially those with disparate chemical and physical properties such as
      biomolecules and inorganic nanoparticles, has far-reaching implications in
      catalysis, sensing, and photonics, but a generalizable strategy for engineering
      specific contacts between these particles is an outstanding challenge. This is
      especially true in the case of proteins, where the types of possible
      interparticle interactions are numerous, diverse, and complex. Herein, we explore
      the concept of trading protein-protein interactions for DNA-DNA interactions to
      direct the assembly of two nucleic-acid-functionalized proteins with distinct
      surface chemistries into six unique lattices composed of catalytically active
      proteins, or of a combination of proteins and DNA-modified gold nanoparticles.
      The programmable nature of DNA-DNA interactions used in this strategy allows us
      to control the lattice symmetries and unit cell constants, as well as the
      compositions and habit, of the resulting crystals. This study provides a
      potentially generalizable strategy for constructing a unique class of materials
      that take advantage of the diverse morphologies, surface chemistries, and
      functionalities of proteins for assembling functional crystalline materials. 

PMID- 25831511
TI  - Evidence for tunneling in base-catalyzed isomerization of glyceraldehyde to
      dihydroxyacetone by hydride shift under formose conditions.
AB  - Hydrogen atom transfer reactions between the aldose and ketose are key
      mechanistic features in formose chemistry by which formaldehyde is converted to
      higher sugars under credible prebiotic conditions. For one of these
      transformations, we have investigated whether hydrogen tunneling makes a
      significant contribution to the mechanism by examining the deuterium kinetic
      isotope effect associated with the hydrogen transfer during the isomerization of
      glyceraldehyde to the corresponding dihydroxyacetone. To do this, we developed a
      quantitative HPLC assay that allowed us to measure the apparent large intrinsic
      kinetic isotope effect. From the Arrhenius plot of the kinetic isotope effect,
      the ratio of the preexponential factors AH/AD was 0.28 and the difference in
      activation energies Ea(D) - Ea(H) was 9.1 kJ.mol(-1). All these results imply a
      significant quantum-mechanical tunneling component in the isomerization
      mechanism. This is supported by multidimensional tunneling calculations using
      POLYRATE with small curvature tunneling. 

PMID- 25831512
TI  - A multistage mathematical approach to automated clustering of high-dimensional
      noisy data.
AB  - A critical problem faced in many scientific fields is the adequate separation of
      data derived from individual sources. Often, such datasets require analysis of
      multiple features in a highly multidimensional space, with overlap of features
      and sources. The datasets generated by simultaneous recording from hundreds of
      neurons emitting phasic action potentials have produced the challenge of
      separating the recorded signals into independent data subsets (clusters)
      corresponding to individual signal-generating neurons. Mathematical methods have
      been developed over the past three decades to achieve such spike clustering, but
      a complete solution with fully automated cluster identification has not been
      achieved. We propose here a fully automated mathematical approach that identifies
      clusters in multidimensional space through recursion, which combats the
      multidimensionality of the data. Recursion is paired with an approach to
      dimensional evaluation, in which each dimension of a dataset is examined for its
      informational importance for clustering. The dimensions offering greater
      informational importance are given added weight during recursive clustering. To
      combat strong background activity, our algorithm takes an iterative approach of
      data filtering according to a signal-to-noise ratio metric. The algorithm finds
      cluster cores, which are thereafter expanded to include complete clusters. This
      mathematical approach can be extended from its prototype context of spike sorting
      to other datasets that suffer from high dimensionality and background activity. 

PMID- 25831513
TI  - Structure of the paramyxovirus parainfluenza virus 5 nucleoprotein-RNA complex.
AB  - Parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5) is a member of the Paramyxoviridae family of
      membrane-enveloped viruses with a negative-sense RNA genome that is packaged and
      protected by long filamentous nucleocapsid-helix structures (RNPs). These RNPs,
      consisting of ~2,600 protomers of nucleocapsid (N) protein, form the template for
      viral transcription and replication. We have determined the 3D X-ray crystal
      structure of the nucleoprotein (N)-RNA complex from PIV5 to 3.11-A resolution.
      The structure reveals a 13-mer nucleocapsid ring whose diameter, cavity, and
      pitch/height dimensions agree with EM data from early studies on the
      Paramyxovirinae subfamily of native RNPs, indicating that it closely represents
      one-turn in the building block of the RNP helices. The PIV5-N nucleocapsid ring
      encapsidates a nuclease resistant 78-nt RNA strand in its positively charged
      groove formed between the N-terminal (NTD) and C-terminal (CTD) domains of its
      successive N protomers. Six nucleotides precisely are associated with each N
      protomer, with alternating three-base-in three-base-out conformation. The binding
      of six nucleotides per protomer is consistent with the "rule of six" that governs
      the genome packaging of the Paramyxovirinae subfamily of viruses. PIV5-N protomer
      subdomains are very similar in structure to the previously solved Nipah-N
      structure, but with a difference in the angle between NTD/CTD at the RNA hinge
      region. Based on the Nipah-N structure we modeled a PIV5-N open conformation in
      which the CTD rotates away from the RNA strand into the inner spacious
      nucleocapsid-ring cavity. This rotation would expose the RNA for the viral
      polymerase activity without major disruption of the nucleocapsid structure. 

PMID- 25831514
TI  - Dynamin 2-dependent endocytosis sustains T-cell receptor signaling and drives
      metabolic reprogramming in T lymphocytes.
AB  - Prolonged T-cell receptor (TCR) signaling is required for the proliferation of T
      lymphocytes. Ligation of the TCR activates signaling, but also causes
      internalization of the TCR from the cell surface. How TCR signaling is sustained
      for many hours despite lower surface expression is unknown. Using genetic
      inhibition of endocytosis, we show here that TCR internalization promotes
      continued TCR signaling and T-lymphocyte proliferation. T-cell-specific deletion
      of dynamin 2, an essential component of endocytosis, resulted in reduced TCR
      signaling strength, impaired homeostatic proliferation, and the inability to
      undergo clonal expansion in vivo. Blocking endocytosis resulted in a failure to
      maintain mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activity and to stably induce the
      transcription factor myelocytomatosis oncogene (c-Myc), which led to metabolic
      stress and a defect in cell growth. Our results support the concept that the TCR
      can continue to signal after it is internalized from the cell surface, thereby
      enabling sustained signaling and cell proliferation. 

PMID- 25831515
TI  - Tryptophan-independent auxin biosynthesis contributes to early embryogenesis in
      Arabidopsis.
AB  - The phytohormone auxin regulates nearly all aspects of plant growth and
      development. Tremendous achievements have been made in elucidating the tryptophan
      (Trp)-dependent auxin biosynthetic pathway; however, the genetic evidence, key
      components, and functions of the Trp-independent pathway remain elusive. Here we
      report that the Arabidopsis indole synthase mutant is defective in the long
      anticipated Trp-independent auxin biosynthetic pathway and that auxin synthesized
      through this spatially and temporally regulated pathway contributes significantly
      to the establishment of the apical-basal axis, which profoundly affects the early
      embryogenesis in Arabidopsis. These discoveries pave an avenue for elucidating
      the Trp-independent auxin biosynthetic pathway and its functions in regulating
      plant growth and development. 

PMID- 25831516
TI  - Auranofin exerts broad-spectrum bactericidal activities by targeting thiol-redox
      homeostasis.
AB  - Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a rising public health
      threat and make the identification of new antibiotics a priority. From a cell
      based screen for bactericidal compounds against Mycobacterium tuberculosis under
      nutrient-deprivation conditions we identified auranofin, an orally bioavailable
      FDA-approved antirheumatic drug, as having potent bactericidal activities against
      both replicating and nonreplicating M. tuberculosis. We also found that auranofin
      is active against other Gram-positive bacteria, including Bacillus subtilis and
      Enterococcus faecalis, and drug-sensitive and drug-resistant strains of
      Enterococcus faecium and Staphylococcus aureus. Our biochemical studies showed
      that auranofin inhibits the bacterial thioredoxin reductase, a protein essential
      in many Gram-positive bacteria for maintaining the thiol-redox balance and
      protecting against reactive oxidative species. Auranofin decreases the reducing
      capacity of target bacteria, thereby sensitizing them to oxidative stress.
      Finally, auranofin was efficacious in a murine model of methicillin-resistant S.
      aureus infection. These results suggest that the thioredoxin-mediated redox
      cascade of Gram-positive pathogens is a valid target for the development of
      antibacterial drugs, and that the existing clinical agent auranofin may be
      repurposed to aid in the treatment of several important antibiotic-resistant
      pathogens. 

PMID- 25831517
TI  - Unilateral incompatibility gene ui1.1 encodes an S-locus F-box protein expressed
      in pollen of Solanum species.
AB  - Unilateral interspecific incompatibility (UI) is a postpollination, prezygotic
      reproductive barrier that prevents hybridization between related species when the
      female parent is self-incompatible (SI) and the male parent is self-compatible
      (SC). In tomato and related Solanum species, two genes, ui1.1 and ui6.1, are
      required for pollen compatibility on pistils of SI species or hybrids. We
      previously showed that ui6.1 encodes a Cullin1 (CUL1) protein. Here we report
      that ui1.1 encodes an S-locus F-box (SLF) protein. The ui1.1 gene was mapped to a
      0.43-cM, 43.2-Mbp interval at the S-locus on chromosome 1, but positional cloning
      was hampered by low recombination frequency. We hypothesized that ui1.1 encodes
      an SLF protein(s) that interacts with CUL1 and Skp1 proteins to form an SCF-type
      (Skp1, Cullin1, F-box) ubiquitin E3 ligase complex. We identified 23 SLF genes in
      the S. pennellii genome, of which 19 were also represented in cultivated tomato
      (S. lycopersicum). Data from recombination events, expression analysis, and
      sequence annotation highlighted 11 S. pennellii genes as candidates. Genetic
      transformations demonstrated that one of these, SpSLF-23, is sufficient for ui1.1
      function. A survey of cultivated and wild tomato species identified SLF-23
      orthologs in each of the SI species, but not in the SC species S. lycopersicum,
      S. cheesmaniae, and S. galapagense, pollen of which lacks ui1.1 function. These
      results demonstrate that pollen compatibility in UI is mediated by protein
      degradation through the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, a mechanism related to that
      which controls pollen recognition in SI. 

PMID- 25831518
TI  - Molecular coevolution of a sex pheromone and its receptor triggers reproductive
      isolation in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
AB  - The diversification of sex pheromones is regarded as one of the causes of
      prezygotic isolation that results in speciation. In the fission yeast
      Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the molecular recognition of a peptide pheromone by
      its receptor plays an essential role in sexual reproduction. We considered that
      molecular coevolution of a peptide-mating pheromone, M factor, and its receptor,
      Map3, might be realized by experimentally diversifying these proteins. Here, we
      report the successful creation of novel mating-type pairs by searching for map3
      suppressor mutations that rescued the sterility of M-factor mutants that were
      previously isolated. Several strong suppressors were found to also recognize WT M
      factor. The substituted residues of these Map3 suppressors were mapped to F204,
      F214, and E249, which are likely to be critical residues for M-factor
      recognition. These critical residues were systematically substituted with each of
      the other amino acids by in vitro mutagenesis. Ultimately, we successfully
      obtained three novel mating-type pairs constituting reproductive groups. These
      novel mating-type pairs could not conjugate with WT maters. Furthermore, no flow
      of chromosomally integrated drug-resistance genes occurred between the novel and
      the WT mating pairs, showing that each experimentally created reproductive group
      [e.g., M factor(V5H) and Map3(F214H)] was isolated from the WT group. In
      conclusion, we have succeeded in creating an artificial reproductive group that
      is isolated from the WT group. In keeping with the biological concept of species,
      the artificial reproductive group is a new species. 

PMID- 25831519
TI  - An adenosine triphosphate-independent proteasome activator contributes to the
      virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
AB  - Mycobacterium tuberculosis encodes a proteasome that is highly similar to
      eukaryotic proteasomes and is required to cause lethal infections in animals. The
      only pathway known to target proteins for proteasomal degradation in bacteria is
      pupylation, which is functionally analogous to eukaryotic ubiquitylation.
      However, evidence suggests that the M. tuberculosis proteasome contributes to
      pupylation-independent pathways as well. To identify new proteasome cofactors
      that might contribute to such pathways, we isolated proteins that bound to
      proteasomes overproduced in M. tuberculosis and found a previously
      uncharacterized protein, Rv3780, which formed rings and capped M. tuberculosis
      proteasome core particles. Rv3780 enhanced peptide and protein degradation by
      proteasomes in an adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-independent manner. We identified
      putative Rv3780-dependent proteasome substrates and found that Rv3780 promoted
      robust degradation of the heat shock protein repressor, HspR. Importantly, an M.
      tuberculosis Rv3780 mutant had a general growth defect, was sensitive to heat
      stress, and was attenuated for growth in mice. Collectively, these data
      demonstrate that ATP-independent proteasome activators are not confined to
      eukaryotes and can contribute to the virulence of one the world's most
      devastating pathogens. 

PMID- 25831520
TI  - SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complexes function in noncoding RNA-dependent
      assembly of nuclear bodies.
AB  - Paraspeckles are subnuclear structures that form around nuclear paraspeckle
      assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1) long noncoding RNA (lncRNA). Recently, paraspeckles
      were shown to be functional nuclear bodies involved in stress responses and the
      development of specific organs. Paraspeckle formation is initiated by
      transcription of the NEAT1 chromosomal locus and proceeds in conjunction with
      NEAT1 lncRNA biogenesis and a subsequent assembly step involving >40 paraspeckle
      proteins (PSPs). In this study, subunits of SWItch/Sucrose NonFermentable
      (SWI/SNF) chromatin-remodeling complexes were identified as paraspeckle
      components that interact with PSPs and NEAT1 lncRNA. EM observations revealed
      that SWI/SNF complexes were enriched in paraspeckle subdomains depleted of
      chromatin. Knockdown of SWI/SNF components resulted in paraspeckle
      disintegration, but mutation of the ATPase domain of the catalytic subunit BRG1
      did not affect paraspeckle integrity, indicating that the essential role of
      SWI/SNF complexes in paraspeckle formation does not require their canonical
      activity. Knockdown of SWI/SNF complexes barely affected the levels of known
      essential paraspeckle components, but markedly diminished the interactions
      between essential PSPs, suggesting that SWI/SNF complexes facilitate organization
      of the PSP interaction network required for intact paraspeckle assembly. The
      interactions between SWI/SNF components and essential PSPs were maintained in
      NEAT1-depleted cells, suggesting that SWI/SNF complexes not only facilitate
      interactions between PSPs, but also recruit PSPs during paraspeckle assembly.
      SWI/SNF complexes were also required for Satellite III lncRNA-dependent formation
      of nuclear stress bodies under heat-shock conditions. Our data suggest the
      existence of a common mechanism underlying the formation of lncRNA-dependent
      nuclear body architectures in mammalian cells. 

PMID- 25831521
TI  - Sexual selection drives evolution and rapid turnover of male gene expression.
AB  - The profound and pervasive differences in gene expression observed between males
      and females, and the unique evolutionary properties of these genes in many
      species, have led to the widespread assumption that they are the product of
      sexual selection and sexual conflict. However, we still lack a clear
      understanding of the connection between sexual selection and transcriptional
      dimorphism, often termed sex-biased gene expression. Moreover, the relative
      contribution of sexual selection vs. drift in shaping broad patterns of
      expression, divergence, and polymorphism remains unknown. To assess the role of
      sexual selection in shaping these patterns, we assembled transcriptomes from an
      avian clade representing the full range of sexual dimorphism and sexual
      selection. We use these species to test the links between sexual selection and
      sex-biased gene expression evolution in a comparative framework. Through
      ancestral reconstruction of sex bias, we demonstrate a rapid turnover of sex bias
      across this clade driven by sexual selection and show it to be primarily the
      result of expression changes in males. We use phylogenetically controlled
      comparative methods to demonstrate that phenotypic measures of sexual selection
      predict the proportion of male-biased but not female-biased gene expression.
      Although male-biased genes show elevated rates of coding sequence evolution,
      consistent with previous reports in a range of taxa, there is no association
      between sexual selection and rates of coding sequence evolution, suggesting that
      expression changes may be more important than coding sequence in sexual
      selection. Taken together, our results highlight the power of sexual selection to
      act on gene expression differences and shape genome evolution. 

PMID- 25831523
TI  - Development of sedentary communities in the Maya lowlands: coexisting mobile
      groups and public ceremonies at Ceibal, Guatemala.
AB  - Our archaeological investigations at Ceibal, a lowland Maya site located in the
      Pasion region, documented that a formal ceremonial complex was built around 950
      B.C. at the onset of the Middle Preclassic period, when ceramics began to be used
      in the Maya lowlands. Our refined chronology allowed us to trace the subsequent
      social changes in a resolution that had not been possible before. Many residents
      of Ceibal appear to have remained relatively mobile during the following
      centuries, living in ephemeral post-in-ground structures and frequently changing
      their residential localities. In other parts of the Pasion region, there may have
      existed more mobile populations who maintained the traditional lifestyle of the
      preceramic period. Although the emerging elite of Ceibal began to live in a
      substantial residential complex by 700 B.C., advanced sedentism with durable
      residences rebuilt in the same locations and burials placed under house floors
      was not adopted in most residential areas until 500 B.C., and did not become
      common until 300 B.C. or the Late Preclassic period. During the Middle Preclassic
      period, substantial formal ceremonial complexes appear to have been built only at
      a small number of important communities in the Maya lowlands, and groups with
      different levels of sedentism probably gathered for their constructions and for
      public rituals held in them. These collaborative activities likely played a
      central role in socially integrating diverse groups with different lifestyles
      and, eventually, in developing fully established sedentary communities. 

PMID- 25831522
TI  - Sparse feature selection methods identify unexpected global cellular response to
      strontium-containing materials.
AB  - Despite the increasing sophistication of biomaterials design and functional
      characterization studies, little is known regarding cells' global response to
      biomaterials. Here, we combined nontargeted holistic biological and physical
      science techniques to evaluate how simple strontium ion incorporation within the
      well-described biomaterial 45S5 bioactive glass (BG) influences the global
      response of human mesenchymal stem cells. Our objective analyses of whole gene
      expression profiles, confirmed by standard molecular biology techniques, revealed
      that strontium-substituted BG up-regulated the isoprenoid pathway, suggesting an
      influence on both sterol metabolite synthesis and protein prenylation processes.
      This up-regulation was accompanied by increases in cellular and membrane
      cholesterol and lipid raft contents as determined by Raman spectroscopy mapping
      and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy analyses and by an increase
      in cellular content of phosphorylated myosin II light chain. Our unexpected
      findings of this strong metabolic pathway regulation as a response to biomaterial
      composition highlight the benefits of discovery-driven nonreductionist approaches
      to gain a deeper understanding of global cell-material interactions and suggest
      alternative research routes for evaluating biomaterials to improve their design. 

PMID- 25831524
TI  - Multiplexed metagenome mining using short DNA sequence tags facilitates targeted
      discovery of epoxyketone proteasome inhibitors.
AB  - In molecular evolutionary analyses, short DNA sequences are used to infer
      phylogenetic relationships among species. Here we apply this principle to the
      study of bacterial biosynthesis, enabling the targeted isolation of previously
      unidentified natural products directly from complex metagenomes. Our approach
      uses short natural product sequence tags derived from conserved biosynthetic
      motifs to profile biosynthetic diversity in the environment and then guide the
      recovery of gene clusters from metagenomic libraries. The methodology is
      conceptually simple, requires only a small investment in sequencing, and is not
      computationally demanding. To demonstrate the power of this approach to natural
      product discovery we conducted a computational search for epoxyketone proteasome
      inhibitors within 185 globally distributed soil metagenomes. This led to the
      identification of 99 unique epoxyketone sequence tags, falling into 6
      phylogenetically distinct clades. Complete gene clusters associated with nine
      unique tags were recovered from four saturating soil metagenomic libraries. Using
      heterologous expression methodologies, seven potent epoxyketone proteasome
      inhibitors (clarepoxcins A-E and landepoxcins A and B) were produced from these
      pathways, including compounds with different warhead structures and a naturally
      occurring halohydrin prodrug. This study provides a template for the targeted
      expansion of bacterially derived natural products using the global metagenome. 

PMID- 25831526
TI  - Mechanisms of hematin crystallization and inhibition by the antimalarial drug
      chloroquine.
AB  - Hematin crystallization is the primary mechanism of heme detoxification in
      malaria parasites and the target of the quinoline class of antimalarials. Despite
      numerous studies of malaria pathophysiology, fundamental questions regarding
      hematin growth and inhibition remain. Among them are the identity of the
      crystallization medium in vivo, aqueous or organic; the mechanism of
      crystallization, classical or nonclassical; and whether quinoline antimalarials
      inhibit crystallization by sequestering hematin in the solution, or by blocking
      surface sites crucial for growth. Here we use time-resolved in situ atomic force
      microscopy (AFM) and show that the lipid subphase in the parasite may be a
      preferred growth medium. We provide, to our knowledge, the first evidence of the
      molecular mechanisms of hematin crystallization and inhibition by chloroquine, a
      common quinoline antimalarial drug. AFM observations demonstrate that
      crystallization strictly follows a classical mechanism wherein new crystal layers
      are generated by 2D nucleation and grow by the attachment of solute molecules. We
      identify four classes of surface sites available for binding of potential drugs
      and propose respective mechanisms of drug action. Further studies reveal that
      chloroquine inhibits hematin crystallization by binding to molecularly flat {100}
      surfaces. A 2-MUM concentration of chloroquine fully arrests layer generation and
      step advancement, which is ~10(4)* less than hematin's physiological
      concentration. Our results suggest that adsorption at specific growth sites may
      be a general mode of hemozoin growth inhibition for the quinoline antimalarials.
      Because the atomic structures of the identified sites are known, this insight
      could advance the future design and/or optimization of new antimalarials. 

PMID- 25831527
TI  - Criticality of metals and metalloids.
AB  - Imbalances between metal supply and demand, real or anticipated, have inspired
      the concept of metal criticality. We here characterize the criticality of 62
      metals and metalloids in a 3D "criticality space" consisting of supply risk,
      environmental implications, and vulnerability to supply restriction. Contributing
      factors that lead to extreme values include high geopolitical concentration of
      primary production, lack of available suitable substitutes, and political
      instability. The results show that the limitations for many metals important in
      emerging electronics (e.g., gallium and selenium) are largely those related to
      supply risk; those of platinum group metals, gold, and mercury, to environmental
      implications; and steel alloying elements (e.g., chromium and niobium) as well as
      elements used in high-temperature alloys (e.g., tungsten and molybdenum), to
      vulnerability to supply restriction. The metals of most concern tend to be those
      available largely or entirely as byproducts, used in small quantities for highly
      specialized applications, and possessing no effective substitutes. 

PMID- 25831525
TI  - TCR contact residue hydrophobicity is a hallmark of immunogenic CD8+ T cell
      epitopes.
AB  - Despite the availability of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-binding
      peptide prediction algorithms, the development of T-cell vaccines against
      pathogen and tumor antigens remains challenged by inefficient identification of
      immunogenic epitopes. CD8(+) T cells must distinguish immunogenic epitopes from
      nonimmunogenic self peptides to respond effectively against an antigen without
      endangering the viability of the host. Because this discrimination is fundamental
      to our understanding of immune recognition and critical for rational vaccine
      design, we interrogated the biochemical properties of 9,888 MHC class I peptides.
      We identified a strong bias toward hydrophobic amino acids at T-cell receptor
      contact residues within immunogenic epitopes of MHC allomorphs, which permitted
      us to develop and train a hydrophobicity-based artificial neural network (ANN
      Hydro) to predict immunogenic epitopes. The immunogenicity model was validated in
      a blinded in vivo overlapping epitope discovery study of 364 peptides from three
      HIV-1 Gag protein variants. Applying the ANN-Hydro model on existing peptide-MHC
      algorithms consistently reduced the number of candidate peptides across multiple
      antigens and may provide a correlate with immunodominance. Hydrophobicity of TCR
      contact residues is a hallmark of immunogenic epitopes and marks a step toward
      eliminating the need for empirical epitope testing for vaccine development. 

PMID- 25831528
TI  - Emergence of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells involves a Chd1-dependent
      increase in total nascent transcription.
AB  - Lineage specification during development involves reprogramming of
      transcriptional states, but little is known about how this is regulated in vivo.
      The chromatin remodeler chomodomain helicase DNA-binding protein 1 (Chd1)
      promotes an elevated transcriptional output in mouse embryonic stem cells. Here
      we report that endothelial-specific deletion of Chd1 leads to loss of definitive
      hematopoietic progenitors, anemia, and lethality by embryonic day (E)15.5. Mutant
      embryos contain normal numbers of E10.5 intraaortic hematopoietic clusters that
      express Runx1 and Kit, but these clusters undergo apoptosis and fail to mature
      into blood lineages in vivo and in vitro. Hematopoietic progenitors emerging from
      the aorta have an elevated transcriptional output relative to structural
      endothelium, and this elevation is Chd1-dependent. In contrast, hematopoietic
      specific deletion of Chd1 using Vav-Cre has no apparent phenotype. Our results
      reveal a new paradigm of regulation of a developmental transition by elevation of
      global transcriptional output that is critical for hemogenesis and may play roles
      in other contexts. 

PMID- 25831529
TI  - Carbon monoxide as a metabolic energy source for extremely halophilic microbes:
      implications for microbial activity in Mars regolith.
AB  - Carbon monoxide occurs at relatively high concentrations (>=800 parts per
      million) in Mars' atmosphere, where it represents a potentially significant
      energy source that could fuel metabolism by a localized putative surface or near
      surface microbiota. However, the plausibility of CO oxidation under conditions
      relevant for Mars in its past or at present has not been evaluated. Results from
      diverse terrestrial brines and saline soils provide the first documentation, to
      our knowledge, of active CO uptake at water potentials (-41 MPa to -117 MPa) that
      might occur in putative brines at recurrent slope lineae (RSL) on Mars. Results
      from two extremely halophilic isolates complement the field observations.
      Halorubrum str. BV1, isolated from the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah (to our
      knowledge, the first documented extremely halophilic CO-oxidizing member of the
      Euryarchaeota), consumed CO in a salt-saturated medium with a water potential of 
      39.6 MPa; activity was reduced by only 28% relative to activity at its optimum
      water potential of -11 MPa. A proteobacterial isolate from hypersaline Mono Lake,
      California, Alkalilimnicola ehrlichii MLHE-1, also oxidized CO at low water
      potentials (-19 MPa), at temperatures within ranges reported for RSL, and under
      oxic, suboxic (0.2% oxygen), and anoxic conditions (oxygen-free with nitrate).
      MLHE-1 was unaffected by magnesium perchlorate or low atmospheric pressure (10
      mbar). These results collectively establish the potential for microbial CO
      oxidation under conditions that might obtain at local scales (e.g., RSL) on
      contemporary Mars and at larger spatial scales earlier in Mars' history. 

PMID- 25831530
TI  - cGAS-mediated stabilization of IFI16 promotes innate signaling during herpes
      simplex virus infection.
AB  - Interferon gamma-inducible protein 16 (IFI16) and cGMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) have
      both been proposed to detect herpesviral DNA directly in herpes simplex virus
      (HSV)-infected cells and initiate interferon regulatory factor-3 signaling, but
      it has been unclear how two DNA sensors could both be required for this response.
      We therefore investigated their relative roles in human foreskin fibroblasts
      (HFFs) infected with HSV or transfected with plasmid DNA. siRNA depletion studies
      showed that both are required for the production of IFN in infected HFFs. We
      found that cGAS shows low production of cGMP-AMP in infected cells, but instead
      cGAS is partially nuclear in normal human fibroblasts and keratinocytes,
      interacts with IFI16 in fibroblasts, and promotes the stability of IFI16. IFI16
      is associated with viral DNA and targets to viral genome complexes, consistent
      with it interacting directly with viral DNA. Our results demonstrate that IFI16
      and cGAS cooperate in a novel way to sense nuclear herpesviral DNA and initiate
      innate signaling. 

PMID- 25831531
TI  - Insight into the evolution and origin of leprosy bacilli from the genome sequence
      of Mycobacterium lepromatosis.
AB  - Mycobacterium lepromatosis is an uncultured human pathogen associated with
      diffuse lepromatous leprosy and a reactional state known as Lucio's phenomenon.
      By using deep sequencing with and without DNA enrichment, we obtained the near
      complete genome sequence of M. lepromatosis present in a skin biopsy from a
      Mexican patient, and compared it with that of Mycobacterium leprae, which has
      undergone extensive reductive evolution. The genomes display extensive synteny
      and are similar in size (~3.27 Mb). Protein-coding genes share 93% nucleotide
      sequence identity, whereas pseudogenes are only 82% identical. The events that
      led to pseudogenization of 50% of the genome likely occurred before divergence
      from their most recent common ancestor (MRCA), and both M. lepromatosis and M.
      leprae have since accumulated new pseudogenes or acquired specific deletions.
      Functional comparisons suggest that M. lepromatosis has lost several enzymes
      required for amino acid synthesis whereas M. leprae has a defective heme pathway.
      M. lepromatosis has retained all functions required to infect the Schwann cells
      of the peripheral nervous system and therefore may also be neuropathogenic. A
      phylogeographic survey of 227 leprosy biopsies by differential PCR revealed that
      221 contained M. leprae whereas only six, all from Mexico, harbored M.
      lepromatosis. Phylogenetic comparisons indicate that M. lepromatosis is closer
      than M. leprae to the MRCA, and a Bayesian dating analysis suggests that they
      diverged from their MRCA approximately 13.9 Mya. Thus, despite their ancient
      separation, the two leprosy bacilli are remarkably conserved and still cause
      similar pathologic conditions. 

PMID- 25831532
TI  - beta-Arrestin-biased signaling mediates memory reconsolidation.
AB  - A long-standing hypothesis posits that a G protein-coupled signaling pathway
      mediates beta-adrenergic nervous system functions, including learning and memory.
      Here we report that memory retrieval (reactivation) induces the activation of
      beta1-adrenergic beta-arrestin signaling in the brain, which stimulates ERK
      signaling and protein synthesis, leading to postreactivation memory
      restabilization. beta-Arrestin2-deficient mice exhibit impaired memory
      reconsolidation in object recognition, Morris water maze, and cocaine-conditioned
      place preference paradigms. Postreactivation blockade of both brain beta
      adrenergic Gs protein- and beta-arrestin-dependent pathways disrupts memory
      reconsolidation. Unexpectedly, selective blockade of the Gs/cAMP/PKA signaling
      but not the beta-arrestin/ERK signaling by the biased beta-adrenergic ligands
      does not inhibit reconsolidation. Moreover, the expression of beta-arrestin2 in
      the entorhinal cortex of beta-arrestin 2-deficient mice rescues beta1-adrenergic
      ERK signaling and reconsolidation in a G protein pathway-independent manner. We
      demonstrate that beta-arrestin-biased signaling regulates memory reconsolidation
      and reveal the potential for beta-arrestin-biased ligands in the treatment of
      memory-related disorders. 

PMID- 25831533
TI  - Trichodesmium genome maintains abundant, widespread noncoding DNA in situ,
      despite oligotrophic lifestyle.
AB  - Understanding the evolution of the free-living, cyanobacterial, diazotroph
      Trichodesmium is of great importance because of its critical role in oceanic
      biogeochemistry and primary production. Unlike the other >150 available genomes
      of free-living cyanobacteria, only 63.8% of the Trichodesmium erythraeum (strain
      IMS101) genome is predicted to encode protein, which is 20-25% less than the
      average for other cyanobacteria and nonpathogenic, free-living bacteria. We use
      distinctive isolates and metagenomic data to show that low coding density
      observed in IMS101 is a common feature of the Trichodesmium genus, both in
      culture and in situ. Transcriptome analysis indicates that 86% of the noncoding
      space is expressed, although the function of these transcripts is unclear. The
      density of noncoding, possible regulatory elements predicted in Trichodesmium,
      when normalized per intergenic kilobase, was comparable and twofold higher than
      that found in the gene-dense genomes of the sympatric cyanobacterial genera
      Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus, respectively. Conserved Trichodesmium
      noncoding RNA secondary structures were predicted between most culture and
      metagenomic sequences, lending support to the structural conservation.
      Conservation of these intergenic regions in spatiotemporally separated
      Trichodesmium populations suggests possible genus-wide selection for their
      maintenance. These large intergenic spacers may have developed during intervals
      of strong genetic drift caused by periodic blooms of a subset of genotypes, which
      may have reduced effective population size. Our data suggest that transposition
      of selfish DNA, low effective population size, and high-fidelity replication
      allowed the unusual "inflation" of noncoding sequence observed in Trichodesmium
      despite its oligotrophic lifestyle. 

PMID- 25831534
TI  - A functional role of Rv1738 in Mycobacterium tuberculosis persistence suggested
      by racemic protein crystallography.
AB  - Protein 3D structure can be a powerful predictor of function, but it often faces
      a critical roadblock at the crystallization step. Rv1738, a protein from
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis that is strongly implicated in the onset of
      nonreplicating persistence, and thereby latent tuberculosis, resisted extensive
      attempts at crystallization. Chemical synthesis of the L- and D-enantiomeric
      forms of Rv1738 enabled facile crystallization of the D/L-racemic mixture. The
      structure was solved by an ab initio approach that took advantage of the
      quantized phases characteristic of diffraction by centrosymmetric crystals. The
      structure, containing L- and D-dimers in a centrosymmetric space group, revealed
      unexpected homology with bacterial hibernation-promoting factors that bind to
      ribosomes and suppress translation. This suggests that the functional role of
      Rv1738 is to contribute to the shutdown of ribosomal protein synthesis during the
      onset of nonreplicating persistence of M. tuberculosis.

PMID- 25831535
TI  - Leader emergence through interpersonal neural synchronization.
AB  - The neural mechanism of leader emergence is not well understood. This study
      investigated (i) whether interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) plays an
      important role in leader emergence, and (ii) whether INS and leader emergence are
      associated with the frequency or the quality of communications. Eleven three
      member groups were asked to perform a leaderless group discussion (LGD) task, and
      their brain activities were recorded via functional near infrared spectroscopy
      (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning. Video recordings of the discussions were coded for
      leadership and communication. Results showed that the INS for the leader-follower
      (LF) pairs was higher than that for the follower-follower (FF) pairs in the left
      temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), an area important for social mentalizing.
      Although communication frequency was higher for the LF pairs than for the FF
      pairs, the frequency of leader-initiated and follower-initiated communication did
      not differ significantly. Moreover, INS for the LF pairs was significantly higher
      during leader-initiated communication than during follower-initiated
      communications. In addition, INS for the LF pairs during leader-initiated
      communication was significantly correlated with the leaders' communication skills
      and competence, but not their communication frequency. Finally, leadership could
      be successfully predicted based on INS as well as communication frequency early
      during the LGD (before half a minute into the task). In sum, this study found
      that leader emergence was characterized by high-level neural synchronization
      between the leader and followers and that the quality, rather than the frequency,
      of communications was associated with synchronization. These results suggest that
      leaders emerge because they are able to say the right things at the right time. 

PMID- 25831536
TI  - Mitochondrial ATP synthase is dispensable in blood-stage Plasmodium berghei
      rodent malaria but essential in the mosquito phase.
AB  - Mitochondrial ATP synthase is driven by chemiosmotic oxidation of pyruvate
      derived from glycolysis. Blood-stage malaria parasites eschew chemiosmosis,
      instead relying almost solely on glycolysis for their ATP generation, which begs
      the question of whether mitochondrial ATP synthase is necessary during the blood
      stage of the parasite life cycle. We knocked out the mitochondrial ATP synthase
      beta subunit gene in the rodent malaria parasite, Plasmodium berghei, ablating
      the protein that converts ADP to ATP. Disruption of the beta subunit gene of the
      ATP synthase only marginally reduced asexual blood-stage parasite growth but
      completely blocked mouse-to-mouse transmission via Anopheles stephensi
      mosquitoes. Parasites lacking the beta subunit gene of the ATP synthase generated
      viable gametes that fuse and form ookinetes but cannot progress beyond this
      stage. Ookinetes lacking the beta subunit gene of the ATP synthase had normal
      motility but were not viable in the mosquito midgut and never made oocysts or
      sporozoites, thereby abrogating transmission to naive mice via mosquito bite. We
      crossed the self-infertile ATP synthase beta subunit knockout parasites with a
      male-deficient, self-infertile strain of P. berghei, which restored fertility and
      production of oocysts and sporozoites, which demonstrates that mitochondrial ATP
      synthase is essential for ongoing viability through the female, mitochondrion
      carrying line of sexual reproduction in P. berghei malaria. Perturbation of ATP
      synthase completely blocks transmission to the mosquito vector and could
      potentially be targeted for disease control. 

PMID- 25831537
TI  - Non-native plants add to the British flora without negative consequences for
      native diversity.
AB  - Plants are commonly listed as invasive species, presuming that they cause harm at
      both global and regional scales. Approximately 40% of all species listed as
      invasive within Britain are plants. However, invasive plants are rarely linked to
      the national or global extinction of native plant species. The possible
      explanation is that competitive exclusion takes place slowly and that invasive
      plants will eventually eliminate native species (the "time-to-exclusion
      hypothesis"). Using the extensive British Countryside Survey Data, we find that
      changes to plant occurrence and cover between 1990 and 2007 at 479 British sites
      do not differ between native and non-native plant species. More than 80% of the
      plant species that are widespread enough to be sampled are native species; hence,
      total cover changes have been dominated by native species (total cover increases
      by native species are more than nine times greater than those by non-native
      species). This implies that factors other than plant "invasions" are the key
      drivers of vegetation change. We also find that the diversity of native species
      is increasing in locations where the diversity of non-native species is
      increasing, suggesting that high diversities of native and non-native plant
      species are compatible with one another. We reject the time-to-exclusion
      hypothesis as the reason why extinctions have not been observed and suggest that
      non-native plant species are not a threat to floral diversity in Britain. Further
      research is needed in island-like environments, but we question whether it is
      appropriate that more than three-quarters of taxa listed globally as invasive
      species are plants. 

PMID- 25831538
TI  - Family environment and the malleability of cognitive ability: a Swedish national
      home-reared and adopted-away cosibling control study.
AB  - Cognitive ability strongly aggregates in families, and prior twin and adoption
      studies have suggested that this is the result of both genetic and environmental
      factors. In this study, we used a powerful design--home-reared and adopted-away
      cosibling controls--to investigate the role of the rearing environment in
      cognitive ability. We identified, from a complete national Swedish sample of male
      male siblings, 436 full-sibships in which at least one member was reared by one
      or more biological parents and the other by adoptive parents. IQ was measured at
      age 18-20 as part of the Swedish military service conscription examination.
      Parental educational level was rated on a 5-point scale. Controlling for
      clustering of offspring within biological families, the adopted siblings had an
      IQ 4.41 (SE = 0.75) points higher than their nonadopted siblings. Each additional
      unit of rearing parental education was associated with 1.71 (SE = 0.44) units of
      IQ. We replicated these results in 2,341 male-male half-sibships, in which,
      controlling for clustering within families, adoption was associated with a gain
      of IQ of 3.18 (SE = 0.34) points. Each additional unit of rearing parental
      education was associated with 1.94 (SE = 0.18) IQ units. Using full- and half
      sibling sets matched for genetic background, we found replicated evidence that
      (i) rearing environment affects IQ measured in late adolescence, and (ii) a
      portion of the IQ of adopted siblings could be explained by the educational level
      of their adoptive parents.

PMID- 25831539
TI  - Motion of proximal histidine and structural allosteric transition in soluble
      guanylate cyclase.
AB  - We investigated the changes of heme coordination in purified soluble guanylate
      cyclase (sGC) by time-resolved spectroscopy in a time range encompassing 11
      orders of magnitude (from 1 ps to 0.2 s). After dissociation, NO either
      recombines geminately to the 4-coordinate (4c) heme (tauG1 = 7.5 ps; 97 +/- 1% of
      the population) or exits the heme pocket (3 +/- 1%). The proximal His rebinds to
      the 4c heme with a 70-ps time constant. Then, NO is distributed in two
      approximately equal populations (1.5%). One geminately rebinds to the 5c heme
      (tauG2 = 6.5 ns), whereas the other diffuses out to the solution, from where it
      rebinds bimolecularly (tau = 50 MUs with [NO] = 200 MUM) forming a 6c heme with a
      diffusion-limited rate constant of 2 * 10(8) M(-1)?s(-1). In both cases, the
      rebinding of NO induces the cleavage of the Fe-His bond that can be observed as
      an individual reaction step. Saliently, the time constant of bond cleavage
      differs depending on whether NO binds geminately or from solution (tau5C1 = 0.66
      MUs and tau5C2 = 10 ms, respectively). Because the same event occurs with rates
      separated by four orders of magnitude, this measurement implies that sGC is in
      different structural states in both cases, having different strain exerted on the
      Fe-His bond. We show here that this structural allosteric transition takes place
      in the range 1-50 MUs. In this context, the detection of NO binding to the
      proximal side of sGC heme is discussed. 

PMID- 25831540
TI  - Jupiter's decisive role in the inner Solar System's early evolution.
AB  - The statistics of extrasolar planetary systems indicate that the default mode of
      planet formation generates planets with orbital periods shorter than 100 days and
      masses substantially exceeding that of the Earth. When viewed in this context,
      the Solar System is unusual. Here, we present simulations which show that a
      popular formation scenario for Jupiter and Saturn, in which Jupiter migrates
      inward from a > 5 astronomical units (AU) to a ~ 1.5 AU before reversing
      direction, can explain the low overall mass of the Solar System's terrestrial
      planets, as well as the absence of planets with a < 0.4 AU. Jupiter's inward
      migration entrained s ? 10-100 km planetesimals into low-order mean motion
      resonances, shepherding and exciting their orbits. The resulting collisional
      cascade generated a planetesimal disk that, evolving under gas drag, would have
      driven any preexisting short-period planets into the Sun. In this scenario, the
      Solar System's terrestrial planets formed from gas-starved mass-depleted debris
      that remained after the primary period of dynamical evolution. 

PMID- 25831541
TI  - Area burned in the western United States is unaffected by recent mountain pine
      beetle outbreaks.
AB  - In the western United States, mountain pine beetles (MPBs) have killed pine trees
      across 71,000 km(2) of forest since the mid-1990s, leading to widespread concern
      that abundant dead fuels may increase area burned and exacerbate fire behavior.
      Although stand-level fire behavior models suggest that bark beetle-induced tree
      mortality increases flammability of stands by changing canopy and forest floor
      fuels, the actual effect of an MPB outbreak on subsequent wildfire activity
      remains widely debated. To address this knowledge gap, we superimposed areas
      burned on areas infested by MPBs for the three peak years of wildfire activity
      since 2002 across the western United States. Here, we show that the observed
      effect of MPB infestation on the area burned in years of extreme fire appears
      negligible at broad spatial extents. Contrary to the expectation of increased
      wildfire activity in recently infested red-stage stands, we found no difference
      between observed area and expected area burned in red-stage or subsequent gray
      stage stands during three peak years of wildfire activity, which account for 46%
      of area burned during the 2002-2013 period. Although MPB infestation and fire
      activity both independently increased in conjunction with recent warming, our
      results demonstrate that the annual area burned in the western United States has
      not increased in direct response to bark beetle activity. Therefore, policy
      discussions should focus on societal adaptation to the effects of recent
      increases in wildfire activity related to increased drought severity. 

PMID- 25831542
TI  - Engineering three-dimensional hybrid supercapacitors and microsupercapacitors for
      high-performance integrated energy storage.
AB  - Supercapacitors now play an important role in the progress of hybrid and electric
      vehicles, consumer electronics, and military and space applications. There is a
      growing demand in developing hybrid supercapacitor systems to overcome the energy
      density limitations of the current generation of carbon-based supercapacitors.
      Here, we demonstrate 3D high-performance hybrid supercapacitors and
      microsupercapacitors based on graphene and MnO2 by rationally designing the
      electrode microstructure and combining active materials with electrolytes that
      operate at high voltages. This results in hybrid electrodes with ultrahigh
      volumetric capacitance of over 1,100 F/cm(3). This corresponds to a specific
      capacitance of the constituent MnO2 of 1,145 F/g, which is close to the
      theoretical value of 1,380 F/g. The energy density of the full device varies
      between 22 and 42 Wh/l depending on the device configuration, which is superior
      to those of commercially available double-layer supercapacitors,
      pseudocapacitors, lithium-ion capacitors, and hybrid supercapacitors tested under
      the same conditions and is comparable to that of lead acid batteries. These
      hybrid supercapacitors use aqueous electrolytes and are assembled in air without
      the need for expensive "dry rooms" required for building today's supercapacitors.
      Furthermore, we demonstrate a simple technique for the fabrication of
      supercapacitor arrays for high-voltage applications. These arrays can be
      integrated with solar cells for efficient energy harvesting and storage systems. 

PMID- 25831543
TI  - Late Pleistocene horse and camel hunting at the southern margin of the ice-free
      corridor: reassessing the age of Wally's Beach, Canada.
AB  - The only certain evidence for prehistoric human hunting of horse and camel in
      North America occurs at the Wally's Beach site, Canada. Here, the butchered
      remains of seven horses and one camel are associated with 29 nondiagnostic lithic
      artifacts. Twenty-seven new radiocarbon ages on the bones of these animals revise
      the age of these kill and butchering localities to 13,300 calibrated y B.P. The
      tight chronological clustering of the eight kill localities at Wally's Beach
      indicates these animals were killed over a short period. Human hunting of horse
      and camel in Canada, coupled with mammoth, mastodon, sloth, and gomphothere
      hunting documented at other sites from 14,800-12,700 calibrated y B.P., show that
      6 of the 36 genera of megafauna that went extinct by approximately 12,700
      calibrated y B.P. were hunted by humans. This study shows the importance of
      accurate geochronology, without which significant discoveries will go
      unrecognized and the empirical data used to build models explaining the peopling
      of the Americas and Pleistocene extinctions will be in error. 

PMID- 25831545
TI  - Tunable molecular orientation and elevated thermal stability of vapor-deposited
      organic semiconductors.
AB  - Physical vapor deposition is commonly used to prepare organic glasses that serve
      as the active layers in light-emitting diodes, photovoltaics, and other devices.
      Recent work has shown that orienting the molecules in such organic semiconductors
      can significantly enhance device performance. We apply a high-throughput
      characterization scheme to investigate the effect of the substrate temperature
      (Tsubstrate) on glasses of three organic molecules used as semiconductors. The
      optical and material properties are evaluated with spectroscopic ellipsometry. We
      find that molecular orientation in these glasses is continuously tunable and
      controlled by Tsubstrate/Tg, where Tg is the glass transition temperature. All
      three molecules can produce highly anisotropic glasses; the dependence of
      molecular orientation upon substrate temperature is remarkably similar and nearly
      independent of molecular length. All three compounds form "stable glasses" with
      high density and thermal stability, and have properties similar to stable glasses
      prepared from model glass formers. Simulations reproduce the experimental trends
      and explain molecular orientation in the deposited glasses in terms of the
      surface properties of the equilibrium liquid. By showing that organic
      semiconductors form stable glasses, these results provide an avenue for
      systematic performance optimization of active layers in organic electronics. 

PMID- 25831546
TI  - Enhanced expression of DNA polymerase eta contributes to cisplatin resistance of
      ovarian cancer stem cells.
AB  - Cancer stem cells (CSCs) with enhanced tumorigenicity and chemoresistance are
      believed to be responsible for treatment failure and tumor relapse in ovarian
      cancer patients. However, it is still unclear how CSCs survive DNA-damaging agent
      treatment. Here, we report an elevated expression of DNA polymerase eta (Pol eta)
      in ovarian CSCs isolated from both ovarian cancer cell lines and primary tumors,
      indicating that CSCs may have intrinsically enhanced translesion DNA synthesis
      (TLS). Down-regulation of Pol eta blocked cisplatin-induced CSC enrichment both
      in vitro and in vivo through the enhancement of cisplatin-induced apoptosis in
      CSCs, indicating that Pol eta-mediated TLS contributes to the survival of CSCs
      upon cisplatin treatment. Furthermore, our data demonstrated a depletion of miR
      93 in ovarian CSCs. Enforced expression of miR-93 in ovarian CSCs reduced Pol eta
      expression and increased their sensitivity to cisplatin. Taken together, our data
      suggest that ovarian CSCs have intrinsically enhanced Pol eta-mediated TLS,
      allowing CSCs to survive cisplatin treatment, leading to tumor relapse. Targeting
      Pol eta, probably through enhancement of miR-93 expression, might be exploited as
      a strategy to increase the efficacy of cisplatin treatment. 

PMID- 25831548
TI  - KLHL3 regulates paracellular chloride transport in the kidney by ubiquitination
      of claudin-8.
AB  - A rare Mendelian syndrome--pseudohypoaldosteronism type II (PHA-II)--features
      hypertension, hyperkalemia, and metabolic acidosis. Genetic linkage studies and
      exome sequencing have identified four genes--with no lysine kinase 1 (wnk1),
      wnk4, Kelch-like 3 (KLHL3), and Cullin 3 (Cul3)--mutations of which all caused
      PHA-II phenotypes. The previous hypothesis was that the KLHL3-Cul3 ubiquitin
      complex acted on the wnk4-wnk1 kinase complex to regulate Na(+)/Cl(-)
      cotransporter (NCC) mediated salt reabsorption in the distal tubules of the
      kidney. Here, we report the identification of claudin-8 as a previously
      unidentified physiologic target for KLHL3 and provide an alternative explanation
      for the collecting duct's role in PHA-II. Using a tissue-specific KO approach, we
      have found that deletion of claudin-8 in the collecting duct of mouse kidney
      caused hypotension, hypokalemia, and metabolic alkalosis, an exact mirror image
      of PHA-II. Mechanistically, the phenotypes in claudin-8 KO animals were caused by
      disruption of the claudin-8 interaction with claudin-4, the paracellular chloride
      channel, and delocalization of claudin-4 from the tight junction. In mouse
      collecting duct cells, knockdown of KLHL3 profoundly increased the paracellular
      chloride permeability. Mechanistically, KLHL3 was directly bound to claudin-8,
      and this binding led to the ubiquitination and degradation of claudin-8. The
      dominant PHA-II mutation in KLHL3 impaired claudin-8 binding, ubiquitination, and
      degradation. These findings have attested to the concept that the paracellular
      pathway is physiologically regulated through the ubiquitination pathway, and its
      deregulation may lead to diseases of electrolyte and blood pressure imbalances.

PMID- 25831550
TI  - Sitting Time, Physical Activity, and Cardiorespiratory Fitness: Cooper Center
      Longitudinal Study Cohort.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prolonged sitting time is associated with numerous health outcomes;
      however, the role of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in these relationships is
      largely unexplored. The cross-sectional association between reported sitting time
      and measured CRF was examined in a large study of healthy men and women. METHODS:
      The analytic sample included 4658 men and 1737 women enrolled in the Cooper
      Center Longitudinal Study. Unadjusted and adjusted multivariable linear
      regression models were constructed to examine the association between sitting
      time and CRF, stratified by sex and meeting (or not) meeting physical activity
      (PA) guidelines. RESULTS: In men, CRF was not associated with sitting time after
      adjustment for potential confounders. In contrast, for women, after adjustment
      there was a significant association between increased sitting time and lower CRF
      (P for trend <.001). When stratified by meeting or not meeting PA guidelines,
      there was no association between sitting time and CRF in men. In women, this
      relationship was statistically significant regardless of PA category (both P for
      trend < .05). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the association between
      sitting time and CRF varies by sex. Further, meeting PA guidelines does not
      appear to modify this relation in either sex.

PMID- 25831549
TI  - Epigenetics. Epigenetic inheritance uncoupled from sequence-specific recruitment.
AB  - Changes in histone posttranslational modifications are associated with epigenetic
      states that define distinct patterns of gene expression. It remains unclear
      whether epigenetic information can be transmitted through histone modifications
      independently of specific DNA sequence, DNA methylation, or RNA interference.
      Here we show that, in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, ectopically
      induced domains of histone H3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9me), a conserved marker
      of heterochromatin, are inherited through several mitotic and meiotic cell
      divisions after removal of the sequence-specific initiator. The putative JmjC
      domain H3K9 demethylase, Epe1, and the chromodomain of the H3K9
      methyltransferase, Clr4/Suv39h, play opposing roles in maintaining silent H3K9me
      domains. These results demonstrate how a direct "read-write" mechanism involving
      Clr4 propagates histone modifications and allows histones to act as carriers of
      epigenetic information. 

PMID- 25831547
TI  - An ancestral bacterial division system is widespread in eukaryotic mitochondria.
AB  - Bacterial division initiates at the site of a contractile Z-ring composed of
      polymerized FtsZ. The location of the Z-ring in the cell is controlled by a
      system of three mutually antagonistic proteins, MinC, MinD, and MinE. Plastid
      division is also known to be dependent on homologs of these proteins, derived
      from the ancestral cyanobacterial endosymbiont that gave rise to plastids. In
      contrast, the mitochondria of model systems such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae,
      mammals, and Arabidopsis thaliana seem to have replaced the ancestral alpha
      proteobacterial Min-based division machinery with host-derived dynamin-related
      proteins that form outer contractile rings. Here, we show that the mitochondrial
      division system of these model organisms is the exception, rather than the rule,
      for eukaryotes. We describe endosymbiont-derived, bacterial-like division systems
      comprising FtsZ and Min proteins in diverse less-studied eukaryote protistan
      lineages, including jakobid and heterolobosean excavates, a malawimonad,
      stramenopiles, amoebozoans, a breviate, and an apusomonad. For two of these taxa,
      the amoebozoan Dictyostelium purpureum and the jakobid Andalucia incarcerata, we
      confirm a mitochondrial localization of these proteins by their heterologous
      expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The discovery of a proteobacterial-like
      division system in mitochondria of diverse eukaryotic lineages suggests that it
      was the ancestral feature of all eukaryotic mitochondria and has been supplanted
      by a host-derived system multiple times in distinct eukaryote lineages. 

PMID- 25831551
TI  - Physical Activity Predicts Higher Physical Function in Older Adults: The
      Osteoarthritis Initiative.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Physical activity reduces mobility impairments in elders. We examined
      the association of physical activity on risk of subjective and objective physical
      function in adults with and at risk for osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: Adults aged
      >= 60 years from the longitudinal Osteoarthritis Initiative, a prospective
      observational study of knee OA, were classified by sex-specific quartiles of
      Physical Activity Score for the Elderly scores. Using linear mixed models, we
      assessed 6-year data on self-reported health, gait speed, Late-Life Function and
      Disability Index (LLFDI) and chair stand. RESULTS: Of 2252 subjects, mean age
      ranged from 66 to 70 years. Within each quartile, physical component (PCS) of the
      Short Form-12 and gait speed decreased from baseline to follow-up in both sexes
      (all P < .001), yet the overall changes across PASE quartiles between these 2
      time points were no different (P = .40 and .69, males and females, respectively).
      Decline in PCS occurred in the younger age group, but rates of change between
      quartiles over time were no different in any outcomes in either sex. LLFDI scores
      declined in the 70+ age group. Adjusting for knee extensor strength reduced the
      strength of association. CONCLUSIONS: Higher physical activity is associated with
      maintained physical function and is mediated by muscle strength, highlighting the
      importance of encouraging physical activity in older adults with and at risk for
      OA.

PMID- 25831552
TI  - Using Shared Treadmill Workstations to Promote Less Time Spent in Daily Low
      Intensity Physical Activities: A Pilot Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to test the feasibility of sharing treadmill
      workstations among office workers to reduce time spent at low intensity and
      explore changes in health outcomes after a 3-month intervention. METHODS: Twenty
      two office workers were asked to walk 2 hours per shift on a shared treadmill
      workstation for 3 months. Physical activity levels (ie, low, light, moderate, and
      vigorous), health-related measures (eg, sleep, blood pressure), treadmill usage
      information, and questions regarding participants' expectation and experiences
      were collected. RESULTS: Physical activity time at low intensity during workdays
      was reduced by 20.1% (P = .007) in the 71% of participants completing the study.
      Participants were 70% confident that they would keep using the treadmill
      workstations. Interestingly, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure,
      and sleep quality scores were significantly improved (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The
      use of such equipment to replace a few hours of sitting is feasible and might
      offer important health benefits.

PMID- 25831553
TI  - Impact of Policies on Physical Activity and Screen Time Practices in 50 Child
      Care Centers in North Carolina.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study assessed physical activity and screen time policies in
      child-care centers and their associations with physical activity and screen time
      practices and preschool children's (3-5 years old) physical activity. METHODS:
      Data were from 50 child-care centers in North Carolina. Center directors reported
      on the presence/absence of written policies. Trained research assistants observed
      physical activity and screen time practices in at least 1 preschool classroom
      across 3 to 4 days. Children (N = 544) wore accelerometers to provide an
      objective measure of physical activity. RESULTS: Physical activity and screen
      time policies varied across centers. Observational data showed 82.7 min/d of
      active play opportunities were provided to children. Screen time provided did not
      exceed 30 min/d/child at 98% of centers. Accelerometer data showed children spent
      38 min/d in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and 206 min/d in sedentary
      activity. Policies about staff supervision of media use were negatively
      associated with screen time (P < .05). Contrary to expectation, policies about
      physical activity were associated with less time in physical activity.
      CONCLUSIONS: Clear strategies are needed for translating physical activity
      policies to practice. Further research is needed to evaluate the quality of
      physical activity policies, their impact on practice, and ease of
      operationalization.

PMID- 25831554
TI  - Association Between Television Viewing and Physical Activity in 10-Year-Old
      Brazilian Children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies have found an association between television (TV) viewing and
      physical activity levels. The purpose of this study was to examine the
      association between TV viewing and physical activity in 10-year-old Brazilian
      children. METHODS: The sample consisted of 485 children. Self-reported TV viewing
      on weekdays and weekends was assessed by questionnaire. An Actigraph GT3X+
      accelerometer was used to monitor the range of physical activity intensities
      (including moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; MVPA), sedentary behavior (SB)
      and steps/day over 7 days. RESULTS: Daily MVPA was highest among children viewing
      TV <1 hour/day (69 min) compared with children viewing 1 to 2 hours/day (61 min),
      3 to 4 hours/day (55 min) and >= 5 hours/day (59 min) on weekdays (P = .0015).
      Differences in MVPA were not observed across TV categories on weekends. The
      prevalence of reaching 60 min/day of MVPA and 12,000 steps/day on weekdays was
      significantly greater in children viewing <= 2 hours/day (51.7% and 23.5%,
      respectively) compared with those viewing > 2 hours/day (38.6%, P = .0058; and
      15.1%, P = .0291, respectively). There was no difference in SB across TV viewing
      categories. CONCLUSION: Time spent in MVPA and the frequency of meeting MVPA
      guidelines were significantly higher among children viewing <= 2 hours/day of TV
      on weekdays compared with those viewing more.

PMID- 25831555
TI  - Measurement Considerations of Peak Stepping Cadence Measures Using National
      Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study examined the optimal measurement conditions to obtain
      reliable peak cadence measures using the accelerometer-determined step data from
      the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006. METHODS: A total
      of 1282 adults (> 17 years) who provided valid accelerometer data for 7
      consecutive days were included. The peak 1- and 30-minute cadences were
      extracted. The sources of variance in peak stepping cadences were estimated using
      Generalizability theory analysis. A simulation analysis was conducted to examine
      the effect of the inclusion of weekend days. The optimal number of monitoring
      days to achieve 80% reliability for peak stepping cadences were estimated.
      RESULTS: Intraindividual variability was the largest variance component of peak
      cadences for young and middle-aged adults aged < 60 years (50.55%-59.24%)
      compared with older adults aged >= 60 years (31.62%-41.72%). In general, the
      minimum of 7 and 5 days of monitoring were required for peak 1- and 30-minute
      cadences among young and middle-aged adults, respectively, whereas 3 days of
      monitoring was sufficient for older adults to achieve the desired reliability
      (0.80). The inclusion of weekend days in the monitoring frame may not be
      practically important. CONCLUSIONS: The findings could be applied in future
      research as the reference measurement conditions for peak cadences.

PMID- 25831544
TI  - Evidence for indigenous nitrogen in sedimentary and aeolian deposits from the
      Curiosity rover investigations at Gale crater, Mars.
AB  - The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) investigation on the Mars Science Laboratory
      (MSL) Curiosity rover has detected oxidized nitrogen-bearing compounds during
      pyrolysis of scooped aeolian sediments and drilled sedimentary deposits within
      Gale crater. Total N concentrations ranged from 20 to 250 nmol N per sample.
      After subtraction of known N sources in SAM, our results support the equivalent
      of 110-300 ppm of nitrate in the Rocknest (RN) aeolian samples, and 70-260 and
      330-1,100 ppm nitrate in John Klein (JK) and Cumberland (CB) mudstone deposits,
      respectively. Discovery of indigenous martian nitrogen in Mars surface materials
      has important implications for habitability and, specifically, for the potential
      evolution of a nitrogen cycle at some point in martian history. The detection of
      nitrate in both wind-drifted fines (RN) and in mudstone (JK, CB) is likely a
      result of N2 fixation to nitrate generated by thermal shock from impact or
      volcanic plume lightning on ancient Mars. Fixed nitrogen could have facilitated
      the development of a primitive nitrogen cycle on the surface of ancient Mars,
      potentially providing a biochemically accessible source of nitrogen. 

PMID- 25831556
TI  - Individual, Social, and Neighborhood Associations With Sitting Time Among
      Veterans.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sedentary behavior is an increasingly recognized health risk factor,
      independent of physical activity. Although several correlates of sedentary
      behavior are known, little research has identified them among U.S. veterans, a
      population that faces disproportionate chronic disease burden. METHODS: A survey
      was mailed to 1997 randomly selected veterans at a large urban Veterans Affairs
      medical center in 2012 and remailed in 2013 to nonresponders, resulting in a 40%
      response rate. We examined individual-, social-, and neighborhood-level factors
      in association with self-reported sitting time. Factors correlated with sitting
      time at P < .05 were included in a multiple linear regression model. RESULTS: In
      the multivariate model, higher depression (B = 7.8), body mass index (B = 5.1),
      functional impairment (B = 4.2), and self-rated health (B = 68.5) were
      significantly associated with higher sitting time, and leisure time physical
      activity (B = -0.10) and being employed (B = -71.3) were significantly associated
      with lower sitting time. CONCLUSIONS: Individual-level, but not social- and
      neighborhood-level, variables were associated with sitting time in this
      population. This study identified individual-level targets for reducing sitting
      time and improving overall health among veterans.

PMID- 25831557
TI  - Erratum for "Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Keyhole Endokeratophakia: Correction of
      Hyperopia by Implantation of an Allogeneic Lenticule Obtained by SMILE From a
      Myopic Donor".

PMID- 25831558
TI  - Erratum for "Outcomes of Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE) in Low
      Myopia".

PMID- 25831559
TI  - Erratum for "JRS Standard for Reporting Astigmatism Outcomes of Refractive
      Surgery".

PMID- 25831560
TI  - Efficiency enhancement in polymer light-emitting diodes via embedded indium-tin
      oxide nanorods.
AB  - Indium-tin-oxide (ITO) nanorods were fabricated in 10 min from commercially
      available ITO substrate using wet chemical etching method. The optical properties
      of the ITO nanorods were investigated using transmission spectroscopy and dark
      field optical microscopy. The transmittance and light-scattering characteristics
      of the ITO nanorods were better than those of ITO film. The ITO nanorod layer was
      further used as a transparent anode in polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs). The
      brightness and current efficiency of the PLED with the ITO nanorod layer were
      enhanced. This performance enhancement can be attributed to the excellent optical
      and electrical properties of the ITO nanorod layer. 

PMID- 25831561
TI  - Safe use of health information technology.

PMID- 25831562
TI  - Proceedings of the 14th Bergmeyer Conference, held from 3-5 March 2014, Eibsee,
      Germany.

PMID- 25831563
TI  - Proceedings of the XIIth Oxford Conference, August 17-20, 2012, Almelo, The
      Netherlands.

PMID- 25831564
TI  - [Future pespectives for hepatology: still a long way to go].

PMID- 25831565
TI  - [The advances on the treatment of chronic hepatitis B: an update of 2014].

PMID- 25831566
TI  - [Advances in clinical research of fatty liver disease during 2014].

PMID- 25831567
TI  - [Report of the 2nd international conference of autoimmune liver diseases].

PMID- 25831568
TI  - [Tenofovir rescue therapy for chronic hepatitis B patients after multiple
      treatment failures].

PMID- 25831569
TI  - [Deactivation mechanisms of hepatic stellate cells and their implications for
      anti-hepatic fibrosis therapy].

PMID- 25831570
TI  - Causes of mortality of captive Arabian gazelles (Gazella Arabica) at King Khalid
      Wildlife Research Centre, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from 1988 to 2011.
AB  - We investigated the causes of mortality of the Arabian gazelle (Gazella arabica)
      based on the necropsy records of 1218 captive animals at King Khalid Wildlife
      Research Centre, Saudi Arabia, from 1988 to 2011. The largest number of deaths
      was attributed to trauma (391, 32.1%). Trauma was subdivided into the following
      three categories: collisions with fences (144, 11.8%); predator activity (91,
      7.5%), and exhibit-mate aggression (156, 12.8%). Respiratory infection was
      another important cause of mortality, accounting for 186 (15.3%) deaths.
      Respiratory infection was more prevalent during the winter season (November to
      March). Other causes of death included gastrointestinal diseases, such as
      clostridiosis and salmonellosis (108, 8.9%). Maternal neglect (104, 8.5%),
      chronic renal fibrosis (34, 2.8%), and stress-related pathologies (35, 2.9%), in
      particular, capture myopathy, were also important causes of mortality. Here, the
      importance of these findings for improvement of the captive management of this
      vulnerable Arabian species is discussed, and for the first time, salmonellosis in
      Arabian gazelles is reported.

PMID- 25831571
TI  - Clinical investigation into feed-related hypervitaminosis D in a captive flock of
      budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus): morbidity, mortalities, and pathologic
      lesions.
AB  - The Blank Park Zoo began suffering mortalities in the spring of 2012 within a
      flock of 229 captive budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) housed in an
      interactive public-feeding aviary. Clinical signs in affected birds included
      weakness, posterior paresis, inability to fly, or acute death. Gross and
      microscopic lesions were not initially apparent in acutely affected deceased
      birds. Many birds had evidence of trauma, which is now hypothesized to have been
      related to the birds' weakness. Investigation into the cause(s) of morbidity and
      mortality were complicated by the opening of a new interactive enclosure. For
      this reason, environmental conditions and husbandry protocols were heavily
      scrutinized. Microscopic examination of dead budgies later in the course of the
      investigation revealed mineralization of soft tissues consistent with
      hypervitaminosis D. Pooled serum analysis of deceased birds identified elevated
      vitamin D3 levels. Vitamin D3 analysis was performed on the feed sticks offered
      by the public and the formulated maintenance diet fed to the flock. This analysis
      detected elevated levels of vitamin D3 that were 22.5-times the manufacturer's
      labeled content in the formulated diet. These findings contributed to a
      manufacturer recall of more than 100 formulated diets fed to a wide variety of
      domestic and captive wild animal species throughout the United States and
      internationally. This case report discusses the complexities of determining the
      etiology of a toxic event in a zoologic institution.

PMID- 25831572
TI  - Hydrocoelom and lymphedema in dendrobatid frogs at National Aquarium, Baltimore:
      2003-2011.
AB  - Hydrocoelom and lymphedema are common in amphibians. In the family Dendrobatidae
      at the National Aquarium, Baltimore, prevalence was 3.19% from 2005 to 2011.
      Complete review of all cases in dendrobatids from 01 January 2003 to 01 June 2011
      at the National Aquarium identified annual incidence rate, associated signs,
      diagnostic findings, therapeutics, and outcomes using medical record review.
      Associated etiologies were assessed via available necropsy and histopathology
      reports. Hydrocoelom was defined as coelomic distention with fluid; lymphedema
      was defined as fluid accumulation in the lymph spaces. These two syndromes could
      occur concurrently, and no association between case success (36.5% overall) or
      etiology was found to contrast hydrocoelom and lymphedema. Species susceptibility
      varied, with increased prevalence and incidence rate in Adelphobates
      castaneoticus, Dendrobates auratus, and Phyllobates spp. D. auratus also had
      reduced case success overall (26.0%). Females experienced hydrocoelom and/or
      lymphedema at an attack rate more than three times that of males. Fluid
      aspiration for culture was the most predictive antemortem diagnostic to find
      infectious etiologies, but antemortem diagnostics were largely noncontributory in
      identifying other causes of fluid accumulation. Enrofloxacin treatment increased
      case success more than fivefold when compared to those not treated and was the
      only treatment positively associated with case success. Infectious etiology,
      renal disease, and gastrointestinal disease, including parasitism, were seen
      commonly on postmortem evaluation of cases. These findings underscore the
      importance of the ability to individually track and treat cases, with fluid
      culture and initiation of enrofloxacin therapy (10 mg/kg p.o.q. 24 hr) seen as
      the best first steps after presentation with hydrocoelom or lymphedema.

PMID- 25831573
TI  - Evaluation of captive gibbons (Hylobates spp., Nomascus spp., Symphalangus spp.)
      in North American Zoological Institutions for Gibbon Ape Leukemia Virus (GALV).
AB  - This study evaluated 79 captive gibbons (Hylobates, Nomascus, and Symphalangus
      spp.) within 30 North American zoological institutions for evidence of exposure
      to and possible infection with gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV). Enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) on gibbon serum samples revealed the presence of
      antibodies against GALV antigens in 28% of animals, indicating previous exposure
      or possibly protective immunity to GALV. Virus detection in gibbon blood or serum
      using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or co-culture of gibbon peripheral blood
      mononuclear cells with human cells was negative for all samples submitted. The
      majority (19/27, 70%) of animals with reported health conditions were clinically
      healthy at the time of sample collection. Historically accrued clinical data were
      used to assess association of diseases in gibbons antibody positive for GALV. The
      results suggest captive gibbons could mount an immune response to GALV and show
      no evidence of infection. There was no association with neoplastic conditions in
      seropositive animals. The potential role of gibbons as a reservoir for GALV and
      the role of GALV as an epizoonotic-zoonotic agent or as a contributor to gibbon
      ape morbidity and mortality are not substantiated by the study findings.

PMID- 25831574
TI  - Radiographic reference limits for cardiac width of budgerigars (Melopsittacus
      undulatus).
AB  - Primary and secondary cardiovascular diseases are not uncommon in birds. Although
      radiologic standards for heart width have been developed for mammals, they are
      still not available for many avian species. The purpose of this study was to
      establish normal reference values for cardiac size in budgerigar (Melopsittacus
      undulatus), one of the most popular pet bird species all over the world. After
      clinical and radiographic (lateral and ventrodorsal views) evaluations, 27 adult,
      clinically healthy budgerigars (10 females and 17 males) were included in this
      study. High-quality ventrodorsal and lateral radiographic projections were
      obtained. The cardiac and thoracic width, distance between third and fourth ribs,
      synsacrum width, coracoid width, and the distance between clavicle bones were
      measured on ventrodorsal radiographs. The ratio between cardiac width and other
      mentioned indices was calculated. Correlation of each anatomical index with the
      cardiac width was evaluated by linear regression model. Sex and weight were
      included in all models. Mean + SD of cardiac width was 10.8 +/- 0.6 mm, with
      lower and upper limits of 9.5 and 12.0 mm. The results showed a significant
      correlation between the cardiac width and the thoracic width (R2 = 0.28; P =
      0.005). There were no significant associations between weight, sex, and the heart
      width. The values and ratios obtained in this study can be used as a reference of
      normal cardiac size of budgerigar in radiology for detection of cardiomegaly in
      this bird.

PMID- 25831575
TI  - Health assessment of free-living eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina
      carolina) in and around the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore 1996-2011.
AB  - Health data for free-living eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) at
      the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore were analyzed. One hundred and eighteen turtles
      were captured on or near zoo grounds over the course of 15 yr (1996-2011), with
      recapture of many individuals leading to 208 total evaluations. Of the 118
      individuals, 61 were male, 50 were female, and 7 were of undetermined sex. Of the
      208 captures, 188 were healthy, and 20 were sick or injured. Complete health
      evaluations were performed on 30 turtles with physical examination records,
      complete blood counts (CBCs), and plasma biochemistry profiles. Eight animals
      were sampled more than once, yielding 40 total samples for complete health
      evaluations of these 30 individuals. The 40 samples were divided into healthy
      (N=29) and sick (N=11) groups based on clinical findings on physical examination.
      Samples from healthy animals were further divided into male (N=17) and female (N=
      12) groups. CBC and biochemistry profile parameters were compared between sick
      and healthy groups and between healthy males and females. Sick turtles had lower
      albumin, globulin, total protein (TP), calcium, phosphorous, sodium, and
      potassium than healthy animals. Sick turtles also had higher heterophil to
      lymphocyte ratios. Healthy female turtles had higher leukocyte count, eosinophil
      count, total solids, TP, globulin, cholesterol, calcium, and phosphorous than
      healthy males. Banked plasma from all 40 samples was tested for antibodies to
      Mycoplasma agassizii and Mycoplasma testudineum via enzyme-linked immunosorbent
      assay. One sample from a clinically healthy female was antibody positive for M.
      agassizii; none were positive for M. testudineum. This study provides descriptive
      health data for eastern box turtles and CBC and biochemistry profile information
      for T. carolina carolina at and near the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. It also
      reports low serologic evidence of exposure to mycoplasmosis.

PMID- 25831576
TI  - Pharmacokinetics of a single subcutaneous dose of sustained release buprenorphine
      in northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris).
AB  - Information regarding analgesics in pinnipeds is limited. This study aimed to
      establish the pharmacokinetic parameters of a single subcutaneous dose of
      sustained release buprenorphine (Buprenorphine SR) in juvenile northern elephant
      seals (Mirounga angustirostris) with regard to its potential to provide long
      lasting analgesia that requires infrequent dosing. Seals (n=26) were administered
      a single dose of sustained release buprenorphine at 0.12 mg/kg s.c. Blood samples
      were collected from the extradural intervertebral vein at 0 hr and at three or
      four of the following time points: 0.5, 1, 2, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 96, 120, and
      144 hr. Seals were examined daily for systemic and local adverse reactions.
      Plasma was analyzed by liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry for
      buprenorphine and norbuprenorphine concentrations. A noncompartmental analysis
      for pharmacokinetic parameters was calculated using standard methods and
      equations. An average maximum concentration of 1.21 ng/ml (0.3-2.9 ng/ml) was
      detected 12 hr postadministration. Concentrations were quantifiable up to 144 hr
      postadministration but were below those expected to provide analgesia in some
      other species. No systemic adverse effects were noted in healthy seals receiving
      sustained release buprenorphine. Cellulitis or abscesses at the injection site
      were observed in 6/26 (23%) seals between 24 and 168 hr postadministration.
      Adverse local effects suggest that this drug should be used with caution in
      northern elephant seals.

PMID- 25831577
TI  - Isolation and genotypic characterization of Trueperella (Arcanobacterium)
      pyogenes recovered from active cranial abscess infections of male white-tailed
      deer (Odocoileus virginianus).
AB  - Trueperella (Arcanobacterium) pyogenes is a causative agent of suppurative
      infections in domestic and wild animals. In some populations of captive or free
      ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), cranial abscess disease is an
      important source of mortality in adult males. Although the pathogenesis of this
      disease is poorly understood, T. pyogenes has been isolated from active
      infections with other opportunistic bacteria. In this study, bacteria associated
      with cranial abscess infections were identified, the prevalence of T. pyogenes
      associated with these infections was determined, and the presence of known
      virulence determinants in T. pyogenes isolates was ascertained. Using routine
      biochemical techniques seven bacterial species were identified from 65 samples
      taken from active cranial abscess infections of 65 male white-tailed deer.
      Trueperellapyogenes was recovered from 46 samples; in 32 samples it was the only
      bacterium species detected. Staphylococcus aureus was detected in 26 samples.
      From these samples, the presence of known and putative virulence genes of T.
      pyogenes--plo, nanH, nanP, cbpA, fimA, fimC, fimE, and fimG--was examined by
      conventional polymerase chain reaction. All T. pyogenes isolates were positive
      for the pyolysin genes plo, nanP, and fimA. Furthermore, nanH, fimA, fimC, and
      fimE were detected in over 70% of isolates. Of the isolates tested, 48% had
      genotypes containing all virulence genes except cbpA. The suggestive virulence
      potential of all isolates, coupled with the large number of pure cultures
      obtained, implies that T. pyogenes is a causative agent of cranial abscess
      disease.

PMID- 25831578
TI  - Hematologic and serum biochemical parameters of apparently healthy rescued
      formosan pangolins (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla).
AB  - Natural habitats of pangolins are rapidly deteriorating because of extensive
      farming, logging, and human construction activities. In addition, the illegal
      trading of pangolins substantially accelerated the decline of the pangolins'
      population in southeastern Asia. The maintenance of confiscated pangolins in
      rescue centers is currently a daunting task for veterinarians and conservation
      biologists. There is limited information in the literature about the reference
      values regarding the physiology of pangolins. The purpose of this study is to
      establish reliable hematologic and serum biochemical reference values for the
      Formosan pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla). Blood samples were collected
      from 51 apparently healthy pangolins from a population of 117 rescued pangolins
      at the Taipei Zoo. Sex-related differences were observed in platelet count,
      alanine aminotransferase level, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, and
      total protein level. Age-related differences were also noted; juveniles have
      significantly higher platelet counts and alkaline phosphatase levels than their
      adult counter parts. The hematologic and serum biochemical reference values for
      the Formosan pangolin presented in this study can be applied in the medical care
      of this important species during rescue attempts. It is the first systematic
      report of blood parameters of apparently healthy pangolins and provides a basis
      for future investigation of this species. The reference values reported in this
      study may also be applicable to other pangolin species in the genus Manis.

PMID- 25831579
TI  - Diagnosis and management of tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) in an Asian
      elephant (Elephas maximus) with a newborn calf.
AB  - In 2006, five Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) were imported to Taronga Zoo,
      Australia, from Thailand. Pre-import and initial postarrival tuberculosis
      screening was performed by trunk wash (TW) culture and was negative for
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In April 2009, the ElephantTB STAT-PAK (SP) assay was
      used to test the elephants. A 15.5-yr-old pregnant cow was reactive. TW frequency
      for this cow was increased from annually to quarterly. TW cultures remained
      negative on all other elephants. In February 2010, the Dual Path Platform (DPP)
      VetTB assay was used for the first time, and the SP-reactive cow also reacted on
      the DPP. A SP was run concurrently and was reactive. All other elephants were
      nonreactive on both assays. Treatment was not initiated due to concern about the
      effect of antituberculous drugs on the fetus. Quarterly TW cultures continued.
      The cow gave birth on 2 November 2010. A routine TW on 24 November 2010 was
      culture positive for M. tuberculosis. Although previous shedding could not be
      ruled out, reactivation of latent infection or exacerbation of subclinical
      disease due to parturition was suspected. Treatment with isoniazid, pyrazinamide,
      rifampicin, and ethambutol commenced. A 12-mo treatment course was completed
      within a 15-mo period. The isolate was susceptible to these drugs and genotyped
      as a Beijing strain. Stored serum samples from 2004 and 2006 were tested
      retrospectively and were reactive on SP and DPP. TW, SP, and DPP screening
      frequency increased to monthly for the positive cow on commencement of treatment
      in January 2011. Monthly serum biochemistry indicated drug-induced hepatitis.
      Therapeutic drug monitoring was conducted to ensure therapeutic levels were
      achieved. The infant calf was reactive on DPP, but TW culture negative, and was
      not treated. Serial DPP results for the cow and calf during and after treatment
      indicated that the antibody levels were declining, suggesting a favorable
      response to therapy in the dam, and that the origin of the antibodies in the calf
      were maternal, rather than a response to infection.

PMID- 25831580
TI  - Successful management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a Matschie's tree
      kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei).
AB  - A 3-yr-old, intact male Matschie's tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei) was
      examined for a 1-wk history of intermittent lethargy and tachypnea. An
      echocardiogram revealed concentric hypertrophy of the left ventricular free wall
      and interventricular septum. These findings were compared to measurements from
      healthy Matschie's tree kangaroos, supporting a diagnosis of hypertrophic
      cardiomyopathy. At the time of publication, the patient has been managed for over
      11.5 yr, using a combination of enalapril, furosemide, diltiazem, and diet
      modifications. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy should be considered as a differential
      diagnosis in tree kangaroos exhibiting signs of cardiovascular or respiratory
      distress. This case represents the first report of antemortem diagnosis and
      successful management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a Matschie's tree
      kangaroo.

PMID- 25831582
TI  - Cystic urolithiasis in captive waxy monkey frogs (Phyllomedusa sauvagii).
AB  - The waxy monkey frog (Phyllomedusa sauvagii) is an arboreal amphibian native to
      arid regions of South America, and it has developed behavioral and physiologic
      adaptations to permit survival in dry environments. These adaptations include a
      uricotelic nitrogen metabolism and unique cutaneous lipid excretions to prevent
      evaporative water loss. Uroliths are a rare finding in amphibians. Six adult,
      presumed wild-caught waxy monkey frogs housed in a museum animal collection were
      diagnosed with cystic urolithiasis over a 7-yr period, and a single animal was
      diagnosed with four recurrent cases. Six cases were identified incidentally at
      routine physical or postmortem examination and four cases were identified during
      veterinary evaluation for coelomic distension, lethargy, anorexia, and increased
      soaking behavior. Calculi were surgically removed from three frogs via cystotomy,
      and a single frog underwent three cystotomies and two cloacotomies for recurrent
      urolithiasis. Two frogs died within the 24-hr postoperative period. Two
      representative calculi from a single frog were submitted for component analysis
      and found to consist of 100% ammonium urate. In the present report, cystic
      calculi are proposed to be the result of a high-protein diet based on a single
      invertebrate source, coupled with uricotelism, dehydration, increased cutaneous
      water loss, body temperature fluctuations facilitating supersaturation of urine,
      and subsequent accumulation and precipitation of urogenous wastes within the
      urinary bladder. Surgical cystotomy represents a short-term treatment strategy
      for this condition. Preventative measures, such as supplying a diversified and
      balanced diet in addition to environmental manipulation aimed at promoting
      adequate hydration, are anticipated to be more-rewarding management tools for
      cystic urolithiasis in the waxy monkey frog.

PMID- 25831581
TI  - Potential for serodiagnosis of tuberculosis in black rhinoceros (Diceros
      bicornis).
AB  - A case of fatal Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection was diagnosed postmortem in
      a captive 33-yr-old male black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) after a nonspecific
      illness in April 2013. Retrospective testing of sera from this individual
      revealed that it had been seroreactive by ElephantTB STAT-PAK, dual-path platform
      VetTB, and multi-antigen print immunoassay for over 12 yr prior to death.
      Although samples collected at the time of intradermal tuberculin test performed
      in October 2000 were nonreactive in all three serologic assays, the animal
      appeared to seroconvert approximately 2.5 wk after the skin test administration.
      The antibody response remained detectable for the duration of the animal's life
      (12+ yr), indicating ongoing immunologic stimulation. The current case report
      supports the use of serologic assays for diagnosis of TB in black rhinoceros and
      may provide information for earlier detection. However, further research is
      needed to develop tools for recognition of mycobacterial infections in
      rhinoceros.

PMID- 25831583
TI  - Uropygial gland squamous cell carcinoma in chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarcticus) and
      gentoo (Pygoscelis papua) penguins at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Central
      Park Zoo.
AB  - Uropygial, or preen, glands are found in a variety of avian species including
      penguins. These glands have a multitude of functions and can develop a variety of
      conditions including impaction, rupture, adenitis, squamous metaplasia, and
      neoplasia of various types, with squamous cell carcinoma the most commonly
      reported. A case series of uropygial gland squamous cell carcinoma in five
      penguins at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Central Park Zoo is described.
      Most birds were aged (>10 yr) with a history of chronic, recurrent uropygial
      gland problems including impaction, rupture, abscess formation, or a combination
      of conditions. Before and after neoplasia diagnosis, these cases were managed
      conservatively, and palliative care was provided. Because many of these cases
      were preceded by chronic inflammation, it is possible this inflammation
      predisposed the uropygial gland to neoplastic transformation, and more aggressive
      treatment early in the disease process may therefore be warranted.

PMID- 25831584
TI  - Clinical canine parvovirus type 2C infection in a group of Asian small-clawed
      otters (Aonyx cinerea).
AB  - Despite the occurrence of clinical disease in a wide range of carnivore hosts,
      only vague accounts of clinical canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2) in any otter
      species have been reported in the literature. Over the course of 25 days, nine
      Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea) presented for evaluation of
      inappetence, lethargy, vomiting, and diarrhea. A diagnosis of canine parvovirus
      type 2c was made based on electron microscopy, polymerase chain reaction, and DNA
      sequencing of group fecal samples. Supportive care was provided based on
      individual clinical assessment and included subcutaneous crystalline fluid
      therapy, antiemetics, antibiotics, appetite stimulants, and a neuraminidase
      inhibitor. Five of the nine otters exhibited moderate to severe disease requiring
      treatment, and one case was fatal despite supportive efforts. In light of this
      case report, CPV-2 should be recognized as a potential cause of gastrointestinal
      disease in Asian small-clawed otters.

PMID- 25831585
TI  - Valvulopathy consistent with endocarditis in an Argentine boa (Boa constrictor
      occidentalis).
AB  - An Argentine boa (Boa constrictor occidentalis) of 5 yr 7 mo of age was presented
      for respiratory problems and regurgitation. Radiographs revealed evidence of
      cardiomegaly and pneumonia. Blood smear examination revealed the presence of
      intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in peripheral lymphocytes, consistent with
      inclusion body disease. Cultures of a tracheal wash sample resulted in growth of
      Ochrobactrum intermedium and Pseudomonas putida. Echocardiographic examination
      revealed a large vegetative lesion on the right atrioventricular valve with
      valvular insufficiency, a mildly dilated right atrium, and pulmonary
      hypertension. Postmortem examination confirmed the presence of pneumonia and
      bacterial endocarditis with dystrophic mineralization of the right
      atrioventricular valve, associated with different bacteria than those cultured
      from the tracheal wash. The present case is the first report of endocarditis in a
      boa constrictor and contributes to the rare reports of cardiac disease in snakes.

PMID- 25831586
TI  - Disseminated Yersinia pseudotuberculosis infection in a paca (Cuniculus paca).
AB  - A 2-yr-old paca (Cuniculus paca) was presented for necropsy with a history of
      sudden death. GrosS examination revealed multifocal, transmural, well-demarcated,
      white, soft nodules scattered along the length of the small intestine. The liver
      also had similar nodules associated with the capsular and cut surface. Histologic
      evaluation of several organs, including the intestine, liver, lung, kidney,
      adrenal gland, and lymph nodes, was consistent with disseminated yersiniosis. In
      addition, aerobic bacterial culture of liver and lung tissue yielded heavy growth
      of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. Yersinia pseudotuberculosis is a Gram-negative,
      enteric pathogen that can cause disease in a variety of terrestrial species
      including humans. Although systemic infection has been observed in rodent
      species, to our knowledge this is the first report of disseminated Y
      pseudotuberculosis in a paca.

PMID- 25831587
TI  - Focal bacterial meningitis following ascending bite wound infection leading to
      paraparesis in a captive California sea lion (Zalophus californianus).
AB  - Magnetic resonance imaging was performed on a 15-yr-old captive female California
      sea lion (Zalophus californianus) with a 2-wk history of progressive paraparesis
      and a 9-mo history of exudative skin lesion on the left thoracic wall. Magnetic
      resonance images showed a well-defined muscle infiltrating lesion ventrolateral
      to the seventh cervical to the third thoracic vertebra on the left side, which
      extended through the left intervertebral foramina C7 to T3 into the vertebral
      canal, causing spinal cord compression and displacement as well as inflammation
      of the spinal cord and nerves. This lesion surprisingly caused no forelimb
      deficits. Differential diagnoses included abscess formation or neoplasia.
      Pathologic examination revealed chronic focal purulent meningitis associated with
      widespread paraspinal fistulous inflammation originating from a chronic dermal
      ulcer. Mainly Escherichia coli var. haemolytica and Clostridium perfringens were
      identified as the underlying agents.

PMID- 25831588
TI  - Herpesvirus and calicivirus infection in a black-footed cat (Fels nigripes)
      family group following vaccination.
AB  - Preventive healthcare recommendations for zoo felids include vaccination against
      primary viral diseases that affect domestic felids. Although associated with a
      more-substantial immune response in their domestic counterparts, use of modified
      live virus vaccines (MLV) in nondomestic carnivores can result in vaccine-induced
      viral disease. This case report details a feline herpesvirus and calicivirus
      outbreak in two black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) kittens and their dam following
      use of an MLV in the kittens. Clinical signs included anorexia, nasal discharge,
      sneezing, and tachypnea. Patient history, clinical signs, real-time polymerase
      chain reaction results, and histopathologic evaluation of tissues confirmed the
      diagnosis. Although unable to definitively prove that the disease observed in
      these cases was caused by the MLV, there is strong temporal and circumstantial
      evidence that this was the case. This outbreak of feline upper respiratory
      infection following vaccination with a multivalent MLV resulted in significant
      morbidity and mortality, serving as an important reminder that recombinant or
      killed vaccines are the safest choice for use in nondomestic species,
      particularly in kittens.

PMID- 25831589
TI  - Analysis of a collagen II degradation protein C2C and a collagen II formation
      protein CP II in serum of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus).
AB  - Osteoarthritis is a major cause of chronic lameness in Asian elephants (Elephas
      maximus) in captivity worldwide. Radiology and other imaging technologies are of
      limited use in the early diagnosis of this condition in elephants. Collagen II is
      a major component of articular cartilage. The degradation and formation of
      collagen II can be monitored by the measurement of specific biomarkers in
      biologic fluids such as serum. It is possible that these biomarkers could also
      prove useful in identifying disease in elephants. In this study two commercially
      available immunoassays which measure a marker of collagen II degradation (C2C)
      and a marker of collagen II formation (CPII) were evaluated in Asian elephants.
      The ability of the assays to detect and measure C2C and CPII in the serum of
      Asian elephants was confirmed. Median serum concentration of C2C was 148 ng/L in
      nonlame elephants (n=33) and 91.2 ng/L in lame elephants (n=7). The difference
      was statistically significant (P=0.0002). Median serum concentration of CPII was
      519.3 ng/L in nonlame elephants and 318.7 ng/L in lame elephants. The difference
      was also statistically significant (P=0.039). Whereas CPII concentrations in lame
      elephants mirrored findings from human and animal osteoarthritis studies, C2C
      concentrations did not. Further studies which evaluate these and other similar
      biomarkers are necessary to elucidate their usefulness in the diagnosis of
      osteoarthritis in proboscidae.

PMID- 25831590
TI  - Multifocal respiratory and vertebral mycobacteriosis in a red-tailed hawk (Buteo
      jamaicensis).
AB  - An adult, female, free-ranging red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) was presented
      to a rehabilitation facility for an inability to stand. On examination, it
      displayed bilateral exaggeration of the pelvic limb reflexes with extensor muscle
      rigidity, intact superficial pain response, and positive withdrawal reflexes. A
      complete blood count identified moderate leukocytosis characterized by moderate
      heterophilia. No abnormalities were appreciable on radiographic evaluation. After
      initial improvement, it regressed and was euthanized 27 days after presentation.
      Necropsy and histologic investigation identified reduction in the diameter of the
      vertebral canal and spinal cord at cervical segments 8-9 with coalescing
      granulomas and intralesional acid-fast bacilli within the intertrabecular space,
      left side of the clavicular air sac, and cranial left lung. Bacterial culture and
      genetic sequencing from respiratory lesions identified Mycobacterium avium avium.
      Real time-polymerase chain reaction of paraffin-fixed spinal tissue tested
      positive for M. avium complex. Mycobacteriosis should be considered when
      peripheral neurologic deficits are present in raptors.

PMID- 25831591
TI  - Anesthetic management of a 4-month-old red fox (Vulpes vulpes) for orthopedic
      surgery.
AB  - A 4-mo-old red fox (Vulpes vulpes) was found recumbent after a vehicular
      accident. Radiology revealed several limb fractures and the fox underwent surgery
      after 24 hr of initial stabilization. Premedication consisted of dexmedetomidine
      and morphine. Anesthesia was induced with ketamine and midazolam and maintained
      with isoflurane. Lidocaine, bupivacaine, and morphine were administered
      epidurally and further analgesia was provided with meloxicam. The heart rate and
      respiratory rate of the fox remained stable during surgery and, except for a mild
      hypothermia, the recovery from anesthesia was uneventful. The postoperative pain
      scores were low and the animal was transported to a rehabilitation facility and
      eventually released to the wild. The low pain scores postoperatively should be
      attributed to the successful application of epidural anesthesia and analgesia.

PMID- 25831592
TI  - Milbemycin oxime (Interceptor) treatment of amphipod parasites (Hyperiidae) from
      several host jellyfish species.
AB  - Wild-caught crystal jellyfish (Aequorea victoria) arrived at the John G. Shedd
      Aquarium infested with hyperiid amphipods (Hyperia medusarum), which were
      inadvertently introduced into a system containing several jellyfish species.
      Affected systems were treated with milbemycin oxime (Interceptor tablets for dogs
      51-100 lbs, Novartis Animal Health US, Inc., Greensboro, North Carolina 27408,
      USA), a treatment prescribed for red bug (Tegastes acroporanus) infestation in
      corals. Two treatments using one 25-mg aliquot of Interceptor per 10 gallons of
      tank water administered 6-7 days apart were completed. Overall, treatment to
      eradicate the parasite from the affected systems was successful. Further studies
      evaluating the tolerance of jellyfish to milbemycin oxime, particularly in small
      juvenile Eutonina indicans and Aurelia aurita, are warranted. Based on clinical
      observations, there were more negative effects associated with the treatment in
      the hydrozoans than in the scyphozoans.

PMID- 25831593
TI  - A successful transfusion in a tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla) using both whole
      blood and blood replacement products.
AB  - A 10-yr-old tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla) presented with severe lethargy and
      ataxia. Severe anemia (9% hematocrit) was diagnosed and ultimately resolved with
      the administration of a whole blood transfusion from conspecific and additional
      blood replacement products (Oxyglobin). This is the first described use of a
      whole blood transfusion in an edentate.

PMID- 25831594
TI  - Physical therapy as an adjunctive treatment for severe osteoarthritis in a Komodo
      dragon (Varanus komodoensis).
AB  - This case report describes a new physical therapy technique, specifically the
      Wolfe Kinetic Technique, as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of severe
      osteoarthritis in a 20-yr-old Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis). This animal
      was managed with oral analgesics for 3 yr with fair to minimal response over
      time. Due to worsening of lameness and mobility, physical therapy was initiated.
      Ten treatment sessions were administered at 1-wk intervals. Within 1 mo the
      Komodo dragon exhibited marked improvement in gait and function, increased
      responsiveness to his environment, and increased mobility which continued to
      improve over the subsequent sessions. Although outcomes could not be measured by
      standardized objective measures, this study provides a reference for treatment of
      future cases and a foundation for future research substantiating treatment
      practices in animal physical therapy.

PMID- 25831595
TI  - Ovariectomy due to a dermoid cyst in an orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).
AB  - A large abdominal mass was identified during an elective preventative health
      examination in a 25-yr-old female hybrid orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).
      Sonographically, the mass was fluid-filled and a presumptive diagnosis of a
      dermoid cyst or cystic teratoma of an ovary was made. Exploratory laparotomy,
      after assembly of a surgical team, confirmed that the 2.5-kg cystic mass was
      associated with the left ovary. Following ovariectomy, perioperative dissection
      of the mass revealed hair components, confirming the working diagnosis. Because
      the right ovary was slightly nodular and firmer than expected, and these germ
      cell tumors sometimes occur bilaterally, excision of the contralateral ovary was
      elected. Histopathology confirmed the left ovarian mass was a dermoid cyst; the
      right ovary contained a corpus hemorrhagicum but no evidence of neoplasia.
      Recovery was uneventful and the orangutan was prescribed hormone replacement
      therapy to mitigate potential problems associated with a chronic lack of estrogen
      and progesterone. This case report demonstrates the importance of elective
      examinations under anesthesia, even in well-trained great apes.

PMID- 25831596
TI  - Hypoadrenocorticism (Addison's disease) in a Hoffmann's two-toed sloth (Choloepus
      hoffmanni).
AB  - A 22-yr-old, captive-born, presumed female Hoffmann's two-toed sloth (Choloepus
      hoffmanni) presented in respiratory distress with severe dehydration and symptoms
      of hypotension. During treatment, dysphagia was noted and oral examination
      revealed enlarged palatine tonsils and mucosal plaques. Bloodwork showed a
      decreased sodium:potassium ratio, a low baseline cortisol, a decreased
      adrenocorticotropin response test, and a blunted aldosterone stimulation test.
      All values were compared to a healthy male Hoffmann's two-toed sloth at the same
      facility. Despite aggressive medical management and treatment for
      hypoadrenocorticism, the sloth was found deceased. Necropsy revealed abdominal
      effusion, multifocal plaques throughout the upper gastrointestinal tract, and
      testes. Histopathology showed marked adrenal cortical atrophy and intranuclear
      mucosal inclusions in the gastrointestinal tract; advanced molecular techniques
      did not uncover any viral etiologies. This is the first reported case of
      hypoadrenocorticism in a sloth.

PMID- 25831597
TI  - Obstructive cholelithiasis and cholecystitis in a kinkajou (Potos flavus).
AB  - A 14.5-yr-old female kinkajou (Potos flavus) was diagnosed with cholelithiasis
      after an episode of vomiting; diagnostics included biochemical analysis and
      abdominal ultrasound exam. Despite antimicrobial treatment, cholelithiasis led to
      cholecystitis. A cholecystotomy was performed to remove choleliths and
      inspissated bile. Morphological and spectroscopic properties of the choleliths
      were similar to those of gallstones from the brown pigment family and
      Streptococcus sp. and Escherichia coli were isolated from the bile. Biliary tract
      infection is directly related to pathogenesis of brown pigment gallstones. Serial
      ultrasound exams revealed that cholecystitis developed secondary to the presence
      of gallstones in the biliary tree. Despite full recovery postsurgery, the patient
      died 15 mo later from gallbladder necrosis. Based on the progression of this
      case, a cholecystectomy would be preferred over a cholecystotomy in similar
      cases, and the efficacy of long-acting antibiotics may not be adequate in
      nontarget species. Gallstones and biliary tract infection are rarely described in
      small domestic carnivores, and this is the first reported case in a kinkajou.

PMID- 25831598
TI  - Tibial plateau leveling osteotomy in a cape clawless otter (Aonyx capensis) with
      cranial cruciate ligament ruptures.
AB  - A 13-yr-old female Cape clawless otter (Aonyx capensis) presented with an acute
      mild right pelvic limb lameness that progressed to a non-weight-bearing lameness.
      Diagnosis of a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) was made based on
      positive cranial drawer during physical examination and was supported by
      radiographs. A surgical repair with a tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO)
      and bone anchor with an OrthoFiber suture was performed. The tibial plateau angle
      was reduced from 30 to 5 degrees. The otter returned to normal function after 12
      wk of exercise restriction. Twelve months after surgery, the left CCL ruptured
      and a TPLO was performed. No complications developed after either surgery, and
      the otter had an excellent return to function. This is the first report of a
      cranial cruciate ligament rupture and TPLO procedure in a mustelid, supporting
      its application to noncanid and felid species.

PMID- 25831599
TI  - A randomized clinical trial evaluating gingivitis and plaque reduction of an
      oscillating-rotating power brush with a new brush head with angled bristles
      versus a marketed sonic brush with self-adjusting technology.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the efficacy of an oscillating-rotating power toothbrush with
      a novel brush head incorporating angled CrissCross bristles (Oral-B Pro 7000
      SmartSeries and Oral-B CrossAction brush head) versus a marketed sonic toothbrush
      (Colgate ProClinical A1500 with the Triple Clean brush head) in the reduction of
      gingivitis and plaque over a 6-week period. METHODS: This was a single center,
      randomized, open label, examiner-blind, 2-treatment, parallel group study. Study
      participants who met the entrance criteria were enrolled in the study and
      randomly assigned to one of the two toothbrush groups. Study participants brushed
      with their assigned toothbrush and a marketed fluoride dentifrice for 2 minutes
      twice daily at home for 6 weeks. Gingivitis and plaque were evaluated at baseline
      and Week 6. Gingivitis was assessed using the Modified Gingival Index (MGI) and
      Gingival Bleeding Index (GBI) and plaque was assessed using the Rustogi Modified
      Navy Plaque Index (RMNPI). Data was analyzed using the ANCOVA with baseline as
      the covariate. RESULTS: In total, 130 study participants were randomized to
      treatment resulting in 64 study participants per group completing the study. Both
      brushes produced statistically significant (P < 0.001) reductions in gingivitis
      and plaque measures relative to baseline. The oscillating-rotating,brush with the
      novel brush head demonstrated statistically significantly (P < 0.05) greater
      reductions in all gingivitis measures, as well as whole mouth and interproximal
      plaque measures, compared to the sonic toothbrush. The benefit for the
      oscillating- rotating brush over the sonic brush was 21.3% for gingivitis, 35.7%
      for gingival bleeding, 34.7% for number of bleeding sites, 17.4% for whole mouth
      plaque, and 21.2% for interproximal plaque. There were no adverse events reported
      or observed for either brush.

PMID- 25831600
TI  - Comparative bioavailability and antimicrobial activity of cetylpyridinium
      chloride mouthrinses in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - PURPOSE: Commercialized cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) mouthrinses were compared
      for antimicrobial substantivity/bioavailability in an in vitro disk retention
      assay (DRA) and clinical antimicrobial activity in vivo in the plaque glycolysis
      and regrowth method (PGRM). METHODS: Formulations compared in this testing
      included commercially available CPC mouthrinses: Crest Pro Health (CPH),
      (containing 700 ppm formulated CPC); Colgate Total Puerto Rico (CT450),
      (containing 450 ppm formulated CPC); Colgate Total US (CT750), (containing 750
      ppm formulated CPC); and Scope Mouthwash (SCP), (containing 450 ppm formulated
      CPC). A water control (CTR) was included in one of the PGRM clinical trials. Two
      separate clinical PGRM studies employed a controlled, double-blind, randomized,
      crossover design where qualified adult PGRM panelists were supplied with
      acclimation NaF dentifrice for use throughout the trials. On treatment days,
      subjects sampled baseline plaque and then rinsed with assigned mouthrinse
      following morning toothbrushing. Treated plaque samples were collected 15 and 45
      minutes after rinsing. Sampled plaques were vortexed, normalized for biomass and
      incubated under standard conditions to assess glycolysis. pH response of treated
      plaques in incubation buffers were compared to baseline untreated plaque values
      and an Area Under Curve (AUC) composite/aggregate analysis of glycolysis
      inhibition was used for treatment comparisons. A laboratory disk retention
      substantivity/bioavailability assay measured adsorption affinity of CPC in
      mouthrinse for anionic cellulose disks in vitro. RESULTS: Clinical PGRM studies
      showed significant differences in antibacterial clinical efficacy of
      commercialized mouthrinses. Combining clinical study results reveals rank ordered
      efficacy CPH > CT750 > SCP > CT450 > CTR. Comparison of DRA to PGRM glycolysis
      showed a linear relation highlighting correlation of CPC bioavailability to
      clinical antimicrobial performance of CPC mouthrinses.

PMID- 25831601
TI  - Post-cementation colorimetric evaluation of the interaction between the thickness
      of ceramic veneers and the shade of resin cement.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the color parameters (CIELab*) after the cementation of
      ceramic disks of different thicknesses onto a resin substrate using four
      different shades of resin cements, and determine the color difference (DeltaE)
      between the adhesively cemented disks and a 10 mm-thick A1 shade ceramic control
      (target color). METHODS: Ceramic disks, simulating laminate veneers, with
      thicknesses of 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 mm (shade A1, IPS Classic) were fabricated (n =
      40) and cemented with a dual-cured resin cement (Variolink II, shades A1, bleach,
      opaque and transparent) onto 120 2 mm-thick resin composite substrates (shade
      A3.5, Adoro). Each ceramic disk was photocured for 80 seconds. The determination
      of the CIELab* parameters of each ceramic-cement-substrate set was performed with
      a spectrophotometer. A 10 mm-thick A1 ceramic disk was used as a control. The
      results for the color difference (DeltaE) obtained from L*, a* and b* parameters
      were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey's test (alpha = 0.05). RESULTS: The DeltaE
      values ranged from 2.46 (1.0 mm, opaque cement) to 12.11 (0.5 mm, A1 cement). The
      opaque cement showed the lower DeltaE values, followed by the bleach, transparent
      and A1 cements. With respect to the thickness of the ceramic, color differences
      between the target color and the group with 1.0 mm ceramic disks were smaller for
      all cement shades tested. Only the combination of 1.0 mm ceramic disks cemented
      with the opaque cement was able to mask the background color (DeltaE < 3.7). The
      color differences between the control and the specimens cemented with opaque
      resin cement were smaller in comparison with the bleach, transparent and A1
      cements.

PMID- 25831602
TI  - Wear and surface roughness of silorane composites after pH cycling and
      toothbrushing abrasion.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of toothbrushing abrasion associated with pH
      cycling on the surface roughness and wear of methacrylate- and silorane-based
      resin composites. METHODS: Microhybrid methacrylate-based (Filtek Z250),
      nanofilled methacrylate-based (Filtek Supreme Ultra) and microhybrid silorane
      based (Filtek LS) composites were selected for this investigation. For each
      composite, two groups (n = 10) of rectangular specimens were made. The initial
      roughness (Ra) of all of the groups was evaluated based on the average of three
      random tracings with a profilometer, and each specimen had half of its surface
      protected with two layers of nail varnish to serve as controls. Half of the
      specimens of each resin were submitted to pH cycling, while the other half were
      stored in deionized water for 14 days. Subsequently, 100,000 strokes of simulated
      toothbrushing were performed. Final roughness and wear were measured with the
      same profilometer, and the values were submitted to ANOVA, Student's t-test and
      Tukey's test (P < 0.05). RESULTS: The data revealed an increase in surface
      roughness for Filtek Z250 and Filtek Supreme Ultra after toothbrushing, while
      Filtek LS showed the opposite behavior. Methacrylate-based composites presented
      lower wear values [Z250 (4.19 +/- 1.73 MUm); Supreme Ultra (4.16 +/- 0.95 MUm)],
      while the silorane-based composite presented increased surface roughness (11.51
      +/- 5.69 MUm), particularly when submitted to pH cycling (15.31 +/- 5.41 MUm).
      Despite the good properties of silorane-based composites, particularly its smooth
      surface roughness even after pH cycling and toothbrushing abrasion, this
      composite still presented increased wear, which is an important issue for the
      development of new resin compositions.

PMID- 25831603
TI  - Fluoride content in breast milk after the use of fluoridated food supplement. A
      randomized clinical trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate if the intake of a fluoridated food supplement in
      breastfeeding mothers increases the fluoride concentration in breast milk.
      METHODS: A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study was designed. Two
      groups of women were formed: a fluoride group (n = 112), using a non-sucrose food
      supplement containing fluoride (1,500 MUg/l for each dose) and a control group (n
      = 116), using a non-sucrose food supplement without fluoride content. The women
      were followed for 6 weeks. Samples of breast milk were collected and analyzed
      using an ion-specific electrode. RESULTS: 85 women in the fluoride group and 83
      in the control group concluded the trial. Fluoride concentrations in the two
      groups were statistically significantly different (515 MUg/l in the fluoride and
      476 MUg/l in the control group P= 0.04) at the end of the experimental period. In
      the fluoride group, a statistically significant increment in fluoride
      concentration during the experimental period was also observed (from 468 +/- 104
      MUg/l to 515 +/- 105 MUg/l). The use of a non-sucrose food supplement containing
      fluoride resulted in a significant increment in fluoride concentration in breast
      milk.

PMID- 25831605
TI  - Effect of different application frequencies of CPP-ACP and fluoride dentifrice on
      demineralized enamel: a laboratory study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of different application frequencies of
      dentifrices containing CPP-ACP and fluoride on enamel demineralization inhibition
      using a pH cycling model. METHODS: A total of 120 enamel blocks obtained from
      permanent human third molars were divided into eight groups according to the
      treatment and number of times that the dentifrice slurry was applied (three or
      five times): Control--Dentifrice without Fluoride (CO3 and CO5); Fluoride
      Dentifrice (FD3 and FD5--commercial dentifrice 1100 ppm as NaF); MI Paste (MP3
      and MP5--Recaldent) and MI Paste Plus (MPP3 and MPP5--Recaldent 900 ppm as NaF).
      The specimens were alternately soaked in a demineralizing solution for 6 hours
      and in a remineralizing solution for 18 hours for 5 days. The treatments were
      applied three or five times for 60 seconds after the de-remineralization period.
      The dentifrice slurries were prepared with deionized water, in a 1:3 proportion
      (wt%). Demineralized enamel changes were analyzed by surface microhardness (SMH)
      and 3D-profilometry. Data were analyzed by two-way and one-way ANOVA and Tukey's
      HSD post hoc test (alpha = 0.05). RESULTS: The percentage change of SMH (%SMH)
      was similar for all treatment groups except between MP5 < CO3 and CO5 (P < 0.05).
      The enamel samples treated with CCP-ACP topical paste showed smoother surfaces
      than those of control and fluoride dentifrice.

PMID- 25831606
TI  - Esthetic evaluation of different approaches to treat gingival recession
      associated with non-carious cervical lesion treatment: a 2-year follow-up.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the esthetic outcome of four different approaches to treat
      gingival recession, associated with non-carious cervical lesion (combined
      defects) and the possible roles of patient-related factors in this esthetic
      outcome. METHODS: 78 combined defects were previously treated by: coronally
      advanced flap (CAF), CAF plus cervical restoration using resin-modified glass
      ionomer material (CAF+R), connective tissue graft (CTG) and CTG+R. After a follow
      up of 2 years, esthetic evaluations were performed using a modification of the
      Root Coverage Esthetic Score (MRES) and Qualitative Cosmetic Evaluation (QCE).
      Additionally, regression analyses were performed to evaluate the influence of
      patient-related factors in the final esthetic outcome. RESULTS: The MRES showed
      that CAF and CTG had statistically significantly better results, when compared to
      the other groups (P < 0.05). Similarly, the QCE showed that CAF and CTG, along
      with CAF+R presented better results, and CTG+R showed the poorest esthetic
      outcome. Regression analyses showed that the overall gingival inflammation (full
      mouth bleeding index--FMBI) was negatively associated with CTG MRES score (P =
      0.04 and R = -0.48). This means that the greater the FMBI during the study
      period, the lower the final esthetic score.

PMID- 25831607
TI  - [Transparency in medicine: what are the stakes?].

PMID- 25831604
TI  - Mechanisms regulating the degradation of dentin matrices by endogenous dentin
      proteases and their role in dental adhesion. A review.
AB  - PURPOSE: This systematic review provides an overview of the different mechanisms
      proposed to regulate the degradation of dentin matrices by host-derived dentin
      proteases, particularly as it relates to their role in dental adhesion.
      Significant developments have taken place over the last few years that have
      contributed to a better understanding of all the factors affecting the durability
      of adhesive resin restorations. The complexity of dentin-resin interfaces
      mandates a thorough understanding of all the mechanical, physical and biochemical
      aspects that play a role in the formation of hybrid layers. The ionic and
      hydrophilic nature of current dental adhesives yields permeable, unstable hybrid
      layers susceptible to water sorption, hydrolytic degradation and resin leaching.
      The hydrolytic activity of host-derived proteases also contributes to the
      degradation of the resin-dentin bonds. Preservation of the collagen matrix is
      critical to the improvement of resin-dentin bond durability. Approaches to
      regulate collagenolytic activity of dentin proteases have been the subject of
      extensive research in the last few years. A shift has occurred from the use of
      proteases inhibitors to the use of collagen cross-linking agents. Data provided
      by 51 studies published in peer-reviewed journals between January 1999 and
      December 2013 were compiled in this systematic review. RESULTS: Appraisal of the
      data provided by the studies included in the present review yielded a summary of
      the mechanisms which have already proven to be clinically successful and those
      which need further investigation before new clinical protocols can be adopted.

PMID- 25831608
TI  - [2014 update in general internal medicine].
AB  - This article comments 9 original publications from year 2014 of interest for the
      primary care physician in the outpatient setting. The impact of diet such as nut
      consumption on health outcomes and mortality is developped, and the importance of
      dietary changes while taking statins is reminded. Red flags in low back pain and
      their predictive value are re-evaluated. An association between benzodiazepine
      use and Alzheimer dementia seems probable. New treatments for alcohol abuse,
      restless legs syndrome and type 2 diabetes are discussed. Finally, beta-bloquers'
      effects on respiratory function in asthmatic patients are beeing reexamined.

PMID- 25831609
TI  - [2014 literature findings in internal general medicine].
AB  - The usual treatment of venous ulcers may be associated with statins intake.
      Antibiotics have only marginal utility in acute bronchitis. The prescription of
      paracetamol seems to have no benefit in the treatment of acute lower back pain.
      The absence of antithrombotic prophylaxis for distal fractures of the lower limbs
      seems to be safe for patients' health. The treatment of atraumatic lesions of the
      rotator cuff in patients >55 years should remain conservative. Arthroscopic
      surgery of non-traumatic tear of the medial meniscus seems to have no benefit.
      The family environment seems to be a protective factor to the mental health of
      adolescents. Screening for colorectal cancer in patients >75 years would save
      lives.

PMID- 25831610
TI  - [What is new in 2014 for the specialist in hospital internal medicine? The point
      of view of university hospital chief residents].
AB  - The year 2014 was rich in significant advances in all areas of internal medicine.
      Many of them have an impact on our daily practice and on the way we manage one
      problem or another. From the use of the ultrasound for the diagnosis of pneumonia
      to the choice of the site of venous access and the type of line, and the
      increasing complexity of choosing an oral anticoagulant agent, this selection
      offers to the readers a brief overview of the major advances. The chief residents
      in the Service of internal medicine of the Lausanne University hospital are
      pleased to share their readings.

PMID- 25831611
TI  - [Internal medicine in the hospital setting].
AB  - Management of all pathologies, and in particular that of the most frequent ones,
      should whenever possible be based on robust evidence and arguments. New studies
      published this year enable rationalizing of screening in certain clinical
      situations, more adequate treatment of others, and open the way for novel and
      apparently very effective treatments. Whether it be the screening of carotid
      stenosis, the treatment of pericarditis, of heart failure, of chronic obstructive
      lung disease or spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, paradigm changes are
      conceivable. This selective review of the literature summarizes certain studies
      published this year.

PMID- 25831612
TI  - [Ten years of literature review in general internal medicine--a first
      assessment].
AB  - A group of family physicians in an outpatient clinic in Switzerland prospectively
      followed scientific literature for ten years. What to remember among the numerous
      articles retrieved and which paper really changed our practice? If many readings
      are quickly forgotten, some of them marked our minds and changed our habits. This
      article is a summary of our efforts to keep the essential tools in clinical
      practice.

PMID- 25831613
TI  - [Does treatment improve prognosis of heart failure with preserved ejection
      fraction?].
AB  - Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HF-PEF) represents half of all
      heart failure. Morbi-mortality for HF-PEF is similar to that of reduced ejection
      fraction HF (HF-REF). Diagnosis of HF-REF is difficult because of the lack of
      highly specific criteria. It is based on the presence of signs and symptoms of
      heart failure, associated with a preserved or moderately decreased left
      ventricular function, the absence of left ventricular dilatation, and the
      presence of relevant structural disease such as left ventricular hypertrophy.
      Despite the use of prognosis modifying drugs commonly used for HF-REF, no
      therapeutic strategy has been shown to reduce morbi-mortality of HF-PEF. Evidence
      based guidelines are limited. Management of HF-PEF therefore resides in treatment
      of high blood pressure and cardiac rate, that of comorbidities, and the use of
      diuretics in case of congestion.

PMID- 25831614
TI  - [ORL].
AB  - This 2014 version of news in ENT--established by reading more than 10,000
      abstracts published in 2014--will focuss this year on two main topics that are
      trendy: Robotic surgery in ENT, and e-cigarette. Of course, other subjects will
      be treated as well, in the format of guidelines, like for otitis externa,
      tinnitus, ear grommets, Bell's palsy, children's sinusitis, topical treatments in
      sinusitis, or dangers of radiation on kids. Some interesting mobile applications
      will be as well presented.

PMID- 25831615
TI  - [Medical scarcity: Valais canton rises to the task].

PMID- 25831616
TI  - [Pulmonary embolism in the pregnant woman].

PMID- 25831618
TI  - [Charlie Hebdo, Mohammed and the Jesuit priests: the price of a laugh].

PMID- 25831617
TI  - [Author's response].

PMID- 25831619
TI  - [Such a sky...].

PMID- 25831620
TI  - [Vincent Lambert or a new European equation, to let die].

PMID- 25831621
TI  - [Ten kilos less for now or for next year?].

PMID- 25831622
TI  - [The latest information on the forefront of the campaign against tobacco].

PMID- 25831623
TI  - [The Swiss champion prosthesis implantation].

PMID- 25831624
TI  - [Is assisted suicide in prison possible in Switzerland?].

PMID- 25831625
TI  - [The new role of physicians].

PMID- 25831626
TI  - New governor off to good start.

PMID- 25831627
TI  - Good nurses are heroes.

PMID- 25831628
TI  - Intensive care gets a boost in several Arkansas hospitals. Baptist Health's eICU
      care services adding to care for critical care patients.

PMID- 25831629
TI  - Hazardous alcohol use and alcohol use disorder.

PMID- 25831630
TI  - The Arkansas Hand Trauma Telemedicine System at work.

PMID- 25831631
TI  - Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the colon--a rare presentation.
AB  - Patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) can present with nodal or
      extra-nodal disease. The most common extra-nodal site is the gastrointestinal
      tract, including the stomach or illeo-cecal region. Primary colonic diffuse large
      B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is uncommon and presents a unique diagnostic and
      therapeutic challenge. We present a case of a middle-aged man who presented with
      abdominal pain and pathological weight loss and underwent hemi-colectomy for
      suspected adenocarcinoma. Final pathology revealed DLBCL, completely changing the
      prognosis and subsequent management. We will discuss some of the aspects of this
      rare presentation and shed light on therapeutic strategies currently available.

PMID- 25831632
TI  - A diagnostic dilemma of new onset ascites: think beyond the liver.

PMID- 25831633
TI  - Non communicable diseases in Pakistan: burden, challenges and way forward for
      health care authorities.

PMID- 25831634
TI  - Nutritional assessment of adolescent girls living in Cherah union council.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the nutritional status of adolescent girls living in the
      Cherah union council, Islamabad and to determine the association between dietary
      intake and iron deficiency anaemia. METHODS: It was a cross sectional survey
      conducted in union council Cherah of Islamabad. Study participants comprised of
      150 adolescent (11-19 years of age) girls selected by simple random sampling
      living in that area during the study period. RESULTS: It was observed that 7% of
      the adolescents were overweight, 46% were underweight and 1% were obese. Minimum
      weight of the participants was 23 kg, minimum haemoglobin was 5.6 g/dl, 67% had
      mild anaemia, 9% had moderate, 1% severe and 48% had normal haemoglobin.
      Association of food groups labeled as in USDA guideline with the haemoglobin
      level, was statistically insignificant except in the case of beef and liver
      intake (meat group) showing association of beef liver intake with haemoglobin
      level. CONCLUSION: Adolescent girls living in the union council were under weight
      and had mild to moderate anaemia. There was a significant association of the
      intake of meat with the haemoglobin level.

PMID- 25831635
TI  - Body mass index or body fat! Which is a better obesity scale for Pakistani
      population?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare two methods of classifying obesity based on body mass index
      and body fat percentage. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted from
      November 2012 to August 2013 at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi. Male
      and female volunteers between the ages 15-65 years were selected using simple
      random sampling. They were classified into different groups for body mass index
      and body fat percentage measured through bioelectrical impedance scale. The
      subjects were sub-grouped into underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese.
      SPSS 11 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The mean age of the 828
      healthy volunteers was 25.67+/-10.10 years. A total of 552 (66.6%) subjects had a
      higher body fat percentage and were misclassified by body mass index. Only 276
      (33.3%) subjects had body fat percentage values corresponding to the body mass
      index classification. The difference in terms of categorising obesity was highly
      significant (p<0.001). Both body mass index and body fat percentage showed
      positive correlation with age (r=0.144; p=0.001) (r=0.261; p=0.001) and weight
      (r=0.578; p=0.001) (r=0.444; p=0.001) respectively. Moreover body fat percentage
      showed a significant positive association with gender (r=0.109; p=0.027) whereas
      BMI did not. CONCLUSIONS: Body fat percentage should be incorporated for a better
      understanding as well as categorising of obesity.

PMID- 25831636
TI  - Vitamin D and cardiometabolic risk factors in adult non-diabetic offspring of
      type 2 diabetic parents.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To measure serum vitamin D levels and assess its correlation with the
      various components of metabolic syndrome in adult non-diabetic offsprings of type
      2 diabetics. METHODS: The analytical cross-sectional study was conducted from
      February to December 2012 at the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology,
      University of Health Sciences, Lahore. Data on anthropometric and
      physiologic/biochemical parameters was collected. Fasting blood samples were
      collected and serum was analysed for fasting serum insulin, fasting blood sugar,
      lipid profile and vitamin D. SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS:
      Of the total 88 subjects in the study, 40 (45.5%) were offsprings of type 2
      diabetics and 48 (54.5%) were offsprings of non-diabetic parents. Vitamin D
      deficiency (<20 ng/ml) was observed in 86 (98.5%) of the subjects and 77 (87.5%)
      had vitamin D levels <15 ng/ml. Severe deficiency (<10 ng/ml) was seen in 61
      (70%) subjects. Inverse correlation was observed between vitamin D and low
      density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, total cholesterol/high density
      lipoprotein ratio, Fasting Blood Sugar and homeostasis model assessment of
      insulin resistance. CONCLUSION: The subjects were severely deficient in vitamin D
      and its levels were inversely correlated with most of the components of metabolic
      syndrome.

PMID- 25831637
TI  - Test anxiety levels and related factors: students preparing for university exams.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess test anxiety levels and related factors among students
      preparing for university exams. METHODS: The descriptive, cross-sectional study
      was conducted at Istanbul University, Turkey, and comprised students preparing
      for exams in two private courses for the 2010-11 academic year. Data was
      collected via an original questionnaire and the Test Anxiety Inventory. SPSS 20
      was used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Of the 1250 students who qualified
      for the study, the final sample size was 376 (30%). Of them, 210 (55.9%) were
      females, and 154 (41%) were 18 years old. Students' mean Test Anxiety Inventory
      scores were 39.44+/-11.34. Female students' overall test anxiety scores and mean
      emotionality subscale score were significantly higher than those of their male
      counterparts. Students whose mothers had an educational attainment between
      primary school n=170 (45.2%) and a high school diploma n=184 (48.9%), as well as
      those with four or more siblings n=49 (15%), had significantly higher mean
      overall Test Anxiety Inventory scores. CONCLUSION: Among other things, test
      anxiety is influenced by maternal educational level, type of high school, number
      of exams, and number of siblings. Preparing a relaxed study environment for
      students, providing the family monetary or social support, and encouraging
      participation in social activities are recommendedto decreajb anxiety in students
      preparing for university exams.

PMID- 25831638
TI  - Outcomes of splenectomy for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura in adults: a
      developing country perspective.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the outcome of splenectomy done in adult patients of
      Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura over a period of 10 years and, secondarily,
      to determine the predictors of complete response to therapy. METHODS: The
      retrospective review comprised of adult patients over 14 years of age who
      underwent open or laparoscopic splenectomy for Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic
      Purpura at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from January 2000 to December
      2010. Data was reviewed in January 2011 by a surgical resident. Outcome was the
      response to splenectomy as per new definition of response set by the American
      Society of Haematology 2011 evidence based practice guidelines for Idiopathic
      Thrombocytopenic Purpura. Assessment of response was done within 1 to 2 months of
      splenectomy and after withholding concomitant treatment. SPSS 17 was used for
      statistical analysis. RESULTS: A total of 27 patients were found eligible. Of
      them, 2 (7.4%) were males and 25 (92.6%) were females with an overall mean age at
      the time of splenectomy of 30.8+/-6.3 years (range: 15-55 years). Out of 27
      cases, 23 (85.18%) patients underwent open splenectomy, 3 (11%) laparoscopic and
      1 (3.7%) had laparoscopic converted to open splenectomy. Complete response was
      achieved in 20 (74.1%) patients, whereas 5 (18.5%) had response and 2 (7.4%) had
      no response. None of the predictors of response to splenectomy were found
      significant. CONCLUSION: Response to splenectomy in adult Idiopathic
      Thrombocytopenic Purpura patients was comparable to reported rate in literature
      with relatively lower morbidity and mortality. Splenectomy is a safe treatment
      option especially in patients who succumb to adverse effects of medical therapy.

PMID- 25831639
TI  - Students' perceptions of educational environment of a private medical school in
      Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To measure the students' perceptions of educational environment of a
      medical school, to compare the perceptions of high, average and low academic
      achievers, and to explore the relation between these perceptions and their
      academic achievements in order to identify specific problem areas. METHODS: The
      cross-sectional study was conducted at Ziauddin University, Karachi, during the
      mid of the 2010-11 academic year using Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure
      inventory. Data was collected from 200 undergraduate medical students of all five
      years. Analysis was performed using both Inventory guidelines on SPSS19.0.
      RESULTS: Of the 200 students initially enrolled, completed forms were received
      from 168 (84%). The overall mean score was 117+/-8.3. Mean comparison of their
      perceptions on the overall score was significantly less (p<0.001) for the low
      achievers across all 5 years. Moderate positive correlation (r= 0.417) was found
      between perceptions and academic achievements. CONCLUSIONS: Students' perceptions
      of their educational environment were reasonably positive, indicating adequate
      satisfaction in most areas. Emphasis needs to be paid on the implementation of
      strong student support system across all medical schools to initiate timely
      remedial measures where needed. The learning environment should be evaluated
      regularly for quality improvement purposes.

PMID- 25831640
TI  - Diametral tensile strength of two dental composites when immersed in ethanol,
      distilled water and artificial saliva.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of distilled water, artificial saliva and
      ethanol on the tensile strength of direct tooth-coloured restorative material.
      METHODS: The study was conducted at Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad Khan Institute of Oral
      Health Sciences, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Karachi, from April
      2011 to September 2012. The testing was performed at the Pakistan Council of
      Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) laboratories. Two composite resins
      Filtek Z250 and Spectrum TPH were tested. Specimens (13 mm x 3 mm x 2 mm) of each
      material were prepared in the stainless steel mould according to the
      manufacturers' instructions and distributed into 3 equal groups: one immersed in
      distilled water, the other in artificial saliva, and the last one in ethanol for
      24 hours. Tensile strength was determined after 24 hours in universal Instron
      Testing Machine. RESULTS: There were 72 specimens in all; 36 (50%) each for
      Filtek Z250 and Spectrum TPH. The three sub-groups in each case had 12 (33.3%)
      specimens. For the Filtek Z250, there was no statistically significant difference
      between immersion in distilled water and artificial saliva, but the ethanol group
      presented lower tensile strength (p<0.05). For the Spectrum TPH, samples immersed
      in ethanol and artificial saliva presented lower tensile strength compared to
      distilled water (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The tested composite resins were affected
      by the immersion media and adversely affected the mechanical properties of
      composite resins.

PMID- 25831641
TI  - Carbohydrate (CHO), protein and fat intake of healthy Pakistani school children
      in a 24 hour period.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency pattern of CHO, protein and fat intake in
      24 hours by Pakistani school children of different socioeconomic and cultural
      backgrounds) 6 to 16 years of age. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was a
      multistage stratified sampling, done in a part of nationwide survey funded by the
      Higher Education Commission, Pakistan (HEC, Ref no: 20-441/R&D/2008). Sample
      collection of the study was done from 2006-2009, and growth centile charts have
      already been published (JPMA 2012; 62:367-77). This is the final paper of the
      completed project and includes data on only the nutritional status. Final
      statistical analysis of the nutrition aspect was done from 2012 to 2013 and
      comprised assessment of quality and quantity of CHO, protein and fats consumed by
      healthy schoolchildren in a 24 hrs recall (breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea time,
      dinner and bed time). Food records of 11, 237 school children were subjected to
      United States Department of Agriculture food exchange list. SPSS 18 was used for
      statistical analysis. RESULTS: The age range of the study subjects was 6-16
      years, and they represented different areas of Pakistan. The consumption of CHO
      was high (range: 60-74%) compared to protein (10-12%) and fat (18-32%).
      CONCLUSION: Schoolchildren in Pakistan were found to be taking a deficient amount
      of protein and fat in their daily diet, while. CHO intake was higher than normal.

PMID- 25831642
TI  - Radical surgical management of periampullary duodenal adenocarcinoma: a single
      institution experience.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To share a single-centre experience with radical resection of
      adenocarcinoma of the second part of duodenum. METHODS: The retrospective review
      was conducted at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, Lahore, and comprised
      data of patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenal resection for duodenal
      adenocarcinoma from January 1999 to December 2012. Patient characteristics and
      histopathological variables were assessed. Post-op complications, median disease
      free span and overall survival were assessed. Expected 5-year disease-free and
      overall survival were calculated using Kaplan Meier curves. RESULTS: Of the 12
      patients whose records were included, 8 (66.6%) were men and 4 (33.33%) were
      women. Overall median age was 55 years (range: 38-70 years). Jaundice was the
      predominant symptom in 9 (75%) patients. Five complications were observed during
      the post-operative period. Median disease-free and overall survival was 14.5 (0
      140) and 17.5 (1-140) months respectively. Expected 5-year disease-free and
      overall survival were 56% and 21% respectively. Patients who survived >24 months
      had underlying well differentiated tumours, negative surgical margins, absence of
      perineural invasion and pancreatic involvement. CONCLUSION: Peri-ampullary
      duodenal adenocarcinoma is a rare malignancy. In selected patients, pancreatic
      oduodenectomy produces acceptable results.

PMID- 25831643
TI  - Wound healing in rat skin subjected to loud noise stress; a light microscopic
      study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of loud noise stress on wound healing in a
      skin tissue. METHODS: The randomised control trial was conducted at the
      Department of Anatomy, College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan Regional
      Centre, Islamabad, from September 2007 to September 2008. The study comprised 240
      male Sprague Dawley rats who were randomised into control group A and
      experimental group B. Each group comprised 120 animals. Main groups were further
      subdivided into four subgroups of 30 animals each. After induction of local
      anaesthesia a linear full thickness skin incision paravertebral to thoracic spine
      was made. The experimental group B was exposed to loud noise stimulus. The
      animals were decapitated 1, 3, 5 and 7 days after surgery. Histological data was
      collected in the incisional space of the wound. Polymorpho-nuclear leukocytes,
      macrophages, fibroblasts and blood vessels, were analysed quantitatively, whereas
      re-epithelialisation and content of collagen fibres in the incisional space were
      analysed qualitatively. RESULTS: Macrophages were decreased initially 3 days
      after surgery and were increased 5 and 7 days after surgery in the experimental
      subgroups. Similarly, blood vessels and fibroblast were significantly decreased
      in experimental subgroups 3 days after surgery, but were increased significantly
      in experimental subgroups 7 days after surgery. Nothing significant was found
      regarding re-epithlialisation and collagenisation of wound. CONCLUSION: Loud
      noise stress affects the important cells involved in the healing of the wound.
      Therefore, it is expected to have an impact on the stages of wound healing.

PMID- 25831645
TI  - Vitamin D levels in children diagnosed with acute otitis media.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between Vitamin D deficiency and acute
      otitis media infection. METHODS: The randomised, single-blind, case-control study
      was conducted at the Paediatric Department of Ataturk University, Erzurum,
      Turkey, from January to April 2010. It comprised ambulatory children diagnosed
      with acute otitis media and healthy controls. The subjects were divided into
      groups according to their serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels. SPSS 18 was used for
      statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 169 subjects in the study, 88(52%) were the
      cases and 81(48%) were controls. The mean age of the cases was 6.21+/-3.4 years,
      and 6.18+/-3.12 years for the controls (p<0.951). Serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D
      levels in the cases and controls were 20.6+/-10.2 ng/mL and 23.8+/-10.3 ng/mL
      (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in
      terms of parathormone and calcium levels (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Serum 25-hydroxy
      vitamin D levels being significantly lower in children diagnosed with acute
      otitis media compared to the controls in two otherwise similar groups suggests
      that Vitamin D deficiency plays a role in otitis media infection.

PMID- 25831644
TI  - Modified Limberg's flap versus primary closure for treatment of pilonidal sinus
      disease: a comparative study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To compare the outcome of Rhomboid excision and Modified Limberg's
      flap closure with excision and primary closure for the treatment of
      Sacrococcygeal Pilonidal sinus. METHODS: The study was conducted at the Surgical
      Department of Mayo Hospital, Lahore, from 2009 to 2012. A total of 60 patients of
      pilonidal sinus were randomly divided into two equal groups. The patients were
      operated under general anaesthesia in prone position by Rhomboid excision and
      Modified Limberg's flap closure with a closed suction drain in group 1, and
      excision and primary closure over a drain in group 2. Patients were followed up
      for 12 months for surgical complications of the treatment. SPSS 17 was used for
      statistical analysis. RESULTS: In group 1 there were 27(90%) males and 3(10%)
      females, while group 2 had 28(93.3%) males and 2(6.7%) females. The infection
      rates were observed to be 2(7%) in group 1 and 8(26.6%) (p<0.038) in group 2. The
      recurrence rate was only 1(3.3%) in group 1 compared to 4(13.3%) in group 2.
      Average hospital stay was 1.63+/-0.67 days group 1 and 2.8+/-1.24 days in group
      2. CONCLUSION: Modified Limberg's flap closure is an effective treatment modality
      for pilonidal sinus disease with 1.5 times less infection rate, 4 times less
      recurrence rate and 40% in-hospital time.

PMID- 25831646
TI  - Treatment of ganglions; a five year experience.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and determine the effectiveness of surgical excision,
      aspiration and injection in the treatment of symptomatic ganglions. METHODS: The
      prospective randomized control trial based on non-probability convenience
      sampling was conducted at the Department of Surgery, Combined Military Hospital,
      Sialkot, from June 2007 to August 2010, and at the Department of Surgery, Islam
      Teaching Hospital, Sialkot, from September 2010 to December 2012. The last
      patient was included in June 2012. Adult patients referred by general
      practitioners with ganglia of wrist, ankle and knee were included. All the
      patients were offered treatment options of intralesional steroid injection or
      excision of ganglion.The study population was distributed in two groups: Group I
      opted for aspiration and injection treatment, while Group II went for surgical
      treatment. A minimum follow-up of six months was mandatory for inclusion in the
      study. Data was compared and analyzed using SPSS version 22. RESULTS: The study
      had 173 patients with 187 ganglia. Group I had 143(76.4%) patients, while Group
      II had 44(23.3%). In the short term, 82(57.3%) of the patients achieved complete
      resolution after one episode of aspiration and injection, and success rate after
      second injection repeated after 3 weeks was 116(81%). Overall success rate of
      aspiration and injection of Triamcinolone acetonide six months after the
      treatment was 116(81%). On the surgical side the success rate was 41(93%).
      Complications like pain, joint stiffness and ugly scar were few and not
      significant. Comparison of failure rates of the two groups (19% vs 7%) showed
      significant difference (p<0.028). CONCLUSION: In symptomatic ganglia, surgical
      excision was a better treatment option as the failure rate was less compared to
      injection-aspiration. The injection treatment should be offered to those who are
      not willing for surgery, but they should be properly counselled about the chances
      of failure.

PMID- 25831647
TI  - Foetal central nervous system anomalies: frequency and foeto-maternal outcome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the frequency and outcome in pregnant females suspected to
      have foetal central nervous system anomalies on the basis of ultrasonography.
      METHODS: The retrospective study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics
      and Gynaecology, Armed Forces Hospital, Southern Region, Khamis Mushait, Saudi
      Arabia, and comprised all women who were diagnosed by ultrasound to have foetal
      central nervous system abnormalities during anomaly scan at 18-20 weeks between
      January 2009 and December 2012. Data was retrieved from patient files and
      reviewed for foetal and maternal outcome. RESULTS: Of the 31,754 live births at
      the hospital during the study period, 22,880(72%) pregnant women were sent for
      ultrasonography to have foetal central nervous system anomalies checked. Of them,
      181(0.57%) women had positive scans. Mean maternal age was 29.8+/-7 years and the
      mean gestational age at diagnosis was 24.4+/-7 weeks. There were 35(19%)
      primigravida, 108(60%) Para 2 to 5, and 38(21%) more than Para 5. Overall,
      102(56.4%) women delivered vaginally, while 50(27.6%) delivered by caesarean
      section. Mean gestational age at delivery was 37.5+/-4.2 weeks. Major anomalies
      included ventriculomegaly 95(52.2%) neural tube defect 31(17.03%), cisterna magna
      17(9.34%), and acrania 12(6.6%). No termination of pregnancy was done due to
      legal and religious reasons. CONCLUSION: Antenatal detection of central nervous
      system anomalies by screening with ultrasonography helps make multidisciplinary
      management plans.

PMID- 25831648
TI  - Psychological problems among women with infertility problem: a comparative study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the difference between anxiety and depression among
      infertile and fertile women. METHODS: The study was conducted in 2009 and
      comprised fertile and infertile women. The sample of infertile women was drawn
      from the Liaquat National Hospital, Patel Hospital, Infertility Concept and
      Zainub Hospital, located in urban areas of Karachi, while fertile women were
      drawn from the general population in urban Karachi. All the subjects had at least
      10 years of education and were in the age range of 20-35 years. They two groups
      were further divided into two sub-groups of working and non-working women.
      Institute for Personality and Ability Testing Depression and Anxiety scales were
      used to assess depression and anxiety. SPSS 14.0 was used to analyse the data.
      RESULT: Of the 120 subjects, the two groups had 60(50%) each. The mean age of
      fertile women was 27.48+/-160.75 and that in the infertile group was 27.36+/
      160.75. Depression among fertile women was 21.85+/-10.98 compared to 32.01+/
      12.49 among the infertile women. Corresponding values for anxiety was 24.45+/
      9.63 and 36.20+/-12.51. The difference was significant. CONCLUSION: Women with
      infertility experience a greater psychological impact.

PMID- 25831649
TI  - Clinical course and outcome of acute severe asthma (status asthmaticus) in
      adults.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical course and outcomes in patients with acute
      severe asthma in a tertiary care setting. METHODS: The retrospective cross
      sectional study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and
      comprised data of patients of age 16 and above who were admitted with a diagnosis
      of acute severe asthma from January 2000 to December 2013. These patients had
      undergone clinical evaluation to assess the severity of illness as well as the
      complications and eventual outcomes. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis.
      RESULTS: Of the 50 patients in the study, 41 (82%) were females. The overall mean
      age was 53.1+/-20.3 years. Ventilator support was required by 37(74%) patients.
      Presence of acidaemia was associated with the need for invasive ventilation
      (p<0.033) which in turn was associated with increased hospital stay (p<0.043).
      Complications were observed in 37(74%) patients, the most common being
      respiratory failure in 35(70%) and arrhythmias in 8(16%). Use of both non
      invasive and invasive ventilation was found to be significantly associated with
      development of complications (p<0.001 and p<0.009). A total of 4(8%) patients
      died. Presence of acidaemia was found to be significantly associated with
      mortality (p<0.032). CONCLUSION: Overt acidaemia at initial presentation in
      patients with acute severe asthma was significantly associated with higher rates
      of invasive ventilation leading to increased hospital stay, complications and
      higher mortality rate.

PMID- 25831650
TI  - Comparison of hypoglycaemia episodes in people with type-2 diabetes fasting in
      Ramazan, treated with vildaglipton or sulphonylurea: results of the Pakistani
      cohort of the VIRTUE study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of vildagliptin in comparison to sulphonylurea
      (SU) on hypoglycaemia in Muslim patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus fasting
      during Ramadan. METHODS: VIRTUE was a multicenter, prospective, observational
      study, which enrolled 244 patients from Pakistan who were re-analysed. All
      included patients were treated with vildagliptin (n=121) or SU (n=121) as add-on
      to metformin or as monotherapy for 16 weeks. The primary outcome of interest was
      to compare the proportion of patients with >=1 hypoglycaemic event (HE) during
      fasting between vildagliptin and SU cohort. Changes in HbA1c and body weight and
      treatment adherence were also measured. RESULTS: Of the 244 patients enrolled,
      120 patients in the vildagliptin cohort (99.2%) and 119 patients in the SU cohort
      (98.3%) completed the study. Patients experiencing at least one HE were fewer
      with vildagliptin when compared with SUs (5.8% vs. 14.2%; p<0.033). The reduction
      in HbA1c was 0.3% with vildagliptin from a baseline of 7.6% and 0.1% with SU from
      a baseline of 7.4% (between-treatment difference: -0.1% p<0.054). A reduction of
      0.3 kg was seen with vildagliptin treatment vs. 0.2 kg weight gain in the SU
      group. Adverse events were experienced by 15.7% in the vildagliptin cohort and
      17.4% in the SU group. CONCLUSION: The treatment with vildagliptin was associated
      with fewer hypoglycaemic events compared with SUs and was well tolerated with
      good glycaemic and weight control in patients with T2DM fasting during Ramadan.

PMID- 25831651
TI  - Effect of late vs early clamping of the umbilical cord (on haemoglobin level) in
      full-term neonates.
AB  - Sixty term infants delivered vaginally were assigned randomly to one of the two
      management groups; early cord clamping (ECC) or delayed cord clamping (DCC). Six
      months after delivery, the children in both groups were called back for follow
      up. Blood samples were obtained for measuring haemoglobin (Hb), haematocrit
      (Hct), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), serum
      iron (SI), transferrin saturation (TS) and serum ferritin (SF) levels. The mean
      Hb, HCT, SI and TS at 6 months were significantly higher in the DCC group (95%
      confidence interval (CI); p<0.001, p<0.001, p<0.024 and p<0.009). The mean SF at
      6 months was also higher in the DCC group but it was not significant (p<0.071).
      Polycythaemia, jaundice and other undesirable side-effects of DCC were not seen.

PMID- 25831652
TI  - Prevalence, correlates, and changes in tobacco use between 2006 and 2010 among 13
      15 year Moroccan school attending adolescents.
AB  - Tobacco use is a preventable cause of disease and death globally. Adolescents
      using tobacco tend to continue its use in adulthood. Analysis of data from
      Moroccan Global School-based Student Health Surveys for 2006 and 2010 showed
      statistically significant differences in prevalence of current cigarette smoking
      as well as current use of other tobacco products, among school attending 13-15
      year old boys and girls within the year 2006 and 2010; with boys having higher
      prevalence than girls in each year. Combined prevalence of cigarette smoking i.e.
      between both boys and girls showed statistically significant difference between
      2006 and 2010; with a higher prevalence in 2010. Use of tobacco in multivariate
      analysis of 2010 data, was found to have statistically significant associations
      with anxiety disorders, gender, truancy, depression, suicidal ideation,
      inadequate parental monitoring, and parental smoking.

PMID- 25831653
TI  - Is it safe to be calcified? Porcelain gallbladder perforation and review of
      literature.
AB  - Calcification of the gallbladder wall (porcelain gallbladder) is an intense
      structure and uncommon manifestation seen in chronic cholecystitis and resulting
      from chronic inflammation of the gallbladder wall. Patients with porcelain
      gallbladder are usually considered not at risk of acute cholecystitis. However,
      sporadic cases of cholecystitis on porcelain gallbladder have been described in
      literature. Gallbladder perforation is a rare entity and may complicate on acute
      or chronic cholecystitis in a non-calcified gallbladder. We report an unusual
      case of acute cholecystitis with perforation in a porcelain gallbladder.

PMID- 25831654
TI  - A rare case of Palizaeus Merzbacher Disease in a female patient diagnosed
      radiologically.
AB  - Pelizaeus Merzbacher's Disease is an inherited X-linked recessive trait. Males
      have the disease, while females are usually carriers. We report the case of a 6
      years-old girl who had nystagmus since birth and later on developed head nodding.
      She started talking at one year and walking at 18 months. Then she developed
      regression of milestones, with speech impairment and inability to walk which
      progressively worsened. Before presenting she had a generalised seizure. Her
      parents were second cousins. Family history was unremarkable. On examination she
      was awake, alert, there was bilateral horizontal nystagmus. Cranial nerve
      examination was normal. There was spastic paraparesis with bilateral extensor
      plantar response. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed classical
      features of diffuse hypomyelination characteristic of Pelizaeus Merzbacher's
      Disease for this age group.

PMID- 25831655
TI  - Eagle syndrome; radiological evaluation and management.
AB  - Eagle syndrome is a rare condition where elongated temporal styloid processes, or
      calcified stylohyoid ligaments, are in conflict with the adjacent anatomical
      structures giving rise to a complex range of symptoms including otalgia,
      dysphagia, foreign body sensation in throat, pain along carotid artery
      distribution and others. Commonly, the syndrome is documented to be unilateral.
      However, bilateral cases are also reported though rarely. Multislice computed
      tomography scan with 3D reconstruction can be really helpful in diagnosing the
      elongated styloid processes and their mass effect on the surrounding adjacent
      anatomical structures. Scan is also helpful in deciding further management and
      guides the surgeon on how and from where to approach the surgery. We present here
      a case of a 37-years-old man with significantly enlarged and thickened bilateral
      styloid process causing significant characteristic symptoms.

PMID- 25831656
TI  - Accidental intrathecal administration of high dose diamorphine.
AB  - A case of accidental administration of high dose intrathecal diamorphine is
      reported in a patient who underwent total knee replacement. Initially a regional
      technique was planned for this patient, but due to inadvertent administration of
      three milligrams of diamorphine intrathecally, it was decided to convert the
      patient to have a general anaesthetic. Postoperatively, she was monitored in high
      dependency unit for 48 hours. Apart from two episodes of nausea and mild
      drowsiness, she did not develop any serious side effects and did not require
      naloxone.

PMID- 25831657
TI  - Giant nasolabial cyst.
AB  - Nasolabial (nasoalveolar) cysts are nonodontogenic soft tissue lesions derived
      from epithelial remanant of the nasolacrimal duct. These are generally slow
      growing painless lesions. Additionally, they can cause obstruction, facial
      deformity and pain. This case report evaluates the facial deformity and boat
      shaped resorption demonstrated on computerized tomography (CT) in a 28 years-old
      patient presenting with facial swelling and pain as a result of a nasolabial
      cyst. Nasolabial cysts must be kept in mind in patients suffering from facial
      deformity and infection as an underlying predisposing factor. Recurrences may be
      seen in cases not amenable to treatment by surgical excision.

PMID- 25831658
TI  - Palatal perforation, the most rarely observed complication after deviated septum
      surgery.
AB  - Numerous complications after septoplasty have been identified in the literature.
      Blindness and palatal perforation are among the rarest complications. The palatal
      perforation experienced by the presented patient was because he was not
      thoroughly examined before surgery. Secondly, we wanted to emphasize the fact
      that care must be taken during septoplasty operation, particularly while
      performing the intervention to the inferior septal area.

PMID- 25831659
TI  - Quaternary prevention and diabetes.

PMID- 25831660
TI  - Association of hypertension with stroke recurrence may depend on ischaemic stroke
      subtype.

PMID- 25831661
TI  - Plagiarism detection softwares: useful tools for medical writers and editors.

PMID- 25831662
TI  - Assessment of knowledge about childhood autism among medical students from
      private and public universities in Karachi.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge about childhood autism among fourth year
      medical students in public and private medical universities of a metropolitan
      city. METHODS: The cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in Karachi
      from January to August 2012. Two medical universities--one each from public and
      private sectors--were selected using non-probability convenience sampling
      technique. Fourth year medical students present at the time of data collection
      were included in the study. Data collection was done by Knowledge About Childhood
      Autism Among Health Worker questionnaire from fourth year medical students. Data
      was analysed using SPSS 20. RESULTS: Of the 157 students in the study, 62(39.6%)
      were males and 95(60.4%) were females; 84(43.5%) were from public medical
      university and 73(46.5%) were from private university. Total mean score obtained
      out of the maximum 25 was 12.30+/-4.71. The mean score obtained by public medical
      students was 12.40+/-4.69 and 12.1+/-4.76 by those of private university.
      CONCLUSION: The scores reflected shortcoming in knowledge about childhood autism
      among the study population. In order to bridge knowledge deficit, awareness
      generation activities must be held more frequently.

PMID- 25831663
TI  - A day experience at Research Methodology Workshop held by PAME.

PMID- 25831664
TI  - Medical research and science culture in Pakistan.

PMID- 25831665
TI  - Clinical predictors of mortality in hospitalized patients with infective
      endocarditis at a tertiary care center in Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical characteristics and predictors of in-hospital
      mortality in patients with infective endocarditis at a tertiary care centre in
      Pakistan. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Aga Khan
      University Hospital, Karachi, from January 1, 2002, to December 31, 2006, and
      comprised 84 consecutive patients hospitalised with infective endocarditis,. All
      patients underwent verification of the diagnosis according to the Modified Duke
      criterion. Data was collected through a questionnaire and analysed using
      Student's t test, Chi square and Fisher's exact test. Univariate and multivariate
      logistic regression analysis was performed to assess predictors of mortality.
      RESULTS: Of the total, 53(63%) patients were male and 31(37%) female. The mean
      age of the patients was 42+17 years. Overall, 34(41%) patients had rheumatic
      valve disease as a predisposing condition. The most commonly affected valve was
      mitral in 43(51%) patients, and the most commonly isolated organism was
      methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus in 12(14.3%). Overall in-hospital
      mortality was 27(32.1%), while 18(21%) patients, developed congestive cardiac
      failure, 15(18%) developed arrhythmias, 16(19%) developed peripheral embolism and
      renal failure was present in 38(54%). Besides, 17(20%) patients underwent
      surgical intervention. The final multivariate model that can be used to predict
      mortality in this study consisted of the presence of neurological complications
      (p <0.001) Odds Ratio 7.26, Confidence Interval (2.27-23.18), congestive cardiac
      heart failure (p <0.023) Odds Ratio 5.39, Confidence Interval (1.26-23.04), and
      arrhythmias (p <0.034) Odds Ratio 4.21, Confidence Interval (1.11-15.88).
      CONCLUSION: Significant predictors of mortality in hospitalised patients with
      infective endocarditis in our study were the presence of neurological
      complications, congestive cardiac heart failure, and the presence of arrhythmias.

PMID- 25831666
TI  - Dermatological evaluation of counter irritant potential of human urine in
      rabbits.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To confirm the effect of human urine in the treatment of wounds, burns
      and irritation. METHODS: The study was conducted at Bahauddin Zakariya
      University, Multan, in November 2013 and comprised 15 rabbits of either gender.
      Irritation was induced by clockwise frictional movement of fine sandpaper to the
      ear of the rabbits. The counter-irritant activity was determined by calculating
      the mean decrease in redness and erythema. A group of 3 rabbits each was used
      while experimenting with the main assay every time the concentration of irritants
      was increased. The ear treated with distilled water was used as a control. Sodium
      lauryl sulfate irritation model was also applied and the counter-irritant
      activity was evaluated. One-way analysis of variance followed by Bonferroni test
      were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The mean weight of the 15 rabbits
      was 1.5+/-SD kg. Urine (50 and 100ul) showed excellent counter-irritant activity
      when compared with control and standard dexamethasone. Both the doses showed
      counter-irritant activity, ranging between 76.84% and 95.68% in the sandpaper
      model, and 68.90% and 93.68% in the sodium lauryl sulfate model. CONCLUSION:
      Human urine countered the effect of irritation in experimental animals and can be
      an alternative way of countering irritation.

PMID- 25831667
TI  - Multi-drug resistant pseudomonas aeruginosa: a threat of nosocomial infections in
      tertiary care hospitals.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the resistance patterns of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to
      currently available anti-pseudomonal drugs and frequency of nosocomial infections
      caused by multi drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in hospitals. METHODS:
      Clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were collected from patients admitted
      in different hospitals of Karachi between July 2012 and June 2013. The isolates
      were identified by conventional and Analytical Profile Index 20NE kit methods
      while the antibiograms of these isolates were determined by Kirby-Bauer disc
      diffusion method. RESULTS: Of the 204 isolates, 79(39%) were obtained from
      intensive care units: Overall, 135(66%) isolates belonged to men, and 35(17.2%)
      belonged to 10-15 year age group. The overall antibiogram pattern showed high
      resistance to commonly used antibiotics like Ofloxacin 125(61.3%), Cefepime
      117(57.3%), Ceftazidime 110(53.9%), Amikacin 108(53%). Of all the isolates,
      129(63.2%) were considered multidrug resistant. The most effective antibiotics
      were Colistin, Polymyxin B and Meropenem. CONCLUSION: Increasing multidrug
      resistance among nosocomial pathogens is an alarming situation in a hospital
      setting and requires prompt management of these cases.

PMID- 25831668
TI  - Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding respiratory symptoms among textile
      workers of Karachi, Pakistan: a cross-sectional survey.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and predictors of good knowledge,
      appropriate attitude and appropriate protective practices regarding respiratory
      symptoms among textile workers, and to determine the association of knowledge,
      attitude and practices with respiratory symptoms. METHODS: The cross-sectional
      study was conducted in 2009 and comprised male workers from 15 textile mills in
      and around Karachi. A structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used which
      included questions to explore the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding
      respiratory symptoms. SPSS 19 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The
      study had a sample size of 372 and found prevalence of good knowledge to be in
      182 (48.9%) workers and appropriate attitude in 302 (81%), while only 80 (21%)
      were practising these measures appropriately. Being educated and older than 38
      years of age, belonging to Sindhi ethnicity, and working in the weaving section
      were significant (p<0.05) predictors of knowledge, attitude and practices.
      Generally, there was no significant association of knowledge, attitude and
      practices with respiratory symptoms (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: There was low
      prevalence of appropriate practices, high prevalence of good knowledge and
      attitude, indicating an interplay of several other social and environmental
      factors which need to be explored.

PMID- 25831669
TI  - Student's perceptions of educational environment across multiple undergraduate
      medical institutions in Pakistan using DREEM inventory.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To objectively assess whether the medical education environment across
      Pakistan was at an acceptable standard and to determine factors influencing its
      perception. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted from August to
      November 2012 at six undergraduate medical institutions across Pakistan. The
      Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) inventory having five
      subscales of perceptions of learning, teachers, atmosphere, academic self
      perceptions and social self-perceptions was administered anonymously to all the
      consenting medical students. Data was analysed using SPSS 17. RESULT: Of the 3045
      questionnaires distributed, 2084(68.4%) were returned duly filled. Of all the
      respondents, 1311(63%) were females. Overall mean score found positive was
      105.0+/-25.8 (Max: 200). Corresponding scores in the subscales were: student's
      perception of learning 25.1+/-7.2 (Max: 48); social self-perception 15.4+/-3.9
      (Max: 28); academic self-perception l7.2+/-6.5 (Max: 32); perception of teachers
      being in need of some re-training 22.5+/-7.1 (Max: 44); and perception of
      atmosphere as having many issues needing a change 24.8+/-7.0 (Max: 48). Female
      students and pre-clinical year students perceived environment as more positive
      than male students (108.6+/-23.0 vs. 98.8+/-28.9 [p<0.001]) and students
      belonging to clinical years (108.0+/-24.0 vs. 03.3+/-26.5 [p<0.001]). CONCLUSION:
      Highest score was found in the domain of student's social self-perceptions and
      lowest in the domain of student's perception of teachers. Results can be used as
      a basis for planning and executing remedial measures needed to improve
      undergraduate medical education environment in Pakistan.

PMID- 25831670
TI  - Comparison of placebo and intrauterine lidocaine with/or without rectal
      diclofenac sodium suppositories used in office endometrial biopsy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of intrauterine lidocaine, intrauterine
      lidocaine plus rectal diclofenac, and a placebo on analgesia and to determine the
      satisfaction of patients and surgeons in cases of endometrial biopsy. METHODS:
      The double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled study was conducted in the
      Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the Ondokuz Mayis University,
      Samsun,Turkey, from April 2013 to January 2014, and comprised patients scheduled
      for in-office endometrial biopsy.They were divided into three groups: Group P,
      5ml of 0.9% saline intrauterine; Group L, 5ml of 2% lidocaine intrauterine; and
      Group LD, 5ml of 2% lidocaine intrauterine +/- 10min before the procedure plus
      50mg of rectal diclofenac sodium. Haemodynamic changes and visual analogue scale
      scores were recorded during the preoperative period, when the cervix was grasped
      with a tenaculum, immediately after intrauterine instillation, during uterine
      curettage and at postoperative 10 min. The patient and the surgeon were
      questioned about their satisfaction 15 min after the procedure. SPSS 21 was used
      for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The 90 patients in the study were divided into
      three equal groups of 30(33.33%) each. There were no statistically significant
      inter-group differences in age, bodyweight, parity, number of postmenopausal
      patients, haemodynamic parameters and American Society of Anesthesiologists
      scores (p>0.05 in all categories). In Group P, the visual analogue scale score
      estimated when the cervix was grasped with the tenaculum was lower when compared
      with Group L and Group LD (p=0.029 and p=0.007, respectively). At other
      measurement time points, the scores did not differ between the groups. The groups
      did not differ with respect to patient and surgeon satisfaction and complication
      rates (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Intrauterine lidocaine or intrauterine lidocaine plus
      rectal diclofenac application had no effect on visual analogue scale scores,
      patient satisfaction and vasovagal reaction.

PMID- 25831671
TI  - The role of positron emission tomography in mediastinal staging of patients with
      non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the diagnostic accuracy of positron emission
      tomography/computed tomography in evaluating the mediastinum of patients with non
      small cell lung cancer compared to histopathology results. METHODS: The
      prospective study was conducted at the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the
      Pulmonary Hospital in Zakopane, Poland, from September 2008 to August 2012 and
      comprised patients with radiologically-suspected lung cancer. All patients
      underwent histological verification by either mediastinoscopy alone or
      thoracotomy with mediastinal lymphanedectomy. Computed tomography and positron
      emission tomography/computed tomography data sets were compared with the results
      of the histopathology examinations. RESULTS: There were 80 patients in the study.
      In the diagnosis of mediastinal lymph nodes, computed tomography was able to
      detect 9(11.25%) true-positive, 17(21.25%) false-positive, 40(50%) true-negative
      and 14(17.5%) false-negative cases. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of
      the method were found to be 39%, 70% and 61% respectively, while the positive and
      negative predictive values were 35% and 74%. Positron emission
      tomography/computed tomography yielded 15(18.75%) true-positive, 12(15%) false
      positive, 46(57.5%) true-negative and 7(8.75%) false-negative cases. Sensitivity
      was 68% while specificity was 79%. The accuracy was 96%, and the positive and
      negative predictive values were 55% and 87% respectively. CONCLUSION: Positron
      emission tomography/computed tomography had higher diagnostic accuracy than
      computed tomography in assessing mediastinal lymph nodes of patients with non
      small cell lung cancer. However, a positive test requires histopathology
      confirmation.

PMID- 25831672
TI  - Effect of smoking on serum xanthine oxidase and malondialdehyde levels in
      patients with acute myocardial infarction.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of smoking on blood levels of xanthine oxidase
      and malondialdehyde in acute myocardial infarction patients. METHODS: The cross
      sectional study was conducted from June to November 2013 and comprised myocardial
      infarction in-patients at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences
      Hospital, Jamshoro, and Isra University Hospital, Hyderabad. Serum samples from
      age and gender matched smoking and non-smoking patients were investigated for the
      levels of xanthine oxidase and malondialdehyde by kit methods. RESULTS: Of the 88
      serum samples investigated, 68(77.3%) belonged to men and 20(22.7%) to women.
      Among the 44 smokers, 35(79.5%) were men and 9(20.5%) were women.The overall mean
      age of the group was 49.6+/-8.0 years. Among the 44 non-smokers, 33(75%) were men
      and 11(25%) women. The overall mean age of the group was 50.9+/-8.4 Years.
      Smokers compared to non-smokers had significantly raised mean serum xanthine
      oxidase (0.31+/-0.05 vs 0.28+/-0.03mg/dl; p<0.05) and malondialdehyde (32.29+/
      3.30 vs 30.30+/-2.87 umol/L; p<0.04) levels. CONCLUSION: Smokers as against the
      non-smokers were at higher risk of developing acute myocardial infarction owing
      to increased level of oxidative stress caused by smoking.

PMID- 25831673
TI  - Effect of phoenix dactyliferia (date palm) pit powder on nicotine induced
      spermatotoxicty in adult albino mice.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of Phoenix Dactyliferia pit powder on nicotine
      induced spermatotoxicty in adult albino mice. METHODS: The study was conducted at
      the University of Health Sciences, Lahore, from February to November 2012, and
      comprised adult male albino mice aged 6-8 weeks. The animals were divided into
      five equal groups. Group A consisted of controls who were treated with 1.5ml/kg
      of normal saline for 15 days, while nicotine 0.5mg/kg was administered
      intraperitoneally daily to experimental groups B, C and D for the first 15 days.
      Group B was sacrificed on the 15th day to confirm toxicity, whereas nicotine
      treatment was stopped in groups C and D. Group C was given normal saline
      (1.5ml/kg) whereas group D was given date palm pit powder 500mg/kg for the next
      30 days. However, Group E was given nicotine 0.5mg/kg for 45 days and date palm
      pit powder was added orally from the 16th day and it continued daily till the end
      of the experiment. SPSS 18 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The mean
      weight of each of the 40 animals in the study was 30+/-5gm, and all the five
      groups hacL8(20%) mice each. Group B exhibited features of toxicity evident by
      statistically significant decrease in Johnsen score (p<0.001) and diameter of
      seminiferous tubule (p<0.001). Group C showed partial reversal of toxic effects
      but these positive effects were less compared to group D which showed complete
      reversal of toxicity evident by statistically significant increase in Johnsen
      score (p<0.001) and diameter of seminiferous tubule (p<0.001). However, reversal
      of toxic effect was not evident in group E. CONCLUSION: Partial recovery from
      nicotine-induced spermatotoxicity occurred after withdrawal of nicotine treatment
      whereas near normal restoration of structure was seen with administration of date
      palm pit powder after the stoppage of nicotine.

PMID- 25831674
TI  - Role of interleukin-l 3 in conception after intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify the role of Interleukin-l Beta(IL-1beta) in patients
      undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection. METHODS: The quasi-experimental
      study was conducted at an infertility clinic in Islamabad from June 2010 to
      August 2011, and comprised couples opting for intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
      Down regulation of ovaries was followed by calculated stimulation, ovulation
      induction, oocytes retrieval, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, in vitro
      maturation of embryos and embryo transfer. Serum Interleukin-l Beta was measured
      by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay onovulation induction day. Patients were
      grouped as non-pregnant with beta human chorionic gonadotropin 5-25 mlU/ml, pre
      clinical abortion; beta human chorionic gonadotropin >25 mlU/ml with no cardiac
      activity and clinical pregnancy with foetal heart confirmation by trans-vaginal
      scan after 4 weeks of transfer. SPSS 15 was used for statistical analysis.
      RESULTS: Of the total 323 patients initially registered, embryo transfer could be
      carried out in 282(87.30%). Clinical pregnancy was achieved in 101(36%) patients,
      clinical abortions was the result in 61(22%) cases, while 120(42%) subjects did
      not conceive at all. Clinical pregnancy was achieved in subjects with high mean
      Interleukin-l Beta levels; 155.84+/-51.65 compared to 41.81+/-11.77and 118.46+/
      35.62pg/mlin non-pregnant, preclinical abortion groups respectively (p=0.001).
      CONCLUSION: The production of Interleukin-I Beta was associated with oocyte
      maturation, fertilisation, endometrial receptivity and implantation in patients
      undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

PMID- 25831675
TI  - Frequency of metabolic syndrome in psychiatric patients, is this the time to
      develop a standardized protocol to reduce the morbidity from an acute care
      psychiatry unit.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of Metabolic Syndrome among psychiatric
      patients and to look for the correlation between the two medical conditions.
      METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted from February to April 2013 at
      the acute care psychiatry in-patient unit at Kingston General Hospital, Ontario,
      Canada, and comprised adult patients of both genders diagnosed under the
      Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. For
      Metabolic Syndrome, definitions outlined by the International Diabetes Federation
      were used. The patients were divided into two groups on the basis of presence or
      absence of the Syndrome and were compared for clinical and demographic
      characteristics. SPSS 22 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 50
      patients in the study, 24(48%) were found to have Metabolic Syndrome. Besides, 40
      (80%) patients were taking atypical antipsychotics regardless of the diagnosis;
      20(83%) among those with the Syndrome, and 20(77%) among those without it.
      CONCLUSIONS: Patients at high risk of developing metabolic syndrome need to be
      identified early so that an individualised care plan can be formulated.
      Identifying the variables to make a management plan is vital.

PMID- 25831676
TI  - Evaluation of the effect of smoking on complete blood counts, serum C-reactive
      protein and magnesium levels in healthy adult male smokers.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of smoking on complete blood count, serum C
      reactive protein and magnesium levels in male smokers. METHODS: The prospective
      case-control study was conducted in two villages of Matiari district in rural
      Sindh, Pakistan, from July to December 2013, and comprised healthy adult male
      smokers and an equal number of matching non-smokers as controls.The complete
      blood count, serum C-reactive protein and magnesium levels in all the subjects
      were measured to assess the effect of smoking on these parameters. RESULTS: The
      two groups had 48 subjects each with an overall age range of 20-40 years. The
      results of complete blood count were comparable except for lymphocyte, which was
      significantly higher (p<0.001), and neutrophil, which was lower (p<0.001) in
      smokers than in the non-smokers. Serum C-reactive protein concentrations among
      the cases (14.62+/-0.16mg/L) compared to the controls (4.81+/-0.38mg/L) were
      significantly higher (p<0.001). However, reverse was true for serum magnesium
      levels which were significantly higher (p<0.001) in the controls (2.52+/
      0.18mg/L) as against the cases (1.09+/-0.38mg/dl).Serum C-reactive protein-to
      magnesium ratio was significantly higher (p<0.001) in smokers than in the non
      smokers. CONCLUSION: Lymphocyte count was higher while neutrophil count was lower
      in smokers. Smoking also caused significant increase in serum C-reactive protein
      concentration concomitant to decrease in magnesium concentration in the smokers.

PMID- 25831678
TI  - Power doppler ultrasonography guided and random prostate biopsy in prostate
      cancer diagnosis - a comparative study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of power Doppler-guided targeted
      prostate biopsy and random sextant biopsy in the diagnosis of prostate cancer.
      METHODS: The prospective study was carried out at the Allama Iqbal Medical
      College and Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, from January to December, 2012,
      and comprised clinically suspected cases of carcinoma prostate. Power Doppler
      guided biopsies using automatic biopsy gun were obtained from the suspected
      targeted site. One to three cores per suspected site were obtained. Subsequently
      random sextant biopsies were performed in the same sitting. Six cores were
      obtained from 6 random sites using the same gun. Biopsies from both sources were
      processed for routine haematoxylin and eosin stainstained sections for
      histopathological examination. RESULTS: Of the 50 patients in the study, 30(60%)
      were diagnosed with power Doppler-guided biopsy as malignant, whereas random
      sextant biopsy could pick up 22(44%) cases. For benign prostatic hyperplasia,
      random sextant biopsy labelled 28(56%)as benign, whereas only 20 (40%) were
      labelled as benign with power Doppler-guided biopsy. Discrepancy in the results
      between the two procedures was observed in 14(28%) cases, and of them, 1 1(22%)
      were labelled as malignant on power Doppler-guided biopsy while histopathology of
      sextant biopsies labelled these as benign.The sextant biopsies rendered a
      specificity, sensitivity, negative predictive value, positive predictive value
      and diagnostic accuracy of 60.71%, 86.36%, 85%, 63.33% and 72% respectively.
      CONCLUSION: Random sextant biopsy in combination with power Doppler-guided
      targeted biopsy increases the rate of detection of prostate cancer whereas both
      procedures in isolation have low sensitivity and specificity for cancer
      detection.

PMID- 25831677
TI  - Ocular manifestation, complications and aetiological factors in Stevens-Johnson
      syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the ocular manifestations of Stevens-Johnson
      Syndrome/Toxic Epidermal Necrosis among inpatients at a tertiary care hospital.
      METHODS: The retrospective observational descriptive study was carried out at the
      Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised data on age, gender,
      aetiology and ocular findings related to patients diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson
      Syndrome/Toxic Epidermal Necrosis between January 2000 and December 2011. SPSS 19
      was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: There were 87 patients; 48(55.2%) of
      them being males.The overall mean age was 33.2+/-22.2 years, ranging from 1 month
      to 84 years. The most common aetiology was idiopathic 20(23%) followed by non
      steroidal inflammatory drugs and anti-epileptics 11(12.6%) each. Besides,
      84(96.6%) patients had oral mucosal involvement whereas 45(51.7%) had ocular and
      27(31.0%) had genital-mucosal involvement. Glassroding was performed in 16(18.4%)
      patients due to minor conjunctival adhesions. CONCLUSION: Ocular manifestations
      of varying severity were frequent, with drugs being the most common aetiology.

PMID- 25831679
TI  - Prognosis of stroke in children after three months of regular physical therapy in
      Lahore.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects and significance of Proprioceptive
      Neuromuscular Facilitation exercises on stroke patients. METHODS: The prospective
      follow-up study was conducted from January, 2012, to June, 2012, and comprised
      randomly-selected patients at the Department of Neurology, Children Hospital and
      Institute of Child Health, Lahore, Using systematic sampling the patients were
      divided into two groups. Patients in group I were subjected to Proprioceptive
      Neuromuscular Facilitation therapy, while those in group II were treated by
      passive range of motion exercises only. All patients were followed up at months
      1, 2 and 3. Data was collected through a questionnaire, while muscle strength was
      evaluated through Medical Research Council scale. All date was analysed using
      SPSS 20. RESULTS: There were 50 patients in the study who were all below 15 years
      of age. Muscle strength of affected side at baseline in the experimental group I
      was 2.36+/-0.49 and in the control group II it was 2.60+/-0.50. At the end of the
      three-month follow-up, it had considerably increased to 4.76+/-0.43 in group I
      while it was 3.80+/-0.50 in grgup II (p<0.0001) CONCLUSION: Proprioceptive
      Neuromuscular Facilitation technique was an effective method in terms of pain
      relief, stiffness reduction and functional improvement.

PMID- 25831680
TI  - Effectiveness of simple strategies in reducing multidrug resistant blood stream
      infections in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of tertiary care hospital in Karachi,
      Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To report reduction in transmission of multidrug resistant organisms
      from the neonatal intensive care unit after the implementation of simple risk
      reduction strategies. METHODS: Using a pre-and-post design, the study was carried
      out from June 2010 to December 2011 at the neonatal intensive care unit of Aga
      Khan University Hospital, Karachi, which is 12-bed, level III facility. The
      intervention comprised hand washing certification for all staff, use of
      chlorhexidine instead of povodine iodine for skin preparation, use of non-sterile
      gloves for diaper change, implementation of barrier nursing for clinically
      suspected and culture-proven infections, provision of separate intubation and
      central line trolley for each room and limiting the use of umbilical catheters to
      7 days. Data is reported for 3-month pre-intervention period, one-month
      implementation phase, and for 3-month post-intervention phase. Data for 12 months
      post-implementation is reported to show sustainability. RESULTS: The average pre
      intervention rates of bloodstream infections due to extended spectrurm 3
      lactamase, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas and methicillin resistant staphylococcus
      aureus were 4.7, 3.3, 1.2 and zero respectively. The average number of admissions
      during the 3 phases was almost similar (49, 46 and 53 respectively). There was
      sustained reduction in rates for all organisms 12 months after the intervention
      period. CONCLUSION: Nosocomial transmission of multi drug resistant organisms
      within the neonatal intensive care unit can be effectively reduced by adopting
      simple strategies.

PMID- 25831681
TI  - Botulinum-A Toxin's efficacy in the treatment of idiopathic overactive bladder.
AB  - The systematic literature review was carried out to point out the efficacy of
      botulinum type A toxin (BTX-A) intra-detrusor injections in adults with
      idiopathic overactive bladder (OAB) and urgency urinary incontinence (UUI). A
      PubMed search for clinical studies with BTX-A intra-detrusor injections in adults
      with OAB was performed.The studies showed improvements in quality of life by
      relieving symptoms (decreased urinary frequency, urgency episodes, incontinence
      and nocturia). Randomised controlled trials conducted in the preceding two years
      showed complete continence in patients treated with BTX-A in 22.9% to 55% cases.
      Following treatment, most studies showed an increase in post-void residual
      volume, a fact that may lead to urinary tract infections (UTIs) and urinary
      retention requiring catheterisation. BTX-A is an effective treatment for OAB and
      results in a significant improvement in the quality of life of patients.

PMID- 25831682
TI  - Rates of caesarian section and trials and success of vaginal birth after
      caesarean sections in secondary care hospital.
AB  - We planned to investigate the rates of Caesarean Section (CS), potential Vaginal
      Births After previous Caesarean Section (VBAC), and successful VBAC in a
      secondary care hospital. We conducted an analytical retrospective study at Aga
      Khan Hospital for Women, Karimabad, Karachi, from October 2011 to September 2012.
      Data related to total deliveries, Lower Segment CS (LSCS), attempted VBAC and
      successful VBAC was retrieved from medical records. Total number of deliveries
      were 3266. Of these, 1021(31.26%) deliveries were conducted by CS. A total of
      365(11.1%) had a previous history of one CS and VBAC trial was given to 33(9%) of
      these pregnancies. The success rate of VBAC was 21 (63.6%). Our results highlight
      that despite having limited resources, our rates of CS, VBAC trials and
      successful VBACs were within reasonable limits when compared with international
      rates.

PMID- 25831683
TI  - U-turns and road safety - perspective from Karachi.
AB  - U-turn is a complex driving manoeuvre entailing 180-degree turn to change the
      direction of travel towards the opposite direction. A cross-sectional survey
      based on convenience sampling was conducted at 120 U-turns in Karachi from
      February to October 2013. Shopkeepers operating in the close vicinity of U-turns
      were interviewed. Out of the 120 U-turns studied, 87(72.5%) were without median
      and 33(27.5%) were with median. Weekly average number of people getting injured
      or dying as a result of roadside traffic accidents was statistically significant
      (p<0.05) between the two types of U-turns; with U-turns having median having more
      injured and dead roadside traffic accident victims. Results from our preliminary
      study indicate that U-turns with medians are more likely to contribute towards
      road traffic accident morbidity and mortality and hence compromise road safety.
      Public health and transportation professionals in the country need to work in
      concert for ensuring that roads are safe for travelling.

PMID- 25831684
TI  - Poland's syndrome: a case report and review of literature.
AB  - Poland's Syndrome is a rare congenital condition. It is classically characterised
      by absence of unilateral chest wall muscles and sometimes
      ipsilateralsymbrachydactyly (abnormally short and webbed fingers). The condition
      typically presents with unilateral absence of the sternal or breast bone portion
      of the pectoralis major muscle which may or may not be associated with the
      absence of nearby musculoskeletal structures. Most of the Poland Syndrome is
      sporadic. We report a 19-year-old patient with variant of Poland Syndrome. To the
      best of our knowledge, this is one of the few documented cases of a patient with
      Poland Syndrome reported from Bangladesh.

PMID- 25831685
TI  - Urethral duplication: a rare cause of recurrent urinary infection.
AB  - Urethral duplication is quite a rare congenital anomaly with ill-defined
      aetiology. Patients often present with penile deformity; recurrent urinary
      infections, urinary incontinence, serosal discharge from the accessory urethra,
      and difficulty in urinating. Urethral duplication is most commonly grouped
      according to the Efmann classification. It has 3 main types as Type I, II, and
      III. There is no consensus on its therapy. There are non-surgical solutions,
      including follow-up without therapy, as well as many surgical options, including
      urethral reconstruction. Anatomical urethra and the external sphincter should
      absolutely be delineated when a surgery is contemplated. We herein report the
      case of a two-year-old male patient referred to our clinic with recurrent urinary
      infection, bilateral hydronephrosis and difficulty in urinating who was diagnosed
      with urethral duplication. We discuss our findings with review of the relevant
      literature.

PMID- 25831686
TI  - Surviving shot through the heart: Management in two cases.
AB  - Penetrating cardiac injuries after gunshot are usually fatal and are very
      challenging to manage for surgeons even in fully- equipped centres. Such injuries
      can cause ventricular septal defect (VSD) or cardiac tamponade depending upon the
      distance, direction and velocity of the bullet. Stable patients can be subjected
      to investigations like computed tomography (CT) to avoid unnecessary
      intervention, but unstable patients should be rushed to the operating room. We
      discuss management in two cases of traversing bullet injury to the heart. In the
      first case, traumatic VSD was significant, requiring closure on cardiopulmonary
      bypass (CPB) along with repair of right and left ventricular injury. In the
      second case, only the repair of right and left ventricles was performed without
      CPB. They both had traversing bullet injury through the heart.

PMID- 25831687
TI  - Palmar initial lesion in pityriasisrosea.
AB  - Pityriasisrosea is a frequently encountered skin disease associated with typical
      erythematous-squamous lesions. Majority of the cases relate to patients between
      10 and 35 years of age. In clinically typical cases, the disease appears with the
      initial lesion called herald patch. The initial lesion generally locates on
      trunk, neck and proximal extremities. However, it can rarely be seen on other
      body parts such as face, scalp, and genital region. The initial lesion located on
      palmar region has been just once presented in literature. In this study, we
      present a 22-year-old female patient with palmar initial lesion who was followed
      up with misdiagnosis until rashes appeared on her body.

PMID- 25831688
TI  - Secondary malignant melanoma in primary mediastinal germ cell tumour.
AB  - Secondary transformation in Germ Cell Tumours (GCT) is an extremely rare event.
      We report here a case of malignant melanoma arising in primary mediastinal GCT. A
      young male presented with new onset dyspnoea and a mediastinal mass. As serum
      alpha fetoprotein was raised, a diagnosis of primary mediastinal GCT was made. He
      achieved remission with standard chemotherapy and resection of the mass. After a
      year, he relapsed with widespread disease which on work-up revealed malignant
      melanoma. As examination for cutaneous melanoma was unremarkable, a diagnosis of
      mediastinal GCT with secondary transformation to melanoma was made. Exact origin
      of melanoma in GCTs is unknown, but these may occur from transformation of dermal
      elements or de-differentiation of germ cells to melanomas. Before making such a
      diagnosis, search for primary cutaneous melanoma is mandatory. No clear
      guidelines exist in literature for the treatment of secondary melanomas, so
      current management guidelines for cutaneous melanoma may be followed.

PMID- 25831689
TI  - Sulfonylureas.
AB  - This review describes the basic and clinical pharmacology of sulfonylureas. It
      undertakes a balanced assessment of the advantages and limitations of
      sulfonylureas, and compares the use of various sulfonylureas in different
      clinical situations. The authors suggest pragmatic guidance to facilitate safe
      and effective use of this class of drugs, and thus help make maximal use of this
      economical therapeutic option in resource challenged settings such as developed
      nations.

PMID- 25831690
TI  - Screening for diabetes.
AB  - This article discusses the rationale and method of screening for diabetes in a
      primary care setting. It describes guidelines laid down by international
      organizations, while adding pragmatic suggestions based upon reality in South
      Asian and other developing countries.

PMID- 25831691
TI  - Writing tips for medical students/researchers following a comparative study.

PMID- 25831692
TI  - The decrepit state of trauma care in under-developed healthcare settings and the
      need to integrate trauma rehabilitation as a continuum of care.

PMID- 25831693
TI  - Frequency of proven risk factors for deep vein thrombosis in clinical patients:
      Results of a study on patients being treated at a tertiary care hospital in
      Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To enlist the dominant risk factors predisposing patients to deep
      venous thrombosis. METHODS: The prospective study was conducted in surgical and
      medical departments of Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, and Fauji
      Foundation, Islamabad, from January 2012 to December 2013. Patients having deep
      venous thrombosis of lower extremities by duplex scan were enrolled. After taking
      their detailed personal and biochemical history, frequency of risk factors was
      noted and graded accordingly. RESULTS: Of the total 120 patients, 71(59%) were
      males. Overall, left leg was involved in 53(44%), right leg in 34(28%) and both
      legs in 33(28%). Of the total, 68(57%) patients were >40 years of age. Immobility
      was the main cause of deep venous thrombosis in 18(15%), followed by surgical
      interventions in 10(8%). Pregnancy and post-partum thrombosis was the major cause
      in 9(8%) women. Only 6(5%) patients had natural predisposition to deep venous
      thrombosis. CONCLUSION: Immobility was an independent and important risk factor
      for deep venous thrombosis. Thromboprophylaxis is not routinely provided in most
      health centres in Pakistan, exposing patients to the risk.

PMID- 25831694
TI  - [Effects of epidural anesthesia on stress-induced immune supression during major
      corrective spine surgery].
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: A prospective, randomized study wias performed to compare two
      anesthetic methods. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of epidural analgesia on
      postoperative pain, endocrine- metabolic and inflammatory stress response and
      cellular inmmune responses during major corrective spine surgetry. METHODS: The
      study included 350 patients aged 15 to 65 who were randomly allocated to two
      equal groups. Group I (n=205) had continuous epidural analgesia (E4) and
      sevoflurane anesthesia during surgety and continuous epidural analgesia with
      ropivacaine and fentanil after surgery; Group 2 (n= 145) had general anesthesia
      with sevoflurane and fentanil and systemic administration of opioids after
      surgery. Patient pain, PONV syndrome, mobility, and satisfaction were measured
      after surgery along with plasma levels ofcortisol, ghmcose, interleukins IL
      1beta, IL-6, and IL-10 during and after surgemy C-reactive protein (CRP), and
      cell-surface receptor expression of immune cells (cluster of differentiation) HLA
      DR+/CD3-, HLA-DR+/CD3+, HILA-DR, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD16, CD19 CD16/56+, and
      CD16/56+/CD3+) were measured perioperatively. RESULTS: In group 1, there were
      significantly less pain, less nausea, earlier mobility, and higher satisfaction
      than those in group 2. Group I has also demonstrated significantly less plasma
      levels of glucose, cortisol, CRP, IL-lbeta, IL-6, IL-10 at various stages. The
      ratio of CD4/CD8 (p=0.001) and B cells (p=0.01) have increased by postoperative
      day 3 in group 1. NK-cells (CD16/56+) have decreased significantly by day 3 after
      surgery (p=0.001) compared to the group 2. T-lymphocytes, (CD3) have decreased in
      all patients, but they were significantly lower in patients receiving opioids,
      compared wiith EA. CONCLUSIONS: Polerfulr afferent stimulation in major
      corrective spine surgery accompanied by immunosuppression for at least a wieek
      after surgery. EA reduces the surgical stress response, prevents postoperative
      lymphocyte apoptosis and thus, increases stress and infectious resistance.

PMID- 25831695
TI  - [Effects of prolonged thoracic epidural analgesia on the frequency of
      postoperative atrial fibrillation in thoracic surgery].
AB  - Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) has remained one of the most common
      complications that occur following non-cardiac thoracic surgery. Although it is
      dificult to determine the true incidence ofPOAF due to various methodologies used
      to identify its occurrence, reported rates have varied between 12 and 67%. The
      occurrence of POAF is associated with significant morbidity, such as increased
      risk ofstroke, atrial thrombosis and systemic mbolism, postoperative mortality,
      and significant increases in hospital length of stay and costs. OBJECTIVES: We
      aimed to evahluate the impact of thoracic epidural analgesia on the frequency of
      POAF in patients undergone lung cancer surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      performed a retrospective analysis of medical cards of472 patients over 55 y.o.,
      undeigone luhmg surgery (lobectomy (LE) and pneumonectomy (PE)) due to
      oncological diseases. The patients' physical status was II-Ill according to ASA
      classification. The average duration of the operations was 204.3+/-59.4 min. The
      average blood loss was 393+/-198 ml. The patients were divided into two groups
      according to the type of anaesthesia during the surgery and type of pain
      management during postoperative period Each group was divided into subgroups
      according to the type ofsurgery (LE and P4E). The patients of the group-1 (N=300,
      average age 61.7+/-7.74years) received a general anaesthesia (GA) (fentanyl,
      ketamine, propofol, sevoflurane) with intercostal blockade with mixture of
      alcohol and nodvocain in the end ofsumgery and follow ing complex analgesia in
      postoperative period (opioid analgesics, NSAIDs). The patients of the group-2 (N=
      172, average age 62.2+/-7.45 years) received a combined (CA) general anaesthesia
      (propofol, ketamine. fentanyl, sevoflurane) and thoracic epidural analgesia with
      ropivacaine 0.3%, fenianyl 4 ug/ml and epinephrine 2 ug/ ml. These patients
      received the epidural infusion of ropivacaine 0.2%, fentanyl 2 ug/mnl and
      epinephrine 2 ug/ml for 5-7 days after the surgery. In postoperative period all
      patients in both groups received standard systemic analgesia with opioid
      analgesics. NSAIDs, paracetamol. A fixation of POAF wias heldfrom the first day
      after the surgery and until a discharge according to clinical signs and ECG
      fJacts. RESULTS: In GA-group the frequency ofPOAF was 15.3% (46/300). The overall
      incidence of POAF did not differ between patients undergone pneumonectomy and
      lobectomy in GA (21.6% (16/74) vs. 13.7% (30/226), respectively (p=0.08)). In CA
      group the frequency of POAF was significantly reduced versus GA-group (8.7%
      (15/172) vs. 15.3% (46/300), respectively (p=0.04)). Patients mundergone
      pneumonectomy suffered from postoperative atrial fibrillation in 13.2% (9/68) of
      cases and lobectomy in 62% (6/104) of cases in CA (p=0.09). The frequency of POAF
      in patients undergone pneumonectomy did not differ significantly between the
      groups (p=0.19), but the frequency of postoperative atrial fibrillation in
      patients undergone lobectomy was significantly reduced in CA versus GA (p=0.04).
      CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative thoracic epidural analgesia significantly decreases
      the frequency of postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing
      extended lungs surgery and most effective in patients undergoing lobectomy.

PMID- 25831696
TI  - [Regional anaesthesia in women with morbid obesity in obstetrics and gynecology].
AB  - The article deals with regional anaesthesia peculiarities in womnen wiith morbid
      obesity in obstetrics and gynecology. The articles discusses cases demonstating
      safety and effectiveness of low-dose comnbined spinal-epidural anaesthesia in
      these patients.

PMID- 25831697
TI  - [Correction of local anesthetic dosage in spinal anesthesia in pregnant women
      with obesity].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Intra-abdomninal pressure (IAP) is one of the reasons for reducing
      the volume of the subarachnoid space, the cerebrospinal fluid of pregnant iwomnen
      with obesity and as a result, a high spinal block in spinal anesthesia (SA),
      clinical manifestation of which is marked arterial hypotension. OBJECTIVE: To
      decrease the frequency and severity of arterial hypotension related to the
      conduct of SA due to the correction dose of local anesthetic with the level of
      intra-abdomninal pressure and timing of operative delivery MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      The study involved 252 women. To determine the physiological level of IAP at
      different stages of gestation used to study the level of IAP in 118 pregnant
      women with normal body weight. To explore the relationship of frequency of
      hypotension in the SA and the development of methodology for calculating the dose
      of local anesthetic in pregnant women examined 92 patients, 62 of whom were
      obese. To assess the adequacy of the developed technique further examined 42
      obese women. RESULTS: it was determined that the gestation 38-40 weeks, the mean
      physiological IAP corresponds to 20 mm Hg, at the term of 35-37 weeks - 18 mm Hg
      at 32-34 weeks of pregnancy - 16 mnm Hg. Studies have shown that an adequate dose
      of local anesthetic for spinal anesthesia for operative delivery in pregnant
      women with obesity depends on the level of IAP The required dosage is determined
      by the percentage reduction for the difference between the actual level of IAP
      and the predicted IAP The required dosage 5.5% per mm Hg IAP is higher than the
      physiological norm. CONCLUSION: The developed method of calculating the dose of
      local anesthetic with the levels of IAP and gestational age prevents development
      of arterial hypertension, the optimum level of sensory block during SA for
      operative delivery obese women.

PMID- 25831698
TI  - [Oxidative stress in perioperative period of cesarean section].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess a pro- and antioxidant status in pregnant women at the
      system level in the perioperative period of cesarean section under regional and
      general anaesthesia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 62 pregnant women aged 21 to 37 years
      (30,9 +/- 6,2 y,ears) undergone delivery by cesarean section under general (n =
      33) and regional (29) anaesthesia (1-2 class ASA (American Society
      ofAnesthesiologists). Blood samples were collected immediately after placing
      patients on an operating table (T1), immediately after suturing the surgical
      wound (T2), and 12 (T3) and 24 (T4) hours after taking the first sample. We
      studied following parameters: superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase
      (GP). reduced glutathione (RG), total antioxidant activity, active products that
      react with thiobarbituric acid (TBA-ap). RESULTS: In general anaesthesia cesarean
      critical period activation ofprooxidant and antlioxidant activity is the period
      T2. Activation prooxidant activity (TBA-ap) was stored at 12 and 24 hours after
      surgery. Increased antioxidant activity (SOD, GP) was observed in the period T2.
      which wass replaced by its inhibition to 24 hours. Reduced glutathione content
      (RG) was reduced during T2 remains at low values up to 24 hours. Regional
      anaesthesia did not change observed prooxidant (poorly marked increase
      antioxidant activity (SOD, GP), which persists up to 24 hours). Reduced
      glutathione content (RG) was reduced in the period T3. but recovered after 24
      hours. CONCLUSION: The use of regional imnaesthesia and spontaneous breathing
      with atmospheric air during an elective caesarean section helps to avoid
      induction and manifestations of oxidative stress in pregnant women in the
      perioperative period and to fully implement the program early activation
      parturients after cesarean section.

PMID- 25831699
TI  - [Assessment of prophylaxis and treatment of blood loss in patients with pre
      eclampsia].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To improve treatment results of women with massive obstetrical blood
      loss. Subjects and methods: 96 female patients with average and heavy degree
      preeclampsia worsened massive blood developing were involved into the
      investigation. The women were divided into two groups: main (n=55) (basic) - it's
      patients were treated with complex of offered wiays control (n=41) - it's
      patients were evaluated retrospectively. During the investigation the parameters
      of hemostasis system and periphery blood values were performed as dynamic
      evaluations, acidity-basic state and water-electrolyte balance parameters,
      medical history were monitored. RESULTS: As a result of the investigation it was
      found out that these offered actions complex application about reducing massive
      obstetric blood accelerates restoration of clinic, bio-chemical paramnleters
      during the early post-operating period CONCLUSION: The application of the offered
      methods has reduced both inltraoperative blood loss in women with preeclamsia and
      use of blood components and the time spent on the hemostasis system correction
      for all the women of the base group.

PMID- 25831700
TI  - [New oral anticoagulants for thromboprophylaxis under routine use of tranexamic
      acid after hip joint arthroplasty].
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the novel oral anticoagulants
      under conservative hemostasis with tranexamic acid in hip arthroplasty. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: All patients received 40 mg of enoxaparin 12 hours prior to surgery
      and on the operating day, and then they received either 10 mg of rivaroxaban (40
      patients), 220 mg of dabigatran (42 patients) or 40 mng of enoxaparin (39
      patients). Tranexamic acid with doses of 10 - 20 mg/kg was administered to all
      patients: within 30 minutes prior to surgery and 6 hours after the first
      infision. The hemorrhagic and thrombotic complications in a hospital outpatient
      therapy and outcomes in 35 days after surgery were evaluated. RESULTS: Minor
      bleeding was observed only in the rivaroxaban group, the complications rate in
      hospital was 2.5%, among outpatients 3.1%. At hospital discharge the DVT was
      12.5% in rivaroxaban group, 7% in dabigatran and 8% in enoxaparin group (p>0.05).
      Asymptomatic distal DVT was found in 82% of patients by ultrasound screening.
      CONCLUSION: The new oral anticoagulants are effective and safe for venous
      thromboembolism preventing after hip re placement. Routine use of tranexamic acid
      was not accompanied by increased risk of DVT

PMID- 25831701
TI  - [Autotransfusion of cord blood erythrocytes in newborns with malformations
      requiring early surgical intervention].
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of cord blood erythrocytes
      autotransfiusion for the correction of anemia in the intra-and postoperative
      periods in infants requiring early surgical correction of congenital
      malformations. METHODS: Washed autoemythrocytes from placental umbilical blood
      were transfused for correction of intra and post-operative anemias. Umbilical
      blood assembly was carried out after extraction of the child and navel
      intersection by the occluded mean by a vein puncture distal (placental) end of a
      navel by the drainage needle which is a part of special transfiusion system.
      Further blood in the marked containers was pitched in branch of gravitational
      surgery of blood where its centrifiugal separation on erythrocyte mass and plasma
      was made. Then concentrated red cells it was put on storage for 21 day in a
      cooler at temperature 40  degrees C. Directly ahead of autotransfusion
      concentrated red cells was exposed to washing out in sterile physiological
      solution and a filtration through the micromodular filter. Then the marked
      package with the washed erythrocytes was pitched in branch of surgery of newborns
      for the purpose offurther anttqtransfusion under indications. The transfusion
      autoerythrocytes was made according to reacting at the moment of carrying out of
      work to orders of Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation: to the Order of
      Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation from November, 25th, 2002 No 363
      "About the statement of the Instruction on application of components of blood"
      and to the Order of Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation from April, 2nd,
      2013 N 183n "About the statement of rules of clinical use of donor blood and (or)
      its components". RESULTS: Total 122 newborns received an autotransfiusion of
      washed erythrocytes of placental/umbilical cord blood for the correction of
      anemia in the department of neonatal surgery in the period from 2005 to 2013. 66
      children who are in the first two weeks of life were performed surgical
      intervention for malformation of the gastrointestinal tract (gastorshizis (22),
      omphalocele (2). itestinal atresia (10), esophageal atresia or doubling (4)),
      congenital diaphragmatic hernia (15), space-occupying lesions (teratoma (6) and
      lymphangioma (3)) and other pathologies (adenomatous lung (1), the sequestration
      of the lung (2). ovarian cyst (1)). Control group consisted of39 infants operated
      on for similar malformations , which in the absence of prior communication
      harvested autologous red blood cells in the first three weeks of life sparkled
      donor erythrocytes. Inmost cases (57 newborns - 86.4%) of the amount harvested
      and transfused blood autokonmpo tov was sufficient for the relief ofanemia,
      despite the fact that the volume of transfused autoeritrotsitnoy mass per
      kilogram of body weight was almost two times lower than the amount of donor
      erythrocyte mass used in the comparison group. Additional donor transfusion of
      red blood cells in the group of children who had autotransfusion, it took nine
      newborns (13.6%). The main indications for repeated transfusions were clinical
      and laboratory signs of anemia, persisting after autotransfusion or resulting
      from repeated operations. After transfusion of washed autoerythrocytes value of
      clinical and biochemical. blood tests, urinalysis were within the age norm. Post
      transfusion reactions in children who have received a transfusion
      autoerythrocytes not mentioned CONCLUSION: The use of placental/umbilical cord
      blood autoe,ythrocyvtes in children requiring early surgical correction of
      congenital malformations can significantly reduce the need for donor red blood
      cells. Autologous red blood cells use is a safe and effective alternative to
      transfusion of donor red blood cells.

PMID- 25831702
TI  - [Hemodynamic effects of the alveolar recruitment maneuver in cardiosurgical
      patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction].
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate hemodynamic effects of the ahveolar recruitment maneuver
      (ARM) in cardiosurgical patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: We estimate hemnodynamics data obtained during
      intraoprative ARM in 16 cardiosuigical patients with left ventricular systolic
      dysfunction. ARMA were applied due to hypoxemnia with PaO2/FiO2 less than 250 nmm
      Hg. after CPB termination and heparin neutralization. Patients with signs of
      right heart failure were excluded from the study ARM were carried out after
      sternum closing. ARM method: Pinsp was increased stepwise until achievement of
      the alveoli opening point. PEEP was used 5 cm H2O greater than the lower
      inflection point in "pressure - vohlume" loop. The average alveoli opening
      pressure was 44.7 +/- 2.5 cm H2O and the average PEEP was 12.8 +/- 1.7 cm H2O.
      Hemodynamic parameters were eva luated before ARM and at the point of alveoli
      opening. Pulmnonary artery pressure and cardiac output were evaluated by Swan
      Gant- catheter and thermodilution method Left ventricle contractility, preload
      and end-systolic (LVESWS) and end-diastolic (LVEDWS) wall stress were studied
      using TEE. t -test for dependent variables was used for statistical analysis.
      Data are presented as M +/- delta. RESULTS: During ARM stroke volumne index
      decreased from 36.5 +/- 4.2 to 33.5 +/- 3.9 ml/m2 (p <0.05). Left ventricle
      contractility was not changed (there were no reduction in the left ventricle
      fraction area change (FAC)). Descent of left ventricular preload was the main
      cause of cardiac output decrease: end-diastolic area of the left ventricle
      decreased friom 22.6 +/- 4.3 to 19.5 +/- 4.1 cm2 (p <0.05). Preload renduction
      was accompanied by paradoxical increase in PCWP associated with an increase in
      intirathoracic pressure: friom 10.8 +/- 4.6 to 13.8 +/- 4 mm Hg (P <0.001). There
      was decrease in intramural left ventricular afterload during ARM: LVESWS
      decreased from 50.6 +/- 11.5 to 39.5 +/- 10.6 cm * kdyn-2 (p <0.01), which also
      contributed to the decline of oxygen demand in systole. ARM did not lead to
      deterioration of left ventricular systolic dysfunction and increased doses of
      inotropic agents. PaO2/FiO2 increased from 238.3 +/- 11.7 to 301.7 +/-22.3 mm Hg
      (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Reduction of left ventricular preload is the main cause of
      cardiac output decrease during ARM. Positive hemodynamic effects of ARM are
      afterload reduction and left ventricle oxygen demand reduction. Our study showed
      the possibility ofARM applying in cardioswrgical patients with moderate left
      ventricular systolic dysfunction.

PMID- 25831703
TI  - [Efficiency of high-volume hemofiltration in patients with severe sepsis and
      intracranial hypertension].
AB  - We performed a retrospective study in 68 patients (144 procedures) with severe
      sepsis and intracranial hypertension measured by the pressure in the central
      retinal vein. The patients underwent high-volume hemofiltration (HV-HF) for
      extrarenal indications. Increased pressure in the central retinal vein was
      accompanied by critical points of cerebral perfusion pressure and the growth of
      neurological deficit with inhibition level of consciousness to coma 1. In this
      case, IHV-HF may be associated with the formation of the critical points of
      cerebral perfihsion and severe disorders of microcirculation and the lack of
      resolution of tissue hypoperfusion. In case of intracranial hypertension IHV-HF
      is not effective in the category of patients where there is a combination
      DeltapCO2 > 5.9 mm Hg level and GCS <10 points.

PMID- 25831704
TI  - [Early diagnosis of Takayasu's disease (clinical case report)].
AB  - Nonspecific aortoarteritis (Takayasu s disease, obliterating aortoarteritis,
      disease of the missing pulse) is a systemic inflammatory disease of aorta and its
      branches, which leads to stenosis and ischemia of surrounding tissues. This
      disease is more common in young women and characterized by slowly progressive
      course with significant impairing quality of life. Etiology of the Takayasu's
      disease is unknown. Syndrome of the systemic inflammatory reaction with the
      clinical manifestations of the effects of lesions of the aorta and its branches
      at different anatomical levels (symptom: coarctation, abdominal ischemia,
      coronary, renovascular hypertension, lesions of the pulmonary artery) are
      criteria of this systematic process. Angiography can detect typical vascular
      changes due to a nonspecific aortoarteritis and remains the gold standard for its
      verification. The effectiveness of conservative therapy, surgical treatment, the
      prognosis for life is entirely determined by the detection of this insidious
      disease in the initial stages of its development. Until today, the early
      detection of non-specific aortoarteriite is not generally accepted and widely
      used, and therefore remain relevant.

PMID- 25831705
TI  - [Primary (idiopathic) pulmonary hypertension (Ayerza-Arrillaga syndrome) and
      pregnancy - intensive care and anesthesia management].
AB  - The lecture deals with detailed information about the etiology, pathogenesis and
      clinical manifestations of primary (idiopathic) pulmonaiy hypertension, intensive
      treatment and anesthesia in pregnancy.

PMID- 25831706
TI  - [Using recombinant activated blood coagulation factor VII for treatment of
      hemorrhagic syndrome in patients with thrombocytopenia].
AB  - The review deals with an analysis of the use of recombinant activated factor
      clotting VII (rFVIIa) for the treatment of hemorrhagic syndrome in patients with
      thrombocytopenia. The review discusses cases of rFVIIa use during bleeding of
      different localization and different invasive interventions, a frequency of
      thrombotic complications and causes of the rFVlIIa insufficiency.

PMID- 25831707
TI  - [Iron metabolism in women with anemia and eclampsia (Part I)].
AB  - The review deals with a modern view of iron exchange in general and during
      pregnancy, in particular Different views on the mechanisms of the development of
      anemia in pregnancy are reflected. The protective role of anemia is noted, and
      also the opinion of the review authors to the negative role of prophylactic
      supplementation of iron is reflected. Are numerous and compelling scientific
      evidence pointing to the large number of negative prevention of iron. That
      questioned the usefulness of routine appointments for pregnant women with iron.
      According to a large number of studies assigning pregnant iron on the one hand,
      contributes to excessive activation of free radical oxidation, the accumulation
      of lipid peroxidation products and demonstrations of eclampsia, and from the
      other potentiates the bacterial aggression and development of purulent-septic
      diseases that generally leads to the development of complications in pregnancy.

PMID- 25831708
TI  - [Anaesthetic management of the infant with gastroschisis].
AB  - The review deals with an analysis of articles about a gastroschisis, its
      firequency and outcomes of treatment. The review discusses the mortality in
      patients with gastroschisis in Russia and peculiarities of anaesthesia management
      and surgical treatment.

PMID- 25831709
TI  - [The methodology of therapeutic hypothermia in children born in a state of
      asphyxia].
AB  - This guideline provides the diagnostic and treatment algorithm for newborns with
      gestational age over 35 weeks and weighing more than 1800g who has severe
      asphyxia in birth with the threat of severe or medium-severe hypoxic-ischemic
      encephalopathy.

PMID- 25831710
TI  - Prosthodontic rehabilitation for a patient with acromegaly.
AB  - Acromegaly is a condition which results from an excess of growth hormone produced
      by the pituitary gland after epiphyseal plate closure at puberty. The most common
      cause of acromegaly is a benign pituitary adenoma. Acromegaly is characterised by
      enlargement of the hands, feet, nose and ears; expansion of the skull and
      pronounced brow protrusion. From an oral standpoint, the most relevant symptoms
      are mandibular protrusion, spacing of the lower teeth and macroglossia. A 46 year
      old patient was referred to University Dental School and Hospital by her General
      Dental Practitioner. The patient had been diagnosed with acromegaly and was
      receiving medical care from a consultant endocrinologist. The patient was
      partially dentate with only her lower anterior dentition remaining. She was
      wearing a complete upper denture but was unable to function effectively due to a
      lack of occlusal support. Treatment comprised non-surgical periodontal
      management, construction of upper and lower removable prostheses in a class III
      relationship and composite restorations on the remaining lower teeth.

PMID- 25831711
TI  - Do head and neck cancer survivors attend a high street dentist on a regular
      basis?
AB  - Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients face complex oral health issues following
      treatment. The aims of this study were to determine the proportion of HNC
      patients attending their dentist regularly and investigate clinicodemographic
      characteristics associated with attendance. Two surveys asked about patient
      attendance patterns and dentition. Pre-treatment orthopantomographs were
      evaluated for those treated between 2007-2009. The response rate was 66%
      (444/672). 69% (305/444) saw a high street dentist regularly. 28% of edentulous
      patients attended regularly compared with 84% with natural teeth, p < 0.001.
      Associations at p < 0.001 with regular attendance were the leaving of formal
      education (> 16 years) and earlier clinical staging. HNC patients should be
      encouraged to see a dentist regularly for routine dental care and cancer
      surveillance in partnership with the cancer service.

PMID- 25831712
TI  - Colour stability of maxillofacial silicone elastomers: a review of the
      literature.
AB  - Colour degradation is a serious limitation of maxillofacial silicone elastomers
      and most silicone facial prostheses have to be remade within 1 year due to colour
      deterioration. A comprehensive review of the literature was completed using
      MEDLINE and PubMed Library databases. This was supplemented with a manual search
      of selected journals and textbooks. English language articles published in peer
      reviewed journals from 1966 to January 2012 in which colour stability of silicone
      elastomers was evaluated using standard research protocols were included. In all,
      127 articles were identified and 23 met the inclusion criteria. Current
      literature reveals that average colour stability of maxillofacial silicone
      prostheses is 6-12 months, and inherent unstable nature of silicones is
      responsible for the color degradation. Opacifiers, oil pigments and inorganic
      colourants may have a protective effect on colour stability of prostheses.
      Organic colourants, ultraviolet (UV) light, cleansing solutions, dust and aging
      can adversely affect colour stability of silicone prostheses. A direct comparison
      between studies has not been possible, because of the differences in experimental
      set-up such as materials tested, colourants used, or method of aging. There
      appears to be a need for a standardised test protocol for colour stability of
      maxillofacial materials. Colour degradation limits the useful lifespan of
      maxillofacial silicones. Improvements in colour stability is possible with the
      use of certain nano opacifiers, UV absorbers, photoprotective agents, and use of
      inorganic pigments and metal oxides.

PMID- 25831713
TI  - Composite inlays: a systematic review.
AB  - The purpose of this study is to review the available literature related to
      composite inlays. Electronic databases published up to November 2013 were
      searched. Studies that evaluate composite resin inlays for the restoration of
      posterior teeth were selected. The studies should compare composite inlays
      against gold inlays, ceramic inlays and direct composite fillings regarding
      longevity, aesthetic quality and postoperative sensitivity or comparing the
      clinical effectiveness of them on premolars versus molars or on 1-2 surface
      preparations versus multi-surface preparations. Despite the heterogeneity of the
      available clinical trials composite inlays seem to be an effective method for the
      restoration of posterior teeth.

PMID- 25831714
TI  - The influence of implant location and position characteristics on peri-implant
      pathology..
AB  - Peri-implant pathology is a multifactorial disease, incorporating biological and
      biomechanical components in its pathogenesis; however; few studies address the
      possible risk factors. This study investigated the effect of implant location and
      position characteristics on the occurrence of Peri-implant pathology. A total of
      1350 patients with dental implants were included 270 patients with peri-implant
      pathology and 1080 healthy controls. Results demonstrated that in the absence of
      bacterial plaque and smoking, the variable proximity of the implant to other
      implants or teeth revealed a significant difference between groups with a
      protective effect, but not in the presence of bacterial plaque and smoking.

PMID- 25831715
TI  - Effect of increased post length due to the presence of the remaining coronal
      structure on the fracture strength of post-retained restorations.
AB  - This study evaluated the effects of the remaining coronal tissue and post type on
      the fracture strength of incisors. Sixty human maxillary central incisors were
      sectioned at the cemento-enamel junction or at 2 mm above this junction. The
      roots received cast cores and posts, fibre posts, or relined fibre posts (n = 10
      each). A compressive load was applied over the cores untilfracture. In the
      absence of coronal structure, the fracture strength did not differ among the post
      types evaluated. In the presence of remaining coronal structure, the fracture
      strength was higher in specimens with cast cores and posts.

PMID- 25831716
TI  - Effect of air moisture content on adhesion to dentine: a comparison of dental
      air/water syringe tips.
AB  - This study aimed to evaluate the spray pattern and air moisture content produced
      by single-use syringe and multiple-use syringe tips. The drying efficacy was
      evaluated by analyzing the spray and by detecting the presence of moisture in the
      air blast through the tips. Single-use tips had a more consistent spray pattern
      and produced a moisture-free airflow compared to the multiple-use tips. The
      differences were statistically significant. Adhesion to dentine between tooth
      preparations dried with the two tips was evaluated using a tensile test. The
      differences were statistically insignificant.

PMID- 25831717
TI  - [Development of anti-cancer drug: past and future].

PMID- 25831718
TI  - [Future drug treatment against cancer viewed from current statistical data].

PMID- 25831719
TI  - [Current status and issues in early & exploratory oncology clinical trials in
      Japan].

PMID- 25831720
TI  - [Classification of anti-cancer agents].

PMID- 25831721
TI  - [Side effects of chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831722
TI  - [Clinical practice guidelines for the adverse events in medical oncology].

PMID- 25831723
TI  - [Points of management for elderly patients in chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831724
TI  - [Important points of measures for side effects in children].

PMID- 25831725
TI  - [Safety management in the outpatient chemotherapy unit].

PMID- 25831726
TI  - [Report of serious adverse drug reaction induced by anti-cancer agents].

PMID- 25831727
TI  - [Assessment of anticancer drug-induced adverse event].

PMID- 25831728
TI  - [Reduction and withdrawal of chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831729
TI  - [Drug interactions of anti-cancer agents].

PMID- 25831730
TI  - [Prophylactic management for adverse events of cancer chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831731
TI  - [Patient education for side effects of anti-cancer agents].

PMID- 25831732
TI  - [Monitoring the side effects of cancer chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831733
TI  - [Clinical pharmacology and toxicology of anticancer drugs].

PMID- 25831735
TI  - [Pharmacogenomics of anti-cancer drugs for individual treatment].

PMID- 25831734
TI  - [Biomarkers for the prediction of adverse events].

PMID- 25831737
TI  - [Mechanisms and side effects of cytotoxic anticancer drugs].

PMID- 25831736
TI  - [Exploratory biomarker analyses and companion diagnostics].

PMID- 25831738
TI  - [Adverse events and those managements of alkylating agents].

PMID- 25831739
TI  - [Platinum drugs].

PMID- 25831741
TI  - [Purine analogs].

PMID- 25831740
TI  - [Folate antagonist].

PMID- 25831742
TI  - [Adverse effects of antimetabolite fluoropyrimidine analog].

PMID- 25831743
TI  - [Cytidine].

PMID- 25831744
TI  - [Microtubule polymerization inhibitors].

PMID- 25831745
TI  - [Microtubule depolymerization inhibitor].

PMID- 25831746
TI  - [DNA topoisomerase I--targeting drugs].

PMID- 25831747
TI  - [Topoisomerase II inhibitors (anthracyclines)].

PMID- 25831748
TI  - [Topoisomerase II interactive agents (except for anthracyclins)].

PMID- 25831749
TI  - [Antitumor antibiotics].

PMID- 25831750
TI  - [Antileukemic].

PMID- 25831751
TI  - [Antimyeloma drugs].

PMID- 25831752
TI  - [Action mechanisms of molecular target agents and their off-target toxicities;
      introduction].

PMID- 25831753
TI  - [Anti-CD20 antibody].

PMID- 25831754
TI  - [Anti-HER2 antibodies].

PMID- 25831755
TI  - [Anti-CD33 monoclonal antibody drug conjugate--Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO)].

PMID- 25831756
TI  - [Anti-EGFR antibodies].

PMID- 25831757
TI  - [Anti-CCR4 monoclonal antibody].

PMID- 25831758
TI  - [Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor antibody].

PMID- 25831759
TI  - [Anti-RANKL antibody].

PMID- 25831760
TI  - [Adverse events and supportive therapy of anti-HER2 targeted therapy].

PMID- 25831761
TI  - [Side effects of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR
      TKI)].

PMID- 25831762
TI  - [Inhibitors for ABL, KIT and PDGFR tyrosine kinases--imatinib, nitotinib, and
      dasatinib].

PMID- 25831763
TI  - [Notable adverse events of ALK inhibitors in patients with ALK rearranged non
      small-cell lung cancer].

PMID- 25831764
TI  - [VEGFR inhibitor (multi-target kinase inhibitors)].

PMID- 25831765
TI  - [Proteasome inhibitors].

PMID- 25831766
TI  - [Toxicity management for mTOR inhibitors].

PMID- 25831767
TI  - [HDAC inhibitor].

PMID- 25831768
TI  - [Bisphosphonate].

PMID- 25831769
TI  - [Somatostatin analog].

PMID- 25831770
TI  - [Mechanism and side effect of endocrine therapy].

PMID- 25831771
TI  - [Anti-estrogen agents].

PMID- 25831772
TI  - [Toxicity of aromatase inhibitor].

PMID- 25831774
TI  - [LH-RH derivative].

PMID- 25831773
TI  - [Effect and adverse event of enzalutamide and abiraterone in prostate cancer].

PMID- 25831775
TI  - [Major side effects of systemic glucocorticoid].

PMID- 25831776
TI  - [Management of adverse events with interferon and interleukin-2].

PMID- 25831777
TI  - [Febrile neutropenia].

PMID- 25831778
TI  - [Appropriate use of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor].

PMID- 25831779
TI  - [Anemia].

PMID- 25831780
TI  - [Thrombocytopenia].

PMID- 25831781
TI  - [Appetite loss].

PMID- 25831782
TI  - [Chemotherapy-induced nausea, vomiting and diarrhea].

PMID- 25831783
TI  - [Oral mucositis, stomatitis--oral management of cancer patients receiving
      chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831784
TI  - [Constipation and ileus].

PMID- 25831785
TI  - [Hepatotoxicity of chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831786
TI  - [Reactivation of hepatitis B virus in patients treated with systemic
      chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831787
TI  - [Gastrointestinal ulcer, gastrointestinal perforation].

PMID- 25831788
TI  - [Interstitial lung disease].

PMID- 25831789
TI  - [Heart failure].

PMID- 25831790
TI  - [Arrhythmia, conduction disturbance].

PMID- 25831791
TI  - [Hypertension].

PMID- 25831792
TI  - [Cancer-associated thromboembolism--prophylaxis and therapy].

PMID- 25831793
TI  - [Renal dysfunction].

PMID- 25831794
TI  - [Proteinuria and bleeding due to anticancer drugs].

PMID- 25831795
TI  - [Thyroid dysfunction (hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism)].

PMID- 25831796
TI  - [Chemotherapeutic agents and electrolyte imbalance].

PMID- 25831797
TI  - [Dyslipidemia].

PMID- 25831798
TI  - [Disorder of glucose metabolism (hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia)].

PMID- 25831799
TI  - [SIADH (syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone)].

PMID- 25831800
TI  - [Tumor lysis syndrome].

PMID- 25831801
TI  - [Skin disorders].

PMID- 25831802
TI  - [Hand-foot syndrome].

PMID- 25831803
TI  - [Chemotherapy-induced alopecia].

PMID- 25831804
TI  - [Skin damage by extravasation of chemotherapeutic agents].

PMID- 25831805
TI  - [Peripheral neuropathy].

PMID- 25831807
TI  - [Ototoxicity of cisplatin].

PMID- 25831806
TI  - [Central nervous system neurotoxicity of anticancer chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831808
TI  - [Dysgeusia].

PMID- 25831809
TI  - [Corneal epithelial disorder, lacrimal drainage obstruction, and conjunctivitis].

PMID- 25831810
TI  - [Drug-induced arthralgias and myalgias].

PMID- 25831811
TI  - [Rhabdomyolysis].

PMID- 25831812
TI  - [Mental illness].

PMID- 25831813
TI  - [Chemotherapy related gonadotoxicity].

PMID- 25831814
TI  - [Allergic reaction and anaphylaxis].

PMID- 25831815
TI  - [Safety management of infusion reactions].

PMID- 25831816
TI  - [Secondary malignant neoplasms].

PMID- 25831817
TI  - [Growth failure].

PMID- 25831818
TI  - [Management of adverse effects of standard regimens for small cell lung cancer].

PMID- 25831819
TI  - [Management of side effects with platinum doublet chemotherapy used for treatment
      of non-small cell lung cancer].

PMID- 25831820
TI  - [Management of anthracycline and taxane therapy-induced symptoms for the patients
      with breast cancer].

PMID- 25831821
TI  - [Pertuzumab+trastuzumab+DTX therapy].

PMID- 25831822
TI  - [Concurrent chemoradiotherapy with cisplatin for locally advanced squamous cell
      carcinoma of head and neck].

PMID- 25831823
TI  - [5-FU+CDDP(FP) +cetuximab in recurrence/metastasis head and neck cancer].

PMID- 25831824
TI  - [Strategies to minimize toxicities during chemoradiotherapy for esophageal
      cancer].

PMID- 25831825
TI  - [S-1 plus cisplatin(SP) for advanced gastric cancer].

PMID- 25831826
TI  - [Chemotherapy and trastuzumab for HER2 positive gastric cancer].

PMID- 25831827
TI  - [Incidence and management of adverse events in FOLFOX plus bevacizumab therapy
      for colorectal cancer].

PMID- 25831828
TI  - [Management for adverse events associated with FOLFIRI plus cetuximab or
      panitumumab].

PMID- 25831829
TI  - [Supportive management of cisplatin and gemcitabine combination therapy for
      advanced biliary tract cancer].

PMID- 25831830
TI  - [Adverse event and countermeasure with regard to FOLFIRINOX for pancreatic
      cancer].

PMID- 25831831
TI  - [Ovarian cancer: TC therapy].

PMID- 25831832
TI  - [Side effect and supportive care to combination of gemcitabine and cisplatin
      chemotherapy for the advanced urothelial cancer].

PMID- 25831833
TI  - [Germ cell tumors].

PMID- 25831834
TI  - [Radiation and temozolomide therapy].

PMID- 25831835
TI  - [Ara-C].

PMID- 25831836
TI  - [ATRAC therapy].

PMID- 25831837
TI  - [Chemoimmunotherapy with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab].

PMID- 25831838
TI  - [Supportive care for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma receiving R-CHOP
      chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831839
TI  - [Hodgkin lymphoma--ABVD regimen].

PMID- 25831840
TI  - [Bortezomib-based triple combinations (VCD, PAD) for untreated patients with
      multiple myeloma].

PMID- 25831842
TI  - [Osteosarcoma: ADM+CDDP therapy].

PMID- 25831841
TI  - [Complications and managements in treatment of melphalan, prednisone and new
      agents].

PMID- 25831843
TI  - [VDC (A) + IE alternate chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831844
TI  - [Rhabdomyosarcoma--VAC regimen].

PMID- 25831845
TI  - [Multidisciplinary approaches--the role of doctors].

PMID- 25831846
TI  - [Oral management during cancer chemotherapy--imperative role of dentistry and
      oral surgery].

PMID- 25831847
TI  - [Team medical care--role of the pharmacist].

PMID- 25831848
TI  - [Nursing of patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy].

PMID- 25831849
TI  - [Team medicine--supportive care team].

PMID- 25831850
TI  - [Ethical perspective in clinical trials for drug development].

PMID- 25831851
TI  - [Comprehensive geriatric assessment for elderly patients with cancer].

PMID- 25831852
TI  - [Cost-effectiveness of cancer drug treatments].

PMID- 25831853
TI  - [Safety measures of oncology drugs].

PMID- 25831854
TI  - [Cancer treatment system and a new guideline for cancer treatment hospitals in
      Japan].

PMID- 25831855
TI  - [Community Cancer Networks: establishing alliances between hospital specialists
      and community treatment professionals to support cancer patients in Japan].

PMID- 25831856
TI  - Anisometry anterior cruciate ligament sport injury mechanism study: a finite
      element model with optimization method.
AB  - ACL damage is one the most frequent causes of knee injuries and thus has long
      been the focus of research in biomechanics and sports medicine. Due to the
      anisometric geometry and functional complexity of the ACL in the knee joint, it
      is usually difficult to experimentally study the biomechanics of ACLs.
      Anatomically ACL geometry was obtained from both MR images and anatomical
      observations. The optimal material parameters of the ACL were obtained by using
      an optimization-based material identification method that minimized the
      differences between experimental results from ACL specimens and FE simulations.
      The optimal FE model simulated biomechanical responses of the ACL during complex
      combined injury-causing knee movements, it predicted stress concentrations on the
      top and middle side of the posterolateral (PL) bundles. This model was further
      validated by a clinical case of ACL injury diagnosed by MRI and arthroscope, it
      demonstrated that the locations of rupture in the patient's knee corresponded to
      those where the stresses and moments were predicted to be concentrated. The
      result implies that varus rotation played a contributing but secondary role in
      injury under combined movements, the ACL elevation angle, is positive correlated
      with the tensional loading tolerance of the ACL.

PMID- 25831857
TI  - Mass transger in an eccentric annular region through diffusion.
AB  - The mass transfer in an eccentric annular region through diffusion by taking
      blood as a Newtonian fluid with the investigation of oxygen transfer and drug
      transport to the tissue cells in an eccentric catheterized artery is studied. The
      region bounded by eccentric circles in x-y plane is mapped conformally to
      concentric circles in xi - eta plane using a conformal mapping z = lambda/1 -
      zeta. The resulting governing equations are analytically solved by using
      transformation for the concentration. Numerical computations are carried out to
      understand the simultaneous effects of absorption parameter and eccentricity on
      the flow. The observation through the numerical computation reveals that, as
      absorption parameter and eccentricity enhances, the solute concentration
      diminishes. This mathematical model provides an insight for physiologists to
      understand the drug transport to the tissues in various clinical treatments of
      cardiovascular diseases.

PMID- 25831858
TI  - Experimental evaluation of fiber orientation based material properties of
      skeletal muscle in tension.
AB  - Biomechanical researches are essential to develop new techniques to improve the
      clinical relevance. Skeletal muscle generates the force which results in the
      motion of human body, so it is essential to study the mechanical and structural
      properties of skeletal muscle. Many researchers have carried out mechanical study
      of skeletal muscle with in-vivo testing. This work aims to examine anisotropic
      mechanical behavior of skeletal muscle with in vitro test (tensile test). It is
      important to understand the mechanical and structural behavior of skeletal muscle
      when it is subjected to external loading; the research aims to determine the
      structural properties of skeletal muscle by tensile.testing. Tensile testing is
      performed on 5 samples of skeletal muscle of a goat at the rate of 1 mm/min with
      fiber orientation along the length and 45 degrees inclined to the length. It is
      found that muscle is stiffer in the direction parallel to the muscle fiber than
      at 45 degrees to the muscle fibers. The tensile strength of the skeletal muscle
      along the fiber direction is 0.44 MPa at maximum load of 110 N and for direction
      45 degrees inclined to the muscle fibers, the strength is 0.234 MPa at max load
      43 N. The displacement of Muscle sample against the maximum load is small along
      the length of the muscle fiber i.e. under longitudinal elongation [15.257 mm] as
      compared to 45 degrees inclined to the length of skeletal muscle [17.775 mm] and
      under cross fiber elongation [19.7291 mm by FEA]. The testing is not performed
      for 90 degrees fiber orientation due to unavailability of soft tissue in cross
      fiber direction of the required specification, but finite element analysis is
      done on the skeletal muscle for the cross fiber orientation. As the fiber
      orientation within skeletal muscle differs with respect to the length of the
      muscle, the stiffness of skeletal muscle is also changing effectively. Hence
      skeletal muscle exhibits the anisotropic mechanical behavior.

PMID- 25831859
TI  - A Global Numerical analysis of the "central incisor/local maxillary bone" system
      using a meshless method.
AB  - In this work the maxillary central incisor is numerically analysed with an
      advance discretization technique--Natural Neighbour Radial Point Interpolation
      Method (NNRPIM). The NNRPIM permits to organically determine the nodal
      connectivity, which is essential to construct the interpolation functions. The
      NNRPIM procedure, based uniquely in the computational nodal mesh discretizing the
      problem domain, allows to obtain autonomously the required integration mesh,
      permitting to numerically integrate the differential equations ruling the studied
      physical phenomenon. A numerical analysis of a tooth structure using a meshless
      method is presented for the first time. A two-dimensional model of the maxillary
      central incisor, based on the clinical literature, is established and two
      distinct analyses are performed. First, a complete elasto-static analysis of the
      incisor/maxillary structure using the NNRPIM is evaluated and then a non-linear
      iterative bone tissue remodelling analysis of the maxillary bone, surrounding the
      central incisive, is performed. The obtained NNRPIM solutions are compared with
      other numerical methods solutions available in the literature and with clinical
      cases. The results show that the NNRPIM is a suitable numerical method to analyse
      numerically dental biomechanics problems.

PMID- 25831860
TI  - Mechanical modelling of confined cell migration across constricted-curved micro
      channels.
AB  - Confined migration is a crucial phenomenon during embryogenesis, immune response
      and cancer. Here, a two-dimensional finite element model of a HeLa cell migrating
      across constricted-curved micro-channels is proposed. The cell is modelled as a
      continuum with embedded cytoplasm and nucleus, which are described by standard
      Maxwell viscoelastic models. The decomposition of the deformation gradient is
      employed to define the cyclic active strains of protrusion and contraction, which
      are synchronized with the adhesion forces between the cell and the substrate. The
      micro-channels are represented by two rigid walls and exert an additional viscous
      force on the cell boundaries. Five configurations have been tested: 1) top
      constriction, 2) top-bottom constriction, 3) shifted top-bottom constriction, 4)
      embedded obstacle and 5) bending micro-channel. Additionally, for the first four
      micro-channels both sub-cellular and sub-nuclear constrictions have been
      obtained, while for the fifth micro-channel three types of bending have been
      investigated ('curved', 'sharp' and 'sharper'). For each configuration, several
      parameters such as the cell behaviour, the covered distance, the migration
      velocity, the ratio between the cell and the nucleus area as well as the cell
      substrate and cell-channel surfaces forces have been evaluated. The results show
      once more the fundamental role played by mechanics of both the cell and the
      environment.

PMID- 25831861
TI  - Effects of equiaxial strain on the differentiation of dental pulp stem cells
      without using biochemical reagents.
AB  - During orthodontic treatments, applied mechanical forces create strain and result
      in tooth movement through the alveolar bone. This response to mechanical strain
      is a fundamental biological reaction. The present study evaluated the effect of
      equiaxial strain within the range of orthodontic forces on the osteogenic
      differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs). Following isolation and
      culture of hDPSCs, 3rd passage cells were transferred on a silicone membrane
      covered with collagen. Cell adhesion to the membrane was evaluated under scanning
      electron microscope (SEM). Cells were divided into three groups: the first group
      was placed in a conventional culture medium, transferred to an equiaxial
      stretching device (3% strain for 2 weeks). The positive control was placed in an
      osteogenic medium with no mechanical strain. The negative control group was
      placed in the conventional culture medium with no mechanical strain either. Study
      groups were evaluated for expression ofosteogenic markers (Alkaline phosphatase
      and Osteopontin) with immunofluorescence and real time PCR. SEM images revealed
      optimal adhesion of cells to the silicone membrane. Immunofluorescence study
      demonstrated that osteocalcin expression occurred after 2 weeks in the two groups
      under mechanical and chemical signals. After application of equiaxial strain,
      level of expression of osteogenic markers was significantly higher than in the
      negative and positive control groups. Based on the study results, static
      equiaxial strain which mimics the types of orthodontic forces can result in
      differentiation of hDPSCs to osteoblasts. The results obtained may be used in
      cell therapy and tissue engineering.

PMID- 25831862
TI  - Largest for-profit hospital chains. Ranked by 2013 revenue as reported to the
      U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

PMID- 25831863
TI  - Largest U.S. teaching hospitals. Ranked by total number of residents and interns
      based on Medicare cost report data, 2012.

PMID- 25831864
TI  - Largest children's hospitals. Ranked by number of staffed beds.

PMID- 25831865
TI  - Largest not-for-profit hospital systems. Ranked by total revenue for 2013.

PMID- 25831866
TI  - Largest revenue-cycle management firms. Ranked by total number of healthcare
      revenue-cycle contracts, 2013.

PMID- 25831867
TI  - Largest healthcare management consulting firms. Ranked by 2013 total provider
      revenue ($ in millions).

PMID- 25831868
TI  - Executive compensation--healthcare systems (Selected titles, ranked by average
      total cash compensation, 2014 ($ in thousands).

PMID- 25831869
TI  - Executive compensation--hospitals. Selected titles, ranked by average total cash
      compensation, 2014 ($ in thousands).

PMID- 25831870
TI  - Top-paid execs at publicly traded healthcare industry companies. Ranked by total
      compensation for 2013 as reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

PMID- 25831871
TI  - Largest national healthcare associations. Organizations ranked by 2012 revenue,
      based on Modern healthcare's review of IRS 990 filings.

PMID- 25831872
TI  - Largest healthcare financing companies. Ranked by amount of loans underwritten in
      2013.

PMID- 25831873
TI  - Top business graduate schools for physician-executives. Data collected January
      April 2014 for the 2013-14 school year, ranked by number of-time students.

PMID- 25831874
TI  - Largest physician staffing firms. Ranked by number of physician recruiters as of
      March 2014.

PMID- 25831875
TI  - Physician compensation, 2013.

PMID- 25831876
TI  - Truven health 100 top hospitals: national benchmarks for success, 2014 (1 of 2).

PMID- 25831877
TI  - Largest vendors of electronic health-record systems. Ranked by number of
      providers where organization is the primary vendor.

PMID- 25831879
TI  - Most profitable U.S. medical-device companies. Ranked by 2013 profit margin.

PMID- 25831878
TI  - Most profitable U.S. health insurance companies. Ranked by 2013 profit margin.

PMID- 25831880
TI  - Most profitable U.S. drug and biologic companies. Ranked by 2013 profit margin.

PMID- 25831881
TI  - Largest healthcare law firms. Based on a blended score of healthcare lawyers
      employed in 2013 and AHLA membership as of June 5, 2014.

PMID- 25831882
TI  - Top architectural firms. Ranked by 2013 dollar volume.

PMID- 25831883
TI  - Top design/build companies. Ranked by 2013 dollar volume.

PMID- 25831884
TI  - Top development companies. Ranked by 2013 dollar volume.

PMID- 25831885
TI  - [Tale nucleases--new tool for genome editing].
AB  - The ability to introduce targeted changes in the genome of living cells or entire
      organisms enables researchers to meet the challenges of basic life sciences,
      biotechnology and medicine. Knockdown of target genes in the zygotes gives the
      opportunity to investigate the functions of these genes in different organisms.
      Replacement of single nucleotide in the DNA sequence allows to correct mutations
      in genes and thus to cure hereditary diseases. Adding transgene to specific
      genomic.loci can be used in biotechnology for generation of organisms with
      certain properties or cell lines for biopharmaceutical production. Such
      manipulations of gene sequences in their natural chromosomal context became
      possible after the emergence of the technology called "genome editing". This
      technology is based on the induction of a double-strand break in a specific
      genomic target DNA using endonucleases that recognize the unique sequences in the
      genome and on subsequent recovery of DNA integrity through the use of cellular
      repair mechanisms. A necessary tool for the genome editing is a custom-designed
      endonuclease which is able to recognize selected sequences. The emergence of a
      new type of programmable endonucleases, which were constructed on the basis of
      bacterial proteins--TAL-effectors (Transcription activators like effector), has
      become an important stage in the development of technology and promoted wide
      spread of the genome editing. This article reviews the history of the discovery
      of TAL effectors and creation of TALE nucleases, and describes their advantages
      over zinc finger endonucleases that appeared earlier. A large section is devoted
      to description of genetic modifications that can be performed using the genome
      editing.

PMID- 25831886
TI  - [Essential functions of microRNAs in the reproductive organs of animals].
AB  - The development of the reproductive organs and the gametogenesis of animals are
      complex and multistage processes that require the precise and effective
      regulation. In this review, we summarized the recent findings about essential
      functions of miRNAs in the regulation of gene expression during the
      differentiation of germ cells in spermatogenesis and oogenesis. Most probably,
      the main functions of the conservative and highly-expressed miRNAs in the
      reproductive organs of mammalian are the control of differentiation and
      proliferation of cells. Also we discussed the possible involvement of the
      germline-expressed miRNAs in the formation of the reproductive barriers and
      speciation.

PMID- 25831887
TI  - [Spatial organization of interphase chromosomes and the role of chromatin fiber
      dynamycs in the positioning of genome elements].
AB  - Many studies are devoted to the analysis ofinterphase chromosome architecture due
      to the evidence of functional-dependent spatial organization of the genome. These
      studies are based on classical cytological methods as well as on biochemical
      approaches (3C, 4C, 5C, Hi-C) allowing for the detection of long-range
      interactions between fragments of chromatin fibers, including the genome-wide
      interactions. In this review, we discuss the results of these researches which
      make it possible to explain functional-dependent multilevel compartmentalization
      of the nucleous and unravel the principals of high-level chromatin organization.
      Special attention is paid to the enchancer-promoter interactions important for
      the regulation of gene expression. Accordingly, we consider the model of an
      active chromatin hub and the alternative model of an active chromatin
      compartment, which was proposed based on reconsideration of some steps of the 3C
      procedure.

PMID- 25831888
TI  - [Expression of sphingomyelin synthase 1 (SGMS1) gene varies in human lung and
      oesophagus cancer].
AB  - The investigation of molecular mechanisms contributing to cancer progression is
      the burning problem ofcurrent research. Considerable attention has been given to
      the study of gene expression in cancer cells. Sphingomyelin synthase 1 gene
      (SGMS1) is one of the genes whose expression can be altered in cancer. SMS1
      enzyme, encoded by this gene, catalyzes the synthesis of sphingomyelin and
      diacylglycerol from phosphatidylcholine and ceramide. SMS1 may maintain the
      balance between cell death and survival by regulating the formation of the pro
      apoptotic mediator ceramide and anti-apoptotic mediator diacylglycerol. In
      addition, the changes in sphingomyelin level and sphingomyelin synthase activity
      have been observed in cancers of many tissues. However the peculiarities of SGMS1
      gene transcription have been insufficiently explored. In this work the expression
      of transcripts of SGMS1 has been investigated by the method of Real Time PCR in
      matched pairs of samples of human lung and oesophagus cancer and adjacent tissues
      without pathology. A significant decrease in SMS1 transcripts expression has been
      found in samples of human lung cancer. At the same time, in the samples of human
      oesophagus cancer and adjacent tissue, expression of SMS1 transcripts varies
      insignificantly: it is increased in 7 and decreased in 5 of 15 samples. The
      obtained results indicate that SGMS1 gene is differently expressed in cancers of
      different genesis.

PMID- 25831889
TI  - [Evolution conservativity of scar DNA localization in warm-blooded vertebrates
      isochores].
AB  - In meiotic prophase I attached to the lateral elements of the synaptonemal
      complex chromatin fibrils form loops. SCARs DNA (Synaptonemal Complex Associated
      Regions of DNA) is a family of genomic DNA sequences tightly associated with the
      synaptonemal complex and lying at the loop basements. Isochore compositional
      fractions of the human and chicken genomes were used as 32P-labeled probes for
      hybridization with the SCARs DNA isolated previously from the spermatocyte
      nucleus of the golden hamster Mesocricetus auratus. The localization of
      sequences, similar to golden hamster SCARs DNA in the human and chicken genome
      isochores was established. It was concluded that SCARs DNA localization into
      isochore com- partments of examined genomes is evolutionary conservative.

PMID- 25831890
TI  - [Genetic loci for spleen weight and blood pressure in Isiah rats with inherited
      stress-induced arterial hypertension].
AB  - Recently, the important role of the spleen function in hypertension development
      was demonstrated. In this study, the genetic control of absolute and relative
      spleen weight was investigated to reveal the genetic loci common for spleen
      traits and for arterial blood pressure at rest and under the emotional stress
      conditions in the ISIAH rats with inherited stress-induced arterial hypertension.
      The search for genetic loci for absolute and relative spleen weight was performed
      on 6-month old F2 (ISIAH x WAG) hybrid males derived from a cross of hypertensive
      ISIAH and normotensive WAG rats. One significant QTL mapped on chromosome 1 and 5
      suggestive loci were found for relative spleen weight. Four suggestive loci were
      detected for absolute spleen weight. All detected loci were novel. The
      significant QTL on chromosome 1 was common for relative spleen weight and
      arterial blood pressure at rest and under the emotional stress conditions in
      ISIAH rats. The results suggest that the manifestation ofthe stress-sensitive
      arterial hypertension in ISIAH rats may be related to the changes in genetic
      control of the spleen function.

PMID- 25831891
TI  - [Changes in mitochondrial function induced by dequalinium precede oxidative
      stress and apoptosis in the human prostate cancer cell line PC-3].
AB  - Mitochondria play central roles in diverse physiological and pathological
      conditions associated with cell survival and death. Delocalized lipophilic
      cations, such as dequalinium (DQA), are accumulated in cancer cells attracted by
      the highly negative mitochondrial transmembrane potential of these cells. DQA
      showed a potent anticancer activity in cells from different malignancies. Here,
      we report the effect of DQA on PC-3 prostate cancer cells. Incubation with DQA at
      concentrations between 1.5 and 100 microM from 24 to 48 h decreases cell
      viability. The decrease in cell viability together with a loss of mitochondrial
      transmembrane potential induced an increase in reactive oxygen species production
      and cell death via caspase-3 dependent apoptotic pathway. QA was shown to cause
      moderate to strong cell death in a time and concentration dependent manner,
      causing a most advantageous effect at a concentration of 10 microM applied for a
      long 48 h time period, which might be a consequence of the kinetics of
      intracellular DQA accumulation in mitochondria, but also of the mechanisms of DQA
      induced cell death. This data shows DQA as a promising agent against the human
      prostate cancer PC-3 cell line, activating the caspase-3 dependent apoptotic
      pathway. This fact might be beneficial for possible future applications in cancer
      therapy.

PMID- 25831892
TI  - [Delayed augmentation effect of cytokine production after hyperthermia stimuli].
AB  - Heatstroke is considered an important condition that may contribute to
      endothelial cell damage. The aim of this study was to assess temporal profiles of
      the cytokine (IL-6 and IL-8) and mRNA production when endothelial cells undergo
      higher temperature stimuli. In the first group, human umbilical vascular
      endothelial cells (HUVECs)were cultured at 4 different temperatures (37, 38, 39
      or 40 degrees C) for 1, 3 and 5 h. In the second group, HUVECs were cultured at
      37 degrees C for 4 h or 23 h, after stimulation by heating for one hour at the
      same culture temperatures used in the first group (37 degrees C to 40 degrees C).
      After culturing, IL-6 and IL-8 mRNA and protein levels were measured. It has been
      found the cytokine mRNA levels being significantly higher (p < 0.001) in all
      cells incubated at higher temperatures than those in the control (cultivation at
      37 degrees C). At the same time, the productionof IL-6 and 8 at a higher
      temperature (39, 40 degrees C) was significantly lower (p < 0.001) than at 37
      degrees C (control), and the decrease was temperature dependent. However, IL-6
      and IL-8 levels were significantly greater in the cells at 23 h after transient
      hyperthermic (40 degrees C, 1 h) stimulation than in control ones (p <
      0.001).After a transient hyperthermia, the production of the cytokines in HUVECs
      is initially inhibited and then augmented. The results indicated that tissue
      injury might continue to develop after a hyperthermic event. There might be a
      potent risk for underestimation of cytokine induced tissue injury in the acute
      phase of a heatstroke.

PMID- 25831893
TI  - [Comparative analysis of heat shock promoters efficiency in two diptera species].
AB  - Heat shock proteins (Hsp) provide cellular and whole body adaptation of animals
      to various adverse environmental conditions. Hsp70 is apparently the major player
      underlying biological adaptation in all organisms studied so far. In all animals
      the regulatory regions of studied heat shock genes include several conservative
      promoter elements HSEs (heat shock elements) that are necessary for binding of
      heat shock transcription factor (HSF). The promoter regions of hsp70 genes are
      extremely conserved and, hence, it was generally accepted that they are universal
      and can operate in species belonging to different phyla. In the present work we
      performed the comparative analysis which revealed characteristic differences in
      the hsp 70 promoters of two Diptera species: Drosophila melanogaster and highly
      thermotolerance soldier fly Stratiomys singularior. We measured promoters
      activity in D. melanogaster cell culture exploring in vitro luciferase reporter
      assay. The analysis demonstrated significantly higher strength ofD. melanogaster
      promoters in spite of the fact that comparable numbers of HSEs are present in
      both species. These drastic differences in the promoter strength are probably due
      to absence of GAF-binding sites, which are necessary for efficient functioning of
      D. melanogaster hsp70 promoters. In contrast, comparison of hsp83 promoters
      isolated from these two species does not show significant differences. Our
      results demonstrate existence of different evolutionary trends in the regulation
      of the hsp70 expression even within the same order (Diptera).

PMID- 25831894
TI  - [Chymotripsin-like activity and subunit composition of proteasomes in human
      cancers].
AB  - Activity of the proteasome, polyfunctional enzymatic complex, is known to undergo
      changes during cancer development. This phenomenon is, probably, caused by the
      changes in subunit composition of proteasomes. In present work, we studied
      chymotrypsin-like activity of proteasomes, subunit composition and their
      association in breast cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, endometrial
      cancer, renal cancer, bladder cancer, stomach cancer and colorectal cancer. The
      increase of proteasome activity was revealed in most cancer tissues compared with
      adjacent tissues except for the renal cell carcinoma. Changes in proteasome
      activity in cancer tissues compared with correspondent normal tissues were
      accompanied by modification of its subunit composition. High proteasome activity
      was observed in combination with an increased expression of immune subunits
      and/or proteasome activator PA28, associated with activity of 20S proteasome. In
      breast cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, bladder cancer, stomach
      cancer and colorectal cancer we additionally found higher expression of Rpt6
      subunit of 26S proteasome. Correlations between chymotrypsin like proteasome
      activity and subunit expressions were found in human cancer tissues. In summary,
      we suggest that proteasome ac- tivation and changes in its subunit composition
      plays an important role in cancer pathogenesis.

PMID- 25831895
TI  - [Involvement of serine/threonine protein kinases in cold stress response in the
      cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803: functional characterization of a
      protein kinase Spke].
AB  - Stress responses of the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis are fulfilled
      via a number of regulatory systems, namely, two-component systems as well as
      through negative supercoiling of the genome DNA. We have studied an involvement
      of serine/threonine protein kinases (STPK) in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis
      cold stress response. A search for the STPK mutants allowed us to determine four
      protein kinases, SpkB, SpkD, SpkE and SpkG, which could regulate transcription
      under the low temperature. According to a proteome analysis, SpkE significantly
      affects the protein pattern in Synechocystis. Functional activity of the
      recombinant SpkE was confirmed in in vitro phosphorylation assay with a use of a
      set of potential protein kinase substrates. It have been demonstrated that the
      basic proteins are preferable substrates for the recombinant protein kinase SpkE.

PMID- 25831896
TI  - [Influence of the orthosteric ligands binding on the conformational dynamics of
      the B-2-adrenergic receptor by means of essential dynamics sampling simulation].
AB  - The influence of binding of the orthosteric ligands on the conformational
      dynamics of the beta-2-adrenoreceptor was identified using the molecular dynamics
      method. It was found that there was alittle fraction of the active states of the
      receptor in its apo (ligand free) ensemble. Analysis of the MD trajectories
      indicated that such spontaneous activation of the receptor is accompanied by the
      motion of its VI helix. Thus receptor's constitutive activity is the direct
      result of its conformational dynamics. On other hand binding of the full agonist
      resulted in the significant shift of the initial equilibrium towards its active
      state. Finally binding of the inverse agonist stabilized receptor in its inactive
      state. Its likely that the binding of the inverse agonists might be the universal
      way of the constitutive activity inhibition. Our results indicate that ligand
      binding rather redistribute prexisting conformational degrees of freedom (in
      accordance to the Monod-Wyman-Changeux-Model) than cause induced fit in it.
      Therefore ensemble of the biological-relevant receptor conformations have been
      encoded in its spatial structure and individual conformations from that ensemble
      might be used by the cell according to the physiological behavior.

PMID- 25831897
TI  - [Correlation between macro- and micro-stability ch2 domains of human IGG2 and
      their biological activity. 1. Ansalysis the calorimetric and optical melting
      curves].
AB  - Human myeloma immunoglobulin second subclass LOM and SIN, their Fc fragment and
      firstly obtained hFc fragment in which there is not only low portion of the hinge
      region, but also its core portion (Cys-Cys-Val-Glu-Cys-Pro-Pro-Cys), have been
      studied by number of physical methods (scanning calorimetry, fluorescence
      spectroscopy, analytical centrifugation). Joint analysis of calorimetric and
      optical melting curves revealed that only first (low-temperature) heat absorption
      peak at all the melting curves corresponds to the melting of the two CH2 domains.
      It was shown that CH2 domains of intact IgG2 are destabilized relative to those
      domains in hFc and Fc fragments.

PMID- 25831898
TI  - [Common features in arrangements of ribosomal protein S26e binding sites on its
      own pre-mRNA and the 18S rRNA].
AB  - It is known that human ribosomal protein (rp) S26e can bind to the first intron
      of its own pre-mRNA and thereby inhibit its splicing. In this work, hydroxyl
      radical footprinting was applied for detailed mapping of the rpS26e binding site
      on an RNA transcript corresponding to the rpS26e pre-mRNA fragment containing the
      first intron flanked by the first exon and a part of the second exon sequences.
      Nucleotides of this RNA protected from hydroxyl radical attack in the presence of
      rpS26e were identified. Most of them are found in the region of the 3'-splice
      site of the first intron within a purine-rich sequence, which forms a loop
      connecting two helices in the predicted secondary structure of the rpS26e pre
      mRNA fragment, and the remaining nucleotides are located near the 5'-splice site.
      Comparison of arrangements of rpS26e binding sites on the pre-mRNA and 18S rRNA
      secondary structures reveals similar elements in the organization of these sites.
      It was found that both sites contain a structural motif, represented by an
      extended purine-rich loop between two helices, which could be recognized by
      rpS26e upon binding to these RNAs. The data obtained shed light on the structural
      aspects of RNA-protein interactions underlying autoregulation of human RPS26e
      gene expression at the splicing step.

PMID- 25831899
TI  - [SPC/E and TIP4P models for investigation of the conformational mobility of the
      insulin superfamily peptides].
AB  - In this work we carried out a comparative analysis of the two most popular water
      models-SPC/E and TIP4P and estimated the ability of using ones for insulin
      superfamily peptides-proinsulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGF1 and IGF2).
      It was shown that root-mean-square deviations and radius of gyration had tend to
      be in reversed phase when both water models were used. Only IGF1 had a plateau
      after 9000 ps. In addition, it was shown that in spite of the general nature of
      insulin-like packing maintenance, there were some differences in the secondary
      structures, when we used TIP4P and SPC/E. These differences could influence on
      the overall molecule dynamics and the ability to accept necessary conformation
      for interaction with cognate receptors. On the basis of the received data we
      concluded that it is necessary to use several, not one, water models for the
      study of the peptides conformational mobility.

PMID- 25831900
TI  - [Phylogeny of beta-xylanases from Planctomycetes].
AB  - Here, we present the results of a computational analysis of a group of
      hypothetical GH10 endo-beta-xylanases from the Planctomycetes, a bacterial phylum
      with poorly characterized functional capabilities. These proteins are encoded in
      all analyzed genomes of heterotrophic Planctomycetes and form a phylogenetically
      distinct and tight cluster. In addition, we determined nucleotide sequences for
      endo-beta-xylanase genes from five strains of Isosphaera-Singulisphaera group of
      the Planctomycetes. The trees constructed for the 16S rRNA genes and the inferred
      amino acid sequences of endo-beta-xylanases were highly congruent, thus
      suggesting the vertical transfer of endo-beta-xylanase genes and their functional
      importance in Planctomycetes.

PMID- 25831901
TI  - [Indicators of plasminogen activation system and growth factors in the tissue of
      nevi and skin melanoma].
AB  - Skin melanoma is believed to result from malignization of an inborn or acquired
      pigmented nevus under the action of a number of causative agents. With regard to
      this, the comparative analysis of skin melanoma tissue samples taken from
      patients of both sexes and pigmented nevus tissue samples was performed by
      polarization fluoroimmunoassay. The study involved analyzing the activity of
      plasmin, plasminogen, concentration and activity of urokinase type plasminogen
      activator, tissue type plasminogen activator, plasminogen activator inhibitor, as
      well as the level of growth factors--vasculoendothelial one and its receptor,
      epidermal one and its receptor, transforming one, fibroblasts growth factor,
      insulin-like 1 and 2 growth factors. The detected changes indicate possible
      mechanisms of malignant transformation of skin nevi. The obtained results can be
      used for developing the risk evaluation methods for neoplastic transformation of
      nevi as well as prevention methods.

PMID- 25831902
TI  - [Molecular phylogeny of Siberian glossiphoniidae (Hirudinea)].
AB  - The molecular phylogenetic analysis based on mtCOI nucleotide sequences of
      Siberian glossiphoniids and phylogenetically relative Palearctic species clearly
      demonstrated that Siberian representatives do not belong to G. complanata as
      previously thought, but has an autonomous taxonomic status. In addition, the
      revealed genetic distances enable to accept the mtCOI fragment as a suitable
      marker for molecular identification of the species within the Glossiphoniidae
      (Hirudinea).

PMID- 25831903
TI  - Determination of vertical dimension of occlusion by using the phonetic vowel "O"
      and "E".
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIM: The vertical dimension of occlusion is a very important parameter
      for proper reconstruction of the relationship between the jaws. The literature
      describes many methods for its finding, from the simple, easily applicable
      clinically, to quite complicated, with the use of one or more devices for
      determination. The aim of this study was to examine the possibility of
      determining the vertical dimension of occlusion using the vocals "O" and "E" with
      the control of values obtained by applying cognitive functions. METHODS: This
      investigation was performed with the two groups of patients. The first group
      consisted of 50 females and 50 males, aged 18 to 30 years. In this group the
      distance between the reference points (on top of the nose and chin) was measured
      in the position of the mandible in the vertical dimension of occlusion, the
      vertical dimension at rest and the pronunciation of the words "OLO" and "ELE".
      Checking the correctness of the particular value for the word "OLO" was also
      performed by the phonetic method with the application of cognitive exercises when
      the patients counted from 89 to 80. The obtained difference in the average values
      in determining the vertical dimension of occlusion and the "OLO" and "ELE" in the
      first group was used as the reference for determining the vertical dimension of
      occlusion in the second group of patients. The second group comprised of 31
      edentulous persons (14 females and 17 males), aged from 54 to 85 years who had
      been made a complete denture. RESULTS: The average value obtained for the
      vertical dimension of rest for the entire sample was 2.16 mm, for the word "OLO"
      for the entire sample was 5.51 mm and for the word "ELE" for the entire sample
      was 7.47 mm. There was no statistically significant difference between the
      genders for the value of the vertical dimension at rest, "ELE" and "OLO". There
      was a statistically significant difference between the values f or the vertical
      dimension at rest, "OLO" and "ELE" for both genders. There was a statistically
      significant correlation between the value for the vertical dimension at rest,
      "OLO" and "ELE", for both groups of subjects. CONCLUSION: Determining the
      vertical dimension of occlusion requires 5.5 mm subtraction from the position of
      the mandible in pronunciation of the word "OLO" or 7.5 mm in pronunciation of the
      word "ELE".

PMID- 25831904
TI  - Morphometric analysis of the fascicular organisation of the optic nerve.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIM: The optic nerve is anatomically observed in four segments:
      intrabulbar, orbital, canalicular, and cranial. According to the literature, the
      surface of the transversal cut of the nerve is different through it. The aim of
      this study was to evaluate the fascicular organisation of the optic nerve,
      throughout its three segments fromthe eye. METHODS: Five pairs of optic nerves,
      obtained from the autopsies were examined. Using Heidenhain's (azan) staining,
      the cuts were prepared for microscopy. Morphometric analysis was performed using
      the stereological methods for morphometric cytology--the Weible's testing system
      M42. The following measures were established: the surface of the transverse cut
      of the nerve, the entire surface of fasciculi, the entire surface of connective
      tissue and blood vessels, the number of fasciculi, the surface of a single
      fasciculus. RESULTS: The surface of the transverse cut of the nerve was found to
      grow from the orbital to the cranial segment, as well as the entire surface of
      fasciculi. While their number is significantly lower in the cranial segment, the
      number of fasciculi varied slightly between the orbital and the canalicular
      segment. The surface of a single fasciculus grows from the bulb to the chiasma.
      There is probable a cause to believe that this may be due to fusion of the
      "small" fasciculi in the orbitocranial direction. CONCLUSION: There are
      significant differences among the examined parameters of the different parts of
      the optic nerve.

PMID- 25831905
TI  - Radical cystectomy in eldery.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIM: Radical cystectomy is the method of choice for the treatment of
      muscle invasive bladder cancer. This major surgery is associated with many
      complications, especially in older patients. The aim of this study was to analyze
      preoperative comorbidity, and intraoperative and postoperative complicatons in
      patients older than 75 years. METHODS: This clinical, retrospective study
      included 46 patients over 75 years, who underwent radical cystectomy. Indications
      for surgery, and complications during and after the surgery were followed up.
      RESULTS: Preoperatively, anemia caused by hematuria was registered in 76% of the
      patients. In 52% of the patients urine derivation was performed by ileal conduit,
      in 35% by ureterocutaneostomy and in 13% orthotopic ileal neobladder was created.
      The average duration of surgery was 190 (120-300) min. A total of 76% of the
      patients were treated by blood supstitution intraoperatively, average 630 (310
      1230) mL. Concerning pathological stage of transitional cell carcinoma of urinary
      bladder, 26% of the patients had T2, 4% T3a, 52% T3b, and 14% T4a stage. In one
      case, planocellular carcinoma was diagnosed by patohistological examination, and
      in 2 cases prostate carcinoma was incidentally found. The average duration of
      hospitalization was 16 (8-35) days. CONCLUSION: The main reason for cystectomy in
      patients over 70-and 80 years was gross hematuria caused by bladder cancer, with
      consecutive anemia which could not be solved using endoscopic treat- ment or
      blood supstitution. As expected, a prolonged stay in hospital after cystectomy,
      and a higher rate of complications were recorded in this population.

PMID- 25831907
TI  - Social participation of women with breast cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIM: The general problems of persons with malignant diseases (stages
      of asthenia, chronic fatigue and exhaustion, followed by depression and anxiety)
      lead to a decrease in functional abilities and a declining quality of life. The
      aim of this study was to determine the level of difficulty, the type of required
      assistance and the level of satisfaction that derives from maintaining life
      habits. The study also examined the correlation between the level of
      accomplishment of life habits and the level of satisfaction with how they are
      maintained. METHODS: The research was conducted at the Military Medical Academy
      in Belgrade and in the "Get Together" Association of Women with Breast Cancer
      from June to September 2012 on a sample of 30 women. A standardised
      questionnaire, Assessment of Life Habits-LIFE-H v.3.0, was administered. RESULTS:
      The lowest level of maintaining normal activities was related to education,
      housing and recreation. The greatest need for support to maintain normal
      activities was in the domains of housing, interpersonal relationships and
      employment The greatest satisfaction in the accomplishment of normal activities
      was observed in the domains of mobility, nutrition and housing, and the lowest
      level of satisfaction was in the domains of recreation, communication and
      interpersonal relationships. The correlation between the level of accomplishment
      of normal activities and the level of satisfaction was the highest in the domains
      of general physical activity, responsibility and life in a community; the lowest
      level was in the domains of personal hygiene, housing, mobility, employment and
      recreation (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The results indicate that research
      participants found it more difficult to maintain their social activities than
      their everyday activities. This clearly indicates the necessity to develop and
      implement special advisory and educational programs aimed at preventing social
      exclusion and to strengthen and support personal resources in the area of the
      social roles of women with breast cancer.

PMID- 25831906
TI  - Campylobacter jejuni infection and IgE sensitization in up to 2-year-old infants.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIM: The "hygiene hypothesis" addresses the correlation between the
      occurrence of atopy and the frequency of infections in the earliest age,
      explaining an increase in the incidence of atopic diseases by living in good,
      infection-free, hygienic conditions. The aim of our study was to determine the
      conection between atopy and Camplobacter infection, and to analyze the
      association between serum concentrations of total IgE and Campyobacter infection
      in relation to atopy in children up to two years. METHODS: A case control study
      was conducted with the sample of 98 infants of the average age of 8 months. Total
      serum IgE and Phadiatop infant multi-test were determined on Immunocap-100
      (Phadia AB, Uppsala, Sweden). The presence of atopy was determined by detection
      of serum-specific IgE > 0.35 kUA/L (Phadiatop infant positive) and serum IgM,
      IgA, IgG levels against C j uni were determined by a quantitative immuno-enzyme
      test--SERION ELISA classic. RESULTS: Total IgE cut-off values > 15 kU/L point to
      atopy in infants, and tIgE cut-off values > or = 8.1 kU/L pointed to a Cj/uni
      infection in infants. Within the group of atopic children, tIgE levels > 29.8
      kU/L point to C. jejuni infection, and within the group of non-atopic children,
      tIgE levels > or = 5.9 kU/L point to infection. Enteritis is not a predictor of C
      jejuni infection, because of a high frequency of asymptomatic cases of infection.
      The risk factors for C. jejuni infection are age and tIgE, and the protective
      factors are breastfeeding and atopy. CONCLUSION: C. jejuni infection increases
      the total serum IgE level, which is pre- dictive of infection, regardless of the
      presence of atopy. The presence of symptomatic C. jejuni infection reduces the
      risk of atopy in a child of the age of 5-24 months by the factor of 10.

PMID- 25831908
TI  - Estimating disability and quality of life after different degrees of hand and
      forearm trauma.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIM: Hand injuries comprise up to one fourth of all injuries and
      require excellent skills and aggressive physical therapy with still a high
      potential to cause long term physical and functional disability which affects
      one's quality of life. The aim of this study was to evaluate disability and
      quality of life in patients with different degrees of hand and forearm injuries
      using the two different scoring sistems and to examine the correlation between
      them. METHODS: This retrospective study was performed among patients operated on
      at our clinic due to acute hand and forearm trauma during the period of two
      years. Four groups of patients were made according to the Modified Hand Injury
      Severity Score (MHISS). One year after the treatment, phone interviews were made
      with those patients to answer to the Disability of Arm Shoulder and Hand (quick
      DASH) score for estimating disability and to the World Health Organization
      Quality of Life BREF (WHOQoL-BREF) score to estimate the quality of life
      regerding four domains: physical, social, environmental and psychological.
      RESULTS: Out of 182 patients who satisfied the inclusion criteria, only 60
      completely answered to the questionnaires, 46 (17%) men and 14 (23%) women. Most
      of the patients were in the group with moderate injuries according to the MHISS,
      followed by the group with major and severe injuries. A weak correlation was
      found between the MHISS and quick DASH score in the group with minor injuries,
      compared to no correlation between these parameters in other groups. The lowest
      quality of life was registered in the physical domain, while the highest in the
      social one. A negative correlation was found among the four domains of the WHOQoL
      BREF score and quick-DASH score in all the groups. CONCLUSION: Severity of hand
      and forearm injuries does not necessarily correlate with patient's perception of
      disability. The quality of life was less affected by severity of injury than by
      the patient's per- ception of disability.

PMID- 25831909
TI  - Continuing medical education in Serbia with particular reference to the Faculty
      of Medicine, Belgrade.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIM: Continuing Medical Education (CME), conceptualised as lifelong
      learning (LLL) aims at improving human resources and continuing professional
      development. Various documents of European institutions underline its key
      importance. This paper therefore tries to analyse the current status of CME and
      the main deficits in the delivery of LLL courses at medical faculties in Serbia
      with special consideration of the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade with detailed
      financial data available. METHODS: Data of 2,265 medical courses submitted in
      2011 and 2012 for accredita- tion were made available, thereof 403 courses
      submitted by 4 medical faculties in Serbia (Belgrade, Kragujevac, Nil, Novi Sad).
      A subset of more detailed information on 88 delivered courses with 5,600
      participants has been provided by the Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade. All data
      were transferred into an Excel file and analysed with XLSTAT 2009. To reduce the
      complexity and possible redundancy we performed a principal component analysis
      (PCA). Correlated component regression (CCR) models were used to identify
      determinants of course participation. RESULTS: During the 2-year period 12.9% of
      all courses were submitted on pre-clinical and 62.4% on clinical topics, 12.2% on
      public health, while 61.5% of all took place in Belgrade. The subset of the
      Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade comprised 3,471 participants registered with 51
      courses accredited and delivered in 2011 and 2,129 participants with 37 courses
      accredited and delivered in 2012. The median number of participants per course
      for the entire period was 45; the median fee rates for participants were 5,000
      dinars in 2011 and 8,000 in 2012, resulting together with donations--in a total
      income for both years together of 16,126,495.00 dinar or almost 144,000.00 euro.
      This allowed for a median payment of approximately 90 eur per hour lectured in
      2011 and 49 euro in 2012. The 2 factors, D1 (performance) and D2
      (attractiveness), identified in the PCA for Medical Faculties in Serbia, explain
      71.8% of the variance. Most relevant are the duration of the courses, credit
      points" and hours per credit point gained by lecturers and participants
      respectively. In the PCA for Belgrade D1 and D2 explain 40.7% of the total
      variance. The CCR on the number of participants reveals the highest positive
      impact from the number of lecturers per course and the expenditure on amenities,
      the highest negative impact from the total income collected per participant.
      CONCLUSION: The faculties of medicine in Serbia should reconsider the entire
      structure of their organisation of CME, especially to improve the quantity and
      quality of registration limit the course fee rates per hour and reduce
      administrative and other costs request lecturing in CME programmes as obligatory
      for academic promotion and organise a focused marketing.

PMID- 25831910
TI  - Assessment of implant stability by resonant frequency analysis.

PMID- 25831911
TI  - Beta-lactam antibiotics use in intensive care units--the pathophysiological,
      pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and pharmacoeconomic approach.

PMID- 25831912
TI  - Surgical treatment of dislocated fracture of the scapula column and glenoid: a 22
      year follow-up.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Most scapular fractures are caused by high-impact blunt injuries,
      often as the result of motor vehicle accidents, fall from height, etc. In 80% to
      90% of cases, scapula fractures are associated with multiple injuries (clavicle
      fracture, rib fractures, humeral fracture, pulmonary injury, brachial plexus
      injury). CASE REPORT: We presented scapular fracture in a 27-years-old male who
      had sustained a work-related injury when a ground soil brick machine pressed him.
      Fracture line was identified on radiotherapy and computed tomography scan from
      the distal scapular angle enclosing scapular neck. The whole lateral part of the
      scapula was dislocated laterally from the scapular body. Scapular fracture was
      treated operatively. The posterior approach was used for reposition, while for
      fixation after reposition we used two Blunt clamps. We presented functional
      outcome 22 years after the injury and the surgical treatment. The patient can
      perform all physical activities, still works, and there is no need to remove the
      ostheosynthetic material as it causes no discomfort nor problems. The strength of
      the shoulder muscles is estimated as physician as the grade 5. CONCLUSION:
      Displaced intra- articular fractures of the scapula should be treated
      operatively, with open reduction and internal fixation.

PMID- 25831913
TI  - Bilateral triple renal pelvis: a case report.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Triple renal pelvis is an extremely rare variation of the renal
      collecting system. To the authors' knowledge, bilateral triple renal pelvis has
      not yet been described in the literature. CASE REPORT: A 55-year-old man was
      hospitalized due to papillary bladder cancer, detected on ultrasonography. As
      incidental finding, intravenous urography revealed bilateral triple renal pelvis.
      Six weeks after transurethral resection of the bladder tumor (TURB) the patient
      was admitted again, for the second TURB. Computed to mography-urography confirmed
      the presence of bilateral triple renal pelvis. CONCLUSION: The unique case of
      bilateral triple renal pelvis was presented as an extremely rare variation of the
      renal collecting system.

PMID- 25831914
TI  - Unilateral galactocele in a male infant.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Galactocele, generally occuring in young women during or after
      lactation, is an extremely rare cause of breast enlargement in infants and
      children of exclusively male gender. Only 26 cases have been published so far,
      including two our cases. CASE REPORT: We described unilateral, cystic, breast
      enlargement, without any endocrinologic and other abnormalities in a 29-month-old
      boy. A typical clinical and histopathologic presentation of galactocele was
      followed with a complete excision. CONCLUSION: This was a 27th well documented
      case of galactocele in a male infant with typical clinical and histopathologic
      presentation. There are several hypotheses regarding etiology of the lesion, but
      it is likely to be multifactorial. Because of its extreme rarity, there are some
      difficulties in differential diagnosis and treatment options of galactocele in
      male infants.

PMID- 25831915
TI  - Emotional stress as a cause of syncope and torsade de pointes in patients with
      long QT syndrome.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a disorder of myocardial repolarization
      characterized by the prolongation of QT interval and high risk propensity of
      torsade de pointes (TdP) that can lead to syncope, cardiac arrest and sudden
      death. Episodes may be provoked by various stimuli depending on the type of the
      condition. CASE REPORT: A 25-year-old famele patient was hospitalized due to
      syncope that occurred immediately after her solo concert, first time in her life.
      The patient studied solo singing and after intensive preparations the first solo
      concert was organized. Electrocardiography (ECG) on admission registered frequent
      ventricular premature beats (VES), followed by polymorphic ventricular
      tachycardia--TdP that degenerated into ventricular fibrilation (VF). After
      immediate cardioversion magnesium and beta-blockers were administered. TdP was
      registered again several times preceded by VES. The corrected QT interval (QTc)
      was 516 msec. For secondary prevention of sudden cardiac death, a cardioverter
      defibrillator was implanted, and beta-blockers continued. After a 1-year follow
      up there were no recurrent episodes of TdP, and measured QTc was reduced to 484
      msec. CONCLUSION: Patients with syncope following intensive emotional stress
      should be evaluated for malignant arrhythmias in the context of LQTS.

PMID- 25831916
TI  - Kidney failure as an unusual initial presentation of biclonal gammopathy (IgD
      multiple myeloma associated with light chain disease)--a case report.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Immunoglobulin D (IgD) myeloma is a rare disease, about 2% of all
      myelomas, even rarer when accompanied with another multiple myeloma in biclonal
      gammopathy. We presented a case of biclonal gammopathy-as-sociated manifestation
      of IgD myeloma and light chain disease in a patient who initially had renal
      failure. CASE REPORT: 37-year-old male approximately one month before
      hospitalization began to feel malaise and fatigue along with decreased urination.
      Laboratory analysis revealed azotemia. A dialysis catheter was placed and
      hemodialysis started. The patient was then admitted to our hospital for further
      tests and during admission, objective examination revealed pronounced paleness
      with hepatosplenomegaly and hypertension (170/95 mmHg). Laboratory analysis
      showed erythrocyte sedimentation rate 122 mm/h, expressed anemic syndrome (Hb 71
      g/L) and renal failure dialysis rank: creatinine 1,408 micromol/L, urea 31.7
      mmol/L. There was two M components in serum protein electrophoresis: IgD lambda
      and free light chain lambda. Proteinuria was nephrotic rank (5.4 g/24 h), whose
      electrophoresis revealed 2 M components--massive in alpha 2 fraction of 71%; 7%
      in the discrete beta fraction, beta 2M / serum 110 mg / L, in urine 1.8 mg/L-
      extremely high; IgL kappa I lambda index 1:13 (reference value ratio 2:1). The
      findings pointed to double myeloma disease: IgD myeloma and Bence Jones lambda
      myeloma. Bone biopsy confirmed IgD myeloma lambda 100% infiltration medulla
      predominantly plasmablasts. The treatment continued with hemodialysis 3 times per
      week with chemotherapy protocol bortezomib, doxorubicin, dexamethasone. After 4
      cycles of chemotherapy, there was a decrease of IgD, lamda-light chains,
      reduction in proteinuria (1.03 g/24 h), so hemodialysis was reduced to once per
      week. Six months after treatment initiation the patient underwent autologous bone
      marrow transplantation. In a 2-year follow-up period double myeloma disease
      showed complete remission. CONCLUSION: The presented rare form of double myeloma
      disease with initial renal insufficiency underscores the importance of careful
      observation and teamwork that can alter the course of this serious disease.

PMID- 25831917
TI  - Quo vadis homine? Or where the marriage goes?

PMID- 25831918
TI  - A comment on the article: Stosic S, Karanovic N. Health care economics in Serbia:
      current problems and changes. Vojnosanit Pregl 2014; 71(11): 1055-1061.

PMID- 25831919
TI  - Authors' reply.

PMID- 25831920
TI  - [Environment and health: priorities for preventive medicine].
AB  - Contemporary environmental factors influencing the formation of the environment
      and public health have been analyzed The increasing chemical pollution of the
      environment (air water, soil, living environment), and the intensification of the
      impact of physical factors in the first place, "electromagnetic smog" associated
      with the widespread use of appliances and computer equipment, cellular threaten
      public health have been shown. In this connection, there were determined
      priorities and main directions of research in the platform "Preventive
      Environment", approved by Ministry of Health of Russia, which is based on the
      concept of the factor prevention of noninfectious diseases.

PMID- 25831921
TI  - [Application of a standardized-human biomonitoring methodology to assess prenatal
      exposure to mercury].
AB  - World Health Organization (WHO), in cooperation with the Consortium to Perform
      Human Biomonitoring on a European Scale (COPHES), has developed a standardized
      methodology for human biomonitoring (HBM) surveys in maternities in order to
      assess prenatal exposure to mercury. To test this standard methodology and adapt
      it to Russian settings, a cross-sectional HBM survey involving 120 parturient
      women was conducted in six maternities of the Moscow Region. Levels of total
      mercury in maternal hair (geometric mean: 0.21 MUg/g, 95th percentile: 0.54
      MUg/g), cord blood (0.89 MUg/L and 2.38 MUg/L, respectively) and maternal urine
      (0.27 MUg/L and 0.94 MUg/L) in this population were similar to those in other
      European countries with relatively low fish consumption. Consumption of all types
      of fish at least once per week during the third trimester of pregnancy compared
      to fish consumption less than once per month was associated with the increase of
      geometric mean level of total mercury: in hair by 31% (95% confidence interval:
      4%, 66%) higher, in cord blood--by 38% (9%, 74%) and in maternal urine--by 36%
      (2%, 81%). No biomarker values exceeded levels recommended by WHO or national
      agencies in the USA and Germany. However; at the population level, adverse
      effects of prenatal exposures to mercury can still be substantial.

PMID- 25831922
TI  - [Health and environment: the need and opportunity for the evaluation of the
      influence of environmental factors on the state of the population genofond in
      Ukraine].
AB  - In connection with the drastically changed the human environment, including in
      connection with pollution by mutagenic and teratogenic factors of different
      origin, the majority of the population, including in Ukraine, is posed in
      different living conditions in comparison with previous generations. The
      recognizance of epigenetic impacts and the possibility of their inheritance
      significantly increased the role of environmental factors in ensuring human
      health of both present and future generations. There has been proposed the system
      of assessment of the status and reproduction of the genofond of the population
      consisting of assessment of the level of natality, determination of the
      proportion of persons of optimal reproductive age and children, calculation of
      the frequency and risk of congenital malformations, spontaneous abortions of the
      first trimester of gestation, infertile marriages, as well as identification of
      priority risk factors of formation of pathology, analysis of anthropometric
      parameters of newborns and comparison them with data characterizing the previous
      generation. The work of the system is based on existing statistical databases, it
      requires qualitative level diagnostics and the accounting of congenital
      malformations, as well as creation registries of congenital malformations,
      spontaneous abortions and infertile marriages.

PMID- 25831923
TI  - [Summary of ongoing activities on environmental noise and health at the WHO
      regional office for Europe].
AB  - The environmental noise is an important public health issue, according to recent
      assessment of the burden of diseases among environmental health risk factors in
      order of importance the environmental noise occupies the second place after air
      pollution. The World Health Organization (WHO) for the first time published its
      public health recommendations for the environmental noise in 1999 in the "WHO
      Guidelines for Community Noise (1999)". These recommendations found their
      development in WHO Night Noise Guidelines for Europe" (2009). From then onward
      there have been published new important data on the impact of the environmental
      noise on the health, that stipulated the revision of existing guidelines.
      Furthermore, both in the European Union (EU) Directive 2002/49/ EC and the Parma
      Declaration from 2010 there was pointed out the importance of renewal
      environmental noise recommendations. Responding to appearing interrogation, WHO
      Regional Office for Europe has recently initiated the process of the elaboration
      of new guiding principles known as "WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the
      European Region". The Guidelines will include a systematic review of most
      critical or important health consequences and also concentrate on health benefits
      of measures for the reducing noise levels. The Guidelines will consider noise
      coming from various noise sources such as aircraft, railroad, personal electronic
      devices and wind turbines. The Guidelines will also consider the particularity of
      such accommodations as residences, hospitals, and educational facilities. The
      work in the mentioned spheres is ongoing and the revised Guidelines are expected
      to be published in mid-2015. The Guidelines will provide up-to-date information
      on the health risks related to the environmental noise and evidence-based
      recommendations in order to support for WHO Member States in their efforts to
      prevent of the excessive noise and the struggle with their negative impact.

PMID- 25831924
TI  - [Field investigations of the air pollution level of populated territories].
AB  - The assessment and management of air quality of settlements is one of the
      priorities in the field of environmental protection. In the management of air
      quality the backbone factor is the methodology of the organization, performance
      and interpretation of data of field investigations. The present article is
      devoted to the analysis of the existing methodological approaches and practical
      aspects of their application in the organization and performance of field
      investigations with the aim to confirm the adequacy of the boundaries of the
      sanitary protection zone in the old industrial regions, hygienic evaluation of
      the data of field investigations of the air pollution level.

PMID- 25831925
TI  - [Investigation of the air microbiota in the Saint Petersburg].
AB  - Microbiological tests of air in hospitals are the very important constituent
      element in prophylaxis of health care-associated infections. The aim of the study
      is to assess air in hospitals accordingly to the microbiological standards. The
      results were analyzed for 1993-2011. There were 0.2-4.2% of the samples that did
      not meet the standard. The maximum amount of microorganisms was found while
      SanPiN 2.1.3.1375-03 was effective within validity period SanPiN 2.1.3.2630-10
      didn't normalize fungus, resulting in the minimal amount of mold. The frequency
      of sampling did not affect the result. DISCUSSION: Moulds are the causative
      agents of invasive fungal infections. Fungi can cause nosocomial infections.
      There is description of method to isolate fungi in the guidelines for control MUK
      4.2.2942-11. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to use a new procedure when assessing
      the air in hospitals.

PMID- 25831926
TI  - [Biochemical effects of chronic peroral administration of carbon nanotubes and
      activated charcoal in drinking water in rats].
AB  - Chronic 6-month experiment was carried out in rats, which received drinking water
      with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), diameter of 15-40 nm, length >= 2
      mkm) or activated charcoal (AC, diameter of 10-100 mkm), blood samples of the
      animals were used for assessment of biochemical markers. Both coal compounds
      induced the appearance of signs of oxidative stress 2 weeks after the beginning
      of the experiment and alteration of serum markers of liver and renal damage, as
      well as changes of cortisol and protein serum concentrations later Thus, despite
      of known high (asbest-like) inhalation toxicity of carbon nanotubes in comparison
      with other carbon allotrops (fullerenes and black carbon), we have found similar
      effects of MWCNTs and carbon microparticles in orally treated rats.

PMID- 25831927
TI  - [Information hygiene and regulation of information for vulnerable groups of the
      population].
AB  - Development of information society engenders the problem of hygienic regulation
      of information load for the population, first of all for vulnerable groups. There
      are presented international and Russian normative legal documents and experience
      in this area, there are described the negative effects of information (such as
      stress, depression, suicidal ideations). There are considered social
      psychological characteristics of vulnerable groups that requires their best
      protection from loads of information, doing harm, particularly in terms of
      reproductive health, family relationships, children, etc. There was noted the
      desirability of improvement of sanitary, legislation on the regulation of the
      information load on the population, especially in vulnerable groups, in terms of
      optimization of parameters of the signal-carriers on volume, brightness and the
      adequacy of the volume and content of information in radio and television
      broadcasting, in an urban environment and at the plant to preserve the health and
      well-being of the population.

PMID- 25831928
TI  - [Mycobiota of soil and anthropogenic substrates of the Yamal Peninsula].
AB  - There are presented results of mycological examination of samples of soil and
      anthropogenic substrates, collected on the Yamal Peninsula. 40 species of
      micromycetes have been identified. The obtained results indicate to the
      qualitative difference in the complexes of micromycetes from soil and
      anthropogenic substrates in the examined area. On anthropogenic substrates dark
      colored fungi were dominated Predominant group were known destructors of
      different materials and commensal human pathogens also. In soil samples from
      different depths species of the genus Penicillium and fungi of the genus Fusarium
      dominated clearly, that is quite typical for tundra soils. There is noted a
      general downward trend in species diversity and abundance of micromycetes with
      the increasing of the depth of the soil and the frozen ground. In the surface
      layer of soil there may occur species capable to move to man-made materials. The
      data obtained shows the feasibility of using the structure of complexes of
      micromycetes as an indicator index of anthropogenic impact on Arctic ecosystems.

PMID- 25831929
TI  - [Effect of environmental factors on the formation of postvaccinal immunity].
AB  - In the present article there are considered the features of the formation of post
      vaccination immunity in dependence on the level of anthropogenic load. The level
      of anthropogenic load on urban and rural areas on the base of the database of the
      Regional Foundation for Socio-hygienic monitoring of the Orenburg region has been
      determined. The assessment of the state of post-vaccination immunity was
      performed on average long-term indices in the indicator groups of children and
      adults. The distribution of the population throughout the strength of immunity to
      measles in dependence on area of residence has been determined. The relationship
      between the formation of post-vaccination immunity area of the residence has been
      established. In the population residing in urban areas the number of post-
      vaccination antibodies was significantly lower than that of the population in
      rural settlements.

PMID- 25831930
TI  - [Visual hygiene in LED lighting. Modern scientific imaginations].
AB  - There are considered a classic and modern paradigm of perception of light and its
      impact on human health. To consider the perception of light as a complex self
      organizing synergistic system of compression of information in the process of its
      sequencing was supposed. This allowed to develop a complex of interrelated
      measures, which may become the basis for modern hygiene, and determine
      requirements for the led lamp with biologically adequate spectrum of the light,
      for which there were obtained patents in Russia, Europe and USA.

PMID- 25831931
TI  - [On the issue of the safety of reagents used for water treatment and
      purification].
AB  - There was shown the actuality of the problem of the safety of reagents used for
      water treatment. There have been analyzed several composite reagents used in
      Russia in the Practice of Water-Supplying Treatment. In technical specifications
      for these reagents, there was no information on the origin, composition and
      properties of modifying additives 'M', the synthetic polyelectrolytes level (%).
      Up to date, there are no available analytical methods permitting to determine
      reliably the content of polymers and monomers at the levels actually present in
      water after application of synthetic polyelectrolytes. It is necessary to
      strengthen the control over the use of synthetic polyelectrolytes in water
      supplying practice.

PMID- 25831932
TI  - [Excessive loads on schoolchild: analysis of the hygienist].
AB  - In the article there are presented the arguments of the hygienist in favor of the
      improvement the of pedagogical technologies inthe school for the maintenance of
      children's health. Recommendations expressed in this article are based on modern
      data of current domestic research and observations of domestic scientists
      hygienists, as well as on the analysis of the opinions of parents and teachers of
      the school.

PMID- 25831933
TI  - [The methods of assessment of health risk from exposure to radon and radon
      daughters].
AB  - The critical analysis of existing models of the relationship dose-effect (RDE)
      for radon exposure on human health has been performed. Conclusion about the
      necessity and possibility of improving these models has been made. A new improved
      version ofthe RDE has been developed. A technique for assessing the human health
      risk of exposure to radon, including the method for estimating of exposure doses
      of radon, an improved model of RDE, proper methodology risk assessment has been
      described. Methodology is proposed for the use in the territory of Russia.

PMID- 25831934
TI  - [Experience of justification of hygienic standards of food safety with the use of
      criteria for the risk population health].
AB  - In the article there is presented the experience of justification of hygienic
      standards of food safety with the use of criteria for the risk for population
      health. Health risk assessment under the impact of tetracyclines with food showed
      that the content of residual amounts of these antibiotics at the level of 10
      mg/kg (permissible residual tetracycline accepted in Customs Union Member
      Countries (CUMC) will not increase the risk to public health, including the most
      sensitive groups of the population. The assessment ofthe health risk associated
      with the receipt of ractopamine with food, showed that eating foods containing
      ractopamine at ADI level (0-1 mg/kg body weight), and even at the limit of
      quantification levels in meat products, is inadmissible because of unacceptable
      risk of functional disorders and diseases of the cardiovascular system. The
      results of the substantiation of the permissible levels of nitrates content in
      crop production showed that at the level of exposure according to hygienic
      standards established in the CUMC as at the recommended and actual consumption
      levels of products ofplant origin, the health risk as carcinogenic and non
      carcinogenic, does not exceed acceptable levels. The results of the assessment of
      the risk associated with the permissible levels of L. monocytogenes in certain
      food groups showed that an exposure level of hygienic standards established in
      the CUMC, standards of Codex Alimentarius Commission and EU documents (before
      release to the market by the manufacturer) the health risk does not exceed the
      maximum permissible level of the appearance of serious diseases. Adoption of
      standards of Codex Alimentarius Commission and the EU (for handling products in
      the market) is not acceptable because it can lead to an unacceptable risk of
      listeriosis for the population of the Russian Federation as a whole, and for the
      most sensitive groups.

PMID- 25831935
TI  - [Assessment of the effect of environmental chemicals on the working population in
      mono-cities].
AB  - There was made the characterization of the health risk for workers' of pulp and
      paper industry, under the simultaneous effects of chemicals in the residential
      and working area. The main adverse effect of chemicals that pollute the air and
      work environment is related with the impact on the respiratory system. Under the
      successive exposure (ambient air--air in the workplace) in the adult population
      working at the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill, the risk of occurrence of
      respiratory diseases (HI = 18.5) and individual carcinogenic risk (CR = 9.7 x 10(
      3)) have been rated as high and constitute 86-99% of the total risk.

PMID- 25831936
TI  - [Dynamics of adaptation processes and morbidity risk for the popupation of the
      territory of industrial cities].
AB  - There was investigated the character of the adaptation processes in the
      population residing in conditions ofprolonged exposure to environmental pollution
      in the territory of the industrial cities of the Irkutsk region in order to
      identify the possible periodicity of their manifestations in the formation of the
      morbidity risk for the population of different age groups. Under conditions of
      prolonged exposure to air pollution and other adverse unfavorable factors of
      industrial cities in the population of all age groups long cyclic changes of
      adaptation processes in the body in the form of repeated 11-15-years cycles in
      which a period of relative destabilization of physiological functions with
      lowered resistance is replaced by the period with the state of elevated
      nonspecific resistance were established to be observed. Undulating changes of the
      dynamics of the relative risks of general morbidity should be considered in the
      assessment of the medical and environmental situation in the territory and making
      the managing decisions at the base on the data of public health monitoring.

PMID- 25831937
TI  - [Monitoring of the chemical composition of snow cover pollution in the Moscow
      region].
AB  - Monitoring of snow cover pollution as an indicator of ambient air pollution in 20
      districts in the Moscow region during 2009-2013 was performed. The identification
      with a quantitative assessment of a wide array of organic compounds and the
      control of the main physical and chemical and inorganic indices of snow water
      pollution were carried out. More than 60 organic substances for most of which
      there are no the hygienic standards were established. The assessment of pollution
      levels of basic inorganic indices was given by means of the comparing them with
      the average values in the snow cover in the European territory of Russia and
      natural content in areas not been exposed to human impact.

PMID- 25831938
TI  - [Ecologo-hygienic criteria and monitoring indices of oil-contaminated peaty
      soils].
AB  - Intensive oil extraction in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug is not uncommon
      accompanied by emergency situations giving rise to the pollution of soil, surface
      and groundwater and causing an elevation in the population morbidity rate. The
      purpose of the study is to substantiate the basis for information value of
      hygienic indices of peat soils with low levels of oil contamination: from
      background values to exceeding the latters as much as 10-20 times, to apply in
      the study results in hygienic monitoring and oil regulation. The study was
      performed in accordance with the current methodological regulations. There was
      established the expediency of determination in transforming in the soil,
      composition of the petroleum hydrocarbons not only alkanes but arenes and resin
      asphaltene fractions, indices of phytotoxicity, translocation of petroleum
      products into plants testing of soil extracts on protozoa and invertebrates.

PMID- 25831939
TI  - [Distribution iodine deficiency diseases in coastal areas depending on
      geochemical conditions].
AB  - In the Primorsky Krai there was performed a population ecological and hygienic
      analysis of the relationship between the content of chemical elements in the soil
      and thyroid morbidity in the population of the region. The assessment of the
      prevalence of iodine deficiency and iodine deficiency diseases was carried out on
      the basis of the impact of the priority environmental toxic (strontium, nickel,
      cadmium, lead, arsenic, tin) and essential (nickel, iron, germanium, molybdenum,
      zinc, selenium) trace elements on the level of iodine deficiency diseases. The
      level of thyroid pathology in the territory of Primorye was established to be the
      highest one in areas characterized by the severe iodine deficiency (Northwest
      geochemical zones), where the structure of thyroid diseases is presented mainly
      by diffuse nontoxic goiter. Thyroid diseases associated with iodine deficiency in
      the population of different age groups are the result of multiple and combined
      imbalance of trace elements, which causes a relative (secondary) iodine
      deficiency. Thyroid disease in Primorye are environmentally caused diseases of
      technogenic origin, they are a consequence of the relative iodine deficiency,
      when on the background of normal iodine supply an imbalance of zinc, iron,
      cobalt, manganese with excess of such toxic trace elements as lead, strontium,
      nickel and chromium takes place. Thyroid pathology associated with iodine
      deficiency, along with other environmentally dependent diseases can be considered
      as a marker of ecological environment trouble.

PMID- 25831940
TI  - [Features of sexual development of adolescent boys in cities of Caspian region of
      the Republic of Kazakhstan].
AB  - The complex estimation of parameters of the sexual development of adolescent boys
      aged 14-16 years had been done in cities of Aktay and Atyrau, in Caspian region
      of Western Kazakhstan. Adolescent boys in cities of Caspian region of the
      Republic of Kazakhstan were found to have tendency to the delayed puberty
      according to Tanner score. Retarded sexual development is manifested by the some
      retardation in growth of genitals and escutcheon, in comparison with their peers
      from control group. The absence of differences in general physical development,
      as evidenced by anthropometry data, does not exclude the specific (elective)
      character of the impact of urbanogenic factors on growing male body, which is
      typical impact of hard metals salts.

PMID- 25831941
TI  - [Cytogenetical alterations in the workers of higher chemical hazard enterprises
      in accordance with duration of the employment period].
AB  - Cytogenetical examination was performed in 135 workers of higher chemical hazard
      enterprises with the duration of the employment period from 1 to 23 years. Weak,
      but statistically significant correlations were observed between indices: the
      total rate of chromosome aberrations (CA) (Tau = 0.14, p < 0.05), the rate of
      single fragments (Tau = 0.12, p = 0.01), the rate of ring chronosomes (Tau= 0.12,
      p = 0.04), the rate of double fragments (Tau = 0.13, p = 0.02), the rate of
      chromosomal exchange aberrations of chromosome type (Tau = 0.13, p < 0.03) and
      "the rate of multiaberrant metaphases" (Tau = 0.2, p = 0.0008) and the duration
      of the employment period at the higher chemical hazard enterprises. The rates of
      all types of CA was significantly higher in the group with duration of the
      employment period more than 5 years the significant exceedance of the control
      level was observed only for the total rate of CA and the rate of single
      fragments. Other CA types do not significantly exceed control indices. The ratio
      of carriers of CA of exchange type in the long standing group was significantly
      higher than in the short standing group, in that ring chromosomes were observed
      in the long standing group. Differences in the ratio of persons with the normal
      and increased levels of CA were statistically significant.

PMID- 25831942
TI  - [Regularities in the development of the toxic process in dependence on the stages
      of disorganization and adaptation].
AB  - At the based of the terms "disorganization" and "adaptation" there was studied
      the variation of the quantitative criterion of toxic effect--the threshold dose
      during the experiment with 222 chemicals with the oral toxicity. It is shown that
      the first manifestation of the effect may occur already in the 5th or 10th or
      15th-20th day of intoxication. In the short-term and chronic experiments the
      dynamics of the toxic process on threshold effect level in time was established
      to be characterized by four types of models: the growth of the effect (reduction
      of the threshold doses)--14% of the substances, the absence of the changes in
      threshold doses--46% of the substances, the apparent weakening of the effect
      (increase of the threshold dose)--10% of the substances, undulating nature of the
      threshold doses changes (periodic rise and fall)--30% of the substances. The
      analysis of these differences with regard to the stage of disorganization and
      adaptation is carried out. The recommendations for clarifying the procedure of
      toxicological experiment depending on the dynamics of the toxic process at the
      threshold level are developed.

PMID- 25831944
TI  - [Screening of compounds of nitrofuran in imported meat raw materials].
AB  - The article presents the results of screening studies of quantification of the
      nitrofuran drugs imported in raw meat (turkey, beef pork, veal, lamb, chicken).
      Identification was carried out by the detection ofsuch nitrofurans metabolites
      as: 1-aminogidantoin (AGD), 3-amino-2-oxazolidinone (AOZ) and 3-amino-5
      morpholinomethyl-2-oxazolidinone (AMOZ). There are analyzed the positive and
      negative effects of nitrofuran drugs. The data for the establishment of the
      potential risks to human health when using contaminated raw meat metabolites of
      nitrofurans are discussed. These drugs are prohibited in livestock in Europe
      since 1995 due to the adverse effects (carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic and
      toxic) on animals and the potential risk to humans. In the Russian Federation in
      accordance with SanPin 2.3.2.1078-01 01.01.2012 for the first time the was
      introduced rationing for nitrofurans (including furazolidone).

PMID- 25831943
TI  - [To the question of the optimization of methods for detection of vinyl chloride
      and 1,2-dichloroethane, and their metabolites in biological fluids in workers
      involved in production of polyvinyl chloride].
AB  - There is considered the improvement of methodological approaches to the gas
      chromatographic methods- of the detection of vinyl chloride and 1,2
      dichloroethane and their metabolites--chloroethanol and monochloroacetic acid in
      biological fluids. There were evaluated such metrological characteristics of
      methods, as repeatability, interlaboratoty precision, relevance and accuracy. The
      value of relative expanded uncertainty does not exceed 30%. There are reported
      optimal regimes of gas chromatographic analysis, conditions for sample
      preparation. The results of the contents ofthese chemical compounds and their
      metabolites in biological fluids from persons working in contact with chlorinated
      hydrocarbons are presented These techniques can be used for the detection ofthe
      fact of exposure to toxic substances, assessment of the level of exposure and
      biomonitoring.

PMID- 25831945
TI  - [Application of immuno-biochemical indices for the identification of the chronic
      pathology of the upper respiratory tract].
AB  - A comprehensive survey of organized children aged 14-17 years residing in the
      industrial centers with moderate and high levels of air pollution was performed.
      On the base of the examination of otorhinolaryngologist in the each of cities
      there was selected the group of schoolchildren with chronic pathology of the
      upper respiratory tract at the stage of remission. In these groups there was
      performed the assessment of the informativeness of immuno-biochemical indices for
      the identification of pathology caused by the impact of man-made factors. The
      most informative (relative content of autoantibodies to beta2-glycoprotein-1, the
      average individual immunoreactivity, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, level of
      alpha1-antitrypsin) were used in the mathematical model, on the based of which it
      was possible to calculate the diagnostic coefficient, allowing to identify in the
      groups observed by ourselves, chronic pathology of upper respiratory tract,
      formed under the influence of ambient air pollution. The above approach can be
      used in the formation groups for health promotion of children exposed to the
      negative impact.

PMID- 25831946
TI  - [Qualitative evaluation of TAMARPP, the relapse prevention program for substance
      abusers at the Mental Health and Welfare Center].
AB  - The development of an effective treatment system for patients with addiction
      related problems like substance abuse or pathological gambling is urgently
      needed. The purpose of this study was to clarify the therapeutic factors of the
      Tama Mental Health and Welfare Center Relapse Prevention Program (TAMARPP). The
      program is provided at the Tama Comprehensive Center for Mental Health and
      Welfare, which is operated publicly by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Seven
      personnel (3 clinical psychologists, 2 public health nurses, and 2 recovering
      counselors) searched the consultation records of 31 participants who had
      continued treatment longer than 1 year, and made a list of qualitative factors
      that may positively impact participant outcome. The following six factors were
      extracted: 1) a "no-blame" atmosphere that makes participants feel safe and free;
      2) a mutual helping process that enables participants to empathize with one
      another; 3) an individual-centered approach that focuses on a participant's
      motivation to recover; 4) a psycho-educational process that establishes treatment
      goals; 5) a treatment goal that involves some type of social role; and 6) the
      referral of graduates to another long-term treatment program such as Narcotics
      Anonymous. Our results suggest the need of personnel to provide treatment as
      follows: 1) keep the circumstances safe; 2) use a method that matches the
      participant's motivation; 3) refer graduates to another in-depth treatment
      program; 4) emphasize the relationship between thinking, emotion, and behavior;
      and 5) improve the quality of life of the participant. The missions of our
      center, an official institution that runs such a program, are as follows: 1) to
      be the first place at which addicts seek aid during the early stage; 2) to
      cooperate with other facilities in order to provide social resources that support
      recovery; and 3) to support patients suffering from both addiction and comorbid
      psychiatric diseases.

PMID- 25831947
TI  - [Response to treatment of patients abusing the "dappou drug" who participated in
      a group relapse prevention program: a comparison with patients abusing
      methamphetamine].
AB  - In this study, we compared the efficacy of a group relapse prevention program
      using the cognitive behavioral therapy-based workbook, Serigaya Methamphetamine
      Relapse Prevention Program (SMARPP), between patients abusing the so-called
      "dappou drugs" (designer drug in Japan, and those abusing methamphetamine (MAP).
      Both groups participated in the SMARPP at the Center Hospital, National Center of
      Neurology and Psychiatry. Results showed that, no significant differences were
      found in the rates of participation in the program or self-reported frequency of
      drug or alcohol use between the patients abusing "dappou drugs" or MAP. However,
      patients using "dappou drugs" reported no significant increase in their
      confidence in their ability to resist the temptation to use drugs on the self-
      report drug abuse scales after the SMARPP intervention, while patients abusing
      MAP reported a significant positive difference in their ability to resist
      temptation. In addition, insight into substance abuse problems and motivation to
      participate in further treatment slightly declined in those using "dappou drugs,"
      while there was a significant increase reported by the patients using MAP. These
      results suggested that the SMARPP might not be as effective for patients abusing
      "dappou drugs" as for those abusing MAP. The development of a relapse prevention
      program specifically designed for patients abusing "dappou drugs" is required.

PMID- 25831948
TI  - [Association between norepinephrine transporter gene polymorphism and alcohol
      dependence in Japanese].
AB  - Several studies have suggested that the norepinephrine transporter (NET) may play
      an important role in the pathogenesis of alcohol dependence. Therefore, in this
      study, we investigated whether the NET gene polymorphism is a susceptibility
      factor for alcohol dependence in 64 alcoholics and 73 healthy controls. In
      addition, we examined whether the combination of the NET and serotonin
      transporter genotypes are associated with alcohol dependence. The NET (1287G/A, 
      182T/C, and -3081A/T) and serotonin transporter (5-HTT3'UTR) genotypes were
      determined by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)--restriction fragment length
      polymorphism (RFLP) method. No significant differences in genotype and allele
      frequencies of the NET and serotonin transporter gene polymorphisms were found
      between alcoholics and controls. The haplotype frequencies of the NET gene
      polymorphisms were not also significantly different between them. Furthermore,
      the combination of the NET and serotonin transporter genotypes had not
      significant effects on alcohol dependence. The present study suggests that the
      polymorphisms of 1287G/A, -182T/C and -3081A/T in NET gene are not.risk factors
      in alcohol dependence.

PMID- 25831949
TI  - [Investigation of community support measures for patients with comorbid substance
      use disorder and psychotic disorder: nationwide survey of drug addiction
      rehabilitation centers].
AB  - In psychiatric care practice, patients are often seen who have difficulty with
      their social lives due to protracted psychiatric symptoms despite years without
      drug abuse. The difficulty of dealing with such cases and the lack of
      preparedness of the legal system leave circumstantial care as the only option.
      Western.countries have recently begun using the name 'concurrent disorder' as a
      diagnosis for patients deemed unable to recover solely through such treatment for
      drug addiction, signifying the presence of both a substance use disorder (SUD)
      and a mental health disorder. Various assessment and intervention methods are
      being investigated, and many studies have been reported. Based on the hypothesis
      that Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Center (DARC) are partly involved in
      supporting those with psychotic concurrent disorders (PSCD) in Japan, we
      conducted a survey to clarify the actual support for PSCD patients at DARC and
      the challenges they face. Surveys were administered to DARC-related institutions
      all over Japan (44 governing organizations and 66 institutions). Complete
      responses from 86 full-time employees and 445 DARC users were analyzed. DARC
      users were divided into two groups: psychiatric concurrent disorders (PSCD group,
      n = 178) and those without such symptoms (SUD group, n = 267), with the PSCD
      group accounting for 40% of the DARC users surveyed. Compared to the SUD group,
      the PSCD group was significantly less satisfied with their lifestyle and
      interpersonal relations at the DARC and a significantly higher proportion of the
      PSCD group requested assistance in communicating with others. When employees were
      presented with a hypothetical PSCD case and asked what was needed to deal with
      it, some responses were, "an institution that can treat both drug addiction and
      other mental health disorders," "a psychiatric care institution that provides 24
      hour care," and "sufficient manpower and training." In the future, a treatment
      system must be established based on public medical institutions with a dedicated
      PSCD program that can provide medical care under legal observation.

PMID- 25831950
TI  - [Motivation for change and recidivism among prison inmates for drug-related
      offences].
AB  - Programs for improving motivation to recover drug dependence were conducted in
      penal institutes in Japan. This study examined the effects of these programs, in
      order to increase their efficacy. Furthermore, relationship between increased
      motivation and prevention of recidivism was examined. The following programs had
      been conducted in penal institutions: (1) speed learning program using audio
      visual aids, (2) meeting program (meet a experienced person in recover), in
      cooperation with DARC (Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Center), and (3) relapse
      prevention program. Participants were female inmates (N = 94) that had taken part
      in one of the programs. In order to examine the relationship between motivation
      for change and recidivism, the motivation for change score was assessed before
      and after the treatment program. Furthermore, a followed-up was conducted to
      assess recidivism after release. Results indicated that all the programs resulted
      in improvements in motivation for change. However, motivation for change
      resulting from none of the programs had any significant effect on recidivism. The
      objectives of the treatment programs were reached as expected, since motivation
      for change improved after the treatment However, it is suggested that to prevent
      recidivism, more effective treatment methods for improving motivation to change
      are required.

PMID- 25831951
TI  - [Alcohol related problem in the workplace: trial of a screening and brief
      intervention program for risky drinking in the workplace, via the Internet].
AB  - This report describes the effect of a screening and brief intervention via the
      Internet (6-month Total health Management Program: TMP, a kind of life evolution
      program), for improvement of alcohol related problem in the workplace. At a
      certain company, 2,096 employees were screened.using AUDIT-C and CAGE via the
      Internet (electronic screening). From those screened, 17 risky drinkers were
      picked up. The classification of "risky drinker" was determined based on
      employees scoring over six points on AUDIT-C and over two points on_ AGE. These
      employees were then called to one-day practical seminar program (including the
      program of food education, music therapy, aro-atherapy, body conditioning etc.).
      After which, during 6 months, they were followed up via e-mail every month. After
      the 6-month follow up, their results of AUDIT-C were significantly decreased.
      Additionally, aside from the frequency of drinking at bedtime, maximum alcohol
      consumption per day was also significantly decreased. The Visual Analogue Scale
      for anxiety captured the initial screen and then again after follow-up was
      reduced significantly. Moreover, quality-of-life index for sleep and dinner were
      both significantly improved as well..These results suggest that the SBI
      (screening and brief intervention: TMP) is effective for reducing drinking
      behavior, can be used to effectively elevate quality of life.

PMID- 25831952
TI  - [Concurrent inpatient smoking cessation and alcohol abstinence programs for
      alcoholics and their outcomes].
AB  - Alcoholics have a high prevalence of nicotine dependence, and smoking is a major
      contributor to their high mortality. Three weeks after admission to an addiction
      center in Japan, 193 alcoholic men who were participating in an 11-week
      concurrent inpatient smoking cessation and alcohol abstinence programs filled out
      an anonymous self-report questionnaire regarding smoking and drinking, and 6
      months after the completion of the programs, 83 patients were asked to respond to
      a mailed questionnaire about their smoking and drinking status. Of the 193
      subjects, 73.3% were current smokers, but many were highly motivated in regard to
      both smoking cessation and alcohol abstinence. The subjects' scores on a 0 to 10
      point scale for rating motivation and confidence in regard to smoking cessation
      and smoking urge were significantly correlated with each other and with their
      scores for motivation and confidence in regard to alcohol abstinence and drinking
      urge. Three weeks after admission, varenicline treatment was well-tolerated, and
      the varenicline group had a high rate of smoking cessation than the smoker group
      not treated with varenicline (67.7% vs. 44.6%, p = 0.012). Forty-six (55.4%) of
      the 83 subjects who were mailed the questionnaire responded, and the drinking
      category was 'totally abstinent' in 35 subjects (42.2%), and 'mostly abstinent'
      in another 4 subjects (4.8%). Seventeen (20.5%) of the 83 subjects were non
      smokers before treatment, but after treatment, 23 (50.0%) of the 46 responders
      and 20 (51.3%) of the 'totally or mostly abstinent' 39 responders were total or
      almost non-smokers. The response rate of 'totally or mostly abstinent' was higher
      among the 17 non-smokers before treatment than among the 66 smokers before
      treatment (70.6% vs. 40.9%, p = 0.033), and the age-adjusted odds ratio (95%
      confidence interval) for the response of 'totally or mostly abstinent' was 3.30
      (1.03-10.56) for the non-smokers before treatment (vs. the smokers before
      treatment). In conclusion, smoking status had a great impact on the drinking
      status of treatment-seeking alcoholic men, and smoking cessation should be
      recommended to smoking alcoholics.

PMID- 25831953
TI  - Critical thresholds of liver function parameters for ketosis prediction in dairy
      cows using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fatty liver syndrome and ketosis are important metabolic disorders in
      high-producing cows during early lactation with fatty liver usually preceding
      ketosis. To date, parameters for early prediction of the risk of ketosis have not
      been investigated in China. OBJECTIVE: To determine the predictive value of some
      parameters on the risk of ketosis in China. ANIMALS AND METHODS: In a descriptive
      study, 48 control and 32 ketotic Holstein Friesian cows were randomly selected
      from one farm with a serum beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) concentration of 1.20
      mmol/L as cutoff point. The risk prediction thresholds for ketosis were
      determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. RESULTS: In line
      with a high BHBA concentration, blood glucose concentration was significantly
      lower in ketotic cows compared to control animals (2.77 +/- 0.24 versus 3.34 +/-
      0.03 mmol/L; P = 0.02). Thresholds were more than 0.76 mmol/L for nonesterified
      fatty acids (NEFA, with 65% sensitivity and 92% specificity), more than 104 U/L
      for aspartate aminotransferase (AST, 74% and 85%, respectively), less than 140
      U/L for cholinesterase (CHE, 75% and 59%, respectively), and more than 3.3 umol/L
      for total bilirubin (TBIL, 58% and 83%, respectively). There were significant
      correlations between BHBA and glucose (R = -4.74), or CHE (R = -0.262), BHBA and
      NEFA (R = 0.520), or AST (R = 0.525), or TBIL (R = 0.278), or direct bilirubin
      (DBIL, R = 0.348). CONCLUSIONS: AST, CHE, TBIL and NEFA may be useful parameters
      for risk prediction of ketosis. CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: This study might be of value
      in addressing novel directions for future research on the connection between
      ketosis and liver dysfunction.

PMID- 25831955
TI  - Eccrine poroma on the helix: a rare anatomical presentation.

PMID- 25831954
TI  - Characterization of an alpha-l-fucosidase from the periodontal pathogen
      Tannerella forsythia.
AB  - The periodontal pathogen Tannerella forsythia expresses several glycosidases
      which are linked to specific growth requirements and are involved in the invasion
      of host tissues. alpha-l-Fucosyl residues are exposed on various host
      glycoconjugates and, thus, the alpha-l-fucosidases predicted in the T. forsythia
      ATCC 43037 genome could potentially serve roles in host-pathogen interactions. We
      describe the molecular cloning and characterization of the putative fucosidase
      TfFuc1 (encoded by the bfo_2737 = Tffuc1 gene), previously reported to be present
      in an outer membrane preparation. In terms of sequence, this 51-kDa protein is a
      member of the glycosyl hydrolase family GH29. Using an artificial substrate, p
      nitrophenyl-alpha-fucose (KM 670 MUM), the enzyme was determined to have a pH
      optimum of 9.0 and to be competitively inhibited by fucose and
      deoxyfuconojirimycin. TfFuc1 was shown here to be a unique alpha(1,2)-fucosidase
      that also possesses alpha(1,6) specificity on small unbranched substrates. It is
      active on mucin after sialidase-catalyzed removal of terminal sialic acid
      residues and also removes fucose from blood group H. Following knock-out of the
      Tffuc1 gene and analyzing biofilm formation and cell invasion/adhesion of the
      mutant in comparison to the wild-type, it is most likely that the enzyme does not
      act extracellularly. Biochemically interesting as the first fucosidase in T.
      forsythia to be characterized, the biological role of TfFuc1 may well be in the
      metabolism of short oligosaccharides in the periplasm, thereby indirectly
      contributing to the virulence of this organism. TfFuc1 is the first glycosyl
      hydrolase in the GH29 family reported to be a specific alpha(1,2)-fucosidase.

PMID- 25831956
TI  - Automated auditory response detection: Further improvement of the statistical
      test strategy by using progressive test steps of iteration.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A common testing approach for automated ABR detection is to use a
      sequential test strategy. Repeated testing increases the error probability for a
      falsely detected response (Type I error rate). To compensate for this effect, the
      statistically critical test value must be increased with each test step. The aim
      of the study was to improve response detection by a reduction of the number of
      test steps using a progressively increasing test step of iteration, defined here
      as step width. DESIGN: A progressively increasing test step width was tested with
      and without the table-related testing (adjusting the critical test value to each
      test step) proposed by Sturzebecher & Cebulla (2013) . For this study the same
      data pool was used. STUDY SAMPLE: The investigation was performed on raw EEG data
      collected during routine clinical measurement of frequency-specific ASSR for
      hearing threshold assessment. RESULTS: The reduction of the test step number
      combined with a progressive test step width led to a significantly improved
      response detection. In combination with table-related testing a slight but not
      significant improvement compared to table-related testing alone was revealed.
      CONCLUSIONS: The proposed test strategy can improve the performance of objective
      hearing threshold assessment and of newborn hearing screening.

PMID- 25831957
TI  - Postnatal ontogeny of the cochlea and flight ability in Jamaican fruit bats
      (Phyllostomidae) with implications for the evolution of echolocation.
AB  - Recent evidence has shown that the developmental emergence of echolocation calls
      in young bats follow an independent developmental pathway from other
      vocalizations and that adult-like echolocation call structure significantly
      precedes flight ability. These data in combination with new insights into the
      echolocation ability of some shrews suggest that the evolution of echolocation in
      bats may involve inheritance of a primitive sonar system that was modified to its
      current state, rather than the ad hoc evolution of echolocation in the earliest
      bats. Because the cochlea is crucial in the sensation of echoes returning from
      sonar pulses, we tracked changes in cochlear morphology during development that
      included the basilar membrane (BM) and secondary spiral lamina (SSL) along the
      length of the cochlea in relation to stages of flight ability in young bats. Our
      data show that the morphological prerequisite for sonar sensitivity of the
      cochlea significantly precedes the onset of flight in young bats and, in fact,
      development of this prerequisite is complete before parturition. In addition,
      there were no discernible changes in cochlear morphology with stages of flight
      development, demonstrating temporal asymmetry between the development of
      morphology associated with echo-pulse return sensitivity and volancy. These data
      further corroborate and support the hypothesis that adaptations for sonar and
      echolocation evolved before flight in mammals. 

PMID- 25831958
TI  - The WOR1 5' untranslated region regulates white-opaque switching in Candida
      albicans by reducing translational efficiency.
AB  - The human fungal pathogen Candida albicans undergoes white-opaque phenotypic
      switching, which enhances its adaptation to host niches. Switching is controlled
      by a transcriptional regulatory network of interlocking feedback loops acting on
      the transcription of WOR1, the master regulator of white-opaque switching, but
      regulation of the network on the translational level is not yet explored. Here,
      we show that the long 5' untranslated region of WOR1 regulates the white-opaque
      phenotype. Deletion of the WOR1 5' UTR promotes white-to-opaque switching and
      stabilizes the opaque state. The WOR1 5' UTR reduces translational efficiency and
      the association of the transcript with polysomes. Reduced polysome association
      was observed for additional key regulators of cell fate and morphology with long
      5' UTR as well. Overall, we find a novel regulatory step of white-opaque
      switching at the translational level. This translational regulation is implicated
      for many key regulators of cell fate and morphology in C. albicans. 

PMID- 25831959
TI  - Advancing a sociotechnical systems approach to workplace safety--developing the
      conceptual framework.
AB  - Traditional efforts to deal with the enormous problem of workplace safety have
      proved insufficient, as they have tended to neglect the broader sociotechnical
      environment that surrounds workers. Here, we advocate a sociotechnical systems
      approach that describes the complex multi-level system factors that contribute to
      workplace safety. From the literature on sociotechnical systems, complex systems
      and safety, we develop a sociotechnical model of workplace safety with concentric
      layers of the work system, socio-organisational context and the external
      environment. The future challenges that are identified through the model are
      highlighted. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: Understanding the environmental,
      organisational and work system factors that contribute to workplace safety will
      help to develop more effective and integrated solutions to deal with persistent
      workplace safety problems. Solutions to improve workplace safety need to
      recognise the broad sociotechnical system and the respective interactions between
      the system elements and levels.

PMID- 25831960
TI  - Clinical symptoms associated with suicidality in patients with panic disorder.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with panic disorder have higher rates of suicide than the
      general population. Among panic disorder subjects, early onset, female gender,
      alcohol abuse, and mood disorder increase the risk of suicidality. However, less
      is known about the unique relationships between discrete DSM-IV panic symptoms
      and higher suicidality. Therefore, in the current study we examined the panic
      symptom profile that is associated with higher suicidality in a sample of
      outpatients with panic disorder. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 427
      patients diagnosed with current panic disorder on the basis of the DSM-IV-TR. In
      order to assess the contribution of the clinical variables, a univariate logistic
      regression was carried out examining the relationships between the demographic
      variables, suicidality from the suicide module of the Korean version of the MINI
      International Neuropsychiatric Interview Plus, and DSM-IV panic symptoms.
      Additionally, a multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify
      specific panic symptoms that were significant risk factors for suicidality among
      patients with current panic disorder. RESULTS: We found that 74 (17.33%) panic
      disorder patients experienced high suicidality. Univariate analyses showed that
      high suicidality was significantly associated with a younger age (OR = 13.66; 95%
      CI 2.68-69.70), comorbid depressive disorders (OR = 4.57; 95% CI 2.57-8.11), and
      the following panic symptoms: palpitations (OR = 2.20; 95% CI 0.90-5.35),
      trembling (OR = 0.61; 95% CI 0.362-1.18), nausea or abdominal distress (OR =
      1.77; 95% CI 0.96-3.27), fear of losing control or going crazy (OR = 2.18; 95% CI
      1.12-4.23), and paresthesia (OR = 1.57; 95% CI 0.83-2.98). Multivariate logistic
      regression analyses demonstrated that specific panic symptoms, such as
      palpitations (adjusted OR = 2.69; 95% CI 1.08-6.73) and fear of losing control or
      going crazy (adjusted OR = 2.28; 95% CI 1.21-4.31), were related to suicidality
      after controlling for confounding factors. CONCLUSION: Some panic symptoms (e.g.
      palpitations and fear of losing control or going crazy) are associated with a
      risk of suicidality among patients with panic disorder. A priori identification
      of high-risk suicidal subjects could lead to effective treatment strategies for
      panic disorder.

PMID- 25831961
TI  - The IVIg dilemma: a way out?

PMID- 25831962
TI  - The WHO-5 Well-Being Index: a systematic review of the literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The 5-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) is
      among the most widely used questionnaires assessing subjective psychological well
      being. Since its first publication in 1998, the WHO-5 has been translated into
      more than 30 languages and has been used in research studies all over the world.
      We now provide a systematic review of the literature on the WHO-5. METHODS: We
      conducted a systematic search for literature on the WHO-5 in PubMed and PsycINFO
      in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. In our review of the identified
      articles, we focused particularly on the following aspects: (1) the clinimetric
      validity of the WHO-5; (2) the responsiveness/sensitivity of the WHO-5 in
      controlled clinical trials; (3) the potential of the WHO-5 as a screening tool
      for depression, and (4) the applicability of the WHO-5 across study fields.
      RESULTS: A total of 213 articles met the predefined criteria for inclusion in the
      review. The review demonstrated that the WHO-5 has high clinimetric validity, can
      be used as an outcome measure balancing the wanted and unwanted effects of
      treatments, is a sensitive and specific screening tool for depression and its
      applicability across study fields is very high. CONCLUSIONS: The WHO-5 is a short
      questionnaire consisting of 5 simple and non-invasive questions, which tap into
      the subjective well-being of the respondents. The scale has adequate validity
      both as a screening tool for depression and as an outcome measure in clinical
      trials and has been applied successfully across a wide range of study fields.

PMID- 25831963
TI  - The need to treat maternal pain in the breastfeeding mother: are opioids safe?

PMID- 25831965
TI  - Risk factors for delayed healing in venous leg ulcers: a review of the
      literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic leg ulcers, remaining unhealed after 4-6 weeks, affect 1-3%
      of the population, with treatment costly and health service resource intensive.
      Venous disease contributes to approximately 70% of all chronic leg ulcers and
      these ulcers are often associated with pain, reduced mobility and a decreased
      quality of life. Despite evidence-based care, 30% of these ulcers are unlikely to
      heal within a 24-week period and therefore the recognition and identification of
      risk factors for delayed healing of venous leg ulcers would be beneficial. AIM:
      To review the available evidence on risk factors for delayed healing of venous
      leg ulcers. METHODS: A review of the literature in regard to risk factors for
      delayed healing in venous leg ulcers was conducted from January 2000 to December
      2013. Evidence was sourced through searches of relevant databases and websites
      for resources addressing risk factors for delayed healing in venous leg ulcers
      specifically. RESULTS: Twenty-seven studies, of mostly low-level evidence (Level
      III and IV), identified risk factors associated with delayed healing. Risk
      factors that were consistently identified included: larger ulcer area, longer
      ulcer duration, a previous history of ulceration, venous abnormalities and lack
      of high compression. Additional potential predictors with inconsistent or varying
      evidence to support their influence on delayed healing of venous leg ulcers
      included: decreased mobility and/or ankle range of movement, poor nutrition and
      increased age. DISCUSSION: Findings from this review indicate that a number of
      physiological risk factors are associated with delayed healing in venous leg
      ulcers and that social and/or psychological risk factors should also be
      considered and examined further. CONCLUSION: The findings from this review can
      assist health professionals to identify prognostic indicators or risk factors
      significantly associated with delayed healing in venous leg ulcers. This will
      facilitate realistic outcome planning and inform implementation of appropriate
      early strategies to promote healing.

PMID- 25831964
TI  - Re-visiting the trans insertion model for complexin clamping.
AB  - We have previously proposed that complexin cross-links multiple pre-fusion SNARE
      complexes via a trans interaction to function as a clamp on SNARE-mediated
      neurotransmitter release. A recent NMR study was unable to detect the trans
      clamping interaction of complexin and therefore questioned the previous
      interpretation of the fluorescence resonance energy transfer and isothermal
      titration calorimetry data on which the trans clamping model was originally
      based. Here we present new biochemical data that underscore the validity of our
      previous interpretation and the continued relevancy of the trans insertion model
      for complexin clamping. 

PMID- 25831966
TI  - Incidental cholecystectomy in patients with asymptomatic gallstones undergoing
      surgery for colorectal cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The feasibility of incidental cholecystectomy during
      colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery has not been determined as yet. We aimed to
      investigate the feasibility of incidental cholecystectomy during CRC surgery.
      METHODS: The clinicopathologic data of patients who underwent CRC surgery between
      January 2004 and May 2011 were assessed. Patients with asymptomatic
      cholelithiasis were divided into groups that did and did not undergo incidental
      cholecystectomy. Their in-hospital morbidity and long-term biliary complications
      were compared. RESULTS: Of the 282 patients identified, 143 (50.7%) underwent
      incidental cholecystectomy and 139 (49.3%) were observed without cholecystectomy.
      The two groups were similar in clinical characteristics, except for gender and
      operation time. Only one patient (0.7%) in the cholecystectomy group experienced
      an intraoperative biliary complication. There was no significant difference in
      overall in-hospital morbidity between the two groups. After a median follow-up
      period of 33 months, long-term biliary complications developed in 12 patients
      (8.6%) in the observation group, with 9 undergoing cholecystectomy. CONCLUSIONS:
      Incidental cholecystectomy was not associated with increased postoperative
      morbidity, whereas previously asymptomatic patients were at substantial long-term
      risk of becoming symptomatic. Thus, in the absence of clear contraindications,
      concomitant cholecystectomy might be a desirable treatment option during CRC
      surgery in patients with asymptomatic gallstones.

PMID- 25831967
TI  - Modes and nodes explain the mechanism of action of vortioxetine, a multimodal
      agent (MMA): enhancing serotonin release by combining serotonin (5HT) transporter
      inhibition with actions at 5HT receptors (5HT1A, 5HT1B, 5HT1D, 5HT7 receptors).
AB  - Vortioxetine is an antidepressant that targets multiple pharmacologic modes of
      action at sites--or nodes--where serotonergic neurons connect to various brain
      circuits. These multimodal pharmacologic actions of vortioxetine lead to enhanced
      release of various neurotransmitters, including serotonin, at various nodes
      within neuronal networks.

PMID- 25831969
TI  - Spontaneous resolution of Julia-Kocienski intermediates facilitates phase
      separation to produce Z- and E-monofluoroalkenes.
AB  - The monofluoroalkene motif is important in drug development as it serves as a
      peptide bond isostere and is found in a number of biologically active compounds
      with various pharmacological activities. Direct olefination of carbonyl compound
      is a straightforward way to prepare monofluoroalkenes; however, these methods
      often result in a mixture of Z- and E-isomers that cannot be easily separated. We
      discovered a unique spontaneous resolving reaction that simultaneously addresses
      the problems in the synthesis and separation of Z- and E-monofluoroalkenes. The
      reaction is accompanied by a highly efficient spontaneous kinetic resolution and
      phase labeling of monofluoroalkene precursors which allows the separation of Z-
      and E-monofluoroalkenes by liquid-liquid extraction. The application of the
      method is demonstrated by the synthesis and separation of potential anticancer
      agents, which are inseparable by HPLC. 

PMID- 25831968
TI  - Prevalence and correlates of anger in the community: results from a national
      survey.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Little is known about the prevalence and correlates of anger in the
      community. METHODS: We used data derived from a large national sample of the U.S.
      population, which included more than 34,000 adults ages 18 years and older. We
      defined inappropriate, intense, or poorly controlled anger by means of self
      report of the following: (1) anger that was triggered by small things or that was
      difficult to control, (2) frequent temper outbursts or anger that lead to loss of
      control, or (3) hitting people or throwing objects in anger. RESULTS: The overall
      prevalence of inappropriate, intense, or poorly controlled anger in the U.S.
      population was 7.8%. Anger was especially common among men and younger adults,
      and was associated with decreased psychosocial functioning. Significant and
      positive associations were evident between anger and parental factors, childhood,
      and adulthood adverse events. There were strong associations between anger and
      bipolar disorder, drug dependence, psychotic disorder, borderline, and
      schizotypal personality disorders. There was a dose-response relationship between
      anger and a broad range of psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: A rationale exists for
      developing screening tools and early intervention strategies, especially for
      young adults, to identify and help reduce anger.

PMID- 25831970
TI  - Metal complex modified azo polymers for multilevel organic memories.
AB  - Multilevel organic memories have attracted considerable interest due to their
      high capacity of data storage. Despite advances, the search for multilevel memory
      materials still remains a formidable challenge. Herein, we present a rational
      design and synthesis of a class of polymers containing an azobenzene-pyridine
      group (PAzo-py) and its derivatives, for multilevel organic memory storage. In
      this design, a metal complex (M(Phen)Cl2, M = Cu, Pd) is employed to modify the
      HOMO-LUMO energy levels of azo polymers, thereby converting the memory state from
      binary to ternary. More importantly, this approach enables modulating the energy
      levels of azo polymers by varying the coordination metal ions. This makes the
      achievement of high performance multilevel memories possible. The ability to tune
      the bandgap energy of azo polymers provides new exciting opportunities to develop
      new materials for high-density data storage. 

PMID- 25831971
TI  - Corrigendum.

PMID- 25831972
TI  - Allergic sensitization to pegylated interferon-alpha results in drug eruptions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The introduction of pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN)-alpha in the
      treatment of chronic hepatitis C has led to an increase in sustained virological
      response. Despite reduced immunogenicity of the pegylated form in comparison with
      native interferon (IFN)-alpha, a high frequency of adverse cutaneous reactions
      has been reported with pegylated IFN-alpha. Here, we aimed to investigate the
      immunological mechanisms underlying pegylated IFN-alpha-induced drug eruptions.
      METHODS: Hepatitis C patients suffering from drug eruptions in association with
      administration of pegylated interferons were enrolled in the study (n = 22).
      Subjects were tested for sensitivity to pegylated IFN-alpha2a , pegylated IFN
      alpha2b , or ribavirin using intradermal, scratch, and/or patch tests, as well as
      lymphocyte activation tests (LATs). Skin biopsies obtained from pegylated IFN
      alpha-associated exanthemas, as well as from localized inflammatory skin
      reactions at pegylated IFN-alpha injection sites, were analyzed for the
      expression of relevant chemokines by quantitative real-time PCR and
      immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: A subset of patients suffering from pegylated IFN
      alpha-associated exanthemas displayed positive intradermal tests to PEG-IFNs but
      not to conventional IFN (11/22). In selected patients, this observation
      correlated with the presence of pegylated IFN-specific T cells (3/11). Chemokine
      profiles of inflammatory skin reactions at the injection sites reflected an IFN
      alpha-signature, whereas lesional skin of exanthemas showed induction of TH2
      associated chemokines. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that specific
      sensitizations are one cause of exanthemas under therapy with PEG-IFNs. Clinical
      proof-of-concept analyses demonstrate that affected patients may benefit from a
      switch to conventional, nonpegylated drugs, enabling IFN-alpha therapy
      continuation without drug-associated skin eruptions.

PMID- 25831974
TI  - Interventional decentralized telemonitoring: bridging the gap between patient's
      device and physician's needs in well selected indications.
AB  - Telemedicine comprises different concepts aiming to close a spatial distance
      between practitioner, medical staff and patient. It's functionality can include
      mere data transmission but extend as well to triggering alarms or enable
      consultation and therapy suggestions. A special form of telemedicinal application
      is interventional decentralized telemonitoring. Here practitioner-patient
      communication is characterized by telemedicinial data collection driven therapy
      control and -optimization. To identify feasible indications for the employment of
      telemonitoring a detailed definition of communicated parameters, alarm rules and
      algorithms of intervention are required as well as a benefit-cost analysis. The
      quality of the telemedical application is determined by the medical quality of
      the resulting actions.

PMID- 25831973
TI  - A photofunctional bottom-up bis(dipyrrinato)zinc(II) complex nanosheet.
AB  - Two-dimensional polymeric nanosheets have recently gained much attention,
      particularly top-down nanosheets such as graphene and metal chalcogenides
      originating from bulk-layered mother materials. Although molecule-based bottom-up
      nanosheets manufactured directly from molecular components can exhibit greater
      structural diversity than top-down nanosheets, the bottom-up nanosheets reported
      thus far lack useful functionalities. Here we show the design and synthesis of a
      bottom-up nanosheet featuring a photoactive bis(dipyrrinato)zinc(II) complex
      motif. A liquid/liquid interfacial synthesis between a three-way dipyrrin ligand
      and zinc(II) ions results in a multi-layer nanosheet, whereas an air/liquid
      interfacial reaction produces a single-layer or few-layer nanosheet with domain
      sizes of >10 MUm on one side. The bis(dipyrrinato)zinc(II) metal complex
      nanosheet is easy to deposit on various substrates using the Langmuir-Schafer
      process. The nanosheet deposited on a transparent SnO2 electrode functions as a
      photoanode in a photoelectric conversion system, and is thus the first
      photofunctional bottom-up nanosheet. 

PMID- 25831975
TI  - Lymphocyte 'homing' and chronic inflammation.
AB  - Chronic inflammation is a response to prolonged exposure to injurious stimuli
      that harm and destroy tissues and promote lymphocyte infiltration into inflamed
      sites. Following progressive accumulation of lymphocytes, the histology of
      inflamed tissue begins to resemble that of peripheral lymphoid organs, which can
      be referred to as lymphoid neogenesis or formation of tertiary lymphoid tissues.
      Lymphocyte recruitment to inflamed tissues is also reminiscent of lymphocyte
      homing to peripheral lymphoid organs. In the latter, under physiological
      conditions, homing receptors expressed on lymphocytes adhere to vascular
      addressin expressed on high endothelial venules (HEVs), initiating a lymphocyte
      migration process composed of sequential adhesive interactions. Intriguingly, in
      chronic inflammation, HEV-like vessels are induced de novo, despite the fact that
      the inflamed site is not originally lymphoid tissue, and these vessels contribute
      to lymphocyte recruitment in a manner similar to physiological lymphocyte homing.
      In this review, we first describe physiological lymphocyte homing mechanisms
      focusing on vascular addressins. We then describe HEV-like vessel-mediated
      pathogenesis seen in various chronic inflammatory disorders such as Helicobacter
      pylori gastritis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), autoimmune pancreatitis and
      sclerosing sialadenitis, as well as chronic inflammatory cell neoplasm MALT
      lymphoma, with reference to our work and that of others. 

PMID- 25831976
TI  - Erratum to: Estimating the number of men who have sex with men by race/ethnicity
      at the county level in Texas.

PMID- 25831977
TI  - Reconstitution of biosynthetic machinery for the synthesis of the highly
      elaborated indole diterpene penitrem.
AB  - Penitrem A is one of the most elaborated members of the fungal indole diterpenes.
      Two separate penitrem gene clusters were identified using genomic and RNA
      sequencing data, and 13 out of 17 transformations in the penitrem biosynthesis
      were elucidated by heterologous reconstitution of the relevant genes. These
      reactions involve 1) a prenylation-initiated cationic cyclization to install the
      bicyclo[3.2.0]heptane skeleton (PtmE), 2) a two-step P450-catalyzed oxidative
      processes forming the unique tricyclic penitrem skeleton (PtmK and PtmU), and 3)
      five sequential oxidative transformations (PtmKULNJ). Importantly, without
      conventional gene disruption, reconstitution of the biosynthetic machinery
      provided sufficient data to determine the pathway. It was thus demonstrated that
      the Aspergillus oryzae reconstitution system is a powerful method for studying
      the biosynthesis of complex natural products.

PMID- 25831978
TI  - Protein SYCP2 is an ancient component of the metazoan synaptonemal complex.
AB  - During the first meiotic prophase, chromosome synapsis is mediated by the
      synaptonemal complex (SC), an evolutionarily conserved meiosis-specific
      structure. In mammals, 7 SC protein components have been identified so far.
      Despite some controversy in the past, we have shown that SC proteins are ancient
      in metazoans and very likely formed an ancestral SC structure in the ancestor of
      metazoans. Protein components SYCP1, SYCP3, SYCE2, and TEX12 were identified in
      basal-branching metazoans, while other components (SYCE1 and SYCE3) are more
      recent elements. However, the evolutionary history of mammalian SYCP2 is not
      known. Here, we investigated this aspect with the aid of bioinformatic tools as
      well as with RNA and protein expression analysis. We conclude that SYCP2 belongs
      to the group of ancient SC proteins that was already present in the common
      ancestor of metazoans more than 500 million years ago.

PMID- 25831980
TI  - [Psycho-somatic dialogue].

PMID- 25831981
TI  - [Standardization of the German 16-item short version of the Inventory of
      Personality Organization (IPO-16)].
AB  - Standardization of the German 16-item short version of the Inventory of
      Personality Organization (IPO-16). OBJECTIVES: The 16-item short version of the
      Inventory of Personality Organization (IPO-16) is a self-report measure assessing
      the severity of personality dysfunction. This study provides representative norms
      and determines the smallest real difference value for the IPO-16. METHODS:
      Standardization of the IPO-16 was based on a representative survey among the
      German general population (N = 2502). Retest reliability and the smallest real
      difference were assessed in a separate longitudinal online survey, whereby
      participants completed the IPO-16 three times at time intervals of 2 months (N =
      495). RESULTS: The average IPO-16-mean score in the general population was 1.87.
      The influence of age and sex was small, albeit statistically significant.We
      therefore developed sex- and age-specific norms. The average retest reliability
      across 2 months was .85, and the smallest real difference was 0.66. CONCLUSIONS:
      The IPO-16 is a well-validated, and now standardized, screening instrument for
      the assessment of severity of personality dysfunction. It can be recommended for
      use in research and practice.

PMID- 25831982
TI  - [Psychodynamically oriented inpatient psychotherapy of depressive disorders -
      First findings from a naturalistic, multicenter study].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: While the general effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy in
      both outpatient and inpatient treatment has been proven, few studies document the
      effectiveness of clinical inpatient treatment of depression through psychodynamic
      psychotherapy. METHODS: This paper presents first results of a naturalistic
      multicenter intervention study. Included were female inpatients suffering from
      depressive symptoms who had been admitted to 15 psychodynamically oriented
      psychosomatic hospital units (N = 487). The mean duration of treatment was 61.8
      days. Data were acquired at admission (T1) and discharge (T2). RESULTS: Our
      findings support previous evidence and show that psychodynamically oriented
      inpatient psychotherapy of depressive disorders is efficient. High pre-post
      effect sizes were documented in all psychometric instruments used (BDI, HAM-D,
      SCL-90-R, BSS, GAF). Initial subgroup comparisons reveal that the benefits for
      patients with comorbid personality disorder are significantly lower than for
      depressed patients without comorbid personality disorder. CONCLUSION:
      Psychodynamic inpatient psychotherapy, as practiced under naturalistic
      conditions, is an effective treatment of depression. Predictors of therapeutic
      effects within different therapeutic settings, however, remain unclear. The
      sustainability of the therapeutic effects found and their impact on psychodynamic
      relevant constructs have still to be proven.

PMID- 25831983
TI  - [Narcissism self-expression - the generation me?].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A self-report questionnaire to assess conflict was created from the
      conflict axis of the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics (Arbeitskreis OPD
      2 2006; Arbeitskreis OPD-KJ-2 2013). METHODS: In a paper-pencil test we compared
      a sample of 501 assumed healthy teenagers of between 12 and 17 years, a sample of
      31 adolescent psychosomatic inpatients, and a sample of 20 adolescents
      psychiatric inpatients. RESULTS: We found significant sex and age differences
      concerning narcissistic self-expression. Significant differences between the
      three groups as well as significant correlations with common clinical instruments
      (BSI,IPO, IIP) revealed narcissistic self-expression to be problematic.
      DISCUSSION: The questionnaire demonstrated a high level of
      reliability.Narcissistic self-expression is higher in the healthy control group,
      for male adolescents and older adolescents. There is, however, a significant
      correlation with psychological symptoms and interpersonal problems.

PMID- 25831989
TI  - Universal definition of myocardial infarction: clinical insights.
AB  - AIMS: The universal definition of myocardial infarction (MI) classifies acute
      ischaemia into different classes according to lesion mechanism. Our aim was to
      perform a detailed comparison between these different types of MI in terms of
      baseline characteristics, management and prognosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: An
      observational retrospective single-centre cohort study was performed, including
      1,000 consecutive patients admitted for type 1 (76.4%) or type 2 MI (23.6%). Type
      2 MI patients were older, had a higher prevalence of comorbidities and worse
      medical status at admission. In-hospital mortality did not differ significantly
      between the MI groups (8.8 vs. 9.7%, p = 0.602). However, mortality during follow
      up was almost 3 times higher in type 2 MIs (HR 2.75, p < 0.001). Type 2 MI was an
      independent all-cause mortality risk marker, adding discriminatory power to the
      GRACE model. Finally, important differences in traditional risk score
      performances (GRACE, CRUSADE) were found between both MI types. CONCLUSIONS:
      Several important baseline differences were found between these MI types.
      Regarding prognosis, long-term survival is significantly compromised in type 2
      MIs, potentially translating patients' higher medical complexity and frailty.
      Distinction between type 1 and type 2 MI seems to have important implications in
      clinical practice and likely also in the results of clinical trials.

PMID- 25831990
TI  - Head and pelvis stride-to-stride oscillations in gait: validation and
      interpretation of measurements from wearable accelerometers.
AB  - Unstable gait is a risk factor for falls. Wearable accelerometers enable remote
      monitoring of daily walking. Here, new methods for measuring stride-to-stride
      oscillations are validated against optical motion capture, normative data
      determined, and dependency on walking speed investigated. Walks by 13 young
      people (mean age 32 years) at fast, usual, and slow speeds were completed.
      Accelerometers were attached to the head and pelvis and stride-to-stride
      oscillation velocity and displacement were measured. Continuous tilt corrections
      were applied, filter cut-offs scaled by step frequency, and thresholds optimized
      using optical motion capture as a reference. Oscillations depended on walking
      speed, accelerometer placement, and measurement axis. Vertical oscillations
      increased with walking speed (Pearson's r = 0.78-0.89) and were the most accurate
      (1.4-2.3% error). Mediolateral or anterioposterior oscillations were less
      accurate (5.9-19.5% error) and had more complex relationships with walking speed
      (increasing, decreasing, uncorrelated, and/or 'U-shaped' minimum at usual speed).
      In healthy gait, the head and pelvis undergo regular oscillations, measurable
      with accelerometers. The results suggest head oscillations in the transverse
      plane are attenuated by the trunk, and there may be advantages in minimizing
      stride-to-stride oscillations that coincide with self-selected usual pace. These
      methods may prove useful for remote assessment of changing health, mental status,
      and/or fall risk. 

PMID- 25831991
TI  - The assessment of renalase: searching for the best predictor of early renal
      dysfunction by multivariate modeling in stable renal transplant recipients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Renal transplant dysfunction has been shown to be an independent risk
      factor for cardiac, non-cardiovascular, and all-cause mortality in post
      transplantation follow-up. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We enrolled 73 renal transplant
      recipients who were more than 12 months post-renal transplant surgery, had stable
      graft function, and were on standard immunosuppression. The purpose of the study
      was to observe the relation between renal dysfunction and endothelial dysfunction
      parameters (nitrates, asymmetric and symmetric dimethylarginine, and endothelial
      nitric oxide synthase), and renalase, and to hypothesize the best predictor of
      early renal dysfunction by multivariate modeling. The other aim was to observe
      differences with regard to immunosuppression. RESULTS: Non-adjusted odds ratio
      showed a significant risk of reduced glomerular filtration rate in transplant
      recipients with increased renalase concentration (p=0.026); age-adjusted odds
      ratio showed a significant risk of reduced glomerular filtration rate with
      increased renalase concentration (p=0.042), also after multivariable adjustment
      (p=0.032). Increased plasma endothelial nitric oxide synthase concentration was a
      protective factor for glomerular filtration rate (p=0.011). After adjustment for
      age (p=0.045), and after multivariate modeling, endothelial nitric oxide synthase
      was shown to be a protective factor for glomerular filtration rate (p=0.014).
      Significant differences in immunosuppression were found in plasma renalase in
      patients maintained on cyclosporine (p=0.027). CONCLUSIONS: Renalase was shown to
      be strong predictor of decreased glomerular filtration rate and was significantly
      higher in the group of patients on cyclosporine. Endothelial nitric oxide
      synthase was identified as a strong protective factor for kidney function.

PMID- 25831992
TI  - An irregular pulmonary nodule was confirmed diagnosis of aspiration pneumonia by
      finding plant cells through rapid on-site evaluation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) is a method which is often used in
      quick-staining cytology in the tumour diagnostic field, and results in a
      significant decrease in diagnostic time and cost. However, we have not found any
      previous report on the ROSE method for diagnosing aspiration pneumonia. METHODS:
      We would like to discuss the case of a patient with an irregular pulmonary nodule
      in the left lower lobar bronchus who had a confirmed diagnosis of aspiration
      pneumonia through ROSE stained by Diff-Quik methods during bronchoscopy. RESULTS:
      Through ROSE, which we were able to perform within just 1 min, we observed the
      plant cells on the smear under the microscope. The Giemsa stain of the specimen,
      which would take much more time than Diff-Quik, also revealed the plant cells.
      CONCLUSION: ROSE for the specimen from the bronchoscopy could be done for the
      patient who has developed an unexplained pulmonary nodule and is helpful. If the
      non-human cells such as plant cells are found from the ROSE, aspiration pneumonia
      can be diagnosed immediately and the corresponding therapy may be performed,
      which may significantly shorten hospital stay, reduce hospital costs and improve
      patient outcomes.

PMID- 25831993
TI  - Effects of isometric quadriceps strength training at different muscle lengths on
      dynamic torque production.
AB  - This study aims to (1) determine whether isometric training at a short vs. long
      quadriceps muscle length affects concentric torque production; (2) examine the
      relationship between muscle hypertrophy and concentric torque; and (3) determine
      whether changes in fascicle length are associated with changes in concentric
      torque. Sixteen men performed isometric training at a short (SL, n = 8) or a long
      muscle length (LL, n = 8). Changes in maximal concentric torque were measured at
      30, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 300 rad . s(-1). The relationships between the
      changes in concentric torque, cross-sectional area, volume and fascicle length
      were tested. Concentric torque increased significantly after training only in LL
      and at angular velocities of 30 and 120 rad . s(-1) by 12-13% (P < 0.05). Muscle
      size increased in LL only, the changes were correlated (r = 0.73-0.93, P < 0.05)
      with the changes in concentric torque. Vastus lateralis (VL) fascicle length
      increased in both groups (5.4 +/- 4.9%, P = 0.001) but the change was not
      correlated with changes in concentric torque in either group. Isometric training
      induced increases in muscle size and concentric torque were best elicited by
      training at long muscle lengths. These results highlight a clear muscle length
      dependence of isometric training on dynamic torque production. 

PMID- 25831994
TI  - Gender Role Attitudes and Male Adolescent Dating Violence Perpetration: Normative
      Beliefs as Moderators.
AB  - Commonly used dating violence prevention programs assume that promotion of more
      egalitarian gender role attitudes will prevent dating violence perpetration.
      Empirical research examining this assumption, however, is limited and
      inconsistent. The current study examined the longitudinal association between
      gender role attitudes and physical dating violence perpetration among adolescent
      boys (n = 577; 14 % Black, 5 % other race/ethnicity) and examined whether
      injunctive (i.e., acceptance of dating violence) and descriptive (i.e., beliefs
      about dating violence prevalence) normative beliefs moderated the association. As
      expected, the findings suggest that traditional gender role attitudes at T1 were
      associated with increased risk for dating violence perpetration 18 months later
      (T2) among boys who reported high, but not low, acceptance of dating violence
      (injunctive normative beliefs) at T1. Descriptive norms did not moderate the
      effect of gender role attitudes on dating violence perpetration. The results
      suggest that injunctive norms and gender role attitudes work synergistically to
      increase risk for dating violence perpetration among boys; as such,
      simultaneously targeting both of these constructs may be an effective prevention
      approach. 

PMID- 25831995
TI  - The correct episiotomy: does it exist? A cross-sectional survey of four public
      Israeli hospitals and review of the literature.
AB  - INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Our objective was to assess episiotomy technique
      used in Israeli hospitals, to determine factors influencing incision parameters,
      and to review relevant up-to-date professional literature. METHODS: Using
      anonymous questionnaires, a survey was conducted among obstetricians and midwives
      in the four public hospitals in northern Israel over a 1-year period commencing
      in October 2013. In addition to demographic and professional data, the
      accoucheurs were asked to describe the technique they usually use to perform an
      episiotomy (length, angle, and distance of initiation point from midperineum).
      RESULTS: Overall, 84 obstetricians and 32 midwives participated in the survey.
      Only 37.6% reported performing a mediolateral episiotomy, while the rest
      described the lateral type, placing the initiation point at an average distance
      of 2.45 +/- 0.88 cm from the fourchette. Compared with midwives, obstetricians
      reported performing a significantly longer episiotomy (3.53 +/- 1.01 vs. 2.73 +/-
      0.81 cm, p = 0.0002). CONCLUSIONS: According to our study and relevant literature
      review, the technique of episiotomy varies significantly between health
      professionals and is not uniformly congruent with international practice
      guidelines. In part, this is derived from unclear literature evidence and lack of
      consensus definition for proper technique of this procedure by the national
      guidelines. Thus, further higher-quality research, uniform protocols, and
      educational programs are needed to guide episiotomy practice.

PMID- 25831996
TI  - Transcriptional and morphological changes in the transition from mycetophagous to
      phytophagous phase in the plant-parasitic nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus.
AB  - Drastic physiological and morphological changes in parasites are crucial for the
      establishment of a successful infection. The nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus
      is the pathogenic agent of pine wilt disease, and little is known about the
      physiology and morphology in this nematode at the initial stage of infection. In
      this study, we devised an infection system using pine stem cuttings that allowed
      us to observe transcriptional and morphological changes in the host-infecting
      phytophagous phase. We found that 60 genes enriched in xenobiotic detoxification
      were up-regulated in two independent post-inoculation events, whereas down
      regulation was observed in multiple members of collagen gene families. After 48 h
      of inoculation, the tails in some of the adult females exposed to the host
      changed in morphology. These results suggest that B. xylophilus may change its
      physiology and morphology to protect itself and to adapt to the host pine wood
      environment. 

PMID- 25831997
TI  - De novo formation of brain tumors in pediatric population following therapeutic
      cranial irradiation.
AB  - PURPOSE: Tumors of central nervous system (CNS) are accounted as the second most
      common tumors in childhood (21% of all cancers) following hematologic
      malignancies. The patients can suffer more than one cancer in their lifetime, and
      radiotherapy is claimed for de novo formation of a new tumor in years after
      treatment of an initial tumor. METHODS: We have retrospectively analyzed our
      database for defining radiotherapy-related de novo brain tumors operated in
      between January, 2000 and August, 2012. New tumors in the field of radiotherapy
      were included into the study. RESULTS: The retrospective analysis revealed six
      patients (two girls and four boys) eligible for further evaluation. The children
      were irradiated at an age in the range of 5 and 12 years (mean, 7.8). The primary
      diagnoses were hematological malignancies in two (acute lymphocytic leukemia and
      non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)) and solid tumors in other four (two pilocytic
      astrocytoma, one craniopharyngioma, and one grade 3 astrocytoma). All patients
      received cranial radiotherapy. The mean latency period for the "second tumor" was
      9.5 years. The pathological diagnoses for de novo new tumors were as follows:
      glial tumor (two cases), medulloblastoma (two cases), mesenchymal tumor (one
      case), and meningeal sarcoma (one case). All de novo tumors were high graded.
      Mean survival was 14.6 months. CONCLUSIONS: de novo brain tumors after
      irradiation has poor prognosis in neurosurgical practice. Vigilance and awareness
      for possibility of de novo new tumor are warranted for both families and
      physicians at follow-ups even years after the treatment of initial tumors.

PMID- 25831999
TI  - Computational Insight into Nickel-Catalyzed Carbon-Carbon versus Carbon-Boron
      Coupling Reactions of Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Alkyl Bromides.
AB  - The nickel-catalyzed alkyl-alkyl cross-coupling (C-C bond formation) and
      borylation (C-B bond formation) of unactivated alkyl halides reported in the
      literature show completely opposite reactivity orders in the reactions of
      primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl bromides. The proposed Ni(I) /Ni(III)
      catalytic cycles for these two types of bond-formation reactions were studied
      computationally by means of DFT calculations at the B3LYP level. These
      calculations indicate that the rate-determining step for alkyl-alkyl cross
      coupling is the reductive elimination step, whereas for borylation the rate is
      determined mainly by the atom-transfer step. In borylation reactions, the boryl
      ligand involved has an empty p orbital, which strongly facilitates the reductive
      elimination step. The inability of unactivated tertiary alkyl halides to undergo
      alkyl-alkyl cross-coupling is mainly due to the moderately high reductive
      elimination barrier.

PMID- 25831998
TI  - Pro-oxidant HDL predicts poor outcome in patients with ST-elevation acute
      coronary syndrome.
AB  - Oxidative stress affects clinical outcome in patients with ST-elevation acute
      coronary syndrome (STE-ACS). Although high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles
      are generally considered protective, deleterious properties of HDL have been
      observed in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Here, we analysed the
      association between pro-oxidant HDL and all-cause mortality in STE-ACS patients.
      We determined the antioxidant function of HDL in 247 prospectively enrolled
      patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention for STE-ACS.
      Patients were stratified as by a pro-oxidant serum HDL oxidant index (HOI>= 1) or
      with an antioxidant serum HOI (HOL< 1) capacity. Multivariate regression analysis
      was used to relate HOI to survival. The median follow-up time was 23 months (IQR
      14.4-40.0 months). Pro-oxidant HDL was observed in 44.1 % of STE-ACS patients and
      was independently associated with all-cause mortality with a hazard ratio of
      3.30(95 %CI 1.50-7.27, p = 0.003). Mortality rates were higher in patients with
      baseline pro-oxidant HDL compared to patients with preserved HDL function at 30
      days (11.9 % vs 2.2 %, p=0.002), and at 4 years (22.9 % vs 8.7 %, p=0.002).
      Elevated neutrophil counts were a strong and independent predictor for pro
      oxidant HDL with an odds ratio per standard deviation of 1.50 (95 %CI 1.11-2.03,
      p=0.008), as was history of prior acute myocardial infarction, elevated
      triglycerides levels and reduced glomerular filtration rate. In conclusion, pro
      oxidant HDL represents a strong and independent predictor of long-term as well as
      short-term all-cause mortality in STE-ACS patients. Elevated neutrophil counts
      predicted the presence of serum pro-oxidant HDL. The maintenance of HDL functions
      might be a promising therapeutic target in STE-ACS patients.

PMID- 25832001
TI  - Evaluation of serum osteopontin level and gene polymorphism as biomarkers:
      analyses from the Nordic Adjuvant Interferon alpha Melanoma trial.
AB  - Malignant melanoma is highly aggressive cancer with poor prognosis and few
      therapeutic options. Interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) has been tested as adjuvant
      immunotherapy in high-risk melanoma patients in a number of studies, but its
      beneficial role is controversial. Although IFN-alpha treatment can prolong
      relapse-free survival, the effect on overall survival is not significant.
      However, a small subset of patients benefits from the treatment, signifying the
      need for biomarkers able to identify a responding subgroup. Here we evaluated
      whether serum osteopontin (OPN) could function as a biomarker identifying
      patients with poor prognosis that might benefit from IFN-alpha. The choice of
      osteopontin was based on the knowledge about the dual role of this protein in
      cancer and immune response, an apparent association between OPN and IFN signaling
      and a prognostic value of OPN in multiple other tumor types. Serum samples from
      275 high-risk melanoma patients enrolled in the Nordic Adjuvant IFN Melanoma
      trial were analyzed for circulating OPN concentrations and OPN promoter
      polymorphisms in position -443. The potential relation between serum OPN levels,
      the genotypes and survival in non-treated patients and patients receiving
      adjuvant IFN-alpha was investigated. Although slightly better survival was
      observed in the treated patients that had high levels of OPN, the difference was
      not statistically significant. In conclusion, serum OPN (its level or the
      genotype) cannot distinguish melanoma patients with poor prognosis, or patients
      that might benefit from adjuvant treatment with IFN-alpha. 

PMID- 25832002
TI  - Growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible protein (GADD34) enhanced liver
      inflammation and tumorigenesis in a diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-treated murine
      model.
AB  - Growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible protein (GADD34/Ppp1r15a) is induced by
      various stimuli including DNA damage and ER stress. DNA damage and oncogene
      activation, accompanied by tumor-specific DNA repair defects and a failure to
      stall the cell cycle, are early markers of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
      However, whether GADD34 accounts for regulating HCC tumorigenesis remains
      elusive. Here, we demonstrated that GADD34 expression was upregulated in the
      liver of mice after exposure to a carcinogen, diethylnitrosamine (DEN). In both
      acute and chronic DEN treatment models, GADD34 deficiency not only decreased
      oncogene expression, but also reduced hepatic damage. Moreover, loss of GADD34
      attenuated immune cell infiltration, pro-inflammatory cytokine expression and
      hepatic compensatory proliferation. Finally, GADD34-deficient mice showed
      impaired hepatocarcinogenesis. Thus, the process of DEN-induced HCC proceeded as
      follows. First, DEN treatment induced DNA damage in hepatocytes, resulting in
      elevated expression of GADD34 in the liver. The increased expression of GADD34
      augmented hepatic necrosis followed by elevated expression of interleukin (IL)
      1beta and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1. This process promoted immune cell
      infiltration and Kupffer cell/macrophage activation followed by production of
      reactive oxygen species and pro-tumorigenic cytokines such as IL-6 and tumor
      necrosis factor-alpha. The pro-tumorigenic cytokines stimulated compensatory
      proliferation of surviving and mutant hepatocytes. Together with oncogene c-Myc
      expression, these processes led to HCC. Our results suggest therapeutic
      opportunities for HCC by targeting GADD34-related pathways. 

PMID- 25832003
TI  - Mitochondrial drugs come of age.

PMID- 25832000
TI  - Crosstalk of carcinoembryonic antigen and transforming growth factor-beta via
      their receptors: comparing human and canine cancer.
AB  - There is accumulating evidence that the transforming growth factor beta (TGF
      beta) and nuclear factor kappa-B (NFkappaB) pathways are tightly connected and
      play a key role in malignant transformation in cancer. Immune infiltration by
      regulatory T- and B-lymphocytes (Tregs, Bregs) has recently gained increased
      attention for being an important source of TGF-beta. There is a plethora of
      studies examining the pro-tumorigenic functions of carcinoembryonic antigen
      (CEA), but its receptor CEAR is far less studied. So far, there is a single
      connecting report that TGF-beta also may signal through CEAR. The crosstalk
      between cancer tissues is further complicated by the expression of CEAR and TGF
      beta receptors in stromal cells, and implications of TGF-beta in epithelial
      mesenchymal transition. Furthermore, tumor-infiltrating Tregs and Bregs may
      directly instruct cancer cells by secreting TGF-beta binding to their CEAR.
      Therefore, both TGF-beta and CEA may act synergistically in breast cancer and
      cause disease progression, and NFkappaB could be a common crossing point between
      their signaling. CEAR, TGF-beta1-3, TGF-beta-R types I-III and NFkappaB class I
      and II molecules have an outstanding human-canine sequence identity, and only a
      canine CEA homolog has not yet been identified. For these reasons, the dog may be
      a valid translational model patient for investigating the crosstalk of the
      interconnected CEA and TGF-beta networks.

PMID- 25832004
TI  - Impact of Kasai portoenterostomy on liver transplantation outcomes: A
      retrospective cohort study of 347 children with biliary atresia.
AB  - Biliary atresia (BA) is the main diagnosis leading to liver transplantation (LT)
      in children. When diagnosed early in life, a Kasai portoenterostomy (Kasai-PE)
      can prevent or postpone LT. Instances of previous operations can result in
      difficulties during the LT. We hypothesized that a previous Kasai-PE could affect
      LT outcomes. A retrospective cohort study of 347 BA patients submitted to LT
      between 1995 and 2013 at Hospital Sirio-Libanes and A. C. Camargo Cancer Center
      was conducted. Patients were divided into those with a previous Kasai
      portoenterostomy early failure (K-EF), Kasai portoenterostomy late failure (K
      LF), and those with no Kasai portoenterostomy (No-K). Primary outcomes were
      patient and graft survival. A total of 94 (27.1%) patients had a K-EF, 115
      (33.1%) had a K-LF, and 138 (39.8%) had No-K before LT. Children in the K-LF
      group were older and had lower Pediatric End-Stage Liver Disease (PELD) scores.
      Patients in both K-EF and K-LF groups had more post-LT biliary complications.
      After Cox-multivariate analysis adjusting for confounding factors to determine
      the influence of Kasai-PE on patient and graft survival, the K-LF group had an
      84% less probability of dying and a 55% less chance to undergo retransplantation.
      The K-LF group had a protective effect on posttransplant patient and graft
      survival. When properly performed, the Kasai procedure can postpone LT and
      positively affect outcomes. Having a K-EF and having not performed a Kasai-PE had
      the same effect in patient and graft survival; however, a previous Kasai-PE can
      increase post-LT complications as biliary complications and bowel perforations.

PMID- 25832005
TI  - Stem cell conditioned culture media attenuated albumin-induced epithelial
      mesenchymal transition in renal tubular cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Proteinuria-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays an
      important role in progressive renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis in chronic renal
      disease. Stem cell therapy has been used for different diseases. Stem cell
      conditioned culture media (SCM) exhibits similar beneficial effects as stem cell
      therapy. The present study tested the hypothesis that SCM inhibits albumin
      induced EMT in cultured renal tubular cells. METHODS: Rat renal tubular cells
      were treated with/without albumin (20 umg/ml) plus SCM or control cell media
      (CCM). EMT markers and inflammatory factors were measured by Western blot and
      fluorescent images. RESULTS: Albumin induced EMT as shown by significant
      decreases in levels of epithelial marker E-cadherin, increases in mesenchymal
      markers fibroblast-specific protein 1 and alpha-smooth muscle actin, and
      elevations in collagen I. SCM inhibited all these changes. Meanwhile, albumin
      induced NF-kappaB translocation from cytosol into nucleus and that SCM blocked
      the nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB. Albumin also increased the levels of pro
      inflammatory factor monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP)-1 by nearly 30 fold
      compared with control. SCM almost abolished albumin-induced increase of MCP-1.
      CONCLUSION: These results suggest that SCM attenuated albumin-induced EMT in
      renal tubular cells via inhibiting activation of inflammatory factors, which may
      serve as a new therapeutic approach for chronic kidney diseases.

PMID- 25832006
TI  - What Risk Factors Predict Recurrence of Heterotopic Ossification After Excision
      in Combat-related Amputations?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Heterotopic ossification (HO) is common after combat-related
      amputations and surgical excision remains the only definitive treatment for
      persistently symptomatic HO. There is no consensus in the literature regarding
      the timing of surgery, and recurrence frequency, reexcision, and complications
      have not been reported in large numbers of patients. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: (1) What
      are the rates of symptomatic recurrence resulting in reexcision and other
      complications resulting in reoperation in patients with HO? (2) Is either
      radiographic or symptomatic recurrence dependent on timing and type of initial
      surgery, the experience of the surgeon in performing the procedure, the severity
      of preexcision HO, the presence of concomitant neurologic injury, or the use of
      postoperative HO prophylaxis? METHODS: Between March 2005 and March 2013 our
      institution treated 994 patients with 1377 combat-related major extremity
      amputations; of those, 172 amputations underwent subsequent excision of
      symptomatic HO. The mechanism of injury resulting in nearly all amputations (n =
      168) was blast-related trauma. We reviewed medical records and radiographs to
      collect initial grade of HO, radiographic recurrence, complete compared with
      partial excision, concomitant neurologic injury, timing to initial surgery,
      surgeon experience, and use of postexcision prophylaxis with our primary study
      outcome being a return to the operating room (OR) for repeat excision of
      symptomatic HO. All 172 combat-related amputations were considered for this study
      irrespective of followup, which was noted to be robust, with 157 (91%)
      amputations having at least 6 months clinical followup by an orthopaedic surgeon
      or physiatrist (median, 20 months; range, 0-88 months). RESULTS: Eleven of 172
      patients (6.5%) underwent reexcision of HO, and 67 complications resulting in
      return to the OR occurred in 53 patients (31%) of patients. Multivariate analysis
      of our primary outcome measure showed more frequent symptomatic recurrences
      requiring reexcision when initial excision was performed as a partial excision (p
      = 0.03; odds ratio [OR], 5.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-29.6) or when the
      initial excision was performed within 180 days of injury (p = 0.047; OR, 4.1; 95%
      CI, 1.02-16.6). There was no association between symptomatic recurrence and HO
      grade, central nervous system injury, experience of the attending surgeon, or
      postoperative prophylaxis. Radiographic recurrence was observed when partial
      excisions (eight of 30 [27%]) were done compared with complete excisions (five of
      77 [7%]; p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: HO is common after combat-related amputations,
      and patients undergoing surgical excision of HO for this indication often have
      complications that result in repeat surgical procedures. Partial excisions of
      immature lesions more often resulted in both symptomatic and radiographic
      recurrence. The likelihood of a patient undergoing reexcision can be minimized by
      performing a complete excision at least 180 days from injury to surgery with no
      evidence of a reduced risk of reexcision by waiting longer than 270 days. LEVEL
      OF EVIDENCE: Level III, therapeutic study.

PMID- 25832007
TI  - Total Femur Replacement After Tumor Resection: Limb Salvage Usually Achieved But
      Complications and Failures are Common.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Primary bone or soft tissue tumors of the femur sometimes present
      with severe and extensive bone destruction, leaving few limb-salvage options
      other than total femur replacement. However, there are few data available
      regarding total femur replacement and, in particular, regarding implant failures.
      QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: We asked: (1) What are the revision-free and overall implant
      survival rates of conventional total femur replacements in patients treated for
      sarcoma of the femur or soft tissues? (2) What are the revision-free and overall
      implant survival rates of expandable total femur replacements in skeletally
      immature patients? (3) Using the comprehensive International Society of Limb
      Salvage failure-mode classification, what types of complications occur with
      conventional and expandable total femur replacements? PATIENTS AND METHODS: Our
      retrospective, single-center cohort study was based on data prospectively
      collected for 50 patients who received a total femur replacement after tumor
      resection for indications other than carcinoma or metastatic disease. Of the 50
      patients, six (12%) were lost to followup before 6 months. Ten of the remaining
      44 patients received expandable implants. The mean followup was 57 months (range,
      1-280 months) and 172 months (range, 43-289 months) for patients who underwent
      conventional and expandable total femur replacements, respectively. For implant
      survival, competing risk analyses were used. RESULTS: At 5 years, revision-free
      implant survival of conventional total femur replacements was 48% (95% CI, 0.37
      0.73), and overall implant survival was 97% (95% CI, 0.004-0.20). Five-year
      revision-free implant survival of expandable total femur replacements was 30%
      (95% CI, 0.47-1.00) and overall implant survival was 100%. With conventional
      total femur replacements soft tissue failures occurred in 13 of 34 patients,
      structural failures in three, infection in six, and local tumor progression in
      one. No patient had aseptic loosening with conventional total femur replacements,
      but hip disarticulation occurred in two patients owing to extensive wound-healing
      problems and infection. With expandable total femur replacements soft tissue
      failure, aseptic loosening, and infection occurred in one patient each of 10, and
      structural failures in three of 10 (two periprosthetic fractures, one loosening
      of an enhanced tendon anchor). No hip disarticulations were performed.
      Additionally expandable total femur replacement-related failures included hip
      instability in eight of 10 patients, contractures attributable to massive scar
      tissue in six, and defect of the implant's expansion mechanism in four patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: Although the indications for total femoral resection are rare, we
      think that total femur replacement is a reasonable treatment option for
      reconstruction of massive femoral bone defects after tumor resection in adults
      and skeletally immature patients, and results in limb salvage in most patients.
      LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, therapeutic study.

PMID- 25832008
TI  - miR-142-3p Is a Regulator of the TGFbeta-Mediated Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell
      Phenotype.
AB  - The transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) signaling pathway is critical for
      the promotion and maintenance of the contractile phenotype of vascular smooth
      muscle cells (VSMCs). Though multiple microRNAs (miRNAs) implicated in the
      regulation of the VSMC phenotype have been identified, the modulation of miRNAs
      in the VSMCs by TGFbeta signaling has not been fully described. In this study, we
      identified microRNA-142-3p (miR-142-3p) as a modulator of the VSMC phenotype in
      response to TGFbeta signaling. We show that miR-142-3p is induced upon TGFbeta
      signaling, leading to the repression of a novel target, dedicator of cytokinesis
      6 (DOCK6). The downregulation of DOCK6 by miR-142-3p is critical for cell
      migration. Thus, this study demonstrates that miR-142-3p is a key regulator of
      the TGFbeta-mediated contractile phenotype of VSMCs that acts through inhibiting
      cell migration through targeting DOCK6.

PMID- 25832010
TI  - Harvest time residues of pendimethalin and oxyfluorfen in vegetables and soil in
      sugarcane-based intercropping systems.
AB  - Terminal residues of pendimethalin and oxyfluorfen applied in autumn sugarcane-
      and vegetables-based intercropping systems were analyzed in peas (Pisum sativum),
      cabbage (Brassica oleracea), garlic (Allium sativum), gobhi sarson (Brassica
      napus), and raya (Brassica juncea). The study was conducted in winter season in
      2010-2011 and in 2011-2012 at Ludhiana, India. Pendimethalin at 0.56 kg and 0.75
      kg ha(-1) was applied immediately after sowing of gobhi sarson, raya, peas,
      garlic, and 2 days before transplanting of cabbage seedlings. Oxyfluorfen at 0.17
      kg and 0.23 kg ha(-1) was applied immediately after sowing of peas and garlic and
      2 days before transplanting of cabbage seedlings intercropped in autumn
      sugarcane. Representative samples of these vegetables were collected at 75, 90,
      100, and 165 days after application of herbicides and analyzed by high
      performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) with diode array detector for residues.
      The residue level of pendimethalin and oxyfluorfen in mature vegetables was found
      to be below the limit of quantification which is 0.05 mg kg(-1) for both the
      herbicides. The soil samples were collected at 0, 7, 15, 30, 45, and 60 days
      after the application of their herbicides. The residues of herbicides in soil
      samples were found to be below the detectability limit of 0.05 mg kg(-1) after 60
      days in case of pendimethalin and after 45 days in case of oxyfluorfen.

PMID- 25832011
TI  - Agricultural by-products as low-cost sorbents for the removal of heavy metals
      from dilute wastewaters.
AB  - n the last years, much attention has been focused on the use of low-cost
      adsorbents for the removal of Cu(II) and Zn(II) from contaminated waters. In this
      context, we studied the sorption performances of two kinds of by-products
      resulted from the agriculture: soy bran and mustard husk. The effects of contact
      time, the initial metal ion concentration, pH, sorbent mass, and temperature on
      the adsorption capacity of the agricultural by-products as sorbents were
      investigated. The thermodynamic parameters associated with the adsorption process
      indicated that the process is spontaneous and endothermic. Modeling of
      experimental adsorption isotherm data showed that non-linear Langmuir isotherm
      fits better than other isotherms. The obtained values for the separation factor,
      R L were less than one which supports that the adsorption process was favorable.
      The obtained results indicated that the soy bran has a higher sorption capacity
      toward zinc ions (74.02 mg g(-1)) than mustard husk (63.69 mg g(-1)). Therefore,
      there is a great requirement for the search of biomaterials that are cheap and
      easily available for the removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater. The studied
      sorbents have the advantage of very low cost and great availability for simple
      operational experiments.

PMID- 25832009
TI  - Preparation and characterization of polyclonal antibody against Kaposi's sarcoma
      associated herpesvirus lytic gene encoding RTA.
AB  - Replication and transcription activator (RTA) is a critical lytic protein encoded
      by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). To prepare rabbit polyclonal
      antibody against RTA, three antigenic polypeptides of KSHV RTA were initially
      synthesized. The fragment of RTA was cloned into p3FlagBsd to construct the
      recombinant plasmid, pRTA-Flag. 293 T and EA.hy926 cells were transfected with
      pRTA-Flag to obtain RTA-Flag fusion protein, which was detected using anti-Flag
      antibody. Next, New Zealand white rabbits were immunized with keyhole limpet
      hemocyanin-conjugated peptides to generate polyclonal antibodies against RTA.
      Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were performed to characterize the polyclonal
      antibodies, and the titers of the polyclonal antibodies against RTA were greater
      than 1:11,000. Western blotting and immunofluorescence assay revealed that the
      prepared antibody reacted specifically with the RTA-Flag fusion protein as well
      as the native viral protein in KSHV-infected primary effusion lymphoma cells.
      Collectively, our work successfully constructed the recombinant expression
      vector, pRTA-Flag, and prepared the polyclonal antibody against RTA, which was
      valuable for investigating the biochemical and biological functions of the
      critical KSHV lytic gene. 

PMID- 25832012
TI  - A cross-sectional study of bleeding phenotype in haemophilia A carriers.
AB  - Haemophilia A carriers have historically been thought to exhibit normal
      haemostasis. However, recent data demonstrates that, despite normal factor VIII
      (FVIII), haemophilia A carriers demonstrate an increased bleeding tendency. We
      tested the hypothesis that obligate haemophilia carriers exhibit an increase in
      clinically relevant bleeding. A cross-sectional study was performed comparing
      haemophilia A carriers to normal women. Questionnaire assessment included a
      general bleeding questionnaire, condensed MCMDM-1VWD bleeding assessment tool and
      Pictorial Bleeding Assessment Chart (PBAC). Laboratory assessment included
      complete blood count, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time,
      fibrinogen activity, FVIII activity ( FVIII: C), von Willebrand factor antigen
      level, ristocetin cofactor, platelet function analyser-100(TM) and ABO blood
      type. Forty-four haemophilia A carriers and 43 controls were included.
      Demographic features were similar. Laboratory results demonstrated a
      statistically significant difference only in FVIII: C (82.5 vs. 134%, P < 0.001).
      Carriers reported a higher number of bleeding events, and both condensed MCMDM-1
      VWD bleeding scores (5 vs. 1, P < 0.001) and PBAC scores (423 vs. 182.5, P =
      0.018) were significantly higher in carriers. Haemophilia A carriers exhibit
      increased bleeding symptoms when compared to normal women. Further studies are
      necessary to fully understand the bleeding phenotype in this population and
      optimize clinical management.

PMID- 25832013
TI  - Carbon nanoparticle-guided central lymph node dissection in clinically node
      negative patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Distinguishing the involved lymph nodes from other tissues during
      surgery is critical for lymph node dissection. The purpose of this study was to
      assess the feasibility by using carbon nanoparticles as guidance for lymph node
      dissection in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). METHODS: Eighty
      one patients were injected with carbon nanoparticles (carbon nanoparticle group),
      whereas the other 81 patients were not (control group). Routine pathological
      examination was performed. RESULTS: The lymph node dissection and metastatic
      lymph node dissection rates of the carbon nanoparticle group were significantly
      higher than that of the control group. In the carbon nanoparticle group, the
      number of mistakenly dissected parathyroid gland, the case number of
      postoperative hypocalcemia, the case number of postoperative hypoparathyroidism,
      and the recovery time from hypocalcemia were 4, 6, 8, and 2.33 +/- 0.58 weeks,
      respectively, significantly less than 14, 17, 20, 3, and 3.8 +/- 0.92 weeks in
      the control group (p < .05). CONCLUSION: Carbon nanoparticles can be applied to
      more accurately guide the dissection of lymph nodes during thyroidectomy in
      patients with PTC. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: 840-845, 2016.

PMID- 25832015
TI  - Would protecting tropical forest fragments provide carbon and biodiversity
      cobenefits under REDD+?
AB  - Tropical forests store vast amounts of carbon and are the most biodiverse
      terrestrial habitats, yet they are being converted and degraded at alarming
      rates. Given global shortfalls in the budgets required to prevent carbon and
      biodiversity loss, we need to seek solutions that simultaneously address both
      issues. Of particular interest are carbon-based payments under the Reducing
      Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism to also
      conserve biodiversity at no additional cost. One potential is for REDD+ to
      protect forest fragments, especially within biomes where contiguous forest cover
      has diminished dramatically, but we require empirical tests of the strength of
      any carbon and biodiversity cobenefits in such fragmented systems. Using the
      globally threatened Atlantic Forest landscape, we measured above-ground carbon
      stocks within forest fragments spanning 13 to 23 442 ha in area and with
      different degrees of isolation. We related these stocks to tree community
      structure and to the richness and abundance of endemic and IUCN Red-listed
      species. We found that increasing fragment size has a positive relationship with
      above-ground carbon stock and with abundance of IUCN Red-listed species and tree
      community structure. We also found negative relationships between distance from
      large forest block and tree community structure, endemic species richness and
      abundance, and IUCN Red-listed species abundance. These resulted in positive
      congruence between carbon stocks and Red-listed species, and the abundance and
      richness of endemic species, demonstrating vital cobenefits. As such, protecting
      forest fragments in hotspots of biodiversity, particularly larger fragments and
      those closest to sources, offers important carbon and biodiversity cobenefits.
      More generally, our results suggest that macroscale models of cobenefits under
      REDD+ have likely overlooked key benefits at small scales, indicating the
      necessity to apply models that include finer-grained assessments in fragmented
      landscapes rather than using averaged coarse-grained cells.

PMID- 25832014
TI  - Incidence of opioid-managed pelvic pain after hysteroscopic sterilization versus
      laparoscopic sterilization, US 2005-2012.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Compare incidence of opioid-managed pelvic pain within 12 months after
      hysteroscopic and laparoscopic sterilization. METHODS: Using administrative
      claims, we identified women aged 18-49 years without recent history of childbirth
      who underwent hysteroscopic or laparoscopic sterilization between 2005 and 2012.
      We defined the outcome as >=2 diagnoses for pelvic pain and >=2 prescription
      fills for opioids. We calculated adjusted hazard ratios (HR) using Cox models and
      propensity score methods (matching and inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighting
      [IPTW]). RESULTS: We identified 71,875 eligible women (hysteroscopic n = 26,927
      [37.5%], laparoscopic n = 44,948 [62.5%]). Of those, 236 (0.88%) hysteroscopic
      patients and 420 (0.93%) laparoscopic patients experienced the outcome (crude HR
      = 0.97, 95%CI: [0.83, 1.14]). Adjusted analyses also yielded near-null results
      (matched HR = 1.08, 95%CI [0.90, 1.31]; IPTW HR = 0.97, 95%CI [0.80, 1.18]).
      While most sensitivity analyses generated results close to the null, hazard
      ratios estimated using propensity score matching ranged from 0.65 to 1.53.
      CONCLUSIONS: Among women without recent history of childbirth, we did not find
      compelling evidence of a clinically meaningful increase in the incidence of
      pelvic pain requiring opioids during the year after hysteroscopic sterilization.
      However, effects observed in sensitivity analyses may merit further
      investigation.

PMID- 25832018
TI  - An essential piece of nursing's future: The continued development of the nurse
      practitioner as expert clinician and scientist.

PMID- 25832016
TI  - Preoperative anemia is associated with adverse outcome in patients with
      urothelial carcinoma of the bladder following radical cystectomy.
AB  - PURPOSE: Radical cystectomy (RC) can be associated with significant blood loss,
      whereas many patients are presenting with anemia preoperatively. To date, there
      is a lack of data addressing the impact of preoperative anemia (PA) on survival
      of patients undergoing RC for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB). METHODS:
      This retrospective multicenter study includes 684 patients with UCB undergoing RC
      with pelvic lymph node dissection. The median follow-up was 50 (IQR 29,78)
      months. Anemia was defined in line with the WHO classification (hemoglobin (Hb):
      male <=13 g/dL, female <=12 g/dL) and based on contemporary gender- and age
      adjusted classification (Hb: white male aged <60 years: <=13.7 g/dL; >=60 years:
      <=13.2 g/dL; white female of all ages <=12.2 g/dL). Univariable and multivariable
      Cox regression analyses were used to assess the effects of PA on oncological
      outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 269 (39.3 %) and 302 (44.2 %) patients were anemic
      according to the WHO classification versus contemporary classification. Age,
      increased ECOG performance status, advanced tumor stages, lymph node metastasis,
      positive surgical margin and anemia were associated with disease recurrence (DR),
      cancer-specific mortality (CSM) and all-cause mortality (ACM). In multivariable
      analysis, anemia was an independent predictor of DR, CSM and ACM (WHO and/or
      contemporary classification). Blood transfusion was significantly associated with
      ACM in both classifications of anemia. CONCLUSIONS: PA is significantly
      associated with worse oncological outcome in patients undergoing RC. Based on the
      additional unfavorable influence of blood transfusion, this emphasizes the
      importance of early diagnosis and correction of anemia and implementation of
      alternative methods of blood volume management.

PMID- 25832019
TI  - Oxidative rearrangement of cyclobutanone derived N,O-ketals leading to
      pyrrolidone derivatives.
AB  - A halogen-induced oxidative rearrangement of N,O-ketals prepared from
      cyclobutanones, leading to pyrrolidone derivatives, is developed. The reaction
      proceeds via an iminium ether intermediate and, depending on the reaction medium,
      two types of pyrrolidone derivative, containing a halogen atom or hydroxyl group,
      can be obtained.

PMID- 25832020
TI  - Prediction of the stability of meropenem in intravenous mixtures.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to predict the stability of meropenem in a mixed
      infusion. The hydrolysis of meropenem in aqueous solution was found to be
      accelerated by pH, and by increasing concentrations of sodium bisulfite (SBS) and
      L-cysteine. Equations were derived for the degradation rate constants (kobs) of
      pH, SBS and L-cysteine, and fractional rate constants were estimated by the
      nonlinear least-squares method (quasi-Newton method using the solver in Microsoft
      Excel) at 25 degrees C. The activation energy (Ea) and frequency factor (A) were
      calculated using the Arrhenius equation. The pH of the mixed infusion was
      estimated using the characteristic pH curve. From these results, an equation was
      derived giving the residual ratio (%) of meropenem at any time after mixing an
      infusion containing SBS and/or L-cysteine at any temperature, and in the pH range
      4.0-10.0. A high correlation was shown to exist between the estimated and
      determined residual ratios (%).

PMID- 25832021
TI  - Synthesis of a carbon analogue of scytonemin.
AB  - The synthesis of a carbon analogue of scytonemin was accomplished on the basis of
      molybdenum-mediated intramolecular double Pauson-Khand type reaction of
      bis(allenyne), followed by the double aldol condensation of the formed double
      Pauson-Khand type adduct.

PMID- 25832022
TI  - Synthesis and evaluation of fatty acid amides on the N-oleoylethanolamide-like
      activation of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha.
AB  - A series of fatty acid amides were synthesized and their peroxisome proliferator
      activated receptor alpha (PPAR-alpha) agonistic activities were evaluated in a
      normal rat liver cell line, clone 9. The mRNAs of the PPAR-alpha downstream
      genes, carnitine-palmitoyltransferase-1 and mitochondrial 3-hydroxy-3
      methylglutaryl-CoA synthase, were determined by real-time reverse transcription
      polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) as PPAR-alpha agonistic activities. We
      prepared nine oleic acid amides. Their PPAR-alpha agonistic activities were, in
      decreasing order, N-oleoylhistamine (OLHA), N-oleoylglycine, Oleamide, N
      oleoyltyramine, N-oleoylsertonin, and Olvanil. The highest activity was found
      with OLHA. We prepared and evaluated nine N-acylhistamines (N-acyl-HAs). Of
      these, OLHA, C16:0-HA, and C18:1Delta(9)-trans-HA showed similar activity.
      Activity due to the different chain length of the saturated fatty acid peaked at
      C16:0-HA. The PPAR-alpha antagonist, GW6471, inhibited the induction of the PPAR
      alpha downstream genes by OLHA and N-oleoylethanolamide (OEA). These data suggest
      that N-acyl-HAs could be considered new PPAR-alpha agonists.

PMID- 25832023
TI  - Membrane anchor of cytochrome P450 reductase suppresses the uncoupling of
      cytochrome P450.
AB  - Cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) is an important redox partner of microsomal CYPs.
      CPR is composed of a membrane anchor and a catalytic domain that contains FAD and
      flavin mononucleotide (FMN) as redox centers and mediates electron transfer to
      CYP. Although the CPR membrane anchor is believed to be requisite for interaction
      with CYP, its physiological role is still controversial. To clarify the role of
      the anchor, we constructed a mutant (Delta60-CPR) in which the N-terminal
      membrane anchor was truncated, and studied its effect on binding properties,
      electron transfer to CYP2C19, and drug metabolism. We found that Delta60-CPR
      could bind to and transfer electrons to CYP2C19 as efficiently as WT-CPR, even in
      the absence of lipid membrane. In accordance with this, Delta60-CPR could mediate
      metabolism of amitriptyline (AMT) and imipramine (IMP) in the absence of lipids,
      although activity was diminished. However, Delta60-CPR failed to metabolize
      omeprazole (OPZ) and lansoprazole (LPZ). To clarify the reason for this
      discrepancy in drug metabolism, we investigated the uncoupling reaction of the
      CYP catalytic cycle. By measuring the amount of H2O2 by-product, we found that
      shunt pathways were markedly activated in the presence of OPZ/LPZ in the Delta60
      CPR mutant. Because H2O2 levels varied among the drugs, we conclude that the
      proton network in the distal pocket of CYP2C19 is perturbed differently by
      different drugs, and activated oxygen is degraded to become H2O2. Therefore, we
      propose a novel role for the membrane anchor as a suppressor of the uncoupling
      reaction in drug metabolism by CYP.

PMID- 25832024
TI  - Preparation of solid dispersion of dronedarone hydrochloride with Soluplus((r))
      by hot melt extrusion technique for enhanced drug release.
AB  - In order to enhance the dissolution rate of dronedarone hydrochloride (DRN), a
      novel Soluplus((r)) (polyethyleneglycol-polyvinyl caprolactam-polyvinyl acetate
      grafted copolymer)-based solid dispersion (SD) was formulated using a hot melt
      extrusion technique. The physical characteristics determined using scanning
      electron microscopy and X-ray powder diffraction, revealed that the active
      compound was molecularly dispersed in the amphiphilic polymer in a stable
      amorphous form. The dissolution rate of DRN from the tablet dosage form of SD
      extrudate consisted of the drug and Soluplus((r)) in a weight ratio of 1 : 1, and
      was obviously more rapid and higher than that of the intact drug and marketed
      product (Multaq((r)), Sanofi, U.S.A.) at pH 1.2, 4.0 and 6.8. This suggests that
      Soluplus((r))-based SD formula can be a promising approach for enhancing the
      dissolution and oral absorption of DRN with a simple preparation process.

PMID- 25832025
TI  - Novel use of pectin as a microneedle base.
AB  - Hydrocolloid pectin formulation was utilized as a novel base for fabricating
      biodegradable micro-needle (MN) arrays. The pectin MNs were, on average, found to
      be 897.71 +/- 3.48 um in height and 234.31 +/- 2.27 um in base width, with an
      inter base spacing of 498.66 +/- 1.60 um, and corresponding to an aspect ratio of
      3.83 +/- 0.04. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and pectin gel interaction was found to
      be dependent on the loaded protein amount. By contrast, regardless of the amount
      of BSA incorporated, pectin MNs competed with BSA to form a complex with Cu(2+)
      ions in a bicinchoninic acid (BCA) kit. The glass transition of the pectin MN
      base was found to be 145.15 +/- 12.09, with a delta Cp of 2.60 +/- 0.02 J g(-1)
      K(-1). Because pectin MNs are skin friendly and naturally occurring, with
      biodegradable and hydrocolloidal features, they are promising vehicle for the
      controlled release of macromolecules.

PMID- 25832026
TI  - Limonoids from the stem bark of Khaya senegalensis.
AB  - Six new limonoids with modified furan ring, khaysenelide A-F (1-6), together with
      six known limonoids (7-12) were isolated from the stem bark of Khaya
      senegalensis. The basic skeletons of these new limonoids belong to mexicanolide
      (1, 2) and rearrangement phragmalin (3-6), which were elucidated on the basis of
      spectroscopic methods including high resolution-electrospray ionization (HR-ESI)
      MS, one and two dimensional (1D and 2D)-NMR and confirmed by single-crystal X-ray
      crystallography using CuKalpha radiation of 1 and 3. Their absolute
      configurations were determined by the X-ray crystallography data and comparison
      of their electronic circular dichroism spectra. The inhibitory effect on nitric
      oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccaride-activated RAW264.7 macrophages of new
      compounds was also tested.

PMID- 25832027
TI  - Gas-Phase Fragmentation Pathways of Mixed Addenda Keggin Anions: PMo12-nW nO 40 3
      (n = 0-12).
AB  - We report a collision-induced dissociation (CID) investigation of the mixed
      addenda polyoxometalate (POM) anions, PMo(12-n)W(n)O(40)(3-) (n = 0-12). The
      anions were generated in solution using a straightforward single-step synthesis
      approach and introduced into the gas phase by electrospray ionization (ESI).
      Distinct differences in fragmentation patterns were observed for the range of
      mixed addenda POMs examined in this study. CID of molybdenum-rich anions, PMo(12
      n)W(n)O(40)(3-) (n = 0-2), generates an abundant doubly charged fragment
      containing seven metal atoms (M) and 22 oxygen atoms (M(7)O(22)(2-)) and its
      complementary singly charged PM(5)O(18)(-) ion. In comparison, the doubly charged
      Lindqvist anion, (M(6)O(19)(2-)) and its complementary singly charged PM(6)O(21)(
      ) ion are the dominant fragments of Keggin POMs containing more than two tungsten
      atoms, PMo(12-n)W(n)O(40)(3-) (n = 3-12). The observed transition in the
      dissociation pathways with an increase in the number of W atoms in the POM may be
      attributed to the higher barrier of tungsten-rich anions towards isomerization.
      We present evidence that the observed distribution of Mo and W atoms in the major
      M(6)O(19)(2-) and M(7)O(22)(2-) fragment ions is different from that predicted by
      a random distribution, indicating substantial segregation of the addenda metal
      atoms in the POMs. Charge reduction of the triply charged precursor anion
      resulting in formation of doubly charged anions is also observed. This is a
      dominant pathway for mixed POMs having a majority (8-11) of W atoms and a minor
      channel for other precursors indicating a close competition between fragmentation
      and charge loss pathways in CID of POM anions.

PMID- 25832028
TI  - Probing the electron capture dissociation mass spectrometry of phosphopeptides
      with traveling wave ion mobility spectrometry and molecular dynamics simulations.
AB  - Electron capture dissociation mass spectrometry offers several advantages for the
      analysis of peptides, most notably that backbone c and z fragments typically
      retain labile modifications such as phosphorylation. We have shown previously
      that, in some cases, the presence of phosphorylation has a deleterious effect on
      peptide sequence coverage, and hypothesized that intramolecular interactions
      involving the phosphate group were preventing separation of backbone fragments.
      In the present work, we seek to rationalize the observed ECD behavior through a
      combination of ECD of model peptides, traveling wave ion mobility mass
      spectrometry and molecular dynamics simulations. The results suggest that for
      doubly protonated ions of phosphopeptide APLpSFRGSLPKSYVK a salt-bridge structure
      is favored, whereas for the doubly-protonated ions of APLSFRGSLPKpSYVK ionic
      hydrogen bonds predominate. 

PMID- 25832029
TI  - Rapid Online Non-Enzymatic Protein Digestion Analysis with High Pressure
      Superheated ESI-MS.
AB  - Recently, we reported a new ESI ion source that could electrospray the super
      heated aqueous solution with liquid temperature much higher than the normal
      boiling point (J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 25, 1862-1869). The boiling of liquid
      was prevented by pressurizing the ion source to a pressure greater than
      atmospheric pressure. The maximum operating pressure in our previous prototype
      was 11 atm, and the highest achievable temperature was 180 degrees C. In this
      paper, a more compact prototype that can operate up to 27 atm and 250 degrees C
      liquid temperatures is constructed, and reproducible MS acquisition can be
      extended to electrospray temperatures that have never before been tested. Here,
      we apply this super-heated ESI source to the rapid online protein digestion MS.
      The sample solution is rapidly heated when flowing through a heated ESI
      capillary, and the digestion products are ionized by ESI in situ when the
      solution emerges from the tip of the heated capillary. With weak acid such as
      formic acid as solution, the thermally accelerated digestion (acid hydrolysis)
      has the selective cleavage at the aspartate (Asp, D) residue sites. The residence
      time of liquid within the active heating region is about 20 s. The online
      operation eliminates the need to transfer the sample from the digestion reactor,
      and the output of the digestive reaction can be monitored and manipulated by the
      solution flow rate and heater temperature in a near real-time basis.

PMID- 25832030
TI  - Determination of Noncovalent Binding Using a Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor as a
      Flow Injection Device Coupled to Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry.
AB  - Described is a new method based on the concept of controlled band dispersion,
      achieved by hyphenating flow injection analysis with ESI-MS for noncovalent
      binding determinations. A continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) was used as a
      FIA device for exponential dilution of an equimolar host-guest solution over
      time. The data obtained was treated for the noncovalent binding determination
      using an equimolar binding model. Dissociation constants between vancomycin and
      Ac-Lys(Ac)-Ala-Ala-OH peptide stereoisomers were determined using both the
      positive and negative ionization modes. The results obtained for Ac-L-Lys(Ac)-D
      Ala-D-Ala (a model for a Gram-positive bacterial cell wall) binding were in
      reasonable agreement with literature values made by other mass spectrometry
      binding determination techniques. Also, the developed method allowed the
      determination of dissociation constants for vancomycin with Ac-L-Lys(Ac)-D-Ala-L
      Ala, Ac-L-Lys(Ac)-L-Ala-D-Ala, and Ac-L-Lys(Ac)-L-Ala-L-Ala. Although some
      differences in measured binding affinities were noted using different ionization
      modes, the results of each determination were generally consistent. Differences
      are likely attributable to the influence of a pseudo-physiological ammonium
      acetate buffer solution on the formation of positively- and negatively-charged
      ionic complexes.

PMID- 25832031
TI  - Identification of microRNAs associated with abdominal aortic aneurysms and
      peripheral arterial disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs are crucial in the regulation of cardiovascular disease and
      represent potential therapeutic targets to decrease abdominal aortic aneurysm
      (AAA) expansion. The aim of this study was to identify circulating microRNAs
      associated with AAA. METHODS: Some 754 microRNAs in whole-blood samples from 15
      men with an AAA and ten control subjects were quantified using quantitative
      reverse transcriptase-PCR. MicroRNAs demonstrating a significant association with
      AAA were validated in peripheral blood and plasma samples of men in the following
      groups (40 in each): healthy controls, controls with peripheral arterial disease
      (PAD), men with a small AAA (30-54 mm), those with a large AAA (over 54 mm), and
      those following AAA repair. MicroRNA expression was also assessed in aortic
      tissue. RESULTS: Twenty-nine differentially expressed microRNAs were identified
      in the discovery study. Validation study revealed that let-7e (fold change (FC) 
      1.80; P = 0.001), miR-15a (FC -2.24; P < 0.001) and miR-196b (FC -2.26; P <
      0.001) were downregulated in peripheral blood from patients with an AAA, and miR
      411 was upregulated (FC 5.90; P = 0.001). miR-196b was also downregulated in
      plasma from the same individuals (FC -3.75; P = 0.029). The same miRNAs were
      similarly expressed differentially in patients with PAD compared with healthy
      controls. Validated and predicted microRNA targets identified through miRWalk
      revealed that these miRNAs were all regulators of AAA-related genes (vascular
      cell adhesion molecule 1, intercellular cell adhesion molecule 1, DAB2
      interacting protein, alpha1-antitrypsin, C-reactive protein, interleukin 6,
      osteoprotegerin, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, tumour necrosis factor
      alpha). CONCLUSION: In this study, circulating levels of let-7e, miR-15a, miR
      196b and miR-411 were differentially expressed in men with an AAA compared with
      healthy controls, but also differentially expressed in men with PAD. Modulation
      of these miRNAs and their target genes may represent a new therapeutic pathway to
      affect the progression of AAA and atherosclerosis.

PMID- 25832033
TI  - Phenotype of a child with Angelman syndrome born to a woman with Prader-Willi
      syndrome.
AB  - This report describes the phenotype, from early childhood to adolescence, of a
      girl with Angelman syndrome (AS) born following a maternal transmission of a
      germline paternal 15q11.2-q13 deletion. During early childhood, she showed a
      typical AS phenotype, such as jerky movements, poor sleep, high voltage
      electroencephalography pattern, epilepsy, and a severe developmental disability.
      As she grew older, indications of phenotypical traits similar to Prader-Willi
      syndrome (PWS) appeared, in particular hyperphagic behavior and a body fat
      distribution similar to that reported in PWS. She generally showed cheerful AS
      behavior and had the characteristic outbursts of laughter, but her attitude to
      other people did not reflect the usual shared enjoyment of interaction seen in
      children with AS. In unfamiliar surroundings, she withdrew socially, similar to
      children with PWS, and her insistence on the same, rigid routines was similar to
      behavior patterns in PWS. The dysmorphic facial features that characterize AS
      were blurred in adolescence. The specified features that this AS patient had in
      common with PWS were hardly incidental and, if verified by upcoming case reports
      of children born to women with a paternal 15q11.2-q13 deletion, they may show new
      aspects of genetic imprinting.

PMID- 25832032
TI  - Wine and bone health: a review.
AB  - A light-to-moderate wine consumption has been shown to provide several beneficial
      effects on the skeletal system, including reduced risk of bone mass loss and
      fractures. Wine is rich in phenolic compounds, strong phytoestrogens and natural
      antioxidants, to which bone protection is mainly attributed. The objective of
      this review was to give an overview of the exact mechanisms by which wine
      consumption is involved in bone protection. We found a great variety of in vitro
      research on the beneficial effects of isolated wine phenolics on the skeletal
      system, with a significant lack of evidence of their in vivo effects. In
      addition, we found almost no studies investigating how wine, a mixture of these
      phenolics dissolved in ethanol, affects the skeletal system. Our results warrant
      further research on this interesting topic. 

PMID- 25832034
TI  - Propensity-matched comparisons of clinical outcomes after transapical or
      transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement: a placement of aortic
      transcatheter valves (PARTNER)-I trial substudy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The higher risk of adverse outcomes after transapical (TA) versus
      transfemoral (TF) transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) could be
      attributable to TA-TAVR being an open surgical procedure or to clinical
      differences between TA- and TF-TAVR patients. We compared outcomes after
      neutralizing patient differences using propensity score matching. METHODS AND
      RESULTS: From April 2007 to February 2012, 1100 Placement of Aortic Transcatheter
      Valves (PARTNER)-I patients underwent TA-TAVR and 1521 underwent TF-TAVR with
      Edwards SAPIEN balloon-expandable bioprostheses. Propensity matching based on 111
      preprocedural variables, exclusive of femoral access morphology, identified 501
      well-matched patient pairs (46% of possible matches), 95% of whom had peripheral
      arterial disease. Matched TA-TAVR patients experienced more adverse procedural
      events, longer length of stay (5 versus 8 days; P<0.0001), and slower recovery
      (New York Heart Association class I, 31% versus 38% at 30 days, equalizing by 6
      months at 51% versus 47%); stroke risk was similar (3.4% versus 3.3% at 30 days
      and 6.0% versus 6.7% at 3 years); mortality was elevated for the first 6
      postprocedural months (19% versus 12%; P=0.01); but aortic regurgitation was less
      (34% versus 52% mild and 8.9% versus 12% moderate to severe at discharge,
      P=0.001; 36% versus 50% mild and 10% versus 15% moderate to severe at 6 months,
      P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The likelihood of adverse periprocedural events and
      prolonged recovery is greater after TA-TAVR than TF-TAVR in vasculopathic
      patients after accounting for differences in cardiovascular risk factors,
      although stroke risk is equivalent and aortic regurgitation is less. As smaller
      delivery systems permit TF-TAVR in many of these patients, we recommend a TF
      first access strategy for TAVR when anatomically feasible. CLINICAL TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00530894.

PMID- 25832035
TI  - Impact of Therapy on Metabolic Syndrome in Young Adult Premenopausal Female Lupus
      Patients: Beneficial Effect of Antimalarials.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: There are no data about the main factors associated with metabolic
      syndrome in young premenopausal systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. The
      aim of the study was to evaluate the frequency of metabolic syndrome and disease-
      or therapy-related factors in premenopausal young SLE patients. METHODS: A total
      of 103 premenopausal SLE patients ages <40 years were selected and compared to 35
      healthy premenopausal age-matched women. Metabolic syndrome was defined according
      to the 2009 Joint Interim Statement. RESULTS: A higher frequency of metabolic
      syndrome (22.3% versus 5.7%; P = 0.03) was observed in the SLE group. Metabolic
      syndrome-SLE patients had higher SLE Disease Activity Index scores (mean +/- SD
      5.9 +/- 7.6 versus 1.9 +/- 2.7; P = 0.006), more frequently had previous renal
      disease (73.9% versus 51.2%; P = 0.05) and current renal disease (34.8% versus
      10.0%; P = 0.008), and had higher current prednisone dose (median [range] 20 [0
      60] versus 5 [0-60] mg/dl; P = 0.018) and cumulative prednisone dose (mean +/- SD
      41.48 +/- 27.81 versus 24.7 +/- 18.66 gm; P = 0.023) than those without metabolic
      syndrome. Chloroquine was less frequently used in metabolic syndrome-SLE patients
      (65.2% versus 90.0%; P = 0.008). In multivariate analysis, only current
      chloroquine use (prevalence ratio [PR] 0.29, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]
      0.13-0.64) and cumulative prednisone were associated with metabolic syndrome (PR
      1.02, 95% CI 1.01-1.04). Further estimated prevalence analysis identified the
      fact that antimalarial use promoted continuous decrease in the progressive
      metabolic syndrome prevalence associated with glucocorticoid cumulative dose.
      CONCLUSION: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome is high in premenopausal young
      adult SLE patients. Chloroquine has a protective effect on the prevalence of
      metabolic syndrome in these patients, and this benefit counteracts the
      deleterious effect of glucocorticoids in a dose-dependent manner.

PMID- 25832036
TI  - Tribute to Penny Slattery (1962-2015).

PMID- 25832037
TI  - Point/counterpoint. GPU technology is the hope for near real-time Monte Carlo
      dose calculations.

PMID- 25832038
TI  - Large scale validation of the M5L lung CAD on heterogeneous CT datasets.
AB  - PURPOSE: M5L, a fully automated computer-aided detection (CAD) system for the
      detection and segmentation of lung nodules in thoracic computed tomography (CT),
      is presented and validated on several image datasets. METHODS: M5L is the
      combination of two independent subsystems, based on the Channeler Ant Model as a
      segmentation tool [lung channeler ant model (lungCAM)] and on the voxel-based
      neural approach. The lungCAM was upgraded with a scan equalization module and a
      new procedure to recover the nodules connected to other lung structures; its
      classification module, which makes use of a feed-forward neural network, is based
      of a small number of features (13), so as to minimize the risk of lacking
      generalization, which could be possible given the large difference between the
      size of the training and testing datasets, which contain 94 and 1019 CTs,
      respectively. The lungCAM (standalone) and M5L (combined) performance was
      extensively tested on 1043 CT scans from three independent datasets, including a
      detailed analysis of the full Lung Image Database Consortium/Image Database
      Resource Initiative database, which is not yet found in literature. RESULTS: The
      lungCAM and M5L performance is consistent across the databases, with a
      sensitivity of about 70% and 80%, respectively, at eight false positive findings
      per scan, despite the variable annotation criteria and acquisition and
      reconstruction conditions. A reduced sensitivity is found for subtle nodules and
      ground glass opacities (GGO) structures. A comparison with other CAD systems is
      also presented. CONCLUSIONS: The M5L performance on a large and heterogeneous
      dataset is stable and satisfactory, although the development of a dedicated
      module for GGOs detection could further improve it, as well as an iterative
      optimization of the training procedure. The main aim of the present study was
      accomplished: M5L results do not deteriorate when increasing the dataset size,
      making it a candidate for supporting radiologists on large scale screenings and
      clinical programs.

PMID- 25832039
TI  - A deformable head and neck phantom with in-vivo dosimetry for adaptive
      radiotherapy quality assurance.
AB  - PURPOSE: Patients' interfractional anatomic changes can compromise the initial
      treatment plan quality. To overcome this issue, adaptive radiotherapy (ART) has
      been introduced. Deformable image registration (DIR) is an important tool for ART
      and several deformable phantoms have been built to evaluate the algorithms'
      accuracy. However, there is a lack of deformable phantoms that can also provide
      dosimetric information to verify the accuracy of the whole ART process. The goal
      of this work is to design and construct a deformable head and neck (HN) ART
      quality assurance (QA) phantom with in vivo dosimetry. METHODS: An axial slice of
      a HN patient is taken as a model for the phantom construction. Six anatomic
      materials are considered, with HU numbers similar to a real patient. A filled
      balloon inside the phantom tissue is inserted to simulate tumor. Deflation of the
      balloon simulates tumor shrinkage. Nonradiopaque surface markers, which do not
      influence DIR algorithms, provide the deformation ground truth. Fixed and movable
      holders are built in the phantom to hold a diode for dosimetric measurements.
      RESULTS: The measured deformations at the surface marker positions can be
      compared with deformations calculated by a DIR algorithm to evaluate its
      accuracy. In this study, the authors selected a Demons algorithm as a DIR
      algorithm example for demonstration purposes. The average error magnitude is 2.1
      mm. The point dose measurements from the in vivo diode dosimeters show a good
      agreement with the calculated doses from the treatment planning system with a
      maximum difference of 3.1% of prescription dose, when the treatment plans are
      delivered to the phantom with original or deformed geometry. CONCLUSIONS: In this
      study, the authors have presented the functionality of this deformable HN phantom
      for testing the accuracy of DIR algorithms and verifying the ART dosimetric
      accuracy. The authors' experiments demonstrate the feasibility of this phantom
      serving as an end-to-end ART QA phantom.

PMID- 25832040
TI  - Computer-aided detection of breast cancers using Haar-like features in automated
      3D breast ultrasound.
AB  - PURPOSE: Automated 3D breast ultrasound (ABUS) has gained interest in breast
      imaging. Especially for screening women with dense breasts, ABUS appears to be
      beneficial. However, since the amount of data generated is large, the risk of
      oversight errors is substantial. Computer aided detection (CADe) may be used as a
      second reader to prevent oversight errors. When CADe is used in this fashion, it
      is essential that small cancers are detected, while the number of false positive
      findings should remain acceptable. In this work, the authors improve their
      previously developed CADe system in the initial candidate detection stage.
      METHODS: The authors use a large number of 2D Haar-like features to differentiate
      lesion structures from false positives. Using a cascade of GentleBoost
      classifiers that combines these features, a likelihood score, highly specific for
      small cancers, can be efficiently computed. The likelihood scores are added to
      the previously developed voxel features to improve detection. RESULTS: The method
      was tested in a dataset of 414 ABUS volumes with 211 cancers. Cancers had a mean
      size of 14.72 mm. Free-response receiver operating characteristic analysis was
      performed to evaluate the performance of the algorithm with and without using the
      aforementioned Haar-like feature likelihood scores. After the initial detection
      stage, the number of missed cancer was reduced by 18.8% after adding Haar-like
      feature likelihood scores. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed technique significantly
      improves our previously developed CADe system in the initial candidate detection
      stage.

PMID- 25832041
TI  - GPU-accelerated regularized iterative reconstruction for few-view cone beam CT.
AB  - PURPOSE: The present work proposes an iterative reconstruction technique designed
      for x-ray transmission computed tomography (CT). The main objective is to provide
      a model-based solution to the cone-beam CT reconstruction problem, yielding
      accurate low-dose images via few-views acquisitions in clinically acceptable time
      frames. METHODS: The proposed technique combines a modified ordered subsets
      convex (OSC) algorithm and the total variation minimization (TV) regularization
      technique and is called OSC-TV. The number of subsets of each OSC iteration
      follows a reduction pattern in order to ensure the best performance of the
      regularization method. Considering the high computational cost of the algorithm,
      it is implemented on a graphics processing unit, using parallelization to
      accelerate computations. RESULTS: The reconstructions were performed on computer
      simulated as well as human pelvic cone-beam CT projection data and image quality
      was assessed. In terms of convergence and image quality, OSC-TV performs well in
      reconstruction of low-dose cone-beam CT data obtained via a few-view acquisition
      protocol. It compares favorably to the few-view TV-regularized projections onto
      convex sets (POCS-TV) algorithm. It also appears to be a viable alternative to
      full-dataset filtered backprojection. Execution times are of 1-2 min and are
      compatible with the typical clinical workflow for nonreal-time applications.
      CONCLUSIONS: Considering the image quality and execution times, this method may
      be useful for reconstruction of low-dose clinical acquisitions. It may be of
      particular benefit to patients who undergo multiple acquisitions by reducing the
      overall imaging radiation dose and associated risks.

PMID- 25832042
TI  - Head phantoms for transcranial focused ultrasound.
AB  - PURPOSE: In the ongoing endeavor of fine-tuning, the clinical application of
      transcranial MR-guided focused ultrasound (tcMRgFUS), ex-vivo studies wlkiith
      whole human skulls are of great use in improving the underlying technology
      guiding the accurate and precise thermal ablation of clinically relevant targets
      in the human skull. Described here are the designs, methods for fabrication, and
      notes on utility of three different ultrasound phantoms to be used for brain
      focused ultrasound research. METHODS: Three different models of phantoms are
      developed and tested to be accurate, repeatable experimental options to provide
      means to further this research. The three models are a cadaver, a gel-filled
      skull, and a head mold containing a skull and filled with gel that mimics the
      brain and the skin. Each was positioned in a clinical tcMRgFUS system and
      sonicated at 1100 W (acoustic) for 12 s at different locations. Maximum
      temperature rise as measured by MR thermometry was recorded and compared against
      clinical data for a similar neurosurgical target. Results are presented as
      heating efficiency in units ( degrees C/kW/s) for direct comparison to available
      clinical data. The procedure for casting thermal phantom material is presented.
      The utility of each phantom model is discussed in the context of various tcMRgFUS
      research areas. RESULTS: The cadaveric phantom model, gel-filled skull model, and
      full head phantom model had heating efficiencies of 5.3, 4.0, and 3.9  degrees
      C/(kW/s), respectively, compared to a sample clinical heating efficiency of 2.6 
      degrees C/(kW/s). In the seven research categories considered, the cadaveric
      phantom model was the most versatile, though less practical compared to the ex
      vivo skull-based phantoms. CONCLUSIONS: Casting thermal phantom material was
      shown to be an effective way to prepare tissue-mimicking material for the
      phantoms presented. The phantom models presented are all useful in tcMRgFUS
      research, though some are better suited to a limited subset of applications
      depending on the researchers needs.

PMID- 25832043
TI  - Dosimetric characteristics of the novel 2D ionization chamber array OCTAVIUS
      Detector 1500.
AB  - PURPOSE: The dosimetric properties of the OCTAVIUS Detector 1500 (OD1500)
      ionization chamber array (PTW-Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany) have been
      investigated. A comparative study was carried out with the OCTAVIUS Detector 729
      and OCTAVIUS Detector 1000 SRS arrays. METHODS: The OD1500 array is an air vented
      ionization chamber array with 1405 detectors in a 27 * 27 cm(2) measurement area
      arranged in a checkerboard pattern with a chamber-to-chamber distance of 10 mm in
      each row. A sampling step width of 5 mm can be achieved by merging two
      measurements shifted by 5 mm, thus fulfilling the Nyquist theorem for intensity
      modulated dose distributions. The stability, linearity, and dose per pulse
      dependence were investigated using a Semiflex 31013 chamber (PTW-Freiburg,
      Freiburg, Germany) as a reference detector. The effective depth of measurement
      was determined by measuring TPR curves with the array and a Roos chamber type
      31004 (PTW-Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany). Comparative output factor measurements
      were performed with the array, the Semiflex 31010 ionization chamber and the
      Diode 60012 (both PTW-Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany). The energy dependence of the
      OD1500 was measured by comparing the array's readings to those of a Semiflex
      31010 ionization chamber for varying mean photon energies at the depth of
      measurement, applying to the Semiflex chamber readings the correction factor kNR
      for nonreference conditions. The Gaussian lateral dose response function of a
      single array detector was determined by searching the convolution kernel suitable
      to convert the slit beam profiles measured with a Diode 60012 into those measured
      with the array's central chamber. An intensity modulated dose distribution
      measured with the array was verified by comparing a OD1500 measurement to TPS
      calculations and film measurements. RESULTS: The stability and interchamber
      sensitivity variation of the OD1500 array were within +/-0.2% and +/-0.58%,
      respectively. Dose linearity was within 1% over the range from 5 to 1000 MU. The
      effective point of measurement of the OD1500 for dose measurements in RW3
      phantoms was determined to be (8.7 +/- 0.2) mm below its front surface. Output
      factors showed deviations below 1% for field sizes exceeding 4 * 4 cm(2). The
      dose per pulse dependence was smaller than 0.4% for doses per pulse from 0.2 to 1
      mGy. The energy dependence of the array did not exceed +/-0.9%. The parameter
      sigma of the Gaussian lateral dose response function was determined as sigma6MV =
      (2.07 +/- 0.02) mm for 6 MV and sigma15MV = (2.09 +/- 0.02) mm for 15 MV. An IMRT
      verification showed passing rates well above 90% for a local 3 mm/3% criterion.
      CONCLUSIONS: The OD1500 array's dosimetric properties showed the applicability of
      the array for clinical dosimetry with the possibility to increase the spatial
      sampling frequency and the coverage of a dose distribution with the sensitive
      areas of ionization chambers by merging two measurements.

PMID- 25832044
TI  - Robustness of sweeping-window arc therapy treatment sequences against
      intrafractional tumor motion.
AB  - PURPOSE: Due to the potentially periodic collimator dynamic in volumetric
      modulated arc therapy (VMAT) dose deliveries with the sweeping-window arc therapy
      (SWAT) technique, additional manifestations of dosimetric deviations in the
      presence of intrafractional motion may occur. With a fast multileaf collimator
      (MLC), and a flattening filter free dose delivery, treatment times close to 60 s
      per fraction are clinical reality. For these treatment sequences, the human
      breathing period can be close to the collimator sweeping period. Compared to a
      random arrangement of the segments, this will cause a further degradation of the
      dose homogeneity. METHODS: Fifty VMAT sequences of potentially moving target
      volumes were delivered on a two dimensional ionization chamber array. In order to
      detect interplay effects along all three coordinate axes, time resolved
      measurements were performed twice--with the detector aligned in vertical (V) or
      horizontal (H) orientation. All dose matrices were then moved within a simulation
      software by a time-dependent motion vector. The minimum relative equivalent
      uniform dose EUDr,m for all breathing starting phases was determined for each
      amplitude and period. Furthermore, an estimation of periods with minimum EUD was
      performed. Additionally, LINAC logfiles were recorded during plan delivery. The
      MLC, jaw, gantry angle, and monitor unit settings were continuously saved and
      used to calculate the correlation coefficient between the target motion and the
      dose weighed collimator motion component for each direction (CC, LR, AP)
      separately. RESULTS: The resulting EUDr,m were EUDr,m(CCV) = (98.3 +/- 0.6)%,
      EUDr,m(CCH) = (98.6 +/- 0.5)%, EUDr,m(APV) = (97.7 +/- 0.9)%, and EUDr,m(LRH) =
      (97.8 +/- 0.9)%. The overall minimum relative EUD observed for 360(?) arc
      midventilation treatments was 94.6%. The treatment plan with the shortest period
      and a minimum relative EUD of less than 97% was found at T = 6.1 s. For a partial
      120(?) arc, an EUDr,m = 92.0% was found. In all cases, a correlation coefficient
      above 0.5 corresponded to a minimum in EUD. CONCLUSIONS: With the advent of fast
      VMAT delivery techniques, nonrobust treatment sequences for human breathing
      patterns can be generated. These sequences are characterized by a large
      correlation coefficient between a target motion component and the corresponding
      collimator dynamic. By iteratively decreasing the maximum allowed dose rate, a
      low correlation coefficient and consequentially a robust treatment sequence are
      ensured.

PMID- 25832045
TI  - Ion chamber absorbed dose calibration coefficients, N(D,w), measured at ADCLs:
      distribution analysis and stability.
AB  - PURPOSE: To analyze absorbed dose calibration coefficients, ND,w, measured at
      accredited dosimetry calibration laboratories (ADCLs) for client ionization
      chambers to study (i) variability among ND,w coefficients for chambers of the
      same type calibrated at each ADCL to investigate ion chamber volume fluctuations
      and chamber manufacturing tolerances; (ii) equivalency of ion chamber calibration
      coefficients measured at different ADCLs by intercomparing ND,w coefficients for
      chambers of the same type; and (iii) the long-term stability of ND,w coefficients
      for different chamber types by investigating repeated chamber calibrations.
      METHODS: Large samples of ND,w coefficients for several chamber types measured
      over the time period between 1998 and 2014 were obtained from the three ADCLs
      operating in the United States. These are analyzed using various graphical and
      numerical statistical tests for the four chamber types with the largest samples
      of calibration coefficients to investigate (i) and (ii) above. Ratios of
      calibration coefficients for the same chamber, typically obtained two years
      apart, are calculated to investigate (iii) above and chambers with standard
      deviations of old/new ratios less than 0.3% meet stability requirements for
      accurate reference dosimetry recommended in dosimetry protocols. RESULTS: It is
      found that ND,w coefficients for a given chamber type compared among different
      ADCLs may arise from differing probability distributions potentially due to
      slight differences in calibration procedures and/or the transfer of the primary
      standard. However, average ND,w coefficients from different ADCLs for given
      chamber types are very close with percent differences generally less than 0.2%
      for Farmer-type chambers and are well within reported uncertainties. CONCLUSIONS:
      The close agreement among calibrations performed at different ADCLs reaffirms the
      Calibration Laboratory Accreditation Subcommittee process of ensuring ADCL
      conformance with National Institute of Standards and Technology standards. This
      study shows that ND,w coefficients measured at different ADCLs are statistically
      equivalent, especially considering reasonable uncertainties. This analysis of
      ND,w coefficients also allows identification of chamber types that can be
      considered stable enough for accurate reference dosimetry.

PMID- 25832046
TI  - X-ray computed tomography using curvelet sparse regularization.
AB  - PURPOSE: Reconstruction of x-ray computed tomography (CT) data remains a
      mathematically challenging problem in medical imaging. Complementing the standard
      analytical reconstruction methods, sparse regularization is growing in
      importance, as it allows inclusion of prior knowledge. The paper presents a
      method for sparse regularization based on the curvelet frame for the application
      to iterative reconstruction in x-ray computed tomography. METHODS: In this work,
      the authors present an iterative reconstruction approach based on the alternating
      direction method of multipliers using curvelet sparse regularization. RESULTS:
      Evaluation of the method is performed on a specifically crafted numerical phantom
      dataset to highlight the method's strengths. Additional evaluation is performed
      on two real datasets from commercial scanners with different noise
      characteristics, a clinical bone sample acquired in a micro-CT and a human
      abdomen scanned in a diagnostic CT. The results clearly illustrate that curvelet
      sparse regularization has characteristic strengths. In particular, it improves
      the restoration and resolution of highly directional, high contrast features with
      smooth contrast variations. The authors also compare this approach to the popular
      technique of total variation and to traditional filtered backprojection.
      CONCLUSIONS: The authors conclude that curvelet sparse regularization is able to
      improve reconstruction quality by reducing noise while preserving highly
      directional features.

PMID- 25832047
TI  - Development of a phantom to validate high-dose-rate brachytherapy treatment
      planning systems with heterogeneous algorithms.
AB  - PURPOSE: This work presents the development of a phantom to verify the treatment
      planning system (TPS) algorithms used for high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy. It
      is designed to measure the relative dose in a heterogeneous media. The
      experimental details used, simulation methods, and comparisons with a commercial
      TPS are also provided. METHODS: To simulate heterogeneous conditions, four
      materials were used: Virtual WaterTM (VM), BR50/50TM, cork, and aluminum. The
      materials were arranged in 11 heterogeneity configurations. Three dosimeters were
      used to measure the relative response from a HDR (192)Ir source: TLD-100TM,
      Gafchromic((r)) EBT3 film, and an ExradinTM A1SL ionization chamber. To compare
      the results from the experimental measurements, the various configurations were
      modeled in the penelope/penEasy Monte Carlo code. Images of each setup geometry
      were acquired from a CT scanner and imported into BrachyVisionTM TPS software,
      which includes a grid-based Boltzmann solver AcurosTM. The results of the
      measurements performed in the heterogeneous setups were normalized to the dose
      values measured in the homogeneous Virtual WaterTM setup and the respective
      differences due to the heterogeneities were considered. Additionally, dose values
      calculated based on the American Association of Physicists in Medicine-Task Group
      43 formalism were compared to dose values calculated with the AcurosTM algorithm
      in the phantom. Calculated doses were compared at the same points, where
      measurements have been performed. RESULTS: Differences in the relative response
      as high as 11.5% were found from the homogeneous setup when the heterogeneous
      materials were inserted into the experimental phantom. The aluminum and cork
      materials produced larger differences than the plastic materials, with the
      BR50/50TM material producing results similar to the Virtual WaterTM results. Our
      experimental methods agree with the penelope/penEasy simulations for most setups
      and dosimeters. The TPS relative differences with the AcurosTM algorithm were
      similar in both experimental and simulated setups. The discrepancy between the
      BrachyVisionTM, AcurosTM, and TG-43 dose responses in the phantom described by
      this work exceeded 12% for certain setups. CONCLUSIONS: The results derived from
      the phantom measurements show good agreement with the simulations and TPS
      calculations, using AcurosTM algorithm. Differences in the dose responses were
      evident in the experimental results when heterogeneous materials were introduced.
      These measurements prove the usefulness of the heterogeneous phantom for
      verification of HDR treatment planning systems based on model-based dose
      calculation algorithms.

PMID- 25832049
TI  - Models for predicting objective function weights in prostate cancer IMRT.
AB  - PURPOSE: To develop and evaluate the clinical applicability of advanced machine
      learning models that simultaneously predict multiple optimization objective
      function weights from patient geometry for intensity-modulated radiation therapy
      of prostate cancer. METHODS: A previously developed inverse optimization method
      was applied retrospectively to determine optimal objective function weights for
      315 treated patients. The authors used an overlap volume ratio (OV) of bladder
      and rectum for different PTV expansions and overlap volume histogram slopes (OVSR
      and OVSB for the rectum and bladder, respectively) as explanatory variables that
      quantify patient geometry. Using the optimal weights as ground truth, the authors
      trained and applied three prediction models: logistic regression (LR),
      multinomial logistic regression (MLR), and weighted K-nearest neighbor (KNN). The
      population average of the optimal objective function weights was also calculated.
      RESULTS: The OV at 0.4 cm and OVSR at 0.1 cm features were found to be the most
      predictive of the weights. The authors observed comparable performance (i.e., no
      statistically significant difference) between LR, MLR, and KNN methodologies,
      with LR appearing to perform the best. All three machine learning models
      outperformed the population average by a statistically significant amount over a
      range of clinical metrics including bladder/rectum V53Gy, bladder/rectum V70Gy,
      and dose to the bladder, rectum, CTV, and PTV. When comparing the weights
      directly, the LR model predicted bladder and rectum weights that had, on average,
      a 73% and 74% relative improvement over the population average weights,
      respectively. The treatment plans resulting from the LR weights had, on average,
      a rectum V70Gy that was 35% closer to the clinical plan and a bladder V70Gy that
      was 29% closer, compared to the population average weights. Similar results were
      observed for all other clinical metrics. CONCLUSIONS: The authors demonstrated
      that the KNN and MLR weight prediction methodologies perform comparably to the LR
      model and can produce clinical quality treatment plans by simultaneously
      predicting multiple weights that capture trade-offs associated with sparing
      multiple OARs.

PMID- 25832048
TI  - Prospective estimation of organ dose in CT under tube current modulation.
AB  - PURPOSE: Computed tomography (CT) has been widely used worldwide as a tool for
      medical diagnosis and imaging. However, despite its significant clinical
      benefits, CT radiation dose at the population level has become a subject of
      public attention and concern. In this light, optimizing radiation dose has become
      a core responsibility for the CT community. As a fundamental step to manage and
      optimize dose, it may be beneficial to have accurate and prospective knowledge
      about the radiation dose for an individual patient. In this study, the authors
      developed a framework to prospectively estimate organ dose for chest and
      abdominopelvic CT exams under tube current modulation (TCM). METHODS: The organ
      dose is mainly dependent on two key factors: patient anatomy and irradiation
      field. A prediction process was developed to accurately model both factors. To
      model the anatomical diversity and complexity in the patient population, the
      authors used a previously developed library of computational phantoms with broad
      distributions of sizes, ages, and genders. A selected clinical patient,
      represented by a computational phantom in the study, was optimally matched with
      another computational phantom in the library to obtain a representation of the
      patient's anatomy. To model the irradiation field, a previously validated Monte
      Carlo program was used to model CT scanner systems. The tube current profiles
      were modeled using a ray-tracing program as previously reported that
      theoretically emulated the variability of modulation profiles from major CT
      machine manufacturers Li et al., [Phys. Med. Biol. 59, 4525-4548 (2014)]. The
      prediction of organ dose was achieved using the following process: (1) CTDIvol
      normalized-organ dose coefficients (horgan) for fixed tube current were first
      estimated as the prediction basis for the computational phantoms; (2) each
      computation phantom, regarded as a clinical patient, was optimally matched with
      one computational phantom in the library; (3) to account for the effect of the
      TCM scheme, a weighted organ-specific CTDIvol [denoted as CTDIvol organ,weighted]
      was computed for each organ based on the TCM profile and the anatomy of the
      "matched" phantom; (4) the organ dose was predicted by multiplying the weighted
      organ-specific CTDIvol with the organ dose coefficients (horgan). To quantify the
      prediction accuracy, each predicted organ dose was compared with the
      corresponding organ dose simulated from the Monte Carlo program with the TCM
      profile explicitly modeled. RESULTS: The predicted organ dose showed good
      agreements with the simulated organ dose across all organs and modulation
      profiles. The average percentage error in organ dose estimation was generally
      within 20% across all organs and modulation profiles, except for organs located
      in the pelvic and shoulder regions. For an average CTDIvol of a CT exam of 10
      mGy, the average error at full modulation strength (alpha = 1) across all organs
      was 0.91 mGy for chest exams, and 0.82 mGy for abdominopelvic exams. CONCLUSIONS:
      This study developed a quantitative model to predict organ dose for clinical
      chest and abdominopelvic scans. Such information may aid in the design of
      optimized CT protocols in relation to a targeted level of image quality.

PMID- 25832050
TI  - Patch-based generation of a pseudo CT from conventional MRI sequences for MRI
      only radiotherapy of the brain.
AB  - PURPOSE: In radiotherapy (RT) based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the
      only modality, the information on electron density must be derived from the MRI
      scan by creating a so-called pseudo computed tomography (pCT). This is a
      nontrivial task, since the voxel-intensities in an MRI scan are not uniquely
      related to electron density. To solve the task, voxel-based or atlas-based models
      have typically been used. The voxel-based models require a specialized dual
      ultrashort echo time MRI sequence for bone visualization and the atlas-based
      models require deformable registrations of conventional MRI scans. In this study,
      we investigate the potential of a patch-based method for creating a pCT based on
      conventional T1-weighted MRI scans without using deformable registrations. We
      compare this method against two state-of-the-art methods within the voxel-based
      and atlas-based categories. METHODS: The data consisted of CT and MRI scans of
      five cranial RT patients. To compare the performance of the different methods, a
      nested cross validation was done to find optimal model parameters for all the
      methods. Voxel-wise and geometric evaluations of the pCTs were done. Furthermore,
      a radiologic evaluation based on water equivalent path lengths was carried out,
      comparing the upper hemisphere of the head in the pCT and the real CT. Finally,
      the dosimetric accuracy was tested and compared for a photon treatment plan.
      RESULTS: The pCTs produced with the patch-based method had the best voxel-wise,
      geometric, and radiologic agreement with the real CT, closely followed by the
      atlas-based method. In terms of the dosimetric accuracy, the patch-based method
      had average deviations of less than 0.5% in measures related to target coverage.
      CONCLUSIONS: We showed that a patch-based method could generate an accurate pCT
      based on conventional T1-weighted MRI sequences and without deformable
      registrations. In our evaluations, the method performed better than existing
      voxel-based and atlas-based methods and showed a promising potential for RT of
      the brain based only on MRI.

PMID- 25832051
TI  - Comparison of film measurements and Monte Carlo simulations of dose delivered
      with very high-energy electron beams in a polystyrene phantom.
AB  - PURPOSE: To measure radiation dose in a water-equivalent medium from very high
      energy electron (VHEE) beams and make comparisons to Monte Carlo (MC) simulation
      results. METHODS: Dose in a polystyrene phantom delivered by an experimental VHEE
      beam line was measured with Gafchromic films for three 50 MeV and two 70 MeV
      Gaussian beams of 4.0-6.9 mm FWHM and compared to corresponding MC-simulated dose
      distributions. MC dose in the polystyrene phantom was calculated with the
      EGSnrc/BEAMnrc and DOSXYZnrc codes based on the experimental setup. Additionally,
      the effect of 2% beam energy measurement uncertainty and possible non-zero beam
      angular spread on MC dose distributions was evaluated. RESULTS: MC simulated
      percentage depth dose (PDD) curves agreed with measurements within 4% for all
      beam sizes at both 50 and 70 MeV VHEE beams. Central axis PDD at 8 cm depth
      ranged from 14% to 19% for the 5.4-6.9 mm 50 MeV beams and it ranged from 14% to
      18% for the 4.0-4.5 mm 70 MeV beams. MC simulated relative beam profiles of
      regularly shaped Gaussian beams evaluated at depths of 0.64 to 7.46 cm agreed
      with measurements to within 5%. A 2% beam energy uncertainty and 0.286 degrees 
      beam angular spread corresponded to a maximum 3.0% and 3.8% difference in depth
      dose curves of the 50 and 70 MeV electron beams, respectively. Absolute dose
      differences between MC simulations and film measurements of regularly shaped
      Gaussian beams were between 10% and 42%. CONCLUSIONS: The authors demonstrate
      that relative dose distributions for VHEE beams of 50-70 MeV can be measured with
      Gafchromic films and modeled with Monte Carlo simulations to an accuracy of 5%.
      The reported absolute dose differences likely caused by imperfect beam steering
      and subsequent charge loss revealed the importance of accurate VHEE beam control
      and diagnostics.

PMID- 25832052
TI  - The use of atlas registration and graph cuts for prostate segmentation in
      magnetic resonance images.
AB  - PURPOSE: An automatic method for 3D prostate segmentation in magnetic resonance
      (MR) images is presented for planning image-guided radiotherapy treatment of
      prostate cancer. METHODS: A spatial prior based on intersubject atlas
      registration is combined with organ-specific intensity information in a graph cut
      segmentation framework. The segmentation is tested on 67 axial T2-weighted MR
      images in a leave-one-out cross validation experiment and compared with both
      manual reference segmentations and with multiatlas-based segmentations using
      majority voting atlas fusion. The impact of atlas selection is investigated in
      both the traditional atlas-based segmentation and the new graph cut method that
      combines atlas and intensity information in order to improve the segmentation
      accuracy. Best results were achieved using the method that combines intensity
      information, shape information, and atlas selection in the graph cut framework.
      RESULTS: A mean Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of 0.88 and a mean surface
      distance (MSD) of 1.45 mm with respect to the manual delineation were achieved.
      CONCLUSIONS: This approaches the interobserver DSC of 0.90 and interobserver MSD
      0f 1.15 mm and is comparable to other studies performing prostate segmentation in
      MR.

PMID- 25832053
TI  - Time-resolved dosimetry using a pinpoint ionization chamber as quality assurance
      for IMRT and VMAT.
AB  - PURPOSE: To develop a method to verify the dose delivery in relation to the
      individual control points of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and
      volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) using an ionization chamber. In addition
      to more effective problem solving during patient-specific quality assurance (QA),
      the aim is to eventually map out the limitations in the treatment chain and
      enable a targeted improvement of the treatment technique in an efficient way.
      METHODS: Pretreatment verification was carried out for 255 treatment plans that
      included a broad range of treatment indications in two departments using the
      equipment of different vendors. In-house developed software was used to enable
      calculation of the dose delivery for the individual beamlets in the treatment
      planning system (TPS), for data acquisition, and for analysis of the data. The
      observed deviations were related to various delivery and measurement parameters
      such as gantry angle, field size, and the position of the detector with respect
      to the field edge to distinguish between error sources. RESULTS: The average
      deviation of the integral fraction dose during pretreatment verification of the
      planning target volume dose was -2.1% +/- 2.2% (1 SD), -1.7% +/- 1.7% (1 SD), and
      0.0% +/- 1.3% (1 SD) for IMRT at the Radboud University Medical Center (RUMC),
      VMAT (RUMC), and VMAT at the Wellington Blood and Cancer Centre, respectively.
      Verification of the dose to organs at risk gave very similar results but was
      generally subject to a larger measurement uncertainty due to the position of the
      detector at a high dose gradient. The observed deviations could be related to
      limitations of the TPS beam models, attenuation of the treatment couch, as well
      as measurement errors. The apparent systematic error of about -2% in the average
      deviation of the integral fraction dose in the RUMC results could be explained by
      the limitations of the TPS beam model in the calculation of the beam penumbra.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that time-resolved dosimetry using an ionization
      chamber is feasible and can be largely automated which limits the required
      additional time compared to integrated dose measurements. It provides a unique QA
      method which enables identification and quantification of the contribution of
      various error sources during IMRT and VMAT delivery.

PMID- 25832054
TI  - Markerless tracking of small lung tumors for stereotactic radiotherapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: (1) To validate retrospective markerless tracking software for small
      lung tumors by comparing tracked motion in 4-dimensional planning computed
      tomography (4DCT) derived kV projection images and known tumor motion in the same
      4DCT. (2) To evaluate variability of tumor motion using kV projection images from
      cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans acquired on different days. METHODS:
      Nonclinical tumor tracking software (TTS) used a normalized cross correlation
      algorithm to track the tumor on enhanced kV projection images (e.g., from a CBCT
      scan). The reference dataset consisted of digitally reconstructed radiographs
      (DRRs) from one phase of a planning 4DCT. TTS matches two in-plane coordinates
      and obtains the out-of-plane coordinate by triangulating with match results from
      other projections. (1) To validate TTS, tracking results were compared with known
      4DCT tumor motion for two patients (A and B). Projection images (1 image/1
      degrees ) were digitally reconstructed for each 4DCT phase. From these, kV
      projection series were composed simulating full breathing cycles every 20 degrees
      of gantry rotation [breathing period = 20 degrees /(6 degrees /s) = 3.33 s].
      Reference templates were 360 "tumor enhanced" DRRs from the 4DCT expiration
      phase. TTS-derived tumor motion was compared to known tumor motion on 4DCT. (2)
      For five patients, TTS-assessed motion during clinical CBCT acquisition was
      compared with motion on the planning 4DCT, and the motion component in the Y
      (cranio-caudal)-direction was compared with the motion of an external marker box
      (RPM, real-time position management). RESULTS: (1) Validation results: TTS for
      case A (tumor 6.2 cm(3), 32 mm axial diameter) over 360 degrees  showed mean
      motion X (medial-lateral) = 3.4, Y = 11.5, and Z (ventral-dorsal) = 4.9 mm (1 SD
      < 1.0 mm). Corresponding 4DCT motion was X = 3.1, Y = 11.3, and Z = 5.1 mm.
      Correlation coefficients between TTS tumor motion and displacement of the tumor's
      center of mass (CoM) on 4DCT were 0.64, 0.96, and 0.82 (X, Y, and Z,
      respectively). For case B (4.1 cm(3), 20 mm diameter), due to temporarily
      decreased tumor visibility preventing TTS from resolving the tumor, robust
      tracking data were only available between angles 300 degrees -40 degrees  and 120
      degrees -220 degrees . Mean motion according to TTS was X = 2.0, Y = 7.7, and Z =
      8.2 mm (1 SD < 0.9 mm). Tumor motion on 4DCT was X = 1.8, Y = 7.6, and Z = 9.5 mm
      and correlation coefficients between TTS motion and CoM displacement were 0.59,
      0.95, and 0.93 (X, Y, and Z, respectively). (2) CLINICAL RESULTS: TTS revealed a
      mean intrafraction variation in tumor motion in Y-direction of >2.0 mm (1 SD) in
      four of five patients. In addition, clinical tumor motion amplitude differed from
      that seen on planning 4DCT. Internal and external structures that create abrupt
      density change (e.g., table-top edge, interface between lung/mediastinum and
      lung/heart) were observed to prevent 360 degrees  tracking of the tumor.
      Correlation coefficients between TTS motion in the Y-direction and the RPM signal
      (22 observations) ranged from 0.78 to 0.96. In 2D, 241 TTS matches at end
      inspiration and end-expiration were visually validated: mean difference was 0.8
      mm (SD = 0.7) for both. CONCLUSIONS: TTS can track small lung tumors if these are
      visible in kV projections. A 4DCT dataset can be used to validate kV tracking of
      moving targets. TTS and 4DCT displacement agreed to within 2 mm. TTS and RPM
      motion were closely associated but tumor motion during CBCT can vary from the
      planning 4DCT.

PMID- 25832055
TI  - Noninvasive differential diagnosis of dental periapical lesions in cone-beam CT
      scans.
AB  - PURPOSE: This paper proposes a novel application of computer-aided diagnosis
      (CAD) to an everyday clinical dental challenge: the noninvasive differential
      diagnosis of periapical lesions between periapical cysts and granulomas. A
      histological biopsy is the most reliable method currently available for this
      differential diagnosis; however, this invasive procedure prevents the lesions
      from healing noninvasively despite a report that they may heal without surgical
      treatment. A CAD using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) offers an alternative
      noninvasive diagnostic tool which helps to avoid potentially unnecessary surgery
      and to investigate the unknown healing process and rate for the lesions. METHODS:
      The proposed semiautomatic solution combines graph-based random walks
      segmentation with machine learning-based boosted classifiers and offers a robust
      clinical tool with minimal user interaction. As part of this CAD framework, the
      authors provide two novel technical contributions: (1) probabilistic extension of
      the random walks segmentation with likelihood ratio test and (2) LDA-AdaBoost: a
      new integration of weighted linear discriminant analysis to AdaBoost. RESULTS: A
      dataset of 28 CBCT scans is used to validate the approach and compare it with
      other popular segmentation and classification methods. The results show the
      effectiveness of the proposed method with 94.1% correct classification rate and
      an improvement of the performance by comparison with the Simon's state-of-the-art
      method by 17.6%. The authors also compare classification performances with two
      independent ground-truth sets from the histopathology and CBCT diagnoses provided
      by endodontic experts. CONCLUSIONS: Experimental results of the authors show that
      the proposed CAD system behaves in clearer agreement with the CBCT ground-truth
      than with histopathology, supporting the Simon's conjecture that CBCT diagnosis
      can be as accurate as histopathology for differentiating the periapical lesions.

PMID- 25832056
TI  - Incorporating multislice imaging into x-ray CT polymer gel dosimetry.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate multislice computed tomography (CT) scanning for fast and
      reliable readout of radiation therapy (RT) dose distributions using CT polymer
      gel dosimetry (PGD) and to establish a baseline assessment of image noise and
      uniformity in an unirradiated gel dosimeter. METHODS: A 16-slice CT scanner was
      used to acquire images through a 1 L cylinder filled with water. Additional
      images were collected using a single slice machine. The variability in CT number
      (NCT) associated with the anode heel effect was evaluated and used to define a
      new slice-by-slice background subtraction artifact removal technique for CT PGD.
      Image quality was assessed for the multislice system by evaluating image noise
      and uniformity. The agreement in NCT for slices acquired simultaneously using the
      multislice detector array was also examined. Further study was performed to
      assess the effects of increasing x-ray tube load on the constancy of measured NCT
      and overall scan time. In all cases, results were compared to the single slice
      machine. Finally, images were collected throughout the volume of an unirradiated
      gel dosimeter to quantify image noise and uniformity before radiation is
      delivered. RESULTS: Slice-by-slice background subtraction effectively removes the
      variability in NCT observed across images acquired simultaneously using the
      multislice scanner and is the recommended background subtraction method when
      using a multislice CT system. Image noise was higher for the multislice system
      compared to the single slice scanner, but overall image quality was comparable
      between the two systems. Further study showed NCT was consistent across image
      slices acquired simultaneously using the multislice detector array for each
      detector configuration of the slice thicknesses examined. In addition, the
      multislice system was found to eliminate variations in NCT due to increasing x
      ray tube load and reduce scanning time by a factor of 4 when compared to imaging
      a large volume using a single slice scanner. Images acquired through an
      unirradiated, active gel revealed NCT varies between the top and bottom of the 1
      L cylinder as well as across the diameter of the cylinder by up to 7 HU.
      CONCLUSIONS: Multislice CT imaging has been evaluated for CT PGD and found to be
      the superior technique compared to single slice imaging in terms of the time
      required to complete a scan and the tube load characteristics associated with
      each scanning method. The implementation of multislice scanning is
      straightforward and expected to facilitate routine gel dosimetry measurements for
      complex dose distributions in modern RT centers.

PMID- 25832057
TI  - Dynamic 31P MR spectroscopy of plantar flexion: influence of ergometer design,
      magnetic field strength (3 and 7 T), and RF-coil design.
AB  - PURPOSE: Dynamic phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((31)P MRS) during
      and after acute exercise enables the noninvasive in vivo determination of the
      mitochondrial capacity of skeletal muscle. Nevertheless, the lack of
      standardization in experimental setups leads to significant variations in
      published values of maximal aerobic capacity, even in the population of healthy
      volunteers. Thus, in this study, we aimed to assess the impact of the ergometer
      type (pneumatic and mechanical resistance construction), radiofrequency (RF)-coil
      diameter, and different magnetic field strengths (3 and 7 T) on the metabolic
      parameters measured by dynamic (31)P MRS during a plantar flexion isotonic
      exercise protocol within the same group of healthy volunteers. METHODS: Dynamic
      (31)P MRS measurements of the calf muscle in 11 volunteers (mean age, 36  +/-  13
      yrs; mean BMI, 23.5 +/- 2.5 kg/m(2)), on a 3 T MR system with a custom-made
      mechanical ergometer in the first research laboratory (RL1) and on 3 and 7 T MR
      systems equipped with a commercial pneumatic ergometer in the second research
      laboratory (RL2), were performed at three different workloads. RF-coils differed
      slightly between the sites and MR systems used. The repeatability of the
      experimental protocol was tested in every setup. The basal concentrations of
      phosphocreatine (PCr), exercise-induced depletion of PCr (DeltaPCr), initial PCr
      resynthesis rate (VPCr), and mitochondrial capacity (Qmax) were calculated and
      compared between the research sites and field strengths. RESULTS: High
      repeatability of the measurement protocol was found in every experimental setup.
      No significant differences at any workload were found in these metabolic
      parameters assessed at different magnetic field strengths (3 T vs 7 T), using the
      same ergometer (in RL2) and a similar RF-coil. In the inter-research laboratory
      comparison at the same field strength (3 T), but with using different ergometers
      and RF-coils, differences were found in the concentration of PCr measured at rest
      and in the drop in PCr signal intensity. These differences translated into
      difference in the value of mitochondrial capacity at a workload of 15% of maximal
      voluntary contraction (MVC) force (0.45 +/- 0.16 mM/s vs 0.31 +/- 0.08 mM/s, in
      the RL1 and RL2, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Metabolic parameters measured during
      exercise challenge by dynamic (31)P MRS do not depend upon the magnetic field
      strength used. For multicenter studies with different ergometers, it is important
      to set the same workload, measurement, and evaluation protocols, especially when
      the effects of very mild exercise (15% MVC) are to be compared. However, a higher
      workload (24% MVC) decreases the influence of imperfections and intersite
      differences for the assessed value of maximal mitochondrial capacity.

PMID- 25832058
TI  - Novel spirometry based on optical surface imaging.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the feasibility of using optical surface imaging (OSI) to
      measure the dynamic tidal volume (TV) of the human torso during free breathing.
      METHODS: We performed experiments to measure volume or volume change in geometric
      and deformable phantoms as well as human subjects using OSI. To assess the
      accuracy of OSI in volume determination, we performed experiments using five
      geometric phantoms and two deformable body phantoms and compared the values with
      those derived from geometric calculations and computed tomography (CT)
      measurements, respectively. To apply this technique to human subjects, an
      institutional review board protocol was established and three healthy volunteers
      were studied. In the human experiment, a high-speed image capture mode of OSI was
      applied to acquire torso images at 4-5 frames per second, which was synchronized
      with conventional spirometric measurements at 5 Hz. An in-house matlab program
      was developed to interactively define the volume of interest (VOI), separate the
      thorax and abdomen, and automatically calculate the thoracic and abdominal
      volumes within the VOIs. The torso volume change (TV C = DeltaVtorso =
      DeltaVthorax + DeltaVabdomen) was automatically calculated using full-exhalation
      phase as the reference. The volumetric breathing pattern (BPv =
      DeltaVthorax/DeltaVtorso) quantifying thoracic and abdominal volume variations
      was also calculated. Under quiet breathing, TVC should equal the tidal volume
      measured concurrently by a spirometer with a conversion factor (1.08) accounting
      for internal and external differences of temperature and moisture. Another matlab
      program was implemented to control the conventional spirometer that was used as
      the standard. RESULTS: The volumes measured from the OSI imaging of geometric
      phantoms agreed with the calculated volumes with a discrepancy of 0.0% +/- 1.6%
      (range -1.9% to 2.5%). In measurements from the deformable torso/thorax phantoms,
      the volume differences measured using OSI imaging and CT imaging were 1.2% +/-
      2.1% (range -0.5% to 3.6%), with a linear regression fitting (slope = 1.02 and
      R(2) = 0.999). In volunteers, the relative error in OSI tidal volume measurement
      was -2.2% +/- 4.9% (range -9.2% to 4.8%) and a correlation of r = 0.98 was found
      with spirometric measurement. The breathing pattern values of the three
      volunteers were substantially different from each other (BPv = 0.15, 0.45, and
      0.32). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the feasibility of using OSI to
      measure breathing tidal volumes and breathing patterns with adequate accuracy.
      This is the first time that dynamic breathing tidal volume as well as breathing
      patterns is measured using optical surface imaging. The OSI-observed movement of
      the entire torso could serve as a new respiratory surrogate in the treatment room
      during radiation therapy.

PMID- 25832059
TI  - Using Rose's metal alloy as a pinhole collimator material in preclinical small
      animal imaging: a Monte Carlo evaluation.
AB  - PURPOSE: Pinhole collimation is the most common method of high-resolution
      preclinical single photon emission computed tomography imaging. The collimators
      are usually constructed from dense materials with high atomic numbers, such as
      gold and platinum, which are expensive and not always flexible in the fabrication
      step. In this work, the authors have investigated the properties of a fusible
      alloy called Rose's metal and its potential in pinhole preclinical imaging. When
      compared to current standard pinhole materials such as gold and platinum, Rose's
      metal has a lower density and a relatively low effective atomic number. However,
      it is inexpensive, has a low melting point, and does not contract when
      solidifying. Once cast, the piece can be machined with high precision. The aim of
      this study was to evaluate the imaging properties for Rose's metal and compare
      them with those of standard materials. METHODS: After validating their Monte
      Carlo code by comparing its results with published data and the results from
      analytical calculations, they investigated different pinhole geometries by
      varying the collimator material, acceptance angle, aperture diameter, and photon
      incident angle. The penetration-to-scatter and penetration-to-total component
      ratios, sensitivity, and the spatial resolution were determined for gold,
      tungsten, and Rose's metal for two radionuclides, (99)Tc(m) and (125)I. RESULTS:
      The Rose's metal pinhole-imaging simulations show higher penetration/total and
      scatter/total ratios. For example, the penetration/total is 50% for gold and 75%
      for Rose's metal when simulating (99)Tc(m) with a 0.3 mm aperture diameter and a
      60 degrees  acceptance angle. However, the degradation in spatial resolution
      remained below 10% relative to the spatial resolution for gold for acceptance
      angles below 40 degrees  and aperture diameters larger than 0.5 mm. CONCLUSIONS:
      Extra penetration and scatter associated with Rose's metal contribute to
      degradation in the spatial resolution, but this degradation is not always
      substantial. The most important factor besides the collimator material was the
      acceptance angle. This should be kept to a minimum to prevent unnecessary scatter
      and penetration. For (125)I, the difference in spatial resolution between gold
      and Rose's metal is very small, 2.2% in the worst-case scenario. Based on these
      results, the authors conclude that Rose's metal is an alternative to standard
      materials not only for low-energy photon imaging but also for medium-energy
      applications that require low-cost, flexible pinhole configurations and designs,
      and that can tolerate a degraded spatial resolution.

PMID- 25832060
TI  - Systematic calibration of an integrated x-ray and optical tomography system for
      preclinical radiation research.
AB  - PURPOSE: The cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) guided small animal radiation
      research platform (SARRP) has been developed for focal tumor irradiation,
      allowing laboratory researchers to test basic biological hypotheses that can
      modify radiotherapy outcomes in ways that were not feasible previously. CBCT
      provides excellent bone to soft tissue contrast, but is incapable of
      differentiating tumors from surrounding soft tissue. Bioluminescence tomography
      (BLT), in contrast, allows direct visualization of even subpalpable tumors and
      quantitative evaluation of tumor response. Integration of BLT with CBCT offers
      complementary image information, with CBCT delineating anatomic structures and
      BLT differentiating luminescent tumors. This study is to develop a systematic
      method to calibrate an integrated CBCT and BLT imaging system which can be
      adopted onboard the SARRP to guide focal tumor irradiation. METHODS: The
      integrated imaging system consists of CBCT, diffuse optical tomography (DOT), and
      BLT. The anatomy acquired from CBCT and optical properties acquired from DOT
      serve as a priori information for the subsequent BLT reconstruction. Phantoms
      were designed and procedures were developed to calibrate the CBCT, DOT/BLT, and
      the entire integrated system. Geometrical calibration was performed to calibrate
      the CBCT system. Flat field correction was performed to correct the nonuniform
      response of the optical imaging system. Absolute emittance calibration was
      performed to convert the camera readout to the emittance at the phantom or animal
      surface, which enabled the direct reconstruction of the bioluminescence source
      strength. Phantom and mouse imaging were performed to validate the calibration.
      RESULTS: All calibration procedures were successfully performed. Both CBCT of a
      thin wire and a euthanized mouse revealed no spatial artifact, validating the
      accuracy of the CBCT calibration. The absolute emittance calibration was
      validated with a 650 nm laser source, resulting in a 3.0% difference between
      simulated and measured signal. The calibration of the entire system was confirmed
      through the CBCT and BLT reconstruction of a bioluminescence source placed inside
      a tissue-simulating optical phantom. Using a spatial region constraint, the
      source position was reconstructed with less than 1 mm error and the source
      strength reconstructed with less than 24% error. CONCLUSIONS: A practical and
      systematic method has been developed to calibrate an integrated x-ray and optical
      tomography imaging system, including the respective CBCT and optical tomography
      system calibration and the geometrical calibration of the entire system. The
      method can be modified and adopted to calibrate CBCT and optical tomography
      systems that are operated independently or hybrid x-ray and optical tomography
      imaging systems.

PMID- 25832061
TI  - A new stationary gridline artifact suppression method based on the 2D discrete
      wavelet transform.
AB  - PURPOSE: In digital x-ray radiography, an antiscatter grid is inserted between
      the patient and the image receptor to reduce scattered radiation. If the
      antiscatter grid is used in a stationary way, gridline artifacts will appear in
      the final image. In most of the gridline removal image processing methods, the
      useful information with spatial frequencies close to that of the gridline is
      usually lost or degraded. In this study, a new stationary gridline suppression
      method is designed to preserve more of the useful information. METHODS: The
      method is as follows. The input image is first recursively decomposed into
      several smaller subimages using a multiscale 2D discrete wavelet transform. The
      decomposition process stops when the gridline signal is found to be greater than
      a threshold in one or several of these subimages using a gridline detection
      module. An automatic Gaussian band-stop filter is then applied to the detected
      subimages to remove the gridline signal. Finally, the restored image is achieved
      using the corresponding 2D inverse discrete wavelet transform. RESULTS: The
      processed images show that the proposed method can remove the gridline signal
      efficiently while maintaining the image details. The spectra of a 1D Fourier
      transform of the processed images demonstrate that, compared with some existing
      gridline removal methods, the proposed method has better information preservation
      after the removal of the gridline artifacts. Additionally, the performance speed
      is relatively high. CONCLUSIONS: The experimental results demonstrate the
      efficiency of the proposed method. Compared with some existing gridline removal
      methods, the proposed method can preserve more information within an acceptable
      execution time.

PMID- 25832062
TI  - Characterization and implementation of OSL dosimeters for use in evaluating the
      efficacy of organ-based tube current modulation for CT scans of the face and
      orbits.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to characterize commercially available
      optically stimulated luminescent (OSL) dosimeters for general clinical
      applications and apply the results to the development of a method to evaluate the
      efficacy of a vendor-specific organ-based tube current modulation application for
      both phantom and clinical computed tomography (CT) scans of the face and orbits.
      METHODS: This study consisted of three components: (1) thorough characterization
      of the dosimeters for CT scans in phantom, including evaluations of depletion,
      fading, angular dependence, and conversion from counts to absorbed dose; (2)
      evaluation of the efficacy of using plastic glasses to position the dosimeters
      over the eyes in both phantom and clinical studies; and (3) preliminary dosimetry
      measurements made using organ-based tube current modulation in computed
      tomography dose index (CTDI) and anthropomorphic phantom studies. RESULTS: (1)
      Depletion effects were found to have a linear relationship with the output of the
      OSL dosimeters (R(2) = 0.96). Fading was found to affect dosimeter readings
      during the first two hours following exposure but had no effect during the
      remaining 60-h period observed. No significant angular dependence was observed
      for the exposure conditions used in this study (with p-values ranging from 0.9 to
      0.26 for all t-tests). Dosimeter counts varied linearly with absorbed dose when
      measured in the center and 12 o'clock positions of the CTDI phantoms. These
      linear models of counts versus absorbed dose had overlapping 95% confidence
      intervals for the intercepts but not for the slopes. (2) When dosimeters were
      positioned using safety glasses, there was no adverse effect on image quality,
      and there was no statistically significant difference between this placement and
      placement of the dosimeters directly on the eyes of the phantom (p = 0.24). (3)
      When using organ-based tube current modulation, the dose to the lens of the eye
      was reduced between 19% and 43%, depending on the scan protocol used and the
      positioning of the phantom. Furthermore, the amount of dose reduction was
      significantly affected by the vertical position of the phantom, with the largest
      reduction in dose seen when the phantom was centered in the gantry. CONCLUSIONS:
      (1) An appropriate correction factor, specific to CT scanning, was developed to
      account for depletion and fading characteristics of the dosimeters. Additionally,
      an equation to convert dosimeter counts to absorbed dose was established. (2) The
      use of plastic safety glasses was validated as an appropriate positioning device
      when measuring dose to the lens of the eye. (3) The use of organ-based tube
      current modulation can reduce dose to the lens of the eye during CT scanning. The
      amount of dose reduction, however, is largely influenced by the positioning of
      the anatomy in the gantry.

PMID- 25832063
TI  - Dosimetric measurements of an n-butyl cyanoacrylate embolization material for
      arteriovenous malformations.
AB  - PURPOSE: The therapeutic regimen for cranial arteriovenous malformations often
      involves both stereotactic radiosurgery and endovascular embolization.
      Embolization agents may contain tantalum or other contrast agents to assist the
      neurointerventionalists, leading to concerns regarding the dosimetric effects of
      these agents. This study investigated dosimetric properties of n-butyl
      cyanoacrylate (n-BCA) plus lipiodol with and without tantalum powder. METHODS:
      The embolization agents were provided cured from the manufacturer with and
      without added tantalum. Attenuation measurements were made for the samples and
      compared to the attenuation of a solid water substitute using a 6 MV photon beam.
      Effective linear attenuation coefficients (ELAC) were derived from attenuation
      measurements made using a portal imager and derived sample thickness maps
      projected in an identical geometry. Probable dosimetric errors for calculations
      in which the embolized regions are overridden with the properties of water were
      calculated using the ELAC values. Interface effects were investigated using a
      parallel plate ion chamber placed at set distances below fixed samples. Finally,
      Hounsfield units (HU) were measured using a stereotactic radiosurgery CT
      protocol, and more appropriate HU values were derived from the ELAC results and
      the CT scanner's HU calibration curve. RESULTS: The ELAC was 0.0516 +/- 0.0063
      cm(-1) and 0.0580 +/- 0.0091 cm(-1) for n-BCA without and with tantalum,
      respectively, compared to 0.0487 +/- 0.0009 cm(-1) for the water substitute. Dose
      calculations with the embolized region set to be water equivalent in the
      treatment planning system would result in errors of -0.29% and -0.93% per cm
      thickness of n-BCA without and with tantalum, respectively. Interface effects
      compared to water were small in magnitude and limited in distance for both
      embolization materials. CT values at 120 kVp were 2082 and 2358 HU for n-BCA
      without and with tantalum, respectively; dosimetrically appropriate HU values
      were estimated to be 79 and 199 HU, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The dosimetric
      properties of the embolization agents are very close to those of water for a 6 MV
      beam. Therefore, treating the entire intracranial space as uniform in composition
      will result in less than 1% dosimetric error for n-BCA emboli smaller than 3.4 cm
      without added tantalum and n-BCA emboli smaller than 1.1 cm with added tantalum.
      Furthermore, when effective embolization can be achieved by the
      neurointerventionalist using n-BCA without tantalum, the dosimetric impact of
      overriding material properties will be lessened. However, due to the high
      attenuation of embolization agents with and without added tantalum for diagnostic
      energies, artifacts may occur that necessitate additional imaging to accurately
      identify the spatial extent of the region to be treated.

PMID- 25832064
TI  - Noninvasive estimation of the pressure profile in the male urethra using
      ultrasound imaging.
AB  - PURPOSE: Decreased prostatic compliance as a result of benign prostatic
      enlargement can result in bladder outlet obstruction. This changes the urethral
      pressure profile during voiding. In this study, the authors propose noninvasive
      estimation of this pressure profile. In four soft tissue mimicking models of the
      urethra with increasing degree of obstruction, the authors measured deformation
      of the wall during flow, using ultrasound imaging. Combined with estimates of the
      model compliance, the authors were able to estimate the pressure profile.
      METHODS: First, the compliances (Young's moduli) of the four models were derived
      by applying static luminal pressure and measuring the resulting strain of the
      tissue using an ultrasound imaging system. Next, continuous flow was applied to
      the models and the strain in the urethral wall was measured similarly. The
      luminal pressure profile was estimated from the strain (measured under continuous
      flow conditions) and the derived compliance (measured under static pressure
      conditions). The estimated pressures up- and downstream of the obstruction were
      compared with the corresponding measured pressures. In the obstructed region, the
      strain gradient was estimated using linear regression. RESULTS: The luminal
      pressure values estimated from the ultrasound data up- and downstream of the
      obstruction were not significantly different from the corresponding measured
      pressures. The general pressure profile showed a decrease along the length of the
      obstruction followed by a small increase after the obstruction. The strain
      gradient in the obstructed region reflected the decrease in urethral pressure and
      increased with flow rate and degree of obstruction. CONCLUSIONS: The results from
      this model study illustrate the feasibility of noninvasive estimation of the
      urethral pressure profile using ultrasound. This offers the prospect of a
      noninvasive, ultrasound based diagnostic tool for assessment of bladder outlet
      obstruction in men with lower urinary tract symptoms.

PMID- 25832065
TI  - Feasibility study of a dual detector configuration concept for simultaneous
      megavoltage imaging and dose verification in radiotherapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To test the feasibility of a dual detector concept for comprehensive
      verification of external beam radiotherapy. Specifically, the authors test the
      hypothesis that a portal imaging device coupled to a 2D dosimeter provides a
      system capable of simultaneous imaging and dose verification, and that the
      presence of each device does not significantly detract from the performance of
      the other. METHODS: The dual detector configuration comprised of a standard
      radiotherapy electronic portal imaging device (EPID) positioned directly on top
      of an ionization-chamber array (ICA) with 2 cm solid water buildup material
      (between EPID and ICA) and 5 cm solid backscatter material. The dose response
      characteristics of the ICA and the imaging performance of the EPID in the dual
      detector configuration were compared to the performance in their respective
      reference clinical configurations. The reference clinical configurations were 6
      cm solid water buildup material, an ICA, and 5 cm solid water backscatter
      material as the reference dosimetry configuration, and an EPID with no additional
      buildup or solid backscatter material as the reference imaging configuration. The
      dose response of the ICA was evaluated by measuring the detector's response with
      respect to off-axis position, field size, and transit object thickness. Clinical
      dosimetry performance was evaluated by measuring a range of clinical intensity
      modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) beams in transit and nontransit geometries.
      The imaging performance of the EPID was evaluated quantitatively by measuring the
      contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and spatial resolution. Images of an
      anthropomorphic phantom were also used for qualitative assessment. RESULTS: The
      measured off-axis and field size response with the ICA in both transit and
      nontransit geometries for both dual detector configuration and reference
      dosimetry configuration agreed to within 1%. Transit dose response as a function
      of object thickness agreed to within 0.5%. All IMRT test patterns and clinical
      IMRT beams had gamma pass rates of >=98% at 2%/2 mm criteria. In terms of imaging
      performance, the measured CNR and spatial resolution (f50) were 263.23 +/- 24.85
      and 0.4025 +/- 1.25 * 10(-3) for dual detector configuration and 324 +/- 26.65
      and 0.4141 +/- 1.14 * 10(-3) for reference imaging configuration, respectively.
      The CNR and spatial resolution were quantitatively worse in the dual detector
      configuration due to the additional backscatter. The difference in imaging
      performance was not visible in qualitative assessment of phantom images.
      CONCLUSIONS: Combining a commercially available ICA dosimetry device with a
      conventional EPID did not significantly detract from the performance of either
      device. Further improvements in imaging performance may be achieved with an
      optimized design. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a dual detector
      concept for simultaneous imaging and dosimetry in radiation therapy.

PMID- 25832066
TI  - An investigation into factors affecting the precision of CT radiation dose
      profile width measurements using radiochromic films.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the impact of x-ray beam energy, exposure intensity, and
      flat-bed scanner uniformity and spatial resolution on the precision of computed
      tomography (CT) beam width measurements using Gafchromic XR-QA2 film and an off
      the-shelf document scanner. METHODS: Small strips of Gafchromic film were placed
      at isocenter in a CT scanner and exposed at various x-ray beam energies (80-140
      kVp), exposure levels (50-400 mA s), and nominal beam widths (1.25, 5, and 10
      mm). The films were scanned in reflection mode on a Ricoh MP3501 flat-bed
      document scanner using several spatial resolution settings (100 to 400 dpi) and
      at different locations on the scanner bed. Reflection measurements were captured
      in digital image files and radiation dose profiles generated by converting the
      image pixel values to air kerma through film calibration. Beam widths were
      characterized by full width at half maximum (FWHM) and full width at tenth
      maximum (FWTM) of dose profiles. Dependences of these parameters on the above
      factors were quantified in percentage change from the baselines. RESULTS: The
      uncertainties in both FWHM and FWTM caused by varying beam energy, exposure
      level, and scanner uniformity were all within 4.5% and 7.6%, respectively.
      Increasing scanner spatial resolution significantly increased the uncertainty in
      both FWHM and FWTM, with FWTM affected by almost 8 times more than FWHM (48.7% vs
      6.5%). When uncalibrated dose profiles were used, FWHM and FWTM were over
      estimated by 11.6% and 7.6%, respectively. Narrower beam width appeared more
      sensitive to the film calibration than the wider ones (R(2) = 0.68 and 0.85 for
      FWHM and FWTM, respectively). The global and maximum local background variations
      of the document scanner were 1.2%. The intrinsic film nonuniformity for an
      unexposed film was 0.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Measurement of CT beam widths using
      Gafchromic XR-QA2 films is robust against x-ray energy, exposure level, and
      scanner uniformity. With proper film calibration and scanner resolution setting,
      it can provide adequate precision for meeting ACR and manufacturer's tolerances
      for the measurement of CT dose profiles.

PMID- 25832067
TI  - Technical note: Implementation of biological washout processes within GATE/GEANT4
      -a Monte Carlo study in the case of carbon therapy treatments.
AB  - PURPOSE: The imaging of positron emitting isotopes produced during patient
      irradiation is the only in vivo method used for hadrontherapy dose monitoring in
      clinics nowadays. However, the accuracy of this method is limited by the loss of
      signal due to the metabolic decay processes (biological washout). In this work, a
      generic modeling of washout was incorporated into the GATE simulation platform.
      Additionally, the influence of the washout on the beta(+) activity distributions
      in terms of absolute quantification and spatial distribution was studied.
      METHODS: First, the irradiation of a human head phantom with a (12)C beam, so
      that a homogeneous dose distribution was achieved in the tumor, was simulated.
      The generated (11)C and (15)O distribution maps were used as beta(+) sources in a
      second simulation, where the PET scanner was modeled following a detailed Monte
      Carlo approach. The activity distributions obtained in the presence and absence
      of washout processes for several clinical situations were compared. RESULTS:
      Results show that activity values are highly reduced (by a factor of 2) in the
      presence of washout. These processes have a significant influence on the shape of
      the PET distributions. Differences in the distal activity falloff position of 4
      mm are observed for a tumor dose deposition of 1 Gy (Tini = 0 min). However, in
      the case of high doses (3 Gy), the washout processes do not have a large effect
      on the position of the distal activity falloff (differences lower than 1 mm). The
      important role of the tumor washout parameters on the activity quantification was
      also evaluated. CONCLUSIONS: With this implementation, GATE/GEANT4 is the only
      open-source code able to simulate the full chain from the hadrontherapy
      irradiation to the PET dose monitoring including biological effects. Results show
      the strong impact of the washout processes, indicating that the development of
      better models and measurement of biological washout data are essential.

PMID- 25832068
TI  - Creation of an atlas of filter positions for fluence field modulated CT.
AB  - PURPOSE: Fluence field modulated CT (FFMCT) and volume of interest (VOI) CT
      imaging applications require adjustment of the profile of the x-ray fluence
      incident on a patient as a function of view angle. Since current FFMCT prototypes
      can theoretically take on an infinite number of configurations, measuring a
      calibration data set for all possible positions would not be feasible. The
      present work details a methodology for calculating an atlas of configurations
      that will span all likely body regions, patient sizes, patient positioning, and
      imaging modes. The hypothesis is that there exists a finite number of unique
      modulator configurations that effectively span the infinite number of possible
      fluence profiles with minimal loss in performance. METHODS: CT images of a head,
      shoulder, thorax, abdominal, wrist, and leg anatomical slices were dilated and
      contracted to model small, medium, and large sized patients. Additionally, the
      images were positioned from iso-center by three different amounts. The modulator
      configurations required to compensate for each image were computed assuming a
      FFMCT prototype, digital beam attenuator, (DBA), was set to equalize the detector
      exposure. Each atlas configuration should be different from the other atlas
      configurations. The degree of difference was quantified using the sum of the
      absolute differences in filter thickness between configurations. Using this
      metric, a set of unique wedge configurations for which no two configurations have
      a metric value smaller than some threshold can be constructed. Differences in the
      total number of incident photons between the unconstrained filters and the atlas
      were studied as a function of the number of atlas positions for each anatomical
      site and size/off-centering combination. RESULTS: By varying the threshold used
      in creating the atlas, it was found that roughly 322 atlas positions provided an
      incident number of photons within 20% of using 19,440 unique filters (the number
      of atlas entries ranged from 7213 to 1). Additionally, for VOI applications
      implemented with a single VOI region, the number of required filter
      configurations was expressed in a simple closed form solution. CONCLUSIONS: The
      methodology proposed in this work will enable DBA-FFMCT and DBA-VOI imaging in
      the clinic without the need for patient specific air-scans to be performed. In
      addition, the methodology proposed here is directly applicable to other modulator
      designs such as piecewise linear, TomoTherapy multi leaf collimators, 2D fluid
      arrays, and inverse geometry CT.

PMID- 25832069
TI  - Patient-bounded extrapolation using low-dose priors for volume-of-interest
      imaging in C-arm CT.
AB  - PURPOSE: Three-dimensional (3D) volume-of-interest (VOI) imaging with C-arm
      systems provides anatomical information in a predefined 3D target region at a
      considerably low x-ray dose. However, VOI imaging involves laterally truncated
      projections from which conventional reconstruction algorithms generally yield
      images with severe truncation artifacts. Heuristic based extrapolation methods,
      e.g., water cylinder extrapolation, typically rely on techniques that complete
      the truncated data by means of a continuity assumption and thus appear to be ad
      hoc. It is our goal to improve the image quality of VOI imaging by exploiting
      existing patient-specific prior information in the workflow. METHODS: A necessary
      initial step prior to a 3D acquisition is to isocenter the patient with respect
      to the target to be scanned. To this end, low-dose fluoroscopic x-ray
      acquisitions are usually applied from anterior-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral
      (ML) views. Based on this, the patient is isocentered by repositioning the table.
      In this work, we present a patient-bounded extrapolation method that makes use of
      these noncollimated fluoroscopic images to improve image quality in 3D VOI
      reconstruction. The algorithm first extracts the 2D patient contours from the
      noncollimated AP and ML fluoroscopic images. These 2D contours are then combined
      to estimate a volumetric model of the patient. Forward-projecting the shape of
      the model at the eventually acquired C-arm rotation views gives the patient
      boundary information in the projection domain. In this manner, we are in the
      position to substantially improve image quality by enforcing the extrapolated
      line profiles to end at the known patient boundaries, derived from the 3D shape
      model estimate. RESULTS: The proposed method was evaluated on eight clinical
      datasets with different degrees of truncation. The proposed algorithm achieved a
      relative root mean square error (rRMSE) of about 1.0% with respect to the
      reference reconstruction on nontruncated data, even in the presence of severe
      truncation, compared to a rRMSE of 8.0% when applying a state-of-the-art
      heuristic extrapolation technique. CONCLUSIONS: The method we proposed in this
      paper leads to a major improvement in image quality for 3D C-arm based VOI
      imaging. It involves no additional radiation when using fluoroscopic images that
      are acquired during the patient isocentering process. The model estimation can be
      readily integrated into the existing interventional workflow without additional
      hardware.

PMID- 25832071
TI  - Robust electromagnetically guided endoscopic procedure using enhanced particle
      swarm optimization for multimodal information fusion.
AB  - PURPOSE: Electromagnetically guided endoscopic procedure, which aims at
      accurately and robustly localizing the endoscope, involves multimodal sensory
      information during interventions. However, it still remains challenging in how to
      integrate these information for precise and stable endoscopic guidance. To tackle
      such a challenge, this paper proposes a new framework on the basis of an enhanced
      particle swarm optimization method to effectively fuse these information for
      accurate and continuous endoscope localization. METHODS: The authors use the
      particle swarm optimization method, which is one of stochastic evolutionary
      computation algorithms, to effectively fuse the multimodal information including
      preoperative information (i.e., computed tomography images) as a frame of
      reference, endoscopic camera videos, and positional sensor measurements (i.e.,
      electromagnetic sensor outputs). Since the evolutionary computation method
      usually limits its possible premature convergence and evolutionary factors, the
      authors introduce the current (endoscopic camera and electromagnetic sensor's)
      observation to boost the particle swarm optimization and also adaptively update
      evolutionary parameters in accordance with spatial constraints and the current
      observation, resulting in advantageous performance in the enhanced algorithm.
      RESULTS: The experimental results demonstrate that the authors' proposed method
      provides a more accurate and robust endoscopic guidance framework than state-of
      the-art methods. The average guidance accuracy of the authors' framework was
      about 3.0 mm and 5.6 degrees  while the previous methods show at least 3.9 mm and
      7.0 degrees . The average position and orientation smoothness of their method was
      1.0 mm and 1.6 degrees , which is significantly better than the other methods at
      least with (2.0 mm and 2.6 degrees ). Additionally, the average visual quality of
      the endoscopic guidance was improved to 0.29. CONCLUSIONS: A robust
      electromagnetically guided endoscopy framework was proposed on the basis of an
      enhanced particle swarm optimization method with using the current observation
      information and adaptive evolutionary factors. The authors proposed framework
      greatly reduced the guidance errors from (4.3, 7.8) to (3.0 mm, 5.6 degrees ),
      compared to state-of-the-art methods.

PMID- 25832070
TI  - Characterization of the nanoDot OSLD dosimeter in CT.
AB  - PURPOSE: The extensive use of computed tomography (CT) in diagnostic procedures
      is accompanied by a growing need for more accurate and patient-specific dosimetry
      techniques. Optically stimulated luminescent dosimeters (OSLDs) offer a potential
      solution for patient-specific CT point-based surface dosimetry by measuring air
      kerma. The purpose of this work was to characterize the OSLD nanoDot for CT
      dosimetry, quantifying necessary correction factors, and evaluating the
      uncertainty of these factors. METHODS: A characterization of the Landauer OSL
      nanoDot (Landauer, Inc., Greenwood, IL) was conducted using both measurements and
      theoretical approaches in a CT environment. The effects of signal depletion,
      signal fading, dose linearity, and angular dependence were characterized through
      direct measurement for CT energies (80-140 kV) and delivered doses ranging from
      ~5 to >1000 mGy. Energy dependence as a function of scan parameters was evaluated
      using two independent approaches: direct measurement and a theoretical approach
      based on Burlin cavity theory and Monte Carlo simulated spectra. This beam
      quality dependence was evaluated for a range of CT scanning parameters. RESULTS:
      Correction factors for the dosimeter response in terms of signal fading, dose
      linearity, and angular dependence were found to be small for most measurement
      conditions (<3%). The relative uncertainty was determined for each factor and
      reported at the two-sigma level. Differences in irradiation geometry (rotational
      versus static) resulted in a difference in dosimeter signal of 3% on average.
      Beam quality varied with scan parameters and necessitated the largest correction
      factor, ranging from 0.80 to 1.15 relative to a calibration performed in air
      using a 120 kV beam. Good agreement was found between the theoretical and
      measurement approaches. CONCLUSIONS: Correction factors for the measurement of
      air kerma were generally small for CT dosimetry, although angular effects, and
      particularly effects due to changes in beam quality, could be more substantial.
      In particular, it would likely be necessary to account for variations in CT scan
      parameters and measurement location when performing CT dosimetry using OSLD.

PMID- 25832073
TI  - CHERENCUBE: concept definition and implementation challenges of a Cherenkov-based
      detector block for PET.
AB  - PURPOSE: A new concept for a depth-of-interaction (DOI) capable time-of-flight
      (TOF) PET detector is defined, based only on the detection of Cherenkov photons.
      The proposed "CHERENCUBE" consists of a cubic Cherenkov radiator with position
      sensitive photodetectors covering each crystal face. By means of the spatial
      distribution of the detected photons and their time of arrival, the point of
      interaction of the gamma-ray in the crystal can be determined. This study
      analyzes through theoretical calculations and Monte Carlo simulations the
      potential advantages of the concept toward reaching a Cherenkov-only detector for
      TOF-PET with DOI capability. Furthermore, an algorithm for the DOI estimation is
      presented and the requirements for a practical implementation of the proposed
      concept are defined. METHODS: The Monte Carlo simulations consisted of a cubic
      crystal with one photodetector coupled to each one of the faces of the cube. The
      sensitive area of the detector matched exactly the crystal size, which was varied
      in 1 mm steps between 1 * 1 * 1 mm(3) and 10 * 10 * 10 mm(3). For each size, five
      independent simulations of ten thousand 511 keV gamma-rays were triggered at a
      fixed distance of 10 mm. The crystal chosen was PbWO4. Its scintillation
      properties were simulated, but only Cherenkov photons were analyzed.
      Photodetectors were simulated having perfect photodetection efficiency and
      infinite time resolution. For every generated particle, the analysis considered
      its creation process, parent and daughter particles, energy, origin coordinates,
      trajectory, and time and position of detection. The DOI determination is based on
      the distribution of the emission time of all photons per event. These values are
      calculated as a function of the coordinates of detection and origin for every
      photon. The common origin is estimated by finding the distribution with the most
      similar emission time-points. RESULTS: Detection efficiency increases with
      crystal size from 8.2% (1 * 1 * 1 mm(3)) to 58.6% (10 * 10 * 10 mm(3)) and
      decreases applying a photon detection threshold of 5/10/20 photons to
      6.3%/4.3%/0.7% and 49.3%/30.4%/2.8%, respectively. The detection rate in the six
      photodetectors is uniform due to the nearly isotropic cone emission. Most cones
      originated after a photoelectric effect interaction, with two dominating peaks
      for the kinetic energy of the electron at 422.99 and 441.47 keV. The detection
      distance between same-event photons defines the spatial resolution of the
      detector required for individual photon recognition, with 20% of the detected
      photons having their closest neighbor within a distance of 5% of the length of
      the cube. Same-event photons are detected within a time window whose width is
      determined by the crystal size, with values of 30 and 150 ps for a 1 * 1 * 1
      mm(3) and a 10 * 10 * 10 mm(3) cube, respectively. The DOI reconstruction has an
      accuracy of approximately 23% of the length of the cube, with an average value of
      2.2 mm for a 10 * 10 * 10 mm(3) CHERENCUBE. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed concept
      requires a detector with high photodetection efficiency. The structure of the
      sensitive surface of the detector should be a two dimensional array of
      microcells, able to provide individual detection coordinates and time stamps. The
      microcell size determines the ability to recognize individual photons,
      influencing detection efficiency. The 3D DOI recognition relies on the accuracy
      of the time stamps and detection coordinates, without the need for a recognition
      of the projected patterns of photons. The refractive index of the material
      defines a detector intrinsic energy-based rejection of scattered PET events at
      the cost of reduced sensitivity.

PMID- 25832072
TI  - Effects of CT-based attenuation correction of rat microSPECT images on relative
      myocardial perfusion and quantitative tracer uptake.
AB  - PURPOSE: Our goal in this work was to investigate the impact of CT-based
      attenuation correction on measurements of rat myocardial perfusion with (99m)Tc
      and (201)Tl single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). METHODS: Eight
      male Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin and scanned in a
      small animal pinhole SPECT/CT scanner. Scans were repeated weekly over a period
      of 5 weeks. Eight additional rats were injected with (201)Tl and also scanned
      following a similar protocol. The images were reconstructed with and without
      attenuation correction, and the relative perfusion was analyzed with the
      commercial cardiac analysis software. The absolute uptake of (99m)Tc in the heart
      was also quantified with and without attenuation correction. RESULTS: For (99m)Tc
      imaging, relative segmental perfusion changed by up to +2.1%/-1.8% as a result of
      attenuation correction. Relative changes of +3.6%/-1.0% were observed for the
      (201)Tl images. Interscan and inter-rat reproducibilities of relative segmental
      perfusion were 2.7% and 3.9%, respectively, for the uncorrected (99m)Tc scans,
      and 3.6% and 4.3%, respectively, for the (201)Tl scans, and were not
      significantly affected by attenuation correction for either tracer. Attenuation
      correction also significantly increased the measured absolute uptake of
      tetrofosmin and significantly altered the relationship between the rat weight and
      tracer uptake. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that attenuation correction has a
      small but statistically significant impact on the relative perfusion measurements
      in some segments of the heart and does not adversely affect reproducibility.
      Attenuation correction had a small but statistically significant impact on
      measured absolute tracer uptake.

PMID- 25832074
TI  - Adaptive beamlet-based finite-size pencil beam dose calculation for independent
      verification of IMRT and VMAT.
AB  - PURPOSE: The use of sophisticated dose calculation procedure in modern radiation
      therapy treatment planning is inevitable in order to account for complex
      treatment fields created by multileaf collimators (MLCs). As a consequence,
      independent volumetric dose verification is time consuming, which affects the
      efficiency of clinical workflow. In this study, the authors present an efficient
      adaptive beamlet-based finite-size pencil beam (AB-FSPB) dose calculation
      algorithm that minimizes the computational procedure while preserving the
      accuracy. METHODS: The computational time of finite-size pencil beam (FSPB)
      algorithm is proportional to the number of infinitesimal and identical beamlets
      that constitute an arbitrary field shape. In AB-FSPB, dose distribution from each
      beamlet is mathematically modeled such that the sizes of beamlets to represent an
      arbitrary field shape no longer need to be infinitesimal nor identical. As a
      result, it is possible to represent an arbitrary field shape with combinations of
      different sized and minimal number of beamlets. In addition, the authors included
      the model parameters to consider MLC for its rounded edge and transmission.
      RESULTS: Root mean square error (RMSE) between treatment planning system and
      conventional FSPB on a 10 * 10 cm(2) square field using 10 * 10, 2.5 * 2.5, and
      0.5 * 0.5 cm(2) beamlet sizes were 4.90%, 3.19%, and 2.87%, respectively,
      compared with RMSE of 1.10%, 1.11%, and 1.14% for AB-FSPB. This finding holds
      true for a larger square field size of 25 * 25 cm(2), where RMSE for 25 * 25, 2.5
      * 2.5, and 0.5 * 0.5 cm(2) beamlet sizes were 5.41%, 4.76%, and 3.54% in FSPB,
      respectively, compared with RMSE of 0.86%, 0.83%, and 0.88% for AB-FSPB. It was
      found that AB-FSPB could successfully account for the MLC transmissions without
      major discrepancy. The algorithm was also graphical processing unit (GPU)
      compatible to maximize its computational speed. For an intensity modulated
      radiation therapy (~12 segments) and a volumetric modulated arc therapy fields
      (~90 control points) with a 3D grid size of 2.0 * 2.0 * 2.0 mm(3), dose was
      computed within 3-5 and 10-15 s timeframe, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The authors
      have developed an efficient adaptive beamlet-based pencil beam dose calculation
      algorithm. The fast computation nature along with GPU compatibility has shown
      better performance than conventional FSPB. This enables the implementation of AB
      FSPB in the clinical environment for independent volumetric dose verification.

PMID- 25832075
TI  - Estimated dose rates to members of the public from external exposure to patients
      with 131I thyroid treatment.
AB  - PURPOSE: Estimated dose rates that may result from exposure to patients who had
      been administered iodine-131 ((131)I) as part of medical therapy were calculated.
      These effective dose rate estimates were compared with simplified assumptions
      under United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Guide 8.39, which
      does not consider body tissue attenuation nor time-dependent redistribution and
      excretion of the administered (131)I. METHODS: Dose rates were estimated for
      members of the public potentially exposed to external irradiation from patients
      recently treated with (131)I. Tissue attenuation and iodine biokinetics were
      considered in the patient in a larger comprehensive effort to improve external
      dose rate estimates. The external dose rate estimates are based on Monte Carlo
      simulations using the Phantom with Movable Arms and Legs (PIMAL), previously
      developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the United States Nuclear
      Regulatory Commission. PIMAL was employed to model the relative positions of the
      (131)I patient and members of the public in three exposure scenarios: (1)
      traveling on a bus in a total of six seated or standing permutations, (2) two
      nursing home cases where a caregiver is seated at 30 cm from the patient's
      bedside and a nursing home resident seated 250 cm away from the patient in an
      adjacent bed, and (3) two hotel cases where the patient and a guest are in
      adjacent rooms with beds on opposite sides of the common wall, with the patient
      and guest both in bed and either seated back-to-back or lying head to head. The
      biokinetic model predictions of the retention and distribution of (131)I in the
      patient assumed a single voiding of urinary bladder contents that occurred during
      the trip at 2, 4, or 8 h after (131)I administration for the public
      transportation cases, continuous first-order voiding for the nursing home cases,
      and regular periodic voiding at 4, 8, or 12 h after administration for the hotel
      room cases. Organ specific activities of (131)I in the thyroid, bladder, and
      combined remaining tissues were calculated as a function of time after
      administration. Exposures to members of the public were considered for (131)I
      patients with normal thyroid uptake (peak thyroid uptake of ~27% of administered
      (131)I), differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC, 5% uptake), and hyperthyroidism (80%
      uptake). RESULTS: The scenario with the patient seated behind the member of the
      public yielded the highest dose rate estimate of seated public transportation
      exposure cases. The dose rate to the adjacent room guest was highest for the
      exposure scenario in which the hotel guest and patient are seated by a factor of
      ~4 for the normal and differentiated thyroid cancer uptake cases and by a factor
      of ~3 for the hyperthyroid case. CONCLUSIONS: It was determined that for all
      modeled cases, the DTC case yielded the lowest external dose rates, whereas the
      hyperthyroid case yielded the highest dose rates. In estimating external dose to
      members of the public from patients with (131)I therapy, consideration must be
      given to (patient- and case-specific) administered (131)I activities and duration
      of exposure for a more complete estimate. The method implemented here included a
      detailed calculation model, which provides a means to determine dose rate
      estimates for a range of scenarios. The method was demonstrated for variations of
      three scenarios, showing how dose rates are expected to vary with uptake, voiding
      pattern, and patient location.

PMID- 25832076
TI  - Dose domain regularization of MLC leaf patterns for highly complex IMRT plans.
AB  - PURPOSE: The advent of automated beam orientation and fluence optimization
      enables more complex intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) planning using
      an increasing number of fields to exploit the expanded solution space. This has
      created a challenge in converting complex fluences to robust multileaf collimator
      (MLC) segments for delivery. A novel method to regularize the fluence map and
      simplify MLC segments is introduced to maximize delivery efficiency, accuracy,
      and plan quality. METHODS: In this work, we implemented a novel approach to
      regularize optimized fluences in the dose domain. The treatment planning problem
      was formulated in an optimization framework to minimize the segmentation-induced
      dose distribution degradation subject to a total variation regularization to
      encourage piecewise smoothness in fluence maps. The optimization problem was
      solved using a first-order primal-dual algorithm known as the Chambolle-Pock
      algorithm. Plans for 2 GBM, 2 head and neck, and 2 lung patients were created
      using 20 automatically selected and optimized noncoplanar beams. The fluence was
      first regularized using Chambolle-Pock and then stratified into equal steps, and
      the MLC segments were calculated using a previously described level reducing
      method. Isolated apertures with sizes smaller than preset thresholds of 1-3
      bixels, which are square units of an IMRT fluence map from MLC discretization,
      were removed from the MLC segments. Performance of the dose domain regularized
      (DDR) fluences was compared to direct stratification and direct MLC segmentation
      (DMS) of the fluences using level reduction without dose domain fluence
      regularization. RESULTS: For all six cases, the DDR method increased the average
      planning target volume dose homogeneity (D95/D5) from 0.814 to 0.878 while
      maintaining equivalent dose to organs at risk (OARs). Regularized fluences were
      more robust to MLC sequencing, particularly to the stratification and small
      aperture removal. The maximum and mean aperture sizes using the DDR were
      consistently larger than those from DMS for all tested number of segments.
      CONCLUSIONS: The fluence map to MLC segmentation conversion problem was
      formulated as a secondary optimization problem in the dose domain to minimize the
      smoothness-regularized dose discrepancy. The large scale optimization problem was
      solved using a primal-dual algorithm that transformed complicated fluences into
      maps that were more robust to the MLC segmentation and sequencing, affording
      fewer and larger segments with minimal degradation to dose distribution.

PMID- 25832077
TI  - Dose ratio proton radiography using the proximal side of the Bragg peak.
AB  - PURPOSE: In recent years, there has been a movement toward single-detector proton
      radiography, due to its potential ease of implementation within the clinical
      environment. One such single-detector technique is the dose ratio method in which
      the dose maps from two pristine Bragg peaks are recorded beyond the patient. To
      date, this has only been investigated on the distal side of the lower energy
      Bragg peak, due to the sharp falloff. The authors investigate the limits and
      applicability of the dose ratio method on the proximal side of the lower energy
      Bragg peak, which has the potential to allow a much wider range of water
      equivalent thicknesses (WET) to be imaged. Comparisons are made with the use of
      the distal side of the Bragg peak. METHODS: Using the analytical approximation
      for the Bragg peak, the authors generated theoretical dose ratio curves for a
      range of energy pairs, and then determined how an uncertainty in the dose ratio
      would translate to a spread in the WET estimate. By defining this spread as the
      accuracy one could achieve in the WET estimate, the authors were able to generate
      lookup graphs of the range on the proximal side of the Bragg peak that one could
      reliably use. These were dependent on the energy pair, noise level in the dose
      ratio image and the required accuracy in the WET. Using these lookup graphs, the
      authors investigated the applicability of the technique for a range of patient
      treatment sites. The authors validated the theoretical approach with experimental
      measurements using a complementary metal oxide semiconductor active pixel sensor
      (CMOS APS), by imaging a small sapphire sphere in a high energy proton beam.
      RESULTS: Provided the noise level in the dose ratio image was 1% or less, a
      larger spread of WETs could be imaged using the proximal side of the Bragg peak
      (max 5.31 cm) compared to the distal side (max 2.42 cm). In simulation, it was
      found that, for a pediatric brain, it is possible to use the technique to image a
      region with a square field equivalent size of 7.6 cm(2), for a required accuracy
      in the WET of 3 mm and a 1% noise level in the dose ratio image. The technique
      showed limited applicability for other patient sites. The CMOS APS demonstrated a
      good accuracy, with a root-mean-square-error of 1.6 mm WET. The noise in the
      measured images was found to be sigma = 1.2% (standard deviation) and theoretical
      predictions with a 1.96sigma noise level showed good agreement with the measured
      errors. CONCLUSIONS: After validating the theoretical approach with measurements,
      the authors have shown that the use of the proximal side of the Bragg peak when
      performing dose ratio imaging is feasible, and allows for a wider dynamic range
      than when using the distal side. The dynamic range available increases as the
      demand on the accuracy of the WET decreases. The technique can only be applied to
      clinical sites with small maximum WETs such as for pediatric brains.

PMID- 25832078
TI  - Spectra of clinical CT scanners using a portable Compton spectrometer.
AB  - PURPOSE: Spectral information of the output of x-ray tubes in (dual source)
      computer tomography (CT) scanners can be used to improve the conversion of CT
      numbers to proton stopping power and can be used to advantage in CT scanner
      quality assurance. The purpose of this study is to design, validate, and apply a
      compact portable Compton spectrometer that was constructed to accurately measure
      x-ray spectra of CT scanners. METHODS: In the design of the Compton spectrometer,
      the shielding materials were carefully chosen and positioned to reduce background
      by x-ray fluorescence from the materials used. The spectrum of Compton scattered
      x-rays alters from the original source spectrum due to various physical
      processes. Reconstruction of the original x-ray spectrum from the Compton
      scattered spectrum is based on Monte Carlo simulations of the processes involved.
      This reconstruction is validated by comparing directly and indirectly measured
      spectra of a mobile x-ray tube. The Compton spectrometer is assessed in a
      clinical setting by measuring x-ray spectra at various tube voltages of three
      different medical CT scanner x-ray tubes. RESULTS: The directly and indirectly
      measured spectra are in good agreement (their ratio being 0.99) thereby
      validating the reconstruction method. The measured spectra of the medical CT
      scanners are consistent with theoretical spectra and spectra obtained from the x
      ray tube manufacturer. CONCLUSIONS: A Compton spectrometer has been successfully
      designed, constructed, validated, and applied in the measurement of x-ray spectra
      of CT scanners. These measurements show that our compact Compton spectrometer can
      be rapidly set-up using the alignment lasers of the CT scanner, thereby enabling
      its use in commissioning, troubleshooting, and, e.g., annual performance check
      ups of CT scanners.

PMID- 25832079
TI  - Spatially constrained incoherent motion method improves diffusion-weighted MRI
      signal decay analysis in the liver and spleen.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of the spatially constrained incoherent motion
      (SCIM) method on improving the precision and robustness of fast and slow
      diffusion parameter estimates from diffusion-weighted MRI in liver and spleen in
      comparison to the independent voxel-wise intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM)
      model. METHODS: We collected diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) data of 29 subjects
      (5 healthy subjects and 24 patients with Crohn's disease in the ileum). We
      evaluated parameters estimates' robustness against different combinations of b
      values (i.e., 4 b-values and 7 b-values) by comparing the variance of the
      estimates obtained with the SCIM and the independent voxel-wise IVIM model. We
      also evaluated the improvement in the precision of parameter estimates by
      comparing the coefficient of variation (CV) of the SCIM parameter estimates to
      that of the IVIM. RESULTS: The SCIM method was more robust compared to IVIM (up
      to 70% in liver and spleen) for different combinations of b-values. Also, the CV
      values of the parameter estimations using the SCIM method were significantly
      lower compared to repeated acquisition and signal averaging estimated using IVIM,
      especially for the fast diffusion parameter in liver (CVIV IM = 46.61 +/- 11.22,
      CVSCIM = 16.85 +/- 2.160, p < 0.001) and spleen (CVIV IM = 95.15 +/- 19.82,
      CVSCIM = 52.55 +/- 1.91, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The SCIM method characterizes
      fast and slow diffusion more precisely compared to the independent voxel-wise
      IVIM model fitting in the liver and spleen.

PMID- 25832080
TI  - Improvement of registration accuracy in accelerated partial breast irradiation
      using the point-based rigid-body registration algorithm for patients with
      implanted fiducial markers.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate image-registration errors when using fiducial markers
      with a manual method and the point-based rigid-body registration (PRBR) algorithm
      in accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) patients, with accompanying
      fiducial deviations. METHODS: Twenty-two consecutive patients were enrolled in a
      prospective trial examining 10-fraction APBI. Titanium clips were implanted
      intraoperatively around the seroma in all patients. For image-registration, the
      positions of the clips in daily kV x-ray images were matched to those in the
      planning digitally reconstructed radiographs. Fiducial and gravity registration
      errors (FREs and GREs, respectively), representing resulting misalignments of the
      edge and center of the target, respectively, were compared between the manual and
      algorithm-based methods. RESULTS: In total, 218 fractions were evaluated.
      Although the mean FRE/GRE values for the manual and algorithm-based methods were
      within 3 mm (2.3/1.7 and 1.3/0.4 mm, respectively), the percentages of fractions
      where FRE/GRE exceeded 3 mm using the manual and algorithm-based methods were
      18.8%/7.3% and 0%/0%, respectively. Manual registration resulted in 18.6% of
      patients with fractions of FRE/GRE exceeding 5 mm. The patients with larger clip
      deviation had significantly more fractions showing large FRE/GRE using manual
      registration. CONCLUSIONS: For image-registration using fiducial markers in APBI,
      the manual registration results in more fractions with considerable registration
      error due to loss of fiducial objectivity resulting from their deviation. The
      authors recommend the PRBR algorithm as a safe and effective strategy for
      accurate, image-guided registration and PTV margin reduction.

PMID- 25832081
TI  - Determination of the optimal tolerance for MLC positioning in sliding window and
      VMAT techniques.
AB  - PURPOSE: Several authors have recommended a 2 mm tolerance for multileaf
      collimator (MLC) positioning in sliding window treatments. In volumetric
      modulated arc therapy (VMAT) treatments, however, the optimal tolerance for MLC
      positioning remains unknown. In this paper, the authors present the results of a
      multicenter study to determine the optimal tolerance for both techniques.
      METHODS: The procedure used is based on dynalog file analysis. The study was
      carried out using seven Varian linear accelerators from five different centers.
      Dynalogs were collected from over 100,000 clinical treatments and in-house
      software was used to compute the number of tolerance faults as a function of the
      user-defined tolerance. Thus, the optimal value for this tolerance, defined as
      the lowest achievable value, was investigated. RESULTS: Dynalog files accurately
      predict the number of tolerance faults as a function of the tolerance value,
      especially for low fault incidences. All MLCs behaved similarly and the
      Millennium120 and the HD120 models yielded comparable results. In sliding window
      techniques, the number of beams with an incidence of hold-offs >1% rapidly
      decreases for a tolerance of 1.5 mm. In VMAT techniques, the number of tolerance
      faults sharply drops for tolerances around 2 mm. For a tolerance of 2.5 mm, less
      than 0.1% of the VMAT arcs presented tolerance faults. CONCLUSIONS: Dynalog
      analysis provides a feasible method for investigating the optimal tolerance for
      MLC positioning in dynamic fields. In sliding window treatments, the tolerance of
      2 mm was found to be adequate, although it can be reduced to 1.5 mm. In VMAT
      treatments, the typically used 5 mm tolerance is excessively high. Instead, a
      tolerance of 2.5 mm is recommended.

PMID- 25832082
TI  - Lung dynamic MRI deblurring using low-rank decomposition and dictionary learning.
AB  - PURPOSE: Lung dynamic MRI (dMRI) has emerged to be an appealing tool to quantify
      lung motion for both planning and treatment guidance purposes. However, this
      modality can result in blurry images due to intrinsically low signal-to-noise
      ratio in the lung and spatial/temporal interpolation. The image blurring could
      adversely affect the image processing that depends on the availability of fine
      landmarks. The purpose of this study is to reduce dMRI blurring using image
      postprocessing. METHODS: To enhance the image quality and exploit the
      spatiotemporal continuity of dMRI sequences, a low-rank decomposition and
      dictionary learning (LDDL) method was employed to deblur lung dMRI and enhance
      the conspicuity of lung blood vessels. Fifty frames of continuous 2D coronal dMRI
      frames using a steady state free precession sequence were obtained from five
      subjects including two healthy volunteer and three lung cancer patients. In LDDL,
      the lung dMRI was decomposed into sparse and low-rank components. Dictionary
      learning was employed to estimate the blurring kernel based on the whole image,
      low-rank or sparse component of the first image in the lung MRI sequence.
      Deblurring was performed on the whole image sequences using deconvolution based
      on the estimated blur kernel. The deblurring results were quantified using an
      automated blood vessel extraction method based on the classification of Hessian
      matrix filtered images. Accuracy of automated extraction was calculated using
      manual segmentation of the blood vessels as the ground truth. RESULTS: In the
      pilot study, LDDL based on the blurring kernel estimated from the sparse
      component led to performance superior to the other ways of kernel estimation.
      LDDL consistently improved image contrast and fine feature conspicuity of the
      original MRI without introducing artifacts. The accuracy of automated blood
      vessel extraction was on average increased by 16% using manual segmentation as
      the ground truth. CONCLUSIONS: Image blurring in dMRI images can be effectively
      reduced using a low-rank decomposition and dictionary learning method using
      kernels estimated by the sparse component.

PMID- 25832083
TI  - Monte Carlo simulation of PET and SPECT imaging of 90Y.
AB  - PURPOSE: Yittrium-90 ((90)Y) is traditionally thought of as a pure beta emitter,
      and is used in targeted radionuclide therapy, with imaging performed using
      bremsstrahlung single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). However,
      because (90)Y also emits positrons through internal pair production with a very
      small branching ratio, positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is also
      available. Because of the insufficient image quality of (90)Y bremsstrahlung
      SPECT, PET imaging has been suggested as an alternative. In this paper, the
      authors present the Monte Carlo-based simulation-reconstruction framework for
      (90)Y to comprehensively analyze the PET and SPECT imaging techniques and to
      quantitatively consider the disadvantages associated with them. METHODS: Our PET
      and SPECT simulation modules were developed using Monte Carlo simulation of
      Electrons and Photons (MCEP), developed by Dr. S. Uehara. PET code (MCEP-PET)
      generates a sinogram, and reconstructs the tomography image using a time-of
      flight ordered subset expectation maximization (TOF-OSEM) algorithm with
      attenuation compensation. To evaluate MCEP-PET, simulated results of (18)F PET
      imaging were compared with the experimental results. The results confirmed that
      MCEP-PET can simulate the experimental results very well. The SPECT code (MCEP
      SPECT) models the collimator and NaI detector system, and generates the
      projection images and projection data. To save the computational time, the
      authors adopt the prerecorded (90)Y bremsstrahlung photon data calculated by
      MCEP. The projection data are also reconstructed using the OSEM algorithm. The
      authors simulated PET and SPECT images of a water phantom containing six hot
      spheres filled with different concentrations of (90)Y without background
      activity. The amount of activity was 163 MBq, with an acquisition time of 40 min.
      RESULTS: The simulated (90)Y-PET image accurately simulated the experimental
      results. PET image is visually superior to SPECT image because of the low
      background noise. The simulation reveals that the detected photon number in SPECT
      is comparable to that of PET, but the large fraction (approximately 75%) of
      scattered and penetration photons contaminates SPECT image. The lower limit of
      (90)Y detection in SPECT image was approximately 200 kBq/ml, while that in PET
      image was approximately 100 kBq/ml. CONCLUSIONS: By comparing the background
      noise level and the image concentration profile of both the techniques, PET image
      quality was determined to be superior to that of bremsstrahlung SPECT. The
      developed simulation codes will be very useful in the future investigations of
      PET and bremsstrahlung SPECT imaging of (90)Y.

PMID- 25832084
TI  - Validation of an in-vivo proton beam range check method in an anthropomorphic
      pelvic phantom using dose measurements.
AB  - PURPOSE: In-vivo dosimetry and beam range verification in proton therapy could
      play significant role in proton treatment validation and improvements. In-vivo
      beam range verification, in particular, could enable new treatment techniques one
      of which could be the use of anterior fields for prostate treatment instead of
      opposed lateral fields as in current practice. This paper reports validation
      study of an in-vivo range verification method which can reduce the range
      uncertainty to submillimeter levels and potentially allow for in-vivo dosimetry.
      METHODS: An anthropomorphic pelvic phantom is used to validate the clinical
      potential of the time-resolved dose method for range verification in the case of
      prostrate treatment using range modulated anterior proton beams. The method uses
      a 3 * 4 matrix of 1 mm diodes mounted in water balloon which are read by an ADC
      system at 100 kHz. The method is first validated against beam range measurements
      by dose extinction measurements. The validation is first completed in water
      phantom and then in pelvic phantom for both open field and treatment field
      configurations. Later, the beam range results are compared with the water
      equivalent path length (WEPL) values computed from the treatment planning system
      XIO. RESULTS: Beam range measurements from both time-resolved dose method and the
      dose extinction method agree with submillimeter precision in water phantom. For
      the pelvic phantom, when discarding two of the diodes that show sign of
      significant range mixing, the two methods agree with +/-1 mm. Only a dose of 7
      mGy is sufficient to achieve this result. The comparison to the computed WEPL by
      the treatment planning system (XIO) shows that XIO underestimates the protons
      beam range. Quantifying the exact XIO range underestimation depends on the
      strategy used to evaluate the WEPL results. To our best evaluation, XIO
      underestimates the treatment beam range between a minimum of 1.7% and maximum of
      4.1%. CONCLUSIONS: Time-resolved dose measurement method satisfies the two basic
      requirements, WEPL accuracy and minimum dose, necessary for clinical use, thus,
      its potential for in-vivo protons range verification. Further development is
      needed, namely, devising a workflow that takes into account the limits imposed by
      proton range mixing and the susceptibility of the comparison of measured and
      expected WEPLs to errors on the detector positions. The methods may also be used
      for in-vivo dosimetry and could benefit various proton therapy treatments.

PMID- 25832085
TI  - Cardiorespiratory motion-compensated micro-CT image reconstruction using an
      artifact model-based motion estimation.
AB  - PURPOSE: Cardiac in vivo micro-CT imaging of small animals typically requires
      double gating due to long scan times and high respiratory rates. The simultaneous
      respiratory and cardiac gating can either be done prospectively or
      retrospectively. In any case, for true 5D imaging, i.e., three spatial dimensions
      plus one respiratory-temporal dimension plus one cardiac temporal dimension, the
      amount of information corresponding to a given respiratory and cardiac phase is
      orders of magnitude lower than the total amount of information acquired.
      Achieving similar image quality for 5D than for usual 3D investigations would
      require increasing the amount of data and thus the applied dose to the animal.
      Therefore, the goal is phase-correlated imaging with high image quality but
      without increasing the dose level. METHODS: To achieve this, the authors propose
      a new image reconstruction algorithm that makes use of all available projection
      data, also of that corresponding to other motion windows. In particular, the
      authors apply a motion-compensated image reconstruction approach that
      sequentially compensates for respiratory and cardiac motion to decrease the
      impact of sparsification. In that process, all projection data are used no matter
      which motion phase they were acquired in. Respiratory and cardiac motion are
      compensated for by using motion vector fields. These motion vector fields are
      estimated from initial phase-correlated reconstructions based on a deformable
      registration approach. To decrease the sensitivity of the registration to sparse
      view artifacts, an artifact model-based approach is used including a cyclic
      consistent nonrigid registration algorithm. RESULTS: The preliminary results
      indicate that the authors' approach removes the sparse-view artifacts of
      conventional phase-correlated reconstructions while maintaining temporal
      resolution. In addition, it achieves noise levels and spatial resolution
      comparable to that of nongated reconstructions due to the improved dose usage. By
      using the proposed motion estimation, no sensitivity to streaking artifacts has
      been observed. CONCLUSIONS: Using sequential double gating combined with artifact
      model-based motion estimation allows to accurately estimate respiratory and
      cardiac motion from highly undersampled data. No sensitivity to streaking
      artifacts introduced by sparse angular sampling has been observed for the
      investigated dose levels. The motion-compensated image reconstruction was able to
      correct for both, respiratory and cardiac motion, by applying the estimated
      motion vector fields. The administered dose per animal can thus be reduced for 5D
      imaging allowing for longitudinal studies at the highest image quality.

PMID- 25832086
TI  - Slit-scanning differential x-ray phase-contrast mammography: proof-of-concept
      experimental studies.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this work is to investigate the feasibility of grating
      based, differential phase-contrast, full-field digital mammography (FFDM) in
      terms of the requirements for field-of-view (FOV), mechanical stability, and scan
      time. METHODS: A rigid, actuator-free Talbot interferometric unit was designed
      and integrated into a state-of-the-art x-ray slit-scanning mammography system,
      namely, the Philips MicroDose L30 FFDM system. A dedicated phase-acquisition and
      phase retrieval method was developed and implemented that exploits the redundancy
      of the data acquisition inherent to the slit-scanning approach to image
      generation of the system. No modifications to the scan arm motion control were
      implemented. RESULTS: The authors achieve a FOV of 160 * 196 mm consisting of two
      disjoint areas measuring 77 * 196 mm with a gap of 6 mm between them. Typical
      scanning times vary between 10 and 15 s and dose levels are lower than typical
      FFDM doses for conventional scans with identical acquisition parameters due to
      the presence of the source-grating G0. Only minor to moderate artifacts are
      observed in the three reconstructed images, indicating that mechanical vibrations
      induced by other system components do not prevent the use of the platform for
      phase contrast imaging. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the
      first attempt to integrate x-ray gratings hardware into a clinical mammography
      unit. The results demonstrate that a scanning differential phase contrast FFDM
      system that meets the requirements of FOV, stability, scan time, and dose can be
      build.

PMID- 25832087
TI  - Fiber-optic detector for real time dosimetry of a micro-planar x-ray beam.
AB  - PURPOSE: Here, the authors describe a dosimetry measurement technique for
      microbeam radiation therapy using a nanoparticle-terminated fiber-optic dosimeter
      (nano-FOD). METHODS: The nano-FOD was placed in the center of a 2 cm diameter
      mouse phantom to measure the deep tissue dose and lateral beam profile of a
      planar x-ray microbeam. RESULTS: The continuous dose rate at the x-ray microbeam
      peak measured with the nano-FOD was 1.91 +/- 0.06 cGy s(-1), a value 2.7% higher
      than that determined via radiochromic film measurements (1.86 +/- 0.15 cGy s(
      1)). The nano-FOD-determined lateral beam full-width half max value of 420 MUm
      exceeded that measured using radiochromic film (320 MUm). Due to the 8 degrees 
      angle of the collimated microbeam and resulting volumetric effects within the
      scintillator, the profile measurements reported here are estimated to achieve a
      resolution of ~0.1 mm; however, for a beam angle of 0 degrees , the theoretical
      resolution would approach the thickness of the scintillator (~0.01 mm).
      CONCLUSIONS: This work provides proof-of-concept data and demonstrates that the
      novel nano-FOD device can be used to perform real-time dosimetry in microbeam
      radiation therapy to measure the continuous dose rate at the x-ray microbeam peak
      as well as the lateral beam shape.

PMID- 25832088
TI  - Evolution of spatial resolution in breast CT at UC Davis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Dedicated breast computed tomography (bCT) technology for the purpose of
      breast cancer screening has been a focus of research at UC Davis since the late
      1990s. Previous studies have shown that improvement in spatial resolution
      characteristics of this modality correlates with greater microcalcification
      detection, a factor considered a potential limitation of bCT. The aim of this
      study is to improve spatial resolution as characterized by the modulation
      transfer function (MTF) via changes in the scanner hardware components and
      operational schema. METHODS: Four prototypes of pendant-geometry, cone-beam
      breast CT scanners were designed and developed spanning three generations of
      design evolution. To improve the system MTF in each bCT generation, modifications
      were made to the imaging components (x-ray tube and flat-panel detector), system
      geometry (source-to-isocenter and detector distance), and image acquisition
      parameters (technique factors, number of projections, system synchronization
      scheme, and gantry rotational speed). RESULTS: Characterization of different
      generations of bCT systems shows these modifications resulted in a 188%
      improvement of the limiting MTF properties from the first to second generation
      and an additional 110% from the second to third. The intrinsic resolution
      degradation in the azimuthal direction observed in the first generation was
      corrected by changing the acquisition from continuous to pulsed x-ray
      acquisition. Utilizing a high resolution detector in the third generation, along
      with modifications made in system geometry and scan protocol, resulted in a 125%
      improvement in limiting resolution. An additional 39% improvement was obtained by
      changing the detector binning mode from 2 * 2 to 1 * 1. CONCLUSIONS: These
      results underscore the advancement in spatial resolution characteristics of
      breast CT technology. The combined use of a pulsed x-ray system, higher
      resolution flat-panel detector and changing the scanner geometry and image
      acquisition logic resulted in a significant fourfold improvement in MTF.

PMID- 25832089
TI  - Continuous table acquisition MRI for radiotherapy treatment planning: distortion
      assessment with a new extended 3D volumetric phantom.
AB  - PURPOSE: Accurate geometry is required for radiotherapy treatment planning (RTP).
      When considering the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for RTP, geometric
      distortions observed in the acquired images should be considered. While scanner
      technology and vendor supplied correction algorithms provide some correction,
      large distortions are still present in images, even when considering considerably
      smaller scan lengths than those typically acquired with CT in conventional RTP.
      This study investigates MRI acquisition with a moving table compared with static
      scans for potential geometric benefits for RTP. METHODS: A full field of view
      (FOV) phantom (diameter 500 mm; length 513 mm) was developed for measuring
      geometric distortions in MR images over volumes pertinent to RTP. The phantom
      consisted of layers of refined plastic within which vitamin E capsules were
      inserted. The phantom was scanned on CT to provide the geometric gold standard
      and on MRI, with differences in capsule location determining the distortion. MRI
      images were acquired with two techniques. For the first method, standard static
      table acquisitions were considered. Both 2D and 3D acquisition techniques were
      investigated. With the second technique, images were acquired with a moving
      table. The same sequence was acquired with a static table and then with table
      speeds of 1.1 mm/s and 2 mm/s. All of the MR images acquired were registered to
      the CT dataset using a deformable B-spline registration with the resulting
      deformation fields providing the distortion information for each acquisition.
      RESULTS: MR images acquired with the moving table enabled imaging of the whole
      phantom length while images acquired with a static table were only able to image
      50%-70% of the phantom length of 513 mm. Maximum distortion values were reduced
      across a larger volume when imaging with a moving table. Increased table speed
      resulted in a larger contribution of distortion from gradient nonlinearities in
      the through-plane direction and an increased blurring of capsule images,
      resulting in an apparent capsule volume increase by up to 170% in extreme axial
      FOV regions. Blurring increased with table speed and in the central regions of
      the phantom, geometric distortion was less for static table acquisitions compared
      to a table speed of 2 mm/s over the same volume. Overall, the best geometric
      accuracy was achieved with a table speed of 1.1 mm/s. CONCLUSIONS: The phantom
      designed enables full FOV imaging for distortion assessment for the purposes of
      RTP. MRI acquisition with a moving table extends the imaging volume in the z
      direction with reduced distortions which could be useful particularly if
      considering MR-only planning. If utilizing MR images to provide additional soft
      tissue information to the planning CT, standard acquisition sequences over a
      smaller volume would avoid introducing additional blurring or distortions from
      the through-plane table movement.

PMID- 25832090
TI  - Automatic learning-based beam angle selection for thoracic IMRT.
AB  - PURPOSE: The treatment of thoracic cancer using external beam radiation requires
      an optimal selection of the radiation beam directions to ensure effective
      coverage of the target volume and to avoid unnecessary treatment of normal
      healthy tissues. Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) planning is a
      lengthy process, which requires the planner to iterate between choosing beam
      angles, specifying dose-volume objectives and executing IMRT optimization. In
      thorax treatment planning, where there are no class solutions for beam placement,
      beam angle selection is performed manually, based on the planner's clinical
      experience. The purpose of this work is to propose and study a computationally
      efficient framework that utilizes machine learning to automatically select
      treatment beam angles. Such a framework may be helpful for reducing the overall
      planning workload. METHODS: The authors introduce an automated beam selection
      method, based on learning the relationships between beam angles and anatomical
      features. Using a large set of clinically approved IMRT plans, a random forest
      regression algorithm is trained to map a multitude of anatomical features into an
      individual beam score. An optimization scheme is then built to select and adjust
      the beam angles, considering the learned interbeam dependencies. The validity and
      quality of the automatically selected beams evaluated using the manually selected
      beams from the corresponding clinical plans as the ground truth. RESULTS: The
      analysis included 149 clinically approved thoracic IMRT plans. For a randomly
      selected test subset of 27 plans, IMRT plans were generated using automatically
      selected beams and compared to the clinical plans. The comparison of the
      predicted and the clinical beam angles demonstrated a good average correspondence
      between the two (angular distance 16.8 degrees  +/- 10 degrees , correlation 0.75
      +/- 0.2). The dose distributions of the semiautomatic and clinical plans were
      equivalent in terms of primary target volume coverage and organ at risk sparing
      and were superior over plans produced with fixed sets of common beam angles. The
      great majority of the automatic plans (93%) were approved as clinically
      acceptable by three radiation therapy specialists. CONCLUSIONS: The results
      demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing a learning-based approach for automatic
      selection of beam angles in thoracic IMRT planning. The proposed method may
      assist in reducing the manual planning workload, while sustaining plan quality.

PMID- 25832091
TI  - Feasibility and robustness of dose painting by numbers in proton therapy with
      contour-driven plan optimization.
AB  - PURPOSE: To prove the ability of protons to reproduce a dose gradient that
      matches a dose painting by numbers (DPBN) prescription in the presence of setup
      and range errors, by using contours and structure-based optimization in a
      commercial treatment planning system. METHODS: For two patients with head and
      neck cancer, voxel-by-voxel prescription to the target volume (GTVPET) was
      calculated from (18)FDG-PET images and approximated with several discrete
      prescription subcontours. Treatments were planned with proton pencil beam
      scanning. In order to determine the optimal plan parameters to approach the DPBN
      prescription, the effects of the scanning pattern, number of fields, number of
      subcontours, and use of range shifter were separately tested on each patient.
      Different constant scanning grids (i.e., spot spacing = Deltax = Deltay = 3.5, 4,
      and 5 mm) and uniform energy layer separation [4 and 5 mm WED (water equivalent
      distance)] were analyzed versus a dynamic and automatic selection of the spots
      grid. The number of subcontours was increased from 3 to 11 while the number of
      beams was set to 3, 5, or 7. Conventional PTV-based and robust clinical target
      volumes (CTV)-based optimization strategies were considered and their robustness
      against range and setup errors assessed. Because of the nonuniform prescription,
      ensuring robustness for coverage of GTVPET inevitably leads to overdosing, which
      was compared for both optimization schemes. RESULTS: The optimal number of
      subcontours ranged from 5 to 7 for both patients. All considered scanning grids
      achieved accurate dose painting (1% average difference between the prescribed and
      planned doses). PTV-based plans led to nonrobust target coverage while robust
      optimized plans improved it considerably (differences between worst-case CTV dose
      and the clinical constraint was up to 3 Gy for PTV-based plans and did not exceed
      1 Gy for robust CTV-based plans). Also, only 15% of the points in the GTVPET
      (worst case) were above 5% of DPBN prescription for robust-optimized plans, while
      they were more than 50% for PTV plans. Low dose to organs at risk (OARs) could be
      achieved for both PTV and robust-optimized plans. CONCLUSIONS: DPBN in proton
      therapy is feasible with the use of a sufficient number subcontours,
      automatically generated scanning patterns, and no more than three beams are
      needed. Robust optimization ensured the required target coverage and minimal
      overdosing, while PTV-approach led to nonrobust plans with excessive overdose.
      Low dose to OARs can be achieved even in the presence of a high-dose escalation
      as in DPBN.

PMID- 25832092
TI  - Development and evaluation of a method of calibrating medical displays based on
      fixed adaptation.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to develop and evaluate a new method for
      calibration of medical displays that includes the effect of fixed adaptation and
      by using equipment and luminance levels typical for a modern radiology
      department. METHODS: Low contrast sinusoidal test patterns were derived at nine
      luminance levels from 2 to 600 cd/m(2) and used in a two alternative forced
      choice observer study, where the adaptation level was fixed at the logarithmic
      average of 35 cd/m(2). The contrast sensitivity at each luminance level was
      derived by establishing a linear relationship between the ten pattern contrast
      levels used at every luminance level and a detectability index (d') calculated
      from the fraction of correct responses. A Gaussian function was fitted to the
      data and normalized to the adaptation level. The corresponding equation was used
      in a display calibration method that included the grayscale standard display
      function (GSDF) but compensated for fixed adaptation. In the evaluation study,
      the contrast of circular objects with a fixed pixel contrast was displayed using
      both calibration methods and was rated on a five-grade scale. Results were
      calculated using a visual grading characteristics method. Error estimations in
      both observer studies were derived using a bootstrap method. RESULTS: The
      contrast sensitivities for the darkest and brightest patterns compared to the
      contrast sensitivity at the adaptation luminance were 37% and 56%, respectively.
      The obtained Gaussian fit corresponded well with similar studies. The evaluation
      study showed a higher degree of equally distributed contrast throughout the
      luminance range with the calibration method compensated for fixed adaptation than
      for the GSDF. The two lowest scores for the GSDF were obtained for the darkest
      and brightest patterns. These scores were significantly lower than the lowest
      score obtained for the compensated GSDF. For the GSDF, the scores for all
      luminance levels were statistically separated from the average value; three were
      lower and two were higher. For the compensated GSDF, three of the scores could
      not be separated from the average value. CONCLUSIONS: An observer study using
      clinically relevant displays and luminance settings has demonstrated that the
      calibration of displays according to the GSDF causes the perceived contrast to be
      unevenly distributed when using displays with a high luminance range. As the
      luminance range increases, the perceived contrast in the dark and bright regions
      will be significantly lower than the perceived contrast in the middle of the
      luminance range. A new calibration method that includes the effect of fixed
      adaptation was developed and evaluated in an observer study and was found to
      distribute the contrast of the display more evenly throughout the grayscale than
      the GSDF.

PMID- 25832093
TI  - Semiautomatic segmentation of atherosclerotic carotid artery wall volume using 3D
      ultrasound imaging.
AB  - PURPOSE: Rupture of atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid artery has been
      implicated in 20% of strokes. 3D ultrasound (US) imaging is emerging as an
      attractive method to quantify plaque burden and track changes in plaque
      longitudinally over time. However, plaque segmentation from US images is
      challenging because of poor boundary contrast and shadowing. The objective of
      this study is to develop and evaluate a semiautomatic segmentation algorithm with
      a novel stopping criterion for segmenting outer wall boundary (OWB) and lumen
      intima boundary (LIB) of common, internal, and external carotid artery from 3D US
      images for quantifying the vessel wall volume (VWV). METHODS: 3D US image volumes
      were acquired from ten subjects with asymptomatic carotid stenoses. Volumes were
      acquired using a mechanically scanned linear probe, and the reconstructed volume
      consisted of 21 slices acquired at an interslice distance of 1 mm. The authors
      used distance regularized level set method with edge-based energy, region-based
      energy, smoothness energy, and a novel stopping criterion to segment the LIB and
      OWB of carotid artery. The algorithm was initialized by six user-selected points
      on the LIB and OWB in seven 2D cross-sectional slices in each volume. An ellipse
      fitting and a stopping boundary-based energy is proposed to smooth the OWB
      contour and to stop leaking of the evolving contour, respectively. The algorithm
      was compared against ground truth boundaries generated from manual segmentations.
      The dice similarity coefficient (DSC), Hausdorff distance (HD), and modified HD
      (MHD) were used as error metrics. RESULTS: The authors' proposed stopping
      boundary energy-based stopping criterion was compared with percentage change of
      area and change of the MHD between evolving contours at successive iterations
      stopping criteria. The performance of the proposed algorithm was better than
      other two stopping criteria and yielded mean of LIBDSC = 88.78%, OWBDSC = 94.81%,
      LIBMHD = 0.26 mm, OWBMHD = 0.25 mm, LIBHD = 0.74 mm, and OWBHD = 0.80 mm. The
      Bland-Altman plot and correlation coefficient (r = 0.99) indicated a high
      agreement between ground truth and algorithm-generated boundaries. The
      coefficient of variation (COV) and minimum detectable change of the VWV are 5.2%
      and 57.2 mm(3) (5.18% of mean VWV), calculated from repeated measurements of the
      VWV by algorithm. The mean absolute distance between corresponding points of the
      algorithm-generated and the ground truth boundaries was 0.25 mm. CONCLUSIONS: The
      authors have developed a semiautomatic segmentation algorithm for measuring the
      VWV of the carotid artery using 3D US images with reduced operator interaction
      and computational time and higher reproducibility using a commercially available
      3D US transducer. Their method is a step forward toward routine longitudinal
      monitoring of 3D plaque progression.

PMID- 25832094
TI  - FEM design and simulation of a short, 10 MV, S-band Linac with Monte Carlo dose
      simulations.
AB  - PURPOSE: Current commercial 10 MV Linac waveguides are 1.5 m. The authors'
      current 6 MV linear accelerator-magnetic resonance imager (Linac-MR) system fits
      in typical radiotherapy vaults. To allow 10 MV treatments with the Linac-MR and
      still fit within typical vaults, the authors design a 10 MV Linac with an
      accelerator waveguide of the same length (27.5 cm) as current 6 MV Linacs.
      METHODS: The first design stage is to design a cavity such that a specific
      experimental measurement for breakdown is applicable to the cavity. This is
      accomplished through the use of finite element method (FEM) simulations to match
      published shunt impedance, Q factor, and ratio of peak to mean-axial electric
      field strength from an electric breakdown study. A full waveguide is then
      designed and tuned in FEM simulations based on this cavity design. Electron
      trajectories are computed through the resulting radio frequency fields, and the
      waveguide geometry is modified by shifting the first coupling cavity in order to
      optimize the electron beam properties until the energy spread and mean energy
      closely match values published for an emulated 10 MV Linac. Finally, Monte Carlo
      dose simulations are used to compare the resulting photon beam depth dose profile
      and penumbra with that produced by the emulated 10 MV Linac. RESULTS: The shunt
      impedance, Q factor, and ratio of peak to mean-axial electric field strength are
      all matched to within 0.1%. A first coupling cavity shift of 1.45 mm produces an
      energy spectrum width of 0.347 MeV, very close to the published value for the
      emulated 10 MV of 0.315 MeV, and a mean energy of 10.53 MeV, nearly identical to
      the published 10.5 MeV for the emulated 10 MV Linac. The depth dose profile
      produced by their new Linac is within 1% of that produced by the emulated 10 MV
      spectrum for all depths greater than 1.5 cm. The penumbra produced is 11%
      narrower, as measured from 80% to 20% of the central axis dose. CONCLUSIONS: The
      authors have successfully designed and simulated an S-band waveguide of length of
      27.5 cm capable of producing a 10 MV photon beam. This waveguide operates well
      within the breakdown threshold determined for the cavity geometry used. The
      designed Linac produces depth dose profiles similar to those of the emulated 10
      MV Linac (waveguide-length of 1.5 m) but yields a narrower penumbra.

PMID- 25832096
TI  - Regional radiation dose susceptibility within the parotid gland: effects on
      salivary loss and recovery.
AB  - PURPOSE: Xerostomia is one of the most likely late toxic effects of radiotherapy
      treatment in patients with head-and-neck cancers. Modern treatment techniques can
      incorporate knowledge of complication risk into treatment plans. To this end, the
      authors attempt to quantify the regional radiotherapy dose-dependence of salivary
      output loss and recovery in a prospective study. METHODS: Salivary output was
      collected from patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment for head-and-neck
      cancers at the BC Cancer Agency between February 2008 and May 2013. Regional dose
      dependence (i.e., dose susceptibility) of loss and recovery is quantified using
      nonparametric (Spearman's rank correlation coefficients, local linear regression)
      and parametric (least-sum of squares, least-median of squares) techniques.
      RESULTS: Salivary flow recovery was seen in 79 of 102 patients considered (p <
      0.0001, Wilcoxon sign rank test). Output loss was strongly correlated with left-
      and right parotid combined dose phi = min (DL,  45 Gy) + min (DR,  45 Gy), and
      can be accurately predicted. Median early loss (three months) was 72% of
      baseline, while median overall loss (1 yr) was 56% of baseline. Fitting an
      exponential model to whole parotid yields dose sensitivities A3m = 0.0604 Gy(-1)
      and A1y = 0.0379 Gy(-1). Recovery was not significantly associated with dose.
      Hints of lateral organ sub-segment dose-response dimorphism were observed.
      CONCLUSIONS: Sub-segmentation appears to predict neither loss nor recovery with
      any greater precision than whole parotid mean dose, though it is not any worse.
      Sparing the parotid to a combined dose phi of <50 Gy is recommended for a patient
      to keep ~40% of baseline function and thus avoid severe xerostomia at 12 months
      post-treatment. It seems unlikely that a population's mean recovery will exceed
      20%-30% of baseline output at 1 yr after radiotherapy treatment using current
      (whole-organ based) clinical guidelines.

PMID- 25832095
TI  - Predicting adenocarcinoma recurrence using computational texture models of nodule
      components in lung CT.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the importance of presurgical computed tomography (CT)
      intensity and texture information from ground-glass opacities (GGO) and solid
      nodule components for the prediction of adenocarcinoma recurrence. METHODS: For
      this study, 101 patients with surgically resected stage I adenocarcinoma were
      selected. During the follow-up period, 17 patients had disease recurrence with
      six associated cancer-related deaths. GGO and solid tumor components were
      delineated on presurgical CT scans by a radiologist. Computational texture models
      of GGO and solid regions were built using linear combinations of steerable Riesz
      wavelets learned with linear support vector machines (SVMs). Unlike other
      traditional texture attributes, the proposed texture models are designed to
      encode local image scales and directions that are specific to GGO and solid
      tissue. The responses of the locally steered models were used as texture
      attributes and compared to the responses of unaligned Riesz wavelets. The texture
      attributes were combined with CT intensities to predict tumor recurrence and
      patient hazard according to disease-free survival (DFS) time. Two families of
      predictive models were compared: LASSO and SVMs, and their survival counterparts:
      Cox-LASSO and survival SVMs. RESULTS: The best-performing predictive model of
      patient hazard was associated with a concordance index (C-index) of 0.81 +/- 0.02
      and was based on the combination of the steered models and CT intensities with
      survival SVMs. The same feature group and the LASSO model yielded the highest
      area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.8 +/- 0.01 for
      predicting tumor recurrence, although no statistically significant difference was
      found when compared to using intensity features solely. For all models, the
      performance was found to be significantly higher when image attributes were based
      on the solid components solely versus using the entire tumors (p < 3.08 * 10(
      5)). CONCLUSIONS: This study constitutes a novel perspective on how to interpret
      imaging information from CT examinations by suggesting that most of the
      information related to adenocarcinoma aggressiveness is related to the intensity
      and morphological properties of solid components of the tumor. The prediction of
      adenocarcinoma relapse was found to have low specificity but very high
      sensitivity. Our results could be useful in clinical practice to identify
      patients for which no recurrence is expected with a very high confidence using a
      presurgical CT scan only. It also provided an accurate estimation of the risk of
      recurrence after a given duration t from surgical resection (i.e., C-index = 0.81
      +/- 0.02).

PMID- 25832097
TI  - Theoretical investigation of the design and performance of a dual energy (kV and
      MV) radiotherapy imager.
AB  - PURPOSE: In modern radiotherapy treatment rooms, megavoltage (MV) portal imaging
      and kilovoltage (kV) cone-beam CT (CBCT) imaging are performed using various
      active matrix flat-panel imager (AMFPI) designs. To expand the clinical utility
      of MV and kV imaging, MV AMFPIs incorporating thick, segmented scintillators and,
      separately, kV imaging using a beam's eye view geometry have been investigated by
      a number of groups. Motivated by these previous studies, it is of interest to
      explore to what extent it is possible to preserve the benefits of kV and MV
      imaging using a single AMFPI design, given the considerably different x ray
      energy spectra used for kV and MV imaging. In this paper, considerations for the
      design of such a dual energy imager are explored through examination of the
      performance of a variety of hypothetical AMFPIs based on x ray converters
      employing segmented scintillators. METHODS: Contrast, noise, and contrast-to
      noise ratio performances were characterized through simulation modeling of CBCT
      imaging, while modulation transfer function, Swank factor, and signal performance
      were characterized through simulation modeling of planar imaging. The simulations
      were based on a previously reported hybrid modeling technique (accounting for
      both radiation and optical effects), augmented through modeling of electronic
      additive noise. All designs employed BGO scintillator material with thicknesses
      ranging from 0.25 to 4 cm and element-to-element pitches ranging from 0.508 to
      1.016 mm. A series of studies were performed under both kV and MV imaging
      conditions to determine the most advantageous imager configuration (involving
      front or rear x ray illumination and use of a mirror or black reflector),
      converter design (pitch and thickness), and operating mode (pitch-binning
      combination). RESULTS: Under the assumptions of the present study, the most
      advantageous imager design was found to employ rear illumination of the converter
      in combination with a black reflector, incorporate a BGO converter with a 0.508
      mm pitch and a 2 cm thickness, and operate at full resolution for kV imaging and
      2 * 2 binning mode for MV imaging. Such a dual energy imager design should
      provide soft tissue visualization at low, clinically practical doses under MV
      conditions, while helping to preserve the high spatial resolution and high
      contrast offered by kV imaging. CONCLUSIONS: The authors' theoretical
      investigation suggests that a dual energy imager capable of largely preserving
      the desirable characteristics of both kV and MV imaging is feasible. Such an
      imager, when coupled to a dual energy radiation source, could facilitate
      simplification of current treatment room imaging systems (as well as their
      associated quality assurance), and facilitate more precise integration of kV and
      MV imaging information by virtue of reduced geometric uncertainties.

PMID- 25832098
TI  - Dosimetric characterization of a microDiamond detector in clinical scanned carbon
      ion beams.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate for the first time the dosimetric properties of a new
      commercial synthetic diamond detector (PTW microDiamond) in high-energy scanned
      clinical carbon ion beams generated by a synchrotron at the CNAO facility.
      METHODS: The detector response was evaluated in a water phantom with actively
      scanned carbon ion beams ranging from 115 to 380 MeV/u (30-250 mm Bragg peak
      depth in water). Homogeneous square fields of 3 * 3 and 6 * 6 cm(2) were used.
      Short- and medium-term (2 months) detector response stability, dependence on beam
      energy as well as ion type (carbon ions and protons), linearity with dose, and
      directional and dose-rate dependence were investigated. The depth dose curve of a
      280 MeV/u carbon ion beam, scanned over a 3 * 3 cm(2) area, was measured with the
      microDiamond detector and compared to that measured using a PTW Advanced Markus
      ionization chamber, and also simulated using fluka Monte Carlo code. The detector
      response in two spread-out-Bragg-peaks (SOBPs), respectively, centered at 9 and
      21 cm depths in water and calculated using the treatment planning system (TPS)
      used at CNAO, was measured. RESULTS: A negligible drift of detector sensitivity
      within the experimental session was seen, indicating that no detector
      preirradiation was needed. Short-term response reproducibility around 1% (1
      standard deviation) was found. Only 2% maximum variation of microDiamond
      sensitivity was observed among all the evaluated proton and carbon ion beam
      energies. The detector response showed a good linear behavior. Detector
      sensitivity was found to be dose-rate independent, with a variation below 1.3% in
      the evaluated dose-rate range. A very good agreement between measured and
      simulated Bragg curves with both microDiamond and Advanced Markus chamber was
      found, showing a negligible LET dependence of the tested detector. A depth dose
      curve was also measured by positioning the microDiamond with its main axis
      oriented orthogonally to the beam direction. A strong distortion in Bragg peak
      measurement was observed, confirming manufacturer recommendation on avoiding such
      configuration. Very good results were obtained for SOBP measurements, with a
      difference below 1% between measured and TPS-calculated doses. The stability of
      detector sensitivity in the observation period was within the experimental
      uncertainty. CONCLUSIONS: Dosimetric characterization of a PTW microDiamond
      detector in high-energy scanned carbon ion beams was performed. The results of
      the present study showed that this detector is suitable for dosimetry of clinical
      carbon ion beams, with a negligible LET and dose-rate dependence.

PMID- 25832099
TI  - Comment on "Comparison of patient specific dose metrics between chest
      radiography, tomosynthesis, and CT for adult patients of wide ranging body
      habitus" [Med. Phys. 41(2), 023901 (12pp.) (2014)].

PMID- 25832100
TI  - Comment on "A protocol for EBT3 radiochromic film dosimetry using reflection
      dosimetry using scanning" [Med. Phys. 41(12), 122101 (6pp.) (2014)].

PMID- 25832103
TI  - Competition among native and invasive Impatiens species: the roles of
      environmental factors, population density and life stage.
AB  - Many invasive species are considered competitively superior to native species,
      with the strongest competition expected in species with similar niches and/or in
      closely related species. However, competition outcome is strongly context
      dependent as competitive strength varies along environmental gradients, and life
      stages, and also depends on abundances. To explore the importance of these
      factors, we examined competition effects in an experiment with three Impatiens
      species (Balsaminaceae) widespread in central Europe and sharing similar life
      history characteristics and habitats: the native I. noli-tangere, and two
      invasive species, I. parviflora and I. glandulifera. We compared their
      competitive strength and reciprocal impacts under two levels of water and light
      availability, two overall planting densities and three competitor densities. We
      assessed species performance (ability to complete the life-cycle, biomass and
      fecundity) and temporal competition dynamics in a garden pot experiment.
      Environmental variables had lower explanatory power than overall planting and
      competitor density, which indicates the importance of competitive interactions
      when evaluating plant performance and potential invasion success. Despite poor
      and delayed germination, the invasive I. glandulifera attained dominance even at
      a high competitor density and was competitively superior across all treatments,
      exceeding the height of both congeners. Impatiens parviflora was competitively
      weakest, having a negligible impact on both native I. noli-tangere and invasive
      I. glandulifera. The intermediate competitive strength of the native I. noli
      tangere probably results from its intermediate height, and good germination rate
      and timing. The difference in height among species increased during the
      experiment when I. glandulifera was involved; this species continues growing
      until autumn, enhancing its competitive superiority. The results provide a
      mechanistic understanding for the competitive exclusion of native I. noli-tangere
      that occurs in stands with I. glandulifera, but the limited impact of I.
      parviflora on I. noli-tangere in their mixed stands. 

PMID- 25832102
TI  - Immunogenicity of reduced dose priming schedules of serogroup C meningococcal
      conjugate vaccine followed by booster at 12 months in infants: open label
      randomised controlled trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the immunogenicity of a single dose infant
      priming schedule of serogroup C meningococcal (MenC) conjugate vaccine is non
      inferior to a two dose priming schedule when followed by a booster dose at age 12
      months. DESIGN: Phase IV open label randomised controlled trial carried out from
      July 2010 until August 2013 SETTING: Four centres in the United Kingdom and one
      centre in Malta. PARTICIPANTS: Healthy infants aged 6-12 weeks followed up until
      age 24 months. INTERVENTIONS: In the priming phase of the trial 509 infants were
      randomised in a 10:10:7:4 ratio into four groups to receive either a single MenC
      cross reacting material 197 (CRM) dose at 3 months; two doses of MenC-CRM at 3
      and 4 months; a single MenC-polysaccharide-tetanus toxoid (TT) dose at 3 months;
      or no MenC doses, respectively. Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)-MenC-TT
      vaccine was administered to all infants at 12 months of age. All infants also
      received the nationally routinely recommended vaccines. Blood samples were taken
      at age 5, 12, 13, and 24 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: MenC serum bactericidal
      antibody assay with rabbit complement (rSBA) one month after the Hib-MenC-TT
      vaccine. Non-inferiority was met if the lower 95% confidence limit of the
      difference in the mean log10 MenC rSBA between the single dose MenC-CRM and the
      two dose MenC-CRM groups was >-0.35. RESULTS: The primary objective was met:
      after a Hib-MenC-TT booster dose at 12 months of age the MenC rSBA geometric mean
      titres induced in infants primed with a single MenC-CRM dose were not inferior to
      those induced in participants primed with two MenC-CRM doses in infancy (660 (95%
      confidence interval 498 to 876) v 295 (220 to 398)) with a corresponding
      difference in the mean log10 MenC rSBA of 0.35 (0.17 to 0.53) that showed
      superiority of the single over the two dose schedule). Exploration of differences
      between the priming schedules showed that one month after Hib-MenC-TT
      vaccination, MenC rSBA >= 1:8 was observed in >96% of participants previously
      primed with any of the MenC vaccine schedules in infancy and in 83% of those who
      were not vaccinated against MenC in infancy. The MenC rSBA geometric mean titres
      induced by the Hib-MenC-TT boost were significantly higher in children who were
      primed with one rather than two MenC-CRM doses in infancy. Only priming with MenC
      TT, however, induced robust MenC bactericidal antibody after the Hib-MenC-TT
      booster that persisted until 24 months of age. CONCLUSIONS: MenC vaccination
      programmes with two MenC infant priming doses could be reduced to a single
      priming dose without reducing post-boost antibody titres. When followed by a Hib
      MenC-TT booster dose, infant priming with a single MenC-TT vaccine dose induces a
      more robust antibody response than one or two infant doses of MenC-CRM.
      Bactericidal antibody induced by a single Hib-MenC-TT conjugate vaccine dose at
      12 months of age (that is, a toddler only schedule), without infant priming, is
      not well sustained at 24 months. Because of rapid waning of MenC antibody,
      programmes using toddler only schedules will still need to rely on herd
      protection to protect infants and young children.Trial registration Eudract No:
      2009-016579-31; NCT01129518; study ID: 2008_06 (http://clinicaltrials.gov).

PMID- 25832104
TI  - Effects of dose rates on radiation-induced replenishment of intestinal stem cells
      determined by Lgr5 lineage tracing.
AB  - An understanding of the dynamics of intestinal Lgr5(+) stem cells is important
      for elucidating the mechanism of colonic cancer development. We previously
      established a method for evaluating Lgr5(+) stem cells by tamoxifen-dependent
      Lgr5-lineage tracing and showed that high-dose-rate radiation stimulated
      replenishment of colonic stem cells. In this study, we evaluated the effects of
      low-dose-rate radiation on stem cell maintenance. Tamoxifen (4OHT)-injected Lgr5
      EGFP-IRES-Cre(ERT2) * ROSA-LSL-LacZ mice were used, LacZ-labeled colonic crypts
      were enumerated, and the loss of LacZ(+) crypts under low-dose-rate radiation was
      estimated. After 4OHT treatment, the number of LacZ-labeled Lgr5(+) stem cells
      was higher in the colon of infant mice than in adult mice. The percentage of LacZ
      labeled crypts in infant mice rapidly decreased after 4OHT treatment. However,
      the percentage of labeled crypts plateaued at ~2% at 4 weeks post-treatment and
      remained unchanged for up to 7 months. Thus, it will be advantageous to evaluate
      the long-term effects of low-dose-rate radiation. Next, we determined the
      percentages of LacZ-labeled crypts irradiated with 1 Gy administered at different
      dose rates. As reported in our previous study, mice exposed to high-dose-rate
      radiation (30 Gy/h) showed a marked replenishment (P = 0.04). However, mice
      exposed to low-dose-rate radiation (0.003 Gy/h) did not exhibit accelerated stem
      cell replenishment (P = 0.47). These findings suggest the percentage of labeled
      crypts can serve as a useful indicator of the effects of dose rate on the stem
      cell pool. 

PMID- 25832105
TI  - Antibiotic discovery goes underground: The discovery of teixobactin could
      revitalise the search for new antibiotics based on the novel method the
      researchers used to identify the compound.

PMID- 25832106
TI  - Redistribution of the intra-acrosomal EGFP before acrosomal exocytosis in mouse
      spermatozoa.
AB  - Mammalian spermatozoa must undergo complex physiological and morphological
      alterations within the female reproductive tract before they become fertilization
      competent. Two important alterations are capacitation and the acrosome reaction
      (AR), by which spermatozoa become capable of penetrating the zona pellucida (ZP)
      of the oocyte. Although various biochemical stimulants have been reported to
      induce the AR, the true physiological inducer in vivo remains to be identified.
      Previously, it has been reported that most fertilizing spermatozoa undergo the AR
      before contacting the ZP and that only a small fraction of in vitro-capacitated
      spermatozoa can penetrate the ZP. Therefore, it is important to identify which
      capacitating spermatozoa undergo the AR in response to potential AR inducers such
      as progesterone. Here we show that spermatozoa undergo a dynamic rearrangement of
      the acrosome during in vitro capacitation. This involves the rapid movement of an
      artificially introduced soluble component of the acrosome, enhanced green
      fluorescent protein (EGFP), from the acrosomal cap region to the equatorial
      segment (EQ) of the sperm head. Spermatozoa exhibiting the EQ pattern were more
      sensitive to progesterone than were those without it. We suggest that spermatozoa
      that are ready to undergo acrosomal exocytosis can be detected by real-time EGFP
      imaging. This offers a promising new method for identifying where spermatozoa
      undergo the AR in the female reproductive tract in vivo. 

PMID- 25832107
TI  - Comparison of the in vitro susceptibility of rifaximin versus norfloxacin against
      multidrug resistant bacteria in a hospital setting. A proof-of-concept study for
      use in advanced cirrhosis.

PMID- 25832108
TI  - Secreted frizzled-related protein 4 predicts progression of autosomal dominant
      polycystic kidney disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a common
      autosomal dominant condition associated with renal cysts and development of renal
      failure. With the availability of potential therapies, one major obstacle remains
      the lack of readily available parameters that identify patients at risk for
      disease progression and/or determine the efficacy of therapeutic interventions
      within short observation periods. Increased total kidney volume (TKV) correlates
      with disease progression, but it remains unknown how accurate this parameter can
      predict disease progression at early stages. METHODS: To identify additional
      parameters that help to stratify ADPKD patients, we measured secreted frizzled
      related protein 4 (sFRP4) serum concentrations at baseline and over the course of
      18 months in 429 ADPKD patients. RESULTS: Serum creatinine and sFRP4 as well as
      TKV increased over time, and were significantly different from baseline values
      within 1 year. CONCLUSION: Elevated sFRP4 levels at baseline predicted a more
      rapid decline of renal function at 2, 3 and 5 years suggesting that sFRP4 serum
      levels may provide additional information to identify ADPKD patients at risk for
      rapid disease progression.

PMID- 25832109
TI  - Single-cell, genome-wide sequencing identifies clonal somatic copy-number
      variation in the human brain.

PMID- 25832110
TI  - The 6-min walk test in pulmonary arterial hypertension: only for bad news?

PMID- 25832111
TI  - Therapeutic alliance in antidepressant treatment: cause or effect of symptomatic
      levels?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that in psychotherapy alliance is a
      predictor of symptomatic change, even while accounting for the temporal
      precedence between alliance and symptoms. However, the extent to which alliance
      predicts outcomes in psychopharmacology is yet to be fully investigated
      considering the fact that alliance can be the result, rather than the cause, of
      symptomatic change. The current prospective study examined whether the alliance
      predicts outcomes in psychopharmacology, while controlling for previous
      symptomatic change throughout the course of treatment. METHODS: Data from a
      psychopharmacological randomized controlled trial for the treatment of adult
      major depression (n = 42), including the patients' rating of the alliance with
      the physicians, were analyzed. Multilevel models controlling for autoregressive
      lag of the dependent variable were used in all analyses to examine the effect of
      alliance on outcome. RESULTS: The effect of alliance on outcome, while
      controlling for prior symptomatic levels, was significant and restricted to the
      middle phase of treatment (week 4, p = 0.005), when most of the reductions in
      symptoms were observed. Exploratory analyses of the differences between placebo
      and medication conditions suggest that the differences between the patients in
      their average alliance levels predicted a greater reduction in symptoms in the
      placebo compared to the medication conditions (p = 0.008). The main limitation is
      the small cohort size. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest an effect of alliance on
      outcome in psychopharmacology, which is not merely the result of previous
      symptomatic levels. This effect may be more robust in conditions that do not
      include active treatment (placebo), possibly serving as a compensatory effect.

PMID- 25832112
TI  - The effect of trimetazidine added to pharmacological treatment on all-cause
      mortality in patients with systolic heart failure.
AB  - The anti-ischemic agent trimetazidine (TMZ) added to pharmacological treatment
      appears to have positive effects on cardiac parameters of patients with heart
      failure (HF) as a result of specific antioxidant properties. OBJECTIVES: We aimed
      to verify whether the marked improvement provided by TMZ in echocardiographic and
      clinical parameters was likely to translate into reduced all-cause mortality in
      systolic HF patients. METHODS: Meta-analysis of available published prospective
      randomized controlled trial (RCT) data (1967-2014) retrieved from PubMed, Web of
      Science and Cochrane Collaboration. RESULTS: A total of 326 patients from 3 RCTs
      were analyzed: 164 who received TMZ on top of pharmacological HF therapy and 162
      controls. Study durations ranged from 12 to 48 months. The analysis had no
      publication bias and the studies were homogeneous (p = 0.442, I(2) = 0). The
      results show a significant effect of TMZ on the reduction of all-cause mortality
      (RR = 0.283, p < 0.0001). The rate of events attributable to the drug was lower
      with TMZ than it was among control patients. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis
      suggests that in patients with HF, TMZ given as an add-on therapy is likely to
      provide a protective effect, reduce all-cause mortality and increase event-free
      survival, and could be an effective and useful adjunct to our armamentarium for
      the treatment of HF patients.

PMID- 25832113
TI  - Is the Proportion of Patients Diagnosed with Synchronous Stage IV Breast Cancer
      Who Survive More than Two Years Increasing over Time?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies have shown a moderate increase in survival over time among
      patients with stage IV breast cancer. Median survival is approximately 2 years.
      The aim of this study was to evaluate trends over time in survival of >2 years of
      patients with synchronous stage IV disease. METHODS: Using the SEER
      (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results) registry, we identified patients
      with synchronous stage IV breast cancer diagnosed between 1990 and 2007. Patients
      were divided into 3 groups according to the year of diagnosis (1990-1995, 1996
      2000, and 2001-2007). The probability of survival of >2 years was computed within
      each group of diagnosis years. A multivariate logistic regression model was then
      fit to determine the association between year of diagnosis and probability of
      surviving >2 years after adjusting for important prognostic factors. RESULTS:
      22,601 patients were identified, of whom 9,435 (41.7%) had an overall survival of
      >2 years. The probability of breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) of >2 years
      was 40.1, 44, and 48.1% among patients diagnosed in the periods 1990-1995, 1996
      2000, and 2001-2007, respectively (p < 0.001). In the multivariate model, the
      probability of BCSS of >2 years increased with the more recent year of diagnosis
      (OR 1.058, 95% CI 1.046-1.069, p < 0.001). Other factors significantly associated
      with an increased probability of surviving >2 years included surgery of the
      primary tumor, lower grade, younger age, hormone receptor-positive disease, and
      noninflammatory disease. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that among the patients
      with synchronous stage IV breast cancer, the probability of BCSS of >2 years in
      the US has increased over time. Attributable factors may be the increasing number
      of efficacious agents and improved palliative care services over time.

PMID- 25832115
TI  - Influence of olive oil phenolic compounds on headspace aroma release by
      interaction with whey proteins.
AB  - The release of volatile compounds in an oil-in-water model system obtained from
      olive oil-whey protein (WP) pairing was investigated by considering the effect of
      phenolic compounds. Human saliva was used to simulate mouth conditions by
      retronasal aroma simulator (RAS) analysis. Twelve aroma compounds were quantified
      in the dynamic headspace by SPME-GC/MS. The results showed significant influences
      of saliva on the aroma release of virgin olive oil (VOO) volatiles also in the
      presence of WP. The interaction between WP and saliva leads to lower headspace
      release of ethyl esters and hexanal. Salivary components caused lower decrease of
      the release of acetates and alcohols. A lower release of volatile compounds was
      found in the RAS essay in comparison to that in orthonasal simulation of only
      refined olive oil (without addition of saliva or WP), with the exception of
      hexanal and 1-penten-3-one, where a significantly higher release was found. Our
      results suggest that the extent of retronasal odor (green, pungent) of these two
      volatile compounds is higher than orthonasal odor. An extra VOO was used to
      verify the release in model systems, indicating that WP affected aroma release
      more than model systems, while saliva seems to exert an opposite trend. A
      significant increase in aroma release was found when phenolic compounds were
      added to the system, probably due to the contrasting effects of binding of
      volatile compounds caused by WP, for the polyphenol-protein interaction
      phenomenon. Our study could be applied to the formulation of new functional foods
      to enhance flavor release and modulate the presence and concentrations of
      phenolics and whey proteins in food emulsions/dispersions. 

PMID- 25832116
TI  - Uncontrolled head oscillations in people with Parkinson's disease may reflect an
      inability to respond to perturbations while walking.
AB  - Fall injuries in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) are a major health problem.
      Increased sway while walking is a risk factor and further understanding of this
      destabilizing gait change may assist with rehabilitation and help prevent
      falls.Here, stride-to-stride head oscillations are used to help characterise
      different aspects of gait impairment in 10 people with PD on medication (67
      years, SD 4), 10 healthy age-matched (HAM) participants (66 years, SD 7), and 10
      young (30 years, SD 7). A wearable accelerometer was used to analyse head
      oscillations during five repeat 17 m walks by each participant.People with PD had
      significantly faster transverse plane head oscillations than the HAM or young
      groups; both along mediolateral (PD 47.2 cm s(-1), HAM 32.5 cm s(-1), and young
      32.7 cm s(-1)) and anterioposterior axes (PD 33.3 cm s(-1), HAM 24.5 cm s(-1),
      and young 20.6 cm s(-1)). These differences were uncorrelated with reduced
      vertical oscillation velocity (PD 15.5 cm s(-1), HAM 18.8 cm s(-1), and young
      20.1 cm s(-1)) and reduced walking speed (PD 1.2 m s(-1), HAM 1.4 m s(-1), and
      young 1.4 m s(-1)).Increased transverse plane head oscillations in people with PD
      may reflect motor impairment and the inability to respond sufficiently to
      perturbations while walking, which appears to be distinct from gait hyperkinesia,
      reduced vertical oscillations, step length, and walking speed.

PMID- 25832114
TI  - Steroidogenic versus Metabolic Programming of Reproductive Neuroendocrine,
      Ovarian and Metabolic Dysfunctions.
AB  - The susceptibility of the reproductive system to early exposure to steroid
      hormones has become a major concern in our modern societies. Human fetuses are at
      risk of abnormal programming via exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals,
      inadvertent use of contraceptive pills during pregnancy, as well as from excess
      exposure to steroids due to disease states. Animal models provide an unparalleled
      resource to understand the developmental origin of diseases. In female sheep,
      prenatal exposure to testosterone excess results in an array of adult
      reproductive disorders that recapitulate those seen in women with polycystic
      ovary syndrome (PCOS), including disrupted neuroendocrine feedback mechanisms,
      increased pituitary sensitivity to gonadotropin-releasing hormone, luteinizing
      hormone excess, functional hyperandrogenism, and multifollicular ovarian
      morphology culminating in early reproductive failure. Prenatal testosterone
      treatment also leads to fetal growth retardation, insulin resistance, and
      hypertension. Mounting evidence suggests that developmental exposure to an
      improper steroidal/metabolic environment may mediate the programming of adult
      disorders in prenatal testosterone-treated females, and these defects are
      maintained or amplified by the postnatal sex steroid and metabolic milieu. This
      review addresses the steroidal and metabolic contributions to the development and
      maintenance of the PCOS phenotype in the prenatal testosterone-treated sheep
      model, including the effects of prenatal and postnatal treatment with an androgen
      antagonist or insulin sensitizer as potential strategies to prevent/ameliorate
      these dysfunctions. Insights obtained from these intervention strategies on the
      mechanisms underlying these defects are likely to have translational relevance to
      human PCOS. 

PMID- 25832117
TI  - Premature pubarche before one year of age: distinguishing between mini-puberty
      variants and precocious puberty.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to facilitate the distinction between the
      benign "mini-puberty of early infancy" and precocious puberty (PP). MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: We compared 59 patients (21 boys and 38 girls) seen for pubic hair
      development before one year of age diagnosed as mini-puberty to 13 patients (2
      boys) in whom pubertal development before one year revealed a PP. RESULTS: The
      boys with mini-puberty presented with pubic hair development and prepubertal
      testicular volume, with low plasma testosterone concentrations. Their
      gonadotropin responses to gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) test showed
      predominant luteinising hormone increase in 9/13. The girls presented with pubic
      hair development that was accompanied by breast development in 47% of cases, with
      low plasma estradiol concentrations. Their gonadotropin responses showed
      predominant follicle-stimulating hormone increase in the 17 evaluated. The
      patients with PP had organic central PP (5 hypothalamic hamartoma) or idiopathic
      central PP (n=6), or peripheral PP (one ovarian tumor and one congenital adrenal
      hyperplasia). The diagnosis was challenging only in 3 girls with idiopathic
      central PP presenting with prepubertal plasma estradiol concentrations and
      responses to GnRH test. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of PP was easily determined
      based on the clinical presentation and the pubertal concentrations of
      testosterone in boys or of estradiol in girls, as was the diagnosis of central or
      peripheral origin of PP based on gonadotropin response to the GnRH test. Once PP
      is excluded, these patients need careful follow-up and physician consultation is
      needed if clinical pubertal signs progress.

PMID- 25832118
TI  - Psychological, social and familial factors associated with tobacco cessation
      among young adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The younger individuals quit smoking, the greater the health
      benefits. We studied the role of adolescent and concurrent psychological, social
      and familial factors in successful tobacco cessation in a general population
      sample of French young adults. METHODS: Our data came from participants of the
      TEMPO cohort study and their parents (members of the GAZEL cohort study) in
      France. Among regular smokers (n = 678), Cox proportional hazards models were
      used to estimate hazard ratios of self-reported tobacco cessation of at least 12
      months in relation to individual and socioenvironmental variables. RESULTS: On
      average, participants (mean: 28.9 years) smoked for 10.51 years (SD = 5.9); the
      majority had attempted to quit smoking at least once (59.5%). In multiple
      regression analyses, cannabis use in the preceding year and recent financial
      difficulties were both negatively associated with successful smoking cessation.
      Conversely, living with a partner and, for women only, recent pregnancy or
      childbirth were associated with an increased likelihood of tobacco cessation.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of young adults' cannabis use,
      family situation and socioeconomic context with regard to their smoking behavior.
      Physicians and public health decision makers aiming to decrease the burden of
      tobacco smoking should take into consideration these social and behavioral
      factors.

PMID- 25832119
TI  - Intrinsic platelet reactivity before start with clopidogrel as predictor for on
      clopidogrel platelet function and long-term clinical outcome.
AB  - High on-clopidogrel platelet reactivity is associated with worse clinical
      outcome. Previous data suggest that intrinsic platelet reactivity before
      initiation of clopidogrel contributes significantly to on-clopidogrel platelet
      reactivity. It is unknown whether intrinsic reactivity can sufficiently predict
      on-clopidogrel reactivity and therefore identify patients with insufficient
      response to clopidogrel before initiation of treatment and at risk for worse
      clinical outcome. This analysis included 765 consecutive patients undergoing
      elective coronary stent implantation. Platelet reactivity was assessed by light
      transmission aggregometry (5 uM ADP) before administration of clopidogrel 600mg
      and after intake of first maintenance dose of clopidogrel on day 1 following
      coronary stenting. Patients were followed for up to seven years. The combined
      primary endpoint was death of any cause or non-fatal myocardial infarction.
      Intrinsic and on-clopidogrel platelet reactivity were significant correlated
      (r=0.31; p < 0.001). Among all tested clinical and genetic factors including the
      cytochrome P450 2C19*2 polymorphism, intrinsic platelet reactivity was the
      strongest predictor for on-clopidogrel platelet reactivity. However, intrinsic
      platelet reactivity could only explain 8 % of variability of on-clopidogrel
      platelet function. Only on-treatment platelet reactivity was predictive for long
      term clinical outcome (HR 1.47, 95 % CI 1.05-2.05; p = 0.02) whereas intrinsic
      platelet reactivity was not (HR 1.03, 95 % CI 0.74-1.43; p = 0.86). In
      conclusion, intrinsic platelet reactivity before initiation of clopidogrel is the
      strongest predictor of early on-clopidogrel platelet reactivity but can only
      explain a minor proportion of its variability and is not significantly associated
      with clinical outcome. Thus, baseline testing cannot substitute on-clopidogrel
      platelet function testing. 

PMID- 25832120
TI  - TBX21-1993T/C (rs4794067) polymorphism is associated with increased risk of
      chronic periodontitis and increased T-bet expression in periodontal lesions, but
      does not significantly impact the IFN-g transcriptional level or the pattern of
      periodontophatic bacterial infection.
AB  - Th1-polarized host response, mediated by IFN-gamma, has been associated with
      increased severity of periodontal disease as well as control of periodontal
      infection. The functional polymorphism TBX21-1993T/C (rs4794067) increases the
      transcriptional activity of the TBX21 gene (essential for Th1 polarization)
      resulting in a predisposition to a Th-1 biased immune response. Thus, we
      conducted a case-control study, including a population of healthy controls (H, n
      = 218), chronic periodontitis (CP, n = 197), and chronic gingivitis patients (CG,
      n = 193), to investigate if genetic variations in TBX21 could impact the
      development of Th1 responses, and consequently influence the pattern of bacterial
      infection and periodontitis outcome. We observed that the polymorphic allele T
      was significantly enriched in the CP patients compared to CG subjects, while the
      H controls demonstrated and intermediate genotype. Also, investigating the
      putative functionality TBX21-1993T/C in the modulation of local response, we
      observed that the transcripts levels of T-bet, but not of IFN-gamma, were
      upregulated in homozygote and heterozygote polymorphic subjects. In addition,
      TBX21-1993T/C did not influence the pattern of bacterial infection or the
      clinical parameters of disease severity, being the presence/absence of red
      complex bacteria the main factor associated with the disease status and the
      subrogate variable probing depth (PD) in the logistic regression analysis. 

PMID- 25832121
TI  - Defining the methodological challenges and opportunities for an effective science
      of sociotechnical systems and safety.
AB  - An important part of the application of sociotechnical systems theory (STS) is
      the development of methods, tools and techniques to assess human factors and
      ergonomics workplace requirements. We focus in this paper on describing and
      evaluating current STS methods for workplace safety, as well as outlining a set
      of six case studies covering the application of these methods to a range of
      safety contexts. We also describe an evaluation of the methods in terms of
      ratings of their ability to address a set of theoretical and practical questions
      (e.g. the degree to which methods capture static/dynamic aspects of tasks and
      interactions between system levels). The outcomes from the evaluation highlight a
      set of gaps relating to the coverage and applicability of current methods for STS
      and safety (e.g. coverage of external influences on system functioning; method
      usability). The final sections of the paper describe a set of future challenges,
      as well as some practical suggestions for tackling these. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY:
      We provide an up-to-date review of STS methods, a set of case studies
      illustrating their use and an evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses. The
      paper concludes with a 'roadmap' for future work.

PMID- 25832122
TI  - The role of stop-signal probability and expectation in proactive inhibition.
AB  - The subjective belief of what will happen plays an important role across many
      cognitive domains, including response inhibition. However, tasks that study
      inhibition do not distinguish between the processing of objective contextual cues
      indicating stop-signal probability and the subjective expectation that a stop
      signal will or will not occur. Here we investigated the effects of stop-signal
      probability and the expectation of a stop-signal on proactive inhibition. Twenty
      participants performed a modified stop-signal anticipation task while being
      scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging. At the beginning of each
      trial, the stop-signal probability was indicated by a cue (0% or > 0%), and
      participants had to indicate whether they expected a stop-signal to occur
      (yes/no/don't know). Participants slowed down responding on trials with a > 0%
      stop-signal probability, but this proactive response slowing was even greater
      when they expected a stop-signal to occur. Analyses were performed in brain
      regions previously associated with proactive inhibition. Activation in the
      striatum, supplementary motor area and left dorsal premotor cortex during the cue
      period was increased when participants expected a stop-signal to occur. In
      contrast, activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus and right inferior
      parietal cortex activity during the stimulus-response period was related to the
      processing of contextual cues signalling objective stop-signal probability,
      regardless of expectation. These data show that proactive inhibition depends on
      both the processing of objective contextual task information and the subjective
      expectation of stop-signals. 

PMID- 25832123
TI  - Hearing threshold levels for an otologically screened population in Spain.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to provide thresholds data as a
      function of age for an otologically normal population in Spain, compared to the
      current ISO 7029 (2000) standard. DESIGN: A prospective study in an otologically
      screened population. STUDY SAMPLE: Data was collected from 1175 otologically
      normal persons aged between 5 and 90 years. Inclusion criteria involved those
      listed in ISO 389-1 (1998) and the 8253-1 (2010). Suitability for inclusion was
      evaluated through interview, based on a questionnaire, and physical examination.
      RESULTS: The hearing thresholds decreased slightly from 125 to 2000 Hz. From 2000
      Hz onwards the thresholds increased; this increase being more pronounced with
      increasing frequency and age. No statistically significant sex differences were
      found. The hearing threshold levels in the present study were higher (poorer)
      than the ones provided by ISO 7029 (2000). CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study
      suggest that the thresholds listed in ISO 7029 (2000) may be too restrictive, and
      could be useful in formulating the ISO 7029 update.

PMID- 25832124
TI  - Traceability in newborn hearing screening via an auditory-evoked response
      simulator.

PMID- 25832125
TI  - Kohn's pores are not responsible for collateral ventilation between inflated and
      deflated segments: a microscopic study of pulmonary intersegmental septa in the
      human lung.
AB  - The composition of the pulmonary intersegmental septum has not been clearly
      identified by thoracic surgeons who regard Kohn's pores as the main channel that
      causes air leakage when determining the intersegmental septum by segmental
      ventilation. In this study, we aimed to examine this possible misinterpretation
      by focusing on a detailed description of the microscopic anatomy of the
      intersegmental septum. To accomplish this aim, 50 lung samples of the
      intersegmental septum from fresh cadavers without emphysema were studied by
      histological and electron microscopy. The findings of light microscopy and
      electron microscopy showed that the intersegmental septum is composed of three
      layers. The alveolar walls of adjacent segments serve as the superficial layer.
      They are integral, and no Kohn's pores were identified. The deep layer contains
      collagen fibres. As shown by our findings, Kohn's pores are absent within the
      intersegmental septum. Therefore, they could not be the main channel for the
      collateral ventilation between inflated and deflated lung segments during a
      pulmonary segmentectomy. 

PMID- 25832126
TI  - Risk perceptions of smokeless tobacco among adolescent and adult users and
      nonusers.
AB  - The recent growth in smokeless tobacco (ST) consumption has raised questions
      about consumer risk perceptions of ST products, especially in high-risk
      vulnerable populations. This qualitative study examined risk perceptions of ST
      among adolescent and adult users and nonusers in Ohio Appalachia. Focus groups
      and interviews were held with adolescents (n = 53; M age = 17 years) and adults
      (n = 63; M age = 34 years) from four Ohio Appalachian counties. Participants were
      asked about their perceptions of ST-related health risks, ST safety, and the
      relative safety of ST compared with cigarettes. Transcriptions were coded
      independently by two individuals. Overall, participants were knowledgeable about
      health problems from ST use (e.g., oral cancers, periodontal disease). Nearly all
      participants stated that ST use is not safe; however, there was disagreement
      about its relative safety. Some perceived all tobacco products as equally
      harmful; others believed that ST is safer than cigarettes for either the user or
      those around the user. Disagreements about ST relative safety may reflect mixed
      public health messages concerning the safety of ST. Comprehensive consumer
      messages about the relative safety of ST compared with cigarettes are needed.
      Messages should address the effect of ST on the health of the user as well as
      those exposed to the user.

PMID- 25832127
TI  - Hepatitis From Spiroplasma sp. in an Immunocompromised Patient.
AB  - A 70-year-old lung transplant recipient patient was admitted with fever, nausea,
      abdominal pain, peripheral edema and pronounced weakness. An initial work-up for
      presumed infection revealed cholestatic hepatitis, leukocytosis and
      thrombocytopenia, but failed to detect a pathogen. An increased glucose uptake
      exclusively in the liver was demonstrated by positron emission tomography. Liver
      biopsy showed basophilic inclusions in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes. Broad- range
      16S rRNA gene PCR followed by sequence analysis yielded Spiroplasma sp. in two
      independent blood samples and the liver biopsy, confirming Spiroplasma sp. as the
      causative agent. Antibiotic treatment with doxycycline and azithromycin led to
      complete recovery. 

PMID- 25832128
TI  - Renal effects of coronary artery bypass graft surgery in diabetic and non
      diabetic patients: a study with urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated
      lipocalin and serum cystatin C.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cardiac surgery and diabetes are major causes of acute kidney
      injury (AKI). We aimed to investigate the value of urinary neutrophil gelatinase
      associated lipocalin (NGAL) and serum cystatin C, as early biomarkers for
      prediction of AKI in diabetic and non-diabetic adult patients undergoing cardiac
      surgery. METHODS: 15 non-diabetic and 15 diabetic adult patients undergoing
      cardiac surgery were enrolled. Peri-operative clinical and laboratory variables
      were recorded. Urinary NGAL, serum cystatin C, serum creatinine (Cre) and blood
      urea nitrogen (BUN) were evaluated. RESULTS: AKI was detected in 4 patients in
      non-diabetic group and 12 patients in diabetic group. Urinary NGAL levels of
      diabetic and non-diabetic patients and serum cystatin C levels of diabetic
      patients exceed upper normal limits or cutoff values much earlier than BUN and
      Cre. cystatin C levels of non-diabetic patients remain unchanged. Cystatin C and
      NGAL levels of patients meeting AKI criteria and NGAL levels of patients not
      meeting AKI criteria exceeded upper normal limits or cut off values much earlier
      in than BUN and Cre. CONCLUSIONS: Measurement of cystatin C level in both
      diabetic and non-diabetic patients may reveal AKI earlier than NGAL and BUN. In
      diabetic patients, measurement of urinary NGAL and serum cystatin C levels may
      indicate AKI signs earlier than BUN and Cre.

PMID- 25832129
TI  - Evaluation of thyroid-stimulating hormone, total thyroxine, and free thyroxine
      concentrations in hyperthyroid cats receiving methimazole treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Iatrogenic hypothyroidism (IH) after treatment of hyperthyroidism can
      impair renal function. No study compared the efficacy of measurement of serum
      free thyroxine by equilibrium dialysis (fT4ed) or thyroid-stimulating hormone
      (TSH) concentrations for monitoring cats receiving methimazole. OBJECTIVES: To
      (1) compare the ability of total T4 and fT4ed concentrations in conjunction with
      TSH to define thyroid function in hyperthyroid cats receiving methimazole, (2)
      determine the prevalence of IH in cats receiving methimazole, and (3) examine the
      relationship between thyroid axis hormones and serum creatinine concentration.
      ANIMALS: One hundred and twenty-five serum samples from hyperthyroid cats
      receiving methimazole and total T4 concentrations <=3.9 MUg/dL. METHODS: Total
      T4, fT4ed, and TSH concentrations were measured to evaluate thyroid status and
      serum creatinine concentration was measured to assess renal function. A low total
      T4 or fT4ed concentration in combination with an increased TSH concentration
      defined IH. RESULTS: Forty-one cats (33%) had increased TSH concentrations. Of
      cats with total T4 and fT4ed concentrations below the reference range, 68% and
      73%, respectively, had TSH concentrations above the reference range. Only 18% of
      cats with a normal TSH concentration had an increased serum creatinine
      concentrations as compared to 39% of those with increased TSH concentrations (P <
      .001). CONCLUSIONS: Free T4ed does not identify more cats with potential IH as
      compared to total T4. The IH prevalence was approximately 20%. Measurement of TSH
      may be more helpful in indicating that azotemia, if present, is at least in part
      related to IH. Investigation is needed to define TSH assay utility in identifying
      possible subclinical IH.

PMID- 25832130
TI  - GENDER, WEIGHT, AND AGE EFFECTS ON PREVALENCE OF CAUDAL ABERRANT NASAL TURBINATES
      IN CLINICALLY HEALTHY ENGLISH BULLDOGS: A COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC STUDY AND
      CLASSIFICATION.
AB  - English Bulldogs have been reported to demonstrate abnormal growth and
      development of the nasal turbinates, which contribute to an increase in airway
      resistance and hence clinical signs of brachycephalic airway syndrome. The
      purpose of this prospective, cross-sectional study was to assess the prevalence
      and severity of caudal aberrant turbinate protrusion via CT studies of English
      Bulldogs with, according to the owners, none or minimal clinical signs of
      brachycephalic airway syndrome. An additional objective was to propose a
      classification scheme for describing the degree of caudal aberrant turbinate
      protrusion in English Bulldogs and to apply this scheme in assessing the effect
      of gender, weight, and age on prevalence and severity of turbinate protrusion.
      The nasal cavities of 40 clinically healthy English Bulldogs were examined. The
      prevalence of caudal aberrant turbinates in this group was 100%. Using our
      proposed classification scheme, Grade 1 (minimal) was detected in 7 of 40
      (17.5%), Grade 2 (mild) in 28 of 40 (70%), and Grade 3 (moderate) in 5 of 40
      (12.5%) English Bulldogs. No significant effect of gender, weight, and age on
      degree of protrusion was found. In conclusion, this study identified minimal to
      moderate protrusion of caudal aberrant turbinates toward the nasopharynx in all
      the sampled English Bulldogs, despite the absence of clinical signs of
      brachycephalic airway syndrome. 

PMID- 25832131
TI  - Atopic dermatitis from adolescence to adulthood in the TOACS cohort: prevalence,
      persistence and comorbidities.
AB  - BACKGROUND: While much is known about childhood atopic dermatitis, little is
      known about persistence of atopic dermatitis into adult life. We report, to our
      knowledge for the first time, the clinical course of atopic dermatitis in an
      unselected cohort of adolescents followed into adulthood. METHODS: The course of
      atopic dermatitis from adolescence to adulthood was studied prospectively in a
      cohort of unselected 8th-grade schoolchildren established in 1995 and followed up
      in 2010 with questionnaire and clinical examination. RESULTS: The lifetime
      prevalence of atopic dermatitis was high (34.1%), and a considerable number of
      adults still suffered from atopic dermatitis evaluated both by questionnaire
      (17.1%) and clinical examination (10.0%). Persistent atopic dermatitis was found
      in 50% of those diagnosed in school age, and persistent atopic dermatitis was
      significantly associated with early onset, childhood allergic rhinitis and hand
      eczema. A close association was also found with allergic contact dermatitis and
      increased specific IgE to Malassezia furfur, but not with filaggrin gene defect.
      CONCLUSION: Persistence of atopic dermatitis in adulthood is common and affects
      quality of life. Persistent atopic dermatitis is particularly prevalent in those
      with early onset, allergic rhinitis and hand eczema in childhood. It is important
      to recognizing atopic dermatitis as a common and disabling disease not only in
      children but also in adults.

PMID- 25832132
TI  - Distinct testicular steroidogenic response mechanisms between neonatal and adult
      heat-acclimated male rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In comparison to short-term gonad heat exposure, little is known
      about the molecular mechanisms that regulate testicular steroidogenesis during
      long-term whole body heat acclimation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Testicular slices
      from neonatal (NHA) and adult (AHA) heat-acclimated Wistar rats were analysed in
      vitro to assess the mRNA expression and enzymatic activity of steroidogenic
      enzymes under basal and luteinising hormone (LH) or prolactin (PRL) stimulated
      conditions compared with control rats (CR). Furthermore, a de-acclimated group
      (DA) was created by transferring adult NHA rats to control conditions. RESULTS:
      Heat acclimation significantly increased plasma LH levels in the AHA group and LH
      and PRL in the NHA group compared with the CR group; however, after heat
      acclimation, the T and E2 levels did not differ from the control levels. All heat
      acclimated groups showed high basal intra-testicular steroid production in vitro.
      Moreover, basal Cyp11a1 and Hsd3b1 levels were upregulated in vitro in the NHA
      and DA groups versus the CR group. LH in vitro stimulation upregulated Cyp11a1
      expression in the NHA and AHA groups and PRL stimulation upregulated Cyp17a1
      levels in the NHA and DA groups compared with the basal expression levels. In the
      AHA group, decreased basal Star and CYP11A activities but increased HSD3B1 and
      CYP17A1 activities were found. CONCLUSION: Our data revealed that despite the
      similar steroid levels in plasma and secreted in vitro by neonatal and adult heat
      acclimated rat testicular slices, the molecular mechanisms underlying the
      steroidogenic response to heat acclimation during these different developmental
      stages were distinct.

PMID- 25832133
TI  - Age but not ABCD(2) score predicts any level of carotid stenosis in either
      symptomatic or asymptomatic side in transient ischaemic attack.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The ABCD(2) score is routinely used in assessment of transient
      ischaemic attack (TIA) to assess the risk of developing stroke. There remains
      uncertainty regarding whether the ABCD(2) score could be used to help predict
      extent of carotid artery stenosis (CAS). OBJECTIVES: We aimed to (i) collate and
      analyse all available published literature on this topic and (ii) compare the
      data from our local population to the existing evidence base. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: We conducted a retrospective-observational study over a 6-month period
      using our East of England hospital-based TIA clinic data with a catchment
      population of ~750,000. We also searched the literature on studies reporting the
      association between ABCD(2) score and CAS. RESULTS: We included 341 patients in
      our observational study. The mean age in our cohort was 72.86 years (SD 10.91)
      with 52% male participants. ABCD(2) score was not significantly associated with
      CAS (p = 0.78). Only age > 60 years was significantly associated with ipsilateral
      (> 50%) and contralateral CAS (> 50% and > 70%) (p < 0.01) after controlling for
      other confounders. The systematic review identified four studies for inclusion
      and no significant association between ABCD(2) score and CAS was reported,
      confirming our findings. CONCLUSION: Our systematic review and observational
      study confirm that the ABCD(2) score does not predict CAS. However, our
      observational study has examined a larger number of possible predictors and
      demonstrates that age appears to be the single best predictor of CAS in patients
      presenting with a TIA. Selection of urgent carotid ultrasound scan thus should be
      based on individual patient's age and potential benefit of carotid intervention
      rather than ABCD(2) score.

PMID- 25832134
TI  - Stress analysis of the cervical spinal cord: Impact of the morphology of spinal
      cord segments on stress.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Although there are several classifications for cervical myelopathy,
      these do not take differences between spinal cord segments into account.
      Moreover, there has been no report of stress analyses for individual segments to
      date. METHODS: By using the finite element method, we constructed 3-dimensional
      spinal cord models comprised of gray matter, white matter, and pia mater of the
      second to eighth cervical vertebrae (C2-C8). We placed compression components
      (disc and yellow ligament) at the front and back of these models, and applied
      compression to the posterior section covering 10%, 20%, 30%, or 40% of the
      anteroposterior diameter of each cervical spinal cord segment. RESULTS: Our
      results revealed that, under compression applied to an area covering 10%, 20%, or
      30% of the anteroposterior diameter of the cervical spinal cord segment, sites of
      increased stress varied depending on the morphology of each cervical spinal cord
      segment. Under 40% compression, stress was increased in the gray matter, lateral
      funiculus, and posterior funiculus of all spinal cord segments, and stress
      differences between the segments were smaller. CONCLUSION: These results indicate
      that, under moderate compression, sites of increased stress vary depending on the
      morphology of each spinal cord segment or the shape of compression components,
      and also that the variability of symptoms may depend on the direction of
      compression. However, under severe compression, the differences among the
      cervical spinal segments are smaller, which may facilitate diagnosis.

PMID- 25832135
TI  - Physical capacity in performing daily activities is reduced in scleroderma
      patients with early lung involvement.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) often complain
      reduced capacity at submaximal exercise; conversely, physical capacity in
      performing daily duties has never been measured in SSc. The aim of this study is
      to evaluate this performance and its correlates, in patients with SSc compared
      with healthy controls, in a free-living setting. METHODS: Twenty-seven
      outpatients with stable SSc and 11 controls were recruited. Physical activity was
      assessed by portable multiple sensor device (SenseWear Armband) worn for at least
      6 days. Physical activity duration (PAD; in minutes) for non-sedentary activities
      and physical activity level (PAL = total daily energy/resting energy expenditure)
      per day were calculated. Nutritional status was estimated by bioelectrical
      impedance analysis and pulmonary arterial hypertension excluded by
      echocardiography. RESULTS: Daily physical activities (243 +/- 145 min per day vs
      397 +/- 142 min, respectively; P = 0.005) and PAL were significantly reduced in
      SSc compared with controls (1.5 +/- 0.4 vs 2 +/- 0.7, respectively; P = 0.019).
      Seventy-four per cent of SSc patients showed PAL < 1.70, whereas only 27% of
      controls were below this threshold for sedentary life style. Both PAD and PAL
      positively correlated with DLco. Patients and controls did not differ for
      spirometric parameters, body mass index, phase angle at bioelectrical impedance
      analysis, fat mass or fat-free mass indexes. In SSc, exercise capacity during
      daily activity was reduced compared with controls, and was associated with early
      evidence of functional decay (decreasing DLco) but not with malnutrition
      (undernutrition). CONCLUSIONS: A reduction of daily physical activity is already
      present even in early stages of lung involvement in SSc, characterized by
      unaltered spirometry and well-preserved nutritional status.

PMID- 25832136
TI  - The global challenge of women's health.

PMID- 25832137
TI  - Screening tests for gonorrhoea should first do no harm.

PMID- 25832138
TI  - New and emerging treatments for Parkinson disease.

PMID- 25832139
TI  - Survey identifies key dementia research priorities.

PMID- 25832141
TI  - Countdown for health to the post-2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

PMID- 25832142
TI  - With talk of Medicare reform, let's not neglect vertical equity.

PMID- 25832143
TI  - Targets and abuse: the price public health campaigners pay.

PMID- 25832144
TI  - The health of "emerging adults" in Australia: freedom, risk and rites of passage.

PMID- 25832145
TI  - Identified health concerns and changes in management resulting from the Healthy
      Kids Check in two Queensland practices.

PMID- 25832146
TI  - Identified health concerns and changes in management resulting from the Healthy
      Kids Check in two Queensland practices.

PMID- 25832147
TI  - The importance of molecular testing to confirm measles, mumps and rubella in
      immunised individuals.

PMID- 25832148
TI  - Better access to mental health care and the failure of the Medicare principle of
      universality.

PMID- 25832149
TI  - Survival of Indigenous Australians receiving renal replacement therapy: closing
      the gap?

PMID- 25832150
TI  - Pharmacological management of low milk supply with domperidone: separating fact
      from fiction.

PMID- 25832152
TI  - The imperative to prevent diabetes complications: a broadening spectrum and an
      increasing burden despite improved outcomes.
AB  - Diabetes mellitus and its complications are common; the complications are, of
      themselves, a major reason to manage diabetes. Recent data from Australia and
      similar developed health care systems overseas indicate that morbidity and
      mortality outcomes relating to diabetes complications are improving. However,
      these benefits are offset by increasing numbers of people diagnosed with
      diabetes, resulting in an increased disease burden with significant health care
      implications. Thus the imperative to prevent diabetes and diabetes complications
      has never been greater. Furthermore, the recognised spectrum of diabetes
      complications is broadening, especially complications relating to lipid levels,
      insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. Clinicians now need to be aware of
      both traditional complications (eg, nephropathy and cardiovascular disease) and
      non-traditional complications (eg, polycystic ovary syndrome, non-alcoholic fatty
      liver disease, some cancers and eating disorders). Complications outcomes could
      be further improved by decreasing the evidence-treatment gap - for example, by
      increasing personalisation of care in managing diabetes complications. 

PMID- 25832153
TI  - Costs to Australian taxpayers of pharmaceutical monopolies and proposals to
      extend them in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
AB  - Intellectual property (IP) protections proposed by the United States for the
      Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) have sparked widespread alarm about
      the potential negative impact on access to affordable medicines. The most
      recently leaked draft of the IP chapter shows some shifts in the US position,
      presumably in response to ongoing resistance from other countries. While some
      problematic provisions identified in earlier drafts have been removed or
      mitigated, major concerns remain unresolved. Three of the greatest concerns for
      Australia in the recent draft include provisions that would further entrench
      secondary patenting and evergreening, lock in extensions to patent terms and
      extend monopoly rights over clinical trial data for certain medicines. Data from
      the 2013 Pharmaceutical Patents Review, and from various submissions made to it,
      show that pharmaceutical monopoly protections already cost Australian taxpayers
      hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Provisions still being considered for
      the TPPA would further entrench and extend costly monopolies, with serious
      implications for the budget bottom line and the sustainability of the
      Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. 

PMID- 25832154
TI  - An incidentaloma not to be missed.

PMID- 25832155
TI  - Odds, risks and appropriate diagnosis of gestational diabetes.
AB  - The International Association of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG)
      diagnostic process and criteria for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have been
      recommended by the World Health Organization for adoption and were widely
      introduced into clinical practice in Australia from January 2015 - in Queensland,
      the Australian Capital Territory and variably across other states. The IADPSG
      criteria identify women at increased risk of a range of adverse pregnancy
      outcomes related to maternal hyperglycaemia. The relationship between maternal
      hyperglycaemia and adverse outcomes is continuous; however, one elevated glucose
      value is sufficient to impart a higher risk of pregnancy complications. We
      outline the background and statistical foundations of the IADPSG approach and
      refute the inference that invalid statistical reasoning underlies the IADPSG
      approach. The prevalence of GDM diagnosed by IADPSG criteria may be higher or
      lower than with other criteria, depending on the underlying population prevalence
      of fasting and post-glucose load hyperglycaemia, which in turn vary with
      ethnicity. Studies comparing previous Australian criteria to the IADPSG criteria
      suggest GDM prevalence may decrease or may increase by up to 35% in specific
      populations with the planned change in criteria. Pregnancy complications have
      multiple potential underlying causes. No set of glucose criteria will ever be
      able to fully separate women and babies at risk of pregnancy complications from
      those who are not. 

PMID- 25832156
TI  - Odds, risks and appropriate diagnosis of gestational diabetes: comment.

PMID- 25832157
TI  - The cost of freezing general practice.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess the effect on general practitioners' income, and
      the amount of any copayment required for GPs to recoup lost income, of two
      policies (individually and combined) proposed by the Australian Government: a
      continued indexation freeze of Medicare schedule fees; and a $5 rebate reduction
      (now retracted). DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Analysis of data from the
      Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) program, a continuous cross
      sectional, national study of GP activity in Australia. We used data for April
      2013 to March 2014 on direct encounters between patients and GPs for which at
      least one Medicare Benefits Schedule or Department of Veterans' Affairs general
      practice consultation item was claimable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The reduction in
      GP rebate income due to the policies and the size of any copayment needed to
      address this loss. RESULTS: The $5 rebate reduction would have reduced GPs'
      income by $219.53 per 100 consultations. This would have required a $4.81
      copayment at all non-concessional patient consultations to recoup lost income.
      The freeze would cost GPs $384.32 in 2017-18 dollars per 100 consultations,
      requiring an $8.43 copayment per non-concessional patient consultation. Total
      estimated loss in rebate income to GPs would have been $603.85 in 2017-18 per 100
      encounters, a reduction of 11.2%. The non-concessional consultation copayment
      required to cover lost income from both policies would have been $7-$8 in 2015
      16, and $12-$15 by 2017-18. CONCLUSION: If both policies had gone ahead, GPs
      would have needed to charge substantially more than the suggested $5 copayment
      for consultations with non-concessional patients in order to maintain 2014-15
      relative gross income. Even though the rebate reduction has been retracted, the
      freeze will have greater impact with time - nearly double the amount of the
      rebate reduction by 2017-18. For economic reasons, the freeze may still force GPs
      who currently bulk bill to charge copayments.

PMID- 25832158
TI  - Mapping the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders in children aged under 7 years
      in Australia, 2010-2012.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the frequency and age at diagnosis of autism spectrum
      disorder (ASD) in children aged under 7 years living in Australia. DESIGN AND
      PARTICIPANTS: Analysis of de-identified data on 15 074 children aged under 7
      years registered with the Helping Children with Autism Package (HCWAP; a program
      that provides funding for access to early intervention and support services
      throughout Australia) between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2012. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Age at diagnosis of ASD as confirmed by a paediatrician, psychiatrist
      and/or multidisciplinary team assessment. RESULTS: The average age at diagnosis
      of ASD in children registered with the HCWAP is currently 49 months, with the
      most frequently reported age being 71 months. Differences were evident in age at
      diagnosis across states, with children in Western Australia and New South Wales
      being diagnosed at a younger age. Across Australia, 0.74% of the population of
      children aged under 7 years are currently diagnosed with ASD and registered with
      the HCWAP. A higher proportion of children were registered with the HCWAP in
      Victoria compared with other states. There was no difference in age at diagnosis
      between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, but children from a culturally
      and linguistically diverse background were diagnosed 5 months earlier than other
      children. CONCLUSIONS: There may be a substantial gap between the age at which a
      reliable and accurate diagnosis of ASD is possible and the average age that
      children are currently diagnosed. The frequency of ASD diagnoses in Australia has
      increased substantially from previously published estimates.

PMID- 25832159
TI  - Gonorrhoea notifications and nucleic acid amplification testing in a very low
      prevalence Australian female population.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To examine whether the rapid increase of gonorrhoea notifications in
      Victoria, Australia, identified by nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) is
      supported by similar changes in diagnoses by culture, which has higher
      specificity, and to determine the proportion of tests positive among women
      tested. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective analysis of Medicare
      reporting of dual NAATs in Victoria, Victorian Department of Health gonorrhoea
      notifications, and gonorrhoea culture data at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
      (MSHC), among women, 2008 to 2013. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Gonorrhoea
      notifications and testing methods. RESULTS: Gonorrhoea cases identified by NAAT
      increased from 98 to 343 cases over the study period. Notifications by culture
      alone decreased from 19 to five cases. The proportion of NAATs positive for
      gonorrhoea in Victoria was low (0.2%-0.3%) and did not change over time (P for
      trend, 0.66). Similarly, the proportion of women tested at the MSHC for
      gonorrhoea who tested positive (0.4%-0.6%) did not change over time (P for trend,
      0.70). Of untreated women who had a positive NAAT result for gonorrhoea and were
      referred to the MSHC, 10/25 were confirmed by culture. CONCLUSIONS: The
      positivity of gonorrhoea in women identified by culture remains stable over time.
      Using NAAT for gonorrhoea screening in low-prevalence populations will result in
      many false positives. Positive NAAT results among low-risk women should be
      regarded as doubtful, and confirmatory cultures should be performed.

PMID- 25832160
TI  - Reduced breast milk feeding subsequent to cosmetic breast augmentation surgery.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of cosmetic breast augmentation on subsequent
      infant feeding. PARTICIPANTS, DESIGN AND SETTING: Population-based record linkage
      study of women giving birth in New South Wales, January 2006 - December 2011.
      Birth records were linked longitudinally to maternal hospitalisations up to 11
      years before birth. Breast augmentation was identified by surgical procedure
      codes in hospital records. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Any breast milk feeding at
      discharge from birth care, and among infants receiving any breast milk, exclusive
      breast milk feeding. The before-and-after effect of breast augmentation was
      assessed among women who had the surgery between births. RESULTS: Among 378 389
      women who gave birth in the study period, 892 (0.2%) had prior breast
      augmentation. Among women with breast augmentation, 705 (79%) provided any breast
      milk to their infant at discharge, compared with 89% among women without
      augmentation. After adjusting for sociodemographic and pregnancy factors, infants
      of women with breast augmentation were less likely to receive breast milk at
      discharge than infants of women without augmentation (adjusted relative risk
      [ARR], 0.90; 95% CI, 0.87-0.93). However, infants receiving breast milk were not
      more or less likely to receive breast milk exclusively (ARR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.97
      1.01). Women with augmentation surgery between births changed their breastfeeding
      behaviour (reduced rates), while those with no augmentation or augmentation
      before both births did not. CONCLUSIONS: Reduced rates of breast milk feeding
      among women who have undergone breast augmentation underscore the importance of
      identifying, supporting and encouraging women who are vulnerable to a lower
      likelihood of breastfeeding.

PMID- 25832161
TI  - An unusual case of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator inhibition.

PMID- 25832162
TI  - Intravenous OxyContin-associated thrombotic microangiopathy treated successfully
      without plasma exchange.

PMID- 25832163
TI  - An unusual neurological complication from a garden-variety organism: post
      melioidosis parkinsonism.

PMID- 25832164
TI  - Disclosing genetic information to at-risk relatives: new Australian privacy
      principles, but uniformity still elusive.
AB  - There is growing understanding of the need for genetic information to be shared
      with genetic relatives in some circumstances. Since 2006, s 95AA of the Privacy
      Act 1988 (Cwlth) has permitted the disclosure of genetic information to genetic
      relatives without the patient's consent, provided that the health practitioner
      reasonably believes that disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious
      threat to the life, health or safety of the genetic relatives. Enabling
      guidelines were introduced in 2009. These were limited to the private sector, and
      excluded doctors working in the public sector at both Commonwealth and state and
      territory levels. Privacy legislation was amended in March 2014, and new
      Australian Privacy Principles, which replace the National Privacy Principles and
      Information Privacy Principles, now cover the collection and use of personal
      information. The Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles now extend to
      practitioners employed by the Commonwealth but not to health practitioners
      working in state and territory public hospitals. In this article, I review these
      legislative developments and highlight the implications of the lack of uniformity
      and the consequent need for a collaborative, uniform approach by states and
      territories. 

PMID- 25832165
TI  - Is research ethics regulation really killing people?
AB  - It has been argued that research ethics regulation is leading to loss of life by
      delaying life-saving research. For example, Whitney and Schneider argue that the
      delays to the ISIS-2 trial cost 6538 lives. This suggests that there are grounds
      for rejecting research ethics regulation. However, the methods adopted by critics
      are flawed because: they conflate regulatory delays with those due to genuine
      normative requirements that would be present even if the regulatory framework was
      not; and looking at the impact of regulation on a per-project basis is the wrong
      metric, because it neglects all the unsuccessful research and because delaying
      specific projects does not reduce the overall research done by researchers.
      Research ethics regulation does not lead to substantial losses of life, but we
      have strong obligations to make it as efficient as possible. 

PMID- 25832166
TI  - Commercial in confidence: public health without confidence.

PMID- 25832168
TI  - Discoveries and advances in noncoding RNAs.

PMID- 25832169
TI  - Small RNA deep sequencing reveals the important role of microRNAs in the
      halophyte Halostachys caspica.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRNAs), an extensive class of small regulatory RNAs, play versatile
      roles in plant growth and development as well as stress responses. However, the
      regulatory mechanism is unclear on miRNA-mediated response to abiotic stress in
      plants. Halostachys caspica is a halophytic plant species and a great model for
      investigating plant response to salinity stress. However, no research has been
      performed on miRNAs in H. caspica. In this study, we employed deep sequencing to
      identify both conserved and novel miRNAs from salinity-exposed H. caspica and its
      untreated control. Among the 13-19 million sequences generated from both
      treatments, a total of 170 conserved miRNAs, belonging to 151 miRNA families,
      were identified; among these miRNAs, 31 were significantly up-regulated and 48
      were significantly down-regulated by salinity stress. We also identified 102
      novel miRNAs from H. caspica; among them, 12 miRNAs were significantly up
      regulated and 13 were significantly down-regulated by salinity. qRT-PCR
      expression analysis validated the deep sequencing results and also demonstrated
      that miRNAs and their targeted genes were responsive to high salt stress and
      existed a negative expression correlation between miRNAs and their targets. miRNA
      target prediction, GO and KEGG analysis showed that miRNAs were involved in salt
      stress-related biological pathway, including calcium signalling pathway, MAPK
      signalling pathway, plant hormone signal transduction and flavonoid biosynthesis,
      etc. This suggests that miRNAs play an important role in plant salt stress
      tolerance in H. caspica. This result could be used to improve salt tolerance in
      crops and woods. 

PMID- 25832170
TI  - Statistical monitoring of the hand, foot and mouth disease in China.
AB  - In a period starting around 2007, the Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD) became
      wide-spreading in China, and the Chinese public health was seriously threatened.
      To prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases like HFMD, effective disease
      surveillance systems would be especially helpful to give signals of disease
      outbreaks as early as possible. Statistical process control (SPC) charts provide
      a major statistical tool in industrial quality control for detecting product
      defectives in a timely manner. In recent years, SPC charts have been used for
      disease surveillance. However, disease surveillance data often have much more
      complicated structures, compared to the data collected from industrial production
      lines. Major challenges, including lack of in-control data, complex seasonal
      effects, and spatio-temporal correlations, make the surveillance data difficult
      to handle. In this article, we propose a three-step procedure for analyzing
      disease surveillance data, and our procedure is demonstrated using the HFMD data
      collected during 2008-2009 in China. Our method uses nonparametric longitudinal
      data and time series analysis methods to eliminate the possible impact of
      seasonality and temporal correlation before the disease incidence data are
      sequentially monitored by a SPC chart. At both national and provincial levels,
      our proposed method can effectively detect the increasing trend of disease
      incidence rate before the disease becomes wide-spreading. 

PMID- 25832171
TI  - Factors affecting occurrence of twin pregnancy after double embryo transfer on
      day 3.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors of twin gestation in
      fresh double day-3 embryo transfer cycles. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Out of a total
      of 386 cycles of fresh double embryo transfers on day 3 between 2006 and 2013 at
      a single center, 72 women with single intrauterine gestational sac (GS) (single
      GS group) and 32 women with double GS (double-GS group) were identified. The
      patients' clinical characteristics and laboratory results were extracted from
      electronic medical records and were compared. RESULTS: The double-GS group had a
      significantly younger age (P = 0.012), and higher bodyweight (P = 0.033) compared
      with the single-GS group. The total number of blastomeres (P = 0.013) and
      cumulative embryo score (P = 0.012) were higher in the double-GS group. By
      receiver-operator curve analysis, maternal age <= 35 years, maternal bodyweight >
      60 kg, total number of blastomeres > 14, and cumulative embryo score > 49 were
      the cut-off values to predict twin pregnancy. Among eight women with all four
      risk factors, the twin pregnancy rate was 87.5%. There was no twin pregnancy
      among seven women with no risk factors. CONCLUSION: Younger age, higher
      bodyweight, and better embryo quality are all associated with a higher incidence
      of twin pregnancy after double embryo transfer on day 3. Single embryo transfer
      might be advisable for couples with risk factors for twin pregnancy.

PMID- 25832172
TI  - Identification of psychological comorbidity in TMD-patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of the current study was to access the prevalence of
      depression among patients with Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD) compared to
      patients with no current TMD. METHOD: Patients (92) and controls (90) answered
      questionnaires on subjective pain, severity of chronic pain, jaw disability,
      emotional well-being and depression, and a clinical examination was performed.
      RESULTS: Temporomandibular Joint Disorder patients reported higher disability of
      jaw function, compared to controls (p<0.001). The myoarthopathy subgroup (67.4%)
      had slightly more jaw disability than the myopathy subgroup (p>0.05). While 51%
      of TMD patients reported poor emotional well-being, only 7.8% of controls were
      affected (p<0.001). Clinical symptoms of depression were reported by 16% of TMD
      patients and not in the controls (p<0.001). Among TMD patients, a higher
      prevalence of depression was observed in the myopathy subgroup. DISCUSSION: A
      regular screening for psychological problems, using standardized questionnaires,
      should be integrated in clinical examination of TMD patients.

PMID- 25832173
TI  - Eugenol dilates mesenteric arteries and reduces systemic BP by activating
      endothelial cell TRPV4 channels.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Eugenol, a vanilloid molecule found in some dietary
      plants, relaxes vasculature in part via an endothelium-dependent process;
      however, the mechanisms involved are unclear. Here, we investigated the
      endothelial cell-mediated mechanism by which eugenol modulates rat mesenteric
      artery contractility and systemic BP. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: The isometric
      tension of rat mesenteric arteries (size 200-300 MUm) was measured using wire
      myography; non-selective cation currents (ICat ) were recorded in endothelial
      cells using patch clamp electrophysiology. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart
      rate (HR) were determined in anaesthetized rats. KEY RESULTS: Eugenol relaxed
      endothelium-intact arteries in a concentration-dependent manner and this effect
      was attenuated by endothelium denudation. L-NAME, a NOS inhibitor, a combination
      of TRAM-34 and apamin, selective blockers of intermediate and small conductance
      Ca(2+) -activated K(+) channels, respectively, and HC-067047, a TRPV4 channel
      inhibitor, but not indomethacin, a COX inhibitor, reduced eugenol-induced
      relaxation in endothelium-intact arteries. Eugenol activated HC-067047-sensitive
      ICat in mesenteric artery endothelial cells. Short interfering RNA (siRNA)
      mediated TRPV4 knockdown abolished eugenol-induced ICat activation. An i.v.
      injection of eugenol caused an immediate, transient reduction in both MAP and HR,
      which was followed by prolonged, sustained hypotension in anaesthetized rats.
      This sustained hypotension was blocked by HC-067047. CONCLUSIONS AND
      IMPLICATIONS: Eugenol activates TRPV4 channels in mesenteric artery endothelial
      cells, leading to vasorelaxation, and reduces systemic BP in vivo. Eugenol may be
      therapeutically useful as an antihypertensive agent and is a viable molecular
      candidate from which to develop second-generation TRPV4 channel activators that
      reduce BP.

PMID- 25832174
TI  - Crystal structures of Mycobacterial MeaB and MMAA-like GTPases.
AB  - The methylmalonyl Co-A mutase-associated GTPase MeaB from Methylobacterium
      extorquens is involved in glyoxylate regulation and required for growth. In
      humans, mutations in the homolog methylmalonic aciduria associated protein (MMAA)
      cause methylmalonic aciduria, which is often fatal. The central role of MeaB from
      bacteria to humans suggests that MeaB is also important in other, pathogenic
      bacteria such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, the identity of the
      mycobacterial MeaB homolog is presently unclear. Here, we identify the M.
      tuberculosis protein Rv1496 and its homologs in M. smegmatis and M.
      thermoresistibile as MeaB. The crystal structures of all three homologs are
      highly similar to MeaB and MMAA structures and reveal a characteristic three
      domain homodimer with GDP bound in the G domain active site. A structure of
      Rv1496 obtained from a crystal grown in the presence of GTP exhibited electron
      density for GDP, suggesting GTPase activity. These structures identify the
      mycobacterial MeaB and provide a structural framework for therapeutic targeting
      of M. tuberculosis MeaB. 

PMID- 25832175
TI  - Prevention of recurrence of tibia and ankle deformities after bone lengthening in
      children with type II fibular hemimelia.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate development of the tibia after Ilizarov
      lengthening and deformity correction depending on whether or not the simultaneous
      resection of fibular anlage was performed in children with fibular aplasia type
      II, who did not undergo early surgery. METHODS: The study analyses results of
      reconstructive treatment in 38 children at the age of over four years. Two groups
      of children are compared: bifocal tibial lengthening with the Ilizarov device
      (group I) and bifocal lengthening associated with resection of the fibular anlage
      (group II). The results were estimated at 12 months and in the long-term
      exceeding three years. RESULTS: Radiological data of measurement of the
      anatomical lateral distal tibial angle (aLDTA) show surgical correction of
      deformities achieved in both groups. During the further limb growth a tendency to
      normalisation of the aLDTA was observed only in the group II. Quick relapse of
      the angular deformities of the tibial shaft in the first group occurred mainly
      during further growth of the limb regardless of complete correction at the time
      of treatment. On the other hand, there were no recurrences of diaphyseal
      deformities in the group II. CONCLUSIONS: In children with congenital fibular
      deficiency of type II at the age of four years, the bone lengthening and
      deformity correction should be associated with fibular anlage resection. That
      approach improves conditions for distal tibia development and prevents or
      decreases significantly the recurrence of deformities of the tibia and ankle
      joint in long-term follow-up.

PMID- 25832176
TI  - Two potential fish glycerol-3-phosphate phosphatases.
AB  - Winter-acclimated rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax Mitchill) produce high levels of
      glycerol as an antifreeze. A common pathway to glycerol involves the enzyme
      glycerol-3-phosphate phosphatase (GPP), but no GPP has yet been identified in
      fish or any other animal. Here, two phosphatases assembled from existing EST
      libraries (from winter-acclimated smelt and cold-acclimated smelt hepatocytes)
      were found to resemble a glycerol-associated phosphatase from a glycerol
      producing alga, Dunaliella salina, and a recently discovered GPP from a
      bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Recombinant proteins were generated and
      were found to have GPP activity on the order of a few MUMol Pi/mg enzyme/min. The
      two enzymes have acidic pH optima (~5.5) similar to that previously determined
      for GPP activity in liver tissue, with about 1/3 of their peak activities at
      neutral pH. The two enzymes appear to account for the GPP activity of smelt
      liver, but due to their reduced activities at neutral pH, their contributions to
      glycerol production in vivo remain unclear. Similar enzymes may be active in a
      glycerol-producing insect, Dendroctonus ponderosae. 

PMID- 25832177
TI  - Atypical femur fracture during bisphosphonate drug holiday: a case series.
AB  - Recent studies have noted an increased risk of low energy subtrochanteric and
      femoral shaft fractures termed "atypical femur fractures" (AFFs) associated with
      long-term bisphosphonate use. As such, many clinicians have begun recommending a
      "drug holiday" to reduce the risks associated with long-term bisphosphonate use.
      We present two cases of AFFs occurring during a 4-year or greater drug holiday
      following long-term bisphosphonate use. These findings highlight the need to
      reevaluate optimal bisphosphonate therapy duration, dosage, as well as initiation
      and duration of a drug holiday with continued monitoring in the prevention of
      AFFs.

PMID- 25832178
TI  - Fracture predictive ability of physical performance tests and history of falls in
      elderly women: a 10-year prospective study.
AB  - In a large cohort of elderly women followed for 10 years, we found that balance,
      gait speed, and self-reported history of fall independently predicted fracture.
      These clinical risk factors are easily evaluated and therefore advantageous in a
      clinical setting. They would improve fracture risk assessment and thereby also
      fracture prevention. INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to identify
      additional risk factors for osteoporosis-related fracture by investigating the
      fracture predictive ability of physical performance tests and self-reported
      history of falls. METHODS: In the population-based Osteoporosis Prospective Risk
      Assessment study (OPRA), 1044 women were recruited at the age of 75 and followed
      for 10 years. At inclusion, knee extension force, standing balance, gait speed,
      and bone mineral density (BMD) were examined. Falls the year before investigation
      was assessed by questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was
      used to determine fracture hazard ratios (HR) with BMD, history of fracture, BMI,
      smoking habits, bisphosphonate, vitamin D, glucocorticoid, and alcohol use as
      covariates. Continuous variables were standardized and HR shown for each standard
      deviation change. RESULTS: Of all women, 427 (41%) sustained at least one
      fracture during the 10-year follow-up. Failing the balance test had an HR of 1.98
      (1.18-3.32) for hip fracture. Each standard deviation decrease in gait speed was
      associated with an HR of 1.37 (1.14-1.64) for hip fracture. Previous fall had an
      HR of 1.30 (1.03-1.65) for any fracture; 1.39 (1.08-1.79) for any osteoporosis
      related fracture; and 1.60 (1.03-2.48) for distal forearm fracture. Knee
      extension force did not show fracture predictability. CONCLUSION: The balance
      test, gait speed test, and self-reported history of fall all hold independent
      fracture predictability. Consideration of these clinical risk factors for
      fracture would improve the fracture risk assessment and subsequently also
      fracture prevention.

PMID- 25832179
TI  - Application of Five Light-Response Models in the Photosynthesis of Populus *
      Euramericana cv. 'Zhonglin46' Leaves.
AB  - The light-response curve of photosynthesis is an important tool used to study
      plant ecophysiology and can provide a scientific basis for the response of plant
      photosynthetic characteristics to environmental factors. At present, there are
      five common light-response models of photosynthesis. To gain deeper insight into
      the applicability of different light-response models of photosynthesis and the
      photosynthetic physiological characteristics of Populus euramericana cv.
      'Zhonglin46', two typical light-response curves of photosynthesis in P.
      euramericana cv. 'Zhonglin46' leaves, one under drought stress and the other
      under control conditions, were measured using a CIRAS-2 portable photosynthesis
      system. The light-response data were divided into two groups: one set of data was
      used to fit light-response curves, and the other set of data was used to test
      them. The accuracy of the fitting and the predictions of the different models
      were evaluated by mean square error and mean absolute error. The results showed
      that the light-response curves of P. euramericana cv. 'Zhonglin46' under drought
      stress matched the light-saturated inhibition type and that those under the
      control condition matched the approaching light-saturation type. The two new
      models (i.e., the modified rectangular hyperbola model and modified exponential
      model) fit the two light-response curves and their characteristic parameters
      well, and the fitting results of the two models were similar. Conversely, the
      three traditional models (i.e., the rectangular hyperbola model, nonrectangular
      hyperbola model, and exponential model) did not fit the two light-response curves
      well; in particular, they overestimated the maximum net photosynthetic rate,
      underestimated the light saturation point (LSP), and did not fit the net
      photosynthetic rate during the light-saturated stage. The LSP calculated by the
      "linear method" combined with the traditional models was significantly lower than
      the measured values; additionally, the appropriate value of the proportional
      coefficient was difficult to determine, and the assumed value (empirical value)
      could easily lead to unreliable results by the "coefficient method". The
      "estimation method" based on the measured light-response data was still a
      relatively accurate, simple, and practical way to determine LSP. In addition, the
      nonrectangular hyperbolic model also had good accuracy and applicability in
      fitting the approaching light saturation curve on the basis of the "estimation
      method" to determine LSP. 

PMID- 25832180
TI  - Rapid Simultaneous Detection of Anti-protozoan Drugs Using a Lateral-Flow
      Immunoassay Format.
AB  - This research describes the development of a multi-analyte lateral-flow
      immunoassay intended for the simultaneous detection of three anti-protozoan drugs
      (coccidiostats). These drugs, namely, halofuginone, toltrazuril and diclazuril,
      are used in the treatment of Eimeria spp. infections in cattle, pigs, chickens
      and turkeys. Coloured carboxylated microspheres were coated with each of the
      detection antibodies and employed in a lateral-flow assay format for detection of
      these residues in eggs. Using this approach, halofuginone was detectable at a
      limit of 10 ng/mL or greater, toltrazuril at 100 ng/mL and, similarly, diclazuril
      had a detection limit of 100 ng/mL, which is below the maximum allowed residue
      limit for all three as outlined by EU regulation. This simple cost-efficient
      assay and analysis method could pave the way for more efficient simultaneous
      monitoring of small-molecule residues in the future.

PMID- 25832181
TI  - Characterization of the bioactive metabolites from a plant growth-promoting
      rhizobacteria and their exploitation as antimicrobial and plant growth-promoting
      agents.
AB  - A plant growth-promoting bacterial strain, PM 105, isolated from a tea plantation
      soil from the North Eastern region of India was identified as Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa through classical and 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene sequencing.
      Further studies with this strain confirmed broad spectrum antifungal activity
      against ten human and plant pathogenic fungal pathogens viz. Aspergillus flavus,
      Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus tubingensis, Candida
      albicans, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Fusarium oxysporum, Pencillium
      expansum, Rhizoctonia solani, Trichophyton rubrum besides growth-promoting
      property in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan). However,
      no antibacterial property was exhibited by this strain against the four test
      bacterial pathogens tested in agar overlay method. The crude bioactive
      metabolites produced by this strain were isolated with three different solvents
      that exhibited significant antimicrobial and plant growth-promoting activity.
      Chloroform extract recorded significant antimicrobial and plant growth-promoting
      activity. Three major compounds viz. 1-hydroxyphenazine, pyocyanin, and phenazine
      1-carboxamide were purified and characterized from crude extracts of this strain
      by various spectral data. The purified compounds recorded prominent antimicrobial
      activity but failed to establish the plant growth promotion activity in test crop
      plants under gnotobiotic conditions. Pyocyanin recorded significant antimicrobial
      activity, and best activity was recorded against T. rubrum (29 mm), followed by
      P. expansum (28 mm). These results suggest the use of PM 105 as plant growth
      promoting agent in crop plants after successful field trials.

PMID- 25832182
TI  - [81th annual meeting of the german cardiac society - cardiac and circulation
      research, april 8. - 11. 2015, mannheim].

PMID- 25832183
TI  - Tegumental ultrastructure of adult Quinqueserialis quinqueserialis (Trematoda:
      Notocotylidae): an intestinal parasite of muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus).
AB  - Ten adult Quinqueserialis quinqueserialis specimens were removed from the
      intestine of a naturally infected muskrat, and scanning electron microscopy was
      used to study the morphological characteristics of the trematodes. The mature
      trematode, which was easy to recognize by the monostome holdfast organ, with no
      anterior cone, measured 2200-2500 MUm in length by 900-1050 MUm in width. The
      body was elongated and tapering at the anterior end, but the posterior end was
      rounded, and in some specimens was slightly truncated. The mouth opening lay at
      the anterior end and was surrounded by the oral sucker, which was round, small to
      medium in size, and subterminal. The tegument of the rim and inside of the oral
      sucker was smooth and had two types of papillae, domed and rosette papillae.
      Around the oral sucker, tegument was covered with sharp, pointed spines. The
      common genital pore was located on the median line of the body, posterior to the
      oral sucker. The cirrus had smooth tegument at the base and was armed with
      numerous conical spines throughout its length. The ventral surface was concave
      and provided with five distinct longitudinal rows of ventral papillae, which
      extended from the anterior to the posterior end of the body. Each row consisted
      of 15 to 20 papillae, making 81 to 88 papillae in all. These papillae were
      variable in size. In most specimens, the papillae were simple knob-like
      structures, but in some cases, they appeared to be bi- or trifurcate. The
      tegument at the base of each ventral papilla showed minute spiny pattern, but it
      was smooth or folded on top and had small rosette and ciliated papillae. Tegument
      at the edges of the worm was smooth in the mid-parts, spiny on lateral parts, and
      included rosette papillae. The dorsal surface of the worm was smooth and slightly
      convex, and the tegument was provided with two large domed papillae in one third
      of the anterior end of the dorsal part, few thick spines in the mid-part, and
      excretory pore at the level just posterior to the end. No spines or papillae were
      seen around the excretory pore. 

PMID- 25832184
TI  - Inhibition of return: A phenomenon in search of a definition and a theoretical
      framework.
AB  - In a study of scientific nomenclature, we explore the diversity of perspectives
      researchers endorse for the phenomenon of inhibition of return (IOR). IOR is
      often described as an effect whereby people are slower to respond to a target
      presented at a recently stimulated or inspected location as compared to a target
      presented at a new location. Since its discovery, scores of papers have been
      published on IOR, and researchers have proposed, accepted and rejected a variety
      of potential causes, mechanisms, effects and components for the phenomenon.
      Experts in IOR were surveyed about their opinions regarding various aspects of
      IOR and the literature exploring it. We found variety both between and within
      experts surveyed, suggesting that most researchers hold implicit, and often quite
      unique assumptions about IOR. These widely varied assumptions may be hindering
      the creation or acceptance of a central theoretical framework regarding IOR; and
      this variety may portend that what has been given the label "IOR" may be more
      than one phenomenon requiring more than one theoretical explanation. We wonder
      whether scientific progress in domains other than IOR might be affected by too
      broad (or perhaps too narrow) a range of phenomena to which our nomenclature is
      applied. 

PMID- 25832186
TI  - Introducing a control condition in the classic oddball paradigm: Oddballs are
      overestimated in duration not only because of their oddness.
AB  - Three experiments assessed whether participants perceive infrequent stimuli
      (oddballs) to last longer than frequent ones (standards). The classical oddball
      paradigm was modified so that participants judged the duration of a target
      stimulus which could either be a standard or an oddball. The target was always
      the fifth stimulus in the stream and all stimuli were presented at predefined
      spatial positions. These modifications enabled a direct comparison of duration
      judgments for oddballs and standards. In Experiments 1 and 2 not only the
      duration of oddballs but also the duration of standards was overestimated by
      virtually the same amount. In other words, the overestimation of oddballs was not
      due to their oddness but reflected a different temporal dilation such as the
      negative time-order error. In Experiment 3, all stimuli were presented at the
      same spatial position. Again, both oddballs and standards were overestimated,
      however, oddballs more so. The present results highlight the importance of
      comparing the judged duration of oddballs and standards when evaluating the size
      of the genuine oddball effect. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the
      occurrence of temporal oddball effects can depend on spatial features of stimulus
      presentation.

PMID- 25832187
TI  - Effects of stimulus order on discrimination sensitivity for short and long
      durations.
AB  - Previous studies have shown that discrimination sensitivity in 2AFC tasks depends
      on the presentation order of the standard and comparison stimulus. The present
      study examined whether this so-called Type B effect generalizes across different
      standard magnitudes. Therefore, Experiment 1 employed an auditory duration
      discrimination task with short (100 ms) and long (1,000 ms) standard durations
      and a constant interstimulus interval (ISI) of 1,000 ms. For both standard
      durations, a clear Type B effect emerged. In Experiment 2, discrimination
      sensitivity was assessed for short (300 ms) and long (1,000 ms) ISIs and a
      constant standard duration of 100 ms, in order to examine whether the Type B
      effect diminishes or even reverses when both stimuli are presented in rapid
      succession, as was suggested by previous studies. In the short, but not the long
      ISI condition, the Type B effect was virtually eliminated. Taken together, the
      present experiments suggest that the Type B effect is robust across standard
      magnitude, but diminishes when the time interval between both stimuli is reduced.
      This result pattern is discussed within the framework of the Internal Reference
      Model and the Sensation Weighting Model. It is also demonstrated that both models
      provide a quantitative account of the present results.

PMID- 25832185
TI  - The long and the short of priming in visual search.
AB  - Memory affects visual search, as is particularly evident from findings that when
      target features are repeated from one trial to the next, selection is faster. Two
      views have emerged on the nature of the memory representations and mechanisms
      that cause these intertrial priming effects: independent feature weighting versus
      episodic retrieval of previous trials. Previous research has attempted to
      disentangle these views focusing on short term effects. Here, we illustrate that
      the episodic retrieval models make the unique prediction of long-term priming:
      biasing one target type will result in priming of this target type for a much
      longer time, well after the bias has disappeared. We demonstrate that such long
      term priming is indeed found for the visual feature of color, but only in
      conjunction search and not in singleton search. Two follow-up experiments showed
      that it was the kind of search (conjunction versus singleton) and not the
      difficulty, that determined whether long-term priming occurred. Long term priming
      persisted unaltered for at least 200 trials, and could not be explained as the
      result of explicit strategy. We propose that episodic memory may affect search
      more consistently than previously thought, and that the mechanisms for intertrial
      priming may be qualitatively different for singleton and conjunction search. 

PMID- 25832188
TI  - Experience shapes our odor perception but depends on the initial perceptual
      processing of the stimulus.
AB  - The questions of whether configural and elemental perceptions are competitive or
      exclusive perceptual processes and whether they rely on independent or dependent
      mechanisms are poorly understood. To examine these questions, we modified
      perceptual experience through preexposure to mixed or single odors and measured
      the resulting variation in the levels of configural and elemental perception of
      target odor mixtures. We used target mixtures that were spontaneously processed
      in a configural or an elemental manner. The AB binary mixture spontaneously
      involved the configural perception of a pineapple odor, whereas component A
      smelled like strawberry and component B smelled like caramel. The CD mixture
      produced the elemental perceptions of banana (C) and smoky (D) odors. Perceptual
      experience was manipulated through repeated exposure to either a mixture (AB or
      CD) or the components (A and B or C and D). The odor typicality rating data
      recorded after exposure revealed different influences of experience on odor
      mixtures and single-component perception, depending both on the type of exposure
      (components or mixture) and the mixture's initial perceptual property (configural
      or elemental). Although preexposure to A and B decreased the pineapple typicality
      of the configural AB mixture, preexposure to AB did not modify its odor quality.
      In contrast, preexposure to the CD elemental mixture induced a quality transfer
      between the components. These results emphasize the relative plasticity of odor
      mixture perception, which is prone to experience-induced modulations but depends
      on the stimulus's initial perceptual properties, suggesting that configural and
      elemental forms of odor mixture perception rely on rather independent processes. 

PMID- 25832189
TI  - Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) exhibit the decoy effect in a perceptual
      discrimination task.
AB  - The asymmetric dominance effect (or decoy effect) is a form of context-dependent
      choice bias in which the probability of choosing one of two options is impacted
      by the introduction of a third option, also known as the decoy. Decoy effects are
      documented widely within the human consumer choice literature, and even extend to
      preference testing within nonhuman animals. Here, we extended this line of
      research to a perceptual discrimination task with rhesus monkeys to determine
      whether decoy stimuli would impact size judgments of rectangular stimuli. In a
      computerized task, monkeys attempted to choose the larger of two rectangles that
      varied in size and orientation (horizontally or vertically oriented). In probe
      trials, a third stimulus (the decoy) was presented that was smaller than the
      other two rectangles but matched the orientation of one of them. On half of the
      probe trials, the presented decoy matched the orientation of the larger stimulus,
      and on the other half, the decoy matched the orientation of the smaller stimulus.
      Monkeys rarely selected the decoy stimulus. However, their performance (selection
      of the largest rectangle) increased relative to the baseline trials (with only
      two choices) when the decoy was congruent in its orientation with the largest
      rectangle, but decreased relative to baseline when the decoy was incongruent with
      the largest rectangle. Thus, a decoy stimulus impacted monkeys' perceptual choice
      behavior even when it was not a viable choice option itself. These results are
      explained with regard to comparative evaluation mechanisms. 

PMID- 25832190
TI  - Oculomotor Capture by New and Unannounced Color Singletons during Visual Search.
AB  - The surprise capture hypothesis states that a stimulus will capture attention to
      the extent that it is preattentively available and deviates from task
      expectancies. Interestingly, it has been noted by Horstmann (Psychological
      Science 13: 499-505. doi: 10.1111/1467-9280.00488, 2002, Human Perception and
      Performance 31: 1039-1060. doi: 10.1037/00961523.31.5.1039, 2005, Psychological
      Research, 70, 13-25, 2006) that the time course of capture by such classes of
      stimuli appears distinct from that of capture by expected stimuli. Specifically,
      attention shifts to an unexpected stimulus are delayed relative to an expected
      stimulus (delayed onset account). Across two experiments, we investigated this
      claim under conditions of unguided (Exp. 1) and guided (Exp. 2) search using eye
      movements as the primary index of attentional selection. In both experiments, we
      found strong evidence of surprise capture for the first presentation of an
      unannounced color singleton. However, in both experiments the pattern of eye
      movements was not consistent with a delayed onset account of attention capture.
      Rather, we observed costs associated with the unexpected stimulus only once the
      target had been selected. We propose an interference account of surprise capture
      to explain our data and argue that this account also can explain existing
      patterns of data in the literature.

PMID- 25832191
TI  - Vicarious experiences and detection accuracy while observing pain and touch: The
      effect of perspective taking.
AB  - In this study, we investigated the effects of observing pain and touch in others
      on vicarious somatosensory experiences and the detection of subtle somatosensory
      stimuli. Furthermore, the effect of taking a first- versus a third-person
      perspective was investigated. Undergraduates (N = 57) viewed videos depicting
      hands being pricked (pain), hands being touched by a cotton swab (touch), and
      control scenes (same approaching movement of a hand as in the other video
      categories, but without the painful/touching object) while experiencing
      vibrotactile stimuli themselves on the left, on the right, or on both hands.
      Participants reported the location at which they felt a somatosensory stimulus.
      The vibrotactile stimuli and visual scenes were applied in a spatially congruent
      or incongruent way, and other trials were presented without vibrotactile stimuli.
      The videos were depicted in first-person perspective and third-person perspective
      (i.e., the videos were shown upside down). We calculated the proportions of
      correct responses and false alarms (i.e., numbers of trials on which a vicarious
      somatosensory experience was reported congruent or incongruent to the site of the
      visual information). Pain-related scenes facilitated the detection of tactile
      stimuli and augmented the number of vicarious somatosensory experiences, as
      compared with observing the touch or control videos. Detection accuracy was
      higher for videos depicted in first-person perspective than for those in third
      person perspective. Perspective had no effect on the number of vicarious
      somatosensory experiences. This study indicates that somatosensory detection is
      particularly enhanced during the observation of pain-related scenes, as compared
      to the observation of touch or control videos. These research findings further
      demonstrate that perspective taking impacts somatosensory detection, but not the
      report of vicarious experiences. 

PMID- 25832193
TI  - There is more to trial history than priming in attentional capture experiments.
AB  - We used contingent attentional capture to investigate whether capture in a given
      trial n was affected by the cue-target position relations in a preceding trial n
      1. Typically, attentional capture by a cue facilitates reaction times for targets
      in valid conditions (with the cue and target at the same position) relative to
      invalid conditions (with the cue and target at different positions). Also, this
      validity effect holds for cues with a feature similar to the searched-for target
      features (i.e., matching cues), but not for cues dissimilar to the searched-for
      target features (i.e., nonmatching cues), a pattern termed contingent capture
      because capture is assumed to be contingent on the match between the cue and top
      down control settings. Here, we replicated this contingent-capture pattern with
      cues that were nonpredictive of the target position. In addition, we showed that
      during search for white onset targets, red nonmatching color cues also created a
      validity effect if the same nonmatching cue had been used as a valid cue in trial
      n-1 (Exps. 1 and 2). This intertrial contingency of the nonmatching cue's
      validity effect was also found if the cues and targets both changed their
      positions from trial to trial, rendering position priming unlikely (Exp. 2). A
      similar intertrial contingency was found for nonmatching white onset cues, but
      not for matching red color cues during search for red color targets (Exp. 3).
      These results are discussed in light of explanations of the contingent-capture
      effect and of intertrial contingencies. 

PMID- 25832192
TI  - The effects of visual search efficiency on object-based attention.
AB  - The attentional prioritization hypothesis of object-based attention (Shomstein &
      Yantis in Perception & Psychophysics, 64, 41-51, 2002) suggests a two-stage
      selection process comprising an automatic spatial gradient and flexible strategic
      (prioritization) selection. The combined attentional priorities of these two
      stages of object-based selection determine the order in which participants will
      search the display for the presence of a target. The strategic process has often
      been likened to a prioritized visual search. By modifying the double-rectangle
      cueing paradigm (Egly, Driver, & Rafal in Journal of Experimental Psychology:
      General, 123, 161-177, 1994) and placing it in the context of a larger-scale
      visual search, we examined how the prioritization search is affected by search
      efficiency. By probing both targets located on the cued object and targets
      external to the cued object, we found that the attentional priority surrounding a
      selected object is strongly modulated by search mode. However, the ordering of
      the prioritization search is unaffected by search mode. The data also provide
      evidence that standard spatial visual search and object-based prioritization
      search may rely on distinct mechanisms. These results provide insight into the
      interactions between the mode of visual search and object-based selection, and
      help define the modulatory consequences of search efficiency for object-based
      attention. 

PMID- 25832194
TI  - Visit-to-visit variability in systolic blood pressure is a risk factor for rapid
      loss of residual renal function in peritoneal dialysis patients.
AB  - Visit-to-visit systolic blood pressure variability (VTV-SBPV) is correlated with
      cardiovascular complications. However, it still remains unclear whether VTV-SBPV
      is related to cardiovascular outcomes in patients with peritoneal dialysis (PD),
      who often manifest hypertension. We, therefore, evaluated the association of VTV
      SBPV with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular complications, or the loss of
      residual renal function (RRF) that is a powerful predictor of mortality and
      morbidity in PD patients. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records for
      patients undergoing maintenance PD for at least 12 months at Seoul National
      University Hospital. The patients were divided into quartiles of VTV-SBPV based
      on the standard deviation of systolic blood pressure (SBP). We checked the SBP of
      the patients for up to 2 years after the initiation of PD. Among 216 PD patients,
      16 primary outcome events (cardiovascular complications and all-cause mortality)
      occurred. VTV-SBPV was not associated with primary outcomes. During the follow
      up, RRF loss occurred in 46 patients. The hazard ratios (HRs) for the loss of RRF
      in the 4 quartiles of VTV-SBPV, based on the highest to the lowest variability,
      were as follows: 6.201 (95% CI: 1.982-19.401, p = 0.002), 2.542 (95% CI: 0.859
      7.523, p = 0.092), and 2.133 (95% CI: 0.635-7.165, p = 0.246), respectively. The
      loss of RRF was more frequently detected in patients with higher VTV-SBPV. VTV
      SBPV was indicated as an independent risk factor for the loss of RRF. Therefore,
      the degree of variations in SBP should be carefully monitored to preserve the RRF
      of these patients. 

PMID- 25832195
TI  - An Air-Stable DPP-thieno-TTF Copolymer for Single-Material Solar Cell Devices and
      Field Effect Transistors.
AB  - Following an approach developed in our group to incorporate tetrathiafulvalene
      (TTF) units into conjugated polymeric systems, we have studied a low band gap
      polymer incorporating TTF as a donor component. This polymer is based on a fused
      thieno-TTF unit that enables the direct incorporation of the TTF unit into the
      polymer, and a second comonomer based on the diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) molecule.
      These units represent a donor-acceptor copolymer system, p(DPP-TTF), showing
      strong absorption in the UV-visible region of the spectrum. An optimized p(DPP
      TTF) polymer organic field effect transistor and a single material organic solar
      cell device showed excellent performance with a hole mobility of up to 5.3 * 10(
      2) cm(2)/(V s) and a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.3%, respectively.
      Bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic devices of p(DPP-TTF) blended with
      phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) exhibited a PCE of 1.8%. 

PMID- 25832197
TI  - Electrochemical synthesis of ultrafast and gram-scale surfactant-free tellurium
      nanowires by gas-solid transformation and their applications as supercapacitor
      electrodes for p-doping of graphene transistors.
AB  - We herein report a gas-solid transformation mechanism for the surfactant-free
      synthesis of Te NWs at room temperature by electrolysis of bulk Bi2Te3 using H2Te
      gas. Te NWs, with an average diameter below 20 nm, grow along the [001] direction
      due to the unique spiral chains in the crystal structure and show an enhanced
      Raman scattering effect, a broad absorption band over the range of 350-750 nm and
      an emission band over the range of 400-700 nm in the photoluminescence spectrum.
      In terms of device applications, we demonstrate how Te NWs can be directly
      applied as a p-type dopant source in order to shift the Dirac point in ambipolar
      field effect graphene transistors. Finally, the favorable capacitive properties
      of Te NWs are established as supercapacitor electrodes with negligible internal
      resistance and excellent electrochemical reversibility and a specific capacitance
      of 24 F g(-1). 

PMID- 25832196
TI  - Structural characterization of metal binding to a cold-adapted frataxin.
AB  - Frataxin is an evolutionary conserved protein that participates in iron
      metabolism. Deficiency of this small protein in humans causes a severe
      neurodegenerative disease known as Friedreich's ataxia. A number of studies
      indicate that frataxin binds iron and regulates Fe-S cluster biosynthesis.
      Previous structural studies showed that metal binding occurs mainly in a region
      of high density of negative charge. However, a comprehensive characterization of
      the binding sites is required to gain further insights into the mechanistic
      details of frataxin function. In this work, we have solved the X-ray crystal
      structures of a cold-adapted frataxin from a psychrophilic bacterium in the
      presence of cobalt or europium ions. We have identified a number of metal-binding
      sites, mainly solvent exposed, several of which had not been observed in previous
      studies on mesophilic homologues. No major structural changes were detected upon
      metal binding, although the structures exhibit significant changes in
      crystallographic B-factors. The analysis of these B-factors, in combination with
      crystal packing and RMSD among structures, suggests the existence of localized
      changes in the internal motions. Based on these results, we propose that
      bacterial frataxins possess binding sites of moderate affinity for a quick
      capture and transfer of iron to other proteins and for the regulation of Fe-S
      cluster biosynthesis, modulating interactions with partner proteins. 

PMID- 25832198
TI  - delta-Tocopherol prevents methylglyoxal-induced apoptosis by reducing ROS
      generation and inhibiting apoptotic signaling cascades in human umbilical vein
      endothelial cells.
AB  - Methylglyoxal (MGO) is a highly reactive metabolite of glucose, which is known to
      cause damage and induce apoptosis in endothelial cells. Endothelial cell damage
      is implicated in the progression of diabetes-associated complications and
      atherosclerosis. Nuts are high in vitamin E. Consumption of nuts has been
      recommended for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. However, different nuts
      contain different forms of vitamin E, which can have different effects on
      endothelial cells. In this work, we investigated the protective effect of
      different isoforms of vitamin E on MGO-induced apoptosis in human umbilical vein
      endothelial cells (HUVECs). Among all forms of vitamin E, delta-tocopherol showed
      the highest effect on apoptosis of HUVECs. We also compared the anti-apoptotic
      activity of delta-tocopherol with that of alpha-tocopherol in MGO-treated HUVECs.
      Pretreatment with alpha- or delta-tocopherol significantly inhibited MGO-induced
      changes in cell morphology, cell death, and production of intracellular reactive
      oxygen species. delta-Tocopherol prevented MGO-induced apoptosis in HUVECs by
      increasing Bcl-2 expression and decreasing Bax expression. Interestingly, alpha
      tocopherol also inhibited these factors but to a lesser extent than delta
      tocopherol. MGO was found to activate mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs).
      Compared to pretreatment with alpha-tocopherol, pretreatment with delta
      tocopherol more strongly inhibited the activation of MAPKs, such as JNK and
      ERK1/2. These findings suggest that delta-tocopherol may be a more effective
      regulator of MGO-induced apoptosis than alpha-tocopherol. 

PMID- 25832200
TI  - Ultrafast optical tuning of ferromagnetism via the carrier density.
AB  - Interest in manipulating the magnetic order by ultrashort laser pulses has
      thrived since it was observed that such pulses can be used to alter the
      magnetization on a sub-picosecond timescale. Usually this involves
      demagnetization by laser heating or, in rare cases, a transient increase of
      magnetization. Here we demonstrate a mechanism that allows the magnetic order of
      a material to be enhanced or attenuated at will. This is possible in systems
      simultaneously possessing a low, tunable density of conduction band carriers and
      a high density of magnetic moments. In such systems, the thermalization time can
      be set such that adiabatic processes dominate the photoinduced change of the
      magnetic order--the three-temperature model for interacting thermalized electron,
      spin and lattice reservoirs is bypassed. In ferromagnetic Eu(1-x)Gd(x)O, we
      thereby demonstrate the strengthening as well as the weakening of the magnetic
      order by ~10% and within <=3 ps by optically controlling the magnetic exchange
      interaction.

PMID- 25832201
TI  - A rare case of medulloblastoma coexisting with multiple spinal intramedullary
      tumors.
AB  - Medulloblastoma is the most common primary central nervous system tumor of
      childhood. Medulloblastoma can metastasize along the neuraxis and to extraneural
      locations, but multiple intramedullary spinal metastases are very rare. The usual
      presenting clinical features are related to posterior fossa syndrome and/or
      hydrocephalus. We describe a unique case of medulloblastoma with multiple
      intramedullary lesions at the D-7 and D-12 levels.

PMID- 25832203
TI  - A brief behavioral intervention targeting mental health risk factors for vascular
      disease: a pilot study.

PMID- 25832204
TI  - Contributed review: quantum cascade laser based photoacoustic detection of
      explosives.
AB  - Detecting trace explosives and explosive-related compounds has recently become a
      topic of utmost importance for increasing public security around the world. A
      wide variety of detection methods and an even wider range of physical chemistry
      issues are involved in this very challenging area. Optical sensing methods, in
      particular mid-infrared spectrometry techniques, have a great potential to become
      a more desirable tools for the detection of explosives. The small size,
      simplicity, high output power, long-term reliability make external cavity quantum
      cascade lasers (EC-QCLs) the promising spectroscopic sources for developing
      analytical instrumentation. This work reviews the current technical progress in
      EC-QCL-based photoacoustic spectroscopy for explosives detection. The potential
      for both close-contact and standoff configurations using this technique is
      completely presented over the course of approximately the last one decade. 

PMID- 25832205
TI  - A magnetic stirring setup for applications in ultrafast spectroscopy of photo
      sensitive solutions.
AB  - An exchange system is presented, which allows ultrafast experiments with high
      excitation rates (1 kHz) on samples with reaction cycles in the range of a few
      seconds and small sample volumes of about 0.3 ml. The exchange is accomplished
      using a commercially available cuvette by the combination of a special type of
      magnetic stirring with transverse translational motion of the sample cuvette. 

PMID- 25832206
TI  - Time-of-flight Extreme Environment Diffractometer at the Helmholtz-Zentrum
      Berlin.
AB  - The Extreme Environment Diffractometer (EXED) is a new neutron time-of-flight
      instrument at the BER II research reactor at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin,
      Germany. Although EXED is a special-purpose instrument, its early construction
      made it available for users as a general-purpose diffractometer. In this respect,
      EXED became one of the rare examples, where the performance of a time-of-flight
      diffractometer at a continuous source can be characterized. In this paper, we
      report on the design and performance of EXED with an emphasis on the unique
      instrument capabilities. The latter comprise variable wavelength resolution and
      wavelength band, control of the incoming beam divergence, the possibility to
      change the angular positions of detectors and their distance to the sample, and
      use of event recording and offline histogramming. These features combined make
      EXED easily tunable to the requirements of a particular problem, from
      conventional diffraction to small angle neutron scattering. The instrument
      performance is demonstrated by several reference measurements and user
      experiments. 

PMID- 25832207
TI  - Switchable Q-switched and modelocked operation in ytterbium doped fiber laser
      under all-normal-dispersion configuration.
AB  - We have constructed an Yb-doped fiber laser in all-normal-dispersion
      configuration which can be independently operated in Q-switched or modelocked
      configuration with the help of a simple fiber optic ring resonator (FORR). In the
      presence of FORR, the laser operates in Q-switched mode producing stable pulses
      in the range of 1 MUs-200 ns with repetition rate in the range of 45 kHz-82 kHz.
      On the other hand, the laser can be easily switched to mode-locked operation by
      disjoining the FORR loop producing train of ultrashort pulses of ~5 ps duration
      (compressible to ~150 fs) at ~38 MHz repetition rate. The transmission
      characteristics of FORR in combination with the nonlinear polarization rotation
      for passive Q-switching operation is numerically investigated and experimentally
      verified. The laser can serve as a versatile seed source for power amplifier
      which can be easily configured for application in the fields that require
      different pulsed fiber lasers. 

PMID- 25832208
TI  - PHARAO laser source flight model: design and performances.
AB  - In this paper, we describe the design and the main performances of the PHARAO
      laser source flight model. PHARAO is a laser cooled cesium clock specially
      designed for operation in space and the laser source is one of the main sub
      systems. The flight model presented in this work is the first remote-controlled
      laser system designed for spaceborne cold atom manipulation. The main challenges
      arise from mechanical compatibility with space constraints, which impose a high
      level of compactness, a low electric power consumption, a wide range of operating
      temperature, and a vacuum environment. We describe the main functions of the
      laser source and give an overview of the main technologies developed for this
      instrument. We present some results of the qualification process. The
      characteristics of the laser source flight model, and their impact on the clock
      performances, have been verified in operational conditions. 

PMID- 25832209
TI  - Electron and recoil ion momentum imaging with a magneto-optically trapped target.
AB  - A reaction microscope (ReMi) has been combined with a magneto-optical trap (MOT)
      for the kinematically complete investigation of atomic break-up processes. With
      the novel MOTReMi apparatus, the momentum vectors of the fragments of laser
      cooled and state-prepared lithium atoms are measured in coincidence and over the
      full solid angle. The first successful implementation of a MOTReMi could be
      realized due to an optimized design of the present setup, a nonstandard operation
      of the MOT, and by employing a switching cycle with alternating measuring and
      trapping periods. The very low target temperature in the MOT (~2 mK) allows for
      an excellent momentum resolution. Optical preparation of the target atoms in the
      excited Li 2(2)P3/2 state was demonstrated providing an atomic polarization of
      close to 100%. While first experimental results were reported earlier, in this
      work, we focus on the technical description of the setup and its performance in
      commissioning experiments involving target ionization in 266 nm laser pulses and
      in collisions with projectile ions. 

PMID- 25832210
TI  - A design study for a compact two stage in-flight separator with a high mass
      resolution and large acceptance.
AB  - The rare isotope beam separator with a large angular acceptance and energy
      acceptance is essential for examining the characteristics of unstable nuclei and
      exotic nuclear reactions. Careful design, however, is required to compensate for
      the effects of high order aberrations induced by large aperture magnets, which
      are used to collect rare isotopes obtained from a high energy primary heavy-ion
      beam hitting a target. In order to minimize the effect of the high order
      aberration, the optics was based on the mirror symmetry optics, which provides
      smaller high order aberrations, for the separation of (132)Sn produced by a
      fission reaction between the primary beam of (238)U and a relatively thick Pb
      target. The designed optics provides energy acceptance (full), horizontal angular
      acceptance, and vertical acceptance of approximately 8%, 60 mrad, and 130 mrad,
      respectively. 

PMID- 25832211
TI  - An ion trap built with photonic crystal fibre technology.
AB  - We demonstrate a surface-electrode ion trap fabricated using techniques
      transferred from the manufacture of photonic-crystal fibres. This provides a
      relatively straightforward route for realizing traps with an electrode structure
      on the 100 micron scale with high optical access. We demonstrate the basic
      functionality of the trap by cooling a single ion to the quantum ground state,
      allowing us to measure a heating rate from the ground state of 787 +/- 24
      quanta/s. Variation of the fabrication procedure used here may provide access to
      traps in this geometry with trap scales between 100 MUm and 10 MUm. 

PMID- 25832212
TI  - Flexible attosecond beamline for high harmonic spectroscopy and XUV/near-IR pump
      probe experiments requiring long acquisition times.
AB  - We describe the versatile features of the attosecond beamline recently installed
      at CEA-Saclay on the PLFA kHz laser. It combines a fine and very complete set of
      diagnostics enabling high harmonic spectroscopy (HHS) through the advanced
      characterization of the amplitude, phase, and polarization of the harmonic
      emission. It also allows a variety of photo-ionization experiments using magnetic
      bottle and COLTRIMS (COLd Target Recoil Ion Momentum Microscopy) electron
      spectrometers that may be used simultaneously, thanks to a two-foci
      configuration. Using both passive and active stabilization, special care was paid
      to the long term stability of the system to allow, using both experimental
      approaches, time resolved studies with attosecond precision, typically over
      several hours of acquisition times. As an illustration, applications to multi
      orbital HHS and electron-ion coincidence time resolved spectroscopy are
      presented. 

PMID- 25832213
TI  - Tunable beam displacer.
AB  - We report the implementation of a tunable beam displacer, composed of a
      polarizing beam splitter (PBS) and two mirrors, that divides an initially
      polarized beam into two parallel beams whose separation can be continuously
      tuned. The two output beams are linearly polarized with either vertical or
      horizontal polarization and no optical path difference is introduced between
      them. The wavelength dependence of the device as well as the maximum separation
      between the beams achievable is limited mainly by the PBS characteristics. 

PMID- 25832214
TI  - A simplified scheme for generating narrow-band mid-ultraviolet laser radiation.
AB  - We report on the development and characterization of continuous, narrow-band, and
      tunable laser systems that use direct second-harmonic generation from blue and
      green diode lasers with an output power level of up to 11.1 mW in the mid
      ultraviolet. One of our laser systems was tuned to the mercury 6(1)S0 -> 6(3)P1
      intercombination line at 253.7 nm. We could perform Doppler-free saturation
      spectroscopy on this line and were able to lock our laser to the transition
      frequency on long time scales. 

PMID- 25832215
TI  - The resilient hybrid fiber sensor network with self-healing function.
AB  - This paper presents a novel resilient fiber sensor network (FSN) with multi-ring
      architecture, which could interconnect various kinds of fiber sensors responsible
      for more than one measurands. We explain how the intelligent control system
      provides sensors with self-healing function meanwhile sensors are working
      properly, besides each fiber in FSN is under real-time monitoring. We explain the
      software process and emergency mechanism to respond failures or other
      circumstances. To improve the efficiency in the use of limited spectrum resources
      in some situations, we have two different structures to distribute the light
      sources rationally. Then, we propose a hybrid sensor working in FSN which is a
      combination of a distributed sensor and a FBG (Fiber Bragg Grating) array fused
      in a common fiber sensing temperature and vibrations simultaneously with
      neglectable crosstalk to each other. By making a failure to a working fiber in
      experiment, the feasibility and effectiveness of the network with a hybrid sensor
      has been demonstrated, hybrid sensors could not only work as designed but also
      survive from destructive failures with the help of resilient network and smart
      and quick self-healing actions. The network has improved the viability of the
      fiber sensors and diversity of measurands. 

PMID- 25832216
TI  - An in situ sample environment reaction cell for spatially resolved X-ray
      absorption spectroscopy studies of powders and small structured reactors.
AB  - An easy-to-use sample environment reaction cell for X-ray based in situ studies
      of powders and small structured samples, e.g., powder, pellet, and monolith
      catalysts, is described. The design of the cell allows for flexible use of
      appropriate X-ray transparent windows, shielding the sample from ambient
      conditions, such that incident X-ray energies as low as 3 keV can be used. Thus,
      in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) measurements in either transmission
      or fluorescence mode are facilitated. Total gas flows up to about 500 mln/min can
      be fed while the sample temperature is accurately controlled (at least) in the
      range of 25-500  degrees C. The gas feed is composed by a versatile gas-mixing
      system and the effluent gas flow composition is monitored with mass spectrometry
      (MS). These systems are described briefly. Results from simultaneous XAS/MS
      measurements during oxidation of carbon monoxide over a 4% Pt/Al2O3 powder
      catalyst are used to illustrate the system performance in terms of transmission
      XAS. Also, 2.2% Pd/Al2O3 and 2% Ag - Al2O3 powder catalysts have been used to
      demonstrate X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy in
      fluorescence mode. Further, a 2% Pt/Al2O3 monolith catalyst was used ex situ for
      transmission XANES. The reaction cell opens for facile studies of structure
      function relationships for model as well as realistic catalysts both in the form
      of powders, small pellets, and coated or extruded monoliths at near realistic
      conditions. The applicability of the cell for X-ray diffraction measurements is
      discussed. 

PMID- 25832217
TI  - 2-D energy analyzer for low energy electrons.
AB  - A 2-D electron energy analyzer is designed and constructed to measure the
      transverse and longitudinal energy distribution of low energy (<1 eV) electrons.
      The analyzer operates on the principle of adiabatic invariance and motion of low
      energy electrons in a strong longitudinal magnetic field. The operation of the
      analyzer is studied in detail and a design to optimize the energy resolution,
      signal to noise ratio, and physical size is presented. An energy resolution
      better than 6 meV has been demonstrated. Such an analyzer is a powerful tool to
      study the process of photoemission which limits the beam quality in modern
      accelerators. 

PMID- 25832218
TI  - Development of an interpretive simulation tool for the proton radiography
      technique.
AB  - Proton radiography is a useful diagnostic of high energy density (HED) plasmas
      under active theoretical and experimental development. In this paper, we describe
      a new simulation tool that interacts realistic laser-driven point-like proton
      sources with three dimensional electromagnetic fields of arbitrary strength and
      structure and synthesizes the associated high resolution proton radiograph. The
      present tool's numerical approach captures all relevant physics effects,
      including effects related to the formation of caustics. Electromagnetic fields
      can be imported from particle-in-cell or hydrodynamic codes in a streamlined
      fashion, and a library of electromagnetic field "primitives" is also provided.
      This latter capability allows users to add a primitive, modify the field
      strength, rotate a primitive, and so on, while quickly generating a high
      resolution radiograph at each step. In this way, our tool enables the user to
      deconstruct features in a radiograph and interpret them in connection to specific
      underlying electromagnetic field elements. We show an example application of the
      tool in connection to experimental observations of the Weibel instability in
      counterstreaming plasmas, using ~10(8) particles generated from a realistic laser
      driven point-like proton source, imaging fields which cover volumes of ~10 mm(3).
      Insights derived from this application show that the tool can support
      understanding of HED plasmas. 

PMID- 25832219
TI  - On the analysis of inhomogeneous magnetic field spectrometer for laser-driven ion
      acceleration.
AB  - We present a detailed study of the use of a non-parallel, inhomogeneous magnetic
      field spectrometer for the investigation of laser-accelerated ion beams.
      Employing a wedged yoke design, we demonstrate the feasibility of an in-situ self
      calibration technique of the non-uniform magnetic field and show that high
      precision measurements of ion energies are possible in a wide-angle
      configuration. We also discuss the implications of a stacked detector system for
      unambiguous identification of different ion species present in the ion beam and
      explore the feasibility of detection of high energy particles beyond 100 MeV/amu
      in radiation harsh environments. 

PMID- 25832220
TI  - An analytical study of double bend achromat lattice.
AB  - In a double bend achromat, Chasman-Green (CG) lattice represents the basic
      structure for low emittance synchrotron radiation sources. In the basic structure
      of CG lattice single focussing quadrupole (QF) magnet is used to form an
      achromat. In this paper, this CG lattice is discussed and an analytical relation
      is presented, showing the limitation of basic CG lattice to provide the
      theoretical minimum beam emittance in achromatic condition. To satisfy
      theoretical minimum beam emittance parameters, achromat having two, three, and
      four quadrupole structures is presented. In this structure, different
      arrangements of QF and defocusing quadruple (QD) are used. An analytical approach
      assuming quadrupoles as thin lenses has been followed for studying these
      structures. A study of Indus-2 lattice in which QF-QD-QF configuration in the
      achromat part has been adopted is also presented. 

PMID- 25832221
TI  - On the detection of mesospheric meteoric smoke particles embedded in noctilucent
      cloud particles with rocket-borne dust probes.
AB  - Mesospheric nanoparticles in the forms of water ice particles and meteoric smoke
      particles (MSPs) exist in the middle atmosphere where they often play a decisive
      role in cloud formation and in chemical processes. Direct in situ observations of
      mesospheric nanoparticles have been made possible by rocket probes developed
      during the last two decades. Although progress has been made in mapping
      properties such as electric charge, sizes, and interaction with the plasma and
      neutral gas, more observations are needed on the size distribution, chemical
      content, and structure of the MSP to determine their role in cloud formation and
      chemistry in the mesosphere and stratosphere. We here present the result of a
      detailed analysis of the performance of a new dust probe MUltiple Dust Detector
      (MUDD) [O. Havnes et al., J. Atmos Soll.-Terr. Phys. 118, 190 (2014); O. Havenes
      et al., ibid. (in press)], which should give information of the size distribution
      of MSP by fragmenting impacting ice particles and releasing a fraction of the MSP
      which most probably are embedded in them [O. Havnes and L. I. Naesheim, Ann.
      Geophys. 25, 623 (2007); M. E. Hervig et al., J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys. 84-85, 1
      (2012)]. We first determine the electric field structure and neutral gas
      condition in the interior of the probe and from this compute, the dynamics and
      current contribution of the charged fragments to the currents measured as the
      probe scans the fragment energy. For the single MUDD probe flown in July 2011 on
      the PHOCUS payload, we find that the fragment currents at the three retarding
      potentials for MUDD of 0, 10, and 20 V correspond to fragment sizes of ?0.6 nm,
      >1.5 nm, and >1.8 nm if the fragments have a negative unit charge. We also
      discuss the optimum choice of retarding potentials in future flights of MUDD
      probes. By launching 2 to 3 mechanically identical MUDD probes but with different
      retarding potentials, we will obtain a much more detailed and reliable fragment
      (MSP) size distribution. 

PMID- 25832222
TI  - Implementation of EPICS based vacuum control system for variable energy cyclotron
      centre, Kolkata.
AB  - The vacuum system of the Room Temperature (K = 130) Cyclotron of Variable Energy
      Cyclotron Centre is comprised of vacuum systems of main machine and Beam
      Transport System. The vacuum control system is upgraded to a PLC based Automated
      system from the initial relay based Manual system. The supervisory control of the
      vacuum system is implemented in Experimental Physics and Industrial Control
      System (EPICS). An EPICS embedded ARM based vacuum gauge controller is developed
      to mitigate the requirement of vendor specific gauge controller for gauges and
      also for seamless integration of the gauge controllers with the control system. A
      set of MS-Windows ActiveX components with embedded EPICS Channel Access interface
      are developed to build operator interfaces with less complex programming and to
      incorporate typical Windows feature, e.g., user authentication, file handling,
      better fonts, colors, mouse actions etc. into the operator interfaces. The
      control parameters, monitoring parameters, and system interlocks of the system
      are archived in MySQL based EPICS MySQL Archiver developed indigenously. In this
      paper, we describe the architecture, the implementation details, and the
      performance of the system. 

PMID- 25832223
TI  - Impact of x-ray dose on the response of CR-39 to 1-5.5 MeV alphas.
AB  - The CR-39 nuclear track detector is used in many nuclear diagnostics fielded at
      inertial confinement fusion (ICF) facilities. Large x-ray fluences generated by
      ICF experiments may impact the CR-39 response to incident charged particles. To
      determine the impact of x-ray exposure on the CR-39 response to alpha particles,
      a thick-target bremsstrahlung x-ray generator was used to expose CR-39 to various
      doses of 8 keV Cu-Kalpha and Kbeta x-rays. The CR-39 detectors were then exposed
      to 1-5.5 MeV alphas from an Am-241 source. The regions of the CR-39 exposed to x
      rays showed a smaller track diameter than those not exposed to x-rays: for
      example, a dose of 3.0 +/- 0.1 Gy causes a decrease of (19 +/- 2)% in the track
      diameter of a 5.5 MeV alpha particle, while a dose of 60.0 +/- 1.3 Gy results in
      a decrease of (45 +/- 5)% in the track diameter. The reduced track diameters were
      found to be predominantly caused by a comparable reduction in the bulk etch rate
      of the CR-39 with x-ray dose. A residual effect depending on alpha particle
      energy is characterized using an empirical formula. 

PMID- 25832224
TI  - An in-vacuo optical levitation trap for high-intensity laser interaction
      experiments with isolated microtargets.
AB  - We report on the design, construction, and characterisation of a new class of in
      vacuo optical levitation trap optimised for use in high-intensity, high-energy
      laser interaction experiments. The system uses a focused, vertically propagating
      continuous wave laser beam to capture and manipulate micro-targets by photon
      momentum transfer at much longer working distances than commonly used by optical
      tweezer systems. A high speed (10 kHz) optical imaging and signal acquisition
      system was implemented for tracking the levitated droplets position and dynamic
      behaviour under atmospheric and vacuum conditions, with +/-5 MUm spatial
      resolution. Optical trapping of 10 +/- 4 MUm oil droplets in vacuum was
      demonstrated, over timescales of >1 h at extended distances of ~40 mm from the
      final focusing optic. The stability of the levitated droplet was such that it
      would stay in alignment with a ~7 MUm irradiating beam focal spot for up to 5 min
      without the need for re-adjustment. The performance of the trap was assessed in a
      series of high-intensity (10(17) W cm(-2)) laser experiments that measured the X
      ray source size and inferred free-electron temperature of a single isolated
      droplet target, along with a measurement of the emitted radio-frequency pulse.
      These initial tests demonstrated the use of optically levitated microdroplets as
      a robust target platform for further high-intensity laser interaction and point
      source studies. 

PMID- 25832225
TI  - Design and implementation of fractional order pole placement controller to
      control the magnetic flux in Damavand tokamak.
AB  - In this paper, a routine algorithm is presented to design a fractional order
      controller for tracking the reference model. Using this algorithm, a pole
      placement controller can be designed by assigning the desired integer and
      fractional order closed loop transfer functions. Considering the desired time
      response and using the generalized characteristic ratio assignment (CRA) method
      for fractional order systems and coefficient diagram method (CDM) for integer
      order systems, the desired closed loop system can be achieved. For various
      practical experiments, having the desired time responses is vital for magnetic
      flux in Damavand tokamak. To approach this, at first, the desired reference
      models are obtained based on CRA and CDM methods. After that, a fractional order
      pole placement controller is designed and simulated by this algorithm. At last,
      this controller is implemented on a digital signal processor to control the
      vertical magnetic flux of Damavand tokamak plant. The practical results show the
      satisfactory performance of the controller. 

PMID- 25832226
TI  - A simple experimental method to determine magnetic field topology in toroidal
      plasma devices.
AB  - Estimation of the parallel wavenumber in plasma devices finds wide applications
      such as determining the nature of instabilities. This task is often challenging,
      especially in toroidal magnetic configurations. In the present work, a simple yet
      effective method of achieving accurate probe-alignment along the magnetic field
      lines is demonstrated in a simple magnetized toroidal device BETA (Basic
      Experiments in Toroidal Assembly). The alignment was achieved by aligning each
      probe to a tiny localized plasma source. Such an alignment is necessary for
      determining the parallel wavenumber precisely. The probe-alignment was confirmed
      further from the measurements in the plasma and the corresponding parallel
      wavenumber was found to be in good agreement with the analytical predictions. 

PMID- 25832227
TI  - Dynamical programming based turbulence velocimetry for fast visible imaging of
      tokamak plasma.
AB  - An orthogonal dynamic programming (ODP) based particle image velocimetry (PIV)
      technique is developed to measure the time resolved flow field of the fluctuating
      structures at the plasma edge and scrape off layer (SOL) of tokamaks. This non
      intrusive technique can provide two dimensional velocity fields at high spatial
      and temporal resolution from a fast framing image sequence and hence can provide
      better insights into plasma flow as compared to conventional probe measurements.
      Applicability of the technique is tested with simulated image pairs. Finally, it
      is applied to tangential fast visible images of QUEST plasma to estimate the SOL
      flow in inboard poloidal null-natural divertor configuration. This technique is
      also applied to investigate the intricate features of the core of the run-away
      dominated phase following the injection of a large amount of neutrals in the
      target Ohmic plasma. Development of the ODP-PIV code and its applicability on
      actual plasma images is reported. 

PMID- 25832228
TI  - Time-resolved ion velocity distribution in a cylindrical Hall thruster:
      heterodyne-based experiment and modeling.
AB  - Time-resolved variations of the ion velocity distribution function (IVDF) are
      measured in the cylindrical Hall thruster using a novel heterodyne method based
      on the laser-induced fluorescence technique. This method consists in inducing
      modulations of the discharge plasma at frequencies that enable the coupling to
      the breathing mode. Using a harmonic decomposition of the IVDF, one can extract
      each harmonic component of the IVDF from which the time-resolved IVDF is
      reconstructed. In addition, simulations have been performed assuming a sloshing
      of the IVDF during the modulation that show agreement between the simulated and
      measured first order perturbation of the IVDF. 

PMID- 25832229
TI  - Characteristics of a molybdenum X-pinch X-ray source as a probe source for X-ray
      diffraction studies.
AB  - X-ray emission from a molybdenum X-pinch has been investigated as a potential
      probe for the high pressure states made in dynamic compression experiments.
      Studies were performed on a novel 300 kA, 400 ns generator which coupled the load
      directly to a low inductance capacitor and switch combination. The X-pinch load
      consisted of 4 crossed molybdenum wires of 13 MUm diameter, crossed at an angle
      of 62 degrees . The load height was 10 mm. An initial x-ray burst generated at
      the wire crossing point, radiated in the soft x-ray range (hupsilon < 10 keV).
      This was followed, 2-5 ns later, by at least one harder x-ray burst (hupsilon >
      10 keV) whose power ranged from 1 to 7 MW. Time integrated spectral measurements
      showed that the harder bursts were dominated by K-alpha emission; though, a lower
      level, wide band continuum up to at least 30 keV was also present. Initial tests
      demonstrated that the source was capable of driving Laue diffraction experiments,
      probing uncompressed samples of LiF and aluminium. 

PMID- 25832230
TI  - Plasma current start-up by the outer ohmic heating coils in the Saskatchewan
      TORus Modified (STOR-M) iron core tokamak.
AB  - A plasma current up to 15 kA has been driven with outer ohmic heating (OH) coils
      in the STOR-M iron core tokamak. Even when the inner OH coil is disconnected, the
      outer OH coils alone can induce the plasma current as primary windings and
      initial breakdown are even easier in this coil layout. This result suggests a
      possibility to use an iron core in a spherical tokamak to start up the plasma
      current without a central solenoid. The effect of the iron core saturation on the
      extension of the discharge pulse length has been estimated for further
      experiments in the STOR-M tokamak. 

PMID- 25832231
TI  - Experimental demonstration of Martian soil simulant removal from a surface using
      a pulsed plasma jet.
AB  - A plasma jet produced in a small coaxial plasma gun operated at voltages up to 2
      kV and working in pure carbon dioxide (CO2) at a few Torr is used to remove
      Martian soil simulant from a surface. A capacitor with 0.5 mF is charged up from
      a high voltage source and supplies the power to the coaxial electrodes. The
      muzzle of the coaxial plasma gun is placed at a few millimeters near the dusty
      surface and the jet is fired parallel with the surface. Removal of dust is imaged
      in real time with a high speed camera. Mars regolith simulant JSC-Mars-1A with
      particle sizes up to 5 mm is used on different types of surfaces made of
      aluminium, cotton fabric, polyethylene, cardboard, and phenolic. 

PMID- 25832232
TI  - Open-frame system for single-molecule microscopy.
AB  - We present the design and construction of a versatile, open frame inverted
      microscope system for wide-field fluorescence and single molecule imaging. The
      microscope chassis and modular design allow for customization, expansion, and
      experimental flexibility. We present two components which are included with the
      microscope which extend its basic capabilities and together create a powerful
      microscopy system: A Convex Lens-induced Confinement device provides the system
      with single-molecule imaging capabilities, and a two-color imaging system
      provides the option of imaging multiple molecular species simultaneously. The
      flexibility of the open-framed chassis combined with accessible single-molecule,
      multi-species imaging technology supports a wide range of new measurements in the
      health, nanotechnology, and materials science research sectors. 

PMID- 25832233
TI  - Charge collection microscopy of in-situ switchable PRAM line cells in a scanning
      electron microscope: technique development and unique observations.
AB  - An imaging method has been developed based on charge collection in a scanning
      electron microscope (SEM) that allows discrimination between the amorphous and
      crystalline states of Phase-change Random Access Memory (PRAM) line cells. During
      imaging, the cells are electrically connected and can be switched between the
      states and the resistance can be measured. This allows for electrical
      characterization of the line cells in-situ in the SEM. Details on sample and
      measurement system requirements are provided which turned out to be crucial for
      the successful development of this method. Results show that the amorphous or
      crystalline state of the line cells can be readily discerned, but the spatial
      resolution is relatively poor. Nevertheless, it is still possible to estimate the
      length of the amorphous mark, and also for the first time, we could directly
      observe the shift of the amorphous mark from one side of the line cell to the
      other side when the polarity of the applied (50 ns) RESET pulse was reversed. 

PMID- 25832234
TI  - Characterization of three-dimensional structure using images.
AB  - The pair correlation function g(r) and the number density n for particles in a
      three-dimensional (3D) sample can be determined from a single two-dimensional
      (2D) image. The 2D image is obtained experimentally with a simple setup: a cross
      sectional slab of particles is illuminated with a laser sheet and imaged with a
      single camera. After image analysis, to find positions of particles in two
      dimensions, along with their brightness, one obtains g(r), also known as the
      radial distribution function. The key for attaining high accuracy is to use only
      the particles that are brighter than a filter level, which we refine to achieve
      greater accuracy. The density n is obtained from g(r). This method is
      demonstrated in a dusty plasma experiment. Accuracy is quantified using
      simulation data; errors of 2% for both the pair correlation function and the
      number density are achievable. The method is useful for dusty plasmas and
      colloids. 

PMID- 25832235
TI  - A subsurface add-on for standard atomic force microscopes.
AB  - The application of ultrasound in an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) gives access to
      subsurface information. However, no commercially AFM exists that is equipped with
      this technique. The main problems are the electronic crosstalk in the AFM setup
      and the insufficiently strong excitation of the cantilever at ultrasonic (MHz)
      frequencies. In this paper, we describe the development of an add-on that
      provides a solution to these problems by using a special piezo element with a
      lowest resonance frequency of 2.5 MHz and by separating the electronic connection
      for this high frequency piezo element from all other connections. In this sense,
      we support researches with the possibility to perform subsurface measurements
      with their existing AFMs and hopefully pave also the way for the development of a
      commercial AFM that is capable of imaging subsurface features with nanometer
      resolution. 

PMID- 25832236
TI  - Nanomechanical and topographical imaging of living cells by atomic force
      microscopy with colloidal probes.
AB  - Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has a great potential as a tool to characterize
      mechanical and morphological properties of living cells; these properties have
      been shown to correlate with cells' fate and patho-physiological state in view of
      the development of novel early-diagnostic strategies. Although several reports
      have described experimental and technical approaches for the characterization of
      cellular elasticity by means of AFM, a robust and commonly accepted methodology
      is still lacking. Here, we show that micrometric spherical probes (also known as
      colloidal probes) are well suited for performing a combined topographic and
      mechanical analysis of living cells, with spatial resolution suitable for a
      complete and accurate mapping of cell morphological and elastic properties, and
      superior reliability and accuracy in the mechanical measurements with respect to
      conventional and widely used sharp AFM tips. We address a number of issues
      concerning the nanomechanical analysis, including the applicability of contact
      mechanical models and the impact of a constrained contact geometry on the
      measured Young's modulus (the finite-thickness effect). We have tested our
      protocol by imaging living PC12 and MDA-MB-231 cells, in order to demonstrate the
      importance of the correction of the finite-thickness effect and the change in
      Young's modulus induced by the action of a cytoskeleton-targeting drug. 

PMID- 25832237
TI  - The ReactorAFM: non-contact atomic force microscope operating under high-pressure
      and high-temperature catalytic conditions.
AB  - An Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) has been integrated in a miniature high-pressure
      flow reactor for in-situ observations of heterogeneous catalytic reactions under
      conditions similar to those of industrial processes. The AFM can image model
      catalysts such as those consisting of metal nanoparticles on flat oxide supports
      in a gas atmosphere up to 6 bar and at a temperature up to 600 K, while the
      catalytic activity can be measured using mass spectrometry. The high-pressure
      reactor is placed inside an Ultrahigh Vacuum (UHV) system to supplement it with
      standard UHV sample preparation and characterization techniques. To demonstrate
      that this instrument successfully bridges both the pressure gap and the materials
      gap, images have been recorded of supported palladium nanoparticles catalyzing
      the oxidation of carbon monoxide under high-pressure, high-temperature
      conditions. 

PMID- 25832239
TI  - Optoelectronic transport properties in amorphous/crystalline silicon solar cell
      heterojunctions measured by frequency-domain photocarrier radiometry: multi
      parameter measurement reliability and precision studies.
AB  - A theoretical one-dimensional two-layer linear photocarrier radiometry (PCR)
      model including the presence of effective interface carrier traps was used to
      evaluate the transport parameters of p-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a
      Si:H) and n-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) passivated by an intrinsic
      hydrogenated amorphous silicon (i-layer) nanolayer. Several crystalline Si
      heterojunction structures were examined to investigate the influence of the i
      layer thickness and the doping concentration of the a-Si:H layer. The
      experimental data of a series of heterojunction structures with intrinsic thin
      layers were fitted to PCR theory to gain insight into the transport properties of
      these devices. The quantitative multi-parameter results were studied with regard
      to measurement reliability (uniqueness) and precision using two independent
      computational best-fit programs. The considerable influence on the transport
      properties of the entire structure of two key parameters that can limit the
      performance of amorphous thin film solar cells, namely, the doping concentration
      of the a-Si:H layer and the i-layer thickness was demonstrated. It was shown that
      PCR can be applied to the non-destructive characterization of a-Si:H/c-Si
      heterojunction solar cells yielding reliable measurements of the key parameters. 

PMID- 25832238
TI  - Flexible digital signal processing architecture for narrowband and spread
      spectrum lock-in detection in multiphoton microscopy and time-resolved
      spectroscopy.
AB  - The lock-in amplifier is a critical component in many different types of
      experiments, because of its ability to reduce spurious or environmental noise
      components by restricting detection to a single frequency and phase. One example
      application is pump-probe microscopy, a multiphoton technique that leverages
      excited-state dynamics for imaging contrast. With this application in mind, we
      present here the design and implementation of a high-speed lock-in amplifier on
      the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) coprocessor of a data acquisition board.
      The most important advantage is the inherent ability to filter signals based on
      more complex modulation patterns. As an example, we use the flexibility of the
      FPGA approach to enable a novel pump-probe detection scheme based on spread
      spectrum communications techniques. 

PMID- 25832240
TI  - Cantilever stress measurements for pulsed laser deposition of perovskite oxides
      at 1000 K in an oxygen partial pressure of 10(-4) millibars.
AB  - An in situ stress measurement setup using an optical 2-beam curvature technique
      is described which is compatible with the stringent growth conditions of pulsed
      laser deposition (PLD) of perovskite oxides, which involves high substrate
      temperatures of 1000 K and oxygen partial pressures of up to 1 * 10(-4)
      millibars. The stress measurements are complemented by medium energy electron
      diffraction (MEED), Auger electron spectroscopy, and additional growth rate
      monitoring by a quartz microbalance. A shielded filament is used to allow for
      simultaneous stress and MEED measurements at high substrate temperatures. A
      computer-controlled mirror scans an excimer laser beam over a stationary PLD
      target. This avoids mechanical noise originating from rotating PLD targets, and
      the setup does not suffer from limited lifetime issues of ultra high vacuum (UHV)
      rotary feedthroughs. 

PMID- 25832241
TI  - Two-step fabrication technique of gold tips for use in point-contact
      spectroscopy.
AB  - For a successful point-contact spectroscopy (PCS) measurement, metallic tips of
      proper shape and smoothness are essential to ensure the ballistic nature of a
      point-contact junction. Until recently, the fabrication of Au tips suitable for
      use in point-contact spectroscopy has remained more of an art involving a trial
      and error method rather than an automated scientific process. To address these
      issues, we have developed a technique with which one can prepare high quality Au
      tips reproducibly and systematically. It involves an electronic control of the
      driving voltages used for an electrochemical etching of a gold wire in a HCl
      glycerol mixture or a HCl solution. We find that a stopping current, below which
      the circuit is set to shut off, is a single very important parameter to produce
      an Au tip of desired shape. We present detailed descriptions for a two-step
      etching process for Au tips and also test results from PCS measurements using
      them. 

PMID- 25832242
TI  - Combinatorial thin film composition mapping using three dimensional deposition
      profiles.
AB  - Many next-generation technologies are limited by material performance, leading to
      increased interest in the discovery of advanced materials using combinatorial
      synthesis, characterization, and screening. Several combinatorial synthesis
      techniques, such as solution based methods, advanced manufacturing, and physical
      vapor deposition, are currently being employed for various applications. In
      particular, combinatorial magnetron sputtering is a versatile technique that
      provides synthesis of high-quality thin film composition libraries. Spatially
      addressing the composition of these thin films generally requires elemental
      quantification measurements using techniques such as energy-dispersive X-ray
      spectroscopy or X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Since these measurements are
      performed ex-situ and post-deposition, they are unable to provide real-time
      design of experiments, a capability that is required for rapid synthesis of a
      specific composition library. By using three quartz crystal monitors attached to
      a stage with translational and rotational degrees of freedom, we measure three
      dimensional deposition profiles of deposition sources whose tilt with respect to
      the substrate is robotically controlled. We exhibit the utility of deposition
      profiles and tilt control to optimize the deposition geometry for specific
      combinatorial synthesis experiments. 

PMID- 25832243
TI  - High-pressure generation using double stage micro-paired diamond anvils shaped by
      focused ion beam.
AB  - Micron-sized diamond anvils with a 3 MUm culet were successfully processed using
      a focused ion beam (FIB) system and the generation of high pressures was
      confirmed using the double stage diamond anvil cell technique. The difficulty of
      aligning two second-stage micro-anvils was solved via the paired micro-anvil
      method. Micro-manufacturing using a FIB system enables us to control anvil shape,
      process any materials, including nano-polycrystalline diamond and single crystal
      diamond, and assemble the sample exactly in a very small space between the second
      stage anvils. This method is highly reproducible. High pressures over 300 GPa
      were achieved, and the pressure distribution around the micro-anvil culet was
      evaluated by using a well-focused synchrotron micro-X-ray beam. 

PMID- 25832244
TI  - Magneto-optical Kramers-Kronig analysis.
AB  - We describe a simple magneto-optical experiment and introduce a magneto-optical
      Kramers-Kronig analysis (MOKKA) that together allow extracting the complex
      dielectric function for left- and right-handed circular polarizations in a broad
      range of frequencies without actually generating circularly polarized light. The
      experiment consists of measuring reflectivity and Kerr rotation, or alternatively
      transmission and Faraday rotation, at normal incidence using only standard
      broadband polarizers without retarders or quarter-wave plates. In a common case,
      where the magneto-optical rotation is small (below ~0.2 rad), a fast measurement
      protocol can be realized, where the polarizers are fixed at 45(?) with respect to
      each other. Apart from the time-effectiveness, the advantage of this protocol is
      that it can be implemented at ultra-high magnetic fields and in other situations,
      where an in-situ polarizer rotation is difficult. Overall, the proposed technique
      can be regarded as a magneto-optical generalization of the conventional Kramers
      Kronig analysis of reflectivity on bulk samples and the Kramers-Kronig
      constrained variational analysis of more complex types of spectral data. We
      demonstrate the application of this method to the textbook semimetals bismuth and
      graphite and also use it to obtain handedness-resolved magneto-absorption spectra
      of graphene on SiC. 

PMID- 25832245
TI  - Experimental measurement of characteristic I(c) (epsilon, theta, B) response in
      GdBa2Cu3Odelta coated conductor tapes under low magnetic field at 77 K.
AB  - The continued development in the design technology of practical superconducting
      devices adopting high temperature superconductors tapes has led to a deeper
      understanding of their electromechanical behaviors. Rare-earth-barium-copper
      oxide coated conductor (CC) tapes exhibit anisotropy of transport property (Ic)
      under magnetic field and its intrinsic strain effect is much significant
      depending on the orientation to the tape surface and the magnetic field intensity
      applied. Different experimental systems have already been developed to measure
      the relation of Ic with mechanical strain epsilon, magnetic field intensity B,
      and its angle of orientation, theta. However, few systems and instruments can
      measure these relationships simultaneously; either Ic-B-theta or Ic-epsilon-B is
      usually measured. In this study, a device which can measure these influences
      simultaneously based on a pair of permanent magnet systems was constructed and
      the characteristic responses of critical current Ic with strain, magnetic field,
      and its orientation with respect to the CC tape surface were investigated. The
      angular dependence of Ic with strain at 77 K in reactive co-evaporation by
      deposition and reaction GdBCO CC tapes has been measured using the permanent
      magnet system. The orientation angle of magnetic field with respect to the tape's
      surface was varied by rotating the rig fixture that holds a pair of permanent
      magnets. The strain sensitivity of Ic at different angles under low magnetic
      field was evaluated. As a result, a characteristic surface Ic (epsilon, theta, B)
      has been constructed as the characteristic response of Ic with strain and varying
      orientation under magnetic field. 

PMID- 25832246
TI  - Systematic approach to using isentropic stress reverberation techniques in
      approximating equation of state.
AB  - Isentropic stress reverberations are used to obtain multiple Hugoniot states from
      a single plate impact experiment using a layered plate geometry, where a low
      impedance inner layer is embedded within a high impedance bulk structure. The
      mathematical framework used in this technique uses the classical Rankine-Hugoniot
      equations in the method of impedance matching, where the bulk material is
      required to have a known Hugoniot. Factors including the wave velocities in the
      materials, input pulse duration, inner layer thickness, and diameter of the test
      samples affect the number of states that can be generated from a single
      experiment. Experiments using 6061 aluminum and polycarbonate, respectively, as
      the bulk material and inner layer, accurately generated six Hugoniot states for
      the polycarbonate. Experiments using A572 grade 50 structural steel as the bulk
      material accurately generated ten Hugoniot states for the polycarbonate. For each
      experiment, the method can be used to generate a Hugoniot equation defining the
      material response of the inner layer within the domain encompassed by the
      specific test. The method is also confined to the low to moderate stress regions,
      within which Hugoniot and isentropic representations of the material are almost
      identical. 

PMID- 25832247
TI  - Parallelization of photocatalytic gas-producing reactions.
AB  - High-throughput screening has been widely utilized in the pharmaceutical and
      manufacturing industry targeting the development of new molecules and materials
      for numerous applications. To enable more rapid progress in photocatalytic water
      splitting reactions, the construction of high-throughput combinatorial
      photoreactors enabling the parallel optimization of relevant compositions under
      varieties of experimental conditions seems appropriate. This contribution
      describes a 16-photoreactor apparatus permitting the kinetic evaluation of
      photocatalytic gas-producing reactions using head-space pressure, gas
      chromatography, and mass spectrometry operating in parallel, illustrated with
      molecular-based homogeneous photocatalytic H2-generating compositions. 

PMID- 25832248
TI  - A high-temperature in situ cell with a large solid angle for fluorescence X-ray
      absorption fine structure measurement.
AB  - We present the design and performance of a high-temperature in situ cell with a
      large solid angle for fluorescence X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS)
      spectra. The cell has a large fluorescence XAFS window (116 mm(phi)) near the
      sample in the cell, realizing a large half-cone angle of 56 degrees . We use a
      small heater (25 * 35 mm(2)) to heat the sample locally to 873 K. We measured a
      Pt-SnO2 thin layer on a Si substrate at reaction conditions having a high
      activity. In situ measurement enables the analysis of the difference XAFS spectra
      between before and during the reaction to reveal the structure change during the
      operation. 

PMID- 25832249
TI  - A new method for evaluating the degeneration of articular cartilage using pulse
      echo ultrasound.
AB  - This paper presents a novel nondestructive ultrasonic technique for measuring the
      sound speed and acoustic impedance of articular cartilage using the pulsed Vz,t
      technique. Vz,t data include a series of pulsed ultrasonic echoes collected using
      different distances between the ultrasonic transducer and the specimen. The 2D
      Fourier transform is applied to the Vz,t data to reconstruct the 2D reflection
      spectrum Rtheta,omega. To obtain the reflection coefficient of articular
      cartilage, the Vz,t data from a reference specimen with a well-known reflection
      coefficient are obtained to eliminate the dependence on the general system
      transfer function. The ultrasound-derived aggregate modulus (Ha) is computed
      based on the measured reflection coefficient and the sound speed. In the
      experiment, 32 cartilage-bone samples were prepared from bovine articular
      cartilage, and 16 samples were digested using 0.25% trypsin solution. The sound
      speed and Ha of these cartilage samples were evaluated before and after
      degeneration. The magnitude of the sound speed decreased with trypsin digestion
      (from 1663 +/- 5.6 m/s to 1613 +/- 5.3 m/s). Moreover, the Young's modulus in the
      corresponding degenerative state was measured and was correlated with the
      ultrasound-derived aggregate modulus. The ultrasound-derived aggregate modulus
      was determined to be highly correlated with the Young's modulus (n = 16, r>0.895,
      p<0.003, Pearson correlation test for each measurement). The results demonstrate
      the effectiveness of using the proposed method to assess the changes in sound
      speed and the ultrasound-derived aggregate modulus of cartilage after
      degeneration. 

PMID- 25832251
TI  - Development of pulsed neutron uranium logging instrument.
AB  - This article introduces a development of pulsed neutron uranium logging
      instrument. By analyzing the temporal distribution of epithermal neutrons
      generated from the thermal fission of (235)U, we propose a new method with a
      uranium-bearing index to calculate the uranium content in the formation. An
      instrument employing a D-T neutron generator and two epithermal neutron detectors
      has been developed. The logging response is studied using Monte Carlo simulation
      and experiments in calibration wells. The simulation and experimental results
      show that the uranium-bearing index is linearly correlated with the uranium
      content, and the porosity and thermal neutron lifetime of the formation can be
      acquired simultaneously. 

PMID- 25832250
TI  - A device for rapid and quantitative measurement of cardiac myocyte contractility.
AB  - Cardiac contractility is the hallmark of cardiac function and is a predictor of
      healthy or diseased cardiac muscle. Despite advancements over the last two
      decades, the techniques and tools available to cardiovascular scientists are
      limited in their utility to accurately and reliably measure the amplitude and
      frequency of cardiomyocyte contractions. Isometric force measurements in the past
      have entailed cumbersome attachment of isolated and permeabilized cardiomyocytes
      to a force transducer followed by measurements of sarcomere lengths under
      conditions of submaximal and maximal Ca(2+) activation. These techniques have the
      inherent disadvantages of being labor intensive and costly. We have engineered a
      micro-machined cantilever sensor with an embedded deflection-sensing element
      that, in preliminary experiments, has demonstrated to reliably measure cardiac
      cell contractions in real-time. Here, we describe this new bioengineering tool
      with applicability in the cardiovascular research field to effectively and
      reliably measure cardiac cell contractility in a quantitative manner. We measured
      contractility in both primary neonatal rat heart cardiomyocyte monolayers that
      demonstrated a beat frequency of 3 Hz as well as human embryonic stem cell
      derived cardiomyocytes with a contractile frequency of about 1 Hz. We also
      employed the beta-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol (100 nmol l(-1)) and observed
      that our cantilever demonstrated high sensitivity in detecting subtle changes in
      both chronotropic and inotropic responses of monolayers. This report describes
      the utility of our micro-device in both basic cardiovascular research as well as
      in small molecule drug discovery to monitor cardiac cell contractions. 

PMID- 25832252
TI  - Nested Helmholtz coil design for producing homogeneous transient rotating
      magnetic fields.
AB  - Electromagnets that can produce strong rotating magnetic fields at kHz
      frequencies are potentially very useful to exert rotating force on magnetic
      nanoparticles as small as few nanometers in size. In this article, the
      construction of a pulsed high-voltage rotating electromagnet is demonstrated
      based on a nested Helmholtz coil design. The energy for the coils is provided by
      two high-voltage discharge capacitors. The triggered spark gaps used in the
      experiments show sufficient accuracy to achieve the high frequency rotating
      magnetic field. The measured strength of the rotating magnetic field is 200 mT.
      This magnetic field is scalable by increasing the number of turns on the coils,
      by reducing the dimensions of the coils and by increasing the discharge
      current/voltage of the capacitors. 

PMID- 25832253
TI  - Optically isolated, 2 kHz repetition rate, 4 kV solid-state pulse trigger
      generator.
AB  - This paper presents the design and operation characteristics of a solid-state
      high voltage pulse generator. Its primary utilization is aimed at triggering a
      gaseous spark gap with high repeatability. Specifically, the trigger generator is
      designed to achieve a risetime on the order of 0.1 kV/ns to trigger the first
      stage, trigatron spark gap of a 10-stage, 500 kV Marx generator. The major design
      components are comprised of a 60 W constant current DC-DC converter for high
      voltage charging, a single 4 kV thyristor, a step-up pulse transformer, and
      magnetic switch for pulse steepening. A risetime of <30 ns and pulse magnitude of
      4 kV is achieved matching the simulated performance of the design. 

PMID- 25832254
TI  - Developing instrumentation to characterize thermoelectric generator modules.
AB  - Based on the law of physics, known as "Seebeck effect," a thermoelectric
      generator (TEG) produces electricity when the temperature differential is applied
      across the TEG. This article reports a precision method in characterizing TEG
      modules. A precision instrument is constructed to study thermoelectric conversion
      in terms of output power and efficiency of TEG modules. The maximum allowable TEG
      module size is 150 mm, and the preferred size is from 30 mm to 60 mm. During
      measurements, the highest hot side temperature is 500  degrees C and the cold
      side temperature can be adjusted from room temperature to 100  degrees C. A
      mechanical structure is developed to control the pressure and parallelism of the
      clamping force of the TEG on both its hot and cold sides. A heat flux measurement
      module is installed at its cold side, and the heat flux through TEGs can be
      measured in position. Finally, the energy conversion efficiency of TEGs is
      calculated from experimental data of both an output power and a heat flux. 

PMID- 25832255
TI  - A high power microwave triggered RF opening switch.
AB  - A 4-port S-band waveguide structure was designed and fabricated such that a
      signal of any amplitude (less than 1 MW) can be switched from a normally closed
      state, <0.5 dB insertion loss (IL), to an open state >30 dB IL by initiating
      plasma in a gas cell situated at the junction of this waveguide and one
      propagating a megawatt level magnetron pulse. The 90/10 switching time is as low
      as 20 ns with a delay of ~30 ns between the onset of the high power microwave
      pulse and the initial drop of the signal. Two ports of this device are for the
      high power triggering pulse while the other two ports are for the triggered
      signal in a Moreno-like coupler configuration. In order to maintain high
      isolation, these two sets of waveguides are rotated 90 degrees  from each other
      with a TE111 resonator/plasma cell located at the intersection. This manuscript
      describes the design and optimization of this structure using COMSOL 4.4 at the
      design frequency of 2.85 GHz, comparison of simulated scattering parameters with
      measured "cold tests" (testing without plasma), and finally the temporal
      waveforms of this device being used to successfully switch a low power CW signal
      from 2 W to <5 mW on a sub-microsecond timescale. 

PMID- 25832256
TI  - Using fast moving electrode to achieve overvoltage breakdown of gas switch
      stressed with high direct voltages.
AB  - A small-scale fast risetime gas switch attached to a 50 Omega pulse forming line
      is tested. It includes a fast moving electrode and a fixed electrode. For the
      applied direct voltages, such as 2.8 kV, 2.0 kV, and 1.0 kV, the risetimes of
      this switch are tested to be ~3.8 ns, ~2.3 ns, and ~1.1 ns, respectively, while
      the risetimes of a switch with two fixed electrodes are about ~10.1 ns, ~9.0 ns,
      and ~3.6 ns. The results of high-speed photography and laser interferometry
      reveal that the moving electrode will obviously shorten discharge spark length
      but almost will not change the inter-electrodes gas pressure. The reason of
      shortening spark length is the existence of the discharge time delay of gas
      switch. After moving to the static breakdown spacing, the fast moving electrode
      will move on for an additional distance within the discharge time delay, which
      makes gas switch achieve overvoltage breakdown under high direct voltages and
      therefore leads to shorter spark length and faster switch risetime. 

PMID- 25832257
TI  - Post-assembly magnetization of a 100 kW high speed permanent magnet rotor.
AB  - A post-assembly magnetizing fixture has been designed and successfully used to
      magnetize the rotor of a 100 kW high speed permanent magnet synchronous motor.
      The rotor is a solid cylinder with outer diameter of 80 mm and total length of
      515 mm. The permanent magnet material is samarium-cobalt (Sm2Co17) with
      saturation magnetizing field of 6 T. The mechanical stability of the magnetizing
      fixture has been studied as well as the general design methodology. The
      magnetizing coil is subdivided in order to reduce the electromagnetic force, and
      the coils are separately reinforced in different ways. The electromagnetic and
      structural optimization is performed by finite element analysis and verified by
      experiments. 

PMID- 25832258
TI  - Experimental study on parasitic mode suppression using FeSiAl in Relativistic
      Klystron Amplifier.
AB  - Experimental study of parasitic mode suppression using electromagnetic attenuate
      material FeSiAl in an S-band Relativistic Klystron Amplifier (RKA) is presented
      in this paper. The FeSiAl powder is coated and sintered onto the inner surface of
      a drift tube which locates between the input and the middle cavity of the RKA.
      Cold tests show that the attenuate rate of the tube against parasitic mode TE11
      is about 50%. Experiments carried out on the Torch-01 accelerator present that
      the tube is effective in suppressing the parasitic mode. Two typical outputs are
      obtained. When the diode voltage is on a moderate level, the RKA operates well
      and the parasitic mode is totally suppressed. The pulse length of the High Power
      Microwave (HPM) almost equals the electron beam pulse length and the HPM average
      output power is about 300 MW, with a power efficiency of 10%. When the diode
      voltage is on a higher level, the output power and efficiency rise but the
      parasitic mode oscillation occurred and the pulse length is shortened. By
      contrast, the parasitic mode oscillation is too strong for the RKA to operate
      normally with un-sintered drift tube. The experimental study implies that FeSiAl
      is effective in suppressing the parasitic mode oscillation in a certain extent.
      However, total suppression needs a deeper attenuate rate and further
      investigation. 

PMID- 25832259
TI  - Low frequency noise elimination technique for 24-bit Sigma-Delta data acquisition
      systems.
AB  - Low frequency 1/f noise is one of the key limiting factors of high precision
      measurement instruments. In this paper, digital correlated double sampling is
      implemented to reduce the offset and low frequency 1/f noise of a data
      acquisition system with 24-bit sigma delta (Sigma-Delta) analog to digital
      converter (ADC). The input voltage is modulated by cross-coupled switches, which
      are synchronized to the sampling clock, and converted into digital signal by ADC.
      By using a proper switch frequency, the unwanted parasitic signal frequencies
      generated by the switches are avoided. The noise elimination processing is made
      through the principle of digital correlated double sampling, which is equivalent
      to a time shifted subtraction for the sampled voltage. The low frequency 1/f
      noise spectrum density of the data acquisition system is reduced to be flat down
      to the measurement frequency lower limit, which is about 0.0001 Hz in this paper.
      The noise spectrum density is eliminated by more than 60 dB at 0.0001 Hz, with a
      residual noise floor of (9 +/- 2) nV/Hz(1/2) which is limited by the intrinsic
      white noise floor of the ADC above its corner frequency. 

PMID- 25832260
TI  - Reliable and integrated technique for determining resonant frequency in radio
      frequency resonators. Application to a high-precision resonant cavity-based
      displacement sensor.
AB  - This paper presents a reliable and integrated technique for determining the
      resonant frequency of radio frequency resonators, which can be of interest for
      different purposes. The approach uses a heterodyne scheme as phase detector
      coupled to a voltage-controlled oscillator. The system seeks the oscillator
      frequency that produces a phase null in the resonator, which corresponds to the
      resonant frequency. A complete explanation of the technique to determine the
      resonant frequency is presented and experimentally tested. The method has been
      applied to a high-precision displacement sensor based on resonant cavity,
      obtaining a theoretical nanometric precision. 

PMID- 25832261
TI  - An integrated wire harp and readout electronics inside vacuum.
AB  - A wire harp is a well known instrument used in ion beam profile measurement and
      beam diagnostics. Till date, for beam instrumentation, the harp is placed inside
      the vacuum chamber or beam line in direct exposure to the beam profile to be
      measured, whereas the related readout electronics is placed outside somewhere at
      a convenient place. Here, a harp has been developed along with the readout
      electronics as an integrated part of it and both were placed inside the beam line
      vacuum (order of 10(-7) Torr) to make the system much simpler, easy to operate,
      and measure small beam current more accurately. The entire signal conversion and
      processing is done inside the vacuum unlike other systems; hence, the electronics
      is kept inside. This results in a lesser number (only 4 pin) of electrical
      connections (feedthrough) including power which otherwise would have required 32
      feedthrough pins only for signal readout for a 13 * 13 (X * Y) channel harp. This
      paper describes a completely new approach to the design of a conventional beam
      harp widely used for beam instrumentation. 

PMID- 25832262
TI  - Miniature coils for producing pulsed inplane magnetic fields for nanospintronics.
AB  - Nanospintronic and related research often requires the application of quickly
      rising magnetic field pulses in the plane of the studied planar structure. We
      have designed and fabricated sub-millimeter-sized coils capable of delivering
      pulses of the magnetic field up to ~500 Oe in the plane of the sample with the
      rise time of the order of 10 ns. The placement of the sample above the coil
      allows for easy access to its surface with manipulators or light beams for, e.g.,
      Kerr microscopy. We use the fabricated coil to drive magnetic domain walls in 1
      MUm wide permalloy wires and measure magnetic domain wall velocity as a function
      of the applied magnetic field. 

PMID- 25832263
TI  - Free-space reflection method for measuring moisture content and bulk density of
      particulate materials at microwave frequency.
AB  - A measurement system based on free-space reflection method is designed for
      simultaneous and independent determination of moisture content and bulk density
      of particulate materials. The proposed system consists of microwave cavity
      oscillator, horn antenna, slide rail, sample holder, mixer, and digital meter.
      Sand and rice with different moisture contents and bulk densities are chosen as
      samples. Calibration models for moisture content and bulk density are proposed
      according to the measurement of the position of the minimum of the traveling
      standing wave and the ratio of the maximum-to-minimum field strength of the
      traveling-standing wave at different temperatures. The moisture constant, ranging
      from 0% to 24.6%, is obtained with a coefficient of determination (R(2)) greater
      than 0.982 and a standard error of prediction (SEP) value of less than 0.695%.
      The bulk density, ranging from 0.501 g/cm(3) to 1.822 g/cm(3), is determined with
      a R(2) >= 0.961 and a SEP value ranging from 0.0144 g/cm(3) to 0.0382 g/cm(3) for
      different samples. 

PMID- 25832264
TI  - Estimation of channel mismatches in time-interleaved analog-to-digital converters
      based on fractional delay and sine curve fitting.
AB  - This paper proposes an algorithm to estimate the channel mismatches in time
      interleaved analog-to-digital converter (TIADC) based on fractional delay (FD)
      and sine curve fitting. Choose one channel as the reference channel and apply FD
      to the output samples of reference channel to obtain the ideal samples of non
      reference channels with no mismatches. Based on least square method, the sine
      curves are adopted to fit the ideal and the actual samples of non-reference
      channels, and then the mismatch parameters can be estimated by comparing the
      ideal sine curves and the actual ones. The principle of this algorithm is simple
      and easily understood. Moreover, its implementation needs no extra circuits,
      lowering the hardware cost. Simulation results show that the estimation accuracy
      of this algorithm can be controlled within 2%. Finally, the practicability of
      this algorithm is verified by the measurement results of channel mismatch errors
      of a two-channel TIADC prototype. 

PMID- 25832266
TI  - Analyzing surface plasmon resonance data: choosing a correct biphasic model for
      interpretation.
AB  - Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) has been widely used as a label-free biophysical
      technique to quantitatively study biochemical processes. For the SPR data fitting
      using a single exponential function, the procedure to extract the rate constants
      is straightforward. However, there is no simple procedure for SPR data fitting
      with double exponential functions. A highly non-linear fitting procedure is,
      therefore, used to fit the biphasic SPR data with numerical solutions of the rate
      equations. This procedure requires some prior knowledge of the underlying
      interaction mechanism, and the extracted rate constants often have large
      uncertainties. In this report, we propose a new method of analyzing the biphasic
      SPR data using the three commonly employed biphasic models. Our method is based
      on a general analytical solution of the biphasic rate equations, which is much
      more transparent and straightforward than the highly non-linear numerical
      integration approach. Our method can be used to determine the underlying biphasic
      interaction mechanism from the analysis of the SPR data and to extract the rate
      constants with high confidence levels. We have illustrated the procedures with
      examples of the data analysis on simulated SPR profiles, and the results are
      discussed. 

PMID- 25832265
TI  - A prototype hand-held tri-modal instrument for in vivo ultrasound, photoacoustic,
      and fluorescence imaging.
AB  - Multi-modality imaging is beneficial for both preclinical and clinical
      applications as it enables complementary information from each modality to be
      obtained in a single procedure. In this paper, we report the design, fabrication,
      and testing of a novel tri-modal in vivo imaging system to exploit
      molecular/functional information from fluorescence (FL) and photoacoustic (PA)
      imaging as well as anatomical information from ultrasound (US) imaging. The same
      ultrasound transducer was used for both US and PA imaging, bringing the pulsed
      laser light into a compact probe by fiberoptic bundles. The FL subsystem is
      independent of the acoustic components but the front end that delivers and
      collects the light is physically integrated into the same probe. The tri-modal
      imaging system was implemented to provide each modality image in real time as
      well as co-registration of the images. The performance of the system was
      evaluated through phantom and in vivo animal experiments. The results demonstrate
      that combining the modalities does not significantly compromise the performance
      of each of the separate US, PA, and FL imaging techniques, while enabling multi
      modality registration. The potential applications of this novel approach to multi
      modality imaging range from preclinical research to clinical diagnosis,
      especially in detection/localization and surgical guidance of accessible solid
      tumors. 

PMID- 25832267
TI  - A standing wave linear ultrasonic motor operating in in-plane expanding and
      bending modes.
AB  - A novel standing wave linear ultrasonic motor operating in in-plane expanding and
      bending modes was proposed in this study. The stator (or actuator) of the linear
      motor was made of a simple single Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) ceramic square
      plate (15 * 15 * 2 mm(3)) with a circular hole (D = 6.7 mm) in the center. The
      geometric parameters of the stator were computed with the finite element analysis
      to produce in-plane bi-mode standing wave vibration. The calculated results
      predicted that a driving tip attached at midpoint of one edge of the stator can
      produce two orthogonal, approximate straight-line trajectories, which can be used
      to move a slider in linear motion via frictional forces in forward or reverse
      direction. The investigations showed that the proposed linear motor can produce a
      six times higher power density than that of a previously reported square plate
      motor. 

PMID- 25832268
TI  - Efficient block processing of long duration biotelemetric brain data for health
      care monitoring.
AB  - In real time clinical environment, the brain signals which doctor need to analyze
      are usually very long. Such a scenario can be made simple by partitioning the
      input signal into several blocks and applying signal conditioning. This paper
      presents various block based adaptive filter structures for obtaining high
      resolution electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, which estimate the deterministic
      components of the EEG signal by removing noise. To process these long duration
      signals, we propose Time domain Block Least Mean Square (TDBLMS) algorithm for
      brain signal enhancement. In order to improve filtering capability, we introduce
      normalization in the weight update recursion of TDBLMS, which results TD-B
      normalized-least mean square (LMS). To increase accuracy and resolution in the
      proposed noise cancelers, we implement the time domain cancelers in frequency
      domain which results frequency domain TDBLMS and FD-B-Normalized-LMS. Finally, we
      have applied these algorithms on real EEG signals obtained from human using
      Emotive Epoc EEG recorder and compared their performance with the conventional
      LMS algorithm. The results show that the performance of the block based
      algorithms is superior to the LMS counter-parts in terms of signal to noise
      ratio, convergence rate, excess mean square error, misadjustment, and coherence. 

PMID- 25832269
TI  - Design of a four-degree-of-freedom nano positioner utilizing electromagnetic
      actuators and flexure mechanisms.
AB  - Positioning devices are widely used in industrial applications. High precision is
      a key performance of the positioner and recently high precision positioners for
      advanced applications are required to satisfy other performances such as larger
      motion range, nanometer level precision, and multiple degree-of-freedom (DOF)
      motion within compact size. We propose a new 4-DOF high-precision positioner
      employing voice coil motors and flexure guides. Millimeter motion range and nano
      level resolution were achieved simultaneously, utilizing the frictionless
      characteristic of the voice coil motors and the flexures. The mathematical model
      describing static and dynamic behaviors of the positioner was developed and the
      design parameters were optimized to achieve the best performances. The proposed
      positioner was manufactured with the size of 180 * 180 * 30.7 mm(3) which was
      very compact. The experiment of feedback control showed the motion range more
      than 1.80 * 1.80 mm(2) in-plane and 0.3 mm vertically and the minimum resolution
      of 10 nm in-plane and 14 nm vertically. 

PMID- 25832270
TI  - Tetrafluoroethane (R134a) hydrate formation within variable volume reactor
      accompanied by evaporation and condensation.
AB  - Vast size hydrate formation reactors with fast conversion rate are required for
      the economic implementation of seawater desalination utilizing gas hydrate
      technology. The commercial target production rate is order of thousand tons of
      potable water per day per train. Various heat and mass transfer enhancement
      schemes including agitation, spraying, and bubbling have been examined to
      maximize the production capacities in scaled up design of hydrate formation
      reactors. The present experimental study focused on acquiring basic knowledge
      needed to design variable volume reactors to produce tetrafluoroethane hydrate
      slurry. Test vessel was composed of main cavity with fixed volume of 140 ml and
      auxiliary cavity with variable volume of 0 ~ 64 ml. Temperatures at multiple
      locations within vessel and pressure were monitored while visual access was made
      through front window. Alternating evaporation and condensation induced by cyclic
      volume change provided agitation due to density differences among water and
      vapor, liquid and hydrate R134a as well as extended interface area, which
      improved hydrate formation kinetics coupled with latent heat release and
      absorption. Influences of coolant temperature, piston stroke/speed, and volume
      change period on hydrate formation kinetics were investigated. Suggestions of
      reactor design improvement for future experimental study are also made. 

PMID- 25832271
TI  - A fluorescence XAFS measurement instrument in the soft X-ray region toward
      observation under operando conditions.
AB  - X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) measurements are widely used for the
      analysis of electronic structure. Generally, XAFS in the soft X-ray region is
      measured under vacuum, but chemical structures under vacuum are typically
      different from those under operando conditions, where chemical species exhibit
      their function. Here, we developed an XAFS measurement instrument, as a step
      toward operando fluorescent, which yields XAFS measurement using synchrotron
      radiation in the soft X-ray region. We applied this method to analyze the local
      electronic structure of the sulfur atoms in L-cysteine in different pH solutions.
      In water at pH 7, the hydrogen atom does not dissociate from the thiol (-SH)
      group in L-cysteine, which forms a structure surrounded by and interacting with
      water molecules. The XAFS spectrum of L-cysteine in solution was altered by
      changing the pH. At pH 9, the hydrogen atom dissociated and a thiolate anion was
      formed. Although the -SH group was oxidized to SO4 (2-) when L-cysteine was
      adsorbed on a metal surface and dried, no oxidation was observed in solution.
      This may be because the water molecules were densely packed and protected the -SH
      group from oxidation. Our results show that this instrument aimed toward operando
      fluorescence XAFS measurements in the soft X-ray region is useful for structural
      analysis of sulfur atoms in organic molecules in air and in solution. The
      instrument will be applied to the structural analysis of materials containing
      elements that have absorption edges in soft X-ray region, such as phosphorus and
      alkali metals (potassium and cesium). It will be also particularly useful for the
      analysis of samples that are difficult to handle under vacuum and materials that
      have specific functions in solution. 

PMID- 25832272
TI  - Spatially resolved and observer-free experimental quantification of spatial
      resolution in tomographic images.
AB  - We present a novel framework and experimental method for the quantification of
      spatial resolution of a tomography system. The framework adopts the "black box"
      view of an imaging system, considering only its input and output. The tomography
      system is locally stimulated with a step input, viz., a sharp edge. The output,
      viz., the reconstructed images, is analysed by Fourier decomposition of their
      spatial frequency components, and the local limiting spatial resolution is
      determined using a cut-off threshold. At no point is an observer involved in the
      process. The framework also includes a means of translating the quantification
      region in the imaging space, thus creating a spatially resolved map of
      objectively quantified spatial resolution. As a case-study, the framework is
      experimentally applied using a gaseous propane phantom measured by a well
      established chemical species tomography system. A spatial resolution map
      consisting of 28 regions is produced. In isolated regions, the indicated
      performance is 4-times better than that suggested in the literature and varies by
      57% across the imaging space. A mechanism based on adjacent but non-interacting
      beams is hypothesised to explain the observed behaviour. The mechanism suggests
      that, as also independently concluded by other methods, a geometrically regular
      beam array maintains maximum objectivity in reconstructions. We believe that the
      proposed framework, methodology, and findings will be of value in the design and
      performance evaluation of tomographic imaging arrays and systems. 

PMID- 25832273
TI  - Hard disk drive based microsecond X-ray chopper for characterization of
      ionization chambers and photodiodes.
AB  - A fast X-ray chopper capable of producing ms long X-ray pulses with a typical
      rise time of few MUs was realized. It is ideally suited to investigate the
      temporal response of X-ray detectors with response times of the order of MUs to
      ms, in particular, any kind of ionization chambers and large area photo diodes.
      The drive mechanism consists of a brushless DC motor and driver electronics from
      a common hard disk drive, keeping the cost at an absolute minimum. Due to its
      simple construction and small dimensions, this chopper operates at home lab based
      X-ray tubes and synchrotron radiation sources as well. The dynamics of the most
      important detectors used in time resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy, namely,
      ionization chambers and Passivated Implanted Planar Silicon photodiodes, were
      investigated in detail. The results emphasize the applicability of this X-ray
      chopper. 

PMID- 25832274
TI  - A novel experimental approach to investigate radiolysis processes in liquid
      samples using collimated radiation sources.
AB  - Here is detailed a novel and low-cost experimental method for high-throughput
      automated fluid sample irradiation. The sample is delivered via syringe pump to a
      nozzle, where it is expressed in the form of a hanging droplet into the path of a
      beam of ionising radiation. The dose delivery is controlled by an upstream lead
      shutter, which allows the beam to reach the droplet for a user defined period of
      time. The droplet is then further expressed after irradiation until it falls into
      one well of a standard microplate. The entire system is automated and can be
      operated remotely using software designed in-house, allowing for use in
      environments deemed unsafe for the user (synchrotron beamlines, for example).
      Depending on the number of wells in the microplate, several droplets can be
      irradiated before any human interaction is necessary, and the user may choose up
      to 10 samples per microplate using an array of identical syringe pumps, the
      design of which is described here. The nozzles consistently produce droplets of
      25.1 +/- 0.5 MUl. 

PMID- 25832275
TI  - A compact time-of-flight mass spectrometer for ion source characterization.
AB  - A compact time-of-flight mass spectrometer with overall dimension of about 413 *
      250 * 414 mm based on orthogonal injection and angle reflection has been
      developed for ion source characterization. Configuration and principle of the
      time-of-flight mass spectrometer are introduced in this paper. The mass
      resolution is optimized to be about 1690 (FWHM), and the ion energy detection
      range is tested to be between about 3 and 163 eV with the help of electron impact
      ion source. High mass resolution and compact configuration make this spectrometer
      useful to provide a valuable diagnostic for ion spectra fundamental research and
      study the mass to charge composition of plasma with wide range of parameters. 

PMID- 25832276
TI  - Explosively driven air blast in a conical shock tube.
AB  - Explosively driven shock tubes present challenges in terms of safety concerns and
      expensive upkeep of test facilities but provide more realistic approximations to
      the air blast resulting from free-field detonations than those provided by gas
      driven shock tubes. Likewise, the geometry of conical shock tubes can naturally
      approximate a sector cut from a spherically symmetric blast, leading to a better
      agreement with the blast profiles of free-field detonations when compared to
      those provided by shock tubes employing constant cross sections. The work
      presented in this article documents the design, fabrication, and testing of an
      explosively driven conical shock tube whose goal was to closely replicate the
      blast profile seen from a larger, free-field detonation. By constraining the
      blast through a finite area, large blasts (which can add significant damage and
      safety constraints) can be simulated using smaller explosive charges. The
      experimental data presented herein show that a close approximation to the free
      field air blast profile due to a 1.5 lb charge of C4 at 76 in. can be achieved by
      using a 0.032 lb charge in a 76-in.-long conical shock tube (which translates to
      an amplification factor of nearly 50). Modeling and simulation tools were used
      extensively in designing this shock tube to minimize expensive fabrication costs.

PMID- 25832277
TI  - Tip localization of an atomic force microscope in transmission microscopy with
      nanoscale precision.
AB  - Since the atomic force microscope (AFM) has evolved into a general purpose
      platform for mechanical experiments at the nanoscale, the need for a simple and
      generally applicable localization of the AFM cantilever in the reference frame of
      an optical microscope has grown. Molecular manipulations like in single molecule
      cut and paste or force spectroscopy as well as tip mediated nanolithography are
      prominent examples for the broad variety of applications implemented to date. In
      contrast to the different kinds of superresolution microscopy where fluorescence
      is used to localize the emitter, we, here, employ the absorbance of the tip to
      localize its position in transmission microscopy. We show that in a low aperture
      illumination, the tip causes a significant reduction of the intensity in the
      image plane of the microscope objective when it is closer than a few hundred nm.
      By independently varying the z-position of the sample slide, we could verify that
      this diffraction limited image of the tip is not caused by a near field effect
      but is rather caused by the absorbance of the transmitted light in the low apex
      needle-like tip. We localized the centroid position of this tip image with a
      precision of better than 6 nm and used it in a feedback loop to position the tip
      into nano-apertures of 110 nm radius. Single-molecule force spectroscopy traces
      on the unfolding of individual green fluorescent proteins within the nano
      apertures showed that their center positions were repeatedly approached with very
      high fidelity leaving the specific handle chemistry on the tip's surface
      unimpaired. 

PMID- 25832278
TI  - Photoacoustic signal and noise analysis for Si thin plate: signal correction in
      frequency domain.
AB  - Methods for photoacoustic signal measurement, rectification, and analysis for 85
      MUm thin Si samples in the 20-20 000 Hz modulation frequency range are presented.
      Methods for frequency-dependent amplitude and phase signal rectification in the
      presence of coherent and incoherent noise as well as distortion due to microphone
      characteristics are presented. Signal correction is accomplished using inverse
      system response functions deduced by comparing real to ideal signals for a sample
      with well-known bulk parameters and dimensions. The system response is a piece
      wise construction, each component being due to a particular effect of the
      measurement system. Heat transfer and elastic effects are modeled using standard
      Rosencweig-Gersho and elastic-bending theories. Thermal diffusion, thermoelastic,
      and plasmaelastic signal components are calculated and compared to measurements.
      The differences between theory and experiment are used to detect and correct
      signal distortion and to determine detector and sound-card characteristics.
      Corrected signal analysis is found to faithfully reflect known sample parameters.

PMID- 25832279
TI  - A methodology for high resolution digital image correlation in high temperature
      experiments.
AB  - We propose a methodology for performing high resolution Digital Image Correlation
      (DIC) analysis during high-temperature mechanical tests. Specifically, we
      describe a technique for producing a stable, high-quality pattern on metal
      surfaces along with a simple optical system that uses a visible-range camera and
      a long-range microscope. The results are analyzed with a high-quality open-source
      DIC software developed by us. Using the proposed technique, we successfully
      acquired high-resolution strain maps of the crack tip field in a nickel
      superalloy sample at 1000  degrees C. 

PMID- 25832280
TI  - Method for collecting thermocouple data via secured shell over a wireless local
      area network in real time.
AB  - This manuscript addresses the design, hardware details, construction, and
      programming of an apparatus allowing an experimenter to monitor and record high
      temperature thermocouple measurements of dynamic systems in real time. The
      apparatus uses wireless network technology to bridge the gap between a dynamic
      (moving) sample frame and the static laboratory frame. Our design is a custom
      solution applied to samples that rotate through large angular displacements where
      hard-wired and typical slip-ring solutions are not practical because of noise
      considerations. The apparatus consists of a Raspberry PI mini-Linux computer, an
      Arduino micro-controller, an Ocean Controls thermocouple multiplexer shield, and
      k-type thermocouples. 

PMID- 25832281
TI  - Conduction-coupled Tesla transformer.
AB  - A proof-of-principle Tesla transformer circuit is introduced. The new transformer
      exhibits the high voltage-high power output signal of shock-excited transformers.
      The circuit, with specification of proper circuit element values, is capable of
      obtaining extreme oscillatory voltages. The primary and secondary portions of the
      circuit communicate solely by conduction. The destructive arcing between the
      primary and secondary inductors in electromagnetically coupled transformers is
      ubiquitous. Flashover is eliminated in the new transformer as the high-voltage
      inductors do not interpenetrate and so do not possess an annular volume of
      electric field. The inductors are remote from one another. The high voltage
      secondary inductor is isolated in space, except for a base feed conductor, and
      obtains earth by its self-capacitance to the surroundings. Governing equations,
      for the ideal case of no damping, are developed from first principles.
      Experimental, theoretical, and circuit simulator data are presented for the new
      transformer. Commercial high-temperature superconductors are discussed as a means
      to eliminate the counter-intuitive damping due to small primary inductances in
      both the electromagnetic-coupled and new conduction-coupled transformers. 

PMID- 25832282
TI  - A novel design of Rogowski coil for measurement of nanosecond-risetime high-level
      pulsed current.
AB  - In pulsed power systems, pulsed currents with risetimes from nanosecond to
      microsecond can be effectively measured by self-integrating Rogowski coils.
      Appropriate design of the structure and the integrating resistor is crucial to
      the high-frequency response of a coil. In this paper, several novel designs of
      Rogowski coil's integrating resistors were proposed and tested. Experimental
      results showed that the optimized coil could response square waves with fronts of
      ~1.5 ns and had a sensitivity of ~0.75 V/kA. The maximal peak current was
      designed as 100 kA. 

PMID- 25832283
TI  - Experimental apparatus with full optical access for combustion experiments with
      laminar flames from a single circular nozzle at elevated pressures.
AB  - The design and features of a high pressure chamber and burner that is suitable
      for combustion experiments at elevated pressures are presented. The high pressure
      combustion apparatus utilizes a high pressure burner that is comprised of a
      chamber burner module and an easily accessible interchangeable burner module to
      add to its flexibility. The burner is well suited to study both premixed and non
      premixed flames. The optical access to the chamber is provided through four
      viewports for direct visual observations and optical-based diagnostic techniques.
      Auxiliary features include numerous access ports and electrical connections and
      as a result, the combustion apparatus is also suitable to work with plasmas and
      liquid fuels. Images of methane flames at elevated pressures up to 25 atm and
      preliminary results of optical-based measurements demonstrate the suitability of
      the high pressure experimental apparatus for combustion experiments. 

PMID- 25832284
TI  - High average power, highly brilliant laser-produced plasma source for soft X-ray
      spectroscopy.
AB  - In this work, a novel laser-produced plasma source is presented which delivers
      pulsed broadband soft X-radiation in the range between 100 and 1200 eV. The
      source was designed in view of long operating hours, high stability, and cost
      effectiveness. It relies on a rotating and translating metal target and achieves
      high stability through an on-line monitoring device using a four quadrant extreme
      ultraviolet diode in a pinhole camera arrangement. The source can be operated
      with three different laser pulse durations and various target materials and is
      equipped with two beamlines for simultaneous experiments. Characterization
      measurements are presented with special emphasis on the source position and
      emission stability of the source. As a first application, a near edge X-ray
      absorption fine structure measurement on a thin polyimide foil shows the
      potential of the source for soft X-ray spectroscopy. 

PMID- 25832285
TI  - Note: self-biased magnetic field sensor using end-bonding magnetoelectric
      heterostructure.
AB  - A high sensitivity magnetic field sensor based on magnetoelectric (ME) coupling
      is presented. The ME sensor FeCuNbSiB/Nickel-PZT-FeCuNbSiB/Nickel is made by
      bonding magnetization-graded magnetostrictive materials FeCuNbSiB/Nickel at the
      free ends of the piezoelectric Pb(Zr1-x,Tix)O3 (PZT) plate. Experiments indicate
      that the proposed sensor has a zero-bias field sensitivity of 14.7 V/Oe at
      resonance, which is ~41.6 times larger than that of previous FeCuNbSiB-PZT
      FeCuNbSiB. Furthermore, without external biased field, it can detect dc magnetic
      field changes as small as ~9 nT near the resonant frequency. This proposed ME
      sensor provides new pathways to reducing or even eliminating the need of bias
      fields for ME sensors. 

PMID- 25832286
TI  - Note: proton microbeam formation with continuously variable kinetic energy using
      a compact system for three-dimensional proton beam writing.
AB  - A compact focused gaseous ion beam system has been developed to form proton
      microbeams of a few hundreds of keV with a penetration depth of micrometer range
      in 3-dimensional proton beam writing. Proton microbeams with kinetic energies of
      100-140 keV were experimentally formed on the same point at a constant ratio of
      the kinetic energy of the object side to that of the image side. The experimental
      results indicate that the beam diameters were measured to be almost constant at
      approximately 6 MUm at the same point with the kinetic energy range. These
      characteristics of the system were experimentally and numerically demonstrated to
      be maintained as long as the ratio was constant. 

PMID- 25832287
TI  - Note: fast neutron efficiency in CR-39 nuclear track detectors.
AB  - CR-39 samples are commonly employed for fast neutron detection in fusion reactors
      and in inertial confinement fusion experiments. The literature reported
      efficiencies are strongly depending on experimental conditions and, in some
      cases, highly dispersed. The present note analyses the dependence of efficiency
      as a function of various parameters and experimental conditions in both the
      radiator-assisted and the stand-alone CR-39 configurations. Comparisons of
      literature experimental data with Monte Carlo calculations and optimized
      efficiency values are shown and discussed. 

PMID- 25832289
TI  - Preoperative rosuvastatin protects patients with coronary artery disease
      undergoing noncardiac surgery.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We explored whether preoperative rosuvastatin could protect the
      cardiac health of patients with coronary artery disease undergoing emergency,
      noncardiac surgery. METHODS: We randomized 550 noncardiac emergency surgery
      patients with stable coronary artery disease on long-term statin therapy to
      treatment with and without preoperative rosuvastatin. All patients received
      rosuvastatin after surgery. We evaluated the incidence of myocardial necrosis and
      major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) 30 days and 6
      months after surgery. RESULTS: Creatinine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB) isoform
      elevations occurred less frequently 12 and 24 h after noncardiac emergency
      surgery in the experimental group than in the control group (p = 0.029). After
      surgery, the incidence of MACCE was also lower in the experimental group than in
      the control group (p = 0.019). The difference was mainly due to the incidence of
      perioperative myocardial infarction (p = 0.029). Multivariable analysis found
      that rosuvastatin reload reduced the incidence of MACCE 52% 6 months after
      surgery (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative rosuvastatin reload therapy
      decreases the incidence of myocardial necrosis and MACCE after noncardiac
      emergency surgery in patients with stable coronary artery disease on long-term
      statin therapy.

PMID- 25832290
TI  - Can Genomic Amplification of Human Telomerase Gene and C-MYC in Liquid-Based
      Cytological Specimens Be Used as a Method for Opportunistic Cervical Cancer
      Screening?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of five methods including the ThinPrep
      cytological test (TCT), liquid-based cytology, the human papillomavirus (HPV)
      test, detection of the TERC and C-MYC genes and visual inspection with acetic
      acid/Lugol's iodine (VIA/VILI) for opportunistic cervical cancer screening, and
      to explore whether genomic amplification of the human telomerase gene and C-MYC
      in liquid-based cytological specimens can be used as a method for opportunistic
      cervical cancer screening. METHODS: Data were collected prospectively from 1,010
      consecutive patients who visited the gynecology clinic and agreed to participate
      in opportunistic cervical cancer screening at our institution from November 2010
      to July 2011. The five methods mentioned above were used for the screening in all
      cases. The histopathological diagnosis served as the gold standard for the
      evaluation. A comparison between the five screening methods for the diagnosis of
      high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN II and III) was performed for
      their sensitivity, specificity, false-positive rate, false-negative rate,
      accuracy rate, positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio. A
      comprehensive comparison of the different combination programs for screening was
      performed according to the analysis of the receiver operating characteristic
      (ROC) curve area. The accuracy of the five screening methods for the diagnosis of
      high-grade CIN (CIN II and III) was compared in the different age groups. A joint
      model for the diagnosis using different combinations of the five methods was
      developed according to the analysis by the SAS 8.0 software. The model was used
      to evaluate the accuracy of the different combination programs for the diagnosis
      of high-grade CIN, and the results were confirmed by the histopathological
      examination. RESULTS: The sensitivity and specificity of the single screen method
      (TCT, HPV test, detection of the TERC and C-MYC genes, and VIA/VILI method) for
      CIN II was 80.9, 70.2, 72.3, 76.6, and 72.3%, as well as 98.0, 95.1, 96.3, 96.3,
      and 90.4%, respectively. The sensitivity of the single screening method in four
      different age groups (25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 55-66 years) was as follows: TCT,
      64.3, 90.9 76.5, and 85.7%; HPV test, 78.6, 72.7, 60.0, and 71.4%; the TERC gene,
      50.0, 90.9, 80.0, and 71.4%; the C-MYC gene, 50.0, 90.9, 80.0, and 100%;
      VIA/VILI, 85.7, 81.8, 66.7, and 42.9%. The specificity was: TCT, 98.9, 98.1,
      98.8, and 95.2%; HPV test, 96.7, 95.1, 92.2, and 100%; the TERC gene, 95.0, 98.9,
      94.0, and 95.2%; the C-MYC gene, 97.2, 97.3, 93.4, and 97.6%; VIA/VILI, 91.2,
      90.5, 89.8, and 88.1%, respectively. In the joint model for the diagnosis using
      different combinations, we found Logit (P) = 5.757 - 4.055 * TCT - 3.724 * HPV.
      The sensitivity and specificity in the combination program with TCT (primary
      screening) and HPV testing (adjunct screening) were 78.7 and 99.5%, while in the
      combination with HPV (primary) and TCT (adjunct), they were 53.2 and 99.7%,
      respectively. However, in the cytology-HPV parallel test, they were 97.9 and
      93.4%. The ROC analysis revealed that the cytology-HPV parallel test is superior
      to the combinations of either TCT (primary) and HPV (adjunct) or HPV (primary)
      and TCT (adjunct; AUCTCT-HPV parallel test = 0.956; AUCTCT/primaryHPV/adjunct =
      0.764). CONCLUSIONS: Opportunistic cervical cancer screening is a practical
      approach to improve the efficiency of cervical cancer screening. Although the
      accuracy of TCT is the highest of the five screening methods for the diagnosis of
      high-grade CIN, it is still subject to sample acquisition and the practitioner's
      skill and experience. Since the efficacy of VIA/VILI may vary in all ages, it is
      not recommended for menopausal and perimenopausal women.

PMID- 25832291
TI  - Clinical features and survival of asian pediatric patients with paroxysmal
      nocturnal hemoglobinuria: results from a single center in China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare disease,
      especially in children. To characterize the clinical presentations and survival,
      we performed a retrospective analysis of pediatric patients. METHODS: We reviewed
      55 pediatric patients with PNH referred to our hospital from January 1990 through
      June 2012 to assess clinical presentations, survival, and differences among
      subcategories. RESULTS: The overall survival 10 years after diagnosis estimated
      via the Kaplan-Meier method was 77.6%. The cohort of patients was divided into
      subcategories of classic PNH, PNH/aplastic anemia (AA), and subclinical PNH (PNH
      sc)/AA based on the recently proposed PNH working clinical classification. We
      found that patients with classic PNH and PNH/AA had larger PNH clones and many
      more parameters of hemolysis, but patients with PNH-sc/AA had smaller PNH clones,
      fewer parameters of hemolysis, and a higher rate of bone marrow failure. Our
      results revealed a high rate of bone marrow failure and a low rate of
      hemoglobinuria at presentation. Furthermore, thrombotic events were not observed
      in our patients, which is significantly different from the rate seen in Caucasian
      patients. Additionally, pediatric patients with PNH may develop bone marrow
      cytogenetic abnormalities. CONCLUSION: This study provides insight into Chinese
      pediatric PNH patients and may aid in setting up individualized therapeutic
      regimens.

PMID- 25832292
TI  - Red, green, and blue luminescence by carbon dots: full-color emission tuning and
      multicolor cellular imaging.
AB  - A facile approach for preparation of photoluminescent (PL) carbon dots (CDs) is
      reported. The three resulting CDs emit bright and stable red, green and blue
      (RGB) colors of luminescence, under a single ultraviolet-light excitation.
      Alterations of PL emission of these CDs are tentatively proposed to result from
      the difference in their particle size and nitrogen content. Interestingly, up
      conversion (UC)PL of these CDs is also observed. Moreover, flexible full-color
      emissive PVA films can be achieved through mixing two or three CDs in the
      appropriate ratios. These CDs also show low cytotoxicity and excellent cellular
      imaging capability. The facile preparation and unique optical features make these
      CDs potentially useful in numerous applications such as light-emitting diodes,
      full-color displays, and multiplexed (UC)PL bioimaging. 

PMID- 25832293
TI  - Isostrychnine synthesis mediated by hypervalent iodine reagent.
AB  - Althought there are several reported synthetic routes to strychnine, one of the
      most widely recognized alkaloids, we report an unexplored route with an oxidative
      dearomatizing process mediated by hypervalent iodine as the key step. The new
      syntheses of isostrychnine and strychnine have been achieved from an readily
      available phenol in nine and ten steps. In addition to the key step, these
      syntheses involve an aza Michael-ether-enol tandem transformation, two heck type
      cyclizations, a reductive isomerization, and a double reductive amination in
      cascade leading to the alkaloid main core. 

PMID- 25832294
TI  - A rate-based transcutaneous CO2 sensor for noninvasive respiration monitoring.
AB  - The pain and risk of infection associated with invasive blood sampling for blood
      gas measurements necessitate the search for reliable noninvasive techniques. In
      this work we developed a novel rate-based noninvasive method for a safe and fast
      assessment of respiratory status. A small sampler was built to collect the gases
      diffusing out of the skin. It was connected to a CO2 sensor through gas
      impermeable tubing. During a measurement, the CO2 initially present in the
      sampler was first removed by purging it with nitrogen. The gases in the system
      were then recirculated between the sampler and the CO2 sensor, and the CO2
      diffusion rate into the sampler was measured. Because the measurement is based on
      the initial transcutaneous diffusion rate, reaching mass transfer equilibrium and
      heating the skin is no longer required, thus, making it much faster and safer
      than traditional method. A series of designed experiments were performed to
      analyze the effect of the measurement parameters such as sampler size,
      measurement location, subject positions, and movement. After the factor analysis
      tests, the prototype was sent to a level IV NICU for clinical trial. The results
      show that the measured initial rate of increase in CO2 partial pressure is
      linearly correlated with the corresponding arterial blood gas measurements. The
      new approach can be used as a trending tool, making frequent blood sampling
      unnecessary for respiratory status monitoring. 

PMID- 25832295
TI  - Solid-phase extraction coupled with ultra high performance liquid chromatography
      and electrospray tandem mass spectrometry for the highly sensitive determination
      of five iodinated X-ray contrast media in environmental water samples.
AB  - A highly sensitive method based on solid-phase extraction and ultra high
      performance liquid chromatography with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry has
      been developed for simultaneous determination of five iodinated X-ray contrast
      media in environmental water samples. Various solid-phase extraction cartridges
      have been evaluated and a combination of LiChrolute EN and ENVI-Carb solid phase
      extraction cartridges was selected for sample enrichment. The method was
      comprehensively validated on ground water, tap water, surface water, drinking
      water, and waste water by the conventional procedures: linearity, method
      detection limits, accuracy and precision, matrix effects. Good linearity (R(2) >
      0.999), low detection limits (0.4-8.1 ng/L), satisfactory recoveries (55.1
      109.5%) and precision (0.8-10.0% for intra-day precisions and 0.6-16.5% for inter
      day precisions) were obtained for all the target compounds. Iopamidol, iohexol,
      and diatrizoate in some matrices were affected by matrix effects, which were
      slightly eased by using the isotope-labeled internal standard. The developed
      method was successfully applied for real samples collected in Shanghai, China,
      with detected concentrations up to 2200 +/- 200 and 9000 +/- 1000 ng/L for
      iohexol and iopamidol, respectively. 

PMID- 25832296
TI  - Genetic analyses benefit from using less heterogeneous phenotypes: an
      illustration with the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS).
AB  - Phenotypic heterogeneity of depression has been cited as one of the causes of the
      limited success to detect genetic variants in genome-wide studies. The 7-item
      Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) was developed to detect depression
      in individuals with physical health problems. An initial psychometric analysis
      showed that a short version ("HADS-4") is less heterogeneous and hence more
      reliable than the full scale, and correlates equally strong with a DSM-oriented
      depression scale. We compared the HADS-D and the HADS-4 to assess the benefits of
      using less heterogeneous phenotype measures in genetic analyses. We compared HADS
      D and HADS-4 in three separate analyses: (1) twin- and family-based heritability
      estimation, (2) SNP-based heritability estimation using the software GCTA, and
      (3) a genome-wide association study (GWAS). The twin study resulted in
      heritability estimates between 18% and 25%, with additive genetic variance being
      the largest component. There was also evidence for assortative mating and a
      dominance component of genetic variance, with HADS-4 having slightly lower
      estimates of assortment. Importantly, when estimating heritability from SNPs, the
      HADS-D did not show a significant genetic variance component, while for the HADS
      4, a statistically significant amount of heritability was estimated. Moreover,
      the HADS-4 had substantially more SNPs with small P-values in the GWAS analysis
      than did the HADS-D. Our results underline the benefits of using more homogeneous
      phenotypes in psychiatric genetic analyses. Homogeneity can be increased by
      focusing on core symptoms of disorders, thus reducing the noise in aggregate
      phenotypes caused by substantially different symptom profiles. 

PMID- 25832297
TI  - Clinical relevance of as-needed treatment with nalmefene in alcohol-dependent
      patients.
AB  - Nalmefene is the first drug approved for reduction of alcohol consumption. The
      aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical relevance of treatment with
      nalmefene in alcohol-dependent patients with a high drinking risk level from two
      randomised placebo-controlled 6-month studies (NCT00811720 and NCT00812461).
      Response criteria were based on alcohol consumption, Clinical Global Impression,
      and Short Form Health Survey mental component summary scores at month 6, analysed
      using logistic regression. The proportion of responders was higher in the
      nalmefene group than in the placebo group with odds ratios significantly in
      favour of nalmefene for all responder criteria; numbers-needed-to-treat ranged
      from 6 to 10. Significant differences from placebo in clinician-rated and patient
      reported outcomes, and liver enzymes further supported the clinical relevance of
      the treatment effect. In conclusion, this study supports the clinical relevance
      of nalmefene treatment in patients with alcohol dependence. Nalmefene may help to
      reduce the alcohol-related burden and the large treatment gap, with currently
      less than 10% of alcohol-dependent patients in Europe receiving treatment.

PMID- 25832298
TI  - Evidence for human norovirus infection of dogs in the United kingdom.
AB  - Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are a major cause of viral gastroenteritis, with an
      estimated 3 million cases per year in the United Kingdom. HuNoVs have recently
      been isolated from pet dogs in Europe (M. Summa, C.-H. von Bonsdorff, and L.
      Maunula, J Clin Virol 53:244-247, 2012,
      http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2011.12.014), raising concerns about potential
      zoonotic infections. With 31% of United Kingdom households owning a dog, this
      could prove to be an important transmission route. To examine this risk, canine
      tissues were studied for their ability to bind to HuNoV in vitro. In addition,
      canine stool samples were analyzed for the presence of viral nucleic acid, and
      canine serum samples were tested for the presence of anti-HuNoV antibodies. The
      results showed that seven different genotypes of HuNoV virus-like particles
      (VLPs) can bind to canine gastrointestinal tissue, suggesting that infection is
      at least theoretically possible. Although HuNoV RNA was not identified in stool
      samples from 248 dogs, serological evidence of previous exposure to HuNoV was
      obtained in 43/325 canine serum samples. Remarkably, canine seroprevalence for
      different HuNoV genotypes mirrored the seroprevalence in the human population.
      Though entry and replication within cells have not been demonstrated, the canine
      serological data indicate that dogs produce an immune response to HuNoV, implying
      productive infection. In conclusion, this study reveals zoonotic implications for
      HuNoV, and to elucidate the significance of this finding, further epidemiological
      and molecular investigations will be essential. 

PMID- 25832299
TI  - Use of Whole-Genome Phylogeny and Comparisons for Development of a Multiplex PCR
      Assay To Identify Sequence Type 36 Vibrio parahaemolyticus.
AB  - Vibrio parahaemolyticus sequence type 36 (ST36) strains that are native to the
      Pacific Ocean have recently caused multistate outbreaks of gastroenteritis linked
      to shellfish harvested from the Atlantic Ocean. Whole-genome comparisons of 295
      genomes of V. parahaemolyticus, including several traced to northeastern U.S.
      sources, were used to identify diagnostic loci, one putatively encoding an
      endonuclease (prp), and two others potentially conferring O-antigenic properties
      (cps and flp). The combination of all three loci was present in only one clade of
      closely related strains of ST36, ST59, and one additional unknown sequence type.
      However, each locus was also identified outside this clade, with prp and flp
      occurring in only two nonclade isolates and cps in four. Based on the
      distribution of these loci in sequenced genomes, prp identified clade strains
      with >99% accuracy, but the addition of one more locus increased accuracy to
      100%. Oligonucleotide primers targeting prp and cps were combined in a multiplex
      PCR method that defines species using the tlh locus and determines the presence
      of both the tdh and trh hemolysin-encoding genes, which are also present in ST36.
      Application of the method in vitro to a collection of 94 clinical isolates
      collected over a 4-year period in three northeastern U.S. states and 87
      environmental isolates revealed that the prp and cps amplicons were detected only
      in clinical isolates identified as belonging to the ST36 clade and in no
      environmental isolates from the region. The assay should improve detection and
      surveillance, thereby reducing infections. 

PMID- 25832300
TI  - Successful Combination of Nucleic Acid Amplification Test Diagnostics and
      Targeted Deferred Neisseria gonorrhoeae Culture.
AB  - Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) are recommended for the diagnosis of N.
      gonorrhoeae infections because of their superior sensitivity. Increasing NAAT use
      causes a decline in crucial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance data,
      which rely on culture. We analyzed the suitability of the ESwab system for NAAT
      diagnostics and deferred targeted N. gonorrhoeae culture to allow selective and
      efficient culture based on NAAT results. We included patients visiting the STI
      Clinic Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in 2013. Patient characteristics and
      urogenital and rectal samples for direct N. gonorrhoeae culture, standard NAAT,
      and ESwab were collected. Standard NAAT and NAAT on ESwab samples were performed
      using the Aptima Combo 2 assay for N. gonorrhoeae and C. trachomatis. Two
      deferred N. gonorrhoeae cultures were performed on NAAT-positive ESwab samples
      after storage at 4 degrees C for 1 to 3 days. We included 2,452 samples from
      1,893 patients. In the standard NAAT, 107 samples were N. gonorrhoeae positive
      and 284 were C. trachomatis positive. The sensitivities of NAAT on ESwab samples
      were 83% (95% confidence interval [CI], 75 to 90%) and 87% (95% CI, 82 to 90%),
      respectively. ESwab samples were available for 98 of the gonorrhea-positive
      samples. Of these, 82% were positive in direct culture and 69% and 56% were
      positive in the 1st and 2nd deferred cultures, respectively (median storage
      times, 27 and 48 h, respectively). Deferred culture was more often successful in
      urogenital samples or when the patient had symptoms at the sampling site.
      Deferred N. gonorrhoeae culture of stored ESwab samples is feasible and enables
      AMR surveillance. To limit the loss in NAAT sensitivity, we recommend obtaining
      separate samples for NAAT and deferred culture. 

PMID- 25832301
TI  - Combat-Related Pythium aphanidermatum Invasive Wound Infection: Case Report and
      Discussion of Utility of Molecular Diagnostics.
AB  - We describe a 22-year-old soldier with 19% total body surface area burns,
      polytrauma, and sequence- and culture-confirmed Pythium aphanidermatum wound
      infection. Antemortem histopathology suggested disseminated Pythium infection,
      including brain involvement; however, postmortem PCR revealed Cunninghamella
      elegans, Lichtheimia corymbifera, and Saksenaea vasiformis coinfection. The
      utility of molecular diagnostics in invasive fungal infections is discussed. 

PMID- 25832302
TI  - Colonization with Escherichia coli Strains among Female Sex Partners of Men with
      Febrile Urinary Tract Infection.
AB  - Of 23 unique Escherichia coli strains from 10 men with febrile urinary tract
      infections (UTIs) and their female sex partners, 6 strains (all UTI causing) were
      shared between partners. Molecularly, the 6 shared strains appeared more virulent
      than the 17 nonshared strains, being associated with phylogenetic group B2,
      sequence types ST73 and ST127, and multiple specific virulence genes. This
      indicates that UTIs are sometimes sexually transmitted. 

PMID- 25832303
TI  - First Case Report of Campylobacter volucris Bacteremia in an Immunocompromised
      Patient.
AB  - We report a case of Campylobacter volucris bacteremia in an immunocompromised
      patient with polycythemia vera and alcoholic liver cirrhosis. To our knowledge,
      this is the first case report in which this organism has been isolated from a
      human clinical specimen. 

PMID- 25832304
TI  - Development and Application of a gp60-Based Typing Assay for Cryptosporidium
      viatorum.
AB  - The apicomplexan intestinal parasites of the genus Cryptosporidium take a major
      toll on human and animal health and are frequent causes of waterborne outbreaks.
      Several species and genotypes can infect humans, including Cryptosporidium
      viatorum, which, to date, has only been found in humans. Molecular
      characterization of Cryptosporidium spp., critical to epidemiological analyses,
      is commonly based on gp60 gene analysis, which appears to require bespoke species
      or group-specific PCR primers due to extensive genetic diversity across the
      genus. In this study, we amplified, sequenced, and characterized the gp60 gene of
      C. viatorum for the first time. Moreover, we developed and validated a gp60
      typing assay for this species and applied it to 27 isolates originating from
      Asia, Africa, and Central America. A single subtype family, XVa, was identified
      containing multiple alleles. 

PMID- 25832305
TI  - Quality compared to quantity of life in laryngeal cancer: A time trade-off study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to use time trade-off to assess the
      factors influencing patients' decisions in advanced laryngeal cancer. Time trade
      off is a well-established method of assessing how individuals value a particular
      health state. METHODS: We developed vignettes depicting life after
      chemoradiotherapy or laryngectomy. One hundred fourteen participants ranked them,
      assigned utility values, and rated the importance of survival on treatment
      choice. RESULTS: Chemoradiotherapy was preferred by 62% and laryngectomy by 38%.
      Chemoradiotherapy optimal outcome had the highest mean utility value (0.64)
      followed by total laryngectomy optimal outcome (0.56). Total laryngectomy poor
      outcome (0.33) was equivalent to chemoradiotherapy poor outcome (0.32).The
      average survival advantage required for a participant to change their preferred
      choice was 2.1 years. CONCLUSION: The functional treatment outcome had a greater
      effect on health state utility values than treatment modality. In many
      individuals, larynx conservation may not be the primary consideration in
      treatment preference. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E631-E637,
      2016.

PMID- 25832306
TI  - Mirror Therapy and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for Management of
      Phantom Limb Pain in Amputees - A Single Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Phantom limb pain (PLP) can be disabling for nearly two
      thirds of amputees. Hence, there is a need to find an effective and inexpensive
      treatment that can be self administered. Among the non-pharmacological treatment
      for PLP, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) applied to the
      contralateral extremity and mirror therapy are two promising options. However,
      there are no studies to compare the two treatments. The purpose of this study is
      to evaluate and compare mirror therapy and TENS in the management of PLP in
      subjects with amputation. METHODS: The study was an assessor blinded randomized
      controlled trial conducted at Physiotherapy Gymnasium of Physical Medicine and
      Rehabilitation Department, Christian Medical College, Vellore. Twenty-six
      subjects with PLP consented to participate. An initial assessment of pain using
      visual analogue scale (VAS) and universal pain score (UPS) was performed by a
      therapist blinded to the treatment given. Random allocation into Group I-mirror
      therapy and Group II-TENS was carried out. After 4 days of treatment, pain was re
      assessed by the same therapist. The mean difference in Pre and Post values were
      compared among the groups. The change in pre-post score was analyzed using the
      paired t test. RESULTS: Participants of Group I had significant decrease in pain
      [VAS ( p = 0.003) and UPS ( p = 0.001)]. Group II also showed a significant
      reduction in pain [VAS ( p = 0.003) and UPS ( p = 0.002)]. However, no difference
      was observed between the two groups [VAS ( p = 0.223 and UPS ( p = 0.956)].
      DISCUSSION: Both Mirror Therapy and TENS were found to be effective in pain
      reduction on a short-term basis. However, no difference between the two groups
      was found. Substantiation with long-term follow-up is essential to find its long
      term effectiveness. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID- 25832307
TI  - Revisiting the extrapolation of correlation energies to complete basis set limit.
AB  - The extrapolation scheme of correlation energy is revisited to evaluate the
      complete basis set limit from double-zeta (DZ) and triple-zeta levels of
      calculations. The DZ level results are adjusted to the standard asymptotic
      behavior with respect to the cardinal number, observed at the higher levels of
      basis sets. Two types of adjusting schemes with effective scaling factors, which
      recover errors in extrapolations with the DZ level basis set, are examined. The
      first scheme scales the cardinal number for the DZ level energy, while the second
      scheme scales the prefactor of the extrapolation function. Systematic assessments
      on the Gaussian-3X and Gaussian-2 test sets reveal that these calibration schemes
      successfully and drastically reduce errors without additional computational
      efforts.

PMID- 25832308
TI  - Right lobe split liver transplantation versus whole liver transplantation in
      adult recipients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - Split liver transplantation (SLT) has proven to be an effective technique to
      reduce the mortality of children on the waiting list, but whether creating 2
      split grafts from 1 standard-criteria whole liver would compromise outcomes of
      adult recipients remains uncertain. We conducted this meta-analysis to compare
      outcomes of right lobe SLT and whole liver transplantation (WLT) in adult
      patients. PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for relevant
      articles published before December 2014. Outcomes assessed were patient survival
      (PS), graft survival (GS), and major surgical complications after
      transplantation. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs)
      were calculated to synthesize the results. Seventeen studies with a total of
      48,457 patients met the full inclusion criteria. PS and GS rates were all found
      to be equivalent between SLT and WLT recipients. However, SLT was associated with
      higher rates of overall biliary complications (OR = 1.66; 95% CI = 1.29-2.15; P <
      0.001), bile leaks (OR = 4.30; 95% CI = 2.97-6.23; P < 0.001), overall vascular
      complications (OR = 1.81; 95% CI = 1.29-2.53; P < 0.001), hepatic artery
      thromboses (OR = 1.71; 95% CI = 1.17-2.50; P = 0.005), and outflow tract
      obstructions (OR = 4.17; 95% CI = 1.75-9.94; P = 0.001). No significant
      difference was observed in incidences of biliary stricture, portal vein
      complications, postoperative bleeding requiring surgical treatments, primary
      nonfunction, and retransplantations. In subgroup analyses, biliary and vascular
      complications only increased after ex vivo SLT rather than in situ SLT, and SLT
      recipients had more retransplantations if they matched with WLT recipients in
      terms of urgent status. In conclusion, adult right lobe SLT was associated with
      increased biliary and vascular complications compared with WLT, but it did not
      show significant inferiority in PSs and GSs.

PMID- 25832309
TI  - Estimating the number of sudden cardiac deaths attributable to the use of
      domperidone in France.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to estimate of the number of sudden cardiac
      deaths attributable to the use of domperidone in France in 2012 METHODS:
      Computation of the attributable fraction, function of the increase in risk of
      sudden cardiac death induced by domperidone and of the exposure prevalence.
      Multiplying the attributable fraction by the risk of sudden cardiac death in the
      French population gives an estimation of the number of sudden cardiac deaths
      attributable to domperidone. RESULTS: The use of domperidone in France is the
      cause of 231 deaths per year in the population aged 18 years or over.
      CONCLUSIONS: This risk should be taken into consideration by clinicians when
      prescribing a drug which provides a minor benefit.

PMID- 25832310
TI  - Pentraxin 3 as a clinical marker in children with lower respiratory tract
      infection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pentraxin 3 (PTX-3) is an acute-phase protein that increases in the
      plasma during inflammation. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of PTX
      3 as a clinical marker in children with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI)
      and examine the correlation of PTX-3 with other biomarkers such as C-reactive
      protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT). METHODS: We enrolled 117 consecutive
      patients admitted to Seoul St. Mary's Hospital with LRTI using the WHO criteria.
      We recorded data on fever duration and peak temperature before admission,
      duration of fever after admission, respiratory rate, heart rate, oxygen
      saturation upon admission, duration of oxygen supplementation, and duration of
      hospital stay. Upon admission, white blood cell (WBC) count, erythrocyte
      sedimentation rate, CRP level were measured. Multiplex respiratory virus
      polymerase chain reaction was performed using nasal swabs. PTX-3, PCT, and
      various cytokines were measured after the study had been completed. RESULTS: We
      found that there was no significant difference in the level of PTX-3 according to
      the type of viral infection. PTX-3 levels showed a significant correlation with
      PCT levels, but not with levels of CRP. The level of PTX-3 showed a significant
      correlation with peak temperature and duration of fever before admission as well
      as interleukin (IL)-6 levels. PCT levels showed a significant correlation with IL
      6 and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor levels, peak temperature, and
      duration of fever before admission, and duration of hospital stay. CRP levels
      showed a significant correlation with duration of fever before admission, total
      WBC count, and neutrophil count. PCT levels significantly predicted a hospital
      stay of 7 days or more. PTX-3, PCT, and CRP levels showed no correlation with any
      other clinical features. CONCLUSION: PTX-3 reflected disease severity but failed
      to predict length of hospital stay. Further studies evaluating the use of PTX-3
      as a biomarker in mild LRTI would be useful.

PMID- 25832311
TI  - Reversal of anticoagulants: an overview of current developments.
AB  - Several new anticoagulants have entered the clinical arena or are under clinical
      development. These drugs include indirect (fondaparinux) and direct oral factor
      Xa inhibitors (rivaroxaban, apixaban, edoxaban, betrixaban), and the direct
      thrombin inhibitor dabigatran. Especially the oral direct FXa and FIIa inhibitors
      overcome many of the shortcomings of heparins and vitamin K antagonists (VKAs).
      They are administered orally at a fixed dose; regular monitoring is not
      necessary; interaction with other drugs or nutrition occur less than with VKAs
      and they are at least as effective as VKAs for most indications tested. They are
      associated with about 50 % less intracranial bleeding than VKAs. Nevertheless,
      they are still associated with bleeding complications. Bleeding can occur
      spontaneously or as a result of trauma or urgent surgery. In such situations
      rapid reversal of the anticoagulant effect is highly desirable. For
      unfractionated heparin protamine, and for VKAs prothrombin complex concentrates
      are available as specific antidotes. Under clinical development are: for the
      direct and indirect FXa inhibitors a modified recombinant FXa (andexanet alpha),
      which lacks enzymatic activity; and for dabigatran a Fab fragment of a monoclonal
      antibody (idarucizumab). In addition a small molecule (aripazine) has entered
      phase I clinical trials, which seems to inhibit nearly all anticoagulants but
      VKAs and argatroban. This review summarises the current options and strategies in
      development to antagonise anticoagulants with a focus on the status of the
      development of antidotes for the oral direct FXa and FIIa inhibitors. 

PMID- 25832313
TI  - Different cortical projections from three subdivisions of the rat lateral
      posterior thalamic nucleus: a single-neuron tracing study with viral vectors.
AB  - The lateral posterior thalamic nucleus (LP) is one of the components of the
      extrageniculate pathway in the rat visual system, and is cytoarchitecturally
      divided into three subdivisions--lateral (LPl), rostromedial (LPrm), and
      caudomedial (LPcm) portions. To clarify the differences in the dendritic fields
      and axonal arborisations among the three subdivisions, we applied a single-neuron
      labeling technique with viral vectors to LP neurons. The proximal dendrites of
      LPl neurons were more numerous than those of LPrm and LPcm neurons, and LPrm
      neurons tended to have wider dendritic fields than LPl neurons. We then analysed
      the axonal arborisations of LP neurons by reconstructing the axon fibers in the
      cortex. The LPl, LPrm and LPcm were different from one another in terms of the
      projection targets--the main target cortical regions of LPl and LPrm neurons were
      the secondary and primary visual areas, whereas those of LPcm neurons were the
      postrhinal and temporal association areas. Furthermore, the principal target
      cortical layers of LPl neurons in the visual areas were middle layers, but that
      of LPrm neurons was layer 1. This indicates that LPl and LPrm neurons can be
      categorised into the core and matrix types of thalamic neurons, respectively, in
      the visual areas. In addition, LPl neurons formed multiple axonal clusters within
      the visual areas, whereas the fibers of LPrm neurons were widely and diffusely
      distributed. It is therefore presumed that these two types of neurons play
      different roles in visual information processing by dual thalamocortical
      innervation of the visual areas.

PMID- 25832312
TI  - Impact of Certolizumab Pegol on Patient-Reported Outcomes in Patients With Axial
      Spondyloarthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) provide an opportunity to collect
      important information relating to patient well-being, which is often difficult
      for physicians to measure (e.g., quality of life, pain, fatigue, and sleep). Here
      we evaluate the effects of certolizumab pegol (CZP) on PROs during the 24-week,
      double-blind phase of the RAPID axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) trial, a phase 3
      trial of axial SpA patients, including both ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and
      nonradiographic axial SpA patients. METHODS: A total of 325 patients with active
      axial SpA were randomized 1:1:1 to placebo, CZP 200 mg every 2 weeks, or CZP 400
      mg every 4 weeks. The primary end point was the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis
      International Society criteria for 20% improvement in disease activity response
      at week 12, and has been reported previously. PROs included total back pain,
      nocturnal back pain, a daily pain diary, the Sleep Problems Index II (SPI) domain
      of the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Sleep Scale, fatigue, the Ankylosing
      Spondylitis Quality of Life (ASQOL) measure, and the Short Form 36-item (SF-36)
      health survey physical component summary (PCS), mental component summary (MCS),
      and domains. RESULTS: Patients treated with CZP reported significant improvements
      from week 1 for nocturnal back pain (placebo -0.6, CZP 200 mg every 2 weeks -1.9,
      and CZP 400 mg every 4 weeks -1.6; P < 0.001) and ASQOL (placebo -1.0, CZP 200 mg
      every 2 weeks -2.3, and CZP 400 mg every 4 weeks -1.9; P < 0.05) compared with
      placebo, while significant improvements in total back pain were seen from day 2.
      Patients treated with both CZP dosing regimens also had significantly greater
      improvements in fatigue, MOS-SPI, SF-36 PCS, MCS, and domains compared with
      placebo. Improvements were similar in both AS and nonradiographic axial SpA
      patients. CONCLUSION: Both CZP dosing schedules rapidly improved patient well
      being, as measured by PROs, including pain, fatigue, sleep, SF-36, and ASQOL in
      both AS and nonradiographic axial SpA patients.

PMID- 25832314
TI  - Duplication of HEY2 in cardiac and neurologic development.
AB  - HEY2 is a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor that plays an
      important role in the developing mammalian heart and brain. In humans,
      nonsynonymous mutations in HEY2 have been described in patients with atrial
      ventricular septal defects, and a subset of individuals with chromosomal
      deletions involving HEY2 have cardiac defects and cognitive impairment. Less is
      known about the potential effects of HEY2 overexpression. Here, we describe a
      female child with tetralogy of Fallot who developed severe right ventricular
      outflow tract obstruction due to a combination of infundibular and valvular
      pulmonary stenosis. She was also noted to have hypotonia, lower extremity
      weakness, fine motor delay and speech delay. A copy number variation (CNV)
      detection analysis followed by real-time quantitative PCR analysis revealed a
      single gene duplication of HEY2. This is the only duplication involving HEY2
      identified in our database of over 70,000 individuals referred for CNV analysis.
      In the developing heart, overexpression of HEY2 is predicted to cause decreased
      expression of the cardiac transcription factor GATA4 which, in turn, has been
      shown to cause tetralogy of Fallot. In mice, misexpression of Hey2 in the
      developing brain leads to inhibition of neurogenesis and promotion of
      gliogenesis. Hence, duplication of HEY2 may be a contributing factor to both the
      congenital heart defects and the neurodevelopmental problems evident in our
      patient. These results suggest that individuals with HEY2 duplications should be
      screened for congenital heart defects and monitored closely for evidence of
      developmental delay and/or cognitive impairment.

PMID- 25832315
TI  - Costly retaliation is promoted by threats to resources in women and threats to
      status in men.
AB  - What motivates people to act against their own self-interest? In men, what seems
      to be irrational decision-making in the short-term may be explained by other long
      term benefits; thus retaliation may not be motivated by tangible costs, but
      instead intangible psychological variables (e.g., status threats). In contrast,
      there is evidence that women are more sensitive to tangible costs than are men.
      In Experiment 1, using the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (PSAP), we
      tested the prediction that in men, the frequency of provocation, and not the
      monetary loss (tangible cost), would be associated with retaliation, whereas
      women would be sensitive to the tangible costs. In keeping with the prediction,
      women (n = 80) who incurred greater tangible costs (irrespective of frequency)
      retaliated with more costly punishment, whereas men (n = 90) who were provoked
      more frequently (irrespective of tangible costs) retaliated with more costly
      punishment. In Experiment 2, we directly investigated whether women were more
      sensitive to threats to resources and men were more sensitive to threats to
      status, as suggested by the results of Experiment 1. Women's (n = 53) retaliation
      was greater when they reported it to be a means to protect their resources, and
      men's (n = 35) retaliation was greater when they reported it to be a means to
      protect their status. Thus, these results identify psychological variables that
      guide retaliation that is costly to the actor. Consistent with evolutionary
      perspectives, concerns about status appear to drive costly retaliatory behavior
      more so in men than in women.

PMID- 25832316
TI  - Primacy of surgery for colorectal cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The optimal technique for curative resection of colonic cancer
      includes high ligation of the mesenteric vessels, wide excision of the colonic
      mesentery and prevention of tumour cell spillage. This article reports results
      from the authors' institution for patients in whom complete mesocolic excision
      was performed long before the term was coined. METHODS: Patients operated on for
      cure for primary adenocarcinoma of the colon between January 1994 and December
      2004 were identified from a prospectively maintained, institutional review board
      approved, colorectal cancer registry. Medical records and operation notes were
      reviewed. The primary outcomes were recurrence (local and distal) and age
      adjusted 5-year survival. RESULTS: Some 1013 patients (560 men and 453 women)
      were identified, with a median age of 69 (range 21-96) years. The most common
      location of the cancer was the sigmoid colon (32.9 per cent), followed by the
      caecum (26.7 per cent) and ascending colon (17.0 per cent). Operations were
      performed laparoscopically in 134 patients (13.2 per cent). Median duration of
      hospital stay was 7 (range 1-64, mean 8.2) days. Overall morbidity and mortality
      rates were 13.5 and 2.2 per cent respectively; there were 20 anastomotic leaks
      (2.0 per cent). Some 282 patients (27.8 per cent) had stage I, 386 (38.1 per
      cent) stage II and 345 (34.1 per cent) stage III disease. Median lymph node yield
      was 28.3 (range 0-241, mean 28.3), and 12 or more nodes were examined in 88.1 per
      cent of patients. Adjuvant chemotherapy was administered to 277 patients (80.3
      per cent) with stage III disease. Overall local and distant recurrence rates at 5
      years were 5.1 and 17.1 per cent respectively. The 5-year local recurrence rate
      was 2.2, 5.3 and 7.7 per cent for American Joint Committee on Cancer stages I, II
      and III respectively. Corresponding distant recurrence rates were 4.0, 14.7 and
      30.5 per cent. The 5-year overall cancer-free age-standardized survival rate was
      85.3 per cent. Five-year age standardized survival rates for patients with
      disease stages I, II and III were 97.7, 90.8 and 69.8 per cent respectively.
      CONCLUSION: These data define modern results of surgery for colonic cancer with
      conservative use of chemotherapy.

PMID- 25832317
TI  - Regional differences in Clostridium difficile infections in relation to
      fluoroquinolone and proton pump inhibitor use, Finland, 2008-2011.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several antimicrobial agents and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) have
      been identified as risk factors for Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs).
      Nationwide laboratory-based surveillance of CDIs in Finland since 2008 has shown
      variation in regional CDI rates. We evaluated whether regional differences in CDI
      rates were associated with antibacterial and PPI use. METHODS: Data on mean
      annual incidence rates of CDIs during 2008-2011 in 21 healthcare districts (HDs)
      were obtained from the National Infectious Disease Register, consumption (median
      annual use) of antimicrobials and PPIs from the Finnish Medical Agency,
      availability of molecular diagnostics by a laboratory survey and data on
      ribotypes from the national reference laboratory. The association over the 4
      years was measured by incidence rate ratio (IRR) and we performed both bivariate
      and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: During 2008-2011, PPI use increased 27% but
      fluoroquinolone use was stable. The level of fluoroquinolone use was strongly
      associated with the mean annual CDI incidence rate in different HDs over the 4
      year period, but PPI use had less effect. The molecular diagnostics methodology
      and PCR ribotype 027 were not independently associated with CDI rate. The final
      multivariable model only included fluoroquinolone and PPI use; IRR for
      fluoroquinolones was 2.20 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.32-3.67; p = 0.003).
      CONCLUSIONS: Fluoroquinolone use may play a role in regional differences in CDI
      rates. Although the use has not recently increased, regionally targeted
      antimicrobial stewardship campaigns promoting appropriate use of fluoroquinolones
      should still be encouraged since they may decrease the incidence of CDIs.

PMID- 25832318
TI  - Familial adenomatous polyposis-associated and sporadic pyloric gland adenomas of
      the upper gastrointestinal tract share common genetic features.
AB  - AIMS: Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a hereditary cancer predisposition
      syndrome caused by a germline APC mutation. A recent study showed the enrichment
      of pyloric gland adenomas (PGAs) of the stomach, in addition to fundic gland
      polyps (FGPs) and foveolar-type adenomas (FAs), in patients with FAP. In the
      present study, we analysed the genetic alterations in these FAP-associated
      gastric lesions. METHODS AND RESULTS: Mutational statuses of GNAS and KRAS, which
      are frequently mutated in sporadic PGAs, as well as those of APC, were examined
      in PGAs, FAs and FGPs in patients with FAP using Sanger sequencing. Our analysis
      identified GNAS mutations in five of six PGAs (83%), but in none of the three FAs
      or the 40 FGPs examined. KRAS mutations were identified in four PGAs (67%), one
      FA (33%) and one FGP (3%). Somatic truncating APC mutations were found in all
      PGAs (100%), two FAs (67%) and 14 FGPs (47%). We additionally analysed sporadic
      PGAs of the stomach and duodenum and identified truncating APC mutations in 11 of
      25 lesions (44%). CONCLUSIONS: FAP-associated and sporadic PGAs not only show
      similar morphologies, but also share common genetic aberrations, including
      mutations of GNAS, KRAS and APC.

PMID- 25832319
TI  - Liking them thin: adolescents' favorite television characters and body image.
AB  - Considering the alarming worldwide increases in eating disorders among
      adolescents, thought to be linked with body image, this study uses social
      cognitive theory as a framework to combine the examination of adolescent body
      image with the topic of mediated characters. The study places a new focus in this
      realm on favorite television characters, extending past research on general
      social comparison tendencies or comparisons with unfamiliar mediated models. A
      survey of 756 students in Grades 7-8 and 10-11 identified their favorite same
      gender television characters as well as the adolescents' body image and social
      comparison with the characters. The survey was accompanied by a content analysis
      of the favorite characters and their body sizes. Adolescents' favorite television
      characters were mostly identified as thin or average in body size. The thinner
      the characters, the more adolescents self-compared with them. The discrepancy
      between the adolescents' body size and that of their favorite characters
      significantly and negatively predicted adolescents' body image both directly and
      indirectly through its relationship with social comparison with the character.
      The study finds that television characters are important references for
      adolescents and may serve as targets for social comparison in the context of body
      image. 

PMID- 25832320
TI  - Developmental dyslexia: predicting individual risk.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Causal theories of dyslexia suggest that it is a heritable disorder,
      which is the outcome of multiple risk factors. However, whether early screening
      for dyslexia is viable is not yet known. METHODS: The study followed children at
      high risk of dyslexia from preschool through the early primary years assessing
      them from age 3 years and 6 months (T1) at approximately annual intervals on
      tasks tapping cognitive, language, and executive-motor skills. The children were
      recruited to three groups: children at family risk of dyslexia, children with
      concerns regarding speech, and language development at 3;06 years and controls
      considered to be typically developing. At 8 years, children were classified as
      'dyslexic' or not. Logistic regression models were used to predict the individual
      risk of dyslexia and to investigate how risk factors accumulate to predict poor
      literacy outcomes. RESULTS: Family-risk status was a stronger predictor of
      dyslexia at 8 years than low language in preschool. Additional predictors in the
      preschool years include letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid
      automatized naming, and executive skills. At the time of school entry, language
      skills become significant predictors, and motor skills add a small but
      significant increase to the prediction probability. We present classification
      accuracy using different probability cutoffs for logistic regression models and
      ROC curves to highlight the accumulation of risk factors at the individual level.
      CONCLUSIONS: Dyslexia is the outcome of multiple risk factors and children with
      language difficulties at school entry are at high risk. Family history of
      dyslexia is a predictor of literacy outcome from the preschool years. However,
      screening does not reach an acceptable clinical level until close to school entry
      when letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and RAN, rather than family risk,
      together provide good sensitivity and specificity as a screening battery.

PMID- 25832321
TI  - Protecting the infant from unknown risks.

PMID- 25832322
TI  - Use of the amplatzer vascular plug II device to occlude different types of patent
      ductus arteriosus in pediatric patients.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Transcatheter patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) closure is difficult
      in small patients in part due to the diverse PDA morphology. We describe a
      multicenter pediatric experience using the Amplatzer Vascular Plug II device (AVP
      II) to occlude PDA. METHODS: All patients undergoing transcatheter closure of PDA
      with AVP II from April 2008 until May 2012 were included. Clinical, angiographic,
      and echocardiographic data were collected. RESULTS: One hundred and seventy-seven
      procedures were performed. Median age was 14 months (2-180) with median weight
      9.7 kg (4.7-68). The morphological PDA classification was Type A in 66 (37.1%),
      Type C in 27 (15.3%), Type D in 17 (9.6%), and Type E in 67 (37.9%). The median
      minimum PDA diameter was 2.6 mm (1.2-7.7 mm). The implanted device sizes were: 4
      mm in 17 patients (9.6%), 6 mm in 81 (45.8%), 8 mm in 56 (31.6%), 10 mm in 18
      (10.2%), and 12 mm in 5 (2.8%). The implanted device was mean of 2.6 + 0.7 times
      the ductus narrowest diameter and mean of 1 + 0.5 times the ductus largest
      diameter. Complications included: one severe left pulmonary artery stenosis and
      one device embolization. No aortic obstruction occurred. Closure was complete in
      the 175 remaining patients. CONCLUSIONS: The AVP II is an effective and safe
      device for PDA closure. It is particularly useful when dealing with nontypical
      PDA shapes and in small infants where it eliminated the risk of device-related
      aortic obstruction. The AVPII is an addition to the PDA device closure
      armamentarium in pediatric patients.

PMID- 25832323
TI  - ANATOMICAL STUDY OF CRANIAL NERVE EMERGENCE AND SKULL FORAMINA IN THE HORSE USING
      MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING AND COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY.
AB  - For accurate interpretation of magnetic resonance (MR) images of the equine
      brain, knowledge of the normal cross-sectional anatomy of the brain and
      associated structures (such as the cranial nerves) is essential. The purpose of
      this prospective cadaver study was to describe and compare MRI and computed
      tomography (CT) anatomy of cranial nerves' origins and associated skull foramina
      in a sample of five horses. All horses were presented for euthanasia for reasons
      unrelated to the head. Heads were collected posteuthanasia and T2-weighted MR
      images were obtained in the transverse, sagittal, and dorsal planes. Thin-slice
      MR sequences were also acquired using transverse 3D-CISS sequences that allowed
      mutliplanar reformatting. Transverse thin-slice CT images were acquired and
      multiplanar reformatting was used to create comparative images. Magnetic
      resonance imaging consistently allowed visualization of cranial nerves II, V,
      VII, VIII, and XII in all horses. The cranial nerves III, IV, and VI were
      identifiable as a group despite difficulties in identification of individual
      nerves. The group of cranial nerves IX, X, and XI were identified in 4/5 horses
      although the region where they exited the skull was identified in all cases. The
      course of nerves II and V could be followed on several slices and the main
      divisions of cranial nerve V could be distinguished in all cases. In conclusion,
      CT allowed clear visualization of the skull foramina and occasionally the nerves
      themselves, facilitating identification of the nerves for comparison with MRI
      images. 

PMID- 25832324
TI  - Identification of two novel missense mutations causing severe factor XIII
      deficiency.

PMID- 25832325
TI  - Delving into cornerstones of hypersensitivity to antineoplastic and biological
      agents: value of diagnostic tools prior to desensitization.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Evidence regarding drug provocation test (DPT) with antineoplastic
      and biological agents is scarce. Our aim was to assess the usefulness of
      including DPT as a paramount gold standard diagnostic tool (prior to
      desensitization). METHODS: Prospective, observational, longitudinal study with
      patients who, during a 3-year period, were referred to the Desensitization
      Program at Ramon y Cajal University Hospital. Patients underwent a structured
      diagnostic protocol by means of anamnesis, skin tests (ST), risk assessment, and
      DPT. Oxaliplatin-specific IgE was determined in oxaliplatin-reactive patients
      (who underwent DPT regardless of oxaliplatin-specific IgE results). Univariate
      analysis and multivariate analysis were used to identify predictors of the final
      diagnosis among several variables. RESULTS: A total of 186 patients were
      assessed. A total of 104 (56%) patients underwent DPT. Sixty-four percent of all
      DPTs were negative (i.e., hypersensitivity was excluded). Sensitivity for
      oxaliplatin-specific IgE (0.35 UI/l cutoff point) was 34%, specificity 90.3%,
      negative predictive value 45.9%, positive predictive value 85%, negative
      likelihood ratio 0.7, and positive likelihood ratio 3.5. CONCLUSIONS: These are
      the first reported data based on more than 100 DPTs with antineoplastic and
      biological agents (paclitaxel, oxaliplatin, rituximab, infliximab, irinotecan,
      and other drugs). Implementation of DPT in diagnostic protocols helps exclude
      hypersensitivity (in 36% of all referred patients), and avoids unnecessary
      desensitizations in nonhypersensitive patients (30-56% of patients, depending on
      culprit-drug). Drug provocation test is vital to validate diagnostic tools;
      consequently, quality data are shown on oxaliplatin-specific IgE and oxaliplatin
      ST in the largest series of oxaliplatin-reactive patients reported to date (74
      oxaliplatin-reactive patients). Identifying phenotypes and predictors of a
      diagnosis of hypersensitivity may be helpful for tailored plans.

PMID- 25832326
TI  - Anti-inflammatory effects of tanshinone IIA on atherosclerostic vessels of
      ovariectomized ApoE mice are mediated by estrogen receptor activation and through
      the ERK signaling pathway.
AB  - AIMS: Estrogen plays a protective role in atherosclerosis. Our preliminary work
      demonstrated that the active conformation of Tanshinone IIA(TanIIA) is similar to
      the 17beta-estradiol and it can bind to the estrogen receptor. Here, we
      hypothesized that Tanshinone IIA might have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative
      effects in atherosclerosis, mediated through estrogen receptor activation.
      METHODS: Subjects for this study were 120 apoE(-/-) female mice and 20 C57/BL
      female mice. The apoE(-/-) mice were ovariectomized (OVX) and the C57/BL mice
      were sham ovariectomized. The sham OVX mice were maintained on a normal diet
      (NOR) group. The OVX apoE(-/-) mice were fed a high fat diet and randomly divided
      into 6 groups: Model (MOD) group which was fed a high fat diet only, E2 group
      were given estrogen (E2) 0.13 mg/kg/d; E2+ICI group were given E2:0.13 mg/kg/d
      and ICI182780:65 mg/kg/m; TLD group (TanIIA low dose) were given TanIIA: 30
      mg/kg/d; THD group (TanIIA high dose) were given TanIIA:60 mg/kg/d; and TLD+ICI
      group were given TanIIA 30 mg/kg/d and ICI182780 65 mg/kg/m. After three months
      of treatment, the aorta and the blood of the mice from each group was collected.
      The aorta were used for testing the lipid deposition by using hematoxylin and
      eosin(HE) and oil red O staining and for testing the expression of p-ERK1/2 by
      Western blot. The blood was used for testing the serum cholesterol, superoxide
      dismutase (SOD), methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA), nuclear factor kappa (NF
      kappaB), soluble intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), activating
      protein-1 (AP-1), E-selectin and 17beta-estradiol in serum. RESULTS: Tanshinone
      IIA significantly reduced the lipid deposition in aorta, decreased the levels of
      total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL), very
      low density lipoprotein (VLDL), MDA, NF-kappaB, sICAM-1, AP-1, and E-selectin in
      serum but increased the levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) and SOD in
      serum. Tanshinone IIA also suppressed the expression of p-ERK1/2. Tanshinone IIA
      had no effect of level of serum 17beta-estradiol levels. All of the effects of
      Tanshinone IIA were similar to estrogen and were inhibited by the estrogen
      receptor antagonist ICI182780. CONCLUSION: Tanshinone IIA may play an anti
      inflammatory and anti-oxidative stress role in OVX atherosclerotic apoE(-/-) mice
      by activating the estrogen receptor through the ERK signaling pathway. Therefore,
      Tanshinone IIA, as a phytoestrogen, could be used for estrogen replacement
      therapy for cardiovascular disease of postmenopausal women.

PMID- 25832327
TI  - Fall-induced spinal cord injury: External causes and implications for prevention.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To document the demographic and clinical profile of persons who
      sustained spinal cord injury (SCI) as a result of accidental falls and to
      determine the usual circumstances surrounding the fall-induced SCI. DESIGN:
      Cohort study. SETTING: 21 SCI Model Systems centers throughout the United States.
      PARTICIPANTS: 6,408 individuals with traumatic SCI between 2005 and 2014 were
      recruited from the National SCI Database. 1,877 (29%) of them were injuries
      caused by falls. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. OUTCOMES MEASURES: External
      causes of injury documented by the International Classification of Diseases,
      10(th) revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM). RESULTS: Falls on the same
      level from slipping, tripping, and stumbling were the most common cause of fall
      induced SCI (20%), followed by falls from building (16%), stairs and steps (16%),
      and ladder (9%). People who were 61 years of age and older had the highest
      frequency of falls on the same level, while those aged 16-45 years had a higher
      percentage of falls from buildings, usually work-related. The mechanisms of falls
      also varied by sex and race. Associated injury and vertebral injury occurred
      frequently among falls from buildings and ladders. High falls were more likely to
      be work-related and result in thoracic and complete injury, while low falls were
      more commonly associated with cervical and motor functionally incomplete injury.
      CONCLUSION: The study findings of different mechanisms of falls by age, sex, race
      and medical consequences provide an insight for future interventions aimed at
      high risk persons, activities, and environmental factors for preventing or
      reducing fall-induced SCI.

PMID- 25832328
TI  - Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for nonalcoholic fatty liver
      disease/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
AB  - Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is currently the most common cause of
      chronic liver disease in industrialized countries worldwide, and has become a
      serious public health issue not only in Western countries but also in many Asian
      countries including Japan. Within the wide spectrum of NAFLD, non-alcoholic
      steatohepatitis (NASH) is a progressive form of disease, which often develops
      into liver cirrhosis and increases the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. In turn,
      a large proportion of NAFLD/NASH is the liver manifestation of metabolic
      syndrome, suggesting that NAFLD/NASH plays a key role in the pathogenesis of
      systemic atherosclerotic diseases. Currently, a definite diagnosis of NASH
      requires liver biopsy, though various non-invasive measures are under
      development. The mainstays of prevention and treatment of NAFLD/NASH include
      dietary restriction and exercise; however, pharmacological approaches are often
      necessary. Currently, vitamin E and thiazolidinedione derivatives are the most
      evidence-based therapeutic options, although the clinical evidence for long-term
      efficacy and safety is limited. This practice guideline for NAFLD/NASH,
      established by the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology in cooperation with The
      Japan Society of Hepatology, covers lines of clinical evidence reported
      internationally in the period starting from 1983 through January 2012, and each
      clinical question was evaluated using the GRADE system. Based on the primary
      release of the full version in Japanese, this English summary provides the core
      essentials of this clinical practice guideline comprising the definition,
      diagnosis, and current therapeutic recommendations for NAFLD/NASH in Japan. 

PMID- 25832329
TI  - Bronchial fibroepithelial polyp: a clinico-radiologic, bronchoscopic,
      histopathological and in-situ hybridisation study of 15 cases of a poorly
      recognised lesion.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Bronchial fibroepithelial polyp is an uncommon, poorly
      recognised lesion, lacking clear diagnostic criteria at histology, but possibly
      mimicking neoplastic growth on clinico-radiologic and histopathological grounds.
      The aim of this study was to define the clinico-pathological features,
      bronchoscopic appearance and treatment of bronchial fibroepithelial polyp.
      METHODS: We collected the largest series of bronchial fibroepithelial polyps (15
      consecutive cases), including clinico-pathological, bronchoscopic, radiologic and
      histological features. RESULTS: Overall, there were 13 males and 2 females, with
      a mean age of 68 years at diagnosis. Eight patients were asymptomatic, whereas
      four presented with haemoptysis, two with fever, cough and pneumonia-like
      opacity, and one with dry recurrent cough. Mean size of the lesion was 6.5 mm
      (range, 2-20 mm) without any prevalence for segmental bronchi. Lesions larger
      than 10 mm were always symptomatic and visible at computed tomography scans. At
      bronchoscopy, the lesion appeared as a firm endobronchial nodule with hard
      consistency and glistening, whitish, smooth surface. A multilobulated and
      sepimentated surface was observed in the largest polyps. Whatever the size,
      histological features were quite similar in all cases, consisting in a polypoid
      lesion with a dense, collagenous, hypocellular stroma with some thin-walled,
      ectatic vessels and a regular respiratory mucosa on surface. In-situ
      hybridisation with human papillomavirus probe was negative in all the eight
      tested cases. CONCLUSION: Despite the benign behaviour of bronchial
      fibroepithelial polyps, it is important to fix some robust diagnostic criteria in
      order to avoid misdiagnoses leading to unnecessary aggressive treatment.
      Differential diagnosis mainly includes inflammatory polyps, hamartomas and
      papillomas.

PMID- 25832330
TI  - The impact of secondary pests on Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops.
AB  - The intensification of agriculture and the development of synthetic insecticides
      enabled worldwide grain production to more than double in the last third of the
      20th century. However, the heavy dependence and, in some cases, overuse of
      insecticides has been responsible for negative environmental and ecological
      impacts across the globe, such as a reduction in biodiversity, insect resistance
      to insecticides, negative effects on nontarget species (e.g. natural enemies) and
      the development of secondary pests. The use of recombinant DNA technology to
      develop genetically engineered insect-resistant crops could mitigate many of the
      negative side effects of insecticides. One such genetic alteration enables crops
      to express toxic crystalline (Cry) proteins from the soil bacteria Bacillus
      thuringiensis (Bt). Despite the widespread adoption of Bt crops, there are still
      a range of unanswered questions concerning longer term agro-ecosystem
      interactions. For instance, insect species that are not susceptible to the
      expressed toxin can develop into secondary pests and cause significant damage to
      the crop. Here, we review the main causes surrounding secondary pest dynamics in
      Bt crops and the impact of such outbreaks. Regardless of the causes, if
      nonsusceptible secondary pest populations exceed economic thresholds, insecticide
      spraying could become the immediate solution at farmers' disposal, and the
      sustainable use of this genetic modification technology may be in jeopardy. Based
      on the literature, recommendations for future research are outlined that will
      help to improve the knowledge of the possible long-term ecological trophic
      interactions of employing this technology. 

PMID- 25832332
TI  - Prevalence of temporomandibular joint disorder among North Saudi University
      students.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the current investigation was to study the prevalence of
      temporomandibular disorder (TMD) among university students of North Saudi Arabia.
      METHODS: A specifically constructed questionnaire was distributed to 489
      university students to investigate the prevalence of temporomandibular joint
      (TMJ) findings among them. The study sample consisted of 346 males and 143
      females (age range was 18-25 years). The data were analyzed, and probability
      values were set at p <= 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 49.7% of participants had at
      least one sign or symptom of TMD. Clicking was the most reported finding. Pain in
      or about the ears/cheeks was the second most common finding. In all, 24.3% of the
      participants reported one TMJ finding; meanwhile, 0.4% reported the presence of
      five concurrent TMJ signs and symptoms. Females reported more TMJ signs and
      symptoms than males (p < 0.05). Science and health students reported more TMD
      findings than humanitarian college students (p < 0.05). DISCUSSION: University
      students in north Saudi Arabia reported high prevalence of TMD. Also, students
      from science and health colleges reported higher prevalence of TMD findings than
      humanitarian college students. Clicking and pain are the most prevalent findings
      of TMD among university students. The results of this investigation highlight the
      need for additional research to shed more light on the risk factors and findings
      related to TMD. This will facilitate drawing adequate guidelines for prevention
      and management of TMD.

PMID- 25832331
TI  - Prenatally diagnosed monochorionic diamniotic triplet pregnancy.
AB  - We present an extremely rare case of monochorionic diamniotic (MD) triplet
      pregnancy diagnosed via ultrasonography at the end of the first trimester that
      resulted in delivery of three healthy newborns. Ultrasonography for a 34-year-old
      woman at 12 weeks of gestation showed three fetuses and one placenta with a T
      sign at the initial segment of the dividing membrane. Color Doppler examination
      revealed umbilical cord entanglement between two fetuses in one sac in addition
      to another sac containing one fetus. Therefore, this was diagnosed as MD triplet
      pregnancy. The triplets were delivered by cesarean section at 35 weeks of
      gestation and were healthy without neurological morbidities at the age of 28
      days. Histopathological examination also revealed an MD triplet placenta. The
      possibility of MD triplet pregnancy should be recognized, although it is rare. 

PMID- 25832333
TI  - Establishing an Explanatory Model for Mathematics Identity.
AB  - This article empirically tests a previously developed theoretical framework for
      mathematics identity based on students' beliefs. The study employs data from more
      than 9,000 college calculus students across the United States to build a robust
      structural equation model. While it is generally thought that students' beliefs
      about their own competence in mathematics directly impact their identity as a
      "math person," findings indicate that students' self-perceptions related to
      competence and performance have an indirect effect on their mathematics identity,
      primarily by association with students' interest and external recognition in
      mathematics. Thus, the model indicates that students' competence and performance
      beliefs are not sufficient for their mathematics identity development, and it
      highlights the roles of interest and recognition.

PMID- 25832334
TI  - Trends in intake and sources of caffeine in the diets of US adults: 2001-2010.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Coffee and tea are traditional sources of caffeine in the diet, but
      other sources, such as energy drinks, are now available. Because risks and
      benefits of caffeine use are dose dependent, the public health consequences of
      caffeine consumption cannot be determined without data on amounts currently
      consumed by the US population. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to obtain an up-to
      date, nationally representative estimate of caffeine consumption in adults.
      DESIGN: Dietary intake data from NHANES from 2001 to 2010 for adults >=19 y of
      age were used (n = 24,808). Acute and usual intake of caffeine was estimated from
      all caffeine-containing foods and beverages. Trends in consumption and changes in
      sources of caffeine were also examined. RESULTS: Eighty-nine percent of the adult
      US population consumed caffeine, with equal prevalence in men and women. Usual
      mean +/- SE per capita caffeine consumption when nonusers were included was 186
      +/- 4 mg/d, with men consuming more than women (211 +/- 5 vs. 161 +/- 3 mg/d, P <
      0.05). Usual intake in consumers was 211 +/- 3 mg/d, with 240 +/- 4 mg/d in men
      and 183 +/- 3 mg/d in women (P < 0.05); 46% was consumed in a single consumption
      event. In consumers, acute 90th and 99th percentiles of intake were 436 and 1066
      mg/d, respectively. Consumption was highest in men aged 31-50 y and lowest in
      women aged 19-30 y. Beverages provided 98% of caffeine consumed, with coffee
      (~64%), tea (~16%), and soft drinks (~18%) predominant sources; energy drinks
      provided <1%, but their consumption increased substantially from 2001 to 2010.
      CONCLUSIONS: Although new caffeine-containing products were introduced into the
      US food supply, total per capita intake was stable over the period examined.

PMID- 25832335
TI  - Food sources of fat may clarify the inconsistent role of dietary fat intake for
      incidence of type 2 diabetes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dietary fats could affect glucose metabolism and obesity development
      and, thereby, may have a crucial role in the cause of type 2 diabetes (T2D).
      Studies indicated that replacing saturated with unsaturated fats might be
      favorable, and plant foods might be a better choice than animal foods.
      Nevertheless, epidemiologic studies suggested that dairy foods are protective.
      OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that, by examining dietary fat and its food sources
      classified according to fat type and fat content, some clarification regarding
      the role of dietary fat in T2D incidence could be provided. DESIGN: A total of
      26,930 individuals (61% women), aged 45-74 y, from the Malmo Diet and Cancer
      cohort were included in the study. Dietary data were collected by using a
      modified diet-history method. During 14 y of follow-up, 2860 incident T2D cases
      were identified. RESULTS: Total intake of high-fat dairy products (regular-fat
      alternatives) was inversely associated with incident T2D (HR for highest compared
      with lowest quintiles: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.68, 0.87; P-trend < 0.001). Most robust
      inverse associations were seen for intakes of cream and high-fat fermented milk
      (P-trend < 0.01) and for cheese in women (P-trend = 0.02). High intake of low-fat
      dairy products was associated with increased risk, but this association
      disappeared when low- and high-fat dairy were mutually adjusted (P-trend = 0.18).
      Intakes of both high-fat meat (P-trend = 0.04) and low-fat meat (P-trend < 0.001)
      were associated with increased risk. Finally, we did not observe significant
      association between total dietary fat content and T2D (P-trend = 0.24), but
      intakes of saturated fatty acids with 4-10 carbons, lauric acid (12:0), and
      myristic acid (14:0) were associated with decreased risk (P-trend < 0.01).
      CONCLUSIONS: Decreased T2D risk at high intake of high- but not of low-fat dairy
      products suggests that dairy fat partly could have contributed to previously
      observed protective associations between dairy intake and T2D. Meat intake was
      associated with increased risk independently of the fat content.

PMID- 25832336
TI  - Dietary patterns: from nutritional epidemiologic analysis to national guidelines.

PMID- 25832338
TI  - Plasma phospholipid very-long-chain saturated fatty acids: a sensitive marker of
      metabolic dysfunction or an indicator of specific healthy dietary components?

PMID- 25832337
TI  - Association between birth weight and objectively measured sedentary time is
      mediated by central adiposity: data in 10,793 youth from the International
      Children's Accelerometry Database.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Birth weight is an early correlate of disease later in life, and
      animal studies suggest that low birth weight is associated with reduced activity
      and increased sedentary time. Whether birth weight predicts later sedentary time
      in humans is uncertain. OBJECTIVES: We examined the relation between birth weight
      and sedentary time in youth and examined whether this association was mediated by
      central adiposity. DESIGN: We used pooled cross-sectional data from 8
      observational studies conducted between 1997 and 2007 that consisted of 10,793
      youth (boys: 47%) aged 6-18 y from the International Children's Accelerometry
      Database. Birth weight was measured in hospitals or maternally reported,
      sedentary time was assessed by using accelerometry (<100 counts/min), and
      abdominal adiposity (waist circumference) was measured according to WHO
      procedures. A mediation analysis with bootstrapping was used to analyze data.
      RESULTS: The mean (+/-SD) time spent sedentary was 370 +/- 91 min/d. Birth weight
      was positively associated with sedentary time (B = 4.04, P = 0.006) and waist
      circumference (B = 1.59, P < 0.001), whereas waist circumference was positively
      associated with sedentary time (B = 0.82, P < 0.001). Results of the mediation
      analysis showed a significant indirect effect of birth weight on sedentary time
      through waist circumference (B: 1.30; 95% bias-corrected CI: 0.94, 1.72), and
      when waist circumference was controlled for, the effect of birth weight on
      sedentary time was attenuated by 32% (B = 2.74, P = 0.06). CONCLUSION: The
      association between birth weight and sedentary time appears partially mediated by
      central adiposity, suggesting that both birth weight and abdominal adiposity may
      be correlates of sedentary time in youth.

PMID- 25832339
TI  - Egg consumption and risk of incident type 2 diabetes in men: the Kuopio Ischaemic
      Heart Disease Risk Factor Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is increasing around the
      world. Eggs are a major source of cholesterol, which has been associated with
      elevated blood glucose and an increased risk of T2D. However, there are limited
      and conflicting data from prospective population studies on the association
      between egg consumption and risk of T2D. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the
      association between egg consumption and risk of incident T2D in middle-aged and
      older men from eastern Finland. DESIGN: The study included 2332 men aged 42-60 y
      in 1984-1989 at the baseline examinations of the prospective, population-based
      Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study. Dietary intakes were assessed
      with 4-d food records at baseline. Incident T2D was assessed by self-administered
      questionnaires; by fasting and 2-h oral-glucose-tolerance-test blood glucose
      measurement at re-examination rounds 4, 11, and 20 y after baseline; and by
      record linkage to a hospital discharge registry and reimbursement register of
      diabetes medication expenses. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were
      used to estimate associations with the risk of incident T2D. Associations with
      the metabolic risk markers at baseline and at the 4-y examinations were analyzed
      by ANCOVA. RESULTS: During an average follow-up of 19.3 y, 432 men developed T2D.
      After adjustment for potential confounders, those in the highest compared with
      the lowest egg intake quartile had a 38% (95% CI: 18%, 53%; P-trend across
      quartiles <0.001) lower risk of incident T2D. Analyses with metabolic risk
      markers also suggested an inverse association with fasting plasma glucose and
      serum C-reactive protein but not with serum insulin. The associations between
      cholesterol intake and risk of T2D, plasma glucose, serum insulin, and C-reactive
      protein were mainly nonsignificant, especially after accounting for egg
      consumption. CONCLUSION: Higher egg intake was associated with a lower risk of
      T2D in this cohort of middle-aged and older men.

PMID- 25832340
TI  - Flavonoid intake and all-cause mortality.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Flavonoids are bioactive compounds found in foods such as tea,
      chocolate, red wine, fruit, and vegetables. Higher intakes of specific flavonoids
      and flavonoid-rich foods have been linked to reduced mortality from specific
      vascular diseases and cancers. However, the importance of flavonoids in
      preventing all-cause mortality remains uncertain. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to
      explore the association between flavonoid intake and risk of 5-y mortality from
      all causes by using 2 comprehensive food composition databases to assess
      flavonoid intake. DESIGN: The study population included 1063 randomly selected
      women aged >75 y. All-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortalities were assessed
      over 5 y of follow-up through the Western Australia Data Linkage System. Two
      estimates of flavonoid intake (total flavonoidUSDA and total flavonoidPE) were
      determined by using food composition data from the USDA and the Phenol-Explorer
      (PE) databases, respectively. RESULTS: During the 5-y follow-up period, 129 (12%)
      deaths were documented. Participants with high total flavonoid intake were at
      lower risk [multivariate-adjusted HR (95% CI)] of 5-y all-cause mortality than
      those with low total flavonoid consumption [total flavonoidUSDA: 0.37 (0.22,
      0.58); total flavonoidPE: 0.36 (0.22, 0.60)]. Similar beneficial relations were
      observed for both cardiovascular disease mortality [total flavonoidUSDA: 0.34
      (0.17, 0.69); flavonoidPE: 0.32 (0.16, 0.61)] and cancer mortality [total
      flavonoidUSDA: 0.25 (0.10, 0.62); flavonoidPE: 0.26 (0.11, 0.62)]. CONCLUSIONS:
      Using the most comprehensive flavonoid databases, we provide evidence that high
      consumption of flavonoids is associated with reduced risk of mortality in older
      women. The benefits of flavonoids may extend to the etiology of cancer and
      cardiovascular disease.

PMID- 25832341
TI  - Bridging evidence from observational and intervention studies to identify
      flavonoids most protective for human health.

PMID- 25832342
TI  - Bobcats (Lynx rufus) as a Model Organism to Investigate the Effects of Roads on
      Wide-Ranging Carnivores.
AB  - We are using bobcats (Lynx rufus) as a model organism to examine how roads affect
      the abundance, distribution, and genetic structure of a wide-ranging carnivore.
      First, we compared the distribution of bobcat-vehicle collisions to road density
      and then estimated collision probabilities for specific landscapes using a moving
      window with road-specific traffic volume. Next, we obtained incidental
      observations of bobcats from the public, camera-trap detections, and locations of
      bobcats equipped with GPS collars to examine habitat selection. These data were
      used to generate a cost-surface map to investigate potential barrier effects of
      roads. Finally, we have begun an examination of genetic structure of bobcat
      populations in relation to major road networks. Distribution of vehicle-killed
      bobcats was correlated with road density, especially state and interstate
      highways. Collision models suggested that some regions may function as
      demographic sinks. Simulated movements in the context of the cost-surface map
      indicated that some major roads may be barriers. These patterns were supported by
      the genetic structure of bobcats. The sharpest divisions among genetically
      distinct demes occurred along natural barriers (mountains and large lakes) and in
      road-dense regions. In conclusion, our study has demonstrated the utility of
      using bobcats as a model organism to understand the variety of threats that roads
      pose to a wide-ranging species. Bobcats may also be useful as one of a group of
      focal species while developing approaches to maintain existing connectivity or
      mitigate the negative effects of roads. 

PMID- 25832343
TI  - Valuing the benefits of creek rehabilitation: building a business case for public
      investments in urban green infrastructure.
AB  - In an effort to increase the livability of its cities, public agencies in
      Australia are investing in green infrastructure to improve public health, reduce
      heat island effects and transition toward water sensitive urban design. In this
      paper, we present a simple and replicable approach to building a business case
      for green infrastructure. This approach requires much less time and resources
      compared to other methods for estimating the social and economic returns to
      society from such investments. It is a pragmatic, reasonably comprehensive
      approach that includes socio-demographic profile of potential users and catchment
      analysis to assess the economic value of community benefits of the investment.
      The approach has been applied to a case study area in the City of Brimbank, a
      western suburb of Greater Melbourne. We find that subject to a set of
      assumptions, a reasonable business case can be made. We estimate potential public
      benefits of avoided health costs of about AU$75,049 per annum and potential
      private benefits of AU$3.9 million. The project area is one of the most poorly
      serviced areas in the municipality in terms of quality open spaces and the
      potential beneficiaries are from relatively low income households with less than
      average health status and education levels. The values of cultural (recreational
      benefits, avoided health costs, and increased property values) and regulating
      (reduction in heat island effect and carbon sequestration) ecosystem services
      were quantified that can potentially offset annual maintenance costs. 

PMID- 25832344
TI  - Can a rapid underwater video approach enhance the benthic assessment capability
      of the national coastal condition assessment in the great lakes?
AB  - Over 400 sites were sampled in the nearshore of the U.S. Great Lakes during the
      U.S. National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA) field survey in summer 2010.
      Underwater video images were recorded in addition to routine NCCA benthic
      assessment measures. This paper has two objectives: (1) to develop a process to
      evaluate video performance with acceptance criteria, exploring reasons for poor
      images, and (2) to use acceptable videos in an example application with invasive
      mussels, evaluating the enhancement potential of video to supplement traditional
      grab sampling. A standard hierarchical protocol was developed to rank video
      performance based on quality and clarity. We determined controllable and
      uncontrollable factors affecting video performance. Moreover, specific thresholds
      limiting video were identified: >0.5/m for light extinction and >3.5 ug/L for
      chlorophyll a concentration. To demonstrate the utility and enhancement potential
      of video sampling, observed dreissenid presence from excellent (221 of 362
      videos) videos was compared with NCCA benthic taxonomy, in the context of the
      statistically based NCCA survey. Including video increased the overall area
      estimate of the U.S. Great Lakes nearshore with invasive mussels by about 15%
      compared to PONAR alone; 44% (7570 km(2)) of the surveyed region had mussels. The
      proportion of the nearshore area having mussels varied from low (3.5%) in Lake
      Superior to >50% in the lower lakes. PONAR and video have unique strengths and
      weaknesses as sampling tools in the Great Lakes nearshore environment, but when
      paired were complimentary and thus provided a more thorough benthic condition
      assessment at lake and regional scales.

PMID- 25832345
TI  - Unravelling river system impairments in stream networks with an integrated risk
      approach.
AB  - Rivers are complex systems for which it is hard to make reliable assessments of
      causes and responses to impairments. We present a holistic risk-based framework
      for river ecosystem assessment integrating all potential intervening processes
      and functions. Risk approaches allow us to deal with uncertainty both in the
      construction of indicators for magnitude of stressors and in the inference of
      environmental processes and their impairment. Yet, here we go further than simply
      replacing uncertainty by a risk factor. We introduce a more accurate and rigorous
      notion of risk with a transcription of uncertainty in causal relationships in
      probability distributions for the magnitude of impairment and the weight of
      different descriptors, with an associated confidence in the diagnostic. We
      discuss how Bayesian belief networks and Bayesian hierarchical inference allow us
      to deal with this risk concept to predict impairments and potential recovery of
      river ecosystems. We developed a comprehensive approach for river ecosystem
      assessment, which offers an appealing tool to facilitate diagnosis of the likely
      causes of impairment and predict future conditions. The ability of the risk
      approaches to integrate multi-scale quantitative and qualitative descriptors in
      the identification of multiple stressor sources and pathways in the stream
      network, and their impairment of specific processes and structures is illustrated
      for the national-level risk analysis for hydromorphology and pesticide pollution.
      Not only does the risk-based framework provide a more complete picture of
      environmental impairments, but it also offers a comprehensive, user-friendly tool
      to instruct the decision process. 

PMID- 25832346
TI  - Nationwide benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage multimetric indices: identifying
      inconsistencies and limitations in reporting stream impairment status, USA.
AB  - The objective of this study was to identify the current status of stream water
      quality assessment and reporting methods for four states in the Ohio River basin
      (Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia), as required by the 305(b) section of
      the United States (US) Clean Water Act. Specifically, we clarified the
      discrepancies that exist among stream-impairment status classified by benthic
      macroinvertebrate multimetric indices (MMIs) and depicted using Geographic
      Information Systems shapefiles. In addition, we provided guidance in solving some
      of the comparability problems that arise when developing state-specific MMIs and
      depicting stream-impairment status using Geographic Information Systems
      technology. The MMI variation among states and differences in shapefile formats
      resulted in a nationwide dataset, which cannot be directly compared.
      Incorporating the changes suggested in this study allow for a uniform assessment
      and reporting method nationwide. Successful implementation of these changes would
      strengthen the US Environmental Protection Agency efforts to identify impaired
      streams and sources of those impairments without the limitations of state-by
      state .developed assessment methods. 

PMID- 25832347
TI  - Expression of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling, stem-cell markers and proliferating
      cell markers in rat whisker hair follicles.
AB  - The rat whisker hair follicle (HF) is a model for studying the reconstruction of
      the HF or dermal papilla (DP), and involves the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling
      pathway, which is a key pathway in HF development and HF cycling after birth. It
      has been reported that Wnt/catenin signaling plays an indispensable role in human
      or rat pelages development and postnatal growth. However, the distribution of
      some Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway factors and their relationship with the
      epithelial stem cell markers in whisker follicles has not been characterized. In
      this study, we investigated the immunolocalization of Wnt/catenin signaling
      pathway members, including Wnt10b, Wnt10a, Wnt5a, beta-catenin, and downstream
      lymphoid enhancer-binding factor 1 (LEF1) and transcription factor 3 (TCF3), as
      well as, HF stem-cell markers CD34, CK15 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen
      (PCNA) protein, in rat anagen phase whisker follicles. beta-catenin, Wnt5a,
      Wnt10b, Wnt10a, LEF1, and TCF3 were expressed in the outer root sheath (ORS),
      inner root sheath, matrix and hair shaft of anagen follicles. beta-catenin,
      Wnt10b, LEF1, and TCF3 were highly expressed and Wnt5a and Wnt10a weakly
      expressed in DP and dermal sheath (DS) regions. The expression of alpha-smooth
      muscle actin was strong in the lower DS and it was also detected in some DP
      cells. CD34, CK15 and PCNA were all expressed in the ORS; and CD34 and PCNA were
      also detected in the matrix, however CD34 was extensively expressed in DP and DS
      regions. Our studies located the position of Wnts, downstream LEF1 and TCF3 and
      stem cell marker proteins, which provide new information in understanding the
      role of the Wnt singaling pathway in whisker follicles' growth. 

PMID- 25832348
TI  - Analysis of swine fecal microbiota at various growth stages.
AB  - Recent obesity studies in humans and rodents have suggested that host weight gain
      is significantly associated with energy harvesting efficiency which is regulated
      by gut microbiota. Antibiotic growth promoters have been banned as feed additives
      in many countries. In this study, we aimed to provide knowledge of swine fecal
      microbiota by analyzing bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences. Our results showed
      that swine fecal bacterial composition varied at each growth stage. Bacteroidetes
      decreased as the swine gained weight and unclassified genera significantly
      increased at later growth stages. Operational taxonomic unit (OTU) distribution
      analysis showed that the bacterial community difference was most significant
      between growers and finishers, while analysis of shared OTUs indicated a greater
      proportion of common species between growers and finishers. The differential
      abundance test between growers and finishers detected that nearly half of the
      species were shared OTUs, suggesting that differential abundance of each
      bacterial species predominantly controls bacterial community differences.
      Although functions of these bacteria are yet to be identified, understanding
      differences in fecal microbiota between each growth stage will provide additional
      insights for further studies related to swine gut microbiota. 

PMID- 25832351
TI  - The second neurocritical care research conference.

PMID- 25832349
TI  - Regional brain monitoring in the neurocritical care unit.
AB  - Regional multimodality monitoring has evolved over the last several years as a
      tool to understand the mechanisms of brain injury and brain function at the
      cellular level. Multimodality monitoring offers an important augmentation to the
      clinical exam and is especially useful in comatose neurocritical care patients.
      Cerebral microdialysis, brain tissue oxygen monitoring, and cerebral blood flow
      monitoring all offer insight into permutations in brain chemistry and function
      that occur in the context of brain injury. These tools may allow for development
      of individual therapeutic strategies that are mechanistically driven and goal
      directed. We present a summary of the discussions that took place during the
      Second Neurocritical Care Research Conference regarding regional brain
      monitoring. 

PMID- 25832352
TI  - Transradial left ventricular endomyocardial biopsy: assessment of safety and
      efficacy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We aimed at assessing the safety and efficacy of a systematic
      transradial approach for left ventricular endomyocardial biopsy using a new
      hydrophilic sheathless guiding catheter. METHODS AND RESULTS: Forty-two
      consecutive patients were included. The transradial success rate was 98% (41 of
      42). In one case, cross over to femoral access due to irreversible spasm of the
      right radial artery was necessary. No radial spasm was observed in the other 41
      patients. Depending on the indication, several other procedures, such as coronary
      angiography or ventricular angiography, were additionally performed through the
      same transradial access site. Median fluoroscopy time was 7.9 min. The mean dose
      area product was 1867 cGy * cm(2). All biopsy samples were graded as good or
      excellent quality. No patient had any complications. Immediate post-procedural
      ambulation could be achieved in all patients. Radial artery patency was confirmed
      by duplex sonography 24 h after removal of the guide. CONCLUSION: The present
      study demonstrates safety and efficacy of a systematic transradial access for
      left ventricular EMB using a highly hydrophilic sheathless guiding catheter. This
      is of clinical importance since this new technique may overcome critical
      limitations of the common approach.

PMID- 25832350
TI  - Multi-modality neuro-monitoring: conventional clinical trial design.
AB  - Multi-modal monitoring has become an integral part of neurointensive care.
      However, our approach is at this time neither standardized nor backed by data
      from randomized controlled trials. The goal of the second Neurocritical Care
      Research Conference was to discuss research priorities in multi-modal monitoring,
      what research tools are available, as well as the latest advances in clinical
      trial design. This section of the meeting was focused on how such a trial should
      be designed so as to maximize yield and avoid mistakes of the past. 

PMID- 25832353
TI  - Analysis of Streptococcus agalactiae pan-genome for prevalence, diversity and
      functionality of integrative and conjugative or mobilizable elements integrated
      in the tRNA(Lys CTT) gene.
AB  - Streptococcus agalactiae is the first cause of invasive infections in human
      neonates and is also a major bovine and fish pathogen. High genomic diversity was
      observed in this species that hosts numerous mobile genetic elements, in
      particular elements transferable by conjugation. This works aims to evaluate the
      contribution of these elements to GBS genome diversity. Focusing on genomic
      islands integrated in the tRNA(Lys) (CTT) gene, a known hotspot of recombination,
      an extensive in silico search was performed on the sequenced genome of 303
      strains of S. agalactiae isolated from different hosts. In all the isolates
      (except 9), whatever their origin (human, bovine, camel, dog, gray seal, dolphin,
      fish species or bullfrog), this locus carries highly diverse genomic islands
      transferable by conjugation such as integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs),
      integrative and mobilizable elements (IMEs), CIs-mobilizable elements (CIMEs) or
      composite elements. Transfer of an ICE from an ST67 bovine strain to a
      phylogenetically distant ST23 human isolate was obtained experimentally
      indicating that there was no barrier to ICE transfer between strains from
      different hosts. Interestingly, a novel family of putative IMEs that site
      specifically integrate in the nic site of oriT of ICEs belonging to Tn916/ICESt3
      superfamily was detected in silico. These elements carry an antibiotic resistance
      gene (lsa(C)) already described to confer cross-resistance to lincosamides,
      streptogramins A and pleuromutilins. Further work is needed to evaluate the
      impact of these IMEs on the transfer of targeted ICEs and the mobility and the
      dissemination of these IMEs. 

PMID- 25832356
TI  - New concept for occupational health development: 3 phases.
AB  - Occupational health development in a country can be classified into 3 phases as
      External, Internal (or Personal), and Social Environmental Phases. Occupational
      health usually focuses on work environment, but it cannot advance without
      controlling workers' health and cannot be achieved without a complimentary
      understanding of the social security system. Society may continue wasting social
      costs for determining whether a disease of workers is caused by or arising from
      work. In order to understand the status of occupational diseases in a country,
      one must know about the comprehensiveness of the social security system in that
      society. 

PMID- 25832354
TI  - A novel satellite DNA isolated in Pecten jacobaeus shows high sequence similarity
      among molluscs.
AB  - The aim of this work is to investigate the sequence conservation and the
      evolution of repeated DNA in related species. Satellite DNA is a component of
      eukaryotic genomes and is made up of tandemly repeated sequences. These sequences
      are affected by high rates of mutation that lead to the occurrence of species
      specific satellite DNAs, which are different in terms of both quantity and
      quality. In this work, a novel repetitive DNA family, named PjHhaI sat, is
      described in Pecten jacobaeus. The quantitative analyses revealed a different
      abundance of this element in the molluscan species investigated in agreement with
      the "library hypothesis" even if, in this case, at a high taxonomic level. In
      addition, the qualitative analysis demonstrated an astonishing sequence
      conservation not only among scallops but also in six other molluscan species
      belonging to three classes. These findings suggest that the PjHhaI sat may be
      considered as the most ancients of DNA described so far, which remained "frozen"
      during molluscan evolution. The widespread distribution of this sat DNA in
      molluscs as well as its long evolutionary preservation open up questions on the
      functional role of this element. A future challenge might be the identification
      of proteins or molecules which interact with the PjHhaI sat. 

PMID- 25832357
TI  - Benchmark study of the Mossbauer isomer shifts of Eu and Np complexes by
      relativistic DFT calculations for understanding the bonding nature of f-block
      compounds.
AB  - We have performed benchmark investigations into the bonding properties in
      lanthanide and actinide complexes to quantitatively estimate the covalency of f
      block compounds. Three different density functionals including BP86 (pure-GGA),
      B3LYP (hybrid-GGA) and B2PLYP (double hybrid-GGA) were employed for all-electron
      self-consistent field calculations compensated by the scalar-relativistic zero
      order regular approximation (ZORA) Hamiltonian with a relativistically contracted
      all-electron basis set. Ten Eu and ten Np complexes were employed as benchmark
      sets for the calculation of Mossbauer parameters for (151)Eu and (237)Np
      compounds. As a result of the linear fitting between the calculated electron
      densities at the nucleus (rho) and the experimental isomer shifts (delta(exp)),
      the calculations performed using the all-electron ZORA-B2PLYP level reproduced a
      change of electron density at the Mossbauer nucleus for both Eu and Np complexes
      with high correlation coefficients (R(2) > 0.90). Mulliken's population analyses
      indicated that the BP86 and B3LYP methods overestimated the covalency of both Eu
      and Np complexes due to the smaller amount of the exact Hartree-Fock exchange
      admixture included in BP86 and B3PLYP compared to that in the B2PLYP functional.
      By comparing Mulliken's electronic structure analyses with the experimental
      isomer shifts, we found that Mulliken's spin population values were good
      parameters to quantitatively estimate the bonding natures of Eu and Np complexes.

PMID- 25832355
TI  - Three symbol ungrounding problems: Abstract concepts and the future of embodied
      cognition.
AB  - A great deal of research has focused on the question of whether or not concepts
      are embodied as a rule. Supporters of embodiment have pointed to studies that
      implicate affective and sensorimotor systems in cognitive tasks, while critics of
      embodiment have offered nonembodied explanations of these results and pointed to
      studies that implicate amodal systems. Abstract concepts have tended to be viewed
      as an important test case in this polemical debate. This essay argues that we
      need to move beyond a pretheoretical notion of abstraction. Against the
      background of current research and theory, abstract concepts do not pose a
      single, unified problem for embodied cognition but, instead, three distinct
      problems: the problem of generalization, the problem of flexibility, and the
      problem of disembodiment. Identifying these problems provides a conceptual
      framework for critically evaluating, and perhaps improving upon, recent
      theoretical proposals.

PMID- 25832358
TI  - A Novel Quinoline Based Second-generation mTOR Inhibitor that Induces Apoptosis
      and Disrupts PI3K-Akt-mTOR Signaling in Human Leukemia HL-60 Cells.
AB  - Deregulation of the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway is unanimously pragmatic in a number of
      tumors. This pathway pedals proliferation, survival, translation, and coupled
      with tumor-associated endurance. Current efforts focus on the discovery and
      development of novel inhibitors of this pathway. We have discovered 6-(4
      phenoxyphenyl)-N-phenylquinolin-4-amine [PQQ] as a potent mTOR inhibitor with
      IC50 value of 64nM in a cell-based and cell-free mTOR assay. Mechanistically, PQQ
      was found to be a strong PI3K-Akt-mTOR-p70S6K cascade inhibitor in Human
      promyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells. Moreover, it was found to be dual mTORC1 and
      mTORC2 inhibitor that inhibit the entire mTOR kinase-dependent functions and
      feedback commencement of PI3K/Akt pathway. PQQ simultaneously induces apoptosis
      via mitochondrial dependant pathway, which was confirmed through a battery of the
      assays, e.g. cellular and nuclear microscopy, annexin-V assay, cell cycle
      analysis and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. In summary, PQQ discovered
      as a novel second-generation mTOR inhibitor with significant cytotoxic and
      apoptotic potentials. Thus, it might be a significant lead structure for the
      development of mTOR-targeted based anti-cancer therapeutics.

PMID- 25832359
TI  - Comparative transcriptome analysis between csrA-disruption Clostridium
      acetobutylicum and its parent strain.
AB  - The genome of Clostridium acetobutylicum contains the gene encoding CsrA, a
      carbon storage regulator. We investigated the function of CsrA in C.
      acetobutylicum by insertionally inactivating the encoding gene, CA_C2209 using
      the ClosTron. Disruption of csrA obviously decreases the growth of the organism
      and reduces the yield of acetone, butanol and ethanol (ABEs). Like the csrA in
      Escherichia coli, RNA-seq and beta-galactosidase analysis revealed that csrA in
      C. acetobutylicum was closely involved in regulating multiple pathways including
      flagella assembly, oligopeptide transporting, iron uptake, and central carbon
      metabolism. It has also been newly demonstrated that csrA in C. acetobutylicum is
      related to the regulation of pathways involved in the phosphotransferase
      transporting systems, synthesis of riboflavin, and stage III sporulation. This
      research represented the first investigation of global regulation by CsrA in the
      strain belonging to Gram-positive bacteria through transcriptome analysis and
      provided the important theoretical evidence for improving solvent production by
      transcriptor engineering in C. acetobutylicum. 

PMID- 25832361
TI  - Sulfur-infiltrated graphene-backboned mesoporous carbon nanosheets with a
      conductive polymer coating for long-life lithium-sulfur batteries.
AB  - Sandwich-type, two-dimensional hybrid nanosheets were fabricated by the
      infiltration of nanosized sulfur into graphene-backboned mesoporous carbon with a
      PPy nanocoating. They exhibit a high reversible capacity for as long as 400
      cycles with an ultra slow decay rate of 0.05% per cycle at the high rate of 1-3 C
      due to the efficient immobilization of polysulfides. 

PMID- 25832360
TI  - No deficit in neurocortical information processing in patients with cleft lip and
      palate.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cleft lip and palate (CLP) represents the most common malformation of
      the midfacial region worldwide. It can be suggested that the facial
      stigmatization, the speech impediment, and the long-standing pressure of
      treatment cause a range of life stressors. Neurocortical information is
      influenced by physiological and psychological factors and varies significantly in
      patients suffering from chronic stress, anxiety, depression, or other
      psychopathological conditions following maladaptation. The aims of the present
      study were to investigate the neurocortical information processing of patients
      with CLP using the contingent negative variation (CNV) paradigm and to evaluate
      secondary psychopathology, anxiety, and depression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty
      five adults with CLP and 25 healthy volunteers, matched in age and gender, were
      investigated using recordings of the CNV. Initial CNV (iCNV), late CNV (lCNV),
      and total CNV (tCNV) as well as habituation slope of the iCNV were determined in
      each subject. Additionally, each participant had to complete the hospital anxiety
      and depression questionnaire (HADS) and the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R).
      RESULTS: Individuals with CLP did not differ significantly from healthy subjects
      according to any of the CNV parameters investigated. No correlations could be
      revealed between the measured items and the confounding factors age and gender.
      Additionally, there were no differences between the groups regarding depression
      and SCL-90-R; however, anxiety showed significant group differences on a
      subclinical level. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that subjects with CLP show
      normal neurocortical information processing. It seems likely that CLP and its
      treatment have no impact on psychosocial functioning and neurophysiological
      mechanisms of attention. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The specific living conditions of
      patients with CLP do not result in disease-specific neurophysiological changes.

PMID- 25832363
TI  - Aspirin 'resistance', diabetes mellitus and no-reflow: the elusive role of
      individual susceptibility in myocardial reperfusion.

PMID- 25832365
TI  - Long-term effects of individual mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and cognitive
      behavior therapy for depressive symptoms in patients with diabetes: a randomized
      trial.

PMID- 25832364
TI  - Demonstration of entanglement-enhanced phase estimation in solid.
AB  - Precise parameter estimation plays a central role in science and technology. The
      statistical error in estimation can be decreased by repeating measurement,
      leading to that the resultant uncertainty of the estimated parameter is
      proportional to the square root of the number of repetitions in accordance with
      the central limit theorem. Quantum parameter estimation, an emerging field of
      quantum technology, aims to use quantum resources to yield higher statistical
      precision than classical approaches. Here we report the first room-temperature
      implementation of entanglement-enhanced phase estimation in a solid-state system:
      the nitrogen-vacancy centre in pure diamond. We demonstrate a super-resolving
      phase measurement with two entangled qubits of different physical realizations:
      an nitrogen-vacancy centre electron spin and a proximal (13)C nuclear spin. The
      experimental data shows clearly the uncertainty reduction when entanglement
      resource is used, confirming the theoretical expectation. Our results represent
      an elemental demonstration of enhancement of quantum metrology against classical
      procedure. 

PMID- 25832366
TI  - Primary pure and nonsecreting embryonal carcinoma of the anterior third
      ventricle: a case report.
AB  - Central nervous system germ cell tumors (GCTs) account for less than 5% of
      primary brain tumors in children and adolescents but continue to attract much
      attention. To the best of our knowledge, a primary pure and nonsecreting
      embryonal carcinoma of the anterior third ventricle has never been previously
      reported. A 15-year-old boy presented with signs of increased intracranial
      pressure for the past 2 weeks complicated by 2 episodes of generalized tonic
      clonic seizures 1 day before admission. Neurological examination was normal, and
      funduscopic examination disclosed a grade II papilledema bilaterally. CT and MRI
      revealed a well-demarcated and enhancing mass within the anterior third ventricle
      associated with a left lateral ventricle hydrocephalus. There was no evidence of
      tumor within the pineal or suprasellar region, and systemic and cerebrospinal
      fluid evaluation demonstrated normal levels of alpha-fetoprotein and human
      chorionic gonadotropin. Radical surgery was advised, and total tumor resection
      was achieved via a transcallosal transforaminal approach. The postoperative
      course was uneventful, and the final histological diagnosis was a pure embryonal
      carcinoma. Further screening showed no other location, and adjunctive high-dose
      chemotherapy was administered. The patient has been symptom free with no clinical
      or radiological sign of progression at the most recent follow-up examination 2
      years after surgery. Primary pure and nonsecreting embryonal carcinoma can
      develop within the anterior third ventricle and should be considered in the
      differential diagnosis of anterior third ventricular masses especially in young
      patients. Accurate identification, radical surgery and high-dose chemotherapy can
      result in better tumor control and improve the postoperative outcome.

PMID- 25832367
TI  - Risk stratification model in elderly patients with multiple myeloma: clinical
      role of magnetic resonance imaging combined with international staging system and
      cytogenetic abnormalities.
AB  - The International Staging System (ISS) does not take into consideration the
      clinical role of imaging modalities in multiple myeloma (MM), even though these
      are important. Some studies have indicated a lack of impact of ISS in MM patients
      who receive novel agents. Therefore, accessible novel risk stratification might
      be needed in elderly MM patients receiving conventional therapy or novel agents.
      We analyzed 198 newly diagnosed and symptomatic MM patients who were not eligible
      for transplantation. The initial treatment regimen was therapy with melphalan
      prednisone (MP, n = 44), thalidomide-cyclophosphamide-dexamethasone (n = 89) or
      bortezomib-MP (VMP, n = 65). The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pattern was
      normal in 34 patients, focal in 30 and diffuse/variegated in 134. High-risk
      cytogenetic abnormalities were not associated with the diffuse/variegated MRI
      pattern (p = 0.182). ISS stage III [progression-free survival (PFS) p = 0.005;
      overall survival (OS) p = 0.027], high-risk cytogenetic abnormalities (PFS p =
      0.001; OS p < 0.001) and diffuse/variegated MRI pattern (PFS p < 0.001; OS p <
      0.001) were independently associated with poorer PFS and OS. Patients were
      further stratified according to the 3 prognostic factors. The PFS and OS of the 3
      groups differed significantly. The addition of the diffuse/variegated MRI pattern
      may improve the prognostic potential of the current staging system which includes
      ISS and cytogenetic abnormalities.

PMID- 25832368
TI  - Communication breakdown.

PMID- 25832369
TI  - Tree cheers.

PMID- 25832370
TI  - Walking 2.0.

PMID- 25832371
TI  - Change the cancer conversation.

PMID- 25832383
TI  - Neuron encyclopaedia fires up to reveal brain secrets.

PMID- 25832384
TI  - Global-warming limit of 2  degrees C hangs in the balance.

PMID- 25832385
TI  - UK election: Upstart parties set out science plans.

PMID- 25832386
TI  - Corrections.

PMID- 25832387
TI  - Mini enzyme moves gene editing closer to the clinic.

PMID- 25832388
TI  - Stopping deforestation: Battle for the Amazon.

PMID- 25832389
TI  - Evidence-based medicine: Save blood, save lives.

PMID- 25832390
TI  - Climate change: Embed the social sciences in climate policy.

PMID- 25832394
TI  - Outback palms: Aboriginal myth meets DNA analysis.

PMID- 25832395
TI  - Public spending: US Congress replies on NSF scrutiny.

PMID- 25832397
TI  - Evaporation: Evaluate risks of coating reservoirs.

PMID- 25832398
TI  - Quantum physics: Two-atom bunching.

PMID- 25832399
TI  - Biodiversity: Land use matters.

PMID- 25832400
TI  - Planetary science: Preventing stars from eating their young.

PMID- 25832403
TI  - Planet heating prevents inward migration of planetary cores.
AB  - Planetary systems are born in the disks of gas, dust and rocky fragments that
      surround newly formed stars. Solid content assembles into ever-larger rocky
      fragments that eventually become planetary embryos. These then continue their
      growth by accreting leftover material in the disk. Concurrently, tidal effects in
      the disk cause a radial drift in the embryo orbits, a process known as migration.
      Fast inward migration is predicted by theory for embryos smaller than three to
      five Earth masses. With only inward migration, these embryos can only rarely
      become giant planets located at Earth's distance from the Sun and beyond, in
      contrast with observations. Here we report that asymmetries in the temperature
      rise associated with accreting infalling material produce a force (which gives
      rise to an effect that we call 'heating torque') that counteracts inward
      migration. This provides a channel for the formation of giant planets and also
      explains the strong planet-metallicity correlation found between the incidence of
      giant planets and the heavy-element abundance of the host stars. 

PMID- 25832404
TI  - Atomic Hong-Ou-Mandel experiment.
AB  - Two-particle interference is a fundamental feature of quantum mechanics, and is
      even less intuitive than wave-particle duality for a single particle. In this
      duality, classical concepts--wave or particle--are still referred to, and
      interference happens in ordinary space-time. On the other hand, two-particle
      interference takes place in a mathematical space that has no classical
      counterpart. Entanglement lies at the heart of this interference, as it does in
      the fundamental tests of quantum mechanics involving the violation of Bell's
      inequalities. The Hong, Ou and Mandel experiment is a conceptually simpler
      situation, in which the interference between two-photon amplitudes also leads to
      behaviour impossible to describe using a simple classical model. Here we report
      the realization of the Hong, Ou and Mandel experiment using atoms instead of
      photons. We create a source that emits pairs of atoms, and cause one atom of each
      pair to enter one of the two input channels of a beam-splitter, and the other
      atom to enter the other input channel. When the atoms are spatially overlapped so
      that the two inputs are indistinguishable, the atoms always emerge together in
      one of the output channels. This result opens the way to testing Bell's
      inequalities involving mechanical observables of massive particles, such as
      momentum, using methods inspired by quantum optics, and to testing theories of
      the quantum-to-classical transition. Our work also demonstrates a new way to
      benchmark non-classical atom sources that may be of interest for quantum
      information processing and quantum simulation.

PMID- 25832402
TI  - Global effects of land use on local terrestrial biodiversity.
AB  - Human activities, especially conversion and degradation of habitats, are causing
      global biodiversity declines. How local ecological assemblages are responding is
      less clear--a concern given their importance for many ecosystem functions and
      services. We analysed a terrestrial assemblage database of unprecedented
      geographic and taxonomic coverage to quantify local biodiversity responses to
      land use and related changes. Here we show that in the worst-affected habitats,
      these pressures reduce within-sample species richness by an average of 76.5%,
      total abundance by 39.5% and rarefaction-based richness by 40.3%. We estimate
      that, globally, these pressures have already slightly reduced average within
      sample richness (by 13.6%), total abundance (10.7%) and rarefaction-based
      richness (8.1%), with changes showing marked spatial variation. Rapid further
      losses are predicted under a business-as-usual land-use scenario; within-sample
      richness is projected to fall by a further 3.4% globally by 2100, with losses
      concentrated in biodiverse but economically poor countries. Strong mitigation can
      deliver much more positive biodiversity changes (up to a 1.9% average increase)
      that are less strongly related to countries' socioeconomic status.

PMID- 25832405
TI  - Orbital-specific mapping of the ligand exchange dynamics of Fe(CO)5 in solution.
AB  - Transition-metal complexes have long attracted interest for fundamental chemical
      reactivity studies and possible use in solar energy conversion. Electronic
      excitation, ligand loss from the metal centre, or a combination of both, creates
      changes in charge and spin density at the metal site that need to be controlled
      to optimize complexes for photocatalytic hydrogen production and selective carbon
      hydrogen bond activation. An understanding at the molecular level of how
      transition-metal complexes catalyse reactions, and in particular of the role of
      the short-lived and reactive intermediate states involved, will be critical for
      such optimization. However, suitable methods for detailed characterization of
      electronic excited states have been lacking. Here we show, with the use of X-ray
      laser-based femtosecond-resolution spectroscopy and advanced quantum chemical
      theory to probe the reaction dynamics of the benchmark transition-metal complex
      Fe(CO)5 in solution, that the photo-induced removal of CO generates the 16
      electron Fe(CO)4 species, a homogeneous catalyst with an electron deficiency at
      the Fe centre, in a hitherto unreported excited singlet state that either
      converts to the triplet ground state or combines with a CO or solvent molecule to
      regenerate a penta-coordinated Fe species on a sub-picosecond timescale. This
      finding, which resolves the debate about the relative importance of different
      spin channels in the photochemistry of Fe(CO)5 (refs 4, 16 - 20), was made
      possible by the ability of femtosecond X-ray spectroscopy to probe frontier
      orbital interactions with atom specificity. We expect the method to be broadly
      applicable in the chemical sciences, and to complement approaches that probe
      structural dynamics in ultrafast processes.

PMID- 25832406
TI  - Rate that journal.

PMID- 25832408
TI  - PLD3 and sporadic Alzheimer's disease risk.

PMID- 25832409
TI  - Cruchaga & Goate reply.

PMID- 25832410
TI  - PLD3 variants in population studies.

PMID- 25832411
TI  - PLD3 in non-familial Alzheimer's disease.

PMID- 25832412
TI  - Cruchaga & Goate reply.

PMID- 25832413
TI  - PLD3 gene variants and Alzheimer's disease.

PMID- 25832414
TI  - Umpolung of methylenephosphonium ions in their manganese half-sandwich complexes
      and application to the synthesis of chiral phosphorus-containing ligand
      scaffolds.
AB  - Half-sandwich manganese methylenephosphonium complexes [Cp(CO)2Mn(eta(2)
      R2P=C(H)Ph)]BF4 were obtained in high yield through a straightforward reaction
      sequence involving a classical Fischer-type manganese complex and a secondary
      phosphine as key starting materials. The addition of various nucleophiles (Nu) to
      these species took place regioselectively at the double-bonded carbon center of
      the coordinated methylenephosphonium ligand R2P(+)=C(H)Ph to produce the
      corresponding chiral phosphine complexes [Cp(CO)2Mn(kappa(1)-R2P-C(H)(Ph)Nu)],
      from which the phosphines were ultimately recovered as free entities upon simple
      irradiation with visible light. The synthetic potential of this umpolung approach
      is illustrated herein by the preparation of novel chiral pincer-type phosphine
      NHC-phosphine ligand architectures.

PMID- 25832415
TI  - A qualitative study of the prodrome to first-episode major depressive disorder in
      adolescents.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Currently, we lack a clear picture of the evolution of major
      depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescents. The period of disturbance preceding MDD
      can be conceptualised as the prodrome. The aim of the study was to explore the
      prodrome of first-episode MDD retrospectively in a group of help-seeking
      adolescents using qualitative methodologies. SAMPLING AND METHODS: Consecutively
      referred adolescents (15-18 years of age) with first-episode MDD were recruited
      for this study from Orygen Youth Health, Melbourne, Vic., Australia. After using
      quantitative methodologies to confirm the index episode of MDD and measure the
      extent of recovery, the prodrome was investigated in depth using qualitative
      techniques. RESULTS: Twenty-nine adolescents (20 females and 9 males) and 7
      informants (6 mothers and 1 grandmother) participated. All 29 participants had a
      prodrome of varying lengths (between 6 days and 4 years). The most noticeable
      symptoms initially were perplexity and confusion and, thereafter, sadness and
      irritability. A common pattern was a reduction in their ability to fulfil their
      role accompanied by guilt, self-blame and reduced self-esteem. Around half of the
      participants had increased thoughts of suicide and increased anxiety. There were
      gender differences in the patterns of symptoms noticed, with males more commonly
      noticing a change in how they related to the world and females more commonly
      noticing a change in the way that they related to others. All informants noticed
      a prodrome of varying lengths; in 2 cases longer, in 2 cases shorter and in 3
      cases around the same time period as that noticed by the participant. The changes
      most commonly noticed by informants were sadness, upset, irritability and reduced
      self-esteem. The symptoms were fewer in number and sometimes varied from those
      noticed by the adolescents themselves. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst we recognise that this
      study is vulnerable to autobiographical bias, we took all reasonable measures to
      minimise this. Symptoms not included in the diagnostic criteria for depression
      were the earliest changes noticed by the adolescents themselves and are,
      therefore, potentially important in informing prevention strategies, as is the
      finding that there are gender differences in the patterns of changes noticed. In
      addition, parents may provide an additional avenue to help seeking.

PMID- 25832416
TI  - How to approach delusional infestation.

PMID- 25832417
TI  - Imidazolium salt ion pairs in solution.
AB  - The formation, stabilisation and reactivity of contact ion pairs of non-protic
      imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) in solution are conceptualized in light of
      selected experimental evidence as well theoretical calculations reported mainly
      in the last ten years. Electric conductivity, NMR, ESI-MS and IR data as well as
      theoretical calculations support not only the formation of contact ion pairs in
      solution, but also the presence of larger ionic and neutral aggregates even when
      dissolved in solvents with relatively high dielectric constants, such as
      acetonitrile and DMSO. The presence of larger imidazolium supramolecular
      aggregates is favoured at higher salt concentrations in solvents of low
      dielectric constant for ILs that contain shorter N-alkyl side chains associated
      with anions of low coordination ability. The stability and reactivity of neutral
      contact species are also dependent on the nature of the anion, imidazolium
      substituents, and are more abundant in ILs containing strong coordinating anions,
      in particular those that can form charge transfer complexes with the imidazolium
      cation. Finally, some ILs display reactivities as contact ion pairs rather than
      solvent-separated ions. 

PMID- 25832418
TI  - An improved crest factor minimization algorithm to synthesize multisines with
      arbitrary spectrum.
AB  - Multisine signal with a low crest factor (CF) can bring a high signal-to-noise
      ratio for fast frequency response function (FRF) estimation. Synthesis of a low
      CF multisine with the given amplitude spectrum depends on optimum selection of
      the initial phases of its cosinusoidal components. The solutions investigated can
      be generally divided into two branches: (1) the analytical method based on direct
      formula calculation; and (2) the numerical method based on iterative
      computations. The analytical method works well only for an equidistant and flat
      amplitude spectrum, while the numerical method can generally output better
      results, even for a sparse or non-flat spectrum, but the number of iterations
      might be huge. This paper presents an improved CF minimization algorithm to
      synthesize multisine signals based on the combination of the previous Schroeder
      analytical method and the Van der Ouderaa (VDO) iteration procedure. The improved
      algorithm adopts the Schroder phases as the iterative initial phases, and employs
      a logarithmic clip function of the iterative index i in the VDO iteration
      procedure. Comprehensive experiments of multisine synthesis on three types of
      cosinusoidal amplitude spectra are performed, and the resulting CFs remain the
      lowest level in all cases compared with the earlier methods. The proposed
      algorithm provides a fast and efficient solution to synthesize multisine with the
      lowest CF for an arbitrary user-prescribed spectrum. 

PMID- 25832419
TI  - Developing a holistic policy and intervention framework for global mental health.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There are significant gaps in the accessibility and quality of
      mental health services around the globe. A wide range of institutions are
      addressing the challenges, but there is limited reflection and evaluation on the
      various approaches, how they compare with each other, and conclusions regarding
      the most effective approach for particular settings. This article presents a
      framework for global mental health capacity building that could potentially serve
      as a promising or best practice in the field. The framework is the outcome of a
      decade of collaborative global health work at the Centre for Addiction and Mental
      Health (CAMH) (Ontario, Canada). The framework is grounded in scientific
      evidence, relevant learning and behavioural theories and the underlying
      principles of health equity and human rights. METHODS: Grounded in CAMH's
      research, programme evaluation and practical experience in developing and
      implementing mental health capacity building interventions, this article presents
      the iterative learning process and impetus that formed the basis of the
      framework. A developmental evaluation (Patton M.2010. Developmental Evaluation:
      Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use. New York: Guilford
      Press.) approach was used to build the framework, as global mental health
      collaboration occurs in complex or uncertain environments and evolving learning
      systems. RESULTS: A multilevel framework consists of five central components: (1)
      holistic health, (2) cultural and socioeconomic relevance, (3) partnerships, (4)
      collaborative action-based education and learning and (5) sustainability. The
      framework's practical application is illustrated through the presentation of
      three international case studies and four policy implications. Lessons learned,
      limitations and future opportunities are also discussed. CONCLUSION: The holistic
      policy and intervention framework for global mental health reflects an iterative
      learning process that can be applied and scaled up across different settings
      through appropriate modifications.

PMID- 25832420
TI  - Novel molecularly imprinted magnetic nanoparticles for the selective extraction
      of protoberberine alkaloids in herbs and rat plasma.
AB  - In this work, a novel magnetic nanomaterial functionalized with a molecularly
      imprinted polymer was prepared for the extraction of protoberberine alkaloids.
      Molecularly imprinted polymers were made on the surface of Fe3 O4 nanoparticles
      by using berberine as template, acetonitrile/water as porogen, acrylamide as
      functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linker. The
      optimized molar ratio of template/functional monomer was 1:7. The polymeric
      magnetic nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and
      Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The stability and adsorption capacity of
      the molecularly imprinted polymers were investigated. The molecularly imprinted
      polymers were used as a selective sorbent for the magnetic molecularly imprinted
      solid-phase extraction and determination of jatrorrhizine, palmatine, and
      berberine. Extraction parameters were studied including loading pH, sample
      volume, stirring speed, and extraction time. Finally, a magnetic molecularly
      imprinted solid-phase extraction coupled to high-performance liquid
      chromatography method was developed. Under the optimized conditions, the method
      showed good linear range of 0.1-150 ng/mL for berberine and 0.1-100 ng/mL for
      jatrorrhizine and palmatine. The limit of detection was 0.01 ng/mL for berberine
      and 0.02 ng/mL for jatrorrhizine and palmatine. The proposed method has been
      applied to determine protoberberine alkaloids in Cortex phellodendri and rat
      plasma samples. The recoveries ranged from 87.33-102.43%, with relative standard
      deviation less than 4.54% in Cortex phellodendri and from 102.22-111.15% with
      relative standard deviation less than 4.59% in plasma. 

PMID- 25832421
TI  - The divergent roles of autophagy in ischemia and preconditioning.
AB  - Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved and lysosome-dependent process for
      degrading and recycling cellular constituents. Autophagy is activated following
      an ischemic insult or preconditioning, but it may exert dual roles in cell death
      or survival during these two processes. Preconditioning or lethal ischemia may
      trigger autophagy via multiple signaling pathways involving endoplasmic reticulum
      (ER) stress, AMPK/TSC/mTOR, Beclin 1/BNIP3/SPK2, and FoxO/NF-kappaB transcription
      factors, etc. Autophagy then interacts with apoptotic and necrotic signaling
      pathways to regulate cell death. Autophagy may also maintain cell function by
      removing protein aggregates or damaged mitochondria. To date, the dual roles of
      autophagy in ischemia and preconditioning have not been fully clarified. The
      purpose of the present review is to summarize the recent progress in the
      mechanisms underlying autophagy activation during ischemia and preconditioning. A
      better understanding of the dual effects of autophagy in ischemia and
      preconditioning could help to develop new strategies for the preventive treatment
      of ischemia.

PMID- 25832422
TI  - Ginsenoside Rd promotes neurogenesis in rat brain after transient focal cerebral
      ischemia via activation of PI3K/Akt pathway.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the effects of ginsenoside Rd (Rd) on neurogenesis in rat
      brain after ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI). METHODS: Male SD rats were
      subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) followed by
      reperfusion. The rats were injected with Rd (1, 2.5, and 5 mg.kg(-1).d(-1), ip)
      from d 1 to d 3 after MCAO, and with BrdU (50 mg.kg(-1).d(-1), ip) from d 3 to d
      6, then sacrificed on 7 d. The infarct size and neurological scores were
      assessed. Neurogenesis in the brains was detected by BrdU, DCX, Nestin, and GFAP
      immunohistochemistry staining. PC12 cells subjected to OGD/reperfusion were used
      as an in vitro model of brain ischemia. VEGF and BDNF levels were assessed with
      ELISA, and Akt and ERK phosphorylation was measured using Western blotting.
      RESULTS: Rd administration dose-dependently decreased the infarct size and
      neurological scores in the rats with IRI. The high dose of Rd 5 (mg.kg(-1).d(-1))
      significantly increased Akt phosphorylation in ipsilateral hemisphere, and
      markedly increased the number of BrdU/DCX and Nestin/GFAP double-positive cells
      in ischemic area, which was partially blocked by co-administration of the PI3
      kinase inhibitor LY294002. Treatment with Rd (25, 50, and 100 MUmol/L) during
      reperfusion significantly increased the expression of VEGF and BDNF in PC12 cells
      with IRI. Furthermore, treatment with Rd dose-dependently increased the
      phosphorylation of Akt and ERK, and significantly decreased PC12 cell apoptosis,
      which were blocked by co-application of LY294002. CONCLUSION: Rd not only
      attenuates ischemia/reperfusion injury in rat brain, but also promotes
      neurogenesis via increasing VEGF and BDNF expression and activating the PI3K/Akt
      and ERK1/2 pathways.

PMID- 25832423
TI  - Chronic nicotine treatment enhances vascular smooth muscle relaxation in rats.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the effect of chronic nicotine treatment on vascular function
      and to identify the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Adult rats were treated with
      nicotine (3 mg.kg(-1).d(-1), sc) for 6 weeks. After the rats were sacrificed,
      aortic rings were prepared for detecting vascular reactivity, and thoracic aorta
      and periaortic fat samples were collected for histological and molecular biology
      studies. RESULTS: Chronic nicotine treatment significantly reduced periaortic
      fat, and specifically enhanced smooth muscle relaxation without altering the
      aortic adventitial fat and endothelium function. Pretreatment with the soluble
      guanylyl cyclase inhibitor ODQ (3 MUmol/L) or PKG inhibitor Rp-8-Br-PET-cGMP (30
      MUmol/L) abolished the nicotine-induced enhancement of smooth muscle relaxation,
      whereas the cGMP analogue 8-Br-cGMP could mimic the nicotine-induced enhancement
      of smooth muscle relaxation. However, the chronic nicotine treatment did not
      alter PKG protein expression and activity in aortic media. CONCLUSION: Chronic
      nicotine treatment enhances vascular smooth muscle relaxation of rats via
      activation of PKG pathway.

PMID- 25832424
TI  - C-reactive protein stimulates RAGE expression in human coronary artery
      endothelial cells in vitro via ROS generation and ERK/NF-kappaB activation.
AB  - AIM: The receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) plays an important
      role in development of atherosclerosis, and C-reactive protein (CRP) has been
      found to stimulate its expression in endothelial cells. In this study we
      investigated how CRP regulated the expression of RAGE in human coronary artery
      endothelial cells (HCAECs). METHODS: HCAECs were treated in vitro with CRP (50
      MUg/mL) in combination with a variety of inhibitors. ROS generation was
      determined by immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry. The RAGE expression and
      phosphorylation of relevant signaling proteins were measured using Western blot
      analyses. RESULTS: CRP stimulated the expression of RAGE in the cells,
      accompanied by markedly increased ROS generation, phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and
      NF-kappaB p65, as well as translocation of NF-kappaB p65 to the nuclei. CRP also
      stimulated phosphorylation of JNK and p38 MAPK. Pretreatment of the cells with
      the ROS scavenger N-acetyl-L-cysteine, ERK inhibitor PD98059 or NF-kappaB
      inhibitor PDTC blocked CRP-stimulated RAGE expression, but pretreatment with the
      NADPH oxidase inhibitor DPI, JNK inhibitor SP600125 or p38 MAPK inhibitor
      SB203580 did not significantly alter CRP-stimulated RAGE expression. CONCLUSION:
      CRP stimulates RAGE expression in HCAECs in vitro via ROS generation and
      activation of the ERK/NF-kappaB signaling pathway.

PMID- 25832425
TI  - Orally administered moxifloxacin prolongs QTc in healthy Chinese volunteers: a
      randomized, single-blind, crossover study.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the QT/QTc effects of orally administered moxifloxacin in
      healthy Chinese volunteers. METHODS: This was a single-blinded, randomized,
      single-dose, placebo-controlled, two-period cross-over study. A total of 24
      healthy Chinese volunteers were enrolled, randomly assigned to two groups: one
      group received moxifloxacin (400 mg, po) followed by placebo with a 7-d interval,
      another group received placebo followed by moxifloxacin with a 7-d interval. On
      the days of dosing, 12-lead 24 h Holter ECGs were recorded and evaluated by an
      ECG laboratory blind to the treatments. Blood samples were collected to determine
      plasma concentrations of moxifloxacin. RESULTS: The orally administered
      moxifloxacin significantly prolonged the mean QTc at all time points except 0.5 h
      post-dose. The largest time-matched difference in the QTcI was 8.35 ms (90% CI:
      5.43, 11.27) at 4 h post-dose. The peak effect on QTcF was 9.35 ms (90% CI: 6.36,
      12.34) at 3 h post-dose. A pharmacokinetic-QTc model suggested a 2.084 ms
      increase in the QTc interval for every 1000 ng/mL increase in plasma
      concentration of moxifloxacin. In addition, the orally administered moxifloxacin
      was well tolerated by the subjects. CONCLUSION: Orally administered moxifloxacin
      significantly prolongs QTc, which supports its use as a positive control in ICH
      E14 TQT studies in Chinese volunteers.

PMID- 25832426
TI  - The protease inhibitor atazanavir blocks hERG K(+) channels expressed in HEK293
      cells and obstructs hERG protein transport to cell membrane.
AB  - AIM: Atazanavir (ATV) is a HIV-1 protease inhibitor for the treatment of AIDS
      patients, which is recently reported to provoke excessive prolongation of the QT
      interval and torsades de pointes (TdP). In order to elucidate its arrhythmogenic
      mechanisms, we investigated the effects of ATV on the hERG K(+) channels
      expressed in HEK293 cells. METHODS: hERG K(+) currents were detected using whole
      cell patch clamp recording in HEK293 cells transfected with EGFP-hERG plasmids.
      The expression of hERG protein was measured with Western blotting. Two mutants
      (Y652A and F656C) were constructed in the S6 domain within the inner helices of
      hERG K(+) channels that were responsible for binding of various drugs. The
      trafficking of hERG protein was studied with confocal microscopy. RESULTS:
      Application of ATV (0.01-30 MUmol/L) concentration-dependently decreased hERG
      K(+) currents with an IC50 of 5.7+/-1.8 MUmol/L. ATV (10 MUmol/L) did not affect
      the activation and steady-state inactivation of hERG K(+) currents. Compared with
      the wild type hERG K(+) channels, both Y652A and F656C mutants significantly
      reduced the inhibition of ATV on hERG K(+) currents. Overnight treatment with ATV
      (0.1-30 MUmol/L) concentration-dependently reduced the amount of fully
      glycosylated 155 kDa hERG protein without significantly affecting the core
      glycosylated 135 kDa hERG protein in the cells expressing the WT-hERG protein.
      Confocal microscopy studies confirmed that overnight treatment with ATV
      obstructed the trafficking of hERG protein to the cell membrane. CONCLUSION: ATV
      directly blocks hERG K(+) channels via binding to the residues Y652 and F656 in
      the S6 domain, and indirectly obstructs the transport of the hERG protein to the
      cell membrane.

PMID- 25832427
TI  - Collateral circulation formation determines the characteristic profiles of
      contrast-enhanced MRI in the infarcted myocardium of pigs.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the relationship between the collateral circulation and
      contrast-enhanced MR signal change for myocardial infarction (MI) in pigs.
      METHODS: Pigs underwent permanent ligation of two diagonal branches of the left
      anterior descending artery. First-pass perfusion (FPP) MRI (for detecting
      myocardial perfusion abnormalities) and delayed enhancement (DE) MRI (for
      estimating myocardial infarction) using Gd-DTPA were performed at 2 h, 7 d and 4
      weeks after the coronary occlusion. Myocardial blood flow (MBF) was evaluated
      using nonradioactive red-colored microspheres. Histological examination was
      performed to characterize the infarcts. RESULTS: Acute MI performed at 2 h
      afterwards was characterized by hypoenhancement in both FPP- and DE-MRI, with
      small and almost unchanged FPP-signal intensity (SI) and DE-SI due to negligible
      MBF. Subacute MI detected 7 d afterwards showed small but significantly
      increaseing FPP-SI, and was visible as a sluggish hyperenhancement in DE-MRI with
      considerably higher DE-SI compared to the normal myocardium; the MBF approached
      the half-normal value. Chronic MI detected at 4 weeks afterwards showed
      increasing FPP-SI comparable to the normal myocardium, and a rapid
      hyperenhancement in DE-MRI with even higher DE-SI; the MBF was close to the
      normal value. The MBF was correlated with FPP-SI (r=+0.94, P<0.01) and with the
      peak DE-SI (r=+0.92, P<0.01) at the three MI stages. Remodeled vessels were
      observed at intra-infarction and peri-infarction zones during the subacute and
      chronic periods. CONCLUSION: Progressive collateral recovery determines the
      characteristic profiles of contrast-enhanced MRI in acute, subacute and chronic
      myocardial infarction in pigs. The FPP- and DE-MRI signal profiles not only
      depend on the loss of tissue viability and enlarged interstitial space, but also
      on establishing a collateral circulation.

PMID- 25832428
TI  - The anti-fibrotic effects of epigallocatechin-3-gallate in bile duct-ligated
      cholestatic rats and human hepatic stellate LX-2 cells are mediated by the
      PI3K/Akt/Smad pathway.
AB  - AIM: (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is one of the most abundant
      polyphenols in green tea with strong antioxidant activity and various therapeutic
      effects. In this study, we investigated the anti-fibrotic effects of EGCG and
      underlying mechanisms in bile duct-ligated (BDL) rats and a liver fibrosis model
      in vitro. METHODS: BDL rats were treated with EGCG (25 mg.kg(-1).d(-1), po) for
      14 d, and then the serum, bile and liver samples were collected. Liver fibrosis
      was assessed by serum, urine and bile biochemistry analyses and morphological
      studies of liver tissues. TGF-beta1-stimulated human hepatic stellate LX-2 cells
      were used as a liver fibrosis model in vitro. The expression of liver fibrogenic
      genes and signaling proteins in the PI3K/Akt/Smad pathway was examined using
      Western blotting and/or real-time PCR. RESULTS: In BDL rats, EGCG treatment
      significantly ameliorates liver necrosis, inflammation and fibrosis, and
      suppressed expression of the genes associated with liver inflammation and
      fibrogenesis, including TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, TGF-beta1, MMP-9, alpha-SMA, and
      COL1A1. In LX-2 cells, application of EGCG (10, 25 MUmol/L) dose-dependently
      suppressed TGF-beta1-stimulated expression of COL1A1, MMP-2, MMP-9, TGF-beta1,
      TIMP1, and alpha-SMA. Furthermore, EGCG significantly suppressed the
      phosphorylation of Smad2/3 and Akt in the livers of BDL rats and in TGF-beta1
      stimulated LX-2 cells. Application of LY294002, a specific inhibitor of PI3K,
      produced similar effects as EGCG did in TGF-beta1-stimulated LX-2 cells, but co
      application of EGCG and LY294002 did not produce additive effects. CONCLUSION:
      EGCG exerts anti-fibrotic effects in BDL rats and TGF-beta1-stimulated LX-2 cells
      in vitro via inhibiting the PI3K/Akt/Smad pathway.

PMID- 25832430
TI  - Seipin mutation at glycosylation sites activates autophagy in transfected cells
      via abnormal large lipid droplets generation.
AB  - AIM: Seipin is a protein that resides in endoplasmic reticulum, and involved in
      both lipid metabolic disorders and motor neuropathy. The aim of this study was to
      investigate the effects of mutant seipin on autophagy system and the morphology
      of lipid droplets in vitro. METHODS: HEK-293, H1299 and MES23.5 cells were
      transfected with the plasmids of mutated seipin at glycosylation sites (N88S or
      S90L) and GFP-LC3 plasmids. The cells were subjected to immunofluorescence and
      flow cytometry assays, and the cell lysates were subjected to immunoblot
      analysis. Nile Red was used to stain the lipid droplets in the cells. RESULTS:
      Overexpression of the mutated seipin proteins N88S or S90L activated autophagy in
      the 3 cell lines, and substantially altered the sub-cellular distribution of the
      autophagosome marker GFP-LC3, leading to a number of large vacuoles appearing in
      the cytoplasm. The sub-cellular location of GFP-LC3 and mutated seipin proteins
      highly overlapped. Moreover, and the mutated seipin proteins caused diffuse small
      lipid droplets to fuse into larger lipid droplets. Treatment of mutated seipin
      transfected cells with the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA (5 mmol/L) facilitated the
      fusion of mutated seipin-induced large vacuoles. The protein glycosylation
      inhibitor tunicamycin could mimic the mutated seipin-induced effects, and
      treatment of the wild-type seipin-transfected cells with tunicamycin (2.5 MUg/mL)
      produced similar morphological and biochemical properties as in the mutated
      seipin-transfected cells. CONCLUSION: The mutation of seipin at glycosylation
      sites disrupt its function in regulating lipid droplet metabolism, and the
      autophagy acts as an adaptive response to break down abnormal lipid droplets. The
      interruption of autophagy would accelerate the fusion of abnormal lipid droplets.

PMID- 25832429
TI  - 2-(3-Benzoylthioureido)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophene-3-carboxylic acid
      ameliorates metabolic disorders in high-fat diet-fed mice.
AB  - AIM: Sterol-regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs) are major transcription
      factors that regulate liver lipid biosynthesis. In this article we reported a
      novel synthetic compound 2-(3-benzoylthioureido)-4,5,6,7
      tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophene-3-carboxylic acid (ZJ001) that inhibited the SREBP-1c
      pathway, and effectively reduced hepatic lipid accumulation in diet-induced
      obesity (DIO) mice. METHODS: A luciferase reporter driven by an SRE-containing
      promoter transfected into HepG2 cells was used to discover the compound. Two
      approaches were used to evaluate the lipid-lowering effects of ZJ001: (1) diet
      induced obesity (DIO) mice that were treated with ZJ001 (15 mg.kg(-1).d(-1), po)
      for 7 weeks; and (2) HepG2 cells and primary hepatocytes used as in vitro models.
      RESULTS: ZJ001 (10, 20 MUmol/L) dose-dependently inhibited the activity of SRE
      containing promoter. ZJ001 administration ameliorated lipid metabolism and
      improved glucose tolerance in DIO mice, accompanied by significantly reduced mRNA
      levels of SREBP-1C and SREBP-2, and their downstream genes. In HepG2 cells and
      insulin-treated hepatocytes, ZJ001 (10-40 MUmol/L) dose-dependently inhibited
      lipid synthesis, and reduced mRNA levels of SREBP-1C and SREBP-2, and their
      downstream genes. Furthermore, ZJ001 dose-dependently increased the
      phosphorylation of AMPK and regulatory-associated protein of mTOR (Raptor), and
      suppressed the phosphorylation of mTOR in insulin-treated hepatocytes. Moreover,
      ZJ001 increased the ADP/ATP ratio in insulin-treated hepatocytes. CONCLUSION:
      ZJ001 exerts multiple beneficial effects in diet-induced obesity mice. Its lipid
      lowering effects may result from the suppression of mTORC1, which regulates SREBP
      1c transcription. The results suggest that the SREBP-1c pathway may be a
      potential therapeutic target for the treatment of lipid metabolic disorders.

PMID- 25832431
TI  - Physalin B not only inhibits the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway but also induces
      incomplete autophagic response in human colon cancer cells in vitro.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the effects of physalin B insolated from Physalis divericata
      on human colon cancer cells in vitro and its anticancer mechanisms. METHODS:
      Human HCT116 colon cancer cell line was tested. Cell viability and apoptosis were
      detected, and relevant proteins were measured using Western blot analyses.
      Autophagosomes were observed in stable GFP-LC3 HCT116 cells. Localization of
      autophagosomes and lysosomes was evaluated in GFP-LC3/RFP-LAMP1-co-transfected
      cells. Microtubules and F-actin microfilaments were observed with confocal
      microscope. Mitochondrial ROS (mito-ROS) was detected with flow cytometry in the
      cells stained with MitoSox dye. RESULTS: Physalin B inhibited the viability of
      HCT116 cells with an IC50 value of 1.35 MUmol/L. Treatment of the cells with
      physalin B (2.5-10 MUmol/L) induced apoptosis and the cleavage of PARP and
      caspase-3. Meanwhile, physalin B treatment induced autophagosome formation, and
      accumulation of LC3-II and p62, but decreased Beclin 1 protein level. Marked
      changes of microtubules and F-actin microfilaments were observed in physalin B
      treated cells, which led to the blockage of co-localization of autophagosomes and
      lysosomes. Physalin B treatment dose-dependently increased the phosphorylation of
      p38, ERK and JNK in the cells, whereas the p38 inhibitor SB202190, ERK inhibitor
      U0126 or JNK inhibitor SP600125 could partially reduce physalin B-induced PARP
      cleavage and p62 accumulation. Moreover, physalin B treatment dose-dependently
      increased mito-ROS production in the cells, whereas the ROS scavenger NAC could
      reverse physalin B-induced effects, including incomplete autophagic response,
      accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins, changes of microtubules and F-actin,
      activation of p38, ERK and JNK, as well as cell death and apoptosis. CONCLUSION:
      Physalin B induces mito-ROS, which not only inhibits the ubiquitin-proteasome
      pathway but also induces incomplete autophagic response in HCT116 cells in vitro.

PMID- 25832434
TI  - Music in the Operating Room: "Can You Hear Me Now?".

PMID- 25832432
TI  - Transfer of the IL-37b gene elicits anti-tumor responses in mice bearing 4T1
      breast cancer.
AB  - AIM: IL-37b has shown anti-cancer activities in addition to its anti-inflammatory
      properties. In this study, we investigated the effects of IL-37b on breast
      carcinoma growth in mice and to determine the involvement of T cell activation in
      the effects. METHODS: IL-37b gene was transferred into mouse breast carcinoma
      cell line 4T1 (4T1-IL37b cells), the expression of secretory IL-37b by the cells
      was detected, and the effects of IL-37b expression on the cell proliferation in
      vitro was evaluated. After injection of 4T1 cells or 4T1-IL37b cells into
      immunocompetent BALB/c mice, immunodeficient BALB/c nude mice and NOD-SCID mice,
      the tumor growth and survival rate were measured. The proliferation of T cells in
      vitro was also detected. RESULTS: IL-37b was detected in the supernatants of 4T1
      IL37b cells with a concentration of 12.02 +/- 0.875 ng/mL. IL-37b expression did
      not affect 4T1 cell proliferation in vitro. BALB/c mice inoculated with 4T1-IL37b
      cells showed significant retardation of tumor growth. BALB/c mice inoculated with
      both 4T1 cells and mitomycin C-treated 4T1-IL37b cells also showed significant
      retardation of tumor growth. But the anti-cancer activity of IL-37b was abrogated
      in BALB/c nude mice and NOD-SCID mice inoculated with 4T1-IL37b cells.
      Recombinant IL-37b slightly promoted CD4(+) T cell proliferation without
      affecting CD8(+) T cell proliferation. CONCLUSION: IL-37b exerts anti-4T1 breast
      carcinoma effects in vivo by modulating the tumor microenvironment and
      influencing T cell activation.

PMID- 25832435
TI  - Predictors of Outcome among Pathological Gamblers Receiving Cognitive Behavioral
      Group Therapy.
AB  - AIMS: The aim of this study was to evaluate posttreatment changes of individuals
      with a diagnosis of gambling disorder (GD) treated with group cognitive
      behavioral therapy (CBT), to assess the potential moderator effect of sex on CBT
      outcome, and to explore the best predictors of posttreatment changes, relapse,
      and dropout rates. METHODS: A cohort design was applied with a prospective follow
      up. The sample comprised 440 patients and the CBT intervention consisted of 16
      weekly outpatient group sessions and a 3-month follow-up period. RESULTS:
      Patients showed significant improvements in both the level of psychopathology and
      the severity of the gambling behavior. High self-transcendence and the
      involvement of the spouse or partner in the therapy predicted a higher risk of
      relapse. Younger age and low education predicted a higher risk of dropout.
      CONCLUSION: Many patients with GD can be treated with strategies to improve self
      control and emotional regulation, but other techniques should be incorporated to
      address the individual characteristics of each patient. This is particularly
      important in group therapy, in which the same treatment is applied to several
      patients simultaneously. The involvement of a family member needs to be carefully
      considered since it may have a negative effect on the response to treatment if
      not adequately managed.

PMID- 25832436
TI  - Emodin regulates bone remodeling by inhibiting osteoclastogenesis and stimulating
      osteoblast formation.
AB  - Bone remodeling, a physiological process in which new bone is formed by
      osteoblasts and the preexisting bone matrix is resorbed by osteoclasts, is vital
      for the maintenance of healthy bone tissue in adult humans. Imbalances in this
      process can cause various pathological conditions, including osteoporosis.
      Emodin, a naturally occurring anthraquinone derivative found in Asian herbal
      medicines, has numerous beneficial pharmacologic effects, including anticancer
      and antidiabetic activities. However, the effect of emodin on the regulation of
      osteoblast and osteoclast activity has not yet been investigated. We show here
      that emodin is a potential target for osteoporosis therapeutics, as treatment
      with this agent enhances osteoblast differentiation and bone growth and
      suppresses osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption. In this study, emodin
      suppressed receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) ligand (RANKL)
      induced osteoclast differentiation of bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) and the bone
      resorbing activity of mature osteoclasts by inhibiting RANKL-induced NF-kappaB, c
      Fos, and NFATc1 expression. Emodin also increased ALP, Alizarin Red
      mineralization activity, and the expression of osteoblastogenic gene markers,
      such as Runx2, osteocalcin (OCN), and ALP in mouse calvarial primary osteoblasts,
      as well as activated the p38-Runx2 pathway, which enhanced osteoblast
      differentiation. Moreover, mice treated with emodin showed marked attenuation of
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced bone erosion and increased bone-forming activity
      in a mouse calvarial bone formation model based on micro-computed tomography and
      histologic analysis of femurs. Our findings reveal a novel function for emodin in
      bone remodeling, and highlight its potential for use as a therapeutic agent in
      the treatment of osteoporosis that promotes bone anabolic activity and inhibits
      osteoclast differentiation.

PMID- 25832437
TI  - Role of RhoA/Rho kinase signaling pathway in microgroove induced stem cell
      myogenic differentiation.
AB  - In our previous report, the authors have demonstrated that direct laser machined
      microchannels would trigger upregulation of myogenic markers in human mesenchymal
      stem cells (hMSCs) through promotion of cell elongation. However, the molecular
      basis signaling pathways behind this observation remains unclear. In this work,
      three types of microchannels generated by femtosecond laser were utilized to
      investigate possible mechanisms behind the induction of hMSCs myogenesis by
      microchannels. The authors hypothesized that small G-proteins RhoA and Rac1 play
      a vital role on myogenesis of hMSCs through regulating cytoskeleton
      rearrangement, via cell tension signaling cascades. The RhoA and Rac1 activities
      were evaluated for cells cultured on the micropatterned substrates, using a flat
      unpatterned substrate as control. It was found that significant activation of
      RhoA GTPase was exhibited for cells cultured on narrow microchannels (20-20-20
      and 30-30-20), while no obvious differences were obtained on wide ones (80-30
      20). Meanwhile, no significant difference was found for Rac1 activities on all
      tested groups. To further deduce the role of RhoA signaling pathway in
      microchannel directed stem cell myogenesis, the effectors of Rho, Rho kinase
      (ROCK) was chosen to explore how cell shape regulate myogenesis of hMSCs cultured
      on laser micropatterned substrate. A pharmacological ROCK inhibitor, Y-27632, was
      used to treat the cells and the effect on RhoA activation was investigated. Our
      data on the role of RhoA/ROCK in regulating cell myogenic differentiation on
      lasered microchannels substrates may provide a mechanistic insight on hMSCs fate
      directed by substrate topography. 

PMID- 25832438
TI  - Plasma jet's shielding gas impact on bacterial inactivation.
AB  - One of the most desired aims in plasma medicine is to inactivate prokaryotic
      cells and leave eukaryotic cells unharmed or even stimulate proliferation to
      promote wound healing. The method of choice is to precisely control the plasma
      component composition. Here the authors investigate the inactivation of bacteria
      (Escherichia coli) by a plasma jet treatment. The reactive species composition
      created by the plasma in liquids is tuned by the use of a shielding gas device to
      achieve a reactive nitrogen species dominated condition or a reactive oxygen
      species dominated condition. A strong correlation between composition of the
      reactive components and the inactivation of the bacteria is observed. The authors
      compare the results to earlier investigations on eukaryotic cells and show that
      it is possible to find a plasma composition where bacterial inactivation is
      strongest and adverse effects on eukaryotic cells are minimized. 

PMID- 25832439
TI  - Measurement of retromolar space dimensions using dental pantomograms for
      intubation feasibility.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to measure the dimensions of the
      retromolar space of a patient population. If the dimensions were found to exceed
      the outside diameters of commonly used tracheal tubes, the results could increase
      use of the retromolar approach for oral intubation in patients with trismus.
      METHODS: We reviewed 311 dental pantomograms. Retromolar space height was
      measured from the lowest point of the maxillary tuberosity to the mandibular
      alveolar ridge. Width was measured from the last mandibular molar to the junction
      of the anterior border of the ramus with the body of the mandible. RESULTS: Mean
      height and width were 17.87 mm and 17.48 mm for the right space and 18.07 mm and
      16.51 mm for the left. CONCLUSION: These dimensions were usually larger than the
      outside diameters of commonly used tracheal tubes. The retromolar approach can be
      considered an option for flexible fiberoptic intubation in patients with trismus.
      (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E638-E642, 2016.

PMID- 25832440
TI  - Universal Breadwinner Versus Universal Caregiver Model: Fathers' Involvement in
      Caregiving and Well-Being of Mothers of Offspring with Intellectual Disabilities.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The universal breadwinner model means both parents are employed;
      while the universal caregiver model implies that the father's hours of caregiving
      are equal or higher to those of the mother. This study aims to examine the
      hypothesis that the universal caregiver model is more related to the overall well
      being of mothers of children with intellectual disabilities than the universal
      breadwinner model. METHODS: Face-to-face interview surveys were conducted in 2011
      in Taiwan with 876 working-age mothers who had an offspring with intellectual
      disabilities. The survey included 574 mothers living with their husbands who
      became our participants. RESULTS: Both anova and regression analyses indicated
      that, compared with mothers in the universal breadwinner group, mothers in the
      universal caregiver group had higher levels of maternal marital and family life
      satisfaction, but not of work satisfaction and quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: An
      incentive policy is critical for supporting the fathers involved in lifelong
      caregiving and to promote the mothers' quality of life.

PMID- 25832441
TI  - Allotides: Proline-Rich Cystine Knot alpha-Amylase Inhibitors from Allamanda
      cathartica.
AB  - Cystine knot alpha-amylase inhibitors belong to a knottin family of peptidyl
      inhibitors of 30-32 residues and contain two to four prolines. Thus far, only
      four members of the group of cystine knot alpha-amylase inhibitors have been
      characterized. Herein, the discovery and characterization of five cystine knot
      alpha-amylase inhibitors, allotides C1-C5 (Ac1-Ac5) (1-5), from the medicinal
      plant Allamanda cathartica are reported using both proteomic and genomic methods.
      Proteomic analysis showed that 1-5 are 30 amino acids in length with three or
      four proline residues. NMR determination of 4 revealed that it has two cis- and
      one trans-proline residues and adopts two equally populated conformations in
      solution. Determination of disulfide connectivity of 2 by differential S
      reduction and S-alkylation provided clues of its unfolding process. Genomic
      analysis showed that allotide precursors contain a three-domain arrangement
      commonly found in plant cystine knot peptides with conserved residues flanking
      the processing sites of the mature allotide domain. This work expands the number
      of known cystine knot alpha-amylase inhibitors and furthers the understanding of
      both the structural and biological diversity of this type of knottin family. 

PMID- 25832442
TI  - Likelihood-based inferences about the mean area under a longitudinal curve in the
      presence of observations subject to limits of detection.
AB  - Comparison of groups in longitudinal studies is often conducted using the area
      under the outcome versus time curve. However, outcomes may be subject to
      censoring due to a limit of detection and specific methods that take informative
      missingness into account need to be applied. In this article, we present a
      unified model-based method that accounts for both the within-subject variability
      in the estimation of the area under the curve as well as the missingness
      mechanism in the event of censoring. Simulation results demonstrate that our
      proposed method has a significant advantage over traditionally implemented
      methods with regards to its inferential properties. A working example from an
      AIDS study is presented to demonstrate the applicability of our approach.

PMID- 25832443
TI  - Moderate oral supplementation with docosahexaenoic acid improves platelet
      function and oxidative stress in type 2 diabetic patients.
AB  - Platelets from patients with type 2 diabetes are characterised by hyperactivation
      and high level of oxidative stress. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may have
      beneficial effects on platelet reactivity and redox status. We investigated
      whether moderate DHA supplementation, given as a triglyceride form, may correct
      platelet dysfunction and redox imbalance in patients with type 2 diabetes. We
      conducted a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, two-period crossover
      trial (n=11 post-menopausal women with type 2 diabetes) to test the effects of
      400 mg/day of DHA intake for two weeks on platelet aggregation, markers of
      arachidonic acid metabolism, lipid peroxidation status, and lipid composition.
      Each two week-period was separated from the other by a six-week washout. Daily
      moderate dose DHA supplementation resulted in reduced platelet aggregation
      induced by collagen (-46.5 %, p< 0.001), and decreased platelet thromboxane B2 (
      35 %, p< 0.001), urinary 11-dehydro-thromboxane B2 (-13.2 %, p< 0.001) and F2
      isoprostane levels (-19.6 %, p< 0.001) associated with a significant increase of
      plasma and platelet vitamin E concentrations (+20 % and +11.8 %, respectively, p<
      0.001). The proportions of DHA increased both in plasma lipids and in platelet
      phospholipids. After placebo treatment, there was no effect on any parameters
      tested. Our findings support a significant beneficial effect of low intake of DHA
      on platelet function and a favourable role in reducing oxidative stress
      associated with diabetes.

PMID- 25832444
TI  - Reduced prevalence of chronic tubal inflammation in tubal pregnancies after
      levonorgestrel emergency contraception failure.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare chronic fallopian tubal
      inflammatory disease and fibrosis between patients with general tubal pregnancy
      (TP) and TP with levonorgestrel (LNG) emergency contraception (EC) failure.
      METHODS: We retrospectively studied patients with general TP (n = 79) and TP
      following LNG-EC failure (n = 81) within the same conception cycle. Information
      on the gynecological features of each subject was collected. Pelvic inflammatory
      disease and associated sequelae were assessed by the serum Chlamydia trachomatis
      (CT) IgG test, laparoscopic evaluation of tubal damage, and histopathological
      observation of tube tissues. Chi-square and Student's t-tests were employed to
      determine the difference between the two groups. RESULTS: Compared with general
      TP, cases of TP following LNG-EC failure subjects were less likely to have a
      history of previous ectopic pregnancy (5.06% vs. 18.52%, p = 0.009) and adnexal
      surgery (6.33% vs. 22.22%, p = 0.010). Patients with TP following LNG-EC failure
      were less likely to have pelvic inflammatory disease and associated sequelae than
      those with general TP, as revealed by positive reaction to anti-CT IgG (18.18%
      vs. 35.94%, p = 0.031), assessment of tubal damage (grade I: 5.06% vs. 17.28%;
      grade II: 2.53% vs. 11.11%; grade III: 1.27% vs. 6.17%; p = 0.001), infiltration
      of chronic inflammatory cells (10.91% vs. 62.50%, p < 0.001), and positive
      Masson's staining (7.69% vs. 39.58%; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with cases
      of general TP, cases of TP following LNG-EC failure exhibited reduced rates of CT
      infection, fallopian tubal inflammation, and/or fibrosis.

PMID- 25832445
TI  - Stable isotopic labeling-based quantitative targeted glycomics (i-QTaG).
AB  - Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis combined with stable isotopic labeling is a
      promising method for the relative quantification of aberrant glycosylation in
      diseases and disorders. We developed a stable isotopic labeling-based
      quantitative targeted glycomics (i-QTaG) technique for the comparative and
      quantitative analysis of total N-glycans using matrix-assisted laser
      desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). We
      established the analytical procedure with the chemical derivatizations (i.e.,
      sialic acid neutralization and stable isotopic labeling) of N-glycans using a
      model glycoprotein (bovine fetuin). Moreover, the i-QTaG using MALDI-TOF MS was
      evaluated with various molar ratios (1:1, 1:2, 1:5) of (13) C6 /(12) C6 -2
      aminobenzoic acid-labeled glycans from normal human serum. Finally, this method
      was applied to direct comparison of the total N-glycan profiles between normal
      human sera (n = 8) and prostate cancer patient sera (n = 17). The intensities of
      the N-glycan peaks from i-QTaG method showed a good linearity (R(2) > 0.99) with
      the amount of the bovine fetuin glycoproteins. The ratios of relative intensity
      between the isotopically 2-AA labeled N-glycans were close to the theoretical
      molar ratios (1:1, 1:2, 1:5). We also demonstrated that the up-regulation of the
      Lewis antigen (~82%) in sera from prostate cancer patients. In this proof-of
      concept study, we demonstrated that the i-QTaG method, which enables to achieve a
      reliable comparative quantitation of total N-glycans via MALDI-TOF MS analysis,
      has the potential to diagnose and monitor alterations in glycosylation associated
      with disease states or biotherapeutics.

PMID- 25832446
TI  - Defining vulnerability in allogeneic transplants is more complicated than the two
      numerical digits of age.

PMID- 25832447
TI  - Effectiveness of Nonpharmacologic Interventions in Systemic Sclerosis: A
      Systematic Review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To systematically and comprehensively document the effectiveness of
      nonpharmacologic interventions on physical functioning and psychological well
      being in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: Multiple electronic
      databases were searched for studies on the effectiveness of nonpharmacologic
      interventions in SSc. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs), controlled clinical
      trials (CCTs), and observational designs (ODs) with >=10 participants were
      included. Two reviewers independently assessed methodologic quality using the
      Downs and Black checklist. RESULTS: Twenty-three studies (9 RCTs, 4 CCTs, and 10
      ODs) were included. Studies assessing comparable interventions were grouped,
      resulting in data for 16 different interventions. The total number of patients
      included per study ranged from 10 to 53. Seventeen different outcome domains were
      assessed, with hand function, limitations in activities, and quality of life
      being assessed most frequently. Three studies, all RCTs, were rated as high
      quality. These RCTs reported that 1) a multifaceted oral health intervention
      improves mouth hygiene, and additional orofacial exercises did not improve mouth
      opening, 2) a multidisciplinary team-care program improves limitations in
      activities, mouth opening, and hand grip strength, and 3) manual lymph drainage
      improves hand function, limitations in activities, and quality of life.
      CONCLUSION: The body of knowledge regarding nonpharmacologic care in SSc is very
      limited due to the wide variety in studied interventions and outcomes in the
      relatively uncommon but highly disabling disease. To structure and focus future
      research, an international consensus should be established to prioritize primary
      targets for nonpharmacologic treatment and the content of interventions and to
      agree on a core set of outcome measures.

PMID- 25832448
TI  - Osteoporosis: the evolution of a diagnosis.
AB  - The global trend towards increased longevity has resulted in ageing populations
      and a rise in diseases or conditions that primarily affect older persons. One
      such condition is osteoporosis (fragile or porous bones), which causes an
      increased fracture risk. Vertebral and hip fractures lead to increased morbidity
      and mortality and result in enormous healthcare costs. Here, we review the
      evolution of the diagnosis of osteoporosis. In an attempt to separate patients
      with normal bones from those with osteoporosis and to define the osteoporosis
      diagnosis, multiple factors and characteristics have been considered. These
      include pathology and histology of the disease, the endocrine regulation of bone
      metabolism, bone mineral density (BMD), fracture type or trauma severity, risk
      models for fracture prediction, and thresholds for pharmacological intervention.
      The femoral neck BMD -2.5 SDs cut-off for the diagnosis of osteoporosis is
      arbitrarily chosen, and there is no evidence to support the notion that fracture
      location (except vertebral fractures) or severity is useful to discriminate
      osteoporotic from normal bones. Fracture risk models (including factors unrelated
      to bone) dissociate bone strength from the diagnosis, and treatment thresholds
      are often based on health-economic considerations rather than bone properties.
      Vertebral fractures are a primary feature of osteoporosis, characterized by
      decreased bone mass, strength and quality, and a high risk of another such
      fracture that can be considerably reduced by treatment. We believe that the 2001
      definition of osteoporosis by the National Institutes of Health Consensus
      Development Panel on Osteoporosis is still valid and useful: 'Osteoporosis is
      defined as a skeletal disorder characterized by compromised bone strength
      predisposing a person to an increased risk of fracture'. 

PMID- 25832449
TI  - Catatonia in an adolescent with velo-cardio-facial syndrome.
AB  - Velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS) is the most common microdeletion syndrome in
      humans and is probably the most frequent genetic cause of psychosis currently
      known. Many psychiatric disorders have been reported to occur in people with VCFS
      including, but not limited to schizophrenia, unipolar and bipolar mood disorders
      (with or without psychotic features), schizoaffective disorder, psychosis NOS,
      social phobia, generalized and separation anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder,
      autism spectrum disorder, cognitive impairment, and ADHD. This report describes
      the psychiatric onset and development of catatonia in an adolescent female with
      VCFS that was undiagnosed until 15 years of age. Catatonia may be a relatively
      common presentation in people with VCFS with treatment-refractory psychiatric
      manifestations.

PMID- 25832450
TI  - Sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate preservatives in food stuffs in Iran.
AB  - A high-performance liquid chromatography method was applied for the determination
      of the levels of benzoate and sorbate in 400 food samples, including pickled
      cucumbers, canned tomato pastes, sour cherry jams, soft drinks, fruit juices and
      dairy products (UF-Feta cheeses, Lighvan cheeses, lactic cheeses, yogurts and
      doogh). The results showed that 270 (67.5%) of all samples contained benzoate
      ranging from 11.9 to 288.5 mg kg(-1) in lactic cheese and fruit juice,
      respectively. The levels of sorbate in 98 (24.5%) of the samples were 20.1 to
      284.3 mg kg(-1) in doogh and fruit juice, respectively. Moreover, benzoate was
      detected in all dairy products ranging from 11.9 mg kg(-1) in lactic cheese to
      91.2 mg kg(-1) in UF-Feta cheese. A low concentration of benzoate could originate
      naturally, due to specific biochemical mechanisms during cheese, yogurt and doogh
      maturation. In conclusion, a minimum level for benzoate in dairy products should
      be defined in the legislation.

PMID- 25832451
TI  - Comparison of the sociodemographic characteristics of the large NutriNet-Sante e
      cohort with French Census data: the issue of volunteer bias revisited.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A recurring concern in traditional and in Web-based studies pertains
      to non-representativeness due to volunteer bias. We investigated this issue in an
      ongoing, large population-based e-cohort. METHODS: The sample included 122 912
      individuals enrolled in the Internet-based, nutrition-focused NutriNet-Sante
      study between May 2009 and March 2014, with complete baseline data. Participants
      were recruited via recurrent multimedia campaigns and other traditional and
      online strategies. Individuals aged 18+ years, residing in France and having
      Internet access, were eligible for enrolment. Their sociodemographic
      characteristics were compared with the corresponding 2009 Census data via chi(2)
      goodness-of-fit tests. The effectiveness of statistical weighting of the e-cohort
      data was also explored. RESULTS: The sample exhibited marked geographical and
      sociodemographic diversity, including volunteers belonging to typically under
      represented subgroups in traditional surveys (unemployed, immigrants, the
      elderly). Nonetheless, the proportions of women, relatively well-educated
      individuals and those who are married or cohabiting, were notably larger compared
      with the corresponding national figures (women: 78.0% vs 52.4%; postsecondary
      education: 61.5% vs 24.9%; married or cohabiting: 70.8% vs 62.0%, respectively;
      all p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: There were notable sociodemographic differences
      between the general French population and this general population-based e-cohort,
      some of which were corrected by statistical weighting. The findings bear on the
      potential generalisability of future investigations in the context of e
      epidemiology.

PMID- 25832452
TI  - Clues to diagnosis for unusual mucosal pemphigus demonstrating undetectable anti
      desmoglein 3 serum antibodies by routine tests.
AB  - Pemphigus is an autoimmune blistering disease caused by immunoglobulin (Ig)G
      autoantibodies against desmogleins (Dsg). In mucosal-dominant pemphigus vulgaris
      (PV), anti-Dsg3 antibodies play a critical role in acantholysis. We followed two
      mucosal-dominant PV cases who suffered from refractory oral mucosal erosions. In
      these cases, anti-Dsg3 serum antibodies were not detected by indirect
      immunofluorescence and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). However, direct
      immunofluorescence showed the intercellular IgG deposition in the epidermis and
      histopathological findings revealed suprabasal acantholysis. In order to analyze
      the pathomechanisms in these cases, we first examined the Dsg3 expression
      patterns in lesional sites and compared them with those of typical mucosal
      dominant PV cases. In typical PV cases, the alteration of Dsg3 distribution was
      observed in lesional sites by immunostaining. The aggregation of Dsg3, which is
      the characteristic change in PV mucosal lesions, was observed as the initial
      change prior to acantholysis. In our cases, a clustering of Dsg3 was observed at
      mucosal lesions, and the expression levels of Dsg3 in acantholytic lesions were
      decreased, as observed in typical mucosal-dominant PV cases. Although anti-Dsg3
      serum antibodies could not be detected by routine tests, anti-Dsg3 serum
      antibodies were detected by Dsg3 ELISA using 10-times more concentrated sera
      (highly sensitive ELISA). Moreover, purified and concentrated PV IgG showed high
      pathogenicity when examined by dissociation assay. In conclusion, the detection
      of morphological changes in Dsg3 distribution and highly sensitive ELISA method
      could be useful for the early diagnosis of PV recurrence. 

PMID- 25832453
TI  - Complications associated with central venous access device in children with
      haemophilia: a nationwide multicentre study in Finland.
AB  - Children with haemophilia require venous access for regular infusion of
      coagulation factors. A central venous access device (CVAD) ensures long-term
      access but associates with infectious and non-infectious complications with
      proposed risk factors of young age at initial CVAD implantation and presence of
      an inhibitor. Our aim was to evaluate the incidence and risk factors for
      complications associated with CVAD usage in a retrospective nationwide
      multicentre study in five Finnish Paediatric Haemophilia Treatment Centers. Our
      study investigated 106 CVADs in 58 patients with 137 971 CVAD days. The median
      access survival was 1159 CVAD days, and most often a malfunction led to CVAD
      removal after a long survival (median of 1640 CVAD days). We detected a very low
      bloodstream infection rate (0.12/1000 CVAD days). The presence of neutralizing
      inhibitor was a significant risk factor for infection. Heparin vs. saline
      flushing did not influence the CVAD outcome. We detected a lower infection rate
      than previously reported, although 90% of the patients were very young (<2 years)
      at first insertion (median age = 1.02 year). Port access was frequent after
      initial implantation: six patients (10%) used the port daily for immune tolerance
      induction therapy and 74% at least twice weekly for prophylaxis. Young age did
      not increase the risk of infections, as 59% of the CVAD-related infections were
      recorded in children over 6 years of age. Our national experience confirms the
      safety of prophylactic factor concentrate administration via ports even in very
      young children. 

PMID- 25832454
TI  - VALIDATION OF AN INDEXED RADIOTHERAPY HEAD POSITIONING DEVICE FOR USE IN DOGS AND
      CATS.
AB  - Setup variability affects the appropriate delivery of radiation and informs the
      setup margin required to treat radiation patients. Twenty-four veterinary
      patients with head and neck cancers were enrolled in this prospective, cross
      sectional study to determine the accuracy of an indexed board immobilization
      device for positioning. Couch position values were defined at the first treatment
      based on setup films. At subsequent treatments, patients were moved to the
      previously defined couch location, orthogonal films were acquired, table position
      was modified, and displacement was recorded. The mean systematic displacement,
      random displacement, overall displacement, and mean displacement values of the
      three-dimensional (3D) vector were calculated. Three hundred thirty-two pairs of
      orthogonal setup films were analyzed for displacement in cranial-caudal, lateral,
      and dorsal-ventral directions. The mean systematic displacements were 0.5, 0.8,
      and 0.5 mm, respectively. The mean random displacements were 1.0, 1.1, and 0.7
      mm, respectively. The overall displacements were 1.1, 1.4, and 0.9 mm,
      respectively. The mean 3D vector value was 1.6 mm with a standard deviation of
      1.2 mm. Ninety-five percent of the vectors were <3.6 mm. These values were
      compared to data obtained with a previously used immobilization device. A t-test
      was used to compare the two devices. The 3D vector, random displacement in all
      directions, and overall displacement in the cranial-caudal and dorsal-ventral
      directions were significantly smaller than displacements with the previous
      device. The precision and accuracy of the indexed board device was superior to
      the historical head and neck device. 

PMID- 25832455
TI  - Comparison of an interferon-gamma release assay and the tuberculin skin test for
      diagnosis of latent tuberculosis in homeless people in Iran: a cross-sectional
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate of the concordance between the
      results of the tuberculin skin test (TST) and an interferon-gamma release assay
      (QuantiFERON test, QFT-GIT) for diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI)
      in homeless people in Tehran city, Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was
      conducted from June to August 2012. Homeless people were eligible to participate
      in the study if they were 18-60 years old. RESULTS: Among 569 homeless people,
      46.22% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 42.16-50.33%) and 20.39% (95% CI = 17.28
      23.9%) were QFT-GIT and TST positive, respectively. Among these participants, the
      prevalence of LTBI with positivity of at least one of the tests was 52.2%. The
      overall agreement between QFT-GIT and TST was 62.21% (kappa = 0.21, 95% CI = 0.13
      0.29, p < 0.001). Factors associated with positive results in QFT-GIT and TST
      were older age, being male, having a longer history of homelessness and having a
      history of incarceration in the last 10 years. CONCLUSIONS: A high prevalence of
      LTBI was seen among homeless people in this study. There was a poor concordance
      between QFT-GIT and TST among this group. To better assess the utility of QFT-GIT
      in detection of LTBI further studies with a low prevalence of LTBI in this group
      are recommended.

PMID- 25832456
TI  - Immunofluorescence assay for diagnosis of strongyloidiasis in immunocompromised
      patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Strongyloides stercoralis is a parasite that causes human
      strongyloidiasis. The disease ranges from asymptomatic to severe forms, which are
      often fatal in immunocompromised individuals. Laboratory diagnosis is challenging
      owing to limitations in the use of conventional parasitological techniques. The
      present study aimed to evaluate the indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using
      infective larvae of S. venezuelensis as an antigen for the immunodiagnosis of
      human strongyloidiasis in immunocompromised patients. METHODS: Serum and stool
      samples from 200 immunocompromised patients (HIV-positive, HTLV-1-positive, and
      renal, liver, and/or bone marrow transplantation candidates) were used. Stool
      samples were examined using three parasitological methods: Lutz, Rugai, and
      culture agar plate. IFA was performed using sections of infective larvae of S.
      venezuelensis as antigens, and showed 95.4% sensitivity and 95.8% and
      specificity. RESULTS: Among the 200 patients, 17 (8.5%) were positive for S.
      stercoralis by at least one parasitological method, and 43 (21.5%) were positive
      by IFA. CONCLUSIONS: IFA can be used as a screening method for the detection of
      S. stercoralis in immunocompromised patients.

PMID- 25832457
TI  - Prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility, and genetic diversity of Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa as intestinal colonizer in the community.
AB  - In this study we determined the prevalence of intestinal carriage, the
      antimicrobial susceptibility rates, and the genetic diversity of Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa in the community. From July 2010 to December 2011, a total of 2110
      nonreplicate fecal samples from individuals living in Bavaria were collected.
      Samples were screened for P. aeruginosa by a selective medium and antimicrobial
      susceptibility was determined by disc diffusion technique. Genetic diversity was
      assessed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Intestinal colonization was
      detected in 31 of 2110 (1.47%) individuals. None of the isolates showed
      resistance to aztreonam, imipenem, meropenem, ciprofloxacin, amikacin or
      colistin. Twenty-five isolates could be assigned to 20 different sequence types
      (STs), whereas the remaining 6 could not be assigned. Interestingly, four
      isolates belonged to ST253. These data show that intestinal colonization by P.
      aeruginosa occurs in the community with high genetic diversity and low rates of
      antimicrobial resistance. 

PMID- 25832458
TI  - Psychometric Confirmation of the Sexual Health Survey as a Useful Tool for
      College Health Professionals.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To conduct a confirmatory factor analysis on the 17-item Sexual Health
      Survey (SHS), a comprehensive instrument designed to be used with college
      students. PARTICIPANTS: College students (N = 515) aged 18 to 26 years enrolled
      at a Midwest public university October 2009. METHODS: Confirmatory factor
      analysis with maximum likelihood estimation was performed to test the stability
      of the constructs. RESULTS: All factor loadings were significant (p < .001),
      ranging from .55 to .99 (standardized). The range of squared multiple
      correlations of items was .31 to .98, and the intercorrelations among the 5
      factors were from -.03 to .52. These small to moderate levels of intercorrelation
      support discriminant validity of 5 constructs. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports
      the 5-factor version of the 17-item SHS as a viable scale that can measure sexual
      health overall and 5 distinct areas. College health professionals should consider
      use of this scale for assessment purposes and evaluation of programmatic efforts.

PMID- 25832459
TI  - Uncertainty and predictiveness determine attention to cues during human
      associative learning.
AB  - Prior research has suggested that attention is determined by exploiting what is
      known about the most valid predictors of outcomes and exploring those stimuli
      that are associated with the greatest degree of uncertainty about subsequent
      events. Previous studies of human contingency learning have revealed evidence for
      one or other of these processes, but differences in the designs and procedures of
      these studies make it difficult to pinpoint the crucial determinant of whether
      attentional exploitation or exploration will dominate. Here we present two
      studies in which we systematically manipulated both the predictiveness of cues
      and uncertainty regarding the outcomes with which they were associated. This
      allowed us to demonstrate, for the first time, evidence of both attentional
      exploration and exploitation within the same experiment. Moreover, while the
      effect of predictiveness persisted to influence the rate of novel learning about
      the same cues in a second stage, the effect of uncertainty did not. This suggests
      that attentional exploration is more sensitive to a change of context than is
      exploitation. The pattern of data is simulated with a hybrid attentional model. 

PMID- 25832460
TI  - Nuclear SMAD2 restrains proliferation of glioblastoma.
AB  - AIMS: Although TGFbeta receptor signaling has been shown to play a role in
      regulation of the growth and metastasis of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the
      downstream pathway through either SMAD2 or SMAD3 has not been elucidated. In this
      study, we investigate whether nuclear SMAD2 can restrain the proliferation of
      glioblastoma. METHODS: A total of 23 resected specimens from GBM patients were
      collected for SMAD2 detection. Human GBM cell line A172, U87mg, D341m and Hs683
      were maintained in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium and transfected with SMAD2
      and SMAD3 shRNA plasmids. Gene expression was detected by RT-qPCR and Western and
      cell growth were detected by MTT assay. RESULTS: Our results showed that the
      phosphorylated SMAD2 (pSMAD2, the nuclear and functional form of SMAD2) levels in
      GBM were significantly lower than the paired normal brain tissue in patients.
      Depletion of SMAD2, but not SMAD3, significantly abolished the inhibitory effects
      of TGFbeta1 on the growth of GBM cells, possibly through pSMAD2-mediated
      increases in cell-cycle inhibitor, p27. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that
      TGFbeta/SMAD2 signaling cascades restrains growth of GBM.

PMID- 25832461
TI  - Laparoscopic radical abdominal trachelectomy for the management of stage IB1
      cervical cancer at 14 weeks' gestation: case report and review of the literature.

PMID- 25832462
TI  - Synchronous primary malignancies of the appendix and ovary causing carcinomatosis
      in one patient.
AB  - Associated tumors of the ovary and the appendix are commonly found in cases of
      pseudomyxoma peritonei (PP); the origin of these tumors are a continually debated
      topic. Outside of the setting of PP, this finding is exceedingly rare and there
      are no documented reports of two primary processes causing carcinomatosis in the
      absence of PP. Here, we present a patient who underwent cytoreductive surgery for
      peritoneal carcinomatosis presumptively secondary to ovarian carcinoma and who on
      pathological examination was found to have synchronous primary malignant
      processes of both the appendix and the ovary. This represents the first
      documented case of carcinomatosis resulting from two separate malignant processes
      in the absence of PP. 

PMID- 25832463
TI  - Hemorrhagic giant cystic lymphangioma of the liver in an adult female.
AB  - An 18-year-old woman who presented with epigastric pain was diagnosed with
      rupture of a hepatic tumor and transported to our hospital. Contrast-enhanced
      computed tomography revealed a 13-cm, low-density giant mass in the left hepatic
      lobe and high-density ascites, indicating abdominal bleeding from the liver
      tumor. The patient underwent emergent celiac angiography, and the left hepatic
      artery, which was believed to feed the tumor, was embolized. After the patient's
      condition stabilized, she underwent left hepatic lobectomy. In addition, the
      enlarged lymph nodes of the hepatoduodenal ligament were dissected. On
      microscopic examination, immunohistochemical staining revealed that both the
      liver cyst and the enlarged lymph node were positive for the endothelial marker
      CD31 and lymphangial marker D2-40. The patient was pathologically diagnosed with
      cystic lymphangioma of the liver. She has now been followed up for almost 4 years
      after surgery without any sign of recurrence. 

PMID- 25832464
TI  - Paget's disease of the male breast with underlying ductal carcinoma in situ
      ('DCIS').
AB  - Male breast cancer accounts for 1% of all breast malignancies and 0.1% of all
      male cancer death. Like Paget's disease, DCIS is a rare form of male breast
      malignancy. We report a 69-year-male presenting with 3 years history of subtle of
      nipple symptoms and normal breast imaging. Punch biopsy of nipple established the
      diagnosis of Paget's disease and subsequent histology of mastectomy specimen
      revealed underlying DCIS. 

PMID- 25832465
TI  - Assessment of angiographic coronary calcification and plaque composition in
      virtual histology intravascular ultrasound.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We assessed the relation between coronary plaque composition and
      angiographic calcification by using virtual histology intravascular ultrasound
      (VH-IVUS). BACKGROUND: The plaque vulnerability according to angiographic
      calcification is unclear. METHODS: Subjects were 140 consecutive patients (145
      lesions) undergoing VH-IVUS before percutaneous coronary intervention. Subjects
      were divided into 4 groups: no calcification group (n = 27), spotty group (n =
      65) that had calcium deposits under 90 degrees  in grayscale IVUS, intermediate
      group (n = 37) had calcium deposits with 90 degrees  or more and under 180
      degrees , and extensive group (n = 16) had calcium deposits with 180 degrees  or
      more. RESULTS: The number of VH thin-cap fibroatheromas in spotty group was
      significantly larger than no calcification group, intermediate group, and
      extensive group (0.66 +/- 0.71 vs 0.22 +/- 0.42 [P < 0.01], 0.32 +/- 0.48 [P <
      0.05], 0.13 +/- 0.34 [P < 0.01], respectively). Spotty group without angiographic
      calcification had significantly larger %necrotic core than with angiographic
      calcification (24.5 +/- 6.7% vs 19.9 +/- 7.2%, P < 0.05). Intermediate group
      without angiographic calcification had significantly larger necrotic core area
      than with angiographic calcification (2.5 +/- 0.9 mm(2) vs 1.7 +/- 0.9 mm(2) , P
      < 0.05). Extensive group with angiographic calcification had significantly larger
      %dense calcium than without angiographic calcification (18.3 +/- 4.0% vs 13.4 +/-
      4.4%, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Lesions with spotty calcification was highly
      vulnerable in VH-IVUS. Spotty or intermediate plaque calcification without
      angiographic calcification was more vulnerable than those with angiographic
      calcification. Extensive plaque calcification with angiographic calcification had
      more dense calcium than those without angiographic calcification.

PMID- 25832467
TI  - The cell of origin of acral melanomas may be hiding in the sweat glands.

PMID- 25832466
TI  - Targeting the interleukin-11 receptor alpha in metastatic prostate cancer: A
      first-in-man study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Receptors in tumor blood vessels are attractive targets for ligand
      directed drug discovery and development. The authors have worked systematically
      to map human endothelial receptors ("vascular zip codes") within tumors through
      direct peptide library selection in cancer patients. Previously, they selected a
      ligand-binding motif to the interleukin-11 receptor alpha (IL-11Ralpha) in the
      human vasculature. METHODS: The authors generated a ligand-directed,
      peptidomimetic drug (bone metastasis-targeting peptidomimetic-11 [BMTP-11]) for
      IL-11Ralpha-based human tumor vascular targeting. Preclinical studies
      (efficacy/toxicity) included evaluating BMTP-11 in prostate cancer xenograft
      models, drug localization, targeted apoptotic effects,
      pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic analyses, and dose-range determination, including
      formal (good laboratory practice) toxicity across rodent and nonhuman primate
      species. The initial BMTP-11 clinical development also is reported based on a
      single-institution, open-label, first-in-class, first-in-man trial (National
      Clinical Trials number NCT00872157) in patients with metastatic, castrate
      resistant prostate cancer. RESULTS: BMTP-11 was preclinically promising and,
      thus, was chosen for clinical development in patients. Limited numbers of
      patients who had castrate-resistant prostate cancer with osteoblastic bone
      metastases were enrolled into a phase 0 trial with biology-driven endpoints. The
      authors demonstrated biopsy-verified localization of BMTP-11 to tumors in the
      bone marrow and drug-induced apoptosis in all patients. Moreover, the maximum
      tolerated dose was identified on a weekly schedule (20-30 mg/m(2) ). Finally, a
      renal dose-limiting toxicity was determined, namely, dose-dependent, reversible
      nephrotoxicity with proteinuria and casts involving increased serum creatinine.
      CONCLUSIONS: These biologic endpoints establish BMTP-11 as a targeted drug
      candidate in metastatic, castrate-resistant prostate cancer. Within a larger
      discovery context, the current findings indicate that functional tumor vascular
      ligand-receptor targeting systems may be identified through direct combinatorial
      selection of peptide libraries in cancer patients.

PMID- 25832468
TI  - Premature rupture of membranes and neonatal respiratory morbidity at 32-41 weeks'
      gestation: a retrospective single-center cohort study.
AB  - AIM: To ascertain whether premature rupture of membranes (PROM) independently
      affects the risk of neonatal respiratory morbidity at 32-41 weeks' gestation
      because previous reports have given insufficient consideration to the mode of
      delivery and labor onset. METHODS: Data on 4,629 consecutive singleton infants
      were retrospectively collected. Respiratory morbidity was limited to respiratory
      distress syndrome and transient tachypnea of the newborn, both of which are
      related to prematurity. Delivery modes were divided into four groups based on the
      existence of PROM and of labor onset, and the respiratory morbidity was examined
      according to the number of weeks of gestational age. Multivariate analysis
      including PROM and delivery mode was conducted to examine the association of
      respiratory morbidity. RESULTS: Respiratory morbidity or a positive pressure
      requirement delivered after PROM and intact amniochorionic membranes accompanied
      by labor were similar at all weeks. Around 37 weeks, the absence of labor onset
      was associated with a risk of respiratory morbidity or positive pressure
      requirement. Significant respiratory risk was not associated with the incidence
      of PROM (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52
      1.83), interval from rupture to delivery (aOR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.99-1.01), clinical
      chorioamnionitis, induction management, pregnancy-related complications, or
      neonatal sex. Delivery by Cesarean section and early gestational age presented a
      significant risk for respiratory morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: Neither PROM nor latency
      after PROM at 32-41 weeks affected neonatal respiratory morbidity. Avoiding
      Cesarean section instead of simply increasing the time to delivery may help to
      reduce respiratory morbidity.

PMID- 25832469
TI  - A biopsychosocial model for the management of patients with sickle-cell disease
      transitioning to adult medical care.
AB  - The lifespan of patients with sickle-cell disease (SCD) continues to increase,
      and most affected individuals in high-resource countries now live into adulthood.
      This necessitates a successful transition from pediatric to adult health care.
      Care for transitioning patients with SCD often falls to primary care providers
      who may not be fully aware of the many challenges and issues faced by patients
      and the current management strategies for SCD. In this review, we aim to close
      the knowledge gap between primary care providers and specialists who treat
      transitioning patients with SCD. We describe the challenges and issues
      encountered by these patients, and we propose a biopsychosocial multidisciplinary
      approach to the management of the identified issues. Examples of this approach,
      such as transition-focused integrated care models and quality improvement
      collaboratives, with the potential to improve health outcomes in adulthood are
      also described.

PMID- 25832470
TI  - Impact of medication adherence and persistence on clinical and economic outcomes
      in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with liraglutide: a retrospective cohort
      study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Adherence to diabetes medication has been linked to improved
      glycemic levels and lower costs, but previous research on adherence has typically
      involved oral antidiabetic medication or insulin. This study examines how
      adherence and persistence to once-daily liraglutide impact glycemic control and
      economic outcomes in a real-world population of adult type 2 diabetes (T2D)
      patients. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study using administrative claims data
      from July 2009 through September 2013. Patients aged >=18 years with T2D treated
      with liraglutide were identified (index date = first liraglutide prescription).
      Adherence was based on the proportion of days covered (PDC); with PDC >=0.80
      classified as adherent. Non-persistent patients were those with a gap in therapy
      of >90 days. Lab results for glycated hemoglobin (A1C) were used to identify
      whether patients achieved target levels of <7.0% and <= 6.5%, or experienced a
      reduction of >=1.0% in A1C from pre-index (baseline) to post-index (follow-up).
      Logistic regression was used to estimate the likelihood of achieving the A1C
      goals, adjusted for baseline characteristics. Diabetes-related medical, pharmacy,
      and total costs were modeled and estimated for the adherence and persistence
      cohorts. RESULTS: A total of 1321 patients were identified. The mean PDC was 0.59
      and 34% of patients were classified as adherent, while 60% were persistent over
      12 months of follow-up. Adherent and persistent patients were more likely to
      achieve each of the A1C goals than their non-adherent and non-persistent
      counterparts after adjusting for patient characteristics. Adherence and
      persistence were associated with higher adjusted diabetes-related pharmacy and
      total healthcare costs during follow-up; whereas persistent patients had
      significantly lower diabetes-related medical costs than non-persistent patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: Adherence and persistence to liraglutide are associated with
      improved A1C outcomes. Persistent patients showed significantly lower medical
      costs versus those discontinuing liraglutide. Total healthcare costs were higher
      for adherent and persistent cohorts driven by higher pharmacy costs.

PMID- 25832472
TI  - NOGGIN: a new therapeutic target for PH? Focus on "Noggin inhibits hypoxia
      induced proliferation by targeting store-operated calcium entry and transient
      receptor potential cation channels".

PMID- 25832471
TI  - Age-related variation in mobility independence among wheelchair users with spinal
      cord injury: A cross-sectional study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate age-related variation in mobility independence among
      community-living wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (SCI). DESIGN:
      Community Survey (2011-2013) as part of the Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort
      Study. SETTING: Community. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 16 years or older with
      traumatic or non-traumatic SCI permanently residing in Switzerland and using a
      wheelchair for moving around moderate distances (10-100 m). INTERVENTIONS: Not
      applicable. OUTCOME MEASURES: Mobility-related items of the Spinal Cord
      Independence Measure-Self Report were matched to the three principal domains
      "changing basic body position," "transferring oneself" and "moving around."
      Binary outcomes ("independence" vs. "no independence") were created for every
      domain and analyzed using multivariable logistic regression (adjusted for sex,
      socioeconomic factors, SCI characteristics, and health conditions). RESULTS:
      Regression analyses (N = 949; 27% women; median age 51, interquartile range 41
      61) showed a decline in the odds of independence (odds ratio; 95% confidence
      interval) with increasing age for "changing basic body position" (age 16-30
      (reference), 31-45 (0.99; 0.53-1.83), 46-60 (0.64; 0.33-1.21), 61-75 (0.45; 0.22
      0.92), 76+ (0.18; 0.07-0.44); P < 0.001), "transferring oneself" (age 16-30
      (reference), 31-45 (0.77; 0.37-1.61), 46-60 (0.39; 0.18-0.84), 61+ (0.05; 0.02
      0.14); P < 0.001), and "moving around" (age 16-30 (reference), 31-45 (0.79; 0.42
      1.48), 46-60 (0.49; 0.26-0.94), 61-75 (0.49; 0.24-1.01), 75+ (0.11; 0.04-0.30); P
      < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Mobility independence was negatively associated with age
      in wheelchair users with SCI. Future longitudinal analyses are required to gain
      further insights into the causal factors for the age-related decline.

PMID- 25832473
TI  - Comparison of lisdexamfetamine and dextroamphetamine exposures reported to U.S.
      poison centers.
AB  - CONTEXT: Lisdexamfetamine is a pro-drug stimulant that requires the enzymatic
      hydrolysis of lysine from dexamphetamine for pharmacologic effects. There is
      limited information comparing non-therapeutic lisdexamfetamine and
      dextroamphetamine exposures. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to compare
      lisdexamfetamine exposures with dextroamphetamine/amphetamine extended release
      and dextroamphetamine/amphetamine immediate release. METHODS: A retrospective
      observational case series of single-substance exposures to lisdexamfetamine,
      dextroamphetamine/amphetamine extended release, or dextroamphetamine/amphetamine
      immediate release reported to the National Poison Data System from 2007 to 2012
      was performed. Data were analyzed for demographics, reason, clinical effects,
      management site, and outcomes. RESULTS: There were 23,553 exposures:
      lisdexamfetamine (7,113), dextroamphetamine/amphetamine extended release (6,245),
      and dextroamphetamine/amphetamine immediate release (10,195). The most frequent
      clinical effects observed for lisdexamfetamine, dextroamphetamine/amphetamine
      extended release, and dextroamphetamine/amphetamine immediate release were
      agitation (19.8%, 21.7%, and 25.1%, respectively) and tachycardia (19.2%, 22.8%,
      and 23.9%, respectively). The reason was most often exploratory (93.4%) in
      children < 6 years and therapeutic error (65.6%) in children aged 6-12 years. In
      adolescents and adults most common reasons were suicide attempts (28.4%) followed
      by abuse (19.5%) and therapeutic errors (18.8%). Overall, 61.6% of cases were
      managed in a health care facility, with the majority treated in the emergency
      department only. The majority of cases (76.0%) experienced no or minor effects.
      More serious outcomes (moderate/major/death) occurred in 21.2% of
      lisdexamfetamine, 24.7% of dextroamphetamine/amphetamine extended release, and
      25.5% of dextroamphetamine/amphetamine immediate release. There were 4 deaths (1
      dextroamphetamine/amphetamine extended release and 3
      dextroamphetamine/amphetamine immediate release). In patients aged 6 years and
      more, abuse/misuse was more frequently reported for dextroamphetamine/amphetamine
      immediate release (32.5%) and dextroamphetamine/amphetamine extended release
      (23.0%) than that for lisdexamfetamine (13.5%). The odds of abuse/misuse was 2.3
      (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.0-2.4) times higher for
      dextroamphetamine/amphetamine immediate release than that for lisdexamfetamine
      and dextroamphetamine/amphetamine extended release combined; the odds of
      dextroamphetamine/amphetamine extended release abuse/misuse was 1.9 (95% CI: 1.7
      2.2) times higher than lisdexamfetamine. In 2011, the number of lisdexamfetamine
      abuse/misuse cases exceeded dextroamphetamine/amphetamine extended release by
      approximately 26% and plateaued in 2012, but was significantly lower (~75%) than
      dextroamphetamine/amphetamine immediate release. CONCLUSIONS: Toxic effects were
      similar for all three drugs. Although the majority of cases were treated at
      health care facilities, the majority of patients experienced no effects or minor
      toxicity. Serious outcomes occurred in approximately 21% of lisdexamfetamine and
      25% of dextroamphetamine/amphetamine extended release and
      dextroamphetamine/amphetamine immediate release. Lisdexamfetamine may have less
      abuse potential, especially compared with the immediate-release
      dextroamphetamine/amphetamine formulation.

PMID- 25832474
TI  - Bilateral and Unilateral Total Extraperitoneal Inguinal Hernia Repair (TEP) have
      Equivalent Early Outcomes: Analysis of 9395 Cases.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: To date, no randomized controlled trials have been carried out to
      compare the perioperative outcome of unilateral and bilateral inguinal hernia
      repair using an endoscopic technique. In a Swiss registry study comparing
      unilateral with bilateral inguinal hernias, no further details were given
      regarding the nature of the intra- and postoperative complications. In addition,
      some authors have raised the issue of prophylactic repair of a clinically healthy
      other groin side. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In the Herniamed Registry, in total 9395
      patients with a TEP were enrolled. These comprised 6700 patients with unilateral
      (71.31%) and 2695 patients (28.69%) with bilateral inguinal hernia repair. The
      outcome variables, analyzed in a multivariable model, were the intra- and
      postoperative as well as general complication rates, reoperation rate, duration
      of operation, and length of hospital stay. RESULTS: While no significant
      difference was found in the overall number of intraoperative complications
      between the unilateral and bilateral group (p=0.310), a significantly higher
      number of urinary bladder injuries in the bilateral TEP operation of 0.28%
      compared with 0.04% for unilateral TEP (p=0,008) were noted. The greater
      probability of reoperation (0.82% for unilateral vs. 1.78% for bilateral TEP;
      p<0,001) in the unadjusted analysis was confirmed in the multivariable model [OR
      2.35 (1.504; 3.322); p=0.001]. A significantly higher intraoperative urinary
      bladder injury rate and reoperation rate because of postoperative surgical
      complications constitute a difference in the perioperative outcome between
      unilateral and bilateral TEP which that warrants attention. Based on these
      results, prophylactic operation of the healthy other groin should not be
      recommended.

PMID- 25832475
TI  - Changes in atopy prevalence and sibship effect in rural population at all ages.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We examined the associations of family size and birth order with
      atopy prevalence in rural Poland at two time periods. METHODS: Two cross
      sectional surveys were conducted in the same villages and a small town of lower
      Silesia at an interval of 9 years. In 2003, 1700 (88% of eligible individuals),
      and in 2012, 1730 (86%) inhabitants aged 5 years or more completed a
      questionnaire and had a skin prick test for atopy. RESULTS: There was an inverse
      association between family size and atopy in the village population in 2003; the
      prevalence of atopy was the highest for those with no siblings (15.2%) and
      decreased to 5.4% for those with three and more siblings (OR = 0.22; 0.07-0.66).
      In contrast, there was little or no such protective effect in the town population
      where the prevalence of atopy was much higher (7.3% in the villages, 20.0% in the
      town). Nine years later, the prevalence of atopy had increased in the village to
      be similar to that in the town (19.6% and 19.9% respectively), and the protective
      effects of family size and birth order in the villages were much weaker (OR =
      0.64; 95% CI 0.33-1.27 for three or more siblings). Both protective effects were
      strongest among children. CONCLUSIONS: The protective effects of family size and
      birth order on atopy were much stronger in children than in adults and among
      those living in a village. They largely disappeared with the steep increase in
      atopy prevalence at all ages; this followed environmental changes on the village
      farms.

PMID- 25832476
TI  - Spatio-temporal regulation of the formation of the somatosensory system.
AB  - The somatosensory system in the brain has been widely used for investigating the
      mechanisms underlying neural circuit formation and developmental neural
      plasticity. In the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) of rodents, there are
      discrete cytoarchitectonic units called barrels. Reverse genetic analyses using
      knockout mice have revealed molecules that control spatial pattern formation of
      barrels in S1. Glutamatergic receptors such as the NMDA receptor and mGluR5, and
      molecules related to serotonin such as serotonin transporter and monoamine
      oxidase A are essential for the formation of barrels. In addition to the
      mechanisms of spatial pattern formation, those regulating the timing of
      developmental processes were uncovered recently. Barrels are formed soon after
      the birth of newborn mouse pups from their mothers, and it was shown that the
      timing of barrel formation was determined by the timing of the birth of mouse
      pups. The mechanisms downstream of birth were also examined. It would be
      intriguing to examine if the mechanisms found using the somatosensory system are
      applicable to other brain regions. 

PMID- 25832477
TI  - Reduced Expression of miR-23a Suppresses A20 in TLR-stimulated Macrophages.
AB  - High levels of miR-23a expression in human primary macrophages suggested that miR
      23a might have an important role in innate immune cells. Therefore, we
      investigated whether miR-23a regulates the secretion of cytokines by immune
      cells. Herein, we demonstrate that the expression of miR-23a was reduced in toll
      like receptor (TLR)-stimulated macrophages. By targeting A20, miR-23a could
      affect NF-kappaB activity and the expression of downstream NF-kappaB-target genes
      that encode proinflammatory mediators, such as IL-6 and TNF-alpha. In summary,
      our study describes a novel role for miR-23a in the regulation of inflammatory
      cytokine production in macrophages, which could yield new insights into the
      regulatory role of miRNAs in the inflammatory response. 

PMID- 25832478
TI  - Anti-Asthmatic Effects of Ginsenoside Rb1 in a Mouse Model of Allergic Asthma
      Through Relegating Th1/Th2.
AB  - The aim of the study was to investigate the anti-asthma effects of ginsenoside
      Rb1 (Rb1) and its possible mechanisms. A total of 50 mice were randomly assigned
      to five experimental groups: control, model, dexamethasone (2 mg/kg), and Rb1 (10
      and 20 mg/kg). Airway resistance (RI) was measured; histological studies were
      evaluated by the hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining; Th1/Th2, ovalbumin (OVA)
      specific serum, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) IgE levels were evaluated
      enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); and T-bet/GATA3 proteins were
      evaluated by Western blot. Our study demonstrated that Rb1 inhibited OVA-induced
      increases in RI and eosinophil counts; interleukin (IL)-4 was recovered, and IFN
      gammalevel increased in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Histological studies
      demonstrated that Rb1 substantially inhibited OVA-induced eosinophilia in lung
      tissue. Western blot studies demonstrated that Rb1 substantially inhibited GATA3
      and increased T-bet. These findings suggest that Rb1 may effectively ameliorate
      the progression of asthma and could be used as a therapy for patients with
      allergic asthma. 

PMID- 25832479
TI  - Sustained Disease Control with TOMOXIRI Regimen in a Patient with Metastatic
      Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma.

PMID- 25832480
TI  - Visceral Adiposity is a Risk Factor for Poor Prognosis in Colorectal Cancer
      Patients Receiving Adjuvant Chemotherapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies utilizing body mass index (BMI) have failed to show a
      consistent relationship between obesity and survival following treatment for
      colorectal cancer (CRC). Computerized tomography (CT) offers a reliable
      alternative approach to quantify body adiposity. We hypothesized that visceral
      obesity may negatively impact survival in CRC patients. AIMS AND METHODS: A
      retrospective review of CRC patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy at a
      single center during the period 2006-2009 identified from a prospectively
      maintained database. Visceral adiposity was determined by measuring visceral fat
      area (VFA) on preoperative staging CT. All patients were followed up to study
      completion or death. RESULTS: Sixty-two CRC patients with a mean age of 63.2
      years received adjuvant chemotherapy and had imaging available for analysis.
      Thirty-five patients (56.5 %) had node positive disease. Thirty-one patients (50
      %) were classified viscerally obese based on staging CT. 85.4 % of the patients
      completed adjuvant chemotherapy and visceral obesity was not associated with
      increased toxicity or failure to complete treatment. After a median follow-up of
      65.2 months, patients with visceral obesity had a significantly lower overall
      survival (OS) (54.8 % vs 87.1 %, p = 0.004) and disease-free survival (DFS) (48.4
      vs 77.4 %, p = 0.007) compared with patients without visceral obesity. There was
      no relationship between BMI and survival. Multivariate analysis using Cox
      proportional hazards model showed that visceral obesity was independently
      associated with reduced OS (Hazard ratio = 7.0; 95 % CI 2.0-24.6; p = 0.002).
      CONCLUSION: This study shows that visceral obesity increases the likelihood of a
      poor prognosis in CRC patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy thus underlying
      the value of lifestyle interventions to minimize visceral obesity in this patient
      cohort.

PMID- 25832481
TI  - West Eurasian mtDNA lineages in India: an insight into the spread of the
      Dravidian language and the origins of the caste system.
AB  - There is no indication from the previous mtDNA studies that west Eurasian
      specific subclades have evolved within India and played a role in the spread of
      languages and the origins of the caste system. To address these issues, we have
      screened 14,198 individuals (4208 from this study) and analyzed 112 mitogenomes
      (41 new sequences) to trace west Eurasian maternal ancestry. This has led to the
      identification of two autochthonous subhaplogroups--HV14a1 and U1a1a4, which are
      likely to have originated in the Dravidian-speaking populations approximately
      10.5-17.9 thousand years ago (kya). The carriers of these maternal lineages might
      have settled in South India during the time of the spread of the Dravidian
      language. In addition to this, we have identified several subsets of
      autochthonous U7 lineages, including U7a1, U7a2b, U7a3, U7a6, U7a7, and U7c,
      which seem to have originated particularly in the higher-ranked caste populations
      in relatively recent times (2.6-8.0 kya with an average of 5.7 kya). These
      lineages have provided crucial clues to the differentiation of the caste system
      that has occurred during the recent past and possibly, this might have been
      influenced by the Indo-Aryan migration. The remaining west Eurasian lineages
      observed in the higher-ranked caste groups, like the Brahmins, were found to
      cluster with populations who possibly arrived from west Asia during more recent
      times.

PMID- 25832482
TI  - Application of high-resolution mass spectrometry to measure low abundance isotope
      enrichment in individual muscle proteins.
AB  - Stable isotope-labeled amino acids have long been used to measure the fractional
      synthesis rate of proteins, although the mass spectrometry platforms used for
      such analyses have changed throughout the years. More recently, tandem mass
      spectrometers such as triple quadrupoles have been accepted as the standard
      platform for enrichment measurement due to their sensitivity and the enhanced
      specificity offered by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) experiments. The limit
      in the utility of such platforms for enrichment analysis occurs when measuring
      very low levels of enrichment from small amounts of sample, particularly proteins
      isolated from two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-GE), where interference
      from contaminant ions impacts the sensitivity of the measurement. We therefore
      applied a high-resolution orbitrap mass spectrometer to the analysis of [ring
      (13)C6]-phenylalanine enrichment in individual muscle proteins isolated with 2D
      GE. Comparison of samples analyzed on both platforms revealed that the high
      resolution MS has significantly improved sensitivity relative to the triple
      quadrupole MS at very low-level enrichments due to its ability to resolve
      interferences in the m/z dimension. At higher enrichment levels, enrichment
      measurements from the orbitrap platform showed significant correlation (R (2) >
      0.5) with those of the triple quadrupole platform. Together, these results
      indicate that high-resolution MS platforms such as the orbitrap are not only as
      capable of performing isotope enrichment measurements as the more commonly
      preferred triple quadrupole instruments, but offer unparalleled advantages in
      terms of mass accuracy and sensitivity in the presence of similar-mass
      contaminants.

PMID- 25832483
TI  - A multi-residue method for the determination of seven polypeptide drug residues
      in chicken muscle tissues by LC-MS/MS.
AB  - A new multi-residue method for the determination of seven polypeptides, namely,
      polymixin B1, polymixin B2, polymixin E1 (colistin A), polymixin E2 (colistin B),
      enduracidin A (enramycin A), enduracidin B (enramycin B), and bacitracin A, in
      food of animal origin was developed and validated for chicken muscle tissue.
      Chicken muscle tissue was extracted with acidified methanol (1 % TFA). After
      homogenization, shaking, and centrifugation, the acidified methanol extract was
      decanted. A second extraction was performed with methanol (1 % TFA) and formic
      acid (1 %) 25:75, v/v. The pooled extract was cleaned up and concentrated on a
      solid-phase extraction cartridge. The retained analytes were eluted with
      methanol/acetonitrile. The extract was evaporated to dryness, reconstituted in
      mobile phase, filtered, and quantified by LC-MS/MS under ESI conditions. The
      method has a LOQ of 50.0 MUg/kg for polymixin E2 (colistin B), 39.0 MUg/kg for
      polymixin E1 (colistin A), 74.0 MUg/kg for polymixin B1, 71.0 MUg/kg for
      polymixin B2, 66.0 MUg/kg for enduracidin A, 50.0 MUg/kg for enduracidin B, and
      30.0 MUg/kg for bacitracin A in chicken muscle tissues. This is the first
      sensitive, suitable, multi-residue method reported for the seven polypeptide drug
      residues in chicken muscle tissue.

PMID- 25832484
TI  - Fabrication of Robust and Antifouling Superhydrophobic Surfaces via Surface
      Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization.
AB  - Superhydrophobic surfaces were fabricated via surface-initiated atom transfer
      radical polymerization of fluorinated methacrylates on poly(ethylene
      terephthalate) (PET) fabrics. The hydrophobicity of the PET fabric was
      systematically tunable by controlling the polymerization time. The obtained
      superhydrophobic fabrics showed excellent chemical robustness even after exposure
      to different chemicals, such as acid, base, salt, acetone, and toluene.
      Importantly, the fabrics maintained superhydrophobicity after 2500 abrasion
      cycles, 100 laundering cycles, and long time exposure to UV irradiation. Also,
      the surface of the superhydrophobic fabrics showed excellent antifouling
      properties. 

PMID- 25832485
TI  - One-dimensional haemodynamic modeling and wave dynamics in the entire adult
      circulation.
AB  - One-dimensional (1D) modeling is a powerful tool for studying haemodynamics;
      however, a comprehensive 1D model representing the entire cardiovascular system
      is lacking. We present a model that accounts for wave propagation in anatomically
      realistic systemic (including coronary and cerebral) arterial/venous networks,
      pulmonary arterial/venous networks and portal veins. A lumped parameter (0D)
      heart model represents cardiac function via a time-varying elastance and source
      resistance, and accounts for mechanical interactions between heart chambers
      mediated via pericardial constraint, the atrioventricular septum and
      atrioventricular plane motion. A non-linear windkessel-like 0D model represents
      microvascular beds, while specialized 0D models are employed for the hepatic and
      coronary beds. Model-derived pressure and flow waveforms throughout the
      circulation are shown to reproduce the characteristic features of published human
      waveforms. Moreover, wave intensity profiles closely resemble available in vivo
      profiles. Forward and backward wave intensity is quantified and compared along
      major arteriovenous paths, providing insights into wave dynamics in all of the
      major physiological networks. Interactions between cardiac function/mechanics and
      vascular waves are investigated. The model will be an important resource for
      studying the mechanics underlying pressure/flow waveforms throughout the
      circulation, along with global interactions between the heart and vessels under
      normal and pathological conditions. 

PMID- 25832486
TI  - Conjuring the ghosts of missing children: a Monte Carlo simulation of
      reproductive restraint in Tokugawa Japan.
AB  - This article quantifies the frequency of infanticide and abortion in one region
      of Japan by comparing observed fertility in a sample of 4.9 million person-years
      (1660-1872) with a Monte Carlo simulation of how many conceptions and births that
      population should have experienced. The simulation uses empirical values for the
      determinants of fertility from Eastern Japan itself as well as the best available
      studies of comparable populations. This procedure reveals that in several decades
      of the eighteenth century, at least 40% of pregnancies must have ended in either
      an induced abortion or an infanticide. In addition, the simulation results imply
      a rapid decline in the incidence of infanticide and abortion during the
      nineteenth century, when in a reverse fertility transition, this premodern family
      planning regime gave way to a new age of large families.

PMID- 25832488
TI  - Do adverse childhood experiences affect surgical weight loss outcomes?
AB  - Bariatric surgery is an effective and enduring treatment for obesity; however,
      variation in weight loss may occur following surgery. Many factors beyond
      technical considerations may influence postoperative outcomes. A better
      understanding of the influence of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) on surgical
      weight loss may improve preoperative care. Demographic and preoperative and
      postoperative data were prospectively obtained for 223 patients undergoing
      bariatric surgery. All cases were completed laparoscopically without serious
      complication. Patients completed the ACE questionnaire, which assesses childhood
      maltreatment. Patients had an average age of 48 years and 77 % were female. There
      was a significant reduction from preoperative to 12-month postoperative BMI (45
      to 31 kg/m(2), p <= 0.01). The average ACE score was 2.9 and these patients were
      more likely than population norms to have an ACE score >=4 (35.9 vs. 12.5 %, p <
      0.001). There was a positive correlation between the number of preoperative
      comorbidities and preoperative ACE score (R = 0.112, p = 0.09). Patients with a
      high ACE score (>=6) vs. patients low ACE scores had a higher postoperative BMI
      at 6-months (36.9 vs. 33.4 kg/m(2), p = 0.03) and 12-months postoperatively (34.5
      vs. 30.5 kg/m(2), p = 0.07). High ACE patients had higher total cholesterol (191
      vs. 169 mg/dL, p = 0.02) and LDL cholesterol (116 vs. 94 mg/dL, p = 0.02) than
      low ACE patients 12-months postoperatively. A high preoperative ACE score
      decreases weight loss following bariatric surgery and may warrant an increased
      preoperative counseling.

PMID- 25832489
TI  - 1,3-Bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)triazenides of potassium, magnesium, calcium, and
      strontium.
AB  - Metalation of 1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)triazene () with KH, Mg(nBu)2, and
      [(L)2Ae{N(SiMe3)2}2] (Ae/L = Ca/thf, Sr/dme) yields the dinuclear complexes
      [(thf)2K{MU-N3(Mes)2}]2 () and [(dme)K{MU-N3(Mes)2}]2 () as well as mononuclear
      [(thf)2Mg{N3(Mes)2}2] (), [(tmeda)Mg(nBu){N3(Mes)2}] (), [(thf)2Ca{N3(Mes)2}2]
      (), and [(tmeda)Sr{N3(Mes)2}2] (), respectively, with high yields depending on
      applied stoichiometry and donor solvent [tetrahydrofuran (THF), 1,2
      dimethoxyethane (DME), 1,2-bis(dimethylamino)ethane (TMEDA)]. The 1,3-bis(2,4,6
      trimethylphenyl)triazene () forms a strand-like structure in the solid state,
      stabilized by N-HN hydrogen bridges and intermolecular pi-stacking of the mesityl
      groups. The 1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)triazenide anions of the s-block metal
      complexes show charge delocalization within the triazaallylic systems and act as
      bidentate chelate ligands. 

PMID- 25832490
TI  - Low-level mercury, omega-3 index and neurobehavioral outcomes in an adult US
      coastal population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neurodevelopmental effects of omega-3 fatty acids and mercury from
      fish consumption have been characterized in children. In contrast,
      neurobehavioral outcomes associated with fish are not well studied in adults.
      OBJECTIVE: This study of avid seafood consumers on Long Island (NY, USA) sought
      to define associations between mercury, seafood consumption, omega-3 fatty acids
      and neurobehavioral outcomes. METHODS: A computer-based test system was used to
      assess neurobehavioral function. Blood total Hg (Hg) and omega-3 index were
      measured in 199 adult avid seafood eaters, who also completed the neurobehavioral
      assessment and an extensive food and fish frequency and demographic
      questionnaire. RESULTS: For most of the outcomes considered, neither Hg nor omega
      3 index was associated with neurobehavioral outcomes after adjustment for key
      confounding variables. Fish consumption, however, was associated with decreased
      odds of both self-reported fatigue (OR 0.85; 95 % CI 0.72, 1.01) and a
      constellation of neurologic symptoms (OR 0.79; 95 % CI 0.66, 0.96). CONCLUSIONS:
      Results from our study provide little evidence that omega-3 fatty acids or Hg is
      associated with cognitive function in adult avid seafood consumers. Larger
      studies are needed to confirm our finding of associations between fish
      consumption and decreased self-reported fatigue and neurologic impairment.

PMID- 25832491
TI  - Patterns of dietary habits in relation to obesity in Iranian adults.
AB  - PURPOSE: Findings from few studies that investigated the relation between dietary
      behaviors and obesity are inconsistent. We aimed to assess the relation between
      patterns of dietary habits, identified by latent class analysis (LCA), and
      obesity in a large sample of Iranian adults. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study
      on 7958 adults, dietary behaviors were assessed in five domains (meal patterns,
      eating rate, intra-meal fluid intake, meal-to-sleep interval, and fatty foods
      intake) using a pretested questionnaire. LCA was applied to identify classes of
      diet-related practices. Anthropometric measures were assessed through the use of
      a validated self-reported questionnaire. General and abdominal obesity were
      defined as a body mass index >= 30 kg/m(2), and a waist circumference >= 88 cm
      for women and >= 102 cm for men. RESULTS: General and abdominal obesity were
      prevalent in 9.7 and 27.7 % of the study population, respectively. We identified
      three distinct classes of eating rates (moderate, moderate to slow, and moderate
      to fast), two classes of meal patterns (regular and irregular), two classes of
      intra-meal fluid intake (moderate and more intra-meal drinking), three classes of
      meal-to-sleep interval (short, moderate, and long meal-to-sleep interval), and
      three classes of fatty food intake (low to moderate, moderate to high, and low
      intake of fatty foods). After adjustment for potential confounders, individuals
      with 'irregular meal pattern' were 21, 24, and 22 % more likely to be
      overweight/obese, abdominally overweight/obese, and abdominally obese, compared
      with those who had a 'regular meal pattern.' Individuals with 'more intra-meal
      drinking' had greater odds of overweight (OR 1.37; 1.19-1.458) and obesity (OR
      1.51; 1.16-1.97) than those with 'moderate intra-meal drinking.' Moderate-to-high
      intake of fatty foods was inversely associated with abdominally overweight/obese
      (OR 0.85; 0.73-1.00) and abdominally obesity (OR 0.80; 0.68-0.96) compared with
      'low-to-moderate intake of fatty foods.' No significant association was observed
      between eating rate, meal-to-sleep interval, and general or abdominal obesity,
      after controlling for confounders. CONCLUSION: Irregular meal pattern and more
      intra-meal drinking were associated with increased odds of general and abdominal
      obesity, whereas moderate-to-high intake of fatty foods was related to the
      decreased odds of central obesity among Iranian adults.

PMID- 25832492
TI  - Aspirin 'resistance': impact on no-reflow, platelet and inflammatory biomarkers
      in diabetics after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The no-reflow (NR) phenomenon exists despite percutaneous coronary
      intervention (PCI), and is especially prevalent in diabetics. The causes(s) of NR
      are not fully elucidated, but may be associated with impaired residual platelet
      and inflammatory reactivity during dual-antiplatelet therapy. OBJECTIVE: To
      assess the relationship between dual-antiplatelet therapy, NR and conventional
      biomarkers suggestive of platelet and inflammatory response in diabetics
      following ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with PCI.
      METHODS: Sixty diabetics with (n = 27) and without NR (n = 33) were prospectively
      enrolled. All patients were treated with clopidogrel and aspirin. Platelet and
      inflammatory biomarkers were assessed serially in the peripheral blood and right
      atrium before and after PCI and then at 24 h, 7 days and 30 days. RESULTS:
      Arachidonic acid (AA)-induced platelet aggregation and the serum thromboxane B2
      level before and after PCI (in the peripheral and right atrium blood) were
      significantly higher in the NR patients than in those with no NR. AA-induced
      aggregation >100 (AUC*min) before PCI predicted NR in diabetic patients with
      96.2% sensitivity and 38.5% specificity (AUC 0.66; 95% CI 0.52-0.71; p = 0.029).
      There were no other correlations between NR and platelet reactivity (collagen,
      adenosine diphosphate, thrombin receptor agonist peptide-induced aggregation,
      vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein platelet reactivity index, soluble P
      selectin, soluble CD40 ligand, platelet-derived growth factor AB and the level of
      platelet-monocyte aggregates) or between NR and inflammatory indices (i.e. high
      sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin 6 and interleukin 10). CONCLUSION: An
      inadequate response to aspirin, but not to clopidogrel, may be associated with
      the occurrence of the NR phenomenon in diabetics with STEMI who have been treated
      with primary PCI.

PMID- 25832493
TI  - Trace element landscape of resting and activated human neutrophils on the sub
      micrometer level.
AB  - Every infection is a battle for trace elements. Neutrophils migrate first to the
      infection site and accumulate quickly to high numbers. They fight pathogens by
      phagocytosis and intracellular toxication. Additionally, neutrophils form
      neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) to inhibit extracellular microbes. Yet,
      neutrophil trace element characteristics are largely unexplored. We investigated
      unstimulated and phorbol myristate acetate-stimulated neutrophils using
      synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SR-XRF) on the sub-micron spatial
      resolution level. PMA activates pinocytosis, cytoskeletal rearrangements and the
      release of NETs, all mechanisms deployed by neutrophils to combat infection. By
      analyzing Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, P, S, and Ca, not only the nucleus but also vesicular
      granules were identifiable in the elemental maps. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass
      Spectrometry (ICP-MS) revealed a neutrophil-specific composition of Zn, Fe, Cu,
      and Mn in comparison with J774 and HeLa cells, indicating a neutrophil-specific
      metallome complying with their designated functions. When investigating PMA
      activated neutrophils, the SR-XRF analysis depicted typical subcellular
      morphological changes: the transformation of nucleus and granules and the
      emergence of void vacuoles. Mature NETs were evenly composed of Fe, P, S, and Ca
      with occasional hot spots containing Zn, Fe, and Ca. An ICP-MS-based
      quantification of NET supernatants revealed a NETosis-induced decrease of soluble
      Zn, whereas Fe, Cu, and Mn concentrations were only slightly affected. In
      summary, we present a combination of SR-XRF and ICP-MS as a powerful tool to
      analyze trace elements in human neutrophils. The approach will be applicable and
      valuable to numerous aspects of nutritional immunity. 

PMID- 25832494
TI  - Efficient bulk heterojunction solar cells based on solution processed small
      molecules based on the same benzo[1,2-b:4, 5-b']thiophene unit as core donor and
      different terminal units.
AB  - We report the synthesis, characterization, and optical and electrochemical of
      properties of two novel molecules DRT3-BDT (1) and DTT3-BDT (2), comprising the
      same BDT central core (donor) and different end capped acceptor units, i.e.
      rhodanine with ethyl hexyl and thiazolidione with ethylhexyl, respectively,
      linked via an alkyl-substituted terthiophene (3 T) pi-conjugation bridge. The
      electrochemical properties of these small molecules indicate that their energy
      levels are compatible with energy levels of PC71BM for efficient exciton
      dissociation. These molecules have been used as electron donors along with PC71BM
      as an electron acceptor, for the fabrication of solution processed "small
      molecule" bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells (smOPV). The device prepared from
      optimized 1:PC71BM(1:1) processed cast from DIO (3%v)/CF solvent exhibited a
      power conversion efficiency of 6.76% with Jsc = 11.92 mA cm(-2), Voc = 0.90 and
      FF = 0.63. The device with 2:PC71BM under the same conditions showed a lower PCE
      of 5.25% with Jsc = 10.52 mA cm(-2), Voc = 0.86 and FF = 0.56. The AFM, TEM and
      PL quenching measurements revealed that the high Jsc is a result of the
      appropriate morphology and exciton dissociation. The performances were compared
      for the devices based on two small molecules. The higher Jsc for device 1 was
      attributed to its better nanoscale phase separation, smooth surface and higher
      carrier mobility in the 1:PC71BM blend film. Moreover, the higher value of FF for
      the 1:PC71BM based device was ascribed to a good balance between the electron and
      hole mobilities.

PMID- 25832495
TI  - Malignant cause of ventriculoperitoneal shunt 'pseudocyst': a case report.
AB  - Abdominal pseudocysts are an uncommon complication of ventriculoperitoneal (VP)
      shunts. We present the case of a 4-year-old boy with a history of complicated
      hydrocephalus managed with a VP shunt due to sequelae of prematurity. The patient
      presented with abdominal distention, and a pseudocyst was diagnosed. Despite
      shunt externalization and aspiration, the pseudocyst continued to produce up to 1
      liter of serosanguineous fluid per day. After MRI revealed malignant features
      within the pseudocyst, laparotomy was performed and the pseudocyst was partially
      excised. Pathology reports suggested sarcoma. The cystic mass grew back
      aggressively, accompanied by distant metastasis. The patient's condition
      deteriorated and he died from his disease. To our knowledge, this represents the
      first report of an abdominal malignancy mimicking a pseudocyst and causing VP
      shunt failure.

PMID- 25832496
TI  - The cardioprotective role of pentraxin 3.

PMID- 25832497
TI  - Association between Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor Gamma Gene
      Polymorphisms and Atherosclerotic Diseases: A Meta-analysis of Case-control
      Studies.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to perform a meta-analysis to investigate the
      association between PPARgamma rs1801282/rs3856806 polymorphisms and
      atherosclerotic diseases. METHODS: The meta-analysis was performed by searching
      the PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases from the first available year to
      September 10, 2013. Additionally, reference lists from the identified articles,
      reviews and abstracts presented at the meetings of related scientific societies
      were also checked. All case-control studies investigating the association between
      PPARgamma rs1801282/rs3856806 polymorphisms and the risk of atherosclerotic
      disease were included. The association was assessed according to the odds ratio
      (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Publication bias was analyzed using
      Begg's funnel plot and Egger's regression test. RESULTS: A total of 29 studies
      reporting PPARgamma rs1801282/rs3856806 polymorphism were included in the final
      meta-analysis. Neither the rs1801282 (Pro12Ala) nor rs3856806 (C161T)
      polymorphisms showed any significant associations with susceptibility to
      atherosclerotic diseases. In the meta-analysis performed to assess the
      association between the rs3856806 gene polymorphism and atherosclerotic disease
      based on ethnicity and the type of disease, significant associations were found
      in the Caucasian subgroup, Asian, CAD and MI subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: The present
      data suggest that there is no statistical evidence of a significant association
      between the PPARgamma gene rs1801282/rs3856806 polymorphism and the risk of
      atherosclerotic disease. In contrast, the rs3856806 polymorphism was associated
      with an increased risk in the Caucasian and MI subgroups, whereas decreased risks
      were noted in the Asian and CAD subgroups. Due to significant between-study
      heterogeneity, further studies with a larger sample size involving homogeneous AS
      patients and well-matched controls are required in the future.

PMID- 25832498
TI  - Association between SLCO1B1 521 T>C and 388 A>G Polymorphisms and Statins
      Effectiveness: A Meta-Analysis.
AB  - AIM: Previous studies on the association between the SLCO1B1 521 T>C and 388 A>G
      polymorphisms and statin effectiveness have been inconsistent. We performed this
      meta-analysis to provide a more comprehensive estimation of this issue. METHODS:
      Multiple electronic literatues databases were searched on March 5th 2014. A
      quality assessment was performed using the Methodological Index for Non
      Randomized Studies (MINORS) criteria. A meta-analysis, sub-group analysis,
      sensitivity analysis (RevMan 5.2), publication bias measuring and meta-regression
      analysis were conducted utilizing the Stata software program (version 12.0).
      RESULTS: A total of 13 studies were included in the final meta-analysis, which
      included 7,079 participants. Overall, there was no statistically significant
      association in the four genetic models of hypolipidemic effect. For the 521 T>C
      polymorphism, significant associations were found for the long-term effectiveness
      of lowering the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and in non-Asian
      populations in the dominant model [(CC+TC vs. TT: mean difference (MD)=1.44, 95%
      CI: 0.25-2.64,p=0.02) and (CC+TC vs. TT: MD=1.38, 95% CI: 0.28-2.49, p=0.01)],
      the recessive model [(CC vs. TT+TC: MD=3.31, 95% CI: 0.09-6.54, p=0.04) and (CC
      vs. TT+TC: MD=2.83, 95% CI: 0.26-5.41, p=0.03)], and the homozygote comparison
      [(CC vs. TT: MD=3.68, 95% CI: 0.42-6.94,p=0.03) and (CC vs. TT: MD=3.33, 95% CI:
      0.67-5.99, p=0.01)], respectively. There were no significant differences for the
      other analyses of the 521 T>C polymorphism or all the analyses of the 388 A>G
      polymorphism. CONCLUSIONS: The overall results suggest that the SLCO1B1 521 T>C
      and 388 A>G polymorphisms do not affect the lipid-lowering effectiveness of
      statins. However, allele C of the SLCO1B1 521 T>C polymorphism leads to an
      attenuated effect on lowering the LDL-C in non-Asian populations and the long
      term effectiveness of statin treatment.

PMID- 25832499
TI  - ACE Insertion/Deletion Polymorphism and Cardiovascular Effect of
      Hypercholesterolemia.

PMID- 25832500
TI  - Identification and Assessment of Octreotide Acylation in Polyester Microspheres
      by LC-MS/MS.
AB  - PURPOSE: Polyesters with hydrophilic domains, i.e., poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic
      co-hydroxymethyl glycolic acid) (PLGHMGA) and a multiblock copolymer of
      poly(epsilon-caprolactone)-PEG-poly(epsilon-caprolactone) and poly(L-lactide)
      ((PC-PEG-PC)-(PL)) are expected to cause less acylation of encapsulated peptides
      than fully hydrophobic matrices. Our purpose is to assess the extent and sites of
      acylation of octreotide loaded in microspheres using tandem mass spectrometry
      analysis. METHODS: Octreotide loaded microspheres were prepared by a double
      emulsion solvent evaporation technique. Release profiles of octreotide from
      hydrophilic microspheres were compared with that of PLGA microspheres. To
      scrutinize the structural information and localize the actual modification
      site(s) of octreotide, liquid chromatography ion-trap mass spectrometry (LC-ITMS)
      was performed on the acylated adducts. RESULTS: Hydrophilic microspheres showed
      less acylated adducts in comparison with PLGA microspheres. LC-MS/MS showed that
      besides the N-terminus and primary amine of lysine, the primary hydroxyl of the
      end group of octreotide was also subjected to acylation. Nucleophilic attack of
      the peptide can also occur to the carbamate bond presented in (PC-PEG-PC)-(PL)
      since 1,4-butanediisocyanate was used as the chain extender. CONCLUSIONS:
      Hydrophilic polyesters are promising systems for controlled release of peptide
      because substantially less acylation occurs in microspheres based on these
      polymers. LC-ITMS provided detailed structural information of octreotide
      modifications via mass analysis of ion fragments.

PMID- 25832501
TI  - Intermolecular Interactions and the Viscosity of Highly Concentrated Monoclonal
      Antibody Solutions.
AB  - PURPOSE: The large increase in viscosity of highly concentrated monoclonal
      antibody solutions can be challenging for downstream processing, drug
      formulation, and delivery steps. The objective of this work was to examine the
      viscosity of highly concentrated solutions of a high purity IgG1 monoclonal
      antibody over a wide range of protein concentrations, solution pH, ionic
      strength, and in the presence / absence of different excipients. METHODS:
      Experiments were performed with an IgG1 monoclonal antibody provided by Amgen.
      The steady-state viscosity was evaluated using a Rheometrics strain-controlled
      rotational rheometer with a concentric cylinder geometry. RESULTS: The viscosity
      data were well-described by the Mooney equation. The data were analyzed in terms
      of the antibody virial coefficients obtained from osmotic pressure data evaluated
      under the same conditions. The viscosity coefficient in the absence of excipients
      was well correlated with the third osmotic virial coefficient, which has a
      negative value (corresponding to short range attractive interactions) at the pH
      and ionic strength examined in this work. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide
      important insights into the effects of intermolecular protein-protein
      interactions on the behavior of highly concentrated antibody solutions.

PMID- 25832502
TI  - View of excellent ROAD from the CAR.

PMID- 25832503
TI  - Three-fold rotational defects in two-dimensional transition metal
      dichalcogenides.
AB  - As defects frequently govern the properties of crystalline solids, the precise
      microscopic knowledge of defect atomic structure is of fundamental importance. We
      report a new class of point defects in single-layer transition metal
      dichalcogenides that can be created through 60 degrees  rotations of metal
      chalcogen bonds in the trigonal prismatic lattice, with the simplest among them
      being a three-fold symmetric trefoil-like defect. The defects, which are
      inherently related to the crystal symmetry of transition metal dichalcogenides,
      can expand through sequential bond rotations, as evident from in situ scanning
      transmission electron microscopy experiments, and eventually form larger linear
      defects consisting of aligned 8-5-5-8 membered rings. First-principles
      calculations provide insights into the evolution of rotational defects and show
      that they give rise to p-type doping and local magnetic moments, but weakly
      affect mechanical characteristics of transition metal dichalcogenides. Thus,
      controllable introduction of rotational defects can be used to engineer the
      properties of these materials. 

PMID- 25832505
TI  - Cognitive behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder secondary to
      second-generation antipsychotics.

PMID- 25832506
TI  - A chemically triggered and thermally switched dielectric constant transition in a
      metal cyanide based crystal.
AB  - A dielectric constant transition is chemically triggered and thermally switched
      in (HPy)2[Na(H2O)Co(CN)6] (2, HPy=pyridinium cation) by single-crystal-to-single
      crystal transformation and structural phase transition, respectively. Upon
      dehydration, (HPy)2[Na(H2O)2Co(CN)6] (1) transforms to its semi-hydrated form 2,
      accompanying a transition from a low-dielectric state to a high-dielectric state,
      and vice versa. This dielectric switch is also realized by a structural phase
      transition in 2 that occurs between room- and low-temperature phases, and which
      corresponds to high- and low-dielectric states, respectively. The switching
      property is due to the variation in the environment surrounding the HPy cation,
      that is, the hydrogen-bonding interactions and the crystal packing, which exert
      predominant influences on the dynamics of the cations that transit between the
      static and motional states.

PMID- 25832504
TI  - Sox2 antagonizes the Hippo pathway to maintain stemness in cancer cells.
AB  - The repressive Hippo pathway has a profound tumour suppressive role in cancer by
      restraining the growth-promoting function of the transcriptional coactivator,
      YAP. We previously showed that the stem cell transcription factor Sox2 maintains
      cancer stem cells (CSCs) in osteosarcomas. We now report that in these tumours,
      Sox2 antagonizes the Hippo pathway by direct repression of two Hippo activators,
      Nf2 (Merlin) and WWC1 (Kibra), leading to exaggerated YAP function. Repression of
      Nf2, WWC1 and high YAP expression marks the CSC fraction of the tumor population,
      while the more differentiated fraction has high Nf2, high WWC1 and reduced YAP
      expression. YAP depletion sharply reduces CSCs and tumorigenicity of
      osteosarcomas. Thus, Sox2 interferes with the tumour-suppressive Hippo pathway to
      maintain CSCs in osteosarcomas. This Sox2-Hippo axis is conserved in other Sox2
      dependent cancers such as glioblastomas. Disruption of YAP transcriptional
      activity could be a therapeutic strategy for Sox2-dependent tumours. 

PMID- 25832507
TI  - Major publisher retracts 43 papers, alleging fake peer review.

PMID- 25832508
TI  - A rural, community-based suicide awareness and intervention program.
AB  - Suicide is a prominent public health issue in rural Australia and specifically in
      Tasmania, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the country. The
      Community Response to Eliminating Suicide (CORES) program was developed in rural
      Tasmania in response to a significant number of suicides over a short period of
      time. CORES is unique in that it is both a community-based and gatekeeper
      education model. CORES aims to build and empower communities to take ownership of
      suicide prevention strategies. It also aims to increase the individual community
      member's interpersonal skills and awareness of suicide risks, while building peer
      support and awareness of suicide prevention support services within the community
      itself. Pre- and post-test surveys after the CORES 1-day suicide awareness and
      intervention program (SAIP) showed significant increases in levels of comfort and
      confidence in discussing suicide with those who may be contemplating that action.
      CORES builds community capital through establishing new connections within
      communities. Establishment of local executive groups, funding and SAIP are key
      activities of successful CORES programs in communities around Australia. Over
      half of the initial leaders are still actively involved after a decade, which
      reflects positively on the quality and outcomes of the program. This study
      supports CORES as a beneficial and feasible community-based suicide intervention
      program for rural communities. 

PMID- 25832509
TI  - Psychosomatic medicine in the 21st century: understanding mechanisms and barriers
      to utilization.
AB  - The psychosomatic approach arose in antiquity as mankind looked for explanations
      for illness and death. With the rise of modern medicine, the links between
      emotions and medical conditions, such as cardiac disease and diabetes, were
      described by astute clinical observers, but the mechanisms for these conditions
      were based on correlation from observations rather than on experimental design.
      Psychoanalytic theory was often utilized to explain many common diseases. For
      example, peptic ulcer disease was blamed upon anger and stress, but scientific
      methodology discovered Helicobacter pylori to be the significant causal factor of
      this disease and resulted in the development of more effective treatments.
      Nevertheless emotional factors are still linked to disease states and morbidity;
      for example, depression is a risk factor for mortality following myocardial
      infarction. Advances in neuroscience demonstrate that the reduction of telomere
      length by anxiety and stress leads to more rapid aging and potential disease
      vulnerability. Thus, neuroscientific probes may allow for the elucidation of
      psychosomatic mechanisms. Sadly, clinical barriers, in terms of time pressure
      upon physicians and the current separation of mental health services from primary
      care settings, continue the dualistic treatment of many conditions where
      psychological factors are important. It is not clear whether a mandate for the
      integration of behavioral health into primary care will remedy this partition and
      finally maximize a psychosomatic approach to medical care.

PMID- 25832510
TI  - Communication with patients suffering from serious physical illness.
AB  - Communication is the corner stone of the relationship with the patient in all
      medical settings with the main aims of creating a good inter-personal
      relationship, exchanging information, and making treatment-related decisions. In
      a rapidly changing cultural and social context, the paternalistic approach of
      doctors knowing the best and deciding what should be done for a patient has been
      replaced by a shared decision-making approach, with patients being advised to
      educate themselves, ask questions and influence the course of the discussion with
      their doctors. Thus, a need for an improvement in the communication skills of
      physicians is extremely important for patients affected by serious physical
      illness (e.g. cancer, HIV infection, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral
      sclerosis). Certain attitudes, behaviour and skills (e.g. capacity to impart
      confidence, being empathetic, providing a 'human touch', relating on a personal
      level, being forthright, being respectful, and being thorough) are part of
      effective communication. However, some specific aspects influencing doctor
      patient communication and relationships, such as personality variables, coping
      and attachment styles, as well as cultural factors, should also be taken in to
      account. The development of training curricula to help doctors acquire proper
      skills in communication is mandatory, since research has shown that training in
      communication may facilitate the effectiveness of a doctor-patient relationship
      and the patient's satisfaction with care and give a general sense of humanity,
      which is easily lost in a biotechnologically oriented medicine.

PMID- 25832511
TI  - Dimensional psychopharmacology in somatising patients.
AB  - Despite the recent DSM-5 review of somatoform disorders, which are now called
      somatic symptom and related disorders, the categorical definitions of these
      syndromes have inherent limitations because their causal mechanism or presumed
      aetiologies are still unknown. These limitations may affect everyday clinical
      practice and decision-making abilities. As a result, physicians have limited
      information at their disposal to treat these patients. Furthermore, the clinical
      presentations of somatic disorders may vary a lot. The purpose of this chapter is
      to illustrate a psychopathological dimensional approach to the somatising
      patient. This approach is constantly unconsciously applied in clinical practice
      using continuous variables, such as rating scales. Moreover, treatment strategies
      might be improved by adding a dimensional approach, simply recognising the
      prominent components of the presenting psychopathology of a given patient and
      addressing them with drugs according to their different mechanisms, targeting
      circuits and neurotransmitters. Some authors have proposed a shift from the
      nosological to functional application of psychotropic drugs, in which functional
      psychopharmacology will be dysfunction oriented and therefore inevitably geared
      towards utilising drug combinations. Here, we present a summary of the advantages
      of functional/dimensional psychopharmacology for the treatment of somatic
      symptoms and related disorders.

PMID- 25832512
TI  - Forensic issues in medical evaluation: competency and end-of-life issues.
AB  - Decision-making capacity is a common reason for psychiatric consultation that is
      likely to become more common as the population ages. Capacity assessments are
      frequently compromised by misconceptions, such as the belief that incapacity is
      permanent or that patients with dementia categorically lack capacity. This
      chapter will review the conceptual framework of decision-making capacity and
      discuss its application to medical decision-making. We will review selected
      developments in capacity assessment and recommend an approach to assessing
      decision-making capacity. We will discuss the unique challenges posed by end-of
      life care, including determining capacity, identifying surrogate decision-makers,
      and working with surrogate decision-makers. We will discuss clinical and legal
      approaches to incapacity, including advance directives, surrogate decision
      makers, and guardians. We will discuss the legal standards based on which
      surrogates make medical decisions and outline options for resolving disagreements
      between clinical staff and surrogate decision-makers. We will offer
      recommendations for approaching decision-making capacity assessments.

PMID- 25832513
TI  - Then and now ... HIV consultation psychiatry update.
AB  - Over the last 2 decades, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) illness has
      transformed to a chronic disease model. However, challenges, including the
      effects of co-morbid illnesses and the challenge of preventing future spread of
      the disease, continue to confront those infected with HIV. Addictions remain an
      important problem and a serious contributor to overall morbidity and mortality in
      this population. This book chapter seeks to illustrate the new developments in
      the treatment of these addictions as well as provide an overview of the medical
      updates regarding HIV and hepatitis C virus exposure prophylaxis and how they
      relate to the consultant psychiatrist.

PMID- 25832514
TI  - Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue: the underlying biology and related theoretical
      issues.
AB  - There is an increasing interest in understanding the biological mechanism
      underpinning fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Despite the
      presence of mixed findings in this area, a few biological systems have been
      consistently involved, and the increasing number of studies in the field is
      encouraging. This chapter will focus on inflammatory and oxidative stress
      pathways and on the neuroendocrine system, which have been more commonly
      examined. Chronic inflammation, together with raised levels of oxidative stress
      and mitochondrial dysfunction, has been increasingly associated with the
      manifestation of symptoms such as pain, fatigue, impaired memory, and depression,
      which largely characterise at least some patients suffering from CFS and FM.
      Furthermore, the presence of blunted hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
      activity, with reduced cortisol secretion both at baseline and in response to
      stimulation tests, suggests a role for the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
      and cortisol in the pathogenesis of these syndromes. However, to what extent
      these systems' abnormalities could be considered as primary or secondary factors
      causing FM and CFS has yet to be clarified.

PMID- 25832515
TI  - Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome: management issues.
AB  - Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome represent two of the most commonly
      encountered functional somatic syndromes in clinical practice. Both have been
      contentious diagnoses in the past, and this diagnostic dispute has resulted in a
      therapeutic nihilism that has been of great detriment to their management and to
      alleviation of the intense suffering and disability that they have caused their
      innumerable sufferers. A new age has dawned in terms of a better understanding of
      these syndromes' physiology and improved approaches to their management. Here,
      the diagnosis and management of these closely related disorders are discussed,
      with particular reference to the recent empirical evidence that has come to light
      as a consequence of neurophysiological insights and robustly designed randomised
      clinical trials. Much work remains to be done in this vein, but we are better
      placed to facilitate recovery from these disorders than we have been previously.
      Whilst remission should always be a goal, complete symptom resolution is not the
      norm, but 'moderate' improvements are certainly attainable with appropriate
      management.

PMID- 25832517
TI  - Coping with losses, grief, and mourning in prostate cancer.
AB  - Prostate cancer is a highly prevalent disease with a high likelihood of survival.
      If treated, survivors live with significant and lasting treatment-related side
      effects. Surgical treatment is associated with urinary incontinence and erectile
      dysfunction, and radiation leads to urinary and bowel irritability as well as
      erectile dysfunction. Patients who undergo hormonal treatment cope with sexual
      dysfunction, bone density loss, hot flashes, mood symptoms, and cardiac and
      metabolic disorders. Functional losses have a significant impact on patients and
      their partners' quality of life and are associated with distress and psychosocial
      morbidity. Psychosocial treatment is largely unavailable in usual care, but has
      been shown to reduce distress, to increase positive reappraisal of the illness,
      and to contribute to the recovery of sexual intimacy. Treatment for grief and
      mourning, typical reactions to loss, has not been introduced into psychosocial
      interventions but is increasingly recognized as a path toward a 'new normal'
      after prostate cancer treatment.

PMID- 25832518
TI  - Psychodermatology.
AB  - Psychodermatology is an underappreciated field that studies psychocutaneous
      disorders, which are conditions that have both dermatologic and psychiatric
      characteristics. Underlying psychiatric comorbidity is estimated to occur in up
      to one-third of dermatologic patients, and psychiatric illness may either be the
      cause or the consequence of dermatologic disease. Psychodermatologic patients
      lack insight and often do not recognize a psychiatric etiology for their symptoms
      and therefore comprise some of the most challenging cases to treat. Herein, we
      discuss the background and clinical presentation of the most commonly encountered
      psychodermatologic conditions, including delusional infestation, neurotic
      excoriations, factitial dermatitis, trichotillomania and body dysmorphic
      disorder, followed by practical diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations.

PMID- 25832519
TI  - Huntington's disease: looking beyond the movement disorder.
AB  - Although Huntington's disease is classically considered a motor disease,
      psychiatric, behavioral, and cognitive symptoms are often presenting signs of
      illness. Even in isolation, these comorbidities can lead to impairment in
      function and significant distress for patients and their families. Intended for
      treating psychiatrists, this review discusses the clinical presentation and
      treatment of Huntington's disease.

PMID- 25832516
TI  - Telomeres, early-life stress and mental illness.
AB  - Telomeres are structures of tandem TTAGGG repeats that are found at the ends of
      chromosomes and preserve genomic DNA by serving as a disposable buffer to protect
      DNA termini during chromosome replication. In this process, the telomere itself
      shortens with each cell division and can consequently be thought of as a cellular
      'clock', reflecting the age of a cell and the time until senescence. Telomere
      shortening and changes in the levels of telomerase, the enzyme that maintains
      telomeres, occur in the context of certain somatic diseases and in response to
      selected physical stressors. Emerging evidence indicates that telomeres shorten
      with exposure to psychosocial stress (including early-life stress) and perhaps in
      association with some psychiatric disorders. These discoveries suggest that
      telomere shortening might be a useful biomarker for the overall stress response
      of an organism to various pathogenic conditions. In this regard, telomeres and
      their response to both somatic and psychiatric illness could serve as a unifying
      stress-response biomarker that crosses the brain/body distinction that is often
      made in medicine. Prospective studies will help to clarify whether this biomarker
      has broad utility in psychiatry and medicine for the evaluation of responses to
      psychosocial stressors. The possibility that telomere shortening can be slowed or
      reversed by psychiatric and psychosocial interventions could represent an
      opportunity for developing novel preventative and therapeutic approaches.

PMID- 25832520
TI  - Joint hypermobility, anxiety and psychosomatics: two and a half decades of
      progress toward a new phenotype.
AB  - The strong association between a heritable collagen condition and anxiety was an
      unexpected finding that we first described in 1988 at the Hospital del Mar in
      Barcelona. Since then, several clinical and nonclinical studies have been carried
      out. In this paper, after summarizing the concept and diagnosis of joint
      hypermobility (hyperlaxity), we review case-control studies in both directions
      (anxiety in joint hypermobility and joint hypermobility in anxiety disorders) as
      well as studies on nonclinical samples, review papers and one incidence study.
      The collected evidence tends to confirm the strength of the association described
      two and a half decades ago. The common mechanisms that are involved in this
      association include genetics, autonomic nervous system dysfunctions and
      interoceptive and exteroceptive processes. Considering clinical and nonclinical
      data, pathophysiological mechanisms and the presented nosological status, we
      suggest a new Neuroconnective phenotype, which around a common core Anxiety
      Collagen hyperlaxity, includes five dimensions: behavioral, psychopathology,
      somatic symptoms, somatosensory symptoms, and somatic illnesses. It is envisaged
      that new descriptions of anxiety disorders and of some psychosomatic conditions
      will emerge and that different nosological approaches will be required. The
      Neuroconnective model is a proposal that is under study and may be useful for
      clinical practice.

PMID- 25832522
TI  - Efficacy of Heroin-assisted Treatment In Belgium: A Randomised Controlled Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) can improve the condition of
      heroin addicts still using street heroin after a methadone treatment. In Belgium,
      a new trial compared the efficacy of a HAT to existing methadone maintenance
      treatment. METHODS: In this randomised controlled trial, HAT was limited to 12
      months. Participants were assessed every 3 months. They were responders if they
      showed improvement on the level of street heroin use, health or criminal
      involvement. RESULTS: 74 participants were randomised in the trial. The
      experimental group (n = 36) counted 30% of responders more than the control group
      (n = 38) at each assessment point (p < 0.05), except at 12 months where the
      difference (11%) was no longer significant (p = 0.35). Still, after 12 months,
      participants in the experimental group reported significantly greater
      improvements (p < 0.05) than the control group on the level of street heroin use
      and on the level of physical and mental health. Both groups reported
      significantly less criminal acts after 12 months (p < 0.001), but with no
      significant difference between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: This trial confirms the
      short-term efficacy of HAT for severe heroin addicts, who already failed
      methadone treatment.

PMID- 25832523
TI  - Gaining insight into soybean defense responses using functional genomics
      approaches.
AB  - Soybean pathogens significantly impact yield, resulting in over $4 billion
      dollars in lost revenue annually in the United States. Despite the deployment of
      improved soybean cultivars, pathogens continue to evolve to evade plant defense
      responses. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify and characterize gene
      networks controlling defense responses to harmful pathogens. In this review, we
      focus on major advances that have been made in identifying the genes and gene
      networks regulating defense responses with an emphasis on soybean-pathogen
      interactions that have been amenable to gene function analyses using gene
      silencing technologies. Further we describe new research striving to identify
      genes involved in durable broad-spectrum resistance. Finally, we consider future
      prospects for functional genomic studies in soybean and demonstrate that
      understanding soybean disease and stress tolerance will be expedited at an
      unprecedented pace. 

PMID- 25832524
TI  - [Effect of premolar extractions on third molar angulation changes: a meta
      analysis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of premolar extractions on third molar angulation
      changes in orthodontic patients. METHODS: The Cochrane library, PubMed, Embase,
      China Science and Technology Periodical Database, China National Knowledge
      Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) and Wanfang
      database were searched from January 1, 1990 to May 20, 2014 to identify all the
      studies about third molar angulation changes in orthodontic patients with or
      without premolars extraction, which was assigned as a extraction group and a
      control group. Th e extraction group was further divided into a fi rst premolar
      extraction subgroup and a second premolar extraction subgroup. Literature
      filtering, data extraction and methodological quality evaluation were finished
      independently by two researchers. After cross checking, the disagreements were
      solved by discussion. Meta-analysis was carried out by RevMan 5.3.3 software.
      RESULTS: Ten studies involving 712 patients were included. Meta-analysis revealed
      that: compared with the control group, the changes of third molar angulation in
      maxillary and mandible in the extraction group were statistically significantly
      different (all P<0.05); the difference in angulation between the two groups was
      about 5.19 degrees  in maxillary and 3.55 degrees  in mandibul. As for the
      premolar extraction subgroups, there was no significant difference in mandibular
      third molar angulation between them (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The orthodontic
      treatment involving first or second premolar extractions can improve the
      maxillary third molar angulation, and the second premolar extraction is the best
      option.

PMID- 25832525
TI  - [Association of D2 dopamine receptor gene -141C Ins/Del polymorphisms with heroin
      dependence in Chinese Han population: a meta-analysis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between D2 dopamine receptor gene -141C
      Ins/Del polymorphism and heroin dependence in Chinese Han population. METHODS:
      Chinese and foreign databases were searched for relevant articles published from
      the establishment of database to March 2014. Case-control studies on D2 dopamine
      receptor gene -141C Ins/Del polymorphism with heroin dependence in Chinese Han
      population were gathered with Meta-analysis by Stata 12.0 software after data
      abstraction. RESULTS: Seven case-control studies on association between D2
      dopamine receptor gene -141C Ins/ Del polymorphism and heroin dependence were
      included, which covered 3 211 heroin dependence patients and 1 979 controls. Meta
      analysis results showed that the pooled odds ratio (OR), the 95% confidence
      interval (CI) and P value after combining genotypes were as follows: Ins/Ins vs
      Del/Del: OR=0.51, 95% CI: 0.27-0.96, P=0.017; Ins/Ins vs Ins/Del+Del/Del:
      OR=0.82, 95% CI: 0.72-0.94, P=0.448; Ins/Ins+ Ins/Del vs Del/Del: OR=0.53, 95%
      CI: 0.28-0.98, P=0.019; Ins/Del vs Del/Del: OR=0.59, 95% CI: 0.32-1.07, P=0.045;
      Ins vs Del: OR=0.79, 95% CI: 0.71-0.89, P=0.101). CONCLUSION: D2 dopamine
      receptor gene -141C Ins/Del polymorphism is associated with heroin dependence in
      Chinese Han population, and Chinese Han population with Ins allele gene deletion
      are at lower risk of heroin dependence.

PMID- 25832526
TI  - [Risk factors for schizophrenia patients with type 2 diabetes: a metaanalysis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate risk factors for schizophrenia patients with
      complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus and to provide scientific evidence for
      prevention and management of this disease. METHODS: Relevant studies on
      schizophrenia with type 2 diabetes mellitus in China were searched through
      PubMed, Medline, CBM, CNKI and VIP from 1997 to 2014. Meta-analysis was performed
      using RevMan 5.2 soft ware. RESULTS: A total of 26 studies involving 6 373
      participants (including 957 cases and 5 416 controls) were included. The results
      of Meta-analysis showed that the risk factors for schizophrenic patients with
      complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus were: gender (female) (OR=1.28, 95%CI:
      1.09-1.50), age (>= 40 year) (OR=6.02, 95%CI: 4.48-8.09), overweight (OR=2.32,
      95%CI: 1.52-2.88), family history of diabetes (OR=6.12, 95%CI: 3.16-11.86),
      duration of schizophrenia (>10 years) (OR=3.60, 95%CI: 2.39-5.41), triglycerides
      (MD=0.38, 95%CI: 0.05-0.71). CONCLUSION: Male, old age, overweight, family
      history of diabetes, longer duration and high level of triglycerides are risk
      factors for schizophrenic patients with complication of diabetes mellitus.

PMID- 25832527
TI  - [Expression of RASAL2 in hepatocellular carcinoma and the clinical significance].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To detect the expression of RA SAL2 in patients with hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC), and to investigate the association of RASAL2 expression with
      pathological characteristics and prognosis. METHODS: Immunohistochemical SP
      method was used to detect the expression of RA SAL2 in 164 samples of HCC tissue
      and the adjacent tissue. Th e association of RA SAL2 expression with clinical
      features and prognosis was analyzed. RESULTS: The expression of RASAL2 in
      adjacent tissue was significantly increased compared to that in HCC tissue
      (P<0.001). The expression level of RASAL2 was associated with the degree of
      differentiation, tumor TNM stage and vascular invasion (P<0.001), but not
      associated with the level of AFP, tumor size, or the number of nodules (P>0.05).
      The 5 years recurrence-free survival (RFS) in patients with low expression of
      RASLA2 was significantly reduced compared with that in patients with high
      expression of RASLA2 (P<0.001). Cox analysis showed that low expression of RASLA2
      was the independent factor for recurrence and death in HCC patients after surgery
      (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Low expression of RRASAL2 is significantly associated with
      the poor prognosis of HCC, which is an independent factor for HCC prognosis.

PMID- 25832528
TI  - [Expressions of ASPP2, iASPP and p53 in cervical cancinoma and the significance].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the role of apoptosis stimulating proteins of p53 2 (ASPP2)
      and inhibitory member of the ASPP family (iASPP) in the occurrence of cervical
      cancer and the relation between these two proteins and p53. METHODS: We used
      immunohistochemical method to detect the expression of ASPP2, iASPP, p53 in 51
      patients with early cervical cancer tissue, 53 patients with cervical
      intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) II-III, 48 patients with CIN I and 45 patients
      with normal cervical tissue. The relation among ASPP2, iASPP and p53 was
      analyzed. RESULTS: When p53 was negative, the positive expression rate of ASPP2
      in the cervical cancer group, the CIN II-III group, the CIN I group and the
      normal cervix group was gradually increased. There was significant difference
      between the CIN II-III group or the cervical cancer group and the normal cervix
      (P<0.05), but no statistical difference was found among the other groups
      (P>0.05). The positive expression rate of iASPP in the 4 groups gradually
      reduced, and the difference was significant difference between the cervical
      cancer group or the CIN II-III group and the normal cervix group (P<0.05). When
      the p53 was positive, there was no significant change in the expression of ASPP2
      and iASPP in every group (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: ASPP2 and iASPP may play an
      important role in the occurrence of early stage of cervical cancer by regulating
      the ability of wild type p53 in induction of apoptosis. ASPP2 and iASPP gene
      might be a potential molecular target for cervical carcinoma.

PMID- 25832529
TI  - [Separation culture and biological characteristics analysis for bone marrow
      derived mesenchymal stem cells from inbreed line miniature pig of Wuzhishan].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To establish a method to isolate, culture and identify bone marrow
      derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) from inbreed line miniature pig of
      Wuzhishan (ILMW) in vitro, to compare the biological characteristics of BM-MSCs
      derived from different pigs, and to supply BM-MSCs for investigating the repair
      mechanisms of renal injury in ILMW aft er unilateral ureteral obstruction.
      METHODS: Four or 10-months old ILMW (n=4 per group) were selected and 5 mL of
      bone marrow fluid was extracted at 1 cm position from iliac wing edge.
      Mononuclear cells were isolated by density gradient method, then were cultured in
      the complete medium containing 3 different kinds of fetal bovine serum (FBS) (10%
      FBS, 12% FBS or 15% FBS). The cells of Passage 1, Passage 3, Passage 5 or Passage
      11 were collected to examine biological characteristics including morphology,
      phenotype, differentiation ability, growth curve and cell cycle. RESULTS: The BM
      MSCs were attached to the culture dishes, which were fibroblast-like or
      whirlpoollike. Primary cultured cells began the adherence at 18 h and entered a
      logarithmic phase in the 6th day. Eighty percent of them were fused in the 9th
      day. There were no obvious anomalies in the subcultured cells. The expressions in
      cell surface antigens of CD29, CD44 and CD90 were positive, while the expressions
      of CD34 and CD45 were negative. There was no statistically significant difference
      between cells from different generations (all P>0.05). Under condition of
      osteogenic induction, alizarin red staining was positive at the 18th day, and
      alcian blue staining was positive at the 21th day. Cell cycle examination showed
      that the rate of G0/G1 was about 81.45%. CONCLUSION: BM-MSCs of ILMW has
      advantages of earlier adherent time, more active proliferation, shorter cell
      subculture cycle, and stable biological characteristics after subculture, which
      is one of the best kinds of BM-MSCs coming from swine in mainland of China.

PMID- 25832530
TI  - [Posterior short-segment fusion to treat upper cervical vertebra trauma].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the strategies of posterior short-segment fixation and
      plant iliac fusion surgery, and the clinical efficacy of them on the treatment of
      upper cervical vertebra trauma. METHODS: Three hundred and thirty-four patients
      with upper cervical vertebra trauma admitted into our hospital from June, 2005 to
      April, 2010 were studied retrospectively. Thirty-six were treated by posterior
      short-segment fusion, which included 22 and 14 male and female patients,
      respectively. Among them, 23 or 6 patients were related to traffic or falling
      accident, 5 or 2 patients were related to crashing object or fight. The clinical
      efficacy was evaluated by head and neck pain VAS score, JOA scores of nerve
      function and the rate of graft bone fusion. RESULTS: The postoperative VAS scores
      were lower than that of pre-operation, and the difference was significant
      (P<0.001). The postoperative JOA scores of nerve function was superior to
      preoperative scores (P<0.05). During follow-up, no internal fixation failure
      happened while bony fusion could be seen. CONCLUSION: The method of posterior
      short-segment fixation and bone graft fusion in treating patients with cervical
      spine injury is highly efficacy, which possesses great clinical value.

PMID- 25832531
TI  - [Influential factors of treatment cost of antihypertensive drugs for hypertensive
      patient in community].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the influential factors of treatment cost of
      antihypertensive drugs for hypertensive patient in community. METHODS: A total of
      220 community health centers (CHCs) from 15 provinces were selected across China
      in view of geographical location, economic level and previous cooperative
      experience to implement standardized blood pressure management for hypertensive
      patients for 1 year, based on guidelines for prevention and control for
      hypertension in China (2009 Community-based revision). Baseline and follow-up
      information for each hypertensive patient under the care of these CHCs was
      collected. A total of 22 683 hypertensive patients in hypertension community
      standardization management were enrolled in this study. We used multivariate
      linear regression model to analyze the influential factors of treatment cost of
      antihypertensive drugs. RESULTS: Cultural degree, regional distribution, medical
      security system, the blood pressure classification, complications, and treatment
      options were statistically significant independent variables. CONCLUSION: In
      hypertension community standardization management, the blood pressure of
      hypertensive patients should be controlled in advance to reduce the economic
      burden, , the occurrence of complications should be reduced, and economic factors
      should also be considered when selecting a treatment option.

PMID- 25832532
TI  - [Comprehensive evaluation of postpartum depression and correlations between
      postpartum depression and serum levels of homocysteine in Chinese women].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the level of homocysteine in patients with
      postpartum depression is associated with depression index. METHODS: A total of 43
      women with postpartum depression or with potential postpartum depression, who
      visited the psychological clinic of Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hunan
      Province from June, 2012 to April, 2014, were enrolled in this study. They were
      evaluated by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and Hamilton Depression
      Scale. Chinese Classification of Mental Disorder (the third edition) was used for
      their diagnosis. The depressive index was calculated by Edinburgh Postnatal
      Depression Scale, Hamilton Depression Scale, and clinical symptom scores, which
      was used to assess the level of depressive symptoms. The level of homocysteine in
      serum was detected by chemoluminescent method. Meanwhile, another 31 women, who
      visited the hospital without postpartum depression, were used as controls to
      compare with the 43 patients. RESULTS: The homocysteine level in the women with
      postpartum depression was significantly higher than that in the control group
      [(10.09 +/- 3.59) MUmol/L vs (8.57 +/- 1.59) MUmol/L, t=12.392, P=0.001]. The
      depression index was positively correlated with the level of homocysteine
      (r=0.231, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The level of serum homocysteine is associated with
      postpartum depression, suggesting that the level of serum homocysteine might be a
      risk biomarker for postpartum depression.

PMID- 25832533
TI  - [Interactions between MAP4K1 and adaptor proteins].
AB  - Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase kinase 1 (MAP4K1, also called
      hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1, HPK1) is a serine/threonine kinase. As a
      member of the MAP4K family, MAP4K1 is closely associated with various adaptor
      proteins such as caspase recruitment domain family member 11 (CARD11),
      hematopoietic cell-specific protein 1 (HS1), HPK1-interacting protein of 55 kD
      (HIP-55), growth factor receptor-bound protein 2 (GRB2) family, the linker for
      activated T-cells (LAT), SH2 domain containing leukocyte protein of 76 kD (SLP
      76) family, homologues of the v-crk oncogene product (CRK) family, the B-cell
      adaptor molecule of 32 kD (BAM32), etc. It plays important roles in many
      immunoreactions, such as regulation of cellular proliferation and apoptosis,
      inhibition of TCR/BCR signaling and T/B/dendritic cells-mediated immune
      responses. Thus, MAP4K1 is involved in autoimmune diseases and plays a key role
      in tumor and inflammatory reaction. 

PMID- 25832534
TI  - [Experience of laparoscopic repair in 5 patients with vesicovaginal fistula].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore new methods for laparoscopic repair of vesicovaginal
      fistula. METHODS: Five patients with vesicovaginal fistula in Xiangya Hospital,
      Central South University, were reviewed retrospectively from May 2013 to July
      2014. All patients underwent laparoscopic repair surgery, and the surgical
      methods were analyzed. The operative time, intraoperative blood loss, and
      hospital stay time were recorded. The duration of follow-up was from 4 to 12
      months. RESULTS: Th e surgical procedures for all 5 patients were successful. No
      open surgery was required. The operative time was 70~120 (mean: 97) min, the
      intraoperative blood loss was 40~70 (mean: 54) mL, the hospital stay time was 4~8
      (mean: 5.8) days. During the follow up of 4~12 (mean: 7.6) months, no recurrence
      was observed. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic repair of vesicovaginal fistula is a
      feasible and safe and effective procedure with less blood loss and shorter
      recovery time, which can minimize surgery damage and improve successful rate.

PMID- 25832535
TI  - [A preliminary study on mechanisms for urinary system disorders before and after
      ketamine withdrawal in rats].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the mechanisms for urinary system disorders before and
      after ketamine withdrawal in rats and to evaluate the recovery degree of the
      urinary system damage after ketamine withdrawal. METHODS: Fifteen male healthy
      Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: A control group, an
      experimental group, and a withdrawal group. The rats in the control group were
      given normal saline. The rats in the experimental group were given ketamine 30
      mg/(kg.day) for 30 days. The rats in the withdrawal group were treated as the
      experimental group except for drug withdrawal for 2 weeks. In the experimental
      period, we randomly selected 1 rat of kidney, ureter, and bladder from each group
      to perform HE staining. The bladder tissues in each group were used to detect
      mRNA expression by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).
      RESULTS: 1) The behavior of ketamine-injected rats was obviously changed, but the
      weight of ketamine-induced rats was not changed. 2) As compared with the control
      group, the experimental and withdrawal groups showed infiltration of mononuclear
      inflammatory cells in the kidney tissues, the thinner epithelium of bladder and
      infiltration of submucosal mononuclear inflammatory cells under the optical
      microscope. 3) As compared with the control group, the expression of H1R mRNA was
      increased in the experimental group (P<0.05). As compared with the experimental
      group, H1R mRNA expression was significantly decreased in the withdrawal group
      (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Ketamine abuse could induce behavior changes in rats. The
      infiltration of mononuclear inflammatory cells in kidney and bladder, the thinner
      bladder epithelial layer, and the increased H1R gene mRNA expression in bladder
      might be an important pathogenesis of KAUD. Ketamine withdrawal may effectively
      reverse the pathogenic process of KAUD.

PMID- 25832536
TI  - [Effect of percutaneous nephrostolithotomy combined with flexible ureteroscopy on
      renal function in elderly patients with renal calculi].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To detect the levels of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin
      (NGAL), cystatin C (Cys-C ) in blood and the level of kidney injury molecule 1
      (KIM-1) in urine in elderly patients with renal calculi at diff erent times, and
      to explore the eff ect of percutaneous nephrostolithotomy (PCNL) combined with
      flexible ureteroscopy (FU) on early postoperative renal function. METHODS: A
      total of 46 patients with renal calculi were selected, and their blood or urine
      specimens were collected respectively at preoperative and postoperative 2, 12,
      24, 48, and 72 h. The concentrations of NGAL, Cys-C, KIM-1 were detected.
      RESULTS: The levels of NGAL and Cys-C began to increase respectively at
      postoperative 2 and 12 h, and reached peak at postoperative 12 to 24 h. There was
      significant difference in the levels of NGAL and Cys-C between the postoperative
      12 and 2 h or between postoperative 48 and 24 h (all P<0.05). The levels of NGAL
      and Cys-C began to decline and eventually returned to preoperative levels
      respectively at postoperative 48 and postoperative 72 h. The KIM-1 began to
      increase at postoperative 2 h and peaked at postoperative 24 h, which was
      significant difference between the postoperative 24 and 12 h or postoperative 48
      and 24 h (both P<0.05). The level of KIM-1 began to decline and eventually
      returned to preoperative levels at postoperative 48 h. CONCLUSION: After the
      combined treatment of percutaneous nephrostolithotomy with flexible ureteroscopy,
      the concentrations of NGAL, Cys-C and KIM-1 are significantly increased,
      suggesting injuries on renal function. The time of renal tubular injury and
      recovery is earlier than that of renal glomerulus.

PMID- 25832537
TI  - [Treatment of the pediatric neck abscess and surgery scar by high negative
      pressure drainage system].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical significance of high negative pressure
      drainage system (PFM) in treatment of pediatric neck abscess and postoperative
      scar. METHODS: The clinical data of 35 children with neck abscess from June, 2012
      to January, 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the site of the
      abscess in children, a small incision drainage combined PFM were used, and the
      antibiotics were used at the same time to strengthen systemic support treatment.
      The complications were treated by the related departments, and the application of
      topical silicone gel incision after operation lasted for 3-6 months. RESULTS:
      Thirty-five children healed after the above treatment in 7-14 d. The effective
      cure rate was 100%. The post-operation followed up for 6 months -1 year and no
      surgical incision scar was found. CONCLUSION: Small incision drainage combined
      with PFM show the superiority of minimal invasion for the treatment of
      postoperative abscess drainage without the needs of replacing the gauze and
      drainage bottle, and physiological activities are not affected in the suffering
      children. The method can significantly reduce the pain of children during the
      change of medical prescription and the physician workload. It has the advantages
      of faster healing, shorter hospital staying, without obvious scar and
      abnormalities. The method is especially useful for deep and large abscess, and it
      is better than the traditional treatment methods.

PMID- 25832538
TI  - [Efficacy of health education on patients with hip replacement based on the
      Internet].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of health education on patients with hip
      replacement based on the Internet, and to establish a new health education model
      through modern technology. METHODS: A total of 300 patients with hip replacement
      from March to August, 2015 were enrolled in this study. The participants were
      divided into a control group and an experimental group according to months
      surgeries performed. Traditional education was applied in the control group while
      the multimedia source material plus the Internet platform of Joint Registration
      System were applied in the experimental group. Levels of anxiety, degree of
      satisfaction, and postoperative complications were analyzed. RESULTS: The levels
      of knowledge, attitude and behavior compliance in the patients of the
      experimental group were significantly improved, while the levels of postoperative
      anxiety were decreased compared with those in the control group (P<0.05).
      CONCLUSION: Education based on the Internet platform of Joint Registration System
      and the computer video could improve patients' knowledge, attitude, and behavior,
      which is worthy of clinical spread.

PMID- 25832539
TI  - Effect of social support and coping styles on the stress and mental health in
      relatives of patients with traumatic brain injury.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of social support and coping style on the
      stress and mental health in relatives of patients with traumatic brain injury.
      METHODS: The stress, mental health, social support and coping style were
      investigated in 300 relatives of patients with traumatic brain injury by Relative
      Stress Scale, Symptom Checklist-90, Social Support Rating Scale and Simplified
      Coping Style Questionnaire in Changsha City. RESULTS: The mental health problems
      in relatives of patients with traumatic brain injury were closely related to the
      levels of stress, the ways of coping and the social support. In addition to the
      direct eff ect of stress on mental health in relatives of patients, the ways of
      coping and social support functioned as a mediator in this regard. The value of
      mesomeric eff ect for coping styles and social support ranged from 23.6% to
      43.0%, and social support had an advantage over the coping styles. CONCLUSION:
      Social support and coping styles should be considered in psychological nursing
      program to prevent and adjust the mental distress in relatives of patients with
      traumatic brain injury, which is beneficial to the treatment and recovery for
      patients.

PMID- 25832540
TI  - Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis caused by Aeromonas caviae in a patient with
      cirrhosis.
AB  - Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a common complication of cirrhosis.
      Based on our current understanding of SBP, the most common etiologies for SBP in
      cirrhosis are Enterobacter and Streptococcal species. Th e Aeromonas species are
      ubiquitous in fresh or sea water. Aeromonas caviae is never identified as
      etiology in cases of SBP. A patient, who had a history of liver cirrhosis related
      to chronic hepatitis B virus infection for 1 year, presented with diarrhea. He
      had diarrhea 1 week later returned from coastal city. He was hospitalized and
      treated with norfloxacin after 7 days of severe symptoms, including fever,
      abdominal distention, and diarrhea. Analysis of the ascitic specimen revealed a
      white-cell count of 4.42 * 109 cells/L with 88% neutrophils. Analysis of stool
      specimen showed a white-cell count of 60 cells per high-power field. Th e patient
      started the injection of cefriaxone at a dose of 4 g/d. However, the situation
      was not improved. Th ree days later, stool and ascitic fluid culture showed
      positive for Aeromonas caviae. Antibiotic susceptibility testing revealed that
      imipenem, meropenem, amikacin, and cefoperazone-sulbactam were highly sensitive
      to the Aeromonas caviae. However, the bacilli resisted to ceftriaxone,
      ceftazidime, ampicillin-sulbactam, levofloxacin, and sulfamethoxazole.
      Ceftriaxone was then switched to imipenem. The patient was fully recovered 14
      days later. Aeromonas caviae is a rare pathogen of SBP in cirrhosis. It resists
      to third-generation of cephalosporin and fluroquinolone, which are of frequently
      used dependent on clinical experience. It needs a special attention.

PMID- 25832541
TI  - Comparison of the urinary excretion of quercetin glycosides from red onion and
      aglycone from dietary supplements in healthy subjects: a randomized, single
      blinded, cross-over study.
AB  - Some intervention studies have shown that quercetin supplementation can regulate
      certain biomarkers, but it is not clear how the doses given relate to dietary
      quercetin (e.g. from onion). We conducted a two-period, two-sequence crossover
      study to compare the bioavailability of quercetin when administered in the form
      of a fresh red onion meal (naturally glycosylated quercetin) or dietary
      supplement (aglycone quercetin) under fasting conditions. Six healthy, non
      smoking, adult males with BMI 22.7 +/- 4.0 kg m(-2) and age 35.3 +/- 12.3 y were
      grouped to take the two study meals in random order. In each of the 2 study
      periods, one serving of onion soup (made from 100 g fresh red onion, providing
      156.3 +/- 3.4 MUmol (47 mg) quercetin) or a single dose of a quercetin dihydrate
      tablet (1800 +/- 150 MUmol (544 mg) of quercetin) were administered following 3 d
      washout. Urine samples were collected up to 24 h, and after enzyme deconjugation,
      quercetin was quantified by LC-MS. The 24 h urinary excretion of quercetin (1.69
      +/- 0.79 MUmol) from red onion in soup was not significantly different to that
      (1.17 +/- 0.44 MUmol) for the quercetin supplement tablet (P = 0.065, paired t
      test). This means that, in practice, 166 mg of quercetin supplement would be
      comparable to about 10 mg of quercetin aglycone equivalents from onion. These
      data allow intervention studies on quercetin giving either food or supplements to
      be more effectively compared. 

PMID- 25832542
TI  - Ameliorating pathogenesis by removing an exon containing a missense mutation: a
      potential exon-skipping therapy for laminopathies.
AB  - Exon skipping, as a therapy to restore a reading frame or switch protein
      isoforms, is under clinical trial. We hypothesised that removing an in-frame exon
      containing a mutation could also improve pathogenic phenotypes. Our model is
      laminopathies: incurable tissue-specific degenerative diseases associated with
      LMNA mutations. LMNA encodes A-type lamins, that together with B-type lamins,
      form the nuclear lamina. Lamins contain an alpha-helical central rod domain
      composed of multiple heptad repeats. Eliminating LMNA exon 3 or 5 removes six
      heptad repeats, so shortens, but should not otherwise significantly alter, the
      alpha-helix. Human Lamin A or Lamin C with a deletion corresponding to amino
      acids encoded by exon 5 (Lamin A/C-Delta5) localised normally in murine lmna-null
      cells, rescuing both nuclear shape and endogenous Lamin B1/emerin distribution.
      However, Lamin A carrying pathogenic mutations in exon 3 or 5, or Lamin A/C
      Delta3, did not. Furthermore, Lamin A/C-Delta5 was not deleterious to wild-type
      cells, unlike the other Lamin A mutants including Lamin A/C-Delta3. Thus Lamin
      A/C-Delta5 function as effectively as wild-type Lamin A/C and better than mutant
      versions. Antisense oligonucleotides skipped LMNA exon 5 in human cells,
      demonstrating the possibility of treating certain laminopathies with this
      approach. This proof-of-concept is the first to report the therapeutic potential
      of exon skipping for diseases arising from missense mutations. 

PMID- 25832543
TI  - Absolute determination of the gelling point of gelatin under quasi-thermodynamic
      equilibrium.
AB  - Thermodynamic studies on phase transformation of biopolymers in solution are
      useful to understand their nature and to evaluate their technological potentials.
      Thermodynamic studies should be conducted avoiding time-related phenomena. This
      condition is not easily achieved in hydrophilic biopolymers. In this
      contribution, the simultaneous effects of pH, salt concentration, and cooling
      rate (Cr) on the folding from random coil to triple helical collagen-like
      structures of gelatin were systematically studied. The phase transformation
      temperature at the absolute invariant condition of Cr = 0  degrees C/min
      (T(T)Cr=0) ) is introduced as a conceptual parameter to study phase
      transformations in biopolymers under quasi-thermodynamic equilibrium and avoiding
      interferences coming from time-related phenomena. Experimental phase diagrams
      obtained at different Cr are presented. The T(T)(Cr=0) compared with pH and
      TT(Cr=0) compared with [NaCl] diagram allowed to explore the transformation
      process at Cr = 0  degrees C/min. The results were explained by electrostatic
      interactions between the biopolymers and its solvation milieu.

PMID- 25832545
TI  - Asymptomatic 43-year-old man with family history of sudden death.

PMID- 25832544
TI  - FOXO3: A Major Gene for Human Longevity--A Mini-Review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The gene FOXO3, encoding the transcription factor forkhead box O-3
      (FoxO3), is one of only two for which genetic polymorphisms have exhibited
      consistent associations with longevity in diverse human populations. OBJECTIVE:
      Here, we review the multitude of actions of FoxO3 that are relevant to health,
      and thus healthy ageing and longevity. METHODS: The study involved a literature
      search for articles retrieved from PubMed using FoxO3 as keyword. RESULTS: We
      review the molecular genetics of FOXO3 in longevity, then current knowledge of
      FoxO3 function relevant to ageing and lifespan. We describe how FoxOs are
      involved in energy metabolism, oxidative stress, proteostasis, apoptosis, cell
      cycle regulation, metabolic processes, immunity, inflammation and stem cell
      maintenance. The single FoxO in Hydra confers immortality to this fresh water
      polyp, but as more complex organisms evolved, this role has been usurped by the
      need for FoxO to control a broader range of specialized pathways across a wide
      spectrum of tissues assisted by the advent of as many as 4 FoxO subtypes in
      mammals. The major themes of FoxO3 are similar, but not identical, to other FoxOs
      and include regulation of cellular homeostasis, particularly of stem cells, and
      of inflammation, which is a common theme of age-related diseases. Other functions
      concern metabolism, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, destruction of potentially
      damaging reactive oxygen species and proteostasis. CONCLUSIONS: The mechanism by
      which longevity-associated alleles of FOXO3 reduce age-related mortality is
      currently of great clinical interest. The prospect of optimizing FoxO3 activity
      in humans to increase lifespan and reduce age-related diseases represents an
      exciting avenue of clinical investigation. Research strategies directed at
      developing therapeutic agents that target FoxO3, its gene and proteins in the
      pathway(s) FoxO3 regulates should be encouraged and supported.

PMID- 25832546
TI  - Influence of L-homoarginine as an analogue of L-arginine on the heat-induced
      aggregation of proteins.
AB  - The influence of l-homoarginine on the heat-induced aggregation of three model
      proteins, i.e. porcine, mink, and human growth hormones was investigated by
      circular dichroism spectroscopy. It was found that the effect of l-homoarginine
      as an analogue of arginine depends on the concentration of the additive as well
      as the protein itself. l-Homoarginine increased the onset temperature of heat
      induced aggregation of both porcine and mink growth hormones. However, the
      formation of human growth hormone aggregates was increased at low concentrations
      of l-homoarginine. Only at higher concentrations of the additive was the onset
      temperature of human growth hormone aggregation found to increase. Additional
      experiments of human growth hormone melting in the presence of histidine, lysine,
      and sodium chloride were performed. The effect of lysine was similar as in the
      presence of l-homoarginine. It follows that in protein formulations low
      concentrations of amino acids should be used with some precaution. At low
      concentration of additive, depending on the charge of both protein and amino acid
      used, the promotion of aggregation of unfolding intermediates may occur.

PMID- 25832547
TI  - Identifying Children with Intellectual Disabilities in the Tribal Population of
      Barwani District in State of Madhya Pradesh, India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Low-and middle-income countries (LAMI) lack an integrated and
      systematic approach to identify people with intellectual disabilities. Screening
      surveys are considered resource-intensive; therefore, alternative approaches are
      needed. This study attempted to identify children up to age 18 years with
      intellectual disabilities through a mixed-method approach involving focus group
      interviews (FGIs) and door-to-door surveys. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Focus groups
      were conducted with the assistance and involvement of local leaders in four
      villages of Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh with a 99% tribal population in
      all four villages. A formal survey of the community was then conducted to
      determine the prevalence of intellectual disabilities based on a standardized
      screening instrument (NIMH-DDS). RESULTS: Thirty focus group interviews were
      conducted involving 387 participants (males 284, females 103) over a period of 13
      days. The entire adult population (N = 8797) was then surveyed for intellectual
      disabilities using a standardized screening instrument. The data revealed a close
      similarity in the prevalence rates of intellectual disabilities, as determined by
      the two approaches (Focus Group Interviews, 5.22/1000 versus Survey, 5.57/1000).
      CONCLUSION: A qualitative method using FGIs successfully identified people with
      intellectual disabilities in an economically deprived tribal area, showing that a
      community-based approach provides a close estimate of intellectual disabilities
      based on a formal survey using standard diagnostic criteria. These data suggest
      that FGI, along with other qualitative data, could be helpful in designing and in
      serving as an entree for community-based interventions.

PMID- 25832549
TI  - Beyond stereoselectivity, switchable catalysis: some of the last frontier
      challenges in ring-opening polymerization of cyclic esters.
AB  - Metal-based catalysts and initiators have played a pivotal role in the ring
      opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic esters, thanks to their high activity and
      remarkable ability to control precisely the architectures of the resulting
      polyesters in terms of molar mass, dispersity, microstructure, or tacticity.
      Today, after two decades of extensive research, the field is slowly reaching
      maturity. However, several challenges remain, while original concepts have
      emerged around new types or new applications of catalysis. This Review is not
      intended to comprehensively cover all of these aspects. Rather, it provides a
      personal overview of the very recent progress achieved in some selected,
      important aspects of ROP catalysis--stereocontrol and switchable catalysis.
      Hence, the first part addresses the development of new metal-based catalysts for
      the isoselective ROP of racemic lactide towards stereoblock copolymers, and the
      use of syndioselective ROP metal catalysts to control the monomer sequence in
      copolymers. A second part covers the development of ROP catalysts--primarily
      metal-based catalysts, but also organocatalysts--that can be externally regulated
      by the use of chemical or photo stimuli to switch them between two states with
      different catalytic abilities. Current challenges and opportunities are
      highlighted.

PMID- 25832548
TI  - Endogenous tissue factor pathway inhibitor has a limited effect on host defence
      in murine pneumococcal pneumonia.
AB  - Streptococcus (S.) pneumoniae is the most common causative pathogen in community
      acquired pneumonia. Coagulation and inflammation interact in the host response to
      infection. Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) is a natural anticoagulant
      protein that inhibits tissue factor (TF), the main activator of inflammation
      induced coagulation. It was the objective of this study to investigate the effect
      of endogenous TFPI levels on coagulation, inflammation and bacterial growth
      during S. pneumoniae pneumonia in mice. The effect of low endogenous TFPI levels
      was studied by administration of a neutralising anti-TFPI antibody to wild-type
      mice, and by using genetically modified mice expressing low levels of TFPI, due
      to a genetic deletion of the first Kunitz domain of TFPI (TFPIK1(-/-)) rescued
      with a human TFPI transgene. Pneumonia was induced by intranasal inoculation with
      S. pneumoniae and samples were obtained at 6, 24 and 48 hours after infection.
      Anti-TFPI reduced TFPI activity by ~50 %. Homozygous lowTFPI mice and
      heterozygous controls had ~10 % and ~50 % of normal TFPI activity, respectively.
      TFPI levels did not influence bacterial growth or dissemination. Whereas lung
      pathology was unaffected in all groups, mice with ~10 % (but not with ~50 %) of
      TFPI levels displayed elevated lung cytokine and chemokine concentrations 24
      hours after infection. None of the groups with low TFPI levels showed an altered
      procoagulant response in lungs or plasma during pneumonia. These data argue
      against an important role for endogenous TFPI in the antibacterial, inflammatory
      and procoagulant response during pneumococcal pneumonia.

PMID- 25832550
TI  - The role of microRNA in nutritional control.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are one of a growing class of noncoding RNAs that are involved
      in the regulation of a wide range of metabolic processes including cellular
      differentiation, cell proliferation and apoptosis. The generation of miRNA is
      regulated in complex ways, for example by small interfering RNAs (small nucleolar
      and nuclear RNAs) and various other metabolites. This complexity of control is
      likely to explain how a relatively small part of the DNA that codes for proteins
      has enabled the evolution of such complex organisms as mammals. Non-protein
      coding DNA is therefore thought to carry the memory of early evolutionary steps
      that led to progressively complex metabolic controls. Clinically, miRNAs are
      becoming increasingly important following the recognition that some congenital
      abnormalities can be traced to defects in miRNA processing. The potential for
      manipulating metabolism and affecting disease processes by the pharmaceutical or
      biological targeting of specific miRNA pathways is now being tested. miRNAs are
      also released into the extracellular milieu after packaging by cells into nano
      sized extracellular vesicles. Such vesicles can be taken up by adjacent and
      possibly more distant cells, thereby allowing coordinated intercellular
      communication in specific tissues. Extracellular miRNAs found in the blood stream
      may also serve as novel biomarkers for both diagnosing specific forms of cancer
      and assessing the likelihood of metastasis, and as powerful prognostic indices
      for various cancers. Here, we discuss the role of intracellular and extracellular
      miRNAs in nutritional control of various (patho)physiological processes. In this
      review, we provide an update of the presentations from the 25th Marabou Symposium
      (Stockholm, 14-16 June 2013) entitled 'Role of miRNA in health and nutrition',
      attended by 50 international experts

PMID- 25832551
TI  - Plasma concentrations, analgesic and physiological assessments in horses with
      chronic laminitis treated with two doses of oral tramadol.
AB  - REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY: Laminitis is a painful disease for which adequate
      pain management remains a challenging and largely unmet medical need. OBJECTIVES:
      To investigate plasma concentrations, analgesic and physiological effects of 2
      doses of tramadol in horses with chronic laminitis. STUDY DESIGN: Nonrandomised
      trial. METHODS: Four horses with naturally occurring chronic laminitis received 5
      mg/kg bwt and then 10 mg/kg bwt tramadol orally every 12 h for one week with a
      one-week washout between. Noninvasive arterial blood pressure, heart and
      respiratory rates, intestinal sounds and forelimb off-loading frequency were
      evaluated before and during treatments. Plasma tramadol and metabolite (M1 and
      M2) concentrations were measured on predetermined days and times after the
      morning dosing. RESULTS: Forelimb off-loading frequency decreased significantly
      with 10 mg/kg bwt (40%, P = 0.02) but not with 5 mg/kg bwt (9%, P = 0.4).
      Physiological variables did not change significantly with either treatment. For 5
      and 10 mg/kg bwt treatments, respectively, individual maximum plasma
      concentrations (MUg/l) ranged from 329 to 728 and 628 to 1330 (tramadol), 12-24
      and 32-80 (M1), and 90-157 and 239-362 (M2). Respective median area under the
      concentration vs. time curves (h MUg/l) were 727 and 1426, 33 and 88, 303 and
      1003. CONCLUSIONS: Twice daily oral tramadol at 10 mg/kg bwt may produce
      analgesic plasma levels in horses with chronic laminitis.

PMID- 25832552
TI  - Primary localized tracheobronchial amyloidosis presenting with massive
      hemoptysis: a case report and literature review.
AB  - Primary localized tracheobronchial amyloidosis (TBA) is a rare respiratory tract
      dysfunction, which is a heterogeneous group of diseases involving abnormal
      extracellular deposition of amyloid and autologous fibrillar protein material in
      beta-pleated sheets. A 64-year-old man was referred to our hospital because of
      hemoptysis. Physical examination showed decreased breath sounds in the right lung
      on auscultation. Chest computed tomography scan displayed multiple nodules with
      varied size in main bronchia around bilateral hilus of the lung. After admission,
      bronchoscopy was performed for this patient, and roughness of mucosa in trachea
      and multiple nodules in respiratory tract were observed. Through further tissue
      biopsy, the diagnosis of primary TBA was confirmed.

PMID- 25832553
TI  - The moderating effects of cannabis use and decision making on the relationship
      between conduct disorder and risky sexual behavior.
AB  - Risky sexual behavior (RSB) is a current public health concern affecting
      adolescents and young adults. Conduct disorder, cannabis use, and decision-making
      (DM) ability are interrelated constructs that are relevant to RSB; however, there
      is little research on the association of DM and RSB. Participants were 79
      cannabis users assessed through self-report measures of RSB and mental health and
      a timeline follow-back procedure for substance use. DM ability was assessed via
      the Iowa Gambling Task. We found that more conduct disorder symptoms accounted
      for unique variance in measures of overall RSB and an earlier initiation of oral
      sex, even when taking into account DM and cannabis use. Amount of cannabis use
      and DM ability moderated the relationships between number of conduct disorder
      symptoms and number of oral sex partners and age of initiation for vaginal sex.
      An increase in conduct disorder symptoms was associated with more oral sex
      partners when DM was poor and fewer partners when DM was better; however, this
      relationship was only present at higher levels of cannabis use. Furthermore, when
      DM was poor, more conduct disorder symptoms predicted a younger age of initiation
      of vaginal sex, with the age decreasing as amount of cannabis use increased.
      Determining how DM influences RSB may assist in the identification of novel
      treatment approaches to reduce engagement in RSB. 

PMID- 25832554
TI  - Effects of Concomitant Methotrexate on Large Joint Replacement in Patients With
      Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated With Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors: A Multicenter
      Retrospective Cohort Study in Japan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of concomitant methotrexate (MTX) on the
      incidence of large joint replacement resulting from the progression of large
      joint destruction in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with tumor
      necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was
      performed using a multicenter registry. In total, 803 patients with RA who
      received etanercept or adalimumab were included. The first large joint
      replacement during treatment with etanercept or adalimumab was used as the
      outcome variable in predictive analyses. The cumulative incidence of large joint
      replacement was estimated using Kaplan-Meier curves, and the impact of
      concomitant MTX on the incidence of large joint replacement was assessed with Cox
      proportional hazards models. Propensity score matching was used to reduce
      selection bias. RESULTS: Of all patients, 601 (75%) received concomitant MTX at a
      median dosage of 8 mg/week (interquartile range 6-8). A total of 49 patients (62
      joints) underwent large joint replacement during treatment with etanercept or
      adalimumab. The incidence of large joint replacement for patients with
      concomitant MTX was significantly lower than that for patients without MTX (P <
      0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that concomitant MTX independently
      predicted large joint replacement (hazard ratio 0.36, 95% confidence interval
      0.20-0.65). Additionally, propensity score-matched analysis demonstrated that
      patients with concomitant MTX had a significantly lower incidence of large joint
      replacement than those without concomitant MTX (P = 0.032). CONCLUSION:
      Concomitant MTX reduces the incidence of large joint replacement in patients with
      RA treated with TNF inhibitors.

PMID- 25832555
TI  - Thermophilic production of polyhydroxyalkanoates by a novel Aneurinibacillus
      strain isolated from Gudao oilfield, China.
AB  - Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are usually biosynthesized using mesophilic strains,
      but the fermentation processes often suffer from bacterial contamination. This
      work reports the screening of thermophilic bacteria capable of producing PHAs
      under elevated temperatures to reduce the contamination risk. Strain XH2 was
      isolated from an oilfield and identified as Aneurinibacillus sp. by morphology,
      physiological-biochemical characterization, and 16S rDNA phylogenetic analysis.
      This strain can produce PHA granules, which was detected by Nile red staining and
      transmission electron microscopic imaging. At 55  degrees C, 111.6 mg l(-1) of
      PHA was produced in a fermentation medium containing glucose, peptone, and yeast
      extract. If peptone was removed from the medium, the yield of PHA would be
      enhanced by 2.4 times. The main monomers of the PHA product were identified to be
      3-hydroxybutyrate and 3-hydroxyvalerate with a molar ratio of 17.2:1 by gas
      chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance analyses.
      Two minor homologues, 3-hydroxyoctanoate, and 3-hydroxy-4-phenylbutanoate, were
      tentatively identified by GC-MS as well. This is the first report of thermophilic
      PHA bacterial producer from the Firmicutes phylum. 

PMID- 25832556
TI  - Tolerance of early oral feeding in patients subjected to total laryngectomy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess the tolerance of early oral
      feeding after total laryngectomy. METHOD: A randomized multicenter study was
      conducted that included 89 individuals subjected to total laryngectomy. The
      participants were allocated to 2 groups: early (n = 44), early oral feeding; and
      late (n = 45), late oral feeding. The participants in the early group were
      assessed as to acceptance of oral feeding, and their food intake was quantified.
      RESULTS: In the early group, the total energy expenditure and protein needs were
      not met through oral feeding alone at any time during the first 7 postoperative
      days. The times to attain 25% and 50% of the total energy expenditure and protein
      needs by oral feeding after surgery were 4 and 7 days, respectively. CONCLUSION:
      The patients subjected to early oral feeding failed to meet their caloric and
      protein needs through that route alone during the first 4 postoperative days and
      required complementary nutrition through another route. (c) 2015 Wiley
      Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E643-E648, 2016.

PMID- 25832559
TI  - 2-acetyl-4-tetrahydroxybutylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole in caramel colours,
      vinegar and beverages in China.
AB  - A survey of 2-acetyl-4-tetrahydroxybutylimidazole (THI) and 4-methylimidazole (4
      MeI) concentrations in caramel colours, vinegar and beverages from the Chinese
      market were performed by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass
      spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). In total, 117 samples, 78 caramel colour samples, 23
      vinegar samples and 16 beverage samples, were investigated. The results indicated
      that 4-MeI was found in all samples. THI was found in a part of the samples and
      also the level range was lower compared to 4-MeI. In caramel colour samples, the
      concentration level range of THI was 1.0-74.3 mg/kg and of 4-MeI was 1.5-1291.8
      mg/kg. In vinegar samples, the concentration level range of THI was 13.3-119.2
      ug/L and for 4-MeI 111.2-2077.8 ug/L. In beverage samples, THI was only found in
      two samples and the concentration level range of 4-MeI was 10.8-307.1 ug/L. THI
      and 4-MeI levels in vinegar and beverages were rather low compared with those in
      caramel colour samples. These observations can be helpful for evaluating
      individual exposure to THI and 4-MeI from caramel colours, vinegar and beverages
      in China.

PMID- 25832560
TI  - Values-based practice and phenomenological psychopathology: implications of
      existential changes in depression.
AB  - Values-based practice (VBP), developed as a partner theory to evidence-based
      medicine (EBM), takes into explicit consideration patients' and clinicians'
      values, preferences, concerns and expectations during the clinical encounter in
      order to make decisions about proper interventions. VBP takes seriously the
      importance of life narratives, as well as how such narratives fundamentally shape
      patients' and clinicians' values. It also helps to explain difficulties in the
      clinical encounter as conflicts of values. While we believe that VBP adds an
      important dimension to the clinician's reasoning and decision-making procedures,
      we argue that it ignores the degree to which values can shift and change,
      especially in the case of psychiatric disorders. VBP does this in three respects.
      First, it does not appropriately engage with the fact that a person's values can
      change dramatically in light of major life events. Second, it does not
      acknowledge certain changes in the way people value, or in their modes of
      valuing, that occur in cases of severe psychiatric disorder. And third, it does
      not acknowledge the fact that certain disorders can even alter the degree to
      which one is capable of valuing anything at all. We believe that ignoring such
      changes limits the degree to which VBP can be effectively applied to clinical
      treatment and care. We conclude by considering a number of possible remedies to
      this issue, including the use of proxies and written statements of value
      generated through interviews and discussions between patient and clinician. 

PMID- 25832557
TI  - Inhibition of MDM2 by RG7388 confers hypersensitivity to X-radiation in xenograft
      models of childhood sarcoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Curative therapy for childhood sarcoma presents challenges when
      complete resection is not possible. Ionizing radiation (XRT) is used as a
      standard modality at diagnosis or recurrence for childhood sarcoma; however,
      local recurrence is still problematic. Most childhood sarcomas are TP53 wild type
      at diagnosis, although approximately 5-10% have MDM2 amplification or
      overexpression. PROCEDURES: The MDM2 inhibitor, RG7388, was examined alone or in
      combination with XRT (20Gy given in 2 Gy daily fractions) to immune-deficient
      mice bearing Rh18 (embryonal) or a total of 30 Gy in 2 Gy fractions to mice
      bearing Rh30 (alveolar) rhabdomyosarcoma xenografts. RG7388 was administered by
      oral gavage using two schedules (daily *5; schedule 1 or once weekly; schedule
      2). TP53-responsive gene products (p21, PUMA, DDB2, and MIC1) as well as markers
      of apoptosis were analyzed. RESULTS: RG7388 showed no significant single agent
      antitumor activity. Twenty Grays XRT induced complete regressions (CR) of Rh18
      with 100 percent tumor regrowth by week 7, but no tumor regrowth at 20 weeks when
      combined with RG7388. RG7388 enhanced time to recurrence combined with XRT in
      Rh30 xenografts compared to 30 Gy XRT alone. RG7388 did not enhance XRT-induced
      local skin toxicity. Combination treatments induced TP53 responsive genes more
      rapidly and to a greater magnitude than single agent treatments. CONCLUSIONS:
      RG7388 enhanced the activity of XRT in both rhabdomyosarcoma models without
      increasing local XRT-induced skin toxicity. Changes in TP53-responsive genes were
      consistent with the synergistic activity of RG7388 and XRT in the Rh18 model.

PMID- 25832558
TI  - Neuropsychological and dimensional behavioral trait profiles in Costa Rican ADHD
      sib pairs: Potential intermediate phenotypes for genetic studies.
AB  - Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with substantial
      functional impairment in children and in adults. Many individuals with ADHD have
      clear neurocognitive deficits, including problems with visual attention,
      processing speed, and set shifting. ADHD is etiologically complex, and although
      genetic factors play a role in its development, much of the genetic contribution
      to ADHD remains unidentified. We conducted clinical and neuropsychological
      assessments of 294 individuals (269 with ADHD) from 163 families (48
      multigenerational families created using genealogical reconstruction, 78 affected
      sib pair families, and 37 trios) from the Central Valley of Costa Rica (CVCR). We
      used principal components analysis (PCA) to group neurocognitive and behavioral
      variables using the subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and 15
      neuropsychological measures, and created quantitative traits for heritability
      analyses. We identified seven cognitive and two behavioral domains. Individuals
      with ADHD were significantly more impaired than their unaffected siblings on most
      behavioral and cognitive domains. The verbal IQ domain had the highest
      heritability (92%), followed by auditory attention (87%), visual processing speed
      and problem solving (85%), and externalizing symptoms (81%). The quantitative
      traits identified here have high heritabilities, similar to the reported
      heritability of ADHD (70-90%), and may represent appropriate alternative
      phenotypes for genetic studies. The use of multigenerational families from a
      genetically isolated population may facilitate the identification of ADHD risk
      genes in the face of phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity.

PMID- 25832561
TI  - Intersectin1-S, a multidomain adapter protein, is essential for malignant glioma
      proliferation.
AB  - Glioblastomas, the most aggressive form of primary brain tumors with a tendency
      to invade surrounding healthy brain tissues, remains an incurable disease.
      Intersectin (ITSN) is a multidomain adapter protein implicated in endocytosis,
      exocytosis, and multiple signaling pathways. Prior research of ours has shown
      intersectin1-S (ITSN1-S) is critical for the migration and invasion of glioma
      cells by regulating several key proteins. In this study, we established ITSN1-S
      expression patterns in human tumor tissues. We discovered that ITSN1-S expression
      was positively correlated with histological grade of gliomas and with poor
      patient prognosis. We also found that the expression of ITSN1-S protein was
      essential to glioblastoma cell proliferation. Furthermore, through a series of
      expression constructs encoding different ITSN1-S domains, we identified the
      critical roles of ITSN1-S SH3 domains in the regulation of cell proliferation.
      This study also demonstrates evidence suggesting that the regulation of ITSN1-S
      on glioblastoma cells proliferation is through the Raf/MEK/ERK pathway. In
      conclusion, this study suggests critical roles of ITSN1-S in malignant glioma
      proliferation, indicating a potential usage of ITSN1-S in the therapeutic
      intervention as a novel molecular target.

PMID- 25832562
TI  - Absorption and cleavage of enalapril, a carboxyl ester prodrug, in the rat
      intestine: in vitro, in situ intestinal perfusion and portal vein cannulation
      models.
AB  - In recent years prodrug strategy has been used extensively to improve the
      pharmacokinetic properties of compounds exhibiting poor bioavailability.
      Mechanistic understanding of the absorption and the role of intestine and liver
      in the activation of oral prodrugs is crucial. Enalapril, a carboxyl ester
      prodrug, is reported to be metabolized by human carboxylesterase-1 (CES1) but not
      by carboxylesterase-2 (CES2) to its active metabolite enalaprilat. Further, it
      has been reported that the small intestines of both rat and human contain mainly
      CES2. The objective of this work was to understand whether enalapril remains
      unchanged as it is absorbed through the intestine into the portal circulation.
      This was evaluated using different intestinal preparations, an in situ intestinal
      perfusion experiment and a portal vein cannulated rat model. No turnover of
      enalapril was seen with commercial rat intestinal S9 and microsomes, but
      reasonable turnover was observed with freshly prepared rat intestinal and mucosal
      homogenate and S9. In the intestinal perfusion study, both enalapril and
      enalaprilat were observed in the mesenteric plasma with the data suggesting 32%
      hydrolysis of enalapril in the intestine. In the portal vein cannulated rat,
      about 51% of enalapril absorbed into intestine was converted to enalaprilat.
      Overall, it was demonstrated that even though enalapril has been shown to be a
      specific substrate for CES1, it is converted to enalaprilat to a significant
      extent in the intestine. Such experimental techniques can be applied by other
      scientific groups who are working on prodrugs to determine the region and extent
      of activation. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID- 25832563
TI  - Noninvasive imaging technologies for cutaneous wound assessment: A review.
AB  - The ability to phenotype wounds for the purposes of assessing severity, healing
      potential and treatment is an important function of evidence-based medicine. A
      variety of optical technologies are currently in development for noninvasive
      wound assessment. To varying extents, these optical technologies have the
      potential to supplement traditional clinical wound evaluation and research, by
      providing detailed information regarding skin components imperceptible to visual
      inspection. These assessments are achieved through quantitative optical analysis
      of tissue characteristics including blood flow, collagen remodeling, hemoglobin
      content, inflammation, temperature, vascular structure, and water content.
      Technologies that have, to this date, been applied to wound assessment include:
      near infrared imaging, thermal imaging, optical coherence tomography, orthogonal
      polarization spectral imaging, fluorescence imaging, laser Doppler imaging,
      microscopy, spatial frequency domain imaging, photoacoustic detection, and
      spectral/hyperspectral imaging. We present a review of the technologies in use or
      development for these purposes with three aims: (1) providing basic explanations
      of imaging technology concepts, (2) reviewing the wound imaging literature, and
      (3) providing insight into areas for further application and exploration.
      Noninvasive imaging is a promising advancement in wound assessment and all
      technologies require further validation. 

PMID- 25832564
TI  - Utilizing Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Video to Analyze Patterns of
      Secondhand Smoke Exposure on College Campuses.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Innovatively apply geographic information system (GIS) software and
      spatial video cameras to examine hotspots of smoking and secondhand smoke (SHS)
      exposure on a college campus. PARTICIPANTS: Pedestrians on a large public
      university in the United States. METHODS: Spatial video cameras mounted on
      bicycles and GIS software captured and analyzed smoking on campus. Data were
      collected during times of heavy pedestrian traffic. Hotspot locations with high
      concentrations of observed smoking were identified. RESULTS: Using this
      innovative methodology, several hotspots were identified on campus where SHS
      exposure occurs frequently. These hotspots were in areas of high pedestrian
      traffic, thus indicating a potential for SHS exposure to many students.
      CONCLUSIONS: This paper demonstrates an innovative application of GIS and spatial
      video technology to understand outdoor smoking patterns on campus. These
      techniques can aid in program planning, decision-making, policy development, and
      enforcement.

PMID- 25832565
TI  - Outcome measurement in New Zealand.
AB  - This paper provides a detailed description and critique of the development of
      routine outcome measurement (ROM) within New Zealand's mental health and
      addiction services. The paper will include a brief description of the New Zealand
      setting and the events that led to routine outcome measures, demographic and
      diagnostic characteristics of the population in New Zealand, characteristics of
      the New Zealand mental health and addictions services, a description of the
      outcome measures and rationale for their selection, the information collection
      protocol for the outcome measures, outcome data completion rates and aggregated
      outcome reporting uses, barriers and facilitators to the adoption of routine
      outcome measures in New Zealand, and current status and next steps. 

PMID- 25832566
TI  - Routine mental health outcome measurement in the UK.
AB  - This paper offers a short history of routine clinical outcomes measurement (RCOM)
      in UK mental health services. RCOM developments in primary and secondary care are
      described, with reference to measures currently in widespread use or likely to be
      implemented. Assessment procedure and completion rates are discussed. Some of the
      forces operating in this field are enumerated. Comparison is made with UK
      attempts at routine outcomes measurement in public education. This field is thus
      reviewed for lessons for RCOM, and opportunities and challenges considered. 

PMID- 25832567
TI  - Of means and ends: mind and brain science in the twentieth century.

PMID- 25832568
TI  - Dredging and projecting the depths of personality: the thematic apperception test
      and the narratives of the unconscious.
AB  - ARGUMENT: The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) was a projective psychological
      test created by Harvard psychologist Henry A. Murray and his lover Christina
      Morgan in the 1930s. The test entered the nascent intelligence service of the
      United States (the OSS) during the Second World War due to its celebrated
      reputation for revealing the deepest aspects of an individual's unconscious. It
      subsequently spread as a scientifically objective research tool capable not only
      of dredging the unconscious depths, but also of determining the best candidate
      for a management position, the psychological complexes of human nature, and the
      unique characteristics of a culture. Two suppositions underlie the utility of the
      test. One is the power of narrative. The test entails a calculated abuse of the
      subjects tested, based on their inability to interpret their own narrative. The
      form of the test requires that a subject fail to decipher the coded, unconscious
      meaning their narrative reveals. Murray believed the interpretation of a
      subject's narrative and the projection contained therein depended exclusively on
      the psychologist. This view of interpretation stems from the seemingly more
      reasonable belief of nineteenth-century Romantic thinkers that a literary text
      serves as a proxy for an author's deepest self. The TAT also supposes that there
      is something beyond consciousness closely resembling a psychoanalytic
      unconscious, which also has clear precedents in nineteenth-century German
      thought. Murray's views on literary interpretation, his view of psychology as
      well as the continuing prevalence of the TAT, signals a nineteenth-century
      concept of self that insists "on relations of depth and surface, inner and outer
      life" (Galison 2007, 277). It is clear the hermeneutic practice of Freud's
      psychoanalysis, amplified in Jung, drew on literary conceptions of the
      unconscious wider than those of nineteenth-century psychology.

PMID- 25832569
TI  - The birth of information in the brain: Edgar Adrian and the vacuum tube.
AB  - ARGUMENT: As historian Henning Schmidgen notes, the scientific study of the
      nervous system would have been "unthinkable" without the industrialization of
      communication in the 1830s. Historians have investigated extensively the way
      nerve physiologists have borrowed concepts and tools from the field of
      communications, particularly regarding the nineteenth-century work of figures
      like Helmholtz and in the American Cold War Era. The following focuses
      specifically on the interwar research of the Cambridge physiologist Edgar Douglas
      Adrian, and on the technology that led to his Nobel-Prize-winning research, the
      thermionic vacuum tube. Many countries used the vacuum tube during the war for
      the purpose of amplifying and intercepting coded messages. These events provided
      a context for Adrian's evolving understanding of the nerve fiber in the 1920s. In
      particular, they provide the background for Adrian's transition around 1926 to
      describing the nerve impulse in terms of "information," "messages," "signals," or
      even "codes," and for translating the basic principles of the nerve, such as the
      all-or-none principle and adaptation, into such an "informational" context. The
      following also places Adrian's research in the broader context of the changing
      relationship between science and technology, and between physics and physiology,
      in the first few decades of the twentieth century.

PMID- 25832570
TI  - Screening the psychological laboratory: Hugo Munsterberg, psychotechnics, and the
      cinema, 1892-1916.
AB  - ARGUMENT: According to Hugo Munsterberg, the direct application of experimental
      psychology to the practical problems of education, law, industry, and art
      belonged by definition to the domain of psychotechnics. Whether in the form of
      pedagogical prescription, interrogation technique, hiring practice, or aesthetic
      principle, the psychotechnical method implied bringing the psychological
      laboratory to bear on everyday life. There were, however, significant pitfalls to
      leaving behind the putative purity of the early psychological laboratory in
      pursuit of technological utility. In the Vocation Bureau, for example,
      psychological instruments were often deemed too intimidating for a public
      unfamiliar with the inner workings of experimental science. Similarly, when
      psychotechnical means were employed by big business in screening job candidates,
      ethical red flags were raised about this new alliance between science and
      capital. This tension was particularly evident in Munsterberg's collaboration
      with the Paramount Pictures Corporation in 1916. In translating psychological
      tests into short experimental films, Munsterberg not only envisioned a new mass
      medium for the dissemination of psychotechnics, but a means by which to initiate
      the masses into the culture of experimental psychology.

PMID- 25832571
TI  - Of psychometric means: Starke R. Hathaway and the popularization of the Minnesota
      Multiphasic Personality Inventory.
AB  - ARGUMENT: The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was developed at
      the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in the 1930s and 1940s. It became a
      highly successful and highly controversial psychometric tool. In professional
      terms, psychometric tools such as the MMPI transformed psychology and psychiatry.
      Psychometric instruments thus readily fit into the developmental history of
      psychology, psychiatry, and neurology; they were a significant part of the
      narrative of those fields' advances in understanding, intervening, and treating
      people with mental illnesses. At the same time, the advent of such tools also
      fits into a history of those disciplines that records the rise of obsessional
      observational and evaluative techniques and technologies in order to facilitate
      patterns of social control that became typical during the Progressive Era in the
      United States and after. It was those patterns that also nurtured the resistance
      to psychometrics that emerged during the Vietnam War and after.

PMID- 25832572
TI  - The Surgical Elimination of Violence? Conflicting Attitudes towards Technology
      and Science during the Psychosurgery Controversy of the 1970s.
AB  - ARGUMENT: In the 1970s a public controversy erupted over the proposed use of
      brain operations to curtail violent behavior. Civil libertarians, civil rights
      and community activists, leaders of the anti-psychiatry movement, and some U.S.
      Congressmen charged psychosurgeons and the National Institute of Mental Health,
      with furthering a political project: the suppression of dissent. Several
      government-sponsored investigations into psychosurgery rebutted this charge and
      led to an official qualified endorsement of the practice while calling attention
      to the need for more "scientific" understanding and better ethical safeguards.
      This paper argues that the psychosurgery debate of the 1970s was more than a
      power struggle between members of the public and the psychiatric establishment.
      The debate represented a clash between a postmodern skepticism about science and
      renewed focus on ultimate ends, on the one hand, and a modern faith in standards
      and procedures, a preoccupation with means, on the other. These diverging
      commitments made the dispute ultimately irresolvable.

PMID- 25832573
TI  - Contending professions: sciences of the brain and mind in the United States, 1850
      2013.
AB  - Argument This paper examines the intersecting histories of psychiatry and
      psychology (particularly in its clinical guise) in the United States from the
      second half of the nineteenth century to the present. It suggests that there have
      been three major shifts in the ideological and intellectual orientation of the
      "psy complex." The first period sees the dominance of the asylum in the provision
      of mental health care, with psychology, once it emerges in the early twentieth
      century, remaining a small enterprise largely operating outside the clinical
      arena, save for the development of psychometric technology. It is followed,
      between 1945 and 1980, by the rise of psychoanalytic psychiatry and the emergence
      of clinical psychology. Finally, the re-emergence of biological psychiatry is
      closely associated with two major developments: an emphasis that emerges in the
      late 1970s on rendering the diagnosis of psychiatric illnesses mechanical and
      predictable; and the long-term effects of the psychopharmacological revolution
      that began in the early 1950s. This third period has seen a shift the orientation
      of mainstream psychiatry away from psychotherapy, the end of traditional mental
      hospitals, and a transformed environment within which clinical psychologists ply
      their trade. 

PMID- 25832574
TI  - Epilogue: the redux of postmodernity.

PMID- 25832576
TI  - [Improving Access to Evidence Based Interventions for Children and Adolescents
      with Mental Disorders After Child Abuse and Neglect].
AB  - Victims of child abuse and neglect are more likely to develop emotional and
      behavioral problems than their non-abused peers. In many cases they do not
      receive evidence based treatments. Based on pilot studies and clinical
      experience, a structured and manualized case-management protocol was developed to
      provide child welfare professionals guidance, direction and support in helping
      these families find and engage in appropriate treatment. The protocol is
      described. A survey among child welfare workers indicates a lack of knowledge
      about mental disorders in victims of child abuse as well as an insufficient
      cooperation between the child welfare and the mental healthcare system. Child
      welfare workers who have applied the manual evaluate it positively. This study
      shows that the structured case-management can be implemented in a child welfare
      setting.

PMID- 25832577
TI  - [Knowledge of Emotion Regulation Strategies, Problem Behavior, and Prosocial
      Behavior in Preschool Age].
AB  - The present study examines the relation between knowledge of emotion regulation
      strategies and social behavior in preschoolers. Knowledge of emotion regulation
      strategies of 210 children (mean age 55 months) was assessed. Teachers rated
      children's social behavior with SDQ. Linear regression analysis examined how
      knowledge of emotion regulation strategies influenced social behavior of
      children. Significant effects of gender on SDQ scales "prosocial behavior",
      "hyperactivity", "behavior problems", and SDQ total problem scale were
      identified. Age was a significant predictor of SDQ scales "prosocial behavior",
      "hyperactivity", "problems with peers" and SDQ total problem scale. Knowledge of
      emotion regulation strategies predicted SDQ total problem scores. Results suggest
      that deficits in knowledge of emotion regulation strategies are linked with
      increased problem behavior.

PMID- 25832578
TI  - [Efficacy of the "Tuebinger-Intensiv-Programm fur Eltern" in Treating Childhood
      Anxieties - A Pilot Study].
AB  - Anxiety problems among young children are highly prevalent and related to family
      factors such as parenting behavior or parental psychological health. The current
      pilot study examined the effectiveness of the non-specific, short-term,
      behavioral-hypnotherapeutic parent training Tipe in treating abnormal childhood
      anxieties. Childhood anxiety, parenting behavior, parenting sense of competence,
      and psychological stress of the parents were measured at three points in time
      (pretest, posttest, 3-month follow-up). Obtained data was compared to a waiting
      list control condition. After participating, parents of the treatment condition
      reported less dysfunctional parenting behavior, less psychological stress, and
      higher parenting sense of competence. Their children were significantly less
      anxious. These effects were stable after three months. Families of the waiting
      list control condition, however, showed no significant changes. We conclude that
      a general behavioral-hypnotherapeutic parent training positively affects the
      course of childhood anxiety problems.

PMID- 25832579
TI  - [Creation of Speech in Adolescents].
AB  - In therapeutic preliminary talks, the therapist and the adolescent person (the
      potential patient) are together trying to answer the question of the indication.
      This is why every preliminary talk is designed like a "trial therapeutical
      session". The study tries to answer the question of the cognitive organization of
      the verbalization from a sozio-scientific point of view. A sociological
      interpretative approach was chosen to analyse transcripts of recordings of 30 of
      such therapeutic preliminary sessions, which provide the foundation for the
      study. The sociological-interpretative method allows it to filter out several
      phenomenons of verbal interaction, as for example when there is an incongruity of
      the different perceptions of "everyday life" and "therapy". A speech-style model
      is used to evaluate the formal result of the indication (as well as of the
      therapy).

PMID- 25832583
TI  - Subvisible (2-100 MUm) Particle Analysis During Biotherapeutic Drug Product
      Development: Part 1, Considerations and Strategy.
AB  - Measurement and characterization of subvisible particles (defined here as those
      ranging in size from 2 to 100 MUm), including proteinaceous and nonproteinaceous
      particles, is an important part of every stage of protein therapeutic
      development. The tools used and the ways in which the information generated is
      applied depends on the particular product development stage, the amount of
      material, and the time available for the analysis. In order to compare results
      across laboratories and products, it is important to harmonize nomenclature,
      experimental protocols, data analysis, and interpretation. In this manuscript on
      perspectives on subvisible particles in protein therapeutic drug products, we
      focus on the tools available for detection, characterization, and quantification
      of these species and the strategy around their application.

PMID- 25832585
TI  - JFMS Open Reports - innovation in feline veterinary publishing.

PMID- 25832584
TI  - FBXL5 inhibits metastasis of gastric cancer through suppressing Snail1.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The Snail family of transcription factors controls epithelial to
      mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process associated with tumorigenesis originated
      from epithelial cells. Snail1 is a member from Snail family and upregulation of
      Snail1 has been detected in gastric cancer (GC), suggesting a potential role of
      Snail1 in GC metastasis. We have recently reported that FBXL5 regulates cortactin
      by inducing its ubiquitylation and subsequent proteasomal degradation, resulting
      in inhibition of metastasis of GC. However, a role of FBXL4 in regulation of
      other EMT-associated proteins is not unknown. METHODS: The levels of FBXL5 and
      Snail1 as well as their relationship were determined in GC specimen. Co
      immunoprecipitation (IP) was performed to detect the interaction between Snail1
      and FBXL5 in GC cells. The effects on Snail1 by FBXL5 were examined by
      overexpression of depletion of FBXL5 in GC cells. The invasiveness of the FBXL5
      modified GC cells was examined in both scratch wound healing assay and transwell
      matrix penetration assay. RESULTS: FBXL5 also physiologically interacted with
      Snail1. FBXL5 inhibited Snail1 to suppress GC cell invasiveness. CONCLUSION:
      FBXL5 negatively regulates several EMT-enhancing factors. FBXL5 is an attractive
      novel target for inhibiting invasion and metastasis of GC cells.

PMID- 25832586
TI  - Practical use of opioids in cats: a state-of-the-art, evidence-based review.
AB  - RATIONALE: Recent recognition of the need to improve pain management in cats has
      led to the investigation of the pharmacokinetics and efficacy of opioid analgesic
      drugs in this species. The results of these studies may be difficult to interpret
      because the effect of these drugs varies with dose, route of administration and
      the method used to assess them. As equipotency of different opioids is not known,
      it is hard to compare their effects. Animals do not verbalise the pain they feel
      and, in cats, it may be more difficult to recognise signs of pain in comparison
      with other species such as dogs. AIM: This article reviews the use of opioid
      analgesics in cats. It must be remembered that not all drugs are licensed for use
      in cats, and that marketing authorisations vary between different countries.

PMID- 25832587
TI  - Epigenetic regulation by histone demethylases in hypoxia.
AB  - The response to hypoxia is primarily mediated by the hypoxia-inducible
      transcription factor (HIF). Levels of HIF are regulated by the oxygen-sensing HIF
      hydroxylases, members of the 2-oxoglutarate (2OG) dependent oxygenase family.
      JmjC-domain containing histone lysine demethylases (JmjC-KDMs), also members of
      the 2OG oxygenase family, are key epigenetic regulators that modulate the
      methylation levels of histone tails. Kinetic studies of the JmjC-KDMs indicate
      they could also act in an oxygen-sensitive manner. This may have important
      implications for epigenetic regulation in hypoxia. In this review we examine
      evidence that the levels and activity of JmjC-KDMs are sensitive to oxygen
      availability, and consider how this may influence their roles in early
      development and hypoxic disease states including cancer and cardiovascular
      disease. 

PMID- 25832588
TI  - Across all solid organs, adolescent age recipients have worse transplant organ
      survival than younger age children: A US national registry analysis.
AB  - Univariate analyses suggest that adolescents have worse long-term allograft
      survival versus younger children across different SOT. This study's objective was
      to determine whether multivariate analyses of a large national database recording
      all deceased SOT (KI; LI; HR; LU) also show worse adolescent allograft survival
      in the different organs. Using data from the national Scientific Registry for
      Transplant Recipients in the USA for pediatric primary SOT from 1989 to 2010, we
      calculated median half-lives and constructed K-M graft survival curves. Recipient
      age at transplant (<12 or adolescent 12-17 yr) was fitted with other identical
      covariates into multivariate Cox proportional hazards models. In all SOT
      recipients, unadjusted graft survival curves demonstrated better graft survival
      for adolescents initially, followed by crossing of the lines, such that
      adolescent SOT recipients had worse survival after one yr (KI), 4.6 yr (LI), 4.4
      yr (HR), and 1.6 yr (LU). Multivariate models of the post-cross period showed a
      significantly higher AHR for worse graft survival in adolescent age across all
      four SOTs: AHR 1.400 (KI), 1.958 (LI), 1.414 (HR), and 1.576 (LU). Improving
      adolescent long-term outcomes across all four organs will be a defining issue in
      the future.

PMID- 25832589
TI  - Dopamine D2 receptor blocker thioridazine induces cell death in human uterine
      cervical carcinoma cell line SiHa.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to explore the correlation of dopamine D2 receptor
      (DRD2) and the development of uterine cervical cancer, and the effect of
      thioridazine (an antagonist of DRD2) on the SiHa cell line. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      The expression of DRD2 in tissues was detected with immunohistochemistry. SiHa
      cells were exposed to different concentrations of thioridazine for 24 h, and then
      cell viability was determined. After 20-MUM thioridazine treatment for 24 h, the
      protein level of DRD2 in SiHa cells was analyzed by Western blots, apoptosis was
      detected with the phosphatidylserine externalization and comet assay, and
      necrosis was detected by measuring high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1).
      RESULTS: The expression of DRD2 gradually increased from normal to cancer tissues
      (P < 0.01). In vitro, DRD2 blocker thioridazine treatment resulted in death of
      SiHa cells with the expression of DRD2 significantly regulated down (P < 0.05),
      and thioridazine significantly induced SiHa apoptosis (P = 0.016) and necrosis (P
      < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Higher DRD2 expression is closely associated with cervical
      cancer progression. After blocking DRD2, SiHa cell growth is significantly
      suppressed, indicating that DRD2 may function as a novel tumor marker and a
      potential therapeutic target for cervical cancer.

PMID- 25832590
TI  - Evaluating the effect of oral administration of Echinacea hydroethanolic extract
      on the immune system in dog.
AB  - This study was designed to evaluate the effects of oral administration of
      Echinacea hydroethanolic extract on the dog's immune system. The study was
      performed on 14 dogs that were referred to the veterinary clinic. These dogs were
      randomly allocated to two equal treatment groups. The first group received 1 ml
      of 5% Echinacea hydroethanolic extract two times a day for 2 months, and the
      second group received a placebo (water). To do haematology and immunology tests,
      the dogs were bled on days 0, 30 and 60. Blood tests, including packed cell
      volume (PCV), haemoglobin (Hb), red blood cell count (RBC), white blood cell
      count (WBC), counting neutrophils (Nut), lymphocytes (Lym), monocytes (Mon),
      eosinophils (Eos), basophils (Baso) and B cell, were performed. Furthermore,
      safety factor IgM and per cent of phagocytosis and phagocyte were measured from
      the blood sample. The results showed that in the group which received Echinacea
      PCV, Hb, RBC count, WBC count, Lym, Nut, the per cent of phagocytosis and IgM
      significantly increased (P < 0.05). Moreover, positive effects of Echinacea plant
      on the immune system were observed. There was a significant change in HTC, RBC,
      Hb over time in the group that received Echinacea and the per cent of
      phagocytosis and IgM (P < 0.05). The study establishes that these extracts might
      have appreciable immunostimulatory activity. However, further studies are
      required to confirm these findings.

PMID- 25832591
TI  - Transcatheter closure of patent ductus arteriosus in under 6 kg and premature
      infants.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transcatheter closure of a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) has always
      been considered risky for infants weighing <6 kg and preterms. We present our
      findings regarding transcatheter closures of PDA. METHODS: The inclusion criteria
      were a weight of <6 kg and the presence of PDA symptoms. The study subjects were
      divided into two groups: <6 kg and premature infants. RESULTS: A total of 69
      infants were included. The mean ages and weights of the <6 kg and the preterms
      were 5.4 +/- 2.7 months and 30.3 +/- 19.9 days, and 4.6 +/- 0.8 and 1.7 +/- 0.3
      kg, respectively. Type C PDAs were most frequently observed in the premature
      group, and type A was in <6 kg. Sixteen of the patients were premature infants,
      and 81.2% of them had an extremely low birth weight. All of the premature infants
      had comorbidities, and had been receiving respiratory support therapy.
      Transcatheter closure was successfully completed in 81.2% of the premature
      infants and 94.3% of the <6-kg infants. Major complications occurred in 4
      patients (one death and three device embolizations). The patient's age was found
      to be the main risk factor. The most frequently used device was the Amplatzer
      duct occluder II in additional sizes (84.6%) in the preterms and the Amplatzer
      duct occluder I (34%) and II (34%) in the <6-kg group. CONCLUSION: The
      transcatheter closure of PDA is relatively safe and effective in preterms and in
      infants <6 kg. The selection of a suitable device based on the type of PDA is
      critical to the success of the procedure.

PMID- 25832592
TI  - Addressing apoptosis to tumor zip codes.

PMID- 25832594
TI  - Head and Neck Trauma: Introduction.

PMID- 25832593
TI  - Down-Regulation of Renal Gluconeogenesis in Type II Diabetic Rats Following Roux
      en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery: A Potential Mechanism in Hypoglycemic Effect.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study was initiated to evaluate the effects of Roux-en-Y gastric
      bypass surgery on renal gluconeogenesis in type 2 diabetic rats and its
      relationship with hormonal parameters. METHODS: Diabetic rats were induced by
      intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ; 35 mg/kg) combined with a high
      fat diet. They were then randomly divided into three groups: diabetes model group
      (DM group, n = 8), sham Roux-en-Y gastric bypass group (SRYGB group, n = 8), and
      Roux-en-Y gastric bypass group (RYGB group, n = 14). Another 8 normal rats
      comprised the normal control group (NC group, n = 8). Body weight, glucose, serum
      lipid, insulin, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), leptin, and adiponectin were
      measured pre- and postoperatively. Glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase),
      phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), insulin receptor-alpha (IR-alpha),
      insulin receptor-beta (IR-beta), and glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (Gsk3b) were
      measured in renal cortex by using RT-PCR and Western immune-blot analyses on the
      4th week after operation. RESULTS: Following RYGB surgery, surgery-treated rats
      showed significantly improved oral glucose tolerance, dyslipidemia and insulin
      resistance as well as increased post-gavage insulin levels and serum circulating
      levels of GLP-1 and adiponectin. RT-PCR and Western immune-blot analyses showed
      PEPCK and G6Pase protein and mRNA to be significantly decreased in the renal
      cortex in the RYGB group (p < 0.05 vs. DM or SRYGB group); in addition, IR-alpha
      and Gsk3b phosphorylation levels increased in the RYGB group (p < 0.05 vs. DM or
      SRYGB group). CONCLUSION: Down-regulation of renal gluconeogenic enzymes might be
      a potential mechanism in hypoglycemia. An improved insulin signal pathway in the
      renal cortex and increased circulating adiponectin concentrations may contribute
      to the decline of renal gluconeogenesis following RYGB surgery.

PMID- 25832595
TI  - Antifungal efficacy of the cactaceae Opuntia stricta (Haworth) prickly pear
      ethanolic extract in controlling pikeperch Sander lucioperca (Linnaeus) egg
      saprolegniasis.

PMID- 25832596
TI  - Vascular medicine and phlebology: where do we intersect?

PMID- 25832597
TI  - Beyond Virchow's Triad: does cardiovascular inflammation explain the recurrent
      nature of venous thromboembolism?

PMID- 25832598
TI  - Association of foot and ankle characteristics with progression of venous disease.
AB  - Although risk factors have been identified for the cross-sectional prevalence of
      venous disease, few studies have investigated risk factors for venous disease
      progression. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship
      between foot and ankle characteristics and the progression of venous disease. A
      total of 1025 participants from the San Diego Population Study were assessed at
      baseline and at follow-up 11 years later. Risk factors were assessed by
      questionnaire and physical measurements, while venous disease was determined by
      physical examination and Duplex ultrasound. Change in venous disease from
      baseline to 11-year follow-up was characterized as stable or progression. Those
      with venous disease progression were less likely to spend increased time lying
      per day, more likely to have a history of hypertension, lie supine for a surgical
      procedure greater than an hour, and report an occupation that was professional,
      technical, administrative, or management. Those with a normal arch reported the
      greatest degree of plantar flexion. In multivariable logistic regression,
      including adjustment for weight-bearing arch characteristics, greater
      dorsiflexion (per 5 degrees) was significantly associated with progression of
      venous disease (OR = 1.11, p = 0.01). A weight-bearing flat arch compared to a
      weight-bearing normal arch was of borderline significance as a protective factor
      against progression of venous disease with adjustment for dorsiflexion (OR =
      0.56, p = 0.07). Our results indicate that the ability to have higher levels of
      dorsiflexion is a risk factor for the progression of venous disease, and suggest
      a role for connective tissue laxity in the pathogenesis of venous disease. 

PMID- 25832599
TI  - Low incidence of post-thrombotic syndrome in patients treated with new oral
      anticoagulants and percutaneous endovenous intervention for lower extremity deep
      venous thrombosis.
AB  - Post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) is a common complication of deep venous thrombosis
      (DVT) of the iliofemoral venous system leading to significant morbidity and high
      health care costs. It has been recently shown that percutaneous endovenous
      intervention (PEVI) can effectively reduce the incidence of PTS. The role of new
      oral anticoagulants (NOACs) in combination with PEVI in the reduction of PTS has
      not been previously studied. This report sought to evaluate the role of PEVI plus
      NOACs in the reduction of PTS in acute symptomatic femoropopliteal and iliac DVT.
      We studied 127 patients with acute lower extremity DVT who had undergone PEVI
      plus administration of NOACs. All had received a minimum of 3 months of
      anticoagulation with a NOAC following PEVI. The mean follow-up was 22+/-5 months.
      The patients were evaluated for development of PTS, bleeding, recurrent venous
      thromboembolism (VTE), duration of hospitalization and mortality. There was no in
      hospital bleeding. The mean duration of hospitalization was 46+/-9 hours. DVT
      occurred in two patients who had been later switched to warfarin. There were four
      non-VTE-related deaths. PTS developed in five patients (3%), two of whom were
      those who had been switched to warfarin. Their mean Villalta score was 6.2+/-0.9.
      We conclude that the combination of PEVI plus NOAC and low dose aspirin is
      associated with a very low rate of PTS with the severity being only mild. This
      approach leads to very low rates of bleeding and recurrent VTE and promotes early
      discharge. 

PMID- 25832600
TI  - A retrospective analysis of catheter-based thrombolytic therapy for acute
      submassive and massive pulmonary embolism.
AB  - Catheter-based thrombolysis (CBT) is emerging as an option for acute pulmonary
      embolism (PE). Although prior studies have demonstrated improvement in right
      ventricular function, little data is available regarding clinical patient
      outcomes. Our institution adopted CBT as an option for patients with submassive
      and massive PE and we evaluated its effect on patient outcomes. Two hundred and
      twenty-one patients who presented to our institution with submassive and massive
      PE were analyzed over three years by time period; 102 prior to the use of CBT and
      119 during the time CBT was performed. The primary outcome was in-hospital major
      adverse clinical events (a composite of death, recurrent embolism, major
      bleeding, or stroke). Secondary outcomes were overall and ICU length of stay and
      individual components of the composite outcome. Mean age was 56.3+/-16 years with
      high rates of central PE (57.9%), RV dysfunction (37%), and myocardial necrosis
      (26%). Mean RV/LV ratio was 1.2. Thirty-two patients were treated with CBT. The
      composite endpoint occurred more frequently in the CBT era vs the pre-CBT era
      (21.0% vs 14.7%, p=0.23). After multivariate adjustment, CBT treatment
      demonstrated no effect on major adverse clinical events (OR 0.84, CI 0.22-3.22,
      p=0.80). CBT era patients had an unadjusted 37% increase in ICU days and 54%
      increase in total length of stay (p<0.001). Within the CBT era, CBT treatment
      resulted in an adjusted 190% increase in overall length of stay (p<0.001). CBT
      did not demonstrate improvement in hospital outcomes, despite adjustments of PE
      severity, and was associated with a significant increase in overall and ICU
      length of stay. 

PMID- 25832601
TI  - Comparative efficacy of different modalities for treatment of right heart thrombi
      in transit: a pooled analysis.
AB  - The objective was to compare the efficacy of treatment options for right heart
      thrombi (RHT) in transit. All published reports between 1992 and 2013 were
      identified and pooled. We analyzed 328 patients with RHT and pulmonary embolism
      (PE). The treatments administered were none in 11 patients (3.4%),
      anticoagulation (AC) with heparin in 70 patients (21.3%), thrombolytics in 122
      patients (37.2%), catheter-related treatments in five patients (1.5%) and
      surgical embolectomy in 120 patients (36.6%). The overall short-term mortality
      for the entire cohort was 23.2%. The mortality rate associated with no therapy
      was highest at 90.9%. The mortality associated with AC alone was significantly
      higher than surgical embolectomy or thrombolysis (37.1% vs 18.3% vs 13.7%,
      respectively). In univariate analysis, any therapy was better than no therapy
      with a favorable odds of 16.92 (95% CI 2.05-139.87) for AC, 61.76 (95% CI 7.42
      513.81) for thrombolysis and 44.54 (95% CI 5.42-366.32) for surgical embolectomy.
      In multivariate analysis with age and hemodynamic status entered as covariates,
      thrombolytic therapy was better than AC with favorable odds of 4.83 (95% CI 1.52
      15.36). Similarly, there was a trend in favor of surgical embolectomy with an
      odds of 2.61 (95% CI 0.90-7.58). The estimated probability of survival in
      hemodynamically unstable patients with AC, surgical embolectomy and thrombolysis
      was 47.7%, 70.45% and 81.5%, respectively. There was no significantly increased
      risk of complications with thrombolytic therapy. In conclusion, left untreated,
      patients with RHT and PE have very high mortality. Aggressive management with
      thrombolysis or surgical thrombectomy may be more effective than AC alone in the
      management of these patients. 

PMID- 25832602
TI  - Venous thromboembolism: Predicting recurrence and the need for extended
      anticoagulation.
AB  - Initial treatment for venous thromboembolism (VTE) includes the acute and
      intermediate phases, usually lasting for 3 months. The choice to extend therapy
      beyond the initial 3-month window involves assessing a combination of risk
      factors for VTE recurrence and bleeding, along with weighing patient preferences.
      In some cases, such as VTE provoked by a reversible surgical risk factor, the
      recurrence risk is sufficiently low that most patients should not receive
      extended therapy. In other cases, such as VTE associated with malignancy, the
      recurrence risk is sufficiently high that treatment should be extended beyond the
      initial 3 months. However, a large number of patients fall into a grey zone where
      the decision on extended therapy is less clear-cut. In this review, we summarize
      the evidence for VTE recurrence risk and the role for extended anticoagulation
      given a variety of patient-specific factors and laboratory results. We also
      review the role of VTE risk prediction tools and provide a recommended algorithm
      for approaching the decision of extended anticoagulation therapy. Various agents
      available for extended VTE therapy, including warfarin, aspirin and the direct
      oral anticoagulant agents, are discussed. 

PMID- 25832604
TI  - Venous leg ulceration pathophysiology and evidence based treatment.
AB  - Venous leg ulceration (VLU) is one of the most predominate medical disorders
      worldwide and in the western hemisphere it affects around 1.5% of the general
      population and up to 5% of the elderly population. Unfortunately, this trend will
      only increase given the growth of an aging population worldwide. Understanding
      its pathophysiology that begins with venous hemodynamic abnormalities and leads
      to inflammatory alterations with microcirculatory changes is critical to
      delivering effective curative therapy. As such, the main component to treatment
      is reversing the underlying venous hypertension and pro-inflammatory milieu using
      compression treatment along with various adjuvant therapies. Given its impact, a
      comprehensive multi-pronged approach to care, treatment and prevention is
      required to reverse the increasing trend that is observed worldwide. 

PMID- 25832605
TI  - Venous thoracic outlet syndrome.
AB  - Venous thoracic outlet syndrome is a complex but rare disease that often can have
      excellent outcomes if quickly recognized and treated. The syndrome results from
      compression of the subclavian vein along its exit from the thoracic cavity and
      frequently affects young otherwise healthy patients. Modern diagnosis is made
      with a combination of clinical exam, appropriate non-invasive imaging, and,
      finally, contrast venography, which can be both diagnostic and therapeutic.
      Treatments have evolved over time to the point where patients can undergo less
      extensive procedures than previously performed and still maintain excellent
      outcomes. One of the most important predictors of outcome is the initiation of
      treatment within 14 days of symptoms. Hence, the importance of the accurate and
      prompt diagnosis of this syndrome in patients with an upper-extremity deep vein
      thrombotic episode cannot be further underscored. This review is a concise
      summary of the background and treatment algorithm for this patient population. 

PMID- 25832603
TI  - Approach to chemotherapy-associated thrombosis.
AB  - Treatment of cancer patients with antineoplastic agents is associated with a
      heightened risk of thrombotic events, both arterial and venous. In this article,
      we review the specific agents that are implicated and the pathophysiological
      processes that are known to be associated with this prothrombotic state. We
      conclude with current recommendations for prophylactic antithrombotic therapy in
      these clinical situations. 

PMID- 25832606
TI  - Thrombophilia.

PMID- 25832608
TI  - Comment on: A critical evaluation of the trigger point phenomenon: reply.

PMID- 25832609
TI  - Good response to tumour necrosis factor alpha blockade results in an angiogenic T
      cell recovery in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

PMID- 25832610
TI  - Inhibiting histone deacetylase 1 suppresses both inflammation and bone loss in
      arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) is highly expressed in the synovium of
      RA patients. Thus we aimed to investigate a novel HDAC inhibitor (HDACi), NW-21,
      designed to target HDAC1. The effect of NW-21 on osteoclast formation and
      activity, cytokine and chemokine expression in vitro and arthritis in mice was
      assessed. METHODS: The effects on human osteoclast formation and activity derived
      from human blood monocytes stimulated with receptor activator of nuclear factor
      kappaB ligand (RANKL) and M-CSF were assessed. The anti-inflammatory activity of
      NW-21 was assessed using human monocytes stimulated with either TNF-alpha or
      lipopolysaccharide for 24 h. mRNA expression of monocyte chemotactic protein 1
      (MCP-1), TNF-alpha, macrophage inflammatory protein 1alpha (MIP-1alpha), IL-1 and
      RANTES (regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted) was
      assessed. The effect of NW-21 in the collagen antibody-induced arthritis model
      was assessed following daily oral administration at 5 mg/kg/day. The HDAC1
      inhibitors NW-21 and MS-275 were compared with a broad-acting HDACi, 1179.4b.
      Effects on inflammation and bone were assessed using paw inflammation scoring,
      histology and live animal micro-CT. RESULTS: NW-21 suppressed osteoclast
      formation and activity as well as significantly reducing mRNA expression of MCP-1
      and MIP-1alpha in monocytes stimulated by lipopolysaccharide or TNF-alpha (P <
      0.05) in vitro. Only inhibitors that targeted HDAC1 (NW-21 and MS-275) reduced
      inflammation and bone loss in the arthritis model. CONCLUSION: The results
      indicate that inhibitors targeting HDAC1, such as NW-21 and MS-275, may be useful
      for treating RA, as such drugs can simultaneously target both inflammation and
      bone resorption.

PMID- 25832611
TI  - A comparative analysis of magnetic resonance imaging and high-resolution
      peripheral quantitative computed tomography of the hand for the detection of
      erosion repair in rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether MRI allows the detection of osteosclerosis as
      a sign of repair of bone erosions compared with high-resolution peripheral
      quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) as a reference and whether the
      presence of osteosclerosis on HR-pQCT is linked to synovitis and osteitis on MRI.
      METHODS: A total of 103 RA patients underwent HR-pQCT and MRI of the dominant
      hand. The presence and size of erosions and the presence and extent (grades 0-2)
      of osteosclerosis were assessed by both imaging modalities, focusing on MCP 2 and
      3 and wrist joints. By MRI, the presence and grading of osteitis and synovitis
      were assessed according to the Rheumatoid Arthritis MRI Score (RAMRIS). RESULTS:
      Parallel evaluation was feasible by both modalities on 126 bone erosions. Signs
      of osteosclerosis were found on 87 erosions by HR-pQCT and on 22 by MRI. False
      positive results (MRI(+)CT(-)) accounted for 3%, while false-negative results
      (MRI(-)CT(+)) accounted for 76%. MRI sensitivity for the detection of
      osteosclerosis was 24% and specificity was 97%. The semi-quantitative scoring of
      osteosclerosis was reliable between MRI and HR-pQCT [intraclass correlation
      coefficient 0.917 (95% CI 0.884, 0.941), P < 0.001]. The presence of
      osteosclerosis on HR-pQCT showed a trend towards an inverse relationship to the
      occurrence and extent of osteitis on MRI [chi(2)(1) = 3.285; phi coefficient = 
      0.124; P = 0.070] but not to synovitis [chi(2)(1) = 0.039; phi coefficient = 
      0.14; P = 0.844]. CONCLUSION: MRI can only rarely detect osteosclerosis
      associated with bone erosions in RA. Indeed, the sensitivity compared with HR
      pQCT is limited, while the specificity is high. The presence of osteitis makes
      osteosclerosis more unlikely, whereas the presence of synovitis is not related to
      osteosclerosis.

PMID- 25832612
TI  - Comment on: A critical evaluation of the trigger point phenomenon.

PMID- 25832613
TI  - Pregnancy outcome in patients with systemic vasculitis: a single-centre matched
      case-control study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the outcome of pregnancy in patients with systemic vasculitis
      (SV) compared with age-, BMI- and ethnicity-matched healthy pregnant controls.
      METHODS: Fifty-one pregnancies in 29 SV patients were retrospectively studied.
      There were nine patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), three with
      eosinophilic GPA, seven with Takayasu's arteritis, two with ANCA-positive
      vasculitis with renal involvement, two with Behcet's disease, three with
      urticarial vasculitis, one with primary cerebral vasculitis, one with relapsing
      polychondritis and one with IgA vasculitis. BVAS and the vasculitis damage index
      were evaluated retrospectively. Sixty-two healthy women with 156 pregnancies
      matched in a 2:1 ratio for age, BMI and ethnicity formed the control group.
      RESULTS: Median gestational age at delivery was lower in the SV group: 36 weeks
      and 2 days (34-42) vs controls 40 (37-42) weeks (P < 0.03). Median birth weight
      in the SV group was 3.0 kg (2.0-5.2), whereas that of the controls was 3.5 (2.28
      4.32) kg (P = 0.004). The median customized birth weight centile was 38.6 in the
      SV group and 37.2 in the control group. In the SV group, 9 patients had 13
      miscarriages, 3 had pre-eclampsia, and 2 had an intrauterine death. In the
      control group, 20 patients had 27 miscarriages, 1 had pre-eclamptic toxaemia, and
      1 had an antepartum haemorrhage. Eight patients with SV flared during pregnancy
      and 11 flared after delivery. CONCLUSION: Patients with SV had a lower median
      gestational age, but customized birth weights were similar to those of healthy
      women. Women with SV may flare during pregnancy and the post-partum period and
      may experience significant pregnancy morbidity.

PMID- 25832614
TI  - Comment on: The efficacy of tacrolimus in patients with interstitial lung
      diseases complicated with polymyositis or dermatomyositis: reply.

PMID- 25832615
TI  - Comment on: The efficacy of tacrolimus in patients with interstitial lung
      diseases complicated with polymyositis or dermatomyositis.

PMID- 25832616
TI  - A practical approach to acute hemiparesis in children.
AB  - Acute hemiparesis in children is a common clinical syndrome presenting to a
      variety of care settings. The recognition and the differential diagnosis is
      challenging, particularly in young children. Arterial ischaemic stroke (AIS) is
      the primary diagnosis to be considered as this requires emergency investigations
      and management; however, there are several conditions collectively described as
      'stroke mimics' that need consideration. Accurate diagnosis is essential for
      appropriate management. Clinical data combined with neuroimaging are important
      for accurate diagnosis and management. This review and the accompanying
      illustrative case vignettes suggest a practical approach to differential
      diagnosis and management of children presenting with acute hemiparesis. 

PMID- 25832617
TI  - U.S. General Population Estimate for "Excellent" to "Poor" Self-Rated Health
      Item.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The most commonly used self-reported health question asks people to
      rate their general health from excellent to poor. This is one of the Patient
      Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) global health items.
      Four other items are used for scoring on the PROMIS global physical health scale.
      Because the single item is used on the majority of large national health surveys
      in the U.S., it is useful to construct scores that can be compared to U.S.
      general population norms. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the PROMIS global physical
      health scale score from the responses to the single excellent to poor self-rated
      health question for use in public health surveillance, research, and clinical
      assessment. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey of 21,133 individuals, weighted to
      be representative of the U.S. general population. PARTICIPANTS: The PROMIS items
      were administered via a Web-based survey to 19,601 persons in a national panel
      and 1,532 subjects from PROMIS research sites. The average age of individuals in
      the sample was 53 years, 52 % were female, 80 % were non-Hispanic white, and 19 %
      had a high school degree or lower level of education. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
      PROMIS global physical health scale. KEY RESULTS: The product-moment correlation
      of the single item with the PROMIS global physical health scale score was 0.81.
      The estimated scale score based on responses to the single item ranged from 29
      (poor self-rated health, 2.1 SDs worse than the general population mean) to 62
      (excellent self-rated health, 1.2 SDs better than the general population mean) on
      a T-score metric (mean of 50). CONCLUSIONS: This item can be used to estimate
      scores for the PROMIS global physical health scale for use in monitoring
      population health and achieving public health objectives. The item may also be
      used for individual assessment, but its reliability (0.52) is lower than that of
      the PROMIS global health scale (0.81).

PMID- 25832618
TI  - Horner's, Heterochromia, and Harlequins.

PMID- 25832619
TI  - Industry Collaboration and Primary Guest Authorship of High-Impact Randomized
      Clinical Trials: A Cross-Sectional Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Journals have increased disclosure requirements in recent years, in
      part to deter guest authorship. The prevalence of guest authorship among primary
      authors (first and last) in the current era of increased disclosure requirements
      is unknown. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to examine the self-reported prevalence of
      guest authorship among primary authors from a sample of randomized clinical
      trials with and without industry funding and industry collaboration in the
      design, analysis or reporting of trials. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of
      randomized, drug/device clinical trials with published details on the "Role of
      the Funding Source/Sponsor" published in high-impact biomedical journals between
      1 December 2011 and 31 November 2012. Phase 1 or 2 trials, secondary trial
      analyses, and trials that were not listed on ClinicalTrials.gov were excluded.
      Primary guest authorship was defined, based on International Committee of Medical
      Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria, when neither the first nor last author
      contributed to either of the following: 1) the design of the trial or the
      analysis/interpretation of data; or 2) drafting part or all of the manuscript.
      PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and sixty-eight randomized clinical trials that met
      inclusion criteria were included. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We measured differences
      in the prevalence of guest authorship between trials with neither industry
      funding nor collaboration and 1) trials with industry funding without
      collaboration, and 2) trials with industry funding with collaboration. RESULTS:
      The overall prevalence of primary guest authorship was 6 % (10/168). Primary
      guest authorship was significantly more common in trials with industry funding
      with collaboration than in those with neither industry funding nor collaboration
      [13.2 % (10/76) vs. 0 % (0/39); p < 0.02]. Primary guest authorship did not
      differ between trials with industry funding without collaboration and trials with
      neither industry funding nor collaboration. CONCLUSIONS: Among a sample of
      randomized, drug/device clinical trials in high-impact biomedical journals,
      primary guest authorship was overall uncommon and occurred exclusively among
      trials with industry funding with collaboration.

PMID- 25832620
TI  - Not just pathophysiology....

PMID- 25832621
TI  - Increased osteogenesis in osteoporotic bone marrow stromal cells by
      overexpression of leptin.
AB  - Osteoporosis leads to increased bone fractures and net bone loss, in part because
      of the dysfunction of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs). Leptin is an adipokine
      that plays important roles in many biological processes, including the regulation
      of the actions of mesenchymal stem cells. Our aim is to investigate the
      osteogenic effects of leptin in osteoporotic BMSCs in vitro and in vivo. The
      leptin gene was transferred into BMSCs isolated from osteoporotic rats by using
      recombinant adenoviruses. Once the gene and protein expression of leptin had been
      confirmed, MTT assays were performed; leptin overexpression was confirmed not to
      affect the viability of osteoporotic BMSCs. However, alkaline phosphatase (ALP)
      activity measurements, Alizarin red staining and analyses by quantitative real
      time reverse transcription with the polymerase chain reaction revealed that
      leptin upregulated ALP activity, mineral deposition and the mRNA levels of runt
      related transcription factor 2, ALP and collagen type I. Lastly, the effects of
      leptin on osteogenic differentiation were assessed in vivo. Cells transfected
      with leptin exhibited increased osteogenic differentiation and enhanced formation
      of bone-like structures. This study thus reveals, for the first time, that the
      overexpression of leptin in osteoporotic BMSCs (1) enhances their capacity to
      differentiate into osteoblasts and to form bone-like tissue and (2) might be a
      useful skeletal regenerative therapy in osteoporotic patients. 

PMID- 25832622
TI  - Prolyl hydroxylase domain-2 silencing induced by hydrodynamic limb vein injection
      enhances vascular regeneration in critical limb ischemia mice through activation
      of multiple genes.
AB  - Therapeutic revascularization had been considered as the most potential strategy
      for treating ischemic diseases. Reconstruction of mature blood vessels, which is
      the key for functional revascularization, is a complex process involving multiple
      angiogenesis factors. Attempts had been made to promote functional
      revascularization by delivering vectors or other macromolecules that could
      positively regulate angiogenesis; however, the delivery method of these
      therapeutic angiogenesis factors had been mostly limited to direct intramuscular
      injection. In this study, we showed that compared to intramuscular injection, the
      hydrodynamic limb vein (HLV) injection of naked short-hairpin RNA expression
      plasmid targeting PHD2 (shPHD2) into critical himblimb ischemia mice could
      increase not only the expressions of HIF-dependent and HIF-independent angiogenic
      factors, but also tissue protective factors involved in various endogenous
      pathways more efficiently. We also found that PHD2-silencing enhanced innate
      endogenous recovery mechanism, as the expression levels of these factors had been
      slightly upregulated merely by the ischemic condition. Finally, we showed that
      HLV injection of shPHD2 promoted the formation of mature and functional vessels,
      and thus, enhances the recovery of ischemic hindlimbs more efficiently. These
      results suggest that HLV delivery of shPHD2 might become a promising treatment
      strategy to promote vascular regeneration in critical limb ischemia disease via
      enhancing innate endogenous pathways.

PMID- 25832623
TI  - Disrupting saccadic updating: visual interference prior to the first saccade
      elicits spatial errors in the secondary saccade in a double-step task.
AB  - When we explore the visual environment around us, we produce sequences of very
      precise eye movements aligning the objects of interest with the most sensitive
      part of the retina for detailed visual processing. A copy of the impending motor
      command, the corollary discharge, is sent as soon as the first saccade in a
      sequence is ready to monitor the next fixation location and correctly plan the
      subsequent eye movement. Neurophysiological investigations have shown that
      chemical interference with the corollary discharge generates a distinct pattern
      of spatial errors on sequential eye movements, with similar results also from
      clinical and TMS studies. Here, we used saccadic inhibition to interfere with the
      temporal domain of the first of two subsequent saccades during a standard double
      step paradigm. In two experiments, we report that the temporal interference on
      the primary saccade led to a specific error in the final landing position of the
      second saccade that was consistent with previous lesion and neurophysiological
      studies, but without affecting the spatial characteristics of the first eye
      movement. On the other hand, single-step saccades were differently influence by
      the flash, with a general undershoot, more pronounced for larger saccadic
      amplitude. These findings show that a flashed visual transient can disrupt
      saccadic updating in a double-step task, possibly due to the mismatch between the
      planned and the executed saccadic eye movement. 

PMID- 25832624
TI  - Minimally invasive surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis.

PMID- 25832625
TI  - The Stability of Problem Behavior Across the Preschool Years: An Empirical
      Approach in the General Population.
AB  - This study examined the stability of internalizing and externalizing problems
      from age 1.5 to 6 years, while taking into account developmental changes in the
      presentation of problems. The study comprised a population-based cohort of 7,206
      children (50.4 % boys). At ages 1.5, 3, and 6 years, mothers reported on problem
      behavior using the Child Behavior Checklist/1.5-5 (CBCL/1.5-5). At each age we
      performed latent profile analysis on the CBCL/1.5-5 scales. Latent transition
      analysis (LTA) was applied to study the stability of problem behavior. Profiles
      of problem behavior varied across ages. At each age, 82-87 % of the children did
      not have problems whereas approximately 2 % showed a profile of co-occurring
      internalizing and externalizing problems. This profile was more severe (with
      higher scores) at 6 years than at earlier ages. A predominantly internalizing
      profile only emerged at 6 years, while a profile with externalizing problems and
      emotional reactivity was present at each age. LTA showed that, based on profiles
      at 1.5 and 3 years, it was difficult to predict the type of profile at 6 years.
      Children with a profile of co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems
      early in life were most likely to show problem behavior at 6 years. This study
      shows that the presentation of problem behavior changes across the preschool
      period and that heterotypic continuity of problems is very common among
      preschoolers. Children with co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems
      were most likely to show persisting problems. The use of evidence-based treatment
      for these young children may prevent psychiatric problems across the life course.

PMID- 25832627
TI  - Happy birthday, Mr. President....

PMID- 25832626
TI  - In vitro Induction of residual caries lesions in dentin: comparative mineral loss
      and nano-hardness analysis.
AB  - Artificially inducing dentinal lesions mimicking those remaining after selective
      excavation should allow to investigate the effects and limits of such selective
      excavation, for example regarding the mechanical properties of treated teeth or
      the remineralisation of sealed residual lesions. Such analyses might otherwise be
      limited by the variability of natural lesions or ethical and practical concerns.
      This study compared different demineralisation protocols for their suitability to
      induce lesions similar to natural residual caries. Twelve natural deep lesions
      were excavated until leathery dentin remained, and analysed for their mineral
      loss (DeltaZ), lesion depth (LD), mineral loss ratio (R), the slope of the
      mineral gradient and their nano-hardness profile. Artificial lesions were induced
      using four different demineralisation protocols (acetic acid pH = 4.95; 0.1 M
      lactic acid gel pH = 5.0; 0.5 M ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid pH = 7.2;
      Streptococcus mutans biofilms) and their depths monitored over different
      demineralisation times. Lesions with depths most according to those of natural
      lesions were analysed using transversal microradiography. Lesions induced by
      acetic acid solution did not significantly differ with regards to LD, DeltaZ, R
      and mineral profile. Seven dentin specimens were subsequently submitted to a
      moderately acidic (pH = 5.3) methylhydroxydiphosphonate-buffered acetate solution
      for 12 weeks. Natural and artificial residual lesions were similarly deep (mean
      +/- SD: LD = 626 +/- 212 and 563 +/- 88 um), demineralised (R = 19.5 +/- 4.7 and
      29.8 +/- 4.1%), showed a flat and continuous mineral gradient (slope = 0.10 +/-
      0.05 and 0.13 +/- 0.06 vol%/um) and did not significantly differ regarding their
      nano-hardness profile. The described protocol induces lesions with mineral
      content and mechanical properties similar to natural residual lesions.

PMID- 25832628
TI  - Prauserella endophytica sp. nov., an endophytic actinobacterium isolated from
      Tamarix taklamakanensis.
AB  - A novel endophytic actinobacterium, designated strain SP28S-3(T), was isolated
      from a surface-sterilized stem of Tamarix taklamakanensis collected from the
      southern edge of Taklamakan desert, Xinjiang, China. Strain SP28S-3(T) was found
      to show chemotaxonomic and morphological properties consistent with its
      classification in the genus Prauserella. The polar lipids were found to consist
      of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine,
      phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphoglycolipid, phosphatidylcholine,
      phosphatidylinositol, a glycolipid, an aminolipid and unidentified phospholipids.
      The major fatty acids (>10 %) were identified as iso-C16:0 and C16:0. The genomic
      DNA G+C content was determined to be 69.7 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis of strain
      SP28S-3(T) clearly showed that the strain had the highest similarity of 16S rRNA
      gene sequence with Prauserella coralliicola SCSIO 11529(T) (99.9 %), followed by
      Prauserella marina DSM 45268(T) (97.0 %) and is affiliated with the genus
      Prauserella. The low level (47.8 +/- 5.5 %) of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain
      SP28S-3(T) and P. coralliicola SCSIO 11529(T) combined with other polyphasic
      taxonomic evidence clearly support the conclusion that strain SP28S-3(T)
      represents a novel Prauserella species, for which the name Prauserella
      endophytica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SP28S-3(T) (=DSM 46655(T) =
      CGMCC 4.7182 (T)). 

PMID- 25832629
TI  - Enhanced Therapeutic siRNA to Tumor Cells by a pH-Sensitive Agmatine-Chitosan
      Bioconjugate.
AB  - Charge-conversional naturally occurring chitosan-agmatine bioconjugates are
      prepared by dimethylmaleic anhydride (DMA) modification and the nucleophilic
      reaction between tosyl of tosylated chitosan and primary amine of agmatine. These
      bioconjugates (CS-DM-Agm) are shown to condense siRNA into nanocomplexes, which
      are stable in the presence of serum at physical pH values. Furthermore, the
      surface charge of complexes can tune from negative to positive while pH is
      changed to weak acid tumor micromilieu, thus facilitating the target cancer cell
      internalization in resisting serum adsorption. More importantly, this smart
      biogenic system shows remarkable gene silencing efficiency and a high apoptotic
      rate of tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo, indicating its great potential for
      cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25832631
TI  - Hypoxia decreases glucagon-like peptide-1 secretion from the GLUTag cell line.
AB  - Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), an incretin hormone, is secreted from L cells
      located in the intestinal epithelium. It is known that intestinal oxygen tension
      is decreased postprandially. In addition, we found that the expression of hypoxia
      inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha), which accumulates in cells under hypoxic
      conditions, was significantly increased in the colons of mice with food intake,
      indicating that the oxygen concentration is likely reduced in the colon after
      eating. Therefore, we hypothesized that GLP-1 secretion is affected by oxygen
      tension. We found that forskolin-stimulated GLP-1 secretion from GLUTag cells, a
      model of intestinal L cells, is suppressed in hypoxia (1% O2). Forskolin
      stimulated elevations of preproglucagon (ppGCG) and proprotein convertase 1/3
      (PC1/3) mRNA expression were decreased under hypoxic conditions. The finding that
      H89, a protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor, inhibited the forskolin-stimulated
      increase of ppGCG and PC1/3 indicated that the cAMP-PKA pathway is involved in
      the hypoxia-induced suppression of the genes. Hypoxia decreased hexokinase 2 mRNA
      and protein expression and increased lactate dehydrogenase A mRNA and protein
      expression. Concomitantly, lactate production was increased and ATP production
      was decreased. Together, the results indicate that hypoxia decreases glucose
      utilization for ATP production, which probably causes a decrease in cAMP
      production and in subsequent GLP-1 production. Our findings suggest that the
      postprandial decrease in oxygen tension in the intestine attenuates GLP-1
      secretion. 

PMID- 25832632
TI  - Protective effects of bupivacaine against kainic acid-induced seizure and
      neuronal cell death in the rat hippocampus.
AB  - The excessive release of glutamate is a critical element in the neuropathology of
      epilepsy, and bupivacaine, a local anesthetic agent, has been shown to inhibit
      the release of glutamate in rat cerebrocortical nerve terminals. This study
      investigated whether bupivacaine produces antiseizure and antiexcitotoxic effects
      using a kainic acid (KA) rat model, an animal model used for temporal lobe
      epilepsy, and excitotoxic neurodegeneration experiments. The results showed that
      administering bupivacaine (0.4 mg/kg or 2 mg/kg) intraperitoneally to rats 30 min
      before intraperitoneal injection of KA (15 mg/kg) increased seizure latency and
      reduced the seizure score. In addition, bupivacaine attenuated KA-induced
      hippocampal neuronal cell death, and this protective effect was accompanied by
      the inhibition of microglial activation and production of proinflammatory
      cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha
      in the hippocampus. Moreover, bupivacaine shortened the latency of escaping onto
      the platform in the Morris water maze learning performance test. Collectively,
      these data suggest that bupivacaine has therapeutic potential for treating
      epilepsy. 

PMID- 25832633
TI  - Impact of CYP2C9 polymorphism found in the Chinese population on the metabolism
      of propofol in vitro.
AB  - The microsomal CYP2C9 alleles involved in the biotransformation of propofol, a
      widely used anesthetic agent, were investigated in vitro. To examine the
      enzymatic activity of the CYP2C9 alleles, kinetic parameters for propofol 4
      hydroxylation were determined in recombinant human P450s CYP2C9 microsomes from
      Sf21 insects cells carrying CYP2C9*1 and other variants. Some of the variants
      showed decreased enzyme activity compared with the wild type, as previously
      reported. Two variants (CYP2C9*36 and *56) were found substantially to increase
      intrinsic clearance relative to the wild type variant. Most variants
      significantly (p<0.05) decreased intrinsic clearance of propofol compared with
      the wild type, except *11, *47, and *54. This study is the first to report these
      rare alleles for propofol metabolism, providing fundamental data for further
      clinical studies on CYP2C9 alleles for propofol metabolism in vivo. 

PMID- 25832634
TI  - TGF-beta decreases the stability of IL-18-induced IFN-gamma mRNA through the
      expression of TGF-beta-induced tristetraprolin in KG-1 cells.
AB  - We have previously reported that transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) down
      regulates interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production in an interleukin-18 (IL-18)
      treated mouse natural killer (NK) cell line, LNK5E6. In LNK5E6 cells, TGF-beta
      exhibited no inhibition of the IL-18-induced transcription of IFN-gamma, but did
      stimulate the degradation of IFN-gamma mRNA induced by IL-18. In the present
      study, we investigated the mechanism of the down-regulatory effects of TGF-beta
      on IFN-gamma mRNA expression in a human myelomonocytic cell line, KG-1, which
      produces IFN-gamma in response to IL-18 alone. Interestingly, IL-18 induced the
      production of the IFN-gamma through the stabilization of IFN-gamma mRNA, but not
      the enhanced transcription of IFN-gamma gene. The stability of IFN-gamma mRNA was
      regulated by mRNA destabilizing elements in the 3'untranslated region (UTR) of
      IFN-gamma mRNA, especially adenylate-uridylate (AU)-rich elements (AREs) in the
      5' half of 3'UTR. Tristetraprolin (TTP), one of the ARE-binding proteins,
      destabilizes IFN-gamma mRNA, and IL-18 repressed the expression of TTP mRNA.
      Moreover, TGF-beta repressed the IL-18-induced expression of IFN-gamma mRNA
      through the induction of TTP mRNA to destabilize IFN-gamma mRNA. Our data is the
      first to reveal that the crosstalk between IL-18 and TGF-beta through the
      expression of TTP regulates the production of IFN-gamma. 

PMID- 25832635
TI  - Stereoselective recognition of amethopterin enantiomers by the rat proton-coupled
      folate transporter.
AB  - The stereoselective transport of methotrexate (L-amethopterin, L-MTX) and its
      enantiomer (D-amethopterin, D-MTX) by the rat proton-coupled folate transporter
      (rPCFT) were examined using rPCFT-expressing HEK293 cells. The initial rate of
      uptake of [3H]-L-MTX by the rPCFT followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with a Km
      value of 2.1 uM. Dixon plots revealed that the uptake of L-MTX by the rPCFT was
      inhibited in a competitive manner by unlabeled L-MTX and D-MTX, with Ki values of
      approximately 1.3 and 150 uM, respectively. The initial rate of uptake of D-MTX
      by the rPCFT also followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with a Km value of 190 uM.
      The results of the current study demonstrate that the different enantiomers of
      MTX are transported in a highly stereoselective manner by the rPCFT, with the
      uptake clearance of L-MTX being approximately 46-fold greater than that of D-MTX.
      The observed stereoselectivity of the rPCFT was found to be comparable with that
      of the human PCFT.

PMID- 25832636
TI  - Versatile nuclear localization signal-based oligopeptide as a gene vector.
AB  - To develop a versatile nuclear-targeted gene vector, nuclear localization signal
      (NLS) oligopeptides combining cysteine (C), histidine (H), and stearic acid (STR)
      were investigated in this study. The original SV40 sequence (SV40: Pro-Lys-Lys
      Lys-Arg-Lys-Val) was selected as the NLS sequence, and physical characterizations
      of various NLS-based oligopeptides (CSV40C, STR-CSV40C, and STR-CH2SV40H2C),
      including mean diameter, zeta-potential, complex condensation, and
      decondensation, were evaluated. In addition, cellular and nuclear uptake of
      plasmid DNA (pDNA) and gene expression in COS7 and dendritic cells (JAWS II) were
      determined. As a result, C and STR enhanced formation of a smaller and more
      stable nano-complex with pDNA based on ionic interactions, the disulfide linkage
      and hydrophobic interactions. STR-CSV40C and STR-CH2SV40H2C had significantly
      higher cellular uptake ability and transfection efficiency than SV40 and CSV40C.
      In particular, STR-CH2SV40H2C had higher nuclear uptake and gene expression
      efficiency than STR-CSV40C. Furthermore, STR-CH2SV40H2C could deliver pDNA to the
      nuclei and had high gene expression efficiency in dendritic cells. Our results
      indicate that STR-CH2SV40H2C is a promising gene delivery system in non- or slow
      dividing cells. 

PMID- 25832637
TI  - Metabolism of dextran sulfate sodium by intestinal bacteria in rat cecum is
      related to induction of colitis.
AB  - Ulcerative colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) is one of the most
      widely used experimental animal models. However, the mechanism responsible for
      the pathogenesis of the colitis is still unclear. The aim of the present study
      was to clarify the events occurring after administration of DSS to rats focusing
      on the relationship between the intestinal bacterial metabolism of DSS and the
      intestinal mucosal lesions in the model. Within 2 d after DSS administration,
      severe injury of the cecal mucosa was evident, together with bloody feces and
      blood in the cecum. However, these lesions were repressed by administration of
      antibiotics. On the other hand, DSS was found to be metabolized under anaerobic
      conditions upon incubation with cecal content in vitro, first being desulfated
      and then undergoing carbohydrate moiety degradation. However, no such metabolic
      process occurred when cecal content from rats that had been administered
      antibiotics was employed. These results indicate that the initial step of DSS
      induced ulcerative colitis is lesioning of the cecal mucosa, which is related to
      metabolism of DSS by intestinal bacteria. 

PMID- 25832638
TI  - Administration of olanzapine as an antiemetic agent changes glucose homeostasis
      in cisplatin-treated rats.
AB  - We investigated the effects of olanzapine on cisplatin-induced pica (the
      consumption of non-nutrient materials such as kaolin) and glucose homeostasis in
      rats to clarify the effects of olanzapine when used as an anti-emetic drug. Rats
      were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with either 5 mg/kg cisplatin or saline.
      Additionally, 2 or 10 mg/kg olanzapine were administered i.p. to the rats 10 min
      before the administration of cisplatin and subsequently administered every 24 h
      for 3 d. Kaolin and food intake was measured using an automatic monitoring
      apparatus. Plasma glucose levels were measured by an enzyme electrode method. The
      plasma levels of insulin and intact proinsulin were measured by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The proinsulin-to-insulin (P/I) ratio was
      calculated. Cisplatin significantly increased kaolin intake, but decreased food
      intake and body weight up to 72 h. Olanzapine had no effect on these parameters.
      Neither olanzapine nor cisplatin alone had a significant effect on the plasma
      levels of glucose, insulin, or proinsulin. However, a combination of olanzapine
      and cisplatin significantly decreased plasma insulin levels, but increased plasma
      intact proinsulin levels and the P/I ratio. Our results suggest that an additive
      deterioration of insulin-secreting beta-cell function and disturbance of glucose
      homeostasis should be considered during treatment of patients with olanzapine for
      cisplatin-induced nausea and vomiting. 

PMID- 25832639
TI  - Agonistic antibodies reveal the function of GPR56 in human glioma U87-MG cells.
AB  - GPR56 is a member of the adhesion G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) and is highly
      expressed in parts of tumor cells. The involvement of GPR56 in tumorigenesis has
      been reported. We generated agonistic monoclonal antibodies against human GPR56
      and analyzed the action and signaling pathway of GPR56. The antibodies inhibited
      cell migration through the Gq and Rho pathway in human glioma U87-MG cells. Co
      immunoprecipitation analysis indicated that the interaction between the GPR56
      extracellular domain and transmembrane domain was potentiated by agonistic
      antibodies. These results demonstrated that functional antibodies are invaluable
      tools for GPCR research and should open a new avenue for therapeutic treatment of
      tumors. 

PMID- 25832640
TI  - Effect of high glucose levels on amyloid beta production in retinas of
      spontaneous diabetes mellitus Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty rats.
AB  - The accumulation of amyloid beta(1-42) peptide (Abeta(1-42)) in retina is
      implicated in the development of retinal ganglion cell apoptosis and diabetic
      retinopathy. In this study we demonstrate that spontaneous diabetes mellitus
      Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats can be used as an animal model in
      studies to identify the expression of Abeta in diabetic retinas. In addition, we
      investigated the relation between glucose level and Abeta production in the
      retinas of OLETF rats. In the retinas of Long-Evans Tokushima Otsuka (LETO) rats
      used as normal controls and OLETF rats, no expression of neprilysin (NEP), which
      degrades Abeta, was detected, and the expression levels of genes associated with
      Abeta production (amyloid precursor protein, beta site APP cleaving enzyme, and
      presenilin) and Abeta(1-42) levels in the retinas of 60-week-old OLETF rats with
      diabetes mellitus were significantly higher than in 60-week-old LETO rat retinas.
      Furthermore, the increase in the expression levels of genes associated with Abeta
      production was enhanced by administration of glucose (3.0 g/kg; OGT test), and
      close relations between the retinal Abeta(1-42) level and plasma blood glucose
      and HbA1c were observed. In conclusion, we have found that Abeta accumulates
      easily in the retinas of LETO and OLETF rats due to the absence of NEP. In
      addition, we determined that the accumulation of Abeta(1-42) in the retinas of
      OLETF rats is promoted by high plasma glucose levels. Therefore OLETF rats may be
      a suitable model for studies to identify the expression of Abeta in diabetic
      retinas.

PMID- 25832641
TI  - Analysis of cysteine and histidine residues required for zinc response of the
      transcription factor human MTF-1.
AB  - Metal responsive element (MRE)-binding transcription factor-1 (MTF-1) is a zinc
      finger (ZF) transcription factor that plays a key role in heavy metal homeostasis
      by regulating relevant genes in response to metals. MTF-1 is known to be
      activated by heavy metals such as Zn and Cd, but the mechanism of activation
      remains unclear. In the present study, Cys and His residues of human MTF-1 (hMTF
      1), some of which may be involved in interaction with metals or with each other,
      were screened for their contribution to Zn-dependent transcription. To avoid poor
      induction ratios of previous transfection assays, we re-examined experimental
      conditions to establish an assay able to correctly detect Zn-responsive
      transcription. Using this assay, a series of Cys and/or His substitution mutants
      were analyzed over the entire hMTF-1 molecule. In five out of the six ZFs (ZF1 to
      ZF5), Cys mutations that disrupt the ZF structure abolished response to Zn. Of
      these, ZF5 was shown for the first time to be essential for Zn-responsive
      transcription, despite it being unnecessary for Zn-induced DNA binding. These
      results indicate that Zn activation of hMTF-1 involves an additional process
      besides induction of DNA binding activity. Our assay also confirmed the
      importance of Cys in the acidic activation domain, as well as those in the C
      terminal Cys cluster, implicated in transcription in other studies. The
      identified Cys residues might contribute to metal response of hMTF-1 through
      direct metal binding and/or intramolecular interactions, analysis of which will
      be helpful in understanding the mechanism of metal response. 

PMID- 25832642
TI  - Pseudokinase tribbles 1 (TRB1) negatively regulates tumor-suppressor activity of
      p53 through p53 deacetylation.
AB  - Tribbles 1 (TRB1) is one of the mammalian orthologs of Drosophila Tribbles, which
      regulates development and cell proliferation. TRB1 is suggested to act as a
      scaffold protein in signaling pathways for important cellular processes. TRB1 has
      also been identified as a myeloid oncogenic driver and mediates leukemogenesis
      through the mitogen-activated protein extracellular kinase (MEK)/extracellular
      signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP)
      transcriptional factors. However, the physiological roles of TRB1 in solid tumors
      have not been clarified. Here, we show that TRB1 interacts with p53 and
      suppresses its tumor suppressor activity. TRB1 knockdown enhances transcriptional
      activity of p53 and decreases cell viability. Interestingly, TRB1 enhances
      histone deacety lase 1 (HDAC1)-mediated p53 deacetylation and decreases DNA
      binding of p53. These results suggest that TRB1 is involved in the proliferation
      of tumor cells by inhibiting the activities of tumor suppressor p53 in solid
      tumors. 

PMID- 25832643
TI  - Pharmaceutical studies of levothyroxine sodium hydrate suppository provided as a
      hospital preparation.
AB  - The levothyroxine sodium hydrate suppository (L-T4-suppository) is provided as a
      hospital preparation for the treatment of hypothyroid patients with dysphagia in
      Japan because only oral preparations of levothyroxine sodium (L-T4) are approved
      for the treatment of hypothyroidism. However, it has been found that serum
      thyroxine and triiodothyronine levels do not increase as expected with the
      hospital preparation, requiring a higher dosage of L-T4 in the L-T4-suppository
      than in the oral preparations. In this study, to determine an effective thyroid
      gland hormone-replacement therapy for patients with dysphagia, the pharmaceutical
      properties of the L-T4-suppository were investigated. Suppositories containing
      300 ug L-T4 in a base of Witepsol H-15 and Witepsol E-75 (ratio of 1 : 1) were
      prepared according to Chiba University Hospital's protocol. Content uniformity,
      stability, and suppository release were tested. The L-T4-suppository had uniform
      weight and content. The content and release property were stable over 90 d when
      the L-T4-suppository was stored at 4  degrees C and protected from light. The
      release rate of L-T4 increased as pH increased. However, no L-T4 was released
      below pH 7.2. The release rate of L-T4 decreased as temperature decreased. These
      findings suggest that the low level of release of L-T4 in the rectum under
      physiological conditions may be the cause of the low serum thyroxine and
      triiodothyronine levels following L-T4-suppository administration.

PMID- 25832644
TI  - Piceatannol lowers the blood glucose level in diabetic mice.
AB  - We previously found that passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) seeds contained a high
      amount of piceatannol (3,5,3',4'-trans-tetrahydroxystilbene), a natural analog of
      resveratrol (3,5,4'-trans-trihydroxystilbene). Resveratrol has been proposed as a
      potential anti-metabolic disorder compound, by its activation of sirtuin and AMP
      activated protein kinase. Many reports show that resveratrol ameliorates diet
      induced obesity and insulin resistance. However, it is not known whether
      piceatannol also affects diet-induced obesity. We explored the effect of
      piceatannol on high fat diet-fed mice. The results showed that piceatannol did
      not affect high fat diet-induced body weight gain or visceral fat gain in mice.
      However, piceatannol did reduce fasting blood glucose levels. Furthermore, to
      explore the potential of passion fruit seed extract containing piceatannol as a
      functional food, passion fruit seed extract was administered in a genetic
      diabetic mouse model (db/db mice). Single administration of passion fruit seed
      extract, as well as piceatannol reduced the blood glucose levels of these db/db
      mice. These results suggest that piceatannol and passion fruit seed extract may
      have potential application in the prevention of diabetes. 

PMID- 25832645
TI  - Errata for biological and pharmaceutical bulletin.

PMID- 25832646
TI  - A survey of current trends in computational drug repositioning.
AB  - Computational drug repositioning or repurposing is a promising and efficient tool
      for discovering new uses from existing drugs and holds the great potential for
      precision medicine in the age of big data. The explosive growth of large-scale
      genomic and phenotypic data, as well as data of small molecular compounds with
      granted regulatory approval, is enabling new developments for computational
      repositioning. To achieve the shortest path toward new drug indications, advanced
      data processing and analysis strategies are critical for making sense of these
      heterogeneous molecular measurements. In this review, we show recent advancements
      in the critical areas of computational drug repositioning from multiple aspects.
      First, we summarize available data sources and the corresponding computational
      repositioning strategies. Second, we characterize the commonly used computational
      techniques. Third, we discuss validation strategies for repositioning studies,
      including both computational and experimental methods. Finally, we highlight
      potential opportunities and use-cases, including a few target areas such as
      cancers. We conclude with a brief discussion of the remaining challenges in
      computational drug repositioning. 

PMID- 25832648
TI  - Loss of miR-200 family in 5-fluorouracil resistant colon cancer drives
      lymphendothelial invasiveness in vitro.
AB  - Invasive colorectal cancer is associated with poor prognosis requiring treatment
      with systemic chemotherapies usually including 5-fluorouracil. A consequence of
      prolonged treatment is the acquisition of resistance eventually resulting in the
      recurrence of highly metastatic cancer cells. To address the relationship between
      drug resistance and increased lymphatic metastatic potential, we used a 3D co
      culture model of colon tumour cell spheroids of parent CCL227 cells and subclones
      with gradually increasing resistance against 5-fluorouracil. From each
      investigated cell line, homogeneous tumour spheroids were generated in the
      presence of methylcellulose yielding emboli of ~700 um diameter. When invasive,
      tumour spheroids disrupt the continuous lymphendothelial cell (LEC) layer and
      generate a 'circular chemorepellent-induced defect' (CCID), reminiscent of the
      entry gates through which tumour emboli intravasate lymphatic vasculature. Here
      we provide evidence that increasingly chemoresistant colon cancer spheroids were
      strongly associated with enhanced intravasative properties. In naive CCL227
      spheroids, miR-200 family members were released into exosomes thereby repressing
      the epithelial to mesenchymal transition-regulating transcription factors ZEB1
      and SLUG in LEC. As a consequence of attenuated plasticity and migration of LEC,
      CCID formation was impaired. Loss of exosomal transferred miR-200c in resistant
      colon cells rendered LEC more susceptible to pro-migratory signals that were
      generated and directly transmitted by colon cancer spheroids. This observation
      indicates a common molecular axis in colon cancer and LEC where miR-200 family
      members act as regulators of ZEB proteins. The data support the notion that
      horizontal miR-200 signalling prevents the permeation of cells into adjacent
      epithelia and contributes to organ integrity. 

PMID- 25832649
TI  - Novel ferrocene-based bifunctional amine-thioureas for asymmetric Michael
      addition of acetylacetone to nitroolefins.
AB  - An efficient method was developed to synthesize ferrocene-based bifunctional
      amine-thioureas bearing multiple hydrogen-bonding donors. Asymmetric Michael
      addition of acetylacetone to nitroolefins catalyzed by these novel bifunctional
      catalysts affords the Michael adducts in high yield and moderate to excellent
      enantioselectivities. Multiple hydrogen-bonds play an important role in
      accelerating the reaction. 

PMID- 25832647
TI  - Molecular portraits: the evolution of the concept of transcriptome-based cancer
      signatures.
AB  - Cancer results from dysregulation of multiple steps of gene expression programs.
      We review how transcriptome profiling has been widely explored for cancer
      classification and biomarker discovery but resulted in limited clinical impact.
      Therefore, we discuss alternative and complementary omics approaches. 

PMID- 25832650
TI  - A Community Health Clinic Breastfeeding-Friendly Pilot: What Can We Learn about
      the Policy Process?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Implementing evidence-based practices and policies for breastfeeding
      support in community clinics is a promising, but challenging, approach to
      reducing disparities in breastfeeding rates. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to apply
      a policy process research framework to increase knowledge of factors that
      facilitate adoption and implementation of breastfeeding policy changes. METHODS:
      In 2013, Washington State piloted a process to encourage 8 clinics to adopt and
      implement steps to become breastfeeding friendly. Evaluation data were collected
      through interviews, project reports, training evaluations, and pre- and post-self
      assessments of achievement of the steps. RESULTS: In 6 months, clinics increased
      the breastfeeding-friendly steps that they were implementing from a median
      (interquartile range) of 1.5 (0-3) to 6 (5-7). Improvements were most likely in
      the steps that required the fewest resources and administrative changes. Barriers
      to implementation included misperceptions about breastfeeding and breastfeeding
      support; lack of administrative "buy-in"; need for organizational changes to
      accommodate actions like monitoring breastfeeding rates and allowing providers
      training time; and the social-political climate of the clinic. Several factors,
      including actions taken by public health practitioners, enhanced the change
      process. These included fostering supportive relationships, targeting technical
      assistance, and providing resources for planning and training. CONCLUSION: This
      pilot project demonstrates that it is possible to make changes in breastfeeding
      support practices and policies in community clinics. Recommendations to enhance
      future work include framing and marketing breastfeeding support in ways that
      resonate with clinic decision makers and enhancing training, resources, and
      advocacy to build capacity for internal and external systems changes to support
      breastfeeding best practices.

PMID- 25832651
TI  - Oxidative addition to gold(i): a new avenue in homogeneous catalysis with au.

PMID- 25832652
TI  - JAK Inhibition Impairs NK Cell Function in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms.
AB  - Ruxolitinib is a small-molecule inhibitor of the JAK kinases, which has been
      approved for the treatment of myelofibrosis, a rare myeloproliferative neoplasm
      (MPN), but clinical trials are also being conducted in inflammatory-driven solid
      tumors. Increased infection rates have been reported in ruxolitinib-treated
      patients, and natural killer (NK) cells are immune effector cells known to
      eliminate both virus-infected and malignant cells. On this basis, we sought to
      compare the effects of JAK inhibition on human NK cells in a cohort of 28 MPN
      patients with or without ruxolitinib treatment and 24 healthy individuals. NK
      cell analyses included cell frequency, receptor expression, proliferation, immune
      synapse formation, and cytokine signaling. We found a reduction in NK cell
      numbers in ruxolitinib-treated patients that was linked to the appearance of
      clinically relevant infections. This reduction was likely due to impaired
      maturation of NK cells, as reflected by an increased ratio in immature to mature
      NK cells. Notably, the endogenous functional defect of NK cells in MPN was
      further aggravated by ruxolitinib treatment. In vitro data paralleled these in
      vivo results, showing a reduction in cytokine-induced NK cell activation.
      Further, reduced killing activity was associated with an impaired capacity to
      form lytic synapses with NK target cells. Taken together, our findings offer
      compelling evidence that ruxolitinib impairs NK cell function in MPN patients,
      offering an explanation for increased infection rates and possible long-term side
      effects associated with ruxolitinib treatment.

PMID- 25832653
TI  - Optimizing a lupus autoantibody for targeted cancer therapy.
AB  - The specificity of binding by antibodies to target antigens is a compelling
      advantage to antibody-based cancer therapy, but most antibodies cannot penetrate
      cells to affect intracellular processes. Select lupus autoantibodies penetrate
      into cell nuclei, and the potential for application of these antibodies in cancer
      therapy is an emerging concept. Here, we show that a divalent lupus anti-DNA
      autoantibody fragment with enhancing mutations that increase its ability to
      penetrate cell nuclei and bind DNA causes accumulation of DNA double-strand
      breaks in and is highly and selectively toxic to cancer cells and tumors with
      defective homology-directed repair of DNA double-strand breaks. These findings
      provide proof of principle for the use of optimized lupus autoantibodies in
      targeted cancer therapy.

PMID- 25832654
TI  - NUAK2 Amplification Coupled with PTEN Deficiency Promotes Melanoma Development
      via CDK Activation.
AB  - The AMPK-related kinase NUAK2 has been implicated in melanoma growth and survival
      outcomes, but its therapeutic utility has yet to be confirmed. In this study, we
      show how its genetic amplification in PTEN-deficient melanomas may rationalize
      the use of CDK2 inhibitors as a therapeutic strategy. Analysis of array-CGH data
      revealed that PTEN deficiency is coupled tightly with genomic amplification
      encompassing the NUAK2 locus, a finding strengthened by immunohistochemical
      evidence that phospho-Akt overexpression was correlated with NUAK2 expression in
      clinical specimens of acral melanoma. Functional studies in melanoma cells showed
      that inactivation of the PI3K pathway upregulated p21 expression and reduced the
      number of cells in S phase. NUAK2 silencing and inactivation of the PI3K pathway
      efficiently controlled CDK2 expression, whereas CDK2 inactivation specifically
      abrogated the growth of NUAK2-amplified and PTEN-deficient melanoma cells.
      Immunohistochemical analyses confirmed an association of CDK2 expression with
      NUAK2 amplification and p-Akt expression in melanomas. Finally, pharmacologic
      inhibition of CDK2 was sufficient to suppress the growth of NUAK2-amplified and
      PTEN-deficient melanoma cells in vitro and in vivo. Overall, our results show how
      CDK2 blockade may offer a promising therapy for genetically defined melanomas,
      where NUAK2 is amplified and PTEN is deleted.

PMID- 25832655
TI  - CTLA-4+ Regulatory T Cells Increased in Cetuximab-Treated Head and Neck Cancer
      Patients Suppress NK Cell Cytotoxicity and Correlate with Poor Prognosis.
AB  - The EGFR-targeted antibody cetuximab is effective against head and neck cancer
      (HNSCC), but in only 15% to 20% of patients, and the variability and extent of
      cetuximab-mediated cellular immunity is not fully understood. We hypothesized
      that regulatory T cells (Treg) may exert a functional and clinical impact on
      antitumor immunity in cetuximab-treated individuals. The frequency,
      immunosuppressive phenotype, and activation status of Treg and natural killer
      (NK) cells were analyzed in the circulation and tumor microenvironment of
      cetuximab-treated patients with HNSCC enrolled in a novel neoadjuvant, single
      agent cetuximab clinical trial. Notably, cetuximab treatment increased the
      frequency of CD4(+)FOXP3(+) intratumoral Treg expressing CTLA-4, CD39, and
      TGFbeta. These Treg suppressed cetuximab-mediated antibody-dependent cellular
      cytotoxicity (ADCC) and their presence correlated with poor clinical outcome in
      two prospective clinical trial cohorts. Cetuximab expanded CTLA-4(+)FOXP3(+) Treg
      in vitro, in part, by inducing dendritic cell maturation, in combination with
      TGFbeta and T-cell receptor triggering. Importantly, cetuximab-activated NK cells
      selectively eliminated intratumoral Treg but preserved effector T cells. In ex
      vivo assays, ipilimumab targeted CTLA-4(+) Treg and restored cytolytic functions
      of NK cells mediating ADCC. Taken together, our results argue that differences in
      Treg-mediated suppression contribute to the clinical response to cetuximab
      treatment, suggesting its improvement by adding ipilimumab or other strategies of
      Treg ablation to promote antitumor immunity.

PMID- 25832657
TI  - Clinical heterogeneity of primary familial brain calcification due to a novel
      mutation in PDGFB.

PMID- 25832656
TI  - FoxM1 Drives a Feed-Forward STAT3-Activation Signaling Loop That Promotes the
      Self-Renewal and Tumorigenicity of Glioblastoma Stem-like Cells.
AB  - The growth factor PDGF controls the development of glioblastoma (GBM), but its
      contribution to the function of GBM stem-like cells (GSC) has been little
      studied. Here, we report that the transcription factor FoxM1 promotes PDGFA-STAT3
      signaling to drive GSC self-renewal and tumorigenicity. In GBM, we found a
      positive correlation between expression of FoxM1 and PDGF-A. In GSC and mouse
      neural stem cells, FoxM1 bound to the PDGF-A promoter to upregulate PDGF-A
      expression, acting to maintain the stem-like qualities of GSC in part through
      this mechanism. Analysis of the human cancer genomic database The Cancer Genome
      Atlas revealed that GBM expresses higher levels of STAT3, a PDGF-A effector
      signaling molecule, as compared with normal brain. FoxM1 regulated STAT3
      transcription through interactions with the beta-catenin/TCF4 complex. FoxM1
      deficiency inhibited PDGF-A and STAT3 expression in neural stem cells and GSC,
      abolishing their stem-like and tumorigenic properties. Further mechanistic
      investigations defined a FoxM1-PDGFA-STAT3 feed-forward pathway that was
      sufficient to confer stem-like properties to glioma cells. Collectively, our
      findings showed how FoxM1 activates expression of PDGF-A and STAT3 in a pathway
      required to maintain the self-renewal and tumorigenicity of glioma stem-like
      cells.

PMID- 25832658
TI  - Cortical pencil lining in neuroferritinopathy: a diagnostic clue.

PMID- 25832659
TI  - A blow to the head trauma--ALS hypothesis.

PMID- 25832660
TI  - Head injury does not alter disease progression or neuropathologic outcomes in
      ALS.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To study the effects of head injury on disease progression and on
      neuropathologic outcomes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). METHODS:
      Patients with ALS were surveyed to obtain head injury history, and medical
      records were reviewed. Linear regression was performed to determine if head
      injury was a predictor for mean monthly decline of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
      Functional Rating Scale-revised (ALSFRS-R), while controlling for confounders.
      Head injury history was obtained from family members of ALS autopsy cases. The
      frequency of tau proteinopathy, brain TDP-43 inclusions, and pathologic findings
      of Alzheimer disease (AD) were examined in ALS cases with head injury compared to
      cases without. Logistic regression was performed with each neuropathologic
      diagnosis as an outcome measure and head injury as a predictor variable. RESULTS:
      No difference was seen in rate of decline of the ALSFRS-R between patients with
      head injury (n = 24) and without (n = 76), with mean monthly decline of -0.9 for
      both groups (p = 0.18). Of 47 ALS autopsy cases (n = 9 with head injury, n = 38
      without), no significant differences were seen in the frequency of tau
      proteinopathy (11% with head injury; 24% without), TDP-43 in the brain (44% with
      head injury; 45% without), or AD pathology (33% with head injury; 26% without).
      Independent logistic regression models showed head injury was not a predictor of
      tau pathology (p = 0.42) or TDP-43 in the brain (p = 0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Head
      injury was not associated with faster disease progression in ALS and did not
      result in a specific neuropathologic phenotype. The tau pathology described with
      chronic traumatic encephalopathy was found in ALS autopsy cases both with and
      without head injury.

PMID- 25832662
TI  - Suicide in stroke survivors: frequency and risk factors.

PMID- 25832661
TI  - Poststroke suicide attempts and completed suicides: a socioeconomic and
      nationwide perspective.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We examined attempted and completed suicides after stroke to determine
      whether they were associated with socioeconomic status, other patient
      characteristics, or time after stroke. METHODS: This nationwide cohort study
      included stroke patients from Riksstroke (the Swedish Stroke Register) from 2001
      to 2012. We used personal identification numbers to link the Riksstroke data with
      other national registers. Suicide attempts were identified by a record of
      hospital admission for intentional self-harm (ICD-10: X60-X84), and completed
      suicides were identified in the national Cause of Death Register. We used
      multiple Cox regression to analyze time from stroke onset to first suicide
      attempt. RESULTS: We observed 220,336 stroke patients with a total follow-up time
      of 860,713 person-years. During follow-up, there were 1,217 suicide attempts, of
      which 260 were fatal. This was approximately double the rate of the general
      Swedish population. Patients with lower education or income (hazard ratio [HR]
      1.37, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-1.68) for primary vs university and
      patients living alone (HR 1.73, 95% CI 1.52-1.97) had an increased risk of
      attempted suicide, and patients born outside of Europe had a lower risk compared
      to patients of European origin. Male sex, young age, severe stroke, and
      poststroke depression were other factors associated with an increased risk of
      attempted suicide after stroke. The risk was highest during the first 2 years
      after stroke. CONCLUSIONS: Both clinical and socioeconomic factors increase the
      risk of poststroke suicide attempts. This suggests a need for psychosocial
      support and suicide preventive interventions in high-risk groups of stroke
      patients.

PMID- 25832663
TI  - Skeletal muscle metabolism is impaired during exercise in glycogen storage
      disease type III.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Glycogen storage disease type IIIa (GSDIIIa) is classically regarded
      as a glycogenosis with fixed weakness, but we hypothesized that exercise
      intolerance in GSDIIIa is related to muscle energy failure and that oral fructose
      ingestion could improve exercise tolerance in this metabolic myopathy. METHODS:
      We challenged metabolism with cycle-ergometer exercise and measured substrate
      turnover and oxidation rates using stable isotope methodology and indirect
      calorimetry in 3 patients and 6 age-matched controls on 1 day, and examined the
      effect of fructose ingestion on exercise tolerance in the patients on another
      day. RESULTS: Total fatty acid oxidation rates during exercise were higher in
      patients than controls, 32.1 (SE 1.2) vs 20.7 (SE 0.5; range 15.8-29.3)
      MUmol/kg/min (p = 0.048), and oxidation of carbohydrates was lower in patients,
      1.0 (SE 5.4) vs 38.4 (SE 8.0; range 23.0-77.1) MUmol/kg/min (p = 0.024). Fructose
      ingestion improved exercise tolerance in the patients. CONCLUSION: Similar to
      patients with McArdle disease, in whom muscle glycogenolysis is also impaired,
      GSDIIIa is associated with a reduced skeletal muscle oxidation of carbohydrates
      and a compensatory increase in fatty acid oxidation, and fructose ingestion
      improves exercise tolerance. Our results indicate that GSDIIIa should not only be
      viewed as a glycogenosis with fixed skeletal muscle weakness, but should also be
      considered among the glycogenoses presenting with exercise-related dynamic
      symptoms caused by muscular energy deficiency. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This
      study provides Class IV evidence that ingestion of fructose improves exercise
      tolerance in patients with GSDIIIa.

PMID- 25832664
TI  - Loss of PCLO function underlies pontocerebellar hypoplasia type III.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify the genetic cause of pontocerebellar hypoplasia type III
      (PCH3). METHODS: We studied the original reported pedigree of PCH3 and performed
      genetic analysis including genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping,
      linkage analysis, whole-exome sequencing, and Sanger sequencing. Human fetal
      brain RNA sequencing data were then analyzed for the identified candidate gene.
      RESULTS: The affected individuals presented with severe global developmental
      delay and seizures starting in the first year of life. Brain MRI of an affected
      individual showed diffuse atrophy of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem.
      Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism analysis confirmed the linkage to
      chromosome 7q we previously reported, and showed no other genomic areas of
      linkage. Whole-exome sequencing of 2 affected individuals identified a shared
      homozygous, nonsense variant in the PCLO (piccolo) gene. This variant segregated
      with the disease phenotype in the pedigree was rare in the population and was
      predicted to eliminate the PDZ and C2 domains in the C-terminus of the protein.
      RNA sequencing data of human fetal brain showed that PCLO was moderately
      expressed in the developing cerebral cortex. CONCLUSIONS: Here, we show that a
      homozygous, nonsense PCLO mutation underlies the autosomal recessive
      neurodegenerative disorder, PCH3. PCLO is a component of the presynaptic
      cytoskeletal matrix, and is thought to be involved in regulation of presynaptic
      proteins and synaptic vesicles. Our findings suggest that PCLO is crucial for the
      development and survival of a wide range of neuronal types in the human brain.

PMID- 25832665
TI  - Medicare payments to the neurology workforce in 2012.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Little is known about how neurology payments vary by service type
      (i.e., evaluation and management [E/M] vs tests/treatments) and compare to other
      specialties, yet this information is necessary to help neurology define its
      position on proposed payment reform. METHODS: Medicare Provider Utilization and
      Payment Data from 2012 were used. These data included all direct payments to
      providers who care for fee-for-service Medicare recipients. Total payment was
      determined by medical specialty and for various services (e.g., E/M, EEG,
      electromyography/nerve conduction studies, polysomnography) within neurology.
      Payment and proportion of services were then calculated across neurologists'
      payment categories. RESULTS: Neurologists comprised 1.5% (12,317) of individual
      providers who received Medicare payments and were paid $1.15 billion by Medicare
      in 2012. Sixty percent ($686 million) of the Medicare payment to neurologists was
      for E/M, which was a lower proportion than primary providers (approximately 85%)
      and higher than surgical subspecialties (range 9%-51%). The median neurologist
      received nearly 75% of their payments from E/M. Two-thirds of neurologists
      received 60% or more of their payment from E/M services and over 20% received all
      of their payment from E/M services. Neurologists in the highest payment category
      performed more services, of which a lower proportion were E/M, and performed at a
      facility, compared to neurologists in lower payment categories. CONCLUSION: E/M
      is the dominant source of payment to the majority of neurologists and should be
      prioritized by neurology in payment restructuring efforts.

PMID- 25832666
TI  - Shining light on Medicare's values: the Medicare physician data release.

PMID- 25832667
TI  - Glycogen storage disease type III: the phenotype branches out.

PMID- 25832668
TI  - Impairments and comorbidities of polyneuropathy revealed by population-based
      analyses.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To quantify polyneuropathy impairments and comorbidities utilizing the
      Rochester Epidemiology Project (2010 census = 148,201). METHODS: ICD-9-CM coding
      identified polyneuropathy cases (2006-2010) and their 5:1 age- and sex-matched
      controls. Mortality and impairments were evaluated while identifying and
      adjusting for Charlson Index comorbidities. RESULTS: Overall prevalence of
      polyneuropathy was 1.66%, and markedly rose to 6.6% in persons older than 60
      years. Cases (n = 2,892) had more comorbidities than controls (n = 14,435) with
      higher median Charlson Index (6 vs 3, p < 0.001). Diabetes with end-organ disease
      represented the largest increased comorbidity in cases compared with controls
      (46.8% vs 6.5%). Diabetic polyneuropathy was the most common specific subtype
      (38.2%). Miscoded idiopathic cases and false-negative controls also commonly had
      diabetic polyneuropathy. Median modified Rankin Scale score was considerably
      higher for cases than controls (4 vs 1, p < 0.001). Multiple comorbidities were
      found associated with polyneuropathy after adjusting for diabetes co-occurrence,
      including pulmonary disease, dementia, and others. Polyneuropathy was an
      independent contributor to multiple functional impairments including difficulty
      walking (odds ratio [OR] = 1.9), climbing stairs (OR = 2.0), using an assistive
      device (OR = 2.0), fall tendency (OR = 2.4), work disability (OR = 4.2), lower
      limb amputations (OR = 3.9), and opioid use (OR = 2.7). Prevalent cases had a
      younger median age at death than controls (80 vs 86 years, p < 0.001), and
      incident cases had a 6-month shorter survival. CONCLUSIONS: Polyneuropathies have
      notable neurologic impairments beyond their identified multiple comorbidities.
      Life expectancy is shortened. Diabetic polyneuropathy is underidentified. The
      quantified extent of the disease burden and refined comorbidity associations
      emphasize that greater research efforts and health care initiatives are needed.

PMID- 25832669
TI  - Characterizing the surface-exposed proteome of Planococcus halocryophilus during
      cryophilic growth.
AB  - Planococcus halocryophilus OR1 is a bacterial isolate capable of growth at
      temperatures ranging from -15 to +37  degrees C. During sub-zero (cryophilic)
      growth, nodular features appear on its cell surface; however, the biochemical
      compositions of these features as well as any cold-adaptive benefits they may
      offer are not understood. This study aimed to identify differences in the cell
      surface proteome (surfaceome) of P. halocryophilus cells grown under optimal (24 
      degrees C, no added salt), low- and mid-salt (5 and 12 % NaCl, respectively) at
      24  degrees C, and low- and mid-salt sub-zero (5 % NaCl at -5  degrees C and 12 %
      NaCl at -10  degrees C) culture conditions, for the purpose of gaining insight
      into cold-adapted proteomic traits at the cell surface. Mid-log cells were
      harvested, treated briefly with trypsin and the resultant peptides were purified
      followed by identification by LC-MS/MS analysis. One hundred and forty-four
      proteins were subsequently identified in at least one culture condition.
      Statistically significant differences in amino acid usage, a known indicator of
      cold adaptation, were identified through in silico analysis. Two proteins with
      roles in peptidoglycan (PG) metabolism, an N-acetyl-L-alanine amidase and a
      multimodular transpeptidase-transglycosylase, were detected, though each was only
      detected under optimal conditions, indicating that high-salt and high-cold stress
      each affect PG metabolism. Two iron transport-binding proteins, associated with
      two different iron transport strategies, were identified, indicating that P.
      halocryophilus uses a different iron acquisition strategy at very low
      temperatures. Here we present the first set of data that describes bacterial
      adaptations at the cellular surface that occur as a cryophilic bacterium is
      transitioned from optimal to near-inhibitory sub-zero culture conditions.

PMID- 25832670
TI  - Fund the service from a hypothecated tax.

PMID- 25832671
TI  - DNA Methylation in Memory Formation: Emerging Insights.
AB  - The establishment of synaptic plasticity and long-term memory requires lasting
      cellular and molecular modifications that, as a whole, must endure despite the
      rapid turnover of their constituent parts. Such a molecular feat must be mediated
      by a stable, self-perpetuating, cellular information storage mechanism. DNA
      methylation, being the archetypal cellular information storage mechanism, has
      been heavily implicated as being necessary for stable activity-dependent
      transcriptional alterations within the CNS. This review details the foundational
      discoveries from both gene-targeted and whole-genome sequencing studies that have
      brought DNA methylation to our attention as a chief regulator of activity- and
      experience-dependent transcriptional alterations within the CNS. We present a
      hypothetical framework to resolve disparate experimental findings regarding
      distinct manipulations of DNA methylation and their effect on memory, taking into
      account the unique impact activity-dependent alterations in DNA methylation
      potentially have on both memory-promoting and memory-suppressing gene expression.
      And last, we discuss potential avenues for future inquiry into the role of DNA
      methylation during remote memory formation. 

PMID- 25832672
TI  - Graphene based enzymatic bioelectrodes and biofuel cells.
AB  - The excellent electrical conductivity and ease of functionalization make graphene
      a promising material for use in enzymatic bioelectrodes and biofuel cells. Enzyme
      based biofuel cells have attracted substantial interest due to their potential to
      harvest energy from organic materials. This review provides an overview of the
      functional properties and applications of graphene in the construction of biofuel
      cells as alternative power sources. The review covers the current state-of-the
      art research in graphene based nanomaterials (physicochemical properties and
      surface functionalities), the role of these parameters in enhancing electron
      transfer, the stability and activity of immobilized enzymes, and how enhanced
      power density can be achieved. Specific examples of enzyme immobilization
      methods, enzyme loading, stability and function on graphene, functionalized
      graphene and graphene based nanocomposite materials are discussed along with
      their advantages and limitations. Finally, a critical evaluation of the
      performance of graphene based enzymatic biofuel cells, the current status,
      challenges and future research needs are provided. 

PMID- 25832673
TI  - A four-chamber in transit heart thrombus in a pregnant woman with acute pulmonary
      embolism.

PMID- 25832674
TI  - Reflecting on patient-centred care in pharmacy through an illness narrative.
AB  - Patient-centred care (PCC) is rapidly adopting a central position in discussions
      on the quality of healthcare, with patient-centredness deemed essential to
      transforming the healthcare system. PCC speaks to the quality of patient-provider
      relationships and has been defined as an approach to providing care that is
      respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and
      values, while ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions. However
      its place within pharmacy practice is unclear and is as yet undefined,
      particularly in relation to pharmaceutical care. Through my personal illness
      narrative, I briefly explore the visibility and evidence of PCC in the pharmacy
      literature as well as from personal experience of pharmacy care, and find it
      lacking. I conclude that an integrated, seamless understanding of PCC and the use
      of shared language within the health professions is essential in successful
      teamwork with both the patient and with other health professions. 

PMID- 25832675
TI  - Primary non-adherence in Portugal: findings and implications.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Portugal is currently facing a serious economic and financial crisis,
      which is dictating some important changes in the health care sector. Some of
      these measures may potentially influence patients' access to medication and
      consequently adherence, which will ultimately impact on health status, especially
      in chronic patients. AIMS: This study aimed at providing a snapshot of adherence
      in patients with chronic conditions in Portugal between March and April 2012.
      SETTING: Community pharmacy in Portugal. METHOD: A cross-sectional pilot study
      was undertaken, where patients were recruited via community pharmacies to a
      questionnaire study evaluating the number of prescribed and purchased drugs and,
      when these figures were inconsistent, the reasons for this. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Primary and secondary adherence measures. Failing to purchase
      prescription items was categorized as primary nonadherence. Secondary
      nonadherence was attributed to purchasing prescription items, but not taking
      medicines as prescribed. RESULTS: Data were collected from 375 patients. Primary
      nonadherence was identified in 22.8 % of patients. Regardless of the underlying
      condition, the most commonly reported reason for primary non-adherence was having
      spare medicines at home ("leftovers"), followed by financial problems. The latter
      appeared to be related to the class of medicines prescribed. Primary non
      adherence was associated with low income (<475 <euro>/month; p = 0.026).
      Secondary non-adherence, assessed by the 7-MMAS was detected in over 50 % of all
      patients, where unintentional nonadherence was higher than intentional
      nonadherence across all disease conditions. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that
      more than one fifth of chronic medication users report primary nonadherence (22.8
      %) and more than 50 % report secondary nonadherence. Data indicates that the
      existence of spare medicines and financial constraints occurred were the two most
      frequent reasons cited for nonadherence (47, 6-64, 8 and 19-45.5 %, depending on
      the major underlying condition, respectively).

PMID- 25832676
TI  - Drug utilisation profile in the neonatal unit of a university hospital: a
      prospective observational study in Brazil.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Advances in neonatology have contributed to changes in the drug
      utilisation profile in neonates, both in the number of drugs and the
      pharmacotherapeutic groups. OBJECTIVE: To analyse drug use in the neonatal care
      unit of a teaching hospital in Brazil and to evaluate the associations among
      perinatal, clinical care and drug use data. SETTING: The neonatal care unit of a
      teaching hospital in Brazil. METHODS: A prospective observational study was
      conducted. Perinatal, clinical care and pharmacotherapy data were collected from
      the patients' medical records. Labelling information regarding neonatal use was
      analysed for prescribed drugs. The data were analysed using univariate
      descriptive statistics and quasi-Poisson regression. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE:
      Frequency of drug use by gestational age. RESULTS: The study included 187
      patients; 157 (84.0 %) received drugs. The mean gestational age was 35.8 weeks.
      The mean number of drugs prescribed per patient was 6.4. The number of drugs used
      was inversely correlated to gestational age and birth weight. The most commonly
      prescribed drugs belonged to the following anatomical therapeutic chemical
      groups: nervous system drugs, anti-infectives for systemic use, and alimentary
      tract and metabolism drugs. Information regarding neonatal use was given in the
      labelling of only 20.5 % of the prescribed drugs. Of these, only 9.5 % had
      information specific for preterm infants. CONCLUSIONS: Drug administration to
      neonates is frequently and inversely correlated to gestational age and birth
      weight. Neonates are exposed to different therapeutic classes, reflecting
      scientific advances in neonatology. In Brazil, the percentage of drugs with
      neonate-specific labelling information is low. Consequently, there is an evident
      need for efforts to guarantee effective and safe pharmacotherapy for neonates.

PMID- 25832677
TI  - Factors that affect adverse drug reaction reporting among hospital pharmacists in
      Western China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hospital pharmacists can make a considerable contribution to the
      spontaneous reporting system of adverse drug reactions. The factors that
      influence adverse drug reaction reporting among hospital pharmacists remain
      largely unknown in China. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to identify factors that
      affect hospital pharmacist-led adverse drug reaction reporting in Xi'an, and to
      obtain suggestions from pharmacists about how to improve the current adverse drug
      reaction reporting system. SETTING: Hospital settings throughout Xi'an, a region
      of Western China. METHOD: A matched case-control study was conducted on a
      population of 2,814 hospital pharmacists in Xi'an during 2011. Cases included all
      pharmacists who had reported at least one adverse drug reaction between 2008 and
      2010 and agreed to participate in the study (186/204; 91.2 %); controls (n = 372)
      were pharmacists who had not reported any adverse drug reaction during the same
      period. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to the participants.
      Logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association between indicator
      variables and the outcome of having reported at least one adverse drug reaction.
      MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Pharmacists' knowledge, attitude and practice towards
      adverse drug reaction reporting and factors affecting reporting. RESULTS: Higher
      professional title (adjusted OR 1.44; 95 % CI 1.07-1.94; p = 0.018), having
      received training about adverse drug reaction reporting (1.64; 1.04-2.57; p =
      0.032), better knowledge about reporting (1.53; 1.12-2.08; p = 0.007), "lack of
      access to adverse drug reaction reporting form" (0.29; 0.12-0.72; p = 0.008) was
      independently associated with adverse drug reaction reporting. Clinical
      pharmacists were more likely to report an adverse drug reaction than dispensary
      pharmacists (1/adjusted OR 5.26; p < 0.001), pharmacy administrators (5.00; p =
      0.003), and other technicians (5.56; p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Higher professional
      title, having received training, mastering knowledge about reporting, and being a
      clinical pharmacist were positive predictors of pharmacist-led adverse drug
      reaction reporting. Lack of access to reporting forms was a negative predictor.
      Continuous training and establishing incentive mechanisms are needed to promote
      adverse drug reaction reporting among hospital pharmacists.

PMID- 25832678
TI  - Evaluation of restricted antibiotic use in a hospital in Romania.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Antibiotics are the most frequently used drugs among hospitalised
      patients. Antimicrobial resistance is a major health issue and therefore
      antibiotic consumption should be under strict surveillance. OBJECTIVE: To
      evaluate the use of restricted antibiotics in an academic hospital in Romania.
      METHODS: Retrospective evaluation of the use of 11 restricted antibiotics issued
      based on the antibiotics formularies for the year 2012. Therapeutic guidelines
      and the summary of product characteristics were used for the evaluation. The
      appropriateness antibiotics use was verified, according to three main criteria:
      appropriate indication (type of treatment, localization and type of infection),
      dose and duration of treatment. Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic
      regression analysis were performed. Results 664 prescribing formularies were
      analyzed, of these 319 were from the intensive care unit (48.04 %). The most
      prescribed antibiotics were vancomycin (171, 25.75 %), imipenem (151, 22.74 %)
      and meropenem (116, 17.47 %). Overall, 285 prescriptions (42.92 %) were
      considered inappropriate. Vancomycin, meropenem and imipenem were prescribed
      inappropriate in 49.71, 46.55 and 44.06 % of such cases. Of the total 285
      prescriptions deemed as inappropriate, for 49.82 % the dose was incorrect, 20 %
      were inadequate in terms of treatment duration and 15.44 % were wrongly
      indicated. Inappropriate use was significantly higher among empirical
      prescriptions than the documented ones (69.75 vs. 30.25 %, p < 0.001). Multiple
      stepwise logistic regression identified that the duration of the treatment was
      significant for inappropriate antibiotic use (p < 0.05). The risk of
      inappropriate use in the case of empirical prescriptions is higher than for
      documented prescriptions (OR 5.78, p < 0.001, CI 3.65-9.15). CONCLUSIONS: the
      results suggest the need to intensify the control of the use of restricted
      antibiotics. The implementation of drug formularies in hospitals and the
      involvement of the clinical pharmacist may ensure rational antibiotic therapy.

PMID- 25832680
TI  - A blast from the past and foresight for the future of gynecologic oncology.

PMID- 25832681
TI  - Lebanon: an evolving hub for radiation therapy in the arab world.

PMID- 25832682
TI  - Relating proton treatments to photon treatments via the relative biological
      effectiveness-should we revise current clinical practice?

PMID- 25832683
TI  - The end of the hypoxic EPOch.

PMID- 25832684
TI  - Radium-223 in the treatment of osteoblastic metastases: a critical clinical
      review.
AB  - The element radium (Ra) was discovered by the Curies in 1898 and within a decade
      was in broad scientific testing for the management of several forms of cancer.
      The compound was known to give rise to a series of both high-energy particulate
      and penetrating gamma-emissions. The latter found an important role in early 20th
      century brachytherapy applications, but the short-range alpha-particles seemed
      much less useful. Although highly cytotoxic when released within a few cell
      diameters of critical cell nuclei, the dense double-strand break damage was
      poorly repaired, and concerns regarding treatment-related toxicities and
      secondary malignancies halted clinical development. Moreover, the most common
      isotope of Ra has an exceptionally long half-life (>1600 years for (226)Ra) that
      proved daunting when aiming for a systemic cancer therapy. Fortunately, other
      radium isotopes have more convenient half-lives while still producing cytotoxic
      alpha particles. Radium-223 dichloride has a half-life of 11.4 days, and this
      isotope was identified as an excellent candidate for radionuclide therapy of
      cancers metastatic to bone. The calcium-mimetic chemical properties of the radium
      allowed intravenous infusion with rapid uptake to sites of new bone formation.
      The highly efficient bone localization suggested a potential therapeutic role for
      osteoblastic bone metastases, and a series of phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical trials
      was undertaken to explore this possibility. This series of clinical explorations
      culminated in the ALSYMPCA trial, an international, placebo-controlled, phase 3
      study that accrued 921 symptomatic men with bone-metastatic, castrate-resistant
      prostate cancer. Results of this trial demonstrated a prolongation of overall
      survival, and regulatory agencies around the world have now approved this product
      as a treatment for advanced prostate cancer. 

PMID- 25832685
TI  - Long-term quality of life after swallowing and salivary-sparing chemo-intensity
      modulated radiation therapy in survivors of human papillomavirus-related
      oropharyngeal cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in 2
      prospective studies of chemo-intensity modulated radiation therapy (chemo-IMRT)
      for oropharyngeal cancer (OPC). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Of 93 patients with stage
      III/IV OPC treated on prospective studies of swallowing and salivary organ
      sparing chemo-IMRT, 69 were eligible for long-term HRQOL assessment. Three
      validated patient-reported instruments, the Head and Neck QOL (HNQOL)
      questionnaire, the University of Washington quality of life (UWQOL)
      questionnaire, and the Xerostomia Questionnaire (XQ), previously administered
      from baseline through 2 years in the parent studies, were readministered at long
      term follow-up, along with the Short-Form 36. Long-term changes in HRQOL from
      before treatment and 2 years were evaluated. RESULTS: Forty patients (58%) with a
      median follow-up of 6.5 years participated, 39 of whom (97.5%) had confirmed
      human papillomavirus-positive OPC. Long term, no clinically significant worsening
      was detected in mean HRQOL scores compared with 2 years, with stable or improved
      HRQOL from before treatment in nearly all domains. "Moderate" or greater severity
      problems were uncommon, reported by 5% of patients for eating, 5% for swallowing,
      and 2.5% and 5% by HNQOL and UWQOL summary scores, respectively. Freedom from
      percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube dependence and stricture dilation beyond
      2 years was 97.5% and 95%, respectively. Eleven percent and 14% of patients
      reported "moderate" or "severe" long-term worsening in HNQOL Pain and Overall
      Bother domains, respectively, which were associated with mean dose to the
      cervical esophagus, larynx, and pharyngeal constrictors. CONCLUSIONS: At more
      than 6 years' median follow-up, OPC patients treated with swallowing and salivary
      organ-sparing chemo-IMRT reported stable or improved HRQOL in nearly all domains
      compared with both before treatment and 2-year follow-up. New late toxicity after
      2 years was uncommon. Further emphasis on sparing the swallowing organs may yield
      additional HRQOL gains for long-term OPC survivors.

PMID- 25832686
TI  - Phase 2 study of docetaxel, cisplatin, and concurrent radiation for technically
      resectable stage III-IV squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
AB  - PURPOSE: We investigated the efficacy and safety of weekly low-dose docetaxel and
      cisplatin therapy concurrent with conventionally fractionated radiation in
      patients with technically resectable stage III-IV squamous cell carcinoma of the
      head and neck. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between March 2004 and October 2011, we
      enrolled 117 patients, of whom 116 were analyzable (43 had oropharyngeal cancer,
      54 had hypopharyngeal cancer, and 19 had laryngeal cancer), and 85 (73%) had
      stage IV disease. Radiation consisted of 66 Gy in 33 fractions. Docetaxel, 10
      mg/m(2), followed by cisplatin, 20 mg/m(2), administered on the same day were
      given once a week for 6 cycles. The primary endpoint was overall complete
      response (CR) rate after chemoradiation therapy. Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA
      in oropharyngeal cancer was examined by PCR. RESULTS: Of 116 patients, 82 (71%)
      completed treatment per protocol; 102 (88%) received the full radiation therapy
      dose; and 90 (78%) and 12 (10%) patients received 6 and 5 chemotherapy cycles,
      respectively. Overall CR rate was 71%. After median follow-up of 50.9 months
      (range: 15.6-113.9 months for surviving patients), 2-year and 4-year overall
      survival rates were 82% and 68%, respectively. Cumulative 2-year and 4-year local
      failure rates were 27% and 28%, respectively, whereas distant metastasis rates
      were 15% and 22%, respectively. HPV status in oropharyngeal cancer was not
      associated with treatment efficacy. Acute toxicity included grade 3 and 4 in
      field mucositis in 73% and 5% of patients, respectively, whereas myelosuppression
      and renal injury were minimal. No patients died of toxicity. Feeding tube
      dependence in 8% and tracheostomy in 1% of patients were evident at 2 years
      postchemoradiation therapy in patients who survived without local treatment
      failure. CONCLUSIONS: Local control and survival with this regimen were
      satisfactory. Although acute toxicity, such as mucositis, was common, late
      toxicity, such as laryngoesophageal dysfunction, was minimal. Therapy using
      weekly low-dose docetaxel and cisplatin concurrent with radiation warrants
      further evaluation.

PMID- 25832687
TI  - Concurrent chemo-radiation with or without induction gemcitabine, Carboplatin,
      and Paclitaxel: a randomized, phase 2/3 trial in locally advanced nasopharyngeal
      carcinoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare survival, tumor control, toxicities, and quality of life of
      patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with
      induction chemotherapy and concurrent chemo-radiation (CCRT), against CCRT alone.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were stratified by N stage and randomized to
      induction GCP (3 cycles of gemcitabine 1000 mg/m(2), carboplatin area under the
      concentration-time-curve 2.5, and paclitaxel 70 mg/m(2) given days 1 and 8 every
      21 days) followed by CCRT (radiation therapy 69.96 Gy with weekly cisplatin 40
      mg/m(2)), or CCRT alone. The accrual of 172 was planned to detect a 15%
      difference in 5-year overall survival (OS) with a 5% significance level and 80%
      power. RESULTS: Between September 2004 and August 2012, 180 patients were
      accrued, and 172 (GCP 86, control 86) were analyzed by intention to treat. There
      was no significant difference in OS (3-year OS 94.3% [GCP] vs 92.3% [control];
      hazard ratio 1.05; 1-sided P=.494]), disease-free survival (hazard ratio 0.77,
      95% confidence interval 0.44-1.35, P=.362), and distant metastases-free survival
      (hazard ratio 0.80, 95% confidence interval 0.38-1.67, P=.547) between the 2
      arms. Treatment compliance in the induction phase was good, but the relative dose
      intensity for concurrent cisplatin was significantly lower in the GCP arm.
      Overall, the GCP arm had higher rates of grades 3 and 4 leukopenia (52% vs 37%)
      and neutropenia (24% vs 12%), but grade 3 and 4 acute radiation toxicities were
      not statistically different between the 2 arms. The global quality of life scores
      were comparable in both arms. CONCLUSION: Induction chemotherapy with GCP before
      concurrent chemo-irradiation did not improve survival in locally advanced NPC.

PMID- 25832688
TI  - Phase 1/2 trials of Temozolomide, Motexafin Gadolinium, and 60-Gy fractionated
      radiation for newly diagnosed supratentorial glioblastoma multiforme: final
      results of RTOG 0513.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of phase 1 was to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD)
      of motexafin gadolinium (MGd) given concurrently with temozolomide (TMZ) and
      radiation therapy (RT) in patients with newly diagnosed supratentorial
      glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Phase 2 determined whether this combination
      improved overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in GBM
      recursive partitioning analysis class III to V patients compared to therapies for
      recently published historical controls. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Dose escalation in
      phase 1 progressed through 3 cohorts until 2 of 6 patients experienced dose
      limiting toxicity or a dose of 5 mg/kg was reached. Once MTD was established, a 1
      sided 1-sample log-rank test at significance level of .1 had 85% power to detect
      a median survival difference (13.69 vs 18.48 months) with 60 deaths over a 12
      month accrual period and an additional 18 months of follow-up. OS and PFS were
      estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: In phase 1, 24 patients were
      enrolled. The MTD established was 5 mg/kg, given intravenously 5 days a week for
      the first 10 RT fractions, then 3 times a week for the duration of RT. The 7
      patients enrolled in the third dose level and the 94 enrolled in phase 2 received
      this dose. Of these 101 patients, 87 were eligible and evaluable. Median survival
      time was 15.6 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 12.9-17.6 months), not
      significantly different from that of the historical control (P=.36). Median PFS
      was 7.6 months (95% CI: 5.7-9.6 months). One patient (1%) experienced a grade 5
      adverse event possibly related to therapy during the concurrent phase, and none
      experience toxicity during adjuvant TMZ therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment was well
      tolerated, but median OS did not reach improvement specified by protocol compared
      to historical control, indicating that the combination of standard RT with TMZ
      and MGd did not achieve a significant survival advantage.

PMID- 25832689
TI  - Predictors of adverse cosmetic outcome in the RAPID trial: an exploratory
      analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate factors associated with adverse cosmesis outcome in breast
      cancer patients randomized to accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) using
      3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy or whole-breast irradiation in the
      RAPID (Randomized Trial of Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation) trial. METHODS
      AND MATERIALS: Subjects were trial participants with nurse-assessed global
      cosmetic scores at baseline and at 3 years. Adverse cosmesis was defined as a
      score of fair or poor. Cosmetic deterioration was defined as any adverse change
      in score from baseline to 3 years. The analysis is based on data from the
      previously reported interim analysis. Logistic regression models were used to
      assess the association of risk factors for these outcomes among all patients and
      those treated with APBI only. RESULTS: Clinicopathologic characteristics were
      similar between subjects randomized to APBI (n=569) or whole-breast irradiation
      (n=539). For all subjects, factors associated with adverse cosmesis at 3 years
      were older age, central/inner tumor location, breast infection, smoking, seroma
      volume, breast volume, and use of APBI; factors associated with cosmetic
      deterioration were smoking, seroma volume, and use of APBI (P<.05). For APBI
      subjects, tumor location, smoking, age, and seroma volume were associated with
      adverse cosmesis (P<.05), and smoking was associated with cosmetic deterioration
      (P=.02). An independent association between the V95/whole-breast volume ratio and
      adverse cosmesis (P=.28) or cosmetic deterioration (P=.07) was not detected. On
      further exploration a V95/whole-breast volume ratio <0.15 was associated with a
      lower risk of cosmetic deterioration (p=.04), but this accounted for only 11% of
      patients. CONCLUSION: In the RAPID trial, a number of patient tumor and treatment
      related factors, including the use of APBI, were associated with adverse cosmesis
      and cosmetic deterioration. For patients treated with APBI alone, the high-dose
      treatment volume was not independently associated with an adverse cosmetic
      outcome, and a useful clinical threshold could not be identified.

PMID- 25832690
TI  - Second malignancies after adjuvant radiation therapy for early stage breast
      cancer: is there increased risk with addition of regional radiation to local
      radiation?
AB  - PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to determine whether there was an increased
      risk of second malignancies (SM), particularly lung cancer, in early stage breast
      cancer patients treated with the addition of nodal fields to breast and/or chest
      wall radiation therapy (RT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Subjects were stage I/II
      female breast cancer patients 20 to 79 years of age, diagnosed between 1989 and
      2005 and treated with adjuvant RT at our institution. Patients were included if
      they survived and did not have SM within 3 years of diagnosis. Standardized
      incidence ratios (SIR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to
      compare SM incidence to cancer incidence in the general sex- and age-matched
      populations. Secondary malignancy risks in patients treated with local RT (LRT)
      to the breast/chest wall were compared to those in patients treated with
      locoregional RT (LRRT) to the breast/chest wall and regional nodes, using
      multivariate regression analysis (MVA) to account for covariates. RESULTS: The
      cohort included 12,836 patients with a median follow-up of 8.4 years. LRRT was
      used in 18% of patients. The SIR comparing patients treated with LRT to the
      general population was 1.29 (CI: 1.21-1.38). No statistically significant
      increased incidence of in-field malignancies (SIR, 1.04; CI: 0.87-1.23) and lung
      cancers (SIR, 1.06; CI: 0.88-1.26) was detected. The SIR comparing patients
      treated with LRRT to the general population was 1.39 (CI: 1.17-1.64). No
      statistically significant increased incidence of in-field malignancies (SIR,
      1.26; CI: 0.77-1.94) and lung cancers (SIR, 1.27; CI: 0.76-1.98) was detected. On
      MVA comparing LRRT to LRT, the adjusted hazard ratio was 1.20 for in-field
      malignancies (CI: 0.68-2.16) and 1.26 for lung cancer (CI: 0.67-2.36). The excess
      attributable risk (EAR) to regional RT was 3.1 per 10,000 person years (CI: -8.7
      to 9.9). CONCLUSIONS: No statistically significant increased risk of second
      malignancy was detected after LRRT relative to that for LRT. The upper limit of
      the EAR was approximately 1% at 10 years.

PMID- 25832691
TI  - Magnetic resonance imaging assessment of spinal cord and cauda equina motion in
      supine patients with spinal metastases planned for spine stereotactic body
      radiation therapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess motion of the spinal cord and cauda equina, which are critical
      neural tissues (CNT), which is important when evaluating the planning organ-at
      risk margin required for stereotactic body radiation therapy. METHODS AND
      MATERIALS: We analyzed CNT motion in 65 patients with spinal metastases (11
      cervical, 39 thoracic, and 24 lumbar spinal segments) in the supine position
      using dynamic axial and sagittal magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI, 3T Verio,
      Siemens) over a 137-second interval. Motion was segregated according to
      physiologic cardiorespiratory oscillatory motion (characterized by the average
      root mean square deviation) and random bulk shifts associated with gross patient
      motion (characterized by the range). Displacement was evaluated in the
      anteroposterior (AP), lateral (LR), and superior-inferior (SI) directions by use
      of a correlation coefficient template matching algorithm, with quantification of
      random motion measure error over 3 separate trials. Statistical significance was
      defined according to P<.05. RESULTS: In the AP, LR, and SI directions,
      significant oscillatory motion was observed in 39.2%, 35.1%, and 10.8% of spinal
      segments, respectively, and significant bulk motions in all cases. The median
      oscillatory CNT motions in the AP, LR, and SI directions were 0.16 mm, 0.17 mm,
      and 0.44 mm, respectively, and the maximal statistically significant oscillatory
      motions were 0.39 mm, 0.41 mm, and 0.77 mm, respectively. The median bulk
      displacements in the AP, LR, and SI directions were 0.51 mm, 0.59 mm, and 0.66
      mm, and the maximal statistically significant displacements were 2.21 mm, 2.87
      mm, and 3.90 mm, respectively. In the AP, LR, and SI directions, bulk
      displacements were greater than 1.5 mm in 5.4%, 9.0%, and 14.9% of spinal
      segments, respectively. No significant differences in axial motion were observed
      according to cord level or cauda equina. CONCLUSIONS: Oscillatory CNT motion was
      observed to be relatively minor. Our results support the importance of
      controlling bulk patient motion and the practice of applying a planning organ-at
      risk margin.

PMID- 25832692
TI  - Volumetric modulated arc therapy planning for primary prostate cancer with
      selective intraprostatic boost determined by 18F-choline PET/CT.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study evaluated expected tumor control and normal tissue toxicity
      for prostate volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) with and without radiation
      boosts to an intraprostatically dominant lesion (IDL), defined by (18)F-choline
      positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT). METHODS AND MATERIALS:
      Thirty patients with localized prostate cancer underwent (18)F-choline PET/CT
      before treatment. Two VMAT plans, plan79 Gy and plan100-105 Gy, were compared for
      each patient. The whole-prostate planning target volume (PTVprostate)
      prescription was 79 Gy in both plans, but plan100-105 Gy added simultaneous boost
      doses of 100 Gy and 105 Gy to the IDL, defined by 60% and 70% of maximum
      prostatic uptake on (18)F-choline PET (IDLsuv60% and IDLsuv70%, respectively,
      with IDLsuv70% nested inside IDLsuv60% to potentially enhance tumor specificity
      of the maximum point dose). Plan evaluations included histopathological
      correspondence, isodose distributions, dose-volume histograms, tumor control
      probability (TCP), and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP). RESULTS:
      Planning objectives and dose constraints proved feasible in 30 of 30 cases.
      Prostate sextant histopathology was available for 28 cases, confirming that
      IDLsuv60% adequately covered all tumor-bearing prostate sextants in 27 cases and
      provided partial coverage in 1 case. Plan100-105 Gy had significantly higher TCP
      than plan79 Gy across all prostate regions for alpha/beta ratios ranging from 1.5
      Gy to 10 Gy (P<.001 for each case). There were no significant differences in
      bladder and femoral head NTCP between plans and slightly lower rectal NTCP
      (endpoint: grade >= 2 late toxicity or rectal bleeding) was found for plan100-105
      Gy. CONCLUSIONS: VMAT can potentially increase the likelihood of tumor control in
      primary prostate cancer while observing normal tissue tolerances through
      simultaneous delivery of a steep radiation boost to a (18)F-choline PET-defined
      IDL.

PMID- 25832693
TI  - Evaluation of online/offline image guidance/adaptation approaches for prostate
      cancer radiation therapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate online/offline image-guided/adaptive treatment techniques
      for prostate cancer radiation therapy with daily cone-beam CT (CBCT) imaging.
      METHODS AND MATERIALS: Three treatment techniques were evaluated retrospectively
      using daily pre- and posttreatment CBCT images on 22 prostate cancer patients.
      Prostate, seminal vesicles (SV), rectal wall, and bladder were delineated on all
      CBCT images. For each patient, a pretreatment intensity modulated radiation
      therapy plan with clinical target volume (CTV) = prostate + SV and planning
      target volume (PTV) = CTV + 3 mm was created. The 3 treatment techniques were as
      follows: (1) Daily Correction: The pretreatment intensity modulated radiation
      therapy plan was delivered after online CBCT imaging, and position correction;
      (2) Online Planning: Daily online inverse plans with 3-mm CTV-to-PTV margin were
      created using online CBCT images, and delivered; and (3) Hybrid Adaption: Daily
      Correction plus an offline adaptive inverse planning performed after the first
      week of treatment. The adaptive plan was delivered for all remaining 15
      fractions. Treatment dose for each technique was constructed using the daily
      posttreatment CBCT images via deformable image registration. Evaluation was
      performed using treatment dose distribution in target and critical organs.
      RESULTS: Treatment equivalent uniform dose (EUD) for the CTV was within [85.6%,
      100.8%] of the pretreatment planned target EUD for Daily Correction; [98.7%,
      103.0%] for Online Planning; and [99.2%, 103.4%] for Hybrid Adaptation. Eighteen
      percent of the 22 patients in Daily Correction had a target dose deficiency >5%.
      For rectal wall, the mean +/- SD of the normalized EUD was 102.6% +/- 2.7% for
      Daily Correction, 99.9% +/- 2.5% for Online Planning, and 100.6% +/- 2.1% for
      Hybrid Adaptation. The mean +/- SD of the normalized bladder EUD was 108.7% +/-
      8.2% for Daily Correction, 92.7% +/- 8.6% for Online Planning, and 89.4% +/-
      10.8% for Hybrid Adaptation. CONCLUSIONS: Both Online Planning and Hybrid
      Adaptation can achieve comparable target coverage and normal tissue sparing and
      are superior to the Daily Correction technique. The Daily Correction technique
      using a 3-mm target margin in the pretreatment plan is not appropriate to
      compensate for residual variations in CBCT image-guided prostate cancer radiation
      therapy.

PMID- 25832694
TI  - Comparative assessment of liver tumor motion using cine-magnetic resonance
      imaging versus 4-dimensional computed tomography.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the extent of tumor motion between 4-dimensional CT (4DCT)
      and cine-MRI in patients with hepatic tumors treated with radiation therapy.
      METHODS AND MATERIALS: Patients with liver tumors who underwent 4DCT and 2
      dimensional biplanar cine-MRI scans during simulation were retrospectively
      reviewed to determine the extent of target motion in the superior-inferior,
      anterior-posterior, and lateral directions. Cine-MRI was performed over 5
      minutes. Tumor motion from MRI was determined by tracking the centroid of the
      gross tumor volume using deformable image registration. Motion estimates from
      4DCT were performed by evaluation of the fiducial, residual contrast (or liver
      contour) positions in each CT phase. RESULTS: Sixteen patients with
      hepatocellular carcinoma (n=11), cholangiocarcinoma (n=3), and liver metastasis
      (n=2) were reviewed. Cine-MRI motion was larger than 4DCT for the superior
      inferior direction in 50% of patients by a median of 3.0 mm (range, 1.5-7 mm),
      the anterior-posterior direction in 44% of patients by a median of 2.5 mm (range,
      1-5.5 mm), and laterally in 63% of patients by a median of 1.1 mm (range, 0.2-4.5
      mm). CONCLUSIONS: Cine-MRI frequently detects larger differences in hepatic
      intrafraction tumor motion when compared with 4DCT most notably in the superior
      inferior direction, and may be useful when assessing the need for or treating
      without respiratory management, particularly in patients with unreliable 4DCT
      imaging. Margins wider than the internal target volume as defined by 4DCT were
      required to encompass nearly all the motion detected by cine-MRI for some of the
      patients in this study.

PMID- 25832695
TI  - Computed tomography number changes observed during computed tomography-guided
      radiation therapy for head and neck cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate CT number (CTN) changes in gross tumor volume (GTV) and
      organ at risk (OAR) according to daily diagnostic-quality CT acquired during CT
      guided intensity modulated radiation therapy for head and neck cancer (HNC)
      patients. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Computed tomography scans acquired using a CT-on
      rails during daily CT-guided intensity modulated radiation therapy for 15
      patients with stage II to IVa squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were
      analyzed. The GTV, parotid glands, spinal cord, and nonspecified tissue were
      generated on each selected daily CT. The changes in CTN distributions and the
      mean and mode values were collected. Pearson analysis was used to assess the
      correlation between the CTN change, organ volume reduction, and delivered
      radiation dose. RESULTS: Volume and CTN changes for GTV and parotid glands can be
      observed during radiation therapy delivery for HNC. The mean (+/-SD) CTNs in GTV
      and ipsi- and contralateral parotid glands were reduced by 6 +/- 10, 8 +/- 7, and
      11 +/- 10 Hounsfield units, respectively, for all patients studied. The mean CTN
      changes in both spinal cord and nonspecified tissue were almost invisible (<2
      Hounsfield units). For 2 patients studied, the absolute mean CTN changes in GTV
      and parotid glands were strongly correlated with the dose delivered (P<.001 and
      P<.05, respectively). For the correlation between CTN reductions and delivered
      isodose bins for parotid glands, the Pearson coefficient varied from -0.98
      (P<.001) in regions with low-dose bins to 0.96 (P<.001) in high-dose bins and
      were patient specific. CONCLUSIONS: The CTN can be reduced in tumor and parotid
      glands during the course of radiation therapy for HNC. There was a fair
      correlation between CTN reduction and radiation doses for a subset of patients,
      whereas the correlation between CTN reductions and volume reductions in GTV and
      parotid glands were weak. More studies are needed to understand the mechanism for
      the radiation-induced CTN changes.

PMID- 25832696
TI  - Linear energy transfer painting with proton therapy: a means of reducing
      radiation doses with equivalent clinical effectiveness.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to propose a proton treatment planning
      method that trades physical dose (D) for dose-averaged linear energy transfer
      (LETd) while keeping the radiobiologically weighted dose (DRBE) to the target the
      same. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The target is painted with LETd by using 2, 4, and 7
      fields aimed at the proximal segment of the target (split target planning [STP]).
      As the LETd within the target increases with increasing number of fields, D
      decreases to maintain the DRBE the same as the conventional treatment planning
      method by using beams treating the full target (full target planning [FTP]).
      RESULTS: The LETd increased 61% for 2-field STP (2STP) compared to FTP, 72% for
      4STP, and 82% for 7STP inside the target. This increase in LETd led to a decrease
      of D with 5.3 +/- 0.6 Gy for 2STP, 4.4 +/- 0.7 Gy for 4STP, and 5.3 +/- 1.1 Gy
      for 7STP, keeping the Drbe at 90% of the volume (Drbe, 90) constant to FTP.
      CONCLUSIONS: LETd painting offers a method to reduce prescribed dose at no cost
      to the biological effectiveness of the treatment.

PMID- 25832698
TI  - Lung cancer cell line screen links fanconi anemia/BRCA pathway defects to
      increased relative biological effectiveness of proton radiation.
AB  - PURPOSE: Growing knowledge of genomic heterogeneity in cancer, especially when it
      results in altered DNA damage responses, requires re-examination of the generic
      relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of 1.1 of protons. METHODS AND MATERIALS:
      For determination of cellular radiosensitivity, we irradiated 17 lung cancer cell
      lines at the mid-spread-out Bragg peak of a clinical proton beam (linear energy
      transfer, 2.5 keV/MUm). For comparison, 250-kVp X rays and (137)Cs gamma-rays
      were used. To estimate the RBE of protons relative to (60)Co (Co60eq), we
      assigned an RBE(Co60Eq) of 1.1 to X rays to correct the physical dose measured.
      Standard DNA repair foci assays were used to monitor damage responses. FANCD2 was
      depleted using RNA interference. RESULTS: Five lung cancer cell lines (29.4%)
      exhibited reduced clonogenic survival after proton irradiation compared with X
      irradiation with the same physical doses. This was confirmed in a 3-dimensional
      sphere assay. Corresponding proton RBE(Co60Eq) estimates were statistically
      significantly different from 1.1 (P<=.05): 1.31 to 1.77 (for a survival fraction
      of 0.5). In 3 of these lines, increased RBE was correlated with alterations in
      the Fanconi anemia (FA)/BRCA pathway of DNA repair. In Calu-6 cells, the data
      pointed toward an FA pathway defect, leading to a previously unreported
      persistence of proton-induced RAD51 foci. The FA/BRCA-defective cells displayed a
      25% increase in the size of subnuclear 53BP1 foci 18 hours after proton
      irradiation. CONCLUSIONS: Our cell line screen has revealed variations in proton
      RBE that are partly due to FA/BRCA pathway defects, suggesting that the use of a
      generic RBE for cancers should be revisited. We propose that functional
      biomarkers, such as size of residual 53BP1 foci, may be used to identify cancers
      with increased sensitivity to proton radiation.

PMID- 25832697
TI  - High-density and very-low-density lipoprotein have opposing roles in regulating
      tumor-initiating cells and sensitivity to radiation in inflammatory breast
      cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: We previously demonstrated that cholesterol-lowering agents regulate
      radiation sensitivity of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) cell lines in vitro and
      are associated with less radiation resistance among IBC patients who undergo
      postmastectomy radiation. We hypothesized that decreasing IBC cellular
      cholesterol induced by treatment with lipoproteins would increase radiation
      sensitivity. Here, we examined the impact of specific transporters of cholesterol
      (ie lipoproteins) on the responses of IBC cells to self-renewal and to radiation
      in vitro and on clinical outcomes in IBC patients. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Two
      patient-derived IBC cell lines, SUM 149 and KPL4, were incubated with low-density
      lipoproteins (LDL), very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), or high-density
      lipoproteins (HDL) for 24 hours prior to irradiation (0-6 Gy) and mammosphere
      formation assay. Cholesterol panels were examined in a cohort of patients with
      primary IBC diagnosed between 1995 and 2011 at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
      Lipoprotein levels were then correlated to patient outcome, using the log rank
      statistical model, and examined in multivariate analysis using Cox regression.
      RESULTS: VLDL increased and HDL decreased mammosphere formation compared to
      untreated SUM 149 and KPL4 cells. Survival curves showed enhancement of survival
      in both of the IBC cell lines when pretreated with VLDL and, conversely,
      radiation sensitization in all cell lines when pretreated with HDL. In IBC
      patients, higher VLDL values (>30 mg/dL) predicted a lower 5-year overall
      survival rate than normal values (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.9 [95% confidence
      interval [CI]: 1.05-3.45], P=.035). Lower-than-normal patient HDL values (<60
      mg/dL) predicted a lower 5-year overall survival rate than values higher than 60
      mg/dL (HR = 3.21 [95% CI: 1.25-8.27], P=.015). CONCLUSIONS: This study discovered
      a relationship among the plasma levels of lipoproteins, overall patient response,
      and radiation resistance in IBC patients and IBC patient-derived cell lines. A
      more expansive study is needed to verify these observations.

PMID- 25832699
TI  - Ataxia telangiectasia-mutated gene polymorphisms and acute normal tissue injuries
      in cancer patients after radiation therapy: a systematic review and meta
      analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Studies of the association between ataxia telangiectasia-mutated (ATM)
      gene polymorphisms and acute radiation injuries are often small in sample size,
      and the results are inconsistent. We conducted the first meta-analysis to provide
      a systematic review of published findings. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Publications
      were identified by searching PubMed up to April 25, 2014. Primary meta-analysis
      was performed for all acute radiation injuries, and subgroup meta-analyses were
      based on clinical endpoint. The influence of sample size and radiation injury
      incidence on genetic effects was estimated in sensitivity analyses. Power
      calculations were also conducted. RESULTS: The meta-analysis was conducted on the
      ATM polymorphism rs1801516, including 5 studies with 1588 participants. For all
      studies, the cut-off for differentiating cases from controls was grade 2 acute
      radiation injuries. The primary meta-analysis showed a significant association
      with overall acute radiation injuries (allelic model: odds ratio = 1.33, 95%
      confidence interval: 1.04-1.71). Subgroup analyses detected an association
      between the rs1801516 polymorphism and a significant increase in urinary and
      lower gastrointestinal injuries and an increase in skin injury that was not
      statistically significant. There was no between-study heterogeneity in any meta
      analyses. In the sensitivity analyses, small studies did not show larger effects
      than large studies. In addition, studies with high incidence of acute radiation
      injuries showed larger effects than studies with low incidence. Power
      calculations revealed that the statistical power of the primary meta-analysis was
      borderline, whereas there was adequate power for the subgroup analysis of studies
      with high incidence of acute radiation injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis
      showed a consistency of the results from the overall and subgroup analyses. We
      also showed that the genetic effect of the rs1801516 polymorphism on acute
      radiation injuries was dependent on the incidence of the injury. These support
      the evidence of an association between the rs1801516 polymorphism and acute
      radiation injuries, encouraging further research of this topic.

PMID- 25832700
TI  - A comparison of evidence-based estimates and empirical benchmarks of the
      appropriate rate of use of radiation therapy in ontario.
AB  - PURPOSE: Estimates of the appropriate rate of use of radiation therapy (RT) are
      required for planning and monitoring access to RT. Our objective was to compare
      estimates of the appropriate rate of use of RT derived from mathematical models,
      with the rate observed in a population of patients with optimal access to RT.
      METHODS AND MATERIALS: The rate of use of RT within 1 year of diagnosis (RT1Y)
      was measured in the 134,541 cases diagnosed in Ontario between November 2009 and
      October 2011. The lifetime rate of use of RT (RTLIFETIME) was estimated by the
      multicohort utilization table method. Poisson regression was used to evaluate
      potential barriers to access to RT and to identify a benchmark subpopulation with
      unimpeded access to RT. Rates of use of RT were measured in the benchmark
      subpopulation and compared with published evidence-based estimates of the
      appropriate rates. RESULTS: The benchmark rate for RT1Y, observed under
      conditions of optimal access, was 33.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 33.0%
      34.1%), and the benchmark for RTLIFETIME was 41.5% (95% CI, 41.2%-42.0%).
      Benchmarks for RTLIFETIME for 4 of 5 selected sites and for all cancers combined
      were significantly lower than the corresponding evidence-based estimates.
      Australian and Canadian evidence-based estimates of RTLIFETIME for 5 selected
      sites differed widely. RTLIFETIME in the overall population of Ontario was just
      7.9% short of the benchmark but 20.9% short of the Australian evidence-based
      estimate of the appropriate rate. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence-based estimates of the
      appropriate lifetime rate of use of RT may overestimate the need for RT in
      Ontario.

PMID- 25832701
TI  - Readability of patient education materials from professional societies in
      radiation oncology: are we meeting the national standard?

PMID- 25832702
TI  - Revisiting cobalt 60 teletherapy. In regard to Page et Al.

PMID- 25832703
TI  - In reply to Ravichandran and Ravikumar.

PMID- 25832704
TI  - Elective nodal irradiation in early non-small cell lung cancer. In regard to Lao
      et al.

PMID- 25832705
TI  - In reply to Cihoric and Jeremic.

PMID- 25832706
TI  - Progression rate of silent corticotroph adenomas after stereotactic radiosurgery.
      In regard to Xu et al.

PMID- 25832708
TI  - Erratum to: Melidis C, Bosch WR, Izewska J, et al. Global harmonization of
      quality assurance naming conventions in radiation therapy Clinical Trials. Int J
      Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2014;90:1242-1249.

PMID- 25832707
TI  - In reply to Chen and Chung.

PMID- 25832709
TI  - Erratum to: Rodrigues G, Oberije C, Senan S, et al. is intermediate radiation
      dose escalation with concurrent chemotherapy for stage III non-small cell lung
      cancer beneficial? A multi-institutional propensity score matched analysis. Int J
      Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2015;91:133-139.

PMID- 25832710
TI  - Erratum to: Wallner PE, Anscher MS, Barker CA, et al. Current status and
      recommendations for the future of research, teaching, and testing in the
      biological sciences of radiation oncology: report of the American Society for
      Radiation Oncology Cancer Biology/Radiation Biology Task Force, executive
      summary. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2014;88:11-17.

PMID- 25832713
TI  - Metabolic Profiling of Bacteria by Unnatural C-terminated D-Amino Acids.
AB  - Bacterial peptidoglycan is a mesh-like network comprised of sugars and
      oligopeptides. Transpeptidases cross-link peptidoglycan oligopeptides to provide
      vital cell wall rigidity and structural support. It was recently discovered that
      the same transpeptidases catalyze the metabolic incorporation of exogenous D
      amino acids onto bacterial cell surfaces with vast promiscuity for the side-chain
      identity. It is now shown that this enzymatic promiscuity is not exclusive to
      side chains, but that C-terminus variations can also be accommodated across a
      diverse range of bacteria. Atomic force microscopy analysis revealed that the
      incorporation of C-terminus amidated D-amino acids onto bacterial surfaces
      substantially reduced the cell wall stiffness. We exploited the promiscuity of
      bacterial transpeptidases to develop a novel assay for profiling different
      bacterial species. 

PMID- 25832714
TI  - The Ras/MAPK pathway and hepatocarcinoma: pathogenesis and therapeutic
      implications.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still a major health problem, often
      diagnosed at an advanced stage. The multikinase inhibitor sorafenib is to date
      the sole approved systemic therapy. Several signalling pathways are implicated in
      tumour development and progression. Among these pathways, the Ras/MAPK pathway is
      activated in 50-100% of human HCCs and is correlated with a poor prognosis. The
      aim of this work was to review the main intracellular mechanisms leading to
      aberrant Ras pathway activation in HCC and the potential therapeutic
      implications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This review is based on the material found
      on PubMed up to December 2014. 'Ras signaling, Ras dysregulation, Ras inhibition,
      MAPK pathway, cancer, hepatocarcinoma and liver cancer' alone or in combination
      were the main terms used for online research. RESULTS: Multiple mechanisms lead
      to the deregulation of the Ras pathway in liver cancer. Ras and Raf gene
      mutations are rare events in human hepatocarcinogenesis in contrast to
      experimental models in rodents. Downregulation of several Ras/MAPK pathway
      inhibitors such as GAPs, RASSF proteins, DUSP1, Sprouty and Spred proteins is
      largely implicated in the aberrant activation of this pathway in the context of
      wild-type Ras and Raf genes. Epigenetic or post-transcriptional mechanisms lead
      to the downregulation of these tumour suppressor genes. CONCLUSION: Ras/MAPK
      pathway effectors may be considered as potential therapeutic targets in the field
      of HCC. In particular after the arrival of sorafenib, more Ras/MAPK inhibitors
      have emerged and are still in preclinical or clinical investigation for HCC
      therapy.

PMID- 25832715
TI  - Ultrafast myoglobin structural dynamics observed with an X-ray free-electron
      laser.
AB  - Light absorption can trigger biologically relevant protein conformational
      changes. The light-induced structural rearrangement at the level of a
      photoexcited chromophore is known to occur in the femtosecond timescale and is
      expected to propagate through the protein as a quake-like intramolecular motion.
      Here we report direct experimental evidence of such 'proteinquake' observed in
      myoglobin through femtosecond X-ray solution scattering measurements performed at
      the Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray free-electron laser. An ultrafast increase
      of myoglobin radius of gyration occurs within 1 picosecond and is followed by a
      delayed protein expansion. As the system approaches equilibrium it undergoes
      damped oscillations with a ~3.6-picosecond time period. Our results unambiguously
      show how initially localized chemical changes can propagate at the level of the
      global protein conformation in the picosecond timescale. 

PMID- 25832717
TI  - Recent progress in drug discovery for Parkinson's disease.

PMID- 25832718
TI  - Dopamine D3 agonists in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Parkinson's disease (PD) is t he second most common form of neurodegenerative
      disorders that results from the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the
      midbrain substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) triggering profound motor
      perturbation, as well as cognitive, sensory and mood deficits. Although these
      symptoms can be improved using currently available dopamine replacement
      strategies, they are not able to slow the neurodegenerative process that
      underlies PD progression. Following the discovery of the D3 receptor from
      molecular cloning, it has gained much attention as a potential therapeutic target
      for the treatment of PD due to their localization in the limbic regions of the
      brain as well as pharmacologic similarity to the D2 receptor subtype. Of
      particular interest, D3 receptor-selective agonists appear to have
      neuroprotective effects apart from their ability to relieve PD symptoms. Owing to
      the distinct significance of D3 receptor in mediating diverse neurological
      effects, it represents a unique target for therapeutic intervention in PD with
      much less undesirable side effects. Herein, we review progress in the development
      of D3 receptor-selective agonist molecules having a broad spectrum of affinities,
      selectivities as well as unique pharmacological properties directed at slowing
      the neurodegeneration process.

PMID- 25832716
TI  - PSF: nuclear busy-body or nuclear facilitator?
AB  - PTB-associated splicing factor (PSF) is an abundant and essential nucleic acid
      binding protein that participates in a wide range of gene regulatory processes
      and cellular response pathways. At the protein level, PSF consists of multiple
      domains, many of which remain poorly characterized. Although grouped in a family
      with the proteins p54nrb/NONO and PSPC1 based on sequence homology, PSF contains
      additional protein sequence not included in other family members. Consistently,
      PSF has also been implicated in functions not ascribed to p54nrb/NONO or PSPC1.
      Here, we provide a review of the cellular activities in which PSF has been
      implicated and what is known regarding the mechanisms by which PSF functions in
      each case. We propose that the complex domain arrangement of PSF allows for its
      diversity of function and integration of activities. Finally, we discuss recent
      evidence that individual activities of PSF can be regulated independently from
      one another through the activity of domain-specific co-factors.

PMID- 25832719
TI  - Inhibitors of leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2): progress and promise for the
      treatment of Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Mutations in the gene for leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) have been linked
      to several familial and sporadic late-onset cases of Parkinson's disease. The
      cumulative data for the effects of mutant forms of this enzyme on neuronal
      degradation and the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease create a compelling
      case for drug discovery based on inhibition of the mutant forms of LRRK2. This
      review focuses on structure-activity relationships for inhibitors of LRRK2 and
      the data supporting a potential role of these agents in treating Parkinson's
      disease. 

PMID- 25832720
TI  - Design and development of a novel supportive care product for the treatment of
      sialorrhea in Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Sialorrhea or excessive drooling is a significant medical issue in Parkinson's
      disease (PD) and neurodegenerative disorders, although it is often underreported
      by patients. Sialorrhea affects a large proportion of PD patients, ranging up to
      78% in advanced stages, with many PD patients considering drooling as their worst
      non-motor symptom. Sialorrhea affects up to a million patients with diverse
      neurological impairments, including cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
      (ALS), Huntington's, survivors of stroke and severe traumatic brain injury.
      Numerous approaches have been attempted to treat sialorrhea in PD patients,
      including surgical procedures, prosthetic devices, botulinum injections, systemic
      anticholinergic drugs, and speech and behavioral therapy. A novel drug treatment
      (NH004) to control the symptoms of sialorrhea is under development. The active
      ingredient is the anticholinergic drug tropicamide. Anticholinergic drugs work by
      blocking acetylcholine muscarinic receptors and ultimately decreasing saliva
      secretion via the reduction of parasympathetic autonomic nervous system activity.
      The tropicamide is delivered in a thin film designed to adhere to the buccal
      mucosa and to slowly dissolve within the oral cavity, allowing the drug to reach
      the underlying salivary gland. A pilot study testing NH004 in PD patients has
      suggested a potentially useful sialorrhea-reducing effect with NH004 compared to
      placebo. The advantages of NH004 include local bioavailability with low systemic
      exposure, rapid onset of action and, importantly, convenience of use for
      patients. This review summarizes the current knowledge and impact of sialorrhea
      as a common non-motor symptom in PD, treatment options, the anticholinergic drug
      tropicamide, the design and development of the thin film drug delivery system,
      and NH004 for the treatment of sialorrhea. 

PMID- 25832721
TI  - Agonists of the tissue-protective erythropoietin receptor in the treatment of
      Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease affecting more than a
      million people in the USA alone. While there are effective symptomatic treatments
      for PD, there is an urgent need for new therapies that slow or halt the
      progressive death of dopaminergic neurons. Significant progress has been made in
      understanding the pathophysiology of PD, which has substantially facilitated the
      discovery efforts to identify novel drugs. The tissue-protective erythropoietin
      (EPO) receptor, EPOR/CD131, has emerged as one promising target for disease
      modifying therapies. Recombinant human EPO (rhEPO), several variants of EPO, EPO
      mimetic peptides, cell-based therapies using cells incubated with or expressing
      EPO, gene therapy vectors encoding EPO, and small molecule EPO mimetic compounds
      all show potential as therapeutic candidates. Agonists of the EPOR/CD131 receptor
      demonstrate potent anti-apoptotic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects and
      protect neurons, including dopaminergic neurons, from diverse insults in vitro
      and in vivo. When delivered directly to the striatum, rhEPO protects dopaminergic
      neurons in animal models of PD. Early-stage clinical trials testing systemic
      rhEPO have provided encouraging results, while additional controlled studies are
      required to fully assess the potential of the treatment. Poor CNS availability of
      proteins and challenges related to invasive delivery limit delivery of EPO
      protein. Several variants of EPO and small molecule agonists of the EPO receptors
      are making progress in preclinical studies and may offer solutions to these
      challenges. While EPO was initially discovered as the primary modulator of
      erythropoiesis, the discovery and characterization of the tissue-protective
      EPOR/CD131 receptor offer an opportunity to selectively target the
      neuroprotective receptor as an approach to identify disease-modifying treatments
      for PD. 

PMID- 25832722
TI  - A Rare Case of an Intact Bone Plug Associated with a Gunshot Exit Wound.
AB  - This case study presents an unusual manifestation of gunshot trauma in skeletal
      tissue from a post-World War II human rights abuse sample uncovered in Vilnius,
      Lithuania. After briefly reviewing the typical wound appearance of projectile
      trauma in the cranium, we discuss the presence of an intact bone plug associated
      with a gunshot exit wound in an individual from the Tuskulenai Case. While this
      individual demonstrated typical gunshot entry and exit wounds to the cranium
      consistent with high-velocity trauma, the bone plug indicates that the projectile
      likely lost much of its kinetic energy while traveling through the cranium
      resulting in a low-velocity impact at the exit site. This study reviews a similar
      instance of a bone plug recovered from a bioarcheological sample in Peru and
      emphasizes the importance of thorough archeological excavations of mass graves. 

PMID- 25832724
TI  - Secondary cranial vault remodeling for restenosis after primary sagittal
      synostosis repair.
AB  - The mainstay of treatment for single-suture cranial synostosis is cranial vault
      reconstruction. After primary cranial vault remodeling, patients are at risk for
      cranial restenosis and delayed intracranial hypertension, which may result in
      developmental delay or blindness. Synostosis patients are therefore generally
      monitored periodically for signs and symptoms of intracranial hypertension that
      may indicate a second cranial expansion procedure. The authors present a
      carefully illustrated case of a patient who presented 2 years after primary
      cranial vault reconstruction for sagittal synostosis with a decrease in head
      circumference percentile, recurrent cranial dysmorphism, papilledema, headaches
      and computed tomographic imaging findings consistent with cranial restenosis.
      These findings resolved after secondary cranial vault remodeling. The authors
      advocate a protocol of prospective routine clinical and radiographic follow-up
      after primary cranial vault repair for single-suture cranial synostosis, and
      illustrate the specific clinical and radiographic findings suggestive of this
      late complication in a representative individual patient.

PMID- 25832723
TI  - Associations of pre-transplant prescription narcotic use with clinical
      complications after kidney transplantation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The impact of narcotic use before kidney transplantation on post
      transplant clinical outcomes is not well described. METHODS: We examined
      integrated national transplant registry, pharmacy records, and Medicare billing
      claims to follow 16,322 kidney transplant recipients, of whom 28.3% filled a
      narcotic prescription in the year before transplantation. Opioid analgesic fills
      were normalized to morphine equivalents (ME) and expressed as mg/kg exposures
      (approximate quartiles: 0.1-1.7, 1.8-5.4, 5.5-23.7, and >= 23.8 mg/kg,
      respectively). Post-transplant cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological,
      accidents, substance abuse, and noncompliance events were identified using
      diagnosis codes on Medicare billing claims. Adjusted associations of ME level
      with post-transplant complications were quantified by multivariate Cox
      regression. RESULTS: The incidence of complications at 3 years post-transplant
      among those with the highest pre-transplant ME exposure compared to no use
      included: ventricular arrhythmias, 1.1 vs. 0.2% (p < 0.001); cardiac arrest, 4.7
      vs. 2.7% (p < 0.05); hypotension, 14 vs. 8% (p < 0.0001); hypercapnia, 1.6 vs.
      0.9% (p < 0.05); mental status changes, 5.3 vs. 2.7% (p < 0.001); drug
      abuse/dependence, 7.0 vs. 1.7% (p < 0.0001); alcohol abuse, 1.8 vs. 0.6% (p =
      0.0001); accidents, 0.9 vs. 0.3% (p < 0.05); and noncompliance, 3.5 vs. 2.3% (p <
      0.05). In multivariate analyses, transplant recipients with the highest level of
      pre-transplant narcotic use had approximately 2 to 4 times the risks of post
      transplant ventricular arrhythmias, mental status changes, drug abuse, alcohol
      abuse, and accidents compared with non-users, and 35-45% higher risks of cardiac
      arrest and hypotension. CONCLUSION: Although associations may reflect underlying
      conditions or behaviors, high-level prescription narcotic use before kidney
      transplantation predicts increased risk of clinical complications after
      transplantation.

PMID- 25832725
TI  - Prognostic value of pro-inflammatory cytokine and pro-angiogenesis factor in
      differentiating malignant from benign exudative effusion.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The precise mechanism of pathogenesis in exudation of
      effusions is uncertain. Released factors in inflammation and malignancy of pleura
      are related to incremented permeability of the micro-pleural vessels.
      Angiopoietins (Ang) take part in development of angiogenesis and pleural
      inflammation. Interleukin-8 (IL-8) influences proliferation and tumor
      angiogenesis and it is expressed in cancer. The aims of this study were to
      investigate the relationship between inflammation, angiogenesis and etiologies of
      exudative effusions, and to evaluate the diagnostic value in differentiating
      malignant from benign. METHODS: The study includes 49 pleural fluid (PF) samples.
      Ang-2 and IL-8 in PF and serum were estimated. RESULTS: Ten patients were
      transudative and 39 patients were exudative fluid, subdivided into 16 benign and
      23 malignant effusion. Ang-2 and IL-8 either fluid level or ratio were in
      significantly high in exudative more than in transudative fluid (P = 0.002). Ang
      2 and IL-8 in PF were in high level than in serum of exudative and transudative.
      Ang-2 fluid level and ratio were significantly high in benign exudative effusion
      (P = 0.01, P = 0.05, respectively), while IL-8 level was significantly high in
      malignant exudative effusion (P = 0.04). Cut-off points for PF Ang-2 and IL-8 in
      differentiating malignant from benign exudative were 15.67 ng/mL, 325.54 pg/mL,
      respectively. CONCLUSION: Our results support the evidence that angiogenesis and
      inflammatory pathways are linked, and that inflammation and vascular permeability
      of pleura constitutes the pathogenic basis of the majority of exudative effusion.

PMID- 25832726
TI  - Segregation of ovarian cancer stage exploiting spectral biomarkers derived from
      blood plasma or serum analysis: ATR-FTIR spectroscopy coupled with variable
      selection methods.
AB  - Ovarian cancer is a solid tumor and a leading cause of mortality. Diagnostic
      tools for the detection of early stage (stage I) ovarian cancer are urgently
      needed. For this purpose, attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared
      spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) coupled with variable selection methods, successive
      projection algorithm or genetic algorithm (GA) combined with linear discriminant
      analysis (LDA), were employed to identify spectral biomarkers in blood plasma or
      serum samples for accurate diagnosis of different stages of ovarian cancer,
      histological type and segregation based on age. Three spectral datasets (stage I
      vs. stage II-IV; serous vs. non-serous carcinoma; and, <=60 years vs. >60 years)
      were processed: sensitivity and specificity required for real-world diagnosis of
      ovarian cancer was achieved. Toward segregating stage I vs. stage II-IV,
      sensitivity and specificity (plasma blood) of 100% was achieved using a GA-LDA
      model with 33 wavenumbers. For serous vs. non-serous category (plasma blood), the
      sensitivity and specificity levels, using 29 wavenumbers by GA-LDA, were
      remarkable (up to 94%). For <=60 years and >60 years categories (plasma blood),
      the sensitivity and specificity, using 42 wavenumbers by GA-LDA, gave complete
      accuracy (100%). For serum samples, sensitivity and specificity results gave
      relatively high accuracy (up to 91.6% stage I vs. stage II-IV; up to 93.0% serous
      vs. non-serous; and, up to 96.0% <=60 years vs. >60 years) using several
      wavenumbers. These findings justify a prospective population-based assessment of
      biomarkers signatures using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy as a screening tool for stage
      of ovarian cancer.

PMID- 25832728
TI  - Quality Management in Scientific Publishing--the Importance to Critically
      Scrutinize Scientific Work.

PMID- 25832727
TI  - High-throughput protease activity cytometry reveals dose-dependent heterogeneity
      in PMA-mediated ADAM17 activation.
AB  - As key components of autocrine signaling, pericellular proteases, a disintegrin
      and metalloproteinases (ADAMs) in particular, are known to impact the
      microenvironment of individual cells and have significant implications in various
      pathological situations including cancer, inflammatory and vascular diseases.
      There is great incentive to develop a high-throughput platform for single-cell
      measurement of pericellular protease activity, as it is essential for studying
      the heterogeneity of protease response and the corresponding cell behavioral
      consequences. In this work, we developed a microfluidic platform to
      simultaneously monitor protease activity of many single cells in a time-dependent
      manner. This platform isolates individual microwells rapidly on demand and thus
      allows single-cell activity measurement of both cell-surface and secreted
      proteases by confining individual cells with diffusive FRET-based substrates.
      With this platform, we observed dose-dependent heterogeneous protease activation
      of HepG2 cells treated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). To study the
      temporal behavior of PMA-induced protease response, we monitored the pericellular
      protease activity of the same single cells during three different time periods
      and revealed the diversity in the dynamic patterns of single-cell protease
      activity profile upon PMA stimulation. The unique temporal information of single
      cell protease response can help unveil the complicated functional role of
      pericellular proteases.

PMID- 25832729
TI  - Long-Term Results of Various Operations for Lumbar Disc Herniation: Analysis of
      over 39,000 Patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the long-term follow-up of the various operations for
      lumbar disc herniation in a large patient population. SUBJECTS AND METHODS:
      Patients who had operations for lumbar disc herniation (microdiscectomy,
      endoscopic microdiscectomy and the 'classical operation', i.e.
      laminectomy/laminotomy with discectomy) were collected from the world literature.
      Patients who had follow-ups for at least 2 years were analyzed relative to the
      outcome. The outcome was graded by the patients themselves, and the operative
      groups were compared to one another. RESULTS: 39,048 patients collected from the
      world literature had had lumbar disc operations for disc herniations. The mean
      follow-up period was 6.1 years, and 30,809 (78.9%) patients reported
      good/excellent results. Microdiscectomy was performed on 3,400 (8.7%) patients.
      The mean follow-up was 4.1 years with 2,866 (84.3%) good/excellent results, while
      1,101 (3.6%) patients had endoscopic microdiscectomy. There, the mean follow-up
      was 2.9 years with 845 (79.5%) good/excellent results. The classical operation
      was performed on 34,547 (88.5%) patients with a mean follow-up period of 6.3
      years, and 27,050 (78.3%) patients had good/excellent results. These results
      mirror those with discectomy and the placement of prosthetic discs. CONCLUSIONS:
      The analysis of 39,048 patients with various operations for lumbar disc
      herniation revealed the same pattern of long-term results. Patients who had
      microdiscectomy, endoscopic microdiscectomy or the classical operation
      (laminectomy/laminotomy with discectomy) all had approximately 79% good/excellent
      results. None of the operative procedures gave a different outcome. l.

PMID- 25832732
TI  - gamma134.5-deleted HSV-1-expressing human cytomegalovirus IRS1 gene kills human
      glioblastoma cells as efficiently as wild-type HSV-1 in normoxia or hypoxia.

PMID- 25832730
TI  - Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 3 promotes leukocyte rolling by mobilizing
      endothelial P-selectin.
AB  - Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) participates in inflammation; however, its role in
      leukocyte rolling is still unclear. Here we use intravital microscopy in inflamed
      mouse cremaster muscle venules and human endothelial cells to show that S1P
      contributes to P-selectin-dependent leukocyte rolling through endothelial S1P
      receptor 3 (S1P3) and Galphaq, PLCbeta and Ca(2+). Intra-arterial S1P
      administration increases leukocyte rolling, while S1P3 deficiency or inhibition
      dramatically reduces it. Mast cells involved in triggering rolling also release
      S1P that mobilizes P-selectin through S1P3. Histamine and epinephrine require
      S1P3 for full-scale effect accomplishing it by stimulating sphingosine kinase 1
      (Sphk1). In a counter-regulatory manner, S1P1 inhibits cAMP-stimulated Sphk1 and
      blocks rolling as observed in endothelial-specific S1P1(-/-) mice. In agreement
      with a dominant pro-rolling effect of S1P3, FTY720 inhibits rolling in control
      and S1P1(-/-) but not in S1P3(-/-) mice. Our findings identify S1P as a direct
      and indirect contributor to leukocyte rolling and characterize the receptors
      mediating its action. 

PMID- 25832734
TI  - Expression of the toxin-antitoxin genes yefM(Lrh), yoeB(Lrh) in human
      Lactobacillus rhamnosus isolates.
AB  - Lactobacilli are important microorganisms in various activities, for example,
      diary products, meat ripening, bread and pickles, but, moreover, are associated
      directly with human skin and cavities (e.g., mouth, gut, or vagina). Some of them
      are used as probiotics. Therefore, the molecular biological investigation of
      these bacteria is important. Earlier we described several toxin antitoxin systems
      (type II) in lactobacilli. Here, we describe the structure and transcriptional
      regulation of genes, encoding TA system YefM-YoeB(Lrh) in three strains of
      Lactobacillus rhamnosus comparing stationary and exponential growth phases, the
      influence of stress factors and mRNA stability. The same TA system is responding
      to physiological and stress conditions differently in related strains. Using
      primer extension and RLM-RACE methods we determined three transcription start
      sites of RNAs in the operon. The promoter region of the operon is preceded by a
      conserved BOX element occurring at multiple positions in the genomes of L.
      rhamnosus strains. Downstream of and partially overlapping with the 3' end of the
      yoeB(Lrh) toxin gene, a divergently transcribed unexpected RNA was detected.

PMID- 25832735
TI  - Development of theory-based knowledge translation interventions to facilitate the
      implementation of evidence-based guidelines on the early management of adults
      with traumatic spinal cord injury.
AB  - RATIONALE: Optimal, early management following a spinal cord injury (SCI) can
      limit individuals' disabilities and costs related to their care. Several
      knowledge syntheses were recently published to guide health care professionals
      with regard to early interventions in SCI patients. However, no knowledge
      translation (KT) intervention, selected according to a behaviour change theory,
      has been proposed to facilitate the use of SCI guidelines in an acute care
      setting. OBJECTIVES: To develop theory-informed KT interventions to promote the
      application of evidence-based recommendations on the acute care management of SCI
      patients. METHODS: The first four phases of the knowledge-to-action model were
      used to establish the study design. Knowledge selection was based on the Grading
      of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system. Knowledge
      adaptation to the local context was sourced from the ADAPTE process. The
      theoretical domains framework oriented the selection and development of the
      interventions based on an assessment of barriers and enablers to knowledge
      application. RESULTS: Twenty-nine recommendations were chosen and operationalized
      in measurable clinical indicators. Barriers related to knowledge, skills,
      perceived capacities, beliefs about consequences, social influences, and the
      environmental context and resources theoretical domains were identified. The
      mapping of behaviour change techniques associated with those barriers led to the
      development of an online educational curriculum, interdisciplinary clinical
      pathways as well as policies and procedures. CONCLUSIONS: This research project
      allowed us developing KT interventions according to a thorough behavioural change
      methodology. Exposure to the generated interventions will support health care
      professionals in providing the best care to SCI patients.

PMID- 25832733
TI  - Tracking miRNAs' footprints in tumor-microenvironment interactions: Insights and
      implications for targeted cancer therapy.
AB  - In the past decades, cancer medicine studies have mainly focused on tumor cell
      biology as the main promoter of solid tumor progression. However, tumor biology
      does not explain the intertwinement and ambiguity of the tumors' territory.
      Recently, the approach of understanding cancer has shifted from investigating the
      biology of tumor cells to studying the microenvironment surrounding them.
      MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which play a role in exploiting indigenous stromal cells and
      are components that cooperate and produce a favorable microenvironment for
      progressive tumor formation, have been implicated in numerous processes essential
      for tumor initiation and growth. Understanding the mechanisms underlying
      interactions between tumor cells and their adjacent environment holds many
      promises for the future of cancer-targeted therapies. Herein, we provide a step
      by-step account of miRNA involvement in tumor-microenvironment interactions as
      the micromediators of tumor cell and stroma communications. We also focus on the
      clinical challenges in using miRNAs tof overcome therapy resistance mechanisms
      and tumor heterogeneity bias in cancer therapy.

PMID- 25832737
TI  - The chromatin-remodeling factor AtINO80 plays crucial roles in genome stability
      maintenance and in plant development.
AB  - INO80 is a conserved chromatin-remodeling factor in eukaryotes. While a previous
      study reported that the Arabidopsis thaliana INO80 (AtINO80) is required for
      somatic homologous recombination (HR), the role of AtINO80 in plant growth and
      development remains obscure. Here, we identified and characterized two
      independent atino80 mutant alleles, atino80-5 and atino80-6, which display
      similar and pleiotropic phenotypes, including smaller plant and organ size, and
      late flowering. Under standard growth conditions, atino80-5 showed decreased HR;
      however, after genotoxic treatment, HR in the mutant increased, accompanied by
      more DNA double-strand breaks and stronger cellular responses. Transcription
      analysis showed that many developmental and environmental responsive genes are
      overrepresented in the perturbed genes in atino80-5. These genes significantly
      overlapped with the category of H2A.Z body-enriched genes. AtINO80 also interacts
      with H2A.Z, and facilitates the enrichment of H2A.Z at the ends of the key
      flowering repressor genes FLC and MAF4/5. Our characterization of the atino80-5
      and atino80-6 mutants confirms and extends the previous AtINO80 study, and
      provides perspectives for linking studies of epigenetic mechanisms involved in
      plant chromatin stability with plant response to developmental and environmental
      cues. 

PMID- 25832736
TI  - Risk Factors for Borderline Personality Disorder in Treatment Seeking Patients
      with a Substance Use Disorder: An International Multicenter Study.
AB  - Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) often co
      occur, partly because they share risk factors. In this international multicenter
      study, risk factors for BPD were examined for SUD patients. In total, 1,205
      patients were comprehensively examined by standardized interviews and
      questionnaires on psychiatric diagnosis and risk factors, and it was found that
      1,033 (85.7%) had SUDs without BPD (SUD) and 172 (14.3%) had SUD with BPD (SUD +
      BPD). SUD + BPD patients were significantly younger, more often females and more
      often diagnosed with comorbid adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. SUD
      + BPD patients did not differ from SUD patients on most risk factors typical for
      SUD such as maternal use of drugs during pregnancy or parents having any SUD.
      However, SUD + BPD patients did have a higher risk of having experienced
      emotional and physical abuse, neglect, or family violence in childhood compared
      to SUD patients, suggesting that child abuse and family violence are BPD-specific
      risk factors in patients with SUDs.

PMID- 25832738
TI  - Stuck in the middle: the use and interpretation of mid-points in items on
      questionnaires.
AB  - Likert-type scales are commonly used when assessing attitudes, personality
      characteristics, and other psychological variables. This study examined the
      effect of varying the number of response options on the same set of 28
      attitudinal items. Participants answered items using either a 4-point scale
      (forced choice), a 5-point scale that included a "neither" mid-point, or a 4
      point scale with an option of "no opinion" presented after the item. The
      questionnaire also included an item asking participants what they believe the
      midpoint in a scale indicated. As predicted, participants' interpretations of the
      midpoint varied widely with the most common responses being: "no opinion," "don't
      care," "unsure," "neutral," "equal/both," and "neither." The quantitative results
      showed that participants' levels of item endorsement varied based on the response
      options offered. For example, "neither" was chosen more often than "no opinion"
      on all of the items. 

PMID- 25832739
TI  - Mental juggling: when does multitasking impair reading comprehension?
AB  - The present study investigated the conditions under which multitasking impairs
      reading comprehension. Participants read prose passages (the primary task), some
      of which required them to perform a secondary task. In Experiment 1, we compared
      two different types of secondary tasks (answering trivia questions and solving
      math problems). Reading comprehension was assessed using a multiple-choice test
      that measured both factual and conceptual knowledge. The results showed no
      observable detrimental effects associated with multitasking. In Experiment 2, the
      secondary task was a cognitive load task that required participants to remember a
      string of numbers while reading the passages. Performance on the reading
      comprehension test was lower in the cognitive load conditions relative to the no
      load condition. The present study delineates the conditions under which
      multitasking can impair or have no effect on reading comprehension. These results
      further our understanding of our capacity to multitask and have practical
      implications in our technologically advanced society in which multitasking has
      become commonplace. 

PMID- 25832740
TI  - The mediating effects of facial expression on spatial interference between gaze
      direction and gaze location.
AB  - Gaze direction is an important social cue that interacts with facial expression.
      Canadas and Lupianez (2012) reported a reverse-congruency effect such that
      identification of gaze direction was faster when a face was presented to the left
      but with the eyes directed to the right, or vice versa. In two experiments, this
      effect is replicated and then extended to explore the relationship between this
      effect and facial expression. Results show that the reverse-congruency effect is
      replicable with speeded gaze-direction identification, and that the effect is
      mediated by facial expression. The reverse-congruency effect is similar for happy
      and angry faces, but was not found for fearful faces. Findings are discussed in
      relation to the similarity of processing of incongruent gaze direction and the
      processing of direct gaze. 

PMID- 25832741
TI  - Delayed, but not immediate, feedback after multiple-choice questions increases
      performance on a subsequent short-answer, but not multiple-choice, exam: evidence
      for the dual-process theory of memory.
AB  - Three experiments, two performed in the laboratory and one embedded in a college
      psychology lecture course, investigated the effects of immediate versus delayed
      feedback following a multiple-choice exam on subsequent short answer and multiple
      choice exams. Performance on the subsequent multiple-choice exam was not affected
      by the timing of the feedback on the prior exam; however, performance on the
      subsequent short answer exam was better following delayed than following
      immediate feedback. This was true regardless of the order in which immediate
      versus delayed feedback was given. Furthermore, delayed feedback only had a
      greater effect than immediate feedback on subsequent short answer performance
      following correct, confident responses on the prior exam. These results indicate
      that delayed feedback cues a student's prior response and increases subsequent
      recollection of that response. The practical implication is that delayed feedback
      is better than immediate feedback during academic testing. 

PMID- 25832742
TI  - Predicting long-term outcome following traumatic brain injury (TBI).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the most common cause of brain damage,
      resulting in long-term disability. The ever increasing life expectancies among
      TBI patients necessitate a critical examination of the factors that influence
      long-term outcome. Our objective was to evaluate the contribution of premorbid
      factors (which were identified in our previous work) and acute injury indices to
      long-term functioning following TBI. METHOD: Eighty-nine participants with
      moderate-to-severe TBI were evaluated at an average of 14.2 years postinjury
      (range: 1-53 years) with neuropsychological battery, medical examination,
      clinical interviews, and questionnaires. RESULTS: TBI severity predicted
      cognitive, social, and daily functioning outcomes. After controlling for injury
      severity, preinjury intellectual functioning predicted cognitive status, as well
      as occupational, social, emotional, and daily functioning. Preinjury leisure
      activity also predicted cognitive, emotional, and daily functioning, whereas
      socioeconomic status failed to predict any of these variables. CONCLUSION:
      Findings offer further support for the cognitive reserve construct in explaining
      significant variance in TBI outcome, over and above the variance explained by
      injury severity.

PMID- 25832746
TI  - Genetic effect of the Aegilops caudata plasmon on the manifestation of the Ae.
      cylindrica genome.
AB  - In the course of reconstructing Aegilops caudata from its own genome (CC) and its
      plasmon, which had passed half a century in common wheat (genome AABBDD), we
      produced alloplasmic Ae. cylindrica (genome CCDD) with the plasmon of Ae.
      caudata. This line, designated (caudata)-CCDD, was found to express male
      sterility in its second substitution backcross generation (SB2) of (caudata)
      AABBCCDD pollinated three times with the Ae. cylindrica pollen. We repeatedly
      backcrossed these SB2 plants with the Ae. cylindrica pollen until the SB5
      generation, and SB5F2 progeny were produced by self-pollination of the SB5
      plants. Thirteen morphological and physiological characters, including pollen and
      seed fertilities, of the (caudata)-CCDD SB5F2 were compared with those of the
      euplasmic Ae. cylindrica. The results indicated that the male sterility expressed
      by (caudata)-CCDD was due to genetic incompatibility between the Ae. cylindrica
      genome and Ae. caudata plasmon that did not affect any other characters of Ae.
      cylindrica. Also, we report that the genome integrity functions in keeping the
      univalent transmission rate high. 

PMID- 25832744
TI  - Dysregulation of the Bmi-1/p16(Ink4a) pathway provokes an aging-associated
      decline of submandibular gland function.
AB  - Bmi-1 prevents stem cell aging, at least partly, by blocking expression of the
      cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16(Ink4a) . Therefore, dysregulation of the
      Bmi-1/p16(Ink4a) pathway is considered key to the loss of tissue homeostasis and
      development of associated degenerative diseases during aging. However, because
      Bmi-1 knockout (KO) mice die within 20 weeks after birth, it is difficult to
      determine exactly where and when dysregulation of the Bmi-1/p16(Ink4a) pathway
      occurs during aging in vivo. Using real-time in vivo imaging of p16(Ink4a)
      expression in Bmi-1-KO mice, we uncovered a novel function of the Bmi
      1/p16(Ink4a) pathway in controlling homeostasis of the submandibular glands
      (SMGs), which secrete saliva into the oral cavity. This pathway is dysregulated
      during aging in vivo, leading to induction of p16(Ink4a) expression and
      subsequent declined SMG function. These findings will advance our understanding
      of the molecular mechanisms underlying the aging-related decline of SMG function
      and associated salivary gland hypofunction, which is particularly problematic
      among the elderly.

PMID- 25832747
TI  - Dissection of barley chromosomes 1H and 6H by the gametocidal system.
AB  - We dissected barley chromosomes 1H and 6H added to common wheat by the
      gametocidal system and identified structural changes of the chromosomes by
      fluorescence in situ hybridization and genomic in situ hybridization. We found
      five aberrations of chromosome 1H, all of which lacked the long arm: one small
      fragment with the subtelomeric HvT01 sequence, one terminal deletion, and three
      telocentric chromosomes of the short arm. We established 33 dissection lines
      carrying single aberrant 6H chromosomes, of which 15 were deletions, 16 were
      translocations and two were isochromosomes. We conducted PCR analysis of the
      aberrant barley chromosomes using 75 and 81 EST markers specific to chromosomes
      1H and 6H, respectively. This enabled us to construct a cytological map of
      chromosome 6H and to compare it to the previously reported genetic map and also
      to the physical map, which were released by the International Barley Genome
      Sequencing Consortium. The marker orders on the three maps were largely in
      agreement. The cytological map had better resolution in the proximal region of
      chromosome 6H than the corresponding genetic map. We discuss some of the
      discrepancies in marker order between the three maps that might be due to
      intraspecific polymorphism and gene duplication, as well as to technical problems
      inherent in the physical mapping process. 

PMID- 25832748
TI  - Changes in genome-wide gene expression during allopolyploidization and genome
      stabilization in hexaploid wheat.
AB  - Allopolyploidization is an important evolutionary event in plants, but its genome
      wide effects are not fully understood. Common wheat, Triticum aestivum (AABBDD),
      evolved through amphidiploidization between T. turgidum (AABB) and Aegilops
      tauschii (DD). Here, global gene expression patterns in the seedlings of a
      synthetic triploid wheat line (ABD), its chromosome-doubled hexaploid (AABBDD)
      and stable synthetic hexaploid (AABBDD), and the parental lines T. turgidum
      (AABB) and Ae. tauschii (DD) were compared using an oligo-DNA microarray to
      identify metabolic pathways affected by the genome conflict that occurs during
      allopolyploidization and genome stabilization. Characteristic gene expression
      patterns of non-additively expressed genes were detected in the newly synthesized
      triploid and hexaploid, and in the stable synthetic hexaploid. Hierarchical
      clustering of all differentially expressed and non-additively expressed genes
      revealed that the gene expression patterns of the triploid (ABD) were similar to
      those of the maternal parent (AABB), and that expression patterns in successive
      generations arising from self-pollination became closer to that of the pollen
      parent (DD). The non-additive gene expression profiles markedly differed between
      the triploid (ABD) and chromosome-doubled hexaploid (AABBDD), as supported by
      Gene Ontology (GOSlim) analysis. Four hundred and nineteen non-additively
      expressed genes were commonly detected in all three generations. GOSlim analysis
      indicated that these non-additively expressed genes were predominantly involved
      in "biological pathways". Notably, four of 11 genes related to sugar metabolism
      displayed elevated expression throughout allopolyploidization. These may be
      useful candidates for promoting heterosis and adaptation in plants. 

PMID- 25832749
TI  - Mitochondrial genetic diversity, phylogeny and population structure of Hydropotes
      inermis in South Korea.
AB  - The water deer (Hydropotes inermis) is one of the rarest species of deer in the
      family Cervidae. Only two subspecies exist in East Asia, and few studies have
      examined the genetic characteristics of the species. Here, we investigated the
      genetic diversity, phylogeny and population differentiation of the Korean
      subspecies (H. inermis argyropus). Seventeen mitochondrial D-loop haplotypes (822
      bp) were detected and analyzed from 107 individual samples, together with a
      Chinese subspecies (H. inermis inermis) haplotype. The genetic diversity of the
      Korean subspecies is lower (pi = 0.756%, h = 0.867) than that of the Chinese
      subspecies estimated in a previous study. This low genetic diversity may result
      from historical anthropogenic disturbances and/or a founder effect during the
      glacial period. The phylogenetic tree and median-joining network showed no
      location-specific distribution of D-loop haplotypes, but revealed two major
      lineages, A and B, of water deer. The A and B lineages were separated from each
      other at the beginning of the Pleistocene era (2.1-1.3 million years ago), with a
      genetic divergence of 1.332 +/- 0.340%. The genetic divergence within lineages A
      and B was 0.525 +/- 0.167% and 0.264 +/- 0.113%, respectively. This suggests that
      climate change affected the division of the two lineages. Water deer sampled from
      the three Korean regions (26 locations) were slightly distinct in their genetic
      structure (AMOVA: F(ST) = 0.28416, P < 0.00001; Phi(ST) = 0.19239, P < 0.00001).
      Such slight population differentiation may be derived from differential dispersal
      ability in males and females. The use of genetic markers, such as nuclear
      microsatellite and Y-linked DNA markers, and samples collected from various
      localities in East Asia should improve our understanding of the water deer's
      genetic characteristics.

PMID- 25832750
TI  - Importance of synonymous substitutions under dense taxon sampling and appropriate
      modeling in reconstructing the mitogenomic tree of Eutheria.
AB  - Although molecular phylogenetics is a strong tool for reconstructing the tree of
      life, many problems persist due to systematic errors caused by model mis
      specifications. Resolving misconstructed trees should lead us to better
      understand the processes of molecular evolution. Mammalian mitogenomes provide us
      with a good opportunity in this respect, because the mammalian tree is well
      established on the basis of multiple nuclear genes, and mitogenome trees are
      sometimes in conflict with it, for example concerning the positions of tarsiers
      and colugos. The utility of mitogenomes as a phylogenetic marker is therefore
      sometimes questioned, and an important problem is whether any method can overcome
      the misleading phylogenetic signals of mitogenomes. Here we show that the maximum
      likelihood tree of 463 eutherian mitogenomes reconstructed from nucleotide
      sequences of protein-encoding genes gives positions of tarsiers and colugos that
      are consistent with the well-established nuclear tree; this is the first study to
      obtain a consistent tree with respect to the positions of tarsiers and colugos
      using mitogenomes. Furthermore, our mitogenome tree of the 463 eutherians is
      mostly consistent with the nuclear gene tree. Previous mitogenomic studies have
      been hampered by sparse taxon sampling, and our analysis demonstrates the
      importance of dense taxon sampling to relieve the misleading phylogenetic signals
      of mitogenomes. However, because there are many convergent and parallel
      substitutions in the amino acid sequences, the effect of dense taxon sampling on
      the accuracy of tree reconstruction seems to be very limited. We further show the
      importance of using synonymous substitutions with dense taxon sampling as well as
      with appropriate modeling in recovering the well-established tree from lower to
      even higher levels of eutherian phylogeny. 

PMID- 25832751
TI  - Cognitive and behavioural impairment in ALS: What now for the ALS patient
      perspective?

PMID- 25832753
TI  - An unusual three-dimensional Dy-Cd2 framework exhibiting single-ion magnet
      behavior.
AB  - A framework approach was successfully performed to give a three-dimensional
      heterometallic compound exhibiting single-ion magnet (SIM) behavior. Enhanced SIM
      behavior was obtained by continuous application of diamagnetic-ion dilution and
      an external dc field. 

PMID- 25832752
TI  - Impaired exercise capacity and left ventricular function in long-term adult
      survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are at risk
      for late cardiotoxic effects of cancer treatment, but conflicting evidence exists
      on the effects of anthracyclines on left ventricular (LV) diastolic function and
      exercise capacity. PROCEDURE: We performed a cross-sectional study with
      comprehensive echocardiography in 138 adult survivors of childhood ALL, median
      23.4 years after diagnosis. Pulsed tissue Doppler measurements of early diastolic
      mitral annular velocities (e') were used for the assessment of diastolic
      function, and compared to 138 matched controls. Of the survivors, 133 also
      performed ergospirometry measuring peak oxygen uptake (VO2 max). Associations
      between cancer treatment, LV function, and VO2 max were analyzed. RESULTS: The
      survivor group had lower e' values than controls (e' septal 11.0 vs. 12.6 cm/s, P
      < 0.001), but the difference was confined to the subgroup of anthracycline
      treated survivors (median cumulative dose 120 mg/m(2) ). Anthracycline exposure
      was inversely correlated with e' (regression coefficient -1.581, P=0.009).
      Reduced VO2 max/kg occurred in 47% of the survivors, but more often in
      anthracycline treated survivors (56%) than anthracycline naive survivors (17%,
      P<0.001). Anthracycline exposure was inversely correlated with VO2 max/kg
      (regression coefficient -3.084, P = 0.05 in multivariate analysis). Furthermore,
      associations were observed between measures of LV function and VO2 max/kg, and e'
      was the best predictor of VO2 max/kg (standardized coefficient 0.355, P < 0.001
      in multivariate analysis). CONCLUSIONS: Adult survivors of childhood ALL have
      increased risk for impaired LV diastolic function and impaired exercise capacity,
      both associated with previous anthracycline exposure. Furthermore, there is an
      association between LV diastolic function and exercise capacity.

PMID- 25832754
TI  - Ablative fractional laser alters biodistribution of ingenol mebutate in the skin.
AB  - Topically applied ingenol mebutate (IngMeb) is approved for field-treatment of
      actinic keratosis and is currently being investigated for treatment of non
      melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). Ablative fractional lasers (AFXLs) generate
      microscopic ablation zones (MAZs) in the skin, which may help induce a deep
      penetration needed for effective treatment of NMSC. Using Franz diffusion cells,
      uptake and bio-distribution were investigated over 21 h in intact (n = 9) and
      AFXL-exposed porcine skin (n = 58). A 2940-nm fractional Er:YAG laser generated
      intraepidermal (11.2 mJ/MAZ; 66 MUm deep, 177 MUm wide) and intradermal (128
      mJ/MAZ; 570 MUm deep, 262 wide) MAZ's with 16, 97, and 195 MAZs/cm(2). Surface
      ablation densities corresponded to 0.5, 2.5, and 5 % for intraepidermal MAZs, and
      corresponded to 1, 5, and 10.5 % for intradermal MAZs. Liquid-chromatography-mass
      spectrometry quantified deposition of IngMeb in stratum corneum, epidermis,
      dermis, and receiver chamber. In intact skin, IngMeb readily penetrated to the
      epidermal layer (1,314 ng, 41 % of the applied IngMeb), while dermal deposition
      was limited (508 ng, 16 %). In AFXL-exposed skin, a profound dermal deposition of
      IngMeb was achieved, while less accumulated in SC and epidermis. Uptake depended
      entirely on laser density; increasing coverage from 0 % to 0.5 %, 1 %, 2.5 %, 5
      %, and 10.5 % enhanced dermal uptake 1.6-, 2.1-, 3.1-, 3.4-, and 3.9-fold,
      respectively (p < 0.0001). Channel depth did not influence drug uptake; at 5 %
      density, dermal deposition with intraepidermal and intradermal MAZs was analogous
      (1801 vs. 1744; p = 0.447). In conclusion, IngMeb readily distributes to
      superficial layers of intact skin, whereas dermal uptake is limited. Independent
      of channel depth, AFXL enhances dermal drug deposition, providing for customized
      topical delivery and potential use of IngMeb for treatment of NMSC.

PMID- 25832755
TI  - Computed tomography-guided in vivo cardiac orientation and correlation with ECG
      in individuals without structural heart disease and in age-matched obese and
      older individuals.
AB  - The cardiac axis in a structurally normal heart is influenced by a number of
      factors. We investigated the anatomical and electrical cardiac axes in middle
      aged individuals without structural heart disease and compared this with age
      matched obese and older individuals without structural heart disease. A
      retrospective study of controls included those between 30 and 60 years old with a
      normal body mass index (BMI), who were then compared with obese individuals
      between 30 and 60 years old and with individuals more than 60 years old with a
      normal BMI. The anatomical cardiac axis was determined along the long axis by
      cardiac computed tomography (CT) and correlated with the electrical cardiac axis
      on a surface electrocardiogram (ECG) in the frontal plane. A total of 124
      patients were included. In the controls (n = 59), the mean CT axis was 38.1
      degrees  +/- 7.8 degrees  whilst the mean ECG axis was 51.8 degrees  +/- 26.6
      degrees , Pearson r value 0.12 (P = 0.365). In the obese (n = 36), the mean CT
      axis was 25.1 degrees  +/- 6.2 degrees  whilst the mean ECG axis was 20.1 degrees
      +/- 23.9 degrees , Pearson r value 0.05 (P = 0.808). In the older group (n =
      29), the mean CT axis was 34.4 degrees  +/- 9.1 degrees  whilst the mean ECG axis
      was 34.4 degrees  +/- 30.3 degrees , Pearson r value 0.26 (P = 0.209). Obese
      individuals have a more leftward rotation of both axes than age-matched normals
      (P <0.0001), which could be secondary to elevation of the diaphragm. Older
      individuals have a more leftward rotation only of their electrical cardiac axis
      (P = 0.01), which could be a normal variant or reflect underlying conduction
      disturbances in this age group.

PMID- 25832757
TI  - Patient-controlled hospital admission in psychiatry: A systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patient-controlled admission is a concept that invites patients with
      long-term mental illness to decide for themselves when inpatient treatment is
      necessary without a clinician serving as gatekeeper. AIM: To review the current
      knowledge of patient-controlled hospital admission in adult psychiatry. METHOD: A
      systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE and the
      Cochrane Library with the aim of identifying all relevant scientific papers from
      1990 onwards. RESULTS: Six articles reporting on four different study sites were
      identified. Detailed account of the models is given and quantitative and
      qualitative outcome data is reviewed. Rationales behind the concept include
      increased patient autonomy, promotion of coping skills, early help-seeking,
      avoidance of power struggles, establishment of an asylum function, reduced time
      spent in inpatient care and prevention of coercive measures. Quantitative data
      points toward a dramatic reduction of total time spent in inpatient care and of
      involuntary admissions in patients with previously high inpatient care
      consumption, whereas qualitative data indicates that the concept increases
      patient autonomy, responsibility and confidence in daily life. CONCLUSION:
      Patient-controlled admission is a promising novel approach to inpatient care in
      psychiatry. However, available studies are small and quality of evidence is
      generally low.

PMID- 25832756
TI  - Chimeric fusion proteins used for therapy: indications, mechanisms, and safety.
AB  - Chimeric fusion proteins, produced by genetic engineering, are currently made up
      of effector peptides, for example, a ligand-binding portion of a cytokine or
      growth factor, extracellular domains of lymphocyte antigens, or a toxin linked to
      a suitable fusion partner. This review covers eight fusion proteins that have
      received regulatory approval for human therapy: etanercept, belatacept,
      abatacept, alefacept, rilonacept, romiplostim, aflibercept, and denileukin
      diftitox. Important requirements for an effective fusion protein are effective
      targeting and binding, cytotoxicity, and a stable molecule with an extended half
      life. The Fc region of human IgG1 is generally chosen as the fusion partner for
      the effector molecule(s) because it extends the fusion protein half-life by
      recycling via the salvage neonatal FcRn receptor and protects the molecule from
      lysosomal degradation. Each of the fusion proteins has IgG1 Fc as a fusion
      partner except denileukin-diftitox, which employs a modified diphtheria toxin
      effector peptide linked to interleukin-2. For six of the Fc fusion proteins, the
      effector peptide(s) is linked to the N-terminus of the Fc piece but for the
      thrombopoietin-mimetic romiplostim, linkage is through the C-terminus. Although
      some clear type I and IV hypersensitivities are known to be induced by fusion
      protein therapy, the pathomechanisms underlying many adverse hematologic,
      respiratory, renal, and cutaneous events have generally not been investigated.
      Assessment of immunogenicity risk is important because a number of immune-based,
      or influenced, adverse reactions such as anaphylaxis, cutaneous manifestations,
      infusion, and injection-site reactions, and cytokine release syndrome can occur.
      Features of many reactions, some autoimmune in nature, suggest type II, III, or
      IV hypersensitivities. Clinical findings with the anti-arthritis anti-psoriasis
      biologic etanercept provide the largest body of current knowledge of fusion
      protein-induced adverse events. For most fusion proteins, little information is
      available on appropriate diagnostic and desensitization procedures for
      hypersensitivity and other adverse responses, although skin test concentrations
      and some successful desensitization protocols have been published for etanercept.

PMID- 25832758
TI  - The prevalence of personality disorders in psychiatric outpatients with
      borderline intellectual functioning: Comparison with outpatients from regular
      mental health care and outpatients with mild intellectual disabilities.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is little research on the subject of personality disorder (PD)
      in individuals with borderline intellectual functioning (BIF). Unlike in most
      countries, in the Netherlands, patients with BIF are eligible for specialized
      mental health care. This offers the unique possibility of examining the rates of
      PDs in patients, who in other countries are treated relatively invisibly in
      regular mental health care. AIM: To compare, in a naturalistic setting, the
      frequency of PD diagnoses in outpatients with BIF with outpatients from regular
      mental health care and outpatients with mild ID. METHODS: We compared the rates
      of all DSM-IV-TR axis II PDs in outpatients with BIF (BIF group; n = 235) with
      rates of the same disorders in outpatients from regular mental health care (RMHC
      group; n = 1026) and outpatients with mild intellectual disability (ID) (mild ID
      group; n = 152) in a naturalistic cross-sectional anonymized medical chart
      review. RESULTS: Over half of the patients with BIF (52.8%) were diagnosed with a
      PD, compared with one in five in the RMHC group (19.3%) and one in three of the
      mild ID group (33.6%). All PD diagnoses, except for cluster A PDs and histrionic
      PDs, were most frequently diagnosed in the BIF group. PD NOS and borderline PD
      were the most frequently diagnosed PDs in BIF. The majority of PD patients had
      one or more comorbid axis I disorder. CONCLUSION: There is a high frequency of PD
      diagnoses in BIF outpatients in daily clinical practice. In anticipation of
      further scientific research, results suggest that PDs should not be overlooked in
      patients with BIF.

PMID- 25832760
TI  - A Multidisciplinary Assessment of River Surface Water Quality in Areas Heavily
      Influenced by Human Activities.
AB  - The present study could serve as a multidisciplinary approach for the assessment
      of river surface water quality with the use of chemical and biological methods.
      Specifically, physicochemical parameters, heavy metals, and pesticides were
      measured in water samples from three different stations (sampling station S1, S2,
      and S3) along Asopos River (Greece). In parallel, algal species (primary
      producers)-such as Scenedesmus rubescens and Chlorococcum sp.; consumer
      invertebrate species, such as the fairy shrimp Thamnocephalus platyurus and the
      rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus; as well as human lymphocytes-were exposed to
      those samples for assessing their toxic and genotoxic/mutagenic effects.
      According to the results, although the values of almost all of the
      physicochemical parameters tested, heavy metals (zinc, cadmium, lead, and
      mercury) and pesticides were lower than or within the respective environmental
      quality standards, thus offering no clear evidence for their natural or
      anthropogenic origin. Values recorded for nickel, chromium, hexavalent chromium,
      and malathion represent a typical case of mixed influence from natural and
      anthropogenic enrichments. In contrast, the algal growth arrest, the acute toxic
      effects on the freshwater invertebrates, and the increased micronuclei
      frequencies observed in human lymphocytes showed the presence of human-derived
      hazardous substances, which were hardly determinable with the use of conventional
      chemical methods. Given that the presence of priority pollutants in river surface
      waters, heavily burdened by anthropogenic activities, could give no clear
      evidence for their biological risk, the results of the present study showed that
      chemical and biological assays should be applied in parallel, thus serving as a
      reliable tool for the assessment of river water quality. 

PMID- 25832759
TI  - Renal function in survivors of nonsyndromic Wilms tumor treated with unilateral
      radical nephrectomy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Partial nephrectomy is considered by some for children with
      unilateral Wilms tumor (UWT) to avoid the theoretical complication of renal
      insufficiency. In the current study, the authors evaluated the prevalence of
      hypertension and impaired renal function in long-term survivors of nonsyndromic
      UWT who were treated without nephrotoxic chemotherapy or ionizing radiation.
      METHODS: Eligibility included age <=15 years at the time of diagnosis of
      nonsyndromic UWT, treatment receipt before 2002, and maintenance of disease
      remission after unilateral nephrectomy without receipt of abdominal irradiation
      or nephrotoxic chemotherapy. Renal function was assessed by urinalysis and
      estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Patients receiving antihypertensive
      medication or those with blood pressure readings of >140/90 mm Hg were considered
      to be hypertensive. RESULTS: A total of 75 patients with a median age at
      diagnosis of 3.2 years (range, 0.2-12.1 years) met eligibility criteria. The
      median length of follow-up was 19.6 years (range, 10.0-32.8 years). All but 1
      patient had stage I/II disease. Sixty-eight patients (90.7%) patients had WT with
      favorable histology and 7 patients had anaplastic histology. Sixteen patients
      (21.3%) had an eGFR <90 mL/minute/1.73m(2), 2 of whom also had proteinuria
      (12.5%). No patient had an eGFR <60 mL/minute/1.73m(2). Five patients (6.7%) had
      hypertension, 3 of whom were receiving antihypertensive medications. At the time
      of last follow-up, no patient had developed end-stage renal disease. CONCLUSIONS:
      Patients with UWT who were treated with unilateral radical nephrectomy without
      nephrotoxic chemotherapy or ionizing radiation appear to be at low risk of
      developing significant long-term renal dysfunction. For this patient population,
      the routine use of partial nephrectomy does not appear justified. However,
      monitoring and counseling are important for identifying the rare patient who
      develops subtle renal insufficiency and therefore might be at an increased risk
      of adverse cardiovascular sequelae.

PMID- 25832762
TI  - C-Arm Cone-Beam Volume CT in Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt:
      Initial Clinical Experience.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare two-dimensional digital
      subtraction angiography (2D-DSA) with C-arm cone-beam volume computed tomography
      (CACT) in the evaluation of portal vein entry and shunt course during
      transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) procedure. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Between May 2010 and November 2011, 21 patients who underwent direct
      portography in anteroposterior and lateral projections and subsequent CACT before
      stent placement during TIPS creation were reviewed retrospectively. CACT images
      were examined for evaluation of the portal vein entry and shunt course in
      comparison to 2D-DSA images by two experienced interventional radiologists.
      RESULTS: CACT was proven to be better than 2D-DSA in identification of the portal
      vein entry (P < 0.001) and intra- or extrahepatic puncture (P < 0.001). No
      significant difference was observed in evaluating the shunt course (P = 0.086).
      The portal vein entry was considered inappropriate in seven (33%) out of 21
      patients; among them, four cases were due to extrahepatic puncture, and three
      cases were due to peripheral puncture of the portal vein which may result in
      stent kinking. CONCLUSION: While 2D-DSA remains the standard imaging method to
      evaluate portal vein entry, shunt course, and portal vein anatomy during TIPS
      procedure, CACT can effectively identify the portal vein entry and assess shunt
      course in difficult cases intra-procedurally, hence may reduce the risk of
      potential life-threatening intra-abdominal hemorrhage and shunt dysfunction.

PMID- 25832763
TI  - Retrospective Study in 40 Patients of Utility of C-arm FDCT as an Adjunctive
      Modality in Technically Challenging Image-Guided Percutaneous Drainage
      Procedures.
AB  - PURPOSE: To explore the utility of C-arm flat detector computed tomography (FDCT)
      as an adjunctive modality in technically challenging image-guided percutaneous
      drainage procedures. METHODS: Clinical and image data were reviewed on 40
      consecutive patients who underwent percutaneous drainage of fluid collections in
      technically challenging anatomic locations that required the use of C-arm FDCT
      between 2009 and 2013. Percutaneous drainage was performed under ultrasound and
      fluoroscopic guidance with the use of C-arm FDCT as a problem-solving tool to
      identify appropriate needle/wire placement prior to drainage catheter placement
      (n = 33) or to confirm catheter positioning within the fluid collection (n = 8).
      Technical success and procedural complications were recorded and retrospectively
      analyzed. RESULTS: Forty one fluid collections were identified in 40 patients.
      Mean number of C-arm FDCT rotational acquisitions per patient was 1.25. Mean
      procedure time per patient was 59.3 min. Mean fluoroscopy time was 5.5 min, and
      mean air kerma was 394.3 mGy. Percutaneous drainage with the use of C-arm FDCT
      was successful in 35 of 40 patients (87.5%). Technical failure was encountered in
      5 of 40 patients due to too narrow window (n = 1), too small or no fluid
      collection noted on C-arm FDCT images (n = 2), and poor image quality requiring
      the use of a conventional CT scan (n = 2). Three procedure-related complications
      occurred (7.5%), which included traversed rectum, traversed spleen, and sepsis.
      CONCLUSION: C-arm FDCT is useful as an adjunctive modality in the interventional
      suite for technically challenging percutaneous drainage procedures by providing
      sufficient anatomic detail. Complications of catheter misplacement can be avoided
      if C-arm FDCT is used prior to tract dilatation. If C-arm FDCT image quality of
      needle and/or wire placement is poor, conventional CT guidance is recommended.

PMID- 25832764
TI  - Transarterial Chemoembolization of Liver Metastases from Uveal Melanoma Using
      Irinotecan-Loaded Beads: Treatment Response and Complications.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate treatment response and
      complications of transarterial chemoembolization using drug-eluting beads loaded
      with irinotecan (DEBIRI) in patients with liver metastases from uveal melanoma
      (UM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients treated with DEBIRI (n = 14) were
      retrospectively analyzed regarding overall survival, compared to patients (n =
      14) treated with intravenous dacarbazine (DTIC). Median overall survival was
      calculated from time of diagnosis of metastatic disease (OS1) and start of
      treatment (OS2). Radiological response for DEBIRI was assessed according to
      RECIST 1.1 on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT), obtained 1.5 months
      (range 1.2-3.7) post treatment. Major complications of DEBIRI were defined
      according to the Society of Interventional Radiology classification for
      complications by outcome. RESULTS: In the DEBIRI group, OS1 was 14.8 months
      (range 3.9-47.5), and OS2 was 9.4 months (range 1.7-39). Further, 11/13 (84.6%)
      of these patients had progressive disease on first follow-up CT and new lesions
      were seen in nine. There were 12 major complications in nine patients, possibly
      including one case of mortality due to disseminated intravascular coagulation
      (DIC). CONCLUSION: For patients with liver metastases from UM, the effect on
      overall survival of DEBIRI alone is questionable. Compared to previous reports,
      the response rate of DEBIRI was poor, with new liver lesions observed in the
      majority of patients. Major complications possibly included one case of DIC.

PMID- 25832765
TI  - Artificial Ascites for Pain Relief During Microwave Ablation of Subcapsular Liver
      Tumors.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare post-procedure pain of subcapsular hepatic metastasis treated
      with microwave ablation (MWA) with and without artificial ascites. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: During a 2-years period, 41 patients underwent MWA of 52 peripheral
      liver metastases including 20 patients (10 men and 10 women (mean +/- SD age: 62
      +/- 9.3 years) who underwent MWA of 27 metastasis without artificial ascites
      (group 1), and 21 patients (12 men and 9 women (mean age: 63.5 +/- 9.9 years) who
      underwent MWA of 25 metastasis with artificial ascites (group 2). Patient's pain
      assessment cores [10-point visual analog scale (VAS)] at 6, 24 h, and 4 days
      after the MWA procedure were compared among groups, as well as 24 h cumulative
      morphine dose was also compared among groups. Complications were reported.
      Statistical significance was evaluated by Fisher's exact test and Student's t
      test. RESULTS: Pain VAS were 8.6 +/- 2.7, 3.9 +/- 1.4, and 0.6 +/- 1.2 at 6, 24
      h, 4 days, respectively, for group-I and 0.8 +/- 1.9, 0.3 +/- 0.9, and 6.6 +/-
      3.5 for group II. Pain VAS were significantly different at 6, 24 h, and 4 days
      between the two groups (p < 0.0001). The average 24 h dose of morphine was 5.8 +/
      2.2 mg in group-I and 0.2 +/- 0.6 mg in group-II (p < 0.0001). Complications
      occurred in two patients from group-I (10%), including one bilio-pleural fistula
      and one minor cutaneous burn. One patient (9.5%) in group-II developed a lobar
      infarction. No bleeding and no procedure-related death were reported. CONCLUSION:
      Artificial ascites prevents immediate post-procedural pain, which re-appears
      intensively 4 days later.

PMID- 25832766
TI  - Development and characterization of an embryonic cell line from endangered
      endemic cyprinid Honmoroko Gnathopogon caerulescens (Sauvage, 1883).
AB  - Establishing a cell line from endemic species facilitates the cell biological
      research of these species in the laboratory. In this study, an epithelium-like
      cell line RME1 was established from the blastula-stage embryos of the critically
      endangered cyprinid Honmoroko Gnathopogon caerulescens, which is endemic to
      ancient Lake Biwa in Japan. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first
      embryonic cell line from an endangered fish species. This cell line is well
      adapted to grow at 28 degrees C in the culture medium, which was successfully
      used for establishing testicular and ovarian cell lines of G. caerulescens, and
      has displayed stable growth over 60 passages since its initiation in June 2011.
      Although RME1 did not express the genes detected in blastula-stage embryos, such
      as oct4, sox2, nanog, and klf4, it showed a high euploidy rate (2n = 50; 67.2%)
      with normal diploid karyotype morphology, suggesting that RME1 retains the
      genomic organization of G. caerulescens and can prove to be a useful tool to
      investigate the unique properties of endangered endemic fishes at cellular level.

PMID- 25832767
TI  - Prenatal diagnosis of multiple ventriculocoronary connections in pulmonary
      atresia with an intact ventricular septum: a case report.
AB  - We report a case of prenatally detected pulmonary atresia with an intact
      ventricular septum accompanied by multiple ventriculocoronary connections. This
      lesion was diagnosed by using ultrasonography at 20 weeks' gestation, and this
      antepartum diagnosis was confirmed with both postnatal echocardiography and chest
      computed tomography. The neonate underwent a modified Blalock-Taussig shunt on
      the 15th day of life, and was discharged 8 days after the surgery.

PMID- 25832768
TI  - Radiation-induced hemorrhagic duodenitis associated with sorafenib treatment.
AB  - Sorafenib, an oral inhibitor of multiple tyrosine kinase receptors, has been
      widely used as a standard medical treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma
      (HCC). Here, we report a 66-year-old male patient who developed gastrointestinal
      bleeding due to radiation-induced hemorrhagic duodenitis associated with
      sorafenib treatment. We started oral administration of sorafenib because of the
      recurrence of HCC with lung metastases. The patient had been treated by
      radiotherapy for para-aortic lymph node metastases from HCC 4 months before the
      bleeding. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) revealed edematous reddish mucosa with
      friability and telangiectasia in the second portion of the duodenum. Computed
      tomography and capsule endoscopy revealed that the hemorrhagic lesions were
      located in the distal duodenum. After discontinuation of sorafenib, the bleeding
      disappeared and a follow-up EGD confirmed improvement of duodenitis. Based on
      these findings, the diagnosis of radiation-induced hemorrhagic duodenitis
      associated with sorafenib was made. 

PMID- 25832769
TI  - Lack of significant improvements in long-term allograft survival in pediatric
      solid organ transplantation: A US national registry analysis.
AB  - Improvements across many facets of transplantation have led to better 1-yr
      outcomes of transplanted organs. In this study, we assessed whether longer-term
      attrition rates improved in pediatric kidney (KI), liver (LI), heart (HR) and
      lung (LU) transplant (TX) survival. We analyzed data between 1989 and 2008 from
      5747 KI, 7348 LI, 5103 HR, and 715 LU TXs (under 18 yr of age at transplant,
      first solitary transplant only), from the National Scientific Registry of
      Transplant Recipients database in the USA. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) or ordinary least
      square (OLS) estimates were used to calculate median and projected survival half
      lives. Attrition rates, defined as percent failing within a given time period,
      were stratified by year of TX. Median half-lives from 1989 TX year to 2005 TX
      year have shown a major improvement only in LI TX, remaining unchanged in HR and
      KI TX, or remaining very low in LU TX. All four organ TX types have shown a
      dramatic drop in first-year attrition rates from 1989 to 2008. However, longer
      term attrition rates (1-3, 3-5, 5-10 yr) have remained largely unchanged for all
      four organ TX types. Further progress in long-term survival will need targeting
      end-points beyond first-year rejection and survival rates.

PMID- 25832770
TI  - The effect of beta-amyloid on face processing in young and old adults: A
      multivariate analysis of the BOLD signal.
AB  - The recent ability to measure in vivo beta-amyloid (Abeta), a marker of
      Alzheimer's disease (AD), has led to an increased focus on the significance of
      Abeta deposition in clinically normal adults. Evidence suggests that healthy
      adults with elevated cortical Abeta show differences in neural activity
      associated with memory encoding-specifically encoding of face stimuli. Here, we
      examined if Abeta deposition in clinically normal adults was related to
      differences in neural activity in ventral visual cortex during face viewing. Our
      sample included 23 high-Abeta older adults, 23 demographically matched low-Abeta
      older adults, and 16 young adults. Participants underwent cognitive testing,
      Abeta positron emission tomography imaging with (18) F-Florbetapir, and
      functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure neural activity while
      participants passively viewed photographs of faces. Using barycentric
      discriminant analysis-a between-groups classification technique-we found that
      patterns of neural activity in the left fusiform gyrus, a region highly
      responsive to faces, distinguished Abeta status of participants. Older adults
      with elevated Abeta were characterized by decreased activity in left fusiform
      compared to Abeta-negative older adults. Further, we found that the degree to
      which older adults expressed decreased fusiform activity was related to worse
      performance on tasks of processing speed. Our results provide unique evidence
      that, in addition to previously studied memory and default regions, decreased
      neural activity in a region important for face perception was associated with
      elevated Abeta and may be an early manifestation of AD.

PMID- 25832771
TI  - Refilling the half-empty glass--Investigating the potential role of the
      Interpretation Modification Paradigm for Depression (IMP-D).
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cognitive biases are known to cause and maintain
      depression. However, little research has been done on techniques targeting
      interpretation tendencies found in depression, despite the promising findings of
      anxiety studies. This paper presents two experiments, investigating the
      suitability of an Interpretation Modification Paradigm for Depression (IMP-D) in
      healthy individuals, which has already proven its effectiveness in anxiety (Beard
      & Amir, 2008). Different from other paradigms, the IMP-D aims at modifying an
      interpretation bias on response- and on a more implicit reaction time-level,
      making this task less susceptible to demand effects. METHODS: The Word-Sentence
      Association Paradigm for Depression (Hindash & Amir, 2011) was modified and
      administered in healthy volunteers (experiment I: N = 81; experiment II: N =
      105). To enhance a positive interpretation bias, endorsing benign and rejecting
      negative interpretations of ambiguous scenarios was reinforced through feedback.
      This intervention was compared to the opposite training (both experiments) and a
      control training (experiment II only). RESULTS: Both experiments revealed a
      significant increase in bias towards benign interpretations on the level of overt
      decisions, while only in the first experiment a change was found on a reaction
      time level. These modifications are not reflected in group-differences in
      emotional vulnerability. LIMITATIONS: Possible limitations regarding the
      reliability of inter-dependent response and reaction time measures are discussed.
      CONCLUSIONS: The IMP-D is able to modify interpretation biases, but adaptations
      are required to maximize its beneficial effects.

PMID- 25832772
TI  - Monoarthritis in a 28-Year-Old Man With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.

PMID- 25832773
TI  - Localising oxidant "stress" in the antiphospholipid syndrome.

PMID- 25832774
TI  - Enhanced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition associated with lysosome
      dysfunction in podocytes: role of p62/Sequestosome 1 as a signaling hub.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Autophagy is of importance in the regulation of cell differentiation
      and senescence in podocytes. It is possible that derangement of autophagy under
      different pathological conditions activates or enhances Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal
      Transition (EMT) in podocytes, resulting in glomerular sclerosis. To test this
      hypothesis, the present study produced lysosome dysfunction by inhibition of the
      vacuolar H(+)-ATPase (V-ATPase) to test whether deficiency of autophagic flux
      leads to enhancement of EMT in podocytes. METHODS AND RESULTS: By Western blot
      and confocal analysis, lysosome inhibition using a V-ATPase inhibitor or its
      siRNA was found to markedly decreases the epithelial markers (P-cadherin and ZO
      1) and increases the mesenchymal markers (FSP-1 and alpha-SMA). This enhancement
      was accompanied by deficient autophagic flux, as demonstrated by marked increases
      in LC3B-II and p62/Sequestosome 1. However, inhibition of autophagosome formation
      using spaudin-1 significantly attenuated both enhancement of EMT and deficiency
      of autophagic flux. To explore the mechanisms by which deficient autophagic flux
      enhances EMT, we tested the role of accumulated p62 as a signal hub in this
      process. Neither the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and
      nuclear kappa-light-chain-enhancer pathways of p62 contributed to enhanced EMT.
      However, inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) activity reduced the
      phosphorylation of p62 and enhanced EMT in podocytes similar to lysosome
      dysfunction. CONCLUSION: The lack of phosphorylated p62 leads to a faster exit
      from cell mitosis, enhanced EMT associated with lysosome dysfunction may be
      attributed to accumulation of p62 and associated reduction of p62
      phosphorylation.

PMID- 25832775
TI  - Understanding Health Needs and Perspectives of Middle-Aged and Older Women
      Experiencing Homelessness.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Middle-aged and older homeless women have unique health and social
      service delivery needs; yet, limited research has been conducted in this area.
      The purpose of this study was to assess perspectives among prefrail and frail,
      middle-aged and older homeless women. DESIGN AND SAMPLE: Focus group methodology
      was conducted to assess perspectives among these homeless women (N=20) aged 43 to
      62. MEASURES: Sociodemographic and frailty characteristics were assessed by
      structured instruments, along with mobility, assistive device use and falls.
      RESULTS: The average age was 53.4; the majority of the sample was African
      American (70%). In total, 60% reported living in a shelter for the last 30 days,
      while 20% were unsheltered. The majority of the sample reported walking
      independently (80%) and not using an assistive device (65%). Over one third (35%)
      fell in the last 30 days and 70% fell in the last year. Content analysis revealed
      several themes that included (1) health care needs and challenges experienced;
      (2) perspectives on sexual decision making; (3) employment difficulties; (4)
      existing support systems; and (5) development of future program planning.
      CONCLUSIONS: Future research development and implications are discussed.

PMID- 25832776
TI  - Charge generation layers for solution processed tandem organic light emitting
      diodes with regular device architecture.
AB  - Tandem organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) utilizing fluorescent polymers in
      both sub-OLEDs and a regular device architecture were fabricated from solution,
      and their structure and performance characterized. The charge carrier generation
      layer comprised a zinc oxide layer, modified by a polyethylenimine interface
      dipole, for electron injection and either MoO3, WO3, or VOx for hole injection
      into the adjacent sub-OLEDs. ToF-SIMS investigations and STEM-EDX mapping
      verified the distinct functional layers throughout the layer stack. At a given
      device current density, the current efficiencies of both sub-OLEDs add up to a
      maximum of 25 cd/A, indicating a properly working tandem OLED. 

PMID- 25832777
TI  - Endoplasmic reticulum-resident chaperones modulate the inflammatory and
      angiogenic responses of endothelial cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Wound healing depends on a well-balanced regulation of inflammation
      and angiogenesis. In chronic wounds the healing process is disturbed and
      inflammation persists. Regulation of wound closure is controlled by transmembrane
      and extracellular proteins, the folding and maturation of which occur in the
      endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by ER-resident chaperone machinery. OBJECTIVES: To
      study the role of the ER-resident chaperones BiP/Grp78, its cochaperone
      Mdg1/ERdJ4, and Grp94 in chronic, nonhealing wounds. METHODS: Immunohistochemical
      staining of these chaperones in individual human biopsies and investigation of
      the possible role of BiP and Mdg1 in endothelial cells, focusing on their
      inflammatory response and angiogenic potential. RESULTS: In all chronic wounds
      investigated, the levels of these ER-resident chaperones were elevated in
      endothelial cells and leucocytes. The proangiogenic role of BiP has been shown in
      tumour growth studies before and was confirmed in this study. Proangiogenic
      activity of the cochaperone Mdg1 has been postulated before but could not be
      confirmed in this study. The chemokine tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha was
      shown to trigger the presentation of proinflammatory adhesion molecules and the
      release of proinflammatory cytokines. Here we show that TNF-alpha does not affect
      endogenous chaperone levels, but that the ER-resident chaperones BiP and Mdg1
      modulate the cellular TNF-alpha-induced proinflammatory response. CONCLUSIONS:
      According to the presented data we assume that in chronic wounds upregulated
      levels of ER-resident chaperones might contribute to persistent inflammation in
      chronic wounds. Therapies to downregulate chaperone levels might provide a tool
      that switches the imbalanced chronic wound microenvironment from inflammation to
      healing.

PMID- 25832778
TI  - The case for a public forum within the United Nations to listen to those who use
      armed violence to address their grievances.

PMID- 25832779
TI  - Modulation of Electron Injection Dynamics of Ru-Based Dye/TiO2 System in the
      Presence of Three Different Organic Solvents: Role of Solvent Dipole Moment and
      Donor Number.
AB  - In the present work, femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (fs-TAS) has
      been employed to investigate the electron injection efficiency (EIE) both from
      the singlet and triplet excited states of a well-known ruthenium dye (N719) to
      the conduction band (CB) of nanostructured TiO(2) in presence of three different
      organic solvents [gamma-butylactone (GBL), 3-methoxypropionitrile (MPN), and
      dimethylformamide (DMF)] with different donor numbers (DNs) and dipole moments
      (DMs). The DM and DN of a solvent modulates the CB edge energy of TiO(2), and
      this effect reflects well in the fs-TAS results, which shows an EIE trend
      following the order GBL>=MPN?DMF, that is, highest in GBL and lowest in DMF
      solvent environments. Fs-TAS results indicate a lower contribution of electron
      injection from both the singlet and triplet states in DMF, for which the dominant
      adsorption of DMF molecules on the TiO(2) surface seems to play an important role
      in the mechanism.

PMID- 25832781
TI  - Erratum to: Up-converted fluorescence from photosynthetic light-harvesting
      complexes linearly dependent on excitation intensity.

PMID- 25832780
TI  - Critical assessment of the emission spectra of various photosystem II core
      complexes.
AB  - We evaluate low-temperature (low-T) emission spectra of photosystem II core
      complexes (PSII-cc) previously reported in the literature, which are compared
      with emission spectra of PSII-cc obtained in this work from spinach and for
      dissolved PSII crystals from Thermosynechococcus (T.) elongatus. This new
      spectral dataset is used to interpret data published on membrane PSII (PSII-m)
      fragments from spinach and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, as well as PSII-cc from T.
      vulcanus and intentionally damaged PSII-cc from spinach. This study offers new
      insight into the assignment of emission spectra reported on PSII-cc from
      different organisms. Previously reported spectra are also compared with data
      obtained at different saturation levels of the lowest energy state(s) of spinach
      and T. elongatus PSII-cc via hole burning in order to provide more insight into
      emission from bleached and/or photodamaged complexes. We show that typical low-T
      emission spectra of PSII-cc (with closed RCs), in addition to the 695 nm
      fluorescence band assigned to the intact CP47 complex (Reppert et al. J Phys Chem
      B 114:11884-11898, 2010), can be contributed to by several emission bands,
      depending on sample quality. Possible contributions include (i) a band near 690
      691 nm that is largely reversible upon temperature annealing, proving that the
      band originates from CP47 with a bleached low-energy state near 693 nm (Neupane
      et al. J Am Chem Soc 132:4214-4229, 2010; Reppert et al. J Phys Chem B 114:11884
      11898, 2010); (ii) CP43 emission at 683.3 nm (not at 685 nm, i.e., the F685 band,
      as reported in the literature) (Dang et al. J Phys Chem B 112:9921-9933, 2008;
      Reppert et al. J Phys Chem B 112:9934-9947, 2008); (iii) trap emission from
      destabilized CP47 complexes near 691 nm (FT1) and 685 nm (FT2) (Neupane et al. J
      Am Chem Soc 132:4214-4229, 2010); and (iv) emission from the RC pigments near 686
      687 nm. We suggest that recently reported emission of single PSII-cc complexes
      from T. elongatus may not represent intact complexes, while those obtained for T.
      elongatus presented in this work most likely represent intact PSII-cc, since they
      are nearly indistinguishable from emission spectra obtained for various PSII-m
      fragments.

PMID- 25832782
TI  - Quantification of patulin in fruit leathers by ultra-high-performance liquid
      chromatography-photodiode array (UPLC-PDA).
AB  - Patulin is a mycotoxin commonly found in certain fruit and fruit products. For
      this reason many countries have established regulatory limits pertaining to, in
      particular, apple juice and apple products. Fruit leathers are produced by
      dehydrating fruit puree, leaving a sweet product that has a leathery texture. A
      recent report in the literature described the detection of patulin at substantial
      levels in fruit leathers. To investigate this further, an ultra-high-performance
      liquid chromatography-photodiode array (UPLC-PDA) method was developed for the
      sensitive detection of patulin in fruit leathers. Investigations were also made
      of the suitability of direct analysis in real time-mass spectrometry (DART-MS)
      for detection of patulin from the surface of fruit leathers. Results indicated
      DART-MS was insufficiently sensitive for quantification from the surface of home
      style apple leathers, although patulin spiked onto the surface of leather or peel
      could be detected. The UPLC-PDA method was used to determine the fate of patulin
      during the preparation of home-made fruit leathers. Interestingly, when a home
      style process was used, the patulin was not destroyed, but rather increased in
      concentration as the puree was dehydrated. The UPLC-PDA method was also used to
      screen for patulin in commercial fruit leathers. Of the 36 products tested, 14
      were above the limit of detection (3.5 MUg kg(-1)) and nine were above the limit
      of quantification (12 MUg kg(-1)). Positive samples were confirmed by UPLC-MS/MS.
      Only one sample was found above the US regulatory limit for single-strength apple
      juice products (50 MUg kg(-1)). These results suggest patulin can be concentrated
      during preparation and can be found in fruit leathers. The limited survey
      suggests that patulin is fairly prevalent in such commercial products, but that
      the levels are usually low.

PMID- 25832783
TI  - One-pot catalytic asymmetric borylation of unsaturated aldehyde-derived imines;
      functionalisation to homoallylic boronate carboxylate ester derivatives.
AB  - The beta-borylation reaction of alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehyde-derived imines,
      formed in situ, has been studied using a one-pot methodology, as a route to beta
      boryl aldehydes. The instability of the beta-boryl aldehydes meant that
      derivatisation was required and routes to both acetal derivatives and homoallylic
      boronates were examined. beta-Boryl acetals were also found to be unstable,
      however, the formation of homoallylic boronate derivatives using an in situ imine
      hydrolysis-Wittig olefination protocol was found to be suitable, resulting in an
      efficient synthesis with high enantiomeric excesses. 

PMID- 25832784
TI  - Effects of liquid konjac on parameters related to obesity in diet-induced obese
      mice.
AB  - Konjac-mannan has been suggested to exert a protective effect against visceral
      obesity. However, there is little knowledge about the effects of liquid konjac
      (LK) that is partially alkali gelled. The purpose of the present work was to
      evaluate the potential beneficial effects of a LK powder on obesity in mice. Male
      C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet supplemented with either 2.5 or 5% LK
      powder for 80 days. Growth parameters, abdominal fat content, serum biochemical
      markers, and hepatic lipid accumulations were measured. Dietary supplementation
      with LK resulted in decreased body weight gain and abdominal fat accumulation.
      Dose-dependent decreases were observed in accumulation of hepatic lipids and
      serum total cholesterol, leptin, insulin concentrations. The study findings
      indicated that LK had preventing effect against obesity, including the reduction
      of abdominal and hepatic lipid accumulation and serum parameters related to
      obesity.

PMID- 25832785
TI  - Select microtubule inhibitors increase lysosome acidity and promote lysosomal
      disruption in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells.
AB  - To identify new biological vulnerabilities in acute myeloid leukemia, we screened
      a library of natural products for compounds cytotoxic to TEX leukemia cells. This
      screen identified the novel small molecule Deoxysappanone B 7,4' dimethyl ether
      (Deox B 7,4), which possessed nanomolar anti-leukemic activity. To determine the
      anti-leukemic mechanism of action of Deox B 7,4, we conducted a genome-wide
      screen in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and identified enrichment of genes related to
      mitotic cell cycle as well as vacuolar acidification, therefore pointing to
      microtubules and vacuolar (V)-ATPase as potential drug targets. Further
      investigations into the mechanisms of action of Deox B 7,4 and a related analogue
      revealed that these compounds were reversible microtubule inhibitors that bound
      near the colchicine site. In addition, Deox B 7,4 and its analogue increased
      lysosomal V-ATPase activity and lysosome acidity. The effects on microtubules and
      lysosomes were functionally important for the anti-leukemic effects of these
      drugs. The lysosomal effects were characteristic of select microtubule inhibitors
      as only the Deox compounds and nocodazole, but not colchicine, vinca alkaloids or
      paclitaxel, altered lysosome acidity and induced lysosomal disruption. Thus, our
      data highlight a new mechanism of action of select microtubule inhibitors on
      lysosomal function. 

PMID- 25832786
TI  - Development of an improved RT-PCR for specific detection of spring viraemia of
      carp virus.
AB  - Spring viraemia of carp (SVC) is a rhabdovirus infection, which has a significant
      economic impact in pond cultures of carp in Europe and western Independent States
      of the former Soviet Union. The causative agent of SVC, spring viraemia of carp
      virus (SVCV), has been divided into four subgroups, Ia, Ib, Ic and Id, on the
      basis of glycoprotein (G) protein gene sequences. In this study, a new primer set
      was designed from a G gene sequence of SVCV to identify the four subtypes of SVCV
      by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The specific PCR
      products of 369 bp were amplified from 15 SVCV isolates of all four subtypes.
      However, pike fry rhabdovirus (PFRV), which is antigenically related to SVCV, and
      other viruses antigenically related to SVCV and PFRV were not amplified. The four
      subtypes of SVCV were specifically amplified by the RT-PCR. Furthermore, the
      detection limit of the RT-PCR was 7.1 * 10(2) copies/reaction, and it was not
      influenced by the addition of RNA extracted from fish tissues. The RT-PCR will be
      applied not only to RNA extracted from viral suspensions, but also from fish
      tissue. It will contribute to rapid identification of SVCV in fish with clinical
      signs of SVC. 

PMID- 25832787
TI  - Review: Bioelectrical mechanisms in spinal cord stimulation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this review is to make specialists in a variety of
      disciplines familiar with basic aspects of spinal cord stimulation and the role
      of mathematical modeling in understanding its mechanisms of action and the
      solution of basic problems. METHODS: The paper is divided into five sections. The
      content of each section also covers aspects of various disciplines. Most aspects
      are presented in an unusual way, likely resulting in new viewpoints and further
      developments in the growing field of neuromodulation. RESULTS: A special,
      integrating role is the mathematical modeling of spinal cord stimulation and the
      simulation studies of various aspects, such as the stimulation in axial low-back
      pain. CONCLUSIONS: In particular the conclusions from several computer simulation
      studies are relevant and of interest to specialists in many disciplines.

PMID- 25832788
TI  - Dynamic changes of bacterial community under bioremediation with Sphingobium sp.
      LY-6 in buprofezin-contaminated soil.
AB  - Buprofezin is a commonly used chemical with satisfactory biological activity
      against sucking insect pests, but its disposal can cause serious environmental
      problems. To study the feasibility of remedying contamination by buprofezin,
      microcosm experiments were carried out to study the effects of various
      concentrations of buprofezin and Sphingobium sp. LY-6 on soil bacterial
      communities in soils collected from vegetable fields. In this experiment, the
      results showed that buprofezin was effectively degraded by Sphingobium sp. LY-6
      in incubation soils. Comparing to non-incubated soils, the cumulative degradation
      ratio of buprofezin was significantly increased, up to the extent of 85 and 51%,
      in the initial concentration of 10 and 100 mg kg(-1). The abundance and community
      structure of the bacterial communities were analysed by real-time PCR (qPCR) and
      terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP). The findings suggest
      that buprofezin had a negative effect on soil bacterial community, and decreases
      in bacterial abundance were observed in the later part of the incubation period.
      The bacterial community structure and diversity shifted significantly at each
      sampling time. In conclusion, the buprofezin-degrading strain LY-6 played a major
      role in the bioremediation of the buprofezin-contaminated soil and influenced the
      dynamics and structure of the bacterial community, demonstrating the great
      potential of exogenous microorganisms for soil remediation.

PMID- 25832789
TI  - Enhancing fermentable sugar yield from cassava pulp for bioethanol production:
      microwave-coupled enzymatic hydrolysis approach.
AB  - Cassava pulp, a potential biological feedstock for ethanol production has been
      subjected to microwave-assisted alkali pretreatment and microwave-coupled
      enzymatic hydrolysis. Microwave pretreatment may be a good alternative as it can
      reduce the pretreatment time and improve the enzymatic activity during
      hydrolysis. Liquid to solid ratio for the pretreatment of cassava pulp was found
      to be 20:1. Cassava pulp was pretreated at various NaOH concentration, microwave
      temperature and gave maximum yield of reducing sugar with 1.5% NaOH at 90 
      degrees C in 30 min than conventional alkali pretreatment after enzymatic
      hydrolysis. The subsequent enzymatic saccharification of pretreated cassava pulp
      using alpha amylase dosage of 400 IU at microwave temperature of 90  degrees C
      resulted in highest reducing sugar yield of 723 mg/g pulp. Microwave-assisted
      alkali pretreatment improved the enzymatic saccharification of cassava pulp by
      increasing its accessibility to hydrolytic enzymes. Microwave-assisted alkali
      pretreatment and microwave-coupled enzymatic hydrolysis are found to be efficient
      for improving the yield of reducing sugar.

PMID- 25832790
TI  - Cell mass energetic yields of fed-batch culture by Lipomyces starkeyi.
AB  - Estimation of the energy capacity of a microbial cell mass on the basis of its
      lipid content and elemental composition can be used for the comparative
      evaluation of different microbial sources of biodiesel. Lipomyces starkeyi cell
      mass concentration reached 94.6 g/L with 37.4% of lipids in a fed-batch process
      using xylose and urea as substrates. The fatty acid composition of the yeast oil
      was quite similar to that of palm oil. L. starkeyi converted more than 80% of the
      energy contained in xylose into cell mass energy yield. The approach used in this
      study makes it possible to determine the energy of a cell mass by its elemental
      composition. A heat of combustion (Q c) of 25.7 (kJ/g) was obtained for the cell
      mass after 142 h of fed-batch cultivation, which represents approximately 56% of
      the energy content of diesel oil (45.4 kJ/g). The Q c of the triacylglycerols
      produced was 48.9 (kJ/g), indicating the potential of this oleaginous yeast for
      biodiesel production. Our work developed here provides a simple and efficient
      tool for characterization of this cell mass to further our understanding of its
      use as a feedstock for bioenergy production.

PMID- 25832793
TI  - Gastroenterology team of the year.

PMID- 25832794
TI  - Merger of visible light induced oxidation and enantioselective alkylation with a
      chiral iridium catalyst.
AB  - A single chiral octahedral iridium(III) complex is used for visible light
      activated asymmetric photoredox catalysis. In the presence of a conventional
      household lamp and under an atmosphere of air, the oxidative coupling of 2-acyl-1
      phenylimidazoles with N,N-diaryl-N-(trimethylsilyl)methylamines provides
      aminoalkylated products in 61-93 % yields with high enantiomeric excess (90-98 %
      ee). Notably, the iridium center simultaneously serves three distinct functions:
      as the exclusive source of chirality, as the catalytically active Lewis acid, and
      as a central part of the photoredox sensitizer. This conceptionally simple
      reaction Scheme may provide new avenues for the green synthesis of non-racemic
      chiral molecules.

PMID- 25832795
TI  - Au-catalyzed ring-opening reactions of 2-(1-alkynyl-cyclopropyl)pyridines with
      nucleophiles.
AB  - A novel method for the C-C bond cleavage of cyclopropanes was developed by gold
      catalyzed cycloisomerization of 2-(1-alkynyl-cyclopropyl)pyridine with
      nucleophiles, which provides efficient access to structurally diverse indolizines
      under mild conditions. A series of N-, C- and O-based nucleophiles were involved
      in this reaction to afford the corresponding indolizines in modest to excellent
      yields. 

PMID- 25832796
TI  - Soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 is a biomarker of anti
      CCP-positive, early rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess serum soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid
      cells-1 (sTREM-1) levels in disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD)-naive
      early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA), to investigate the association of sTREM-1
      levels with Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28) and seropositivity for
      anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibody and to determine the predictive
      value of sTREM-1 with respect to clinical response to DMARD therapy. METHODS:
      Twenty-two consecutive patients with DMARD-naive ERA were prospectively evaluated
      for serum sTREM-1 by means of ELISA at diagnosis and at the following clinic
      visit after prednisone and/or DMARD has been administered, and related to DAS28
      and serum level of anti-CCP antibody. We compared the sTREM-1 level to that of 31
      patients with established RA as well as to 24 controls. RESULTS: Serum sTREM-1
      level was significantly higher in the DMARD-naive ERA group (212.9 +/- 388.9
      rhog/mL) compared to established RA group (1478.0 +/- 280.0 rhog/mL, P = 0.001)
      and normal control (34.4 +/- 7.4 rhog/mL, P < 0.001). In the ERA group, elevated
      basal sTREM-1 level correlated with higher DAS28-CRP score (P = 0.001, HR 3.23,
      95% CI 1.4-8.12), DAS28-ESR (P = 0.04, HR 2.34 95% CI 0.1-8.12), as well as
      predicted higher DAS28 score at the following encounter after DMARD treatment was
      administered (P = 0.001, HR 3.2 95% CI 1.1-7.2). Higher serum level of sTREM-1
      correlated with higher titres of anti-CCP antibody (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our
      results suggest that serum sTREM-1 may provide a novel biomarker for DMARD-naive
      ERA as well as for seropositivity for anti-CCP antibody and RA activity.

PMID- 25832797
TI  - Effect of collision energy on the reaction mechanism of C((3)P) + OH(X(2) Pi) ->
      CO(X(1) Sigma(+)) + H((2)S).
AB  - Quasiclassical trajectory calculations based on a fully global ab initio
      potential energy surface of the rotational angular momentum polarisation of the
      product CO in the title reaction are reported. The alignment and orientation of
      the rotational angular momentum of the CO fragment in the scattering frame were
      found to be sensitive to the initial collision energy chosen. Differences in the
      angular momentum polarization at different collision energies were traced to
      differences in the microscopic reaction mechanism. The results of this study
      suggest that the title reaction is mainly dominated by an abstraction reaction
      mechanism (involving the short-lived and metastable intermediate complex COH) at
      low collision energies; however, at relatively high energies, an insertion
      reaction mechanism (involving the long-lived and stable intermediate complex HCO)
      plays a role. 

PMID- 25832798
TI  - In silico identification of novel kinase inhibitors by targeting B-Raf(v660e)
      from natural products database.
AB  - The Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK (MAPK) signaling pathway has gained much attention from
      scientific community for therapeutic intervention in the past decades,
      specifically in oncology. Notably, a most prevalent B-Raf(v600e) mutant in Raf
      kinase family exhibits elevated kinase activity and results in constitutive
      activation of the MAPK pathway, thus making it a promising drug target for cancer
      therapy. Herein, virtual screening is applied to identify its potential
      inhibitors. Following the 25 ns molecular dynamic (MD) simulations, ZINC38541768,
      ZINC38541767, and ZINC12496469 are identified as B-Raf(v600e) potential
      inhibitors in a DFG-in conformation. Furthermore, according to the molecular
      mechanics/generalized born surface area (MM/GBSA) method, these three small
      molecules exhibit similar and good binding affinity toward B-Raf(v600e) (-38.76
      kcal mol(-1), -42.60 kcal mol(-1), and -39.04 kcal mol(-1)). At the same time,
      several critical residues, such as I463, V471 in the P-loop, and DFG motif
      residue D594 within the A-loop, are also well clarified. All these results may
      not only indicate some future applications of inhibitors targeting B-Raf(v600e),
      but also benefit B-Raf(v600e) harboring cancer patients. 

PMID- 25832799
TI  - Acquiring a Pet Dog Significantly Reduces Stress of Primary Carers for Children
      with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Prospective Case Control Study.
AB  - This study describes the impact of pet dogs on stress of primary carers of
      children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Stress levels of 38 primary carers
      acquiring a dog and 24 controls not acquiring a dog were sampled at: Pre
      intervention (17 weeks before acquiring a dog), post-intervention (3-10 weeks
      after acquisition) and follow-up (25-40 weeks after acquisition), using the
      Parenting Stress Index. Analysis revealed significant improvements in the
      intervention compared to the control group for Total Stress, Parental Distress
      and Difficult Child. A significant number of parents in the intervention group
      moved from clinically high to normal levels of Parental Distress. The results
      highlight the potential of pet dogs to reduce stress in primary carers of
      children with an ASD.

PMID- 25832800
TI  - The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test: Investigation of Psychometric Properties
      and Test-Retest Reliability of the Persian Version.
AB  - The psychometric properties of the Persian "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test
      were investigated, so were the predictions from the Empathizing-Systemizing
      theory of psychological sex differences. Adults aged 16-69 years old (N = 545,
      female = 51.7 %) completed the test online. The analysis of items showed them to
      be generally acceptable. Test-retest reliability, as measured by Intra-class
      correlation coefficient, was 0.735 with a 95 % CI of (0.514, 0.855). The
      percentage of agreement for each item in the test-retest was satisfactory and the
      mean difference between test-retest scores was -0.159 (SD = 3.42). However, the
      internal consistency of Persian version, calculated by Cronbach's alpha (0.371),
      was poor. Females scored significantly higher than males but academic degree and
      field of study had no significant effect.

PMID- 25832801
TI  - The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Toddler Module: Standardized Severity
      Scores.
AB  - Standardized calibrated severity scores (CSS) have been created for Autism
      Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd edition (ADOS-2) Modules 1-4 as a metric of
      the relative severity of autism-specific behaviors. Total and domain CSS were
      created for the Toddler Module to facilitate comparison to other modules.
      Analyses included 388 children with ASD age 12-30 months and were replicated on
      435 repeated assessments from 127 children with ASD. Compared to raw scores,
      associations between total and domain CSS and participant characteristics were
      reduced in the original sample. Verbal IQ effects on Social Affect-CSS were not
      reduced in the replication sample. Toddler Module CSS increases comparability of
      ADOS-2 scores across modules and allows studies of symptom trajectories to extend
      to earlier ages.

PMID- 25832802
TI  - Do oral health conditions adversely impact young adults?
AB  - This study assessed the extent to which clinically measured oral health
      conditions, adjusted for sociodemographic and oral health behavior determinants,
      impact adversely on the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in a sample
      of Belgian young adults. The null hypothesis was that, among young adults, the
      oral health conditions would have no impact on their quality of life. The
      participants were 611 new patients aged 16-32 years seeking consultation at the
      Saint-Luc University Hospital in Brussels in 2010-2011. The patients (56.0%
      female) were examined for their oral health conditions and answered a validated
      questionnaire about sociodemographic and oral health behavior determinants in
      addition to questions about their OHRQoL. The abridged Oral Health Impact Profile
      14 was used to assess the OHRQoL. Interexaminer reliability for caries was 0.86
      (95% CI 0.84-0.89, nonweighted kappa). The outcome was a high score on the OHRQoL
      (median split). Hierarchical logistic regression analysis showed that young
      adults with clinical absolute D1MFS scores between 9 and 16 (OR = 2.14, p =
      0.031) and between 17 and 24 (OR = 3.10, p = 0.003) were significantly more
      likely to report a high impact on their quality of life than those with lower
      scores. Also, periodontal conditions compromised significantly (OR = 1.79, p =
      0.011) the quality of life of young adults. In conclusion, this study identified
      oral health conditions with a significant adverse effect on the OHRQoL of young
      adults. However, the prevalence of young adults reporting impacts on at least 1
      performance affected fairly often or very often was limited to 18.7% of the
      sample.

PMID- 25832804
TI  - Orthogonal insertion of lanthanide and transition-metal atoms in metal-organic
      networks on surfaces.
AB  - The orthogonal coordinative properties of tetrapyrrole macrocycles and nitrile
      ligands have been used in a multistep procedure towards interfacial d-f hetero
      bimetallic nanoarchitectures based on a free-base porphyrin derivative
      functionalized with meso-cyanobiphenylene substituents. Molecular-level scanning
      tunneling microscopy studies reveal that the porphyrin module alone self
      assembles on Ag(111) in a close-packed layer with a square unit cell. Upon co
      deposition of Gd atoms, a square-planar motif is formed that reflects the
      fourfold coordination of CN ligands to the rare-earth centers. The resulting
      nanoporous network morphology is retained following exposure to a beam of Co
      atoms, which induces selective porphyrin metalation and ultimately yields a
      gridlike 2D metallosupramolecular architecture. 

PMID- 25832803
TI  - Preference for concentric orientations in the mouse superior colliculus.
AB  - The superior colliculus is a layered structure important for body- and gaze
      orienting responses. Its superficial layer is, next to the lateral geniculate
      nucleus, the second major target of retinal ganglion axons and is retinotopically
      organized. Here we show that in the mouse there is also a precise organization of
      orientation preference. In columns perpendicular to the tectal surface, neurons
      respond to the same visual location and prefer gratings of the same orientation.
      Calcium imaging and extracellular recording revealed that the preferred grating
      varies with retinotopic location, and is oriented parallel to the concentric
      circle around the centre of vision through the receptive field. This implies that
      not all orientations are equally represented across the visual field. This makes
      the superior colliculus different from visual cortex and unsuitable for
      translation-invariant object recognition and suggests that visual stimuli might
      have different behavioural consequences depending on their retinotopic location. 

PMID- 25832805
TI  - Crystal Engineering with the New Linker Tolanedisulfonic Acid (H2 TDS): Helical
      Chains in Zn(TDS)(DMA)3 , Linear Chains in Zn(TDS)(NMP)3 , and Complex Anions in
      [HDMA]2 [Zn(TDS)2 (DMA)3 ](DMA)2.
AB  - Reaction of 4,4'-tolanedisulfonic acid, H2 TDS, with zinc hydroxide in
      dimethylacetamide, DMA, under solvothermal conditions led to the coordination
      polymer Zn(TDS)(DMA)3 (I). In the crystal structure [trigonal, P32 21, Z=3,
      a=1175.0(1) pm, c=1949.5(1) pm, R1 ; wR2 (Io > 2sigma(Io ))=0.0393; 0.0921] the
      disulfonate anions linked the Zn(2+) ions into helical chains according to
      infinity (1) [Zn(DMA)3/1 (TDS)2/2 ] (I) causing the chirality of the compound. By
      using higher concentrations of H2 TDS in the starting mixture the compound
      [HDMA]2 [Zn(TDS)2 (DMA)3 ](DMA)2 (II) was formed. The structure [monoclinic, Cc,
      Z=4, a=1201.5(1) pm, b=1996.0(1) pm, c=2749.2(2) pm, beta=101.897(2) degrees , R1
      ; wR2 (Io > 2sigma(Io ))=0.0699; 0.2017] displayed the complex anion [Zn(TDS)2
      (DMA)3 ](2-) which was a perfect cut-off of the helical chain in I. Charge
      compensation was achieved by protonated DMA molecules. If N-methylpyrrolidone,
      NMP, was chosen as a solvent, the sulfonate Zn(TDS)(NMP)3 (III) [monoclinic,
      I2/a, Z=4, a=1575.7(1) pm, b=1077.3(1) pm, c=1870.0(1) pm, beta=101.189(9)
      degrees , R1 ; wR2 (Io > 2sigma(Io ))=0.0563; 0.1320] was obtained. Similarly to
      the findings for I, the formation of chains according to infinity (1) [Zn(NMP)3/1
      (TDS)2/2 ] was observed. However, due to the more bulky NMP molecules these
      chains were no longer helical but straight instead.

PMID- 25832808
TI  - Optofluidic holographic microscopy with custom field of view (FoV) using a linear
      array detector.
AB  - Simple and effective imaging strategies are of utmost interest for applications
      on a lab-on-chip scale. In fact, the majority of diagnostic tools for medical as
      well as biotechnological studies still employ image-based approaches. Having
      onboard the chip a compact but powerful imaging apparatus with multiple imaging
      capabilities, such as 3D dynamic focusing along the optical axis, unlimited field
      of view (FoV) and double outputs, namely, intensity and quantitative phase
      contrast maps of biological objects, is of extreme importance for the next
      generation of Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) devices. Here we present a coherent 3D
      microscopy approach with a holographic modality that is specifically suitable for
      studying biological samples while they simply flow along microfluidic paths. The
      LoC device is equipped with a compact linear array detector to capture and
      generate a new conceptual type of a digital hologram in the space-time domain,
      named here as Space-Time Digital Hologram (STDH). The reported results show that
      the method is a promising diagnostic tool for optofluidic investigations of
      biological specimens. 

PMID- 25832807
TI  - Meniere's disease treatment: a patient-centered systematic review.
AB  - Meniere's disease is a disorder of the inner ear affecting hearing and balance to
      a varying degree. It is characterized by episodes of vertigo, low-pitched
      tinnitus, and hearing loss. There is currently no gold standard treatment for
      Meniere's disease. We conducted a systematic search of the Cochrane Database, as
      a high-quality source of evidence-based therapies, for reviews on the efficacy of
      etiological therapy or on Meniere's disease or its symptoms. Following recent
      positive experiences reported by other research teams, we decided to involve a
      patients' representative in the assessment and analysis of the evidence retrieved
      in the literature in order to achieve a more patient-centered evaluation of the
      therapies. Evidence confirms that an effective treatment of Meniere's disease is
      still missing, but recent discoveries on the microvascular etiology of Meniere's
      disease may be assimilated by new evidence-based therapeutic approaches.

PMID- 25832806
TI  - Identification of P-glycoprotein co-fractionating proteins and specific binding
      partners in rat brain microvessels.
AB  - Drug delivery to the brain for the treatment of pathologies with a CNS component
      is a significant clinical challenge. P-glycoprotein (PgP), a drug efflux pump in
      the endothelial cell membrane, is a major factor in preventing therapeutics from
      crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Identifying PgP regulatory mechanisms is
      key to developing agents to modulate PgP activity. Previously, we found that PgP
      trafficking was altered concomitant with increased PgP activity and disassembly
      of high molecular weight PgP-containing complexes during acute peripheral
      inflammatory pain. These data suggest that PgP activity is post-translationally
      regulated at the BBB. The goal of the current study was to identify proteins that
      co-localize with PgP in rat brain microvessel endothelial cell membrane
      microdomains and use the data to suggest potential regulatory mechanisms. Using
      new density gradients of microvessel homogenates, we identified two unique pools
      (1,2) of PgP in membrane fractions. Caveolar constituents, caveolin1, cavin1, and
      cavin2, co-localized with PgP in these fractions indicating the two pools
      contained caveolae. A chaperone (Hsc71), protein disulfide isomerase and
      endosomal/lysosomal sorting proteins (Rab5, Rab11a) also co-fractionated with PgP
      in the gradients. These data suggest signaling pathways with a potential role in
      post-translational regulation of PgP activity at the BBB.

PMID- 25832809
TI  - The Contribution of MRI after Fetal Anomalies Have Been Diagnosed by Ultrasound:
      Correlation with Postnatal Outcomes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the additional value of fetal
      magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the assessment and management of fetuses with
      abnormal findings on ultrasound. METHODS: A total of 257 patients who had fetal
      MRI following the ultrasound diagnosis of a fetal anomaly, or were at high risk,
      were included. The patients were grouped by referral category for fetal MRI.
      Fetal MRI was compared to ultrasound in the detection of anomalies, i.e. whether
      additional findings were identified and if this changed diagnosis, prognosis and
      management during pregnancy. RESULTS: Ultrasound findings were confirmed on fetal
      MRI in 89% of the cases. Additional findings were seen with MRI in 28% of all
      patients. The diagnosis changed in 21% and the prognosis in 19% of the cases.
      Perinatal management changed in 8%. The antenatal findings were confirmed in all
      cases that had a postmortem examination following termination of pregnancy. In
      all the pregnancies that continued to delivery and for which the postnatal
      outcome is known, the findings correlated in 97% of the cases. CONCLUSION: Fetal
      MRI provided additional detection of fetal anomalies, leading to a change in
      diagnosis and prognosis in 19% of the cases. Neonatal and postmortem findings
      mostly confirmed the fetal MRI diagnosis, suggesting it to be a useful tool for
      clinical decision making in perinatal management.

PMID- 25832810
TI  - Refraction and visual acuity in a national Danish cohort of 4-year-old children
      of extremely preterm delivery.
AB  - PURPOSE: A recent threefold increase in laser treatment for advanced retinopathy
      of prematurity (ROP) triggered a nationwide preschool ophthalmic and
      developmental status among extremely preterm survivors. Here, we discuss
      refraction and visual acuity. METHODS: Survivors (n = 178) from a national birth
      cohort (February 2004 to March 2006) of gestational age <28 weeks (PT) and 56
      full-term (FT) controls attended for evaluation at age 4 years. Cycloplegic
      refraction and keratometry were achieved by Retinomax autokeratorefractor and
      visual acuities by symbol recognition (HOTV, logMAR). RESULTS: The refractive
      distribution presented a myopic tail (4.5%) and a hyperopic tail (11.9% >=+2.5 D)
      as special preterm features, and corneas were more curved. Astigmatism and
      anisometropia were only marginally increased, and visual acuities were generally
      good. Best-corrected binocular median logMAR visual acuity was 0.1 in FT and 0.2
      in PT, in Snellen equivalents 0.8 and 0.63. Snellen acuity <=0.5 occurred across
      the ROP subgroups, but mainly in those with at least ROP stage 3. Two children
      had low vision. CONCLUSIONS: The overall fair outcome for refraction and function
      is in accordance with other recent northern Europe experience. The results differ
      in particular from the poorer ophthalmic outcomes reported in the pioneer US
      treatment studies (cryotherapy for ROP and ETROP). The diode laser ablations (n =
      32) appeared effective in our series; except one child, all treated subjects had
      good or fair social vision at the age of 4 years.

PMID- 25832811
TI  - Ketogenic diet attenuates NMDA-induced damage to rat's retinal ganglion cells in
      an age-dependent manner.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to investigate neuroprotective effects of a
      high fat/low carbohydrate and protein diet (ketogenic diet, KD) in a model of N
      methyl D-aspartate (NMDA)-induced retinal ganglion cell (RGC) damage in juvenile
      and young adult rats. METHODS: Juvenile (30-35 days old) and young adult (56-70
      days old) female Brown Norway rats were fed the KD for 21 days; rats exposed to a
      standard rodent diet (SRD) served as controls. The main constituents of the KD
      used in the present study were approximately 80% fats, 8% proteins, and less than
      1% carbohydrates. On day 14 of exposure to the KD (or the SRD in the control
      group), each rat received a single intravitreal injection of NMDA; RGCs were then
      retrogradely labelled by hydroxystilbamidine on day 19 and collected on day 21 to
      assess the degree of damage induced by NMDA. Blood biomarkers to confirm the
      expected metabolic response to the KD (i.e. ketosis and hypoglycaemia) were also
      assessed. RESULTS: Although both the juvenile and young adult rats developed
      comparable ketosis and hypoglycaemia when fed the KD, NMDA-induced loss in RGCs
      was significantly attenuated only in juvenile rats exposed to the KD in
      comparison with those fed the SRD; exposure to the KD had no protective effect in
      young adult rats. In summary, exposure to the KD had a neuroprotective effect in
      NMDA-induced RGC damage in juvenile rats, but not in young adult rats.
      CONCLUSION: These results support further exploration of metabolic interventions
      to treat optic neuropathies associated with neurodegeneration.

PMID- 25832812
TI  - Carbon-catalysed reductive hydrogen atom transfer reactions.
AB  - Generally, transition metal catalysts are essential for the reductive hydrogen
      atom transfer reaction, which is also known as the transfer hydrogenation
      reaction or the borrowing-hydrogen reaction. It has been reported that graphene
      can be an active catalyst in ethylene and nitrobenzene reductions, but no report
      has described carbon-based materials as catalysts for alcohol amination via the
      borrowing-hydrogen reaction mechanism. Here we show the results from the
      preparation, characterization and catalytic performance investigation of carbon
      catalysts in transition metal-free borrowing-hydrogen reactions using alcohol
      amination and nitro compound/ketone reduction as model reactions. XPS, XRD, SEM,
      FT-IR and N2 adsorption-desorption studies revealed that C=O group in the carbon
      catalysts may be a possible catalytically active site, and high surface area is
      important for gaining high activity. The activity of the carbon catalyst remained
      unchanged after reuse. This study provides an attractive and useful methodology
      for a wider range of applications. 

PMID- 25832814
TI  - Moonlight pollination in the gymnosperm Ephedra (Gnetales).
AB  - Most gymnosperms are wind-pollinated, but some are insect-pollinated, and in
      Ephedra (Gnetales), both wind pollination and insect pollination occur. Little
      is, however, known about mechanisms and evolution of pollination syndromes in
      gymnosperms. Based on four seasons of field studies, we show an unexpected
      correlation between pollination and the phases of the moon in one of our studied
      species, Ephedra foeminea. It is pollinated by dipterans and lepidopterans, most
      of them nocturnal, and its pollination coincides with the full moon of July. This
      may be adaptive in two ways. Many nocturnal insects navigate using the moon.
      Further, the spectacular reflection of the full-moonlight in the pollination
      drops is the only apparent means of nocturnal attraction of insects in these
      plants. In the sympatric but wind-pollinated Ephedra distachya, pollination is
      not correlated to the full moon but occurs at approximately the same dates every
      year. The lunar correlation has probably been lost in most species of Ephedra
      subsequent an evolutionary shift to wind pollination in the clade. When the
      services of insects are no longer needed for successful pollination, the adaptive
      value of correlating pollination with the full moon is lost, and conceivably also
      the trait. 

PMID- 25832815
TI  - Transoceanic migration by a 12 g songbird.
AB  - Many fundamental aspects of migration remain a mystery, largely due to our
      inability to follow small animals over vast spatial areas. For more than 50
      years, it has been hypothesized that, during autumn migration, blackpoll warblers
      (Setophaga striata) depart northeastern North America and undertake a non-stop
      flight over the Atlantic Ocean to either the Greater Antilles or the northeastern
      coast of South America. Using miniaturized light-level geolocators, we provide
      the first irrefutable evidence that the blackpoll warbler, a 12 g boreal forest
      songbird, completes an autumn transoceanic migration ranging from 2270 to 2770 km
      (mean +/- s.d.: 2540 +/- 257) and requiring up to 3 days (62 h +/- 10) of non
      stop flight. This is one of the longest non-stop overwater flights recorded for a
      songbird and confirms what has long been believed to be one of the most
      extraordinary migratory feats on the planet. 

PMID- 25832816
TI  - Acoustic telemetry reveals cryptic residency of whale sharks.
AB  - Although whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) have been documented to move thousands of
      kilometres, they are most frequently observed at a few predictable seasonal
      aggregation sites. The absence of sharks at the surface during visual surveys has
      led to the assumption that sharks disperse to places unknown during the long 'off
      seasons' at most of these locations. Here we compare 2 years of R. typus visual
      sighting records from Mafia Island in Tanzania to concurrent acoustic telemetry
      of tagged individuals. Sightings revealed a clear seasonal pattern with a peak
      between October and February and no sharks observed at other times. By contrast,
      acoustic telemetry demonstrated year-round residency of R. typus. The sharks use
      a different habitat in the off-season, swimming deeper and further away from
      shore, presumably in response to prey distributions. This behavioural change
      reduces the sharks' visibility, giving the false impression that they have left
      the area. We demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, year-round
      residency of unprovisioned, individual R. typus at an aggregation site, and
      highlight the importance of using multiple techniques to study the movement
      ecology of marine megafauna.

PMID- 25832818
TI  - Integrated copy number and gene expression profiling analysis of Epstein-Barr
      virus-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
AB  - Viral oncogenes and host immunosenescence have been suggested as causes of
      Epstein-Barr virus-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (EBV + DLBCL) of the
      elderly. To investigate the molecular genetic basis of immune evasion and tumor
      outgrowth, we analyzed copy number alterations (CNAs) and gene expression
      profiles in EBV + DLBCL samples compared with EBV - DLBCL. There were relatively
      few genomic alterations in EBV + DLBCL compared with those detected in EBV
      negative DLBCL. The most frequent CNAs (>30%) in EBV + DLBCLs were gains at
      1q23.2-23.3, 1q23.3, 1q32.1, 5p15.3, 8q22.3, 8q24.1-24.2, and 9p24.1; losses at
      6q27, 7q11.2, and 7q36.2-36.3 were also recurrent. A gene expression profile
      analysis identified the host immune response as a key molecular signature in EBV
      + DLBCL. Antiviral response genes, proinflammatory cytokines, and chemokines
      associated with the innate immune response were overexpressed, indicating the
      presence of a virusinduced inflammatory microenvironment. Genes associated with
      the B-cell receptor signaling pathway were downregulated. An integrated analysis
      indicated that SLAMF1 and PDL2 were key targets of the gains detected at 1q23.2
      23.3 and 9p24.1. The chromosomal gain at 9p24.1 was associated with poor overall
      survival. Taken together, our results led to the identification of recurrent copy
      number alterations and distinct gene expression associated with the host immune
      response in EBV + DLBCL. We suggest that the upregulation of PDL2 on 9p24.1
      promotes immune evasion and is associated with poor prognosis in EBV + DLBCL.

PMID- 25832817
TI  - Population genetic structure of serotine bats (Eptesicus serotinus) across Europe
      and implications for the potential spread of bat rabies (European bat lyssavirus
      EBLV-1).
AB  - Understanding of the movements of species at multiple scales is essential to
      appreciate patterns of population connectivity and in some cases, the potential
      for pathogen transmission. The serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus) is a common and
      widely distributed species in Europe where it frequently harbours European bat
      lyssavirus type 1 (EBLV-1), a virus causing rabies and transmissible to humans.
      In the United Kingdom, it is rare, with a distribution restricted to south of the
      country and so far the virus has never been found there. We investigated the
      genetic structure and gene flow of E. serotinus across the England and
      continental Europe. Greater genetic structuring was found in England compared
      with continental Europe. Nuclear data suggest a single population on the
      continent, although further work with more intensive sampling is required to
      confirm this, while mitochondrial sequences indicate an east-west substructure.
      In contrast, three distinct populations were found in England using
      microsatellite markers, and mitochondrial diversity was very low. Evidence of
      nuclear admixture indicated strong male-mediated gene flow among populations.
      Differences in connectivity could contribute to the high viral prevalence on the
      continent in contrast with the United Kingdom. Although the English Channel was
      previously thought to restrict gene flow, our data indicate relatively frequent
      movement from the continent to England highlighting the potential for movement of
      EBLV-1 into the United Kingdom. 

PMID- 25832819
TI  - Cloning and expression of fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase derived from marine yeast
      Rhodosporidium diobovatum.
AB  - Fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (FAH) catalyzes the hydrolytic cleavage of a carbon
      carbon bond in fumarylacetoacetate to yield acetoacetate and fumarate as the
      final step in tyrosine degradation. In this study, the FAH genomic DNA and cDNA
      of Rhodosporidium. diobovatum were cloned by using the methods of degenerate
      polymerase chain reaction and RACE method. The results showed that the gene
      contained six exons, and that the encoded polypeptide held a sequence of 308
      amino acid residues, containing a 75 residue N-terminal prosequence, a 216
      residue proteinase domain, and a 17 residue C-terminal domain. Then, the
      expression vectors pET28a-FAH were constructed and expressed in Escherichia coli.
      The enzymatic activity of FAH protein was determined by monitoring the decrease
      in optical density at 330 nm of the substrate fumarylacetoacetate. The values for
      Km and Vmax of the purified enzyme was 1.4 uM and 2.3 umol . min(-1)  . mg(-1),
      respectively.

PMID- 25832820
TI  - No big data without small data: learning health care systems begin and end with
      the individual patient.

PMID- 25832822
TI  - Commentary on Trajectories and predictors of functional decline in hospitalised
      older patients. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 22, 1322-1331.

PMID- 25832824
TI  - Considerations in civil commitment of individuals with substance use disorders.
AB  - Several states currently have enacted laws that allow for civil commitment for
      individuals diagnosed with severe substance use disorders. Civil commitment or
      involuntary commitment refers to the legal process by which individuals with
      mental illness are court-ordered into inpatient and/or outpatient treatment
      programs. Although initially civil commitment laws were intended for individuals
      with severe mental illness, these statutes have been extended to cover
      individuals with severe substance use disorders. Much of the recent legislation
      allowing for civil commitment of individuals with substance use disorders has
      come about in response to the heroin epidemic and is designed to provide an
      alternative to the unrelenting progression of opioid use disorders. Civil
      commitment also provides an opportunity for individuals with opioid use disorders
      to make informed decisions regarding ongoing or continued treatment. However,
      civil commitment also raises concerns regarding the potential violation of 14th
      Amendment rights, specifically pertaining to abuses of deprivation of liberty or
      freedom, which are guaranteed under the 14th Amendment to the United States
      Constitution. This commentary examines these issues while supporting the need for
      effective brief civil commitment legislation in all states. 

PMID- 25832823
TI  - Neuropsychological sex differences associated with age of initiated use among
      young adult cannabis users.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Earlier initiation of cannabis use is associated with poorer
      neuropsychological functioning across several domains. Given well-documented sex
      differences in neuromaturation during adolescence, initiation of cannabis use
      during this time may affect neuropsychological functioning differently for males
      and females. METHOD: In the current study, we examined sex differences in the
      relationship between age of initiated cannabis use and neuropsychological
      performance after controlling for amount of lifetime cannabis use in 44 male and
      25 female young adult cannabis users. RESULTS: We found that an earlier age of
      initiated use was related to poorer episodic memory, especially immediate recall,
      in females, but not in males. On the other hand, we found that, surprisingly, an
      earlier age of initiated use was associated with better decision making overall.
      However, exploratory analyses found sex-specific factors associated with decision
      making and age of initiated use, specifically that attention
      deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in females may drive the
      relationship between an earlier age of initiated use and better decision making.
      Further, an earlier age of initiated use was associated with less education, a
      lower IQ, and fewer years of mother's education for females, but more lifetime
      cannabis use for males. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our findings suggest there
      are sex differences in the associations between age of initiated cannabis use and
      neuropsychological functioning. The current study provides preliminary evidence
      that males and females may have different neuropsychological vulnerabilities that
      place them at risk for initiating cannabis use and continued cannabis use,
      highlighting the importance of examining the impact of cannabis on
      neuropsychological functioning separately for males and females.

PMID- 25832825
TI  - Measurement of shrinkage and cracking in lyophilized amorphous cakes, part 3:
      hydrophobic vials and the question of adhesion.
AB  - The importance of cake adhesion to the inside vial wall during lyophilization of
      amorphous trehalose cakes was determined by using hydrophobized vials. The
      degrees of cake shrinkage and cracking were determined independently by
      photographic imaging of the cake top surface in a dark cell. Additionally,
      measurements with microcomputed tomography were performed. Adhesion is found to
      be a determining factor in both cake shrinkage and cracking. The correlation
      between cake detachment from the vial inner wall and trehalose concentration
      indicates that adhesion of the frozen solute phase is a determining factor in
      shrinkage. The hydrophobized vials give reduced cracking at trehalose
      concentrations of up to 15%. The reduced wetting of the hydrophobized inside vial
      wall gives a planar cake topography with a uniform distribution of cracks within
      the cake.

PMID- 25832826
TI  - Synchronous primary lung cancer presenting with small cell carcinoma and
      adenocarcinoma.
AB  - Multiple synchronous primary lung cancers presenting with different histologic
      types are uncommon. Among reported cases with different histologic findings, only
      a few had small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and adenocarcinoma. This unusual
      combination of lung cancers has not been well reported. In this report, we
      describe two cases of synchronous primary lung cancer presenting with lymph node
      metastasis of SCLC and early-stage adenocarcinoma. Epidermal growth factor
      receptor (EGFR) mutation was not detected in either SCLC or adenocarcinoma in the
      two cases. 

PMID- 25832827
TI  - In reference to "The effect of a rapid response team on resident perceptions of
      education and autonomy".

PMID- 25832829
TI  - Improving the Utility of Laryngeal Adductor Reflex Testing: A Translational Tale
      of Mice and Men.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Evaluation of the laryngeal adductor reflex (LAR) entails delivering
      air through an endoscope positioned 1 to 2 mm from the arytenoid mucosa to elicit
      bilateral vocal fold (VF) closure. This short working distance limits
      visualization to only the ipsilateral arytenoid and results in quantification of
      a single LAR metric: threshold pressure that evokes the LAR. Our goal was to
      evolve the LAR procedure to optimize its utility in clinical practice and
      translational research. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective translational experiment.
      SETTING: Academic institution. SUBJECTS: Young healthy human adults (n = 13) and
      3 groups of mice: healthy, primary aging mice (n = 5), a transgenic mouse model
      of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; n = 4), and young healthy controls (n =
      10). METHODS: The VFs were visualized bilaterally during supramaximal air
      stimulation through an endoscope. Responses were analyzed to quantify 4 novel
      metrics: VF adduction phase duration, complete glottic closure duration, VF
      abduction phase duration, and total LAR duration. RESULTS: The 4 LAR metrics are
      remarkably similar between healthy young humans and mice. Compared to control
      mice, aging mice have shorter glottic closure durations, whereas ALS-affected
      mice have shorter VF abduction phase durations. CONCLUSIONS: We have established
      a new LAR protocol that permits quantification of novel LAR metrics that are
      translatable between mice and humans. Using this protocol, we showed that VF
      adduction is impaired in primary aging mice, whereas VF abduction is impaired in
      ALS-affected mice. These preliminary findings highlight the enhanced diagnostic
      potential of LAR testing.

PMID- 25832828
TI  - A multi-center screening trial of rasagiline in patients with amyotrophic lateral
      sclerosis: Possible mitochondrial biomarker target engagement.
AB  - Rasagiline, a monoamine oxidase B inhibitor, slowed disease progression in the
      SOD1 mouse, and in a case series of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
      (ALS). Here we determine whether rasagiline is safe and effective in ALS compared
      to historical placebo controls, and whether it alters mitochondrial biomarkers.
      We performed a prospective open-label, multicenter screening trial of 36 ALS
      patients treated with 2 mg oral rasagiline daily for 12 months. Outcomes included
      the slope of deterioration of the revised ALS Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R),
      adverse event monitoring, time to treatment failure, and exploratory biomarkers.
      Participants experienced no serious drug-related adverse events, and the most
      common adverse event was nausea (11.1%). Rasagiline did not improve the rate of
      decline in the ALSFRS-R; however, differences in symptom duration compared to
      historical placebo controls differentially affected ALSFRS-R slope estimates.
      Rasagiline changed biomarkers over 12 months, such that the mitochondrial
      membrane potential increased (JC-1 red/green fluorescent ratio 1.92, p = 0.0001)
      and apoptosis markers decreased (Bcl-2/Bax ratio 0.24, p < 0.0001). In
      conclusion, engagement of exploratory biomarkers and questions about
      comparability of baseline characteristics lead us to recommend a further placebo
      controlled trial. 

PMID- 25832830
TI  - Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus
      Immunology: A Pilot Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To elucidate specific cytokine and chemokine markers in patients
      diagnosed with pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with
      streptococcus (PANDAS). STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. STUDY SETTING:
      Academic university hospital. METHODS: Tonsil tissue was collected from 24
      patients and organized into 3 groups: experimental PANDAS cohort (12 patients),
      group A beta hemolytic streptococcus control cohort (6 patients), and obstructive
      sleep apnea control cohort (6 patients). Each tissue sample was extracted with
      MSD Tris lysis buffer, and protein lysates were analyzed for human chemokines and
      cytokines by the Human Cytokine 30-Plex Assay on the Mesoscale System. RESULTS:
      We identified a significant difference in expression regarding the 8 following
      cytokines when comparing the experimental PANDAS, group A beta hemolytic
      streptococcus, and obstructive sleep apnea control cohorts: tumor necrosis factor
      alpha and eotaxin-3. In addition, our group also identified a significant
      reduction in the expression of interleukin (IL)-8, interferon inducible protein
      10, IL-17a, interferon-gamma, IL-10, and IL-12 across the aforementioned groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: Patients diagnosed with PANDAS appear to maintain significantly
      different concentrations of cytokines when compared with patients afflicted by
      chronic group A beta hemolytic streptococcus infections and obstructive sleep
      apnea. As a result, one could potentially use the described characterization of
      immunologic markers as a basis for future mechanistic and epidemiological
      studies.

PMID- 25832832
TI  - [New trend in metal-based drug research].

PMID- 25832833
TI  - [Iron, aluminum, and lanthanum-based drugs for treatment of hyperphosphatemia].
AB  - The control of the serum phosphorus (P) level in chronic kidney disease patients
      is important because elevated serum P levels are associated with progression of
      vascular calcification and increased mortality in these patients. In 2014, a
      novel phosphate binder, ferric citrate hydrate (Riona((r))), became available for
      the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in Japan, the first country to approve this
      medication. Ferric citrate hydrate, which relies upon the potent phosphate
      binding capacity of ferric iron, inhibits P absorption by forming complexes
      between ferric iron and dietary phosphate in the gut. The active pharmaceutical
      ingredient in ferric citrate hydrate provides a larger specific surface area and
      higher water solubility; therefore, it is expected to have greater efficacy in
      terms of its phosphate-binding capacity. In clinical trials, ferric citrate
      hydrate significantly reduced the serum phosphate level and effectively
      maintained serum P concentrations throughout the duration of the trials.
      Moreover, in one clinical trial, ferric citrate hydrate significantly decreased
      levels of fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23) in nondialysis patients. FGF-23 is
      an endocrine hormone that increases urinary phosphate excretion to maintain serum
      P at the proper level. A portion of the iron from ferric citrate hydrate is
      absorbed and transported throughout the body as transferrin-bound iron, where it
      is used for the synthesis of hemoglobin, enzymes, and others. Although safer and
      more effective phosphate binders are expected in the future, ferric citrate
      hydrate will become a new approach for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia.

PMID- 25832834
TI  - [Application of radioisotopes for theranostics, a combination of diagnostics and
      therapy].
AB  - Radioisotopes emit radiation with various characteristics. These characteristics
      have been used for various applications of radioisotopes in clinical fields. For
      example, diagnostic nuclear medicine is a technique that uses gamma-emitted
      radionuclides with high permeability into the body and can visualize changes in
      physiological and biochemical processes throughout the distributed and
      interrelated systems of living tissues and organs. Therapeutic nuclear medicine
      is a technique that uses beta-emitted radionuclides with high radiation damage to
      the cell and can be used for internal radiation therapy. Therefore, a strategy in
      which the same ligand is labeled with beta-emitted or gamma-emitted
      radioisotopes, i.e., a theranostics approach, is useful because an extensive
      availability of diagnostics and therapeutics is possible. In this presentation,
      some examples of a theranostics approach for radiolabeled compounds will be
      reported, including the results of our recent research.

PMID- 25832831
TI  - Chimeric antigen receptors and bispecific antibodies to retarget T cells in
      pediatric oncology.
AB  - Cancer immunotherapy using antigen-specific T cells has broad therapeutic
      potential. Chimeric antigen receptors and bispecific antibodies can redirect T
      cells to kill tumors without human leukocyte antigens (HLA) restriction. Key
      determinants of clinical potential include the choice of target antigen, antibody
      specificity, antibody affinity, tumor accessibility, T cell persistence, and
      tumor immune evasion. For pediatric cancers, additional constraints include their
      propensity for bulky metastatic disease and the concern for late toxicities from
      treatment. Nonetheless, the recent preclinical and clinical developments of these
      T cell based therapies are highly encouraging.

PMID- 25832835
TI  - [Decorporation agents for internal radioactive contamination].
AB  - When radionuclides are accidentally ingested or inhaled, blood circulation or
      tissue/organ deposition of the radionuclides causes systemic or local radiation
      effects. In such cases, decorporation therapy is used to reduce the health risks
      due to their intake. Decorporation therapy includes reduction and/or inhibition
      of absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, isotopic dilution, and the use of
      diuretics, adsorbents, and chelating agents. For example, penicillamine is
      recommended as a chelating agent for copper contamination, and diethylene
      triamine pentaacetic acid is approved for the treatment of internal contamination
      with plutonium. During chelation therapy, the removal effect of the drugs should
      be monitored using a whole-body counter and/or bioassay. Some authorities, such
      as the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements and
      International Atomic Energy Agency, have reported recommended decorporation
      agents for each radionuclide. However, few drugs are approved by the US Food and
      Drug Administration, and many are off-label-use agents. Because many
      decontamination agents are drugs that have been available for a long time and
      have limited efficacy, the development of new, higher-efficacy drugs has been
      carried out mainly in the USA and France. In this article, in addition to an
      outline of decorporation agents for internal radioactive contamination, an
      outline of our research on decorporation agents for actinide (uranium and
      plutonium) contamination and for radio-cesium contamination is also presented.

PMID- 25832836
TI  - [Front-line research of idiosyncratic drug toxicity].

PMID- 25832837
TI  - [Recent findings regarding the mechanism of idiosyncratic drug toxicity].
AB  - Animal experiments cannot predict the probability of idiosyncratic drug toxicity;
      consequently, an important goal of the pharmaceutical industry is to develop a
      new methodology for preventing this form of drug reaction. Although the mechanism
      remains unclear, immune reactions are likely involved in the toxic processes
      underlying idiosyncratic drug toxicity: the drug is first activated into a
      chemically reactive metabolite that binds covalently to proteins and then acts as
      an immunogen. Therefore, screening tests to detect chemically reactive
      metabolites are conducted early during drug development and typically involve
      trapping with glutathione. More quantitative methods are then used in a later
      stage of drug development and frequently employ (14)Cor (3)H-labeled compounds.
      It has recently been demonstrated that a zone classification system can be used
      to separate risky drugs from likely safe drugs: by plotting the amount of each
      protein-bound reactive metabolite in vitro against the dose levels in vivo, the
      risk associated with each drug candidate can be assessed. A mechanism for
      idiosyncratic drug-induced hepatotoxicity was proposed by analogy to virus
      induced hepatitis, in which cytotoxic T lymphocytes play an important role. This
      mechanism suggests that polymorphism in human leukocyte antigens is involved in
      idiosyncrasy, and a strong correlation with a specific genotype of human
      leukocyte antigens has been found in many cases of idiosyncratic drug toxicity.
      Therefore, gene biomarkers hold promise for reducing the clinical risk and
      prolonging the life cycle of otherwise useful drugs.

PMID- 25832838
TI  - [Establishment of animal models of drug-induced liver injury and analysis of
      possible mechanisms].
AB  - Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is one of leading causes of attrition during
      both early and late stages of drug development and postmarketing. DILI is
      generally classified into the intrinsic and idiosyncratic types. Intrinsic DILI
      is dose dependent and predictable as exemplified by acetaminophen toxicity.
      However, the occurrence of idiosyncratic DILI with very low incidence and severe
      liver damage is difficult to predict because of the complex nature of DILI and
      poor understanding of its mechanism. In this review, we summarize current
      knowledge and our accumulated experimental findings on the pathogenic mechanisms
      of DILI focusing on the reactive metabolites of drugs formed by drug-metabolizing
      enzymes and immune- and inflammation-related responses. Considering drug
      metabolism and pharmacokinetics, we have established nonclinical animal models of
      DILI for 10 types of clinical drug known to cause idiosyncratic DILI in humans.
      Using animal models, it has been shown that the formation of reactive metabolites
      and both innate and adaptive immunity are involved in the pathogenesis of drug
      hepatotoxicity. Based on information on biomarkers obtained from animal models,
      we developed a cell-based system that predicts the potential DILI risks of drugs.
      The results of these studies increased our understanding of the mechanisms of
      DILI and help to predict and prevent idiosyncratic DILI caused by drug
      candidates.

PMID- 25832839
TI  - [Predictive genomic markers for severe adverse drug reactions].
AB  - Severe adverse drug reactions are an important issue to be considered during
      proper drug usage in postmarketing period. Most severe adverse reactions are
      idiosyncratic and unrelated to their pharmacological actions via primary targets.
      Although these reactions were not predictable, recent developments in the field
      of genomics have revealed closely associated markers responsible for some severe
      adverse reactions, including Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal
      necrolysis (TEN). This review demonstrates genomic biomarkers for SJS/TEN and
      drug-induced liver injury (DILI) that were found mainly in Japanese patients and
      reveal ethnic differences. We and other groups have found the following
      associations of SJS/TEN with susceptible drugs: 1) HLA-B*58:01 for allopurinol
      related cases; 2) HLA-B*15:11 and HLA-A*31:01 for carbamazepine-related cases; 3)
      HLA-B*51:01 for phenobarbital-related cases; 4) HLA-A*02:07 for zonisamide
      related cases; 5) CYP2C9*3 for phenytoin-related cases; and 6) HLA-A*02:06 for
      cold medicine-related cases. The allele frequencies of these related HLA types
      vary among Asian populations. In addition, direct (noncovalent) binding of
      carbamazepine or an allopurinol metabolite, oxypurinol, to the associated HLA
      type proteins was suggested. Associated genomic biomarkers are also summarized
      for DILI in Japanese and Caucasian populations. The application of these genomic
      biomarkers to prevent the onset of a reaction has been utilized in a few
      countries. However, in Japan, the package inserts only contain precautions that
      cite the research findings. To overcome this limitation, the following points
      should be addressed: 1) factors responsible for the development of SJS/TEN should
      be identified in addition to the above-mentioned HLA alleles; and 2) an
      inexpensive genotyping strategy and assay methods should be developed to provide
      a pharmacoeconomical viewpoint. Further research on severe adverse reactions is
      warranted.

PMID- 25832840
TI  - [Gene regulation involved in the formation of long-term memory].
AB  - My former research focused on silk fibroin gene transcription. The in vivo
      transcription initiation site of the fibroin gene, which is similar to the site
      corresponding to the 5'-terminal of mature fibroin mRNA, was determined. By
      developing a cell-free transcription system prepared from silk glands, it was
      found that the upstream region of the fibroin gene is responsible for efficient
      transcription initiation, which has enhancer-like features. More recent research
      has switched my focus to cellular neurobiology to understand the molecular
      mechanisms of long-term memory at the level of gene expression in terms of cell
      differentiation. I first developed an experimental system to analyze promoter
      activity in primary cultured neuronal cells. Particularly focusing on the
      transcription regulation of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene
      (Bdnf), I found that the interaction of the cAMP response element-binding protein
      (CREB) with the CRE sequence is important for the activity-dependent activation
      of the Bdnf promoter. In addition, this activity-dependent transcriptional
      regulation occurs in cultured neurons stimulated with excitatory GABAergic
      inputs, which plays a critical role in promoting the step of neuronal
      differentiation. Finally, I found that stimulation of the G-protein coupled
      receptor (GPCR) effectively activates Bdnf promoter IV through selective
      activation of the calcineurin pathway, irrespective of the type of GPCR if the
      protein kinase A or C pathway is activated. This induction mechanism appears
      important to understand intracellular mechanisms evoked via simultaneous
      neurotransmission of excitatory and modulatory inputs into neurons of the brain.

PMID- 25832841
TI  - [Clinical pharmacology and pharmacoepidemiology for medication safety in clinical
      settings].
AB  - In this review, optimization of individualized analgesic therapy in cancer-pain
      patients (1), pharmacoepidemiological studies using a hospital database (DB) (2),
      and other clinical and practical research studies (3) were summarized. (1) The
      aim of the analgesic study was to evaluate individual factors in the effects of
      pain-relief, and ADR of analgesics from the viewpoints of clinical
      pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Oxycodone, fentanyl, and gabapentin were
      used. For the dose escalation and ADR of oxycodone, the plasma disposition of
      noroxycodone regulated by CYP3A5 polymorphisms and cancer cachexia were found to
      be individual factors. The ADR and clinical response of fentanyl were affected by
      polymorphisms of CYP3A5 and ABCB1. In the pharmacokinetics of gabapentin,
      concomitant magnesium oxide reduced the intestinal absorption of gabapentin. (2)
      The aim of the DB study was to demonstrate a pharmacoepidemiological advantage
      using a hospital DB of a million-scale for post-marketing safety management. We
      tried to detect fluoroquinolone (FQ)-induced tendon disorders, because its risk
      ratio in Japan has not been clarified. The risk of a tendon disorder in FQ
      prescribed patients was 0.082% (95%CI: 0.049-0.137%), and significantly higher
      than that in cephalosporin-prescribed patients. The risk ratio in FQ-prescribed
      patients in relation to cephalosporin-prescribed patients was 6.29 (95%CI: 2.27
      17.46). (3) Individual variation of plasma exposure of free linezolid and its
      ratio to minimum inhibitory concentration in critically ill patients, as well as
      three other studies, were described. In conclusion, our achievement in accurately
      assessing these would contribute to medication safety and the appropriate use of
      medicines in clinical settings.

PMID- 25832842
TI  - [Preparation and physicochemical study of the preservation of nanoparticles].
AB  - The importance of nanoparticle formulation is increasingly recognized in
      supporting pharmaceutical development. Thus, maintaining nanoparticles in a
      constant state is a major issue. A method involving lyophilization with the
      addition of saccharides can be used to maintain the steady state of
      nanoparticles. In this study, trisaccharides, tetrasaccharides, and
      pentasaccharides were added to nanoparticle suspensions, followed by rehydration
      of the samples, which had been either dried normally or freeze-dried. The
      particle size after rehydration was measured. In addition, each powder was
      measured using a powder X-ray diffractometer and thermal analysis device to
      investigate the correlation between the nanoparticles' aggregation and the
      crystal form of saccharides. The diameter of the nanoparticles was maintained
      when it was freeze-dried, while particle aggregation occurred when normally dried
      samples were used. In addition, crystalline saccharide was not observed in the
      freeze-dried group, but did appear in the normally dried group.

PMID- 25832843
TI  - [Analysis of phthalates in aromatic and deodorant aerosol products and evaluation
      of exposure risk].
AB  - We established an analytical method for the detection of seven phthalates,
      dimethyl phthalate, diethyl phthalate (DEP), benzyl butyl phthalate, di-i-butyl
      phthalate, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), and di-n
      octhyl phthalate, using an ultra high performance liquid chromatograph equipped
      with a photodiode array detector. This method is quick, with minimal
      contamination, and was applied to the analysis of aromatic and deodorant aerosol
      products. Phthalates were detected in 15 of 52 samples purchased from 1999 to
      2012 in Yokohama. Three types of phthalate (DEP, DBP, DEHP) were detected, and
      their concentrations ranged from 0.0085-0.23% DEP in nine samples, 0.012-0.045%
      DBP in four samples, and 0.012-0.033% DEHP in four samples. No other phthalate
      esters were detected. Furthermore, we estimated phthalate exposure via breathing
      in commonly used aromatic and deodorant aerosol products, then evaluated the
      associated risk. The estimated levels of phthalate exposure were lower than the
      tolerated daily limit, but the results indicated that aromatic and deodorant
      aerosol products could be a significant source of phthalate exposure.

PMID- 25832844
TI  - [Elevated serum lithium concentration due to switch from parenteral nutrition
      alone to parenteral with enteral nutrition].
AB  - We report a patient with elevated serum lithium concentration caused by switching
      from parenteral nutrition alone to parenteral with enteral nutrition. A 73-year
      old female inpatient was treated with lithium carbonate 600 mg/d for manic
      episodes of bipolar disorder. Her serum lithium level was maintained at 0.57-0.79
      mEq/L. She was administered total parenteral nutrition owing to difficulty in
      oral intake. Her diet contained 4.8-5.8 g/d of sodium chloride. After this,
      parenteral with enteral nutrition was initiated. The total sodium chloride intake
      decreased from 6.3 to 3.0-4.0 g/d following this change. On day 15 after
      initiation of parenteral with enteral nutrition, her serum lithium level
      increased to 1.17 mEq/L, which is closer to the upper therapeutic range limit.
      Therefore enteral nutrition was stopped immediately, and an electrolyte solution
      was administered instead of enteral nutrition. An antibiotic agent was also
      simultaneously administered because of infection. The total amount of sodium
      chloride administered was increased to 7.0 g/d during this treatment. Four days
      after treatment, the serum lithium level returned to 0.57 mEq/L. This case
      suggests that administration of appropriate sodium chloride nutrition is
      important during treatment with lithium carbonate, because disposition of lithium
      ion is paralleled to that of sodium.

PMID- 25832845
TI  - The relationship between bone mineral density and metabolic syndrome in peri- and
      post-menopausal Thai women.
AB  - PURPOSES: To compare the bone mineral density (BMD) measured in the lumbar spine
      and femoral neck in peri- and post-menopausal Thai women with and without
      metabolic syndrome, and to determine which contributory factors associated with
      metabolic syndrome influence BMD. METHODS: 427 peri- or post-menopausal Thai
      women were screened against the modified National Cholesterol Education Program
      Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) for Asian populations' criteria for
      metabolic syndrome. The BMD of those with and without metabolic syndrome was
      compared, and potential relationships between the factors associated with
      metabolic syndrome and BMD were sought. RESULTS: There was no difference in
      lumbar spine or femoral neck BMD between the groups (p = 0.605 and 0.415,
      respectively), but women with central obesity (waist circumference >=80 cm, p =
      0.004 and >88 cm, p = 0.002), low serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL
      C) concentration (p = 0.011) and a greater number of contributory factors to
      metabolic syndrome (p = 0.007) had significantly higher BMD at the femoral neck.
      CONCLUSIONS: A diagnosis of metabolic syndrome did not correlate with either
      lumbar spine or femoral neck BMD. However, higher femoral neck BMD was
      significantly associated with increased waist circumference, low serum HDL-C
      concentration and the number of contributory factors to metabolic syndrome.

PMID- 25832846
TI  - Zuckerkandl's tubercle of the thyroid gland: Its location in the anatomical
      position, and comparative morphology of the same specimens before and after
      fixation.
AB  - The aim of this study was to elucidate the definition of the borders and surface
      of the thyroid lobe in the anatomical position, and to compare the morphology of
      Zuckerkandl's tubercle (ZT) in the fresh and fixed states. One hundred thyroid
      lobes from 50 fresh Korean cadavers were used. The lateral border of the thyroid
      lobe could be defined as the most lateral margin of its anterior aspect when in
      the anatomical position. The posteromedial border was the margin that projected
      toward the trachea or tracheoesophageal groove. The lateral and posteromedial
      borders, and the posterior surface between these borders, could be identified in
      most of the fixed cadavers. The posterolateral border could only be identified in
      the thyroid lobe if there was compression by the internal carotid artery in cross
      sectioned specimens and CT images. The ZT was identifiable in 85% of both fresh
      and fixed specimens. It was identified mainly at the posteromedial border of the
      thyroid lobe when in the anatomical position, and extended to the
      tracheoesophageal groove or esophagus. In the fresh state, the ZT projected as a
      rounded cone with a usually semicircular base, but its shape was very variable in
      the fixed state. In the present study, the ZT was found at the posteromedial
      border or posterior surface of the thyroid lobe in both the fresh and fixed
      states, contrary to most previous reports. The location of the ZT should be
      established in the anatomical position to avoid confusion.

PMID- 25832847
TI  - Magnetic superexchange interactions: trinuclear bis(oxamidato) versus
      bis(oxamato) type complexes.
AB  - The diethyl ester of o-phenylenebis(oxamic acid) (opbaH2Et2) was treated with an
      excess of RNH2 in MeOH to cause the exclusive formation of the respective o
      phenylenebis(N(R)-oxamides) (opboH4R2, R = Me , Et , (n)Pr ) in good yields.
      Treatment of with half an equivalent of [Cu2(AcO)4(H2O)2] or one equivalent of
      [Ni(AcO)2(H2O)4] followed by the addition of four equivalents of [(n)Bu4N]OH
      resulted in the formation of mononuclear bis(oxamidato) type complexes
      [(n)Bu4N]2[M(opboR2)] (M = Ni, R = Me , Et , (n)Pr ; M = Cu, R = Me , Et , (n)Pr
      ). By addition of two equivalents of [Cu(pmdta)(NO3)2] to MeCN solutions of ,
      novel trinuclear complexes [Cu3(opboR2)(L)2](NO3)2 (L = pmdta, R = Me , Et ,
      (n)Pr ) could be obtained. Compounds have been characterized by elemental
      analysis and NMR/IR spectroscopy. Furthermore, the solid state structures of and
      have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. By controlled
      cocrystallization, diamagnetically diluted and (1%) in the host lattice of and
      (99%) (@ and @), respectively, in the form of single crystals have been made
      available, allowing single crystal ESR studies to extract all components of the g
      factor and the tensors of onsite (Cu)A and transferred (N)A hyperfine (HF)
      interaction. From these studies, the spin density distribution of the
      [Cu(opboEt2)](2-) and [Cu(opbo(n)Pr2)](2-) complex fragments of and ,
      respectively, could be determined. Additionally, as a single crystal ENDOR
      measurement of @ revealed the individual HF tensors of the N donor atoms to be
      unequal, individual estimates of the spin densities on each N donor atom were
      made. The magnetic properties of were studied by susceptibility measurements
      versus temperature to give J values varying from -96 cm(-1) () over -104 cm(-1)
      () to -132 cm(-1) (). These three trinuclear Cu(II)-containing bis(oxamidato)
      type complexes exhibit J values which are comparable to and slightly larger in
      magnitude than those of related bis(oxamato) type complexes. In a summarizing
      discussion involving experimentally obtained ESR results (spin density
      distribution) of and , the geometries of the terminal [Cu(pmdta)](2+) fragments
      of determined by crystallographic studies, together with accompanying quantum
      chemical calculations, an approach is derived to explain these phenomena and to
      conclude if the spin density distribution of mononuclear
      bis(oxamato)/bis(oxamidato) type complexes could be a measure of the J couplings
      of corresponding trinuclear complexes. 

PMID- 25832848
TI  - Kidney transplant complications from undiagnosed benign prostatic hypertrophy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is estimated that approximately 50% of males over 50 have benign
      prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). BPH is underappreciated in anuric patients with end
      stage renal disease, and failure of diagnosis in this population can lead to
      complications after kidney transplantation. METHODS: A single-center
      retrospective review of male patients over 50 yr of age transplanted from January
      1, 2010, until September 30, 2013, was performed. Outcomes assessed were as
      follows: graft survival, urinary retention, discharge with Foley catheter, and
      urinary tract infection (UTI). RESULTS: Of 147 patients, 17.0% were diagnosed
      with BPH before transplant, 19.0% received a BPH diagnosis after transplant, and
      64% did not have BPH. Compared to those without BPH, a post-transplant BPH
      diagnosis was associated with urinary retention during the transplant admission
      (0% vs. 46.4%, p < 0.01), discharge with Foley catheter (0% vs. 21.4%, p < 0.01),
      readmission related to urinary retention (0% vs. 46.4%, p < 0.01), and UTI (18.0%
      vs. 64.3%, p < 0.01). Patients with prior diagnosis of BPH and on therapy had
      similar outcomes to those without BPH. CONCLUSIONS: Following kidney transplant,
      urinary tract complications are more common in patients with BPH; however, being
      on medical therapy prior to transplantation diminishes the incidence of these
      complications significantly.

PMID- 25832849
TI  - Elevated Aortic Augmentation Index in Children Following Fontan Palliation:
      Evidence of Stiffer Arteries?
AB  - Children born with a functional single ventricle who undergo Fontan palliation
      are prone to early pump failure. Whether they develop early arterial stiffness
      with resultant increase in afterload is not well known. We hypothesized that the
      aortic stiffness is higher in pediatric Fontan patients when compared to healthy
      controls. A prospective study was conducted at the Children's Hospital of
      Michigan. Twenty-two Fontan patients (aged 6-21 years) were compared with 22
      healthy controls (aged 9-17 years) selected from children referred to our clinic
      who had normal cardiac anatomy and function on the echocardiogram. Aortic
      stiffness was assessed noninvasively by measuring the aortic augmentation index
      (AAI) using applanation tonometry (Sphygmocor, Atcor, IL). AAI was calculated as
      AP/PP where augmentation pressure (AP) is the increase in aortic systolic blood
      pressure (BP) and pulse pressure (PP) is the difference between aortic systolic
      and diastolic BP. Ten patients (45 %) had hypoplastic left ventricle, and 11 (50
      %) had undergone aortic arch surgery. The median AAI was significantly higher in
      Fontan patients when compared to controls (12.5, IQR 4.8, 17.3 vs 0, IQR -6.3,
      5.8; p = 0.0003). History of aortic arch surgery and single ventricle morphology
      did not have a significant impact on AAI. Pediatric patients who undergo Fontan
      palliation have significantly higher AAI, a marker of aortic stiffness and
      increased afterload, compared to healthy controls. Larger longitudinal studies
      are warranted to elucidate the possible contribution of elevated AAI on pump
      failure in these patients.

PMID- 25832850
TI  - Vitamin D, Low-Grade Inflammation and Cardiovascular Risk in Young Children: A
      Pilot Study.
AB  - Vitamin D has anti-inflammatory properties, and deficiency is prevalent in
      children. There is a paucity of data regarding vitamin D status and its
      correlation with low-grade inflammation and vasculature. We prospectively
      enrolled 25 children, 9-11 years old (13 male); 21 obese. Eight atherosclerosis
      promoting risk factors were scored as categorical variables with the following
      thresholds defining abnormality: body mass index Z score >= 1.5; systolic blood
      pressure >= 95th percentile (for age, sex, and height); triglyceride >= 100
      mg/dL; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) >= 110 mg/dL; high-density
      lipoprotein cholesterol <= 45 mg/dL; hemoglobin A1C (HBA1C) >= 5.5; 25
      hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH) D] <= 30 ng/mL, and tobacco smoke exposure. High
      sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) was measured to assess low-grade
      inflammation and classified as low- (<1 mg/L), average- (1-3 mg/L), and high-risk
      (>3 to <10 mg/L) groups. The proportion of children within each hsCRP group who
      had above threshold risk factors was calculated. Carotid artery ultrasound was
      performed to measure carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT). Median (range)
      for 25(OH) D was 24 (17-45) ng/mL. Eighteen were either 25 (OH) D deficient (<20
      ng/mL) or insufficient (20-30 ng/mL), and seven were sufficient (>30 ng/mL).
      hsCRP was 1.7 (0.2-9.1) mg/L, with 11 being <1.0 mg/L, 8 between 1.0-3.0 and 6 >
      3.0 to < 10.0 mg/L. Risk factor score was 3.9 +/- 1.7 out of eight. 25(OH) D
      levels did not correlate with hsCRP or CIMT. While vitamin D deficiency,
      inflammation, and risk factors coexist at a very young age, causative mechanisms
      remain unclear.

PMID- 25832851
TI  - Meir Wetzler, MD.

PMID- 25832852
TI  - A rare case of cerebellar agenesis: a probabilistic Constrained Spherical
      Deconvolution tractographic study.
AB  - Aim of this study is to show the potential of probabilistic tractographic
      techniques, based on the Constrained Spherical Deconvolution (CSD) algorithms, in
      recognizing white matter fiber bundle anomalies in patients with complex cerebral
      malformations, such as cerebellar agenesis. The morphological and tractographic
      study of a 17-year-old male patient affected by cerebellar agenesis was performed
      by using a 3Tesla MRI scanner. Genetic and neuropsychological tests were carried
      out. An MRI morphological study showed the absence of both cerebellar hemispheres
      and the flattening of the anterior side of the pons. Moreover, it showed a severe
      vermian hypoplasia with a minimal vermian residual. The study recognized two thin
      cerebellar remnants, medially in contact with the small vermian residual, at the
      pontine level. The third ventricle, morphologically normal, communicated with a
      permagna cerebello-medullary cistern. Probabilistic CSD tractography identified
      some abnormal and aberrant infratentorial tracts, symmetrical on both sides. In
      particular, the transverse pontine fibers were absent and the following tracts
      with aberrant trajectories have been identified: "cerebello-thalamic" tracts;
      "fronto-cerebellar" tracts; and ipsilateral and contralateral "spino-cerebellar"
      tracts. Abnormal tracts connecting the two thin cerebellar remnants have also
      been detected. There were no visible alterations in the main supratentorial
      tracts in either side. Neuropsychiatric evaluation showed moderate cognitive
      motor impairment with discrete adaptive compensation. Probabilistic CSD
      tractography is a promising technique that overcome reconstruction biases of
      other diffusion tensor-based approaches and allowed us to recognize, in a patient
      with cerebellar agenesis, abnormal tracts and aberrant trajectories of normally
      existing tracts. 

PMID- 25832853
TI  - Current and future treatment options for polycythemia vera.
AB  - Patients with polycythemia vera (PV), a myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized
      by an elevated red blood cell mass, are at high risk of vascular and thrombotic
      complications and have reduced quality of life due to a substantial symptom
      burden that includes pruritus, fatigue, constitutional symptoms, microvascular
      disturbances, and bleeding. Conventional therapeutic options aim at reducing
      vascular and thrombotic risk, with low-dose aspirin and phlebotomy as first-line
      recommendations for patients at low risk of thrombotic events and cytoreductive
      therapy (usually hydroxyurea or interferon alpha) recommended for high-risk
      patients. However, long-term effective and well-tolerated treatments are still
      lacking. The discovery of mutations in Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) as the underlying
      molecular basis of PV has led to the development of several targeted therapies,
      including JAK inhibitors, and results from the first phase 3 clinical trial with
      a JAK inhibitor in PV are now available. Here, we review the current treatment
      landscape in PV, as well as therapies currently in development. 

PMID- 25832854
TI  - Acute presentation of gestational diabetes insipidus with pre-eclampsia
      complicated by cerebral vasoconstriction: a case report and review of the
      published work.
AB  - Gestational diabetes insipidus (GDI) is a rare, self-limited complication of
      pregnancy. As it is related to excess placental vasopressinase enzyme activity,
      which is metabolized in the liver, GDI is more common in pregnancies complicated
      by conditions associated with liver dysfunction. We present a case of a 41-year
      old woman at 38 weeks' gestation who presented with pre-eclampsia with severe
      features, including impaired liver function and renal insufficiency. Following
      cesarean section she was diagnosed with GDI, which was further complicated by
      cerebral vasoconstriction as demonstrated by magnetic resonance angiography. This
      case raises the possibility that cerebral vasoconstriction may be related to the
      cause of GDI. A high index of suspicion of GDI should be maintained in patients
      who present with typical signs and symptoms, especially in the setting of
      pregnancy complications associated with liver dysfunction.

PMID- 25832857
TI  - Insufficient sex description of cells supplied by commercial vendors.

PMID- 25832856
TI  - Schizophrenia-like topological changes in the structural connectome of
      individuals with subclinical psychotic experiences.
AB  - Schizophrenia is often regarded as a "dysconnectivity" disorder and recent work
      using graph theory has been used to better characterize dysconnectivity of the
      structural connectome in schizophrenia. However, there are still little data on
      the topology of connectomes in less severe forms of the condition. Such analysis
      will identify topological markers of less severe disease states and provide
      potential predictors of further disease development. Individuals with psychotic
      experiences (PEs) were identified from a population-based cohort without relying
      on participants presenting to clinical services. Such individuals have an
      increased risk of developing clinically significant psychosis. 123 individuals
      with PEs and 125 controls were scanned with diffusion-weighted MRI. Whole-brain
      structural connectomes were derived and a range of global and local GT-metrics
      were computed. Global efficiency and density were significantly reduced in
      individuals with PEs. Local efficiency was reduced in a number of regions,
      including critical network hubs. Further analysis of functional subnetworks
      showed differential impairment of the default mode network. An additional
      analysis of pair-wise connections showed no evidence of differences in
      individuals with PEs. These results are consistent with previous findings in
      schizophrenia. Reduced efficiency in critical core hubs suggests the brains of
      individuals with PEs may be particularly predisposed to dysfunction. The absence
      of any detectable effects in pair-wise connections illustrates that, at less
      severe stages of psychosis, white-matter alterations are subtle and only manifest
      when examining network topology. This study indicates that topology could be a
      sensitive biomarker for early stages of psychotic illness.

PMID- 25832858
TI  - Hypertension.
AB  - Raised blood pressure is the biggest single contributor to the global burden of
      disease and to global mortality. The numbers of people affected and the
      prevalence of high blood pressure worldwide are expected to increase over the
      next decade. Preventive strategies are therefore urgently needed, especially in
      less developed countries, and management of hypertension must be optimised.
      Genetic advances in some rare causes of hypertension have been made lately, but
      the aggregate effect on blood pressure of all the genetic loci identified to date
      is small. Hence, intervention on key environmental determinants and effective
      implementation of trial-based therapies are needed. Three-drug combinations can
      control hypertension in about 90% of patients but only if resources allow
      identification of patients and drug delivery is affordable. Furthermore,
      assessment of optimal drug therapy for each ethnic group is needed. 

PMID- 25832860
TI  - Proposed method for internal electron therapy based on high-intensity laser
      acceleration.
AB  - Radiotherapy is one of the main methods to treat cancer. However, due to the
      propagation pattern of high-energy photons in tissue and their inability to
      discriminate between healthy and malignant tissues, healthy tissues may also be
      damaged, causing undesired side effects. A possible method for internal electron
      therapy, based on laser acceleration of electrons inside the patient's body, is
      suggested. In this method, an optical waveguide, optimized for high intensities,
      is used to transmit the laser radiation and accelerate electrons toward the
      tumor. The radiation profile can be manipulated in order to create a patient
      specific radiation treatment profile by changing the laser characteristics. The
      propagation pattern of electrons in tissues minimizes the side effects caused to
      healthy tissues. A simulation was developed to demonstrate the use of this
      method, calculating the trajectories of the accelerated electron as a function of
      laser properties. The simulation was validated by comparison to theory, showing a
      good fit for laser intensities of up to 2 * 10(20) (W/cm2), and was then used to
      calculate suggested treatment profiles for two tumor test cases (with and without
      penetration to the tumor). The results show that treatment profiles can be
      designed to cover tumor area with minimal damage to adjacent tissues.

PMID- 25832859
TI  - Sustainable Efficacy of Switching From Intravenous to Subcutaneous Tocilizumab
      Monotherapy in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of switching from intravenous (IV)
      tocilizumab (TCZ) to subcutaneous (SC) TCZ monotherapy in rheumatoid arthritis
      patients. METHODS: Patients who had completed 24 weeks of TCZ-SC (162 mg/2 weeks)
      or TCZ-IV (8 mg/kg/4 weeks) monotherapy in the double-blind period of the MUSASHI
      study were enrolled in an 84-week open-label extension period. All received TCZ
      SC (162 mg/2 weeks) monotherapy. Effects of the IV to SC switch were evaluated at
      week 36 (12 weeks after switching). RESULTS: Overall, 319 patients received >=1
      dose of TCZ-SC during the open-label extension period; 160 switched from TCZ-IV
      to TCZ-SC (TCZ IV/SC) and 159 continued TCZ-SC (TCZ SC/SC). Disease Activity
      Score in 28 joints using the erythrocyte sedimentation rate clinical remission
      rates were 62.5% (100 of 160) for TCZ IV/SC and 50.0% (79 of 158) for TCZ SC/SC
      at week 24, and were maintained at 62.5% (100 of 160) and 57.0% (90 of 158),
      respectively, at week 36. In the TCZ IV/SC group, 9% of patients (9 of 100) who
      had achieved remission at week 24 could not maintain remission at week 36. In TCZ
      IV/SC patients weighing >=70 kg, the percentage with a sufficient serum TCZ
      concentration (>=1 MUg/ml) decreased from 90.9% (10 of 11) at week 24 to 45.5% (5
      of 11) at week 36. Overall safety profiles were similar in TCZ IV/SC and TCZ
      SC/SC except for mild injection site reactions in TCZ IV/SC. CONCLUSION: Efficacy
      is adequately maintained in most patients switching from TCZ-IV (8 mg/kg/4 weeks)
      to TCZ-SC (162 mg/2 weeks) monotherapy. Patients receiving TCZ-IV can switch to
      TCZ-SC without serious safety concerns. Clinical efficacy may be reduced after
      switching in some patients with high body weight.

PMID- 25832862
TI  - Ionization methods in mass spectrometry.

PMID- 25832861
TI  - Inhibition of ocular neovascularization by co-inhibition of VEGF-A and PLGF.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) appears to be a disease
      with increasing incidence in Western countries and may develop into acquired
      blindness. Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is the most frequent cause for AMD,
      and is commonly induced by regional inflammation. Past studies have highlighted
      vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) as a major trigger for CNV.
      However, studies on the associated angiogenic factors other than VEGF-A are
      lacking. METHODS: Here, we used a well-established laser burn (LB)-induced
      experimental CNV mouse model to study the molecular mechanisms underlying the
      development of CNV after ocular injury. We analyzed vessel density by lectin
      labeling. We isolated macrophages, endothelial cells and other cell types by flow
      cytometry, and analyzed levels of different angiogenic factors in these
      populations. We used antisera against VEGF-A (aVEGF) and/or antisera against
      placental growth factor (PLGF; aPLGF) to antagonize CNV. We used an antibody
      driven toxin to selectively eliminate macrophages to evaluate the role of
      macrophages in CNV. We also examined expression of PLGF in macrophage subtypes.
      RESULTS: The choroidal vessel density increased significantly 7 days after LB. LB
      increased significantly the levels of VEGF-A and PLGF in mouse eyes. Treatment
      with aVEGF significantly blunted increases in vessel density by LB. Treatment
      with aPLGF alone did not significantly reduce increases in vessel density.
      However, aPLGF significantly increased the inhibitory effects of aVEGF on vessel
      density increases. While VEGF-A was produced by endothelial cells, macrophages
      and other types at similar levels, PLGF seemed to be predominantly produced by
      macrophages. Selective macrophage depletion significantly reduced CNV. M2, but M1
      macrophages produced high levels of PLGF. CONCLUSIONS: Together, our data suggest
      a previously unappreciated role of PLGF in coordination with VEGF-A to regulate
      CNV during ocular injury. Our study highlights macrophages and their production
      of PLGF as novel targets for CNV therapy.

PMID- 25832863
TI  - Identification of potential therapeutic target genes, key miRNAs and mechanisms
      in acute myeloid leukemia based on bioinformatics analysis.
AB  - The study was aimed to explore the underlying mechanisms and identify the
      potential target genes and key miRNAs for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treatment
      by bioinformatics analysis. The microarray data of GSE9476 were downloaded from
      Gene Expression Omnibus database. A total of 64 samples, including 26 AML and 38
      normal samples, were used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs)
      between AML and normal samples. The functional enrichment analysis was performed,
      and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the DEGs was constructed by
      Cytoscape software. Besides, the target miRNAs for DEGs were identified. Totally,
      323 DEGs were identified, including 87 up-regulated and 236 down-regulated genes.
      Not only up-regulated genes but also down-regulated genes were related to
      hematopoietic-related functions. Besides, down-regulated genes were also enriched
      in primary immunodeficiency pathway. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin 7
      receptor (IL7R), lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase (LCK), CD79a
      molecule and immunoglobulin-associated alpha (CD79A) were identified in these
      functions. TNF and LCK were hub nodes in PPI networks. miR-124 and miR-181 were
      important miRNAs in this study. The hematopoietic-related functions and primary
      immunodeficiency pathway may be associated with AML development. Genes, such as
      TNF, IL7R, LCK and CD79A, may be potential therapeutic target genes for AML, and
      miR-124 and miR-181 may be key miRNAs in AML development. 

PMID- 25832864
TI  - Hydroxyethyl starch 200/0.5 decreases circulating tumor cells of colorectal
      cancer patients and reduces metastatic potential of colon cancer cell line
      through inhibiting platelets activation.
AB  - Platelets play an important role in metastasis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs).
      It has been demonstrated that hydroxyethyl starch (HES) inhibits platelets
      function. However, the effect of HES on CTCs in patients with colorectal cancer
      remains unclear. We compared the effects of HES 200/0.5 and HES 130/0.4 on CTCs
      and platelets activation of colorectal patients in this study. Additionally, the
      effects of HES 200/0.5 or HES 130/0.4 on metastasis ability of colon cancer cell
      line that stimulated by activated platelets have been explored. In vivo, 90
      patients undergoing colorectal cancer radical surgery received randomly 15 mL/kg
      of HES 200/0.5 (n = 45) or HES 130/0.4 (n = 45) infusion before surgery. Platelet
      glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (GPIIb/IIIa), CD62P and platelets aggregation rate (PAR)
      were evaluated pre-, intra- and postoperatively. Cytokeratin-20 (CK-20) mRNA was
      detected by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction before and after
      surgery. In vitro, colon cancer SW480 cells were incubated with activated
      platelets in the presence or absence HES 200/0.5 or HES 130/0.4. The metastasis
      ability of SW480 cells was assessed by Transwell assay. The results showed that
      CK-20 mRNA positive rate in HES 200/0.5 group after surgery was decreased
      significantly as compared to group HES 130/0.4 (chi (2) = 6.164, P = 0.013).
      Simultaneously, a more pronounced inhibition of platelets activation was observed
      in group HES 200/0.5. A positive correlation between platelets activation marker
      and CK-20 mRNA positive rate was found. In vitro, HES 200/0.5, but not HES
      130/0.4, decreased the invasion and migration ability of SW480 cells that induced
      by activated platelets. Besides, the expression of GPIIb/IIIa, CD62P and PAR was
      inhibited more strongly in group HES 200/0.5 than those in group HES 130/0.4. In
      summary, we found that HES 200/0.5 significantly decreased CTCs of patients
      undergoing colorectal cancer radical surgery as compared to HES 130/0.4, which
      might be associated with inhibiting platelets activation of HES 200/0.5.
      Furthermore, HES 200/0.5, but not HES 130/0.4, reduced the metastatic potential
      of colon cell line stimulated by activated platelets through depressing platelets
      activation. Modulation of platelets activity may be a novel strategy to minimize
      the risk of metastasis during surgery.

PMID- 25832865
TI  - Identifications of genetic differences between metastatic and non-metastatic
      osteosarcoma samples based on bioinformatics analysis.
AB  - To investigate the differences in gene expression level between metastatic and
      non-metastatic osteosarcoma (OS) samples and the potential mechanism. Gene
      expression profile data GSE9508 were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus
      database to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between
      metastatic, non-metastatic OS samples, and normal control samples via SAM method.
      Function expression matrix of the DEGs was constructed by calculating the
      functional node scores based on the genes sets collected from the pathways
      recorded in MsigDB database. Next, t test was applied to screen the
      differentially expressed functional nodes between each two kinds of samples.
      Finally, we compared the significant genes between selected DEGs and genes in
      differentially expressed functional nodes. There were 79 up-regulated DEGs
      between non-metastatic OS and normal samples, 380 up-regulated and 134 down
      regulated DEGs between the metastatic OS and normal samples, and 761 up-regulated
      plus 186 down-regulated DEGs between metastatic and non-metastatic OS samples. A
      total of 3846 functional gene sets were collected to form the function expression
      profile matrix. The numbers of differentially expressed functional nodes between
      non-metastatic OS and normal samples, metastatic OS and normal samples, and
      metastatic and non-metastatic OS samples were 8, 39, and 5, respectively. The
      gene level difference between metastatic and non-metastatic OS samples can be
      distinguished using bioinformatics analysis. TGFB1, LFT3, KDM1A, and KRAS genes
      have the potential to be used as biomarkers for OS; however, further analysis is
      needed to verify the current results. 

PMID- 25832868
TI  - Paradoxical worsening of pemphigus vulgaris following rituximab therapy.

PMID- 25832867
TI  - Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2C regulates apoptosis-dependent tumor progression
      of non-small cell lung cancer via ERK pathway.
AB  - The oncogenic role of ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2C (UBE2C) had been
      identified in some types of human tumors, while the clinical and biological role
      of UBE2C in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still elusive. Here, we have
      determined the specific role of UBE2C in NSCLC. Western blot and qRT-PCR were
      used for detecting the mRNA level and protein level of UBE2C in NSCLC samples and
      cell lines, respectively. Lentivirus product was used to conduct loss of function
      assay. qRT-PCR array was employed to detect potential downstream genes regulated
      by UBE2C. As the result, UBE2C mRNA level was approximately threefold
      overexpression in NSCLC tissues compared with normal tissues, while a sharp
      change was detected at protein level. Overexpression of UBE2C in lung cancer
      samples was correlated with advanced pathological stage. UBE2C regulated cell
      growth in an apoptosis-dependent way. PCR Array analysis revealed that UBE2C
      regulated the expression of genes associated with tumor growth, apoptosis, and
      angiogenesis. Furthermore, UBE2C could regulate phospho-ERK1/2 level but not
      STAT3, YAP, or AKT pathway, which was accompanied with the classic function of
      ERK pathway in cell growth and apoptosis. In conclusion, our results indicated
      UBE2C might be a novel therapeutic target in NSCLC.

PMID- 25832866
TI  - Stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) silencing inhibits tumor growth and
      promotes cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in hypopharyngeal carcinoma.
AB  - As an important pathway maintaining the balance of intracellular calcium
      (Ca(2+)), store-operated Ca(2+) entry (SOCE) is critical for cellular functions.
      Stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1), a key component of SOCE, plays a dual
      role as an endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) receptor and an SOCE exciter. Aberrant
      expression of STIM1 could be discovered in several human cancer cells. However,
      the role of STIM1 in regulating human hypopharyngeal carcinoma still remains
      unclear. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect expression
      of STIM1 in human hypopharyngeal carcinoma cell line FaDu. STIM1 on FaDu cells
      was knocked down by lentiviral transduction method. The biological impacts after
      knocking down of STIM1 on FaDu cells were investigated in vitro and in vivo. The
      result of real-time PCR showed that STIM1 was expressed in FaDu cells. Lentiviral
      transduction efficiently downregulated the expression of STIM1 in FaDu cells at
      both mRNA and protein levels. Significant downregulation of STIM1 on FaDu cells
      inhibited cell proliferation, induced cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase, promoted
      cell apoptosis, and restrained cell growth rate. The antigrowth effect of STIM1
      silencing was also discovered in FaDu hypopharyngeal tumor model. Our findings
      indicate that STIM1 is likely to become a new therapeutic target for
      hypopharyngeal carcinoma treatment.

PMID- 25832869
TI  - Cervical cancer: what is the optimal age for routine testing?

PMID- 25832870
TI  - Actual benefit of chemo-hormonal therapy in non-castrate metastatic prostate
      cancer.

PMID- 25832871
TI  - Monitor cancer progression without surgery, meet the technique's inventor.

PMID- 25832872
TI  - Targeting leukemic stem cells with multifunctional bioactive polypeptide
      nanoparticles.

PMID- 25832873
TI  - The investigational proteasome inhibitor ixazomib for the treatment of multiple
      myeloma.
AB  - Ixazomib is an investigational, reversible 20S proteasome inhibitor. It is the
      first oral proteasome inhibitor under clinical investigation in multiple myeloma
      (MM). Under physiological conditions, the stable citrate ester drug substance,
      ixazomib citrate (MLN9708), rapidly hydrolyzes to the biologically active boronic
      acid, ixazomib (MLN2238). Preclinical studies have demonstrated antitumor
      activity in MM cell lines and xenograft models. In Phase I/II clinical studies
      ixazomib has had generally manageable toxicities, with limited peripheral
      neuropathy observed to date. Preliminary data from these studies indicate
      ixazomib is active as a single agent in relapsed/refractory MM and as part of
      combination regimens in newly diagnosed patients. Phase III studies in
      combination with lenalidomide-dexamethasone are ongoing.

PMID- 25832874
TI  - Pazopanib for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma.
AB  - The incidence and mortality from renal cell cancer (RCC) is increasing. RCC
      tumors are particularly vascular in nature as a result of disruption of the VHL
      gene and/or its upstream pathway leading to upregulation of the hypoxia-inducible
      factor transcription factor. The hypoxia-inducible factor pathway drives
      angiogenesis by upregulating VEGF and bFGF, amongst other proangiogenic
      downstream target genes. Therapies which target angiogenesis have been successful
      in treating metastatic RCC (mRCC) and the receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor,
      pazopanib, is licensed for first line treatment of mRCC. This review details the
      past, current and future roles of pazopanib in the treatment of mRCC.

PMID- 25832875
TI  - Adjuvant hormonal therapy and fertility preservation in premenopausal breast
      cancer: a survey among Italian oncologists.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Increasing age of first pregnancy among Italian women with
      premenopausal breast cancer makes adjuvant hormonal therapy a hot topic,
      justifying a survey on the therapeutic approach of Italian oncologists. MATERIALS
      & METHODS: From April to July 2012, an 11-item electronic questionnaire was
      submitted to Italian oncologists and 611 out of 974 invited filled questionnaires
      were collected from all over Italy. RESULTS: In total, 97.7% of patients aged <40
      years needing only hormonal therapy would receive both tamoxifen and luteinizing
      hormone-releasing hormone agonists (LHRHa); 2.3% tamoxifen or LHRHa alone. For
      the majority of oncologists LHRHa was also the preferred choice to preserving
      fertility. CONCLUSION: Results are rather consistent with major guidelines but
      with a greater use of LHRHa and aromatase inhibitor.

PMID- 25832876
TI  - Use of gemcitabine-platinum in Indian patients with advanced gall bladder cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Gemcitabine-platinum (Gem-P) is the current standard for patients
      with advanced gall bladder cancer. MATERIALS & METHODS: This is retrospective
      analysis of a prospectively maintained database of 210 patients with advanced
      gall bladder cancer treated with Gem-P between January 2012 and September 2013.
      RESULTS: Median age was 53 years, 65.2% females. In total,158 patients had
      metastatic and 52 had locoregional disease. Median number of cycles was 5 (1-12).
      At a median follow-up of 10 months, median overall survival/progression-free
      survival was 10/5 months, respectively. On multivariate analysis, patients who
      underwent prior surgery for primary and locoregional disease had a significantly
      better progression-free survival and those with locoregional disease had a
      significantly better overall survival. A total of 45.7% received second-line
      chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: Use of Gem-P in Indian patients leads to slightly worse
      outcomes suggesting an aggressive biology.

PMID- 25832877
TI  - MGMT promoter methylation status in brain metastases from colorectal cancer and
      corresponding primary tumors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Brain metastases (BM) from colorectal cancer are usually associated
      with poor prognosis. The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate MGMT
      promoter methylation in BM and their corresponding primary colorectal cancer
      tumors. MATERIALS & METHODS: MGMT promoter methylation status was assessed by
      pyrosequencing in 53 consecutive patients resected for BM. A concordance analysis
      between BM and matched primary tumor was performed in 39 cases. RESULTS: MGMT
      methylation was found in 34 (64.2%) BM and in 25 corresponding primary tumors
      (64.1%). Median survival after neurosurgery was independent from MGMT promoter
      methylation (163 days for those with methylated MGMT versus 193 days for the
      unmethylated). CONCLUSION: Epigenetic MGMT promoter methylation was common and
      the concordance between primary and secondary lesions was high.

PMID- 25832878
TI  - Molecular features and clinical outcome of lung malignancies in very young
      people.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: We describe the clinical features, outcome and incidence of
      druggable targets of lung cancers in patients <= 40 years old. MATERIALS &
      METHODS: Young patients were compared with two other groups (41-64 and >= 65
      years). Neuroendocrine tumors, adenocarcinoma and non-adenocarcinoma/unspecified
      non-small-cell lung cancer were analyzed separately. Molecular characteristics of
      adenocarcinoma were evaluated in a subset of young patients. RESULTS: Of 2847
      patients with lung cancer, 100 were <= 40 years old. The young group contained
      more women, never-smokers and patients presenting with advanced disease. The
      commonest tumor in young patients was adenocarcinoma. In total, 19 of 34 young
      patients with adenocarcinoma had tumors with specific molecular alterations.
      CONCLUSION: Lung cancers in young patients have distinctive features but outcomes
      similar to those in older patients.

PMID- 25832880
TI  - 'Liver-first' approach for metastatic colorectal cancer.
AB  - The liver-first approach was proposed for the first time in 2006 to obtain
      resectability of stage IV colorectal cancer patients and complete the therapeutic
      plan. From then some groups have used this new revolutionary approach reporting
      promising results. Other alternative strategies have been proposed for metastatic
      patients. The authors reviewed the literature weighing the pros and cons of each
      strategy proposed to manage these advanced tumor stages. The therapeutic options
      are analyzed in the light of oncologic problems and evidence. Also problems,
      questions and perspectives are given. Even if the 'liver-first' approach seems to
      be a promising strategy, the ideal diagnostic-therapeutic flowchart for
      metastatic colorectal cancer is still difficult to standardize. The great
      heterogeneity of this population of patients is one of the main problems. A
      'tailored approach' philosophy is necessary to calibrate, in a multidisciplinary
      setting, a case-by-case choice of therapeutic options.

PMID- 25832879
TI  - Targeted therapy for thymic epithelial tumors: a new horizon? Review of the
      literature and two cases reports.
AB  - Surgical resection remains the cornerstone of therapy for early-stage thymic
      epithelial tumors (TETs), while in advanced or recurrent forms, a multimodality
      approach incorporating radiation and chemotherapy is required. Given the absence
      of effective treatment options for metastatic/refractory TETs and the poor
      related prognosis, there is a compelling need to identify promising 'drugable'
      molecular targets. Initial reports of activity from targeted agents in TETs
      derived from anecdotal cases have been often associated with specific activating
      mutations. Only in recent years, several agents have been formally investigated
      into prospective clinical trials, with varying success rates. We reviewed the
      literature on targeted therapy in TETs along with two cases of thymoma achieving
      striking responses to sorafenib in combination with lapatinib.

PMID- 25832881
TI  - Personalized treatment of early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer: the challenging
      role of EGFR inhibitors.
AB  - Adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy significantly improves outcomes of
      completely resected early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.
      However, its effect on overall survival is limited and may be unsuitable for many
      patients due to toxicity. Targeted therapies and individualization of adjuvant
      treatment offer the potential to improve curability and extend survival of these
      patients while decreasing toxicity. Here we review Phase II and III studies
      examining the role of EGF receptor inhibitors, including tyrosine kinase
      inhibitors and the monoclonal antibody cetuximab, as adjuvant therapy in resected
      patients or as part of multimodality treatment for stage III NSCLC. Recent
      results from genotype-directed adjuvant tyrosine kinase inhibitors trials
      including early-stage NSCLC patients with EGFR mutations are promising, but more
      data are needed to support their use in this setting.

PMID- 25832882
TI  - Temozolomide-based combination for advanced neuroendocrine neoplasms: a
      systematic review of the literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In this systematic review, we explored the value of using
      temozolomide (TMZ)-based combinations for advanced neuroendocrine neoplasms
      (NENs). METHODS: Database search were conducted using the terms 'NENs' and 'TMZ'
      and 'systemic therapy.' Outcomes of interest included progression-free survival
      and overall survival, toxicities and tumor response. RESULTS: In total, 16 trials
      including 348 patients were included. Median progression-free survival ranged
      from 6 to 31 months. The disease control rate ranged from 65 to 100%. Frequently
      reported grade 3/4 toxicities were leukopenia, lymphopenia and elevated
      transaminases. CONCLUSION: The published clinical data suggest that TMZ-based
      combination with some anticancer agents (especially capecitabine) could be an
      effective treatment option for advanced low-intermediate grade NENs.

PMID- 25832884
TI  - Investigation of thermodynamic, dynamic, and structural properties of H2
      adsorption on a Ag-Au nanoalloy with a carbon nanotube support.
AB  - We have performed MD simulations to investigate H(2) adsorption on Ag-Au
      nanoclusters with the different Au mole fractions supported on the carbon
      nanotubes with the different diameters. Our thermodynamic results shown that the
      saturation value of coverage and the enthalpy of adsorption increases as the mole
      fraction of Au is increased. Our structural results showed that the presence of
      the H(2) gas exerts a significant effect on the nanocluster surface atoms and
      tends to stabilize the surface atoms on the nanocluster. Also, the structural
      changes are irreversible in such a way that by gradually decreasing the pressure
      to zero, the nanocluster geometry is not reversed to its initial structure in
      vacuum conditions. We have also shown that the nanoclusters have smaller values
      of the self-diffusion coefficients in presence of H(2) molecules than those
      values in the initial state (vacuum), which is due to the increasing of the
      interface structure between the nanocluster and the nanotube.

PMID- 25832883
TI  - Genetic Vulnerability to Menthol Cigarette Preference in Women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Smokers may prefer menthol cigarettes to mask the bitter taste of
      nicotine. Variation in the taste receptor gene, TAS2R38, may contribute to
      preference for menthol cigarettes. AIMS: To determine whether two common
      haplotypes of TAS2R38 (proline-alanine-valine [PAV] and alanine-valine-isoleucine
      [AVI]), which have been associated, respectively, with bitter taste or a lack of
      bitter taste produced by propylthiouracil, are associated with preference for
      menthol cigarettes. METHODS: Data on smoking and blood for DNA extraction and
      genotyping were obtained from 323 pregnant non-Hispanic or Hispanic Caucasian
      smokers. We genotyped three TAS2R38 single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs713598,
      rs1726866, and rs10246939) and constructed haplotypes. We examined associations
      between menthol preference and the frequency and distribution of the AVI and PAV
      haplotypes among study participants. RESULTS: Participants smoked an average of
      16 cigarettes per day before pregnancy. The PAV and AVI haplotype frequencies
      were 48% and 45%, respectively. Non-Hispanic women were less likely than Hispanic
      women to smoke menthol cigarettes. As hypothesized, the frequency of the PAV
      haplotype was greater in menthol than non-menthol smokers in both non-Hispanics
      (54% vs. 30%; chi(2) = 13.04, P < .001) and Hispanics (53% vs. 25%; chi(2) =
      5.77, P = .016). This effect persisted after controlling for potential
      confounders in multivariate logistic regression. Menthol smokers had a greater
      number of PAV haplotypes/individual than non-menthol smokers [non-Hispanics odds
      ratio (OR) = 3.02 (1.56-5.85); P = .001; Hispanics OR = 3.60 (1.23-10.56); P =
      .020]. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary data support the hypothesis that a genetic
      propensity to experience heightened bitter taste perception increases the
      preference for menthol cigarettes.

PMID- 25832885
TI  - Anticancer properties of novel 4-methylene-1,2-diphenylpyrazolidin-3-ones.
AB  - The limited success of the currently used antitumor therapies is the driving
      force for organic chemists to seek new lead structures with anticancer potential.
      Two alpha-methylene-gamma-lactams with an additional nitrogen atom in the lactam
      ring, 5-vinyl-1,2-diphenyl-4-methylenepyrazolidin-3-one (2a) and 5-phenyl-1,2
      diphenyl-4-methylenepyrazolidin-3-one (2b) have been synthesized. Their
      anticancer activity was assessed in MCF-7 cells. Both compounds inhibited cell
      proliferation and induced DNA damage and apoptosis, with 2a being the more potent
      analog. Synergistic effects of 2a used in combination with known anticancer
      drugs, 5-fluorouracil, taxol, and oxaliplatin were evaluated. Compound 2a
      significantly enhanced the antitumor action of oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil,
      but not taxol. 

PMID- 25832886
TI  - Experiences in Disseminating Evidence-Based Prevention Programs in a Real-World
      Setting.
AB  - The primary aim of family-based prevention programs is to promote children's
      health. Unfortunately, it is difficult to reach families with such evidence-based
      prevention programs (EBP). Therefore, implementing EBP on a population level
      could be a promising approach to reach more families, including those faced with
      socioeconomic challenges who are usually less likely to participate in randomized
      controlled trials (RCT). Is a population rollout appropriate to reach more and
      different families than those participating in RCT, especially those
      representative of the target population? We implemented three EBP in a city in an
      uncontrolled trial. The effects of this population rollout were tracked on the
      level of the participating families and on the level of all families living in
      the city. More than 3480 families (30 % of the population) with children up to 12
      years of age participated based on practitioner report. Analyses indicate that a
      greater percentage of low socioeconomic-status families attended a program
      compared with a randomly surveyed sample from the city's general population. The
      sizes of the within-subject effect for parental strategies, child behavior
      problems, and children's quality of life for a subsample of n = 411 families were
      similar to those of other uncontrolled EBP studies. The study contributes to
      highly needed type 2 translation research. The population-based dissemination of
      EBP could be a promising approach to reach families at risk. However, there are
      considerable barriers to the implementation process, which currently limit the
      effectiveness of this rollout in a community.

PMID- 25832888
TI  - Species identification of processed animal proteins (PAPs) in animal feed
      containing feed materials from animal origin.
AB  - Since June 2013 the total feed ban of processed animal proteins (PAPs) was
      partially lifted. Now it is possible to mix fish feed with PAPs from non
      ruminants (pig and poultry). To guarantee that fish feed, which contains non
      ruminant PAPs, is free of ruminant PAPs, it has to be analysed with a ruminant
      PCR assay to comply with the total ban of feeding PAPs from ruminants. However,
      PCR analysis cannot distinguish between ruminant DNA, which originates from
      proteins such as muscle and bones, and ruminant DNA, which comes from feed
      materials of animal origin such as milk products or fat. Thus, there is the risk
      of obtaining positive ruminant PCR signals based on these materials. The paper
      describes the development of the combination of two analysis methods, micro
      dissection and PCR, to eliminate the problem of 'false-positive' PCR signals.
      With micro-dissection, single particles can be isolated and subsequently analysed
      with PCR. 

PMID- 25832887
TI  - CLEC4M and STXBP5 gene variations contribute to von Willebrand factor level
      variation in von Willebrand disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: von Willebrand factor (VWF) levels in healthy individuals are
      influenced by variations in genetic loci other than the VWF gene, whose
      contribution to VWF levels in patients with von Willebrand disease (VWD) is
      largely unknown. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), VWF levels, and bleeding phenotype.
      PATIENTS/METHODS: In 364 type 1 VWD and 240 type 2 VWD patients from the
      nationwide cross-sectional 'Willebrand in The Netherlands' (WiN) study, we
      studied the association between eight SNPs in STXBP5, SCARA5, ABO, VWF, STAB2,
      STX2, TC2N, and CLEC4M, and VWF antigen (VWF:Ag), VWF activity (VWF:Act), and
      bleeding phenotype as assessed with the Tosetto bleeding score. RESULTS: In type
      1 patients, STXBP5 was associated with a lower VWF:Ag level (adjusted difference
      of -3.0 IU dL(-1) per allele; 95% confidence interval [CI] -6.0 to 0.1) and
      CLEC4M with both a lower VWF:Ag level (-4.3 IU dL(-1) per allele; 95% CI -7.9 to 
      0.6) and lower VWF:Act (-5.7 IU dL(-1) per allele; 95% CI -10.9 to -0.5). In type
      2 patients, none of the SNPs was associated with VWF levels. None of the genetic
      variants was associated with bleeding score. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic variations in
      STXBP5 and CLEC4M are associated with VWF level variation in type 1 VWD, but not
      in type 2 VWD. This study increases our understanding of the pathophysiology of
      VWD, and provides a further indication of the involvement of STXBP5 and CLEC4M in
      determining VWF levels in VWD.

PMID- 25832889
TI  - The role of cytoskeleton and adhesion proteins in the resistance to photodynamic
      therapy. Possible therapeutic interventions.
AB  - It is known that Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) induces changes in the cytoskeleton,
      the cell shape, and the adhesion properties of tumour cells. In addition, these
      targets have also been demonstrated to be involved in the development of PDT
      resistance. The reversal of PDT resistance by manipulating the cell adhesion
      process to substrata has been out of reach. Even though the existence of cell
      adhesion-mediated PDT resistance has not been reported so far, it cannot be ruled
      out. In addition to its impact on the apoptotic response to photodamage, the
      cytoskeleton alterations are thought to be associated with the processes of
      metastasis and invasion after PDT. In this review, we will address the impact of
      photodamage on the microfilament and microtubule cytoskeleton components and its
      regulators on PDT-treated cells as well as on cell adhesion. We will also
      summarise the impact of PDT on the surviving and resistant cells and their
      metastatic potential. Possible strategies aimed at taking advantage of the
      changes induced by PDT on actin, tubulin and cell adhesion proteins by targeting
      these molecules will also be discussed. 

PMID- 25832890
TI  - Development of a multi-epitope antigen of S protein-based ELISA for antibodies
      detection against infectious bronchitis virus.
AB  - An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method based on a novel
      multi-epitope antigen of S protein (SE) was developed for antibodies detection
      against infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). The multi-epitope antigen SE protein
      was designed by arranging three S gene fragments (166-247 aa, S1 gene; 501-515
      aa, S1 gene; 8-30 aa, S2 gene) in tandem. It was identified to be approximately
      32 kDa as a His-tagged fusion protein and can bind IBV positive serum by western
      blot analysis. The conditions of the SE-ELISA method were optimized. The optimal
      concentration of the coating antigen SE was 3.689 MUg/mL and the dilution of the
      primary antibodies was identified as 1:1000 using a checkerboard titration. The
      cut-off OD450 value was established at 0.332. The relative sensitivity and
      specificity between the SE-ELISA and IDEXX ELISA kit were 92.38 and 89.83%,
      respectively, with an accuracy of 91.46%. This assay is sensitive and specific
      for detection of antibodies against IBV.

PMID- 25832891
TI  - Flavobacterium spartansii induces pathological changes and mortality in
      experimentally challenged Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum).

PMID- 25832893
TI  - How to implement quality indicators successfully in palliative care services:
      perceptions of team members about facilitators of and barriers to implementation.
AB  - PURPOSE: There is an increasing demand for the use of quality indicators in
      palliative care. With previous research about implementation in this field
      lacking, we aimed to evaluate the barriers to and facilitators of implementation.
      METHODS: Three focus group interviews were organized with 21 caregivers from 18
      different specialized palliative care services in Belgium. Four had already
      worked with the indicators during a pilot study. The focus group discussions were
      transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the thematic framework approach. RESULTS:
      The caregivers anticipated that a positive attitude by the team towards quality
      improvement, the presence of a good leader, and the possible link between quality
      indicators and reimbursement might facilitate the implementation of quality
      indicators in specialized palliative care services. Other facilitators concerned
      the presence of a need to demonstrate quality of care, to perform improvement
      actions, and to learn from other caregivers and services in the field. A negative
      attitude by caregivers towards quality measurement and a lack of skills, time,
      and staff were mentioned as barriers to successful implementation. CONCLUSION:
      Palliative caregivers anticipate a number of opportunities and problems when
      implementing quality indicators. These relate to the attitudes of the team
      regarding quality measurement; the attitudes, knowledge, and skills of the
      individual caregivers within the team; and the organizational context and the
      economic and political context. Training in the advantages of quality indicators
      and how to use them is indispensable, as are structural changes in the policy
      concerning palliative care, in order to progress towards systematic quality
      monitoring.

PMID- 25832892
TI  - Being cool: how body temperature influences ageing and longevity.
AB  - Temperature is a basic and essential property of any physical system, including
      living systems. Even modest variations in temperature can have profound effects
      on organisms, and it has long been thought that as metabolism increases at higher
      temperatures so should rates of ageing. Here, we review the literature on how
      temperature affects longevity, ageing and life history traits. From poikilotherms
      to homeotherms, there is a clear trend for lower temperature being associated
      with longer lifespans both in wild populations and in laboratory conditions. Many
      life-extending manipulations in rodents, such as caloric restriction, also
      decrease core body temperature. Nonetheless, an inverse relationship between
      temperature and lifespan can be obscured or reversed, especially when the range
      of body temperatures is small as in homeotherms. An example is observed in
      humans: women appear to have a slightly higher body temperature and yet live
      longer than men. The mechanisms involved in the relationship between temperature
      and longevity also appear to be less direct than once thought with neuroendocrine
      processes possibly mediating complex physiological responses to temperature
      changes. Lastly, we discuss species differences in longevity in mammals and how
      this relates to body temperature and argue that the low temperature of the long
      lived naked mole-rat possibly contributes to its exceptional longevity. 

PMID- 25832894
TI  - Potential factors associated with perceived cognitive impairment in breast cancer
      survivors.
AB  - PURPOSE: This cross-sectional study was designed to explore potential factors
      associated with perceived cognitive impairment (PCI) in breast cancer survivors
      compared to controls and gain insight into perceived levels of severity for
      cognitive complaints. METHODS: Women (N = 363, 317: breast cancer, 46: healthy
      controls) completed demographic questionnaire, MD Anderson Symptom Inventory,
      Attentional Function Index, and Functional Assessment for Cancer Therapy
      Cognition. Group classification included pre-chemotherapy, current chemotherapy,
      and postchemotherapy (<1, >1- < 2, >2- < 5, >5 years). RESULTS: A significant
      group effect was seen for PCI (F 6, 355 = 7.01, p < 0.0001). Controls reported
      less PCI than all other groups. Neuropathy was inversely correlated with PCI (r =
      -0.23; p < 0.0001) for participants with breast cancer. A significant association
      was demonstrated between exercise frequency and PCI in women exposed to
      chemotherapy (F 3, 135 = 3.78, p < 0.05). A multiple linear regression model
      built using forward selection methods explained 24 % of the variance (adjusted R
      (2)) for PCI in breast cancer participants and included group, body mass index
      (BMI), exercise, fatigue, and distress. Exercise frequency moderated the
      relationship between BMI and PCI for breast cancer participants (F 3, 198 = 2.4,
      p = 0.07) and reduced the negative effects of high BMI. The moderating effect of
      exercise was significant (F 3, 133 = 3.1, p = 0.03) when limited to participants
      exposed to chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: PCI decreased for women >5 years
      postchemotherapy. Overweight survivors who exercised frequently reported less PCI
      than sedentary survivors. Study results provide support for a relationship
      between BMI and PCI in breast cancer survivors and exercise as a potential
      intervention for cognitive complaints. Further investigation of the influence of
      weight and exercise on cognitive function is warranted.

PMID- 25832895
TI  - Exercise preferences, levels and quality of life in lung cancer survivors.
AB  - PURPOSE: Lung cancer poses multiple challenges to adopting an exercise (EX)
      program, and the ideal timing of an EX program to improve quality of life (QoL)
      is unknown. This study explored the EX counselling and programming preferences of
      lung cancer survivors and examined the association of EX before diagnosis, during
      treatment and after treatment on QoL. METHODS: Cross-sectional, retrospective
      survey design in a sample of lung cancer survivors. EX preferences were compared
      between patients who had received radical chest radiation or lung surgery versus
      those who had not. EX was measured by self-report using the Godin Leisure Time
      Exercise Questionnaire (GLTEQ). Separate linear regression models, controlling
      for significant covariates, examined the association of EX at each time point
      with scores on QoL measures and subscales. RESULTS: Participants (N = 66, M age
      66.4 +/- 9.1) were between 4 months and 11.5 years after lung cancer diagnosis (M
      = 31.7 +/- 22.9 months). Patients who had lung surgery were more likely to prefer
      to start an EX program during adjuvant treatment than those who did not have
      surgery (t(33) = 2.43, p = .025). Compared to prediagnosis EX (M = 36.7 +/- 56.0
      MET h/week), EX levels declined significantly during (M = 12.4 +/- 25.0 MET
      h/week) and after (M = 12.3 +/- 17.4 MET h/week) treatment (p < .05). After
      controlling for disease stage and income, regression models were not significant,
      but EX after treatment was a significant individual predictor of fatigue (beta =
      .049, p = .006) and QoL measured by the Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire
      (beta = .163, p = .025). CONCLUSIONS: Lung cancer patient preferences indicate
      that EX program timing should take into account whether the patient has undergone
      surgery. Lung cancer survivors' EX levels declined after diagnosis and engaging
      in EX after treatment may improve fatigue and QoL.

PMID- 25832896
TI  - Heart rate recovery and aerobic endurance capacity in cancer survivors:
      interdependence and exercise-induced improvements.
AB  - PURPOSE: Whilst evidence supports beneficial effects of exercise on heart rate
      variability in cancer patients, its impact on heart rate recovery (HRR) and
      possible associations of exercise capacity and HRR have not yet been
      investigated. We aimed to evaluate the effects of an exercise intervention on HRR
      in relation to the baseline aerobic capacity. METHODS: Cancer patients (n = 309,
      178 females) performed a cardiopulmonary exercise test at baseline and at a 4
      month interval follow-up with home-based and supervised exercise programs in
      between. VO2 and heart rate were assessed during and HRR at 60 and 120 s after
      test termination. Based on a median split of the VO2 peak baseline values,
      participants were dichotomized into two groups: below median (47 female; 57.5 +/-
      10 years) and above median (48 female; 54.3 +/- 12 years). RESULTS: In the
      baseline sample (n = 309), VO2 peak correlated significantly with HRR60 (r =
      .327, p < .01) and HRR120 (r = .524, p < .01). For the compliers who completed
      intervention and assessments (n = 158), group comparisons demonstrated
      differences between below median versus above median group in absolute changes of
      HRR60 (3.1 +/- 10.5 bpm (95% CI +0.6; +5.4) vs -1.8 +/- 8.7 bpm (95% CI -3.7;
      +0.5)) and VO2 peak (2.9 +/- 3.5 ml/kg/min (95% CI +2.1; +3.7) vs 0.66 +/- 4
      ml/kg/min (95% CI -0.6; +1.5)) (p < .01), but not in HRR120 (3.9 +/- 11.8 bpm
      (95% CI +1.2; +6.6) vs 0.8 +/- 10.8 bpm (95% CI -1.7; +3.5); p > .05).
      CONCLUSIONS: These findings point toward a positive linear relationship between
      aerobic capacity and vagal reactivation in cancer patients. Patients with initial
      VO2 peak values below median showed improved VO2 peak, HRR60 and HRR120 following
      the moderate aerobic exercise intervention and differences to patients above
      median in all outcomes compared.

PMID- 25832897
TI  - Prevalence of oral mucositis, dry mouth, and dysphagia in advanced cancer
      patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oral symptoms can be a sign of an underlying systemic condition and
      have a significant impact on quality of life, nutrition, and cost of care, while
      these lesions are often studied in the context of cancer treatment. However,
      information regarding oral symptoms in advanced cancer patients is poor. The aim
      of this multicenter study was to determine the prevalence and the characteristics
      of oral symptoms in a large population of advanced cancer patients. METHODS: A
      consecutive sample of patients with advanced cancer for a period of 6 months was
      prospectively assessed for an observational study. At time of admission, the
      epidemiological characteristics, surgery-radiotherapy of head and neck, and
      oncologic treatments in the last month were recorded. The presence of mucositis,
      dry mouth, and dysphagia was assessed by clinical examination and patients'
      report and their intensity recorded. Patients were also asked whether they had
      limitation on nutrition of hydration due to the local condition. RESULTS: Six
      hundred sixty-nine patients were surveyed in the period taken into consideration.
      The mean age was 72.1 years (SD 12.3), and 342 patients were males. The primary
      tumors are listed in Table 1. The prevalence of mucositis was 22.3 %. The symptom
      relevantly reduced the ingestion of food or fluids and was statistically
      associated with the Karnofsky level and head and neck cancer. The prevalence of
      dry mouth was 40.4 %, with a mean intensity of 5.4 (SD 2.1). Several drugs were
      concomitantly given, particularly opioids (78 %), corticosteroids (75.3 %), and
      diuretics (70.2 %). Various and nonhomogeneous treatments were given for dry
      mouth, that was statistically associated with current or recent chemotherapy, and
      hematological tumors. The prevalence of dysphagia was 15.4 % with a mean
      intensity of 5.34 (SD 3). Dysphagia for liquids was observed in 52.4 % of cases.
      A high level of limitation for oral nutrition due to dysphagia was found, and in
      53.4 % of patients, alternative routes to the oral one were used. Dysphagia was
      statistically associated with the Karnofsky level and head and neck cancer. A
      strong relationship between the three oral symptoms was found. CONCLUSION: In
      advanced cancer patients, a range of oral problems significantly may impact on
      the physical, social, and psychological well-being of advanced cancer patients to
      varying degrees. These symptoms should be carefully assessed early but become
      imperative in the palliative care setting when they produce relevant consequences
      that may be life-threatening other than limiting the daily activities,
      particularly eating and drinking.

PMID- 25832899
TI  - Using rap music to promote adolescent health: pilot study of VoxBox.
AB  - ISSUE ADDRESSED: Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATODs) usage among
      adolescents, particularly those living in lower socioeconomic communities, is a
      population health problem in Australia that requires innovative health promotion
      strategies. There is a growing recognition of the potential of arts-based
      approaches to engage youth in health promoting activities. This paper presents
      the process evaluation of the pilot VoxBox intervention that used rap to build
      adolescents' awareness of risks associated with ATODs. METHODS: The VoxBox
      intervention was piloted in Logan, Queensland, at five high schools with 18
      adolescents completing the intervention. Data collection methods included
      observation, focus groups, semi-structured interviews and a survey of adolescent
      participants. RESULTS: The intervention was well received by participants and
      stakeholders. Three factors characterising the project's successful engagement of
      adolescents were: participate - go with the flow, learning from the real deal and
      resourced to make some noise. CONCLUSION: In VoxBox, the emphasis on engaging
      adolescents in an activity of real interest that was appropriately resourced and
      delivered was central to credibility and success. SO WHAT?: The findings
      highlight the importance of interventions matching the interests of the targeted
      population group.

PMID- 25832898
TI  - Novel High-Frequency Peripheral Nerve Stimulator Treatment of Refractory
      Postherpetic Neuralgia: A Brief Technical Note.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The study aims to describe an ultrasound (US)-guided peripheral nerve
      stimulation implant technique and describe the effect of high-frequency
      peripheral nerve stimulation on refractory postherpetic neuralgia. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Following a cadaver pilot trial using US and confirmatory fluoroscopic
      guidance, a 52-year-old man with refractory left supraorbital neuralgia underwent
      combined US and fluoroscopic-guided supraorbital peripheral nerve stimulator
      trial. The patient was subsequently implanted with a percutaneous lead over the
      left supraorbital and supratrochlear nerve utilizing a high-frequency stimulation
      paradigm. RESULTS: At 9 months follow-up, the pain intensity had declined from a
      weekly average of 8/10 to 1/10 on the pain visual analog scale (VAS). After
      implant, both nerve conduction and blink reflex studies were performed, which
      demonstrated herpetic nerve damage and frequency-specific peripheral nerve
      stimulation effects. The patient preferred analgesia in the supraorbital nerve
      distribution accomplished with high-frequency paresthesia-free stimulation (HFS)
      at an amplitude of 6.2 mA, a frequency of 100-1200 Hz, and a pulse width of 130
      MUsec, to paresthesia-mediated pain relief associated with low-frequency
      stimulation. CONCLUSION: We report the implant of a supraorbital peripheral nerve
      stimulating electrode that utilizes a high-frequency program resulting in
      sustained suppression of intractable postherpetic neuralgia.

PMID- 25832900
TI  - Sulfoxide-Directed Metal-Free ortho-Propargylation of Aromatics and
      Heteroaromatics.

PMID- 25832901
TI  - Mild one-pot Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons olefination and intramolecular N-arylation
      for the syntheses of indoles, all regio-isomeric azaindoles, and thienopyrroles.
AB  - The syntheses of various N-protected aromatic-ring fused pyrrole-2-carboxylate
      derivatives have been accomplished using mild one-pot Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons
      olefination and Cu-catalyzed intramolecular N-arylation reactions. The optimized
      mild one-pot reaction conditions of various 2-bromo arylcarboxaldehydes with
      commercially available N-protected phosphonoglycine trimethylesters gave the
      desired aromatic-ring fused pyrrole-2-carboxylates, such as substituted indole-,
      all regio-isomeric azaindole-, and thienopyrrole-2-carboxylates, in good to
      excellent yields. These conditions showed broad substrate compatibility, without
      the loss of the protecting group. 

PMID- 25832902
TI  - Modulation of platelet and monocyte function by the chemokine fractalkine (CX3
      CL1) in cardiovascular disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The chemokine fractalkine, CX3CL1, bears unique features within the
      chemokine family: it exists in a membrane bound form acting as an adhesion
      molecule and surface receptor; however, when cleaved by ADAM 10, it functions as
      a soluble chemokine. Fractalkine and its chemokine receptor CX3CR1 are known to
      have multiple roles in diverse human diseases, for example inflammatory diseases,
      rheumatoid arthritis, renal diseases and atherosclerosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      This review is based on the material obtained via PubMed up to November 2014. The
      key search terms used were 'fractalkine', 'CX3CL1', 'CX3CR1', 'cardiovascular
      disease', 'platelets', 'monocytes' and 'platelet-monocyte complexes'. RESULTS:
      Atherosclerosis is recognized as a highly inflammatory disease, and it has become
      increasingly evident that the immune system plays an important role in
      atherogenesis and atheroprogression. Two blood cell populations are crucially
      involved in the early development of atherosclerotic lesions: monocytes and
      platelets. They are detected at vascular sites of endothelial dysfunction and are
      involved in inflammatory immune responses. These cells directly interact with
      each other, forming platelet-monocyte complexes that are increased in
      cardiovascular diseases. During the development of atherosclerosis, fractalkine
      mediates leukocyte recruitment to the inflamed endothelium, which promotes early
      formation of lesions. This process only effectively works in the presence of
      activated platelets. It has been suggested that fractalkine and its receptor
      contribute to platelet-monocyte aggregate formation underlining the two important
      impacts of this chemokine for platelets as well as monocytes. CONCLUSION:
      Interesting data hint at a role of fractalkine for platelet activation, adhesion
      and subsequent monocyte recruitment to activated endothelial cells in
      cardiovascular diseases. However, the exact mechanisms remain to become
      unravelled.

PMID- 25832904
TI  - Corrigendum: Identification of the phytosphingosine metabolic pathway leading to
      odd-numbered fatty acids.

PMID- 25832903
TI  - The evolution of vertebrate and invertebrate myelin: a theoretical computational
      study.
AB  - Multilayered, lipid-rich myelin increases nerve impulse conduction velocity,
      contributes to compact nervous systems, and reduces metabolic costs of neural
      activity. Based on the hypothesis that increased impulse conduction velocity
      provides a selective advantage that drives the evolution of myelin, we simulated
      a sequence of plausible intermediate stages of myelin evolution, each of which
      providing an enhancement of conduction speed. We started with the expansion of
      insulating glial coverage, which led first to a single layer of myelin
      surrounding the axon and then to multiple myelin wraps with well-organized nodes.
      The myelinated fiber was modeled at three levels of complexity as the
      hypothesized evolutionary progression became more quantitatively exacting: 1)
      representing the fiber as a mathematically-tractable uniform active cylinder with
      the effect of myelination approximated by changing its specific capacitance
      (C(m)); 2) representing it as a chain of simple, cable-model compartments having
      alternating nodal and internodal parameters subject to optimization, and 3)
      representing it in a double cable model with the axon and myelin sheath treated
      separately. Conduction velocity was optimized at each stage. To maintain optimal
      conduction velocities, increased myelin coverage of axonal surface must be
      accompanied by an increase in channel density at the evolving nodes, but along
      with increases in myelin thickness, a reduction in overall average channel
      density must occur. Leakage under the myelin sheath becomes more of a problem
      with smaller fiber diameters, which may help explain the tendency for myelin to
      occur preferentially in larger nerve fibers in both vertebrates and
      invertebrates.

PMID- 25832905
TI  - Cerebrolysin in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease: a meta-analysis of
      randomized controlled clinical trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to provide a systematic and quantitative
      summary of benefit and risk of Cerebrolysin in patients with mild-to-moderate
      Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to avoid major deficiencies of an earlier meta
      analysis. DESIGN: This is a meta-analysis of randomized double-blind placebo
      controlled clinical trials. DATA SOURCES: Trials were identified with the help of
      PubMed, the Cochrane Dementia Group database, the Center for Collaborative
      Neurosciences, and references from reviews; no language restrictions were
      applied. STUDY SELECTION: All randomized double-blind placebo-controlled studies
      on 30 ml/day of Cerebrolysin in mild-to-moderate AD were included. RESULTS: There
      were 6 eligible randomized controlled trials comparing Cerebrolysin with placebo.
      For all studies, either individual patient data and/or published data (aggregate
      data) were available. Analyses were based on the odds ratio (OR) for dichotomized
      global clinical change and for safety criteria, on the standardized mean
      difference (SMD) for pooling of cognitive function, and on the Mann-Whitney
      statistic (MW) for multivariate analysis of 'global benefit' (combined effect of
      global clinical change and cognitive function). Cerebrolysin was significantly
      more effective than placebo at 4 weeks regarding cognitive function (4 weeks: SMD
      -0.40 points; 95% CI -0.66 to -0.13; p = 0.0031; 6 months: SMD -0.37 points; 95%
      CI -0.90 to 0.16; p = 0.1710), at 4 weeks and 6 months regarding global clinical
      change (4 weeks: OR 3.32; 95% CI 1.20-9.21; p = 0.0212; 6 months: OR 4.98; 95% CI
      1.37-18.13; p = 0.0150), and at 4 weeks and 6 months regarding 'global benefit'
      (combined efficacy criteria; 4 weeks: MW 0.57, 95% CI 0.53-0.61; p = 0.0006; 6
      months: MW 0.57; 95% CI 0.53-0.61; p = 0.0010). The safety aspects of
      Cerebrolysin were comparable to placebo. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis provides
      evidence that Cerebrolysin has an overall beneficial effect and a favorable
      benefit-risk ratio in patients with mild-to-moderate AD. Cerebrolysin as a
      therapeutic agent should be considered by clinicians seeking treatment options
      for mild-to-moderate AD.

PMID- 25832906
TI  - Effects of ketone bodies in Alzheimer's disease in relation to neural
      hypometabolism, beta-amyloid toxicity, and astrocyte function.
AB  - Diet supplementation with ketone bodies (acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybuturate)
      or medium-length fatty acids generating ketone bodies has consistently been found
      to cause modest improvement of mental function in Alzheimer's patients. It was
      suggested that the therapeutic effect might be more pronounced if treatment was
      begun at a pre-clinical stage of the disease instead of well after its
      manifestation. The pre-clinical stage is characterized by decade-long glucose
      hypometabolism in brain, but ketone body metabolism is intact even initially
      after disease manifestation. One reason for the impaired glucose metabolism may
      be early destruction of the noradrenergic brain stem nucleus, locus coeruleus,
      which stimulates glucose metabolism, at least in astrocytes. These glial cells
      are essential in Alzheimer pathogenesis. The beta-amyloid peptide Abeta
      interferes with their cholinergic innervation, which impairs synaptic function
      because of diminished astrocytic glutamate release. Abeta also reduces glucose
      metabolism and causes hyperexcitability. Ketone bodies are similarly used against
      seizures, but the effectively used concentrations are so high that they must
      interfere with glucose metabolism and de novo synthesis of neurotransmitter
      glutamate, reducing neuronal glutamatergic signaling. The lower ketone body
      concentrations used in Alzheimer's disease may owe their effect to support of
      energy metabolism, but might also inhibit release of gliotransmitter glutamate.
      Alzheimer's disease is a panglial-neuronal disorder with long-standing brain
      hypometabolism, aberrations in both neuronal and astrocytic glucose metabolism,
      inflammation, hyperexcitability, and dementia. Relatively low doses of beta
      hydroxybutyrate can have an ameliorating effect on cognitive function. This could
      be because of metabolic supplementation or inhibition of Abeta-induced release of
      glutamate as gliotransmitter, which is likely to reduce hyperexcitability and
      inflammation. The therapeutic beta-hydroxybutyrate doses are too low to reduce
      neuronally released glutamate. 

PMID- 25832907
TI  - Sound source localization by hearing preservation patients with and without
      symmetrical low-frequency acoustic hearing.
AB  - The aim of this article was to study sound source localization by cochlear
      implant (CI) listeners with low-frequency (LF) acoustic hearing in both the
      operated ear and in the contralateral ear. Eight CI listeners had symmetrical LF
      acoustic hearing and 4 had asymmetrical LF acoustic hearing. The effects of two
      variables were assessed: (i) the symmetry of the LF thresholds in the two ears
      and (ii) the presence/absence of bilateral acoustic amplification. Stimuli
      consisted of low-pass, high-pass, and wideband noise bursts presented in the
      frontal horizontal plane. Localization accuracy was 23 degrees  of error for the
      symmetrical listeners and 76 degrees  of error for the asymmetrical listeners.
      The presence of a unilateral CI used in conjunction with bilateral LF acoustic
      hearing does not impair sound source localization accuracy, but amplification for
      acoustic hearing can be detrimental to sound source localization accuracy.

PMID- 25832908
TI  - System responses to chronic cold stress probed via(1)H NMR spectroscopy in plasma
      and urine matrices.
AB  - Chronic cold stress can trigger biochemical and physiological changes in living
      organisms, which leads to a rapid loss of homeostasis. However, the biochemical
      responses of the organism to chronic cold stress are unclear. In this study, we
      systematically analysed the metabonomic changes under chronic cold stress by
      using a (1)H NMR-based metabonomics approach in conjunction with clinical
      biochemistry assessments. We found that chronic cold exposure caused significant
      elevation in the levels of lipoproteins (HDL, LDL), lactate, acetoacetate,
      creatine, creatinine, choline metabolites (GPC, PC and betaine), TMAO and taurine
      but reduction in the levels of VLDL, glutamine, glycine and glycerol in plasma.
      Increased levels in urinary TCA cycle intermediates (2-ocoglutarate and citrate),
      acetoacetate, taurine, TMAO, betaine and hippurate were also found in model rats,
      together with the reduction of creatinine and tryptophan levels. The results
      indicated that chronic cold stress caused widespread metabolic changes involved
      in lipid and energy metabolism, gluconeogenesis, the TCA cycle, and gut
      microbiota disorders, accompanied with hepatic and renal dysfunction. These
      findings provide a comprehensive insight into the biochemical consequences and
      metabolic responses to chronic cold stress in rats. 

PMID- 25832909
TI  - Prospective, Randomized Intervention Study Comparing Retinal Pigment Epithelium
      Choroid Graft Surgery and Anti-VEGF Therapy in Patients with Exudative Age
      Related Macular Degeneration.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate whether patients with exudative age-related macular
      degeneration and a submacular hemorrhage, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) tear
      or nonresponders to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) benefit more
      from a free RPE-choroid graft transplantation surgery than from (continuation of)
      anti-VEGF treatment. PROCEDURES: A total of 20 patients were included in this
      prospective, international, multicenter, randomized intervention study. RESULTS:
      The change in the mean number of Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study
      (ETDRS) letters in the graft group 1 year postoperatively was -15 (range -54 to
      +26), whilst 2 patients experienced a gain of >10 letters. The median
      preoperative visual acuity (VA) was 0.75 logMAR (range 0.46-2.8), and the mean
      postoperative VA was 1.48 logMAR (range 0.14-2.8). The change in the mean number
      of ETDRS letters in the anti-VEGF group was -8 (range -26 to +6); no patients
      experienced a >10 letter gain. The median preoperative VA was 1.36 logMAR (range
      0.58-1.6), and the median postoperative VA was 1.42 logMAR (range 0.44-1.66).
      CONCLUSIONS: The included patient group is far too small to draw conclusions.
      However, both gain and loss of VA may be experienced by patients undergoing
      either treatment method; more gain might be possible for patients with a graft in
      the absence of complications.

PMID- 25832910
TI  - Autologous serum and plasma rich in growth factors in ophthalmology: preclinical
      and clinical studies.
AB  - The use of blood derivatives represents an alternative therapeutic approach that
      is gaining interest in regenerative medicine due to its potential to stimulate
      and accelerate tissue healing. Autologous serum eye drops and platelet-enriched
      plasma eye drops are being used in the treatment of different ophthalmological
      disorders. In this review, we summarize the different blood-derived formulations
      used in the treatment and care of ocular surface disorders. The biological basis
      and use of autologous serum and plasma rich in growth factors are deeply
      evaluated as well as the challenges to be addressed in the future in this new
      generation of blood-derived therapies. 

PMID- 25832912
TI  - Robin Stott: Focused, rebellious, receptive.

PMID- 25832911
TI  - Impaired light detection of the circadian clock in a zebrafish melanoma model.
AB  - The circadian clock controls the timing of the cell cycle in healthy tissues and
      clock disruption is known to increase tumourigenesis. Melanoma is one of the most
      rapidly increasing forms of cancer and the precise molecular circadian changes
      that occur in a melanoma tumor are unknown. Using a melanoma zebrafish model, we
      have explored the molecular changes that occur to the circadian clock within
      tumors. We have found disruptions in melanoma clock gene expression due to a
      major impairment to the light input pathway, with a parallel loss of light
      dependent activation of DNA repair genes. Furthermore, the timing of mitosis in
      tumors is perturbed, as well as the regulation of certain key cell cycle
      regulators, such that cells divide arhythmically. The inability to co-ordinate
      DNA damage repair and cell division is likely to promote further tumourigenesis
      and accelerate melanoma development. 

PMID- 25832913
TI  - Pseudocapacitance of MXene nanosheets for high-power sodium-ion hybrid
      capacitors.
AB  - High-power Na-ion batteries have tremendous potential in various large-scale
      applications. However, conventional charge storage through ion intercalation or
      double-layer formation cannot satisfy the requirements of such applications owing
      to the slow kinetics of ion intercalation and the small capacitance of the double
      layer. The present work demonstrates that the pseudocapacitance of the nanosheet
      compound MXene Ti2C achieves a higher specific capacity relative to double-layer
      capacitor electrodes and a higher rate capability relative to ion intercalation
      electrodes. By utilizing the pseudocapacitance as a negative electrode, the
      prototype Na-ion full cell consisting of an alluaudite Na2Fe2(SO4)3 positive
      electrode and an MXene Ti2C negative electrode operates at a relatively high
      voltage of 2.4 V and delivers 90 and 40 mAh g(-1) at 1.0 and 5.0 A g(-1) (based
      on the weight of the negative electrode), respectively, which are not attainable
      by conventional electrochemical energy storage systems. 

PMID- 25832914
TI  - Risk reduction in dominant temporal lobe epilepsy surgery combining fMRI/DTI
      maps, neuronavigation and intraoperative 1.5-Tesla MRI.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In dominant temporal lobe epilepsy surgery, speech, memory and visual
      systems are at risk. OBJECTIVE: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and
      diffusion tensor imaging combined with intraoperative neuronavigation and MRI
      were investigated retrospectively regarding risk reductions for favorable
      neurological and seizure outcome. METHODS: Functional imaging risk maps were
      generated for 14 patients suffering from dominant temporal lobe epilepsy [7 with
      hippocampal sclerosis (HS), 7 with various lesions] and used for neuronavigation
      guided tailored resection. Postoperative neurological and seizure outcome and
      complications were evaluated. RESULTS: None of the patients had postoperative
      speech dysfunction despite 2.3/3.6-cm mean hippocampal/neocortical resection.
      Verbal memory decline was found in 2 of the 14 (14.3%) patients, correlating with
      surgical lesions in fMRI memory-activated functional areas in the dominant
      posterior parahippocampal gyrus. Verbal memory scores did not statistically
      differ between the HS and the lesional group, neither pre- nor postoperatively. A
      contralateral visual field defect occurred in 1 patient (7.1%). An Engel class I
      seizure outcome was found in 12 patients (85.7%), and 11 were completely seizure
      free (78.6%) at a mean follow-up of 19.5 months. CONCLUSION: This retrospectively
      investigated protocol led to an excellent neurological and seizure outcome and a
      low complication rate in dominant temporal lobe epilepsy surgery.

PMID- 25832915
TI  - Micro-RNAs and their roles in eye disorders.
AB  - Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are members of the family of noncoding RNA molecules that
      regulate gene expression by translational repression and mRNA degradation.
      Initial identification of miRNAs revealed them only as developmental regulators;
      later, their radiated roles in various cellular processes have been established.
      They regulate several pathways, including developmental timing, hematopoiesis,
      organogenesis, apoptosis, cell differentiation and proliferation. Their roles in
      eye disorders are being explored by biologists around the world. Eye physiology
      requires the perfect orchestration of all the regulatory networks; any defect in
      any of the networks leads to eye disorders. The dysregulation of miRNA expression
      has been reported in many eye disorders, which paves the way for new
      therapeutics. This review summarizes the biogenesis of miRNAs and their role in
      eye disorders. miRNA studies also have implications for the understanding of
      various complex metabolic pathways leading to disorders of the eye. The ultimate
      understanding leads to potential opportunities in evaluating miRNAs as molecular
      biomarkers, prognostic tools, diagnostic tools and therapeutic agents for eye
      disorders.

PMID- 25832916
TI  - Become Related: FIAS, an Intensive Early Intervention for Young Children with
      Autism Spectrum Disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), impairments in fundamental
      social abilities and a lack of interest in social stimuli become apparent early
      in life. These impairments are thought to negatively affect further brain and
      behavioural development. Early intensive interventions can help to attenuate
      social-development and other risk factors and, thus, to ameliorate the deficits
      associated with ASDs. We present FIAS, an intensive early intervention approach
      for young children with ASD, which aims at developing children's social
      motivation. During 18 days, therapists work continuously for 6 h a day with the
      affected child, involving the whole family in a day care setting. Follow-up care
      at home over 1 year as well as fresh-up interventions and inclusion in
      kindergarten or a play group should stabilise the effects and help to respond to
      further challenges. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Here, we present observations from the
      first 12 patients (25-48 months of age) treated according to the FIAS approach.
      We evaluated changes in core autistic symptoms and level of functioning after the
      18 days of intensive intervention. Beyond standardised assessment, two innovative
      video-based instruments (Autism Behaviour Coding System and
      Evaluationsfragebogen) have been developed to assess autistic symptoms and
      interaction parameters during intervention. RESULTS: Improvements were noted in
      most core autistic symptom domains, with the highest effect sizes in domains like
      eye contact, communication, repetitive behaviour, imitation, motivation and
      reciprocity. In addition, the level of functioning significantly improved.
      CONCLUSIONS: The first evaluation of the FIAS approach shows promising results,
      as the FIAS intervention appears to improve core autistic symptom domains as well
      as the level of everyday functioning. Limitations of this study are the small
      sample size and the lack of a control group. A more comprehensive and
      longitudinal evaluation is in progress; this will focus on the stability of the
      observed effects and will attempt to identify potential predictors of treatment
      response. (c) 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

PMID- 25832917
TI  - Isolated nocturnal hypertension and subclinical target organ damage: a systematic
      review of the literature.
AB  - Isolated nocturnal hypertension (INH) is associated with greater mortality and
      cardiovascular events. Subclinical target organ damage (TOD) is a prognostic
      marker for cardiovascular events. Our objective is to systematically summarize
      evidence on the association between INH and subclinical TOD. Observational
      population studies were considered. INH was defined as nighttime blood pressure
      (BP) ?120 and/or 70 mm Hg with daytime BP <135/85 mm Hg. We systematically
      searched Pubmed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library. Abstracts were reviewed by two
      assessors. Potentially eligible articles were compared with inclusion criteria.
      The search yielded 954 titles, 13 abstracts were selected for review and four
      articles fulfilled inclusion criteria. INH was associated with higher ambulatory
      arterial stiffness index (0.4 unit vs. 0.35 unit, P<0.05), pulse wave velocity
      (16.2 m s(-1) vs. 14.7 m s(-1), P<0.05), central (140.4% vs. 134.0%, P<0.05) and
      peripheral (82.6% vs. 76.5%, P<0.01) augmentation index in a Chinese study. In
      the same population there was no association with left ventricular hypertrophy
      documented by electrocardiogram. INH was not associated with increased arterial
      stiffness or left venticular mass index in a Swedish study. An American study
      demonstrated higher left ventricular mass (152.46 g vs. 136.16 g, P=0.01) and
      greater odds of left ventricular hypertrophy (odds ratio 3.03, 95% confidence
      interval 1.02-9.05) in unadjusted analysis. There was no association with
      proteinuria. Evidence is inconclusive regarding the association between INH and
      subclinical TOD. Future research should focus on trying to elucidate the
      mechanisms that generate INH and contribute to the higher mortality associated
      with this BP pattern. 

PMID- 25832918
TI  - Left ventricular layer function in hypertension assessed by myocardial strain
      rate using novel one-beat real-time three-dimensional speckle tracking
      echocardiography with high volume rates.
AB  - We recently developed novel software to measure phasic strain rate (SR) using
      automated one-beat real-time three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography
      (3D-STE) with high volume rates. We tested the hypothesis that left ventricular
      (LV) systolic function and relaxation analyzed by SR with the novel 3D-STE in
      hypertension (HTN) with hypertrophy may be impaired in the endocardium before
      there is LV systolic dysfunction. We measured LV longitudinal, radial and
      circumferential SR in patients with HTN (n=80, 69+/-7 years) and age-matched
      normotensive controls (n= 60, 69+/-10 years) using 3D-STE. HTN patients were
      divided into four groups according to LV geometry: normal, concentric remodeling,
      concentric hypertrophy and eccentric hypertrophy. We measured SR during systole
      as an index of systolic function, SR during isovolumic relaxation (IVR) as an
      index of relaxation and E/e' as an index of filling pressure. Endocardial SR
      during systole in HTN with concentric and eccentric hypertrophy decreased
      compared with that in controls despite no reduction in ejection fraction or
      epicardial SR. Endocardial radial SR during IVR decreased even in normal
      geometry, and it was further reduced in concentric remodeling and hypertrophy
      despite no reduction in epicardial SR. LV phasic SR assessed by 3D-STE with high
      volume rates is a useful index to detect early decreases in LV systolic function
      and to predict subclinical LV layer dysfunction in patients with HTN. 

PMID- 25832919
TI  - Combining drugs to optimize the therapy of hypertension: experimental evidence
      derived from animal models.

PMID- 25832921
TI  - Awareness of the Japanese Society of Hypertension Guidelines for the Management
      of Hypertension and their use in clinical practices: 2009 survey results.
AB  - The objective of this study was to investigate physicians' awareness and use of
      the Japanese Society of Hypertension (JSH) Guidelines for the Management of
      Hypertension (JSH2004 and JSH2009), and determine what changes need to be
      implemented in the future. A questionnaire was used to survey physicians'
      awareness and their use of JSH2004 and JSH2009. Physicians attending educational
      seminars on hypertension that were held during the months after the publication
      of JSH2009 (January-April 2009) were asked to participate in the survey. Of the
      5795 respondents, 88% were aware of the JSH2009 publication. Furthermore,
      physicians were also aware of JSH2004, with about 90% using JSH2004 in their
      practice. A hypertension blood pressure (BP) reference value of 140/90 mm Hg was
      used by 55% in office BP, whereas 31% used 135/85 mm Hg for home BP. Target BP
      levels used by physicians were 130/80 mm Hg for patients with diabetes or kidney
      disease (52%) and for elderly patients with diabetes or kidney disease (45%),
      whereas 140/90 mm Hg was used for elderly patients with low cardiovascular
      disease risk (44%) and for patients with chronic-phase stroke (27%). Answers to
      the questionnaire varied among physicians according to sex, age, workplace and
      specialty. The majority of the participating Japanese physicians were familiar
      with both JSH2004 and JSH2009, with many following the guidelines in their
      practice. However, some physicians use different reference values for
      hypertension and target BP levels. Physicians' adherence to and use of the
      guidelines should be regularly examined and promoted. 

PMID- 25832920
TI  - Activation of the D4 dopamine receptor attenuates proliferation and migration of
      vascular smooth muscle cells through downregulation of AT1a receptor expression.
AB  - Angiotensin (Ang) II has an important role in the vascular smooth muscle cell
      (VSMC) proliferation and migration and subsequently in the development of
      vascular diseases, whereas dopamine has the opposite effect. Previous studies
      have shown an interaction between dopamine and AT(1) receptors in the kidney. The
      dopamine D(4) receptor is expressed in arteries and has an inhibitory effect on
      VSMC proliferation. We hypothesized that the D(4) receptor, through its
      interaction with the AT(1a) receptor, may have an inhibitory effect on Ang II
      mediated VSMC proliferation and migration, which could have a pivotal role in
      hypertension-induced vascular remodeling. In the current study, we found that Ang
      II markedly induced the proliferation and migration of A10 cells, which was
      inhibited by the D(4) receptor agonist PD168077. The activation of the D(4)
      receptor by PD168077 inhibited AT(1a) receptor expression in a concentration- and
      time-dependent manner. These effects were attenuated by silencing the D(4)
      receptor with a D(4) receptor-targeting small interfering RNA. The D(4) receptor
      mediated inhibition of AT(1) receptor function involved protein kinase A (PKA).
      The activation of the D(4) receptor by PD168077 increased PKA activity in A10
      cells, and the presence of a PKA inhibitor (PKA inhibitor 14-22, 10(-7) mol l(-1)
      per 24 h) blocked the inhibitory effect of the D(4) receptor on AT(1) receptor
      expression and function. The inhibitory effect of the D(4) receptor on AT(1)
      receptor expression and function was preserved in VSMCs (primary culture) from
      spontaneously hypertensive rats relative to VSMCs from Wistar-Kyoto rats. In
      conclusion, our data provide insight into the regulatory role of the D(4)
      receptor on AT(1a) receptor expression and function in VSMCs and suggest that
      targeting the action of the D(4) receptor may represent an effective therapeutic
      approach for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

PMID- 25832923
TI  - Routine outcome monitoring and process quality in mental health care: a
      descriptive study in daily practice.
AB  - RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Routine outcome monitoring (ROM) is used to
      improve quality of health care by improving the process of care. ROM was
      introduced nationwide in mental health care in the Netherlands with the primary
      goal of enhancing the quality of treatment. This study aims to establish the
      impact of ROM on the process quality of treatment in the daily practice of
      secondary mental health care in the Netherlands. METHODS: Two cohorts from the
      same treatment programme were identified, before and after implementation of ROM.
      Data on patient characteristics, presence of baseline ROM measurement and
      indicators of the quality of the treatment process were retrieved from the
      electronic health care information system. Patient data were collected until 6
      months after enrolment in the treatment programme. The magnitude of the effect of
      ROM on the quality of the treatment process was established. RESULTS: The pre-ROM
      cohort comprised 271 patients and 231 patients constituted the post-ROM cohort.
      In the ROM cohort, both indicators for process quality 'presence of treatment
      plan' and 'presence of cancellations' were significantly higher; the odd ratios
      were 3,37 [confidence interval (CI) 2.32-4.89] and 1,63 (CI 1.14-2.33),
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Indicators on process quality are important for
      understanding and establishing the impact of ROM in daily practice of secondary
      mental health care. Implementing ROM moderately increased the presence of a
      treatment plan. While this suggests improved treatment agreement, it did not
      result in better compliance of patients with individual treatment activities, as
      presence of cancellations was significantly higher after introduction of ROM.

PMID- 25832922
TI  - Therapeutic effects of udenafil on pressure-overload cardiac hypertrophy.
AB  - This study was performed to determine whether the newly developed
      phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitor udenafil had beneficial effects on
      pressure-overload cardiac hypertrophy. Pressure overload cardiac hypertrophy was
      created by using suprarenal aortic constriction (SAC) in male Sprague-Dawley
      rats. Rats were divided into three groups: sham (n=19), SAC (n=18) and
      SAC+udenafil (n=14) groups. Three-week periods of SAC provoked significant left
      ventricular (LV) hypertrophy. Udenafil was administered (20 mg kg(-1) PO, daily)
      between the 3rd and 20th weeks after SAC in the SAC+udenafil group. Udenafil
      improved the survival rate (log-rank P=0.012) and exercise capacity (maximal
      exercise duration at the 20th week after surgery: 448+/-54 s for the SAC+udenafil
      group versus 317+/-73 s for the SAC group, P<0.05) of the rats with SAC. Serial
      echocardiographic examinations showed that udenafil attenuated LV remodeling
      processes following SAC (mean LV end-diastolic dimension at the 20th week after
      surgery: 9.84+/-0.59 mm for SAC and 9.05+/-0.58 mm for SAC+udenafil group,
      P<0.05). Invasive hemodynamic studies showed that udenafil improved the LV
      performance. Udenafil-attenuated myocardial fibrosis and apoptosis. Udenafil also
      decreased myocardial matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression and augmented serum
      interleukin-10 concentration. Long-term udenafil use prevented cardiac remodeling
      and improved exercise capacity and survival in rats exposed to pressure-overload
      cardiac hypertrophy. 

PMID- 25832924
TI  - Biodegradation of pesticide profenofos by the free and immobilized cells of
      Pseudoxanthomonas suwonensis strain HNM.
AB  - Profenofos is an organophosphate pesticide used extensively in agriculture to
      control pests. A bacterium capable of degrading profenofos was isolated from
      pesticide-contaminated soil samples and identified as Pseudoxanthomonas
      suwonensis strain HNM based on its morphological and biochemical characteristics
      and phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences. 4-Bromo-2-chlorophenol was
      identified as a metabolite of profenofos degradation by HPLC and GC-MS analysis.
      The organism degraded profenofos by hydrolysis to yield 4-bromo-2-chlorophenol
      which was further utilized as carbon source for growth. The organism utilized
      various organophosphate pesticides such as temephos, quinalphos, and
      chloropyrifos as carbon sources. The optimum conditions for degradation of
      profenofos by P. suwonensis strain HMN were found to be at pH 7 and 30  degrees
      C. We have investigated the rate of degradation of profenofos by the free and
      immobilized cells of P. suwonensis strain HNM in various matrices such as sodium
      alginate (SA), sodium alginate-polyvinyl alcohol (SA-PVA), and SA-bentonite clay.
      The rate of degradation of 3 and 6 mM profenofos by the freely suspended cells
      were compared with that by immobilized cells in batches and semi-continuous with
      shaken cultures. The SA-bentonite clay-immobilized cells showed higher rate of
      degradation of 3 and 6 mM profenofos then freely suspended cells and cells
      immobilized in SA and SA-PVA. The SA-bentonite clay-immobilized cells of P.
      suwonensis strain HNM could be reused for more than 32 cycles without losing
      their degradation capacity. Thus, the immobilized cells are more efficient than
      freely suspended cells for the degradation of organophosphate pesticide
      contaminated water. 

PMID- 25832925
TI  - Validation of the Affective Word List as a measure of verbal learning and memory.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: This study evaluated the Affective Word List (AWL), a measure
      designed to assess affective bias, as a measure of verbal learning and memory in
      the context of baseline concussion evaluations. The AWL was developed to assess
      affective bias in order to circumvent the tendency of some examinees to minimize
      self-report of depression symptoms. However, because it is designed as a
      traditional list-learning task, the cognitive indices of the AWL have the added
      potential to be used as measures of verbal learning and memory. It would be
      useful to have a performance-based measure that is sensitive to both the
      affective and cognitive consequences of concussion. METHOD: Participants from a
      university-based sports concussion program were used to evaluate the descriptive
      statistics and distribution of the AWL and its convergent and discriminant
      validity. A separate sample of undergraduate students, active in intramural or
      club athletics, served as participants for a delayed alternate-form reliability
      study. All reliability and validity results were compared with those of the
      Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) and the Immediate Post-Concussion
      Assessment and Cognitive Testing Verbal Memory Composite (ImPACT-VM). RESULTS:
      Results of this study showed that the cognitive indices of the AWL have normal
      distributions, and its four forms are equivalent. The AWL demonstrated moderate
      delayed alternate-form reliability, moderate convergent validity with other
      measures of verbal learning and memory, and strong discriminant validity with
      measures of processing speed and reaction time. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this
      study suggest that the AWL may have clinical utility as a measure of verbal
      learning and memory in concussion management and research.

PMID- 25832927
TI  - Hepatitis B reactivation in multiple myeloma patients with resolved hepatitis B
      undergoing chemotherapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Despite increasing reports of hepatitis B virus (HBV)
      reactivation in multiple myeloma (MM), HBV reactivation in patients with resolved
      hepatitis B [hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative/anti-hepatitis B core
      antigen antibody (anti-HBc)-positive] is still poorly characterized. The aim of
      this study was to clarify its frequency and risk factors. METHODS: A total of 230
      MM patients with resolved hepatitis B were retrospectively reviewed for HBV
      reactivation and biochemical flare. RESULTS: During a median 2.4 years of follow
      up, HBV reactivation was diagnosed in 12 patients (5.2%). The cumulative rates of
      HBV reactivation at 2 years and 5 years were 5% and 8% respectively. A baseline
      anti-HBs-negative status (P = 0.033) and high-dose therapy/autologous stem-cell
      transplantation [HDT/ASCT (P = 0.025)] were significant risk factors that were
      positively associated with HBV reactivation. In subgroup analysis of patients
      treated with HDT/ASCT (n = 127), a baseline anti-HBs-negative status was the only
      significant risk factor for HBV reactivation (hazard ratio, 4.64; 95% CI, 1.47
      14.7; P = 0.009). DISCUSSION: These data show that evaluation of anti-HBc is
      needed for MM patients, and suggest that monitoring of HBV DNA should be
      considered for patients with resolved hepatitis B undergoing HDT/ASCT, especially
      those who are anti-HBs-negative.

PMID- 25832926
TI  - The influence of sensory afferent input on local motor cortical excitatory
      circuitry in humans.
AB  - In human, sensorimotor integration can be investigated by combining sensory input
      and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Short latency afferent inhibition
      (SAI) refers to motor cortical inhibition 20-25 ms after median nerve
      stimulation. We investigated the interaction between SAI and short-interval
      intracortical facilitation (SICF), an excitatory motor cortical circuit. Seven
      experiments were performed. Contrary to expectations, SICF was facilitated in the
      presence of SAI (SICF(SAI)). This effect is specific to SICF since there was no
      effect at SICF trough 1 when SICF was absent. Furthermore, the facilitatory
      SICF(SAI) interaction increased with stronger SICF or SAI. SAI and SICF
      correlated between individuals, and this relationship was maintained when SICF
      was delivered in the presence of SAI, suggesting an intrinsic relationship
      between SAI and SICF in sensorimotor integration. The interaction was present at
      rest and during muscle contraction, had a broad degree of somatotopic influence
      and was present in different interneuronal SICF circuits induced by posterior
      anterior and anterior-posterior current directions. Our results are compatible
      with the finding that projections from sensory to motor cortex terminate in both
      superficial layers where late indirect (I-) waves are thought to originate, as
      well as deeper layers with more direct effect on pyramidal output. This
      interaction is likely to be relevant to sensorimotor integration and motor
      control.

PMID- 25832928
TI  - Lifestyle factors and efficacy of lifestyle interventions in gastroesophageal
      reflux disease patients with functional dyspepsia: primary care perspectives from
      the LEGEND study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Although gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a very common
      disorder worldwide, is considered to be a lifestyle disease, the pathogenic role
      of lifestyle factors and consequently the efficacy of lifestyle interventions,
      remains controversial. Lifestyle factors associated with GERD and the beneficial
      effect of specific recommended lifestyle interventions in the primary care
      setting were evaluated as a post-hoc analysis of the LEGEND study which
      investigated the effect of lansoprazole in patients with GERD who reported
      dyspeptic symptoms. METHODS: GERD patients with dyspepsia were treated with
      lansoprazole 15 mg or 30 mg daily for four weeks. Reflux and dyspeptic symptoms
      were evaluated using patient-reported questionnaires before and four weeks after
      the administration of lansoprazole. RESULTS: Among 12,653 patients, "feelings of
      continued stress" was the most common lifestyle factor (45.6% of patients), and
      >30% of the patients reported "eating sweet foods at least once every two to
      three days," "eating greasy foods at least once every two to three days" and
      "drinking coffee almost daily." Introducing lifestyle interventions had a
      significant effect on both reflux and dyspeptic symptoms. CONCLUSION: Lifestyle
      interventions are thus considered to be important in GERD patients with dyspepsia
      who receive a proton pump inhibitor.

PMID- 25832929
TI  - Meta-analysis of sequential, concomitant and hybrid therapy for Helicobacter
      pylori eradication.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of sequential therapy, concomitant therapy and
      hybrid therapy for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection.
      METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register
      of Controlled Trials and CNKI were searched up to the end of May 10, 2014 in
      order to identify all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting the effects
      of sequential therapy, concomitant therapy and hybrid therapy on H. pylori
      eradication. The relative risk (RR) of eradicating H. pylori infection after
      sequential therapy compared with concomitant therapy or hybrid therapy was
      pooled. The eradication rates were considered both on an intention-to-treat (ITT)
      and per-protocol (PP) basis. RESULTS: A total of 10 RCTs involving 3,501 patients
      were included. The pooled data suggested that the differences between the three
      groups were not statistically significant (ITT analysis: sequential therapy vs.
      concomitant therapy: RR=1.01, 95%confidence interval (CI): 0.97-1.04, sequential
      therapy vs. hybrid therapy: RR=1.02, 95%CI: 0.85-1.22, concomitant therapy vs.
      hybrid therapy: RR=1.03, 95%CI: 0.97-1.08; PP analysis: sequential therapy vs.
      concomitant therapy: RR=1.00, 95%CI: 0.96-1.03, sequential therapy vs. hybrid
      therapy: RR=0.97, 95%CI: 0.86-1.09, concomitant therapy vs. hybrid therapy:
      RR=1.01, 95%CI: 0.93-1.10). In the ITT and PP analyses, the overall eradication
      rates were 84.3% (95%CI: 79.1-89.4) and 86.4% (95%CI: 81.7-91.0) for the
      sequential therapy group, 86.7% (95%CI: 81.0-92.3) and 89.8% (95%CI: 85.1-94.5)
      for the concomitant therapy group and 86.6% (95%CI: 82.3-91.0) and 92.7% (95%CI:
      90.5-94.9) for the hybrid therapy group, respectively. There were no significant
      differences among these therapies in terms of the rate of side effects.
      CONCLUSION: The pooled evidence suggests that sequential therapy, concomitant
      therapy and hybrid therapy are similar with respect to the treatment of H. pylori
      infection.

PMID- 25832930
TI  - Factors associated with mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B virus despite
      immunoprophylaxis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess risk factors for mother-to-child
      transmission (MTCT) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) after immunoprophylaxis. METHODS:
      Risk factors for MTCT were assessed using a multivariate logistic regression
      model. PATIENTS: We enrolled 256 mother-child pairs with positive maternal
      hepatitis B surface antigens (HBsAg) between January 2010 and June 2013. All
      children received passive-active immunization after birth. The children were
      tested for HBsAg at birth and 6-12 months and/or 1-3 years of age. RESULTS: Among
      256 children, 10 (3.9%) developed HBV infection, all of whom were born to
      hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive mothers with a high HBV DNA level (median,
      7.36; range, 6.75-8.00 log10 IU/mL). A total of 20 mothers received antiviral
      treatment during pregnancy. The maternal viral load decreased from an average of
      7.16 to 3.08 log10 IU/mL (p<0.0001) at delivery. The multivariate logistic
      regression analysis showed that a high maternal HBV DNA level [odds ratio (OR)
      for each log10 IU/mL increase, 2.44; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.13-5.29,
      p=0.023] and vaginal delivery (OR=6.96, 95% CI, 1.80-26.93, p=0.005) were risk
      factors for HBV immunoprophylaxis failure. CONCLUSION: Additional treatment
      strategies should be considered in HBeAg-positive mothers with an HBV DNA level
      above 6-7 log10 IU/mL. In addition, our study supports the use of Cesarean
      section for infants born to HBsAg-positive mothers.

PMID- 25832931
TI  - Utility of 75-g oral glucose tolerance test results and hemoglobin a1c values for
      predicting the incidence of diabetes mellitus among middle-aged Japanese men -a
      large-scale retrospective cohort study performed at a single hospital.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between the
      incidence of diabetes and the accumulation of markers of impaired glucose
      metabolism; i.e., pre-diabetes. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study
      recruited 1,631 men without diabetes at baseline who attended more than two
      routine health check-ups at our institution between 2006 and 2012. The
      participants were divided into four groups based on the number of markers of
      impaired glucose metabolism exhibited at the initial examination. The following
      markers of impaired glucose metabolism were defined as risk factors for diabetes:
      a fasting plasma glucose level of >=110 mg/dL, 2-hour plasma glucose level of
      >=140 mg/dL and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) value of >=6.0% (42 mmol/moL). The
      risk of developing diabetes was assessed using a multivariate analysis. RESULTS:
      The median examination interval was 1,092 days. The incidence of diabetes rose in
      association with the number of markers. The subjects with two markers displayed a
      multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for diabetes of 19.43 [95% confidence
      interval (CI): 9.70-38.97] and the subjects with three markers displayed an OR of
      48.30 (95% CI: 20.39-115.85) compared with the subjects with one or no markers.
      CONCLUSION: The present results demonstrate the impact of accumulating markers of
      impaired glucose metabolism on the risk of developing diabetes. Anti-diabetes
      intervention strategies should aim to comprehensively assess an individual's risk
      of developing diabetes at the pre-diabetes stage.

PMID- 25832932
TI  - Clinical evaluation of Chinese patients with primary distal renal tubular
      acidosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA) is a hyperchloremic metabolic
      acidosis disorder characterized by a normal anion gap with abnormal urinary
      hydrogen (H(+)) excretion. At present, there are few available reports regarding
      the clinical status of primary dRTA. The primary objective of this study was to
      analyze the clinical features and outcomes of primary dRTA. METHODS: This was a
      retrospective study performed in patients with primary dRTA who were hospitalized
      at Ruijin Hospital between March 1996 and July 2009; the clinical features of
      these patients were analyzed. RESULTS: This study included 95 consecutive
      inpatients: 40 men (42.11%) and 55 women (57.89%). Among them, 60 had hypokalemia
      (63.12%), 29 had complete dRTA and 66 had incomplete dRTA. The mean urine calcium
      levels of the patients with and without urinary lithiasis were 0.10+/-0.04 and
      0.07+/-0.05 mmol/24 h?kg, respectively (p=0.04). The blood pH values of the
      patients with and those without bone disease were 7.37+/-0.06 and 7.32+/-0.06,
      respectively (p=0.01). A total of 8.33% (8/27) of the patients had tubular
      proteinuria. CONCLUSION: Hypokalemia is the most common clinical manifestation of
      primary dRTA. Primary dRTA can also be accompanied by proximal tubular
      dysfunction. Controlling the urine calcium and citrate levels is crucial for the
      treatment of nephrocalcinosis and/or nephrolithiasis, while restoring the blood
      pH to the normal level is essential for controlling bone disease.

PMID- 25832933
TI  - Safety and efficacy of bronchoalveolar lavage using a laryngeal mask airway in
      cases of acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure with diffuse lung infiltrates.
AB  - Objective Fibre-optic bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (FOB-BAL) is an
      important tool for diagnosing and selecting treatment for acutely hypoxaemic
      patients with diffuse lung infiltrates. However, FOB-BAL carries a risk of
      significant hypoxaemia and subsequent tracheal intubation during and after the
      procedure. The application of FOB-BAL using a laryngeal mask airway (LMA) in
      combination with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) may minimize the
      incidence of hypoxaemia; however, the safety and efficacy of this procedure have
      not been investigated. Methods A retrospective chart review was performed from
      April to September 2013. Data regarding the recovered volume of BAL fluid,
      incidence of tracheal intubation within eight hours after the completion of FOB
      BAL, respiratory and haemodynamic parameters and treatment modifications were
      collected for the evaluation. Results Ten trials of FOB-BAL using an LMA and CPAP
      were performed in nine patients with severe acute hypoxaemia associated with
      diffuse lung infiltrates. The BAL fluid recovery rate was 56%, and the procedure
      was completed without subsequent complications. In addition, the percutaneous
      arterial oxygen saturation decreased to 95.7%+/-3.8%, although it was never lower
      than 90.0% during the procedure, and no patients required intubation.
      Furthermore, the arterial blood pressure significantly but transiently decreased
      due to sedation, and the procedure yielded diagnostic information in all nine
      patients. Conclusion FOB-BAL using LMA and CPAP appears to be safe and effective
      in patients who develop severe acute hypoxaemia. 

PMID- 25832934
TI  - Validity of the chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy self-check sheet.
AB  - Objective Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a major dose
      limiting side effect of some anti-cancer drugs. However, medical staff frequently
      encounter difficulties in ascertaining the severity of CIPN. We sought to develop
      a questionnaire in order to accurately assess CIPN. The validity of this
      questionnaire was compared with that of free-style interviews. Methods We
      developed the CIPN self-check sheet by analyzing existing self-assessment tools
      for CIPN and matching the National Cancer Institute-Common Terminology Criteria
      for Adverse Events (NCI-CTCAE) grades. From August to December 2011, 77 cancer
      patients participated in this study. In order to evaluate the validity of the
      CIPN self-check sheet compared with a free-style interview assessment, the cross
      classification and kappa coefficients between the CTCAE grades from each
      assessment and those from a comprehensive assessment were analyzed. The
      comprehensive assessment utilized information obtained from the medical
      examination, free-style interview and CIPN self-check sheet. Results Upon
      completion of the study, 248 CIPN self-check sheets were collected (median number
      of sheets per patient, 3; range, 1-14). The cross-classification analysis
      illustrated that the CIPN self-check sheet successfully identified all grade 3
      cases. The coefficient of the CIPN self-check sheet was significantly higher than
      that of the free-style interviews [kappa values: 0.988 (p<0.01) and 0.501
      (p<0.01) for the self-check sheet and interviews, respectively]. Conclusion The
      CIPN self-check sheet can be used to assess the severity of CIPN based on the
      CTCAE grade more accurately than free-style interviews. 

PMID- 25832935
TI  - Non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia after splenic metastasectomy for small-cell
      lung cancer.
AB  - A 68-year-old man presented with severe abdominal pain. Seven months earlier, he
      had received systemic chemotherapy for small-cell lung cancer with solitary
      metastasis to the spleen, followed by splenectomy. Abdominal computed tomography
      and abdominal arterial angiography showed diffuse ischemia of the mesenteric
      artery without apparent occlusion. The patient also suffered from septicemia
      caused by Enterococcus faecium. Therefore, a diagnosis of non-occlusive
      mesenteric ischemia (NOMI) induced by septicemia was supposed. Although treatment
      with antibiotics and papaverine hydrochloride was administered and the necrotic
      tissue in the intestinal tract was resected, the patient died. Physicians should
      be aware that patients undergoing splenectomy are likely to be affected by
      septicemia, which may subsequently induce NOMI. 

PMID- 25832936
TI  - Tracheobronchitis with dyspnea in a patient with ulcerative colitis.
AB  - We herein report the case of a 42-year-old man with a one-year history of
      ulcerative colitis who presented with exacerbated bloody diarrhea, a productive
      cough and increasing breathing difficulties. Colonoscopy revealed typical deep
      ulcers in the rectosigmoid colon and atypical multiple sucker-like ulcers in the
      transverse colon, and computed tomography of the chest demonstrated wall
      thickening of the trachea and bronchi. In addition, bronchoscopy showed ulcers in
      the trachea, and histopathology disclosed findings of necrosis and inflammation
      of the subepithelial tissue of the trachea. Based on these findings, the
      patient's respiratory symptoms were strongly suspected to be due to ulcerative
      colitis-related tracheobronchitis. Treatment with systemic corticosteroids
      subsequently resulted in a rapid clinical improvement. 

PMID- 25832937
TI  - Acute pancreatitis with an intramural duodenal hematoma.
AB  - The patient was a 43-year-old man admitted to the hospital with intermittent
      epigastric pain and vomiting, without any evidence of trauma. Blood tests showed
      elevated lipase/amylase levels. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) revealed
      pancreatitis complicated by an intramural duodenal hematoma (IDH). He was
      conservatively treated, and one month after admission, follow-up panendoscopy
      showed normal duodenal mucosa without luminal narrowing. Non-traumatic IDH is
      typically associated with coagulation abnormalities. Abdominal CT is an excellent
      tool for diagnosis in cases of acute abdomen. However, the pathogenesis of and
      relationship between IDH and pancreatitis remain unknown. 

PMID- 25832938
TI  - Familial and multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors with fair response to a
      half-dose of imatinib.
AB  - Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of
      the gastrointestinal tract. Since our first report in 1998, approximately 30
      families with multiple GISTs due to a germline gain-of-function mutation of c-kit
      have been reported. We herein present a case of a family with multiple GISTs that
      have a germline c-kit mutation in exon 11 (Del-Val560) in two siblings. One of
      the patients showed a fair response to treatment with a half-dose of imatinib
      (200 mg/day). There are few reports describing the response to imatinib in
      familial GISTs and this drug appears to be a promising therapeutic option. 

PMID- 25832939
TI  - Solitary fibrous tumor of the liver from development to resection.
AB  - A 55-year-old man was annually followed up for a large hepatic cyst. In 2006, a
      20-mm nodule was detected in contact with the cyst that gradually grew
      thereafter. By 2013, the mass had expanded to 90 mm, and a percutaneous biopsy
      revealed a solitary fibrous tumor (SFT). Surgical resection was subsequently
      performed, and the patient has since been doing well for 11 months, without
      recurrence. SFT of the liver is a rare neoplasm; only 44 cases have been reported
      to date. This is the first report to describe the long-term progression of
      hepatic SFT from the time of its development. 

PMID- 25832940
TI  - Hepatic inflammatory pseudotumor associated with xanthogranulomatous cholangitis
      mimicking cholangiocarcinoma.
AB  - Inflammatory pseudotumor (IPT) is a rare benign condition often misdiagnosed as
      malignancy. An 80-year-old man was referred to our clinic for an asymptomatic
      hepatic mass detected on plain abdominal CT. Abdominal ultrasonography identified
      the lesion as a poorly defined hypoechoic mass. Although a liver biopsy did not
      provide any evidence of malignancy, imaging modalities suggested a diagnosis of
      cholangiocarcinoma. The patient underwent left lobectomy, and the pathological
      findings were consistent with the features of xanthogranulomatous cholangitis.
      This case is the first report of hepatic IPT originating from xanthogranulomatous
      cholangitis without symptoms and illustrates the importance of obtaining a
      preoperative diagnosis in order to avoid a misdiagnosis of malignant tumor. 

PMID- 25832941
TI  - Hepatitis C-associated osteosclerosis: a new case with long-term follow-up and a
      review of the literature.
AB  - Hepatitis C-associated osteosclerosis (HCAO) is an uncommon condition
      characterized by increased bone density, skeletal pain and elevated bone
      formation markers. Since 1992, only 17 cases have been reported. We herein
      describe the case of a 61-year-old woman affected by severe pain involving the
      lower limbs. The laboratory data showed an elevated serum alkaline phosphatase
      level, and the patient was found to be seropositive for hepatitis C virus
      infection. In addition, an X-ray skeleton survey showed marked cortical
      thickening of both femurs and tibias, and a whole-body bone scan revealed an
      increased cortical radionuclide uptake in the involved bones. These findings were
      consistent with a diagnosis of HCAO. In this report, we discuss the patient's
      clinical course over 16 years and, for the first time, show a normalized
      radioisotope uptake on bone scanning 10 years after the diagnosis. 

PMID- 25832942
TI  - The transformation of a nonfunctioning islet cell tumor of the pancreas into a
      proinsulinoma under conditions of lung metastasis.
AB  - We herein report the first case of a nonfunctioning islet cell tumor that
      transformed into a proinsulinoma during the process of metastasis to the lungs.
      This phenomenon was confirmed in a 69-year-old woman with an advanced pancreatic
      islet cell tumor and multiple liver metastases who later developed multiple lung
      metastases. She underwent pancreatic resection followed by the administration of
      chemotherapy and survived for seven years. Although the patient initially had
      hyperglycemia due to diabetes mellitus, she conversely began to manifest
      hypoglycemic attacks 63 months postoperatively with the concomitant development
      of multiple lung metastases. An autopsy revealed that only the tumor in the lungs
      produced proinsulin; no other hormones were detected. 

PMID- 25832943
TI  - Two cases of delayed cardiac tamponade due to pericarditis after pulmonary vein
      (PV) isolation for atrial fibrillation.
AB  - Catheter ablation is an established treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF). The
      incidence of major complications related to the procedure is reported to be 4.5%,
      and delayed cardiac tamponade (DCT) is a rare, although recently recognized,
      complication. However, the mechanisms underlying the development of DCT remain
      unclear. We herein report the cases of two men, both 49 years of age, who
      developed cardiac tamponade requiring pericardiocentesis a few weeks after
      undergoing pulmonary vein isolation for persistent AF. Physicians should explain
      to the patient the potential for DCT as a complication prior to performing
      catheter ablation and provide careful follow-up for at least a few weeks after
      the session. 

PMID- 25832945
TI  - Percutaneous coronary intervention for left main compression syndrome due to
      severe idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension: one year follow-up using
      intravascular imaging.
AB  - A 60-year-old woman presented with ST-elevation myocardial infarction due to
      extrinsic compression of the left main coronary artery (LMCA) caused by a dilated
      pulmonary artery (PA) with idiopathic pulmonary hypertension and was successfully
      treated with intravascular ultrasound- and optical coherence tomography-guided
      stenting. Continuous subcutaneous epoprostenol infusion therapy was initiated
      immediately after the procedure and increased aggressively. Imaging modalities
      were extremely useful in making the diagnosis and providing follow-up of LMCA
      compression syndrome in this case. Over the one-year observation period, a
      sufficient hemodynamic improvement was obtained, without exacerbation of the PA
      dilatation, resulting in the absence of compression of the LMCA. 

PMID- 25832944
TI  - Right-sided infective endocarditis with a ruptured sinus of Valsalva and multiple
      septic pulmonary emboli in a patient with atopic dermatitis.
AB  - We herein report the case of 34-year-old woman with acute tricuspid valve
      infective endocarditis (IE) associated with a ruptured sinus of Valsalva and
      multiple septic pulmonary emboli. She had no history of medical problems, except
      for atopic dermatitis (AD). Blood cultures identified methicillin-sensitive
      Staphylococcus aureus. Despite the administration of two months of antibiotic
      therapy, the patient experienced recurrent pulmonary emboli and developed heart
      failure due to a left-to-right shunt, whereas the area of vegetation did not
      change in size. She subsequently underwent surgery for shunt closure and
      tricuspid valve replacement. The AD was thought to be the cause of the patient's
      bacteremia, which consequently resulted in aggressive right-sided IE. 

PMID- 25832946
TI  - Reappearance of the left ventricular pressure gradient in a patient with
      hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.
AB  - An 84-year-old woman diagnosed with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy
      (HOCM) was referred to our hospital due to chest pain associated with an
      increased level of troponin T. Following the administration of cibenzoline, the
      left ventricular outflow pressure gradient (LVPG) completely disappeared. Left
      ventricular pressure pullback tracing subsequently demonstrated the
      "reappearance" of the LVPG. Left ventriculography showed apical ballooning with
      excessive contractions at the base of heart, and we therefore made a diagnosis of
      Takotsubo cardiomyopathy in a patient with HOCM. Hypercontractions of the base of
      the heart associated with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy may be responsible for the
      "reappearance" of LVPG in this case. 

PMID- 25832947
TI  - Diffuse thyroid enlargement following metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma.
AB  - A 55-year-old man presented with a rapidly enlarging thyroid. He had been
      diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma nine months earlier. Computed tomography (CT)
      and ultrasound (US) detected reticular cord-like structures, but no nodules, in
      the thyroid. A fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of the thyroid revealed
      thyroglobulin-negative adenocarcinoma cells, thus establishing the diagnosis of
      diffuse thyroid metastases of lung cancer. Moreover, the fluid demonstrated milky
      chyliform effusion. This case suggests that the presence of reticular cord-like
      structures on US and CT may be a key imaging finding for the clinical diagnosis
      of diffuse thyroid metastases and that chyliform effusion may contribute to rapid
      goiter formation. 

PMID- 25832948
TI  - Hypercalcemic crisis due to primary hyperparathyroidism occurring concomitantly
      with Graves' disease.
AB  - We herein describe a case of hypercalcemic crisis in a 52-year-old Japanese
      woman. She suffered from thirst and fatigue for one month. Her serum calcium (a)
      levels were 19.0 mg/dL, and she was diagnosed with hypercalcemic crisis.
      Circulating levels of parathyroid and thyroid hormones were elevated. She was
      diagnosed with primary hyperparathyroidism accompanied by Graves' disease.
      Thyroparathyroidectomy was performed after circulating levels of Ca and thyroid
      hormones were normalized. Both of primary hyperparathyroidism and Graves' disease
      can contribute and accelerate hypercalcemia, resulting in a state of crisis. The
      possibility of their coexistence should therefore be taken into consideration in
      cases of hypercalcemia. 

PMID- 25832949
TI  - The development of fulminant type 1 diabetes during chemotherapy for rectal
      cancer.
AB  - A 34-year-old man with a history of rectal cancer was receiving oral chemotherapy
      [tegafur-uracil (UFT) with leucovorin]. He visited our hospital due to nausea and
      abdominal pain, and his laboratory data revealed the presence of urinary ketones,
      hyperglycemia and high anion gap metabolic acidosis, and HbA1c level of 6.8%.
      Accordingly, we diagnosed fulminant type 1 diabetes. The development of fulminant
      type 1 diabetes during chemotherapy for malignancy is a rare, but potentially
      fatal condition. Therefore, clinicians should consider diabetic ketoacidosis in
      the differential diagnosis when examining chemotherapy patients who present with
      gastrointestinal symptoms. 

PMID- 25832950
TI  - Minimal change nephrotic syndrome associated with gefitinib and a successful
      switch to erlotinib.
AB  - Minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) is a common form of nephrotic syndrome
      (NS). We herein present the case of a 57-year-old woman with advanced lung
      adenocarcinoma treated with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) gefitinib who
      developed NS. A renal biopsy revealed minor glomerular abnormalities, and the
      patient's symptoms improved exclusively with the discontinuation of gefitinib.
      Therefore, we diagnosed her with MCNS associated with gefitinib treatment. A few
      months later, however, she developed recurrent lung tumors. Following the
      challenging initiation of the TKI erlotinib, she achieved remission without
      proteinuria. We thus conclude that erlotinib is a potential treatment option in
      patients with NS associated with gefitinib therapy. 

PMID- 25832951
TI  - Dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome-related lung injury without eosinophilia in the
      bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.
AB  - A 73-year-old man was admitted in respiratory failure that had subacutely
      progressed after five weeks of dapsone treatment for a skin rash. He also
      presented with fever, systemic erythroderma and liver dysfunction. Chest computed
      tomography showed diffuse reticular shadows with ground-glass opacity and
      bilateral mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Lymphocytes, but not eosinophils, were
      increased in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Moreover, reactivation of human
      herpes virus-6 was confirmed on a paired serum test. Finally, we diagnosed the
      patient with dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome (DHS), a rare adverse event of
      this drug. Lung injury unaccompanied by eosinophilia in the bronchoalveolar
      lavage fluid is even more rare as a DHS-related lung manifestation. 

PMID- 25832952
TI  - Alveolar hemorrhage associated with pemetrexed administration.
AB  - We herein describe a 67-year-old man with advanced adenocarcinoma of the lung who
      developed an alveolar hemorrhage (AH) associated with pemetrexed. He received
      four courses of pemetrexed therapy with carboplatin and seven courses of
      pemetrexed maintenance therapy. One week after the last pemetrexed
      administration, the patient developed hemoptysis with deteriorating dyspnea and
      anemia. Chest images showed diffuse ground-glass attenuation. The diagnosis of AH
      was based on findings of bloody bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, hemosiderin
      laden macrophages in the BAL fluid, and a transbronchial lung biopsy sample. This
      report is the first to describe AH associated with pemetrexed. 

PMID- 25832953
TI  - Cerebral venous thrombosis as a complication of neuropsychiatric systemic lupus
      erythematosus.
AB  - A 51-year-old woman undergoing steroid treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus
      (SLE) was admitted to our hospital after developing a fever, consciousness
      disturbance and seizures, leading to a diagnosis of SLE-induced
      meningoencephalitis. Although steroid therapy improved her symptoms, she
      complained of post-lumbar puncture thunderclap headaches during follow-up, and
      cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) was subsequently diagnosed on magnetic resonance
      venography and cerebral angiography. This is a rare case of neuropsychiatric SLE
      complicated by CVT during treatment for aseptic meningoencephalitis. The onset of
      aseptic meningoencephalitis and administration of the lumbar puncture and steroid
      therapy may have induced the development of the patient's CVT symptoms. 

PMID- 25832954
TI  - Medullary hemorrhage that preceded the onset of multiple cavernous angiomas.
AB  - Medullary hemorrhage is rare, and the causative role of hypertension still
      remains controversial. Cavernous angioma and other vascular malformations have
      been reported to cause medullary hemorrhage. A 53-year-old man was admitted to
      our hospital for vertigo. Medullary hemorrhage and multiple small hypointense
      lesions were detected on T2-star weighted magnetic resonance imaging (T2*W MRI).
      One and four months later, the appearance of new lesions confirmed the diagnosis
      of cerebral cavernous angioma. Cavernous angioma is often characterized by de
      novo appearance/progression on MRI. A follow-up MRI is required to diagnose
      cavernous angioma in patients with medullary hemorrhage. 

PMID- 25832955
TI  - Central nervous system manifestations of tuberculosis-associated immune
      reconstitution inflammatory syndrome during adalimumab therapy: a case report and
      review of the literature.
AB  - A 64-year-old neurologically asymptomatic woman with rheumatoid arthritis who was
      treated with the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha antagonist adalimumab
      developed disseminated tuberculosis (TB). After receiving anti-TB therapy and
      discontinuing adalimumab, she exhibited paradoxical worsening due to immune
      reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) with the appearance of meningitis and
      brain tuberculomas. This case indicates that continuing anti-TNF therapy may be
      necessary to prevent IRIS in patients who develop TB, particularly disseminated
      TB, during the course of anti-TNF therapy. In addition, careful screening for
      central nervous system (CNS) TB should be performed prior to the initiation of
      therapy, as even neurologically asymptomatic patients can develop CNS
      manifestations of IRIS. 

PMID- 25832957
TI  - Ruptured mycotic aneurysm and microbleeds in a patient with infective
      endocarditis.

PMID- 25832956
TI  - Native valve endocarditis caused by Neisseria elongata Subsp. nitroreducens.
AB  - Neisseria elongata, a normal resident in the human oral cavity, rarely causes
      invasive infections. We herein report a case of endocarditis caused by Neisseria
      elongata subsp. nitroreducens that occurred in a patient without any apparent
      cardiac complications. The patient received aortic valve replacement following
      the administration of intravenous beta-lactam for five weeks. To our knowledge,
      this is the first published case in Japan of N. elongata infection in a patient
      without a prosthetic device. 

PMID- 25832958
TI  - "Hot cross bun" sign associated with SCA1.

PMID- 25832959
TI  - Rotator cuff tear mimicking cerebral infarction.

PMID- 25832960
TI  - A case of progressive elephantiasis nostras verrucosa.

PMID- 25832961
TI  - Acquired hemophilia.

PMID- 25832962
TI  - Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva misdiagnosed as cervical exostosis.

PMID- 25832963
TI  - ADIPOQ polymorphisms are associated with insulin resistance in Japanese women.
AB  - Visceral fat accumulation contributes to the development of insulin resistance,
      leading to metabolic syndrome. Adiponectin provides a link between visceral fat
      accumulation and insulin resistance. In addition to environmental factors,
      genetic factors play important roles in visceral fat accumulation and circulating
      adiponectin levels. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified
      genetic variations in the adiponectin, C1Q and collagen domain containing
      (ADIPOQ) gene that are associated with adiponectin levels. In this study, we
      investigated whether ADIPOQ single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were
      associated with visceral fat accumulation and insulin resistance. We measured the
      visceral fat area (VFA) by computed tomography (CT) and examined the presence of
      the insulin resistance-related phenotype (fasting plasma glucose, fasting
      insulin, and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance [HOMA-IR]) in a set
      of Japanese individuals (731 men and 864 women) who were genotyped for seven
      ADIPOQ SNPs reported by recent GWASs (namely, rs6810075, rs10937273, rs1648707,
      rs864265, rs182052, rs17366568, and rs6773957). SNPs associated with the
      phenotype (P < 0.05) were then evaluated by association analysis using a second
      set of the study participants (383 men and 510 women). None of the SNPs was
      associated with body mass index (BMI) or VFA in men or women. However, the
      adiponectin-decreasing alleles of rs10937273 and rs1648707 were significantly
      associated with HOMA-IR (P = 0.0030 and P = 0.00074, respectively) in women,
      independently of BMI. These SNPs were significantly associated with decreased
      adiponectin levels in women. Our results suggested that rs10937273 and rs1648707
      may affect insulin sensitivity by regulating adiponectin production by adipose
      tissue in women. 

PMID- 25832964
TI  - Validity of activity monitors worn at multiple nontraditional locations under
      controlled and free-living conditions in young adult women.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of counting steps and
      computing indices of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) using
      miniature activity monitors with 3-D technology worn at various locations under
      controlled (CON) and free-living conditions (FL). Kenz e-style2, Tanita Calorism
      Smart, and Omron Calori Scan HJA-306 activity monitors were assessed. Nine and 31
      young adult women were assigned to the CON and FL studies, respectively. While
      walking or jogging on a treadmill at 5 different speeds, the subjects
      simultaneously carried the 3 different monitors in a pants pocket (PP), a chest
      shirt pocket, and a shoulder bag (B). Under the FL condition, the 3 monitors were
      placed only at the PP and B locations for practical reasons. Significant effects
      of monitor location and walking/jogging speed on the step count measured by the 3
      monitors were evaluated under the CON condition. Monitors placed at both PP and B
      tended to underestimate the number of steps; however, there were no significant
      differences between the values obtained with the Kenz monitor and those obtained
      with a criterion accelerometer under the FL condition. Moreover, strong
      correlations were observed between steps measured by monitors placed at PP and
      steps measured by the criterion accelerometer. The amount of MVPA for the PP
      location and the non-carrying duration of the bag for the B location were
      considered to be important determinants of the accuracy of step counting under
      the FL condition. In conclusion, monitors placed at the PP location, especially
      the Kenz monitor, showed acceptable accuracy for young adult women in real-life
      settings. In contrast, MVPA indices assessed using these monitors showed limited
      validity. 

PMID- 25832965
TI  - The third hand: low rates of stethoscope hygiene on general medical services.

PMID- 25832966
TI  - Cost-effectiveness of heat and moisture exchangers compared to usual care for
      pulmonary rehabilitation after total laryngectomy in Poland.
AB  - The beneficial physical and psychosocial effects of heat and moisture exchangers
      (HMEs) for pulmonary rehabilitation of laryngectomy patients are well evidenced.
      However, cost-effectiveness in terms of costs per additional quality-adjusted
      life years (QALYs) has not yet been investigated. Therefore, a model-based cost
      effectiveness analysis of using HMEs versus usual care (UC) (including stoma
      covers, suction system and/or external humidifier) for patients after
      laryngectomy was performed. Primary outcomes were costs, QALYs and incremental
      cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Secondary outcomes were pulmonary infections,
      and sleeping problems. The analysis was performed from a health care perspective
      of Poland, using a time horizon of 10 years and cycle length of 1 year.
      Transition probabilities were derived from various sources, amongst others a
      Polish randomized clinical trial. Quality of life data was derived from an
      Italian study on similar patients. Data on frequencies and mortality-related
      tracheobronchitis and/or pneumonia were derived from a Europe-wide survey amongst
      head and neck cancer experts. Substantial differences in quality-adjusted
      survival between the use of HMEs (3.63 QALYs) versus UC (2.95 QALYs) were
      observed. Total health care costs/patient were 39,553 PLN (9465 Euro) for the HME
      strategy and 4889 PLN (1168 Euro) for the UC strategy. HME use resulted in fewer
      pulmonary infections, and less sleeping problems. We could conclude that given
      the Polish threshold of 99,000 PLN/QALY, using HMEs is cost-effective compared to
      UC, resulting in 51,326 PLN/QALY (12,264 Euro/QALY) gained for patients after
      total laryngectomy. For the hospital period alone (2 weeks), HMEs were cost
      saving: less costly and more effective.

PMID- 25832967
TI  - Effectiveness of various methods of formaldehyde neutralization using
      monoethanolamine.
AB  - Formaldehyde is the most commonly used fixative chemical for the preservation of
      human cadavers used for educational purposes in the United States. Formaldehyde
      is also a known carcinogenic agent whose exposure level is regulated by
      guidelines of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Various methods
      for formaldehyde neutralization exist, yet many donations programs do not take
      any steps to neutralize the formaldehyde in embalmed donor bodies. The
      effectiveness of monoethanolamine (MEA) in neutralizing formaldehyde is well
      documented when used as a final injection during embalming. The purpose of this
      study is to report the effectiveness of several post-embalming techniques of
      formaldehyde neutralization. Twenty-four donor bodies were assigned to four
      experimental groups of six. For the three experimental groups, the techniques
      tested involve delivery of a 20:1 dilution of deionized water:MEA via
      recannulization and gravity flow infusion, compartment injection, and alternate
      wetting solution containing four percent MEA. Our results indicated that spray
      bottle delivery was not effective in neutralization of formaldehyde compared to
      the control group, but that formaldehyde levels decreased when recannulization or
      compartment injection were used. The most effective method of formaldehyde
      neutralization was compartment injection of MEA solution (P < 0.01). The results
      of this study indicate that, in situations where MEA is not used as a final
      infusion during embalming, compartment injection of MEA solution is an effective
      method of formaldehyde neutralization.

PMID- 25832968
TI  - Clinical practice guideline (update): adult sinusitis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This update of a 2007 guideline from the American Academy of
      Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery Foundation provides evidence-based
      recommendations to manage adult rhinosinusitis, defined as symptomatic
      inflammation of the paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity. Changes from the prior
      guideline include a consumer added to the update group, evidence from 42 new
      systematic reviews, enhanced information on patient education and counseling, a
      new algorithm to clarify action statement relationships, expanded opportunities
      for watchful waiting (without antibiotic therapy) as initial therapy of acute
      bacterial rhinosinusitis (ABRS), and 3 new recommendations for managing chronic
      rhinosinusitis (CRS). PURPOSE: The purpose of this multidisciplinary guideline is
      to identify quality improvement opportunities in managing adult rhinosinusitis
      and to create explicit and actionable recommendations to implement these
      opportunities in clinical practice. Specifically, the goals are to improve
      diagnostic accuracy for adult rhinosinusitis, promote appropriate use of
      ancillary tests to confirm diagnosis and guide management, and promote judicious
      use of systemic and topical therapy, which includes radiography, nasal endoscopy,
      computed tomography, and testing for allergy and immune function. Emphasis was
      also placed on identifying multiple chronic conditions that would modify
      management of rhinosinusitis, including asthma, cystic fibrosis,
      immunocompromised state, and ciliary dyskinesia. ACTION STATEMENTS: The update
      group made strong recommendations that clinicians (1) should distinguish presumed
      ABRS from acute rhinosinusitis (ARS) caused by viral upper respiratory infections
      and noninfectious conditions and (2) should confirm a clinical diagnosis of CRS
      with objective documentation of sinonasal inflammation, which may be accomplished
      using anterior rhinoscopy, nasal endoscopy, or computed tomography. The update
      group made recommendations that clinicians (1) should either offer watchful
      waiting (without antibiotics) or prescribe initial antibiotic therapy for adults
      with uncomplicated ABRS; (2) should prescribe amoxicillin with or without
      clavulanate as first-line therapy for 5 to 10 days (if a decision is made to
      treat ABRS with an antibiotic); (3) should reassess the patient to confirm ABRS,
      exclude other causes of illness, and detect complications if the patient worsens
      or fails to improve with the initial management option by 7 days after diagnosis
      or worsens during the initial management; (4) should distinguish CRS and
      recurrent ARS from isolated episodes of ABRS and other causes of sinonasal
      symptoms; (5) should assess the patient with CRS or recurrent ARS for multiple
      chronic conditions that would modify management, such as asthma, cystic fibrosis,
      immunocompromised state, and ciliary dyskinesia; (6) should confirm the presence
      or absence of nasal polyps in a patient with CRS; and (7) should recommend saline
      nasal irrigation, topical intranasal corticosteroids, or both for symptom relief
      of CRS. The update group stated as options that clinicians may (1) recommend
      analgesics, topical intranasal steroids, and/or nasal saline irrigation for
      symptomatic relief of viral rhinosinusitis; (2) recommend analgesics, topical
      intranasal steroids, and/or nasal saline irrigation) for symptomatic relief of
      ABRS; and (3) obtain testing for allergy and immune function in evaluating a
      patient with CRS or recurrent ARS. The update group made recommendations that
      clinicians (1) should not obtain radiographic imaging for patients who meet
      diagnostic criteria for ARS, unless a complication or alternative diagnosis is
      suspected, and (2) should not prescribe topical or systemic antifungal therapy
      for patients with CRS.

PMID- 25832969
TI  - Antibiotic prescribing in long-term care facilities: a meta-synthesis of
      qualitative research.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective of this review was to synthesize the findings of
      qualitative studies investigating the factors influencing antibiotic prescribing
      in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). These findings will inform the development
      of future antimicrobial stewardship strategies (AMS) in this setting. METHODS: We
      searched Embase, PubMed, PsycInfo, Social Science Citations Index and Google
      Scholar for all qualitative studies investigating health care professionals'
      views on antibiotic prescribing in LTCFs. The quality of the papers was assessed
      using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) assessment tool for
      qualitative research. Thematic synthesis was used to integrate the emergent
      themes into an overall analytical theme. RESULTS: The synthesis of eight
      qualitative studies indicated that health care professionals and administrators
      have identified factors that influence antibiotic prescribing in LTCFs. These
      factors include variations in knowledge and practice among health care
      professionals, and the LTCF context, which is unique given the complex patient
      population and restricted access to doctors and diagnostic tests. The social
      factors underpinning the interaction between nurses, residents' families and
      doctors also influence decision making around antibiotic prescribing. The study
      also found that there is an acknowledged need for collaborative, evidence-based
      AMS specific to LTCFs, as antibiotic prescribing is heavily influenced by factors
      unique to this setting. CONCLUSION: This review highlighted the key contextual
      challenges for AMS in LTCFs. The findings provide an in-depth insight into the
      factors--such as the LTCF context, social factors, variability in knowledge and
      prescribing practices, and antimicrobial resistance--that impact on antibiotic
      prescribing and AMS strategies. These factors must be considered in order to
      ensure the feasibility and applicability of future AMS interventions.

PMID- 25832971
TI  - Long-term Plans for Those Selecting Hospital Medicine as an Initial Career
      Choice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The proportion of the newly graduated pediatric workforce that
      becomes hospitalists has been increasing slightly over the past decade. However,
      it is unknown what proportion of those who accept hospitalist positions as their
      first job intend to remain in the field longer term. This is important to
      workforce projections regarding the magnitude of those who will function in this
      role. METHODS: The American Board of Pediatrics incorporated a structured
      questionnaire within the online application process to the General Pediatrics
      certification application. Respondents identified as residents or chief residents
      who selected "hospitalist position" as their immediate postresidency plan were
      the focus this study. We compared survey responses by gender and location of the
      medical school attended. RESULTS: Since the initiation of the general pediatrics
      certification examination application survey, 6335 completed the questionnaire.
      79% (n=5001) were either in residency training or were a chief resident. Of
      those, 8% (n=376) reported they planned to work as a pediatric hospitalist
      immediately after completing residency. Fewer than half (43%; n=161) reported
      this to be their long-term career plan. This finding varied by both medical
      school type and by gender. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of pediatric residents and
      chief residents who take hospitalist positions immediately after training do not
      intend for hospital practice to be the long-term focus of their careers. As the
      field of hospital medicine continues to develop, understanding career
      trajectories can help inform current and future efforts regarding the potential
      for different mechanisms for training and certification.

PMID- 25832970
TI  - Potentially inappropriate anticholinergic medication use in community-dwelling
      older adults: a national cross-sectional study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Inappropriate medications are often used in older adults despite
      their unfavourable risk-to-benefit profile. Although many of the medications in
      the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) Beers list are potentially inappropriate
      because of their anticholinergic properties, little is known regarding the nature
      and extent of potentially inappropriate anticholinergic medication use in older
      adults. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of, and factors associated with,
      potentially inappropriate anticholinergic medication use in the older population.
      METHODS: A retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted, involving older
      adults (aged 65 years and older), using 2009-2010 Medical Expenditure Panel
      Survey (MEPS) data. The 2012 AGS Beers Criteria were used to define potentially
      inappropriate anticholinergic medications on the basis of the list of medications
      to avoid using in older adults irrespective of the diagnosis. Descriptive
      analyses were used to examine the nature and extent of potentially inappropriate
      anticholinergic medication use. Multivariable logistic regression within the
      conceptual framework of the Andersen Behavioral Model was used to identify the
      factors associated with potentially inappropriate anticholinergic use in older
      adults. RESULTS: According to the MEPS, there were 78.60 million older adults in
      the USA; an estimated 7.51 million (9.56 %) of these older adults used
      potentially inappropriate anticholinergic medications in 2009-2010. The most
      frequently used potentially inappropriate anticholinergics were cyclobenzaprine,
      promethazine, amitriptyline, hydroxyzine and dicyclomine. Multivariable
      regression analyses revealed that female sex, residing in the South and the
      presence of anxiety disorder increased the likelihood of receiving potentially
      inappropriate anticholinergic medications, whereas older adults aged 75-84 or >=
      85 years, and those with over 15 years of education, had a decreased likelihood
      of receiving potentially inappropriate anticholinergic medications. CONCLUSION:
      The study found that approximately one in ten older adults used potentially
      inappropriate anticholinergic medications. Several predisposing, enabling and
      need factors were associated with the use of potentially inappropriate
      anticholinergic medications. Concerted efforts are needed to optimize potentially
      inappropriate anticholinergic medication use in older adults.

PMID- 25832972
TI  - Variability of intensive care management for children with bronchiolitis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent of variability in testing and treatment of
      children with bronchiolitis requiring intensive care. METHODS: This prospective,
      multicenter observational study included 16 academic children's hospitals across
      the United States during the 2007 to 2010 fall and winter seasons. The study
      included children<2 years old hospitalized with bronchiolitis who required
      admission to the ICU and/or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) within 24
      hours of admission. Among the 2207 enrolled patients with bronchiolitis, 342
      children met inclusion criteria. Clinical data and nasopharyngeal aspirates were
      collected. RESULTS: Respiratory distress severity scores and intraclass
      correlation coefficients were calculated. The study patients' median age was 2.6
      months, and 59% were male. Across the 16 sites, the median respiratory distress
      severity score was 5.1 (interquartile range: 4.5-5.4; P<.001). The median value
      of the percentages for all sites using CPAP was 15% (range: 3%-100%), intubation
      was 26% (range: 0%-100%), and high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) was 24% (range: 0%
      94%). Adjusting for site-specific random effects (as well as children's
      demographic characteristics and severity of bronchiolitis), the intraclass
      correlation coefficient for CPAP and/or intubation was 21% (95% confidence
      interval: 8-44); for HFNC, it was 44.7% (95% confidence interval: 24-67).
      CONCLUSIONS: In this multicenter study of children requiring intensive care for
      bronchiolitis, we identified substantial institutional variability in testing and
      treatment, including use of CPAP, intubation, and HFNC. These differences were
      not explained by between-site differences in patient characteristics, including
      severity of illness. Further research is needed to identify best practices for
      intensive care interventions for this major cause of pediatric hospitalization.

PMID- 25832974
TI  - Voluntary implementation of critical congenital heart disease screening in
      Washington hospitals.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the extent of voluntary implementation of pulse oximetry
      screening for critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) in Washington. At the time
      of the study, there was no state legislative or regulatory mandate for CCHD
      screening in Washington. METHODS: A Web-based survey was sent to the nurse
      manager or nurse educator of the well newborn unit at each of the 64 Washington
      hospitals with active delivery services in May and June 2013. Telephone follow-up
      was conducted for incomplete surveys. The survey assessed awareness and
      implementation of the recommendation, the protocol followed, staffing and
      equipment issues, pediatric cardiology support services, and the availability of
      prostaglandin E1 at each birth hospital. A brief follow-up was performed in
      December 2013 for hospitals not screening at the time of the initial survey.
      RESULTS: As of December 2013, 89% of Washington birth hospitals (accounting for
      91.4% of births) had active CCHD screening programs. The recommended protocol is
      used in 95% of screening hospitals. Screening programs were instituted in 96% of
      hospitals using existing staff, but 52% of hospitals purchased new durable
      equipment to institute screening. CONCLUSIONS: There has been widespread
      voluntary adoption of pulse oximetry screening for CCHD in Washington birth
      hospitals. Quality assurance efforts are needed to assess the quality of the
      screening programs.

PMID- 25832975
TI  - Effect of early-onset sepsis evaluations on in-hospital breastfeeding practices
      among asymptomatic term neonates.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of separation for early-onset sepsis (EOS)
      evaluations due to perinatal risk factors on breastfeeding practices among
      asymptomatic term newborns. METHODS: This observational study included 692
      nulliparous women with term, singleton uncomplicated pregnancies who intended to
      breastfeed and whose infants were well appearing at birth. We examined the rate
      of early breastfeeding initiation (within 2 hours of birth) and formula
      supplementation (in the first 24 hours) among this mother-infant cohort. RESULTS:
      Asymptomatic infants separated for EOS evaluation within 2 hours of birth were
      more likely to have delayed initiation of breastfeeding (46.5% vs 12.5%; P<.001).
      This association remained significant when adjusted for potential confounders
      (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 5.5 [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.4-8.9]; P<.001).
      Among infants separated for EOS evaluation, mother-infant time together of <=0.5
      hour in the first 2 hours of life significantly delayed initiation (aOR: 8.9 [95%
      CI: 1.5-53.7]; P=.02) compared with infants spending >1.5 hours with their
      mothers. In bivariate analysis, both separation and initiation were associated
      with formula supplementation. After adjusting for confounders, only delayed
      initiation remained significantly associated with supplementation (aOR: 1.9 [95%
      CI: 1.1-3.5]; P=.03). CONCLUSIONS: Early separation of asymptomatic infants from
      their mothers for EOS evaluation was significantly associated with delayed
      initiation of breastfeeding, which in turn was associated with increased formula
      supplementation in the first day of life. This unintended consequence of EOS
      evaluations among asymptomatic infants may be minimized by delaying early
      separation for performance of the evaluation, attempting breastfeeding initiation
      before separation, and/or applying more efficient criteria for identifying
      infants requiring evaluation.

PMID- 25832973
TI  - Variation in the use of procedural sedation for incision and drainage of skin and
      soft tissue infection in pediatric emergency departments.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Little is known about procedural sedation use for anxiety and pain
      associated with skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) requiring incision and
      drainage (I&D). Our objectives were therefore (1) to characterize the use of
      procedural sedation use for SSTI I&D procedures in pediatric emergency
      departments (EDs), (2) to compare the frequency of procedural sedation for I&D
      across hospitals, and (3) to determine factors associated with use of procedural
      sedation for I&D. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of pediatric
      EDs contributing to the Pediatric Health Information Systems database in 2010.
      Cases were identified by primary International Classification of Diseases, 9th
      revision, Clinical Modification procedure codes for I&D. We used descriptive
      statistics to describe procedural sedation use across hospitals and logistic
      generalized linear mixed models to identify factors associated with use of
      procedural sedation. RESULTS: There were 6322 I&D procedures, and procedural
      sedation was used in 24% of cases. Hospital-level use of procedural sedation
      varied widely, with a range of 2% to 94% (median 17%). Procedural sedation use
      was positively associated with sensitive body site, female gender, and employer
      based insurance, and negatively associated with African American race and
      increasing age. Estimates of hospital-level use of procedural sedation for a
      referent case eliminating demographic differences exhibit similar variability
      with a range of 5% to 97% (median 34%). CONCLUSIONS: Use of procedural sedation
      for SSTI I&D varies widely across pediatric EDs, and the majority of variation is
      independent of demographic differences. Additional work is needed to understand
      decision-making and to standardize delivery of procedural sedation in children
      requiring I&D.

PMID- 25832976
TI  - Pediatric hospitalist perceptions regarding trainees' effects on cost and quality
      of care.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine pediatric hospitalists' perceptions about residents'
      effects on cost and quality of care and their own ability to provide and teach
      cost-effective, high-quality care. METHODS: A 15-item survey assessing
      hospitalist perceptions of resident impact on costs/quality and their role in
      teaching cost-effectiveness was developed and sent to 180 hospitalists from 113
      institutions in the United States. RESULTS: Of 180 hospitalists surveyed, 127
      completed surveys (71%). Overall, 76 (60%) and 91 (72%) hospitalists believed
      that residents increase quality and cost of care, respectively. Respondents who
      worked with residents all the time were more likely to state that residents
      increase quality (50 of 70 [71%]) compared with those who worked with residents
      sometimes (18 of 42 [43%]) or never (8 of 15 [53%]; P=.01). Similarly, academic
      hospitalists were more likely than community hospitalists to believe that
      residents increase quality (67 of 103 [65%] vs 9 of 24 [38%]; P=.03). Although
      only 28 (22%) respondents reported receiving formal cost-effectiveness training,
      116 (91%) believed that they provided cost-effective care, and 103 (81%) believed
      that they were qualified to teach this topic. Most respondents (n=115 [91%])
      believed that residents should participate in a cost-effectiveness curriculum.
      CONCLUSIONS: Most respondents felt trainees increase both the costs and quality
      of care for hospitalized children. The perception of increased quality was
      associated with increased resident interaction, whereas cost perceptions were
      similar across groups. Pediatric hospitalists report a lack of formal cost
      effectivesness training, but nearly all respondents supported the incorporation
      of such training into graduate medical education programs.

PMID- 25832977
TI  - The effectiveness of family-centered transition processes from hospital settings
      to home: a review of the literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The quality of care transitions is of growing concern
      because of a high incidence of postdischarge adverse events, poor communication
      with patients, and inadequate information transfer between providers. The
      objective of this study was to conduct a targeted literature review of studies
      examining the effectiveness of family-centered transition processes from hospital
      and emergency department (ED)-to-home for improving patient health outcomes and
      health care utilization. METHODS: We conducted an electronic search (2001-2012)
      of PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, PsycInfo, Embase, and Web of Science databases.
      Included were experimental studies of hospital and ED-to-home transition
      interventions in pediatric and adult populations meeting the following inclusion
      criteria: studies evaluating hospital or ED-to-home transition interventions,
      study interventions involving patients/families, studies measuring outcomes<=30
      days after discharge, and US studies. Transition processes, principal outcome
      measures (patient health outcomes and health care utilization), and assessment
      time-frames were extracted for each study. RESULTS: The search yielded 3458
      articles, and 16 clinical trials met final inclusion criteria. Four studies
      evaluated pediatric ED-to-home transitions and indicated family-tailored
      discharge education was associated with better patient health outcomes. Remaining
      trials evaluating adult hospital-to-home transitions indicated a transition needs
      assessment or provision of an individualized transition record was associated
      with better patient health outcomes and reductions in health care utilization.
      The effectiveness of postdischarge telephone follow-up and/or home visits on
      health care utilization showed mixed results. CONCLUSIONS: Patient-tailored
      discharge education is associated with improved patient health outcomes in
      pediatric ED patients. Effective transition processes identified in the adult
      literature may inform future quality improvement research regarding pediatric
      hospital-to-home transitions.

PMID- 25832978
TI  - Counting Hospitalists--Does it Matter?

PMID- 25832979
TI  - Persistent lethargy, hypothermia, and failure to thrive in a neonate.

PMID- 25832980
TI  - Should we make less fuss about pus?

PMID- 25832981
TI  - Use of IVIg to identify potential miRNA targets for allograft rejection and GvHD
      therapy.
AB  - Allograft rejection (AR) and graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) are serious
      complications following transplantation. Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) have recently been
      identified as key players in the regulation of these disorders. Because
      intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) has shown therapeutic potential for the
      prophylaxis and post-transplant reduction of AR and GvHD, we hypothesized that
      the effect of IVIg could result from the modulation of specific miRNA expression.
      To identify such miRNA, we performed mixed lymphocyte reactions (MLRs) as an in
      vitro model of AR and GvHD, with or without IVIg. We herein show that IVIg
      strongly inhibits the MLRs. This inhibition is associated with a modulation in
      the expression of miRNAs implicated in the regulation of pro-inflammatory
      cytokine (IL-2, IL-6, IFN-gamma) and costimulatory molecule (CD80) expression. We
      propose that these identified miRNAs could represent potential therapeutic
      targets for the prevention and therapy of AR and GvHD.

PMID- 25832982
TI  - Excellent graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets-based photoelectrochemical platform
      motivated by Schottky barrier and LSPR effect and its sensing application.
AB  - A visible light responsive photocatalytic hybrid with excellent
      photoelectrochemical activity was first fabricated via the self-assembly of Au
      nanorods onto poly(l-cysteine) modified graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets.
      Herein, layered structural graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets with a proper band
      gap, high stability, and nontoxicity, as a photoactive material, demonstrate a
      high photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, the incorporation of multifunctional
      Au nanorods gave the hybrid a Schottky barrier and localized surface plasmonic
      resonance, which considerably enhanced the separation of the photo-excited
      electrons and holes, resulting in increased photoelectrochemical performance. As
      a proof of concept, mercapto-beta-cyclodextrin as a bionic recognition device was
      introduced into the hybrid to selectively detect naringin on the basis of the
      dramatic decreasing of photocurrent. The visible-light driven
      photoelectrochemical sensor exhibited excellent analytical performance, including
      high sensitivity, good selectivity and wide linear range from 1 * 10(-4) to 1 *
      10(-10) M. 

PMID- 25832984
TI  - Contemporary relevance of TID: Based on the company it keeps.

PMID- 25832983
TI  - Imaging in patients after cardiac transplantation and in patients with
      ventricular assist devices.
AB  - The field of cardiac imaging and the management of patients with severe heart
      failure have advanced substantially during the past 10 years. Cardiac
      transplantation offers the best long-term survival with high quality of life for
      the patients with end stage heart failure. However, acute cardiac rejection and
      cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) can occur post cardiac transplantation and
      these problems necessitate regular surveillance. The short-term success of
      mechanical circulatory support devices (MCSD), such as ventricular assist devices
      (VADs), in improving survival and quality of life has led to a dramatic growth of
      the patient population with these devices. The development of optimal imaging
      techniques and algorithms to evaluate these advanced heart failure patients is
      evolving and multimodality non-invasive imaging approaches and invasive
      techniques are commonly employed. Most of the published studies done in the
      transplant and VAD population are small, and biased based on the strength of the
      particular program, and there is a relative lack of published protocols to
      evaluate these patient groups. Moreover, the techniques of echocardiography,
      computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging, and nuclear cardiology have
      all progressed rapidly in recent years. There is thus a knowledge gap for
      cardiologists, radiologists, and clinicians, especially regarding surveillance
      for CAV and ideal imaging approaches for patients with VADs. The purpose of this
      review article is to provide an overview of different noninvasive imaging
      modalities used to evaluate patients after cardiac transplantation and for
      patients with VADs. The review focuses on the role of echocardiography, CT, and
      nuclear imaging in surveillance for CAV and rejection and on the assessment of
      ventricular structure and function, myocardial remodeling and complications for
      VAD patients.

PMID- 25832985
TI  - The Pattern of Adjustments after Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Band.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The success of laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (LAGB) is
      dependent on gradual adjustments over time. The aim of this study is to describe
      that pattern of LAGB adjustments that are required after surgery. METHODS: A non
      randomized observational study of consecutive LAGB from a single practise.
      Patients were sourced from a prospective database. Details of each LAGB
      adjustment were recorded along with weight loss and complications. RESULTS: There
      were 125 consecutive LAGB between March 2009 and September 2011 (mean age 46.6 +/
      11.9 years; 113 female, BMI 42.1 +/- 5.9 kg/m(2)). The mean %EBWL was 41.4 +/-
      19.1 % at 2 years. There was a total of 746 band adjustments with mean 7.1 +/-
      4.4 per patient. Approximately, a third of patients (34 %) reached optimal volume
      within 6 months but 49 patients (39 %) still required adjustments beyond a year.
      Weight loss was maximal prior to the first adjustment (41 % of mean total weight
      loss). The rate of weight loss decreased down to 1-3 %EBWL between later fills
      despite repeated increases in band volume. Urgent deflations were required in 63
      patients with 24 of these patients having multiple overfills. There were two
      patients who had gastric prolapse but no other LAGB-related complications
      occurred in the first 2 years after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: LAGB requires a
      considerable postoperative commitment that may take several months. Overfills are
      common and may be the result of a false perception that tightening the band will
      hasten weight loss.

PMID- 25832987
TI  - Optimizing fluid management of diabetic ketoacidosis.

PMID- 25832986
TI  - Bariatric Surgery in Patients with Dialysis-Dependent Renal Failure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic procedures for the treatment of morbid obesity are
      commonly offered to patients with comorbidities previously thought to carry
      prohibitive operative risk. In this study, we reviewed characteristics and
      perioperative outcomes of patients with dialysis-dependent renal failure (DDRF)
      who underwent laparoscopic bariatric procedures. METHODS: The American College of
      Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database from
      2006 to 2011 was reviewed. Preoperative characteristics and 30-day outcome data
      of patients who underwent three common laparoscopic procedures were analyzed
      using ANOVA and Pearson chi-squared tests. RESULTS: One hundred thirty-eight
      patients (52.5 % female) with DDRF and a median body mass index (BMI) of 45.5
      kg/m(2) were identified; 33.8 % (n = 47) underwent laparoscopic banding (LAGB),
      48.9 % (n = 68) laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), and 16.5 % (n = 23)
      laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). No differences were found among groups in
      age, prevalence of American Society of Anesthesiology IV classification, BMI,
      weight, gender, prevalence of diabetes, and vascular or neurologic comorbidities.
      Total operation time and length of hospital stay were significantly different
      between groups. Mortality was 0.7 %, and overall morbidity was 5.8 %. The case
      mix reflected a decrease in LAGB procedures from 45.5 to 23.3 % from 2006-2009 to
      2010-2011 and an increase in LSG procedures from 9.1 to 24.7 % (p < 0.006).
      CONCLUSIONS: When performed in selected DDRF patients, bariatric surgery is safe.
      An increase in LSG with a concurrent decline in LAGB procedures was demonstrated
      over the period of the study.

PMID- 25832988
TI  - Neuroimaging experience in pediatric Horner syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Horner syndrome in children is rare. The frequency and spectrum of
      malignancy as the cause of Horner syndrome in children remains unclear. Also
      unclear is whether the imaging work-up should include the entire oculo
      sympathetic pathway or should be more targeted. In addition, the value of cross
      sectional angiographic imaging in Horner syndrome is uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To
      review imaging pathology in a cohort of children with Horner syndrome at a major
      academic pediatric medical center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed a 22-year
      period of CT and MR imaging studies in children with a clinical diagnosis of
      Horner syndrome referred for imaging. RESULTS: We found 38 patients who fulfilled
      study criteria of Horner syndrome and 6/38 had relevant imaging findings: 2/6
      etiologies were neoplastic (congenital neuroblastoma and central astrocytoma),
      1/6 had a vascular abnormality (hypoplastic carotid artery), 1/6 had
      maldevelopment (Chiari I malformation), and 2/6 had inflammatory/traumatic
      etiology (viral cervical lymphadenopathy, post jugular vein cannulation). There
      was a similar number of congenital and acquired pathologies. The malignancies
      were found at any level of the oculosympathetic pathway. CONCLUSION: There are
      treatable causes, including malignancies, in children presenting with Horner
      syndrome, which justify imaging work-up of the entire oculosympathetic pathway,
      unless the lesion level can be determined clinically.

PMID- 25832990
TI  - Pregnancy outcome at term in low-risk population: study at a tertiary obstetric
      hospital.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of perinatal death and
      peripartum morbidity at term amongst the models of care at a single tertiary
      hospital. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a 10-year population study of singleton
      births at term at the Mercy Hospital for Women comparing the mixed-risk models of
      care (private obstetrician and a conventional collaborative model of
      obstetricians and midwives) with the low-risk models (team midwifery and family
      birth center). Outcome measures included rates of perinatal death, low Apgar
      scores and obstetric procedures. RESULTS: Data on 44 557 normal term singletons
      were available for study. Overall, the hospital has a substantially lower term
      singleton perinatal mortality (1.3/1000) than the reported rate from the state of
      Victoria over an overlapping period (2.4/1000). The perinatal mortality amongst
      women selected for low obstetric risk (2.3/1000) was significantly higher than
      the perinatal mortality in other patients (1.2/1000; P = 0.03). Low Apgar scores
      at 5 min were also significantly more likely in women selected for low obstetric
      risk (9.0 vs 6.7/1000; P = 0.03). The differences could not be attributed to
      socioeconomic status, as this was higher in the low obstetric risk group.
      Obstetric procedures (induction of labor, cesarean section and instrumental
      birth) were substantially less common in the low-risk-care patients, as is
      expected for a low-risk population. CONCLUSION: Women selected for low-risk under
      midwife-led models of care do not appear to have better outcomes than women with
      all levels of perinatal risk cared for under traditional obstetrician-led models
      of care.

PMID- 25832991
TI  - Facile luminescent tuning of Zn(II)/Hg(II) complexes based on flexible, semi
      rigid and rigid polydentate Schiff bases from blue to green to red: structural,
      photophysics, electrochemistry and theoretical calculations studies.
AB  - The photophysical properties of Zn(II)/Hg(II) Schiff base complexes could be fine
      and predictably tuned over a wide range of wavelengths by changing the ligand
      structures. A new series of polydentate Schiff base-type ligands, N,N'-bis(2
      pyridinylethylidene)R(3)-1,2-diamine (), which contain a flexible, semi-rigid or
      rigid group (R(3) = butyl, cyclohexane, tolyl and phenylene), has been designed
      and employed for synthetizing new mononuclear or binuclear trans Zn(II)/Hg(II)
      complexes with a general formula of [M()Cl2] ( = N,N'-bis(2
      pyridinylethylidene)phenylene-1,2-diamine, M = Zn, ; M = Hg, ), [M()Cl2] ( = N,N'
      bis(2-pyridinylethylidene)toluene-3,4-diamine, M = Zn, ; M = Hg, ),
      [M2()Cl4].nCH2Cl2 ( = N,N'-bis(2-pyridinylmethylene)cyclohexane-1,2-diamine, M =
      Zn, n = 0, ; M = Hg, n = 1, ), [M2()Cl4].nCH3OH ( = N,N'-bis(2
      pyridinylethylidene)cyclohexane-1,2-diamine, M = Zn, n = 1, ; M = Hg, n = 0, ),
      [M2()Cl4] ( = N,N'-bis(3-methoxy-2-pyridinylmethylene)-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine, M
      = Zn, ; M = Hg, ), [M2()Cl4].nCH3CN ( = N,N'-bis(3-methoxy-2
      pyridinylmethylene)butane-1,4-diamine, M = Zn, n = 4, ; M = Hg, n = 0, ). All the
      ligands and complexes have been characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectra,
      and (1)H NMR spectra. Twelve structures of , , , , , and crystallized in three
      different conditions are further determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction
      analyses. Their properties are fully characterized by UV-vis and fluorescence
      spectra both in solution and the solid state at room temperature. The
      luminescence color of these Zn(II)/Hg(II) Schiff base complexes could be tuned
      from blue to green to red (429-639 nm for , 434-627 nm for ) in solution by
      changing the ligand conjugated systems from flexibile () to semi-rigid () to
      rigid (). The spectra of the free Schiff bases are centered around 402-571 nm,
      which are perturbed upon the coordination to the Zn(II)/Hg(II) ion. Both the
      electrochemical data and TD-DFT calculations show that the HOMO-LUMO band gap
      from the ligand to the complex is reduced by complexation. Meanwhile, the
      emission efficiencies of Zn(II)-complexes are found to be strongly dependent on
      the Schiff-base ligands with quantum yields ranging from 14% to 25% for .
      However, the emission efficiencies dramatically decline in Hg(II)-complexes with
      quantum yields ranging from 4% to 19%, due to the heavy atom effect. 

PMID- 25832989
TI  - The myths we believed in familial Mediterranean fever: what have we learned in
      the past years?
AB  - Familial Mediterranean fever is the most common monogenic periodic fever syndrome
      over the world especially in the eastern Mediterranean. It presents with
      recurrent and self-limited inflammatory attacks of fever and polyserositis along
      with high acute-phase reactants. The disease is associated with mutations in the
      MEFV gene that encodes pyrin, a component of inflammasome, which leads to
      exaggerated inflammatory response through uncontrolled production of interleukin
      1. With the identification of the gene associated with the disease, we believed
      that everything was solved and that this was an ordinary monogenic disease with
      autosomal recessive inheritance. However, through the breathtaking progress in
      the basic research field as well as the clinical care of these patients, we have
      understood that the picture for this monogenic disorder was more complicated than
      we had anticipated. In this review, we have discussed the myths we believed in
      familial Mediterranean fever and how they have evolved during the past years. 

PMID- 25832992
TI  - Mass Production of an Active Peptide-N-Glycosidase F Using Silkworm-Baculovirus
      Expression System.
AB  - The peptide-N (4)-(N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminyl) asparagine amidase F (PNGase F)
      catalyzes the cleavage of N-linked oligosaccharides between the innermost GlcNAc
      and asparagine residues of high mannose, hybrid and complex oligosaccharides from
      glycoproteins. The PNGase F has broad substrate specificity and thus is
      extensively used for the structural and functional studies of the glycoproteins.
      In this study, we tried to produce active recombinant PNGase F as secreted and
      intracellular-expressed forms using baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS)
      through silkworm larvae or cultured cells. PNGase F itself contains potential N
      linked glycosylation sites and we found that it was N-glycosylated when PNGase F
      secreted from silkworm cells. Intriguingly, the secreted recombinant PNGase F has
      the lower catalytic activity and self-digests its N-linked glycans and therefore
      this secreted form of this enzyme produced from BEVS is not appropriate for
      carbohydrate chain analysis. Instead, we successfully mass-produced (2.1 mg/20
      silkworm larvae) and purified active recombinant PNGase F as an intracellular
      protein without N-glycosylations. Besides, we confirmed by directed mutagenesis
      that several amino acid residues are crucial for the function of PNGase F. Our
      results provide an alternative method for the mass production of active enzymes
      involved in the study of glycoproteins.

PMID- 25832994
TI  - An association between amino acid position 74 of HLA-DRB1 and anti-citrullinated
      protein antibody levels in Japanese patients with anti-citrullinated protein
      antibody-positive rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) are highly specific to
      rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and strong associations between HLA-DRB1 alleles and
      ACPA levels have been detected in RA patients. We undertook this study to
      elucidate the associations between particular amino acid positions in HLA-DRB1
      and ACPA levels in patients with RA. METHODS: We analyzed ACPA data on a total of
      4,371 Japanese ACPA-positive RA patients in whom HLA-DRB1 allele genotyping had
      been performed. Generalized linear regression analysis and omnibus testing were
      carried out to determine associations of HLA-DRB1 alleles, amino acid residues,
      or amino acid positions with levels of ACPA. RESULTS: HLA-DRB1*09:01 and HLA-DR15
      were confirmed to be associated with ACPA levels. HLA-DRB1*08:03 and DRB1*14:06
      were associated with reduced and increased ACPA levels, respectively. We detected
      a strong association between ACPA levels and amino acid position 74 (P = 1.9 *
      10(-51) ). The association was mainly conferred by alanine residue (P = 4.5 * 10(
      51) ). After adjustment for position 74, amino acid positions 60 and 57 were
      found to be associated with ACPA levels. Amino acid positions 74 and 57 had
      previously been reported to be associated with susceptibility to ACPA-positive RA
      in Asians. Combinations of the amino acid residues at position 74 and position 60
      or 57 could induce improvement in Akaike's information criterion comparable to
      that induced by the 5 significant HLA-DRB1 alleles (HLA-DRB1*08:03, DRB1*09:01,
      DRB1*14:06, DRB1*15:01, and DRB1*15:02). CONCLUSION: Amino acid position 74 in
      HLA-DRB1 is strongly associated with ACPA levels in ACPA-positive RA, as well as
      with RA susceptibility. The mechanisms of ACPA production and susceptibility to
      ACPA-positive RA seem to partly overlap.

PMID- 25832993
TI  - Oral contraceptive pill use is associated with localized decreases in cortical
      thickness.
AB  - Oral contraceptive pills (OCs), which are used to prevent pregnancy by the
      majority of women in the United States, contain steroid hormones that may affect
      the brain's structure and function. In this investigation, we tested the
      hypothesis that OC use is associated with differences in brain structure using a
      hypothesis-driven, surface-based approach. In 90 women, (44 OC users, 46
      naturally-cycling women), we compared the cortical thickness of brain regions
      that participate in the salience network and the default mode network, as well as
      the volume of subcortical regions in these networks. We found that OC use was
      associated with significantly lower cortical thickness measurements in the
      lateral orbitofrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex. These regions
      are believed to be important for responding to rewards and evaluating internal
      states/incoming stimuli, respectively. Further investigations are needed to
      determine if cortical thinning in these regions are associated with behavioral
      changes, and also to identify whether OC use is causally or only indirectly
      related to these changes in brain morphology.

PMID- 25832996
TI  - Human recreational exposure to antibiotic resistant bacteria in coastal bathing
      waters.
AB  - Infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) are associated with poor
      health outcomes and are recognised globally as a serious health problem. Much
      research has been conducted on the transmission of ARB to humans. Yet the role
      the natural environment plays in the spread of ARB and antibiotic resistance
      genes is not well understood. Antibiotic resistant bacteria have been detected in
      natural aquatic environments, and ingestion of seawater during water sports is
      one route by which many people could be directly exposed. The aim was to estimate
      the prevalence of resistance to one clinically important class of antibiotics
      (third-generation cephalosporins (3GCs)) amongst Escherichia coli in coastal
      surface waters in England and Wales. Prevalence data was used to quantify
      ingestion of 3GC-resistant E. coli (3GCREC) by people participating in water
      sports in designated coastal bathing waters. A further aim was to use this value
      to derive a population-level estimate of exposure to these bacteria during
      recreational use of coastal waters in 2012. The prevalence of 3GC-resistance
      amongst E. coli isolated from coastal surface waters was estimated using culture
      based methods. This was combined with the density of E. coli reported in
      designated coastal bathing waters along with estimations of the volumes of water
      ingested during various water sports reported in the literature to calculate the
      mean number of 3GCREC ingested during different water sports. 0.12% of E. coli
      isolated from surface waters were resistant to 3GCs. This value was used to
      estimate that in England and Wales over 6.3 million water sport sessions occurred
      in 2012 that resulted in the ingestion of at least one 3GCREC. Despite the low
      prevalence of resistance to 3GCs amongst E. coli in surface waters, there is an
      identifiable human exposure risk for water users, which varies with the type of
      water sport undertaken. The relative importance of this exposure is likely to be
      greater in areas where a large proportion of the population enjoys water sports.
      Millions of water sport sessions occurred in 2012 that were likely to have
      resulted in people ingesting E. coli resistant to a single class of antibiotics
      (3GCs). However, this is expected to be a significant underestimate of
      recreational exposure to all ARB in seawater. This is the first study to use
      volumes of water ingested during different water sports to estimate human
      exposure to ARB. Further work needs to be done to elucidate the health
      implications and clinical relevance of exposure to ARB in both marine and fresh
      waters in order to fully understand the risk to public health. 

PMID- 25832995
TI  - Rationale, design, and progress of the ENhanced Control of Hypertension ANd
      Thrombolysis strokE stuDy (ENCHANTED) trial: An international multicenter 2 * 2
      quasi-factorial randomized controlled trial of low- vs. standard-dose rt-PA and
      early intensive vs. guideline-recommended blood pressure lowering in patients
      with acute ischaemic stroke eligible for thrombolysis treatment.
AB  - RATIONALE: Controversy exists over the optimal dose of intravenous (i.v.)
      recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) and degree of blood pressure
      (BP) control in acute ischaemic stroke (AIS). Asian studies suggest low-dose (0.6
      mg/kg) is more efficacious than standard-dose (0.9 mg/kg) i.v. rt-PA, and
      guidelines recommend reducing systolic BP to <185 mmHg before and <180 mmHg after
      use of i.v. rt-PA, despite observational studies indicating better outcomes at
      much lower (<140 mmHg) systolic BP levels in this patient group. AIMS: The study
      aims to assess in thrombolysis-eligible AIS patients whether: (i) low-dose (0.6
      mg/kg body weight; maximum 60 mg) i.v. rt-PA has non-inferior efficacy and lower
      risk of symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage (sICH) compared to standard-dose
      (0.9 mg/kg body weight; maximum 90 mg) i.v. rt-PA; and (ii) early intensive BP
      lowering (systolic target 130-140 mmHg) has superior efficacy and lower risk of
      any ICH compared to guideline-recommended BP control (systolic target < 180
      mmHg). DESIGN: The ENhanced Control of Hypertension And Thrombolysis strokE stuDy
      (ENCHANTED) trial is an independent,2 * 2 quasi-factorial, active-comparison,
      prospective, randomized, open blinded endpoint (PROBE), clinical trial that is
      evaluating Arm [A] 'rt-PA dose' and/or Arm [B] 'BP control', using central
      Internet randomization and data collection in patients fulfilling local criteria
      for thrombolysis and clinician uncertainty over the study treatments. The
      treatment arms will be analyzed separately. STUDY OUTCOMES: The primary study
      outcome in both trial Arms is death or disability according to the modified
      Rankin scale (mRS, scores 2-6) assessed at 90 days. Secondary outcomes include
      sICH, any ICH, a shift ('improvement') in function across mRS scores, separately
      on death and disability, early neurological deterioration, recurrent major
      vascular events, health-related quality of life, length of hospital stay, need
      for permanent residential care, and health care costs. RESULTS: Following launch
      of the trial in February 2012, the study has recruited more than 2500 patients
      across a global network of approximately 100 sites in 15 countries. The required
      sample sizes are 3300 for Arm [A] and 2300 for Arm [B], which will provide >90%
      power to detect non-inferiority of low-dose i.v. rt-PA and superiority of
      intensive BP lowering on the primary clinical outcome, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:
      Low-dose i.v. rt-PA and early intensive BP lowering could provide more affordable
      and safer use of thrombolysis treatment for patients with AIS worldwide.

PMID- 25832997
TI  - Brominated polyunsaturated lipids with protein tyrosine phosphatase-1B inhibitory
      activity from Chinese marine sponge Xestospongia testudinaria.
AB  - A new brominated polyunsaturated lipid, methyl (E,E)-14,14-dibromo-4,6,13
      tetradecatrienoate (1), along with three known related analogues (2-4), were
      isolated from the Et2O-soluble portion of the acetone extract of Chinese marine
      sponge Xestospongia testudinaria treated with diazomethane. The structure of the
      new compound was elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analysis and by comparison
      with literature data. Compound 3 exhibited significant inhibitory activity
      against protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), a key target for the treatment
      of type II diabetes and obesity, with an IC50 value of 5.30 +/- 0.61 MUM, when
      compared to the positive control oleanolic acid (IC50 = 2.39 +/- 0.26 MUM).

PMID- 25832998
TI  - Overcoming challenges to meaningful informed consent for whole genome sequencing
      in pediatric cancer research.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Introducing whole genome sequencing (WGS) into pediatric cancer
      research at diagnosis poses unique challenges related to informed consent. WGS
      requires tissue obtained prior to initiating treatment, when families may be
      overwhelmed with uncertainty and fear. Motivation to participate may be high
      without fully understanding the range of possible results, including secondary
      findings. Little is known about parental knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about
      this type of research. PROCEDURE: A qualitative study was conducted to
      investigate parental knowledge about genetic concepts and WGS, thoughts about the
      informed consent process, and preferences for secondary findings. Focus groups
      were conducted with parents/guardians of children with cancer and semi-structured
      interviews were conducted in a control group without cancer. All transcripts were
      analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: Four focus groups included 15
      participants; eight semi-structured interviews included 10 participants. Basic
      knowledge about genetics was limited to heredity. Some knowledge of genomic
      analysis was present in 3/15 focus group participants. Major factors related to
      participation in WGS research were: (i) hope for their child and future children;
      (ii) no additional procedures; (iii) and protection of privacy. All favored a two
      step consent process, first to store extra tissue from a diagnostic
      biopsy/resection, followed by consenting to WGS research, one-to-two months
      later. The desire to receive secondary findings was high among both groups, but
      there were individuals who did not want these results, fearing increased anxiety.
      CONCLUSIONS: Parents/guardians of children with cancer have limited knowledge
      about WGS. A two-step consent process may improve their ability to provide
      meaningful informed consent.

PMID- 25832999
TI  - A bifactorial solution to the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version in a
      sample of civil psychiatric patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is considerable debate about the underlying factor structure of
      the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL: SV). An established view is
      that it reflects a unitary construct underpinned by two correlated factors. More
      recent research has, however, undermined this conceptualisation. AIMS: Our aim
      was to compare 10 competing models of the PCL: SV in a sample of civil
      psychiatric patients. METHOD: Ten distinct factor models were specified and
      tested using conventional confirmatory factor analytic techniques, along with
      confirmatory bifactor modelling. RESULTS: A bifactor model, including two general
      factors (interpersonal-affective and antisocial-lifestyle), and four subordinate
      factors (interpersonal, affective, antisocial and lifestyle) provided the best
      fit to the data. The reliability of the conceptualisation was supported through
      the use of composite reliability, and the differential relationships exhibited
      between the general factors and measures of personality, impulsivity and mental
      health. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide further weight to taking the two
      general psychopathy factors into account when interpreting the PCL: SV for
      clinical purposes. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID- 25833000
TI  - Tumor-suppressing effect of miR-4458 on human hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Besides multiple genetic and epigenetic changes of protein coding
      genes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), growing evidence indicate that
      deregulation of miRNAs contribute to HCC development by influencing cell growth,
      apoptosis, migration, or invasion. IKBKE is amplified and over-expressed in a
      large percentage of human breast tumors and identified as an oncogene of human
      breast tumor. Microarray analysis showed that miR-4458 was down-regulated in HCC
      tissues. METHODS: The level of miR-4458 was up-regulated by miR-4458 mimics
      transfection, or down-regulated by miR-4458 ASO transfection. Cell proliferation
      was assayed by MTT analysis. MiRNAs and mRNA expression were assayed by qRT-PCR.
      These potential targeted genes of miR-4458 were predicted by bioinformatic
      algorithms. Dual luciferase reporter assay system was used to analyze the
      interaction between miR-4458 and IKBKE. IKBKE protein level was assayed by
      Western blot. The role of miR-4458 or IKBKE in the survival of HCC patients were
      revealed by Kaplan-Meier plot of overall survival. RESULTS: Lower miR-4458
      expression level or higher IKBKE level in HCC tissues correlated with worse
      prognosis of HCC patients. Overexpression of miR-4458 inhibited the HCC cells
      growth and vice versa. MiR-4458 played its role via targeting 3'UTR of IKBKE.
      CONCLUSIONS: MiR-4458 or IKBKE may be potential predictors of HCC prognosis.
      Restoration of miR-4458 or inhibition of IKBKE could be a prospective therapeutic
      approach for HCC.

PMID- 25833001
TI  - Electrochemical push-pull probe: from scanning electrochemical microscopy to
      multimodal altering of cell microenvironment.
AB  - To understand biological processes at the cellular level, a general approach is
      to alter the cells' environment and to study their chemical responses. Herein, we
      present the implementation of an electrochemical push-pull probe, which combines
      a microfluidic system with a microelectrode, as a tool for locally altering the
      microenvironment of few adherent living cells by working in two different
      perturbation modes, namely electrochemical (i.e., electrochemical generation of a
      chemical effector compound) and microfluidic (i.e., infusion of a chemical
      effector compound from the pushing microchannel, while simultaneously aspirating
      it through the pulling channel, thereby focusing the flow between the channels).
      The effect of several parameters such as flow rate, working distance, and probe
      inclination angle on the affected area of adherently growing cells was
      investigated both theoretically and experimentally. As a proof of concept,
      localized fluorescent labeling and pH changes were purposely introduced to
      validate the probe as a tool for studying adherent cancer cells through the
      control over the chemical composition of the extracellular space with high
      spatiotemporal resolution. A very good agreement between experimental and
      simulated results showed that the electrochemical perturbation mode enables to
      affect precisely only a few living cells localized in a high-density cell
      culture. 

PMID- 25833002
TI  - Amyloid formation in human islets is enhanced by heparin and inhibited by
      heparinase.
AB  - Islet transplantation is a promising therapy for patients with diabetes, but its
      long-term success is limited by many factors, including the formation of islet
      amyloid deposits. Heparin is employed in clinical islet transplantation to reduce
      clotting but also promotes fibrillization of amyloidogenic proteins. We
      hypothesized that heparin treatment of islets during pre-transplant culture may
      enhance amyloid formation leading to beta cell loss and graft dysfunction.
      Heparin promoted the fibrillization of human islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) and
      enhanced its toxicity to INS-1 beta cells. Heparin increased amyloid deposition
      in cultured human islets, but surprisingly decreased islet cell apoptosis.
      Treatment of human islets with heparin prior to transplantation increased the
      likelihood of graft failure. Removal of islet heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycans,
      which localize with islet amyloid deposits in type 2 diabetes, by heparinase
      treatment decreased amyloid deposition and protected against islet cell death.
      These findings raise the possibility that pretransplant treatment of human islets
      with heparin could potentiate IAPP aggregation and amyloid formation and may be
      detrimental to subsequent graft function. 

PMID- 25833003
TI  - Determination of biogenic amine profiles in conventional and organic cocoa-based
      products.
AB  - Cocoa contains many compounds such as biogenic amines (BAs), known to influence
      consumer health. Spermidine, spermidine, putrescine, histamine, tyramine, beta
      phenylethylamine, cadaverine and serotonine have been found in several cocoa
      based products using HPLC with UV detection after derivatisation with dansyl
      chloride. Once optimised in terms of linearity, percentage recovery, LOD, LOQ and
      repeatability, this method was applied to real samples. Total concentrations of
      BAs ranged from 5.7 to 79.0 ug g(-)(1) with wide variations depending on the type
      of sample. BAs present in all samples were in decreasing order: histamine (1.9
      38.1 ug g(-)(1)) and tyramine (1.7-31.7 ug g(-)(1)), while putrescine (0.9-32.7
      ug g(-)(1)), spermidine (1.0-9.7 ug g(-)(1)) and spermidine (0.6-9.3 ug g(-)(1))
      were present in most of the samples. Cadaverine, serotonine and beta
      phenylethylamine were present in a few samples at much lower concentrations.
      Organic samples always contained much lower levels of BAs than their conventional
      counterparts and, generally speaking, the highest amounts of BAs were found in
      the most processed products.

PMID- 25833004
TI  - Implications of the Institute of Medicine Report: Evaluation of Biomarkers and
      Surrogate Endpoints in Chronic Disease.
AB  - The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a groundbreaking 2010 report, Evaluation
      of Biomarkers and Surrogate Endpoints in Chronic Disease. Key recommendations
      included a harmonized scientific process and a general framework for biomarker
      evaluation with three interrelated steps: (1) Analytical validation -- is the
      biomarker measurement accurate? (2) Qualification -- is the biomarker associated
      with the clinical endpoint of concern? (3) Utilization -- what is the specific
      context of the proposed use?

PMID- 25833005
TI  - White piedra caused by Trichosporon inkin: a report of two cases in a northern
      climate.

PMID- 25833006
TI  - Thermal stability of G-rich anti-parallel DNA triplexes upon insertion of LNA and
      alpha-L-LNA.
AB  - G-rich anti-parallel DNA triplexes were modified with LNA or alpha-L-LNA in their
      Watson-Crick and TFO strands. The triplexes were formed by targeting a pyrimidine
      strand to a putative hairpin formed by Hoogsteen base pairing in order to use the
      UV melting method to evaluate the stability of the triplexes. Their thermal
      stability was reduced when the TFO strand was modified with LNA or alpha-L-LNA.
      The same trend was observed when the TFO strand and the purine Watson-Crick
      strand both were modified with LNA. When all triad components were modified with
      alpha-L-LNA and LNA in the middle of the triplex, the thermal melting was
      increased. When the pyrimidine sequence was modified with a single insertion of
      LNA or alpha-L-LNA the DeltaTm increased. Moreover, increasing the number of
      alpha-L-LNA in the pyrimidine target sequence to six insertions, leads to a high
      increase in the thermal stability. The conformational S-type structure of alpha-L
      LNA in anti-parallel triplexes is preferable for triplex stability.

PMID- 25833007
TI  - Enhancement of the binding affinity of methylene blue to site I in human serum
      albumin by cupric and ferric ions.
AB  - In this work, the binding characteristics of methylene blue (MB) to human serum
      albumin (HSA) and the influence of Cu(2+) and Fe(3+) on the binding affinity of
      MB to HSA were investigated using fluorescence, absorption, circular dichroism
      (CD) spectroscopy and molecular modelling. The results of competitive binding
      experiments using the site probes ketoprofen and ibuprofen as specific markers
      suggested that MB was located in site I within sub-domain IIA of HSA. The
      molecular modelling results agreed with the results of competitive site marker
      experiments and the results of CD spectra indicated that the interaction between
      MB and HSA caused the conformational changes in HSA. The binding affinity of MB
      to HSA was enhanced but to a different extent in the presence of Cu(2+) and
      Fe(3+), respectively, which indicated that the influence of different metal ions
      varied. Enhancement of the binding affinity of MB to HSA in the presence of
      Cu(2+) is due to the formation of Cu(2+)-HSA complex leading to the
      conformational changes in HSA, whereas in the presence of Fe(3+), enhancement of
      the binding affinity is due to the greater stability of the Fe(3+)-HSA-MB complex
      compared with the MB-HSA complex.

PMID- 25833008
TI  - Early Use of 60 Hz Frequency Subthalamic Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease: A
      Case Series and Review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is effective in treating the segmental
      symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) as well as axial symptoms that are levodopa
      responsive. PD patients on chronic DBS who develop axial symptoms and gait
      disturbances several years later oftentimes are refractory to high frequency
      stimulation (HFS). Several studies report benefit produced by low frequency
      subthalamic nucleus (STN) stimulation in such patients, though the sustainability
      of the effects has been mixed. OBJECTIVE: To report the clinical outcomes of a
      series of patients with Parkinson's disease and levodopa responsive axial and
      gait disturbances who were switched to 60 Hz stimulation within one year of their
      DBS surgery. METHODS: A retrospective review of 5 patients, whose severe pre-DBS,
      levodopa responsive gait disorders worsened on HFS STN-DBS and were subsequently
      switched to 60 Hz stimulation within 1 year of their surgery. RESULTS: The median
      age of this cohort was 66 years with median disease duration of 14 years. Four of
      5 patients' experienced acute worsening of their axial and gait UPDRS III scores
      on HFS. All patients' gait disorder improved with 60 Hz along with amelioration
      of their segmental symptoms and reduction of their levodopa induced dyskinesia.
      The median time on HFS prior to switching to 60 Hz was two months. Stimulation
      through the ventral contacts was utilized in all patients with relatively modest
      changes achieved in levodopa equivalent daily dose. CONCLUSION: This case series
      demonstrates the clinical efficacy of utilizing low frequency (60 Hz) STN
      stimulation early in the DBS programming course in more advanced PD patients with
      levodopa responsive gait disturbance and freezing of gait. Activation of a
      broader stimulation field likely contributed to both axial and segmental symptom
      improvement while possibly aiding in the reduction of dyskinesia.

PMID- 25833010
TI  - Effect of Cu(II) shock loads on shortcut biological nitrogen removal in a hybrid
      biofilm nitrogen removal reactor.
AB  - The effect of Cu(II) shock loads on shortcut biological nitrogen removal during a
      continuous-flow anoxic/aerobic process was investigated using a hybrid biofilm
      nitrogen removal reactor. The results demonstrated that [Formula: see text]-N
      removal was not affected by any Cu(II) shock loads, but TN removal was inhibited
      by Cu(II) of shock loads of 2 and 5 mg/L, and the performance could not be
      recovered at 5 mg/L. Furthermore, the TN removal pathway also changed in response
      to Cu(II) concentrations of 2 and 5 mg/L. Denitrification is more sensitive to
      Cu(II) shock in SBNR processes. Examination of amoA communities using
      quantitative PCR showed that the abundance of AOB in the aerobic tank decreased
      after Cu(II) shock with 5 mg/L, which supported the observed changes in [Formula:
      see text]-N removal efficiency. The abundance of denitrification genes declined
      obviously at Cu(II) concentrations of 2 and 5 mg/L, which explained the decreased
      TN removal efficiency at those concentrations.

PMID- 25833009
TI  - The value of systematic lymph node dissection for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma
      from the viewpoint of liver lymphatics.
AB  - Lymph node (LN) metastasis from intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC) might be
      one of the most important indicators of aggressive surgical resection, yet the
      value of LN dissection is still controversial. To address this clinical problem,
      we need to better understand the multidirectional lymphatic outflow from the
      liver. Although most hepatic lymph flows into the hilar LNs along portal triads,
      there are also several lymphatic outflows directly communicating with distant
      areas or the general lymphatic system. Moreover, it has been revealed that LN
      metastasis spreads to more distal LNs through the hepatoduodenal ligament or
      other multidirectional lymphatic pathways connected to the general lymphatic
      system. Therefore, systematic LN dissection might merely be LN sampling in IHCC
      with LN metastasis. A multidisciplinary strategy focusing on adjuvant treatment
      after surgery is immediately necessary in these cases. In IHCC without LN
      metastasis, the accuracy of preoperative imaging assessment of LN metastasis is
      unsatisfactory and useless for detecting metastatic LNs in clinical settings.
      Therefore, prophylactic systematic LN dissection for IHCC without preoperative LN
      swelling is recommended for accurate LN status assessment and reduction of local
      recurrences. However, this procedure might not offer any clinical benefit
      according to the results of retrospective comparative studies. In this review, we
      summarize previous reports regarding lymphatic outflow of the liver and discuss
      LN dissection for IHCC.

PMID- 25833011
TI  - Evaluation of the pilot phase of the 'Give up smokes for good' social marketing
      campaign.
AB  - ISSUE ADDRESSED: The prevalence of tobacco smoking among Aboriginal and Torres
      Strait Islander people in Australia is comparatively high. To help combat this,
      an Aboriginal-specific social marketing campaign, 'Give up smokes for good', was
      piloted in South Australia in 2011. METHODS: To evaluate the campaign, a face-to
      face survey was conducted with two samples of convenience through Aboriginal
      Health services in South Australia (city and regional locations; n=190). Surveys
      assessed the cultural appropriateness of the campaign, campaign awareness and
      recognition, knowledge of the harms of smoking and smoking/quit smoking
      behaviours. RESULTS: Campaign awareness was high with 76.3% of participants aware
      of at least one aspect of the campaign. Participants indicated campaign materials
      (posters and radio ads) to be culturally appropriate. Knowledge that smoking and
      passive smoking caused illness was high (85.8% and 86.8%); however, knowledge of
      specific illnesses was not as high. Large proportions of participants had imposed
      bans on smoking in homes (73.2%) and in cars (75.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings
      suggest the 'Give up smokes for good' campaign reached the intended audience with
      high levels of campaign awareness. Results also suggest the pilot campaign made
      progress in achieving its communication objectives. SO WHAT?: High quality,
      culturally targeted anti-tobacco poster and radio campaigns can be effective ways
      to reach Aboriginal Australians. Future research could explore the impact of this
      type of social marketing campaign, particularly in regards to the impact on
      quitting intention and behaviour.

PMID- 25833012
TI  - Stressor experience negatively affects life satisfaction in adolescents: the
      positive role of sense of coherence.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between
      different normative stressors, sense of coherence and life satisfaction
      separately for gender in Norwegian adolescents. The interaction effect of stress
      by sense of coherence in relation to life satisfaction was also investigated.
      METHODS: The data are based on a cross-sectional sample of 1239 adolescents (13
      18 years) from public elementary and secondary schools in Central Norway.
      Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the association
      between stressors, sense of coherence and life satisfaction, separately for
      gender. RESULTS: The results showed significant differences between genders,
      where boys reported higher scores than girls on sense of coherence and life
      satisfaction, whereas girls scored higher than boys on five of seven stressor
      domains. All stressors were significantly and inversely associated with life
      satisfaction in both genders; however, all associations were stronger for girls
      compared to boys. Sense of coherence showed a significant strong and positive
      association with life satisfaction, controlled for age and each individual
      stressor. A significant although weak interaction effect of stress related to
      romantic relationships by sense of coherence was found in association with life
      satisfaction for boys; the other interaction effects were nonsignificant in both
      genders. CONCLUSION: The results give support for a significant unique role of
      stressor experience and sense of coherence in relation to life satisfaction in
      both genders during adolescence, where the associations were especially strong in
      girls.

PMID- 25833013
TI  - Validity of EQ-5D in general population of Taiwan: results of the 2009 National
      Health Interview and Drug Abuse Survey of Taiwan.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine the validity of the EuroQOL five
      dimensions questionnaire (EQ-5D) using a nationally representative data from the
      National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) through comparison with short-form 36 (SF
      36). METHODS: Data for this study came from the 2009 NHIS in Taiwan. The study
      sample was the 4007 participants aged 20-64 years who completed the survey. We
      used SUDAAN 10.0 (SAS-Callable) to carry out weighed estimation and statistical
      inference. The EQ index was estimated using norm values from a Taiwanese study as
      well as from Japan and the United Kingdom (UK). The SF-36 score was standardized
      using American norm values. RESULTS: In terms of concurrent validity, the EQ-5D
      met the five hypotheses. The results did not fulfill hypothesis that women would
      have lower visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) scores. In terms of discriminant
      validity, the EQ-5D fulfilled two hypotheses. Our results approached but did not
      fulfill hypothesis that there would be a weak association between the physical
      and psychological dimensions of the EQ-5D and the mental component summary score
      of the SF-36. Results were comparable regardless of whether the Japanese or UK
      norm value sets were used. CONCLUSIONS: We were able to fulfill many, not all of
      our validity hypotheses regardless of whether the established Japanese or UK norm
      value sets or the Taiwanese norm values were used. The EQ-5D is an effective and
      simple instrument for assessing health-related quality of life of general
      population in Taiwan.

PMID- 25833014
TI  - Resveratrol alleviates vascular inflammatory injury by inhibiting inflammasome
      activation in rats with hypercholesterolemia and vitamin D2 treatment.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Atherosclerosis (AS) is an inflammatory disease involved in vascular
      inflammatory injury. The inflammasome is an important part of inflammatory
      diseases and participates in the vascular inflammatory injury. Resveratrol (RSV)
      possesses anti-inflammatory activities, but its effects on inflammasomes during
      vascular injury remain unclear. This study focused on the effects and mechanisms
      of RSV on inflammasomes during vascular injury. METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats
      were treated with a purified diet or cholesterol-enriched diet combined with
      vitamin D2 (VD; 1.8 million units/kg/days, Po) and saline or RSV (50 mg/kg/days,
      Po) daily for 5 weeks. The concentrations and enzyme activities of related
      indicators were measured by a spectrophotometer or ELISA kit. Their gene and
      protein expression levels were analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain
      reaction and Western blot, respectively. RESULTS: Upon administration with RSV,
      rats with combined hyper cholesterol and VD demonstrated the following changes:
      the vascular histopathological changes were relieved, and the level of the von
      Willebrand factor decreased. The level of serum IL-1beta, a marker of
      inflammasome activation, significantly decreased. The mRNA and protein expression
      levels of the three components of inflammasomes, namely, NOD-like receptor pyrin
      domain containing 3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase
      recruitment domain, and caspase-1, were downregulated. The effects of RSV were
      closely related to hypolipidemia (decrease in the levels of total cholesterol,
      triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol combined with the
      expression of the lectin-like ox-LDL receptor and increase in high-density
      lipoprotein cholesterol), antioxidation (decrease in MDA levels and increase in
      SOD and GPx activities), and anti-inflammation (downregulation of the expression
      of IL-1beta, intracellular adhesion molecule-1, and monocyte chemotactic protein
      1). The mechanisms for the downregulation of NF-kappaB p65 and p38 MAPK
      expression, as well as the upregulation of SIRT1 expression, were analyzed.
      CONCLUSION: This study proved that RSV inhibited inflammasome activation to
      protect vascular injury in vivo. RSV exhibited therapeutic potential in the
      treatment of vascular injury.

PMID- 25833015
TI  - The importance of animals in advancing research on alcohol use disorders.

PMID- 25833016
TI  - Heterogeneity of alcohol use disorder: understanding mechanisms to advance
      personalized treatment.

PMID- 25833017
TI  - Challenges and exciting new opportunities to advance personalized treatment for
      alcohol use disorder.

PMID- 25833018
TI  - Reinforcement-related subphenotypes as a basis for personalized treatment in
      alcoholism.

PMID- 25833019
TI  - A matter of outlook.

PMID- 25833020
TI  - Opportunities for opening the door to transdiagnostic approaches.

PMID- 25833021
TI  - Implications of an alcohol addiction RDoC for delivery science research and
      clinical care.

PMID- 25833022
TI  - Effects of idazoxan on alcohol pharmacokinetics and intoxication: a preliminary
      human laboratory study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Preliminary basic and human studies suggest that the alpha2 
      adrenergic antagonist idazoxan may represent a novel medication for alcohol
      dependence. The goal of this study was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of
      the co-administration of idazoxan with alcohol and explore whether
      pharmacokinetics (PK) and biobehavioral mechanisms of idazoxan may alter
      alcohol's effects. METHODS: This was a preliminary double-blind, single-dose,
      placebo-controlled, crossover, randomized human laboratory study. Ten social
      drinkers were dosed, in 2 different alcohol challenge studies (ACS), with a
      single oral dose of idazoxan (40 mg) or placebo, followed by a fixed alcohol dose
      60 minutes later. Participants returned after a 1-week washout, and they were
      crossed over to the opposite medication condition. RESULTS: There were no
      significant differences in adverse events between idazoxan and placebo. Moreover,
      during the ACS paradigm, 40 mg idazoxan was well tolerated with no significant
      autonomic effects compared to placebo; idazoxan reduced the peak blood alcohol
      level (p < 0.01) and time to peak (p < 0.05) compared to placebo. A
      PK/pharmacodynamic model aligned the biobehavioral effects, demonstrating that
      the co-administration of 40 mg idazoxan with alcohol decreased alcohol-related
      stimulation (p < 0.05) and increased alcohol-related sedation (p < 0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the safety and tolerability of 40 mg idazoxan
      when co-administered with alcohol. Additionally, this study suggests that
      idazoxan may alter the biphasic effects of alcohol by decreasing stimulation and
      increasing sedation. These findings have implications for further investigation
      of using idazoxan as a probe to develop potential novel medications to treat
      alcoholic patients.

PMID- 25833024
TI  - Relative fluid novelty differentially alters the time course of limited-access
      ethanol and water intake in selectively bred high-alcohol-preferring mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The influence of previous alcohol (ethanol [EtOH])-drinking
      experience on increasing the rate and amount of future EtOH consumption might be
      a genetically regulated phenomenon critical to the development and maintenance of
      repeated excessive EtOH abuse. We have recently found evidence supporting this
      view, wherein inbred C57BL/6J (B6) mice develop progressive increases in the rate
      of binge EtOH consumption over repeated drinking-in-the-dark (DID) EtOH access
      sessions (i.e., "front loading"). The primary goal of this study was to evaluate
      identical parameters in high-alcohol-preferring (HAP) mice to determine whether
      similar temporal alterations in limited-access EtOH drinking develop in a
      population selected for high EtOH preference/intake under continuous (24-hour)
      access conditions. METHODS: Using specialized volumetric drinking devices, HAP
      mice received 14 daily 2-hour DID EtOH or water access sessions. A subset of
      these mice was then given 1 day access to the opposite assigned fluid on day 15.
      Home cage locomotor activity was recorded concomitantly on each day of these
      studies. The possibility of behavioral/metabolic tolerance was evaluated on day
      16 using experimenter-administered EtOH. RESULTS: The amount of EtOH consumed
      within the first 15 minutes of access increased markedly over days. However, in
      contrast to previous observations in B6 mice, EtOH front loading was also
      observed on day 15 in mice that only had previous DID experience with water.
      Furthermore, a decrease in the amount of water consumed within the first 15
      minutes of access compared to animals given repeated water access was observed on
      day 15 in mice with 14 previous days of EtOH access. CONCLUSIONS: These data
      further illustrate the complexity and importance of the temporal aspects of
      limited-access EtOH consumption and suggest that previous procedural/fluid
      experience in HAP mice selectively alters the time course of EtOH and water
      consumption.

PMID- 25833025
TI  - Acute alcohol exposure impairs neural representation of visual motion speed in
      the visual cortex area posteromedial lateral suprasylvian cortex of cats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Psychophysical and behavioral studies have demonstrated that
      perception of motion can be impaired by acute alcohol exposure. The neural
      activities of posteromedial lateral suprasylvian cortex (PMLS) of cats are
      directly linked to the perception of visual motion speed. To date, there have
      been no studies on the effects of acute alcohol exposure in vivo upon the
      representation of speed in PMLS neurons. METHODS: Alcohol was administered
      intravenously as a 20% (v/v) saline solution via a syringe at a dose levels of
      0.5, 1, or 2 g/kg to generate a series of blood alcohol concentrations. Using
      extracellular single-unit recording technique, we recorded the speed-tuning
      properties of PMLS neurons that responded to random-dot patterns before and after
      alcohol administration, and simultaneously monitored the concentration of ethanol
      by detecting the breath alcohol concentration using a breath analyzer. RESULTS:
      After acute alcohol treatment, PMLS cells preferred lower speeds. A broadened
      speed-tuning bandwidth of PMLS cells was also observed after acute alcohol
      administration. Additionally, response modulation and discriminative capacity for
      speed of visual motion in the PMLS cells were significantly impaired after acute
      alcohol exposure. Concurrently, PMLS cells after acute alcohol exposure showed
      decreased spontaneous activity, peak responses, and signal-to-noise ratios.
      CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant functional degradation in the neural
      representation of visual motion speed in PMLS of cats after acute alcohol
      exposure. These neural changes may contribute to the alcohol-related deficits in
      visual motion perception observed in behavioral studies.

PMID- 25833023
TI  - Quantitative trait locus mapping of acute functional tolerance in the LXS
      recombinant inbred strains.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We previously reported that acute functional tolerance (AFT) to the
      hypnotic effects of alcohol was significantly correlated with drinking in the
      dark (DID) in the LXS recombinant inbred panel, but only in mice that had been
      pretreated with alcohol. Here, we have conducted quantitative trait locus (QTL)
      mapping for AFT. DNA sequencing of the progenitor ILS and ISS strains and
      microarray analyses were also conducted to identify candidate genes and
      functional correlates. METHODS: LXS mice were given either saline or alcohol (5
      g/kg) on day 1 and then tested for loss of righting reflex AFT on day 2. QTLs
      were mapped using standard procedures. Two microarray analyses from brain were
      conducted: (i) naive LXS mice and (ii) an alcohol treatment time course in the
      ILS and ISS. The full genomes of the ILS and ISS were sequenced to a depth of
      approximately 30*. RESULTS: A significant QTL for AFT in the alcohol pretreatment
      group was mapped to distal chromosome 4; numerous suggestive QTLs were also
      mapped. Preference drinking and DID have previously been mapped to the chromosome
      4 locus. The credible interval of the significant chromosome 4 QTL spanned 23 Mb
      and included 716 annotated genes of which 150 had at least 1 nonsynonymous single
      nucleotide polymorphism or small indel that differed between the ILS and ISS;
      expression of 48 of the genes was cis-regulated. Enrichment analysis indicated
      broad functional categories underlying AFT, including proteolysis, transcription
      regulation, chromatin modification, protein kinase activity, and apoptosis.
      CONCLUSIONS: The chromosome 4 QTL is a key region containing possibly pleiotropic
      genes for AFT and drinking behavior. Given that the region contains many viable
      candidates and a large number of the genes in the interval fall into 1 or more of
      the enriched functional categories, we postulate that many genes of varying
      effect size contribute to the observed QTL effect.

PMID- 25833027
TI  - The effects of chronic alcohol self-administration in nonhuman primate brain
      networks.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Long-term alcohol abuse is associated with change in behavior, brain
      structure, and brain function. However, the nature of these changes is not well
      understood. In this study, we used network science to analyze a nonhuman primate
      model of ethanol self-administration to evaluate functional differences between
      animals with chronic alcohol use and animals with no exposure to alcohol. Of
      particular interest was how chronic alcohol exposure may affect the resting state
      network. METHODS: Baseline resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging
      was acquired in a cohort of vervet monkeys. Animals underwent an induction period
      where they were exposed to an isocaloric maltose dextrin solution (control) or
      ethanol in escalating doses over three 30-day epochs. Following induction,
      animals were given ad libitum access to water and a maltose dextrin solution
      (control) or water and ethanol for 22 h/d over 12 months. Cross-sectional
      analyses examined region of interests in hubs and community structure across
      animals to determine differences between drinking and nondrinking animals after
      the 12-month free access period. RESULTS: Animals were classified as lighter
      (<2.0 g/kg/d) or heavier drinkers (>=2.0 g/kg/d) based on a median split of their
      intake pattern during the 12-month ethanol free access period. Statistical
      analysis of hub connectivity showed significant differences in heavier drinkers
      for hubs in the precuneus, posterior parietal cortices, superior temporal gyrus,
      subgenual cingulate, and sensorimotor cortex. Heavier drinkers were also shown to
      have less consistent communities across the brain compared to lighter drinkers.
      The different level of consumption between the lighter and heavier drinking
      monkeys suggests that differences in connectivity may be intake dependent.
      CONCLUSIONS: Animals that consume alcohol show topological differences in brain
      network organization, particularly in animals that drink heavily. Differences in
      the resting state network were linked to areas that are associated with spatial
      association, working memory, and visuomotor processing.

PMID- 25833026
TI  - Differential response of glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes in
      the rat prefrontal cortex following ethanol self-administration.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prefrontal cortex (PFC) dysfunction is believed to contribute to the
      transition from controlled substance use to abuse. Because astrocytes have been
      suggested to play a key role in the development and maintenance of drug-seeking
      behaviors, we sought to determine whether PFC astrocytes are affected by ethanol
      (EtOH) self-administration. METHODS: EtOH consumption was modeled in rats by 3
      self-administration paradigms where EtOH was made concurrently available with
      water in the home cage either continuously (CEA) or intermittently (IEA). In the
      third paradigm, EtOH was only available in the operant chamber (OEA). To avoid
      the potential confound of acute EtOH effects, all rats were sacrificed after
      either 24-hour or 3-week abstinence. In all groups, the effect of EtOH
      consumption on PFC astrocytes was measured using unbiased stereological counting
      of cells expressing the astrocyte marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).
      GFAP immunoreactivity commonly changes in response to pharmacological insult or
      injury. RESULTS: GFAP-positive astrocyte number increased in the prelimbic and
      anterior cingulate cortex regions of the PFC after IEA. No change was found in
      the infralimbic or orbitofrontal cortex after IEA. After 3-week abstinence, there
      was a reduction of astrocytes in the prelimbic and orbitofrontal cortex of the
      CEA cohort as well as a reduction in the orbitofrontal cortex of the OEA cohort.
      CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that discrete PFC subregions contain GFAP
      positive astrocyte populations that respond differentially to distinct EtOH
      consumption paradigms. A better understanding of how specific astrocyte
      populations uniquely adapt to EtOH consumption could provide insight for targeted
      therapeutic interventions.

PMID- 25833028
TI  - Serum concentrations of mast cell tryptase are reduced in heavy drinkers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Baseline serum tryptase concentrations are commonly used in clinical
      practice as a marker of the body's mast cell burden. This study aimed to
      investigate serum tryptase concentrations in heavy drinkers. METHODS: Serum
      tryptase concentrations were determined in 126 heavy drinkers (75% males, median
      age 47 years) who were admitted to the hospital because of alcohol withdrawal
      syndrome (n = 60), general symptoms with abnormalities on biochemical tests that
      indicated acute liver disease (n = 19), complications of advanced liver disease
      (n = 33), and miscellaneous reasons (n = 14). Results were compared with those of
      70 healthy controls (66% males, median age 40 years). RESULTS: Serum tryptase
      concentrations were lower in heavy drinkers than in healthy controls (median 2.23
      MUg/l vs. median 3.25 MUg/l, p < 0.001). Ten heavy drinkers (7.9%) had
      undetectable (<1 MUg/l) serum tryptase levels versus none of the healthy controls
      (p = 0.01). The association of low tryptase levels with heavy drinking was
      independent of age, gender, and smoking status. Among heavy drinkers, the lowest
      tryptase concentrations were observed in patients with alcohol withdrawal
      syndrome and patients with general symptoms with abnormalities on biochemical
      tests that indicated acute liver disease. Furthermore, serum tryptase
      concentrations were negatively correlated with markers of acute liver damage or
      alcohol consumption (serum aspartate aminotransferase and gamma-glutamyl
      transferase). Atopy (skin prick test positivity) was not associated with serum
      tryptase concentrations in heavy drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: Serum concentrations of
      mast cell tryptase are lower in heavy drinkers than in healthy controls.

PMID- 25833029
TI  - Co-occurrence of alcohol, drug use, DSM-5 alcohol use disorder, and symptoms of
      drug use disorder on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The U.S.-Mexico border displays elevated rates of hazardous alcohol
      and drug use. Whether the co-occurrence of alcohol and drug use and disorders is
      also high in the border area is unknown. METHODS: Data are from the U.S.-Mexico
      Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions, a cross-sectional survey of randomly
      selected respondents interviewed from 2011 to 2013. Participants included 1,690
      Mexican Americans from Texas (572 in an off-border city and 1,118 from 3 border
      cities) and 1,293 Mexicans from Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas (415 in an off-border
      city and 878 from 3 Mexican cities bordering Texas) who reported drinking in the
      last 12 months. Participants were interviewed regarding the prevalence of and
      risk factors for: (i) co-occurring hazardous alcohol use (5+/4+ at least monthly)
      and drug use (medical and illicit) and (ii) co-occurring presence of a DSM-5
      alcohol use disorder (AUD) and 2 symptoms (hazardous use and quit/control) of
      drug use disorder (DUD symptoms). RESULTS: Co-occurring hazardous alcohol and
      drug use was more common in the U.S. border cities (14.7%) than off-border
      (7.2%), but similar for Mexican border (1.2%) and off-border (1.4%) cities. Co
      occurrence of AUD and DUD symptoms was likewise more common at the U.S. border
      (6.8%) than off-border (3.3%), as well as at the Mexican border (1.3%), compared
      to off-border (0.6%), but not statistically significant for Mexico. In models
      adjusting for demographics, mobility factors and exposure to the U.S. culture,
      border residence in both countries related to a nearly twofold increase in
      prevalence ratios (PRs) of co-occurring AUD and DUD symptoms (PR = 1.97, 95% CI =
      1.36 to 2.85). CONCLUSIONS: Increased rates of co-occurring AUDs and DUDs suggest
      an added negative impact on already difficult conditions of the border
      population.

PMID- 25833030
TI  - Relationship between craving and ghrelin, adiponectin, and resistin levels in
      patients with alcoholism.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Alcoholism is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity. The most
      widely accepted hypothesis of its etiology is multidimensional and includes
      biological, psychological, and sociological factors. The biological factors have
      been the focus of investigation. In recent years, pathways related to nutrition
      and the relationship between alcohol addiction and craving have been studied. Our
      aim was to explore the relationship between the appetite hormones (adiponectin,
      ghrelin, and resistin) and alcohol craving. METHODS: Blood samples were obtained
      from 107 male patients over a 7-day period. Levels of adiponectin, resistin, and
      ghrelin, the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) score, and the Penn
      Alcohol Craving Scale (PACS) score were assessed on days 0 and 7. Adiponectin,
      resistin, and ghrelin levels were also tested in 83 healthy males in the control
      group. RESULTS: The sample group consisted of 190 males (107 patients and 83
      healthy controls). Comparison of alcohol craving scales with biological markers
      in the patient group showed a positive correlation between adiponectin levels and
      the OCDS compulsive subscale scores, and a positive correlation between ghrelin
      levels and the OCDS total and compulsive subscale scores and the PACS resistance
      subscale scores. Resistin levels were negatively correlated with the OCDS total,
      obsessive subscale, and compulsive subscale scores. CONCLUSIONS: Although we did
      not observe a significant relationship between craving and any of the 3
      biomarkers on day 0, craving was positively correlated with the levels of
      adiponectin and ghrelin and negatively correlated resistin levels on day 7. Our
      findings support the hypothesis that appetite hormones are trait markers for
      alcohol craving. Nevertheless, more conclusive results require future studies
      that evaluate the relationship between these hormones and
      withdrawal/detoxification period or long-term soberness.

PMID- 25833032
TI  - Cognitive impairment following consumption of alcohol with and without energy
      drinks.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the relative effects of alcohol
      mixed with energy drink (AmED) versus alcohol alone on cognitive performance
      across the ascending and descending breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) limb
      using doses similar to real-world intake. METHODS: Using a single-blind, placebo
      controlled, crossover design, 19 participants completed 4 sessions where they
      received: (i) placebo, (ii) alcohol, (iii) AmED 500 ml energy drink (ED), and
      (iii) AmED 750 ml ED. Performance on measures of psychomotor function
      (Compensatory Tracking Task [CTT]), information processing (Digit Symbol
      Substitution Task [DSST]; Inspection Time Task [ITT]), and response inhibition
      (Brief Stop-Signal Task [Brief SST]) was assessed at ~0.05% ascending BrAC,
      ~0.08% peak BrAC, and ~0.05% descending BrAC. RESULTS: The ITT and Brief SST
      showed no differential effect of AmED versus alcohol (gs < 0.30 and gs < 0.36,
      respectively). Moderate magnitude improvements in alcohol-induced impairment of
      CTT and DSST performance were observed after AmED versus alcohol on the
      descending BrAC limb (gs > 0.45 and gs > 0.37, respectively). A moderate
      magnitude decrease in DSST errors was also observed after AmED relative to
      alcohol at 0.050% ascending target BrAC (gs > 0.43). CONCLUSIONS: Changes in
      cognitive function after AmED administration were dependent on the degree of
      intoxication, BrAC curve limb, and ED volume. Co-administration of ED doses which
      matched (500 ml) and exceeded (500 ml) maximum daily intake guidelines with
      alcohol decreased impairment of psychomotor function and global information
      processing after alcohol consumption. These results cannot be necessarily
      interpreted to suggest that people are less impaired after AmED, as behavior is
      the result of coordination of multiple cognitive functions, and reduced
      impairment on one aspect of cognition may not translate into global improvements.

PMID- 25833031
TI  - Verbal learning and memory impairment in children with fetal alcohol spectrum
      disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous studies using the California Verbal Learning Test-Children's
      Version (CVLT-C) to examine effects of heavy prenatal alcohol exposure on verbal
      learning and memory have reported impaired information acquisition (i.e.,
      encoding), rather than retrieval, as the primary mechanism underlying learning
      and memory impairment. We administered the CVLT-C to 2 independent cohorts to
      determine whether (i) effects on encoding are also seen at moderate exposure
      levels, using both categorical (diagnostic/exposure group) and continuous
      exposure measures; (ii) these deficits are specific or secondary to alcohol
      related impairment in IQ; (iii) effects on retrieval can be detected over and
      above effects on initial encoding; and (iv) effects on learning are attributable
      to less efficient learning strategy use. METHODS: We administered the CVLT-C and
      Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children to 151 Cape Town heavy and nonexposed
      children (M = 10.3 years), and 291 Detroit adolescents recruited to over
      represent moderate-to-heavy prenatal alcohol exposure (M = 14.4 years). RESULTS:
      Effects on encoding in the heavily exposed Cape Town cohort and on retrieval in
      both cohorts were significant after adjustment for IQ. Although effects on
      retrieval were no longer significant in Cape Town after control for initial
      encoding, effects on recognition memory continued to be evident in Detroit.
      Children with full or partial fetal alcohol syndrome were less able to use the
      semantic cluster encoding strategy implicit in the CVLT-C. CONCLUSIONS: Effects
      on verbal learning were seen primarily in the more heavily exposed Cape Town
      cohort; effects on recall and recognition memory were also seen at moderate
      exposure levels in Detroit. These effects were not attributable to alcohol
      related impairment in overall intellectual competence. The finding that effects
      on retention continued to be evident after statistical adjustment for initial
      encoding in Detroit suggests that a fetal alcohol-related deficit in retrieval is
      not secondary to a failure to encode the initial information. These data confirm
      that this impairment in initial learning is mediated, in part, by failure to use
      the semantic cluster learning strategy.

PMID- 25833033
TI  - Using contingency management procedures to reduce at-risk drinking in heavy
      drinkers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Treatments for alcohol use disorders typically have been abstinence
      based, but harm reduction approaches that encourage drinkers to alter their
      drinking behavior to reduce the probability of alcohol-related consequences, have
      gained in popularity. This study used a contingency management procedure to
      determine its effectiveness in reducing alcohol consumption among heavy drinkers.
      METHODS: Eighty-two nontreatment-seeking heavy drinkers (ages 21 to 54, M =
      30.20) who did not meet diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence participated
      in the study. The study had 3 phases: (i) an Observation phase (4 weeks) where
      participants drank normally; (ii) a Contingency Management phase (12 weeks) where
      participants were paid $50 weekly for not exceeding low levels of alcohol
      consumption as measured by transdermal alcohol concentrations, <0.03 g/dl; and
      (iii) a Follow-up phase (12 weeks) where participants (n = 66) returned monthly
      for 3 months to self-report drinking after the contingencies were removed.
      Transdermal alcohol monitors were used to verify meeting contingency
      requirements; all other analyses were conducted on self-reported alcohol use.
      RESULTS: On average 42.3% of participants met the contingency criteria and were
      paid an average of $222 during the Contingency Management phase, with an average
      $1,998 in total compensation throughout the study. Compared to the Observation
      phase, the percent of any self-reported drinking days significantly decreased
      from 59.9 to 40.0% in the Contingency Management and 32.0% in the Follow-up
      phases. The percent of self-reported heavy drinking days reported also
      significantly decreased from 42.4% in the Observation phase to 19.7% in the
      Contingency Management phase, which was accompanied by a significant increase in
      percent days of self-reported no (from 40.1 to 60.0%) and low-level drinking
      (from 9.9 to 15.4%). Self-reported reductions in drinking either persisted, or
      became more pronounced, during the Follow-up phase. CONCLUSIONS: Contingency
      management was associated with a reduction in self-reported episodes of heavy
      drinking among nontreatment-seeking heavy drinkers. These effects persisted even
      after incentives were removed, indicating the potential utility of contingency
      management as a therapeutic intervention to reduce harmful patterns of drinking.

PMID- 25833034
TI  - Chronic intermittent ethanol exposure in mice leads to an up-regulation of
      CRH/CRHR1 signaling.
AB  - BACKGROUND: One of the most commonly used approaches to induce ethanol (EtOH)
      dependence in rodents is EtOH vapor inhalation. This procedure requires the co
      administration of pyrazole-an inhibitor of the alcohol dehydrogenase-to obtain
      stable blood EtOH concentrations (BECs) during the entire induction course.
      However, pyrazole can produce unwanted side effects. Our goal was to obtain EtOH
      dependent mice without pyrazole and to study their behavioral and molecular
      postdependent phenotype. In particular, we were interested in alterations in the
      corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) and receptor (CRHR1 and CRHR2) system as a
      prominent role of CRH in driving the postdependent state via actions in the
      central extended amygdala (CeA) has been demonstrated in rats but not in
      postdependent mice. METHODS: We established an alternative model of chronic
      intermittent EtOH (CIE) inhalation without the use of pyrazole in C57BL/6N mice.
      Our CIE exposure protocol involved 8 cycles. One cycle consisted of 8 hours with
      EtOH inhalation and 8 hours without EtOH. We then examined withdrawal symptoms.
      After 2 weeks of abstinence, we studied relapse, reinstatement of EtOH-seeking,
      and stress-induced EtOH self-administration. We also did transcriptional analysis
      of components of the CRH system during CIE, protracted abstinence, and after
      stress-induced EtOH self-administration. RESULTS: CIE exposure without pyrazole
      resulted in reproducible BECs during the induction procedure. Mice showed strong
      withdrawal scores during 4 to 12 hours after the last CIE cycle and enhanced
      stress-induced EtOH self-administration. This postdependent phenotype during
      abstinence was accompanied by enhanced Crh and Crhr1 transcripts but no change in
      Crhr2 transcripts in the CeA. Cue-induced EtOH-seeking behavior and relapse
      (alcohol deprivation effect) were not affected by the inhalation procedure.
      CONCLUSIONS: We have established a CIE inhalation protocol without pyrazole in
      mice and showed excessive EtOH self-administration under mild stress and enhanced
      CRH/CRHR1 signaling in the CeA.

PMID- 25833035
TI  - Reducing asthma attacks: consider patients' beliefs.

PMID- 25833036
TI  - Distribution of mitochondrial DNA nucleoids inside the linear tubules vs. bulk
      parts of mitochondrial network as visualized by 4Pi microscopy.
AB  - Mitochondrial nucleoids are confined sites of mitochondrial DNA existing in
      complex clusters with the DNA-compacting mitochondrial (mt) transcription factor
      A (TFAM) and other accessory proteins and gene expression machinery proteins,
      such as a mt single-stranded-DNA-binding protein (mtSSB). To visualize nucleoid
      distribution within the mt reticular network, we have employed three-dimensional
      (3D) double-color 4Pi microscopy. The mt network was visualized in hepatocellular
      carcinoma HepG2 cells via mt-matrix-addressed GFP, while 3D immunocytochemistry
      of mtSSB was performed. Optimization of iso-surface computation threshold for
      nucleoid 4Pi images to 30 led to an average nucleoid diameter of 219 +/- 110 and
      224 +/- 100 nm in glucose- and galactose-cultivated HepG2 cells (the latter with
      obligatory oxidative phosphorylation). We have positioned mtDNA nucleoids within
      the mt reticulum network and refined our model for nucleoid redistribution within
      the fragmented network--clustering of up to ten nucleoids in 2 MUm diameter
      mitochondrial spheroids of a fragmented mt network, arising from an original 10
      MUm mt tubule of a 400 nm diameter. However, the theoretically fragmented bulk
      parts were observed most frequently as being reintegrated into the continuous mt
      network in 4Pi images. Since the predicted nucleoid counts within the bulk parts
      corresponded to the model, we conclude that fragmentation/reintegration cycles
      are not accompanied by mtDNA degradation or that mtDNA degradation is equally
      balanced by mtDNA replication.

PMID- 25833037
TI  - Proposal of a novel evaluation index for the effects of shear stress and exposure
      time on hepatocyte damage.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to propose a novel evaluation index for the effects
      of shear stress level and exposure time on hepatocyte damage. Suspensions of rat
      hepatocytes (0.5 mL) were subjected to shear stress from 1.2 to 3.1 Pa for 10 min
      (n = 3) using a rheoscope. We counted living and dead cells in photographs taken
      at 1-min intervals using a digital camera attached to the microscope. Living and
      dead cells were distinguished using a Trypan blue exclusion test. Under each
      level of shear stress, at each 1-min time interval, we measured the viability
      [living-cell number (t)/countable cell number (t)] and the ratio of living cells
      [RLC: living-cell number (t)/countable cell number in the initial condition]. The
      effects of shear stress and exposure time on viability and RLC were assessed by
      multiple regression analysis. As expected, we observed an increase in the number
      of dead cells and little change in the number of living cells when shear stress
      was increased. The coefficient of determination (R (2)) to predict the
      effectiveness of viability and RLC indicated a low to moderate correlation.
      Viability correlated with shear stress and exposure time (p < 0.001); however,
      RLC only correlated with exposure time of shear stress (p < 0.001). In this test
      condition, viability was strongly related not to living-cell damage but to dead
      cell damage. Therefore, we propose RLC as a novel and effective index for
      investigating the effect of shear stress on living hepatocytes. 

PMID- 25833038
TI  - In prostate cancer, low adiponectin levels are not associated with insulin
      resistance.
AB  - PURPOSE: Adiponectin, an adipose tissue-derived hormone with insulin-sensitizing
      effect, has been inversely associated with several hormonally dependent
      malignancies. Prostate cancer is associated with low levels of adiponectin, which
      have been proposed as an independent risk factor for this malignancy. Aim of this
      study was to examine whether hypoadiponectinaemia in prostate is associated with
      insulin resistance. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Plasma samples and covariate data in the
      context of a case-control study of 300 Greek men were evaluated including 75
      patients with prostate cancer, 75 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia
      (BPH) and 150 age-matched healthy controls. RESULTS: Patients with prostate
      cancer had significantly lower plasma adiponectin levels compared with the other
      two groups, that is BPH patients and healthy controls (7.4 +/- 5 ng/mL vs. 11.5
      +/- 6.4 ng/mL and 12.8 +/- 8 ng/mL, respectively). On the other hand, no
      statistically significant differences were found between patients with prostate
      cancer and the other two groups for both HOMA-IR and QUICKI (P-value = 0.551). As
      expected, in all three groups, the levels of adiponectin correlated negatively
      with HOMA-IR (rho = -0.214, P-value = 0.006), QUICKI (rho = 0.214, P-value =
      0.006) and insulin levels (rho = 0.942, P-value < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In spite of
      what would have been expected from the relevant literature, our data suggest that
      the hypoadiponectinaemia in prostatic cancer does not appear to be associated
      with insulin resistance.

PMID- 25833039
TI  - A layered P2- and O3-type composite as a high-energy cathode for rechargeable
      sodium-ion batteries.
AB  - A layered composite with P2 and O3 integration is proposed toward a sodium-ion
      battery with high energy density and long cycle life. The integration of P2 and
      O3 structures in this layered oxide is clearly characterized by XRD refinement,
      SAED and HAADF and ABF-STEM at atomic resolution. The biphase synergy in this
      layered P2+O3 composite is well established during the electrochemical reaction.
      This layered composite can deliver a high reversible capacity with the largest
      energy density of 640 mAh g(-1), and it also presents good capacity retention
      over 150 times of sodium extraction and insertion.

PMID- 25833040
TI  - Systolic cardiac function assessment by feature tracking echocardiography in dogs
      with myxomatous mitral valve disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate endomyocardial and epimyocardial left ventricular
      circumferential and longitudinal peak systolic strain and strain rate in dogs
      with myxomatous mitral valve disease using two-dimensional feature tracking
      imaging echocardiography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Epimyocardial and endomyocardial
      global and regional myocardial peak systolic strain and strain rate using two
      dimensional feature tracking imaging were evaluated in healthy dogs and those in
      stages B1, B2 and C of myxomatous mitral valve disease. Strain and strain rate in
      circumferential and longitudinal aspect were evaluated in 48 small- and medium
      sized dogs. RESULTS: Global endomyocardial circumferential strain and global
      epimyocardial circumferential strain systolic peak were lower in stage C than in
      stage B2 (P = 0 . 04 and P = 0 . 02) and similar to healthy dogs. Endomyocardial
      circumferential strain rate in septal and inferior segments were lower in stage C
      compared to B2 (P = 0 . 0007 and P = 0 . 0056), but not different from healthy
      dogs. There were no statistical differences in the epimyocardial circumferential
      strain rate, longitudinal strain and strain rate between healthy and affected
      dogs. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Two-dimensional feature tracking imaging
      determination of myocardial deformation in epimyocardial and endomyocardial
      layers allows detection of increased compensatory circumferential left
      ventricular myocardial systolic performance due to volume overload and absence of
      this response as disease advances to congestive heart failure.

PMID- 25833041
TI  - Thick solid electrolyte interphases grown on silicon nanocone anodes during slow
      cycling and their negative effects on the performance of Li-ion batteries.
AB  - Thickness, homogeneity and coverage of the surface passivation layer on Si anodes
      for Li-ion batteries have decisive influences on their cyclic performance and
      coulombic efficiency, but related information is difficult to obtain, especially
      during cycling. In this work, a well-defined silicon nanocone (SNC) on silicon
      wafer sample has been fabricated as a model electrode in lithium ion batteries to
      investigate the growth of surface species on the SNC electrode during cycling
      using ex situ scanning electronic microscopy. It is observed that an extra 5 MUm
      thick layer covers the top of the SNCs after 25 cycles at 0.1 C. This top layer
      has been proven to be a solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer by designing a
      solid lithium battery. It is noticed that the SEI layer is much thinner at a high
      rate of 1 C. The cyclic performance of the SNCs at 1 C looks much better than
      that of the same electrode at 0.1 C in the half cell. Our findings clearly
      demonstrate that the formation of the thick SEI on the naked nanostructured Si
      anode during low rate cycling is a serious problem for practical applications. An
      in depth understanding of this problem may provide valuable guidance in designing
      Si-based anode materials. 

PMID- 25833042
TI  - Noncapped Alphavirus Genomic RNAs and Their Role during Infection.
AB  - Alphaviruses are enveloped positive-sense RNA viruses that exhibit a wide host
      range consisting of vertebrate and invertebrate species. Previously we have
      reported that the infectivity of Sindbis virus (SINV), the model alphavirus, was
      largely a function of the cell line producing the viral particles. Mammalian-cell
      derived SINV particles, on average, exhibit a higher particle-to-PFU ratio than
      mosquito cell-derived SINV particles. Nevertheless, the outcome of nonproductive
      infection, the molecular traits that determine particle infectivity and the
      biological importance of noninfectious particles were, prior to this study,
      unknown. Here, we report that the incoming genomic RNAs of noninfectious SINV
      particles undergo rapid degradation following infection. Moreover, these studies
      have led to the identification of the absence of the 5' cap structure as a
      primary molecular determinant of particle infectivity. We show that the genomic
      RNAs of alphaviruses are not universally 5' capped, with a significant number of
      noncapped genomic RNA produced early in infection. The production of noncapped
      viral genomic RNAs is important to the establishment and maintenance of
      alphaviral infection. IMPORTANCE: This report is of importance to the field of
      virology for three reasons. First, these studies demonstrate that noncapped
      Sindbis virus particles are produced as a result of viral RNA synthesis. Second,
      this report is, to our knowledge, the first instance of the direct measurement of
      the half-life of an incoming genomic RNA from a positive-sense RNA virus. Third,
      these studies indicate that alphaviral infection is likely a concerted effort of
      infectious and noninfectious viral particles.

PMID- 25833043
TI  - Simian Immunodeficiency Virus SIVsab Infection of Rhesus Macaques as a Model of
      Complete Immunological Suppression with Persistent Reservoirs of Replication
      Competent Virus: Implications for Cure Research.
AB  - Simian immunodeficiency virus SIVsab infection is completely controlled in rhesus
      macaques (RMs) through functional immune responses. We report that in SIVsab
      infected RMs, (i) viral replication is controlled to <0 to 3 copies/ml, (ii)
      about one-third of the virus strains in reservoirs are replication incompetent,
      and (iii) rebounding virus after CD8(+) cell depletion is replication competent
      and genetically similar to the original virus stock, suggesting early reservoir
      seeding. This model permits assessment of strategies aimed at depleting the
      reservoir without multidrug antiretroviral therapy. 

PMID- 25833044
TI  - Determinants of Dengue Virus NS4A Protein Oligomerization.
AB  - Flavivirus NS4A protein induces host membrane rearrangement and functions as a
      replication complex component. The molecular details of how flavivirus NS4A
      exerts these functions remain elusive. Here, we used dengue virus (DENV) as a
      model to characterize and demonstrate the biological relevance of flavivirus NS4A
      oligomerization. DENV type 2 (DENV-2) NS4A protein forms oligomers in infected
      cells or when expressed alone. Deletion mutagenesis mapped amino acids 50 to 76
      (spanning the first transmembrane domain [TMD1]) of NS4A as the major determinant
      for oligomerization, while the N-terminal 50 residues contribute only slightly to
      the oligomerization. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis of NS4A amino
      acids 17 to 80 suggests that residues L31, L52, E53, G66, and G67 could
      participate in oligomerization. Ala substitution for 15 flavivirus conserved NS4A
      residues revealed that these amino acids are important for viral replication.
      Among the 15 mutated NS4A residues, 2 amino acids (E50A and G67A) are located
      within TMD1. Both E50A and G67A attenuated viral replication, decreased NS4A
      oligomerization, and reduced NS4A protein stability. In contrast, NS4A
      oligomerization was not affected by the replication-defective mutations (R12A,
      P49A, and K80A) located outside TMD1. trans complementation experiments showed
      that expression of wild-type NS4A alone was not sufficient to rescue the
      replication-lethal NS4A mutants. However, the presence of DENV-2 replicons could
      partially restore the replication defect of some lethal NS4A mutants (L26A and
      K80A), but not others (L60A and E122A), suggesting an unidentified mechanism
      governing the outcome of complementation in a mutant-dependent manner.
      Collectively, the results have demonstrated the importance of TMD1-mediated NS4A
      oligomerization in flavivirus replication. IMPORTANCE: We report that DENV NS4A
      forms oligomers. Such NS4A oligomerization is mediated mainly through amino acids
      50 to 76 (spanning the first transmembrane domain [TMD1]). The biological
      importance of NS4A oligomerization is demonstrated by results showing that
      mutations of flavivirus conserved residues (E50A and G67A located within TMD1)
      reduced the oligomerization and stability of the NS4A protein, leading to
      attenuated viral replication. A systematic mutagenesis analysis demonstrated that
      flavivirus conserved NS4A residues are important for DENV replication. A
      successful trans complementation of replication-lethal NS4A mutant virus requires
      wild-type NS4A in the context of the viral replication complex. The wild-type
      NS4A protein alone is not sufficient to rescue the replication defect of NS4A
      mutants. Intriguingly, distinct NS4A mutants yielded different complementation
      outcomes in the replicon-containing cells. Overall, the study has enhanced our
      understanding of flavivirus NS4A at the molecular level. The results also suggest
      that inhibitor blocking of NS4A oligomerization could be explored for antiviral
      drug discovery.

PMID- 25833045
TI  - Coronavirus and influenza virus proteolytic priming takes place in tetraspanin
      enriched membrane microdomains.
AB  - Coronaviruses (CoVs) and low-pathogenicity influenza A viruses (LP IAVs) depend
      on target cell proteases to cleave their viral glycoproteins and prime them for
      virus-cell membrane fusion. Several proteases cluster into tetraspanin-enriched
      microdomains (TEMs), suggesting that TEMs are preferred virus entry portals. Here
      we found that several CoV receptors and virus-priming proteases were indeed
      present in TEMs. Isolated TEMs, when mixed with CoV and LP IAV pseudoparticles,
      cleaved viral fusion proteins to fusion-primed fragments and potentiated viral
      transductions. That entering viruses utilize TEMs as a protease source was
      further confirmed using tetraspanin antibodies and tetraspanin short hairpin RNAs
      (shRNAs). Tetraspanin antibodies inhibited CoV and LP IAV infections, but their
      virus-blocking activities were overcome by expressing excess TEM-associated
      proteases. Similarly, cells with reduced levels of the tetraspanin CD9 resisted
      CoV pseudoparticle transductions but were made susceptible by overproducing TEM
      associated proteases. These findings indicated that antibodies and CD9 depletions
      interfere with viral proteolytic priming in ways that are overcome by surplus
      proteases. TEMs appear to be exploited by some CoVs and LP IAVs for appropriate
      coengagement with cell receptors and proteases. IMPORTANCE: Enveloped viruses use
      their surface glycoproteins to catalyze membrane fusion, an essential cell entry
      step. Host cell components prime these viral surface glycoproteins to catalyze
      membrane fusion at specific times and places during virus cell entry. Among these
      priming components are proteases, which cleave viral surface glycoproteins,
      unleashing them to refold in ways that catalyze virus-cell membrane fusions. For
      some enveloped viruses, these proteases are known to reside on target cell
      surfaces. This research focuses on coronavirus and influenza A virus cell entry
      and identifies TEMs as sites of viral proteolysis, thereby defining subcellular
      locations of virus priming with greater precision. Implications of these findings
      extend to the use of virus entry antagonists, such as protease inhibitors, which
      might be most effective when localized to these microdomains.

PMID- 25833046
TI  - Quantification of Hepatitis C Virus Cell-to-Cell Spread Using a Stochastic
      Modeling Approach.
AB  - It has been proposed that viral cell-to-cell transmission plays a role in
      establishing and maintaining chronic infections. Thus, understanding the
      mechanisms and kinetics of cell-to-cell spread is fundamental to elucidating the
      dynamics of infection and may provide insight into factors that determine
      chronicity. Because hepatitis C virus (HCV) spreads from cell to cell and has a
      chronicity rate of up to 80% in exposed individuals, we examined the dynamics of
      HCV cell-to-cell spread in vitro and quantified the effect of inhibiting
      individual host factors. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we performed HCV
      spread assays and assessed the appropriateness of different stochastic models for
      describing HCV focus expansion. To evaluate the effect of blocking specific host
      cell factors on HCV cell-to-cell transmission, assays were performed in the
      presence of blocking antibodies and/or small-molecule inhibitors targeting
      different cellular HCV entry factors. In all experiments, HCV-positive cells were
      identified by immunohistochemical staining and the number of HCV-positive cells
      per focus was assessed to determine focus size. We found that HCV focus expansion
      can best be explained by mathematical models assuming focus size-dependent
      growth. Consistent with previous reports suggesting that some factors impact HCV
      cell-to-cell spread to different extents, modeling results estimate a hierarchy
      of efficacies for blocking HCV cell-to-cell spread when targeting different host
      factors (e.g., CLDN1 > NPC1L1 > TfR1). This approach can be adapted to describe
      focus expansion dynamics under a variety of experimental conditions as a means to
      quantify cell-to-cell transmission and assess the impact of cellular factors,
      viral factors, and antivirals. IMPORTANCE: The ability of viruses to efficiently
      spread by direct cell-to-cell transmission is thought to play an important role
      in the establishment and maintenance of viral persistence. As such, elucidating
      the dynamics of cell-to-cell spread and quantifying the effect of blocking the
      factors involved has important implications for the design of potent antiviral
      strategies and controlling viral escape. Mathematical modeling has been widely
      used to understand HCV infection dynamics and treatment response; however, these
      models typically assume only cell-free virus infection mechanisms. Here, we used
      stochastic models describing focus expansion as a means to understand and
      quantify the dynamics of HCV cell-to-cell spread in vitro and determined the
      degree to which cell-to-cell spread is reduced when individual HCV entry factors
      are blocked. The results demonstrate the ability of this approach to recapitulate
      and quantify cell-to-cell transmission, as well as the impact of specific factors
      and potential antivirals.

PMID- 25833047
TI  - Detection of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus in Semen, Urethra, and Male
      Reproductive Organs during Efficient Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy.
AB  - A number of men receiving prolonged suppressive highly active antiretroviral
      therapy (HAART) still shed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in semen. To
      investigate whether this seminal shedding may be due to poor drug penetration
      and/or viral production by long-lived cells within male genital tissues, we
      analyzed semen and reproductive tissues from macaques chronically infected with
      simian immunodeficiency virus mac251 (SIVmac251) who were treated for 4 months
      with HAART, which was intensified over the last 7 weeks with an integrase
      inhibitor. We showed that a subset of treated animals continued shedding SIV in
      semen despite efficient HAART. This shedding was not associated with low
      antiretroviral drug concentrations in semen or in testis, epididymis, seminal
      vesicles, and prostate. HAART had no significant impact on SIV RNA in the
      urethra, whereas it drastically reduced SIV RNA levels in the prostate and vas
      deferens and to a lesser extent in the epididymis and seminal vesicle. The only
      detectable SIV RNA-positive cells within the male genital tract after HAART were
      urethral macrophages. SIV DNA levels in genital tissues were not decreased by
      HAART, suggesting the presence throughout the male genital tract of
      nonproductively infected cells. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that 4
      months of HAART induced variable and limited control of viral infection in the
      male reproductive organs, particularly in the urethra, and suggest that infected
      long-lived cells in the male genital tract may be involved in persistent seminal
      shedding during HAART. These results pave the way for further investigations of
      male genital organ infection in long-term-treated infected individuals.
      IMPORTANCE: A substantial subset of men receiving prolonged HAART suppressing
      viral loads in the blood still harbor HIV in semen, and cases of sexual
      transmission have been reported. To understand the origin of this persistence, we
      analyzed the semen and male reproductive tissues from SIV-infected macaques
      treated with HAART. We demonstrated that persistent seminal shedding was not
      linked to poor drug penetration in semen or semen-producing prostate, seminal
      vesicle, epididymis, and testis. We revealed that HAART decreased SIV RNA to
      various extents in all male genital organs, with the exception of the urethra, in
      which SIV RNA(+) macrophages were observed despite HAART. Importantly, HAART did
      not impact SIV DNA levels in the male genital organs. These results suggest that
      infection of male genital organs, and particularly the urethra, could be involved
      in the release of virus in semen during HAART.

PMID- 25833048
TI  - Interregional Coevolution Analysis Revealing Functional and Structural
      Interrelatedness between Different Genomic Regions in Human Mastadenovirus D.
AB  - Human mastadenovirus D (HAdV-D) is exceptionally rich in type among the seven
      human adenovirus species. This feature is attributed to frequent intertypic
      recombination events that have reshuffled orthologous genomic regions between
      different HAdV-D types. However, this trend appears to be paradoxical, as it has
      been demonstrated that the replacement of some of the interacting proteins for a
      specific function with other orthologues causes malfunction, indicating that
      intertypic recombination events may be deleterious. In order to understand why
      the paradoxical trend has been possible in HAdV-D evolution, we conducted an
      interregional coevolution analysis between different genomic regions of 45
      different HAdV-D types and found that ca. 70% of the genome has coevolved, even
      though these are fragmented into several pieces via short intertypic
      recombination hot spot regions. Since it is statistically and biologically
      unlikely that all of the coevolving fragments have synchronously recombined
      between different genomes, it is probable that these regions have stayed in their
      original genomes during evolution as a platform for frequent intertypic
      recombination events in limited regions. It is also unlikely that the same
      genomic regions have remained almost untouched during frequent recombination
      events, independently, in all different types, by chance. In addition, the
      coevolving regions contain the coding regions of physically interacting proteins
      for important functions. Therefore, the coevolution of these regions should be
      attributed at least in part to natural selection due to common biological
      constraints operating on all types, including protein-protein interactions for
      essential functions. Our results predict additional unknown protein interactions.
      IMPORTANCE: Human mastadenovirus D, an exceptionally type-rich human adenovirus
      species and causative agent of different diseases in a wide variety of tissues,
      including that of ocular region and digestive tract, as well as an opportunistic
      infection in immunocompromised patients, is known to have highly diverged through
      frequent intertypic recombination events; however, it has also been demonstrated
      that the replacement of a component protein of a multiprotein system with a
      homologous protein causes malfunction. The present study solved this apparent
      paradox by looking at which genomic parts have coevolved using a newly developed
      method. The results revealed that intertypic recombination events have occurred
      in limited genomic regions and been avoided in the genomic regions encoding
      proteins that physically interact for a given function. This approach detects
      purifying selection against recombination events causing the replacement of
      partial components of multiprotein systems and therefore predicts physical and
      functional interactions between different proteins and/or genomic elements.

PMID- 25833049
TI  - Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus Differentially Affects the Virus-Induced Type
      I Interferon Response and Mitochondrial Apoptosis Mediated by RIG-I/MAVS.
AB  - Arenaviruses are important emerging human pathogens maintained by noncytolytic
      persistent infection in their rodent reservoir hosts. Despite high levels of
      viral replication, persistently infected carrier hosts show only mildly elevated
      levels of type I interferon (IFN-I). Accordingly, the arenavirus nucleoprotein
      (NP) has been identified as a potent IFN-I antagonist capable of blocking
      activation of interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) via the retinoic acid
      inducible gene (RIG)-I/mitochondrial antiviral signaling (MAVS) pathway. Another
      important mechanism of host innate antiviral defense is represented by virus
      induced mitochondrial apoptosis via RIG-I/MAVS and IRF3. In the present study, we
      investigated the ability of the prototypic Old World arenavirus lymphocytic
      choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) to interfere with RIG-I/MAVS-dependent apoptosis.
      We found that LCMV does not induce apoptosis at any time during infection. While
      LCMV efficiently blocked induction of IFN-I via RIG-I/MAVS in response to
      superinfection with cytopathic RNA viruses, virus-induced mitochondrial apoptosis
      remained fully active in LCMV-infected cells. Notably, in LCMV-infected cells,
      RIG-I was dispensable for virus-induced apoptosis via MAVS. Our study reveals
      that LCMV infection efficiently suppresses induction of IFN-I but does not
      interfere with the cell's ability to undergo virus-induced mitochondrial
      apoptosis as a strategy of innate antiviral defense. The RIG-I independence of
      mitochondrial apoptosis in LCMV-infected cells provides the first evidence that
      arenaviruses can reshape apoptotic signaling according to their needs.
      IMPORTANCE: Arenaviruses are important emerging human pathogens that are
      maintained in their rodent hosts by persistent infection. Persistent virus is
      able to subvert the cellular interferon response, a powerful branch of the innate
      antiviral defense. Here, we investigated the ability of the prototypic arenavirus
      lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) to interfere with the induction of
      programmed cell death, or apoptosis, in response to superinfection with
      cytopathic RNA viruses. Upon viral challenge, persistent LCMV efficiently blocked
      induction of interferons, whereas virus-induced apoptosis remained fully active
      in LCMV-infected cells. Our studies reveal that the persistent virus is able to
      reshape innate apoptotic signaling in order to prevent interferon production
      while maintaining programmed cell death as a strategy for innate defense. The
      differential effect of persistent virus on the interferon response versus its
      effect on apoptosis appears as a subtle strategy to guarantee sufficiently high
      viral loads for efficient transmission while maintaining apoptosis as a mechanism
      of defense.

PMID- 25833050
TI  - Crystal Structures of Yeast-Produced Enterovirus 71 and Enterovirus
      71/Coxsackievirus A16 Chimeric Virus-Like Particles Provide the Structural Basis
      for Novel Vaccine Design against Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease.
AB  - Human enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16) are the two major
      causative agents for hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD). Previously, we
      demonstrated that a virus-like particle (VLP) for EV71 produced from
      Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a potential vaccine candidate against EV71 infection,
      and an EV71/CVA16 chimeric VLP can elicit protective immune responses against
      both virus infections. Here, we presented the crystal structures of both VLPs,
      showing that both the linear and conformational neutralization epitopes
      identified in EV71 are mostly preserved on both VLPs. The replacement of only 4
      residues in the VP1 GH loop converted strongly negatively charged surface patches
      formed by portions of the SP70 epitope in EV71 VLP into a relatively neutral
      surface in the chimeric VLP, which likely accounted for the additional
      neutralization capability of the chimeric VLP against CVA16 infection. Such local
      variations in the amino acid sequences and the surface charge potential are also
      present in different types of polioviruses. In comparison to EV71 VLP, the
      chimeric VLP exhibits structural changes at the local site of amino acid
      replacement and the surface loops of all capsid proteins. This is consistent with
      the observation that the VP1 GH loop located near the pseudo-3-fold junction is
      involved in extensive interactions with other capsid regions. Furthermore,
      portions of VP0 and VP1 in EV71 VLP are at least transiently exposed, revealing
      the structural flexibility of the VLP. Together, our structural analysis provided
      insights into the structural basis of enterovirus neutralization and novel
      vaccine design against HFMD and other enterovirus-associated diseases.
      IMPORTANCE: Our previous studies demonstrated that the enterovirus 71 (EV71)
      virus-like particle (VLP) produced from yeast is a vaccine candidate against EV71
      infection and that a chimeric EV71/coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16) VLP with the
      replacement of 4 amino acids in the VP1 GH loop can confer protection against
      both EV71 and CVA16 infections. This study reported the crystal structures of
      both the EV71 VLP and the chimeric EV71/CVA16 VLP and revealed that the major
      neutralization epitopes of EV71 are mostly preserved in both VLPs. In addition,
      the mutated VP1 GH loop in the chimeric VLP is well exposed on the particle
      surface and exhibits a surface charge potential different from that contributed
      by the original VP1 GH loop in EV71 VLP. Together, this study provided insights
      into the structural basis of enterovirus neutralization and evidence that the
      yeast-produced VLPs can be developed into novel vaccines against hand-foot-and
      mouth disease (HFMD) and other enterovirus-associated diseases.

PMID- 25833051
TI  - Artificial Recruitment of UAF1-USP Complexes by a PHLPP1-E1 Chimeric Helicase
      Enhances Human Papillomavirus DNA Replication.
AB  - The E1 helicase from anogenital human papillomavirus (HPV) types interacts with
      the cellular WD repeat-containing protein UAF1 in complex with the
      deubiquitinating enzyme USP1, USP12, or USP46. This interaction stimulates viral
      DNA replication and is required for maintenance of the viral episome in
      keratinocytes. E1 associates with UAF1 through a short UAF1-binding site (UBS)
      located within the N-terminal 40 residues of the protein. Here, we investigated
      if the E1 UBS could be replaced by the analogous domain from an unrelated
      protein, the pleckstrin homology domain and leucine-rich repeat protein
      phosphatase 1 (PHLPP1). We found that PHLPP1 and E1 interact with UAF1 in a
      mutually exclusive manner and mapped the minimal PHLPP1 UBS (PUBS) to a 100-amino
      acid region sufficient for assembly into UAF1-USP complexes. Similarly to the E1
      UBS, overexpression of PUBS in trans inhibited HPV DNA replication, albeit less
      efficiently. Characterization of a PHLPP1-E1 chimeric helicase revealed that PUBS
      could partially substitute for the E1 UBS in enhancing viral DNA replication and
      that the stimulatory effect of PUBS likely involves recruitment of UAF1-USP
      complexes, as it was abolished by mutations that weaken UAF1-binding and by
      overexpression of catalytically inactive USPs. Although functionally similar to
      the E1 UBS, PUBS is larger in size and requires both the WD repeat region and C
      terminal ubiquitin-like domain of UAF1 for interaction, in contrast to E1, which
      does not contact the latter. Overall, this comparison of two heterologous UBSs
      indicates that these domains function as transferable protein interaction modules
      and provide further evidence that the association of E1 with UAF1-containing
      deubiquitinating complexes stimulates HPV DNA replication. IMPORTANCE: The E1
      protein from anogenital HPV types interacts with the UAF1-associated
      deubiquitinating enzymes USP1, USP12, and USP46 to stimulate replication of the
      viral genome. Little is known about the molecular nature of the E1-UAF1
      interaction and, more generally, how UAF1-USP complexes recognize their substrate
      proteins. To address this question, we characterized the UAF1-binding site (UBS)
      of PHLPP1, a protein unrelated to E1. Using a PHLPP1-E1 chimeric helicase, we
      show that the PHLPP1 UBS (PUBS) can partially substitute for the E1 UBS in
      stimulating HPV DNA replication. This stimulation required conserved sequences in
      PUBS that meditate its interaction with UAF1, including a motif common to the E1
      UBS. These results indicate that UAF1-binding sequences function as transferable
      protein interaction modules and provide further evidence that UAF1-USP complexes
      stimulate HPV DNA replication.

PMID- 25833052
TI  - Continual Reintroduction of Human Pandemic H1N1 Influenza A Viruses into Swine in
      the United States, 2009 to 2014.
AB  - The diversity of influenza A viruses in swine (swIAVs) presents an important
      pandemic threat. Knowledge of the human-swine interface is particularly important
      for understanding how viruses with pandemic potential evolve in swine hosts.
      Through phylogenetic analysis of contemporary swIAVs in the United States, we
      demonstrate that human-to-swine transmission of pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) viruses has
      occurred continuously in the years following the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and has been
      an important contributor to the genetic diversity of U.S. swIAVs. Although
      pandemic H1 and N1 segments had been largely removed from the U.S. swine
      population by 2013 via reassortment with other swIAVs, these antigens reemerged
      following multiple human-to-swine transmission events during the 2013-2014
      seasonal epidemic. These findings indicate that the six internal gene segments
      from pH1N1 viruses are likely to be sustained long term in the U.S. swine
      population, with periodic reemergence of pandemic hemagglutinin (HA) and
      neuraminidase (NA) segments in association with seasonal pH1N1 epidemics in
      humans. Vaccinating U.S. swine workers may reduce infection of both humans and
      swine and in turn limit the role of humans as sources of influenza virus
      diversity in pigs. IMPORTANCE: Swine are important hosts in the evolution of
      influenza A viruses with pandemic potential. Here, we analyze influenza virus
      sequence data generated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's national
      surveillance system to identify the central role of humans in the reemergence of
      pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) influenza viruses in U.S. swine herds in 2014. These
      findings emphasize the important role of humans as continuous sources of
      influenza virus diversity in swine and indicate that influenza viruses with
      pandemic HA and NA segments are likely to continue to reemerge in U.S. swine in
      association with seasonal pH1N1 epidemics in humans.

PMID- 25833053
TI  - In Vivo Activation of Human NK Cells by Treatment with an Interleukin-15
      Superagonist Potently Inhibits Acute In Vivo HIV-1 Infection in Humanized Mice.
AB  - Natural killer (NK) cells with anti-HIV-1 activity may inhibit HIV-1 replication
      and dissemination during acute HIV-1 infection. We hypothesized that the capacity
      of NK cells to suppress acute in vivo HIV-1 infection would be augmented by
      activating them via treatment with an interleukin-15 (IL-15) superagonist, IL-15
      bound to soluble IL-15Ralpha, an approach that potentiates human NK cell-mediated
      killing of tumor cells. In vitro stimulation of human NK cells with a recombinant
      IL-15 superagonist significantly induced their expression of the cytotoxic
      effector molecules granzyme B and perforin; their degranulation upon exposure to
      K562 cells, as indicated by cell surface expression of CD107a; and their capacity
      to lyse K562 cells and HIV-1-infected T cells. The impact of IL-15 superagonist
      induced activation of human NK cells on acute in vivo HIV-1 infection was
      investigated by using hu-spl-PBMC-NSG mice, NOD-SCID-IL2rgamma(-/-) (NSG) mice
      intrasplenically injected with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)
      which develop productive in vivo infection after intrasplenic inoculation with
      HIV-1. IL-15 superagonist treatment potently inhibited acute HIV-1 infection in
      hu-spl-PBMC-NSG mice even when delayed until 3 days after intrasplenic HIV-1
      inoculation. Removal of NK cells from human PBMCs prior to intrasplenic injection
      into NSG mice completely abrogated IL-15 superagonist-mediated suppression of in
      vivo HIV-1 infection. Thus, the in vivo activation of NK cells, integral
      mediators of the innate immune response, by treatment with an IL-15 superagonist
      increases their anti-HIV activity and enables them to potently suppress acute in
      vivo HIV-1 infection. These results indicate that in vivo activation of NK cells
      may represent a new immunotherapeutic approach to suppress acute HIV-1 infection.
      IMPORTANCE: Epidemiological studies have indicated that NK cells contribute to
      the control of HIV-1 infection, and in vitro studies have demonstrated that NK
      cells can selectively kill HIV-1-infected cells. We demonstrated that in vivo
      activation of NK cells by treatment with an IL-15 superagonist that potently
      stimulates the antitumor activity of NK cells markedly inhibited acute HIV-1
      infection in humanized mice, even when activation of NK cells by IL-15
      superagonist treatment is delayed until 3 days after HIV-1 inoculation. NK cell
      depletion from PBMCs prior to their intrasplenic injection abrogated the
      suppression of in vivo HIV-1 infection observed in humanized mice treated with
      the IL-15 superagonist, demonstrating that activated human NK cells were
      mediating IL-15 superagonist-induced inhibition of acute HIV-1 infection. Thus,
      in vivo immunostimulation of NK cells, a promising therapeutic approach for
      cancer therapy, may represent a new treatment modality for HIV-1-infected
      individuals, particularly in the earliest stages of infection.

PMID- 25833054
TI  - Us9-Independent Axonal Sorting and Transport of the Pseudorabies Virus
      Glycoprotein gM.
AB  - Axonal sorting and transport of fully assembled pseudorabies virus (PRV) virions
      is dependent on the viral protein Us9. Here we identify a Us9-independent
      mechanism for axonal localization of viral glycoprotein M (gM). We detected gM
      mCherry assemblies transporting in the anterograde direction in axons.
      Furthermore, unlabeled gM, but not glycoprotein B, was detected by Western
      blotting in isolated axons during Us9-null PRV infection. These results suggest
      that gM differs from other viral proteins regarding axonal transport properties. 

PMID- 25833055
TI  - Equine Herpesvirus 1 Multiply Inserted Transmembrane Protein pUL43 Cooperates
      with pUL56 in Downregulation of Cell Surface Major Histocompatibility Complex
      Class I.
AB  - Herpesviruses have evolved an array of strategies to counteract antigen
      presentation by major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I). Previously, we
      identified pUL56 of equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) as one major determinant of the
      downregulation of cell surface MHC-I (G. Ma, S. Feineis, N. Osterrieder, and G.
      R. Van de Walle, J. Virol. 86:3554-3563, 2012,
      http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JVI.06994-11; T. Huang, M. J. Lehmann, A. Said, G. Ma,
      and N. Osterrieder, J. Virol. 88:12802-12815, 2014,
      http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JVI.02079-14). Since pUL56 was able to exert its
      function only in the context of virus infection, we hypothesized that pUL56
      cooperates with another viral protein. Here, we generated and screened a series
      of EHV-1 single-gene deletion mutants and found that the pUL43 orthologue was
      required for downregulation of cell surface MHC-I expression at the same time of
      infection as when pUL56 exerts its function. We demonstrate that the absence of
      pUL43 was not deleterious to virus growth and that expression of pUL43 was
      detectable from 2 h postinfection (p.i.) but decreased after 8 h p.i. due to
      lysosomal degradation. pUL43 localized within Golgi vesicles and required a
      unique hydrophilic N-terminal domain to function properly. Finally, coexpression
      of pUL43 and pUL56 in transfected cells reduced the cell surface expression of
      MHC-I. This process was dependent on PPxY motifs present in pUL56, suggesting
      that late domains are required for pUL43- and pUL56-dependent sorting of MHC
      class I for lysosomal degradation. IMPORTANCE: We describe here that the poorly
      characterized herpesviral protein pUL43 is involved in downregulation of cell
      surface MHC-I. pUL43 is an early protein and degraded in lysosomes. pUL43 resides
      in the Golgi vesicles and needs an intact N terminus to induce MHC-I
      downregulation in infected cells. Importantly, pUL43 and pUL56 cooperate to
      reduce MHC-I expression on the surface of transfected cells. Our results suggest
      a model for MHC-I downregulation in which late domains in pUL56 are required for
      the rerouting of vesicles containing MHC-I, pUL56, and pUL43 to the lysosomal
      compartment.

PMID- 25833056
TI  - Morphogenesis of Endoplasmic Reticulum Membrane-Invaginated Vesicles during Beet
      Black Scorch Virus Infection: Role of Auxiliary Replication Protein and New
      Implications of Three-Dimensional Architecture.
AB  - All well-characterized positive-strand RNA viruses[(+)RNA viruses] induce the
      formation of host membrane-bound viral replication complexes (VRCs), yet the
      underlying mechanism and machinery for VRC formation remain elusive. We report
      here the biogenesis and topology of the Beet black scorch virus (BBSV)
      replication complex. Distinct cytopathological changes typical of endoplasmic
      reticulum (ER) aggregation and vesiculation were observed in BBSV-infected
      Nicotiana benthamiana cells. Immunogold labeling of the auxiliary replication
      protein p23 and double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) revealed that the ER-derived
      membranous spherules provide the site for BBSV replication. Further studies
      indicated that p23 plays a crucial role in mediating the ER rearrangement. Three
      dimensional electron tomographic analysis revealed the formation of multiple ER
      originated vesicle packets. Each vesicle packet enclosed a few to hundreds of
      independent spherules that were invaginations of the ER membranes into the lumen.
      Strikingly, these vesicle packets were connected to each other via tubules, a
      rearrangement event that is rare among other virus-induced membrane
      reorganizations. Fibrillar contents within the spherules were also reconstructed
      by electron tomography, which showed diverse structures. Our results provide the
      first, to our knowledge, three-dimensional ultrastructural analysis of membrane
      bound VRCs of a plant (+)RNA virus and should help to achieve a better
      mechanistic understanding of the organization and microenvironment of plant
      (+)RNA virus replication complexes. IMPORTANCE: Assembly of virus replication
      complexes for all known positive-strand RNA viruses depends on the extensive
      remodeling of host intracellular membranes. Beet black scorch virus, a necrovirus
      in the family Tombusviridae, invaginates the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes
      to form spherules in infected cells. Double-stranded RNAs, the viral replication
      intermediate, and the viral auxiliary replication protein p23 are all localized
      within such viral spherules, indicating that these are the sites for generating
      progeny viral RNAs. Furthermore, the BBSV p23 protein could to some extent
      reorganize the ER when transiently expressed in N. benthamiana. Electron
      tomographic analysis resolves the three-dimensional (3D) architecture of such
      spherules, which are connected to the cytoplasm via a neck-like structure.
      Strikingly, different numbers of spherules are enclosed in ER-originated vesicle
      packets that are connected to each other via tubule-like structures. Our results
      have significant implications for further understanding the mechanisms underlying
      the replication of positive-strand RNA viruses.

PMID- 25833057
TI  - Ultrasonic hammer produces hot spots in solids.
AB  - Mechanical action can produce dramatic physical and mechanochemical effects when
      the energy is spatially or temporally concentrated. An important example of such
      phenomena in solids is the mechanical initiation of explosions, which has long
      been speculated to result from 'hot spot' generation at localized microstructures
      in the energetic material. Direct experimental evidence of such hot spots,
      however, is exceptionally limited; mechanisms for their generation are poorly
      understood and methods to control their locations remain elusive. Here we report
      the generation of intense, localized microscale hot spots in solid composites
      during mild ultrasonic irradiation, directly visualized by a thermal imaging
      microscope. These ultrasonic hot spots, with heating rates reaching ~22,000 K s(
      1), nucleate exclusively at interfacial delamination sites in composite solids.
      Introducing specific delamination sites by surface modification of embedded
      components provides precise and reliable control of hot spot locations and
      permits microcontrol of the initiation of reactions in energetic materials
      including fuel/oxidizer explosives. 

PMID- 25833058
TI  - Advancing equity in healthcare.

PMID- 25833059
TI  - Carl Friedrich Richard Foerster (1825-1902) - the inventor of perimeter and
      photometer.
AB  - Carl Friedrich Richard Foerster (1825-1902) was a German who was born in the
      Polish city Leszno. He studied medicine at the Medical Faculty of Breslau (now
      Wroclaw, Poland) University, and later in Heidelberg and Berlin. From 1855, he
      worked in Breslau, where he established in 1857 the first ophthalmology clinic.
      Later, he became a professor in ophthalmology, the first director of the
      Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Breslau, and even the rector of
      this University. Forster did many pioneering works on visual fields, invented a
      photometer and the first perimeter, known for many years as the Foerster
      perimeter. Moreover, he studied night blindness, visual field changes due to
      different pathologies, and many eye diseases, including glaucoma, cataract,
      retinal and choroidal diseases. 

PMID- 25833060
TI  - The Diagnosis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome during Adolescence.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The diagnostic criteria for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in
      adolescence are controversial, primarily because the diagnostic pathological
      features used in adult women may be normal pubertal physiological events. Hence,
      international pediatric and adolescent specialty societies have defined criteria
      that have sufficient evidence to be used for the diagnosis of PCOS in
      adolescents. METHODS: The literature has been reviewed and evidence graded to
      address a series of questions regarding the diagnosis of PCOS during adolescence
      including the following: clinical and biochemical evidence of hyperandrogenism,
      criteria for oligo-anovulation and polycystic ovary morphology, diagnostic
      criteria to exclude other causes of hyperandrogenism and amenorrhea, role of
      insulin resistance, and intervention. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Features of PCOS
      overlap normal pubertal development. Hence, caution should be taken before
      diagnosing PCOS without longitudinal evaluation. However, treatment may be
      indicated even in the absence of a definitive diagnosis. While obesity, insulin
      resistance, and hyperinsulinemia are common findings in adolescents with
      hyperandrogenism, these features should not be used to diagnose PCOS among
      adolescent girls. (c) 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

PMID- 25833061
TI  - Identification of Underlying Causes of Spontaneous Submacular Hemorrhage by
      Indocyanine Green Angiography.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the causes of acute spontaneous submacular hemorrhage
      with indocyanine green angiography (ICGA). METHODS: Retrospective observation
      case series. A total of 51 eyes from 51 patients with newly developed spontaneous
      submacular hemorrhage were enrolled. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), fundus
      photography, fluorescein angiography, spectral domain optical coherence
      tomography (OCT), and ICGA at baseline were analyzed. The extent of hemorrhage
      using fundus photography, height of hemorrhage, and central foveal thickness
      measured by OCT was analyzed to compare the diagnostic and nondiagnostic groups.
      RESULTS: The mean logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) BCVA at
      presentation was 1.21 +/- 0.74 (Snellen equivalent, 20/324); the mean follow-up
      period was 23.9 +/- 23.9 months. The cause of submacular hemorrhage was diagnosed
      in 43 of 51 eyes (84.3%) based on ICGA at presentation. The initial diagnoses
      were correct in 93% of eyes. In 3 cases, the initial diagnosis of age-related
      macular degeneration (AMD) was changed to polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV)
      based on follow-up ICGA. The central foveal thickness was significantly greater
      in the nondiagnostic group (1,102.4 vs. 666.7 MUm, respectively; p = 0.008). The
      most common cause of submacular hemorrhage was neovascular AMD (52.9%), followed
      by PCV (37.3%), macroaneurysm (5.9%), and lacquer crack (3.9%). The mean final
      visual acuity was generally worse in patients with submacular hemorrhage with
      typical AMD (visual acuity 20/618) or PCV (visual acuity 20/240) compared to that
      in patients with retinal macroaneurysm (visual acuity 20/100) or lacquer crack
      (visual acuity 20/72). CONCLUSIONS: ICGA at initial presentation helps identify
      causes of submacular hemorrhage, allowing differential treatment approaches that
      may improve outcomes and safety.

PMID- 25833062
TI  - TLR4 activation by lipopolysaccharide confers survival advantage to growth factor
      deprived prostate cancer cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PCa) cells express Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4), a
      known pro-tumorigenic molecule for different cancer cells. The cancer cells
      residing in the avascular region of the tumor confront various metabolic stresses
      and continuously adapt mechanisms to overcome them. We hypothesized that TLR4
      activation might provide direct survival advantage to metabolically stressed PCa
      cells. METHODS: We first investigated the effect of LPS on survival of serum
      deprived PCa cells. To understand the molecular mechanisms involved in TLR4
      mediated PCa survival, we next investigated change in expression of markers for
      apoptosis, senescence and autophagy. Ultimately, the effect of LPS on established
      prostate tumors was confirmed in vivo using a syngeneic rat model for PCa.
      RESULTS: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated TLR4 activation significantly enhanced
      survival of serum deprived (SD) PC3, DU145 and MAT-LyLu PCa cells. TLR4
      inhibition by a specific inhibitor resulted in rapid death of SD-PC3 cells, which
      was significantly suppressed by LPS. Interestingly, LPS treatment suppressed
      macroautophagy in SD-PC3 cells and increased expression of CCL2 (C-C motif ligand
      2), a known autophagy inhibitor and pro-survival factor. Intra-tumor LPS
      injection resulted in increased tumor mass, induced TLR4 activation, suppressed
      autophagy, and increased the macrophage population in MAT-LyLu-tumors.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our study reveals that bacterial LPS enhance survival of PCa cells
      under conditions of nutrient stress through TLR4 activation. Moreover, LPS
      induces overexpression of CCL2 involved in the suppression of starvation-induced
      macroautophagy in PCa cells, and enhanced macrophage population in prostate
      tumors in vivo. Taken together, the current study suggests the importance of
      bacterial infection or TLR4-activation in prostate cancer pathogenesis.

PMID- 25833063
TI  - Anti-inflammatory effect of white wine in CKD patients and healthy volunteers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mediterranean-style diet has been considered for its important
      beneficial effects on the progression of CV disease. Wine is an important
      component of the Mediterranean diet, and moderate wine drinkers have lower
      mortality rates than nondrinkers and heavy drinkers in epidemiologic studies. The
      beneficial effects of red wine are thought to be dependent on the polyphenol
      compounds such as resveratrol that exhibit potent antioxidant activity. However,
      white wine, although lacking polyphenols, contains simple phenols, such as
      tyrosol (Tyr) and hydroxytyrosol (OH-Tyr), characteristic also of extra-virgin
      olive oil, which may share similar antioxidant and inflammatory properties.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: The effect of white wine and extra-virgin olive oil on
      inflammatory markers was evaluated in 10 healthy volunteers and in 10 patients
      with CKD (chronic kidney disease) K-DOQI stage III-IV in a prospective, single
      blind, randomized, cross-over trial. After two weeks of wash-out from alcoholic
      beverages, subjects were randomized to a cross-over design A-B or B-A of a 2-week
      treatment with white wine (4 ml/kg body weight, 0.48 g/kg of alcohol 12%,
      corresponding to 2-3 glasses/daily) and extra-virgin olive oil (treatment A) or
      extra-virgin olive oil alone (treatment B). The two study periods were separated
      by a two-week wash-out period. At baseline and at the end of each treatment,
      plasma levels of inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL
      6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and interleukin-8 (IL-8)
      concentration were determined. Urinary levels of Tyr, OH-Tyr, and their
      metabolites were measured at the same time. RESULTS: During combined consumption
      of white wine and extra-virgin olive oil (treatment A), plasma levels of CRP and
      IL-6 decreased from 4.1 +/- 1.8 to 2.4 +/- 1.9 mg/l (p < 0.05) and from 5.3 +/-
      3.2 to 3.4 +/- 2.3 mg/l (p < 0.05) in CKD patients. CRP decreased from 2.6 +/-
      1.2 to 1.9 +/- 0.9 mg/l (p < 0.05), and IL-6 decreased from 2.2 +/- 1.8 to 1.7 +/
      1.3 mg/l (p = ns) in healthy volunteers. No significant variation versus
      baseline was observed during treatment B. A significant increase in urinary Tyr
      and OH-Tyr was observed during treatment A (white wine and extra-virgin olive
      oil). CONCLUSIONS: Plasma markers of chronic inflammation were significantly
      reduced in CKD patients during the combined consumption of white wine and olive
      oil, suggesting a possible anti-inflammatory effect of this nutritional
      intervention.

PMID- 25833064
TI  - Ethical persuasion: the rhetoric of communication in critical care.
AB  - This article reviews the ethics of rhetoric in critical care. Rational appeals in
      critical care fail to move patients or surrogates to a better course of action.
      Appeals to their emotions are considered illegitimate because they may preclude
      autonomous choice. This article discusses whether it is always unethical to
      change someone's beliefs, whether persuasive communication is inherently harmful
      and whether it leaves no space for voluntariness. To answer these questions, the
      article engages with Aristotle's work, Rhetoric. In considering whether there is
      a place for emotionally charged messages in a patient-provider relationship, the
      article intends to delineate the nature of this relationship and describe the
      duties this relationship implies. The article presents examples of persuasive
      communication used in critical care and discusses whether providers may have a
      duty to persuade patients. This duty is supported by the fact that doctors often
      influence patients' and families' choices by framing presented options. Doctors
      should assume responsibility in recognizing these personal and contextual
      influences that may influence the medical choices of their patients. They should
      attempt to modify these contextual factors and biases in a way that would assist
      patients and families in reaching the desired outcomes. The opening sections
      surveyed a number of definitions found in relevant literature and outlined some
      of the concepts included in the proposed definition. This definition helps to
      distinguish instances of persuasion from cases of manipulation, coercion and
      deception. Considering the fact that patients and families often make irrational
      decisions and the fact that doctors inadvertently influence their choices, the
      article suggested that persuasion can be a positive tool in medical
      communication. When patients or families clearly do not understand the risks or
      make decisions that contradict their long-term goals, persuasion can be used as a
      positive influence.

PMID- 25833065
TI  - Treatment of postherpetic neuralgia using DREZotomy guided by spinal cord
      stimulation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most common complication
      following an episode of acute herpes zoster. The curative effect of current
      treatments is limited. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this paper is to report a new
      treatment for PHN with a combination of dorsal root entry zone lesion (DREZotomy)
      and spinal cord stimulation (SCS). METHODS: Microsurgical DREZotomy assisted with
      SCS for target localization was performed in 6 patients with PHN. A visual analog
      scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the pain pre- and postoperatively. RESULTS:
      Except for 1 patient, in whom the test SCS was unsatisfactory, all patients
      finally underwent DREZotomy. These 5 patients experienced apparent symptom relief
      postoperatively, and the VAS score decreased from a baseline of 8.4 +/- 1.14 to
      2.4 +/- 1.14 (p = 0.0020) and did not change significantly during the follow-up
      of up to 24 months. CONCLUSIONS: Microsurgical DREZotomy assisted with SCS for
      target localization is an effective remedy for PHN.

PMID- 25833066
TI  - Bacterial lysate increases the percentage of natural killer T cells in peripheral
      blood and alleviates asthma in children.
AB  - AIMS: To assess the efficacy of conventional treatment combined with bacterial
      lysate [OM-85 Broncho-Vaxom (BV)] in the prevention of asthma in children as well
      as its influence on the number of natural killer T (NKT) cells and their cytokine
      production. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty children diagnosed with asthma were
      divided into either a BV-treated group (with oral OM-85 BV) or a conventional
      inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) group. The numbers of NKT cells and CD4+ NKT cells
      were measured in the peripheral blood by flow cytometry. The levels of IFN-gamma,
      IL-4, and IL-10 after the blood cells had been cultured with an NKT cell agonist
      were detected by ELISA. RESULTS: After therapy, asthma attacks were significantly
      decreased compared with before therapy in both groups. However, after therapy,
      respiratory tract infections were reduced compared with before therapy in the BV
      treated group only. Additionally, the frequency of asthma attacks and use of
      antibiotics in the BV-treated group were lower than in the ICS group. With BV
      treatment, the numbers of peripheral blood NKT cells and CD4+ NKT cells were
      higher after therapy than before therapy. After therapy, the ratio of IFN
      gamma/IL-4 and IL-10 levels were increased in the BV-treated group, whereas IL-4
      was reduced in the BV-treated group compared with the ICS group. CONCLUSION: BV
      combined with conventional asthma treatment can prevent recurrent respiratory
      tract infections and suppress the severity of asthma attacks, possibly by
      altering the rates and cytokines of NKT cells.

PMID- 25833067
TI  - Injury response checkpoint and developmental timing in insects.
AB  - In insects, localized tissue injury often leads to global (organism-wide) delays
      in development and retarded metamorphosis. In Drosophila, for example, injuries
      to the larval imaginal discs can retard pupariation and prolong metamorphosis.
      Injuries induced by treatments such as radiation, mechanical damage and induction
      of localized cell death can trigger similar delays. In most cases, the duration
      of the developmental delay appears to be correlated with the extent of damage,
      but the effect is also sensitive to the developmental stage of the treated
      animal. The proximate cause of the delays is likely a disruption of the ecdysone
      signaling pathway, but the intermediate steps leading from tissue injury and/or
      regeneration to that disruption remain unknown. Here, we review the evidence for
      injury-induced developmental delays, and for a checkpoint or checkpoints
      associated with the temporal progression of development and the on-going efforts
      to define the mechanisms involved. 

PMID- 25833069
TI  - Self-organizing large-scale extracellular-matrix protein networks.

PMID- 25833068
TI  - Exacerbation of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in ceramide synthase 6
      knockout mice is associated with enhanced activation/migration of neutrophils.
AB  - Ceramides are mediators of inflammatory processes. In experimental autoimmune
      encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS), we observed
      that CerS6 mRNA expression was upregulated 15-fold in peripheral blood leukocytes
      before the onset of EAE symptoms. In peripheral blood leukocytes from MS
      patients, a 3.9-fold upregulation was found. Total genetic deletion of CerS6 and
      the selective deletion of CerS6 in peripheral blood leucocytes exacerbated the
      progression of clinical symptoms in EAE mice. This was associated with enhanced
      leukocyte, predominantly neutrophil infiltration and enhanced demyelination in
      the lumbar spinal cord of EAE mice. Interferon-gamma/tumor necrosis factor alpha
      (IFN-gamma/TNF-alpha) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) both
      drive EAE development and induce expression of the integrin CD11b and the
      chemokine receptor C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2), and we found they
      also induce CerS6 expression. In vivo, the genetic deletion of CerS6 enhanced the
      activation/migration of neutrophils, as reflected by an enhanced upregulation of
      CD11b and CXCR2. In vitro, the genetic deletion of CerS6 enhanced the activation
      status of IFN-gamma/TNF-alpha-stimulated neutrophils, as shown by increased
      expression of nitric oxide and CD11b and an increased adhesion capacity. In G-CSF
      stimulated neutrophils, the migration status was enhanced, as reflected by an
      elevated level of CXCR2 and an increased migration capacity. These data suggest
      that CerS6/C16-Cer mediates feedback regulation by inhibiting the formation of
      CD11b and CXCR2, which are induced either by IFN-gamma/TNF-alpha or by G-CSF,
      respectively. We conclude that CerS6/C16-Cer mediates anti-inflammatory effects
      during the development of EAE and MS possibly by suppressing the migration and
      deactivation of neutrophils. 

PMID- 25833071
TI  - Structure and properties of binder gels formed in the system Mg(OH)2-SiO2-H2O for
      immobilisation of Magnox sludge.
AB  - A cementitious system for the immobilisation of magnesium rich Magnox sludge was
      produced by blending an Mg(OH)2 slurry with silica fume and an inorganic
      phosphate dispersant. The Mg(OH)2 was fully consumed after 28 days of curing,
      producing a disordered magnesium silicate hydrate (M-S-H) with cementitious
      properties. The structural characterisation of this M-S-H phase by (29)Si and
      (25)Mg MAS NMR showed clearly that it has strong nanostructural similarities to a
      disordered form of lizardite, and does not take on the talc-like structure as has
      been proposed in the past for M-S-H gels. The addition of sodium
      hexametaphosphate (NaPO3)6 as a dispersant enabled the material to be produced at
      a much lower water/solids ratio, while still maintaining the fluidity which is
      essential in practical applications, and producing a solid monolith. Significant
      retardation of M-S-H formation was observed with larger additions of phosphate,
      however the use of 1 wt% (NaPO3)6 was beneficial in increasing fluidity without a
      deleterious effect on M-S-H formation. This work has demonstrated the feasibility
      of using M-S-H as binder to structurally immobilise Magnox sludge, enabling the
      conversion of a waste into a cementitious binder with potentially very high waste
      loadings, and providing the first detailed nanostructural description of the
      material thus formed. 

PMID- 25833070
TI  - Concurrent validity of the differential ability scales, second edition with the
      Mullen Scales of Early Learning in young children with and without
      neurodevelopmental disorders.
AB  - Estimates of intelligence in young children with neurodevelopmental disorders are
      critical for making diagnoses, in characterizing symptoms of disorders, and in
      predicting future outcomes. The limitations of standardized testing for children
      with developmental delay or cognitive impairment are well known: Tests do not
      exist that provide developmentally appropriate material along with norms that
      extend to the lower reaches of ability. Two commonly used and interchanged
      instruments are the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL), a test of
      developmental level, and the Differential Ability Scales, second edition (DAS
      II), a more traditional cognitive test. We evaluated the correspondence of
      contemporaneous MSEL and the DAS-II scores in a mixed sample of children aged 2
      10 years with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), non-ASD developmental delays, and
      typically developing children across the full spectrum of cognitive ability.
      Consistent with published data on the original DAS and the MSEL, scores on the
      DAS-II and MSEL were highly correlated. However, curve estimation revealed large
      mean differences that varied as a function of the child's cognitive ability
      level. We conclude that interchanging MSEL and DAS-II scores without regard to
      the discrepancy in scores may produce misleading results in both cross-sectional
      and longitudinal studies of children with and without ASD, and, thus, this
      practice should be implemented with caution. 

PMID- 25833072
TI  - Speech production, intelligibility and oromotor function in seven individuals
      with Mobius sequence.
AB  - PURPOSE: Mobius sequence is a rare disease characterized by congenital facial and
      abducent nerve palsy. Other cranial nerves may be affected. Cleft palate,
      intellectual disability and neuropsychiatric disorders are associated with the
      diagnosis. The aim was to explore speech production, intelligibility and oromotor
      function in a group of individuals with Mobius sequence. METHOD: Three children
      (5-11 years) and four adults (26-54 years) were recruited to the study via the
      Swedish Mobius syndrome association. In addition to cranial nerve dysfunction,
      two had a hearing impairment, one Asperger syndrome and one a cleft palate.
      Perceptual assessments included an evaluation of intelligibility in single words
      and spontaneous speech, the percentage of phonemes correct (PPC) and screening of
      orofacial functions (NOT-S). Objective measurements were used for the evaluation
      of nasality, lip force and tongue force. RESULT: Three individuals had severely
      impaired intelligibility, two slightly impaired and two had fully intelligible
      speech. The PPC varied between 59.3-100%. Five individuals had bilateral facial
      palsy, two unilateral facial palsy and six tongue impairment. One had a slightly
      increased nasalance score. Compensatory strategies were being effectively used.
      CONCLUSION: This case series contributes more in-depth knowledge of speech
      production, intelligibility and oromotor function in this rare condition.

PMID- 25833073
TI  - Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture: Placing therapy in the context of the self and
      social connection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The concept of self influences the choice of goals and helps to make
      sense of lives. Essentially, self-concept is a dynamic internal representation of
      the individual. This representation shapes behaviour and how information about
      oneself is processed. The self-story is developed and validated through social
      interactions and shaped continuously through life experiences. METHOD: The focus
      of this paper is the client's perspective of self and how one can actively use
      that perspective to plan therapy, particularly in the case of individuals with
      acquired brain injury (ABI). The paper draws upon the results of a number of
      research projects constructed around two primary aims: (1) to represent the
      perspectives of clients and their close others and (2) to maximize social
      connection through the delivery of effective communication intervention. RESULT:
      A model of self, derived from in-depth qualitative exploration of the experiences
      of people with ABI, is presented as a framework to guide collaborative therapy.
      The model depicts the multidimensional and cyclical nature of self-
      conceptualization supported by factors that facilitate social connection.
      CONCLUSION: Communication is crucial to maintaining social ties and communication
      breakdown is a significant predictor of participation. A new intervention that
      effectively improves coping with communication breakdown is presented.

PMID- 25833074
TI  - Developing clinical skills in paediatric dysphagia management using human patient
      simulation (HPS).
AB  - PURPOSE: The use of simulated learning environments to develop clinical skills is
      gaining momentum in speech-language pathology training programs. The aim of the
      current study was to examine the benefits of adding Human Patient Simulation
      (HPS) into the university curriculum in the area of paediatric dysphagia. METHOD:
      University students enrolled in a mandatory dysphagia course (n = 29) completed
      two, 2-hour HPS scenarios: (a) performing a clinical feeding assessment with a
      medically complex infant; and (b) conducting a clinical swallow examination (CSE)
      with a child with a tracheostomy. Scenarios covered technical and non-technical
      skills in paediatric dysphagia management. Surveys relating to students'
      perceived knowledge, skills, confidence and levels of anxiety were conducted: (a)
      pre-lectures; (b) post-lectures, but pre-HPS; and (c) post-HPS. A fourth survey
      was completed following clinical placements with real clients. RESULT: Results
      demonstrate significant additive value in knowledge, skills and confidence
      obtained through HPS. Anxiety about working clinically reduced following HPS.
      Students rated simulation as very useful in preparing for clinical practice. Post
      clinic, students indicated that HPS was an important component in their
      preparation to work as a clinician. CONCLUSION: This trial supports the benefits
      of incorporating HPS as part of clinical preparation for paediatric dysphagia
      management.

PMID- 25833075
TI  - In reference to "Similar outcomes among general medicine patients discharged on
      weekends".

PMID- 25833076
TI  - Elevated plasma B-type natriuretic peptide concentration and resistive index, but
      not decreased aortic distensibility, associate with impaired blood flow at
      popliteal artery in type 2 diabetic patients.
AB  - Blood flow in lower extremity arteries is frequently impaired in diabetic
      patients even though they have a normal ankle-brachial index (ABI 1.0-1.4). Risk
      factors contributing to this lower extremity arterial disease have not been fully
      elucidated. We enrolled 52 type 2 diabetic patients with normal ABI and 30 age
      matched nondiabetic subjects consecutively admitted to our hospital. Plasma B
      type natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentrations were measured. Distensibility in
      ascending thoracic and abdominal aortas as well as total flow volume and
      resistive index at popliteal artery were evaluated by gated magnetic resonance
      imaging. An automatic device was used to measure ABI and brachial-ankle pulse
      wave velocity (baPWV). Diabetic patients showed lower distensibility in ascending
      thoracic aorta (p<0.001) and total flow volume (p<0.001) and higher baPWV
      (p<0.001) and resistive index (p=0.005) and similar BNP and distensibility in
      abdominal aorta compared to nondiabetic subjects. Simple linear regression
      analyses revealed that distensibility in ascending thoracic (p=0.019) and
      abdominal (p=0.030) aortas positively as well as baPWV (p=0.020), resistive index
      (p<0.001) and BNP (p<0.001) negatively correlated with total flow volume.
      Stepwise multiple regression analysis demonstrated that increased BNP and
      resistive index were independent risk factors for total flow volume in diabetic
      patients (r(2)=0.639, p<0.001). These results indicate that increased plasma BNP
      levels and peripheral vascular resistance, but not decreased aortic
      distensibility, associate with impaired blood flow in lower extremity arteries in
      diabetic patients. 

PMID- 25833078
TI  - Non-specific and Usual Interstitial Pneumonia, Short-Term Survival After Surgical
      Biopsy.

PMID- 25833077
TI  - Miglitol protects against age-dependent weight gain in mice: A potential role of
      increased UCP1 content in brown adipose tissue.
AB  - Miglitol is an absorbable alpha-glucosidase inhibitor that is used to control
      post-prandial hyperglycemia. We previously found that miglitol stimulates brown
      adipose tissue and prevents diet-induced obesity in mice that are fed a high-fat,
      high-carbohydrate diet. In this study, we examined whether miglitol can also
      protect against aging-dependent weight gain in mice that are fed a normal chow
      diet. Male C57Bl/6J mice were fed normal chow with or without miglitol (800 ppm)
      for 12 weeks, starting at 12 weeks of age. Food intake and body weight were
      monitored. After 12 weeks, adiposity, energy expenditure, and locomotor
      activities were measured. After sacrifice, weight of the epididymal white adipose
      tissue and adipocyte size were measured. Finally, Ucp1 gene expression and UCP1
      protein abundance in brown adipose tissue were quantified by RT-PCR and Western
      analyses, respectively. Miglitol prevented age-related weight gain without
      affecting growth of the animals. Miglitol-treated mice showed reduced adiposity
      and increased oxygen consumption compared to controls, accompanied by higher UCP1
      protein abundance in brown adipose tissue. Food intake and locomotor activities
      were not affected. These results suggest that miglitol can protect against age
      dependent weight gain. Elucidating the molecular targets of miglitol in brown
      adipose tissue and optimizing drug delivery and efficacy may provide new
      strategies to combat obesity. 

PMID- 25833079
TI  - Time to challenge public health guidelines on physical activity.
AB  - There is striking evidence in support of physical activity (PA) as a very strong
      factor in health promotion and disease prevention. Since the mid-1990s, public
      health guidelines on PA have established PA recommendations to promote health and
      prevent several non-communicable diseases (NCDs). However, it is not clear that
      there is universal agreement on the validity of all aspects of these
      recommendations. Indeed, a growing body of evidence has accumulated over the last
      20 years showing that less than 150 min/week of moderate PA, i.e. the minimum PA
      level currently recommended, promotes health and prevents NCDs. Moreover, when
      determining whether someone achieves the minimum PA recommendations, the
      quantities of PA undertaken are added together regardless of what domain of PA
      they represent, i.e. leisure-time, occupational, transport or housework. However,
      while convincing evidence exists to show that leisure-time and transport PA are
      important factors for promoting health, the evidence for occupational PA and
      housework is mixed. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to discuss two
      major issues relating to public health guidelines on PA for adults and older
      adults: the minimum volumes of PA required and the importance of PA domains in
      health promotion. A proposal on how to tackle these issues and ultimately
      strengthen PA recommendations is also presented. 

PMID- 25833080
TI  - Renal Nerve-Mediated Erythropoietin Release Confers Cardioprotection During
      Remote Ischemic Preconditioning.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) induced by transient limb
      ischemia is a powerful innate mechanism of cardioprotection against ischemia.
      Several described mechanisms explain how RIPC may act through neural pathways or
      humoral factors; however, the mechanistic pathway linking the remote organ to the
      heart has not yet been fully elucidated. This study aimed to investigate the
      mechanisms underlying the RIPC-induced production of Janus kinase (JAK)-signal
      transducer and activator of the transcription (STAT)-activating cytokines and
      cardioprotection by using mouse and human models of RIPC. METHODS AND RESULTS:
      Screened circulating cardioprotective JAK-STAT-activating cytokines in mice
      unexpectedly revealed increased serum erythropoietin (EPO) levels after RIP
      induced by transient ischemia. In mice, RIPC rapidly upregulated EPO mRNA and its
      main transcriptional factor, hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF1alpha), in the
      kidney. Laser Doppler blood flowmetry revealed a prompt reduction of renal blood
      flow (RBF) after RIPC. RIPC activated cardioprotective signaling pathways and the
      anti-apoptotic Bcl-xL pathway in the heart, and reduced infarct size. In mice,
      these effects were abolished by administration of an EPO-neutralizing antibody.
      Renal nerve denervation also abolished RIPC-induced RBF reduction, EPO
      production, and cardioprotection. In humans, transient limb ischemia of the upper
      arm reduced RBF and increased serum EPO levels. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the present
      data, we propose a novel RIPC mechanism in which inhibition of infarct size by
      RIPC is produced through the renal nerve-mediated reduction of RBF associated
      with activation of the HIF1alpha-EPO pathway.

PMID- 25833081
TI  - Circulating CD14++CD16+ Monocyte Subsets as a Surrogate Marker of the Therapeutic
      Effect of Corticosteroid Therapy in Patients With Cardiac Sarcoidosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We aimed to evaluate whether specific monocyte subsets could serve as
      surrogate markers of disease activity in cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) evaluated by
      18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET). METHODS AND
      RESULTS: We studied 28 patients with CS (8 men; mean age: 61+/-9 years) diagnosed
      according to consensus criteria. We divided the patients into 2 groups: known CS
      receiving corticosteroid therapy (Rx(+); n=13) and new-onset CS (Rx(-); n=15),
      and analyzed 3 distinct monocyte subsets (CD14+CD16-, CD14++CD16+, and CD14+ 
      CD16+). Monocyte subsets were also analyzed in 10 Rx(-) patients before and 12
      weeks after starting corticosteroid therapy. Inflammatory activity was quantified
      by 18F-FDG PET using the coefficient of variation (COV) of the standardized
      uptake value (SUV). The proportion of CD14++CD16+ monocytes in Rx(+) patients
      (10.8 [0.2-23.5] %) was significantly lower than in Rx(-) patients (23.0 [11.5
      38.4] %, P=0.001). After corticosteroid therapy, the COV of the SUV was
      significantly improved from 0.32 [0.14-0.62] to 0.17 [0.04-0.43] (P=0.017). The
      proportion of CD14++16+ monocytes showed a significant decrease from 22.2 [8.8
      38.4] % to 8.4 [1.8-16.8] % (P=0.001). The decrease in the proportion of
      CD14++16+ monocytes significantly correlated with the decrease in the COV of the
      SUV (r=0.495, P=0.027). CONCLUSIONS: CD14++16+ monocytes are a possible surrogate
      marker of the therapeutic effect of corticosteroid therapy in CS.

PMID- 25833082
TI  - Biatrial Myxomas With Various Manifestations--Carney Complex.

PMID- 25833083
TI  - A smart tailor-made G-clip reporter for sensitive detection of G-triplet
      containing sequences.
AB  - Taking advantage of the intrinsic characteristics of G-triplet-containing
      sequences, a pioneering tailor-made clip-like reporter containing three-fourths
      of a G-quadruplex is established. The reporter can clip the G triplet in the
      target sequence through a recognition process to form a complete G-quadruplex
      structure. 

PMID- 25833084
TI  - Correlating Cerebral (18)FDG PET-CT Patterns with Histological Analysis During
      Early Brain Injury in a Rat Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Model.
AB  - Early brain injury (EBI) plays a significant role in poor outcomes for
      subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) patients. Further investigations are required to
      characterize the cellular metabolic and related histological changes that may
      contribute to EBI following SAH. We investigated the image patterns of 18
      fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography ((18)FDG PET
      CT) during EBI and correlated histopathological changes utilizing a rat SAH
      model. SAH was induced in six adult male Sprague-Dawley rats by endovascular
      perforation, and animals were randomly assigned to receive (18)FDG PET-CT imaging
      at either 3 or 12 h post-procedure. Mean (18)FDG standard uptake value (SUV) of
      the brain was calculated. Animals were euthanized 48 h post-procedure, and brain
      samples were used for heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and dopamine- and cAMP-regulated
      phosphoprotein (DARPP-32) Mr 32 kDa immunohistochemistry. Rats within the SAH
      group had higher mean whole brain (18)FDG SUV (2.349 +/- 0.376 g/ml in the 3-h
      group and 2.453 +/- 0.495 g/ml in the 12-h group) compared to that of sham (n =
      3; mean SUV = 2.030 +/- 0.247 g/ml; P < 0.05) or control groups (n = 3; mean SUV
      = 1.800 +/- 0.484 g/ml; P < 0.05). Whole brain (18)FDG SUV did not vary
      significantly between rats imaged at 3 h vs. those imaged at 12 h post-SAH (P >
      0.05). Regions of decreasing SUV in SAH rats correlated with neuronal death and
      increased expression of HO-1. Higher (18)FDG PET SUV was evident in rats post-SAH
      compared to sham and control groups. Regions of decreasing SUV in SAH rats
      correlated with neuronal death and increased HO-1 expression as evaluated by
      histopathology. 

PMID- 25833085
TI  - When should we change our clinical practice based on the results of a clinical
      study? Searching for evidence: PICOS and PubMed.

PMID- 25833086
TI  - Seeing red: over-the-counter chloramphenicol.

PMID- 25833087
TI  - Let's put our house in order, or have it done for us: the future of RANZCO as a
      reputable professional organization.

PMID- 25833089
TI  - Mechanisms of the self-assembly of EAK16-family peptides into fibrillar and
      globular structures: molecular dynamics simulations from nano- to micro-seconds.
AB  - The self-assembly of EAK16-family peptides in a bulk solution was studied using a
      combination of all-atom and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations. In
      addition, specified concentrations of EAK16 peptides were induced to form
      fibrillary or globular assemblies in vitro. The results show that the combination
      of all-atom molecular dynamics simulations on the single- and double-chain levels
      and coarse-grained simulations on the many-chain level predicts the experimental
      observations reasonably well. At neutral pH conditions, EAK16-I and EAK16-II
      assemble into fibrillary structures, whereas EAK16-IV aggregates into globular
      assemblies. Mechanisms of the formation of fibrillar and globular assemblies are
      described using the simulation results.

PMID- 25833090
TI  - Left hemisphere EEG coherence in infancy predicts infant declarative pointing and
      preschool epistemic language.
AB  - Pointing plays a central role in preverbal communication. While imperative
      pointing aims at influencing another person's behavior, declarative gestures
      serve to convey epistemic information and to share interest in an object.
      Further, the latter are hypothesized to be a precursor ability of epistemic
      language. So far, little is known about their underlying brain maturation
      processes. Therefore, the present study investigated the relation between brain
      maturation processes and the production of imperative and declarative motives as
      well as epistemic language in N = 32 infants. EEG coherence scores were measured
      at 14 months, imperative and declarative point production at 15 months and
      epistemic language at 48 months. Results of correlational analyses suggest
      distinct behavioral and neural patterns for imperative and declarative pointing,
      with declarative pointing being associated with the maturation of the left
      hemisphere. Further, EEG coherence measures of the left hemisphere at 14 months
      and declarative pointing at 15 months are related to individual differences in
      epistemic language skills at 48 months, independently of child IQ. In regression
      analyses, coherence measures of the left hemisphere prove to be the most
      important predictor of epistemic language skills. Thus, neural processes of the
      left hemisphere seem particularly relevant to social communication. 

PMID- 25833091
TI  - Citrobacter bitternis sp. nov. isolated from bitterns.
AB  - In this study, we reported two gram-negative bacteria that were isolated from
      bitterns, designated as SKKU-TP7(T) and SKKU-TP20, representing a novel species
      of Citrobacter. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences, the two strains were found
      to be closely related and showed the highest pairwise similarity with Citrobacter
      farmeri CDC 2992-81(T) (97.1-97.3 %) and other Citrobacter species. Cellular
      fatty acid analysis revealed that the profiles of strains SKKU-TP7(T) and SKKU
      TP20 were similar to those of related species of Citrobacter. The major cellular
      fatty acids were C16:0 (31.5 %), summed feature 3 (C16:1 omega7c, C16:1 omega6c,
      19.7 %), summed feature 8 (C18:1 omega7c, C18:1 omega6c, 11.9 %), C17:0 cyclo
      (10.7 %), and summed feature 2 (C12:0 aldehyde/unknown 10928, 9.5 %). Although
      the strains could utilize sucrose and raffinose as a carbon source, they did not
      produce ornithine decarboxylase and urease. The biochemical and genotypic
      characteristics indicate that strains SKKU-TP7(T) and SKKU-TP20 represent a novel
      species of Citrobacter, for which the name Citrobacter bitterns sp. nov. is
      proposed. The type strain is SKKU-TP7(T) (=KCTC 42139(T) = JCM 30009(T)).

PMID- 25833092
TI  - Psychiatric comorbidity in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.
AB  - AIM: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder that
      women experience during their reproductive years and is associated with many
      psychiatric disorders. This study sought to determine the existence of
      psychiatric disorders in women with untreated PCOS. Another objective of the
      study was to examine whether an association exists between psychiatric disorders,
      insulin resistance, and body mass index. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Women who met the
      Rotterdam criteria for PCOS (n = 88) were included. Structured Clinical
      Interviews for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edn
      were conducted. After the psychiatric evaluations, blood samples were obtained
      from the participants. RESULTS: Prevalence for all comorbid psychiatric disorders
      was 50% (n = 44). The most common psychiatric disorder was major depression
      (33%), followed by generalized anxiety disorder (13.6%) and binge-eating disorder
      (6.8%). No significant difference in body mass index and insulin resistance index
      scores was found between women with and without psychiatric disorders (P > 0.05
      for both comparisons). CONCLUSION: A considerable number of women with PCOS
      experience a psychiatric disorder during their lifetime. Clinicians should be
      aware that women with PCOS are at a high risk for major depression, generalized
      anxiety disorder, and binge-eating disorder.

PMID- 25833093
TI  - Hydrophilicity/Hydrophobicity reversable and redox-sensitive nanogels for
      anticancer drug delivery.
AB  - Long circulation in the blood, efficient cellular internalization, and
      intracellular drug release in the tumor cells are major challenges in the
      development of ideal anticancer drug delivery systems. In this paper,
      hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity reversable and redox-sensitive poly(oligo(ethylene
      glycol) methacrylates-ss-acrylic acid) (P(OEGMAs-ss-AA)) nanogels were
      constructed as drug carriers for cancer therapy. The nanogels underwent a pH
      dependent hydrophilic/hydrophobic change. The nanogels were hydrophilic under
      physiological conditions (pH 7.4, 37  degrees C), resulting in fewer opsonization
      of proteins and less phagocytosis by macrophage RAW264.7 cells, while they were
      hydrophobic in the tumor tissues (pH 6.5, 37  degrees C), resulting in strong
      internalization by Bel7402 cells. The doxorubicin (DOX) release from DOX-loaded
      nanogels was increased in intracellular reductive and lysosome acidic
      environments. DOX-loaded nanogels exhibited higher cellular proliferation
      inhibition to GSH-OEt-pretreated Bel7402 cells at pH 6.5 than to unpretreated
      cells at pH 7.4. Further studies showed that the loaded DOX and nanogels were
      internalized into the cells together via both lipid raft/caveolae- and clathrin
      mediated endocytic pathways. After internalization, the DOX-loaded nanogels were
      transported via the specific route in endo/lysosomal system. The loaded DOX was
      released from the nanogels with the introduction of intracellular GSH and entered
      the nucleus. This study indicated that the hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity
      reversable and redox-sensitive nanogels might be used as potential carriers for
      anticancer drugs, which provided a foundation for designing an effective drug
      delivery system for cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25833094
TI  - Disposable diapers decrease the incidence of neonatal infections compared to
      cloth diapers in a level II neonatal intensive care unit.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study whether disposable diapers decrease the incidence of neonatal
      infections compared with cloth diapers in a level II neonatal intensive care unit
      (NICU). METHOD AND MATERIAL: All neonates admitted to the NICU and having
      duration of stay >48 h were enrolled. Those babies with signs and symptoms of
      infection were screened with septic screen and/or blood culture. RESULTS: The
      primary outcome of the study was incidence of probable sepsis. Of 253 babies
      enrolled in the study period, probable sepsis was present in 101 (39.9%) infants
      in the total study group and was higher in cloth diaper group as compared with
      disposable diaper group (p = 0.01). For an average NICU stay of 6 days, cloth
      diapers would cost Rs. 241 vs. Rs. 162 for disposable diaper for any infant.
      CONCLUSION: Usage of disposable diapers decrease the incidence of probable sepsis
      in babies admitted to NICU. It is also cost effective to use disposable diapers
      in the NICU.

PMID- 25833095
TI  - Blood pressure variation with gestational age and birth weight in Indian newborn.
AB  - Prospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital of
      India over 8 months to measure blood pressure (BP) in healthy term and preterm
      neonates using oscillometric method and explore the associations with gestational
      age and birth weight. Consecutive BP measurements were taken by standard
      oscillometric method on 1617 neonates on day 4, 7 and 14 of life. Mean birth
      weight was 2.7 +/- 0.46 kg, and mean gestational age was 38.2 +/- 2.12 weeks. The
      mean arterial pressure (MAP) on day 4, 7 and 14 were 59.3 +/- 7.33, 63.2 +/- 6.55
      and 66.4 +/- 6.13 mmHg, respectively. Larger and mature newborns had
      significantly higher BP than those who were smaller and premature. Birth weight
      more strongly correlated with MAP than gestational age. Predictive equations
      linking MAP with gestational age and birth weight were deduced, which can be used
      for judicious fluid inotrope management.

PMID- 25833096
TI  - Assessing providers' vaccination behaviors during routine immunization in India.
AB  - Progress has been made toward improving routine immunization coverage in India,
      but universal coverage has not been achieved. Little is known about how
      providers' vaccination behaviors affect coverage rates. The purpose of this study
      was to identify provider behaviors that served as barriers to vaccination that
      could lead to missed opportunities to vaccinate. We conducted a study of health
      care providers' vaccination behaviors during clinic visits for children <3 years
      of age. Information on provider behaviors was collected through parent report and
      direct observation. Compared with illness visits, parents were eight times more
      likely to report vaccination status was verified (p < 0.001) and three times more
      likely to report receiving counseling on immunization (p = 0.022) during
      vaccination visits. Training of all vaccination practitioners should focus on
      behaviors such as the necessity of verifying vaccination status regardless of
      visit type, stressing the importance of counseling parents on immunization and
      emphasizing what is a valid contraindication to vaccination. 

PMID- 25833097
TI  - Acinetobacter baumannii infections in a South African paediatric intensive care
      unit.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To describe and compare characteristics and outcomes of patients
      colonized or infected with Acinetobacter baumannii (cases) to a control group.
      METHODS: A retrospective case-controlled study of patients admitted to a South
      African paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) between January and December 2010.
      RESULTS: Acinetobacter baumannii was isolated in 194 patients. Mortality was
      similar between cases (9.3%) and controls (9.8%). Median duration of PICU stay
      and mechanical ventilation in cases vs. controls was 10 vs. 2 (p < 0.0001) and 9
      vs. 1 days (p < 0.0001), respectively. Admission diagnosis of traumatic brain
      injury [adjusted odds ratio (OR): 5.6, 95% CI: 1.2-27.0; p = 0.03] and duration
      of mechanical ventilation (adjusted OR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.3-1.5; p < 0.0001) were
      independently associated with A. baumannii aquisition. CONCLUSION: Acinetobacter
      baumannii acquisition was common and associated with increased morbidity, but not
      increased mortality.

PMID- 25833099
TI  - alpha-Synuclein Over-Expression Induces Increased Iron Accumulation and
      Redistribution in Iron-Exposed Neurons.
AB  - Parkinson's disease is the most common alpha-synucleinopathy, and increased
      levels of iron are found in the substantia nigra of Parkinson's disease patients,
      but the potential interlink between both molecular changes has not been fully
      understood. Metal to protein binding assays have shown that alpha-synuclein can
      bind iron in vitro; therefore, we hypothesized that iron content and iron
      distribution could be modified in cellulo, in cells over-expressing alpha
      synuclein. Owing to particle-induced X-ray emission and synchrotron X-ray
      fluorescence chemical nano-imaging, we were able to quantify and describe the
      iron distribution at the subcellular level. We show that, in neurons exposed to
      excess iron, the mere over-expression of human alpha-synuclein results in
      increased levels of intracellular iron and in iron redistribution from the
      cytoplasm to the perinuclear region within alpha-synuclein-rich inclusions.
      Reproducible results were obtained in two distinct recombinant expression
      systems, in primary rat midbrain neurons and in a rat neuroblastic cell line
      (PC12), both infected with viral vectors expressing human alpha-synuclein. Our
      results link two characteristic molecular features found in Parkinson's disease,
      the accumulation of alpha-synuclein and the increased levels of iron in the
      substantia nigra. 

PMID- 25833100
TI  - Pseudocatalytic Antiaggregation Activity of Antibodies: Immunoglobulins can
      Influence alpha-Synuclein Aggregation at Substoichiometric Concentrations.
AB  - Protein aggregation is involved in a variety of diseases. Alteration of the
      aggregation pathway, either to produce less toxic structures or to increase
      aggregate clearance, is a promising therapeutic route. Both active and passive
      immunization has been used for this purpose. However, the mechanism of action of
      antibodies on protein aggregates is not completely clear especially given poor
      ability of antibodies to cross blood-brain barrier. Here, we have shown that
      antibodies can interfere with protein aggregation at substoichiometric
      concentrations (as low as 1:1000 antibody to protein ratio). This is an
      indication that antibodies interact with aggregation intermediates in chaperone
      like manner altering the aggregation pathways at very low antibody levels. This
      observation supports earlier suggestions that antibodies can inhibit aggregation
      by interaction with low abundance aggregation intermediates. 

PMID- 25833101
TI  - Serum CXCL12 Levels as a Novel Predictor of Future Stroke Recurrence in Patients
      with Acute Ischemic Stroke.
AB  - Previous studies had shown that CXC chemokine ligand-12 (CXCL12) plays a
      significant role in animal models of ischemic stroke, but its role in human
      stroke is unclear. The aim of this study was to test the relationship between
      elevated serum circulating CXCL12 levels and the 1-year stroke recurrence in
      Chinese patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). All consecutive patients with
      first-ever acute ischemic stroke from January 2011 to September 2013 were
      recruited to participate in the study. Serum levels of CXCL12 and National
      Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) were measured at the time of admission.
      Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the stroke recurrence according
      to serum CXCL12 levels. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to
      evaluate the accuracy of serum CXCL12 in predicting stroke recurrence. Clinical
      follow-up was performed at 1 year. In our study, 248 patients finished the 1-year
      follow-up. At 1-year follow-up, 31 patients had a recurrence ischemic stroke. The
      median CXCL12 levels were significantly higher in those who sustained a
      recurrence ischemic stroke compared with those who did not [24.2 ng/mL (IQR 15.4
      33.7) vs 6.5 ng/mL (IQR 3.4-10.2); Z = 8.258, P < 0.0001]. In multivariate
      analysis, there was an increased risk of stroke recurrence associated with serum
      CXCL12 levels >=12.15 ng/mL (OR 9.122, 95 % CI 6.103-15.104) after adjusting for
      above possible confounders. The time to recurrence stroke distribution between
      patients with baseline CXCL12 levels >=12.15 ng/mL and those with baseline CXCL12
      levels <12.15 ng/mL were significantly different (P < 0.0001, log-rank test).
      Elevated circulating CXCL12 levels at admission are strongly associated with the
      future recurrence of ischemic stroke in Chinese patients with AIS. Further
      studies are warranted to confirm this association and define the role for CXCL12
      as a novel predictor biomarker for stroke recurrence.

PMID- 25833098
TI  - The Essential Role of Soluble Abeta Oligomers in Alzheimer's Disease.
AB  - Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease characterized by
      amyloid plaque and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT). With the finding that soluble
      nonfibrillar Abeta levels actually correlate strongly with the severity of the
      disease, the initial focus on amyloid plaques shifted to the contemporary concept
      that AD memory failure is caused by soluble Abeta oligomers. The soluble Abeta
      are known to be more neurotoxicthan fibrillar Abeta species. In this paper, we
      summarize the essential role of soluble Abeta oligomers in AD and discuss
      therapeutic strategies that target soluble Abeta oligomers. 

PMID- 25833102
TI  - Minocycline Attenuates Neonatal Germinal-Matrix-Hemorrhage-Induced
      Neuroinflammation and Brain Edema by Activating Cannabinoid Receptor 2.
AB  - Germinal matrix hemorrhage (GMH) is the most common neurological disease of
      premature newborns leading to detrimental neurological sequelae. Minocycline has
      been reported to play a key role in neurological inflammatory diseases by
      controlling some mechanisms that involve cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2R). The
      current study investigated whether minocycline reduces neuroinflammation and
      protects the brain from injury in a rat model of collagenase-induced GMH by
      regulating CB2R activity. To test this hypothesis, the effects of minocycline and
      a CB2R antagonist (AM630) were evaluated in male rat pups that were post-natal
      day 7 (P7) after GMH. We found that minocycline can lead to increased CB2R mRNA
      expression and protein expression in microglia. Minocycline significantly reduced
      GMH-induced brain edema, microglial activation, and lateral ventricular volume.
      Additionally, minocycline enhanced cortical thickness after injury. All of these
      neuroprotective effects of minocycline were prevented by AM630. A cannabinoid CB2
      agonist (JWH133) was used to strengthen the hypothesis, which showed the
      identical neuroprotective effects of minocycline. Our study demonstrates, for the
      first time, that minocycline attenuates neuroinflammation and brain injury in a
      rat model of GMH, and activation of CBR2 was partially involved in these
      processes. 

PMID- 25833104
TI  - Effects of differently activated rodent macrophages on sensory neurons:
      implications for arthritis pain.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In arthritis, macrophages invade the affected joint. Experimental
      arthritis models have shown that macrophages also invade the dorsal root ganglia
      (DRGs) of the inflamed segments in which the perikarya of sensory neurons are
      located. It is unclear whether this macrophage invasion contributes to arthritis
      pain and/or furthers neuronal damage. The present study was undertaken to
      investigate how differently activated macrophages affect DRG neurons. METHODS: We
      determined the phenotype of macrophages in the DRGs of rats with antigen-induced
      arthritis (AIA). In a DRG neuron-macrophage coculture system, we investigated
      whether differently activated macrophages (stimulated with either
      lipopolysaccharide [LPS]/interferon-gamma [IFNgamma], tumor necrosis factor
      [TNF], or interleukin-4) damage DRG neurons and/or stimulate them to release the
      mediator calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), which promotes pain and
      neurogenic inflammation. RESULTS: Macrophages in the DRGs of rats with AIA showed
      the phenotype of TNF-stimulated macrophages but did not express inducible nitric
      oxide synthase, which was found in cultured macrophages only after LPS/IFNgamma
      activation. In neuron-macrophage cocultures, activation of macrophages stimulated
      DRG neurons to release CGRP within 1 hour, indicating neuronal activation by
      macrophages. Only 48-hour activation of macrophages with LPS/IFNgamma increased
      the neuronal cell death rate in culture, provided that the macrophages were in
      direct contact with DRG neurons. This effect was dependent on nitric oxide.
      CONCLUSION: Macrophages have the potential to stimulate sensory neurons in the
      DRGs, and this may contribute to arthritis pain. If they are classically
      activated, such as after LPS/IFNgamma stimulation, this may also further neuronal
      cell death. This is not the case in AIA but may occur in models involving damage
      of sensory neurons.

PMID- 25833103
TI  - Age and sex effects on corpus callosum morphology across the lifespan.
AB  - The corpus callosum (CC) is the largest interhemispheric white matter tract in
      the human brain, and is characterized by pronounced differences in morphology
      among individuals. There are limited data, however, regarding typical
      development, sex differences, and the neuropsychological correlates of individual
      differences within CC subregions. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging exams were
      collected in a large cohort (N = 305) of healthy individuals (ages 8-68). We used
      a highly reliable program to automatically identify the midsagittal plane and
      obtain CC subregion measures according to approaches described by Witelson
      [1989]: Brain 112:799-835 and Hampel et al. [1998]: Arch Neurol 55:193-198 and a
      measure of whole CC shape (i.e., circularity). CC measurement parameters,
      including area, perimeter, length, circularity, and CC subregion area values were
      generally characterized by inverted U-shaped curves across the observed age
      range. Peak values for CC subregions were observed between ages 32 and 45, and
      descriptive linear correlations were consistent with sharper area changes in
      development. We also observed differing age-associated changes across the
      lifespan between males and females in the CC subregion corresponding to the genu
      (Witelson's subregion 2), as well as CC circularity. Mediation analysis using
      path modeling indicated that genu area mediated the relationship between age and
      processing speed for females, and the relationship between age and visual
      learning and executive functioning for males. Taken together, our findings
      implicate sex differences in CC morphology across the lifespan that are localized
      to the genu, which appear to mediate neuropsychological functions.

PMID- 25833106
TI  - The heart is lost without the brain - the autonomic perspective.

PMID- 25833105
TI  - International survey of acute stroke imaging used to make revascularization
      treatment decisions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To assess the differences across continental regions in terms of
      stroke imaging obtained for making acute revascularization therapy decisions, and
      to identify obstacles to participating in randomized trials involving multimodal
      imaging. METHODS: STroke Imaging Repository (STIR) and Virtual International
      Stroke Trials Archive (VISTA)-Imaging circulated an online survey through its
      website, through the websites of national professional societies from multiple
      countries as well as through email distribution lists from STIR and the above
      mentioned societies. RESULTS: We received responses from 223 centers (2 from
      Africa, 38 from Asia, 10 from Australia, 101 from Europe, 4 from Middle East, 55
      from North America, 13 from South America). In combination, the sites surveyed
      administered acute revascularization therapy to a total of 25,326 acute stroke
      patients in 2012. Seventy-three percent of these patients received intravenous
      (i.v.) tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), and 27%, endovascular therapy.
      Vascular imaging was routinely obtained in 79% (152/193) of sites for
      endovascular therapy decisions, and also as part of standard IV tPA treatment
      decisions at 46% (92/198) of sites. Modality, availability and use of acute
      vascular and perfusion imaging before revascularization varied substantially
      between geographical areas. The main obstacles to participate in randomized
      trials involving multimodal imaging included: mainly insufficient research
      support and staff (50%, 79/158) and infrequent use of multimodal imaging (27%,
      43/158) . CONCLUSION: There were significant variations among sites and
      geographical areas in terms of stroke imaging work-up used tomake decisions both
      for intravenous and endovascular revascularization. Clinical trials using
      advanced imaging as a selection tool for acute revascularization therapy should
      address the need for additional resources and technical support, and take into
      consideration the lack of routine use of such techniques in trial planning.

PMID- 25833107
TI  - The heart's 'little brain' controlling cardiac function in the rabbit.
AB  - NEW FINDINGS: What is the topic of this review? The topic of the review is the
      intrinsic cardiac nervous system in the rabbit. What advances does it highlight?
      The anatomy of rabbit intrinsic ganglia is similar to that of other species,
      including humans. Immunohistochemistry confirms the presence of cholinergic and
      adrenergic neurones, with a striking arrangement of neuronal nitric oxide
      synthase-positive cell bodies. Activation of atrial ganglia produces effects on
      local and remote regions. Heart disease is a primary cause of mortality in the
      developed world, and it is well recognized that neural mechanisms play an
      important role in many cardiac pathologies. The role of extrinsic autonomic
      nerves has traditionally attracted the most attention. However, there is a rich
      intrinsic innervation of the heart, including numerous cardiac ganglia
      (ganglionic plexuses), that has the potential to affect cardiac function
      independently as well as to influence the actions of the extrinsic nerves. To
      investigate this, an isolated, perfused, innervated rabbit Langendorff heart
      preparation was considered the best option. Although ganglionic plexuses have
      been well described for several species, there was no full description of the
      anatomy and histochemistry of rabbit hearts. To this end, rabbit intrinsic
      ganglia were located using acetylcholinesterase histology (n = 33 hearts). This
      revealed six generalized ganglionic regions, defined as a left neuronal complex
      above the left pulmonary vein, a right neuronal complex around the base of right
      cranial vein, three scattered in the dorsal right atrium and a region containing
      numerous ventricular ganglia located on the conus arteriosus. Using
      immunohistochemistry, neurons were found to contain choline acetyltransferase or
      tyrosine hydroxylase and/or neuronal nitric oxide synthase in differing amounts
      (choline acetyltransferase > tyrosine hydroxylase > neuronal nitric oxide
      synthase). The function of rabbit intrinsic ganglia was investigated using a
      bolus application of nicotine or electrical stimulation at each of the above
      sites whilst measuring heart rate and atrioventricular conduction. Nicotine
      applied to different ganglionic plexuses caused a bradycardia, a tachycardia or a
      mixture of the two, with the right atrial plexus producing the largest
      chronotropic responses. Electrical stimulation at these sites induced only a
      bradycardia. Atrioventricular conduction was modestly changed by nicotine, the
      main response being a prolongation. Electrical stimulation produced significant
      prolongation of atrioventricular conduction, particularly when the right neuronal
      complex was stimulated. These studies show that the intrinsic plexuses of the
      heart are important and could be crucial for understanding impairments of cardiac
      function. Additionally, they provide a strong basis from which to progress using
      the isolated, innervated rabbit heart preparation.

PMID- 25833108
TI  - Control of muscle exercise hyperaemia: are the mechanisms found in transition?

PMID- 25833109
TI  - Response to: control of muscle exercise hyperaemia: are the mechanisms found in
      transition?

PMID- 25833110
TI  - Interpreting the confidence intervals of model parameters of breath-by-breath
      pulmonary O2 uptake.

PMID- 25833111
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25063837.

PMID- 25833113
TI  - Secondary histiocytic sarcoma may cause apparent persistence or recurrence of
      minimal residual disease in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
AB  - Histiocytic sarcoma (HS) is a rare disease with poor prognosis which may develop
      subsequent to acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Here we report two children
      treated within the AIEOP-BFM ALL 2009 trial: one patient succumbed to fulminant
      hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis triggered by HS during ALL maintenance
      therapy, the other patient had a smoldering course of HS for over 2 years, and
      subsequently died after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. In both cases, HS
      and ALL were clonally related and apparent return of minimal residual disease
      (MRD) was detected by qPCR in bone marrow. Thus, HS should be considered in ALL
      when MRD appears to persist or reappear.

PMID- 25833114
TI  - Variation of electrocardiogram interpretation: yet another contributor to the
      Achilles heel of pre-participation electrocardiographic programmes in athletes.

PMID- 25833115
TI  - Radiofrequency catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia caused by the tip of
      a defibrillation lead.

PMID- 25833116
TI  - Relationship between echocardiographic right-ventricular dimensions and signal
      averaged electrocardiogram abnormalities in endurance athletes.
AB  - AIMS: Regular physical exercise results in physiological cardiovascular changes.
      Athletes may demonstrate electrocardiographic changes that can also be seen in
      certain cardiomyopathies such as arrhythmogenic right-ventricular cardiomyopathy
      (ARVC). The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of one such
      electrocardiographic characteristic, the abnormal signal-averaged ECG (SAECG),
      and to assess the correlation between SAECG parameters and echocardiographic
      parameters in athletes participating in sporting disciplines with combined
      strength and endurance components. METHODS AND RESULTS: We evaluated 24 elite
      athletes and 27 amateur athletes participating in combined high dynamic and high
      static (HDHS) sports, using an ECG, SAECG, and a transthoracic echocardiogram.
      The SAECG was regarded as positive for late potentials if one out of three
      parameters was abnormal. Prolongation of the filtered QRS duration (fQRS) was
      present in all of the elite athletes, compared with 74.1% of the amateur athletes
      (P = 0.011). There was a low prevalence of abnormalities in the other two SAECG
      parameters [low-amplitude signal (LAS) duration and root-mean-square (RMS)
      voltage]. The percentage of elite athletes and amateur athletes with >=2 abnormal
      SAECG parameters was 8.3 and 7.4% (P = 0.99), respectively. Most of the
      echocardiographic dimensions were significantly greater in the elite athlete
      group compared with the amateur athletes. There was a moderate positive
      correlation between the fQRS and right-ventricular dimensions. CONCLUSION: The
      majority of elite and amateur athletes participating in HDHS sports reveal a
      prolonged fQRS duration on the SAECG, and according to the 2010 Task Force
      criteria for the diagnosis of ARVC, these athletes therefore demonstrate late
      potentials. The extent of fQRS prolongation is positively correlated with RV
      dimensions. Therefore SAECG findings should be interpreted with caution in
      endurance athletes.

PMID- 25833117
TI  - Improving usual care after sudden death in the young with focus on inherited
      cardiac diseases (the CAREFUL study): a community-based intervention study.
AB  - AIMS: Inherited cardiac diseases play an important role in sudden death (SD) in
      the young. Autopsy and cardiogenetic evaluation of relatives of young SD victims
      identifies relatives at risk. We studied the usual care after SD in the young
      aimed at identifying inherited cardiac disease, and assessed the efficacy of two
      interventions to improve this usual care. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a
      community-based intervention study to increase autopsy rates of young SD victims
      aged 1-44 years and referral of their relatives to cardiogenetic clinics. In the
      Amsterdam study region, a 24/7 central telephone number and a website were
      available to inform general practitioners and coroners. In the Utrecht study
      region, they were informed by a letter and educational meetings. In two control
      regions usual care was monitored. Autopsy was performed in 169 of 390 registered
      SD cases (43.3%). Cardiogenetic evaluation of relatives was indicated in 296 of
      390 cases (75.9%), but only 25 of 296 families (8.4%) attended a cardiogenetics
      clinic. Autopsy rates were 38.7% in the Amsterdam study region, 45.5% in the
      Utrecht study region, and 49.0% in the control regions. The proportion of
      families evaluated at cardiogenetics clinics in the Amsterdam study region, the
      Utrecht study region, and the control regions was 7.3, 9.9, and 8.8%,
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The autopsy rate in young SD cases in the Netherlands
      is low and few families undergo cardiogenetic evaluation to detect inherited
      cardiac diseases. Two different interventions did not improve this suboptimal
      situation substantially.

PMID- 25833118
TI  - Endothelial cells regulate cardiac myocyte reorganisation through beta1-integrin
      signalling.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In normal hearts, capillaries are densely distributed throughout the
      myocardial tissue, and the cross-talk between myocytes and capillary endothelial
      cells plays a pivotal role in regulating cardiac development, maturation and
      function. Although previous studies have suggested a role for the endothelium in
      the organisation of nearby cardiomyocytes, the underlying mechanism has yet to be
      illustrated. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using a transwell coculture system, we studied
      the paracrine effect of endothelial cells on cardiomyocytes and found that the
      regulation of cardiomyocyte spatial reorganisation and cytoskeletal dynamics by
      endothelial cells was coupled with beta1-integrin induction. To determine the
      role of beta1-integrin in this process, we preincubated myocytes with a beta1
      integrin function-blocking antibody before coculture. beta1-integrin blockage
      abolished myocyte chemotactic activity and inhibited microtubule extension and
      stress fibre assembly. We further evaluated the therapeutic potential of combined
      endothelial cell-cardiac myocyte transplantation against ischemic cardiomyopathy
      in an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) mouse model. The results showed that
      myocytes and endothelial cells synergistically promoted ischemic myocardial
      repair, as evidenced by the robust engraftment and migration of implanted cells
      within the infarcted area, as well as the stimulation of angiogenesis, the
      attenuation of scar tissue and the improvement of cardiac function. CONCLUSION:
      Our study demonstrated the necessity of beta1-integrin in the interactions
      between cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells and presented a novel combined
      transplantation approach that might hold promise for treating ischemic
      cardiomyopathy.

PMID- 25833120
TI  - Vascular management during live donor nephrectomy: an online survey among
      transplant surgeons.
AB  - In 2006, a survey from the American Society of Transplant Surgeons disclosed
      significant and sometimes fatal hemorrhagic events in live donor nephrectomies
      (LDN) related to failure of clips, leading to the contraindication of the Weck(r)
      Hem-o-lok(r) clip for control of the renal artery during LDN. A survey regarding
      vascular control techniques, their perceived safety ratings and their failures
      was sent to 645 European Society for Organ Transplantation members who profiled
      their profession as "surgeon" and selected "kidney" as organ type. Two hundred
      forty-three (41%) members responded, of whom 171 (63.3%) independently perform
      LDN. Their responses were analyzed. For arterial and venous vascular control, the
      GIATM and TATMstapler are used most frequently, and were rated the safest. Of the
      121 reported hemorrhagic events, slippage and dislodgement of clips occurred at
      least 58 times, while stapler malfunction occurred at least 40 times. One donor
      death from hemorrhage related to clip dysfunction was reported. Hemorrhagic
      complications of LDN with fatal and non-fatal outcomes still occur. Strikingly,
      many surgeons do not use the vascular closing technique that they consider most
      safe. Failure of non-transfixion techniques is associated with greater risks for
      the donor. Control of major vessels in LDN must employ transfixion techniques for
      optimal donor safety. 

PMID- 25833119
TI  - A blood spot method for detecting fumonisin-induced changes in putative
      sphingolipid biomarkers in LM/Bc mice and humans.
AB  - Fumonisins (FB) are mycotoxins found in maize. They are hypothesised risk factors
      for neural tube defects (NTDs) in humans living where maize is a dietary staple.
      In LM/Bc mice, FB1-treatment of pregnant dams induces NTDs and results in
      increased levels of sphingoid base 1-phosphates in blood and tissues. The
      increased level of sphingoid base 1-phosphates in blood is a putative biomarker
      for FB1 inhibition of ceramide synthase in humans. Collection of blood spots on
      paper from finger sticks is a relatively non-invasive way to obtain blood for
      biomarker analysis. The objective of this study was to develop and validate in an
      animal model, and ultimately in humans, a method to estimate the volume of blood
      collected as blood spots on absorbent paper so as to allow quantification of the
      molar concentration of sphingoid base 1-phosphates in blood. To accomplish this
      objective, blood was collected from unexposed male LM/Bc and FB1-exposed pregnant
      LM/Bc mice and humans and applied to two types of absorbent paper. The sphingoid
      base 1-phosphates, absorbance at 270 nm (A270), and total protein content
      (Bradford) were determined in the acetonitrile:water 5% formic acid extracts from
      the dried blood spots. The results show that in both mouse and human the A270,
      total protein, and blood volume were closely correlated and the volume of blood
      spotted was accurately estimated using only the A270 of the extracts. In mouse
      blood spots, as in tissues and embryos, the FB1-induced changes in sphingolipids
      were correlated with urinary FB1. The half-life of FB1 in the urine was short
      (<24 h) and the elevation in sphingoid base 1-phosphates in blood was also short,
      although more persistent than the urinary FB1. 

PMID- 25833121
TI  - Cervical cancer prevented by screening: Long-term incidence trends by morphology
      in Norway.
AB  - Both major morphologic types of cervical cancer, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)
      and adenocarcinoma (AC), are causally related to persistent infection with high
      risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV), but screening has primarily been effective at
      preventing SCC. We analysed incidence trends of cervical cancer in Norway
      stratified by morphologies over 55 years, and projected SCC incidence in the
      absence of screening by assessing the changes in the incidence rate of AC. The
      Cancer Registry of Norway was used to identify all 19,530 malignancies in the
      cervix diagnosed in the period 1956-2010. The majority of these (82.9%) were
      classified as SCCs, 10.5% as ACs and the remaining 6.6% were of other or
      undefined morphology. By joint-point analyses of a period of more than five
      decades, the average annual percentage change in the age-standardised incidence
      was -1.0 (95%CI: -2.1-0.1) for cervical SCC, 1.5 (95%CI:1.1-1.9) for cervical AC
      and -0.9 (95%CI: -1.4 to -0.3) for cervical cancers of other or undefined
      morphology. The projected age-standardised incidence rate of cervical SCC in
      Norway, assuming no screening, was 28.6 per 100,000 woman-years in 2010, which
      compared with the observed SCC rate of 7.3 corresponds to an estimated 74%
      reduction in SCC or a 68% reduction due to screening in the total cervical cancer
      burden. Cytology screening has impacted cervical cancer burden more than
      suggested by the overall observed cervical cancer incidence reduction since its
      peak in the mid-1970s. The simultaneous substantial increase in cervical
      adenocarcinoma in Norway is presumably indicative of an increase in exposure to
      HPV over time. 

PMID- 25833122
TI  - Late corneal decompensation after obstetrical forceps ocular trauma at birth.

PMID- 25833123
TI  - Formation of adhesion domains in stressed and confined membranes.
AB  - The adhesion bonds connecting a lipid bilayer to an underlying surface may
      undergo a condensation transition resulting from an interplay between a short
      range attractive potential between them, and a long range fluctuation-induced
      potential of mean force. Here, we use computer simulations of a coarse-grained
      molecular model of supported lipid bilayers to study this transition in confined
      membranes, and in membranes subjected to a non-vanishing surface tension. Our
      results show that confinement may alter significantly the condensation transition
      of the adhesion bonds, whereas the application of surface tension has a very
      minor effect on it. We also investigate domain formation in membranes under
      negative tension which, in free membranes, causes the enhancement of the
      amplitude of membrane thermal undulations. Our results indicate that in supported
      membranes, this effect of a negative surface tension on the fluctuation spectrum
      is largely eliminated by the pressure resulting from the mixing entropy of the
      adhesion bonds. 

PMID- 25833124
TI  - Assessment of vitiligo severity: patient-reported estimates are not accurate.

PMID- 25833125
TI  - Case report of achalasia secondary to a lung carcinoma of the mediastinal type.
AB  - Pseudo- or secondary achalasia may mimic primary achalasia upon radiological
      examination and may be difficult to diagnose. It is usually due to a cancer or
      metastases involving the gastroesophageal junction. We present the case of a 53
      year-old woman with recent onset of dysphagia, and with typical findings
      suggesting primary achalasia. We found a 4-cm mediastinal tumor invading the
      lower esophagus, which was proven to be a metastasis from a lung carcinoma. The
      patient was treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In patients with
      a new onset of achalasia symptoms, keeping in mind the possibility of an
      underlying cancer is important.

PMID- 25833126
TI  - In reply: Non-invasive cardiac output monitoring during sinus surgery.

PMID- 25833127
TI  - CT-based renal volume and graft function after living-donor kidney
      transplantation: Is there a volume threshold to avoid?
AB  - PURPOSE: Donated kidney volume influences post-transplant outcomes and graft
      survival. We evaluated the relationship between living-donor kidney volume and
      recipient graft function at 12 months post-transplantation, exploring a volume
      threshold for a suboptimal graft function, and compared two different formulas of
      volume estimation. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 82 pairs of living-donor
      kidney transplants was conducted. Donor renal volumes were estimated from
      computerized tomography scans using the ellipsoid formula and the voxel counting
      technique. Linear and restricted cubic regression spline was used to analyze the
      association of volume with graft function. Additionally, we determined the
      correlation between the two volume estimation formulas and established a
      correction factor for the ellipsoid formula. RESULTS: Renal volume (adjusted to
      recipient BSA) had the strongest independent effect (B = 1.65 per 10 ml/m(2)
      increase, p value <0.001) on graft function at 12 months. The eGFR at 12 months
      was 52.5, 63.6 and 67.6 ml/min/1.73 m(2) for the low, medium and high volume
      ratio terciles, respectively (p value <0.001). The odds of a GFR <50 ml/min
      became significantly reduced with volumes above 145 cc/1.73 m(2). A strong
      positive correlation between the two formulas was identified (R(2) = 0.705), but
      the optimal correction factor for our cohort was 0.566. CONCLUSIONS: In a
      Caucasian population, higher donor kidney volumes estimated from preoperative CT
      scans are associated with higher recipient eGFRs at 12 months after live-donor
      transplantation. Using this criterion, transplant teams can potentially improve
      selection of living donors if multiple donors are available. However, the need
      for precise estimation of donor kidney volumes should not be overlooked.

PMID- 25833129
TI  - Increasing Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis is Sufficient to Reduce Anxiety and
      Depression-Like Behaviors.
AB  - Adult hippocampal neurogenesis is increased by antidepressants, and is required
      for some of their behavioral effects. However, it remains unclear whether
      expanding the population of adult-born neurons is sufficient to affect anxiety
      and depression-related behavior. Here, we use an inducible transgenic mouse model
      in which the pro-apoptotic gene Bax is deleted from neural stem cells and their
      progeny in the adult brain, and thereby increases adult neurogenesis. We find no
      effects on baseline anxiety and depression-related behavior; however, we find
      that increasing adult neurogenesis is sufficient to reduce anxiety and depression
      related behaviors in mice treated chronically with corticosterone (CORT), a mouse
      model of stress. Thus, neurogenesis differentially affects behavior under
      baseline conditions and in a model of chronic stress. Moreover, we find no effect
      of increased adult hippocampal neurogenesis on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal
      (HPA) axis regulation, either at baseline or following chronic CORT
      administration, suggesting that increasing adult hippocampal neurogenesis can
      affect anxiety and depression-related behavior through a mechanism independent of
      the HPA axis. The use of future techniques to specifically inhibit BAX in the
      hippocampus could be used to augment adult neurogenesis, and may therefore
      represent a novel strategy to promote antidepressant-like behavioral effects. 

PMID- 25833131
TI  - Pain in aquatic animals.
AB  - Recent developments in the study of pain in animals have demonstrated the
      potential for pain perception in a variety of wholly aquatic species such as
      molluscs, crustaceans and fish. This allows us to gain insight into how the
      ecological pressures and differential life history of living in a watery medium
      can yield novel data that inform the comparative physiology and evolution of
      pain. Nociception is the simple detection of potentially painful stimuli usually
      accompanied by a reflex withdrawal response, and nociceptors have been found in
      aquatic invertebrates such as the sea slug Aplysia. It would seem adaptive to
      have a warning system that allows animals to avoid life-threatening injury, yet
      debate does still continue over the capacity for non-mammalian species to
      experience the discomfort or suffering that is a key component of pain rather
      than a nociceptive reflex. Contemporary studies over the last 10 years have
      demonstrated that bony fish possess nociceptors that are similar to those in
      mammals; that they demonstrate pain-related changes in physiology and behaviour
      that are reduced by painkillers; that they exhibit higher brain activity when
      painfully stimulated; and that pain is more important than showing fear or anti
      predator behaviour in bony fish. The neurophysiological basis of nociception or
      pain in fish is demonstrably similar to that in mammals. Pain perception in
      invertebrates is more controversial as they lack the vertebrate brain, yet recent
      research evidence confirms that there are behavioural changes in response to
      potentially painful events. This review will assess the field of pain perception
      in aquatic species, focusing on fish and selected invertebrate groups to
      interpret how research findings can inform our understanding of the physiology
      and evolution of pain. Further, if we accept these animals may be capable of
      experiencing the negative experience of pain, then the wider implications of
      human use of these animals should be considered.

PMID- 25833130
TI  - Healing indicators after pterygium excision by optical coherence tomography.
AB  - PURPOSE: To establish the sequence of tomographic changes in the tissue recovery
      process after pterygium excision and to propose healing indicators. METHODS:
      Optical coherence tomography (OCT) images were taken at 1 week, 1, 3 and 6 months
      after lesion excision in 73 eyes of 73 patients (33 male, 40 female; mean age 50,
      S.D. 5.0, range 40-70 years) with primary nasal pterygium. Biomicroscopy was
      performed at each visit and at 12 months, to diagnose clinical healing or lesion
      recurrence. The presence of well demarcated corneal epithelium, conjunctival
      epithelium, limbal demarcation area, and graft thickening were analysed.
      Comparisons between tomographic data of both clinical situations were made at
      each time point using contingency tables. RESULTS: Eleven eyes displayed lesion
      recurrence (R group) and 62 eyes showed no recurrence (NR group). Normal
      anatomical structures, corneal and conjunctival epithelium and limbal demarcation
      area, were identified by OCT images in a higher percentage of NR cases over time,
      compared to the R group where most of the cases presented without these markers
      of tissue recovery. In contrast, the variable graft thickening, which analysed a
      pathological event, revealed similar results in both groups (p > 0.05; Fisher's
      exact statistic), with a clear decrease of cases which showed graft thickening
      over time. Differences between groups started at 1 month, when no eye had yet
      presented clinical recurrence, with greater identification of corneal epithelium
      in the NR group (p = 0.04; Fisher's exact statistic). At 3 months, corneal and
      conjunctival epithelium identification tended to be more frequent in the NR than
      in the R group (in both cases, p = 0.0001; Fisher's exact statistic). Finally, at
      6 months these different patterns consolidated, with a significantly higher
      number of limbal demarcation areas being identified in the NR group (p = 0.001;
      Fisher's exact statistic). In fact, this landmark of a normally structured limbus
      was never found in the R group. CONCLUSIONS: The sequence of tissue restoration,
      according to OCT images, seems to start in the cornea and end in the limbal area,
      similar to the process of pterygium injury in reverse. Although the visualisation
      of corneal epithelium could be an early indicator of successful surgery,
      identification of the limbal demarcation area, as a normal limbal pattern in OCT
      images, seems to be a better positive predictive value in diagnosing healing.

PMID- 25833128
TI  - The notochord: structure and functions.
AB  - The notochord is an embryonic midline structure common to all members of the
      phylum Chordata, providing both mechanical and signaling cues to the developing
      embryo. In vertebrates, the notochord arises from the dorsal organizer and it is
      critical for proper vertebrate development. This evolutionary conserved structure
      located at the developing midline defines the primitive axis of embryos and
      represents the structural element essential for locomotion. Besides its primary
      structural function, the notochord is also a source of developmental signals that
      patterns surrounding tissues. Among the signals secreted by the notochord,
      Hedgehog proteins play key roles during embryogenesis. The Hedgehog signaling
      pathway is a central regulator of embryonic development, controlling the
      patterning and proliferation of a wide variety of organs. In this review, we
      summarize the current knowledge on notochord structure and functions, with a
      particular emphasis on the key developmental events that take place in
      vertebrates. Moreover, we discuss some genetic studies highlighting the
      phenotypic consequences of impaired notochord development, which enabled to
      understand the molecular basis of different human congenital defects and
      diseases. 

PMID- 25833132
TI  - Effect of temperature on leg kinematics in sprinting tarantulas (Aphonopelma
      hentzi): high speed may limit hydraulic joint actuation.
AB  - Tarantulas extend the femur-patella (proximal) and tibia-metatarsal (distal)
      joints of their legs hydraulically. Because these two hydraulically actuated
      joints are positioned in series, hemolymph flow within each leg is expected to
      mechanically couple the movement of the joints. In the current study, we tested
      two hypotheses: (1) at lower temperatures, movement of the two in-series
      hydraulic joints within a leg will be less coupled because of increased hemolymph
      viscosity slowing hemolymph flow; and (2) at higher temperatures, movement of the
      two in-series hydraulic joints will be less coupled because the higher stride
      frequencies limit the time available for hemolymph flow. We elicited maximal
      running speeds at four ecologically relevant temperatures (15, 24, 31 and 40
      degrees C) in Texas Brown tarantulas (Aphonopelma hentzi). The spiders increased
      sprint speed 2.5-fold over the temperature range by changing their stride
      frequency but not stride length. The coefficient of determination for linear
      regression (R(2)) of the proximal and distal joint angles was used as the measure
      of the degree of coupling between the two joints. This coupling coefficient
      between the proximal and distal joint angles, for both forelegs and hind-legs,
      was significantly lowest at the highest temperature at which the animals ran the
      fastest with the highest stride frequencies. The coordination of multiple, in
      series hydraulically actuated joints may be limited by operating speed. 

PMID- 25833133
TI  - Cheating on the mutualistic contract: nutritional gain through seed predation in
      the frugivorous bat Chiroderma villosum (Phyllostomidae).
AB  - Most frugivorous bats are efficient seed dispersers, as they typically do not
      damage seeds and transport them over long distances. In contrast, bats of the
      phyllostomid genus Chiroderma cheat fig trees by acting more as seed predators
      than as seed dispersers. The bats initially separate seeds from fruit pulp in the
      mouth. After extracting the juice from the fruit pulp, they thoroughly chew the
      seeds and spit out small seed fragments in a pellet. Consequently, the faeces
      contain almost no viable seeds. We compared the nutrient content of intact fig
      seeds with ejecta and faecal samples from both Chiroderma villosum and the
      'conventional' frugivorous bat Artibeus watsoni. We show that C. villosum can
      extract nutrients from the seeds, especially protein and fat. The processing time
      of figs showed no significant difference between the two bat species. Food-choice
      experiments showed that C. villosum preferred fig species with more seeds over
      those with fewer seeds. This preference, in combination with the specialized seed
      chewing behaviour, leads to an increased nutrient intake per fig. This unique
      strategy enables C. villosum to satisfy its nutritional requirements with a lower
      number of figs than other species, which decreases the amount of energy necessary
      for foraging flights as well as the predation risk during foraging.

PMID- 25833134
TI  - Magnetic navigation behavior and the oceanic ecology of young loggerhead sea
      turtles.
AB  - During long-distance migrations, animals navigate using a variety of sensory
      cues, mechanisms and strategies. Although guidance mechanisms are usually studied
      under controlled laboratory conditions, such methods seldom allow for navigation
      behavior to be examined in an environmental context. Similarly, although
      realistic environmental models are often used to investigate the ecological
      implications of animal movement, explicit consideration of navigation mechanisms
      in such models is rare. Here, we used an interdisciplinary approach in which we
      first conducted lab-based experiments to determine how hatchling loggerhead sea
      turtles (Caretta caretta) respond to magnetic fields that exist at five widely
      separated locations along their migratory route, and then studied the
      consequences of the observed behavior by simulating it within an ocean
      circulation model. Magnetic fields associated with two geographic regions that
      pose risks to young turtles (due to cold wintertime temperatures or potential
      displacement from the migratory route) elicited oriented swimming, whereas fields
      from three locations where surface currents and temperature pose no such risk did
      not. Additionally, at locations with fields that elicited oriented swimming,
      simulations indicate that the observed behavior greatly increases the likelihood
      of turtles advancing along the migratory pathway. Our findings suggest that the
      magnetic navigation behavior of sea turtles is intimately tied to their oceanic
      ecology and is shaped by a complex interplay between ocean circulation and
      geomagnetic dynamics. 

PMID- 25833135
TI  - Ocean acidification impacts on sperm mitochondrial membrane potential bring sperm
      swimming behaviour near its tipping point.
AB  - Broadcast spawning marine invertebrates are susceptible to environmental
      stressors such as climate change, as their reproduction depends on the successful
      meeting and fertilization of gametes in the water column. Under near-future
      scenarios of ocean acidification, the swimming behaviour of marine invertebrate
      sperm is altered. We tested whether this was due to changes in sperm
      mitochondrial activity by investigating the effects of ocean acidification on
      sperm metabolism and swimming behaviour in the sea urchin Centrostephanus
      rodgersii. We used a fluorescent molecular probe (JC-1) and flow cytometry to
      visualize mitochondrial activity (measured as change in mitochondrial membrane
      potential, MMP). Sperm MMP was significantly reduced in DeltapH -0.3 (35%
      reduction) and DeltapH -0.5 (48% reduction) treatments, whereas sperm swimming
      behaviour was less sensitive with only slight changes (up to 11% decrease)
      observed overall. There was significant inter-individual variability in responses
      of sperm swimming behaviour and MMP to acidified seawater. We suggest it is
      likely that sperm exposed to these changes in pH are close to their tipping point
      in terms of physiological tolerance to acidity. Importantly, substantial inter
      individual variation in responses of sperm swimming to ocean acidification may
      increase the scope for selection of resilient phenotypes, which, if heritable,
      could provide a basis for adaptation to future ocean acidification.

PMID- 25833136
TI  - Correction. Locomotor benefits of being a slender and slick sand-swimmer.

PMID- 25833137
TI  - Illness perceptions and coping strategies among individuals diagnosed with HIV.
AB  - Illness perceptions can influence the coping strategies used in response to HIV
      related stressors, and ultimately patients' clinical status. With this work, we
      aimed to: (1) identify illness perception-related profiles of HIV-positive
      patients; (2) evaluate the association between the profiles, illness-related
      coping strategies, HIV-progression biomarkers (CD4+ cell counts and viral load)
      and antiretroviral therapy use. Data about illness perceptions, HIV-related
      coping strategies and HIV-progression biomarkers (CD4+ and viral load) were
      collected from 248 Italian HIV-positive patients. Three latent classes ("high,"
      "moderate" and "low" influence perception) that differed on consequences,
      emotional representation, personal control and identity were identified. A
      greater perception of illness influence was associated with dysfunctional coping
      strategies (e.g., passive coping and alcohol use), and greater viral load was
      observed among patients with high and moderate influence perception. In
      conclusion, patients with detectable or high viral load may show a greater
      perception of illness influence (i.e., consequences), which is associated with
      dysfunctional coping strategies in response to HIV-related stressors.

PMID- 25833138
TI  - 'For a mere cough, men must just chew Conjex, gain strength, and continue
      working': the provider construction and tuberculosis care-seeking implications in
      Blantyre, Malawi.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Delay by men in seeking healthcare results in their higher mortality
      while on HIV or tuberculosis (TB) treatment and contributes to ongoing community
      level disease transmission before going on treatment. OBJECTIVE: To understand
      masculinity's role in delay in healthcare seeking for men, with a focus on TB
      suggestive symptoms. DESIGN: Data were collected between March 2011 and March
      2012 in low-income suburbs in urban Blantyre using focus group discussions with
      community members (n=8) and health workers (n=2), in-depth interviews with 20 TB
      patients (female=14) and 20 uninvestigated chronic coughers (female=8), and a 3
      day participatory workshop with 27 health stakeholder representatives. The
      research process drew to a large extent on grounded theory principles in the
      manner of Strauss and Corbin (1998) and also Charmaz (1995). RESULTS: Role
      descriptions by both men and women in the study universally assigned men as
      primary material providers for their immediate family, that is, the ones earning
      and bringing livelihood and additional material needs. In a context where
      collectivism was valued, men were also expected to lead the provision of support
      to wider kin. Successful role enactment was considered key to achieving
      recognition as an adequate man; at the same time, job scarcity and insecurity,
      and low earnings gravely impeded men. Pressures to generate continuing income
      then meant constantly looking for jobs, or working continuously to retain
      insecure jobs or to raise money through self-employment. All this led men to
      relegate their health considerations. CONCLUSIONS: Early engagement with formal
      healthcare is critical to dealing with TB and HIV. However, role constructions as
      portrayed for men in this study, along with the opportunity costs of
      acknowledging illness seem, in conditions of vulnerability, important barriers to
      care-seeking. There is a need to address hidden care-seeking costs and to
      consider more complex interventions, including reducing precarity, in efforts to
      improve men's engagement with their health.

PMID- 25833139
TI  - Impact of metabolic syndrome on the hospitalization rate of Crohn's disease
      patients seen at a tertiary care center: a retrospective cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Recent studies suggest that markers of mesenteric inflammation,
      such as increased adipose tissue, may be associated with poor outcomes in Crohn's
      disease (CD). This study's hypothesis is that CD patients with metabolic syndrome
      (MetS) have more CD-related hospitalizations than CD patients without MetS.
      METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of CD patients seen from 2000
      to 2012 at our tertiary care center. We analyzed crude and age-, sex- and
      duration of CD-adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) of CD-related hospitalization
      of those with MetS versus those without MetS. We also investigated possible
      associations between individual component conditions of MetS and rate of CD
      related hospitalization. RESULTS: A total of 868 CD patients were included. There
      were 37 (4%) patients with MetS at initial observation. After multi-variable
      adjustment, patients with MetS had a CD-related hospitalization rate twice that
      of those who did not have MetS. High triglycerides (TG), low high density
      lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and diabetes mellitus (DM) were associated with
      increased risk of CD-related hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: CD patients with MetS
      have a higher rate of CD-related hospitalization compared to those without MetS.
      Hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL cholesterol and DM may be good markers of local and
      systemic inflammation as seen in CD.

PMID- 25833140
TI  - Remarriage Beliefs as Predictors of Marital Quality and Positive Interaction in
      Stepcouples: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model.
AB  - Using an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, we examined remarriage beliefs as
      predictors of marital quality and positive interaction in a sample of 179
      stepcouples. Three beliefs were measured using subscales from the Remarriage
      Belief Inventory (RMBI) including success is slim, children are the priority, and
      finances should be pooled. Several significant actor and partner effects were
      found for both wives' and husbands' beliefs. Wives' marital quality was
      positively associated with their own beliefs that finances should be pooled and
      negatively associated with their own beliefs that success is slim. Wives' reports
      of their own and spouses' positive interaction were both positively associated
      with their beliefs that finances should be pooled. Their reports of spouses'
      positive interaction were also negatively associated with husbands' beliefs that
      success is slim. Husbands' marital quality was positively associated with wives'
      beliefs that children are the priority, positively associated with their own
      beliefs that finances should be pooled, and negatively with success is slim.
      Positive interaction for husbands was positively associated with wives' beliefs
      that finances should be pooled and negatively associated with their own beliefs
      that success is slim. Finally, husbands' reports of positive interaction for
      their spouses were positively associated with wives' beliefs that finances should
      be pooled. Implications for future research utilizing dyadic data analysis with
      stepcouples are addressed. 

PMID- 25833141
TI  - The Parkinson's-associated protein DJ-1 regulates the 20S proteasome.
AB  - The Parkinson's-associated protein, DJ-1, is a highly conserved homodimer,
      ubiquitously expressed in cells. Here we demonstrate that DJ-1 is a 20S
      proteasome regulator. We show that DJ-1 physically binds the 20S proteasome and
      inhibits its activity, rescuing partially unfolded proteins from degradation.
      Consequently, DJ-1 stabilizes the cellular levels of 20S proteasome substrates,
      as we show for alpha-synuclein and p53. Furthermore, we demonstrate that
      following oxidative stress, DJ-1 is involved in the Nrf2-dependent oxidative
      stress response that leads to the upregulation of both the 20S proteasome and its
      regulator, NQO1. Overall, our results suggest a regulatory circuit in which DJ-1,
      under conditions of oxidative stress, both upregulates and inhibits the 20S
      proteasome, providing a rigorous control mechanism at a time when the 20S
      proteasome becomes the major proteolytic machinery. Such a tight regulation of
      the 20S proteasome may sustain the balance between the need to rapidly eliminate
      oxidatively damaged proteins and maintain the abundance of native, intrinsically
      unstructured proteins, which coordinate regulatory and signalling events. 

PMID- 25833142
TI  - Formation of tri- and tetranuclear titanacycles through decamethyltitanocene
      mediated intermolecular C-C coupling of dinitriles.
AB  - The reactions of [Cp*2 Ti(eta(2) -Me3 SiC2 SiMe3 )] (Cp*=eta(5) 
      pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) with various dicyano compounds were investigated.
      Nitrile-nitrile C?C couplings result in multinuclear complexes owing to the
      bifunctionality of the substrates. Applying 1,3- or 1,4-dicyanobenzene led to tri
      and tetranuclear complexes of the rare 1-metalla-2,5-diaza-cyclopenta-2,4
      dienes. These are potential catalysts and were tested in the ring-opening
      polymerization of epsilon-caprolactone. The reaction with adiponitrile as alkyl
      dinitrile afforded a trinuclear 1-metalla-2,5-diaza-cyclopent-3-ene through
      additional protonation of the nitrogen atoms. The structure and bonding of the
      products were investigated by X-ray crystallography and DFT analysis to
      understand the molecular organization in the macrocycles. 

PMID- 25833144
TI  - Improvement of large-joint ultrasonographic synovitis is delayed in patients with
      newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis: results of a 12-month clinical and
      ultrasonographic follow-up study of a local cohort.
AB  - We analyzed the longitudinal changes in gray-scale ultrasonography (GSUS) and
      power Doppler ultrasonography (PDUS) parameters and correlated them with
      clinical, functional, and radiologic outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed
      rheumatoid arthritis (RA). GSUS and PDUS examinations, 44-joint disease activity
      score (DAS44) calculations, measurements of erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C
      reactive protein levels were performed in 68 RA patients at baseline and after 1,
      3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Metacarpophalangeal joints, wrist, elbow, knee, ankle,
      metatarsophalangeal joints, and wrist and ankle tendons were examined by GSUS and
      PDUS. The laboratory and clinical findings began to decrease significantly at 1
      month (P < 0.05). Improvement of the ultrasonography (US) variables began at 3
      months. After 6 months, all of the joint synovitis scores, except those of the
      knee, elbow, and ankle joints, showed a statistically significant reduction
      compared to baseline scores (P < 0.001). DAS44 scores were lower in the very
      early RA group at 12 months compared to those whose symptom duration was greater
      than 3 months of RA (respectively, 1.53 +/- 0.34; 1.80 +/- 0.38; z = -2501, P =
      0.012). The total modified Sharp scores at 12 months correlated with total PDUS
      synovitis scores at 12 months (r = 0.354, P = 0.003). Regression of US synovitis
      at large joints such as the knee, elbow, and ankle tended to be delayed compared
      to that at small joints. PD synovitis that is persistent despite disease
      modifying anti-rheumatic drug therapy may cause radiographic bone erosions.

PMID- 25833143
TI  - The protean ocular involvement in monogenic autoinflammatory diseases: state of
      the art.
AB  - Ocular involvement is frequent in the monogenic autoinflammatory disorders and
      generally occurs as spontaneously recurring inflammatory events at different
      ocular sites caused by the aberrant release of proinflammatory cytokines, mainly
      IL-1beta. Over the past decade, we witnessed a significant growth of eye
      abnormalities associated with idiopathic granulomatous disorders, familial
      Mediterranean fever, tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome,
      mevalonate kinase deficiency, and cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome. The
      pathogenetic mechanisms of these disorders have shown the evidence of disrupted
      cytokine signaling, but the explanation for the heterogeneous ocular involvement
      remains to be elucidated. We herein review the monogenic autoinflammatory
      disorders affecting the eye, describing their main clinical features with
      specific regard to the ocular involvement, which can lead to decreased visual
      acuity and even blindness, if the primary disorder is undetected or left
      untreated. 

PMID- 25833146
TI  - High pressure pyrolyzed non-precious metal oxygen reduction catalysts for
      alkaline polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.
AB  - Non-precious metal catalysts, such as metal-coordinated to nitrogen doped-carbon,
      have shown reasonable oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performances in alkaline
      fuel cells. In this report, we present the development of a highly active, stable
      and low-cost non-precious metal ORR catalyst by direct synthesis under autogenic
      pressure conditions. Transmission electron microscopy studies show highly porous
      Fe-N-C and Co-N-C structures, which were further confirmed by Brunauer-Emmett
      Teller surface area measurements. The surface areas of the Fe-N-C and Co-N-C
      catalysts were found to be 377.5 and 369.3 m(2) g(-1), respectively. XPS results
      show the possible existence of N-C and M-Nx structures, which are generally
      proposed to be the active sites in non-precious metal catalysts. The Fe-N-C
      electrocatalyst exhibits an ORR half-wave potential 20 mV higher than the
      reference Pt/C catalyst. The cycling durability test for Fe-N-C over 5000 cycles
      shows that the half-wave potential lost only 4 mV, whereas the half-wave
      potential of the Pt/C catalyst lost about 50 mV. The Fe-N-C catalyst exhibited an
      improved activity and stability compared to the reference Pt/C catalyst and it
      possesses a direct 4-electron transfer pathway for the ORR process. Further, the
      Fe-N-C catalyst produces extremely low HO2(-) content, as confirmed by the
      rotating ring-disk electrode measurements. In the alkaline fuel single cell
      tests, maximum power densities of 75 and 80 mW cm(-2) were observed for the Fe-N
      C and Pt/C cathodes, respectively. Durability studies (100 h) showed that decay
      of the fuel cell current was more prominent for the Pt/C cathode catalyst
      compared to the Fe-N-C cathode catalyst. Therefore, the Fe-N-C catalyst appears
      to be a promising new class of non-precious metal catalysts prepared by an
      autogenic synthetic method. 

PMID- 25833145
TI  - Erosive osteoarthritis, psoriatic arthritis and pseudogout; a casual association?
AB  - According to recent hypothesis, the inflammation has a pivotal role in the onset
      and progression of erosive hand osteoarthritis (EHOA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA)
      and chondrocalcinosis (CC)/pseudogout. Albeit, it has been recognised for years
      as an association between EHOA and radiographic evidence of CC, but there are few
      reports of coexistence of microcrystalline arthritis and PsA. This is the first
      report that described a clinical experience concerning two consecutive cases of
      patients presented with EHOA, PsA and pseudogout. Two Caucasian women of 71 and
      85 years old with a history of OA and mild psoriasis are presented with
      tenderness and swelling of first interphalangeal (IP) and wrist joint,
      respectively. Arthrocentesis performed at the first IP and wrist joint,
      respectively, showed an inflammatory synovial fluid with presence of calcium
      pyrophosphate dehydrate crystals. X-rays of hands, feet and knees showed
      characteristic features of EHOA, PsA and CC. Furthermore, HLA typing evinces the
      presence of HLA C*06; DRB*01 07 and HLA C*07; DRB*01 *11 alleles, respectively,
      predisposing factors of these inflammatory diseases. The relationship between
      these aggressive rheumatic diseases along with their clinical, radiographic,
      laboratory and genetic features is discussed. 

PMID- 25833147
TI  - Acoustic radiation force impulse elastography of the spleen in healthy dogs of
      different ages.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the elastographic characteristics of splenic parenchyma
      in clinically healthy dogs of various ages in order to establish preliminary
      qualitative and quantitative standards/reference intervals for this technique.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty three healthy dogs categorized as young, adult and
      elderly were used. Splenic echotexture, echogenicity, size and ages were assessed
      with B-mode ultrasonography. Using qualitative elastography, the spleen (head,
      body and tail) was examined for homogeneity and presence of deformities. Shear
      velocities in different splenic segments were then quantitatively evaluated.
      RESULTS: All splenic segments visualised with the B-mode ultrasonography appeared
      normal. Different splenic segments examined with qualitative elastography were
      free of any detectable malformations and the images appeared as homogeneous dark
      areas. The mean shear velocity values were 2 . 32 m/s for head, 2 . 16 m/s for
      body and 2 . 25 m/s for tail of the spleen (P = 0 . 40), and they did not vary
      between the different age groups (P > 0 . 05). CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
      Quantitative and qualitative ARFI elastography of the spleen in clinically
      healthy dogs differing in age could be easily performed, and it may aid in the
      diagnosis and evaluation of splenic abnormalities routinely assessed in
      veterinary practice with B-mode ultrasonography.

PMID- 25833148
TI  - Copper-zinc alloy nanopowder: a robust precious-metal-free catalyst for the
      conversion of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural.
AB  - Noble-metal-free copper-zinc nanoalloy (<150 nm) is found to be uniquely suited
      for the highly selective catalytic conversion of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to
      potential biofuels or chemical building blocks. Clean mixtures of 2,5
      dimethylfuran (DMF) and 2,5-dimethyltetrahydrofuran (DMTHF) with combined product
      yields up to 97 % were obtained at 200-220  degrees C using 20-30 bar H2 . It is
      also possible to convert 10 wt % HMF solutions in CPME, with an excellent DMF
      yield of 90 %. Milder temperatures favor selective (95 %) formation of 2,5
      furandimethanol (FDM). The one-pot conversion of fructose to valuable furan
      ethers was also explored. Recycling experiments for DMF production show
      remarkable catalyst stability. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
      characterization provides more insight into morphological changes of this
      intriguing class of materials during catalysis. 

PMID- 25833149
TI  - Mutational Profile and New IASLC/ATS/ERS Classification Provide Additional
      Prognostic Information about Lung Adenocarcinoma: A Study of 125 Patients from
      Brazil.
AB  - AIM: To show additional prognostic information about the mutational profile and
      new International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer/American Thoracic
      Society/European Respiratory Society (IASLC/ATS/ERS) classification of
      adenocarcinoma (ADC) in patients without epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)
      tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatments. METHODS: In human lung ADC patients (n =
      125), including 24 lepidic, 67 acinar, 23 papillary, and 11 solid predominant
      subtypes, EGFR and KRAS were sequenced, and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)
      rearrangements were screened using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).
      RESULTS: EGFR was mutated in 21.6% of patients with 19.57% showing a mean
      expression. The most frequent EGFR mutation was a deletion in exon 19, followed
      by an L858R amino acid substitution in exon 21. KRAS was mutated in 26.4% of
      patients with 50% displaying mean expression. ALK rearrangement was detected in 6
      patients (4.8%). Predominant acinar ADC was strongly associated with EGFR and
      KRAS mutation. Clinical stage, lymph node metastases, and EGFR mutation in exon
      18 showed a significant difference in disease-free and overall survival, but only
      a trend significance for EGFR and KRAS mutations. Multivariate analysis revealed
      that men aged >71 years, with a history of smoking (<72 packs/year), clinical
      stage I/II, and acinar histologic subtype presented better survival than women
      aged <= 71 years, with a history of smoking (>72 packs/year), and having a
      predominant solid ADC and EGFR mutation in exon 18. CONCLUSIONS: These results
      indicate that the mutational profile and new IASLC/ATS/ERS classification provide
      additional prognostic information about lung ADC.

PMID- 25833150
TI  - One hundred-year-old human corneal and transplanted corneal graft endothelium.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate and analyse one hundred-year-old endothelial cells of
      human transplanted corneal grafts and compare them with intact endothelium of
      unoperated eyes. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Specular microscopy was performed on seven
      individuals (14 eyes) aged >100 years and on seven transplanted corneas with
      endothelial cells of at least 100 years old. All keratoplasties were performed by
      the same surgeon (PR) 25-35 years before the time of examination. As controls, 14
      unoperated healthy individuals (26 eyes) of 90-100 years, 12 individuals (24
      eyes) of 48-52 years, 12 students (24 eyes) of 19-24 years and 11 children (22
      eyes) from 10 to 14 years of age were photographed and analysed. RESULTS: The
      mean cell density in the oldest age group, over 100 years of age (average 102
      years), was very good 2365 cells/mm(2) . The mean cell density in the
      transplanted corneas, the endothelial cells of which were over 100 years old
      (mean 106 years), was 923 cells/mm(2) (range 585-1800 cells/mm(2) ). CONCLUSION:
      Corneal endothelial cells may remain viable and capable to perform their function
      over 100 years. Donor corneas up to 70-75 years of age can be approved for
      transplantation, provided that the endothelial cells have been thoroughly
      evaluated with vital staining before the operation.

PMID- 25833151
TI  - Novel Splice Site Mutation in MAMLD1 in a Patient with Hypospadias.
AB  - MAMLD1 is a causative gene for disorders of sex development. Several MAMLD1
      mutations have been shown to cause hypospadias by generating dysfunctional
      proteins and/or unstable mRNAs. Here, we identified an intronic mutation of
      MAMLD1 (g.IVS4-2A>G) in 1 of 180 hypospadias patients. RT-PCR of the patient's
      skin sample showed normal expression of full-length MAMLD1 and markedly reduced
      expression of a known splice variant lacking exon 4. A hitherto unreported splice
      variant that lacks exon 5 was similarly identified in samples of the patient and
      control individuals. The full-length transcript of the patient contained mutant
      mRNA lacking the first 10 nucleotides of exon 5 (c.1822_1831delACTCATGTAG,
      p.K609fsX1070). In vitro assays using cells expressing the full-length wild-type
      and mutant proteins revealed reduced expression of the mutant. The expression of
      the wild-type and mutant MAMLD1 showed parallel changes upon treatment with a
      proteasome inhibitor and a translation inhibitor. The mutant-expressing cells
      exerted low transactivation activity for the Hes3 promoter, which reflected
      limited expression of the mutant protein. These results imply that the pathogenic
      events resulting from MAMLD1 mutations include splice errors. Furthermore, this
      study raises the possibility of translation failure of MAMLD1 mutants, which
      deserves further investigation.

PMID- 25833152
TI  - Adapting the mobile laboratory to the changing needs of the Ebolavirus epidemic.
AB  - The current Ebolavirus disease (EVD) epidemic in West Africa has now been running
      for >1 year and has been an international health emergency for >6 months. As the
      weekly number of new cases falls, the World Health Organization is preparing its
      response to the final stages of the epidemic. The final totals will exceed 20,000
      cases and 8000 deaths. An ability to adapt disease countermeasures including
      laboratory support to the changing epidemiology of EVD has become a matter of
      urgency. This article considers the planning, development and modification of a
      flexible microbiology laboratory response, and describes logistic and operational
      considerations for clinical and public health microbiologists.

PMID- 25833153
TI  - Bacillus lycopersici sp. nov., isolated from a tomato plant (Solanum lycopersicum
      L.).
AB  - A Gram-stain-positive, rod-shaped, endospore-forming bacterium (designated strain
      CC-Bw-5(T)) was isolated from chopped tomato stems. The isolate grew at 20-40 
      degrees C, pH 6.0-8.0 and tolerated 6% (w/v) NaCl. The most closely related
      strains in terms of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity were Bacillus isabeliae
      (95.3%) and Bacillus oleronius (95.3%). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was
      37.2 +/- 3.6 mol%. Strain CC-Bw-5(T) was determined to possess C16 : 0, iso-C14 :
      0, iso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0 as predominant fatty acids. The
      polar lipid profile consisted of predominant amounts of diphosphatidylglycerol,
      and moderate-to-trace amounts of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol,
      two unidentified glycolipids, an unidentified phospholipid and an unidentified
      phosphoglycolipid. The cell-wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic
      acid; menaquinone (MK-7) was the predominant respiratory quinone. According to
      distinct phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic features, strain CC-Bw-5(T)
      is proposed to represent a novel species within the genus Bacillus for which the
      name Bacillus lycopersici sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CC-Bw-5(T) ( =
      BCRC 80623(T) = JCM 19140(T)).

PMID- 25833154
TI  - Lactococcus hircilactis sp. nov. and Lactococcus laudensis sp. nov., isolated
      from milk.
AB  - Two strains of lactic acid bacteria, designated 117(T) and 4195(T), were isolated
      from goat milk in Valtellina, Italy and from cow milk in Valle Trompia, Italy,
      respectively, and characterized taxonomically by a polyphasic approach. The
      strains were Gram-stain-positive, coccoid, non-spore-forming and catalase
      negative bacteria. Morphological, physiological and phylogenetic data indicated
      that these isolates belonged to the genus Lactococcus. Strain 117(T) was closely
      related to Lactococcus fujiensis, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, L. lactis
      subsp. cremoris, L. lactis subsp. hordniae, L. lactis subsp. tructae and
      Lactococcus taiwanensis, showing 93-94% and 82-89% 16S rRNA and rpoB gene
      sequence similarities, respectively. Strain 4195(T) was closely related to
      Lactococcus chungangensis, Lactococcus raffinolactis, Lactococcus plantarum and
      Lactococcus piscium, showing 92-98% and 86-99% 16S rRNA and rpoB gene sequence
      similarities, respectively. Based on this evidence and the data obtained in the
      present study, the milk isolates represent two novel species of the genus
      Lactococcus, for which the names Lactococcushircilactis sp. nov., and
      Lactococcuslaudensis sp. nov. are proposed. The respective type strains are
      117(T) ( = LMG 28352(T) = DSM 28960(T)) and 4195(T )( = LMG 28353(T) = DSM
      28961(T)).

PMID- 25833155
TI  - Maribacter spongiicola sp. nov. and Maribacter vaceletii sp. nov., isolated from
      marine sponges, and emended description of the genus Maribacter.
AB  - Two Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, orange, catalase- and oxidase-positive, non
      motile bacteria, designated W13M1A(T) and W15M10(T), were isolated from the
      marine sponges Suberites carnosus and Leucosolenia sp., respectively, which were
      sampled from Lough Hyne, Co. Cork, Ireland. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene
      sequences of these isolates revealed that they are members of the genus
      Maribacter, in the family Flavobacteriaceae of the phylum Bacteroidetes. The type
      strain most closely related to strain W13M1A(T) is Maribacter forsetii DSM
      18668(T) with a gene sequence similarity of 96.5%. The closest related type
      strain to strain W15M10(T) is Maribacter orientalis DSM 16471(T) with a gene
      sequence similarity of 98.3%. Phylogenetic inference and phenotypic data combined
      indicate that the isolates represent two novel species of the genus Maribacter,
      for which the names Maribacter spongiicola sp. nov. with type strain W15M10(T) (
      = NCIMB 14725(T) = DSM 25233(T)) and Maribacter vaceletii sp. nov. with type
      strain W13M1A(T) ( = NCIMB 14724(T) = DSM 25230(T)), are proposed.

PMID- 25833156
TI  - Progesterone receptor expression during prostate cancer progression suggests a
      role of this receptor in stromal cell differentiation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The progesterone receptor, like the androgen receptor, belongs to the
      steroid receptor superfamily. Our previous studies have reported that the PR is
      expressed specifically in prostate stroma. PR inhibits proliferation of, and
      regulates cytokine secretion by stromal cells. However, PR protein expression in
      cancer-associated stroma during prostate cancer progression has not been
      profiled. Since the phenotypes of prostate stromal cells change dynamically as
      tumors progress, whether the PR plays a role in regulating stromal cell
      differentiation needs to be investigated. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry assays
      measured PR protein levels on human prostate tissue microarrays containing 367
      tissue cores from benign prostate, prostate tumors with different Gleason scores,
      tumors under various durations of castration therapy, and tumors at the
      castration-resistant stage. Immunoblotting assays determined whether PR regulated
      the expression of alpha smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA), vimentin, and fibroblast
      specific protein (FSP) in human prostate stromal cells. RESULTS: PR protein
      levels decreased in cancer-associated stroma when compared with that in benign
      prostate stroma. This reduction in PR expression was not correlated with Gleason
      scores. PR protein levels were elevated by castration therapy, but reduced to pre
      castration levels when tumors progressed to the castration-resistant stage.
      Enhanced PR expression in human prostate stromal cells increased alpha-SMA, but
      decreased vimentin and FSP protein levels ligand-independently. CONCLUSION: These
      results suggest that PR plays an active role in regulating stromal cell
      phenotypes during prostate cancer progression.

PMID- 25833157
TI  - Effect of Massachusetts healthcare reform on racial and ethnic disparities in
      admissions to hospital for ambulatory care sensitive conditions: retrospective
      analysis of hospital episode statistics.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To examine the impact of Massachusetts healthcare reform on changes
      in rates of admission to hospital for ambulatory care sensitive conditions
      (ACSCs), which are potentially preventable with good access to outpatient medical
      care, and racial and ethnic disparities in such rates, using complete inpatient
      discharge data (hospital episode statistics) from Massachusetts and three control
      states. DESIGN: Difference in differences analysis to identify the change,
      overall and according to race/ethnicity, adjusted for secular changes unrelated
      to reform. SETTING: Hospitals in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and
      Pennsylvania, United States. PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged 18-64 (those most likely
      to have been affected by the reform) admitted for any of 12 ACSCs in the 21
      months before and after the period during which reform was implemented (July 2006
      to December 2007). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Admission rates for a composite of all
      12 ACSCs, and subgroup composites of acute and chronic ACSCs. RESULTS: After
      adjustment for potential confounders, including age, race and ethnicity, sex, and
      county income, unemployment rate and physician supply, we found no evidence of a
      change in the admission rate for overall composite ACSC (1.2%, 95% confidence
      interval -1.6% to 4.1%) or for subgroup composites of acute and chronic ACSCs.
      Nor did we find a change in disparities in admission rates between black and
      white people (-1.9%, -8.5% to 5.1%) or white and Hispanic people (2.0%, -7.5% to
      12.4%) for overall composite ACSC that existed in Massachusetts before reform. In
      analyses limited to Massachusetts only, we found no evidence of a change in
      admission rate for overall composite ACSC between counties with higher and lower
      rates of uninsurance at baseline (1.4%, -2.3% to 5.3%). CONCLUSIONS:
      Massachusetts reform was not associated with significantly lower overall or
      racial and ethnic disparities in rates of admission to hospital for ACSCs. In the
      US, and Massachusetts in particular, additional efforts might be needed to
      improve access to outpatient care and reduce preventable admissions.

PMID- 25833158
TI  - Loss of glycogen synthase kinase 3 isoforms during murine oocyte growth induces
      offspring cardiac dysfunction.
AB  - Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) is a constitutively active serine threonine
      kinase with 1) two isoforms (GSK3A and GSK3B) that have unique and overlapping
      functions, 2) multiple molecular intracellular mechanisms that involve
      phosphorylation of diverse substrates, and 3) implications in pathogenesis of
      many diseases. Insulin causes phosphorylation and inactivation of GSK3 and
      mammalian oocytes have a functional insulin-signaling pathway whereby prolonged
      elevated insulin during follicle/oocyte development causes GSK3
      hyperphosphorylation, reduced GSK3 activity, and altered oocyte chromatin
      remodeling. Periconceptional diabetes and chronic hyperinsulinemia are associated
      with congenital malformations and onset of adult diseases of cardiovascular
      origin. Objectives were to produce transgenic mice with individual or concomitant
      loss of GSK3A and/or GSK3B and investigate the in vivo role of oocyte GSK3 on
      fertility, fetal development, and offspring health. Wild-type males bred to
      females with individual or concomitant loss of oocyte GSK3 isoforms did not have
      reduced fertility. However, concomitant loss of GSK3A and GSK3B in the oocyte
      significantly increased neonatal death rate due to congestive heart failure
      secondary to ventricular hyperplasia. Individual loss of oocyte GSK3A or GSK3B
      did not induce this lethal phenotype. In conclusion, absence of oocyte GSK3 in
      the periconceptional period does not alter fertility yet causes offspring cardiac
      hyperplasia, cardiovascular defects, and significant neonatal death. These
      results support a developmental mechanism by which periconceptional
      hyperinsulinemia associated with maternal metabolic syndrome, obesity, and/or
      diabetes can act on the oocyte and affect offspring cardiovascular development,
      function, and congenital heart malformation. 

PMID- 25833159
TI  - Tamoxifen prevents apoptosis and follicle loss from cyclophosphamide in cultured
      rat ovaries.
AB  - Recent studies documented that the selective estrogen receptor modulator
      tamoxifen prevents follicle loss and promotes fertility following in vivo
      exposure of rodents to irradiation or ovotoxic cancer drugs, cyclophosphamide and
      doxorubicin. In an effort to characterize the ovarian-sparing mechanisms of
      tamoxifen in preantral follicle classes, cultured neonatal rat ovaries (Day 4,
      Sprague Dawley) were treated for 1-7 days with active metabolites of
      cyclophosphamide (i.e., 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide; CTX) (0, 1, and 10 MUM) and
      tamoxifen (i.e., 4-hydroxytamoxifen; TAM) (0 and 10 MUM) in vitro, and both
      apoptosis and follicle numbers were measured. CTX caused marked follicular
      apoptosis and follicular loss. TAM treatment decreased follicular loss and
      apoptosis from CTX in vitro. TAM alone had no effect on these parameters. IGF-1
      and IGF-1 receptor were assessed in ovarian tissue showing no impact of TAM or
      CTX on these endpoints. Targeted mRNA analysis during follicular rescue by TAM
      revealed decreased expression of multiple genes related to inflammation,
      including mediators of lipoxygenase and prostaglandin production and signaling
      (Alox5, Pla2g1b, Ptgfr), cytokine binding (Il1r1, Il2rg ), apoptosis (Tnfrsf1a),
      second messenger signaling (Mapk1, Mapk14, Plcg1), as well as tissue remodeling
      and vasodilation (Bdkrb2, Klk15). The results suggest that TAM protects the ovary
      from CTX-mediated toxicity through direct ovarian actions that oppose follicular
      loss. 

PMID- 25833160
TI  - Effects of hemoadsorption with a novel adsorbent on sepsis: in vivo and in vitro
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hemoadsorption may improve outcomes for sepsis by removing
      circulating cytokines. We tested a new sorbent used for hemoadsorption. METHODS:
      CTR sorbent beads were filled into columns of three sizes: CTR0.5 (0.5 ml), CTR1
      (1.0 ml) and CTR2 (2.0 ml) and tested using IL-6 capture in vitro. Next, rats
      were subjected to cecal ligation and puncture and randomly assigned to
      hemoadsorption with CTR0.5, CTR1, CTR2 or sham treatment. Plasma biomarkers were
      measured. RESULTS: In vitro, IL-6 removal was accelerated with increasing bead
      mass. In vivo, TNF, IL-6, IL-10, high mobility group box1, and cystatin C were
      significantly lower 24 h after CTR2 treatment. Seven-day survival rate was 50,
      64, 63, and 73% for the sham, CTR0.5, CTR1, CTR2, respectively. CONCLUSION: CTR
      appeared to have a favorable effect on kidney function despite no immediate
      effects on cytokine removal. However, CTR2 beads did result in a late decrease of
      cytokines.

PMID- 25833161
TI  - Risk assessment of magnetic resonance imaging in chronically implanted paddle
      electrodes for cortical stimulation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cortical epidural stimulation is used for the treatment of different
      neuropsychiatric disorders such as chronic neuropathic pain, tinnitus, movement
      disorders, and psychiatric diseases. While preoperative magnetic resonance
      imaging (MRI) is considered the imaging tool of choice for planning the approach
      and electrode placement, postoperative MRI is still a contraindication with
      implanted paddle leads due to the risk of thermal damage or current induction
      creating seizures or neurological deficits. OBJECTIVES: In this feasibility in
      vitro study the temperature changes and induction were determined as well as the
      artifacts caused by 2 parallel paddle leads (Resume II, Model 3587 A; Medtronic,
      Minneapolis, Minn., USA), commonly used in clinical practice with and without a
      pulse generator (Prime Advanced, Model 7489; Medtronic). METHODS: An ultrasound
      gel-filled head phantom with 2 paddle leads mimicking the surgical scenario was
      used to evaluate temperature changes as well as induced currents in a 1.5- and 3
      tesla MR scanner. In addition, 1 patient underwent a 3-tesla MRI with an
      implanted subdural paddle lead. RESULTS: Negligible temperature changes were
      detected with turbo spin echo sequences in the 1.5- and 3-tesla scanner using a
      head and body coil. Induced voltages up to 6 V were measured. The imaging
      artifacts in the phantom were well tolerable. The patient's imaging was
      uneventful under the settings which are accepted for deep brain stimulation
      imaging. CONCLUSION: MRI under the conditions described here seems to be safe
      with the implants used in this study. In particular, the induced temperature is
      much lower with paddle compared to conventional leads due to the different
      electrode design. The induced voltage does not carry any risks. However, these
      findings cannot automatically be transferred to other implants or other scanning
      conditions, and further studies are needed. The biomedical companies should be
      encouraged to develop MR-conditional paddle leads. Also, further research is
      necessary to study the mechanism of action of cortical stimulation in the future.

PMID- 25833162
TI  - Effects of methoxychlor and 2,2-bis ( p -hydroxyphenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethane on
      cytochrome P450 enzyme activities in human and rat livers.
AB  - Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes are involved in the metabolism of endogenous and
      exogenous compounds. Human and rat liver microsomes were used to investigate the
      inhibitory effects of methoxychlor (MXC) and its metabolite 2,2-bis(p
      hydroxyphenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethane (HPTE) on the activities of corresponding
      human and rat CYPs. Probe drugs were used to test the inhibitory effects of MXC
      and HPTE on human and rat CYPs. The results showed that MXC and HPTE inhibited
      both human CYP2C9 and rat liver CYP2C11 activity, with half-maximal inhibitory
      concentration (IC50) values of 15.47 +/- 0.36 (MXC) and 8.87 +/- 0.53 MUmol/l
      (HPTE) for human CYP2C9, and of 22.45 +/- 1.48 (MXC) and 24.63 +/- 1.35 MUmol/l
      (HPTE) for rat CYP2C11. MXC and HPTE had no effects on human CYP2C19 activity but
      inhibited rat CYP2C6 activity with IC50 values of 14.84 +/- 0.04 (MXC) and 8.72
      +/- 0.25 MUmol/l (HPTE). With regard to human CYP2D6 and rat CYP2D2 activity,
      only HPTE potently inhibited human CYP2D6 activity, with an IC50 value of 16.56
      +/- 0.69 MUmol/l. Both chemicals had no effect on human CYP3A4 and rat CYP3A1
      activity. In summary, MXC and HPTE are potent inhibitors of some human and rat
      CYPs.

PMID- 25833163
TI  - Safety and immunogenocity of a novel combined Haemophilus influenzae type b
      Neisseria meningitidis serogroups A and C-tetanus-toxoid conjugate vaccine in
      healthy Chinese children aged 6 months to 5 years old.
AB  - A novel combined Haemophilus influenzae type b-Neisseria meningitidis serogroups
      A and C-tetanus-toxoid conjugate vaccine (Hib-MenAC vaccine) has been developed
      to protect children against diseases caused by Hib, MenA, and MenC. This study
      investigated the safety and immunogenicity of the Hib-MenAC vaccine administered
      in 2-dose series to children aged 6-23 months and in a single dose to children
      aged 2-5 y. A randomized, positive-controlled, non-inferiority clinical trial was
      conducted for 1200 healthy participants in each age group. Within each age group,
      participants were randomly allocated to the Hib-MenAC group or the control group
      at a ratio of 1:1. Adverse reactions were recorded within 28 d after each dose.
      Blood samples were obtained to assess immunogenicity on day 0 and at 28 d after a
      complete vaccination course. For the investigational vaccine, the incidence of
      total adverse reactions in vaccinees aged 6-23 months was 46.8% and that in
      vaccinees aged 2-5 y was 29.8%. Most adverse reactions were mild or moderate. One
      non-fatal serious adverse event occurred in the Hib-MenAC group, but was
      unrelated to vaccination. The seroconversion rate to the 3 components reached
      94.0%, and the proportion of vaccinees with rSBA titers >= 1:8 and PRP >= 0.15
      g/mL reached 97.0% in both age groups. The safety and immunogenicity of the Hib
      MenAC vaccine were non-inferior when compared to the licensed vaccines. It was
      concluded that the novel vaccine would be expected to protect children against
      all of the targeted diseases.

PMID- 25833165
TI  - Bioactive gyroid scaffolds formed by sacrificial templating of nanocellulose and
      nanochitin hydrogels as instructive platforms for biomimetic tissue engineering.
AB  - A sacrificial templating process using lithographically printed minimal surface
      structures allows complex de novo geo-metries of delicate hydrogel materials. The
      hydrogel scaffolds based on cellulose and chitin nanofibrils show differences in
      terms of attachment of human mesenchymal stem cells, and allow their
      differentiation into osteogenic outcomes. The approach here serves as a first
      example toward designer hydrogel scaffolds viable for biomimetic tissue
      engineering. 

PMID- 25833164
TI  - Hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, carotid body function and erythropoietin
      production in adult rats perinatally exposed to hyperoxia.
AB  - KEY POINTS: Adult animals that have been perinatally exposed to oxygen-rich
      atmospheres (hyperoxia), recalling those used for oxygen therapy in infants,
      exhibit a loss of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, whereas vasoconstriction
      elicited by depolarizing agents is maintained. Loss of pulmonary hypoxic
      vasoconstriction is not linked to alterations in oxygen-sensitive K(+) currents
      in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells. Loss of hypoxic vasoconstriction is
      associated with early postnatal oxidative damage and corrected by an antioxidant
      diet. Perinatal hyperoxia damages carotid body chemoreceptor cell function and
      the antioxidant diet does not reverse it. The hypoxia-elicited increase in
      erythropoietin plasma levels is not affected by perinatal hyperoxia. The
      potential clinical significance of the findings in clinical situations such as
      pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or general anaesthesia is
      considered. ABSTRACT: Adult mammalians possess three cell systems that are
      activated by acute bodily hypoxia: pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMC),
      carotid body chemoreceptor cells (CBCC) and erythropoietin (EPO)-producing cells.
      In rats, chronic perinatal hyperoxia causes permanent carotid body (CB) atrophy
      and functional alterations of surviving CBCC. There are no studies on PASMC or
      EPO-producing cells. Our aim is to define possible long-lasting functional
      changes in PASMC or EPO-producing cells (measured as EPO plasma levels) and,
      further, to analyse CBCC functional alterations. We used 3- to 4-month-old rats
      born and reared in a normal atmosphere or exposed to perinatal hyperoxia (55-60%
      O2 for the last 5-6 days of pregnancy and 4 weeks after birth). Perinatal
      hyperoxia causes an almost complete loss of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction
      (HPV), which was correlated with lung oxidative status in early postnatal life
      and prevented by antioxidant supplementation in the diet. O2 -sensitivity of K(+)
      currents in the PASMC of hyperoxic animals is normal, indicating that their
      inhibition is not sufficient to trigger HPV. Perinatal hyperoxia also abrogated
      responses elicited by hypoxia on catecholamine and cAMP metabolism in the CB. An
      increase in EPO plasma levels elicited by hypoxia was identical in hyperoxic and
      control animals, implying a normal functioning of EPO-producing cells. The loss
      of HPV observed in adult rats and caused by perinatal hyperoxia, comparable to
      oxygen therapy in premature infants, might represent a previously unrecognized
      complication of such a medical intervention capable of aggravating medical
      conditions such as regional pneumonias, atelectases or general anaesthesia in
      adult life.

PMID- 25833166
TI  - Opiorphin-dependent upregulation of CD73 (a key enzyme in the adenosine signaling
      pathway) in corporal smooth muscle cells exposed to hypoxic conditions and in
      corporal tissue in pre-priapic sickle cell mice.
AB  - The precise molecular mechanisms underlying priapism associated with sickle cell
      disease remain to be defined. However, there is increasing evidence that
      upregulated activity of the opiorphin and adenosine pathways in corporal tissue,
      resulting in heighted relaxation of smooth muscle, have an important role in
      development of priapism. A key enzyme in the adenosine pathway is CD73, an ecto
      5'-nucleotidase (5'-ribonucleotide phosphohydrolase; EC 3.1.3.5) which catalyzes
      the conversion of adenosine mononucleotides to adenosine. In the present study we
      investigated how sickle cell disease and hypoxia regulate the interplay between
      opiorphin and CD73. In the corpora of sickle cell mice we observed significantly
      elevated expression of both the mouse opiorphin homolog mSmr3a (14-fold) and CD73
      (2.2-fold) relative to non-sickle cell controls at a life stage before the
      exhibition of priapism. Sickle cell disease has a pronounced hypoxic component,
      therefore we determined if CD73 was also modulated in in vitro corporal smooth
      muscle (CSM) models of hypoxia. Hypoxia significantly increased CD73 protein and
      mRNA expression by 1.5-fold and 2-fold, respectively. We previously demonstrated
      that expression of another component of the adenosine signaling pathway, the
      adensosine 2B receptor, can be regulated by sialorphin (the rat opiorphin
      homolologue), and we demonstrate that sialorphin also regulates CD73 expression
      in a dose- and time-dependent fashion. Using siRNA to knockdown sialorphin mRNA
      expression in CSM cells in vitro, we demonstrate that the hypoxic upregulation of
      CD73 is dependent on the upregulation of sialorphin. Overall, our data provide
      further evidence to support a role for opiorphin in CSM in regulating the
      cellular response to hypoxia or sickle cell disease by activating smooth muscle
      relaxant pathways. 

PMID- 25833167
TI  - Relations between key executive functions and aggression in childhood.
AB  - The present study examined relationships between three key executive functions
      (working memory, inhibition, and mental set-shifting) and multiple types of
      aggression in a general population sample of 9-year-old children. One hundred and
      forty-eight children completed a battery of executive function tasks and were
      rated on aggression by their primary teachers. All executive function (EF)
      composites were related to a composite measure of aggression. Working memory (WM)
      was most consistently related to the different types of aggression (overt,
      relational, reactive, and proactive), whereas inhibition and mental set-shifting
      only were related to relational and reactive aggression, respectively.
      Specificity in relations (studied as independent contributions) was generally low
      with the exception of the relation between WM and relational aggression. Taken
      together, our results highlight the roles of WM and relational aggression in EF
      aggression relations in middle childhood. 

PMID- 25833168
TI  - Descriptive analyses of differentially expressed genes during larval development
      of Calliphora vicina (Diptera: Calliphoridae).
AB  - The analysis of insect evidence is often used in death investigations as the
      development of necrophagous insect species can be used to determine a minimum
      post-mortem interval (PMImin). Usually, the PMImin estimations are based on the
      age estimation of larvae developed on the corpse. So far, age estimation mostly
      relies on length or weight measurement of the larvae. These measurements are then
      compared to species-specific reference growth data obtained from laboratory
      studies. However, length and weight do not always represent the best
      developmental markers to provide accurate and precise age estimates for PMImin
      calculation, especially for post-feeding third-instar larvae which decrease in
      size. Therefore, more growth markers are required to improve age estimation not
      only for post-feeding larvae but also for all larval stages. As the analysis of
      temporally regulated genes proved suitable for age prediction in blow fly pupae,
      we examined the gene expression patterns of six genes (15_2, 2014192, EcdR, AR,
      hsp90 and actin) during larval development of Calliphora vicina at three constant
      temperatures and analysed the effect of a combination of morphological and
      molecular age markers on statistical models of development. EcdR, AR and 15_2
      showed reliable tendencies to classify the post-feeding stage more precisely, and
      inclusion of gene expression data in models of development improved the
      statistical fit of the model. Nevertheless, for depicting the first larval stages
      and for quantifying the onset of the post-feeding stage more accurately, results
      of this preliminary study should be supported by searching for more informative
      genes. 

PMID- 25833169
TI  - Differences between male and female cyclists' performances under the acute
      influence of alcohol.
AB  - To examine the effects of alcohol regarding the fitness required to ride a
      bicycle, practical cycling tests, accompanied by medical examinations, were
      carried out at different blood alcohol concentrations. Seventy-eight persons were
      included in the trials (41 males, 37 females). Eighty-three evaluable trials were
      obtained. Men committed less coordinative driving faults with comparable blood
      alcohol concentrations. Single highly alcoholized men were able to safely ride
      their bicycle; however, each of the female test persons had at least one severe
      driving fault at blood alcohol levels above 1.43 g/kg. Women tended to exhibit
      signs of alcoholization in the medical examination reports earlier than men.

PMID- 25833170
TI  - A single-tube 27-plex SNP assay for estimating individual ancestry and admixture
      from three continents.
AB  - A single-tube multiplex assay of a small set of ancestry-informative markers
      (AIMs) for effectively estimating individual ancestry and admixture is an ideal
      forensic tool to trace the population origin of an unknown DNA sample. We present
      a newly developed 27-plex single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panel with highly
      robust and balanced differential power to perfectly assign individuals to
      African, European, and East Asian ancestries. Evaluating 968 previously described
      intercontinental AIMs from three HapMap population genotyping datasets (Yoruban
      in Ibadan, Nigeria (YRI); Utah residents with Northern and Western European
      ancestry from the Centre de'Etude du Polymorphism Humain (CEPH) collection (CEU);
      and Han Chinese in Beijing, China (CHB)), the best set of markers was selected on
      the basis of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p > 0.00001), population-specific allele
      frequency (two of three delta values >0.5), according to linkage disequilibrium
      (r (2) < 0.2), and capable of being multiplexed in one tube and detected by
      capillary electrophoresis. The 27-SNP panel was first validated by assigning the
      ancestry of the 11 populations in the HapMap project. Then, we tested the 27-plex
      SNP assay with 1164 individuals from 17 additional populations. The results
      demonstrated that the SNP panel was successful for ancestry inference of
      individuals with African, European, and East Asian ancestry. Furthermore, the
      system performed well when inferring the admixture of Eurasians (EUR/EAS) after
      analyzing admixed populations from Xinjiang (Central Asian) as follows: Tajik
      (68:27), Uyghur (49:46), Kirgiz (40:57), and Kazak (36:60). For individual
      analyses, we interpreted each sample with a three-ancestry component percentage
      and a population match probability sequence. This multiplex assay is a convenient
      and cost-effective tool to assist in criminal investigations, as well as to
      correct for the effects of population stratification for case-control studies. 

PMID- 25833175
TI  - Editorial retraction. "Probiotics: A Comprehensive Approach toward Health Foods".

PMID- 25833171
TI  - The effect of banning MDPV on the incidence of MDPV-positive findings among users
      of illegal drugs and on court decisions in traffic cases in Finland.
AB  - In this study, we sought to determine what impact the banning of 3, 4-
      methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) had on the incidence of MDPV-positive findings
      and on user profiles in driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) and
      postmortem (PM) investigations in Finland. All MDPV-positive cases and a
      selection of corresponding court cases between 2009 and 2012 were examined. The
      median serum concentration of MDPV in DUID cases was 0.030 mg/L and in PM blood
      0.12 mg/L. The number of MDPV-positive cases decreased both in DUID and PM
      investigations after the drug was banned. The decrease in the mean monthly
      numbers of MDPV-positive DUID cases was 51.1%. In court cases, MDPV was rarely
      mentioned until banned and frequently mentioned thereafter. Of the convicted, 37%
      were without a fixed abode, 98% had other charges besides that of DUID, and 13%
      appeared in the study material more than once. In MDPV-positive PM cases, the
      proportion of suicides was very high (24%). Research on new psychoactive
      substances is required not only to support banning decisions but more importantly
      to be able to provide a scientific assessment of the risks of these new
      substances to the public and potential users.

PMID- 25833176
TI  - Influence of housing characteristics on bacterial and fungal communities in homes
      of asthmatic children.
AB  - Variations in home characteristics, such as moisture and occupancy, affect indoor
      microbial ecology as well as human exposure to microorganisms. Our objective was
      to determine how indoor bacterial and fungal community structure and diversity
      are associated with the broader home environment and its occupants. Next
      generation DNA sequencing was used to describe fungal and bacterial communities
      in house dust sampled from 198 homes of asthmatic children in southern New
      England. Housing characteristics included number of people/children, level of
      urbanization, single/multifamily home, reported mold, reported water leaks, air
      conditioning (AC) use, and presence of pets. Both fungal and bacterial community
      structures were non-random and demonstrated species segregation (C-score, P <
      0.00001). Increased microbial richness was associated with the presence of pets,
      water leaks, longer AC use, suburban (vs. urban) homes, and dust composition
      measures (P < 0.05). The most significant differences in community composition
      were observed for AC use and occupancy (people, children, and pets)
      characteristics. Occupant density measures were associated with beneficial
      bacterial taxa, including Lactobacillus johnsonii as measured by qPCR. A more
      complete knowledge of indoor microbial communities is useful for linking housing
      characteristics to human health outcomes. Microbial assemblies in house dust
      result, in part, from the building's physical and occupant characteristics. 

PMID- 25833178
TI  - Clinical significance of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants in the
      management of atrial fibrillation.
AB  - Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly observed rhythm disorder in
      clinical practice. It is associated with a high risk of thromboembolic stroke and
      increased cardiovascular mortality. Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs), the only oral
      anticoagulants used for thromboembolic prophylaxis in AF patients over the past
      60 years, have been effective in reducing thromboembolic stroke, compared with
      placebo and aspirin, in this group of patients. However, VKAs have a very narrow
      therapeutic window, so regular monitoring of the therapeutic effect is obligatory
      for their use. The need for regular assessment of blood anticoagulation often
      causes dissatisfaction and reduces patients' quality of life. Non-VKA oral
      anticoagulants (NOACs), such as dabigatran, a direct thrombin inhibitor, and 3
      factor Xa inhibitors, namely rivaroxaban, apixaban, and edoxaban, have been
      developed in recent years and have increased the armamentarium available to the
      physician for thromboprophylaxis in non-valvular AF (NVAF) patients. This review
      describes the characteristics of NOACs, analyzing aspects related to their use in
      the thromboprophylaxis of NVAF patients. It also discusses how to optimize NOAC
      therapy in specific clinical conditions, such as renal or liver impairment, and
      concomitant assumption of drugs potentially interfering with NOACs action.
      Finally, it focuses on NOAC-related bleeding management in the setting of non
      cardiac surgery or radiofrequency catheter ablation of NVAF.

PMID- 25833180
TI  - Oblique venotomy with parallelogram anastomosis in sequential bypass grafting.
AB  - The proximal vein graft is incised obliquely and anastomosed to the coronary
      artery to ensure that the proximal rim of the vein incision is adjusted to the
      lateral side of the coronary artery incision adjacent to the proximal rim. So the
      vein graft can be placed perpendicular to the coronary artery without kinking,
      and the anastomosis orifice can be made wider than those made with diamond
      anastomosis. Oblique venotomy with parallelogram anastomosis provides sufficient
      anastomotic flow, allows long incisions, and prevents kinking. 

PMID- 25833179
TI  - Lipodystrophies: adipose tissue disorders with severe metabolic implications.
AB  - Lipodystrophy encompass a group of heterogeneous disorders consisting in marked
      reduction, absence, and/or the redistribution of adipose tissue. Lipodystrophy is
      frequently complicated with severe insulin resistance, diabetes, hyperlipidemia,
      and fatty liver. Anatomically, lipodystrophies can be partial or generalized.
      Etiologically, they can be congenital or acquired. Lipodystrophy diagnosis can be
      challenging, and it has been suggested that partial forms can be easily
      misdiagnosed as common central obesity with associated metabolic syndrome.
      Conventional insulin-sensitizing approaches usually fail to fully ameliorate
      insulin resistance in lipodystrophic patients. Leptin replacement is an approved
      therapy for the metabolic complications of congenital generalized lipodystrophy.
      Novel nutritional interventions are promising complementary approaches for
      treating lipodystrophy metabolic complications. 

PMID- 25833177
TI  - Improved Long-Term Prognosis of Dilated Cardiomyopathy With Implementation of
      Evidenced-Based Medication - Report From the CHART Studies - .
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent trends in the clinical characteristics, management and
      prognosis of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) remain to be examined in Japan. METHODS
      AND RESULTS: We compared 306 and 710 DCM patients in the Chronic Heart Failure
      Analysis and Registry in the Tohoku District (CHART)-1 (2000-2005, n=1,278) and
      the CHART-2 (2006-present, n=10,219) Studies, respectively. Between the 2 groups
      of DCM patients, there were no significant differences in baseline
      characteristics. The prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes
      mellitus were all significantly increased from the CHART-1 to the CHART-2 Study.
      The use of beta-blockers and aldosterone antagonists was significantly increased,
      while that of loop diuretics and digitalis was significantly decreased in the
      CHART-2 Study. The 3-year mortality rate was significantly improved from 14% in
      the CHART-1 to 9% in the CHART-2 Study (adjusted HR, 0.60; 95% CI: 0.49-0.81;
      P=0.001). In particular, 3-year incidence of cardiovascular death was
      significantly decreased (adjusted HR, 0.26; 95% CI: 0.14-0.50, P<0.001), while
      that of HF admission was not (adjusted HR, 0.90; 95% CI: 0.59-1.37, P=0.632). The
      prognostic improvement was noted in patients with BNP <220 pg/ml, LVEF>40%, beta
      blocker use and aldosterone antagonist use. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term prognosis of
      DCM patients has been improved, along with the implementation of evidence-based
      medication in Japan.

PMID- 25833182
TI  - Generation of Lactococcus lactis capable of coexpressing epidermal growth factor
      and trefoil factor to enhance in vitro wound healing.
AB  - Epidermal growth factor (EGF) and trefoil factor 3 (TFF3) are peptides that
      actively support the restitution and repair of mucosal epithelial barriers.
      Previous studies have shown that TFF3 enhanced EGF effect in wound healing,
      suggesting that the combined application of the two factors may be advantageous
      in clinical tissue repair. Expression of multiple proteins in a single host is a
      desirable approach in a biotechnological process, allowing to reduce cost and
      increase production efficiency. The aim of the present study was to study the
      feasibility of coexpressing EGF and TFF3 in food grade bacteria, Lactococcus
      lactis (L. lactis). Using an expression construct allowing simultaneous
      translation of two separate recombinant peptides, we generated a L. lactis that
      coexpressed and secreted EGF and TFF3 dually (LL-ET). Western blot analysis
      revealed that LL-ET secreted 45-54 % more total recombinant peptides (EGF+TFF3)
      per flask fermentation and 21-37 % more total recombinant proteins in bioreactor
      fermentation compared to their single factor expressing L. lactis counterparts
      (LL-EGF and LL-TFF3, respectively). The resulted recombinant EGF and TFF3 showed
      enhancement in wound healing activity in vitro. Our data suggest that the dual
      expression and secretion of EGF and TFF3 by L. lactis effectively accelerated
      cell migration, demonstrating potential future oral application of L. lactis
      fermentation product containing dual factors or a cocktail of factors to
      potentially treat intestinal damage and inflammation. 

PMID- 25833181
TI  - Bacterial expansins and related proteins from the world of microbes.
AB  - The discovery of microbial expansins emerged from studies of the mechanism of
      plant cell growth and the molecular basis of plant cell wall extensibility.
      Expansins are wall-loosening proteins that are universal in the plant kingdom and
      are also found in a small set of phylogenetically diverse bacteria, fungi, and
      other organisms, most of which colonize plant surfaces. They loosen plant cell
      walls without detectable lytic activity. Bacterial expansins have attracted
      considerable attention recently for their potential use in cellulosic biomass
      conversion for biofuel production, as a means to disaggregate cellulosic
      structures by nonlytic means ("amorphogenesis"). Evolutionary analysis indicates
      that microbial expansins originated by multiple horizontal gene transfers from
      plants. Crystallographic analysis of BsEXLX1, the expansin from Bacillus
      subtilis, shows that microbial expansins consist of two tightly packed domains:
      the N-terminal domain D1 has a double-psi beta-barrel fold similar to glycosyl
      hydrolase family-45 enzymes but lacks catalytic residues usually required for
      hydrolysis; the C-terminal domain D2 has a unique beta-sandwich fold with three
      co-linear aromatic residues that bind beta-1,4-glucans by hydrophobic
      interactions. Genetic deletion of expansin in Bacillus and Clavibacter cripples
      their ability to colonize plant tissues. We assess reports that expansin addition
      enhances cellulose breakdown by cellulase and compare expansins with distantly
      related proteins named swollenin, cerato-platanin, and loosenin. We end in a
      speculative vein about the biological roles of microbial expansins and their
      potential applications. Advances in this field will be aided by a deeper
      understanding of how these proteins modify cellulosic structures.

PMID- 25833183
TI  - Functional analysis of Trichoderma reesei CKIIalpha2, a catalytic subunit of
      casein kinase II.
AB  - Trichoderma reesei is the most important industrial cellulase-producing
      filamentous fungus. Although its molecular physiology has been investigated, the
      signal transduction pathways are not fully understood. In particular, the role of
      casein kinase II (CKII) is not yet clear. In this work, we carried out functional
      investigations on a catalytic subunit of CKII, CKIIalpha2. Comparison of the
      phenotypic features of T. reesei parent and Deltack2alpha2 strains showed
      significant changes following ck2alpha2 disruption. T. reesei Deltack2alpha2 form
      significantly smaller mycelial pellets in glucose-containing liquid minimum
      media, have shorter and fewer branch hyphae, produce smaller amounts of
      chitinases, produce more spores, show more robust growth on glucose-containing
      agar plates, and consume glucose at a significantly higher rate. Suggestions can
      be made that CKIIalpha2 governs chitinase expression, and the disruption of
      ck2alpha2 results in lower levels of chitinase production, leading to a weaker
      cell wall disruption capability, further resulting in weaker hyphal branching,
      which eventually leads to smaller mycelial pellets in liquid media. Further
      conclusions can be made that CKIIalpha2 is involved in repression of sporulation
      and glucose metabolism, which is consistent with the proposal that CKIIalpha2
      represses global metabolism. These observations make the deletion of ck2alpha2 a
      potentially beneficial genetic disruption for T. reesei during industrial
      applications, as smaller mycelial pellets, more spores and more robust glucose
      metabolism are all desired traits for industrial fermentation. This work reports
      novel unique functions of a CKII catalytic subunit and is also the first genetic
      and physiological investigation on CKII in T. reesei.

PMID- 25833184
TI  - Modeling the evolution space of breakage fusion bridge cycles with a stochastic
      folding process.
AB  - Breakage-fusion-bridge cycles in cancer arise when a broken segment of DNA is
      duplicated and an end from each copy joined together. This structure then
      'unfolds' into a new piece of palindromic DNA. This is one mechanism responsible
      for the localised amplicons observed in cancer genome data. Here we study the
      evolution space of breakage-fusion-bridge structures in detail. We firstly
      consider discrete representations of this space with 2-d trees to demonstrate
      that there are [Formula: see text] qualitatively distinct evolutions involving
      [Formula: see text] breakage-fusion-bridge cycles. Secondly we consider the
      stochastic nature of the process to show these evolutions are not equally likely,
      and also describe how amplicons become localized. Finally we highlight these
      methods by inferring the evolution of breakage-fusion-bridge cycles with data
      from primary tissue cancer samples. 

PMID- 25833185
TI  - A geometric analysis of fast-slow models for stochastic gene expression.
AB  - Stochastic models for gene expression frequently exhibit dynamics on several
      different scales. One potential time-scale separation is caused by significant
      differences in the lifetimes of mRNA and protein; the ratio of the two
      degradation rates gives a natural small parameter in the resulting chemical
      master equation, allowing for the application of perturbation techniques. Here,
      we develop a framework for the analysis of a family of 'fast-slow' models for
      gene expression that is based on geometric singular perturbation theory. We
      illustrate our approach by giving a complete characterisation of a standard two
      stage model which assumes transcription, translation, and degradation to be first
      order reactions. In particular, we present a systematic expansion procedure for
      the probability-generating function that can in principle be taken to any order
      in the perturbation parameter, allowing for an approximation of the corresponding
      propagator probabilities to that same order. For illustrative purposes, we
      perform this expansion explicitly to first order, both on the fast and the slow
      time-scales; then, we combine the resulting asymptotics into a composite fast
      slow expansion that is uniformly valid in time. In the process, we extend, and
      prove rigorously, results previously obtained by Shahrezaei and Swain (Proc Natl
      Acad Sci USA 105(45):17256-17261, 2008) and Bokes et al. (J Math Biol 64(5):829
      854, 2012; J Math Biol 65(3):493-520, 2012). We verify our asymptotics by
      numerical simulation, and we explore its practical applicability and the effects
      of a variation in the system parameters and the time-scale separation. Focussing
      on biologically relevant parameter regimes that induce translational bursting, as
      well as those in which mRNA is frequently transcribed, we find that the first
      order correction can significantly improve the steady-state probability
      distribution. Similarly, in the time-dependent scenario, inclusion of the first
      order fast asymptotics results in a uniform approximation for the propagator
      probabilities that is superior to the slow dynamics alone. Finally, we discuss
      the generalisation of our geometric framework to models for regulated gene
      expression that involve additional stages. 

PMID- 25833186
TI  - Immuno-epidemiology of a population structured by immune status: a mathematical
      study of waning immunity and immune system boosting.
AB  - When the body gets infected by a pathogen the immune system develops pathogen
      specific immunity. Induced immunity decays in time and years after recovery the
      host might become susceptible again. Exposure to the pathogen in the environment
      boosts the immune system thus prolonging the time in which a recovered individual
      is immune. Such an interplay of within host processes and population dynamics
      poses significant challenges in rigorous mathematical modeling of immuno
      epidemiology. We propose a framework to model SIRS dynamics, monitoring the
      immune status of individuals and including both waning immunity and immune system
      boosting. Our model is formulated as a system of two ordinary differential
      equations (ODEs) coupled with a PDE. After showing existence and uniqueness of a
      classical solution, we investigate the local and the global asymptotic stability
      of the unique disease-free stationary solution. Under particular assumptions on
      the general model, we can recover known examples such as large systems of ODEs
      for SIRWS dynamics, as well as SIRS with constant delay. 

PMID- 25833187
TI  - From invasion to latency: intracellular noise and cell motility as key controls
      of the competition between resource-limited cellular populations.
AB  - In this paper we analyse stochastic models of the competition between two
      resource-limited cell populations which differ in their response to nutrient
      availability: the resident population exhibits a switch-like response behaviour
      while the invading population exhibits a bistable response. We investigate how
      noise in the intracellular regulatory pathways and cell motility influence the
      fate of the incumbent and invading populations. We focus initially on a spatially
      homogeneous system and study in detail the role of intracellular noise. We show
      that in such well-mixed systems, two distinct regimes exist: In the low
      (intracellular) noise limit, the invader has the ability to invade the resident
      population, whereas in the high noise regime competition between the two
      populations is found to be neutral and, in accordance with neutral evolution
      theory, invasion is a random event. Careful examination of the system dynamics
      leads us to conclude that (i) even if the invader is unable to invade, the
      distribution of survival times, PS(t), has a fat-tail behaviour (PS(t) ~ t(-1))
      which implies that small colonies of mutants can coexist with the resident
      population for arbitrarily long times, and (ii) the bistable structure of the
      invading population increases the stability of the latent population, thus
      increasing their long-term likelihood of survival, by decreasing the intensity of
      the noise at the population level. We also examine the effects of spatial
      inhomogeneity. In the low noise limit we find that cell motility is positively
      correlated with the aggressiveness of the invader as defined by the time the
      invader takes to invade the resident population: the faster the invasion, the
      more aggressive the invader.

PMID- 25833188
TI  - Should magnesium sulfate be administered to women with mild pre-eclampsia? A
      systematic review of published reports on eclampsia.
AB  - AIM: Magnesium sulfate is an evidence-based anticonvulsant drug used to prevent
      and control eclampsia. Controversy persists on routine administration of
      magnesium sulfate in cases of pre-eclampsia without severe features. Our
      objective was to assess the pattern of blood pressure and maternal symptoms
      preceding eclamptic seizure based on the current published work. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: A comprehensive computer-based publication search was conducted in the
      African Journals Online, Google scholar, HINARI, PubMed, and MEDLINE databases
      and the Cochrane library to identify descriptive study reports for blood
      pressure, severity symptoms or stage of pregnancy during convulsion in women with
      eclampsia. RESULTS: A total of 59 publications were eligible for this review.
      Overall, 21,149 eclamptic women from 26 countries were included for the interest
      of one or more of the selected variables. Out of 18,488 eclamptic women, the
      proportion of antepartum, intrapartum and post-partum eclampsia was 59%, 20% and
      21%, respectively. Out of 3443 eclamptic women, 25% were normotensive; 20% had
      mild-to-moderate hypertension; 32% had severe hypertension; and 21% were
      hypertensive but unclassified. Out of 2163 eclamptic women, 66% and 27% had a
      headache and visual disturbance, respectively, preceding the occurrence of
      convulsion. Out of 2053 eclamptic women, 25% had epigastric area pain, and out of
      1092 women with eclampsia, 25% were asymptomatic. CONCLUSION: Although eclampsia
      is known to result from severe pre-eclampsia with or without organ function
      derangement, this review has revealed that a significant number of eclamptic
      women had either normal blood pressure or mild-to-moderate hypertension
      immediately before seizure. The findings are apparently in support of initiating
      magnesium sulfate prophylaxis to all women with mild pre-eclampsia.

PMID- 25833189
TI  - Interactions between default mode and control networks as a function of
      increasing cognitive reasoning complexity.
AB  - Successful performance of challenging cognitive tasks depends on a consistent
      functional segregation of activity within the default-mode network, on the one
      hand, and control networks encompassing frontoparietal and cingulo-opercular
      areas on the other. Recent work, however, has suggested that in some cognitive
      control contexts nodes within the default-mode and control networks may actually
      cooperate to achieve optimal task performance. Here, we used functional magnetic
      resonance imaging to examine whether the ability to relate variables while
      solving a cognitive reasoning problem involves transient increases in
      connectivity between default-mode and control regions. Participants performed a
      modified version of the classic Wason selection task, in which the number of
      variables to be related is systematically varied across trials. As expected,
      areas within the default-mode network showed a parametric deactivation with
      increases in relational complexity, compared with neural activity in null trials.
      Critically, some of these areas also showed enhanced connectivity with task
      positive control regions. Specifically, task-based connectivity between the
      striatum and the angular gyri, and between the thalamus and right temporal pole,
      increased as a function of relational complexity. These findings challenge the
      notion that functional segregation between regions within default-mode and
      control networks invariably support cognitive task performance, and reveal
      previously unknown roles for the striatum and thalamus in managing network
      dynamics during cognitive reasoning.

PMID- 25833191
TI  - Expression pattern of key microRNAs in patients with newly diagnosed chronic
      myeloid leukemia in chronic phase.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is caused by reciprocal
      translocation in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). This translocation forms the
      BCR-ABL1 oncogene, which alters several signaling pathways that control
      malignancy. CML has three phases: chronic, accelerated, and blast crisis. The
      microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are noncoding RNAs that downregulate their target gene
      by targeting 3' UTR of mRNA or through translational inhibition. It has been
      shown that miRNAs regulate many biological processes, and dysregulation of these
      regulatory RNAs is involved in disease development, particularly in cancer. The
      important role of miRNAs as therapeutic agents and biomarkers has been
      demonstrated in CML patients at different phases of the disease. METHODS: Stem
      loop reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to characterize
      differentially expressed miRNAs of leukocytes in the peripheral blood of 50 newly
      diagnosed CML patients in chronic phase. RESULTS: Some onco-miRNAs were found to
      be downregulated (miR-155 and miR-106), and some tumor suppressor miRs (miR-16-1,
      miR-15a, miR-101, miR-568) were upregulated. CONCLUSION: These results show that
      very few miRNAs alone would be good candidates for CML diagnosis independently of
      conflicting results, but together could be an additional tool for CML diagnosis.
      Moreover, miRNAs might be good candidates for prognosis prediction and CML
      therapy.

PMID- 25833190
TI  - Disease-Associated Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms From Noncoding Regions in
      Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Are Located Within or Adjacent to Functional
      Genomic Elements of Human Neutrophils and CD4+ T Cells.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is considered a complex disease in
      which the environment interacts with inherited genes to produce a phenotype that
      shows broad interindividual variability. Twenty-four regions of genetic risk for
      JIA were identified in a recent genome-wide association study (GWAS); however, as
      is typical of the results of GWAS, most of the regions of genetic risk (22 of 24)
      were in noncoding regions of the genome. This study was undertaken to identify
      functional elements (other than genes) that might be located within the regions
      of genetic risk. METHODS: We used paired-end RNA sequencing to identify noncoding
      RNAs (ncRNAs) located within 5 kb of disease-associated single-nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs). In addition, we used chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)
      followed by sequencing to identify epigenetic marks associated with enhancer
      function (H3K4me1 and H3K27ac) in human neutrophils to determine whether enhancer
      associated histone marks were enriched in the linkage disequilibrium blocks that
      encompassed the 22 SNPs identified in the GWAS. RESULTS: In human neutrophils, we
      identified H3K4me1 and/or H3K27ac marks in 15 of the 22 regions previously
      identified as risk loci for JIA. In CD4+ T cells, 18 regions had H3K4me1 and/or
      H3K27ac marks. In addition, we identified ncRNA transcripts at the rs4705862 and
      rs6894249 loci in human neutrophils. CONCLUSION: Much of the genetic risk for JIA
      lies within or adjacent to regions of neutrophil and CD4+ T cell genomes that
      carry epigenetic marks associated with enhancer function and/or ncRNA
      transcripts. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that JIA is
      fundamentally a disorder of gene regulation that includes both the innate and the
      adaptive immune system. Elucidating the specific roles of these noncoding
      elements within leukocyte genomes will be critical to our understanding of JIA
      pathogenesis.

PMID- 25833192
TI  - Prevalence of high-level positivity of anti-parietal cell antibodies in Turkish
      population.

PMID- 25833193
TI  - Performance of the Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool for Asians (OSTA) in
      Screening Osteoporosis Among Middle-Aged and Old Women in the Chengdu Region of
      China.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of an osteoporosis self
      assessment tool for Asians (OSTA) for screening middle-aged and old healthy women
      in the Chengdu region of China. OSTA scores were used to evaluate the effect of
      age on the development of osteoporosis. A total of 15,752 healthy women older
      than 40 yr, who reside in the Chengdu region, were assigned to 9 age groups
      divided by 5-yr intervals. Bone mineral density of the lumbar vertebrae, L1-L4,
      and the left hip was measured with a GE Lunar Prodigy advance dual-energy X-ray
      absorptiometry system (GE Healthcare, Cincinnati, OH). All subjects were
      classified into 3 categories according to OSTA cutoff values. The OSTA values
      used to define the categories were >=-1, >-4 and <-1, and <=-4. The accuracy of
      the OSTA index was compared with T-scores measured by dual-energy X-ray
      absorptiometry at various skeletal sites. All statistical analyses were performed
      using SPSS, version 17.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL). The detection rate of
      osteoporosis and osteopenia at the lumbar vertebrae and the femur was found to
      increase with age. Furthermore, the sensitivity of OSTA value for detection of
      osteoporosis also gradually enhanced with subject age. In contrast, the
      specificity gradually decreased with age. The sensitivity and negative predictive
      value of the OSTA index for detecting osteoporosis gradually increased with
      higher OSTA cutoff values, and the specificity and positive predictive value
      appeared to gradually decline. It was concluded that the OSTA is a useful
      screening tool to detect osteoporosis in middle-aged and old women in the Chengdu
      region of China. Furthermore, specific OSTA cutoff values should be selected for
      screening individuals who belong to different age groups.

PMID- 25833194
TI  - Response to the Letter to the Editor on "Appropriate Osteoporosis Treatment by
      Family Physicians in Response to FRAX vs CAROC Reporting: Results From a
      Randomized Controlled Trial".

PMID- 25833195
TI  - Intraperitoneal bleomycin for sarcomatosis-related malignant ascites: Prolonged
      symptom relief.

PMID- 25833196
TI  - Cinnamaldehyde derivative (CB-PIC) sensitizes chemo-resistant cancer cells to
      drug-induced apoptosis via suppression of MDR1 and its upstream STAT3 and AKT
      signalling.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Our group reported that cinnamaldehyde derivative, (E)-4-((2-(3
      oxopop-1-enyl)phenoxy)methyl)pyridinium malonic acid (CB-PIC) induced apoptosis
      in hypoxic SW620 colorectal cancer cells via activation of AMP-activated protein
      kinase (AMPK) and extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK). Herein,
      sensitizing effect of CB-PIC was investigated in resistant cancer cells such as
      paclitaxel (PT) resistant lung cancer cells (H460/PT), and Adriamycin (Adr)
      resistant breast cancer (MCF7/Adr) and colon cancer (HCT15/cos) cells. METHODS:
      Various drug resistant cell lines were treated with CB-PIC, and the signalling
      pathway and functional assay were explored by Western blot, Rhodamine assay,
      FACS, RT-PCR and MTT assay. RESULTS: We found that CB-PIC effectively exerted
      cytotoxicity, increased sub G1 population and the cleaved form of poly (ADP
      ribose) polymerase (PARP) and caspase 9 in drug resistant cancer cells.
      Furthermore, CB-PIC sensitized resistant cancer cells to adriamycin via
      downregulation of survival proteins such as survivin, Bcl-xL and Bcl-2, along
      with MDR1 suppression leading to accumulation of drug in the intracellular
      region. Of note, CB-PIC transcriptionally decreased MDR1 expression via
      suppression of STAT3 and AKT signalling in three resistant cancer cells with
      highly expressed P-glycoprotein. Nonetheless, CB-PIC did not affect transport
      activity of P-glycoprotein in a short time efflux assay, while epigallocatechin
      gallate (EGCG) accumulated Rhodamine 123 into intracellular region of cell by
      direct inhibition of MDR1 transport activity. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate
      that CB-PIC suppresses the P-glycoprotein expression through inhibition of STAT3
      and AKT signalling to overcome drug resistance in chemo-resistant cancer cells as
      a potent chemotherapeutic sensitizer.

PMID- 25833197
TI  - Immunophenotypic profile and increased risk of hospital admission for infection
      in infants born to female kidney transplant recipients.
AB  - Children born to female kidney recipients are exposed to immunosuppressive drugs
      during gestation. Little is known about their immune system at birth or in the
      long term. Twenty-eight children born to female kidney recipients and 40 full
      term children born to healthy mothers were evaluated. T, B, NK, NKT, gammadeltaT
      cells were assessed by flow cytometry and functional evaluation of T and
      dendritic cells after in vitro activation was performed at birth and at 8 months
      of age. At birth, infants born to female kidney recipients showed lower numbers
      of CD4+ T, NKT and intense reduction of B cells (median cells/mm(3) , transplant:
      153.7 X control: 512.4; p < 0.001). There was also a reduced percentage of
      activated CD8+ T and of CD4+ regulatory T cells. Activated memory and exhausted
      memory B cells showed higher percentages among children exposed to
      immunosuppressors when compared to control group. At 8 months, most immune
      alterations were no longer observed, but four children still had low numbers of
      some lymphocyte subsets at this age. Children born to female kidney recipients
      had 4.351 (95% CI: 1.026-15.225; p = 0.046) higher risk of hospital admission in
      the first months of life-some, with severe clinical manifestations-than those
      born to healthy women. 

PMID- 25833200
TI  - Self-rolled nanotubes with controlled hollow interiors by patterned grafts.
AB  - By patterning surface grafts, we propose a simple and systematic method to form
      tubular structures for which two-dimensional grafted sheets are programmed to
      self-roll into hollow tubes with a desired size of the internal cavity. The
      repeating pattern of grafts utilizing defect sites causes anisotropy in the
      surface-grafted nanosheet, which spontaneously transforms into a curved secondary
      architecture and, thus, becomes a potential tool with which to form and control
      the curvature of nanotubes. In fact, the degree and the type of graft defect
      allow control of the internal cavity size and shape of the resulting nanotubes.
      By performing dissipative particle dynamics simulations on coarse-grained sheets,
      we found that the inner cavity size is inversely proportional to the graft-defect
      density, the difference in the graft densities between the two surface sides of
      the layer, regardless of whether the defects are patterned or random. While a
      random distribution of defects gives rise to a non-uniform local curvature and
      often leads to twisted tubes, regular patterns of graft defects ensure uniform
      local curvature throughout the sheet, which is important to generate monodisperse
      nanotubes. At a low graft-defect density, the sheet-to-tube transformation is
      governed by the layer anisotropy, which induces spontaneous scrolling along the
      long edge of the sheet, resulting in short tubes. Thus, the curve formation rate
      and the cavity diameter are independent of the pattern of the graft defects. At a
      high graft-defect density, however, the scroll direction owing to the graft
      pattern may conflict with that due to the layer anisotropy. To produce
      monodisperse nanotubes, two factors are important: (1) a graft-defect pattern
      parallel to the short edge of the layer, and (2) a graft-defect area wider than
      half of the graft coil length. 

PMID- 25833198
TI  - Guggulsterone and bexarotene induce secretion of exosome-associated breast cancer
      resistance protein and reduce doxorubicin resistance in MDA-MB-231 cells.
AB  - Many breast cancer cells acquire multidrug resistance (MDR) mediated by ABC
      transporters such as breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2). Here we show
      that incubation of human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells with farnesoid X receptor
      antagonist guggulsterone (gug) and retinoid X receptor agonist bexarotene (bex)
      elevated ceramide, a sphingolipid known to induce exosome secretion. The gug+bex
      combination reduced cellular levels of BCRP to 20% of control cells by inducing
      its association and secretion with exosomes. Exogenous C6 ceramide also induced
      secretion of BCRP-associated exosomes, while siRNA-mediated knockdown or GW4869
      mediated inhibition of neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (nSMase2), an enzyme generating
      ceramide, restored cellular BCRP. Immunocytochemistry showed that ceramide
      elevation and concurrent loss of cellular BCRP was prominent in Aldefluor-labeled
      breast cancer stem-like cells. These cells no longer excluded the BCRP substrate
      Hoechst 33342 and showed caspase activation and apoptosis induction. Consistent
      with reduced BCRP, ABC transporter assays showed that gug+bex increased
      doxorubicin retention and that the combination of gug+bex with doxorubicin
      enhanced cell death by more than fivefold. Taken together, our results suggest a
      novel mechanism by which ceramide induces BCRP secretion and reduces MDR, which
      may be useful as adjuvant drug treatment for sensitizing breast cancer cells and
      cancer stem cells to chemotherapy. 

PMID- 25833199
TI  - Improving Human Milk and Breastfeeding Practices in the NICU.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine if systematic implementation of the Spatz Ten Steps for
      Promoting and Protecting Breastfeeding for Vulnerable Infants (Ten Steps) would
      result in an improvement in the percentage of infants receiving mother's own milk
      (MOM) at initiation of feedings and at hospital discharge. DESIGN: Continuous
      quality improvement (QI) process. SETTING: Urban, 82-bed, Level-III NICU.
      PATIENTS: Very- low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants weighing fewer than 1500 grams.
      INTERVENTION: The Ten Step method was implemented during a 3-year period.
      MEASUREMENTS: Process measurements included percentage of VLBW infants receiving
      MOM at initiation of feeds, number of mothers of VLBW infants with hospital-grade
      electric breast pump at hospital discharge, and number of mothers of VLBW infants
      initiating pumping within 6 hours of delivery. Outcome measurements included
      percentage of VLBW infants with any human milk at discharge to home and parent
      satisfaction with nurses' support of mother's efforts to breastfeed. Balancing
      measurements included percentage of VLBW infants at less than the third
      percentile for growth on the Fenton growth chart at discharge and receiving
      pasteurized donor milk (PDM). RESULTS: Significant improvements were achieved in
      the percentages of mothers expressing their milk within 6 hours of delivery,
      infants receiving MOM at initiation of feeds, and mothers with a hospital-grade
      pump at discharge. Improvements in these processes resulted in increased parent
      satisfaction with nurses' support of breastfeeding and a 3.1-fold greater odds of
      the VLBW infant receiving MOM at discharge in 2013 compared to 2010 (odds ratio
      [OR]= 3.01, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.75, 5.17], p < .001). Despite an
      increase in the use of MOM, there was not a significant increase in VLBW infants
      discharged at less than the third percentile for growth, and initiation of PDM
      did not negatively affect the percentage of VLBW infants with any human milk at
      discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of the Ten Steps method using QI
      methodology resulted in significantly improved rates of use of MOM at initiation
      of feeds and at hospital discharge.

PMID- 25833201
TI  - Epidemiology of keloids in normally pigmented Africans and African people with
      albinism: population-based cross-sectional survey.

PMID- 25833202
TI  - Are preoperative platelet-lymphocyte and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio prognostic
      factors for patients with esophageal squamous cell cancer?

PMID- 25833203
TI  - Spino-pelvic alignment influences disc hydration properties after AIS surgery: a
      prospective MRI-based study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To analyze the disc hydration and volumetric changes of the
      intervertebral disc after scoliosis surgery depending on the sagittal spino
      pelvic organization. METHODS: We conducted a prospective MRI study in 45 patients
      with surgically treated adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) with a minimum 2
      year follow-up. Fusion ended at L1 (n = 13), L2 (n = 14), L3 (n = 11) or L4 (n =
      7). Total disc (Vd) and nucleus volumes (Vn) were extrapolated from 3D
      reconstruction using a custom-made image processing software (Biomechlab,
      Toulouse, France). Nucleus and external disc contours were semi-automatically
      detected on turbo spin echo T2-weighted sequence joined 3-mm sagittal cuts. Disc
      hydration was extrapolated from the nucleus-disc volume ratio (Vn/Vd).
      Radiographic sagittal parameters were measured pre- and post-operatively on full
      spine standing views (pelvic incidence, sacral slope, L1S1 lumbar lordosis).
      Lumbo-pelvic congruity was calculated by the ratio LL/SS according to Stagnara.
      RESULTS: Mean PI of the cohort was 55 degrees  (34 degrees -85 degrees ). After
      surgical correction, lumbar lordosis was slightly increased by 3 degrees  (p =
      0.02) decreasing lumbo-pelvic congruity from 1.37 to 1.27 (p < 0.01). When pelvic
      incidence was less than 55 degrees  (mean PI 46 degrees ), nucleus volumes have
      increased on average by 30 % compared to the preoperative status in the unfused
      lumbar discs, while the total disc volumes has remained stable. Five-year follow
      up (n = 13) confirmed the constant improvement of the disc hydration ratio. When
      PI was high (mean PI 64 degrees ), volumetric changes were very mild and
      significant changes in nucleus volumes and disc hydration ratio concerned only
      the intermediate lumbar levels (L2L3, L3L4 and L4L5). CONCLUSIONS: This
      prospective MRI study showed a significant and sustainable improvement in T2
      hypersignal of the disc, indirectly indicating improvement of disc hydration
      content after AIS surgery. Analysis of disc volumetric changes according to the
      pelvic incidence suggests that these changes are under the influence of the
      sagittal spino-pelvic alignment. PI seems to play a key role in the homeostasis
      of the discs under fusion and should be taken into account for preoperative
      planning. The restoration of the lumbo-pelvic congruence may help to limit early
      degenerative changes in the free-motion segment discs after AIS surgery.
      Hydration content was less sensitive to surgery when PI was high, suggesting
      higher shear stress in the lower discs. Longer follow-up is required to confirm
      this hypothesis.

PMID- 25833204
TI  - Systematic review of observational studies reveals no association between low
      back pain and lumbar spondylolysis with or without isthmic spondylolisthesis.
AB  - PURPOSE: The hypothesis that spondylolysis (SL) and/or isthmic spondylolisthesis
      (IS) cause low back pain (LBP) is widely accepted representing surgical
      indication in symptomatic cases. If SL/IS cause LBP, individuals with these
      conditions should be more prone to LBP than those without SL/IS. Therefore, the
      goal of the study was to assess whether the published primary data demonstrate an
      association between SL/IS and LBP in the general adult population. METHODS:
      Systematic review of published observational studies to identify any association
      between SL/IS and LBP in adults. The methodological quality of the cohort and
      case-control studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. RESULTS:
      Fifteen studies met inclusion criteria (one cohort, seven case-control, seven
      cross-sectional). Neither the cohort study nor the two highest-quality case
      control studies detected an association between SL/IS and LBP; the same is true
      for the remaining studies. CONCLUSIONS: There is no strong or consistent
      association between SL/IS and LBP in epidemiological studies of the general adult
      population that would support a hypothesis of causation. It is possible that
      SL/IS coexist with LBP, and observed effects of surgery and other treatment
      modalities are primarily due to benign natural history and nonspecific treatment
      effects. We conclude that traditional surgical practice for the adult general
      population, in which SL/IS is assumed to be the cause of non-radicular LBP
      whenever the two coexist, should be reconsidered in light of epidemiological data
      accumulated in recent decades.

PMID- 25833206
TI  - [Atopic dermatitis in children. New aspects].
AB  - Atopic dermatitis in childhood is controlled by adaequate topical treatment in
      the majority of cases. Severe manifestations, recurrent superinfections,
      associated food allergy and psychosocial aspects of a chronic disease in
      childhood need special consideration. Furthermore, prevention is an important
      issue in this age group. The following article focuses on new aspects with
      repercussions on the management of childhood atopic dermatitis and possible
      implications for the future. 

PMID- 25833205
TI  - Molecular detection of hepatitis E virus in sheep from southern Xinjiang, China.
AB  - Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a causative agent of infectious hepatitis in animals
      and humans both in developing and developed countries. Here, we collected 500
      sheep sera and 75 raw sheep liver samples from a slaughterhouse in the southern
      part of the Xinjiang region, China, along with 26 sera of butchers from the same
      slaughterhouse. All serum samples were tested for anti-HEV antibody by enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay. Both serum and liver samples were evaluated for the
      presence of HEV RNA by nested polymerase chain reaction targeting partial
      nucleotide sequences of open reading frame 2 (ORF2). The results indicate that
      sheep seroprevalence was 35.20 % (176/500) and that four of the 75 (5.3 %) sheep
      livers showed detectable amounts of HEV RNA. The seroprevalence of the butchers
      was 57.7 % (15/26). The four amplicons shared 97.8-100 % nucleotide sequence
      identity and had pairwise sequence identities of 81.6-85.3 %, 84.2-85.3 %, 82.1
      85.3 % and 84.7-97.9 % with the corresponding regions of genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4
      of HEV, respectively. A phylogenetic tree was constructed based on alignments of
      an amplified 186-bp ORF2 sequence and corresponding reference strains. The
      analysis showed that the four sheep strains detected in our study formed a
      lineage within a genotype 4 cluster that contains hb-3, bjsw1, T1, swCH189 and
      swCH25, all of which belong to genotype 4, subtype 4d. The results indicated a
      high level of seroconversion in sheep and suggested that sheep liver may be a
      source of foodborne HEV infection in humans.

PMID- 25833207
TI  - Developing preceptorship through action research: part 2.
AB  - Clinical preception in practice plays a significant role in the education of both
      Registered Nurses and practical nurses. This study presents the evaluation of an
      interprofessional research and development project (2009-2103) on clinical
      preceptorship between two universities of applied sciences, two vocational
      institutes and four healthcare organisations in western Finland. The research
      question was as follows: How did the participants evaluate the process and
      outcomes of developing preceptorship through an action-research approach? The
      primary target group consisted of professionals within the healthcare sector and
      nursing teachers at the universities of applied sciences and the vocational
      institutes. The five units represented in the healthcare organisations functioned
      as clinical practice placements for both nursing and practical nursing students,
      with Registered Nurses and practical nurses acting as their preceptors. Each unit
      developed a unique preceptorship model to answer their specific needs. The models
      were implemented and tested during one academic year followed by a quantitative
      (a 4-point scale) and qualitative evaluation of the process. The models are
      presented in another article, and the evaluation results are presented in this
      article. The evaluation showed that preceptorship has become an important and
      accepted part of work, including the practice of starting any preception at a
      unit with a thorough introduction. The project's emphasis on critical thinking,
      reflection and focus on ethics were valued by the staff. Pedagogical further
      education should be arranged on a regular basis to strengthen the knowledge base
      of the preceptors. Furthermore, enough time for preceptorship should be
      allocated, as it is a pedagogical duty. The implication of this project is that
      more cooperation between different stake holders is needed, in order to narrow
      the gap between theory and praxis. 

PMID- 25833208
TI  - CRLX101, an investigational camptothecin-containing nanoparticle-drug conjugate,
      targets cancer stem cells and impedes resistance to antiangiogenic therapy in
      mouse models of breast cancer.
AB  - Antiangiogenic therapies inhibit the development of new tumor blood vessels,
      thereby blocking tumor growth. Despite the advances in developing antiangiogenic
      agents, clinical data indicate that these drugs have limited efficacy in breast
      cancer patients. Tumors inevitably develop resistance to antiangiogenics, which
      is attributed in part to the induction of intra-tumoral hypoxia and stabilization
      of hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1alpha), a transcription factor that
      promotes tumor angiogenesis, invasion, metastasis, and cancer stem cell (CSC)
      self-renewal. Here, we tested whether inhibiting HIF-1alpha can reverse the
      stimulatory effects of antiangiogenic-induced hypoxia on breast CSCs. Breast
      cancer cells grown under hypoxic conditions were treated with the dual
      topoisomerase-1 (TOPO-1) and HIF-1alpha inhibitor camptothecin and assessed for
      their CSC content. In a preclinical model of breast cancer, treatment with
      bevacizumab was compared to the combination treatment of bevacizumab with
      CRLX101, an investigational nanoparticle-drug conjugate with a camptothecin
      payload or CRLX101 monotherapy. While exposure to hypoxia increased the number of
      breast CSCs, treatment with CPT blocked this effect. In preclinical mouse models,
      concurrent administration of CRLX101 impeded the induction of both HIF-1alpha and
      CSCs in breast tumors induced by bevacizumab treatment. Greater tumor regression
      and delayed tumor recurrence were observed with the combination of these agents
      compared to bevacizumab alone. Tumor reimplantation experiments demonstrated that
      the combination therapy effectively targets the CSC populations. The results from
      these studies support the combined administration of dual TOPO-1- and HIF-1alpha
      targeted agents like CRLX101 with antiangiogenic agents to increase the efficacy
      of these treatments.

PMID- 25833209
TI  - Prognostic associations of 25 hydroxy vitamin D in NCIC CTG MA.21, a phase III
      adjuvant randomized clinical trial of three chemotherapy regimens in high-risk
      breast cancer.
AB  - Low vitamin D levels have been associated with poor breast cancer outcomes in
      observational studies. We examined the association of vitamin D blood levels with
      relapse-free survival (RFS), breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS), and overall
      survival (OS) in the MA.21 randomized clinical trial. Fasting blood was collected
      pre-chemotherapy in 934/2104 (44.4 %) of subjects; 25 hydroxy vitamin D was
      measured (radioimmunoassay, Diasorin) in one batch. Vitamin D was assessed as a
      transformed continuous factor, and categorically (quartiles and clinical
      classifications). Univariate and multivariate prognostic analyses (adjusted for
      treatment, stratification factors, and baseline imbalances) were performed using
      Cox models. Most patients were young (median 47.8 years), white (91.6 %) and
      premenopausal (69.4 %) with grade III (52 %), HER2 negative or missing (89.5 %),
      ER positive (61.9 %), T1-2 (89.4 %), N + (72.7 %) breast cancer. Compared to the
      full population, those with vitamin D levels were more likely to be white, PS 1
      or 2, to have undergone mastectomy, and to have an ER + tumor. Mean vitamin D was
      69.7 nmol/L (27.9 ng/ml) and did not vary by tumor subtype. The majority (80.5 %)
      had levels >50 nmol/L (20 ng/ml), considered adequate by Institute of Medicine.
      Continuous vitamin D was not multivariately associated with RFS, BCSS, or OS (p =
      0.36, 0.26, 0.33, respectively); categorical vitamin D was also not associated
      with outcome. Vitamin D associations with RFS did not differ within ER/HER2
      subgroups. There was no evidence that vitamin D blood level was associated with
      RFS, BCSS, and OS in MA.21; the majority of subjects had adequate vitamin D
      levels at study entry.

PMID- 25833210
TI  - Two PALB2 germline mutations found in both BRCA1+ and BRCAx familial breast
      cancer.
AB  - Partner and localizer of BRCA2 (PALB2), plays an important functional role in DNA
      damage repair. Recent studies indicate that germline mutations in PALB2
      predispose individuals to a high risk of developing familial breast cancer.
      Therefore, comprehensive identification of PALB2 germline mutations is
      potentially important for understanding their roles in tumorigenesis and for
      testing their potential utility as clinical targets. Most of the previous studies
      of PALB2 have focused on familial breast cancer cases with normal/wild-type BRCA1
      and BRCA2 (BRCAx). We hypothesize that PALB2 genetic mutations also exist in
      individuals with BRCA mutations (BRCA+). To test this hypothesis, PALB2 germline
      mutations were screened in 107 exome data sets collected from familial breast
      cancer families who were either BRCA1+ or BRCAx. Two novel heterozygous mutations
      predicted to alter the function of PALB2 were identified (c.2014G>C, p.E672Q and
      c.2993G>A, p.G998E). Notably, both of these mutations co-existed in BRCA1+ and
      BRCA1x families. These studies show that mutations in PALB2 can occur independent
      of the status of BRCA1 mutations, and they highlight the importance to include
      BRCA1+ families in PALB2 mutation screens. 

PMID- 25833212
TI  - Erratum to: recurrent mutation testing of BRCA1 and BRCA2 in Asian breast cancer
      patients identify carriers in those with presumed low risk by family history.

PMID- 25833211
TI  - PARP1 and phospho-p65 protein expression is increased in human HER2-positive
      breast cancers.
AB  - Previous studies have shown that basal breast cancers, which may have an inherent
      "BRCAness" phenotype and sensitivity to inhibitors of poly (ADP-Ribose)
      polymerase (PARP), express elevated levels of PARP1. Our lab recently reported
      that HER2+ breast cancers also exhibit sensitivity to PARP inhibitors (PARPi) by
      attenuating the NF-kappaB pathway. In this study, we assessed PARP1 and phospho
      p65, a marker of activated NF-kappaB levels in human breast cancer tissues. PARP1
      and PARP2 copy number, mRNA, and protein expression was assessed by interrogating
      the PAM-50 defined breast cancer patient set from the TCGA using cBioPortal.
      PARP1 and phospho-p65 immunohistochemistry and correlation to clinical parameters
      was conducted using 307 primary breast cancer specimens (132 basal, 82 luminal,
      93 HER2+) through univariate and multivariate analyses. In the PAM50 breast
      cancer data set, PARP1 and 2 expression was altered in 24/58 (41 %) HER2+, 32/81
      (40 %) basal, and 75/324 (23 %) luminal A/B breast cancer patients. This
      correlated with a statistically significant increase in PARP1 protein levels in
      HER2+ and basal but not luminal breast cancers (p = 0.003, p = 0.027, p = 0.289,
      respectively). No change in PARP2 protein level was observed. Interestingly,
      using breast cancer specimens from 307 patients, HER2 positivity correlated with
      elevated PARP1 expression (p < 0.0001) and was three times more likely than HER2
      negative breast cancers to exhibit high PARP1 levels. No significant differences
      were noted between race, ER status, or PR status for PARP1 expression.
      Additionally, we found a significant correlation between HER2 status and phospho
      p65 expression (p < 0.0001). Lastly, a direct correlation between PARP1 and
      phospho-p65 (p < 0.0001) was noted. These results indicate a potential connection
      between HER2, PARP1, and phospho-p65. Furthermore, these data suggest that the
      PARPi sensitivity we previously observed in HER2+ breast cancer cells may be due
      to elevated PARP1 expression.

PMID- 25833214
TI  - Immunotherapy: A triple blow for cancer.

PMID- 25833213
TI  - Quantum dots-based tissue and in vivo imaging in breast cancer researches:
      current status and future perspectives.
AB  - As the most common malignant tumor for females, breast cancer (BC) is a highly
      heterogeneous disease regarding biological behaviors. Precisely targeted imaging
      on BC masses and biomarkers is critical to BC detection, treatment, monitoring,
      and prognostic evaluation. As an important imaging technique, quantum dots (QDs)
      based imaging has emerged as a promising tool in BC researches owe to its
      outstanding optical properties. However, few reviews have been specifically
      devoted to discussing applications of QDs-based imaging in BC researches. This
      review summarized recent promising works in QDs-based tissue and in vivo imaging
      for BC studies. Physicochemical and optical properties of QDs and its potential
      applications were briefly described first. Then QDs-based imaging studies in BC
      were systematically reviewed, including tissue imaging for studying biomarkers
      interactions, and evaluating prognostic biomarkers, in vivo imaging for mapping
      axillary lymphatic system, showing BC xenograft tumor, and detecting BC
      metastases. At last, the future perspectives with special emphasis on the
      potential clinical applications have also been discussed. Potential applications
      of QDs-based imaging on clinical BC in the future are mainly focused on tissue
      study, especially in BC molecular pathology due to its optimal optical properties
      and quantitative information capabilities on multiple biomarkers. 

PMID- 25833215
TI  - Immunotherapy: Primed for a response.

PMID- 25833216
TI  - Alkaloid venom weaponry of three Megalomyrmex thief ants and the behavioral
      response of Cyphomyrmex costatus host ants.
AB  - Social parasites exploit other societies by invading and stealing resources. Some
      enter protected nests using offensive chemical weaponry made from alkaloid-based
      venom. We characterized the venoms of three Megalomyrmex thief ant species (M.
      mondabora, M. mondaboroides, and M. silvestrii) that parasitize the fungus
      growing ants, and developed an ethogram to describe host ant reactions to raiding
      M. mondaboroides and M. silvestrii parasites. We compared piperidine,
      pyrrolidine, and pyrolizidine venom alkaloid structures with synthetic samples
      from previous studies, and describe the novel stereochemistry of trans 2-hexyl-5
      [8-oxononyl]-pyrrolidine (3) from M. mondabora. We showed that workers of
      Cyphomyrmex costatus, the host of M. mondaboroides and M. silvestrii, react to a
      sting by Megalomyrmex parasites mainly with submissive behavior, playing dead or
      retreating. Host submission also followed brief antennal contact. The behavior of
      C. costatus ants observed in this study was similar to that of Cyphomyrmex
      cornutus, host of M. mondabora, suggesting that the alkaloidal venoms with
      pyrrolidines from M. mondabora, piperidines from M. mondaboroides, and
      pyrolizidines from M. silvestrii may function similarly as appeasement and
      repellent allomones against host ants, despite their different chemical
      structure. With the use of these chemical weapons, the Megalomyrmex thief ants
      are met with little host resistance and easily exploit host colony resources.

PMID- 25833217
TI  - Floral volatiles in a sapromyiophilous plant and their importance in attracting
      house fly pollinators.
AB  - Floral scent in sapromyiophilous plants often consists of complex blends with not
      only fetid (e.g., sulfides) but also sweet (e.g., terpenoids) volatile organic
      compounds, and a recent study suggests that both groups of compounds are involved
      in pollinator attraction. However, little is known about the number and identity
      of compounds involved in pollinator attraction in these deceptive plants that
      mimic breeding sites of fly pollinators. In the present paper, we studied flower
      volatiles of sapromyiophilous Periploca laevigata and their capability to elicit
      biological responses in one of the pollinator species, Musca domestica. Floral
      volatiles were collected by dynamic headspace and analyzed by gas
      chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and electrophysiological (GC/EAD) and
      behavioral assays (two choice olfactometer) were conducted. In the floral scent
      of P. laevigata, we detected 44 compounds, of which indole, beta-caryophyllene,
      and germacrene D, as well as dimethyl trisulfide, which was present in trace
      amounts, were electrophysiologically active in the antennae of M. domestica.
      However, when we evaluated in behavioral experiments the attractiveness of the
      electrophysiologically active compounds (complete mixture against partial
      mixtures or against single compounds), we found that indole was the only
      attractive compound for the flies.

PMID- 25833218
TI  - Flattened tumor requires a more careful attention for residual distal cancer
      spread in locally advanced lower rectal carcinoma after chemoradiotherapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Limited data are available on distal resection margin (DRM) for
      lower rectal cancer (LRC) after preoperative chemoradiotherapy (pre-CRT); thus,
      we aimed to establish the criteria for DRMs as estimated by the macroscopic tumor
      appearance. METHODS: This was a pathological study using whole-mount sections
      that included the entire circumference of tumor. Residual cancer spread located
      most distally from the macroscopic tumor border was mainly evaluated. RESULTS: A
      retrospective cohort of 42 consecutive patients with locally advanced LRC after
      pre-CRT was enrolled, and 38 patients were eligible for this study. According to
      the macroscopic tumor appearance, 18 patients had raised-type and 20 had
      flattened-type tumors. Patients with flattened-type tumors were closely
      associated with histopathological regression grade. Residual distal cancer spread
      (RDCS) was located <=4.0 mm (median, 0.1 mm) in the raised-type tumors and <=17.1
      mm (median, 4.2 mm) in the flattened-type tumors. RDCS in flattened-type tumors
      was distributed diffusely and distally from the tumor border (p = 0.022).
      CONCLUSION: Even in patients evaluated as pre-CRT responders, flattened tumors
      often accompanied distally located residual cancer that had spread from the tumor
      border and require more careful attention in order to ensure cancer clearance.

PMID- 25833220
TI  - Glutathione Depletion Induces Spermatogonial Cell Autophagy.
AB  - The development and survival of male germ cells depend on the antioxidant
      capacity of the seminiferous tubule. Glutathione (GSH) plays an important role in
      the antioxidant defenses of the spermatogenic epithelium. Autophagy can act as a
      pro-survival response during oxidative stress or nutrient deficiency. In this
      work, we evaluated whether autophagy is involved in spermatogonia-type germ cell
      survival during severe GSH deficiency. We showed that the disruption of GSH
      metabolism with l-buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine (BSO) decreased reduced (GSH),
      oxidized (GSSG) glutathione content, and GSH/GSSG ratio in germ cells, without
      altering reactive oxygen species production and cell viability, evaluated by
      2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein (DCF) fluorescence and exclusion of propidium
      iodide assays, respectively. Autophagy was assessed by processing the endogenous
      protein LC3I and observing its sub-cellular distribution. Immunoblot and
      immunofluorescence analysis showed a consistent increase in LC3II and
      accumulation of autophagic vesicles under GSH-depletion conditions. This
      condition did not show changes in the level of phosphorylation of AMP-activated
      protein kinase (AMPK) or the ATP content. A loss in S-glutathionylated protein
      pattern was also observed. However, inhibition of autophagy resulted in decreased
      ATP content and increased caspase-3/7 activity in GSH-depleted germ cells. These
      findings suggest that GSH deficiency triggers an AMPK-independent induction of
      autophagy in germ cells as an adaptive stress response.

PMID- 25833221
TI  - Corrigendum: Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and the Amazon
      forest carbon balance.

PMID- 25833222
TI  - Microscale Crystals of Cytochrome c and Calixarene on Electrodes: Interprotein
      Electron Transfer between Defined Sites.
AB  - The assembly of redox proteins on electrodes is an important step in biosensor
      development. Recently, p-sulfonato-calix[4]arene was shown to act as "molecular
      glue" for the assembly and crystallization of cytochrome c (cyt c).
      Electrochemical data are presented for microscale cyt c-calixarene crystals grown
      on self-assembled monolayers (SAM)-modified Au electrodes. The crystals were
      characterized by cyclic voltammetry and exceptionally high concentrations of
      electroactive cyt c were obtained. The peak currents were found to increase
      linearly with the square root of the scan rate, thus allowing an evaluation of
      the rate constant for electron self-exchange. This study revealed high
      electroactivity accompanied by fast interprotein electron transfer in crystals,
      which may have implications for the construction of novel bioelectronic devices. 

PMID- 25833223
TI  - Wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) remember single foraging episodes.
AB  - Understanding animal episodic-like memory is important for tracing the evolution
      of the human mind. However, our knowledge about the existence and nature of
      episodic-like memory in non-human primates is minimal. We observed the behaviour
      of a wild male chacma baboon faced with a trade-off between protecting his
      stationary group from aggressive extra-group males and foraging among five out-of
      sight platforms. These contained high-priority food at a time of natural food
      shortage. In 10 morning and eight evening trials, the male spontaneously visited
      the platforms in five and four different sequences, respectively. In addition, he
      interrupted foraging sequences at virtually any point on eight occasions,
      returning to the group for up to 2 h. He then visited some or all of the
      remaining platforms and prevented revisits to already depleted ones, apparently
      based on his memory for the previous foraging episode about food value, location,
      and time. Efficient use of memory allowed him to keep minimal time absent from
      his group while keeping food intake high. These findings support the idea that
      episodic-like memory offers an all-purpose solution to a wide variety of problems
      that require flexible, quick, yet precise decisions in situations arising from
      competition for food and mates in wild primates. 

PMID- 25833219
TI  - Opioid-induced central immune signaling: implications for opioid analgesia.
AB  - Despite being the mainstay of pain management, opioids are limited in their
      clinical utility by adverse effects, such as tolerance and paradoxical
      hyperalgesia. Research of the past 15 years has extended beyond neurons, to
      implicate central nervous system immune signaling in these adverse effects. This
      article will provide an overview of these central immune mechanisms in opioid
      tolerance and paradoxical hyperalgesia, including those mediated by Toll-like
      receptor 4, purinergic, ceramide, and chemokine signaling. Challenges for the
      future, as well as new lines of investigation will be highlighted. 

PMID- 25833225
TI  - Dynamic effects in friction and adhesion through cooperative rupture and
      formation of supramolecular bonds.
AB  - We introduce a molecular toolkit for studying the dynamics in friction and
      adhesion from the single molecule level to effects of multivalency. As
      experimental model system we use supramolecular bonds established by the
      inclusion of ditopic adamantane connector molecules into two surface-bound
      cyclodextrin molecules, attached to a tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM) and
      to a flat silicon surface. The rupture force of a single bond does not depend on
      the pulling rate, indicating that the fast complexation kinetics of adamantane
      and cyclodextrin are probed in thermal equilibrium. In contrast, the pull-off
      force for a group of supramolecular bonds depends on the unloading rate revealing
      a non-equilibrium situation, an effect discussed as the combined action of
      multivalency and cantilever inertia effects. Friction forces exhibit a stick-slip
      characteristic which is explained by the cooperative rupture of groups of host
      guest bonds and their rebinding. No dependence of friction on the sliding
      velocity has been observed in the accessible range of velocities due to fast
      rebinding and the negligible delay of cantilever response in AFM lateral force
      measurements. 

PMID- 25833224
TI  - Simplified protocol for flow cytometry analysis of fluorescently labeled exosomes
      and microvesicles using dedicated flow cytometer.
AB  - Flow cytometry is a powerful method, which is widely used for high-throughput
      quantitative and qualitative analysis of cells. However, its straightforward
      applicability for extracellular vesicles (EVs) and mainly exosomes is hampered by
      several challenges, reflecting mostly the small size of these vesicles (exosomes:
      ~80-200 nm, microvesicles: ~200-1,000 nm), their polydispersity, and low
      refractive index. The current best and most widely used protocol for beads-free
      flow cytometry of exosomes uses ultracentrifugation (UC) coupled with floatation
      in sucrose gradient for their isolation, labeling with lipophilic dye PKH67 and
      antibodies, and an optimized version of commercial high-end cytometer for
      analysis. However, this approach requires an experienced flow cytometer operator
      capable of manual hardware adjustments and calibration of the cytometer. Here, we
      provide a novel and fast approach for quantification and characterization of both
      exosomes and microvesicles isolated from cell culture media as well as from more
      complex human samples (ascites of ovarian cancer patients) suitable for multiuser
      labs by using a flow cytometer especially designed for small particles, which can
      be used without adjustments prior to data acquisition. EVs can be fluorescently
      labeled with protein-(Carboxyfluoresceinsuccinimidyl ester, CFSE) and/or lipid-
      (FM) specific dyes, without the necessity of removing the unbound fluorescent dye
      by UC, which further facilitates and speeds up the characterization of
      microvesicles and exosomes using flow cytometry. In addition, double labeling
      with protein- and lipid-specific dyes enables separation of EVs from common
      contaminants of EV preparations, such as protein aggregates or micelles formed by
      unbound lipophilic styryl dyes, thus not leading to overestimation of EV numbers.
      Moreover, our protocol is compatible with antibody labeling using fluorescently
      conjugated primary antibodies. The presented methodology opens the possibility
      for routine quantification and characterization of EVs from various sources.
      Finally, it has the potential to bring a desired level of control into routine
      experiments and non-specialized labs, thanks to its simple bead-based
      standardization. 

PMID- 25833226
TI  - Going mainstream: Online sharing of health data and test results with patients.

PMID- 25833227
TI  - Influence of dyadic matching of affect on infant self-regulation.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Affective behavioural matching during face-to-face interaction
      fosters the transition from mutual regulation to infant self-regulation. Optimum
      midrange models of mother-infant interaction hold that moderate degrees of dyadic
      matching facilitate infant socio-emotional development. The aim of this study was
      to examine which degree of dyadic matching is most beneficial for infant self
      regulation. METHODS: To evaluate this model, 3 groups of highly, midrange and
      poorly matched dyads were created from a mixed sample of 68 dyads with healthy
      and post-partum depressed mothers and their infants (age range = 1-8 months, mean
      age = 3.9 months). Mother-infant interactions were videotaped in the face-to-face
      still-face paradigm (FFSF) and micro-analytically coded. Specifically, the
      relation between affective behavioural matching in FFSF play and infant positive
      and negative affect in FFSF still face and FFSF reunion was explored. RESULTS:
      Contrary to our expectation, we found a monotonous trend for all groups: the more
      matching in FFSF play, the more positive and less negative affect the infant
      showed in FFSF still face and FFSF reunion, respectively. CONCLUSION: The present
      findings further illuminate the association between different degrees of dyadic
      matching in early mother-infant interaction and infant self-regulation. Further
      research should focus on the integration and replication of findings and
      conceptual approaches to further evaluate and refine the concept of midrange
      matching and make it applicable to therapeutic work with mothers and their
      infants.

PMID- 25833228
TI  - Correlation between measurement of IL-10 and IL-6 in paired aqueous humour and
      vitreous fluid in primary vitreoretinal lymphoma.

PMID- 25833229
TI  - Short Stature in KBG Syndrome: First Responses to Growth Hormone Treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: KBG syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by intellectual
      disability and associated with macrodontia of the upper central incisors,
      specific craniofacial findings, short stature and skeletal anomalies. Genetic
      corroboration of a clinical diagnosis has been possible since 2011, upon
      identification of heterozygous mutations in or a deletion of the ANKRD11 gene.
      METHODS: We summarized the height data of 14 adults and 18 children (age range 2
      16 years) with a genetically confirmed diagnosis of KBG syndrome. Two of these
      children were treated with growth hormones. RESULTS: Stature below the 3rd
      centile or -1.88 standard deviation score (SDS) was observed in 72% of KBG
      children and in 57% of KBG adults. Height below -2.50 SDS was observed in 62% of
      KBG children and in 36% of KBG adults. The mean SDS of height in KBG children was
      -2.56 and in KBG adults -2.17. Two KBG children on growth hormone therapy
      increased their height by 0.6 and 1 SDS within 1 year, respectively. The former
      also received a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist due to medical necessity.
      CONCLUSION: Short stature is prevalent in KBG syndrome, and spontaneous catch-up
      growth beyond childhood appears limited. Growth hormone intervention in short KBG
      children is perceived as promising.

PMID- 25833230
TI  - Randomized clinical trial of adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 versus gemcitabine
      after pancreatic cancer resection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Randomized studies of adjuvant chemotherapy using gemcitabine suggest
      a survival benefit after resection of pancreatic cancer. S-1 has also been shown
      to prolong survival in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer. This study
      compared the effects of adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 or gemcitabine after
      resection of pancreatic cancer in a randomized trial. METHODS: Patients who had
      undergone resection of pancreatic cancer were registered in this randomized
      clinical trial. The primary endpoint was disease-free survival (DFS). Expression
      levels of thymidylate synthase (TS) and dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD)
      mRNAs in cancer tissues were measured as indicators of fluoropyrimidine
      sensitivity. RESULTS: Of 57 patients registered, 29 were allocated to the S-1
      group and 28 to gemcitabine. DFS tended to be better with S-1 (median 14.6 (90
      per cent c.i. 8.8 to 28.4) months versus 10.5 (7.0 to 28.4) months in the
      gemcitabine group; P = 0.188), with a similar pattern for overall survival: 21.5
      (95 per cent c.i. 14.4 to 42.3) and 18.0 (13.3 to 42.8) months respectively (P =
      0.293). When patients were divided into subgroups based on high or low DPD and TS
      expression, those with a DPD level below the median of 0.88 or a TS level of at
      least 2.00 had a significant prolongation of DFS after S-1 treatment compared
      with gemcitabine (P = 0.008 and P = 0.035 respectively). CONCLUSION: Overall, S-1
      did not improve DFS compared with gemcitabine after pancreatic cancer resection,
      but there seemed to be a DFS advantage in patients with low expression of DPD or
      high expression of TS. Reference number: UMIN000009118
      (http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/).

PMID- 25833232
TI  - High IFN-gamma/IL-10 expression ratio and increased frequency of persistent human
      T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1-infected clones are associated with human T-cell
      lymphotropic virus type 1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis
      development.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a retrovirus
      that causes a persistent infection, and only 0.5-5% of infected individuals will
      develop HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP).
      Therefore, we investigated parameters to discriminate HTLV-1 asymptomatic
      carriers (ACs) with an increased chance to develop HAM/TSP. METHODS: We evaluated
      integration patterns of HTLV-1 provirus, the relative expression of HTLV-1 tax
      and HBZ mRNAs and of IFN-gamma and IL-10 mRNAs, in addition to proviral load
      (PVL) levels. RESULTS: HAM/TSP patients presented a higher number of large
      persistent HTLV-1-carrying clones compared to ACs, and the expression of the HTLV
      1 tax and HBZ genes by infected cells was detected at low levels and correlated
      positively with PVL. In addition, HAM/TSP patients and ACs with high PVL
      expressed higher levels of IFN-gamma mRNA in comparison to IL-10, while ACs with
      low PVL presented an equilibrate IFN-gamma/IL-10 ratio. CONCLUSIONS: The presence
      of large persistent HTLV-1-infected clones in association with viral gene
      expression, even at small levels, could stimulate the intense inflammatory
      response in HTLV-1-infected individuals. This was supported by a high ratio of
      IFN-gamma/IL-10 relative expression in HAM/TSP patients and ACs with high PVL,
      indicating that these parameters could aid the identification of ACs with a high
      risk to develop HAM/TSP.

PMID- 25833231
TI  - Nonequilibrium Conditions Explain Spatial Variability in Genetic Structuring of
      Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor).
AB  - Factors responsible for spatial structuring of population genetic variation are
      varied, and in many instances there may be no obvious explanations for genetic
      structuring observed, or those invoked may reflect spurious correlations. A study
      of little penguins (Eudyptula minor) in southeast Australia documented low
      spatial structuring of genetic variation with the exception of colonies at the
      western limit of sampling, and this distinction was attributed to an intervening
      oceanographic feature (Bonney Upwelling), differences in breeding phenology, or
      sea level change. Here, we conducted sampling across the entire Australian range,
      employing additional markers (12 microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA, 697
      individuals, 17 colonies). The zone of elevated genetic structuring previously
      observed actually represents the eastern half of a genetic cline, within which
      structuring exists over much shorter spatial scales than elsewhere. Colonies
      separated by as little as 27 km in the zone are genetically distinguishable,
      while outside the zone, homogeneity cannot be rejected at scales of up to 1400
      km. Given a lack of additional physical or environmental barriers to gene flow,
      the zone of elevated genetic structuring may reflect secondary contact of
      lineages (with or without selection against interbreeding), or recent
      colonization and expansion from this region. This study highlights the importance
      of sampling scale to reveal the cause of genetic structuring. 

PMID- 25833233
TI  - Metformin does not improve survival of cholangiocarcinoma patients with diabetes.

PMID- 25833234
TI  - Repertoires of autophagy in the pathogenesis of ocular diseases.
AB  - Autophagy is an important intracellular degradative process that delivers
      cytoplasmic proteins to lysosome for degradation. Dysfunction of autophagy is
      implicated in several human diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases,
      infectious diseases, and cancers. Autophagy-related proteins are constitutively
      expressed in the eye. Increasing studies have revealed that abnormal autophagy is
      an important pathological feature of several ocular diseases. Pharmacological
      manipulation of autophagy may provide an alternative therapeutic target for some
      ocular diseases. In this manuscript, we reviewed the relevant progress about the
      role of autophagy in the pathogenesis of ocular diseases.

PMID- 25833235
TI  - Successful use of high-frequency spinal cord stimulation following traditional
      treatment failure.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: High-frequency spinal cord stimulation (HFSCS) offers an
      alternative treatment for chronic refractory pain syndromes nonresponsive to
      traditional spinal cord stimulation (SCS). Following the conflicting findings of
      preliminary HFSCS clinical studies performed at 5-10 kHz, this study is the first
      to report successful clinical usage of 1-kHz frequency SCS with a standard
      generator. PATIENTS: We used HFSCS in 2 patients who had inadequate relief with
      traditional SCS. Patient 1 was initially programmed at 40 Hz and a pulse width of
      330 MUs with bipolar stimulation. After multiple setting adjustments with
      inadequate pain relief, the patient was reprogrammed to HFSCS at settings of 1.15
      kHz, 120 MUs, and 5 V. Patient 2 was initially programmed at a frequency of 1.2
      kHz and a pulse width of 120 MUs, which she favored over the standard setting of
      40 Hz and 390 MUs pulse width. HFSCS provided optimal pain alleviation and
      increased quality of life for both patients. CONCLUSIONS: HFSCS at the frequency
      of 1 kHz offers a new tool for treatment of chronic pain in patients with
      traditional stimulation settings. Furthermore, most standard SCS batteries are
      capable of delivering stimulation in this frequency range.

PMID- 25833236
TI  - Irinotecan induces cell cycle arrest, but not apoptosis or necrosis, in Caco-2
      and CW2 colorectal cancer cell lines.
AB  - Irinotecan, a topoisomerase I inhibitor, is clinically used as an anticancer
      drug. The present study investigated the anticancer effect of irinotecan on p53
      negative Caco-2 and p53-positive CW2 human colorectal cancer cell lines. Cell
      viability for both Caco-2 and CW2 cells was little affected by treatment with
      irinotecan at concentrations ranging from 0.3 to 30 MUmol/l for 24-48 h.
      Irinotecan did not increase the number of TUNEL-positive cells and did not affect
      the population of propidium iodide (PI)-positive and annexin V-negative cells,
      corresponding to primary necrosis, or that of PI-positive and annexin-positive
      cells, corresponding to late apoptosis/secondary necrosis, in either of the two
      cell lines. In the cell cycle analysis, irinotecan significantly increased the
      proportions at the S and G2/M phases of cell cycling in parallel with a decreased
      population at the G1 phase in both cell lines. Irinotecan significantly inhibited
      tumor growth in mice inoculated with CW2 cells. Taken together, these results
      indicate that irinotecan induces cell cycle arrest, but not apoptosis or
      necrosis, both in Caco-2 and CW2 cells, leading to suppression of cell
      proliferation.

PMID- 25833237
TI  - Towards causally cohesive genotype-phenotype modelling for characterization of
      the soft-tissue mechanics of the heart in normal and pathological geometries.
AB  - A scientific understanding of individual variation is key to personalized
      medicine, integrating genotypic and phenotypic information via computational
      physiology. Genetic effects are often context-dependent, differing between
      genetic backgrounds or physiological states such as disease. Here, we analyse in
      silico genotype-phenotype maps (GP map) for a soft-tissue mechanics model of the
      passive inflation phase of the heartbeat, contrasting the effects of
      microstructural and other low-level parameters assumed to be genetically
      influenced, under normal, concentrically hypertrophic and eccentrically
      hypertrophic geometries. For a large number of parameter scenarios, representing
      mock genetic variation in low-level parameters, we computed phenotypes describing
      the deformation of the heart during inflation. The GP map was characterized by
      variance decompositions for each phenotype with respect to each parameter. As
      hypothesized, the concentric geometry allowed more low-level parameters to
      contribute to variation in shape phenotypes. In addition, the relative importance
      of overall stiffness and fibre stiffness differed between geometries. Otherwise,
      the GP map was largely similar for the different heart geometries, with little
      genetic interaction between the parameters included in this study. We argue that
      personalized medicine can benefit from a combination of causally cohesive
      genotype-phenotype modelling, and strategic phenotyping that captures effect
      modifiers not explicitly included in the mechanistic model.

PMID- 25833238
TI  - A wrinkle in flight: the role of elastin fibres in the mechanical behaviour of
      bat wing membranes.
AB  - Bats fly using a thin wing membrane composed of compliant, anisotropic skin. Wing
      membrane skin deforms dramatically as bats fly, and its three-dimensional
      configurations depend, in large part, on the mechanical behaviour of the tissue.
      Large, macroscopic elastin fibres are an unusual mechanical element found in the
      skin of bat wings. We characterize the fibre orientation and demonstrate that
      elastin fibres are responsible for the distinctive wrinkles in the surrounding
      membrane matrix. Uniaxial mechanical testing of the wing membrane, both parallel
      and perpendicular to elastin fibres, is used to distinguish the contribution of
      elastin and the surrounding matrix to the overall membrane mechanical behaviour.
      We find that the matrix is isotropic within the plane of the membrane and
      responsible for bearing load at high stress; elastin fibres are responsible for
      membrane anisotropy and only contribute substantially to load bearing at very low
      stress. The architecture of elastin fibres provides the extreme extensibility and
      self-folding/self-packing of the wing membrane skin. We relate these findings to
      flight with membrane wings and discuss the aeromechanical significance of elastin
      fibre pre-stress, membrane excess length, and how these parameters may aid bats
      in resisting gusts and preventing membrane flutter.

PMID- 25833239
TI  - Optimal control strategies of eradicating invisible glioblastoma cells after
      conventional surgery.
AB  - Glioblastoma, the most aggressive type of brain cancer, has median survival time
      of 1 year after diagnosis. It is characterized by alternating modes of rapid
      proliferation and aggressive invasion in response to metabolic stress in the
      microenvironment. A particular microRNA, miR-451, and its downstream signalling
      molecules, AMPK complex, are known to be key determinants in switching cell fate.
      These components form a core control system determining a balance between cell
      growth and migration which is regulated by fluctuating glucose levels in the
      microenvironment. An important factor from the treatment point of view is that
      low levels of glucose affect metabolism and activate cell migration through the
      miR-451-AMPK control system, creating 'invisible' migratory cells and making them
      inaccessible by conventional surgery. In this work, we apply optimal control
      theory to deal with the problem of maintaining upregulated miR-451 levels that
      prevent cell infiltration to surrounding brain tissue and thus induce
      localization of these cancer cells at the surgical site. The model also considers
      the effect of a drug that blocks inhibitive pathways of miR-451 from AMPK
      complex. Glucose infusion control and drug infusion control are chosen to
      represent dose rates of glucose and drug intravenous administrations,
      respectively. The characteristics of optimal control lead us to investigate the
      structure of optimal intravenous infusion regimen under various circumstances and
      predict best clinical outcomes with minimum expense possible. 

PMID- 25833240
TI  - Accuracy of the Michaelis-Menten approximation when analysing effects of
      molecular noise.
AB  - Quantitative biology relies on the construction of accurate mathematical models,
      yet the effectiveness of these models is often predicated on making simplifying
      approximations that allow for direct comparisons with available experimental
      data. The Michaelis-Menten (MM) approximation is widely used in both
      deterministic and discrete stochastic models of intracellular reaction networks,
      owing to the ubiquity of enzymatic activity in cellular processes and the clear
      biochemical interpretation of its parameters. However, it is not well understood
      how the approximation applies to the discrete stochastic case or how it extends
      to spatially inhomogeneous systems. We study the behaviour of the discrete
      stochastic MM approximation as a function of system size and show that
      significant errors can occur for small volumes, in comparison with a
      corresponding mass-action system. We then explore some consequences of these
      results for quantitative modelling. One consequence is that fluctuation-induced
      sensitivity, or stochastic focusing, can become highly exaggerated in models that
      make use of MM kinetics even if the approximations are excellent in a
      deterministic model. Another consequence is that spatial stochastic simulations
      based on the reaction-diffusion master equation can become highly inaccurate if
      the model contains MM terms.

PMID- 25833241
TI  - Experimental evolution gone wild.
AB  - Because of their large population sizes and rapid cell division rates, marine
      microbes have, or can generate, ample variation to fuel evolution over a few
      weeks or months, and subsequently have the potential to evolve in response to
      global change. Here we measure evolution in the marine diatom Skeletonema marinoi
      evolved in a natural plankton community in CO2-enriched mesocosms deployed in
      situ. Mesocosm enclosures are typically used to study how the species composition
      and biogeochemistry of marine communities respond to environmental shifts, but
      have not been used for experimental evolution to date. Using this approach, we
      detect a large evolutionary response to CO2 enrichment in a focal marine diatom,
      where population growth rate increased by 1.3-fold in high CO2-evolved lineages.
      This study opens an exciting new possibility of carrying out in situ evolution
      experiments to understand how marine microbial communities evolve in response to
      environmental change. 

PMID- 25833242
TI  - Coastal foredune evolution: the relative influence of vegetation and sand supply
      in the US Pacific Northwest.
AB  - Biophysical feedbacks between vegetation and sediment are important for forming
      and modifying landscape features and their ecosystem services. These feedbacks
      are especially important where landscape features differ in their provision of
      ecosystem services. For example, the shape of coastal foredunes, a product of
      both physical and biological forces, determines their ability to protect
      communities from rising seas and changing patterns of storminess. Here we
      assessed how sand supply and changes in vegetation over interannual (3 year) and
      decadal (21 year) scales influenced foredune shape along 100 km of coastline in
      the US Pacific Northwest. Across 21 years, vegetation switched from one
      congeneric non-native beachgrass to another (Ammophila arenaria to A.
      breviligulata) while sand supply rates were positive. At interannual timescales,
      sand supply rates explained the majority of change in foredune height (64-69%)
      and width (56-80%). However, at decadal scales, change in vegetation explained
      the majority of the change in foredune width (62-68%), whereas sand supply rates
      explained most of the change in foredune height (88-90%). In areas with lower
      shoreline change rates (+/-2 m yr(-1)), the change in vegetation explained the
      majority of decadal changes in foredune width (56-57%) and height (59-76%).
      Foredune shape directly impacts coastal protection, thus our findings are
      pertinent to coastal management given pressures of development and climate
      change.

PMID- 25833243
TI  - The entropic basis of collective behaviour.
AB  - We identify a unique viewpoint on the collective behaviour of intelligent agents.
      We first develop a highly general abstract model for the possible future lives
      these agents may encounter as a result of their decisions. In the context of
      these possibilities, we show that the causal entropic principle, whereby agents
      follow behavioural rules that maximize their entropy over all paths through the
      future, predicts many of the observed features of social interactions among both
      human and animal groups. Our results indicate that agents are often able to
      maximize their future path entropy by remaining cohesive as a group and that this
      cohesion leads to collectively intelligent outcomes that depend strongly on the
      distribution of the number of possible future paths. We derive social interaction
      rules that are consistent with maximum entropy group behaviour for both discrete
      and continuous decision spaces. Our analysis further predicts that social
      interactions are likely to be fundamentally based on Weber's law of response to
      proportional stimuli, supporting many studies that find a neurological basis for
      this stimulus-response mechanism and providing a novel basis for the common
      assumption of linearly additive 'social forces' in simulation studies of
      collective behaviour.

PMID- 25833245
TI  - Obstacle avoidance in social groups: new insights from asynchronous models.
AB  - For moving animals, the successful avoidance of hazardous obstacles is an
      important capability. Despite this, few models of collective motion have
      addressed the relationship between behavioural and social features and obstacle
      avoidance. We develop an asynchronous individual-based model for social movement
      which allows social structure within groups to be included. We assess the
      dynamics of group navigation and resulting collision risk in the context of
      information transfer through the system. In agreement with previous work, we find
      that group size has a nonlinear effect on collision risk. We implement examples
      of possible network structures to explore the impact social preferences have on
      collision risk. We show that any social heterogeneity induces greater obstacle
      avoidance with further improvements corresponding to groups containing fewer
      influential individuals. The model provides a platform for both further
      theoretical investigation and practical application. In particular, we argue that
      the role of social structures within bird flocks may have an important role to
      play in assessing the risk of collisions with wind turbines, but that new methods
      of data analysis are needed to identify these social structures.

PMID- 25833244
TI  - A century of transitions in New York City's measles dynamics.
AB  - Infectious diseases spreading in a human population occasionally exhibit sudden
      transitions in their qualitative dynamics. Previous work has successfully
      predicted such transitions in New York City's historical measles incidence using
      the seasonally forced susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) model. This work
      relied on a dataset spanning 45 years (1928-1973), which we have extended to 93
      years (1891-1984). We identify additional dynamical transitions in the longer
      dataset and successfully explain them by analysing attractors and transients of
      the same mechanistic epidemiological model. 

PMID- 25833246
TI  - Chloroform alters interleaflet coupling in lipid bilayers: an entropic mechanism.
AB  - The interaction of the two leaflets of the plasmatic cell membrane is conjectured
      to play an important role in many cell processes. Experimental and computational
      studies have investigated the mechanisms that modulate the interaction between
      the two membrane leaflets. Here, by means of coarse-grained molecular dynamics
      simulations, we show that the addition of a small and polar compound such as
      chloroform alters interleaflet coupling by promoting domain registration. This is
      interpreted in terms of an entropic gain that would favour frequent chloroform
      commuting between the two leaflets. The implication of this effect is discussed
      in relation to the general anaesthetic action. 

PMID- 25833247
TI  - The mortality of companies.
AB  - The firm is a fundamental economic unit of contemporary human societies. Studies
      on the general quantitative and statistical character of firms have produced
      mixed results regarding their lifespans and mortality. We examine a comprehensive
      database of more than 25 000 publicly traded North American companies, from 1950
      to 2009, to derive the statistics of firm lifespans. Based on detailed survival
      analysis, we show that the mortality of publicly traded companies manifests an
      approximately constant hazard rate over long periods of observation. This
      regularity indicates that mortality rates are independent of a company's age. We
      show that the typical half-life of a publicly traded company is about a decade,
      regardless of business sector. Our results shed new light on the dynamics of
      births and deaths of publicly traded companies and identify some of the necessary
      ingredients of a general theory of firms. 

PMID- 25833248
TI  - Analysis of unstable modes distinguishes mathematical models of flagellar motion.
AB  - The mechanisms underlying the coordinated beating of cilia and flagella remain
      incompletely understood despite the fundamental importance of these organelles.
      The axoneme (the cytoskeletal structure of cilia and flagella) consists of
      microtubule doublets connected by passive and active elements. The motor protein
      dynein is known to drive active bending, but dynein activity must be regulated to
      generate oscillatory, propulsive waveforms. Mathematical models of flagellar
      motion generate quantitative predictions that can be analysed to test hypotheses
      concerning dynein regulation. One approach has been to seek periodic solutions to
      the linearized equations of motion. However, models may simultaneously exhibit
      both periodic and unstable modes. Here, we investigate the emergence and
      coexistence of unstable and periodic modes in three mathematical models of
      flagellar motion, each based on a different dynein regulation hypothesis: (i)
      sliding control; (ii) curvature control and (iii) control by interdoublet
      separation (the 'geometric clutch' (GC)). The unstable modes predicted by each
      model are used to critically evaluate the underlying hypothesis. In particular,
      models of flagella with 'sliding-controlled' dynein activity admit unstable modes
      with non-propulsive, retrograde (tip-to-base) propagation, sometimes at the same
      parameter values that lead to periodic, propulsive modes. In the presence of
      these retrograde unstable modes, stable or periodic modes have little influence.
      In contrast, unstable modes of the GC model exhibit switching at the base and
      propulsive base-to-tip propagation. 

PMID- 25833249
TI  - Regional ejection fraction and regional area strain for left ventricular function
      assessment in male patients after first-time myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25833250
TI  - Overexpression of HIF-2alpha in pancreatic beta cells does not alter glucose
      homeostasis.
AB  - Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are associated with insufficient functional beta
      cell mass. Understanding intracellular signaling pathways associated with this
      decline is important in broadening our understanding of the disease and potential
      therapeutic strategies. The hypoxia inducible factor pathway (HIF) plays a
      critical role in cellular adaptation to hypoxic conditions. Activation of this
      pathway increases expression of numerous genes involved in multiple cellular
      processes and has been shown to impact the regulation of beta-cell function.
      Previously, deletion of HIF-1alpha or HIF-1beta in pancreatic beta-cells, as well
      as constitutive activation of the HIF pathway in beta-cells, was shown to result
      in glucose intolerance and impaired insulin secretion. The objective of this
      study was to delineate roles of HIF-2alpha overexpression in pancreatic beta
      cells in vivo. We overexpressed HIF-2alpha in pancreatic beta-cells by employing
      the Cre-loxP system driven by the Pdx1 promoter to delete a stop codon. Our study
      revealed that pancreatic HIF-2alpha overexpression does not result in significant
      differences in glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity or beta-cell area compared
      to wild-type littermates under basal conditions or after high fat diet. Together,
      our study shows excess HIF-2alpha in the pancreatic beta-cells does not play a
      significant role in beta-cell function and glucose homeostasis. 

PMID- 25833251
TI  - Effects of activin A on survival, function and gene expression of pancreatic
      islets from non-diabetic and diabetic human donors.
AB  - Emerging evidence suggests that activin with its associated receptors, second
      messengers, and antagonists would be excellent targets for therapeutic drug
      development in the treatment of diabetes. We undertook the current study to
      investigate the ability to extrapolate findings from rodent studies to human
      islets in which data thus far has been scarce. We tested the hypothesis that
      human islets synthesize activin and that activin participates in the regulation
      of islet beta-cells. Human islets from 33 separate isolations were categorized
      based on functional status, culture status and diabetic status. Statistical
      comparisons were made by ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc adjustment for multiple
      comparisons. Experiments investigating activin utilized qPCR, FACS cell sorting,
      immunofluorescent antibody staining, functionality assays, viability assays and
      protein secretion assays. We have defined the transcript expression patterns of
      activin and the TGFbeta superfamily in human islets. We found INHBA (the gene
      encoding activin A) to be the most highly expressed of the superfamily in normal,
      cultured islets. We elucidated a link between the islet microenvironment and
      activin A. We found differential ligand expression based on diabetic, culture and
      functional status. Further, this is also the first report that links direct
      effects of activin A with the ability to restore glucose-stimulated insulin
      secretion in human islets from type 2 diabetic donors thereby establishing the
      relevance of targeting activin for therapeutic drug development. 

PMID- 25833253
TI  - Magneto-optical studies on spin-dependent charge recombination and dissociation
      in perovskite solar cells.

PMID- 25833252
TI  - Islet adaptation to obesity and insulin resistance in WNIN/GR-Ob rats.
AB  - WNIN/GR-Ob mutant rat is a novel animal model to study metabolic syndrome
      (obesity, insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, impaired glucose tolerance and
      cardiovascular diseases). We have investigated the islet characteristics of obese
      mutants at different age groups (1, 6 and 12 months) to assess the islet changes
      in response to early and chronic metabolic stress. Our data demonstrates altered
      islet cell morphology and function (hypertrophy, fibrotic lesions, vacuolation,
      decreased stimulation index, increased TNFalpha, ROS and TBARS levels) in mutants
      as compared to controls. Furthermore, network analysis (gene-gene interaction)
      studied in pancreas demonstrated increased inflammation as a key factor
      underlying obesity/metabolic syndrome in mutants. These observations pave way to
      explore this model to understand islet adaptation in response to metabolic
      syndrome. 

PMID- 25833256
TI  - Application of the enabling occupation II guidelines in a non-Canadian context.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Canadian Enabling Occupation II guidelines contain theory and
      examples of how to apply client-centredness in occupation-based practice. Little
      information is available about the feasibility of the guidelines in other
      contexts. For 18 months, nine Dutch occupational therapists participated in a
      community of practice to explore, together with three researchers, their
      experiences with the application of the Enabling Occupation II guidelines.
      PURPOSE: To understand the experiences of Dutch occupational therapists with the
      application of the Enabling Occupation II guidelines. METHOD: A qualitative study
      using four focus group discussions and content analysis. FINDINGS: Four themes
      emerged: (1) an indication that the guidelines of Enabling Occupation II are in
      line with values and norms of Dutch occupational therapists, (2) the
      meaningfulness of an intensive process of studying, discussing, applying and
      reflecting, (3) the struggles faced by the occupational therapists with
      translating English and getting a grip on concepts and (4) the challenges to
      implementing the guidelines in practice. IMPLICATIONS: Findings indicate that
      Enabling Occupation II embody values and norms of Dutch occupational therapists.
      They experience many benefits in their doing, thinking and being when applying
      the guidelines in practice. Struggles with reading English, getting a grip on
      concepts and theories, and difficulties in handling obstacles indicate that the
      application of the guidelines takes effort. An understanding of the philosophy,
      application, and reflection on professional identity may be prerequisites for
      appraising the feasibility of adoption of client-centred guidelines cross
      culturally.

PMID- 25833255
TI  - Sexual dimorphism in miR-210 expression and mitochondrial dysfunction in the
      placenta with maternal obesity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Maternal obesity is a major problem in obstetrics, and the placenta
      is involved in obesity-related complications via its roles at the maternal-fetal
      interface. We have recently shown a causative role for micro(mi)RNA-210, a so
      called 'hypoxamir' regulated by HIF-1alpha, in mitochondrial dysfunction in
      placentas from women with preeclampsia. We also reported mitochondrial
      dysfunction in placentas with maternal obesity. Here we hypothesized that
      expression of miR-210 is dysregulated in the placentas with obesity. METHODS:
      Placentas from uncomplicated pregnancies were collected at term from healthy
      weight or control (CTRL, pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI)<25), overweight (OW,
      BMI=25-24.9) and obese (OB, BMI>30) women following C-section with no labor.
      Expression of miRNA-210 and its target genes was measured by reverse
      transcription-PCR and Western Blot, respectively. Mitochondrial respiration was
      assessed by Seahorse Analyzer in syncytiotrophoblast (ST) 72 h after
      cytotrophoblast isolation. RESULTS: Expression of miR-210 was significantly
      increased in placentas of OB and OW women with female but not male fetuses
      compared with CTRL placentas of females. However, expression of HIF-1alpha in
      these placentas remained unchanged. Levels of tumor-necrosis factor-alpha
      (TNFalpha) were increased in OW and OB placentas of females but not males, and in
      silico analysis suggested that activation of miR-210 expression in these
      placentas might be activated by NFkappaB1 (p50) signaling. Indeed, chromatin
      Immunoprecipitation assay showed that NFkB1 binds to placental miR-210 promoter
      in a fetal sex-dependent manner. Female but not male STs treated with TNFalpha
      showed overexpression of miR-210, reduction of mitochondrial target genes and
      decreased mitochondrial respiration. Pre-treatment of these STs with small
      interfering RNA to NFkB1 or antagomiR-210 prevented the TNFalpha-mediated
      inhibition of mitochondrial respiration. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the
      inflammatory intrauterine environment associated with maternal obesity induces an
      NFkappaB1-mediated increase in miR-210 in a fetal sex-dependent manner, leading
      to inhibition of mitochondrial respiration and placental dysfunction in the
      placentas of female fetuses.

PMID- 25833254
TI  - Channel function reconstitution and re-animation: a single-channel strategy in
      the postcrystal age.
AB  - The most essential properties of ion channels for their physiologically relevant
      functions are ion-selective permeation and gating. Among the channel species, the
      potassium channel is primordial and the most ubiquitous in the biological world,
      and knowledge of this channel underlies the understanding of features of other
      ion channels. The strategy applied to studying channels changed dramatically
      after the crystal structure of the potassium channel was resolved. Given the
      abundant structural information available, we exploited the bacterial KcsA
      potassium channel as a simple model channel. In the postcrystal age, there are
      two effective frameworks with which to decipher the functional codes present in
      the channel structure, namely reconstitution and re-animation. Complex channel
      proteins are decomposed into essential functional components, and well-examined
      parts are rebuilt for integrating channel function in the membrane
      (reconstitution). Permeation and gating are dynamic operations, and one imagines
      the active channel by breathing life into the 'frozen' crystal (re-animation).
      Capturing the motion of channels at the single-molecule level is necessary to
      characterize the behaviour of functioning channels. Advanced techniques,
      including diffracted X-ray tracking, lipid bilayer methods and high-speed atomic
      force microscopy, have been used. Here, I present dynamic pictures of the KcsA
      potassium channel from the submolecular conformational changes to the
      supramolecular collective behaviour of channels in the membrane. These results
      form an integrated picture of the active channel and offer insights into the
      processes underlying the physiological function of the channel in the cell
      membrane. 

PMID- 25833257
TI  - MtrA, an essential response regulator of the MtrAB two-component system,
      regulates the transcription of resuscitation-promoting factor B of Mycobacterium
      tuberculosis.
AB  - The resuscitation-promoting factors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are hydrolytic
      enzymes, which are required for resuscitation of dormant cells. RpfB, a
      peptidoglycan remodelling enzyme similar to the lytic transglycosylase of
      Escherichia coli, is required for reactivation of M. tuberculosis from chronic
      infection in vivo, underscoring the need to understand its transcriptional
      regulation. Here, we identified the transcriptional and translational start
      points of rpfB, and suggested from rpf promoter-driven GFP expression and in
      vitro transcription assays that its transcription possibly occurs in a SigB
      dependent manner. We further demonstrated that rpfB transcription is regulated by
      MtrA - the response regulator of the essential two-component system MtrAB.
      Association of MtrA with the rpfB promoter region in vivo was confirmed by
      chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays
      (EMSAs) revealed a loose direct repeat sequence associated with MtrA binding.
      Binding of MtrA was enhanced upon phosphorylation. MtrA could be pulled down from
      lysates of M. tuberculosis using a biotinylated DNA fragment encompassing the
      MtrA-binding site on the rpfB promoter, confirming that MtrA binds to the rpfB
      promoter. Enhanced GFP fluorescence driven by the rpfB promoter, upon deletion of
      the MtrA-binding site, and repression of rpfB expression, upon overexpression of
      MtrA, suggested that MtrA functions as a repressor of rpfB transcription. This
      was corroborated by EMSAs showing diminished association of RNA polymerase (RNAP)
      with the rpfB promoter in the presence of MtrA. In vitro transcription assays
      confirmed that MtrA inhibits RNAP-driven rpfB transcription. 

PMID- 25833258
TI  - Investigating the fall-injury reducing effect of impact absorbing flooring among
      female nursing home residents: initial results.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fall-related injuries affect the lives of elderly to a substantial
      degree. This quasi-experimental study investigates the fall-injury reducing
      effect of impact absorbing flooring among female nursing home residents. METHODS:
      The intervention site is a nursing home in Sweden where impact absorbing flooring
      was installed in parts of one of six wards (six out of 10 apartments (excluding
      bathrooms), the communal dining-room and parts of the corridor). The impact
      absorbing flooring is a 12 mm thick closed cell flexible polyurethane/polyurea
      composite tile (500*500 mm) with an exterior surface of polyurethane/polyurea. A
      generalised linear model (log-binomial) was used to calculate the RR of injury
      from falls on impact absorbing flooring compared to falls on regular flooring,
      adjusted for age, body mass index, visual and cognitive impairments. RESULTS:
      During the study period (1 October 2011 to 31 March 2014), 254 falls occurred on
      regular flooring and 77 falls on impact absorbing flooring. The injury/fall rate
      was 30.3% for falls on regular flooring and 16.9% for falls on impact absorbing
      flooring. Adjusted for covariates, the impact absorbing flooring significantly
      reduced the RR of injury in the event of a fall by 59% (RR 0.41 (95% Cl 0.20 to
      0.80)). CONCLUSIONS: This is, to our knowledge, the first study evaluating the
      injury-reducing effect of impact absorbing flooring in a nursing home showing
      statistically significant effect. The results from this study are promising,
      indicating the considerable potential of impact absorbing flooring as a fall
      related injury intervention among frail elderly.

PMID- 25833260
TI  - Anyone linked with trafficking human organs will be punishable under new
      convention.

PMID- 25833259
TI  - Validation of the OMRON M3500 Blood Pressure Measuring Device Using Normal- and
      High-Speed Modes in Adult and Specific Populations (Obese and Children) According
      to AAMI Protocol.
AB  - The present study aimed to validate the accuracy of blood pressure (BP)
      measurements of the OMRON M3500 automatic oscillometric BP device by using normal
      and high-speed modes in adult and specific populations (obese and children)
      according to American National Standards Institute/Association for the
      Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI)/International Organization for
      Standardization/81060-2:2009 protocol. The validation was performed in 135
      patients: 100 adults and 35 children (aged 3-12 years). The results showed a mean
      error of the individual paired determinations of the OMRON device and mercury
      sphygmomanometers within values of criterion 1 (5+/-8 mm Hg). Analysis of the
      averaged paired determinations per subject of the OMRON device and standard
      mercury sphygmomanometer fit within the acceptable ranges of criterion 2 (<6.71
      systolic BP and <5.77 diastolic BP). Readings of the OMRON M3500 BP device
      fulfill criteria 1 and 2 of the AAMI protocol in both speed modes.

PMID- 25833261
TI  - Steroid psychosis caused by perioperative steroid replacement for pituitary
      adenoma: a case report.
AB  - Steroid psychosis is a frequent complication of steroid treatment. Although
      perioperative steroid replacement therapy is generally administered in patients
      undergoing pituitary surgery, there are no previous reports concerning the
      development of steroid psychosis after perioperative steroid replacement therapy
      following pituitary surgery. We herein report a case of steroid psychosis induced
      by perioperative steroid replacement therapy for pituitary surgery. A 35-year-old
      man presented with a visual disturbance that had persisted for 1 year. A magnetic
      resonance imaging scan showed a large pituitary tumor, and a laboratory study
      revealed slight dysfunction of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. The
      patient was diagnosed with a non-functioning pituitary tumor and underwent tumor
      resection via the endoscopic endonasal approach. The initial dose of
      perioperative steroid replacement therapy was 200 mg of hydrocortisone
      administered immediately before the operation. The replacement dose was gradually
      tapered and discontinued over a 7-day period. On postoperative day 4, the patient
      exhibited an elated mood, grandiose delusions, anxiety, and agitation. We
      diagnosed these psychiatric symptoms as steroid psychosis induced by steroid
      replacement and we prescribed risperidone as a treatment. The symptoms gradually
      improved and did not recur. This case highlights the risk of steroid psychosis
      following treatment with perioperative steroid replacement therapy for pituitary
      adenoma and raises questions regarding the appropriateness of perioperative
      steroid replacement for pituitary adenoma. 

PMID- 25833263
TI  - Surgical management of petroclival meningiomas: Factors affecting early post
      operative outcome.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Petroclival meningiomas pose a major challenge to the treating
      neurosurgeon. The philosophy of treatment has changed over the decades from a
      nihilistic attitude to that of aggressive total excision to now a more tempered,
      maximal safe excision preventing morbidity followed by adjuvant treatment.
      Despite the advances in neurosurgery, surgical management of these tumours is
      still associated with sizable morbidity and mortality. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This
      is a retrospective study of surgically managed petroclival meningiomas at our
      institute. Clinical status, radiological features and surgical outcome were
      analysed. RESULTS: Between January 2003 and August 2013, we have operated on 30
      patients. The most common presenting complaints were varying degrees of cranial
      nerve involvement and cerebellar dysfunction. Surgery was done using one of the
      skull base approaches with the retrosigmoid approach being used maximally (22
      cases). Total or near-total excision was possible in 11 cases. There was a post
      operative deterioration in cranial nerve functions in all patients and
      deterioration in Karnofsky Performance Score in seven patients at discharge.
      Three improved to independent status on follow-up. There was mortality in two
      cases. Overall 23 of the 30 patients (76.6%) had favourable outcomes.
      CONCLUSIONS: These are challenging tumours to treat and are associated with
      sizable morbidity and mortality. On statistical analysis, we found that if the
      tumour has a size of 3-5 cm and petroclival in location with no sphenoid
      extension and the lesion is homogenous on T2-weighted images, then there was a
      trend towards gross total resection and favourable outcome.

PMID- 25833262
TI  - Association mapping in Populus reveals the interaction between Pto-miR530a and
      its target Pto-KNAT1.
AB  - MAIN CONCLUSION: We used transcript profiling and multi-SNP association to
      investigate the genetic regulatory relationship between miRNA Pto-miR530a and its
      target Pto-KNAT1, identifying additive, dominant, and epistatic effects.
      MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play crucial roles in the post-transcriptional regulation of
      plant growth and development; indeed, many studies have described the importance
      of miRNA-target interactions in herbaceous species. However, elucidation of the
      miRNA-target interactions in trees may require novel strategies. In the present
      study, we describe a strategy combining expression profiling by reverse
      transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and association mapping with multiple
      single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to evaluate the interaction between Pto
      miR530a and its target Pto-KNAT1 in Populus tomentosa. RT-qPCR analysis showed a
      negative correlation (r = -0.62, P < 0.05) between expression levels of Pto
      miR530a and Pto-KNAT1 in eight tissues. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to
      identify allelic variants of Pto-miR530a and Pto-KNAT1 that associated with eight
      traits related to growth and wood properties, in a population of 460 unrelated
      individuals of P. tomentosa. This analysis identified 27 associations, with the
      proportions of phenotypic variance (R (2)) contributed by each SNP ranging of
      0.82-15.81 %, the additive effects of each SNP ranging of 0.16-18.09, and the
      dominant effects ranging from -14.09 to 19.00. Epistatic interaction models
      showed a strong interaction among SNPs in the miRNA target with R (2) of 0.1-3.56
      %, and information gain of significant SNP pairs of -3.09 to 0.93 %, representing
      the regulatory interactions between the miRNA and the mRNA. Thus, we used a new
      strategy that combines association genetics and expression profiling based on
      SNPs to study the regulatory relationship between this miRNA and its target mRNA,
      thereby providing novel advances in our understanding of the genetic architecture
      of important traits.

PMID- 25833264
TI  - Brain abscess due to Trueperella bernardiae.
AB  - We present the case of a brain abscess caused by a combination of rare organisms
      (Trueperella bernardiae and Peptoniphilus harei) in a patient with chronic
      suppurative otitis media that had been complicated by the presence of a
      cholesteatoma. The authors believe this is the first report published in the
      literature. 

PMID- 25833265
TI  - Advanced air distribution: improving health and comfort while reducing energy
      use.
AB  - Indoor environment affects the health, comfort, and performance of building
      occupants. The energy used for heating, cooling, ventilating, and air
      conditioning of buildings is substantial. Ventilation based on total volume air
      distribution in spaces is not always an efficient way to provide high-quality
      indoor environments at the same time as low-energy consumption. Advanced air
      distribution, designed to supply clean air where, when, and as much as needed,
      makes it possible to efficiently achieve thermal comfort, control exposure to
      contaminants, provide high-quality air for breathing and minimizing the risk of
      airborne cross-infection while reducing energy use. This study justifies the need
      for improving the present air distribution design in occupied spaces, and in
      general the need for a paradigm shift from the design of collective environments
      to the design of individually controlled environments. The focus is on advanced
      air distribution in spaces, its guiding principles and its advantages and
      disadvantages. Examples of advanced air distribution solutions in spaces for
      different use, such as offices, hospital rooms, vehicle compartments, are
      presented. The potential of advanced air distribution, and individually
      controlled macro-environment in general, for achieving shared values, that is,
      improved health, comfort, and performance, energy saving, reduction of healthcare
      costs and improved well-being is demonstrated. Performance criteria are defined
      and further research in the field is outlined. 

PMID- 25833266
TI  - Ratio of Vestibular Endolymph in Patients with Isolated Lateral Semicircular
      Canal Dysplasia.
AB  - PURPOSE: Isolated vestibular-lateral semicircular canal dysplasia (LSCCD) is one
      of the most common anomalies of the inner ear. However, endolymphatic size in
      LSCCD is unknown. We measured the size of the endolymph in the vestibule of
      patients with LSCCD and compared it with that measured in patients without LSCCD.
      METHODS: We extracted 1102 magnetic resonance (MR) studies for the evaluation of
      endolymphatic hydrops (EH) from our database of radiology reports. Among these,
      we found 15 ears from 11 patients with LSCCD; 4 patients had bilateral
      abnormalities. Seven of the 15 ears demonstrated aplasia and 8 ears, hypoplasia
      of the lateral semicircular canal (LSCC). The control group consisted of 26 ears
      from 13 randomly selected patients without LSCCD. We measured the area of
      endolymph in the vestibule (ELA), total area of vestibular lymph fluid (TLA), and
      area of the central bony island (CBI) of the LSCC from axial MR images obtained
      after intratympanic or intravenous administration of gadolinium-based contrast
      material. The ratio of endolymphatic area to total lymphatic area (%EL) was
      defined as %EL = ELA/TLA * 100.We evaluated the correlation between %EL and the
      area of the CBI and compared age, %EL, degree of cochlear EH, hearing level, and
      presence of rotating vertigo among the 3 groups (aplasia, hypoplasia, control).
      RESULTS: The mean %EL was 76.7% in the aplasia group, 50.0% in the hypoplasia
      group, and 27.8% in the control group (P < 0.001). There was a relatively strong
      linear correlation between the area of the CBI and %EL (r = -0.767). Patient age,
      mean hearing level, degree of cochlear EH, or presence of vertigo attacks did not
      differ significantly among the groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The size of
      vestibular endolymph was larger in the groups with aplasia or hypoplasia than the
      control group. Thus, the current diagnostic cut-off value for significant
      vestibular EH (>50%) might not be appropriate for ears with LSCCD.

PMID- 25833267
TI  - Volume Quantification of Endolymph after Intravenous Administration of a Single
      Dose of Gadolinium Contrast Agent: Comparison of 18- versus 8-minute Imaging
      Protocols.
AB  - PURPOSE: We measured the volume of the endolymphatic space by extending a
      previously proposed less observer-dependent method of area quantification and
      compared volume measurements obtained using long (18 min, Image A) and short (8
      min, Image B) scan times. METHODS: We performed MR imaging of 40 ears in 20
      patients with clinically suspected endolymphatic hydrops 4 hours after
      intravenous administration of single-dose gadolinium-based contrast material (IV
      SD-GBCM). Two observers separately measured the ratio of the volume of the
      endolymph to that of total lymph in the cochlea and vestibule by extending the
      area ratio measurement method previously reported (Image A and B). The
      correlation between the values by Image A and B was calculated. RESULTS: We
      observed a strong linear correlation between Images A and B in the cochlear
      images; the Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was 0.928 for Observer A and
      0.926 for Observer B (P < 0.001, for all). A strong linear correlation was also
      observed in the vestibular images; the Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was
      0.962 for Observer A and 0.968 for Observer B (P < 0.001, for all). CONCLUSION:
      Measurement of endolymphatic volume after IV-SD-GBCM may be feasible using an MR
      imaging protocol with a reduced scan time of 8 min. This method might facilitate
      greater use of endolymphatic hydrops imaging in clinical applications.

PMID- 25833268
TI  - Changes to Muscle T2after Single-finger Exercise Measured with 0.2T MR Imaging.
AB  - We constructed an arm holder for muscle exercise from a forearm-shaped plastic
      shell and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging position markers and determined the
      echo time (39 ms) for T2-weighted spin-echo MR imaging from T2values of the
      exercised (50 ms) and resting (32 ms) muscle at 0.2 tesla. The smallest
      detectable muscle was the extensor digiti minimi muscle (cross-sectional area 25
      mm2). This combination could be useful to monitor finger exercise in patients
      undergoing physical therapy.

PMID- 25833269
TI  - The Impact of Flip Angle and TR on the Enhancement Ratio of Dynamic Gadobutrol
      enhanced MR Imaging: In Vivo VX2 Tumor Model and Computer Simulation.
AB  - Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) is widely used to
      diagnose cancer and monitor therapy. The maximum enhancement ratio (ERmax)
      obtained from the curve of signal intensity over time could be a biomarker to
      distinguish cancer from normal tissue or benign tumors. We evaluated the impact
      of flip angle (FA) and repetition time (TR) on the ERmax values of dynamic
      gadobutrol-enhanced MR imaging, obtaining T1-weighted (T1W) MR imaging of VX2
      tumors using 2-dimensional fast spoiled gradient echo (2D FSPGR) with various FAs
      (30 degrees , 60 degrees  and 90 degrees ) at 1.5 tesla before and after
      injection of 0.1 mmol/kg gadobutrol. In vivo study indicated significant
      differences between ERmax values and area under the ER-time curve (AUC100) of VX2
      tumors and muscle tissue, with the highest ERmax and AUC100 at FA 90 degrees .
      Computer simulation also demonstrated the ER as a strictly increasing monotonic
      function in the closed interval [0 degrees , 90 degrees ] for a given TR when
      using T1W FSPGR, and the highest ER value always occurred at FA 90 degrees . The
      FA for the highest ER differed from that for the highest signal-to-noise or
      contrast-to-noise ratio. For long TR, the ER value increases gradually. However,
      for short TR, the ER value increases rapidly and plateaus so that the ER value
      changes little beyond a certain FA value. Therefore, we suggest use of a higher
      FA, near 90 degrees , to obtain a higher ERmax for long TR in 2D SPGR or FSPGR
      and a smaller FA, much less than 90 degrees , to reach an appropriate ERmax for
      short TR in 3D SPGR or FSPGR. This information could be helpful in setting the
      optimal parameters for DCE-MRI. 

PMID- 25833270
TI  - See-through Brains and Diffusion Tensor MRI Clarified Fiber Connections: A
      Preliminary Microstructural Study in a Mouse with Callosal Agenesis.
AB  - Clearing methods that render the brain optically transparent allow high
      resolution three-dimensional (3D) imaging of neural networks. We used diffusion
      tensor imaging (DTI) and two-photon imaging of cleared brains to analyze white
      matter in BTBR mice. We confirmed corpus callosum agenesis and identified an
      abnormal commissure close to the third ventricle. DTI and cleared-brain two
      photon imaging revealed that these commissural fibers constituted a frontal
      clustering of the ventral hippocampal commissure and provided a detailed
      assessment of white matter structure in mice. 

PMID- 25833272
TI  - Noise Power Spectrum in PROPELLER MR Imaging.
AB  - The noise power spectrum (NPS), an index for noise evaluation, represents the
      frequency characteristics of image noise. We measured the NPS in PROPELLER
      (Periodically Rotated Overlapping ParallEL Lines with Enhanced Reconstruction)
      magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, a nonuniform data sampling technique, as an
      initial study for practical MR image evaluation using the NPS. The 2-dimensional
      (2D) NPS reflected the k-space sampling density and showed agreement with the
      shape of the k-space trajectory as expected theoretically. Additionally, the 2D
      NPS allowed visualization of a part of the image reconstruction process, such as
      filtering and motion correction. 

PMID- 25833273
TI  - Hemodynamic-based Mapping of Neural Activity in Medetomidine-sedated Rats using a
      1.5T Compact Magnetic Resonance Imaging System: A Preliminary Study.
AB  - The use of compact magnetic resonance (MR) systems for the neuroimaging of small
      animals is spreading. We investigated the potential of such systems in functional
      MR imaging (fMRI) of somatosensory cortex activity elicited by forepaw
      stimulation in medetomidine-sedated rats. Using a 1.5-tesla compact imager, we
      detected maximum activity with an electrophysiologically optimized frequency of 9
      Hz in 3 appropriately sedated rats. With this compact system, we successfully
      mapped neural activity by combining optimum stimulation for a large hemodynamic
      response with appropriate anesthesia, thus demonstrating the utility of such
      systems in hemodynamic-based fMRI in preclinical and translational research. 

PMID- 25833274
TI  - Optimization of Inversion Time for Postmortem Fluid-attenuated Inversion Recovery
      (FLAIR) MR Imaging at 1.5T: Temperature-based Suppression of Cerebrospinal Fluid.
AB  - PURPOSE: Signal intensity (SI) and image contrast on postmortem magnetic
      resonance (MR) imaging are different from those of imaging of living bodies. We
      sought to suppress the SI of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sufficiently for fluid
      attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence in postmortem MR (PMMR) imaging by
      optimizing inversion time (TI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We subject 28 deceased
      patients to PMMR imaging 3 to 113 hours after confirmation of death (mean, 27.4
      hrs.). PMMR imaging was performed at 1.5 tesla, and T1 values of CSF were
      measured with maps of relaxation time. Rectal temperatures (RT) measured
      immediately after PMMR imaging ranged from 6 to 32 degrees C (mean, 15.4 degrees
      C). We analyzed the relationship between T1 and RT statistically using Pearson's
      correlation coefficient. We obtained FLAIR images from one cadaver using both a
      TI routinely used for living bodies and an optimized TI calculated from the RT.
      RESULTS: T1 values of CSF ranged from 2159 to 4063 ms (mean 2962.4), and there
      was a significantly positive correlation between T1 and RT (r = 0.96, P <
      0.0001). The regression expression for the relationship was T1 = 74.4 * RT + 1813
      for a magnetic field strength of 1.5T. The SI of CSF was effectively suppressed
      with the optimized TI (0.693 * T1), namely, TI = 0.693 * (77.4 * RT + 1813).
      CONCLUSION: Use of the TI calculated from the linear regression of the T1 and RT
      optimizes the FLAIR sequence of PMMR imaging.

PMID- 25833275
TI  - The Technical and Clinical Features of 3D-FLAIR in Neuroimaging.
AB  - In clinical MR neuroimaging, 3D fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (3D-FLAIR)
      with a variable-flip-angle turbo spin echo sequence is becoming popular. There
      are more than 100 reports regarding 3D-FLAIR in the PubMed database. In this
      article, the technical and clinical features of 3D-FLAIR for neuroimaging are
      reviewed and summarized. 3D-FLAIR allows thinner slices with multi-planar
      reformation capability, a higher flow sensitivity, high sensitivity to subtle T1
      changes in fluid, images without cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) inflow artifacts, and
      a 3D dataset compatible with computer-aided analysis. In addition, 3D-FLAIR can
      be obtained within a clinically reasonable scan time. It is important for
      radiologists to be familiar with the features of 3D-FLAIR and to provide useful
      information for patients. 

PMID- 25833276
TI  - Improvement of diagnostic confidence for detection of multiple myeloma
      involvement of the ribs by a new CT software generating rib unfolded images:
      Comparison with 5- and 1-mm axial images.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the performance of a new CT software generating rib
      unfolded images for improved detection of rib osteolyses in patients with
      multiple myeloma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred sixteen patients who
      underwent whole-body reduced-dose multidetector computed tomography (WBRD-MDCT)
      for multiple myeloma diagnosis and during follow-up were retrospectively
      evaluated. Nonenhanced CT scans with 5- and 1-mm slice thickness were interpreted
      by two readers with focus on detection of rib involvement (location, number,
      fracture). Image analysis of "unfolded," 1-mm-based CT rib images was
      subsequently undertaken. We classified the number of lytic bone lesions into 0,
      1, 2, <5, <10 and >=10. For all three data sets the reading time was registered.
      RESULTS: An approximated sum of 6,727 myeloma-related rib lesions was found. On a
      patient-based analysis, CT (5 mm), CT (1 mm) and CT (1 mm "unfolded rib") yielded
      a sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 79.7/94.7/87.1, 88.1/93/90.5 and
      98.3/96.5/97.4, respectively. In a lesion-based analysis, the sensitivity,
      specificity and accuracy of the three evaluations were 69.7/87.2/70.5,
      79.8/55.9/78 and 96.5/89.7/96.1. Mean reading time for 5 mm/1 mm axial images and
      unfolded images was 178.7/215.1/90.8 s, respectively. CONCLUSION: The generation
      of "unfolded rib" images improves detection of rib involvement in patients with
      multiple myeloma and significantly reduces reading time.

PMID- 25833277
TI  - Surface primary bone tumors: Systematic approach and differential diagnosis.
AB  - Surface primary bone tumors may appear similar to their intramedullary
      counterpart, but because they are rare, they may pose diagnostic challenges when
      showing different characteristics compared to their intramedullary counterpart.
      It is important for radiologists to recognize the imaging findings for various
      uncommon surface primary bone tumors, which may help to reduce the differential
      diagnosis or to lead to a specific diagnosis. Radiography is typically used for
      first-line imaging. If necessary, it is followed by CT or MRI for evaluation and
      characterization of surface bone tumors. The aim of this article is to review the
      imaging findings and differential diagnosis for surface primary bone tumors. 

PMID- 25833278
TI  - Giant cell tumor of soft tissue: a case report with emphasis on MR imaging.
AB  - Giant cell tumor of soft tissue is a rare neoplasm, histologically resembling
      giant cell tumor of bone. In this report, we describe a deep and solid giant cell
      tumor of soft tissue interpreted as a benign soft tissue tumor based on magnetic
      resonance (MR) findings with hypointense to intermediate signals on T2-weighted
      images and impeded diffusivity (water movement) on diffusion-weighted imaging
      (DWI), which could suggest a giant-cell-containing benign soft tissue tumor,
      despite the malignancy suggested by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission
      tomography-computed tomography in a 35-year-old male. To our knowledge, this
      report introduces the first deep, solid giant cell tumor of soft tissue with MR
      features of a giant-cell-containing benign soft tissue tumor, despite the
      malignancy-mimicking findings on 18F-FDG PET-CT.

PMID- 25833279
TI  - Rare case of giant cystic adenomyoma mimicking a uterine malformation, diagnosed
      and treated by hysteroscopy.
AB  - We describe a case of giant cystic uterine adenomyoma that was diagnosed and
      treated by hysteroscopy. In a 27-year-old woman with menometrorrhagia, severe
      dysmenorrhea, and chronic pelvic pain, pelvic ultrasonography revealed an
      enlarged uterine cavity filled with homogeneous low echogenic fluid content. A
      large cornual hematometra of 8.0 cm in diameter in a bicornuate uterus was
      suspected, and this hypothesis was also supported by magnetic resonance imaging
      findings. On the contrary, hysteroscopy revealed a bilocular huge cystic lesion
      of the posterior uterine wall that was removed by means of monopolar loop
      resection. The operative finding and the histopathologic examination confirmed
      the diagnosis of cystic adenomyoma of the uterus. Hysteroscopy may represent a
      valid tool for diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment of cystic adenomyoma,
      including those of large volume. Its use is helpful in differential diagnosis
      between cystic adenomyoma and uterine malformations as a possible cause of pelvic
      pain.

PMID- 25833281
TI  - Serotonin transporter gene polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) influences trait anxiety by
      modulating the functional connectivity between the amygdala and insula in Han
      Chinese males.
AB  - A functional polymorphism (5-hydroxytryptamine transporter linked polymorphic
      region [5-HTTLPR]) in the promoter region of human serotonin transporter gene has
      been found to be associated with several dimensions of neuroticism and
      psychopathology, especially anxiety. However, the neural basis underlying the
      association between 5-HTTLPR and anxiety is less clear. Here, we explored how 5
      HTTLPR influenced anxiety by modulating the spontaneous brain activities in Han
      Chinese. First, we found an association between 5-HTTLPR and anxiety only in the
      male and not in the female population, where male S/S homozygotes had a
      significantly higher level of anxiety than male L allele carriers. Then, we
      examined how 5-HTTLPR influenced anxiety at both regional and network levels in
      the brain at rest. At the regional level, we found a significantly higher
      fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in the amygdala in male S/S
      homozygotes relative to male L allele carriers. At the network level, male S/S
      homozygotes showed a weaker resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between
      the amygdala and various regions, including the insula, Heschl's gyrus, lateral
      occipital cortex, superior temporal gyrus, and hippocampus, and a stronger RSFC
      between the amygdala and various regions, including the supramariginal gyrus and
      middle frontal gyrus. However, at both levels, only was the amygdala-insula RSFC
      correlated with anxiety. Mediation analyses further revealed that the amygdala
      insula RSFC mediated the association between 5-HTTLPR and anxiety. In short, our
      study provided the first empirical evidence that the amygdala-insula RSFC served
      as the neural basis underlying the association between 5-HTTLPR and anxiety,
      suggesting a potential neurogenetic susceptibility mechanism for anxiety.

PMID- 25833280
TI  - Evidence of pulpotomy in primary teeth comparing MTA, calcium hydroxide, ferric
      sulphate, and electrosurgery with formocresol.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the scientific evidence of pulpotomy
      in primary teeth comparing mineral troxide aggregate (MTA), calcium hydroxide,
      ferric sulphate, and electrosurgery with formocresol. METHODS: A systematic
      search using key words was conducted using seven databases up to December 10,
      2013. Clinical articles in English, Portuguese and Spanish were selected, which
      were in accordance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria and the research
      objective of comparing whether pulpotomy performed with formocresol in primary
      teeth is more effective than other medicaments or techniques. RESULTS: Out of the
      12,515 publication initially identified, 30 clinical articles were included in
      the systematic review and analysed by four meta-analyses. The success rate of MTA
      (94.6 %) was higher than that of formocresol (87.4 %), with a statistically
      significant difference (OR = 0.39; 95 % CI = 0.25-0.62). Formocresol pulpotomy
      success was not statistically different from ferric sulphate or electrosurgery.
      CONCLUSION: MTA was clinically and radiographically superior to formocresol for
      pulpotomy of primary teeth. The other alternatives to formocresol such as
      electrosurgery and ferric sulphate can be used instead of formocresol since they
      showed success similar to formocresol. In addition, there is no evidence to
      support calcium hydroxide for pulpotomies in primary teeth.

PMID- 25833283
TI  - Is thoracic aortic disease a growing problem in Japan?
AB  - An article by Okita was recently published in General Thoracic and Cardiovascular
      Surgery. The paper thoroughly reviewed the surgical treatments for thoracic
      aortic disease in Japan. Valve-sparing aortic root operation, cerebral protection
      during aortic arch aneurysmectomy, and spinal cord protection during
      thoracoabdominal aneurysm repair are discussed in the present editorial. 

PMID- 25833284
TI  - Abstracts of the australasian college of dermatologists 48th annual scientific
      meeting, 16 may 2015, adelaide, australia.

PMID- 25833286
TI  - Information Needs of Men with Localized Prostate Cancer During Radiation Therapy.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to describe how patient information needs change
      over the course of receiving radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Convenience
      sampling was utilized to recruit men with stage I-III prostate cancer. A
      longitudinal repeated measures design was implemented for this pilot study.
      Patients were presented with 36 paired comparisons, each asking the participant
      to choose the most important information topic(s) for today. Following completion
      of the survey instruments, the clinic nurse delivered the four top-ranked
      information topic handouts to each patient with brief instruction on how to use
      the handouts. Over the course of 6 months, we were able to recruit 35 men. The
      four highest priority topics across all four sessions were prognosis, stage of
      disease, treatment options, and side effects. Our results suggest trends in the
      information priorities that men hold over the course of radiation treatment. The
      information priorities do appear to shift over time, notably prognosis concerns
      and risk for family members continued to rise over time, while side effect
      information declined. These findings will extend an already strong foundation of
      evidence for preparatory information in radiation therapy. Furthermore, these
      findings will strengthen current evidence that computerized assessment of patient
      self-report information is feasible and an important adjunct to clinical
      practice.

PMID- 25833287
TI  - Introduction to the special issue: attachment-based treatments for adolescents.
AB  - During the past decade, new attachment-based treatments (ABTs) for adolescents
      have been developed and tested in both field and randomized control trials. The
      papers in this special issue represent important contributions to defining a more
      general model of ABTs for adolescents. Our discussion of these papers is
      organized by a series of challenges to developing and evaluating these
      treatments. We first consider how disturbances in the caregiver-adolescent
      attachment bond are implicated in adolescent psychopathology and family distress.
      We then describe different potential targets for attachment-based interventions
      for adolescents and their caregivers. Finally we review the different
      interventions and change mechanisms that have been used to increase security in
      the caregiver-adolescent bond. A general model of ABTs for adolescents can be
      useful in guiding future efforts to measure change in attachment constructs,
      evaluate the dynamic process of change in attachment bonds, and test the
      effectiveness of specific treatment elements in reducing adolescents' symptoms
      and increasing attachment security. 

PMID- 25833288
TI  - Of goats and men: rethinking anaplasmoses as zoonotic infections.

PMID- 25833289
TI  - Human infection with a novel tick-borne Anaplasma species in China: a
      surveillance study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Anaplasma ovis cause human infections.
      We investigated the potential for human pathogenicity of a newly discovered
      Anaplasma species infecting goats in China. METHODS: We collected blood samples
      from patients with a history of tick bite in the preceding 2 months at Mudanjiang
      Forestry Central Hospital of Heilongjiang Province from May 1, to June 10, 2014,
      to detect the novel Anaplasma species by PCR. We inoculated positive samples into
      cell cultures. We characterised the isolated pathogen by morphological and
      phylogenetic analyses. We tested serum antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence
      assay. FINDINGS: 28 (6%) of 477 patients assessed were infected with the novel
      Anaplasma species according to PCR and sequencing. We isolated the pathogen in
      vitro from three patients. Phylogenetic analyses of rrs, gltA, groEL, msp2, and
      msp4 showed that the pathogen was distinct from all known Anaplasma species. We
      provisionally nominate it "Anaplasma capra". 22 (92%) of 24 patients with data
      available had seroconversion or a four-fold increase in antibody titres. All 28
      patients developed non-specific febrile manifestations, including fever in 23
      (82%), headache in 14 (50%), malaise in 13 (46%), dizziness in nine (32%),
      myalgia in four (14%), and chills in four (14%). Additionally, ten (36%) of 28
      patients had rash or eschar, eight (29%) had lymphadenopathy, eight (29%) had
      gastrointestinal symptoms, and three (11%) had stiff neck. Five patients were
      admitted to hospital because of severe disease. Six (35%) of 17 patients with
      data available had high hepatic aminotransferase concentrations. INTERPRETATION:
      The emergence of "A capra" as a cause of human disease suggests that individuals
      living in or travelling to endemic regions in northern China should take
      precautions to reduce their risk of exposure to this novel tick-borne pathogen.
      FUNDING: Natural Science Foundation of China and the US National Institutes of
      Health.

PMID- 25833290
TI  - Role of (64)CuCl 2 PET/CT in staging of prostate cancer.
AB  - AIM: The presence of an elevated copper concentration in cancer cells may be
      potentially used to differentiate healthy from transformed cells. In this study,
      we aimed to look at the possible role of (64)CuCl2 PET/CT in staging of patients
      with prostate cancer (PC). METHODS: Seven patients affected by histologically
      confirmed PC have been prospectively enrolled. Three patients underwent adrenal
      deprivation therapy (ADT) at time of imaging. The remaining four patients had no
      ADT, surgery, or external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). In all patients, up to
      three (64)CuCl2 PET/CT scans 10 min, 1 h and 3 h (and an additional scan 24 h in
      2 patients) after administration of mean 339 MBq (64)CuCl2 were performed and
      analyzed for presence of disease. Additionally, dosimetric calculations were
      performed. All patients underwent a multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging
      (mMRI) for confirmation of disease. RESULTS: Lesions specifically in the pelvic
      area could be easily delineated, which was due to the absence of urinary
      excretion of the tracer. (64)CuCl2 uptake was higher in primary tumors of
      patients without ADT than in patients under bicalutamide therapy. In two patients
      with suspected lymphadenopathy at MRI (>10 mm diameter), there was no enhanced
      (64)CuCl2 uptake. In other two patients, there was focal enhanced uptake in
      involved pelvic lymph nodes, one of which with a normal size of <10 mm.
      CONCLUSIONS: The preliminary results of this study show a high uptake of
      (64)CuCl2 in PC and involved regional lymph nodes indicating to a great potential
      of (64)CuCl2 PET/CT for primary staging of patients with prostate cancer.

PMID- 25833291
TI  - Pulmonary solid tumor with coexisting pulmonary aspergillosis: case reports and
      literature review.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The association of noncavitary untreated lung cancer with
      coexisting pulmonary Aspergillosis in immunocompetent patients is an extremely
      rare occurrence. The present paper aims to summarize the clinical data, and gives
      an overview of the current knowledge on the etiology, diagnosis and treatment of
      this condition. METHODS: We report four cases and review seven cases in the
      literature. RESULTS: The four cases describe pulmonary solid tumor with
      coexisting pulmonary Aspergillosis condition. All cases underwent complicated
      procession for the terminal diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Clinicians should be alert to
      underlying malignant disease if airway Aspergillus infection is suspicious in a
      patient without strong risk factors for invasive fungal disease. On the other
      hand, when lung cancer is coexisting with airway necrotizing Aspergillosis,
      clinicians should properly manage these two diseases simultaneously.

PMID- 25833293
TI  - Acute Changes in Peripheral Vascular Tonus and Systemic Circulation during Static
      Stretching.
AB  - This study aimed to investigate the acute effect of static stretching (SS) on
      peripheral vascular tonus and to clarify the effect of SS on systemic
      circulation. Twenty healthy young male volunteers performed a 1-min SS motion of
      the right triceps surae muscle, repeated five times. The peripheral vascular
      tonus (|d/a| ratio) was obtained using second derivatives of the
      photoplethysmogram readings before, during, and after SS. Heart rate and blood
      pressure (BP) were also measured. The |d/a| ratio and BP were transiently, but
      significantly, elevated during SS and returned to baseline immediately after SS.
      Furthermore, we observed a significant correlation between the amount of change
      in the |d/a| ratio and the ankle range of motion during SS (r = 0.793 to 0.832, P
      = 0.01). These responses may be caused by mechanical stress during SS. 

PMID- 25833294
TI  - Stochastic protein interactions monitored by hundreds of single-molecule
      plasmonic biosensors.
AB  - We present a plasmonic biosensor based on hundreds of individual gold nanorods
      with single-molecule sensitivity that are simultaneously monitored in real-time
      within a dark-field microscopy setup. The approach allows for the statistical
      analysis of single-molecule interactions without requiring any labeling of the
      analyte. We study an antibody-antigen interaction and find that the waiting-time
      distribution is concentration-dependent and obeys Poisson statistics. The ability
      to probe hundreds of nanoparticles simultaneously will provide a sensor with a
      dynamic range of 7 decades in concentration and will enable the study of
      heterogeneity in molecular interactions. 

PMID- 25833292
TI  - Brief Report: Autocrine Cytokine-Mediated Deficiency of TRAIL-Induced Monocyte
      Apoptosis in Rheumatoid Arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Dysregulated apoptosis of monocytes is a pathogenic feature of
      rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of this study was to investigate the role of
      TRAIL and TRAIL-induced apoptosis in patients with RA. METHODS: Cell surface
      expression and serum concentrations of TRAIL were determined in 63 patients with
      RA, and TRAIL-induced monocyte apoptosis was quantified. Surface expression of
      TRAILR-1, TRAILR-2, TRAILR-3, TRAILR-4, CXCR1, and CXCR2 was determined, and
      intracellular signal transduction was investigated. In 8 patients with RA,
      clinical and laboratory parameters of disease activity were investigated
      longitudinally, before and after initiation of treatment with tumor necrosis
      factor (TNF) inhibitors. RESULTS: Serum concentrations of both TRAIL and
      interleukin-8 (IL-8) were increased in patients with RA, while cell surface
      expression of the TRAIL receptors TRAILR-1, TRAILR-2, TRAILR-3, and TRAILR-4 was
      diminished. TRAIL-induced monocyte apoptosis was significantly decreased in RA
      due to increased TRAIL-induced IL-8 secretion by RA monocytes. The combined
      effect of TRAIL and IL-8 on monocytes resulted in activation of antiapoptotic
      pathways, including p42/44 MAPK and p38. Susceptibility to TRAIL-induced
      apoptosis was restored in RA monocytes after 3 months of TNF inhibition.
      CONCLUSION: In RA, circulating monocytes with the potential to produce
      proinflammatory cytokines appear to have defects in several pathways of apoptosis
      induction, among which is a deficiency in TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Although this
      resistance to apoptosis might contribute to perpetuation of the disease, it
      remains to be determined whether specific induction of apoptosis could be
      therapeutically beneficial.

PMID- 25833295
TI  - Structural origin of the anisotropic and isotropic thermal expansion of K2NiF4
      Type LaSrAlO4 and Sr2TiO4.
AB  - K2NiF4-type LaSrAlO4 and Sr2TiO4 exhibit anisotropic and isotropic thermal
      expansion, respectively; however, their structural origin is unknown. To address
      this unresolved issue, the crystal structure and thermal expansion of LaSrAlO4
      and Sr2TiO4 have been investigated through high-temperature neutron and
      synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction experiments and ab initio electronic
      calculations. The thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) along the c-axis (alphac)
      being higher than that along the a-axis (alphaa) of LaSrAlO4 [alphac =
      1.882(4)alphaa] is mainly ascribed to the TEC of the interatomic distance between
      Al and apical oxygen O2 alpha(Al-O2) being higher than that between Al and
      equatorial oxygen O1 alpha(Al-O1) [alpha(Al-O2) = 2.41(18)alpha(Al-O1)]. The
      higher alpha(Al-O2) is attributed to the Al-O2 bond being longer and weaker than
      the Al-O1 bond. Thus, the minimum electron density and bond valence of the Al-O2
      bond are lower than those of the Al-O1 bond. For Sr2TiO4, the Ti-O2 interatomic
      distance, d(Ti-O2), is equal to that of Ti-O1, d(Ti-O1) [d(Ti-O2) =
      1.0194(15)d(Ti-O1)], relative to LaSrAlO4 [d(Al-O2) = 1.0932(9)d(Al-O1)].
      Therefore, the bond valence and minimum electron density of the Ti-O2 bond are
      nearly equal to those of the Ti-O1 bond, leading to isotropic thermal expansion
      of Sr2TiO4 than LaSrAlO4. These results indicate that the anisotropic thermal
      expansion of K2NiF4-type oxides, A2BO4, is strongly influenced by the anisotropy
      of B-O chemical bonds. The present study suggests that due to the higher ratio of
      interatomic distance d(B-O2)/d(B-O1) of A2(2.5+)B(3+)O4 compared with
      A2(2+)B(4+)O4, A2(2.5+)B(3+)O4 compounds have higher alpha(B-O2), and
      A2(2+)B(4+)O4 materials exhibit smaller alpha(B-O2), leading to the anisotropic
      thermal expansion of A2(2.5+)B(3+)O4 and isotropic thermal expansion of
      A2(2+)B(4+)O4. The "true" thermal expansion without the chemical expansion of
      A2BO4 is higher than that of ABO3 with a similar composition. 

PMID- 25833296
TI  - Antibodies to BK virus in children prior to allogeneic hematopoietic cell
      transplant.
AB  - BK virus (BKV) is associated with kidney and bladder disease after hematopoietic
      cell transplantation (HCT) but less is known about the seroprevalence of pre
      transplant antibodies to BKV in children. We measured BKV IgG antibody titers in
      36 children before HCT. BKV IgG antibodies were detected in all 36 patients, with
      28/36 (77.8%) developing BK viremia in the first 100 days. Pre-HCT BKV IgG
      antibody titers >1:40,960 were protective against later BK viremia >=10,000
      copies/ml. The seroprevalence of antibodies to BKV is high in children undergoing
      HCT and post-transplant BK viremia, which is associated with bladder and kidney
      injury, is common.

PMID- 25833297
TI  - CTGF positively regulates BMP12 induced tenogenic differentiation of tendon stem
      cells and signaling.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Disordered differentiation of tendon stem cells (TSCs) during
      repair of injured tendon can result in the pathogenesis of chronic tendinopathy.
      Understanding tenocyte differentiation may provide new therapeutic insights for
      the prevention and treatment of chronic tendinopathy. The aim of our study was to
      determine if CTGF exerts a similar effect on BMP12-driven differentiation of rat
      TSCs. METHODS: In overexpressing and RNA interference CTGF TSCs, tenogenic
      differentitation and the expression of related genes were determined by
      immunofluorescence staining, quantitative PCR, and western blotting, with or
      without BMP12 treatment. The interaction in vitro between CTGF and BMP12 was
      detected by Chemical crosslinking assay. RESULTS: Our results showed that BMP12
      effectively increased the expression of the tenocyte lineage markers scleraxis
      (Scx) and tenomodulin (Tnmd) at both mRNA and protein levels. Over-expression of
      CTGF from a lentiviral vector increased the expression of Scx and Tnmd as well as
      tendon proteins type I collagen (ColI) and tenascin-C (Tn-C) in TSCs compared to
      non-treated control cells with or without simultaneous BMP12 stimulation.
      Knockdown of CTGF expression decreased the expression of Scx, Tnmd, ColI and Tn-C
      compared to control cells. Chemical crosslinking experiments demonstrated a
      direct interaction between CTGF and BMP12. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, BMP12 plays
      a crucial role in tenogenesis via the Smad1/5/8 pathway, and CTGF positively
      promotes this effect.

PMID- 25833298
TI  - Hcmv-miR-UL22A-5p: A Biomarker in Transplantation With Broad Impact on Host Gene
      Expression and Potential Immunological Implications.
AB  - Cytomegalovirus (CMV) encodes multiple microRNAs. While these have been partially
      characterized in vitro, their relevance to clinical CMV infection has not been
      evaluated. We analyzed samples from a cohort of solid organ transplant patients
      with CMV disease (n = 245) for viral microRNA expression. Several CMV microRNAs
      were readily detectable in patients with CMV disease in variable relative
      abundance. Expression level generally correlated with DNA viral load and the
      absence of viral microRNA was associated with faster viral clearance. Detection
      of hcmv-miR-UL22A-5p at baseline independently predicted the recurrence of CMV
      viremia upon discontinuation of antiviral therapy (OR 3.024, 95% CI: 1.35-6.8; p
      = 0.007). A combination of direct mRNA targeting by the microRNA and indirect
      modulation of gene expression involving isoforms of the transcriptional regulator
      C-MYC may be responsible for the broad effects seen in the association of gene
      transcripts with the RNA-induced silencing complex and in global protein
      expression upon hcmv-miR-UL22A-5p transfection. This novel study of in vivo viral
      microRNA expression profiles provides unique insight into the complexity of
      clinical CMV infection following transplantation. We provide evidence that viral
      microRNAs may have complex effects on gene expression and be associated with
      specific virologic and clinical outcomes, and thus could be further evaluated as
      biomarkers.

PMID- 25833300
TI  - A dynamic and self-crosslinked polysaccharide hydrogel with autonomous self
      healing ability.
AB  - Natural polymeric hydrogels with self-healing capability that can recover the
      functionalities and structures of gels after damage are extremely attractive due
      to their emerging applications in the biomedical field. Here we report a self
      healable polymeric hydrogel by self-crosslinking two natural polymers acrylamide
      modified chitin (AMC) containing amino groups and oxidized alginate containing
      dialdehyde groups. The generation of the self-crosslinked hydrogel relies on the
      dynamic covalent linkage through Schiff base between the polysaccharide chains.
      The self-healing capability of the crosslinked hydrogel depends on the molar
      ratio of AMC and oxidized alginate and the surrounding pH. Under certain
      circumstances, the damaged hydrogel shows a complete recovery and can be
      stretched to a favorable extent, which is seldom observed for polysaccharide self
      healing hydrogel. Notably, we find that the self-healing ability can be "stored"
      by freeze-drying and "activated" by rehydration. In addition, we demonstrate that
      the hydrogel can be used as a soft template to guide the repair of inorganic
      materials like hydroxyapatite. We anticipate that this self-healable hydrogel
      consisting of biocompatible and biodegradable polysaccharides can be applied to
      various biomedical fields. 

PMID- 25833299
TI  - Increased linear bone growth by GH in the absence of SOCS2 is independent of IGF
      1.
AB  - Growth hormone (GH) signaling is essential for postnatal linear bone growth, but
      the relative importance of GHs actions on the liver and/or growth plate cartilage
      remains unclear. The importance of liver derived insulin like-growth factor-1
      (IGF-1) for endochondral growth has recently been challenged. Here, we
      investigate linear growth in Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling-2 (SOCS2) knockout
      mice, which have enhanced growth despite normal systemic GH/IGF-1 levels. Wild
      type embryonic ex vivo metatarsals failed to exhibit increased linear growth in
      response to GH, but displayed increased Socs2 transcript levels (P < 0.01). In
      the absence of SOCS2, GH treatment enhanced metatarsal linear growth over a 12
      day period. Despite this increase, IGF-1 transcript and protein levels were not
      increased in response to GH. In accordance with these data, IGF-1 levels were
      unchanged in GH-challenged postnatal Socs2(-/-) conditioned medium despite
      metatarsals showing enhanced linear growth. Growth-plate Igf1 mRNA levels were
      not elevated in juvenile Socs2(-/-) mice. GH did however elevate IGF-binding
      protein 3 levels in conditioned medium from GH challenged metatarsals and this
      was more apparent in Socs2(-/-) metatarsals. GH did not enhance the growth of
      Socs2(-/-) metatarsals when the IGF receptor was inhibited, suggesting that IGF
      receptor mediated mechanisms are required. IGF-2 may be responsible as IGF-2
      promoted metatarsal growth and Igf2 expression was elevated in Socs2(-/-) (but
      not WT) metatarsals in response to GH. These studies emphasise the critical
      importance of SOCS2 in regulating GHs ability to promote bone growth. Also, GH
      appears to act directly on the metatarsals of Socs2(-/-) mice, promoting growth
      via a mechanism that is independent of IGF-1.

PMID- 25833302
TI  - Acid suppressing therapy as a risk factor for Candida esophagitis.
AB  - Studies were reviewed from PubMed for risk factors for the development,
      recurrence, prevention and therapy of Candida esophagitis, and for mechanisms
      induced by acid-suppressing therapy potentially influencing these factors.
      Documented observations included greatly increased Candida populations in the
      mouth, esophagus, stomach, and upper small intestine induced by acid-suppressing
      therapy. Among patients without HIV disease, PPI consumers more frequently had
      developed Candida esophagitis than did non-consumers and had also developed its
      recurrences more frequently. Similar phenomena associated with H2 -blocker use
      were less intense, and the possibility of similar phenomena in patients with HIV
      disease apparently had not yet been examined in spite of their high frequency of
      this disorder. PPI-induced elimination of the gastric acid barrier is a major
      mechanism leading to oro-pharyngeal and esophageal candida colonization, while
      PPI-induced impairment of absorption of most orally administered antifungal
      agents may limit the prophylactic and therapeutic success of these agents. These
      observations suggest potential value in limiting PPI use in populations of
      patients with Candida infections including esophagitis, as well as in patients at
      risk for their development, and also suggest that post-PPI rebound acid
      hypersecretion may provide additional anti-Candida benefit. Studies designed to
      develop the risk-benefit ratios of PPI use in these patients deserve
      investigation with high priority appropriate for studies in patients with HIV
      disease. 

PMID- 25833301
TI  - Incidence and clinical features of extramedullary multiple myeloma in patients
      who underwent stem cell transplantation.
AB  - Extramedullary disease (EMD), defined as an infiltrate of clonal plasma cells at
      an anatomic site distant from the bone marrow, is an uncommon manifestation of
      multiple myeloma. Six hundred and sixty-three consecutive patients with multiple
      myeloma who underwent stem cell transplantation between January 2005 and December
      2011 were assessed for the presence of EMD. A cohort of 55 patients with biopsy
      proven EMD was identified, comprising 8.3% of the total study population. EMD was
      present at the time of diagnosis in 14.5% of cases and at the time of relapse in
      76% of patients. The most common EMD presentations at relapse were liver
      involvement and pleural effusions. EMD specimens had high expression of CD44
      (92%) and moderate expression of CXCR4. The median overall survival from time of
      myeloma diagnosis was 4.1 years (95% CI: 3.1, 5.1) and the median overall
      survival from time of EMD diagnosis was 1.3 years (95% CI: 0.8, 2.3). This report
      demonstrates that the incidence of EMD has not increased with the introduction of
      novel agents and stem cell transplantation. The most common EMD presentations in
      the relapsed setting were liver and pleural fluid. The presence of CD44 and CXCR4
      expression may represent new markers of EMD that warrant further investigation. 

PMID- 25833303
TI  - The phrenic nerve as a donor for brachial plexus injuries: is it safe and
      effective? Case series and literature analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Controversy exists surrounding the use of the phrenic nerve for
      transfer in severe brachial plexus injuries. The objectives of this study are:
      (1) to present the experience of the authors using the phrenic nerve in a single
      institution; and (2) to thoroughly review the existing literature to date.
      METHODS: Adult patients with C5-D1 and C5-C8 lesions and a phrenic nerve transfer
      were retrospectively included. Patients with follow-up shorter than 18 months
      were excluded. The MRC muscle strength grading system was used to rate the
      outcome. Clinical repercussions relating to sectioning of the phrenic nerve were
      studied. An intense rehabilitation program was started after surgery, and
      compliance to this program was monitored using a previously described scale.
      Statistical analysis was performed with the obtained data. RESULTS: Fifty-one
      patients were included. The mean time between trauma and surgery was 5.7 months.
      Three-quarters of the patients had C5-D1, with the remainder C5-C8. Mean post
      operative follow-up was 32.5 months A MRC of M4 was achieved in 62.7% patients,
      M3 21.6%, M2 in 3.9%, and M1 in 11.8%. The only significant differences between
      the two groups were in graft length (9.8 vs. 15.1 cm, p = 0.01); and in the
      rehabilitation compliance score (2.86 vs. 2.00, p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Results
      of phrenic nerve transfer are predictable and good, especially if the grafts are
      short and the rehabilitation is adequate. It may adversely affect respiratory
      function tests, but this rarely correlates clinically. Contraindications to the
      use of the phrenic nerve exist and should be respected.

PMID- 25833304
TI  - Subsidence as of 12 months after single-level anterior cervical inter-body
      fusion. Is it related to clinical outcomes?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Subsidence is a frequent phenomenon in the interbody fusion process
      in patients with anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). There is little
      evidence of whether subsidence in the cervical spine has any impact on clinical
      outcomes. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation
      of subsidence and clinical outcomes after ACDF and to consider reasons subsidence
      might not cause unfavorable clinical outcomes. METHODS: A total of 158
      consecutive patients who underwent single-level ACDF were included. The patients
      were divided into a subsidence group (S-group) and a no subsidence group (N
      group), with subsidence defined as a decrease by >=3 mm in total intervertebral
      height (TIH). We analyzed outcomes resulting from subsidence, particularly
      focusing on clinical outcomes and subsequent global and segmental kyphosis using
      a repeated measure analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA). RESULTS: Subsidence occurred
      in 74 patients (46.8%) as of a 12-month follow-up. The S-group included 58.6%
      with a stand-alone cage for interbody fusion (p = 0.002). Clinical outcomes
      improved significantly over time (neck pain, RM-ANOVA: F(1.3, 205) = 125.1, p <
      0.001; arm pain, RM-ANOVA: F(1.3, 203) = 290.8, p < 0.001). There was no
      significant difference in interaction with subsidence and clinical outcomes
      between the S- and N-group (neck pain, RM-ANOVA: F(2,153) = 1.04, p = 0.356,
      partial eta(2) = 0.229; arm pain, RM-ANOVA: F(2,153) = 0.56, p = 0.571, partial
      eta(2) = 0.142). Segmental angle increased in both groups over time and showed a
      statistically significant difference between the S- and N-groups (RM-ANOVA:
      F(3,143) = 6.148, p = 0.001, partial eta(2) = 0.959). Although, global cervical
      angle decreased generally and displayed no statically significant difference
      between the S- and N-group (RM-ANOVA: F(3,119) = 2.361, p = 0.075, partial eta(2)
      = 0.056). CONCLUSIONS: Radiographic subsidence after ACDF occurred in 46.8%
      patients as of 12 months after the single-level ACDF. The lack of correlation
      between bad clinical outcome and radiographic subsidence may be due to segmental
      kyphosis, preserved posterior height, and maintaining the global cervical angle.

PMID- 25833305
TI  - Nanophotonic control of circular dipole emission.
AB  - Controlling photon emission by single emitters with nanostructures is crucial for
      scalable on-chip information processing. Nowadays, nanoresonators can affect the
      lifetime of linear dipole emitters, while nanoantennas can steer the emission
      direction. Expanding this control to the emission of orbital angular momentum
      changing transitions would enable a future coupling between solid state and
      photonic qubits. As these transitions are associated with circular dipoles, such
      control requires knowledge of the interaction of a complex dipole with optical
      eigenstates containing local helicity. We experimentally map the coupling of
      classical, circular dipoles to photonic modes in a photonic crystal waveguide. We
      show that, depending on the combination of the local helicity of the mode and the
      dipole helicity, circular dipoles can couple to left- or rightwards propagating
      modes with a near-unity directionality. The experimental maps are in excellent
      agreement with calculations. Our measurements, therefore, demonstrate the
      possibility of coupling the spin to photonic pathway. 

PMID- 25833307
TI  - CCR 20th Anniversary commentary: in search of cetuximab's first indication
      combination therapy with irinotecan in colorectal cancer.
AB  - The research article by Prewett and colleagues, published in the May 1, 2002,
      issue of Clinical Cancer Research, provided important translational data that
      extended earlier preclinical and clinical studies with the human-murine chimeric
      anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody C225. Subsequent clinical trials with C225 led to
      the demonstration of its efficacy in combination with irinotecan and regulatory
      approval for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.

PMID- 25833308
TI  - Conditional Survival: A Useful Concept to Provide Information on How Prognosis
      Evolves over Time.
AB  - Conditional survival (CS) is defined as the probability of surviving further t
      years, given that a patient has already survived s years after the diagnosis of a
      chronic disease. It is the simplest form of a dynamic prediction in which other
      events in the course of the disease or biomarker values measured up to time s can
      be incorporated. CS has attracted attention in recent years either in an absolute
      or relative form where the latter is based on a comparison with an age-adjusted
      normal population being highly relevant from a public health perspective. In its
      absolute form, CS constitutes the quantity of major interest in a clinical
      context. Given a clinical cohort of patients with a particular type of cancer,
      absolute CS can be estimated by conditional Kaplan-Meier estimates in strata
      defined, for example, by age and disease stage or by a conditional version of the
      Cox and other regression models for time-to-event data. CS can be displayed as a
      function of the prediction time s in parametric as well as nonparametric fashion.
      We illustrate the use of absolute CS in a large clinical cohort of patients with
      multiple myeloma. For investigating CS, it is necessary to ensure almost complete
      long-term follow-up of the patients enrolled in the clinical cohort and to
      consider potential age-stage migration as well as changing treatment modalities
      over time. CS provides valuable and relevant information on how prognosis
      develops over time. It also serves as a starting point for identifying factors
      related to long-term survival.

PMID- 25833309
TI  - Correction: Molecular Pathways: Targeting the Kinase Effectors of RHO-Family
      GTPases.

PMID- 25833310
TI  - Correction: TRAIL and Doxorubicin Combination Induces Proapoptotic and
      Antiangiogenic Effects in Soft Tissue Sarcoma In Vivo.

PMID- 25833311
TI  - Correction: Combining PCI-24781, a Novel Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor, with
      Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Soft Tissue Sarcoma.

PMID- 25833313
TI  - Substantial production of drosophilin A methyl ether (tetrachloro-1,4
      dimethoxybenzene) by the lignicolous basidiomycete Phellinus badius in the
      heartwood of mesquite (Prosopis juliflora) trees.
AB  - Toxic organohalogen pollutants produced as by-products of industrial processes,
      such as chloroform and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, also have significant
      natural sources. A substantial terrestrial source of halogenated organics
      originates from fungal decay of wood and leaf litter. Here we show that the
      lignicolous basidiomycete Phellinus badius deposits up to 30,000 mg of the
      halogenated metabolite drosophilin A methyl ether (DAME, tetrachloro-1,4
      dimethoxybenzene) per kilogram of decayed heartwood in the mesquite Prosopis
      juliflora. DAME occurs as clusters of glassy crystals up to 1 mm long within the
      decayed heartwood. In addition, the Phellinus badius basidiocarps contain an
      average of 24,000 mg DAME/kg dried fruiting body, testifying to the significant
      translocation and accumulation of Cl accompanied by DAME biosynthesis. The high
      DAME concentrations attest to the substantial Cl content of the heartwood, which
      averages near 5,000 ppm, with Cl/K near 1:1, consistent with an inorganic
      chloride precursor. Phellinus badius has a circumglobal distribution in the
      tropics and subtropics, where it is widely distributed on hardwoods and commonly
      associated with decay of mesquite. There is the potential for extensive DAME
      formation within decayed heartwood worldwide given the extensive range of
      Phellinus badius and its propensity to form DAME within mesquites. Further, DAME
      production is not limited to Phellinus badius but occurs in a range of
      lignicolous basidiomycetes, suggesting a significant natural reservoir for this
      chloroaromatic with potential environmental implications. 

PMID- 25833312
TI  - Synergism of ursolic acid derivative US597 with 2-deoxy-D-glucose to
      preferentially induce tumor cell death by dual-targeting of apoptosis and
      glycolysis.
AB  - Ursolic acid (UA) is a naturally bioactive product that exhibits potential
      anticancer effects. The relatively safe and effective molecule intrigued us to
      explore a way to further improve its anti-cancer activity and tumor-targeting
      specificity. In the present study, a series of structural modifications of UA was
      achieved, which resulted in significant increase in growth inhibition on various
      cancer cell lines with minimal effects on normal cells. The leading molecule
      US597 (UA-4) caused depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential, cell
      arrest in G0/G1 phase and apoptosis/necrosis in a dose-dependent manner.
      Structural docking suggested that the carbon chains of the modified UA
      derivatives compete strongly with glucose for binding to glucokinase, the key
      glycolysis enzyme presumably active in cancer cells. The combination of 2-deoxy-D
      glucose (2-DG) and UA-4 induced cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase, promoted caspase
      dependent cell death, reduced hexokinase activity, aggravated depletion of
      intracellular ATP, decreased lactate production and synergistically inhibited
      cancer cell growth in vitro (HepG2) and in vivo (H22). Collectively, our findings
      suggest that the structural modification enhances efficacy and selectivity of UA,
      and the combination of UA-4 with 2-DG produces synergistic inhibition on hepatoma
      cell proliferation by dual targeting of apoptosis and glycolysis. 

PMID- 25833315
TI  - Electronic transport in benzodifuran single-molecule transistors.
AB  - Benzodifuran (BDF) single-molecule transistors have been fabricated in
      electromigration break junctions for electronic measurements. The inelastic
      electron tunneling spectrum validates that the BDF molecule is the pathway of
      charge transport. The gating effect is analyzed in the framework of a single
      level tunneling model combined with transition voltage spectroscopy (TVS). The
      analysis reveals that the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of the thiol
      terminated BDF molecule dominates the charge transport through Au-BDF-Au
      junctions. Moreover, the energy shift of the HOMO caused by the gate voltage is
      the main reason for conductance modulation. In contrast, the electronic coupling
      between the BDF molecule and the gold electrodes, which significantly affects the
      low-bias junction conductance, is only influenced slightly by the applied gate
      voltage. These findings will help in the design of future molecular electronic
      devices. 

PMID- 25833314
TI  - Chlamydia pneumoniae and Chlamydia Trachomatis Infection Differentially Modulates
      Human Dendritic Cell Line (MUTZ) Differentiation and Activation.
AB  - Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia pneumoniae are important human pathogens that
      infect the urogenital/anorectal and respiratory tracts, respectively. Whilst the
      ability of these bacteria to infect epithelia is well defined, there is also
      considerable evidence of infection of leucocytes, including dendritic cells
      (DCs). Using a human dendritic cell line (MUTZ), we demonstrate that the
      infection and replication of chlamydiae inside DCs is species and serovar
      specific and that live infection with C. pneumoniae is required to upregulate
      costimulatory markers CD80, CD83 and human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DR on MUTZ
      cells, as well as induce secretion of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12
      (p70), interferon-gamma and tumour necrosis factor-alpha Conversely, C.
      trachomatis serovar D failed to upregulate DC costimulatory markers, but did
      induce secretion of high concentrations of IL-8. Interestingly, we also observed
      that infection of MUTZ cells with C. pneumoniae or C. trachomatis serovar L2,
      whilst not replicative, remained infectious and upregulated lymph node migratory
      marker CCR7 mRNA. Taken together, these data confirm the findings of other groups
      using primary DCs and demonstrate the utility of MUTZ cells for further studies
      of chlamydial infection.

PMID- 25833316
TI  - Genetic Approaches To Identifying Novel Osteoporosis Drug Targets.
AB  - During the past two decades effective drugs for treating osteoporosis have been
      developed, including anti-resorptives inhibiting bone resorption (estrogens, the
      SERM raloxifene, four bisphosphonates, RANKL inhibitor denosumab) and the
      anabolic bone forming daily injectable peptide teriparatide. Two potential drugs
      (odanacatib and romosozumab) are in late stage clinical development. The most
      pressing unmet need is for orally active anabolic drugs. This review describes
      the basic biological studies involved in developing these drugs, including the
      animal models employed for osteoporosis drug development. The genomics revolution
      continues to identify potential novel osteoporosis drug targets. Studies include
      human GWAS studies and identification of mutant genes in subjects having abnormal
      bone mass, mouse QTL and gene knockouts, and gene expression studies. Multiple
      lines of evidence indicate that Wnt signaling plays a major role in regulating
      bone formation and continued study of this complex pathway is likely to lead to
      key discoveries. In addition to the classic Wnt signaling targets DKK1 and
      sclerostin, LRP4, LRP5/LRP6, SFRP4, WNT16, and NOTUM can potentially be targeted
      to modulate Wnt signaling. Next-generation whole genome and exome sequencing, RNA
      sequencing and CRISPR/CAS9 gene editing are new experimental techniques
      contributing to understanding the genome. The International Knockout Mouse
      Consortium efforts to knockout and phenotype all mouse genes are poised to
      accelerate. Accumulating knowledge will focus attention on readily accessible
      databases (Big Data). Efforts are underway by the International Bone and Mineral
      Society to develop an annotated Skeletome database providing information on all
      genes directly influencing bone mass, architecture, mineralization or strength.

PMID- 25833317
TI  - Further evidence for a pain pathway involving the cingulate gyrus: a case of
      chronic cluster headache cured by glioblastoma.
AB  - The authors report a case of a 49-year-old man with long-standing, chronic
      cluster headache (CH) refractory to medical therapy and occipital nerve
      stimulation that resolved a few weeks prior to the diagnosis of glioblastoma
      involving primarily the right cingulate gyrus. An attempt to explore the
      underlying role of the cingulate cortex in pain modulation by appraising the
      current literature is presented. This report suggests that the cingulate gyri
      could be a potential target for neuromodulation in patients with medically
      refractory chronic CH.

PMID- 25833318
TI  - Efficacy of a vaporization-resection of the prostate median lobe enlargement and
      vaporization of the prostate lateral lobe for benign prostatic hyperplasia using
      a 120-W GreenLight high-performance system laser: the effect on storage symptoms.
AB  - GreenLight laser photoselective vaporization of the prostate (PVP) was
      established as a minimally invasive procedure to treat patients with benign
      prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). However, it may be difficult to achieve adequate
      tissue removal from a large prostate, particularly those with an enlarged median
      lobe. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility and clinical
      effect of a 120-W GreenLight high-performance system laser vaporization-resection
      for an enlarged prostate median lobe compared with those of only vaporization. A
      total of 126 patients from January 2010 to January 2014 had an enlarged prostate
      median lobe and were included in this study. Ninety-six patients underwent
      vaporization only (VP group), and 30 patients underwent vaporization-resection
      for an enlarged median lobe (VR group). The clinical outcomes were International
      Prostate Symptoms Score (IPSS), quality of life (QOL), maximum flow rate (Q max),
      and post-void residual urine volume (PVR) assessed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months
      postoperatively between the two groups. The parameters were not significantly
      different preoperatively between the two groups, except for PVR. Operative time
      and laser time were shorter in the VR group than those in the VP group. (74.1 vs.
      61.9 min and 46.7 vs. 37.8 min; P = 0.020 and 0.013, respectively) and used less
      energy (218.2 vs. 171.8 kJ, P = 0.025). Improved IPSS values, increased Q max,
      and a reduced PVR were seen in the two groups. In particular, improved storage
      IPSS values were higher at 1 and 3 months in the VR group than those in the VP
      group (P = 0.030 and 0.022, respectively). No significant complications were
      detected in either group. Median lobe tissue vaporization-resection was complete,
      and good voiding results were achieved. Although changes in urinary symptoms were
      similar between patients who received the two techniques, shorter operating time
      and lower energy were superior with the vaporization-resection technique. In
      addition, vaporization-resection may have a beneficial effect on storage
      symptoms.

PMID- 25833319
TI  - Knowledge and Attitudes of Cervical Cancer Screening Among Caribbean Women: A
      Qualitative Interview Study From Barbados.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to explore Barbadian women's attitudes toward and
      knowledge of routine cervical cancer screening (Pap tests). We conducted semi
      structured individual interviews with fourteen female patients between the ages
      of 20 and 60 years who attended a selected public clinic in Barbados in May and
      June 2013. Interviews were audio-recorded with participants' consent. The
      interviews were then transcribed verbatim and, using thematic content analysis,
      indexed and coded inductively for emerging similar themes. We identified four
      themes: (1) women had poor knowledge of the purpose of Pap tests. The most
      frequently occurring misconception was that the test was for the detection of
      sexually transmitted infections. (2) The women displayed limited cervical cancer
      awareness. (3) Health professionals were identified by the women as the main
      driving force behind women taking up screening. (4) The screening procedure was
      perceived as painful, but women's overriding attitude was that screening was
      necessary. These findings suggest that Barbadian women would benefit from focused
      health education efforts surrounding cervical cancer screening to eradicate the
      misconception that the purpose of the Pap test is the detection of sexually
      transmitted diseases. 

PMID- 25833320
TI  - Cytomegalovirus glycoprotein B genotypes in Mexican children and women.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is widely distributed and constitutes the main
      cause of congenital infections worldwide. CMV transmission during pregnancy
      represents one of the major impacts of this virus on public health. This study
      aimed at assessing glycoprotein B (gB) CMV genotypes in Mexican children and
      pregnant women, since there is limited information regarding CMV genomic
      diversity in Mexico. METHODS: We analyzed CMV strains detected in Mexican
      children (n = 38) and women (n = 38) between 2001 and 2012. A fragment of the gB
      gene was amplified and sequenced, and genotypes were defined based on prototype
      sequences. RESULTS: The gB1 genotype was detected more frequently in children
      (68.4%) compared to women (31.6%; p = 0.0028), while genotype 2 was more common
      in women (65.8%) compared to children (26.3%, p = 0.0012). Genotype 3 was
      uncommon in both groups (5.3 and 2.6%). Nucleotide sequences exhibited a high
      degree of similarity to prototype strains. However, we identified 17 distinct
      sequences that resulted in changes in the encoded amino acid sequence in four
      strains. CONCLUSIONS: gB1 and gB2 are the most common strains associated with CMV
      infection in Mexican children and women. In addition, we found that the frequency
      for each genotype differed amongst them, possibly due to variability in
      transmission or reactivation dynamics.

PMID- 25833321
TI  - The empirical status of psychodynamic psychotherapy - an update: Bambi's alive
      and kicking.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Task Force on Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological
      Procedures proposed rigorous criteria to define empirically supported
      psychotherapies. According to these criteria, 2 randomized controlled trials
      (RCTs) showing efficacy are required for a treatment to be designated as
      'efficacious' and 1 RCT for a designation as 'possibly efficacious'. Applying
      these criteria modified by Chambless and Hollon, this article presents an update
      on the evidence for psychodynamic therapy (PDT) in specific mental disorders.
      METHODS: A systematic search was performed using the criteria by Chambless and
      Hollon for study selection, as follows: (1) RCT of PDT in adults, (2) use of
      reliable and valid measures for diagnosis and outcome, (3) use of treatment
      manuals or manual-like guidelines, (4) adult population treated for specific
      problems and (5) PDT superior to no treatment, placebo or alternative treatment
      or equivalent to an established treatment. RESULTS: A total of 39 RCTs were
      included. Following Chambless and Hollon, PDT can presently be designated as
      efficacious in major depressive disorder (MDD), social anxiety disorder,
      borderline and heterogeneous personality disorders, somatoform pain disorder, and
      anorexia nervosa. For MDD, this also applies to the combination with
      pharmacotherapy. PDT can be considered as possibly efficacious in dysthymia,
      complicated grief, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and substance
      abuse/dependence. Evidence is lacking for obsessive-compulsive, posttraumatic
      stress, bipolar and schizophrenia spectrum disorder(s). CONCLUSIONS: Evidence has
      emerged that PDT is efficacious or possibly efficacious in a wide range of common
      mental disorders. Further research is required for those disorders for which
      sufficient evidence does not yet exist.

PMID- 25833322
TI  - Highly Efficient Solid-Phase Labeling of Saccharides within Boronic Acid
      Functionalized Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles.
AB  - Labeling is critical for the detection, quantitation, and structural
      identification of saccharides. However, conventional liquid-phase labeling
      suffers from apparent disadvantages, such as time-consuming, the presence of
      excessive labeling reagent, and high applicable saccharide concentration. A solid
      phase approach is presented for highly efficient labeling of saccharides, using
      boronic acid functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) as a selective
      extraction sorbent and nanoscale reactor. The solid-phase labeling approach
      exhibited several significant advantages, including: much faster reaction speed
      (taking only 2 min), high product purity, and much lower applicable saccharide
      concentration (four orders of magnitude lower than that of liquid-phase
      labeling). Thus, this labeling approach opens up new avenues to the facile and
      efficient labeling of saccharides. 

PMID- 25833323
TI  - Hepatic stellate cell and monocyte interaction contributes to poor prognosis in
      hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients suffer from a poor survival rate and a
      high incidence of postoperative recurrence. The hepatic microenvironment plays a
      significant role in the initiation, progression, and recurrence of HCC; however,
      the causal mechanisms of these phenomena are unclear. Given the predominant
      underlying fibrotic and cirrhotic conditions of the liver prone to HCC and its
      recurrence, alterations of components of the inflammatory milieu have been
      suggested as factors that promote HCC development. In particular, activated
      hepatic stellate cells (A-HSCs), which play a key role in liver fibrosis and
      cirrhosis, have been suggested as contributors to the HCC-prone microenvironment.
      Here, we have identified and validated an A-HSC-specific gene expression
      signature among nontumor tissues of 319 HCC patients that is significantly and
      independently associated with HCC recurrence and survival. Peritumoral, rather
      than tumor tissue-related, A-HSC-specific gene expression is associated with
      recurrence and poor survival. Analyses of A-HSC-specific gene signatures and
      further immunohistochemical validation in an additional 143 HCC patients have
      revealed that A-HSCs preferentially affect monocyte populations, shifting their
      gene expression from an inflammatory to an immunosuppressive signature. In
      addition, the interaction between A-HSCs and monocytes induces protumorigenic and
      progressive features of HCC cells by enhancing cell migration and tumor sphere
      formation. CONCLUSION: A-HSCs play a significant role in promoting HCC
      progression through interaction with and alteration of monocyte activities within
      the liver microenvironment; thus, disrupting the interactions and signaling
      events between the inflammatory milieu and components of the microenvironment may
      be useful therapeutic strategies for preventing HCC tumor relapse.

PMID- 25833325
TI  - Identification of amino acid residues involved in hemin binding in Porphyromonas
      gingivalis hemagglutinin 2.
AB  - Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) is a major etiological agent in the
      development and progression of chronic periodontitis. It produces cysteine
      proteases (gingipains), including a lysine-specific gingipain and two arginine
      specific gingipains. Heme binding and uptake are fundamental to the growth and
      virulence of P. gingivalis. The recombinant hemagglutinin 2 domain (rHA2) of
      gingipain binds hemin with high affinity. The aim of the present work was to
      identify the key residues involved in its hemin-binding activity. A functional
      rHA2 was expressed and bound to hemin-agarose, and then digested with
      endopeptidases. The peptides bound to hemin-agarose were identified by mass
      spectrometry and the amino acids were assessed by mutation and peptide binding
      inhibition analysis. The DHYAVMISK sequence was identified in peptides derived
      from both Asp-N and Lys-C endopeptidase digestions of rHA2. A monoclonal
      antibody, mAb QB, was produced and its epitope was associated with the
      DGFPGDHYAVMISK peptide within the HA2 domain. Hemin was shown to competitively
      inhibit the immunoreactivity of rHA2 or the peptide to mAb QB. The peptide
      DHYAVMISK inhibited hemin-binding activity; although, this inhibition was not
      seen when the peptide contained the H1001E mutation (DEYAVMISK). Based on these
      results, we propose that residue His1001 is involved in the hemin-binding
      mechanism of the P. gingivalis rHA2 and the peptide containing this residue,
      DHYAVMISK, may be an inhibitor of hemin binding.

PMID- 25833326
TI  - An apple a day does not keep the doctor away, US study finds.

PMID- 25833327
TI  - Primary and secondary stabbing headache.
AB  - Eight out of the 33 cases of primary stabbing headache seen in a general
      neurology clinic (40% have headache as their chief complaint) in the last 3.5
      years are presented. The epidemiology, association with other primary headache
      disorders, secondary associations, testing, and treatment of primary stabbing
      headache are reviewed. 

PMID- 25833329
TI  - Respiratory-gated (4D) FDG-PET detects tumour and normal lung response after
      stereotactic radiotherapy for pulmonary metastases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Response assessment after stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy
      (SABR) in lung can be confounded by radiation-induced inflammation, fibrosis and
      subsequent alteration of tumour motion. The purpose of this prospective pilot
      study was to evaluate the utility of four-dimensional (4D) FDG-PET/CT for post
      SABR tumour and normal lung response assessment in pulmonary oligometastases.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients enrolled from February 2010 to December 2011 in
      this prospective ethics approved study had 1-2 pulmonary metastases on staging
      FDG-PET. Serial contemporaneous 3D and 4D FDG-PET/CT scans were performed at
      baseline, 14 days and 70 days after a single fraction of 26 Gy SABR. Tumour
      response was evaluated in 3D and 4D using SUVmax, RECIST and PERCIST criteria.
      Normal lung radiotoxicity was evaluated using SUVmean within 0-2 Gy, 2-5 Gy, 5-10
      Gy, 10-20 Gy and 20 + Gy isodose volumes. RESULTS: In total, 17 patients were
      enrolled of which seven were ineligible due to interval progression from staging
      PET to baseline 4D-PET. The mean time between scans was 62 days. At a median
      follow-up of 16 months, 10 patients with 13 metastases received SABR, with no
      patient having local progression. The vector of tumour motion was larger in
      patients with discordant 3D and 4D PET PERCIST response (p < 0.01), with a mean
      (+/- SEM) motion of 10.5 mm (+/- 0.96 mm) versus 6.14 mm (+/- 0.81 mm) in those
      patients with concordant 3D and 4D response. Surrounding normal lung FDG uptake
      at 70 days was strongly correlated to delivered radiation dose (r(2) = 0.99, p <
      0.01), with significant elevations across all dose levels (p <= 0.05), except the
      < 2 Gy volume (p = 0.30). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate high rates of interval
      progression between staging PET scans in patients with oligometastases. We found
      that tumour response on conventional 3D PET is not concordant with 4D PET for
      tumours with large motion. Normal lung metabolic uptake is strongly dose
      dependent after SABR, a novel finding that should be further validated.

PMID- 25833328
TI  - Sick leave and disability pension among Swedish testicular cancer survivors
      according to clinical stage and treatment.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate if testicular cancer survivors (TCSs) have a higher
      incidence of work loss compared with the population, accounting for stage,
      treatment and relapse. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cohort of 2146 Swedish TCSs
      diagnosed 1995-2007 (seminoma n = 926, non-seminoma n = 1220) was identified in
      the SWENOTECA (Swedish-Norwegian Testicular Cancer Group) register, and matched
      1:4 to population comparators. Prospectively recorded work loss data (both before
      and after diagnosis) were obtained from national registers through September
      2013. Adjusted relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of sick
      leave and/or disability pension were calculated annually and overall with Poisson
      and Cox regression, censoring at relapse. The mean number of annual work days
      lost was also estimated. RESULTS: TCSs were at a modestly increased annual risk
      of work loss up to the third year of follow-up (RR3rd year 1.25, 95% CI 1.08,
      1.43), attributed to a more pronounced risk among extensively treated patients (4
      chemotherapy courses: RR3rd year 1.60, 95% CI 1.19, 2.15; > 4 courses: RR3rd year
      3.70, 95% CI 2.25, 6.11). Patients on surveillance or limited treatment
      (radiotherapy, 1-3 chemotherapy courses) did not have an increased risk of work
      loss beyond the first year. TCSs receiving > 4 chemotherapy courses had higher
      mean number of annual days of work loss up to the 10th year post-diagnosis, and a
      five-fold risk of disability pension (RR 5.16, 95% CI 2.00, 10.3). CONCLUSION:
      Extensively treated TCSs, but not those on surveillance or limited treatment, are
      at increased risk of work loss long-term, not explained by relapse. These
      patients may benefit from early rehabilitation initiatives.

PMID- 25833330
TI  - Prospective evaluation of planar bone scintigraphy, SPECT, SPECT/CT, 18F-NaF
      PET/CT and whole body 1.5T MRI, including DWI, for the detection of bone
      metastases in high risk breast and prostate cancer patients: SKELETA clinical
      trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: Detection of bone metastases in breast and prostate cancer patients
      remains a major clinical challenge. The aim of the current trial was to compare
      the diagnostic accuracy of (99m)Tc-hydroxymethane diphosphonate ((99m)Tc-HDP)
      planar bone scintigraphy (BS), (99m)Tc-HDP SPECT, (99m)Tc-HDP SPECT/CT, (18)F-NaF
      PET/CT and whole body 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including
      diffusion weighted imaging, (wbMRI+DWI) for the detection of bone metastases in
      high risk breast and prostate cancer patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-six
      breast and 27 prostate cancer patients at high risk of bone metastases underwent
      (99m)Tc-HDP BS, (99m)Tc-HDP SPECT, (99m)Tc-HDP SPECT/CT, (18)F-NaF PET/CT and
      wbMRI+DWI. Five independent reviewers interpreted each individual modality
      without the knowledge of other imaging findings. The final metastatic status was
      based on the consensus reading, clinical and imaging follow-up (minimal and
      maximal follow-up time was 6, and 32 months, respectively). The bone findings
      were compared on patient-, region-, and lesion-level. RESULTS: (99m)Tc-HDP BS was
      false negative in four patients. In the region-based analysis, sensitivity values
      for (99m)Tc-HDP BS, (99m)Tc-HDP SPECT, (99m)Tc-HDP SPECT/CT, (18)F-NaF PET/CT,
      and wbMRI+DWI were 62%, 74%, 85%, 93%, and 91%, respectively. The number of
      equivocal findings for (99m)Tc-HDP BS, (99m)Tc-HDP SPECT, (99m)Tc-HDP SPECT/CT,
      (18)F-NaF PET/CT and wbMRI+DWI was 50, 44, 5, 6, and 4, respectively. CONCLUSION:
      wbMRI+DWI showed similar diagnostic accuracy to (18)F-NaF PET/CT and outperformed
      (99m)Tc-HDP SPECT/CT, and (99m)Tc-HDP BS.

PMID- 25833331
TI  - CXCR7 Mediates Neural Progenitor Cells Migration to CXCL12 Independent of CXCR4.
AB  - Neural progenitor cell (NPC) migration is an essential process for brain
      development, adult neurogenesis, and neuroregeneration after brain injury.
      Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1, CXCL12) and its traditional receptor CXCR4
      are well known to regulate NPC migration. However, the discovery of CXCR7, a
      newly identified CXCL12 receptor, adds to the dynamics of the existing
      CXCL12/CXCR4 pair. Antagonists for either CXCR4 or CXCR7 blocked CXCL12-mediated
      NPC migration in a transwell chemotaxis assay, suggesting that both receptors are
      required for CXCL12 action. We derived NPC cultures from Cxcr4 knockout (KO) mice
      and used transwell and stripe assays to determine the cell migration. NPCs
      derived from Cxcr4 KO mice polarized and migrated in response to CXCL12 gradient,
      suggesting that CXCR7 could serve as an independent migration receptor.
      Furthermore, Cxcr4 KO NPCs transplanted into the adult mouse striatum migrated in
      response to the adjacent injection of CXCL12, an effect that was blocked by a
      CXCR7 antagonist, suggesting that CXCR7 also mediates NPC migration in vivo.
      Molecular mechanism studies revealed that CXCR7 interact with Rac1 in the leading
      edge of the polarized NPCs in the absence of CXCR4. Both CXCR7 and Rac1 are
      required for extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) 1/2 activation and
      subsequent NPC migration, indicating that CXCR7 could serve as a functional
      receptor in CXCL12-mediated NPC migration independent of CXCR4. Together these
      results reveal an essential role of CXCR7 for CXCL12-mediated NPC migration that
      will be important to understand neurogenesis during development and in adulthood.

PMID- 25833332
TI  - Cost analysis of early versus delayed loop ileostomy closure: a case-matched
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The optimal timing for the closure of loop ileostomies remains
      controversial. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether early
      ileostomy closure (EC) (<2 weeks post-formation) results in significant
      healthcare savings as against late closure (LC). METHODS: Patients with available
      cost data that underwent EC between January 2008 and December 2012 were compared
      against matched patients undergoing LC during the same period. Direct hospital
      costs for the two groups were compared. RESULTS: There were 42 EC patients and 61
      LC patients. EC patients had significantly less ileostomy-related complications
      (p < 0.001) and hospital readmissions (p < 0.001). Operative time (p < 0.001) and
      operative cost (p = 0.002) were also both significantly less in the EC group.
      Community nursing costs favoured the LC group (p = 0.047). The EC group had an
      increased post-closure wound infection rate (p = 0.02). The mean total direct
      cost per patient was NZD 13,724 (SD NZD 3,736) for EC and NZD 16,728 (SD NZD
      8,028) for LC. Representing an average costs saving of NZD 3,004 per patient
      favouring EC (p = 0.012). CONCLUSION: Although EC increases the post-closure
      wound infection rate, EC reduces ileostomy complications, hospital readmissions
      and operative costs resulting in significant healthcare savings. In order to
      improve patient outcomes and make EC even more cost effective, efforts should be
      taken to reduce wound infections.

PMID- 25833334
TI  - Is Cancer a Risk Factor for Cognitive Decline in Late Life?
AB  - With advances in screening and early detection, coupled with improved treatment
      and care, the number of cancer survivors has risen exponentially over the past
      several decades. Moreover, because age is the most significant risk factor for
      cancer, the majority of cancer survivors are over 65 years of age. Finally,
      cancer survivors often experience significant health issues for many years after
      the treatment has subsided. In the current article, we describe select research
      that has focused on changes to cognitive performance associated with cancer and
      its treatment, i.e., alterations that have been colloquially referred to as
      chemobrain. Although understanding changes in cognitive performance following
      cancer treatment is an active area of inquiry, the experience of older adult
      cancer survivors has been somewhat neglected. For example, evidence is mixed as
      to whether changes in cognitive performance associated with normal aging are
      exacerbated by cancer survivorship status. It is also unclear whether a history
      of cancer makes it more or less likely that a person will be diagnosed with
      dementia or Alzheimer's disease in the future. Finally, we identify a number of
      areas where existing cognitive aging research can inform studies on cognitive
      performance following cancer treatment. Future efforts should be directed towards
      designing studies that focus on the experience of older adult cancer survivors
      and are informed by the clinical oncology and cognitive aging literature. 

PMID- 25833324
TI  - Regulation of bacterial virulence by Csr (Rsm) systems.
AB  - Most bacterial pathogens have the remarkable ability to flourish in the external
      environment and in specialized host niches. This ability requires their
      metabolism, physiology, and virulence factors to be responsive to changes in
      their surroundings. It is no surprise that the underlying genetic circuitry that
      supports this adaptability is multilayered and exceedingly complex. Studies over
      the past 2 decades have established that the CsrA/RsmA proteins, global
      regulators of posttranscriptional gene expression, play important roles in the
      expression of virulence factors of numerous proteobacterial pathogens. To
      accomplish these tasks, CsrA binds to the 5' untranslated and/or early coding
      regions of mRNAs and alters translation, mRNA turnover, and/or transcript
      elongation. CsrA activity is regulated by noncoding small RNAs (sRNAs) that
      contain multiple CsrA binding sites, which permit them to sequester multiple CsrA
      homodimers away from mRNA targets. Environmental cues sensed by two-component
      signal transduction systems and other regulatory factors govern the expression of
      the CsrA-binding sRNAs and, ultimately, the effects of CsrA on secretion systems,
      surface molecules and biofilm formation, quorum sensing, motility, pigmentation,
      siderophore production, and phagocytic avoidance. This review presents the
      workings of the Csr system, the paradigm shift that it generated for
      understanding posttranscriptional regulation, and its roles in virulence networks
      of animal and plant pathogens. 

PMID- 25833333
TI  - Meta-analysis of reconstruction techniques after low anterior resection for
      rectal cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Options for reconstruction after low anterior resection (LAR) for
      rectal cancer include straight or side-to-end coloanal anastomosis (CAA), colonic
      J pouch and transverse coloplasty. This systematic review compared these
      techniques in terms of function, surgical outcomes and quality of life. METHODS:
      A systematic literature search (MEDLINE, Embase and the Cochrane Library, from
      inception of the databases until November 2014) was conducted to identify
      randomized clinical trials comparing reconstructive techniques after LAR. Random
      effects meta-analyses were carried out, and results presented as weighted odds
      ratios or mean differences with corresponding 95 per cent c.i. A network meta
      analysis was conducted for the outcome anastomotic leakage. RESULTS: The search
      yielded 965 results; 21 trials comprising data from 1636 patients were included.
      Colonic J pouch was associated with lower stool frequency and antidiarrhoeal
      medication use for up to 1 year after surgery compared with straight CAA.
      Transverse coloplasty and side-to-end CAA had similar functional outcomes to the
      colonic J pouch. No superiority was found for any of the techniques in terms of
      anastomotic leak rate. CONCLUSION: Colonic J pouch and side-to-end CAA or
      transverse coloplasty lead to a better functional outcome than straight CAA for
      the first year after surgery.

PMID- 25833335
TI  - Randomized Trial of Telegenetics vs. In-Person Cancer Genetic Counseling: Cost,
      Patient Satisfaction and Attendance.
AB  - Telegenetics-genetic counseling via live videoconferencing-can improve access to
      cancer genetic counseling (CGC) in underserved areas, but studies on cancer
      telegenetics have not applied randomized methodology or assessed cost. We report
      cost, patient satisfaction and CGC attendance from a randomized trial comparing
      telegenetics with in-person CGC among individuals referred to CGC in four rural
      oncology clinics. Participants (n = 162) were randomized to receive CGC at their
      local oncology clinic in-person or via telegenetics. Cost analyses included
      telegenetics system; mileage; and personnel costs for genetic counselor, IT
      specialist, and clinic personnel. CGC attendance was tracked via study database.
      Patient satisfaction was assessed 1 week post-CGC via telephone survey using
      validated scales. Total costs were $106 per telegenetics patient and $244 per in
      person patient. Patient satisfaction did not differ by group on either
      satisfaction scale. In-person patients were significantly more likely to attend
      CGC than telegenetics patients (89 vs. 79 %, p = 0.03), with bivariate analyses
      showing an association between lesser computer comfort and lower attendance rate
      (Chi-square = 5.49, p = 0.02). Our randomized trial of telegenetics vs. in-person
      counseling found that telegenetics cost less than in-person counseling, with high
      satisfaction among those who attended. This study provides support for future
      randomized trials comparing multiple service delivery models on longer-term
      psychosocial and behavioral outcomes.

PMID- 25833337
TI  - Redox proteomic analysis of mytilus edulis gills: effects of the pharmaceutical
      diclofenac on a non-target organism.
AB  - Veterinary and human pharmaceuticals are an emerging category of chemical
      pollutants with potential to cause serious toxicity to non-target organisms.
      Filter-feeding aquatic organisms such as mussels are especially threatened. In
      this study, the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, was exposed to two doses (0.2 mg/L
      and 1 mg/L) of the anti-inflammatory diclofenac. Effects on the gill, the
      principal feeding organ of mussels, were investigated. It was noted that, while
      no effect was evident on gill glutathione transferase or catalase activities,
      there was a tissue-specific increase in glutathione reductase activity and
      reduction in total protein thiol groups. Two dimensional electrophoresis was
      performed and some affected proteins identified by in-gel tryptic digestion and
      peptide mass fingerprinting. Of these, four unique proteins (caspase 3/7-4, heat
      shock cognate protein 70, a predicted enolase-like protein, arginine kinase) were
      found to be oxidized whilst eight unique proteins (beta-tubulin, actin,
      isocitrate dehydrogenase, arginine kinase, heavy metal-binding HIP, cytosolic
      malate dehydrogenase, proteasome subunit alpha type 2, Mg: bb02e05
      (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) and superoxide dismutase) were found
      to have altered abundance. In addition, bioinformatic analysis suggested putative
      identities for six hypothetical proteins which either were oxidized or decreased
      in abundance. These were; 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein precursor, alpha
      enolase, calreticulin, mitochondrial H + -ATPase, palmitoyl protein thioesterase
      1 and initiation factor 5a. It is concluded that diclofenac causes significant
      oxidative stress to gills and that this affects key structural, metabolic and
      stress-response proteins.

PMID- 25833338
TI  - Quantitative proteomic analysis of the metastasis-inhibitory mechanism of miR
      193a-3p in non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: microRNAs can repress the expression of target genes by destabilizing
      their mRNAs or by inhibiting their translation. Our previous findings suggested
      that miR-193a-3p inhibited the progression of NSCLC both in vitro and in vivo.
      However, the biological processes and molecular pathways through which this miRNA
      exerts its positive effects are unknown. METHODS: To explore the molecular
      mechanisms by which miR-193a-3p inhibited NSCLC metastasis, we investigated the
      changes in the protein profile of SPC-A-1sci (highly metastatic) cells in
      response to the up-regulation of miR-193a-3p expression using a proteomics
      approach (iTRAQ combined with NanoLC-MS/MS). Changes in the profiles of the
      expressed proteins were verified using western blotting and were analyzed using
      the DAVID and STRING programs. RESULTS: In the two replicated experiments,
      4962/4946 proteins were identified, and the levels of expression of 4923/4902
      proteins were quantified. In total, 112 of these proteins were differentially
      expressed. Among them, the up-regulated levels of expression of two of the 62
      proteins with up-regulated expression (PPP2R2A and GSN) and the down-regulated
      levels of expression four of the 50 proteins with down-regulated expression
      (LMNB2, UHRF1, G3BP1, and HNRNPU) were verified using western blotting. The
      bioinformatics analysis revealed the interactions and signaling networks of these
      differentially expressed proteins. CONCLUSION: miR-193a-3p inhibited the
      metastasis of lung cancer cells by deregulating the expression of tumor-related
      proteins. These findings may improve the understanding of the molecular
      mechanisms underlying the metastatic-inhibitory effect of miR-193a-3p on lung
      cancer cells.

PMID- 25833336
TI  - Four-leaf clover qRT-PCR: A convenient method for selective quantification of
      mature tRNA.
AB  - Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) play a central role in translation and also recently appear
      to have a variety of other functions in biological processes beyond translation.
      Here we report the development of Four-Leaf clover qRT-PCR (FL-PCR), a convenient
      PCR-based method, which can specifically quantify individual mature tRNA species.
      In FL-PCR, T4 RNA ligase 2 specifically ligates a stem-loop adapter to mature
      tRNAs but not to precursor tRNAs or tRNA fragments. Subsequent TaqMan qRT-PCR
      amplifies only unmodified regions of the tRNA-adapter ligation products;
      therefore, FL-PCR quantification is not influenced by tRNA post-transcriptional
      modifications. FL-PCR has broad applicability for the quantification of various
      tRNAs in different cell types, and thus provides a much-needed simple method for
      analyzing tRNA abundance and heterogeneity. 

PMID- 25833339
TI  - Switching from Endoscopic Extraperitoneal Radical Prostatectomy to Robot-Assisted
      Laparoscopic Prostatectomy: Comparing Outcomes and Complications.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Endoscopic extraperitoneal radical prostatectomy (EERPE) and robot
      assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) are minimally invasive surgical
      techniques to treat localized prostate cancer. We report the outcome and
      complications of these two techniques conducted by one individual surgeon.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: 86 patients underwent EERPE between January 2008 and June
      2011, and 100 patients underwent RALP between August 2011 and October 2012. All
      surgeries were performed by one single surgeon. RESULTS: The patients of the
      EERPE and RALP groups had similar clinical characteristics in PSA, prostate
      volume and D'Amico classification, and were significantly different in their age
      and BMI as well as in the number of prior surgeries. RALP surgeries were
      significantly slower (183 vs. 157 min) but also involved lower blood loss (147
      vs. 245 ml). Pathological stages and positive surgical margins were similar in
      both groups. Complications were assessed by the Clavien-Dindo classification. 6
      patients in the EERPE group and 3 patients of the RALP group suffered major
      complications (IIIb-IV). CONCLUSION: Altogether our results indicate that the
      learning curve for RALP was short after experience with EERPE. We hypothesize
      that this is more a result of the surgical experience of the surgeon with the
      EERPE than on the robotic technique.

PMID- 25833340
TI  - Mechanisms underlying presynaptic Ca2+ transient and vesicular glutamate release
      at a CNS nerve terminal during in vitro ischaemia.
AB  - KEY POINTS: Here we demonstrate presynaptic responses and mechanisms of increased
      vesicular glutamate release during in vitro ischaemia in the calyx of Held
      terminal, an experimentally accessible presynaptic terminal in the CNS. The
      ischaemia-induced increase in presynaptic Ca(2+) was mediated by both Ca(2+)
      influx and Ca(2+) -induced Ca(2+) release from intracellular stores. The reverse
      operation of the plasma membrane Na(+) /Ca(2+) exchanger (NCX) plays a key role
      in Ca(2+) influx for triggering Ca(2+) release from intracellular stores at
      presynaptic terminals during in vitro ischaemia. Ca(2+) uptake via NCX underlies
      the ischaemia-induced Ca(2+) rise and the consequent increase in vesicular
      glutamate release from presynaptic terminals in the early phase of brain
      ischaemia. ABSTRACT: An early consequence of brain ischaemia is an increase in
      vesicular glutamate release from presynaptic terminals. However, the mechanisms
      of this increased glutamate release are not fully understood. Here we studied
      presynaptic responses and mechanisms of increased glutamate release during in
      vitro ischaemia, using pre- and postsynaptic whole-cell recordings and
      presynaptic Ca(2+) imaging at the calyx of Held synapse in rat brainstem slices.
      Consistent with results from other brain regions, in vitro ischaemia
      significantly increased the frequency of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic
      currents (sEPSCs) without affecting their amplitude, suggesting that ischaemia
      enhances vesicular glutamate release from presynaptic terminals. We found that
      ischaemia-induced vesicular glutamate release was dependent on a rise in basal
      Ca(2+) at presynaptic terminals, which resulted from extracellular Ca(2+) influx
      and Ca(2+) release from intracellular stores. During early ischaemia, increased
      Ca(2+) influx into presynaptic terminals was due to reverse operation of the
      plasma membrane Na(+) /Ca(2+) exchanger (NCX) rather than presynaptic
      depolarization or voltage-activated Ca(2+) currents. KB-R7943, an inhibitor of
      NCX, prevented the ischaemia-induced increases in presynaptic Ca(2+) and
      vesicular glutamate release. In addition, the removal of extracellular Na(+)
      completely inhibited the ischaemia-induced Ca(2+) rise. It therefore appears that
      a link between Na(+) accumulation and Ca(2+) uptake via NCX underlies the
      ischaemia-induced Ca(2+) rise and the consequent increase in vesicular glutamate
      release from presynaptic terminals in the early phase of brain ischaemia.

PMID- 25833341
TI  - High-intensity interval exercise and cerebrovascular health: curiosity, cause,
      and consequence.
AB  - Exercise is a uniquely effective and pluripotent medicine against several
      noncommunicable diseases of westernised lifestyles, including protection against
      neurodegenerative disorders. High-intensity interval exercise training (HIT) is
      emerging as an effective alternative to current health-related exercise
      guidelines. Compared with traditional moderate-intensity continuous exercise
      training, HIT confers equivalent if not indeed superior metabolic, cardiac, and
      systemic vascular adaptation. Consequently, HIT is being promoted as a more time
      efficient and practical approach to optimize health thereby reducing the burden
      of disease associated with physical inactivity. However, no studies to date have
      examined the impact of HIT on the cerebrovasculature and corresponding
      implications for cognitive function. This review critiques the implications of
      HIT for cerebrovascular function, with a focus on the mechanisms and
      translational impact for patient health and well-being. It also introduces
      similarly novel interventions currently under investigation as alternative means
      of accelerating exercise-induced cerebrovascular adaptation. We highlight a need
      for studies of the mechanisms and thereby also the optimal dose-response
      strategies to guide exercise prescription, and for studies to explore alternative
      approaches to optimize exercise outcomes in brain-related health and disease
      prevention. From a clinical perspective, interventions that selectively target
      the aging brain have the potential to prevent stroke and associated neurovascular
      diseases. 

PMID- 25833343
TI  - Optical measurement of mouse strain differences in cerebral blood flow using
      indocyanine green.
AB  - C57BL/6 mice have more cerebral arterial branches and collaterals than BALB/c
      mice. We measured and compared blood flow dynamics of the middle cerebral artery
      (MCA) in these two strains, using noninvasive optical imaging with indocyanine
      green (ICG). Relative maximum fluorescence intensity (Imax) and the time needed
      for ICG to reach Imax in the MCA of C57BL/c were lower than that in BALB/c mice.
      Moreover, the mean transit time was significantly lower in C57BL/6 than in BALB/c
      mice. These data suggest that the higher number of arterial branches and
      collaterals in C57BL/6 mice yields a lower blood flow per cerebral artery. 

PMID- 25833342
TI  - [11C]PBR28 PET imaging is sensitive to neuroinflammation in the aged rat.
AB  - Neuroinflammation in the aging rat brain was investigated using [(11)C]PBR28
      microPET (positron emission tomography) imaging. Normal rats were studied
      alongside LRRK2 p.G2019S transgenic rats; this mutation increases the risk of
      Parkinson's disease in humans. Seventy [(11)C]PBR28 PET scans were acquired.
      Arterial blood sampling enabled tracer kinetic modeling and estimation of VT. In
      vitro autoradiography was also performed. PBR28 uptake increased with age,
      without differences between nontransgenic and transgenic rats. In 12 months of
      aging (4 to 16 months), standard uptake value (SUV) increased by 56% from 0.44 to
      0.69 g/mL, whereas VT increased by 91% from 30 to 57 mL/cm(3). Standard uptake
      value and VT were strongly correlated (r = 0.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) =
      0.31 to 0.69, n = 37). The plasma free fraction, fp, was 0.21 +/- 0.03 (mean +/-
      standard deviation, n = 53). In vitro binding increased by 19% in 16 months of
      aging (4 to 20 months). The SUV was less variable across rats than VT;
      coefficients of variation were 13% (n = 27) and 29% (n = 12). The intraclass
      correlation coefficient for SUV was 0.53, but was effectively zero for VT. These
      data show that [(11)C]PBR28 brain uptake increases with age, implying increased
      microglial activation in the aged brain.

PMID- 25833344
TI  - The neuroprotective agent CNTF decreases neuronal metabolites in the rat
      striatum: an in vivo multimodal magnetic resonance imaging study.
AB  - Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is neuroprotective against multiple pathologic
      conditions including metabolic impairment, but the mechanisms are still unclear.
      To delineate CNTF effects on brain energy homeostasis, we performed a multimodal
      imaging study, combining in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, high
      performance liquid chromatography analysis, and in situ glutamate imaging by
      chemical exchange saturation transfer. Unexpectedly, we found that CNTF
      expression through lentiviral gene transfer in the rat striatum significantly
      decreased the levels of neuronal metabolites (N-acetyl-aspartate, N-acetyl
      aspartyl-glutamate, and glutamate). This preclinical study shows that CNTF
      remodels brain metabolism, and suggests that decreased levels of neuronal
      metabolites may occur in the absence of neuronal dysfunction. 

PMID- 25833346
TI  - A sweet polydopamine nanoplatform for synergistic combination of targeted chemo
      photothermal therapy.
AB  - Inspired by sweet or sugar-coated bullets that are used for medications in
      clinics and the structure and function of biological melanin, a novel kind of
      sweet polydopamine nanoparticles and their anticancer drug doxorubicin loaded
      counterparts are prepared, which integrate an active targeting function,
      photothermal therapy, and chemotherapy into one polymeric nanocarrier. The
      oxidative polymerization of lactosylated dopamine and/or with dopamine are
      performed under mild conditions and the resulting sweet nanoparticles are
      thoroughly characterized. When exposed to an 808 nm continuous-wave diode laser,
      the magnitude of temperature elevation not only increases with the concentration
      of nanoparticles, but can also be tuned by the laser power density. The
      nanoparticles possess strong near infrared light absorption, high photothermal
      conversion efficiency, and good photostability. The nanoparticles present tunable
      binding with RCA120 lectin and a targeting effect to HepG2 cells, confirmed by
      dynamic light scattering, turbidity analysis, MTT assay, and flow cytometry.
      Importantly, the sweet nanoparticles give the lowest IC50 value of 11.67 MUg mL(
      1) for chemo-photothermal therapy compared with 43.19 MUg mL(-1) for single
      chemotherapy and 67.38 MUg mL(-1) for photothermal therapy alone, demonstrating a
      good synergistic effect for the combination therapy. 

PMID- 25833345
TI  - Imaging the cannabinoid CB1 receptor in humans with [11C]OMAR: assessment of
      kinetic analysis methods, test-retest reproducibility, and gender differences.
AB  - The Radiotracer [(11)C]OMAR was developed for positron emission tomography (PET)
      imaging of cannabinoid type-1 receptors (CB1R). The objectives of the present
      study were to evaluate kinetic analysis methods, determine test-retest
      reliability, and assess gender differences in receptor availability. Dynamic PET
      data were acquired in 10 human subjects, and analyzed with one-tissue (1T) and
      two-tissue (2T) compartment models and by the Logan and multilinear analysis
      (MA1) methods to estimate regional volume of distribution (VT). The 2T model
      inclusive of a vascular component (2TV) and MA1 were the preferred techniques.
      Test-retest reliability of VT was good (mean absolute deviation ~9%; intraclass
      correlation coefficient ~0.7). Tracer parent fraction in plasma was lower in
      women (P<0.0001). Cerebral uptake normalized by body weight and injected dose was
      higher in men by 17% (P<0.0001), but VT was significantly greater in women by 23%
      (P<0.0001). These findings show that [(11)C]OMAR binding can be reliably
      quantified by the 2T model or MA1 method and demonstrate the utility of this
      tracer for in vivo imaging of CB1R. In addition, results from the present study
      indicate that gender difference in receptor binding should be taken into
      consideration when [(11)C]OMAR is used to quantify CB1R availability in
      neuropsychiatric disorders.

PMID- 25833347
TI  - Luminescent chromism of boron diketonate crystals: distinct responses to
      different stresses.

PMID- 25833348
TI  - Exploratory study of pre-surgical medications with dienogest or leuprorelin in
      laparoscopic cystectomy of endometrial cysts.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of pre-surgical medication
      with dienogest or leuprorelin on post-surgical ovarian function. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: We conducted an exploratory study in two centers in Japan that comprised
      30 patients with ovarian endometrial cysts for whom surgical excision was
      planned. Patients were enrolled and divided into pre-surgical medication groups
      with dienogest or leuprorelin for 12 weeks. Thereafter, patients were treated by
      laparoscopic cystectomy. The primary outcome was ovarian function post-surgery,
      as assessed by serum anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) level, antral follicle count
      (AFC) and resumption of menses. Secondary outcome was the effect of pre-surgical
      medication, as assessed by the size of endometrial cysts and visual analog scale
      (VAS) score. Serum AMH, AFC, size of endometrial cysts, and VAS scores were
      measured at baseline (before medication), after medication (1 day before
      surgery), and at 4 and 12 weeks post-surgery. RESULTS: Serum AMH levels did not
      change after pre-surgical medication with either dienogest or leuprorelin.
      Although AMH decreased after surgery, it recovered by 12 weeks post-surgery in
      both groups with no statistically significant difference. Mean AFC did not change
      after surgery in either group. Menses returned by 12 weeks post-surgery in all
      patients except for those who were pregnant. The rate of reduction of endometrial
      cyst volume did not differ between the groups. Both dienogest and leuprorelin
      were associated with substantial reductions in VAS scores. CONCLUSION: There were
      no statistically significant differences between pre-surgical medication with
      dienogest and leuprorelin in post-surgical ovarian function. Both medications
      were effective in reducing endometrial cyst volume and VAS score.

PMID- 25833349
TI  - Low-Dose Aspirin for Preventing Preeclampsia and Its Complications: A Meta
      Analysis.
AB  - Low-dose aspirin (LDA) is thought to prevent preeclampsia in high-risk pregnancy,
      but it is not universally used out of concern for its efficacy and safety. The
      authors meta-analyzed 29 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate LDA for
      preventing preeclampsia and its complications. LDA can reduce the incidence of
      preeclampsia (odds ratio [OR], 0.71; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.57-0.87),
      severe preeclampsia (OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.23-0.61), preterm birth (OR, 0.81; 95%
      CI, 0.75-0.88), and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) (OR, 0.80; 95% CI,
      0.71-0.90). LDA is more effective in reducing incidence of preeclampsia or IUGR
      if used before 16 gestational weeks than if used later. LDA increases the
      incidence of placental abruption (OR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.05-1.73) but not other
      major complications. The available evidence suggests that LDA is effective in
      preventing preeclampsia, preterm birth, and IUGR in high-risk pregnancies without
      posing a major safety risk to mothers or fetuses. 

PMID- 25833350
TI  - The Dixon technique and the frequency-selective fat suppression technique in
      three-dimensional T1 weighted MRI of the liver: a comparison of contrast-to-noise
      ratios of hepatocellular carcinomas-to-liver.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The use of three-dimensional T1 weighted gradient echo sequences such
      as the Dixon technique and the frequency-selective fat suppression (FS) technique
      is currently widely accepted method in MRI examinations of the liver. To assess
      the image qualities of the Dixon technique and the frequency-selective FS
      technique, the contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
      to-liver and fat-to-liver were compared between the two techniques in the
      hepatobiliary phase (HBP) following administration of gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl
      diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid. METHODS: MR images of 59 patients with a
      total of 86 HCCs were retrospectively evaluated. Images were consecutively
      obtained with the Dixon and frequency-selective FS methods in the HBP and their
      CNRs of HCC-to-liver and fat-to-liver were compared. CNRs and contrast ratios
      were calculated by the mean value of the liver parenchyma, HCC, fat and standard
      deviation of the liver parenchyma. The Wilcoxon signed-ranks test was used for
      statistical analysis. RESULTS: The median CNRs for the frequency-selective FS and
      Dixon techniques of HCC-to-liver were 4.3 and 5.4 (p < 0.01), mesenteric fat-to
      liver were 9.9 and 12.8 (p < 0.01) and subcutaneous fat-to-liver were 9.9 and
      13.2 (p < 0.01), respectively. CONCLUSION: The Dixon technique yielded higher
      CNRs of HCC-to-liver than that of the frequency-selective FS technique. ADVANCES
      IN KNOWLEDGE: There are a limited number of reports on quantitative analysis of
      the image qualities of the Dixon technique and the frequency-selective FS
      technique, particularly within the same patient and examination.

PMID- 25833351
TI  - Preoperative risk stratification using metabolic parameters of (18)F-FDG PET/CT
      in patients with endometrial cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the usefulness of metabolic parameters obtained by (18)F-FDG
      PET/CT for preoperative stratification of high-risk and low-risk endometrial
      carcinomas. METHODS: Preoperative (18)F-FDG PET/CT was performed in 56 women with
      endometrial cancer. Maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax), metabolic tumour
      volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of primary tumours were compared
      with clinicopathological features of surgical specimens. Diagnostic performance
      in terms of differentiation of low-risk disease (endometrioid histology,
      histological grade 1 or 2, invasion of less than half of the myometrium, and FIGO
      stage I) from high-risk disease was assessed. RESULTS: MTV and TLG were
      significantly higher in patients with higher histological grade (p = 0.0026 and p
      = 0.034), larger tumour size (p = 0.002 and p = 0.0017), lymphovascular space
      involvement (LVSI; p = 0.012 and p = 0.0051), myometrial invasion (p = 0.027 and
      p = 0.031), cervical stromal invasion (p = 0.023 and p = 0.014), ovarian
      metastasis (p = 0.00022 and p = 0.00034), lymph node metastasis (p < 0.0001 and p
      < 0.0001), and higher FIGO stage (p = 0.0011 and p = 0.00048). SUVmax was
      significantly higher in patients with larger tumour size (p = 0.0025), LVSI (p =
      0.00023) and myometrial invasion (p < 0.0001). The areas under the ROC curves
      (AUCs) for distinguishing high-risk from low-risk carcinoma were 0.625, 0.829 and
      0.797 for SUVmax, MTV and TLG, respectively. AUCs for both MTV and TLG were
      significantly larger than that for SUVmax (p = 0.0049 and p = 0.021). The optimal
      TLG cut-off value of 70.2, determined by ROC analysis, was found to have 72.0%
      sensitivity and 74.2% specificity for risk stratification. CONCLUSION: MTV and
      TLG of primary endometrial cancer show better correlations with
      clinicopathological features and are more useful for differentiating high-risk
      from low-risk carcinoma than SUVmax.

PMID- 25833352
TI  - (11)C-PBR28 imaging in multiple sclerosis patients and healthy controls: test
      retest reproducibility and focal visualization of active white matter areas.
AB  - PURPOSE: Activated microglia play a key role in inflammatory demyelinating injury
      in multiple sclerosis (MS). Microglial activation can be measured in vivo using a
      positron emission tomography (PET) ligand (11)C-PBR28. We evaluated the test
      retest variability (TRV) and lesion detectability of (11)C-PBR28 binding in MS
      subjects and healthy controls (HCs) with high-resolution PET. METHODS: Four
      clinically and radiologically stable relapsing-remitting MS subjects (age 41 +/-
      7 years, two men/two women) and four HCs (age 42 +/- 8 years, 2 two men/two
      women), matched for translocator protein genotype [two high- and two medium
      affinity binders according to DNA polymorphism (rs6971) in each group], were
      studied for TRV. Another MS subject (age 41 years, male) with clinical and
      radiological activity was studied for lesion detectability. Dynamic data were
      acquired over 120 min after injection of 634 +/- 101 MBq (11)C-PBR28. For the TRV
      study, subjects were scanned twice, on average 1.4 weeks apart. Volume of
      distribution (V T) derived from multilinear analysis (MA1) modeling (t* = 30 min,
      using arterial input data) was the main outcome measure. RESULTS: Mean test V T
      values (ml cm(-3)) were 3.9 +/- 1.4 in the whole brain gray matter (GM), 3.6 +/-
      1.2 in the whole brain white matter (WM) or normal-appearing white matter (NAWM),
      and 3.3 +/- 0.6 in MS WM lesions; mean retest V T values were 3.7 +/- 1.0 in GM,
      3.3 +/- 0.9 in WM/NAWM, and 3.3 +/- 0.7 in MS lesions. Test-retest results showed
      a mean absolute TRV ranging from 7 to 9 % across GM, WM/NAWM, and MS lesions.
      High-affinity binders demonstrated 30 % higher V T than medium-affinity binders
      in GM. Focal (11)C-PBR28 uptake was detected in two enhancing lesions of the
      active MS patient. CONCLUSION: High-resolution (11)C-PBR28 PET can visualize
      focal areas where microglial activation is known to be present and has good test
      retest reproducibility in the human brain. (11)C-PBR28 PET is likely to be
      valuable for monitoring both MS disease evolution and response to therapeutic
      strategies that target microglial activation.

PMID- 25833353
TI  - Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF1)-dependent recruitment of bone marrow-derived
      renal endothelium-like cells in a mouse model of acute kidney injury.
AB  - Ischemic acute kidney injury (AKI) is the most key pathological event for
      accelerating progression to chronic kidney disease through vascular endothelial
      injury or dysfunction. Thus, it is critical to elucidate the molecular mechanism
      of endothelial protection and regeneration. Emerging evidence indicates that bone
      marrow-derived cells (BMCs) contribute to tissue reconstitution in several types
      of organs post-injury, but little is known whether and how BMCs contribute to
      renal endothelial reconstitution, especially in an early-stage of AKI. Using a
      mouse model of ischemic AKI, we provide evidence that incorporation of BMCs in
      vascular components (such as endothelial and smooth muscle cells) becomes evident
      within four days after renal ischemia and reperfusion, associated with an
      increase in stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF1) in endothelium and that in
      CXCR4/SDF1-receptor in BMCs. Notably, anti-CXCR4 antibody decreased the numbers
      of infiltrated BMCs and BMC-derived endothelium-like cells, but not of BMC
      derived smooth muscle cell-like cells. These results suggest that reconstitution
      of renal endothelium post-ischemia partially depends on a paracrine loop of SDF1
      CXCR4 between resident endothelium and BMCs. Such a chemokine ligand-receptor
      system may be attributable for selecting a cellular lineage (s), required for
      renal vascular protection, repair and homeostasis, even in an earlier phase of
      AKI. 

PMID- 25833354
TI  - Asylum Doctor Extraordinaire: Dr. Thomas Drapes (1847-1919).
AB  - Dr. Thomas Drapes (1847-1919) was resident medical superintendent of Enniscorthy
      District Asylum in County Wexford, Ireland from 1883 to 1919, and one of the
      leading figures in Irish asylum medicine for several decades. Drapes' career was
      as complex as it was remarkable. Drapes was elected president of the Medico
      Psychological Association for the term 1911-12 but had to decline on health
      grounds. In 1912, however, he was unanimously elected as co-editor of the Journal
      of Mental Science, to which he devoted his considerable energies and intellect.
      Drapes published widely, opposing Emil Kraepelin's proposed division of
      "functional" psychosis into manic-depressive illness and dementia praecox; openly
      examining the use of "punitive measures" in asylums (Enniscorthy had notably low
      rates of restraint and seclusion); and publicly bemoaning the folly of
      "psychophysical parallelism", or the spurious division between mental and
      physical symptoms in medicine. Although not immune to passing trends in medical
      thought (e.g. regarding sterilisation of the mentally ill to prevent further
      mental disorder), Drapes was generally independent-minded, insightful and
      incisive, and his legacy was to help shape Irish mental health care for many
      decades.

PMID- 25833355
TI  - Evaluation of function and structure of arterial wall in girls and young women
      with Turner syndrome.
AB  - PURPOSE: Patients with Turner syndrome (TS) are frequently affected by congenital
      as well as acquired cardiovascular diseases. The aim of the study was to evaluate
      the blood pressure, the endothelial function (FMD) and the intima media thickness
      (IMT) at the level of the common carotid arteries in a group of girls and young
      women with TS in comparison to healthy controls. METHODS: We evaluated 40
      unselected TS patients, with a mean age of 18.6 +/- 0.9 years and 103 age matched
      healthy subjects. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: blood pressure, FMD and IMT. RESULTS: No
      differences were found in systolic and diastolic blood pressure between TS
      patients and controls. FMD was higher in TS than in controls (14.2 +/- 1.4 vs
      11.4 +/- 0.3%, p = 0.005) whereas IMT was not statistically different in the two
      study groups (0.54 +/- 0.04 vs 0.57 +/- 0.01 mm). However, in TS patients an
      inverse correlation was found between FMD and both age (-0.03 +/- 0.01, p =
      0.003) and years of estrogen therapy (-0.72 +/- 0.31, p < 0.03), whereas a
      positive correlation was found between IMT and age (R 2 = 0.35, p < 0.0001) and
      estrogen therapy duration (R 2 = 0.65, p < 0.0001), suggesting a clear tendency
      toward a premature decrease in FMD and premature increase in IMT compared to
      controls. CONCLUSIONS: Young TS patients show an arterial wall which is
      functionally and structurally comparable or better than controls. They show,
      however, a premature derangement of the arterial function and structure, which
      seems to be partly influenced by age and duration of oestrogen treatment.

PMID- 25833356
TI  - Methodological limitations of an etiological framing of Ariarathes' goitre:
      response to Tekiner et al.

PMID- 25833357
TI  - Endocrinology and art. Man with enormous trilobar goiter.

PMID- 25833358
TI  - Analysis of renal functions and proteinuria in young obese adults.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of obesity in young adults and to
      analyze the influencing factors on renal functions and proteinuria in this
      population. METHODS: This study comprised civil servants between 20 and 39 years
      old, who received physical examinations at the First Affiliated Hospital of
      Fujian Medical University. The subjects were categorized into four groups based
      on age (20-24, 25-29, 30-34 and 35-39 years) and the number of risk factors they
      had (hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia and hyperuricemia). The
      relationships between obesity and the prevalence of proteinuria, between obesity
      and risk factors and between estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and
      proteinuria were analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 2293 young civil servants, in men
      the prevalence of obesity was 33.3 % and proteinuria was 2.5 %. However in women
      the prevalence of obesity and proteinuria was 7.5 % and 1.7 %, respectively. The
      levels of blood pressure, serum uric acid (UA), cholesterol (TC), triglyceride
      (TG), fasting glucose (FBG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were
      lower and the level of serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was
      higher in nonobese groups compared with obese groups. There were no significant
      differences in eGFR between the two groups. The eGFR in male subjects was
      associated with age, UA, body mass index (BMI), FBG, TC, TG, LDL and HDL, and in
      female subjects associated with UA, age, BMI, diastolic blood pressure, FBG and
      LDL. BMI in both males and females increased with the higher number of risk
      factors. Multiple regression analysis revealed that hypertension, dyslipidemia,
      hyperglycemia and hyperuricemia were independently associated with obesity. eGFR
      decreased with a higher number of risk factors. Obesity, blood pressure,
      dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia and hyperuricemia were independently associated with
      proteinuria. CONCLUSION: Obesity can pose an independent risk factor for
      proteinuria in young adults. Hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia and
      hyperuricemia were independently associated with obesity. eGFR decreased with a
      higher number of risk factors.

PMID- 25833359
TI  - Knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of physicians towards thyroid disorders and
      iodine requirements in pregnancy.
AB  - PURPOSE: Thyroid disorders including iodine deficiency during pregnancy are
      important health problems worldwide. However, considering real life, assessment
      of knowledge, attitudes, and practice of physicians is lacking. We aim to
      evaluate knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of physicians towards thyroid
      disorders and requirements of iodine during pregnancy on a nationwide basis.
      METHODS: Clinicians from different medical disciplines most likely to encounter
      pregnant women in daily practice (i.e., obstetricians, endocrinologists, and
      family physicians) were included. Family physicians were selected from primary
      care centers; endocrinologists and gynecologists were selected from state
      hospitals. Randomly selected 322 physicians from seven geographical regions of
      Turkey were included. Subjects filled a questionnaire which consisted of three
      sections about knowledge, attitudes and behaviors towards thyroid disorders and
      iodine requirements during pregnancy. RESULTS: Physicians had insufficient and/or
      erroneous knowledge about thyroid disorders during pregnancy. 73.1 % of
      endocrinologists, 32.7 % of family physicians, and 17.8 % of obstetricians knew
      the correct level of TSH during pregnancy (p < 0.001). 67.1 % of physicians
      thought it is unnecessary to offer iodine supplementation to pregnant women.
      Endocrinologists achieved the highest scores in each section, and also had the
      highest total scores (p < 0.001). Family physicians achieved higher scores than
      obstetricians. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians who encounter pregnant women in Turkey do
      not have sufficient information about management of thyroid disorders and
      providing iodine support during pregnancy and lactation.

PMID- 25833360
TI  - Serum nesfatin-1 and leptin levels in non-obese girls with premature thelarche.
AB  - AIM: We aimed to investigate serum nesfatin-1 level in girls with premature
      thelarche (PT) and its relationship with anthropometric parameters and leptin,
      which are involved in the initiation of pubertal process. SUBJECTS-METHODS: Non
      obese girls who presented with the complaint of early (2-8 years) and isolated
      breast development were included in the study. The control group consisted of age
      matched healthy prepubertal girls. Auxological measurements were performed in all
      subjects. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) stimulation test and bone age
      assessment were conducted in subjects with early breast development. Girls with a
      bone age/chronologic age ratio <1.2 and a peak luteinizing hormone (LH) response
      to GnRH stimulation <5 mIU/L were included in the PT group. RESULTS: The study
      included 22 non-obese girls with PT and 24 healthy prepubertal controls. Body
      mass index (BMI), BMI-standard deviation score (SDS) and height SDS were similar
      between the groups (p > 0.05). Serum leptin and nesfatin-1 levels were found
      significantly higher in the PT group compared to controls (p < 0.05). No
      correlation was detected between nesfatin-1 and basal LH, basal follicle
      stimulating hormone (FSH), stimulated peak LH, peak FSH, leptin levels and
      anthropometric parameters in the PT group (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Results of the
      present study showed that serum nesfatin-1 and leptin levels are significantly
      higher in girls with PT than in prepubertal controls. This finding suggests that
      similar to leptin, nesfatin-1 may also have a central or peripheral role in the
      initiation of pubertal process and may be related to PT pathogenesis.

PMID- 25833366
TI  - Osseoinductive elements for promoting osseointegration around immediate implants:
      a pilot study in the foxhound dog.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of topical
      applications of melatonin over implant surfaces placed immediately after
      extraction by means of histological and histomorphometric analysis of peri
      implant tissues. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Six American foxhound dogs were used in
      the study; mandibular premolar distal roots were extracted. Thirty-six immediate
      conical implants were randomly assigned to the distal site on each site of the
      mandible in three groups: (Group CI) 12 titanium implants alone; (Group MI) 12
      titanium implants supplemented with melatonin; and (Group DI) 12 titanium
      implants supplemented with vitamin D (DI). Prior to implanting test, implants
      (MI) were submerged in melatonin 5% solution, and implants from (DI) group were
      submerged in vitamin D 10% solution. No treatment was applied at control
      implants. After 12 weeks, animals were sacrificed. Block sections were obtained
      and processed for mineralized ground sectioning. Bone-to-implant contact (total
      BIC), new bone formation (NBF), inter-thread bone (ITB) and histological linear
      measurements (HLM) were analyzed. RESULTS: At 12 weeks, all implants were
      clinically stable and histologically osseointegrated. Total BIC values were 48.36
      +/- 7.45* for the MI group and 44.82 +/- 10.98 for the CI group (P = 0.035) with
      statistically significant difference between groups. BIC% were 41.36 +/- 3.93 for
      MI and 41.34 +/- 9.26 for CI (P > 0.05). Inter-thread bone formation values were
      MI 15.99 +/- 2.43* and CI 14.79 +/- 3.62 (P = 0.03), MI showing significantly
      better results. No statistically significant differences in peri-implant new bone
      formation could be found between the two groups: MI 25.37 +/- 2.32, CI 26.55 +/-
      7.75 (P > 0.05). Linear measurements showed that the MI group showed
      significantly less lingual crestal bone loss (CBL) (MI 0.52 +/- 0.74*, CI 0.92 +/
      1.98) (P = 0.045) and less lingual peri-implant mucosa (PIM) (MI 3.13 +/- 1.41*,
      CI 3.71 +/- 1.81) (P = 0.042). No significant differences were observed in the
      buccal aspect. CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitations of this animal study, the
      topical application of melatonin improved bone formation around immediate
      implants and reduced lingual bone and lingual peri-implant mucosa, after 12 weeks
      of osseointegration.

PMID- 25833367
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25369761.

PMID- 25833368
TI  - Re: Diagnosis of fetal submicroscopic chromosomal abnormalities in failed array
      CGH samples: copy number by sequencing as an alternative to microarrays for
      invasive fetal testing. K. Cohen, A. Tzika, H. Wood, S. Berri, P. Roberts, G.
      Mason and E. Sheridan. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015; 45: 394-401.

PMID- 25833369
TI  - Re: Maternal venous Doppler characteristics are abnormal in pre-eclampsia but not
      in gestational hypertension. W. Gyselaers, A. Staelens, T. Mesens, K. Tomsin, J.
      Oben, S. Vonck, L. Verresen and G. Molenberghs. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015;
      45: 421-426.

PMID- 25833370
TI  - Re: Fetal intervention for severe lower urinary tract obstruction: a multicenter
      case-control study comparing fetal cystoscopy with vesicoamniotic shunting. R.
      Ruano, N. Sananes, H. Sangi-Haghpeykar, S. Hernandez-Ruano, R. Moog, F. Becmeur,
      A. Zaloszyc, A. M. Giron, B. Morin and R. Favre. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015;
      45: 452-458.

PMID- 25833371
TI  - Postmortem high-resolution episcopic microscopy (HREM) of small human fetal
      hearts.

PMID- 25833372
TI  - Ruthenium-catalyzed ortho-C-H mono- and di-imidation of arenes with N
      tosyloxyphthalimide.
AB  - The Ru(II)-catalyzed imidation of the o-C-H bond in arenes with N
      tosyloxyphthalimide is realized with the assistance of a methyl phenylsulfoximine
      (MPS) directing group. This method is applicable to access the hitherto difficult
      o-C-H di-imidation products. The sequential C-N and C-C bond formation of o-C-H
      arenes creates peripherally decorated benzoic acid derivatives. The readily
      removable MPS-DG and easily modifiable phthaloyl moiety make this strategy
      synthetically viable for constructing highly functionalized C-N bearing arenes
      and heteroarenes. 

PMID- 25833373
TI  - Solvent dependent ordering of poly(3-dodecylthiophene) in thin films.
AB  - The strong influence of solvents on the ordering of poly(3-dodecylthiophene)
      (P3DDT) due to edge-on oriented stacking, in the spin-coated thin film on the Si
      substrate, both near the substrate and away from it, depending upon the substrate
      surface nature, is observed from the X-ray reflectivity study. The absence of any
      appreciable amount of coil-like P3DDT chains (i.e. charge localized states) and
      formation of pi-stacked aggregates (i.e. charge delocalized states) in the spin
      coated thin films, with slightly better uniformity for the film prepared from
      toluene (TL) compared to that prepared from chloroform (CF) and chlorobenzene
      (CB), are well evident from the optical absorption study. No ordering near the
      weakly hydrophobic H-Si substrate is found in the films prepared from TL,
      probably due to less diffusion of P3DDT in TL and the appreciable pinning (film
      substrate interaction) effect, while appreciable ordering near the film-air
      interface, overcoming the pinning effect, is likely to be related to the moderate
      values of the viscosity and the evaporation rate of the solvent. A better ordered
      Form-I-like relaxed structure near the film-substrate interface and a less
      ordered interpenetrating Form-II-like structure toward the film-air interface are
      found in the films prepared from CF, probably related to the low viscosity and
      high evaporation rate, respectively, of the solvent. Less ordered and mixed but
      more toward Form-II-like structures are formed throughout the film prepared from
      CB, probably due to the high viscosity of the solvent, even though its
      evaporation rate is low. The high evaporation rate of CF and high viscosity of CB
      probably create hindrance in the formation of continuous films on the weakly
      hydrophilic O-Si substrate at low speed, while the moderate values of both the
      parameters for TL, help to form continuous films on the O-Si substrate even at
      low speed. Such moderate values also help to form less variable (and more toward
      Form-I-like) structures and better ordering in the latter film. The relative
      fluctuation between aggregates along the film-thickness is, however, found
      slightly more in the film prepared from TL compared to that prepared from CF. 

PMID- 25833374
TI  - Do you really represent my task? Sequential adaptation effects to unexpected
      events support referential coding for the joint Simon effect.
AB  - Recent findings suggest that a Simon effect (SE) can be induced in Individual
      go/nogo tasks when responding next to an event-producing object salient enough to
      provide a reference for the spatial coding of one's own action. However, there is
      skepticism against referential coding for the joint Simon effect (JSE) by
      proponents of task co-representation. In the present study, we tested assumptions
      of task co-representation and referential coding by introducing unexpected double
      response events in a joint go/nogo and a joint independent go/nogo task. In
      Experiment 1b, we tested if task representations are functionally similar in
      joint and standard Simon tasks. In Experiment 2, we tested sequential updating of
      task co-representation after unexpected single response events in the joint
      independent go/nogo task. Results showed increased JSEs following unexpected
      events in the joint go/nogo and joint independent go/nogo task (Experiment 1a).
      While the former finding is in line with the assumptions made by both accounts
      (task co-representation and referential coding), the latter finding supports
      referential coding. In contrast to Experiment 1a, we found a decreased SE after
      unexpected events in the standard Simon task (Experiment 1b), providing evidence
      against the functional equivalence assumption between joint and two-choice Simon
      tasks of the task co-representation account. Finally, we found an increased JSE
      also following unexpected single response events (Experiment 2), ruling out that
      the findings of the joint independent go/nogo task in Experiment 1a were due to a
      re-conceptualization of the task situation. In conclusion, our findings support
      referential coding also for the joint Simon effect. 

PMID- 25833375
TI  - Hemidiaphragm Paralysis after Robotic Prostatectomy: Medical Malpractice or
      Unforeseeable Event?
AB  - The authors present a case of suspected malpractice linked to the onset of
      hemidiaphragm paralysis after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). The
      approach to the case is shown from a medico-legal point of view. It is
      demonstrated how, after a thorough review of the literature, this was not a case
      of medical malpractice but an unforeseeable event. This paper aims at
      contributing to the very few reports dealing with the onset of hemidiaphragm
      paralysis after RARP, thus fostering clinical knowledge of these rare events and
      meanwhile providing useful data for the medico-legal handling in case of alleged
      negligence of surgeons.

PMID- 25833376
TI  - 'My body is mine': Qualitatively exploring agency among internally displaced
      women participants in a small-group intervention in Leogane, Haiti.
AB  - The 2010 earthquake resulted in the breakdown of Haiti's social, economic and
      health infrastructure. Over one-quarter of a million people remain internally
      displaced (ID). ID women experience heightened vulnerability to intimate partner
      violence (IPV) due to increased poverty and reduced community networks. Scant
      research has examined experiences of IPV among ID women in post-earthquake Haiti.
      We conducted a qualitative study to explore the impact of participating in Famn
      an Aksyon Pou Sante Yo (FASY), a small-group HIV prevention intervention, on ID
      women's agency in Leogane, Haiti. We conducted four focus groups with ID women,
      FASY participants (n = 40) and in-depth individual interviews with peer health
      workers (n = 7). Our study was guided by critical ethnography and paid particular
      attention to power relations. Findings highlighted multiple forms of IPV (e.g.,
      physical, sexual). Participants discussed processes of intrapersonal
      (confidence), interpersonal (communication), relational (support) and collective
      (women's rights) agency. Yet structural factors, including patriarchal gender
      norms and poverty, silenced IPV discussions and constrained women's agency.
      Findings suggest that agency among ID women is a multi-level, non-linear and
      incremental process. To effectively address IPV among ID women in Haiti,
      interventions should address structural contexts of gender inequity and poverty
      and concurrently facilitate multi-level processes of agency. 

PMID- 25833377
TI  - Rare presentation of pseudosequestration in childhood: CT and CT angiography
      findings.
AB  - Anomalous systemic arterial supply to the lungs with normal bronchial branching
      and pulmonary arterial supply is an unusual variant of the sequestration
      spectrum. Pseudosequestration is referred as the combination of systemic arterial
      supply to lung with normal bronchial connection. Thorax computed tomography (CT)
      and CT angiography are non-invasive and useful techniques in making the
      definitive diagnosis. Herein, we report two paediatric patients with anomalous
      systemic arterial supply to normal basal segments of the lower lobes.

PMID- 25833378
TI  - Increased efficiency of Campylobacter jejuni N-oligosaccharyltransferase PglB by
      structure-guided engineering.
AB  - Conjugate vaccines belong to the most efficient preventive measures against life
      threatening bacterial infections. Functional expression of N
      oligosaccharyltransferase (N-OST) PglB of Campylobacter jejuni in Escherichia
      coli enables a simplified production of glycoconjugate vaccines in prokaryotic
      cells. Polysaccharide antigens of pathogenic bacteria can be covalently coupled
      to immunogenic acceptor proteins bearing engineered glycosylation sites. Transfer
      efficiency of PglBCj is low for certain heterologous polysaccharide substrates.
      In this study, we increased glycosylation rates for Salmonella enterica sv.
      Typhimurium LT2 O antigen (which lacks N-acetyl sugars) and Staphylococcus aureus
      CP5 polysaccharides by structure-guided engineering of PglB. A three-dimensional
      homology model of membrane-associated PglBCj, docked to the natural C. jejuni N
      glycan attached to the acceptor peptide, was used to identify potential sugar
      interacting residues as targets for mutagenesis. Saturation mutagenesis of an
      active site residue yielded the enhancing mutation N311V, which facilitated
      fivefold to 11-fold increased in vivo glycosylation rates as determined by
      glycoprotein-specific ELISA. Further rounds of in vitro evolution led to a triple
      mutant S80R-Q287P-N311V enabling a yield improvement of S. enterica LT2
      glycoconjugates by a factor of 16. Our results demonstrate that bacterial N-OST
      can be tailored to specific polysaccharide substrates by structure-guided protein
      engineering. 

PMID- 25833380
TI  - Reflections on Cellular Physiology as a Catalytic Framework for Medicine.
AB  - These are the reflections of a retired physician who was introduced to cellular
      physiology in 1947 at the University of Pennsylvania. I majored in Zoology. I
      took the required major courses, which were interesting but not exciting. I was a
      premedical student at the time. Fortunately I was introduced to cellular
      physiology in 1947. The teacher was Professor Louis Heilbrunn, an amazing man
      dedicated to teaching and the love of his students. He had a number of graduate
      students at the time. The undergraduates were well integrated with these advanced
      students. We used his textbook of physiology and we were all proud of being his
      students. He gave us a new way of thinking about biology. It was exciting and we
      were treated as mature students.

PMID- 25833381
TI  - Living and deceased organ donation should be financially neutral acts.
AB  - The supply of organs-particularly kidneys-donated by living and deceased donors
      falls short of the number of patients added annually to transplant waiting lists
      in the United States. To remedy this problem, a number of prominent physicians,
      ethicists, economists and others have mounted a campaign to suspend the
      prohibitions in the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 (NOTA) on the buying
      and selling of organs. The argument that providing financial benefits would
      incentivize enough people to part with a kidney (or a portion of a liver) to
      clear the waiting lists is flawed. This commentary marshals arguments against the
      claim that the shortage of donor organs would best be overcome by providing
      financial incentives for donation. We can increase the number of organs available
      for transplantation by removing all financial disincentives that deter unpaid
      living or deceased kidney donation. These disincentives include a range of
      burdens, such as the costs of travel and lodging for medical evaluation and
      surgery, lost wages, and the expense of dependent care during the period of organ
      removal and recuperation. Organ donation should remain an act that is financially
      neutral for donors, neither imposing financial burdens nor enriching them
      monetarily.

PMID- 25833382
TI  - miR-429 determines poor outcome and inhibits pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
      growth by targeting TBK1.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) ranks fourth on the list of
      cancer-related causes of death and its prognosis has not improved significantly
      over the past decades. Deregulation or dysfunction of miRNAs contribute to cancer
      development. Previous data indicates that miR-429 is involved in the pathogenesis
      of PDAC. However, the role of miR-429 in PDAC remained unknown. METHODS: MiR-429
      levels in sample tissues of 78 patients and in PANC1 and SW1990 cell lines were
      quantified by real-time PCR. MiR-429 expression was modulated using specific pre-
      and anti-miRNAs and cell growth was assayed by MTT analysis. Bioinformatics
      prediction of the miR-429 putative target genes was performed and luciferase
      assays confirmed TBK1 as a direct target gene. TBK1 levels in PDAC tissues were
      analyzed by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: MiR-429 was remarkably decreased in
      PDAC tissues and cell lines. Lower miR-429 expression in PDAC tissues
      significantly correlated with shorter survival of PDAC patients. Overexpression
      of miR-429 inhibited PDAC cell lines growth in vitro and vice versa. TBK1 was
      found to be the direct target gene of miR-429. Higher TBK1 protein level in PDAC
      tissues correlated with shorter survival of PDAC patients. Overexpression of TBK1
      partly restored cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: Low level of miR-429 and high
      level of TBK1 in PDAC promoted PDAC cells growth which might be related to the
      low survival rate of PDAC patients. MiR-429 play its role in PDAC by targeting
      TBK1.

PMID- 25833383
TI  - Patient experiences and outcomes following facial skin cancer surgery: A
      qualitative study.
AB  - Early melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer of the facial area are primarily
      treated with surgery. Little is known about the outcomes of treatment for facial
      skin cancer patients. The objective of the study was to identify concerns about
      aesthetics, procedures and health from the patients' perspective after facial
      skin surgery. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 15
      participants. Line-by-line coding was used to establish categories and develop
      themes. We identified five major themes on the impact of skin cancer surgery:
      appearance-related concerns; psychological (e.g., fear of new cancers or
      recurrence); social (e.g. impact on social activities and interaction); physical
      (e.g. pain and swelling) concerns and satisfaction with the experience of care
      (e.g., satisfaction with surgeon). The priority of participants was the removal
      of the facial skin cancer, as this reduced their overall worry. The aesthetic
      outcome was secondary but important, as it had important implications on the
      participants' social and psychological functioning. The participants' experience
      with the care provided by the surgeon and staff also contributed to their
      satisfaction with their treatment. This conceptual framework provides the basis
      for the development of a new patient-reported outcome instrument. 

PMID- 25833384
TI  - Utility of biological sensor tags in animal conservation.
AB  - Electronic tags (both biotelemetry and biologging platforms) have informed
      conservation and resource management policy and practice by providing vital
      information on the spatial ecology of animals and their environments. However,
      the extent of the contribution of biological sensors (within electronic tags)
      that measure an animal's state (e.g., heart rate, body temperature, and details
      of locomotion and energetics) is less clear. A literature review revealed that,
      despite a growing number of commercially available state sensor tags and enormous
      application potential for such devices in animal biology, there are relatively
      few examples of their application to conservation. Existing applications fell
      under 4 main themes: quantifying disturbance (e.g., ecotourism, vehicular and
      aircraft traffic), examining the effects of environmental change (e.g., climate
      change), understanding the consequences of habitat use and selection, and
      estimating energy expenditure. We also identified several other ways in which
      sensor tags could benefit conservation, such as determining the potential
      efficacy of management interventions. With increasing sensor diversity of
      commercially available platforms, less invasive attachment techniques, smaller
      device sizes, and more researchers embracing such technology, we suggest that
      biological sensor tags be considered a part of the necessary toolbox for
      conservation. This approach can measure (in real time) the state of free-ranging
      animals and thus provide managers with objective, timely, relevant, and accurate
      data to inform policy and decision making. 

PMID- 25833385
TI  - Phylogenomics of non-model ciliates based on transcriptomic analyses.
AB  - Ciliates are one of the oldest living eukaryotic unicellular organisms, widely
      distributed in the waters around the world. As a typical marine oligotrich
      ciliate, Strombidium sulcatum plays an important role in marine food webs and
      energy flow. Here we report the first deep sequencing and analyses of RNA-Seq
      data from Strombidium sulcatum. We generated 42,640 unigenes with an N50 of 1,451
      bp after de novo assembly and removing rRNA, mitochondrial and bacteria
      contaminants. We employed SPOCS to detect orthologs from S. sulcatum and 17 other
      ciliates, and then carried out the phylogenomic reconstruction using 127 single
      copy orthologs. In phylogenomic analyses, concatenated trees have similar
      topological structures with concordance tree on the class level. Together with
      phylogenetic networks analysis, it aroused more doubts about the placement of
      Protocruzia, Mesodinium and Myrionecta. While epiplasmic proteins are known to be
      related to morphological characteristics, we found the potential relationship
      between gene expression of epiplasmic proteins and morphological characteristics.
      This work supports the use of high throughput approaches for phylogenomic
      analysis as well as correlation analysis between expression level of target genes
      and morphological characteristics. 

PMID- 25833386
TI  - Process Evaluation of a Quality Improvement Project to Decrease Hospital
      Readmissions From Skilled Nursing Facilities.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe and evaluate the impact of quality improvement (QI)
      support provided to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) by a Quality Improvement
      Organization (QIO). DESIGN: Retrospective, mixed-method, process evaluation of a
      QI project intended to decrease preventable hospital readmissions from SNFs.
      SETTING: Five SNFs in Connecticut. PARTICIPANTS: SNF Administrators, Directors of
      Nursing, Assistant Directors of Nursing, Admissions Coordinators, Registered
      Nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, Receptionists, QIO Quality Improvement
      Consultant. INTERVENTION: QIO staff provided training and technical assistance to
      SNF administrative and clinical staff to establish or enhance QI infrastructure
      and implement an established set of QI tools [Interventions to Reduce Acute Care
      Transfers (INTERACT) tools]. MEASUREMENTS: Baseline SNF demographic, staffing,
      and hospital readmission data; baseline and follow-up SNF QI structure (QI
      Committee), processes (general and use of INTERACT tools), and outcome (30-day
      all-cause hospital readmission rates); details of QIO-provided training and
      technical assistance; QIO-perceived barriers to quality improvement; SNF
      leadership-perceived barriers, accomplishments, and suggestions for improvement
      of QIO support. RESULTS: Success occurred in establishing QI Committees and
      targeting preventable hospital readmissions, as well as implementing INTERACT
      tools in all SNFs; however, hospital readmission rates decreased in only 2
      facilities. QIO staff and SNF leaders noted the ongoing challenge of engaging
      already busy SNF staff and leadership in QI activities. SNF leaders reported that
      they appreciated the training and technical assistance that their institutions
      received, although most noted that additional support was needed to bring about
      improvement in readmission rates. CONCLUSION: This process evaluation documented
      mixed clinical results but successfully identified opportunities to improve
      recruitment of and provision of technical support to participating SNFs.
      Recommendations are offered for others who wish to conduct similar projects.

PMID- 25833388
TI  - Quality of handover in a pediatric postanesthesia care unit.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The quality of anesthetic handovers to postanesthesia care units
      (PACU) is known to be poor in adults, and only very limited reports are available
      regarding the quality of handovers in pediatric anesthesia. In particular, it is
      not known which and in what quality information is communicated. This current
      study investigated, therefore, the presence of any handover component as well as
      its consistency in a pediatric postanesthesia care unit. METHODS: This
      prospective observational study evaluated postoperative anesthetic handovers to a
      pediatric PACU using a detailed checklist, comprising 55 possible items. The main
      outcome measure was the proportion of information verbally transmitted in
      relation to the written documentation within the anesthesia record. RESULTS: Four
      hundred and forty-three handovers were observed with two handovers excluded due
      to missing data. Type of surgery (93% [95% CI 91-95]) and any intra-operative
      regional anesthesia (89% [95% CI 85-94]) were most frequently communicated. Items
      such as ASA-PS (3% [95% CI 2-5]) and fluid management (4% of cases [95% CI 2-6])
      were rarely handed over. Eleven of the 55 items contained within the checklist
      were communicated in more than 70% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: The observed
      handovers to PACU staff were incomplete and missing important information.
      However, omission of essential information potentially compromises patient
      safety. A standardized universal mandatory handover protocol following pediatric
      anesthesia is required.

PMID- 25833379
TI  - Ubiquitylation, neddylation and the DNA damage response.
AB  - Failure of accurate DNA damage sensing and repair mechanisms manifests as a
      variety of human diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders,
      immunodeficiency, infertility and cancer. The accuracy and efficiency of DNA
      damage detection and repair, collectively termed the DNA damage response (DDR),
      requires the recruitment and subsequent post-translational modification (PTM) of
      a complex network of proteins. Ubiquitin and the ubiquitin-like protein (UBL)
      SUMO have established roles in regulating the cellular response to DNA double
      strand breaks (DSBs). A role for other UBLs, such as NEDD8, is also now emerging.
      This article provides an overview of the DDR, discusses our current understanding
      of the process and function of PTM by ubiquitin and NEDD8, and reviews the
      literature surrounding the role of ubiquitylation and neddylation in DNA repair
      processes, focusing particularly on DNA DSB repair. 

PMID- 25833389
TI  - Biological potential of nanomaterials strongly depends on the suspension media:
      experimental data on the effects of fullerene C60 on membranes.
AB  - Fullerenes (C60) are some of the most promising carbon nanomaterials to be used
      for medical applications as drug delivery agents. Computational and experimental
      studies have proposed their ability to enter cells by penetrating lipid bilayers.
      The aim of our study was to provide experimental evidence on whether pristine C60
      in physiological media could penetrate cell membranes. The effect was tested on
      phospholipid vesicles (liposomes) composed of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3
      phosphocholine, and validated on isolated human red blood cells (RBCs). We
      incubated the liposomes in an aqueous suspension of C60 and dissolved the lipids
      and C60 together in chloroform and subsequently formatted the liposomes. By
      differential scanning calorimetry measurements, we assessed the effect of C60 on
      the phospholipid thermal profile. The latter was not affected after the
      incubation of liposomes in the C60 suspension; also, a shape transformation of
      RBCs did not occur. Differently, by dispersing both C60 and the phospholipids in
      chloroform, we confirmed the possible interaction of C60 with the bilayer. We
      provide experimental data suggesting that the suspension medium is an important
      factor in determining the C60-membrane interaction, which is not always included
      in computational studies. Since the primary particle size is not the only crucial
      parameter in C60-membrane interactions, it is important to determine the most
      relevant characteristics of their effects on membranes.

PMID- 25833392
TI  - Commentary.

PMID- 25833390
TI  - A phase 2 study of bortezomib in combination with ifosfamide/vinorelbine in
      paediatric patients and young adults with refractory/recurrent Hodgkin lymphoma:
      a Children's Oncology Group study.
AB  - A Children's Oncology Group clinical trial aimed to determine if bortezomib (B)
      increased the efficacy of ifosfamide and vinorelbine (IV) in paediatric Hodgkin
      lymphoma (HL). This study enrolled 26 relapsed HL patients (<30 years) treated
      with two to four cycles of IVB. The primary endpoint was anatomic complete
      response (CR) after two cycles. Secondary endpoints included overall response
      (OR: CR + partial response) at study completion compared to historical controls
      [72%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 59-83%]. Although few patients achieved the
      primary objective, OR with IVB improved to 83% (95% CI: 61-95%; p = 0.32).
      Although not statistically different, results suggest IVB may be a promising
      combination.

PMID- 25833391
TI  - Encoding and decoding spatio-temporal information for super-resolution
      microscopy.
AB  - The challenge of increasing the spatial resolution of an optical microscope
      beyond the diffraction limit can be reduced to a spectroscopy task by proper
      manipulation of the molecular states. The nanoscale spatial distribution of the
      molecules inside the detection volume of a scanning microscope can be encoded
      within the fluorescence dynamics and decoded by resolving the signal into its
      dynamics components. Here we present a robust and general method to decode this
      information using phasor analysis. As an example of the application of this
      method, we optically generate spatially controlled gradients in the fluorescence
      lifetime by stimulated emission. Spatial resolution can be increased indefinitely
      by increasing the number of resolved dynamics components up to a maximum
      determined by the amount of noise. We demonstrate that the proposed method
      provides nanoscale imaging of subcellular structures, opening new routes in super
      resolution microscopy based on the encoding/decoding of spatial information
      through manipulation of molecular dynamics. 

PMID- 25833393
TI  - Integrating ontologies of rare diseases and radiological diagnosis.
AB  - PURPOSE: The author sought to integrate an ontology of rare diseases with a large
      ontological model of radiological diagnosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Orphanet
      Rare Disease Ontology (ORDO) comprised 6794 rare diseases. The Radiology Gamuts
      Ontology (RGO) incorporated 16 197 terms and 53,425 causal relations linking
      disorders to imaging manifestations. Semi-automated string-matching was used to
      match ORDO terms to RGO terms. RESULTS: Of 6794 ORDO terms, 1587 (23.3%) were
      matched to RGO terms. An additional 700 ORDO terms whose names were hyphenated
      lists of phenotypic features were added to RGO with causal links from the disease
      name to the various features. Matched terms were more likely to have higher
      disease prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: Integrating these ontologies expanded the set of
      terms and scope of knowledge available for radiological differential diagnosis,
      and can support translational rare-disease research by linking knowledge of
      genetics and imaging phenotypes.

PMID- 25833394
TI  - Implications for informatics given expanding access to care for Veterans and
      other populations.
AB  - Recent investigations into appointment scheduling within facilities operated by
      the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) illuminate systemic challenges in
      meeting its goal of providing timely access to care for all Veterans. In the wake
      of these investigations, new policies have been enacted to expand access to care
      at VA facilities as well as non-VA facilities if the VA is unable to provide
      access within a reasonable timeframe or a Veteran lives more than 40 miles from a
      VA medical facility. These policies are similar to broader health reform efforts
      that seek to expand access to care for other vulnerable populations. In this
      perspective, we discuss the informatics implications of expanded access within
      the VA and its wider applicability across the US health system. Health systems
      will require robust health information exchange, to maintain coordination while
      access to care is expanded. Existing informatics research can guide short-term
      implementation; furthermore, new research is needed to generate evidence about
      how best to achieve the long-term aim of expanded access to care. 

PMID- 25833395
TI  - bFGF Protects Pre-oligodendrocytes from Oxygen/Glucose Deprivation Injury to
      Ameliorate Demyelination.
AB  - One of the pathological hallmarks of periventricular white matter injury is the
      vulnerability of pre-oligodendrocytes (preOLs) to hypoxia-ischemia (HI). There is
      increasing evidence that basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is an important
      signaling molecule for neurogenesis and neuroprotection in the central nervous
      system. However, it is unknown whether bFGF protects preOLs from oxygen/glucose
      deprivation (OGD) damage in vitro and promotes remyelination in HI-induced rats.
      In this present study, bFGF exerted a protective effect on myelin by increasing
      the myelin thickness, the number of myelinated axons, and myelin basic protein
      expression in the HI-induced demyelinated neonatal rat corpus callosum. In vitro,
      bFGF ameliorated the impaired mitochondria and cell processes induced by OGD to
      promote the survival of isolated O4-positive preOLs. Additionally, the expression
      of fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) was dramatically up-regulated in
      the preOLs after bFGF administration in vivo and in vitro. Thus, bFGF-stimulated
      remyelination in HI-induced rats by protecting the preOLs from hypoxic injury,
      and the mechanism involved may be mediated by FGFR3. 

PMID- 25833396
TI  - Survival of effector CD8+ T cells during influenza infection is dependent on
      autophagy.
AB  - The activation and expansion of effector CD8(+) T cells are essential for
      controlling viral infections and tumor surveillance. During an immune response, T
      cells encounter extrinsic and intrinsic factors, including oxidative stress,
      nutrient availability, and inflammation, that can modulate their capacity to
      activate, proliferate, and survive. The dependency of T cells on autophagy for in
      vitro and in vivo activation, expansion, and memory remains unclear. Moreover,
      the specific signals and mechanisms that activate autophagy in T effector cells
      and their survival are not known. In this study, we generated a novel inducible
      autophagy knockout mouse to study T cell effector responses during the course of
      a virus infection. In response to influenza infection, Atg5(-/-) CD8(+) T cells
      had a decreased capacity to reach the peak effector response and were unable to
      maintain cell viability during the effector phase. As a consequence of Atg5
      deletion and the impairment in effector-to-memory cell survival, mice fail to
      mount a memory response following a secondary challenge. We found that Atg5(-/-)
      effector CD8(+) T cells upregulated p53, a transcriptional state that was
      concomitant with widespread hypoxia in lymphoid tissues of infected mice. The
      onset of p53 activation was concurrent with higher levels of reactive oxygen
      species (ROS) that resulted in ROS-dependent apoptotic cell death, a fate that
      could be rescued by treating with the ROS scavenger N-acetylcysteine.
      Collectively, these results demonstrate that effector CD8(+) T cells require
      autophagy to suppress cell death and maintain survival in response to a viral
      infection. 

PMID- 25833397
TI  - CD28 Promotes Plasma Cell Survival, Sustained Antibody Responses, and BLIMP-1
      Upregulation through Its Distal PYAP Proline Motif.
AB  - In health, long-lived plasma cells (LLPC) are essential for durable protective
      humoral immunity, and, conversely, in disease are a major source of pathogenic
      Abs in autoimmunity, graft rejection, and allergy. However, the molecular basis
      for their longevity is largely unknown. We have recently found that CD28
      signaling in plasma cells (PC) is essential for sustaining Ab titers, by
      supporting the survival of LLPC, but not short-lived PC (SLPC). We now find that,
      unlike SLPC, CD28 activation in LLPC induces prosurvival downstream Vav
      signaling. Knockin mice with CD28 cytoplasmic tail mutations that abrogate Vav
      signaling (CD28-AYAA) had significantly fewer LLPC but unaffected SLPC numbers,
      whereas mice with mutations that abrogate PI3K signaling (CD28-Y170F) were
      indistinguishable from wild-type controls. This was consistent with the loss of
      CD28's prosurvival effect in LLPC from CD28-AYAA, but not CD28-Y170F, mice.
      Furthermore, the CD28 Vav motif in the B lineage was essential for the long-term
      maintenance of Ag-specific LLPC populations and Ab titers in vivo. Signaling
      downstream of the CD28 Vav motif induced previously undescribed transcriptional
      regulation of B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein-1, a key mediator of PC
      differentiation and maintenance. These findings suggest CD28 signaling in LLPC
      modulates the central B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein-1 transcriptional
      nexus involved in long-term survival and function. 

PMID- 25833399
TI  - Placental melatonin system is present throughout pregnancy and regulates villous
      trophoblast differentiation.
AB  - Melatonin is highly produced in the placenta where it protects against molecular
      damage and cellular dysfunction arising from hypoxia/re-oxygenation-induced
      oxidative stress as observed in primary cultures of syncytiotrophoblast. However,
      little is known about melatonin and its receptors in the human placenta
      throughout pregnancy and their role in villous trophoblast development. The
      purpose of this study was to determine melatonin-synthesizing enzymes,
      arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase (AANAT) and hydroxyindole O-methyltransferase
      (HIOMT), and melatonin receptors (MT1 and MT2) expression throughout pregnancy as
      well as the role of melatonin and its receptors in villous trophoblast
      syncytialization. Our data show that the melatonin generating system is expressed
      throughout pregnancy (from week 7 to term) in placental tissues. AANAT and HIOMT
      show maximal expression at the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. MT1 receptor
      expression is maximal at the 1st trimester compared to the 2nd and 3rd
      trimesters, while MT2 receptor expression does not change significantly during
      pregnancy. Moreover, during primary villous cytotrophoblast syncytialization, MT1
      receptor expression increases, while MT2 receptor expression decreases. Treatment
      of primary villous cytotrophoblast with an increasing concentration of melatonin
      (10 pM-1 mM) increases the fusion index (syncytium formation; 21% augmentation at
      1 mM melatonin vs. vehicle) and beta-hCG secretion (121% augmentation at 1 mM
      melatonin vs. vehicle). This effect of melatonin appears to be mediated via its
      MT1 and MT2 receptors. In sum, melatonin machinery (synthetizing enzymes and
      receptors) is expressed in human placenta throughout pregnancy and promotes
      syncytium formation, suggesting an essential role of this indolamine in placental
      function and pregnancy well-being.

PMID- 25833398
TI  - PLZF regulates CCR6 and is critical for the acquisition and maintenance of the
      Th17 phenotype in human cells.
AB  - Th17 cells, which express the chemokine receptor CCR6, are implicated in many
      immune-mediated disorders, such as psoriasis and multiple sclerosis. We found
      that expression levels of CCR6 on human effector/memory CD4(+) T cells reflect a
      continuum of Th17 differentiation. By evaluating the transcriptome in cells with
      increasing CCR6, we detected progressive upregulation of ZBTB16, which encodes
      the broad complex, tramtrack, bric-a-brac-zinc finger transcription factor
      promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger protein (PLZF). Using chromatin
      immunoprecipitation for modified histones, p300, and PLZF, we identified enhancer
      like sites at -9/-10 and -13/-14 kb from the upstream transcription start site of
      CCR6 that bind PLZF in CCR6(+) cells. For Th cells from adult blood, both in the
      CCR6(+) memory population and in naive cells activated ex vivo, knockdown of
      ZBTB16 downregulated CCR6 and other Th17-associated genes. ZBTB16 and RORC (which
      encodes the "master regulator" RORgammat) cross-regulate each other, and PLZF
      binds at the RORC promoter in CCR6(+) cells. In naive Th cells from cord blood,
      ZBTB16 expression was confined to CD161(+) cells, which are Th17 cell precursors.
      ZBTB16 was not expressed in mouse Th17 cells, and Th17 cells could be made from
      luxoid mice, which harbor an inactivating mutation in Zbtb16. These studies
      demonstrate a role for PLZF as an activator of transcription important both for
      Th17 differentiation and the maintenance of the Th17 phenotype in human cells,
      expand the role of PLZF as a critical regulator in the human adaptive immune
      system, and identify a novel, essential element in a regulatory network that is
      of significant therapeutic interest. 

PMID- 25833400
TI  - [Age-related changes in swallowing. Physiology and pathophysiology].
AB  - The term presbyphagia refers to all changes of swallowing physiology that are
      manifested with increasing age. Alterations in the pattern of deglutition that
      are part of healthy aging are called primary presbyphagia. Primary presbyphagia
      is not an illness in itself but contributes to a more pervasive naturally
      diminished functional reserve, making older adults more susceptible to dysphagia.
      If disorders in swallowing occur in the elderly as a comorbidity of a specific
      disease, for example stroke or neurodegenerative disorders, this is called
      secondary presbyphagia. Increasing age has an impact on each stage of
      deglutition. In the oral preparatory phase a diminished input for smell and taste
      as well as a usually multifactorial cause of dry mouth are the most important
      influencing factors. Sarcopenia, the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass,
      strength and quality associated with aging, interferes in particular with the
      oropharyngeal phase. A decreased sensory feedback from the oropharyngeal mucosa
      leads to a delayed triggering of the swallowing reflex. Finally, a reduction in
      connective tissue elasticity and changes of the axial skeleton lead to various
      modifications of the swallowing pattern with advanced age. 

PMID- 25833402
TI  - An effective approach to reduce inflammation and stenosis in carotid artery:
      polypyrrole nanoparticle-based photothermal therapy.
AB  - Photothermal therapy (PTT), as a promising treatment for tumours, has rarely been
      reported for application in artery restenosis, which is a common complication of
      endovascular management due to enduring chronic inflammation and abnormal cell
      proliferation. In our study, biodegradable polypyrrole nanoparticles (PPy-NPs)
      were synthesized and characterized, including their size distribution, UV-vis-NIR
      absorbance, molar extinction coefficients, and photothermal properties. We then
      verified that PPy-NP incubation followed by 915 nm near-infrared (NIR) laser
      irradiation could effectively ablate inflammatory macrophages in vitro, leading
      to significant cell apoptosis and cell death. Further, it was found that a
      combination of local PPy-NP injection with 915 nm NIR laser irradiation could
      significantly alleviate arterial inflammation by eliminating infiltrating
      macrophages and further ameliorating artery stenosis in an ApoE(-/-) mouse model,
      without showing any obvious toxic side effects. Thus, we propose that PTT based
      on PPy-NPs as photothermal agents and a 915 nm NIR laser as a power source can
      serve as a new effective treatment for reducing inflammation and stenosis
      formation in inflamed arteries after endovascular management. 

PMID- 25833401
TI  - [Pegylated interferon beta 1a. A new therapy option for treatment of relapsing
      remitting multiple sclerosis].
AB  - Pegylation of pharmacological substances was developed in the 1970s as a way of
      improving their efficacy and elimination and hence reducing the dosage frequency.
      A prominent example is pegylation of IFNalpha, which revolutionized the treatment
      of virus hepatitis in the late 1990s. Efforts have now succeeded in producing a
      pegylated interferon beta (PEG-IFN-beta1a) to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) and
      the efficacy and safety have been investigated in a phase III trial called the
      ADVANCE study. The 1-year results of this randomized, double blind, multicenter,
      placebo-controlled study in more than 1500 MS patients show that administration
      of subcutaneous PEG-IFN-beta1a significantly reduces the annual relapse rate and
      disability progression. The safety and tolerability profile of PEG-IFN-beta1a was
      found to be similar to that of conventional IFN-beta drugs. The most common
      adverse events were flu-like symptoms and redness at the injection site. The
      results of this study underscore that PEG-IFN-beta1a is an interesting new
      therapeutic option in the treatment of relapsing-remitting MS that combines
      highly effective interferon with the established tolerability and safety profile
      of IFN-beta at a reduced dosage frequency. 

PMID- 25833403
TI  - Efficacy of Cell Wall-Deficient Spheroplasts Against Experimental Murine
      Listeriosis.
AB  - Various strategies adapted to develop an efficient vaccine against foodborne
      pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes, have met with little success. Spheroplasts
      (bacterial cell devoid of cell wall) are likely to undergo membrane-membrane
      fusion, leading to the delivery of their content to the cytosol of antigen
      presenting cells, thus facilitating MHC class I antigen processing and
      presentation. In this study, we evaluated the prophylactic potential of Listeria
      spheroplast-based vaccine against experimental murine listeriosis in comparison
      with heat-killed Listeria (HKL) and archaeosome-entrapped Listeria whole-cell
      protein (LWCP). Compared with HKL, the spheroplast-based vaccine was found to
      evoke better Th1 response as exhibited by the presence of type 1 cytokines in the
      host (interferon-gamma and IL-12) and a high IgG2a /IgG1 ratio. Robust lympho
      proliferative efficacy was apparent in both spheroplast-immunized and archaeosome
      entrapped LWCP-immunized groups. The upregulation of costimulatory and effector
      memory markers upon immunization with spheroplasts was found to be at par with
      that evoked by archaeosome-entrapped LWCP-immunized group. Central memory
      response in gated CD8(+) T cell was much higher in spheroplast-immunized animals
      when compared with archaeosome-entrapped LWCP group. The data presented here
      clearly demonstrate that spheroplasts evoked a robust immune response and offer
      better prophylactic potential against L. monocytogenes.

PMID- 25833404
TI  - Computational Modelling of Dapsone Interaction With Dihydropteroate Synthase in
      Mycobacterium leprae; Insights Into Molecular Basis of Dapsone Resistance in
      Leprosy.
AB  - The molecular basis for determination of resistance to anti-leprosy drugs is the
      presence of point mutations within the genes of Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae)
      that encode active drug targets. The downstream structural and functional
      implications of these point mutations on drug targets were scarcely studied. In
      this study, we utilized computational tools to develop native and mutant protein
      models for 5 point mutations at codon positions 53 and 55 in 6-hydroxymethyl-7, 8
      dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) of M. leprae, an active target for dapsone
      encoded by folp1 gene, that confer resistance to dapsone. Molecular docking was
      performed to identify variations in dapsone interaction with mutant DHPS in terms
      of hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interactions, and energy changes. Schrodinger
      Suite 2014-3 was used to build homology models and in performing molecular
      docking. An increase in volume of the binding cavities of mutant structures was
      noted when compared to native form indicating a weakening in interaction (60.7
      A(3) in native vs. 233.6 A(3) in Thr53Ala, 659.9 A(3) in Thr53Ile, 400 A(3) for
      Thr53Val, 385 A(3) for Pro55Arg, and 210 A(3) for Pro55Leu). This was also
      reflected by changes in hydrogen bonds and decrease in hydrophobic interactions
      in the mutant models. The total binding energy (DeltaG) decreased significantly
      in mutant forms when compared to the native form (-51.92 Kcal/mol for native vs. 
      35.64, -35.24, -46.47, -47.69, and -41.36 Kcal/mol for mutations Thr53Ala,
      Thr53Ile, Thr53Val, Pro55Arg, and Pro55Leu, respectively. In brief, this analysis
      provided structural and mechanistic insights to the degree of dapsone resistance
      contributed by each of these DHPS mutants in leprosy.

PMID- 25833405
TI  - Statins and Cardiovascular Primary Prevention in CKD: A Meta-Analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Multiple meta-analyses of lipid-lowering therapies for
      cardiovascular primary prevention in the general population have been performed.
      Other meta-analyses of lipid-lowering therapies in CKD have also been performed,
      but not for primary prevention. This meta-analysis assesses lipid-lowering
      therapies for cardiovascular primary prevention in CKD. DESIGN, SETTING,
      PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: A systematic review and meta-analysis using a
      random-effects model was performed. MEDLINE was searched between January 2012 and
      September 2013 for new studies using predefined search criteria without language
      restrictions. A number of other sources including previously published meta
      analyses were also reviewed. Inclusion criteria were randomized control trials of
      primary prevention with lipid-lowering therapy in non-end stage CKD. RESULTS: Six
      trials were identified, five including patients with stage 3 CKD only. These
      studies included 8834 participants and 32,846 person-years of follow-up. All
      trials were post hoc subgroup analyses of statins in the general population.
      Statins reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease (the prespecified primary
      outcome) by 41% in stages 1-3 CKD compared with placebo (pooled risk ratio, 0.59;
      95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.48 to 0.72). For the secondary outcomes, the
      risk ratios were 0.66 (95% CI, 0.49 to 0.88) for total mortality, 0.55 (95% CI,
      0.42 to 0.72) for coronary heart disease events, and 0.56 (95% CI, 0.28 to 1.13)
      for stroke. In study participants with stage 3 CKD specifically, the results were
      similar. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis suggests that the use of statins in CKD
      for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease is effective. These findings are
      consistent with recent guidance for the use of statins in all patients with CKD.

PMID- 25833407
TI  - The Association Between Household Consumer Durable Assets and Maternal Health
      Seeking Behavior in Ghana.
AB  - This article examined the association between household consumer durable assets
      and maternal health-seeking behavior. Several studies have suggested a
      relationship between households' socioeconomic status (SES) and health outcomes.
      However, SES is a multidimensional concept that encompasses variables, such as
      wealth, education, and income. By grouping these variables together as one
      construct, prior studies have not provided enough insight into possible
      independent associations with health outcomes. This study used data from the 2008
      Ghana Demographic and Health Survey of 2,065 women aged between 15 and 49 years
      to examine the association between household consumer durables (a component of
      SES) and maternal health-seeking behavior in Ghana. Results from a set of
      generalized linear models indicated that household consumer durable assets were
      positively associated with four measures of maternal health-seeking behaviors,
      namely, seeking prenatal care from skilled health personnel, delivery by skilled
      birth attendant, place of delivery, and the number of antenatal visits. Also,
      households with more assets whose residents lived in urban areas were more likely
      to use skilled health personnel before and during delivery, and at an approved
      health facility, compared those who lived in rural areas. Implications for health
      interventions and policies that focus on the most vulnerable households are
      discussed. 

PMID- 25833406
TI  - Impacts of metformin and aspirin on life history features and longevity of
      crickets: trade-offs versus cost-free life extension?
AB  - We examined the impacts of aspirin and metformin on the life history of the
      cricket Acheta domesticus (growth rate, maturation time, mature body size,
      survivorship, and maximal longevity). Both drugs significantly increased
      survivorship and maximal life span. Maximal longevity was 136 days for controls,
      188 days (138 % of controls) for metformin, and 194 days (143 % of controls) for
      aspirin. Metformin and aspirin in combination extended longevity to a lesser
      degree (163 days, 120 % of controls). Increases in general survivorship were even
      more pronounced, with low-dose aspirin yielding mean longevity 234 % of controls
      (i.e., health span). Metformin strongly reduced growth rates of both genders (<60
      % of controls), whereas aspirin only slightly reduced the growth rate of females
      and slightly increased that of males. Both drugs delayed maturation age relative
      to controls, but metformin had a much greater impact (>140 % of controls) than
      aspirin (~118 % of controls). Crickets maturing on low aspirin showed no evidence
      of a trade-off between maturation mass and life extension. Remarkably, by 100
      days of age, aspirin-treated females were significantly larger than controls
      (largely reflecting egg complement). Unlike the reigning dietary restriction
      paradigm, low aspirin conformed to a paradigm of "eat more, live longer." In
      contrast, metformin-treated females were only ~67 % of the mass of controls. Our
      results suggest that hormetic agents like metformin may derive significant trade
      offs with life extension, whereas health and longevity benefits may be obtained
      with less cost by agents like aspirin that regulate geroprotective pathways.

PMID- 25833408
TI  - Increased cerebral cannabinoid-1 receptor availability is a stable feature of
      functional dyspepsia: a [F]MK-9470 PET study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a prevalent functional gastrointestinal
      disorder (FGID) defined by chronic epigastric symptoms in the absence of organic
      abnormalities likely to explain them. Comorbidity with mood and anxiety disorders
      as well as with other FGIDs and functional somatic syndrome (FSS) is high. FD is
      characterized by abnormal regional cerebral activity in cognitive/affective pain
      modulatory circuits, but it is unknown which neurotransmitter systems are
      involved. The authors aimed to assess and compare in vivo cerebral cannabinoid-1
      (CB1) receptor availability between FD patients and age-, gender- and BMI-matched
      healthy controls (HC). METHODS: Twelve FD patients and 12 matched HC were
      investigated using positron emission tomography (PET) with the CB1 receptor
      radioligand [(18)F]MK-9470. Nine of the patients received a second PET scan after
      a naturalistic follow-up period of 36 +/- 9.6 months (range: 25.2-50.4 months).
      RESULTS: FD patients had significantly higher CB1 receptor availability in the
      cerebral regions involved in (visceral) nociception (brainstem, insula, anterior
      cingulate cortex) as well as in the homeostatic and hedonic regulation of food
      intake [hypothalamus, (ventral) striatum] (p < 0.05 corrected for multiple
      testing, region of interest analysis), which persisted after a follow-up period
      of 36 +/- 9.6 months. CONCLUSIONS: Although these findings need replication in
      larger samples, they suggest that the abnormal brain activity in several of these
      regions, previously demonstrated in FD, may be due to a sustained endocannabinoid
      system dysfunction, identifying it as a potential novel target for treatment and
      warranting further studies to elucidate whether it is also a feature of other
      FGIDs or FSSs.

PMID- 25833409
TI  - Potent Antifouling Marine Dihydroquinolin-2(1H)-one-Containing Alkaloids from the
      Gorgonian Coral-Derived Fungus Scopulariopsis sp.
AB  - Marine biofouling has a major economic impact, especially when it occurs on ship
      hulls or aquaculture facilities. Since the International Maritime Organization
      (IMO) treaty to ban the application of organotin-based paints to ships went into
      effect in 2008, there is an urgent demand for the development of efficient and
      environmentally friendly antifouling agents. Marine microorganisms have proved to
      be a potential source of antifouling natural compounds. In this study, six
      dihydroquinolin-2-one-containing alkaloids, three monoterpenoids combined with a
      4-phenyl-3,4-dihydroquinolin-2(1H)-one (1-3) and three 4-phenyl-3,4
      dihydroquinolin-2(1H)-one alkaloids (4-6), were isolated from the gorgonian coral
      derived fungus Scopulariopsis sp. collected in the South China Sea. These
      dihydroquinolin-2-one-containing alkaloids were evaluated against the larval
      settlement of barnacle Balanus amphitrite, and antifouling activity was detected
      for the first time for this class of metabolites. All of them except 6 showed
      strong antifouling activity. Compounds 1 and 2 were discovered to be the most
      promising non-toxic antilarval settlement candidates. Especially, compound 1 is
      the strongest antifouling compound in nature until now which showed highly potent
      activity with picomolar level (EC50 17.5 pM) and a very safety and high
      therapeutic ratio (LC50/EC50 1200). This represents an effective non-toxic, anti
      larval settlement structural class of promising antifouling lead compound. 

PMID- 25833410
TI  - Elastin organization in pig and cardiovascular disease patients' pericardial
      resistance arteries.
AB  - Peripheral vascular resistance is increased in essential hypertension. This
      involves structural changes of resistance arteries and stiffening of the arterial
      wall, including remodeling of the extracellular matrix. We hypothesized that
      biopsies of the human parietal pericardium, obtained during coronary artery
      bypass grafting or cardiac valve replacement surgeries, can serve as a source of
      resistance arteries for structural research in cardiovascular disease patients.
      We applied two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy to study the parietal
      pericardium and isolated pericardial resistance arteries with a focus on the
      collagen and elastin components of the extracellular matrix. Initial findings in
      pig tissue were confirmed in patient biopsies. The microarchitecture of the
      internal elastic lamina in both the pig and patient pericardial resistance
      arteries (studied at a transmural pressure of 100 mm Hg) is fiber like, and no
      prominent external elastic lamina could be observed. This microarchitecture is
      very different from that in rat mesenteric arteries frequently used for
      resistance artery research. In conclusion, we add three-dimensional information
      on the structure of the extracellular matrix in resistance arteries from
      cardiovascular disease patients and propose further use of patient pericardial
      resistance arteries for studies of the human microvasculature.

PMID- 25833411
TI  - An Unusually Small Singlet-Triplet Gap in a Quinoidal 1,6-Methano[10]annulene
      Resulting from Baird's 4n pi-Electron Triplet Stabilization.
AB  - Within the continuum of pi-extended quinoidal electronic structures exist
      molecules that by design can support open-shell diradical structures. The
      prevailing molecular design criteria for such structures involve proaromatic
      nature that evolves aromaticity in open-shell diradical resonance structures. A
      new diradical species built upon a quinoidal methano[10]annulene unit is
      synthesized and spectroscopically evaluated. The requisite intersystem crossing
      in the open-shell structure is accompanied by structural reorganization from a
      contorted Mobius aromatic-like shape in S0 to a more planar shape in the Huckel
      aromatic-like T1. This stability was attributed to Baird's Rule which dictates
      the aromaticity of 4n pi-electron triplet excited states.

PMID- 25833412
TI  - Parent stress across molecular subtypes of children with Angelman syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Parenting stress has been consistently reported among parents of
      children with developmental disabilities. However, to date, no studies have
      investigated the impact of a molecular subtype of Angelman syndrome (AS) on
      parent stress, despite distinct phenotypic differences among subtypes. METHOD:
      Data for 124 families of children with three subtypes of AS: class I and II
      deletions (n = 99), imprinting centre defects (IC defects; n = 11) and paternal
      uniparental disomy (UPD; n = 14) were drawn from the AS Rare Diseases Clinical
      Research Network (RDCRN) database and collected from five research sites across
      the Unites States. The AS study at the RDCRN gathered health information to
      understand how the syndrome develops and how to treat it. Parents completed
      questionnaires on their perceived psychological stress, the severity of
      children's aberrant behaviour and children's sleep patterns. Children's adaptive
      functioning and developmental levels were clinically evaluated. RESULTS: Child
      related stress reached clinical levels for 40% of parents of children with
      deletions, 100% for IC defects and 64.3% for UPD. Sleep difficulties were similar
      and elevated across subtypes. There were no differences between molecular
      subtypes for overall child and parent-related stress. However, results showed
      greater isolation and lack of perceived parenting skills for parents of children
      with UPD compared with deletions. Better overall cognition for children with
      deletions was significantly related to more child-related stress while their
      poorer adaptive functioning was associated with more child-related stress. For
      all three groups, the severity of children's inappropriate behaviour was
      positively related to different aspects of stress. CONCLUSIONS: How parents react
      to stress depends, in part, on children's AS molecular subtype. Despite falling
      under the larger umbrella term of AS, it is important to acknowledge the unique
      aspects associated with children's molecular subtype. Identifying these factors
      can lead to tailored interventions that fit the particular needs of families of
      children with different AS subtypes.

PMID- 25833413
TI  - Global DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation differ in hepatocellular carcinoma
      and cholangiocarcinoma and relate to survival rate.
AB  - In addition to DNA methylation, hydroxymethylation of DNA is recognized as a
      novel epigenetic mark. Primary liver cancers, i.e., hepatocellular carcinoma
      (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CC), are highly prevalent but epigenetically poorly
      characterized, so far. In the present study we measured global methylcytosine
      (mCyt) and hydroxymethylcytosine (hmCyt) in HCC and CC tissues and in peripheral
      blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) DNA to define mCyt and hmCyt status and,
      accordingly, the survival rate. Both mCyt and hmCyt were measured by a liquid
      chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method in neoplastic and homologous
      nonneoplastic tissues, i.e., liver and gallbladder, and in PBMCs of 31 HCC and 16
      CC patients. Content of mCyt was notably lower in HCC than in CC tissues (3.97%
      versus 5.26%, respectively; P < 0.0001). Significantly reduced mCyt was also
      detected in HCC compared to nonneoplastic tissue (3.97% versus 4.82% mCyt,
      respectively; P < 0.0001), but no such difference was found for CC versus
      homologous nonneoplastic tissue. Hydroxymethylation was significantly decreased
      in HCC versus nonneoplastic liver tissue (0.044 versus 0.128, respectively; P <
      0.0001) and in CC versus both liver and gallbladder nonneoplastic tissue (0.030
      versus 0.124, P = 0.026, and 0.030 versus 0.123, P = 0.006, respectively). When
      the survival rate was evaluated according to mCyt PBMC content by Kaplan-Meier
      analysis, patients with mCyt >=5.59% had a significantly higher life expectancy
      than those with mCyt <5.59% (P = 0.034) at a follow-up period up to 48 months.
      CONCLUSION: A significant DNA hypomethylation distinguishes HCC from CC, while
      DNA hypo-hydroxymethylation characterizes both HCC and CC, and a PBMC DNA mCyt
      content >=5.59% relates to a favorable outcome in primary liver cancers.

PMID- 25833414
TI  - Costs in different states of prostate cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This cross-sectional study assesses resource use and costs in
      different states of prostate cancer (PCa) in a real-life setting. Costs were
      estimated as incremental costs due to cancer for a six-month period and they
      included direct medical costs, productivity costs and costs of informal care.
      METHODS: Resource use and cost data, irrespective of who the payer was, were
      retrieved from the registries for 611 PCa patients in the Helsinki area in
      Finland. In addition, patients answered background questions concerning informal
      care, work capacity and educational status. Patients were divided into four
      mutually exclusive groups based on disease state and time from diagnosis: primary
      (local disease, first six months after diagnosis; n = 47), rehabilitation (local
      disease, 0.5-1.5 years after diagnosis or recurrence; n = 158), remission (local
      disease, more than 1.5 years after diagnosis; n = 317) and metastatic (after
      detection of metastases; n = 89). RESULTS: Costs differed markedly between the
      states of disease. Mean direct health care costs for the six-month periods were:
      primary treatment state ? 2750, rehabilitation state ? 1143, remission state ?
      760 and metastatic state ? 7423. Productivity costs were also highest (? 4277) in
      the metastatic state. Overall, the average share of indirect costs was around one
      third of the total costs. However, when including informal care, their combined
      share of the total costs increased to around half or more. CONCLUSIONS: The
      results provided state-specific estimates of the direct health care and indirect
      costs of PCa in Finland. The treatment of metastatic disease is significantly
      more costly than treatment of early stage PCa. Although direct medical costs were
      higher compared to productivity costs, they should be taken into consideration
      when evaluating the costs of PCa.

PMID- 25833415
TI  - Validity of three rating scales for measuring pain intensity in youths with
      physical disabilities.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is growing evidence confirming that youths with physical
      disabilities are at risk for chronic pain. Although many scales for assessing
      pain intensity exist, it is unclear whether they are all equally suitable for
      youths. The aim of this study was to address this knowledge gap by comparing the
      validity of the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS-11), the Wong Baker FACES Pain Rating
      Scale (FACES), and a 6-point categorical Verbal Rating Scale (VRS-6) for
      assessing pain intensity among youths (aged 8-20) with physical disabilities.
      METHODS: One hundred and thirteen youths (mean age = 14.19 years; SD = 2.9) were
      interviewed and asked to rate their current pain intensity and recalled (in the
      past week) worst, least, and average pain with the NRS-11 and the FACES.
      Participants were also asked to rate their average pain intensity during the past
      4 weeks using a VRS-6, and were administered measures assessing pain
      interference, disability and psychological functioning. RESULTS: Analyses showed
      that all of the pain intensity measures were associated positively with each
      other. Nevertheless, the NRS-11 appeared to out-perform both the VRS-6 and in
      particular the FACES scale with respect to: (1) the associations with the
      validity criterion (i.e. pain interference, disability and psychological
      functioning) and (2) a lack of any moderating effect of age on the association
      between the measure and the criterion variables. CONCLUSIONS: The findings
      support the validity of the NRS-11 for assessing pain intensity in youths with
      physical disabilities between the ages of 8 and 20 years.

PMID- 25833417
TI  - Systematic review of compression following treatment for varicose veins.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Consensus regarding compression following treatment of varicose veins
      has yet to be reached. This systematic review aims to establish the optimal
      compression regimen after venous treatment. METHODS: A systematic review of
      MEDLINE, Embase and CENTRAL was performed to identify randomized clinical trials
      (RCTs) investigating different compression strategies following treatment for
      superficial venous insufficiency. RESULTS: Seven RCTs comparing different
      durations and methods of compression fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The
      treatment modality was open surgery in three trials, foam sclerotherapy in two
      and endovenous laser ablation (EVLA) in two trials. The quality of the studies
      was variable, and significant sources of potential bias were present. Both the
      studies and compression regimens used were heterogeneous. Ten products were used
      in six general regimens for a duration of 0-42 days. One study suggested that 7
      days rather than 2 days of stockings following EVLA was associated with superior
      quality of life and less pain at 1 week. Another study reported that, following
      surgery, application of a compression stocking after 3 days of bandaging was
      associated with a slightly longer recovery than no compression after 3 days. One
      study recorded compliance clearly, finding it to be only 40 per cent. The quality
      and heterogeneity of the studies precluded meta-analysis. CONCLUSION: There is
      currently little quality evidence upon which to base any recommendations
      concerning compression following treatment for varicose veins.

PMID- 25833416
TI  - Administration of antithrombin III attenuates posthepatectomy liver failure in
      hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Coagulopathy can cause disseminated intravascular coagulation
      and posthepatectomy liver failure. Posthepatectomy liver failure predicts a poor
      prognosis after hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma. Although antithrombin
      III reduces hypercoagulation, the impact of postoperative antithrombin III
      administration remains unknown. The aim of this study was to determine whether
      postoperative antithrombin III administration protects against the development of
      coagulation disorders. METHODS: Data from 164 patients who received antithrombin
      III and 169 who did following curative hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma
      were retrospectively collected and analyzed. To overcome bias due to different
      distributions of covariates for the two groups, a one-to-one match was created
      using propensity score analysis. After matching, patient outcomes were analyzed.
      RESULTS: A multivariate analysis of the whole group revealed that antithrombin
      III activity of <50% on postoperative day 1 was an independent risk factor for
      posthepatectomy liver failure. After one-to-one matching, the rate of
      posthepatectomy liver failure was significantly lower in the AT-III-treated group
      than in the non-AT-III-treated group (16.3% (7/43) vs. 44.2% (19/43), p < 0.01).
      CONCLUSIONS: Antithrombin III may attenuate posthepatectomy liver failure in
      hepatocellular carcinoma, possibly by suppressing coagulopathy.

PMID- 25833418
TI  - MicroRNA-20a is essential for normal embryogenesis by targeting vsx1 mRNA in
      fish.
AB  - MicroRNAs are major post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression and have
      essential roles in diverse developmental processes. In vertebrates, some
      regulatory genes play different roles at different developmental stages. These
      genes are initially transcribed in a wide embryonic region but restricted within
      distinct cell types at subsequent stages during development. Therefore, post
      transcriptional regulation is required for the transition from one developmental
      stage to the next and the establishment of different cell identities. However,
      the regulation of many multiple functional genes at post-transcription level
      during development remains unknown. Here we show that miR-20a can target the mRNA
      of vsx1, a multiple functional gene, at the 3'-UTR and inhibit protein expression
      in both goldfish and zebrafish. The expression of miR-20a is initiated
      ubiquitously at late gastrula stage and exhibits a tissue-specific pattern in the
      developing retina. Inhibition of vsx1 3'-UTR mediated protein expression occurs
      when and where miR-20a is expressed. Decoying miR-20a resulted in severely
      impaired head, eye and trunk formation in association with excessive generation
      of vsx1 marked neurons in the spinal cord and defects of somites in the mesoderm
      region. These results demonstrate that miR-20a is essential for normal
      embryogenesis by restricting Vsx1 expression in goldfish and zebrafish, and that
      post-transcriptional regulation is an essential mechanism for Vsx1 playing
      different roles in diverse developmental processes. 

PMID- 25833419
TI  - Modifiable Risk Factors for Major Non-communicable Diseases Among Medical
      Students in Nepal.
AB  - The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of modifiable risk
      factors of the major non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among medical students. A
      cross sectional study was conducted at three randomly selected medical colleges
      in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. All third-year medical students (n = 191)
      participated in the study. A total of 62.3% of the respondents were male, and
      37.7% were female. The mean age of the respondents was 21.5 +/- 1.0 (SD) years. A
      total of 20.4% (n = 39) of the medical students were current tobacco users and
      50.8% (n = 97) have ever consumed alcohol. The majority (85.6%) of the medical
      students did not consume the daily recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. A
      total of 30.9% (n = 59) of the medical students were involved in low level of
      physical activity and 42.9% (n = 82) were involved in moderate level of physical
      activity. This study showed a high prevalence of risk factors of major NCDs among
      medical students and interventions are needed to change the unhealthy behaviour
      of medical students being role models in society.

PMID- 25833420
TI  - The Association Between Maternal Depression During Pregnancy and Adverse Birth
      Outcomes: A Retrospective Cohort Study of PRAMS Participants.
AB  - Women of reproductive age are at higher risk for depression than men; and
      depressive behaviors and endocrine imbalances could lead to adverse birth
      outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether maternal
      depression during pregnancy affected adverse birth outcomes, specifically preterm
      birth and small for gestational age (SGA). This study included 4123 women who
      participated in the 2009-2011 Utah Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System,
      an ongoing surveillance project that investigates maternal behaviors in women who
      have recently had a live birth. Women self-reported information on depression and
      outcome data were obtained from birth certificates. Logistic regression was used
      to obtain odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Women who self
      reported a diagnosis of depression during pregnancy had statistically significant
      increased odds of preterm birth as compared to women who had not been diagnosed
      with depression (OR 1.51; 95% CI 1.07, 2.12); there was no association between
      depression and SGA (OR 0.92; 95% CI 0.63, 1.34). After adjustment for prenatal
      care visits, the depression-preterm birth association was attenuated and no
      longer statistically significant (OR 1.29; 95% CI 0.90, 1.85). After adjustment
      for smoking, there continued to be no strong association between depression and
      SGA (OR 0.80; 95% CI 0.54, 1.20). The findings of this study do not support a
      maternal depression-adverse birth outcomes relationship among a predominantly
      healthy population of non-Hispanic White, well educated women. Future studies
      should focus on other diverse populations of women to determine if there is an
      association for these subgroups.

PMID- 25833422
TI  - Asymmetric asynchrony of financial time series based on asymmetric multiscale
      cross-sample entropy.
AB  - The paper proposes the asymmetric multiscale cross-sample entropy (AMCSE) method
      and applies it to analyze the financial time series of US, Chinese, and European
      stock markets. The asynchronies of these time series in USA, China, and Europe
      all decrease (the correlations increase) with the increase in scale which
      declares that taking into account bigger time scale to study these financial time
      series is capable of revealing the intrinsic relations between these stock
      markets. Meanwhile, we find that there is a crossover between the upwards and the
      downwards in these AMCSE results, which indicates that when the scale reach a
      certain value, the asynchronies of the upwards and the downwards for these stock
      markets are equal and symmetric. But for the other scales, the asynchronies of
      the upwards and the downwards are different from each other indicating the
      necessity and importance of multiscale analysis for revealing the most
      comprehensive information of stock markets. The series with a positive trend have
      a higher decreasing pace on asynchrony than those with a negative trend, while
      the asynchrony between the series with a positive or negative trend is lower than
      that between the original series. Moreover, it is noticeable that there are some
      small abnormal rises at some abnormal scales. We find that the asynchronies are
      the highest at scales smaller than 2 when investigating the time series of stock
      markets with a negative trend. The existences of asymmetries declare the
      inaccuracy and weakness of multiscale cross-sample entropy, while by comparing
      the asymmetries of US, Chinese, and European markets, similar conclusions can be
      drawn and we acquire that the asymmetries of Chinese markets are the smallest and
      the asymmetries of European markets are the biggest. Thus, it is of great value
      and benefit to investigate the series with different trends using AMCSE method. 

PMID- 25833423
TI  - Bifurcation behaviors of synchronized regions in logistic map networks with
      coupling delay.
AB  - Network synchronized regions play an extremely important role in network
      synchronization according to the master stability function framework. This paper
      focuses on network synchronous state stability via studying the effects of nodal
      dynamics, coupling delay, and coupling way on synchronized regions in Logistic
      map networks. Theoretical and numerical investigations show that (1) network
      synchronization is closely associated with its nodal dynamics. Particularly, the
      synchronized region bifurcation points through which the synchronized region
      switches from one type to another are in good agreement with those of the
      uncoupled node system, and chaotic nodal dynamics can greatly impede network
      synchronization. (2) The coupling delay generally impairs the synchronizability
      of Logistic map networks, which is also dominated by the parity of delay for some
      nodal parameters. (3) A simple nonlinear coupling facilitates network
      synchronization more than the linear one does. The results found in this paper
      will help to intensify our understanding for the synchronous state stability in
      discrete-time networks with coupling delay. 

PMID- 25833424
TI  - Is the Henon attractor chaotic?
AB  - By performing a systematic study of the Henon map, we find low-period sinks for
      parameter values extremely close to the classical ones. This raises the question
      whether or not the well-known Henon attractor-the attractor of the Henon map
      existing for the classical parameter values-is a strange attractor, or simply a
      stable periodic orbit. Using results from our study, we conclude that even if the
      latter were true, it would be practically impossible to establish this by
      computing trajectories of the map. 

PMID- 25833425
TI  - Chaotic dynamics and diffusion in a piecewise linear equation.
AB  - Genetic interactions are often modeled by logical networks in which time is
      discrete and all gene activity states update simultaneously. However, there is no
      synchronizing clock in organisms. An alternative model assumes that the logical
      network is preserved and plays a key role in driving the dynamics in piecewise
      nonlinear differential equations. We examine dynamics in a particular 4
      dimensional equation of this class. In the equation, two of the variables form a
      negative feedback loop that drives a second negative feedback loop. By modifying
      the original equations by eliminating exponential decay, we generate a modified
      system that is amenable to detailed analysis. In the modified system, we can
      determine in detail the Poincare (return) map on a cross section to the flow. By
      analyzing the eigenvalues of the map for the different trajectories, we are able
      to show that except for a set of measure 0, the flow must necessarily have an
      eigenvalue greater than 1 and hence there is sensitive dependence on initial
      conditions. Further, there is an irregular oscillation whose amplitude is
      described by a diffusive process that is well-modeled by the Irwin-Hall
      distribution. There is a large class of other piecewise-linear networks that
      might be analyzed using similar methods. The analysis gives insight into possible
      origins of chaotic dynamics in periodically forced dynamical systems. 

PMID- 25833426
TI  - Parameter estimation, nonlinearity, and Occam's razor.
AB  - Nonlinear systems are capable of displaying complex behavior even if this is the
      result of a small number of interacting time scales. A widely studied case is
      when complex dynamics emerges out of a nonlinear system being forced by a simple
      harmonic function. In order to identify if a recorded time series is the result
      of a nonlinear system responding to a simpler forcing, we develop a discrete
      nonlinear transformation for time series based on synchronization techniques.
      This allows a parameter estimation procedure which simultaneously searches for a
      good fit of the recorded data, and small complexity of a fluctuating driving
      parameter. We illustrate this procedure using data from respiratory patterns
      during birdsong production. 

PMID- 25833427
TI  - Assessing the direction of climate interactions by means of complex networks and
      information theoretic tools.
AB  - An estimate of the net direction of climate interactions in different
      geographical regions is made by constructing a directed climate network from a
      regular latitude-longitude grid of nodes, using a directionality index (DI) based
      on conditional mutual information (CMI). Two datasets of surface air temperature
      anomalies-one monthly averaged and another daily averaged-are analyzed and
      compared. The network links are interpreted in terms of known atmospheric
      tropical and extra-tropical variability patterns. Specific and relevant
      geographical regions are selected, the net direction of propagation of the
      atmospheric patterns is analyzed, and the direction of the inferred links is
      validated by recovering some well-known climate variability structures. These
      patterns are found to be acting at various time-scales, such as atmospheric waves
      in the extratropics or longer range events in the tropics. This analysis
      demonstrates the capability of the DI measure to infer the net direction of
      climate interactions and may contribute to improve the present understanding of
      climate phenomena and climate predictability. The work presented here also stands
      out as an application of advanced tools to the analysis of empirical, real-world
      data. 

PMID- 25833428
TI  - A new method for observing the running states of a single-variable nonlinear
      system.
AB  - In order to timely grasp a single variable nonlinear system running states, a new
      method called Scatter Point method is put forward in this paper. It can be used
      to observe or monitor the running states of a single variable nonlinear system in
      real-time. In this paper, the definition of the method is given at first, and
      then its working principle is expounded theoretically, after this, some physical
      experiments based on Chua's nonlinear system are conducted. At the same time,
      many scatter point graphs are measured by a general analog oscilloscope. The
      motion, number, and distribution of these scatter points shown on the
      oscilloscope screen can directly reflect the current states of the tested system.
      The experimental results further confirm that the method is effective and
      practical, in which the system running states are not easily lost. In addition,
      this method is not only suitable for single variable systems but also for
      multivariable systems. 

PMID- 25833430
TI  - Exact coherent structures and chaotic dynamics in a model of cardiac tissue.
AB  - Unstable nonchaotic solutions embedded in the chaotic attractor can provide
      significant new insight into chaotic dynamics of both low- and high-dimensional
      systems. In particular, in turbulent fluid flows, such unstable solutions are
      referred to as exact coherent structures (ECS) and play an important role in both
      initiating and sustaining turbulence. The nature of ECS and their role in
      organizing spatiotemporally chaotic dynamics, however, is reasonably well
      understood only for systems on relatively small spatial domains lacking
      continuous Euclidean symmetries. Construction of ECS on large domains and in the
      presence of continuous translational and/or rotational symmetries remains a
      challenge. This is especially true for models of excitable media which display
      spiral turbulence and for which the standard approach to computing ECS completely
      breaks down. This paper uses the Karma model of cardiac tissue to illustrate a
      potential approach that could allow computing a new class of ECS on large domains
      of arbitrary shape by decomposing them into a patchwork of solutions on smaller
      domains, or tiles, which retain Euclidean symmetries locally. 

PMID- 25833429
TI  - Synchronization, non-linear dynamics and low-frequency fluctuations: analogy
      between spontaneous brain activity and networked single-transistor chaotic
      oscillators.
AB  - In this paper, the topographical relationship between functional connectivity
      (intended as inter-regional synchronization), spectral and non-linear dynamical
      properties across cortical areas of the healthy human brain is considered. Based
      upon functional MRI acquisitions of spontaneous activity during wakeful idleness,
      node degree maps are determined by thresholding the temporal correlation
      coefficient among all voxel pairs. In addition, for individual voxel time-series,
      the relative amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and the correlation
      dimension (D2), determined with respect to Fourier amplitude and value
      distribution matched surrogate data, are measured. Across cortical areas, high
      node degree is associated with a shift towards lower frequency activity and,
      compared to surrogate data, clearer saturation to a lower correlation dimension,
      suggesting presence of non-linear structure. An attempt to recapitulate this
      relationship in a network of single-transistor oscillators is made, based on a
      diffusive ring (n = 90) with added long-distance links defining four extended hub
      regions. Similarly to the brain data, it is found that oscillators in the hub
      regions generate signals with larger low-frequency cycle amplitude fluctuations
      and clearer saturation to a lower correlation dimension compared to surrogates.
      The effect emerges more markedly close to criticality. The homology observed
      between the two systems despite profound differences in scale, coupling mechanism
      and dynamics appears noteworthy. These experimental results motivate further
      investigation into the heterogeneity of cortical non-linear dynamics in relation
      to connectivity and underline the ability for small networks of single-transistor
      oscillators to recreate collective phenomena arising in much more complex
      biological systems, potentially representing a future platform for modelling
      disease-related changes.

PMID- 25833431
TI  - Dynamics of classical particles in oval or elliptic billiards with a dispersing
      mechanism.
AB  - Some dynamical properties for an oval billiard with a scatterer in its interior
      are studied. The dynamics consists of a classical particle colliding between an
      inner circle and an external boundary given by an oval, elliptical, or circle
      shapes, exploring for the first time some natural generalizations. The billiard
      is indeed a generalization of the annular billiard, which is of strong interest
      for understanding marginally unstable periodic orbits and their role in the
      boundary between regular and chaotic regions in both classical and quantum
      (including experimental) systems. For the oval billiard, which has a mixed phase
      space, the presence of an obstacle is an interesting addition. We demonstrate,
      with details, how to obtain the equations of the mapping, and the changes in the
      phase space are discussed. We study the linear stability of some fixed points and
      show both analytically and numerically the occurrence of direct and inverse
      parabolic bifurcations. Lyapunov exponents and generalized bifurcation diagrams
      are obtained. Moreover, histograms of the number of successive iterations for
      orbits that stay in a cusp are studied. These histograms are shown to be scaling
      invariant when changing the radius of the scatterer, and they have a power law
      slope around -3. The results here can be generalized to other kinds of external
      boundaries. 

PMID- 25833432
TI  - The influence of a phase shift between the top and bottom walls on the Brownian
      transport of self-propelled particles.
AB  - Transport of noninteracting self-propelled particles is numerically investigated
      in a two-dimensional horizontally asymmetrical channel with nonstraight midline
      which can be controlled by the phase shift between the top and bottom walls. From
      numerical simulations, we found that self-propelled particles can be rectified by
      the self-propelled velocity. The direction of the average velocity is determined
      by the horizontally asymmetrical parameter of the channel. The average velocity
      is very sensitive to the phase shift and its behaviors can be manipulated by
      changing the phase shift. As the phase shift is increased, the average velocity
      decreases and its peak position moves (to right or left). Remarkably, the average
      velocity is zero when the phase shift is in the interval [ 3pi/5, 4pi/5]. The
      small phase shift may facilitate the rectification process for the large
      horizontal asymmetry of the channel.

PMID- 25833433
TI  - Time-delayed feedback control of coherence resonance near subcritical Hopf
      bifurcation: theory versus experiment.
AB  - Using the model of a generalized Van der Pol oscillator in the regime of
      subcritical Hopf bifurcation, we investigate the influence of time delay on noise
      induced oscillations. It is shown that for appropriate choices of time delay,
      either suppression or enhancement of coherence resonance can be achieved.
      Analytical calculations are combined with numerical simulations and experiments
      on an electronic circuit. 

PMID- 25833434
TI  - A new closeness centrality measure via effective distance in complex networks.
AB  - Closeness centrality (CC) measure, as a well-known global measure, is widely
      applied in many complex networks. However, the classical CC presents many
      problems for flow networks since these networks are directed and weighted. To
      address these issues, we propose an effective distance based closeness centrality
      (EDCC), which uses effective distance to replace conventional geographic distance
      and binary distance obtained by Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm. The proposed
      EDCC considers not only the global structure of the network but also the local
      information of nodes. And it can be well applied in directed or undirected,
      weighted or unweighted networks. Susceptible-Infected model is utilized to
      evaluate the performance by using the spreading rate and the number of infected
      nodes. Numerical examples simulated on four real networks are given to show the
      effectiveness of the proposed EDCC. 

PMID- 25833435
TI  - Amplitude equations for collective spatio-temporal dynamics in arrays of coupled
      systems.
AB  - We study the coupling induced destabilization in an array of identical
      oscillators coupled in a ring structure where the number of oscillators in the
      ring is large. The coupling structure includes different types of interactions
      with several next neighbors. We derive an amplitude equation of Ginzburg-Landau
      type, which describes the destabilization of a uniform stationary state and close
      by solutions in the limit of a large number of nodes. Studying numerically an
      example of unidirectionally coupled Duffing oscillators, we observe a coupling
      induced transition to collective spatio-temporal chaos, which can be understood
      using the derived amplitude equations. 

PMID- 25833436
TI  - Measuring political polarization: Twitter shows the two sides of Venezuela.
AB  - We say that a population is perfectly polarized when divided in two groups of the
      same size and opposite opinions. In this paper, we propose a methodology to study
      and measure the emergence of polarization from social interactions. We begin by
      proposing a model to estimate opinions in which a minority of influential
      individuals propagate their opinions through a social network. The result of the
      model is an opinion probability density function. Next, we propose an index to
      quantify the extent to which the resulting distribution is polarized. Finally, we
      apply the proposed methodology to a Twitter conversation about the late
      Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, finding a good agreement between our results
      and offline data. Hence, we show that our methodology can detect different
      degrees of polarization, depending on the structure of the network. 

PMID- 25833437
TI  - A fixed mass method for the Kramers-Moyal expansion--application to time series
      with outliers.
AB  - Extraction of stochastic and deterministic components from empirical data
      necessary for the reconstruction of the dynamics of the system-is discussed. We
      determine both components using the Kramers-Moyal expansion. In our earlier
      papers, we obtained large fluctuations in the magnitude of both terms for rare or
      extreme valued events in the data. Calculations for such events are burdened by
      an unsatisfactory quality of the statistics. In general, the method is sensitive
      to the binning procedure applied for the construction of histograms. Instead of
      the commonly used constant width of bins, we use here a constant number of counts
      for each bin. This approach-the fixed mass method-allows to include in the
      calculation events, which do not yield satisfactory statistics in the fixed bin
      width method. The method developed is general. To demonstrate its properties,
      here, we present the modified Kramers-Moyal expansion method and discuss its
      properties by the application of the fixed mass method to four representative
      heart rate variability recordings with different numbers of ectopic beats. These
      beats may be rare events as well as outlying, i.e., very small or very large
      heart cycle lengths. The properties of ectopic beats are important not only for
      medical diagnostic purposes but the occurrence of ectopic beats is a general
      example of the kind of variability that occurs in a signal with outliers. To show
      that the method is general, we also present results for two examples of data from
      very different areas of science: daily temperatures at a large European city and
      recordings of traffics on a highway. Using the fixed mass method, to assess the
      dynamics leading to the outlying events we studied the occurrence of higher order
      terms of the Kramers-Moyal expansion in the recordings. We found that the higher
      order terms of the Kramers-Moyal expansion are negligible for heart rate
      variability. This finding opens the possibility of the application of the
      Langevin equation to the whole range of empirical signals containing rare or
      outlying events. Note, however, that the higher order terms are non-negligible
      for the other data studied here and for it the Langevin equation is not
      applicable as a model. 

PMID- 25833438
TI  - Introduction to focus issue: Nonlinear dynamics for planet Earth.

PMID- 25833439
TI  - A dynamical systems analysis of the data assimilation linked ecosystem carbon
      (DALEC) models.
AB  - Changes in our climate and environment make it ever more important to understand
      the processes involved in Earth systems, such as the carbon cycle. There are many
      models that attempt to describe and predict the behaviour of carbon stocks and
      stores but, despite their complexity, significant uncertainties remain. We
      consider the qualitative behaviour of one of the simplest carbon cycle models,
      the Data Assimilation Linked Ecosystem Carbon (DALEC) model, which is a simple
      vegetation model of processes involved in the carbon cycle of forests, and
      consider in detail the dynamical structure of the model. Our analysis shows that
      the dynamics of both evergreen and deciduous forests in DALEC are dependent on a
      few key parameters and it is possible to find a limit point where there is stable
      sustainable behaviour on one side but unsustainable conditions on the other side.
      The fact that typical parameter values reside close to this limit point
      highlights the difficulty of predicting even the correct trend without sufficient
      data and has implications for the use of data assimilation methods. 

PMID- 25833440
TI  - How robust is dispersal-induced spatial synchrony?
AB  - Many biological populations fluctuate in synchrony over large geographic regions.
      This behavior may increase the chance of extinction. The combination of time
      scale separation between interacting species and weak spatial linear diffusive
      coupling is one mechanism that can generate synchrony; however, accounting for
      travel time between habitat patches may destabilize this synchrony. Here, we show
      that ubiquitous behavioral aspects of dispersal (e.g., predator avoidance),
      implemented as nonlinear diffusive coupling, may also destabilize synchrony. In
      addition, these aspects interact with travel-time delays and amplify mechanisms
      that destroy synchrony. Our work suggests that dispersal-induced synchrony is
      more rare than typically assumed. 

PMID- 25833442
TI  - Flow networks: a characterization of geophysical fluid transport.
AB  - We represent transport between different regions of a fluid domain by flow
      networks, constructed from the discrete representation of the Perron-Frobenius or
      transfer operator associated to the fluid advection dynamics. The procedure is
      useful to analyze fluid dynamics in geophysical contexts, as illustrated by the
      construction of a flow network associated to the surface circulation in the
      Mediterranean sea. We use network-theory tools to analyze the flow network and
      gain insights into transport processes. In particular, we quantitatively relate
      dispersion and mixing characteristics, classically quantified by Lyapunov
      exponents, to the degree of the network nodes. A family of network entropies is
      defined from the network adjacency matrix and related to the statistics of
      stretching in the fluid, in particular, to the Lyapunov exponent field. Finally,
      we use a network community detection algorithm, Infomap, to partition the
      Mediterranean network into coherent regions, i.e., areas internally well mixed,
      but with little fluid interchange between them. 

PMID- 25833441
TI  - Tipping point analysis of atmospheric oxygen concentration.
AB  - We apply tipping point analysis to nine observational oxygen concentration
      records around the globe, analyse their dynamics and perform projections under
      possible future scenarios, leading to oxygen deficiency in the atmosphere. The
      analysis is based on statistical physics framework with stochastic modelling,
      where we represent the observed data as a composition of deterministic and
      stochastic components estimated from the observed data using Bayesian and wavelet
      techniques. 

PMID- 25833443
TI  - The temporal patterns of disease severity and prevalence in schistosomiasis.
AB  - Schistosomiasis is one of the most widespread public health problems in the
      world. In this work, we introduce an eco-epidemiological model for its
      transmission and dynamics with the purpose of explaining both intra- and inter
      annual fluctuations of disease severity and prevalence. The model takes the form
      of a system of nonlinear differential equations that incorporate biological
      complexity associated with schistosome's life cycle, including a prepatent period
      in snails (i.e., the time between initial infection and onset of infectiousness).
      Nonlinear analysis is used to explore the parametric conditions that produce
      different temporal patterns (stationary, endemic, periodic, and chaotic). For the
      time-invariant model, we identify a transcritical and a Hopf bifurcation in the
      space of the human and snail infection parameters. The first corresponds to the
      occurrence of an endemic equilibrium, while the latter marks the transition to
      interannual periodic oscillations. We then investigate a more realistic time
      varying model in which fertility of the intermediate host population is assumed
      to seasonally vary. We show that seasonality can give rise to a cascade of period
      doubling bifurcations leading to chaos for larger, though realistic, values of
      the amplitude of the seasonal variation of fertility. 

PMID- 25833444
TI  - An early warning indicator for atmospheric blocking events using transfer
      operators.
AB  - The existence of persistent midlatitude atmospheric flow regimes with time-scales
      larger than 5-10 days and indications of preferred transitions between them
      motivates to develop early warning indicators for such regime transitions. In
      this paper, we use a hemispheric barotropic model together with estimates of
      transfer operators on a reduced phase space to develop an early warning indicator
      of the zonal to blocked flow transition in this model. It is shown that the
      spectrum of the transfer operators can be used to study the slow dynamics of the
      flow as well as the non-Markovian character of the reduction. The slowest motions
      are thereby found to have time scales of three to six weeks and to be associated
      with meta-stable regimes (and their transitions) which can be detected as almost
      invariant sets of the transfer operator. From the energy budget of the model, we
      are able to explain the meta-stability of the regimes and the existence of
      preferred transition paths. Even though the model is highly simplified, the skill
      of the early warning indicator is promising, suggesting that the transfer
      operator approach can be used in parallel to an operational deterministic model
      for stochastic prediction or to assess forecast uncertainty. 

PMID- 25833445
TI  - Detection of bifurcations in noisy coupled systems from multiple time series.
AB  - We generalize a method of detecting an approaching bifurcation in a time series
      of a noisy system from the special case of one dynamical variable to multiple
      dynamical variables. For a system described by a stochastic differential equation
      consisting of an autonomous deterministic part with one dynamical variable and an
      additive white noise term, small perturbations away from the system's fixed point
      will decay slower the closer the system is to a bifurcation. This phenomenon is
      known as critical slowing down and all such systems exhibit this decay-type
      behaviour. However, when the deterministic part has multiple coupled dynamical
      variables, the possible dynamics can be much richer, exhibiting oscillatory and
      chaotic behaviour. In our generalization to the multi-variable case, we find
      additional indicators to decay rate, such as frequency of oscillation. In the
      case of approaching a homoclinic bifurcation, there is no change in decay rate
      but there is a decrease in frequency of oscillations. The expanded method
      therefore adds extra tools to help detect and classify approaching bifurcations
      given multiple time series, where the underlying dynamics are not fully known.
      Our generalisation also allows bifurcation detection to be applied spatially if
      one treats each spatial location as a new dynamical variable. One may then
      determine the unstable spatial mode(s). This is also something that has not been
      possible with the single variable method. The method is applicable to any set of
      time series regardless of its origin, but may be particularly useful when
      anticipating abrupt changes in the multi-dimensional climate system. 

PMID- 25833446
TI  - The effect of slow spatial processes on emerging spatiotemporal patterns.
AB  - We consider a two-component system of evolutionary partial differential equations
      posed on a bounded domain. Our system is pattern forming, with a small stationary
      pattern bifurcating from the background state. It is also equipped with a
      multiscale structure, manifesting itself through the presence of spectrum close
      to the origin. Spatial processes are associated with long time scales and affect
      the nonlinear pattern dynamics strongly. To track these dynamics past the
      bifurcation, we develop an asymptotics-based method complementing and extending
      rigorous center manifold reduction. Using it, we obtain a complete analytic
      description of the pattern stability problem in terms of the linear stability of
      the background state. Through this procedure, we portray with precision how slow
      spatial processes can destabilize small patterns close to onset. We further
      illustrate our results on a model describing phytoplankton whose growth is co
      limited by nutrient and light. Localized colonies forming at intermediate depths
      are found to be subject to oscillatory destabilization shortly after emergence,
      whereas boundary-layer type colonies at the bottom persist. These analytic
      results are in agreement with numerical simulations for the full model, which we
      also present. 

PMID- 25833447
TI  - Nonlinear response in runoff magnitude to fluctuating rain patterns.
AB  - The runoff coefficient of a hillslope is a reliable measure for changes in the
      streamflow response at the river link outlet. A high runoff coefficient is a good
      indicator of the possibility of flash floods. Although the relationship between
      runoff coefficient and streamflow has been the subject of much study, the
      physical mechanisms affecting runoff coefficient including the dependence on
      precipitation pattern remain open topics for investigation. In this paper, we
      analyze a rainfall-runoff model at the hillslope scale as that hillslope is
      forced with different rain patterns: constant rain and fluctuating rain with
      different frequencies and amplitudes. When an oscillatory precipitation pattern
      is applied, although the same amount of water may enter the system, its response
      (measured by the runoff coefficient) will be maximum for a certain frequency of
      precipitation. The significant increase in runoff coefficient after a certain
      pattern of rainfall can be a potential explanation for the conditions preceding
      flash-floods. 

PMID- 25833448
TI  - Understanding the distinctively skewed and heavy tailed character of atmospheric
      and oceanic probability distributions.
AB  - The probability distributions of large-scale atmospheric and oceanic variables
      are generally skewed and heavy-tailed. We argue that their distinctive departures
      from Gaussianity arise fundamentally from the fact that in a quadratically
      nonlinear system with a quadratic invariant, the coupling coefficients between
      system components are not constant but depend linearly on the system state in a
      distinctive way. In particular, the skewness arises from a tendency of the system
      trajectory to linger near states of weak coupling. We show that the salient
      features of the observed non-Gaussianity can be captured in the simplest such
      nonlinear 2-component system. If the system is stochastically forced and linearly
      damped, with one component damped much more strongly than the other, then the
      strongly damped fast component becomes effectively decoupled from the weakly
      damped slow component, and its impact on the slow component can be approximated
      as a stochastic noise forcing plus an augmented nonlinear damping. In the limit
      of large time-scale separation, the nonlinear augmentation of the damping becomes
      small, and the noise forcing can be approximated as an additive noise plus a
      correlated additive and multiplicative noise (CAM noise) forcing. Much of the
      diversity of observed large-scale atmospheric and oceanic probability
      distributions can be interpreted in this minimal framework. 

PMID- 25833449
TI  - Striped pattern selection by advective reaction-diffusion systems: resilience of
      banded vegetation on slopes.
AB  - For water-limited arid ecosystems, where water distribution and infiltration play
      a vital role, various models have been set up to explain vegetation patterning.
      On sloped terrains, vegetation aligned in bands has been observed ubiquitously.
      In this paper, we consider the appearance, stability, and bifurcations of 2D
      striped or banded patterns in an arid ecosystem model. We numerically show that
      the resilience of the vegetation bands is larger on steeper slopes by computing
      the stability regions (Busse balloons) of striped patterns with respect to 1D and
      transverse 2D perturbations. This is corroborated by numerical simulations with a
      slowly decreasing water input parameter. Here, long wavelength striped patterns
      are unstable against transverse perturbations, which we also rigorously prove on
      flat ground through an Evans function approach. In addition, we prove a "Squire
      theorem" for a class of two-component reaction-advection-diffusion systems that
      includes our model, showing that the onset of pattern formation in 2D is due to
      1D instabilities in the direction of advection, which naturally leads to striped
      patterns. 

PMID- 25833450
TI  - A bimodality trap in model projections.
AB  - We expose a phenomenon that can occur in the process of joint state and parameter
      estimation. Such estimation is crucial in tuning parameters for climate models
      and offline parameterizations used in the models. We show how a bimodal
      distribution can temporarily appear during this process and that a scheme relying
      on linear and Gaussian approximations may cause it to get trapped in the wrong
      mode and hence lead to faulty estimation. We propose a practical and effective
      resolution using a two-stage filtering process. 

PMID- 25833451
TI  - Effect of agricultural sites on differentiation between Chemlali and Neb Jmel
      olive oils.
AB  - The chemical composition, oxidative stability, aroma and sensory profiles of
      virgin olive oils from two Tunisian cultivars, Chemlali and Neb Jmel, grown in
      two different locations, the center and south of Tunisia, have been evaluated.
      There were significant differences between the oils from both cultivars when
      grown in the two different environments. At higher altitude, the oils showed a
      greater amount of oleic acid, phenols and a higher oxidative stability, while at
      lower altitude, the oils had higher saturated and linoleic acid contents. The
      aroma profiles in Chemlali and Neb Jmel cultivars were also influenced by the
      pedoclimatic conditions, as shown by the difference in volatiles as a function of
      the geographical area. The volatile compounds of the monovarietal virgin olive
      oils were identified and compared using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS
      SPME) technique coupled with GC-MS and GC-FID. The proportions of different
      classes of volatiles of the oils have shown significant differences throughout
      the obtained oils. These results suggest that besides the genetic factor, the
      agronomic conditions affect the volatile formation and, therefore, the
      organoleptic properties of VOO, and can be used to discriminate and characterize
      the Chemlali and Neb Jmel olive oils from each region. 

PMID- 25833452
TI  - Fabrication and characterization of core-shell magnetic chitosan nanoparticles as
      a novel carrier for immobilization of Burkholderia cepacia lipase.
AB  - In this study, the chitosan magnetic core-shell nanoparticles (CMNPs) was
      synthesized and then used as a support for immobilization of lipase. The
      characteristics of CMNPs, including morphology, topography and spectra type
      before and after immobilization were determined. The scanning electron
      micrographs of the CMNPs showed that they were approximately uniform spheres and
      the distribution chart indicated that the particles have the mean diameter of 100
      nm. Kinetic parameters of Km and Vm were calculated as 1.07 mM and 29.43 U/mg for
      free B. cepacia lipase and 1.29 mM and 25.82 U/mg for immobilized lipase on
      CMNPs, respectively. The activity of immobilized lipase was 32 U/mg under optimum
      temperature and pH. CMNP's were used in trasesterification reaction in order to
      evaluate the activity of the immobilized enzyme compared to the free enzyme.
      Immobilization of lipase on CMNPs improved stability and total relative activity
      of the enzyme. It could be concluded that CMNPs be considered as a suitable
      carrier for enzyme immobilization. 

PMID- 25833454
TI  - Asymmetric synthesis of Ampelomin A and ent-Epiampelomin A.
AB  - We synthesized the naturally occurring carbasugar ampelomin A and its epimer from
      a common starting material. The enantiomerically pure starting material was
      obtained by base-catalyzed asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction of 3-hydroxy-2-pyrone
      and chiral acrylate. The total yield of ampelomin A was 14% in seven synthetic
      steps. The key step of the synthesis of ampelomin A was inversion of the
      stereochemistry at the C-6 position, which was achieved by stereoselective
      catalytic hydrogenation of the corresponding methylidene group. Further synthesis
      of the epimer was straightforward, because all stereogenic centers had already
      been introduced on the starting material; the total yield was 44% in four
      synthetic steps. Both the final products were obtained in pure form without
      contamination with undesired isomers. The reported (1)H NMR chemical shift of the
      C-7 methyl protons and the H-5axial coupling pattern of natural ampelomin A were
      inconsistent with those of our synthetic product. After careful comparison of the
      spectra and examination of the stable conformation obtained through MM2
      calculations, we present revised NMR data for ampelomin A. 

PMID- 25833453
TI  - Kinetic study for the ethanolysis of fish oil catalyzed by lipozyme((r)) 435 in
      different reaction media.
AB  - The ethanolysis of fish oil in various reaction medium (tert-pentanol, n-hexane
      and solvent free system) catalyzed by the immobilized commercial lipase
      Lipozyme((r)) 435 (Candida Antarctica) at atmospheric pressure has been studied
      in this work. The effect of some kinetic parameters, such as the amount of
      lipase, temperature and the initial reactant molar ratio ethanol:oil on
      monoacyglyceride and ethyl ester yield has been analyzed. Experimental data were
      successfully correlated by a simple kinetic model based on the elementary
      reactions proposed in this work. At high initial reactant molar ratio the three
      elementary steps can be considered as irreversible. However the reaction rate
      constants ratio for the deacylation of monoglyceride to glycerol decreased by
      decreasing the molar ratio ethanol:oil. The reaction rates are slower in n-hexane
      as reaction medium compared to tert-pentanol and a solvent-free system, at the
      experimental conditions essayed in this work. In this last case, ethanol acts as
      solvent for reaction and as reactant. 

PMID- 25833455
TI  - Capillary rarefaction as an index for the microvascular assessment of
      hypertensive patients.
AB  - Arterial hypertension represents a leading cause of cardiovascular mortality and
      morbidity worldwide through its detrimental effects on target organs. Therefore,
      the early identification and appropriate management of high-risk patients emerges
      as extremely important. Given that the microvasculature is subject to a series of
      morphological and functional changes under the continuous effect of high blood
      pressure, research over the last years has gradually moved toward the
      identification of specific microcirculatory alterations that may serve as early
      prognostic markers of cardiovascular risk. Dermal capillaries represent an "open
      window" for the in vivo study of human microcirculation that has been long used
      mainly for the study of rheumatic diseases. However, capillaroscopy has been
      relatively understudied and only recently applied in the field of hypertension.
      Capillaroscopy represents a forthcoming promising estimate of the microvascular
      status in hypertensive patients, with capillary rarefaction representing the most
      typical finding. The present review aims at summarizing available evidence and
      the main findings, as well as the premises and promises, of capillary rarefaction
      as a tool for evaluating patients with hypertension. 

PMID- 25833456
TI  - Cardiovascular and renal effects of weight reduction in obesity and the metabolic
      syndrome.
AB  - Obesity is a critical public health issue worldwide. Patients with obesity have
      markedly increased morbidity and mortality compared to the general population.
      The increased health risks of obesity in part are due to its close association
      with each of the other components of the metabolic syndrome, including
      hypertension, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. Accordingly, obese
      individuals are at particularly increased risk of cardiovascular disease and
      chronic kidney disease. Modest weight loss results in improvements in serum
      cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and glycemic profiles. Lifestyle
      interventions for weight loss have long been the mainstay of treatment in
      obesity. However, the existing literature demonstrates limited weight loss
      sustainability and inconsistent cardiovascular and renal benefits using these
      modalities. In addition to improvements in intermediate risk factors, surgical
      interventions provide a more lasting impact on long-term cardiovascular and renal
      outcomes, though carry higher short-term risks due to perioperative
      complications. 

PMID- 25833457
TI  - Hypertension in pregnancy: natural history and treatment options.
AB  - Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy affect approximately 5-10% of all maternities
      and are major contributors of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality
      worldwide. This group of disorders encompasses chronic hypertension, as well as
      conditions that arise de novo in pregnancy: gestational hypertension and pre
      eclampsia. The latter group is thought to be part of the same continuum but with
      arbitrary division. Research into the aetiology of hypertension in pregnancy have
      largely been focused on pre-eclampsia, with a majority of studies exploring
      either pregnancy-associated factors such as placental-derived or immunologic
      responses to pregnancy tissue, or maternal constitutional factors such as
      cardiovascular health and endothelial dysfunction. The evidence base for the
      pathophysiology and progression of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy,
      particularly pre-eclampsia, is reviewed. Clinical algorithms and pharmacological
      agents for the management of hypertension in pregnancy are summarised, with a
      brief focus on post-partum considerations and long-term health implications.
      Novel therapeutic options for the management of pre-eclampsia are also explored.

PMID- 25833458
TI  - Assessment of right ventricular function in pulmonary hypertension.
AB  - Right ventricular function is a major determinant of symptomatology and prognosis
      in severe pulmonary hypertension. The diagnosis of right heart failure rests on a
      clinical approach with invasive and noninvasive measurements. Magnetic resonance
      and echocardiographic imaging of the right ventricle is of prognostic relevance.
      The gold standard of right ventricular function is the ratio of end-systolic to
      arterial elastances determined from synchronized volume and pressure
      measurements. Pressure measurements can be obtained during a right heart
      catheterization and volume measurements by integration of Doppler pulmonary flow
      velocity, magnetic resonance imaging, or, more recently, three-dimensional
      echocardiography. Imaging also informs about regional function and derived
      estimates of dyssynchrony and asynchrony. Modern imaging with 3D echocardiography
      and magnetic resonance aims at improved assessment of regional function and right
      ventriculo-arterial coupling to assist in the evaluation and prognostication of
      severe pulmonary hypertension. 

PMID- 25833460
TI  - LCZ696: the next step in improving RAS inhibition?
AB  - LCZ696 is a single molecule which combines the angiotensin receptor blocker
      valsartan with the neprilysn inhibitor sacubitril (AHU377). In the recently
      published PARADIGM-HF trial, LCZ696 proved superior to enalapril in reducing
      overall mortality, heart failure hospitalizations, and other endpoints in
      patients with systolic dysfunction heart failure. Increases in counter-regulatory
      natriuretic peptides which oppose sodium retention, vasoconstriction, and the
      deleterious structural changes which follow neurohormonal activation are thought
      to account for these improved outcomes. In two large hypertension studies, LCZ696
      has proved to be a potent, effective antihypertensive agent with tolerability
      similar to valsartan and placebo and potency comparable to amlodipine. Although
      several have occurred in the heart failure population, there have been no cases
      of angioedema noted in the hypertension trials, although few black patients-a
      group at high risk for its occurrence-have been studied. Whether LCZ696 will
      displace angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor
      blockers (ARBs) as preferred renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blocking agents in
      hypertension will require demonstration of improved long-term outcomes compared
      with currently preferred first-line drugs. In this regard, experience has shown
      that it is difficult to extrapolate results achieved in heart failure to the
      treatment of hypertension, a condition in which neurohormonal activation is less
      critical in determining long-term prognosis. It will be particularly important to
      demonstrate renal protection with LCZ696 in patients with diabetes, proteinuria,
      and hypertension-the only therapeutic area other than heart failure in which RAS
      blockade has proved essential for optimal endpoint reduction. Superiority over
      available RAS blockers in terms of 'vascular protection' in high-risk populations
      represents another path to acceptance of LCZ696 as a preferred agent in
      cardiovascular medicine. 

PMID- 25833459
TI  - Management of pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure in the intensive
      care unit.
AB  - Management of acute right ventricular failure, both with and without coexisting
      pulmonary hypertension, is a common challenge encountered in the intensive care
      setting. Both right ventricular dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension portend a
      poor prognosis, regardless of the underlying cause and are associated with
      significant morbidity and mortality. The right ventricle is embryologically
      distinct from the left ventricle and has unique morphologic and functional
      properties. Management of right ventricular failure and pulmonary hypertension in
      the intensive care setting requires tailored hemodynamic management,
      pharmacotherapy, and often mechanical circulatory support. Unfortunately, our
      understanding of the management of right ventricular failure lags behind that of
      the left ventricle. In this review, we will explore the underlying
      pathophysiology of the failing right ventricle and pulmonary vasculature in
      patients with and without pulmonary hypertension and discuss management
      strategies based on evidence-based studies as well as our current understanding
      of the underlying physiology. 

PMID- 25833462
TI  - Roundabout4 suppresses glioma-induced endothelial cell proliferation, migration
      and tube formation in vitro by inhibiting VEGR2-mediated PI3K/AKT and FAK
      signaling pathways.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Endothelial cell (EC) proliferation, migration, and tube
      formation are the critical steps for tumor angiogenesis, which is involved in the
      formation of new tumor blood vessels. Roundabout4 (Robo4), a new member of Robo
      proteins family, is specifically expressed in endothelial cells. This study aimed
      to investigate the effects of Robo4 on glioma-induced endothelial cell
      proliferation, migration and tube formation in vitro. METHODS AND RESULTS: We
      found that Robo4 was endogenously expressed in Human Brain Microvascular
      Endothelial Cells (HBMECs), while Robo4 was significantly down-regulated in
      endothelial cells cultured in glioma conditioned medium. Robo4 over-expression
      remarkably suppressed glioma-induced endothelial cell proliferation, migration
      and tube formation in vitro. In addition, Robo4 influenced the glioma-induced
      angiogenesis via binding to its ligand Slit2. Further studies demonstrated that
      the knockdown of Robo4 up-regulated the phosphorylation of VEGFR2, PI3K, AKT and
      FAK in EC cultured in glioma conditioned medium. VEGFR2 inhibitor SU-1498, AKT
      inhibitor LY294002 and FAK inhibitor 14 (FAK inhibitor) blocked the Robo4
      knockdown-mediated alteration in glioma angiogenesis in vitro. CONCLUSION: Our
      results proved that Robo4 suppressed glioma-induced endothelial cell
      proliferation, migration and tube formation in vitro by inhibiting VEGR2-mediated
      activation of PI3K/AKT and FAK signaling pathways.

PMID- 25833461
TI  - Control of energy balance by the brain renin-angiotensin system.
AB  - The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) exists as a circulating hormone system but it
      is also used by various tissues of the body, including the brain, as a paracrine
      signaling mechanism. The local brain version of the RAS is mechanistically
      involved in fluid balance and blood pressure control, and there is growing
      appreciation for a role of the brain RAS in the control of energy balance. Here,
      we review major evidence for the control of energy balance by the brain RAS;
      outline the current understanding of the RAS components, targets, and mechanisms
      involved; and highlight some major questions that currently face the field. 

PMID- 25833463
TI  - A unified method for estimating pressure losses at vascular junctions.
AB  - In reduced-order (0D/1D) blood or respiratory flow models, pressure losses at
      junctions are usually neglected. However, these may become important where
      velocities are high and significant flow redirection occurs. Current methods for
      estimating losses rely on relatively complex empirical equations that are only
      valid for specific junction geometries and flow regimes. In pulsatile multi
      directional flows, switching between empirical equations upon reversing flow may
      introduce unrealistic discontinuities in simulated haemodynamic waveforms.
      Drawing from work by Bassett et al. (SAE Trans 112:565-583, 2003), we therefore
      developed a unified method (Unified0D) for estimating loss coefficients that can
      be applied to any junction (i.e. any number of branches at any angle) and any
      flow regime. Discontinuities in simulated waveforms were avoided by extending
      Bassett et al.'s control volume-based method to incorporate a 'pseudodatum'
      supplier branch, an imaginary effective vessel containing all inflow to the
      junction. Energy exchange between diverging flow streams was also accounted for
      empirically. The formulation was validated using high resolution computational
      fluid dynamics in a wide range flow conditions and junction configurations. In a
      pulsatile 1D simulation exhibiting transitions between four different flow
      regimes, the new formulation produced smooth transitions in calculated pressure
      losses.

PMID- 25833464
TI  - Thawed and liquid plasma--what do we know?
AB  - There is increasing interest in the use of liquid or frozen plasma thawed and
      stored for extended periods (>24 h) to reduce wastage and to improve rapid
      availability of plasma in massive transfusion protocols advocating the early use
      of plasma in trauma by some centres. There is now a body of studies that have
      assessed individual coagulation factors during storage of thawed plasma. These
      show that factor VIII (FVIII) is the worst affected factor and that its activity
      is mainly lost during the first 24 h following thawing. However, for most factors
      studied, there is a continual decline during further storage. The few studies
      that have assessed thrombin generation in thawed plasma have shown variable
      results. Extended storage of plasma is associated with an increase in levels of
      DEHP in the component and could theoretically increase the risk of bacterial
      contamination, although the latter does not appear to have been an issue in
      countries that have adopted the use of thawed plasma. There are no clinical
      studies relating to the efficacy of extended-thawed plasma, and therefore, the
      potential reduction in its efficacy must be balanced with the clinical need for
      the component.

PMID- 25833465
TI  - Single-junction organic solar cells based on a novel wide-bandgap polymer with
      efficiency of 9.7%.

PMID- 25833466
TI  - Sex Differences of >= pT1 Bladder Cancer Survival in Austria: A Descriptive, Long
      Term, Nation-Wide Analysis Based on 27,773 Patients.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In recent days, the relationship between gender, tumour stage and
      survival of bladder cancer has attracted interest. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The
      Austrian cancer registry was linked to the national death statistics. All
      patients with urothelial cancer of the urinary bladder with stages pT1, pT2, pT3
      and pT4 diagnosed between 1983 until 2012 were followed for up to 15 years.
      Overall and cancer-specific mortality were estimated by cumulative incidence.
      RESULTS: A total of 27,773 patients were analysed. The male:female ratio declined
      from 3:1 for stage pT1-tumours (n = 16,416) to 2.6:1 for pT2 (n = 6,548), 2.1:1
      for pT3 (n = 3,111) and 1.9:1 for pT4 (n = 1,698). The 5 years cumulative overall
      death rate for pT1 tumours was slightly lower for women (0.31 vs. 0.32; p =
      0.016). The opposite was observed for more advanced tumour stages: pT2: women
      0.66, men: 0.60 (p = 0.0001); pT3: women 0.76, men 0.72 (p = 0.0004) and for pT4:
      women 0.90, men 0.85 (p = 0.0001). Cancer-specific survival was identical for pT1
      tumours in both sexes, while women had a worse cancer-specific survival in both
      age cohorts (<70 years and >=70 years) with higher tumour stages. CONCLUSIONS:
      This population-based study demonstrates that (1) a rise of advanced bladder
      cancer stages in women and (2) that women with tumour stages >pT1 have a shorter
      cancer-specific and overall survival.

PMID- 25833467
TI  - Breast size and asymmetry during pregnancy in dependence of a fetus's sex.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Breast size and fluctuating asymmetry (FA) are related to women's
      biological condition, as size correlates positively with fecundity, whereas FA
      correlates negatively with biological quality. We tested if breast volume, FA,
      and their changes during pregnancy are related to a fetus's sex. Women with
      bigger, symmetrical breasts, with a greater increase in size during pregnancy,
      should be more likely to carry a more ecologically sensitive and energetically
      demanding male fetus. METHODS: Ninety-three women participated in a 3-stage
      longitudinal study. 3D breast scans were performed in the first, second, and
      third trimester of pregnancy. As there was a small variation in pregnancy week at
      each research stage between the participants, the expected breast volume and FA
      values for the 12th, 22nd, and 32nd pregnancy week were calculated, basing on the
      obtained measurements. Those values were compared between mothers who carried a
      boy and mothers who carried a girl. RESULTS: Although women who carried a boy had
      somewhat larger breasts at each trimester than women who carried a girl, the
      difference was not significant. ANOVA for repeated measurements revealed a
      greater breast size increase in women carrying a boy (P = 0.039). FA decreased
      during pregnancy, but was not related to a fetus's sex. CONCLUSION: Pregnancy
      induced breast volume increase is a better cue of a fetus's sex than breast
      asymmetry or breast size per se, i.e., the traits that are supposed to indicate a
      woman's biological condition. Women with a larger increase in breast size during
      pregnancy are more likely to carry to term a more ecologically vulnerable male
      fetus.

PMID- 25833470
TI  - Y chromosome of Aisin Gioro, the imperial house of the Qing dynasty.
AB  - The House of Aisin Gioro is the imperial family of the last dynasty in Chinese
      history-Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The Aisin Gioro family originated from Jurchen
      tribes and founded the Manchu people before they conquered China. By
      investigating the Y chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) of seven modern male
      individuals who claim to belong to the Aisin Gioro family (three of which have
      full records of pedigree), we found that three of them (two of which having full
      pedigree, whose most recent common ancestor is Nurgaci) showed very close
      relationship (1-2 steps of differences in 17 STRs) and possessed a rare
      haplotype. We therefore conclude that this haplotype is the Y chromosome of the
      House of Aisin Gioro. Further tests of single-nucleotide polymorphisms indicate
      that they belong to haplogroup C3b2b1*-M401(xF5483), although their Y-STR results
      indicate that they are not a part of the 'star cluster' (once linked to Genghis
      Khan), which belongs to the same haplogroup. This study forms the base for the
      pedigree research of the imperial family of Qing dynasty by means of genetics. 

PMID- 25833468
TI  - Patterns and functional roles of LINE-1 and Alu methylation in the keratinocyte
      from patients with psoriasis vulgaris.
AB  - Alterations in LINE-1 methylation are related to many diseases. The levels and
      patterns of LINE-1 hypomethylation were associated with a higher risk in
      developing several cancers, having a poorer prognosis and more aggressiveness. To
      evaluate the LINE-methylated status in psoriasis, LINE-1 methylation in various
      cells from patients with psoriasis, squamous cell carcinoma and normal controls
      were assessed by combined bisulfite restriction analysis of LINE-1. The results
      of the epigenetic changes for intragenic LINE-1 gene expression were also tested
      on two known expression microarrays. In patients with psoriasis, hypomethylation
      of LINE-1 and increase in %(u)C(u)C were prominent in the keratinocytes when
      compared with normal controls (P=0.014 and P=0.020, respectively). Alternatively,
      %(u)C(m)C was significantly lower in patients with severe psoriasis compared with
      mild psoriasis (P=0.022). The receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis
      indicated the high specificity and sensitivity of (u)C(u)C and (u)C(m)C in
      detecting psoriasis and severity of psoriasis. From expression array analysis,
      genes with LINE-1 were downregulated more than those genes without LINE-1 (P=3.84
      * 10(-27) and P=2.14 * 10(-21), respectively). Modification in LINE-1 methylation
      may alter the gene expression resulting in a phenotypic change of the psoriatic
      skin. %(u)C(u)C and %(u)C(m)C may be used as biomarkers for psoriasis.

PMID- 25833469
TI  - Tissue- and case-specific retention of intron 40 in mature dystrophin mRNA.
AB  - The dystrophin gene, which is mutated in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD),
      comprises 79 exons that show multiple alternative splicing events. Intron
      retention, a type of alternative splicing, may control gene expression. We
      examined intron retention in dystrophin introns by reverse-transcription PCR from
      skeletal muscle, focusing on the nine shortest (all <1000 bp), because these are
      more likely to be retained. Only one, intron 40, was retained in mRNA; sequencing
      revealed insertion of a complete intron 40 (851 nt) between exons 40 and 41. The
      intron 40 retention product accounted for 1.2% of the total product but had a
      premature stop codon at the fifth intronic codon. Intron 40 retention was most
      strongly observed in the kidney (36.6%) and was not obtained from the fetal
      liver, lung, spleen or placenta. This indicated that intron retention is a tissue
      specific event whose level varies among tissues. In two DMD patients, intron 40
      retention was observed in one patient but not in the other. Examination of
      splicing regulatory factors revealed that intron 40 had the highest guanine
      cytosine content of all examined introns in a 30-nt segment at its 3' end.
      Further studies are needed to clarify the biological role of intron 40-retained
      dystrophin mRNA.

PMID- 25833471
TI  - Genetic and linguistic correlation of the Kra-Dai-speaking groups in Thailand.
AB  - The Kra-Dai linguistic family includes Thai and Lao as well as a great number of
      languages spoken by ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia. In Thailand, a dozen of
      other Kra-Dai languages are spoken in addition to Thai, the national language.
      The genetic structure of the Kra-Dai-speaking populations in Thailand has been
      studied extensively using uniparentally inherited markers. To extend this line of
      genetic investigation, this study used 15 autosomal microsatellites of 500
      individuals from 11 populations, belonging to nine Kra-Dai ethnicities, namely,
      the Kaleung, Phu Thai, Saek, Nyo, Lao Isan, Yuan, Black Tai, Phuan and Lue. These
      ethnolinguistic groups are dispersed in three different geographic regions of
      Thailand, that is, Northern, Northeastern and Central. The results show a very
      low average of pairwised F(st) (0.0099), as well as no population substructure
      based on STRUCTURE analysis, indicating genetic homogeneity within the Kra-Dai
      speaking group, possibly owing to shared linguistic ancestry. The Mantel test, an
      analysis of molecular variance, and the approximate Bayesian computation
      procedure employed to evaluate potential factors for driving genetic diversity
      revealed that language is the predominant factor affecting genetic variations,
      whereas geography is not. The result of distance-based clustering analyses and
      spatial analysis of molecular variance revealed genetic distinctions of some
      populations, reflecting the effects of genetic drift and gene flow on allele
      frequency within populations, in concordance with the result of R-matrix
      regression. The genetic and linguistic affiliations of the contemporary Kra-Dai
      speaking groups are consistent with each other despite certain deviation due to
      various evolutionary factors that may have occurred during their migrations and
      resettlements.

PMID- 25833473
TI  - Opioids and lactation: insufficient evidence of safety.

PMID- 25833472
TI  - Prognostic factors in patients with penile carcinoma and inguinal lymph node
      metastasis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To identify prognostic factors in patients with penile carcinoma and
      confirmed lymph node metastasis. METHODS: Patients were selected from a
      historical series of patients with penile carcinoma. An experienced pathologist
      reviewed all cases. Information regarding the total number of lymph nodes
      excised, the number of positive lymph nodes and the presence of extranodal
      extension were used. Lymph node ratio was categorized as <0.15 and >0.15.
      RESULTS: The 5-year recurrence-free survival and disease-specific survival rates
      were 55.3% and 64.1%, respectively. Lymphovascular invasion, lymph node ratio and
      pN status influenced survival rates in univariate analysis. Lymphovascular
      invasion and lymph node ratio remained as independent predictors of disease
      specific survival and recurrence-free survival in the multivariate analysis. A
      risk stratification of death and tumor recurrence was observed when patients were
      grouped into three categories: absence of risk factors; the presence of one risk
      factor; and the presence of two or more risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: The presence
      of one or more of the following parameters is correlated with a significantly
      higher risk of death and tumor recurrence in patients with penile carcinoma and
      inguinal lymph node metastasis: extranodal extension, lymph node ratio >0.15 and
      lymphovascular invasion.

PMID- 25833474
TI  - The rise of on-demand research and specific applications: optogenetics in
      urology.

PMID- 25833475
TI  - Emerging neural stimulation technologies for bladder dysfunctions.
AB  - In the neural engineering field, physiological dysfunctions are approached by
      identifying the target nerves and providing artificial stimulation to restore the
      function. Neural stimulation and recording technologies play a central role in
      this approach, and various engineering devices and stimulation techniques have
      become available to the medical community. For bladder control problems,
      electrical stimulation has been used as one of the treatments, while only a few
      emerging neurotechnologies have been used to tackle these problems. In this
      review, we introduce some recent developments in neural stimulation technologies
      including microelectrode array, closed-loop neural stimulation, optical
      stimulation, and ultrasound stimulation. 

PMID- 25833476
TI  - Role of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor alpha3 and alpha7 Subunits in Detrusor
      Overactivity Induced by Partial Bladder Outlet Obstruction in Rats.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the role of alpha3 and alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine
      receptor subunits (nAChRs) in the bladder, using a rat model with detrusor
      overactivity induced by partial bladder outlet obstruction (BOO). METHODS: Forty
      Sprague-Dawley rats were used: 10 were sham-operated (control group) and 30 were
      observed for 3 weeks after partial BOO. BOO-induced rats were further divided
      into 3 groups: Two groups of 10 rats each received intravesicular infusions with
      hexamethonium (HM group; n=10) or methyllycaconitine (MLC group; n=10), which are
      antagonists for alpha3 and alpha7 nAChRs, respectively. The remaining BOO-induced
      rats received only saline infusion (BOO group; n=10). Based on the contraction
      interval measurements using cystometrogram, the contraction pressure and
      nonvoiding bladder contractions were compared between the control and the three
      BOO-induced groups. Immunofluorescent staining and Western blotting were used to
      analyze alpha3 and alpha7 nAChRs levels. RESULTS: The contraction interval of the
      MLC group was higher than that of the BOO group (P<0.05). Nonvoiding bladder
      contraction almost disappeared in the HM and MLC groups. Contraction pressure
      increased in the BOO group (P<0.05) compared with the control group and decreased
      in the HM and MLC groups compared with the BOO group (P<0.05). Immunofluorescence
      staining showed that the alpha3 nAChR signals increased in the urothelium, and
      the alpha7 nAChR signals increased in the urothelium and detrusor muscle of the
      BOO group compared with the control group. Western blot analysis showed that both
      alpha3 and alpha7 nAChR levels increased in the BOO group (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS:
      Alpha3 and alpha7 nAChRs are associated with detrusor overactivity induced by
      BOO. Furthermore, nAChR antagonists could help in clinically improving detrusor
      overactivity.

PMID- 25833477
TI  - Mirodenafil prevents bladder dysfunction induced by chronic bladder ischemia in
      rats.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the protective effect of mirodenafil on bladder function
      in a rat model of chronic bladder ischemia (CBI). METHODS: Twenty-four Sprague
      Dawley rats were randomized to three groups: untreated, sham-operated rats
      (control group); untreated, CBI model rats (CBI group); and CBI rats treated
      daily with 4 mg/kg mirodenafil (CBI+mirodenafil group). The CBI and
      CBI+mirodenafil groups underwent endothelial injury to the iliac arteries and
      were fed a 2% cholesterol diet after injury. Four weeks after surgery, the
      CBI+mirodenafil group started daily treatment with mirodenafil for four weeks.
      Eight weeks after surgery, continuous in vivo cystometry and in vivo organ bath
      studies of detrusor muscle strips were performed. RESULTS: in vivo cystometry
      revealed that the rats in the CBI group had a significantly higher micturition
      frequency, lower bladder capacity, and lower compliance than the rats in the
      control and CBI+mirodenafil groups. The detrusor muscle strip study showed that
      the magnitude of the carbachol-induced contractile response was significantly
      lower in the CBI group compared to either the control or CBI+mirodenafil group.
      Addition of daily mirodenafil after induction of CBI decreased the contractile
      response, compared to untreated CBI rats. CBI induced submucosal fibrosis and
      degenerative changes in bladder walls, which was reversed by the addition of
      mirodenafil. CONCLUSIONS: Daily treatment with mirodenafil showed protective
      effects against bladder dysfunction resulting from CBI in rats.

PMID- 25833478
TI  - Stress-Induced Depression Is Alleviated by Aerobic Exercise Through Up-Regulation
      of 5-Hydroxytryptamine 1A Receptors in Rats.
AB  - PURPOSE: Stress is associated with depression, which induces many psychiatric
      disorders. Serotonin, also known as 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (5-HT), acts as a
      biochemical messenger and regulator in the brain. It also mediates several
      important physiological functions. Depression is closely associated with an
      overactive bladder. In the present study, we investigated the effect of treadmill
      exercise on stress-induced depression while focusing on the expression of 5-HT 1A
      (5-H1A) receptors in the dorsal raphe. METHODS: Stress was induced by applying a
      0.2-mA electric foot shock to rats. Each set of electric foot shocks comprised a
      6-second shock duration that was repeated 10 times with a 30-second interval.
      Three sets of electric foot shocks were applied each day for 7 days. For the
      confirmation of depressive state, a forced swimming test was performed. To
      visualize the expression of 5-HT and tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH),
      immunohistochemistry for 5-HT and TPH in the dorsal raphe was performed.
      Expression of 5-H1A receptors was determined by western blot analysis. RESULTS: A
      depressive state was induced by stress, and treadmill exercise alleviated the
      depression symptoms in the stress-induced rats. Expressions of 5-HT, TPH, and HT
      1A in the dorsal raphe were reduced by the induction of stress. Treadmill
      exercise increased 5-HT, TPH, and HT 1A expressions in the stress-induced rats.
      CONCLUSIONS: Treadmill exercise enhanced 5-HT synthesis through the up-regulation
      of 5-HT1A receptors, and improved the stress-induced depression. In the present
      study, treadmill exercise improved depression symptoms by enhancing 5-HT1A
      receptor expression. The present results suggest that treadmill exercise might be
      helpful for the alleviation of overactive bladder and improve sexual function.

PMID- 25833480
TI  - Population-based survey on disease insight, quality of life, and health-seeking
      behavior associated with female urinary incontinence.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate disease insight, personal distress, and healthcare-seeking
      behavior of women with urinary incontinence (UI) to improve women's health in
      Korea. METHODS: In October 2012, 500 Korean women residing around Seoul, Incheon,
      and Gyeonggi-do were selected by random sampling for a population-based cross
      sectional survey conducted by computer-aided telephone interview. Sixteen
      questions, which included information on demographic characteristics, information
      sources, disease insights, and general health-seeking behavior, were used for
      data collection. RESULTS: Among the responders, 23.8% experienced UI, the
      prevalence of which increased with increasing age; 83.3% knew about UI through
      the mass media out of 98.2% apprehended people. Regarding general awareness of
      UI, 77.2% understood that UI is caused by aging. A total of 48.7% of subjects
      experienced societal restrictions because of UI. Most women in in their 30s
      (25.6%) in the acquired UI information from the Internet, while those in their
      50s and 60s (50-59 years, 51.1%; 60-64 years, 42.4%) learned about UI through
      friends. Among subjects who did not have UI, 89.37% intended to see a doctor or
      consult a professional if they developed UI (83.2%). Among those with UI,
      however, only 59.0% had talked about UI; 79.7% had talked with friends or
      associates, whereas only 23.2% had consulted a professional. CONCLUSIONS: Most
      respondents tended to obtain information on UI through the mass media. Subjects
      who did not have UI expressed their intention to consult a professional if they
      developed UI, while the percentage of subjects with UI who had consulted a
      professional was very low. Many women are ashamed of UI in Korea, which may be
      changed by providing efficient advertising with the right information and
      establishing a new perception of UI.

PMID- 25833479
TI  - Loss of Caveolin 1 is Associated With the Expression of Aquaporin 1 and Bladder
      Dysfunction in Mice.
AB  - PURPOSE: It is suggested that caveolin and aquaporin might be closely associated
      with bladder signal activity. We investigated the effect of the deletion of
      caveolin 1, using caveolin 1 knockout mice, on the expression of aquaporin 1 in
      order to identify their relation in the urothelium of the urinary bladder.
      METHODS: The cellular localization and expressions of aquaporin 1 and caveolin 1,
      in the wild type and caveolin 1 knockout mice urinary bladder, were examined by
      Western blot and immunofluorescence techniques. RESULTS: Aquaporin 1 and caveolin
      1 were coexpressed in the arterioles, venules, and capillaries of the
      suburothelial layer in the wild type controls. Aquaporin 1 protein expression was
      significantly higher in the caveolin 1 knockout mice than in the wild type
      controls (P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results imply that aquaporin 1 and caveolin
      1 may share a distinct relation with the bladder signal activity. This might play
      a specific role in bladder dysfunction.

PMID- 25833481
TI  - Postoperative ureteral leak treated using a silicone-covered nitinol stent.
AB  - Ureteral fistula is a serious complication of abdomino-pelvic surgeries, often
      resulting in poor outcomes owing to lack of proper treatment. We report the case
      of a 49-year-old woman who underwent placement of a silicone-covered ureteral
      occlusion stent in her right ureter for the management of ureteral leakage after
      pelvic surgery. A ureterogram obtained 18 months following the stent placement
      confirmed that there was no stent migration or additional urine leakage. We
      propose that the silicone-covered ureteral occlusion stent is practical, fast,
      and safe for the management of ureteral leakage. 

PMID- 25833482
TI  - Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery. 4th ed.

PMID- 25833483
TI  - A novel cysteine sulfinic Acid decarboxylase knock-out mouse: comparison between
      newborn and weanling mice.

PMID- 25833484
TI  - A novel cysteine sulfinic Acid decarboxylase knock-out mouse: pathology of the
      kidney and lung in newborn pups.

PMID- 25833485
TI  - Insights into Taurine Synthesis and Function Based on Studies with Cysteine
      Dioxygenase (CDO1) Knockout Mice.

PMID- 25833486
TI  - Oxidation of Hypotaurine and Cysteine Sulfinic Acid by Peroxidase-generated
      Reactive Species.

PMID- 25833487
TI  - Increased N-acetyltaurine in serum and urine after endurance exercise in human.

PMID- 25833488
TI  - Effects of taurine depletion on human placental syncytiotrophoblast renewal and
      susceptibility to oxidative stress.

PMID- 25833489
TI  - In Vitro Analysis of Taurine as Anti-stress Agent in Tomato (Solanum
      Lycopersicum)-Preliminary Study.

PMID- 25833490
TI  - A novel cysteine sulfinic Acid decarboxylase knock-out mouse: immune function.

PMID- 25833491
TI  - Taurine Chloramine, a Taurine Metabolite from Activated Neutrophils, Inhibits
      Osteoclastogenesis by Suppressing NFATc1 Expression.

PMID- 25833492
TI  - Impact of Taurine on Innate and Adaptive Immunity as the Result of HOCl
      Neutralization.

PMID- 25833493
TI  - Taurine Haloamines and Biofilm. Part I: Antimicrobial Activity of Taurine
      Bromamine and Chlorhexidine Against Biofilm Forming Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

PMID- 25833494
TI  - Taurine Haloamines and Biofilm: II. Efficacy of Taurine Bromamine and
      Chlorhexidine Against Selected Microorganisms of Oral Biofilm.

PMID- 25833495
TI  - Thiotaurine modulates human neutrophil activation.

PMID- 25833496
TI  - Perinatal taurine exposure alters hematological and chemical properties of blood
      in adult male rats.

PMID- 25833497
TI  - Effect of Taurine on Viability and Proliferation of Murine Melanoma B16F10 Cells.

PMID- 25833498
TI  - Investigation of antioxidant and anticancer potential of taurine by means of
      multiple chemical and biological assays.

PMID- 25833499
TI  - Effect of Taurine on In Vitro Migration of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 Human Breast
      Carcinoma Cells.

PMID- 25833500
TI  - Effect of taurine on prostate-specific antigen level and migration in human
      prostate cancer cells.

PMID- 25833501
TI  - The quest for an animal model of diabetic nephropathy and the role of taurine
      deficiency.

PMID- 25833502
TI  - Taurine can enhance the protective actions of metformin against diabetes-induced
      alterations adversely affecting renal function.

PMID- 25833503
TI  - Evaluation of the actions of metformin and taurine, singly and in combination, on
      metabolic and oxidative alterations caused by diabetes in rat erythrocytes and
      plasma.

PMID- 25833505
TI  - Impact of light ethanol intake and of taurine, separately and together, on
      pathways of glucose metabolism in the kidney of diabetic rats.

PMID- 25833504
TI  - Taurine ameliorates hypercholesterolemia but not obesity in rats fed a lard
      based, high-fat diet.

PMID- 25833506
TI  - Hypoglycemia is one possible mechanism in the combined toxicity of ethanol and
      taurine.

PMID- 25833507
TI  - Role of taurine on the actions of alcohol against systemic and cardiac
      biochemical changes in the diabetic rat.

PMID- 25833508
TI  - Long-term taurine supplementation leads to enhanced hepatic steatosis, renal
      dysfunction and hyperglycemia in mice fed on a high-fat diet.

PMID- 25833509
TI  - Taurine Supplementation Enhances Insulin Secretion Without Altering Islet
      Morphology in Non-obese Diabetic Mice.

PMID- 25833510
TI  - Taurine supplementation regulates pancreatic islet function in response to
      potentiating agents in leptin-deficient obese mice.

PMID- 25833511
TI  - Effects of a high fat diet and taurine supplementation on metabolic parameters
      and skeletal muscle mitochondrial function in rats.

PMID- 25833512
TI  - Taurine and regulation of mitochondrial metabolism.

PMID- 25833513
TI  - Open questions concerning taurine with emphasis on the brain.

PMID- 25833514
TI  - Taurine supplementation induces hyperinsulinemia and neuronal hyperexcitability.

PMID- 25833515
TI  - Taurine recovers mice emotional learning and memory disruptions associated with
      fragile x syndrome in context fear and auditory cued-conditioning.

PMID- 25833516
TI  - Contribution of taurine signatures in the detached cat retina.

PMID- 25833517
TI  - Effect of taurine on reproductive hormone secretion in female rats.

PMID- 25833518
TI  - Taurine enhances proliferation and promotes neuronal specification of murine and
      human neural stem/progenitor cells.

PMID- 25833519
TI  - Effects of chronic taurine administration on gene expression, protein translation
      and phosphorylation in the rat hippocampus.

PMID- 25833520
TI  - Potential Anti-aging Role of Taurine via Proper Protein Folding: A Study from
      Taurine Transporter Knockout Mouse.

PMID- 25833521
TI  - Analysis of Taurine as Modulator of Neurotransmitter in Caenorhabditis elegans.

PMID- 25833522
TI  - The Changes by Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) on Taurine Uptake in
      Brain Capillary Endothelial Cells at High Glucose Conditions.

PMID- 25833523
TI  - Thiotaurine protects mouse cerebellar granule neurons from potassium deprivation
      induced apoptosis by inhibiting the activation of caspase-3.

PMID- 25833525
TI  - Taurine Targets the GluN2b-Containing NMDA Receptor Subtype.

PMID- 25833524
TI  - Experimental study of taurine on the cerebral dehydrogenase activity in the model
      of unilateral cerebral ischemia.

PMID- 25833526
TI  - Experimental study of taurine antitoxic activity in the model of chronic
      epinephrine intoxication.

PMID- 25833527
TI  - Does taurine prolong lifespan by improving heart function?

PMID- 25833528
TI  - Taurine Depletion Decreases GRP78 Expression and Downregulates Perk-Dependent
      Activation of the Unfolded Protein Response.

PMID- 25833529
TI  - Role of ROS Production and Turnover in the Antioxidant Activity of Taurine.

PMID- 25833530
TI  - Taurine supplementation prevents the adverse effect of high sugar intake on
      arterial pressure control after cardiac ischemia/reperfusion in female rats.

PMID- 25833531
TI  - Effects of Taurine on Blood Index of Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) Axis of
      Stress-Induced Hypertensive Rat.

PMID- 25833532
TI  - Taurine in 24-h Urine Samples Is Inversely Related to Cardiovascular Risks of
      Middle Aged Subjects in 50 Populations of the World.

PMID- 25833533
TI  - Use of taurine during rehabilitation after cardiac surgery.

PMID- 25833534
TI  - Newer insights into the taurinuria of vitamin D deficiency: a review.

PMID- 25833536
TI  - Perinatal taurine depletion alters the renal excretory effect of the Renin
      Angiotensin system in adult female rats.

PMID- 25833535
TI  - The Effect of Perinatal Taurine on Adult Renal Function Does Not Appear to Be
      Mediated by Taurine's Inhibition of the Renin-Angiotensin System.

PMID- 25833537
TI  - Fructose feeding changes taurine homeostasis in wistar rats.

PMID- 25833538
TI  - Effects of taurine supplementation on adipose tissue of obese trained rats.

PMID- 25833539
TI  - The effect of taurine supplementation on glucose homeostasis: the role of insulin
      degrading enzyme.

PMID- 25833540
TI  - The association among dietary taurine intake, obesity and quality of sleep in
      korean women.

PMID- 25833541
TI  - Taurine supplementation leads to a disruption in energy homeostasis in menopausal
      obese mice.

PMID- 25833542
TI  - Effects of paternal hypothalamic obesity and taurine supplementation on adiposity
      and vascular reactivity in rat offspring.

PMID- 25833543
TI  - Taurine supplementation reduces eccentric exercise-induced delayed onset muscle
      soreness in young men.

PMID- 25833544
TI  - The effects of taurine administration against inflammation in heavily exercised
      skeletal muscle of rats.

PMID- 25833545
TI  - Needs assessment for development of health functional taurine-containing food for
      korean college students.

PMID- 25833546
TI  - Taurine accelerates alcohol and fat metabolism of rats with alcoholic Fatty liver
      disease.

PMID- 25833547
TI  - Protective Effect of Mussel (Mytilus Coruscus) Extract Containing Taurine Against
      AAPH-Induced Oxidative Stress in Zebrafish Model.

PMID- 25833548
TI  - Anti-inflammatory Effect of Short Neck Clam (Tapes philippinarum) Water Extract
      Containing Taurine in Zebrafish Model.

PMID- 25833549
TI  - In Vitro and In Vivo Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Activities of Abalone
      (Haliotis discus) Water Extract.

PMID- 25833550
TI  - Effect of N-(D-Ribopyranosyl)taurine Sodium Salt Supplementation on the Hepatic
      Antioxidant System in Rat Models of Diet-Induced Obesity and Taurine Deficiency.

PMID- 25833551
TI  - Evaluation of the Toxicity of a Single Oral Dose of N-(D-Ribopyranosyl)taurine
      Sodium Salt in Mice.

PMID- 25833552
TI  - N-(beta- D-Xylopyranosyl)taurine Sodium Salt Supplementation Has Beneficial
      Effect on the Hepatic Antioxidant System of Rats Fed a High-Fat Diet and beta
      Alanine.

PMID- 25833553
TI  - A Safety Assessment of N-(beta-D-Xylopyranosyl)Taurine Sodium Salt in Male and
      Female ICR Mice.

PMID- 25833554
TI  - Anti-obesity and Hypolipidemic Effects of N-(beta-D-Xylopyranosyl) Taurine Sodium
      Salt Supplementation in Rats Fed a High-Fat Diet and beta-Alanine.

PMID- 25833555
TI  - N-(D-Ribopyranosyl)Taurine Sodium Salt Has Anti-obesity Effect in Diet-Induced
      Obesity and Taurine Deficiency Rat Model.

PMID- 25833556
TI  - Catalytic thermal treatment (catalytic thermolysis) of a rice grain-based
      biodigester effluent of an alcohol distillery plant.
AB  - The catalytic thermolysis (CT) process is an effective and novel approach to
      treat rice grain-based biodigester effluent (BDE) of the distillery plant. CT
      treatment of rice grain-based distillery wastewater was carried out in a 0.5
      dm(3) thermolytic batch reactor using different catalysts such as CuO, copper
      sulphate and ferrous sulphate. With the CuO catalyst, a temperature of 95 degrees
      C, catalyst loading of 4 g/dm(3) and pH 5 were found to be optimal, obtaining a
      maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour removal of 80.4% and 72%,
      respectively. The initial pH (pHi) was an important parameter to remove COD and
      colour from BDE. At higher pHi (pH 9.5), less COD and colour reduction were
      observed. The settling characteristics of CT-treated sludge were also analysed at
      different temperatures. It was noted that the treated slurry at a temperature of
      80 degrees C gave best settling characteristics. Characteristics of residues are
      also analysed at different pH.

PMID- 25833557
TI  - Communication: Unusual structure and transport in ionic liquid-hexane mixtures.
AB  - Ionic liquids having a sufficiently amphiphilic cation can dissolve large volume
      fractions of alkanes, leading to mixtures with intriguing properties on molecular
      length scales. The trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium cation paired with the
      bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide anion provides an ionic liquid that can
      dissolve large mole fractions of hexane. We present experimental results on
      mixtures of n-C6D14 with this ionic liquid. High-energy X-ray scattering studies
      reveal a persistence of the characteristic features of ionic liquid structure
      even for 80% dilution with n-C6D14. Nuclear magnetic resonance self-diffusion
      results reveal decidedly non-hydrodynamic behavior where the self-diffusion of
      the neutral, non-polar n-C6D14 is on average a factor of 21 times faster than for
      the cation. Exploitation of the unique structural and transport properties of
      these mixtures may lead to new opportunities for designer solvents for enhanced
      chemical reactivity and interface science. 

PMID- 25833558
TI  - Communication: Improved pair approximations in local coupled-cluster methods.
AB  - In local coupled cluster treatments the electron pairs can be classified
      according to the magnitude of their energy contributions or distances into
      strong, close, weak, and distant pairs. Different approximations are introduced
      for the latter three classes. In this communication, an improved simplified
      treatment of close and weak pairs is proposed, which is based on long-range
      cancellations of individually slowly decaying contributions in the amplitude
      equations. Benchmark calculations for correlation, reaction, and activation
      energies demonstrate that these approximations work extremely well, while pair
      approximations based on local second-order Moller-Plesset theory can lead to
      errors that are 1-2 orders of magnitude larger. 

PMID- 25833559
TI  - Analytic second derivative of the energy for density functional theory based on
      the three-body fragment molecular orbital method.
AB  - Analytic second derivatives of the energy with respect to nuclear coordinates
      have been developed for spin restricted density functional theory (DFT) based on
      the fragment molecular orbital method (FMO). The derivations were carried out for
      the three-body expansion (FMO3), and the two-body expressions can be obtained by
      neglecting the three-body corrections. Also, the restricted Hartree-Fock (RHF)
      Hessian for FMO3 can be obtained by neglecting the density-functional related
      terms. In both the FMO-RHF and FMO-DFT Hessians, certain terms with small
      magnitudes are neglected for computational efficiency. The accuracy of the FMO
      DFT Hessian in terms of the Gibbs free energy is evaluated for a set of
      polypeptides and water clusters and found to be within 1 kcal/mol of the
      corresponding full (non-fragmented) ab initio calculation. The FMO-DFT method is
      also applied to transition states in SN2 reactions and for the computation of the
      IR and Raman spectra of a small Trp-cage protein (PDB: 1L2Y). Some computational
      timing analysis is also presented. 

PMID- 25833560
TI  - Calculation of the molecular integrals with the range-separated correlation
      factor.
AB  - Explicitly correlated quantum chemical calculations require calculations of five
      types of two-electron integrals beyond the standard electron repulsion integrals.
      We present a novel scheme, which utilises general ideas of the McMurchie-Davidson
      technique, to compute these integrals when the so-called "range-separated"
      correlation factor is used. This correlation factor combines the well-known short
      range behaviour resulting from the electronic cusp condition, with the exact long
      range asymptotics derived for the helium atom [Lesiuk, Jeziorski, and Moszynski,
      J. Chem. Phys. 139, 134102 (2013)]. Almost all steps of the presented procedure
      are formulated recursively, so that an efficient implementation and control of
      the precision are possible. Additionally, the present formulation is very
      flexible and general, and it allows for use of an arbitrary correlation factor in
      the electronic structure calculations with minor or no changes. 

PMID- 25833561
TI  - Time-dependent projected Hartree-Fock.
AB  - Projected Hartree-Fock (PHF) has recently emerged as an alternative approach to
      describing degenerate systems where static correlation is abundant, when the spin
      symmetry is projected. Here, we derive a set of linearized time-dependent
      equations for PHF in order to be able to access excited states. The close
      connection of such linear-response time-dependent PHF (TDPHF) to the stability
      condition of a PHF wave function is discussed. Expanding this analysis also makes
      it possible to give analytical expressions for the projected coupling terms of
      Hamiltonian and overlaps between excited Slater determinants. TDPHF with spin
      projection (TDSUHF) and its Tamm-Dancoff approximation are benchmarked for
      several electronically degenerate molecules including the dissociating H2, F2 and
      O3 at equilibrium, and the distorted ethylene. It is shown that they give
      consistently better descriptions of excited states than does time-dependent HF
      (TDHF). Furthermore, we demonstrate that they offer not only singly but also
      doubly excited states, which naturally arise upon spin-projection. We also
      address the thermodynamic limit of TDSUHF, using non-interacting He gas. While
      TDPHF singly excited states tend to converge to those of HF with the size of the
      system due to the lack of size-extensivity of PHF, doubly excited states remain
      reasonable even at the thermodynamic limit. We find that the overall performance
      of our method is systematically better than the regular TDHF in many cases at the
      same computational scaling. 

PMID- 25833562
TI  - Benchmarking DFT and semiempirical methods on structures and lattice energies for
      ten ice polymorphs.
AB  - Water in different phases under various external conditions is very important in
      bio-chemical systems and for material science at surfaces. Density functional
      theory methods and approximations thereof have to be tested system specifically
      to benchmark their accuracy regarding computed structures and interaction
      energies. In this study, we present and test a set of ten ice polymorphs in
      comparison to experimental data with mass densities ranging from 0.9 to 1.5
      g/cm(3) and including explicit corrections for zero-point vibrational and thermal
      effects. London dispersion inclusive density functionals at the generalized
      gradient approximation (GGA), meta-GGA, and hybrid level as well as alternative
      low-cost molecular orbital methods are considered. The widely used functional of
      Perdew, Burke and Ernzerhof (PBE) systematically overbinds and overall provides
      inconsistent results. All other tested methods yield reasonable to very good
      accuracy. BLYP-D3(atm) gives excellent results with mean absolute errors for the
      lattice energy below 1 kcal/mol (7% relative deviation). The corresponding
      optimized structures are very accurate with mean absolute relative deviations
      (MARDs) from the reference unit cell volume below 1%. The impact of Axilrod
      Teller-Muto (atm) type three-body dispersion and of non-local Fock exchange is
      small but on average their inclusion improves the results. While the density
      functional tight-binding model DFTB3-D3 performs well for low density phases, it
      does not yield good high density structures. As low-cost alternative for
      structure related problems, we recommend the recently introduced minimal basis
      Hartree-Fock method HF-3c with a MARD of about 3%. 

PMID- 25833564
TI  - Next generation of the self-consistent and environment-dependent Hamiltonian:
      Applications to various boron allotropes from zero- to three-dimensional
      structures.
AB  - An upgrade of the previous self-consistent and environment-dependent linear
      combination of atomic orbitals Hamiltonian (referred as SCED-LCAO) has been
      developed. This improved version of the semi-empirical SCED-LCAO Hamiltonian, in
      addition to the inclusion of self-consistent determination of charge
      redistribution, multi-center interactions, and modeling of electron-electron
      correlation, has taken into account the effect excited on the orbitals due to the
      atomic aggregation. This important upgrade has been subjected to a stringent
      test, the construction of the SCED-LCAO Hamiltonian for boron. It was shown that
      the Hamiltonian for boron has successfully characterized the electron deficiency
      of boron and captured the complex chemical bonding in various boron allotropes,
      including the planar and quasi-planar, the convex, the ring, the icosahedral, and
      the fullerene-like clusters, the two-dimensional monolayer sheets, and the bulk
      alpha boron, demonstrating its transferability, robustness, reliability, and
      predictive power. The molecular dynamics simulation scheme based on the
      Hamiltonian has been applied to explore the existence and the energetics of ~230
      compact boron clusters BN with N in the range from ~100 to 768, including the
      random, the rhombohedral, and the spherical icosahedral structures. It was found
      that, energetically, clusters containing whole icosahedral B12 units are more
      stable for boron clusters of larger size (N > 200). The ease with which the
      simulations both at 0 K and finite temperatures were completed is a demonstration
      of the efficiency of the SCED-LCAO Hamiltonian. 

PMID- 25833563
TI  - Variational cross-validation of slow dynamical modes in molecular kinetics.
AB  - Markov state models are a widely used method for approximating the eigenspectrum
      of the molecular dynamics propagator, yielding insight into the long-timescale
      statistical kinetics and slow dynamical modes of biomolecular systems. However,
      the lack of a unified theoretical framework for choosing between alternative
      models has hampered progress, especially for non-experts applying these methods
      to novel biological systems. Here, we consider cross-validation with a new
      objective function for estimators of these slow dynamical modes, a generalized
      matrix Rayleigh quotient (GMRQ), which measures the ability of a rank-m
      projection operator to capture the slow subspace of the system. It is shown that
      a variational theorem bounds the GMRQ from above by the sum of the first m
      eigenvalues of the system's propagator, but that this bound can be violated when
      the requisite matrix elements are estimated subject to statistical uncertainty.
      This overfitting can be detected and avoided through cross-validation. These
      result make it possible to construct Markov state models for protein dynamics in
      a way that appropriately captures the tradeoff between systematic and statistical
      errors. 

PMID- 25833565
TI  - A transformed framework for dynamic correlation in multireference problems.
AB  - We describe how multireference dynamic correlation theories can be naturally
      obtained as single-reference correlation theories in a canonically transformed
      frame. Such canonically transformed correlation theories are very simple and
      involve identical expressions to their single-reference counterparts. The
      corresponding excitations involve quasiparticles rather than the bare particles
      of the system. High-order density matrices (or their approximations) and the
      numerical metric instabilities common to multireference correlation theories do
      not appear. As an example, we formulate the Bogoliubov canonically transformed
      version of second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory and demonstrate its
      performance in H2, H2O, N2, and BeH2 bond dissociation. 

PMID- 25833566
TI  - Soft-spring wall based non-periodic boundary conditions for non-equilibrium
      molecular dynamics of dense fluids.
AB  - Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations require imposition of non
      periodic boundary conditions (NPBCs) that seamlessly account for the effect of
      the truncated bulk region on the simulated MD region. Standard implementation of
      specular boundary conditions in such simulations results in spurious density and
      force fluctuations near the domain boundary and is therefore inappropriate for
      coupled atomistic-continuum calculations. In this work, we present a novel NPBC
      model that relies on boundary atoms attached to a simple cubic lattice with soft
      springs to account for interactions from particles which would have been present
      in an untruncated full domain treatment. We show that the proposed model
      suppresses the unphysical fluctuations in the density to less than 1% of the mean
      while simultaneously eliminating spurious oscillations in both mean and boundary
      forces. The model allows for an effective coupling of atomistic and continuum
      solvers as demonstrated through multiscale simulation of boundary driven singular
      flow in a cavity. The geometric flexibility of the model enables straightforward
      extension to nonplanar complex domains without any adverse effects on dynamic
      properties such as the diffusion coefficient. 

PMID- 25833567
TI  - Thermal transport properties of halide solid solutions: Experiments vs
      equilibrium molecular dynamics.
AB  - The composition dependence of thermal transport properties of the (Na,K)Cl
      rocksalt solid solution is investigated through equilibrium molecular dynamics
      (EMD) simulations in the entire range of composition and the results are compared
      with experiments published in recent work [Gheribi et al., J. Chem. phys. 141,
      104508 (2014)]. The thermal diffusivity of the (Na,K)Cl solid solution has been
      measured from 473 K to 823 K using the laser flash technique, and the thermal
      conductivity was deduced from critically assessed data of heat capacity and
      density. The thermal conductivity was also predicted at 900 K in the entire range
      of composition by a series of EMD simulations in both NPT and NVT statistical
      ensembles using the Green-Kubo theory. The aim of the present paper is to provide
      an objective analysis of the capability of EMD simulations in predicting the
      composition dependence of the thermal transport properties of halide solid
      solutions. According to the Klemens-Callaway [P. G. Klemens, Phys. Rev. 119, 507
      (1960) and J. Callaway and H. C. von Bayer, Phys. Rev. 120, 1149 (1960)] theory,
      the thermal conductivity degradation of the solid solution is explained by mass
      and strain field fluctuations upon the phonon scattering cross section. A
      rigorous analysis of the consistency between the theoretical approach and the EMD
      simulations is discussed in detail. 

PMID- 25833568
TI  - Natural scaling of size distributions in homogeneous and heterogeneous rate
      equations with size-linear capture rates.
AB  - We obtain exact solutions of the rate equations for homogeneous and heterogeneous
      irreversible growth models with linear size dependences of the capture rates. In
      the limit of high ratios of diffusion constant over deposition rate, both
      solutions yield simple analytical scaling functions with the correct
      normalizations. These are given by the cumulative distribution function and the
      probability density function of the gamma-distribution in homogeneous and
      heterogeneous cases, respectively. Our size distributions depend on the value of
      the capture rate a in the reaction of joining two mobile monomers A1 (A1 + A1 ->
      A2) or the monomer attachment to the reactive defect B (A1 + B -> AB). In
      homogeneous cases, the size distribution is monotonically decreasing regardless
      of a. In heterogeneous growth, the distribution is monotonically decreasing when
      a <= 1 and monomodal when a > 1. The obtained solutions describe fairly well the
      experimental data on the length distributions of Al, Ga, In, and Mn adatom chains
      on Si(100)-2 * 1 surfaces. 

PMID- 25833569
TI  - Effective binary theory of multi-component nucleation.
AB  - Classical theory of multi-component nucleation [O. Hirschfelder, J. Chem. Phys.
      61, 2690 (1974)] belongs to the class of the so-called intractable problems: it
      requires computational time which is an exponential function of the number of
      components N. For a number of systems of practical interest with N > 10, the
      brute-force use of the classical theory becomes virtually impossible and one has
      to resort to an effective medium approach. We present an effective binary model
      which captures important physics of multi-component nucleation. The distinction
      between two effective species is based on the observation that while all N
      components contribute to the cluster thermodynamic properties, there is only a
      part of them which trigger the nucleation process. The proposed 2D-theory takes
      into account adsorption by means of the Gibbs dividing surface formalism and uses
      statistical mechanical considerations for the treatment of small clusters.
      Theoretical predictions for binary-, ternary-, and 14-component mixtures are
      compared with available experimental data and other models. 

PMID- 25833570
TI  - Surveying the free energy landscapes of continuum models: Application to soft
      matter systems.
AB  - A variety of methods are developed for characterising the free energy landscapes
      of continuum, Landau-type free energy models. Using morphologies of lipid
      vesicles and a multistable liquid crystal device as examples, I show that the
      methods allow systematic study of not only the most relevant minimum energy
      configurations, but also the transition pathways between any two minima, as well
      as their corresponding energy barriers and transition state configurations. A
      global view of the free energy landscapes can then be visualized using either a
      disconnectivity graph or a network representation. Different forms of free energy
      functionals and boundary conditions can be readily implemented, thus allowing
      these tools to be utilised for a broad range of problems. 

PMID- 25833571
TI  - Functional differentiability in time-dependent quantum mechanics.
AB  - In this work, we investigate the functional differentiability of the time
      dependent many-body wave function and of derived quantities with respect to time
      dependent potentials. For properly chosen Banach spaces of potentials and wave
      functions, Frechet differentiability is proven. From this follows an estimate for
      the difference of two solutions to the time-dependent Schrodinger equation that
      evolve under the influence of different potentials. Such results can be applied
      directly to the one-particle density and to bounded operators, and present a
      rigorous formulation of non-equilibrium linear-response theory where the usual
      Lehmann representation of the linear-response kernel is not valid. Further, the
      Frechet differentiability of the wave function provides a new route towards
      proving basic properties of time-dependent density-functional theory. 

PMID- 25833572
TI  - Solid-state EPR strategies for the structural characterization of paramagnetic NO
      adducts of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs).
AB  - Anisotropic interactions present in three new nitroxide radicals prepared by N,N
      addition of NO to various borane-phosphane frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) have
      been characterized by continuous-wave (cw) and pulsed X-band EPR spectroscopies
      in solid FLP-hydroxylamine matrices at 100 K. Anisotropic g-tensor values and
      (11)B, (14)N, and (31)P hyperfine coupling tensor components have been extracted
      from continuous-wave lineshape analyses, electron spin echo envelope modulation
      (ESEEM), and hyperfine sublevel correlation spectroscopy (HYSCORE) experiments
      with the help of computer simulation techniques. Suitable fitting constraints are
      developed on the basis of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. These
      calculations reveal that different from the situation in standard nitroxide
      radicals (TEMPO), the g-tensors are non-coincident with any of the nuclear
      hyperfine interaction tensors. The determination of these interaction parameters
      turns out to be successful, as the cw- and pulse EPR experiments are highly
      complementary in informational content. While the continuous-wave lineshape is
      largely influenced by the anisotropic hyperfine coupling to (14)N and (31)P, the
      ESEEM and HYSCORE spectra contain important information about the (11)B hyperfine
      coupling and nuclear electric quadrupolar interaction. The set of cw- and pulsed
      EPR experiments, with fitting constraints developed by DFT calculations, defines
      an efficient strategy for the structural analysis of paramagnetic FLP adducts. 

PMID- 25833573
TI  - Applied quantum chemistry: Spectroscopic detection and characterization of the
      F2BS and Cl2BS free radicals in the gas phase.
AB  - In this and previous work [D. J. Clouthier, J. Chem. Phys. 141, 244309 (2014)],
      the spectroscopic signatures of the X2BY (X = H, halogen, Y = O, S) free radicals
      have been predicted using high level ab initio theory. The theoretical results
      have been used to calculate the electronic absorption and single vibronic level
      (SVL) emission spectra of the radicals under typical jet-cooled conditions. Using
      these diagnostic predictions, the previously unknown F2BS and Cl2BS free radicals
      have been identified and characterized. The radicals were prepared in a free jet
      expansion by subjecting precursor mixtures of BF3 or BCl3 and CS2 vapor to an
      electric discharge at the exit of a pulsed molecular beam valve. The B(2)A1
      X(2)B2 laser-induced fluorescence spectra were found within 150 cm(-1) of their
      theoretically predicted positions with vibronic structure consistent with our
      Franck-Condon simulations. The B(2)A1 state emits down to the ground state and to
      the low-lying A(2)B1 excited state and the correspondence between the observed
      and theoretically derived SVL emission Franck-Condon profiles was used to
      positively identify the radicals and make assignments. Excited state Coriolis
      coupling effects complicate the emission spectra of both radicals. In addition, a
      forbidden component of the electronically allowed B-X band system of Cl2BS is
      evident, as signaled by the activity in the b2 modes in the spectrum. Symmetry
      arguments indicate that this component gains intensity due to a vibronic
      interaction of the B(2)A1 state with a nearby electronic state of (2)B2 symmetry.

PMID- 25833574
TI  - Accurate high level ab initio-based global potential energy surface and dynamics
      calculations for ground state of CH2(+).
AB  - A global many-body expansion potential energy surface is reported for the
      electronic ground state of CH2 (+) by fitting high level ab initio energies
      calculated at the multireference configuration interaction level with the aug-cc
      pV6Z basis set. The topographical features of the new global potential energy
      surface are examined in detail and found to be in good agreement with those
      calculated directly from the raw ab initio energies, as well as previous
      calculations available in the literature. In turn, in order to validate the
      potential energy surface, a test theoretical study of the reaction
      CH(+)(X(1)Sigma(+))+H((2)S)->C(+)((2)P)+H2(X(1)Sigmag (+)) has been carried out
      with the method of time dependent wavepacket on the title potential energy
      surface. The total integral cross sections and the rate coefficients have been
      calculated; the results determined that the new potential energy surface can both
      be recommended for dynamics studies of any type and as building blocks for
      constructing the potential energy surfaces of larger C(+)/H containing systems. 

PMID- 25833575
TI  - Three-body fragmentation of CO2 driven by intense laser pulses.
AB  - Dissociative ionization dynamics were studied experimentally for CO2 driven by
      intense laser pulses. Three-dimensional momentum vectors of correlated atomic
      ions were obtained for each three-body fragmentation event using triple ion
      coincidence measurement. Newton diagram demonstrated that three-body
      fragmentation of CO2 (n+) (n = 3-6) can occur through Coulomb explosion process
      and sequential fragmentation process depending on the fragmentation channels. The
      experimental data from these two processes were disentangled by using correlation
      diagram of correlated ions. Based on the accurate Coulomb explosion data, we
      reconstructed the bond angle distributions of CO2 (n+) at the moment of
      fragmentation, which are close to that of neutral CO2 before laser irradiation. 

PMID- 25833576
TI  - The vibrational dynamics of 3D HOCl above dissociation.
AB  - We explore the classical vibrational dynamics of the HOCl molecule for energies
      above the dissociation energy of the molecule. Above dissociation, we find that
      the classical dynamics is dominated by an invariant manifold which appears to
      stabilize two periodic orbits at energies significantly above the dissociation
      energy. These stable periodic orbits can hold a large number of quantum states
      and likely can support a significant quasibound state of the molecule, well above
      the dissociation energy. The classical dynamics and the lifetime of quantum
      states on the invariant manifold are determined. 

PMID- 25833577
TI  - Photoelectron imaging and photodissociation of ozonide in O3(-)?(O2)n (n = 1-4)
      clusters.
AB  - The photoelectron images of O3 (-) and O3 (-) ? (O2)n (n = 1-4) have been
      measured using 3.49 eV photon energy. The spectra exhibit several processes,
      including direct photodetachment and photodissociation with photodetachment of O(
      ) photofragments. Several spectra also exhibit autodetachment of vibrationally
      excited O2 (-) photofragments. Comparison of the bare O3 (-) photoelectron
      spectra to that of the complexes shows that the O3 (-) core is preserved upon
      clustering with several O2 molecules, though subtle changes in the Franck-Condon
      profile of the ground state photodetachment transition suggest some charge
      transfer from O3 (-) to the O2 molecules. The electron affinities of the
      complexes increase by less than 0.1 eV with each additional O2 molecule, which is
      comparable to the corresponding binding energy [K. Hiraoka, Chem. Phys. 125, 439
      444 (1988)]. The relative intensity of the photofragment O(-) detachment signal
      to the O3 (-) ? (O2)n direct detachment signal increases with cluster size. O2 (
      ) autodetachment signal is only observed in the O3 (-), O3 (-) ? (O2)3, and O3 (
      ) ? (O2)4 spectra, suggesting that the energy of the dissociative state also
      varies with the number of O2 molecules present in the cluster. 

PMID- 25833578
TI  - Differential cross sections for electron-impact vibrational-excitation of
      tetrahydrofuran at intermediate impact energies.
AB  - We report differential cross sections (DCSs) for electron-impact vibrational
      excitation of tetrahydrofuran, at intermediate incident electron energies (15-50
      eV) and over the 10 degrees -90 degrees  scattered electron angular range. These
      measurements extend the available DCS data for vibrational excitation for this
      species, which have previously been obtained at lower incident electron energies
      (<=20 eV). Where possible, our data are compared to the earlier measurements in
      the overlapping energy ranges. Here, quite good agreement was generally observed
      where the measurements overlapped. 

PMID- 25833579
TI  - The role of electron-impact vibrational excitation in electron transport through
      gaseous tetrahydrofuran.
AB  - In this paper, we report newly derived integral cross sections (ICSs) for
      electron impact vibrational excitation of tetrahydrofuran (THF) at intermediate
      impact energies. These cross sections extend the currently available data from 20
      to 50 eV. Further, they indicate that the previously recommended THF ICS set
      [Garland et al., Phys. Rev. A 88, 062712 (2013)] underestimated the strength of
      the electron-impact vibrational excitation processes. Thus, that recommended
      vibrational cross section set is revised to address those deficiencies. Electron
      swarm transport properties were calculated with the amended vibrational cross
      section set, to quantify the role of electron-driven vibrational excitation in
      describing the macroscopic swarm phenomena. Here, significant differences of up
      to 17% in the transport coefficients were observed between the calculations
      performed using the original and revised cross section sets for vibrational
      excitation. 

PMID- 25833581
TI  - Vibrational state-selective autodetachment photoelectron spectroscopy from dipole
      bound states of cold 2-hydroxyphenoxide: o-HO(C6H4)O(-).
AB  - We report a photodetachment and high-resolution photoelectron imaging study of
      cold 2-hydroxyphenoxide anion, o - HO(C6H4)O(-), cooled in a cryogenic ion trap.
      Photodetachment spectroscopy revealed a dipole-bound state (DBS) of the anion, 25
      +/- 5 cm(-1), below the detachment threshold of 18 784 +/- 5 cm-1 (2.3289 +/-
      0.0006 eV), i.e., the electron affinity of the 2-hydroxyphenoxy radical o -
      HO(C6H4)O(?). Twenty-two vibrational levels of the DBS are observed as resonances
      in the photodetachment spectrum. By tuning the detachment laser to these DBS
      vibrational levels, we obtain 22 high-resolution resonant photoelectron spectra,
      which are highly non-Franck-Condon due to mode-selective autodetachment and the
      Deltav = - 1 propensity rule. Numerous Franck-Condon inactive vibrational modes
      are observed in the resonant photoelectron spectra, significantly expanding the
      vibrational information that is available in traditional high-resolution
      photoelectron spectroscopy. A total of 15 fundamental vibrational frequencies are
      obtained for the o - HO(C6H4)O(?)  radical from both the photodetachment spectrum
      and the resonant photoelectron spectra, including six symmetry-forbidden out-of
      plane modes as a result of resonant enhancement.

PMID- 25833580
TI  - The hyperfine structure in the rotational spectra of D2(17)O and HD(17)O:
      Confirmation of the absolute nuclear magnetic shielding scale for oxygen.
AB  - Guided by theoretical predictions, the hyperfine structures of the rotational
      spectra of mono- and bideuterated-water containing (17)O have been experimentally
      investigated. To reach sub-Doppler resolution, required to resolve the hyperfine
      structure due to deuterium quadrupole coupling as well as to spin-rotation (SR)
      and dipolar spin-spin couplings, the Lamb-dip technique has been employed. The
      experimental investigation and in particular, the spectral analysis have been
      supported by high-level quantum-chemical computations employing coupled-cluster
      techniques and, for the first time, a complete experimental determination of the
      hyperfine parameters involved was possible. The experimentally determined (17)O
      spin-rotation constants of D2 (17)O and HD(17)O were used to derive the
      paramagnetic part of the corresponding nuclear magnetic shielding constants.
      Together with the computed diamagnetic contributions as well as the vibrational
      and temperature corrections, the latter constants have been employed to confirm
      the oxygen nuclear magnetic shielding scale, recently established on the basis of
      spin-rotation data for H2 (17)O [Puzzarini et al., J. Chem. Phys. 131, 234304
      (2009)]. 

PMID- 25833582
TI  - Low energy elastic electron scattering from CF3Br molecules.
AB  - CF3Br is a potentially valuable precursor molecule for generating beams of gas
      phase Br radicals suitable for electron collisions studies. However, the utility
      of CF3Br for this purpose depends critically on the availability of sound
      scattering cross sections to allow the contribution of the precursor to be
      isolated within the total scattering signal. To this end, here we present elastic
      differential cross section (DCS) measurements for CF3Br at incident energies
      between 15 and 50 eV. Comparison of these DCSs to those from the only other
      available experimental study [Sunohara et al., J. Phys. B: At., Mol. Opt. Phys.
      36, 1843 (2003)] and a Schwinger multichannel with pseudo potentials (SMCPPs)
      calculation [Bettega et al., J. Phys. B: At., Mol. Opt. Phys. 36, 1263 (2003)]
      shows generally a very good accord. Integral elastic and momentum transfer cross
      sections, derived from our DCSs, are also found to be in quite good agreement
      with the SMCPP results. 

PMID- 25833583
TI  - Adsorption of carbon monoxide on small aluminum oxide clusters: Role of the local
      atomic environment and charge state on the oxidation of the CO molecule.
AB  - We present extensive density functional theory (DFT) calculations dedicated to
      analyze the adsorption behavior of CO molecules on small AlxOy (+/-) clusters.
      Following the experimental results of Johnson et al. [J. Phys. Chem. A 112, 4732
      (2008)], we consider structures having the bulk composition Al2O3, as well as
      smaller Al2O2 and Al2O units. Our electron affinity and total energy calculations
      are consistent with aluminum oxide clusters having two-dimensional rhombus-like
      structures. In addition, interconversion energy barriers between two- and one
      dimensional atomic arrays are of the order of 1 eV, thus clearly defining the
      preferred isomers. Single CO adsorption on our charged AlxOy (+/-) clusters
      exhibits, in general, spontaneous oxygen transfer events leading to the
      production of CO2 in line with the experimental data. However, CO can also bind
      to both Al and O atoms of the clusters forming aluminum oxide complexes with a
      CO2 subunit. The vibrational spectra of AlxOy + CO2 provides well defined finger
      prints that may allow the identification of specific isomers. The AlxOy (+)
      clusters are more reactive than the anionic species and the final Al2O(+) + CO
      reaction can result in the production of atomic Al and carbon dioxide as observed
      from experiments. We underline the crucial role played by the local atomic
      environment, charge density distribution, and spin-multiplicity on the oxidation
      behavior of CO molecules. Finally, we analyze the importance of coadsorption and
      finite temperature effects by performing DFT Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics.
      Our calculations show that CO oxidation on AlxOy (+) clusters can be also
      promoted by the binding of additional CO species at 300 K, revealing the
      existence of fragmentation processes in line with the ones experimentally
      inferred. 

PMID- 25833584
TI  - A novel and facile decay path of Criegee intermediates by intramolecular
      insertion reactions via roaming transition states.
AB  - We have discovered a new and highly competitive product channel in the
      unimolecular decay process for small Criegee intermediates, CH2OO and anti/syn
      CH3C(H)OO, occurring by intramolecular insertion reactions via a roaming-like
      transition state (TS) based on quantum-chemical calculations. Our results show
      that in the decomposition of CH2OO and anti-CH3C(H)OO, the predominant paths
      directly produce cis-HC(O)OH and syn-CH3C(O)OH acids with >110 kcal/mol
      exothermicities via loose roaming-like insertion TSs involving the terminal O
      atom and the neighboring C-H bonds. For syn-CH3C(H)OO, the major decomposition
      channel occurs by abstraction of a H atom from the CH3 group by the terminal O
      atom producing CH2C(H)O-OH. At 298 K, the intramolecular insertion process in
      CH2OO was found to be 600 times faster than the commonly assumed ring-closing
      reaction. 

PMID- 25833585
TI  - Circular and linear magnetic birefringences in xenon at lambda = 1064 nm.
AB  - The circular and linear magnetic birefringences corresponding to the Faraday and
      the Cotton-Mouton effects, respectively, have been measured in xenon at lambda =
      1064 nm. The experimental setup is based on time dependent magnetic fields and a
      high finesse Fabry-Perot cavity. Our value of the Faraday effect is the first
      measurement at this wavelength. It is compared to theoretical predictions. Our
      uncertainty of a few percent yields an agreement at better than 1sigma with the
      computational estimate when relativistic effects are taken into account.
      Concerning the Cotton-Mouton effect, our measurement, the second ever published
      at lambda = 1064 nm, agrees at better than 1sigma with theoretical predictions.
      We also compare our error budget with that established for other experimental
      published values. 

PMID- 25833586
TI  - Identification of four rotamers of m-methoxystyrene by resonant two-photon
      ionization and mass analyzed threshold ionization spectroscopy.
AB  - We report the vibronic and cation spectra of four rotamers of m-methoxystyrene,
      recorded by using the two-color resonant two-photon ionization and mass-analyzed
      threshold ionization techniques. The excitation energies of the S1<- S0
      electronic transition are found to be 32 767, 32 907, 33 222, and 33 281 cm(-1),
      and the corresponding adiabatic ionization energies are 65 391, 64 977, 65 114,
      and 64 525 cm(-1) for these isomeric species. Most of the observed active
      vibrations in the electronically excited S1 and cationic ground D0 states involve
      in-plane ring deformation and substituent-sensitive bending motions. It is found
      that the relative orientation of the methoxyl with respect to the vinyl group
      does not influence the vibrational frequencies of the ring-substituent bending
      modes. The two dimensional potential energy surface calculations support our
      experimental finding that the isomerization is restricted in the S1 and D0
      states. 

PMID- 25833587
TI  - Initial mechanisms for the decomposition of electronically excited energetic
      materials: 1,5'-BT, 5,5'-BT, and AzTT.
AB  - Decomposition of nitrogen-rich energetic materials 1,5'-BT, 5,5'-BT, and AzTT
      (1,5'-Bistetrazole, 5,5'-Bistetrazole, and 5-(5-azido-(1 or 4)H-1,2,4-triazol-3
      yl)tetrazole, respectively), following electronic state excitation, is
      investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The N2 molecule is observed
      as an initial decomposition product from the three materials, subsequent to UV
      excitation, with a cold rotational temperature (<30 K). Initial decomposition
      mechanisms for these three electronically excited materials are explored at the
      complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) level. Potential energy
      surface calculations at the CASSCF(12,8)/6-31G(d) level illustrate that conical
      intersections play an essential role in the decomposition mechanism.
      Electronically excited S1 molecules can non-adiabatically relax to their ground
      electronic states through (S1/S0)CI conical intersections. 1,5'-BT and 5,5'-BT
      materials have several (S1/S0)CI conical intersections between S1 and S0 states,
      related to different tetrazole ring opening positions, all of which lead to N2
      product formation. The N2 product for AzTT is formed primarily by N-N bond
      rupture of the -N3 group. The observed rotational energy distributions for the N2
      products are consistent with the final structures of the respective transition
      states for each molecule on its S0 potential energy surface. The theoretically
      derived vibrational temperature of the N2 product is high, which is similar to
      that found for energetic salts and molecules studied previously. 

PMID- 25833588
TI  - Density functional theory and chromium: Insights from the dimers.
AB  - The binding in small Cr clusters is re-investigated, where the correct
      description of the dimer in three charge states is used as criterion to assign
      the most suitable density functional theory approximation. The difficulty in
      chromium arises from the subtle interplay between energy gain from hybridization
      and energetic cost due to exchange between s and d based molecular orbitals.
      Variations in published bond lengths and binding energies are shown to arise from
      insufficient numerical representation of electron density and Kohn-Sham wave
      functions. The best functional performance is found for gradient corrected (GGA)
      functionals and meta-GGAs, where we find severe differences between functionals
      from the same family due to the importance of exchange. Only the "best fit" from
      Bayesian error estimation is able to predict the correct energetics for all three
      charge states unambiguously. With this knowledge, we predict small bond-lengths
      to be exclusively present in Cr2 and Cr2 (-). Already for the dimer cation,
      solely long bond-lengths appear, similar to what is found in the trimer and in
      chromium bulk. 

PMID- 25833589
TI  - Signatures of non-adiabatic dynamics in the fine-structure state distributions of
      the OH(X/A) products in the B-band photodissociation of H2O.
AB  - A detailed quantum mechanical characterization of the photodissociation dynamics
      of H2O at 121.6 nm is presented. The calculations were performed using a full
      dimensional wave packet method on coupled potential energy surfaces of all
      relevant electronic states. Our state-to-state model permits a detailed analysis
      of the OH(X/A) product fine-structure populations as a probe of the non-adiabatic
      dissociation dynamics. The calculated rotational state distributions of the two
      Lambda-doublet levels of OH(X, v = 0) exhibit very different characteristics. The
      A' states, produced mostly via the B->X conical intersection pathway, have
      significantly higher populations than the A" counterparts, which are primarily
      from the B->A Renner-Teller pathway. The former features a highly inverted and
      oscillatory rotational state distribution, while the latter has a smooth
      distribution with much less rotational excitation. In good agreement with
      experiment, the calculated total OH(X) rotational state distribution and
      anisotropy parameters show clear even-odd oscillations, which can be attributed
      to a quantum mechanical interference between waves emanating from the HOH and HHO
      conical intersections in the B->X non-adiabatic pathway. On the other hand, the
      experiment-theory agreement for the OH(A) fragment is also satisfactory, although
      some small quantitative differences suggest remaining imperfections of the ab
      initio based potential energy surfaces. 

PMID- 25833590
TI  - Tuning structure and mobility of solvation shells surrounding tracer additives.
AB  - Molecular dynamics simulations and a stochastic Fokker-Planck equation based
      approach are used to illuminate how position-dependent solvent mobility near one
      or more tracer particle(s) is affected when tracer-solvent interactions are
      rationally modified to affect corresponding solvation structure. For tracers in a
      dense hard-sphere fluid, we compare two types of tracer-solvent interactions: (1)
      a hard-sphere-like interaction, and (2) a soft repulsion extending beyond the
      hard core designed via statistical mechanical theory to enhance tracer mobility
      at infinite dilution by suppressing coordination-shell structure [Carmer et al.,
      Soft Matter 8, 4083-4089 (2012)]. For the latter case, we show that the mobility
      of surrounding solvent particles is also increased by addition of the soft
      repulsive interaction, which helps to rationalize the mechanism underlying the
      tracer's enhanced diffusivity. However, if multiple tracer surfaces are in closer
      proximity (as at higher tracer concentrations), similar interactions that disrupt
      local solvation structure instead suppress the position-dependent solvent
      dynamics. 

PMID- 25833591
TI  - Mode coupling theory analysis of electrolyte solutions: Time dependent diffusion,
      intermediate scattering function, and ion solvation dynamics.
AB  - A self-consistent mode coupling theory (MCT) with microscopic inputs of
      equilibrium pair correlation functions is developed to analyze electrolyte
      dynamics. We apply the theory to calculate concentration dependence of (i) time
      dependent ion diffusion, (ii) intermediate scattering function of the constituent
      ions, and (iii) ion solvation dynamics in electrolyte solution. Brownian dynamics
      with implicit water molecules and molecular dynamics method with explicit water
      are used to check the theoretical predictions. The time dependence of ionic self
      diffusion coefficient and the corresponding intermediate scattering function
      evaluated from our MCT approach show quantitative agreement with early
      experimental and present Brownian dynamic simulation results. With increasing
      concentration, the dispersion of electrolyte friction is found to occur at
      increasingly higher frequency, due to the faster relaxation of the ion
      atmosphere. The wave number dependence of intermediate scattering function, F(k,
      t), exhibits markedly different relaxation dynamics at different length scales.
      At small wave numbers, we find the emergence of a step-like relaxation,
      indicating the presence of both fast and slow time scales in the system. Such
      behavior allows an intriguing analogy with temperature dependent relaxation
      dynamics of supercooled liquids. We find that solvation dynamics of a tagged ion
      exhibits a power law decay at long times-the decay can also be fitted to a
      stretched exponential form. The emergence of the power law in solvation dynamics
      has been tested by carrying out long Brownian dynamics simulations with varying
      ionic concentrations. The solvation time correlation and ion-ion intermediate
      scattering function indeed exhibit highly interesting, non-trivial dynamical
      behavior at intermediate to longer times that require further experimental and
      theoretical studies. 

PMID- 25833592
TI  - Urea and deuterium mixtures at high pressures.
AB  - Urea, like many network forming compounds, has long been known to form inclusion
      (guest-host) compounds. Unlike other network formers like water, urea is not
      known to form such inclusion compounds with simple molecules like hydrogen. Such
      compounds if they existed would be of interest both for the fundamental insight
      they provide into molecular bonding and as potential gas storage systems. Urea
      has been proposed as a potential hydrogen storage material [T. A. Strobel et al.,
      Chem. Phys. Lett. 478, 97 (2009)]. Here, we report the results of high-pressure
      neutron diffraction studies of urea and D2 mixtures that indicate no inclusion
      compound forms up to 3.7 GPa. 

PMID- 25833593
TI  - Weak links between fast mobility and local structure in molecular and atomic
      liquids.
AB  - We investigate by molecular-dynamics simulations, the fast mobility-the rattling
      amplitude of the particles temporarily trapped by the cage of the neighbors-in
      mildly supercooled states of dense molecular (linear trimers) and atomic (binary
      mixtures) liquids. The mixture particles interact by the Lennard-Jones potential.
      The non-bonded particles of the molecular system are coupled by the more general
      Mie potential with variable repulsive and attractive exponents in a range which
      is a characteristic of small n-alkanes and n-alcohols. Possible links between the
      fast mobility and the geometry of the cage (size and shape) are searched. The
      correlations on a per-particle basis are rather weak. Instead, if one groups
      either the particles in fast-mobility subsets or the cages in geometric subsets,
      the increase of the fast mobility with both the size and the asphericity of the
      cage is revealed. The observed correlations are weak and differ in states with
      equal relaxation time. Local forces between a tagged particle and the first
      neighbour shell do not correlate with the fast mobility in the molecular liquid.
      It is concluded that the cage geometry alone is unable to provide a microscopic
      interpretation of the known, universal link between the fast mobility and the
      slow structural relaxation. We suggest that the particle fast dynamics is
      affected by regions beyond the first neighbours, thus supporting the presence of
      collective, extended fast modes. 

PMID- 25833594
TI  - Molecular dynamics simulation of CO2 hydrates: Prediction of three phase
      coexistence line.
AB  - The three phase equilibrium line (hydrate-liquid water-liquid carbon dioxide) has
      been estimated for the water + carbon dioxide binary mixture using molecular
      dynamics simulation and the direct coexistence technique. Both molecules have
      been represented using rigid nonpolarizable models. TIP4P/2005 and TIP4P/Ice were
      used for the case of water, while carbon dioxide was considered as a three center
      linear molecule with the parameterizations of MSM, EPM2, TraPPE, and ZD. The
      influence of the initial guest occupancy fraction on the hydrate stability has
      been analyzed first in order to determine the optimal starting configuration for
      the simulations, paying attention to the influence of the two different cells
      existing in the sI hydrate structure. The three phase coexistence temperature was
      then determined for a pressure range from 2 to 500 MPa. The qualitative shape of
      the equilibrium curve estimated is correct, including the high pressure
      temperature maximum that determines the hydrate re-entrant behaviour. However, in
      order to obtain quantitative agreement with experimental results, a positive
      deviation from the classical Lorentz-Berthelot combining rules must be
      considered. 

PMID- 25833595
TI  - Crystallization of Lennard-Jones nanodroplets: From near melting to deeply
      supercooled.
AB  - We carry out molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations to
      characterize nucleation in liquid clusters of 600 Lennard-Jones particles over a
      broad range of temperatures. We use the formalism of mean first-passage times to
      determine the rate and find that Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT) predicts the
      rate quite well, even when employing simple modelling of crystallite shape,
      chemical potential, surface tension, and particle attachment rate, down to the
      temperature where the droplet loses metastability and crystallization proceeds
      through growth-limited nucleation in an unequilibrated liquid. Below this
      crossover temperature, the nucleation rate is still predicted when MC simulations
      are used to directly calculate quantities required by CNT. Discrepancy in
      critical embryo sizes obtained from MD and MC arises when twinned structures with
      five-fold symmetry provide a competing free energy pathway out of the critical
      region. We find that crystallization begins with hcp-fcc stacked precritical
      nuclei and differentiation to various end structures occurs when these embryos
      become critical. We confirm that using the largest embryo in the system as a
      reaction coordinate is useful in determining the onset of growth-limited
      nucleation and show that it gives the same free energy barriers as the full
      cluster size distribution once the proper reference state is identified. We find
      that the bulk melting temperature controls the rate, even though the solid-liquid
      coexistence temperature for the droplet is significantly lower. The value of
      surface tension that renders close agreement between CNT and direct rate
      determination is significantly lower than what is expected for the bulk system. 

PMID- 25833596
TI  - Decoupling of relaxation and diffusion in random pinning glass-forming liquids.
AB  - We investigate numerically the relaxation and diffusion dynamics in three
      dimensional Kob-Andersen glass-forming liquids in which part of the particles are
      randomly chosen and pinned permanently. We find that both the relaxation dynamics
      and diffusion dynamics slow down as increasing the pinning concentration (cpin)
      at fixed temperatures that we study. For higher temperature and lower cpin, the
      alpha relaxation time tau and the diffusion coefficient D have the scaling
      relationship D ~ tau(-1). However, this coupling behavior breaks down if cpin is
      further increased, and the scaling relationship is replaced by D ~ tau(-nu) with
      nu < 1. At temperatures around the onset temperature of the bulk system, a
      transition from nu ~ 0.75 to nu ~ 0.61 with increasing cpin is found. However, at
      lower temperatures, nu ~ 0.67 holds in the whole studied cpin range. By fitting
      the relaxation time as a function of cpin with Vogel-Fulcher-Tamman equation, we
      find that the change of scaling exponent nu is accompanied with the change of
      fragility parameter K at higher temperatures. However, at lower temperatures,
      pinning particles have little effect on the system's qualitative properties.
      Moreover, we investigate three measures of heterogeneity of dynamics and find
      that the relaxation and the diffusion motion of particles show different
      responses to the pinned particles, which may lead to the slower relaxation than
      diffusion and the decoupling of relaxation and diffusion. The string-like motion
      is found to saturate at the mode-coupling theory (MCT) crossover point, which
      indicates that other relaxation modes may exist below the MCT transition point. 

PMID- 25833597
TI  - Structures of water molecules in carbon nanotubes under electric fields.
AB  - Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are promising for water transport through membranes and
      for use as nano-pumps. The development of CNT-based nanofluidic devices, however,
      requires a better understanding of the properties of water molecules in CNTs
      because they can be very different from those in the bulk. Using all-atom
      molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the effect of axial electric
      fields on the structure of water molecules in CNTs having diameters ranging from
      (7,7) to (10,10). The water dipole moments were aligned parallel to the electric
      field, which increases the density of water inside the CNTs and forms ordered ice
      like structures. The electric field induces the transition from liquid to ice
      nanotubes in a wide range of CNT diameters. Moreover, we found an increase in the
      lifetime of hydrogen bonds for water structures in the CNTs. Fast librational
      motion breaks some hydrogen bonds, but the molecular pairs do not separate and
      the hydrogen bonds reform. Thus, hydrogen bonds maintain the water structure in
      the CNTs, and the water molecules move collectively, decreasing the axial
      diffusion coefficient and permeation rate. 

PMID- 25833598
TI  - Characterization of adsorbed water in MIL-53(Al) by FTIR spectroscopy and ab
      initio calculations.
AB  - Here, we report ab-initio calculations developed with a twofold purpose:
      understand how adsorbed water molecules alter the infrared spectrum of the metal
      organic framework MIL-53(Al) and to investigate which are the associated physico
      chemical processes. The analyzed structures are the two anhydrous narrow (np?)
      and large (lp?) pore forms and the hydrated narrow pore form (np-H2O) of the MIL
      53(Al). For these structures, we determined their corresponding infrared spectra
      (FTIR) and we identified the vibrational modes associated to the dominant
      spectral lines. We show that wagging and scissoring modes of CO2 give flexibility
      to the structure for facilitating the lp?- np? transition. In our studies, this
      transition is identified by eight vibrational modes including the deltaCH(18a)
      vibrational mode currently used to identify the mentioned transition. We report
      an exhaustive band identification of the infrared spectra associated to the
      analyzed structures. Moreover, the FTIR for the np-H2O structure allowed us to
      identify four types of water molecules linked to the host structure by one to
      three hydrogen bonds. 

PMID- 25833599
TI  - Opening gates to oxygen reduction reactions on Cu(111) surface.
AB  - Electrocatalytic reduction of oxygen is composed of multiple steps, including the
      diffusion-adsorption-dissociation of molecular oxygen. This study explores the
      role of electrical double layer in aqueous medium in quantifying the rate of
      these coupled electrochemical processes at the electrode interface during oxygen
      reduction. The electronic, energetic, and configurational aspects of molecular
      oxygen diffusion and adsorption onto Cu(111) in water are identified through
      density functional theory based computations. The liquid phase on Cu(111) is
      modeled with hexagonal-ordered water bilayers, at two slightly different
      structures, with O-H bonds either facing the vacuum or the metal surface. The
      results indicate that the energetically preferred structure of water bilayers and
      adsorption configuration of O2 are different in cathodic and anodic potentials.
      The diffusion of O2 is found to be heavily hindered at the water/metal interface
      because of the ordering of water molecules in bilayers as compared to the bulk
      liquid. The unique correlations of diffusion and adsorption kinetics with water
      structure identified in this work can provide clues for improving oxygen
      reduction efficiency. 

PMID- 25833600
TI  - A first-principles study of Pt thin films on SrTiO3(100): Support effects on CO
      adsorption.
AB  - Density functional theory was used to study CO adsorption on thin Pt metal films
      supported on SrO- and TiO2-terminated SrTiO3(100) surfaces. Regardless of
      substrate-termination, significant enhancement in CO binding occurred on the Pt
      monolayer compared to the bulk Pt(100) surface. We also observed CO-coverage
      dependent shifting of Pt atoms, influenced by the nature of underlying oxide
      atoms. These oxide-induced effects become negligible after depositing more than 2
      monolayers of Pt. Evaluating the electronic structures of oxide-supported Pt
      showed that the interaction of filled Pt dxz+yz and empty Pt dz(2) states with CO
      molecular orbitals can be directly related to CO adsorption on the Pt/SrTiO3(100)
      surface. A hybrid d-band model is able to capture the CO adsorption trends for
      systems that do not show large lateral distortion except for the case of Pt
      adsorbed above the Sr atom on the SrO-termination. For this case, charge transfer
      from adjacent Pt atoms leads to a large filled dz(2) peak below the Fermi level
      that weakens the Pt-CO sigma bonding due to Pauli repulsion. 

PMID- 25833601
TI  - Electrolyte pore/solution partitioning by expanded grand canonical ensemble Monte
      Carlo simulation.
AB  - Using a newly developed grand canonical Monte Carlo approach based on fractional
      exchanges of dissolved ions and water molecules, we studied equilibrium
      partitioning of both components between laterally extended apolar confinements
      and surrounding electrolyte solution. Accurate calculations of the Hamiltonian
      and tensorial pressure components at anisotropic conditions in the pore required
      the development of a novel algorithm for a self-consistent correction of
      nonelectrostatic cut-off effects. At pore widths above the kinetic threshold to
      capillary evaporation, the molality of the salt inside the confinement grows in
      parallel with that of the bulk phase, but presents a nonuniform width-dependence,
      being depleted at some and elevated at other separations. The presence of the
      salt enhances the layered structure in the slit and lengthens the range of inter
      wall pressure exerted by the metastable liquid. Solvation pressure becomes
      increasingly repulsive with growing salt molality in the surrounding bath.
      Depending on the sign of the excess molality in the pore, the wetting free energy
      of pore walls is either increased or decreased by the presence of the salt.
      Because of simultaneous rise in the solution surface tension, which increases the
      free-energy cost of vapor nucleation, the rise in the apparent hydrophobicity of
      the walls has not been shown to enhance the volatility of the metastable liquid
      in the pores. 

PMID- 25833602
TI  - Structure and dynamics of POPC bilayers in water solutions of room temperature
      ionic liquids.
AB  - Molecular dynamics simulations in the NPT ensemble have been carried out to
      investigate the effect of two room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), on stacks
      of phospholipid bilayers in water. We consider RTIL compounds consisting of
      chloride ([bmim][Cl]) and hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF6]) salts of the 1-buthyl
      3-methylimidazolium ([bmim](+)) cation, while the phospholipid bilayer is made of
      1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC). Our investigations focus
      on structural and dynamical properties of phospholipid and water molecules that
      could be probed by inelastic and quasi-elastic neutron scattering measurements.
      The results confirm the fast incorporation of [bmim](+) into the lipid phase
      already observed in previous simulations, driven by the Coulomb attraction of the
      cation for the most electronegative oxygens in the POPC head group and by
      sizeable dispersion forces binding the neutral hydrocarbon tails of [bmim](+) and
      of POPC. The [bmim](+) absorption into the bilayer favours the penetration of
      water into POPC, causes a slight but systematic thinning of the bilayer, and
      further stabilises hydrogen bonds at the lipid/water interface that already in
      pure samples (no RTIL) display a lifetime much longer than in bulk water. On the
      other hand, the effect of RTILs on the diffusion constant of POPC (DPOPC) does
      not reveal a clearly identifiable trend, since DPOPC increases upon addition of
      [bmim][Cl] and decreases in the [bmim][PF6] case. Moreover, because of screening,
      the electrostatic signature of each bilayer is only moderately affected by the
      addition of RTIL ions in solution. The analysis of long wavelength fluctuations
      of the bilayers shows that RTIL sorption causes a general decrease of the
      lipid/water interfacial tension and bending rigidity, pointing to the
      destabilizing effect of RTILs on lipid bilayers. 

PMID- 25833603
TI  - Effects of the internal friction and the solvent quality on the dynamics of a
      polymer chain closure.
AB  - Using 3D Langevin dynamics simulations, we investigate the effects of the
      internal friction and the solvent quality on the dynamics of a polymer chain
      closure. We show that the chain closure in good solvents is a purely diffusive
      process. By extrapolation to zero solvent viscosity, we find that the internal
      friction of a chain plays a non-ignorable role in the dynamics of the chain
      closure. When the solvent quality changes from good to poor, the mean closure
      time tauc decreases by about 1 order of magnitude for the chain length 20 <= N <=
      100. Furthermore, tauc has a minimum as a function of the solvent quality. With
      increasing the chain length N, the minimum of tauc occurs at a better solvent.
      Finally, the single exponential distributions of the closure time in poor
      solvents suggest that the negative excluded volume of segments does not alter the
      nearly Poisson statistical characteristics of the process of the chain closure. 

PMID- 25833604
TI  - Small membranes under negative surface tension.
AB  - We use computer simulations and a simple free energy model to study the response
      of a bilayer membrane to the application of a negative (compressive) mechanical
      tension. Such a tension destabilizes the long wavelength undulation modes of
      giant vesicles, but it can be sustained when small membranes and vesicles are
      considered. Our negative tension simulation results reveal two regimes-(i) a weak
      negative tension regime characterized by stretching-dominated elasticity and (ii)
      a strong negative tension regime featuring bending-dominated elastic behavior.
      This resembles the findings of the classic Evans and Rawicz micropipette
      aspiration experiment in giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) [E. Evans and W.
      Rawicz, Phys, Rev. Lett. 64, 2094 (1990)]. However, in GUVs the crossover between
      the two elasticity regimes occurs at a small positive surface tension, while in
      smaller membranes it takes place at a moderate negative tension. Another
      interesting observation concerning the response of a small membrane to negative
      surface tension is related to the relationship between the mechanical and
      fluctuation tensions, which are equal to each other for non-negative values. When
      the tension decreases to negative values, the fluctuation tension gamma drops
      somewhat faster than the mechanical tension tau in the small negative tension
      regime, before it saturates (and becomes larger than tau) for large negative
      tensions. The bending modulus exhibits an "opposite" trend. It remains almost
      unchanged in the stretching-dominated elastic regime, and decreases in the
      bending-dominated regime. Both the amplitudes of the thermal height undulations
      and the projected area variations diverge at the onset of mechanical instability.

PMID- 25833605
TI  - Regulating block copolymer phases via selective homopolymers.
AB  - The phase behavior of strongly segregated AB diblock copolymer and selective C
      homopolymer blends is examined theoretically using a combination of strong
      stretching theory (SST) and self-consistent field theory (SCFT). The C
      homopolymer is immiscible with the B-blocks but strongly attractive with the A
      blocks. The effect of homopolymer content on the order-order phase transitions is
      analyzed. It is observed that, for AB diblock copolymers with majority A-blocks,
      the addition of the C-homopolymers results in lamellar to cylindrical to
      spherical phase transitions because of the A/C complexation. For diblock
      copolymers with minor A-blocks, adding C-homopolymers leads to transitions from
      spherical or cylindrical morphology with A-rich core to lamellae to inverted
      cylindrical and spherical morphologies with B-rich core. The results from
      analytical SST and numerical SCFT are in good agreement within most regions of
      the phase diagram. But the deviation becomes more obvious when the composition of
      A-blocks is too small and the content of added C-homopolymers is large enough,
      where the SCFT predicts a narrow co-existence region between different ordered
      phases. Furthermore, it is found that the phase behavior of the system is
      insensitive to the molecular weight of C-homopolymer. 

PMID- 25833606
TI  - Excluded volume effects in compressed polymer brushes: A density functional
      theory.
AB  - A classical density functional theory (DFT) is applied to investigate the
      behavior of compressed polymer brushes composed of hard-sphere chains. The
      excluded volume interactions among the chain segments are explicitly treated. Two
      compression systems are used to study the behavior of brush-wall and brush-brush
      interactions. For the brush-brush systems, an obvious interpenetration zone has
      been observed. The extent of the interpenetration depends strongly on the
      grafting density. Furthermore, the repulsive force between the brush and wall or
      between the two brushes has been obtained as a function of the compression
      distance. Compared to the prediction of the analytic self-consistent field
      theory, such force increases more rapidly in the brush-wall compression with high
      polymer grafting densities or at higher compressions. In the brush-brush
      compression system, the interpenetration between the two compressed brushes
      creates a "softer" interaction. The influence of hard-sphere solvents on the
      behavior of compressed brushes is also discussed. 

PMID- 25833607
TI  - How does a flexible chain of active particles swell?
AB  - We study the swelling of a flexible linear chain composed of active particles by
      analytical theory and computer simulation. Three different situations are
      considered: a free chain, a chain confined to an external harmonic trap, and a
      chain dragged at one end. First, we consider an ideal chain with harmonic springs
      and no excluded volume between the monomers. The Rouse model of polymers is
      generalized to the case of self-propelled monomers and solved analytically. The
      swelling, as characterized by the spatial extension of the chain, scales with the
      monomer number defining a Flory exponent nu which is nu = 1/2, 0, 1 in the three
      different situations. As a result, we find that activity does not change the
      Flory exponent but affects the prefactor of the scaling law. This can be
      quantitatively understood by mapping the system onto an equilibrium chain with a
      higher effective temperature such that the chain swells under an increase of the
      self-propulsion strength. We then use computer simulations to study the effect of
      self-avoidance on active polymer swelling. In the three different situations, the
      Flory exponent is now nu = 3/4, 1/4, 1 and again unchanged under self-propulsion.
      However, the chain extension behaves non-monotonic in the self-propulsion
      strength. 

PMID- 25833608
TI  - DNA-binding protein searches for its target: Non-monotonic dependence of the
      search time on the density of roadblocks bound on the DNA chain.
AB  - The search of DNA-binding proteins for their target sites positioned on DNA plays
      a very important role in many cellular processes, and this search process
      combines 3D excursions in the bulk solution with one-dimensional sliding along
      the DNA chain. In living cells, there exist roadblocks along DNA chain formed by
      other proteins; however, the role of the roadblock in search rate is poorly
      understood. Based on 3D Langevin dynamics simulations, we have investigated the
      effect of the blocker on the search dynamics. For a pair of symmetrically placed
      blockers with respect to the target, we find that, with increasing the distance
      between the blocker and the target, the search time, tau, rapidly decreases and
      then saturates. For randomly placed blockers with density phi, tau may initially
      increase to its maximum and then unexpectedly decreases with increasing phi, or
      always increase with phi, depending on the nonspecific interaction strength and
      the volume fraction of DNA in the system. The previous contradicted results on
      the role of the blocker in search time are reconciled by these findings.
      Particularly, the nonmonotonic behavior of tau with phi indicates that blockers
      may facilitate the search after a critical phi. 

PMID- 25833609
TI  - Dependence of FRET efficiency on distance in single donor-acceptor pairs.
AB  - Possibility to create single donor-acceptor (D-A) pairs by attaching dye
      molecules to various sites of DNA strands with control of the inter-dye distance
      R enables one to measure average Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET)
      efficiency E as a function of R. Triplet states of the dyes influence the
      dependence E(R) considerably. Two types of FRET efficiency are considered: E = EA
      and E = ED. The efficiency EA(R) = JA(R)/[JA(R) + JD(R)] depends on the donor and
      the acceptor average intensities JD(R) and JA(R) measured in D- and A
      fluorescence, whereas the efficiency ED(R) = 1 - JD(R)/JD(infinity) depends only
      on the intensity of D-fluorescence, so-called the donor quenching method. The
      shape of the functions ED (R) and EA (R) depends strongly on whether the dyes
      have blinking fluorescence. FRET efficiencies ED (R) and EA (R) undergo the
      influence of many experimental factors and therefore, differ considerably from
      pure FRET efficiencies ED (s) (R) and EA (s) (R). Pure FRET efficiencies ED,A (s)
      (R) are calculated with the help of rate equations for D-A pairs, whose molecules
      have triplet states. It is shown how the calculated efficiencies ED,A (s) (R) can
      be compared to FRET efficiencies measured with the help of the intensities
      ID,A(R) corrected by cross talk and background light. 

PMID- 25833610
TI  - Flexibility of short DNA helices with finite-length effect: From base pairs to
      tens of base pairs.
AB  - Flexibility of short DNA helices is important for the biological functions such
      as nucleosome formation and DNA-protein recognition. Recent experiments suggest
      that short DNAs of tens of base pairs (bps) may have apparently higher
      flexibility than those of kilo bps, while there is still the debate on such high
      flexibility. In the present work, we have studied the flexibility of short DNAs
      with finite-length of 5-50 bps by the all-atomistic molecular dynamics
      simulations and Monte Carlo simulations with the worm-like chain model. Our
      microscopic analyses reveal that short DNAs have apparently high flexibility
      which is attributed to the significantly strong bending and stretching
      flexibilities of ~6 bps at each helix end. Correspondingly, the apparent
      persistence length lp of short DNAs increases gradually from ~29 nm to ~45 nm as
      DNA length increases from 10 to 50 bps, in accordance with the available
      experimental data. Our further analyses show that the short DNAs with excluding
      ~6 bps at each helix end have the similar flexibility with those of kilo bps and
      can be described by the worm-like chain model with lp ~ 50 nm. 

PMID- 25833611
TI  - Isotope-enriched protein standards for computational amide I spectroscopy.
AB  - We present a systematic isotope labeling study of the protein G mutant NuG2b as a
      step toward the production of reliable, structurally stable, experimental
      standards for amide I infrared spectroscopic simulations. By introducing isotope
      enriched amino acids into a minimal growth medium during bacterial expression, we
      induce uniform labeling of the amide bonds following specific amino acids,
      avoiding the need for chemical peptide synthesis. We use experimental data to
      test several common amide I frequency maps and explore the influence of various
      factors on map performance. Comparison of the predicted absorption frequencies
      for the four maps tested with empirical assignments to our experimental spectra
      yields a root-mean-square error of 6-12 cm(-1), with outliers of at least 12 cm(
      1) in all models. This means that the predictions may be useful for predicting
      general trends such as changes in hydrogen bonding configuration; however, for
      finer structural constraints or absolute frequency assignments, the models are
      unreliable. The results indicate the need for careful testing of existing
      literature maps and shed light on possible next steps for the development of
      quantitative spectral maps. 

PMID- 25833612
TI  - Increasing the sampling efficiency of protein conformational transition using
      velocity-scaling optimized hybrid explicit/implicit solvent REMD simulation.
AB  - The application of temperature replica exchange molecular dynamics (REMD)
      simulation on protein motion is limited by its huge requirement of computational
      resource, particularly when explicit solvent model is implemented. In the
      previous study, we developed a velocity-scaling optimized hybrid
      explicit/implicit solvent REMD method with the hope to reduce the temperature
      (replica) number on the premise of maintaining high sampling efficiency. In this
      study, we utilized this method to characterize and energetically identify the
      conformational transition pathway of a protein model, the N-terminal domain of
      calmodulin. In comparison to the standard explicit solvent REMD simulation, the
      hybrid REMD is much less computationally expensive but, meanwhile, gives accurate
      evaluation of the structural and thermodynamic properties of the conformational
      transition which are in well agreement with the standard REMD simulation.
      Therefore, the hybrid REMD could highly increase the computational efficiency and
      thus expand the application of REMD simulation to larger-size protein systems. 

PMID- 25833613
TI  - Publisher's Note: "Unusual behavior in magnesium-copper cluster matter produced
      by helium droplet mediated deposition" [J. Chem. Phys. 142, 084307 (2015)].

PMID- 25833614
TI  - Publisher's Note: "The total position-spread tensor: Spin partition" [J. Chem.
      Phys. 142, 094113 (2015)].

PMID- 25833615
TI  - Erratum: "Electron impact excitation of the low-lying 3s[3/2]1 and 3s'[1/2]1
      levels in neon for incident energies between 20 and 300 eV" [J. Chem. Phys. 139,
      184301 (2013)].

PMID- 25833616
TI  - Erratum: "The PtAl(-) and PtAl2 (-) anions: Theoretical and photoelectron
      spectroscopic characterization" [J. Chem. Phys. 140, 164316 (2014)].

PMID- 25833617
TI  - Erratum: "Electronic couplings for molecular charge transfer: Benchmarking CDFT,
      FODFT, and FODFTB against high-level ab initio calculations" [J. Chem. Phys. 140,
      104105 (2014)].

PMID- 25833618
TI  - The cultural heritage of tattooing: a brief history.
AB  - For millennia, peoples around the world have tattooed human skin to communicate
      various ontological, psychosocial, and sociocultural concepts encompassing
      beauty, cultural identity, status and position, medicine, and supernatural
      protection. As a system of knowledge transmission, tattooing has been and
      continues to be a visual language of the skin whereby culture is inscribed,
      experienced, and preserved in a myriad of specific ways. If we are to fully
      comprehend the meanings that tattoos have carried across human history and into
      the present, then it would be useful to explore some of the ways tattoos, as
      instruments that transmit culture, have been deployed cross-culturally through
      time.

PMID- 25833620
TI  - Tattoo machines, needles and utilities.
AB  - Starting out as a professional tattooist back in 1977 in Copenhagen, Denmark,
      Frank Rosenkilde has personally experienced the remarkable development of tattoo
      machines, needles and utilities: all the way from home-made equipment to
      industrial products of substantially improved quality. Machines can be
      constructed like the traditional dual-coil and single-coil machines or can be e
      coil, rotary and hybrid machines, with the more convenient and precise rotary
      machines being the recent trend. This development has resulted in disposable
      needles and utilities. Newer machines are more easily kept clean and protected
      with foil to prevent crosscontaminations and infections. The machines and the
      tattooists' knowledge and awareness about prevention of infection have developed
      hand-in-hand. For decades, Frank Rosenkilde has been collecting tattoo machines.
      Part of his collection is presented here, supplemented by his personal notes.

PMID- 25833619
TI  - Epidemiology of tattoos in industrialized countries.
AB  - In 1974, the first professional French tattooist C. Bruno wrote a book, entitled
      'Tatoues, qui etes-vous?', depicting his experience as a tattooist in the
      picturesque Pigalle tourist district of Paris. However, we have come a long way
      since then. Tattooing has gained tremendous visibility, notoriety and popularity
      in Western countries. In Germany, 8.5% of the population (aged between 14 and 90
      years) has a tattoo. Similar trends have been found in France, Finland and
      Australia, where approximately 10% of the populations have at least one tattoo.
      However, the overall tattoo prevalences overseas and in Europe are even higher,
      especially among the youth, for whom it is up to 15-25% according to the country.
      Much has been written about the tattooed and tattooists. However, who are they
      currently? What motivates them to get tattooed and give tattoos? How do they see
      themselves? Why do some individuals remove their tattoos? Is there a 'profile' of
      the tattooed? Are they really 'risk takers'? And how do the nontattooed perceive
      them? Through a critical review of the literature, we will reconsider tattooing
      from an epidemiological aspect, challenge current beliefs and explore new
      insights into the motivations and fears of tattoo artists and their clients.

PMID- 25833621
TI  - The technique and craftsmanship of tattooing in the professional tattoo parlour.
AB  - This chapter will briefly explain the tools and techniques behind a good tattoo.
      Beside the fact that the professional tattoo artist needs to have talent for
      composing and drawing motives - the artistic part of his or her profession - the
      technical side of the process must also be mastered to make great tattoos. The
      craftsmanship behind the art.

PMID- 25833622
TI  - Tattoo as art, the drivers behind the fascination and the decision to become
      tattooed.
AB  - For many people, getting a tattoo is like purchasing art, and many professional
      and famous tattooists are artists who are acknowledged by colleagues and
      authorities. The history of tattooing goes back for thousands of years, and the
      reasons for getting tattooed are many. These permanent markings are always
      personal, they can be plain or elaborate, and they serve as amulets, healing and
      status symbols, declarations of love, signs of religion, adornments and even
      forms of punishment. Drivers behind the fascination of acquiring a tattoo may
      fall into four main groups, namely healing, affiliation, art and fashion.

PMID- 25833623
TI  - Personal records from my tattoo parlour: deep emotions drawn as life-long
      pictures on the skin's canvas.
AB  - The author, who has been a professional tattooist for years, reports four
      individuals whose tragic life events led to decisions to be tattooed with
      illustrations of their life stories. The authors' personal experiences with
      tattooist-client interactions and clients' expectations and demands are reviewed.
      During the last decade, tattooing has moved in the direction of becoming more
      individualized and is often very personal. The working process and the intimacy
      between the client and tattooist create a comfort zone of trust and loyalty.

PMID- 25833624
TI  - Tattooist-customer relationships in a diversified environment of professional
      tattooists and 'scratchers'.
AB  - The world of tattooing and body art has never been like it is today. This chapter
      seeks to investigate this situation through the lens of tattooing. One of the
      areas in which tattooing has changed is the relationship between the tattoo
      artist and his or her clients. Whereas being a tattoo artist used to be
      impersonal and very much just a job like any other, it has transformed
      tremendously today. The cause of this and, even more so, what exactly has changed
      are what this chapter will seek to shed light on. First of all, the format of the
      shops and how the art is done have changed, which allows for much greater
      flexibility from the perspective of the artist. Second, from the perspective of
      the client/customer, a transformation has also occurred, in some part thanks to
      developments such as the internet and other social/communication media, which
      give the client much more room and opportunity to discover and research tattoos.
      However, most importantly, this chapter seeks to map out a change in discourse
      when it comes to the relationship between the client and the tattoo artist and to
      explain how it has changed into a relationship based on mutual and reciprocated
      communication as well as focussed on making a product/piece of art that both can
      be satisfied with.

PMID- 25833625
TI  - Tattoo complaints and complications: diagnosis and clinical spectrum.
AB  - Tattoos cause a broad range of clinical problems. Mild complaints, especially
      sensitivity to sun, are very common and seen in 1/5 of cases. Medical
      complications are dominated by allergy to tattoo pigment haptens or haptens
      generated in the skin, especially in red tattoos but also in blue and green
      tattoos. Symptoms are major and can be compared to cumbersome pruritic skin
      diseases. Tattoo allergies and local reactions show distinct clinical
      manifestations, with plaque-like, excessive hyperkeratotic, ulcero-necrotic,
      lymphopathic, neuro-sensory, and scar patterns. Reactions in black tattoos are
      papulo-nodular and non-allergic and associated with the agglomeration of
      nanoparticulate carbon black. Tattoo complications include effects on general
      health conditions and complications in the psycho-social sphere. Tattoo
      infections with bacteria, especially staphylococci, which may be resistant to
      multiple antibiotics, may be prominent and may progress into life-threatening
      sepsis. Contaminated tattoo ink is an open-window risk vector that can lead to
      epidemic tattoo infections across national borders due to contaminated bulk
      production. Hepatitis B and C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transferred
      by tattooing remain a significant risk needing active prevention. It is
      noteworthy that cancer arising in tattoos, in regional lymph nodes, and in other
      organs due to tattoo pigments and ingredients has not been detected or noted as a
      significant clinical problem hitherto, despite millions of people being tattooed
      for decennia. Clinical observation and epidemiology disagree with register data,
      which indicate an increased risk of cancer due to chemical carcinogens present in
      some inks. Registers rely on chronic dosaging of cell lines and animals. However,
      tattooing in humans is essentially a single-dose exposure, which might explain
      the observed discrepancy.

PMID- 25833626
TI  - Complications of cosmetic tattoos.
AB  - Cosmetic tattoos, which are better known as permanent make-up, have become
      popular in the last decades. This same procedure can be used to camouflage
      pathological skin conditions, to mask scars and to complete the aesthetic results
      of plastic and reconstructive surgeries. The risks and complications of tattooing
      procedures include infections and allergic reactions. Scarring can occur. Fanning
      and fading of the colorants and dissatisfaction with colour and shape are not
      unusual. Different lasers can offer solutions for the removal of unwanted
      cosmetic tattoos, but complications due to the laser treatment, such as
      paradoxical darkening and scarring, can arise.

PMID- 25833627
TI  - Chronic tattoo reactions cause reduced quality of life equaling cumbersome skin
      diseases.
AB  - Tattoos are often associated with mild complaints, but some people develop
      complications that may require medical treatment, and the burden of these events
      has hitherto been neglected. To understand the dimensions and the psychological
      symptomatology of adverse events both the sensory and affective impacts,
      including the effect on quality of life, should be studied. Itch severity and
      influence on quality of life can be measured objectively. The Itch Severity Scale
      and Dermatology Life Quality Index scoring systems have been applied to different
      dermatological diseases. When ISS and DLQI scores were applied to patients with
      chronic tattoo reactions, tattoo complaints and impact on quality of life that
      were comparable to patients presenting cumbersome dermatological disease such as
      psoriasis, eczema and pruritus, which often show widespread effects to the skin,
      were uncovered. In conclusion, chronic tattoo reactions should be ranked as a
      cumbersome dermatological disease and, accordingly, given priority attention and
      qualified treatment by the public health care system.

PMID- 25833628
TI  - Contraindications for tattooing.
AB  - Tattooing is getting increasingly popular among the young. However, not everyone
      is suited to getting tattooed. Indeed, it is not rare for patients with a chronic
      skin disease or another systemic condition to be eager to get a tattoo. They
      perceive tattooing as a harmless, risk-free procedure. Therefore, some patients
      may not seek medical advice before the procedure. Some also fear a judgmental
      approach by their physician, who may try to discourage them. Lastly, the
      tattooist does not have either the training or the education to properly advise a
      customer about his/her condition. Therefore, it is important that any physician
      be able to provide adequate counselling regarding the possibility of getting
      tattooed and under which conditions. Even though an exhaustive list is impossible
      to address, the main issues include chronic skin disorders, pigmented lesions of
      the skin, (congenital) heart disease, immunosuppressive diseases and treatments,
      blood clotting disorders, and pregnancy/breastfeeding.

PMID- 25833629
TI  - Laser tattoo removal, precautions, and unwanted effects.
AB  - Laser tattoo removal uses the physical properties of photoselective thermolysis
      in order to remove tattoo pigment. The technique has gradually improved over the
      years with the development of Q-switched lasers, with overall good results and a
      relatively low degree of adverse effects. However, lasers cannot always erase the
      unwanted tattoo completely, and there are still risks of unwanted effects such as
      scarring, pigment changes, ink darkening, and potential aggravation of latent
      skin conditions. This chapter will discuss the precautions that have to be taken
      and what pitfalls to avoid before starting the procedure of laser tattoo removal.

PMID- 25833630
TI  - Nano-scale observations of tattoo pigments in skin by atomic force microscopy.
AB  - In this study, we have shown how particles in carbon black tattoo ink accumulate
      in the human skin dermis using fine-resolution atomic force microscopy, with
      which a single ink particle in the collagenous network can be imaged. This
      information further demonstrates that tattoo inks are nano-particles. Further, we
      have deposited a commercially available tattoo ink on a glass slide and
      calculated a range of volumes for single ink particles.

PMID- 25833631
TI  - Manufacturing of tattoo ink products today and in future: Europe.
AB  - The article describes the European market situation and the legal framework in
      Europe. It shows the state-of-the-art production under ISO 9001:2008 quality
      management and describes the future of tattoo ink production based on good
      manufacturing practice guidelines for tattoo inks.

PMID- 25833632
TI  - The realistic variables underlying true safety in tattoo pigment manufacturing.
AB  - The regulation of the manufacture of tattoo ink products in the USA and the rest
      of the world is the focus of this article, which outlines the historical
      relationships between official and unofficial manufacturing and associated
      regulations, self-regulating movements within the industry and the impacts of
      over-regulation on the economics of ink manufacturing markets. The author, Mario
      Barth, highlights that changes in industry standards of production that are too
      rapid can cause the system to deteriorate, leading to an essentially negative
      shift to the underground markets. In addition, these regulations would not lead
      to a healthier end product because the currently considered health problems
      associated with tattoos (affecting 6% of tattoos performed in Germany) could be
      caused by multiple additional factors, such as the tattooing technique and
      aftercare. The pigment itself (which causes health issues in only 0.6% of
      tattoos) could in this equation not be optimized within an overregulated market.
      Further, aspects of price and revenue are analyzed in detail, showing that high
      quality suppliers are spending most of their efforts on passing regulations and
      that these regulations are not decreasing the amount of low-quality products in
      the general market. Finally, the notion of tattooing as 'an adult decision' is
      explained as another variable that has to be considered in creating regulations
      because the decision-making process for a tattoo (considering the price, quality
      and definitely the permanency) has and will have a self-regulating impact driven
      by the clients.

PMID- 25833633
TI  - Making innovative tattoo ink products with improved safety: possible and
      impossible ingredients in practical usage.
AB  - Today's tattoo inks are no longer just simple solids in liquid suspension.
      Nowadays, these inks are high-tech dispersions made from finely spread pigments
      in a binder-solvent mixture. These so-called colour dispersions must follow the
      modern standards of tattooing, which are increasing every year. They must be rich
      in chromophoric pigments and yet fluid, they must not dry rapidly, and there
      should be no occurrence of any sedimentation, even during longer tattoo seasons.
      An innovative tattoo ink should enable long-lasting, brilliant tattoos without a
      negative impact on the artist's workflow and of course without endangering the
      consumer. The high standard in tattoos, regarding the motives and techniques,
      that is witnessed today could not be achieved by the artists without quality
      tools and modern tattoo ink. This article will give the reader a brief overview
      of the different ingredients of tattoo ink and of the function of binding agents
      and solvents in modern tattoo ink as well as describe what additives are used to
      achieve the desired behaviour during application. Furthermore, the article will
      take a look into the pigments that are used in tattoo ink and show why certain
      pigments are not suited for tattoo ink. The differences, advantages and
      disadvantages of organic and inorganic pigments will be explained.

PMID- 25833634
TI  - Tailored surface engineering of pigments by layer-by-layer coating.
AB  - We have evaluated the feasibility of layer-by-layer encapsulation technology for
      the improvement of dye pigments used for tattoos or permanent make-up. The
      formation of core-shell structures is possible by coating pigments with thin
      films of several different polyelectrolytes using this technology. The
      physicochemical surface properties, such as charge density and chemical
      functionality, can be reproducibly varied in a wide range. Tailoring the surface
      properties independently from the pigment core allows one to control the
      rheological behaviour of pigment suspensions, to prevent aggregation between
      different pigments, to reduce the cytotoxicity, and to influence the response of
      phagocytes in order to have similar or the same uptake and bioclearance for all
      pigments. These properties determine the durability and colour tone stability of
      tattoos and permanent make-up.

PMID- 25833635
TI  - Chemical purity and toxicology of pigments used in tattoo inks.
AB  - The safety of tattoo inks has obviously increased in Europe since the existence
      of European Union Resolution ResAP(2008)1, which resulted in the improved quality
      control of pigment raw materials due to the definition of impurity limits that
      manufacturers can refer to. High-performance pigments are mostly used in tattoo
      inks, and these pigments are supposed to be chemically inert and offer high light
      fastness and low migration in solvents. However, these pigments were not
      developed or produced for applications involving long-term stay in the dermis or
      contact with bodily fluids. Therefore, these pigments often do not comply with
      the purity limits of the resolution; however, it is required that every
      distributed tattoo ink does not contain aromatic amines and not exceed the limits
      of heavy metals or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Current toxicity studies of
      pigments underline that no ecotoxicological threat to human health or to the
      environment should be expected. However, the pigment as well as its impurities
      and coating materials must be considered. In order to evaluate the safety of
      pigments according to their impurities, two different validated sample
      preparation methods are necessary: (1) simulation of their long-term stay in the
      bodily fluid of the dermis and (2) simulation of cleavage due to laser removal or
      ultraviolet exposure. The development of standardized, validated and well-adapted
      methods for this application has to be part of prospective efforts. Concerning
      legislation, it might be appropriate that the first regulative approaches be
      based on those of cosmetics.

PMID- 25833636
TI  - Survey on European studies of the chemical characterisation of tattoo ink
      products and the measurement of potentially harmful ingredients.
AB  - The results of the detection of carcinogenic aromatic amines in about 300 ink
      samples are discussed. All analysed inks contained at least one or more azo
      compound pigments, and the presence of aromatic amines could only have originated
      from these compounds through a chemical process named 'reductive cleavage'.
      Sometimes, aromatic amines were also present as impurities derived from the
      processing of the pigments. A systematic surveillance programme in Italy,
      promoted by the Italian Ministry of Health with the involvement of Italian
      regions, local public health authorities and Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione
      Ambiente del Piemonte (Environmental Protection Agency), has shown that about 40%
      of the monitored inks are not regular according to European Resolution
      ResAP(2008):1. The method utilised for the detection of aromatic amines has
      allowed the identification of other substances that are not carcinogenic but are
      toxic or have sensitisation properties that are derived from reductive cleavage
      or that are present as impurities.

PMID- 25833637
TI  - Tattoo inks: legislation, pigments, metals and chemical analysis.
AB  - Legal limits for chemical substances require that they are linked to clearly
      defined analytical methods. Present limits for certain chemicals in tattoo and
      permanent make-up inks do not mention analytical methods for the detection of
      metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or forbidden colourants. There is,
      therefore, no established method for the determination of the quantities of these
      chemicals in tattoo and permanent make-up inks. Failing to provide an appropriate
      method may lead to unqualified and questionable results which often cause legal
      disputes that are ultimately resolved by a judge with regard to the method that
      should have been applied. Analytical methods are tuned to exactly what is to be
      found and what causes the health problems. They are extremely specific.
      Irrespective of which is the correct method for detecting metals in tattoo inks,
      the focus should be on the actual amounts of ink in the skin. CTL(r) has
      conducted experiments to determine these amounts and these experiments are
      crucial for toxicological evaluations and for setting legal limits. When setting
      legal limits, it is essential to also incorporate factors such as daily
      consumption, total uptake and frequency of use. A tattoo lasts for several
      decades; therefore, the limits that have been established for heavy metals used
      in drinking water or soap are not relevant. Drinking water is consumed on a daily
      basis and soap is used several times per week, while tattooing only occurs once.

PMID- 25833638
TI  - The challenges and limitations of chemical analysis of particulate pigments of
      very low solubility.
AB  - When performing a chemical analysis of colorants in tattoo products, specific
      degradation products as well as impurity patterns can be predicted. Mislabeling
      or false declarations can also be avoided using this test. It is notable that
      pigment identification in tattoo products may serve as a precursory technique to
      recognize the colorants contained in a patient's tattoo prior to laser removal
      therapy. In contrast to the analysis of banned pigments, positive identification
      of pigments will normally require few reference substances. Given the fact that
      tattoo pigments are nearly insoluble in water and many organic solvents,
      different chemical pigment analyses are outlined and evaluated. Related
      publications from the study of art are also mentioned. It is recommended that
      access to comprehensive pigment standards and spectroscopic databanks should be
      offered to laboratories dealing with tattoo product analysis in the future.

PMID- 25833639
TI  - Photostability and breakdown products of pigments currently used in tattoo inks.
AB  - Tattoos fade with time. Part of this fading can be attributed to the
      photodegradation of pigments. When people get tired of their tattoos, removal by
      laser irradiation is the method of choice. In vivo laser irradiation of tattoos
      on mice has shown that the degradation of pigments can result in toxic compounds.
      Various in vitro studies on photodegradation by sunlight or laser have shown
      similar degradation products for both irradiations. Even visible light was shown
      to be able to decompose some pigments to toxic degradation products in vitro.
      Whereas the investigated phthalocyanins (C.I. 74160, 74260), quinacridones (C.I.
      73915) or dioxazines (C.I. 51319) were fairly photostable in vitro, all azo
      pigments exposed to sunlight or laser were degraded into a variety of products,
      some of which were toxic or even carcinogenic, such as 2-amino-4-nitrotoluene,
      3,3'-dichlorobenzidine and o-toluidine. Up to now, the absence of specific
      toxicological data is the reason why legal restrictions for tattoo inks are
      derived from those for cosmetics, toys and textiles. Photodegradation has not
      been considered. In light of the present analytical findings, even with their
      possible shortcomings, the evidence weighs heavily enough to consider banning azo
      pigments containing carcinogenic aromatic amines or allergens in their structure
      from use in tattoo inks.

PMID- 25833640
TI  - Carbon black nanoparticles and other problematic constituents of black ink and
      their potential to harm tattooed humans.
AB  - Black is the most common tattoo color, but only a few studies have shed light on
      the multitude of functional and contaminating chemicals present in black inks.
      These studies have generally shown that black inks are a diverse group,
      containing anything from 5 to 50+ organic components. Little is known about the
      possible effects on humans of internalizing these chemicals. Analysis has shown
      that the production of the main component, carbon black, can lead to the
      formation of pigments with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contents that
      range from very high to almost completely absent. Similar variations in PAH
      concentrations are observed in black inks. PAHs are known carcinogens and thus,
      low recommended levels have been suggested by the Council of Europe. Reactive
      oxygen species (ROS) have recently been a topic in scientific literature related
      to tattoo ink. Again, it has been shown that some inks produce deleterious ROS
      (e.g. singlet oxygen or peroxyl radicals), presumably via either adhered organic
      compounds or particle surface defects. It has been shown that black tattoo inks
      may contain a multitude of chemicals, including carcinogens and allergens, and
      some have unknown toxicologies. However, it has additionally been demonstrated
      that some black inks already on the market do not produce ROS and also contain
      PAHs at levels that are below those recommended by the Council of Europe and very
      few additional contaminants.

PMID- 25833641
TI  - Absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of tattoo colorants and
      ingredients in mouse and man: the known and the unknown.
AB  - During tattooing, high amounts of tattoo colorants, which usually contain various
      substances, are injected into skin. The major ingredient in tattoo colorants is
      the coloring component, which can be assigned to two different groups. First,
      amorphous carbon particles (Carbon Black) are found almost exclusively in black
      tattoos. Second, tattooists use azo and polycyclic pigments to create nearly all
      colors of the visible spectrum. Due to their different chemistries, those tattoo
      colorants usually contain various compounds, such as by-products and impurities.
      Professional tattooists inject the colorant mixture into skin using the solid
      needles of tattoo machines, and studies have shown that about 2.5 mg of tattoo
      pigment is injected to stain about 1 cm(2) of skin. Animal experiments revealed
      that about one-third of that amount disappeared from skin within weeks after
      tattooing, and this finding was confirmed by pigment extraction from long
      existing tattoos. It is assumed that some of the tattoo colorants stay in the
      skin because the pigment particles are insoluble and too large to be transported.
      The other part of the tattoo colorants shows up at least in the lymph nodes
      located next to the tattoo. To date, no investigations determining whether and to
      what extent tattoo colorants can be found in any other organs of the human body
      have been performed. Thus, tattooing of colorants into skin entails a complex
      reaction of the skin that triggers the immune system and launches manifold
      transport processes, which might pose additional health risks not only to skin
      but also to other organs of humans.

PMID- 25833642
TI  - Towards the limiting of health risks associated with tattooing: whitelists for
      tattoo pigments and preservatives.
AB  - The number of pigments that could potentially be used in tattoo inks is vast.
      However, pigments are generally not manufactured for the purpose of being
      injected into subepidermal layers of the skin. Assuming 100% bioavailability
      after injection means that pigments can be imminently hazardous to human health.
      Given the ever-increasing number of pigments being circulated on the market or
      through the internet, a 'negative list' ('black' list) containing pigments with
      known adverse effects will never be finalised. If incriminated, substances could
      easily be replaced by structurally similar pigments that might be even more
      deleterious to human health. Therefore, we and others suggest the establishment
      of a whitelist ('positive list') that would only contain pigments that had
      undergone a risk assessment specifically for their application into the dermis.
      Some of the problems associated with such a 'positive list' are discussed.
      Another important issue with regard to tattoo safety is related to the
      preservatives used in ink preparations. Notwithstanding the demand for sterile
      tattoo inks, a whitelist for these compounds would be beneficial. At present,
      many technical preservatives are being used, despite their known detrimental
      effects to human health. Criteria for the inclusion of preservatives in a
      'positive list' are also discussed.

PMID- 25833643
TI  - Survey of studies on microbial contamination of marketed tattoo inks.
AB  - Tattooing became a popular phenomenon during the late twentieth century. Because
      the act of tattooing involves repeated injection of ink through the skin, a risk
      of contracting infections from contaminated tattooing equipment and ink and the
      surrounding environment exists. Progress has been made in infection control
      strategies; however, contraction of bacterial and viral infections from tattooing
      continues to occur. The risk of acquiring a tattoo-related infection largely
      depends on the hygiene conditions under which the tattoo is applied.
      Nevertheless, even when adequate hygiene and sanitation measures are taken, the
      inks themselves may contain infectious microorganisms that are able to survive
      under hostile conditions, such as in inks. The results of the few studies on the
      microbiological quality of unopened and opened tattoo inks are reported. Some
      authors' conclusions demonstrated that the current ink sterilisation systems show
      a low capability to inactivate microbial contamination in tattoo inks. At the
      moment, European Resolution ResAP2008-1 recommends that the ink be sterile and
      supplied in containers that maintain the sterility of the product until
      application. In light of the outcomes of published studies, at the moment,
      preservation of the microbial quality and safety of ink seems challenging and
      still difficult to reach.

PMID- 25833644
TI  - The European landscape of national regulations of tattoo inks and businesses.
AB  - A rising number of tattooed people in all parts of society and increasing
      concerns regarding potential health effects triggered the development of specific
      regulatory measures at the beginning of the 21st century. The first principles
      considering chemical safety and hygienic aspects were laid down by two
      resolutions of the Council of Europe, in 2003 and 2008. The applied principle of
      'negative lists' of substances that should not be used in tattoo inks has
      subsequently been transferred to national regulations. However, surveillance data
      show that in particular, the chemical quality of tattoo inks is still
      insufficient. The reasons are, amongst others, the lack of analytical methods,
      the implementation of different thresholds, and the lack of awareness of
      distributors and producers when it comes to potential health hazards.

PMID- 25833645
TI  - Implementation of European Council resolution ResAP(2008)1 in Italy. National and
      regional regulation of tattoo practices: diversity and challenges.
AB  - In Italy, tattoos and permanent make-up have become increasingly popular in
      recent years. The number of tattoo parlours has increased from 257 in 2009 to
      2,055 in 2014, wich is a eight-fold increase over the last 6 years. Although
      there is no specific legislation, the Italian Ministry of Health issued a
      document containing the 'Guidelines for the implementation of procedures for
      tattooing and piercing in safe conditions'. This document has not been adopted by
      all Italian regions, principally regarding training course requirements for
      tattoo professionals, creating a highly fragmented situation that resembles the
      European scene in miniature. ResAP(2008)1, which is not mandatory in Italy but
      was made binding by Italian Decree n. 206/2005, has been applied uniformly
      throughout the country. Thus, as far as the safety of inks is concerned, the
      surveillance system appears to be working well. However, surveillance has
      highlighted the presence of non-compliant inks and potentially unsafe
      preparations for tattoo removal in the market. Updating and rebalancing the
      situation will be the goal in order to face the challenge of combining well-being
      with the on-going social demand of looking after and beautifying the body. This
      would include the growing fashion of tattoos, provided that the products that are
      used are safe and that tattooing is performed in controlled hygienic conditions
      that fully guarantee the health of consumers.

PMID- 25833646
TI  - EU actions to ensure the safety of tattoos and the protection of consumers.
AB  - The number of tattooed persons has been continuously increasing in the last few
      years, particularly in the younger population. At the same time, the possibility
      of purchasing tattoo inks online is easier than ever worldwide. Consumers are not
      always sufficiently aware of the possible health problems associated with this
      'cool fashion' if hygiene conditions are not respected and/or if the injected
      mixtures contain dangerous chemicals. Concerns about the possible health risks
      associated with such practices arise from the absence of a clear legislative
      framework, the lack of proper risk assessment of the chemicals used, and non
      harmonised or missing hygiene and purity requirements, among other factors. There
      is a general consensus among all active stakeholders that EU harmonised rules
      would help to ensure a consistent high level of protection of consumers across
      the EU.

PMID- 25833647
TI  - Surveillance of tattoo-related adverse events by the EU RAPEX system and by
      national monitoring.
AB  - A resolution of the Council of Europe in 2008 (ResAP (2008)1) helped to define
      requirements and criteria for the safety of tattoos and permanent make-up in
      order to increase the level of consumer health protection for these products.
      Tattoo product usage is not without risk. These products are injected into the
      skin and may represent a risk to human health due to possible microbiological
      contamination and/or contamination by the presence of hazardous substances in the
      products. ResAP (2008) laid the foundation for the safety of tattoo products in
      Europe. This has generated awareness by European Member States and has encouraged
      them to adapt this resolution in their own law or to use it as a model to define
      their own regulation on tattoos. In order, to communicate on the hazard
      associated with these products between Member States and the European Commission,
      the European RAPEX system was created; this system will be further explained in
      this article. Finally, some Member States have created a specific vigilance
      system related to the adverse effects of tattoos. In this respect, a European
      national example will be presented.

PMID- 25833648
TI  - The Amsterdam model for control of tattoo parlours and businesses.
AB  - In the early 1980s, an outbreak of hepatitis B in Amsterdam stood at the start of
      the development of the first hygiene guidelines for tattooists in The
      Netherlands. Ever since, infection control in tattoo practice has continued to
      prove its importance as tattoo-related outbreaks of infectious diseases have
      continued to be reported in Europe. Furthermore, the act of tattooing includes
      breaking the skin barrier but is performed by professionals who are not medically
      trained. The Ministry of Health has now implemented uniform regulations that
      apply to professionals who perform tattooing and apply permanent make-up. These
      regulations include hygiene guidelines that were developed by the National
      Institute for Public Health and the Environment in cooperation with
      representatives of the tattooing associations. The guidelines contain a list of
      requirements, including for the studio interior, the cleanness of the studio, the
      safe use of permitted equipment and products, sterilization methods, and the
      information provided to the customer. A permit may be granted after an inspection
      by the local health service, during which the act of tattooing has to be
      performed. It is now estimated that over 95% of all tattoos in The Netherlands
      were obtained at one of the almost 900 licensed studios. Reports of complications
      are generally low in number. We suggest that uniform European hygiene guidelines
      would further contribute to the safety of tattooing.

PMID- 25833649
TI  - Hygiene standards for tattooists.
AB  - The following excerpt is taken from the hygiene guidelines written by Deutsche
      Organisierte Tatowierer (DOT e.V. Germany; German Association of Professional
      Tattoo Artists) and United European Tattoo Artists e.V. (UETA). It has been
      published with the intention of creating a standard that is understandable and
      accomplishable in practice, focusing on a minimum standard level that guarantees
      the highest possible safety for tattooists and customers at the same time. The
      DOT and UETA consistently strive to participate in the research of tattoo hygiene
      and tattoo colours because important insider information can be provided by
      professional tattoo artists with many years of work experience. 

PMID- 25833650
TI  - Hygiene standards in the tattoo parlour and practices for prevention of
      infection.
AB  - The tattoo studio and the procedures and operations of practicing tattooing may
      help to reduce the risk of infections associated with tattooing or, if improper,
      increase the risk. Thus, as a preventive measure, the tattoo studio should be
      optimized. All procedures should be carefully chosen to eliminate microbial
      contamination from the environment (from needles, machines, and other utilities)
      and also from persons. This chapter provides a detailed generic description of
      the organization of a safe tattoo procedure, i.e. guidance for professional
      tattooists on how to set up or reorganize their studio with the aim of the
      highest standard possible, which may satisfy customers' needs and make the
      procedure safe for the end consumer as well as the practitioner. These practices
      are necessary to meet upcoming official requirements in the future.

PMID- 25833651
TI  - Seamless prevention of adverse events from tattooing: integrated strategy
      emphasising the customer-tattooist interaction.
AB  - The boom in tattooing has been paralleled by more frequent adverse events, which
      may be localised in the skin or systemic and manifested clinically or latent.
      Infections, allergic reactions from red-coloured tattoos and papulo-nodular
      reactions from black tattoos dominate. Mild complaints are very common, with 1/5
      of all tattooed individuals having acquired sensitivity to sunlight in the
      tattooed skin. The potential risk of cancer due to potential carcinogens in some
      tattoo inks has hitherto not manifested in clinical reports, despite the millions
      of people who have been tattooed over many decades. A risk of death from
      tattooing remains associated with severe infection, i.e. sepsis. Preventive
      strategies may rely on focused preventions, and sterility and preservation of ink
      is essential, rational and knowledge-based. The chemical and particle contents of
      ink nanoparticles cannot be unrestricted; however, focused control of ink is
      facing many uncertainties, including analytical problems, lack of identification
      of allergens in ink and discrepancies between the content of potential
      carcinogens and manifestation of cancer in the clinic. The concept of seamless
      prevention is introduced as a pragmatic strategy that emphasises the customer
      tattooist interaction, which is the 'engine' of tattoo safety. This strategy
      amalgamates the range of narrow-scope preventive instruments and shall ensure
      that any relevant instrument is used actively and without deficiency or drop out,
      thus resulting in a complete orchestration of a multi-targeted strategy. High
      priority elements of this strategy shall facilitate a qualified 'go' or 'no go'
      decision by the customer before the tattoo is made and should involve informed
      consent, qualification of the tattooist and the parlour, including supplies of
      inks etc., and attention to hygienic security. Records and documentation of
      tattoo cases with complications and the culprit inks as well as the establishment
      of national or European-based surveillance systems that are properly equipped to
      deliver efficient clarification and handling of adverse events and hazards of
      tattooing and inks, which needs attention and timely action to prevent additional
      cases and epidemic outbreaks, are part of this seamless strategy, along with
      optimised medical therapy and research.

PMID- 25833652
TI  - Regulation of tattoo ink production and the tattoo business in the US.
AB  - The production of tattoo ink and pigments in the US is unregulated. There are no
      guidelines or standards issued by national agencies. However, the practice of
      tattooing is regulated at the state and local levels but varies widely. Adverse
      events are addressed when a problem is reported.

PMID- 25833653
TI  - AST/ASTS workshop on increasing organ donation in the United States: creating an
      "arc of change" from removing disincentives to testing incentives.
AB  - The American Society of Transplantation (AST) and American Society of Transplant
      Surgeons (ASTS) convened a workshop on June 2-3, 2014, to explore increasing both
      living and deceased organ donation in the United States. Recent articles in the
      lay press on illegal organ sales and transplant tourism highlight the impact of
      the current black market in kidneys that accompanies the growing global organ
      shortage. We believe it important not to conflate the illegal market for organs,
      which we reject in the strongest possible terms, with the potential in the United
      States for concerted action to remove all remaining financial disincentives for
      donors and critically consider testing the impact and acceptability of incentives
      to increase organ availability in the United States. However, we do not support
      any trials of direct payments or valuable considerations to donors or families
      based on a process of market-assigned values of organs. This White Paper
      represents a summary by the authors of the deliberations of the Incentives
      Workshop Group and has been approved by both AST and ASTS Boards. 

PMID- 25833654
TI  - Conducting an audit to improve the facilitation of emergency maternal and newborn
      referral in northern Ghana.
AB  - Ghana Health Service conducted an audit to strengthen the referral system for
      pregnant or recently pregnant women and newborns in northern Ghana. The audit
      took place in 16 facilities with two 3-month cycles of data collection in 2011.
      Midwife-led teams tracked 446 referred women until they received definitive
      treatment. Between the two audit cycles, teams identified and implemented
      interventions to address gaps in referral services. During this time period, we
      observed important increases in facilitating referral mechanisms, including a
      decrease in the dependence on taxis in favour of national or facility
      ambulances/vehicles; an increase in health workers escorting referrals to the
      appropriate receiving facility; greater use of referral slips and calling ahead
      to alert receiving facilities and higher feedback rates. As referral systems
      require attention from multiple levels of engagement, on the provider end we
      found that regional managers increasingly resolved staffing shortages; district
      management addressed the costliness and lack of transport and increased midwives'
      ability to communicate with pregnant women and drivers; and that facility staff
      increasingly adhered to guidelines and facilitating mechanisms. By conducting an
      audit of maternal and newborn referrals, the Ghana Health Service identified
      areas for improvement that service providers and management at multiple levels
      addressed, demonstrating a platform for problem solving that could be a model
      elsewhere. 

PMID- 25833655
TI  - An Evaluation of Patient Safety Event Report Categories Using Unsupervised Topic
      Modeling.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Patient safety event data repositories have the potential to
      dramatically improve safety if analyzed and leveraged appropriately. These safety
      event reports often consist of both structured data, such as general event type
      categories, and unstructured data, such as free text descriptions of the event.
      Analyzing these data, particularly the rich free text narratives, can be
      challenging, especially with tens of thousands of reports. To overcome the
      resource intensive manual review process of the free text descriptions, we
      demonstrate the effectiveness of using an unsupervised natural language
      processing approach. METHODS: An unsupervised natural language processing
      technique, called topic modeling, was applied to a large repository of patient
      safety event data to identify topics, or themes, from the free text descriptions
      of the data. Entropy measures were used to evaluate and compare these topics to
      the general event type categories that were originally assigned by the event
      reporter. RESULTS: Measures of entropy demonstrated that some topics generated
      from the unsupervised modeling approach aligned with the clinical general event
      type categories that were originally selected by the individual entering the
      report. Importantly, several new latent topics emerged that were not originally
      identified. The new topics provide additional insights into the patient safety
      event data that would not otherwise easily be detected. CONCLUSION: The topic
      modeling approach provides a method to identify topics or themes that may not be
      immediately apparent and has the potential to allow for automatic
      reclassification of events that are ambiguously classified by the event re-
      porter.

PMID- 25833656
TI  - Sandwiched Electrochemiluminescent Peptide Biosensor for the Detection of
      Prognostic Indicator in Early-Stage Cancer Based on Hollow, Magnetic, and Self
      Enhanced Nanosheets.
AB  - Currently, peptide-based protein-recognition has been recognized as an effective
      and promising approach for protein assays. However, sandwiched peptide-based
      biosensor with high sensitivity and low background has not been proposed before.
      Herein, a sandwiched electrochemiluminescence (ECL) peptide-based biosensor is
      constructed for Cyclin A(2) (CA2), a prognostic indicator in early stage of
      multiple cancers, based on nanosheets with hollow, magnetic, and ECL self
      enhanced properties. First, hollow and magnetic manganese oxide nanocrystals (H
      Mn(3)O(4)) are synthesized using triblock copolymeric micelles with core-shell
      corona architecture as templates. Then, polyethyleneimine (PEI) and the composite
      of platinum nanoparticles and tris (4,4'-dicarboxylicacid-2,2'-bipyridyl)
      ruthenium (II) (PtNPs-Ru) are immobilized on H-Mn(3)O(4) to form H-Mn(3)O(4) -PEI
      PtNPs-Ru nanocomposite, in which PEI as coreactant can effectively enhance the
      luminous efficiency and PtNPs as nanochannels can greatly accelerate the electron
      transfer. Finally, due to the coordination between Eu(3+) and carboxyl, the
      obtained H-Mn(3)O(4) -PEI-PtNPs-Ru aggregates locally to form sheet-like
      nanostructures ((H-Mn(3)O(4) -PEI-PtNPs-Ru)(n) -Eu(3+)), by which the luminous
      efficiency is further increased. Based on the nanosheets and two designed
      peptides, a sandwiched ECL biosensor, using palladium nanocages synthesized
      through galvanic replacement reaction as substrate, is proposed for CA2 with a
      linear range from 0.001 to 100 ng mL(-1) and a detection limit of 0.3 pg mL(-1).

PMID- 25833657
TI  - Age Neutrality of Categorically and Dimensionally Measured DSM-5 Section II
      Personality Disorder Symptoms.
AB  - Studies on the face validity of DSM-5 Section II categorical personality disorder
      (PD) symptoms indicate a bias against older adults. To extend these results, this
      article explores whether categorically and dimensionally scored PD symptoms of
      DSM-5 Section II, as measured in the Assessment of DSM-IV Personality Disorders
      (ADP-IV; Schotte & de Doncker, 1994), corroborate potential age bias across
      younger (aged 18-34), middle-aged (35-59 years), and older adults (aged 60-75).
      Differential item functioning (DIF) analyses, following a classical test theory
      approach, showed that 2 of the 79 symptoms were measured differently across 3 age
      groups when categorically assessed, and 4 when dimensionally measured.
      Nevertheless, subsequent differential test functioning analyses supported a low
      aggregated impact of DIF on the dimensional scales, justifying mean-level
      comparisons across age groups. Generalizability of the results is discussed in
      light of methodological issues concerning the research of age neutrality of PD
      symptoms, including the employed measurement instrument, PD symptom measurement
      approach, and sample and age range used to describe older adults.

PMID- 25833658
TI  - Are 'asymptomatic' chronic infections truly asymptomatic?

PMID- 25833659
TI  - Is Quality of Life Related to Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Overweight and Obese
      Breast Cancer Survivors?
AB  - This study assessed changes in quality of life (QoL) and cardiorespiratory
      fitness (CRF) during a diet and physical activity (PA) intervention in breast
      cancer (BC) survivors and investigated the relation between these changes. The
      intervention of this single-arm pre-post study involved supervised, 1-hour
      weekly, diet sessions and 75-minute bi-weekly PA sessions of moderate-to-high
      intensity. This 12-week intervention targeted overweight/obese women who had
      recently completed BC treatment. Pre- and post-CRF and QoL measurements were
      compared using paired t-tests. Linear regression models, including baseline
      participants' characteristics and weight change, were used to assess the
      association between changes in CRF and QoL. The 37 BC survivors who completed the
      intervention between May 7, 2012 and July 27, 2012 showed significant increases
      in CRF and QoL. Peak oxygen uptake (mL/kg/min) increased from 19.0 +/- 2.8 to
      24.0 +/- 4.1 while peak workload (watts/kg) increased from 1.3 +/- 0.3 to 1.7 +/-
      0.3. Although statistical significance was not reached, the increase in workload
      seemed associated with increases in physical, mental, and general health and with
      a decrease in fatigue. This lifestyle intervention improved BC survivors' QoL and
      CRF and suggested possible relationships between CRF and QoL. More research needs
      to confirm these associations and promote lifestyle interventions aiming at
      improving BC survivors' QoL. 

PMID- 25833660
TI  - The vacuum cleaner effect in minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolitholapaxy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Percutaneous stone removal increasingly plays an important role
      among the different approaches of interventional stone therapy, particularly
      since the development of miniaturized instruments is resulting in lower morbidity
      for the patients. One major drawback of smaller instruments is the increased
      difficulty of stone retrieval after disintegration due to the reduced tract
      diameter. This results in longer operation time and the need of additional tools
      such as disposable retrieval baskets. One of the key factors in the development
      of minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolitholapaxy (MIP) was the design of an
      Amplatz sheath which provides a built-in vacuum cleaner effect for stone
      retrieval. METHODS: A series of flow analyses with the gauges and shapes of the
      most commonly used nephroscopes and sheaths in percutaneous nephrolitholapaxy was
      performed by computational fluid dynamics. Flow velocity and direction in front
      of the nephroscope were computed and visualized by the software. RESULTS: In our
      study, the vacuum cleaner effect developed exclusively when a round-shaped
      nephroscope was used (Nagele Miniature Nephroscope System, Karl Storz GmbH & Co.
      KG) and depended on the relation between nephroscope diameter and inner sheath
      diameter. The strongest effect was observed with a 12 F nephroscope and an inner
      sheath diameter of 15 F. It did not develop when an oval- or crescent-shaped
      nephroscope was used. In front of the distal end of the round-shaped nephroscope,
      a slipstream develops, induced by the excursive change of width of the fluid flow
      on the outlet of the flushing canal. This allows the adhesion of a stone fragment
      in the eddy while the fluid flow is circulating around the stone. CONCLUSION:
      This study illustrates and explains the vacuum cleaner effect which has been
      detected in the development of the Nagele Miniature Nephroscope System used in
      MIP. It combines the reduced morbidity of smaller kidney puncture diameters with
      the benefit of quick and complete stone removal.

PMID- 25833661
TI  - Impact of 2004 ISUP/WHO classification on bladder cancer grading.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine whether implementation of the 2004 WHO/ISUP bladder cancer
      (BCa) grading system caused a grade migration, i.e., more tumors being graded as
      high grade (HG). METHODS: Data on 1040 BCa cases from 668 patients treated at our
      institution between 2000 and 2013 and reviewed by six pathologists were
      evaluated: low grade (LG): 249; HG: 791; Ta: 389; T1: 214; CIS: 95; >=T2: 342.
      Differences in LG or HG cases (expressed as %BCa cases/year) were analyzed by
      Mann-Whitney test. Correlation between the year of diagnosis and
      clinical/pathological parameters was evaluated by logistic regression analyses.
      RESULTS: During the study period, BCa cases diagnosed as LG significantly
      decreased with a corresponding increase in HG cases. Nonlinear regression
      analysis indicated that ~2008 was the crossover point for grade migration; %LG:
      31.8 +/- 4.8 (2000-2007); 14.1 +/- 7.0 (2008-2013); %HG: 68.2 +/- 4.8 (2000
      2007); 85.9 +/- 6.9 (2008-2013), P = 0.004. The grade migration was confined to
      Ta cases with %LG Ta cases diagnosed decreasing by 3.6-fold from 2000-2007 to
      2008-2013 (P = 0.004). Univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed the grade
      migration following the adoption of the 2004 system (P < 0.0001). Kaplan-Meier
      curves showed no significant differences between the two time intervals in terms
      of disease progression (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of the 2004
      WHO/ISUP system caused a significant increase in pathologists grading Ta cases as
      HG; however, this increase did not seem to correlate with disease progression.
      Since LG and HG Ta tumors are treated differently, grade migration may impact the
      clinical management of BCa patients.

PMID- 25833662
TI  - Minimally invasive treatment of renal transplant nephrolithiasis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Urolithiasis is a rare complication of renal transplantation, and there
      is limited evidence to guide treatment. Management of stones in the transplanted
      kidney can be challenging. We present our experience in treating upper urinary
      tract (UUT) allograft lithiasis using minimally invasive procedures, with the aim
      of demonstrating their efficacy and safety in renal transplant recipients.
      METHODS: The records of 1615 patients undergoing kidney transplantation and
      follow-up in our center between August 2000 and July 2014 were reviewed. The mode
      of presentation, donor type, onset time, immunosuppression protocol, stone
      character, therapeutic intervention and outcomes of those with UUT allograft
      lithiasis were recorded. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (SWL), flexible
      ureteroscopy (F-URS) and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) were used in the
      management of these calculi. Stone composition was analyzed after the procedure.
      RESULTS: Nineteen renal transplant recipients (1.2 %, nine males and ten females)
      were found to have UUT allograft calculi. Of these, five underwent SWL (26.3 %),
      four had F-URS combined with lithotomy forceps extraction or holmium laser
      disruption (21.1 %), six had PNCL (31.6 %), one submitted to F-URS after two
      failed sessions of SWL (5.3 %), one combined PCNL and F-URS (5.3 %), and two
      spontaneously of stones (10.5 %). All patients were rendered stone-free with a
      combination of treatments, and none required a blood transfusion. CONCLUSIONS:
      The incidence of calculi in the transplanted kidney is low. Minimally invasive
      procedures are safe and effective means of removing allograft calculi.

PMID- 25833663
TI  - Governing the UN sustainable development goals: interactions, infrastructures,
      and institutions.

PMID- 25833664
TI  - Were the Effects of Glucosamine and Chondroitin on Knee Osteoarthritis
      Underestimated? Comment on the Article by Yang et al.

PMID- 25833665
TI  - Social support and the incidence and persistence of depression between antenatal
      and postnatal examinations in Turkey: a cohort study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study aims to measure incidence and persistence of depression
      and to investigate the influence of self-reported antenatal social support and
      traditional/nuclear family structure on incidence and persistence of depression
      between the third trimester of pregnancy and following childbirth. We
      hypothesised that lower antenatal social support would be associated with
      incidence and persistence of case-level depressive symptoms and the family
      structure would have an effect on the incidence and persistence of depressive
      symptoms. SETTINGS: The cohort study described here was carried out in and around
      Ankara the capital of Turkey, because of the considerable heterogeneity of the
      population in terms of traditional Middle Eastern and 'modern' Western lifestyle
      and social environment. Samples were drawn from 20 urban and rural antenatal
      clinics (mainly primary care settings) within the geographic catchment.
      PARTICIPANTS: Of 730 women recruited in their third trimester, 578 (79.2%) were
      re-examined between 2 and 6 months after childbirth. Exclusion criteria were as
      follows: aged younger than 18 years, illiteracy, significant health problems and
      refusal to participate. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Close Persons
      Questionnaire items enquired about relationships with the husband, mother and
      mother-in-law and depression was ascertained using the Edinburgh Postnatal
      Depression Scale at the each assessments. RESULTS: In those followed, onset of
      postnatal depression occurred in 13.9% and persistence of antenatal depression in
      49.7%. After adjustment, worse emotional support from the mother-in-law was
      significantly associated with postnatal depression incidence (OR=0.93, 95% CI
      0.87 to 0.99) and worse emotional support from the husband with postnatal
      persistence (OR=0.89, 95% CI 0.83 to 0.96) of antenatal depression. Family
      structure was not a risk or modifying factor. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence and
      persistence of postnatal depression in this Middle Eastern cohort were comparable
      to international findings. Certain family relationships predicted incidence and
      persistence of postnatal depression but no role of traditional/nuclear family
      structure was found.

PMID- 25833666
TI  - Pharmacist-led management of chronic pain in primary care: costs and benefits in
      a pilot randomised controlled trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To explore differences in mean costs (from a UK National Health
      Service perspective) and effects of pharmacist-led management of chronic pain in
      primary care evaluated in a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT), and to
      estimate optimal sample size for a definitive RCT. DESIGN: Regression analysis of
      costs and effects, using intention-to-treat and expected value of sample
      information analysis (EVSI). SETTING: Six general practices: Grampian (3); East
      Anglia (3). PARTICIPANTS: 125 patients with complete resource use and short form
      six-dimension questionnaire (SF-6D) data at baseline, 3 months and 6 months.
      INTERVENTIONS: Patients were randomised to either pharmacist medication review
      with face-to-face pharmacist prescribing or pharmacist medication review with
      feedback to general practitioner or treatment as usual (TAU). MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Differences in mean total costs and effects measured as quality
      adjusted life years (QALYs) at 6 months and EVSI for sample size calculation.
      RESULTS: Unadjusted total mean costs per patient were L452 for prescribing (SD:
      L466), L570 for review (SD: L527) and L668 for TAU (SD: L1333). After controlling
      for baseline costs, the adjusted mean cost differences per patient relative to
      TAU were L77 for prescribing (95% CI -82 to 237) and L54 for review (95% CI -103
      to 212). Unadjusted mean QALYs were 0.3213 for prescribing (SD: 0.0659), 0.3161
      for review (SD: 0.0684) and 0.3079 for TAU (SD: 0.0606). Relative to TAU, the
      adjusted mean differences were 0.0069 for prescribing (95% CI -0.0091 to 0.0229)
      and 0.0097 for review (95% CI -0.0054 to 0.0248). The EVSI suggested the optimal
      future trial size was between 460 and 690, and between 540 and 780 patients per
      arm using a threshold of L30,000 and L20,000 per QALY gained, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: Compared with TAU, pharmacist-led interventions for chronic pain
      appear more costly and provide similar QALYs. However, these estimates are
      imprecise due to the small size of the pilot trial. The EVSI indicates that a
      larger trial is necessary to obtain more precise estimates of differences in mean
      effects and costs between treatment groups. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:
      ISRCTN06131530.

PMID- 25833667
TI  - Risk communication with Arab patients with cancer: a qualitative study of nurses
      and pharmacists.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To explore pharmacist and nurse views and experiences in educating
      patients regarding their treatment safety and tolerability as well as the roles
      of other professions in this regard. DESIGN: In this qualitative study, six focus
      group discussions were conducted. SETTING: The National Center for Cancer Care
      and Research in Qatar. PARTICIPANTS: Eleven pharmacists and 22 nurses providing
      direct patient care. RESULTS: Concepts related to three key themes were drawn
      from the seeding questions and included factors for determining the level of risk
      they communicated: the specific treatment regimen in question; the patient; and
      their assessment of the patient. Patient-related considerations arose from
      additional subthemes; both nurses and pharmacists described aspects related to
      the perceived psychological health status of the patient, as well as anticipated
      comprehension, as ascertained by demonstrated education and language abilities.
      In all discussions, it was noted that physician and family non-disclosure of
      cancer diagnosis to the patient profoundly influenced the nature of information
      they provided. While a high level of cohesion in safety communication
      prioritisation among these two health disciplines was found, a number of
      pharmacists asserted a more formal role compared to informal and repeated
      teaching by nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses and pharmacists in this Middle East
      healthcare environment were not reluctant to discuss treatment side effects with
      patients and draw on similar professional judgements in prioritising treatment
      risk information. We found that they did not always recognise each other's
      informal educational encounters and that there are opportunities to explore
      increased collaboration in this regard to enhance the patient care experience.

PMID- 25833668
TI  - Community-based physical activity interventions among women: a systematic review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Review and assess the effectiveness of community-based physical
      activity interventions among women aged 18-65 years. DESIGN: Systematic review
      METHODS: To find relevant articles, the researcher selected reports published in
      English between 1 January 2000 and 31 March 2013. Systematic search was to find
      controlled-trial studies that were conducted to uncover the effect of community
      based interventions to promote physical activity among women 18-65 years of age,
      in which physical activity was reported as one of the measured outcomes. The
      methodological quality assessment was performed using a critical appraisal sheet.
      Also, the levels of evidence were assessed for the types of interventions.
      RESULTS: The literature search identified nine articles. Four of the studies were
      randomised and the others studies had high methodological quality. There was no
      evidence, on the basis of effectiveness, for social cognitive theory-based
      interventions and inconclusive evidence of effectiveness for the rest of
      interventions. CONCLUSIONS: There is insufficient evidence to assess the
      effectiveness of community-based interventions for enhancing physical activity
      among women. There is a need for high-quality randomised clinical trials with
      adequate statistical power to determine whether multicomponent and community
      based intervention programmes increase physical activity among women, as well as
      to determine what type of interventions have a more effective and sustainable
      impact on women's physical activity.

PMID- 25833669
TI  - Prevention of oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy by a polyamine-reduced
      diet-NEUROXAPOL: protocol of a prospective, randomised, controlled, single-blind
      and monocentric trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Oxaliplatin remains the most widely used chemotherapeutic agent for
      treating advanced colorectal cancer but its efficacy is hampered by dose-limiting
      neurotoxicity manifested by a painful polyneuropathy. Oxaliplatin-induced
      peripheral neuropathy (OIPN) is characterised by acute and transient cold
      hyperaesthesia in the hours and days following oxaliplatin infusion (>90% of
      patients), but also by retarded chronic neuropathy due to the repetition of
      chemotherapy cycles (30-50% of patients). OIPN impairs the health-related quality
      of life (HRQOL) of patients and no preventive or curative strategies have as yet
      proven effective. A polyamine-reduced diet (PRD) has recently demonstrated its
      efficacy to prevent OIPN in animals without adverse effects. METHODS AND
      ANALYSIS: The NEUROXAPOL trial is a prospective, randomised, controlled, single
      blind, monocentric and interventional study. This trial is aimed at evaluating
      the efficacy and feasibility of a PRD compared to a normal polyamine containing
      diet to prevent OIPN in patients treated by oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy.
      Patients (n=40 per group) will be randomly assigned to receive either a PRD or a
      normal diet before and during the chemotherapy regimen. The main objectives are
      to improve the cold pain thresholds, neuropathic pain symptoms, comorbidities
      (anxiety and depression) and HRQOL of patients. The primary end point is the
      assessment of cold pain thresholds 2 weeks after the third cycle of chemotherapy.
      The secondary end points are the evaluation of thermal pain thresholds, the grade
      of neuropathy, neuropathic pain, symptoms of anxiety and depression and HRQOL,
      until the 12th cycle of chemotherapy. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study was
      approved by an independent medical ethics committee 1 (CPP Sud Est 1, Saint
      Etienne, France) and registered by the competent French authority (ANSM, Saint
      Denis, France). The results will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal and
      presented at international congresses. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01775449.

PMID- 25833670
TI  - Investigating the effect of hypoxic culture on the endothelial differentiation of
      human amniotic fluid-derived stem cells.
AB  - Amniotic fluid-derived stem cells (AFSCs) are a unique stem cell source that may
      have great potential for use in tissue engineering (TE) due to their
      pluripotentiality. AFSCs have previously shown angiogenic potential and may
      present an alternative cell source for endothelial-like cells that could be used
      in range of applications, including the pre-vascularisation of TE constructs and
      the treatment of ischaemic diseases. This study investigated the ability of these
      cells to differentiate down an endothelial lineage with the aim of producing an
      endothelial-like cell suitable for use in pre-vascularisation. As hypoxia and the
      associated HIF-1 pathway have been implicated in the induction of angiogenesis in
      a number of biological processes, it was hypothesised that culture in hypoxic
      conditions could enhance the endothelial differentiation of AFSCs. The cells were
      cultured in endothelial cell media supplemented with 50 ng mL(-1) of VEGF,
      maintained in normoxia, intermittent hypoxia or continuous hypoxia and assessed
      for markers of endothelial differentiation at day 7 and 14. The results
      demonstrated that AFSCs subjected to these culture conditions display an
      endothelial gene expression profile and adopted functional endothelial cell
      characteristics indicative of early endothelial differentiation. Culture in
      continuous hypoxia enhanced endothelial gene expression but did not enhance
      functional endothelial cell characteristics. Overall, AFSCs subjected to
      endothelial stimuli demonstrated a less mature endothelial gene expression
      profile and phenotype when compared with HUVECs, the endothelial cell control.
      However, this study is the first time that the positive effect of an extended
      period of continuous hypoxic culture on endothelial differentiation in AFSCs has
      been demonstrated.

PMID- 25833671
TI  - A study of IgG antibodies to the ApoB protein in non-ST segment elevation acute
      coronary syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: It has long been noted that there is an association of antibodies
      against oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) with cardiovascular disease, but
      the anti-oxLDL antibody has not been confirmed as a biomarker for prediction of
      acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) may carry the epitopes for
      the immune response to oxLDL. The present work was thus undertaken to detect
      circulating antibodies to ApoB in non-ST segment elevation ACS (NSTE-ACS).
      DESIGN: A total of 130 patients with NSTE-ACS and 201 control subjects were
      recruited. Six ApoB-derived peptipe antigens (Ag1-Ag6) were used to develop an in
      house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to examine circulating anti-ApoB IgG
      levels. RESULTS: The anti-Ag1 IgG level was significantly higher in the patient
      group than the control group (P < 0.001) and the non-ST segment elevation
      myocardial infarction appeared to be the main form of NSTE-ACS contributing to
      the increased levels of anti-Ag1 IgG (P < 0.001); there was no significant
      alteration in the levels of IgG to the other 5 antigens in NSTE-ACS. CONCLUSIONS:
      Circulating anti-ApoB IgG test may be useful for prediction of NSTE-ACS although
      further confirmation is needed in large-scale clinical studies.

PMID- 25833672
TI  - Tuberculosis management continues to utilize a large amount of hospital resources
      in the United States.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The objective of this study is to examine longitudinal
      trends in hospital admissions attributed to tuberculosis and resulting
      hospitalization outcomes in the United States for the years 2000-2010. METHODS:
      We used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which is the largest all-payer and
      nationally representative in-hospital dataset in the United States. All
      hospitalizations that had a primary diagnosis for tuberculosis were selected for
      analysis. Patient characteristics and outcomes including discharge status
      following hospitalization, length of stay in hospital and hospitalization charges
      were examined. RESULTS: During the study period, a total of 96 431
      hospitalizations occurred due to tuberculosis. The mean age of hospitalizations
      was 48.6 years. Males comprised 64.2% of all hospitalizations; 24.8% were Whites,
      25.5% Blacks, 26.5% Hispanics, 14.3% Asians/Pacific Islanders, 1% Native
      Americans, and 7.9% other/mixed races. Following hospitalization, 72.1% were
      discharged routinely, 3.4% were transferred to another acute-care hospital, 10.7%
      to long-term care facilities including skilled nursing facilities, 7.6% to home
      health care, and 2.1% were discharged against medical advice. There were 3815
      patients who died (4% of hospitalizations). The total hospitalization charge for
      this cohort of patients admitted due to tuberculosis across the United States was
      $6.96 billion and the total hospitalization days over study period was 1 419 605
      days. CONCLUSION: High-risk cohorts who are likely to be hospitalized due to
      tuberculosis included Blacks and Hispanics. Majority of hospitalization comprised
      of males. Even though the annual number of hospitalizations reduced over the
      study period, substantial amounts of resources are used in hospital settings to
      manage tuberculosis.

PMID- 25833673
TI  - What is the acceptable rate of negative appendectomy? Comment on "Prospective
      evaluation of the added value of imaging within the Dutch National Diagnostic
      Appendicitis Guideline--do we forget our clinical eye"?

PMID- 25833674
TI  - Indole-3-acetic acid production by newly isolated red yeast Rhodosporidium
      paludigenum.
AB  - Indole 3-acetic acid (IAA) is the principal hormone which regulates various
      developmental and physiological processes in plants. IAA production is considered
      as a key trait for supporting plant growth. Hence, in this study, production of
      indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) by a basidiomycetous red yeast Rhodosporidium
      paludigenum DMKU-RP301 (AB920314) was investigated and improved by the
      optimization of the culture medium and culture conditions using one factor at a
      time (OFAT) and response surface methodology (RSM). The study considered the
      effects of incubation time, carbon and nitrogen sources, growth factor,
      tryptophan, temperature, shaking speed, NaCl and pH, on the production of IAA.
      The results showed that all the factors studied, except NaCl, affected IAA
      production by R. paludigenum DMKU-RP301. Maximum IAA production of 1,623.9 mg/l
      was obtained as a result of the studies using RSM. The optimal medium and growth
      conditions observed in this study resulted in an increase of IAA production by a
      factor of up to 5.0 compared to the unoptimized condition, i.e. when yeast
      extract peptone dextrose (YPD) broth supplemented with 0.1% l-tryptophan was used
      as the production medium. The production of IAA was then scaled up in a 2-l
      stirred tank fermenter, and the maximum IAA of 1,627.1 mg/l was obtained. This
      experiment indicated that the obtained optimal medium and condition (pH and
      temperature) from shaking flask production can be used for the production of IAA
      in a larger size production. In addition, the present research is the first to
      report on the optimization of IAA production by the yeast Rhodosporidium. 

PMID- 25833675
TI  - Nar is the dominant dissimilatory nitrate reductase under high pressure
      conditions in the deep-sea denitrifier Pseudomonas sp. MT-1.
AB  - The deep-sea denitrifier Pseudomonas sp. MT-1 has two gene clusters encoding
      dissimilatory nitrate reductases, periplasmic nitrate reductase (Nap) and
      membrane-bound nitrate reductase (Nar). In order to investigate the physiological
      role of these enzymes, we constructed the disrupted mutants of napA, narG, and
      narK (encoding the catalytic subunits of Nap and Nar, as well as the nitrate
      transporter, respectively). The napA mutant showed almost the same growth rate as
      the wild-type under both atmospheric and high pressure of 30 MPa. On the other
      hand, the narG and narK mutants showed growth deficiencies under atmospheric
      pressure which were more pronounced at a pressure of 30 MPa. Thus, Nar was shown
      to be the dominant dissimilatory nitrate reductase in MT-1, especially under high
      pressure, whereas Nap can support the growth with denitrification to some extent.
      Further, nitrate reductase activity of the soluble and membrane fractions of MT-1
      was measured under high pressure. Both activities were highly piezotolerant even
      under a pressure of 150 MPa. Therefore, the stability of nitrate reductases under
      high pressure is not a limiting step for the growth of MT-1 under these
      conditions. Although the reason why Nar rather than Nap is dominant and the
      physiological role of Nap in MT-1 are still unclear, we have demonstrated the
      mechanisms of the denitrification system in the environment of the deep-sea. 

PMID- 25833676
TI  - Purification, biochemical characterization, and genetic cloning of the phytase
      produced by Burkholderia sp. strain a13.
AB  - A phytase-producing bacterium, Burkholderia sp. a13 (JCM 30421), was isolated
      from Lake Kasumigaura by enrichment cultivation using minimum medium containing
      phytic acid as the sole phosphorus source. The phytase production by strain a13
      was induced by the presence of phytic acid and repressed by the addition of
      glucose. The purified enzyme had a molecular weight of 44 kDa and a phytase
      activity of 174 MUmol min(-1) mg(-1). The enzyme showed broad substrate
      specificity, but the highest activity was observed with phytic acid. The enzyme
      activity was strongly inhibited by Cu(2+), Zn(2+), Hg(2+), and iodoacetic acid,
      indicating the requirement of a thiol group for the activity. Genetic cloning
      reveals that the mature portion of this enzyme consists of 428 amino acids with a
      calculated molecular weight of 46 kDa. The amino acid sequence showed the highest
      similarity to the phytase produced by Hafnia alvei with 48% identity; it also
      contained histidine acid phosphatase (HAP) motifs (RHGXRXP and HD), indicating
      the classification of this enzyme in the HAP phytase family. We have successfully
      expressed the cloned gene in Escherichia coli from its putative initiation codon,
      showing that the gene actually encodes the phytase. 

PMID- 25833677
TI  - Relationship between chromosomal GC content and isoelectric points of histones in
      fungi.

PMID- 25833678
TI  - Acceleration effect of sodium selenite on yeast growth and fermentative
      capability.

PMID- 25833679
TI  - Anaerobic degradation of tannins in Acacia nilotica pods by Enterococcus faecalis
      in co-culture with ruminal microbiota.

PMID- 25833680
TI  - Quantitating and dating recent gene flow between European and East Asian
      populations.
AB  - Historical records indicate that extensive cultural, commercial and technological
      interaction occurred between European and Asian populations. What have been the
      biological consequences of these contacts in terms of gene flow? We
      systematically estimated gene flow between Eurasian groups using genome-wide
      polymorphisms from 34 populations representing Europeans, East Asians, and
      Central/South Asians. We identified recent gene flow between Europeans and Asians
      in most populations we studied, including East Asians and Northwestern Europeans,
      which are normally considered to be non-admixed populations. In addition we
      quantitatively estimated the extent of this gene flow using two statistical
      approaches, and dated admixture events based on admixture linkage disequilibrium.
      Our results indicate that most genetic admixtures occurred between 2,400 and 310
      years ago and show the admixture proportions to be highly correlated with
      geographic locations, with the highest admixture proportions observed in Central
      Asia and the lowest in East Asia and Northwestern Europe. Interestingly, we
      observed a North-to-South decline of European gene flow in East Asians,
      suggesting a northern path of European gene flow diffusing into East Asian
      populations. Our findings contribute to an improved understanding of the history
      of human migration and the evolutionary mechanisms that have shaped the genetic
      structure of populations in Eurasia. 

PMID- 25833681
TI  - Immortalized Mouse Floxed Fam20c Dental Papillar Mesenchymal and Osteoblast Cell
      Lines Retain Their Primary Characteristics.
AB  - Fam20c is essential for the normal mineralization of dentin and bone. The
      generation of odontoblast and osteoblast cell lines carrying floxed Fam20c allele
      can offer valuable tools for the study of the roles of Fam20c in the
      mineralization of dentin and bone. The limited capability of the primary
      odontoblasts and osteoblasts to proliferate necessitates the development of
      odontoblast and osteoblast cell lines serving as substitutes for the study of
      differentiation and mineralization of the odontoblasts and osteoblasts. In this
      study, we established and characterized immortalized mouse floxed Fam20c dental
      papilla mesenchymal and osteoblast cell lines. The isolated primary mouse floxed
      Fam20c dental papilla mesenchymal cells and osteoblasts were immortalized by the
      infection of lentivirus containing Simian Virus 40 T-antigen (SV40 T-Ag). The
      immortalization of floxed Fam20c dental papilla mesenchymal cells and osteoblasts
      was verified by the long-term passages and genomic integration of SV40 T-Ag. The
      immortalized floxed Fam20c dental papilla mesenchymal and osteoblast cell lines
      not only proliferated at a high rate and retained the morphology of their primary
      counterparts, but also preserved the dentin and bone specific gene expression as
      the primary dental papilla mesenchymal cells and osteoblasts did. Consistently,
      the capability of the primary floxed Fam20c dental papilla mesenchymal cells and
      osteoblasts to mineralize was also inherited by the immortalized dental papilla
      mesenchymal and osteoblast cell lines. Thus, we have successfully generated the
      immortalized mouse floxed Fam20c dental papilla mesenchymal and osteoblast cell
      lines.

PMID- 25833682
TI  - Evolutionary stasis despite selection on a heritable trait in an invasive
      zooplankton.
AB  - Invasive species are one of the greatest threats to ecosystems, and there is
      evidence that evolution plays an important role in the success or failure of
      invasions. Yet, few studies have measured natural selection and evolutionary
      responses to selection in invasive species, particularly invasive animals. We
      quantified the strength of natural selection on the defensive morphology (distal
      spine) of an invasive zooplankton, Bythotrephes longimanus, in Lake Michigan
      across multiple months during three growing seasons. We used multiple lines of
      evidence, including historic and contemporary wild-captured individuals and
      palaeoecology of retrieved spines, to assess phenotypic change in distal spine
      length since invasion. We found evidence of temporally variable selection, with
      selection for decreased distal spine length early in the growing season and
      selection for increased distal spine length later in the season. This trend in
      natural selection is consistent with seasonal changes in the relative strength of
      non-gape-limited and gape-limited fish predation. Yet, despite net selection for
      increased distal spine length and a known genetic basis for distal spine length,
      we observed little evidence of an evolutionary response to selection. Multiple
      factors likely limit an evolutionary response to selection, including genetic
      correlations, trade-offs between components of fitness, and phenotypic
      plasticity.

PMID- 25833683
TI  - Resveratrol Regulates the Quiescence-Like Induction of Activated Stellate Cells
      by Modulating the PPARgamma/SIRT1 Ratio.
AB  - The activation of hepatic stellate cell (HSC), from a quiescent cell featuring
      cytoplasmic lipid droplets to a proliferative myofibroblast, plays an important
      role in liver fibrosis development. The GRX line is an activated HSC model that
      can be induced by all-trans-retinol to accumulate lipid droplets. Resveratrol is
      known for activating Sirtuin1 (SIRT1), a NAD(+)-dependent deacetylase that
      suppresses the activity of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma
      (PPARgamma), an important adipogenic transcription factor involved in the
      quiescence maintenance of HSC. We evaluated the effects of 0.1 MUM of resveratrol
      in retinol-induced GRX quiescence by investigating the interference of SIRT1 and
      PPARgamma on cell lipogenesis. GRX lipid accumulation was evaluated through Oil
      red O staining, triacylglycerides quantification, and [(14)C] acetate
      incorporation into lipids. mRNA expression and protein content of SIRT1 and
      PPARgamma were measured by RT-PCR and immunoblotting, respectively. Resveratrol
      mediated SIRT1 stimuli did not induce lipogenesis and reduced the retinol
      mediated fat-storing capacity in GRX. In order to support our results, we
      established a cell culture model of transgenic super expression of PPARgamma in
      GRX cells (GRXPgamma). Resveratrol reduced lipid droplets accumulation in
      GRXPgamma cells. These results suggest that the PPARgamma/SIRT1 ratio plays an
      important role in the fate of HSC. Thus, whenever the PPARgamma activity is
      greater than SIRT1 activity the lipogenesis is enabled.

PMID- 25833684
TI  - Immunomodulatory adjunctive treatment options for Ebola virus disease patients.

PMID- 25833685
TI  - Association of white matter hyperintensities and gray matter volume with
      cognition in older individuals without cognitive impairment.
AB  - Both presence of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and smaller total gray
      matter volume on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are common findings in
      old age, and contribute to impaired cognition. We tested whether total WMH volume
      and gray matter volume had independent associations with cognition in community
      dwelling individuals without dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We used
      data from participants of the Rush Memory and Aging Project. Brain MRI was
      available in 209 subjects without dementia or MCI (mean age 80; education = 15
      years; 74 % women). WMH and gray matter were automatically segmented, and the
      total WMH and gray matter volumes were measured. Both MRI-derived measures were
      normalized by the intracranial volume. Cognitive data included composite measures
      of five different cognitive domains, based on 19 individual tests. Linear
      regression analyses, adjusted for age, sex, and education, were used to examine
      the relationship of logarithmically-transformed total WMH volume and of total
      gray matter volume to cognition. Larger total WMH volumes were associated with
      lower levels of perceptual speed (p < 0.001), but not with episodic memory,
      semantic memory, working memory, or visuospatial abilities (all p > 0.10).
      Smaller total gray matter volumes were associated with lower levels of perceptual
      speed (p = 0.013) and episodic memory (p = 0.001), but not with the other three
      cognitive domains (all p > 0.14). Larger total WMH volume was correlated with
      smaller total gray matter volume (p < 0.001). In a model with both MRI-derived
      measures included, the relation of WMH to perceptual speed remained significant
      (p < 0.001), while gray matter volumes were no longer related (p = 0.14). This
      study of older community-dwelling individuals without overt cognitive impairment
      suggests that the association of larger total WMH volume with lower perceptual
      speed is independent of total gray matter volume. These results help elucidate
      the pathological processes leading to lower cognitive function in aging.

PMID- 25833686
TI  - Human monocyte-derived dendritic cells turn into foamy dendritic cells with IL
      17A.
AB  - Interleukin 17A (IL-17A) is a proinflammatory cytokine involved in the
      pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases. In the field of immunometabolism,
      we have studied the impact of IL-17A on the lipid metabolism of human in vitro
      generated monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DCs). Microarrays and lipidomic
      analysis revealed an intense remodeling of lipid metabolism induced by IL-17A in
      DCs. IL-17A increased 2-12 times the amounts of phospholipids, cholesterol,
      triglycerides, and cholesteryl esters in DCs. Palmitic (16:0), stearic (18:0),
      and oleic (18:ln-9c) acid were the main fatty acid chains present in DCs. They
      were strongly increased in response to IL-17A while their relative proportion
      remained unchanged. Capture of extracellular lipids was the major mechanism of
      lipid droplet accumulation, visualized by electron microscopy and Oil Red O
      staining. Besides this foamy phenotype, IL-17A induced a mixed macrophage-DC
      phenotype and expression of the nuclear receptor NR1H3/liver X receptor-alpha,
      previously identified in the context of atherosclerosis as the master regulator
      of cholesterol homeostasis in macrophages. These IL-17A-treated DCs were as
      competent as untreated DCs to stimulate allogeneic naive T-cell proliferation.
      Following this first characterization of lipid-rich DCs, we propose to call these
      IL-17A-dependent cells "foamy DCs" and discuss the possible existence of foamy
      DCs in atherosclerosis, a metabolic and inflammatory disorder involving IL-17A. 

PMID- 25833687
TI  - Accurate and reliable quantification of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D species by liquid
      chromatography high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry.
AB  - In general, mass spectrometric quantification of small molecules in routine
      laboratory testing utilizes liquid chromatography coupled to low mass resolution
      triple-quadrupole mass spectrometers (QQQs). Here we introduce high-resolution
      tandem mass spectrometry (quadrupole-Orbitrap) for the quantification of 25
      hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D], a marker of the vitamin D status, because the
      specificity of 25(OH)D immunoassays is still questionable and mass spectrometric
      quantification is becoming increasingly important. Liquid chromatography coupled
      to high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/HR-MS) was used to quantify 25
      hydroxy-cholecalciferol [25(OH)D3], 25-hydroxy-ergocalciferol [25(OH)D2], and
      their C3-epimers 3-epi-25(OH)D3 and 3-epi-25(OH)D2. The method has a run time of
      5 min and was validated according to the US Food and Drug Administration and the
      European Medicines Agency guidelines. High mass resolution was advantageously
      applied to separate a quasi-isobaric interference of the internal standard D6
      25(OH)D2 with 3-epi-25(OH)D3. All analytes showed an imprecision of below 10%
      coefficient of variation (CV), trueness between 90% and 110%, and limits of
      quantification below 10 nM. Concentrations measured by LC-MS/HR-MS are in good
      agreement with those of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
      reference methods using LC-MS/MS (QQQ). In conclusion, quantification of 25(OH)D
      by LC-MS/HR-MS is applicable for routine testing and also holds promise for
      highly specific quantification of other small molecules. 

PMID- 25833689
TI  - Facile Synthesis of Quasi-One-Dimensional Au/PtAu Heterojunction Nanotubes and
      Their Application as Catalysts in an Oxygen-Reduction Reaction.
AB  - An intermediate-template-directed method has been developed for the synthesis of
      quasi-one-dimensional Au/PtAu heterojunction nanotubes by the heterogeneous
      nucleation and growth of Au on Te/Pt core-shell nanostructures in aqueous
      solution. The synthesized porous Au/PtAu bimetallic nanotubes (PABNTs) consist of
      porous tubular framework and attached Au nanoparticles (AuNPs). The reaction
      intermediates played an important role in the preparation, which fabricated the
      framework and provided a localized reducing agent for the reduction of the Au and
      Pt precursors. The Pt7 Au PABNTs showed higher electrocatalytic activity and
      durability in the oxygen-reduction reaction (ORR) in 0.1 M HClO4 than porous Pt
      nanotubes (PtNTs) and commercially available Pt/C. The mass activity of PABNTs
      was 218 % that of commercial Pt/C after an accelerated durability test. This
      study demonstrates the potential of PABNTs as highly efficient electrocatalysts.
      In addition, this method provides a facile strategy for the synthesis of
      desirable hetero-nanostructures with controlled size and shape by utilizing an
      intermediate template. 

PMID- 25833688
TI  - Micellar lipid composition affects micelle interaction with class B scavenger
      receptor extracellular loops.
AB  - Scavenger receptors (SRs) like cluster determinant 36 (CD36) and SR class B type
      I (SR-BI) play a debated role in lipid transport across the intestinal brush
      border membrane. We used surface plasmon resonance to analyze real-time
      interactions between the extracellular protein loops and various ligands ranging
      from single lipid molecules to mixed micelles. Micelles mimicking physiological
      structures were necessary for optimal binding to both the extracellular loop of
      CD36 (lCD36) and the extracellular loop of SR-BI (lSR-BI). Cholesterol,
      phospholipid, and fatty acid micellar content significantly modulated micelle
      binding to and dissociation from the transporters. In particular, high
      phospholipid micellar concentrations inhibited micelle binding to both receptors
      (-53.8 and -74.4% binding at 0.32 mM compared with 0.04 mM for lCD36 and lSR-BI,
      respectively, P < 0.05). The presence of fatty acids was crucial for micelle
      interactions with both proteins (94.4 and 81.3% binding with oleic acid for lCD36
      and lSR-BI, respectively, P < 0.05) and fatty acid type substitution within the
      micelles was the component that most impacted micelle binding to the
      transporters. These effects were partly due to subsequent modifications in
      micellar size and surface electric charge, and could be correlated to micellar
      vitamin D uptake by Caco-2 cells. Our findings show for the first time that
      micellar lipid composition and micellar properties are key factors governing
      micelle interactions with SRs. 

PMID- 25833690
TI  - Gemcitabine impacts differentially on bladder and kidney cancer cells: distinct
      modulations in the expression patterns of apoptosis-related microRNAs and BCL2
      family genes.
AB  - Bladder and renal cancer are two representative cases of tumors that respond
      differentially to gemcitabine. Previous studies have shown that gemcitabine can
      trigger apoptosis in various cancer cells. Herein, we sought to investigate the
      impact of gemcitabine on the expression levels of the BCL2 family members BCL2,
      BAX, and BCL2L12 and the apoptosis-related microRNAs miR-182, miR-96, miR-145,
      and miR-16 in the human bladder and kidney cancer cell lines T24 and Caki-1,
      respectively. Cancer cells' viability as well as the IC50 doses of gemcitabine
      were estimated by the MTT assay, while the detection of cleaved PARP via Western
      blotting was used as an indicator of apoptosis. Furthermore, T24 and Caki-1
      cells' ability to recover from treatment was also monitored. Two different highly
      sensitive quantitative real-time RT-PCR methodologies were developed in order to
      assess the expression levels of BCL2 family genes and microRNAs. Exposure of
      cancer cells to gemcitabine produced the IC50 values of 30 and 3 nM for Caki-1
      and T24 cells, correspondingly, while cleaved PARP was detected only in Caki-1
      cells. T24 cells demonstrated the ability to recover from gemcitabine treatment,
      whereas Caki-1 cells' recovery capability was dependent on the initial time of
      exposure. BCL2 and BAX were significantly modulated in treated Caki-1 cells.
      Instead, T24 cells exhibited alterations only in the latter, as well as in all
      studied microRNAs. Therefore, according to our data, bladder and renal cancer
      cells' response to gemcitabine is accompanied by distinct alterations in the
      expression levels of their apoptosis-related genes and microRNAs. 

PMID- 25833691
TI  - The influence of SRPK1 on glioma apoptosis, metastasis, and angiogenesis through
      the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway under normoxia.
AB  - Gliomas, the most common primary brain tumors, have low survival rates and poorly
      defined molecular mechanisms to target for treatment. Serine/arginine SR protein
      kinases 1 (SRPK1) can highly and specifically phosphorylate the SR protein found
      in many tumors, which can influence cell proliferation and angiogenesis. However,
      the roles and regulatory mechanisms of SRPK1 in gliomas are not understood. The
      aim of this study was to determine the functions and regulation of SRPK1 in
      gliomas. We found that SRPK1 inhibition induces early apoptosis and significantly
      inhibits xenograft tumor growth. Our results indicate that SRPK1 affects Akt and
      eIF4E phosphorylation, Bax and Bcl-2 activation, and HIF-1 and VEGF production in
      glioma cells. Moreover, transfection of SRPK1 siRNA strongly reduced cell
      invasion and migration by regulating the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 and
      significantly decreased the volume of tumors and angiogenesis. We show here that
      a strong link exists among SRPK1, Akt, eIF4E, HIF-1, and VEGF activity that is
      functionally involved in apoptosis, metastasis, and angiogenesis of gliomas under
      normoxic conditions. Thus, SRPK1 may be a potential anticancer target to inhibit
      glioma progression.

PMID- 25833693
TI  - Leucine-rich repeat-containing protein 59 mediates nuclear import of cancerous
      inhibitor of PP2A in prostate cancer cells.
AB  - Using yeast two-hybrid analysis, we identified several novel protein interactions
      for the oncoprotein Cancerous Inhibitor of PP2A (CIP2A) and confirmed a subset of
      these interactions in human cancer cell lines. Analysis of the interaction in
      prostate carcinoma cells between CIP2A and leucine-rich repeat-containing protein
      59 (LRRC59) suggests that CIP2A is translocated into the nucleus at G2/M through
      its association with LRRC59. Recent work by others has demonstrated that nuclear
      CIP2A disrupts mitotic checkpoints, which promotes deregulation of the cell cycle
      and increases cancerous phenotypes. Thus, we provide a novel therapeutic
      mechanism for inhibiting CIP2A function in cancerous cells via targeting the
      CIP2A-LRRC59 interaction.

PMID- 25833692
TI  - Vascular invasion in hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma with
      underlying cirrhosis: possible associations with ascites and hepatitis B viral
      factors?
AB  - Vascular invasion is one of the most important prognostic factors for patients
      with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The objective of the current, retrospective
      study was to determine the associations of ascites and hepatitis B viral factors
      (HBeAg and anti-HBe status and HBV DNA levels), as well as tumor-related factors
      (size, tumor number, grade, and location) with micro- or macroscopic vascular
      invasion in patients with HCC that developed as a result of hepatitis B virus
      (HBV)-related cirrhosis. A total of 336 consecutive patients were included.
      Potential factors associated with micro- or macroscopic vascular invasion were
      analyzed by logistic regression. Ascites were more commonly detected in patients
      with micro- or macroscopic vascular invasion, and the presence of ascites was
      independently associated with vascular invasion. Among patients with mild-to
      moderate or severe ascites, the odds ratio for macroscopic vascular invasion was
      4.83 (95 % confidence interval [CI] 2.29-10.16) and 11.87 (95 % CI 4.53-31.07),
      respectively. Similarly, the presence of ascites was associated with microscopic
      vascular invasion (OR 5.00; 95 % CI 1.23-20.31). In contrast, hepatitis B viral
      factors were not significantly associated with vascular invasion. The presence of
      ascites was associated with vascular invasion in patients with HBV-related
      cirrhotic HCC. Thus, patients with ascites, vascular invasion should be
      considered and more frequent surveillance should be performed after curative
      treatment.

PMID- 25833694
TI  - Down-regulation of miR-489 contributes into NSCLC cell invasion through targeting
      SUZ12.
AB  - microRNAs are small, non-coding RNAs that contribute into various biological
      processes during cancer progression. However, the potential role of miR-489 in
      the development of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) is not demonstrated. In
      present study, miR-489 was down-regulated both in tumor tissues and cells.
      Inhibition of miR-489 promoted cells invasion by using an invasion assay.
      Furthermore, miR-489 could regulate SUZ12 as shown by luciferase reporter and
      Western blot assays. Aberrant miR-489 expression could regulate the molecular
      changes (E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and Vimentin) of epithelial mesenchymal
      transition (EMT). In conclusion, our study revealed that miR-489 may play an
      essential role in the progression of NSCLC. 

PMID- 25833695
TI  - MiR-197 induces Taxol resistance in human ovarian cancer cells by regulating NLK.
AB  - Chemotherapy is the preferred therapeutic approach for the therapy of advanced
      ovarian cancer, but 5-year survival rate remains low due to the development of
      drug resistance. Increasing evidence has documented that microRNAs (miRNAs) act
      important roles in drug resistance in a variety types of cancer. However, the
      roles of miRNA in regulating Taxol resistance in ovarian cancer and the detailed
      mechanism are less reported. We used Taqman probe stem loop real-time PCR to
      accurately measure the levels of miR-197 in normal ovarian cells, ovarian cancer
      cells, and Taxol-resistant ovarian cancer cells and found that miR-197 was
      significantly increased in Taxol-resistant ovarian cancer cells. Enforced
      expression of miR-197 can promote Taxol resistance, cell proliferation, and
      invasion of ovarian cancer cells. Meanwhile, repression of miR-197 in ovarian
      cancer cells can sensitize its response to Taxol and also induced attenuated cell
      proliferation and invasion ability. Furthermore, investigation of the detailed
      mechanism showed that the promotion of miR-197 on drug resistance in ovarian
      cancer cells was partially mediated by downregulating NLK, a negative regulator
      of WNT signaling pathway. Taken together, our work first demonstrated that miR
      197 can confer drug resistance to Taxol, by regulating tumor suppressor, NLK
      expression in ovarian cancer cells.

PMID- 25833696
TI  - Decreased expression of RPS15A suppresses proliferation of lung cancer cells.
AB  - Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. Previous
      report has identified ribosomal protein s15a (RPS15A) as a TGF-beta-responsible
      gene in the lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549. In this study, we used specific
      si-RNA to downregulate RPS15A expression in A549 cells and found that decreased
      RPS15A expression significantly inhibited cell proliferation and survival, as
      determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and
      colony formation assays. Moreover, A549 cells were obviously accumulated in the
      G0/G1 phase in response to RPS15A knockdown, suggesting that RPS15A inhibition
      could induce a diminution of proliferation through cell cycle arrest. In
      addition, immunohistochemistry analysis further revealed that RPS15A was
      overexpressed in surgically resected lung cancer tissues. In conclusion, we
      identify RPS15A as a novel potential oncogenic gene involved in lung
      carcinogenesis. This study may provide a preliminary experimental basis for a
      gene therapy approach for treating lung cancer.

PMID- 25833697
TI  - miR-139-5p suppresses cancer cell migration and invasion through targeting ZEB1
      and ZEB2 in GBM.
AB  - Invasion and migration of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a multistep process
      and an important phenotype that causes this disease to invade surrounding tissues
      in the brain. Recent studies have highlighted that miRNAs play a pivotal role in
      controlling GBM cell plasticity. In this report, we used wound healing and
      transwell assays to identify a novel role of miR-139-5p in inhibition of GBM cell
      migration and invasion. Bioinformatics coupled with luciferase and Western blot
      assays also revealed that miR-139-5p inhibited expression of ZEB1 and ZEB2, which
      are master regulators of tumor metastasis. MiR-139-5p specifically interacts with
      the 3'-UTR regions of ZEB1 and ZEB2, attenuating their expression in GBM cells.
      To corroborate this finding, we rescued ZEB1 and ZEB2 expression and found
      partial but significant increases in miR-139-5p-suppressed invasion of GBM cells.
      The biological relevance of our study was validated by analyzing levels of miR
      139-5p in GBM tissue. We found that its expression significantly downregulated
      compared to normal tissue and shorter overall survival rates in patients with
      lower miR-139-5p expression. These results confirm that miR-139-5p suppresses GBM
      migration and invasion and highlight its potential as a biomarker and therapeutic
      target for treating GBM.

PMID- 25833698
TI  - Downscaled projections of Caribbean coral bleaching that can inform conservation
      planning.
AB  - Projections of climate change impacts on coral reefs produced at the coarse
      resolution (~1 degrees ) of Global Climate Models (GCMs) have informed debate but
      have not helped target local management actions. Here, projections of the onset
      of annual coral bleaching conditions in the Caribbean under Representative
      Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 are produced using an ensemble of 33 Coupled
      Model Intercomparison Project phase-5 models and via dynamical and statistical
      downscaling. A high-resolution (~11 km) regional ocean model (MOM4.1) is used for
      the dynamical downscaling. For statistical downscaling, sea surface temperature
      (SST) means and annual cycles in all the GCMs are replaced with observed data
      from the ~4-km NOAA Pathfinder SST dataset. Spatial patterns in all three
      projections are broadly similar; the average year for the onset of annual severe
      bleaching is 2040-2043 for all projections. However, downscaled projections show
      many locations where the onset of annual severe bleaching (ASB) varies 10 or more
      years within a single GCM grid cell. Managers in locations where this applies
      (e.g., Florida, Turks and Caicos, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, among
      others) can identify locations that represent relative albeit temporary refugia.
      Both downscaled projections are different for the Bahamas compared to the GCM
      projections. The dynamically downscaled projections suggest an earlier onset of
      ASB linked to projected changes in regional currents, a feature not resolved in
      GCMs. This result demonstrates the value of dynamical downscaling for this
      application and means statistically downscaled projections have to be interpreted
      with caution. However, aside from west of Andros Island, the projections for the
      two types of downscaling are mostly aligned; projected onset of ASB is within +/
      10 years for 72% of the reef locations.

PMID- 25833699
TI  - Conflict of Interest and Ethics at IFAR.

PMID- 25833700
TI  - Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and CRS with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP).

PMID- 25833701
TI  - Predictive markers of chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer: comparison of biopsy
      specimens taken before and about 1 week after the start of chemoradiotherapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) significantly decreases local
      recurrence in patients with rectal cancer. Although various biomarkers in biopsy
      specimens obtained before starting CRT have been examined, reliable prognostic
      factors have yet to be established. We tested the hypothesis that biopsy
      specimens obtained soon after the start of CRT can be used as prognostic factors.
      METHODS: Preoperative CRT was given to 70 consecutive patients with rectal
      cancer. Biopsies were taken before and about 7 days after starting CRT. The
      specimens were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE), and the expressions of
      Ki67, p53, and p21 and apoptosis were evaluated immunohistochemically. RESULTS:
      The expressions of Ki67, p53, and p21 and apoptosis before treatment were not
      significantly related to histologic response or tumor shrinkage. In specimens
      obtained about 7 days after CRT began, marked histologic regression was
      significantly higher in p21-positive, apoptosis-positive cases, and in cases with
      moderate changes on HE specimens (p = 0.017, p = 0.010, and p = 0.004,
      respectively). The tumor shrinkage was significantly higher in apoptosis-positive
      cases and cases with moderate changes on HE specimens (p = 0.002 and p < 0.001,
      respectively). Disease-free survival (DFS) was significantly higher in patients
      who had marked regression than in those who did not (p = 0.019). DFS was also
      significantly higher in patients with moderate changes on HE specimens than in
      those with mild changes (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: Changes on HE-stained biopsy
      specimens obtained about 1 week after starting CRT are a reliable prognostic
      factor, similar to histologic marked regression in resected specimens; a major
      advantage is that the former results are available at an early phase.

PMID- 25833702
TI  - Studies using Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data for
      pharmacoepidemiological research: a systematic review of the published literature
      (1987-2013).
AB  - PURPOSE: Research using dispensing claims is used increasingly to study post
      market medicines use and outcomes. The purpose of this review is to catalogue
      more than 25 years of published literature using Australia's Pharmaceutical
      Benefits Scheme (PBS) dispensing records. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE,
      PreMEDLINE and Embase and conducted author searches for studies published from
      1987 to 2013. Independent reviewers screened abstracts of 3209 articles and
      reviewed 264 full-text manuscripts. Included studies used PBS dispensing data to
      measure patterns and/or outcomes of prescribed medicines use or dispensing claims
      to derive a proxy for a specific disease cohort or health outcome. RESULTS: Of
      the 228 studies identified, 106 used PBS claims only (56 using claims-level data
      and 50 using individual-level data) and 63 studies linked individual-level PBS
      claims to other health data. Most commonly, studies examined trends in drug
      utilisation (33%), clinician and patient practices (26%), drug use and outcomes
      (18%) and evaluations of intervention impacts (17%). Sixty-two percent of studies
      using individual-level data were based on a subset of elderly Australians. Most
      studies focused on drug classes acting on the nervous system (36%),
      cardiovascular system (15%) and alimentary tract (11%). Few studies examined
      prescribed medicines use in children and pregnant women. CONCLUSIONS:
      Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme claims represent a significant resource to examine
      Australia's billion-dollar annual investment in prescribed medicines. The body of
      research is growing and has increased in complexity over time. Australia has
      great potential to undertake world-class, whole-of-population
      pharmacoepidemiological studies. Recent investment in data linkage infrastructure
      will significantly enhance these opportunities.

PMID- 25833703
TI  - Combination antihypertensive therapy in clinical practice. The analysis of 1254
      consecutive patients with uncontrolled hypertension.
AB  - The aim of the study was to analyze the clinical use of different types of
      combination therapy in a large sample of consecutive patients with uncontrolled
      hypertension referred to Hypertension Centre. We performed a retrospective
      analysis of combination antihypertensive therapy in 1254 consecutive patients
      with uncontrolled hypertension receiving at least triple-combination
      antihypertensive therapy. Among the most prescribed antihypertensive classes were
      renin-angiotensin blockers (96.8%), calcium channel blockers (82.5%), diuretics
      (82.0%), beta-blockers (73.0%), centrally acting drugs (56.0%) and urapidil
      (24.1%). Least prescribed were spironolactone (22.2%) and alpha-1-blockers
      (17.1%). Thiazide/thiazide-like diuretics were underdosed in more than two-thirds
      of patients. Furosemide was prescribed in 14.3% of patients treated with
      diuretics, while only indicated in 3.9%. Inappropriate combination therapy was
      found in 40.4% of patients. Controversial dual and higher blockade of renin
      angiotensin system occurred in 25.2%. Incorrect use of a combination of two
      antihypertensive drugs with the similar mechanism of action was found in 28.1%,
      most commonly a combination of two drugs with central mechanism (13.5%). In
      conclusion, use of controversial or incorrect combinations of drugs in
      uncontrolled hypertension is common. Diuretics are frequently underdosed and
      spironolactone remains neglected in general practice. The improper combination of
      antihypertensive drugs may contribute to uncontrolled hypertension. 

PMID- 25833704
TI  - Factors associated with hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control
      among participants in the International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS).
AB  - The aim of this study is to assess the factors associated with hypertension
      prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control, in the elderly populations of the
      International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS). Approximately 200 men and 200
      women aged 65-74 years were recruited at each site (n=1995) during IMIAS' 2012
      baseline survey at five cities: Kingston (Canada), Saint-Hyacinthe (Canada),
      Tirana (Albania), Manizales (Colombia) and Natal (Brazil). Blood pressure and
      anthropometric measurements were taken at participants' homes. Hypertension
      prevalence ranged from 53.4% in Saint-Hyacinthe to 83.5% in Tirana. Diabetes and
      obesity were identified as risk factors in all cities. More than two-thirds of
      hypertensive participants were aware of their condition (from 67.3% in Saint
      Hyacinthe to 85.4% in Tirana); women were more aware than men. Awareness was
      positively associated with diabetes in Kingston, Manizales and Natal. Though most
      of those aware of their hypertensive condition were being treated
      pharmacologically, associations between awareness and physical activity and
      refraining from smoking were weak. Control among treated hypertensive
      participants was low, especially in Tirana and Natal. Diabetes and physical
      inactivity were associated with poor hypertension control. Hypertension is common
      in the older populations of IMIAS. Diabetes is strongly associated with
      hypertension prevalence, awareness and lack of control of hypertension. The fact
      that awareness is not strongly associated with healthy behaviours suggests that
      antihypertensive medication is not accompanied by non-pharmacological therapies.
      Improved health behaviours could strengthen hypertension control. Efforts should
      be made to increase men's awareness of hypertension. Hypertension control in
      diabetic patients is a challenge. 

PMID- 25833705
TI  - Differences in the management of hypertension, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia
      between obesity classes.
AB  - We did not find any paper that assessed clinical inertia in obese patients.
      Therefore, no paper has compared the clinical inertia rates between morbidly and
      nonmorbidly obese patients. A cross-sectional observational study was carried
      out. We analysed 8687 obese patients ?40 years of age who attended their health
      care center for a checkup as part of a preventive program. The outcome was morbid
      obesity. Secondary variables were as follows: failure in the management of high
      blood pressure (HBP), high blood cholesterol (HBC) and high fasting blood glucose
      (HFBG); gender; personal history of hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, smoking
      and cardiovascular disease; and age (years). We analysed the association between
      failures and morbid obesity by calculating the adjusted odds ratio (OR). Of 8687
      obese patients, 421 had morbid obesity (4.8%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 4.4
      5.3%). The prevalence rates for failures were as follows: HBP, 34.7%; HBC, 35.2%;
      and HFBG, 12.4%. Associated factors with morbid obesity related with failures
      were as follows: failure in the management of HBP (OR=1.42, 95% CI: 1.15-1.74,
      P=0.001); failure in the management of HBC (OR=0.73, 95% CI: 0.58-0.91, P=0.004);
      and failure in the management of HFBG (OR=2.24, 95% CI: 1.66-3.03, P<0.001).
      Morbidly obese patients faced worse management for HBP and HFBG, and better
      management for HBC. It would be interesting to integrate alarm systems to avoid
      this problem. 

PMID- 25833706
TI  - Medication adherence and visit-to-visit variability of systolic blood pressure in
      African Americans with chronic kidney disease in the AASK trial.
AB  - Lower adherence to antihypertensive medications may increase visit-to-visit
      variability of blood pressure (VVV of BP), a risk factor for cardiovascular
      events and death. We used data from the African American Study of Kidney Disease
      and Hypertension (AASK) trial to examine whether lower medication adherence is
      associated with higher systolic VVV of BP in African Americans with hypertensive
      chronic kidney disease (CKD). Determinants of VVV of BP were also explored. AASK
      participants (n=988) were categorized by self-report or pill count as having
      perfect (100%), moderately high (75-99%), moderately low (50-74%) or low (<50%)
      proportion of study visits with high medication adherence over a 1-year follow-up
      period. We used multinomial logistic regression to examine determinants of
      medication adherence, and multivariable-adjusted linear regression to examine the
      association between medication adherence and systolic VVV of BP, defined as the
      coefficient of variation or the average real variability (ARV). Participants with
      lower self-reported adherence were generally younger and had a higher prevalence
      of comorbid conditions. Compared with perfect adherence, moderately high,
      moderately low and low adherence was associated with 0.65% (+/-0.31%), 0.99% (+/
      0.31%) and 1.29% (+/-0.32%) higher systolic VVV of BP (defined as the coefficient
      of variation) in fully adjusted models. Results were qualitatively similar when
      using ARV or when using pill counts as the measure of adherence. Lower medication
      adherence is associated with higher systolic VVV of BP in African Americans with
      hypertensive CKD; efforts to improve medication adherence in this population may
      reduce systolic VVV of BP. 

PMID- 25833707
TI  - Elephant conservation and corruption beyond the ivory trade.

PMID- 25833708
TI  - Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (Gsk-3) plays a fundamental role in maintaining DNA
      methylation at imprinted loci in mouse embryonic stem cells.
AB  - Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (Gsk-3) is a key regulator of multiple signal
      transduction pathways. Recently we described a novel role for Gsk-3 in the
      regulation of DNA methylation at imprinted loci in mouse embryonic stem cells
      (ESCs), suggesting that epigenetic changes regulated by Gsk-3 are likely an
      unrecognized facet of Gsk-3 signaling. Here we extend our initial observation to
      the entire mouse genome by enriching for methylated DNA with the MethylMiner kit
      and performing next-generation sequencing (MBD-Seq) in wild-type and Gsk-3alpha(
      /-);Gsk-3beta(-/-) ESCs. Consistent with our previous data, we found that 77% of
      known imprinted loci have reduced DNA methylation in Gsk-3-deficient ESCs. More
      specifically, we unambiguously identified changes in DNA methylation within
      regions that have been confirmed to function as imprinting control regions. In
      many cases, the reduced DNA methylation at imprinted loci in Gsk-3alpha(-/-);Gsk
      3beta(-/-) ESCs was accompanied by changes in gene expression as well.
      Furthermore, many of the Gsk-3-dependent, differentially methylated regions
      (DMRs) are identical to the DMRs recently identified in uniparental ESCs. Our
      data demonstrate the importance of Gsk-3 activity in the maintenance of DNA
      methylation at a majority of the imprinted loci in ESCs and emphasize the
      importance of Gsk-3-mediated signal transduction in the epigenome. 

PMID- 25833709
TI  - Pat1 protects centromere-specific histone H3 variant Cse4 from Psh1-mediated
      ubiquitination.
AB  - Evolutionarily conserved histone H3 variant Cse4 and its homologues are essential
      components of specialized centromere (CEN)-specific nucleosomes and serve as an
      epigenetic mark for CEN identity and propagation. Cse4 is a critical determinant
      for the structure and function of the kinetochore and is required to ensure
      faithful chromosome segregation. The kinetochore protein Pat1 regulates the
      levels and spatial distribution of Cse4 at centromeres. Deletion of PAT1 results
      in altered structure of CEN chromatin and chromosome segregation errors. In this
      study, we show that Pat1 protects CEN-associated Cse4 from ubiquitination in
      order to maintain proper structure and function of the kinetochore in budding
      yeast. PAT1-deletion strains exhibit increased ubiquitination of Cse4 and faster
      turnover of Cse4 at kinetochores. Psh1, a Cse4-specific E3-ubiquitin ligase,
      interacts with Pat1 in vivo and contributes to the increased ubiquitination of
      Cse4 in pat1? strains. Consistent with a role of Psh1 in ubiquitination of Cse4,
      transient induction of PSH1 in a wild-type strain resulted in phenotypes similar
      to a pat1? strain, including a reduction in CEN-associated Cse4, increased Cse4
      ubiquitination, defects in spatial distribution of Cse4 at kinetochores, and
      altered structure of CEN chromatin. Pat1 interacts with Scm3 and is required for
      its maintenance at kinetochores. In conclusion, our studies provide novel
      insights into mechanisms by which Pat1 affects the structure of CEN chromatin and
      protects Cse4 from Psh1-mediated ubiquitination for faithful chromosome
      segregation. 

PMID- 25833710
TI  - The Arp2/3 complex has essential roles in vesicle trafficking and transcytosis in
      the mammalian small intestine.
AB  - The Arp2/3 complex is the only known nucleator of branched F-actin filaments.
      Work in cultured cells has established a wide array of functions for this complex
      in controlling cell migration, shape, and adhesion. However, loss of Arp2/3
      complex function in tissues has yielded cell type-specific phenotypes. Here we
      report essential functions of the Arp2/3 complex in the intestinal epithelium.
      The Arp2/3 complex was dispensable for intestinal development, generation of
      cortical F-actin, and cell polarity. However, it played essential roles in
      vesicle trafficking. We found that in the absence of ArpC3, enterocytes had
      defects in the organization of the endolysosomal system. These defects were
      physiologically relevant, as transcytosis of IgG was disrupted, lipid absorption
      was perturbed, and neonatal mice died within days of birth. These data highlight
      the important roles of the Arp2/3 complex in vesicle trafficking in enterocytes
      and suggest that defects in cytoplasmic F-actin assembly by the Arp2/3 complex,
      rather than cortical pools, underlie many of the phenotypes seen in the mutant
      small intestine. 

PMID- 25833711
TI  - Chromatids segregate without centrosomes during Caenorhabditis elegans mitosis in
      a Ran- and CLASP-dependent manner.
AB  - During mitosis, chromosomes are connected to a microtubule-based spindle. Current
      models propose that displacement of the spindle poles and/or the activity of
      kinetochore microtubules generate mechanical forces that segregate sister
      chromatids. Using laser destruction of the centrosomes during Caenorhabditis
      elegans mitosis, we show that neither of these mechanisms is necessary to achieve
      proper chromatid segregation. Our results strongly suggest that an outward force
      generated by the spindle midzone, independently of centrosomes, is sufficient to
      segregate chromosomes in mitotic cells. Using mutant and RNAi analysis, we show
      that the microtubule-bundling protein SPD-1/MAP-65 and BMK-1/kinesin-5 act as a
      brake opposing the force generated by the spindle midzone. Conversely, we
      identify a novel role for two microtubule-growth and nucleation agents, Ran and
      CLASP, in the establishment of the centrosome-independent force during anaphase.
      Their involvement raises the interesting possibility that microtubule
      polymerization of midzone microtubules is continuously required to sustain
      chromosome segregation during mitosis. 

PMID- 25833712
TI  - Centriolar satellite- and hMsd1/SSX2IP-dependent microtubule anchoring is
      critical for centriole assembly.
AB  - Centriolar satellites are numerous electron-dense granules dispersed around the
      centrosome. Mutations in their components are linked to various human diseases,
      but their molecular roles remain elusive. In particular, the significance of
      spatial communication between centriolar satellites and the centrosome is
      unknown. hMsd1/SSX2IP localizes to both the centrosome and centriolar satellites
      and is required for tethering microtubules to the centrosome. Here we show that
      hMsd1/SSX2IP-mediated microtubule anchoring is essential for proper centriole
      assembly and duplication. On hMsd1/SSX2IP knockdown, the centriolar satellites
      become stuck at the microtubule minus end near the centrosome. Intriguingly,
      these satellites contain many proteins that normally localize to the centrosome.
      Of importance, microtubule structures, albeit not being anchored properly, are
      still required for the emergence of abnormal satellites, as complete microtubule
      depolymerization results in the disappearance of these aggregates from the
      vicinity of the centrosome. We highlighted, using superresolution and electron
      microscopy, that under these conditions, centriole structures are faulty.
      Remarkably, these cells are insensitive to Plk4 overproduction-induced ectopic
      centriole formation, yet they accelerate centrosome reduplication upon
      hydroxyurea arrest. Finally, the appearance of satellite aggregates is cancer
      cell specific. Together our findings provide novel insights into the mechanism of
      centriole assembly and microtubule anchoring. 

PMID- 25833713
TI  - Misfolding of mutant adenine nucleotide translocase in yeast supports a novel
      mechanism of Ant1-induced muscle diseases.
AB  - Approximately one-third of proteins in the cell reside in the membrane. Mutations
      in membrane proteins can induce conformational changes and expose nonnative polar
      domains/residues to the lipid environment. The molecular effect of the resulting
      membrane stress is poorly defined. Adenine nucleotide translocase 1 (Ant1) is a
      mitochondrial inner membrane protein involved in ATP/ADP exchange. Missense
      mutations in the Ant1 isoform cause autosomal dominant progressive external
      ophthalmoplegia (adPEO), cardiomyopathy, and myopathy. The mechanism of the Ant1
      induced pathologies is highly debated. Here we show that equivalent mutations in
      the yeast Aac2 protein cause protein misfolding. Misfolded Aac2 drastically
      affects the assembly and stability of multiple protein complexes in the membrane,
      which ultimately inhibits cell growth. Despite causing similar proteostatic
      damages, the adPEO- but not the cardiomyopathy/myopathy-type Aac2 proteins form
      large aggregates. The data suggest that the Ant1-induced diseases belong to
      protein misfolding disorders. Protein homeostasis is subtly maintained on the
      mitochondrial inner membrane and can be derailed by the misfolding of one single
      protein with or without aggregate formation. This finding could have broad
      implications for understanding other dominant diseases (e.g., retinitis
      pigmentosa) caused by missense mutations in membrane proteins. 

PMID- 25833715
TI  - Unveiling the optimal parameters for cellulolytic characteristics of Talaromyces
      verruculosus SGMNPf3 and its secretory enzymes.
AB  - AIMS: Elucidation of different physico-chemical parameters and the secretory
      enzymes released by Talaromyces verruculosus SGMNPf3 during cellulosic biomass
      degradation. METHODS AND RESULTS: We determined the optimal pH, temperature and
      time course parameters for the efficient degradation of different natural and
      commercial cellulosic substrates by T. verruculosus SGMNPf3, previously isolated
      from a forest soil. The optimal growth of the fungus and production of its
      cellulases were obtained when the culture condition was maintained at pH 3.3 and
      temperature 30 degrees C. Activity of the crude cellulases was maximum at 60
      degrees C. Activity of cellulase enzymes produced on natural cellulose substrates
      was higher than that on commercial cellulose substrates. A continuous increase in
      cellulase activity at different time points indicated no apparent end product
      inhibition. This might be attributed to the high individual cellulases, notably
      beta-glucosidase (316.1 MUmol g(-1) ) production. Zymogram of extracellular crude
      proteins showed two dominant extracellular protein bands of molecular weight 72.3
      and 61.4 kDa, indicating their cellulolytic nature. MALDI-TOF and LC-MS/MS
      analysis of the 2DE spots also identified several enzymes including beta
      glucosidase involved in the process of cellulose degradation. CONCLUSIONS: Based
      on its optimal parameters for cellulolytic activities, we suggest that the fungus
      is acido-mesophilic. There was apparently no end-product inhibition of the
      cellulase activity and this is attributed to the ability of the fungus to produce
      sufficient beta-glucosidase. The dominant proteins secreted by the fungus were
      confirmed to be cellulases. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The high
      individual cellulase activities, better cellulase production on natural
      substrates and apparent absence of end-product inhibition are characteristics of
      T. verruculosus SGMNPf3 for use in harvesting naturally endowed energy in
      cellulosic biomass.

PMID- 25833714
TI  - Generating evidence to narrow the treatment gap for mental disorders in sub
      Saharan Africa: rationale, overview and methods of AFFIRM.
AB  - There is limited evidence on the acceptability, feasibility and cost
      effectiveness of task-sharing interventions to narrow the treatment gap for
      mental disorders in sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this article is to
      describe the rationale, aims and methods of the Africa Focus on Intervention
      Research for Mental health (AFFIRM) collaborative research hub. AFFIRM is
      investigating strategies for narrowing the treatment gap for mental disorders in
      sub-Saharan Africa in four areas. First, it is assessing the feasibility,
      acceptability and cost-effectiveness of task-sharing interventions by conducting
      randomised controlled trials in Ethiopia and South Africa. The AFFIRM Task
      sharing for the Care of Severe mental disorders (TaSCS) trial in Ethiopia aims to
      determine the acceptability, affordability, effectiveness and sustainability of
      mental health care for people with severe mental disorder delivered by trained
      and supervised non-specialist, primary health care workers compared with an
      existing psychiatric nurse-led service. The AFFIRM trial in South Africa aims to
      determine the cost-effectiveness of a task-sharing counselling intervention for
      maternal depression, delivered by non-specialist community health workers, and to
      examine factors influencing the implementation of the intervention and future
      scale up. Second, AFFIRM is building individual and institutional capacity for
      intervention research in sub-Saharan Africa by providing fellowship and
      mentorship programmes for candidates in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda and
      Zimbabwe. Each year five Fellowships are awarded (one to each country) to attend
      the MPhil in Public Mental Health, a joint postgraduate programme at the
      University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University. AFFIRM also offers short
      courses in intervention research, and supports PhD students attached to the
      trials in Ethiopia and South Africa. Third, AFFIRM is collaborating with other
      regional National Institute of Mental Health funded hubs in Latin America, sub
      Saharan Africa and south Asia, by designing and executing shared research
      projects related to task-sharing and narrowing the treatment gap. Finally, it is
      establishing a network of collaboration between researchers, non-governmental
      organisations and government agencies that facilitates the translation of
      research knowledge into policy and practice. This article describes the
      developmental process of this multi-site approach, and provides a narrative of
      challenges and opportunities that have arisen during the early phases. Crucial to
      the long-term sustainability of this work is the nurturing and sustaining of
      partnerships between African mental health researchers, policy makers,
      practitioners and international collaborators. 

PMID- 25833717
TI  - Environmental microbes and uveitis: is microbial exposure always bad?
AB  - The eye generally is considered to be an immune-privileged organ, but this notion
      is being increasingly challenged as ocular antigens can be expressed in the
      generative lymphoid organs, resulting in attainment of self-tolerance. What
      triggers a break in this tolerant state is a fundamental question in autoimmunity
      research. The general belief is that exposure to environmental microbes can break
      self-tolerance in genetically susceptible individuals, leading to the induction
      of autoimmune responses. The molecular mimicry hypothesis has been proposed as
      one major mechanistic, pathway through which microbes, by generating cross
      reactive immune responses, can induce ocular damage of the kind that might occur
      in uveitis. However, our recent data suggest that exposure to microbial products
      containing mimicry epitopes for retinal antigens can potentially be beneficial to
      the host. In this review, we discuss the immune mechanisms with particular
      reference to the molecular mimicry hypothesis as it relates to immune-mediated
      uveitis. 

PMID- 25833716
TI  - Enantioselective palladium(0)-catalyzed Nazarov-type cyclization.
AB  - A Pd(0)-catalyzed asymmetric Nazarov-type cyclization is described. The optimized
      ligand for the reaction incorporates a weakly coordinating pyridine ring into a
      TADDOL-derived phosphoramidite (TADDOL=alpha,alpha,alpha,alpha-tetraaryl-1,3
      dioxolane-4,5-dimethanol). The reaction leads to the formation of cyclopentenones
      as single diastereoisomers that incorporate two contiguous asymmetric centers,
      one tertiary and one an all-carbon-atom quaternary stereocenter, in high yield
      and optical purity. It is noteworthy that the reaction does not require that
      substrates should be activated by aryl substituents.

PMID- 25833718
TI  - Enhancing the mechanical and biological performance of a metallic biomaterial for
      orthopedic applications through changes in the surface oxide layer by
      nanocrystalline surface modification.
AB  - Nanostructured metals are a promising class of biomaterials for application in
      orthopedics to improve the mechanical performance and biological response for
      increasing the life of biomedical implants. Surface mechanical attrition
      treatment (SMAT) is an efficient way of engineering nanocrystalline surfaces on
      metal substrates. In this work, 316L stainless steel (SS), a widely used
      orthopedic biomaterial, was subjected to SMAT to generate a nanocrystalline
      surface. Surface nanocrystallization modified the nature of the oxide layer
      present on the surface. It increased the corrosion-fatigue strength in saline by
      50%. This increase in strength is attributed to a thicker oxide layer, residual
      compressive stresses, high strength of the surface layer, and lower propensity
      for intergranular corrosion in the nanocrystalline layer. Nanocrystallization
      also enhanced osteoblast attachment and proliferation. Intriguingly, wettability
      and surface roughness, the key parameters widely acknowledged for controlling the
      cellular response remained unchanged after nanocrystallization. The observed
      cellular behavior is explained in terms of the changes in electronic properties
      of the semiconducting passive oxide film present on the surface of 316L SS.
      Nanocrystallization increased the charge carrier density of the n-type oxide film
      likely preventing denaturation of the adsorbed cell-adhesive proteins such as
      fibronectin. In addition, a net positive charge developed on the otherwise
      neutral oxide layer, which is known to facilitate cellular adhesion. The role of
      changes in the electronic properties of the oxide films on metal substrates is
      thus highlighted in this work. This study demonstrates the advantages of
      nanocrystalline surface modification by SMAT for processing metallic biomaterials
      used in orthopedic implants. 

PMID- 25833719
TI  - The contribution of germinal mosaicism to human aneuploidy.
AB  - Germinal mosaicism in a parent is considered to be a rare cause of aneuploidy in
      the offspring. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of pre-meiotic
      errors, indicative of germinal mosaicism, leading to aneuploidy compared with
      those that occur at meiosis I. The material consisted of 126 oocytes, unexposed
      to sperm, donated by 57 women with an average maternal age of 35. The oocytes
      were at various stages of maturity and were analysed by array comparative genomic
      hybridisation. Of these, 102 gave conclusive results, comprising 47 that were
      immature, at the germinal vesicle (GV) or metaphase I stage (MI); 34 complete
      metaphase II-first polar body (MII-PB) complexes together with 21 incomplete
      complexes. Oocytes at the GV or MI stage provide direct evidence of pre-meiotic
      aneuploidy. Complete MII-PB complexes with the expected reciprocal gains/losses
      provide information on MI errors; those with non-reciprocal gains have pre
      meiotic errors. Overall, 29 oocytes were aneuploid, and the source of the error
      was known for 21. In 8 (from 7 women) the error was pre-meiotic consisting of 4
      MI oocytes and 4 MII-PB complexes with non-reciprocal gains. The remaining 13
      were the result of errors at meiosis I. Although pre-meiotic errors occurred in
      only 10% of informative oocytes, most notable was the fact that for those oocytes
      where the source of the error was known, 38% were caused by germinal mosaicism
      compared with 62% that were the outcome of a meiosis I error. None of the women
      with germinal mosaicism were infertile.

PMID- 25833720
TI  - Enhancement of cysteine catabolism into taurine impacts glutathione homeostasis
      in rats challenged with ethanol.
AB  - We determined the alterations in metabolic conversion of cysteine into
      glutathione and taurine in liver of rats treated with ethanol acutely. Ethanol
      treatment reduced cysteine as well as glutathione levels in liver for 24 h.
      However, cysteine dioxygenase was up-regulated rapidly, and hypotaurine/taurine
      levels were significantly higher than those found in the saline-treated rats. It
      is therefore suggested that enhancement of cysteine catabolism into taurine
      contributes to the depletion of hepatic glutathione, which could exacerbate the
      ethanol-induced oxidative liver injury.

PMID- 25833721
TI  - Recent topics in graft-versus-host disease: from the perspectives of pathogenesis
      and treatment.

PMID- 25833722
TI  - Increased number of peripheral CD8+ T cells but not eosinophils is associated
      with late-onset skin reactions caused by bendamustine.
AB  - Bendamustine is a chemotherapeutic drug that has recently come to be used
      frequently in the treatment of indolent B cell lymphomas. Skin toxicity is
      recognized as one of its characteristic side effects, but detailed information on
      such reactions has not yet been obtained. To clarify the clinical features of
      skin toxicity associated with bendamustine, we retrospectively analyzed skin
      reactions that developed in patients treated with bendamustine and rituximab
      (BR). Of 34 patients treated with 3-6 cycles of BR, 11 developed late-onset,
      persistent skin eruptions. These patients demonstrated increases in CD8(+) T cell
      number and CD8(+):CD4(+) cell ratio at the end of chemotherapy. In contrast,
      peripheral eosinophil count was not associated with such adverse events, whereas
      eosinophil infiltration was frequently observed in the skin. Patients with skin
      reactions tended to have higher seropositivity of hepatitis B core antibody, and
      multiplex viral screening PCR of the frozen sera demonstrated cytomegalovirus-DNA
      in some of the eruption-positive patients. It is speculated that inappropriate
      activation of CD8(+) T cells by latently infected pathogens may be one of the
      triggers of late-onset skin reactions caused by bendamustine. 

PMID- 25833723
TI  - Myelodysplastic syndrome with t(9;22)(p24;q11.2), a BCR-JAK2 fusion: case report
      and review of the literature.
AB  - The human JAK2 gene is mainly targeted by two types of genetic lesions that play
      roles in the pathogenesis of hematologic malignancies: intragenic mutations and
      chromosomal translocations. Chromosomal translocations of JAK2 are typically
      associated with myeloid or lymphoid malignancies with an aggressive course and
      poor outcome. Here we report a t(9;22)(p24;q11.2) translocation, in a MDS patient
      and review results associated with BCR-JAK2 fusion reported in the literature. 

PMID- 25833725
TI  - Factors Influencing Suicidal Ideation Among Korean Adults by Age: Results of the
      2010-2011 Korean Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
AB  - Suicidal ideation increases the risk of suicide. This study investigated the age
      specific contributions of sociodemographic factors, health status, and health
      behaviors to suicidal ideation using nationally representative data. The factors
      associated with suicidal ideation differ by age. Perceived bad health, stress,
      and depression had a significant influence on suicidal ideation in all age
      groups, but their specific effects differed in different age groups. The
      influence of perceived bad health increased with age, and the effect of stress
      was strongest among those aged 45-64 years. Moreover, the effect of being
      depressed decreased by age and was strongest among those 20-44 years of age.
      Disease and marital status did not have a significant effect on suicidal ideation
      among those 45-64 years old, and education had no effect among those 65 years or
      older.

PMID- 25833724
TI  - Sustained remission of chronic immune thrombocytopenia after discontinuation of
      treatment with thrombopoietin-receptor agonists in adults.
AB  - Thrombopoietin-receptor agonists (TPO-RAs) are highly effective in immune
      thrombocytopenia (ITP). Recently, reports of sustained remission after TPO-RA
      discontinuation in adult ITP have been reported. We aimed to describe the subset
      of patients in whom TPO-RA therapy may induce a durable response. We
      retrospectively analyzed all of our adult ITP patients treated with TPO-RAs, and
      focused on patients with discontinued TPO-RA therapy due to treatment response.
      Forty-six relapsed or refractory ITP patients were treated with TPO-RAs. In 11 of
      these cases, TPO-RA therapy (seven romiplostim; four eltrombopag) was stopped
      after achieving treatment response. No side effects of TPO-RAs were observed.
      These patients were pretreated with 1-3 therapy lines plus splenectomy in six
      patients prior to TPO-RA administration. None of these patients experienced
      disease relapse after therapy discontinuation over a median follow-up of 33
      months (16-54). Substantial proportion of ITP patients receiving TPO-RAs can
      maintain a durable response after treatment discontinuation. Sustained ITP
      remission probably does not depend on previous treatment, splenectomy, or disease
      duration.

PMID- 25833726
TI  - Treatment Satisfaction Among Patients Taking Antidepressant Medication.
AB  - This study sought to assess treatment satisfaction among patients on
      antidepressants, ascertaining whether there might be an association with
      depressive symptomatology and other variables. Cross-sectional study conducted on
      564 adult patients taking antidepressant medication. Satisfaction with
      antidepressant treatment was assessed using the Assessment of Satisfaction with
      Antidepressant Treatment Questionnaire (ESTA/Evaluacion de la Satisfaccion con el
      Tratamiento Antidepresivo). A moderate negative correlation was observed between
      satisfaction and intensity of depressive symptoms, as assessed with the
      Montgomery-Asberg scale. A weak negative correlation was observed between greater
      satisfaction and less favourable views about taking medication. Satisfaction
      scale scores were higher among those who took antidepressant medication for 1
      year or more versus shorter periods. Most patients reported being satisfied with
      the antidepressant treatment but the level of satisfaction was higher among those
      who presented with less marked depressive symptoms, received longer-term
      treatment and viewed drug treatments favourably. Treatment satisfaction is one of
      the patient-reported outcome measures that can serve to complement clinical
      evaluation of depressive disorders.

PMID- 25833727
TI  - A pilot randomized trial of red blood cell transfusion for acute treatment of
      vaso-occlusive pain episodes in sickle cell anaemia.

PMID- 25833728
TI  - Between Scylla and Charybdis: charting an ethical course for research into
      financial incentives for living kidney donation.
AB  - New approaches to address the kidney scarcity in the United States are urgently
      needed. The greatest potential source of kidneys is from living donors. Proposals
      to offer financial incentives to increase living kidney donation rates remain
      highly controversial. Despite repeated calls for a pilot study to assess the
      impact of financial compensation on living kidney donation rates, many fear that
      financial incentives will exploit vulnerable individuals and cast the field of
      transplantation in a negative public light, ultimately reducing donation rates.
      This paper provides an ethical justification for conducting a pilot study of a
      federally regulated approach to providing financial incentives to living kidney
      donors, with the goal of assessing donors' perceptions. 

PMID- 25833729
TI  - Digit ratio (2D:4D) does not correlate with daily 17beta-estradiol and
      progesterone concentrations in healthy women of reproductive age.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) is proposed as a proxy for the
      prenatal balance of sex hormones, is related to hormone-dependent characteristics
      in adult life, and is a possible predictor of disease later in life. Here, we
      studied the relationship between 2D:4D and ovarian steroid hormones (17beta
      estradiol and progesterone) among women of reproductive age. METHODS: From 186
      healthy premenopausal women, aged 24-37 years, we collected saliva samples daily
      during the entire menstrual cycle. Data on reproductive and lifestyle
      characteristics were collected via questionnaires, and anthropometric
      measurements were performed. RESULTS: No statistically significant relationships
      were detected between adult women's sex hormone concentrations (17beta-estradiol
      and progesterone) during the menstrual cycle and 2D:4D, in either left or right
      hand, when controlling for size at birth, body mass index, and physical activity.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study shows, for the first time in a large sample of women of
      reproductive age, that 2D:4D is not a predictor of adult women's sex hormone
      concentration. The lack of relationship may be because 2D:4D might be genetically
      determined and is not related to maternal nutritional environment during fetal
      development. These results support the hypothesis that, in contrast to the
      nutritional quality of the fetal environment, the fetal hormonal environment
      (reflected by 2D:4D) does not determine reproductive physiology in later life.

PMID- 25833730
TI  - Complications of Flexible Ureteroscopic Treatment for Renal and Ureteral Calculi
      during the Learning Curve.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The flexible ureterorenoscope (URS) and associated devices have
      developed rapidly. However, despite its therapeutic benefits, URS may be
      associated with some complications. To the best of our knowledge, there are no
      studies discussing the complications of flexURS during the learning curve.
      METHODS: A retrospective review of the records of patients who underwent flexURS
      from January 2005 to June 2013 was performed. To compare the complications after
      the introduction of flexURS, patients were divided into four groups based on the
      surgeon's training experience, that is, based on the number of cases performed by
      the surgeon. A total of 219 cases underwent flexURS. Groups 1, 2, 3, and 4
      included 35, 50, 50, and 84 cases, respectively. The complications were
      classified using the Clavien system (I-IV). RESULTS: The mean operation time and
      stone-free rate were significantly different (p < 0.001, p = 0.013,
      respectively). The total complication rates were 13.6, 10, 8.3, and 3.2%,
      respectively (p = 0.068). The more the surgeon's experience, the less was the
      complication rate. Despite our best efforts, the incidence of urosepsis was not
      reduced (p = 0.902). CONCLUSIONS: To reduce severe complications, it is necessary
      to have performed about 100 cases. Increased surgeon experience tended to
      decrease the risk of severe complications, but the incidence of urosepsis was not
      reduced.

PMID- 25833732
TI  - Latent change score modeling as a method for analyzing the antidepressant effect
      of a psychosocial intervention in Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Developing and evaluating interventions for patients with age
      associated disorders is a rising field in psychotherapy research. Its
      methodological challenges include the high between-subject variability and the
      wealth of influencing factors associated with longer lifetime. Latent change
      score modeling (LCSM), a technique based on structural equation modeling, may be
      well suited to analyzing longitudinal data sets obtained in clinical trials.
      Here, we used LCSM to evaluate the antidepressant effect of a combined cognitive
      behavioral/cognitive rehabilitation (CB/CR) intervention in Alzheimer's disease
      (AD). METHODS: LCSM was applied to predict the change in depressive symptoms from
      baseline as an outcome of the CORDIAL study, a randomized controlled trial
      involving 201 patients with mild AD. The participants underwent either the
      CORDIAL CB/CR program or standard treatment. Using LCSM, the model best
      predicting changes in Geriatric Depression Scale scores was determined based on
      this data set. RESULTS: The best fit was achieved by a model predicting a decline
      in depressive symptoms between before and after testing. Assignment to the
      intervention group as well as female gender revealed significant effects in model
      fit indices, which remained stable at 6- and 12-month follow-up examinations. The
      pre-post effect was pronounced for patients with clinically relevant depressive
      symptoms at baseline. CONCLUSIONS: LCSM confirmed the antidepressant effect of
      the CORDIAL therapy program, which was limited to women. The effect was
      pronounced in patients with clinically relevant depressive symptoms at baseline.
      Methodologically, LCSM appears well suited to analyzing longitudinal data from
      clinical trials in aged populations, by accounting for the high between-subject
      variability and providing information on the differential indication of the
      probed intervention.

PMID- 25833731
TI  - Hinesol, a compound isolated from the essential oils of Atractylodes lancea
      rhizome, inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis in human leukemia HL-60
      cells.
AB  - Hinesol is a unique sesquiterpenoid isolated from the Chinese traditional
      medicine, Atractylodes lancea rhizome. In a previous study, we screened various
      natural products in human leukemia HL-60 cells and identified an essential oil
      fraction from A. lancea rhizome that exhibited apoptosis-inducing activity in
      these cells; hinesol was subsequently shown to be the compound responsible for
      this apoptosis-inducing activity. In this study, we describe the cytotoxic
      effects and molecular mechanisms of hinesol in HL-60 cells. The antitumor effect
      of hinesol was associated with apoptosis. When HL-60 cells were treated with
      hinesol, characteristic features of apoptosis, such as nuclear fragmentation and
      DNA fragmentation, were observed. These growth-inhibitory and apoptosis-inducing
      activities of hinesol in leukemia cells were much stronger than those of beta
      eudesmol, another compound isolated from the essential oil fraction. Furthermore,
      hinesol induced activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), but not p38, prior
      to the onset of apoptosis. These results suggested that hinesol induced apoptosis
      through the JNK signaling pathway in HL-60 cells. Therefore, hinesol may
      represent a novel medicinal drug having indications in the treatment of various
      cancers, including leukemia. 

PMID- 25833733
TI  - Phytochemical characterization and evaluation of anticataract potential of
      seabuckthorn leaf extract.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to carry out phytochemical characterization
      of aqueous extract of Seabuckthorn (SBT, Hippophae rhamnoides L.) leaves and
      evaluation of its therapeutic role in oxidative stress-induced cataract in
      isolated goat lenses using Vit. E as reference compound. ANIMAL STUDIED: A total
      of 42 goat eye lenses were used in the present study. PROCEDURE: Seabuckthorn
      leaf extract was characterized by total phenol content estimation and HPLC
      analysis of quercetin and catechin. Further, cataract was induced in goat lenses
      using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and anticataract activity was evaluated using the
      extract in the dose range of 100, 200, 500, and 1000 MUg/mL concentrations
      through estimation of biochemical markers such as superoxide dismutase (SOD),
      reduced glutathione (GSH), and malonaldehyde (MDA). RESULTS: The results of the
      phytochemical characterization showed the total phenol content of the extract to
      be 365 mg/g in terms of gallic acid equivalents. Quercetin and catechin were
      estimated to be 0.01 and 0.12% w/w, respectively. In biochemical analysis, H2O2
      introduction resulted in a decrease in SOD (approximately 85%) and GSH
      (approximately 63%) contents and an increase in MDA content (approximately 300%).
      The decreased levels of SOD and GSH were significantly restored in experimental
      groups receiving 500 and 1000 1g/mL of SBT extract. All the experimental groups
      showed significantly reduced MDA level in all the doses. CONCLUSION: Aqueous
      extract of SBT leaves showed the potential to delay onset and/or progression of
      cataract, at least during in vitro conditions. Results indicate the possibilities
      of evaluating this extract for its use as anticataract agent during in vivo
      conditions.

PMID- 25833734
TI  - Grapheme-color synesthesia subtypes: Stable individual differences reflected in
      posterior alpha-band oscillations.
AB  - Grapheme-color synesthesia is a condition in which seeing letters and numbers
      produces sensations of colors (e.g., the letter R may elicit a sky-blue percept).
      Recent evidence implicates posterior parietal areas, in addition to lower-level
      sensory processing regions, in the neurobiological mechanisms involved in
      synesthesia. Furthermore, these mechanisms seem to differ for "projectors"
      (synesthetes who report seeing the color "out there in the real world") versus
      "associators" (synesthetes who report the color to be only an internal
      experience). Relatively little is known about possible electrophysiological
      characteristics of grapheme-color synesthesia. Here we used EEG to investigate
      functional oscillatory differences among associators, projectors, and non
      synesthetes. Projectors had stronger stimulus-related alpha-band (~10 Hz) power
      over posterior parietal electrodes, compared to both associators and non
      synesthetes. Posterior alpha activity was not statistically significantly
      different between associators from non-synesthetes. We also performed a test
      retest assessment of the projector-associator score and found strong retest
      reliability, as evidenced by a correlation coefficient of .85. These findings
      demonstrate that the projector-associator distinction is highly reliable over
      time and is related to neural oscillations in the alpha band.

PMID- 25833736
TI  - Congratulations on the 20 years anniversary of Pathology International.

PMID- 25833738
TI  - Sulphate control by ettringite precipitation in textile industry wastewaters.
AB  - In the present study, ettringite precipitation was theoretically and
      experimentally evaluated as a means of sulphate removal. The results showed that
      ettringite precipitation is an effective and reliable method for sulphate
      removal. Synthetically prepared samples which were simulated to total wastewaters
      originating from the textile industry (sulphate concentration of 0.06 M) and to
      dye bath effluent (sulphate concentration of 0.22 M) were subjected to ettringite
      precipitation using the systems with Na2SO4-AlCl3-Ca(OH)2-NaOH, Na2SO4-AlCl3
      Ca(OH)2, and Na2CO3-Na2SO4-AlCl3-Na(OH)2. An equilibrium model involving
      precipitation more than one solid phase and with ionic strength correction was
      used to predict the sulphate removal efficiency as well as solution composition.
      The optimum pH for ettringite precipitation in all systems was found to be around
      12.0. By the application of the method, 0.06 M initial sulphate concentration was
      reduced down to 60 mg/L for synthetically prepared samples and 325 mg/L for real
      wastewater. For the concentrated samples of 0.22 M initial sulphate, remaining
      sulphate levels varying between 230 and 280 mg/L were obtained for both synthetic
      and real wastewater samples.

PMID- 25833739
TI  - Clinical practice of platelet transfusions in haemato-oncology.
AB  - Platelets are prophylactically transfused to patients receiving myeloablative
      chemotherapy. The trigger can be adapted if a patient has risk factors for
      bleeding. We performed an international survey to quantify differences in
      transfusion policies. While platelet counts are most important, bleeding, fever,
      use of anticoagulants and invasive procedures also determine transfusion
      strategies. The largest variation of triggers was observed for lumbar punctures
      and removal of central venous catheters.

PMID- 25833740
TI  - Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Confirmed Pleuritis in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
      Associated Shrinking Lung Syndrome.

PMID- 25833741
TI  - Ptch1 and Gli regulate Shh signalling dynamics via multiple mechanisms.
AB  - In the vertebrate neural tube, the morphogen Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) establishes a
      characteristic pattern of gene expression. Here we quantify the Shh gradient in
      the developing mouse neural tube and show that while the amplitude of the
      gradient increases over time, the activity of the pathway transcriptional
      effectors, Gli proteins, initially increases but later decreases. Computational
      analysis of the pathway suggests three mechanisms that could contribute to this
      adaptation: transcriptional upregulation of the inhibitory receptor Ptch1,
      transcriptional downregulation of Gli and the differential stability of active
      and inactive Gli isoforms. Consistent with this, Gli2 protein expression is
      downregulated during neural tube patterning and adaptation continues when the
      pathway is stimulated downstream of Ptch1. Moreover, the Shh-induced upregulation
      of Gli2 transcription prevents Gli activity levels from adapting in a different
      cell type, NIH3T3 fibroblasts, despite the upregulation of Ptch1. Multiple
      mechanisms therefore contribute to the intracellular dynamics of Shh signalling,
      resulting in different signalling dynamics in different cell types. 

PMID- 25833742
TI  - Beneficial bacteria affect Danio rerio development by the modulation of maternal
      factors involved in autophagic, apoptotic and dorsalizing processes.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Probiotic strains have been recognized to exert important roles
      in many biological systems, including immune response, growth, development and
      reproduction. However, to date, no studies have focused either on the relation
      among probiotics and maternal factors or on probiotics' ability to qualitatively
      and/or quantitatively modulate maternal transcripts. METHODS: In this study, the
      effects of Lactobacillus rhamnosus administered to parental fish on the control
      of maternal factors involved in autophagic, apoptotic and dorsalizing processes
      during zebrafish embryo development were assessed through q-PCRs, WMISH and TUNEL
      assay. RESULTS: The results we obtained show that probiotic induced significant
      changes in both maternal and zygotic mRNA levels involved in embryo development.
      The maternal autophagy-regulating genes herein investigated--ambra1a, ambra1b,
      beclin, lc3-, as well as those involved in the apoptotic process--caspase3, bcl2,
      bax--were modulated in disfavor and favor of the treated group, respectively.
      Also, the key transcripts ruling the dorsalizing process--goosecoid and chordin-
      were subject to a significant regulation of their gene expression. CONCLUSION:
      The results we acquired demonstrated that parentally administered Lactobacillus
      rhamnosus is able to modulate important physiological processes involved in
      zebrafish embryo development.

PMID- 25833743
TI  - Indoxyl sulfate, not P-cresyl sulfate, is associated with advanced glycation end
      products in patients on long-term hemodialysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are pro-inflammatory and
      pro-oxidative compounds that play a critical role in endothelial dysfunction and
      atherosclerosis. Protein-bound uremic toxins, indoxyl sulfate (IS) and p-cresyl
      sulfate (PCS), inhibit endothelial function. We explored the association of IS
      and PCS with AGEs in a hemodialysis (HD) cohort. METHODS: This study was a cross
      sectional study that recruited 129 stable patients on maintenance HD in a single
      medical center from July 1 to July 15, 2011. Serum levels of total and free IS,
      PCS and AGEs were measured concurrently. General laboratory results and patient
      background were also investigated. RESULTS: Serum levels of AGEs were associated
      with total IS (r = 2.7, p < 0.01) but not total PCS (r = 0.01, NS), free IS (r =
      0.11, NS) or free PCS (r = 0.04, NS) using Pearson's analysis. Multiple linear
      regression analysis showed that total IS was significantly related to AGEs (beta
      = 0.296, p < 0.01), free IS (beta = 0.502, p < 0.01) and creatinine (beta =
      0.294, p < 0.01). Serum AGEs levels were also independently correlated with
      diabetes status (beta = 0.250, p = 0.01) and total IS (beta = 0.341, p < 0.01)
      concentrations after adjusting for other confounding variables. Moreover,
      patients with diabetes had higher serum AGEs levels than patients without
      diabetes (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that serum levels of
      total IS were associated with AGEs levels, which may participate in the process
      of atherosclerosis.

PMID- 25833744
TI  - When nurses are also patients: Intimate partner violence and the health system as
      an enabler of women's health and agency in Johannesburg.
AB  - While violence against women is a recognised global health problem, women's
      agency in marginalised settings is poorly understood, particularly in relation to
      health systems. We explored agency as a practical and theoretical construct
      through qualitative research among 20 nurses with direct or indirect experiences
      of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Johannesburg. Interviews conducted from
      August 2013 to March 2014 generated rich descriptions from respondents in five
      health facilities. Nurses' self-reported IPV matched national prevalence of 24
      31%. Findings revealed the way in which agency is enacted by nurses, allowing
      them the economic means to leave abusive partnerships, yet disabling them from
      agency and health promotion in their workplace. At the same time, nurses expanded
      agentic possibilities for patients by enabling a national response to IPV within
      South African health clinics - one that is largely undocumented. We posit that
      nurses can serve as important agentic actors in public health systems in low- and
      middle-income country settings by assisting patients to address IPV, even in the
      absence of targeted training and guidelines. To ensure the health and well-being
      of women experiencing IPV, nurses should be supported by the health sector to
      respond skilfully to patients and to safely process their own experiences of
      violence. 

PMID- 25833745
TI  - Gene, environment and cognitive function: a Chinese twin ageing study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: the genetic and environmental contributions to cognitive function in
      the old people have been well addressed for the Western populations using twin
      modelling showing moderate to high heritability. No similar study has been
      conducted in the world largest and rapidly ageing Chinese population living under
      distinct environmental condition as the Western populations. OBJECTIVE: this
      study aims to explore the genetic and environmental impact on normal cognitive
      ageing in the Chinese twins. DESIGN/SETTING: cognitive function was measured on
      384 complete twin pairs with median age of 50 years for seven cognitive
      measurements including visuospatial, linguistic skills, naming, memory,
      attention, abstraction and orientation abilities. Data were analysed by fitting
      univariate and bivariate twin models to estimate the genetic and environmental
      components in the variance and co-variance of the cognitive assessments. RESULTS:
      intra-pair correlation on cognitive measurements was low to moderate in
      monozygotic twins (0.23-0.41, overall 0.42) and low in dizygotic twins (0.05
      0.30, overall 0.31) with the former higher than the latter for each item.
      Estimate for heritability was moderate for overall cognitive function (0.44, 95%
      CI: 0.34-0.53) and low to moderate for visuospatial, naming, attention and
      orientation abilities ranging from 0.28 to 0.38. No genetic contribution was
      estimated to linguistic skill, abstraction and memory which instead were under
      low to moderate control by shared environmental factors accounting for 23-33% of
      the total variances. In contrast, all cognitive performances showed moderate to
      high influences by the unique environmental factors. CONCLUSIONS: genetic factor
      and common family environment have a limited contribution to cognitive function
      in the Chinese adults. Individual unique environment is likely to play a major
      role in determining the levels of cognitive performance.

PMID- 25833746
TI  - Inhibition of immune tolerance unmasks drug-induced allergic hepatitis.

PMID- 25833747
TI  - CT for evaluation of urolithiasis: image quality of ultralow-dose (Sub mSv) CT
      with knowledge-based iterative reconstruction and diagnostic performance of low
      dose CT with statistical iterative reconstruction.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare radiation dose and image quality in regular, low, and
      ultralow-dose CT protocols, and to evaluate diagnostic performance of low-dose CT
      for urolithiasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-five patients with suspected
      urolithiasis underwent three different scans under the regular, low, and ultralow
      dose protocols. The regular dose scans were reconstructed using filtered back
      projection and the low-dose scans were reconstructed using a statistical
      iterative reconstruction. The ultralow-dose scans were reconstructed using both
      techniques in addition to a knowledge-based IR. Effective radiation doses were
      compared. Objective image noise was assessed by measuring standard deviation of
      HU and subjective image assessment was performed with a 3- or 5-point scale.
      Diagnostic performance of the low-dose image was evaluated, using the regular
      dose image as a standard reference and the interobserver agreement between two
      reviewers with different levels of experience was calculated. RESULTS: The
      effective radiation dose was significantly different in each protocol (p < 0.001)
      and estimated dose reduction of the low-dose and ultralow-dose protocols was
      76.4% and 89.8%, respectively. The knowledge-based iterative reconstruction
      algorithm showed poorer subjective image quality than the regular and low-dose
      protocols, but it also had the least objective image noise. Overall, the low-dose
      image set showed a greater than 84% concordance rate and 100% in ureter stones
      larger than 3 mm. Interobserver agreement was substantial (kappa value = 0.61).
      CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge-based IR can provide a better quality image while
      reducing radiation exposure under the same protocol. Furthermore, the diagnostic
      performance of the low-dose CT protocol is comparable to the regular dose scan.

PMID- 25833748
TI  - Anisotropy of local stress tensor leads to line tension.
AB  - Line tension of three-phase contact lines is an important physical quantity in
      understanding many physical processes such as heterogeneous nucleation, soft
      lithography and behaviours in biomembrane, such as budding, fission and fusion.
      Although the concept of line tension was proposed as the excess free energy in
      three-phase coexistence regions a century ago, its microscopic origin is subtle
      and achieves long-term concerns. In this paper, we correlate line tension with
      anisotropy of diagonal components of stress tensor and give a general formula of
      line tension. By performing molecular dynamic simulations, we illustrate the
      formula proposed in Lennard-Jones gas/liquid/liquid and gas/liquid/solid systems,
      and find that the spatial distribution of line tension can be well revealed when
      the local distribution of stress tensor is considered. 

PMID- 25833749
TI  - Muscular dystrophy-related hospitalizations among male pediatric patients in the
      United States.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: While the economic burden of muscular dystrophy (MD) has been well
      documented, little is known of specific costs associated with Duchenne muscular
      dystrophy (DMD), the most prevalent form of MD. This study assessed trends in MD
      related hospitalizations and costs among young males, which may reflect
      utilization of the DMD population in the United States. STUDY DESIGN: A
      retrospective observational study of hospitalizations of males aged 0-20 years
      with a primary diagnosis code for MD was conducted using data from a weighted,
      nationally representative database of pediatric hospitalizations in the US.
      Rates, characteristics and cost of MD-related hospitalizations were compared to
      hospitalizations not related to MD. RESULTS: The rate of MD-related
      hospitalizations increased by 9% between 2000 and 2006 and then decreased by 13%
      in 2009. The mean length of stay for discharges related to MD was approximately 9
      days during each study year. The most frequent observed diagnoses (other than MD)
      and procedures were for respiratory-related complications. The mean total costs
      for MD-related discharges increased across the study period from $26,785 in 2000
      to $42,751 in 2009. CONCLUSION: This study provides baseline and trend data
      describing hospitalizations of male pediatric patients with MD that may be used
      as baseline measurements for assessment of the impact of new strategies for
      managing the disease. Further assessment of the burden and the clinical,
      economic, and humanistic impacts of DMD is warranted.

PMID- 25833750
TI  - Liver transplantation and the Rubicon.

PMID- 25833751
TI  - The sRNA SorY confers resistance during photooxidative stress by affecting a
      metabolite transporter in Rhodobacter sphaeroides.
AB  - Exposure to oxygen and light generates photooxidative stress by the
      bacteriochlorophyll a mediated formation of singlet oxygen ((1)O2) in the
      facultative photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. We have identified
      SorY as an sRNA, which is induced under several stress conditions and confers
      increased resistance against (1)O2. SorY by direct interaction affects the takP
      mRNA, encoding a TRAP-T transporter. We present a model in which SorY reduces the
      metabolite flux into the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle) by reducing malate
      import through TakP. It was previously shown that oxidative stress in bacteria
      leads to switch from glycolysis to the pentose phosphate pathway and to reduced
      activity of the TCA cycle. As a consequence the production of the prooxidant NADH
      is reduced and production of the protective NADPH is enhanced. In R. sphaeroides
      enzymes for glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway, Entner-Doudoroff pathway and
      gluconeogenesis are induced in response to (1)O2 by the alternative sigma factor
      RpoHII. The same is true for the sRNA SorY. By limiting malate import SorY thus
      contributes to the balance of the metabolic fluxes under photooxidative stress
      conditions. This assigns a so far unknown function to an sRNA in oxidative stress
      response. 

PMID- 25833752
TI  - A novel authentication scheme using self-certified public keys for telecare
      medical information systems.
AB  - Telecare medical information systems (TMIS), with the explosive growth of
      communication technology and physiological monitoring devices, are applied
      increasingly to enable and support healthcare delivery services. In order to
      safeguard patients' privacy and tackle the illegal access, authentication schemes
      for TMIS have been investigated and designed by many researchers. Many of them
      are promising for adoption in practice, nevertheless, they still have security
      flaws. In this paper, we propose a novel remote authentication scheme for TMIS
      using self-certified public keys, which is formally secure in the ID-mBJM model.
      Besides, the proposed scheme has better computational efficiency. Compared to the
      related schemes, our protocol is more practical for telemedicine system. 

PMID- 25833753
TI  - [Channelography and mechanism of action in canaloplasty].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Canaloplasty lowers the intraocular pressure (IOP) by restoring the
      natural outflow system. The success of canaloplasty depends on the function of
      this system. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the natural outflow system regarding
      canaloplasty by two clinical tests, provocative gonioscopy and channelography and
      to describe the mechanism of action of canaloplasty. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      Provocative gonioscopy evaluates the pattern of blood reflux which is induced by
      ocular hypotension as the result of a reversed pressure gradient between the
      episcleral venous pressure and IOP following paracentesis. In channelography the
      transtrabecular diffusion and the filling properties of the episcleral venous
      system are assessed by a microcatheter and a fluorescein tracer. RESULTS: Blood
      reflux varied greatly in glaucomatous eyes and showed an inverse correlation with
      the preoperative IOP. The higher the IOP, the poorer the blood reflux. The
      filling qualities of the episcleral venous system and diffusion through the
      trabecular meshwork were different. Poor trabecular passage and good episcleral
      fluorescein outflow indicates patent distal outflow pathways, poor trabecular
      passage and poor episcleral fluorescein outflow indicates obstructed trabecular
      meshwork and closed collector channels and good trabecular passage together with
      poor episcleral fluorescein outflow suggests that the site of impairment is
      mainly in the distal outflow system. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of blood reflux and
      the characteristics of the episcleral filling and the transtrabecular diffusion
      by fluorescein represent the clinical state of the outflow pathway and help in
      the prediction of the surgical outcome in canaloplasty. The mechanism for
      canaloplasty is not yet completely clarified; currently under discussion are
      circumferential viscodilation, permanent distension of the inner wall of
      Schlemm's canal using a suture and a Stegmann canal expander.

PMID- 25833754
TI  - [The German Acanthamoeba keratitis register: Initial results of a multicenter
      study].
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In September 2011 the cornea section of the German
      Ophthalmological Society (DOG) established the first German Acanthamoeba
      keratitis registry. The data of this multicenter survey are being collected,
      compiled and evaluated at the Department of Ophthalmology at the Saarland
      University. The aim of this article is to present an intermediate report.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data from 172 eyes with Acanthamoeba keratitis were
      collected during the last 10 years. For this interim report we actually evaluated
      121 eyes (60.2 % female patients, average age 41.3 years) and collected the
      following data: date of onset of symptoms, date and method of diagnosis, initial
      diagnosis, anamnestic data, clinical symptoms and signs at diagnosis and during
      follow-up, conservative and surgical therapy. Criteria for inclusion in the
      Acanthamoeba registry was the established diagnosis of an Acanthamoeba keratitis
      with at least one of the methods described in this article. RESULTS: Acanthamoeba
      keratitis could be histologically proven in 55.3 % of the cases, via PCR in 25.6
      %, with confocal microscopy in 20.4 % and using in vitro cultivation in 15.5 %.
      Clinical symptoms and signs in Acanthamoeba keratitis were pain in 67.0 %, ring
      infiltrates in 53.4 %, pseudodendritiform epitheliopathy in 11.7 % and
      keratoneuritis in 5.8 %. In 47.6 % of the cases the initial diagnosis was herpes
      simplex virus keratitis followed by bacterial keratitis in 25.2 % and fungal
      keratitis in 3.9 %. Acanthamoeba keratitis was the correct initial diagnosis in
      only 23.2 % of cases. The average time period between first symptoms and
      diagnosis was 2.8 +/- 4.0 months (range 0-23 months). A triple therapy with
      Brolene(r) Lavasept(r) and antibiotic eye drops at least 5 */day was used in 54.5
      % of eyes (n = 66). Penetrating keratoplasty was performed in 40.4 %, in 18 cases
      in combination with cryotherapy of the cornea. The mean graft diameter was 7.9 +/
      1.1 mm (range 3.5-11.0 mm). The final visual acuity (Snellen visual acuity chart
      at 5 m) was comparable in the two groups of eyes with (5/40 +/- 5/25) and without
      (5/32 +/- 5/25) keratoplasty. CONCLUSION: Acanthamoeba keratitis is a rare and
      often very late diagnosed disease and two thirds of the cases were initially
      misdiagnosed. The early recognition of the typical symptoms is crucial for the
      prognosis of the disease. All ophthalmological departments in Germany are invited
      to submit further data of all confirmed cases (berthold.seitz@uks.eu), whether
      retrospectively or prospectively in order to generate an adequate standardized
      diagnostic and therapeutic approach for this potentially devastating disease.

PMID- 25833755
TI  - Vascular wall hypoxia promotes arterial thrombus formation via augmentation of
      vascular thrombogenicity.
AB  - Atherosclerotic lesions represent a hypoxic milieu. However, the significance of
      this milieu in atherothrombosis has not been established. We aimed to assess the
      hypothesis that vascular wall hypoxia promotes arterial thrombus formation. We
      examined the relation between vascular wall hypoxia and arterial thrombus
      formation using a rabbit model in which arterial thrombosis was induced by 0.5 %
      cholesterol diet and repeated balloon injury of femoral arteries. Vascular wall
      hypoxia was immunohistochemically detected by pimonidazole hydrochloride, a
      hypoxia marker. Rabbit neointima and THP-1 macrophages were cultured to analyse
      prothrombotic factor expression under hypoxic conditions (1 % O2). Prothrombotic
      factor expression and nuclear localisation of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)
      1alpha and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) p65 were immunohistochemically
      assessed using human coronary atherectomy plaques. Hypoxic areas were localised
      in the macrophage-rich deep portion of rabbit neointima and positively correlated
      with the number of nuclei immunopositive for HIF-1alpha and NF-kappaB p65, and
      tissue factor (TF) expression. Immunopositive areas for glycoprotein IIb/IIIa and
      fibrin in thrombi were significantly correlated with hypoxic areas in arteries.
      TF and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) expression was increased in
      neointimal tissues and/or macrophages cultured under hypoxia, and both were
      suppressed by inhibitors of either HIF-1 or NF-kappaB. In human coronary plaques,
      the number of HIF-1alpha-immunopositive nuclei was positively correlated with
      that of NF-kappaB-immunopositive nuclei and TF-immunopositive and PAI-1
      immunopositive area, and it was significantly higher in thrombotic plaques.
      Vascular wall hypoxia augments the thrombogenic potential of atherosclerotic
      plaque and thrombus formation on plaques via prothrombotic factor upregulation. 

PMID- 25833756
TI  - Attachment style, representations of psychotherapy, and clinical interventions
      with insecurely attached clients.
AB  - The primary aim of this article was to demonstrate the clinical utility of an
      empirically grounded perspective on the complex interplay between patients'
      attachment style and their ability to create, remember, and use benignly
      influential representations of their experiences with their therapists. We
      focused on 2 interrelated questions: Are there significant attachment-related
      differences in the thematic content of the remembrances and fantasies that
      patients have about therapy? And, if so, what are the implications for practice?
      Results of a study of individuals currently in therapy (N = 176) indicated that
      although all the patients with different insecure attachment styles struggled to
      evoke positively valenced therapist representations, the specific nature of their
      representational patterns varied as a function of specific attachment styles. We
      offer several clinical strategies that may increase insecure patients' abilities
      to form adaptive representations of their therapist and therapy. We illustrate
      our recommendations by presenting case material from the psychotherapy of a
      compulsively self-reliant man. 

PMID- 25833757
TI  - Clinical audit as a framework for the consultation on the future of Libyan Health
      Services.

PMID- 25833758
TI  - 'The white blood cell always eat the red': how Jamaicans with sickle cell disease
      understand their illness.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore lay understandings of sickle cell disease (SCD) among
      Jamaicans living with the illness. There is no qualitative research on this
      subject in Jamaica, where SCD is the most common genetic disorder. DESIGN: Thirty
      in-depth semi-structured interviews (50% males, 50% urban residence) were
      conducted with adult patients attending the Sickle Cell Unit in Jamaica.
      Transcribed data were analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Patients'
      narratives focused on two main themes: lay understandings of how SCD works (using
      ideas of attack and fortification, and blockage and flow); and what causes the
      illness (lay ideas of inheritance). The most common description of SCD was that
      their white blood cells were 'eating/sucking out/feeding on' their red blood
      cells. Hence, treatment required 'building up' their blood, while a key to good
      health was ensuring an unimpeded flow of blood. Most participants believed SCD
      was hereditary, but there were various understandings of the mechanism and
      probability of its transmission. Belief in the possibility of transmitting SCD
      was not always a barrier to reproduction, nor did participants always insist on
      their partner or child being tested. CONCLUSIONS: Participants engaged in medical
      pluralism, a dynamic combination of folk and biomedical beliefs. Their concerns,
      experiences and interpretations were powerful motivators of reproductive and
      screening behaviour. Their narratives of SCD transcend the individual to express
      social, societal and cultural realities. Health care professionals and policy
      makers should communicate clearly to ensure understanding, and recognize and
      engage with their patients' sociocultural context.

PMID- 25833759
TI  - Akt Activation and Inhibition of Cytochrome C Release: Mechanistic Insights into
      Leptin-promoted Survival of Type II Alveolar Epithelial Cells.
AB  - Fetal growth restriction (FGR) increases the risk of perinatal death, partly due
      to defects in lung development. Leptin, a polypeptide hormone, is involved in
      fetal lung development. We previously demonstrated that treatment with exogenous
      leptin during gestation significantly promotes fetal lung maturity in the rat
      model of FGR. In this study, to delineate the molecular pathways through which
      leptin may enhance fetal lung development, we investigated the impact of leptin
      treatment on the survival of type II alveolar epithelial cells (AECs), essential
      leptin-responsive cells involved in lung development, in a rat model of FGR. The
      rat model of FGR was induced in pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats by partial uterine
      artery and vein ligation. In vivo and in vitro analyses of fetal lung tissues and
      freshly-isolated cultured AECs, respectively, showed that leptin protects type II
      AECs from hypoxia-induced apoptosis. Further molecular studies revealed the role
      of Akt activation in the leptin-mediated promotion of survival of type II AECs.
      The data also showed that the anti-apoptotic effects of leptin are dependent on
      phosphoinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) activation, and involve the down-regulation of
      caspases 3 and 9, upregulation of pro-survival proteins Bcl-2, and p-Bad, and
      inhibition of the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria. Taken together, our
      data suggested that leptin enhances the maturity of fetal lungs by mediating the
      regulation of caspase-3 and -9 during hypoxia-induced apoptosis of type II AECs
      and provide support for the potential of leptin as a therapeutic agent for
      promoting lung development in FGR.

PMID- 25833760
TI  - Gender differences of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease associated with
      manifestations on HRCT.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
      have been shown to have significant gender differences in terms of
      susceptibility, severity and response to therapy. We hypothesized that this was
      due to differences in functional and pathologic changes in the airway, which can
      be revealed by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in addition to
      pulmonary function test (PFT). METHODS: A total of 84 patients with COPD were
      enrolled in the study. Within 1 week of enrollment, a history of each patient's
      current illness was obtained. PFT and chest HRCT scan were performed. RESULTS:
      The patients were classified as phenotype A, E and M based on the chest HRCT
      presentations. No significant gender differences were found in COPD severity
      (chi2  = 4.993, P = 0.172). Male patients have more smoking history and smaller
      average age compared with female patients. Female patients showed a significantly
      higher FEV1 /FVC, lower inspiratory capacity and milder residual volume/total
      lung capacity than that of male patients. Based on the HRCT results, more males
      were classified as phenotype M, whereas females tended to be phenotype A. Males
      had a greater grade of low attenuation areas and were more likely to show
      evidence of emphysema on a HRCT scan than females (chi2  = 15.373, P = 0.001),
      whereas females had less airway wall thickening than males, although this change
      had no statistical significance. (chi2  = 0.163, P = 0.922). CONCLUSION: Gender
      differences of COPD patients were seen in ages of onset, smoking history, and PFT
      and HRCT presentations. The use of HRCT imaging indicates that there are
      significant gender differences in the clinical manifestations of COPD.

PMID- 25833761
TI  - A Zr metal-organic framework based on tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl) silane and
      factors affecting the hydrothermal stability of Zr-MOFs.
AB  - A new (4,8)-connected Zr-MOF porous zirconium metal-organic framework (Zr-MOF)
      with flu topology, Zr6(MU3-O)4(MU3-OH)4(TCPS)2(H2O)4(OH)4 (, TCPS = tetrakis(4
      carboxyphenyl) silane) with a BET specific area of 1402 m(2) g(-1) has been
      constructed and fully characterized. is stable in air and acid media but unstable
      in water and basic media, and thermally stable up to 200  degrees C. The new MOF
      is a wide band gap semiconductor with Eg = 3.95 eV. The excitation of at 260 nm
      gives a ligand-based emission peak at 435 nm. After solvent exchange processes
      and activation at 200  degrees C, this MOF exhibits high storage capacities for
      H2, CH4 and CO2. We summarized the hydrothermal stability data of Zr-MOFs,
      calculated the NBO (natural bond orbital) charges of the coordinating oxygen
      atoms of the corresponding carboxylate ligands and analyzed the influencing
      factors. Besides the known reasons of hydrothermal stabilities of Zr-MOFs, we
      demonstrated that NBO charges of coordinating atoms of the ligands can be used to
      explain the hydrothermal stabilities of Zr-MOFs. 

PMID- 25833762
TI  - Vitamin D in childhood and adolescence: an expert position statement.
AB  - Vitamin D is a key hormone in the regulation of calcium and phosphorus metabolism
      and plays a pivotal role in bone health, particularly during pediatric age when
      nutritional rickets and impaired bone mass acquisition may occur. Great interest
      has been placed in recent years on vitamin D's extraskeletal actions. However,
      while recent data suggest a possible role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of
      several pathological conditions, including infectious and autoimmune diseases,
      the actual impact of vitamin D status on the global health of children and
      adolescents, other than bone, remains a subject of debate. In the meantime,
      pediatricians still need to evaluate the determinants of vitamin D status and
      consider vitamin D supplementation in children and adolescents at risk of
      deficiency. This review is the result of an expert meeting that was held during
      the congress "Update on vitamin D and bone disease in childhood" convened in
      Pisa, Italy, in May 2013. CONCLUSION: The collaboration of the international
      group of experts produced this "state of the art" review on vitamin D in
      childhood and adolescence. After dealing with vitamin D status and its
      determinants, the review outlines the current debate on vitamin D's health
      benefits, concluding with a practical approach to vitamin D supplementation
      during childhood and adolescence. WHAT IS KNOWN: * Vitamin D deficiency is a
      worldwide health problem. * Vitamin D deficiency affects not only musculoskeletal
      health but also a potentially wide range of acute and chronic diseases. What is
      New: * We reviewed the literature focusing on randomized controlled trials of
      vitamin D supplementation during childhood and adolescence. * This review will
      help pediatricians to appreciate the clinical relevance of an adequate vitamin D
      status and it will provide a practical approach to vitamin D supplementation.

PMID- 25833764
TI  - Risk factors for and reproductive outcomes of phantom cows on New Zealand dairy
      farms.
AB  - AIMS: To determine some of the risk factors for cows not observed in oestrus
      within 35-42 days of an unsuccessful artificial insemination (AI; phantom cows),
      and the reproductive outcomes and effect of treatment of phantom cows. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Over 2 years, in dairy herds from the Waikato (n=10) and Canterbury
      (n=4) regions of New Zealand, pregnancy diagnosis was carried out 35-42 days
      after AI on cows that had been inseminated in the first 3 weeks after the start
      of mating (PSM) but had not been seen returning to oestrus. Risk factors for
      phantom cows were analysed using a generalised linear mixed effect model. In Year
      1, all phantom cows were left untreated. In Year 2, phantom cows were categorised
      as having a corpus luteum (CL) (CL+ n=120), or having ovarian follicles>=10
      (n=101) or <10 (n=40) mm in diameter. Cows with a CL were treated with
      cloprostenol or untreated and placed with bulls. Cows with no CL received
      intravaginal progesterone (P4) for 7 days, with injection of gonadotrophin
      releasing hormone (GnRH) on Days 0 and 9, and cloprostenol on Day 7 followed by
      AI. Pregnancy diagnosis of all cows took place 100-120 days after PSM and
      interval to conception and final pregnancy rate determined. RESULTS: Overall, of
      cows inseminated in the first 3 weeks after PSM that did not return to oestrus,
      610/6,734 (9.1%) were phantom cows. From the final multivariable analysis,
      treatment for anoestrus, BCS<=4.0 at mating, being 2 or >6 years of age, and pure
      bred, and decreasing interval between calving and mating, until 98 days post
      calving, were associated with increased odds of being a phantom cow. Compared to
      all other groups of cows, phantom cows had a longer interval to conception
      (p<0.001) and a lower final pregnancy rate (p<0.001). Treatment of CL+ cows or
      cows with follicles>=10 mm did not affect reproductive outcomes (p>0.3). For cows
      with follicles<10 mm treatment decreased the final percentage not pregnant (3/27;
      11%; p=0.01) and interval to conception (21 days; p=0.02) compared with controls
      (7/13; 54% and 37 days, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Risk
      factors for phantom cows were identified that could be manipulated to reduce the
      number of phantom cows in a herd, in particular increasing BCS. Treatment of the
      majority of phantom cows did not improve reproductive performance.

PMID- 25833763
TI  - Different antibiotic strategies in transient tachypnea of the newborn: an
      ambispective cohort study.
AB  - The purpose of this study is to determine the outcome and infection-related
      events in neonates with transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN) managed with an
      antibiotic initiation strategy. An ambispective cohort study was carried out to
      compare two different antibiotic strategies in of TTN patients. The first
      strategy is based on clinical risk evaluation, in which antibiotics are initiated
      according to clinical signs, while the other is a combined strategy that
      integrates information regarding clinical signs, perinatal risk factors, and lab
      based surveillance of infectious indicators. The antibiotic use in the combined
      strategy group (n = 716) was lower than that of the control group (n = 769)
      (35.06 vs 54.75 %, P < 0.01). Outcomes including total duration of antibiotic
      therapy (5.45 +/- 4.17 vs 5.18 +/- 3.45 days, P = 0.36), mortality (0 vs 0),
      length of hospital stay (7.78 +/- 4.20 vs 8.14 +/- 3.62 days, P = 0.07), and
      hospital readmission (4.89 vs 4.94 %, P = 0.94) did not differ; nor did infection
      related events such as nosocomial infection (2.93 vs 2.99 %, P = 0.95),
      infectious pneumonia (18.30 vs 19.90 %, P = 0.43), septicemia (1.96 vs 1.95 %, P
      = 0.99), and necrotizing enterocolitis (0.14 vs 0.26 %). CONCLUSION: The combined
      strategy effectively reduces antibiotic usage during incidences of TTN with no
      negative impact on the clinical outcome. WHAT IS KNOWN: * TTN is easy to be
      confused with infection only based on clinical signs. * Many TTN patients had
      been treated with unnecessary antibiotics. WHAT IS NEW: * Our combined strategy
      for TTN can reduce antibiotics usage. * New strategy did not increase the
      incidence of infection and adverse outcomes.

PMID- 25833765
TI  - Multiple-stimulus-responsive supramolecular gels and regulation of chiral twists:
      the effect of spacer length.
AB  - A new class of homologous gelators, LG12 -(CH2 )n -BSA, composed of bipyridinyl
      groups, L-glutamic moieties having double dodecyl chains, and linked alkyl
      spacers with different lengths were synthesized. It was found that these gelators
      could immobilize medium-polarity solvents readily and the behaviors of these gels
      showed a dependence on the spacer length. Of all the gels, the LG12 -(CH2 )11 
      BSA gels exhibited self-healing property and multiple-stimulus responsibility,
      such as heating, shaking, and sonication. The investigation of CD spectra
      indicated that the supramolecular chirality, which was attributed to the chiral
      transfer from the chiral center to the assemblies, was also closely related to
      the length of methylene spacers. The longer the alkyl spacers, the weaker the
      transmitted supramolecular chirality. Only LG12 -(CH2 )1 -BSA gelators, which had
      the shortest spacers, formed right-handed nanoscale chiral twists owing to
      crowded hydrogen bonding interactions. Moreover, the high-polarity solvent DMF
      was found to be able to regulate the chiral twist as well as its pitch length
      readily. 

PMID- 25833766
TI  - Genomic instability in the PARK2 locus is associated with Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder affecting mostly
      elderly people, although there is a group of patients developing so-called early
      onset PD (EOPD). Mutations in the PARK2 gene are a common cause of autosomal
      recessive EOPD. PARK2 belongs to the family of extremely large human genes which
      are often localised in genomic common fragile sites (CFSs) and exhibit gross
      instability. PARK2 is located in the centre of FRA6E, the third most mutation
      susceptible CFS of the human genome. The gene encompasses a region of 1.3 Mbp
      and, among its mutations, large rearrangements of single or multiple exons
      account for around 50%. We performed an analysis of the PARK2 gene in a group of
      344 PD patients with EOPD and classical form of the disease. Copy number changes
      were first identified using multiplex ligation probe amplification (MLPA), with
      their ranges characterised by array comparative genomic hybridisation (aCGH).
      Exact breakpoints were mapped using direct sequencing. Rearrangements were found
      in eight subjects, including five deletions and three duplications.
      Rearrangements were mostly non-recurrent and no repetitive sequences or extended
      homologies were identified in the regions flanking breakpoint junctions. However,
      in most cases, 1-3 bp microhomologies were present, strongly suggesting that
      microhomology-mediated mechanisms, specifically non-homologous end joining (NHEJ)
      and fork stalling and template switching (FoSTeS)/microhomology-mediated break
      induced replication (MMBIR), are predominantly involved in the rearrangement
      processes in this genomic region.

PMID- 25833767
TI  - Strategies for medical data extraction and presentation part 2: creating a
      customizable context and user-specific patient reference database.
AB  - One of the greatest challenges facing healthcare professionals is the ability to
      directly and efficiently access relevant data from the patient's healthcare
      record at the point of care; specific to both the context of the task being
      performed and the specific needs and preferences of the individual end-user. In
      radiology practice, the relative inefficiency of imaging data organization and
      manual workflow requirements serves as an impediment to historical imaging data
      review. At the same time, clinical data retrieval is even more problematic due to
      the quality and quantity of data recorded at the time of order entry, along with
      the relative lack of information system integration. One approach to address
      these data deficiencies is to create a multi-disciplinary patient referenceable
      database which consists of high-priority, actionable data within the cumulative
      patient healthcare record; in which predefined criteria are used to categorize
      and classify imaging and clinical data in accordance with anatomy, technology,
      pathology, and time. The population of this referenceable database can be
      performed through a combination of manual and automated methods, with an
      additional step of data verification introduced for data quality control. Once
      created, these referenceable databases can be filtered at the point of care to
      provide context and user-specific data specific to the task being performed and
      individual end-user requirements. 

PMID- 25833768
TI  - Strategies for Medical Data Extraction and Presentation Part 3: Automated Context
      and User-Specific Data Extraction.
AB  - In current medical practice, data extraction is limited by a number of factors
      including lack of information system integration, manual workflow, excessive
      workloads, and lack of standardized databases. The combined limitations result in
      clinically important data often being overlooked, which can adversely affect
      clinical outcomes through the introduction of medical error, diminished
      diagnostic confidence, excessive utilization of medical services, and delays in
      diagnosis and treatment planning. Current technology development is largely
      inflexible and static in nature, which adversely affects functionality and usage
      among the diverse and heterogeneous population of end users. In order to address
      existing limitations in medical data extraction, alternative technology
      development strategies need to be considered which incorporate the creation of
      end user profile groups (to account for occupational differences among end
      users), customization options (accounting for individual end user needs and
      preferences), and context specificity of data (taking into account both the task
      being performed and data subject matter). Creation of the proposed context- and
      user-specific data extraction and presentation templates offers a number of
      theoretical benefits including automation and improved workflow, completeness in
      data search, ability to track and verify data sources, creation of computerized
      decision support and learning tools, and establishment of data-driven best
      practice guidelines. 

PMID- 25833769
TI  - Development of a mother-child database for drug exposure and adverse event
      detection in the Military Health System.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to develop a mother-child linked database
      consisting of all eligible active duty military personnel, retirees, and their
      dependents in order to conduct medication-related analyses to improve the safety
      and quality of care in the Military Health System (MHS). METHODS: Eligible women
      of reproductive age with at least one pregnancy-related encounter between January
      2005 and December 2013 receiving care in the MHS were included in the study
      population. Building on previously published algorithms, we used pregnancy
      related diagnostic and procedure codes, parameterized temporal constraints, and
      data elements unique to the MHS to identify pregnancies ending in live births,
      stillbirth, spontaneous abortion, or ectopic pregnancy. Pregnancies ending in
      live births were matched to presumptive offspring using birth dates and family
      based sponsorship identification. Antidepressant and antiepileptic use during
      pregnancy was evaluated using electronic pharmacy data. RESULTS: Algorithms
      identified 755,232 women who experienced 1,099,648 complete pregnancies with both
      pregnancy care encounter and pregnancy outcome. Of the 924,320 live birth
      pregnancies, 827,753 (90.0%) were matched to offspring. Algorithms also
      identified 5,663 stillbirths, 11,358 ectopic pregnancies, and 169,665 spontaneous
      abortions. Among the matched singleton live birth pregnancies, 7.1% of mothers
      were dispensed an antidepressant at any point during pregnancy, usually a
      selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, (75.3%), whereas 1.3% of mothers were
      dispensed an antiepileptic drug.

PMID- 25833770
TI  - Mapping and determinism of soil microbial community distribution across an
      agricultural landscape.
AB  - Despite the relevance of landscape, regarding the spatial patterning of microbial
      communities and the relative influence of environmental parameters versus human
      activities, few investigations have been conducted at this scale. Here, we used a
      systematic grid to characterize the distribution of soil microbial communities at
      278 sites across a monitored agricultural landscape of 13 km2. Molecular
      microbial biomass was estimated by soil DNA recovery and bacterial diversity by
      16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. Geostatistics provided the first maps of microbial
      community at this scale and revealed a heterogeneous but spatially structured
      distribution of microbial biomass and diversity with patches of several hundreds
      of meters. Variance partitioning revealed that both microbial abundance and
      bacterial diversity distribution were highly dependent of soil properties and
      land use (total variance explained ranged between 55% and 78%). Microbial biomass
      and bacterial richness distributions were mainly explained by soil pH and texture
      whereas bacterial evenness distribution was mainly related to land management.
      Bacterial diversity (richness, evenness, and Shannon index) was positively
      influenced by cropping intensity and especially by soil tillage, resulting in
      spots of low microbial diversity in soils under forest management. Spatial
      descriptors also explained a small but significant portion of the microbial
      distribution suggesting that landscape configuration also shapes microbial
      biomass and bacterial diversity. 

PMID- 25833771
TI  - Glucagon-like peptide 1 interacts with ghrelin and leptin to regulate glucose
      metabolism and food intake through vagal afferent neuron signaling.
AB  - Emerging evidence has suggested a possible physiologic role for peripheral
      glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) in regulating glucose metabolism and food intake.
      The likely site of action of GLP-1 is on vagal afferent neurons (VANs). The vagal
      afferent pathway is the major neural pathway by which information about ingested
      nutrients reaches the central nervous system and influences feeding behavior.
      Peripheral GLP-1 acts on VANs to inhibit food intake. The mechanism of the GLP-1
      receptor (GLP-1R) is unlike other gut-derived receptors; GLP-1Rs change their
      cellular localization according to feeding status rather than their protein
      concentrations. It is possible that several gut peptides are involved in
      mediating GLP-1R translocation. The mechanism of peripheral GLP-1R translocation
      still needs to be elucidated. We review data supporting the role of peripheral
      GLP-1 acting on VANs in influencing glucose homeostasis and feeding behavior. We
      highlight evidence demonstrating that GLP-1 interacts with ghrelin and leptin to
      induce satiation. Our aim was to understand the mechanism of peripheral GLP-1 in
      the development of noninvasive antiobesity treatments. 

PMID- 25833772
TI  - Habitual physical activity and plasma metabolomic patterns distinguish
      individuals with low vs. high weight loss during controlled energy restriction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Total weight loss induced by energy restriction is highly variable
      even under tightly controlled conditions. Identifying weight-loss discriminants
      would provide a valuable weight management tool and insights into body weight
      regulation. OBJECTIVE: This study characterized responsiveness to energy
      restriction in adults from variables including the plasma metabolome, endocrine
      and inflammatory markers, clinical indices, body composition, diet, and physical
      activity. METHODS: Data were derived from a controlled feeding trial
      investigating the effect of 3-4 dairy product servings in an energy-restricted
      diet (2092 kJ/d reduction) over 12 wk. Partial least squares regression was used
      to identify weight-loss discriminants in 67 overweight and obese adults. Linear
      mixed models were developed to identify discriminant variable differences in high
      vs. low-weight-loss responders. RESULTS: Both pre- and postintervention
      variables (n = 127) were identified as weight-loss discriminants (root mean
      squared error of prediction = 1.85 kg; Q(2) = 0.43). Compared with low-responders
      (LR), high-responders (HR) had greater decreases in body weight (LR: 2.7 +/- 1.6
      kg; HR: 9.4 +/- 1.8 kg, P < 0.01), BMI (in kg/m(2); LR: 1.0 +/- 0.6; HR: 3.3 +/-
      0.5, P < 0.01), and total fat (LR: 2.2 +/- 1.1 kg; HR: 8.0 +/- 2.1 kg, P < 0.01).
      Significant group effects unaffected by the intervention were determined for the
      respiratory exchange ratio (LR: 0.86 +/- 0.05; HR: 0.82 +/- 0.03, P < 0.01),
      moderate physical activity (LR: 127 +/- 52 min; HR: 167 +/- 68 min, P = 0.02),
      sedentary activity (LR: 1090 +/- 99 min; HR: 1017 +/- 110 min, P = 0.02), and
      plasma stearate [LR: 102,000 +/- 21,000 quantifier ion peak height (QIPH); HR:
      116,000 +/- 24,000 QIPH, P = 0.01]. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight and obese individuals
      highly responsive to energy restriction had accelerated reductions in adiposity,
      likely supported in part by higher lipid mobilization and combustion. A novel
      observation was that person-to-person differences in habitual physical activity
      and magnitude of weight loss were accompanied by unique blood metabolite
      signatures. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00858312.

PMID- 25833773
TI  - Whey protein supplementation does not alter plasma branched-chained amino acid
      profiles but results in unique metabolomics patterns in obese women enrolled in
      an 8-week weight loss trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that perturbations in branched-chain amino acid
      (BCAA) catabolism are associated with insulin resistance and contribute to
      elevated systemic BCAAs. Evidence in rodents suggests dietary protein rich in
      BCAAs can increase BCAA catabolism, but there is limited evidence in humans.
      OBJECTIVE: We hypothesize that a diet rich in BCAAs will increase BCAA
      catabolism, which will manifest in a reduction of fasting plasma BCAA
      concentrations. METHODS: The metabolome of 27 obese women with metabolic syndrome
      before and after weight loss was investigated to identify changes in BCAA
      metabolism using GC-time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Subjects were enrolled in
      an 8-wk weight-loss study including either a 20-g/d whey (whey group, n = 16) or
      gelatin (gelatin group, n = 11) protein supplement. When matched for total
      protein by weight, whey protein has 3 times the amount of BCAAs compared with
      gelatin protein. RESULTS: Postintervention plasma abundances of Ile (gelatin
      group: 637 +/- 18, quantifier ion peak height / 100; whey group: 744 +/- 65), Leu
      (gelatin group: 1210 +/- 33; whey group: 1380 +/- 79), and Val (gelatin group:
      2080 +/- 59; whey group: 2510 +/- 230) did not differ between treatment groups.
      BCAAs were significantly correlated with homeostasis model assessment of insulin
      resistance at baseline (r = 0.52, 0.43, and 0.49 for Leu, Ile, and Val,
      respectively; all, P < 0.05), but correlations were no longer significant at
      postintervention. Pro- and Cys-related pathways were found discriminant of whey
      protein vs. gelatin protein supplementation in multivariate statistical analyses.
      CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that BCAA metabolism is, at best, only
      modestly affected at a whey protein supplementation dose of 20 g/d. Furthermore,
      the loss of an association between postintervention BCAA and homeostasis model
      assessment suggests that factors associated with calorie restriction or protein
      intake affect how plasma BCAAs relate to insulin sensitivity. This trial was
      registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00739479.

PMID- 25833774
TI  - Tryptophan catabolism and vitamin B-6 status are affected by gender and lifestyle
      factors in healthy young adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Abnormalities of tryptophan (Trp) metabolism through the kynurenine
      (Kyn) pathway have been reported in various diseases; however, nutritional and
      lifestyle factors that affect this pathway in healthy individuals are not well
      documented. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to examine the effect of vitamin B-6 status
      and lifestyle factors including the use of vitamin B-6 supplements, alcohol,
      smoking, and oral contraceptives on Trp and its Kyn metabolites in a cohort of
      2436 healthy young adults aged 18-28 y. METHODS: Anthropometric and lifestyle
      data were collected by questionnaire. Participants provided blood samples for
      analysis of Trp, Kyn, anthranilic acid, kynurenic acid (KA), 3-hydroxykynurenine
      (HK), 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid (HAA), and xanthurenic acid (XA). Vitamin B-6
      species were also measured. RESULTS: Serum Trp metabolites were 10-15% higher
      among men (n = 993) compared with women (n = 1443; P < 0.0001), except for HK and
      XA. In all participants, serum Trp was positively associated with plasma
      pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP; r = 0.28, P < 0.0001), reaching a plateau at PLP
      concentrations of ~83 nmol/L. HK was inversely associated with PLP (r = -0.14, P
      < 0.01). Users of vitamin B-6 supplements (n = 671) had 6% lower concentrations
      of HK than nonusers (n = 1765; P = 0.0006). Oral contraceptive users (n = 385)
      had lower concentrations of KA (20.7%) but higher XA (24.1%) and HAA (9.0%) than
      did nonusers (n = 1058; P < 0.0001). After adjustment for gender and other
      lifestyle variables, XA concentrations were 16% higher in heavy drinkers (n =
      713) than in never or occasional drinkers (n = 975; P = 0.0007). Concentrations
      of 2 other essential amino acids, methionine and arginine, also were positively
      associated with serum Trp (r = 0.65 and 0.33, respectively; P < 0.0001).
      CONCLUSIONS: In this population of healthy young adults, gender has the largest
      influence on serum Kyn metabolite concentrations. The significant covariance of
      Trp with unrelated amino acids suggests that protein intake may be an important
      consideration in evaluating Kyn metabolism.

PMID- 25833775
TI  - Dietary intakes of glutamic acid and glycine are associated with stroke mortality
      in Japanese adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dietary intakes of glutamic acid and glycine have been reported to be
      associated with blood pressure. However, the link between intakes of these amino
      acids and stroke has not been studied. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to examine the
      association between glutamic acid and glycine intakes and the risk of mortality
      from stroke in a population-based cohort study in Japan. METHODS: The analyses
      included 29,079 residents (13,355 men and 15,724 women) of Takayama City, Japan,
      who were aged 35-101 y and enrolled in 1992. Their body mass index ranged from
      9.9 to 57.4 kg/m(2). Their diets were assessed by a validated food frequency
      questionnaire. Deaths from stroke were ascertained over 16 y. RESULTS: During
      follow-up, 677 deaths from stroke (328 men and 349 women) were identified. A high
      intake of glutamic acid in terms of a percentage of total protein was
      significantly associated with a decreased risk of mortality from total stroke in
      women after controlling for covariates; the HR (95% CI) for the highest vs.
      lowest quartile was 0.72 (0.53, 0.98; P-trend: 0.03). Glycine intake was
      significantly associated with an increased risk of mortality from total and
      ischemic stroke in men without history of hypertension at baseline; the HRs (95%
      CIs) for the highest vs. lowest tertile were 1.60 (0.97, 2.51; P-trend: 0.03) and
      1.88 (1.01, 3.52; P-trend: 0.02), respectively. There was no association between
      animal or vegetable protein intake and mortality from total and any subtype of
      stroke. CONCLUSION: The data suggest that glutamic acid and glycine intakes may
      be associated with risk of stroke mortality. Given that this is an initial
      observation, our results need to be confirmed.

PMID- 25833776
TI  - A proinflammatory diet is associated with systemic inflammation and reduced
      kidney function in elderly adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diet can affect kidney health through its effects on inflammation.
      OBJECTIVE: We tested whether the Adapted Dietary Inflammatory Index (ADII) is
      associated with kidney function and whether effects of diet on chronic low-grade
      inflammation explain this association. METHODS: This was an observational
      analysis in 1942 elderly community-dwelling participants aged 70-71 y from 2
      independent cohorts: the Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men (n = 1097 men)
      and the Prospective Investigation of Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors (n = 845 men
      and women). The ADII was calculated from 7-d food records, combining putatively
      proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects of nutrients, vitamins, and trace
      elements. The ADII was validated against serum C-reactive protein (CRP)
      concentrations. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was assessed from
      serum cystatin C (cys) and creatinine (crea). Associations between the ADII and
      eGFR were investigated, and CRP was considered to be a mediator. RESULTS: In
      adjusted analysis, a 1-SD higher ADII was associated with higher CRP (beta: 6%;
      95% CI: 1%, 10%; P = 0.01) and lower eGFR [Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology
      Collaboration (CKD-EPI)cys: -2.1%; 95% CI: -3.2%, -1.1%; CKD-EPIcys+crea: -1.8%;
      95% CI: -2.7%, -0.9%; both P < 0.001]. CRP was also inversely associated with
      eGFR. Mediation analyses showed that of the total effect of the ADII on kidney
      function, 15% and 17% (for CKD-EPIcys+crea and CKD-EPIcys equations,
      respectively) were explained/mediated by serum CRP. Findings were similar when
      each cohort was analyzed separately. CONCLUSIONS: A proinflammatory diet was
      associated with systemic inflammation as well as with reduced kidney function in
      a combined analysis of 2 community-based cohorts of elderly individuals. Our
      results also suggest systemic inflammation to be one potential pathway through
      which this dietary pattern is linked to kidney function.

PMID- 25833777
TI  - A high-glycemic index, low-fiber breakfast affects the postprandial plasma
      glucose, insulin, and ghrelin responses of patients with type 2 diabetes in a
      randomized clinical trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Meals with a low glycemic index (GI) and rich in fiber could be
      beneficial with regard to postprandial metabolic profile and satiety. OBJECTIVE:
      The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 4 breakfasts with a
      different GI and amount of fiber on postprandial plasma glucose, insulin, and
      appetite in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: This randomized 4
      intervention crossover trial included 14 patients [7 men; ages 65.8 +/- 5.2 y;
      glycated hemoglobin: 6.6 +/- 0.9%; BMI (in kg/m(2)): 27.2 +/- 3.1]. Dietary
      interventions were as follows: breakfasts with a high GI (60.4 +/- 0.1%) and high
      fiber (6.0 +/- 0.3 g) (HGI-HF), a high GI (60.9 +/- 1.7%) and low fiber (2.5 +/-
      0.4 g) (HGI-LF), a low GI (37.7 +/- 0.1%) and high fiber (6.2 +/- 0.3 g) (LGI
      HF), and a low GI (39.8 +/- 1.3%) and low fiber (2.0 +/- 0.1 g) (LGI-LF). Plasma
      glucose, insulin, and total ghrelin were evaluated postprandially (0-180 min). A
      visual analog scale was used to assess appetite. Data were analyzed by
      generalized estimating equations and post hoc least significant difference (LSD)
      tests. Data are reported as means +/- SDs. RESULTS: The area under the curve
      (AUC) [mean (95% CI); P for LSD tests] for plasma glucose (mmol/L * min) was
      higher after patients consumed the HGI-LF breakfast [9.62 (8.39, 10.84)] than
      after the LGI-HF breakfast [8.95 (7.71, 10.18)] (P <= 0.05). Insulin AUC (MUIU/mL
      * min) after patients consumed the HGI-LF meal [65.72 (38.24, 93.19)] was higher
      than after the HGI-HF meal [57.24 (32.44, 82.04)] (P <= 0.05). The other observed
      difference was higher insulin AUC after the consumption of the LGI-LF breakfast
      [61.54 (36.61, 86.48)] compared with the AUC after the LGI-HF breakfast [54.16
      (31.43, 76.88)] (P <= 0.05). Plasma ghrelin decreased in comparison with baseline
      only after patients consumed the LGI-HF and LGI-LF breakfasts (P <= 0.05).
      Subjective satiety did not differ between breakfasts. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma
      glucose, insulin, and ghrelin responses were least favorable when patients with
      type 2 diabetes consumed a breakfast with a high GI and low fiber, which suggests
      that reducing the GI or increasing the fiber content or both of breakfasts may be
      a useful strategy to improve the postprandial metabolic profile of these
      patients. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01410292.

PMID- 25833778
TI  - Purified anthocyanin supplementation reduces dyslipidemia, enhances antioxidant
      capacity, and prevents insulin resistance in diabetic patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of type
      2 diabetes. Anthocyanin, a natural antioxidant, has been reported to reduce
      oxidative stress and to attenuate insulin resistance and diabetes in animal
      models; however, the translation of these observations to humans has not been
      fully tested. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to investigate the effects of
      purified anthocyanins on dyslipidemia, oxidative status, and insulin sensitivity
      in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: A total of 58 diabetic patients were
      given 160 mg of anthocyanins twice daily or placebo (n = 29/group) for 24 wk in a
      randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. Participants and
      investigators were masked to treatment allocation. RESULTS: Anthocyanin
      supplementation significantly decreased serum LDL cholesterol (by 7.9%; P <
      0.05), triglycerides (by 23.0%; P < 0.01), apolipoprotein (apo) B-48 (by 16.5%; P
      < 0.05), and apo C-III (by 11.0%; P < 0.01) and increased HDL cholesterol (by
      19.4%; P < 0.05) compared with placebo after the 24-wk intervention. In addition,
      patients in the anthocyanin group showed higher total radical-trapping
      antioxidant parameter and ferric ion reducing antioxidant power values than did
      patients in the placebo group (both P < 0.05). Serum concentrations of 8-iso
      prostaglandin F2alpha, 13-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid, and carbonylated proteins
      in patients in the anthocyanin group were significantly less than in patients in
      the placebo group (23.4%, 25.8%; P < 0.01 and 20%; P = 0.022, respectively).
      Furthermore, supplementation with anthocyanin lowered fasting plasma glucose (by
      8.5%; P < 0.05) and homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance index (by
      13%; P < 0.05), and elevated serum adiponectin (by 23.4%; P < 0.01) and beta
      hydroxybutyrate (by 42.4%; P = 0.01) concentrations compared with placebo
      supplementation. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that anthocyanin
      supplementation exerts beneficial metabolic effects in subjects with type 2
      diabetes by improving dyslipidemia, enhancing antioxidant capacity, and
      preventing insulin resistance. This trial was registered at
      www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02317211.

PMID- 25833779
TI  - Urine excretion of caffeine and select caffeine metabolites is common in the U.S.
      population and associated with caffeine intake.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Caffeine is a widely consumed psychoactive stimulant and is of
      epidemiologic interest. Major sources of caffeine are challenging to standardize,
      and the use of biomarkers is proposed as an alternative means of assessing
      intake. OBJECTIVE: We described urine caffeine and caffeine metabolite
      concentrations (n = 2466) and excretion rates (n = 2261) in the US population >=6
      y by age, sex, race-ethnicity, and caffeine intake (from foods, beverages, and
      dietary supplements). METHODS: We measured caffeine and 14 of its metabolites in
      spot urine samples from the cross-sectional NHANES 2009-2010 by use of LC-tandem
      mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Caffeine and its metabolites were detectable in the
      urine of most persons, generally at concentrations >=1 MUmol/L. Median
      concentrations (95% CI) ranged from 0.560 (0.497, 0.620) MUmol/L to 58.6 (48.6,
      67.2) MUmol/L; median excretion rates from 0.423 (0.385, 0.468) nmol/min to 46.0
      (40.7, 50.2) nmol/min. Urine concentrations and excretion rates for 9 analytes
      (caffeine, theophylline, paraxanthine, 1-methylxanthine, 1-methyluric acid, 1,3
      dimethyluric acid, 1,7-dimethyluric acid, 1,3,7-trimethyluric acid, and 5
      acetylamino-6-amino-3-methyluracil) had moderate correlations with caffeine
      intake (Spearman rho = 0.55-0.68, P < 0.0001); the remaining analytes had low
      correlations (rho = 0.15-0.33, P < 0.0001). We observed larger differences in
      geometric mean concentrations and excretion rates between the highest vs. lowest
      quartiles of caffeine intake for these 9 compounds than the rest. Consistent with
      dietary caffeine intake, we observed that urine concentrations and excretion
      rates for most compounds were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in men than women,
      non-Hispanic whites than Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks, and highest in
      persons aged 40-59 y. CONCLUSION: Excretion of caffeine and its metabolites in
      urine is common in the US population. According to the observed associations
      between spot urine concentrations or excretion rates with caffeine intake,
      several of these compounds show promise as potential biomarkers of caffeine
      intake.

PMID- 25833780
TI  - Dietary patterns track from infancy to preschool age: cross-sectional and
      longitudinal perspectives.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although it has been suggested that dietary patterns emerge early in
      life, less is known about the extent to which they track through the toddler and
      preschool ages. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to derive cross
      sectional dietary patterns at 2, 3, and 5 y of age and assess their correlations
      and to derive multi-time point dietary patterns from ages 2-5 y and assess their
      associations with sociodemographic factors and infant feeding patterns. METHODS:
      Depending on the age considered, analyses included 989-1422 children from the
      EDEN (Etude des Determinants pre- et postnatals precoces du developpement et de
      la sante de l'ENfant) mother-child cohort. Dietary intake was collected with the
      use of food-frequency questionnaires at 2, 3, and 5 y of age. Principal component
      analyses were applied to these data, first cross-sectionally at each age, then
      longitudinally accounting for the data collected at all 3 ages. Tracking between
      patterns was estimated by Spearman correlation coefficients and associations with
      either the infant feeding patterns or the demographic and socioeconomic factors
      were assessed with the use of multivariable linear regression analyses. RESULTS:
      Overall, we derived 2 main cross-sectional patterns labeled "Processed and fast
      foods" and "Guidelines," the latter being characterized by intakes approximating
      age-specific dietary guidelines; and 2 multi-time point dietary patterns that
      corresponded to consistent exposures to similar foods across the 3 ages. The
      first, labeled "Processed and fast foods at 2, 3, and 5 y," was inversely
      associated with maternal education and age, and positively associated with the
      presence of older siblings. The second, called "Guidelines at 2, 3, and 5 y," was
      predicted by maternal education. Moderate tracking was observed between similar
      patterns assessed at different ages. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirmed the
      emergence of dietary profiles socially differentiated early in life as well as a
      moderate tracking of the diet. The promotion of healthy dietary trajectories
      should be encouraged as early as infancy, in particular in the presence of older
      siblings and among the most socially disadvantaged population groups.

PMID- 25833782
TI  - Vitamin D deficiency in school-age children is associated with sociodemographic
      and lifestyle factors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is concern about a reemergence of vitamin D deficiency in
      children in developed countries. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to
      describe vitamin D status in the Generation R study, a large multiethnic cohort
      of 6-y-old children in The Netherlands, and to examine sociodemographic,
      lifestyle, and dietary determinants of vitamin D deficiency. METHODS: We measured
      serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations in 4167 children aged 6 y and
      defined deficiency following recommended cutoffs. We examined the associations
      between subject characteristics and vitamin D deficiency with the use of
      multivariable logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Serum 25(OH)D concentrations
      ranged from 4 to 211 nmol/L (median: 64 nmol/L), with 6.2% of the children having
      severely deficient (<25 nmol/L), 23.6% deficient (25 to <50 nmol/L), 36.5%
      sufficient (50 to <75 nmol/L), and 33.7% optimal (>=75 nmol/L) 25(OH)D
      concentrations. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency [25(OH)D <50 nmol/L] was
      higher in winter (51.3%) than in summer (10.3%); and higher in African, Asian,
      Turkish, and Moroccan children (54.5%) than in those with a Dutch or other
      Western ethnic background (17.6%). In multivariable models, several factors were
      associated with vitamin D deficiency, including household income (OR: 1.74; 95%
      CI: 1.34, 2.27 for low vs. high income), child age (OR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.20, 1.62
      per year), child television watching (OR: 1.32; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.64 for >=2 vs. <2
      h/d), and playing outside (OR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.57, 0.89 for >=1 vs. <1 h/d). In a
      subgroup with dietary data (n = 1915), vitamin D deficiency was associated with a
      lower diet quality, but not with vitamin D intake or supplement use in early
      childhood. CONCLUSIONS: Suboptimal vitamin D status is common among 6-y-old
      children in The Netherlands, especially among non-Western children and in winter
      and spring. Important modifiable factors associated with vitamin D deficiency
      were overall diet quality, sedentary behavior, and playing outside.

PMID- 25833781
TI  - Dietary modifications, weight loss, and changes in metabolic markers affect
      global DNA methylation in Hispanic, African American, and Afro-Caribbean breast
      cancer survivors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lower levels of global DNA methylation in tissue and blood have been
      associated with increased cancer risk. Conversely, cross-sectional analyses of
      healthier lifestyle patterns have been associated with higher levels of global
      DNA methylation. OBJECTIVE: In this trial, we explored the associations between
      changes in lifestyle modifications (diet, weight loss), metabolic markers, and
      global epigenetic biomarkers in white blood cells. METHODS: Study participants
      were Hispanic, African American, and Afro-Caribbean overweight and sedentary
      female breast cancer survivors (n = 24) who participated in a larger randomized,
      crossover, pilot study of a 6-mo weight loss intervention and who had available
      blood specimens. Anthropometric measures, a food-frequency questionnaire, and
      peripheral blood were collected at baseline, 6 mo, and 12 mo. Plasma samples were
      analyzed for metabolic markers (insulin, glucose). We measured DNA methylation of
      long interspersed nucleotide element 1 (LINE-1) and satellite 2 by pyrosequencing
      and MethyLight, respectively, and global DNA methylation by the luminometric
      methylation assay (LUMA). RESULTS: DNA methylation of LINE-1 was statistically
      significantly elevated at 6 mo [75.5% vs. 78.5% (P < 0.0001)] and 12 mo [75.5%
      vs. 77.7% (P < 0.0001)], compared to baseline. Over a 12-mo period, changes in
      percentage body fat and plasma glucose concentrations were positively associated
      with LINE-1 DNA methylation (beta = 0.19, P = 0.001) and LUMA DNA methylation
      levels (beta = 0.24, P = 0.02), respectively. Similarly, 12-mo changes in dietary
      measures such as vegetable (beta = 0.009, P = 0.048), protein (beta = 0.04, P =
      0.001), and total caloric (beta = 0.05, P = 0.01) intake were positively
      associated with changes in LUMA DNA methylation, as was intake of fruit
      positively associated with changes in LINE-1 DNA methylation (beta = 0.004, P =
      0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Our hypothesis-generating results suggest that lifestyle
      modifications may be associated with changes in global DNA methylation detectable
      at 6 and 12 mo. These biomarkers may be useful intermediate biomarkers to use in
      future intervention trials. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as
      NCT00811824.

PMID- 25833783
TI  - Mothers' child-feeding practices are associated with children's sugar-sweetened
      beverage intake.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake is a substantial source of
      energy in the diet of US children. OBJECTIVE: We examined the associations
      between mothers' child-feeding practices and SSB intake among 6-y-old children.
      METHODS: We analyzed data from the Year 6 Follow-up of the Infant Feeding
      Practices Study II in 1350 US children aged 6 y. The outcome variable was child's
      SSB intake. The exposure variables were 4 child-feeding practices of mothers:
      setting limits on sweets or junk foods, regulating their child's favorite food
      intake to prevent overconsumption, pressuring their child to eat enough, and
      pressuring their child to "clean the plate." We used multinomial logistic
      regression and controlled for child and maternal characteristics. Analyses were
      stratified on child weight status. RESULTS: The consumption of SSBs >=1 time/d
      was observed among 17.1% of underweight/normal-weight children and in 23.2% of
      overweight/obese children. Adjusted ORs (aORs) of consuming SSBs >=1 time/d (vs.
      no SSB consumption) were significantly lower in children whose mothers reported
      setting limits on sweets/junk foods (aOR: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.15, 0.58 for
      underweight/normal-weight children; aOR: 0.16; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.79 for
      overweight/obese children). SSB intake was higher among underweight/normal-weight
      children whose mothers reported trying to keep the child from eating too much of
      their favorite foods (aOR: 2.03; 95% CI: 1.25, 3.29). Mothers' tendency to
      pressure their children to consume more food or to "clean the plate" was not
      associated with child's SSB intake. CONCLUSIONS: SSBs were commonly consumed by
      young children. The odds of daily SSB intake were lower among children whose
      mothers set limits on sweets/junk foods regardless of child's weight but were
      higher among underweight/normal-weight children whose mothers restricted the
      child's favorite food intake. Future studies can investigate the impact of
      alternatives to restrictive feeding practices that could reduce children's SSB
      intake.

PMID- 25833784
TI  - Ready-to-use supplementary food increases fat mass and BMI in Haitian school-aged
      children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In Haiti and other countries, large-scale investments in school
      feeding programs have been made with marginal evidence of nutrition outcomes.
      OBJECTIVE: We aimed to examine the effectiveness of a fortified ready-to-use
      supplementary food (RUSF), Mamba, on reduced anemia and improved body composition
      in school-aged children compared to an unfortified cereal bar, Tablet Yo, and
      control groups. METHODS: A cluster, randomized trial with children ages 3-13 y (n
      = 1167) was conducted in the north of Haiti. Six schools were matched and
      randomized to the control group, Tablet Yo group (42 g, 165 kcal), or Mamba group
      (50 g, 260 kcal, and >75% of the RDA for critical micronutrients). Children in
      the supplementation groups received the snack daily for 100 d, and all were
      followed longitudinally for hemoglobin concentrations, anthropometry, and
      bioelectrical impedance measures: baseline (December 2012), midline (March 2013),
      and endline (June 2013). Parent surveys were conducted at baseline and endline to
      examine secondary outcomes of morbidities and dietary intakes. Longitudinal
      regression modeling using generalized least squares and logit with random effects
      tested the main effects. RESULTS: At baseline,14.0% of children were stunted,
      14.5% underweight, 9.1% thin, and 73% anemic. Fat mass percentage (mean +/- SD)
      was 8.1% +/- 4.3% for boys and 12.5% +/- 4.4% for girls. In longitudinal
      modeling, Mamba supplementation increased body mass index z score (regression
      coefficient +/- SEE) 0.25 +/- 0.06, fat mass 0.45 +/- 0.14 kg, and percentage fat
      mass 1.28% +/- 0.27% compared with control at each time point (P < 0.001). Among
      boys, Mamba increased fat mass (regression coefficient +/- SEE) 0.73 +/- 0.19 kg
      and fat-free mass 0.62 +/- 0.34 kg compared with control (P < 0.001). Mamba
      reduced the odds of developing anemia by 28% compared to control (adjusted OR:
      0.72; 95% CI: 0.57, 0.91; P < 0.001). No treatment effect was found for
      hemoglobin concentration. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first study
      to give evidence of body composition effects from an RUSF in school-aged
      children.

PMID- 25833785
TI  - Early childhood stunting is associated with lower developmental levels in the
      subsequent generation of children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Linear growth retardation (stunting) is associated with lower adult
      cognition, educational attainment, and income. These effects, together with
      possible effects of stunting on birth weight and subsequent growth of offspring,
      suggest that stunting could be associated with poor development in the next
      generation of children. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to compare developmental
      levels in children born to parents who were stunted or nonstunted in early
      childhood. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study of the children of
      participants in the Jamaica supplementation and stimulation study. The analysis
      compared children born to a parent who was stunted at age 9-24 mo, and did not
      receive the stimulation intervention, with children born to a parent in the
      nonstunted group. Developmental levels were measured with the Griffiths mental
      development scales between ages 12 and 72 mo. Mixed model regression analyses
      were conducted to allow for clustering of children within families and child
      (repeat assessments). The analyses included 89 children with a total of 156
      assessments. Caregiver and home characteristics associated with the developmental
      quotient (DQ) or any of the subscales were included in the regressions. RESULTS:
      Children born to a stunted parent had lower DQs (-5.29 points; 95% CI: -9.06, 
      1.52 points; P = 0.01) and lower scores on the cognitive subscale (-5.77 points;
      95% CI: -10.68, -0.87 points; P = 0.022). The offspring of stunted parents had
      lower height-for-age (-0.61 z scores; 95% CI: -1.13, -0.10 z scores; P = 0.021).
      In analyses, adjusting for child height-for-age or birth weight, the
      developmental differences remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge,
      this is the first report comparing the development of offspring of persons
      stunted in early childhood to the development of offspring of nonstunted parents.
      The findings suggest that the impact of stunting on development continues in the
      next generation of children. If replicated, these findings have important
      implications for estimation of the cost of stunting to social and economic
      development.

PMID- 25833786
TI  - Fish-oil-derived n-3 PUFAs reduce inflammatory and chemotactic adipokine-mediated
      cross-talk between co-cultured murine splenic CD8+ T cells and adipocytes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obese adipose tissue (AT) inflammation is characterized by
      dysregulated adipokine production and immune cell accumulation. Cluster of
      differentiation (CD) 8+ T cell AT infiltration represents a critical step that
      precedes macrophage infiltration. n-3 (omega-3) Polyunsaturated fatty acids
      (PUFAs) exert anti-inflammatory effects in obese AT, thereby disrupting AT
      inflammatory paracrine signaling. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the effect of n-3 PUFAs
      on paracrine interactions between adipocytes and primary CD8+ T cells co-cultured
      at the cellular ratio observed in obese AT. METHODS: C57BL/6 mice were fed either
      a 3% menhaden fish-oil + 7% safflower oil (FO) diet (wt:wt) or an isocaloric 10%
      safflower oil (wt:wt) control (CON) for 3 wk, and splenic CD8+ T cells were
      isolated by positive selection (via magnetic microbeads) and co-cultured with 3T3
      L1 adipocytes. Co-cultures were unstimulated (cells alone), T cell receptor
      stimulated, or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated for 24 h. RESULTS: In LPS
      stimulated co-cultures, FO reduced secreted protein concentrations of interleukin
      (IL)-6 (-42.6%), tumor necrosis factor alpha (-67%), macrophage inflammatory
      protein (MIP) 1alpha (-52%), MIP-1beta (-62%), monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)
      1 (-23%), and MCP-3 (-19%) vs. CON, which coincided with a 74% reduction in
      macrophage chemotaxis toward secreted chemotaxins in LPS-stimulated FO-enriched
      co-culture-conditioned media. FO increased mRNA expression of the inflammatory
      signaling negative regulators monocyte chemoattractant 1-induced protein (Mcpip;
      +9.3-fold) and suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (Socs3; +1.7-fold), whereas FO
      reduced activation of inflammatory transcription factors nuclear transcription
      factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) p65 and signal transducer and activator of
      transcription 3 (STAT3) by 27% and 33%, respectively. Finally, mRNA expression of
      the inflammasome components Caspase1 (-36.4%), Nod-like receptor family pyrin
      domain containing 3 (Nlrp3; -99%), and Il1b (-68.8%) were decreased by FO
      compared with CON (P <= 0.05). CONCLUSION: FO exerted an anti-inflammatory and
      antichemotactic effect on the cross-talk between CD8+ T cells and adipocytes and
      has implications in mitigating macrophage-centered AT-driven components of the
      obese phenotype.

PMID- 25833788
TI  - Erratum for Ferrario et al. Modulation of fecal Clostridiales bacteria and
      butyrate by probiotic intervention with Lactobacillus paracasei DG varies among
      healthy adults. J Nutr 2014;144:1787-1796.

PMID- 25833787
TI  - Erratum for Marini. Protein requirements: are we ready for new recommendations? J
      Nutr 2015;145:5-6.

PMID- 25833790
TI  - Prognostic value of complete remission status at end-of-treatment FDG-PET in R
      CHOP-treated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - This study systematically reviewed and meta-analysed the prognostic value of
      complete remission status at end-of-treatment (18) F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose
      positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)
      patients treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and
      prednisone (R-CHOP). The systematic PubMed/MEDLINE search yielded seven suitable
      studies comprising a total of 737 R-CHOP-treated DLBCL patients who were in
      complete remission at end-of-treatment FDG-PET. Overall, the methodological
      quality of included studies was reasonable. The disease relapse rate among all
      patients with complete remission status according to end-of-treatment FDG-PET
      ranged from 7.0% to 20.0%, with a weighted summary proportion of 13.7%. Five of
      seven studies reported progression-free survival (PFS) of these patients at
      various specific time points, i.e., 2-year PFS (n = 1), estimated 3-year PFS (n =
      3) and 5-year PFS (n = 1), which was 83%, 85-86.4% and 75%, respectively. Three
      of seven studies reported overall survival (OS) of these patients at various
      specific time points, i.e., estimated 3-year OS (n = 2) and estimated 5-year OS
      (n = 1), which were 90%, 93.6% and 83%, respectively. In conclusion, a non
      negligible proportion of R-CHOP-treated DLBCL patients who achieve complete
      remission according to end-of-treatment FDG-PET experiences disease relapse
      during follow-up. 

PMID- 25833791
TI  - Sol processing of conjugated carbon nitride powders for thin-film fabrication.
AB  - The chemical protonation of graphitic carbon nitride (CN) solids with strong
      oxidizing acids, for example HNO3, is demonstrated as an efficient pathway for
      the sol processing of a stable CN colloidal suspension, which can be translated
      into thin films by dip/disperse-coating techniques. The unique features of CN
      colloids, such as the polymeric matrix and the reversible hydrogen bonding,
      result in the thin-film electrodes derived from the sol solution exhibiting a
      high mechanical stability with improved conductivity for charge transport, and
      thus show a remarkably enhanced photo-electrochemical performance. The polymer
      system can in principle be broadly tuned by hybridization with desired
      functionalities, thus paving the way for the application of CN for specific
      tasks, as exemplified here by coupling with carbon nanotubes.

PMID- 25833792
TI  - Four-dimensional layer-stacking carbon-ion beam dose distribution by use of a
      lung numeric phantom.
AB  - To extend layer-stacking irradiation to accommodate intrafractional organ motion,
      we evaluated the carbon-ion layer-stacking dose distribution using a numeric lung
      phantom. We designed several types of range compensators. The planning target
      volume was calculated from the respective respiratory phases for consideration of
      intrafractional beam range variation. The accumulated dose distribution was
      calculated by registering of the dose distributions at respective phases to that
      at the reference phase. We evaluated the dose distribution based on the following
      six parameters: motion displacement, direction, gating window, respiratory cycle,
      range-shifter change time, and prescribed dose. All parameters affected the dose
      conformation to the moving target. By shortening of the gating window, dose
      metrics for superior-inferior (SI) and anterior-posterior (AP) motions were
      decreased from a D95 of 94 %, Dmax of 108 %, and homogeneity index (HI) of 23 %
      at T00-T90, to a D95 of 93 %, Dmax of 102 %, and HI of 20 % at T40-T60. In
      contrast, all dose metrics except the HI were independent of respiratory cycle.
      All dose metrics in SI motion were almost the same in respective motion
      displacement, with a D95 of 94 %, Dmax of 108 %, Dmin of 89 %, and HI of 23 % for
      the ungated phase, and D95 of 93 %, Dmax of 102 %, Dmin of 85 %, and HI of 20 %
      for the gated phase. The dose conformation to a moving target was improved by the
      gating strategy and by an increase in the prescribed dose. A combination of these
      approaches is a practical means of adding them to existing treatment protocols
      without modifications. 

PMID- 25833793
TI  - Effect of biogeographic history on population vulnerability in European
      amphibians.
AB  - The genetic diversity of populations, which contributes greatly to their adaptive
      potential, is negatively affected by anthropogenic habitat fragmentation and
      destruction. However, continental-scale losses of genetic diversity also resulted
      from the population expansions that followed the end of the last glaciation, an
      element that is rarely considered in a conservation context. We addressed this
      issue in a meta-analysis in which we compared the spatial patterns of
      vulnerability of 18 widespread European amphibians in light of phylogeographic
      histories (glacial refugia and postglacial routes) and anthropogenic
      disturbances. Conservation statuses significantly worsened with distances from
      refugia, particularly in the context of industrial agriculture; human population
      density also had a negative effect. These findings suggest that features
      associated with the loss of genetic diversity in post-glacial amphibian
      populations (such as enhanced fixation load or depressed adaptive potential) may
      increase their susceptibility to current threats (e.g., habitat fragmentation and
      pesticide use). We propose that the phylogeographic status of populations (i.e.,
      refugial vs. post-glacial) should be considered in conservation assessments for
      regional and national red lists. 

PMID- 25833794
TI  - Computational chemistry for graphene-based energy applications: progress and
      challenges.
AB  - Research in graphene-based energy materials is a rapidly growing area. Many
      graphene-based energy applications involve interfacial processes. To enable
      advances in the design of these energy materials, such that their operation,
      economy, efficiency and durability is at least comparable with fossil-fuel based
      alternatives, connections between the molecular-scale structure and function of
      these interfaces are needed. While it is experimentally challenging to resolve
      this interfacial structure, molecular simulation and computational chemistry can
      help bridge these gaps. In this Review, we summarise recent progress in the
      application of computational chemistry to graphene-based materials for fuel
      cells, batteries, photovoltaics and supercapacitors. We also outline both the
      bright prospects and emerging challenges these techniques face for application to
      graphene-based energy materials in future. 

PMID- 25833795
TI  - Vitamin D status in Well-Controlled Caucasian HIV Patients in Relation to
      Inflammatory and Metabolic Markers--A Cross-Sectional Cohort Study in Sweden.
AB  - To study vitamin D (25OH D3 ) in relation to (i) microbial translocation (ii)
      systemic inflammation and (iii) blood lipid markers, in Caucasian, well
      controlled HIV patients and healthy controls, plasma and serum samples from n =
      97 male, HIV patients on HAART with immeasurable viral load (<20 copies/ml) since
      median 6.5 years and no concurrent inflammatory or infectious disease and n = 30
      healthy controls were analysed for (i) LPS; (ii) sCD14, hsCRP, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10,
      IL-17, MCP-1 and IFN-gamma; as well as (iii) blood lipids. Vitamin D levels were
      similarly distributed and equally low in both HIV patients and controls. There
      was no association between vitamin D levels and markers of microbial
      translocation, systemic inflammation or dyslipidemia. LPS levels were similar in
      both groups but HIV patients expressed higher levels of sCD14 and hsCRP, with HIV
      as an independent risk factor. HIV patients had higher cholesterol and Apo B
      levels. Notably, more HIV patients smoked and smoking was associated with lower
      vitamin D levels. In conclusion; these well-treated Caucasian HIV patients had
      similar vitamin D levels as healthy controls. However, despite perfect
      virological control, they exhibited slightly increased inflammatory markers and
      disturbed blood lipids. However, neither of these parameters were associated with
      low vitamin D levels but appeared to be linked to the HIV-disease per se. Thus,
      the rationale for vitamin D substitution as a way to improve microbial
      translocation and systemic inflammation is not fully supported in this HIV
      population.

PMID- 25833796
TI  - Wandering anatomists and itinerant anthropologists: the antipodean sciences of
      race in Britain between the wars.
AB  - While the British Empire conventionally is recognized as a source of research
      subjects and objects in anthropology, and a site where anthropological expertise
      might inform public administration, the settler-colonial affiliations and
      experiences of many leading physical anthropologists could also directly shape
      theories of human variation, both physical and cultural. Antipodean
      anthropologists like Grafton Elliot Smith were pre-adapted to diffusionist models
      that explained cultural achievement in terms of the migration, contact and mixing
      of peoples. Trained in comparative methods, these fractious cosmopolitans also
      favoured a dynamic human biology, often emphasizing the heterogeneity and
      environmental plasticity of body form and function, and viewing fixed, static
      racial typologies and hierarchies sceptically. By following leading
      representatives of empire anatomy and physical anthropology, such as Elliot Smith
      and Frederic Wood Jones, around the globe, it is possible to recover the colonial
      entanglements and biases of interwar British anthropology, moving beyond a simple
      inventory of imperial sources, and crediting human biology and social
      anthropology not just as colonial sciences but as the sciences of itinerant
      colonials. 

PMID- 25833797
TI  - John Flamsteed and the turn of the screw: mechanical uncertainty, the skilful
      astronomer and the burden of seeing correctly at the Royal Observatory,
      Greenwich.
AB  - Centring on John Flamsteed (1646-1719), the first Astronomer Royal, this paper
      investigates the ways in which astronomers of the late seventeenth century worked
      to build and maintain their reputations by demonstrating, for their peers and for
      posterity, their proficiency in managing visual technologies. By looking at his
      correspondence and by offering a graphic and textual analysis of the preface to
      his posthumous Historia Coelestis Britannica (1725), I argue that Flamsteed based
      the legitimacy of his life's work on his capacity to serve as a skilful
      astronomer who could coordinate the production and proper use of astronomical
      sighting instruments. Technological advances in astrometry were, for Flamsteed, a
      necessary but not a sufficient condition for the advancement of astronomy.
      Technological resources needed to be used by the right person. The work of the
      skilful astronomer was a necessary precondition for the mobilization and proper
      management of astronomical technologies. Flamsteed's understanding of the
      astronomer as a skilled actor importantly shifted the emphasis in precision
      astronomical work away from the individual observer's ability to see well and
      toward the astronomer's ability to ensure that instruments guaranteed accurate
      vision. 

PMID- 25833798
TI  - 'Most rare workmen': optical practitioners in early seventeenth-century Delft.
AB  - A special interest in optics among various seventeenth-century painters living in
      the Dutch city of Delft has intrigued historians, including art historians, for a
      long time. Equally, the impressive career of the Delft microscopist Antoni van
      Leeuwenhoek has been studied by many historians of science. However, it has never
      been investigated who, at that time, had access to the mathematical and optical
      knowledge necessary for the impressive achievements of these Delft practitioners.
      We have tried to gain insight into Delft as a 'node' of optical knowledge by
      following the careers of three minor local figures in early seventeenth-century
      Delft. We argue that through their work, products, discussions in the vernacular
      and exchange of skills, rather than via learned publications, these practitioners
      constituted a foundation on which the later scientific and artistic achievements
      of other Delft citizens were built. Our Delft case demonstrates that these
      practitioners were not simple and isolated craftsmen; rather they were crucial
      components in a network of scholars, savants, painters and rich virtuosi. Decades
      before Vermeer made his masterworks, or Van Leeuwenhoek started his famous
      microscopic investigations, the intellectual atmosphere and artisanal knowledge
      in this city centred on optical topics. 

PMID- 25833799
TI  - 'The televising of science is a process of television': establishing Horizon,
      1962-1967.
AB  - BBC Television's Horizon series, fifty years old on 2 May 2014, despite its
      significance to the history of the public culture of science, has been little
      studied. This microhistorical account follows the gestation and early years of
      the programme, demonstrating how it established a social and cultural account of
      science. This was a result of televisual factors, notably the determination to
      follow the format of the successful arts television programme Monitor. It
      illuminates how the processes of television production, with a handful of key
      participants - Aubrey Singer, Gerald Leach, Philip Daly, Gordon Rattray Taylor,
      Ramsay Short, Michael Peacock and Robert Reid - established the format of the
      programme. This occurred over seventeen months of prior preparation followed by
      three troubled years of seeking to establish a stable form. This was finally
      achieved in 1967 when the programme adopted a film documentary approach after
      extended attempts at making it as a studio-based magazine programme. The story
      has implications for understanding the social accounts of science that were
      circulating in the key decade of the 1960s. 

PMID- 25833800
TI  - Reinventing machines: the transmission history of the Leibniz calculator.
AB  - This paper argues that we should take into account the process of historical
      transmission to enrich our understanding of material culture. More specifically,
      I want to show how the rewriting of history and the invention of tradition impact
      material objects and our beliefs about them. I focus here on the transmission
      history of the mechanical calculator invented by the German savant Gottfried
      Wilhelm Leibniz. Leibniz repeatedly described his machine as functional and
      wonderfully useful, but in reality it was never finished and didn't fully work.
      Its internal structure also remained unknown. In 1879, however, the machine re
      emerged and was reinvented as the origin of all later calculating machines based
      on the stepped drum, to protect the priority of the German Leibniz against the
      Frenchman Thomas de Colmar as the father of mechanical calculation. The
      calculator was later replicated to demonstrate that it could function 'after
      all', in an effort to deepen this narrative and further enhance Leibniz's
      computing acumen. 

PMID- 25833801
TI  - A history of the Allais paradox.
AB  - This article documents the history of the Allais paradox, and shows that
      underneath the many discussions of the various protagonists lay different,
      irreconcilable epistemological positions. Savage, like his mentor von Neumann and
      similar to economist Friedman, worked from an epistemology of generalized
      characterizations. Allais, on the other hand, like economists Samuelson and
      Baumol, started from an epistemology of exact descriptions in which every axiom
      was an empirical claim that could be refuted directly by observations. As a
      result, the two sides failed to find a common ground. Only a few decades later
      was the now so-called Allais paradox rediscovered as an important precursor when
      a new behavioural economic subdiscipline started to adopt the epistemology of
      exact descriptions and its accompanying falsifications of rational choice theory.

PMID- 25833802
TI  - Far from depleted....

PMID- 25833803
TI  - Endothelial cells-targeted soluble human Delta-like 4 suppresses both
      physiological and pathological ocular angiogenesis.
AB  - Due to its essential roles in angiogenesis, Notch pathway has emerged as an
      attractive target for the treatment of pathologic angiogenesis. Although both
      activation and blockage of Notch signal can impede angiogenesis, activation of
      Notch signal may be more promising because it was shown that long-term Notch
      signal blockage resulted in vessel neoplasm. However, an in vivo deliverable
      Notch ligand with highly efficient Notch-activating capacity has not been
      developed. Among all the Notch ligands, Delta-like4 (Dll4) is specifically
      involved in angiogenesis. In this study, we generated a novel soluble Notch
      ligand hD4R, which consists of the Delta-Serrate-Lag-2 fragment of human Dll4 and
      an arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) motif targeting endothelial cells (ECs). We
      demonstrated that hD4R could bind to ECs through its RGD motif and effectively
      triggered Notch signaling in ECs. Further, we confirmed that hD4R could suppress
      angiogenesis in vitro as manifested by network formation assay and sprouting
      assay. More importantly, hD4R efficiently repressed neonatal retinal angiogenesis
      and laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV) as well in vivo. In
      conclusion, we have developed an in vivo deliverable Notch ligand hD4R, which
      suppresses angiogenesis both in vitro and in vivo, thus providing a new approach
      to tackle excessive angiogenesis relevant disease such as CNV.

PMID- 25833804
TI  - Chemical composition and antifungal activity of the volatile oil from Epichloe
      gansuensis, endophyte-infected and non-infected Achnatherum inebrians.

PMID- 25833805
TI  - Isolation and characterization of mesenchymal stem-like cells from human nucleus
      pulposus tissue.

PMID- 25833806
TI  - The diversity of coral associated bacteria and the environmental factors affect
      their community variation.
AB  - Coral associated bacterial community potentially has functions relating to coral
      health, nutrition and disease. Culture-free, 16S rRNA based techniques were used
      to compare the bacterial community of coral tissue, mucus and seawater around
      coral, and to investigate the relationship between the coral-associated bacterial
      communities and environmental variables. The diversity of coral associated
      bacterial communities was very high, and their composition different from
      seawater. Coral tissue and mucus had a coral associated bacterial community with
      higher abundances of Gammaproteobacteria. However, bacterial community in
      seawater had a higher abundance of Cyanobacteria. Different populations were also
      found in mucus and tissue from the same coral fragment, and the abundant
      bacterial species associated with coral tissue was very different from those
      found in coral mucus. The microbial diversity and OTUs of coral tissue were much
      higher than those of coral mucus. Bacterial communities of corals from more human
      activities site have higher diversity and evenness; and the structure of
      bacterial communities were significantly different from the corals collected from
      other sites. The composition of bacterial communities associated with same coral
      species varied with season's changes, geographic differences, and coastal
      pollution. Unique bacterial groups found in the coral samples from more human
      activities location were significant positively correlated to chemical oxygen
      demand. These coral specific bacteria lead to coral disease or adjust to form new
      function structure for the adaption of different surrounding needs further
      research.

PMID- 25833807
TI  - The impact of postpartum depression and anxiety disorders on children's
      processing of facial emotional expressions at pre-school age.
AB  - To enhance understanding of impaired socio-emotional development in children of
      postpartum depressed or anxious mothers, this longitudinal study addressed the
      question of whether maternal postpartum depression and anxiety disorders result
      in deficits in children's processing of facial emotional expressions (FEEs) at
      pre-school age. Thirty-two mothers who had fulfilled Diagnostic and Statistical
      Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV) criteria for postpartum depression and/or
      anxiety disorder and their pre-school aged children were tested for FEE
      processing abilities and compared to a healthy control group (n = 29). Child
      assessments included separate tasks for emotion recognition and emotion
      labelling. Mothers completed an emotion recognition test as well as the
      Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders I (SCID-I). Children of
      postpartum depressed and/or anxious mothers performed significantly worse than
      control children at labelling, but not at recognizing facial expressions of basic
      emotions. Emotion labelling at pre-school age was predicted by child age and
      maternal postpartum mental health, but neither current maternal mental health nor
      current maternal emotion recognition was associated with child FEE processing.
      Results point to a specific importance of early social experiences for the
      development of FEE labelling skills. However, further studies involving sensitive
      measures of emotion recognition are needed to determine if there might also exist
      subtle effects on FEE recognition. 

PMID- 25833809
TI  - Decision management in transoral robotic surgery: Indications, individual patient
      selection, and role in the multidisciplinary treatment for head and neck cancer
      from a European perspective.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) has become an accepted first-line
      treatment for T1 and T2 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The
      growing popularity of this procedure is the result of mounting skepticism as to
      the survival and quality of life (QOL) benefits of primary chemoradiation over
      definitive surgery, the rising incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive
      oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) in progressively younger patients,
      and the advantages of TORS over transoral laser microsurgery (TOLM) and open
      surgery. METHODS: The authors use their experience and data gained from the TORS
      based management of >100 patients to establish a systematic approach to the use
      of TORS in HNSCC. RESULTS: This approach is constructed on a framework which goal
      is to select the primary treatment option that is most likely to reduce morbidity
      while preserving function and maintaining oncologic safety. CONCLUSION: A
      consensus regarding the indications of TORS and its role in the multidisciplinary
      management of HNSCC is to be established. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head
      Neck 38: E2190-E2196, 2016.

PMID- 25833808
TI  - Avoidance as an obstacle to preventing depression among urban women at high risk
      for violent trauma.
AB  - The impact of depression interventions is often attenuated in women who have
      experienced trauma. We explored whether psychological avoidance could explain
      this phenomenon. We synthesized two pilot randomized trials of problem-solving
      education (PSE) among a total of 93 urban mothers. Outcomes included depressive
      symptoms and perceived stress. Mothers with avoidant coping styles experienced an
      average 1.25 episodes of moderately severe depressive symptoms over 3 months of
      follow-up, compared to 0.40 episodes among those with non-avoidant coping
      (adjusted incident rate ratio [aIRR] 2.18; 95 % CI 1.06, 4.48). PSE tended to
      perform better among mothers with non-avoidant coping. Among mothers with non
      avoidant coping, PSE mothers experienced an average 0.24 episodes, compared to
      0.58 episodes among non-avoidant controls (aIRR 0.27; 95 % CI 0.05, 1.34). Among
      mothers with avoidant coping, PSE mothers experienced an average 1.26 episodes,
      compared to 1.20 episodes among avoidant controls (aIRR 0.76; 95 % CI 0.44,
      1.33). This trend toward differential impact persisted when avoidance was
      measured as a problem-solving style and among traumatized mothers with and
      without avoidant PTSD symptoms. Further research is warranted to explore the
      hypothesis that psychological avoidance could explain why certain depression
      treatment and prevention strategies break down in the presence of trauma.

PMID- 25833810
TI  - Activation of KIT modulates the function of tumor necrosis factor-related
      apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor (TRAIL-R) in mast cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mastocytosis is characterized by the accumulation of mast cells (MCs)
      associated with activating mutations of KIT. Tumor necrosis factor-related
      apoptosis-inducing ligand receptors (TRAIL-Rs) are preferentially expressed on
      neoplastic cells and induce the extrinsic apoptotic pathway. Recent studies
      reported on the expression of TRAIL-Rs and TRAIL-induced apoptosis in cultured
      human MCs, which depend on stem cell factor (SCF)-induced or constitutive KIT
      activation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We sought to further define the impact of TRAIL
      Rs on MCs in vivo and in vitro. Using Cre/loxP recombination, we generated mice
      with MC-specific and ubiquitous knockout of TRAIL-R. In these mice, anaphylaxis
      and numbers of MCs were investigated. We also explored the expression and
      function of TRAIL-Rs in cultured murine and human MCs upon activation of KIT. By
      conducting immunofluorescence staining, we analyzed the expression of TRAIL-Rs in
      MCs infiltrating the bone marrow of patients with mastocytosis. RESULTS: MC
      specific deletion of TRAIL-R was associated with a slight, but significant
      increase in anaphylaxis. Numbers of MCs in MC-specific knockouts of TRAIL-R were
      comparable to controls. Whereas cultured IL-3-dependent murine MCs from wild-type
      mice were resistant to TRAIL-induced apoptosis, SCF-stimulated MCs underwent
      apoptosis in response to TRAIL. Interestingly, activating KIT mutations also
      promoted sensitivity to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis in human MCs. In line with these
      findings, MCs infiltrating the bone marrow of patients with mastocytosis
      expressed TRAIL-R1. CONCLUSIONS: Activation of KIT regulates the function of
      TRAIL-Rs in MCs. TRAIL-R1 may represent an attractive diagnostic and therapeutic
      target in diseases associated with KIT mutations, such as mastocytosis.

PMID- 25833811
TI  - Linguistic Markers of Inference Generation While Reading.
AB  - Words can be informative linguistic markers of psychological constructs. The
      purpose of this study is to examine associations between word use and the process
      of making meaningful connections to a text while reading (i.e., inference
      generation). To achieve this purpose, think-aloud data from third-fifth grade
      students ([Formula: see text]) reading narrative texts were hand-coded for
      inferences. These data were also processed with a computer text analysis tool,
      Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, for percentages of word use in the following
      categories: cognitive mechanism words, nonfluencies, and nine types of function
      words. Findings indicate that cognitive mechanisms were an independent, positive
      predictor of connections to background knowledge (i.e., elaborative inference
      generation) and nonfluencies were an independent, negative predictor of
      connections within the text (i.e., bridging inference generation). Function words
      did not provide unique variance towards predicting inference generation. These
      findings are discussed in the context of a cognitive reflection model and the
      differences between bridging and elaborative inference generation. In addition,
      potential practical implications for intelligent tutoring systems and computer
      based methods of inference identification are presented. 

PMID- 25833812
TI  - Reversal of Arthritis by Human Monomeric IgA Through the Receptor-Mediated SH2
      Domain-Containing Phosphatase 1 Inhibitory Pathway.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), one of the most frequent chronic
      inflammatory rheumatic disorders, is characterized by the presence of
      autoantibodies and joint infiltration by activated immune cells, leading to
      cartilage and bone destruction. IgA occurs predominantly as monomers (mIgA) in
      plasma and regulates many cell responses through interaction with the Fcalpha
      receptor type I (FcalphaRI). FcalphaRI targeting by anti-FcalphaRI Fab inhibits
      activating receptors by inducing an inhibitory immunoreceptor tyrosine-based
      activation motif (ITAMi) configuration through SH2 domain-containing phosphatase
      1 (SHP-1) recruitment. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential
      utility of mIgA for the treatment of arthritis by acting as an inducer of ITAMi
      signaling. METHODS: The effect of plasma-derived human mIgA on inhibition of
      multiple heterologous receptors was evaluated on FcalphaRI+ cell transfectants,
      blood phagocytes from healthy individuals, and synovial cells from RA patients.
      FcalphaRI-transgenic mice and wild-type mice treated with mIgA were studied in
      models of collagen antibody-induced arthritis (CAIA) and collagen-induced
      arthritis (CIA). The mice were assessed for development of arthritis using an
      arthritis score, and joint tissue samples were evaluated for the extent of
      leukocyte infiltration and expression of phosphatase. RESULTS: Treatment with
      mIgA impaired cell activation in an FcalphaRI-FcRgamma-dependent manner,
      involving ITAMi signaling. Human mIgA or anti-FcalphaRI Fab were strongly
      effective in either preventing or attenuating CAIA or CIA in FcalphaRI-transgenic
      mice. Administration of mIgA markedly inhibited the recruitment of leukocytes to
      the inflamed joints of mice, which was associated with induction of SHP-1
      phosphorylation in joint tissue cells. Moreover, mIgA reversed the state of
      inflammation in the synovial fluid of RA patients by inducing an ITAMi
      configuration. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate a therapeutic potential of
      human mIgA in experimental arthritis. The findings support future clinical
      exploration of mIgA for the treatment of RA.

PMID- 25833813
TI  - Enhanced liver fibrosis score predicts transplant-free survival in primary
      sclerosing cholangitis.
AB  - There is a need to determine biomarkers reflecting disease activity and prognosis
      in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). We evaluated the prognostic utility of
      the enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF) score in Norwegian PSC patients. Serum samples
      were available from 305 well-characterized large-duct PSC patients, 96 ulcerative
      colitis patients, and 100 healthy controls. The PSC patients constituted a
      derivation panel (recruited 1992-2006 [n = 167]; median age 41 years, 74% male)
      and a validation panel (recruited 2008-2012 [n = 138]; median age 40 years, 78%
      male). We used commercial kits to analyze serum levels of hyaluronic acid, tissue
      inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1, and propeptide of type III procollagen and
      calculated ELF scores by the previously published algorithm. Results were also
      validated by analysis of ELF tests using the ADVIA Centaur XP system and its
      commercially available reagents. We found that PSC patients stratified by ELF
      score tertiles exhibited significantly different transplant-free survival in both
      panels (P < 0.001), with higher scores associated with shorter survival, which
      was confirmed in the validation panel stratified by ELF test tertiles (P =
      0.003). The ELF test distinguished between mild and severe disease defined by
      clinical outcome (transplantation or death) with an area under the curve of 0.81
      (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.73-0.87) and optimal cutoff of 10.6 (sensitivity
      70.2%, specificity 79.1%). In multivariate Cox regression analysis in both
      panels, ELF score (hazard ratio = 1.9, 95% CI 1.4-2.5, and 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.1,
      respectively) was associated with transplant-free survival independently of the
      Mayo risk score (hazard ratio = 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.6, and 1.6, 95% CI 1.2-2.1,
      respectively). The ELF test correlated with ultrasound elastography in separate
      assessments. CONCLUSION: The ELF score is a potent prognostic marker in PSC,
      independent of the Mayo risk score.

PMID- 25833814
TI  - Selective enhancement of topologically induced interface states in a dielectric
      resonator chain.
AB  - The recent realization of topological phases in insulators and superconductors
      has advanced the search for robust quantum technologies. The prospect to
      implement the underlying topological features controllably has given incentive to
      explore optical platforms for analogous realizations. Here we realize a
      topologically induced defect state in a chain of dielectric microwave resonators
      and show that the functionality of the system can be enhanced by supplementing
      topological protection with non-hermitian symmetries that do not have an
      electronic counterpart. We draw on a characteristic topological feature of the
      defect state, namely, that it breaks a sublattice symmetry. This isolates the
      state from losses that respect parity-time symmetry, which enhances its
      visibility relative to all other states both in the frequency and in the time
      domain. This mode selection mechanism naturally carries over to a wide range of
      topological and parity-time symmetric optical platforms, including couplers,
      rectifiers and lasers. 

PMID- 25833815
TI  - A novel tunable blue-green-emitting CaGdGaAl2O7:Ce(3+),Tb(3+) phosphor via energy
      transfer for UV-excited white LEDs.
AB  - CaGdGaAl2O7 and CaGdGaAl2O7:Ce(3+),Tb(3+) have been synthesized by a traditional
      solid state reaction for the first time. The Rietveld refinement confirmed that
      CaGdGaAl2O7 has a tetragonal crystal system with the space group P4[combining
      macron]21m. The photoluminescence properties show that the obtained phosphors can
      be efficiently excited in the range from 330 to 400 nm, which matches perfectly
      with commercial UV LED chips. A tunable blue-green emitting
      CaGdGaAl2O7:Ce(3+),Tb(3+) phosphor has been obtained, by codoping Ce(3+) and
      Tb(3+) ions into the host and varying their relative ratios, and may be a good
      candidate for blue-green components in UV white LEDs. The luminescence properties
      and lifetimes reveal an efficient energy transfer from the Ce(3+) to Tb(3+) ions.
      The energy transfer is demonstrated to be a dipole-quadrupole mechanism, and the
      critical distance for Ce(3+) to Tb(3+) calculated by the concentration quenching
      is 12.25 A. 

PMID- 25833816
TI  - Association between pressure pain sensitivity and autonomic function as assessed
      by a tilt table test.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We tested the hypothesis that pressure sensitivity of the sternum
      (PPS) is associated with autonomic nervous system (ANS) function as assessed by
      tilt table test (TTT). in patients with stable ischemic heart disease.
      OBJECTIVES: (1) To evaluate an association between PPS and systolic blood
      pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR) responses to TTT; and (2) to test the
      hypothesis that a reduction of resting PPS raises the PPS, SBP and HR responses
      to TTT response and lowers risk factors for ANS dysfunction (ANSD). METHODS:
      Cross-sectional study: In 361 patients with stable ischemic heart disease we
      measured PPS, SBP, and HR during TTT. Intervention study: We reassessed subjects
      with persistent stress who concluded a stress intervention trial by a second TTT.
      RESULTS: Cross-sectional study: Resting PPS and the PPS response to TTT were
      correlated (r = - 0.37). The PPS response to TTT was correlated with that of SBP
      (r = 0.44) and HR (r = 0.49), and with the number of risk factors for ANSD (r = -
      0.21) (all p < 0.0001). Intervention study: A reduction in resting PPS was
      associated with an increment in PPS response to TTT (r = - 0.52, p < 0.0001). The
      greater this increment, the greater was the reduction in ANSD risk factors (r = -
      0.23; p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: The results are consistent with the hypothesis that
      PPS at rest and in response to TTT reflects ANS function.

PMID- 25833817
TI  - Hughlings Jackson on joking.

PMID- 25833818
TI  - Mutation analysis of CHCHD10 in different neurodegenerative diseases.

PMID- 25833820
TI  - Reply: Differential functions of ventral and dorsal striatum.

PMID- 25833819
TI  - Reactive microglia drive tau pathology and contribute to the spreading of
      pathological tau in the brain.
AB  - Pathological aggregation of tau is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and related
      tauopathies. We have previously shown that the deficiency of the microglial
      fractalkine receptor (CX3CR1) led to the acceleration of tau pathology and memory
      impairment in an hTau mouse model of tauopathy. Here, we show that microglia
      drive tau pathology in a cell-autonomous manner. First, tau hyperphosphorylation
      and aggregation occur as early as 2 months of age in hTauCx3cr1(-/-) mice.
      Second, CD45(+) microglial activation correlates with the spatial memory deficit
      and spread of tau pathology in the anatomically connected regions of the
      hippocampus. Third, adoptive transfer of purified microglia derived from
      hTauCx3cr1(-/-) mice induces tau hyperphosphorylation within the brains of non
      transgenic recipient mice. Finally, inclusion of interleukin 1 receptor
      antagonist (Kineret(r)) in the adoptive transfer inoculum significantly reduces
      microglia-induced tau pathology. Together, our results suggest that reactive
      microglia are sufficient to drive tau pathology and correlate with the spread of
      pathological tau in the brain. 

PMID- 25833821
TI  - Differential functions of ventral and dorsal striatum.

PMID- 25833822
TI  - Using toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic modeling as an acute risk assessment refinement
      approach in vertebrate ecological risk assessment.
AB  - Recent guidance identified toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TK-TD) modeling as a
      relevant approach for risk assessment refinement. Yet, its added value compared
      to other refinement options is not detailed, and how to conduct the modeling
      appropriately is not explained. This case study addresses these issues through 2
      examples of individual-level risk assessment for 2 hypothetical plant protection
      products: 1) evaluating the risk for small granivorous birds and small omnivorous
      mammals of a single application, as a seed treatment in winter cereals, and 2)
      evaluating the risk for fish after a pulsed treatment in the edge-of-field zone.
      Using acute test data, we conducted the first tier risk assessment as defined in
      the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) guidance. When first tier risk
      assessment highlighted a concern, refinement options were discussed. Cases where
      the use of models should be preferred over other existing refinement approaches
      were highlighted. We then practically conducted the risk assessment refinement by
      using 2 different models as examples. In example 1, a TK model accounting for
      toxicokinetics and relevant feeding patterns in the skylark and in the wood mouse
      was used to predict internal doses of the hypothetical active ingredient in
      individuals, based on relevant feeding patterns in an in-crop situation, and
      identify the residue levels leading to mortality. In example 2, a TK-TD model
      accounting for toxicokinetics, toxicodynamics, and relevant exposure patterns in
      the fathead minnow was used to predict the time-course of fish survival for
      relevant FOCUS SW exposure scenarios and identify which scenarios might lead to
      mortality. Models were calibrated using available standard data and implemented
      to simulate the time-course of internal dose of active ingredient or survival for
      different exposure scenarios. Simulation results were discussed and used to
      derive the risk assessment refinement endpoints used for decision. Finally, we
      compared the "classical" risk assessment approach with the model-based approach.
      These comparisons showed that TK and TK-TD models can bring more realism to the
      risk assessment through the possibility to study realistic exposure scenarios and
      to simulate relevant mechanisms of effects (including delayed toxicity and
      recovery). Noticeably, using TK-TD models is currently the most relevant way to
      directly connect realistic exposure patterns to effects. We conclude with
      recommendations on how to properly use TK and TK-TD model in acute risk
      assessment for vertebrates.

PMID- 25833823
TI  - STAT3 and HIF1alpha Signaling Drives Oncogenic Cellular Phenotypes in Malignant
      Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors.
AB  - Therapeutic options are limited for neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1)-associated
      malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) and clinical trials using drug
      agents have so far been unsuccessful. This lack of clinical success is likely
      attributed to high levels of intratumoral molecular heterogeneity and variations
      in signal transduction within MPNSTs. To better explore the variance of malignant
      signaling properties within heterogeneous MPNSTs, four MPNST cell lines (ST8814,
      S462, S1844.1, and S1507.2) were used. The data demonstrate that small-molecule
      inhibition of the MET proto-oncogene and mTOR had variable outcome when
      preventing wound healing, cell migration, and invasion, with the S462 cells being
      highly resistant to both. Of interest, targeted inhibition of the STAT3
      transcription factor suppressed wound healing, cell migration, invasion, and
      tumor formation in all four MPNST lines, which demonstrates that unlike MET and
      mTOR, STAT3 functions as a common driver of tumorigenesis in NF1-MPNSTs. Of
      clinical importance, STAT3 knockdown was sufficient to block the expression of
      hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)1alpha, HIF2alpha, and VEGF-A in all four MPNST
      lines. Finally, the data demonstrate that wound healing, cell migration,
      invasion, and tumor formation through STAT3 are highly dependent on HIF
      signaling, where knockdown of HIF1alpha ablated these oncogenic facets of STAT3.
      IMPLICATIONS: This research reveals that aberrant STAT3 and HIF1a activity drives
      tumor progression in MPNSTs, indicating that inhibition of the
      STAT3/HIF1alpha/VEGF-A signaling axis is a viable treatment strategy.

PMID- 25833824
TI  - Medical student web-based formative assessment tool for renal pathology.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Web-based formative assessment tools have become widely recognized in
      medical education as valuable resources for self-directed learning. OBJECTIVES:
      To explore the educational value of formative assessment using online quizzes for
      kidney pathology learning in our renal pathophysiology course. METHODS: Students
      were given unrestricted and optional access to quizzes. Performance on quizzed
      and non-quizzed materials of those who used ('quizzers') and did not use the tool
      ('non-quizzers') was compared. Frequency of tool usage was analyzed and
      satisfaction surveys were utilized at the end of the course. RESULTS: In total,
      82.6% of the students used quizzes. The greatest usage was observed on the day
      before the final exam. Students repeated interactive and more challenging quizzes
      more often. Average means between final exam scores for quizzed and unrelated
      materials were almost equal for 'quizzers' and 'non-quizzers', but 'quizzers'
      performed statistically better than 'non-quizzers' on both, quizzed (p=0.001) and
      non-quizzed (p=0.024) topics. In total, 89% of surveyed students thought quizzes
      improved their learning experience in this course. CONCLUSIONS: Our new computer
      assisted learning tool is popular, and although its use can predict the final
      exam outcome, it does not provide strong evidence for direct improvement in
      academic performance. Students who chose to use quizzes did well on all aspects
      of the final exam and most commonly used quizzes to practice for final exam. Our
      efforts to revitalize the course material and promote learning by adding
      interactive online formative assessments improved students' learning experience
      overall.

PMID- 25833825
TI  - Mentoring in general surgery in Switzerland.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mentorship has been found as a key factor for a successful and
      satisfying career in academic medicine and surgery. The present study was
      conducted to describe the current situation of mentoring in the surgical
      community in Switzerland and to evaluate sex differences regarding the impact of
      mentoring on career success and professional satisfaction. METHODS: The study was
      designed as an anonymous national survey to all members of the Swiss Surgical
      Society in 2011 (820 ordinary and 49 junior members). It was a 25-item
      questionnaire addressing mentor-mentee relationships and their impact on the
      professional front. RESULTS: Of the 869 mailed surveys, 512 responses were
      received (response rate: 58.9%). Mentor-mentee relationships were reported by 344
      respondents (68.1%) and structured mentoring programs were noted in 23
      respondents (6.7%). Compared to individuals without mentors, male mentees
      exhibited significantly higher subjective career advancement (5.4+/-1.2 vs. 5.0+/
      1.3; p=0.03) and career development (3.3+/-1.9 vs. 2.5+/-1.7; p<0.01) scores, but
      the differences for female mentees were not statistically significant (4.7+/-1.1
      vs. 4.3+/-1.2, p=0.16; 2.5+/-1.6 vs. 1.9+/-1.4, p=0.26; respectively). The
      pursuit of an academic career was not influenced by the presence of a mentor
      mentee relationship for female (p=0.14) or male participants (p=0.22).
      CONCLUSIONS: Mentor-mentee relationships are important for the career advancement
      of male surgeons. The reason for the lack of an impact on the careers of female
      surgeons is difficult to ascertain. However, mentoring also provides lifelong
      learning and personal development. Thus, specific attention should be paid to the
      development of more structured mentoring programs for both sexes.

PMID- 25833826
TI  - Low zinc and selenium concentrations in sepsis are associated with oxidative
      damage and inflammation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress with dysregulated inflammation are hallmarks of
      sepsis. Zinc and selenium have important antioxidant functions, such that they
      could be important in patients with sepsis. We used an in vitro approach to
      assess the effect of zinc and selenium on oxidative stress, mitochondrial
      function, and inflammatory responses in conditions mimicking sepsis and related
      the findings to plasma concentrations and biomarkers in patients with and without
      sepsis. METHODS: Human endothelial cells were exposed to a range of zinc and
      selenium concentrations in conditions mimicking sepsis. Zinc, selenium, and a
      series of biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation were measured in plasma
      from critically ill patients with and without sepsis. RESULTS: Culturing cells
      with different concentrations of zinc caused altered zinc transporter protein
      expression and cellular zinc content, and selenium affected glutathione
      peroxidase 3 activity. Although zinc or selenium at physiological concentrations
      had no effect on interleukin-6 release in vitro, higher concentrations of the
      trace elements were associated with improved mitochondrial function. Plasma zinc
      and selenium concentrations were low in patients [zinc: median (range) 4.6 (2.1
      6.5) MUM in control patients without sepsis and 3.1 (1.5-5.4) MUM in patients
      with sepsis, P=0.002; and selenium: 0.78 (0.19-1.32) MUM in control patients and
      0.42 (0.22-0.91) MUM in sepsis patients, P=0.0009]. Plasma concentrations of
      interleukin-6, other biomarkers of inflammation, and markers of oxidative damage
      to proteins and lipids were elevated, particularly in patients with sepsis, and
      were inversely related to plasma zinc and selenium concentrations. CONCLUSIONS:
      Zinc and selenium concentrations were reduced in critically ill patients, with
      increased oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers, particularly in patients
      with sepsis. Oxidative stress as a result of suboptimal selenium and zinc
      concentrations might contribute to damage of key proteins. CLINICAL TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: registration number NCT01328509.

PMID- 25833827
TI  - "It is a thin line to walk on": challenges of staff working at Swedish
      immigration detention centres.
AB  - Detention of irregular migrants awaiting deportation is widely practiced in many
      countries and has been shown to have profound negative impact on health and well
      being of detainees. Detention staff, an integral part of the detention
      environment, affect and are affected by detainees' health and well-being. The
      objective of the study was to explore experiences of staff working at Swedish
      immigration detention centres. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted
      with staff in three Swedish detention centres and were analysed using thematic
      analysis. The results indicate that the main challenge for the staff was to
      manage the emotional dilemma entailed in working as migration officers and
      simultaneously fellow human beings whose task was to implement deportation
      decisions while being expected to provide humane service to detainees. They tried
      to manage their dilemma by balancing the two roles, but still found it
      challenging. Among the staff, there was a high perception of fear of physical
      threat from detainees that made detention a stressful environment. Limited
      interaction between the staff and detainees was a reason for this. There is thus
      a need to support detention staff to improve their interaction with detainees in
      order to decrease their fear, manage their emotional dilemma, and provide better
      service to detainees. It is important to address staff challenges in order to
      ensure better health and well-being for both staff and detainees. 

PMID- 25833829
TI  - PARD3 Inactivation in Lung Squamous Cell Carcinomas Impairs STAT3 and Promotes
      Malignant Invasion.
AB  - Correct apicobasal polarization and intercellular adhesions are essential for the
      appropriate development of normal epithelia. Here, we investigated the
      contribution of the cell polarity regulator PARD3 to the development of lung
      squamous cell carcinomas (LSCC). Tumor-specific PARD3 alterations were found in
      8% of LSCCs examined, placing PARD3 among the most common tumor suppressor genes
      in this malignancy. Most PAR3-mutant proteins exhibited a relative reduction in
      the ability to mediate formation of tight junctions and actin-based protrusions,
      bind atypical protein kinase C, activate RAC1, and activate STAT3 at cell
      confluence. Thus, PARD3 alterations prevented the formation of contacts between
      neighboring cells and the subsequent downstream signaling. Notably,
      reconstituting PAR3 activity in vivo reduced tumor-invasive and metastatic
      properties. Our findings define PARD3 as a recurrently inactivated cell polarity
      regulator in LSCC that affects tumor aggressiveness and metastasis.

PMID- 25833830
TI  - Loss of TGFbeta Receptor Type 2 Expression Impairs Estrogen Response and Confers
      Tamoxifen Resistance.
AB  - One third of the patients with estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha)-positive breast
      cancer who are treated with the antiestrogen tamoxifen will either not respond to
      initial therapy or will develop drug resistance. Endocrine response involves
      crosstalk between ERalpha and TGFbeta signaling, such that tamoxifen
      nonresponsiveness or resistance in breast cancer might involve aberrant TGFbeta
      signaling. In this study, we analyzed TGFbeta receptor type 2 (TGFBR2) expression
      and correlated it with ERalpha status and phosphorylation in a cohort of 564
      patients who had been randomized to tamoxifen or no-adjuvant treatment for
      invasive breast carcinoma. We also evaluated an additional four independent
      genetic datasets in invasive breast cancer. In all the cohorts we analyzed, we
      documented an association of low TGFBR2 protein and mRNA expression with
      tamoxifen resistance. Functional investigations confirmed that cell cycle or
      apoptosis responses to estrogen or tamoxifen in ERalpha-positive breast cancer
      cells were impaired by TGFBR2 silencing, as was ERalpha phosphorylation,
      tamoxifen-induced transcriptional activation of TGFbeta, and upregulation of the
      multidrug resistance protein ABCG2. Acquisition of low TGFBR2 expression as a
      contributing factor to endocrine resistance was validated prospectively in a
      tamoxifen-resistant cell line generated by long-term drug treatment.
      Collectively, our results established a central contribution of TGFbeta signaling
      in endocrine resistance in breast cancer and offered evidence that TGFBR2 can
      serve as an independent biomarker to predict treatment outcomes in ERalpha
      positive forms of this disease.

PMID- 25833831
TI  - Correction: Resveratrol inhibits drug-induced apoptosis in human leukemia cells
      by creating an intracellular milieu nonpermissive for death execution.

PMID- 25833832
TI  - Correction: Genetic Polymorphisms and Protein Expression of NRF2 and Sulfiredoxin
      Predict Survival Outcomes in Breast Cancer.

PMID- 25833833
TI  - Letter to the editor: The effect of autonomic nervous system on the association
      between epicardial adipose tissue and cognitive function.

PMID- 25833834
TI  - Reply to "Letter to the editor: The effect of autonomic nervous system on the
      association between epicardial adipose tissue and cognitive function".

PMID- 25833835
TI  - PTEN Expression as a Predictor of Response to Focal Adhesion Kinase Inhibition in
      Uterine Cancer.
AB  - PTEN is known to be frequently mutated in uterine cancer and also
      dephosphorylates FAK. Here, we examined the impact of PTEN alterations on the
      response to treatment with a FAK inhibitor (GSK2256098). In vitro and in vivo
      therapeutic experiments were carried out using PTEN-mutated and PTEN-wild-type
      models of uterine cancer alone and in combination with chemotherapy. Treatment
      with GSK2256098 resulted in greater inhibition of pFAK(Y397) in PTEN-mutated
      (Ishikawa) than in PTEN-wild-type (Hec1A) cells. Ishikawa cells were more
      sensitive to GSK2256098 than the treated Hec1A cells. Ishikawa cells were
      transfected with a wild-type PTEN construct and pFAK(Y397) expression was
      unchanged after treatment with GSK2256098. Decreased cell viability and enhanced
      sensitivity to chemotherapy (paclitaxel and topotecan) in combination with
      GSK2256098 was observed in Ishikawa cells as compared with Hec1a cells. In the
      Ishikawa orthoptopic murine model, treatment with GSK2256098 resulted in lower
      tumor weights and fewer metastases than mice inoculated with Hec1A cells. Tumors
      treated with GSK2256098 had lower microvessel density (CD31), less cellular
      proliferation (Ki67), and higher apoptosis (TUNEL) rates in the Ishikawa model
      when compared with the Hec1a model. From a large cohort of evaluable patients,
      increased FAK and pFAK(Y397) expression levels were significantly related to poor
      overall survival. Moreover, PTEN levels were inversely related to pFAK(Y397)
      expression. These preclinical data demonstrate that PTEN-mutated uterine cancer
      responds better to FAK inhibition than does PTEN wild-type cancer. Therefore,
      PTEN could be a biomarker for predicting response to FAK-targeted therapy during
      clinical development.

PMID- 25833836
TI  - Chemotherapy-Regulated microRNA-125-HER2 Pathway as a Novel Therapeutic Target
      for Trastuzumab-Mediated Cellular Cytotoxicity in Small Cell Lung Cancer.
AB  - Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for 15% of all lung cancer cases and is a
      highly lethal disease. For the last several decades, the standard treatment for
      SCLC has been deadlocked, and new therapeutic strategies are urgently needed.
      HER2 is a member of the HER family and has been reported to be overexpressed in
      30% of SCLC cases with poor prognosis. However, the clinical relevance of HER2
      targeted therapy for SCLC remains unclear. Here, we first identify that cytotoxic
      drugs induce significant HER2 overexpression through microRNA-125a (miR-125a) and
      miR-125b downregulation, which in turn act as a novel therapeutic target for
      trastuzumab-mediated cellular cytotoxicity in SCLC. In this study, we showed that
      treatment of the HER2-positive SCLC cells, SBC-3 and SBC-5, with cytotoxic drugs
      induced a significant upregulation of HER2. Cisplatin (CDDP) treatment of SCLC
      cells resulted in a significant downregulation of miR-125a and miR-125b. We
      confirmed that miR-125a and miR-125b bound to the 3'-untranslated regions of HER2
      mRNA, and that downregulation of miR-125a and miR-125b resulted in upregulation
      of HER2 in SCLC cells, suggesting a relationship between cytotoxic drug exposure
      and miR-125/HER2 dysregulation. Furthermore, using a calcein assay, we
      demonstrated a significantly enhanced cytotoxic effect of CDDP and trastuzumab
      that was mediated via antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Finally, we
      clearly demonstrated the enhanced antitumor effect of these agents in an
      orthotopic lung cancer model in vivo. Our results offer a novel therapeutic
      strategy for HER2-positive SCLCs by using trastuzumab combined with cytotoxic
      drugs.

PMID- 25833837
TI  - Synergy of Radiotherapy and a Cancer Vaccine for the Treatment of HPV-Associated
      Head and Neck Cancer.
AB  - There is growing interest in the association of radiotherapy and immunotherapy
      for the treatment of solid tumors. Here, we report an extremely effective
      combination of local irradiation (IR) and Shiga Toxin B (STxB)-based human
      papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for the treatment of HPV-associated head and
      neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The efficacy of the irradiation and vaccine
      association was tested using a model of HNSCC obtained by grafting TC
      1/luciferase cells at a submucosal site of the inner lip of immunocompetent mice.
      Irradiation and the STxB-E7 vaccine acted synergistically with both single and
      fractionated irradiation schemes, resulting in complete tumor clearance in the
      majority of the treated mice. A dose threshold of 7.5 Gy was required to elicit
      the dramatic antitumor response. The combined treatment induced high levels of
      tumor-infiltrating, antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells, which were required to
      trigger the antitumor activity. Treatment with STxB-E7 and irradiation induced
      CD8(+) T-cell memory, which was sufficient to exert complete antitumor responses
      in both local recurrences and distant metastases. We also report for the first
      time that a combination therapy based on local irradiation and vaccination
      induces an increased pericyte coverage (as shown by alphaSMA and NG2 staining)
      and ICAM-1 expression on vessels. This was associated with enhanced intratumor
      vascular permeability that correlated with the antitumor response, suggesting
      that the combination therapy could also act through an increased accessibility
      for immune cells. The combination strategy proposed here offers a promising
      approach that could potentially be transferred into early-phase clinical trials.

PMID- 25833838
TI  - TR4 Nuclear Receptor Alters the Prostate Cancer CD133+ Stem/Progenitor Cell
      Invasion via Modulating the EZH2-Related Metastasis Gene Expression.
AB  - The testicular nuclear receptor 4 (TR4) is a member of the nuclear receptor
      superfamily that mediates various biologic functions with key impacts on
      metabolic disorders and tumor progression. Here, we demonstrate that TR4 may play
      a positive role in prostate cancer CD133(+) stem/progenitor (S/P) cell invasion.
      Targeting TR4 with lentiviral silencing RNA significantly suppressed prostate
      cancer CD133(+) S/P cell invasion both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanism dissection
      found that TR4 transcriptionally regulates the oncogene EZH2 via binding to its
      5' promoter region. The consequences of targeting TR4 to suppress EZH2 expression
      may then suppress the expression of its downstream key metastasis-related genes,
      including NOTCH1, TGFbeta1, SLUG, and MMP9. Rescue approaches via adding the EZH2
      reversed the TR4-mediated prostate cancer S/P cell invasion. Together, these
      results suggest that the TR4->EZH2 signaling may play a critical role in the
      prostate cancer S/P cell invasion and may allow us to develop a better therapy to
      battle the prostate cancer metastasis.

PMID- 25833840
TI  - Chromosomal meiotic segregation, embryonic developmental kinetics and DNA
      (hydroxy)methylation analysis consolidate the safety of human oocyte
      vitrification.
AB  - Oocyte vitrification has been introduced into clinical settings without extensive
      pre-clinical safety testing. In this study, we analysed major safety aspects of
      human oocyte vitrification in a high security closed system: (i) chromosomal
      meiotic segregation, (ii) embryonic developmental kinetics and (iii) DNA
      (hydroxy)methylation status. Fresh and vitrified sibling oocytes from young
      donors after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) were compared in three
      different assays. Firstly, the chromosomal constitution of the fertilized zygotes
      was deduced from array comparative genomic hybridization results obtained from
      both polar bodies biopsied at Day 1. Secondly, embryo development up to Day 3 was
      analysed by time-lapse imaging. Ten specific time points, six morphokinetic time
      intervals and the average cell number on Day 3 were recorded. Thirdly, global DNA
      methylation and hydroxymethylation patterns were analysed by immunostaining on
      Day 3 embryos. The nuclear fluorescence intensity was measured by Volocity
      imaging software. Comprehensive chromosomal screening of the polar bodies
      demonstrated that at least half of the zygotes obtained after ICSI of fresh and
      vitrified oocytes were euploid. Time-lapse analysis showed that there was no
      significant difference in cleavage timings, the predictive morphokinetic time
      intervals nor the average cell number between embryos developed from fresh and
      vitrified oocytes. Finally, global DNA (hydroxy)methylation patterns were not
      significantly different between Day 3 embryos obtained from fresh and from
      vitrified oocytes. Our data further consolidate the safety of the oocyte
      vitrification technique. Nevertheless, additional testing in young and older sub
      fertile/infertile patients and sound follow-up studies of children born after
      oocyte cryopreservation remain mandatory. 

PMID- 25833839
TI  - Awake vs. anesthetized: layer-specific sensory processing in visual cortex and
      functional connectivity between cortical areas.
AB  - During general anesthesia, global brain activity and behavioral state are
      profoundly altered. Yet it remains mostly unknown how anesthetics alter sensory
      processing across cortical layers and modulate functional cortico-cortical
      connectivity. To address this gap in knowledge of the micro- and mesoscale
      effects of anesthetics on sensory processing in the cortical microcircuit, we
      recorded multiunit activity and local field potential in awake and anesthetized
      ferrets (Mustela putoris furo) during sensory stimulation. To understand how
      anesthetics alter sensory processing in a primary sensory area and the
      representation of sensory input in higher-order association areas, we studied the
      local sensory responses and long-range functional connectivity of primary visual
      cortex (V1) and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Isoflurane combined with xylazine
      provided general anesthesia for all anesthetized recordings. We found that
      anesthetics altered the duration of sensory-evoked responses, disrupted the
      response dynamics across cortical layers, suppressed both multimodal interactions
      in V1 and sensory responses in PFC, and reduced functional cortico-cortical
      connectivity between V1 and PFC. Together, the present findings demonstrate
      altered sensory responses and impaired functional network connectivity during
      anesthesia at the level of multiunit activity and local field potential across
      cortical layers. 

PMID- 25833841
TI  - Salt Accelerates Allograft Rejection through Serum- and Glucocorticoid-Regulated
      Kinase-1-Dependent Inhibition of Regulatory T Cells.
AB  - A high-salt diet (HSD) in humans is linked to a number of complications,
      including hypertension and cardiovascular events. Whether a HSD affects the
      immune response in transplantation is unknown. Using a murine transplantation
      model, we investigated the effect of NaCl on the alloimmune response in vitro and
      in vivo. Incremental NaCl concentrations in vitro augmented T cell proliferation
      in the settings of both polyclonal and allospecific stimulation. Feeding a HSD to
      C57BL/6 wild-type recipients of bm12 allografts led to accelerated cardiac
      allograft rejection, despite similar mean BP and serum sodium levels in HSD and
      normal salt diet (NSD) groups. The accelerated rejection was associated with a
      reduction in the proportion of CD4(+)Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells (Tregs) and a
      significant decrease in Treg proliferation, leading to an increased ratio of
      antigen-experienced CD4(+) T cells to Tregs in mice recipients of a HSD compared
      with mice recipients of a NSD. Because serum- and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase
      1 (SGK1) has been proposed as a potential target of salt in immune cells, we fed
      a HSD to CD4(Cre)SGK1(fl/fl) B6-transplanted recipients and observed abrogation
      of the deleterious effect of a HSD in the absence of SGK1 on CD4(+) cells. In
      summary, we show that NaCl negatively affects the regulatory balance of T cells
      in transplantation and precipitates rejection in an SGK1-dependent manner. 

PMID- 25833842
TI  - Signaling networks: information flow, computation, and decision making.
AB  - Signaling pathways come together to form networks that connect receptors to many
      different cellular machines. Such networks not only receive and transmit signals
      but also process information. The complexity of these networks requires the use
      of computational models to understand how information is processed and how input
      output relationships are determined. Two major computational approaches used to
      study signaling networks are graph theory and dynamical modeling. Both approaches
      are useful; network analysis (application of graph theory) helps us understand
      how the signaling network is organized and what its information-processing
      capabilities are, whereas dynamical modeling helps us determine how the system
      changes in time and space upon receiving stimuli. Computational models have
      helped us identify a number of emergent properties that signaling networks
      possess. Such properties include ultrasensitivity, bistability, robustness, and
      noise-filtering capabilities. These properties endow cell-signaling networks with
      the ability to ignore small or transient signals and/or amplify signals to drive
      cellular machines that spawn numerous physiological functions associated with
      different cell states. 

PMID- 25833846
TI  - The PI3K-PKB/Akt pathway.

PMID- 25833844
TI  - Meiosis and maternal aging: insights from aneuploid oocytes and trisomy births.
AB  - In most organisms, genome haploidization requires reciprocal DNA exchanges
      (crossovers) between replicated parental homologs to form bivalent chromosomes.
      These are resolved to their four constituent chromatids during two meiotic
      divisions. In female mammals, bivalents are formed during fetal life and remain
      intact until shortly before ovulation. Extending this period beyond ~35 years
      greatly increases the risk of aneuploidy in human oocytes, resulting in a
      dramatic increase in infertility, miscarriage, and birth defects, most notably
      trisomy 21. Bivalent chromosomes are stabilized by cohesion between sister
      chromatids, which is mediated by the cohesin complex. In mouse oocytes, cohesin
      becomes depleted from chromosomes during female aging. Consistent with this,
      premature loss of centromeric cohesion is a major source of aneuploidy in oocytes
      from older women. Here, we propose a mechanistic framework to reconcile data from
      genetic studies on human trisomy and oocytes with recent advances in our
      understanding of the molecular mechanisms of chromosome segregation during
      meiosis in model organisms. 

PMID- 25833845
TI  - Adult neurogenesis in neurodegenerative diseases.
AB  - Adult neurogenesis is limited to specific brain regions in the mammalian brain,
      such as the hippocampal dentate gyrus and the subventricular zone/olfactory bulb
      system. Alterations in adult neurogenesis appear to be a common hallmark in
      different neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's disease (PD),
      Alzheimer's disease (AD), and Huntington's disease (HD). This is remarkable,
      because the distinct pathological proteins responsible for the different diseases
      induce the loss of different neural populations. Impaired adult neurogenesis was
      shown in numerous animal models of neurodegenerative diseases; however, only few
      postmortem studies have been performed. We will review concepts related to the
      interplay between cellular plasticity in regions of adult neurogenesis with a
      specific focus on cell-autonomous and non-cell-autonomous factors. Furthermore,
      various strategies aimed to stimulate neuronal plasticity will be discussed
      within the context of a potential translation into therapeutic approaches for
      neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with PD, HD, and AD. 

PMID- 25833843
TI  - Homologous recombination and human health: the roles of BRCA1, BRCA2, and
      associated proteins.
AB  - Homologous recombination (HR) is a major pathway for the repair of DNA double
      strand breaks in mammalian cells, the defining step of which is homologous strand
      exchange directed by the RAD51 protein. The physiological importance of HR is
      underscored by the observation of genomic instability in HR-deficient cells and,
      importantly, the association of cancer predisposition and developmental defects
      with mutations in HR genes. The tumor suppressors BRCA1 and BRCA2, key players at
      different stages of HR, are frequently mutated in familial breast and ovarian
      cancers. Other HR proteins, including PALB2 and RAD51 paralogs, have also been
      identified as tumor suppressors. This review summarizes recent findings on BRCA1,
      BRCA2, and associated proteins involved in human disease with an emphasis on
      their molecular roles and interactions. 

PMID- 25833847
TI  - Caspase functions in cell death and disease.

PMID- 25833849
TI  - The nature of nurture in a wild mammal's fitness.
AB  - Genetic variation in fitness is required for the adaptive evolution of any trait
      but natural selection is thought to erode genetic variance in fitness. This
      paradox has motivated the search for mechanisms that might maintain a
      population's adaptive potential. Mothers make many contributions to the
      attributes of their developing offspring and these maternal effects can influence
      responses to natural selection if maternal effects are themselves heritable.
      Maternal genetic effects (MGEs) on fitness might, therefore, represent an
      underappreciated source of adaptive potential in wild populations. Here we used
      two decades of data from a pedigreed wild population of North American red
      squirrels to show that MGEs on offspring fitness increased the population's
      evolvability by over two orders of magnitude relative to expectations from direct
      genetic effects alone. MGEs are predicted to maintain more variation than direct
      genetic effects in the face of selection, but we also found evidence of maternal
      effect trade-offs. Mothers that raised high-fitness offspring in one environment
      raised low-fitness offspring in another environment. Such a fitness trade-off is
      expected to maintain maternal genetic variation in fitness, which provided
      additional capacity for adaptive evolution beyond that provided by direct genetic
      effects on fitness.

PMID- 25833848
TI  - Early-late life trade-offs and the evolution of ageing in the wild.
AB  - Empirical evidence for declines in fitness components (survival and reproductive
      performance) with age has recently accumulated in wild populations, highlighting
      that the process of senescence is nearly ubiquitous in the living world.
      Senescence patterns are highly variable among species and current evolutionary
      theories of ageing propose that such variation can be accounted for by
      differences in allocation to growth and reproduction during early life. Here, we
      compiled 26 studies of free-ranging vertebrate populations that explicitly tested
      for a trade-off between performance in early and late life. Our review brings
      overall support for the presence of early-late life trade-offs, suggesting that
      the limitation of available resources leads individuals to trade somatic
      maintenance later in life for high allocation to reproduction early in life. We
      discuss our results in the light of two closely related theories of ageing-the
      disposable soma and the antagonistic pleiotropy theories-and propose that the
      principle of energy allocation roots the ageing process in the evolution of life
      history strategies. Finally, we outline research topics that should be
      investigated in future studies, including the importance of natal environmental
      conditions in the study of trade-offs between early- and late-life performance
      and the evolution of sex-differences in ageing patterns. 

PMID- 25833850
TI  - Stable isotopes reveal links between human food inputs and urban ant diets.
AB  - The amount of energy consumed within an average city block is an order of
      magnitude higher than that consumed in any other ecosystem over a similar area.
      This is driven by human food inputs, but the consequence of these resources for
      urban animal populations is poorly understood. We investigated the role of human
      foods in ant diets across an urbanization gradient in Manhattan using carbon and
      nitrogen stable isotopes. We found that some-but not all-ant species living in
      Manhattan's most urbanized habitats had delta(13)C signatures associated with
      processed human foods. In particular, pavement ants (Tetramorium sp. E) had
      increased levels of delta(13)C similar to delta(13)C levels in human fast foods.
      The magnitude of this effect was positively correlated with urbanization. By
      contrast, we detected no differences in delta(15)N, suggesting Tetramorium feeds
      at the same trophic level despite shifting to human foods. This pattern persisted
      across the broader ant community; species in traffic islands used human resources
      more than park species. Our results demonstrate that the degree urban ants
      exploit human resources changes across the city and among species, and this
      variation could play a key role in community structure and ecosystem processes
      where human and animal food webs intersect.

PMID- 25833851
TI  - Ancient collagen reveals evolutionary history of the endemic South American
      'ungulates'.
AB  - Since the late eighteenth century, fossils of bizarre extinct creatures have been
      described from the Americas, revealing a previously unimagined chapter in the
      history of mammals. The most bizarre of these are the 'native' South American
      ungulates thought to represent a group of mammals that evolved in relative
      isolation on South America, but with an uncertain affinity to any particular
      placental lineage. Many authors have considered them descended from Laurasian
      'condylarths', which also includes the probable ancestors of perissodactyls and
      artiodactyls, whereas others have placed them either closer to the uniquely South
      American xenarthrans (anteaters, armadillos and sloths) or the basal afrotherians
      (e.g. elephants and hyraxes). These hypotheses have been debated owing to
      conflicting morphological characteristics and the hitherto inability to retrieve
      molecular information. Of the 'native' South American mammals, only the toxodonts
      and litopterns persisted until the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene. Owing to
      known difficulties in retrieving ancient DNA (aDNA) from specimens from warm
      climates, this research presents a molecular phylogeny for both Macrauchenia
      patachonica (Litopterna) and Toxodon platensis (Notoungulata) recovered using
      proteomics-based (liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry) sequencing
      analyses of bone collagen. The results place both taxa in a clade that is
      monophyletic with the perissodactyls, which today are represented by horses,
      rhinoceroses and tapirs.

PMID- 25833852
TI  - Sex-chromosome differentiation and 'sex races' in the common frog (Rana
      temporaria).
AB  - Sex-chromosome differentiation was recently shown to vary among common frog
      populations in Fennoscandia, suggesting a trend of increased differentiation with
      latitude. By rearing families from two contrasted populations (respectively, from
      northern and southern Sweden), we show this disparity to stem from differences in
      sex-determination mechanisms rather than in XY-recombination patterns. Offspring
      from the northern population display equal sex ratios at metamorphosis, with
      phenotypic sexes that correlate strongly with paternal LG2 haplotypes (the sex
      chromosome); accordingly, Y haplotypes are markedly differentiated, with male
      specific alleles and depressed diversity testifying to their smaller effective
      population size. In the southern population, by contrast, a majority of juveniles
      present ovaries at metamorphosis; only later in development do sex ratios return
      to equilibrium. Even at these later stages, phenotypic sexes correlate only
      mildly with paternal LG2 haplotypes; accordingly, there are no recognizable Y
      haplotypes. These distinct patterns of gonadal development fit the concept of
      'sex races' proposed in the 1930s, with our two populations assigned to the
      'differentiated' and 'semi-differentiated' races, respectively. Our results
      support the suggestion that 'sex races' differ in the genetic versus epigenetic
      components of sex determination. Analysing populations from the 'undifferentiated
      race' with high-density genetic maps should help to further test this hypothesis.

PMID- 25833853
TI  - Distributed nestmate recognition in ants.
AB  - We propose a distributed model of nestmate recognition, analogous to the one used
      by the vertebrate immune system, in which colony response results from the
      diverse reactions of many ants. The model describes how individual behaviour
      produces colony response to non-nestmates. No single ant knows the odour identity
      of the colony. Instead, colony identity is defined collectively by all the ants
      in the colony. Each ant responds to the odour of other ants by reference to its
      own unique decision boundary, which is a result of its experience of encounters
      with other ants. Each ant thus recognizes a particular set of chemical profiles
      as being those of non-nestmates. This model predicts, as experimental results
      have shown, that the outcome of behavioural assays is likely to be variable, that
      it depends on the number of ants tested, that response to non-nestmates changes
      over time and that it changes in response to the experience of individual ants. A
      distributed system allows a colony to identify non-nestmates without requiring
      that all individuals have the same complete information and helps to facilitate
      the tracking of changes in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles, because only a subset
      of ants must respond to provide an adequate response. 

PMID- 25833854
TI  - Bacterial adaptation to sublethal antibiotic gradients can change the ecological
      properties of multitrophic microbial communities.
AB  - Antibiotics leak constantly into environments due to widespread use in
      agriculture and human therapy. Although sublethal concentrations are well known
      to select for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, little is known about how bacterial
      evolution cascades through food webs, having indirect effect on species not
      directly affected by antibiotics (e.g. via population dynamics or pleiotropic
      effects). Here, we used an experimental evolution approach to test how temporal
      patterns of antibiotic stress, as well as migration within metapopulations,
      affect the evolution and ecology of microcosms containing one prey bacterium, one
      phage and two protist predators. We found that environmental variability,
      autocorrelation and migration had only subtle effects for population and
      evolutionary dynamics. However, unexpectedly, bacteria evolved greatest fitness
      increases to both antibiotics and enemies when the sublethal levels of
      antibiotics were highest, indicating positive pleiotropy. Crucially, bacterial
      adaptation cascaded through the food web leading to reduced predator-to-prey
      abundance ratio, lowered predator community diversity and increased instability
      of populations. Our results show that the presence of natural enemies can modify
      and even reverse the effects of antibiotics on bacteria, and that antibiotic
      selection can change the ecological properties of multitrophic microbial
      communities by having indirect effects on species not directly affected by
      antibiotics.

PMID- 25833855
TI  - Biogeography of worm lizards (Amphisbaenia) driven by end-Cretaceous mass
      extinction.
AB  - Worm lizards (Amphisbaenia) are burrowing squamates that live as subterranean
      predators. Their underground existence should limit dispersal, yet they are
      widespread throughout the Americas, Europe and Africa. This pattern was
      traditionally explained by continental drift, but molecular clocks suggest a
      Cenozoic diversification, long after the break-up of Pangaea, implying dispersal.
      Here, we describe primitive amphisbaenians from the North American Palaeocene,
      including the oldest known amphisbaenian, and provide new and older molecular
      divergence estimates for the clade, showing that worm lizards originated in North
      America, then radiated and dispersed in the Palaeogene following the Cretaceous
      Palaeogene (K-Pg) extinction. This scenario implies at least three trans-oceanic
      dispersals: from North America to Europe, from North America to Africa and from
      Africa to South America. Amphisbaenians provide a striking case study in
      biogeography, suggesting that the role of continental drift in biogeography may
      be overstated. Instead, these patterns support Darwin and Wallace's hypothesis
      that the geographical ranges of modern clades result from dispersal, including
      oceanic rafting. Mass extinctions may facilitate dispersal events by eliminating
      competitors and predators that would otherwise hinder establishment of dispersing
      populations, removing biotic barriers to dispersal. 

PMID- 25833856
TI  - Biotic interactions govern genetic adaptation to toxicants.
AB  - The genetic recovery of resistant populations released from pesticide exposure is
      accelerated by the presence of environmental stressors. By contrast, the
      relevance of environmental stressors for the spread of resistance during
      pesticide exposure has not been studied. Moreover, the consequences of
      interactions between different stressors have not been considered. Here we show
      that stress through intraspecific competition accelerates microevolution, because
      it enhances fitness differences between adapted and non-adapted individuals. By
      contrast, stress through interspecific competition or predation reduces
      intraspecific competition and thereby delays microevolution. This was
      demonstrated in mosquito populations (Culex quinquefasciatus) that were exposed
      to the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Non-selective predation through harvesting and
      interspecific competition with Daphnia magna delayed the selection for
      individuals carrying the ace-1(R) resistance allele. Under non-toxic conditions,
      susceptible individuals without ace-1(R) prevailed. Likewise, predation delayed
      the reverse adaptation of the populations to a non-toxic environment, while the
      effect of interspecific competition was not significant. Applying a simulation
      model, we further identified how microevolution is generally determined by the
      type and degree of competition and predation. We infer that interactions with
      other species-especially strong in ecosystems with high biodiversity-can delay
      the development of pesticide resistance.

PMID- 25833857
TI  - Genome-wide association mapping in a wild avian population identifies a link
      between genetic and phenotypic variation in a life-history trait.
AB  - Understanding the genetic basis of traits involved in adaptation is a major
      challenge in evolutionary biology but remains poorly understood. Here, we use
      genome-wide association mapping using a custom 50 k single nucleotide
      polymorphism (SNP) array in a natural population of collared flycatchers to
      examine the genetic basis of clutch size, an important life-history trait in many
      animal species. We found evidence for an association on chromosome 18 where one
      SNP significant at the genome-wide level explained 3.9% of the phenotypic
      variance. We also detected two suggestive quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on
      chromosomes 9 and 26. Fitness differences among genotypes were generally weak and
      not significant, although there was some indication of a sex-by-genotype
      interaction for lifetime reproductive success at the suggestive QTL on chromosome
      26. This implies that sexual antagonism may play a role in maintaining genetic
      variation at this QTL. Our findings provide candidate regions for a classic avian
      life-history trait that will be useful for future studies examining the molecular
      and cellular function of, as well as evolutionary mechanisms operating at, these
      loci.

PMID- 25833858
TI  - The effects of connectivity on metapopulation persistence: network symmetry and
      degree correlations.
AB  - A spatial metapopulation is a mosaic of interconnected patch populations. The
      complex routes of colonization between the patches are governed by the
      metapopulation's dispersal network. Over the past two decades, there has been
      considerable interest in uncovering the effects of dispersal network topology and
      its symmetry on metapopulation persistence. While most studies find that the
      level of symmetry in dispersal pattern enhances persistence, some have reached
      the conclusion that symmetry has at most a minor effect. In this work, we present
      a new perspective on the debate. We study properties of the in- and out-degree
      distribution of patches in the metapopulation which define the number of
      dispersal routes into and out of a particular patch, respectively. By analysing
      the spectral radius of the dispersal matrices, we confirm that a higher level of
      symmetry has only a marginal impact on persistence. We continue to analyse
      different properties of the in-out degree distribution, namely the 'in-out degree
      correlation' (IODC) and degree heterogeneity, and find their relationship to
      metapopulation persistence. Our analysis shows that, in contrast to symmetry, the
      in-out degree distribution and particularly, the IODC are dominant factors
      controlling persistence. 

PMID- 25833859
TI  - Fertility decline and the changing dynamics of wealth, status and inequality.
AB  - In the course of demographic transitions (DTs), two large-scale trends become
      apparent: (i) the broadly positive association between wealth, status and
      fertility tends to reverse, and (ii) wealth inequalities increase and then
      temporarily decrease. We argue that these two broad patterns are linked, through
      a diversification of reproductive strategies that subsequently converge as
      populations consume more, become less self-sufficient and increasingly depend on
      education as a route to socio-economic status. We examine these links using data
      from 22 mid-transition communities in rural Poland. We identify changing
      relationships between fertility and multiple measures of wealth, status and
      inequality. Wealth and status generally have opposing effects on fertility, but
      these associations vary by community. Where farming remains a viable livelihood,
      reproductive strategies typical of both pre- and post-DT populations coexist.
      Fertility is lower and less variable in communities with lower wealth inequality,
      and macro-level patterns in inequality are generally reproduced at the community
      level. Our results provide a detailed insight into the changing dynamics of
      wealth, status and inequality that accompany DTs at the community level where
      peoples' social and economic interactions typically take place. We find no
      evidence to suggest that women with the most educational capital gain wealth
      advantages from reducing fertility, nor that higher educational capital delays
      the onset of childbearing in this population. Rather, these patterns reflect
      changing reproductive preferences during a period of profound economic and social
      change, with implications for our understanding of reproductive and socio
      economic inequalities in transitioning populations. 

PMID- 25833861
TI  - The impact of over 80 years of land cover changes on bee and wasp pollinator
      communities in England.
AB  - Change in land cover is thought to be one of the key drivers of pollinator
      declines, and yet there is a dearth of studies exploring the relationships
      between historical changes in land cover and shifts in pollinator communities.
      Here, we explore, for the first time, land cover changes in England over more
      than 80 years, and relate them to concurrent shifts in bee and wasp species
      richness and community composition. Using historical data from 14 sites across
      four counties, we quantify the key land cover changes within and around these
      sites and estimate the changes in richness and composition of pollinators. Land
      cover changes within sites, as well as changes within a 1 km radius outside the
      sites, have significant effects on richness and composition of bee and wasp
      species, with changes in edge habitats between major land classes also having a
      key influence. Our results highlight not just the land cover changes that may be
      detrimental to pollinator communities, but also provide an insight into how
      increases in habitat diversity may benefit species diversity, and could thus help
      inform policy and practice for future land management. 

PMID- 25833860
TI  - Insect antimicrobial peptides show potentiating functional interactions against
      Gram-negative bacteria.
AB  - Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and proteins are important components of innate
      immunity against pathogens in insects. The production of AMPs is costly owing to
      resource-based trade-offs, and strategies maximizing the efficacy of AMPs at low
      concentrations are therefore likely to be advantageous. Here, we show the
      potentiating functional interaction of co-occurring insect AMPs (the bumblebee
      linear peptides hymenoptaecin and abaecin) resulting in more potent antimicrobial
      effects at low concentrations. Abaecin displayed no detectable activity against
      Escherichia coli when tested alone at concentrations of up to 200 MUM, whereas
      hymenoptaecin affected bacterial cell growth and viability but only at
      concentrations greater than 2 MUM. In combination, as little as 1.25 MUM abaecin
      enhanced the bactericidal effects of hymenoptaecin. To understand these
      potentiating functional interactions, we investigated their mechanisms of action
      using atomic force microscopy and fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based
      quenching assays. Abaecin was found to reduce the minimal inhibitory
      concentration of hymenoptaecin and to interact with the bacterial chaperone DnaK
      (an evolutionarily conserved central organizer of the bacterial chaperone
      network) when the membrane was compromised by hymenoptaecin. These naturally
      occurring potentiating interactions suggest that combinations of AMPs could be
      used therapeutically against Gram-negative bacterial pathogens that have acquired
      resistance to common antibiotics. 

PMID- 25833862
TI  - A simple model for the influence of habitat resource availability on lateral
      clonal spread.
AB  - Plant clonal spread is ubiquitous and of great interest, owing both to its key
      role in plant community assembly and its suitability for plant behaviour
      research. However, mechanisms that govern spreading distance are not well known.
      Here we link spacer costs and below-ground competition in a simple model of
      growth in a homogeneous below-ground environment, in which optimal distance
      between ramets is based on minimizing the sum of these costs. Using this model,
      we predict a high prevalence of clonal growth that does not employ spacers in
      resource-poor environments and a nonlinear increase in spreading distance in
      response to increasing below-ground resource availability. Analysis of database
      data on clonal growth in relationship to below-ground resource availability
      revealed that patterns of the spread based on stolons is compatible with the
      model's predictions. As expected, model prediction failed for rhizomatous
      species, where spacer sizes are likely to be selected mainly to play roles other
      than spread. The model's simplicity makes it useful as a null model in testing
      hypotheses about the effects of environmental heterogeneity on clonal spread. 

PMID- 25833863
TI  - Avoidable errors in the modelling of outbreaks of emerging pathogens, with
      special reference to Ebola.
AB  - As an emergent infectious disease outbreak unfolds, public health response is
      reliant on information on key epidemiological quantities, such as transmission
      potential and serial interval. Increasingly, transmission models fit to incidence
      data are used to estimate these parameters and guide policy. Some widely used
      modelling practices lead to potentially large errors in parameter estimates and,
      consequently, errors in model-based forecasts. Even more worryingly, in such
      situations, confidence in parameter estimates and forecasts can itself be far
      overestimated, leading to the potential for large errors that mask their own
      presence. Fortunately, straightforward and computationally inexpensive
      alternatives exist that avoid these problems. Here, we first use a simulation
      study to demonstrate potential pitfalls of the standard practice of fitting
      deterministic models to cumulative incidence data. Next, we demonstrate an
      alternative based on stochastic models fit to raw data from an early phase of
      2014 West Africa Ebola virus disease outbreak. We show not only that bias is
      thereby reduced, but that uncertainty in estimates and forecasts is better
      quantified and that, critically, lack of model fit is more readily diagnosed. We
      conclude with a short list of principles to guide the modelling response to
      future infectious disease outbreaks. 

PMID- 25833864
TI  - Correction to 'Sex-specific, counteracting responses to inbreeding in a bird'.

PMID- 25833865
TI  - Technological innovations in mental healthcare: harnessing the digital
      revolution.
AB  - Digital technology has the potential to transform mental healthcare by connecting
      patients, services and health data in new ways. Digital online and mobile
      applications can offer patients greater access to information and services and
      enhance clinical management and early intervention through access to real-time
      patient data. However, substantial gaps exist in the evidence base underlying
      these technologies. Greater patient and clinician involvement is needed to
      evaluate digital technologies and ensure they target unmet needs, maintain public
      trust and improve clinical outcomes. 

PMID- 25833866
TI  - Lawfulness of preventive recall from a community treatment order.
AB  - Preventive recall to hospital of a patient on a community treatment order can be
      lawful when it is based on a convincing prediction that relapse in illness would
      otherwise occur. The legislation for England and Wales provides several
      indications that authorising preventive recall in those circumstances is a
      purpose of the community treatment order regime. 

PMID- 25833867
TI  - Interventions to improve the experience of caring for people with severe mental
      illness: systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Informal caregiving is an integral part of the care of people with
      severe mental illness, but the support needs of those providing such care are not
      often met. AIMS: To determine whether interventions provided to people caring for
      those with severe mental illness improve the experience of caring and reduce
      caregiver burden. METHOD: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analyses of
      randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions delivered by health and
      social care services to informal carers (i.e. family or friends who provide
      support to someone with severe mental illness). RESULTS: Twenty-one RCTs with
      1589 carers were included in the review. There was evidence suggesting that the
      carers' experience of care was improved at the end of the intervention by
      psychoeducation (standardised mean difference -1.03, 95% CI -1.69 to -0.36) and
      support groups (SMD = -1.16, 95% CI -1.96 to -0.36). Psychoeducation had a
      benefit on psychological distress more than 6 months later (SMD = -1.79, 95% CI 
      3.01 to -0.56) but not immediately post-intervention. Support interventions had a
      beneficial effect on psychological distress at the end of the intervention (SMD =
      -0.99, 95% CI -1.48 to -0.49) as did problem-solving bibliotherapy (SMD = -1.57,
      95% CI -1.79 to -1.35); these effects were maintained at follow-up. The quality
      of the evidence was mainly low and very low. Evidence for combining these
      interventions and for self-help and self-management was inconclusive.
      CONCLUSIONS: Carer-focused interventions appear to improve the experience of
      caring and quality of life and reduce psychological distress of those caring for
      people with severe mental illness, and these benefits may be gained in first
      episode psychosis. Interventions for carers should be considered as part of
      integrated services for people with severe mental health problems.

PMID- 25833872
TI  - Intergenerational transmission of psychopathy.

PMID- 25833873
TI  - Authors' reply.

PMID- 25833874
TI  - Influences of schizophrenia risk variant rs7914558 at CNNM2 on brain structure.

PMID- 25833875
TI  - Authors' reply.

PMID- 25833877
TI  - From the Editor's desk: matters of the heart and mind.

PMID- 25833876
TI  - Kaleidoscope.

PMID- 25833879
TI  - Optimizing stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation: better adherence and
      compliance from patients and physicians leads to better outcomes.

PMID- 25833880
TI  - Corrigendum to: European Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Survey II: rationale
      and design.

PMID- 25833881
TI  - Radiofrequency ablation on veno-arterial extracorporeal life support in treatment
      of very sick infants with incessant tachymyopathy.
AB  - AIMS: To evaluate the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in
      supporting infants who require radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for incessant
      tachyarrhythmias, with particular emphasis on modifications required to standard
      ablation techniques. METHODS AND RESULTS: Three cases of RFA carried out in
      infancy on ECMO support were reviewed retrospectively. Two infants with permanent
      junctional reciprocating tachycardia (PJRT) and one with ventricular tachycardia
      (VT) presented in a low cardiac output state, owing to cardiomyopathy caused by
      incessant tachycardia. In each case antiarrhythmic drug therapy caused
      haemodynamic collapse, requiring emergency ECMO support. Drug therapy on ECMO was
      not successful. In one patient, the tachycardia was controlled on ECMO with
      antiarrhythmic drugs, but recurred following ECMO decannulation. Each patient had
      a successful RFA on ECMO support. Power delivery was low during ablation lesions.
      In the PJRT cases power as low as 3-5 Watts was effective. In the VT ablation, an
      irrigated tip RFA catheter was required when cooling remained poor even after
      temporarily stopping ECMO flow. CONCLUSION: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
      provides a haemodynamically stable and safe platform for antiarrhythmic drug
      therapy and RFA in infants with incessant tachyarrhythmias. Once ECMO has been
      commenced, if the tachyarrhythmia remains difficult to control with
      antiarrhythmic drugs, RFA should be strongly considered, to avoid the risk of
      tachycardia recurrence following ECMO decannulation. Power delivery during
      ablation lesions may be low because of inadequate cooling of the catheter tip.
      Reducing or stopping flow in the ECMO circuit may not provide adequate cooling
      and an irrigated tip catheter may be required.

PMID- 25833882
TI  - Usefulness of exercise test in the diagnosis of short QT syndrome.
AB  - AIMS: Short QT syndrome (SQTS) is a rare arrhythmogenic inherited heart disease.
      Diagnosis can be challenging in subjects with slightly shortened QT interval at
      electrocardiogram. In this study we compared the QT interval behaviour during
      exercise in a cohort of SQTS patients with a control group, to evaluate the
      usefulness of exercise test in the diagnosis of SQTS. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty
      one SQTS patients and 20 matched control subjects underwent an exercise test. QT
      interval was measured at different heart rates (HRs), at rest and during effort.
      The relation between QT interval and HR was evaluated by linear regression
      analysis according to the formula: QT = beta *HR + alpha, where beta is the slope
      of the linear relation, and alpha is the intercept. Rest and peak exercise HRs
      were not different in the two groups. Short QT syndrome patients showed lower QT
      intervals as compared with controls both at rest (276 +/- 27 ms vs. 364 +/- 25
      ms, P < 0.0001) and at peak exercise (228 +/- 27 ms vs. 245 +/- 26 ms, P = 0.05),
      with a mean variation from rest to peak effort of 48 +/- 14 ms vs. 120 +/- 20 ms
      (P < 0.0001). Regression analysis of QT/HR relationship revealed a less steep
      slope for SQTS patients compared with the control group, never exceeding the
      value of -0.90 ms/beat/min (mean value -0.53 +/- 0.15 ms/beat/min vs. -1.29 +/-
      0.30 ms/beat/min, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Short QT syndrome patients show a
      reduced adaptation of the QT interval to HR. Exercise test can be a useful tool
      in the diagnosis of SQTS.

PMID- 25833883
TI  - Left atrial appendage closure-indications, techniques, and outcomes: results of
      the European Heart Rhythm Association Survey.
AB  - The purpose of this EP Wire was to assess the indications, techniques, and
      outcomes of left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) in Europe. Thirty-three
      European centres, all members of the European Heart Rhythm Association
      electrophysiology (EP) research network, responded to this survey by completing
      the questionnaire. The major indication for LAAO (94%) was the prevention of
      stroke in patients at high thrombo-embolic risk (CHA2DS2-VASc >= 2) and
      contraindications to oral anticoagulants (OACs). Twenty-one (64%) of the
      responding centres perform LAAO in their own institution and 80% implanted 30 or
      less LAAO devices in 2014. Two-dimensional transoesophageal echocardiography was
      the preferred imaging technique to visualize LAA before, during, and after LAAO
      in 79, 58, and 62% of the participating centres, respectively. Following LAAO,
      49% of the centres prescribe vitamin K antagonists or novel OACs. Twenty-five per
      cent of the centres combine LAAO with pulmonary vein isolation. The
      periprocedural complications included death (range, 0-3%), ischaemic or
      haemorrhagic stroke (0-25%), tamponade (0-25%), and device embolization (0-20%).
      In conclusion, this EP Wire has demonstrated that LAAO is most commonly employed
      in patients at high thrombo-embolic risk in whom OAC is contraindicated. The
      technique is not yet very widespread and the complication rates remain
      significant. 

PMID- 25833884
TI  - Catheter ablation via the brachial artery of ventricular arrhythmia originating
      from the right coronary cusp.

PMID- 25833885
TI  - Estimating the population distribution of usual 24-hour sodium excretion from
      timed urine void specimens using a statistical approach accounting for correlated
      measurement errors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: High US sodium intake and national reduction efforts necessitate
      developing a feasible and valid monitoring method across the distribution of low
      to-high sodium intake. OBJECTIVE: We examined a statistical approach using timed
      urine voids to estimate the population distribution of usual 24-h sodium
      excretion. METHODS: A sample of 407 adults, aged 18-39 y (54% female, 48% black),
      collected each void in a separate container for 24 h; 133 repeated the procedure
      4-11 d later. Four timed voids (morning, afternoon, evening, overnight) were
      selected from each 24-h collection. We developed gender-specific equations to
      calibrate total sodium excreted in each of the one-void (e.g., morning) and
      combined two-void (e.g., morning + afternoon) urines to 24-h sodium excretion.
      The calibrated sodium excretions were used to estimate the population
      distribution of usual 24-h sodium excretion. Participants were then randomly
      assigned to modeling (n = 160) or validation (n = 247) groups to examine the bias
      in estimated population percentiles. RESULTS: Median bias in predicting selected
      percentiles (5th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 95th) of usual 24-h sodium excretion with one
      void urines ranged from -367 to 284 mg (-7.7 to 12.2% of the observed usual
      excretions) for men and -604 to 486 mg (-14.6 to 23.7%) for women, and with two
      void urines from -338 to 263 mg (-6.9 to 10.4%) and -166 to 153 mg (-4.1 to
      8.1%), respectively. Four of the 6 two-void urine combinations produced no
      significant bias in predicting selected percentiles. CONCLUSIONS: Our approach to
      estimate the population usual 24-h sodium excretion, which uses calibrated timed
      void sodium to account for day-to-day variation and covariance between
      measurement errors, produced percentile estimates with relatively low biases
      across low-to-high sodium excretions. This may provide a low-burden, low-cost
      alternative to 24-h collections in monitoring population sodium intake among
      healthy young adults and merits further investigation in other population
      subgroups.

PMID- 25833886
TI  - Progress and challenges in developing metabolic footprints from diet in human gut
      microbial cometabolism.
AB  - Homo sapiens harbor trillions of microbes, whose microbial metagenome (collective
      genome of a microbial community) using omic validation interrogation tools is
      estimated to be at least 100-fold that of human cells, which comprise 23,000
      genes. This article highlights some of the current progress and open questions in
      nutrition-related areas of microbiome research. It also underscores the metabolic
      capabilities of microbial fermentation on nutritional substrates that require
      further mechanistic understanding and systems biology approaches of studying
      functional interactions between diet composition, gut microbiota, and host
      metabolism. Questions surrounding bacterial fermentation and degradation of
      dietary constituents (particularly by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes) and
      deciphering how microbial encoding of enzymes and derived metabolites affect
      recovery of dietary energy by the host are more complex than previously thought.
      Moreover, it is essential to understand to what extent the intestinal microbiota
      is subject to dietary control and to integrate these data with functional
      metabolic signatures and biomarkers. Many lines of research have demonstrated the
      significant role of the gut microbiota in human physiology and disease. Probiotic
      and prebiotic products are proliferating in the market in response to consumer
      demand, and the science and technology around these products are progressing
      rapidly. With high-throughput molecular technologies driving the science,
      studying the bidirectional interactions of host-microbial cometabolism,
      epithelial cell maturation, shaping of innate immune development, normal vs.
      dysfunctional nutrient absorption and processing, and the complex signaling
      pathways involved is now possible. Substantiating the safety and mechanisms of
      action of probiotic/prebiotic formulations is critical. Beneficial modulation of
      the human microbiota by using these nutritional and biotherapeutic strategies
      holds considerable promise as next-generation drugs, vaccinomics, and metabolic
      agents and in novel food discovery. 

PMID- 25833887
TI  - Epigenetics of inflammation, maternal infection, and nutrition.
AB  - Studies have demonstrated that epigenetic changes such as DNA methylation,
      histone modification, and chromatin remodeling are linked to an increased
      inflammatory response as well as increased risk of chronic disease development. A
      few studies have begun to investigate whether dietary nutrients play a beneficial
      role by modifying or reversing epigenetically induced inflammation. Results of
      these studies show that nutrients modify epigenetic pathways. However, little is
      known about how nutrients modulate inflammation by regulating immune cell
      function and/or immune cell differentiation via epigenetic pathways. This
      overview will provide information about the current understanding of the role of
      nutrients in the epigenetic control mechanisms of immune function. 

PMID- 25833888
TI  - Current issues and priorities in childhood nutrition, growth, and infections.
AB  - Forty-five percent of the 6.6 million under-5 deaths in 2012 were attributable to
      infectious disease, of which pneumonia and diarrhea were the leading causes.
      Despite the close interrelation between these infections and nutrition
      conditions, key nutrition interventions for prevention of childhood diarrhea and
      pneumonia have not received deserved attention, especially in low- and middle
      income countries. Several interventions and strategies can effectively address
      these issues but are not available to those in need. This article discusses in
      detail the burden and trends of global under-5 mortality, infections, and
      nutrition conditions; etiology and associated risk factors; biological
      plausibility and the interrelation between infections, nutrition, and growth; and
      existing interventions and strategies to reduce major childhood infections and
      improve nutrition and growth and implications. 

PMID- 25833889
TI  - Supplementation of Mice with Specific Nondigestible Oligosaccharides during
      Pregnancy or Lactation Leads to Diminished Sensitization and Allergy in the
      Female Offspring.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The maternal environment and early life exposure affect immune
      development in offspring. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether development of food
      allergy in offspring is affected by supplementing pregnant or lactating
      sensitized or nonsensitized mice with a mixture of nondigestible
      oligosaccharides. METHODS: Dams were sensitized intragastrically with ovalbumin
      before mating, with use of cholera toxin (CT) as an adjuvant. Nonsensitized dams
      received CT only. Dams were fed a control diet or a diet supplemented with short
      chain galacto oligosaccharides (scGOSs), long-chain fructo oligosaccharides
      (lcFOSs), and pectin-derived acidic oligosaccharides (pAOSs) in a ratio of 9:1:2
      at a dose of 2% during pregnancy or lactation, resulting in 7 experimental
      groups. After weaning, offspring were fed a control diet and ovalbumin-CT
      sensitized. Acute allergic skin responses (ASRs), shock symptoms, body
      temperature, and specific plasma immunoglobulins were measured upon intradermal
      ovalbumin challenge. Th2/Th1- and regulatory T cells were analyzed with use of
      quantitative polymerase chain reaction and flow cytometric analysis in spleen,
      mesenteric lymph nodes, and blood. RESULTS: Supplementing sensitized pregnant or
      lactating dams with scGOS/lcFOS/pAOS resulted in lower ASRs in the offspring
      [offspring of sensitized female mice fed experimental diet during pregnancy (S
      Preg): 48 +/- 2.1 MUm; offspring of sensitized female mice fed experimental diet
      during lactation (S-Lact): 60 +/- 6.2 MUm] compared with the sensitized control
      group (119 +/- 13.9 MUm). In the S-Lact group, this coincided with an absence of
      shock symptoms compared with the offspring of sensitized female mice fed control
      food during pregnancy and lactation (S-Con) and S-Preg groups, and lower
      ovalbumin-IgG1 [S-Con: 3.8 +/- 0.1 arbitrary units (AUs); S-Preg: 3.3 +/- 0.1
      AUs; S-Lact: 2.4 +/- 0.1 AUs] and higher ovalbumin-IgG2a concentrations (S-Con:
      1.1 +/- 0.1 AUs; S-Preg: 0.8 +/- 0.1 AUs; S-Lact: 2.0 +/- 0.1 AUs). Supplementing
      nonsensitized pregnant or lactating dams with scGOS/lcFOS/pAOS resulted in lower
      plasma ovalbumin-IgE [offspring of nonsensitized female mice fed experimental
      diet during pregnancy (NS-Preg): 1.6 +/- 0.4 AUs; offspring of nonsensitized
      female mice fed experimental diet during lactation (NS-Lact): 0.3 +/- 0.1 AUs vs.
      offspring of nonsensitized female mice fed control food during pregnancy and
      lactation (NS-Con): 3.1 +/- 0.6 AUs] and ovalbumin-IgG1 (NS-Lact: 2.3 +/- 0.3 AUs
      vs. NS-Con: 3.4 +/- 0.3 AUs) concentrations in offspring. Ovalbumin-IgG2a plasma
      concentrations were higher in offspring of scGOS/lcFOS/pAOS-supplemented dams (NS
      Preg: 1.1 +/- 0.1 AUs; NS-Lact: 1.1 +/- 0.1 AUs) than in those of unsupplemented,
      nonsensitized controls (0.4 +/- 0.0 AUs). CONCLUSIONS: These data show impaired
      sensitization in offspring of scGOS/lcFOS/pAOS-supplemented mice. A number of the
      analyzed variables are differentially affected by whether supplementation occurs
      during pregnancy or lactation, and the outcome of dietary supplementation is
      affected by whether the mother has been sensitized to ovalbumin and CT.

PMID- 25833890
TI  - The use of adjustment factors to address the impact of inflammation on vitamin A
      and iron status in humans.
AB  - Many nutrient biomarkers are altered by inflammation. We calculated adjustment
      factors for retinol and ferritin by using meta-analyses of studies containing the
      respective biomarker and 2 acute phase proteins in serum, C-reactive protein
      (CRP), and alpha1-acid glycoprotein (AGP). With the use of CRP and AGP we
      identified 4 groups in each study: reference (CRP <=5 mg/L, AGP <=1 g/L),
      incubation (CRP >5 mg/L, AGP <=1 g/L), early convalescence (CRP >5 mg/L, AGP >1
      g/L), and late convalescence (CRP <=5 mg/L, AGP >1 g/L). For each biomarker,
      ratios of the geometric means of the reference to each inflammation group
      concentration were used to calculate adjustment factors for retinol (1.13, 1.24,
      and 1.11) and ferritin (0.77, 0.53, and 0.75) for the incubation, early, and late
      convalescent groups, respectively. The application of the meta-analysis factors
      in more recent studies compares well with study-specific factors. The same method
      was used to calculate adjustment factors for soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR)
      and body iron stores (BISs) in Lao children. We found no advantage in adjusting
      sTfR for inflammation; in fact, adjustment decreased iron deficiency. Neither
      adjusted (10% <0 mg/kg) nor nonadjusted (12% <0 mg/kg) BISs detected as much iron
      deficiency as did ferritin (18% <12 MUg/L) and adjusted ferritin (21% <12 MUg/L)
      unless the cutoff for BISs was increased from 0 to <3 mg/kg. However, we could
      find no evidence that the larger number of children identified as having BISs <3
      mg/kg had risks of anemia comparable to those identified by using ferritin <12
      MUg/L. In conclusion, both corrected and uncorrected ferritin concentrations <12
      MUg/L are associated with more iron deficiency and anemia than either sTfR >8.3
      mg/L or BISs <0 mg/kg in Lao children.

PMID- 25833891
TI  - Nutrition and metabolic correlates of obesity and inflammation: clinical
      considerations.
AB  - Since 1980, the global prevalence of obesity has doubled; in the United States,
      it has almost tripled. Billions of people are overweight and obese; the WHO
      reports that >65% of the world's population die of diseases related to overweight
      rather than underweight. Obesity is a complex disease that can be studied from
      "metropolis to metabolite"-that is, beginning at the policy and the population
      level through epidemiology and intervention studies; to bench work including
      preclinical models, tissue, and cell culture studies; to biochemical assays; and
      to metabolomics. Metabolomics is the next research frontier because it provides a
      real-time snapshot of biochemical building blocks and products of cellular
      processes. This report comments on practical considerations when conducting
      metabolomics research. The pros and cons and important study design concerns are
      addressed to aid in increasing metabolomics research in the United States. The
      link between metabolism and inflammation is an understudied phenomenon that has
      great potential to transform our understanding of immunometabolism in obesity,
      diabetes, cancer, and other diseases; metabolomics promises to be an important
      tool in understanding the complex relations between factors contributing to such
      diseases.

PMID- 25833892
TI  - Indian women of childbearing age do not metabolically conserve arginine as do
      American and Jamaican women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In a previous study in pregnant American women, we reported that
      arginine flux and nitric oxide synthesis increased in trimester 2. More recently,
      we reported that Indian women do not increase arginine flux during pregnancy as
      their American or Jamaican counterparts do. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study
      was to determine whether Indian women of childbearing age are producing less
      arginine and/or catabolizing more arginine and therefore have less available for
      anabolic pathways than do Jamaican and American women. METHODS: Thirty healthy
      women aged 28.3 +/- 0.8 y from the United States, India, and Jamaica (n =
      10/group) were given 6 h primed, constant intravenous infusions of guanidino-15N2
      arginine, 5,5-2H2-citrulline, 15N2-ornithine, and ring-2H5-phenylalanine, in
      addition to primed, oral doses of U-13C6-arginine in both the fasting and
      postprandial states. An oral dose of deuterium oxide was also given to determine
      fat-free mass (FFM). RESULTS: Compared with American women, Indian and Jamaican
      women had greater ornithine fluxes (MUmol . kg fat FFM-1 . h-1) in the fasting
      and postprandial states (27.3 +/- 2.5 vs. 39.6 +/- 3.7 and 37.2 +/- 2.0,
      respectively, P = 0.01), indicating greater arginine catabolism. However,
      Jamaican women had a higher endogenous arginine flux than did Indian and American
      women in the fasting (66.1 +/- 3.1 vs. 54.2 +/- 3.1 and 56.1 +/- 2.1,
      respectively, P = 0.01) and postprandial (53.8 +/- 2.2 vs. 43.7 +/- 4.9 and 42.8
      +/- 3.1, respectively, P = 0.06) states. As a consequence, Indian women had lower
      arginine bioavailability (MUmol . kg FFM-1 . h-1) in the fasting state (42.0 +/-
      2.6) than did American (49.9 +/- 1.3, P = 0.045) and Jamaican (55.5 +/- 3.5, P =
      0.004) women, as well as in the postprandial state (40.7 +/- 3.5 vs. 51.8 +/- 1.2
      and 57.5 +/- 3.2, respectively, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Compared with American
      and Jamaican women, Indian women of childbearing age have a decreased arginine
      supply because of increased arginine catabolism without an increase in arginine
      flux.

PMID- 25833894
TI  - Possible association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the 3' untranslated
      region of HOXB9 with acetabular overcoverage.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Excessive acetabular coverage is the most common cause of pincer-type
      femoroacetabular impingement. To date, an association between acetabular over
      coverage and genetic variations has not been studied. In this study we
      investigated the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of
      paralogous Homeobox (HOX)9 genes and acetabular coverage in Japanese individuals
      to identify a possible genetic variation associated with acetabular over
      coverage. METHODS: We investigated 19 total SNPs in the four HOX9 paralogs, then
      focused in detail on seven of those located in the 3' untranslated region of
      HOXB9 (rs8844, rs3826541, rs3826540, rs7405887, rs2303485, rs2303486, rs79931349)
      using a case-control association study. The seven HOXB9 SNPs were genotyped in
      316 subjects who had all undergone radiological examination. The association
      study was performed by both single-locus and haplotype-based analyses. RESULTS:
      The genotype and allele frequencies of the five HOXB9 SNPs showed significant
      association with acetabular over-coverage compared with controls (rs7405887 OR =
      3.16, p = 5.29E-6, 95% CI 1.91 to 5.25). A significant difference was also
      detected when haplotypes were evaluated (OR = 2.59, p = 2.61E-5, 95% CI 1.65 to
      4.08). The two HOXB9 SNPs (rs2303485, rs2303486) were associated with decreased
      acetabular coverage (rs2303485 OR = 0.524, p = 0.0091, 95% CI 0.322 to 0.855;
      rs2303486 OR = 0.519, p = 0.011, 95% CI 0.312 to 0.865). CONCLUSIONS: The five
      HOXB9 SNPs (rs8844, rs3826541, rs3826540, rs7405887, rs79931349) were associated
      with acetabular over-coverage. On the other hand, the two SNPs (rs2303485 and
      rs2303486) were associated with the lower acetabular coverage. The association of
      rs2303486 would be consistent with the previous study. Therefore, the HOXB9 SNPs
      might be involved in the morphogenesis of acetabular coverage, and could be an
      independent risk factor for developing pincer-type femoroacetabular impingement.
      Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2015;4:50-5.

PMID- 25833895
TI  - Four days a week or less on appropriate anti-HIV drug combinations provided long
      term optimal maintenance in 94 patients: the ICCARRE project.
AB  - Short, intraweekly cycles of anti-HIV combinations have provided intermittent,
      effective therapy (on 48 patients) (1). The concept is now extended to 94
      patients on treatment, 4 days per week or less, over a median of 2.7
      discontinuous treatment years per patient. On suppressive combinations, 94
      patients volunteered to treatment, 5 and 4 days per week, or reduced stepwise to
      4, 3, 2, and 1 days per week in 94, 84, 66, and 12 patients, respectively, on
      various triple, standard, antiviral combinations, or nonregistered, quadruple,
      antiviral combinations. Ninety-four patients on treatment 4 days per week
      aggregated 165 intermittent treatment years; no viral breakthrough was observed
      over 87 average treatment weeks per patient, 63 of 94 having passed 2.5
      intermittent treatment years on any of the antiviral combinations prescribed. On
      the hyperintermittent treatment of 3, 2, and 1 days per week, HIV RNA surged >50
      copies, 4 weeks apart, in 18 instances (6.8 viral escapes/100 hyperdiscontinuous
      maintenance years). Viral escapes could have been a result of erratic adherence
      (EA) to regimen or follow-up (3 patients)--drug taken at half of the daily
      recommended dosage (8 patients) and/or overlooked archival-resistant HIVs from
      antecedent treatment failures (6 patients). Aside from the above circumstances,
      HIV unexpectedly rebounded in 3 patients on 2 days per week treatment and 1
      patient on 1 day per week treatment, posting 2.2 intrinsic viral escapes/100
      highly discontinuous treatment years. All 18 escapes were eventually reversed by
      7 days per week salvage combinations, and 11 of 18 patients have been back for a
      second course of intermittent therapy, 4 days per week or less. Both cell
      activation markers on the surface of T lymphocytes and cell-bound HIV DNA levels
      remained stable or declined. CD4/CD8 ratios rose to >=1 in 35% of patients,
      whereas CD4 counts went >=500/ul in 75%. These values were previously 7 and 40%,
      respectively, on 7 days per week therapy. In our aging, long, HIV-enduring,
      multitreated patient cohort, treatment 4 days per week and less over 421
      intermittent treatment years reduced prescription medicines by 60%--equivalent to
      3 drug-free/3 virus-free remission year per patient--actually sparing ?3 million
      on just 94 patients at the cost of 2.2 intrinsic viral failure/100
      hyperintermittent treatment years. At no risk of viral escape, maintenance
      therapy, 4 days per week, would quasiuniversally offer 40% cuts off of current
      overprescriptions.

PMID- 25833896
TI  - Mean glandular dose in six digital mammography services in Santiago, Chile:
      preliminary reference levels.
AB  - The purpose of this paper was to estimate mean glandular dose levels (DG) in six
      digital mammography systems in Santiago, Chile, and to propose preliminary
      reference levels to execute mammography in Chile. The study was carried out
      assessing two direct digital systems and four computer-based radiography (CR)
      systems. Estimates of DG were calculated for different thicknesses of polymethyl
      methacrylate according to the quality control protocol in digital mammography of
      the Spanish Society of Medical Physics and NHSBSP Equipment Report 0604 Version
      3. DG values ranged between 0.64 and 7.26 mGy for a range of 20- to 70-mm
      thickness, respectively. Thirty-six per cent of DG was higher than the acceptable
      dose level and 100 % of DG was higher than the desirable level. It is therefore
      necessary to optimise doses. The initial proposal to establish dose reference
      levels for DG would range between 0.90 and 6.40 mGy for a thickness range of 20
      to 70 mm. 

PMID- 25833897
TI  - Follow-up of children exposed to ionising radiation from cardiac catheterisation:
      the Coccinelle study.
AB  - Cardiac catheterisation has become an essential tool in the diagnosis and
      treatment of children with a wide variety of congenital and acquired forms of
      cardiovascular disease. Despite the clear clinical benefit to the patient,
      radiation exposure from paediatric cardiac catheterisation procedures (CCPs) may
      be substantial. Given children's greater sensitivity to radiation and the longer
      life span during which radiation health effects can develop, an epidemiological
      cohort study, named Coccinelle or 'Ladybird' (French acronym for 'Cohorte sur le
      risque de cancer apres cardiologie interventionnelle pediatrique'), is carried
      out in France to evaluate the risks of leukaemia and solid cancers in this
      population. A total number of 8000 included children are expected. Individual CCP
      related doses will be assessed for each child included in the cohort. For each
      CCP performed, dosimetric parameters (dose-area product, fluoroscopy time and
      total number of cine frames) are retrieved retrospectively. Organ doses,
      especially to the lung, the oesophagus and the thyroid, are calculated with PCXMC
      software. The cohort will be followed up through linkage with French paediatric
      cancer registries. 

PMID- 25833898
TI  - Indication-based national diagnostic reference levels for paediatric CT: a new
      approach with proposed values.
AB  - Indication-based national diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for a few most
      common paediatric computed tomography (CT) examinations are proposed. Patient
      dose data (CTDI vol and dose length product) were collected for over 1000
      patients in 4 university hospitals with best experiences in paediatric CT. Four
      indications for chest CT and two for abdomen (abdomen + pelvis), chest + abdomen
      and head CT were considered. The DRLs for the body examinations are proposed as
      exponential DRL-curves, where CTDI vol and dose length product are presented as a
      function of patient weight. The same DRL curve applies to all the indications
      studied. The basic 75 % level curve is supplemented by 50 % level curve to enable
      considerations on varying levels of technology. For head CT, DRLs are proposed
      for a few age groups (1, 1-5, 5-10 and 10-15 y), separately for routine CT and CT
      for ventricular size. The proposed DRLs are generally lower than the few
      published DRLs in other countries.

PMID- 25833899
TI  - Simultaneous Quantitation of 78 Drugs and Metabolites in Urine with a Dilute-And
      Shoot LC-MS-MS Assay.
AB  - A novel LC-MS-MS assay that simultaneously detects and quantitates 78 drugs and
      metabolites was developed and validated for chronic pain management. Urine
      specimen was diluted and mixed with internal standards (ISs) before injected into
      LC-MS-MS. Seventy-two analytes were detected with positive electrospray
      ionization mode and the remaining six analytes with negative mode. Two separate
      gradient elution chromatographic programs were established with the same mobile
      phases on the same bi-phenyl HPLC column. The assay was linear for all analytes
      with linear regression coefficient ranging 0.994-1.000. The intra-assay precision
      was between 1.7 and 8.8% and inter-assay precision between 1.9 and 12.2%, with
      bias <20% for all but six analytes. All analytes in urine specimens were stable
      for 7 days at 4 degrees C, and no significant matrix effect or carryover was
      observed. A suboptimal recovery rate (60.0-156.8%) was observed for six analytes,
      potentially due to the lack of available deuterated ISs, requiring comparison to
      a chemically different IS. Method comparison using patient and proficiency
      testing samples demonstrated that this assay was sensitive and accurate. The
      assay improves on currently existing assays by including glucuronide conjugates,
      allowing direct detection of metabolites that might otherwise be missed by
      existing methods. 

PMID- 25833900
TI  - A novel antidoping and medical care delivery model at the 2nd Summer Youth
      Olympic Games (2014), Nanjing China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Antidoping and medical care delivery programmes are required at all
      large international multisport events. OBJECTIVE: To document and critique the
      novel antidoping and medical care delivery models implemented at the 2nd Summer
      Youth Olympic Games, Nanjing 2014. METHODS: The International Olympic Committee
      implemented two new models of delivery of antidoping and medical care at the YOG.
      A review of these models as well as the public health programme and two health
      educational initiatives in the Cultural and Educational Program was undertaken by
      the International Olympic Committee. RESULTS: The implementation of the new
      antidoping model was feasible in the setting of the YOG. The antidoping rules and
      regulations of the International Olympic Committee were respected. This model
      enhanced the educational initiative and provided financial as well as human
      resource savings. The execution of the hospital-based venue model of medical care
      delivery at the YOG was also feasible in this setting. This model provided a
      practical infrastructure for the delivery of medical care at multisport events
      with the goal of providing optimum athlete healthcare. A public health prevention
      programme was implemented and no public health risks were encountered by the
      participants or the Nanjing citizens during the YOG. Finally, the implementation
      of the athlete health educational programmes within the Cultural and Educational
      Program provided athletes with an opportunity to improve their health and
      performance. CONCLUSIONS: To achieve the goal of protecting athlete health, and
      of employing effective doping control and education, new alternate models of
      antidoping and medical care delivery can be implemented.

PMID- 25833901
TI  - The epidemiology of groin injury in senior football: a systematic review of
      prospective studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Groin injuries are troublesome in men's and women's football. AIM: To
      review the literature on the epidemiology of groin injury in senior football and
      compare injury occurrence between sexes. METHODS: Studies were identified through
      a search of PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL and Web of Science, in the reference lists of
      the selected articles and the authors' bibliographies. The number of injuries,
      percentage of groin injury from all injuries and rate of groin injury per 1000 h
      were extracted. Exposure and injury data were aggregated across included studies
      and the absolute differences in groin injury proportion and rate of groin injury
      were compared between sexes. Risk of bias was assessed using a 5-item checklist.
      RESULTS: 34 articles met the study criteria and were included. The proportion of
      groin injury in club-seasonal football was 4-19% in men and 2-14% in women.
      Aggregated data analysis (29 studies) showed a higher relative proportion of
      groin injury in men than in women (12.8% vs 6.9%, absolute difference 5.9%, 95%
      CI 4.6% to 7.1%). The rate of groin injury varied from 0.2 to 2.1/1000 h in men
      and 0.1 to 0.6/1000 h in women's club football, and aggregated analysis (23
      studies) showed a more than two-fold higher rate in men (0.83/1000 h vs 0.35/1000
      h, rate ratio 2.4, 95% CI 2.0 to 2.9). High risk of bias was identified for
      participant selection (18 studies), exposure (17 studies) and precision estimate
      (16 studies). CONCLUSIONS: Groin injuries are frequent in senior football and are
      more common in men than women. Future research needs to be of higher quality.

PMID- 25833902
TI  - 15 years of tracking physiotherapy evidence on PEDro, where are we now?

PMID- 25833903
TI  - Risk factors for groin injury in sport: an updated systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The identification of risk factors for groin injury in sport is
      important to develop and implement injury prevention strategies. OBJECTIVE: To
      identify and evaluate the evidence examining risk factors for groin injury in
      sport. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Nine electronic databases were systematically
      searched to June 2014. Studies selected met the following criteria: original
      data; analytic design; investigated a risk factor(s); included outcomes for groin
      injury sustained during sport participation. The Preferred Reporting Items for
      Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed and two
      independent authors assessed the quality and level of evidence with the Downs and
      Black (DB) criteria and Oxford Centre of Evidence-Based Medicine model,
      respectively. RESULTS: Of 2521 potentially relevant studies, 29 were included and
      scored. Heterogeneity in methodology and injury definition precluded meta
      analyses. The most common risk factors investigated included age, hip range of
      motion, hip adductor strength and height. The median DB score across studies was
      11/33 (range 6-20). The majority of studies represented level 2 evidence (cohort
      studies) however few considered the inter-relationships between risk factors.
      There is level 1 and 2 evidence that previous groin injury, higher-level of play,
      reduced hip adductor (absolute and relative to the hip abductors) strength and
      lower levels of sport-specific training are associated with increased risk of
      groin injury in sport. CONCLUSIONS: We recommended that investigators focus on
      developing and evaluating preparticipation screening and groin injury prevention
      programmes through high-quality randomised controlled trials targeting athletes
      at greater risk of injury.

PMID- 25833904
TI  - Monotherapy with stenting in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) after middle cerebral
      artery dissection.
AB  - Isolated middle cerebral artery dissection is a rare clinical entity, with
      descriptions limited to a few case reports and case series. Symptomatic
      dissection in the anterior circulation can present as an ischemic stroke in a
      young population; however, it is rarely associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage.
      We describe a young patient who presented with acute headache from a subarachnoid
      hemorrhage that was ultimately determined to be due to a vascular dissection in
      the middle cerebral artery. The initial angiogram showed vascular irregularities
      in this area with stenosis. Repeat imaging 4 days after presentation identified a
      pseudoaneurysm proximal to the stenosis. The patient was successfully treated
      with a self-expanding nitinol stent and followed up with serial angiography
      during postoperative recovery in the hospital; additional angiograms were
      performed approximately 1 and 6 months after treatment. Serial angiograms
      demonstrated incremental healing of the dissection. The patient was discharged
      and remains neurologically intact at the 6-month follow-up.

PMID- 25833905
TI  - Residual vasomotor activity assessed by heart rate variability in a brain-dead
      case.
AB  - A patient assessed by heart rate variability (HRV) methodology, beginning just
      after the completion of brain death (BD) diagnosis, showed remaining very low
      frequency (VLF) waves for approximately 10 min. A time-varying spectral analysis
      showed that during the first 550 s, a significant power spectral density remained
      in the high-frequency (HF), low-frequency (LF) and VLF bands. From 550 to 675 s,
      the HF oscillations totally vanished, and a marked progressive decay of the LF
      and VLF power density occurred. After 700 s the VLF undulations stopped and
      remaining small amplitude oscillations at 0.2 Hz coincided with the ventilator
      frequency. The VLF oscillations recorded in our case might be related to residual
      sympathetic vasomotor activity that progressively disappeared due to the
      extension of necrosis affecting the nervous centres of the lower part of the
      medulla and the first 2-3 cervical spine segments. 

PMID- 25833906
TI  - Paravaginal aggressive angiomyxoma.
AB  - A 34-year-old nulliparous woman with a long-standing history of uterine fibroids
      and infertility had undergone prior open myomectomy, then uterine artery
      embolisation in treatment of an apparent large fibroid. Imaging on referral
      revealed an atypical 12*11*10 cm pelvic mass with the appearance of a fibroid. At
      laparotomy, the lesion was encapsulated but softer than a fibroid and located
      deep in the paravaginal space. The histopathological outcome was an aggressive
      angiomyxoma. 

PMID- 25833907
TI  - Treatment of tachycardia: bradycardia syndrome in a patient with obstructive
      sleep apnoea.
AB  - Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSAS) affects 4% of men and 2% of women aged 30-65
      years. It is diagnosed in the presence of excessive daytime sleepiness and an
      apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) of >=5 on polysomnography. Rhythm disturbances are
      common in OSAS and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) has been shown to
      be beneficial. We present a case of a patient with obesity, atrial fibrillation
      with fast ventricular response, significant nocturnal pauses (3.9 s) and
      tachycardiomyopathy. A polysomnography confirmed severe OSAS (AHI=64.25). CPAP
      improved bradycardia and allowed for the introduction of beta-blockers.
      Subsequent Holter monitoring revealed better rate control with the longest pause
      of 2 s and the patient's left ventricular systolic function improved. CPAP
      prevented our patient from invasive treatment, allowed for rate control and
      improvement of tachycardiomyopathy. With such a high prevalence of OSAS,
      clinicians should be aware that CPAP may aid arrhythmia control. 

PMID- 25833908
TI  - A prominent 'A' notch in the pulmonary valve M mode-one more cause of the same.
AB  - The M mode echocardiogram is not the main priority, during routine
      echocardiographic evaluation now-a-days. However, there are still a few classical
      conditions where this remains instructive and educative. One such situation is
      the presence of an 'a' wave in the pulmonary valve M mode tracing in normals and
      it's absence in pulmonary hypertension. In valvular pulmonary stenosis we expect
      a deeper 'a' wave. We describe one more cause of a prominent 'a' wave in the
      pulmonary valve M mode. We describe this in a common tropical disease, endemic to
      Kerala. 

PMID- 25833909
TI  - Ruptured hepatic artery aneurysm: an unusual presentation of polyarteritis
      nodosa.
AB  - A 52-year-old woman presented with severe acute right upper quadrant abdominal
      pain and signs of intra-abdominal haemorrhage. CT and selective angiography
      revealed a ruptured right hepatic artery aneurysm and diffuse aneurysmatic
      disease involving most intra-abdominal organs, suggestive of polyarteritis
      nodosa. Although treatment with high-dose steroids was initiated, the patient
      died of progressive bowel ischaemia. 

PMID- 25833910
TI  - Mycotic pseudoaneurysm by vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus: a rare
      cause of persistent bacteraemia.
AB  - Pseudoaneurysms are vessel wall ruptures, that are often mistaken for deep vein
      thrombosis (DVT). A middle-aged man presented with right leg pain, swelling and
      erythema. His history was significant for persistent Staphylococcus aureus
      bacteraemia. Ultrasound revealed subacute DVT and laboratory parameters were
      suggestive of sepsis. He was started on intravenous heparin and antimicrobials.
      Owing to persistent anaemia despite blood transfusion, MRI of the right thigh was
      obtained. It revealed a 13*17 cm superficial femoral artery infected mycotic
      pseudoaneurysm (MPA) with a fresh haematoma. The patient underwent arterial
      ligation and extensive debridement. Intraoperative cultures revealed daptomycin
      resistant vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA) and he was managed with 6
      weeks of intravenous ceftaroline. MPAs are most common in the femoral artery and
      form <1% of aneurysms. Therapy involves surgical debridement and prolonged
      antimicrobials. VISA causing MPA is associated with worse outcomes. We report the
      first time use of ceftaroline in the management of a VISA MPA. 

PMID- 25833911
TI  - Burning mouth syndrome due to herpes simplex virus type 1.
AB  - Burning mouth syndrome is characterised by chronic orofacial burning pain. No
      dental or medical cause has been found. We present a case of burning mouth
      syndrome of 6 months duration in a healthy 65-year-old woman, which was
      associated with high copy numbers of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) DNA in
      the saliva. Her pain resolved completely after antiviral treatment with a
      corresponding absence of salivary HSV-1 DNA 4 weeks and 6 months later.

PMID- 25833912
TI  - Primary cutaneous rhinosporidiosis: an unusual lesion with an unusual
      presentation.

PMID- 25833913
TI  - Primary failure of eruption (PFE).

PMID- 25833914
TI  - What goes around, comes around.

PMID- 25833893
TI  - Inflammation and Nutritional Science for Programs/Policies and Interpretation of
      Research Evidence (INSPIRE).
AB  - An increasing recognition has emerged of the complexities of the global health
      agenda-specifically, the collision of infections and noncommunicable diseases and
      the dual burden of over- and undernutrition. Of particular practical concern are
      both 1) the need for a better understanding of the bidirectional relations
      between nutritional status and the development and function of the immune and
      inflammatory response and 2) the specific impact of the inflammatory response on
      the selection, use, and interpretation of nutrient biomarkers. The goal of the
      Inflammation and Nutritional Science for Programs/Policies and Interpretation of
      Research Evidence (INSPIRE) is to provide guidance for those users represented by
      the global food and nutrition enterprise. These include researchers (bench and
      clinical), clinicians providing care/treatment, those developing and evaluating
      programs/interventions at scale, and those responsible for generating evidence
      based policy. The INSPIRE process included convening 5 thematic working groups
      (WGs) charged with developing summary reports around the following issues: 1)
      basic overview of the interactions between nutrition, immune function, and the
      inflammatory response; 2) examination of the evidence regarding the impact of
      nutrition on immune function and inflammation; 3) evaluation of the impact of
      inflammation and clinical conditions (acute and chronic) on nutrition; 4)
      examination of existing and potential new approaches to account for the impact of
      inflammation on biomarker interpretation and use; and 5) the presentation of new
      approaches to the study of these relations. Each WG was tasked with synthesizing
      a summary of the evidence for each of these topics and delineating the remaining
      gaps in our knowledge. This review consists of a summary of the INSPIRE workshop
      and the WG deliberations.

PMID- 25833915
TI  - Comparison of male versus female responses in the Pig-a mutation assay.
AB  - Validation of the Pig-a gene mutation assay has been based mainly on studies in
      male rodents. To determine if the mutagen-induced responses of the X-linked Pig-a
      gene differ in females compared to males, 7- or 14-week old male and female
      Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU). In the study
      with the 7-week old rats, exposure was to 0, 1, 5 or 25mg ENU/kg/day for three
      consecutive days (study Days 1-3). Pig-a mutant phenotype reticulocyte (RET(CD59
      )) and mutant phenotype erythrocyte (RBC(CD59-)) frequencies were determined on
      study Days -4, 15, 29 and 46 using immunomagnetic separation in conjunction with
      flow cytometric analysis (In Vivo MutaFlow(r)). Additionally, blood samples
      collected on Day 4 were analysed for micronucleated reticulocyte (MN-RET)
      frequency (In Vivo MicroFlow(r)). The percentage of reticulocytes (%RET) was
      markedly higher in the 7-week old males compared to females through Day 15 (2.39
      fold higher on Day -4). At 25mg/kg/day, ENU reduced Day 4 RET frequencies in both
      sexes, and the two highest dose levels resulted in elevated MN-RET frequencies,
      with no sex or treatment * sex interaction. The two highest dose levels
      significantly elevated the frequencies of mean RET(CD59-) and RBC(CD59-) in both
      sexes from Day 15 onward. RET(CD59-) and RBC(CD59-) frequencies were somewhat
      lower for females compared to males at the highest dose level studied, and
      differences in RET(CD59-) resulted in a statistically significant interaction
      effect of treatment * sex. In the study with 14-week old rats, treatment was for
      3 days with 0 or 25mg ENU/kg/day. RET frequencies differed to a lesser degree
      between the sexes, and in this case there was no evidence of a treatment * sex
      interaction. These results suggest that the slightly higher response in younger
      males than in the younger females may be related to differences in erythropoiesis
      function at that age. In conclusion, while some quantitative differences were
      noted, there were no qualitative differences in how males and females responded
      to a prototypical mutagen, and support the contention that both sexes are equally
      acceptable for Pig-a gene mutation studies.

PMID- 25833918
TI  - A remembrance of Roger Boles, MD.

PMID- 25833917
TI  - Corrigendum. Human airway smooth muscle maintain in situ cell orientation and
      phenotype when cultured on aligned electrospun scaffolds.

PMID- 25833916
TI  - Rat Pig-a mutation assay responds to the genotoxic carcinogen ethyl carbamate but
      not the non-genotoxic carcinogen methyl carbamate.
AB  - Determination of the mode of action of carcinogenic agents is an important factor
      in risk assessment and regulatory practice. To assess the ability of the
      erythrocyte-based Pig-a mutation assay to discriminate between genotoxic and non
      genotoxic modes of action, the mutagenic response of Sprague Dawley rats exposed
      to methyl carbamate (MC) or ethyl carbamate (EC) was investigated. EC, a potent
      carcinogen, is believed to induce DNA damage through the formation of a DNA
      reactive epoxide group, whereas the closely structurally related compound, MC,
      cannot form this epoxide and its weaker carcinogenic activity is thought to be
      secondary to inflammation and promotion of cell proliferation. The frequency of
      Pig-a mutant phenotype cells was monitored before, during, and after 28
      consecutive days of oral gavage exposure to either MC (doses ranging from 125 to
      500 mg/kg/day) or EC (250 mg/kg/day). Significant increases in the frequency of
      mutant reticulocytes were observed from Days 15 through 43, with a peak mean
      frequency of 19.9*10(-6) on Day 29 (i.e. 24.9-fold increase relative to mean
      vehicle control across all four sampling times). As expected, mutant erythrocyte
      responses lagged behind mutant reticulocyte responses, with a maximal mean
      frequency of 8.2*10(-6) on Day 43 (i.e. 16.4-fold increase). No mutagenic effects
      were observed with MC. A second indicator of in vivo genotoxicity, peripheral
      blood micronucleated reticulocytes, was also studied. This endpoint was
      responsive to EC (3.3-fold mean increase), but not to MC. These results support
      the hypothesis that genotoxicity contributes to the carcinogenicity of EC but not
      of MC, and illustrates the value of the Pig-a assay for discriminating between
      genotoxic and non-genotoxic modes of action.

PMID- 25833919
TI  - Highlights from the current issue: April 2015.

PMID- 25833920
TI  - Balancing evidence, innovation, and regulation.

PMID- 25833921
TI  - Gizmo is a mean word!
AB  - The editorial titled "Gizmos" in the April issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck
      Surgery was unfortunate. Intracapsular tonsillectomy is a rational surgical
      option for managing tonsillar hypertrophy causing obstructive sleep apnea in
      selected children. It is performed routinely by surgeons across the globe and has
      become the standard of care across northern Europe due to the high safety profile
      of the operation. The semirigid, dartlike design of the sinuplasty devices
      suggested the idea for an airway-specific set of high-pressure balloons. We began
      working on these in 2007 and had FDA approval in 2009. They are in wide use by
      many airway surgeons. Lingual tonsils are a frequent cause of obstructive sleep
      apnea, and there is no tool that manages this as effectively as endoscopic plasma
      ablation. We are all engaged in an honorable effort to improve care; surgical and
      creative skills are as important as analytical skills. Both are necessary for the
      continuous improvement of our work. Both are worthy of respect. 

PMID- 25833922
TI  - Gizmos revisited (response to Koltai commentary).

PMID- 25833923
TI  - Where is Consumer Reports when we need it? A clinician's view of surgical
      innovation.

PMID- 25833924
TI  - The ABCDEs of technology adoption.

PMID- 25833925
TI  - Evidence and innovation in private practice: an evolving paradigm.

PMID- 25833926
TI  - Expanded pediatric cochlear implant candidacy.

PMID- 25833927
TI  - Clinical practice guideline (update): Adult Sinusitis Executive Summary.
AB  - The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation has
      published a supplement to this issue featuring the updated "Clinical Practice
      Guideline: Adult Sinusitis" as a supplement to Otolaryngology-Head and Neck
      Surgery. To assist in implementing the guideline recommendations, this article
      summarizes the rationale, purpose, and key action statements. The 14 developed
      recommendations address diagnostic accuracy for adult rhinosinusitis, the
      appropriate use of ancillary tests to confirm diagnosis and guide management
      (including radiography, nasal endoscopy, computed tomography, and testing for
      allergy and immune function), and the judicious use of systemic and topical
      therapy. Emphasis was also placed on identifying multiple chronic conditions that
      would modify management of rhinosinusitis, including asthma, cystic fibrosis,
      immunocompromised state, and ciliary dyskinesia. An updated guideline is needed
      as a result of new clinical trials, new systematic reviews, and the lack of
      consumer participation in the initial guideline development group. 

PMID- 25833928
TI  - Online tracheostomy care resources--there's more out there.

PMID- 25833929
TI  - Letter in reply: Online tracheostomy care resources--there's more out there.

PMID- 25833930
TI  - 2-year sleep surgery and medicine fellowships for otolaryngologists.

PMID- 25833931
TI  - Response to "2-year sleep surgery and medicine fellowships for
      otolaryngologists": the array of sleep fellowship formats.

PMID- 25833932
TI  - The misleading meta-analysis.

PMID- 25833933
TI  - Re: Early versus late tracheostomy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PMID- 25833934
TI  - Ibuprofen and acetaminophen for posttonsillectomy pain.

PMID- 25833935
TI  - Ibuprofen with acetaminophen for tonsillectomy pain.

PMID- 25833936
TI  - Activation state of the hyperpolarization-activated current modulates temperature
      sensitivity of firing in locus coeruleus neurons from bullfrogs.
AB  - Locus coeruleus neurons of anuran amphibians contribute to breathing control and
      have spontaneous firing frequencies that, paradoxically, increase with cooling.
      We previously showed that cooling inhibits a depolarizing membrane current, the
      hyperpolarization-activated current (I h) in locus coeruleus neurons from
      bullfrogs, Lithobates catesbeianus (Santin JM, Watters KC, Putnam RW, Hartzler
      LK. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 305: R1451-R1464, 2013). This suggests
      an unlikely role for I h in generating cold activation, but led us to hypothesize
      that inhibition of I h by cooling functions as a physiological brake to limit the
      cold-activated response. Using whole cell electrophysiology in brain slices, we
      employed 2 mM Cs(+) (an I h antagonist) to isolate the role of I h in spontaneous
      firing and cold activation in neurons recorded with either control or I h agonist
      (cyclic AMP)-containing artificial intracellular fluid. I h did not contribute to
      the membrane potential (V m) and spontaneous firing at 20 degrees C. Although
      voltage-clamp analysis confirmed that cooling inhibits I h, its lack of
      involvement in setting baseline firing and V m precluded its ability to regulate
      cold activation as hypothesized. In contrast, neurons dialyzed with cAMP
      exhibited greater baseline firing frequencies at 20 degrees C due to I h
      activation. Our hypothesis was supported when the starting level of I h was
      enhanced by elevating cAMP because cold activation was converted to more ordinary
      cold inhibition. These findings indicate that situations leading to enhancement
      of I h facilitate firing at 20 degrees C, yet the hyperpolarization associated
      with inhibiting a depolarizing cation current by cooling blunts the net V m
      response to cooling to oppose normal cold-depolarizing factors. This suggests
      that the influence of I h activation state on neuronal firing varies in the
      poikilothermic neuronal environment. 

PMID- 25833937
TI  - The role of spinal GABAergic circuits in the control of phrenic nerve motor
      output.
AB  - While supraspinal mechanisms underlying respiratory pattern formation are well
      characterized, the contribution of spinal circuitry to the same remains poorly
      understood. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that intraspinal GABAergic
      circuits are involved in shaping phrenic motor output. To this end, we performed
      bilateral phrenic nerve recordings in anesthetized adult rats and observed
      neurogram changes in response to knocking down expression of both isoforms (65
      and 67 kDa) of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD65/67) using microinjections of anti
      GAD65/67 short-interference RNA (siRNA) in the phrenic nucleus. The number of
      GAD65/67-positive cells was drastically reduced on the side of siRNA
      microinjections, especially in the lateral aspects of Rexed's laminae VII and IX
      in the ventral horn of cervical segment C4, but not contralateral to
      microinjections. We hypothesize that intraspinal GABAergic control of phrenic
      output is primarily phasic, but also plays an important role in tonic regulation
      of phrenic discharge. Also, we identified respiration-modulated GABAergic
      interneurons (both inspiratory and expiratory) located slightly dorsal to the
      phrenic nucleus. Our data provide the first direct evidence for the existence of
      intraspinal GABAergic circuits contributing to the formation of phrenic output.
      The physiological role of local intraspinal inhibition, independent of descending
      direct bulbospinal control, is discussed. 

PMID- 25833938
TI  - Age-related changes in thirst, salt appetite, and arterial blood pressure in
      response to aldosterone-dexamethasone combination in rats.
AB  - This work examined the effects of age on daily water and sodium ingestion and
      cardiovascular responses to chronic administration of the mineralocorticoid,
      aldosterone (ALDO) either alone or together with the glucocorticoid,
      dexamethasone (DEX). Young (4 mo), adult (12 mo), and aged (30 mo) male Brown
      Norway rats were prepared for continuous telemetry recording of blood pressure
      (BP) and heart rate (HR). Baseline water and sodium (i.e., 0.3 M NaCl) intake,
      BP, and HR were established for 10 days. Then ALDO (60 MUg/day sc) was infused
      alone, or together with DEX (2.5 or 20 MUg/day sc), for another 10 days. Compared
      with baseline levels, ALDO stimulated comparable increases in daily saline intake
      at all ages. ALDO together with the higher dose of DEX (i.e., ALDO/DEX20)
      increased daily saline intake more than did ALDO, but less so in aged rats.
      Infusion of ALDO/DEX20 increased mean arterial pressure (MAP), and decreased HR,
      more than did infusion of ALDO. The changes in MAP in response to both treatments
      depended on age. For all ages, MAP and saline intake increased simultaneously
      during ALDO, while MAP always increased before saline intake did during
      ALDO/DEX20. Contrary to our predictions, MAP did not increase more in old rats in
      response to either treatment. We speculate that age-related declines in
      cardiovascular responses to glucocorticoids contributed to the attenuated
      increases in sodium intake in response to glucocorticoids that were observed in
      older animals.

PMID- 25833939
TI  - Evaluation d'impact sur la sante et evaluation d'impact sur l'equite en sante :
      eventail de pratiques et questions de recherche.
AB  - L'Evaluation d'Impact sur la Sante (EIS) se developpe au niveau international et
      est encore au stade emergent en France. Elle vise a evaluer les effets positifs
      et negatifs potentiels d'un projet, d'un programme ou d'une politique sur la
      sante. L'objectif est de produire des recommandations en direction des decideurs,
      afin d'en maximiser les effets positifs et d'en diminuer les effets negatifs.
      L'EIS est un moyen particulierement interessant d'action sur les determinants de
      la sante au-dela des comportements individuels et du systeme de sante. Les
      politiques de logement, de transport, de solidarite, economiques, etc. ont, en
      effet, des impacts souvent non prevus sur la sante. Au-dela des effets sur la
      sante, l'EIS doit aussi permettre d'apprecier la distribution de ces effets dans
      la population.Si la preoccupation pour l'equite en sante est centrale dans l'EIS,
      elle reste cependant difficilement traduite en pratique. Face a cette difficulte,
      des demarches d'evaluation d'impact ont ete developpees pour renforcer la prise
      en compte de l'equite a chaque etape de l'EIS ou " Equity Focused Health Impact
      Assessment ", ou prendre en compte les impacts sur les inegalites de sante de
      facon specifique. Ainsi, l'Evaluation de l'Impact sur l'Equite en Sante (EIES)
      semble, par exemple, particulierement interessante pour evaluer l'impact sur les
      inegalites de projets dans le champ sanitaire.L'EIS et l'EIES posent de
      nombreuses questions de recherche, notamment autour de la reunion, dans une meme
      demarche, du politique, du citoyen et de l'expert. La participation des
      populations vulnerables potentiellement affectees par la politique evaluee est
      une valeur centrale de l'EIS, mais pose des questions d'acceptabilite sociale. La
      collaboration avec les decideurs politiques est egalement un enjeu majeur. Les
      difficultes methodologiques, notamment de quantification des impacts, peuvent
      constituer des freins a la promotion de la demarche aupres des decideurs. 

PMID- 25833940
TI  - Signal transduction in cancer.
AB  - Cancer is driven by genetic and epigenetic alterations that allow cells to
      overproliferate and escape mechanisms that normally control their survival and
      migration. Many of these alterations map to signaling pathways that control cell
      growth and division, cell death, cell fate, and cell motility, and can be placed
      in the context of distortions of wider signaling networks that fuel cancer
      progression, such as changes in the tumor microenvironment, angiogenesis, and
      inflammation. Mutations that convert cellular proto-oncogenes to oncogenes can
      cause hyperactivation of these signaling pathways, whereas inactivation of tumor
      suppressors eliminates critical negative regulators of signaling. An examination
      of the PI3K-Akt and Ras-ERK pathways illustrates how such alterations dysregulate
      signaling in cancer and produce many of the characteristic features of tumor
      cells.

PMID- 25833941
TI  - Animal models and the molecular biology of hepadnavirus infection.
AB  - Australian antigen, the envelope protein of hepatitis B virus (HBV), was
      discovered in 1967 as a prevalent serum antigen in hepatitis B patients. Early
      electron microscopy (EM) studies showed that this antigen was present in 22-nm
      particles in patient sera, which were believed to be incomplete virus. Complete
      virus, much less abundant than the 22-nm particles, was finally visualized in
      1970. HBV was soon found to infect chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, gibbon
      apes, and, more recently, tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri) and cynomolgus macaques
      (Macaca fascicularis). This restricted host range placed limits on the kinds of
      studies that might be performed to better understand the biology and molecular
      biology of HBV and to develop antiviral therapies to treat chronic infections.
      About 10 years after the discovery of HBV, this problem was bypassed with the
      discovery of viruses related to HBV in woodchucks, ground squirrels, and ducks.
      Although unlikely animal models, their use revealed the key steps in hepadnavirus
      replication and in the host response to infection, including the fact that the
      viral nuclear episome is the ultimate target for immune clearance of transient
      infections and antiviral therapy of chronic infections. Studies with these and
      other animal models have also suggested interesting clues into the link between
      chronic HBV infection and hepatocellular carcinoma.

PMID- 25833942
TI  - Antiviral therapies and prospects for a cure of chronic hepatitis B.
AB  - Current therapies of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remain limited to either pegylated
      interferon-alpha (Peg-IFN-alpha), or one of the five approved nucleoside analog
      (NA) treatments. Although viral suppression can be achieved in the majority of
      patients with high-barrier-to-resistance new-generation NAs (i.e., entecavir and
      tenofovir), HBsAg loss is achieved in only 10% of patients with both classes of
      drugs after a follow-up of 5 years. Attempts to improve the response by
      administering two different NAs or a combination of NA and Peg-IFN-alpha have
      been unsuccessful. Therefore, there is a renewed interest to investigate a number
      of steps in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication cycle and specific virus-host
      cell interactions as potential targets for new antivirals. Novel targets and
      compounds could readily be evaluated using both relevant in vitro and newly
      developed in vivo models of HBV infection. The addition of one or several new
      drugs to current regimens should offer the prospect of markedly improving the
      response to therapy, thus reducing the burden of drug resistance, as well as the
      incidence of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

PMID- 25833943
TI  - mTOR signaling in epilepsy: insights from malformations of cortical development.
AB  - Over the past decade enhanced activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin
      (mTOR)-signaling cascade has been identified in focal malformations of cortical
      development (MCD) subtypes, which have been collectively referred to as
      "mTORopathies." Mutations in mTOR regulatory genes (e.g., TSC1, TSC2, AKT3,
      DEPDC5) have been associated with several focal MCD highly associated with
      epilepsy such as tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), hemimegalencephaly (HME; brain
      malformation associated with dramatic enlargement of one brain hemisphere), and
      cortical dysplasia. mTOR plays important roles in the regulation of cell
      division, growth, and survival, and, thus, aberrant activation of the cascade
      during cortical development can cause dramatic alterations in cell size, cortical
      lamination, and axon and dendrite outgrowth often observed in focal MCD. Although
      it is widely believed that structural alterations induced by hyperactivated mTOR
      signaling are critical for epileptogenesis, newer evidence suggests that mTOR
      activation on its own may enhance neuronal excitability. Clinical trials with
      mTOR inhibitors have shown efficacy in the treatment of seizures associated with
      focal MCD.

PMID- 25833944
TI  - The N-terminal Set-beta Protein Isoform Induces Neuronal Death.
AB  - Set-beta protein plays different roles in neurons, but the diversity of Set-beta
      neuronal isoforms and their functions have not been characterized. The expression
      and subcellular localization of Set-beta are altered in Alzheimer disease,
      cleavage of Set-beta leads to neuronal death after stroke, and the full-length
      Set-beta regulates retinal ganglion cell (RGC) and hippocampal neuron axon growth
      and regeneration in a subcellular localization-dependent manner. Here we used
      various biochemical approaches to investigate Set-beta isoforms and their role in
      the CNS, using the same type of neurons, RGCs, across studies. We found multiple
      alternatively spliced isoforms expressed from the Set locus in purified RGCs. Set
      transcripts containing the Set-beta-specific exon were the most highly expressed
      isoforms. We also identified a novel, alternatively spliced Set-beta transcript
      lacking the nuclear localization signal and demonstrated that the full-length
      (~39-kDa) Set-beta is localized predominantly in the nucleus, whereas a shorter
      (~25-kDa) Set-beta isoform is localized predominantly in the cytoplasm. Finally,
      we show that an N-terminal Set-beta cleavage product can induce neuronal death. 

PMID- 25833945
TI  - 14-3-3 proteins restrain the Exo1 nuclease to prevent overresection.
AB  - The DNA end resection process dictates the cellular response to DNA double strand
      break damage and is essential for genome maintenance. Although insufficient DNA
      resection hinders homology-directed repair and ATR (ataxia telangiectasia and
      Rad3 related)-dependent checkpoint activation, overresection produces excessive
      single-stranded DNA that could lead to genomic instability. However, the
      mechanisms controlling DNA end resection are poorly understood. Here we show that
      the major resection nuclease Exo1 is regulated both positively and negatively by
      protein-protein interactions to ensure a proper level of DNA resection. We have
      shown previously that the sliding DNA clamp proliferating cell nuclear antigen
      (PCNA) associates with the C-terminal domain of Exo1 and promotes Exo1 damage
      association and DNA resection. In this report, we show that 14-3-3 proteins
      interact with a central region of Exo1 and negatively regulate Exo1 damage
      recruitment and subsequent resection. 14-3-3s limit Exo1 damage association, at
      least in part, by suppressing its association with PCNA. Disruption of the Exo1
      interaction with 14-3-3 proteins results in elevated sensitivity of cells to DNA
      damage. Unlike Exo1, the Dna2 resection pathway is apparently not regulated by
      PCNA and 14-3-3s. Our results provide critical insights into the mechanism and
      regulation of the DNA end resection process and may have implications for cancer
      treatment. 

PMID- 25833946
TI  - Binding of Substrates to the Central Pore of the Vps4 ATPase Is Autoinhibited by
      the Microtubule Interacting and Trafficking (MIT) Domain and Activated by MIT
      Interacting Motifs (MIMs).
AB  - The endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) pathway drives
      reverse topology membrane fission events within multiple cellular pathways,
      including cytokinesis, multivesicular body biogenesis, repair of the plasma
      membrane, nuclear membrane vesicle formation, and HIV budding. The AAA ATPase
      Vps4 is recruited to membrane necks shortly before fission, where it catalyzes
      disassembly of the ESCRT-III lattice. The N-terminal Vps4 microtubule-interacting
      and trafficking (MIT) domains initially bind the C-terminal MIT-interacting
      motifs (MIMs) of ESCRT-III subunits, but it is unclear how the enzyme then
      remodels these substrates in response to ATP hydrolysis. Here, we report
      quantitative binding studies that demonstrate that residues from helix 5 of the
      Vps2p subunit of ESCRT-III bind to the central pore of an asymmetric Vps4p
      hexamer in a manner that is dependent upon the presence of flexible nucleotide
      analogs that can mimic multiple states in the ATP hydrolysis cycle. We also find
      that substrate engagement is autoinhibited by the Vps4p MIT domain and that this
      inhibition is relieved by binding of either Type 1 or Type 2 MIM elements, which
      bind the Vps4p MIT domain through different interfaces. These observations
      support the model that Vps4 substrates are initially recruited by an MIM-MIT
      interaction that activates the Vps4 central pore to engage substrates and
      generate force, thereby triggering ESCRT-III disassembly. 

PMID- 25833947
TI  - Crucial roles of single residues in binding affinity, specificity, and
      promiscuity in the cellulosomal cohesin-dockerin interface.
AB  - Interactions between cohesin and dockerin modules play a crucial role in the
      assembly of multienzyme cellulosome complexes. Although intraspecies cohesin and
      dockerin modules bind in general with high affinity but indiscriminately, cross
      species binding is rare. Here, we combined ELISA-based experiments with Rosetta
      based computational design to evaluate the contribution of distinct residues at
      the Clostridium thermocellum cohesin-dockerin interface to binding affinity,
      specificity, and promiscuity. We found that single mutations can show distinct
      and significant effects on binding affinity and specificity. In particular,
      mutations at cohesin position Asn(37) show dramatic variability in their effect
      on dockerin binding affinity and specificity: the N37A mutant binds promiscuously
      both to cognate (C. thermocellum) as well as to non-cognate Clostridium
      cellulolyticum dockerin. N37L in turn switches binding specificity: compared with
      the wild-type C. thermocellum cohesin, this mutant shows significantly increased
      preference for C. cellulolyticum dockerin combined with strongly reduced binding
      to its cognate C. thermocellum dockerin. The observation that a single mutation
      can overcome the naturally observed specificity barrier provides insights into
      the evolutionary dynamics of this system that allows rapid modulation of binding
      specificity within a high affinity background. 

PMID- 25833948
TI  - Pharmacological inhibition of ULK1 kinase blocks mammalian target of rapamycin
      (mTOR)-dependent autophagy.
AB  - Autophagy is a cell-protective and degradative process that recycles damaged and
      long-lived cellular components. Cancer cells are thought to take advantage of
      autophagy to help them to cope with the stress of tumorigenesis; thus targeting
      autophagy is an attractive therapeutic approach. However, there are currently no
      specific inhibitors of autophagy. ULK1, a serine/threonine protein kinase, is
      essential for the initial stages of autophagy, and here we report that two
      compounds, MRT67307 and MRT68921, potently inhibit ULK1 and ULK2 in vitro and
      block autophagy in cells. Using a drug-resistant ULK1 mutant, we show that the
      autophagy-inhibiting capacity of the compounds is specifically through ULK1. ULK1
      inhibition results in accumulation of stalled early autophagosomal structures,
      indicating a role for ULK1 in the maturation of autophagosomes as well as
      initiation. 

PMID- 25833949
TI  - EDD, a ubiquitin-protein ligase of the N-end rule pathway, associates with
      spindle assembly checkpoint components and regulates the mitotic response to
      nocodazole.
AB  - In this work, we identify physical and genetic interactions that implicate E3
      identified by differential display (EDD) in promoting spindle assembly checkpoint
      (SAC) function. During mitosis, the SAC initiates a mitotic checkpoint in
      response to chromosomes with kinetochores unattached to spindle pole
      microtubules. Similar to Budding uninhibited by benzimidazoles-related 1 (BUBR1)
      siRNA, a bona fide SAC component, EDD siRNA abrogated G2/M accumulation in
      response to the mitotic destabilizing agent nocodazole. Furthermore, EDD siRNA
      reduced mitotic cell viability and, in nocodazole-treated cells, increased
      expression of the promitotic progression protein cell division cycle 20 (CDC20).
      Copurification studies also identified physical interactions with CDC20, BUBR1,
      and other components of the SAC. Taken together, these observations highlight the
      potential role of EDD in regulating mitotic progression and the cellular response
      to perturbed mitosis. 

PMID- 25833950
TI  - In Vitro Studies Reveal a Sequential Mode of Chain Processing by the Yeast SUMO
      (Small Ubiquitin-related Modifier)-specific Protease Ulp2.
AB  - Sumoylation is a post-translational modification essential in most eukaryotes
      that regulates stability, localization, activity, or interaction of a multitude
      of proteins. It is a reversible process wherein counteracting ligases and
      proteases, respectively, mediate the conjugation and deconjugation of SUMO
      molecules to/from target proteins. Apart from attachment of single SUMO moieties
      to targets, formation of poly-SUMO chains occurs by the attachment of additional
      SUMO molecules to lysine residues in the N-terminal extensions of SUMO. In
      Saccharomyces cerevisiae there are apparently only two SUMO(Smt3)-specific
      proteases: Ulp1 and Ulp2. Ulp2 has been shown to be important for the control of
      poly-SUMO conjugates in cells and to dismantle SUMO chains in vitro, but the
      mechanism by which it acts remains to be elucidated. Applying an in vitro
      approach, we found that Ulp2 acts sequentially rather than stochastically,
      processing substrate-linked poly-SUMO chains from their distal ends down to two
      linked SUMO moieties. Furthermore, three linked SUMO units turned out to be the
      minimum length of a substrate-linked chain required for efficient binding to and
      processing by Ulp2. Our data suggest that Ulp2 disassembles SUMO chains by
      removing one SUMO moiety at a time from their ends (exo mechanism). Apparently,
      Ulp2 recognizes surfaces at or near the N terminus of the distal SUMO moiety, as
      attachments to this end significantly reduce cleavage efficiency. Our studies
      suggest that Ulp2 controls the dynamic range of SUMO chain lengths by trimming
      them from the distal ends. 

PMID- 25833951
TI  - Chloroplast SRP54 Was Recruited for Posttranslational Protein Transport via
      Complex Formation with Chloroplast SRP43 during Land Plant Evolution.
AB  - In bacteria, membrane proteins are targeted cotranslationally via a signal
      recognition particle (SRP). During the evolution of higher plant chloroplasts
      from cyanobacteria, the SRP pathway underwent striking adaptations that enable
      the posttranslational transport of the abundant light-harvesting chlorophyll-a/b
      binding proteins (LHCPs). The conserved 54-kDa SRP subunit in higher plant
      chloroplasts (cpSRP54) is not bound to an SRP RNA, an essential SRP component in
      bacteria, but forms a stable heterodimer with the chloroplast-specific cpSRP43.
      This heterodimeric cpSRP recognizes LHCP and delivers it to the thylakoid
      membrane whereby cpSRP43 plays a central role. This study shows that the cpSRP
      system in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii differs significantly from
      that of higher plants as cpSRP43 is not complexed to cpSRP54 in Chlamydomonas and
      cpSRP54 is not involved in LHCP recognition. This divergence is attributed to
      altered residues within the cpSRP54 tail and the second chromodomain of cpSRP43
      that are crucial for the formation of the binding interface in Arabidopsis. These
      changes are highly conserved among chlorophytes, whereas all land plants contain
      cpSRP proteins with typical interaction motifs. These data demonstrate that the
      coevolution of LHCPs and cpSRP43 occurred independently of complex formation with
      cpSRP54 and that the interaction between cpSRP54 and cpSRP43 evolved later during
      the transition from chlorophytes to land plants. Furthermore, our data show that
      in higher plants a heterodimeric form of cpSRP is required for the formation of a
      low molecular weight transit complex with LHCP. 

PMID- 25833953
TI  - Construction of phosphorylation interaction networks by text mining of full
      length articles using the eFIP system.
AB  - Protein phosphorylation is a reversible post-translational modification where a
      protein kinase adds a phosphate group to a protein, potentially regulating its
      function, localization and/or activity. Phosphorylation can affect protein
      protein interactions (PPIs), abolishing interaction with previous binding
      partners or enabling new interactions. Extracting phosphorylation information
      coupled with PPI information from the scientific literature will facilitate the
      creation of phosphorylation interaction networks of kinases, substrates and
      interacting partners, toward knowledge discovery of functional outcomes of
      protein phosphorylation. Increasingly, PPI databases are interested in capturing
      the phosphorylation state of interacting partners. We have previously developed
      the eFIP (Extracting Functional Impact of Phosphorylation) text mining system,
      which identifies phosphorylated proteins and phosphorylation-dependent PPIs. In
      this work, we present several enhancements for the eFIP system: (i) text mining
      for full-length articles from the PubMed Central open-access collection; (ii) the
      integration of the RLIMS-P 2.0 system for the extraction of phosphorylation
      events with kinase, substrate and site information; (iii) the extension of the
      PPI module with new trigger words/phrases describing interactions and (iv) the
      addition of the iSimp tool for sentence simplification to aid in the matching of
      syntactic patterns. We enhance the website functionality to: (i) support searches
      based on protein roles (kinases, substrates, interacting partners) or using
      keywords; (ii) link protein entities to their corresponding UniProt identifiers
      if mapped and (iii) support visual exploration of phosphorylation interaction
      networks using Cytoscape. The evaluation of eFIP on full-length articles achieved
      92.4% precision, 76.5% recall and 83.7% F-measure on 100 article sections. To
      demonstrate eFIP for knowledge extraction and discovery, we constructed
      phosphorylation-dependent interaction networks involving 14-3-3 proteins
      identified from cancer-related versus diabetes-related articles. Comparison of
      the phosphorylation interaction network of kinases, phosphoproteins and
      interactants obtained from eFIP searches, along with enrichment analysis of the
      protein set, revealed several shared interactions, highlighting common pathways
      discussed in the context of both diseases.

PMID- 25833952
TI  - Cysteine Cathepsins Activate ELR Chemokines and Inactivate Non-ELR Chemokines.
AB  - Cysteine cathepsins are primarily lysosomal proteases involved in general protein
      turnover, but they also have specific proteolytic functions in antigen
      presentation and bone remodeling. Cathepsins are most stable at acidic pH,
      although growing evidence indicates that they have physiologically relevant
      activity also at neutral pH. Post-translational proteolytic processing of mature
      chemokines is a key, yet underappreciated, level of chemokine regulation.
      Although the role of selected serine proteases and matrix metalloproteases in
      chemokine processing has long been known, little has been reported about the role
      of cysteine cathepsins. Here we evaluated cleavage of CXC ELR (CXCL1, -2, -3, -5,
      and -8) and non-ELR (CXCL9-12) chemokines by cysteine cathepsins B, K, L, and S
      at neutral pH by high resolution Tris-Tricine SDS-PAGE and matrix-assisted laser
      desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Whereas cathepsin B
      cleaved chemokines especially in the C-terminal region, cathepsins K, L, and S
      cleaved chemokines at the N terminus with glycosaminoglycans modulating cathepsin
      processing of chemokines. The functional consequences of the cleavages were
      determined by Ca(2+) mobilization and chemotaxis assays. We show that cysteine
      cathepsins inactivate and in some cases degrade non-ELR CXC chemokines CXCL9-12.
      In contrast, cathepsins specifically process ELR CXC chemokines CXCL1, -2, -3, 
      5, and -8 N-terminally to the ELR motif, thereby generating agonist forms. This
      study suggests that cysteine cathepsins regulate chemokine activity and thereby
      leukocyte recruitment during protective or pathological inflammation. 

PMID- 25833954
TI  - CHOPIN: a web resource for the structural and functional proteome of
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
AB  - Tuberculosis kills more than a million people annually and presents increasingly
      high levels of resistance against current first line drugs. Structural
      information about Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) proteins is a valuable asset
      for the development of novel drugs and for understanding the biology of the
      bacterium; however, only about 10% of the ~4000 proteins have had their
      structures determined experimentally. The CHOPIN database assigns structural
      domains and generates homology models for 2911 sequences, corresponding to ~73%
      of the proteome. A sophisticated pipeline allows multiple models to be created
      using conformational states characteristic of different oligomeric states and
      ligand binding, such that the models reflect various functional states of the
      proteins. Additionally, CHOPIN includes structural analyses of mutations
      potentially associated with drug resistance. Results are made available at the
      web interface, which also serves as an automatically updated repository of all
      published Mtb experimental structures. Its RESTful interface allows direct and
      flexible access to structures and metadata via intuitive URLs, enabling easy
      programmatic use of the models.

PMID- 25833955
TI  - BioSurfDB: knowledge and algorithms to support biosurfactants and biodegradation
      studies.
AB  - Crude oil extraction, transportation and use provoke the contamination of
      countless ecosystems. Therefore, bioremediation through surfactants mobilization
      or biodegradation is an important subject, both economically and environmentally.
      Bioremediation research had a great boost with the recent advances in
      Metagenomics, as it enabled the sequencing of uncultured microorganisms providing
      new insights on surfactant-producing and/or oil-degrading bacteria. Many research
      studies are making available genomic data from unknown organisms obtained from
      metagenomics analysis of oil-contaminated environmental samples. These new
      datasets are presently demanding the development of new tools and data
      repositories tailored for the biological analysis in a context of bioremediation
      data analysis. This work presents BioSurfDB, www.biosurfdb.org, a curated
      relational information system integrating data from: (i) metagenomes; (ii)
      organisms; (iii) biodegradation relevant genes; proteins and their metabolic
      pathways; (iv) bioremediation experiments results, with specific pollutants
      treatment efficiencies by surfactant producing organisms; and (v) a biosurfactant
      curated list, grouped by producing organism, surfactant name, class and
      reference. The main goal of this repository is to gather information on the
      characterization of biological compounds and mechanisms involved in biosurfactant
      production and/or biodegradation and make it available in a curated way and
      associated with a number of computational tools to support studies of genomic and
      metagenomic data.

PMID- 25833956
TI  - Eculizumab reduces complement activation, inflammation, endothelial damage,
      thrombosis, and renal injury markers in aHUS.
AB  - Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a genetic, life-threatening disease
      characterized by uncontrolled complement activation, systemic thrombotic
      microangiopathy (TMA), and vital organ damage. We evaluated the effect of
      terminal complement blockade with the anti-C5 monoclonal antibody eculizumab on
      biomarkers of cellular processes involved in TMA in patients with aHUS
      longitudinally, during up to 1 year of treatment, compared with in healthy
      volunteers. Biomarker levels were elevated at baseline in most patients,
      regardless of mutational status, plasma exchange/infusion use, platelet count, or
      lactate dehydrogenase or haptoglobin levels. Eculizumab reduced terminal
      complement activation (C5a and sC5b-9) and renal injury markers (clusterin,
      cystatin-C, beta2-microglobulin, and liver fatty acid binding protein-1) to
      healthy volunteer levels and reduced inflammation (soluble tumor necrosis factor
      receptor-1), coagulation (prothrombin fragment F1+2 and d-dimer), and endothelial
      damage (thrombomodulin) markers to near-normal levels. Alternative pathway
      activation (Ba) and endothelial activation markers (soluble vascular cell
      adhesion molecule-1) decreased but remained elevated, reflecting ongoing
      complement activation in aHUS despite complete terminal complement blockade.
      These results highlight links between terminal complement activation and
      inflammation, endothelial damage, thrombosis, and renal injury and underscore
      ongoing risk for systemic TMA and progression to organ damage. Further research
      regarding underlying complement dysregulation is warranted. This trial was
      registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT01194973. 

PMID- 25833957
TI  - A randomized comparison of daunorubicin 90 mg/m2 vs 60 mg/m2 in AML induction:
      results from the UK NCRI AML17 trial in 1206 patients.
AB  - Modifying induction therapy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) may improve the
      remission rate and reduce the risk of relapse, thereby improving survival.
      Escalation of the daunorubicin dose to 90 mg/m(2) has shown benefit for some
      patient subgroups when compared with a dose of 45 mg/m(2), and has been
      recommended as a standard of care. However, 60 mg/m(2) is widely used and has
      never been directly compared with 90 mg/m(2). As part of the UK National Cancer
      Research Institute (NCRI) AML17 trial, 1206 adults with untreated AML or high
      risk myelodysplastic syndrome, mostly younger than 60 years of age, were
      randomized to a first-induction course of chemotherapy, which delivered either 90
      mg/m(2) or 60 mg/m(2) on days 1, 3, and 5 combined with cytosine arabinoside. All
      patients then received a second course that included daunorubicin 50 mg/m(2) on
      days 1, 3, and 5. There was no overall difference in complete remission rate (73%
      vs 75%; odds ratio, 1.07 [0.83-1.39]; P = .6) or in any recognized subgroup. The
      60-day mortality was increased in the 90 mg/m(2) arm (10% vs 5% (hazard ratio
      [HR] 1.98 [1.30-3.02]; P = .001), which resulted in no difference in overall 2
      year survival (59% vs 60%; HR, 1.16 [0.95-1.43]; P = .15). In an exploratory
      subgroup analysis, there was no subgroup that showed significant benefit,
      although there was a significant interaction by FLT3 ITD mutation. This trial is
      registered at http://www.isrctn.com as #ISRCTN55675535. 

PMID- 25833958
TI  - Synergy between rapamycin and FLT3 ligand enhances plasmacytoid dendritic cell
      dependent induction of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ Treg.
AB  - CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+) regulatory T cells (Treg) are critical elements for
      maintaining immune tolerance, for instance to exogenous antigens that are
      introduced during therapeutic interventions such as cell/organ transplant or
      gene/protein replacement therapy. Coadministration of antigen with rapamycin
      simultaneously promotes deletion of conventional CD4(+) T cells and induction of
      Treg. Here, we report that the cytokine FMS-like receptor tyrosine kinase ligand
      (Flt3L) enhances the in vivo effect of rapamycin. This occurs via selective
      expansion of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), which further augments the
      number of Treg. Whereas in conventional DCs, rapamycin effectively blocks
      mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) 1 signaling induced by Flt3L, increased
      mTOR1 activity renders pDCs more resistant to inhibition by rapamycin.
      Consequently, Flt3L and rapamycin synergistically promote induction of antigen
      specific Treg via selective expansion of pDCs. This concept is supported by the
      finding that Treg induction is abrogated upon pDC depletion. The combination with
      pDCs and rapamycin is requisite for Flt3L/antigen-induced Treg induction because
      Flt3L/antigen by itself fails to induce Treg. As co-administering Flt3L,
      rapamycin, and antigen blocked CD8(+) T-cell and antibody responses in models of
      gene and protein therapy, we conclude that the differential effect of rapamycin
      on DC subsets can be exploited for improved tolerance induction.

PMID- 25833959
TI  - Characterization of CLL exosomes reveals a distinct microRNA signature and
      enhanced secretion by activation of BCR signaling.
AB  - Multiple studies show that chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells are heavily
      dependent on their microenvironment for survival. Communication between CLL cells
      and the microenvironment is mediated through direct cell contact, soluble
      factors, and extracellular vesicles. Exosomes are small particles enclosed with
      lipids, proteins, and small RNAs that can convey biological materials to
      surrounding cells. Our data herein demonstrate that CLL cells release significant
      amounts of exosomes in plasma that exhibit abundant CD37, CD9, and CD63
      expression. Our work also pinpoints the regulation of B-cell receptor (BCR)
      signaling in the release of CLL exosomes: BCR activation by alpha-immunoglobulin
      (Ig)M induces exosome secretion, whereas BCR inactivation via ibrutinib impedes
      alpha-IgM-stimulated exosome release. Moreover, analysis of serial plasma samples
      collected from CLL patients on an ibrutinib clinical trial revealed that exosome
      plasma concentration was significantly decreased following ibrutinib therapy.
      Furthermore, microRNA (miR) profiling of plasma-derived exosomes identified a
      distinct exosome microRNA signature, including miR-29 family, miR-150, miR-155,
      and miR-223 that have been associated with CLL disease. Interestingly, expression
      of exosome miR-150 and miR-155 increases with BCR activation. In all, this study
      successfully characterized CLL exosomes, demonstrated the control of BCR
      signaling in the release of CLL exosomes, and uncovered a disease-relevant
      exosome microRNA profile. 

PMID- 25833961
TI  - Immune checkpoint blockade in hematologic malignancies.
AB  - Therapeutic blockade of immune checkpoint pathways, in particular cytotoxic T
      lymphocyte associated protein 4 and programmed-death 1 (PD-1), has become a
      paradigm-shifting treatment in solid tumor oncology. Hematologic malignancies
      (HMs), many of which are known to have clinically exploitable immune sensitivity,
      are a natural target for this type of treatment. Several clinical trials of
      checkpoint blockade have been conducted in HM, with preliminary results
      suggesting the therapeutic usefulness of this approach across several tumor
      types. In particular, the results of PD-1 blockade in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are
      remarkable, and raise hope that it may alter the treatment landscape in this
      disease. However, numerous questions remain about the optimal role of checkpoint
      blockade both in HL and beyond. Those questions are the focus of this review, in
      the hope that, if we are at the dawn of a new day in HM immunotherapy, we may
      begin to envision its morning. 

PMID- 25833960
TI  - Identification of novel therapeutic targets in acute leukemias with NRAS
      mutations using a pharmacologic approach.
AB  - Oncogenic forms of NRAS are frequently associated with hematologic malignancies
      and other cancers, making them important therapeutic targets. Inhibition of
      individual downstream effector molecules (eg, RAF kinase) have been complicated
      by the rapid development of resistance or activation of bypass pathways. For the
      purpose of identifying novel targets in NRAS-transformed cells, we performed a
      chemical screen using mutant NRAS transformed Ba/F3 cells to identify compounds
      with selective cytotoxicity. One of the compounds identified, GNF-7, potently and
      selectively inhibited NRAS-dependent cells in preclinical models of acute
      myelogenous leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Mechanistic analysis
      revealed that its effects were mediated in part through combined inhibition of
      ACK1/AKT and of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase kinase 2 (germinal
      center kinase). Similar to genetic synthetic lethal approaches, these results
      suggest that small molecule screens can be used to identity novel therapeutic
      targets in cells addicted to RAS oncogenes. 

PMID- 25833962
TI  - TGF-beta signaling in the control of hematopoietic stem cells.
AB  - Blood is a tissue with high cellular turnover, and its production is a tightly
      orchestrated process that requires constant replenishment. All mature blood cells
      are generated from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which are the self-renewing
      units that sustain lifelong hematopoiesis. HSC behavior, such as self-renewal and
      quiescence, is regulated by a wide array of factors, including external signaling
      cues present in the bone marrow. The transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta)
      family of cytokines constitutes a multifunctional signaling circuitry, which
      regulates pivotal functions related to cell fate and behavior in virtually all
      tissues of the body. In the hematopoietic system, TGF-beta signaling controls a
      wide spectrum of biological processes, from homeostasis of the immune system to
      quiescence and self-renewal of HSCs. Here, we review key features and emerging
      concepts pertaining to TGF-beta and downstream signaling pathways in normal HSC
      biology, featuring aspects of aging, hematologic disease, and how this circuitry
      may be exploited for clinical purposes in the future. 

PMID- 25833963
TI  - The oncogenic transcription factor IRF4 is regulated by a novel CD30/NF-kappaB
      positive feedback loop in peripheral T-cell lymphoma.
AB  - Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) are generally aggressive non-Hodgkin
      lymphomas with poor overall survival rates following standard therapy. One-third
      of PTCLs express interferon regulatory factor-4 (IRF4), a tightly regulated
      transcription factor involved in lymphocyte growth and differentiation. IRF4
      drives tumor growth in several lymphoid malignancies and has been proposed as a
      candidate therapeutic target. Because direct IRF4 inhibitors are not clinically
      available, we sought to characterize the mechanism by which IRF4 expression is
      regulated in PTCLs. We demonstrated that IRF4 is constitutively expressed in PTCL
      cells and drives Myc expression and proliferation. Using an inhibitor screen, we
      identified nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) as a candidate regulator of IRF4
      expression and cell proliferation. We then demonstrated that the NF-kappaB
      subunits p52 and RelB were transcriptional activators of IRF4. Further analysis
      showed that activation of CD30 promotes p52 and RelB activity and subsequent IRF4
      expression. Finally, we showed that IRF4 transcriptionally regulates CD30
      expression. Taken together, these data demonstrate a novel positive feedback loop
      involving CD30, NF-kappaB, and IRF4; further evidence for this mechanism was
      demonstrated in human PTCL tissue samples. Accordingly, NF-kappaB inhibitors may
      represent a clinical means to disrupt this feedback loop in IRF4-positive PTCLs.

PMID- 25833965
TI  - Sensitivity to verb bias in American sign language-English bilinguals.
AB  - Native speakers of English are sensitive to the likelihood that a verb will
      appear in a specific subcategorization frame, known as verb bias. Readers rely on
      verb bias to help them resolve temporary ambiguity in sentence comprehension. We
      investigate whether deaf sign-print bilinguals who have acquired English
      syntactic knowledge primarily through print exposure show sensitivity to English
      verb biases in both production and comprehension. We first elicited sentence
      continuations for 100 English verbs as an offline production measure of
      sensitivity to verb bias. We then collected eye movement records to examine
      whether deaf bilinguals' online parsing decisions are influenced by English verb
      bias. The results indicate that exposure to a second language primarily via print
      is sufficient to influence use of implicit frequency-based characteristics of a
      language in production and also to inform parsing decisions in comprehension for
      some, but not all, verbs. 

PMID- 25833964
TI  - Fatal autoimmunity in mice reconstituted with human hematopoietic stem cells
      encoding defective FOXP3.
AB  - Mice reconstituted with a human immune system provide a tractable in vivo model
      to assess human immune cell function. To date, reconstitution of murine strains
      with human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from patients with monogenic immune
      disorders have not been reported. One obstacle precluding the development of
      immune-disease specific "humanized" mice is that optimal adaptive immune
      responses in current strains have required implantation of autologous human
      thymic tissue. To address this issue, we developed a mouse strain that lacks
      murine major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC II) and instead expresses
      human leukocyte antigen DR1 (HLA-DR1). These mice displayed improved adaptive
      immune responses when reconstituted with human HSCs including enhanced T-cell
      reconstitution, delayed-type hypersensitivity responses, and class-switch
      recombination. Following immune reconstitution of this novel strain with HSCs
      from a patient with immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X
      linked (IPEX) syndrome, associated with aberrant FOXP3 function, mice developed a
      lethal inflammatory disorder with multiorgan involvement and autoantibody
      production mimicking the pathology seen in affected humans. This humanized mouse
      model permits in vivo evaluation of immune responses associated with genetically
      altered HSCs, including primary immunodeficiencies, and should facilitate the
      study of human immune pathobiology and the development of targeted therapeutics. 

PMID- 25833966
TI  - Minimally invasive decompression versus open laminectomy for central stenosis of
      the lumbar spine: pragmatic comparative effectiveness study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To test the equivalence for clinical effectiveness between
      microdecompression and laminectomy in patients with central lumbar spinal
      stenosis. DESIGN: Multicentre observational study. SETTING: Prospective data from
      the Norwegian Registry for Spine Surgery. PARTICIPANTS: 885 patients with central
      stenosis of the lumbar spine who underwent surgery at 34 Norwegian orthopaedic or
      neurosurgical departments. Patients were treated from October 2006 to December
      2011. INTERVENTIONS: Laminectomy and microdecompression. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
      The primary outcome was change in Oswestry disability index score one year after
      surgery. Secondary endpoints were quality of life (EuroQol EQ-5D), perioperative
      complications, and duration of surgical procedures and hospital stays. A blinded
      biostatistician performed predefined statistical analyses in unmatched and
      propensity matched cohorts. RESULTS: The study was powered to detect a difference
      between the groups of eight points on the Oswestry disability index at one year.
      721 patients (81%) completed the one year follow-up. Equivalence between
      microdecompression and laminectomy was shown for the Oswestry disability index
      (difference 1.3 points, 95% confidence interval -1.36 to 3.92, P<0.001 for
      equivalence). Equivalence was confirmed in the propensity matched cohort and full
      information regression analyses. No difference was found between groups in
      quality of life (EQ-5D) one year after surgery. The number of patients with
      complications was higher in the laminectomy group (15.0% v 9.8%, P=0.018), but
      after propensity matching for complications the groups did not differ (P=0.23).
      The duration of surgery for single level decompression was shorter in the
      microdecompression group (difference 11.2 minutes, 95% confidence interval 4.9 to
      17.5, P<0.001), but after propensity matching the groups did not differ (P=0.15).
      Patients in the microdecompression group had shorter hospital stays, both for
      single level decompression (difference 1.5 days, 95% confidence interval 1.7 to
      2.6, P<0.001) and two level decompression (0.8 days, 1.0 to 2.2, P=0.003).
      CONCLUSION: At one year the effectiveness of microdecompression is equivalent to
      laminectomy in the surgical treatment of central stenosis of the lumbar spine.
      Favourable outcomes were observed at one year in both treatment groups.Trial
      registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02006901.

PMID- 25833967
TI  - Does dietary cholesterol influence cardiovascular disease risk in people with
      type 2 diabetes?

PMID- 25833968
TI  - Satiation attenuates BOLD activity in brain regions involved in reward and
      increases activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: an fMRI study in healthy
      volunteers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neural responses to rewarding food cues are significantly different
      in the fed vs. fasted (>8 h food-deprived) state. However, the effect of eating
      to satiety after a shorter (more natural) intermeal interval on neural responses
      to both rewarding and aversive cues has not been examined. OBJECTIVE: With the
      use of a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task, we investigated
      the effect of satiation on neural responses to both rewarding and aversive food
      tastes and pictures. DESIGN: Sixteen healthy participants (8 men, 8 women) were
      scanned on 2 separate test days, before and after eating a meal to satiation or
      after not eating for 4 h (satiated vs. premeal). fMRI blood oxygen level
      dependent (BOLD) signals to the sight and/or taste of the stimuli were recorded.
      RESULTS: A whole-brain cluster-corrected analysis (P < 0.05) showed that
      satiation attenuated the BOLD response to both stimulus types in the ventromedial
      prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), orbitofrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, hypothalamus,
      and insula but increased BOLD activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
      (dlPFC; local maxima corrected to P <= 0.001). A psychophysiological interaction
      analysis showed that the vmPFC was more highly connected to the dlPFC when
      individuals were exposed to food stimuli when satiated than when not satiated.
      CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that natural satiation attenuates activity in
      reward-related brain regions and increases activity in the dlPFC, which may
      reflect a "top down" cognitive influence on satiation. This trial was registered
      at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02298049.

PMID- 25833969
TI  - The effect of a high-egg diet on cardiovascular risk factors in people with type
      2 diabetes: the Diabetes and Egg (DIABEGG) study-a 3-mo randomized controlled
      trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previously published research that examined the effects of high egg
      consumption in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) produced conflicting results
      leading to recommendations to limit egg intake. However, people with T2D may
      benefit from egg consumption because eggs are a nutritious and convenient way of
      improving protein and micronutrient contents of the diet, which have importance
      for satiety and weight management. OBJECTIVE: In this randomized controlled
      study, we aimed to determine whether a high-egg diet (2 eggs/d for 6 d/wk)
      compared with a low-egg diet (<2 eggs/wk) affected circulating lipid profiles, in
      particular high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, in overweight or obese
      people with prediabetes or T2D. DESIGN: A total of 140 participants were randomly
      assigned to one of the 2 diets as part of a 3-mo weight maintenance study.
      Participants attended the clinic monthly and were instructed on the specific
      types of foods and quantities to be consumed. RESULTS: There was no significant
      difference in the change in HDL cholesterol from screening to 3 mo between
      groups; the mean difference (95% CI) between high- and low-egg groups was +0.02
      mmol/L (-0.03, 0.08 mmol/L; P = 0.38). No between-group differences were shown
      for total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, or
      glycemic control. Both groups were matched for protein intake, but the high-egg
      group reported less hunger and greater satiety postbreakfast. Polyunsaturated
      fatty acid (PUFA) and monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) intakes significantly
      increased from baseline in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: High egg consumption did not
      have an adverse effect on the lipid profile of people with T2D in the context of
      increased MUFA and PUFA consumption. This study suggests that a high-egg diet can
      be included safely as part of the dietary management of T2D, and it may provide
      greater satiety. This trial was registered at the Australia New Zealand Clinical
      Trials Registry (http://www.anzctr.org.au/) as ACTRN12612001266853.

PMID- 25833970
TI  - Imaging gastric structuring of lipid emulsions and its effect on gastrointestinal
      function: a randomized trial in healthy subjects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Efficient fat digestion requires fat processing within the stomach
      and fat sensing in the intestine. Both processes also control gastric emptying
      and gastrointestinal secretions. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to visualize the influence
      of the intragastric stability of fat emulsions on their dynamics of gastric
      processing and structuring and to assess the effect this has on gastrointestinal
      motor and secretory functions. DESIGN: Eighteen healthy subjects with normal body
      mass index (BMI) were studied on 4 separate occasions in a double-blind,
      randomized, crossover design. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data of the
      gastrointestinal tract and blood triglycerides were recorded before and for 240
      min after the consumption of the following 4 different fat emulsions: lipid
      emulsion 1 (LE1; acid stable, 0.33 MUm), lipid emulsion 2 (LE2; acid stable, 52
      MUm), lipid emulsion 3 (LE3; acid unstable, solid fat, 0.32 MUm), and lipid
      emulsion 4 (LE4; acid unstable, liquid fat, 0.38 MUm). RESULTS: Intragastric
      emulsion instability was associated with a change in gastric emptying. Acid
      unstable emulsions exhibited biphasic and faster emptying profiles than did the 2
      acid-stable emulsions (P <= 0.0001). When combined with solid fat (LE3),
      different dynamics of postprandial gallbladder volume were induced (P <= 0.001).
      For acid-stable emulsions, a reduction of droplet size by 2 orders of magnitude
      [LE1 (0.33 MUm) compared with LE2 (52 MUm)] delayed gastric emptying by 38 min.
      Although acid-stable (LE1 and LE2) and redispersible (LE4) emulsions caused a
      constant increase in blood triglycerides, no increase was detectable for LE3 (P <
      0.0001). For LE3, MRI confirmed the generation of large fat particles during
      gastric processing, which emptied into and progressed through the small
      intestine. CONCLUSIONS: MRI allows the detailed characterization of the in vivo
      fate of lipid emulsions. The acute effects of lipid emulsions on gastric
      emptying, gallbladder volume, and triglyceride absorption are dependent on
      microstructural changes undergone during consumption. Gastric peristalsis and
      secretion were effective at redispersing pools of liquid fat in the stomach. This
      trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01253005.

PMID- 25833972
TI  - Effects of animal source food and micronutrient fortification in complementary
      food products on body composition, iron status, and linear growth: a randomized
      trial in Cambodia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Poor nutritional quality of complementary foods often limits growth.
      Animal source foods, such as milk or meat, are often unaffordable. Local
      affordable alternatives are needed. OBJECTIVE: We evaluate the efficacy of 2
      newly developed, rice-based complementary food products: WinFood (WF) with small
      fish and edible spiders and WinFood-Lite (WF-L) fortified with small fish,
      against 2 existing fortified corn-soy blend products, CSB+ (purely plant based)
      and CSB++ (8% dried skimmed milk). DESIGN: In total, 419 infants aged 6 mo were
      enrolled in this randomized, single-blinded study for 9 mo, designed primarily to
      assess increments in fat-free mass by a deuterium dilution technique and change
      in plasma ferritin and soluble transferrin receptor. Secondary endpoints were
      changes in anthropometric variables, including knee-heel length. Data were
      analyzed by the intention-to-treat approach. RESULTS: There was no difference in
      fat-free mass increment in WF or WF-L compared with CSB+ [WF: +0.04 kg (95% CI: 
      0.20, 0.28 kg); WF-L: +0.14 kg (95% CI: -0.10, 0.38 kg)] or CSB++ [WF: -0.03 kg
      (95% CI: -0.27, 0.21 kg); WF-L: +0.07 kg (95% CI: -0.18, 0.31 kg)] and no effect
      on iron status. The 1.7-mm (95% CI: -0.1, 3.5 mm) greater increase in knee-heel
      length in WF-L than in CSB+ was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: No difference was
      found between the locally produced products (WF and WF-L) and the CSBs.
      Micronutrient fortification may be necessary, and small fish may be an affordable
      alternative to milk to improve complementary foods. The dietary role of edible
      spiders needs to be further explored. This trial was registered at controlled
      trials.com as ISRCTN19918531.

PMID- 25833971
TI  - Serum uric acid concentrations and SLC2A9 genetic variation in Hispanic children:
      the Viva La Familia Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Elevated concentrations of serum uric acid are associated with
      increased risk of gout and renal and cardiovascular diseases. Genetic studies in
      adults have consistently identified associations of solute carrier family 2,
      member 9 (SLC2A9), polymorphisms with variation in serum uric acid. However, it
      is not known whether the association of serum uric acid with SLC2A9 polymorphisms
      manifests in children. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate whether variation in
      serum uric acid is under genetic influence and whether the association with
      SLC2A9 polymorphisms generalizes to Hispanic children of the Viva La Familia
      Study. DESIGN: We conducted a genomewide association study with 1.1 million
      genetic markers in 815 children. RESULTS: We found serum uric acid to be
      significantly heritable [h(2) +/- SD = 0.45 +/- 0.08, P = 5.8 * 10(-11)] and
      associated with SLC2A9 variants (P values between 10(-16) and 10(-7)). Several of
      the significantly associated polymorphisms were previously identified in studies
      in adults. We also found positive genetic correlations between serum uric acid
      and BMI z score (rhoG = 0.45, P = 0.002), percentage of body fat (rhoG = 0.28, P
      = 0.04), fat mass (rhoG = 0.34, P = 0.02), waist circumference (rhoG = 0.42, P =
      0.003), and waist-to-height ratio (rhoG = 0.46, P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our
      results show that variation in serum uric acid in Hispanic children is under
      considerable genetic influence and is associated with obesity-related phenotypes.
      As in adults, genetic variation in SLC2A9 is associated with serum uric acid
      concentrations, an important biomarker of renal and cardiovascular disease risk,
      in Hispanic children.

PMID- 25833973
TI  - Body composition and all-cause mortality in subjects older than 65 y.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A low or high body mass index (BMI) has been associated with
      increased mortality risk in older subjects without taking fat mass index (FMI)
      and fat-free mass index (FFMI) into account. This information is essential
      because FMI is modulated through different healthcare strategies than is FFMI.
      OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the relation between body composition and
      mortality in older subjects. DESIGN: We included all adults >=65 y old who were
      living in Switzerland and had a body-composition measurement by bioelectrical
      impedance analysis at the Geneva University Hospitals between 1990 and 2011. FMI
      and FFMI were divided into sex-specific quartiles. Quartile 1 (i.e., the
      reference category) corresponded to the lowest FMI or FFMI quartile. Mortality
      data were retrieved from the hospital database, the Geneva death register, and
      the Swiss National Cohort until December 2012. Comorbidities were assessed by
      using the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale. RESULTS: Of 3181 subjects included,
      766 women and 1007 men died at a mean age of 82.8 and 78.5 y, respectively. Sex
      specific Cox regression models, which were used to adjust for age, BMI, smoking,
      ambulatory or hospitalized state, and calendar time, showed that body composition
      did not predict mortality in women irrespective of whether comorbidities were
      taken into account. In men, risk of mortality was lower with FFMI in quartiles 3
      and 4 [HR: 0.78 (95% CI: 0.62, 0.98) and 0.64 (95% CI: 0.49, 0.85), respectively]
      but was not affected by FMI. When comorbidities were adjusted for, FFMI in
      quartile 4 (>19.5 kg/m(2)) still predicted a lower risk of mortality (HR: 0.72;
      95% CI: 0.54, 0.96). CONCLUSIONS: Low FFMI is a stronger predictor of mortality
      than is BMI in older men but not older women. FMI had no impact on mortality.
      These results suggest potential benefits of preventive interventions with the aim
      of maintaining muscle mass in older men. This trial was registered at
      clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01472679.

PMID- 25833974
TI  - Factors affecting food choices of older adults from high and low socioeconomic
      groups: a discrete choice experiment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Healthiness, price, and convenience are typically indicated as
      important motives for food choices; however, it is largely unknown to what extent
      older adults from high and low socioeconomic groups differ in these underlying
      motives. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) is an innovative way to elicit
      implicit motives for food choices. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate
      differences in food motives between socioeconomic groups by means of a DCE.
      DESIGN: A DCE was carried out during a face-to-face interview among older adults
      as part of the Health and Living Conditions in Eindhoven and surrounding cities
      (GLOBE) cohort study, The Netherlands. Participants (n = 399; mean age: 63.3 y)
      were offered a series of choice sets about a usual dinner at home and were asked
      to choose in each choice set between 2 meals and an opt-out choice, with
      different combinations of attribute levels. We included 5 meal attributes (taste,
      healthiness, preparation time, travel time to shops, and price) and 3 or 4 levels
      for each attribute. Data were analyzed by multinomial logit models. RESULTS:
      Healthiness, taste, price, and travel time to the grocery store proved to
      significantly influence older adults' meal decisions; preparation time was not
      significant. Healthiness was the most important attribute for all of the
      participants. More highly educated participants rated a healthy and less
      expensive meal to be more important than did less educated participants. Those
      with a high income rated a meal that was healthy and very tasteful to be more
      important than did those with a lower income. CONCLUSIONS: Healthiness, taste,
      price, and travel time to grocery shops influenced older adults' meal decisions.
      Higher socioeconomic groups valued health more than did lower socioeconomic
      groups. DCEs represent a promising method to gain insight into the relative
      importance of motives for food choices. This trial was registered at
      www.isrctn.com as ISRCTN60293770.

PMID- 25833975
TI  - Associations of dairy intake with glycemia and insulinemia, independent of
      obesity, in Brazilian adults: the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health
      (ELSA-Brasil).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Inverse associations between dairy intake and the risk of type 2
      diabetes have been shown, but more studies are needed, especially from low- and
      middle-income countries. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to describe the association
      between dairy products and direct measures of glycemic status in adults without
      known diabetes. DESIGN: The Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA
      Brasil) includes 15,105 adults, aged 35-74 y, enrolled from universities and
      research institutions in 6 Brazilian capital cities. We excluded participants
      with a known diabetes diagnosis, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Dairy
      consumption was assessed by a food-frequency questionnaire, and we computed
      servings per day for total and subgroups of dairy. Associations with fasting
      blood glucose (FG) and fasting insulin, 2-h postload glucose (PG), 2-h postload
      insulin (PI), glycated hemoglobin (Hb A1c), and homeostasis model assessment of
      insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were assessed through multivariable linear
      regression analysis with adjustment for demographic characteristics, behavioral
      risk factors, other dietary factors, and anthropometric measurements. RESULTS:
      The sample size after exclusions was 10,010. The intake of total dairy was
      inversely associated with FG (linear beta for dairy servings/d = -0.46 +/- 0.2
      mg/dL), PG (-1.25 +/- 0.5 mg/dL), PI (-1.52 +/- 0.6 mg/dL), Hb A1c (-0.02 +/-
      0.0%), and HOMA-IR (-0.04 +/- 0.0) after adjustment for all covariates (P < 0.05
      for all). The findings were consistent across categories of sex, race, obesity
      status, and dairy fat amount (reduced-fat vs. full-fat dairy). Fermented dairy
      products showed particularly strong inverse associations with the outcomes, with
      adjusted differences for a 1-serving/d increment of -0.24 (95% CI: -0.46, -0.02)
      mg/dL for FG, -0.86 (-1.42, -0.30) mg/dL for PG, and -0.01% (-0.02%, 0.00%) for
      Hb A1c. Myristic acid was the only nutrient that appeared to mediate the
      association between dairy intake and glycemia. CONCLUSION: Dairy intake,
      especially fermented dairy, was inversely associated with measures of glycemia
      and insulinemia in Brazilian adults without diagnosed diabetes. This trial was
      registered at clinicaltrials.com as NCT02320461.

PMID- 25833976
TI  - Nut consumption on all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality risk: a
      systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent pooled analyses supported a beneficial impact of nut
      consumption on health, but to our knowledge, whether nuts are associated with
      overall decreased mortality has not been previously reviewed. OBJECTIVES: We
      aimed to systematically review prospective studies that explored the effects of
      nut consumption on all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality
      and quantify the size effect through a meta-analysis. We also reviewed
      confounding factors associated with nut consumption to assess potential
      clustering with other covariates. DESIGN: We searched PubMed and EMBASE for
      studies published up to June 2014. Study characteristics, HRs, and 95% CIs were
      generated on the basis of quantitative analyses. A dose-response analysis was
      performed when data were available. RESULTS: Seven studies for all-cause
      mortality, 6 studies for CVD mortality, and 2 studies for cancer mortality were
      included in the meta-analysis with a total of 354,933 participants, 44,636
      cumulative incident deaths, and 3,746,534 cumulative person-years. Nut
      consumption was associated with some baseline characteristics such as lower body
      mass index and smoking status as well as increased intakes of fruit, vegetables,
      and alcohol. One-serving of nuts per week and per day resulted in 4% (RR: 0.96;
      95% CI: 0.93, 0.98) and 27% (RR: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.88) decreased risk of all
      cause mortality, respectively, and decreased risk of CVD mortality [RR: 0.93 (95%
      CI: 0.88, 0.99) and 0.61 (95% CI: 0.42, 0.91), respectively]. Effects were
      primarily driven by decreased coronary artery disease deaths rather than stroke
      deaths. Nut consumption was also associated with decreased risk of cancer deaths
      when highest compared with lowest categories of intake were compared (RR: 0.86;
      95% CI: 0.75, 0.98), but no dose-effect was shown. CONCLUSION: Nut consumption is
      associated with lower risk of all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality, but the
      presence of confounding factors should be taken into account when considering
      such findings.

PMID- 25833977
TI  - MRI-determined total volumes of visceral and subcutaneous abdominal and trunk
      adipose tissue are differentially and sex-dependently associated with patterns of
      estimated usual nutrient intake in a northern German population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous abdominal (SAAT) and trunk (STRAT)
      adipose tissue (AT) have been suggested to be differentially influenced by diet.
      OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether and to what extent usual patterns of nutrient
      intake are associated with VAT, SAAT, and STRAT compared with nondietary
      predictors in northern German adults (n = 583). DESIGN: AT volumes were
      quantified by magnetic resonance imaging. Nutrient intake was estimated by a 112
      item food-frequency questionnaire linked to the German Food Code and Nutrient
      Database. Exploratory nutrient patterns were derived by principal components
      analysis (PCA) and partial least-squares regression (PLS) of 87 nutrients. Cross
      sectional associations between nutrient patterns, single nutrients, or total
      energy intake and AT compartments were analyzed by multiple linear regression.
      RESULTS: Next to sex and age, respectively, which were important nondietary
      predictors and accounted for more of the variation in VAT (~13% and ~4%) than in
      SAAT or STRAT (both 4-7% and <1%), variation in VAT (16.8% or 17.6%) was
      explained to a greater extent by 9 or 2 nutrient patterns derived by principal
      components analysis or partial least-squares regression, respectively, than was
      variation in SAAT (10.6% or 8.2%) or STRAT (11.5% or 8.6%). Whereas VAT (16.6%)
      was primarily explained by nutrient quality, SAAT (6.9%) and STRAT (7.4%) were
      mainly explained by total energy intake. VAT was positively associated with
      nutrients characteristic of animal (except for dairy) products, including
      arachidonic acid (standardized beta: 0.25; 95% CI: 0.15, 0.34; P < 0.0001), but
      negatively with dietary fiber, including polypentoses (standardized beta: -0.17;
      95% CI: -0.24, -0.09; P < 0.0001), and nutrients found in milk. The direction and
      strength of many associations, however, depended strongly on sex and adjustment
      for BMI. CONCLUSION: VAT may be particularly associated with sex-specific
      interplays of nutrients found in animal products and fiber, whereas SAAT and
      STRAT are associated with total energy intake.

PMID- 25833978
TI  - Price promotions on healthier compared with less healthy foods: a hierarchical
      regression analysis of the impact on sales and social patterning of responses to
      promotions in Great Britain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is a growing concern, but limited evidence, that price
      promotions contribute to a poor diet and the social patterning of diet-related
      disease. OBJECTIVE: We examined the following questions: 1) Are less-healthy
      foods more likely to be promoted than healthier foods? 2) Are consumers more
      responsive to promotions on less-healthy products? 3) Are there socioeconomic
      differences in food purchases in response to price promotions? DESIGN: With the
      use of hierarchical regression, we analyzed data on purchases of 11,323 products
      within 135 food and beverage categories from 26,986 households in Great Britain
      during 2010. Major supermarkets operated the same price promotions in all
      branches. The number of stores that offered price promotions on each product for
      each week was used to measure the frequency of price promotions. We assessed the
      healthiness of each product by using a nutrient profiling (NP) model. RESULTS: A
      total of 6788 products (60%) were in healthier categories and 4535 products (40%)
      were in less-healthy categories. There was no significant gap in the frequency of
      promotion by the healthiness of products neither within nor between categories.
      However, after we controlled for the reference price, price discount rate, and
      brand-specific effects, the sales uplift arising from price promotions was larger
      in less-healthy than in healthier categories; a 1-SD point increase in the
      category mean NP score, implying the category becomes less healthy, was
      associated with an additional 7.7-percentage point increase in sales (from 27.3%
      to 35.0%; P < 0.01). The magnitude of the sales uplift from promotions was larger
      for higher-socioeconomic status (SES) groups than for lower ones (34.6% for the
      high-SES group, 28.1% for the middle-SES group, and 23.1% for the low-SES group).
      Finally, there was no significant SES gap in the absolute volume of purchases of
      less-healthy foods made on promotion. CONCLUSION: Attempts to limit promotions on
      less-healthy foods could improve the population diet but would be unlikely to
      reduce health inequalities arising from poorer diets in low-socioeconomic groups.

PMID- 25833979
TI  - Dietary patterns and breast cancer risk: a study in 2 cohorts.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Evidence for a role of dietary risk factors in the cause of breast
      cancer has been inconsistent. The evaluation of overall dietary patterns instead
      of foods in isolation may better reflect the nature of true dietary exposure in a
      population. OBJECTIVE: We used 2 cohort studies to identify and confirm
      associations between dietary patterns and breast cancer risk. DESIGN: Dietary
      patterns were derived by using a principal components factor analysis in 1097
      breast cancer cases and an age-stratified subcohort of 3320 women sampled from
      39,532 female participants in the Canadian Study of Diet, Lifestyle and Health
      (CSDLH). We conducted a confirmatory factor analysis in 49,410 subjects in the
      National Breast Screening Study (NBSS) in whom 3659 cases of incident breast
      cancer developed. Cox regression models were used to estimate HRs for the
      association between derived dietary factors and risk of breast cancer in both
      cohorts. RESULTS: The following 3 dietary factors were identified from the CSDLH:
      healthy, ethnic, and meat and potatoes. In the CSDLH, the healthy dietary pattern
      was associated with reduced risk of breast cancer (HR for high compared with low
      quintiles: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.58, 0.91; P-trend = 0.001), and the meat and potatoes
      dietary pattern was associated with increased risk in postmenopausal women only
      (HR for high compared with low quintiles: 1.26; 95% CI: 0.92, 1.73; P-trend =
      0.043). In the NBSS, the association between the meat and potatoes pattern and
      postmenopausal breast cancer risk was confirmed (HR: 1.31; 95% CI: 0.98, 1.76; P
      trend = 0.043), but there was no association between the healthy pattern and risk
      of breast cancer. CONCLUSION: Adherence to a plant-based diet that limits red
      meat intake may be associated with reduced risk of breast cancer, particularly in
      postmenopausal women.

PMID- 25833980
TI  - Lipid-based nutrient supplement increases the birth size of infants of
      primiparous women in Ghana.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The International Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements Project developed
      a small-quantity (20 g/d) lipid-based nutrient supplement (LNS) for pregnant and
      lactating women. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the effects of prenatal LNS
      supplementation on fetal growth. DESIGN: In a community-based, partially double
      blind, individually randomized controlled trial, 1320 women <=20 wk pregnant
      received 60 mg Fe/400 MUg folic acid (IFA), or 1-2 Recommended Dietary Allowances
      of 18 micronutrients, including 20 mg Fe (MMN), or LNS with the same
      micronutrients as the MMN group, plus 4 minerals and macronutrients contributing
      118 kcal (LNS) daily until delivery. Fetal growth was compared across groups by
      using intention-to-treat analysis. The primary outcome was birth length. RESULTS:
      This analysis included 1057 women (IFA = 349, MMN = 354, LNS = 354). Groups did
      not differ significantly in mean birth length, length-for-age z score (LAZ), head
      circumference, or percentage low birth length but differed in mean birth weight
      (P = 0.044), weight-for-age z score (WAZ; P = 0.046), and BMI-for-age z score
      (BMIZ; P = 0.040), with a trend toward differences in low birth weight (P =
      0.069). In pairwise comparisons, the LNS group had greater mean birth weight (+85
      g; P = 0.040), WAZ (+0.19; P = 0.045), and BMIZ (+0.21; P = 0.035) and a lower
      risk of low birth weight (RR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.96; P = 0.032) than did the
      IFA group. The other group differences were not significant. The effect of
      intervention was modified by mother's parity, age, height, baseline hemoglobin,
      household food insecurity, and child sex, with parity being the most consistent
      modifier. Among primiparous women (IFA = 131; MMN = 110; LNS = 128), the LNS
      group had greater mean birth length (+0.91 cm; P = 0.001), LAZ (+0.47; P =
      0.001), weight (+237 g; P < 0.001), WAZ (+0.56; P < 0.001), BMIZ (+0.52; P <
      0.001), head circumference (0.50 cm; P = 0.017), and head circumference-for-age z
      score (+0.40; P = 0.022) than did the IFA group; similar differences were found
      when comparing the LNS and MMN groups among primiparous women, and no group
      differences were found among multiparous women. CONCLUSION: Prenatal LNS
      supplementation can improve fetal growth among vulnerable women in Ghana,
      particularly primiparous women. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov
      as NCT00970866.

PMID- 25833981
TI  - Community-based management of severe acute malnutrition in India: new evidence
      from Bihar.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An estimated one-third of the world's children who are wasted live in
      India. In Bihar state, of children <5 y old, 27.1% are wasted and 8.3% have
      severe acute malnutrition (SAM). In 2009, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
      initiated a community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) program for
      children aged 6-59 mo with SAM. OBJECTIVE: In this report, we describe the
      characteristics and outcomes of 8274 children treated between February 2009 and
      September 2011. DESIGN: Between February 2009 and June 2010, the program admitted
      children with a weight-for-height z score (WHZ) <-3 SD and/or midupper arm
      circumference (MUAC) <110 mm and discharged those who reached a WHZ >-2 SDs and
      MUAC >110 mm. These variables changed in July 2010 to admission on the basis of
      an MUAC <115 mm and discharge at an MUAC >=120 mm. Uncomplicated SAM cases were
      treated as outpatients in the community by using a WHO-standard, ready-to-use,
      therapeutic lipid-based paste produced in India; complicated cases were treated
      as inpatients by using F75/F100 WHO-standard milk until they could complete
      treatment in the community. RESULTS: A total of 8274 children were admitted
      including 5149 girls (62.2%), 6613 children aged 6-23 mo (79.9%), and 87.3%
      children who belonged to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, or Other Backward
      Caste families or households. Of 3873 children admitted under the old criteria,
      41 children (1.1%) died, 2069 children (53.4%) were discharged as cured, and 1485
      children (38.3%) defaulted. Of 4401 children admitted under the new criteria, 36
      children (0.8%) died, 2526 children (57.4%) were discharged as cured, and 1591
      children (36.2%) defaulted. For children discharged as cured, the mean (+/-SD)
      weight gain and length of stay were 4.7 +/- 3.1 and 5.1 +/- 3.7 g . kg(-1) . d(
      1) and 8.7 +/- 6.1 and 7.3 +/- 5.6 wk under the old and new criteria,
      respectively (P < 0.01). After adjustment, significant risk factors for default
      were as follows: no community referral for admission, more severe wasting on
      admission, younger age, and a long commute for treatment. CONCLUSIONS: To our
      knowledge, this is the first conventional CMAM program in India and has achieved
      low mortality and high cure rates in nondefaulting children. The new admission
      criteria lower the threshold for severity with the result that more children are
      included who are at lower risk of death and have a smaller WHZ deficit to correct
      than do children identified by the old criteria. This study was registered as a
      retrospective observational analysis of routine program data at
      http://www.isrctn.com as ISRCTN13980582.

PMID- 25833982
TI  - Maternal dietary uridine causes, and deoxyuridine prevents, neural tube closure
      defects in a mouse model of folate-responsive neural tube defects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Folic acid prevents neural tube closure defects (NTDs), but the
      causal metabolic pathways have not been established. Serine
      hydroxymethyltransferase 1 (SHMT1) is an essential scaffold protein in folate
      dependent de novo thymidylate synthesis in the nucleus. SHMT1-deficient mice
      provide a model to investigate folic acid-responsive NTDs wherein disruption of
      de novo thymidylate synthesis impairs neural tube closure. OBJECTIVE: We examined
      the effects of maternal supplementation with the pyrimidine nucleosides uridine,
      thymidine, or deoxyuridine with and without folate deficiency on NTD incidence in
      the Shmt1 mouse model. DESIGN: Shmt1(+/+) and Shmt1(-/-) female mice fed folate
      replete or folate-deficient diets and supplemented with uridine, thymidine, or
      deoxyuridine were bred, and litters (n = 10-23 per group) were examined for the
      presence of NTDs. Biomarkers of impaired folate status and metabolism were
      measured, including plasma nucleosides, hepatic uracil content, maternal plasma
      folate concentrations, and incorporation of nucleoside precursors into DNA.
      RESULTS: Shmt1(+/-) and Shmt1(-/-) embryos from dams fed the folate-deficient
      diet were susceptible to NTDs. No NTDs were observed in litters from dams fed the
      folate-deficient diet supplemented with deoxyuridine. Surprisingly, uridine
      supplementation increased NTD incidence, independent of embryo genotype and
      dietary folic acid. These dietary nucleosides did not affect maternal hepatic
      uracil accumulation in DNA but did affect plasma folate concentrations.
      CONCLUSIONS: Maternal deoxyuridine supplementation prevented NTDs in dams fed the
      folate-deficient diet, whereas maternal uridine supplementation increased NTD
      incidence, independent of folate and embryo genotype. These findings provide new
      insights into the metabolic impairments and mechanisms of folate-responsive NTDs
      resulting from decreased Shmt1 expression.

PMID- 25833983
TI  - Dairy proteins, dairy lipids, and postprandial lipemia in persons with abdominal
      obesity (DairyHealth): a 12-wk, randomized, parallel-controlled, double-blinded,
      diet intervention study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Abdominal obesity and exaggerated postprandial lipemia are
      independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality, and both
      are affected by dietary behavior. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether dietary
      supplementation with whey protein and medium-chain saturated fatty acids (MC
      SFAs) improved postprandial lipid metabolism in humans with abdominal obesity.
      DESIGN: We conducted a 12-wk, randomized, double-blinded, diet intervention
      study. Sixty-three adults were randomly allocated to one of 4 diets in a 2 * 2
      factorial design. Participants consumed 60 g milk protein (whey or casein) and 63
      g milk fat (with high or low MC-SFA content) daily. Before and after the
      intervention, a high-fat meal test was performed. We measured changes from
      baseline in fasting and postprandial triacylglycerol, apolipoprotein B-48 (apoB
      48; reflecting chylomicrons of intestinal origin), free fatty acids (FFAs),
      insulin, glucose, glucagon, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), and gastric
      inhibitory polypeptide (GIP). Furthermore, changes in the expression of adipose
      tissue genes involved in lipid metabolism were investigated. Two-factor ANOVA was
      used to examine the difference between protein types and fatty acid compositions,
      as well as any interaction between the two. RESULTS: Fifty-two participants
      completed the study. We found that the postprandial apoB-48 response decreased
      significantly after whey compared with casein (P = 0.025) independently of fatty
      acid composition. Furthermore, supplementation with casein resulted in a
      significant increase in the postprandial GLP-1 response compared with whey (P =
      0.003). We found no difference in postprandial triacylglycerol, FFA, insulin,
      glucose, glucagon, or GIP related to protein type or MC-SFA content. We observed
      no interaction between milk protein and milk fat on postprandial lipemia.
      CONCLUSION: We found that a whey protein supplement decreased the postprandial
      chylomicron response compared with casein in persons with abdominal obesity,
      thereby indicating a beneficial impact on CVD risk. This trial was registered at
      clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01472666.

PMID- 25833984
TI  - Dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids decrease retinal neovascularization
      by adipose-endoplasmic reticulum stress reduction to increase adiponectin.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a vision-threatening disease in
      premature infants. Serum adiponectin (APN) concentrations positively correlate
      with postnatal growth and gestational age, important risk factors for ROP
      development. Dietary omega-3 (n-3) long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega
      3 LCPUFAs) suppress ROP and oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) in a mouse model of
      human ROP, but the mechanism is not fully understood. OBJECTIVE: We examined the
      role of APN in ROP development and whether circulating APN concentrations are
      increased by dietary omega-3 LCPUFAs to mediate the protective effect in ROP.
      DESIGN: Serum APN concentrations were correlated with ROP development and serum
      omega-3 LCPUFA concentrations in preterm infants. Mouse OIR was then used to
      determine whether omega-3 LCPUFA supplementation increases serum APN
      concentrations, which then suppress retinopathy. RESULTS: We found that in
      preterm infants, low serum APN concentrations positively correlate with ROP, and
      serum APN concentrations positively correlate with serum omega-3 LCPUFA
      concentrations. In mouse OIR, serum total APN and bioactive high-molecular-weight
      APN concentrations are increased by omega-3 LCPUFA feed. White adipose tissue,
      where APN is produced and assembled in the endoplasmic reticulum, is the major
      source of serum APN. In mouse OIR, adipose endoplasmic reticulum stress is
      increased, and APN production is suppressed. omega-3 LCPUFA feed in mice
      increases APN production by reducing adipose endoplasmic reticulum stress
      markers. Dietary omega-3 LCPUFA suppression of neovascularization is reduced from
      70% to 10% with APN deficiency. APN receptors localize in the retina,
      particularly to pathologic neovessels. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that
      increasing APN by omega-3 LCPUFA supplementation in total parental nutrition for
      preterm infants may suppress ROP.

PMID- 25833985
TI  - A critical appraisal on the association and effects of magnesium and bone density
      on physical performance in elderly women.

PMID- 25833986
TI  - Reply to CP Unocc et al.

PMID- 25833987
TI  - Glutamine supplementation, citrulline production, and de novo arginine synthesis:
      is there a relation?

PMID- 25833988
TI  - Reply to GC Ligthart-Melis et al.

PMID- 25833989
TI  - Erratum for Lichtenstein et al. Food-intake patterns assessed by using front-of
      pack labeling program criteria associated with better diet quality and lower
      cardiometabolic risk. Am J Clin Nutr 2014;99:454-62.

PMID- 25833990
TI  - Erratum for Cercamondi et al. Afebrile Plasmodium falciparum parasitemia
      decreases absorption of fortification iron but does not affect systemic iron
      utilization: a double stable-isotope study in young Beninese women. Am J Clin
      Nutr 2010;92:1385-92.

PMID- 25833992
TI  - Health professionals call for urgent halt to fracking because of public health
      concerns.

PMID- 25833993
TI  - No increase in Australia's illicit tobacco trade is seen after plain packs are
      introduced.

PMID- 25833994
TI  - Wear of PEEK-OPTIMA(r) and PEEK-OPTIMA(r)-Wear Performance articulating against
      highly cross-linked polyethylene.
AB  - The idea of all polymer artificial joints, particularly for the knee and finger,
      has been raised several times in the past 20 years. This is partly because of
      weight but also to reduce stress shielding in the bone when stiffer materials
      such as metals or ceramics are used. With this in mind, pin-on-plate studies of
      various polyetheretherketone preparations against highly cross-linked
      polyethylene were conducted to investigate the possibility of using such a
      combination in the design of a new generation of artificial joints. PEEK
      OPTIMA((r)) (no fibre) against highly cross-linked polyethylene gave very low
      wear factors of 0.0384 * 10(-6) mm(3)/N m for the polyetheretherketone pins and 
      0.025 * 10(-6) mm(3)/N m for the highly cross-linked polyethylene plates. The
      carbon-fibre-reinforced polyetheretherketone (PEEK-OPTIMA((r))-Wear Performance)
      also produced very low wear rates in the polyetheretherketone pins but produced
      very high wear in the highly cross-linked polyethylene, as might have been
      predicted since the carbon fibres are quite abrasive. When the fibres were
      predominantly tangential to the sliding plane, the mean wear factor was 0.052 *
      10(-6) mm(3)/N m for the pins and 49.3 * 10(-6) mm(3)/N m for the highly cross
      linked polyethylene plates; a half of that when the fibres ran axially in the
      pins (0.138 * 10(-6) mm(3)/N m for the pins and 97.5 * 10(-6) mm/ N m for the
      cross-linked polyethylene plates). PEEK-OPTIMA((r)) against highly cross-linked
      polyethylene merits further investigation. 

PMID- 25833995
TI  - Design and development of a device to measure the deformities of clubfoot.
AB  - Clubfoot describes a range of foot abnormalities usually present at birth, in
      which the foot of a baby is twisted out of shape or position. In order to develop
      an effective treatment plan for clubfoot and/or assess the extent to which
      existing interventions are successful, medical practitioners need to be able to
      accurately measure the nature and extent of the deformity. This is typically
      performed using a goniometer. However, this device is only able to measure one
      dimension at a time. As such, a complete assessment of the condition of a foot
      can be extremely burdensome and time-consuming. This article describes a new
      device that can quickly and efficiently take several measurements on feet of
      various sizes and shapes. The use of this device was verified by measuring the
      deformities of real clubfeet. A silicone rubber clubfoot model was also used in
      this study to clearly illustrate the effectiveness with which the proposed device
      can measure the various deformities of clubfoot. It is envisaged that the use of
      this device will significantly reduce the time and effort orthopedists require to
      measure clubfoot deformities and develop and assess treatment plans. 

PMID- 25833996
TI  - Mechanics of pericardial effusion: a simulation study.
AB  - Pericardial effusion is a pathological accumulation of fluid within pericardial
      cavity, which may compress heart chambers with hemodynamic impairment. We sought
      to determine the mechanics underlying the physiology of the hemodynamic
      impairment due to pericardial effusion using patient-specific computational
      modeling. Computational models of left ventricle and right ventricle were based
      on magnetic resonance images obtained from patients with pericardial effusion and
      controls. Myocardial material parameters were adjusted, so that volumes of
      ventricular chambers and pericardial effusion agreed with magnetic resonance
      imaging data. End-diastolic and end-systolic pressure-volume relationships as
      well as stroke volume were determined to evaluate impaired cardiac function of
      biventricular model. Distributions of myocardial fiber stresses and their
      regional variation along left ventricular wall were compared between patient
      groups. Both end-diastolic and end-systolic pressure-volume relationships shifted
      to the left for patients with pericardial effusion, with right ventricle
      diastolic filling particularly restricted. Left ventricle function as estimated
      by Starling curve was reduced by pericardial effusion. End-systolic fiber stress
      of left ventricle was significantly reduced as compared to that found for healthy
      patients. Myocardial stress was found increased at interventricular septum when
      compared to that exerted at lateral wall of left ventricle. Right ventricular
      myocardial stress was reduced as a consequence of the pressure equalization
      between right ventricle and pericardial effusion. Diastolic right ventricle
      collapse in patients with pericardial effusion is related to higher myocardial
      fiber stress on interventricular septum and to an extensible pericardium reducing
      motion of ventricular chambers, with right ventricle particularly restrained.
      These findings likely portend progression of pericardial effusion to cardiac
      tamponade. 

PMID- 25833998
TI  - Comparative study for surface topography of bone drilling using conventional
      drilling and loose abrasive machining.
AB  - Drilling through the bone is a complicated process in orthopaedic surgery. It
      involves human as a part of the work so it needs better perfection and quality
      which leads to the sustainability. Different studies were carried out on this
      curious topic and some interesting results were obtained, which help the
      orthopaedic surgeon on the operation table. Major problems faced during bone
      drilling were crack initiation, thermal necrosis and burr formation. The surface
      topography of the bone is an indirect indication for the sustainability of bone
      joint. In this study, a comparison is made between conventional and a loose
      abrasive unconventional drilling technique for the surface characterization of
      the bone. The attempt has been made to show the feasibility of bone drilling with
      non-conventional technique and its aftereffect on the bone structure. The burr
      formation during conventional bone drilling was found to be more which leads to
      problems such as crack initiation and thermal necrosis. Scanning electrode
      microscope and surface roughness tester were used to characterize the surface of
      the fine drilled bone specimen and the results testified quite better surface
      finish and least crack formation while drilling with loose abrasive
      unconventional technique. 

PMID- 25833997
TI  - A low-cost, high-field-strength magnetic resonance imaging-compatible actuator.
AB  - To perform minimally invasive surgical interventions with the aid of robotic
      systems within a magnetic resonance imaging scanner offers significant advantages
      compared to conventional surgery. However, despite the numerous exciting
      potential applications of this technology, the introduction of magnetic resonance
      imaging-compatible robotics has been hampered by safety, reliability and cost
      concerns: the robots should not be attracted by the strong magnetic field of the
      scanner and should operate reliably in the field without causing distortion to
      the scan data. Development of non-conventional sensors and/or actuators is thus
      required to meet these strict operational and safety requirements. These demands
      commonly result in expensive actuators, which mean that cost effectiveness
      remains a major challenge for such robotic systems. This work presents a low
      cost, high-field-strength magnetic resonance imaging-compatible actuator: a
      pneumatic stepper motor which is controllable in open loop or closed loop, along
      with a rotary encoder, both fully manufactured in plastic, which are shown to
      perform reliably via a set of in vitro trials while generating negligible
      artifacts when imaged within a standard clinical scanner. 

PMID- 25833999
TI  - A novel computational model for the hemodynamics of bileaflet mechanical valves
      in the opening phase.
AB  - A powerful alternative means to study the hemodynamics of bileaflet mechanical
      heart valves is the computational fluid dynamics method. It is well recognized
      that computational fluid dynamics allows reliable physiological blood flow
      simulation and measurements of flow parameters. To date, in almost all of the
      modeling studies on the hemodynamics of bileaflet mechanical heart valves, a
      velocity (mass flow)-based boundary condition and an axisymmetric geometry for
      the aortic root have been assigned, which, to some extent, are erroneous. Also,
      there have been contradictory reports of the profile of velocity in downstream of
      leaflets, that is, in some studies, it is suggested that the maximum blood
      velocity occurs in the lateral orifice, and in some other studies, it is
      postulated that the maximum velocities in the main and lateral orifices are
      identical. The reported values for the peak velocities range from 1 to 3 m/s,
      which highly depend on the model assumptions. The objective of this study is to
      demonstrate the importance of the exact anatomical model of the aortic root and
      the realistic boundary conditions in the hemodynamics of the bileaflet mechanical
      heart valves. The model considered in this study is based on the St Jude Medical
      valve in a novel modeling platform. Through a more realistic geometrical model
      for the aortic root and the St Jude Medical valve, we have developed a new set of
      boundary conditions in order to be used for the assessment of the hemodynamics of
      aortic bileaflet mechanical heart valves. The results of this study are
      significant for the design improvement of conventional bileaflet mechanical heart
      valves and for the design of the next generation of prosthetic valves. 

PMID- 25834000
TI  - Assessment of non-contacting optical methods to measure wear and surface
      roughness in ceramic total disc replacements.
AB  - This study presents a method for measuring the low volumetric wear expected in
      ceramic total disc replacements, which can be used to replace intervertebral
      discs in the spine, using non-contacting optical methods. Alumina-on-alumina ball
      on-disc tests were conducted with test conditions approximating those of cervical
      (neck region of the spine) total disc replacement wear tests. The samples were
      then scanned using a three-dimensional non-contacting optical profilometer and
      the data used to measure surface roughness and develop a method for measuring the
      wear volume. The results showed that the magnification of the optical lens
      affected the accuracy of both the surface roughness and wear volume measurements.
      The method was able to successfully measure wear volumes of 0.0001 mm(3), which
      corresponds to a mass of 0.0001 mg, which would have been undetectable using the
      gravimetric method. A further advantage of this method is that with one scan the
      user can measure changes in surface topography, volumetric wear and the location
      of the wear on the implant surface. This method could also be applied to more
      severe wear, other types of orthopaedic implants and different materials. 

PMID- 25834001
TI  - Shape memory alloy-based biopsy device for active locomotive intestinal capsule
      endoscope.
AB  - Recently, capsule endoscopes have been used for diagnosis in digestive organs.
      However, because a capsule endoscope does not have a locomotive function, its use
      has been limited to small tubular digestive organs, such as small intestine and
      esophagus. To address this problem, researchers have begun studying an active
      locomotive intestine capsule endoscope as a medical instrument for the whole
      gastrointestinal tract. We have developed a capsule endoscope with a small
      permanent magnet that is actuated by an electromagnetic actuation system,
      allowing active and flexible movement in the patient's gut environment. In
      addition, researchers have noted the need for a biopsy function in capsule
      endoscope for the definitive diagnosis of digestive diseases. Therefore, this
      paper proposes a novel robotic biopsy device for active locomotive intestine
      capsule endoscope. The proposed biopsy device has a sharp blade connected with a
      shape memory alloy actuator. The biopsy device measuring 12 mm in diameter and 3
      mm in length was integrated into our capsule endoscope prototype, where the
      device's sharp blade was activated and exposed by the shape memory alloy
      actuator. Then the electromagnetic actuation system generated a specific motion
      of the capsule endoscope to extract the tissue sample from the intestines. The
      final biopsy sample tissue had a volume of about 6 mm(3), which is a sufficient
      amount for a histological analysis. Consequently, we proposed the working
      principle of the biopsy device and conducted an in-vitro biopsy test to verify
      the feasibility of the biopsy device integrated into the capsule endoscope
      prototype using the electro-magnetic actuation system.

PMID- 25834002
TI  - Wear of the Charite(r) lumbar intervertebral disc replacement investigated using
      an electro-mechanical spine simulator.
AB  - The Charite((r)) lumbar intervertebral disc replacement was subjected to wear
      testing in an electro-mechanical spine simulator. Sinusoidally varying
      compression (0.6-2 kN, frequency 2 Hz), rotation (+/-2 degrees , frequency 1 Hz),
      flexion-extension (6 degrees  to -3 degrees , frequency 1 Hz) and lateral bending
      (+/-2 degrees , frequency 1 Hz) were applied out of phase to specimens immersed
      in diluted calf serum at 37  degrees C. The mass of the ultra-high-molecular
      weight polyethylene component of the device was measured at intervals of 0.5, 1,
      2, 3, 4 and 5 million cycles; its volume was also measured by micro-computed
      tomography. Total mass and volume losses were 60.3 +/- 4.6 mg (mean +/- standard
      deviation) and 64.6 +/- 6.0 mm(3). Corresponding wear rates were 12.0 +/- 1.4 mg
      per million cycles and 12.8 +/- 1.2 mm(3) per million cycles; the rate of loss of
      volume corresponds to a mass loss of 11.9 +/- 1.1 mg per million cycles, that is,
      the two sets of measurements of wear agree closely. Wear rates also agree closely
      with measurements made in another laboratory using the same protocol but using a
      conventional mechanical spine simulator. 

PMID- 25834004
TI  - Revisiting a familiar but lethal cardiovascular risk factor: sedentary lifestyle.

PMID- 25834005
TI  - Biventricular pacemakers in patients with heart failure.
AB  - Patients with heart failure may benefit from implantation of a biventricular
      pacemaker. This article discusses the indications for biventricular pacemaker
      implantation and the assessment of patients with biventricular pacemakers.
      Biventricular pacemakers require more assessments than do traditional single- or
      dual-chamber pacemakers. 

PMID- 25834006
TI  - Standards for resuscitation after cardiac surgery.
AB  - Of the 250 000 patients who undergo major cardiac operations in the United States
      annually, 0.7% to 2.9% will experience a postoperative cardiac arrest. Although
      Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) is the standard approach to management of
      cardiac arrest in the United States, it has significant limitations in these
      patients. The European Resuscitation Council (ERC) has endorsed a new guideline
      specific to resuscitation after cardiac surgery that advises important, evidence
      based deviations from ACLS and is under consideration in the United States. The
      ACLS and ERC recommendations for resuscitation of these patients are contrasted
      on the basis of the essential components of care. Key to this approach is the
      rapid elimination of reversible causes of arrest, followed by either
      defibrillation or pacing (as appropriate) before external cardiac compressions
      that can damage the sternotomy, cautious use of epinephrine owing to potential
      rebound hypertension, and prompt resternotomy (within 5 minutes) to promote
      optimal cerebral perfusion with internal massage, if prior interventions are
      unsuccessful. These techniques are relatively simple, reproducible, and easily
      mastered in Cardiac Surgical Unit-Advanced Life Support courses. Resuscitation of
      patients after heart surgery presents a unique opportunity to achieve high
      survival rates with key modifications to ACLS that warrant adoption in the United
      States. 

PMID- 25834007
TI  - Continuing to challenge practice to be evidence based.
AB  - Practice habits continue in clinical practice despite the availability of
      research and other forms of evidence that should be used to guide critical care
      practice interventions. This article is based on a presentation at the 2014
      National Teaching Institute of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
      The article is part of a series of articles that challenge critical care nurses
      to examine the evidence guiding nursing practice interventions. Four common
      practice interventions are reviewed: (1) weight-based medication administration,
      (2) chest tube patency maintenance, (3) daily interruption of sedation, and (4)
      use of chest physiotherapy in children. For weight-based administration of
      medication, the patient's actual weight should be measured, rather than using an
      estimate. The therapeutic effectiveness and dosages of medications used in obese
      patients must be critically evaluated. Maintaining patency of chest tubes does
      not require stripping and milking, which probably do more harm than good. Daily
      interruption of sedation and judicious use of sedatives are appropriate in most
      patients receiving mechanical ventilation. Traditional chest physiotherapy does
      not help children with pneumonia, bronchiolitis, or asthma and does not prevent
      atelectasis after extubation. Critical care nurses are challenged to evaluate
      their individual practice and to adopt current evidence-based practice
      interventions into their daily practice. 

PMID- 25834008
TI  - Fecal microbiota transplant to treat recurrent Clostridium difficile infections.
AB  - The prevalence of recurrent or refractory Clostridium difficile infection has
      been steadily increasing since 2000. Consequently, alternative treatments to the
      standard antibiotic therapies are now being considered. One alternative treatment
      is fecal microbiota transplant. Although fecal microbiota transplant is
      relatively new--and not appealing to most people--it has been around for many
      years and has great promise as an inexpensive, safe, and efficient treatment of
      refractory and recurrent C difficile infection. With a better understanding of
      the intricacies of the colonic microbiome and its role in colonic physiology and
      pathophysiology, critical care nurses will recognize that fecal microbiota
      transplant has the potential to become the standard of care for treatment of
      recurrent or refractory C difficile infection. The American College of
      Gastroenterology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America provide the
      latest treatment guidelines for care of patients with these clostridial
      infections.

PMID- 25834009
TI  - Nurse-physician collaboration and hospital-acquired infections in critical care.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nurse-physician collaboration may be related to outcomes in health
      care-associated infections. OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between nurse
      physician collaboration and health care-associated infections in critically ill
      adults. METHODS: A secondary analysis was done of 5 years of nurses' perception
      data from 671 surveys from 4 intensive care units. Ventilator-associated
      pneumonia and central catheter-associated bloodstream infections were examined.
      Multilevel modeling was used to examine relationships between nurse-physician
      collaboration and the 2 infections. RESULTS: Nurse-physician collaboration was
      significantly related to both infections. For every 0.5 unit increase in
      collaboration, the rate of the bloodstream infections decreased by 2.98 (P= .005)
      and that of pneumonia by 1.13 (P= .005). Intensive care units with a higher
      proportion of certified nurses were associated with a 0.43 lower incidence of
      bloodstream infections (P= .02) and a 0.17 lower rate of the pneumonia (P= .01).
      With nursing hours per patient day as a covariate, units with more nursing hours
      per patient day were associated with a 0.42 decrease in the rate of bloodstream
      infections (P= .05). CONCLUSION: Nurse-physician collaboration was significantly
      related to health care-associated infections.

PMID- 25834010
TI  - R-E-L-A-X.

PMID- 25834011
TI  - Discontinuing the indwelling catheter for a critically ill patient with spinal
      cord injury.

PMID- 25834012
TI  - Permissive hypoxemia versus normoxemia for critically ill patients receiving
      mechanical ventilation.

PMID- 25834013
TI  - Bedside nurses leading the way for falls prevention: an evidence-based approach.
AB  - Incidence and characteristics of patient falls and fall prevention programs have
      been a topic of interest in the literature; however, few articles on fall
      reduction strategies written by staff nurses have been published. Falls in
      hospitalized patients are serious threats to patient safety. According to Morse,
      sequelae of falls are the second leading cause of death in the United States.
      Costs resulting from falls alone have been reported at between 0.85% and 1.5% of
      the total health care expenses within the United States, Australia, the European
      Union, and the United Kingdom. A fall is the most reported safety incident in
      inpatients and occurs in all adult clinical areas. Accidental falls are among the
      most common incidents reported in hospitals and occur in approximately 2% of all
      hospital stays. Growing evidence indicates that falls occurring in the hospital
      can be reduced with planning and intervention techniques

PMID- 25834015
TI  - I am a critical care nurse.

PMID- 25834016
TI  - Training forward surgical teams for deployment: the US Army Trauma Training
      Center.
AB  - Since the late 1980s, the US Army has been deploying forward surgical teams to
      the most intense areas of conflict to care for personnel injured in combat. The
      forward surgical team is a 20-person medical team that is highly mobile,
      extremely agile, and has relatively little need of outside support to perform its
      surgical mission. In order to perform this mission, however, team training and
      trauma training are required. The large majority of these teams do not routinely
      train together to provide patient care, and that training currently takes place
      at the US Army Trauma Training Center (ATTC). The training staff of the ATTC is a
      specially selected 10-person team made up of active duty personnel from the Army
      Medical Department assigned to the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital
      Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, Florida. The ATTC team of instructors trains as
      many as 11 forward surgical teams in 2-week rotations per year so that the teams
      are ready to perform their mission in a deployed setting. Since the first forward
      surgical team was trained at the ATTC in January 2002, more than 112 forward
      surgical teams and other similar-sized Department of Defense forward
      resuscitative and surgical units have rotated through trauma training at the
      Ryder Trauma Center in preparation for deployment overseas. 

PMID- 25834018
TI  - Clonal analysis reveals granule cell behaviors and compartmentalization that
      determine the folded morphology of the cerebellum.
AB  - The mammalian cerebellum consists of folds of different sizes and shapes that
      house distinct neural circuits. A crucial factor underlying foliation is the
      generation of granule cells (gcs), the most numerous neuron type in the brain. We
      used clonal analysis to uncover global as well as folium size-specific cellular
      behaviors that underlie cerebellar morphogenesis. Unlike most neural precursors,
      gc precursors divide symmetrically, accounting for their massive expansion. We
      found that oriented cell divisions underlie an overall anteroposteriorly
      polarized growth of the cerebellum and gc clone geometry. Clone geometry is
      further refined by mediolateral oriented migration and passive dispersion of
      differentiating gcs. Most strikingly, the base of each fissure acts as a boundary
      for gc precursor dispersion, which we propose allows each folium to be regulated
      as a developmental unit. Indeed, the geometry and size of clones in long and
      short folia are distinct. Moreover, in engrailed 1/2 mutants with shorter folia,
      clone cell number and geometry are most similar to clones in short folia of wild
      type mice. Thus, the cerebellum has a modular mode of development that allows the
      plane of cell division and number of divisions to be differentially regulated to
      ensure that the appropriate number of cells are partitioned into each folium. 

PMID- 25834017
TI  - Protective Efficacy of the Conserved NP, PB1, and M1 Proteins as Immunogens in
      DNA- and Vaccinia Virus-Based Universal Influenza A Virus Vaccines in Mice.
AB  - The conventional hemagglutinin (HA)- and neuraminidase (NA)-based influenza
      vaccines need to be updated most years and are ineffective if the glycoprotein HA
      of the vaccine strains is a mismatch with that of the epidemic strain. Universal
      vaccines targeting conserved viral components might provide cross-protection and
      thus complement and improve conventional vaccines. In this study, we generated
      DNA plasmids and recombinant vaccinia viruses expressing the conserved proteins
      nucleoprotein (NP), polymerase basic 1 (PB1), and matrix 1 (M1) from influenza
      virus strain A/Beijing/30/95 (H3N2). BALB/c mice were immunized intramuscularly
      with a single vaccine based on NP, PB1, or M1 alone or a combination vaccine
      based on all three antigens and were then challenged with lethal doses of the
      heterologous influenza virus strain A/PR/8/34 (H1N1). Vaccines based on NP, PB1,
      and M1 provided complete or partial protection against challenge with 1.7 50%
      lethal dose (LD50) of PR8 in mice. Of the three antigens, NP-based vaccines
      induced protection against 5 LD50 and 10 LD50 and thus exhibited the greatest
      protective effect. Universal influenza vaccines based on the combination of NP,
      PB1, and M1 induced a strong immune response and thus might be an alternative
      approach to addressing future influenza virus pandemics. 

PMID- 25834019
TI  - Temporal ordering and registration of images in studies of developmental
      dynamics.
AB  - Progress of development is commonly reconstructed from imaging snapshots of
      chemical or mechanical processes in fixed tissues. As a first step in these
      reconstructions, snapshots must be spatially registered and ordered in time.
      Currently, image registration and ordering are often done manually, requiring a
      significant amount of expertise with a specific system. However, as the sizes of
      imaging data sets grow, these tasks become increasingly difficult, especially
      when the images are noisy and the developmental changes being examined are
      subtle. To address these challenges, we present an automated approach to
      simultaneously register and temporally order imaging data sets. The approach is
      based on vector diffusion maps, a manifold learning technique that does not
      require a priori knowledge of image features or a parametric model of the
      developmental dynamics. We illustrate this approach by registering and ordering
      data from imaging studies of pattern formation and morphogenesis in three model
      systems. We also provide software to aid in the application of our methodology to
      other experimental data sets. 

PMID- 25834020
TI  - Regulation by a TGFbeta-ROCK-actomyosin axis secures a non-linear lumen expansion
      that is essential for tubulogenesis.
AB  - Regulation of lumen growth is crucial to ensure the correct morphology,
      dimensions and function of a tubular structure. How this is controlled is still
      poorly understood. During Ciona intestinalis notochord tubulogenesis, single
      extracellular lumen pockets grow between pairs of cells and eventually fuse into
      a continuous tube. Here, we show that lumen growth exhibits a lag phase, during
      which the luminal membranes continue to grow but the expansion of the
      apical/lateral junction pauses for ~30 min. Inhibition of non-muscle myosin II
      activity abolishes this lag phase and accelerates expansion of the junction,
      resulting in the formation of narrower lumen pockets partially fusing into a tube
      of reduced size. Disruption of actin dynamics, conversely, causes a reversal of
      apical/lateral junction expansion, leading to a dramatic conversion of
      extracellular lumen pockets to intracellular vacuoles and a tubulogenesis arrest.
      The onset of the lag phase is correlated with a de novo accumulation of actin
      that forms a contractile ring at the apical/lateral junctions. This actin ring
      actively restricts the opening of the lumen in the transverse plane, allowing
      sufficient time for lumen growth via an osmotic process along the longitudinal
      dimension. The dynamics of lumen formation is controlled by the TGFbeta pathway
      and ROCK activity. Our findings reveal a TGFbeta-ROCK-actomyosin contractility
      axis that coordinates lumen growth, which is powered by the dynamics of luminal
      osmolarity. The regulatory system may function like a sensor/checkpoint that
      responds to the change of luminal pressure and fine-tunes actomyosin
      contractility to effect proper tubulogenesis. 

PMID- 25834021
TI  - Sox7 controls arterial specification in conjunction with hey2 and efnb2 function.
AB  - SoxF family members have been linked to arterio-venous specification events and
      human pathological conditions, but in contrast to Sox17 and Sox18, a detailed in
      vivo analysis of a Sox7 mutant model is still lacking. In this study we generated
      zebrafish sox7 mutants to understand the role of Sox7 during vascular
      development. By in vivo imaging of transgenic zebrafish lines we show that sox7
      mutants display a short circulatory loop around the heart as a result of aberrant
      connections between the lateral dorsal aorta (LDA) and either the venous primary
      head sinus (PHS) or the common cardinal vein (CCV). In situ hybridization and
      live observations in flt4:mCitrine transgenic embryos revealed increased
      expression levels of flt4 in arterial endothelial cells at the exact location of
      the aberrant vascular connections in sox7 mutants. An identical circulatory short
      loop could also be observed in newly generated mutants for hey2 and efnb2. By
      genetically modulating levels of sox7, hey2 and efnb2 we demonstrate a genetic
      interaction of sox7 with hey2 and efnb2. The specific spatially confined effect
      of loss of Sox7 function can be rescued by overexpressing the Notch intracellular
      domain (NICD) in arterial cells of sox7 mutants, placing Sox7 upstream of Notch
      in this aspect of arterial development. Hence, sox7 levels are crucial in
      arterial specification in conjunction with hey2 and efnb2 function, with mutants
      in all three genes displaying shunt formation and an arterial block. 

PMID- 25834022
TI  - The loss of Hh responsiveness by a non-ciliary Gli2 variant.
AB  - Hedgehog signaling is crucial for vertebrate development and physiology. Gli2,
      the primary effector of Hedgehog signaling, localizes to the tip of the primary
      cilium, but the importance of its ciliary localization remains unclear. We
      address the roles of Gli2 ciliary localization by replacing endogenous Gli2 with
      Gli2(DeltaCLR), a Gli2 variant not localizing to the cilium. The resulting
      Gli2(DeltaCLRKI) and Gli2(DeltaCLRKI);Gli3 double mutants resemble Gli2-null and
      Gli2;Gli3 double mutants, respectively, suggesting the lack of Gli2(DeltaCLR)
      activation in development. Significantly, Gli2(DeltaCLR) cannot be activated
      either by pharmacochemical activation of Smo in vitro or by loss of Ptch1 in
      vivo. Finally, Gli2(DeltaCLR) exhibits strong transcriptional activator activity
      in the absence of Sufu, suggesting that the lack of its activation in vivo
      results from a specific failure in relieving the inhibitory function of Sufu. Our
      results provide strong evidence that the ciliary localization of Gli2 is crucial
      for cilium-dependent activation of Hedgehog signaling. 

PMID- 25834023
TI  - Avastin and Lucentis: a guide through the legal maze.

PMID- 25834024
TI  - Why have UK doctors been deterred from prescribing Avastin?

PMID- 25834025
TI  - Attacks on publicly funded trials: what happens when industry does not want to
      know the answer.

PMID- 25834026
TI  - A licence to cure.

PMID- 25834027
TI  - Splitting blood and blood product packaging reduces donor exposure for patients
      undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiopulmonary bypass for congenital heart surgery requires packed
      red cells (PRBC) and fresh frozen plasma (FFP) to be available, both for priming
      of the circuit as well as to replace blood loss. This study examines the
      hypothesis that splitting one unit of packed red blood cells and one unit of
      fresh frozen plasma into two half units reduces blood product exposure and
      wastage in the Operating Room. METHODS: Beginning August 2013, the blood bank at
      Children's National Medical Center began splitting one unit of packed red blood
      cells (PRBC) and one unit of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) for patients undergoing
      cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The 283 patients who utilized CPB during calendar
      year 2013 were divided into 2 study groups: before the split and after the split.
      The principal endpoints were blood product usage and donor exposure intra
      operatively and within 72 hours post-operatively. RESULTS: There was a
      significant decrease in median total donor exposures for FFP and cryoprecipitate
      from 5 to 4 per case (p = 0.007, Mann-Whitney U-test). However, there was no
      difference in the volume of blood and blood products used; in fact, there was a
      significant increase in the amount of FFP that was wasted with the switch to
      splitting the unit of FFP. CONCLUSIONS: We found that modification of blood
      product packaging can decrease donor exposure. Future investigation is needed as
      to how to modify packaging to minimize wastage.

PMID- 25834029
TI  - Color is processed less efficiently than orientation in change detection but more
      efficiently in visual search.
AB  - Basic visual features (e.g., color, orientation) are assumed to be processed in
      the same general way across different visual tasks. Here, a significant deviation
      from this assumption was predicted on the basis of the analysis of stimulus
      spatial structure, as characterized by the Boolean-map notion. If a task requires
      memorizing the orientations of a set of bars, then the map consisting of those
      bars can be readily used to hold the overall structure in memory and will thus be
      especially useful. If the task requires visual search for a target, then the map,
      which contains only an overall structure, will be of little use. Supporting these
      predictions, the present study demonstrated that in comparison to stimulus
      colors, bar orientations were processed more efficiently in change-detection
      tasks but less efficiently in visual search tasks (Cohen's d = 4.24). In addition
      to offering support for the role of the Boolean map in conscious access, the
      present work also throws doubts on the generality of processing visual features. 

PMID- 25834028
TI  - Probing the Dynamic Updating of Value in Schizophrenia Using a Sensory-Specific
      Satiety Paradigm.
AB  - It has been proposed that both positive and negative symptoms in schizophrenia
      (SZ) may derive, at least in part, from a disrupted ability to accurately and
      flexibly represent the value of stimuli and actions. To assess relationships
      between dimensions of psychopathology in SZ, and the tendency to devalue food
      stimuli, on which subjects were fed to satiety, we administered a sensory
      specific satiety (SSS) paradigm to 42 SZ patients and 44 controls. In each of 2
      sessions, subjects received 16 0.7-ml squirts of each of 2 rewarding foods and 32
      squirts of a control solution, using syringes. In between the 2 sessions, each
      subject was instructed to drink one of the foods until he/she felt "full, but not
      uncomfortable." At 10 regular intervals, interspersed throughout the 2 sessions,
      subjects rated each liquid for pleasantness, using a Likert-type scale. Mann
      Whitney U-tests revealed group differences in SSS effects. Within-group tests
      revealed that, while controls showed an effect of satiety that was sensory
      specific, patients showed an effect of satiety that was not, devaluing the sated
      and unsated foods similarly. In SZ patients, we observed correlations between the
      magnitude of SSS effects and measures of both positive and negative symptoms. We
      argue that the ability to flexibly and rapidly update representations of the
      value of stimuli and actions figures critically in the ability of patients with
      psychotic illness to process salient events and adaptively engage in goal
      directed behavior. 

PMID- 25834030
TI  - Targeted screen for human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases inhibitors and the
      evaluation of potential drug-drug interactions with zafirlukast.
AB  - Inhibition of drug metabolizing enzymes is a major mechanism in drug-drug
      interactions (DDIs). A number of cases of DDIs via inhibition of UDP
      glucuronosyltranseferases (UGTs) have been reported, although the changes in
      pharmacokinetics are relatively small in comparison with drugs that are
      metabolized by cytochrome P450s. Most of the past studies have investigated
      hepatic UGTs, although recent studies have revealed a significant contribution of
      UGTs in the small intestine to drug clearance. To evaluate potential DDIs caused
      by inhibition of intestinal UGTs, we assessed inhibitory effects of 578
      compounds, including drugs, xenobiotics, and endobiotics, on human UGT1A8 and
      UGT1A10, which are major contributors to intestinal glucuronidation. We
      identified 29 inhibitors by monitoring raloxifene glucuronidation with
      recombinant UGTs. All of the inhibitors potently inhibited UGT1A1 activity, as
      well. We found that zafirlukast is a potent general inhibitor of UGT1As and a
      moderate inhibitor of UGT2Bs because it monitors 4-methylumbelliferone
      glucuronidation by recombinant UGTs. However, zafirlukast did not potently
      inhibit diclofenac glucuronidation, suggesting that the inhibitory effects might
      be substrate specific. Inhibitory effects of zafirlukast on some UGT substrates
      were further investigated in human liver and human small intestine microsomes in
      order to evaluate potential DDIs. The R values (the ratios of intrinsic clearance
      with and without an inhibitor) revealed that zafirlukast has potential to cause
      clinical DDIs in the small intestine. Although we could not identify specific
      UGT1A8 and UGT1A10 inhibitors, zafirlukast was identified as a general inhibitor
      for UGTs in vitro. The present study suggests that the inhibition of UGT in the
      small intestine would be an underlying mechanism for DDIs. 

PMID- 25834031
TI  - Biodistribution of etanercept to tissues and sites of inflammation in arthritic
      rats.
AB  - Many monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and other protein drugs have targets usually
      residing within tissues, making tissue concentrations of mAbs relevant to their
      pharmacologic effects. Therefore, knowledge of tissue distribution kinetics is
      important to better understand their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. The
      tissue distribution of mAbs is affected by many physiologic factors that may be
      altered in disease status. In the present work, we studied the tissue
      distribution kinetics of the fusion protein etanercept in inflamed joint tissues
      and examined the impact of inflammation on the tissue distribution of etanercept.
      Etanercept concentration profiles in plasma, blister fluid, and different tissues
      were obtained from healthy and collagen-induced arthritic (CIA) rats by use of a
      fluorescence quantification method via IRDye800CW labeling. Stepwise minimal and
      full physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) approaches were applied to
      characterize the distribution kinetics of etanercept in tissues in healthy and
      diseased animals. Etanercept exhibited modest tissue access (tissue/plasma area
      under the concentration curve [AUC] ratios 0.03-0.15 and estimated tissue
      reflection coefficients [sigma] of 0.6-1.0), but with good penetration into
      arthritic paws (tissue/plasma AUC ratio 0.23 and sigma 0.36). Etanercept exposure
      in the inflamed paws of CIA rats was approximately 3-fold higher than in normal
      paws taken from either CIA or healthy rats (tissue/plasma AUC ratios 0.23 versus
      0.07 and sigma 0.36 versus 0.71). The tissue distribution kinetics of etanercept
      in arthritic paws were well characterized with PBPK modeling approaches.
      Etanercept shows good penetration to arthritic paws in CIA rats. Our study
      indicates that inflammation produced increased tissue distribution of etanercept
      in CIA rats. 

PMID- 25834032
TI  - Adhesive intestinal obstruction caused by extragastrointestinal anisakiasis.

PMID- 25834033
TI  - Spinal epidural hematoma and gnathostomiasis.

PMID- 25834034
TI  - Erratum.

PMID- 25834035
TI  - Dorsolateral-ventromedial prefrontal cortex interactions during value-guided
      choice: a function of context or difficulty?

PMID- 25834036
TI  - Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of vestibular disorders: psychophysics
      and prosthetics.
AB  - Although vestibular disorders are common and often disabling, they remain
      difficult to diagnose and treat. For these reasons, considerable interest has
      been focused on developing new ways to identify peripheral and central vestibular
      abnormalities and on new therapeutic options that could benefit the numerous
      patients who remain symptomatic despite optimal therapy. In this review, I focus
      on the potential utility of psychophysical vestibular testing and vestibular
      prosthetics. The former offers a new diagnostic approach that may prove to be
      superior to the current tests in some circumstances; the latter may be a way to
      provide the brain with information about head motion that restores some elements
      of the information normally provided by the vestibular labyrinth. 

PMID- 25834038
TI  - The influence of movement preparation time on the expression of visuomotor
      learning and savings.
AB  - Following a change in the environment or motor apparatus, human subjects are able
      to rapidly compensate their movements to recover accurate performance. This
      ability to adapt is thought to be achieved through multiple, qualitatively
      distinct learning processes acting in parallel. It is unclear, however, what the
      relative contributions of these multiple processes are during learning. In
      particular, long-term memories in such paradigms have been extensively studied
      through the phenomenon of savings-faster adaptation to a given perturbation the
      second time it is experienced-but it is unclear which components of learning
      contribute to this effect. Here we show that distinct components of learning in
      an adaptation task can be dissociated based on the amount of preparation time
      they require. During adaptation, we occasionally forced subjects to generate
      movements at very low preparation times. Early in learning, subjects expressed
      only a limited amount of their prior learning in these trials, though performance
      improved gradually with further practice. Following washout, subjects exhibited a
      strong and persistent aftereffect in trials in which preparation time was
      limited. When subjects were exposed to the same perturbation twice in successive
      days, they adapted faster the second time. This savings effect was, however, not
      seen in movements generated at low preparation times. These results demonstrate
      that preparation time plays a critical role in the expression of some components
      of learning but not others. Savings is restricted to those components that
      require prolonged preparation to be expressed and might therefore reflect a
      declarative rather than procedural form of memory. 

PMID- 25834037
TI  - Neuronal Kmt2a/Mll1 histone methyltransferase is essential for prefrontal
      synaptic plasticity and working memory.
AB  - Neuronal histone H3-lysine 4 methylation landscapes are defined by sharp peaks at
      gene promoters and other cis-regulatory sequences, but molecular and cellular
      phenotypes after neuron-specific deletion of H3K4 methyl-regulators remain
      largely unexplored. We report that neuronal ablation of the H3K4-specific
      methyltransferase, Kmt2a/Mixed-lineage leukemia 1 (Mll1), in mouse postnatal
      forebrain and adult prefrontal cortex (PFC) is associated with increased anxiety
      and robust cognitive deficits without locomotor dysfunction. In contrast, only
      mild behavioral phenotypes were observed after ablation of the Mll1 ortholog
      Kmt2b/Mll2 in PFC. Impaired working memory after Kmt2a/Mll1 ablation in PFC
      neurons was associated with loss of training-induced transient waves of Arc
      immediate early gene expression critical for synaptic plasticity. Medial
      prefrontal layer V pyramidal neurons, a major output relay of the cortex,
      demonstrated severely impaired synaptic facilitation and temporal summation, two
      forms of short-term plasticity essential for working memory. Chromatin
      immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing in Mll1-deficient cortical
      neurons revealed downregulated expression and loss of the transcriptional mark,
      trimethyl-H3K4, at <50 loci, including the homeodomain transcription factor
      Meis2. Small RNA-mediated Meis2 knockdown in PFC was associated with working
      memory defects similar to those elicited by Mll1 deletion. Therefore, mature
      prefrontal neurons critically depend on maintenance of Mll1-regulated H3K4
      methylation at a subset of genes with an essential role in cognition and emotion.

PMID- 25834039
TI  - The knockdown of alphakap alters the postsynaptic apparatus of neuromuscular
      junctions in living mice.
AB  - A muscle-specific nonkinase anchoring protein (alphakap), encoded within the
      calcium/calmodulin kinase II (camk2) alpha gene, was recently found to control
      the stability of acetylcholine receptor (AChR) clusters on the surface of
      cultured myotubes. However, it remains unknown whether this protein has any
      effect on receptor stability and the maintenance of the structural integrity of
      neuromuscular synapses in vivo. By knocking down the endogenous expression of
      alphakap in mouse sternomastoid muscles with shRNA, we found that the
      postsynaptic receptor density was dramatically reduced, the turnover rate of
      receptors at synaptic sites was significantly increased, and the insertion rates
      of both newly synthesized and recycled receptors into the postsynaptic membrane
      were depressed. Moreover, we found that alphakap shRNA knockdown impaired
      synaptic structure as postsynaptic AChR clusters and their associated
      postsynaptic scaffold proteins within the neuromuscular junction were completely
      eliminated. These results provide new mechanistic insight into the role of
      alphakap in regulating the stability of the postsynaptic apparatus of
      neuromuscular synapses. 

PMID- 25834040
TI  - Delayed inhibition of VEGF signaling after stroke attenuates blood-brain barrier
      breakdown and improves functional recovery in a comorbidity-dependent manner.
AB  - Diabetes is a common comorbidity in stroke patients and a strong predictor of
      poor functional outcome. To provide a more mechanistic understanding of this
      clinically relevant problem, we focused on how diabetes affects blood-brain
      barrier (BBB) function after stroke. Because the BBB can be compromised for days
      after stroke and thus further exacerbate ischemic injury, manipulating its
      function presents a unique opportunity for enhancing stroke recovery long after
      the window for thrombolytics has passed. Using a mouse model of Type 1 diabetes,
      we discovered that ischemic stroke leads to an abnormal and persistent increase
      in vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGF-R2) expression in peri
      infarct vascular networks. Correlating with this, BBB permeability was markedly
      increased in diabetic mice, which could not be prevented with insulin treatment
      after stroke. Imaging of capillary ultrastructure revealed that BBB permeability
      was associated with an increase in endothelial transcytosis rather than a loss of
      tight junctions. Pharmacological inhibition (initiated 2.5 d after stroke) or
      vascular-specific knockdown of VEGF-R2 after stroke attenuated BBB permeability,
      loss of synaptic structure in peri-infarct regions, and improved recovery of
      forepaw function. However, the beneficial effects of VEGF-R2 inhibition on stroke
      recovery were restricted to diabetic mice and appeared to worsen BBB permeability
      in nondiabetic mice. Collectively, these results suggest that aberrant VEGF
      signaling and BBB dysfunction after stroke plays a crucial role in limiting
      functional recovery in an experimental model of diabetes. Furthermore, our data
      highlight the need to develop more personalized stroke treatments for a
      heterogeneous clinical population. 

PMID- 25834042
TI  - Regulation of patterned dynamics of local exocytosis in growth cones by netrin-1.
AB  - Axonal guidance and synaptic specification depends on specific signaling
      mechanisms that occur in growth cones. While several signaling pathways
      implicated in cone navigation have been identified, membrane dynamics in growth
      cones remains largely unknown. We took advantage of SynaptopHluorin and high
      speed optical recordings to monitor the patterns of membrane dynamics in rat
      hippocampal growth cones. We show that exocytosis occurs both at the peripheral
      and central domains, including filopodia, and that SynaptopHluorin signals occur
      as spontaneous patterned peaks. Such transients average approximately two per
      minute and last ~30 s. We also demonstrate that the chemoattractant Netrin-1
      elicits increases in the frequency and slopes of these transients, with peaks
      averaging up to six per minute in the peripheral domain. Netrin-1-dependent
      regulation of exocytotic events requires the activation of the Erk1/2 and SFK
      pathways. Furthermore, we show that domains with high SynaptopHluorin signals
      correlate with high local calcium concentrations and that local, spontaneous
      calcium increases are associated with higher SynaptopHluorin signals. These
      findings demonstrate highly stereotyped, spontaneous transients of local
      exocytosis in growth cones and that these transients are positively regulated by
      chemoattractant molecules such as Netrin-1. 

PMID- 25834041
TI  - Osmoregulation requires brain expression of the renal Na-K-2Cl cotransporter
      NKCC2.
AB  - The Na-K-2Cl cotransporter 2 (NKCC2) was thought to be kidney specific. Here we
      show expression in the brain hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal system (HNS), wherein
      upregulation follows osmotic stress. The HNS controls osmotic stability through
      the synthesis and release of the neuropeptide hormone, arginine vasopressin
      (AVP). AVP travels through the bloodstream to the kidney, where it promotes water
      conservation. Knockdown of HNS NKCC2 elicited profound effects on fluid balance
      following ingestion of a high-salt solution-rats produced significantly more
      urine, concomitant with increases in fluid intake and plasma osmolality. Since
      NKCC2 is the molecular target of the loop diuretics bumetanide and furosemide, we
      asked about their effects on HNS function following disturbed water balance.
      Dehydration-evoked GABA-mediated excitation of AVP neurons was reversed by
      bumetanide, and furosemide blocked AVP release, both in vivo and in hypothalamic
      explants. Thus, NKCC2-dependent brain mechanisms that regulate osmotic stability
      are disrupted by loop diuretics in rats. 

PMID- 25834043
TI  - A proteomic analysis reveals the interaction of GluK1 ionotropic kainate receptor
      subunits with Go proteins.
AB  - Kainate receptors (KARs) are found ubiquitously in the CNS and are present
      presynaptically and postsynaptically regulating synaptic transmission and
      excitability. Functional studies have proven that KARs act as ion channels as
      well as potentially activating G-proteins, thus indicating the existance of a
      dual signaling system for KARs. Nevertheless, it is not clear how these ion
      channels activate G-proteins and which of the KAR subunits is involved. Here we
      performed a proteomic analysis to define proteins that interact with the C
      terminal domain of GluK1 and we identified a variety of proteins with many
      different functions, including a Go alpha subunit. These interactions were
      verified through distinct in vitro and in vivo assays, and the activation of the
      Go protein by GluK1 was validated in bioluminescence resonance energy transfer
      experiments, while the specificity of this association was confirmed in GluK1
      deficient mice. These data reveal components of the KAR interactome, and they
      show that GluK1 and Go proteins are natural partners, accounting for the
      metabotropic effects of KARs. 

PMID- 25834044
TI  - Distributed representation of visual objects by single neurons in the human
      brain.
AB  - It remains unclear how single neurons in the human brain represent whole-object
      visual stimuli. While recordings in both human and nonhuman primates have shown
      distributed representations of objects (many neurons encoding multiple objects),
      recordings of single neurons in the human medial temporal lobe, taken as
      subjects' discriminated objects during multiple presentations, have shown gnostic
      representations (single neurons encoding one object). Because some studies
      suggest that repeated viewing may enhance neural selectivity for objects, we had
      human subjects discriminate objects in a single, more naturalistic viewing
      session. We found that, across 432 well isolated neurons recorded in the
      hippocampus and amygdala, the average fraction of objects encoded was 26%. We
      also found that more neurons encoded several objects versus only one object in
      the hippocampus (28 vs 18%, p < 0.001) and in the amygdala (30 vs 19%, p <
      0.001). Thus, during realistic viewing experiences, typical neurons in the human
      medial temporal lobe code for a considerable range of objects, across multiple
      semantic categories. 

PMID- 25834046
TI  - Mechanisms underlying encoding of short-lived versus durable episodic memories.
AB  - We continuously encounter and process novel events in the surrounding world, but
      only some episodes will leave detailed memory traces that can be recollected
      after weeks and months. Here, our aim was to monitor brain activity during
      encoding of events that eventually transforms into long-term stable memories.
      Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown that the
      degree of activation of different brain regions during encoding is predictive of
      later recollection success. However, most of these studies tested participants'
      memories the same day as encoding occurred, whereas several lines of research
      suggest that extended post-encoding processing is of crucial importance for long
      term consolidation. Using fMRI, we tested whether the same encoding mechanisms
      are predictive of recollection success after hours as after a retention interval
      of several weeks. Seventy-eight participants were scanned during an associative
      encoding task and given a source memory test the same day or after ~6 weeks. We
      found a strong link between regional activity levels during encoding and
      recollection success over short time intervals. However, results further showed
      that durable source memories, i.e., events recollected after several weeks, were
      not simply the events associated with the highest activity levels at encoding.
      Rather, strong levels of connectivity between the right hippocampus and
      perceptual areas, as well as with parts of the self-referential default-mode
      network, seemed instrumental in establishing durable source memories. Thus, we
      argue that an initial intensity-based encoding is necessary for short-term
      encoding of events, whereas additional processes involving hippocampal-cortical
      communication aid transformation into stable long-term memories. 

PMID- 25834045
TI  - Conditional deletion of the glutamate transporter GLT-1 reveals that astrocytic
      GLT-1 protects against fatal epilepsy while neuronal GLT-1 contributes
      significantly to glutamate uptake into synaptosomes.
AB  - GLT-1 (EAAT2; slc1a2) is the major glutamate transporter in the brain, and is
      predominantly expressed in astrocytes, but at lower levels also in excitatory
      terminals. We generated a conditional GLT-1 knock-out mouse to uncover cell-type
      specific functional roles of GLT-1. Inactivation of the GLT-1 gene was achieved
      in either neurons or astrocytes by expression of synapsin-Cre or inducible human
      GFAP-CreERT2. Elimination of GLT-1 from astrocytes resulted in loss of ~80% of
      GLT-1 protein and of glutamate uptake activity that could be solubilized and
      reconstituted in liposomes. This loss was accompanied by excess mortality, lower
      body weight, and seizures suggesting that astrocytic GLT-1 is of major
      importance. However, there was only a small (15%) reduction that did not reach
      significance of glutamate uptake into crude forebrain synaptosomes. In contrast,
      when GLT-1 was deleted in neurons, both the GLT-1 protein and glutamate uptake
      activity that could be solubilized and reconstituted in liposomes were virtually
      unaffected. These mice showed normal survival, weight gain, and no seizures.
      However, the synaptosomal glutamate uptake capacity (Vmax) was reduced
      significantly (40%). In conclusion, astrocytic GLT-1 performs critical functions
      required for normal weight gain, resistance to epilepsy, and survival. However,
      the contribution of astrocytic GLT-1 to glutamate uptake into synaptosomes is
      less than expected, and the contribution of neuronal GLT-1 to synaptosomal
      glutamate uptake is greater than expected based on their relative protein
      expression. These results have important implications for the interpretation of
      the many previous studies assessing glutamate uptake capacity by measuring
      synaptosomal uptake. 

PMID- 25834047
TI  - Relative unisensory strength and timing predict their multisensory product.
AB  - Understanding the principles by which the brain combines information from
      different senses provides us with insight into the computational strategies used
      to maximize their utility. Prior studies of the superior colliculus (SC) neuron
      as a model suggest that the relative timing with which sensory cues appear is an
      important factor in this context. Cross-modal cues that are near-simultaneous are
      likely to be derived from the same event, and the neural inputs they generate are
      integrated more strongly than those from cues that are temporally displaced from
      one another. However, the present results from studies of cat SC neurons show
      that this "temporal principle" of multisensory integration is more nuanced than
      previously thought and reveal that the integration of temporally displaced
      sensory responses is also highly dependent on the relative efficacies with which
      they drive their common target neuron. Larger multisensory responses were
      achieved when stronger responses were advanced in time relative to weaker
      responses. This new temporal principle of integration suggests an inhibitory
      mechanism that better accounts for the sensitivity of the multisensory product to
      differences in the timing of cross-modal cues than do earlier mechanistic
      hypotheses based on response onset alignment or response overlap. 

PMID- 25834048
TI  - Definition of a molecular pathway mediating alpha-synuclein neurotoxicity.
AB  - alpha-Synuclein physiologically chaperones SNARE-complex assembly at the synapse
      but pathologically misfolds into neurotoxic aggregates that are characteristic
      for neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, and that may spread
      from one neuron to the next throughout the brain during Parkinson's disease
      pathogenesis. In normal nerve terminals, alpha-synuclein is present in an
      equilibrium between a cytosolic form that is natively unfolded and monomeric and
      a membrane-bound form that is composed of an alpha-helical multimeric species
      that chaperones SNARE-complex assembly. Although the neurotoxicity of alpha
      synuclein is well established, the relationship between the native conformations
      of alpha-synuclein and its pathological aggregation remain incompletely
      understood; most importantly, it is unclear whether alpha-synuclein aggregation
      originates from its monomeric cytosolic or oligomeric membrane-bound form. Here,
      we address this question by introducing into alpha-synuclein point mutations that
      block membrane binding and by then assessing the effect of blocking membrane
      binding on alpha-synuclein aggregation and neurotoxicity. We show that membrane
      binding inhibits alpha-synuclein aggregation; conversely, blocking membrane
      binding enhances alpha-synuclein aggregation. Stereotactic viral expression of
      wild-type and mutant alpha-synuclein in the substantia nigra of mice demonstrated
      that blocking alpha-synuclein membrane binding significantly enhanced its
      neurotoxicity in vivo. Our data delineate a folding pathway for alpha-synuclein
      that ranges from a physiological multimeric, alpha-helical, and membrane-bound
      species that acts as a SNARE-complex chaperone over a monomeric, natively
      unfolded form to an amyloid-like aggregate that is neurotoxic in vivo. 

PMID- 25834049
TI  - Hoxb8 intersection defines a role for Lmx1b in excitatory dorsal horn neuron
      development, spinofugal connectivity, and nociception.
AB  - Spinal cord neurons respond to peripheral noxious stimuli and relay this
      information to higher brain centers, but the molecules controlling the assembly
      of such pathways are poorly known. In this study, we use the intersection of
      Lmx1b and Hoxb8::Cre expression in the spinal cord to genetically define
      nociceptive circuits. Specifically, we show that Lmx1b, previously shown to be
      expressed in glutamatergic dorsal horn neurons and critical for dorsal horn
      development, is expressed in nociceptive dorsal horn neurons and that its
      deletion results in the specific loss of excitatory dorsal horn neurons by
      apoptosis, without any effect on inhibitory neuron numbers. To assess the
      behavioral consequences of Lmx1b deletion in the spinal cord, we used the brain
      sparing driver Hoxb8::Cre. We show that such a deletion of Lmxb1 leads to a
      robust reduction in sensitivity to mechanical and thermal noxious stimulation.
      Furthermore, such conditional mutant mice show a loss of a subpopulation of
      glutamatergic dorsal horn neurons, abnormal sensory afferent innervations, and
      reduced spinofugal innervation of the parabrachial nucleus and the periaqueductal
      gray, important nociceptive structures. Together, our results demonstrate an
      important role for the intersection of Lmx1b and Hoxb8::cre expression in the
      development of nociceptive dorsal horn circuits critical for mechanical and
      thermal pain processing. 

PMID- 25834050
TI  - Activation of corticostriatal circuitry relieves chronic neuropathic pain.
AB  - Neural circuits that determine the perception and modulation of pain remain
      poorly understood. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) provides top-down control of
      sensory and affective processes. While animal and human imaging studies have
      shown that the PFC is involved in pain regulation, its exact role in pain states
      remains incompletely understood. A key output target for the PFC is the nucleus
      accumbens (NAc), an important component of the reward circuitry. Interestingly,
      recent human imaging studies suggest that the projection from the PFC to the NAc
      is altered in chronic pain. The function of this corticostriatal projection in
      pain states, however, is not known. Here we show that optogenetic activation of
      the PFC produces strong antinociceptive effects in a rat model (spared nerve
      injury model) of persistent neuropathic pain. PFC activation also reduces the
      affective symptoms of pain. Furthermore, we show that this pain-relieving
      function of the PFC is likely mediated by projections to the NAc. Thus, our
      results support a novel role for corticostriatal circuitry in pain regulation. 

PMID- 25834051
TI  - Differential regulation of two isoforms of the glial glutamate transporter EAAT2
      by DLG1 and CaMKII.
AB  - The gene for EAAT2, the major astrocytic glutamate transporter, generates two
      carrier isoforms (EAAT2a and EAAT2b) that vary at their C termini as a
      consequence of alternative RNA splicing. The EAAT2b cytoplasmic C terminus
      contains a postsynaptic density-95/Discs large/zona occludens-1 (PDZ) ligand,
      which is absent in EAAT2a. To understand how the distinct C termini might affect
      transporter trafficking and surface localization, we generated Madin-Darby canine
      kidney (MDCK) cells that stably express EGFP-EAAT2a or EGFP-EAAT2b and found
      robust basolateral membrane expression of the EAAT2b isoform. In contrast, EAAT2a
      displayed a predominant distribution within intracellular vesicle compartments,
      constitutively cycling to and from the membrane. Addition of the PDZ ligand to
      EAAT2a as well as its deletion from EAAT2b confirmed the importance of the motif
      for cell-surface localization. Using EAAT2 constructs with an extracellular
      biotin acceptor tag to directly assess surface proteins, we observed significant
      PDZ ligand-dependent EAAT2b surface expression in cultured astrocytes, consistent
      with observations in cell lines. Discs large homolog 1 (DLG1; SAP97), a PDZ
      protein prominent in both astrocytes and MDCK cells, colocalized and
      coimmunoprecipitated with EAAT2b. shRNA knockdown of DLG1 expression decreased
      surface EAAT2b in both MDCK cells and cultured astrocytes, suggesting that the
      DLG scaffolding protein stabilizes EAAT2b at the surface. DLG1 can be
      phosphorylated by Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMKII), resulting
      in disruption of its PDZ-mediated interaction. In murine astrocytes and acute
      brain slices, activation of CaMKII decreases EAAT2b surface expression but does
      not alter the distribution of EAAT2a. These data indicate that the surface
      expression and function of EAAT2b can be rapidly modulated through the disruption
      of its interaction with DLG1 by CaMKII activation. 

PMID- 25834052
TI  - Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 modulates neuroinflammation and neurotoxicity in
      models of human immunodeficiency virus 1-associated neurocognitive disorders.
AB  - Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is the single most common genetic cause of
      both familial and sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD), both of which share
      pathogenetic and neurologic similarities with human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV
      1)-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Pathologic LRRK2 activity may also
      contribute to neuroinflammation, because microglia lacking LRRK2 exposed to
      proinflammatory stimuli have attenuated responses. Because microglial activation
      is a hallmark of HIV-1 neuropathology, we have investigated the role of LRRK2
      activation using in vitro and in vivo models of HAND. We hypothesize that LRRK2
      is a key modulator of microglial inflammatory responses, which play a pathogenic
      role in both HAND and PD, and that these responses may cause or exacerbate
      neuronal damage in these diseases. The HIV-1 Tat protein is a potent neurotoxin
      produced during HAND that induces activation of primary microglia in culture and
      long-lasting neuroinflammation and neurotoxicity when injected into the CNS of
      mice. We found that LRRK2 inhibition attenuates Tat-induced pS935-LRRK2
      expression, proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine expression, and phosphorylated
      p38 and Jun N-terminal kinase signaling in primary microglia. In our murine
      model, cortical Tat injection in LRRK2 knock-out (KO) mice results in
      significantly diminished neuronal damage, as assessed by microtubule-associated
      protein 2 (MAP2), class III beta-tubulin TUJ1, synapsin-1, VGluT, and cleaved
      caspase-3 immunostaining. Furthermore, Tat-injected LRRK2 KO animals have
      decreased infiltration of peripheral neutrophils, and the morphology of microglia
      from these mice were similar to that of vehicle-injected controls. We conclude
      that pathologic activation of LRRK2 regulates a significant component of the
      neuroinflammation associated with HAND. 

PMID- 25834053
TI  - A critical role for purinergic signalling in the mechanisms underlying generation
      of BOLD fMRI responses.
AB  - The mechanisms of neurovascular coupling underlying generation of BOLD fMRI
      signals remain incompletely understood. It has been proposed that release of
      vasoactive substances by astrocytes couples neuronal activity to changes in
      cerebrovascular blood flow. However, the role of astrocytes in fMRI responses
      remains controversial. Astrocytes communicate via release of ATP, and here we
      tested the hypothesis that purinergic signaling plays a role in the mechanisms
      underlying fMRI. An established fMRI paradigm was used to trigger BOLD responses
      in the forepaw region of the somatosensory cortex (SSFP) of an anesthetized rat.
      Forepaw stimulation induced release of ATP in the SSFP region. To interfere with
      purinergic signaling by promoting rapid breakdown of the vesicular and/or
      released ATP, a lentiviral vector was used to express a potent ectonucleotidase,
      transmembrane prostatic acid phosphatase (TMPAP), in the SSFP region. TMPAP
      expression had no effect on resting cerebral blood flow, cerebrovascular
      reactivity, and neuronal responses to sensory stimulation. However, TMPAP
      catalytic activity markedly reduced the magnitude of BOLD fMRI responses
      triggered in the SSFP region by forepaw stimulation. Facilitated ATP breakdown
      could result in accumulation of adenosine. However, blockade of A1 receptors had
      no effect on BOLD responses and did not reverse the effect of TMPAP. These
      results suggest that purinergic signaling plays a significant role in generation
      of BOLD fMRI signals. We hypothesize that astrocytes activated during periods of
      enhanced neuronal activity release ATP, which propagates astrocytic activation,
      stimulates release of vasoactive substances and dilation of cerebral vasculature.

PMID- 25834055
TI  - Contribution of the potassium-chloride cotransporter KCC2 to the strength of
      inhibition in the neonatal rodent spinal cord in vitro.
AB  - In healthy mature motoneurons (MNs), KCC2 cotransporters maintain the
      intracellular chloride concentration at low levels, a prerequisite for
      postsynaptic inhibition mediated by GABA and glycine. KCC2 expression in lumbar
      MNs is reduced after spinal cord injury (SCI) resulting in a depolarizing shift
      of the chloride equilibrium potential. Despite modeling studies indicating that
      such a downregulation of KCC2 function would reduce the strength of postsynaptic
      inhibition, physiological evidence is still lacking. The present study aimed at
      investigating the functional impact of a modification of KCC2 function. We
      focused on a well characterized disynaptic inhibitory pathway responsible for
      reciprocal inhibition between antagonistic muscles. We performed in vitro
      extracellular recordings on spinal cords isolated from rodents at the end of the
      first postnatal week. Genetic reduction of KCC2 expression, pharmacological
      blockade of KCC2, as well as SCI-induced downregulation of KCC2 all resulted in a
      reduction of the strength of reciprocal inhibition. We then tried to restore
      endogenous inhibition after SCI by means of zinc ions that have been shown to
      boost KCC2 function in other models. Zinc chloride indeed hyperpolarized the
      chloride equilibrium potential in MNs and increased reciprocal inhibition after
      neonatal SCI. This study demonstrates that the level of KCC2 function sets the
      strength of postsynaptic inhibition and suggests that the downregulation of KCC2
      after SCI likely contributes to the high occurrence of flexor-extensor
      cocontractions in SCI patients. 

PMID- 25834054
TI  - Deletion of mitochondrial anchoring protects dysmyelinating shiverer:
      implications for progressive MS.
AB  - The demyelinating disease multiple sclerosis (MS) has an early inflammatory phase
      followed by an incurable progressive phase with subdued inflammation and poorly
      understood neurodegenerative mechanism. In this study, we identified various
      parallelisms between progressive MS and the dysmyelinating mouse model Shiverer
      and then genetically deleted a major neuron-specific mitochondrial anchoring
      protein Syntaphilin (SNPH) from the mouse. Prevailing evidence suggests that
      deletion of SNPH is harmful in demyelination. Surprisingly, SNPH deletion
      produces striking benefits in the Shiverer by prolonging survival, reducing
      cerebellar damage, suppressing oxidative stress, and improving mitochondrial
      health. In contrast, SNPH deletion does not benefit clinical symptoms in
      experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model for early-phase MS. We
      propose that deleting mitochondrial anchoring is a novel, specific treatment for
      progressive MS. 

PMID- 25834056
TI  - Incoherent feed-forward regulatory loops control segregation of C
      mechanoreceptors, nociceptors, and pruriceptors.
AB  - Mammalian skin is innervated by diverse, unmyelinated C fibers that are
      associated with senses of pain, itch, temperature, or touch. A key developmental
      question is how this neuronal cell diversity is generated during development. We
      reported previously that the runt domain transcription factor Runx1 is required
      to coordinate the development of these unmyelinated cutaneous sensory neurons,
      including VGLUT3(+) low-threshold c-mechanoreceptors (CLTMs), MrgprD(+) polymodal
      nociceptors, MrgprA3(+) pruriceptors, MrgprB4(+) c-mechanoreceptors, and others.
      However, how these Runx1-dependent cutaneous sensory neurons are further
      segregated is poorly illustrated. Here, we find that the Runx1-dependent
      transcription factor gene Zfp521 is expressed in, and required for establishing
      molecular features that define, VGLUT3(+) CLTMs. Furthermore, Runx1 and Zfp521
      form a classic incoherent feedforward loop (I-FFL) in controlling molecular
      identities that normally belong to MrgprD(+) neurons, with Runx1 and Zfp51
      playing activator and repressor roles, respectively (in genetic terms). A knock
      out of Zfp521 allows prospective VGLUT3 lineage neurons to acquire MrgprD(+)
      neuron identities. Furthermore, Runx1 might form other I-FFLs to regulate the
      expression of MrgprA3 and MrgprB4, a mechanism preventing these genes from being
      expressed in Runx1-persistent VGLUT3(+) and MrgprD(+) neurons. The evolvement of
      these I-FFLs provides an explanation for how modality-selective sensory subtypes
      are formed during development and may also have intriguing implications for
      sensory neuron evolution and sensory coding. 

PMID- 25834058
TI  - The role of relational binding in item memory: evidence from face recognition in
      a case of developmental amnesia.
AB  - Current theories state that the hippocampus is responsible for the formation of
      memory representations regarding relations, whereas extrahippocampal cortical
      regions support representations for single items. However, findings of impaired
      item memory in hippocampal amnesics suggest a more nuanced role for the
      hippocampus in item memory. The hippocampus may be necessary when the item
      elements need to be bound within and across episodes to form a lasting
      representation that can be used flexibly. The current investigation was designed
      to test this hypothesis in face recognition. H.C., an individual who developed
      with a compromised hippocampal system, and control participants incidentally
      studied individual faces that either varied in presentation viewpoint across
      study repetitions or remained in a fixed viewpoint across the study repetitions.
      Eye movements were recorded during encoding and participants then completed a
      surprise recognition memory test. H.C. demonstrated altered face viewing during
      encoding. Although the overall number of fixations made by H.C. was not
      significantly different from that of controls, the distribution of her viewing
      was primarily directed to the eye region. Critically, H.C. was significantly
      impaired in her ability to subsequently recognize faces studied from variable
      viewpoints, but demonstrated spared performance in recognizing faces she encoded
      from a fixed viewpoint, implicating a relationship between eye movement behavior
      in the service of a hippocampal binding function. These findings suggest that a
      compromised hippocampal system disrupts the ability to bind item features within
      and across study repetitions, ultimately disrupting recognition when it requires
      access to flexible relational representations. 

PMID- 25834057
TI  - Neuronal-derived nitric oxide and somatodendritically released vasopressin
      regulate neurovascular coupling in the rat hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus.
AB  - The classical model of neurovascular coupling (NVC) implies that activity
      dependent axonal glutamate release at synapses evokes the production and release
      of vasoactive signals from both neurons and astrocytes, which dilate arterioles,
      increasing in turn cerebral blood flow (CBF) to areas with increased metabolic
      needs. However, whether this model is applicable to brain areas that also use
      less conventional neurotransmitters, such as neuropeptides, is currently unknown.
      To this end, we studied NVC in the rat hypothalamic magnocellular neurosecretory
      system (MNS) of the supraoptic nucleus (SON), in which dendritic release of
      neuropeptides, including vasopressin (VP), constitutes a key signaling modality
      influencing neuronal and network activity. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we
      investigated vasopressin-mediated vascular responses in SON arterioles of
      hypothalamic brain slices of Wistar or VP-eGFP Wistar rats. Bath-applied VP
      significantly constricted SON arterioles (Delta-41 +/- 7%) via activation of the
      V1a receptor subtype. Vasoconstrictions were also observed in response to single
      VP neuronal stimulation (Delta-18 +/- 2%), an effect prevented by V1a receptor
      blockade (V2255), supporting local dendritic VP release as the key signal
      mediating activity-dependent vasoconstrictions. Conversely, osmotically driven
      magnocellular neurosecretory neuronal population activity leads to a predominant
      nitric oxide-mediated vasodilation (Delta19 +/- 2%). Activity-dependent
      vasodilations were followed by a VP-mediated vasoconstriction, which acted to
      limit the magnitude of the vasodilation and served to reset vascular tone
      following activity-dependent vasodilation. Together, our results unveiled a
      unique and complex form of NVC in the MNS, supporting a competitive balance
      between nitric oxide and activity-dependent dendritic released VP, in the
      generation of proper NVC responses. 

PMID- 25834059
TI  - Improvement in visual search with practice: mapping learning-related changes in
      neurocognitive stages of processing.
AB  - Practice can improve performance on visual search tasks; the neural mechanisms
      underlying such improvements, however, are not clear. Response time typically
      shortens with practice, but which components of the stimulus-response processing
      chain facilitate this behavioral change? Improved search performance could result
      from enhancements in various cognitive processing stages, including (1) sensory
      processing, (2) attentional allocation, (3) target discrimination, (4) motor
      response preparation, and/or (5) response execution. We measured event-related
      potentials (ERPs) as human participants completed a five-day visual-search
      protocol in which they reported the orientation of a color popout target within
      an array of ellipses. We assessed changes in behavioral performance and in ERP
      components associated with various stages of processing. After practice, response
      time decreased in all participants (while accuracy remained consistent), and
      electrophysiological measures revealed modulation of several ERP components.
      First, amplitudes of the early sensory-evoked N1 component at 150 ms increased
      bilaterally, indicating enhanced visual sensory processing of the array. Second,
      the negative-polarity posterior-contralateral component (N2pc, 170-250 ms) was
      earlier and larger, demonstrating enhanced attentional orienting. Third, the
      amplitude of the sustained posterior contralateral negativity component (SPCN,
      300-400 ms) decreased, indicating facilitated target discrimination. Finally,
      faster motor-response preparation and execution were observed after practice, as
      indicated by latency changes in both the stimulus-locked and response-locked
      lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs). These electrophysiological results
      delineate the functional plasticity in key mechanisms underlying visual search
      with high temporal resolution and illustrate how practice influences various
      cognitive and neural processing stages leading to enhanced behavioral
      performance. 

PMID- 25834060
TI  - Auditory distance coding in rabbit midbrain neurons and human perception:
      monaural amplitude modulation depth as a cue.
AB  - Mechanisms underlying sound source distance localization are not well understood.
      Here we tested the hypothesis that a novel mechanism can create monaural distance
      sensitivity: a combination of auditory midbrain neurons' sensitivity to amplitude
      modulation (AM) depth and distance-dependent loss of AM in reverberation. We used
      virtual auditory space (VAS) methods for sounds at various distances in anechoic
      and reverberant environments. Stimulus level was constant across distance. With
      increasing modulation depth, some rabbit inferior colliculus neurons increased
      firing rates whereas others decreased. These neurons exhibited monotonic
      relationships between firing rates and distance for monaurally presented noise
      when two conditions were met: (1) the sound had AM, and (2) the environment was
      reverberant. The firing rates as a function of distance remained approximately
      constant without AM in either environment and, in an anechoic condition, even
      with AM. We corroborated this finding by reproducing the distance sensitivity
      using a neural model. We also conducted a human psychophysical study using
      similar methods. Normal-hearing listeners reported perceived distance in response
      to monaural 1 octave 4 kHz noise source sounds presented at distances of 35-200
      cm. We found parallels between the rabbit neural and human responses. In both,
      sound distance could be discriminated only if the monaural sound in reverberation
      had AM. These observations support the hypothesis. When other cues are available
      (e.g., in binaural hearing), how much the auditory system actually uses the AM as
      a distance cue remains to be determined. 

PMID- 25834061
TI  - Temporal-pattern similarity analysis reveals the beneficial and detrimental
      effects of context reinstatement on human memory.
AB  - A powerful force in human memory is the context in which memories are encoded
      (Tulving and Thomson, 1973). Several studies suggest that the reinstatement of
      neural encoding patterns is beneficial for memory retrieval (Manning et al.,
      2011; Staresina et al., 2012; Jafarpour et al., 2014). However, reinstatement of
      the original encoding context is not always helpful, for instance, when
      retrieving a memory in a different contextual situation (Smith and Vela, 2001).
      It is an open question whether such context-dependent memory effects can be
      captured by the reinstatement of neural patterns. We investigated this question
      by applying temporal and spatial pattern similarity analysis in MEG and
      intracranial EEG in a context-match paradigm. Items (words) were tagged by
      individual dynamic context stimuli (movies). The results show that beta
      oscillatory phase in visual regions and the parahippocampal cortex tracks the
      incidental reinstatement of individual context trajectories on a single-trial
      level. Crucially, memory benefitted from reinstatement when the encoding and
      retrieval contexts matched but suffered from reinstatement when the contexts did
      not match. 

PMID- 25834062
TI  - Relationship of fast- and slow-timescale neuronal dynamics in human MEG and SEEG.
AB  - A growing body of evidence suggests that the neuronal dynamics are poised at
      criticality. Neuronal avalanches and long-range temporal correlations (LRTCs) are
      hallmarks of such critical dynamics in neuronal activity and occur at fast
      (subsecond) and slow (seconds to hours) timescales, respectively. The critical
      dynamics at different timescales can be characterized by their power-law scaling
      exponents. However, insight into the avalanche dynamics and LRTCs in the human
      brain has been largely obtained with sensor-level MEG and EEG recordings, which
      yield only limited anatomical insight and results confounded by signal mixing. We
      investigated here the relationship between the human neuronal dynamics at fast
      and slow timescales using both source-reconstructed MEG and intracranial
      stereotactical electroencephalography (SEEG). Both MEG and SEEG revealed
      avalanche dynamics that were characterized parameter-dependently by power-law or
      truncated-power-law size distributions. Both methods also revealed robust LRTCs
      throughout the neocortex with distinct scaling exponents in different functional
      brain systems and frequency bands. The exponents of power-law regimen neuronal
      avalanches and LRTCs were strongly correlated across subjects. Qualitatively
      similar power-law correlations were also observed in surrogate data without
      spatial correlations but with scaling exponents distinct from those of original
      data. Furthermore, we found that LRTCs in the autonomous nervous system, as
      indexed by heart-rate variability, were correlated in a complex manner with
      cortical neuronal avalanches and LRTCs in MEG but not SEEG. These scalp and
      intracranial data hence show that power-law scaling behavior is a pervasive but
      neuroanatomically inhomogeneous property of neuronal dynamics in central and
      autonomous nervous systems. 

PMID- 25834063
TI  - Broad thorny ganglion cells: a candidate for visual pursuit error signaling in
      the primate retina.
AB  - Functional analyses exist only for a few of the morphologically described primate
      ganglion cell types, and their correlates in other mammalian species remain
      elusive. Here, we recorded light responses of broad thorny cells in the whole
      mounted macaque retina. They showed ON-OFF-center light responses that were
      strongly suppressed by stimulation of the receptive field surround. Spike
      responses were delayed compared with parasol ganglion cells and other ON-OFF
      cells, including recursive bistratified ganglion cells and A1 amacrine cells. The
      receptive field structure was shaped by direct excitatory synaptic input and
      strong presynaptic and postsynaptic inhibition in both ON and OFF pathways. The
      cells responded strongly to dark or bright stimuli moving either in or out of the
      receptive field, independent of the direction of motion. However, they did not
      show a maintained spike response either to a uniform background or to a drifting
      plaid pattern. These properties could be ideally suited for guiding movements
      involved in visual pursuit. The functional characteristics reported here permit
      the first direct cross-species comparison of putative homologous ganglion cell
      types. Based on morphological similarities, broad thorny ganglion cells have been
      proposed to be homologs of rabbit local edge detector ganglion cells, but we now
      show that the two cells have quite distinct physiological properties. Thus, our
      data argue against broad thorny cells as the homologs of local edge detector
      cells. 

PMID- 25834064
TI  - GluA2 trafficking is involved in apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells induced by
      activation of EphB/EphrinB reverse signaling in a rat chronic ocular hypertension
      model.
AB  - EphB1, expressed in Muller cells, and ephrinB2, expressed in both Muller cells
      and retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), constitute an EphB/ephrinB reverse signaling
      in RGCs. Whether and how this reverse signaling is involved in RGC apoptosis in a
      rat chronic ocular hypertension (COH) model was investigated. In the COH model,
      both EphB1 and ephrinB2 were significantly increased and the reverse signaling
      was activated, which was accompanied by increased protein levels of
      phosphorylated (p) src, GluA2, and p-GluA2. Intravitreal injection of EphB2-Fc,
      an activator of ephrinB2, induced an increase in TUNEL-positive signals in normal
      retinae. A coimmunoprecipitation assay demonstrated direct interactions among
      ephrinB2, p-src, and GluA2. Moreover, in COH rats the expression of GluA2
      proteins on the surface of retinal cells was decreased. Such GluA2 endocytosis
      could be prevented by preoperational intravitreal injection of 4-amino-3-(4
      chlorophenyl)-1-(t-butyl)-1H-pyrazolo [3,4-d] pyrimidine (PP2), an inhibitor of
      src family tyrosine kinases, and possibly involved the protein interacting with C
      kinase 1 and phosphorylation of GluA2. In normal rats, intravitreal injection of
      EphB2-Fc caused changes in these protein levels similar to those observed in COH
      rats, which all could be avoided by preinjection of PP2. Patch-clamp experiments
      further showed that the current-voltage relationship of AMPA receptor-mediated
      EPSCs of RGCs exhibited stronger inward rectification in EphB2-Fc-injected rats.
      Furthermore, preinjection of PP2 or N-[3-[[4-[(3
      aminopropyl)amino]butyl]amino]propyl]-1-naphthaleneacetamide trihydrochloride)
      (Naspm), a Ca(2+)-permeable GluA2-lacking AMPA receptor inhibitor, remarkably
      inhibited RGC apoptosis in either EphB2-Fc-injected or COH rats. Together,
      elevated GluA2 trafficking induced by activated EphB2/ephrinB2 reverse signaling
      likely contributes to RGC apoptosis in COH rats. 

PMID- 25834065
TI  - Disruption of a neural microcircuit in the rod pathway of the mammalian retina by
      diabetes mellitus.
AB  - Diabetes leads to dysfunction of the neural retina before and independent of
      classical microvascular diabetic retinopathy, but previous studies have failed to
      demonstrate which neurons and circuits are affected at the earliest stages. Here,
      using patch-clamp recording and two-photon Ca(2+) imaging in rat retinal slices,
      we investigated diabetes-evoked changes in a microcircuit consisting of rod
      bipolar cells and their dyad postsynaptic targets, AII and A17 amacrine cells,
      which play an essential role in processing scotopic visual signals. AII amacrines
      forward their signals to ON- and OFF-cone bipolar cells and A17 amacrines provide
      GABAergic feedback inhibition to rod bipolar cells. Whereas Ca(2+)-permeable AMPA
      receptors mediate input from rod bipolar cells to both AII and A17 amacrines,
      diabetes changes the synaptic receptors on A17, but not AII amacrine cells. This
      was expressed as a change in pharmacological properties and single-channel
      conductance of the synaptic receptors, consistent with an upregulation of the
      AMPA receptor GluA2 subunit and reduced Ca(2+) permeability. In addition, two
      photon imaging revealed reduced agonist-evoked influx of Ca(2+) in dendritic
      varicosities of A17 amacrine cells from diabetic compared with normal animals.
      Because Ca(2+)-permeable receptors in A17 amacrine cells mediate synaptic release
      of GABA, the reduced Ca(2+) permeability of these receptors in diabetic animals
      leads to reduced release of GABA, followed by disinhibition and increased release
      of glutamate from rod bipolar cells. This perturbation of neuron and microcircuit
      dynamics can explain the decreased dynamic range and sensitivity of scotopic
      vision that has been observed in diabetes.

PMID- 25834066
TI  - 12-year trends in occupational class differences in short sickness absence among
      young women.
AB  - AIMS: Socioeconomic differences in sickness absence are well established among
      middle-aged employees but poorly known among younger employees, in particular for
      shorter spells. We examined trends in occupational class differences in short
      sickness absence among young women. METHODS: The data were obtained from the
      registers of the City of Helsinki, Finland, and included female employees aged 18
      34 years from 2002 to 2013. Self-certified (1-3 days) sickness absence spells
      were examined. Occupational class was classified into four hierarchical
      categories. Joinpoint regression models were used to identify major changes in
      sickness absence trends. RESULTS: Short sickness absence increased until 2008,
      after which it decreased in all occupational classes except manual workers.
      Differences in sickness absence between occupational classes remained over time.
      Routine non-manuals had the highest amount of short sickness absence, while
      managers and professionals had the smallest amount. Manual workers had somewhat
      less short sickness absence than routine non-manuals and semi-professionals.
      CONCLUSIONS: The socioeconomic differences in short sickness absence were clear
      among young women but not fully consistent as routine non-manuals tended to have
      more sickness absence than manual workers. Preventive measures are needed to
      narrow socioeconomic differences in young women's sickness absence especially
      among routine non-manuals.

PMID- 25834067
TI  - Experiences of and attitudes towards HIV/STI prevention among holidaymaking men
      who have sex with men living in Sweden: a cross-sectional Internet survey.
AB  - AIM: Foreign travellers and men who have sex with men (MSM) are prioritised
      groups for human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted infection (HIV/STI)
      prevention efforts in Sweden because of high prevalence of sexual risk-taking.
      This study aims to describe experiences of and attitudes towards HIV/STI
      prevention efforts, prior to travelling abroad, among MSM, and to investigate the
      kinds of prevention efforts that are desirable. METHODS: The study is based on
      survey responses from 656 MSM who had travelled abroad. Recruitment took place
      through a Nordic website, and had a cross-sectional design. The analysis has
      mainly been descriptive, but bivariate analyses were performed using the chi
      square test. The level of significance was p <.05. RESULTS: Only a few of the
      participants had encountered HIV/STI prevention efforts in Sweden (5%) and abroad
      (23%), and a majority (58%) felt that it should be more prevalent. Having free
      access to condoms and lubricants was preferred among 68% of the men. Furthermore,
      having written information, as opposed to oral, was also preferred (68% vs. 26%).
      MSM felt that it was easy to find out information (79%) and claimed they would
      use the Internet to do so (87%). CONCLUSIONS: Service providers who offer their
      services to travellers are encouraged to provide helpful links to information
      about sexual health. Information that is geared towards risk groups such as young
      adults should be presented with awareness that MSM are also part of that group.
      It is important for information to be conveyed respectfully to everyone, but
      perhaps MSM in particular, since they may have experienced feelings of being
      stigmatised or discriminated against previously.

PMID- 25834068
TI  - Leaving Sweden behind: Gains in life expectancy in Canada.
AB  - AIMS: Sweden and Canada are known for quality of living and exceedingly high life
      expectancy, but recent data on how these countries compare are lacking. We
      measured life expectancy in Canada and Sweden during the past decade, and
      identified factors responsible for changes over time. METHODS: We calculated life
      expectancy at birth for Canada and Sweden annually from 2000 to 2010, and
      determined the ages and causes of death responsible for the gap between the two
      countries using Arriaga's method. We determined how population growth, ageing,
      and mortality influenced the number of deaths over time. RESULTS: During 2000
      2010, life expectancy in Canada caught up with Sweden for men, and surpassed
      Sweden by 0.4 years for women. Sweden lost ground owing to a slower reduction in
      circulatory and tumour mortality after age 65 years compared with Canada.
      Nonetheless, population ageing increased the number of deaths in Canada,
      especially for mental and nervous system disorders. In Sweden, the number of
      deaths decreased. CONCLUSIONS: In only one decade, life expectancy in Canada
      caught up and surpassed Sweden due to rapid improvements in circulatory and
      tumour mortality. Population ageing increased the number of deaths in Canada,
      potentially stressing the health care system more than in Sweden.

PMID- 25834069
TI  - Antenatal glucocorticoid treatment alters Na+ uptake in renal proximal tubule
      cells from adult offspring in a sex-specific manner.
AB  - We have shown a sex-specific effect of fetal programming on Na(+) excretion in
      adult sheep. The site of this effect in the kidney is unknown. Therefore, we
      tested the hypothesis that renal proximal tubule cells (RPTCs) from adult male
      sheep exposed to betamethasone (Beta) before birth have greater Na(+) uptake than
      do RPTCs from vehicle-exposed male sheep and that RPTCs from female sheep
      similarly exposed are not influenced by antenatal Beta. In isolated RPTCs from 1-
      to 1.5-yr-old male and female sheep, we measured Na(+) uptake under basal
      conditions and after stimulation with ANG II. To gain insight into the mechanisms
      involved, we also measured nitric oxide (NO) levels, ANG II receptor mRNA levels,
      and expression of Na(+)/H(+) exchanger 3. Basal Na(+) uptake increased more in
      cells from Beta-exposed male sheep than in cells from vehicle-exposed male sheep
      (400% vs. 300%, P < 0.00001). ANG II-stimulated Na(+) uptake was also greater in
      cells from Beta-exposed males. Beta exposure did not increase Na(+) uptake by
      RPTCs from female sheep. NO production was suppressed more by ANG II in RPTCs
      from Beta-exposed males than in RPTCs from either vehicle-exposed male or female
      sheep. Our data suggest that one site of the sex-specific effect of Beta-induced
      fetal programming in the kidney is the RPTC and that the enhanced Na(+) uptake
      induced by antenatal Beta in male RPTCs may be related to the suppression of NO
      in these cells. 

PMID- 25834070
TI  - Kidney adysplasia and variable hydronephrosis, a new mutation affecting the odd
      skipped related 1 gene in the mouse, causes variable defects in kidney
      development and hydronephrosis.
AB  - Many genes, including odd-skipped related 1 (Osr1), are involved in regulation of
      mammalian kidney development. We describe here a new recessive mutation (kidney
      adysplasia and variable hydronephrosis, kavh) in the mouse that leads to
      downregulation of Osr1 transcript, causing several kidney defects: agenesis,
      hypoplasia, and hydronephrosis with variable age of onset. The mutation is
      closely associated with a reciprocal translocation, T(12;17)4Rk, whose Chromosome
      12 breakpoint is upstream from Osr1. The kavh/kavh mutant provides a model to
      study kidney development and test therapies for hydronephrosis.

PMID- 25834071
TI  - Platelets are relevant mediators of renal injury induced by primary endothelial
      lesions.
AB  - Several studies have suggested a prominent (pro)inflammatory and harmful role of
      platelets in renal disease, and newer work has also demonstrated platelet release
      of proangiogenic factors. In the present study, we investigated the role of
      platelets in a mouse model of selective endothelial cell injury using either
      platelet depletion or the pharmacological P2Y12 receptor blocker clopidogrel as
      an interventional strategy. The concanavalin A/anti-concanavalin A model was
      induced in left kidneys of C57bl/6J wild-type mice after initial platelet
      depletion or platelet-inhibiting therapy using clopidogrel. FACS analysis of
      glycoprotein IIb/IIIa/P-selectin double-positive platelets and platelet-derived
      microparticles demonstrated relevant platelet activation after the induction of
      selective endothelial injury in mice. Enhanced platelet activation persisted for
      5 days after disease induction and was accompanied by increased amounts of
      circulating platelet-derived microparticles as potential mediators of a prolonged
      procoagulant state. By immunohistochemistry, we detected significantly reduced
      glomerular injury in platelet-depleted mice compared with control mice. In
      parallel, we also saw reduced endothelial loss and a consequently reduced repair
      response as indicated by diminished proliferative activity. The P2Y12 receptor
      blocker clopidogrel demonstrated efficacy in limiting platelet activation and
      subsequent endothelial injury in this mouse model of renal microvascular injury.
      In conclusion, platelets are relevant mediators of renal injury induced by
      primary endothelial lesions early on, as demonstrated by platelet depletion as
      well as platelet inhibition via the P2Y12 receptor. While strategies to prevent
      platelet-endothelial interactions have shown protective effects, the contribution
      of platelets during renal regeneration remains unknown. 

PMID- 25834072
TI  - Activation of nuclear factor of activated T cells 5 in the peritoneal membrane of
      uremic patients.
AB  - Peritoneal inflammation and fibrosis are responses to the uremic milieu and
      exposure to hyperosmolar dialysis fluids in patients on peritoneal dialysis.
      Cells respond to high osmolarity via the transcription factor nuclear factor of
      activated T cells (NFAT5). In the present study, the response of human peritoneal
      fibroblasts to glucose was analyzed in vitro. Expression levels of NFAT5 and
      chemokine (C-C motif) ligand (CCL2) mRNA were quantified in peritoneal biopsies
      of five nonuremic control patients, five uremic patients before PD (pPD), and
      eight patients on PD (oPD) using real-time PCR. Biopsies from 5 control patients,
      25 pPD patients, and 25 oPD patients were investigated using immunohistochemistry
      to detect the expression of NFAT5, CCL2, NF-kappaB p50, NF-kappaB p65, and CD68.
      High glucose concentrations led to an early, dose-dependent induction of NFAT5
      mRNA in human peritoneal fibroblasts. CCL2 mRNA expression was upregulated by
      high concentrations of glucose after 6 h, but, most notably, a concentration
      dependent induction of CCL2 was present after 96 h. In human peritoneal biopsies,
      NFAT5 mRNA levels were increased in uremic patients compared with nonuremic
      control patients. No significant difference was found between the pPD group and
      oPD group. CCL2 mRNA expression was higher in the oPD group. Immunohistochemistry
      analysis was consistent with the results of mRNA analysis. CD68-positive cells
      were significantly increased in the oPD group. In conclusion, uremia results in
      NFAT5 induction, which might promote early changes of the peritoneum.
      Upregulation of NFAT5 in PD patients is associated with NFkappaB induction,
      potentially resulting in the recruitment of macrophages. 

PMID- 25834073
TI  - Memories that last in hypertension.
AB  - In recent years, it has become clear that the immune system contributes to the
      genesis of hypertension. Hypertensive stimuli, such as angiotensin II, DOCA-salt,
      and norepinephrine, cause T cells and monocytes/macrophages to accumulate in the
      kidney and vasculature. These cells release inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6,
      interferon-gamma, and IL-17, that promote renal and vascular dysfunction. These
      cytokines also promote angiotensinogen production in the proximal tubule and
      Na(+) retention in the distal nephron and contribute to renal fibrosis and
      glomerular damage. For several years, we have observed accumulation of memory T
      cells in the kidney and vasculature. Given the propensity for memory cells to
      produce cytokines such as interferon-gamma and IL-17, interventions to prevent
      the formation or renal accumulation of specific memory T cell subsets could
      prevent end-organ damage and blood pressure elevation in response to hypertensive
      stimuli. 

PMID- 25834075
TI  - Clinical indicators of occult musculoskeletal pain in aggressive dogs.

PMID- 25834074
TI  - KCNJ10 (Kir4.1) is expressed in the basolateral membrane of the cortical thick
      ascending limb.
AB  - The aim of the present study is to examine the role of Kcnj10 (Kir.4.1) in
      contributing to the basolateral K conductance in the cortical thick ascending
      limb (cTAL) using Kcnj10(+/+) wild-type (WT) and Kcnj10(-/-) knockout (KO) mice.
      The patch-clamp experiments detected a 40- and an 80-pS K channel in the
      basolateral membrane of the cTAL. Moreover, the probability of finding the 40-pS
      K was significantly higher in the late part of the cTAL close to the distal
      convoluted tubule than those in the initial part. Immunostaining showed that
      Kcnj10 staining was detected in the basolateral membrane of the cTAL but the
      expression was not uniformly distributed. The disruption of Kcnj10 completely
      eliminated the 40-pS K channel but not the 80-pS K channel, suggesting the role
      of Kcnj10 in forming the 40-pS K channel of the cTAL. Also, the disruption of
      Kcnj10 increased the probability of finding the 80-pS K channel in the cTAL,
      especially in the late part of the cTAL. Because the channel open probability of
      the 80-pS K channel in KO was similar to those of WT mice, the increase in the 80
      pS K channel may be achieved by increasing K channel number. The whole cell
      recording further showed that K reversal potential measured with 5 mM K in the
      bath and 140 mM K in the pipette was the same in the WT and KO mice. Moreover,
      Western blot and immunostaining showed that the disruption of Kcnj10 did not
      affect the expression of Na-K-Cl cotransporter 2 (NKCC2). We conclude that
      Kir.4.1 is expressed in the basolateral membrane of cTAL and that the disruption
      of Kir.4.1 has no significant effect on the membrane potential of the cTAL and
      NKCC2 expression. 

PMID- 25834076
TI  - Tendon transfer surgery in upper-extremity cerebral palsy is more effective than
      botulinum toxin injections or regular, ongoing therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For children with upper-extremity cerebral palsy (CP) who meet
      standard indications for tendon transfer surgery, we hypothesized that surgical
      treatment would result in greater functional improvement than treatment with
      botulinum toxin injections or regular, ongoing therapy. METHODS: Thirty-nine
      children with upper-extremity CP, who were four to sixteen years of age and
      surgical candidates for the transfer of the flexor carpi ulnaris to the extensor
      carpi radialis brevis, pronator teres release, and extensor pollicis longus
      rerouting with adductor pollicis release, were prospectively assigned, either
      randomly (twenty-nine patients) or by patient/family preference (ten patients),
      to one of three treatment groups: surgical treatment (Group 1); botulinum toxin
      injections (Group 2); or regular, ongoing therapy (Group 3). Seven centers
      participated. Assessment measurements included active range of motion, pinch and
      grip strength, stereognosis, and scores as measured with eight additional
      functional or patient-oriented outcome instruments. Thirty-four patients (twenty
      five randomized and nine from the patient-preference arm) were evaluated twelve
      months post-treatment as the study cohort. RESULTS: For the primary outcome of
      the Shriners Hospital Upper Extremity Evaluation (SHUEE) dynamic positional
      analysis (DPA), significantly greater improvement was seen in Group 1 than in the
      other two groups (p < 0.001). Improvements in SHUEE DPA reflected improved
      supination and wrist extension during functional activities after surgical
      treatment. Group 1 showed more improvement in the Pediatric Quality of Life
      Inventory (PedsQL) CP module domain of movement and in the Canadian Occupational
      Performance Measure (COPM) score for satisfaction than Groups 2 and 3. Both
      Groups 1 and 3 showed more improvement in pinch strength than did Group 2.
      CONCLUSIONS: For children with upper-extremity CP who were candidates for
      standard tendon transfer, surgical treatment was demonstrated to provide greater
      improvement, of modest magnitude, than botulinum toxin injections or regular,
      ongoing therapy at twelve months of follow-up for the SHUEE DPA, the PedsQL CP
      module domain of movement, and COPM satisfaction.

PMID- 25834077
TI  - The effect of femoral and acetabular version on clinical outcomes after
      arthroscopic femoroacetabular impingement surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The impact of proximal femoral and combined femoral and acetabular
      version on patient-reported outcomes after arthroscopic surgery for
      femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) remains undefined. The purpose of this study
      was to identify associations of proximal femoral version as well as combined
      version (McKibbin index) with disease-specific, validated, patient-reported
      outcomes following arthroscopic correction of symptomatic FAI. METHODS: A
      prospective hip arthroscopy registry was utilized to evaluate 243 patients who
      underwent arthroscopic surgery to correct FAI. Femoral version and the McKibbin
      index were measured prospectively on preoperative computed tomography scans.
      Disease-specific, patient-reported outcomes included the modified Harris hip
      score (mHHS) and the Hip Outcome Score (HOS) ADL (Activities of Daily Living) and
      Sports subscales. Disease impact on quality of life was determined with use of
      the International Hip Outcome Tool (iHOT-33). Comparative analyses were used to
      evaluate the impact of femoral version on changes in patient-reported outcome
      scores; multiple regression was used to adjust for potential confounders.
      RESULTS: The patient cohort contained 243 patients (123 female and 120 male) with
      a mean age of 29.2 years and a mean postoperative follow-up of twenty-one months
      (range, twelve to forty-two months). The cohort experienced significant
      improvements (p < 0.001) in all patient-reported outcome measures, with most
      patients improving by at least the minimal clinically important difference for
      all of these measures. The mean improvement was 20 points for the mHHS, 15 for
      the HOS ADL, 23 for the HOS Sports, and 23 for the iHOT-33. When stratified by
      femoral version, the postoperative improvements in patients with relative femoral
      retroversion (<5 degrees  anteversion) were clinically important but of
      significantly smaller magnitude than those in the other version groups. We did
      not find any associations between the McKibbin index and any patient-reported
      outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Although clinically important improvements can be expected
      after arthroscopic FAI surgery in all femoral version groups, patients with
      relative femoral retroversion (<5 degrees  femoral anteversion) may experience
      less improvement than those with normal or increased version.

PMID- 25834078
TI  - Does periacetabular osteotomy for hip dysplasia modulate cartilage biochemistry?
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of periacetabular osteotomy is to improve joint mechanics in
      patients with developmental dysplasia of the hip. In our study, we tried to
      determine whether the proteoglycan content, as measured with delayed gadolinium
      enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC), can be modulated with
      the alteration of the hip joint biomechanics. METHODS: In this prospective cohort
      study, thirty-seven patients (thirty-seven hips) with no or minimal
      osteoarthritis were treated with periacetabular osteotomy for symptomatic
      acetabular dysplasia. All patients had preoperative and one-year follow-up
      dGEMRIC scans. Twenty-eight of the thirty-seven also had two-year scans. The
      changes in dGEMRIC findings and hip morphology between the preoperative visit and
      the examinations at one and two years following the periacetabular osteotomy were
      assessed. RESULTS: The mean preoperative dGEMRIC index (and standard deviation)
      was 561.6 +/- 117.6 ms; this decreased to 515.2 +/- 118.4 ms at one year after
      periacetabular osteotomy but subsequently recovered to 529.2 +/- 99.1 ms at two
      years postoperatively. The decrease in the dGEMRIC index of the acetabular
      cartilage after surgery appears to be most pronounced at the superior aspect of
      the acetabulum, where the decrease in mechanical loading after periacetabular
      osteotomy would be most pronounced. All domains of the Western Ontario and
      McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) demonstrated significant
      improvement from the preoperative to the postoperative visits (all p < 0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: Periacetabular osteotomy for developmental dysplasia of the hip
      appears to alter the mechanical loading of articular cartilage in the hip, which
      in turn alters the cartilage matrix composition, as demonstrated by dGEMRIC.

PMID- 25834079
TI  - Baseline predictors of health-related quality of life after anterior cruciate
      ligament reconstruction: a longitudinal analysis of a multicenter cohort at two
      and six years.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Limited information exists regarding predictors of general quality of
      life following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with up to six
      year follow-up. We hypothesized that certain variables evaluated at the time of
      ACL reconstruction will predict the general quality of life as measured by the
      Short Form-36 (SF-36). METHODS: All unilateral ACL reconstructions from 2002 to
      2004 in patients currently enrolled in a prospective multicenter cohort were
      evaluated. Patients preoperatively completed the SF-36 validated outcome
      instrument. Surgeons documented intra-articular pathological conditions and
      treatment, as well as the ACL reconstruction surgical technique. At baseline and
      at a minimum of two and six years postoperatively, patients completed the SF-36.
      Longitudinal analysis was performed for the two-year and six-year end points.
      RESULTS: Of the initial 1512 subjects, at least one follow-up questionnaire was
      obtained from 1411 subjects (93%). The cohort was 44% female, and the median
      patient age at enrollment was twenty-three years. The mean scores were 41.9
      points for the Physical Component Summary (PCS) and 51.7 points for the Mental
      Component Summary (MCS) at baseline, 53.6 points for the PCS and 52.0 points for
      the MCS at two years, and 54.0 points for the PCS and 52.4 points for the MCS at
      six years. Significant predictors of a higher PCS score were a higher baseline
      PCS score, younger age, lower baseline body mass index, having >50% of the
      lateral meniscus excised, or having no treatment done on a lateral meniscal tear.
      In contrast, significant predictors of a lower PCS score were a shorter follow-up
      time since surgery, revision ACL reconstruction, smoking at baseline, fewer years
      of education, and chondromalacia of the lateral tibial plateau. The mean utility
      gained at six years after ACL reconstruction was 5.3 quality-adjusted life years
      (QALYs). CONCLUSIONS: Large improvements in the PCS (with an effect size of 1.2)
      were noted at two years and were maintained at six years after ACL
      reconstruction. Lower education and smoking were significant predictors of lower
      PCS and MCS scores. ACL reconstruction resulted in a relatively high gain of
      QALYs.

PMID- 25834080
TI  - Risk factors for failure of a single surgical debridement in adults with acute
      septic arthritis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute septic arthritis in a native joint may require more than one
      surgical debridement to eradicate the infection. Our objectives were to determine
      the prevalence of failure of a single surgical debridement for acute septic
      arthritis, to identify risk factors for failure of a single debridement, and to
      develop a prognostic probability algorithm to predict failure of a single
      surgical debridement for acute septic arthritis in adults. METHODS: We collected
      initial laboratory and medical comorbidity data of 128 adults (132 native joints)
      with acute septic arthritis who underwent at least one surgical debridement at
      our institution between 2000 and 2011. Univariate and logistic regression
      analyses were used to identify potential risk factors for failure of a single
      surgical debridement. Stepwise variable selection was used to develop a
      prediction model and identify probabilities of failure of a single surgical
      debridement. RESULTS: Of the 128 patients (132 affected joints) who underwent
      surgical debridement for acute septic arthritis, forty-nine (38%) of the patients
      (fifty joints) experienced failure of a single debridement and required at least
      two debridements (range, two to four debridements). Staphylococcus aureus was the
      most common bacterial isolate (in sixty, or 45%, of the 132 joints). Logistic
      regression analysis identified five independent clinical predictors for failure
      of a single surgical debridement: a history of inflammatory arthropathy (odds
      ratio [OR], 7.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.4 to 22.6; p < 0.001), the
      involvement of a large joint (knee, shoulder, or hip) (OR, 7.0; 95% CI, 1.2 to
      37.5; p = 0.02), a synovial-fluid nucleated cell count of >85.0 x 10(9) cells/L
      (OR, 4.7; 95% CI, 1.8 to 17.7; p = 0.002), S. aureus as the bacterial isolate
      (OR, 4.6; 95% CI, 1.8 to 11.9; p = 0.002), and a history of diabetes (OR, 2.6;
      95% CI, 1.1 to 6.2; p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Most (62%) of the septic joints were
      managed effectively with a single surgical debridement. Adults with a history of
      inflammatory arthropathy, involvement of a large joint, a synovial-fluid
      nucleated cell count of >85.0 x 10(9) cells/L, an infection with S. aureus, or a
      history of diabetes had a higher risk of failure of a single surgical debridement
      for acute septic arthritis and requiring additional surgical debridement(s).

PMID- 25834081
TI  - Architectural and biochemical adaptations in skeletal muscle and bone following
      rotator cuff injury in a rat model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Injury to the rotator cuff can cause irreversible changes to the
      structure and function of the associated muscles and bones. The temporal
      progression and pathomechanisms associated with these adaptations are unclear.
      The purpose of this study was to investigate the time course of structural muscle
      and osseous changes in a rat model of a massive rotator cuff tear. METHODS:
      Supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscle architecture and biochemistry and humeral
      and scapular morphological parameters were measured three days, eight weeks, and
      sixteen weeks after dual tenotomy with and without chemical paralysis via
      botulinum toxin A (BTX). RESULTS: Muscle mass and physiological cross-sectional
      area increased over time in the age-matched control animals, decreased over time
      in the tenotomy+BTX group, and remained nearly the same in the tenotomy-alone
      group. Tenotomy+BTX led to increased extracellular collagen in the muscle.
      Changes in scapular bone morphology were observed in both experimental groups,
      consistent with reductions in load transmission across the joint. CONCLUSIONS:
      These data suggest that tenotomy alone interferes with normal age-related muscle
      growth. The addition of chemical paralysis yielded profound structural changes to
      the muscle and bone, potentially leading to impaired muscle function, increased
      muscle stiffness, and decreased bone strength. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Structural
      musculoskeletal changes occur after tendon injury, and these changes are severely
      exacerbated with the addition of neuromuscular compromise.

PMID- 25834082
TI  - Osteocartilaginous transfer of the proximal part of the fibula for osseous
      overgrowth in children with congenital or acquired tibial amputation: surgical
      technique and results.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Osseous overgrowth is a common problem in children after tibial
      transcortical amputation. We present the results of forty-seven children (fifty
      tibiae) treated for tibial osseous overgrowth with an autologous
      osteocartilaginous cap from the proximal part of the ipsilateral fibula. METHODS:
      We reviewed the records of all patients who underwent amputation at a single
      pediatric hospital from 1990 to 2011. All patients who had been followed for a
      minimum of two years after undergoing osteocartilaginous capping with the
      proximal part of the ipsilateral fibula to treat established tibial overgrowth
      were included. Patients with acquired and congenital amputations were compared.
      RESULTS: Fifty tibiae in forty-seven patients met our inclusion criteria. There
      were thirty-one acquired and nineteen congenital amputations. The mean age at
      surgery was 7.6 years (range, 2.1 to 15.6 years), and the mean duration of follow
      up was 7.2 years (range, 2.2 to 15.4 years). Five tibiae (10%) in four patients
      had recurrence of the overgrowth at a mean of 5.4 years (range, 2.8 to 7.6 years)
      after the osteocartilaginous transfer. There was no significant difference in the
      results between children with an acquired amputation and those with a congenital
      amputation. CONCLUSIONS: At a mean of 7.2 years after autologous
      osteocartilaginous capping with the proximal part of the fibula, 90% of the limbs
      had not had recurrent overgrowth. This is a safe and effective treatment of long
      bone overgrowth following either congenital or acquired amputation in children.

PMID- 25834085
TI  - Unplanned excision of soft-tissue sarcomas: current concepts for management and
      prognosis.
AB  - ? Biopsy, staging, preoperative imaging and planning, as well as surgical
      treatment of soft-tissue sarcomas, are best carried out in specialized sarcoma
      centers, with the support of a multidisciplinary tumor board.? Tumor bed excision
      is recommended after most unplanned excisions, with a goal of obtaining complete
      tumor removal with an appropriately wide margin of resection.? The surgical
      resection area tends to be more extensive during tumor bed excision than during
      primary resection because of the need to resect potential areas of contamination,
      resulting in the need for more reconstructive procedures (flaps and skin grafts)
      and wider radiation fields.? Unplanned excisions are associated with an increased
      rate of local recurrence related to residual disease and positive margins after
      tumor bed excision, a deep location, and certain histologic subtypes, such as
      malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor, myxofibrosarcoma, and
      dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans.? While adjuvant radiation therapy has not been
      found to mitigate the risk of local recurrence in unplanned excisions, it is
      generally utilized in the treatment of unplanned excisions as it is in the
      treatment of primary soft-tissue sarcomas.? Given the surgical and oncologic
      sequelae of unplanned excisions, prevention through the diffusion of concepts by
      means of provider education on how to approach soft-tissue masses, which can be
      potential soft-tissue sarcomas, is the best strategy. 

PMID- 25834083
TI  - Preliminary validation of the Review of Musculoskeletal System (ROMS)
      questionnaire.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Measurement of clinical outcomes is necessary to define best
      practice. It requires a validated tool that can be easily applied as part of
      clinical practice. We present the preliminary validation of a brief self-reported
      Review of Musculoskeletal System (ROMS) questionnaire that captures functional
      limitations due to musculoskeletal problems and other medical and emotional
      conditions. METHODS: Data were derived from a clinical outcomes database
      (Orthopaedic Minimal Data Set [OrthoMiDaS]) that combines patient-reported data
      collected as part of routine care and secondary data extracted from electronic
      medical records. The study utilized 82,873 encounters collected from 24,116
      consecutive patients with problems in the upper and lower extremities. In
      addition to the ROMS, the study used version 2 of the Short Form-12 (SF-12v2),
      the Penn Shoulder Score (PSS), the Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome
      Score (HOOS), and the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS)
      questionnaires. Fifteen cross-sectional samples were used to evaluate the floor
      and ceiling effects as well as the construct and content validity. Five
      longitudinal cohorts were used to measure test-retest reliability and
      responsiveness. Standard statistical tests were applied. RESULTS: The floor and
      ceiling effects of the ROMS questionnaire in patients with shoulder, hip, and
      knee problems ranged from 1.3% to 8.5%. Construct-validity tests confirmed
      convergent and divergent validity of the ROMS. The tests also justified its
      additional value when the ROMS was used with joint-specific tools. When measuring
      test-retest reliability of the ROMS scales, intraclass correlation ranged from
      0.80 to 0.90 at approximately one week and from 0.71 to 0.87 at approximately
      four weeks. Responsiveness of the ROMS was greater than that of the SF-12 and
      less than that of the joint-specific questionnaires. CONCLUSIONS: The ROMS is
      compatible with routine clinical process and has good psychometric properties in
      patients with shoulder, hip, and knee disorders. It can be used as a primary
      outcome tool for large observational studies and can supplement more specific
      tools in controlled studies. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The ROMS was developed as a tool
      to measure and monitor the clinical status of the musculoskeletal system in a
      population of patients during and after treatment as well as over time.

PMID- 25834086
TI  - A cadaver study revisiting the original methodology of Lauge-Hansen and a
      commentary on modern usage.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The study by Lauge-Hansen published in the Archives of Surgery in
      1950 still stands as the seminal work for our understanding of the pathomechanics
      of ankle fractures. The purpose of the present study was to recreate Lauge
      Hansen's experiments for the supination-external rotation (SER) fracture
      mechanism and to determine whether the predicted sequence of osseous and soft
      tissue injury is reproducible on the basis of his originally described
      methodology. METHODS: Ten fresh-frozen cadaver specimens amputated above the knee
      were utilized. The foot was axially loaded in a position of neutral dorsiflexion
      and supination. External rotation was applied manually in accordance with Lauge
      Hansen's description until osseous and/or soft-tissue injury occurred.
      Fluoroscopic images were made and anatomic dissection was performed. RESULTS:
      Although several specimens exhibited findings consistent with certain stages of
      the SER injury pattern, no specimen demonstrated the complete sequence of
      predicted osseous and soft-tissue injury. CONCLUSIONS: Loading cadaver specimens
      with an SER mechanism utilizing a methodology similar to that in the original
      experiments by Lauge-Hansen does not reliably produce the sequence of osseous and
      soft-tissue injury predicted by Lauge-Hansen.

PMID- 25834084
TI  - Intermediate-term follow-up after ankle distraction for treatment of end-stage
      osteoarthritis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Treatment of end-stage ankle osteoarthritis remains challenging,
      especially in young patients. Initial reports have shown early benefits of joint
      distraction for the treatment of ankle osteoarthritis. We report the five to ten
      year results of a previously described patient cohort following ankle distraction
      surgery. METHODS: All thirty-six patients who had undergone ankle distraction
      surgery between December 2002 and October 2006 were contacted. Patients were
      evaluated by a clinical investigator and completed the Ankle Osteoarthritis Scale
      (AOS) and Short Form-36 (SF-36) surveys. Radiographs as well as computed
      tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans of the ankles were obtained at
      the follow-up visits. RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients (81%) were followed for a
      minimum of five years (mean and standard deviation, 8.3 +/- 2.2 years). Sixteen
      (55%) of the twenty-nine patients still had the native ankle joint whereas
      thirteen patients (45%) had undergone either ankle arthrodesis or total ankle
      arthroplasty. Positive predictors of ankle survival included a better AOS score
      at two years (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.048, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.0028 to
      0.84, p = 0.04), older age at surgery (HR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.83 to 0.99, p =
      0.04), and fixed distraction (HR = 0.094, 95% CI = 0.017 to 0.525, p < 0.01).
      Radiographs and advanced imaging revealed progression of ankle osteoarthritis at
      the time of final follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Ankle function following joint
      distraction declines over time. Patients should be well informed of the
      commitment that they must make during the treatment period as well as the long
      term results after surgery.

PMID- 25834087
TI  - Demonstrating the value of orthopaedic surgery through multicenter trials: AOA
      critical issues.
AB  - Orthopaedic surgery is expensive and will be carefully scrutinized in the U.S.
      under health-care reform. Unfortunately, although the orthopaedic literature is
      replete with clinical outcomes studies, there is still a paucity of meaningful
      clinical outcomes data that are free from bias. It is possible that orthopaedic
      procedures may be among the most cost-effective medical treatments for the aging
      population. However, it is only through the collection of patient-generated
      outcomes data in prospective randomized and observational studies that
      orthopaedic surgery can be shown to provide high value (defined as high-quality
      outcomes at a relatively low cost) to society.The burden of musculoskeletal
      disease in the U.S. is high; nearly half of all adults describe themselves as
      having a chronic musculoskeletal condition, and approximately one-quarter of all
      health-care dollars are spent treating musculoskeletal disease. For this reason,
      treatment for osteoarthritis, the costliest condition in the elderly population,
      has drawn great scrutiny from insurers and the government. In the absence of
      clinical outcomes data that prove the value of orthopaedic interventions, there
      will be pressure to reduce payments or even deny treatments for these conditions
      if they are perceived to be too expensive or lack outcomes data supporting their
      use.Multicenter trials are expensive; this paper analyzes challenges to, and
      opportunities for, funding. Although National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding
      has dropped nearly 20% over the past ten years in inflation-adjusted dollars, it
      has begun a gradual reorientation toward clinical research, which comprised
      almost 50% of its budget in 2013. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
      focused more attention on clinical outcomes research, with the establishment of
      the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), which will ultimately
      fund $750 million of comparative effectiveness research annually. Another new
      funding source within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is the
      Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), which recently funded several
      major initiatives, including a $1 billion health-care innovations grant program
      in 2012.The purpose of this article is to promote increased participation in
      prospective orthopaedic multicenter trials, which can answer clinical questions
      that affect the care of millions of patients. Some have enrolled large numbers of
      patients and have demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of surgery, provided
      subgroup analyses to define the optimal timing of surgery, and identified which
      patients are most and least helped by surgery. These studies have the power to
      establish new standards of care and prove the value of orthopaedic surgery. 

PMID- 25834088
TI  - The inadequacy of musculoskeletal knowledge in graduating medical students in the
      United Kingdom.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal symptoms are common reasons for patients seeking
      medical attention. Basic competency in musculoskeletal medicine is therefore
      essential for all clinicians. To our knowledge, this is the first assessment of
      the competency in musculoskeletal medicine of medical students in the United
      Kingdom. METHODS: Medical students were enrolled after passing final university
      examinations and being awarded degrees of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of
      Surgery (MBBS) or Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae (MBChB) in 2013
      and were assessed with use of the Freedman and Bernstein musculoskeletal
      cognitive examination tool. RESULTS: Two hundred and thirty students were
      recruited, of whom 210 were suitable for inclusion. Only 21% (forty-four
      students) passed the assessment. Mandatory exposure to musculoskeletal medicine
      during medical school consisted of orthopaedics for 100% of participants for a
      mean duration of 2.65 weeks, rheumatology for 96% of participants for a mean
      duration of 2.5 weeks, and sports medicine for 1% of participants for a mean
      duration of two weeks. There was a significant difference (p = 0.002) in scores
      between those with career interests in musculoskeletal specialties (69.3%) and
      the rest of the cohort (54.9%). There was also a significant difference (p =
      0.001) in scores between participants with career interests in general practice
      (42%) and the rest of the cohort (56%). Only 40% of participants considered
      themselves competent in musculoskeletal medicine. Fifty-five percent thought that
      musculoskeletal conditions would be an important component of their future
      practice. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that medical schools may be currently
      failing to ensure that medical students have a basic competence in
      musculoskeletal medicine. Further investigation is warranted to fully assess the
      current training provided by U.K. medical schools in musculoskeletal medicine,
      and appropriate steps must be taken to improve the quantity and quality of
      training in musculoskeletal medicine in the United Kingdom.

PMID- 25834089
TI  - Should version concern us? Commentary on an article by Peter D. Fabricant, MD,
      MPH, et al.: "The effect of femoral and acetabular version on clinical outcomes
      after arthroscopic femoroacetabular impingement surgery".

PMID- 25834090
TI  - A comparative review of methods for comparing means using partially paired data.
AB  - In medical experiments with the objective of testing the equality of two means,
      data are often partially paired by design or because of missing data. The
      partially paired data represent a combination of paired and unpaired
      observations. In this article, we review and compare nine methods for analyzing
      partially paired data, including the two-sample t-test, paired t-test, corrected
      z-test, weighted t-test, pooled t-test, optimal pooled t-test, multiple
      imputation method, mixed model approach, and the test based on a modified maximum
      likelihood estimate. We compare the performance of these methods through
      extensive simulation studies that cover a wide range of scenarios with different
      effect sizes, sample sizes, and correlations between the paired variables, as
      well as true underlying distributions. The simulation results suggest that when
      the sample size is moderate, the test based on the modified maximum likelihood
      estimator is generally superior to the other approaches when the data is normally
      distributed and the optimal pooled t-test performs the best when the data is not
      normally distributed, with well-controlled type I error rates and high
      statistical power; when the sample size is small, the optimal pooled t-test is to
      be recommended when both variables have missing data and the paired t-test is to
      be recommended when only one variable has missing data.

PMID- 25834091
TI  - Characterisation of subpopulations of myeloid cells in infantile haemangioma.
AB  - AIMS: Cells expressing markers of mast cells, macrophages and dendritic cells
      have previously been demonstrated within the interstitium of infantile
      haemangioma (IH). This study characterised these myeloid cellular subpopulations
      within IH. METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining was performed on proliferating
      and involuted IHs for the expression of Nanog, tryptase, CD163, DC-SIGN and CD45.
      The presence of mRNA corresponding to Nanog, tryptase alpha/beta-1, tryptase beta
      2, CD163 and DC-SIGN was confirmed by NanoString and RT-PCR in snap-frozen IH
      tissues. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical staining showed expression of Nanog by
      interstitial phenotypical mast cells within proliferating IH, which were separate
      from the interstitial M2-polarised macrophages that also expressed DC-SIGN, a
      dendritic cell marker. These two myeloid cellular subpopulations in IH did not
      express the pan-haematopoietic marker, CD45. CONCLUSIONS: There are two
      interstitial subpopulations of myeloid cells within IH: phenotypical mast cells
      which also express Nanog, indicating a primitive phenotype; and M2-polarised
      macrophages which also express DC-SIGN.

PMID- 25834092
TI  - SAS doctors career progression survey 2013.
AB  - We conducted a national survey of Staff, Associate Specialists and Specialty
      (SAS) doctors working in sexual health clinics in the UK in 2013 in order to
      explore their career progression. The aim of the survey was to assess SAS
      doctors' experience in passing through the thresholds and to gather information
      about the adherence by SAS doctors and employers to the terms and conditions of
      service laid out by the new 2008 contract. Out of 185 responders, whom the
      authors estimate comprise 34% of the total workforce, 159 were on the new
      contract. Of those, most SAS doctors were women (84%), the majority (67%) worked
      less than nine programmed activities per week; only a few had intentions to join
      the consultant grade (15%), and a considerable minority (26%) were older than 54
      years of age and likely to retire in the next ten years. The survey showed that
      most participating SAS doctors had undergone appraisal in the previous 15 months
      (90%), most had a job planning discussion (83%) with their employer and most had
      some allocated time for supporting professional activities (86%). However, a
      significant minority had no appraisal (10%), no job planning discussion (17%) and
      had no allocated supporting professional activities (14%), which allows time for
      career development in the specialty. Most SAS doctors, who had the opportunity,
      had progressed through the thresholds automatically (88%); some experienced
      difficulties in passing (8%) and only a few did not pass (4%). SAS doctors must
      ensure that they work together with their employer in order to improve adherence
      to the terms and conditions of service of the contract, which allow for career
      progression and benefit both the individual doctors and ultimately service
      provision. 

PMID- 25834094
TI  - Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus nucleic acid binding proteins BRO-B and BRO-E
      associate with host T-cell intracellular antigen 1 homologue BmTRN-1 to influence
      protein synthesis during infection.
AB  - Previous reports have indicated that the Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV)
      nucleic acid binding proteins BRO-B and BRO-E are expressed during the early
      stage of infection and that the BRO family likely supports the regulation of
      mRNA; however, no study has directly examined the function of BRO family proteins
      in virus-permissive cells. Here, we show that BRO-B and BRO-E associate with
      cellular T-cell intracellular antigen 1 homologue (BmTRN-1), a translational
      regulator, and other cellular translation-related proteins in silkworm cells
      during viral infection. We created BM-N cells that expressed BRO-B/E to study
      molecular interactions between BmTRN-1 and BRO-B/E and how they influenced
      protein synthesis. Fluorescent microscopy revealed that BmTRN-1 was localized in
      cytoplasmic foci during BmNPV infection. Immunofluorescence studies confirmed
      that BmTRN-1 and BRO-B/E were colocalized in the amorphous conspicuous
      cytoplasmic foci. Reporter gene studies revealed that co-expression of BRO-B/E
      synergistically led to a significant decrease in protein synthesis from a
      designed transcript carrying the 5'untranslated region of a cellular mRNA with no
      significant change of transcript abundance. Additionally, RNA interference
      mediated knockdown of BmTRN-1 resulted in a marked inhibition of the ability of
      BRO-B/E to regulate the transcript. These results suggested that the association
      of BmTRN-1 with BRO-B/E is responsible for the inhibitory regulation of certain
      mRNAs at the post-transcriptional level and add an additional mechanism for how
      baculoviruses control protein synthesis during infection. 

PMID- 25834093
TI  - Live attenuated simian immunodeficiency virus vaccination confers superinfection
      resistance against macrophage-tropic and neurovirulent wild-type SIV challenge.
AB  - Vaccination with live attenuated simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in non-human
      primate species provides a means of characterizing the protective processes of
      retroviral superinfection and may lead to novel advances of human
      immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS vaccine design. The minimally attenuated
      SIVmacC8 vaccine has been demonstrated to elicit early potent protection against
      pathogenic rechallenge with genetically diverse viral isolates in cynomolgus
      macaques (Macaca fascicularis). In this study, we have characterized further the
      biological breadth of this vaccine protection by assessing the ability of both
      the nef-disrupted SIVmacC8 and its nef-intact counterpart SIVmacJ5 viruses to
      prevent superinfection with the macrophage/neurotropic SIVmac239/17E-Fr
      (SIVmac17E-Fr) isolate. Inoculation with either SIVmacC8 or SIVmacJ5 and
      subsequent detailed characterization of the viral replication kinetics revealed a
      wide range of virus-host outcomes. Both nef-disrupted and nef-intact immunizing
      viruses were able to prevent establishment of SIVmac17E-Fr in peripheral blood
      and secondary lymphoid tissues. Differences in virus kinetics, indicative of an
      active process, identified uncontrolled replication in one macaque which although
      able to prevent SIVmac17E-Fr superinfection led to extensive neuropathological
      complications. The ability to prevent a biologically heterologous, CD4
      independent/CCR5+ viral isolate and the macrophage-tropic SIVmac316 strain from
      establishing infection supports the hypothesis that direct target cell blocking
      is unlikely to be a central feature of live lentivirus vaccination. These data
      provide further evidence to demonstrate that inoculation of a live retroviral
      vaccine can deliver broad spectrum protection against both macrophage-tropic as
      well as lymphocytotropic viruses. These data add to our knowledge of live
      attenuated SIV vaccines but further highlight potential safety concerns of
      vaccinating with a live retrovirus. 

PMID- 25834095
TI  - Egg yolk proteins and peptides with biological activity.
AB  - Many proteins of food reveal biological activity. In the sequence of these
      proteins also numerous biologically active peptides are encrypted. These peptides
      are released during proteolysis naturally occurring in the gastrointestinal
      tract, food fermentation or during designed enzymatic hydrolysis in vitro.
      Biopeptides may exert multiple activities, affecting the cardiovascular,
      endocrine, nervous and immune systems. An especially rich source of bioactive
      proteins and biopeptides is egg. Bioactive peptides released from egg white
      proteins have been well described, whereas egg yolk proteins as precursors of
      biopeptides are less well characterized. This manuscript describes biologically
      active proteins and peptides originating from egg yolk and presents their
      potential therapeutic role. 

PMID- 25834096
TI  - [The hematological malignancies related to primary hypereosinophilia and their
      diagnostics].
AB  - Published in 2008, by experts of the World Health Organization, the new
      classification of hematological malignancies forced a change of look at
      chromosomal aberrations and gene mutations, which are important in establishing
      the diagnosis and prognosis for patients with these malignancies. The new
      classification includes a new category of neoplasms - hematological malignancies
      with hypereosinophilia. Due to the high diversity of causes of hypereosinophilia
      and underlying genetic changes, their differential diagnosis is based on
      classical cytogenetics, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and genetic
      molecular techniques. Cytogenetic analysis of bone marrow cells showed that the
      majority of hypereosinophilia cases can be characterized by the presence of
      normal karyotype. Therefore, routine cytogenetic diagnostics should be
      complemented by FISH with break-apart probes for potentially rearranged genes
      (e.g., CBFB, ETV6) and unique probes for fusion genes (e.g., FIP1L1-PDGFRA),
      specific for hypereosinophilia-associated diseases. In differential diagnosis of
      hypereosinophilia, the analysis of characteristic gene mutations (e.g., cKIT) and
      gene fusions (e.g., ETV6-PDGFRB) is also applied, using molecular genetic
      methods.

PMID- 25834097
TI  - History-taking still the best diagnostic modality? The case of a threatening mass
      in the right ventricle.

PMID- 25834098
TI  - Large protruding thrombus over left atrial appendage occlusion device
      successfully treated with apixaban.

PMID- 25834099
TI  - Isolated venous thrombosis of inferior vena cava presenting Budd-Chiari syndrome
      associated with Behcet's disease.

PMID- 25834100
TI  - A large mass inside the left atrium?

PMID- 25834101
TI  - Watch out for the WATCHMAN.

PMID- 25834102
TI  - PIM1 regulates glycolysis and promotes tumor progression in hepatocellular
      carcinoma.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characteristically one of the most rapidly
      proliferating tumors which outgrows functional blood supply and results in
      regional oxygen deprivation. Overexpression of PIM1, a serine/threonine kinase,
      has been identified recently in human cancers. Knowledge on PIM1 in HCC is
      however, scarce. By immunohistochemical analysis on 56 human primary HCC samples,
      we observed overexpression of PIM1 in 39% of the cases. In two independent
      cohorts of paired primary and extra-hepatic metastatic HCC tissues, PIM1
      expression was higher (p=0.002) in the extra-hepatic metastatic HCC tissues as
      compared with the corresponding primary HCCs. PIM1 was markedly up-regulated in
      multiple HCC cell lines in hypoxic condition (1% O2) versus normoxia (20% O2).
      Silencing of PIM1 suppressed HCC cell invasion in vitro as compared to non-target
      control, and decreased HCC cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth and
      metastatic potential in vivo. Knockdown of PIM1 significantly reduced glucose
      uptake by HCC cells and was associated with decreased levels of p-AKT and key
      molecules in the glycolytic pathway. Taken together, PIM1 is up-regulated by
      hypoxia in HCC and promotes tumor growth and metastasis through facilitating
      cancer cell glycolysis. Targeting PIM1 may have potential role in the management
      of HCC. 

PMID- 25834104
TI  - EEG artifact removal-state-of-the-art and guidelines.
AB  - This paper presents an extensive review on the artifact removal algorithms used
      to remove the main sources of interference encountered in the
      electroencephalogram (EEG), specifically ocular, muscular and cardiac artifacts.
      We first introduce background knowledge on the characteristics of EEG activity,
      of the artifacts and of the EEG measurement model. Then, we present algorithms
      commonly employed in the literature and describe their key features. Lastly,
      principally on the basis of the results provided by various researchers, but also
      supported by our own experience, we compare the state-of-the-art methods in terms
      of reported performance, and provide guidelines on how to choose a suitable
      artifact removal algorithm for a given scenario. With this review we have
      concluded that, without prior knowledge of the recorded EEG signal or the
      contaminants, the safest approach is to correct the measured EEG using
      independent component analysis-to be precise, an algorithm based on second-order
      statistics such as second-order blind identification (SOBI). Other effective
      alternatives include extended information maximization (InfoMax) and an adaptive
      mixture of independent component analyzers (AMICA), based on higher order
      statistics. All of these algorithms have proved particularly effective with
      simulations and, more importantly, with data collected in controlled recording
      conditions. Moreover, whenever prior knowledge is available, then a constrained
      form of the chosen method should be used in order to incorporate such additional
      information. Finally, since which algorithm is the best performing is highly
      dependent on the type of the EEG signal, the artifacts and the signal to
      contaminant ratio, we believe that the optimal method for removing artifacts from
      the EEG consists in combining more than one algorithm to correct the signal using
      multiple processing stages, even though this is an option largely unexplored by
      researchers in the area. 

PMID- 25834103
TI  - Lipin-1 regulates cancer cell phenotype and is a potential target to potentiate
      rapamycin treatment.
AB  - Lipogenesis inhibition was reported to induce apoptosis and repress proliferation
      of cancer cells while barely affecting normal cells. Lipins exhibit dual function
      as enzymes catalyzing the dephosphorylation of phosphatidic acid to
      diacylglycerol and as co-transcriptional regulators. Thus, they are able to
      regulate lipid homeostasis at several nodal points. Here, we show that lipin-1 is
      up-regulated in several cancer cell lines and overexpressed in 50 % of high grade
      prostate cancers. The proliferation of prostate and breast cancer cells, but not
      of non-tumorigenic cells, was repressed upon lipin-1 knock-down. Lipin-1
      depletion also decreased cancer cell migration through RhoA activation. Lipin-1
      silencing did not significantly affect global lipid synthesis but enhanced the
      cellular concentration of phosphatidic acid. In parallel, autophagy was induced
      while AKT and ribosomal protein S6 phosphorylation were repressed. We also
      observed a compensatory regulation between lipin-1 and lipin-2 and demonstrated
      that their co-silencing aggravates the phenotype induced by lipin-1 silencing
      alone. Most interestingly, lipin-1 depletion or lipins inhibition with
      propranolol sensitized cancer cells to rapamycin. These data indicate that lipin
      1 controls main cellular processes involved in cancer progression and that its
      targeting, alone or in combination with other treatments, could open new avenues
      in anticancer therapy. 

PMID- 25834106
TI  - Engineering as a new frontier for translational medicine.
AB  - The inclusion of engineering ideas and approaches makes medicine a quantitative
      and systems-based discipline that facilitates precision diagnostics and
      therapeutics to improve health care delivery for all. 

PMID- 25834105
TI  - Compliant intracortical implants reduce strains and strain rates in brain tissue
      in vivo.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to characterize the mechanical
      interactions of (1) soft, compliant and (2) non-compliant implants with the
      surrounding brain tissue in a rodent brain. Understanding such interactions will
      enable the engineering of novel materials that will improve stability and
      reliability of brain implants. APPROACH: Acute force measurements were made using
      a load cell in n = 3 live rats, each with 4 craniotomies. Using an indentation
      method, brain tissue was tested for changes in force using established protocols.
      A total of 4 non-compliant, bare silicon microshanks, 3 non-compliant polyvinyl
      acetate (PVAc)-coated silicon microshanks, and 6 compliant, nanocomposite
      microshanks were tested. Stress values were calculated by dividing the force by
      surface area and strain was estimated using a linear stress-strain relationship.
      Micromotion effects from breathing and vascular pulsatility on tissue stress were
      estimated from a 5 s interval of steady-state measurements. Viscoelastic
      properties were estimated using a second-order Prony series expansion of stress
      displacement curves for each shank. MAIN RESULTS: The distribution of strain
      values imposed on brain tissue for both compliant nanocomposite microshanks and
      PVAc-coated, non-compliant silicon microshanks were significantly lower compared
      to non-compliant bare silicon shanks. Interestingly, step-indentation experiments
      also showed that compliant, nanocomposite materials significantly decreased
      stress relaxation rates in the brain tissue at the interface (p < 0.05) compared
      to non-compliant silicon and PVAc-coated silicon materials. Furthermore, both
      PVAc-coated non-compliant silicon and compliant nanocomposite shanks showed
      significantly reduced (by 4-5 fold) stresses due to tissue micromotion at the
      interface. SIGNIFICANCE: The results of this study showed that soft, adaptive
      materials reduce strains and strain rates and micromotion induced stresses in the
      surrounding brain tissue. Understanding the material behavior at the site of
      tissue contact will help to improve neural implant design.

PMID- 25834107
TI  - Developing vaccines for an aging population.
AB  - The demographics of the world's population are changing, with many adults now
      surviving into their 80s. With this change comes the need to protect the aging
      and other underserved populations not only against infectious diseases but also
      against cancer and other chronic conditions. New technologies derived from recent
      advances in the fields of immunology, structural biology, synthetic biology, and
      genomics have brought a revolution in the vaccine field. Among them, vaccine
      adjuvants have the potential to harness the immune system to provide protection
      against new types of diseases, improve protection in young children, and expand
      this protection to adults and the elderly. However, in order to do so we need
      also to overcome the nontechnical challenges that could limit the implementation
      of innovative vaccines, including controversies regarding the safety of
      adjuvants, increasing regulatory complexity, the inadequate methods used to
      assess the value of novel vaccines, and the resulting industry alienation from
      future investment. This Perspective summarizes the outcome of a recent
      multidisciplinary symposium entitled "Enhancing Vaccine Immunity and Value," held
      in Siena, Italy, in July 2014, that addressed two related questions: how to
      improve vaccine efficacy by using breakthrough technologies and how to capture
      the full potential of novel vaccines. 

PMID- 25834108
TI  - G-CSF mobilizes CD34+ regulatory monocytes that inhibit graft-versus-host
      disease.
AB  - Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is routinely used to collect
      peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) from healthy donors for allogeneic
      hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). We show that, in both humans
      and mice, G-CSF mobilizes a subset of CD34(+) cells with mature monocyte
      features. These cells, which are phenotypically and functionally conserved in
      mice and humans, are transcriptionally distinct from myeloid and monocytic
      precursors but similar to mature monocytes and endowed with immunosuppressive
      properties. In response to interferon-gamma released by activated T cells, these
      cells produce nitric oxide, which induces allogeneic T cell death both in vitro
      and in vivo. These apoptotic T cells are engulfed by macrophages that release
      transforming growth factor-beta and promote regulatory T cell expansion. Indeed,
      the fraction of CD34(+) monocytes in peripheral blood CD34(+) cells inversely
      correlates with the incidence of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in
      humans. Therefore, G-CSF-mobilized cells are an attractive candidate population
      to be expanded ex vivo for cellular therapy against GVHD. 

PMID- 25834110
TI  - An EphB-Abl signaling pathway is associated with intestinal tumor initiation and
      growth.
AB  - EphB receptors regulate the proliferation and positioning of intestinal stem and
      progenitor cells. In addition, they can act as tumor promoters for adenoma
      development but suppress progression to invasive carcinoma. We used imatinib to
      abrogate Abl kinase activity in Apc(Min/+) mice and in mice with LGR5(+) stem
      cells that were genetically engineered to develop adenomatous polyposis coli.
      Imatinib treatment inhibited the tumor-promoting effects of EphB signaling
      without attenuating EphB-mediated tumor suppression, demonstrating a role for
      EphB signaling in the initiation of intestinal tumors. The imatinib treatment
      regimen extended the life span of Apc(Min/+) mice and reduced cell proliferation
      in cultured slices of adenomas from patients with familial adenomatous polyposis.
      These findings connect the EphB signaling pathway to the regulation of intestinal
      adenoma initiation via Abl kinase. Our findings may have clinical implications
      for pharmacological therapy against adenoma formation and cancer progression in
      patients predisposed to develop colorectal cancer. 

PMID- 25834109
TI  - Cytomegalovirus infection enhances the immune response to influenza.
AB  - Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a beta-herpesvirus present in a latent form in most
      people worldwide. In immunosuppressed individuals, CMV can reactivate and cause
      serious clinical complications, but the effect of the latent state on healthy
      people remains elusive. We undertook a systems approach to understand the
      differences between seropositive and negative subjects and measured hundreds of
      immune system components from blood samples including cytokines and chemokines,
      immune cell phenotyping, gene expression, ex vivo cell responses to cytokine
      stimuli, and the antibody response to seasonal influenza vaccination. As
      expected, we found decreased responses to vaccination and an overall down
      regulation of immune components in aged individuals regardless of CMV status. In
      contrast, CMV-seropositive young adults exhibited enhanced antibody responses to
      influenza vaccination, increased CD8(+) T cell sensitivity, and elevated levels
      of circulating interferon-gamma compared to seronegative individuals. Experiments
      with young mice infected with murine CMV also showed significant protection from
      an influenza virus challenge compared with uninfected animals, although this
      effect declined with time. These data show that CMV and its murine equivalent can
      have a beneficial effect on the immune response of young, healthy individuals,
      which may explain the ubiquity of CMV infection in humans and many other species.

PMID- 25834114
TI  - Endovascular medicine certification 2005-2014: report from the American Board of
      Vascular Medicine.
AB  - This report describes the methods used to develop and maintain the endovascular
      medicine certification examination, which has been offered by the American Board
      of Vascular Medicine (ABVM) to practicing physicians since 2005. The report
      covers the methods and findings used to develop examination specifications which
      ensure the content and construct validity of the examination assessment such that
      the examination is reflective of the job tasks associated with the endovascular
      medicine specialty, as well as being a meaningful indicator of whether a
      candidate possesses the knowledge and skills necessary for competent practice.
      Further, this report covers the procedures used to develop, maintain, and
      administer the examination, including a summary of the content review process and
      the use of statistical information. Based on psychometric evaluation of the
      examination's performance, the ABVM's endovascular medicine examination appears
      to be a valid assessment of professional competency in the specialty area; a
      finding that supports the inference that candidates who pass the examination are
      qualified to practice in a manner that protects patients.

PMID- 25834113
TI  - Evaluation of focused multipolar stimulation for cochlear implants in long-term
      deafened cats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Focused multipolar (FMP) stimulation has been shown to produce
      restricted neural activation using intracochlear stimulation in animals with a
      normal population of spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). However, in a clinical
      setting, the widespread loss of SGNs and peripheral fibres following deafness is
      expected to influence the effectiveness of FMP. APPROACH: We compared the
      efficacy of FMP stimulation to both monopolar (MP) and tripolar (TP) stimulation
      in long-term deafened cat cochleae (n = 8). Unlike our previous study, these
      cochleae contained <10% of the normal SGN population adjacent to the electrode
      array. We also evaluated the effect of electrode position on stimulation modes by
      using either modiolar facing or lateral wall facing half-band electrodes. The
      spread of neural activity across the inferior colliculus, a major nucleus within
      the central auditory pathway, was used as a measure of spatial selectivity. MAIN
      RESULTS: In cochleae with significant SGN degeneration, we observed that FMP and
      TP stimulation resulted in greater spatial selectivity than MP stimulation (p <
      0.001). However, thresholds were significantly higher for FMP and TP stimulation
      compared to MP stimulation (p < 0.001). No difference between FMP and TP
      stimulation was found in any measures. The high threshold levels for FMP
      stimulation was significantly reduced without compromising spatial selectivity by
      varying the degree of current focusing (referred as 'partial-FMP' stimulation).
      Spatial selectivity of all stimulation modes was unaffected by the electrode
      position. Finally, spatial selectivity in long-term deafened cochleae was
      significantly less than that of cochleae with normal SGN population (George S S
      et al 2014 J. Neural Eng. 11 065003). SIGNIFICANCE: The present results indicate
      that the greater spatial selectivity of FMP and TP stimulation over MP
      stimulation is maintained in cochleae with significant neural degeneration and is
      not adversely affected by electrode position. The greater spatial selectivity of
      FMP and TP stimulation would be expected to result in improved clinical
      performance.

PMID- 25834116
TI  - Images in vascular medicine. Abdominal aorta mycotic pseudoaneurysm with rapid
      growth.

PMID- 25834115
TI  - The validity of ICD codes coupled with imaging procedure codes for identifying
      acute venous thromboembolism using administrative data.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of using a combination of
      International Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnostic codes and imaging
      procedure codes for identifying deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism
      (PE) within administrative databases. Information from the Alberta Health (AH)
      inpatients and ambulatory care administrative databases in Alberta, Canada was
      obtained for subjects with a documented imaging study result performed at a large
      teaching hospital in Alberta to exclude venous thromboembolism (VTE) between 2000
      and 2010. In 1361 randomly-selected patients, the proportion of patients
      correctly classified by AH administrative data, using both ICD diagnostic codes
      and procedure codes, was determined for DVT and PE using diagnoses documented in
      patient charts as the gold standard. Of the 1361 patients, 712 had suspected PE
      and 649 had suspected DVT. The sensitivities for identifying patients with PE or
      DVT using administrative data were 74.83% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 67.01
      81.62) and 75.24% (95% CI: 65.86-83.14), respectively. The specificities for PE
      or DVT were 91.86% (95% CI: 89.29-93.98) and 95.77% (95% CI: 93.72-97.30),
      respectively. In conclusion, when coupled with relevant imaging codes, VTE
      diagnostic codes obtained from administrative data provide a relatively sensitive
      and very specific method to ascertain acute VTE. 

PMID- 25834117
TI  - The Notch pathway is a critical regulator of angiogenesis in a skin model of
      ischemia.
AB  - The Notch pathway is definitely required for normal vascular development.
      Although the contribution of Notch in postnatal angiogenesis is the focus of
      intense investigation, the implication of Notch in reparative neovascularization
      in the skin remains unexplored. In this study, we investigated Notch changes
      using a skin model of ischemia. Thirty Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two
      groups. In the surgery group (n = 24), a caudally based dorsal skin flap was
      raised and sutured back into its initial position. In the control group, no
      surgical procedure was performed. Tissue biopsies were obtained at different time
      intervals. Tissue specimens were assessed for Delta-like ligand 4 (DLL4) and
      vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene expression by real-time polymerase
      chain reaction (PCR). Immunohistochemical staining was used for detection of DLL4
      in tissue materials. Quantitative assessment of skin flap microvasculature was
      made. Compared with normoperfused tissue, VEGF and DLL4 expressions increased
      significantly (p < 0.01). Immunohistochemical analysis revealed weak and patchy
      expression of DLL4 in microvascular endothelial cells of normoperfused tissues.
      Conversely, DLL4 expression was upregulated in capillary endothelial cells after
      ischemia. In conclusion, in this study we have shown that the Notch ligand DLL4
      is upregulated in skin tissue after ischemia. A deeper understanding of these
      fundamental principles will aid in the development of new avenues for the
      treatment of blood vessel-related skin pathologies.

PMID- 25834112
TI  - Single-cell genotyping demonstrates complex clonal diversity in acute myeloid
      leukemia.
AB  - Clonal evolution in cancer-the selection for and emergence of increasingly
      malignant clones during progression and therapy, resulting in cancer metastasis
      and relapse-has been highlighted as an important phenomenon in the biology of
      leukemia and other cancers. Tracking mutant alleles to determine clonality from
      diagnosis to relapse or from primary site to metastases in a sensitive and
      quantitative manner is most often performed using next-generation sequencing.
      Such methods determine clonal frequencies by extrapolation of allele frequencies
      in sequencing data of DNA from the metagenome of bulk tumor samples using a set
      of assumptions. The computational framework that is usually used assumes specific
      patterns in the order of acquisition of unique mutational events and
      heterozygosity of mutations in single cells. However, these assumptions are not
      accurate for all mutant loci in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) samples. To assess
      whether current models of clonal diversity within individual AML samples are
      appropriate for common mutations, we developed protocols to directly genotype AML
      single cells. Single-cell analysis demonstrates that mutations of FLT3 and NPM1
      occur in both homozygous and heterozygous states, distributed among at least nine
      distinct clonal populations in all samples analyzed. There appears to be
      convergent evolution and differential evolutionary trajectories for cells
      containing mutations at different loci. This work suggests an underlying tumor
      heterogeneity beyond what is currently understood in AML, which may be important
      in the development of therapeutic approaches to eliminate leukemic cell burden
      and control clonal evolution-induced relapse. 

PMID- 25834111
TI  - Neuregulin stimulation of cardiomyocyte regeneration in mice and human myocardium
      reveals a therapeutic window.
AB  - Therapies developed for adult patients with heart failure have been shown to be
      ineffective in pediatric clinical trials, leading to the recognition that new
      pediatric-specific therapies for heart failure must be developed. Administration
      of the recombinant growth factor neuregulin-1 (rNRG1) stimulates regeneration of
      heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) in adult mice. Because proliferation
      competent cardiomyocytes are more abundant in growing mammals, we hypothesized
      that administration of rNRG1 during the neonatal period might be more effective
      than in adulthood. If so, neonatal rNRG1 delivery could be a new therapeutic
      strategy for treating heart failure in pediatric patients. To evaluate the
      effectiveness of rNRG1 administration in cardiac regeneration, newborn mice were
      subjected to cryoinjury, which induced myocardial dysfunction and scar formation
      and decreased cardiomyocyte cell cycle activity. Early administration of rNRG1 to
      mice from birth to 34 days of age improved myocardial function and reduced the
      prevalence of transmural scars. In contrast, administration of rNRG1 from 4 to 34
      days of age only transiently improved myocardial function. The mechanisms of
      early administration involved cardiomyocyte protection (38%) and proliferation
      (62%). We also assessed the ability of rNRG1 to stimulate cardiomyocyte
      proliferation in intact cultured myocardium from pediatric patients. rNRG1
      induced cardiomyocyte proliferation in myocardium from infants with heart disease
      who were less than 6 months of age. Our results identify an effective time period
      within which to execute rNRG1 clinical trials in pediatric patients for the
      stimulation of cardiomyocyte regeneration. 

PMID- 25834118
TI  - A hybrid BCI based on EEG and fNIRS signals improves the performance of decoding
      motor imagery of both force and speed of hand clenching.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In order to increase the number of states classified by a brain
      computer interface (BCI), we utilized a motor imagery task where subjects
      imagined both force and speed of hand clenching. APPROACH: The BCI utilized
      simultaneously recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) and functional near
      infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals. The time-phase-frequency feature was
      extracted from EEG, whereas the HbD [the difference of oxy-hemoglobin (HbO) and
      deoxy-hemoglobin (Hb)] feature was used to improve the classification accuracy of
      fNIRS. The EEG and fNIRS features were combined and optimized using the joint
      mutual information (JMI) feature selection criterion; then the extracted features
      were classified with the extreme learning machines (ELMs). MAIN RESULTS: In this
      study, the averaged classification accuracy of EEG signals achieved by the time
      phase-frequency feature improved by 7%, to 18%, more than the single-type
      feature, and improved by 15% more than common spatial pattern (CSP) feature. The
      HbD feature of fNIRS signals improved the accuracy by 1%, to 4%, more than Hb,
      HbO, or HbT (total hemoglobin). The EEG-fNIRS feature for decoding motor imagery
      of both force and speed of hand clenching achieved an accuracy of 89% +/- 2%, and
      improved the accuracy by 1% to 5% more than the sole EEG or fNIRS feature.
      SIGNIFICANCE: Our novel motor imagery paradigm improves BCI performance by
      increasing the number of extracted commands. Both the time-phase-frequency and
      the HbD feature improve the classification accuracy of EEG and fNIRS signals,
      respectively, and the hybrid EEG-fNIRS technique achieves a higher decoding
      accuracy for two-class motor imagery, which may provide the framework for future
      multi-modal online BCI systems.

PMID- 25834120
TI  - Human pluripotent stem cell-derived radial glia recapitulate developmental events
      and provide real-time access to cortical neurons and astrocytes.
AB  - Studies of human cerebral cortex development are limited by difficulties in
      accessing and manipulating human neural tissue at specific development stages. We
      have derived human radial glia (hRG), which are responsible for most cerebral
      cortex neurogenesis, from human pluripotent stem cells. These hRG display the
      hallmark morphological, cellular, and molecular features of radial glia in vitro.
      They can be passaged and generate layer-specific subtypes of cortical neurons in
      a temporal and passage-dependent fashion. In later passages, they adopt a
      distinct progenitor phenotype that gives rise to cortical astrocytes and
      GABAergic interneurons. These hRG are also capable of following developmental
      cues to engraft, differentiate, migrate, and integrate into the embryonic mouse
      cortex when injected into E14 lateral ventricles. Moreover, hRG-derived cells can
      be cryopreserved at specific stages and retain their stage-specific phenotypes
      and competence when revived. Our study demonstrates that cultured hRG maintain a
      cell-intrinsic clock that regulates the progressive generation of stage-specific
      neuronal and glial subtypes. It also describes an easily accessible cell source
      for studying hRG lineage specification and progression and an on-demand supply of
      specific cortical neuron subtypes and astrocytes. 

PMID- 25834119
TI  - Inhibition of an NAD+ salvage pathway provides efficient and selective toxicity
      to human pluripotent stem cells.
AB  - The tumorigenic potential of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) is a major
      limitation to the widespread use of hPSC derivatives in the clinic. Here, we
      demonstrate that the small molecule STF-31 is effective at eliminating
      undifferentiated hPSCs across a broad range of cell culture conditions with
      important advantages over previously described methods that target metabolic
      processes. Although STF-31 was originally described as an inhibitor of glucose
      transporter 1, these data support the reclassification of STF-31 as a specific
      NAD+ salvage pathway inhibitor through the inhibition of nicotinamide
      phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT). These findings demonstrate the importance of
      an NAD+ salvage pathway in hPSC biology and describe how inhibition of NAMPT can
      effectively eliminate hPSCs from culture. These results will advance and
      accelerate the development of safe, clinically relevant hPSC-derived cell-based
      therapies.

PMID- 25834121
TI  - Delayed minimally invasive injection of allogenic bone marrow stromal cell sheets
      regenerates large bone defects in an ovine preclinical animal model.
AB  - Cell-based tissue engineering approaches are promising strategies in the field of
      regenerative medicine. However, the mode of cell delivery is still a concern and
      needs to be significantly improved. Scaffolds and/or matrices loaded with cells
      are often transplanted into a bone defect immediately after the defect has been
      created. At this point, the nutrient and oxygen supply is low and the
      inflammatory cascade is incited, thus creating a highly unfavorable
      microenvironment for transplanted cells to survive and participate in the
      regeneration process. We therefore developed a unique treatment concept using the
      delayed injection of allogenic bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) sheets to
      regenerate a critical-sized tibial defect in sheep to study the effect of the
      cells' regeneration potential when introduced at a postinflammatory stage.
      Minimally invasive percutaneous injection of allogenic BMSCs into biodegradable
      composite scaffolds 4 weeks after the defect surgery led to significantly
      improved bone regeneration compared with preseeded scaffold/cell constructs and
      scaffold-only groups. Biomechanical testing and microcomputed tomography showed
      comparable results to the clinical reference standard (i.e., an autologous bone
      graft). To our knowledge, we are the first to show in a validated preclinical
      large animal model that delayed allogenic cell transplantation can provide
      applicable clinical treatment alternatives for challenging bone defects in the
      future. 

PMID- 25834123
TI  - Susceptibility-weighted imaging in parenchymal neurosyphilis: identification of a
      new MRI finding.
AB  - BACKGROUND: General paresis (GP) is a late form of parenchymal neurosyphilis
      causing dementia and neuropsychiatric disorders. The diagnosis is often difficult
      since the clinical signs are protean. So far, neuroimaging has played a minor
      role as radiological findings are not specific. METHODS: We studied three
      immunocompetent patients, admitted to hospital for cognitive impairment. The
      diagnosis of neurosyphilis was formulated on the basis of serological texts and
      cerebrospinal fluid analysis. The patients underwent a 3 T MR examination
      including susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) sequence before and after the
      initiation of penicillin therapy. RESULTS: In all patients, SWI revealed cortical
      hypointensity, mostly distributed in frontal and temporal lobes. In drug-naive
      patients, the hypointensity extended over the whole cortical thickness, from the
      cortical/subcortical junction to the pial surface. After starting the penicillin
      therapy, the cortical hypointensity partially reversed, involving only the deep
      cortical layers. CONCLUSIONS: The MRI pattern at SWI observed in patients with GP
      was not reported in other infectious or inflammatory disease of the central
      nervous system, thus we suggest it could be a peculiar radiological finding of
      the disease. On the basis of previous pathological data, we hypothesise that
      cortical SWI hypointensity could be expression of iron deposits within activated
      microglia.

PMID- 25834122
TI  - High prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in pregnant adolescent girls
      in Tanzania: a multi-community cross-sectional study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Limited data document sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among
      pregnant adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, where prenatal screening typically
      includes only HIV and syphilis. Given that HIV incidence in this population is
      among the world's highest, we sought to assess the prevalence and factors
      associated with STIs in a population of rural pregnant adolescents in Tanzania.
      METHODS: We enrolled 403 pregnant adolescent girls from 10 antenatal clinics near
      Mwanza, Tanzania. Girls answered structured interviews about sexual health and
      risk factors and were tested for six common STIs. RESULTS: 199 girls (49.4%) had
      at least one STI. Herpes Simplex Virus- Type 2 was most prevalent (139 girls,
      34.5%), followed by trichomoniasis (54 girls, 13.4%), chlamydia (46 girls,
      11.4%), gonorrhoea (27 girls, 6.7%), syphilis (21 girls, 5.2%) and HIV (30 girls,
      4.7%). Of note, 53/199 (26.6%) of girls with laboratory-proven STIs were
      asymptomatic. On multivariable analysis, the presence of any STI was associated
      with being in a long-term (as opposed to short-term) relationship (OR=2.6 (1.4 to
      4.9) p=0.004), younger age at first sexual debut (OR=0.9 per year (0.8 to 0.99),
      p=0.034), increasing age difference between the girl and her partner (OR=1.1 (1.0
      to 1.1) per year, p=0.03) and history of prior pregnancy (OR=1.6 (1.0 to 2.6),
      p=0.04). CONCLUSIONS: STIs affected half of rural pregnant adolescents in
      Tanzania. Our work demonstrates the urgent need to incorporate routine STI
      testing into antenatal care in Tanzania to prevent morbidity and mortality in
      young girls and their babies. We also identify behavioural and demographic risk
      factors that can be used to target interventions to those at highest risk.

PMID- 25834124
TI  - Utility of the transcervical approach in bilateral synchronous lung cancer.
AB  - Bilateral pulmonary nodules represent a challenge in distinguishing between
      synchronous bronchogenic carcinomas and metastatic disease. In the case of
      potentially curable synchronous lung cancer, it is recommended to treat each
      lesion with curative intent if there is no evidence of mediastinal involvement or
      extrathoracic disease. In this situation, surgical staging of the mediastinum is
      recommended. This case shows the utility of a transcervical approach to perform
      precise mediastinal staging and lymphadenectomy, and to access the pleural cavity
      to resect a pulmonary nodule. Moreover, video-assisted mediastinoscopic
      lymphadenectomy combined with video-assisted lobectomy could be a good option for
      a radical lymphadenectomy. 

PMID- 25834125
TI  - Dealing with a left ventricular pseudoaneurysm during assist device implant.
AB  - Despite increasing use of left ventricular devices for the surgical treatment of
      heart failure, there is limited experience with implantation of devices in the
      setting of challenging left apical anatomy. We report the case of a 68-year-old
      man with a chronic post-infarction calcified apical pseudoaneurysm, who underwent
      pseudoaneurysmectomy, ventricular myoplasty, and left ventricular assist device
      implantation. A review of the literature and operative strategies are presented. 

PMID- 25834126
TI  - Multiple pulmonary arteriovenous malformations.

PMID- 25834127
TI  - A malpositioned chest tube within the liver.

PMID- 25834128
TI  - Brains and brawn in academe: we ain't come to play SCHOOL!

PMID- 25834129
TI  - Retinoids are back.

PMID- 25834130
TI  - Corrigendum.

PMID- 25834131
TI  - Mechanisms of disease: paracine effects of adipose tissue, progenitor cell
      function, and epigenetics of diabetic vascular disease.

PMID- 25834132
TI  - Hotlines in the European Heart Journal: new and novel features.

PMID- 25834133
TI  - Trichotillomania: Impulsive, compulsive or both?

PMID- 25834134
TI  - Manic illness associated with right temporo-thalamic arteriovenous malformation:
      A rare presentation.

PMID- 25834135
TI  - New-onset trichotillomania in a 50-year-old patient.

PMID- 25834136
TI  - The bupropion-related subcortical changes in a depression patient.

PMID- 25834137
TI  - Re: "Coffee Consumption and Mortality From all Causes, Cardiovascular Disease,
      and Cancer: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis".

PMID- 25834139
TI  - A dynamic panel model of the associations of sweetened beverage purchases with
      dietary quality and food-purchasing patterns.
AB  - Investigating the association between consumption of sweetened beverages and
      dietary quality is challenging because issues such as reverse causality and
      unmeasured confounding might result in biased and inconsistent estimates. Using a
      dynamic panel model with instrumental variables to address those issues, we
      examined the independent associations of beverages sweetened with caloric and low
      calorie sweeteners with dietary quality and food-purchasing patterns. We analyzed
      purchase data from the Homescan survey, an ongoing, longitudinal, nationally
      representative US survey, from 2000 to 2010 (n = 34,294). Our model included
      lagged measures of dietary quality and beverage purchases (servings/day in the
      previous year) as exposures to predict the outcomes (macronutrient (kilocalories
      per capita per day; %), total energy, and food purchases) in the next year after
      adjustment for other sociodemographic covariates. Despite secular declines in
      purchases (kilocalories per capita per day) from all sources, each 1-serving/day
      increase in consumption of either beverage type resulted in higher purchases of
      total daily kilocalories and kilocalories from food, carbohydrates, total sugar,
      and total fat. Each 1-serving/day increase in consumption of either beverage was
      associated with more purchases of caloric-sweetened desserts or sweeteners, which
      accounted for a substantial proportion of the increase in total kilocalories. We
      concluded that consumers of both beverages sweetened with low-calorie sweeteners
      and beverages sweetened with caloric sweeteners had poorer dietary quality,
      exhibited higher energy from all purchases, sugar, and fat, and purchased more
      caloric-sweetened desserts/caloric sweeteners compared with nonconsumers. 

PMID- 25834138
TI  - Violent Victimization, Mental Health, and Service Utilization Outcomes in a
      Cohort of Homeless and Unstably Housed Women Living With or at Risk of Becoming
      Infected With HIV.
AB  - Most studies about the association between exposure to violence and higher
      psychological vulnerability have been cross-sectional in nature. Using
      longitudinal data from the Shelter, Health, and Drug Outcomes Among Women Study
      on 300 homeless or unstably housed women infected with or at risk of becoming
      infected with human immunodeficiency virus who were living in San Francisco,
      California, in 2008-2012, we examined the relationship between recent violent
      victimization and mental health status, mental health-related emergency
      department visits, and psychiatric hospitalization. We used generalized
      estimating equations to account for potentially confounding time-invariant and
      time-varying variables, including comorbid psychiatric conditions and lifetime
      history of child abuse. A total of 207 (69%) women experienced childhood abuse.
      The median number of psychiatric diagnoses per woman at baseline was 8
      (interquartile range, 5-11). Recent exposure to violence was associated with
      lower mental health status (b = -1.85, 95% confidence interval: -3.02, -0.68) and
      higher risks of mental health-related emergency department visits (adjusted risk
      ratio = 2.96, 95% confidence interval: 1.51, 5.78) and psychiatric
      hospitalizations (adjusted risk ratio = 2.32, 95% confidence interval: 1.10,
      4.91). We did not find strong evidence of a reciprocal relationship. Among
      homeless or unstably housed women with severe preexisting comorbid psychiatric
      conditions, recent violence has adverse mental health consequences. Reducing
      ongoing violence may improve mental health in this population. 

PMID- 25834140
TI  - Two-Year Outcomes After Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair in Recreational Athletes
      Older Than 70 Years.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Outcomes after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair in recreational
      athletes older than 70 years are not widely reported. PURPOSE: To evaluate
      clinical outcomes after arthroscopic repair of full-thickness rotator cuff tears
      in recreational athletes aged 70 years or older. STUDY DESIGN: Case series; Level
      of evidence, 4. METHODS: Institutional review board approval was obtained before
      initiation of this study. Data were collected prospectively and were
      retrospectively reviewed. From December 2005 to August 2012, patients who were at
      least 70 years of age, who described themselves as recreational athletes, and who
      underwent a primary or revision arthroscopic repair of full-thickness
      supraspinatus tears by a single surgeon were identified from a surgical registry.
      Demographic data, surgical data, and the following pre- and postoperative
      clinical outcomes scores were collected: American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons
      (ASES), Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QuickDASH), Short Form
      12 Physical Component Summary (SF-12 PCS), and Single Assessment Numeric
      Evaluation (SANE). Acromiohumeral distance and Goutallier classifications were
      recorded. Patient satisfaction (range, 1-10, 10 = best) and reasons for activity
      modification were collected at final follow-up. RESULTS: Forty-nine shoulders (44
      patients) were included. The mean age was 73 years (range, 70-82 years). There
      were 33 men and 11 women (5 bilateral). The mean preoperative acromiohumeral
      distance was 9.2 mm (range, 3.0-15.9 mm). All patients had Goutallier
      classifications of 0, 1, or 2. Mean follow-up was 3.6 years (range, 2.0-6.9
      years) in 43 of 49 (88%) shoulders. No rotator cuff repairs were revised,
      however, 1 patient had surgical treatment for stiffness. All postoperative
      outcomes measures demonstrated significant improvements when compared with their
      preoperative baselines. The mean ASES score was 90.3 (range, 60-100), the mean
      SANE score was 85.1 (range, 29-100), the mean QuickDASH score was 11.3 (0-50),
      and the mean SF-12 PCS score was 51.6 (range, 38-58) with a median patient
      satisfaction of 10 (range, 1-10). Patients who modified their recreational
      activities due to postoperative weakness were significantly less satisfied (P =
      .018). In this study, 24 of 31 (77%) who responded were able to return to their
      sport at a similar level of intensity. CONCLUSION: Arthroscopic rotator cuff
      repair was highly effective at reducing pain, improving function, and returning
      patients to sport in recreational athletes 70 years of age and older.

PMID- 25834141
TI  - Response to: 'Concerns about report suggesting glucosamine and chondroitin
      protect against cartilage loss' by Felson.

PMID- 25834142
TI  - Ultrasound-detected inflammation predicts radiographic progression in hand
      osteoarthritis after 5 years.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine whether ultrasound predicts radiographic hand
      osteoarthritis (OA) progression after 5 years. METHODS: We included 78
      participants (71 women, mean (SD) age 67.8 (5.2) years) from the Oslo Hand OA
      cohort with ultrasound examination (gray-scale (GS) synovitis and power Doppler
      (PD) signals) at baseline and conventional radiographs and clinical examination
      at baseline and 5-year follow-up. Radiographic progression was defined as an
      increase in global OA according to the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) scale or
      progression of individual radiographic OA features. We examined whether baseline
      ultrasound features and clinical examination predicted radiographic progression
      using generalised estimating equations, adjusted for age, sex, body mass index
      and follow-up time. RESULTS: Radiographic progression occurred in 17.9% joints
      for KL, 12.1% for joint space narrowing, 11.7% for osteophytes and 4.5% for
      erosions. Ultrasound-detected inflammation predicted KL progression, and dose
      response associations were observed for GS synovitis grade 1 (OR=2.8, 95% CI 1.8
      to 4.2), grade 2 (OR=3.6, 95% CI 2.2 to 5.8) and grade 3 (OR=15.2, 95% CI 6.9 to
      33.6), and for PD signal grade 1 (OR=2.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 6.8) and grades 2-3
      (OR=12.0, 95% CI 3.5 to 41.0). Significant associations were also observed
      between ultrasound inflammation and progression of all individual radiographic
      features, and between clinical soft tissue swelling at baseline and radiographic
      progression. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound-detected GS synovitis and PD signals were
      significantly associated with radiographic progression after 5 years. This study
      supports the use of ultrasound as a tool to detect patients with hand OA who are
      likely to progress.

PMID- 25834143
TI  - Helicobacter pylori induces IL-1beta and IL-18 production in human monocytic cell
      line through activation of NLRP3 inflammasome via ROS signaling pathway.
AB  - This study investigated whether Helicobacter pylori could activate the nucleotide
      binding oligomerization domain-like receptor (NLR) family, pyrin domain
      containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in human macrophages and the involvement of
      reactive oxygen species (ROS) in inflammasome activation. Phorbol-12-myristate-13
      acetate (PMA)-differentiated human acute monocytic leukemia cell line THP-1 was
      infected with H. pylori. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin
      (IL)-1beta and IL-18 in supernatant were measured by ELISA. Intracellular ROS
      level was analyzed by flow cytometry. Quantitative real-time PCR and western blot
      analysis were employed to determine the mRNA and protein expression levels of
      NLRP3 and caspase-1 in THP-1 cells, respectively. Our results showed that H.
      pylori infection could induce IL-1beta and IL-18 production in PMA-differentiated
      THP-1 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Moreover, secretion of IL-1beta
      and IL-18 in THP-1 cells following H. pylori infection was remarkably reduced by
      NLRP3-specific small interfering RNA treatment. In addition, the intracellular
      ROS level was elevated by H. pylori infection, which could be eliminated by the
      ROS scavenger N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Furthermore, NAC treatment could inhibit
      NLRP3 inflammasome formation and caspase-1 activation and suppress the release of
      IL-1beta and IL-18 from H. pylori-infected THP-1 cells. These findings provide
      novel insights into the innate immune response against H. pylori infection, which
      could potentially be used for the prevention and treatment of H. pylori-related
      diseases. 

PMID- 25834144
TI  - Leptospira interrogans reduces fibrin clot formation by modulating human thrombin
      activity via exosite I.
AB  - Pathogenic bacteria of the genus Leptospira are the etiological agents of
      leptospirosis, a disease that affects humans and animals worldwide. Although
      there are an increasing number of studies on the biology of Leptospira, the
      mechanisms of pathogenesis are not yet understood. We report in this work that
      Leptospira interrogans FIOCRUZ L1-130 virulent, M20 culture attenuated and the
      saprophyte L. biflexa Patoc 1 strains do not bind prothrombin. Leptospiral
      binding to thrombin was detected with the virulent, followed by culture
      attenuated M20, and practically none was observed with the saprophyte strain. The
      interaction of Leptospira with thrombin mostly occurs via exosite I, with a minor
      participation of catalytic site, as determined by employing the thrombin
      inhibitors hirugen, hirudin and argatroban. Leptospira interrogans binding to
      thrombin inhibits its catalytic activity reducing fibrin clot formation in
      thrombin-catalyzed reaction of fibrinogen. This inhibition was more efficient
      with the virulent FIOCRUZ L1-130 than with the M20 culture attenuated, while none
      was seen with the saprophyte strain, suggesting that this binding might be
      important for bacterial virulence. This is the first study reporting the binding
      of pathogenic Leptospira to thrombin promoting a decrease in fibrin clotting that
      could lead to hemorrhage, helping bacteria dissemination. 

PMID- 25834147
TI  - Prevalence of major risk factors and use of screening tests for cancer in the
      United States.
AB  - Much of the suffering and death from cancer could be prevented by more systematic
      efforts to reduce tobacco use, improve diet, increase physical activity, reduce
      obesity, and expand the use of established screening tests. Monitoring the
      prevalence of cancer risk factors and screening is important to measure progress
      and strengthen cancer prevention and early detection efforts. In this review
      article, we provide recent prevalence estimates for several cancer risk factors,
      including tobacco, obesity, physical activity, nutrition, ultraviolet radiation
      exposure as well as human papillomavirus and hepatitis B vaccination coverage and
      cancer screening prevalence in the United States. In 2013, cigarette smoking
      prevalence was 17.8% among adults nationally, but ranged from 10.3% in Utah to
      27.3% in West Virginia. In addition, 15.7% of U.S. high school students were
      current smokers. In 2011-2012, obesity prevalence was high among both adults
      (34.9%) and adolescents (20.5%), but has leveled off since 2002. About 20.2% of
      high school girls were users of indoor tanning devices, compared with 5.3% of
      boys. In 2013, cancer screening prevalence ranged from 58.6% for colorectal
      cancer to 80.8% for cervical cancer and remains low among the uninsured,
      particularly for colorectal cancer screening where only 21.9% of eligible adults
      received recommended colorectal cancer screening.

PMID- 25834145
TI  - Pharmacological targeting of the protein synthesis mTOR/4E-BP1 pathway in cancer
      associated fibroblasts abrogates pancreatic tumour chemoresistance.
AB  - Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is extremely stroma-rich. Cancer
      associated fibroblasts (CAFs) secrete proteins that activate survival and promote
      chemoresistance of cancer cells. Our results demonstrate that CAF secretome
      triggered chemoresistance is abolished upon inhibition of the protein synthesis
      mTOR/4E-BP1 regulatory pathway which we found highly activated in primary
      cultures of alpha-SMA-positive CAFs, isolated from human PDAC resections. CAFs
      selectively express the sst1 somatostatin receptor. The SOM230 analogue
      (Pasireotide) activates the sst1 receptor and inhibits the mTOR/4E-BP1 pathway
      and the resultant synthesis of secreted proteins including IL-6. Consequently,
      tumour growth and chemoresistance in nude mice xenografted with pancreatic cancer
      cells and CAFs, or with pieces of resected human PDACs, are reduced when
      chemotherapy (gemcitabine) is combined with SOM230 treatment. While gemcitabine
      alone has marginal effects, SOM230 is permissive to gemcitabine-induced cancer
      cell apoptosis and acts as an antifibrotic agent. We propose that selective
      inhibition of CAF protein synthesis with sst1-directed pharmacological compounds
      represents an anti-stromal-targeted therapy with promising chemosensitization
      potential. 

PMID- 25834148
TI  - Survivors of childhood cancer in the United States: prevalence and burden of
      morbidity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: No studies have estimated the population-level burden of morbidity in
      individuals diagnosed with cancer as children (ages 0-19 years). We updated
      prevalence estimates of childhood cancer survivors as of 2011 and burden of
      morbidity in this population reflected by chronic conditions, neurocognitive
      dysfunction, compromised health-related quality of life, and health status
      (general health, mental health, functional impairment, functional limitations,
      pain, and fear/anxiety). METHODS: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results
      (SEER) Program data from 1975 to 2011 were used to update the prevalence of
      survivors of childhood cancers in the United States. Childhood Cancer Survivor
      Study data were used to obtain estimates of morbidity burden indicators, which
      were then extrapolated to SEER data to obtain population-level estimates.
      RESULTS: There were an estimated 388,501 survivors of childhood cancer in the
      United States as of January 1, 2011, of whom 83.5% are >=5 years after diagnosis.
      The prevalence of any chronic condition among >=5-year survivors ranged from 66%
      (ages 5-19) to 88% (ages 40-49). Estimates for specific morbidities ranged from
      12% (pain) to 35% (neurocognitive dysfunction). Generally, morbidities increased
      by age. However, mental health and anxiety remained fairly stable, and
      neurocognitive dysfunction exhibited initial decline and then remained stable by
      time since diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: The estimated prevalence of survivors of
      childhood cancer is increasing, as is the estimated prevalence of morbidity in
      those >=5 years after diagnosis. IMPACT: Efforts to understand how to effectively
      decrease morbidity burden and incorporate effective care coordination and
      rehabilitation models to optimize longevity and well-being in this population
      should be a priority.

PMID- 25834169
TI  - Neonatal outcomes and delivery of care for infants born late preterm or
      moderately preterm: a prospective population-based study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe neonatal outcomes and explore variation in delivery of
      care for infants born late (34-36  weeks) and moderately (32-33 weeks) preterm
      (LMPT). DESIGN/SETTING: Prospective population-based study comprising births in
      four major maternity centres, one midwifery-led unit and at home between
      September 2009 and December 2010. Data were obtained from maternal and neonatal
      records. PARTICIPANTS: All LMPT infants were eligible. A random sample of term
      born infants (>=37 weeks) acted as controls. OUTCOME MEASURES: Neonatal unit
      (NNU) admission, respiratory and nutritional support, neonatal morbidities,
      investigations, length of stay and postnatal ward care were measured. Differences
      between centres were explored. RESULTS: 1146 (83%) LMPT and 1258 (79% of
      eligible) term-born infants were recruited. LMPT infants were significantly more
      likely to receive resuscitation at birth (17.5% vs 7.4%), respiratory (11.8% vs
      0.9%) and nutritional support (3.5% vs 0.3%) and were less likely to be fed
      breast milk (64.2% vs 72.2%) than term infants. For all interventions and
      morbidities, a gradient of increasing risk with decreasing gestation was evident.
      Although 60% of late preterm infants were never admitted to a NNU, 83% required
      medical input on postnatal wards. Clinical management differed significantly
      between services. CONCLUSIONS: LMPT infants place high demands on specialist
      neonatal services. A substantial amount of previously unreported specialist input
      is provided in postnatal wards, beyond normal newborn care. Appropriate expertise
      and planning of early care are essential if such infants are managed away from
      specialised neonatal settings. Further research is required to clarify optimal
      and cost-effective postnatal management for LMPT babies.

PMID- 25834170
TI  - Neurodevelopmental outcomes following late and moderate prematurity: a population
      based cohort study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: There is a paucity of data relating to neurodevelopmental outcomes in
      infants born late and moderately preterm (LMPT; 32(+0)-36(+6) weeks). This paper
      present the results of a prospective, population-based study of 2-year outcomes
      following LMPT birth. DESIGN: 1130 LMPT and 1255 term-born children were
      recruited at birth. At 2 years corrected age, parents completed a questionnaire
      to assess neurosensory (vision, hearing, motor) impairments and the Parent Report
      of Children's Abilities-Revised to identify cognitive impairment. Relative risks
      for adverse outcomes were adjusted for sex, socio-economic status and small for
      gestational age, and weighted to account for over-sampling of term-born
      multiples. Risk factors for cognitive impairment were explored using
      multivariable analyses. RESULTS: Parents of 638 (57%) LMPT infants and 765 (62%)
      controls completed questionnaires. Among LMPT infants, 1.6% had neurosensory
      impairment compared with 0.3% of controls (RR 4.89, 95% CI 1.07 to 22.25).
      Cognitive impairments were the most common adverse outcome: LMPT 6.3%; controls
      2.4% (RR 2.09, 95% CI 1.19 to 3.64). LMPT infants were at twice the risk for
      neurodevelopmental disability (RR 2.19, 95% CI 1.27 to 3.75). Independent risk
      factors for cognitive impairment in LMPT infants were male sex, socio-economic
      disadvantage, non-white ethnicity, preeclampsia and not receiving breast milk at
      discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with term-born peers, LMPT infants are at double
      the risk for neurodevelopmental disability at 2 years of age, with the majority
      of impairments observed in the cognitive domain. Male sex, socio-economic
      disadvantage and preeclampsia are independent predictors of low cognitive scores
      following LMPT birth.

PMID- 25834171
TI  - Simultaneous Determination of 10 Active Components in Hulisan Tablets by a High
      Performance Liquid Chromatographic-Diode Array Detector.
AB  - Hulisan tablets (HLST), a famous classic traditional Chinese prescriptions
      consisting of four medicinal herbs, have been applied for treating fractures,
      rheumatoid arthritis, mechanical phlebitis and traumatic bleeding extensively. In
      this study, a simple and reliable method using high-performance liquid
      chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) was established for the
      simultaneous determination of 10 active compounds in HLST. The chromatographic
      analysis was performed on a Symmetry((r))-C18 column (4.6 * 250 mm, i.d., 5 um;
      Waters, Wexford, Leinster, Ireland) at 30 degrees C with a gradient elution of
      0.1 mol/L ammonium acetate (containing 0.5 mL glacial acetic acid per 1,000 mL)
      and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The detection UV wavelengths were
      set at 232, 254 and 280 nm. The method was validated by linearity, precision,
      stability and recovery. Calibration curves for the 10 compounds showed good
      linear regressions (R(2) > 0.9992). The limits of detection and quantification
      fell in the ranges of 0.03-0.36 and 0.11-1.01 ug/mL, respectively. The results of
      the recovery test were 97.19-102.04% with a RSD value of 0.65-2.47%. The
      developed method was subsequently applied to evaluate five batches of HLST and
      testified to be suitable for the quality control. 

PMID- 25834172
TI  - An Eco-Friendly Direct Injection HPLC Method for Methyldopa Determination in
      Serum by Mixed-Mode Chromatography Using a Single Protein-Coated Column.
AB  - A simple, rapid and environment-friendly direct injection HPLC method for the
      determination of methyldopa (MTD) in human serum has been developed and
      validated. The method was based on cleanup and separation of MTD from serum by
      mixed-mode liquid chromatography using a single protein-coated TSK gel ODS-80 TM
      analytical column (50 * 4.0 mm i.d., 5 um). The protein-coated column exhibited
      excellent resolution, selectivity and functioned in two chromatographic modes:
      size-exclusion chromatography [i.e., solid-phase extraction (SPE) for serum
      proteins] and reversed-phase chromatography for the final separation of MTD. SPE
      and HPLC separation were carried out simultaneously with a green mobile phase
      consisting of acetate buffer (0.1 M, pH 2.4) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min and at
      room temperature (23 +/- 1 degrees C). The eluent was monitored at emission and
      excitation wavelengths of 320 and 270 nm, respectively. A calibration curve was
      linear over the range of 0.1-30 ug/mL with a detection limit of 0.027 ug/mL. This
      online SPE method was successfully applied to real samples obtained from patients
      receiving MTD therapy. 

PMID- 25834173
TI  - NIH partnership launches big data portal for AD drug discovery.

PMID- 25834174
TI  - History Corner: from the new SNMMI historian.

PMID- 25834175
TI  - AMA, 99 other groups call for ICD-10 transition contingencies.

PMID- 25834176
TI  - Lenvatinib receives approval in DTC.

PMID- 25834177
TI  - SNMMI leadership update: SNMMI annual meeting heads to Baltimore.

PMID- 25834180
TI  - Canadian NRU extended; medical isotope partnership announced.

PMID- 25834181
TI  - Long-Term Placement Trajectories of Children Who Were Maltreated and Entered the
      Child Welfare System at an Early Age: Consequences for Physical and Behavioral
      Well-Being.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify children's long-term placement
      trajectories following early child welfare involvement and the association of
      these trajectories with subsequent physical and behavioral well-being. METHOD:
      Participants were 330 children who entered out-of-home care following a
      substantiated report of child abuse or neglect during infancy/early childhood and
      their caregivers. Participants were interviewed at child ages 4 and 12 years to
      assess children's physical and behavioral well-being and every 2 years in between
      to determine child placements. RESULTS: Latent Class Analyses identified four
      stable placement trajectories (i.e., adopted [32%], kinship care [15%], stable
      reunified [27%], and stable foster care [9%]), and two unstable trajectories
      (i.e., disrupted reunified [12%] and unstable foster care [5%]). Logistic
      regressions revealed that children in the unstable trajectories had significantly
      poorer physical and behavioral well-being than children in stable trajectories.
      CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Maltreated children placed in out-of-home care are at
      risk for long-term placement instability and poorer physical and behavioral well
      being.

PMID- 25834182
TI  - Forward problem of electrocardiography: is it solved?
AB  - BACKGROUND: The relationship between epicardial and body surface potentials
      defines the forward problem of electrocardiography. A robust formulation of the
      forward problem is instrumental to solving the inverse problem, in which
      epicardial potentials are computed from known body surface potentials. Here, the
      accuracy of different forward models has been evaluated experimentally. METHODS
      AND RESULTS: Body surface and epicardial potentials were recorded simultaneously
      in anesthetized closed-chest pigs (n=5) during sinus rhythm, and epicardial and
      endocardial ventricular pacing (65 records in total). Body surface potentials
      were simulated from epicardial recordings using experiment-specific volume
      conductor models constructed from magnetic resonance imaging. Results for
      homogeneous (isotropic electric properties) and inhomogeneous (incorporating
      lungs, anisotropic skeletal muscle, and subcutaneous fat) forward models were
      compared with measured body surface potentials. Correlation coefficients were
      0.85+/-0.08 across all animals and activation sequences with no significant
      difference between homogeneous and inhomogeneous solutions (P=0.85). Despite
      this, there was considerable variance between simulated and measured body surface
      potential distributions. Differences between the body surface potential extrema
      predicted with homogeneous forward models were 55% to 78% greater than observed
      (P<0.05) and attenuation of potentials adjacent to extrema were 10% to 171%
      greater (P<0.03). The length and orientation of the vector between potential
      extrema were also significantly different. Inclusion of inhomogeneous electric
      properties in the forward model reduced, but did not eliminate these differences.
      CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that homogeneous volume conductor models
      introduce substantial spatial inaccuracies in forward problem solutions. This
      probably affects the precision of inverse reconstructions of cardiac potentials,
      in which this assumption is made.

PMID- 25834183
TI  - Augmentation of limb perfusion and reversal of tissue ischemia produced by
      ultrasound-mediated microbubble cavitation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ultrasound can increase tissue blood flow, in part, through the
      intravascular shear produced by oscillatory pressure fluctuations. We
      hypothesized that ultrasound-mediated increases in perfusion can be augmented by
      microbubble contrast agents that undergo ultrasound-mediated cavitation and
      sought to characterize the biological mediators. METHODS AND RESULTS: Contrast
      ultrasound perfusion imaging of hindlimb skeletal muscle and femoral artery
      diameter measurement were performed in nonischemic mice after unilateral 10
      minute exposure to intermittent ultrasound alone (mechanical index, 0.6 or 1.3)
      or ultrasound with lipid microbubbles (2*10(8) IV). Studies were also performed
      after inhibiting shear- or pressure-dependent vasodilator pathways, and in mice
      with hindlimb ischemia. Ultrasound alone produced a 2-fold increase (P<0.05) in
      muscle perfusion regardless of ultrasound power. Ultrasound-mediated augmentation
      in flow was greater with microbubbles (3- and 10-fold higher than control for
      mechanical index 0.6 and 1.3, respectively; P<0.05), as was femoral artery
      dilation. Inhibition of endothelial nitric oxide synthase attenuated flow
      augmentation produced by ultrasound and microbubbles by 70% (P<0.01), whereas
      inhibition of adenosine-A2a receptors and epoxyeicosatrienoic acids had minimal
      effect. Limb nitric oxide production and muscle phospho-endothelial nitric oxide
      synthase increased in a stepwise fashion by ultrasound and ultrasound with
      microbubbles. In mice with unilateral hindlimb ischemia (40%-50% reduction in
      flow), ultrasound (mechanical index, 1.3) with microbubbles increased perfusion
      by 2-fold to a degree that was greater than the control nonischemic limb.
      CONCLUSIONS: Increases in muscle blood flow during high-power ultrasound are
      markedly amplified by the intravascular presence of microbubbles and can reverse
      tissue ischemia. These effects are most likely mediated by cavitation-related
      increases in shear and activation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase.

PMID- 25834184
TI  - Care in the last year of life for community patients with heart failure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Healthcare utilization peaks at the end of life (EOL) in patients
      with heart failure. However, it is unclear what factors affect end of life
      utilization in patients with heart failure and if utilization has changed over
      time. METHODS AND RESULTS: Southeastern Minnesota residents with heart failure
      were prospectively enrolled into a longitudinal cohort study from 2003 to 2011.
      Patients who died before December 31, 2012, were included in the analysis.
      Information on hospitalizations and outpatient visits in the last year of life
      was obtained using administrative sources. Negative binomial regression was used
      to assess the association between patient characteristics and utilization. The
      698 decedents (47.3% men; 53.4% preserved ejection fraction) experienced 1528
      hospitalizations (median 2 per person; range, 0-12; 37.6% because of
      cardiovascular causes) and 12 927 outpatient visits (median 14 per person; range,
      0-119) in their last year of life. Most patients (81.5%) were hospitalized at
      least once and 28.4% died in the hospital. Patients who were older and those with
      dementia had lower utilization. Patients who were married, resided in a skilled
      nursing facility, and had more comorbidities had higher utilization. Patients
      with preserved ejection fraction had higher rates of noncardiovascular
      hospitalizations although other utilization was similar. Over time, rates of
      hospitalizations and outpatient visits decreased, whereas palliative care
      consults and enrollment in hospice increased. CONCLUSIONS: Although patient
      factors remain associated with differential healthcare utilization at the end of
      life, utilization declined over time and use of palliative care services
      increased. These results are encouraging given the high resource use in patients
      with heart failure.

PMID- 25834185
TI  - Endothelial plasticity drives arterial remodeling within the endocardium after
      myocardial infarction.
AB  - RATIONALE: Revascularization of injured, ischemic, and regenerating organs is
      essential to restore organ function. In the postinfarct heart, however, the
      mechanisms underlying the formation of new coronary arteries are poorly
      understood. OBJECTIVE: To study vascular remodeling of coronary arteries after
      infarction. METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed permanent left coronary ligation on
      Connexin40-GFP mice expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in endothelial
      cells of coronary arteries but not veins, capillaries, or endocardium. GFP(+)
      endothelial foci were identified within the endocardium in the infarct zone.
      These previously undescribed structures, termed endocardial flowers, have a
      distinct endothelial phenotype (Cx40(+), VEGFR2(+), and endoglin(-)) to the
      surrounding endocardium (Cx40(-), VEGFR2(-), and endoglin(+)). Endocardial
      flowers are contiguous with coronary vessels and associated with subendocardial
      smooth muscle cell accumulation. Genetic lineage tracing reveals extensive
      endothelial plasticity in the postinfarct heart, showing that endocardial flowers
      develop by arteriogenesis of Cx40(-) cells and by outgrowth of pre-existing
      coronary arteries. Finally, endocardial flowers exhibit angiogenic features,
      including early VEGFR2 expression and active proliferation of adjacent
      endocardial and smooth muscle cells. CONCLUSIONS: Arterial endothelial foci
      within the endocardium reveal extensive endothelial cell plasticity in the
      infarct zone and identify the endocardium as a site of endogenous arteriogenesis
      and source of endothelial cells to promote vascularization in regenerative
      strategies.

PMID- 25834186
TI  - Burkholderia pseudomallei sequencing identifies genomic clades with distinct
      recombination, accessory, and epigenetic profiles.

PMID- 25834187
TI  - BRF1 mutations alter RNA polymerase III-dependent transcription and cause
      neurodevelopmental anomalies.

PMID- 25834188
TI  - Erratum. Aronson et al. Variation in care of the febrile young infant <90 days in
      US pediatric emergency departments. Pediatrics. 2014;134(4):667-677.

PMID- 25834189
TI  - Erratum. Klaiman et al. Longitudinal profiles of adaptive behavior in fragile X
      syndrome. Pediatrics. 2014;134(2):315-324.

PMID- 25834190
TI  - Erratum. Jacob et al. Etiologies of NICU deaths. Pediatrics. 2015;135(1):e59-e65.

PMID- 25834192
TI  - Lessons for the United States from the Chinese pediatricians' experience.

PMID- 25834193
TI  - Chinese pediatricians face a crisis: reform is coming.

PMID- 25834194
TI  - Predictors of 1-Year Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of Elderly Patients With
      Cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mortality prediction is crucial to select the optimal treatment in
      elderly cancer patients. Our objective was to identify cancer-related factors and
      Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) findings associated with 1-year
      mortality in elderly inpatients and outpatients with cancer. METHODS: We
      prospectively included patients aged >=70 years who had solid or hematologic
      malignancies and in whom the CGA was performed by geriatricians in two French
      teaching hospitals. We identified independent predictors of 1-year mortality
      after study inclusion, using multivariate Cox models stratified on
      inpatient/outpatient status. We built three multivariate Cox models, since strong
      correlations linked activities of daily living (ADL), Eastern Cooperative
      Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG-PS), and timed get-up-and-go test (GUG)
      results; and since physicians' preferences for these three assessments vary. A
      sensitivity analysis was performed using multiple imputation. RESULTS: Of the 993
      patients (mean age, 80.2 years; 51.2% men), 58.2% were outpatients and 46% had
      metastatic disease. Colorectal cancer was the most common malignancy (21.4%).
      Mortality rates after 6 and 12 months were 30.1% and 41.2%, respectively. In all
      models, tumor site and metastatic status (p < .001), age >80 years (p < .05),
      higher number of severe comorbidities (p < .05), and malnutrition (p < .001) were
      associated with death independently from impaired ECOG-PS (p < .001), ADL (p <
      .001), and GUG (p < .001). The adverse effect of metastatic status differed
      significantly across tumor sites, being greatest for breast and prostate cancer
      (p < .001). Multiple imputation produced similar results. CONCLUSION: The
      predictors of 1-year mortality identified in our study may help physicians select
      the optimal cancer-treatment strategy in elderly patients.

PMID- 25834195
TI  - Weaker Seniors Exhibit Motor Cortex Hypoexcitability and Impairments in Voluntary
      Activation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Weakness predisposes seniors to a fourfold increase in functional
      limitations. The potential for age-related degradation in nervous system function
      to contribute to weakness and physical disability has garnered much interest of
      late. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that weaker seniors have
      impairments in voluntary (neural) activation and increased indices of GABAergic
      inhibition of the motor cortex, assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation.
      METHODS: Young adults (N = 46; 21.2+/-0.5 years) and seniors (N = 42; 70.7+/-0.9
      years) had their wrist flexion strength quantified along with voluntary
      activation capacity (by comparing voluntary and electrically evoked forces).
      Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to measure motor-evoked
      potential amplitude and silent period duration during isometric contractions at
      15% and 30% of maximum strength. Paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation
      was used to measure intracortical facilitation and short-interval and long
      interval intracortical inhibition. The primary analysis compared seniors to young
      adults. The secondary analysis compared stronger seniors (top two tertiles) to
      weaker seniors (bottom tertile) based on strength relative to body weight.
      RESULTS: The most novel findings were that weaker seniors exhibited: (i) a 20%
      deficit in voluntary activation; (ii) ~20% smaller motor-evoked potentials during
      the 30% contraction task; and (iii) nearly twofold higher levels of long-interval
      intracortical inhibition under resting conditions. CONCLUSIONS: These findings
      indicate that weaker seniors exhibit significant impairments in voluntary
      activation, and that this impairment may be mechanistically associated with
      increased GABAergic inhibition of the motor cortex.

PMID- 25834196
TI  - Unmet Need for ADL Assistance Is Associated With Mortality Among Older Adults
      With Mild Disability.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Unmet need for assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs)
      disability is associated with increased risk for future hospitalization. To
      further explore the association between unmet ADL need and future health
      outcomes, we examined the association between unmet need for ADL assistance and 1
      year mortality. METHODS: A prospective study of 6,730 community-living Medicare
      recipients was conducted among respondents to the 1994, 1999, and/or 2004
      National Long Term Care Survey. Only those who reported having one or more ADL
      disabilities were included. Time to death within 1 year after the community
      survey was determined from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services vital
      statistics records. The community interviews provided demographic, health, and
      ADL information. RESULTS: Unadjusted 1-year death rates were 8.7%, 10.6%, 11.4%,
      19.2%, and 27.3%, respectively, for respondents with disabilities in 1, 2, 3, 4,
      and 5 ADLs. Overall, 21.3% reported unmet need for assistance for one or more ADL
      disabilities. After controlling for demographic and health characteristics, we
      found a significant interaction between unmet ADL need and level of ADL
      disability (p = .018). Post hoc analyses revealed that unmet ADL need was
      associated with increased risk for mortality only for those with one (hazard
      ratio = 1.96; 95% CI = 1.29-2.87) or two ADL disabilities (hazard ratio = 1.37;
      95% CI = 1.07-1.75), but not for those with three or more ADL disabilities.
      CONCLUSION: Future studies are needed to determine whether these findings are
      replicable and, if so, whether physiologic or process of care variables explain
      why ADL is associated with mortality only for those with mild disability.

PMID- 25834197
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25738953.

PMID- 25834198
TI  - Validation of the Toronto Psoriatic Arthritis Screen Version 2 (ToPAS 2).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We previously developed and performed an initial validation of a
      screening questionnaire, the Toronto Psoriatic Arthritis Screen (ToPAS), for
      psoriatic arthritis (PsA). In our original analysis, we found that the index
      constructed appeared to discriminate well between those with a confirmed
      diagnosis of PsA and those without PsA in various clinical settings. However, it
      was suggested that ToPAS would benefit from additional refinement to the
      questions and the scoring system, because items pertaining to axial involvement
      were not included in our original index. Subsequently, a second version of ToPAS
      was developed, ToPAS 2, which incorporated the suggested refinements. We aimed to
      validate ToPAS 2 as a screening instrument for PsA. METHODS: ToPAS 2 was
      administered to 3 "diagnostic" groups of individuals - patients with PsA,
      patients with psoriasis, and healthy controls, and the data collected were
      analyzed. RESULTS: It was found that the new version of ToPAS, ToPAS 2, again
      performed well, with the axial domain now featuring in the new scoring system.
      The constructed index, ToPAS2_cap, had an overall area under the receiver
      operation curve of 0.910, with overall values of sensitivity and specificity, at
      a cutpoint of 8 (or 7), of 87.2% (92.0%) and 82.7% (77.2%), respectively.
      CONCLUSION: ToPAS 2 shows much promise as a screening instrument for identifying
      PsA both in people with psoriasis and in individuals from the general population.
      Its performance against other proposed screening instruments for PsA should be
      evaluated in other clinics and for other study designs.

PMID- 25834199
TI  - Low levels of serum uric Acid increase the risk of low bone mineral density in
      young male patients with ankylosing spondylitis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Uric acid (UA) has antiosteoporotic effects in postmenopausal women.
      This study investigated the association between serum UA levels and bone mineral
      density (BMD) in young male patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). METHODS:
      One hundred fifty patients who fulfilled the modified New York criteria for the
      classification of AS were analyzed. All patients were male and under 50 years of
      age. BMD, serum UA concentrations, clinical variables, and radiographic
      progression were assessed. The associations between UA and BMD at the lumbar
      spine and hip were evaluated using multiple linear regression analysis.
      Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors
      associated with low BMD. RESULTS: Mean serum UA concentration in the 150 patients
      with AS was 5.5 +/- 1.3 mg/dl. BMD at the lumbar spine, but not at the total hip
      and femoral neck, increased with increasing serum UA tertiles (p = 0.033). The
      significant positive association between serum UA and BMD at the lumbar spine
      remained after adjustment for confounding factors (beta = 0.185, p = 0.014,
      adjusted R(2) = 0.310). Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that lower
      UA concentrations (OR 4.02, 95% CI 1.34-12.3) and body mass index and increased
      erythrocyte sedimentation rate were independently associated with the risk of low
      BMD. CONCLUSION: Lower serum UA levels are associated with lower BMD in young
      male patients with AS. UA may be a novel predictive marker or therapeutic target
      in patients with AS.

PMID- 25834200
TI  - The Effect of Disease Severity and Comorbidity on Length of Stay for Orthopedic
      Surgery in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results from 2 UK Inception Cohorts, 1986-2012.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine factors predicting length of stay (LoS) for orthopedic
      intervention in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: LoS for orthopedic
      intervention was examined in 2 consecutive, multicenter inception cohorts: the
      Early RA Study (n = 1465, 9 centers) and the Early RA Network (n = 1236, 23
      centers). Date, type of orthopedic procedure, and LoS were recorded and validated
      against national data, the UK National Joint Registry, and the UK Hospital
      Episode Statistics database. Clinical, laboratory, and radiographic measures and
      comorbidity recorded at baseline and annually were examined for their predictive
      power on LoS using regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 770 of 2701 patients
      (28.5%) had 1602 orthopedic interventions: 40% major (mainly total hip/knee
      replacements), 24% intermediate (mainly hand/wrist and ankle/foot surgery), and
      16% minor (mainly soft tissue surgery). Median (interquartile range) LoS was 8 (5
      13), 3 (1-5), and 1 (0-2) days for major, intermediate, and minor interventions,
      respectively. Older age predicted longer LoS (p < 0.001) whereas a more recent
      operation year predicted shorter LoS (p < 0.001). Markers of active disease,
      namely low hemoglobin, high Health Assessment Questionnaire, and high Disease
      Activity Scores in the first year all predicted longer LoS for all types of
      surgery (p = 0.001, p < 0.001, p = 0.05, respectively). Presence of 1 or more
      major comorbidities predicted longer LoS (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Comorbidity and
      standard clinical and laboratory markers of disease activity affect the LoS for
      orthopedic surgery in RA, which has important clinical and economic implications,
      providing a target for improving patient outcomes.

PMID- 25834201
TI  - Alcohol intake and risk of incident psoriatic arthritis in women.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Alcohol intake has been associated with an increased risk of
      psoriasis. However, the association between alcohol intake and risk of psoriatic
      arthritis (PsA) has been unclear. We evaluated the association between alcohol
      intake and risk of incident PsA in a large cohort of US women. METHODS: Our
      present study included a total of 82,672 US women who provided repeated data on
      alcohol intake over the followup period (1991-2005). Self-reported PsA was
      validated using the Psoriatic Arthritis Screening and Evaluation (PASE)
      questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the age
      adjusted and multivariate-adjusted HR and 95% CI for the PsA in association with
      alcohol intake. RESULTS: We documented 141 incident PsA cases during 14 years
      (1,137,763 person-yrs) of followup. Compared to non-drinkers, the multivariate HR
      for PsA were 0.70 (95% CI 0.48-1.01) for 0.1-14.9 g/day, 1.43 (95% CI 0.67-3.08)
      for 15.0-29.9 g/day, and 4.45 (95% CI 2.07-9.59) for >= 30.0 g/day of cumulative
      average alcohol intake. Risk estimates were generally consistent when using
      updated alcohol intake and baseline alcohol intake in 1991 as the exposures, and
      when the analysis was restricted to those who developed psoriasis during the
      followup. CONCLUSION: Excessive alcohol intake was associated with an increased
      risk of incident PsA in a cohort of US women.

PMID- 25834202
TI  - Direct health costs of inflammatory polyarthritis 10 years after disease onset:
      results from the Norfolk Arthritis Register.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To explore the change in direct medical costs associated with
      inflammatory polyarthritis (IP) 10 to 15 years after its onset. METHODS: Patients
      from the Norfolk Arthritis Register who had previously participated in a health
      economic study in 1999 were traced 10 years later and invited to participate in a
      further prospective questionnaire-based study. The study was designed to identify
      direct medical costs and changes in health status over a 6-month period using
      previously validated questionnaires as the primary source of data. RESULTS: A
      representative sample of 101 patients with IP from the 1999 cohort provided
      complete data over the 6-month period. The mean disease duration was 14 years (SD
      2.1, median 13.6, interquartile range 12.6-15.4). The mean direct medical cost
      per patient over the 6-month period was L1496 for IP (inflated for 2013 prices).
      This compared with L582 (95% CI L355-L964) inflated to 2013 prices per patient
      with IP 10 years earlier in their disease. The increased cost was largely
      associated with the use of biologics in the rheumatoid arthritis subgroup of
      patients (51% of total costs incurred). Other direct cost components included
      primary care costs (11%), hospital outpatient (19%), day care (12%), and
      inpatient stay (4%). CONCLUSION: The direct healthcare costs associated with IP
      have more than doubled with increasing disease duration, largely as a result of
      the use of biologics. The results showed a shift in the direct health costs from
      inpatient to outpatient service use.

PMID- 25834204
TI  - Longterm efficacy and safety of abatacept in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
      treated in routine clinical practice: effect of concomitant methotrexate after 24
      weeks.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to evaluate the longterm efficacy and safety of
      abatacept (ABA), and to explore factors that increase its longterm efficacy in
      patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated in routine clinical practice.
      METHODS: There were 231 participants with RA treated with ABA who were
      prospectively registered in a Japanese multicenter registry. They were followed
      up for at least 52 weeks. RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 64.3 years, mean
      disease duration was 12.1 years, mean 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28)-C
      reactive protein was 4.49, and 48.5% of patients were concomitantly treated with
      methotrexate (MTX). Overall retention rate of ABA was 77.1% at 52 weeks; 14.8% of
      patients discontinued because of inadequate response and 3.5% because of adverse
      events. The proportion of patients achieving DAS28-defined low disease activity
      (LDA) significantly increased from baseline to 52 weeks (7.3% to 43.8%, p <
      0.01); 40.9% of patients who did not achieve LDA at 24 weeks had more than 1
      categorical improvement in DAS28-defined disease activity at 52 weeks.
      Multivariate logistic regression revealed concomitant MTX use to be an
      independent predictor of the categorical improvement in DAS28-defined disease
      activity from 24 to 52 weeks (adjusted OR 3.124, p = 0.010). CONCLUSION: In
      routine clinical practice, ABA demonstrated satisfactory clinical efficacy and
      safety in patients with established RA for 52 weeks. The clinical efficacy of ABA
      increased with time even after 24 weeks, and this was strongly influenced by
      concomitant MTX use. Our study provides valuable real-world findings on the
      longterm management of RA with ABA.

PMID- 25834205
TI  - Patient Information about Gout: An International Review of Existing Educational
      Resources.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Inadequate patient information about gout may contribute to poor
      disease outcomes. We reviewed existing educational resources for gout to identify
      strengths and weaknesses and compare resources cross-nationally. METHODS:
      Content, readability, and dietary recommendations were reviewed using a sample of
      30 resources (print and Web-based) from 6 countries. RESULTS: More than half of
      the resources were written at a highly complex level. Some content areas were
      lacking coverage, including comorbidity risks, uric acid target levels, and
      continuing allopurinol during acute attacks. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest
      significant room for improvement in gout patient educational resources,
      particularly regarding self-management.

PMID- 25834203
TI  - Longterm Safety and Efficacy of Subcutaneous Tocilizumab Monotherapy: Results
      from the 2-year Open-label Extension of the MUSASHI Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the longterm safety and efficacy of subcutaneous
      tocilizumab (TCZ-SC) as monotherapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
      METHODS: Of 346 patients who received 24 weeks of double-blind treatment with
      either TCZ-SC monotherapy, 162 mg every 2 weeks (q2w); or intravenous TCZ (TCZ
      IV) monotherapy, 8 mg/kg every 4 weeks; 319 patients continued to receive TCZ-SC
      q2w in the 84-week open-label extension (OLE) of the MUSASHI study (JAPICCTI
      101117). Efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity were evaluated for all patients
      treated with TCZ during 108 weeks. RESULTS: The proportions of patients who
      achieved American College of Rheumatology 20/50/70 responses, low disease
      activity [28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28) <= 3.2], or remission (DAS28 <
      2.6) at Week 24 were maintained until Week 108. The incidences of adverse events
      and serious adverse events were 498.3 and 16.9 per 100 patient-years (PY),
      respectively. The overall safety of TCZ-SC monotherapy was similar to that of TCZ
      IV monotherapy. Rates of injection site reactions (ISR) through 108 weeks
      remained similar to rates through 24 weeks. ISR were mild and did not cause any
      patient withdrawals. No serious hypersensitivity events (including anaphylactic
      reactions) occurred. Anti-TCZ antibodies were present in 2.1% of patients treated
      with TCZ-SC monotherapy. CONCLUSION: TCZ-SC monotherapy maintained a favorable
      safety profile and consistent efficacy throughout the 108-week study. Like TCZ
      IV, TCZ-SC could provide an additional treatment option for patients with RA.

PMID- 25834207
TI  - Risk of Overall and Site-specific Cancers in Behcet Disease: A Nationwide
      Population-based Study in Taiwan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The relationship between autoimmune disease and cancer is complex
      while large-scale epidemiological studies of cancer risk in Behcet disease (BD)
      have not been reported. Therefore, we conducted a nationwide population-based
      cohort study. METHODS: By using the National Health Insurance Research Database
      of 23 million people in Taiwan, we identified 1314 new patients with BD without
      previous cancer from 2000-2009 as a cohort. Standardized incidence ratios (SIR)
      of overall and site-specific cancers in patients with BD in comparison with the
      general population were calculated from 2000-2011. RESULTS: Among the 1314
      patients with BD, 30 developed cancers (9 men and 21 women). In overall cancer
      risk analysis, patients with BD had a higher risk (SIR 1.5, 95% CI 1.03-2.11).
      Among them, female patients with BD (SIR 1.8, 95% CI 1.14-2.7), but not male
      patients with BD (SIR 1.08, 95% CI 0.53-1.98), have a higher risk of overall
      cancer. In site-specific cancer risk analysis, patients with BD had a higher risk
      of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (SIR 8.3, 95% CI 2.1-22.7), hematological malignancy (SIR
      4.2, 95% CI 1.3-10.2), and female breast cancer (SIR 2.2, 95% CI 1.004-4.1). The
      cancer risk was highest within the first-year followup (SIR 2.7, 95% CI 1.3-5.1),
      with 75% of the hematological malignancies found within the first year.
      CONCLUSION: This nationwide cohort study of cancer risk in patients with BD
      provides important information about the relationship between BD and
      malignancies. The results can be useful for cancer surveys in the future.

PMID- 25834206
TI  - Yoga in Sedentary Adults with Arthritis: Effects of a Randomized Controlled
      Pragmatic Trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of Integral-based hatha yoga in sedentary
      people with arthritis. METHODS: There were 75 sedentary adults aged 18+ years
      with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or knee osteoarthritis randomly assigned to 8
      weeks of yoga (two 60-min classes and 1 home practice/wk) or waitlist. Poses were
      modified for individual needs. The primary endpoint was physical health [Medical
      Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36) physical component summary (PCS)] adjusted
      for baseline; exploratory adjusted outcomes included fitness, mood, stress, self
      efficacy, SF-36 health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and RA disease activity.
      In everyone completing yoga, we explored longterm effects at 9 months. RESULTS:
      Participants were mostly female (96%), white (55%), and college-educated (51%),
      with a mean (SD) age of 52 years (12 yrs). Average disease duration was 9 years
      and 49% had RA. At 8 weeks, yoga was associated with significantly higher PCS
      (6.5, 95% CI 2.0-10.7), walking capacity (125 m, 95% CI 15-235), positive affect
      (5.2, 95% CI 1.4-8.9), and lower Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression
      Scale (-3.0, 95% CI -4.8 - -1.3). Significant improvements (p < 0.05) were
      evident in SF-36 role physical, pain, general health, vitality, and mental health
      scales. Balance, grip strength, and flexibility were similar between groups.
      Twenty-two out of 28 in the waitlist group completed yoga. Among all yoga
      participants, significant (p < 0.05) improvements were observed in mean PCS,
      flexibility, 6-min walk, and all psychological and most HRQOL domains at 8 weeks
      with most still evident 9 months later. Of 7 adverse events, none were associated
      with yoga. CONCLUSION: Preliminary evidence suggests yoga may help sedentary
      individuals with arthritis safely increase physical activity, and improve
      physical and psychological health and HRQOL. Clinical Trials NCT00349869.

PMID- 25834208
TI  - Outcome Domains and Measures in Total Joint Replacement Clinical Trials: Can We
      Harmonize Them? An OMERACT Collaborative Initiative.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To develop a plan for harmonizing outcomes for people undergoing total
      joint replacement (TJR), to achieve consensus regarding TJR outcome research.
      METHODS: The TJR working group met during the 2014 Outcome Measures in
      Rheumatology (OMERACT) 12 meeting in Budapest, Hungary. Multiple conference calls
      preceded the face-to-face meeting. Brief presentations were made during a 1.5-h
      meeting, which included an overview of published systematic reviews of TJR trials
      and the results of a recent systematic review of TJR clinical trial outcome
      domains and measures. This was followed by discussion of potential core set
      areas/domains for TJR clinical trials (as per OMERACT Filter 2.0) as well as the
      challenges associated with the measurement of these domains. RESULTS: Working
      group participants discussed which TJR clinical trial outcome domains/areas map
      to the inner versus outer core for core domain set. Several challenges were
      identified with TJR outcomes including how to best measure function after TJR,
      elucidating the source of the pre- and post-TJR joint pain being measured, joint
      specific versus generic quality of life instruments and the importance of patient
      satisfaction and revision surgery as outcomes. A preliminary core domain set for
      TJR clinical trials was proposed and included pain, function, patient
      satisfaction, revision, adverse events, and death. This core domain set will be
      further vetted with a broader audience. CONCLUSION: An international effort with
      active collaboration with the orthopedic community to standardize key outcome
      domains and measures is under way with the TJR working group. This effort will be
      further developed with new collaborations.

PMID- 25834209
TI  - Clinical trials perception in rheumatology patients: experience from a single
      rheumatology tertiary center.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the perception and willingness of rheumatology patients
      to participate in clinical trials. No previous similar studies are available.
      METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of rheumatology patients using a
      questionnaire, which comprised 2 demographic questions, two 5-point Likert
      opinion questions, 19 true/false/unsure knowledge questions, and 1 open question
      addressing what would help the participant to gain a better understanding about
      clinical trials. RESULTS: Eighty-five patients returned the questionnaires
      (response rate 84.1%). The mean number of correct answers to the 19 knowledge
      questions was 10.5 +/- 2.87. Patients with higher versus lower levels of
      education had significantly higher knowledge scores (mean correct answers 59.4 +/
      13.1 vs 39.8 +/- 20.4, p = 0.013). They also expressed greater willingness to
      take part in research (87.5% vs 48.2%, p < 0.001). The patients who agreed to
      participate in research provided significantly more correct answers (59.4 +/-
      15.3% vs 47.7 +/- 27.2%, p = 0.032). Poor disease control as the main reason to
      join a clinical trial correlated well with patients' previous participation in
      research (r = 0.71; p < 0.05) and the lack of understanding of research
      principles (defined as less than 50% correct answers to the knowledge questions)
      correlated with the lack of willingness to participate in clinical trials (r =
      0.72; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of our study revealed that patients lack
      information about clinical trials (the correct response rate was only slightly
      above 50%), and that they had a moderate willingness to take part in clinical
      trials. The need for educational programs about clinical research was highlighted
      by the participants to the survey.

PMID- 25834210
TI  - Predictors of longterm changes in body mass index in rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Low body mass index (BMI) is a risk factor for poor longterm outcomes
      in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The purpose of this study was to identify factors
      associated with longterm changes in BMI. METHODS: Subjects with RA from the
      Veterans Affairs (VA) Rheumatoid Arthritis (VARA) Registry (n = 1474) were
      studied. Information on inflammatory markers, presence of erosions, and smoking
      status were extracted from the VARA database. BMI was extracted from VA
      electronic medical records within 14 days of each visit date. VA pharmacy records
      were queried to identify prescriptions for specific RA therapies within 1 month
      of the visit date. We used robust generalized estimating equations marginal
      regression models to calculate independent associations between clinical
      variables and BMI over time. Similar models determined predictors of change in
      weight and risk of weight loss over the subsequent study observation period.
      RESULTS: Increasing age, active smoking, and the presence of erosions at baseline
      were associated with lower BMI. Weight decreased over time among older adults.
      Factors associated with greater reductions in BMI over time and a greater risk of
      weight loss were higher inflammatory markers, smoking, older age, higher BMI, and
      less subsequent improvement in inflammation. Methotrexate use was associated with
      a lower risk of weight loss. The use of prednisone or anti-tumor necrosis factor
      therapies was not associated with change in BMI or the risk of weight loss
      independent of other factors. CONCLUSION: Greater age, greater inflammatory
      activity, and active smoking are associated with greater weight loss in RA over
      time.

PMID- 25834211
TI  - Myeloperoxidase-antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies (MPO-ANCA) and Proteinase 3
      ANCA without Immunofluorescent ANCA Found by Routine Clinical Testing.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Concurrent testing for serum antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies
      (ANCA) by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) and by antiproteinase 3
      (PR3)/antimyeloperoxidase (MPO) antibody assays may identify patients with PR3
      ANCA or MPO-ANCA despite a negative IF (IF-negative MPO/PR3-positive); however,
      the significance of this result is not clear. We sought to determine whether IF
      negative, MPO/PR3-positive results identified any cases of clinically meaningful
      systemic vasculitis at our institution. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective
      chart review of all IF-negative, MPO/PR3-positive patients identified at our
      institution over a 2-year period. RESULTS: Of the 2345 samples tested over 2
      years, 1998 were IF-negative. Among these IF-negative samples, 49 samples (2.5%)
      derived from 38 patients tested positive for MPO-ANCA or PR3-ANCA. Only 1 IF
      negative, MPO/PR3-positive patient was subsequently diagnosed with ANCA
      associated vasculitis (AAV). Eleven IF-negative, MPO/PR3-positive patients (29%)
      had been previously diagnosed and treated for AAV, all with positive IF and
      antibody tests prior to treatment. Four patients had evidence of cutaneous
      vasculitis not attributed to AAV, while several of the remaining IF-negative,
      MPO/PR3-positive patients had other immunologic disorders, including systemic
      lupus erythematosus (5 patients) and inflammatory bowel disease (3 patients).
      CONCLUSION: In this real-life cohort assayed simultaneously by IF and multiplexed
      bead assays, the detection of MPO-ANCA or PR3-ANCA without a positive IF rarely
      led to a new diagnosis of systemic vasculitis, and was more likely to occur in
      the context of a non-vasculitic inflammatory condition. Our results suggest that
      concurrent IF and MPO/PR3 testing may be of limited use in preventing a missed
      diagnosis of new-onset AAV.

PMID- 25834212
TI  - Clinical remission in patients with active psoriatic arthritis treated with
      adalimumab and correlations in joint and skin manifestations.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Adalimumab (ADA) was evaluated for its efficacy in patients with
      moderate to severely active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and for the presence of
      correlations in disease change variables. METHODS: Patients with inadequate
      response to standard PsA therapy were given 40 mg of ADA every other week for up
      to 12 weeks or 20 weeks. Outcome variables encompassed tender joint count (TJC),
      swollen joint count (SJC), physician's global assessment (PGA) of psoriasis,
      Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), patient's global assessment (PtGA) of
      disease activity and pain, C-reactive protein, as well as composite measures of
      disease activity. Patients with inactive skin disease symptoms at baseline were
      excluded from the remission analyses. RESULTS: Of 268 patients with active
      baseline joint and skin disease and data available at Week 12 following open
      label ADA therapy, 73 achieved joint remission (27.2%, TJC <= 1 + SJC <= 1) and
      144 achieved skin remission criteria (53.7%, PGA = clear/almost clear).
      Simultaneous joint and skin remission criteria were achieved in 16.0% and 24.8%
      of patients at weeks 12 and 20, respectively. In patients who did not achieve
      skin and/or joint remission, 12-week ADA treatment improved mean clinical and
      functional scores. Joint remission was more frequently associated with achieving
      clinically relevant outcomes including HAQ, PtGA disease activity, and PtGA pain
      compared to skin remission. No correlation between improvement in skin and joint
      disease was observed. CONCLUSION: ADA was effective in achieving strict criteria
      for remission in joint or skin disease in many patients with active PsA within 12
      weeks and sustained through 20 weeks. (NCT00235885).

PMID- 25834213
TI  - Counting Costs under Severe Financial Constraints: A Cost-of-Illness Analysis of
      Spondyloarthropathies in a Tertiary Hospital in Greece.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the total annual direct cost of patients with
      spondyloarthritis (SpA) in Greece. METHODS: Retrospective study with 156 patients
      diagnosed and followed up in the rheumatology clinic of the University Hospital
      of Ioannina. Sixty-four had ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and 92 had psoriatic
      arthritis (PsA). Health resource use for each patient was elicited through a
      retrospective chart review that documented the use of monitoring visits,
      medications, laboratory/diagnostic tests, and inpatient stays for the previous
      year from the date that the review took place. Costs were calculated from a third
      party payer perspective and are reported in 2014 euros. RESULTS: The mean +/- SD
      annual direct cost for the patients with SpA reached ?8680 +/- 6627. For the
      patients with PsA and AS, the cost was estimated to be ?8097 +/- 6802 and ?9531
      +/- 6322, respectively. The major cost was medication, which represented 88.9%,
      88.2%, and 89.3% of the mean total direct cost for SpA, AS, and PsA,
      respectively. The annual amount of the scheduled tests for all patients
      corresponded to 7.5%, and for those performed on an emergency basis, 1.1%.
      Further, the cost for scheduled and emergency hospitalization, as well as the
      cost of scheduled visits to an outpatient clinic, corresponded to 2.5% of the
      mean total annual direct cost for the patients with SpA. CONCLUSION: SpA carries
      substantial financial cost, especially in the era of new treatment options.
      Adequate access and treatment for patients with SpA remains a necessity, even in
      times of fiscal constraint. Thus, the recommendations of the international
      scientific organizations should be considered when administering high-cost drugs
      such as biological treatments.

PMID- 25834214
TI  - Response of Polygenic Traits Under Stabilizing Selection and Mutation When Loci
      Have Unequal Effects.
AB  - We consider an infinitely large population under stabilizing selection and
      mutation in which the allelic effects determining a polygenic trait vary between
      loci. We obtain analytical expressions for the stationary genetic variance as a
      function of the distribution of effects, mutation rate, and selection
      coefficient. We also study the dynamics of the allele frequencies, focusing on
      short-term evolution of the phenotypic mean as it approaches the optimum after an
      environmental change. We find that when most effects are small, the genetic
      variance does not change appreciably during adaptation, and the time until the
      phenotypic mean reaches the optimum is short if the number of loci is large.
      However, when most effects are large, the change of the variance during the
      adaptive process cannot be neglected. In this case, the short-term dynamics may
      be described by those of a few loci of large effect. Our results may be used to
      understand polygenic selection driving rapid adaptation. 

PMID- 25834215
TI  - Analysis of RNA Interference Lines Identifies New Functions of Maternally
      Expressed Genes Involved in Embryonic Patterning in Drosophila melanogaster.
AB  - Embryonic patterning in Drosophila melanogaster is initially established through
      the activity of a number of maternally expressed genes that are expressed during
      oogenesis. mRNAs from some of these genes accumulate in the posterior pole plasm
      of the oocyte and early embryo and localize further into RNA islands, which are
      transient ring-like structures that form around the nuclei of future primordial
      germ cells (pole cells) at stage 3 of embryogenesis. As mRNAs from several genes
      with known functions in anterior-posterior patterning and/or germ cell
      specification accumulate in RNA islands, we hypothesized that some other mRNAs
      that localize in this manner might also function in these developmental
      processes. To test this, we investigated the developmental functions of 51 genes
      whose mRNAs accumulate in RNA islands by abrogating their activity in the female
      germline using RNA interference. This analysis revealed requirements for ttk,
      pbl, Hip14, eIF5, eIF4G, and CG9977 for progression through early oogenesis. We
      observed dorsal appendage defects in a proportion of eggs produced by females
      expressing double-stranded RNA targeting Mkrn1 or jvl, implicating these two
      genes in dorsal-ventral patterning. In addition, posterior patterning defects and
      a reduction in pole cell number were seen in the progeny of Mkrn1 females.
      Because the mammalian ortholog of Mkrn1 acts as an E3 ubiquitin ligase, these
      results suggest an additional link between protein ubiquitination and pole plasm
      activity.

PMID- 25834217
TI  - Measles: vaccinate, close loopholes.

PMID- 25834216
TI  - Comparative Genetics of Seed Size Traits in Divergent Cereal Lineages Represented
      by Sorghum (Panicoidae) and Rice (Oryzoidae).
AB  - Seed size is closely related to fitness of wild plants, and its modification has
      been a key recurring element in domestication of seed/grain crops. In sorghum, a
      genomic and morphological model for panicoid cereals, a rich history of research
      into the genetics of seed size is reflected by a total of 13 likelihood intervals
      determined by conventional QTL (linkage) mapping in 11 nonoverlapping regions of
      the genome. To complement QTL data and investigate whether the discovery of seed
      size QTL is approaching "saturation," we compared QTL data to GWAS for seed mass,
      seed length, and seed width studied in 354 accessions from a sorghum association
      panel (SAP) that have been genotyped at 265,487 SNPs. We identified nine
      independent GWAS-based "hotspots" for seed size associations. Targeted
      resequencing near four association peaks with the most notable linkage
      disequilibrium provides further support of the role(s) of these regions in the
      genetic control of sorghum seed size and identifies two candidate causal variants
      with nonsynonymous mutations. Of nine GWAS hotspots in sorghum, seven have
      significant correspondence with rice QTL intervals and known genes for components
      of seed size on orthologous chromosomes. Identifying intersections between
      positional and association genetic data are a potentially powerful means to
      mitigate constraints associated with each approach, and nonrandom correspondence
      of sorghum (panicoid) GWAS signals to rice (oryzoid) QTL adds a new dimension to
      the ability to leverage genetic data about this important trait across divergent
      plants. 

PMID- 25834218
TI  - Body fluid composition.
AB  - Body fluid composition is maintained in a normal physiologic range by regulatory
      mechanisms that control sodium and water metabolism. A detailed knowledge of the
      homeostatic mechanisms will help in understanding the pathogenesis and management
      of disorders of sodium and water balance. OBJECTIVES: After completing this
      article, readers should be able to: 1. Understand the distribution of fluid and
      solute in different body compartments. 2. Demonstrate the homeostatic mechanisms
      involved in maintaining sodium and water metabolism. 3. Calculate osmolality and
      recognize the clinical importance of maintaining osmotic equilibrium. 4.
      Recognize common disorders of hypernatremia or hyperosmolality and evaluate and
      understand the role of calculating free water deficit in the treatment of these
      disorders. 5. Recognize common disorders of hyponatremia or hypo-osmolality,
      appreciate the role of urine sodium and urine osmolality in evaluation,and
      understand the importance of slow correction of these disorders.

PMID- 25834219
TI  - Urinary tract infections in children: knowledge updates and a salute to the
      future.
AB  - 1. Evaluating and treating bladder and bowel dysfunction are critical in reducing
      the risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs). 2. The pathogenesis of Escherichia
      coli infections reveals that quiescent intracellular reservoirs may be antibiotic
      protected sources of recurrent infections. OBJECTIVES: 1. Review the
      documentation of UTI and the importance of the urine culture. 2. Understand the
      controversy over imaging and management of febrile UTIs in children. 3. Recognize
      the risk factors for recurrent UTIs and strategies for intervention. 4. Update
      information on the pathogenesis of E coli UTIs.

PMID- 25834220
TI  - Escherichia coli Infections.
AB  - Virulent strains of Escherichia coli are responsible for most diarrheal
      infections, meningitis, septicemia, and urinary tract infections in children
      worldwide. Clinicians must learn to recognize, treat, and prevent these
      infections. OBJECTIVES: After completing this article, readers should be able to:
      1. Describe the epidemiology of E coli infections. 2. Recognize the clinical
      features of E coli infections, including the O157: H7 strain. 3. Appropriately
      treat children with various types of E coli infections. 4. Understand ways to
      prevent E coli infections.

PMID- 25834221
TI  - Case 1: failure to thrive, microcephaly, and intracranial calcifications in a 6
      week-old girl.

PMID- 25834222
TI  - Case 2: fatigue and abnormal behavior in a 17-year-old boy.

PMID- 25834223
TI  - Case 3: anterior neck swelling, fever, and hypertension in a 3-year-old boy.

PMID- 25834224
TI  - Addendum: Mood and affect disorders.

PMID- 25834225
TI  - Correction.
AB  - An error appeared in the December 2014 Index of Suspicion column (Pediatrics in
      Review. 2014;35(12):531-537, doi: 10.1542/pir.35-12-531). On page 533, in the
      Case 2 Presentation, paragraph 2, the sentence should read: " ...head
      circumference is 46.5 cm (>97th percentile)." The online version of the article
      was corrected. The journal regrets the error.

PMID- 25834226
TI  - Coccidioidomycosis.

PMID- 25834227
TI  - Visual diagnosis: 8-year-old boy with recurrent rash.

PMID- 25834228
TI  - The physiology of protein S-acylation.
AB  - Protein S-acylation, the only fully reversible posttranslational lipid
      modification of proteins, is emerging as a ubiquitous mechanism to control the
      properties and function of a diverse array of proteins and consequently
      physiological processes. S-acylation results from the enzymatic addition of long
      chain lipids, most typically palmitate, onto intracellular cysteine residues of
      soluble and transmembrane proteins via a labile thioester linkage. Addition of
      lipid results in increases in protein hydrophobicity that can impact on protein
      structure, assembly, maturation, trafficking, and function. The recent explosion
      in global S-acylation (palmitoyl) proteomic profiling as a result of improved
      biochemical tools to assay S-acylation, in conjunction with the recent
      identification of enzymes that control protein S-acylation and de-acylation, has
      opened a new vista into the physiological function of S-acylation. This review
      introduces key features of S-acylation and tools to interrogate this process, and
      highlights the eclectic array of proteins regulated including membrane receptors,
      ion channels and transporters, enzymes and kinases, signaling adapters and
      chaperones, cell adhesion, and structural proteins. We highlight recent findings
      correlating disruption of S-acylation to pathophysiology and disease and discuss
      some of the major challenges and opportunities in this rapidly expanding field. 

PMID- 25834229
TI  - The evolving impact of g protein-coupled receptor kinases in cardiac health and
      disease.
AB  - G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are important regulators of various cellular
      functions via activation of intracellular signaling events. Active GPCR signaling
      is shut down by GPCR kinases (GRKs) and subsequent beta-arrestin-mediated
      mechanisms including phosphorylation, internalization, and either receptor
      degradation or resensitization. The seven-member GRK family varies in their
      structural composition, cellular localization, function, and mechanism of action
      (see sect. II). Here, we focus our attention on GRKs in particular canonical and
      novel roles of the GRKs found in the cardiovascular system (see sects. III and
      IV). Paramount to overall cardiac function is GPCR-mediated signaling provided by
      the adrenergic system. Overstimulation of the adrenergic system has been highly
      implicated in various etiologies of cardiovascular disease including hypertension
      and heart failure. GRKs acting downstream of heightened adrenergic signaling
      appear to be key players in cardiac homeostasis and disease progression, and
      herein we review the current data on GRKs related to cardiac disease and discuss
      their potential in the development of novel therapeutic strategies in cardiac
      diseases including heart failure. 

PMID- 25834231
TI  - Physiology of proglucagon peptides: role of glucagon and GLP-1 in health and
      disease.
AB  - The preproglucagon gene (Gcg) is expressed by specific enteroendocrine cells (L
      cells) of the intestinal mucosa, pancreatic islet alpha-cells, and a discrete set
      of neurons within the nucleus of the solitary tract. Gcg encodes multiple
      peptides including glucagon, glucagon-like peptide-1, glucagon-like peptide-2,
      oxyntomodulin, and glicentin. Of these, glucagon and GLP-1 have received the most
      attention because of important roles in glucose metabolism, involvement in
      diabetes and other disorders, and application to therapeutics. The generally
      accepted model is that GLP-1 improves glucose homeostasis indirectly via
      stimulation of nutrient-induced insulin release and by reducing glucagon
      secretion. Yet the body of literature surrounding GLP-1 physiology reveals an
      incompletely understood and complex system that includes peripheral and central
      GLP-1 actions to regulate energy and glucose homeostasis. On the other hand,
      glucagon is established principally as a counterregulatory hormone, increasing in
      response to physiological challenges that threaten adequate blood glucose levels
      and driving glucose production to restore euglycemia. However, there also exists
      a potential role for glucagon in regulating energy expenditure that has recently
      been suggested in pharmacological studies. It is also becoming apparent that
      there is cross-talk between the proglucagon derived-peptides, e.g., GLP-1
      inhibits glucagon secretion, and some additive or synergistic pharmacological
      interaction between GLP-1 and glucagon, e.g., dual glucagon/GLP-1 agonists cause
      more weight loss than single agonists. In this review, we discuss the
      physiological functions of both glucagon and GLP-1 by comparing and contrasting
      how these peptides function, variably in concert and opposition, to regulate
      glucose and energy homeostasis. 

PMID- 25834233
TI  - Metabolic methanol: molecular pathways and physiological roles.
AB  - Methanol has been historically considered an exogenous product that leads only to
      pathological changes in the human body when consumed. However, in normal, healthy
      individuals, methanol and its short-lived oxidized product, formaldehyde, are
      naturally occurring compounds whose functions and origins have received limited
      attention. There are several sources of human physiological methanol. Fruits,
      vegetables, and alcoholic beverages are likely the main sources of exogenous
      methanol in the healthy human body. Metabolic methanol may occur as a result of
      fermentation by gut bacteria and metabolic processes involving S-adenosyl
      methionine. Regardless of its source, low levels of methanol in the body are
      maintained by physiological and metabolic clearance mechanisms. Although human
      blood contains small amounts of methanol and formaldehyde, the content of these
      molecules increases sharply after receiving even methanol-free ethanol,
      indicating an endogenous source of the metabolic methanol present at low levels
      in the blood regulated by a cluster of genes. Recent studies of the pathogenesis
      of neurological disorders indicate metabolic formaldehyde as a putative causative
      agent. The detection of increased formaldehyde content in the blood of both
      neurological patients and the elderly indicates the important role of genetic and
      biochemical mechanisms of maintaining low levels of methanol and formaldehyde. 

PMID- 25834235
TI  - Concerning the validity of gastrointestinal extracellular recordings.

PMID- 25834236
TI  - Reply to O'Grady et al.

PMID- 25834237
TI  - Does a positive HLA-B27 test increase your risk of mortality?

PMID- 25834238
TI  - Analysis of bone samples from patients with spondyloarthritides-identifying
      causes of new bone formation in axial spondyloarthritis.

PMID- 25834239
TI  - Osseous sarcoid.

PMID- 25834232
TI  - Regulation of increased blood flow (hyperemia) to muscles during exercise: a
      hierarchy of competing physiological needs.
AB  - This review focuses on how blood flow to contracting skeletal muscles is
      regulated during exercise in humans. The idea is that blood flow to the
      contracting muscles links oxygen in the atmosphere with the contracting muscles
      where it is consumed. In this context, we take a top down approach and review the
      basics of oxygen consumption at rest and during exercise in humans, how these
      values change with training, and the systemic hemodynamic adaptations that
      support them. We highlight the very high muscle blood flow responses to exercise
      discovered in the 1980s. We also discuss the vasodilating factors in the
      contracting muscles responsible for these very high flows. Finally, the
      competition between demand for blood flow by contracting muscles and maximum
      systemic cardiac output is discussed as a potential challenge to blood pressure
      regulation during heavy large muscle mass or whole body exercise in humans. At
      this time, no one dominant dilator mechanism accounts for exercise hyperemia.
      Additionally, complex interactions between the sympathetic nervous system and the
      microcirculation facilitate high levels of systemic oxygen extraction and permit
      just enough sympathetic control of blood flow to contracting muscles to regulate
      blood pressure during large muscle mass exercise in humans. 

PMID- 25834240
TI  - "Mutilans-type" Jaccoud Arthropathy.

PMID- 25834241
TI  - Evaluation of leptin with atherosclerosis in rheumatoid arthritis.

PMID- 25834243
TI  - Monoclonal antibodies, systemic lupus erythematosus, and pregnancy: insights from
      an open-label study.

PMID- 25834242
TI  - Dr. Dessein, et al reply.

PMID- 25834244
TI  - Inclusion body myositis in a patient with RNA polymerase III antibody-positive
      systemic sclerosis.

PMID- 25834234
TI  - Transient receptor potential channels in the vasculature.
AB  - The mammalian genome encodes 28 distinct members of the transient receptor
      potential (TRP) superfamily of cation channels, which exhibit varying degrees of
      selectivity for different ionic species. Multiple TRP channels are present in all
      cells and are involved in diverse aspects of cellular function, including sensory
      perception and signal transduction. Notably, TRP channels are involved in
      regulating vascular function and pathophysiology, the focus of this review. TRP
      channels in vascular smooth muscle cells participate in regulating contractility
      and proliferation, whereas endothelial TRP channel activity is an important
      contributor to endothelium-dependent vasodilation, vascular wall permeability,
      and angiogenesis. TRP channels are also present in perivascular sensory neurons
      and astrocytic endfeet proximal to cerebral arterioles, where they participate in
      the regulation of vascular tone. Almost all of these functions are mediated by
      changes in global intracellular Ca(2+) levels or subcellular Ca(2+) signaling
      events. In addition to directly mediating Ca(2+) entry, TRP channels influence
      intracellular Ca(2+) dynamics through membrane depolarization associated with the
      influx of cations or through receptor- or store-operated mechanisms.
      Dysregulation of TRP channels is associated with vascular-related pathologies,
      including hypertension, neointimal injury, ischemia-reperfusion injury, pulmonary
      edema, and neurogenic inflammation. In this review, we briefly consider general
      aspects of TRP channel biology and provide an in-depth discussion of the
      functions of TRP channels in vascular smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, and
      perivascular cells under normal and pathophysiological conditions. 

PMID- 25834245
TI  - Combined physical and chemical methods to control lesser mealworm beetles under
      laboratory conditions.
AB  - The lesser mealworm beetle, Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer) (Coleoptera:
      Tenebrionidae), is an important insect pest. The insect acts as a disease vector
      and reservoir, negatively affecting the health of birds and humans, and harming
      poultry husbandry. Controlling the lesser mealworm is generally based on using
      synthetic chemical insecticides, which are sometimes ineffective, and is limited
      due to market concerns regarding the toxicity of chemical residues in food
      products. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the potential for
      the combination of physical and chemical methods to control A. diaperinus.
      Bioassays were conducted using poultry bedding and known populations of beetle
      adults and larvae. The treatments consisted of the isolated application of 400
      g/m2 hydrated lime; 20% added moisture (distilled water); temperature increase to
      45 degrees C; an insecticide composed of cypermethrin, chlorpyrifos, and
      citronellal; and a combination of these factors. Beetle mortality was measured at
      7 and 10 d of treatment. The hydrated lime and moisture treatments alone did not
      control A. diaperinus. Raising the temperature of the poultry bedding to 45
      degrees C effectively controlled both larvae (90+/-6%) and adults (90+/-4%). The
      use of insecticide provided adequate control of A. diaperinus in the conditions
      of the bioassay (93+/-2% and 68+/-5% for adults and larvae, respectively). The
      combination of the studied factors led to the total control of larvae and adults
      after 7 d of treatment.

PMID- 25834246
TI  - Effects of feed supplemented with fermented pine needles (Pinus ponderosa) on
      growth performance and antioxidant status in broilers.
AB  - The objective of this study was to compare the effects of Aspergillus niger
      fermented pine needles and nonfermented pine needles on growth performance and
      antioxidant capacity in broiler chicks. In total, 300 1-day-old broiler chicks
      were randomly allocated to 5 dietary treatments, which were then denoted as the
      control treatment (basal diet); the nonfermented treatment (containing 0.3% and
      0.6% nonfermented treatment, respectively, in the starter and grower phase); or
      the fermented 1, fermented 2, or fermented 3 treatments. The fermented 1,
      fermented 2, and fermented 3 treatments contained 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5% fermented
      treatment, respectively, in the starter phase and 0.2, 0.6, and 1.0% fermented
      treatment, respectively, in the growth phase for 42 d. The results showed that
      fermentation treated supplementation had no adverse effect on the growth
      performance of broilers at 42 d of age. The activity of total nitric oxide
      synthase was significantly (P<0.05) decreased in the fermented treatment compared
      with the control and nonfermented treatments in broilers at 21 d of age. Compared
      with the control, broilers had higher (P<0.05) total superoxide dismutase
      activities and total antioxidant capacity when they were provided with either the
      fermented 2 or fermented 3 diet. The malondialdehyde content was significantly
      (P<0.05) decreased in the fermented 2 and fermented 3 treatments compared with
      the control and nonfermented treatments. It was concluded that the addition of
      fermented treatment to the diet could improve antioxidant capacity in broilers,
      as evidenced by the decrease in malondialdehyde and the increase in total
      superoxide dismutase activities; however, the effect of fermentation treatment on
      growth performance was negligible.

PMID- 25834247
TI  - The response of meat ducks from 15 to 35 d of age to gossypol from cottonseed
      meal.
AB  - The objective of this study was to investigate the responses of meat ducks of 15
      to 35 d of age to free gossypol (FG) from cottonseed meal (CSM) and to establish
      the maximum limits of dietary FG concentration based on growth performance, blood
      parameters, and tissue residues of gossypol. Nine hundred 15-d-old ducks were
      randomly allocated to 5 treatments with 10 cages/treatment and 18 ducks/cage on
      the basis of BW. Five isonitrogenous and isocaloric experimental diets were
      formulated on a digestible amino acid basis to produce diets in which 0% (without
      FG), 25% (36 mg FG/kg), 50% (75 mg FG/kg), 75% (111 mg FG/kg), and 100% (153 mg
      FG/kg) of protein from soybean meal were replaced by that from CSM. Increasing
      dietary FG content, BW, and ADG decreased (linearly, P<0.05, except for ADG of
      days 29 to 35), and F/G linearly increased (P<0.05). At 35 d, blood hemoglobin,
      mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration
      linearly decreased (P<0.05), while serum total protein, albumin, and globulin
      content linearly decreased (P<0.05), and the residue of gossypol in liver,
      kidney, heart, breast, and leg muscle linearly increased (P<0.001) with increases
      in dietary FG concentration. Ducks fed 36 mg FG/kg (5.83% CSM of diet) diet had a
      normal histological structure of liver, and muscle (breast and leg) had no
      residue of gossypol. The maximum limit of dietary FG concentration was estimated
      to range from a low of 36 mg/kg to maximize serum globulin concentration to a
      high of 124 mg/kg to minimize feed intake for 22 to 28 d on the basis of a
      quadratic broken-line model.

PMID- 25834248
TI  - Higher rates of internal ovulations occur in broiler breeder hens treated with
      testosterone.
AB  - Maximal profit in both the commercial egg and meat industries requires that the
      quantity of oviposited eggs closely matches the quantity of large yellow
      follicles maturing in the ovary. While laying hens are genetically selected for
      maximal egg production and strategies for management of broiler breeders have
      been constructed to achieve a similar outcome, a percentage of ovarian follicles
      that are selected into the ovulatory hierarchy in these hens still never make it
      to oviposition possibly due to atresia of large yellow follicles or internal
      ovulation of the oocyte into the peritoneal cavity rather than the oviduct. The
      causes and mechanisms responsible for these processes remain unclear, however,
      evidence in wild birds suggests that stressful and/or territorial challenges may
      stimulate oocyte losses. Since testosterone and corticosterone are central to the
      responses to territorial intrusions and stress, respectively, and since both
      large yellow follicles and the oviduct that will engulf them are sensitive to
      hormonal cues, one or both hormones may play a role in the loss of large yellow
      follicles via atresia and/or internal ovulation in laying hens. To test this,
      broiler breeder hens were treated with corticosterone or testosterone 5 h prior
      to ovulation and observed to see whether these treatments influenced the
      likelihood that a hen would lay an egg 24 h after the predicted ovulation time. A
      subset of hens that did not lay an egg were killed and dissected to look for
      evidence of follicle atresia and internal ovulation. Testosterone treatment
      resulted in significantly more oocyte losses, and 60% of these occurred due to
      internal ovulations, as was indicated by the presence of yolk in the peritoneal
      cavity. Corticosterone did not influence the rate of oocyte losses, follicle
      atresia, or internal ovulation. These results suggest that testosterone can cause
      disruptions that ultimately prevent the oviduct from capturing the oocyte after
      ovulation. 

PMID- 25834249
TI  - Absolute quantification of a very virulent Marek's disease virus dynamic quantity
      and distributions in different tissues.
AB  - Chickens infected with Marek's disease virus (MDV) carry the virus consistently
      for a long time, which increases the incidence and rate of virus-induced multi
      organ tumors and increases its potential for horizontal transmission. There is a
      positive correlation between very virulent (vv) MDV quantity and the pathology.
      The purpose of this study was to determine the vvMDV loads dynamics in different
      phases, and the correlation between the viral quantity and tumor development. We
      used a SYBR Green duplex real-time quantitative PCR (q-PCR) assay to detect and
      quantify MDV loads and distributions in different tissues, targeting the Eco-Q
      protein gene (meq) of the virus and the house-keeping ovotransferrin (ovo) gene
      of chickens. The q-PCR was performed using different tissue DNA preparations
      derived from chickens which were infected with 1,000 pfu of the SDWJ1302 strain
      and tissue samples were collected from control and MDV-infected birds on 7, 10,
      15, 21, 28, 40, 60, and 90 d post-infection (DPI). The data indicated that the
      MDV genome was almost quantifiable in immune organs of infected chickens as early
      as 7 DPI, and the number of MDV genome copies in the blood and different organs
      peaked by 28 DPI, but then gradually decreased by 40 DPI. The levels of viral
      quantity in the lymphocytes, liver, and spleen were all higher than those in
      other organs, and that in the feather follicles was the highest among different
      phases of MDV infection. The vvMDV could still be detected in peripheral blood
      and tissues by 90 DPI, and the vast existence of virus will stimulate tissue
      destruction. The data provided further evidence of viral infection involving
      multi-organ distribution and mainly involving immune organ proliferation,
      resulting in immunosuppression. 

PMID- 25834250
TI  - Sensory quality of broiler breast meat influenced by low atmospheric pressure
      stunning, deboning time and cooking methods.
AB  - Stunning method (low atmospheric pressure stunning, LAPS and electrical stunning,
      ES), deboning time (0.75 h and 4 h), and cooking method (baking, frying, and sous
      vide) were evaluated for their impact on the descriptive sensory characteristics
      and consumer acceptability of breast meat (n=576, 144 birds per stunning *
      deboning time combination). Sensory evaluation was conducted by trained
      descriptive (n=8) and consumer (n=185) panels. On average, no differences
      (P>0.05) existed in the sensory acceptability of fried and sous vide cooked
      broiler breast treatment combinations. However, for oven-baking, the LAPS
      treatment that was deboned at 4 h was more acceptable (P<0.05) than other
      treatments and the ES and LAPS 4 h samples had greater (P<0.05) acceptability for
      texture than their ES and LAPS 0.75 h counterparts. Since consumers were highly
      variable in their liking of chicken breast treatments, consumers were grouped
      into clusters for each cooking method based on liking and preference. Cluster
      analysis data revealed that the largest groups of consumers liked (score>=6.0)
      all chicken breast treatments, but a larger proportion of consumers liked the 4 h
      LAPS and ES treatments when compared to the 0.75 h LAPS and ES treatments for all
      cooking methods. In addition, the consumers who indicated that baked chicken
      breast was highly acceptable preferred (P<0.05) 4 h LAPS over the 4 h ES samples.
      Based on sensory results, chicken breast meat from all stunning and deboning
      method combinations was highly acceptable to the majority of consumers, but the
      LAPS 4 h treatment had enhanced sensory characteristics when baked.

PMID- 25834251
TI  - Partition of metabolizable energy, and prediction of growth performance and lipid
      deposition in broiler chickens.
AB  - The study presented here consisted of the calculation of cross relationships
      between growth performance parameters, body growth composition, and feed
      characteristics, using data from an experiment reported in 2 previous
      publications. In the previous experiment, 30 pelleted diets were given to broiler
      chickens (8/diet) (21 to 35 d) for in vivo measurement and prediction of AMEn and
      net energy (NE) values of diets, using 3 trials with 10 diets/trial. In the
      course of NE determination, individual values for growth, feed intake, and
      deposition of lipid and protein were measured. Average energy deposited as lipid
      and protein represented 25.4 and 19.1% AME intake, respectively. Using a multiple
      regression predicting AME intake, the partial efficiencies of AME for energy
      deposition as lipid and protein were calculated to be 91.6 and 67.3%,
      respectively, and the daily amount of AME required for maintenance was evaluated
      at 0.683 MJ/kg BW0.7. The mean diet NE/AMEn ratios were predicted by an equation
      combining the lipid content of body growth (positive coefficient) and the
      apparent digestible protein (ADP) to AMEn ratio (ADP/AMEn), with a quadratic
      expression for the latter variable. This quadratic response expressed a positive
      asymptotic relationship, with a plateau for ADP/AMEn values above 1.45
      [%/(MJ/kg)]. The equations predicting growth always included either the dietary
      percentage of water-insoluble cell wall or the AMEn value. The other major
      parameters predicting growth were either the lipid content of body growth or the
      CP/AMEn ratio. In many cases, quadratic responses were observed in growth
      prediction equations. Regressions predicting feed efficiency showed only linear
      responses. Feed efficiency was predicted precisely by multiple linear regressions
      based only on AMEn and a dietary protein parameter. According to these
      regressions, 1% CP was equivalent to 0.247 MJ/kg AMEn in terms of feed
      efficiency. The most efficient regression predicting the individual lipid content
      of body growth combined the protein efficiency value (negative coefficient), the
      CP/AMEn ratio (negative coefficient), AMEn (positive coefficient), and the
      feather content of body growth (positive coefficient).

PMID- 25834252
TI  - Modulation of small intestinal phosphate transporter by dietary supplements of
      mineral phosphorus and phytase in broilers.
AB  - Dietary phosphorus (P) is known as a main modulator of phosphate (Pi) transporter
      expression. The effect of supplemented mineral P with or without phytase on
      protein expression of two sodium-dependent Pi (NaPi) transporters and a calcium
      channel was studied in the small intestine of broilers. Thirty-six broilers were
      randomly assigned to six different diets at 15 days of age. Two levels of total P
      (tP, adjusted by monocalcium phosphate (MCP) supplementation), 0.39% (BD-) and
      0.47% (BD+) were fed until day 25; and at each tP level, three levels of phytase
      were used with 0, 500, and 12,500 FTU/kg of an E. coli phytase. Mucosa samples
      from jejunum and ileum were taken and apical membranes were isolated by MgCl2
      precipitation. Protein expression of NaPi IIb, NaPi type III (PiT1) and the
      calcium channel TRPV6 were semiquantitatively measured by Western blotting and
      jejunal mucosal phytase activity by measurement of Pi release. The jejunal NaPi
      IIb transporter was expressed with two distinct bands, which were modulated
      differently by diet. NaPi IIb Band1 increased (P < 0.05) and Band2 decreased (P <
      0.05) with phytase supplementation but was not affected by MCP supplementation.
      This inverse modulation of Band1 and Band2 was significantly related to the
      amount of net absorbed P with higher expression of Band1 at higher amounts of net
      absorbed P. In addition, a second Pi transporter, PiT1, was detected in which
      ileal expression decreased (P < 0.05) in response to higher phytase
      supplementation. The expression of the calcium channel TRPV6 was increased in BD+
      groups. A trend for an interaction between MCP and phytase supplementation on
      mucosal phytase activity was observed (P = 0.079) with a decrease in activity
      when BD+ with 12,500 FTU/kg phytase was fed. Chicken intestinal epithelial cells
      responded to dietary supplemented phytase and MCP by changing the Pi transporter
      expression in apical membranes. In conclusion, availability of Pi is most likely
      the key modulator of transporter protein expression. However, a contribution of
      lower inositol phosphates generated by phytases and other phosphatases may also
      be relevant. 

PMID- 25834253
TI  - Chromatin immunoprecipitation with fixed animal tissues and preparation for high
      throughput sequencing.

PMID- 25834254
TI  - Rabies viral vectors for monosynaptic tracing and targeted transgene expression
      in neurons.
AB  - Deletion-mutant rabies viral (RV) vectors are powerful tools for neuroscience,
      allowing monosynaptic tracing of inputs to defined populations and rapid, high
      level transgene expression in neurons targeted by multiple routes. High titers
      and high purity are critical for the successful use of RV vectors in vivo. Here
      we present a protocol for producing high-quality viral stocks that can be
      concentrated by ultracentrifugation for final titers in excess of 10(10)
      infectious units per milliliter. 

PMID- 25834255
TI  - Lentiviral vectors for retrograde delivery of recombinases and transactivators.
AB  - Lentiviral vectors pseudotyped with the rabies virus (RV) envelope glycoprotein
      efficiently infect via axon terminals to stably deliver transgenes to distant
      neurons projecting to an injection site, but the resulting expression levels are
      too low and variable for most neuroscientific applications. If used to deliver
      recombinases or transactivators, however, lentiviral vectors are excellent means
      of targeting projection neurons when used in reporter mice or in combination with
      a second virus to express "payload" transgenes at high levels. For retrograde
      infection of significant numbers of neurons, high virus titers are critical. Here
      we present reagents and a protocol for generating high-titer supernatants that
      can be concentrated 1000-fold for final titers in excess of 10(10) infectious
      units per milliliter. We demonstrate the usefulness of these vectors by
      selectively targeting corticothalamic and corticotectal neurons for high-level
      expression of a fluorophore in knock-in reporter mice. 

PMID- 25834256
TI  - Concentration and purification of rabies viral and lentiviral vectors.
AB  - Rabies viral and lentiviral vectors are very useful tools for neuroscientists,
      but high titer and purity are critical for in vivo applications. Here we present
      a protocol for concentration and purification of viral stocks by
      ultracentrifugation on a sucrose step gradient to remove impurities of both
      higher and lower densities than the virus itself, with sucrose removed by a
      subsequent pelleting step. The final stocks are concentrated in volume by a
      factor of up to 1000, with higher expected purity than is obtained following
      previously published protocols for preparing G-deleted rabies viral vectors. 

PMID- 25834257
TI  - Basic methods for monitoring intracellular Ca2+ in cardiac myocytes using Fluo-3.
AB  - In cardiac myocytes, the physiological increase of intracellular calcium, the
      [Ca(2+)]i transient, elicited during excitation-contraction coupling typically
      reaches a peak amplitude of up to 1 um, from a resting value of ~100 nm, within
      50-100 msec, depending on the species. Various conditions will affect the
      amplitude and rise time of the [Ca(2+)]i transient and, depending on the nature
      of the Ca(2+) signals under study, a variety of different probes are available
      for monitoring changes in intracellular Ca(2+). In this protocol, we focus on
      Fluo-3, which exists in the cytosol in its salt form K5Fluo-3. This form is
      practically nonfluorescent in the absence of Ca(2+), but the fluorescence
      increases dramatically on Ca(2+) binding. Although Fluo-3 is a single excitation
      emission dye, it has a number of advantages for investigators, including an ideal
      dissociation constant (Kd) value and high quantum yield, meaning that it can be
      used at low concentrations that introduce minimal buffering. Here, we describe
      the basic setup and methodology for recording the global cytosolic [Ca(2+)]i
      transient with this probe during simultaneous patch-clamp and whole-cell
      recording of membrane voltage or of ionic currents under voltage clamp. 

PMID- 25834258
TI  - Characterizing the trigger for sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release in cardiac
      myocytes.
AB  - Here, we describe a method for characterizing the L-type Ca(2+) current, ICaL,
      which is a major trigger for Ca(2+) release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR).
      The protocol includes measuring ICaL amplitude and voltage dependence and the
      elicited SR Ca(2+) release. The procedure for measuring ICaL activity is
      performed using solutions (internal and external) and voltage control such that
      other ionic currents are eliminated. The resultant relationship between the
      Ca(2+) current and the associated internal [Ca(2+)]i transient is a first
      approach for evaluating coupling gain. We discuss which parameters are most
      appropriate for this analysis and how an evaluation of gain needs to be further
      explored by measuring the SR Ca(2+) content. 

PMID- 25834259
TI  - Measuring sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ content, fractional release, and Ca2+
      buffering in cardiac myocytes.
AB  - Here, we describe a protocol for the reliable measurement of the amount of Ca(2+)
      in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+) store of cardiac myocytes. The whole
      cell patch-clamp method is used to provide controlled loading of the SR during
      conditioning depolarizing pulses, followed by rapid application of a high dose of
      caffeine to release all SR Ca(2+) and to prevent Ca(2+) reuptake by the SR.
      Simultaneous measurement of membrane currents records Ca(2+) extruded through the
      Na(+)-Ca(2+) exchanger. The integral of the caffeine-induced Na(+)-Ca(2+)
      exchange current is then used as a measure of the SR Ca(2+). Derived measurements
      include the Ca(2+) buffering capacity and measurement of fractional release as an
      indicator of coupling gain. Caveats, advantages, and disadvantages of this method
      and alternative methods are discussed. 

PMID- 25834260
TI  - Culturing adult stem cells from mouse small intestinal crypts.
AB  - In recent years, the study of primary cells in culture has evolved from an
      extraphysiological, two-dimensional platform to novel, three-dimensional
      platforms in which the addition of matrix components and/or supporting cells
      provide an ex vivo niche. Such studies have provided the basis on which to study
      more advanced physiological processes in detail, including multilayered, long
      term cultures, epithelial-stromal interactions, and stem cell behaviors that more
      closely recapitulate normal morphology than two-dimensional culture. Various
      techniques for three-dimensional organotypic culture and crypt culture of primary
      cells from mouse and human small intestine and colon have been described. These
      methods have allowed for the study of specific stem cell characteristics,
      including survival, self-renewal, and long-term growth in culture, as well as the
      ability to propagate all the appropriate progenitor and postmitotic lineages.
      These assays have become a widely accepted functional measure of "stemness" and,
      in combination with lineage-tracing experiments in various genetically engineered
      mouse models, have been critical in the identification of specific markers of
      intestinal stem cells. In this protocol we draw upon recently described methods
      for the isolation and culture of mouse small intestinal enterospheres/enteroids
      from isolated crypts and/or single cells. Cultures of murine colon epithelium, as
      well as human small intestine and colon, require additional growth factors not
      discussed here. The description provided here represents current knowledge, and
      it is possible, if not likely, that modifications in the future will emerge. 

PMID- 25834261
TI  - Three-dimensional organotypic culture of stratified epithelia.
AB  - One of the limitations of conventional tissue culture on flat two-dimensional
      surfaces is the loss of complex interactions between the epithelium and stroma.
      We have devised a culture system that recreates the salient features of the
      stratified epithelium using primary cell cultures from mouse models. The protocol
      described here is applicable to the esophageal epithelium, but stratified
      epithelial cells from other organs (e.g., skin) can be grown. Once established,
      the system can be used to interrogate the effect of various pharmacologic and
      genetic manipulations on epithelial homeostasis and invasion. 

PMID- 25834262
TI  - Quantification of cell, actin, and nuclear DNA morphology with high-throughput
      microscopy and CalMorph.
AB  - Automated image acquisition and processing systems have been developed to
      quantitatively describe yeast cell morphology. These systems are superior to the
      preceding qualitative methods in terms of reproducibility, as they completely
      avoid subjective recognition of images. Because high-throughput microscopy has
      enabled rapid production of numerous cellular images, reinforcement of high
      performance and high-throughput automated image-processing techniques has been in
      increasing demand in the field of biology. This protocol describes how to use a
      high-throughput microscope in conjunction with the image-processing software
      CalMorph, which outputs more than 500 morphological parameters, for
      quantification of cell, actin, and nuclear DNA morphology. 

PMID- 25834263
TI  - Measuring the length of poly(A) tails.
AB  - Adenylation status has an important role in the regulation of mRNA metabolism:
      mRNAs are deadenylated before degradation, microRNAs (miRNAs) can cause
      deadenylation, and the poly(A) length of certain mRNAs is regulated during
      development. This protocol describes methods that can be used to measure the
      poly(A) tail length of specific mRNAs. These include, in the order of increasing
      sensitivity, (1) northern blotting of intact and experimentally deadenylated
      mRNAs and (2) northern blotting of intact and experimentally deadenylated mRNA
      fragments that have been cleaved near the 3' end with RNase H. Highly sensitive
      polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based approaches are also discussed. 

PMID- 25834264
TI  - Isolation of ribosomes by chromatography.
AB  - Mixed-mode chromatography on cysteine-SulfoLink resin efficiently separates
      ribosomes from cell lysates and is particularly effective at rapidly removing
      endogenous proteases and nucleases, resulting in ribosomes of improved purity,
      integrity, and activity. Binding occurs partly by anion exchange of the RNA of
      the ribosomes, so that cells must be lysed in a buffer of moderate ionic strength
      (conductivity no more than 20 mS for chromatography of bacterial ribosomes)
      without any highly charged additives (e.g., heparin, which is used to inhibit
      RNases in yeast). A robust protocol for Escherichia coli is given here as an
      example. 

PMID- 25834265
TI  - Dissociation of ribosomes into large and small subunits.
AB  - Structural and functional studies of ribosomal subunits require the dissociation
      of intact ribosomes into individual small and large ribosomal subunits. The
      dissociation of the prokaryotic 70S ribosomes into the 50S and 30S subunits is
      achieved by dialysis against a buffer containing a lower Mg(2+) concentration.
      Eukaryotic 80S ribosomes are dissociated into 60S and 40S subunits by incubation
      in a buffer containing puromycin and higher KCl and Mg(2+) concentrations. 

PMID- 25834266
TI  - Strategies for isolation of exosomes.
AB  - Exosomes are tiny vesicles (diameter 30-150 nm) secreted by cells in culture and
      found in all body fluids. These vesicles, loaded with unique RNA and protein
      cargos, have many biological functions, of which only a small fraction is
      currently understood-for example, they participate in cell-to-cell communication
      and signaling within the human body. The spectrum of current scientific interest
      in exosomes is wide and ranges from understanding their functions and pathways to
      using them in diagnostics, as biomarkers, and in the development of therapeutics.
      Here we provide an overview of different strategies for isolation of exosomes
      from cell-culture media and body fluids. 

PMID- 25834267
TI  - Image correlation spectroscopy: principles and applications.
AB  - Image correlation spectroscopy (ICS) was developed as the imaging analog of
      fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. Using standard fluorescence microscopy
      image series as input, different versions of ICS can be used to extract
      parameters on the molecular transport properties (diffusion and flow) and
      oligomerization state for fluorescently labeled species in cells. This review
      introduces the various forms of spatial and temporal ICS and discusses
      application of these methods to reveal properties of the biomolecules that can be
      measured from standard fluorescence image time series sampled from cells and
      neurons. 

PMID- 25834268
TI  - Progress in public health in the Year of the Goat.

PMID- 25834269
TI  - Health promotion financing with Mongolia's social health insurance.
AB  - Health promotion is receiving more attention in Mongolia. A survey is undertaken
      to examine health promotion in terms of health-related information, education,
      counseling, screening, preventive and medical checkups. Almost all (97.5%) of the
      subjects feel that access to reliable and systematically organized health-related
      information is important. About 60% of the subjects expressed that the amount of
      currently available information is inadequate. There are several factors that
      limit the implementation of public health programs. These include inadequate
      focus on promoting health at individual level, lack of funds, and limited
      incentives to promote health. This article examined social health insurance as an
      option to address these issues. Three hypothetical benefits package options
      expanded to health promotion were developed and simulated by a computerized tool.
      The simulations show that all 3 options are financially sustainable at the
      existing level of contribution if Mongolia will gain near universal health
      insurance coverage and improve revenue collection practices. 

PMID- 25834270
TI  - Factors influencing the hospitalization costs of patients with type 2 diabetes.
AB  - This study aims to research the factors influencing the hospitalization costs of
      patients with type 2 diabetes, so as to provide some references for reducing
      their economic burden. Based on the Hospital Information System of a 3A grade
      hospital in China, we analyzed 2970 cases with type 2 diabetes during 2005-2012.
      Both the number of inpatients and the hospitalization costs had increased in the
      study period. Using multiple linear regression analysis, we found that patients
      in Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance had higher costs than those in New
      Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme. We also found hospitalization costs to be
      higher in male patients and older patients, patients who stayed more days at
      hospital and who had surgeries, patients who had at least 1 complication, and
      patients whose admission status was emergency. After standardizing the regression
      coefficients, we found that the hospital stay, the forms of payment, and presence
      of complications were the first 3 factors influencing hospitalization costs in
      our study. In conclusion, the hospitalization costs of patients with type 2
      diabetes could be influenced by age, gender, forms of payment, hospital stay,
      admission status, complications, and surgery. Medical workers in the studied
      region should take actions to reduce the duration of hospital stay for diabetic
      patients and prevent relevant complications. What is more, medical insurance
      needs further improvement. 

PMID- 25834271
TI  - Neck and shoulder muscle strength in patients with tension-type headache: A case
      control study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Tension-type headache (TTH) is highly prevalent in the general
      population, and it is characterized by increased muscle tenderness with
      increasing headache frequency and intensity. AIM: The aim of this case-control
      study was to compare muscle strength in neck and shoulder muscles in TTH patients
      and healthy controls by examining maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVC)
      during shoulder abduction, neck flexion and extension as well as the
      extension/flexion strength ratio of the neck. METHODS: Sixty TTH patients and 30
      sex- and age-matched healthy controls were included. Patients were included if
      they had TTH >=8 days per month. The MVC neck extensor and flexor muscles were
      tested with the participant seated upright. MVC shoulder abduction was tested
      with the individual lying supine. RESULTS: Compared to controls TTH patients had
      significantly weaker muscle strength in neck extension (p = 0.02), resulting in a
      significantly lower extension/flexion moment ratio (p = 0.03). TTH patients also
      showed a tendency toward significantly lower muscle strength in shoulder
      abduction (p = 0.05). Among the 60 TTH patients, 25 had frequent episodic TTH
      (FETTH), and 35 had chronic TTH (CTTH). CONCLUSION: Patients with TTH exhibited
      decreased muscle strength in the neck extensor muscles, inducing a reduced
      cervical extension/flexion ratio compared to healthy people.

PMID- 25834272
TI  - Effective occipital nerve stimulation during pregnancy in a cluster headache
      patient.

PMID- 25834273
TI  - Dysplastic Nevus: Management by Canadian Dermatologists.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The management of dysplastic nevi is controversial. No studies have
      collected data regarding management of the lesion amongst Canadian
      dermatologists. OBJECTIVE: To provide a comprehensive review of what the
      prevailing opinions are, regarding treatment and terminology of dysplastic nevi,
      amongst Canadian dermatologists. METHODS: An online survey of 25 questions was e
      mailed to 613 members of the Canadian Dermatology Association, in French and
      English. RESULTS: A total of 179 responses were received. Varying numbers of
      participants completed each question. The majority of participants think that the
      term dysplastic nevus should not be abandoned, and they indicated that they never
      reexcise lesions with mild to moderate atypia even when the margins are positive.
      CONCLUSIONS: The majority of Canadian dermatologists retain the use of the term
      dysplastic nevus and do not reexcise lesions with mild to moderate atypia even
      when the margins are positive.

PMID- 25834274
TI  - Lack of evidence and standardization in care pathway documents for patients with
      ST-elevated myocardial infarction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Clinical practice variation and the subsequent burden on health care
      quality has been documented for patients with ST-elevated myocardial infarction
      (STEMI). Reduction of clinical practice variation is possible by increasing
      guideline adherence. Care pathway documents can increase guideline adherence by
      implementing evidence-based key interventions and quality indicators in daily
      practice. AIMS: This study aims to examine guideline adherence of care pathway
      documents for patients with STEMI. METHODS: Lay-out, size and timeframe of
      submitted care pathways documents were analysed. Two independent reviewers used a
      checklist to systematically assess the guideline adherence of care pathway
      documents. The checklist comprised a set of key interventions and quality
      indicators extracted from evidence and international guidelines. The checklist
      distinguished the evidence level for each item and was validated by expert
      consensus. Results were verified by inviting participating hospitals to provide
      feedback. RESULTS: Fifteen out of 25 invited hospitals submitted care pathway
      documents for STEMI. The care pathway documents differed in timeframe, lay-out
      and size. Analysis of the care pathway documents showed important variation in
      formalizing adherence to evidence: between hospitals, inclusion of 24 key
      interventions in care pathway documents varied from 13 to 97%. Inclusion of 11
      essential quality indicators varied from 0 to 40%. CONCLUSION: Care pathway
      documents for patients with STEMI differ considerably in lay-out, timeframe and
      size. This study showed variation in, and suboptimal inclusion of, evidence-based
      key interventions and quality indicators in care pathway documents. The use of
      these care pathway documents might result in suboptimal quality of care for STEMI
      patients.

PMID- 25834275
TI  - Do lifestyle restrictions and precautions prevent dislocation after total hip
      arthroplasty? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness
      of lifestyle restrictions and precautions to prevent dislocation after total hip
      arthroplasty. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library were searched in
      February 2015, with additional hand searching of systematic reviews and reference
      lists. REVIEW METHODS: This review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA
      statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analysis. PubMed and the
      Cochrane Library were searched from their start date through to February 2015.
      Randomized controlled trials and comparative case series in English, Dutch or
      German language were included. Only primary total hip arthroplasty procedures
      managed with different postoperative restrictions and precautions protocols were
      included. Primary outcome was the total hip arthroplasty dislocation rate,
      secondary outcomes were patient functioning, return to activities of daily living
      and patient satisfaction. RESULTS: A total of 119 eligible articles were
      identified, six were included: three randomized controlled trials, one
      retrospective matched cohort study, one retrospective and one prospective cohort
      study, describing 1122 procedures (restrictions group: n = 528; no restrictions
      group: n = 594). Both the standard posterior and anterolateral surgical
      approaches were included. There were eight dislocations (1.5%) in the restricted
      group, vs. six dislocations (1.0%) in the unrestricted group. Patients in the
      unrestricted group resumed activities significantly faster and were more
      satisfied with their pace of recovery. CONCLUSION: A more liberal lifestyle
      restrictions and precautions protocol will not lead to worse dislocation rates
      after total hip arthroplasty, but will lead to earlier and better resumption of
      activities and higher patient satisfaction. These results appear to hold up for
      various surgical approaches.

PMID- 25834230
TI  - Renal autoregulation in health and disease.
AB  - Intrarenal autoregulatory mechanisms maintain renal blood flow (RBF) and
      glomerular filtration rate (GFR) independent of renal perfusion pressure (RPP)
      over a defined range (80-180 mmHg). Such autoregulation is mediated largely by
      the myogenic and the macula densa-tubuloglomerular feedback (MD-TGF) responses
      that regulate preglomerular vasomotor tone primarily of the afferent arteriole.
      Differences in response times allow separation of these mechanisms in the time
      and frequency domains. Mechanotransduction initiating the myogenic response
      requires a sensing mechanism activated by stretch of vascular smooth muscle cells
      (VSMCs) and coupled to intracellular signaling pathways eliciting plasma membrane
      depolarization and a rise in cytosolic free calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)]i).
      Proposed mechanosensors include epithelial sodium channels (ENaC), integrins,
      and/or transient receptor potential (TRP) channels. Increased [Ca(2+)]i occurs
      predominantly by Ca(2+) influx through L-type voltage-operated Ca(2+) channels
      (VOCC). Increased [Ca(2+)]i activates inositol trisphosphate receptors (IP3R) and
      ryanodine receptors (RyR) to mobilize Ca(2+) from sarcoplasmic reticular stores.
      Myogenic vasoconstriction is sustained by increased Ca(2+) sensitivity, mediated
      by protein kinase C and Rho/Rho-kinase that favors a positive balance between
      myosin light-chain kinase and phosphatase. Increased RPP activates MD-TGF by
      transducing a signal of epithelial MD salt reabsorption to adjust afferent
      arteriolar vasoconstriction. A combination of vascular and tubular mechanisms,
      novel to the kidney, provides for high autoregulatory efficiency that maintains
      RBF and GFR, stabilizes sodium excretion, and buffers transmission of RPP to
      sensitive glomerular capillaries, thereby protecting against hypertensive
      barotrauma. A unique aspect of the myogenic response in the renal vasculature is
      modulation of its strength and speed by the MD-TGF and by a connecting tubule
      glomerular feedback (CT-GF) mechanism. Reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide
      are modulators of myogenic and MD-TGF mechanisms. Attenuated renal autoregulation
      contributes to renal damage in many, but not all, models of renal, diabetic, and
      hypertensive diseases. This review provides a summary of our current knowledge
      regarding underlying mechanisms enabling renal autoregulation in health and
      disease and methods used for its study. 

PMID- 25834276
TI  - Efficacy of the Alexander Technique in treating chronic non-specific neck pain: a
      randomized controlled trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To test the efficacy of the Alexander Technique, local heat and guided
      imagery on pain and quality of life in patients with chronic non-specific neck
      pain. DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial with 3 parallel groups was conducted.
      SETTING: Outpatient clinic, Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine.
      SUBJECTS: A total of 72 patients (65 females, 40.7+/-7.9 years) with chronic non
      specific neck pain. INTERVENTIONS: Patients received 5 sessions of the Alexander
      Technique--an educational method which aims to modify dysfunctional posture,
      movement and thinking patterns associated with musculoskeletal disorders. Control
      groups were treated with local heat application or guided imagery. All
      interventions were conducted once a week for 45 minutes each. MAIN MEASURES: The
      primary outcome measure at week 5 was neck pain intensity on a 100-mm visual
      analogue scale; secondary outcomes included neck disability, quality of life,
      satisfaction and safety. STATISTICS: Analyses of covariance were applied; testing
      ordered hypotheses. RESULTS: No group difference was found for pain intensity for
      the Alexander Technique compared to local heat (difference 4.5mm; 95% CI:
      8.1;17.1; p=0.48), but exploratory analysis revealed the superiority of the
      Alexander Technique over guided imagery (difference -12.9 mm; 95% CI:-22.6;-3.1,
      p=0.01). Significant group differences in favor of the Alexander Technique were
      also found for physical quality of life (P<0.05). Adverse events mainly included
      slightly increased pain and muscle soreness. CONCLUSION: The Alexander Technique
      was not superior to local heat application in treating chronic non-specific neck
      pain. It cannot be recommended as routine intervention at this time. Further
      trials are warranted for conclusive judgment.

PMID- 25834277
TI  - The longitudinal effect of drug use on productivity status of nonmetropolitan
      african american young adults.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to investigate the longitudinal effect of marijuana
      and heavy alcohol use on the productivity status of nonmetropolitan African
      American young adults. This analysis was based on secondary data from the Family
      and Community Health Study. For alcohol, the study evaluated the effects on
      productivity status for individuals with heavy alcohol use trajectories from
      adolescence into young adulthood while marijuana effects were evaluated during
      the period when adolescents are more likely to have initiated usage (14-16 years
      of age). Productivity status was measured when study participants were between 18
      and 21 years, for both alcohol and marijuana. Multivariate logistic regression
      models were used to test the association between subjects' drug use and
      productivity. Bivariate analysis of the effects of marijuana use indicate that
      marijuana users by age 16 are 35% less likely to be productive at age 21 than
      those who have not initiated marijuana use (p < .005). After controlling for
      individual, community, and family factors, the multivariate logistic models for
      alcohol and marijuana use suggest that early adolescence drug use (marijuana and
      heavy alcohol use) do not have an impact on productivity status during early
      adulthood. Analyzing and understanding the different drug use trajectories in
      relation to a productivity outcome is important for policies and research geared
      to preventing drug use and in identifying its relation with micro- and macro
      level labor market outcomes. 

PMID- 25834278
TI  - Temporary Internal Fixation for Ligamentous and Osseous Lisfranc Injuries:
      Outcome and Technical Tip.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Open rather than closed reduction and internal fixation as well as
      primary definitive arthrodesis are well accepted for ligamentous and osseous
      Lisfranc injuries. For ligamentous injuries, a better outcome after primary
      definitive partial arthrodesis has been published. METHODS: Of 135 Lisfranc
      injuries that were treated from 1998 to 2012 with open reduction, temporary
      internal fixation by screws and plates, and restricted weight bearing in a lower
      leg cast for 3 months followed by an arch support for another 4 to 6 weeks, 29
      ligamentous Lisfranc injuries were available for follow-up. They were compared
      with 29 osseous Lisfranc injuries matched in age and gender. RESULTS: Between the
      groups, there were no significant differences in average age (39.9 vs 38 years)
      or in average follow-up time (8.3 vs 9.1 years). Also, no significant differences
      were seen in the AOFAS midfoot score (84 vs 85.3 points), the FFI pain scale (9.9
      vs 14.9 points), SF 36 physical component (56.2 vs 53.9 points), SF 36 mental
      component (57 vs 56.4 points), or VAS for pain (1.6 vs 1.5 points). The FFI
      function scale was significantly lower in the ligamentous group (11.6 vs 19.5
      points). Radiographically, loss of reduction was recorded 3 times in the
      ligamentous injuries and 4 times in the osseous injuries. Arthritis was
      mild/moderate/severe in 5/3/0 ligamentous injuries and in 7/2/1 osseous injuries,
      requiring 1 definitive secondary Lisfranc arthrodesis in each group. CONCLUSION:
      With longer and conservative postoperative management, open reduction and
      temporary internal fixation in ligamentous and osseous Lisfranc injuries led to
      equal medium-term outcome. Inferior outcome in ligamentous injuries was not
      found. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, retrospective comparative cohort study.

PMID- 25834279
TI  - Defining the quality of acupuncture: the case of acupuncture for cancer-related
      fatigue.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The quality and dose of acupuncture used in a clinical trial affects
      the outcome, as with the quality and dose of any intervention. The dose of
      acupuncture treatment may be characterized by the frequency of treatment, needle
      type and depth, length of needle retention, point selection, and combination. The
      dose in trials of acupuncture has at times been described as low or inappropriate
      but is seldom assessed in systematic reviews of acupuncture trials. This article
      examines the research evaluating acupuncture for cancer-related fatigue to
      determine what characteristics of treatment may contribute to a quality
      acupuncture intervention. METHODOLOGY: English and Chinese language databases
      were searched from inception to December 2013 for randomized controlled trials of
      acupuncture for the treatment of cancer-related fatigue. Assessment of the
      quality of the acupuncture intervention was undertaken using the domains and
      items from the NICMAN framework. RESULTS: Seven studies with a total of 690
      patients were included. Four of the studies were designed as feasibility or pilot
      studies, and the other 3 studies were described as "effectiveness" trials. The
      treatment paradigm for the active intervention was based on traditional Chinese
      medicine in all studies, yet few of the studies were explicit as to how the
      active intervention was justified within a traditional Chinese medicine paradigm.
      Acupuncture point prescriptions were developed by a small consensus panel or
      based on typical points and/or "clinical experience." No discussion of
      traditional Chinese medicine theory or literature review was reported in any
      studies. Acupuncture point location was adequately described in 4 of the 7
      studies. Frequency of treatment was twice per week in 2 studies; all others were
      once per week. Two studies did not apply needle manipulation or stimulation, and
      no justification was given. CONCLUSION: The 7 trials reviewed meet some criteria
      for a quality acupuncture intervention. However, frequently elements of the
      intervention were not addressed, and it is possible that the dosage trialed was
      suboptimal. Systematic reviews of acupuncture are likely to continue to be
      inconclusive while comparisons are conducted of heterogeneous interventions
      without providing.

PMID- 25834281
TI  - Communication of a schizophrenia diagnosis: A qualitative study of patients'
      perspectives.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transparent diagnostic communication is considered best practice for
      clinicians. However, while patients expect to receive a schizophrenia diagnosis
      from their psychiatrist, research suggests mental health clinicians are often
      reluctant to provide this information to patients. AIM: This study examines the
      perceptions of people with schizophrenia surrounding the communication of this
      diagnosis. METHODS: A generic qualitative methodological approach was used. A
      total of 14 patients with schizophrenia were recruited through community mental
      health services (n = 10) and the Australia Schizophrenia Research Bank (ASRB; n =
      4) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Semi-structured interviews were used to
      explore the experiences and perceptions of people with schizophrenia about the
      way a schizophrenia diagnosis was communicated by mental health clinicians.
      Interviews were recorded, transcribed, codes generated and thematic analysis
      undertaken aided by NVivo. RESULTS: The majority of participants felt it was
      beneficial to receive a diagnosis despite acknowledging the distress this
      information sometimes caused, with many reporting this knowledge gave a sense of
      relief. It helped to understand their experiences and behaviours, improved their
      trust in the psychiatric system and increased treatment adherence. However, many
      reported difficulty in obtaining information about their condition, its treatment
      and prognosis, and expressed dissatisfaction with the way a diagnosis of
      schizophrenia was communicated. DISCUSSION: Insight into the perceptions and
      experiences of patients with schizophrenia about how a diagnosis of schizophrenia
      is communicated is a key outcome of this research. This knowledge will inform the
      development of future training programmes for mental health clinicians, and
      influence the clinical practice of health professionals treating patients with
      schizophrenia.

PMID- 25834280
TI  - Biological effects and mechanisms of action of mesenchymal stem cell therapy in
      chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the most frequent chronic
      respiratory disease and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, worldwide.
      Given that the foremost risk factor leading to the development of COPD is
      cigarette smoke, the initial treatment for COPD is smoking cessation. Even after
      smoking cessation, inflammation, apoptosis and oxidative stress can persist and
      continue to contribute to COPD. Although current therapies for COPD (which are
      primarily based on anti-inflammatory drugs such as corticosteroids, theophylline
      and bronchodilators) reduce airway obstruction, limit COPD exacerbation and
      improve the patient's health-related quality-of-life, none can prevent disease
      progression or reduce mortality. Recent advances in stem cell research have
      provided novel insight into the potential of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells
      (MSCs) in the treatment of several pulmonary diseases. This review article
      discusses the biological effects and mechanisms of action of MSC transplantation
      in COPD, and highlights the foundation that MSCs provide for novel therapeutic
      approaches in COPD. 

PMID- 25834282
TI  - The Acute Management of Sport Concussion in Pediatric Athletes.
AB  - During the past two decades the focus on sport concussion has increased
      significantly. Young athletes represent the most vulnerable population to sustain
      a sport concussion yet receive the least amount of attention. Specifically, young
      athletes who sustain a sport concussion can go unrecognized and continue to
      participate in sport putting them at an increased risk for a more significant
      injury. The purpose of this review is to provide a clinical framework for the
      evaluation and management of sport concussion. In addition, this review provides
      considerations for health care professionals in regard to clinical measures and
      follow-up strategies during the acute phase following concussion in young
      concussed athletes following injury. 

PMID- 25834283
TI  - The hierarchical stability of the seven known large size ratio triple asteroids
      using the empirical stability parameters.
AB  - In this study, the hierarchical stability of the seven known large size ratio
      triple asteroids is investigated. The effect of the solar gravity and primary's
      J2 are considered. The force function is expanded in terms of mass ratios based
      on the Hill's approximation and the large size ratio property. The empirical
      stability parameters are used to examine the hierarchical stability of the triple
      asteroids. It is found that the all the known large size ratio triple asteroid
      systems are hierarchically stable. This study provides useful information for
      future evolutions of the triple asteroids.

PMID- 25834284
TI  - High-order space-time finite element schemes for acoustic and viscodynamic wave
      equations with temporal decoupling.
AB  - We revisit a method originally introduced by Werder et al. (in Comput. Methods
      Appl. Mech. Engrg., 190:6685-6708, 2001) for temporally discontinuous Galerkin
      FEMs applied to a parabolic partial differential equation. In that approach,
      block systems arise because of the coupling of the spatial systems through inner
      products of the temporal basis functions. If the spatial finite element space is
      of dimension D and polynomials of degree r are used in time, the block system has
      dimension (r + 1)D and is usually regarded as being too large when r > 1. Werder
      et al. found that the space-time coupling matrices are diagonalizable over
      [Formula: see text] for r ?100, and this means that the time-coupled computations
      within a time step can actually be decoupled. By using either continuous Galerkin
      or spectral element methods in space, we apply this DG-in-time methodology, for
      the first time, to second-order wave equations including elastodynamics with and
      without Kelvin-Voigt and Maxwell-Zener viscoelasticity. An example set of
      numerical results is given to demonstrate the favourable effect on error and
      computational work of the moderately high-order (up to degree 7) temporal and
      spatio-temporal approximations, and we also touch on an application of this
      method to an ambitious problem related to the diagnosis of coronary artery
      disease. Copyright (c) 2014 The Authors. International Journal for Numerical
      Methods in Engineering published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PMID- 25834285
TI  - Greater accumulation of litter in spruce (Picea abies) compared to beech (Fagus
      sylvatica) stands is not a consequence of the inherent recalcitrance of needles.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Replacement of beech by spruce is associated with changes in
      soil acidity, soil structure and humus form, which are commonly ascribed to the
      recalcitrance of spruce needles. It is of practical relevance to know how much
      beech must be admixed to pure spruce stands in order to increase litter
      decomposition and associated nutrient cycling. We addressed the impact of tree
      species mixture within forest stands and within litter on mass loss and
      nutritional release from litter. METHODS: Litter decomposition was measured in
      three adjacent stands of pure spruce (Picea abies), mixed beech-spruce and pure
      beech (Fagus sylvatica) on three nutrient-rich sites and three nutrient-poor
      sites over a three-year period using the litterbag method (single species and
      mixed species bags). RESULTS: Mass loss of beech litter was not higher than mass
      loss of spruce litter. Mass loss and nutrient release were not affected by litter
      mixing. Litter decay indicated non-additive patterns, since similar remaining
      masses under pure beech (47%) and mixed beech-spruce (48%) were significantly
      lower than under pure spruce stands (67%). Release of the main components of the
      organic substance (Corg, Ntot, P, S, lignin) and associated K were related to
      mass loss, while release of other nutrients was not related to mass loss.
      CONCLUSIONS: In contradiction to the widely held assumption of slow decomposition
      of spruce needles, we conclude that accumulation of litter in spruce stands is
      not caused by recalcitrance of spruce needles to decay; rather adverse
      environmental conditions in spruce stands retard decomposition. Mixed beech
      spruce stands appear to be as effective as pure beech stands in counteracting
      these adverse conditions.

PMID- 25834286
TI  - Soil CO2 efflux in a bioenergy plantation with fast-growing Populus trees -
      influence of former land use, inter-row spacing and genotype.
AB  - AIMS: In this study we quantified the annual soil CO2 efflux (annual SCE) of a
      short rotation coppice plantation in its establishment phase. We aimed to examine
      the effect of former (agricultural) land use type, inter-row spacing and
      genotype. METHODS: Annual SCE was quantified during the second growth year of the
      establishment rotation in a large scale poplar plantation in Flanders. Automated
      chambers were distributed over the two former land use types, the two different
      inter-row spacings and under two poplar genotypes. Additional measurements of C,
      N, P, K, Mg, Ca and Na concentrations of the soil, pH, bulk density, fine root
      biomass, microbial biomass C, soil mineralization rate, distance to trees and
      tree diameters were performed at the end of the second growth year. RESULTS:
      Total carbon loss from soil CO2 efflux was valued at 589 g m-2 yr-1. Annual SCE
      was higher in former pasture as compared to cropland, higher in the narrow than
      in the wider inter-row spacings, but no effect of genotype was found.
      CONCLUSIONS: Spatial differences in site characteristics are of great importance
      for understanding the effect of ecosystem management and land use change on soil
      respiration processes and need to be taken into account in modeling efforts of
      the carbon balance.

PMID- 25834287
TI  - A closeup study of early beech litter decomposition: potential drivers and
      microbial interactions on a changing substrate.
AB  - AIMS: Litter decomposition and subsequent nutrient release play a major role in
      forest carbon and nutrient cycling. To elucidate how soluble or bulk nutrient
      ratios affect the decomposition process of beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) litter, we
      conducted a microcosm experiment over an 8 week period. Specifically, we
      investigated leaf-litter from four Austrian forested sites, which varied in
      elemental composition (C:N:P ratio). Our aim was to gain a mechanistic
      understanding of early decomposition processes and to determine microbial
      community changes. METHODS: We measured initial litter chemistry, microbial
      activity in terms of respiration (CO2), litter mass loss, microbial biomass C and
      N (Cmic and Nmic), non purgeable organic carbon (NPOC), total dissolved nitrogen
      (TDN), NH4+, NO3- and microbial community composition (phospholipid fatty acids -
      PLFAs). RESULTS: At the beginning of the experiment microbial biomass increased
      and pools of inorganic nitrogen (N) decreased, followed by an increase in fungal
      PLFAs. Sites higher in NPOC:TDN (C:N of non purgeable organic C and total
      dissolved N), K and Mn showed higher respiration. CONCLUSIONS: The C:N ratio of
      the dissolved pool, rather than the quantity of N, was the major driver of
      decomposition rates. We saw dynamic changes in the microbial community from the
      beginning through the termination of the experiment.

PMID- 25834288
TI  - Fine root biomass and turnover of two fast-growing poplar genotypes in a short
      rotation coppice culture.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The quantification of root dynamics remains a major
      challenge in ecological research because root sampling is laborious and prone to
      error due to unavoidable disturbance of the delicate soil-root interface. The
      objective of the present study was to quantify the distribution of the biomass
      and turnover of roots of poplars (Populus) and associated understory vegetation
      during the second growing season of a high-density short rotation coppice
      culture. METHODS: Roots were manually picked from soil samples collected with a
      soil core from narrow (75 cm apart) and wide rows (150 cm apart) of the double
      row planting system from two genetically contrasting poplar genotypes. Several
      methods of estimating root production and turnover were compared. RESULTS: Poplar
      fine root biomass was higher in the narrow rows than in the wide rows. In spite
      of genetic differences in above-ground biomass, annual fine root productivity was
      similar for both genotypes (ca. 44 g DM m-2 year-1). Weed root biomass was
      equally distributed over the ground surface, and root productivity was more than
      two times higher compared to poplar fine roots (ca. 109 g DM m-2 year-1).
      CONCLUSIONS: Early in SRC plantation development, weeds result in significant
      root competition to the crop tree poplars, but may confer certain ecosystem
      services such as carbon input to soil and retention of available soil N until the
      trees fully occupy the site.

PMID- 25834289
TI  - Coarse and fine root plants affect pore size distributions differently.
AB  - AIMS: Small scale root-pore interactions require validation of their impact on
      effective hydraulic processes at the field scale. Our objective was to develop an
      interpretative framework linking root effects on macroscopic pore parameters with
      knowledge at the rhizosphere scale. METHODS: A field experiment with twelve
      species from different families was conducted. Parameters of Kosugi's pore size
      distribution (PSD) model were determined inversely from tension infiltrometer
      data. Measured root traits were related to pore variables by regression analysis.
      A pore evolution model was used to analyze if observed pore dynamics followed a
      diffusion like process. RESULTS: Roots essentially conditioned soil properties at
      the field scale. Rooting densities higher than 0.5 % of pore space stabilized
      soil structure against pore loss. Coarse root systems increased macroporosity by
      30 %. Species with dense fine root systems induced heterogenization of the pore
      space and higher micropore volume. We suggested particle re-orientation and
      aggregate coalescence as main underlying processes. The diffusion type pore
      evolution model could only partially capture the observed PSD dynamics.
      CONCLUSIONS: Root systems differing in axes morphology induced distinctive pore
      dynamics. Scaling between these effective hydraulic impacts and processes at the
      root-pore interface is essential for plant based management of soil structure.

PMID- 25834290
TI  - Root induced changes of effective 1D hydraulic properties in a soil column.
AB  - AIMS: Roots are essential drivers of soil structure and pore formation. This
      study aimed at quantifying root induced changes of the pore size distribution
      (PSD). The focus was on the extent of clogging vs. formation of pores during
      active root growth. METHODS: Parameters of Kosugi's lognormal PSD model were
      determined by inverse estimation in a column experiment with two cover crops
      (mustard, rye) and an unplanted control. Pore dynamics were described using a
      convection-dispersion like pore evolution model. RESULTS: Rooted treatments
      showed a wider range of pore radii with increasing volumes of large macropores
      >500 MUm and micropores <2.5 MUm, while fine macropores, mesopores and larger
      micropores decreased. The non-rooted control showed narrowing of the PSD and
      reduced porosity over all radius classes. The pore evolution model accurately
      described root induced changes, while structure degradation in the non-rooted
      control was not captured properly. Our study demonstrated significant short term
      root effects with heterogenization of the pore system as dominant process of root
      induced structure formation. CONCLUSIONS: Pore clogging is suggested as a partial
      cause for reduced pore volume. The important change in micro- and large
      macropores however indicates that multiple mechanic and biochemical processes are
      involved in root-pore interactions.

PMID- 25834291
TI  - Metal mobilization from soils by phytosiderophores - experiment and equilibrium
      modeling.
AB  - AIMS: To test if multi-surface models can provide a soil-specific prediction of
      metal mobilization by phytosiderophores (PS) based on the characteristics of
      individual soils. METHODS: Mechanistic multi-surface chemical equilibrium
      modeling was applied for obtaining soil-specific predictions of metal and PS
      speciation upon interaction of the PS 2'-deoxymugineic acid (DMA) with 6 soils
      differing in availability of Fe and other metals. Results from multi-surface
      modeling were compared with empirical data from soil interaction experiments.
      RESULTS: For soils in which equilibrium was reached during the interaction
      experiment, multi-surface models could well predict PS equilibrium speciation.
      However, in uncontaminated calcareous soils, equilibrium was not reached within a
      week, and experimental and modeled DMA speciation differed considerably. In soils
      with circum-neutral pH, on which Fe deficiency is likely to occur, no substantial
      Fe mobilization by DMA was predicted. However, in all but the contaminated soils,
      Fe mobilization by DMA was observed experimentally. Cu and Ni were the
      quantitatively most important metals competing with Fe for complexation and
      mobilization by DMA. CONCLUSION: Thermodynamics are unable to explain the role of
      PS as Fe carrier in calcareous soils, and the kinetic aspects of metal
      mobilization by PS need to be closer examined in order to understand the
      mechanisms underlying strategy II Fe acquisition.

PMID- 25834292
TI  - Environmental and vegetation controls on the spatial variability of CH4 emission
      from wet-sedge and tussock tundra ecosystems in the Arctic.
AB  - AIMS: Despite multiple studies investigating the environmental controls on CH4
      fluxes from arctic tundra ecosystems, the high spatial variability of CH4
      emissions is not fully understood. This makes the upscaling of CH4 fluxes from
      plot to regional scale, particularly challenging. The goal of this study is to
      refine our knowledge of the spatial variability and controls on CH4 emission from
      tundra ecosystems. METHODS: CH4 fluxes were measured in four sites across a
      variety of wet-sedge and tussock tundra ecosystems in Alaska using chambers and a
      Los Gatos CO2 and CH4 gas analyser. RESULTS: All sites were found to be sources
      of CH4, with northern sites (in Barrow) showing similar CH4 emission rates to the
      southernmost site (ca. 300 km south, Ivotuk). Gross primary productivity (GPP),
      water level and soil temperature were the most important environmental controls
      on CH4 emission. Greater vascular plant cover was linked with higher CH4
      emission, but this increased emission with increased vascular plant cover was
      much higher (86 %) in the drier sites, than the wettest sites (30 %), suggesting
      that transport and/or substrate availability were crucial limiting factors for
      CH4 emission in these tundra ecosystems. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study
      provides an increased understanding of the fine scale spatial controls on CH4
      flux, in particular the key role that plant cover and GPP play in enhancing CH4
      emissions from tundra soils.

PMID- 25834293
TI  - Light affects in vitro organogenesis of Linum usitatissimum L. and its cyanogenic
      potential.
AB  - The relationships between organogenesis of oil flax (Linum usitatissimum L., cv.
      'Szafir') in vitro, cyanogenic potential (HCN-p) of these tissues and light were
      investigated. Shoot multiplication obtained on Murashige and Skoog medium
      containing 0.05 mg L-1 2,4-dichloro-phenoxyacetic acid and 1 mg L-1 6
      benzyladenine (BA), was about twice higher in light-grown cultures than those in
      darkness. Light-grown explants showed also higher rate of roots regeneration (in
      medium containing 1 mg L-1 alpha-naphtaleneacetic acid and 0.05 mg L-1 BA) than
      dark-grown ones. The cyanogenic potential (expressed both as linamarin and
      lotaustralin content and linamarase activity) of flax cultured in vitro was
      tissue-specific and generally was higher under light conditions than in darkness.
      The highest concentration of linamarin and lotaustralin was detected in light
      regenerated shoots, and its amount was twice as high as in roots, and about
      threefold higher than in callus tissue. The activities of linamarase and beta
      cyanoalanine synthase in light-regenerated organs were also higher than those in
      darkness. Thus, higher frequency of regeneration of light-grown cultures than
      dark-grown ones seems to be correlated with higher HCN-p of these tissues. We
      suggest that free HCN, released from cyanoglucosides potentially at higher level
      under light conditions, may be involved in some organogenetic processes which
      improve regeneration efficiency.

PMID- 25834294
TI  - Lupine embryo axes under salinity stress. II. Mitochondrial proteome response.
AB  - Germination is the first step of plant growth in plant life cycle. An embryonic
      radicle protruding the seed coat is the first part of plant which has direct
      contact with external environment including salt-affected soil. In embryo axes,
      mitochondria are the main energy producer. To understand better salinity impact
      on mitochondria functioning, this study was focused on the effect of NaCl stress
      onto mitochondria proteome. Mitochondria were isolated from yellow lupine (Lupine
      luteus L. 'Mister') embryo axes cultured in vitro for 12 h with 250 and 500 mM
      NaCl. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of mitochondrial proteins isolated from
      NaCl-treated axes demonstrated significant changes in proteins abundances as a
      response to salinity treatment. Twenty-one spots showing significant changes in
      protein expression profiles both under 250 and 500 mM NaCl treatment were
      selected for tandem mass spectrometry identification. This approach revealed
      proteins associated with different metabolic processes that represent enzymes of
      tricarboxylic acid cycle, mitochondrial electron transport chain, enzymes and
      proteins involved in mitochondria biogenesis and stresses response. Among
      proteins involved in mitochondria biogenesis, mitochondrial import inner membrane
      translocase, subunit Tim17/22, mitochondrial-processing peptidase subunit alpha
      1, mitochondrial elongation factor Tu and chaperonins CPN60 were revealed.
      Finally, formate dehydrogenase 1 was found to accumulate in lupine embryo axes
      mitochondria under salinity. The functions of identified proteins are discussed
      in relation to salinity stress response, including salinity-induced PCD.

PMID- 25834295
TI  - Towards a Relational Phenomenology of Violence.
AB  - This article elaborates a relational phenomenology of violence. Firstly, it
      explores the constitution of all sense in its intrinsic relation with our
      embodiment and intercorporality. Secondly, it shows how this relational
      conception of sense and constitution paves the path for an integrative
      understanding of the bodily and symbolic constituents of violence. Thirdly, the
      author addresses the overall consequences of these reflections, thereby
      identifying the main characteristics of a relational phenomenology of violence.
      In the final part, the paper provides an exemplification of the outlined
      conception with regard to a concrete phenomenon of violence, i.e., slapping, and
      a concluding reflection upon its overall significance for research on violence.

PMID- 25834296
TI  - Climate change and impacts in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.
AB  - The Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East (EMME) are likely to be greatly
      affected by climate change, associated with increases in the frequency and
      intensity of droughts and hot weather conditions. Since the region is diverse and
      extreme climate conditions already common, the impacts will be disproportional.
      We have analyzed long-term meteorological datasets along with regional climate
      model projections for the 21st century, based on the intermediate IPCC SRES
      scenario A1B. This suggests a continual, gradual and relatively strong warming of
      about 3.5-7 degrees C between the 1961-1990 reference period and the period 2070
      2099. Daytime maximum temperatures appear to increase most rapidly in the
      northern part of the region, i.e. the Balkan Peninsula and Turkey. Hot summer
      conditions that rarely occurred in the reference period may become the norm by
      the middle and the end of the 21st century. Projected precipitation changes are
      quite variable. Annual precipitation is expected to decrease in the southern
      Europe - Turkey region and the Levant, whereas in the Arabian Gulf area it may
      increase. In the former region rainfall is actually expected to increase in
      winter, while decreasing in spring and summer, with a substantial increase of the
      number of days without rainfall. Anticipated regional impacts of climate change
      include heat stress, associated with poor air quality in the urban environment,
      and increasing scarcity of fresh water in the Levant.

PMID- 25834297
TI  - The importance of health co-benefits in macroeconomic assessments of UK
      Greenhouse Gas emission reduction strategies.
AB  - We employ a single-country dynamically-recursive Computable General Equilibrium
      model to make health-focussed macroeconomic assessments of three contingent UK
      Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mitigation strategies, designed to achieve 2030 emission
      targets as suggested by the UK Committee on Climate Change. In contrast to
      previous assessment studies, our main focus is on health co-benefits additional
      to those from reduced local air pollution. We employ a conservative cost
      effectiveness methodology with a zero net cost threshold. Our urban transport
      strategy (with cleaner vehicles and increased active travel) brings important
      health co-benefits and is likely to be strongly cost-effective; our food and
      agriculture strategy (based on abatement technologies and reduction in livestock
      production) brings worthwhile health co-benefits, but is unlikely to eliminate
      net costs unless new technological measures are included; our household energy
      efficiency strategy is likely to breakeven only over the long term after the
      investment programme has ceased (beyond our 20 year time horizon). We conclude
      that UK policy makers will, most likely, have to adopt elements which involve
      initial net societal costs in order to achieve future emission targets and longer
      term benefits from GHG reduction. Cost-effectiveness of GHG strategies is likely
      to require technological mitigation interventions and/or demand-constraining
      interventions with important health co-benefits and other efficiency-enhancing
      policies that promote internalization of externalities. Health co-benefits can
      play a crucial role in bringing down net costs, but our results also suggest the
      need for adopting holistic assessment methodologies which give proper
      consideration to welfare-improving health co-benefits with potentially negative
      economic repercussions (such as increased longevity).

PMID- 25834298
TI  - Dietary greenhouse gas emissions of meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and
      vegans in the UK.
AB  - The production of animal-based foods is associated with higher greenhouse gas
      (GHG) emissions than plant-based foods. The objective of this study was to
      estimate the difference in dietary GHG emissions between self-selected meat
      eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in the UK. Subjects were participants
      in the EPIC-Oxford cohort study. The diets of 2,041 vegans, 15,751 vegetarians,
      8,123 fish-eaters and 29,589 meat-eaters aged 20-79 were assessed using a
      validated food frequency questionnaire. Comparable GHG emissions parameters were
      developed for the underlying food codes using a dataset of GHG emissions for 94
      food commodities in the UK, with a weighting for the global warming potential of
      each component gas. The average GHG emissions associated with a standard 2,000
      kcal diet were estimated for all subjects. ANOVA was used to estimate average
      dietary GHG emissions by diet group adjusted for sex and age. The age-and-sex
      adjusted mean (95 % confidence interval) GHG emissions in kilograms of carbon
      dioxide equivalents per day (kgCO2e/day) were 7.19 (7.16, 7.22) for high meat
      eaters ( > = 100 g/d), 5.63 (5.61, 5.65) for medium meat-eaters (50-99 g/d), 4.67
      (4.65, 4.70) for low meat-eaters ( < 50 g/d), 3.91 (3.88, 3.94) for fish-eaters,
      3.81 (3.79, 3.83) for vegetarians and 2.89 (2.83, 2.94) for vegans. In
      conclusion, dietary GHG emissions in self-selected meat-eaters are approximately
      twice as high as those in vegans. It is likely that reductions in meat
      consumption would lead to reductions in dietary GHG emissions.

PMID- 25834299
TI  - What do we know about UK household adaptation to climate change? A systematic
      review.
AB  - The UK Government's first National Adaptation Programme seeks to create a
      'climate-ready society' capable of making well-informed and far-sighted decisions
      to address risks and opportunities posed by a changing climate, where individual
      households are expected to adapt when it is in their interest to do so. How, and
      to what extent, households are able to do this remains unclear. Like other
      developed countries, research on UK adaptation has focused predominately on
      public and private organisations. To fill that gap, a systematic literature
      review was conducted to understand what actions UK households have taken in
      response to, or in anticipation of, a changing climate; what drives or impedes
      these actions; and whether households will act autonomously. We found that UK
      households struggle to build long-term adaptive capacity and are reliant upon
      traditional reactive coping responses. Of concern is that these coping responses
      are less effective for some climate risks (e.g. flooding); cost more over the
      long-term; and fail to create household capacity to adapt to other stresses.
      While low-cost, low-skill coping responses were already being implemented, the
      adoption of more permanent physical measures, behavioural changes, and acceptance
      of new responsibilities are unlikely to happen autonomously without further
      financial or government support. If public policy on household adaptation to
      climate change is to be better informed than more high-quality empirical research
      is urgently needed.

PMID- 25834300
TI  - Difference in the prognostic significance of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic
      peptide between cardioembolic and noncardioembolic ischemic strokes.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Because B-type natriuretic peptide is a powerful predictor of
      heart failure, its capability to predict a fatal outcome in stroke might be
      limited to the cardioembolic stroke subtype. In this study, we attempt to
      ascertain the difference in the prognostic value of N-terminal pro-B-type
      natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) between cardioembolic and noncardioembolic stroke
      subgroups. METHODS: 410 acute stroke patients were included. According to the
      presence of a cardioembolic source (CES), there were 221 patients with CES and
      189 patients without CES. Logistic regression analysis was performed to ascertain
      the association between NT-proBNP and 6-month mortality/functional outcome in
      each group. RESULTS: The mean age of our patients was 67.2 years (range, 18-97
      years). NT-proBNP was a multivariate independent predictor of mortality in the
      CES group alone, whereas it was only a univariate predictor of 6-month mortality
      in the total patient and non-CES groups with its association disappearing in the
      multivariate model. In addition, it was only a univariate predictor of good
      functional outcome in all of the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that NT
      proBNP can more reliably predict 6-month mortality in patients with cardioembolic
      stroke than in patients with other stroke subtypes.

PMID- 25834302
TI  - Rebamipide protects small intestinal mucosal injuries caused by indomethacin by
      modulating intestinal microbiota and the gene expression in intestinal mucosa in
      a rat model.
AB  - The effect of rebamipide, a mucosal protective drug, on small intestinal mucosal
      injury caused by indomethacin was examined using a rat model. Indomethacin
      administration (10 mg/kg, p.o.) induced intestinal mucosal injury was accompanied
      by an increase in the numbers of intestinal bacteria particularly
      Enterobacteriaceae in the jejunum and ileum. Rebamipide (30 and 100 mg/kg, p.o.,
      given 5 times) was shown to inhibit the indomethacin-induced small intestinal
      mucosal injury and decreased the number of Enterococcaceae and Enterobacteriaceae
      in the jejunal mucosa to normal levels. It was also shown that the detection rate
      of segmented filamentous bacteria was increased by rebamipide. PCR array analysis
      of genes related to inflammation, oxidative stress and wound healing showed that
      indomethacin induced upregulation and downregulation of 14 and 3 genes,
      respectively in the rat jejunal mucosa by more than 5-fold compared to that of
      normal rats. Rebamipide suppressed the upregulated gene expression of TNFalpha
      and Duox2 in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, our study confirmed that
      disturbance of intestinal microbiota plays a crucial role in indomethacin-induced
      small intestinal mucosal injury, and suggests that rebamipide could be used as
      prophylaxis against non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs -induced
      gastrointestinal mucosal injury, by modulating microbiota and suppressing mucosal
      inflammation in the small intestine. 

PMID- 25834301
TI  - A mitochondrial superoxide theory for oxidative stress diseases and aging.
AB  - Fridovich identified CuZnSOD in 1969 and manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD)
      in 1973, and proposed "the Superoxide Theory," which postulates that superoxide
      (O2 (*-)) is the origin of most reactive oxygen species (ROS) and that it
      undergoes a chain reaction in a cell, playing a central role in the ROS producing
      system. Increased oxidative stress on an organism causes damage to cells, the
      smallest constituent unit of an organism, which can lead to the onset of a
      variety of chronic diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, amyotrophic
      lateral sclerosis and other neurological diseases caused by abnormalities in
      biological defenses or increased intracellular reactive oxygen levels. Oxidative
      stress also plays a role in aging. Antioxidant systems, including non-enzyme low
      molecular-weight antioxidants (such as, vitamins A, C and E, polyphenols,
      glutathione, and coenzyme Q10) and antioxidant enzymes, fight against oxidants in
      cells. Superoxide is considered to be a major factor in oxidant toxicity, and
      mitochondrial MnSOD enzymes constitute an essential defense against superoxide.
      Mitochondria are the major source of superoxide. The reaction of superoxide
      generated from mitochondria with nitric oxide is faster than SOD catalyzed
      reaction, and produces peroxynitrite. Thus, based on research conducted after
      Fridovich's seminal studies, we now propose a modified superoxide theory; i.e.,
      superoxide is the origin of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) and, as
      such, causes various redox related diseases and aging. 

PMID- 25834303
TI  - Pre-germinated brown rice prevents high-fat diet induced hyperglycemia through
      elevated insulin secretion and glucose metabolism pathway in C57BL/6J strain
      mice.
AB  - This study investigated the effect and mechanism of pre-germinated brown rice
      (PGBR) prevented hyperglycemia in C57BL/6J mice fed high-fat-diet (HFD). Normal
      six-week-old mice were randomly divided into three groups. Group 1 was fed
      standard-regular-diet (SRD) and group 2 was fed HFD for 16 weeks. In group 3, the
      mice were fed a HFD with its carbohydrate replaced with PGBR for 16 weeks.
      Comparing the SRD and HFD groups, we found the HFD group had higher blood
      pressure, higher concentrations of blood glucose and HbA1c. The HFD group had
      less protein expression of insulin receptor (IR), insulin receptor substrate-1
      (IRS-1), phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K), glucose transporter-4 (GLUT-4) and
      glucokinase (GCK) and greater expression of glucogen synthase kinase (GSK) in
      skeletal muscle. The HFD group also had less expression of IR, serine/threonine
      kinase PI3K-linked protein kinase B (Akt/PKB), AMP-activated protein kinase
      (AMPK), GCK and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) in
      liver. In the HFD + PGBR group, the PGBR could reverse the disorders of blood
      pressure, blood glucose, HbA1c and increase insulin concentration. PGBR increased
      the IR, IRS-1, PI3K, Akt, GLUT-1 and GLUT-4 proteins, and ameliorated AMPK, GCK,
      GSK and PPARgamma proteins. Together, PGBR prevented HFD-induced hyperglycemia
      through improving insulin levels, insulin receptor, glucose transporters and
      enhancing glucose metabolism. 

PMID- 25834304
TI  - Ingestion of hyaluronans (molecular weights 800 k and 300 k) improves dry skin
      conditions: a randomized, double blind, controlled study.
AB  - Hyaluronan (HA) has been increasingly used as a dietary supplement to improve the
      skin. However, the effect of ingested HA may depend on its molecular weight (MW)
      because its physiological activities in the body vary with its MW. In this study,
      we examined the effects of ingested HA with varying MW on the skin. In this
      randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study, 61 subjects with dry skin
      received oral HA (120 mg/day), of MWs 800 k and 300 k or placebo, for 6 weeks.
      The skin moisture contents of the first two groups increased more than those of
      the placebo group during the ingestion period. In addition, group HA 300 k
      exhibited significant improvements in skin moisture content 2 weeks after
      ingestion ended compared with the placebo group. A questionnaire survey about
      subjective facial aging symptoms showed that the HA treated groups exhibited
      significantly improved the skin condition compared with the placebo treated
      group. Furthermore, dermatologists objectively evaluated the clinical symptoms of
      the facial and whole body skin, showing that no adverse events were related to
      daily ingestion of HA. This study shows that both of ingesting HAs (MWs 800 k and
      300 k) improved the skin condition by increasing the moisture content. 

PMID- 25834305
TI  - Co-localization of iron binding on silica with p62/sequestosome1 (SQSTM1) in lung
      granulomas of mice with acute silicosis.
AB  - The cellular mechanisms involved in the development of silicosis have not been
      fully elucidated. This study aimed to examine influence of silica-induced lung
      injury on autophagy. Suspensions of crystalline silica particles were
      administered transnasally to C57BL/6j mice. Immunohistochemical examination for
      Fas and p62 protein expression was performed using lung tissue specimens. Two
      dimensional and quantitative analysis of silica deposits in the lungs were
      performed in situ using lung tissue sections by an in-air microparticle induced X
      ray emission (in-air micro-PIXE) analysis system, which was based on irrradiation
      of specimens with a proton ion microbeam. Quantitative analysis showed a
      significant increase of iron levels on silica particles (assessed as the ratio of
      Fe relative to Si) on day 56 compared with day 7 (p<0.05). Fas and p62 were
      expressed by histiocytes in granulomas on day 7, and the expressions persisted
      for day 56. Fas- and p62-expressing histiocytes were co-localized in granulomas
      with silica particles that showed an increase of iron levels on silica particles
      in mouse lungs. Iron complexed with silica induces apoptosis, and may lead to
      dysregulations of autophagy in histiocytes of granulomas, and these mechanisms
      may contribute to granuloma development and progression in silicosis. 

PMID- 25834306
TI  - Continuous-wave broadly tunable high-power Cr:CdS laser.
AB  - We report spectroscopic characteristics and laser properties of the mid-infrared
      active laser medium Cr2+:CdS. Temperature-dependent absorption, luminescence and
      lifetime measurements of the 5E exited state allow determination of peak emission
      cross section value of 1.35 * 10-18 cm2 in sigma-polarization at room
      temperature. Lifetime values vary from 7.6 us at 8 K to 0.48 us at 320 K,
      corresponding to 22 % quantum yield at 285 K. Under Tm-fiber laser pumping, the
      continuous-wave output reached 1.8 W at 2.5 MUm with 35.5 % slope efficiency.
      With a single CaF2 prism, the CW Cr2+:CdS laser could be tuned from 2.240 to
      3.285 um.

PMID- 25834307
TI  - Effect of crossing C57BL/6 and FVB mouse strains on basal cytokine expression.
AB  - C57BL/6 is the most often used laboratory mouse strain. However, sometimes it is
      beneficial to cross the transgenic mice on the C57BL/6 background to the other
      strain, such as FVB. Although this is a common strategy, the influence of
      crossing these different strains on homeostatic expression of cytokines is not
      known. Here we have investigated the differences in the expression of selected
      cytokines between C57BL/6J and C57BL/6JxFVB mice in serum and skeletal muscle. We
      have found that only few cytokines were altered by crossing of the strains.
      Concentrations of IL5, IL7, LIF, MIP-2, and IP-10 were higher in serum of
      C57BL/6J mice than in C57BL/6JxFVB mice, whereas concentration of G-CSF was lower
      in C57BL/6J. In the skeletal muscle only the concentration of VEGF was higher in
      C57BL/6J mice than in C57BL/6JxFVB mice. Concluding, the differences in cytokine
      expression upon crossing C57BL/6 and FVB strain in basal conditions are not
      profound. 

PMID- 25834308
TI  - Cytokines in the cerebrospinal fluids of patients with chronic fatigue
      syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Previous research has provided evidence for dysregulation in
      peripheral cytokines in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic
      Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). To date only one study has examined cytokines in
      cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples of CFS/ME patients. The purpose of this pilot
      study was to examine the role of cytokines in CSF of CFS/ME patients. METHODS:
      CSF was collected from 18 CFS/ME patients and 5 healthy controls. The CSF samples
      were examined for the expression of 27 cytokines (interleukin- (IL-) 1beta, IL
      1ra, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-9, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-13, IL-15, IL-17,
      basic FGF, eotaxin, G-CSF, GM-CSF, IFN-gamma, IP-10, MCP-1 (MCAF), MIP-1alpha,
      MIP-1beta, PDGF-BB, RANTES, TNF-alpha, and VEGF) using the Bio-Plex Human
      Cytokine 27-plex Assay. RESULTS: Of the 27 cytokines examined, only IL-10 was
      significantly reduced in the CFS/ME patients in comparison to the controls.
      CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary investigation suggests that perturbations in
      inflammatory cytokines in the CSF of CFS/ME patients may contribute to the
      neurological discrepancies observed in CFS/ME.

PMID- 25834309
TI  - Genome-based nutrition: an intervention strategy for the prevention and treatment
      of obesity and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
AB  - Obesity and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis are increasing in westernized countries,
      regardless of their geographic location. In Latin America, most countries,
      including Mexico, have a heterogeneous admixture genome with Amerindian, European
      and African ancestries. However, certain high allelic frequencies of several
      nutrient-related polymorphisms may have been achieved by past gene-nutrient
      interactions. Such interactions may have promoted the positive selection of
      variants adapted to regional food sources. At present, the unbalanced diet
      composition of the Mexicans has led the country to a 70% prevalence rate of
      overweightness and obesity due to substantial changes in food habits, among other
      factors. International guidelines and intervention strategies may not be adequate
      for all populations worldwide because they do not consider disparities in genetic
      and environmental factors, and thus there is a need for differential prevention
      and management strategies. Here, we provide the rationale for an intervention
      strategy for the prevention and management of obesity-related diseases such as
      non-alcoholic steatohepatitis based on a regionalized genome-based diet. The
      components required to design such a diet should focus on the specific ancestry
      of each population around the world and the convenience of consuming traditional
      ethnic food.

PMID- 25834310
TI  - Management of hepatocellular carcinoma with portal vein thrombosis.
AB  - Management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is
      complex and requires an understanding of multiple therapeutic options. PVT is
      present in 10%-40% of HCC at the time of diagnosis, and is an adverse prognostic
      factor. Management options are limited, as transplantation is generally
      contraindicated, and surgical resection is only rarely performed in select
      centers. Systemic medical therapy with sorafenib has been shown to modestly
      prolong survival. Transarterial chemoembolization has been performed in select
      cases but has shown a high incidence of complications. Emerging data on treatment
      of PVT with Y-90 radioembolization suggest that this modality is well-tolerated
      and associated with favorable overall survival. Current society guidelines do not
      yet specifically recommend radioembolization for patients with PVT, but this may
      change with the development of newer staging systems and treatment algorithms. In
      this comprehensive literature review, we present current and available management
      options with the relative advantages, disadvantages and contraindications of
      these treatment options with summarized data on overall survival.

PMID- 25834311
TI  - Lessons from rare tumors: hepatic lymphoepithelioma-like carcinomas.
AB  - In this review we focus on lymphoepithelioma-like hepatocellular carcinomas (LEL
      HCC) and lymphoepithelioma-like cholangiocarcinomas (LEL-ICC). Despite their
      rarity, these tumors are of general interest because of their epidemiological and
      clinical features, and because they represent a distinct model of interaction
      between the immune system and neoplastic cells. Approximately half of LEL-HCC
      arise in the context of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and have been
      described both in Eastern and Western patients. By contrast, LEL-ICC is
      associated in almost all cases with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and
      exhibits the same epidemiological features of EBV related malignancies. Compared
      with classical hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma of
      corresponding stage, both LEL-HCC and LEL-ICC are characterized by lower rates of
      recurrence after surgery and better overall survival. How this behavior is
      related to distinct genetic alterations and tumor microenvironment is unclear.
      The pathophysiological mechanisms of lymphoid infiltrations seem to be different
      among the two groups of tumors. In fact, LEL-HCC frequently arises in the context
      of inflammatory changes driven by HCV infection, and has been recognized as a
      variant of classical hepatocellular carcinoma. At variance, lymphocyte
      recruitment of LEL-ICC is similar to that described in nasopharyngeal carcinoma
      and gastric LEL, and possibly depends on the expression pattern of latent EBV
      infection.

PMID- 25834312
TI  - Hepatitis C virus-specific cytotoxic T cell response restoration after treatment
      induced hepatitis C virus control.
AB  - Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific cytotoxic T cell (CTL) response plays a major
      role in viral control during spontaneous infection resolution. These cells
      develop an exhausted and pro-apoptotic status during chronic onset, being unable
      to get rid of HCV. The role of this response in contributing to sustained viral
      response (SVR) after anti-HCV is controversial. Recent studies show that after
      successful interferon-based anti-HCV treatment, HCV traces are still detectable
      and this correlates with a peak of HCV-specific CTL response activation, probably
      responsible for maintaining SVR by subsequent complete HCV clearing. Moreover,
      SVR patients' serum is still able to induce HCV infection in naive chimpanzees,
      suggesting that the infection could be under the control of the immune system
      after a successful treatment, being transmissible in absence of this adaptive
      response. At least theoretically, treatment-induced viral load decrease could
      allow an effective HCV-specific CTL response reestablishment. This effect has
      been recently described with anti-HCV interferon-free regimes, based on direct
      acting antivirals. Nevertheless, this is to some extent controversial with
      interferon-based therapies, due to the detrimental immunoregulatory alpha
      interferon effect on T cells. Moreover, HCV-specific CTL response features during
      anti-HCV treatment could be a predictive factor of SVR that could have clinical
      implications in patient management. In this review, the recent knowledge about
      the role of HCV-specific CTL response in the development of SVR after anti-HCV
      treatment is discussed.

PMID- 25834313
TI  - Long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase in fatty acid metabolism involved in liver and
      other diseases: an update.
AB  - Long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase (ACSL) family members include five different ACSL
      isoforms, each encoded by a separate gene and have multiple spliced variants.
      ACSLs on endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial outer membrance catalyze fatty
      acids with chain lengths from 12 to 20 carbon atoms to form acyl-CoAs, which are
      lipid metabolic intermediates and involved in fatty acid metabolism, membrane
      modifications and various physiological processes. Gain- or loss-of-function
      studies have shown that the expression of individual ACSL isoforms can alter the
      distribution and amount of intracellular fatty acids. Changes in the types and
      amounts of fatty acids, in turn, can alter the expression of intracellular ACSLs.
      ACSL family members affect not only the proliferation of normal cells, but the
      proliferation of malignant tumor cells. They also regulate cell apoptosis through
      different signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms. ACSL members have
      individual functions in fatty acid metabolism in different types of cells
      depending on substrate preferences, subcellular location and tissue specificity,
      thus contributing to liver diseases and metabolic diseases, such as fatty liver
      disease, obesity, atherosclerosis and diabetes. They are also linked to
      neurological disorders and other diseases. However, the mechanisms are unclear.
      This review addresses new findings in the classification and properties of ACSLs
      and the fatty acid metabolism-associated effects of ACSLs in diseases.

PMID- 25834314
TI  - Degradation of intestinal mRNA: a matter of treatment.
AB  - AIM: To characterize the influence of location, species and treatment upon RNA
      degradation in tissue samples from the gastrointestinal tract. METHODS: The
      intestinal samples were stored in different medium for different times under
      varying conditions: different species (human and rat), varying temperature
      (storage on crushed ice or room temperature), time point of dissection of the
      submucous-mucous layer from the smooth muscle (before or after storage),
      different rinsing methods (rinsing with Medium, PBS, RNALater or without rinsing
      at all) and different regions of the gut (proximal and distal small intestine,
      caecum, colon and rectum). The total RNA from different parts of the gut (rat:
      proximal and distal small intestine, caecum, colon and rectum, human: colon and
      rectum) and individual gut layers (muscle and submucosal/mucosal) was extracted.
      The quality of the RNA was assessed by micro capillary electrophoresis. The RNA
      quality was expressed by the RNA integrity number which is calculated from the
      relative height and area of the 18 S and 28 S RNA peaks. From rat distal small
      intestine qPCR was performed for neuronal and glial markers. RESULTS: RNA
      obtained from smooth muscle tissue is much longer stable than those from
      submucosal/mucosal tissue. At RT muscle RNA degrades after one day, on ice it is
      stable at least three days. Cleaning and separation of gut layers before storage
      and use of RNALater, maintains the stability of muscle RNA at RT for much longer
      periods. Different parts of the gut show varying degradation periods. RNA
      obtained from the submucosal/mucosal layer always showed a much worse
      amplification rate than RNA from muscle tissue. In general RNA harvested from rat
      tissue, either smooth muscle layer or submucosal/mucosal layer is much longer
      stable than RNA from human gut tissue, and RNA obtained from smooth muscle tissue
      shows an increased stability compared to RNA from submucosal/mucosal tissue. At
      RT muscle RNA degrades after one day, while the stability on ice lasts at least
      three days. Cleaning and separation of gut layers before storage and use of
      RNALater, maintains the stability of muscle RNA at RT for much longer periods.
      Different parts of the gut show varying degradation periods. The RNA from muscle
      and submucosal/mucosal tissue of the proximal small intestine degrades much
      faster than the RNA of distal small intestine, caecum or colon with rectum. RNA
      obtained from the submucosal/mucosal layer always showed a much more reduced
      amplification rate than RNA from muscle tissue [beta-Tubulin III for muscle
      quantification cycle (Cp): 22.07 +/- 0.25, for beta-Tubulin III
      submucosal/mucosal Cp: 27.42 +/- 0.19]. CONCLUSION: Degradation of intestinal
      mRNA depends on preparation and storage conditions of the tissue. Cooling,
      rinsing and separating of intestinal tissue reduce the degradation of mRNA.

PMID- 25834315
TI  - Effect of entacapone on colon motility and ion transport in a rat model of
      Parkinson's disease.
AB  - AIM: To study the effects of entacapone, a catechol-O-methyltransferase
      inhibitor, on colon motility and electrolyte transport in Parkinson's disease
      (PD) rats. METHODS: Distribution and expression of catechol-O-methyltransferase
      (COMT) were measured by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting methods. The
      colonic smooth muscle motility was examined in vitro by means of a muscle
      motility recording device. The mucosal electrolyte transport of PD rats was
      examined by using a short-circuit current (ISC ) technique and scanning ion
      selective electrode technique (SIET). Intracellular detection of cAMP and cGMP
      was accomplished by radioimmunoassay testing. RESULTS: COMT was expressed in the
      colons of both normal and PD rats, mainly on the apical membranes of villi and
      crypts in the colon. Compared to normal controls, PD rats expressed less COMT.
      The COMT inhibitor entacapone inhibited contraction of the PD rat longitudinal
      muscle in a dose-dependent manner. The beta2 adrenoceptor antagonist ICI-118,551
      blocked this inhibitory effect by approximately 67% (P < 0.01). Entacapone
      increased mucosal ISC in the colon of rats with PD. This induction was
      significantly inhibited by apical application of Cl(-) channel blocker
      diphenylamine-2, 2'-dicarboxylic acid, basolateral application of Na(+)-K(+)-2Cl(
      )co-transporter antagonist bumetanide, elimination of Cl(-) from the
      extracellular fluid, as well as pretreatment using adenylate cyclase inhibitor
      MDL12330A. As an inhibitor of prostaglandin synthetase, indomethacin can inhibit
      entacapone-induced ISC by 45% (P < 0.01). When SIET was applied to measure Cl(-)
      flux changes, this provided similar results. Entacapone significantly increased
      intracellular cAMP content in the colonic mucosa, which was greatly inhibited by
      indomethacin. CONCLUSION: COMT expression exists in rat colons. The beta2
      adrenoceptor is involved in the entacapone-induced inhibition of colon motility.
      Entacapone induces cAMP-dependent Cl(-) secretion in the PD rat.

PMID- 25834316
TI  - Primary analysis and screening of microRNAs in gastric cancer side population
      cells.
AB  - AIM: To explore the microRNA (miRNA) profiles and to determine the key miRNAs
      within the side population (SP) cells of the gastric cancer cell line MKN-45.
      METHODS: We used fluorescence-activated cell sorting and Hoechst 33342 labeling
      to obtain SP cells from the human gastric carcinoma cell line MKN-45. The miRNA
      expression profiles of the SP and major population (MP) cells were examined using
      a miRNA gene chip, and key miRNAs were obtained according to aberrant expression
      and the miRNAs' possible targets as predicted by bioinformatics. RESULTS: Using a
      significance criterion of a 1.5-fold or greater difference in expression level,
      we observed an increase in the expression of 34 miRNAs and a decrease in the
      expression of 34 miRNAs when comparing SP to MP cells. Using quantitative real
      time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to test for differentially
      expressed miRNAs combined with bioinformatics results, we found that the
      downregulated miRNAs, such as hsa-miR-3175 and hsa-miR-203, and the upregulated
      miRNAs, including hsa-miR-130a, hsa-miR-324-5p, hsa-miR-34a, and hsa-miR-25-star,
      may be important in maintaining and regulating the characteristics of SP cells.
      CONCLUSION: There are key miRNAs expressed within the SP cells of the gastric
      cancer cell line MKN-45, and include hsa-miR-3175, hsa-miR-203, hsa-miR-130a, hsa
      miR-324-5p, hsa-miR-34a, and hsa-miR-25-star.

PMID- 25834317
TI  - High persistence rate of hepatitis B virus in a hydrodynamic injection-based
      transfection model in C3H/HeN mice.
AB  - AIM: To optimize the viral persistence rate in a hydrodynamic injection (HI)
      based hepatitis B virus (HBV) transfection mouse model. METHODS: (1) 5-6-wk-old
      male C3H/HeN and C57BL/6 mice were hydrodynamically injected with 10 MUg
      endotoxin-free pAAV/HBV1.2 plasmid DNA via the tail vein. Hepatitis B surface
      antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and HBV DNA, both in the serum and
      liver, were detected at different time points post HI by ELISA,
      immunohistochemical staining or quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR); (2)
      male C3H/HeN and C57BL/6 mice, either hydrodynamically injected mice at 10 wk
      post HI or naive mice, were all immunized subcutaneously with 5 MUg HBsAg
      formulated in complete Freund's adjuvant three times at a 2-wk interval. Two
      weeks after the final immunization, splenocytes were isolated for T cell function
      analysis by ELISPOT assay; and (3) five weeks post HI, C3H/HeN mice were
      intragastrically administered 0.1 mg/kg entecavir once a day for 14 d, or were
      intraperitoneally injected with 1 mg/kg interferon (IFN)-alpha twice a week for 2
      wk, or were treated with PBS as controls. The sera were collected and assayed for
      HBV DNA on days 0, 7 and 14 after drug treatment. RESULTS: (1) Approximately 90%
      (22/25) of the injected C3H/HeN mice were still HBsAg-positive at 46 wk post HI,
      whereas HBsAg in C57BL/6 mice were completely cleared at 24 wk. Serum levels of
      HBeAg in C3H/HeN mice were higher than those in C57BL/6 mice from 4 wk to 46 wk.
      HBV DNA levels in the hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN mice were higher than
      those in the C57BL/6 mice, both in the serum (from 4 wk to 46 wk) and in the
      liver (detected at 8 wk and 46 wk post HI). Histology showed that hepatitis B
      core antigen and HBsAg were expressed longer in the liver of C3H/HeN mice than in
      C57BL/6; (2) HBsAg specific T cell responses after HBsAg vaccination in
      hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN and C57BL/6 mice, or naive control mice were
      detected by ELISPOT assay. After stimulation with HBsAg, the frequencies of IFN
      gamma producing splenocytes in the hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN mice were
      significantly lower than those in hydrodynamically injected C57BL/6 mice, control
      C3H/HeN and control C57BL/6 mice, which were 0, 17 +/- 7, 18 +/- 10, and 41 +/-
      10 SFCs/10(6) splenocytes, respectively, and the mean spot sizes showed the same
      pattern. Even just stimulated with PMA and ionomysin, T-cell responses elicited
      in the vaccinated control C3H/HeN were much higher than those in hydrodynamically
      injected C3H/HeN mice; and (3) For drug treatment experiments on the
      hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN mice, serum HBV DNA levels in the entecavir
      treatment group declined (131.2 folds, P < 0.01) on day 7 after treatment and
      kept going down. In the group of IFN-alpha treatment, serum HBV DNA levels
      declined to a lowest point (6.42 folds, P < 0.05) on 7 d after treatment and then
      rebounded. CONCLUSION: We have developed a novel HI-based HBV transfection model
      using C3H/HeN mice, which had a higher HBV persistence rate than the classic
      C57BL/6 mouse model.

PMID- 25834318
TI  - Therapeutic effect of Qingyi decoction in severe acute pancreatitis-induced
      intestinal barrier injury.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the effect of Qingyi decoction on the expression of secreted
      phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) in intestinal barrier injury. METHODS: Fifty healthy
      Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control, severe acute pancreatitis
      (SAP), Qingyi decoction-treated (QYT), dexamethasone-treated (DEX), and verapamil
      treated (VER) groups. The SAP model was induced by retrograde infusion of 1.5%
      sodium deoxycholate into the biliopancreatic duct of the rats. All rats were
      sacrificed 24 h post-SAP induction. Arterial blood, intestine, and pancreas from
      each rat were harvested for investigations. The levels of serum amylase (AMY) and
      diamine oxidase (DAO) were determined using biochemical methods, and serum tumor
      necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha level was measured by an enzyme linked immunosorbent
      assay. Pathologic changes in the harvested tissues were investigated by
      microscopic examination of hematoxylin and eosin-stained tissue sections. The
      expressions of sPLA2 at mRNA and protein levels were detected by reverse
      transcriptase PCR and Western blot, respectively. A terminal deoxynucleotidyl
      transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling assay was used to investigate
      apoptosis of epithelial cells in the intestinal tissues. RESULTS: Compared to the
      control group, the expression of sPLA2 at both the mRNA and protein levels
      increased significantly in the SAP group (0.36 +/- 0.13 vs 0.90 +/- 0.38, and
      0.16 +/- 0.05 vs 0.64 +/- 0.05, respectively; Ps < 0.01). The levels of AMY, TNF
      alpha and DAO in serum were also significantly increased (917 +/- 62 U/L vs 6870
      +/- 810 U/L, 59.7 +/- 14.3 ng/L vs 180.5 +/- 20.1 ng/L, and 10.37 +/- 2.44 U/L vs
      37.89 +/- 5.86 U/L, respectively; Ps < 0.01). The apoptosis index of intestinal
      epithelial cells also differed significantly between the SAP and control rats
      (0.05 +/- 0.02 vs 0.26 +/- 0.06; P < 0.01). The serum levels of DAO and TNF
      alpha, and the intestinal apoptosis index significantly correlated with sPLA2
      expression in the intestine (r = 0.895, 0.893 and 0.926, respectively; Ps <
      0.05). The levels of sPLA2, AMY, TNF-alpha, and DAO in the QYT, VER, and DEX
      groups were all decreased compared with the SAP group, but not the control group.
      Qingyi decoction intervention, however, gave the most therapeutic effect against
      intestinal barrier damage, although the onset of its therapeutic effect was
      slower. CONCLUSION: Qingyi decoction ameliorates acute pancreatitis-induced
      intestinal barrier injury by inhibiting the overexpression of intestinal sPLA2.
      This mechanism may be similar to that of verapamil.

PMID- 25834319
TI  - Surgical outcomes of Korean ulcerative colitis patients with and without colitis
      associated cancer.
AB  - AIM: To determine the clinicopathologic characteristics of surgically treated
      ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, and to compare the characteristics of UC
      patients with colitis-associated cancer (CAC) to those without CAC. METHODS:
      Clinical data on UC patients who underwent abdominal surgery from 1980 to 2013
      were collected from 11 medical institutions. Data were analyzed to compare the
      clinical features of patients with CAC and those of patients without CAC.
      RESULTS: Among 415 UC patients, 383 (92.2%) underwent total proctocolectomy, and
      of these, 342 (89%) were subjected to ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. CAC was found
      in 47 patients (11.3%). Adenocarcinoma was found in 45 patients, and the others
      had either neuroendocrine carcinoma or lymphoma. Comparing the UC patients with
      and without CAC, the UC patients with CAC were characteristically older at the
      time of diagnosis, had longer disease duration, underwent frequent laparoscopic
      surgery, and were infrequently given preoperative steroid therapy (P < 0.001
      0.035). During the 37 mo mean follow-up period, the 3-year overall survival rate
      was 82.2%. CONCLUSION: Most Korean UC patients experience early disease
      exacerbation or complications. Approximately 10% of UC patients had CAC, and UC
      patients with CAC had a later diagnosis, a longer disease duration, and less
      steroid treatment than UC patients without CAC.

PMID- 25834320
TI  - Primary biliary cirrhosis-associated hepatocellular carcinoma in Chinese
      patients: incidence and risk factors.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the incidence, characteristics, and risk factors for
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Chinese patients with primary biliary cirrhosis
      (PBC). METHODS: We reviewed the data of 52 PBC-associated HCC patients treated at
      Beijing 302 Hospital from January 2002 to December 2013 and analyzed its
      incidence and characteristics between the two genders. The risk factors for PBC
      associated HCC were analyzed via a case-control study comprising 20 PBC patients
      with HCC and 77 matched controls without HCC. The matched factors included
      gender, age, follow-up period and Child-Pugh scores. Conditional logistic
      regression was used to evaluate the odds ratios of potential risk factors for HCC
      development. A P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The
      incidence of HCC in Chinese PBC patients was 4.13% (52/1255) and was
      significantly higher in the males (9.52%) than in the females (3.31%). Among the
      52 PBC patients with HCC, 55.76% (29/52) were diagnosed with HCC and PBC
      simultaneously, and 5.76% (3/52) were diagnosed with HCC before PBC. The males
      with PBC-associated HCC were more likely than the females to have undergone blood
      transfusion (18.75% vs 8.33%, P = 0.043), consumed alcohol (31.25% vs 8.33%, P =
      0.010), smoked (31.25% vs 8.33%, P = 0.010), had a family history of malignancy
      (25% vs 5.56%, P = 0.012), and had serious liver inflammation, as indicated by
      the elevated levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase,
      alkaline phosphatase, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (P < 0.05). Conditional
      logistic regression analysis revealed that body mass index (BMI) >= 25 [adjusted
      odds ratio (AOR) = 1.116, 95%CI: 1.002-1.244, P = 0.045] and history of alcohol
      intake (AOR = 10.294, 95%CI: 1.108-95.680, P = 0.040) were significantly
      associated with increased odds of HCC development in PBC patients. CONCLUSION:
      HCC is not rare in Chinese PBC patients. Risk factors for PBC-associated HCC
      include BMI >= 25 and a history of alcohol intake. In addition to regular
      monitoring, PBC patients may benefit from abstinence from alcohol and body weight
      control.

PMID- 25834321
TI  - Hepatectomy with primary closure of common bile duct for hepatolithiasis combined
      with choledocholithiasis.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the feasibility of hepatectomy and primary closure of common
      bile duct for intrahepatic and extrahepatic calculi. METHODS: From January 2008
      to May 2013, anatomic hepatectomy followed by biliary tract exploration without
      biliary drainage (non-drainage group) was performed in 43 patients with
      intrahepatic and extrahepatic calculi. After hepatectomy, flexible
      choledochoscopy was used to extract residual stones and observe the intrahepatic
      bile duct and common bile duct (CBD) for determination of biliary stricture and
      dilatation. Function of the sphincter of Oddi was determined by manometry of the
      CBD. Primary closure of the CBD without T-tube drainage or bilioenteric
      anastomosis was performed when there was no biliary stricture or sphincter of
      Oddi dysfunction. Dexamethasone and anisodamine were intravenously injected 2-3 d
      after surgery to prevent postoperative retrograde infection due to intraoperative
      bile duct irrigation, and to maintain relaxation of the sphincter of Oddi,
      respectively. During the same period, anatomic hepatectomy followed by biliary
      tract exploration with biliary drainage (drainage group) was performed in 48
      patients as the control group. Postoperative complications and hospital stay were
      compared between the two groups. RESULTS: There was no operative mortality in
      either group of patients. Compared to intrahepatic and extrabiliary drainage,
      hepatectomy with primary closure of the CBD (non-drainage) did not increase the
      incidence of complications, including residual stones, bile leakage, pancreatitis
      and cholangitis (P > 0.05). Postoperative hospital stay and costs were
      nevertheless significantly less in the non-drainage group than in the drainage
      group. The median postoperative hospital stay was shorter in the non-drainage
      group than in the drainage group (11.2 +/- 2.8 d vs 15.4 +/- 2.1 d, P = 0.000).
      The average postoperative cost of treatment was lower in the non-drainage group
      than in the drainage group (29325.6 +/- 5668.2 yuan vs 32933.3 +/- 6235.1 yuan, P
      = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Hepatectomy followed by choledochoendoscopic stone
      extraction without biliary drainage is a safe and effective treatment of
      hepatolithiasis combined with choledocholithiasis.

PMID- 25834322
TI  - Thiopurine metabolites variations during co-treatment with aminosalicylates for
      inflammatory bowel disease: effect of N-acetyl transferase polymorphisms.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate variation of the concentration of thiopurine metabolites after 5
      aminosalicylate (5-ASA) interruption and the role of genetic polymorphisms of N
      acetyl transferase (NAT) 1 and 2. METHODS: Concentrations of thioguanine
      nucleotides (TGN) and methymercaptopurine nucleotides (MMPN), metabolites of
      thiopurines, were measured by high performance liquid chromatography in 12 young
      patients (3 females and 9 males, median age 16 years) with inflammatory bowel
      disease (6 Crohn's disease and 6 ulcerative colitis) treated with thiopurines (7
      mercaptopurine and 5 azathioprine) and 5-ASA. Blood samples were collected one
      month before and one month after the interruption of 5-ASA. DNA was extracted and
      genotyping of NAT1, NAT2, inosine triphosphate pyrophosphatase (ITPA) and
      thiopurine methyl transferase (TPMT) genes was performed using PCR assays.
      RESULTS: Median TGN concentration before 5-ASA interruption was 270 pmol/8 x
      10(8) erythrocytes (range: 145-750); after the interruption of the
      aminosalicylate, a 35% reduction in TGN mean concentrations (absolute mean
      reduction 109 pmol/8 * 10(8) erythrocytes) was observed (median 221 pmol/8 *
      10(8) erythrocytes, range: 96-427, P value linear mixed effects model 0.0011).
      Demographic and clinical covariates were not related to thiopurine metabolites
      concentrations. All patients were wild-type for the most relevant ITPA and TPMT
      variants. For NAT1 genotyping, 7 subjects presented an allele combination
      corresponding to fast enzymatic activity and 5 to slow activity. NAT1 genotypes
      corresponding to fast enzymatic activity were associated with reduced TGN
      concentration (P value linear mixed effects model 0.033), putatively because of
      increased 5-ASA inactivation and consequent reduced inhibition of thiopurine
      metabolism. The effect of NAT1 status on TGN seems to be persistent even after
      one month since the interruption of the aminosalicylate. No effect of NAT1
      genotypes was shown on MMPN concentrations. NAT2 genotyping revealed that 6
      patients presented a genotype corresponding to fast enzymatic activity and 6 to
      slow activity; NAT2 genotypes were not related to thiopurine metabolites
      concentration in this study. CONCLUSION: NAT1 genotype affects TGN levels in
      patients treated with thiopurines and aminosalicylates and could therefore
      influence the toxicity and efficacy of these drugs; however the number of
      patients evaluated is limited and this has to be considered a pilot study.

PMID- 25834323
TI  - Computed tomography-guided percutaneous core needle biopsy in pancreatic tumor
      diagnosis.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the techniques, results, and complications related to computed
      tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous core needle biopsies of solid pancreatic
      lesions. METHODS: CT-guided percutaneous biopsies of solid pancreatic lesions
      performed at a cancer reference center between January 2012 and September 2013
      were retrospectively analyzed. Biopsy material was collected with a 16-20 G Tru
      Core needle (10-15 cm; Angiotech, Vancouver, CA) using a coaxial system and
      automatic biopsy gun. When direct access to the lesion was not possible, indirect
      (transgastric or transhepatic) access or hydrodissection and/or pneumodissection
      maneuvers were used. Characteristics of the patients, lesions, procedures, and
      histologic results were recorded using a standardized form. RESULTS: A total of
      103 procedures included in the study were performed on patients with a mean age
      of 64.8 year (range: 39-94 year). The mean size of the pancreatic lesions was
      45.5 mm (range: 15-195 mm). Most (75/103, 72.8%) procedures were performed via
      direct access, though hydrodissection and/or pneumodissection were used in 22.2%
      (23/103) of cases and indirect transhepatic or transgastric access was used in
      4.8% (5/103) of cases. Histologic analysis was performed on all biopsies, and
      diagnoses were conclusive in 98.1% (101/103) of cases, confirming 3.9% (4/103) of
      tumors were benign and 94.2% (97/103) were malignant; results were atypical in
      1.9% (2/103) of cases, requiring a repeat biopsy to diagnose a neuroendocrine
      tumor, and surgical resection to confirm a primary adenocarcinoma. Only
      mild/moderate complications were observed in 9/103 patients (8.7%), and they were
      more commonly associated with biopsies of lesions located in the head/uncinate
      process (n = 8), than of those located in the body/tail (n = 1) of the pancreas,
      but this difference was not significant. CONCLUSION: CT-guided biopsy of a
      pancreatic lesion is a safe procedure with a high success rate, and is an
      excellent option for minimally invasive diagnosis.

PMID- 25834324
TI  - Appropriate empirical antibiotic use and 30-d mortality in cirrhotic patients
      with bacteremia.
AB  - AIM: To analyze whether prompt and appropriate empirical antibiotic (AEA) use is
      associated with mortality in cirrhotic patients with bacteremia. METHODS: A total
      of 102 episodes of bacteremia in 72 patients with cirrhosis were analyzed. AEA
      was defined as a using or starting an antibiotic appropriate to the isolated
      pathogen at the time of bacteremia. The primary endpoint was 30-d mortality.
      RESULTS: The mortality rate at 30 d was 30.4% (31/102 episodes). Use of AEA was
      associated with better survival at 30 d (76.5% vs 46.9%, P = 0.05), and
      inappropriate empirical antibiotic (IEA) use was an independent factor associated
      with increased mortality (OR = 3.24; 95%CI: 1.50-7.00; P = 0.003, adjusted for
      age, sex, Child-Pugh Class, gastrointestinal bleeding, presence of septic shock).
      IEA use was more frequent when the isolated pathogen was a multiresistant
      pathogen, and when infection was healthcare-related or hospital-acquired.
      CONCLUSION: AEA use was associated with increased survival of cirrhotic patients
      who developed bacteremia. Strategies for AEA use, tailored according to the local
      epidemiological patterns, are needed to improve survival of cirrhotic patients
      with bacteremia.

PMID- 25834325
TI  - Formalin irrigation for hemorrhagic chronic radiation proctitis.
AB  - AIM: To assess the efficacy and safety of a modified topical formalin irrigation
      method in refractory hemorrhagic chronic radiation proctitis (CRP). METHODS:
      Patients with CRP who did not respond to previous medical treatments and
      presented with grade II-III rectal bleeding according to the Common Terminology
      Criteria for Adverse Events were enrolled. Patients with anorectal strictures,
      deep ulcerations, and fistulas were excluded. All patients underwent flexible
      endoscopic evaluation before treatment. Patient demographics and clinical data,
      including primary tumor, radiotherapy and previous treatment options, were
      collected. Patients received topical 4% formalin irrigation in a clasp-knife
      position under spinal epidural anesthesia in the operating room. Remission of
      rectal bleeding and related complications were recorded. Defecation, remission of
      bleeding, and other symptoms were investigated at follow-up. Endoscopic findings
      in patients with rectovaginal fistulas were analyzed. RESULTS: Twenty-four
      patients (19 female, 5 male) with a mean age of 61.5 +/- 9.5 years were enrolled.
      The mean time from the end of radiotherapy to the onset of bleeding was 11.1 +/-
      9.0 mo (range: 2-24 mo). Six patients (25.0%) were blood transfusion dependent.
      The median preoperative Vienna Rectoscopy Score (VRS) was 3 points. Nineteen
      patients (79.2%) received only one course of topical formalin irrigation, and
      five (20.8%) required a second course. No side effects were observed. One month
      after treatment, bleeding cessation was complete in five patients and obvious in
      14; the effectiveness rate was 79.1% (19/24). For long-term efficacy, 5/16, 1/9
      and 0/6 patients complained of persistent bleeding at 1, 2 and 5 years after
      treatment, respectively. Three rectovaginal fistulas were found at 1 mo, 3 mo and
      2 years after treatment. Univariate analysis showed associations of higher
      endoscopic VRS and ulceration score with risk of developing rectovaginal fistula.
      CONCLUSION: Modified formalin irrigation is an effective and safe method for
      hemorrhagic CRP, but should be performed cautiously in patients with a high
      endoscopic VRS.

PMID- 25834326
TI  - Poor prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma with transarterial chemoembolization
      pre-transplantation: retrospective analysis.
AB  - AIM: To investigate whether transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) before liver
      transplantation (LT) improves long-term survival in hepatocellular carcinoma
      (HCC) patients. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted among 204 patients
      with HCC who received LT from January 2002 to December 2010 in PLA General
      Hospital. Among them, 88 patients received TACE before LT. Prognostic factors of
      serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative blood
      transfusion, disease-free survival time, survival time with tumor, number of
      tumor nodules, tumor size, tumor number, presence of blood vessels and bile duct
      invasion, lymph node metastasis, degree of tumor differentiation, and
      preoperative liver function were determined in accordance with the Child-Turcotte
      Pugh (Child) classification and model for end-stage liver disease. We also
      determined time of TACE before transplant surgery and tumor recurrence and
      metastasis according to different organs. Cumulative survival rate and disease
      free survival rate curves were prepared using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the
      log-rank and chi(2) tests were used for comparisons. RESULTS: In patients with
      and without TACE before LT, the 1, 3 and 5-year cumulative survival rate was
      70.5% +/- 4.9% vs 91.4% +/- 2.6%, 53.3% +/- 6.0% vs 83.1% +/- 3.9%, and 46.2% +/-
      7.0% vs 80.8% +/- 4.5%, respectively. The median survival time of patients with
      and without TACE was 51.857 +/- 5.042 mo vs 80.930 +/- 3.308 mo (chi(2) = 22.547,
      P < 0.001, P < 0.05). The 1, 3 and 5-year disease-free survival rates for
      patients with and without TACE before LT were 62.3% +/- 5.2% vs 98.9% +/- 3.0%,
      48.7% +/- 6.7% vs 82.1% +/- 4.1%, and 48.7% +/- 6.7% vs 82.1% +/- 4.1%,
      respectively. The median survival time of patients with and without TACE before
      LT was 50.386 +/- 4.901 mo vs 80.281 +/- 3.216 mo (chi(2) = 22.063, P < 0.001, P
      < 0.05). TACE before LT can easily lead to pulmonary or distant metastasis of the
      primary tumor. Although there was no significant difference between the two
      groups, the chance of metastasis of the primary tumor in the group with TACE was
      significantly higher than that of the group without TACE. CONCLUSION: TACE pre-LT
      for HCC patients increased the chances of pulmonary or distant metastasis of the
      primary tumor, thus reducing the long-term survival rate.

PMID- 25834327
TI  - Endoscopic ultrasound-guided deep and large biopsy for diagnosis of gastric
      infiltrating tumors with negative malignant endoscopy biopsies.
AB  - AIM: To assess the diagnostic yield and safety of a deep and large biopsy
      technique under the guidance of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) for diagnosis of
      gastric infiltrating tumors with negative malignant endoscopy biopsies. METHODS:
      From January 2009 to March 2014, 36 patients in whom gastric infiltrating tumors
      had been diagnosed by EUS received negative results for malignancy after
      endoscopic biopsies. The deep and large biopsy technique combined bite-on-bite
      technique with or without endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) to obtain submucosal
      tissue from lesions. EUS was used to select the appropriate biopsy sites. If the
      lesion protruded into the cavity, EMR was performed for removal of the overlying
      mucosa and then bite-on-bite technique was conducted in the resected area to
      obtain submucosal tissue. If the lesion appeared to be flat or was difficult to
      lift by injection, the bite-on-bite technique was directly used. RESULTS: Twenty
      eight of the 36 patients were treated by EMR followed by bite-on-bite technique,
      while 8 patients only underwent bite-on-bite technique. Histological results
      showed 23 of the 36 lesions were poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas, 2 diffuse
      large B cell lymphomas, 4 mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue-type lymphomas, and 7
      undiagnosed. The deep and large biopsy technique provided a definitive and
      conclusive diagnosis in 29 (80.6%) of the 36 patients. The 12 gastric linitis
      plastica and 6 lymphoma patients received chemotherapy and avoided surgery. Minor
      oozing of blood in 2 mucosal resection wounds was managed by argon plasma
      coagulation and in 5 cases after deep biopsies by epinephrine (0.001%). Neither
      severe hemorrhage nor perforation occurred in any patient. CONCLUSION: The deep
      and large biopsy technique is superior to ordinary endoscopic biopsy for
      achieving an accurate diagnosis of gastric infiltrating tumors. This procedure
      guided by EUS is an effective and safe diagnostic method for gastric infiltrating
      tumors in which endoscopic biopsy results were negative for malignancy.

PMID- 25834328
TI  - Cholecystectomy does not significantly increase the risk of fatty liver disease.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the relationship between cholecystectomy and fatty liver
      disease (FLD) in a Chinese population. METHODS: A total of 32428 subjects who had
      voluntarily undergone annual health checkups in the Second Affiliated Hospital of
      Nanjing Medical University from January 2011 to May 2013 were included in this
      study. Basic data collection, physical examination, laboratory examination, and
      abdominal ultrasound examination were performed. RESULTS: Subjects undergoing
      cholecystectomy were associated with greater age, female sex, higher body mass
      index, and higher levels of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure,
      fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, and triglycerides. However, no
      significant differences were found in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low
      density lipoprotein cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate
      aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, albumin, and serum uric acid.
      The overall prevalence of FLD diagnosed by ultrasonography was high at 38.4%. The
      prevalence of FLD was significantly higher for subjects who had undergone
      cholecystectomy (46.9%) than those who had not undergone cholecystectomy (38.1%;
      chi(2) test, P < 0.001). Cholecystectomy was positively associated with FLD (OR =
      1.433, 95%CI: 1.259-1.631). However, after adjusting for possible factors
      associated with FLD, multivariate regression analysis showed that the association
      between cholecystectomy and FLD was not statistically significant (OR = 1.096;
      95%CI: 0.939-1.279). CONCLUSION: According to our study results, cholecystectomy
      may not be a significant risk factor for FLD.

PMID- 25834330
TI  - Prevalence and factors associated with irritable bowel syndrome among university
      students in Lebanon: findings from a cross-sectional study.
AB  - AIM: To describe the bowel habits and the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome
      (IBS) and to investigate the influence of health behavior and social factors on
      IBS prevalence in university students. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was
      conducted at five major universities in Greater Beirut and its suburbs, between
      February and June 2014. Using a convenience sample, a total of 813 students aged
      18 years old and above participated in this study. Participants were asked to
      complete a comprehensive anonymous questionnaire which detailed characteristics
      on socio-demographic, health-related, and lifestyle factors, as well as IBS. The
      ROME III criteria were used as a tool to ascertain IBS. A chi(2) test was used to
      determine differences between categorical variables; stepwise logistic regression
      was used to measure the association between IBS and its risk factors. RESULTS: An
      overall prevalence of IBS of 20% was recorded among university students. The
      bivariate analysis showed that females were significantly more likely to report
      having IBS than males (29.1% vs 18.2%, P < 0.01). Those living at the school
      dormitory or in a private residence (39.5%) were more likely to have IBS than
      those living with their families (16.3%) (P < 0.01). The multivariate analysis
      showed that those who had a relatively high family income level (US$ > 2000) were
      almost 6 times more likely to report having IBS than their counterparts.
      CONCLUSION: This is the first study to describe the nature of IBS among young
      adults in Lebanon. The prevalence of IBS among university students in our sample
      was higher than that reported in the West.

PMID- 25834329
TI  - Scintigraphy in laryngopharyngeal and gastroesophageal reflux disease: a
      definitive diagnostic test?
AB  - AIM: To investigate the utility of scintigraphic studies in predicting response
      to laparoscopic fundoplication (LF) for chronic laryngopharyngeal reflux
      symptoms. METHODS: Patients with upper aero-digestive symptoms that remained
      undiagnosed after a period of 2 mo were studied with conventional pH and
      manometric studies. Patients mainly complained of cough, sore throat, dysphonia
      and globus. These patients were imaged after ingestion of 99m-technetium
      diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid. Studies were quantified with time activity
      curves over the pharynx, upper and lower oesophagus and background. Late studies
      of the lungs were obtained for aspiration. Patients underwent LF with post
      operative review at 3 mo after surgery. RESULTS: Thirty four patients (20 F, 14
      M) with an average age of 57 years and average duration of symptoms of 4.8 years
      were studied. Twenty four hour pH and manometry studies were abnormal in all
      patients. On scintigraphy, 27/34 patients demonstrated pharyngeal contamination
      and a rising or flat pharyngeal curve. Lung aspiration was evident in 50% of
      patients. There was evidence of pulmonary aspiration in 17 of 34 patients in the
      delayed study (50%). Pharyngeal contamination was found in 27 patients. All
      patients with aspiration showed pharyngeal contamination. In the 17 patients with
      aspiration, graphical time activity curve showed rising activity in the pharynx
      in 9 patients and a flat curve in 8 patients. In those 17 patients without
      pulmonary aspiration, 29% (5 patients) had either a rising or flat pharyngeal
      graph. A rising or flat curve predicted aspiration with a positive predictive
      value of 77% and a negative predictive value of 100%. Over 90% of patients
      reported a satisfactory symptomatic response to LF with an acceptable side-effect
      profile. CONCLUSION: Scintigraphic reflux studies offer a good screening tool for
      pharyngeal contamination and aspiration in patients with gastroesophageal reflux
      disease.

PMID- 25834331
TI  - Helicobacter pylori and serum kynurenine-tryptophan ratio in patients with
      colorectal cancer.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate how Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is able to evade the immune
      response and whether it enhances systemic immune tolerance against colorectal
      cancer. METHODS: This prospective randomized study involved 97 consecutive
      colorectal cancer patients and 108 cancer-free patients with extra-digestive
      diseases. Colorectal cancer and cancer-free patients were assigned into subgroups
      according to H. pylori IgG seropositivity. Exposure to H. pylori was determined
      by IgG seropositivity which was detected by enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA).
      Serum neopterin levels were measured by ELISA. Serum tryptophan, kynurenine, and
      urinary biopterin concentrations were measured by high performance liquid
      chromatography. Serum nitrite levels were detected spectrophotometrically. Serum
      indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase activity was estimated by the kynurenine to
      tryptophan ratio and by assessing the correlation between serum neopterin
      concentrations and the kynurenine to tryptophan ratio. The frequencies of
      increased serum kynurenine to tryptophan ratio of H. pylori seronegative and
      seropositive colorectal cancer subgroups were estimated by comparing them with
      the average kynurenine to tryptophan ratio of H. pylori seronegative tumor-free
      patients. RESULTS: Compared with respective controls, in both H. pylori
      seronegative and seropositive colorectal cancer patients, while serum tryptophan
      levels were decreased (controls vs patients; seronegative: 20.37 +/- 0.89 MUmol/L
      vs 15.71 +/- 1.16 MUmol/L, P < 0.05; seropositive: 20.71 +/- 0.81 MUmol/L vs
      14.97 +/- 0.79 MUmol/L, P < 0.01) the kynurenine to tryptophan ratio was
      significantly increased (controls vs patients; seronegative: 52.85 +/- 11.85
      MUmol/mmol vs 78.91 +/- 8.68 MUmol/mmol, P < 0.01, seropositive: 47.31 +/- 5.93
      MUmol/mmol vs 109.65 +/- 11.50 MUmol/mmol, P < 0.01). Neopterin concentrations in
      cancer patients were significantly elevated compared with controls (P < 0.05).
      There was a significant correlation between serum neopterin levels and
      kynurenine/tryptophan in control and colorectal cancer patients groups (rs =
      0.494, P = 0.0001 and rs = 0.293, P = 0.004, respectively). Serum nitrite levels
      of H. pylori seropositive cancer cases were significantly decreased compared with
      seropositive controls (controls vs patients; 26.04 +/- 2.39 MUmol/L vs 20.41 +/-
      1.48 MUmol/L, P < 0.05) The decrease in the nitrite levels of H. pylori
      seropositive cancer patients may be attributed to excessive formation of
      peroxynitrite and other reactive nitrogen species. CONCLUSION: A significantly
      high kynurenine/tryptophan suggested that H. pylori may support the immune
      tolerance leading to cancer development, even without an apparent upper
      gastrointestinal tract disease.

PMID- 25834332
TI  - Colorectal cancers in ulcerative colitis from a low-prevalence area for colon
      cancer.
AB  - AIM: To determine the incidence and risk factors for colorectal cancer (CRC) in
      patients with ulcerative colitis from a low prevalence region for CRC. METHODS:
      Our prospective database yielded a cohort of 430 patients [age: 44 +/- 14.6
      years; 248 men (57.7%)] with ulcerative colitis (median disease duration 6,
      range: 1-39 years) for analysis. Of these, 131 (30.5%) had left-sided colitis and
      159 (37%) extensive colitis. Patients with histologically confirmed CRC within
      the segment with colitis were compared with those without CRC, to determine the
      risk factors for the development of CRC. RESULTS: Twelve patients (2.8%)
      developed CRC. The overall incidence density was 3.56/1000 patient-years of
      disease - 3/1000 in the first 10 years, 3.3/1000 at 10 to 20 years, and 7/1000 at
      > 20 years. Three of our 12 patients developed CRC within 8 years of disease
      onset. On univariate analysis, extensive colitis, longer duration of disease, and
      poor control of disease were associated with development of CRC. On multivariate
      analysis, duration of disease and extent of colitis remained significant.
      CONCLUSION: CRC occurred in 2.8% of patients with ulcerative colitis in our
      population - an incidence density similar to that in Western countries in spite
      of a low overall prevalence of colon cancer in our population. The risk increased
      with extent and duration of disease.

PMID- 25834333
TI  - Differences in clinical features of Crohn's disease and intestinal tuberculosis.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the clinical features of Crohn's disease (CD) and intestinal
      tuberculosis (ITB) with a scoring system that we have developed. METHODS: A total
      of 25 CD and 40 ITB patients were prospectively enrolled from August 2011 to July
      2012. Their characteristics and clinical features were recorded. Laboratory,
      endoscopic, histologic and radiographic features were determined. The features
      with a high specificity were selected to establish a scoring system. The features
      supporting CD scored +1, and those supporting ITB scored -1; each patient
      received a final total score. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was
      used to determine the best cut-off value for distinguishing CD from ITB. RESULTS:
      Based on a high specificity of differentiating between CD and ITB, 12 features,
      including longitudinal ulcers, nodular hyperplasia, cobblestone-like mucosa,
      intestinal diseases, intestinal fistula, the target sign, the comb sign, night
      sweats, the purified protein derivative test, the interferon-gamma release assay
      (T-SPOT.TB), ring ulcers and ulcer scars, were selected for the scoring system.
      The results showed that the average total score of the CD group was 3.12 +/-
      1.740, the average total score of the ITB group was -2.58 +/- 0.984, the best
      cutoff value for the ROC curve was -0.5, and the diagnostic area under the curve
      was 0.997, which was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The patients whose
      total scores were higher than -0.5 were diagnosed with CD; otherwise, patients
      were diagnosed with ITB. Overall, the diagnostic accuracy rate and misdiagnosis
      rate of this scoring system were 97% and 3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Some
      clinical features are valuable for CD and ITB diagnosis. The described scoring
      system is key to differentiating between CD and ITB.

PMID- 25834334
TI  - Early kidney injury during long-term adefovir dipivoxil therapy for chronic
      hepatitis B.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate urine beta2-microglobulin (beta2-M), retinol-binding protein
      (RBP) excretion, and renal impairment with adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) for chronic
      hepatitis B. METHODS: We enrolled 165 patients with chronic hepatitis B infection
      who were treated with ADV monotherapy (n = 90) or ADV plus lamivudine combination
      therapy (n = 75). An additional 165 chronic hepatitis B patients treated with
      entecavir were recruited as controls. We detected serum creatinine, urine beta2
      M, and RBP levels, and estimated the glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at the
      initiation of antiviral therapy and every 6 mo for a period of five years.
      RESULTS: Urine beta2-M abnormalities were observed in patients during the first
      (n = 3), second (n = 7), third (n = 11), fourth (n = 16), and fifth (n = 21) year
      of ADV treatment. Urinary RBP abnormalities were observed in patients during the
      first (n = 2), second (n = 8), third (n = 12), fourth (n = 15), and fifth (n =
      22) year of ADV treatment. eGFR decreased 20%-30% from baseline in 20 patients,
      30%-50% in 12 patients, and > 50% in 3 patients during the five years of
      treatment. Further analysis indicated that decreases in eGFR of >= 30% relative
      to the baseline level correlated significantly with urine RBP and beta2-M
      abnormalities. In contrast, both serum creatinine and eGFR remained stable in
      patients treated with entecavir, and only one of these patients developed a urine
      beta2-M abnormality, and two developed urine RBP abnormalities during the five
      years of treatment. CONCLUSION: Urine RBP and beta2-M are biomarkers of renal
      injury during long-term ADV treatment for chronic hepatitis B, and indicate when
      treatment should be switched to entecavir.

PMID- 25834335
TI  - Doctor communication quality and Friends' attitudes influence complementary
      medicine use in inflammatory bowel disease.
AB  - AIM: To examine the frequency of regular complementary and alternative therapy
      (CAM) use in three Australian cohorts of contrasting care setting and geography,
      and identify independent attitudinal and psychological predictors of CAM use
      across all cohorts. METHODS: A cross sectional questionnaire was administered to
      inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients in 3 separate cohorts which differed by
      geographical region and care setting. Demographics and frequency of regular CAM
      use were assessed, along with attitudes towards IBD medication and psychological
      parameters such as anxiety, depression, personality traits and quality of life
      (QOL), and compared across cohorts. Independent attitudinal and psychological
      predictors of CAM use were determined using binary logistic regression analysis.
      RESULTS: In 473 respondents (mean age 50.3 years, 60.2% female) regular CAM use
      was reported by 45.4%, and did not vary between cohorts. Only 54.1% of users
      disclosed CAM use to their doctor. Independent predictors of CAM use which
      confirm those reported previously were: covert conventional medication dose
      reduction (P < 0.001), seeking psychological treatment (P < 0.001), adverse
      effects of conventional medication (P = 0.043), and higher QOL (P < 0.001). Newly
      identified predictors were CAM use by family or friends (P < 0.001),
      dissatisfaction with patient-doctor communication (P < 0.001), and lower
      depression scores (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In addition to previously identified
      predictors of CAM use, these data show that physician attention to communication
      and the patient-doctor relationship is important as these factors influence CAM
      use. Patient reluctance to discuss CAM with physicians may promote greater
      reliance on social contacts to influence CAM decisions.

PMID- 25834336
TI  - Comparison of the efficacy and safety of sedation between dexmedetomidine
      remifentanil and propofol-remifentanil during endoscopic submucosal dissection.
AB  - AIM: To compare the efficacy and safety of sedation protocols for endoscopic
      submucosal dissection (ESD) between dexmedetomidine-remifentanil and propofol
      remifentanil. METHODS: Fifty-nine patients scheduled for ESD were randomly
      allocated into a dexmedetomidine-remifentanil (DR) group or a propofol
      remifentanil (PR) group. To control patient anxiety, dexmedetomidine or propofol
      was infused to maintain a score of 4-5 on the Modified Observer's Assessment of
      Alertness/Sedation scale. Remifentanil was infused continuously at a rate of 6
      MUg/kg per hour in both groups. The ease of advancing the scope into the throat,
      gastric motility grading, and satisfaction of the endoscopist and patient were
      assessed. Hemodynamic variables and hypoxemic events were compared to evaluate
      patient safety. RESULTS: Demographic data were comparable between the groups. The
      hemodynamic variables and pulse oximetry values were stable during the procedure
      in both groups despite a lower heart rate in the DR group. No oxygen desaturation
      events occurred in either group. Although advancing the scope into the throat was
      easier in the PR group ("very easy" 24.1% vs 56.7%, P = 0.010), gastric motility
      was more suppressed in the DR group ("no + mild" 96.6% vs 73.3%, P = 0.013). The
      endoscopists felt that the procedure was more favorable in the DR group ("very
      good + good" 100% vs 86.7%, P = 0.042), whereas patient satisfaction scores were
      comparable between the groups. En bloc resection was performed 100% of the time
      in both groups, and the complete resection rate was 94.4% in the DR group and
      100% in the PR group (P = 0.477). CONCLUSION: The efficacy and safety of
      dexmedetomidine and remifentanil were comparable to propofol and remifentanil
      during ESD. However, the endoscopists favored dexmedetomidine perhaps due to
      lower gastric motility.

PMID- 25834338
TI  - Association between cadherin-17 expression and pathological characteristics of
      gastric cancer: a meta-analysis.
AB  - AIM: To construct a meta-analysis in order to examine the relationship between
      cadherin-17 (CDH17) and gastric cancer (GC). METHODS: Related articles were
      selected by searching the following English or Chinese electronic databases:
      CINAHL, MEDLINE, Science Citation Index, the Chinese Journal Full-Text, and the
      Weipu Journal. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) criteria were used to ensure
      consistency in reviewing and reporting results. Statistical analyses were
      conducted with Version 12.0 STATA statistical software. RESULTS: Ultimately, 11
      articles, with a total of 2,120 GC patients, were found to be eligible for study
      inclusion. In comparisons of GC patients by TNM stage (III-IV vs I-II: OR = 2.35,
      95%CI: 1.15-4.825, P = 0.019), histologic grade (3-4 vs 1-2: OR = 3.48, 95%CI:
      1.36-8.92, P = 0.009), invasion grade (T3-4 vs T1-2: OR = 2.86; 95%CI: 1.69-4.83;
      P = 0.000), and lymph node metastasis (positive vs negative: OR = 2.64; 95%CI:
      1.33-5.27; P = 0.006), it was found that CDH17 showed more positive expressions
      in each of the more severe cases. Country-stratified analyses from all four
      experimental subgroups showed that high CDH17 expression levels may be related to
      GC among Chinese and Korean populations (all P < 0.05), with the exception of the
      invasion grade T3-4 vs T1-2 comparison, where the relation only held among the
      Chinese population (OR = 2.86, 95%CI: 1.69-4.83, P = 0.000). CONCLUSION:
      Collectively, the data reflects the capacity of CDH17 in tumor proliferation and
      metastasis among GC patients.

PMID- 25834339
TI  - Prognostic value of c-Met in colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis.
AB  - AIM: To assess the prognostic value of c-Met status in colorectal cancer.
      METHODS: We conducted a search in PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane
      Library covering all published papers up to July 2014. Only studies assessing
      survival in colorectal cancer by c-Met status were included. This meta-analysis
      was performed by using STATA11.0. RESULTS: Ultimately, 11 studies were included
      in this analysis. Meta-analysis of the hazard ratios (HR) indicated that patients
      with high c-Met expression have a significantly poorer overall survival (OR) (HR
      = 1.33, 95%CI: 1.06-1.59) and progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 1.47, 95%CI:
      1.03-1.91). Subgroup analysis showed a significant association between high c-Met
      expression and poorer overall survival in the hazard ratio reported (HR = 1.41,
      95%CI: 1.08-1.74). CONCLUSION: The present meta-analysis indicated that high c
      Met expression was associated with poor prognosis in patients with colorectal
      cancer.

PMID- 25834337
TI  - Cholecystectomy and the risk of alimentary tract cancers: a systematic review.
AB  - AIM: To investigate the association between cholecystectomy and gastro-intestinal
      tract (GIT) cancers. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review according to the
      PRISMA guidelines. A MEDLINE search was performed with predefined search criteria
      for English Language articles on the association between cholecystectomy and GIT
      cancers. Additional articles were retrieved by manual search of references. All
      relevant articles were accessed in full text. Data on study type; cases;
      controls; country; effect estimate; adjustments for confounders and quality of
      publication were extracted. The quality of the publications were scored by
      adherence to the STROBE checklist. The data for each part of the GIT were
      presented in separate tables. RESULTS: Seventy-five studies and 5 meta-analyses
      satisfied the predefined criteria for inclusion and were included in this review.
      There were inconsistent reports and no strong evidence of an association between
      cholecystectomy and cancers of the oesophagus (Adenocarcinoma), pancreas, small
      bowel and right-sided colon cancers. In squamous cancer of the oesophagus,
      cancers of the stomach, liver, bile ducts, small bowel and left sided colon
      cancers, good quality studies suggested a lack of association with
      cholecystectomy. Equally, distal colon and rectal cancers were found not to be
      associated with cholecystectomy. Several mechanisms for carcinogenesis/promotion
      of carcinogensis have been proposed. These have focused on a role for bile salts
      in carcinogenesis with several potential mutagenic molecular events and gut
      metabolic hormones signaling cell proliferation or initiation of carcinogenesis.
      CONCLUSION: This is a comprehensive review of the association between GIT cancers
      and cholecystectomy. This review found no clear association between
      cholecystectomy and GIT cancers.

PMID- 25834340
TI  - Association of cholesterol with risk of pancreatic cancer: a meta-analysis.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the effect of dietary cholesterol and serum total cholesterol
      (TC) on the risk of pancreatic cancer. METHODS: A literature search was performed
      up to June 2014 in PubMed, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and
      China Biology Medical literature database for relevant articles published in
      English or Chinese. Pooled relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals
      (CIs) were calculated with a random-effects model. RESULTS: We included 14
      published articles with 439355 participants for dietary cholesterol, and 6
      published articles with 1805697 participants for serum TC. For the highest vs
      lowest category of dietary cholesterol, the pooled RR (95%CI) of pancreatic
      cancer was 1.308 (1.097-1.559). After excluding two studies (RR > 3.0), the
      pooled RR (95%CI) was 1.204 (1.050-1.380). In subgroup analysis stratified by
      study design, the pooled RRs (95%CIs) were 1.523 (1.226-1.893) for case-control
      studies and 1.023 (0.871-1.200) for cohort studies. The association of dietary
      cholesterol with the risk of pancreatic cancer was significant for studies
      conducted in North America [1.275 (1.058-1.537)] and others [2.495 (1.565
      3.977)], but not in Europe [1.149 (0.863-1.531)]. No significant association
      [1.003 (0.859-1.171)] was found between the risk of pancreatic cancer and serum
      TC. CONCLUSION: Dietary cholesterol may be associated with an increased risk of
      pancreatic cancer in worldwide populations, except for Europeans. The results
      need to be confirmed further.

PMID- 25834341
TI  - Effects of neutrophil elastase inhibitor in patients undergoing esophagectomy: a
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the benefit and safety of sivelestat (a neutrophil elastase
      inhibitor) administration in patients undergoing esophagectomy. METHODS: Online
      databases including PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Web of Knowledge, and
      Chinese databases (Wanfang database, VIP and CNKI) were searched systematically
      up to November 2013. Randomized controlled trials and high-quality comparative
      studies were considered eligible for inclusion. Three reviewers evaluated the
      methodological quality of the included studies, and Stata 12.0 software was used
      to analyze the extracted data. The risk ratio (RR) was used to express the effect
      size of dichotomous outcomes, and mean difference (MD) or standardized mean
      difference was used to express the effect size of continuous outcomes. RESULTS:
      Thirteen studies were included in this systematic review and nine studies were
      included in the meta-analysis. The duration of mechanical ventilation was
      significantly decreased in the sivelestat group on postoperative day 5 [I (2) =
      76.3%, SMD = -1.41, 95%CI: -2.63-(-0.19)]. Sivelestat greatly lowered the
      incidence of acute lung injury in patients after surgery (I (2) = 0%, RR = 0.27,
      95%CI: 0.08-0.93). However, it did not decrease the incidence of pneumonia,
      intensive care unit stay or postoperative hospital stay, and did not increase the
      incidence of complications such as anastomotic leakage, recurrent nerve palsy,
      wound infection, sepsis and catheter-related fever. CONCLUSION: A neutrophil
      elastase inhibitor is beneficial in patients undergoing esophagectomy. More high
      quality, large sample, multi-center and randomized controlled trials are needed
      to validate this effect.

PMID- 25834342
TI  - Pyogenic liver abscess caused by Fusobacterium in a 21-year-old immunocompetent
      male.
AB  - A 21-year-old male with no significant past medical history, presented with right
      upper quadrant (RUQ) abdominal pain along with fevers and chills. Lab work
      revealed leukocytosis, anemia, and slightly elevated alkaline phosphatase. Viral
      serology for hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency
      virus were negative and he was immunocompetent. Computed tomography imaging
      revealed hepatic abscesses, the largest measuring 9.5 cm. Empiric antibiotics
      were started and percutaneous drains were placed in the abscesses. Anaerobic
      cultures from the abscesses grew Fusobacterium nucleatum. This is a gram negative
      anaerobic bacteria; a normal flora of the oral cavity. Fusobacterium is most
      commonly seen in Lemiere's disease, which is translocation of oral bacteria to
      the internal jugular vein causing a thrombophlebitis and subsequent spread of
      abscesses. Our patient did not have Lemiere's, and is the first case described of
      fusobacterium pyogenic liver abscess in a young immunocompetent male with good
      oral hygiene. This case was complicated by sepsis, empyema, and subsequent
      abscesses located outside the liver. These abscesses' have the propensity to
      flare abruptly and can be fatal. This case not only illustrates fusobacterium as
      a rare entity for pyogenic liver abscess, but also the need for urgent diagnosis
      and treatment. It is incumbent on physicians to diagnose and drain any suspicious
      hepatic lesions. While uncommon, such infections may develop without any overt
      source and can progress rapidly. Prompt drainage with antibiotic therapy remains
      the cornerstone of therapy.

PMID- 25834343
TI  - Complicated fecal microbiota transplantation in a tetraplegic patient with severe
      Clostridium difficile infection.
AB  - A 65-year-old male suffering from acute spinal cord injury leading to incomplete
      tetraplegia presented with severe recurrent Clostridium difficile (C. difficile)
      infection subsequent to antibiotic treatment for pneumonia. After a history of
      ineffective antimicrobial therapies, including metronidazole, vancomycin,
      fidaxomicin, rifaximin and tigecycline, leading to several relapses, the patient
      underwent colonoscopic fecal microbiota transplantation from his healthy son.
      Four days subsequent to the procedure, the patient showed a systemic inflammation
      response syndrome. Without detecting an infectious cause, the patient received
      antimicrobial treatment, including tigecycline, metronidazole, vancomycin via
      polyethylene glycol and an additional enema for a period of seven days, leading
      to a prompt recovery and no reported C. difficile infection relapse during a 12
      wk follow up.

PMID- 25834344
TI  - Fulminant phlegmonitis of the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum due to Bacillus
      thuringiensis.
AB  - We report a case of phlegmonitis of the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum in
      patient in an immunocompromised state. Culture of gastric juice and blood yielded
      Bacillus thuringiensis. This case showed that even low-virulence bacilli can
      cause lethal gastrointestinal phlegmonous gastritis in conditions of
      immunodeficiency. 

PMID- 25834345
TI  - Cetuximab and panitumumab in a patient with colon cancer and concomitant chronic
      skin disease: a potential beneficial effect on psoriasis vulgaris.
AB  - Monoclonal antibodies against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are used in
      the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer. However, these agents can induce
      severe dermatological side effects that discourage their administration in
      patients with chronic dermatological disease. EGFR plays a key role in normal
      skin development and immunological function, and is expressed in various tissues
      and organs, although contrarily, it is overexpressed in psoriasis-related skin
      lesions. Thus, discussion is ongoing regarding the putative pathological role and
      therapeutic potential of this protein. We herein report on a patient with
      advanced colon cancer and concomitant long-standing psoriasis vulgaris who
      received anti-EGFR antibody monotherapy as a third-line treatment for metastatic
      disease. One week after the initiation of treatment, the patient's skin lesions
      dramatically subsided and the improvement was sustained during therapy. Based on
      this case, we propose that anti-EGFR antibody therapy is not necessarily
      contraindicated in patients with psoriasis vulgaris. Moreover, the findings
      reaffirmed that EGFR is an important molecule in the pathology of psoriasis. 

PMID- 25834346
TI  - Cytomegalovirus colitis followed by ischemic colitis in a non-immunocompromised
      adult: a case report.
AB  - We report a rare case of cytomegalovirus (CMV) colitis followed by severe
      ischemic colitis in a non-immunocompromised patient. An 86-year-old woman was
      admitted after experiencing episodes of vomiting and diarrhea. The next day,
      hematochezia was detected without abdominal pain. The initial diagnosis of
      ischemic colitis was based on colonoscopy and histological findings. The follow
      up colonoscopy revealed a prolonged colitis. Immunohistochemical staining
      detected CMV-positive cells following conservative therapy. Intravenous
      ganciclovir therapy led to successful healing of ulcers and disappearance of CMV
      positive cells. The prevalence of CMV infection is common in adults. CMV colitis
      is relatively common in immunocompromised patients; however, it is rare in
      immunocompetent patients. In our case, CMV infection was allowed to be
      established due to the disruption of the colonic mucosa by the prior severe
      ischemic colitis. Our experience suggests that biopsies may be necessary to
      detect CMV and the prompt management of CMV colitis should be instituted when
      intractable ischemic colitis is observed.

PMID- 25834347
TI  - Liver transplantation for recurrent posthepatectomy malignant hepatic
      angiomyolipoma: a case report.
AB  - Hepatic angiomyolipomas (AMLs) are typically benign tumors containing varying
      amounts of smooth muscle cells, adipose tissue, and vessels, and are commonly
      found in the kidney and occasionally in the liver. The preoperative diagnosis of
      hepatic AML is primarily made from imaging and fine-needle aspiration biopsy
      results, though limited experience for such diagnoses can result in misdiagnosis.
      Some uncommon features of hepatic AML have been reported in the literature
      without an objective or qualitative consensus. As the majority of cases are
      benign, conservative treatment of AMLs is recommended. However, in rare cases,
      liver transplantation has been implemented. Only five cases of malignant hepatic
      AML have been reported. We report a rare case of recurrent posthepatectomy
      malignant hepatic AML that was misdiagnosed as liver cancer in a 37-year-old
      woman, which was treated by liver transplantation. The imaging and pathologic
      findings are presented in order to provide a more concise description to aid in
      future diagnoses. 

PMID- 25834348
TI  - Gastritis cystica profunda in a previously unoperated stomach: a case report.
AB  - Gastritis cystica profunda is a relatively rare disease, usually observed at
      anastomotic sites in stomachs of patients that have undergone gastric procedures.
      We present the rare case of an elevated lesion in the anterior wall of the
      gastric antrum of a 43-year-old Chinese woman who had never undergone gastric
      surgery and had no gastrointestinal tract symptoms. Although the physical
      examination and laboratory data showed no abnormalities, endoscopic
      ultrasonography revealed an anechoic cystic structure. Abdominal computed
      tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed the gastric wall of the greater
      curvature of the antrum was markedly and irregularly thickened, and mild to
      moderate enhancement was observed around the lesion with no enhancement in the
      central portion, suggestive of a gastrointestinal stromal tumor. The patient
      underwent a distal gastric resection of the 2.5 cm * 1.5 cm lesion. A
      postoperative pathologic examination showed dilated cystic glands in the
      muscularis mucosa and submucosal layers and erosion of the mucosal surface of the
      tumor, confirming the diagnosis of gastritis cystica profunda without malignancy.

PMID- 25834349
TI  - Retinoic Acid promotes interleukin-4 plasmid-dimethylsulfoxide topical
      transdermal delivery for treatment of psoriasis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that is caused by a shift in the
      Th1/Th2 balance toward Th1-dominant immunity. It has been established as an
      effective treatment to counteract psoriasis by subcutaneous injection of
      recombinant interleukin (IL)-4, and IL-4 gene therapy by topical transdermal
      penetration has shown its antipsoriatic effect in mice. Retinoic acid (RA) and
      dimethylsulfoxide can increase the efficiency of gene transfection in the topical
      transdermal delivery system. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether RA could improve
      anti-psoriasis efficiency using IL-4 expression plasmid pORF-mIL-4 (pIL-4) via
      transdermal delivery system in K14-vascular endothelial growth (K14-VEGF) factor
      transgenic mice. METHODS: After pretreatment with RA, plasmid pIL-4 in 10%
      dimethylsulfoxide was applied to the ear skin by topical transdermal penetration.
      Hematoxylin- eosin staining and immunohistochemistry were performed with ear
      samples to evaluate anti-psoriasis efficiency in mice. RESULTS: The psoriasis
      pathological features were relieved and psoriasis-associated factors were
      significantly reduced. CONCLUSION: Our results reveal that topical application of
      pIL-4 in dimethylsulfoxide by transdermal delivery with RA pretreatment can
      improve psoriasis significantly.

PMID- 25834350
TI  - TNF, IL12B, and IFNG Gene Polymorphisms in Serbian Patients with Psoriasis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease with a strong
      genetic basis. Cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha),
      interleukins (ILs) such are IL-12 and IL-23, and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) are
      released from various inflammatory and resident cells, and have been implicated
      in the initiation/maintenance of inflammation. Certain alleles of the
      aforementioned cytokines may be associated with disease susceptibility/severity.
      OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of three common functional gene
      polymorphisms, namely TNF -308 G/A (rs1800629), IL12B (encoding the p40 subunit
      of IL-12/23) +1188 A/C (rs3212227), and IFNG +874 T/A (rs2430561) with psoriasis
      development and severity in Serbian patients. METHODS: We genotyped 130 patients
      with psoriasis (26 of whom also had psoriatic arthritis) and 259 controls;
      rs1800629 and rs3212227, and rs2430561, by real-time PCR assay. RESULTS: The TNF
      GG genotype was detected at a higher frequency in patients with psoriasis
      compared to control subjects (OR, 1.420; 95% CI, 0.870~2.403) without statistical
      significance (p=0.191). Lack of the TNF G allele was associated with lower
      psoriasis severity (p=0.007). The IL12B AC genotype was underrepresented in the
      patients with psoriatic arthritis compared to healthy subjects (OR, 0.308; 95%
      CI, 0.090~1.057; p=0.049). The distribution of the rs2430561 allele and genotype
      frequencies was similar between patients with psoriasis and controls. CONCLUSION:
      Our study demonstrates an effect of the rs1800629 on psoriasis severity, and a
      marginal impact of the rs3212227 on susceptibility to psoriatic arthritis.
      Collectively, our results obtained in a Serbian cohort expand current knowledge
      regarding individual predisposition to psoriatic disease.

PMID- 25834351
TI  - Periadnexal mucin as an additional histopathologic feature of chronic eczematous
      dermatitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cutaneous mucinoses are a heterogeneous group of disorders
      characterized by an abnormal amount of mucin in the skin. However, the
      pathomechanism of an excessive mucin deposition in the skin is still unknown.
      Eczematous dermatitis is sub-classified histologically into acute, subacute, and
      chronic variants. The characteristic histopathologic findings for chronic eczema
      are variable. However, periadnexal mucin deposition is not known as a feature of
      chronic eczema. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the presence of periadnexal mucin
      deposition in chronic eczematous dermatitis. METHODS: We analyzed the skin biopsy
      specimens from 36 patients who were pathologically diagnosed with chronic
      eczematous dermatitis. Alcian blue, colloidal iron, and periodic acid-Schiff
      stains were used to evaluate the mucin deposition in histologic sections. Two
      dermatologists and two dermatopathologists evaluated the degree of mucin
      deposition using a 4-point scale. RESULTS: Various amounts of mucin deposition
      were observed in the periadnexal area of patients who were diagnosed with chronic
      eczema. Mucin deposition was more visible after staining with mucin-specific
      stains. Evaluation of the staining analysis scores revealed that the staining
      intensities were significantly higher in patients with chronic eczema than age-
      and site-matched controls (normal, acute to subacute eczema, and psoriasis
      vulgaris). CONCLUSION: Periadnexal mucin (secondary mucinoses) may be an
      additional finding of chronic eczematous dermatitis.

PMID- 25834352
TI  - Ethanol Extract of Peanut Sprout Exhibits a Potent Anti-Inflammatory Activity in
      Both an Oxazolone-Induced Contact Dermatitis Mouse Model and Compound 48/80
      Treated HaCaT Cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We developed an ethanol extract of peanut sprouts (EPS), a peanut
      sprout-derived natural product, which contains a high level of trans-resveratrol
      (176.75 ug/ml) and was shown to have potent antioxidant activity. OBJECTIVE: We
      evaluated the potential anti-inflammatory activity of EPS by measuring its
      antioxidant potential in skin. METHODS: The anti-inflammatory activity of EPS was
      tested using two models of skin inflammation: oxazolone (OX)-induced contact
      dermatitis in mice and compound 48/80-treated HaCaT cells. As biomarkers of skin
      inflammation, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and nerve growth factor (NGF) levels were
      measured. RESULTS: OX-induced contact dermatitis was suppressed markedly in mice
      that were treated with an ointment containing 5% EPS as evidenced by a decrease
      in the extent of scaling and thickening (p<0.05) and supported by a histological
      study. COX-2 (messenger RNA [mRNA] and protein) and NGF (mRNA) levels, which were
      upregulated in the skin of OX-treated mice, were suppressed markedly in the skin
      of OX+EPS-treated mice. Consistent with this, compound 48/80-induced expression
      of COX-2 (mRNA and protein) and NGF (mRNA) in HaCaT cells were suppressed by EPS
      treatment in a dose-dependent manner. As an inhibitor of NF-kappaB, IkappaB
      protein levels were dose-dependently upregulated by EPS. Fluorescence-activated
      cell sorting (FACS) analysis revealed that EPS scavenged compound 48/80-induced
      reactive oxygen species (ROS) in HaCaT cells. CONCLUSION: EPS exerts a potent
      anti-inflammatory activity via its anti-oxidant activity in both mouse skin and
      compound 48/80-treated HaCaT cells in vitro. Compound 48/80-treated HaCaT cells
      are a useful new in vitro model of skin inflammation.

PMID- 25834353
TI  - Mechanism of Macrophage-Derived Chemokine/CCL22 Production by HaCaT
      Keratinocytes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: CC chemokine ligand 17 (CCL17) and CCL22 are the functional ligands
      for CCR4. We previously reported that inhibitors of nuclear factor-kappa B and
      p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK), but not of extracellular signal
      related kinase (ERK), inhibited tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha- and interferon
      (IFN)-gamma-induced production of CCL17 by the human keratinocyte cell line,
      HaCaT. Further, an inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) enhanced
      the CCL17 production by these keratinocytes. OBJECTIVE: To identify the mechanism
      underlying CCL22 production by HaCaT cells. METHODS: We investigated the signal
      transduction pathways by which TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma stimulate HaCaT cells to
      produce CCL22 by adding various inhibitors. RESULTS: TNF-alpha- and IFN-gamma
      induced CCL22 production was inhibited by PD98059, PD153035, Bay 11-7085,
      SB202190, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitor II, and Janus kinase (JAK)
      inhibitor 1. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that CCL22 production in HaCaT
      cells is dependent on ERK, EGFR, p38 MAPK, JNK, and JAK and is mediated by
      different signal pathways from those regulating CCL17 production. Altogether, our
      previous and present results suggest that EGFR activation represses CCL17 but
      enhances CCL22 production by these cells.

PMID- 25834354
TI  - Identification of leukocyte-specific protein 1-positive cells: a clue to the cell
      of origin and a marker for the diagnosis of dermatofibroma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dermatofibroma (DF) comprises a heterogeneous group of mesenchymal
      tumors, with fibroblastic and histiocytic elements present in varying
      proportions. The cell of origin of DF has been investigated, but remains unclear.
      OBJECTIVE: The present study attempted to investigate the expression of leukocyte
      specific protein 1 (LSP1), a marker of fibrocytes, in DF. Additionally, we
      evaluated the effectiveness of LSP1 in the differential diagnosis of DF from
      dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP). METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining was
      performed on 20 cases of DF using antibodies against LSP1, CD68, and factor XIIIa
      (FXIIIa). In addition, the expression of LSP1 and FXIIIa was evaluated in 20
      cases of DFSP. RESULTS: Eighteen of 20 cases (90%) of DF stained positive for
      LSP1, with variation in the intensity of expression. CD68 was positive in 10
      cases (50%), and FXIIIa was expressed in all cases of DF. There were differences
      between the regional expression patterns of the three markers in individual
      tumors. In contrast, only 2 of 20 cases of DFSP expressed LSP1, and none of DFSP
      cases stained positive for FXIIIa. CONCLUSION: The LSP1-positive cells in DF
      could potentially be fibrocyte-like cells. FXIIIa and CD68 expression suggests
      that dermal dendritic cells and histiocytes are constituent cells of DF. It is
      known that fibrocytes, dermal dendritic cells and histiocytes are all derived
      from CD14+ monocytes. Therefore, we suggest that DF may originate from CD14+
      monocytes. Additionally, the LSP1 immunohistochemical stain could be useful in
      distinguishing between DF and DFSP.

PMID- 25834355
TI  - Inflammatory Cytokine Expression and Sebum Production after Exposure of Cultured
      Human Sebocytes to Ultraviolet A Radiation and Light at Wavelengths of 650 nm and
      830 nm.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, visible light, or
      infrared light therapy for the treatment of acne is the subject of ongoing
      scientific debate. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to investigate changes in
      sebum production and the expression of inflammatory cytokines, matrix
      metalloproteinases (MMPs), and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), following exposure
      of cultured human sebocytes to UVA radiation and light at wavelengths of 650 nm
      and 830 nm. METHODS: Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays were
      performed to measure the gene expression levels of inflammatory cytokines
      (interleukin [IL]-1beta, IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha), MMPs (MMP
      1, MMP-3, and MMP-9), and AMPs (psoriasin, hBD-2, hBD-3, and LL-37) in cultured
      sebocytes after exposure to UVA radiation (2 J/cm(2), 3 J/cm(2), and 5 J/cm(2))
      and light at wavelengths of 650 nm (14 J/cm(2), 29 J/cm(2), and 87 J/cm(2)) and
      830 nm (5 J/cm(2), 10 J/cm(2), and 30 J/cm(2)). Expression of inflammatory
      cytokine proteins and sebum production were measured using enzyme-linked
      immunoassays and a lipid analysis kit, respectively. RESULTS: Exposure of
      cultured sebocytes to UVA radiation and light at wavelengths of 650 nm and 830 nm
      did not show a significant increase in the expression of inflammatory cytokines,
      MMPs, or AMPs. Sebum production was not significantly decreased after exposure to
      UVA radiation and light at both wavelengths. CONCLUSION: We propose that UVA
      radiation, visible light, and infrared light can be used to target
      Propionibacterium acnes for the treatment of acne, without an increase in the
      expression of inflammatory biomarkers and sebum production.

PMID- 25834356
TI  - Analysis of the Results from the Patch Test to Para-Phenylenediamine in the TRUE
      Test in Patients with a Hair Dye Contact Allergy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Para-phenylenediamine (PPD) is the primary patch test screening agent
      for hair dye contact allergy (HDCA). However, no recent studies have been
      published that describe the results of reactions to patch tests using PPD and
      hair dyes in Korea. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the results of the patch tests to PPD
      using the thin-layer rapid use epicutaneous (TRUE) Test system in patients with
      HDCA and to investigate patients' awareness that hair dyes contains allergens,
      which cause the development of HDCA. METHODS: Eighty-four patients with suspected
      HDCA (32 men and 52 women) underwent patch testing using the TRUE Test system and
      their own hair dyes. The patients' demographic data, behavior associated with
      hair dyeing, and clinical manifestations of HDCA were examined retrospectively.
      RESULTS: Positive patch-test reactions to hair dyes occurred in 53.6% of patients
      who used hair dyes, and they were diagnosed with HDCA. Although there was a
      significant correlation between HDCA and PPD sensitization (p=0.001), only 40% of
      the patients with HDCA showed positive reactions to PPD. Of the 45 patients
      diagnosed with HDCA, only 7 (15.6%) were aware that their hair dyes contained
      allergens that caused HDCA. CONCLUSION: This study's findings show that PPD is an
      effective HDCA marker. However, we propose that investigations on hair dye
      components other than PPD should be conducted to develop and validate additional
      predictive HDCA markers.

PMID- 25834357
TI  - Evaluation of advanced oxidation protein products, prooxidant-antioxidant
      balance, and total antioxidant capacity in untreated vitiligo patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Vitiligo is a chronic, common disease of unknown etiology, and
      oxidative stress is suggested to have a role in its etiopathogenesis. OBJECTIVE:
      Advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs), prooxidant-antioxidant balance
      (PAB), and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were evaluated regarding
      their role in the pathogenesis of vitiligo as well as their relationship with
      clinical presentation and disease severity, and these parameters were compared
      with those of healthy controls. METHODS: The study included 53 patients with
      vitiligo and 20 healthy volunteers as the control group. AOPP level, PAB, and
      FRAP were determined by colorimetric methods. RESULTS: PAB and FRAP level were
      significantly higher in patients with vitiligo than in healthy controls
      (p<0.001). The AOPP levels in vitiligo patients were not statistically
      significantly higher than those in healthy controls. The Vitiligo Area Scoring
      Index positively correlated with disease duration (rs: 0.531, p<0.001).
      CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of AOPP and
      PAB status in vitiligo. PAB may be used as an indicator for oxidative stress in
      the etiopathogenesis of vitiligo. Our results show that these parameters may play
      a major role in the melanocyte damage observed in vitiligo. Further studies are
      required to confirm the mechanisms underlying this effect.

PMID- 25834358
TI  - Comparison of Treatment Goals for Moderate-to-Severe Psoriasis between Korean
      Dermatologists and the European Consensus Report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The development of therapies for psoriasis has led to the need for a
      new strategy to the treatment of patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. New
      consensus guidelines for psoriasis treatment have been developed in some
      countries, some of which have introduced treatment goals to determine the timing
      of therapeutic regimens for psoriasis. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the opinions
      held by Korean dermatologists who specialize in psoriasis about treatment goals,
      and to compare these with the European consensus. METHODS: Korean dermatologists
      who specialize in psoriasis were asked 11 questions about defining the treatment
      goals for psoriasis. The questionnaire included questions about the factors used
      to classify the severity of psoriasis, defining the induction and maintenance
      phases of psoriasis treatment, defining treatment responses during the induction
      phase, and defining treatment responses during the maintenance phase. RESULTS:
      The Korean consensus showed responses that were almost similar to the European
      consensus, even without using the Delphi technique, which uses repeated rounds of
      questions to reach a consensus. Only one response that related to psoriasis
      severity in the context of the quality of patients' lives differed from the
      European consensus. CONCLUSION: The concept of using treatment goals in the
      treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis can be applied to Korean psoriasis
      patients. Since a tool for assessing the quality of patients' lives is not
      commonly used in Korea, the development of a simple, rapidly completed, and
      region-specific health-related quality of life assessment tool would enable
      treatment goals to be used in routine clinical practice.

PMID- 25834359
TI  - Hypersensitivity reaction as a harbinger of acute myeloid leukemia: a case report
      and review of the literature.
AB  - Cutaneous paraneoplastic syndromes comprise a broad spectrum of cutaneous
      reactions to an underlying malignancy. These dermatoses are not the result of
      metastatic spread to the skin, but rather a reaction to the presence of
      malignancy. Cutaneous paraneoplastic syndromes often precede the identification
      of a malignancy. We describe the case of a 79-year-old man with a six-month
      history of recalcitrant treatment- resistant dermatitis. A complete blood count
      test performed at the time of initial presentation was normal. The patient
      ultimately presented with erythroderma and was diagnosed with acute myeloid
      leukemia (AML). The evolution of the dermatitis to erythroderma coincided with
      the clinical presentation of AML, and was therefore considered to be a
      paraneoplastic syndrome. The patient decided against therapy and died seven weeks
      after diagnosis. Physicians should consider a cutaneous paraneoplastic syndrome
      when faced with dynamic recalcitrant dermatoses that are difficult to treat and
      decide on laboratory testing accordingly. Patients should be evaluated regularly
      for two to three years after initial diagnosis with a physical exam and review of
      systems to monitor for signs and symptoms of malignancy. 

PMID- 25834360
TI  - Multiple nuchal-type fibromas on the scalp: a case report.
AB  - Nuchal-type fibroma is a rare, benign, fibrous, tumor-like proliferation
      characterized by dense hypocellular bundles of collagen, with sparsely scattered
      fibroblasts, interspersed fat tissue, and entrapped nerve fibers. It usually
      develops in the posterior neck as a solitary, firm, poorly circumscribed,
      subcutaneous mass. Herein, we report about a 32-year-old man who presented with a
      6-year history of multiple nodules on the scalp. Histopathological features were
      consistent with those of nuchal-type fibroma. The tumors were surgically excised.

PMID- 25834361
TI  - Poikiloderma vasculare atrophicans showing features of ashy dermatosis in the
      beginning.
AB  - Poikiloderma vasculare atrophicans (PVA) is a rare poikilodermatous variant of
      early-stage mycosis fungoides characterized by generalized poikiloderma, atrophy,
      mottled dyspigmentation, and telangiectasia. In 2001, a 14-year-old male
      presented with asymptomatic brownish-gray polymorphic macules throughout the body
      with flexural accentuation. A skin biopsy showed increased melanophages with
      focal hydropic changes. Ashy dermatosis was considered a possible diagnosis. In
      2005, the lesions began to show darkening and lichenification in the lower part
      of the trunk. In 2011, his skin showed definite poikilodermatous changes, and a
      biopsy showed band-like inflammatory infiltrations of atypical lymphocytes,
      epidermal atrophy, and epidermotropism of predominantly CD4(-)CD8(+) atypical T
      cells. In addition, results of T-cell receptor gene rearrangement analysis were
      positive. Based on the aforementioned findings, he was diagnosed with PVA. If a
      patient shows long-standing and progressive hyperpigmentary skin changes,
      periodic follow-up and repeated skin biopsies are recommended to determine the
      underlying condition. 

PMID- 25834362
TI  - Amelanotic Acral Melanoma Associated with KIT Mutation and Vitiligo.
AB  - Amelanotic acral melanoma is rare and difficult to diagnose, both clinically and
      pathologically. KIT mutations are frequently found in acral melanomas and are
      considered a risk factor for poor prognosis. The presence of vitiligo in melanoma
      has been reported, and KIT is thought to be partly responsible for the
      dysfunction and loss of melanocytes observed in vitiligo. We report a case of
      amelanotic subungual melanoma with multiple metastases that was associated with
      KIT mutation and vitiligo. An 85-year-old man presented with a 3-year history of
      a tender erythematous ulcerated tumor on the left third fingertip and developed
      hypopigmented patches on the face and trunk. Histopathological examination of the
      ulcerative tumor showed aggregates of tumor cells that were pleomorphic
      epithelioid cells. Immunohistochemical staining of the tumor cells was positive
      for S100, HMB45, and c-Kit. Histopathological findings from the hypopigmented
      patch on the face were consistent with vitiligo. Mutation analysis showed a KIT
      mutation in exon 17 (Y823D). The patient had metastasis to the brain, liver,
      bone, and both lungs. The patient refused chemotherapy, and died 3 months after
      the first visit. 

PMID- 25834363
TI  - A case of spitzoid melanoma.
AB  - Spitzoid melanoma is a subtype of melanoma that, clinically and histologically,
      resembles a Spitz nevus. Clinically, spitzoid melanomas usually evolve from
      amelanotic nodular lesions, growing to 1 cm or more in diameter. They often
      remain clinically undiagnosed because of their wide variety of clinical
      appearances and a lack of pigmentation. Distinguishing a Spitz nevus from a
      spitzoid melanoma can be extremely difficult. Features that favor the diagnosis
      of a spitzoid melanoma are asymmetrical shape, diameter greater than 1 cm, a
      lesion with a deep invasive component, and a high degree of cytologic atypia.
      There have been only rare reports in the literature of the presence of giant
      cells in malignant melanoma, and the presence of these cells may result in its
      misdiagnosis as a histiocytic tumor. We present a case of spitzoid melanoma on
      the right ankle of a 22-year-old-woman. 

PMID- 25834364
TI  - Frequency of antinuclear antibody positivity in patients with pattern hair loss.

PMID- 25834365
TI  - Basal cell carcinoma presenting as a perianal ulcer and treated with
      radiotherapy.

PMID- 25834366
TI  - Actinic granuloma arising from the pulsed dye laser-treated skin in a patient
      with capillary malformation.

PMID- 25834367
TI  - Twisted and rolled body hairs: a new report in asians.

PMID- 25834368
TI  - Segmentally arranged hyperpigmented basaloid follicular hamartoma.

PMID- 25834369
TI  - A case of cutaneous metastatic cholangiocarcinoma on the percutaneous
      transhepatic biliary drainage catheter insertion site.

PMID- 25834370
TI  - Successful treatment of hailey-hailey disease with aminolevulinic Acid
      photodynamic therapy.

PMID- 25834371
TI  - Foreign body reaction to injectable hyaluronic Acid: late granuloma formation.

PMID- 25834372
TI  - Preoperative evaluation of a subungual glomus tumor case using multidetector
      computed tomography angiography.

PMID- 25834373
TI  - Oral and cutaneous lichenoid eruption with nail changes due to imatinib treatment
      in a chinese patient with chronic myeloid leukemia.

PMID- 25834374
TI  - Influence of Pulse Type on Subcellular Selective Photothermolysis of Melanosomes
      in Adult Zebrafish Skin Following 1,064-nm, Q-switched, Nd:YAG Laser Irradiation:
      A Pilot Study.

PMID- 25834375
TI  - A case of solitary porokeratosis mimicking circumscribed palmar hypokeratosis.

PMID- 25834376
TI  - Degos Disease Associated with Behcet's Disease.

PMID- 25834377
TI  - A case of keratoacanthoma associated with Basal cell carcinoma.

PMID- 25834378
TI  - Preliminary study of intralesional bleomycin injection for the treatment of
      genital warts.

PMID- 25834379
TI  - Textures and traction: how tube-dwelling polychaetes get a leg up.
AB  - By controlling the traction between its body and the tube wall, a tube-dwelling
      polychaete can move efficiently from one end of its tube to the other, brace its
      body during normal functions (e.g., ventilation and feeding), and anchor within
      its tube avoiding removal by predators. To examine the potential physical
      interaction between worms and the tubes they live in, scanning electron
      microscopy was used to reveal and quantify the morphology of worm bodies and the
      tubes they produce for species representing 13 families of tube-dwelling
      polychaetes. In the tubes of most species there were macroscopic or nearly
      macroscopic (~10 MUm-1 mm) bumps or ridges that protruded slightly into the lumen
      of the tube; these could provide purchase as a worm moves or anchors. At this
      scale (~10 MUm-1 mm), the surfaces of the chaetal heads that interact with the
      tube wall were typically small enough to fit within spaces between these bumps
      (created by the inward projection of exogenous materials incorporated into the
      tube wall) or ridges (made by secretions on the interior surface of the tube). At
      a finer scale (0.01-10 MUm), there was a second overlap in size, usually between
      the dentition on the surfaces of chaetae that interact with the tube walls and
      the texture provided by the secreted strands or microscopic inclusions of the
      inner linings. These linings had a surprising diversity of micro-textures. The
      most common micro-texture was a "fabric" of secreted threads, but there were also
      orderly micro-ridges, wrinkles, and rugose surfaces provided by microorganisms
      incorporated into the inner tube lining. Understanding the fine structures of
      tubes in conjunction with the morphologies of the worms that build them gives
      insight into how tubes are constructed and how worms live within them.

PMID- 25834381
TI  - Erratum: The efficacy and safety of add-on 0.1% brimonidine tartrate preserved
      with sodium chlorite in on-treatment Japanese normal-tension glaucoma patients
      [Corrigendum].
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. 1681 in vol. 8, PMID: 25214761.]. 

PMID- 25834380
TI  - The Technology of the Gibbet.
AB  - The practice of "hanging in chains" or gibbeting had been part of the punitive
      repertoire of the English and Welsh judicial system for centuries before the 1751
      52 Murder Act specified it as one of two mandatory post-mortem punishments for
      murderers. The practice was not abolished until 1834. This article considers the
      technical and design features of the gibbet cage, through an exhaustive survey
      and catalogue of their surviving remains. It notes that, given the comparative
      rarity of hanging in chains, no chronological or regional traditions of design
      are evident in this kind of artifact, since blacksmiths were individually solving
      the problem of fulfilling the necessary functions of a gibbet cage without
      knowledge of previous examples and under great time pressure. The technology of
      the gibbet shows how state directives intersected with geographical discretion in
      the creation of idiosyncratic local solutions.

PMID- 25834382
TI  - Bevacizumab for the treatment of a complicated posterior melanocytoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: To present a case of a complicated posterior melanocytoma that was
      successfully treated with intravitreal bevacizumab. CASE REPORT: A 50-year-old
      Caucasian man was referred with sudden-onset metamorphopsia and decreased vision
      in his right eye over the course of the last 2 months. His best-corrected visual
      acuity was 20/80 and poorer than Jaeger 14 in the right eye, and 20/20 and Jaeger
      1 in his left eye. In the right fundus, there was a melanocytic lesion occupying
      the inferotemporal quadrant of the optic disk, extending to the adjacent choroid
      inferiorly; optic nerve edema, superotemporal retinal vein dilatation, and
      subretinal fluid under the macula and nasal half of the posterior pole were
      observed, and a subretinal choroidal neovascularization complex was observed
      adjacent to the superotemporal margin of the optic disk, confirmed by fluorescein
      angiography, surrounded by a dense subretinal hemorrhage. Optical coherence
      tomography showed retinal edema and detachment of neurosensory retina. The
      patient was treated with three consecutive doses on a monthly basis of
      intravitreal 1.25 mg/0.05 mL bevacizumab. Visual acuity recovered rapidly, and at
      4 months after treatment, it was 20/20 and Jaeger 1, with complete resolution of
      macular edema and subretinal fluid and hemorrhage. After 3 years of follow-up,
      best-corrected visual acuity remained stable, macular area was normal, and there
      was no evident optic nerve edema, retinal vein caliber and aspect were normal,
      and there was no significant change of the tumor. Fluorescein angiography only
      evidenced late staining of choroidal neovascularization scar, and optical
      coherence tomography showed a normal macular anatomy. CONCLUSION: Intravitreal
      bevacizumab was effective in the treatment of choroidal neovascularization, optic
      nerve edema, venous dilatation, and local capillary telangiectasia, complicating
      an optic disk melanocytoma.

PMID- 25834383
TI  - Difference in ocular surface temperature by infrared thermography in phakic and
      pseudophakic patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the change in ocular surface temperature between healthy
      phakic and pseudophakic patients. METHODS: We included patients with no history
      of ocular disease other than cataract. Patients were divided into three groups:
      clear lens, cataract, and pseudophakic. All patients had two ocular surface
      digital thermal scans. An average of five surface points was used as the mean
      ocular surface temperature. Results were analyzed with a one-way analysis of
      variance and a Tukey's least significance difference test. The patients were
      further divided into phakic and pseudophakic groups. Correlation coefficients
      between several variables were done in order to assess dependencies. RESULTS:
      Fifty-six eyes (28 cataracts, 12 clear lenses, 16 pseudophakic) were enrolled.
      The mean ocular surface temperature in the cataract group was 34.14 degrees C+/
      1.51 degrees C; clear lens: 34.43 degrees C+/-2.27 degrees C; and pseudophakic:
      34.97 degrees C+/-1.57 degrees C. There were no statistical differences among the
      study groups (P=0.3). There was a nonsignificant negative correlation trend
      between age and surface temperature in the phakic group. The trend inverted in
      the pseudophakic group but without statistical significance. CONCLUSION: Although
      cataract extraction and intraocular lens implantation seem to induce a mild
      increase in ocular surface temperature, the effect is not clear and not
      significant.

PMID- 25834384
TI  - Toxic anterior segment syndrome after uncomplicated cataract surgery possibly
      associated with intracamaral use of cefuroxime.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report toxic anterior segment syndrome (TASS) after cataract surgery
      possibly associated with intracameral use of cefuroxime. METHODS: We conducted a
      retrospective chart review and analysis on the pre- and postoperative conditions
      of the subjects who had developed TASS. RESULTS: The patient group consisted of
      17 patients. Tyndallization and fibrin fibers were positive in all eyes. In four
      eyes, hypopyon formation developed. These reactions diminished on the third day
      and fully resolved 1 week after the operations with the use of intensive topical
      steroid and mydriatic therapy. To determine the etiology of TASS, infusion fluid,
      viscoelastics, and intracameral antibiotic agent were changed respectively. After
      changing intracameral antibiotic agent from cefuroxime axetile to moxifloxacin no
      new cases of TASS were diagnosed. CONCLUSION: All agents injected into the
      anterior chamber can cause TASS. Ophthalmologists and operating room staff need
      to pay careful attention to all drugs and irrigating solutions.

PMID- 25834385
TI  - Corneal decompensation following filtering surgery with the Ex-PRESS((r)) mini
      glaucoma shunt device.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report a case of corneal decompensation due to the Ex-PRESS((r)) mini
      glaucoma shunt device (Ex-PRESS). PATIENT AND METHODS: A 75-year-old man had
      pseudoexfoliation glaucoma in his right eye. He underwent filtration surgery with
      Ex-PRESS. His intraocular pressure was 7 mmHg after 9 months. RESULTS: We
      observed partial decompensation of the corneal endothelium adjacent to the
      filtering bleb. Specular microscopy revealed a marked decrease in the endothelial
      cell density at the center of the cornea. CONCLUSION: Anterior segment optical
      coherence tomography is very useful for evaluating corneal edema and the position
      of Ex-PRESS. It is important to follow up with an examination of the corneal
      endothelial cells.

PMID- 25834386
TI  - Standard versus trans-epithelial collagen cross-linking in keratoconus patients
      suitable for standard collagen cross-linking.
AB  - PURPOSE: Evaluating the clinical results of trans-epithelial collagen cross
      linking (CXL) and standard CXL in patients with progressive keratoconus. METHODS:
      This prospective study comprised 20 eyes of 20 patients with progressive
      keratoconus. Ten eyes were treated by standard CXL and ten by trans-epithelial
      cross-linking (TE-CXL, epithelium on) with 1 year of follow-up. All patients
      underwent complete ophthalmologic testing that included pre- and postoperative
      uncorrected visual acuity, corrected visual acuity, spherical error, spherical
      equivalent, corneal astigmatism, simulated maximum, minimum, and average
      keratometry, coma and spherical aberration, optical pachymetry, and endothelial
      cell density. Intra-and postoperative complications were recorded. The solution
      used for standard CXL comprised riboflavin 0.1% and dextran 20.0% (Ricrolin),
      while the solution for TE-CXL (Ricrolin, TE) comprised riboflavin 0.1%, dextran
      15.0%, trometamol (Tris), and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. Ultraviolet-A
      treatment was performed with UV-X System at 3 mW/cm(2). RESULTS: In both the
      standard CXL group (ten patients, ten eyes; mean age, 30.4+/-7.3 years) and the
      TE-CXL group (ten patients, ten eyes; mean age, 28+/-3.8 years), uncorrected
      visual acuity and corrected visual acuity improved significantly after treatment.
      Furthermore, a significant improvement in topographic outcomes, spherical error,
      and spherical equivalent was observed in both groups at month 12 posttreatment.
      No significant variations were recorded in other parameters. No complications
      were noted. CONCLUSION: A 1-year follow-up showed stability of clinical and
      refractive outcomes after standard CXL and TE-CXL.

PMID- 25834387
TI  - Optical coherence tomography classification of indirect choroidal ruptures:
      conclusive or misleading?

PMID- 25834388
TI  - Lead time for appointment and the no-show rate in an ophthalmology clinic.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a correlation
      between the time in advance an appointment is scheduled and the no-show rate.
      METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in an outpatient
      ophthalmology clinic. Appointment data were analyzed for 51,529 ophthalmology
      appointments in the computerized scheduling database during a 12-month period.
      RESULTS: The average no-show rate was 21.7% and 6.6% for resident- and faculty
      clinic, respectively (P<0.001). The no-show rate increased, and the likelihood an
      appointment would be kept decreased as the time in advance an appointment was
      scheduled increased. With a lead time for appointment of 0-2 weeks, the average
      no-show rate was 9.1% and 2.4% for the resident- and faculty-clinic,
      respectively. With a lead time for appointment of 6 months, the average no-show
      rate increased to 38.3% (P<0.001) and 6.9% (P<0.001) for the resident-and faculty
      clinic, respectively. A predicted no-show rate model showed approximately 2%
      reduction of the no-show rate for 10% increase of the proportion of patients
      scheduled within 2 weeks, potentially reducing the no-show rate by nearly 60%
      with all appointments scheduled 0-2 weeks in advance. CONCLUSION: Clinic no-show
      rate increased as appointment lead time increased. Predictive models suggest that
      the implementation of a short-term appointment scheduling strategy may reduce the
      overall clinic no-show rate, particularly in clinic populations with a high no
      show rate.

PMID- 25834389
TI  - Spontaneous resolution of subfoveal perfluorocarbon.
AB  - Perfluorocarbon liquids (PFCL) have transformed the surgical approach to complex
      retinal detachments, but their use can be complicated by subretinal retention.
      Migration of peripherally located subretinal PFCL towards the fovea is well
      established, but spontaneous resolution of subfoveal PFCL without surgical
      evacuation or displacement has rarely been described. We present a case of a
      large single retained subfoveal PFCL droplet following vitrectomy with membrane
      peeling, inferior relaxing retinectomy, and silicone oil tamponade that
      demonstrated spontaneous resolution 3 weeks postoperatively, with subsequent
      anatomic and visual improvement. No residual subretinal PFCL was noted, and we
      hypothesize that the PFCL droplet spontaneously extruded through a transient hole
      created in the thinned retina overlying the droplet, which subsequently closed
      spontaneously. Further understanding of the mechanisms of PFCL migration and
      resolution may facilitate improved treatments for this complication. 

PMID- 25834390
TI  - Near-infrared reflectance bull's eye maculopathy as an early indication of
      hydroxychloroquine toxicity.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: In some patients, hydroxychloroquine ocular toxicity may progress
      even following cessation of therapy. Any leverage the clinician may use to allow
      earlier detection may avert significant vision loss. OBSERVATION: We report three
      cases suggesting that bull's eye maculopathy seen on near-infrared reflectance
      with a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope could be an early, objective
      manifestation of hydroxychloroquine ocular toxicity, and with progression of the
      disease this near-infrared "bull's eye" change may disappear. CONCLUSION AND
      RELEVANCE: Alerting clinicians to this observation may allow a larger case series
      to corroborate the hypothesis that bull's eye maculopathy detected by near
      infrared reflectance may represent an early sign of hydroxychloroquine toxicity.

PMID- 25834392
TI  - The effect of ethanol sclerotherapy of 5 minutes duration on cyst diameter and
      rat ovarian tissue in simple ovarian cysts.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To examine the effect of 95% ethanol sclerotherapy (EST) administered
      over 5 minutes on cyst diameter and ovarian tissue in experimentally induced
      simple ovarian cysts in a rat model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In order to induce
      ovarian cysts, unilateral total salpingectomy was performed in regularly
      menstruating adult female Wistar albino rats (n=20) between 12 and 14 weeks of
      age and weighing between 200 and 220 g. One month after the procedure, the
      abdominal cavity was opened and 14 rats (70%) were found to have developed
      macroscopic cysts. Rats with macroscopic cysts (n=14) were assigned into two
      groups in a prospective and single-blinded manner: group 1 (G1) (n=7), control
      rats; and group 2 (G2) (n=7), 5-minute EST 95% group. Cyst diameter was measured
      and recorded for each rat. In G2, after whole cyst fluid was aspirated the cystic
      cavity was irrigated with 95% ethanol, approximately equal to half of the
      aspirated cyst volume, after which an interval of 5 minutes was allowed and same
      amount was re-aspirated and the abdominal cavity was closed. One month after this
      procedure, abdominal cavities were reopened and intra-abdominal adhesion scoring
      was performed in both groups. Cyst diameter was measured for each rat, and the
      right ovary was removed, fixed in 10% formaldehyde, and transported to the
      laboratory. A histologic assessment of the ovarian tissues was performed under
      light microscopy following staining with hematoxylin and eosin. Mann-Whitney U
      test was used for statistical analysis. A P-level less than 0.05 was considered
      significant. RESULTS: In comparison with G1, there was a statistically
      significant reduction in the mean ovarian cyst dimensions in G2, while there were
      no significant differences between the two groups with respect to total number of
      follicles. Again, a significant increase in apoptotic activity and germinal
      epithelial degeneration was observed in G2 as compared to G1. The two groups were
      similar in terms of adhesion formation. CONCLUSION: Although 95% EST results in a
      reduction in the size of simple ovarian cysts, this effect seems to be achieved
      at the expense of ovarian tissue injury.

PMID- 25834391
TI  - Profile of atacicept and its potential in the treatment of systemic lupus
      erythematosus.
AB  - The importance of B cell activating factors in the generation of autoantibodies
      in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is now recognized. The two
      key factors, known as BAFF and APRIL, produced by a variety of cells including
      monocytes, dendritic cells and T cells, also help to regulate B cell maturation,
      function and survival. Biologic agents that block these factors have now been
      developed and tried out in large scale clinical trials in SLE patients. Benlysta
      which blocks BAFF has met some of its end points in clinical trials and is
      approved for use in patients with skin and joint disease who have failed
      conventional drugs. In contrast, clinical trials using atacicept which blocks
      both BAFF and APRIL have been more challenging to interpret. An early study in
      lupus nephritis was, mistakenly, abandoned due to serious infections thought to
      be linked to the biologic when in fact the dramatic fall in the immunoglobulin
      levels took place when the patients were given mycophenolate, prior to the
      introduction of the atacicept. Likewise the higher dose arm (150 mgm) of a flare
      prevention study was terminated prematurely when 2 deaths occurred. However, the
      mortality rate in this study was identical to that seen in the Benlysta studies
      and a post hoc analysis found a highly significant benefit for the 150mgm arm
      compared to the lower dose (75 mgm) and placebo arms. Other trials with both
      Benlysta and atacicept are on-going. 

PMID- 25834393
TI  - Clinicopathological significance of CXCR4 in non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence indicates that C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4
      (CXCR4) is a candidate oncogene in several types of human tumors including non
      small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the correlation between CXCR4 expression
      and clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC remains unclear. Here, we
      conducted a meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate the association of CXCR4
      expression with the incidence of NSCLC and clinicopatho-logical characteristics.
      METHODS: A detailed literature search was made from Medline and Web of Science
      for related research publications written in English and Chinese. The
      methodological quality of the studies was also evaluated. Analyses of pooled data
      were performed. Odds ratio (OR) and hazard ratio (HR) were calculated and
      summarized. RESULTS: The final analysis of 1,446 NSCLC patients from 13 eligible
      studies was performed. We observed that CXCR4 expression was significantly higher
      in NSCLC than in normal lung tissue from the pooled OR from five studies
      including 380 NSCLC and 118 normal lung tissue (OR=12.86, 95% confidence interval
      =3.63-45.59, P<0.0001). CXCR4 expression was not associated with smoking status
      and type of pathology. However, CXCR4 expression was significantly associated
      with clinical stages, metastatic status, and overall survival in NSCLC patients.
      CONCLUSION: The results of this meta-analysis suggest that CXCR4 expression is
      associated with an increased risk and worse survival in NSCLC patients. The
      aberrant CXCR4 expression plays an important role in the carcinogenesis and
      metastasis of NSCLC.

PMID- 25834394
TI  - Development and in vitro characterization of drug delivery system of rifapentine
      for osteoarticular tuberculosis.
AB  - The study was to develop and evaluate the rifapentine-loaded poly(lactic acid-co
      glycolic acid) (PLGA) microspheres (RPMs) for the treatment of osteoarticular
      tuberculosis to avoid critical side effects caused by oral regimens of
      antibiotics or intravenous antibiotics. The RPMs were spherical with rough
      surfaces, and elevated amounts of rifapentine in the formulation markedly
      increased the particle size and drug loading, while decreased the size
      distribution and entrapment efficiency. The highest drug loading and
      encapsulation efficiency of RPMs were 23.93%+/-3.93% and 88.49%+/-8.49%,
      respectively. After the initial rapid drug release, the release rate gradually
      decreased, and approximately 80% of the encapsulated rifapentine was released
      after 30 days of incubation. Moreover, RPMs could effectively inhibit the growth
      of Staphylococcus aureus. With increasing rifapentine content, the inhibition
      zones were continuously enlarged while the minimal inhibitory concentration
      values decreased. These results suggested that RPMs were bioactive and controlled
      release delivery systems for the treatment of osteoarticular tuberculosis.

PMID- 25834395
TI  - Evaluation of cationic polyamidoamine dendrimers' dermal toxicity in the rat skin
      model.
AB  - Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers are multi-branched, three-dimensional polymers
      with unique architecture, which makes these molecules attractive for medical and
      pharmaceutical applications. Using PAMAM as drug carriers for topical delivery
      might be beneficial as they only produce a transient effect without skin
      irritation. To evaluate the dermal toxicity of cationic PAMAM dendrimers
      generation 2 and generation 3, skin irritation studies were performed in vivo in
      the rat skin model. After 10 days topical application of various concentrations
      of PAMAM-NH2 (0.3 mg/mL, 3 mg/mL, 6 mg/mL, 30 mg/mL, 300 mg/mL), skin irritation
      was evaluated by visual, histopathological, and immunohistochemical examination.
      Microscopic assessment after hematoxylin-eosin staining revealed significant
      morphological changes of epidermal cells after application of PAMAM-NH2 at a
      concentration of >=6 mg/mL. Morphological alterations of epidermal cells included
      cytoplasmic vacuolization of keratinocytes in the basal and spinous layers.
      Cytomorphological changes in keratinocytes, overall picture of the epidermis, and
      histopathological changes in the dermis were dose dependent. Detected alterations
      concerned hyperplasia of connective tissue fibers and leukocyte infiltration.
      Visible granulocyte infiltration in the upper dermis and sockets formed by
      necrotic, cornified cells in the hyperplastic foci of epithelium were also noted.
      Immunohistochemical analyses revealed that increased nuclear immunoreactivity to
      PCNA correlated with the concentration of PAMAM-NH2, but no significant
      differences in the cell proliferation activity in skin treated with PAMAM-NH2
      generation 2 or generation 3 were observed. Significantly higher expression of
      PCNA extended throughout the skin layers might suggest abnormal cell
      proliferation, which, as a consequence, might even lead to neoplastic changes. 

PMID- 25834396
TI  - Development and optimization of carvedilol orodispersible tablets: enhancement of
      pharmacokinetic parameters in rabbits.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Carvedilol (CVD) is used for the treatment of essential hypertension,
      heart failure, and systolic dysfunction after myocardial infarction. Due to its
      lower aqueous solubility and extensive first-pass metabolism, the absolute
      bioavailability of CVD does not exceed 30%. To overcome these drawbacks, the
      objective of this work was to improve the solubility and onset of action of CVD
      through complexation with hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin and formulation of the
      prepared complex as orodispersible tablets (ODTs). METHODS: Compatibility among
      CVD and all tablet excipients using differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier
      transform infrared spectroscopy, complexation of CVD with different polymers, and
      determination of the solubility of CVD in the prepared complexes were first
      determined. A Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to study the effect of tablet
      formulation variables on the characteristics of the prepared tablets and to
      optimize preparation conditions. According to BBD design, 15 formulations of CVD
      ODTs were prepared by direct compression and then evaluated for their quality
      attributes. The relative pharmacokinetic parameters of the optimized CVD-ODTs
      were compared with those of the marketed CVD tablet. A single dose, equivalent to
      2.5 mg/kg CVD, was administered orally to New Zealand white rabbits using a
      double-blind, randomized, crossover design. RESULTS: The solubility of CVD was
      improved from 7.32 to 22.92 mg/mL after complexation with hydroxypropyl-beta
      cyclodextrin at a molar ratio of 1:2 (CVD to cyclodextrin). The formulated CVD
      ODTs showed satisfactory results concerning tablet hardness (5.35 kg/cm(2)),
      disintegration time (18 seconds), and maximum amount of CVD released (99.72%).
      The pharmacokinetic data for the optimized CVD-ODT showed a significant (P<0.05)
      increase in maximum plasma concentration from 363.667 to 496.4 ng/mL, and a
      shortening of the time taken to reach maximum plasma concentration to 2 hours in
      comparison with the marketed tablet. CONCLUSION: The optimized CVD-ODTs showed
      improved oral absorption of CVD and a subsequent acceleration of clinical effect,
      which is favored for hypertensive and cardiac patients.

PMID- 25834397
TI  - Steroids as an adjunct for reducing the incidence of proliferative
      vitreoretinopathy after rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery: a systematic
      review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This meta-analysis was performed to determine the effectiveness of
      steroids as an adjunct following rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) surgery.
      METHODS: RRD patients with or without proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) were
      included. The treatment group included patients in whom steroids were used as an
      adjunct and a control group in which placebo was used. Only randomized controlled
      trials were included. We searched the main electronic databases and included
      studies published until July 2014. PVR odds ratio, visual acuity, retinal
      reattachment rate, and complications were evaluated in three trials. RESULTS:
      Three randomized controlled trials were included in the meta-analysis. There was
      no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative PVR between groups
      (heterogeneity I (2)=48%, P=0.14). However, the incidence of postoperative PVR
      was lower in the treatment group (I (2)=0%, P<0.0001) than in the control group
      when a PVR grade C study was excluded. There was no statistically significant
      difference in postoperative visual acuity between the treatment and control
      groups (odds ratio -0.18; 95% confidence interval -0.38, 0.02; P=0.08). The two
      groups had similar results for primary/final retinal reattachment and reoperation
      rate. There was no significant difference in postoperative intraocular pressure.
      CONCLUSION: This systematic review demonstrates that steroids may significantly
      reduce the incidence of postoperative PVR grade B or lower following RRD surgery.

PMID- 25834398
TI  - In vivo antitumor and antimetastatic effects of flavokawain B in 4T1 breast
      cancer cell-challenged mice.
AB  - Flavokawain B (FKB) is a naturally occurring chalcone that can be isolated
      through the root extracts of the kava-kava plant (Piper methysticum). It can also
      be synthesized chemically to increase the yield. This compound is a promising
      candidate as a biological agent, as it is reported to be involved in a wide range
      of biological activities. Furthermore, FKB was reported to have antitumorigenic
      effects in several cancer cell lines in vitro. However, the in vivo antitumor
      effects of FKB have not been reported on yet. Breast cancer is one of the major
      causes of cancer-related deaths in the world today. Any potential treatment
      should not only impede the growth of the tumor, but also modulate the immune
      system efficiently and inhibit the formation of secondary tumors. As presented in
      our study, FKB induced apoptosis in 4T1 tumors in vivo, as evidenced by the
      terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling and hematoxylin and
      eosin staining of the tumor. FKB also regulated the immune system by increasing
      both helper and cytolytic T-cell and natural killer cell populations. In
      addition, FKB also enhanced the levels of interleukin 2 and interferon gamma but
      suppressed interleukin 1B. Apart from that, FKB was also found to inhibit
      metastasis, as evaluated by clonogenic assay, bone marrow smearing assay, real
      time polymerase chain reaction, Western blot, and proteome profiler analysis. All
      in all, FKB may serve as a promising anticancer agent, especially in treating
      breast cancer.

PMID- 25834399
TI  - Induction of apoptosis and autophagy via sirtuin1- and PI3K/Akt/mTOR-mediated
      pathways by plumbagin in human prostate cancer cells.
AB  - Plumbagin (PLB) has been shown to have anticancer activities in animal models,
      but the role of PLB in prostate cancer treatment is unclear. This study aimed to
      investigate the effects of PLB on apoptosis and autophagy and the underlying
      mechanisms in human prostate cancer cell lines PC-3 and DU145. Our study has
      shown that PLB had potent pro-apoptotic and pro-autophagic effects on PC-3 and
      DU145 cells. PLB induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis and autophagy in
      concentration- and time-dependent manners in both PC-3 and DU145 cells. PLB
      induced inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B
      (Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and p38 mitogen-activated protein
      kinase (MAPK) pathways and activation of 5'-AMP-dependent kinase (AMPK) as
      indicated by their altered phosphorylation, contributing to the pro-autophagic
      activity of PLB. Modulation of autophagy altered basal and PLB-induced apoptosis
      in both cell lines. Furthermore, PLB downregulated sirtuin 1 (Sirt1), and
      inhibition of Sirt1 enhanced autophagy, whereas the induction of Sirt1 abolished
      PLB-induced autophagy in PC-3 and DU145 cells. In addition, PLB downregulated pre
      B cell colony-enhancing factor/visfatin, and the inhibition of pre-B cell colony
      enhancing factor/visfatin significantly enhanced basal and PLB-induced apoptosis
      and autophagy in both cell lines. Moreover, reduction of intracellular reactive
      oxygen species (ROS) level attenuated the apoptosis- and autophagy-inducing
      effects of PLB on both PC-3 and DU145 cells. These findings indicate that PLB
      promotes apoptosis and autophagy in prostate cancer cells via Sirt1- and
      PI3K/Akt/mTOR-mediated pathways with contribution from AMPK-, p38 MAPK-, visfatin
      , and ROS-associated pathways. 

PMID- 25834400
TI  - Plumbagin induces G2/M arrest, apoptosis, and autophagy via p38 MAPK- and
      PI3K/Akt/mTOR-mediated pathways in human tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells.
AB  - Plumbagin (5-hydroxy-2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone; PLB), a naturally occurring
      naphthoquinone isolated from the roots of Plumbaginaceae plants, has been
      reported to possess anticancer activities in both in vitro and in vivo studies,
      but the effect of PLB on tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) is not fully
      understood. This study aimed to investigate the effects of PLB on cell cycle
      distribution, apoptosis, and autophagy, and the underlying mechanisms in the
      human TSCC cell line SCC25. The results have revealed that PLB exerted potent
      inducing effects on cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and autophagy in SCC25 cells.
      PLB arrested SCC25 cells at the G2/M phase in a concentration- and time-dependent
      manner with a decrease in the expression level of cell division cycle protein 2
      homolog (Cdc2) and cyclin B1 and increase in the expression level of p21
      Waf1/Cip1, p27 Kip1, and p53 in SCC25 cells. PLB markedly induced apoptosis and
      autophagy in SCC25 cells. PLB decreased the expression of the anti-apoptotic
      proteins B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and B-cell lymphoma-extra large (Bcl-xl) while
      increasing the expression level of the pro-apoptotic protein Bcl-2-associated X
      protein (Bax) in SCC25 cells. Furthermore, PLB inhibited phosphatidylinositol 3
      kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR),
      glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK3beta), and p38 mitogen-activated protein
      kinase (p38 MAPK) pathways as indicated by the alteration in the ratio of
      phosphorylation level over total protein expression level, contributing to the
      autophagy inducing effect. In addition, we found that wortmannin (a PI3K
      inhibitor) and SB202190 (a selective inhibitor of p38 MAPK) strikingly enhanced
      PLB-induced autophagy in SCC25 cells, suggesting the involvement of PI3K- and p38
      MAPK-mediated signaling pathways. Moreover, PLB induced intracellular reactive
      oxygen species (ROS) generation and this effect was attenuated by l-glutathione
      (GSH) and n-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC). Taken together, these results indicate that
      PLB promotes cellular apoptosis and autophagy in TSCC cells involving p38 MAPK-
      and PI3K/Akt/mTOR-mediated pathways with contribution from the GSK3beta and ROS
      mediated pathways.

PMID- 25834401
TI  - The investigational Aurora kinase A inhibitor alisertib (MLN8237) induces cell
      cycle G2/M arrest, apoptosis, and autophagy via p38 MAPK and Akt/mTOR signaling
      pathways in human breast cancer cells.
AB  - Alisertib (ALS) is an investigational potent Aurora A kinase inhibitor currently
      undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of hematological and non
      hematological malignancies. However, its antitumor activity has not been tested
      in human breast cancer. This study aimed to investigate the effect of ALS on the
      growth, apoptosis, and autophagy, and the underlying mechanisms in human breast
      cancer MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cells. In the current study, we identified that ALS
      had potent growth-inhibitory, pro-apoptotic, and pro-autophagic effects in MCF7
      and MDA-MB-231 cells. ALS arrested the cells in G2/M phase in MCF7 and MDA-MB-231
      cells which was accompanied by the downregulation of cyclin-dependent kinase
      (CDK)1/cell division cycle (CDC) 2, CDK2, and cyclin B1 and upregulation of p21
      Waf1/Cip1, p27 Kip1, and p53, suggesting that ALS induces G2/M arrest through
      modulation of p53/p21/CDC2/cyclin B1 pathways. ALS induced mitochondria-mediated
      apoptosis in MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cells; ALS significantly decreased the
      expression of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), but increased the expression of B-cell
      lymphoma 2-associated X protein (Bax) and p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis
      (PUMA), and increased the expression of cleaved caspases 3 and 9. ALS
      significantly increased the expression level of membrane-bound microtubule
      associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3)-II and beclin 1 and induced inhibition
      of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/mammalian target
      of rapamycin (mTOR) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways in
      MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cells as indicated by their altered phosphorylation,
      contributing to the pro-autophagic activities of ALS. Furthermore, treatment with
      wortmannin markedly downregulated ALS-induced p38 MAPK activation and LC3
      conversion. In addition, knockdown of the p38 MAPK gene by ribonucleic acid
      interference upregulated Akt activation and resulted in LC3-II accumulation.
      These findings indicate that ALS promotes cellular apoptosis and autophagy in
      breast cancer cells via modulation of p38 MAPK/Akt/mTOR pathways. Further studies
      are warranted to further explore the molecular targets of ALS in the treatment of
      breast cancer.

PMID- 25834402
TI  - A phase I/II study of biweekly capecitabine and irinotecan plus bevacizumab as
      second-line chemotherapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Triweekly capecitabine plus irinotecan (XELIRI) is not completely
      regarded as a valid substitute for fluorouracil, leucovorin, and irinotecan
      (FOLFIRI) in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) because of the potential for
      greater toxicity. We conducted a phase I/II study to assess the efficacy and
      safety of biweekly XELIRI plus bevacizumab (BV) as second-line chemotherapy for
      mCRC. METHODS: Patients with mCRC who had received prior chemotherapy including
      oxaliplatin and BV and had a UGT1A1 genotype of wild-type or heterozygous for
      UGT1A1*6 or *28 were eligible for this study. Treatment comprised capecitabine
      1,000 mg/m(2) twice daily from the evening of day 1 to the morning of day 8,
      intravenous irinotecan on day 1, and BV 5 mg/kg on day 1 every 2 weeks. The phase
      I study consisted of two steps (irinotecan 150 and 180 mg/m(2)), and dose
      limiting toxicity was assessed during the first treatment cycle. The primary
      endpoint of the phase II study was progression-free survival (PFS). RESULTS: The
      recommended dose of irinotecan was determined to be 180 mg/m(2) in the phase I
      study. Between November 2010 and August 2013, 44 patients were enrolled in phase
      II. The patients' characteristics were as follows (N=44): median age, 60 years
      (range 32-80); male/female, 21/23; and UGT1A1 wild-type/heterozygous, 29/15. The
      median PFS was 6.8 months (95% confidence interval, 5.3-8.2 months), and the
      primary endpoint was met. Median overall survival was 18.3 months. The response
      rate was 22.7%. There was no significant difference in PFS or overall survival
      according to UGT1A1 status. Grade 3 or higher adverse events were mainly
      neutropenia in six patients and diarrhea in five patients. There were no other
      severe adverse events or treatment-related deaths. CONCLUSION: In mCRC patients
      with wild-type or heterozygous UGT1A1*6 or *28 genotype, biweekly XELIRI + BV is
      effective and feasible as second-line chemotherapy. Biweekly XELIRI + BV is
      considered a valid substitute for FOLFIRI + BV in mCRC.

PMID- 25834403
TI  - Synthesis and biological evaluation of a novel class of curcumin analogs as anti
      inflammatory agents for prevention and treatment of sepsis in mouse model.
AB  - A novel class of asymmetric mono-carbonyl analogs of curcumin (AMACs) were
      synthesized and screened for anti-inflammatory activity. These analogs are
      chemically stable as characterized by UV absorption spectra. In vitro, compounds
      3f, 3m, 4b, and 4d markedly inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced expression
      of pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 in a
      dose-dependent manner, with IC50 values in low micromolar range. In vivo,
      compound 3f demonstrated potent preventive and therapeutic effects on LPS-induced
      sepsis in mouse model. Compound 3f downregulated the phosphorylation of
      extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 MAPK and suppressed IkappaBalpha
      degradation, which suggests that the possible anti-inflammatory mechanism of
      compound 3f may be through downregulating nuclear factor kappa binding (NF
      kappaB) and ERK pathways. Also, we solved the crystal structure of compound 3e to
      confirm the asymmetrical structure. The quantitative structure-activity
      relationship analysis reveals that the electron-withdrawing substituents on
      aromatic ring of lead structures could improve activity. These active AMACs
      represent a new class of anti-inflammatory agents with improved stability,
      bioavailability, and potency compared to curcumin. Our results suggest that 3f
      may be further developed as a potential agent for prevention and treatment of
      sepsis or other inflammation-related diseases. 

PMID- 25834404
TI  - Human colon carcinogenesis is associated with increased interleukin-17-driven
      inflammatory responses.
AB  - Inflammation is known to contribute to carcinogenesis in human colorectal cancer.
      Proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-17 (IL-17 or IL-17A) has been shown to play
      a critical role in colon carcinogenesis in mouse models. However, few studies
      have investigated IL-17A in human colon tissues. In the present study, we
      assessed IL-17-driven inflammatory responses in 17 cases of human colon
      adenocarcinomas, 16 cases of human normal colon tissues adjacent to the resected
      colon adenocarcinomas, ten cases of human ulcerative colitis tissues from
      biopsies, and eight cases of human colon polyps diagnosed as benign adenomas. We
      found that human colon adenocarcinomas contained the highest levels of IL-17A
      cytokine, which was significantly higher than the IL-17A levels in the adenomas,
      ulcerative colitis, and normal colon tissues (P<0.01). The levels of IL-17
      receptor A (IL-17RA) were also the highest in human colon adenocarcinomas,
      followed by adenomas and ulcerative colitis. The increased levels of IL-17A and
      IL-17RA were accompanied with increased IL-17-driven inflammatory responses,
      including activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and c-Jun
      N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathways, increase in expression of matrix
      metalloproteinase (MMP)9, MMP7, MMP2, B-cell lymphoma (Bcl-2), and cyclin D1,
      decrease in Bcl-2-associated X protein (BAX) expression, and increase in vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF receptor (VEGFR) expression that were
      associated with increased angiogenesis. These findings suggest that IL-17 and its
      signaling pathways appear as promising new targets in the design and development
      of drugs for cancer prevention and treatment, particularly in colorectal cancer.

PMID- 25834406
TI  - Solifenacin/tamsulosin fixed-dose combination therapy to treat lower urinary
      tract symptoms in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.
AB  - Treatment of male lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) has traditionally focused
      on the management of benign prostatic obstruction, but the contribution of
      bladder dysfunction has been recently recognized. Therefore, it is well
      understood that LUTS have multifactorial etiology and often occur in clusters and
      not in isolation. Voiding LUTS are highly prevalent in men, but storage LUTS have
      been proved to be more bothersome. alpha1-Blockers are the most widely used
      pharmacologic agents for the treatment of symptoms relating to benign prostatic
      enlargement due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), while antimuscarinics are
      the drug class of choice for overactive bladder symptoms. A combination of the
      two drug classes would be a reasonable approach to treat men with both storage
      and voiding symptoms, and several short-term studies have proved the efficacy and
      safety of different combinations with an alpha1-blocker and an antimuscarinic.
      Following previous studies on the separate administration of solifenacin and
      tamsulosin, a fixed-dose combination tablet of tamsulosin oral controlled
      absorption system (OCAS) 0.4 mg and solifenacin succinate 6 mg has been recently
      introduced, and the current review evaluates the available data on the use of
      this fixed-dose combination in the treatment of LUTS in men with BPH. 

PMID- 25834407
TI  - Patient preferences and willingness to pay for innovations in intermittent self
      catheters.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intermittent catheterization is the gold standard for bladder
      management in Europe in people with spinal cord injuries. The aim of the present
      study was to identify and investigate individuals' preferences regarding
      intermittent self-catheterization (ISC) devices and furthermore investigate the
      willingness to pay for attributes in ISC devices in the UK, France, and the
      Netherlands. METHODS: A discrete choice experiment survey was conducted to
      evaluate the patients' perceived value of catheter features. Attributes were
      selected based upon a literature review of the most important characteristics of
      catheters and the survey was developed and validated with input from patients and
      medical experts. Data were analyzed using the conditional logit model whereby the
      coefficients obtained from the model provided an estimate of the (log) odds
      ratios of preference for attributes. Willingness to pay was estimated for all
      levels of the attributes. RESULTS: Two-hundred and eighty-three participants
      completed the questionnaire and were included in data analysis. Risk of infection
      had the highest odds ratios as preferred important attribute for all three
      countries followed by ease of insertion. "Pre-coated catheters" was found to be
      valued as the most preferred coating technology across all countries. Out of
      pocket cost was a significant influence on patients' choice. CONCLUSION: Users of
      ISC perceive the value of convenience (size of catheter), ease of insertion, and
      reduced risk of infection as the most important features attached to an
      intermittent catheter. These results are applicable both for the "classic" ISC
      user as well as for another broad group of catheter dependent individuals.

PMID- 25834405
TI  - Complete genome-wide screening and subtractive genomic approach revealed new
      virulence factors, potential drug targets against bio-war pathogen Brucella
      melitensis 16M.
AB  - Brucella melitensis 16M is a Gram-negative coccobacillus that infects both
      animals and humans. It causes a disease known as brucellosis, which is
      characterized by acute febrile illness in humans and causes abortions in
      livestock. To prevent and control brucellosis, identification of putative drug
      targets is crucial. The present study aimed to identify drug targets in B.
      melitensis 16M by using a subtractive genomic approach. We used available
      database repositories (Database of Essential Genes, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes
      and Genomes Automatic Annotation Server, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and
      Genomes) to identify putative genes that are nonhomologous to humans and
      essential for pathogen B. melitensis 16M. The results revealed that among 3 Mb
      genome size of pathogen, 53 putative characterized and 13 uncharacterized
      hypothetical genes were identified; further, from Basic Local Alignment Search
      Tool protein analysis, one hypothetical protein showed a close resemblance (50%)
      to Silicibacter pomeroyi DUF1285 family protein (2RE3). A further homology model
      of the target was constructed using MODELLER 9.12 and optimized through variable
      target function method by molecular dynamics optimization with simulating
      annealing. The stereochemical quality of the restrained model was evaluated by
      PROCHECK, VERIFY-3D, ERRAT, and WHATIF servers. Furthermore, structure-based
      virtual screening was carried out against the predicted active site of the
      respective protein using the glycerol structural analogs from the PubChem
      database. We identified five best inhibitors with strong affinities, stable
      interactions, and also with reliable drug-like properties. Hence, these leads
      might be used as the most effective inhibitors of modeled protein. The outcome of
      the present work of virtual screening of putative gene targets might facilitate
      design of potential drugs for better treatment against brucellosis. 

PMID- 25834408
TI  - Impact of recipient-related factors on structural dysfunction of xenoaortic
      bioprosthetic heart valves.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the influence of recipient-related metabolic factors on the
      rate of structural dysfunction caused by the calcification of xenoaortic
      bioprostheses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed clinical
      status, calcium-phosphorus metabolism, and nonspecific markers of inflammatory
      response in bioprosthetic mitral valve recipients with calcific degeneration
      confirmed by histological and electron microscopic studies (group 1, n=22), and
      in those without degeneration (group 2, n=48). RESULTS: Patients with confirmed
      calcification of bioprostheses were more likely to have a severe clinical state
      (functional class IV in 36% in group 1 versus 15% in group 2, P=0.03) and a
      longer cardiopulmonary bypass period (112.8+/-18.8 minutes in group 1 versus
      97.2+/-23.6 minutes in group 2, P=0.02) during primary surgery. Patients in group
      1 demonstrated moderate hypovitaminosis D (median 34.0, interquartile range
      [21.0; 49.4] vs 40 [27.2; 54.0] pmol/L, P>0.05), osteoprotegerin deficiency (82.5
      [44.2; 115.4] vs 113.5 [65.7; 191.3] pg/mL, P>0.05) and osteopontin deficiency
      (4.5 [3.3; 7.7] vs 5.2 [4.1; 7.2] ng/mL, P>0.05), and significantly reduced bone
      specific alkaline phosphatase isoenzyme (17.1 [12.2; 21.4] vs 22.3 [15.5; 30.5]
      U/L, P=0.01) and interleukin-8 levels (9.74 [9.19; 10.09] pg/mL vs 13.17 [9.72;
      23.1] pg/mL, P=0.045) compared with group 2, with an overall increase in serum
      levels of proinflammatory markers. CONCLUSION: Possible predictors of the rate of
      calcific degeneration of bioprostheses include the degree of decompensated heart
      failure, the duration and invasiveness of surgery, and the characteristics of
      calcium-phosphorus homeostasis in the recipient, defined by bone resorption and
      local and systemic inflammation. The results confirm the hypothesis that cell
      mediated regulation of pathological calcification is caused by dysregulation of
      metabolic processes, which are in turn controlled by proinflammatory signals.

PMID- 25834409
TI  - Needs of family caregivers of stroke patients: a longitudinal study of
      caregivers' perspectives.
AB  - BACKGROUND: After a stroke, patients often suffer from varying degrees of
      disability that require acute inpatient treatment and extended care at home.
      Therefore, the caregivers assume multiple responsibilities that can result in
      stress, particularly when their own needs are inadequately addressed during the
      patient's recovery. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the changing needs of
      family caregivers of stroke patients and factors related to the needs in four
      stages, before the transfer from intensive care unit to neurological unit, before
      discharge, 2 weeks post-hospitalization, and 3 months post-hospitalization.
      METHODS: The design of this study was based on longitudinal research, and the
      participants were family caregivers of stroke patients. Sixty family caregivers
      were recruited in this study. Data were collected at four time points by
      questionnaire. RESULTS: We found that the total number of needs of family
      caregivers decreased as the illness duration increased and that needs differed
      significantly between the four time points (P<0.01). Although the needs were
      different in each stage, health information, professional support, and community
      networks were the leading need domains in all four stages. The major factors
      affecting the care needs of family caregivers were the National Institutes of
      Health Stroke Scale scores of patients on admission, length of hospital stay, and
      physical dependence of patients. CONCLUSION: Family caregivers expected to obtain
      assistance and related care information from professionals during the course of
      the disease. Assessing the needs of family caregivers is important for health
      care workers in understanding problems from the caregivers' perspectives.
      Relevant information and counseling should be provided to family caregivers to
      help them access support when needed.

PMID- 25834410
TI  - Evaluation of reliability and validity of the European Organization for Research
      and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30, Albanian
      version) among breast cancer patients from Kosovo.
AB  - PATIENTS AND METHODS: A sample of breast cancer patients (n=62 women) were
      interviewed for the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer
      Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) in Albanian. Reliability of the
      questionnaire was considered acceptable if Cronbach's alpha was >=0.70. Item
      convergent-discriminant validity was tested through multitrait scaling analysis.
      Construct validity was tested under the hypotheses that QLQ-C30 interscale
      correlations would have an acceptable value of >=0.40 and as well as by known
      group comparisons assessing differences of patient subgroups with reference to
      disease stage and education level. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 50
      years (standard deviation: 10.9 years). Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.54 for the
      cognitive functioning scale to 0.96 for the global health quality of life
      (GH/QoL) scale. In multitrait scaling analysis, the strength of Spearman's
      correlations between an item and its own subscale was >=0.40, with the exception
      of item 5 (rho=0.22); results for item discriminant validity were satisfactory,
      with the exception of item 5, which showed higher correlation with other
      subscales than with its own physical functioning. The Spearman's interscale
      coefficients generally were correlated with each other. Results of known group
      comparisons did not show significant differences in terms of disease stage.
      Regarding education level, patients with high school/university education had
      better functional scales scores only in certain subscales compared to other
      subgroups; furthermore, patients with secondary school education had better
      GH/QoL compared to other subgroups of patients. CONCLUSION: The EORTC QLQ-C30
      (v3.0) in Albanian was found to be valid and reliable for women with breast
      cancer and could be considered as a starting point for further evaluation study.

PMID- 25834411
TI  - Health care consumers' perspectives on pharmacist integration into private
      general practitioner clinics in Malaysia: a qualitative study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pharmacists are considered medication experts but are underutilized
      and exist mainly at the periphery of the Malaysian primary health care team.
      Private general practitioners (GPs) in Malaysia are granted rights under the
      Poison Act 1952 to prescribe and dispense medications at their primary care
      clinics. As most consumers obtain their medications from their GPs, community
      pharmacists' involvement in ensuring safe use of medicines is limited. The
      integration of a pharmacist into private GP clinics has the potential to
      contribute to quality use of medicines. This study aims to explore health care
      consumers' views on the integration of pharmacists within private GP clinics in
      Malaysia. METHODS: A purposive sample of health care consumers in Selangor and
      Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were invited to participate in focus groups and semi
      structured interviews. Sessions were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim and
      thematically analyzed using NVivo 10. RESULTS: A total of 24 health care
      consumers participated in two focus groups and six semi-structured interviews.
      Four major themes were identified: 1) pharmacists' role viewed mainly as
      supplying medications, 2) readiness to accept pharmacists in private GP clinics,
      3) willingness to pay for pharmacy services, and 4) concerns about GPs'
      resistance to pharmacist integration. Consumers felt that a pharmacist integrated
      into a private GP clinic could offer potential benefits such as to provide
      trustworthy information on the use and potential side effects of medications and
      screening for medication misadventure. The potential increase in costs passed on
      to consumers and GPs' reluctance were perceived as barriers to integration.
      CONCLUSION: This study provides insights into consumers' perspectives on the
      roles of pharmacists within private GP clinics in Malaysia. Consumers generally
      supported pharmacist integration into private primary health care clinics.
      However, for pharmacists to expand their capacity in providing integrated and
      collaborative primary care services to consumers, barriers to pharmacist
      integration need to be addressed.

PMID- 25834412
TI  - Electromagnetic field versus circuit weight training on bone mineral density in
      elderly women.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Osteoporosis is a common skeletal disorder with costly
      complications and a global health problem and one of the leading causes of
      morbidity and mortality worldwide. Magnetic field therapy and physical activity
      have been proven as beneficial interventions for prevention and treatment of
      osteoporosis. The purpose of this study was to compare the response of bone
      mineral content and bone mineral density (BMD) in elderly women to either low
      frequency low-intensity pulsed magnetic field (LFLIPMF) or circuit weight
      training (CWT) on short-run basis (after 12 weeks). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty
      elderly women, aged 60-70 years, were randomly assigned into two groups (magnetic
      field and CWT) (n=15 each group). The session was performed three times per week
      for magnetic field and CWT groups, for 12 weeks. BMD and bone mineral content of
      lumbar spine (L2-L4) and femoral neck, trochanter, and Ward's triangle were
      evaluated before and after 12 weeks of treatment. RESULTS: Both magnetic field
      and CWT for 12 weeks in elderly women seem to yield beneficial and statistically
      significant increasing effect on BMD and bone mineral content (P<0.05). But
      magnetic field seems to have more beneficially and statistically significant
      effect than does CWT. CONCLUSION: It is possible to conclude that LFLIPMF and CWT
      programs are effective modalities in increasing BMD but LFLIPMF is more effective
      in elderly women.

PMID- 25834413
TI  - Pulsed radiofrequency treatment of articular branches of femoral and obturator
      nerves for chronic hip pain.
AB  - PURPOSE: Chronic hip pain is a common symptom experienced by many people. Often,
      surgery is not an option for patients with multiple comorbidities, and
      conventional drugs either have many side effects or are ineffective. Pulsed
      radiofrequency (PRF) is a new method in the treatment of pain. We attempt to
      compare the efficacy of PRF relative to conservative management for chronic hip
      pain. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between August 2011 and July 2013, 29 patients with
      chronic hip pain were divided into two groups (PRF and conservative treatment)
      according to consent or refusal to undergo PRF procedure. Fifteen patients
      received PRF of the articular branches of the femoral and obturator nerves, and
      14 patients received conservative treatment. Visual analog scale (VAS), Oxford
      hip scores (OHS), and pain medications were used for outcome measurement before
      treatment and at 1 week, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks after treatment. RESULTS: At 1
      week, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks after treatment initiation, improvements in VAS were
      significantly greater with PRF. Improvements in OHS were significantly greater in
      the PRF group at 1 week, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks. Patients in the PRF group also
      used less pain medications. Eight subjects in the conservative treatment group
      switched to the PRF group after 12 weeks, and six of them had >50% improvement.
      CONCLUSION: When compared with conservative treatment, PRF of the articular
      branches of the femoral and obturator nerves offers greater pain relief for
      chronic hip pain and can augment physical functioning.

PMID- 25834414
TI  - Sleep cognitions associated with anxiety and depression in the elderly.
AB  - PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to identify the maladaptive sleep
      related cognitions most often maintained by the elderly, according to the
      presence or absence of anxiety and mood disorders. The presence of dysfunctional
      sleep-related beliefs and attitudes at bedtime in asymptomatic, depressive, and
      anxious seniors was thus compared. The second objective was to verify the
      relationships between various dysfunctional cognitions and mental disorders.
      METHOD: The sample in this study consisted of 2,759 participants aged 65 years
      and over, with a mean age of 73.8 years. They were recruited through a method of
      random generation of telephone numbers according to a sampling strategy based on
      geographic location. After the goal of the study was explained to them, the
      participants agreed to have health professionals visit their home and to answer
      questions in a 1.5-hour-long structured interview (after signing a consent form).
      RESULTS: Depressive and anxious seniors adopt dysfunctional sleep-related
      cognitions in higher proportions than asymptomatic older persons. Once we had
      controlled for the other factors, we were able to specifically link two sleep
      related beliefs and all the sleep-related attitudes studied to the probability of
      being anxious or depressive. CONCLUSION: The clarifications obtained will make it
      possible to improve detection, assessment, and intervention processes regarding
      anxiety or mood disorders, by pinpointing the most direct link between each of
      the dysfunctional cognitions and the two types of mental disorders, and not just
      the link to sleep problems.

PMID- 25834415
TI  - Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Nighttime Symptoms of COPD
      Instrument.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nighttime symptoms can negatively impact the quality of life of
      patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The Nighttime
      Symptoms of COPD Instrument (NiSCI) was designed to measure the occurrence and
      severity of nighttime symptoms in patients with COPD, the impact of symptoms on
      nighttime awakenings, and rescue medication use. The objective of this study was
      to explore item reduction, inform scoring recommendations, and evaluate the
      psychometric properties of the NiSCI. METHODS: COPD patients participating in a
      Phase III clinical trial completed the NiSCI daily. Item analyses were conducted
      using weekly mean and single day scores. Descriptive statistics (including
      percentage of respondents at floor/ceiling and inter-item correlations), factor
      analyses, and Rasch model analyses were conducted to examine item performance and
      scoring. Test-retest reliability was assessed for the final instrument using the
      intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Correlations with assessments conducted
      during study visits were used to evaluate convergent and known-groups validity.
      RESULTS: Data from 1,663 COPD patients aged 40-93 years were analyzed. Item
      analyses supported the generation of four scores. A one-factor structure was
      confirmed with factor analysis and Rasch analysis for the symptom severity score.
      Test-retest reliability was confirmed for the six-item symptom severity (ICC,
      0.85), number of nighttime awakenings (ICC, 0.82), and rescue medication (ICC,
      0.68) scores. Convergent validity was supported by significant correlations
      between the NiSCI, St George's Respiratory Questionnaire, and Exacerbations of
      Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Tool-Respiratory Symptoms scores.
      CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the NiSCI can be used to determine the
      severity of nighttime COPD symptoms, the number of nighttime awakenings due to
      COPD symptoms, and the nighttime use of rescue medication. The NiSCI is a
      reliable and valid instrument to evaluate these concepts in COPD patients in
      clinical trials and clinical practice. Scoring recommendations and steps for
      further research are discussed.

PMID- 25834416
TI  - Comorbidities of patients in tiotropium clinical trials: comparison with
      observational studies of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is an ongoing debate on whether patients with chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) seen in real-life clinical settings are
      represented in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of COPD. It is thought that
      the stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria of RCTs may prevent the
      participation of patients with specific characteristics or risk factors. METHODS:
      We surveyed a database of patients recruited into 35 placebo-controlled
      tiotropium RCTs and also conducted a systematic literature review of large-scale
      observational studies conducted in patients with a documented diagnosis of COPD
      between 1990 and 2013. Patient demographics and comorbidities with a high
      prevalence in patients with COPD were compared between the two patient
      populations at baseline. Using the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities
      (MedDRA; v 14.0), patient comorbidities in the pooled tiotropium RCTs were
      classified according to system organ class, pharmacovigilance (PV) endpoints, and
      Standardised MedDRA Queries to enable comparison with the observational studies.
      RESULTS: We identified 24,555 patients in the pooled tiotropium RCTs and 61,361
      patients among the 13 observational studies that met our search criteria. The
      Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) staging of patients
      in the RCTs differed from that in observational studies: the proportion of
      patients with GOLD stages I+II disease ranged from 40.0% to 51.5% in the RCTs but
      24.5% to 44.1% in the observational studies; for GOLD stage III or IV disease
      these ranges were 7.2%-45.8% (RCTs) and 13.7-42.1% (observational studies). The
      comorbidities with the highest prevalence reported in the RCTs and observational
      studies were: hypertension (39.4%-40.0% vs 40.1%-60.6%), other ischemic heart
      disease (12.3%-14.2% vs 12.5%-41.0%), diabetes (10.3%-10.9% vs 4.0%-38.9%),
      depression (8.5%-9.5% vs 17.0%-20.6%), and cardiac arrhythmia (7.8%-11.4% vs
      11.3%-15.8%). CONCLUSION: The clinical profile of COPD patients treated in the
      tiotropium trial program appears to be largely in the range of clinical
      characteristics, including cardiovascular comorbidities, reported for "real-life
      patients." The tiotropium RCTs tended to include patients with more severe
      disease than the observational studies.

PMID- 25834417
TI  - Impact of roflumilast on exacerbations of COPD, health care utilization, and
      costs in a predominantly elderly Medicare Advantage population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations are
      associated with declining lung function and health-related quality of life, and
      increased hospitalization and mortality. Clinical trials often poorly represent
      the elderly and thus have only partial applicability to their clinical care.
      OBJECTIVE: To compare exacerbations, COPD-related health care utilization (HCU),
      and costs in a predominantly elderly Medicare COPD population initiated on
      roflumilast versus those not initiated on roflumilast. METHODS: Deidentified
      administrative claims data from a large, national payer were utilized. Medicare
      patients aged 40-89 years with at least one COPD diagnosis from May 1, 2010 to
      December 31, 2012 were included. Members with at least one roflumilast pharmacy
      claim (index) were assigned to the roflumilast group and those without were
      assigned to the non-roflumilast group. Proxy index dates for the non-roflumilast
      group were randomly assigned for similar distribution of all patients' time at
      risk. Subjects with at least one pre-index COPD exacerbation had to be
      continuously enrolled for >=365 days pre-index and post-index. Unadjusted and
      adjusted difference-in-difference (DID) analyses contrasted pre-index with post
      index changes in exacerbations, HCU, and costs of roflumilast treatment compared
      with non-roflumilast treatment. RESULTS: A total of 500 roflumilast and 60,145
      non-roflumilast patients were included (mean age 69.7 and 72.3 years,
      respectively; P<0.0001). Unadjusted DID favored roflumilast for all
      exacerbations, with greater pre-index to post-index reductions in mean per 30-day
      COPD-related hospitalizations (-0.0182 versus -0.0013, P=0.009), outpatient
      visits (-0.2500 versus -0.0606, P<0.0001), and COPD-related inpatient costs (
      US$141 versus -US$11, P=0.0346) and outpatient costs (-US$31 versus -US$4,
      P<0.0001). Multivariate analyses identified significantly improved pre-index to
      post-index COPD-related total costs (P=0.0005) and total exacerbations (P<0.0001)
      for the roflumilast group versus non-roflumilast group. CONCLUSION: In a
      predominantly elderly Medicare COPD population, newly initiated roflumilast
      patients displayed similar or significantly better unadjusted reductions in all
      exacerbation-related, COPD-related HCU-related, and COPD-related costs outcomes
      compared with non-roflumilast patients. These analyses also suggest better
      adjusted COPD-related costs and total exacerbations for roflumilast-initiated
      patients.

PMID- 25834418
TI  - Causes of death in patients with asthma and asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary
      disease overlap syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The administration of inhaled corticosteroids and worldwide usage of
      several asthma guidelines have improved asthma mortality. Elderly patients with
      asthma show high mortality rates, and may have several comorbidities, including
      overlap with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Among patients showing
      asthma overlapped with COPD (asthma-COPD overlap syndrome; ACOS), mortality is
      worse than for asthma alone. Therefore, we investigated comorbidities,
      malignancies, and causes of death in patients with asthma and ACOS. METHODS: This
      was a retrospective study. From January 2000 to March 2012, 650 patients were
      followed up at Tottori University Hospital. Medical records were reviewed to
      collect data regarding patient characteristics and comorbidities, and causes of
      death were recorded for patients who died during the study period. RESULTS:
      Eighty-seven patients died during the study period. The most frequent cause of
      death was malignancy. The proportion of malignant disease was 21.7% in all
      patients, 19.4% in patients with asthma alone, and 32.4% in patients with ACOS.
      One patient died from an asthma attack during this period. CONCLUSION: The most
      frequent cause of death in patients with asthma and ACOS was malignant disease.
      It is necessary to control not only asthma but also comorbidities in patients
      with asthma, especially in those with ACOS.

PMID- 25834419
TI  - Length of stay of COPD hospital admissions between 2006 and 2010: a retrospective
      longitudinal study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hospitalizations for COPD are associated with poor patient prognosis.
      Length of stay (LOS) of COPD admissions in a large urban area and patient and
      hospital factors associated with it are described. METHODS: Retrospective
      longitudinal study. All COPD patients registered with London general
      practitioners and admitted as an emergency with COPD (2006-2010), not having been
      admitted with COPD in the preceding 12 months were included. Association of
      patient and hospital characteristics with mean LOS of COPD admissions was
      assessed. Association between hospital and LOS was determined by negative
      binomial regression. RESULTS: The total number of admissions was 38,504, from
      22,462 patients. The mean LOS for first admissions fell by 0.8 days (95%
      confidence interval [CI]: 0.7-1.5) from 8.2 to 7.0 days between 2006 and 2010.
      Seventy-nine percent of first admissions were <=10 days, with a mean LOS of 3.7
      days (2009-2010). The mean LOS of successive COPD admissions of the same patients
      was the same or less throughout the study period. The interval between successive
      admissions fell from a mean of 357 days between the first and second admission to
      a mean of 19 days after eight admissions. Age accounted for 2.3% of the variance
      in LOS. Socioeconomic deprivation did not predict LOS. Fewer discharges happened
      at the weekend (1,893/day) than on weekdays (5,218/day). The mean LOS varied
      between hospitals, from 4.9 days (95% CI: 3.8-5.9) to 9.5 days (95% CI: 8.6-10.3)
      when adjusting for clustering, age, sex, and socioeconomic deprivation.
      CONCLUSION: The fall in LOS of the first COPD admission between 2006 and 2010
      reflects international trends. The stability of LOS in successive admissions
      suggests that increasing severity of disease does not affect recovery time from
      an exacerbation. Variations between hospitals of nearly 5 days in LOS for COPD
      admissions suggests that significant improvements in patient outcomes and in
      savings in health care utilization could be made in hospitals with longer LOS.

PMID- 25834420
TI  - Early impact of treatment with tiotropium, long-acting anticholinergic
      preparation, in patients with COPD - real-life experience from an observational
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Long-acting inhaled bronchodilators, including anticholinergic
      tiotropium, are recommended for the maintenance therapy of chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease (COPD). It has been shown in a number of studies that treatment
      with tiotropium alleviates symptoms, improves exercise tolerance, health status,
      and reduces exacerbations in patients with moderate to very severe stage COPD.
      AIM: The aim of this noninterventional study was to observe the early effects of
      the maintenance treatment with tiotropium in patients with COPD of different
      severities, who had been previously treated on a regular basis, or as required,
      with at least one short-acting bronchodilator, in a real-life setting in Poland.
      The effect of the treatment was assessed through the collection of COPD
      Assessment Test (CAT) data. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The MATHS clinical study was an
      observational, noninterventional, open-label, prospective, uncontrolled, single
      arm, postmarketing, surveillance, real-life study conducted with the involvement
      of 236 pulmonology clinics based in Poland. The tiotropium observational period
      was 3 months. The health and COPD status was measured with the CAT questionnaire.
      The primary efficacy endpoint was the mean change from the baseline in the total
      CAT score at the end of the 3-month observational period. RESULTS: Patients
      treated with 18 MUg of tiotropium once daily for 3 months showed a statistically
      significant result, with a clinically meaningful mean reduction (improvement) of
      7.0 points in the total CAT score. The improvement was slightly greater in
      patients with more severe COPD; the mean change in the total CAT score was 7.6 in
      the subgroup of patients with more severe COPD and 6.7 points in the subgroup of
      patients with moderate COPD. CONCLUSION: Results of this real-life study provide
      further support for the use of tiotropium as a first-line maintenance treatment
      for patients with COPD of different severities in Poland.

PMID- 25834421
TI  - Comparison of laboratory- and field-based exercise tests for COPD: a systematic
      review.
AB  - Exercise tests are often used to evaluate the functional status of patients with
      COPD. However, to the best of our knowledge, a comprehensive systematic
      comparison of these tests has not been performed. We systematically reviewed
      studies reporting the repeatability and/or reproducibility of these tests, and
      studies comparing their sensitivity to therapeutic intervention. A systematic
      review identified primary manuscripts in English reporting relevant data on the
      following exercise tests: 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and 12-minute walk test,
      incremental and endurance shuttle walk tests (ISWT and ESWT, respectively),
      incremental and endurance cycle ergometer tests, and incremental and endurance
      treadmill tests. We identified 71 relevant studies. Good repeatability (for the
      6MWT and ESWT) and reproducibility (for the 6MWT, 12-minute walk test, ISWT,
      ESWT, and incremental cycle ergometer test) were reported by most studies
      assessing these tests, providing patients were familiarized with them beforehand.
      The 6MWT, ISWT, and particularly the ESWT were reported to be sensitive to
      therapeutic intervention. Protocol variations (eg, track layout or supplemental
      oxygen use) affected performance significantly in several studies. This review
      shows that while the validity of several tests has been established, for others
      further study is required. Future work will assess the link between these tests,
      physiological mechanisms, and patient-reported measures. 

PMID- 25834422
TI  - Nanoparticles in magnetic resonance imaging: from simple to dual contrast agents.
AB  - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become one of the most widely used and
      powerful tools for noninvasive clinical diagnosis owing to its high degree of
      soft tissue contrast, spatial resolution, and depth of penetration. MRI signal
      intensity is related to the relaxation times (T 1, spin-lattice relaxation and T
      2, spin-spin relaxation) of in vivo water protons. To increase contrast, various
      inorganic nanoparticles and complexes (the so-called contrast agents) are
      administered prior to the scanning. Shortening T 1 and T 2 increases the
      corresponding relaxation rates, 1/T 1 and 1/T 2, producing hyperintense and
      hypointense signals respectively in shorter times. Moreover, the signal-to-noise
      ratio can be improved with the acquisition of a large number of measurements. The
      contrast agents used are generally based on either iron oxide nanoparticles or
      ferrites, providing negative contrast in T 2-weighted images; or complexes of
      lanthanide metals (mostly containing gadolinium ions), providing positive
      contrast in T 1-weighted images. Recently, lanthanide complexes have been
      immobilized in nanostructured materials in order to develop a new class of
      contrast agents with functions including blood-pool and organ (or tumor)
      targeting. Meanwhile, to overcome the limitations of individual imaging
      modalities, multimodal imaging techniques have been developed. An important
      challenge is to design all-in-one contrast agents that can be detected by
      multimodal techniques. Magnetoliposomes are efficient multimodal contrast agents.
      They can simultaneously bear both kinds of contrast and can, furthermore,
      incorporate targeting ligands and chains of polyethylene glycol to enhance the
      accumulation of nanoparticles at the site of interest and the bioavailability,
      respectively. Here, we review the most important characteristics of the
      nanoparticles or complexes used as MRI contrast agents. 

PMID- 25834423
TI  - SERS-based quantitative detection of ovarian cancer prognostic factor
      haptoglobin.
AB  - Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is increasingly being used for
      biosensing because of its high sensitivity and low detection limit, which are
      made possible by the unique Raman 'fingerprint' spectra from the biomolecules.
      Here we propose a novel SERS method for the fast, sensitive, and reliable
      quantitative analysis of haptoglobin (Hp), an acute phase plasma glycoprotein
      that is widely gaining application as a prognostic ovarian cancer biomarker. We
      exploited the peroxidase activity of the hemoglobin-haptoglobin (Hb-Hp) complex
      formed by the selective and specific binding of Hp to free Hb to catalyze the
      reaction of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) substrate and hydrogen peroxide
      to result in the final product of strongly SERS-active TMB(2+). We observed a
      linear increase in the SERS signal of TMB(2+) with increasing concentrations of
      Hb-Hp complex from 50 nM to 34 MUM. Based on this concentration-dependent SERS
      spectrum, we quantified Hp in clinical samples. We observed that our inference
      about the prognosis of the disease coincided with the histology data and that our
      method was much more sensitive than the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.

PMID- 25834424
TI  - Peptide-enhanced mRNA transfection in cultured mouse cardiac fibroblasts and
      direct reprogramming towards cardiomyocyte-like cells.
AB  - The treatment of myocardial infarction is a major challenge in medicine due to
      the inability of heart tissue to regenerate. Direct reprogramming of endogenous
      cardiac fibroblasts into functional cardiomyocytes via the delivery of
      transcription factor mRNAs has the potential to regenerate cardiac tissue and to
      treat heart failure. Even though mRNA delivery to cardiac fibroblasts has the
      therapeutic potential, mRNA transfection in cardiac fibroblasts has been
      challenging. Herein, we develop an efficient mRNA transfection in cultured mouse
      cardiac fibroblasts via a polyarginine-fused heart-targeting peptide and
      lipofectamine complex, termed C-Lipo and demonstrate the partial direct
      reprogramming of cardiac fibroblasts towards cardiomyocyte cells. C-Lipo enabled
      the mRNA-induced direct cardiac reprogramming due to its efficient transfection
      with low toxicity, which allowed for multiple transfections of Gata4, Mef2c, and
      Tbx5 (GMT) mRNAs for a period of 2 weeks. The induced cardiomyocyte-like cells
      had alpha-MHC promoter-driven GFP expression and striated cardiac muscle
      structure from alpha-actinin immunohistochemistry. GMT mRNA transfection of
      cultured mouse cardiac fibroblasts via C-Lipo significantly increased expression
      of the cardiomyocyte marker genes, Actc1, Actn2, Gja1, Hand2, and Tnnt2, after 2
      weeks of transfection. Moreover, this study provides the first direct evidence
      that the stoichiometry of the GMT reprogramming factors influence the expression
      of cardiomyocyte marker genes. Our results demonstrate that mRNA delivery is a
      potential approach for cardiomyocyte generation. 

PMID- 25834425
TI  - Single peptide ligand-functionalized uniform hollow mesoporous silica
      nanoparticles achieving dual-targeting drug delivery to tumor cells and
      angiogenic blood vessel cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to construct hollow mesoporous silica
      nanoparticles (HMSN) decorated with tLyp-1 peptide (tHMSN) for dual-targeting
      drug delivery to tumor cells and angiogenic blood vessel cells. METHODS: HMSN
      were synthesized de novo using a novel cationic surfactant-assisted selective
      etching strategy and were then modified with tLyp-1. Multiple methods, including
      transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,
      thermogravimetric analysis, bicinchoninic acid assay, and nitrogen adsorption and
      desorption isotherms, were used to characterize the tHMSN. Doxorubicin were
      chosen as the model cargo, and the uptake of doxorubicin-loaded tHMSN into MDA-MB
      231 cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), as models of tumor
      cells and tumor neovascular endothelial cells, respectively, were observed and
      detected by confocal laser scanning microscopy and flow cytometry. An in vitro
      pharmacodynamic study and a study of the mechanism via which the nanoparticles
      were endocytosed were also performed. RESULTS: HMSN with a highly uniform size
      and well oriented mesopores were synthesized. After tHMSN were characterized,
      enhanced uptake of the cargo carried by tHMSN into MDA-MB-231 cells and HUVECs
      compared with that of their unmodified counterparts was validated by confocal
      laser scanning microscopy and flow cytometry at the qualitative and quantitative
      levels, respectively. Further, the pharmacodynamic study suggested that, compared
      with their unmodified counterparts, doxorubicin-loaded tHMSN had an enhanced
      inhibitory effect on MDA-MB-231 cells and HUVECs in vitro. Finally, a preliminary
      study on the mechanism by which the nanoparticles were endocytosed indicated that
      the clathrin-mediated endocytosis pathway has a primary role in the transport of
      tHMSN into the cytoplasm. CONCLUSION: tHMSN might serve as an effective active
      targeting nanocarrier strategy for anti-mammary cancer drug delivery.

PMID- 25834427
TI  - Photothermal killing of Staphylococcus aureus using antibody-targeted gold
      nanoparticles.
AB  - PURPOSE: The continued emergence of multidrug resistant bacterial infections and
      the decline in discovery of new antibiotics are major challenges for health care
      throughout the world. This situation has heightened the need for novel
      antimicrobial therapies as alternatives to traditional antibiotics. The
      combination of metallic nanoparticles and laser exposure has been proposed as a
      strategy to induce physical damage to bacteria, regardless of antibiotic
      sensitivity. The purpose of this study was to test the antibacterial effect of
      antibody-targeted gold nanoparticles combined with pulsed laser irradiation.
      METHODS: Gold nanoparticles conjugated to antibodies specific to Staphylococcus
      aureus peptidoglycan were incubated with suspensions of methicillin-resistant and
      methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MRSA and MSSA). Bacterial suspensions were then
      exposed to 8 ns pulsed laser irradiation at a wavelength of 532 nm and fluences
      ranging from 1 to 5 J/cm(2). Viability of the bacteria following laser exposure
      was determined using colony forming unit assays. Scanning electron microscopy was
      used to confirm the binding of nanoparticles to bacteria and the presence of
      cellular damage. RESULTS: The laser-activated nanoparticle treatment reduced the
      surviving population to 31% of control in the MSSA population, while the survival
      in the MRSA population was reduced to 58% of control. Significant decreases in
      bacterial viability occurred when the laser fluence exceeded 1 J/cm(2), and this
      effect was linear from 0 to 5 J/cm(2) (r (2)=0.97). Significantly less
      bactericidal effect was observed for nonfunctionalized nanoparticles or
      functionalized nanoparticles without laser activation. CONCLUSION: Laser
      activated nanoparticles targeted to S. aureus surface antigens significantly
      reduced the percentage of viable organisms and represents a promising new
      treatment modality that could be used either alone or as an adjunct to existing,
      conventional antibiotic therapy.

PMID- 25834426
TI  - Accessing to the minor proteome of red blood cells through the influence of the
      nanoparticle surface properties on the corona composition.
AB  - Nanoparticle (NP)-protein interactions in complex samples have not yet been
      clearly understood. Nevertheless, several studies demonstrated that NP's
      physicochemical features significantly impact on the protein corona composition.
      Taking advantage of the NP potential to harvest different subsets of proteins, we
      assessed for the first time the capacity of three kinds of superparamagnetic NPs
      to highlight the erythrocyte minor proteome. Using both qualitative and
      quantitative proteomics approaches, nano-liquid chromatography-tandem mass
      spectrometry allowed the identification of 893 different proteins, confirming the
      reproducible capacity of NPs to increase the number of identified proteins,
      through a reduction of the sample concentration range and the capture of specific
      proteins on the three different surfaces. These NP-specific protein signatures
      revealed significant differences in their isoelectric point and molecular weight.
      Moreover, this NP strategy offered a deeper access to the erythrocyte proteome
      highlighting several signaling pathways implicated in important erythrocyte
      functions. The automated potentiality, the reproducibility, and the low-consuming
      sample demonstrate the strong compatibility of our strategy for large-scale
      clinical studies and may become a standardized sample preparation in future
      erythrocyte-associated proteomics studies. 

PMID- 25834428
TI  - Electrospun gelatin/polycaprolactone nanofibrous membranes combined with a
      coculture of bone marrow stromal cells and chondrocytes for cartilage
      engineering.
AB  - Electrospinning has recently received considerable attention, showing notable
      potential as a novel method of scaffold fabrication for cartilage engineering.
      The aim of this study was to use a coculture strategy of chondrocytes combined
      with electrospun gelatin/polycaprolactone (GT/PCL) membranes, instead of pure
      chondrocytes, to evaluate the formation of cartilaginous tissue. We prepared the
      GT/PCL membranes, seeded bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC)/chondrocyte cocultures
      (75% BMSCs and 25% chondrocytes) in a sandwich model in vitro, and then implanted
      the constructs subcutaneously into nude mice for 12 weeks. Gross observation,
      histological and immunohistological evaluation, glycosaminoglycan analyses,
      Young's modulus measurement, and immunofluorescence staining were performed
      postimplantation. We found that the coculture group formed mature cartilage-like
      tissue, with no statistically significant difference from the chondrocyte group,
      and labeled BMSCs could differentiate into chondrocyte-like cells under the
      chondrogenic niche of chondrocytes. This entire strategy indicates that GT/PCL
      membranes are also a suitable scaffold for stem cell-based cartilage engineering
      and may provide a potentially clinically feasible approach for cartilage repairs.

PMID- 25834429
TI  - A new strategy for specific imaging of neural cells based on peptide-conjugated
      gold nanoclusters.
AB  - Despite the significant progress in molecular imaging technologies that has been
      made in recent years, the specific detection of neural cells still remains
      challenging. Here, we suggest the use of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) modified with
      a brain-targeting peptide as a potential imaging candidate for detecting neural
      cells in vitro and in mice. AuNCs of less than 10 nm (dynamic light scattering
      analysis) were first prepared using the "green" synthetic approach, and then a
      targeting peptide, rabies virus glycoprotein derived peptide (RDP), was
      conjugated to the AuNCs for improving the efficiency and specificity of neural
      cell penetration. The conjugate's mechanism of cellular attachment and entry into
      neural cells was suggested to be receptor-mediated endocytosis through clathrin
      coated pits. Also, noninvasive imaging analysis and animal studies indicated that
      the RDP-modified nanoclusters could concentrate in the brain and locate in neural
      cells. This study suggests the feasibility of using targeting peptide-modified
      nanoclusters for noninvasive imaging brain cells in vivo. 

PMID- 25834431
TI  - Facile biofunctionalization of silver nanoparticles for enhanced antibacterial
      properties, endotoxin removal, and biofilm control.
AB  - Infectious diseases cause a huge burden on healthcare systems worldwide.
      Pathogenic bacteria establish infection by developing antibiotic resistance and
      modulating the host's immune system, whereas opportunistic pathogens like
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa adapt to adverse conditions owing to their ability to form
      biofilms. In the present study, silver nanoparticles were biofunctionalized with
      polymyxin B, an antibacterial peptide using a facile method. The
      biofunctionalized nanoparticles (polymyxin B-capped silver nanoparticles, PBSNPs)
      were assessed for antibacterial activity against multiple drug-resistant clinical
      strain Vibrio fluvialis and nosocomial pathogen P. aeruginosa. The results of
      antibacterial assay revealed that PBSNPs had an approximately 3-fold higher
      effect than the citrate-capped nanoparticles (CSNPs). Morphological damage to the
      cell membrane was followed by scanning electron microscopy, testifying PBSNPs to
      be more potent in controlling the bacterial growth as compared with CSNPs. The
      bactericidal effect of PBSNPs was further confirmed by Live/Dead staining assays.
      Apart from the antibacterial activity, the biofunctionalized nanoparticles were
      found to resist biofilm formation. Electroplating of PBSNPs onto stainless steel
      surgical blades retained the antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa.
      Further, the affinity of polymyxin for endotoxin was exploited for its removal
      using PBSNPs. It was found that the prepared nanoparticles removed 97% of the
      endotoxin from the solution. Such multifarious uses of metal nanoparticles are an
      attractive means of enhancing the potency of antimicrobial agents to control
      infections. 

PMID- 25834430
TI  - Non-chemotoxic induction of cancer cell death using magnetic nanowires.
AB  - In this paper, we show that magnetic nanowires with weak magnetic fields and low
      frequencies can induce cell death via a mechanism that does not involve heat
      production. We incubated colon cancer cells with two concentrations (2.4 and 12
      MUg/mL) of nickel nanowires that were 35 nm in diameter and exposed the cells and
      nanowires to an alternating magnetic field (0.5 mT and 1 Hz or 1 kHz) for 10 or
      30 minutes. This low-power field exerted a force on the magnetic nanowires,
      causing a mechanical disturbance to the cells. Transmission electron microscopy
      images showed that the nanostructures were internalized into the cells within 1
      hour of incubation. Cell viability studies showed that the magnetic field and the
      nanowires separately had minor deleterious effects on the cells; however, when
      combined, the magnetic field and nanowires caused the cell viability values to
      drop by up to 39%, depending on the strength of the magnetic field and the
      concentration of the nanowires. Cell membrane leakage experiments indicated
      membrane leakage of 20%, suggesting that cell death mechanisms induced by the
      nanowires and magnetic field involve some cell membrane rupture. Results suggest
      that magnetic nanowires can kill cancer cells. The proposed process requires
      simple and low-cost equipment with exposure to only very weak magnetic fields for
      short time periods. 

PMID- 25834432
TI  - Targeted delivery of polyamidoamine-paclitaxel conjugate functionalized with anti
      human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 trastuzumab.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Antibody-dendrimer conjugates have the potential to improve the
      targeting and release of chemotherapeutic drugs at the tumor site while reducing
      adverse side effects caused by drug accumulation in healthy tissues. In this
      study, trastuzumab (TMAB), which binds to human epidermal growth factor receptor
      2 (HER2), was used as a targeting agent in a TMAB-polyamidoamine (PAMAM)
      conjugate carrying paclitaxel (PTX) specifically to cells overexpressing HER2.
      METHODS: TMAB was covalently linked to a PAMAM dendrimer via bifunctional
      polyethylene glycol (PEG). PTX was conjugated to PAMAM using succinic anhydride
      as a cross-linker, yielding TMAB-PEG-PAMAM-PTX. Dynamic light scattering and
      transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the conjugates. The
      cellular uptake and in vivo biodistribution were studied by fluorescence
      microscopy, flow cytometry, and Carestream In Vivo FX, respectively. RESULTS:
      Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy demonstrated that PEG, PTX, fluorescein
      isothiocyanate, and cyanine7 were conjugated to PAMAM. Ultraviolet-visible
      spectroscopy and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
      demonstrated that TMAB was conjugated to PEG-PAMAM. Dynamic light scattering and
      transmission electron microscopy measurements revealed that the different
      conjugates ranged in size between 10 and 35 nm and had a spherical shape. In
      vitro cellular uptake demonstrated that the TMAB-conjugated PAMAM was taken up by
      HER2-overexpressing BT474 cells more efficiently than MCF-7 cells that expressed
      lower levels of HER2. Co-localization experiments indicated that TMAB-conjugated
      PAMAM was located in the cytoplasm. The in vitro cytotoxicity of TMAB-conjugated
      PAMAM was lower than free PTX due to the slow release of PTX from the conjugate.
      In vivo targeting further demonstrated that TMAB-conjugated PAMAM accumulated in
      the BT474 tumor model more efficiently than non-conjugated PAMAM. CONCLUSION:
      TMAB can serve as an effective targeting agent, and the TMAB-conjugated PAMAM can
      be exploited as a potential targeted chemotherapeutic drug delivery system for
      tumors that overexpress HER2.

PMID- 25834434
TI  - Sensitive electrochemical immunosensor based on three-dimensional nanostructure
      gold electrode.
AB  - A sensitive electrochemical immunosensor was developed for detection of alpha
      fetoprotein (AFP) based on a three-dimensional nanostructure gold electrode using
      a facile, rapid, "green" square-wave oxidation-reduction cycle technique. The
      resulting three-dimensional gold nanocomposites were characterized by scanning
      electron microscopy and cyclic voltammetry. A "sandwich-type" detection strategy
      using an electrochemical immunosensor was employed. Under optimal conditions, a
      good linear relationship between the current response signal and the AFP
      concentrations was observed in the range of 10-50 ng/mL with a detection limit of
      3 pg/mL. This new immunosensor showed a fast amperometric response and high
      sensitivity and selectivity. It was successfully used to determine AFP in a human
      serum sample with a relative standard deviation of <5% (n=5). The proposed
      immunosensor represents a significant step toward practical application in
      clinical diagnosis and monitoring of prognosis. 

PMID- 25834435
TI  - The antitumor activity of tumor-homing peptide-modified thermosensitive liposomes
      containing doxorubicin on MCF-7/ADR: in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - Clotted plasma proteins are present on the walls of tumor vessels and in tumor
      stroma. Tumor-homing peptide Cys-Arg-Glu-Lys-Ala (CREKA) could recognize the
      clotted plasma proteins in tumor vessels. Thermosensitive liposomes could
      immediately release the encapsulated drug in the vasculature of the heated tumor.
      In this study, we designed a novel form of targeted thermosensitive liposomes,
      CREKA-modified lysolipid-containing thermosensitive liposomes (LTSLs), containing
      doxorubicin (DOX) (DOX-LTSL-CREKA), to investigate the hypothesis that DOX-LTSL
      CREKA might target the clotted plasma proteins in tumor vessels as well as tumor
      stroma and then exhibit burst release of the encapsulated DOX at the heated tumor
      site. We also hypothesized that the high local drug concentration produced by
      these thermosensitive liposomes after local hyperthermia treatment will be useful
      for treatment of multidrug resistance. The multidrug-resistant human breast
      adenocarcinoma (MCF-7/ADR) cell line was chosen as a tumor cell model, and the
      targeting and immediate release characteristics of DOX-LTSL-CREKA were
      investigated in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the antitumor activity of DOX
      LTSL-CREKA was evaluated in MCF-7/ADR tumor-bearing nude mice in vivo. The
      targeting effect of the CREKA-modified thermosensitive liposomes on the clotted
      plasma proteins was confirmed in our in vivo imaging and immunohistochemistry
      experiments. The burst release of this delivery system was observed in our in
      vitro temperature-triggered DOX release and flow cytometry analysis and also by
      confocal microscopy experiments. The antitumor activity of the DOX-LTSL-CREKA was
      confirmed in tumor-bearing nude mice in vivo. Our findings suggest that the
      combination of targeting the clotted plasma proteins in the tumor vessel wall as
      well as tumor stroma by using CREKA peptide and temperature-triggered drug
      release from liposomes by using thermosensitive liposomes offers an attractive
      strategy for chemotherapeutic drug delivery to tumors. 

PMID- 25834433
TI  - Parameters and characteristics governing cellular internalization and trans
      barrier trafficking of nanostructures.
AB  - Cellular internalization and trans-barrier transport of nanoparticles can be
      manipulated on the basis of the physicochemical and mechanical characteristics of
      nanoparticles. Research has shown that these factors significantly influence the
      uptake of nanoparticles. Dictating these characteristics allows for the control
      of the rate and extent of cellular uptake, as well as delivering the drug-loaded
      nanosystem intra-cellularly, which is imperative for drugs that require a
      specific cellular level to exert their effects. Additionally, physicochemical
      characteristics of the nanoparticles should be optimal for the nanosystem to
      bypass the natural restricting phenomena of the body and act therapeutically at
      the targeted site. The factors at the focal point of emerging smart nanomedicines
      include nanoparticle size, surface charge, shape, hydrophobicity, surface
      chemistry, and even protein and ligand conjugates. Hence, this review discusses
      the mechanism of internalization of nanoparticles and ideal nanoparticle
      characteristics that allow them to evade the biological barriers in order to
      achieve optimal cellular uptake in different organ systems. Identifying these
      parameters assists with the progression of nanomedicine as an outstanding vector
      of pharmaceuticals. 

PMID- 25834436
TI  - Rescuing compound bioactivity in a secondary cell-based screening by using gamma
      cyclodextrin as a molecular carrier.
AB  - In vitro primary screening for identifying bioactive compounds (inhibitors,
      activators or pharmacological chaperones) against a protein target results in the
      discovery of lead compounds that must be tested in cell-based efficacy secondary
      screenings. Very often lead compounds do not succeed because of an apparent low
      potency in cell assays, despite an excellent performance in primary screening.
      Primary and secondary screenings differ significantly according to the conditions
      and challenges the compounds must overcome in order to interact with their
      intended target. Cellular internalization and intracellular metabolism are some
      of the difficulties the compounds must confront and different strategies can be
      envisaged for minimizing that problem. Using a novel screening procedure we have
      identified 15 compounds inhibiting the hepatitis C NS3 protease in an allosteric
      fashion. After characterizing biophysically the interaction with the target, some
      of the compounds were not able to inhibit viral replication in cell assays. In
      order to overcome this obstacle and potentially improve cellular internalization
      three of these compounds were complexed with gamma-cyclodextrin. Two of them
      showed a five- and 16-fold activity increase, compared to their activity when
      delivered as free compounds in solution (while gamma-cyclodextrin did not show
      antiviral activity by itself). The most remarkable result came from a third
      compound that showed no antiviral activity in cell assays when delivered free in
      solution, but its gamma-cyclodextrin complex exhibited a 50% effective
      concentration of 5 MUM. Thus, the antiviral activity of these compounds can be
      significantly improved, even completely rescued, using gamma-cyclodextrin as
      carrier molecule. 

PMID- 25834437
TI  - Is it possible to use highly realistic virtual reality in the elderly? A
      feasibility study with image-based rendering.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Virtual reality (VR) opens up a vast number of possibilities in many
      domains of therapy. The primary objective of the present study was to evaluate
      the acceptability for elderly subjects of a VR experience using the image-based
      rendering virtual environment (IBVE) approach and secondly to test the hypothesis
      that visual cues using VR may enhance the generation of autobiographical
      memories. METHODS: Eighteen healthy volunteers (mean age 68.2 years) presenting
      memory complaints with a Mini-Mental State Examination score higher than 27 and
      no history of neuropsychiatric disease were included. Participants were asked to
      perform an autobiographical fluency task in four conditions. The first condition
      was a baseline grey screen, the second was a photograph of a well-known location
      in the participant's home city (FamPhoto), and the last two conditions displayed
      VR, ie, a familiar image-based virtual environment (FamIBVE) consisting of an
      image-based representation of a known landmark square in the center of the city
      of experimentation (Nice) and an unknown image-based virtual environment
      (UnknoIBVE), which was captured in a public housing neighborhood containing
      unrecognizable building fronts. After each of the four experimental conditions,
      participants filled in self-report questionnaires to assess the task
      acceptability (levels of emotion, motivation, security, fatigue, and
      familiarity). CyberSickness and Presence questionnaires were also assessed after
      the two VR conditions. Autobiographical memory was assessed using a verbal
      fluency task and quality of the recollection was assessed using the
      "remember/know" procedure. RESULTS: All subjects completed the experiment. Sense
      of security and fatigue were not significantly different between the conditions
      with and without VR. The FamPhoto condition yielded a higher emotion score than
      the other conditions (P<0.05). The CyberSickness questionnaire showed that
      participants did not experience sickness during the experiment across the VR
      conditions. VR stimulates autobiographical memory, as demonstrated by the
      increased total number of responses on the autobiographical fluency task and the
      increased number of conscious recollections of memories for familiar versus
      unknown scenes (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The study indicates that VR using the
      FamIBVE system is well tolerated by the elderly. VR can also stimulate
      recollections of autobiographical memory and convey familiarity of a given scene,
      which is an essential requirement for use of VR during reminiscence therapy.

PMID- 25834438
TI  - Changes in proinflammatory cytokines and white matter in chronically stressed
      rats.
AB  - Although the pathogenesis of depression, an incapacitating psychiatric ailment,
      remains largely unknown, previous human and animal studies have suggested that
      both proinflammatory cytokines and altered oligodendrocytes play important roles
      in the condition. This study examined these two factors in the brains of rats
      following unpredictable chronic mild stress for 4 weeks, with the hypothesis that
      chronic stress may affect oligodendrocytes and elevate proinflammatory cytokines
      in the brain. After suffering unpredictable stressors for 4 weeks, the rats
      showed depression-like behaviors, including decreased locomotion in the open
      field, increased immobility time in the forced swim test, and decreased sucrose
      consumption and less sucrose preference when compared with controls.
      Immunohistochemical staining of brain sections showed higher immunoreactivity of
      proinflammatory cytokines in certain brain regions of stressed rats compared with
      controls; lower immunoreactivity of myelin basic protein and fewer mature
      oligodendrocytes were seen in the prefrontal cortex, but no demyelination was
      detected. These results are interpreted and discussed in the context of recent
      findings from human and animal studies. 

PMID- 25834440
TI  - Anti-NMDA receptor antibodies in patients with a first episode of schizophrenia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Encephalitis with antibodies against N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor
      (NMDA-R) is classified as an autoimmune disorder with psychotic symptoms, which
      are frequently dominant. However, it remains unclear how frequently NMDA-R
      antibodies lead to a condition that mimics psychosis and first-episode
      schizophrenia. In our work, we investigated the presence of antibodies against
      NMDA-R in patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) in comparison with healthy
      volunteers. METHODS: This study included 50 antipsychotic-naive patients with FEP
      (including 21 women) and 50 healthy volunteers (including 21 women). The mean age
      of the patients was 27.4 (+/-7.4) years and that of the healthy controls was 27.0
      (+/-7.3) years. Antibodies against NMDA-R in the serum were detected by
      immunofluorescence. RESULTS: None of the investigated patients with an FEP and
      none of the healthy controls showed positive antibodies against NMDA-Rs.
      CONCLUSION: According to results of studies, a small proportion of patients with
      an FEP possess antibodies against NMDA-R. However, the extent to which this
      finding contributes to the etiopathogenesis of the response to antipsychotic
      medication and whether immunomodulatory therapy is indicated in these cases
      remains uncertain.

PMID- 25834439
TI  - Buprenorphine, methadone, and morphine treatment during pregnancy: behavioral
      effects on the offspring in rats.
AB  - Methadone and buprenorphine are widely used for treating people with opioid
      dependence, including pregnant women. Prenatal exposure to opioids has
      devastating effects on the development of human fetuses and may induce long-term
      physical and neurobehavioral changes during postnatal maturation. This study
      aimed at comparing the behavioral outcomes of young rats prenatally exposed to
      buprenorphine, methadone, and morphine. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were
      administered saline, morphine, methadone, and buprenorphine during embryonic days
      3-20. The cognitive function, social interaction, anxiety-like behaviors, and
      locomotor activity of offsprings were examined by novel object recognition test,
      social interaction test, light-dark transition test, elevated plus-maze, and open
      field test between 6 weeks and 10 weeks of age. Prenatal exposure to methadone
      and buprenorphine did not affect locomotor activity, but significantly impaired
      novel object recognition and social interaction in both male and female
      offsprings in the same manner as morphine. Although prenatal exposure to
      methadone or buprenorphine increased anxiety-like behaviors in the light-dark
      transition in both male and female offsprings, the effects were less pronounced
      as compared to that of morphine. Methadone affected elevated plus-maze in both
      sex, but buprenorphine only affected the female offsprings. These findings
      suggest that buprenorphine and methadone maintenance therapy for pregnant women,
      like morphine, produced detrimental effects on cognitive function and social
      behaviors, whereas the offsprings of such women might have a lower risk of
      developing anxiety disorders. 

PMID- 25834441
TI  - Rosa damascena oil improves SSRI-induced sexual dysfunction in male patients
      suffering from major depressive disorders: results from a double-blind,
      randomized, and placebo-controlled clinical trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A substantial disadvantage of psychopharmacological treatment of
      major depressive disorder (MDD) with selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors
      (SSRIs) is the impact on sexual dysfunction. The aim of the present study was to
      investigate whether the oil of Rosa damascena can have a positive influence on
      SSRI-induced sexual dysfunction (SSRI-I SD) of male patients who are suffering
      from MDD and are being treated with SSRIs. METHOD: In a double-blind, randomized,
      and placebo-controlled clinical trial, a total of 60 male patients treated with
      an SSRI and suffering from MDD (mean age =32 years) and SSRI-I SD were randomly
      assigned to take either verum (R. damascena oil) or a placebo. Patients completed
      self-ratings of depression and sexual function at baseline, at 4 weeks later, and
      at the end of the study, 8 weeks after it started. RESULTS: Over time, sexual
      dysfunction improved more in the verum group than in the control group.
      Improvements were observed in the verum group from week 4 to week 8. Self-rated
      symptoms of depression reduced over time in both groups, but did so more so in
      the verum group than in the control group. CONCLUSION: This double-blind,
      randomized, and placebo-controlled clinical trial showed that the administration
      of R. damascena oil ameliorates sexual dysfunction in male patients suffering
      from both MDD and SSRI-I SD. Further, the symptoms of depression reduced as
      sexual dysfunction improved.

PMID- 25834442
TI  - Global and regional brain volumes normalization in weight-recovered adolescents
      with anorexia nervosa: preliminary findings of a longitudinal voxel-based
      morphometry study.
AB  - The recent literature on anorexia nervosa (AN) suggests that functional and
      structural abnormalities of cortico-limbic areas might play a role in the
      evolution of the disease. We explored global and regional brain volumes in a
      cross-sectional and follow-up study on adolescents affected by AN. Eleven
      adolescents with AN underwent a voxel-based morphometry study at time of
      diagnosis and immediately after weight recovery. Data were compared to volumes
      carried out in eight healthy, age and sex matched controls. Subjects with AN
      showed increased cerebrospinal fluid volumes and decreased white and gray matter
      volumes, when compared to controls. Moreover, significant regional gray matter
      decrease in insular cortex and cerebellum was found at time of diagnosis. No
      regional white matter decrease was found between samples and controls.
      Correlations between psychological evaluation and insular volumes were explored.
      After weight recovery gray matter volumes normalized while reduced global white
      matter volumes persisted. 

PMID- 25834443
TI  - A retrospective study to assess resource utilization in patients with cervical
      dystonia in the United Kingdom.
AB  - PURPOSE: Cervical dystonia (CD) is a hypertonic condition caused by damage to the
      central nervous system. Very few studies have assessed the overall economic
      burden of the disease. The objective of this study was to describe the
      utilization of health care resources of patients with CD in the UK primary care
      setting, using a large population-based database. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Adults
      with a first diagnosis of CD between January 1, 2007 and January 31, 2011, who
      were registered to a general practitioner (GP) practice contributing to The
      Health Improvement Network (THIN), were included. Sociodemographic and clinical
      characteristics were assessed at the time of diagnosis. Health care resource
      utilization and pharmacological treatment were investigated at the end of the
      first and second year after diagnosis. RESULTS: Overall, 4,024 newly diagnosed
      patients with CD were identified, with average age at diagnosis of 45 years old;
      65.3% were female. Depression in the year prior to diagnosis was the most common
      comorbidity. Primary care utilization was high in the first year, with 99.2% of
      patients visiting their GP (on average 6.2 times), and 43% visiting a nurse (on
      average 2.5 times). Patients were most commonly referred to an orthopedic
      surgeon, and 15.9% reported at least one physiotherapy visit. In the second year,
      utilization was similar. Prescriptions of at least one of the investigated
      treatments were found in 82.0% and 45.3%, in the first and second year,
      respectively. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest a high number of new CD cases are
      being identified in primary care, but not all will be referred to secondary care.
      Health care resource utilization was compared with that of all patients
      registered in THIN, which is representative of the UK, and the adjusted usage of
      primary care resources was found to be similar to that of the THIN population.

PMID- 25834444
TI  - Do physical exercise and reading reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease? a cross
      sectional study on factors associated with Parkinson's disease in elderly Chinese
      veterans.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate risk factors for and
      factors protecting against Parkinson's disease (PD) in elderly Chinese veterans.
      METHODS: Using a database containing detailed information on the health status of
      the nervous system in elderly Chinese veterans, univariate and multivariate
      analyses of factors that may be associated with PD were performed. Univariate
      analysis of qualitative data was done using the Pearson Chi-square and Fisher's
      exact tests, and the Mann-Whitney U nonparametric test was used for univariate
      analysis of quantitative data. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used
      to identify independent risk factors for and factors protecting against PD in
      elderly Chinese veterans. RESULTS: A total of 9,676 elderly Chinese veterans were
      enrolled, including 228 cases with PD and 183 cases with Parkinson's syndrome,
      with 9,265 non-PD subjects serving as controls. Age (odds ratio [OR] 1.343, 95%
      confidence interval [CI] 1.028-1.755) and medical history of essential tremor (OR
      1.228, 95% CI 1.081-1.396) were identified as independent risk factors for PD,
      with age being the most important risk factor. Physical exercise (OR 0.478, 95%
      CI 0.355-0.643) and reading (OR 0.513, 95% CI 0.357-0.735) were identified as
      independent factors protecting against PD, and physical exercise showed better
      protection against PD relative to reading. Smoking, alcohol use, anemia, cerebral
      trauma, education level, and electromagnetic field exposure showed no association
      with PD. CONCLUSION: Physical exercise and reading may be independent factors
      that protect against PD among elderly Chinese veterans, while advancing age and
      medical history of essential tremor may be independent risk factors for PD. This
      study was cross-sectional, so further research is needed to confirm its results.

PMID- 25834445
TI  - Augmentation with antidepressants in schizophrenia treatment: benefit or risk.
AB  - We focused on the application of antidepressants in schizophrenia treatment in
      this review. Augmentation of antidepressants with antipsychotics is a common
      clinical practice to treat resistant symptoms in schizophrenia, including
      depressive symptoms, negative symptoms, comorbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms,
      and other psychotic manifestations. However, recent systematic review of the
      clinical effects of antidepressants is lacking. In this review, we have selected
      and summarized current literature on the use of antidepressants in patients with
      schizophrenia; the patterns of use and effectiveness, as well as risks and drug
      drug interactions of this clinical practice are discussed in detail, with
      particular emphasis on the treatment of depressive symptoms in schizophrenia. 

PMID- 25834446
TI  - Psychobiotics and the gut-brain axis: in the pursuit of happiness.
AB  - The human intestine houses an astounding number and species of microorganisms,
      estimated at more than 10(14) gut microbiota and composed of over a thousand
      species. An individual's profile of microbiota is continually influenced by a
      variety of factors including but not limited to genetics, age, sex, diet, and
      lifestyle. Although each person's microbial profile is distinct, the relative
      abundance and distribution of bacterial species is similar among healthy
      individuals, aiding in the maintenance of one's overall health. Consequently, the
      ability of gut microbiota to bidirectionally communicate with the brain, known as
      the gut-brain axis, in the modulation of human health is at the forefront of
      current research. At a basic level, the gut microbiota interacts with the human
      host in a mutualistic relationship - the host intestine provides the bacteria
      with an environment to grow and the bacterium aids in governing homeostasis
      within the host. Therefore, it is reasonable to think that the lack of healthy
      gut microbiota may also lead to a deterioration of these relationships and
      ultimately disease. Indeed, a dysfunction in the gut-brain axis has been
      elucidated by a multitude of studies linked to neuropsychological, metabolic, and
      gastrointestinal disorders. For instance, altered microbiota has been linked to
      neuropsychological disorders including depression and autism spectrum disorder,
      metabolic disorders such as obesity, and gastrointestinal disorders including
      inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Fortunately, studies
      have also indicated that gut microbiota may be modulated with the use of
      probiotics, antibiotics, and fecal microbiota transplants as a prospect for
      therapy in microbiota-associated diseases. This modulation of gut microbiota is
      currently a growing area of research as it just might hold the key to treatment. 

PMID- 25834447
TI  - The influence of comorbid personality disorders on recovery from depression.
AB  - PURPOSE: The impact of personality disorders on the treatment of and recovery
      from depression is still a controversial topic. The aim of this paper is to
      provide more information on what has led to this disagreement. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Clinician-rated Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) scores were
      assessed among 82 depressed outpatients who were receiving a routine treatment
      combination of antidepressant medication and psychosocial intervention. The
      participants were followed up over five visits at 3-month intervals: at the
      baseline, at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. Personality disorders were assessed after the
      last visit in accordance with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
      Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. These repeated measures were used to
      explore the impact of personality disorders on HAMD scores by using a linear
      mixed model. RESULTS: Among the four personality clusters that were used (A, B,
      C, and mixed), only those in cluster B and in the mixed cluster were found to
      take significantly longer than those without personality disorders, for reduction
      in HAMD scores over the course of treatment. CONCLUSION: In this study, the
      impact of personality disorders on treatment outcomes varied with the way that
      the personality disorder variables were described and used as independent
      predictors. This is because the outcomes were influenced by the impact weight of
      each personality disorder, even within the same cluster.

PMID- 25834448
TI  - Red cell distribution width and neurological scoring systems in acute stroke
      patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the association
      between the red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and the Glasgow Coma Scale
      (GCS), Canadian Neurological Scale (CNS), and National Institutes of Health
      Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores in patients who had acute ischemic stroke. METHODS:
      This prospective observational cohort study included 88 patients who have had
      acute ischemic stroke and a control group of 40 patients who were evaluated in
      the Emergency Department for disorders other than acute ischemic stroke. All
      subjects had RDW determined, and stroke patients had scoring with the GCS, CNS,
      and NIHSS scores. The GCS, CNS, and NIHSS scores of the patients were rated as
      mild, moderate, or severe and compared with RDW. RESULTS: Stroke patients had
      significantly higher median RDW than control subjects. The median RDW values were
      significantly elevated in patients who had more severe rather than milder strokes
      rated with all three scoring systems (GCS, CNS, and NIHSS). The median RDW values
      were significantly elevated for patients who had moderate rather than mild
      strokes rated by GCS and CNS and for patients who had severe rather than mild
      strokes rated by NIHSS. The area under the receiver operating characteristic
      curve was 0.760 (95% confidence interval, 0.676-0.844). Separation of stroke
      patients and control groups was optimal with RDW 14% (sensitivity, 71.6%;
      specificity, 67.5%; accuracy, 70.3%). CONCLUSION: In stroke patients who have
      symptoms <24 hours, the RDW may be useful in predicting the severity and
      functional outcomes of the stroke.

PMID- 25834449
TI  - Effects of a selective educational system on fatigue, sleep problems, daytime
      sleepiness, and depression among senior high school adolescents in Taiwan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study reported here was to clarify the effects of
      academic pressure on fatigue, sleep problems, daytime sleepiness, and depression
      among senior high school adolescents in Taiwan. METHODS: This cross-sectional
      study enrolled 757 senior high school adolescents who were classified into four
      groups: Grade 1 (n=261), Grade 2 (n=228), Grade 3T (n=199; Grade 3 students who
      had another college entrance test to take), and Grade 3S (n=69; Grade 3 students
      who had succeeded in their college application). Fatigue, sleep quality, daytime
      sleepiness, and depression were assessed using the Chinese version of the
      Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory - Short Form, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality
      Index-Taiwan Form, the Chinese version of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and the
      Chinese version of the Beck Depression Inventory((r))-II (BDI-II), respectively.
      RESULTS: Physical, emotional, and mental fatigue scores were all higher in higher
      grade groups. The Grade 3T (test) students had the worst fatigue severity, and
      the Grade 3S (success) students had the least fatigue severity. More than half of
      the students (60.9%) went to bed after 12 am, and they had on average 6.0 hours
      of sleep per night. More than 30% of the students in Grade 2 (37.3%) and Grades
      3T/S (30.2%/30.4%) possibly had daily sleepiness problems. The students in Grade
      3T had the worst BDI-II score (13.27+/-9.24), and the Grade 3S students had a
      much lower BDI-II score (7.91+/-6.13). CONCLUSION: Relatively high proportions of
      fatigue, sleep problems, daytime sleepiness, and depression among senior high
      school adolescents were found in our study. The severities of fatigue, sleep
      problems, and depression were significantly diminished in the group under less
      academic stress (Grade 3S). Our findings may increase the understanding of the
      mental health of senior high school students under academic pressure in Taiwan.
      Further large sample size and population-based study should be done for better
      understanding about this topic.

PMID- 25834450
TI  - Optimal management of night eating syndrome: challenges and solutions.
AB  - Night Eating Syndrome (NES) is a unique disorder characterized by a delayed
      pattern of food intake in which recurrent episodes of nocturnal eating and/or
      excessive food consumption occur after the evening meal. NES is a clinically
      important disorder due to its relationship to obesity, its association with other
      psychiatric disorders, and problems concerning sleep. However, NES often goes
      unrecognized by both health professionals and patients. The lack of knowledge
      regarding NES in clinical settings may lead to inadequate diagnoses and
      inappropriate treatment approaches. Therefore, the proper diagnosis of NES is the
      most important issue when identifying NES and providing treatment for this
      disorder. Clinical assessment tools such as the Night Eating Questionnaire may
      help health professionals working with populations vulnerable to NES. Although
      NES treatment studies are still in their infancy, antidepressant treatments and
      psychological therapies can be used for optimal management of patients with NES.
      Other treatment options such as melatonergic medications, light therapy, and the
      anticonvulsant topiramate also hold promise as future treatment options. The
      purpose of this review is to provide a summary of NES, including its diagnosis,
      comorbidities, and treatment approaches. Possible challenges addressing patients
      with NES and management options are also discussed. 

PMID- 25834452
TI  - Neuroinflammatory responses to traumatic brain injury.

PMID- 25834451
TI  - Long-term total sleep deprivation decreases the default spontaneous activity and
      connectivity pattern in healthy male subjects: a resting-state fMRI study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to use resting-state functional connectivity
      (rsFC) and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) methods to explore
      intrinsic default-mode network (DMN) impairment after sleep deprivation (SD) and
      its relationships with clinical features. METHODS: Twelve healthy male subjects
      underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging twice: once
      following rested wakefulness (RW) and the other following 72 hours of total SD.
      Before the scans, all subjects underwent the attention network test (ANT). The
      independent component analysis (ICA), rsFC, and ALFF methods were used to examine
      intrinsic DMN impairment. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used
      to distinguish SD status from RW status. RESULTS: Compared with RW subjects, SD
      subjects showed a lower accuracy rate (RW =96.83%, SD =77.67%; P<0.001), a slower
      reaction time (RW =695.92 ms; SD =799.18 ms; P=0.003), a higher lapse rate (RW
      =0.69%, SD =19.29%; P<0.001), and a higher intraindividual coefficient of
      variability in reaction time (RW =0.26, SD =0.33; P=0.021). The ICA method showed
      that, compared with RW subjects, SD subjects had decreased rsFC in the right
      inferior parietal lobule (IPL, BA40) and in the left precuneus (PrC)/posterior
      cingulate cortex (PCC) (BA30, 31). The two different areas were selected as
      regions of interest (ROIs) for future rsFC analysis. Compared with the same in RW
      subjects, in SD subjects, the right IPL showed decreased rsFC with the left PrC
      (BA7) and increased rsFC with the left fusiform gyrus (BA37) and the left cluster
      of middle temporal gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus (BA37). However, the left
      PrC/PCC did not show any connectivity differences. Compared with RW subjects, SD
      subjects showed lower ALFF area in the left IPL (BA39, 40). The left IPL, as an
      ROI, showed decreased rsFC with the right cluster of IPL and superior temporal
      gyrus (BA39, 40). ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC)
      value of the left IPL was 0.75, with a cutoff point of 0.834 (mean ALFF signal
      value). Further diagnostic analysis exhibited that the AUC alone discriminated SD
      status from RW status, with 75% sensitivity and 91.7% specificity. CONCLUSION:
      Long-term SD disturbed the spontaneous activity and connectivity pattern of DMN.

PMID- 25834454
TI  - Clinical use of pasireotide for Cushing's disease in adults.
AB  - CUSHING'S DISEASE: Excessive corticotroph hormone levels sustained by an
      adrenocorticotropic hormone-secreting pituitary adenoma lead to a severe clinical
      condition caused by excess cortisol secretion, called Cushing's disease (CD).
      Neurosurgery and radiotherapy are used to treat the pituitary adenoma directly,
      but new medical treatments targeting the corticotroph cells have recently become
      available. PASIREOTIDE: This is a novel multireceptor ligand somatostatin (SST)
      analog with a high binding affinity for SST receptor 5, the predominant receptor
      in human corticotroph adenomas that is not downregulated by high cortisol levels
      (as SST receptor 2 is). Pasireotide has been recently approved by the European
      Medical Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration for treating adults with
      CD with recurrent hypercortisolism after surgery, or for whom surgery is not an
      option. A dose of 600-1,200 MUg twice a day can normalize urinary free cortisol
      levels after 3 months of treatment in up to 28% of patients, reducing their blood
      pressure and improving their weight, lipid profile, and quality of life.
      Combining pasireotide with cabergoline to achieve a greater hormone response can
      normalize cortisol secretion in 50% of patients, and adding ketoconazole induces
      biochemical control in most patients with CD. SAFETY AND HYPERGLYCEMIA: The
      adverse effects of pasireotide are similar to those of other SST analogs,
      including diarrhea, nausea, and biliary sludge or gallstones. Hyperglycemia is
      common during pasireotide treatment, which affects the secretion of pancreatic
      insulin and intestinal glucagon-like peptide 1. Self-monitoring is essential to
      achieve good metabolic control, and endocrinologists should first administer
      metformin if insulin resistance is evident and then add dipeptidyl peptidase 4
      inhibitors/glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists or insulin. CONCLUSION: In
      recent years, medical treatment with pasireotide has been proposed as monotherapy
      for adults with CD characterized by mild to moderate hypercortisolemia, as well
      as in combination with other available therapies. It is generally well-tolerated,
      but endocrinologists need to monitor glucose levels to ensure prompt treatment.

PMID- 25834453
TI  - Risk factors for osteoporosis in Japan: is it associated with Helicobacter
      pylori?
AB  - BACKGROUND: A number of diseases and drugs may influence bone mineral density;
      however, there are few reports concerning the relationship between lifestyle
      related diseases and osteoporosis in Japan as determined by multivariate
      analysis. The aim of this study was to investigate the risk factors for
      osteoporosis and whether infection by or eradication of Helicobacter pylori is
      associated with osteoporosis. METHODS: Between February 2008 and November 2014,
      using a cross-sectional study design, we investigated patient profile (age, sex,
      BMI, alcohol, smoking), H. pylori infection status, comorbidities, internal
      medicine therapeutic agents (calcium channel blocker, HMG-CoA reductase
      inhibitors, proton pump inhibitor), serum parameters (Hb, calcium, gammaGTP),
      bone turn over markers (bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP) and collagen
      type I cross-linked N telopeptide (NTX), findings on dual-energy x-ray
      absorptiometry (DEXA) and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and Frequency Scale
      for the Symptoms of GERD score in consecutive outpatients aged >=50 years at our
      hospital. We divided the subjects into an osteoporosis group and a non
      osteoporosis group and investigated risk factors for osteoporosis between the two
      groups by bivariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Of the 255 eligible study
      subjects, 43 (16.9%) had osteoporosis. Bivariate analysis showed that advanced
      age, female sex, lower body mass index, lower cumulative alcohol intake, lower
      Brinkman index, H. pylori positivity, lower hemoglobin, bone-specific alkaline
      phosphatase, lower prevalence of hiatal hernia, and endoscopic gastric mucosal
      atrophy were related to osteoporosis. Multivariate analysis showed that advanced
      age (odds ratio [OR] 1.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07-1.19, P<0.001),
      female sex (OR 6.27, 95% CI 2.26-17.39, P<0.001), low BMI (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.72
      0.94, P=0.005), H. pylori positivity (OR 3.00, 95% CI 1.31-6.88, P=0.009), and
      BAP (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01-1.14, P=0.035) were related to osteoporosis.
      CONCLUSION: Advanced age, low BMI, BAP, and H. pylori positivity were risk
      factors for osteoporosis; however, the success of H. pylori eradication was not a
      risk factor for osteoporosis in Japan.

PMID- 25834455
TI  - Experiences of using the Theoretical Domains Framework across diverse clinical
      environments: a qualitative study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) is an integrative framework
      developed from a synthesis of psychological theories as a vehicle to help apply
      theoretical approaches to interventions aimed at behavior change. PURPOSE: This
      study explores experiences of TDF use by professionals from multiple disciplines
      across diverse clinical settings. METHODS: Mixed methods were used to examine
      experiences, attitudes, and perspectives of health professionals in using the TDF
      in health care implementation projects. Individual interviews were conducted with
      ten health care professionals from six disciplines who used the TDF in
      implementation projects. Deductive content and thematic analysis were used.
      RESULTS: Three main themes and associated subthemes were identified including: 1)
      reasons for use of the TDF (increased confidence, broader perspective, and
      theoretical underpinnings); 2) challenges using the TDF (time and resources,
      operationalization of the TDF) and; 3) future use of the TDF. CONCLUSION: The TDF
      provided a useful, flexible framework for a diverse group of health professionals
      working across different clinical settings for the assessment of barriers and
      targeting resources to influence behavior change for implementation projects. The
      development of practical tools and training or support is likely to aid the
      utility of TDF.

PMID- 25834456
TI  - Association between the ERCC1 rs11615 polymorphism and clinical outcomes of
      oxaliplatin-based chemotherapies in gastrointestinal cancer: a meta-analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: The relationship between the excision repair cross-complementing 1
      (ERCC1) rs11615 polymorphism (C/T) and responses to oxaliplatin-based
      chemotherapy for gastric cancer (GC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) patients is
      controversial. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to assess this
      relationship. METHOD: Relevant studies were retrieved by searching the PubMed
      database. A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the
      predictive value of the ERCC1 rs11615 polymorphism for the clinical outcomes of
      GC and CRC patients receiving oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy. Therapeutic
      response to chemotherapy, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival
      (OS) were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 22 studies were included in this meta
      analysis, including 1,242 cases of GC and 1,772 cases of CRC. For the ERCC1
      rs11615 polymorphism, the T allele was associated with a reduced response to
      chemotherapy in Asians and GC patients (P<0.05). On the other hand, the T allele
      was associated with a significant increase in the risk for shorter PFS and OS in
      all patients (PFS: hazard ratio [HR] =1.22, P<0.001, 95% confidence interval [CI]
      =0.93-1.51 and OS: HR =1.12, P<0.001, 95% CI =0.85-1.40). CONCLUSION: The ERCC1
      rs11615 polymorphism was closely associated with the clinical outcomes of GC and
      CRC patients treated with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy.

PMID- 25834457
TI  - A major step forward for sublingual immunotherapy: the quality of 5-grass pollen
      tablet is recognized also in Italy.

PMID- 25834458
TI  - Costs of illness analysis in Italian patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary
      disease (COPD): an update.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of
      chronic morbidity and mortality worldwide, and its epidemiological, clinical, and
      socioeconomic impact is progressively increasing. A first estimate of the
      economic burden of COPD in Italy was conducted in 2008 (the SIRIO [Social Impact
      of Respiratory Integrated Outcomes] study). The aim of the present study is to
      provide an updated picture of the COPD economic burden in Italy. METHODS:
      Sequential patients presenting at the specialist center for the first time during
      the period 2008-2012 and with record file complete (demographic, clinical, lung
      function, and therapeutic data; health care resources consumed in the 12 months
      before the enrollment and for the 3 subsequent years) were selected from the
      institutional database. RESULTS: Two hundred and seventy-five COPD patients
      fitting the inclusion criteria were selected (226 males; mean age: 70.9 years
      [standard deviation: +/-8.4 years]; 45.8% were from the north, 25.1% from central
      Italy, and 29.1% from south Italy). COPD-related average costs per patient in the
      12 months before enrollment were as follows: hospitalization: ?1,970; outpatient
      care: ?463; pharmaceutical: ?499; and indirect costs: ?358. Average direct costs
      and total societal costs were ?2,932 and ?3,291, respectively. Direct cost was
      ?2,461 (hospitalization: ?1,570; outpatient: ?344; and pharmaceutical: ?547) in
      the first year of follow-up, while total societal cost was ?2,707. No significant
      difference was reported in any cost category between sexes. CONCLUSION: The
      therapeutic approach followed in a specialist center, based on the application of
      clinical guidelines, has been shown to be a highly effective investment for the
      long-term management of COPD. A small increase of pharmaceutical costs per year
      allowed a substantial saving in terms of hospitalizations, costs related to
      outpatient services, and indirect costs.

PMID- 25834459
TI  - Erratum: Annual biologic treatment cost for new and existing patients with
      moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in Greece [Corrigendum].
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. 73 in vol. 7, PMID: 25609988.]. 

PMID- 25834460
TI  - Daily intake of rosehip extract decreases abdominal visceral fat in preobese
      subjects: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obesity has become a great problem all over the world. We repeatedly
      screened to find an effective food to treat obesity and discovered that rosehip
      extract shows potent anti-obesity effects. Investigations in mice have
      demonstrated that rosehip extract inhibits body weight gain and decreases
      visceral fat. Thus, the present study examined the effect of rosehip extract on
      human body fat in preobese subjects. METHODS: We conducted a 12-week, single
      center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study of 32 subjects who had
      a body mass index of >=25 but <30. The subjects were assigned to two random
      groups, and they received one tablet of placebo or rosehip that contained 100 mg
      of rosehip extract once each day for 12 weeks with no dietary intervention.
      Abdominal fat area and body fat percent were measured as primary outcomes. The
      other outcomes were body weight and body mass index. RESULTS: Abdominal total fat
      area, abdominal visceral fat area, body weight, and body mass index decreased
      significantly in the rosehip group at week 12 compared with their baseline levels
      (P<0.01) after receiving the rosehip tablet intake, and the decreases in these
      parameters were significantly higher when compared with those in the placebo
      group. Additionally, body fat percent tended to decrease compared with the
      placebo group and their baseline level. Moreover, the abdominal subcutaneous fat
      area was significantly lower in the rosehip group than in the placebo group at
      week 12 after the initiation of intake (P<0.05). In addition, there were no
      abnormalities, subjective symptoms, and findings that may indicate clinical
      problems during the study period. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that rosehip
      extract may be a good candidate food material for preventing obesity.

PMID- 25834461
TI  - Anagliptin in the treatment of type 2 diabetes: safety, efficacy, and patient
      acceptability.
AB  - Anagliptin is a novel dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor that has been available in
      Japan since 2012. Because anagliptin is not generally used in countries other
      than Japan, there are only a small number of reports investigating the effects of
      anagliptin. In the present article, we review the safety and efficacy of
      anagliptin according to data obtained from preclinical trials and postmarketing
      studies. The usual dose of anagliptin is 200 mg daily, and increases in the dose
      up to 400 mg daily have been approved in cases in which the blood glucose
      lowering effect is insufficient. In a Phase II trial, the reduction in the HbA1c
      values from baseline after 12 weeks monotherapy with 200 mg and 400 mg of daily
      anagliptin was 0.75%+/-0.50% and 0.82%+/-0.46%, respectively, and more than 40%
      of the subjects receiving anagliptin at a dose of 200 mg or 400 mg daily achieved
      an HbA1c level below 6.9%. Furthermore, the levels of HbA1c, fasting blood
      glucose, and postprandial blood glucose were significantly decreased at 52 weeks
      compared with the baseline values in a Phase III trial investigating the effects
      of anagliptin included in combination therapy with other oral antidiabetic
      agents. In a pooled analysis of Phase II and Phase II/III trials, the goal
      achievement rates for an HbA1c level below 7.0% at 12 weeks were 40.3%, 39.4%,
      30.0%, and 34.8% in the patients treated with anagliptin combined with alpha
      glucosidase inhibitors, thiazolidinediones, sulfonylureas, and biguanides,
      respectively. Meanwhile, the serum lipid concentrations significantly improved
      after the administration of anagliptin in a pooled analysis of Phase III trials,
      and no serious adverse effects have been reported in preclinical trials.
      Therefore, the use of anagliptin in patients with type 2 diabetes is considered
      to be safe and effective for both monotherapy and combination therapy. 

PMID- 25834462
TI  - Spectrum of dermatophyte infections in Botswana.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dermatophyte infections are a common cause of superficial fungal
      infection in different geographical locations of the world. Usually, it involves
      superficial invasion of keratinized tissue, eg, skin, nails, and hair, but in
      immunosuppressed individuals, it may cause atypical, extensive and deep lesions,
      which may pose serious diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. AIM: To find out
      the causative dermatophyte species responsible for the various clinical types of
      dermatophyte infection. RESULTS: Trichophyton violaceum was found to be the
      predominant species, being the causative organism responsible for all the
      clinical types. CONCLUSION: T. violaceum was found to be the most common species
      responsible for most of the clinical forms of dermatophytosis (96; 80%). Tinea
      unguium was found to be the most frequent clinical type of dermatophytosis (33;
      27.50%).

PMID- 25834463
TI  - IncobotulinumtoxinA use in aesthetic indications in daily practice: a European
      multicenter, noninterventional, retrospective study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To characterize utilization patterns and treatment satisfaction with
      incobotulinumtoxinA for aesthetic indications and assess adherence to the Summary
      of Product Characteristics. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were collected
      retrospectively from physicians in Germany, France, and the UK regarding patients
      (n=638) treated with incobotulinumtoxinA for aesthetic indications. Data on
      indication, treatment interval, dose injected, physician and patient
      satisfaction, and adverse drug reactions were recorded according to routine daily
      practice. RESULTS: Most patients (76.0%) received incobotulinumtoxinA for
      glabellar frown lines (GFL) and were given doses of <=20 U. The majority of
      treatment intervals were 5 months or longer. Overall, 64.1% of patients were
      treated for off-label indications, sometimes in combination with treatment for
      GFL. The most frequently treated off-label indications were horizontal forehead
      lines (38.6%) and/or crow's feet (CF; 31.7%); for CF, >95% of injected doses were
      <=24 U. In Germany, a smaller proportion of patients were given
      incobotulinumtoxinA treatment for CF (27.6%), compared with France (40.4%) and
      the UK (33.2%), although country-specific differences were less prominent when
      treatment cycle data for CF were examined. Treatment satisfaction among
      physicians and patients (overall, and for GFL specifically) was very high, with
      excellent tolerability and only one mild adverse drug reaction reported.
      CONCLUSION: In daily practice, incobotulinumtoxinA is mainly used for GFL;
      however, its use for CF and horizontal forehead lines (often in combination with
      GFL) is relatively common. Treatment satisfaction across aesthetic indications is
      high, and incobotulinumtoxinA is well tolerated, with time intervals of 5 months
      or longer between injections in the majority of cases. When considering factors
      such as dose and treatment interval, adherence to the Summary of Product
      Characteristics when treating GFL in daily practice is good. These results
      support previous reports that incobotulinumtoxinA is an effective treatment for
      GFL, with an excellent safety profile. Furthermore, incobotulinumtoxinA may
      display efficacy and tolerability in other indications.

PMID- 25834464
TI  - Comparison of acceptance and distraction strategies in coping with experimentally
      induced pain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study compared an acceptance-based strategy with a control-based
      strategy (distraction) in terms of the ability of participants to tolerate a
      painful stimulus, across two experiments. In addition, participants were either
      actively encouraged, or not, to link pain tolerance with pursuit of valued goals
      to examine the impact of pursuing a personally meaningful goal or value on the
      extent to which pain will be tolerated. METHODS: Participants in experiment 1
      (n=41) and experiment 2 (n=52) were equally assigned to acceptance or distraction
      protocols. Further, half the participants in each group generated examples from
      their own lives in which they had pursued a valued objective, while the other
      half did not. In experiment 2, the values focus was enhanced to examine the
      impact on pain tolerance. RESULTS: There were no significant differences overall
      between the acceptance and distraction groups on pain tolerance in either
      experiment. However, in experiment 2, individuals classified as accepting in
      terms of general coping style and who were assigned to the acceptance strategy
      showed significantly better pain tolerance than accepting individuals who were in
      the distraction condition. Across both experiments, those with strong goal-driven
      values in both protocols were more tolerant of pain. Participants appeared to
      have more difficulty adhering to acceptance than to distraction as a strategy.
      CONCLUSION: Acceptance may be associated with better tolerance of pain, but may
      also be more difficult to operationalize than distraction in experimental
      studies. Matching coping style and coping strategy may be most effective, and
      enhancement of goal-driven values may assist in pain coping.

PMID- 25834465
TI  - The health insurance industry: perpetuating the opioid crisis through policies of
      cost-containment and profitability.

PMID- 25834466
TI  - Pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy of APF530 (extended-release granisetron)
      in patients receiving moderately or highly emetogenic chemotherapy: results of
      two Phase II trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite advances with new therapies, a significant proportion of
      patients (>30%) suffer delayed-onset chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting
      (CINV) despite use of antiemetics. APF530 is a sustained-release subcutaneous
      (SC) formulation of granisetron for preventing CINV. APF530 pharmacokinetics,
      safety, and efficacy were studied in two open-label, single-dose Phase II trials
      (C2005-01 and C2007-01, respectively) in patients receiving moderately emetogenic
      chemotherapy or highly emetogenic chemotherapy. METHODS: In C2005-01, 45 patients
      received APF530 250, 500, or 750 mg SC (granisetron 5, 10, or 15 mg,
      respectively). In C2007-01, 35 patients were randomized to APF530 250 or 500 mg
      SC. Injections were given 30 to 60 minutes before single-day moderately
      emetogenic chemotherapy or highly emetogenic chemotherapy. Plasma granisetron was
      measured from predose to 168 hours after study drug administration. Safety and
      efficacy were also evaluated. RESULTS: APF530 pharmacokinetics were dose
      proportional, with slow absorption and elimination of granisetron after a single
      SC dose. Median time to maximum plasma concentration and half-life were similar
      for APF530 250 and 500 mg in both trials, with no differences between the groups
      receiving moderately and highly emetogenic chemotherapy. Exposure to granisetron
      was maintained at a therapeutic level over the delayed-onset phase, at least 168
      hours. Adverse events in both trials were as expected for granisetron; injection
      site reactions (eg, erythema and induration) were predominantly mild and seen in
      <=20% of patients. Complete responses (no emesis, with no rescue medication) were
      obtained in the acute, delayed, and overall phases in >=80% and >=75% of patients
      in both trials with the 250 and 500 mg doses, respectively. CONCLUSION: After a
      single injection of APF530, there were dose-proportional pharmacokinetics and
      sustained concentrations of granisetron over 168 hours. The 250 and 500 mg doses
      were well tolerated and maintained therapeutic granisetron levels for >=5 days.

PMID- 25834467
TI  - Survey on appropriateness of use of nimesulide in nine European countries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Appropriateness of use is a key factor in safeguarding patient's
      health as well as a product's therapeutic properties. This paper presents the
      results of a survey conducted in nine European countries to verify the
      appropriateness of use of nimesulide in patients with inflammatory pain. METHODS:
      Computer-aided telephone interviews were administered to 1,277 nimesulide
      prescribing general practitioners in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary,
      Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Slovakia, covering an estimated 31,719
      patients. The interview questionnaire collected information on nimesulide
      prescriptions with respect to daily dose, treatment duration, and indication.
      RESULTS: In the majority of cases, prescriptions of nimesulide did not exceed the
      recommended daily dose of 200 mg (given as 100 mg twice a day), with a range from
      161 mg (Greece) to 190 mg (Slovakia). An adherence to the 15-day treatment limit
      was observed in over 90% of cases. The average number of treatment days was
      always less than 15, with a range from 5.4 (Italy) to 13.6 (Czech Republic).
      Nimesulide was primarily used for the treatment of acute pain and short-term
      painful episodes in chronic conditions. The presence of gastrointestinal
      diseases/ulcers was the most frequent reason for not prescribing nimesulide.
      CONCLUSION: The results of this survey demonstrate that nimesulide is generally
      prescribed in compliance with the information reported in the summary of product
      characteristics (SmPC) with regard to daily dose and treatment duration, and
      suggest that it is mainly used for the management of episodes of acute pain in
      patients with a chronic disorder. These findings indicate the appropriateness of
      use of nimesulide in the European countries considered in this survey.

PMID- 25834468
TI  - Lack of facilities rather than sociocultural factors as the primary barrier to
      physical activity among female Saudi university students.
AB  - PURPOSE: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is experiencing a dramatic increase in
      physical inactivity, with women having higher levels of inactivity than men among
      all age groups. It is assumed that factors such as dress codes, restrictions on
      going outdoors, and conservative norms are the main reasons for women's low
      physical activity. Our aim was to explore the different parameters related to
      physical activity, including self-efficacy, as well as the perceived barriers to
      and benefits of physical activity in young Saudi females. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      Ninety-four first-year female Saudi university students in Riyadh, Kingdom of
      Saudi Arabia, participated in the present study in 2014. The students were from
      eight bachelor's programs in health and well-being, and each completed a
      questionnaire with questions divided into five parts as follows: 1) socioeconomic
      status, 2) physical activity, 3) self-efficacy 4) social factors, and 5) barriers
      and facilitators related to physical activity. RESULTS: The students exercised at
      home and alone, and there was low self-efficacy for physical activity (mean score
      =42+/-14). Among social factors, attending university was the only factor that
      hindered physical activity (32%). Physical activity was positively perceived
      overall (mean score =131+/-10). Students showed awareness of the benefits of
      physical activity for health and well-being. The most important barrier was the
      lack of designated areas available for physical activity. Students disagreed that
      family or the Islamic community were barriers to physical activity. CONCLUSION:
      The lack of facilities and lack of encouragement from the university, but not a
      lack of knowledge (a high level of knowledge is to be expected given their health
      and well-being studies backgrounds) and/or restrictions from families and
      society, seem to hinder female students' physical activity, at least young Saudi
      students.

PMID- 25834469
TI  - Teacher Stress Inventory: validation of the Greek version and perceived stress
      levels among 3,447 educators.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI) is an instrument for measuring
      occupational stress in teachers. This study aimed to translate and adapt it for
      use in Greece, and then assess its reliability and validity. METHODS: The Greek
      versions of the TSI and the 14-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) were posted
      on all Greek educators' official sites during May 2012. A nationwide sample of
      3,447 teachers of all levels and specialties completed the questionnaires via the
      Internet. Reliability was determined by the calculation of Cronbach's alpha
      coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted and validity was further
      examined by investigating the correlation of the TSI with the PSS-14 and their
      association with demographics and work-related factors. RESULTS: Satisfactory
      Cronbach's alpha values (above 0.70) were found for all TSI dimensions.
      Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the two-factor construct of TSI (root mean
      square error of approximation, comparative fit index, and goodness-of-fit index
      values were 0.079, 0.956, and 0.951, respectively), confirming the pre
      established theory for the two latent variables, Stress Sources and Stress
      Manifestations. Significant correlations were found between TSI subscales, PSS-14
      sex, age, lack of support, and students' difficulties. CONCLUSION: The Greek
      version of the TSI was found to have satisfactory psychometric properties, and
      its use for assessing stress in Greek teachers is warranted.

PMID- 25834470
TI  - The relationship between spiritual intelligence and personality traits among
      Jordanian university students.
AB  - This study was aimed at identifying the level of spiritual intelligence and its
      correlation with personality traits among a group of Jordanian undergraduate
      students. A purposive sample of 716 male and female students was chosen from
      different faculties at the Hashemite University. Two questionnaires on spiritual
      intelligence and personality traits were distributed to members of the sample
      during the academic year 2013-2014. Results illustrated a medium level of
      spiritual intelligence in students, and indicated a positive and statistically
      significant relationship between spiritual intelligence dimensions (critical
      existential thinking, personal meaning production, transcendental awareness, and
      conscious state expansion) and personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion,
      openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness), but no significant
      correlation between personal meaning production and transcendental awareness
      dimensions and neuroticism personality traits. Finally, regression analysis
      results indicate that critical existential thinking is the first predictor
      dimension of spiritual intelligence in terms of neuroticism, extraversion,
      openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. In the light of the
      results of this study, many recommendations were written by the researchers. 

PMID- 25834471
TI  - Achieving optimal delivery of follow-up care for prostate cancer survivors:
      improving patient outcomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the
      US, and the second most prevalent cancer in men worldwide. High incidence and
      survival rates for prostate cancer have resulted in a large and growing
      population of long-term prostate cancer survivors. Long-term follow-up guidelines
      have only recently been developed to inform approaches to this phase of care for
      the prostate cancer population. METHODS: A PubMed search of English literature
      through August 2014 was performed. Articles were retrieved and reviewed to
      confirm their relevance. Patient-reported measures that were used in studies of
      long-term prostate cancer survivors (ie, at least 2 years posttreatment) were
      reviewed and included in the review. RESULTS: A total of 343 abstracts were
      initially identified from the database search. After abstract review, 105 full
      text articles were reviewed of which seven met inclusion criteria. An additional
      22 articles were identified from the references of the included articles, and 29
      were retained. From the 29 articles, 68 patient-reported outcome measures were
      identified. The majority (75%) were multi-item scales that had been previously
      validated in existing literature. We identified four main areas of assessment: 1)
      physical health; 2) quality of life - general, physical, and psychosocial; 3)
      health promotion - physical activity, diet, and tobacco cessation; and 4) care
      quality outcomes. CONCLUSION: There are a number of well-validated measures that
      assess patient-reported outcomes that document key aspects of long-term follow-up
      with respect to patient symptoms and quality of life. However, there are fewer
      patient-reported outcomes related to health promotion and care quality within the
      prevention, surveillance, and care coordination components of cancer
      survivorship. Future research should focus on development of additional patient
      centered and patient-related outcomes that enlarge the assessment portfolio.

PMID- 25834472
TI  - Exposing medical students to expanding populations.
AB  - Physicians are required to advocate for and counsel patients based on the best
      science and the interests of the individual while avoiding discrimination,
      ensuring equal access to health and mental services. Nonetheless, the
      communication gap between physician and patients has long been observed. To this
      end, the Institute for the Public Understanding of Health and Medicine of the
      Rutgers University New Jersey Medical School has expanded its efforts. This
      report describes two new programs: a legacy lecture series for medical students
      and an international "experience", in Huancayo, Peru, for medical students and
      faculty. The MiniMed outreach program, now in its ninth year and first described
      in this journal in 2012, was designed to empower the powerless to communicate
      more effectively with clinicians, thus improving both the effectiveness of the
      physician-patient relationship and health care outcomes. The approach of the two
      new programs and their effects on patients, particularly the underserved, and
      medical students and faculty, are outlined in the following article. 

PMID- 25834473
TI  - Procedural skills practice and training needs of doctors, nurses, midwives and
      paramedics in rural Victoria.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Procedural skills are a significant component of clinical practice.
      Doctors, nurses, midwives and paramedics are trained to use a variety of
      procedural skills. Rural clinicians in particular are often required to maintain
      competence in some procedural skills that are used infrequently, and which may
      require regular and repeated rehearsal. This paper reports on a research project
      conducted in Gippsland, Victoria, to ascertain the frequency of use, and
      relevance to clinical practice, of a range of skills in the fields of medicine,
      nursing, midwifery, and paramedic practice. The project also gathered data on the
      attitudes of clinicians regarding how frequently and by what means they thought
      they needed to practice these skills with a particular focus on the use of
      simulation as an educational method. METHODS: The research was conducted
      following identification of a specific set of procedural skills for each
      professional group. Skills were identified by an expert steering committee. We
      developed online questionnaires that consisted of two parts: 1) demographic and
      professional characteristics, and 2) experience of procedural skills and
      perceived training needs. We sought to invite all practicing clinicians (doctors,
      nurses, midwives, paramedics) working in Gippsland. Online surveys were
      distributed between November 2011 and April 2012 with three follow-up attempts.
      The Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee approved the study.
      RESULTS: Valid responses were received from 58 doctors, 94 nurses, 46 midwives,
      and 30 paramedics, whom we estimate to represent not more than 20% of current
      clinicians within these professions. This response rate reflected some of the
      difficulties experienced in the conduct of the research. Results were tabulated
      for each professional group across the range of skills. There was significant
      correlation between the frequency of certain skills and confidence with
      maintenance of these skills. This did not necessarily correlate with perceptions
      of respondents as to how often they need to practice each skill to maintain
      mastery. The more complex the skill, the more likely the respondents were to
      report a need for frequent rehearsal of the skill. There was variation between
      the professional groups as to how to retain mastery; for some skills,
      professional groups reported skill maintenance through clinical observation and
      clinical practice; for other skills, simulation was seen to be more appropriate.
      CONCLUSION: This project provided insight into the clinical application of
      procedural skills for clinicians comprising a relatively large professional
      population within a defined geographical region in rural Victoria, as well as
      attitudes to skills maintenance and competency. Although not the focus of the
      study, an unexpected outcome was the design of questionnaires on procedural
      skills. We believe that the questionnaires may have value in other rural
      settings. We acknowledge the limitations of the study in the text. The project
      provides some information on which to base planning for procedural skills
      education, including simulation-based training, and directions for further
      research.

PMID- 25834474
TI  - A new species of Lathrolestes Forster (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) from Peruvian
      Amazonia.
AB  - Lathrolestesfiedleri sp. n. is described from Peru. This is the first record of
      the tribe and the genus for the country. 

PMID- 25834475
TI  - Nine genera of Eucnemidae (Coleoptera) new to Peru, with a key to Peruvian
      genera.
AB  - Thirteen genera of Eucnemidae containing forty species were collected from the
      Iquitos region in Peru. Nine of the genera are new to the country: Rhagomicrus
      Fleutiaux, 1902, Adelorhagus Horn, 1890, Adelothyreus Chevrolat, 1867,
      Microrhagus Dejean, 1833, Dyscharachthis Blackburn, 1900, Heterotaxis Bonvouloir,
      1871, Spinifornax Fleutiaux, 1926, Serrifornax Fleutiaux, 1926 and Maelodrus
      Fleutiaux, 1928. The previous eucnemid record from Peru contained eleven species
      in ten genera. Only one of the forty species caught, Entomophthalmusamericanus
      Bonvouloir, was previously known and described from the country. Dyscharachthis,
      Maelodrus and Adelorhagus are recorded from South America for the first time.
      Many of the collected species seem to favor white-sand forest as their habitat.
      Possible reasons for this are discussed. A list of eucnemids from Peru is
      included, containing taxa already recorded from the country and also taxa that
      are likely to occur there. A key to the Peruvian genera is included. 

PMID- 25834476
TI  - Higgs decay into two photons in a warped extra dimension.
AB  - A detailed five-dimensional calculation of the Higgs-boson decay into two photons
      is performed in both the minimal and the custodially protected Randall-Sundrum
      (RS) model, where the Standard Model (SM) fields propagate in the bulk and the
      scalar sector lives on or near the IR brane. It is explicitly shown that the
      [Formula: see text] gauge invariance of the sum of diagrams involving bosonic
      fields in the SM also applies to the case of these RS scenarios. An exact
      expression for the [Formula: see text] amplitude in terms of the five-dimensional
      (5D) gauge-boson and fermion propagators is presented, which includes the full
      dependence on the Higgs-boson mass. Closed expressions for the 5D [Formula: see
      text]-boson propagators in the minimal and the custodial RS model are derived,
      which are valid to all orders in [Formula: see text]. In contrast to the fermion
      case, the result for the bosonic contributions to the [Formula: see text]
      amplitude is insensitive to the details of the localization of the Higgs profile
      on or near the IR brane. The various RS predictions for the rate of the [Formula:
      see text] process are compared with the latest LHC data, and exclusion regions
      for the RS model parameters are derived.

PMID- 25834477
TI  - Field sources in a Lorentz-symmetry breaking scenario with a single background
      vector.
AB  - This paper is devoted to an investigation of the interactions between stationary
      sources of the electromagnetic field, in a model which exhibits explicit Lorentz
      symmetry breaking due to the presence of a single background vector. We focus on
      physical phenomena that emerge from this kind of breaking and which have no
      counterpart in Maxwell electrodynamics.

PMID- 25834478
TI  - Registered nurses' descriptions of caring: a phenomenographic interview study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nursing has come a long way since the days of Florence Nightingale
      and even though no consensus exists it would seem reasonable to assume that
      caring still remains the inner core, the essence of nursing. In the light of the
      societal, contextual and political changes that have taken place during the 21st
      century, it is important to explore whether these might have influenced the
      essence of nursing. The aim of this study was to describe registered nurses'
      conceptions of caring. METHODS: A qualitative design with a phenomenographic
      approach was used. The interviews with twenty-one nurses took place between March
      and May 2013 and the transcripts were analysed inspired by Marton and Booth's
      description of phenomenography. RESULTS: The analysis mirrored four qualitatively
      different ways of understanding caring from the nurses' perspective: caring as
      person-centredness, caring as safeguarding the patient's best interests, caring
      as nursing interventions and caring as contextually intertwined. CONCLUSION: The
      most comprehensive feature of the nurses' collective understanding of caring was
      their recognition and acknowledgment of the person behind the patient, i.e.
      person-centredness. However, caring was described as being part of an intricate
      interplay in the care context, which has impacted on all the described
      conceptions of caring. Greater emphasis on the care context, i.e. the environment
      in which caring takes place, are warranted as this could mitigate the possibility
      that essential care is left unaddressed, thus contributing to better quality of
      care and safer patient care.

PMID- 25834481
TI  - Nanoscale Analysis of a Hierarchical Hybrid Solar Cell in 3D.
AB  - A quantitative method for the characterization of nanoscale 3D morphology is
      applied to the investigation of a hybrid solar cell based on a novel hierarchical
      nanostructured photoanode. A cross section of the solar cell device is prepared
      by focused ion beam milling in a micropillar geometry, which allows a detailed 3D
      reconstruction of the titania photoanode by electron tomography. It is found that
      the hierarchical titania nanostructure facilitates polymer infiltration, thus
      favoring intermixing of the two semiconducting phases, essential for charge
      separation. The 3D nanoparticle network is analyzed with tools from stochastic
      geometry to extract information related to the charge transport in the
      hierarchical solar cell. In particular, the experimental dataset allows direct
      visualization of the percolation pathways that contribute to the photocurrent.

PMID- 25834480
TI  - Tracheal and bronchial involvement in colitis ulcerosa - a colo-bronchitic
      syndrome? A case report and some additional considerations.
AB  - Systemic involvement is well known in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases
      (IBD), but there are only few data looking to Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative
      colitis (UC) separately instead of lumping together both entities to IBD. The
      frequency of bronchial involvement in UC is not yet exactly analysed but reported
      to be rare. We asked 100 patients with UC for bronchial complaints, and found in
      13 patients a bronchial affection. From reports in the literature it is known
      that sometimes a bronchial involvement in patients with UC can affect the whole
      bronchial tree including small bronchi. The involvement of bronchial system in UC
      is obviously more prominent than previously thought and may fulfil the criteria
      for a separate syndrome. These relations may have consequences for pathogenetic
      understanding of UC as well as bronchitis and also consequences for treatment
      regimes. 

PMID- 25834482
TI  - Examining the impact of changes in school tobacco control policies and programs
      on current smoking and susceptibility to future smoking among youth in the first
      two years of the COMPASS study: looking back to move forward.
AB  - BACKGROUND: School-based prevention activities continue to be an important
      tobacco control resource, however there is little guidance for school-based
      tobacco control programming within Ontario. The objective of this study is to
      identify real-world changes in school-based tobacco control programs or policies
      in the COMPASS study and examine of those interventions (natural experiments) had
      any impact on the school-level prevalence of smoking susceptibility and current
      smoking over time. METHODS: This paper uses longitudinal school-level smoking
      behaviour data from Year 1 (Y1: 2012-13) and Year 2 (Y2: 2013-14) of the COMPASS
      study. Changes to school-level tobacco control programs and policies were
      measured using the COMPASS School Programs and Policies Questionnaire and
      knowledge broker follow-up interviews. Quasi-experimental tests of proportion and
      difference-in-difference models were used to evaluate the impact of the
      interventions identified between Y1 and Y2 on school-level prevalence of smoking
      susceptibility among never smokers and current smoking. RESULTS: Between Y1 and
      Y2, 17 schools reported a change in their tobacco control programming or
      policies. In four of the intervention schools, the increase in the within-school
      prevalence of susceptible never smokers between Y1 and Y2 was significantly
      greater than the natural change observed in the control schools. In five of the
      intervention schools, the decrease in the within-school prevalence of current
      smokers between Y1 and Y2 was significantly greater than the natural change
      observed in the control schools. Only two of the new interventions evaluated
      (both focused on policies of progressive punishment for students caught smoking
      on school property), were associated with significant desirable changes in both
      smoking susceptibility and current smoking between Y1 and Y2. DISCUSSION:
      Interventions specific to effective and enforced tobacco control were the most
      common and consistently had the desired impact on the school-level prevalence of
      smoking susceptibility and current smoking. Due to the variation in the types of
      interventions implemented and their effectiveness, additional evaluation evidence
      is necessary to determine the most successful activities and contexts among
      individual students. The results presented here highlight which of these real
      world promising interventions should be further evaluated using the longitudinal
      individual-level data in COMPASS over time.

PMID- 25834483
TI  - Sero-prevalence of herpes simplex type 2 virus (HSV-2) and HIV infection in
      Kampala, Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prevalence of herpes simplex type 2 virus (HSV-2) is high worldwide.
      Previous studies in Uganda were rural or in women. We estimated age and sex
      specific sero-prevalence of HSV-2 in Kampala, Uganda. METHODS: Using two-stage
      random sampling stratified on population density, a survey of persons 15-65 years
      was conducted. Type-specific serological tests for HSV-2, HSV-1(HerpeSelect2 and
      1 ELISA), HIV (Rapid tests and ELISA), syphilis (RPR and TPHA) were done.
      Additional prevalence analysis included post-stratification weighting on the
      Uganda 2002 Census gender distribution. RESULTS: Among 1124 persons, HSV-2
      prevalence was 58% (95% CI: 55, 60), HSV-1; 98% (95% CI: 97.6, 99.1), HIV; 17.7%
      (95% CI: 14.8, 19.2) and syphilis; 1.7% (95% CI: 1.4, 1.9). Weighted HSV-2
      prevalence was 53.8% (Women; 63.8%, men; 43.2%), similar to unweighted data.
      Weighted HIV prevalence was 20.7% in women, 8.6% in men. Of 165 HIV infected
      persons, 85.4% had HSV-2. Risk factors for HSV-2 were being a woman (OR 2.0; 95%
      CI: 1.42, 2.78), age (OR 3.3; 95% CI: 2.43, 4.53), education (OR 1.70; 95% CI:
      1.34, 2.34) and HIV (OR 4.5; 95% CI: 2.70, 7.50). CONCLUSION: Prevalence of HSV-2
      and HIV was high especially in women. Syphilis was rare. Awareness of herpes was
      low. Interventions in young people are needed.

PMID- 25834484
TI  - Brucella sero-prevalence and modifiable risk factors among predisposed cattle
      keepers and consumers of un-pasteurized milk in Mbarara and Kampala districts,
      Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease in developing countries
      yet it is often not recognized, goes unreported and does not attract public
      health action by these governments including Uganda. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the
      sero-prevalence and assess modifiable risk factors associated with Brucella
      seropositivity in cattle keepers and consumers of unpasteurized milk in Uganda.
      METHODS: One group comprised of 161 individuals randomly selected from households
      living on farms that had Brucella sero-positive cattle and/or goats in Mbarara
      District from an earlier survey; the second group comprised of 168 randomly
      selected individuals attending an HIV voluntary counseling and testing clinic in
      Kampala District. Sera samples were tested using Rapid Plate Agglutination Test,
      Standard Tube Agglutination Test and cELISA. RESULTS: The sero-prevalence of
      brucellosis among exposed cattle keepers in Mbarara and consumers of
      unpasteurised milk in Kampala Districts was 5.8% (95%CI: 3.3%, 8.3%) and 9%
      (95%CI: 13.3%, 4.7%), respectively. Consumption of unboiled milk was
      significantly (p=0.004) associated with seropositivity in Mbarara District. There
      was no association between sero-positivity with age, sex and awareness of human
      brucellosis. CONCLUSION: Human brucellosis is prevalent among livestock rearing
      communities and consumers of unpasteurised milk. The continued consumption of
      unboiled milk is a major health risk.

PMID- 25834485
TI  - Mean platelet volume in brucellosis: correlation between brucella standard serum
      agglutination test results, platelet count, and C-reactive protein.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Brucellosis, a zoonotic infection, was most widely diagnosed by the
      Brucella standard serum agglutination test (SAT). No previous publication has
      demonstrated a correlation between the degree of Brucella SAT agglutination
      positivity and the severity of brucellosis infection. OBJECTIVE: To contribute to
      the clarification of the relationship between patelets and brucellosis. It is
      also aimed at evaluating the usefulness of the SAT titer as a measure of
      brucellosis severity. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We compared the control (n=60) and
      patients (n=96) groups in terms of mean platelet volume (MPV), C-reactive protein
      (CRP) and platelet values. Patients were grouped according to their degree of
      agglutination positivity titers and compared by means of CRP, MPV and platelet
      values. We also investigated the relationship among logarithmic values of MPV,
      platelet and CRP parameters for each group. RESULTS: Although statistically
      meaningful difference was observed between control and patients group in terms of
      MPV and platelet value, there were no statistically significant differences
      observed among patients groups. The physiological negative correlation between
      MPV and platelet count was not encountered in group 2 and 3. Logarithmic values
      of CRP were not correlated with logarithmic values of MPV and platelet counts.
      CONCLUSION: The MPV could be a new parameter to evaluate hematologic
      abnormalities in patients with brucellosis. The SAT titer was not a useful
      measure for evaluation of the severity of brucellosis.

PMID- 25834486
TI  - Pattern of pathogens from surgical wound infections in a Nigerian hospital and
      their antimicrobial susceptibility profiles.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In surgical patients, infection is an important cause of morbidity
      and mortality. A prospective study to find the pattern of microorganisms
      responsible for post operative wound infections and their antibiotic
      susceptibility profile was therefore conducted. SETTING AND METHODS: Surgical
      wards in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
      Isolation, identification and antimicrobial susceptibility screening of organisms
      were done employing standard microbiological techniques. RESULTS: Bacterial
      pathogens were isolated from all the specimens while the yeast Candida species
      (spp) was isolated from 12.4%. Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequent
      organism isolated accounting for 23 (18.3%) of a total of 126 isolates. Other
      organisms were Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus spp 11.1% each; Escherichia
      coli 10.3%; Candida spp 8.7%; Coagulase negative staphylococci 8.7%; Pseudomonas
      spp 6.3%; Serratia odorifera 4.7%; Bacteroides 4.0%; Enterococcus spp 3.2%; the
      remaining isolates were other enterobacteria. Sensitivity of the bacterial
      isolates to antibiotics varied. In general, resistance to the beta-lactam
      antibiotics was above 98%, whilst more than 70% of isolates were resistant to
      erythromycin, fusidic acid and tobramycin. CONCLUSIONS: The infections were
      polymicrobic and multidrug resistant. The quinolones, ciprofloxacin and
      ofloxacin, should be used as frontline drugs in the management of surgical wound
      infections at the hospital.

PMID- 25834487
TI  - Epidemiology of hepatitis C viral infection in Faisalabad, Pakistan: a
      retrospective study (2010-2012).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hepatitis viral infections are major health challenge leading to high
      morbidity and mortality worldwide. OBJECTIVES: Although the magnitude of
      hepatitis in Pakistan has been well documented, information regarding the
      prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Faisalabad, Pakistan is
      scarce. The present retrospective study was undertaken to determine the
      epidemiology of HCV in Faisalabad, Pakistan. METHODS: Between May, 2010 and
      December, 2012, medical records of 39780 subjects visiting sexually transmitted
      infections (STIs) clinic, district headquarter (DHQ) hospital, Faisalabad,
      Pakistan were reviewed. Regression analysis was used to determine independent
      risk factors. RESULTS: HCV prevalence was 21.99%. With mean age of 49.5 +/- 2.7
      years (range 27-63 years), majority (67.15%) of the individuals were male.
      Marital status and low literacy rates were associated with HCV (P<0.05).
      Reference to the potential risk factors, the injection drug use was the major
      mode (72.77%) of infection transmission. Age (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.2-1.9), male
      gender (OR 1.2, 95% CI 0.9-1.6) and injection use (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.0-2.7) were
      significantly associated with HCV. CONCLUSIONS: Most important finding was higher
      HCV prevalence in Faisalabad region as compared to the previous assessments that
      demands an urgent need for preventive intervention strategies.

PMID- 25834488
TI  - Comparison of HCV core antigen and anti-HCV with HCV RNA results.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The measurement of anti-HCV antibodies using immunological methods
      and the confirmation of viral nuclear acid based on molecular methods is
      important in diagnosis and follow-up of the HCV infection. OBJECTIVES: In this
      study, we aimed to analyse HCV core Antigen positivity among anti-HCV antibody
      positive sera to determine the significance of testing of HCV core Ag for the
      laboratory diagnosis of HCV infection, by considering the correlation between
      serum HCV core Ag and HCV RNA levels. METHODS: 115 patients suspected of having
      hepatitis C and who were positive for anti-HCV antibody were investigated using
      chemiluminescent and molecular methods. Anti-HCV antibody, HCV core Ag and HCV
      RNA levels were detected by the Vitros ECiQ immunodiagnostic system, Architect
      i2000 system and RT-PCR, respectively. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity,
      positive and negative predictive values and accuracy rate of HCV core Antigen
      assay were detected as 86.5%(83/96), 100%(19/19), 100%(83/83), 59.4%(19/32),
      88.7%(102/115) respectively. CONCLUSION: HCV core Ag assay could be used for
      diagnosis of HCV infection as it is easy to perform, cost-effective, has high
      specificity and positive predictive value. However, it should be kept in mind
      that it may have lack of sensitivity and negative predictive value.

PMID- 25834489
TI  - Resistant plasmid profile analysis of multidrug resistant Escherichia coli
      isolated from urinary tract infections in Abeokuta, Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Multi-drug resistant Escherichia coli has become a major threat and
      cause of many urinary tract infections (UTIs) in Abeokuta, Nigeria. OBJECTIVES:
      This study was carried out to determine the resistant plasmids of multidrug
      resistant Escherichia coli isolated from (Urinary tract infections)UTIs in
      Abeokuta. METHODS: A total of 120 Escherichia coli isolates were obtained from
      urine samples collected from patients attending inpatient and outpatient clinics
      presenting UTI; with their biodata. Antibiotics susceptibility was performed and
      multi-drug resistant isolates were selected for plasmid profiling. Plasmids were
      extracted by the alkaline lysis method, electrophoresed on 0.8% agarose gel and
      profiled using a gel-photo documentation system gel. RESULTS: Escherichia coli
      isolates obtained shows high resistance to cloxacillin (92.5%), amoxicillin
      (90.8%), ampicillin (90.8%), erythromycin (75.8%), cotrimoxazole (70.0%),
      streptomycin (70.0%) and tetracycline (68.3%) while 85.8% and 84.2% were
      susceptible to gentamycin and ceftazidime respectively. Sixteen Escherichia coli
      strains were observed to be resistant to more than two classes of antibiotics.
      The resistant plasmid DNA was detectable in 6(37.5%) of the 16 multidrug
      resistant Escherichia coli having single sized plasmids of the same weight 854bp
      and were all resistant to erythromycin, cefuroxime, cloxacillin, amoxicillin,
      ampicillin and cotrimoxazole. CONCLUSION: This study has highlighted the
      emergence of multidrug resistant R-plasmids among Escherichia coli causing
      urinary tract infections in Abeokuta, Nigeria. There is a high level of
      resistance to many antimicrobials that are frequently used in Abeokuta, Nigeria.

PMID- 25834490
TI  - The utility of the Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test in managing dyspepsia:
      an experience from a low resource setting.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dyspepsia is defined as a chronic or recurrent pain or discomfort
      centered in the upper abdomen. Endoscopy is the best strategy for confirming the
      cause of dyspepsia. Non- invasive strategies would be more appropriate in low
      resource countries where endoscopy is not readily available. However, there is
      concern that these strategies may miss serious disease like gastric cancer. One
      test that needs to be assessed in this regard is the Helicobacter pylori stool
      antigen test (HPSAT). OBJECTIVE: To determine the validity of the stool antigen
      test in predicting H. pylori associated disease among patients with dyspepsia.
      METHODS: In this prospective study patients with dyspepsia attending Mulago
      Hospital were recruited consecutively. Helicobacter pylori was determined using
      the Rapid Strip HpSA (r), endoscopy and gastric mucosal biopsy were done.
      RESULTS: 167 patients with dyspepsia were recruited into the study. There were
      ninety six (57.5%) females and seventy one (42.5%) males with an average age of
      48.1(+/-18.1) years. Patients presenting with dyspepsia in Mulago hospital were
      more likely to come from the Central 60 (36%) and western tribes 55 (33%). The
      commonest endoscopic finding was oesophagitis 25 (15%). Peptic ulcer disease was
      found in 32 (19.2%) and 54 (32.3%) had normal endoscopy findings. H pylori was
      found in 33.5% and 32.5% using the HPSAT and histology respectively. The validity
      of the HPSAT in predicting H.pylori associated diseases was generally low with an
      overall sensitivity of 55.8%, and specificity of 74.2%. However, the validity was
      higher in predicting the diagnosis of peptic ulcer disease with a sensitivity
      59.4% and specificity 72.6%. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The HPSAT may be
      used in the test and treat strategy for young patients with dyspepsia without
      alarm signs and symptoms in low resource settings. However, because of its low
      validity in predicting H.pylori associated disease, it is important to follow up
      patients so that if symptoms persist or recur endoscopy is performed.

PMID- 25834491
TI  - Risk factors for candida infection of the genital tract in the tropics.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risk factors associated with candida infection of
      the genital tract in the tropics. METHODS: We performed questionnaire survey and
      experiments at the Hainan branch of General Hospital of People's Liberation Army,
      Hainan General Hospital and Sanya Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital in
      2013. Controls were without Candida infection of genital tract, and cases had
      from Candida infection. RESULTS: We recruited 689 cases and 652 controls. The
      average age of cases with Candida infection of the genital tract was higher than
      that of controls. In the multivariate modeling, marriage (adjusted odds ratio:
      2.49, 95% confidential interval: 1.09-5.67) and vaginal lavage (adjusted odds
      ratio: 4.41, 95% confidential interval: 1.13-5.14) were significantly associated
      with Candida infection of genital tract in tropics. CONCLUSION: Candida infection
      was related with age. Marriage and Vaginal lavage were significant risk factors.
      Attention should be paid to health education for the prevention of these
      infections.

PMID- 25834492
TI  - Assessment of antibacterial activity of crude leaf and root extracts of Cassia
      alata against Neisseria gonorrhea.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Gonorrhea is a major sexually transmitted disease worldwide and for
      its control, effective treatment is essential. However as more strains of
      Neisseria gonorrhoeae continuously develop resistance to several drugs, this
      strategy obliges scientists to discover newer effective drugs. OBJECTIVES: To
      ascertain whether crude leaf and root extracts of Cassia alata (Caesalpiniaceae)
      have antimicrobial activity against clinically resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae
      bacteria. To determine and compare the MICs of their ether and methanol extracts.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ether and methanol extracts were prepared from the plant
      parts. 12-375mg/ml of serially diluted ether extracts in DMSO and methanol
      extracts in water were tested using agar-well diffusion method against Neisseria
      gonorrhea clinical isolate cultured on MTM agar. MICs were determined from
      corresponding concentration-response curves. Ceftriaxone was used as positive
      control, whereas DMSO and water as negative controls. RESULTS: All the crude
      extracts showed concentration-dependent Neisseria gonorrhea inhibition. Ether
      extracts for both leaves and roots gave lower MICs compared to those of methanol.
      Ether root extract showed the highest potency. CONCLUSIONS: Both the leaf and the
      root of Cassia alata plant have activity against clinically resistant Neisseria
      gonorrhoeae; the root having the higher activity. Lipophilic solvent, ether, give
      more potent antigonorrhoeal extracts. As expected Cassia alata plant in Central
      Uganda also has antibacterial activity.

PMID- 25834493
TI  - Mortality associated with tuberculosis/HIV co-infection among patients on TB
      treatment in the Limpopo province, South Africa.
AB  - BACKGROUND: South Africa has a high tuberculosis burden, and Limpopo Province
      experienced higher than national average TB mortality rates between 1997 and
      2008. OBJECTIVE: To establish factors associated with TB mortality in Limpopo
      Province in 2008. DESIGN: Retrospective study using provincial data for patients
      who died after commencing TB treatment between 01 January 2008 and 31 December
      2008. RESULTS: In 2008, some 18074 patients started treatment: 15995 (88.5%) had
      pulmonsry TB (PTB), while 2079 (11.5%) had Extra pulmonary TB (EPTB). Overall,
      2242 (12.4%) patients died, mainly PTB patients (n=1906; 85%), more males
      (n=1159, 51.7%), mainly those aged 25 to 54 years (n=1749, 78.0%), and new cases
      (1914; 85.4%). TB mortality was significantly higher among smear negative than
      smear positive patients (17% vs 13.8%; P<0.001), among those with EPTB compared
      to PTB patients (P<0.001), and among re-treatment cases (P<0.001). Only 4237
      (23.4%) patients had HIV status known, with higher mortality found among HIV
      positive than the HIV negative patients (P<0.0001); but HIV status was not known
      for the majority who died (n=1685, 75.2%). CONCLUSION: Higher mortality was
      associated with age 22-55 years; smear negativity, EPTB, HIV infection, and re
      treatment. The findings call for greater integration of TB control efforts and
      HIV services, especially among the 22-55 year age group.

PMID- 25834494
TI  - Socio-demographic factors affecting knowledge level of Tuberculosis patients in
      Rajshahi City, Bangladesh.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Tuberculosis (TB) control program in Bangladesh is still
      unsatisfactory due to insufficient knowledge and stigma about TB. Patients with
      low knowledge may be at higher risk of experiencing delays in diagnosis and
      appropriate treatment. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to identify the
      knowledge levels of TB and investigate the factors associated with knowledge
      level among the TB patients in Bangladesh. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was
      conducted at Rajshahi City, Bangladesh. A total of 384 TB patients were
      interviewed through a pretested, structured questionnaire using purposive
      sampling techniques. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the
      effects of selected socio-demographic factors on TB knowledge level. RESULTS: The
      results revealed that pulmonary TB patients had greater knowledge than that of
      extra-pulmonary patients, and that sex, age, educational status and TB type were
      significantly associated with knowledge level. CONCLUSIONS: In general, males and
      young adults, ages 21-35, had greater awareness about transmission and prevention
      of TB than females and adults over 35. Individuals with higher education and
      urban area patients were comparatively better informed about TB infection.
      Patients with greater knowledge about TB were also less likely to experience
      delays in seeking treatment.

PMID- 25834495
TI  - Effectiveness of a home-based pulmonary rehabilitation programme in pulmonary
      function and health related quality of life for patients with pulmonary
      tuberculosis: a pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) often develop impairment
      in pulmonary function due to anatomical changes secondary to the illness.
      Physiotherapy in the form of pulmonary rehabilitation has been advocated.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to determine whether adherence to a six-week
      home-based pulmonary rehabilitation programme (PRP) improved the baseline
      measurements of lung function, exercise tolerance and health-related quality of
      life (HRQoL) in patients receiving out-patient treatment for PTB. METHOD: A
      single blinded randomized control study design was used to assess the effects of
      a six-week home- based PRP in patients receiving treatment for PTB at a local
      clinic in Khayelitsha, Western Cape. We evaluated lung function by spirometry
      (MINATO AUTOSPIRO-model no. AZ-505), exercise tolerance using the 6-min-walk test
      (6MWT), the Borg exercise exertion scale and HRQoL using the EQ-5 D questionnaire
      in an intervention group (n=34) and a control group (n=33). The trend of the
      effects of the PRP on lung function was towards increases, but there was no
      statistical difference between the intervention and control groups at the end of
      the sixth week in the values of FVC (p=0.2; 95% CI -0.9 to 0.51) as well as FEV1
      (p=0.1; 95% CI -0.07 to 0.51). Similar trend was observed for exercise tolerance,
      and there was no significant difference in HRQoL (p=0.789). CONCLUSION: The
      outcome of the study provides motivation for further consideration and
      implementation of a pulmonary rehabilitation programme for patients with PTB.

PMID- 25834496
TI  - Evaluation of cases with a preliminary diagnosis of Crimean- Congo hemorrhagic
      fever and comparison of characteristics in patients admitted to a secondary care
      hospital in Kastamonu, Turkey.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is an endemic disease in
      Turkey. The clinical presentation and laboratory findings are not specific
      especially in cases without hemorrhagic findings. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate
      CCHF cases and compare them with non-CCHF cases in terms of their characteristics
      during admission. METHODS: Cases with a preliminary diagnosis of CCHF at a
      secondary care hospital in Kastamonu in 2013 were evaluated, retrospectively.
      Cases testing RNA/IgM positive were considered as CCHF. Cases testing both RNA
      and IgM negative were considered as non-CCHF. The two groups were then compared
      in terms of their clinical, laboratory and epidemiological characteristics during
      admission. RESULTS: A total of 41 cases were tested and CCHF was found in 46.3%
      of cases. Fatality was 5.3% in CCHF cases. The frequency of tick bites and CK
      elevation in CCHF cases was significantly higher than non-CCHF cases (p<0.05).
      There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding other
      characteristics (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In cases with a preliminary diagnosis of
      CCHF, especially in cases without a history of tick bite and with normal CK
      levels during admission, performing tests for the differential diagnosis may be
      advisable without waiting for the results of tests for CCHF.

PMID- 25834497
TI  - Tackling malaria, village by village: a report on a concerted information
      intervention by medical students and the community in Mifumi, Eastern Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Can an information intervention facilitated by information technology
      and carried out by an interdisciplinary team comprising medical students,
      technical experts, and the community itself make a positive contribution in
      reducing the burden of malaria at the village level? In Mifumi village in Eastern
      Uganda, MIFUMI Project, Makerere University College of Health Sciences Community
      Based Education and Service program (COBES), and the U.S. National Library of
      Medicine carried out a series of activities between 2007 and 2010. METHODS: The
      team surveyed the community's knowledge of malaria prevention and treatment;
      implemented a health information intervention using tutorials in a variety of
      media; and observed the community's use of previously distributed insecticide
      treated nets (ITNs) using a digital pen application. RESULTS: As a result of
      concerted education and outreach, the village residents have a good understanding
      of malaria prevention and treatment seeking behaviors. Leveraging the power of
      information technology and interdisciplinary teamwork, medical students and the
      denizens of a rural community were able to engage in an interactive experience of
      health education and promotion. CONCLUSION: Preliminary observations suggest that
      a health information intervention in concert with a collaborative community
      effort of education and prevention can build capacity within a community to take
      control of its own health.

PMID- 25834498
TI  - Does the national program of prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV
      (PMTCT) reach its target in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso?
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the context of universal access to prevention, treatment, care and
      support, each country has to ensure that 80% of women and children in need have
      access to PMTCT interventions. OBJECTIVE: To assess the PMTCT program achievement
      in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. METHODS: Between August and
      October 2008, a cross sectional study was carried out in the five health
      districts of the Centre Health Region. We reviewed weekly statistics from all
      health care centres (HCC) to compute the coverage of PMTCT program. In 38 HCC
      with functional PMTCT program, we extracted data of interest from HCC registers
      and made direct observations of PMTCT services. RESULTS: The PMTCT program was
      implemented in 49% of HCC (target for the national program: 70%). Fifteen to 31%
      of these centers were often in shortage for PMTCT consumables. Patients' privacy
      was not observed in 67% of Voluntary Counselling & HIV Testing wards. Care
      providers were not qualified enough to deliver PMTCT services. Vitamin A
      supplementation was not implemented. None of the facilities offered the whole
      package of PMTCT program interventions. HCC providing HIV testing in labour or in
      postnatal ward were consistently lacking. Only 86% of antenatal care new
      attendants benefited from pre-test counselling; 2.4% of pretested women were HIV
      positive and 39% of positive mothers received antiretroviral prophylaxis.
      CONCLUSION: Coverage and quality of PMTCT programme in the Centre Health Region
      in Burkina Faso are still limited. Particular support is needed for training,
      supervision and infrastructures upgrading.

PMID- 25834499
TI  - Vancomycin-resistant enterococci colonization in patients with hematological
      malignancies: screening and its cost-effectiveness.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the rates of vancomycin-resistant
      enterococci (VRE) colonization and VRE-related bacteremia in patients with
      hematological malignancies in terms of routine screening culture and its cost
      effectiveness. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients of the hematology department
      who were older than 14 years of age and who developed at least one febrile
      neutropenia episode during chemotherapy for hematological cancers between
      November 2010 and November 2012 were evaluated retrospectively. RESULTS: We
      retrospectively analyzed 282 febrile episodes in 126 neutropenic patients during
      a two-year study period. The study included 65 cases in the first study-year and
      78 cases in the second study-year. The numbers of colonization days and colonized
      patient were748 days of colonization in 29 patients (44%) in the first study-year
      and 547 colonization days in 21 patients (26%) in the second study-year,
      respectively. Routine screening culture for VRE cost $4516,4 (427 cultures) in
      the first study-year, $5082,7 (504 cultures) in the second study-year depending
      on the number of patients and their length of stay. CONCLUSION: In line with our
      study results, routine screening of hematological patients for VRE colonization
      is not costeffective. Routine surveillance culture for VRE should be considered
      with respect to the conditions of health care setting.

PMID- 25834500
TI  - Blood pressure and heart rate adjustment following acute Frenkel's ambulatory
      exercise in chronic hemiparetics stroke survivors: a comparative study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Frenkel's ambulatory activity has been routinely employed by
      physiotherapists for rehabilitation of gait coordination, however, its immediate
      influence on blood pressure and heart rate has not been investigated. OBJECTIVE:
      To investigate the acute effect of Frenkel's ambulatory activity on blood
      pressure and heart rate of chronic hemiparetic stroke survivors. METHOD: Using a
      comparative study design, 60 chronic hemiparetic stroke survivors of varying
      onset of stroke, <=6, >6-11 and >=12 months were subjected to a 2-minute
      Frenkel's ambulatory activity on marked footsteps (from standard adult described
      footsteps). Participants were assessed for both blood pressure and heart rate
      before and after the Frenkel's ambulatory activity. RESULTS: Blood pressure and
      heart rate significantly increased (p<0.05) following Frenkel's ambulatory
      activity in all the 3 categories of stroke onset above baseline. However, there
      was no significant difference (p>0.05) across the onsets in both blood pressure
      and heart rate responses. CONCLUSION: The outcome of this study indicated that
      Frenkel's ambulatory activity has the propensity to increase blood pressure and
      heart rate of hemiparetic stroke survivors irrespective of the onset of stroke.
      We recommend a pre, within and post-activity monitoring of stroke survivors while
      subjecting them to Frenkel's ambulatory activity.

PMID- 25834501
TI  - Serum HE4 is more suitable as a biomarker than CA125 in Chinese women with benign
      gynecologic disorders.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study measured the human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) and CA125
      levels in Chinese women with benign gynecological disorders. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: Sera were obtained from Chinese women prior to surgery for a pelvic mass
      and HE4 and CA125 levels were determined. The proportions of patients with HE4
      and CA125 levels were compared. RESULTS: There were 68 Chinese women with benign
      diseases. HE4 levels were less elevated than CA125 (1% V.S. 29%, P<0.001). The
      significant difference was observed in patients with endometriosis/endometriomas
      in which HE4 was not elevated patients and CA125 was elevated in 53% (P<0.001).
      Serum HE4 level was not elevated in patients with cystadenoma (0% V.S. 23%,
      P<0.001) and in patients with germ cell tumors (0% V.S. 5%, P<0.001). CONCLUSION:
      HE4 was less elevated and more suitable as a biomarker than CA125 in chinese
      women with benign disease.

PMID- 25834502
TI  - Association between mean platelet volume levels and inflammation in SLE patients
      presented with arthritis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) may be characterized by periods of
      remissions and chronic or acute relapses. The complexity of clinical presentation
      of the SLE patients leads to incorrect evaluation of disease activity. Mean
      platelet volume (MPV) has been studied as a simple inflammatory marker in several
      diseases. There is no study in the literature about MPV levels in adult SLE
      patients with arthritis. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the MPV levels in
      the SLE population with arthritis during and between activations. METHODS: The
      study consisted of 44 SLE patients with arthritis in activation period (Group 1),
      the same 44 SLE patients with arthritis in remission period (Group 2) and 44
      healthy controls (Group 3). Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), creactive
      protein (CRP), white blood cell count, platelet count, and mean platelet volume
      (MPV) levels were retrospectively recorded from patient files. RESULTS: The mean
      ages of the SLE subjects were 42 +/- 16 years, while the mean ages of controls
      was 41 +/- 17 years. MPV was significantly lower in Group 1(7.66+/-0.89fL) than
      in Group 2 (8.61+/-1.06 fL) and Group 3(8.62+/-1.11fL) (p<0.0001). The
      differences between groups reached statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: We
      suggest that MPV levels decrease in patients with arthritis of SLE activation
      when compared to the same patients in remission and healthy controls.

PMID- 25834503
TI  - Explanation of colon cancer pathophysiology through analyzing the disrupted
      homeostasis of bile acids.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The colon plays a key role in regulating the homeostasis of bile
      acids. AIM: The present study aims to evaluate the influence of colon cancer
      towards the homeostasis of bile acids. METHODS: The free and conjugated bile
      acids were determined using ultraperformance LC (UPLC) coupled with ABI 4000
      QTRAP triple quadrupole instruments. RESULTS: The results showed that the free
      bile acids in serum of patients with colon cancers tend to increase, and the
      conjugated bile acids tended to decrease, especially for taurolithocholate (TLCA)
      (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The alteration of bile acids balance in colon cancers
      indicated the possibility of complicated diseases due to the disrupted balance of
      bile acids.

PMID- 25834504
TI  - The association between dyslipidemia and anthropometric indicators in black and
      white adolescents residing in Tlokwe Municipality, North-West Province, South
      Africa: the PAHL study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The dyslipidemia associated with excess weight is a risk for
      cardiovascular disease. Worldwide and in South Africa adolescent obesity has been
      reported. OBJECTIVES: To determine the association between dyslipidemia and
      anthropometric indices in black and white adolescents. METHODS: The study
      involved 129 black and 69 white adolescents aged 12 to 16 years. Data collected
      included height, weight, waist circumference (WC) and skinfolds, blood pressure
      and blood for glucose, insulin, total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein
      (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides (Trig) and C - reactive
      protein (CRP). RESULTS: WC correlated negatively with HDL in both blacks
      (p=0.042) and whites (p=0.008) and in whites it correlated positively with LDL
      (p=0.006); TC/HDL (p=<0.001) and LDL/HDL ratio (p<0.0001). WC/Hgt correlated
      negatively with HDL (p=0.028) and positively with LDL/HDL (p=0.026 and p<0.0001)
      in both races. In whites positive correlations were between WC/Hgt and TC
      (p=0.049); LDL (p=0.003) and TC/HDL (p<0.0001). BAZ correlated positively with
      TC/HDL ratio (p=0.004) and LDL/HDL ratio (p=0.002). The most common abnormalities
      were HDL and LDL. CONCLUSION: Whites exhibited more associations between
      dyslipidemia and anthropometric indicators as compared to Blacks, suggesting that
      there might be differences in the lipid metabolism or even susceptibility to risk
      factors in adolescents.

PMID- 25834505
TI  - Demographic profile of patients diagnosed with intracranial meningiomas in two
      academic hospitals in Johannesburg, South Africa: a 12-month prospective study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Meningiomas are common brain tumours and display gender, racial and
      ethnic differences in their demographic profile. The demographic profile of our
      patients diagnosed with intracranial meningiomas is presented and compared with
      the literature. OBJECTIVES: To determine the age, gender, racial and ethnic
      distribution of our patients diagnosed with intracranial meningiomas. METHODS:
      Consecutive patients (48 in number) seen at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg
      Academic Hospital (CMJAH) and Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH),
      Johannesburg, with histologically proven meningiomas over a 12 month period were
      recruited for the study. RESULTS: Meningiomas accounted for 33.8% of all primary
      brain tumours. The mean age of patients was 45.7 +/- 10.5 years with a female-to
      male ratio of 3.8:1. The mean age for male patients was 39.3 +/- 13.5 years while
      that of female patients was 47.4 +/- 9.0 years. The peak age range at
      presentation was in the fifth (41.7%) decade. The highest frequency was among
      Black Africans (75%) and Sotho ethnic nationality (27.1%). CONCLUSION: The study
      showed a female preponderance for intracranial meningiomas among our patients.
      Although intracranial meningiomas were more in frequency among Black Africans,
      the racial distribution mirrored our population distribution while the highest
      frequency was among Sotho ethnic nationality.

PMID- 25834506
TI  - Outcome of patients undergoing open heart surgery at the Uganda heart institute,
      Mulago hospital complex.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Heart disease is a disabling condition and necessary surgical
      intervention is often lacking in many developing countries. Training of the
      superspecialties abroad is largely limited to observation with little or no
      opportunity for hands on experience. An approach in which open heart surgeries
      are conducted locally by visiting teams enabling skills transfer to the local
      team and helps build to build capacity has been adopted at the Uganda Heart
      Institute (UHI). OBJECTIVES: We reviewed the progress of open heart surgery at
      the UHI and evaluated the postoperative outcomes and challenges faced in
      conducting open heart surgery in a developing country. METHODS: Medical records
      of patients undergoing open heart surgery at the UHI from October 2007 to June
      2012 were reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 124 patients underwent open heart surgery
      during the study period. The commonest conditions were: venticular septal defects
      (VSDs) 34.7% (43/124), Atrial septal defects (ASDs) 34.7% (43/124) and tetralogy
      of fallot (TOF) in 10.5% (13/124). Non governmental organizations (NGOs) funded
      96.8% (120/124) of the operations, and in only 4 patients (3.2%) families paid
      for the surgeries. There was increasing complexity in cases operated upon from
      predominantly ASDs and VSDs at the beginning to more complex cases like TOFs and
      TAPVR. The local team independently operated 19 patients (15.3%). Postoperative
      morbidity was low with arrhythmias, left ventricular dysfunction and re
      operations being the commonest seen. Post operative sepsis occurred in only 2
      cases (1.6%). The overall mortality rate was 3.2. CONCLUSION: Open heart surgery
      though expensive is feasible in a developing country. With increased direct
      funding from governments and local charities to support open heart surgeries,
      more cardiac patients access surgical treatment locally.

PMID- 25834507
TI  - Mucin as possible cause of early adhesional intestinal obstruction.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To report the case of a 24 year old female undergraduate who
      presented with bowel obstruction, three weeks following the excision of a
      mucinous ovarian cyst. PATIENT AND METHODS: The records of the patients past and
      recent medical history laboratory and imaging studies were reviewed. RESULTS:
      Clinical findings of a distended and a plain abdominal radiogram showing
      distended loops of bowel(Figure 2) were in keeping with acute bowel obstruction.
      This was confirmed by the intraoperative finding of fibrous encasement of small
      bowel. This was excised ,and 12months thereafter, patient has remain in good
      health. Figure 2Preoperative A-P abdominal X-ray in erect position showing small
      distension. CONCLUSION: Early and absolute adhesional bowel obstruction from
      abdominal surgery is failing conservative management rate. We attributed this to
      the ruptured mucinous cyst in our earlier operation. We therefore suggest that
      should a rupture cyst of this type occurs during a surgical procedure, any of the
      preventive methods discussed should be tried as a prophylactic measure.

PMID- 25834508
TI  - Unmet social needs and teenage pregnancy in Ogbomosho, South-western Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Consistent high teenage pregnancy rates in South-western Nigeria are
      characteristically underpinned by the unmet social needs of the teenagers.
      OBJECTIVE: To elicit intergenerational views on the influence of unmet social
      needs on teenage pregnancy. METHODS: Through a descriptive and cross-sectional
      design, a total of 174 respondents who were either pregnant teenagers, teenage
      mothers during the survey or had been pregnant as teenagers, were interviewed,
      using questionnaire supplemented with 12 key informant interviews. RESULTS: With
      the mean age of 16.5 years, and educational status range of between primary and
      below (25.8%) and tertiary (9.8%) levels, only 39.7% respondents were married,
      about half (47.7%) remained single while others were separated (12.6%). Less than
      half (44.9%) of the respondents were engaged in occupational activities. The
      unmet material and financial supports expected from parents (43.1%), the lack of
      free education from government up till secondary school level (51.2%), the lack
      of sex education and knowledge needs for signs of maturity (53.4%) and
      discouragement from friends not to have boyfriend (66.1%) prone teenagers to
      unplanned pregnancy. CONCLUSION: Promotion of sexual education and parental care
      is encouraged as strategy against unplanned pregnancy among teenagers.

PMID- 25834509
TI  - Hypercholesterolaemia in pregnancy as a predictor of adverse pregnancy outcome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prevention of viable spontaneous preterm birth and low birth weight
      through screening is one of the key aims of antenatal care as these have
      implications for the child, mother and society. If women can be identified to be
      at high risk of these adverse birth outcomes in early pregnancy, they can be
      targeted for more intensive antenatal surveillance and prophylactic
      interventions. OBJECTIVES: This study is therefore aimed to determine the
      association between elevated maternal serum cholesterol level in pregnancy and
      adverse pregnancy outcome. METHODS: It was a prospective observational cohort
      study in which eligible participants were enrolled at gestational age of 14 to 20
      weeks. Blood samples were obtained to measure total serum cholesterol
      concentrations and the sera were then analyzed enzymatically by the cholesterol
      oxidase: p-aminophenazone (CHOD PAP) method. Pregnancy outcomes were obtained by
      extraction from medical records and the labour ward register. RESULTS: The
      incidences of the two adverse pregnancy outcomes examined in the study (preterm
      births and low birth weight (LBW) in term neonates) were 8.0% and 14.4%
      respectively. Preterm birth was 6.89-times more common in mothers with high
      cholesterol than in control mothers with normal total cholesterol level (38.5%
      versus 5.4%, P=0.029) while LBW was 7.99-times more common in mothers with high
      total maternal cholesterol than in mothers with normal cholesterol (87.5% versus
      10.5%, P=0.019). CONCLUSION: We can infer that the high maternal serum
      cholesterol (hypercholesterolaemia) is associated with preterm delivery/ low
      birth weight (LBW) in term infants. However, further validation of these findings
      with more robust prospective and longitudinal characterization of maternal serum
      cholesterol profiles is required in subsequent investigations.

PMID- 25834510
TI  - Skilled delivery care service utilization in Ethiopia: analysis of rural-urban
      differentials based on national demographic and health survey (DHS) data.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the slight progress made on Antenatal Care (ANC) utilization,
      skilled delivery care service utilization in Ethiopia is still far-below any
      acceptable standards. Only 10% of women receive assistance from skilled birth
      attendants either at home or at health institutions, and as a result the country
      is recording a high maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 676 per 100,000 live births
      (EDHS, 2011). Hence, this study aimed at identifying the rural-urban
      differentials in the predictors of skilled delivery care service utilization in
      Ethiopia. METHODS: The study used the recent Ethiopian Demographic and Health
      Survey (EDHS 2011) data. Women who had at least one birth in the five years
      preceding the survey were included in this study. The data were analyzed using
      univariate (percentage), bivariate (chi-square) and multivariate (Bayesian
      logistic regression). RESULTS: The results showed that of the total 6,641 women,
      only 15.6% received skilled delivery care services either at home or at health
      institution. Rural women were at greater disadvantage to receive the service.
      Only 4.5% women in rural areas received assistance from skilled birth attendants
      (SBAs) compared to 64.1 % of their urban counter parts. Through Bayesian logistic
      regression analysis, place of residence, ANC utilization, women's education, age
      and birth order were identified as key predictors of service utilization.
      CONCLUSION: The findings highlight the need for coordinated effort from
      government and stakeholders to improve women's education, as well as strengthen
      community participation. Furthermore, the study recommended the need to scale up
      the quality of ANC and family planning services backed by improved and equitable
      access, availability and quality of skilled delivery care services.

PMID- 25834511
TI  - Neonatal mortality in a referral hospital in Cameroon over a seven year period:
      trends, associated factors and causes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The fourth Millennium Development Goals targets reduction by 2/3 the
      mortality rate of under-fives by 2015. This reduction starts with that of
      neonatal mortality representing 40% of childhood mortality. In Cameroon neonatal
      mortality was 310/00 in 2011. OBJECTIVES: We assessed the trends, associated
      factors and causes of neonatal deaths at the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and
      Pediatric Hospital. METHODS: The study was a retrospective chart review. Data was
      collected from the hospital records, and included both maternal and neonatal
      variables from 1st January 2004 to 31st December 2010. RESULTS: The neonatal
      mortality was 10%. Out-borns represented 49.3% of the deceased neonates with
      11.3% born at home. The neonatal mortality rate followed a downward trend
      dropping from 12.4% in 2004 to 7.2% in 2010. The major causes of deaths were:
      neonatal sepsis (37.85%), prematurity (31.26%), birth asphyxia (16%), and
      congenital malformations (10.54%). Most (74.2%) of the deaths occurred within the
      first week with 35% occurring within 24hours of life. Mortality was higher in
      neonates with birth weight less than 2500g and a gestational age of less than 37
      weeks. In the mothers, it was high in single parenthood , primiparous and in
      housewives and students. CONCLUSION: There has been a steady decline of neonatal
      mortality since 2004. Neonatal sepsis, prematurity, birth asphyxia and congenital
      malformations were the major causes of neonatal deaths. Neonatal sepsis remained
      constant although at lower rates over the study period.

PMID- 25834512
TI  - Pneumonia among children under five in Uganda: symptom recognition and actions
      taken by caretakers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pneumonia is a leading cause of death among children under five years
      of age. Pneumonia deaths could be averted if caretakers recognized the danger
      signs and sought appropriate treatment promptly. METHODS: We interviewed 278
      caretakers in Mukono district Uganda, whose under-five children had suffered from
      probable pneumonia two weeks prior to the evaluation. Through structured
      questionnaires we assessed caretaker's knowledge about danger signs among under
      five children with pneumonia and the actions taken to manage probable pneumonia
      using descriptive statistics. We also conducted in-depth interviews with
      caretakers and community health workers. RESULTS: Lower chest wall in drawing (a
      pneumonia specific danger sign) was mentioned by only 9.4% of the caretakers.
      Among the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) standard general
      danger signs, inability to feed was the most commonly cited danger sign (37.8%)
      followed by incessant vomiting (10.1%). No caretaker mentioned all the four
      standard general danger signs. In terms of actions taken, most caretakers offered
      drinks (49.6%) and traditional herbs (45.3%) while, 31.7% gave antibiotics.
      CONCLUSIONS: Caretaker's knowledge about danger signs was inadequate in relation
      to the IMCI guidelines. Caretakers used both modern and traditional forms of
      treatment to manage pneumonia. Comprehensive interventions geared at increasing
      symptom recognition and improving health-seeking behavior are needed to reverse
      this trend.

PMID- 25834513
TI  - Hygiene and sanitation risk factors of diarrhoeal disease among under-five
      children in Ibadan, Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diarrhoea diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and
      mortality in under-five-children (U-5C) in Nigeria. Inadequate safe water,
      sanitation, and hygiene account for the disease burden. Cases of diarrhoea still
      occur in high proportion in the study area despite government-oriented
      interventions. OBJECTIVE: To determine the hygiene and sanitation risk factors
      predisposing U-5C to diarrhoea in Ibadan, Nigeria. METHODS: Two hundred and
      twenty pairs of children, matched on age, were recruited as cases and controls
      over a period of 5 months in Ibadan. Questionnaire and observation checklist were
      used to obtain information on hygiene practices from caregivers/mothers and
      sanitation conditions in the households of 30% of the consenting
      mothers/caregivers. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential
      statistics. RESULTS: Caregivers/mothers' mean ages were 31.3 +/-7.5 (cases) and
      30.6 +/-6.0(controls) years. The risk of diarrhoea was significantly higher among
      children whose mothers did not wash hands with soap before food preparation
      (OR=3.0, p<0.05), before feeding their children (OR=3.0, p<0.05) and after
      leaving the toilet (OR=4.7, p<0.05). Factors significantly associated with
      diarrhoea were: poor water handling (OR=2.0,CI=1.2-3.5), presence of clogged
      drainage near the house (OR=2.1,CI=1.2-3.7) and breeding places for flies
      (OR=2.7,CI=1.6-4.7). The mean risk score among cases and controls from the
      sanitary inspection of drinking water sources were 5.4 +/- 2.2 and 3.2 +/- 1.9
      (p<0.05) and household storage containers were 2.4 +/- 1.8 and 1.2 +/- 0.7
      (p<0.05) respectively. CONCLUSION: Hygiene and sanitation conditions within
      households were risk factors for diarrhoea. This study revealed the feasibility
      of developing and implementing an adequate model to establish intervention
      priorities in sanitation in Ibadan, Nigeria.

PMID- 25834514
TI  - Toxicological evaluation of methanol leaves extract of Vernonia bipontini Vatke
      in blood, liver and kidney tissues of mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Various medicinal plants have been studied using modern scientific
      approaches. These plants have a variety of properties and various biological
      components that can be used to treat various diseases. However, harmful effects
      of plants are common clinical occurrence. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to
      investigate toxicological assessment of acute and chronic methanol leaf extract
      of Vernonia bipontini Vatke (V.bipontini V) on blood, liver and kidney tissues of
      mice. METHODS: Lethal dose (LD) at which 50% of experimental mice died and long
      term toxicity of methanolic leaf extract of V. bipontini V were determined. Some
      hematological and biochemical parameters were evaluated. Then, liver and kidney
      tissues of each animal were taken and processed for light microscopy. RESULTS:
      Almost all mice treated with 800mg/kg methanol leaf extract of V. bipontini V
      showed swellings on the left part of abdominal region related to location of
      spleen, mild diarrhea and enlargement of spleen. The LD50 of the methanol leaf
      extract of V. bipontini V was 2130.6+/-1.5mg/kg. Treatment with 800mg/kg body
      weight of methanol leaf extract significantly decreased body, liver and kidney
      weights, red blood cells (RBC), haemoglobin (Hgb), mean cell haemoglobin (Mch),
      Mchc, platelet and significantly increased serum aspartate transferance (AST),
      vatanine tranferance(ALT) and alkaline phosphate (ALP) levels while 400mg/kg dose
      had no effect on these parameters. The reduced organ weights did not correlate
      with loss of body weight at 800mg/kg of methanol leaf extract of the plant. Light
      microscope observations of liver tissue of mice treated with 800mg/kg of the
      methanol leaf extract revealed dilated sinusoids, nuclear enlargement, lots of bi
      nucleation of hepatocytes, peripheral cramped chromatin, shrinkages (single cell
      death) of hepatocytes, fragmentation of hepatocytes while no histopathological
      changes were observed in liver and kidney of mice treated at 400mg/kg. Kidney
      tissue sections of mice did not show significant histopathological changes at
      400mg/kg. However, at 800mg/kg kidney sections showed increased cellularity of
      glomerulus, urinary space obliteration and enlarged macula densa. CONCLUSION:
      This study suggests that the methanol leaf extract may have been phytotoxic to
      liver that resulted in a rise in serum AST, ALT and ALP levels.

PMID- 25834515
TI  - A meta-analysis on diagnostic value of serum cystatin C and creatinine for the
      evaluation of glomerular filtration function in renal transplant patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This meta-analysis aimed to perform a systematic review on comparing
      the diagnostic value of serum cystatin C and creatinine for glomerular filtration
      rate in renal transplant patients. METHODS: The data was extracted into 2*2 table
      after the articles were assessed by the tool of QUADAS and heterogeneity
      analysis. The SROC curve and meta-analysis were performed by MetaDisc1.4.
      RESULTS: Meta-analysis showed that the serum cystatin C had no heterogeneity
      (P=0.418, I2=2.2%, DOR=25.03), while creatinine heterogeneity was high (P=0.109,
      I2=37.5%, DOR=9.11). The values of SEN, SPE and SAUC were calculated as 0.86,
      0.70 and 0.9015 for cystatin C, and 0.78, 0.73 and 0.8285 for creatinine
      individually. This study utilized GFR detection and subgroups analysis by cutoff.
      The PLR was 6.13 and the NLR was 0.12 for cystatin C, compared to SCr (3.72,
      0.32). There was homogeneity among these studies using PENIA testing for cystatin
      C (chi2=2.61, P=0.4560, I2=0.0%. CONCLUSIONS: There were significant correlations
      among cystatin C , creatinine and glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Cystatin C
      had more sensitivity but less specificity than creatinine for evaluation of GFR.
      Cystatin C had strong ability in diagnosing renal function after renal transplant
      and ruling out diagnostic efficacy.

PMID- 25834516
TI  - Health seeking behaviour and challenges in utilising health facilities in Wakiso
      district, Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The health seeking behaviour of a community determines how they use
      health services. Utilisation of health facilities can be influenced by the cost
      of services, distance to health facilities, cultural beliefs, level of education
      and health facility inadequacies such as stock-out of drugs. OBJECTIVES: To
      assess the health seeking practices and challenges in utilising health facilities
      in a rural community in Wakiso district, Uganda. METHODS: The study was a cross
      sectional survey that used a structured questionnaire to collect quantitative
      data among 234 participants. The sample size was obtained using the formula by
      Leslie Kish. RESULTS: While 89% of the participants were aware that mobile
      clinics existed in their community, only 28% had received such services in the
      past month. The majority of participants (84%) did not know whether community
      health workers existed in their community. The participants' health seeking
      behaviour the last time they were sick was associated with age (p = 0.028) and
      occupation (p = 0.009). The most significant challenges in utilising health
      services were regular stock-out of drugs, high cost of services and long distance
      to health facilities. CONCLUSIONS: There is potential to increase access to
      health care in rural areas by increasing the frequency of mobile clinic services
      and strengthening the community health worker strategy.

PMID- 25834517
TI  - Virtual medical plant modeling based on L-system.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Searching the drug molecules from the medicinal plants become more
      and more popular given that herbal components have been widely considered to be
      safe. In medical virtual plant studies, development rules are difficult to be
      extracted, the construction of plant organs is highly dependent on equipment and
      the process is complicated. AIM: To establish three-dimensional structural
      virtual plant growth model. METHODS: The quasi-binary tree structure and its
      properties were obtained through the research of theory on binary tree, then the
      relationship between quasi-binary tree structure and plant three-dimensional
      branching structure model was analyzed, and the three-dimensional morphology of
      plants was described. RESULTS: A three-dimensional plant branch structure pattern
      extracting algorithm based on quasi-binary tree structure. By using 3-D L-system
      method, the extracted rules were systematized, and standardized. Further more, we
      built a comprehensive L-model system. With the aid of graphics and PlantVR, we
      implemented the plant shape and 3-D structure's reconstruction. CONCLUSION: Three
      dimensional structure virtual plant growth model based on time-controlled L
      system has been successfully established.

PMID- 25834518
TI  - Fournier's ganrene in the HIV era.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fournier's gangrene is a devastating condition that affects mostly
      patients whose immunity has been reduced. There is increasing evidence for
      increasing incidence of the disease in those with HIV disease. OBJECTIVE: To
      evaluate the presentation, bacteriology and outcome of Fournier's gangrene in our
      area in recent times in view of the high prevalence in Nairobi and its environs.
      RESULTS: One hundred and forty six patients were treated for Fournier's gangrene
      during the study period; all were male. They had a mean age of 38.6 years (range
      2 months - 86 years). HIV infection was the most common associated underlying
      illness (16.4 %), followed by diabetes mellitus and alcoholism (11%).
      CONCLUSIONS: HIV infection is emerging as leading predisposing factor and has
      overtaken diabetes in predisposing for Fournier's gangrene in Kenyatta National
      Hospital.

PMID- 25834519
TI  - Splanchnic venous thrombosis driven by a constitutively activated JAK2 V617F
      philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasm: a case report.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Splanchnic venous thrombosis (SVT) has varied etiology with
      Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) being the most frequent
      underlying prothrombotic factor. Hematological indices often remain within normal
      range because of portal hypertension and its sequelae, causing diagnostic
      challenges. The high frequency of JAK2 mutation among patients with SVT
      reinforces the diagnostic utility of JAK2V617F testing. CASE REPORT: We report a
      case of a 62-year-old black man with progressive abdominal swelling and features
      of decompensated chronic liver disease found to have SVT-portal vein thrombosis
      and how JAK2 V617F was useful in unmasking an underlying myeloproliferative
      neoplasm. CONCLUSION: A high index of suspicion for an underlying prothrombotic
      factor is critical for patients presenting with thrombosis in unusual sites. This
      is useful in prognostic stratification and patient outcomes. JAK2 mutation
      screening is now part of the standard diagnostic workup in SVT.

PMID- 25834520
TI  - Lassa fever - full recovery without ribavarin treatment: a case report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lassa fever is a rodent-borne zoonosis that clinically manifests as
      an acute hemorrhagic fever. It is treated using ribavarin. Surviving Lassa fever
      without receiving the antiviral drug ribavarin is rare. Only few cases have been
      documented to date. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 59-year old female
      with fever who was initially thought to have acute pyelonephritis and sepsis
      syndrome with background malaria. Further changes in her clinical state and
      laboratory tests led to a suspicion of Lassa fever. However at the time her
      laboratory confirmatory test for Lassa fever returned, her clinical state had
      improved and she made full recovery without receiving ribavarin. Her close
      contacts showed no evidence of Lassa virus infection. CONCLUSION: This report
      adds to the literature on the natural history of Lassa fever; and that
      individuals may survive Lassa fever with conservative management of symptoms of
      the disease and its complications.

PMID- 25834521
TI  - Mapping Rwanda public health research (1975-2014).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Since the genocide occurred in 1994, Rwanda has faced up to the
      challenge of rebuilding. Public health is a main field to understand this
      rebuilding. OBJECTIVES: In this paper, the aim was to map the scientific research
      on public health in Rwanda after the genocide and to present the links between
      different financing systems. METHODS: We used bibliographic analyses with Web of
      Science of papers published during the period 1975-2014. We performed analyses on
      journals, most cited articles, authors, publication years, organizations, funding
      companies, countries, and keywords. RESULTS: We obtained 86 articles between 1975
      and 2014. Most articles were published after 2007. The main countries of research
      laboratories were the United States of America, Rwanda, England and Belgium and
      represented the main network collaboration. The relevant keywords were: HIV,
      woman, child, program, rural and violence. CONCLUSIONS: Public health research on
      Rwanda appeared 14 years after the genocide. A main field was emerging: the
      spread of HIV with mother-child transmission, and the policies to take this
      subject into account in rural zones. The network of institutions developing these
      studies was USA-Rwanda.

PMID- 25834522
TI  - Ebola outbreak in west Africa.

PMID- 25834523
TI  - Editorial.

PMID- 25834524
TI  - High seropositivity of IgG and IgM antibodies against cytomegalovirus (CMV) among
      HIV-1 seropositive patients in Ilorin, Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
      (HIV/AIDS) is a major public health problem in sub-saharan Africa.
      Cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been reported to enhance HIV replication and accelerate
      the progression of HIV infection to AIDS. OBJECTIVE: This study reports on the
      high seropositivity of immunoglobulin (Ig) G and M antibodies against CMV and the
      risk factors for CMV infection among HIV/AIDS patients in Ilorin, Nigeria.
      METHOD: A total of 180 consented HIV-1 seropositive patients (age-range 16-56
      years; 108 females and 72 males) were consecutively recruited. Socio
      demographic/behavioral data and 5 ml blood samples were collected from each
      patient. Plasma of each sample was assayed for anti-CMV IgG/IgM using a CMV IgG
      and IgM Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) kit. RESULTS: Twenty (11.1%) of
      the 180 HIV-1 seropositive subjects were positive for anti-CMV IgM antibody while
      169(93.9%) were positive for anti-CMV IgG antibody. Age, marital status, number
      of sexual partners, CD4 cells counts and previous history of blood transfusion
      were the main correlates of CMV seropositivity among these patients. However,
      occupation, sex, highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) were not
      statistically associated with CMV seropositivity in this study. CONCLUSION: This
      study has shown that greater percentages of HIV-1 seropositive patients had
      active CMV infection. It has further shown that CMV is hyperendemic in HIV-1
      seropositive patients in Ilorin, Nigeria.

PMID- 25834525
TI  - Types and predictors of partner reactions to HIV status disclosure among HIV
      infected adult Nigerians in a tertiary hospital in the Niger Delta.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to describe the types and determinants of
      partner reactions to HIV-status disclosure among adults attending an
      antiretroviral therapy-(ART) clinic in the Bayelsa State, Nigeria. METHODS: A
      cross-sectional study was undertaken between January and March 2013 among
      consecutive adult patients who had disclosed their HIV-status to their current
      sexual partner. Sociodemograhic data and types of initial and subsequent partner
      reactions to disclosure were obtained using interviewer-administered standardized
      questionnaire. Independent determinants of reactions to disclosure were
      ascertained by unconditional logistic regression. RESULTS: Out of 123 study
      participants, 57.7% were females, 92% were receiving ART and 86.1% were currently
      married. Majority of the participants reported predominant positive or supportive
      initial (72.4%) and subsequent (89.5%) partner reactions to disclosure, with
      significant increase in positive reactions over time. Positive initial partner
      reactions were independently associated with prior post-test counselling-(Odds
      ratio [OR]-6.5, 95% Confidence interval [CI]-1.3-31.6-p=0.02), age>35 years-(OR
      5.8, 95% CI-1.6-20.9-p=0.008) and being healthy at time of disclosure-(OR-7.8,
      95% CI-1.7-35.4-p=0.008). Subsequent positive partner reactions were
      significantly associated with receiving antiretroviral therapy and having only
      one lifetime sexual partner. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that partner
      reactions to HIV-status disclosure are predominantly supportive. Disclosure
      counselling and early initiation of ART may be effective in improving HIV-status
      disclosure in Nigeria.

PMID- 25834526
TI  - Seroprevalence of transfusion transmissible infections (TTI), in first time blood
      donors in Abeokuta, Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transfusion transmissible infections, such as HIV, HBV, HCV and
      syphilis are on the rise and pose a threat to blood safety. OBJECTIVE: To
      determine prevalence and demographic profiles of TTI's among first time blood
      donors in Abeokuta, Nigeria. METHODS: The study was conducted between February to
      November 2013; 130 first time blood donors were tested for the presence of HIV,
      HBsAg, HCV antibodies and Treponema palidium antibodies using EIA based rapid
      immunochromatographic kits. Data analysis was done using SPSS with a level of
      significance of p<0.05. RESULTS: Prevalence rates to HIV, HBsAg, HCV antibody,
      were 6.2% (n=8), 10% (n=13) and 1.5% (n=2), there was 0% prevalence to Treponema
      palidium antibodies. Group specific prevalence rates revealed that educational
      status was associated with HBsAg positivity (p = 0.028), donors with a history of
      previous blood transfusion was also statistically associated with HIV sero
      reactivity (p = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS: High levels of HBsAg and HIV were observed,
      there is need to revise the donor testing algorithm in Nigeria in line with the
      prevalence of TTI's. We also advocate that a National surveillance system for
      TTI's be established through our National blood transfusion service (NBTS)
      program, a second serological test is also suggested to reduce the risk of occult
      HBV infection in Nigeria.

PMID- 25834527
TI  - Does parents' socio-economic status matter in intentions of vaccinating against
      human papillomavirus for adolescent daughters?
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination provides substantial
      protection, and it is best to be taken before the age of twelve. Taiwan approved
      HPV vaccines since 2006. However, very few female adolescent have been vaccinated
      until now. OBJECTIVES: To examine whether the parents' socio-economic status
      matters in deciding to purchase HPV vaccination for their daughters based on the
      theory of planned behavior. METHOD: A structured questionnaire to collect 394
      responses from parents of adolescent girls in Taiwan. Data was coded to
      categorize relevant socio-economic classes, and was analyzed with SPSS. RESULTS:
      The behavior intentions of parents with low (mean= 5.28) and high (5.01) socio
      economic status are significantly stronger than the moderate (4.56) in deciding
      to purchase the HPV vaccination. Socio-economic factor has a slightly negative
      impact (B= -0.08), and attitude (0.68), subjective norms (0.16), and behavior
      control (0.32) have positive impacts on the parents' intention. CONCLUSION: Major
      impacts on the decision to purchase an HPV vaccination for their adolescent was
      not due to the parents' socio-economic status but the parent's attitude. As the
      major predictor of a less complicated decision, attitudes toward the HPV
      vaccination should be reinforced through continuous communications between
      service providers and patient-advocate groups.

PMID- 25834528
TI  - Feasibility of delivering HPV vaccine to girls aged 10 to 15 years in Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is a leading cause of mortality among women in
      Uganda. The availability of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine presents an
      opportunity to prevent cervical cancer. The Government of Uganda conducted a
      demonstration project exploring the feasibility of two delivery strategies.
      OBJECTIVE: To explore the feasibility of two HPV vaccine delivery strategies: 1)
      a stand-alone school-based strategy that selected girls based on their enrolment
      in grade 5 (known as the "grade-based" strategy; and 2) an age-based strategy
      that delivered the HPV vaccine based on the girls' age (10-year-olds). This
      strategy combined the delivery of the vaccine with the distribution of deworming
      medication and vitamin A through an existing Child Days Plus program. METHODS: A
      qualitative study that explored the feasibility of the two delivery strategies
      from the perspective of health workers, district leaders, and staff of the Uganda
      National Expanded Programme on Immunization, utilizing in-depth interviews and
      focus group discussions. RESULTS: Coverage data showed that more girls (88%) were
      vaccinated using the grade-based strategy and completed all three doses compared
      to those (73%) vaccinated using the age-based strategy. Health workers and
      teachers indicated that determining vaccination eligibility was easier by grade
      than by age and there were minor disruptions to health services and school
      programs during vaccinations, as reported by health workers and teachers using
      the grade-based strategy. CONCLUSION: HPV vaccine delivery at schools using grade
      eligibility was more feasible than selecting girls by age. Lessons learned in
      Uganda could be relevant for countries considering implementing HPV vaccinations.

PMID- 25834529
TI  - Investigating payment coping mechanisms used for the treatment of uncomplicated
      malaria to different socio-economic groups in Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Given the enormous economic burden of malaria in Nigeria and in sub
      Saharan Africa, it is important to determine how different population groups cope
      with payment for malaria treatment. This paper provides new information about the
      differences in household coping mechanisms for expenditures on malaria treatment.
      METHODS: The study was undertaken in two communities in Southeast Nigeria. A
      total of 200 exit interviews were conducted with patients and their care givers
      after consultation and treatment for malaria. The methods that were used to cope
      with payments for malaria treatment expenditures were determined. The coping
      mechanisms were disaggregated by socio-economic status (SES). RESULTS: The
      average expenditure to treat malaria was $22.9, which was all incurred through
      out-of- pocket payments. Some households used more than one coping method but
      none reported using health insurance. It was found that use of household savings
      (79.5%) followed by reduction in other household expenses (22.5%) were the most
      common coping methods. The reduction of other household expenses was
      significantly more prevalent with the average (Q4) SES group (p<0.05). .
      CONCLUSION: People used different coping strategies to take care of their malaria
      expenditures, which are mostly paid out-of-pocket. The average socio-economic
      household had to forego other basic household expenditures in order to cope with
      malaria illness; otherwise there were no other significant differences in the
      coping mechanisms across the different SES groups. This could be indicative of
      the catastrophic nature of malaria treatment expenditures. Interventions that
      will reduce the burden of malaria expenditures on all households, within the
      context of Universal Health Coverage are needed so as to decrease the economic
      burden of malaria on households.

PMID- 25834530
TI  - Level of understanding of co-trimoxazole use among HIV infected, recurrent
      pulmonary tuberculosis suspects at a national referral tuberculosis clinic in
      Kampala, Uganda: a qualitative analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Co-trimoxazole use is the standard of care for preventing
      Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in sub-Saharan Africa but implementation remains
      slow. Co-trimoxazole is self- administered with uncertain adherence. Knowledge of
      co-trimoxazole use among HIV infected persons is unknown. OBJECTIVES: To assess
      knowledge, attitudes and practices of co-trimoxazole use among HIV infected
      adults evaluated for recurrent PTB in Kampala, Uganda. METHODS: A qualitative
      study utilizing 5 focus group discussions among 30 HIV infected PTB suspects at
      the national referral tuberculosis treatment centre in Kampala. RESULTS: Males
      and females had similar median ages. 80% were currently on co-trimoxazole and 50%
      of participants were on HAART. Majority of participants defined co-trimoxazole as
      an analgesic. Few noted co-trimoxazole was a drug to treat cough and chest pain.
      However, few responses revealed that co-trimoxazole prevents opportunistic
      diseases among PLHIV. Most of participants believed HAART and anti-TB drugs work
      as co-trimoxazole thus it should not be taken together with them. This belief may
      lead to increased risk of opportunistic infections, morbidity and mortality.
      CONCLUSIONS: We revealed gaps in understanding of co-trimoxazole use among study
      participants. We therefore recommend that more facts about co-trimoxazle as
      prophylaxis against P. jirovecii, bacterial and diarrheal pathogens should be
      incorporated in VCT fact sheets.

PMID- 25834531
TI  - Taenia solium metacestode preparation in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa: a
      source for diagnosis and research on cysticercosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Taenia solium metacestodes/cysts obtained from pig carcasses
      constitute a primary source for diagnostic tools used for the detection of human
      cysticercosis. Data on T. solium cyst preparation in Africa is still scarce but
      required to establish independent reference laboratories. OBJECTIVES: The aim of
      the present study is a) to present the likely yield of T. solium cyst material by
      the use of two different preparation methods in the field and b) to investigate
      its suitability for immunodiagnosis of human cysticercosis. METHODS: In Zambia,
      Uganda and Tanzania 670 pigs were screened for T. solium infection. Cysts were
      prepared by 'shaking method' and 'washing method'. Generated crude antigens were
      applied in a standard western blot assay. RESULTS: 46 out of 670 pigs (6.9%) were
      found positive for T. solium (Zambia: 12/367, 3.3%; Uganda: 11/217, 5.1%;
      Tanzania 23/86, 26.7%). Mean values of 77.7 ml whole cysts, 61.8 ml
      scolices/membranes and 10.9 ml cyst fluid were obtained per pig. Suitability of
      collected material for the use as crude antigen and molecular diagnostic
      techniques was demonstrated. CONCLUSION: This study clearly shows that T. solium
      cyst preparation in African settings by simple field methods constitutes an
      effective way to obtain high quality material as source for diagnostic tools and
      research purposes.

PMID- 25834532
TI  - Stroke subtypes and factors associated with ischemic stroke in Kinshasa, Central
      Africa.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Ischemic stroke causes death and disability worldwide.
      Better understanding and controlling factors associated will improve the
      prevention of the disease. This study reviews records of patients with ischemic
      stroke in Central Africa. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients of Bantu ethnicity with
      clinical diagnosis of stroke and lesion on computed tomography scan from January
      2011 to December 2012 were selected. Computed tomographic subtypes of ischemic
      stroke and factors associated were considered with tropical seasonal variation.
      RESULTS: Of the 303 first-ever stroke patients (average age 53 years old, range 3
      84 years old; 62% male) were included in the study. The prevalence of computed
      tomography stroke subtypes was: lacunar infarct (63%) and non lacunar infarct
      lesion (37%). Silent brain infarct was seen in 9 % of patients. Prevalence of
      factors associated with ischemic stroke was: age>=60 years old (55%); male gender
      (63%), chronic and uncontrolled hypertension (54%) and type 2 Diabetes mellitus
      (11%). A seasonal high prevalence was observed in warmer season (p < 0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: This study shows a high prevalence of lacunar infarct than non
      lacunar in Bantu of Central Africa.

PMID- 25834533
TI  - Stroke mortality and its predictors in a Nigerian teaching hospital.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Stroke is the third leading cause of death worldwide. Stroke
      mortality has been noted to be higher in blacks in biracial studies. There have
      been few studies on stroke mortality and its predictors in Nigeria. This study
      examines mortality of stroke and its predictors in a Northern Nigerian teaching
      hospital. METHODS: This was a prospective study that was carried out at Jos
      University Teaching Hospital in Nigeria. One hundred and twenty stroke patients
      admitted into the medical wards within one year were assessed. Demographic data
      was recorded. Patients were examined and ancillary investigations were carried
      out. The deaths and predictors were recorded. Multivariate logistic regression
      was used to identify independent predictors of mortality. RESULTS: There were one
      hundred and twenty participants. Forty two (35%), patients died. Most (76.2%)
      deaths occurred within the first week. Predictors of mortality on univariate
      analysis were age >= 60 years, male sex, loss of consciousness, high NIHSS score
      (>=16), the presence of co-morbid conditions and presence of complications. On
      multivariate analysis, the predictors of mortality were the presence of co-morbid
      conditions, GCS<10 and high NIHSS score. CONCLUSION: Stroke mortality was quite
      high in this study. Predictors of mortality were the indices of severity and the
      presence of co-morbid conditions.

PMID- 25834534
TI  - The visibility of non-communicable diseases in Northern Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: WHO and Uganda's Ministry of Health emphasize the need to address the
      growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Treatment for these
      conditions is urgent in northern Uganda where war has negatively affected both
      health and the public health care system. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to explore the
      recognized presence of selected chronic conditions in the out-patient population
      and to relate this 'visibility' to the ability of health units to diagnose and
      treat them. METHODS: At six health facilities we reviewed patient registers for
      one month to determine the frequency of hypertension, diabetes, depression, and
      post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We checked the availability of diagnostic
      instruments and medicines, and interviewed health workers. RESULTS: The four
      conditions were rarely diagnosed in the outpatient population. Hypertension was
      the most common, but still constituted under 1% of diagnoses. Patterns of
      diagnosis were uneven, with higher frequency of particular diagnoses at some
      health facilities. Diagnostic equipment was not sufficient and screening was
      irregular. Medicine was mostly available although stockouts of some relevant
      drugs were reported. CONCLUSIONS: The four conditions are relatively invisible in
      the outpatient population. Greater visibility would be facilitated by regular
      clinic days for hypertension and diabetes, availability and regular use of
      diagnostic instruments, and a more reliable supply of the relevant medicines.

PMID- 25834535
TI  - Bone turnover biomarkers in obese postmenopausal Saudi women with type-II
      diabetes mellitus.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus type-2 (T2DM) and
      osteoporosis are problems worldwide. In this study, we evaluated the correlation
      between T2DM and bone turnover in diabetic obese postmenopausal Saudi women.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The present study included total of 65 T2-DM obese
      postmenopausal Saudi women, (36 uncontrolled, 29 controlled). The following serum
      biochemical parameters were evaluated [fasting blood glucose (FBG), total calcium
      (Ca), phosphorus (Pi), parathyroid hormone (PTH), 1,25-(OH)2 Vitamin D3,
      osteocalcin (OC), procollagen (PICP) and cathepsin k (Cath K)]. RESULTS: Serum OC
      levels were significantly decreased in diabetic obese postmenopausal group
      compared to their respective healthy group (P < 0.004). PICP and Cath K were
      significantly elevated in diabetic postmenopausal group compared to the healthy
      group (P < 0.024 & 0.001). A significant elevation in 1,25(OH)2 Vitamin D3, Ca
      and Pi levels in diabetic obese postmenopausal patients group compared to the
      healthy group. However, a non-significant changes was observed in serum PTH level
      between different groups. CONCLUSION: In this study, the changes in the
      biochemical parameters and bone turnover markers in obese women are strong risk
      factors for diabetes development that may contribute to osteopenia and
      osteoporosis. The study showed the strong effect of T2DM on biochemical markers
      of bone turnover in obese postmenopausal Saudi women.

PMID- 25834536
TI  - Inhibitory effect of emodin on human hepatoma cell line SMMC-7721 and its
      mechanism.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Da Huang (Radix et Rhizoma Rhei) is the dried root or rhizome of
      Rheum palmatum L., Rheum tanguticum Maxim ex Balf. or Rheum officinale Braill of
      family Polygonaceae. It has heat clearing, damp drying, fire purging and toxin
      removing effects. Because of its definite curative efficacy, it has been widely
      applied in clinical settings. OBJECTIVE: To study the inhibitory effect of emodin
      on human hepatoma cell line SMMC-7721 and its mechanism. METHODS: MTT assay, flow
      cytometry and electron microscopy were used to investigate the inhibitory effect
      of different concentrations of emodin on human hepatoma cell line SMMC-7721.
      RESULTS: 12 h, 24 h and 48 h after the action of 20, 40 and 80 umol/L emodin on
      SMMC-7721 cells, the proliferation of human hepatoma SMMC-7721 cells was
      inhibited; the inhibitory effects showed time-and concentration-dependence. 48 h
      after the action of different concentrations of emodin on SMMC-7721 cells, cells
      in G2/M phase increased significantly, while the proportion of S phase cells
      gradually declined. CONCLUSION: Emodin can inhibit human hepatoma cell line SMMC
      7721.

PMID- 25834537
TI  - Optimization of processing technology of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum and its
      anti-tumor effect.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rhizoma Pinelliae is the dried tuber of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.)
      Breit. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Rhizoma Pinelliae has
      antitussive, antiemetic, glandular secretion inhibiting and antitumor effects.
      OBJECTIVES: To optimize the processing technology of Rhizoma Pinelliae
      Praeparatum, and to study its anti-tumor effect. METHODS: Orthogonal design
      method was applied to analyze the effects of factors such as licorice
      concentration volume, soaking time and processing temperature on processing
      technology of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum; MTT assay and flow cytometry were
      used to determine the inhibitory effect of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum on Bel
      7402 cells. RESULTS: During the processing of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum, the
      size of influence of licorice concentration volume, soaking time and processing
      temperature on processing results of Rhizoma Pinelliae was: B>C>A in descending
      order, i.e. soaking time>processing temperature>licorice concentration volume,
      different concentrations of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum ethanol extracts could
      all exert inhibitory effect on the growth and proliferation of Bel-7402 cells,
      and with the increase of drug concentration and the extension of culture time,
      the cell proliferation inhibitory effect of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum ethanol
      extract became more and more evident. Apoptotic rate of 1.5 mg/ml Rhizoma
      Pinelliae Praeparatum ethanol extract group reached 13.53%, the difference was
      extremely significant compared with the control group. In conclusion the factor
      most influential to the processing technology of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum
      was soaking time, followed by processing temperature, the factor least
      influential was licorice concentration volume. CONCLUSION: Rhizoma Pinelliae
      Praeparatum has inhibitory effect on growth and proliferation of Bel-7402 cells.

PMID- 25834538
TI  - Diagnostic accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology in providing a diagnosis
      of cervical lymphadenopathy among HIV-infected patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Opportunistic infections and malignancies cause lymphadenopathy in
      HIV-infected patients. The use and accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology in
      diagnosing of cervical lymphadenopathy among HIV-infected patients is not well
      studied in Uganda. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the
      diagnostic accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology in providing a diagnosis
      of cervical lymphadenopathy among HIV-infected patients in Uganda. METHODS: We
      consecutively recruited adult HIV-infected patients with cervical lymphadenopathy
      admitted to Mulago Hospital medical wards. Clinical examination, fine needle
      aspiration and lymph node biopsy were performed. We estimated the sensitivity,
      specificity; negative and positive predictive values using histology as the gold
      standard. RESULTS: We enrolled 108 patients with a mean age of 33 years (range,
      18-60), 59% were men and mean CD4 was 83(range, 22-375) cells/mm(3). The major
      causes of cervical lymphadenopathy were: tuberculosis (69.4%), Kaposi's sarcoma
      KS (10.2%) and reactive adenitis (7.4%). Overall fine needle aspiration cytology
      accurately predicted the histological findings in 65 out of 73 cases (89%) and
      missed 7 cases (9.5%). With a sensitivity of 93.1%, specificity of 100%, positive
      predictive value of 100% and negative predictive value of 78.7% for tuberculosis
      and 80%; 98.4%;88.9% and 98.9% for KS respectively. No fine needle aspiration
      complications were noted. CONCLUSIONS: Fine needle aspiration cytology is safe
      and accurate in the diagnosis of tuberculosis and KS cervical lymphadenopathy
      among HIV-positive patients.

PMID- 25834539
TI  - The association of XRCC3 Thr241Met genetic variant with risk of prostate cancer:
      a meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggest that the X-ray repair cross-complementing
      group 3 gene (XRCC3) Thr241Met genetic variant could be potentially associated
      with the risk of prostate cancer. However, results from these published studies
      were conflicting rather than conclusive. OBJECTIVES: his meta-analysis aimed to
      conduct a better understanding of the effects of XRCC3 Thr241Met genetic variant
      on prostate cancer risk. METHODS: We identified three eligible studies, 499
      prostate cancer cases and 571 controls. RESULTS: Overall, significant
      associations were detected in the heterozygote comparison genetic model (CT
      versus (vs.) CC: OR = 0.71, 95% CI 0.53-0.94, Z =2.38, p= 0.017), and the
      dominant genetic model (TT/CT vs. CC: OR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.57-0.98, Z = 2.11, p
      =0.035). In the subgroup analysis by ethnicities, we found that this genetic
      variant was significantly associated with the decrease risk of prostate cancer in
      Caucasians for heterozygote comparison genetic model (CT vs. CC: OR = 0.66, 95%
      CI 0.44-0.98, Z = 2.04, p = 0.042). No publication bias was found in this study.
      CONCLUSIONS: Results from this meta-analysis indicate that the XRCC3 Thr241Met
      genetic variant is associated with prostate cancer risk.

PMID- 25834540
TI  - Diagnostic utility of clinical and biochemical parameters in pancreatic head
      malignancy patients with normal carbohydrate antigen 19-9 levels.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Carbohydrate antigen (CA)19-9 that is the most widely used biomarker
      for pancreatic cancer has certain limitations in diagnosis, which results in a
      tough job to distinguish pancreatic cancer from benign tumors with normal CA19-9.
      The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic utility of clinical
      parameters and serum markers in patients with pancreatic head masses but without
      elevated CA19-9. METHODS: Retrospectively, 106 (69 malignant, 37 benign) of 487
      patients admitted for pancreatic head masses were enrolled with CA19-9 level of
      <37u/ml. Clinical parameters and serum biomarkers were assessed. Among the
      patients with pancreatic head mass, male individuals (p=0.025) and elder
      individuals (p<0.001) were more likely to have cancer; and cancer patients were
      more likely to present with abdominal-pain (p=0.023), weight-loss (p=0.013) and
      jaundice (p<0.001). Serum bilirubin levels among malignancies, including total
      bilirubin (p<0.001), direct bilirubin (p<0.001) and indirect bilirubin (p<0.001),
      were considerably higher than those of benign ones. Logistic regression further
      concluded that age-distribution, abdominal-pain and direct-bilirubin were three
      independent factors correlating with final diagnosis. However, CEA (p=0.156) was
      not sufficient enough to exclude pancreatic cancer. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with
      pancreatic head masses and CA19-9 of <37u/ml, age-distribution, abdominal-pain
      and direct bilirubin might be helpful in differential diagnosis. CEA was
      insufficient for exclusion of malignancy.

PMID- 25834541
TI  - The relationship between serum cortisol, adrenaline, blood glucose and lipid
      profile of undergraduate students under examination stress.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Stress is an extremely adaptive phenomenon in human beings and
      cortisol is a known stress hormone. Examination has been described as a
      naturalistic stressor capable of affecting human health. OBJECTIVES: To estimate
      the relationship between serum cortisol, adrenaline, fasting blood glucose (FBG)
      and lipid profile during examination stress. METHODS: Two hundred and eight (208)
      apparently-healthy undergraduate students (aged, 24 +/- 6 years) were involved in
      the study. Exactly 5 mls of venous blood was collected from each subject 1-3
      hours before a major examination. A second assessment was done on the same
      students 3-4 weeks before any examination (control samples). Cortisol and
      adrenaline were assayed using ELISA techniques, FBG was assayed using enzymatic
      method while lipid parameters were assayed using standard enzymatic
      spectrophotometric methods. RESULTS: There was statistically significant increase
      in serum cortisol, adrenaline, Total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and LDL
      cholesterol levels in students under examination stress compared to the non
      examination period (p=0.001, 0.013, 0.0001, 0.0001 and 0.0001, respectively). FBG
      showed no significant increase. There was also significant positive correlation
      (r=0.297, p=0.032) between serum cortisol and TC/HDL ratio (cardiac risk factor)
      before examination stress but not during the stress period. CONCLUSIONS:
      Significant positive correlation was observed between cortisol and TC/HDL ratio
      before examination stress.

PMID- 25834542
TI  - Co-morbid anxiety disorders in patients with schizophrenia in a tertiary
      institution in South East Nigeria: prevalence and correlates.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anxiety disorders occur commonly in schizophrenia but are often
      overlooked by psychiatrists. Their presence may compound the challenges faced by
      these patients and may contribute to poor outcome. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of
      this study was to determine the prevalence of anxiety disorders among the
      participants with schizophrenia, and the association between this co-morbidity
      and disability. METHOD: A total of 367 participants were recruited from the out
      patient department of Federal neuropsychiatric hospital Enugu, Nigeria. Socio
      demographic questionnaire, schedules for clinical assessment in neuropsychiatry,
      positive and negative syndrome scale and the 12-item version of the World Health
      Organization disability assessment schedule were administered. RESULTS: A total
      of 189 females (51.5%) and 178 (48.5%) males were studied. A lifetime prevalence
      of 12.3% was reported for anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorder was more likely in
      females (kappa(2)=4.93, p<0.03). Specific prevalence for anxiety disorder in
      schizophrenia was generalized anxiety disorder 6.3%, obsessive compulsive
      disorder 3.3%, and phobic anxiety disorder 2.7%. Anxiety disorder was associated
      with increased disability (t=3.50, p<0.001) and psychopathology (t=3.40, p<0.001)
      among the participants studied. Phobias were associated with prescription of low
      doses of antipsychotics (kappa(2)=4.08, p<0.04). There was a low rate of
      identification of anxiety disorder in routine clinical practice (k=0.08,
      p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Co-morbid anxiety disorders are common in schizophrenia and
      they are associated with increased disability and psychopathology. The results
      emphasize the need to screen for anxiety disorders in patients with
      schizophrenia.

PMID- 25834543
TI  - Ganoderic acid B's influence towards the therapeutic window of trifluoperazine
      (TFP).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ganoderic acid B is an important bioactive ingredient isolated from
      Ganoderma lucidum, and exhibits various pharmacological activities. AIMS: To
      investigate the influence of Ganoderic acid B towards the therapeutic window of
      trifluoperazine (TFP). METHODS: In vitro human liver microsomes (HLMs) incubation
      system was used to determine the inhibition of Ganoderic acid B towards the
      glucuronidation of trifluoperazine (TFP). RESULTS: Ganoderic acid B exerted
      concentration-dependent inhibition towards the glucuronidation of TFP.
      Furthermore, Dixon plot was used to determine the inhibition type. The
      intersection point was located in the second quadrant in Dixon plot, indicating
      the competitive inhibition of Ganoderic acid B towards TFP glucuronidation.
      Through fitting the data using competitive nonlinear fitting equation, the
      inhibition kinetic parameter was calculated to be 56.7 uM. CONCLUSION: All this
      data indicated the potential influence of Ganoderic acid B-containing herbs
      towards therapeutic window of TFP. Given that the glucuronidation reaction of TFP
      is the probe reaction of UGT1A4, the data obtained from the present study also
      indicated the potential influence of Ganoderic acid-containing herbs towards the
      therapeutic window of drugs mainly undergoing UGT1A4-mediated metabolism.

PMID- 25834544
TI  - Influence of gender preference and sex composition of surviving children on
      childbearing intention among high fertility married women in stable union in
      Malawi.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Child's gender preference (GP) frequently leads to high fertility
      which has adverse effect on family health. The link between women's fertility
      intention, GP and Living Children's Sex Composition (LCSC) as found in this study
      is less explored in Malawi. OBJECTIVES: We examined the relationship between GP,
      LCSC and fertility intention. METHODS: This study utilized 2010 MDHS dataset and
      focused on married women aged 15-49 years (n=1739) in stable unions who currently
      have at least 5 living children. Data was analyzed at bivariate and multivariate
      levels (alpha=0.05). RESULTS: About 39.7% of the women have GP and higher
      proportion (23.3%) has preference for females. Age, region, wealth-quintile,
      religion, residence and family planning programmes were significantly associated
      with fertility intention. Women who have GP and same LCSC were 1.35 and 2.4 times
      significantly more likely to have intention to bear more children than those who
      have no GP and different sexes composition respectively. These odd ratios changed
      to 1.38 for GP and 2.44 for LCSC after adjusting for other socio-demographic
      variables. CONCLUSIONS: We find that GP and LCSC significantly influence women's
      intention to bear more children. Women should stop childbearing after attaining
      their desired number irrespective of the LCSC.

PMID- 25834545
TI  - Women's attitudes towards receiving family planning services from community
      health workers in rural Western Kenya.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Kenya ranks among the countries in Africa with high fertility rates.
      In order to reverse the trends in high fertility rates, there is need to increase
      uptake of family planning services particularly by use of community health
      workers (CHWs) in providing these services in rural areas. OBJECTIVE: To describe
      the perceptions of women towards family planning service provision by CHWs in
      four rural districts of Western Kenya. It is based on baseline survey data from a
      three-year, rural community-based family planning project funded by The David and
      Lucile Packard Foundation. METHODS: A cross-sectional baseline survey was
      conducted in Western Kenya. The data presented is part of a broader the broader
      survey . A survey questionnaire was administered to 1,997 women (15-49 years) but
      only 963 cases were valid for our analyses. RESULTS: The findings revealed that
      only a third of the respondents exhibited high approval for Family Planning
      services from CHWs. Only four out of the thirteen variables explored showed
      significance on attitudes towards family planning services from CHWs. These are
      age, level of education, knowledge about family planning benefits and districts.
      CONCLUSION: Women's perception towards family planning services delivered by CHWs
      in Western region in Kenya is quite low. To improve the demand and supply for
      family planning services in this region, there is need to invest a substantial
      amount of effort into sensitization of women on the relevance of CHWs in
      providing family planning services.

PMID- 25834546
TI  - Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and erectile dysfunction: does long term
      continuous positive airway pressure therapy improve erections?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this age-matched, controlled, prospective clinical study
      was to investigate frequency and degree of erectile dysfunction (ED) in patients
      with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and to evaluate the results of only
      continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy on ED in patients with OSAS.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 90 patients were evaluated for potential OSAS.
      They were given an International Index of Erectile Function questionnaire (IIEF)
      and Beck Depression Inventory. Sixty-two patients with the diagnosis of OSAS were
      regarded as study group. Twenty-eight patients in whom the OSAS was excluded,
      were regarded as the control group. Biochemical and hormonal laboratory
      evaluation were performed. Then all patients underwent a full-night in laboratory
      polysomnography examination. The degree of OSAS were evaluated by an expert from
      chest diseases department. RESULTS: When compared to the control group, a
      decrease in IIEF-5 scores was found in patients with OSAS. However, this decrease
      was not statistically significant. After 3 months of CPAP usage in patients with
      mild to moderate and severe degree OSAS, improvement in IIEF-5 scores was
      statistically significant. Mean value of IIEF-5 score was 16.63+/-5.91 before
      CPAP and were improved up to 20.92+/-6.79 (P=0.001). CONCLUSION: It is not
      certainly possible to say that OSAS is clearly associated with ED. However, after
      3 months of regular CPAP usage, ED complaints in patients with OSAS might improve
      positively. Trials with larger series may give more conclusive data.

PMID- 25834547
TI  - Knowledge of birth defects among nursing mothers in a developing country.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the absence of established guidelines, where formal screening is
      unavailable for birth defects, a lot of responsibility is placed on parents in
      the recognition of these defects. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to
      determine the awareness of mothers about birth effects in a developing country
      and assess what they know about the prevention, detection and treatment of
      children with birth defects. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional
      study of 714 mothers consecutively selected at two major hospitals in Nigeria
      between May and December, 2012. Data were collected with interviewer administered
      questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using SPSS
      and statistical significance set at p <0.05. RESULTS: The participants were aged
      17 to 42 years. Only 183 (25.6%) were aware of birth defects. Factors associated
      with awareness of birth defects were older age, religious belief, better
      education, higher socioeconomic class, early age at booking and registering at a
      tertiary care facility. Education, socioeconomic class as well as month and
      location of booking were found to be independent predictors of awareness of birth
      defects. CONCLUSION: Mothers in Ibadan, Nigeria, a country without a formal
      newborn screening programme, have a poor level of awareness about birth defects.

PMID- 25834548
TI  - Developmental screening in South Africa: comparing the national developmental
      checklist to a standardized tool.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Worldwide, more than 200 million children in low- and middle-income
      countries have developmental delays and/or disabilities. In South Africa the only
      nationally implemented developmental 'screening' tool is integrated as part of
      'The Road to Health Booklet (RTHB). METHOD: The study employed a comparative
      cross-sectional within-subject design to evaluate the accuracy of the RTHB
      developmental checklist against a standardized international tool i.e. the PEDS
      tools, consisting of the PEDS and PEDS:DM. A total of 201 participants were
      included through convenience sampling at primary health care facilities in
      Tshwane, South Africa. RESULTS: Sensitivity of the RTHB developmental checklist
      is low, but specificity is high. The RTHB developmental checklist failed to
      identify more than half the infants at risk of delays or disorders. The
      nationally implemented developmental checklist is ineffective to identify at-risk
      infants. It should be adapted and validated or replaced in order to improve
      identification of at-risk infants.

PMID- 25834549
TI  - Prevalence and immediate outcome of candida colonized preterm neonates admitted
      to Special Care Unit of Mulago Hospital, Kampala Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Candida species is the third commonest cause of sepsis among
      neonates. Colonization by Candida is a predictor for candidemia among preterm
      neonates. OBJECTIVES: To determine prevalence of early Candida colonization and
      early outcome among colonized preterm neonates admitted to Mulago hospital
      Special Care Unit. METHODS: A prospective observational cohort was conducted
      between December 2008 and April 2009. Preterm neonates aged >72 hours and less
      than one week were screened for Candida colonization of the groin, oral pharynx
      and rectum using CHROMagar. Colonized neonates were followed up for 14 days.
      Blood cultures were done for those with signs of septicaemia. The Fisher's exact
      tests and logistic regression were conducted for factors associated with
      colonization and mortality among colonized neonates. P values of < 0.05 were
      considered significant and confidence interval of 95% was used. RESULTS: Candida
      colonization occurred in 50/213 (23.5%) neonates. Gestational age <= 30 weeks was
      the only factor independently associated with colonization (p = 0.005). Of the
      colonized 14/46 (30.4%) died and 13/46 (28.3%) developed mucocutaneous
      candidiasis. No candidemia was identified. Multiple site colonization was
      independently associated with mortality (p=0.035). CONCLUSION: The consequence of
      high colonization observed in this study needs to be further elucidated in
      Uganda.

PMID- 25834550
TI  - Validity of common ultrasound methods of fetal weight estimation in late
      pregnancy among women in Kwale, Niger Delta region, Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Accuracy of some ultrasound equations used in our locality for fetal
      weight estimation is doubtful. OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of common
      ultrasound equations used for fetal weight estimation. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A
      longitudinal study was conducted on selected Nigerian obstetric population at
      Central Hospital, Kwale between March, 2009 and January, 2011. Sonography was
      performed on 412 women with advanced singleton cyesis and measurements of BPD,
      HC, AC, and FL were obtained and figured into 12 common ultrasound equations for
      the estimation of fetal weight. The actual birth weight at delivery was recorded.
      RESULTS: The highest intraclass correlation coefficient was generated by the
      Hadlock 5 and Hsieh 2 equations. The least mean absolute percent error was
      obtained with Hsieh 2 equation, followed by Woo 3, and Hadlock 5. These equations
      also had the least percentage error and the least range of limits of agreement in
      the same order with no significant difference between their mean fetal weight
      estimates and that of the actual birth weight (p > 0.05). All twelve equations
      had strong positive correlation with the actual birth weight with Nzeh 2 equation
      the least. CONCLUSION: Hsieh 2 equation has the best accuracy in fetal weight
      estimation studied.

PMID- 25834551
TI  - Women's status within the household as a determinant of maternal health care use
      in Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although gender inequality is often cited as a barrier to improving
      maternal health in sub-saharan Africa, there is lack of empirical data on how
      women's socio-cultural characteristics may influence use of health services in
      Nigeria. OBJECTIVE: To describe how women's position in the household affects
      receipt of maternity care services. METHODS: Secondary data analysis of 10,052
      and 4,590 currently married women aged 15 to 49 years from the 2008 Nigerian DHS
      who receive skilled antenatal and delivery care at least till pregnancy was done.
      RESULTS: Receipt of skilled delivery care was by 37.9% while, natal care was by
      98.4%. Education, residence and wealth index all significantly influenced receipt
      of maternal health care. Women who were involved in decision making on their own
      health (aOR=1.97; 95%CI=1.88-2.06) and were employed throughout the year
      (aOR=1.11; 95%CI=1.01-1.23) were more likely to receive skilled antenatal care,
      while those who justified physical intimate partner violence were less likely to
      receive both skilled antenatal care (aOR=0.92; 95%CI=0.85-0.98) and delivery
      services (aOR 0.54; 95% CI 0.33-0.87). CONCLUSION: Interventions aimed at
      improving maternal care should promote women empowerment (decision making, self
      worth, educational and economic) and should involve partners.

PMID- 25834552
TI  - Prevalence of artificially created maxillary midline diastema and its
      complications in a selected nigerian population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Maxillary midline diastema (MMD) is generally regarded as a symbol of
      beauty in Nigeria. The desperation to look beautiful has caused many individuals
      to seek the creation of artificial midline diastema and that comes often with
      undesirable side effects. AIM: To determine the prevalence of artificially
      created maxillary midline diastema (MMD) and its complications in a selected
      Nigerian population. METHOD: A cross-sectional study using a semi-structured
      questionnaire as the instrument for data collection was done among patients
      attending a private clinic in Owerri the capital of Imo state in Nigeria over a
      period of 18 months. The data were retrieved from the questionnaires and analyzed
      using the SPSS version 20. RESULTS: There were 141 respondents comprising
      58(41.1%) males and 83(58.9%) females, giving a male to female ratio of 1:1.4.
      The prevalence of artificially created MMD was 34.0% with increased frequency in:
      the 21-30 years age group; among the females and in respondents with tertiary
      level of education. Majority of the respondents (69.5%) desire MMD and 20.8% of
      those without it wanted it created through cosmetic dentistry. Twenty of the 48
      respondents with artificial MMD had it done to enhance personal beauty and
      aesthetics. The commonest complication was tooth sensitivity (44.8%), followed by
      toothache (41.4%). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of artificially created MMD was
      34.0% in this study; and it is commoner in females and younger age group .The
      commonest complication was tooth sensitivity. Enhancement of personal beauty and
      aesthetic was the major reason for having it done.

PMID- 25834553
TI  - Factors influencing awareness and attendance of traditional oral health care
      practices by residents of a peri-urban community in Ibadan, Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In order to institute preventive programmes against harmful
      traditional oral health practices there is a need to identify targets.
      OBJECTIVES: To investigate factors influencing awareness and attendance of
      traditional oral health practices by residents of a peri-urban community in
      Ibadan, Nigeria. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of adult residents selected by
      simple random sampling in a peri-urban community in Ibadan, Nigeria, was
      conducted over a period of six months. Information was obtained with interviewer
      administered questionnaires. Data were recorded using SPSS version 16 software.
      RESULTS: A total of 172 (44.1%) respondents were aware of the existence of
      traditional healers for dental problems. Only 34 (8.7%) participants had been to
      traditional healers on account of toothache. About 76.5% reported having relief
      after treatment with relapse occurring in 12 cases (46.2%). Twenty (58.8%) of
      these (34) participants said they would not choose this option of treating dental
      problems in future. Significant associations existed between knowing that
      traditional healers provided dental treatment and gender (p = 0.001) or history
      of dental problems (p =0.008). CONCLUSION: The study showed moderate awareness of
      traditional oral care practices in Ibadan, Nigeria as influenced by gender and
      previous dental problems.

PMID- 25834554
TI  - Spectrum of neurosurgical complications following medical tourism: challenges of
      patients without borders.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The cost of medical care and availability of resources
      (human and facilities) which differs from nation to nation are amongst others,
      factors driving medical tourism (MT) despite its potential drawbacks. The aim of
      the study was to analyse all patients that presented with neurosurgical
      complications following MT. METHODS: A single institution prospective study was
      carried out. Data which included patients' demographics, diagnosis, Glasgow coma
      scale score at admission, type of complication, and outcome were collected over a
      3 year period and analysed. RESULTS: A total of 23 neurosurgical cases were seen
      during the study period with a median age of 42 years (17-70 years). India is the
      most common country visited by Nigerian patients. Nine patients died from various
      complications on arrival in Nigeria. There was no significant statistical
      difference between the outcome and patients clinical status prior to travel
      (p=0.107), country where the surgery was done (p=0.776), admission GCS in Nigeria
      (p=0.169), and redo surgery in Nigeria (0.181). CONCLUSION: Government in
      different nations should have legislations to ensure that medical tourists'
      receive appropriate care abroad, proper follow-up care upon their return, and
      also promulgate laws to regulate quasi and organised MT agencies that are
      operating in a regulatory vacuum.

PMID- 25834555
TI  - Prevalence of cholelithiasis among persons undergoing abdominal ultrasound at the
      Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prevalence of gallstones among Ghanaians is unknown. We aimed to
      determine the prevalence of gallstones among persons undergoing abdominal
      ultrasound at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). METHODS: We performed a
      cross-sectional study of patients aged >=14years presenting to KATH for abdominal
      ultrasound between 2009 and 2012. Patient demographics were recorded. The
      gallbladder was assessed by ultrasonography. Cholelithiasis was defined as
      presence of gallstones or absence of gallbladder. Data was expressed as
      descriptive and inferential statistics. RESULTS: There were 2824 participants.
      55% were females. Mean age was 47+/-18 years. Mean body mass index (BMI) was
      24.0+/-5.5. Mean parity among females was 3+/-3. Prevalence of cholelithiasis was
      5.9 (95%C.I:5.0,6.8). Females had a high prevalence compared to males (6.8 vs
      4.7). Prevalence increased steadily by age. Prevalence was 6.6, 5.1 and 8.8 for
      patients with BMI <18.5, 18.5-24.9 and >=30 respectively. Prevalence among women
      with parity of 0,1-5 and >5 was 3.1, 6.7 and 6.4 respectively.On multivariate
      regression analysis, female sex (AOR=1.55;p<0.05), age>=40 years
      (AOR=2.05;p<0.01), BMI<18.5 (AOR=1.25;p>0.05) or BMI>=30 (AOR=1.39;p>0.05) and
      family history of gallstones (AOR=11.9;p<0.01) increased the odds of
      cholelithiasis. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of cholelithiasis among patients
      undergoing ultrasonography at KATH was 5.9. Patient age, sex and family history
      significantly influenced the prevalence.

PMID- 25834556
TI  - Anemia in patients on chronic hemodialysis in Cameroon: prevalence,
      characteristics and management in low resources setting.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anemia is a common complication of chronic kidney disease. We
      investigated the prevalence, characteristics and management of anemia in patients
      on chronic hemodialysis and assessed the response to blood-transfusion based
      management in Cameroon. METHODS: This was a cohort study of five months' duration
      (August-December 2008) conducted at the Yaounde General Hospital's hemodialysis
      center, involving 95 patients (67 men, 70.5%) on chronic hemodialysis by a native
      arteriovenous fistula. A monthly evaluation included full blood counts, number of
      pints of red cell concentrates transfused, and vital status. RESULTS: At
      baseline, 75 (79%) patients had anemia which was microcytic and hypochromic in 32
      (43%). Anemia was corrected in 67 (70.5%) patients using blood transfusion only,
      while 28 (29.5%) patients were receiving erythropoietin (11 regularly, 39%). Only
      77.2% of 342 pints (median 3.0, range 0-17 per patients) of red cell concentrates
      prescribed were effectively received during the follow-up at an unacceptably high
      cost to patients and families. Mean hemoglobin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin
      levels remained stable during follow-up, while mean corpuscular volume increased.
      Erythropoietin treatment was the main determinant of favorable trajectories of
      hematological markers. CONCLUSIONS: Patients on chronic hemodialysis have
      predominantly microcytic hypochromic anemia, with limited capacity for correction
      using blood transfusion.

PMID- 25834557
TI  - Problem based learning: tutors' views 5 years after implementation at a sub
      Saharan University.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Curriculum evaluation is key to continuous assurance of quality of
      education. OBJECTIVES: To assess the teachers' perceptions on how well student
      teaching and learning activities were conducted at an institution that had
      practiced PBL for five years. METHODS: A cross sectional descriptive study. 150
      teachers from 23 departments at the College of Health Sciences participated in
      the study. A 25 item self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data.
      Activities evaluated included; students assessment, self-directed learning,
      feedback and clinical exposure. Data were entered in epi data and analysed using
      SPSS. Ethical approval was obtained. RESULTS: The participants' average teaching
      experience was eight years. The PBL/COBES approach mostly achieved the aim of
      producing self-directed and lifelong learners. Half of the teaching staff
      actively provided regular feedback about the learning and teaching activities
      they were involved in. Early clinical exposure was widely accepted as a highly
      rewarding appropriate teaching and learning strategy. COBES activities were well
      organized although involvement of College staff was low. CONCLUSION: PBL/COBES
      program was successfully executed and had high acceptance among Faculty. The
      biggest challenge was getting all staff to provide regular feedback. Self
      institutional curriculum review can be done cheaply and quickly to provide
      feedback for continual curriculum improvement.

PMID- 25834558
TI  - Use of simulators in operative dental education: experience in southern Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Though the use of simulators in operative dentistry is not new, the
      teaching and learning practices that take place during clinical sessions in
      skills laboratories are rarely reported. This study was designed to determine the
      current practices relating to teaching and learning of dental clinical skills in
      southern Nigeria. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the final
      year dental students in southern Nigeria using anonymous structured questionnaire
      as instrument for data collection. The questionnaire items included statements
      relating to existing teaching and learning practices. A five-point Likert scale
      response option was provided and descriptive summary statistics was computed.
      RESULTS: There were 56 (34.8%) females and 105 (65.2%) males. Most of the
      students (41.0%) agreed that the theoretical concept behind clinical skills is
      taught prior to clinical sessions and most agreed that the objectives of each
      clinical session are stated and that the procedures are usually demonstrated.
      Most of the respondents (39.8%) agreed that feedback was sometimes embarrassing
      and given at the end of clinical sessions (76.6%). Equipment breakdown was a
      major challenge to learning. CONCLUSION: Dental education in the skills labs
      within the region appeared standard. However, feedback should be continuous and
      constructive. Equipment breakdown was the major constraint to learning.

PMID- 25834559
TI  - Exploring the scope of community-based rehabilitation in ensuring the holistic
      development of differently-abled people.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Globally, it has been estimated that almost 15% of world's population
      live with some form of disability, of which the majority are from developing
      nations. OBJECTIVES: To explore the role of community-based rehabilitation (CBR)
      in the health sector, identify the prevalent challenges, and to suggest measures
      to facilitate its smooth implementation in community. METHODS: An extensive
      search of all materials related to the topic was made using library sources
      including Pubmed, Medline and World Health Organization. Keywords used in the
      search included community, community-based rehabilitation, disabled, and public
      health. RESULTS: The notion of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) emerged in
      1978 with an aim to improve the accessibility of disabled people to
      rehabilitation services, especially in developing countries, by ensuring optimal
      use of locally available resources. CBR programs support people with disabilities
      by providing health services at their doorsteps, and thus estalish a strong
      linkage between people with disabilities and the health-care system. CONCLUSION:
      CBR encompasses a set of interventions that are implemented for a diverse and
      complex group of disabled people, and thus necessitates careful planning and
      systematic execution for ensuring welfare of these vulnerable people.

PMID- 25834560
TI  - South African patient's acceptance of generic drugs.

PMID- 25834561
TI  - Dangerous to mix: culture and politics in a traditional circumcision in South
      Africa.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Traditional circumcision (initiation) is an integral part of the
      Xhosa speaking communities. Circumcision is the first step towards manhood. It
      involves a number of cultural, religious, legal and ethical issues, which in
      terms of the constitution of the Republic of South Africa, are rights that must
      be protected. OBJECTIVE: To highlight the problem of circumcision related death
      in South Africa. CASE REPORT: This case report examines a 16- year boy who had
      died as result of botched circumcision by an unqualified traditional surgeon. He
      kept the boy in his custody despite his serious illness. He applied a tight
      bandage to control the bleeding, resulting in gangrene of the penis followed by
      septicemia. The histories, postmortem findings, cause of death and medico- legal
      and social aspects have been discussed in this manuscript. CONCLUSION: There are
      unacceptable deaths related with circumcision in South Africa. The right to life
      cannot be sacrificed at the altar of culture and politics.

PMID- 25834562
TI  - Resolution of dilated cardiomyopathy in an adolescent with change of a failing
      highly active antiretroviral drug therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular dysfunction is a recognized complication of HIV
      infection in children. Cardiac complications of HIV usually occur late in the
      course of the disease; they may be associated with drug therapy, and hence become
      more common as therapy and survival improve. Left ventricular (LV) dysfunction at
      baseline is a risk factor for death independent of the CD4 cell count, HIV viral
      load, and neurological disease. CLINICAL CASE: We present the case of a 15 year
      old girl with HIV who developed left ventricular dysfunction while non-compliant
      on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). She presented with features of
      heart failure over a course of two months. Her laboratory evaluation was
      significant for leucopenia with a low CD4 count, high viral load, elevated ESR
      and CRP. The ECG showed a sinus tachycardia with diffuse ST-T segment changes and
      LVH with strain. Initial echo revealed dilated left heart chambers with poor LV
      systolic function and a small pericardial effusion with the development of an LV
      thrombus on follow up echo evaluation. She was started on heart failure medicines
      and had anticoagulation for the LV thrombus. She received adherence counseling
      and her HAART regimen was changed. Six months after presentation she became
      asymptomatic with higher CD4 counts and a normal LV size and function on echo.
      CONCLUSION: Immunological recovery following a switch of a failing or potentially
      cardiotoxic HAART in addition to improved HAART adherence may result in
      resolution of left ventricular dysfunction. Early and regular cardiology
      evaluation may improve outcomes in these patients.

PMID- 25834563
TI  - Giant simple hepatic cyst: a case report and review of relevant literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Giant cysts of the liver are uncommon. Symptoms are related primarily
      to the mass effect of the enlarging cyst. OBJECTIVE: To highlight the challenges
      of management of giant simple hepatic cyst in a resource limited setting. CASE
      REPORT: Presented is a 58-year-old seamstress with a 5-year history of an
      enlarging abdominal mass with easy satiety. Surgery revealed an exophytic giant
      simple hepatic cyst arising from liver segment IV that drained 4.6 litres of
      serous fluid. CONCLUSION: Simple hepatic cyst can attain giant dimensions and
      should be considered in the differential diagnosis of intraabdominal masses.

PMID- 25834564
TI  - Hypogammaglobulinemia in sub-Saharan Africa: a case report and review of the
      literature.
AB  - Patients with hypogammaglobulinemia are susceptible to recurrent bacterial,
      viral, fungal, and parasitic infections. The most common clinical manifestation
      includes recurrent severe infections caused by encapsulated bacteria, in which
      antibody opsonization is the primary defense mechanism. To our knowledge, this is
      the first case report of hypogammaglobulinemia in a Ugandan child in Sub-Saharan
      Africa. The case emphasizes the importance of including hypogammaglobulinemia in
      the differential diagnosis for children presenting with a history of recurrent
      infections. AIM: To raise the index of clinical suspicion of
      hypogammaglobulinemia in an African child and allow for prompt recognition and
      management of hypogammaglobulinemia.

PMID- 25834565
TI  - Idiopathic hypertrophic pachymeningitis presenting with occipital neuralgia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although occipital neuralgia is usually caused by degenerative
      arthropathy, nearly 20 other aetiologies may lead to this condition. METHODS: We
      present the first case report of hypertrophic pachymeningitis revealed by
      isolated occipital neuralgia. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Idiopathic hypertrophic
      pachymeningitis is a plausible cause of occipital neuralgia and may present
      without cranial-nerve palsy. There is no consensus on the treatment for
      idiopathic hypertrophic pachymeningitis, but the usual approach is to start
      corticotherapy and then to add immunosuppressants. When occipital neuralgia is
      not clinically isolated or when a first-line treatment fails, another disease
      diagnosis should be considered. However, the cost effectiveness of extended
      investigations needs to be considered.

PMID- 25834566
TI  - Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation in out of hospital cardiac arrest: need
      of the hour.

PMID- 25834567
TI  - Platelet indices evaluation in patients with liver cirrhosis: methodological
      drawbacks.

PMID- 25834568
TI  - Managing Ebola from rural to urban slum settings: experiences from Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Five outbreaks of ebola occurred in Uganda between 2000-2012. The
      outbreaks were quickly contained in rural areas. However, the Gulu outbreak in
      2000 was the largest and complex due to insurgency. It invaded Gulu municipality
      and the slum- like camps of the internally displaced persons (IDPs). The
      Bundigugyo district outbreak followed but was detected late as a new virus. The
      subsequent outbreaks in the districts of Luwero district (2011, 2012) and Kibaale
      (2012) were limited to rural areas. METHODS: Detailed records of the outbreak
      presentation, cases, and outcomes were reviewed and analyzed. Each outbreak was
      described and the outcomes examined for the different scenarios. RESULTS: Early
      detection and action provided the best outcomes and results. The ideal scenario
      occurred in the Luwero outbreak during which only a single case was observed.
      Rural outbreaks were easier to contain. The community imposed quarantine
      prevented the spread of ebola following introduction into Masindi district. The
      outbreak was confined to the extended family of the index case and only one case
      developed in the general population. However, the outbreak invasion of the town
      slum areas escalated the spread of infection in Gulu municipality. Community
      mobilization and leadership was vital in supporting early case detection and
      isolations well as contact tracing and public education. CONCLUSION: Palliative
      care improved survival. Focusing on treatment and not just quarantine should be
      emphasized as it also enhanced public trust and health seeking behavior. Early
      detection and action provided the best scenario for outbreak containment.
      Community mobilization and leadership was vital in supporting outbreak control.
      International collaboration was essential in supporting and augmenting the
      national efforts.

PMID- 25834569
TI  - From Ebola in the slums of East and West Africa to NCDs, mental, child and
      reproductive health.

PMID- 25834570
TI  - Immune centroids oversampling method for binary classification.
AB  - To improve the classification performance of imbalanced learning, a novel
      oversampling method, immune centroids oversampling technique (ICOTE) based on an
      immune network, is proposed. ICOTE generates a set of immune centroids to broaden
      the decision regions of the minority class space. The representative immune
      centroids are regarded as synthetic examples in order to resolve the imbalance
      problem. We utilize an artificial immune network to generate synthetic examples
      on clusters with high data densities, which can address the problem of synthetic
      minority oversampling technique (SMOTE), which lacks reflection on groups of
      training examples. Meanwhile, we further improve the performance of ICOTE via
      integrating ENN with ICOTE, that is, ICOTE + ENN. ENN disposes the majority class
      examples that invade the minority class space, so ICOTE + ENN favors the
      separation of both classes. Our comprehensive experimental results show that two
      proposed oversampling methods can achieve better performance than the renowned
      resampling methods. 

PMID- 25834571
TI  - Gremlin, a bone morphogenetic protein antagonist, is a crucial angiogenic factor
      in pituitary adenoma.
AB  - Gremlin is an antagonist of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and a major driving
      force in skeletal modeling in the fetal stage. Several recent reports have shown
      that Gremlin is also involved in angiogenesis of lung cancer and diabetic
      retinopathy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of Gremlin in
      tumor angiogenesis in pituitary adenoma. Double fluorescence immunohistochemistry
      of Gremlin and CD34 was performed in pituitary adenoma tissues obtained during
      transsphenoidal surgery in 45 cases (7 PRLoma, 17 GHoma, 2 ACTHoma, and 2
      TSHoma). Gremlin and microvascular density (MVD) were detected by double
      immunofluorescence microscopy in CD34-positive vessels from tissue microarray
      analysis of 60 cases of pituitary adenomas (6 PRLoma, 23 GHoma, 22 NFoma, 5
      ACTHoma, and 4 TSHoma). In tissue microarray analysis, MVD was significantly
      correlated with an increased Gremlin level (linear regression: P < 0.005,  r (2)
      = 0.4958). In contrast, Gremlin expression showed no correlation with tumor
      subtype or Knosp score. The high level of expression of Gremlin in pituitary
      adenoma tissue with many CD34-positive vessels and the strong coherence of these
      regions indicate that Gremlin is associated with angiogenesis in pituitary
      adenoma cells. 

PMID- 25834573
TI  - Lacrimal Gland Fistula following Severe Head Trauma.
AB  - We aim to present a unique case with discharging lacrimal gland fistula secondary
      to severe head trauma by an animal. A 9-year-old girl presented with serous fluid
      discharge from a cutaneous fistula in the left orbital region. The patient had
      history of surgery for traumatic frontal bone fracture and skin laceration in the
      superior orbital rim three weeks earlier. She underwent a complete
      ophthalmological examination and there was no anterior segment or fundus
      pathology. The orifice of the fistula was detected in mediolateral part of the
      left superior orbital rim and fluid secretion was increasing with irritation of
      the left eye. Neurosurgical complications were excluded and radiological
      assessment was nonremarkable. The patient's legal representatives were informed
      and lacrimal gland fistulectomy was planned. However, the fistula was self-closed
      one week after initial ophthalmological examination, and the patient had no
      symptoms. In conclusion, traumatic injuries of superior orbital region should be
      carefully evaluated and wounds should be well closed to prevent consecutive
      lacrimal gland fistula. 

PMID- 25834572
TI  - Overexpression of Activation-Induced Cytidine Deaminase in MTX- and Age-Related
      Epstein-Barr Virus-Associated B-Cell Lymphoproliferative Disorders of the Head
      and Neck.
AB  - Recent research has shown that activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID)
      triggers somatic hypermutation and recombination, in turn contributing to
      lymphomagenesis. Such aberrant AID expression is seen in B-cell
      leukemia/lymphomas, including Burkitt lymphoma which is associated with c-myc
      translocation. Moreover, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent membrane protein-1 (LMP
      1) increases genomic instability through early growth transcription response-1
      (Egr-1) mediated upregulation of AID in B-cell lymphoma. However, few
      clinicopathological studies have focused on AID expression in lymphoproliferative
      disorders (LPDs). Therefore, we conducted an immunohistochemical study to
      investigate the relationship between AID and LMP-1 expression in LPDs (MTX-/Age
      related EBV-associated), including diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs). More
      intense AID expression was detected in LPDs (89.5%) than in DLBCLs (20.0%), and
      the expression of LMP-1 and EBER was more intense in LPDs (68.4% and 94.7%) than
      in DLBCLs (10.0% and 20.0%). Furthermore, stronger Egr-1 expression was found in
      MTX/Age-EBV-LPDs (83.3%) than in DLBCLs (30.0%). AID expression was significantly
      constitutively overexpressed in LPDs as compared with DLBCLs. These results
      suggest that increased AID expression in LPDs may be one of the processes
      involved in lymphomagenesis, thereby further increasing the survival of
      genetically destabilized B-cells. AID expression may be a useful indicator for
      differentiation between LPDs and DLBCLs. 

PMID- 25834574
TI  - Diabetic ketoacidosis as first presentation of latent autoimmune diabetes in
      adult.
AB  - A 54-year-old white female with hypothyroidism presented with abdominal pain,
      nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. She was found to have diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA)
      and admitted to our hospital for treatment. Laboratory workup revealed positive
      antiglutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies and subsequently she was diagnosed
      with latent onset autoimmune diabetes in adult (LADA). She was successfully
      treated with insulin with clinical and laboratory improvement. Diagnosis of LADA
      has been based on three criteria as given by The Immunology of Diabetes Society:
      (1) adult age of onset (>30 years of age); (2) presence of at least one
      circulating autoantibody (GADA/ICA/IAA/IA-2); and (3) initial insulin
      independence for the first six months. The importance of this case is the
      unlikely presentation of LADA. We believe that more research is needed to
      determine the exact proportion of LADA patients who first present with DKA, since
      similar cases have only been seen in case reports. Adult patients who are obese
      and have high blood sugar may deserve screening for LADA, especially in the
      presence of other autoimmune diseases. Those patients once diagnosed with LADA
      need extensive diabetic education including potentially serious events such as
      diabetic ketoacidosis. 

PMID- 25834575
TI  - Comparative investigation of human amniotic epithelial cells and mesenchymal stem
      cells for application in bone tissue engineering.
AB  - Emerging evidence suggests amniotic epithelial cells (AECs) as a promising source
      of progenitor cells in regenerative medicine and bone tissue engineering.
      However, investigations comparing the regenerative properties of AECs with other
      sources of stem cells are particularly needed before the feasibility of AECs in
      bone tissue engineering can be determined. This study aimed to compare human
      amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs), human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells
      (hBMSCs), and human amniotic fluid derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAFMSCs) in
      terms of their morphology, proliferation, immunophenotype profile, and osteogenic
      capacity in vitro and in vivo. Not only greatly distinguished by cell morphology
      and proliferation, hAECs, hAFMSCs, and hBMSCs exhibited remarkably different
      signature regarding immunophenotypical profile. Microarray analysis revealed a
      different expression profile of genes involved in ossification along the three
      cell sources, highlighting the impact of different anatomical origin and
      molecular response to osteogenic induction on the final tissue-forming potential.
      Furthermore, our data indicated a potential role of FOXC2 in early osteogenic
      commitment. 

PMID- 25834576
TI  - Improved dosimetry in prostate brachytherapy using high resolution contrast
      enhanced magnetic resonance imaging: a feasibility study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess detailed dosimetry data for prostate and clinical relevant
      intra- and peri-prostatic structures including neurovascular bundles (NVB),
      urethra, and penile bulb (PB) from postbrachytherapy computed tomography (CT)
      versus high resolution contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (HR-CEMRI).
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: Eleven postbrachytherapy prostate cancer patients underwent
      HR-CEMRI and CT imaging. Computed tomography and HR-CEMRI images were randomized
      and 2 independent expert readers created contours of prostate, intra- and peri
      prostatic structures on each CT and HR-CEMRI scan for all 11 patients. Dosimetry
      data including V100, D90, and D100 was calculated from these contours. RESULTS:
      Mean V100 values from CT and HR-CEMRI contours were as follows: prostate (98.5%
      and 96.2%, p = 0.003), urethra (81.0% and 88.7%, p = 0.027), anterior rectal wall
      (ARW) (8.9% and 2.8%, p < 0.001), left NVB (77.9% and 51.5%, p = 0.002), right
      NVB (69.2% and 43.1%, p = 0.001), and PB (0.09% and 11.4%, p = 0.005). Mean D90
      (Gy) derived from CT and HR-CEMRI contours were: prostate (167.6 and 150.3, p =
      0.012), urethra (81.6 and 109.4, p = 0.041), ARW (2.5 and 0.11, p = 0.003), left
      NVB (98.2 and 58.6, p = 0.001), right NVB (87.5 and 55.5, p = 0.001), and PB
      (11.2 and 12.4, p = 0.554). CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this study suggest that HR
      CEMRI facilitates accurate and meaningful dosimetric assessment of prostate and
      clinically relevant structures, which is not possible with CT. Significant
      differences were seen between CT and HR-CEMRI, with volume overestimation of CT
      derived contours compared to HR-CEMRI.

PMID- 25834577
TI  - Prostate brachytherapy in New South Wales: patterns of care study and impact of
      caseload on treatment quality.
AB  - PURPOSE: We performed the first comprehensive, population-based brachytherapy
      (BT) Patterns of Care Study in the Australian setting. Herein we report on
      prostate BT and assess the technical quality of BT practice, focusing on whether
      a caseload effect could be identified in New South Wales (NSW). MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: Site visits were made to all radiation oncology departments in NSW that
      delivered prostate BT, collecting relevant data on NSW residents treated with
      prostate BT in 2003. Overall quality of NSW prostate BT treatment was assessed
      using benchmarks including treatment of appropriate prostate cancer disease risk
      category, absence of (relative) physical contraindications, optimal planned and
      treated dosimetry, and pre-/post-implant planning/CT. Quality was compared
      between higher and lower caseload departments. RESULTS: One hundred and fifty
      seven (67%) patients underwent temporary BT and 79 (33%) permanent seed BT.
      Prostate BT was concentrated in five departments, with three of four departments
      with active programmes treating greater than the recommended 25 cases. Rates of
      concordance with quality benchmarks were high (85-99%) with no consistent
      caseload effect identified. CONCLUSIONS: Prostate BT in NSW in 2003 was generally
      of high quality and a caseload effect on quality could not be identified. This
      may be because the number of departments was insufficient to determine a caseload
      effect, or because the prostate BT was largely concentrated in a small number of
      high caseload departments.

PMID- 25834578
TI  - Postoperative interstitial brachytherapy in eyelid cancer: long term results and
      assessment of Cosmesis After Interstitial Brachytherapy scale.
AB  - PURPOSE: To analyse feasibility and safety of postoperative interstitial
      brachytherapy (IBRT) in patients of eyelid cancer treated primarily by surgical
      excision. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this series, 8 patients with eyelid cancer
      were treated using postoperative interstitial brachytherapy. Patients were
      followed up for local control, cosmetic outcome, and acute and late toxicities.
      Cosmetic outcome was measured using a 6 point indigenous Cosmesis After
      Interstitial Brachytherapy (CAIB) scale. RESULTS: The patients were between 23-82
      years (median: 71 years). There were 3 females and 5 males, and 3 patients had
      lesions in upper eyelid. Postoperative high-dose-rate brachytherapy was used in
      all with 2 catheters implanted in most of them (6 out of 8). Local control was
      calculated from end of treatment to last follow-up. At last follow-up, all
      patients remained locally controlled. Two patients had nodal recurrence 6 months
      after interstitial brachytherapy and were salvaged effectively by external beam
      radiotherapy. At last follow-up, 7 patients were loco-regionally controlled and
      one was lost to follow up. All patients had Radiation Therapy Oncology Group
      (RTOG) grade 1 acute toxicity and 2 had grade 1 Common Terminology Criteria for
      Adverse Events (CTCAE) version.3 late toxicities. The cosmesis score for the
      whole group ranged between 0-1 indicating excellent to very good cosmesis.
      CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative high-dose-rate brachytherapy resulted in excellent
      disease control and cosmesis without significant acute or late toxicities. It is
      an effective modality for treatment of eyelid cancers in selected patients.
      Future prospective studies with the validation of CAIB scale would give us more
      insight to this effective yet often ignored modality of IBRT.

PMID- 25834579
TI  - Depth determination of skin cancers treated with superficial brachytherapy:
      ultrasound vs. histopathology.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to compare high frequency ultrasonography
      (HFUS) and histpathologic assessment done by punch biopsy in order to determine
      depth of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), in both superficial and nodular BCCs prior
      to brachytherapy treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study includes 20 patients
      with 10 superficial and 10 nodular BCCs. First, punch biopsy was done to confirm
      the diagnosis and to measure tumour depth (Breslow rate). Subsequently, HFUS was
      done to measure tumour depth to search for correlation of these two techniques.
      RESULTS: Neither clear tendency nor significance of the punch biopsy vs. HFUS
      depth determination is observed. Depth value differences with both modalities
      resulted patient dependent and then consequence of its uncertainty. Conceptually,
      HFUS should determine the macroscopic lesion (gross tumour volume - GTV), while
      punch biopsy is able to detect the microscopic extension (clinical target volume 
      CTV). Uncertainties of HFUS are difficult to address, while punch biopsy is done
      just on a small lesion section, not necessarily the deepest one. CONCLUSIONS:
      According to the results, HFUS is less accurate at very shallow depths. Nodular
      cases present higher depth determination differences than superficial ones. In
      our clinical practice, we decided to prescribe at 3 mm depth when HFUS
      measurements give depth lesion values smaller than this value.

PMID- 25834580
TI  - Single versus multichannel applicator in high-dose-rate vaginal brachytherapy
      optimized by inverse treatment planning.
AB  - PURPOSE: To retrospectively compare the potential dosimetric advantages of a
      multichannel vaginal applicator vs. a single channel one in intracavitary vaginal
      high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy after hysterectomy, and evaluate the
      dosimetric advantage of fractional re-planning. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We randomly
      selected 12 patients with endometrial carcinoma, who received adjuvant vaginal
      cuff HDR brachytherapy using a multichannel applicator. For each brachytherapy
      fraction, two inverse treatment plans (for central channel and multichannel
      loadings) were performed and compared. The advantage of fractional re-planning
      was also investigated. RESULTS: Dose-volume-histogram (DVH) analysis showed
      limited, but statistically significant difference (p = 0.007) regarding clinical
      target-volume dose coverage between single and multichannel approaches. For the
      organs-at-risk rectum and bladder, the use of multichannel applicator
      demonstrated a noticeable dose reduction, when compared to single channel, but
      statistically significant for rectum only (p = 0.0001). For D2cc of rectum, an
      average fractional dose of 6.1 +/- 0.7 Gy resulted for single channel vs. 5.1 +/-
      0.6 Gy for multichannel. For D2cc of bladder, an average fractional dose of 5 +/-
      0.9 Gy occurred for single channel vs. 4.9 +/- 0.8 Gy for multichannel. The
      dosimetric benefit of fractional re-planning was demonstrated: DVH analysis
      showed large, but not statistically significant differences between first
      fraction plan and fractional re-planning, due to large inter-fraction variations
      for rectum and bladder positioning and filling. CONCLUSIONS: Vaginal HDR
      brachytherapy using a multichannel vaginal applicator and inverse planning
      provides dosimetric advantages over single channel cylinder, by reducing the dose
      to organs at risk without compromising the target volume coverage, but at the
      expense of an increased vaginal mucosa dose. Due to large inter-fraction dose
      variations, we recommend individual fraction treatment plan optimization.

PMID- 25834581
TI  - Effects of bladder distension on dose distribution of vaginal vault brachytherapy
      in patients with endometrial cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate dosimetric effects of bladder distention on organs at
      risk (OARs) during treatment of endometrial cancer using 3D image-based planning
      of postoperative vaginal vault brachytherapy (BRT). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifteen
      patients with early-stage endometrial cancer were studied, each undergoing
      adjuvant BRT of vaginal vault via 3.5 cm diameter cylinder. As treatment, 25 Gy
      in 5 fractions were delivered to 5 mm depth of the vaginal mucosa. Dose-volume
      histograms of OARs were generated individually with bladder empty and with
      bladder inflated by sterile saline (180 ml), to compare doses received. RESULTS:
      Bladder distention appreciably impacted dosimetry of bladder, sigmoid colon, and
      small bowel, but dosimetry of rectum was unaffected. With bladder inflated, mean
      cylinder-to-bowel distance increased significantly (1.69 cm vs. 1.20 cm; p =
      0.006). Mean minimum dose to most exposed 2 cc (D2cc) volume also rose
      significantly at bladder (5.40 Gy vs. 4.55 Gy [18.7%]; p < 0.001), as opposed to
      near-significant reductions in D2cc at sigmoid colon (15.1%; p = 0.11) and at
      small bowel (10.5%; p = 0.14). A full bladder had no effect on dose to 50% volume
      (D50%) of bladder or rectum, and declines seen in mean D50% values of sigmoid
      colon (22.7%; p = 0.12) and small bowel (19.0%; p = 0.13) again fell short of
      statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of a full bladder and an
      empty rectum may cause significant unwanted increases in BRT dosing of bladder,
      without significantly impacting sigmoid colon and small bowel exposures. These
      findings should be validated through further clinical studies.

PMID- 25834582
TI  - Effect of diameter of nanoparticles and capture cross-section library on
      macroscopic dose enhancement in boron neutron capture therapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study is evaluation of the effect of diameter of (10)B
      nanoparticles and various neutron capture cross-section libraries on macroscopic
      dose enhancement in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      MCNPX Monte Carlo code was used for simulation of a (252)Cf source, a soft tissue
      phantom and a tumor containing (10)B nanoparticles. Using (252)Cf as a neutron
      source, macroscopic dose enhancement factor (MDEF) and total dose rate in tumor
      in the presence of 100, 200, and 500 ppm of (10)B nanoparticles with 25 nm, 50
      nm, and 100 nm diameters were calculated. Additionally, the effect of ENDF, JEFF,
      JENDL, and CENDL neutron capture cross-section libraries on MDEF was evaluated.
      RESULTS: There is not a linear relationship between the average MDEF value and
      nanoparticles' diameter but the average MDEF grows with increased concentration
      of (10)B nanoparticles. There is an increasing trend for average MDEF with the
      tumor distance. The average MDEF values were obtained the same for various
      neutron capture cross-section libraries. The maximum and minimum doses that
      effect on the total dose in tumor were neutron and secondary photon doses,
      respectively. Furthermore, the boron capture related dose component reduced in
      some extent with increase of diameter of (10)B nanoparticles. CONCLUSIONS: Based
      on the results of this study, it can be concluded that from physical point of
      view, various nanoparticle diameters have no dominant effect on average MDEF
      value in tumor. Furthermore, it is concluded that various neutron capture cross
      section libraries are resulted to the same macroscopic dose enhancements.
      However, it is predicted that taking into account the biological effects for
      various nanoparticle diameters will result in different dose enhancements.

PMID- 25834583
TI  - Perineal recurrence of prostate cancer six years after trans-perineal
      brachytherapy.
AB  - We report a case of perineal recurrence of prostate cancer 6 years after low-dose
      rate (LDR) brachytherapy for localized prostate cancer. The most common approach
      to treat such perineal masses, including those occurring after prior biopsy or
      surgery, is local excision. We report the use of stereotactic radiotherapy with
      volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) as a novel non-invasive, potentially
      curative, and patient-friendly alternative to local excision. 

PMID- 25834584
TI  - Recurrent Bowen's disease of scalp treated with high dose rate surface mold
      brachytherapy: a case report and review of the literature.
AB  - Our case is a 46-year-old female presenting to us with Bowen's disease of scalp
      since 5 years. Patient had failed topical therapy with 5% 5-florouracil, 0.1%
      tacrolimus and was intolerant to topical imiquimod. At presentation, she had 15
      cm * 10 cm erythematous, hyperpigmented, crusted plaque with irregular border in
      the superior and lateral aspect of left side of scalp with extension in to
      forehead. Patient was treated with computed tomography based customized surface
      mold high dose rate brachytherapy with Iridium-192 to a dose of 35 Gy in 10
      fractions (twice daily, 6 hours apart) over 5 days. Patient tolerated the
      treatment well and showed regression of the lesion with mild dermatitis at the
      end of treatment. Though dermatitis increased at 2 weeks, at 4 weeks post
      treatment there was near complete resolution of the lesion with adjacent
      alopecia. At 8 weeks after completion of the treatment, there was complete
      resolution of the lesion and patient was asymptomatic. Alopecia in the adjacent
      area has resolved and the skin pigmentation has begun. Patient is satisfied with
      both the disease control and the cosmetic outcome of the procedure. Our case
      report demonstrates successful application of surface mold high dose rate
      brachytherapy in the treatment of recurrent Bowen's disease of the scalp.
      Brachytherapy can play an important role in the management of recurrent malignant
      and premalignant diseases of the complex treatment sites like scalp and it's non
      hesitant use should be encouraged in appropriately selected patients at the
      earliest. 

PMID- 25834585
TI  - The use of an interstitial boost in the conservative treatment of breast cancer:
      how to perform it routinely in a radiotherapy department.
AB  - PURPOSE: To demonstrate the utility of a boost with interstitial brachytherapy
      (BT) in breast-conserving therapy (BCT) by doing a thorough review of the
      literature and describing in detail our technique for delivering this boost.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: Our department has been delivering the boost with
      interstitial BT since 1989, in most cases with rigid needles and a theoretical
      dosimetry. In the early years, we used low-dose-rate (LDR) with iridium-192
      wires. The dose administered was 15 Gy if there were no risk factors for local
      relapse or 20-25 Gy in the presence of risk factors. The risk factors considered
      were the presence of a close margin (less than 10 mm) and an extensive
      intraductal component (more than 25%). After 2002, we switched to high-dose-rate
      (HDR); using the linear quadratic model we changed the low dose to 3 fractions of
      4.5 Gy in the case of no risk factors for local relapse or to 3 fractions of 5 Gy
      in the presence of risk factors. RESULTS: In 79 consecutive boost patients
      treated in our department between 2010 and 2011, with a median follow-up of 46
      months, the local control rate was 97.47%. With respect to cosmesis, fibrosis
      occurred in 17 cases (21.5%) and hyperpigmentation in 26 cases (32.9%). Our
      hospital's results are comparable in terms of local control and cosmesis to those
      of other authors. CONCLUSIONS: This educational article describes our
      department's boost technique with rigid needles and comments briefly on our
      results using this technique in a group of consecutively treated patients in our
      department. A review of the literature and the published results on local control
      and cosmesis is also described.

PMID- 25834586
TI  - Modern head and neck brachytherapy: from radium towards intensity modulated
      interventional brachytherapy.
AB  - Intensity modulated brachytherapy (IMBT) is a modern development of classical
      interventional radiation therapy (brachytherapy), which allows the application of
      a high radiation dose sparing severe adverse events, thereby further improving
      the treatment outcome. Classical indications in head and neck (H&N) cancers are
      the face, the oral cavity, the naso- and oropharynx, the paranasal sinuses
      including base of skull, incomplete resections on important structures, and
      palliation. The application type can be curative, adjuvant or perioperative, as a
      boost to external beam radiation as well as without external beam radiation and
      with palliative intention. Due to the frequently used perioperative application
      method (intraoperative implantation of inactive applicators and postoperative
      performance of radiation), close interdisciplinary cooperation between surgical
      specialists (ENT-, dento-maxillary-facial-, neuro- and orbital surgeons), as well
      interventional radiotherapy (brachytherapy) experts are obligatory. Published
      results encourage the integration of IMBT into H&N therapy, thereby improving the
      prognosis and quality of life of patients. 

PMID- 25834587
TI  - Clinical implementation of a new electronic brachytherapy system for skin
      brachytherapy.
AB  - Although surgery is usually the first-line treatment for nonmelanoma skin
      cancers, radiotherapy (RT) may be indicated in selected cases. Radiation therapy
      as primary therapy can result in excellent control rates, cosmetics, and quality
      of life. Brachytherapy is a radiation treatment modality that offers the most
      conformal option to patients. A new modality for skin brachytherapy is electronic
      brachytherapy. This involves the placement of a high dose rate X-ray source
      directly in a skin applicator close to the skin surface, and therefore combines
      the benefits of brachytherapy with those of low energy X-ray radiotherapy. The
      Esteya electronic brachytherapy system is specifically designed for skin surface
      brachytherapy procedures. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the
      clinical implementation of the new Esteya electronic brachytherapy system, which
      may provide guidance for users of this system. The information covered includes
      patient selection, treatment planning (depth evaluation and margin
      determination), patient marking, and setup. The justification for the
      hypofractionated regimen is described and compared with others protocols in the
      literature. Quality assurance (QA) aspects including daily testing are also
      included. We emphasize that these are guidelines, and clinical judgment and
      experience must always prevail in the care of patients, as with any medical
      treatment. We conclude that clinical implementation of the Esteya brachytherapy
      system is simple for patients and providers, and should allow for precise and
      safe treatment of nonmelanoma skin cancers. 

PMID- 25834588
TI  - An index to predict ribavirin-induced anemia in asian patients with chronic
      genotype 1 hepatitis C.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the inosine triphosphate
      pyrophosphatase (ITPA) gene correlate with ribavirin (RBV)-induced anemia in
      patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) receiving combination therapy. Managing
      anemia is an early priority in the treatment process. OBJECTIVES: The aim was to
      develop a predictive index based on ITPA SNP status to identify CHC patients at
      risk of anemia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 418 eligible East Asian patients
      diagnosed with CHC genotype 1 (G1) received combination therapy in this study.
      Participant DNA was genotyped for a functional ITPA SNP (C/C, A/A or C/A) on
      chromosome 20 at rs1127354. A predictive index was constructed by incorporating
      independent factors identified for severe anemia events (hemoglobin < 10 g/dL).
      Areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUCs) represented the
      diagnostic accuracies of the predictive index in randomly assigned development
      and validation cohorts. RESULTS: Multiple logistic regressions identified age (>=
      50 y: OR = 9.7, 95% CI = 5.0 - 18.6), ITPA rs1127354 (C/C: OR = 3.3, 95% CI = 1.8
      - 5.8) and baseline hemoglobin (< 14.0 g/dL: OR 6.4, 95% CI = 3.3 - 12.1; 14.0 -
      14.9: OR = 2.4, 95% CI = 1.2 - 4.6) as predictors of severe anemia throughout the
      treatment. For severe anemia, the predictive index incorporating age, ITPA SNP
      status and baseline hemoglobin yielded diagnostic accuracies (AUCs) of 0.830 (95%
      CI = 0.783 - 0.871) in the development (n = 324) and 0.902 (0.826 - 0.925) in the
      validation (n = 81) cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with CHC G1 and receiving
      combination therapy, ITPA SNP-based index was an accurate and practical solution
      for prediction of severe anemia.

PMID- 25834589
TI  - Histological Evaluation of Single and Double-visit Direct Pulp Capping with
      Different Materials on Sound Human Premolars: A Randomized Controlled Clinical
      Trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical and histological
      status of the pulp in sound human premolars after direct pulp capping (DPC) with
      four different DPC methods/materials. METHODS AND MATERIALS: This study was
      conducted on eight volunteers who had to extract four first premolars due to
      orthodontic treatment. Subsequent to tooth isolation, standardized class I
      occlusal cavities were prepared and the buccal pulp horns were exposed. Then four
      different protocols of DPC were applied randomly: group A (control); calcium
      hydroxide lining paste (Dycal), group B; ProRoot MTA (standard double-visit
      method), group C; ProRoot MTA (single-visit method) and group D; calcium
      hydroxide injectable paste (Multi-Cal). The cavities were then restored and the
      patients were put on a six-week clinical follow-up and by the end of this period
      the teeth were extracted for histological evaluation. Data were analyzed with the
      Kruskal Wallis test and the level of significance was set at 0.05. RESULTS: In
      terms of clinical symptoms and formation of hard tissue bridge (HTB), no
      significant differences were found between groups A, B and C (P>0.05); however,
      group D's results were significantly different as they exhibited minimal HTB
      formation and excessive sensitivity (P<0.05). Inflammation was significantly
      lower in group B (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Application of MTA during a single-visit
      protocol of DPC was clinically and histologically as successful as the standard
      double-visit method but the routine use of Multi-Cal as pulp capping material is
      questionable and should be reconsidered.

PMID- 25834590
TI  - Cytotoxicity of two resin-based sealers and a fluoride varnish on human gingival
      fibroblasts.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Assessment of cellular cytotoxicity is a regular method for
      evaluating the biocompatibility of novel materials. In a recent study, 5%
      fluoride varnish (Duraflur) has shown reasonable sealing ability and coverage of
      root canal walls when used as a sealer. The aim of the present study was to
      compare the cytotoxicity of Duraflur varnish with two popular commonly used root
      canal sealers (AH-Plus and AH-26) on human gingival fibroblasts (HGF). METHODS
      AND MATERIALS: The HGFs were incubated with different concentrations (1/2, 1/4,
      and 1/8) of AH-plus, AH-26, and Duraflur varnish for 24 h. The percentage of cell
      viability was assessed with methyl-thiazol-tetrazolium (MTT) assay. The data was
      analyzed using the one-way ANOVA followed by Student-Newman-Keuls test. The level
      of significance was set at 0.001. RESULTS: MTT assay showed that higher
      concentrations of the tested materials resulted in lower viability of HGFs. AH
      Plus showed significantly greater cell viability compared to AH-26 at all
      dilutions (P<0.001); however, no significant difference was found between
      Duraflur and AH-Plus in terms of cell viability at 1/8 dilution (P>0.001).
      Duraflur showed significantly higher cell viability compared to AH-26 except at
      1/2 dilution (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Although Duraflur varnish had better
      biocompatibility compared to AH-26, it should still be evaluated with further
      biocompatibility tests such as intraosseous and subcutaneous implantation.

PMID- 25834591
TI  - Retreatability of Root Canals Obturated Using Gutta-Percha with Bioceramic, MTA
      and Resin-Based Sealers.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the retreatability of root
      canals obturated with gutta-percha (GP) and three different endodontic sealers
      [iRoot SP (bioceramic sealer), MTA Fillapex (MTA-based sealer) and AH-26 (epoxy
      resin-based sealer)] using the ProTaper Universal Retreatment (PTR) system.
      METHODS AND MATERIALS: Forty extracted single-rooted human teeth were prepared
      with universal ProTaper files up to F4 (40/0.06). Specimens were randomly divided
      into four groups according to obturation technique/material: single-cone GP/AH
      26, lateral compaction of GP/AH-26, single-cone GP/iRoot SP, and single-cone
      GP/MTA Fillapex. Root fillings were removed with PTR. The time taken to reach the
      working-length (TWL) was recorded. Roots were longitudinally sectioned and each
      half was evaluated using a stereomicroscope. Three observers scored each third of
      all specimen. Obtained data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney
      U, Welch and Games-Howell tests. The level of significance was set at 0.05.
      RESULTS: In single-cone GP/MTA Fillapex group the TWL was significantly shorter.
      The remnant of filling material in the apical and middle thirds of groups was
      similar and higher than the coronal thirds. CONCLUSION: None of the tested
      sealers were completely removed from the root canal system.

PMID- 25834592
TI  - Apical sealing ability of bioceramic paste and mineral trioxide aggregate
      retrofillings: a dye leakage study.

PMID- 25834593
TI  - Effect of different mixing and placement methods on the compressive strength of
      calcium-enriched mixture.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this experimental laboratory study was to evaluate the
      effect of different mixing and placement techniques on compressive strength (CS)
      of calcium-enriched mixture (CEM) cement. METHODS AND MATERIALS: CEM powder was
      mixed with its liquid either by hand mixing or amalgamator mixing. The mixture
      was loaded to cylindrical acrylic molds with 6.0+/-0.1 mm height and 4.0+/-1 mm
      diameter. Half of the specimens in each group were selected randomly and
      ultrasonic energy was applied to them for 30 sec. All samples were incubated for
      7 days at 37( degrees )C. The CS test was performed by means of a universal
      testing machine. The data were analyzed by the two-way analysis of variance
      (ANOVA) and Tukey's post hoc tests. The level of significance was set at 0.05.
      RESULTS: The maximum CS was seen in the amalgamator-mixed samples that did not
      receive ultrasonic agitation. The CS value of amalgamator-mixed samples was
      significantly higher than manually-mixed ones (P=0.003). Ultrasonic vibration did
      not change the CS of specimens. CONCLUSION: According to the results, mixing with
      amalgamator increases the CS of CEM cement, while ultrasonic vibration had no
      positive effect.

PMID- 25834594
TI  - Nano-hydroxyapatite and calcium-enriched mixture for pulp capping of sound
      primary teeth: a randomized clinical trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Nano-hydroxyapatite (NHA) has been used for regeneration of osseous
      defects. Calcium-enriched mixture (CEM) cement is also used for various dental
      treatments. This trial compared the efficacy of NHA and CEM cement for direct
      pulp capping (DPC) of sound primary teeth. METHODS AND MATERIALS: In this
      randomized clinical trial with split-mouth design, after attaining informed
      consent, 20 sound primary canines scheduled for orthodontic extraction, were
      selected. After mechanical pulp exposure, the exposed site was capped with either
      NHA or CEM cement and then immediately restored with glass-ionomer and resin
      composite. The teeth were extracted after two months and examined histologically.
      Parameters of hard tissue bridge (HTB) formation, its type and quality as well as
      pulpal inflammation scores were compared between the two experimental groups. The
      data were analyzed using the Mann Whitney U and Fisher's exact test. The level of
      significance was set at 0.001. RESULTS: All CEM specimens showed inflammation
      score of 0 (less than 10%). However, in NHA group, inflammation scores of 0 (less
      than 10%), 1 (10%-30%) and 2 (30%-50%) were observed in 2 (20%), 4 (40%) and 4
      (40%) specimens, respectively (P<0.001). HTB was formed in all CEM specimens
      while it was developed in 2 specimens of NHA (20%; P<0.001). All CEM specimens
      showed normal pulp; only two cases in NHA group (20%) demonstrated uninflamed
      normal pulp. CONCLUSION: CEM cement was superior to NHA as a DPC agent in terms
      of HTB formation and pulp inflammation scores. It is a suitable material for the
      DPC of primary teeth.

PMID- 25834595
TI  - Preferred materials and methods employed for endodontic treatment by Iranian
      general practitioners.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to gather information on the materials
      and methods employed in root canal treatment (RCT) by general dental
      practitioners (GDPs) in Iran. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A questionnaire was
      distributed among 450 dentists who attended the 53(th) Iranian Dental Association
      congress. Participants were asked to consider demographic variables and answer
      the questions regarding the materials and methods commonly used in RCT.
      Descriptive statistics were given as absolute frequencies and valid percentages.
      The chi-square test was used to investigate the influence of gender and the years
      of professional activity for the employed materials and techniques. RESULTS: The
      response rate was 84.88%. The results showed that 61.5% of the participants did
      not perform pulp sensitivity tests prior to RCT. Less than half of the general
      dental practitioners (47.4%) said that they would trace a sinus tract before
      starting the treatment. Nearly 16% of practitioners preferred the rubber dam
      isolation method. Over 36% of the practitioners reported using formocresol for
      pulpotomy. The combined approach of working length (WL) radiographs and
      electronic apex locators was used by 35.2% of the practitioners. Most of the
      respondents used K-file hand instruments for canal preparation and the technique
      of choice was step-back (43.5%), while 40.1% of respondents used NiTi rotary
      files, mostly ProTaper and RaCe. The most widely used irrigant was normal saline
      (61.8%). Calcium hydroxide was the most commonly used inter appointment
      medicament (84.6%). The most popular obturation technique was cold lateral
      condensation (81.7%) with 51% using zinc oxide-eugenol-based sealers.
      CONCLUSIONS: The majority of Iranian GDPs who participated in the present survey
      do not comply with quality guidelines of endodontic treatment.

PMID- 25834596
TI  - Location of Mental Foramen in a Selected Iranian Population: A CBCT Assessment.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Mental foramen (MF) is an important anatomic landmark in dentistry
      and knowledge about its variable locations (L) and type of emergence (TE), has an
      effect on the sufficiency of local anesthesia and safety of surgical procedures.
      The aim of this study was to evaluate the L and TE of this radiographic landmark
      as well as the presence of accessory MF, by means of cone-beam computed
      tomography (CBCT). METHODS AND MATERIALS: In this cross sectional study, a total
      of 156 CBCT images were retrieved from the archive of a private radiology clinic
      and were then evaluated for the position of MF and its TE and the existence of
      accessory foramina in the body of mandible. The extracted information was
      compared in both genders, in both sides of mandible and among three different age
      groups (20-29, 30-44 and 45-59 years). The Pearson chi-square and Fisher's Exact
      tests were used for statistical analysis. The level of significance was set at
      0.05. RESULTS: Second premolar was the most common anterolateral L of MF; in
      general, 48.7% of right and 51.9% of left MFs were located at the apex of second
      premolar. Anterior and straight ET were more common in right and left side,
      respectively. Accessory MF was present in only 8 (5.1%) of cases. CONCLUSION: The
      possible presence of accessory MF should not be overlooked for avoiding the
      occurrence of a neurosensory disturbance during surgery and implant insertion.

PMID- 25834597
TI  - Diagnostic value of cone-beam computed tomography and periapical radiography in
      detection of vertical root fracture.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Vertical root fracture (VRF) is the longitudinal fracture of the
      root in endodontically treated teeth. Considering the limitations of two
      dimensional radiographic images in detection of VRF and introduction of cone-beam
      computed tomography (CBCT), this study was designed to find the sensitivity,
      specificity and accuracy of CBCT and periapical (PA) radiography in detection of
      VRFs. METHODS AND MATERIALS: This was a cross-sectional in vitro study on 80
      extracted human single canal teeth including 40 maxillary and 40 mandibular
      teeth. After standardized endodontic treatment of the roots, VRF was induced in
      half of the teeth in each group, and other half were left without fracture. Teeth
      were inserted in dry maxillary and mandibular alveoli. PA radiographs and CBCT
      images were taken from the specimens. Data were analyzed with SPSS software. The
      McNemar test was used to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of
      images, and kappa coefficient was used to assess the degree of agreement between
      the observers. The level of significance was set at 0.05. RESULTS: Sensitivity
      and specificity values of CBCT were 97.5% and 95%, respectively. However, for PA
      radiography the sensitivity and specificity were 67.5% and 92.5%, in order of
      appearance. Accuracy of CBCT (96.25%) and PA radiography (80%) in both jaws were
      significantly different (P=0.022). Two methods were not significantly different
      when testing specificity (P=0.298). CONCLUSION: This study showed that the
      sensitivity and accuracy of CBCT in detection of vertical root fracture are
      higher than periapical radiography. CBCT can be recommended to be used in
      detection of vertical root fractures.

PMID- 25834598
TI  - Radiographic evaluation of root canal fillings accomplished by undergraduate
      dental students.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the radiographic quality
      of root canal fillings by fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year undergraduate students
      at Tabriz Faculty of Dentistry between 2006 and 2012. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A
      total of 1183 root canal fillings in 620 teeth were evaluated by two
      investigators (and in case of disagreement by a third investigator) regarding the
      presence or absence of under-fillings, over-fillings and perforations. For each
      tooth, preoperative, working and postoperative radiographs were checked. The
      Pearson's chi-square test was used for statistical evaluation of the data. Inter
      examiner agreement was measured by Cohen's kappa (k) values. The level of
      significance was set at 0.05. RESULTS: Total frequencies of over-filling, under
      filling and perforation were 5.6%, 20.4% and 1.9%, respectively. There were
      significant differences between frequencies of over- and under-fillings (P<0.05).
      Unacceptable quality, under- and over-fillings were detected in 27.9% of 1183
      evaluated canals. CONCLUSION: The technical quality of root canal therapies
      performed by undergraduate dental students using step-back preparation and
      lateral compaction techniques was unacceptable in almost one-fourth of the cases.

PMID- 25834599
TI  - Evaluation of apical leakage in root canals obturated with three different
      sealers in presence or absence of smear layer.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Microleakage can result in failure of endodontic treatment. An
      important characteristic of endodontic sealer is sealing ability. The aim of this
      experimental study was to compare the apical leakage of teeth obturated with
      gutta-percha and three different sealers (resin- and zinc oxide eugenol-based)
      with/without smear layer (SL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, 100 single
      rooted teeth were used after cutting off their crowns. Cleaning and shaping was
      carried out with step-back technique and the samples were randomly divided into
      three groups (n=30) which were then divided into two subgroups (n=15) according
      to the presence/absence of SL. Two negative and positive control groups (n=5)
      were also prepared. In the various groups, the canals were obturated with gutta
      percha and either of the test sealers (AH-26, Adseal or Endofill). The samples
      were submerged in India ink for 72 h. Then they were longitudinally sectioned and
      observed under a stereomicroscope at 20* magnification. Data were analyzed with
      descriptive statistical methods and one-way ANOVA. The significance level was set
      at 0.05. RESULTS: The mean penetration length of dye in AH-26, Adseal and
      Endofill samples were 2.53, 2.76 and 3.03 mm, respectively. The differences
      between three groups were not significant (P>0.05); also, the mean dye
      penetration in AH-26, Adseal and Endofill samples in presence or absence of the
      SL was not significantly different. CONCLUSION: AH-26, Adseal and Endofill were
      similarly effective in prevention of apical microleakage. Differences in the mean
      dye penetration between the groups with/without the SL were not statistically
      significant.

PMID- 25834601
TI  - The Effect of Different Mixing Methods on the pH and Solubility of Mineral
      Trioxide Aggregate and Calcium-Enriched Mixture.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different
      mixing techniques on the pH and solubility of mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA)
      and calcium-enriched mixture (CEM). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Five samples were
      prepared from each biomaterial with different mixing techniques including hand-,
      amalgamator- or ultrasonic-mixing and were then placed in pre-weighted plastic
      tubes to determine their pH values. Each tube was then incubated in 10 mL
      deionized distilled water for 1 h at 37(o)C. An electrode was placed in the fluid
      in each flask at 24(o)C and the pH was recorded. In the next stage, six samples
      from each mixing technique/material were separately placed in glass bottles
      containing 50 mL of distilled water at 37(o)C for 1 h and were let dry for 1 h at
      37(o)C. The samples' weights were measured and recorded twice. The procedure was
      repeated at 1-, 7- and 21-day intervals. Data were analyzed with the repeated
      measures ANOVA (for solubility) and two-way ANOVA (for pH) and then the post-hoc
      Tukey's test was done. RESULTS: The pH of the materials was not significantly
      affected by mixing methods. (P=0.8 for CEM and P=0.1 for MTA). The solubility of
      all test groups was within the acceptable range (=3%). However, the solubility of
      CEM at 1- and 21-day intervals was significantly different (P=0.03 for 1 day and
      P=0.001 for 21 days). Different mixing techniques had significant effects on the
      solubility of MTA at the three time points (P=0.004, 0.003 and 0.002 for 1-, 7-
      and 21-day intervals, respectively). CONCLUSION: The pH of biomaterials was not
      influenced by the mixing technique and their solubility was within the acceptable
      range.

PMID- 25834600
TI  - Root canal shaping by single-file systems and rotary instruments: a laboratory
      study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to compare the shaping ability of two
      single-file systems and conventional rotary instruments in severely curved root
      canals of extracted human molars. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Mesiobuccal canals of
      120 mandibular molars with angles of curvature ranging between 25( degrees ) and
      35( degrees ) and radii of curvature from 5 to 9 mm, were divided into three
      groups (n=40). In each group the canals were instrumented with either WaveOne
      (W), Reciproc (R) or ProTaper (P). The time required for canal shaping and the
      frequency of broken instruments were recorded. The standardized pre and post
      instrumentation radiographs were taken to determine changes in working length
      (WL) and straightening of canal curvature. The presence of blockage or
      perforation was also evaluated. Data were analyzed using the one-way analysis of
      variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Tukey's test. The level of significance was set at
      0.05. RESULTS: Both single-instrument systems reduced the canal preparation time
      by approximately 50% (P<0.05). No incidence of broken instruments from single
      file systems was reported; however, two F2 instruments in the P group were broken
      (P<0.05). Reduction in WL and straightening of canal curvature was observed in
      all three systems with the highest scores belonging to P system (P<0.05). No case
      of blockage or perforation was found during shaping in any group. CONCLUSION:
      Single-file systems shaped curved canals with substantial saving in time and a
      significant decrease in incidence of instrument separation, change in WL, and
      straightening of canal curvature.

PMID- 25834603
TI  - Surgical Treatment of an Immature Short-Rooted Traumatized Incisor with an
      Extensive Apical Lesion Using CEM Cement.
AB  - Severe traumatic injuries to immature teeth often cause damage to periodontal
      ligament as well as dental pulp; pulp necrosis, root resorption and subsequent
      apical lesion are common consequences. This article reports the surgical
      management of an infected immature maxillary central incisor associated with a
      gigantic periradicular lesion and severe root resorption. The tooth had a history
      of trauma and the patient suffered from purulent sinus tract and tooth mobility.
      After unsuccessful multi-session disinfection with calcium hydroxide, root end
      surgery was planned. During flap surgery and lesion enucleation, the root end was
      cleaned and filled with calcium-enriched mixture (CEM) cement. After one year,
      the radiographic examination revealed that the lesion was almost completely
      replaced with newly formed bone. In addition, clinical examination showed
      favorable outcomes; the tooth was symptom-free and in function. Due to chemical,
      physical and biological properties of CEM cement, this biomaterial might be
      considered as the root-end filling material of choice. 

PMID- 25834602
TI  - A comparative study of antifungal activity of endodontic irrigants.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this in vitro study was to assess the antifungal
      activity of final canal rinse with either three concentrations of sodium
      hypochlorite (NaOCl) (0.5, 2.6 and 6%), two concentrations of chlorhexidine (CHX)
      (2% and 0.2%), MTAD, Tetraclean, Hypoclean and Chlor-Xtra on Candida albicans (C.
      albicans) in a human tooth model. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Two hundred and thirty
      five extracted human maxillary central and lateral incisors were used in this
      study. Teeth were randomly divided into nine test groups (n=25) and positive and
      a negative control groups (n=5). After cleaning and shaping, teeth were
      contaminated with C. albicans and incubated for 72 h. The irrigation solution in
      nine experimental groups included: 6% NaOCl, 2.6% NaOCl, 0.5% NaOCl, 2% CHX, 0.2%
      CHX, MTAD, Tetraclean, Hypoclean and Chlor-Xtra. After culturing on Sabouraud 4%
      dextrose agar, colony-forming units (CFU) were counted. RESULTS: 6% NaOCl, 2% CHX
      and Chlor-Xtra were equally effective (P>0.05) and significantly superior to MTAD
      and Tetraclean (P<0.05). In addition, the effectiveness of Tetraclean and MTAD
      was significantly less than Hypoclean, NaOCl at all concentrations (6% 2.6% and
      0.5%), MTAD and 0.2% CHX (P<0.05). Furthermore, Tetraclean was significantly more
      effective than MTAD (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Antifungal activity of 6% NaOCl, Chlor
      Xtra and 2% CHX was significantly greater than 2.6% NaOCl, 0.5% NaOCl, MTAD, 0.2%
      CHX and Tetraclean.

PMID- 25834604
TI  - Clinicopathological significance of dual-specificity protein phosphatase 4
      expression in invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.
AB  - PURPOSE: Dual-specificity protein phosphatase 4 (DUSP4), also known as mitogen
      activated protein kinase phosphatase (MKP) 2 is a member of the inducible nuclear
      MKP group. The role of DUSP4 in cancer development and progression appears to
      vary with the type of malignancy. The purpose of this study was to investigate
      DUSP4 expression in a case series of invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.
      METHODS: We constructed tissue microarrays consisting of 16, 14, 47, and 266
      cases of normal breast tissue, usual ductal hyperplasia, ductal carcinoma in
      situ, and invasive ductal carcinoma, respectively. DUSP4 expression was
      investigated by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Cytoplasmic DUSP4 expression was
      observed. DUSP4 was more frequently expressed in malignant than in benign cases
      (p=0.024). The mean DUSP4 expression score was significantly higher in malignant
      tumors than in benign lesions (p=0.019). DUSP4 expression was significantly
      correlated with a larger tumor size (>2 cm, p=0.015). There was no significant
      correlation between overall survival or disease-free survival and DUSP4
      expression in all 266 patients. We evaluated the impact of DUSP4 expression on
      the survival of 120 patients with T1-stage tumors. Interestingly, Kaplan-Meier
      survival curves revealed that DUSP4 expression had a significant effect on both
      overall patient survival (p=0.034, log-rank test) and disease-free survival
      (p=0.045, log-rank test). In early T-stage breast cancer, DUSP4 expression was
      associated with a worse prognosis. CONCLUSION: DUSP4 is frequently upregulated in
      breast malignancy, and may play an important role in cancer development and
      progression. In addition, it may be a marker of adverse prognosis, especially in
      patients with early T1-stage cancer.

PMID- 25834605
TI  - Survival Improvement in Korean Breast Cancer Patients Due to Increases in Early
      Stage Cancers and Hormone Receptor Positive/HER2 Negative Subtypes: A Nationwide
      Registry-Based Study.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the observed changes
      over time in the survival rates vary according to the intrinsic subtypes of
      breast cancer diagnosed. METHODS: Data from 46,320 breast cancer patients in the
      Korean Breast Cancer Registry who underwent surgery between 1999 and 2006 were
      reviewed. Among them, results from 25,887 patients with available data about the
      status of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth
      factor receptor 2 (HER2) were analyzed. Patients were classified into two cohorts
      according to the year in which they underwent surgery: 1999-2002 and 2003-2006.
      RESULTS: The patients treated in the latter time period showed significantly
      better overall survival (OS) compared with those in the former period when
      adjusted for follow-up duration. The proportion of hormone receptor+/HER2-subtype
      and stage I breast cancer were significantly higher in the latter period (47.4%
      vs. 54.6%, p<0.001; 31.0% vs. 39.6%, p<0.001, respectively). Improvement in OS
      between the former and latter periods was seen in all subtypes of breast cancer,
      including triple-negative cancers (all p-values <0.001 in univariate and
      multivariate analyses). CONCLUSION: Improvement in survival in Korean breast
      cancer patients over the study years is being observed in all subtypes of breast
      cancer, implying that increases in both early-stage detection and the proportion
      of less aggressive cancers contribute to this improvement.

PMID- 25834606
TI  - Predictive Significance of p53, Ki-67, and Bcl-2 Expression for Pathologic
      Complete Response after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Triple-Negative Breast
      Cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) with pathologic
      complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) have superior survival
      outcomes compared to those with residual disease after NAC. This study
      investigated the value of three biomarkers, p53, Ki-67, and Bcl-2 for predicting
      pCR in NAC-treated patients with TNBC. METHODS: Between 2003 and 2012, 198
      patients with pathologically confirmed primary TNBC were treated with two
      different taxane-based chemotherapeutic regimens prior to surgery. Before NAC,
      expression of p53 (cutoff 25%), Ki-67 (cutoff 10%), and Bcl-2 (cutoff 10%) was
      assessed immunohistochemically in core biopsy specimens. The incidence of pCR was
      correlated with the expression of these biomarkers. RESULTS: Overall, pCR
      occurred in 37 of the 198 patients (18.7%). A significant association was
      observed between the pCR rate and overexpression of the p53 and Ki-67 biomarkers.
      Multivariate analysis showed that only p53 expression was independently
      associated with pCR to NAC (odds ratio, 3.961; p=0.003). The sensitivity,
      specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of p53
      expression for predicting pCR were 77.8%, 50.3%, 26.2%, and 90.9%, respectively.
      The pCR rate was the lowest (5.2%) in patients with low expression of both p53
      and Ki-67, and it was the highest (25.8%) when both biomarkers showed high
      expression. CONCLUSION: Expression of p53 was significantly associated with pCR
      after NAC in patients with TNBC, suggesting that this biomarker might be
      particularly valuable in identifying TNBC patients prone to have residual disease
      after NAC.

PMID- 25834607
TI  - Sentinel lymph node biopsy alone after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with
      initial cytology-proven axillary node metastasis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has been recently used to downstage
      breast cancer. However, in patients with initial axillary lymph node (ALN)
      metastasis, ALN dissection regardless of the NAC response remains the standard
      treatment. The purpose of this study was to identify the feasibility and accuracy
      of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) after NAC in patients with ALN metastasis at
      diagnosis. METHODS: From January 2007 to August 2013, data of patients who were
      diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and ALN metastasis and treated with NAC
      followed by definitive surgery in two centers were collected retrospectively. A
      total of 386 patients were enrolled and classified into five groups according to
      surgical procedure for the ALNs and pathologic results. RESULTS: At SLNB after
      NAC, sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) that stained blue or were hot, including
      suspicious nodes, were identified; the SLN identification and false-negative
      rates was 96% and 10%, respectively. There was no difference in the overall
      survival among the groups. For patients who revealed a pathologic complete node
      response, there was a significant difference in the disease-free survival rate
      between the SLNB only and complete ALN dissection groups (p=0.031). However, the
      rate of axillary recurrence demonstrated no significant differences among the
      groups (p>0.050). CONCLUSION: SLNB after NAC in breast cancer patients with
      initial ALN metastasis may help identify downstaging to negative nodal status and
      thereby reduce the surgical morbidity by avoiding standard ALN dissection.

PMID- 25834608
TI  - Local control of brain metastasis: treatment outcome of focal brain treatments in
      relation to subtypes.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate treatment options for local control of metastasis in the
      brain, we compared focal brain treatment (FBT) with or without whole brain
      radiotherapy (WBRT) vs. WBRT alone, for breast cancer patients with tumor relapse
      in the brain. We also evaluated treatment outcomes according to the subtypes.
      METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of breast cancer patients with brain
      metastasis after primary surgery. All patients received at least one local
      treatment for brain metastasis. Surgery or stereotactic radiosurgery was
      categorized as FBT. Patients were divided into two groups: the FBT group received
      FBT+/-WBRT, whereas the non-FBT group received WBRT alone. Subtypes were defined
      as follows: hormone receptor (HR)-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor
      2 (HER2)-negative, HR-positive/HER2-positive, HR-negative/HER2-positive, and
      triple-negative (TN). We examined the overall survival after brain metastasis
      (OSBM), brain metastasis-specific survival (BMSS), and brain metastasis-specific
      progression-free survival (BMPFS). RESULTS: A total of 116 patients were
      identified. After a median follow-up of 50.9 months, the median OSBM was 11.5
      months (95% confidence interval, 9.0-14.1 months). The FBT group showed
      significantly superior OSBM and BMSS. However, FBT was not an independent
      prognostic factor for OSBM and BMSS on multivariate analyses. In contrast,
      multivariate analyses showed that patients who underwent surgery had improved
      BMPFS, indicating local control of metastasis in the brain. FBT resulted in
      better BMPFS in patients with HR-negative/HER2-positive cancer or the TN subtype.
      CONCLUSION: We found that patients who underwent surgery experienced improved
      local control of brain metastasis, regardless of its extent. Furthermore, FBT
      showed positive results and could be considered for better local control of brain
      metastasis in patients with aggressive subtypes such as HER2-positive and TN.

PMID- 25834609
TI  - Operable breast cancer of the inner hemisphere is associated with poor survival.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study investigated the clinicopathological features of operable
      breast cancer lesions located in different hemispheres of the breast and
      determined related survival outcomes. METHODS: Data from 5,330 patients with
      invasive ductal carcinoma were retrospectively analyzed based on tumor location.
      RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 68 months (range, 18-176 months). Patients
      with breast cancer located in the outer hemisphere of the breast had lesions with
      more advanced nodal stages and more frequently received adjuvant chemotherapy
      than patients with breast cancer in the inner hemisphere. The 5-year disease-free
      survival (DFS) rates of patients with tumors located in outer versus inner
      hemispheres were 81.5% and 77.0%, respectively (p=0.004); the overall survival
      (OS) rates were 90.7% and 88.8%, respectively (p<0.001). The association between
      tumor location and the 5-year DFS rate was most apparent in node-positive
      patients (73.1% vs. 65.8% for outer vs. inner hemisphere lesions, p<0.001) and in
      patients with primary tumors greater than 2 cm in diameter (78.2% vs. 72.3%,
      p=0.002). Multivariate analysis showed that tumor location was an independent
      predictor of DFS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.23; p=0.002) and OS (HR, 1.28; p=0.006).
      There were no significant differences in 5-year DFS or OS rates between patients
      with outer versus inner hemisphere tumors when internal mammary node irradiation
      was performed. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that tumor location was an
      independent prognostic factor for operable breast cancer. Internal mammary node
      irradiation is recommended for patients with breast cancer of the inner
      hemisphere and positive axillary lymph nodes or large primary tumors.

PMID- 25834610
TI  - Ultrasonography-guided surgical clip placement for tumor localization in patients
      undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: We investigated the feasibility of using surgical clips as markers for
      tumor localization and their effect on the imaging evaluation of treatment
      responses after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). METHODS: A total of 16 breast
      cancers confirmed by needle biopsy in 15 patients were included in this study
      from October 2012 to June 2014. Under ultrasonography (US)-guidance, the surgical
      clips were placed prior to NAC. Additional mammography, breast US, and breast
      magnetic resonance examinations were performed within 10 days before surgery. The
      time period from marker insertion to operation date was documented. Images
      acquired via the three modalities were evalu-ated for the following parameters:
      location of clip, clip migration (>1 cm), the presence of complications from clip
      placement, and the effect of clips on the assessment of treatment. RESULTS: The
      mean time period was 128.6+/-34.4 days (median, 132.0 days) from the date of clip
      insertion to the date of surgery. The mean number of inserted clips was 2.3+/-0.7
      (median, 2.0). Clip migration was not visualized by imaging in any patient, and
      there were no complications reported. Surgical clips did not negatively affect
      the assessment of treatment responses to NAC. CONCLUSION: Surgical clips may
      replace commercial tissue markers for tumor localization in breast cancer
      patients undergoing NAC without migration. Surgical clips are well tolerated and
      safe for the patient, easily visualized on imaging, do not interfere with
      treatment response, and are cost-effective.

PMID- 25834611
TI  - Proportion and clinical outcomes of postoperative radiotherapy omission after
      breast-conserving surgery in women with breast cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: The present study was conducted to investigate the proportion and
      clinical outcomes of breast cancer patients who did not receive postoperative
      radiotherapy (PORT) after breast-conserving surgery (BCS). METHODS: This
      retrospective study included all breast cancer patients received curative BCS
      without PORT between 2003 and 2013. In the PORT omission group, characteristics
      and local recurrence differences were compared between the recommended group and
      the refused group. To compare the local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) of the
      PORT omission group and the control group who received PORT, subjects were
      selected by using the pooled data of patients treated between 1994 and 2007.
      RESULTS: During the study period, 96 patients did not receive PORT among a total
      of 6,680 patients who underwent BCS. Therefore, the overall rate of PORT omission
      was 1.4%. Among the 96 patients, 20 were recommended for PORT omission
      (recommended group) and 76 refused PORT (refused group). The median follow-up
      period of all study participants was 19.3 months (range, 0.3-115.1 months).
      Patients in the recommended group were older (p=0.004), were more likely to be
      postmenopausal (p=0.013), and had more number of positive prognostic factors
      compared with the refused group. Overall, 12 cases of disease recurrence,
      including 11 cases of local recurrence, developed in the PORT-refused group. The
      LRFS of the PORT-omission group was significantly inferior to that of patients
      who received PORT after BCS (p<0.001). In the PORT-omission group, significant
      favorable prognostic factors for LRFS were having histologic grade 1 or 2 disease
      (p=0.023), having no axillary lymph node metastasis (p=0.039), receiving adjuvant
      endocrine therapy (p=0.046), and being in the recommended group (p=0.026).
      CONCLUSION: The rate of PORT omission in the present study is very low among
      women who underwent surgery compared to that of other studies worldwide. PORT
      omission is significantly related to a high local recurrence rate.

PMID- 25834612
TI  - A Dosimetric Comparative Analysis of TomoDirect and Three-Dimensional Conformal
      Radiotherapy in Early Breast Cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to compare dosimetric parameters of
      intensity-modulated mode of TomoDirect and three-dimensional conformal
      radiotherapy (3D-CRT) in patients with early breast cancer. METHODS: TomoDirect
      and 3D-CRT planning were carried out for 26 patients with early breast cancer who
      had received breast-conserving surgery. A total of 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions were
      prescribed to the planning target volume. The organs at risk (OAR) such as lung
      and heart were contoured. Planning target volume (PTV) dose coverage, radiation
      conformity index (RCI), radical dose homogeneity index (rDHI), and irradiation
      dose of organs at risk were compared between TomoDirect and 3D-CRT planning.
      RESULTS: The mean PTV dose (51.65+/-0.37 Gy) and V47.8 (100%) in TomoDirect were
      significantly higher than the mean PTV dose (50.88+/-0.65 Gy) and V47.8 (89.23%+/
      0.06%) in 3D-CRT (all, p<0.001). The RCI value in TomoDirect was significantly
      better than that in 3D-CRT (1.00 vs. 1.13, p<0.001). However, the rDHI value in
      TomoDirect was not significantly better than that in 3D-CRT (0.72 vs. 0.67,
      p=0.056). The mean lung dose and V10, V20, V30, and V40 values of ipsilateral
      lung in TomoDirect were significantly lower than those in 3D-CRT (all, p<0.05).
      There is no significant difference in the V10, V20, V30, and V40 values of heart
      between TomoDirect and 3D-CRT. And the mean dose for heart in TomoDirect was
      marginally lower than that in 3D-CRT (1.05 Gy vs. 1.62 Gy, p=0.085). The mean
      dose for left anterior descending coronary artery in left breast cancer was
      significantly lower in TomoDirect than in 3D-CRT (7.2 Gy vs. 12.1 Gy, p<0.001).
      CONCLUSION: Compared to 3D-CRT, TomoDirect could result in favorable target
      coverage while reducing the irradiation dose of the ipsilateral lung for patients
      with early breast cancer.

PMID- 25834613
TI  - Effectiveness of Breast MRI and (18)F-FDG PET/CT for the Preoperative Staging of
      Invasive Lobular Carcinoma versus Ductal Carcinoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: We evaluated the utility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and (18)F
      fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG
      PET/CT) for the preoperative staging of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) of the
      breast and compared the results with those of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC).
      METHODS: The study included pathologically proven 32 ILCs and 73 IDCs. We
      compared clinical and histopathological characteristics and the diagnostic
      performances of MRI and (18)F-FDG PET/CT for the primary mass, additional
      ipsilateral and/or contralateral lesion(s), and axillary lymph node metastasis
      between the ILC and IDC groups. RESULTS: Primary ILCs were greater in size, but
      demonstrated lower maximum standardized uptake values than IDCs. All primary
      masses were detected on MRI. The detection rate for ILCs (75.0%) was lower than
      that for IDCs (83.6%) on (18)F-FDG PET/CT, but the difference was not
      significant. For additional ipsilateral lesion(s), the sensitivities and
      specificities of MRI were 87.5% and 58.3% for ILC and 100.0% and 66.7% for IDC,
      respectively; whereas the sensitivities and specificities of (18)F-FDG PET/CT
      were 0% and 91.7% for ILC and 37.5% and 94.7% for IDC, respectively. The
      sensitivity of (18)F-FDG PET/CT for ipsilateral lesion(s) was significantly lower
      in the ILC group than the IDC group. The sensitivity for ipsilateral lesion(s)
      was significantly higher with MRI; however, specificity was higher with (18)F-FDG
      PET/CT in both tumor groups. There was no significant difference in the
      diagnostic performance for additional contralateral lesion(s) or axillary lymph
      node metastasis on MRI or (18)F-FDG PET/CT for ILC versus IDC. CONCLUSION: The
      MRI and (18)F-FDG PET/CT detection rates for the primary cancer do not differ
      between the ILC and IDC groups. Although (18)F-FDG PET/CT demonstrates lower
      sensitivity for primary and additional ipsilateral lesions, it shows higher
      specificity for additional ipsilateral lesions, and could play a complementary
      role in the staging of ILC as well as IDC.

PMID- 25834614
TI  - Incidental Breast Lesions Identified by (18)F-FDG PET/CT: Which Clinical
      Variables Differentiate between Benign and Malignant Breast Lesions?
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of our study was to evaluate the risk of malignancy and to
      determine which clinical variables differentiate between benign and malignant
      focal breast lesions found incidentally on (18)F-flourodeoxyglucose positron
      emission tomography and computed tomography (FDG PET/CT). METHODS: From March
      2005 to October 2011, 21,224 women with no history of breast cancer underwent FDG
      PET/CT at three university-affiliated hospitals. We retrospectively identified
      214 patients with incidental focal hypermetabolic breast lesions and grouped them
      into benign and malignant lesion groups. Of the 214 patients, 82 patients with 91
      lesions were included in this study. All lesions were confirmed histologically or
      were assessed by follow-up imaging for greater than 2 years. The patient age,
      maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), lesion size on ultrasonography (US),
      and Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) category on US in
      conjunction with mammography were compared between the groups. Multivariate
      logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent factors associated
      with malignancy. RESULTS: The risk of malignancy was 29.7% (27/91) in breast
      incidentalomas detected by FDG PET/CT. The univariate analysis showed that the
      patient age, SUVmax, tumor size, and BI-RADS category differed significantly
      between the malignant and benign groups. The multivariate analysis showed that
      the BI-RADS category was the only significant factor differentiating benign from
      malignant lesions (p=0.002). CONCLUSION: BIRADS category based on US in
      conjunction with mammography was the only useful tool to differentiate between
      malignant and benign lesions in breast incidentalomas on FDG PET/CT.

PMID- 25834615
TI  - Cosmetic evaluation methods adapted to asian patients after breast-conserving
      surgery and examination of the necessarily elements for cosmetic evaluation.
AB  - PURPOSE: Although various strategies have been reported, there are no defined
      criteria for cosmetic evaluation methods after breast-conserving surgery (BCS).
      Since Asians tend to have smaller breasts, indistinct inframammary folds, and
      conspicuous scars, differences in the cosmetic results are expected. So we
      examined two subjective methods and one objective method to determine the
      differences, and elements necessary for a cosmetic evaluation after BCS. METHODS:
      Frontal photographs of 190 Japanese were evaluated using the Harris scale
      (Harris) and the evaluation method proposed by the Japanese Breast Cancer Society
      Sawai group (Sawai group) as the subjective methods, and the Breast Cancer
      Conservation Treatment cosmetic results (BCCT.core) as the objective method,
      respectively. In order to examine the necessary elements for developing a new
      ideal method, 100 out of 190 were selected and assessed separately by six raters
      using both the Harris and modified Sawai group methods in the observer
      assessment. The correlation between the two methods was examined using the
      Spearman rank-correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The results of the BCCT.core and
      the other two methods were clearly different. In the observer assessment, the
      consensuses of the six raters were evaluated as follows: 27, 27, 26, and 20 cases
      were evaluated as "excellent," "good," "fair," and "poor," respectively. For the
      Spearman rank-correlation coefficient, values higher than 0.7 indicated a strong
      correlation, as seen by the values of 0.909 for the breast shape and 0.345 for
      the scar. The breast shape accounted for the most significant part of the
      evaluation, and the scar had very little correlation. CONCLUSION: In this study,
      we recognized a clear difference between the subjective and objective evaluation
      methods, and identified the necessary elements for cosmetic evaluation. We would
      like to continue developing an ideal cosmetic evaluation that is similar to
      subjective one and is independent from raters.

PMID- 25834616
TI  - Effects of a 4-week multimodal rehabilitation program on quality of life,
      cardiopulmonary function, and fatigue in breast cancer patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study examines the effects of a rehabilitation program on quality
      of life (QoL), cardiopulmonary function, and fatigue in breast cancer patients.
      The program included aerobic exercises as well as stretching and strengthening
      exercises. METHODS: Breast cancer patients (n=62) who had completed chemotherapy
      were randomly assigned to an early exercise group (EEG; n=32) or a delayed
      exercise group (DEG; n=30). The EEG underwent 4 weeks of a multimodal
      rehabilitation program for 80 min/day, 5 times/wk for 4 weeks. The DEG completed
      the same program during the next 4 weeks. The European Organization for Research
      and Treatment of Cancer-Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30), EORTC
      Breast Cancer-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-BR23), predicted
      maximal volume of oxygen consumption (VO2max), and fatigue severity scale (FSS)
      were used for assessment at baseline, and at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks. RESULTS: After
      8 weeks, statistically significant differences were apparent in global health,
      physical, role, and emotional functions, and cancer-related symptoms such as
      fatigue and pain, nausea, and dyspnea on the EORTC QLQ-C30; cancer-related
      symptoms involving the arm and breast on the EORTC QLQ-BR23; the predicted
      VO2max; muscular strength; and FSS (p<0.050), according to time, between the two
      groups. CONCLUSION: The results of our study suggest that a supervised multimodal
      rehabilitation program may improve the physical symptoms, QoL, and fatigue in
      patients with breast cancer.

PMID- 25834617
TI  - Early-Onset Breast Cancer in a Family with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 Associated
      with a Germline Mutation in BRCA1.
AB  - Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), which may occur as an autosom-al dominant
      disorder, is caused by the absence of neurofibromin protein due to somatic
      mutations in the NF1 gene, and it has been associated with an increased risk of
      breast cancer. Herein we describe a family with two women affected by both NF1
      and early-onset breast cancer. We evaluated whether the concomitance of NF1 and
      early-onset breast cancer could be due to disease-causing mutations in both NF1
      and BRCA1 gene in a Korean family with clinical features of both NF1 and
      hereditary breast cancer. Mutation analyses identified nonsense mutations in NF1
      and BRCA1 genes. Our findings indicate that an awareness of the possible
      concomitance of NF1 and BRCA1 gene mutations is important for identifying the
      genetic origin of early-onset breast cancer in patients with NF1 to achieve early
      detection of cancers and decrease breast cancer-associated morbidity and
      mortality in these patients. 

PMID- 25834618
TI  - Retraction note to: "Clinical Significance of the Axillary Arch in Sentinel Lymph
      Node Biopsy".
AB  - [This retracts the article on p. 244 in vol. 17, PMID: 25320622.]. 

PMID- 25834619
TI  - Clinical factors, including All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Group severity,
      as predictors of early rehospitalization after COPD exacerbation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients hospitalized for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
      (COPD) exacerbations carry a high risk for early rehospitalization. We wished to
      identify the basic clinical factors associated with a high risk of
      rehospitalization, and to see how well the standardized All Patient Refined
      Diagnosis Related Group (APR-DRG) severity of illness (SOI) subclassification
      predicted rehospitalization if combined with other simple clinical measures.
      METHODS: We identified adult patients aged >=40 years discharged from a major
      hospital in the Southwestern USA with a COPD discharge diagnosis during the study
      index period (1 October 2009 to 30 September 2010). Patients readmitted within 30
      days ("early rehospitalization") and 90 days ("any rehospitalization") were each
      compared with those not rehospitalized. Clinical parameters (including
      demographics, comorbidities) and recent healthcare utilization were examined for
      their association with rehospitalization. Factors independently associated with
      rehospitalization were then combined with the index admission APR-DRG SOI
      assessment using conditional linear regression to find the best models in terms
      of the highest C-statistic. RESULTS: Among 306 patients hospitalized for COPD, 62
      (20.3%) had a rehospitalization within 90 days and 28 (9.2%), an early
      readmission. An APR-DRG SOI subclassification >=3 was a modest independent
      predictor of early or any readmission, with adjusted odds ratios ranging from
      2.09 to 3.33. Models that combined the APR-DRG SOI subclassification with
      clinical factors present before the index hospitalization had strong C-statistics
      of >=0.80. Good models without the APR-DRG SOI subclassification but including a
      history of recent hospitalizations before the index hospitalization were also
      identified. CONCLUSIONS: An APR-DRG SOI subclassification of >=3 for the index
      COPD admission is associated with an increased risk of early rehospitalizations,
      and can be combined with a few historical clinical factors to create strong
      predictive models for rehospitalization. This study demonstrates that hospitals
      can use commonly collected clinical information to help identify COPD patients at
      a high risk of failure after discharge.

PMID- 25834621
TI  - Reduction in inpatient resource utilization and costs associated with long-acting
      injectable antipsychotics across different age groups of Medicaid-insured
      schizophrenia patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Evaluate utilization of inpatient healthcare resources and associated
      costs after 12 months of treatment using long-acting injectable (LAI)
      antipsychotic medications among a large sample of Medicaid-insured patients
      categorized by different age groups. METHOD: Adult patients with schizophrenia
      were identified from the Thomson Reuters MarketScan Research database (1/1/2006
      12/31/2010) before initiation of treatment using LAI antipsychotic agents.
      Utilization of inpatient healthcare resources and associated direct medical costs
      were compared for 12-month baseline and 12-month follow-up periods. RESULTS:
      Among 3,094 Medicaid-insured patients with schizophrenia initiating treatment
      with LAIs, the mean number of all-cause hospitalizations and hospitalization days
      were reduced by 24% and 31% (p<0.0001) compared with baseline, respectively, with
      similar significant reductions among all age groups (18-30, 31-40, 41-50, and 51
      60 years). During 12-month follow-up with LAIs, mean reductions in all-cause
      costs were $4,369 (18-30 years, p<0.0001), $3,681 (31-40 years, p<0.0001), $2,051
      (41-50 years, p=0.1332), and $4,492 (51-60 years, p=0.0107). Subanalyses
      separating first-generation and second-generation medication groups resulted in
      mean reduction in all-cause costs of $3,561 and $3,645, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: Results from this large cohort study provide naturalistic real-world
      evidence of the utility of LAIs in patients with schizophrenia and suggest that
      these agents may help to reduce the risk of relapse across all age groups
      (especially among younger patients). Given that relapse prevention is the
      ultimate goal of antipsychotic treatment, results from this large Medicaid
      patient population establish the value of LAIs for the management of
      schizophrenia.

PMID- 25834620
TI  - Glioblastoma treatment patterns, survival, and healthcare resource use in real
      world clinical practice in the USA.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma (GB) treatment remains challenging because of recurrence
      and poorly defined treatment options after first-line therapy. To better
      understand real-world application of treatment paradigms and their impact on
      outcomes, we describe patterns of treatment, outcomes, and use of cancer-related
      healthcare resource for glioblastoma in the USA. METHODS: A retrospective, online
      chart-abstraction study was conducted; each participating oncologist contributed
      <=5 charts. Patients were >=18 years with biopsy-confirmed primary or secondary
      newly diagnosed GB on or after 1 January 2010, had received first- and second
      line therapies, and had information collected for >=3 months after initiation of
      second-line therapy or until death. Assessments were descriptive and included
      Kaplan- Meier analyses from initiation to end of second-line therapy, disease
      progression, or death. RESULTS: One hundred sixty physicians contributed
      information on 503 patient charts. During first-line therapy, patients most
      commonly underwent temozolomide monotherapy (76.5%). During second-line therapy,
      patients most commonly underwent bevacizumab monotherapy (58.1%). Median duration
      of second-line therapy was 130 days; median time to disease progression was 113
      days. Median survival was 153 days. Use of supportive care was observed to be
      numerically higher in first- compared with second-line therapy except for anti
      depressants, growth factors, and stimulants. Frequently used resources included
      corticosteroids (78.8% of patients in first-line and 62.6% in second-line
      therapies), anti-epileptics (45.8% and 41.5%) and narcotic opioids (45.3% and
      41.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Most GB patients received temozolomide during first-line
      therapy and bevacizumab monotherapy or combination therapy during second-line
      therapy. Use of supportive care appeared to be higher in first- compared with
      second-line therapy for some agents.

PMID- 25834622
TI  - Metabolomic analysis of clinical plasma from cerebral infarction patients
      presenting with blood stasis.
AB  - Blood stasis (BS) is characterized as a disorder of blood circulation. In
      traditional Korean medicine (TKM), it is viewed as a cause factor of diseases
      such as multiple sclerosis and stroke. This study investigated differences in the
      plasma metabolites profiles of subjects displaying BS or non-BS patterns. Thirty
      one patients with cerebral infarction diagnosed with BS and an equal number of
      sex- and age-matched non-BS patients were enrolled. Metabolic profiling was
      performed using UPLC-MS. The ratio of subjects with a rough pulse and purple
      coloration of the tongue was higher in patients presenting with BS pattern.
      Through metabolomics analysis, 82 metabolites that differed significantly between
      the BS and non-BS pattern were identified, and the two groups were significantly
      separated using an orthogonal partial least square-discriminant analysis model (P
      < 0.001). Of these 82 metabolites, acetyl carnitine, leucine, kynurenine,
      phosphocholine, hexanoyl carnitine, and decanoyl carnitine were present in
      significantly higher levels in patients with a BS pattern than those with a non
      BS pattern. Our results also demonstrated that seven plasma metabolites,
      including acyl-carnitines and kynurenine, were associated with a BS pattern,
      suggesting that variant plasma metabolic profiles may serve as a biomarker for
      diagnosis of BS in patients with cerebral infarction. 

PMID- 25834623
TI  - Exploratory clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of a topical traditional
      chinese herbal medicine in psoriasis vulgaris.
AB  - Objective. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of herbal ointment, Shi Du Ruan
      Gao, in patients with plaque-type psoriasis. Design. Single-center, randomized,
      investigator-blinded, parallel group, placebo-controlled study. Participants. One
      hundred outpatients with mild to moderate chronic plaque-type psoriasis were
      enrolled. Intervention. The patients applied either Shi Du Ruan Gao ointment or
      vehicle ointment topically to for 8 weeks. Main Outcome Measures. The outcomes
      were assessed using the following criteria: Total Severity Score (TSS, sum of
      erythema, scaling, and plaque elevation/induration, on a 0 to 4 scale),
      Investigator Global Assessment (IGA) evaluated on a 0 (Clear) to 4 (s to very
      severe) scale, and Global Subjects' Assessment of treatment response on a 7-point
      scale from -1 (worse) to 5 (Cleared). Results. Significant reductions in the
      Total Severity Score (P < 0.001) (mean score: 2.7 after Shi Du Ruan Gao treatment
      versus 5.1 in control subjects). Both Investigator Global Assessment (IGA) and
      Global Subjects' Assessment of treatment are better in the Shi Du Ruan Gao group
      than the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusion. Shi Du Ruan Gao ointment was a
      safe, and effective therapy for plaque-type psoriasis. 

PMID- 25834624
TI  - Integrative Gynecology and Women's Healthcare.

PMID- 25834625
TI  - An Overview of International Literature on School Interventions to Promote Mental
      Health and Well-being in Children and Adolescents.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Mental disorders are the largest cause of the burden of disease in
      the world. Most of the burden affecting adult life has its onset during childhood
      and adolescence. The European Pact for Mental Health and Wellbeing calls for
      immediate action and investments in the mental health of children and
      adolescents. Schools may be the ideal location for promoting health and
      delivering healthcare services, since schools are a location where young people
      usually spend their daytime and socialize, schools are easily accessible to
      families, can provide non-stigmatizing health actions, and form links with the
      community. Aims and Goals of this Special Issue: This issue is developed within
      the framework of the Joint Action on Mental Health promoted by the European
      Commission. This special issue presents a set of systematic reviews on the
      evidence of the international literature on school interventions for the
      promotion of the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents. It is
      focused on five topical main areas: promoting general health and wellbeing;
      programs targeting specific mental disorders and conditions and integration of
      adolescents with mental health problems; Bullying; Sport; Alcohol and Drugs. An
      additional paper on the results of the largest epidemiological study conducted in
      some European countries on the prevalence and relative risk factors of mental
      disorders in school-age completes the issue. CONCLUSION: These reviews are a
      first contribution to address future European research and interventions, in
      particular about the multiple ways through which European policies could support
      the schooling and wellbeing of children and adolescents.

PMID- 25834626
TI  - Enhancing the Emotional and Social Skills of the Youth to Promote their Wellbeing
      and Positive Development: A Systematic Review of Universal School-based
      Randomized Controlled Trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The acquisition of social and emotional skills is associated with
      positive youth development, character education, healthy lifestyle behaviours,
      reduction in depression and anxiety, conduct disorders, violence, bullying,
      conflict, and anger. School-based interventions aimed to enhance these skills go
      beyond a problem-focused approach to embrace a more positive view of health; they
      could also improve the youth's wellbeing. AIM: To describe the main features and
      to establish the effectiveness of universal school-based RCTs for children and
      the youth, aimed to promote their psychosocial wellbeing, positive development,
      healthy lifestyle behaviours and/or academic performance by improving their
      emotional and social skills. METHODS: Systematic review by searching for relevant
      papers in PubMed/Medline with the following key words: "mental health" OR
      "wellbeing" OR "health promotion" OR "emotional learning" OR "social learning" OR
      "emotional and social learning" OR "positive youth development" OR "life skills"
      OR "life skills training" AND "school". Interval was set from January 2000 to
      April 2014. RESULTS: 1,984 papers were identified through the search. Out of them
      22 RCTs were included. While most interventions were characterized by a whole
      school approach and SAFE practices, few studies only used standardized measures
      to assess outcomes, or had collected follow-up data after >= 6 months. The
      results of all these trials were examined and discussed. CONCLUSION: Universal
      school-based RCTs to enhance emotional and social skills showed controversial
      findings, due to some methodological issues mainly. Nevertheless they show
      promising outcomes that are relatively far-reaching for children and youth
      wellbeing and therefore are important in the real world.

PMID- 25834627
TI  - Integrating children with psychiatric disorders in the classroom: a systematic
      review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The school setting may be the optimal context for early screening of
      and intervention on child mental health problems, because of its large reach and
      intertwinement with various participants (child, teacher, parent, other community
      services). But this setting also exposes children to the risk of stigma, peer
      rejection and social exclusion. This systematic literature review investigates
      the efficacy of mental health interventions addressed to children and adolescents
      in school settings, and it evaluates which programs explicitly take into account
      social inclusion indicators. METHOD: Only randomized controlled trials conducted
      on clinical populations of students and carried out in school settings were
      selected: 27 studies overall. Most studies applied group Cognitive Behavioural
      Therapy or Interpersonal Psychotherapy. RESULTS: Findings were suggestive of the
      effectiveness of school-based intervention programs in reducing symptoms of most
      mental disorders. Some evidence was found about the idea that effective studies
      on clinical populations may promote the social inclusion of children with an
      ongoing mental disorder and avoid the risk of being highly stigmatized.
      CONCLUSION: School programs are still needed that implement standardized models
      with verifiable and evidence-based practices involving the whole school
      community.

PMID- 25834628
TI  - Interventions on bullying and cyberbullying in schools: a systematic review.
AB  - Background : bullying (and cyberbullying) is a widespread phenomenon among young
      people and it is used to describe interpersonal relationships characterized by an
      imbalance of power. In this relationships often show aggressive behavior and
      intentional "harm doing" repeated over time. The prevalence of bullying among
      youth has been reported to vary widely among countries (5.1%-41.4%) and this
      behavior seems generally higher among student boys than girls. Several school
      interventions have been developed to reduce bullying, but reported inconsistent
      results possibly related to limitations in the study design or to other
      methodological shortcomings. Aims : evaluating randomized-controlled trials
      (RTCs) conducted between 2000 and 2013 to assess the effectiveness of school
      interventions on bullying and cyberbullying. Methods : a systematic search of the
      scientific literature was conducted on Pubmed/Medline and Ebsco online databases.
      We also contacted experts in the field of preventive bullying research. Results :
      17 studies met the inclusion criteria. The majority of studies did not show
      positive effects in the long term; the interventions focused on the whole school
      were more effective in reducing bullying than interventions delivered through
      classroom curricula or social skills training alone. Conclusion : while there is
      evidence that programs aimed at reducing bullying can be effective in the short
      term, their long-term effectiveness has not been established, and there are
      important differences in the results based on gender, age and socio-economic
      status of participants. Internal inconsistency in the findings of some studies,
      together with the wide variability of experimental designs and lack of common
      standardized measures in outcome evaluation, are important limitations in this
      field of research. 

PMID- 25834629
TI  - Physical activity interventions in schools for improving lifestyle in European
      countries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the last decades, children's and adolescents' obesity and
      overweight have increased in European Countries. Unhealthy eating habits and
      sedentary lifestyle have been recognized to determine such an epidemic. Schools
      represent an ideal setting to modify harmful behaviors, and physical activity
      could be regarded as a potential way to avoid the metabolic risks related to
      obesity. Methods : A systematic review of the literature was carried out to
      summarize the evidence of school-based interventions aimed to promote, enhance
      and implement physical activity in European schools. Only randomized controlled
      trials were included, carried out in Europe from January 2000 to April 2014,
      universally delivered and targeting pupils aged between 3 and 18 years old.
      Results : Forty-seven studies were retrieved based either on multicomponent
      interventions or solely physical activity programs. Most aimed to prevent obesity
      and cardiovascular risks among youths. While few studies showed a decrease in
      BMI, positive results were achieved on other outcomes, such as metabolic
      parameters and physical fitness. Conclusion : Physical activity in schools should
      be regarded as a simple, non-expensive and enjoyable way to reach all the
      children and adolescents with adequate doses of moderate to vigorous physical
      activity.

PMID- 25834632
TI  - Concluding remarks.

PMID- 25834630
TI  - A Systematic Review of School-Based Alcohol and other Drug Prevention Programs.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Alcohol use in adolescents constitutes a major public health concern.
      Europe is the heaviest drinking region of the world. Several school-based alcohol
      prevention programs have been developed but it is not clear whether they are
      really effective. The present study was aimed at identifying the typology with
      the best evidence of effectiveness in European studies. METHODS: A systematic
      search of meta-analyses and/or randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on
      interventions school-based prevention programs aimed at preventing alcohol
      consumption or changing the attitudes to consume alcohol. RESULTS: A meta
      analysis published in 2011 and 12 RCTs more recently published were identified.
      The meta-analysis evaluated 53 RCTs but only 11.3% of them were conducted in
      Europe. Globally, 23 RCTs (43.4%) showed some evidence of effectiveness, and 30
      RCTs (56.6%) did not find significant difference between the groups. According to
      the conclusions of the meta-analysis, the Unplugged program should be considered
      as a practice option in Europe. Among the other 12 RCTs, 42% were conducted in
      Europe. Globally, 7 studies (58.3%) achieved positive results, and 5 studies
      (41.7%) did not find significant differences or produced a mixed pattern of
      results. Three of the 5 European trials (60%) used the Unplugged program with
      positive results. CONCLUSION: Even if further studies should be conducted to
      confirm these results, Unplugged appears to be the prevention project with the
      best evidence of effectiveness in European studies.

PMID- 25834631
TI  - The School Children Mental Health in Europe (SCMHE) Project: Design and First
      Results.
AB  - Background : The School Children Mental Health in Europe (SCMHE) project aims to
      build up a set of indicators to collect and monitor children's mental health in
      an efficient and comparable methodology across the EU countries. It concerns
      primary schools children aged 6 to 11 years a range where few data are available
      whereas school interventions are promising. Methods : Three informants were used:
      parents, teachers and children. In selecting instruments language, instruments
      were selected according to the easiness to translate them: SDQ (Strengths and
      Difficulties Questionnaire) for parents and teachers and DI (Dominic
      Interactive). A two-step procedure was used: schools randomization then six
      children by class in each grade. Results : 9084 children from seven countries
      (Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Turkey) completed
      the Dominic Interactive in their own language. 6563 teachers and 6031 parents
      completed their questionnaire, and a total of 5574 interviews have been completed
      by the 3 informants. The participation rate of the children with parents in the
      participating schools was about 66.4%. As expected teachers report more
      externalised problems and less internalised problems than parents. Children
      report more internalised problems than parents and teachers. Boys have
      consistently more externalised problems than girls and this is the reverse for
      internalised problems. Combining the diverse informants and impairment levels
      children with problems requiring some sort of mental health care were about 9.9%:
      76% did not see any mental health professional: 78.7% In Eastern countries 63.1%
      in Western Europe. 

PMID- 25834633
TI  - Computational intelligence techniques in medicine.

PMID- 25834634
TI  - Equilibrium analysis of a yellow Fever dynamical model with vaccination.
AB  - We propose an equilibrium analysis of a dynamical model of yellow fever
      transmission in the presence of a vaccine. The model considers both human and
      vector populations. We found thresholds parameters that affect the development of
      the disease and the infectious status of the human population in the presence of
      a vaccine whose protection may wane over time. In particular, we derived a
      threshold vaccination rate, above which the disease would be eradicated from the
      human population. We show that if the mortality rate of the mosquitoes is greater
      than a given threshold, then the disease is naturally (without intervention)
      eradicated from the population. In contrast, if the mortality rate of the
      mosquitoes is less than that threshold, then the disease is eradicated from the
      populations only when the growing rate of humans is less than another threshold;
      otherwise, the disease is eradicated only if the reproduction number of the
      infection after vaccination is less than 1. When this reproduction number is
      greater than 1, the disease will be eradicated from the human population if the
      vaccination rate is greater than a given threshold; otherwise, the disease will
      establish itself among humans, reaching a stable endemic equilibrium. The
      analysis presented in this paper can be useful, both to the better understanding
      of the disease dynamics and also for the planning of vaccination strategies. 

PMID- 25834635
TI  - Towards multidimensional radiotherapy: key challenges for treatment
      individualisation.
AB  - Functional and molecular imaging of tumours have offered the possibility of
      redefining the target in cancer therapy and individualising the treatment with a
      multidimensional approach that aims to target the adverse processes known to
      impact negatively upon treatment result. Following the first theoretical attempts
      to include imaging information into treatment planning, it became clear that the
      biological features of interest for targeting exhibit considerable heterogeneity
      with respect to magnitude, spatial, and temporal distribution, both within one
      patient and between patients, which require more advanced solutions for the way
      the treatment is planned and adapted. Combining multiparameter information from
      imaging with predictive information from biopsies and molecular analyses as well
      as in treatment monitoring of tumour responsiveness appears to be the key
      approach to maximise the individualisation of treatment. This review paper aims
      to discuss some of the key challenges for incorporating into treatment planning
      and optimisation the radiobiological features of the tumour derived from
      pretreatment PET imaging of tumour metabolism, proliferation, and hypoxia and
      combining them with intreatment monitoring of responsiveness and other predictive
      factors with the ultimate aim of individualising the treatment towards the
      maximisation of response. 

PMID- 25834636
TI  - Stakeholder views on a recovery-oriented psychiatric rehabilitation art therapy
      program in a rural Australian mental health service: a qualitative description.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recovery-oriented care is a guiding principle for mental health
      services in Australia, and internationally. Recovery-oriented psychiatric
      rehabilitation supports people experiencing mental illness to pursue a meaningful
      life. In Australia, people with unremitting mental illness and psychosocial
      disability are often detained for months or years in secure extended care
      facilities. Psychiatric services have struggled to provide rehabilitation options
      for residents of these facilities. Researchers have argued that art participation
      can support recovery in inpatient populations. This study addressed the research
      question: Is there a role for the creative arts in the delivery of recovery
      oriented psychiatric rehabilitation for people with enduring mental illness and
      significant psychosocial disability detained in a secure extended care unit?
      METHODS: The study had two major aims: to explore the experiences of consumers
      detained in a rural Australian secure extended care unit of an art therapy
      project, and to examine the views of nurse managers and an art therapist on
      recovery-oriented rehabilitation programs with regard to the art therapy project.
      A qualitative descriptive design guided the study, and a thematic network
      approach guided data analysis. Ethics approval was granted from the local ethics
      committee (AU/1/9E5D07). Data were collected from three stakeholders groups. Five
      consumers participated in a focus group; six managers and the art therapist from
      the project participated in individual interviews. RESULTS: The findings indicate
      that consumer participants benefitted from art participation and wanted more
      access to rehabilitation-focussed programs. Consumer participants identified that
      art making provided a forum for sharing, self-expression, and relationships that
      built confidence, absent in the regular rehabilitation program. Nurse manager and
      the art therapist participants agreed that art participation was a recovery
      oriented rehabilitation tool, however, systemic barriers thwarted its provision.
      CONCLUSIONS: The transformation of mental health services towards a recovery
      orientation requires commitment from service leaders to provide evidence-based
      programs. Psychiatric rehabilitation programs based on local need should be
      included in public mental health services. This study supports the use of art
      based rehabilitation programs for people detained in rural secure extended care
      facilities. Introducing these programs into clinical practice settings can
      improve the consumer experience and support organisational culture change towards
      a recovery orientation.

PMID- 25834637
TI  - Transcriptomic analysis revealed the mechanism of oil dynamic accumulation during
      developing Siberian apricot (Prunus sibirica L.) seed kernels for the development
      of woody biodiesel.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Siberian apricot (Prunus sibirica L.) has emerged as a novel
      potential source of biodiesel in China, but the molecular regulatory mechanism of
      oil accumulation in Siberian apricot seed kernels (SASK) is still unknown at
      present. To better develop SASK oil as woody biodiesel, it is essential to
      profile transcriptome and to identify the full repertoire of potential unigenes
      involved in the formation and accumulation of oil SASK during the different
      developing stages. RESULTS: We firstly detected the temporal patterns for oil
      content and fatty acid (FA) compositions of SASK in 7 different developing
      stages. The best time for obtaining the high quality and quantity of SASK oil was
      characterized at 60 days after flowering (DAF), and the representative periods
      (10, 30, 50, 60, and 70 DAF) were selected for transcriptomic analysis. By
      Illumina/Solexa sequencings, approximately 65 million short reads (average length
      = 96 bp) were obtained, and then assembled into 124,070 unigenes by Trinity
      strategy (mean size = 829.62 bp). A total of 3,000, 2,781, 2,620, and 2,675
      differentially expressed unigenes were identified at 30, 50, 60, and 70 DAF (10
      DAF as the control) by DESeq method, respectively. The relationship between the
      unigene transcriptional profiles and the oil dynamic patterns in developing SASK
      was comparatively analyzed, and the specific unigenes encoding some known enzymes
      and transcription factors involved in acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) formation
      and oil accumulation were determined. Additionally, 5 key metabolic genes
      implicated in SASK oil accumulation were experimentally validated by quantitative
      real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Our findings could help to construction of oil
      accumulated pathway and to elucidate the molecular regulatory mechanism of
      increased oil production in developing SASK. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study
      of oil temporal patterns, transcriptome sequencings, and differential profiles in
      developing SASK. All our results will serve as the important foundation to
      further deeply explore the regulatory mechanism of SASK high-quality oil
      accumulation, and may also provide some reference for researching the woody
      biodiesel plants.

PMID- 25834638
TI  - Rapid analysis of composition and reactivity in cellulosic biomass feedstocks
      with near-infrared spectroscopy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obtaining accurate chemical composition and reactivity (measures of
      carbohydrate release and yield) information for biomass feedstocks in a timely
      manner is necessary for the commercialization of biofuels. Our objective was to
      use near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and partial least squares (PLS) multivariate
      analysis to develop calibration models to predict the feedstock composition and
      the release and yield of soluble carbohydrates generated by a bench-scale dilute
      acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis assay. Major feedstocks included in
      the calibration models are corn stover, sorghum, switchgrass, perennial cool
      season grasses, rice straw, and miscanthus. RESULTS: We present individual model
      statistics to demonstrate model performance and validation samples to more
      accurately measure predictive quality of the models. The PLS-2 model for
      composition predicts glucan, xylan, lignin, and ash (wt%) with uncertainties
      similar to primary measurement methods. A PLS-2 model was developed to predict
      glucose and xylose release following pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. An
      additional PLS-2 model was developed to predict glucan and xylan yield. PLS-1
      models were developed to predict the sum of glucose/glucan and xylose/xylan for
      release and yield (grams per gram). The release and yield models have higher
      uncertainties than the primary methods used to develop the models. CONCLUSION: It
      is possible to build effective multispecies feedstock models for composition, as
      well as carbohydrate release and yield. The model for composition is useful for
      predicting glucan, xylan, lignin, and ash with good uncertainties. The release
      and yield models have higher uncertainties; however, these models are useful for
      rapidly screening sample populations to identify unusual samples.

PMID- 25834640
TI  - Improving a recombinant Zymomonas mobilis strain 8b through continuous adaptation
      on dilute acid pretreated corn stover hydrolysate.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Complete conversion of the major sugars of biomass including both the
      C5 and C6 sugars is critical for biofuel production processes. Several inhibitory
      compounds like acetate, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and furfural are produced
      from the biomass pretreatment process leading to 'hydrolysate toxicity,' a major
      problem for microorganisms to achieve complete sugar utilization. Therefore,
      development of more robust microorganisms to utilize the sugars released from
      biomass under toxic environment is critical. In this study, we use continuous
      culture methodologies to evolve and adapt the ethanologenic bacterium Zymomonas
      mobilis to improve its ethanol productivity using corn stover hydrolysate.
      RESULTS: A turbidostat was used to adapt the Z. mobilis strain 8b in the
      pretreated corn stover liquor. The adaptation was initiated using pure sugar
      (glucose and xylose) followed by feeding neutralized liquor at different dilution
      rates. Once the turbidostat reached 60% liquor content, the cells began washing
      out and the adaptation was stopped. Several 'sub-strains' were isolated, and one
      of them, SS3 (sub-strain 3), had 59% higher xylose utilization than the parent
      strain 8b when evaluated on 55% neutralized PCS (pretreated corn stover) liquor.
      Using saccharified PCS slurry generated by enzymatic hydrolysis from 25% solids
      loading, SS3 generated an ethanol yield of 75.5% compared to 64% for parent
      strain 8b. Furthermore, the total xylose utilization was 57.7% for SS3 versus
      27.4% for strain 8b. To determine the underlying genotypes in these new sub
      strains, we conducted genomic resequencing and identified numerous single
      nucleotide mutations (SNPs) that had arisen in SS3. We further performed
      quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) on genes potentially affected by
      these SNPs and identified significant down-regulation of two genes, ZMO0153 and
      ZMO0776, in SS3 suggesting potential genetic mechanisms behind SS3's improved
      performance. CONCLUSION: We have adapted/evolved Z. mobilis strain 8b for
      enhanced tolerance to the toxic compounds present in corn stover hydrolysates.
      The adapted strain SS3 has higher xylose utilization rate and produce more
      ethanol than the parent strain. We have identified transcriptional changes which
      may be responsible for these phenotypes, providing foundations for future
      research directions in improving Z. mobilis as biocatalysts for the production of
      ethanol or other fuel precursors.

PMID- 25834639
TI  - Genetic basis of the highly efficient yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus: complete
      genome sequence and transcriptome analyses.
AB  - BACKGROUND: High-temperature fermentation technology with thermotolerant microbes
      has been expected to reduce the cost of bioconversion of cellulosic biomass to
      fuels or chemicals. Thermotolerant Kluyveromyces marxianus possesses intrinsic
      abilities to ferment and assimilate a wide variety of substrates including xylose
      and to efficiently produce proteins. These capabilities have been found to exceed
      those of the traditional ethanol producer Saccharomyces cerevisiae or
      lignocellulose-bioconvertible ethanologenic Scheffersomyces stipitis. RESULTS:
      The complete genome sequence of K. marxianus DMKU 3-1042 as one of the most
      thermotolerant strains in the same species has been determined. A comparison of
      its genomic information with those of other yeasts and transcriptome analysis
      revealed that the yeast bears beneficial properties of temperature resistance,
      wide-range bioconversion ability, and production of recombinant proteins. The
      transcriptome analysis clarified distinctive metabolic pathways under three
      different growth conditions, static culture, high temperature, and xylose medium,
      in comparison to the control condition of glucose medium under a shaking
      condition at 30 degrees C. Interestingly, the yeast appears to overcome the issue
      of reactive oxygen species, which tend to accumulate under all three conditions.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals many gene resources for the ability to assimilate
      various sugars in addition to species-specific genes in K. marxianus, and the
      molecular basis of its attractive traits for industrial applications including
      high-temperature fermentation. Especially, the thermotolerance trait may be
      achieved by an integrated mechanism consisting of various strategies. Gene
      resources and transcriptome data of the yeast are particularly useful for
      fundamental and applied researches for innovative applications.

PMID- 25834641
TI  - Reduced Slc2a4/GLUT4 expression in subcutaneous adipose tissue of monosodium
      glutamate obese mice is recovered after atorvastatin treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Decreased expression of glucose transporter protein GLUT4, encoded by
      the solute carrier 2A4 (Slc2a4) gene, is involved in obesity-induced insulin
      resistance. Local tissue inflammation, by nuclear factor-kappaB (NFkappaB)
      mediated pathway, has been related to Slc2a4 repression; a mechanism that could
      be modulated by statins. Using a model of obesity with insulin resistance, this
      study investigated whether (1) inflammatory markers and Slc2a4 expression are
      altered; (2) atorvastatin has beneficial effects on inflammation and Slc2a4
      expression; and (3) inhibitor of NFkappaB (IKK)/NFkappaB pathway is involved in
      subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). FINDINGS: Obese mice showed insulin
      resistance, decreased expression of Slc2a4 mRNA (66%, P < 0.01) and GLUT4 protein
      (30%, P < 0.05), and increased expression of interleukin 6 (Il6) mRNA (44%, P <
      0.05) in SAT. Obese mice treated with atorvastatin had enhanced in vivo insulin
      sensitivity, besides increased Slc2a4/GLUT4 expression and reduced Il6 expression
      in SAT. No alterations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin 1beta and
      adiponectin expression or IKKalpha/beta activity in SAT of obese mice or obese
      mice treated with atorvastatin were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Atorvastatin has
      beneficial effect upon glycemic homeostasis, which may be related to its positive
      impact on Il6 and Slc2a4/GLUT4 expression in SAT.

PMID- 25834643
TI  - Linking a research register to clinical records in older adults' mental health
      services: a mixed-methods study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Patients can provide consent to have their clinical records linked
      to a research register, a process known as consent for contact (C4C). There is
      evidence about how to engage people with mental illness in C4C, but nothing
      specific to older adults. This is a priority area for research (for example,
      dementia trials), although sign-up rates to C4C are lower than for younger
      populations. Through this study we seek to understand these disparities. METHODS:
      This was a two-stage cross-sectional observational study. In phase one, focus
      groups with service users, carers and clinicians informed a framework for
      clinicians to explain C4C to those on their caseload. In phase two, clinicians
      explained C4C to 26 service users (and carers where applicable). These
      conversations were recorded, and their content was analysed. Service users and
      carers were then interviewed to provide further feedback on their conversations
      with clinicians. A total of 31 service users, 24 carers and 13 clinical staff
      took part across the two phases. RESULTS: In phase one, service users and carers
      sought assurance of the right to refuse participation in further studies (after
      joining C4C). Clinicians expressed concerns over legal and practical implications
      of ascertaining mental capacity and best interest. In phase two, clinicians'
      explanations were less thorough than similar explanations given to younger adults
      with psychosis. Clinicians omitted details of service users' right to stipulate
      contact arrangements, which was significantly associated with whether service
      users/carers agreed to join. Common reasons for joining C4C included altruism and
      the chance to speak to new people. Few participants refused to join, but reasons
      included avoidance of stress (potentially alleviated through the presence of a
      carer). CONCLUSIONS: Implementing C4C in older adults' services requires
      clinicians to deliver concise, simple explanations to individuals and their
      carers where applicable. Older adults can be suspicious of unsolicited contact;
      thus, explanations must emphasise freedom to negotiate suitable contact
      arrangements. Hearing about research opportunities can be in the best interests
      of older adults, but communicating these opportunities requires a tailored
      approach.

PMID- 25834644
TI  - Cyclic growth of hierarchical structures in the aluminum-silicate system.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Biological structures grow spontaneously from a seed, using materials
      supplied by the environment. These structures are hierarchical, with the
      'building blocks' on each level constructed from those on the lower level. To
      understand and model the processes that occur on many levels, and later construct
      them, is a difficult task. However interest in this subject is growing. It is now
      possible to study the spontaneous growth of hierarchical structures in simple,
      two component chemical systems. RESULTS: Aluminum-silicate systems have been
      observed to grow into structures that are approximately conical. These structures
      are composed of multiple smaller cones with several hierarchical levels of
      complexity. On the highest level the system resembles a metropolis, with a
      horizontal resource distribution network connecting vertical, conical structures.
      The cones are made from many smaller cones that are connected together forming a
      whole with unusual behavior. The growth is observed to switch periodically
      between the vertical and horizontal directions. CONCLUSION: A structure grown in
      a dish is observed to have many similarities to other hierarchical systems such
      as biological organisms or cities. This system may provide a simple model system
      to search for universal laws governing the growth of complex hierarchical
      structures. Graphical AbstractSide view of the chemical structure made from many
      vertical cones to form a chemical metropolis. The tallest structure is 17 cm
      high.

PMID- 25834645
TI  - Transposable elements in a clade of three tetraploids and a diploid relative,
      focusing on Gypsy amplification.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Polyploidization can activate specific transposable elements, leading
      to their accumulation. At the same time, the preferential loss of repetitive
      elements in polyploids may be central to diploidization. The paucity of studies
      of transposable element (TE) dynamics in closely related diploid and polyploid
      species, however, prevents generalizations about these patterns. Here, we use low
      coverage Illumina sequencing data for a clade of three tetraploid Orobanche
      species and a diploid relative to quantify the abundance and relative frequencies
      of different types of TEs. We confirmed tetraploidy in the sequenced individuals
      using standard cytogenetic methods and inferred the time of origin of the
      tetraploid clade with a rate-calibrated molecular clock. FINDINGS: The sequenced
      individuals of Orobanche austrohispanica, Orobanche densiflora, and Orobanche
      gracilis have 2n = 76 chromosomes, are tetraploid, and shared a most recent
      common ancestor some 6.7 Ma ago. Comparison of TE classifications from the
      Illumina data with classification from 454 data for one of the species revealed
      strong effects of sequencing technology on the detection of certain types of
      repetitive DNA. The three tetraploids show repeat enrichment especially of Gypsy
      TE families compared to eight previously analyzed Orobanchaceae. However, the
      diploid Orobanche rapum-genistae genome also has a very high proportion (30%) of
      Gypsy elements. CONCLUSIONS: We had earlier suggested that tetraploidization
      might have contributed to an amplification of Gypsy elements, particularly of the
      Tekay clade, and that O. gracilis underwent genome downsizing following
      polyploidization. The new data reveal that Gypsy amplification in Orobanchaceae
      does not consistently relate to tetraploidy and that more species sampling is
      required to generalize about Tekay accumulation patterns.

PMID- 25834646
TI  - Association of Information Sources and Knowledge on HIV/AIDS in Rural China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between the number of available
      information sources on HIV/AIDS and HIV/AIDS-related knowledge in a rural
      population in China. DESIGN: We performed a cross-sectional survey on the number
      and types of sources of HIV/AIDS information available to rural residents of
      China and assessed HIV/AIDS-related knowledge in this population. We collected
      information from 5,355 Chinese rural residents and then correlated the results of
      the scores on knowledge to the numbers of information sources, and adjusted for
      age, sex, education and occupation. RESULTS: The sources of HIV/AIDs information
      reported by subjects included television, radio, newspapers, periodicals,
      discussions with neighbors and friends. There were significant differences in
      sources of information based on gender, occupation, educational level and age.
      The average number of information sources was 3.01 +/- 1.74. The average score on
      the AIDS related knowledge questionnaire was 8.21 +/- 4.23. Subjects who reported
      6 sources of HIV/AIDS information had an average score of 11.67 +/- 3.0 on the
      HIV/AIDS knowledge questionnaire. Subjects who reported between 3-7 sources of
      HIV/AIDS information had significantly higher scores than those who had 1,2 or 8
      sources of information. CONCLUSIONS: There is an association between HIV/AIDS
      knowledge and the number of available information sources. By increasing the
      sources, one could not always make more people curious or interested in HIV/AIDS
      knowledge.

PMID- 25834647
TI  - Exponential synchronization of discontinuous neural networks with time-varying
      mixed delays via state feedback and impulsive control.
AB  - This paper investigates drive-response synchronization for a class of neural
      networks with time-varying discrete and distributed delays (mixed delays) as well
      as discontinuous activations. Strict mathematical proof shows the global
      existence of Filippov solutions to neural networks with discontinuous activation
      functions and the mixed delays. State feedback controller and impulsive
      controller are designed respectively to guarantee global exponential
      synchronization of the neural networks. By using Lyapunov function and new
      analysis techniques, several new synchronization criteria are obtained. Moreover,
      lower bound on the convergence rate is explicitly estimated when state feedback
      controller is utilized. Results of this paper are new and some existing ones are
      extended and improved. Finally, numerical simulations are given to verify the
      effectiveness of the theoretical results. 

PMID- 25834642
TI  - The impact of sleep disorders on glucose metabolism: endocrine and molecular
      mechanisms.
AB  - Modern lifestyle has profoundly modified human sleep habits. Sleep duration has
      shortened over recent decades from 8 to 6.5 hours resulting in chronic sleep
      deprivation. Additionally, irregular sleep, shift work and travelling across time
      zones lead to disruption of circadian rhythms and asynchrony between the master
      hypothalamic clock and pacemakers in peripheral tissues. Furthermore, obstructive
      sleep apnea syndrome (OSA), which affects 4 - 15% of the population, is not only
      characterized by impaired sleep architecture but also by repetitive hemoglobin
      desaturations during sleep. Epidemiological studies have identified impaired
      sleep as an independent risk factor for all cause of-, as well as for
      cardiovascular, mortality/morbidity. More recently, sleep abnormalities were
      causally linked to impairments in glucose homeostasis, metabolic syndrome and
      Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). This review summarized current knowledge on the
      metabolic alterations associated with the most prevalent sleep disturbances, i.e.
      short sleep duration, shift work and OSA. We have focused on various endocrine
      and molecular mechanisms underlying the associations between inadequate sleep
      quality, quantity and timing with impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance
      and pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction. Of these mechanisms, the role of the
      hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, circadian pacemakers in peripheral tissues,
      adipose tissue metabolism, sympathetic nervous system activation, oxidative
      stress and whole-body inflammation are discussed. Additionally, the impact of
      intermittent hypoxia and sleep fragmentation (key components of OSA) on
      intracellular signaling and metabolism in muscle, liver, fat and pancreas are
      also examined. In summary, this review provides endocrine and molecular
      explanations for the associations between common sleep disturbances and the
      pathogenesis of T2DM. 

PMID- 25834648
TI  - Noise-induced burst and spike synchronizations in an inhibitory small-world
      network of subthreshold bursting neurons.
AB  - We are interested in noise-induced firings of subthreshold neurons which may be
      used for encoding environmental stimuli. Noise-induced population synchronization
      was previously studied only for the case of global coupling, unlike the case of
      subthreshold spiking neurons. Hence, we investigate the effect of complex network
      architecture on noise-induced synchronization in an inhibitory population of
      subthreshold bursting Hindmarsh-Rose neurons. For modeling complex synaptic
      connectivity, we consider the Watts-Strogatz small-world network which
      interpolates between regular lattice and random network via rewiring, and
      investigate the effect of small-world connectivity on emergence of noise-induced
      population synchronization. Thus, noise-induced burst synchronization (synchrony
      on the slow bursting time scale) and spike synchronization (synchrony on the fast
      spike time scale) are found to appear in a synchronized region of the [Formula:
      see text]-[Formula: see text] plane ([Formula: see text]: synaptic inhibition
      strength and [Formula: see text]: noise intensity). As the rewiring probability
      [Formula: see text] is decreased from 1 (random network) to 0 (regular lattice),
      the region of spike synchronization shrinks rapidly in the [Formula: see text]
      [Formula: see text] plane, while the region of the burst synchronization
      decreases slowly. We separate the slow bursting and the fast spiking time scales
      via frequency filtering, and characterize the noise-induced burst and spike
      synchronizations by employing realistic order parameters and statistical
      mechanical measures introduced in our recent work. Thus, the bursting and spiking
      thresholds for the burst and spike synchronization transitions are determined in
      terms of the bursting and spiking order parameters, respectively. Furthermore, we
      also measure the degrees of burst and spike synchronizations in terms of the
      statistical-mechanical bursting and spiking measures, respectively. 

PMID- 25834649
TI  - The stability of impulsive stochastic Cohen-Grossberg neural networks with mixed
      delays and reaction-diffusion terms.
AB  - The global asymptotic stability of impulsive stochastic Cohen-Grossberg neural
      networks with mixed delays and reaction-diffusion terms is investigated. Under
      some suitable assumptions and using Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional method, we
      apply the linear matrix inequality technique to propose some new sufficient
      conditions for the global asymptotic stability of the addressed model in the
      stochastic sense. The mixed time delays comprise both the time-varying and
      continuously distributed delays. The effectiveness of the theoretical result is
      illustrated by a numerical example. 

PMID- 25834650
TI  - Brain electrical activities of dancers and fast ball sports athletes are
      different.
AB  - Exercise training has been shown not only to influence physical fitness
      positively but also cognition in healthy and impaired populations. However, some
      particular exercise types, even though comparable based on physical efforts, have
      distinct cognitive and sensorimotor features. In this study, the effects of
      different types of exercise, such as fast ball sports and dance training, on
      brain electrical activity were investigated. Electroencephalography (EEG) scans
      were recorded in professional dancer, professional fast ball sports athlete
      (FBSA) and healthy control volunteer groups consisting of twelve subjects each.
      In FBSA, power of delta and theta frequency activities of EEG was significantly
      higher than those of the dancers and the controls. Conversely, dancers had
      significantly higher amplitudes in alpha and beta bands compared to FBSA and
      significantly higher amplitudes in the alpha band in comparison with controls.
      The results suggest that cognitive features of physical training can be reflected
      in resting brain electrical oscillations. The differences in resting brain
      electrical oscillations between the dancers and the FBSA can be the result of
      innate network differences determining the talents and/or plastic changes induced
      by physical training. 

PMID- 25834652
TI  - Local use of ankaferd blood clotter in emergent beating heart coronary artery
      bypass grafting.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Severe beeding which requiring massive blood transfusion after
      emergent beating heart surgery is shown to be 1-3%. Therefore, complications and
      side effects of transfusion can be seen. The aim of this study was to investigate
      the effectiveness of Ankaferd blood clotter (ABC) as a new topical herbal blood
      clotter to decrease mediastinal bleeding in emergent beating heart CABG patients
      who medicated with clopidogrel and acetyl salisilic acite (ASA) prior to CABG
      surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 25 CABG patients received a high dose clopidogrel
      (600 mgr) and 300 mgr ASA have been included into the study (ABC group). 25
      patients have also been included into the study for comparison (placebo group,
      PG). After the administration of protamine sulphate, a 10 ml of ABC solution has
      been sprayed to the surgical area including mediastinum and epicardial sac. We
      compared mediastinal drenaige, reoperation due to tamponade, and required blood
      and blood products in both groups. RESULTS: The mean amount of bleeding after
      operation was 230 ml in ABC group, and 490 ml in CG (P=0.001). In ICU, bleeding
      in ABC group and CG was 410ml and 680ml, respectively (P=0.0022). The mean total
      bleeding from mediastinum was 530+/-280 mL and 990+/-440 mL In ABC and CG group,
      respectively (P=0.001). The amount of autotransfusion was as follows: 175 mL in
      ABC group, and 290 mL in CG (P=0.002). No patient needed the surgical revision in
      ABC group, but four patients (16%) from CG group because of cardiac tamponade.
      Seventeen patients from CG required blood transfusion due to low hematocrite
      level postoperatively. In CG, the mean hematocrite level was 17+/-2,3.
      Transfusion of fresh frozen plasma and platelets in ABC group and CG were as
      follows: 0.2 and 0 in ABC group, and 0.3and 0.4 in CG. CONCLUSION: Our study
      showed that the local use of 10 mL ABC reduces bleeding significantly. Therefore,
      transfusion requirements of PRBC, platelets, and total blood units in patients on
      clopidogrel and ASA undergoing emergent beating heart CABG. To provide cardiac
      tamponade because of excessive mediastinal bleeding and requirement of blood
      transfusion after emergent CABG patients who previously administered clopidogrel
      and ASA, we propose local use of ABC solution as a potent coagulant agent.

PMID- 25834651
TI  - Association of high blood pressure with body mass index, smoking and physical
      activity in healthy young adults.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between
      resting blood pressure (BP), smoking, physical activity (PA) and body mass index
      (BMI) in Greek young adults. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY: A standardised
      questionnaire and the Greek version of IPAQ-short were given to 1500 randomly
      selected health science students, in order to record smoking behaviour, PA
      status, BMI and resting BP. All healthy young adults aged 19-30 years old were
      eligible. The final size of the study cohort was 1249 students (522 men).
      RESULTS: Males' BP was 129.2/77.0 mmHg, significantly higher than the females'
      values of 119.9/73.4 mmHg. Approximately 17% of the total population were
      classified as overweight and 3% as obese. In the overall population, smoking
      prevalence was 35.2%, with 15.3% being heavy smokers (>=21 cigs/d). Smoking
      prevalence did not differ significantly between sexes. The prevalence of health
      enhancing PA (high PAclass) was only 14.0%, while 42.8% of the study population
      were classified as insufficiently active (low PAclass). Of the three lifestyle
      risk factors examined, only BMI was significantly and directly associated with
      systolic and diastolic BP levels. The prevalence of hypertension (>=140/90 mmHg)
      was significantly higher in men compared to women, and in obese and overweight
      participants compared to normal-weight subjects. Smoking and categorical PA
      (PAclass) were not correlated with BP. Continuous vigorous PAscore was
      significantly and directly associated with systolic BP, but only in males.
      CONCLUSION: BMI was significantly and directly associated with resting BP in both
      sexes. Smoking prevalence and PA status were not associated with BP in this
      sample of Greek young adults.

PMID- 25834653
TI  - Body Surface Mapping of T-wave Alternans Depends on the Distribution of
      Myocardial Scarring.
AB  - T-Wave alternans (TWA) testing using 12-lead electrocardiogram/Frank leads is
      emerging as an important non-invasive biomarker to identify patients at high risk
      of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD). Cardiac scarring is very common among
      cardiomyopathy patients; however, its influence on the body surface distribution
      of TWA has not yet been defined. Our objective was to perform a simulation study
      in order to determine whether cardiac scarring affects the distribution of TWA on
      thorax such that the standard leads fail to detect TWA in some of cardiomyopathy
      patients; thereby producing a false-negative test. Developing such a novel lead
      configuration could improve TWA quantification and potentially optimize
      electrocardiogram (ECG) lead configuration and risk stratification of SCD in
      cardiomyopathy patients. The simulation was performed in a 1500-node heart model
      using ECGSIM. TWA was mimicked by simulating action potential duration alternans
      in the ventricles. Cardiac scarring with different sizes were simulated by
      manipulating the apparent velocity, transmembrane potential and transition zone
      at varied locations along the left ventricular posterior wall. Our simulation
      study showed that the location of maximum TWA depends on the location and size of
      the myocardium scarring in patients with cardiomyopathy, which can give rise to
      false-negative TWA signal detection using standard clinical leads. The TWA
      amplitude generally increased with the increment of scar size (P<0.00001). We
      found one specific location (a non-standard lead) that consistently appeared as
      the top five maximum TWA leads and could be considered as an additional lead to
      improve the outcome of the TWA testing in cardiomyopathy patients. 

PMID- 25834654
TI  - Cardiovascular Risk Assessment and Effects on Behavior in Switzerland The Swiss
      Heart Foundation HerzCheck((r))/Cardio-Test((r)).
AB  - BACKGROUND: "CardioTest ((r)) " is a tool for cardiovascular risk assessment. The
      aim of this study was to evaluate if this test used in Swiss pharmacies provides
      risk stratification and if it had impact on individual behaviour. METHODS:
      Individuals were evaluated (blood pressure, body waist circumference, random
      blood samples and coronary artery disease risk factors). The cardiovascular risk
      was calculated (AGLA Risk Score (ARS) a modified PROCAM Score) and participants
      were informed about their result. One year after the initial testing individuals
      were followed up by questionnaire with respect to the action they had taken based
      upon the ARS results. The relation between ARS results and events during follow
      up were assessed. Events were defined as cardiovascular events due to chest pain,
      myocardial infarction or stroke. RESULT: A total of 1415 individuals were
      contacted for follow-up, 746 (53%) with a mean age of 62.7 (+/-12.8) years (60%
      were male) returned their questionnaire. The cardiovascular risk throughout the
      study-population turned out to be low: 73.9% had a low ARS <10%, 21.7% an
      intermediate ARS 10-20% and 4.4% had a high ARS >20%. Significantly more
      participants with ARS >20% consulted their family doctor (46.2%) than those with
      ARS 10-20% (25.2%) and ARS <10% (10.4%), respectively (p<0,01 for both
      comparisons). Sixty-four individuals (9%) suffered a cardiovascular event. The
      event rates increased as a function of ARS. CONCLUSION: The overall
      cardiovascular risk of individuals participating in a pharmacy based risk
      assessment program seems to be low. CardioTest ((r)) provided risk stratification
      with respect to future cardio-vascular events. CardioTest ((r)) seems to have
      impact on individual behavior and lifestyle modification. Other settings and
      locations for screening might be considered to reach higher risk individuals at
      an earlier stage.

PMID- 25834655
TI  - Reduction in dental hypersensitivity with nano-hydroxyapatite, potassium nitrate,
      sodium monoflurophosphate and antioxidants.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This clinical study aimed to evaluate effectiveness of a commercially
      available toothpaste containing potassium nitrate, sodium monoflurophosphate, and
      nano-hydroxyapatite as well as antioxidants phloretin, ferulic acid and silymarin
      in reducing dental hypersensitivity in adults. METHODS: The clinical trial
      enrolled patients with a history of dentin hypersensitivity. A test toothpaste
      was introduced into the daily routine, which included initial instruction on
      usage. Patients completed a five-question visual analog scale (VAS) at the
      inception/baseline, after two days and after two weeks of using the toothpaste to
      determine their level of tooth sensitivity at baseline with the use of the
      toothpaste over time. RESULTS: Patients that had significant sensitivity at
      baseline had a range of 52% to 76 % improvement after 48 hours and a range of 70%
      to 84% improvement after two weeks. CONCLUSION: A toothpaste containing potassium
      nitrate, sodium monoflurophosphate, and nano-hydroxyapatite plus antioxidants
      phloretin, ferulic acid and silymarin applied daily significantly decreased tooth
      pain of dentin hypersensitivity within a two-day and two-week time period.
      CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Based on the clinical study results, a daily application
      of a toothpaste containing potassium nitrate, sodium monofluorophosphate, and
      nano-hydroxyapatite plus antioxidants phloretin, ferulic acid and silymarin can
      significantly and quickly reduce tooth pain of dentin hypersensitivity.

PMID- 25834656
TI  - The Validity and Reliability of an Arabic Version of the STOP-Bang Questionnaire
      for Identifying Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common, serious, under-recognized
      and under-diagnosed medical disorder. Polysomnography (PSG) is the gold standard
      diagnostic test for OSA; however, the cost of testing and the shortage of sleep
      disorders laboratories limit access to this tool. Therefore, there is a need for
      a simple and reliable diagnostic tool to screen patients at risk of OSA.
      OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to evaluate the validity and reliability of
      an Arabic version of the STOP-Bang questionnaire (SBQ) as a screening tool for
      OSA. METHODS: This study was conducted in three steps, as follows: Step 1: the
      SBQ was translated from English to Arabic (examining both forward and backward
      translations); Step 2: the test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was
      investigated; and Step 3: the questionnaire was validated against PSG data
      prospectively on 100 patients attending a sleep disorders clinic who were
      subjected to a full-night PSG study after completing the translated version of
      the SBQ. The validity of the test was tested against the apnea-hypopnea index
      (AHI). RESULTS: The study group had a mean age of 46.6 +/- 14.0 years and a mean
      AHI of 50.0 +/- 37.0/hour. The study demonstrated a high degree of internal
      consistency and stability over time for the translated SBQ. The Cronbach's alpha
      coefficient for the 8-item tool was 0.7. Validation of the SBQ against the AHI at
      a cut-off of 5 revealed a sensitivity of 98% and positive and negative predictive
      values of 86% and 67%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The Arabic version of the SBQ is
      an easy-to-administer, simple, reliable and valid tool for the identification of
      OSA in the sleep disorders clinic setting.

PMID- 25834657
TI  - Bilateral papilledema as the first sign of ventriculoperitoneal shunt
      dysfunctionS.
AB  - A 12 year-old girl patient with a history of ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement
      at the age of 6 months presented with progressive bilateral decrease in visual
      acuity. Ophthalmologic examination was consistent with bilateral papilledema. No
      other systemic manifestations of increased intracranial pressure were evident and
      laboratory work-up excluded other inflammatory or infectious processes. We
      present here an interesting case of a patient with ophthalmologic manifestations
      as the initial finding of ventriculoperitoneal shunt dysfunction. 

PMID- 25834658
TI  - Calculating Optical Absorption Spectra of Thin Polycrystalline Organic Films:
      Structural Disorder and Site-Dependent van der Waals Interaction.
AB  - We propose a new approach for calculating the change of the absorption spectrum
      of a molecule when moved from the gas phase to a crystalline morphology. The so
      called gas-to-crystal shift Delta[Formula: see text] m is mainly caused by
      dispersion effects and depends sensitively on the molecule's specific position in
      the nanoscopic setting. Using an extended dipole approximation, we are able to
      divide Delta[Formula: see text] m = -QWm in two factors, where Q depends only on
      the molecular species and accounts for all nonresonant electronic transitions
      contributing to the dispersion while Wm is a geometry factor expressing the site
      dependence of the shift in a given molecular structure. The ability of our
      approach to predict absorption spectra is demonstrated using the example of
      polycrystalline films of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI).

PMID- 25834659
TI  - Identify-isolate-inform: a tool for initial detection and management of measles
      patients in the emergency department.
AB  - Measles (rubeola) is a highly contagious airborne disease that was declared
      eliminated in the U.S. in the year 2000. Only sporadic U.S. cases and minor
      outbreaks occurred until the larger outbreak beginning in 2014 that has become a
      public health emergency. The "Identify-Isolate-Inform" tool will assist emergency
      physicians to be better prepared to detect and manage measles patients presenting
      to the emergency department. Measles typically presents with a prodrome of high
      fever, and cough/coryza/conjunctivitis, sometimes accompanied by the
      pathognomonic Koplik spots. Two to four days later, an erythematous maculopapular
      rash begins on the face and spreads down the body. Suspect patients must be
      immediately isolated with airborne precautions while awaiting laboratory
      confirmation of disease. Emergency physicians must rapidly inform the local
      public health department and hospital infection control personnel of suspected
      measles cases. 

PMID- 25834660
TI  - Kiosk versus in-person screening for alcohol and drug use in the emergency
      department: patient preferences and disclosure.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Annually eight million emergency department (ED) visits are
      attributable to alcohol use. Screening ED patients for at-risk alcohol and
      substance use is an integral component of screening, brief intervention, and
      referral to treatment programs, shown to be effective at reducing substance use.
      The objective is to evaluate ED patients' acceptance of and willingness to
      disclose alcohol/substance use via a computer kiosk versus an in-person
      interview. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, survey-based study. Eligible
      participants included those who presented to walk-in triage, were English
      speaking, >=18 years, were clinically stable and able to consent. Patients had
      the opportunity to access the kiosk in the ED waiting room, and were approached
      for an in-person survey by a research assistant (9am-5pm weekdays). Both surveys
      used validated assessment tools to assess drug and alcohol use. Disclosure
      statistics and preferences were calculated using chi-square tests and McNemar's
      test. RESULTS: A total of 1,207 patients were screened: 229 in person only, 824
      by kiosk, and 154 by both in person and kiosk. Single-modality participants were
      more likely to disclose hazardous drinking (p=0.003) and high-risk drug use
      (OR=22.3 [12.3-42.2]; p<0.0001) via kiosk. Participants who had participated in
      screening via both modalities were more likely to reveal high-risk drug use on
      the kiosk (p=0.003). When asked about screening preferences, 73.6% reported a
      preference for an in-person survey, which patients rated higher on privacy and
      comfort. CONCLUSION: ED patients were significantly more likely to disclose at
      risk alcohol and substance use to a computer kiosk than an interviewer.
      Paradoxically patients stated a preference for in-person screening, despite
      reduced disclosure to a human screener.

PMID- 25834661
TI  - Patients who use multiple EDs: quantifying the degree of overlap between ED
      populations.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The degree to which individual patients use multiple emergency
      departments (EDs) is not well-characterized. We determined the degree of overlap
      in ED population between three geographically proximate hospitals. METHODS: This
      retrospective cohort study reviewed administrative hospital records from 2003 to
      2007 for patients registered to receive ED services at an urban academic, urban
      community, and suburban community ED located within 10 miles of one another. We
      determined the proportion who sought care at multiple EDs and secondarily
      characterized patterns of repeat encounters. RESULTS: There were 795,176
      encounters involving 282,903 patients. There were 89,776 (31%) patients with
      multiple encounters to a single ED and 39,920 (14%) patients who sought care from
      multiple EDs. The 39,920 patients who sought care from multiple EDs generated
      185,629 (23%) of all encounters. Patients with repeat encounters involving
      multiple EDs were more likely to be frequent or highly frequent users (30%) than
      patients with multiple encounters to a single ED (14%). CONCLUSION: While only
      14% of patients received care from more than one ED, they were responsible for a
      quarter of ED encounters. Patients who use multiple EDs are more often frequent
      or highly frequent users than are repeat ED visitors to the same ED. Overlap
      between ED populations is sufficient to warrant consideration by multiple domains
      of research, practice, and policy.

PMID- 25834662
TI  - Do emergency physicians and medical students find it unethical to 'look up' their
      patients on facebook or Google?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The use of search engines and online social media (OSM) websites by
      healthcare providers is increasing and may even be used to search for patient
      information. This raises several ethical issues. The objective of this study is
      to evaluate the prevalence of OSM and web-searching for patient information and
      to explore attitudes towards the ethical appropriateness of these practices by
      physicians and trainees in the emergency department (ED). METHODS: We conducted
      an online survey study of Canadian emergency physicians and trainees listed under
      then Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) and senior medical
      students at the University of Toronto. RESULTS: We received 530 responses
      (response rate 49.1%): 34.9% medical students, 15.5% residents, 49.6% staff
      physicians. Most had an active Facebook account (74%). Sixty-four participants
      (13.5%) had used Google to research a patient and 10 (2.1%) had searched for
      patients on Facebook. There were no differences in these results based on level
      of training, and 25% of physicians considered using Facebook to learn about a
      patient "very unethical." The most frequent ethical concerns were with violation
      of patient confidentiality, dignity, and consent. The practice was usually not
      disclosed to patients (14%), but often disclosed to senior colleagues (83%).
      CONCLUSION: This is the first study examining the prevalence of and attitudes
      towards online searching for obtaining patient information in the ED. This
      practice occurs among staff physicians and trainees despite ethical concerns.
      Future work should explore the utility and desirability of searching for patient
      information online.

PMID- 25834663
TI  - Inferior vena cava filter fracture: potential liability for emergency physicians.

PMID- 25834664
TI  - The social media index: measuring the impact of emergency medicine and critical
      care websites.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The number of educational resources created for emergency medicine
      and critical care (EMCC) that incorporate social media has increased
      dramatically. With no way to assess their impact or quality, it is challenging
      for educators to receive scholarly credit and for learners to identify respected
      resources. The Social Media index (SMi) was developed to help address this.
      METHODS: We used data from social media platforms (Google PageRanks, Alexa Ranks,
      Facebook Likes, Twitter Followers, and Google+ Followers) for EMCC blogs and
      podcasts to derive three normalized (ordinal, logarithmic, and raw) formulas. The
      most statistically robust formula was assessed for 1) temporal stability using
      repeated measures and website age, and 2) correlation with impact by applying it
      to EMCC journals and measuring the correlation with known journal impact metrics.
      RESULTS: The logarithmic version of the SMi containing four metrics was the most
      statistically robust. It correlated significantly with website age (Spearman
      r=0.372; p<0.001) and repeated measures through seven months (r=0.929; p<0.001).
      When applied to EMCC journals, it correlated significantly with all impact
      metrics except number of articles published. The strongest correlations were seen
      with the Immediacy Index (r=0.609; p<0.001) and Article Influence Score (r=0.608;
      p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The SMi's temporal stability and correlation with journal
      impact factors suggests that it may be a stable indicator of impact for medical
      education websites. Further study is needed to determine whether impact
      correlates with quality and how learners and educators can best utilize this
      tool.

PMID- 25834665
TI  - Non-thrombotic abnormalities on lower extremity venous duplex ultrasound
      examinations.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Emergency physician-performed compression ultrasonography focuses
      primarily on the evaluation of the proximal veins of the lower extremity in
      patients with suspected deep venous thrombosis (DVT). A detailed sonographic
      evaluation of lower extremity is not performed. The objective of this study was
      to determine the prevalence of non-thrombotic findings on comprehensive lower
      extremity venous duplex ultrasound (US) examinations performed on emergency
      department (ED) patients. METHODS: We performed a retrospective six-year review
      of an academic ED's records of adult patients who underwent a comprehensive lower
      extremity duplex venous US examination for the evaluation of DVT. The entire US
      report was thoroughly reviewed for non-thrombotic findings. RESULTS: We detected
      non-thrombotic findings in 263 (11%, 95% CI [9.5-11.9%]) patients. Among the non
      thrombotic findings, venous valvular incompetence (81, 30%) was the most
      frequent, followed by cyst/mass (41, 15%), lymphadenopathy (33, 12%), phlebitis
      (12, 4.5%), hematoma (8, 3%), cellulitis (1, 0.3%) and other (6, 2.2%).
      CONCLUSION: In our study, we detected a variety of non-thrombotic abnormalities
      on comprehensive lower extremity venous duplex US examinations performed on ED
      patients. Some of these abnormalities could be clinically significant and
      potentially be detected with point-of-care lower extremity US examinations if the
      symptomatic region is evaluated. In addition to assessment of the proximal veins
      for DVT, we recommend sonographic evaluation of the symptomatic area in the lower
      extremity when performing point-of-care ultrasound examinations to identify non
      thrombotic abnormalities that may require immediate intervention or close follow
      up.

PMID- 25834666
TI  - Can emergency physicians perform common carotid Doppler flow measurements to
      assess volume responsiveness?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Common carotid flow measurements may be clinically useful to
      determine volume responsiveness. The objective of this study was to assess the
      ability of emergency physicians (EP) to obtain sonographic images and
      measurements of the common carotid artery velocity time integral (VTi) for
      potential use in assessing volume responsiveness in the clinical setting.
      METHODS: In this prospective observational study, we showed a five-minute
      instructional video demonstrating a technique to obtain common carotid ultrasound
      images and measure the common carotid VTi to emergency medicine (EM) residents.
      Participants were then asked to image the common carotid artery and obtain VTi
      measurements. Expert sonographers observed participants imaging in real time and
      recorded their performance on nine performance measures. An expert sonographer
      graded image quality. Participants were timed and answered questions regarding
      ease of examination and their confidence in obtaining the images. RESULTS: A
      total of 30 EM residents participated in this study and each performed the
      examination twice. Average time required to complete one examination was 2.9
      minutes (95% CI [2.4-3.4 min]). Participants successfully completed all
      performance measures greater than 75% of the time, with the exception of
      obtaining measurements during systole, which was completed in 65% of
      examinations. Median resident overall confidence in accurately performing carotid
      VTi measurements was 3 (on a scale of 1 [not confident] to 5 [confident]).
      CONCLUSION: EM residents at our institution learned the technique for obtaining
      common carotid artery Doppler flow measurements after viewing a brief
      instructional video. When assessed at performing this examination, they completed
      several performance measures with greater than 75% success. No differences were
      found between novice and experienced groups.

PMID- 25834667
TI  - Bedside ultrasound identification of infectious flexor tenosynovitis in the
      emergency department.
AB  - Infectious flexor tenosynovitis (FTS) is a serious infection of the hand and
      wrist that can lead to necrosis and amputation without prompt diagnosis and
      surgical debridement. Despite the growing use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS)
      by emergency physicians there is only one reported case of the use of POCUS for
      the diagnosis of infectious FTS in the emergency department setting. We present a
      case of a 58 year-old man where POCUS identified tissue necrosis and fluid along
      the flexor tendon sheath of the hand. Subsequent surgical pathology confirmed the
      diagnosis of infectious FTS. 

PMID- 25834668
TI  - Change in intraocular pressure during point-of-care ultrasound.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Point-of-care ocular ultrasound (US) is a valuable tool for the
      evaluation of traumatic ocular injuries. Conventionally, any maneuver that may
      increase intraocular pressure (IOP) is relatively contraindicated in the setting
      of globe rupture. Some authors have cautioned against the use of US in these
      scenarios because of a theoretical concern that an US examination may cause or
      exacerbate the extrusion of intraocular contents. This study set out to
      investigate whether ocular US affects IOP. The secondary objective was to
      validate the intraocular pressure measurements obtained with the Diaton(r) as
      compared with standard applanation techniques (the Tono-Pen(r)). METHODS: We
      enrolled a convenience sample of healthy adult volunteers. We obtained the
      baseline IOP for each patient by using a transpalpebral tonometer. Ocular US was
      then performed on each subject using a high-frequency linear array transducer,
      and a second IOP was obtained during the US examination. A third IOP measurement
      was obtained following the completion of the US examination. To validate
      transpalpebral measurement, a subset of subjects also underwent traditional
      transcorneal applanation tonometry prior to the US examination as a baseline
      measurement. In a subset of 10 patients, we obtained baseline pre-ultrasound IOP
      measurements with the Diaton(r) and Tono-Pen(r), and then compared them. RESULTS:
      The study included 40 subjects. IOP values during ocular US examination were
      slightly greater than baseline (average +1.8mmHg, p=0.01). Post-US examination
      IOP values were not significantly different than baseline (average -0.15mmHg,
      p=0.42). In a subset of 10 subjects, IOP values were not significantly different
      between transpalpebral and transcorneal tonometry (average +0.03mmHg, p=0.07).
      CONCLUSION: In healthy volunteer subjects, point-of-care ocular US causes a small
      and transient increase in IOP. We also showed no difference between the Diaton(r)
      and Tono-Pen(r) methods of IOP measurement. Overall, the resulting change in IOP
      with US transducer placement is considerably less than the mean diurnal variation
      in healthy subjects, or pressure generated by physical examination, and is
      therefore unlikely to be clinically significant. However, it is important to take
      caution when performing ocular ultrasound, since it is unclear what the change in
      IOP would be in patients with ocular trauma.

PMID- 25834669
TI  - Young patients with suspected uncomplicated renal colic are unlikely to have
      dangerous alternative diagnoses or need emergent intervention.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In the United States there is debate regarding the appropriate
      first test for new-onset renal colic, with non-contrast helical computed
      tomography (CT) receiving the highest ratings from both Agency for Healthcare
      Research and Quality and the American Urological Association. This is based not
      only on its accuracy for the diagnosis of renal colic, but also its ability to
      diagnose other surgical emergencies, which have been thought to occur in 10-15%
      of patients with suspected renal colic, based on previous studies. In younger
      patients, it may be reasonable to attempt to avoid immediate CT if concern for
      dangerous alternative diagnosis is low, based on the risks of radiation from CTs,
      and particularly in light of evidence that patients with renal colic have a very
      high likelihood of having multiple CTs in their lifetimes. The objective is to
      determine the proportion of patients with a dangerous alternative diagnosis in
      adult patients age 50 and under presenting with uncomplicated (non-infected)
      suspected renal colic, and also to determine what proportion of these patients
      undergo emergent urologic intervention. METHODS: Retrospective chart review of 12
      months of patients age 18-50 presenting with "flank pain," excluding patients
      with end stage renal disease, urinary tract infection, pregnancy and trauma.
      Dangerous alternative diagnosis was determined by CT. RESULTS: Two hundred and
      ninety-one patients met inclusion criteria. One hundred and fifteen patients had
      renal protocol CTs, and zero alternative emergent or urgent diagnoses were
      identified (one-sided 95% CI [0-2.7%]). Of the 291 encounters, there were 7
      urologic procedures performed upon first admission (2.4%, 95% CI [1.0-4.9%]). The
      prevalence of kidney stone by final diagnosis was 58.8%. CONCLUSION: This small
      sample suggests that in younger patients with uncomplicated renal colic, the
      benefit of immediate CT for suspected renal colic should be questioned. Further
      studies are needed to determine which patients benefit from immediate CT for
      suspected renal colic, and which patients could undergo alternate imaging such as
      ultrasound.

PMID- 25834670
TI  - Characteristics of patients that do not initially respond to intravenous
      antihypertensives in the emergency department: subanalysis of the CLUE trial.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Hypertensive emergency has a high mortality risk and the treatment
      goal is to quickly lower blood pressure with intravenous (IV) medications.
      Characteristics that are associated with non-response to IV antihypertensives
      have not been identified. The objective is to identify patient characteristics
      associated with resistance to IV antihypertensives. METHODS: This was a
      subanalysis of patients enrolled in the previously described comparative
      effectiveness trial of IV nicardipine vs. labetalol use in the emergency
      department (CLUE) study, a randomized trial of nicardipine vs. labetalol. Non
      responders were defined as those patients who did not achieve target systolic
      blood pressure (SBP), as set by the treating physician, within thirty minutes of
      IV antihypertensive medication, +/- 20mmHg. Stepwise logistic regression was used
      to identify covariates associated with the measurement outcomes. RESULTS: CLUE
      enrolled 226 patients, 52.7% female, 76.4% black, mean age of 52.6+/-14.6 years,
      of whom 110 were treated with nicardipine and 116 with labetalol. The median
      (IQR) initial systolic blood pressure was 211mmHg (198, 226), 210 (200, 230), and
      211mmHg (198, 226), for the total, non-responder, and responder cohorts,
      respectively (p-value=0.65, 95% CI [-5.8-11.3]). Twenty-nine were non-responders,
      9 in the nicardipine and 20 in the labetalol group. In univariate analysis,
      several symptoms suggestive of end organ damage were associated with non
      response. After multiple variable logistic regression (AUC = 0.72), treatment
      with labetalol (OR 2.7, 95% CI [1.1-6.7]), history of stroke (OR 5.4, 95% CI [1.6
      18.5]), and being male (OR 3.3, 95% CI [1.4-8.1]) were associated with failure to
      achieve target blood pressure. CONCLUSION: Male gender and history of previous
      stroke are associated with difficult to control blood pressure.

PMID- 25834671
TI  - Long-term neurological outcomes in adults with traumatic intracranial hemorrhage
      admitted to ICU versus floor.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to compare long-term neurological
      outcomes in low-risk patients with traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (tICH)
      admitted to the ICU (intensive care unit) versus patients admitted to the floor.
      METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted at a Level 1 trauma center from
      October 1, 2008, to February 1, 2013. We defined low-risk patients as age less
      than 65 years, isolated head injury, normal admission mental status, and no shift
      or swelling on initial head CT (computed tomography). Clinical data were
      abstracted from a trauma registry and linked to a brain injury database. We
      compared the Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS-E) score at six months between
      patients admitted to the ICU and patients admitted to the floor. We did a risk
      adjusted analysis of the influence of floor admission on a normal GOS-E. RESULTS:
      We identified 151 patients; 45 (30%) were admitted to the floor and 106 (70%) to
      the ICU. Twenty-three (51%; 95% CI [36-66%]) patients admitted to the floor and
      55 (52%; 95% CI [42-62%]) patients admitted to the ICU had a normal GOS-E. On
      adjusted analysis; the odds ratio for floor admission was 0.77 (95% CI [0.36
      1.64]) for a normal GOS-E at six months. CONCLUSION: Long-term neurological
      outcomes in low-risk patients with tICH were not markedly different between
      patients admitted to the ICU and those admitted to the floor. However, we were
      unable to demonstrate non-inferiority on adjusted analysis. Future work aimed at
      a larger, prospective cohort may better evaluate the relative impacts of
      admission type on outcomes.

PMID- 25834672
TI  - Headache in pregnancy: an approach to emergency department evaluation and
      management.
AB  - Headache is a common presenting complaint in the emergency department. The
      differential diagnosis is broad and includes benign primary causes as well as
      ominous secondary causes. The diagnosis and management of headache in the
      pregnant patient presents several challenges. There are important unique
      considerations regarding the differential diagnosis, imaging options, and medical
      management. Physiologic changes induced by pregnancy increase the risk of
      cerebral venous thrombosis, dissection, and pituitary apoplexy. Preeclampsia, a
      serious condition unique to pregnancy, must also be considered. A high index of
      suspicion for carbon monoxide toxicity should be maintained. Primary headaches
      should be a diagnosis of exclusion. When advanced imaging is indicated, magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI) should be used, if available, to reduce radiation
      exposure. Contrast agents should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Medical
      therapy should be selected with careful consideration of adverse fetal effects.
      Herein, we present a review of the literature and discuss an approach to the
      evaluation and management of headache in pregnancy. 

PMID- 25834673
TI  - Diagnosis of pneumoperitoneum with bedside ultrasound.

PMID- 25834674
TI  - Jaguar attack on a child: case report and literature review.
AB  - Jaguar attacks on humans rarely occur in the wild. When they do, they are often
      fatal. We describe a jaguar attack on a three-year-old girl near her home deep in
      a remote area of the Guyanese jungle. The patient had a complex but, relatively,
      rapid transport to a medical treatment facility for her life-threatening
      injuries. The child, who suffered typical jaguar-inflicted injury patterns and
      survived, is highlighted. We review jaguar anatomy, environmental status, hunting
      and killing behaviors, and discuss optimal medical management, given the resource
      limited treatment environment of this international emergency medicine case. 

PMID- 25834675
TI  - Die another day.

PMID- 25834676
TI  - Descending necrotizing mediastinitis in an infant.

PMID- 25834677
TI  - Left flank pain.

PMID- 25834678
TI  - Cecal diverticulitis: a diagnostic conundrum.

PMID- 25834679
TI  - Silent killer: case report of acute gastrostomy tube erosion.

PMID- 25834680
TI  - Penile foreskin avulsion from parrot fish bite.

PMID- 25834681
TI  - Spontaneous pneumomediastinum on bedside ultrasound: case report and review of
      the literature.
AB  - Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is a rare disease process with no clear etiology,
      although it is thought to be related to changes in intrathoracic pressure causing
      chest pain and dyspnea. We present a case of a 17-year-old male with acute chest
      pain evaluated initially by bedside ultrasound, which showed normal lung sliding
      but poor visualization of the parasternal and apical cardiac views due to
      significant air artifact, representing air in the thoracic cavity. The diagnosis
      was later verified by chest radiograph. We present a case report on ultrasound
      diagnosed pneumomediastinum, and we review the diagnostic modalities to date. 

PMID- 25834682
TI  - Disaster response team FAST skills training with a portable ultrasound simulator
      compared to traditional training: pilot study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Pre-hospital focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST)
      has been effectively used to improve patient care in multiple mass casualty
      events throughout the world. Although requisite FAST knowledge may now be learned
      remotely by disaster response team members, traditional live instructor and model
      hands-on FAST skills training remains logistically challenging. The objective of
      this pilot study was to compare the effectiveness of a novel portable ultrasound
      (US) simulator with traditional FAST skills training for a deployed mixed
      provider disaster response team. METHODS: We randomized participants into one of
      three training groups stratified by provider role: Group A. Traditional Skills
      Training, Group B. US Simulator Skills Training, and Group C. Traditional Skills
      Training Plus US Simulator Skills Training. After skills training, we measured
      participants' FAST image acquisition and interpretation skills using a
      standardized direct observation tool (SDOT) with healthy models and review of
      FAST patient images. Pre- and post-course US and FAST knowledge were also
      assessed using a previously validated multiple-choice evaluation. We used the
      ANOVA procedure to determine the statistical significance of differences between
      the means of each group's skills scores. Paired sample t-tests were used to
      determine the statistical significance of pre- and post-course mean knowledge
      scores within groups. RESULTS: We enrolled 36 participants, 12 randomized to each
      training group. Randomization resulted in similar distribution of participants
      between training groups with respect to provider role, age, sex, and prior US
      training. For the FAST SDOT image acquisition and interpretation mean skills
      scores, there was no statistically significant difference between training
      groups. For US and FAST mean knowledge scores, there was a statistically
      significant improvement between pre- and post-course scores within each group,
      but again there was not a statistically significant difference between training
      groups. CONCLUSION: This pilot study of a deployed mixed-provider disaster
      response team suggests that a novel portable US simulator may provide equivalent
      skills training in comparison to traditional live instructor and model training.
      Further studies with a larger sample size and other measures of short- and long
      term clinical performance are warranted.

PMID- 25834683
TI  - Asking for a commitment: violations during the 2007 match and the effect on
      applicant rank lists.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Applicants to residency face a number of difficult questions during
      the interview process, one of which is when a program asks for a commitment to
      rank the program highly. The regulations governing the National Resident Matching
      Program (NRMP) match explicitly forbid any residency programs asking for a
      commitment. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of applicants from
      U.S. medical schools to five specialties during the 2006-2007 interview season
      using the Electronic Residency Application Service of the Association of American
      Medical Colleges. Applicants were asked to recall being asked to provide any sort
      of commitment (verbal or otherwise) to rank a program highly. Surveys were sent
      after rank lists were submitted, but before match day. We analyzed data using
      descriptive statistics and logistic regression. RESULTS: There were 7,028 unique
      responses out of 11,983 surveys sent for a response rate of 58.6%. Of those who
      identified their specialty (emergency medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and
      gynecology [OBGYN], general surgery and orthopedics), there were 6,303 unique
      responders. Overall 19.6% (1380/7028) of all respondents were asked to commit to
      a program. Orthopedics had the highest overall prevalence at 28.9% (372/474),
      followed by OBGYN (23.7%; 180/759), general surgery (21.7%; 190/876), internal
      medicine (18.3%; 601/3278), and finally, emergency medicine (15.4%; 141/916). Of
      those responding, 38.4% stated such questions made them less likely to rank the
      program. CONCLUSION: Applicants to residencies are being asked questions
      expressly forbidden by the NRMP. Among the five specialties surveyed, orthopedics
      and OBGYN had the highest incidence of this violation. Asking for a commitment
      makes applicants less likely to rank a program highly.

PMID- 25834684
TI  - Virtual alternative to the oral examination for emergency medicine residents.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The oral examination is a traditional method for assessing the
      developing physician's medical knowledge, clinical reasoning and interpersonal
      skills. The typical oral examination is a face-to-face encounter in which
      examiners quiz examinees on how they would confront a patient case. The advantage
      of the oral exam is that the examiner can adapt questions to the examinee's
      response. The disadvantage is the potential for examiner bias and intimidation.
      Computer-based virtual simulation technology has been widely used in the gaming
      industry. We wondered whether virtual simulation could serve as a practical
      format for delivery of an oral examination. For this project, we compared the
      attitudes and performance of emergency medicine (EM) residents who took our
      traditional oral exam to those who took the exam using virtual simulation.
      METHODS: EM residents (n=35) were randomized to a traditional oral examination
      format (n=17) or a simulated virtual examination format (n=18) conducted within
      an immersive learning environment, Second Life (SL). Proctors scored residents
      using the American Board of Emergency Medicine oral examination assessment
      instruments, which included execution of critical actions and ratings on eight
      competency categories (1-8 scale). Study participants were also surveyed about
      their oral examination experience. RESULTS: We observed no differences between
      virtual and traditional groups on critical action scores or scores on eight
      competency categories. However, we noted moderate effect sizes favoring the
      Second Life group on the clinical competence score. Examinees from both groups
      thought that their assessment was realistic, fair, objective, and efficient.
      Examinees from the virtual group reported a preference for the virtual format and
      felt that the format was less intimidating. CONCLUSION: The virtual simulated
      oral examination was shown to be a feasible alternative to the traditional oral
      examination format for assessing EM residents. Virtual environments for oral
      examinations should continue to be explored, particularly since they offer an
      inexpensive, more comfortable, yet equally rigorous alternative.

PMID- 25834686
TI  - Residency applicants prefer online system for scheduling interviews.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Residency coordinators may be overwhelmed when scheduling residency
      interviews. Applicants often have to coordinate interviews with multiple programs
      at once, and relying on verbal or email confirmation may delay the process. Our
      objective was to determine applicant mean time to schedule and satisfaction using
      online scheduling. METHODS: This pilot study is a retrospective analysis
      performed on a sample of applicants offered interviews at an urban county
      emergency medicine residency. Applicants were asked their estimated time to
      schedule with the online system compared to their average time using other
      methods. In addition, they were asked on a five-point anchored scale to rate
      their satisfaction. RESULTS: Of 171 applicants, 121 completed the survey (70.8%).
      Applicants were scheduling an average of 13.3 interviews. Applicants reported
      scheduling interviews using the online system in mean of 46.2 minutes (median 10,
      range 1-1800) from the interview offer as compared with a mean of 320.2 minutes
      (median 60, range 3-2880) for other programs not using this system. This
      difference was statistically significant. In addition, applicants were more
      likely to rate their satisfaction using the online system as "satisfied" (83.5%
      vs 16.5%). Applicants were also more likely to state that they preferred
      scheduling their interviews using the online system rather than the way other
      programs scheduled interviews (74.2% vs 4.1%) and that the online system aided
      them coordinating travel arrangements (52.1% vs 4.1%). CONCLUSION: An online
      interview scheduling system is associated with higher satisfaction among
      applicants both in coordinating travel arrangements and in overall satisfaction.

PMID- 25834685
TI  - Structured communication: teaching delivery of difficult news with simulated
      resuscitations in an emergency medicine clerkship.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The objective is to describe the implementation and outcomes of a
      structured communication module used to supplement case-based simulated
      resuscitation training in an emergency medicine (EM) clerkship. METHODS: We
      supplemented two case-based simulated resuscitation scenarios (cardiac arrest and
      blunt trauma) with role-play in order to teach medical students how to deliver
      news of death and poor prognosis to family of the critically ill or injured
      simulated patient. Quantitative outcomes were assessed with pre and post
      clerkship surveys. Secondarily, students completed a written self-reflection
      (things that went well and why; things that did not go well and why) to further
      explore learner experiences with communication around resuscitation. Qualitative
      analysis identified themes from written self-reflections. RESULTS: A total of 120
      medical students completed the pre and post-clerkship surveys. Majority of
      respondents reported that they had witnessed or role-played the delivery of
      difficult news, but only few had real-life experience of delivering news of death
      (20/120, 17%) and poor prognosis (34/120, 29%). This communication module led to
      statistically significant increased scores for comfort, confidence, and knowledge
      with communicating difficult news of death and poor prognosis. Pre-post scores
      increased for those agreeing with statements (somewhat/very much) for delivery of
      news of poor prognosis: comfort 69% to 81%, confidence 66% to 81% and knowledge
      76% to 90% as well as for statements regarding delivery of news of death: comfort
      52% to 68%, confidence 57% to 76% and knowledge 76% to 90%. Respondents report
      that patient resuscitations (simulated and/or real) generated a variety of strong
      emotional responses such as anxiety, stress, grief and feelings of loss and
      failure. CONCLUSION: A structured communication module supplements simulated
      resuscitation training in an EM clerkship and leads to a self-reported increase
      in knowledge, comfort, and competence in communicating difficult news of death
      and poor prognosis to family. Educators may need to seek ways to address the
      strong emotions generated in learners with real and simulated patient
      resuscitations.

PMID- 25834687
TI  - Emergency medicine residency boot Camp curriculum: a pilot study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Establishing a boot camp curriculum is pertinent for emergency
      medicine (EM) residents in order to develop proficiency in a large scope of
      procedures and leadership skills. In this article, we describe our program's EM
      boot camp curriculum as well as measure the confidence levels of resident
      physicians through a pre- and post-boot camp survey. METHODS: We designed a one
      month boot camp curriculum with the intention of improving the confidence,
      procedural performance, leadership, communication and resource management of EM
      interns. Our curriculum consisted of 12 hours of initial training and culminated
      in a two-day boot camp. The initial day consisted of clinical skill training and
      the second day included code drill scenarios followed by interprofessional
      debriefing. RESULTS: Twelve EM interns entered residency with an overall
      confidence score of 3.2 (1-5 scale) across all surveyed skills. Interns reported
      the highest pre-survey confidence scores in suturing (4.3) and genitourinary
      exams (3.9). The lowest pre-survey confidence score was in thoracostomy (2.4).
      Following the capstone experience, overall confidence scores increased to 4.0.
      Confidence increased the most in defibrillation and thoracostomy. Additionally,
      all interns reported post-survey confidence scores of at least 3.0 in all skills,
      representing an internal anchor of "moderately confident/need guidance at times
      to perform procedure." CONCLUSION: At the completion of the boot camp curriculum,
      EM interns had improvement in self-reported confidence across all surveyed skills
      and procedures. The described EM boot camp curriculum was effective, feasible and
      provided a foundation to our trainees during their first month of residency.

PMID- 25834688
TI  - Erratum: this article corrects: "correlation of the NBME advanced clinical
      examination in EM and the national EM M4 exams".
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. 138 in vol. 16, PMID: 25671023.]. 

PMID- 25834689
TI  - Hair Regeneration Treatment Using Adipose-Derived Stem Cell Conditioned Medium:
      Follow-up With Trichograms.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Adipose-derived stem cells secrete various growth factors that promote
      hair growth. This study examined the effects of adipose-derived stem cell
      conditioned medium on alopecia. METHODS: Adipose-derived stem cell-conditioned
      medium was intradermally injected in 22 patients (11 men and 11 women) with
      alopecia. Patients received treatment every 3 to 5 weeks for a total of 6
      sessions. Hair numbers were counted using trichograms before and after treatment.
      A half-side comparison study was also performed in 10 patients (8 men and 2
      women). RESULTS: Hair numbers were significantly increased after treatment in
      both male (including those without finasteride administration) and female
      patients. In the half-side comparison study, the increase in hair numbers was
      significantly higher on the treatment side than on the placebo side. CONCLUSION:
      Treatment using adipose-derived stem cell-conditioned medium appears highly
      effective for alopecia and may represent a new therapy for hair regeneration.

PMID- 25834690
TI  - A novel use of integraTM bilayer matrix wound dressing on a pediatric scalp
      avulsion: a case report.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Soft tissue injuries with full-thickness skin involvement not amenable
      to local flaps may be treated with dermal matrices and subsequent skin grafting.
      METHODS: A pediatric patient presented with a 50-cm(2) scalp avulsion down to
      periosteum and outer cranial table post-vehicular trauma. After cultivating
      healthy cranial neodermis with Integra Bilayer Matrix Wound Dressing, a novel
      modification of treatment protocol was attempted by removal of the silastic
      layer. RESULTS: Neodermis transformation to granulation tissue followed by
      contraction of the wound reduced alopecia while also eliminating the need for a
      split-thickness skin graft to the area. CONCLUSION: A novel modification of
      treatment protocols utilizing acellular dermal matrices improved aesthetic
      outcomes and may present a cost-, time-, and procedure-sparing treatment option
      for avulsion injuries.

PMID- 25834691
TI  - Klippel-feil syndrome and unilateral diaphragmatic paralysis.

PMID- 25834692
TI  - Calciphylaxis.

PMID- 25834693
TI  - Mobius syndrome and poland syndrome presenting together in a single patient.

PMID- 25834694
TI  - Surgical management of morel-lavallee lesion.

PMID- 25834695
TI  - A phosphorus burn.

PMID- 25834696
TI  - An Important Differential: Extramammary Paget's Disease.

PMID- 25834697
TI  - Submuscular lipoma of the forehead.

PMID- 25834698
TI  - Traumatic thumb amputation: case and review.

PMID- 25834700
TI  - A nitric oxide-donor furoxan moiety improves the efficacy of edaravone against
      early renal dysfunction and injury evoked by ischemia/reperfusion.
AB  - Edaravone (5-methyl-2-phenyl-2,4-dihydro-3H-pyrazol-3-one, EDV) is a free-radical
      scavenger reduces organ ischemic injury. Here we investigated whether the
      protective effects of EDV in renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury may be
      enhanced by an EDV derivative bearing a nitric oxide- (NO-) donor furoxan moiety
      (NO-EDV). Male Wistar rats were subjected to renal ischemia (45 minutes),
      followed by reperfusion (6 hours). Administration of either EDV (1.2-6-30
      umol/kg, i.v.) or NO-EDV (0.3-1.2-6 umol/kg, i.v.) dose-dependently attenuated
      markers of renal dysfunction (serum urea and creatinine, creatinine clearance,
      urine flow, urinary N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase, and neutrophil gelatinase
      associated lipocalin/lipocalin-2). NO-EDV exerted protective effects in the dose
      range 1.2-6 umol/kg, while a higher dose (30 umol/kg) was needed to obtain
      protection by EDV. Both EDV and NO-EDV modulated tissue markers of oxidative
      stress and lipid peroxidation. NO-EDV, but not EDV, activated endothelial NO
      synthase (NOS) and blunted I/R-induced upregulation of inducible NOS, secondary
      to modulation of Akt and NF-kappaB activation, respectively. Besides NO-EDV
      administration inhibited I/R-induced IL-1beta, IL-18, IL-6, and TNF-alpha
      overproduction. Overall, these findings demonstrate that the NO-donor moiety
      contributes to the protection against early renal I/R injury and suggest that NO
      donor EDV codrugs are worthy of additional study as innovative pharmacological
      tools.

PMID- 25834699
TI  - Interrelation of oxidative stress and inflammation in neurodegenerative disease:
      role of TNF.
AB  - Neuroinflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction are common features of chronic
      neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system. Both conditions can
      lead to increased oxidative stress by excessive release of harmful reactive
      oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS), which further promote neuronal damage
      and subsequent inflammation resulting in a feed-forward loop of
      neurodegeneration. The cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a master regulator
      of the immune system, plays an important role in the propagation of inflammation
      due to the activation and recruitment of immune cells via its receptor TNF
      receptor 1 (TNFR1). Moreover, TNFR1 can directly induce oxidative stress by the
      activation of ROS and RNS producing enzymes. Both TNF-induced oxidative stress
      and inflammation interact and cooperate to promote neurodegeneration. However,
      TNF plays a dual role in neurodegenerative disease, since stimulation via its
      second receptor, TNFR2, is neuroprotective and promotes tissue regeneration. Here
      we review the interrelation of oxidative stress and inflammation in the two major
      chronic neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, and
      discuss the dual role of TNF in promoting neurodegeneration and tissue
      regeneration via its two receptors. 

PMID- 25834702
TI  - Studying the Balance of the Coper and Non-Coper ACL-Deficient Knee Subjects.
AB  - PURPOSE: It seems that there is an association between the anterior cruciate
      ligament (ACL) and stability of the knee. This study aimed to evaluate the
      balance condition of the injured and non-injured sides of the coper and non-coper
      ACL-D (deficient) subjects during single and bilateral standing conditions.
      METHODS: This case-control study was carried out on 10 coper and 5 non-coper ACL
      D knee subjects and 15 sex-age matched healthy subjects. A Zebris platform
      pedobarograph tool was used in this study. The subjects were tested barefoot
      during single and bilateral leg stance conditions. The outcome measurements
      included measurement of the center of pressure (COP) path line length, confidence
      ellipse area and sway velocity. RESULTS: In double leg stance, data analysis
      revealed that the COP path line length, confidence ellipse area and sway velocity
      all showed a significant increase in the injured leg of the non-coper ACL-D
      subjects when compared to the injured leg of the coper ACL-D and healthy subjects
      (P=0.002). During single leg stance, all of the parameters showed significant
      increase in the injured leg of both coper and non-copers of the ACL-D subjects
      relative to the healthy subjects (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study confirmed a
      balance deficiency in the injured and apparently healthy leg of the non-coper and
      coper ACL-D knee subjects. Increased COP path line length, sway velocity and the
      coinfidence ellipse area clearly showed an impaired body balance. The reduced
      postural control of the non-coper ACL-D knee subjects in bilateral standing could
      be more evidence of their poor knee stability status.

PMID- 25834703
TI  - Effects of recovery type after a kickboxing match on blood lactate and
      performance in anaerobic tests.
AB  - PURPOSE: To verify whether active recovery (AR) applied after a kickboxing match
      resulted in better performance in anaerobic tests when compared to passive
      recovery (PR). METHODS: Eighteen kickboxers volunteered to participate on a
      Kickboxing match preceded and followed by anaerobic tests: squat jump (SJ), the
      counter movement jump (CMJ) and the upper-body Wingate test. Blood lactate (BL),
      heart rate (HR) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were analyzed before and
      after rounds. The recovery sessions consisted of 10min at 50% of maximal aerobic
      speed or PR. BL was measured at 3, 5 and 10 min after the match, while HR, RPE
      and anaerobic power were assessed after the recovery period. RESULTS: BL, HR and
      RPE increased significantly (P<0.001) during the match. BL was lower (P<0.001)
      after AR compared to PR at 5 min and 10 min (e.g. AR: 8.94 +/- 0.31 mmol.l(-1),
      PR: 10.98 +/- 0.33 mmol.l(-1)). However, PR resulted in higher (P<0.05) upper
      body mean power (4.65 +/- 0.5 W.kg(-1)) compared to AR (4.09 +/- 0.5 W.kg(-1)),
      while SJ and CMJ were not affected by the recovery type. CONCLUSION: The lactate
      removal was improved with AR when compared with PR, but AR did not improve
      subsequent performance.

PMID- 25834701
TI  - Relationship of anthropometric and training characteristics with race performance
      in endurance and ultra-endurance athletes.
AB  - A variety of anthropometric and training characteristics have been identified as
      predictor variables for race performance in endurance and ultra-endurance
      athletes. Anthropometric characteristics such as skin-fold thicknesses, body fat,
      circumferences and length of limbs, body mass, body height, and body mass index
      were bi-variately related to race performance in endurance athletes such as
      swimmers in pools and in open water, in road and mountain bike cyclists, and in
      runners and triathletes over different distances. Additionally, training
      variables such as volume and speed were also bi-variately associated with race
      performance. Multi-variate regression analyses including anthropometric and
      training characteristics reduced the predictor variables mainly to body fat and
      speed during training units. Further multi-variate regression analyses including
      additionally the aspects of previous experience such as personal best times
      showed that mainly previous best time in shorter races were the most important
      predictors for ultra-endurance race times. Ultra-endurance athletes seemed to
      prepare differently for their races compared to endurance athletes where ultra
      endurance athletes invested more time in training and completed more training
      kilometers at lower speed compared to endurance athletes. In conclusion, the most
      important predictor variables for ultra-endurance athletes were a fast personal
      best time in shorter races, a low body fat and a high speed during training
      units. 

PMID- 25834704
TI  - Effects of Resistance versus Endurance Training on Plasma Lipocalin-2 in Young
      Men.
AB  - PURPOSE: Lipocalin-2 (Lcn2) has been recognized as an adipocyte-derived acute
      phase protein that is positively correlated with obesity, insulin resistance,
      type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The effects of resistance and
      endurance training (RT vs. ET) on plasma lipocalin-2 are still unclear.
      Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of RT vs. ET on
      plasma lipocalin-2 in young men. METHODS: Twenty nine healthy and sedentary young
      men (age, 21-29 years) participated in this study. The subjects were randomly
      assigned to RT group (n=9), ET group (n=10) or control group (n=10). The
      experimental groups performed either RT or ET, 3 days a week for 8 weeks. The
      endurance training program included continuous running at an intensity
      corresponding to 65-80% of maximal heart rate, while resistance training
      consisted of 2-4 sets of circuit weight training for 8 stations and at an
      intensity corresponding to 65-80% of 1-RM in each station. RESULTS: No
      significant changes in the body mass, BMI, body fat percentage and WHR were found
      after the RT and ET. The results showed that Lcn2 decreased after RT and ET
      compared with the control group (P<0.05). High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs
      CRP) and insulin resistance determined by HOMA-IR, did not change in the RT and
      ET compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: Lcn2 decreases after 8 weeks RT
      and ET, but this improvement was not accompanied by decreased hs-CRP and insulin
      resistance in healthy and sedentary young men.

PMID- 25834705
TI  - Assessment of Correlation between Electrogoniometer Measurements and Sports
      Specific Movement in Karate Elites.
AB  - PURPOSE: To examine the intra-rater reliability of knee movement data in sagital
      plane obtained from electrogoniometer (EGM) in a basic, sport-specific task of
      karate. METHODS: A total of 23 elite karate athletes (13 females and 10 males;
      mean age of 16.10+/-1.26 yrs) participated in this study. The task was defined as
      performing three consecutive Zenkutsu-dachi in two sessions. The used EGM was a
      twin axis of Biometrics company. EGM curves were plotted in MATLAB software
      separately. The indices of three points in the plots corresponding to extremes of
      flexion and extension of knee in the first dachi were determined. There was also
      another (forth) point which was not in extremes of movement. As it was repeated
      in all curves, it was perceived as a biomechanical event and was assessed. The
      phases of movement between the points were scaled between 0 to 100% of activity.
      RESULTS: Repeatability of the forth point index was assessed by intraclass
      correlation method. Intraclass correlation of the ratio in the first testing
      session was 0.666 and in second was 0.448. The interval between points were
      considered as phases of movement. After determining three phases of dachi, it was
      shown that these phases pertained a specific ratio of the total plot which were
      48%, 36% and 16% of total respectively. CONCLUSION: Dachi could be divided into
      three distinct phases; each of them should constitute a specific percent of the
      total in an elite athlete.

PMID- 25834706
TI  - The effect of two-week L-carnitine supplementation on exercise -induced oxidative
      stress and muscle damage.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study was conducted to assess the effect of Two-week L-carnitine
      supplementation on known markers of oxidative stress and muscle damage following
      acute bouts of exercise in active healthy young men. METHODS: Twenty-one active
      healthy men volunteered for this study. Participants were randomized in a double
      blind placebo-controlled fashion into two groups: L-carnitine (C group; n=10) and
      placebo group (P group; n=11). They arrived at the laboratory after overnight
      fasting. A baseline blood sample was taken. Afterwards, subjects consumed either
      L-carnitine (2 capsules containing totally 2000 mg L-carnitine) or placebo (2
      capsules containing totally 2000 mg lactose) daily for 14 days. On the day of the
      test, participants attended the athletics arena after overnight fasting. Then,
      participants were asked to run 14 km on the track at their highest ability. Blood
      samples were taken immediately, 2, and 24 hours after exercise. Plasma total
      antioxidant capacity (TAC), malondialdehyde (MDA) as thiobarbituric acid-reactive
      substance (TBARS) as a marker of lipid peroxidation, creatine kinase (CK) and
      lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) as markers of muscle damage were measured. RESULTS:
      TAC increased significantly 14 days after supplementation and 24h after exercise
      in C group compared with P group (P<0.05). Serum MDA-TBARS, CK, and LDH were
      significantly lower 24h after exercise in C group compared with P group (P<0.05).
      CONCLUSION: These results suggest that two-week daily oral supplementation of L
      carnitine has alleviating effects on lipid peroxidation and muscle damage markers
      following an acute bout of exercise in active healthy young men.

PMID- 25834707
TI  - Surgical treatment of pectoralis major tendon rupture (outcome assessment).
AB  - PURPOSE: Rupture of pectoralis major (PM) occurs most commonly as a result of an
      indirect mechanism associated with extensive tension on a maximally contracted
      muscle. Patients with PM tendon ruptures, classically present a history of sudden
      severe pain in arm and shoulder at the time of injury. Treatment options vary
      from conservative to operative. In cases with total or near-total injuries,
      surgical treatment by anatomic repair is generally advised, since conservative
      treatment may lead to poor results. The present paper reports 24 cases of
      surgically-treated ruptured PM while assessing the results. METHODS: Between 2005
      and 2010, 32 cases of unilaterally distal ruptured PM were surgically treated by
      the same surgeon and same technique, in two teaching hospitals of Tehran
      University of Medical Sciences. All cases were followed postoperatively by
      physical examination and functional criteria. RESULTS: Since eight of the cases
      were lost from follow up, 24 cases were followed for at least one year. According
      to modified Kakwani system, 6 of our patients (25%) rated as excellent, 15
      cases(62.5%) rated as good, 2 cases (8.33%) rated as fair and 1 case (4.1%) rated
      as poor. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, we see that 87.5% of the patients had good to
      excellent results, according to modified Kakwani classification, after one year
      of follow up. So it seems that surgical repair of the pectoralis major ruptures
      will help the patients to return to their previous activities more frequently and
      we believe, to achieve better functional outcome. Meticulous surgical technique
      and attention to rehabilitation program are more important than delay in surgery.

PMID- 25834708
TI  - Late care in marathon runs leading to exertional heat stroke with multiple organ
      failure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Exertional heat stroke (EHS) is still a main cause of death in sport.
      Many of EHS complications could have been prevented if EHS had been recognized
      and treated early and properly. CASE PRESENTATION: We report an unusual case of
      multiple organ failure caused by EHS due to intensive sportive activities in a
      hot environment with lack of primary care. A 35-year-old healthy sportive man was
      admitted in our hospital because of muscle aches and weakness as well as dark
      urine three days after a six hour marathon run (Agadir Semi-Marathon) in a very
      sunny day. Patient developed rhabdomyolysis, acute renal failure (ARF) requiring
      hemodialysis because of hyperkaliemia, azotemia and severe metabolic acidosis,
      disseminated intravascular coagulation and acute liver failure. Unfortunately,
      after eight days of intensive care, the patient died from septic shock and
      multiple organ failure. CONCLUSION: This case reminds us that, despite the
      advancements of knowledge in the area of EHS prevention, recognition, and
      treatment, knowledge has not been translated into practice.

PMID- 25834709
TI  - Emergency Management of Dental Trauma among Physical Education Teachers of 2
      Districts in Karnataka, India.

PMID- 25834710
TI  - Cloning and Expression of Poly 3-Hydroxybutyrate Operon Into Escherichia coli.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Poly 3-Hydroxybutyrate (PHB), a class of Poly Hydroxyalkanoates
      (PHAs), is a group of bacterial storage polymers, produced by various
      microorganisms in response to nutrient limitation. PHAs are biodegradable
      polymers which could be a good substitute for current petrochemical plastics. PHB
      has been synthesized during three enzymatic steps including three genes.
      OBJECTIVES: Our aim was PHB production from recombinant bacteria. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Ralstonia eutropha was cultured and its genomic DNA was extracted. The
      phbCAB operon was amplified using designed primers. The fragment was cloned into
      pET-28a expression vector and then transformed into Escherichia coli BL21. Sudan
      black staining was used to show the production of PHB. RESULTS: The extracted
      recombinant plasmid was digested with restriction enzymes. Separation of the
      desired fragment from the vector was performed to prove the correct insertion of
      the PCR products into the vector. The colony PCR and sequencing results confirmed
      the successful transformation. The production of PHB was confirmed by Sudan Black
      B staining under a light microscope. CONCLUSIONS: Various metabolic and
      fermentation methods have been used in some bacterial strains for PHB production.
      The use of a recombinant system harboring PHB synthesis genes can produce PHB in
      higher concentrations compare to natural PHA-producing bacteria. The present
      study was one of the most important and basic steps of designing a recombinant E.
      coli that can produce PHB.

PMID- 25834711
TI  - Diagnosing of herpes simplex virus infections in suspected patients using real
      time PCR.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Herpes simplex virus infections are very common worldwide. The virus
      can cause infection in various body parts, especially eyes and the nervous
      system. Therefore, an early diagnosis and highly sensitive method is very
      helpful. OBJECTIVES: The present study sought to investigate the efficiency of
      Real-time TaqMan probe PCR in the diagnosis of HSV infection in suspected
      patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, 1566 patients with suspected HSV
      infections were enrolled. They aged 17 days to 96 years. The collected specimens
      were classified into four groups; cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from HSE suspected
      individuals, samples from eye epithelial scraping, tear fluid or aqueous humor
      from herpes simplex keratitis (HSK) suspected patients, plasma of immune
      compromised patients and mucocutaneous collected samples from different body
      parts. The samples were analyzed by Real-time PCR assays. RESULTS: In total, 44
      (5.6%), 118 (26.8%), 23 (11.7%), 13 (44.8%) and 65 (45.5%) of 791 HSE, 407 HSK,
      29 skin HSV, 143 oropharyngeal suspected patients and 196 patients with systemic
      HSV infection HSV had positive results by Real-time PCR assays, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: Real-time PCR assay, due to its high sensitivity and specificity,
      can help in early diagnosis and more effective treatment for patients. Also, it
      requires shorter hospital stay and promotes patients' survival.

PMID- 25834712
TI  - Effective Phages as Green Antimicrobial Agents Against Antibiotic-Resistant
      Hospital Escherichia coli.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bacteriophages are viruses that attack bacteria and lead to their
      lysis in an efficient and highly specific manner. These natural enemies of
      bacteria were used as therapeutic agents before the advent of antibiotics.
      Currently, with the rapid spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria, phage therapy
      can be an effective alternative treatment for antibiotic resistant bacteria.
      OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the effectiveness of bacteriophages in removing
      antibiotic-resistant clinical Escherichia coli strains in vitro and in vivo.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: Different samples were taken from bed sore and foot ulcers
      of patients with diabetes. E. coli strains were isolated and identified by
      standard methods. The antibiogram was ascertained using the Kirby Bauer disc
      diffusion method for ten antibiotics. The bacteriophages were isolated from
      environmental water samples. They were exposed to the host bacteria by the double
      layer agar technique (DLA) to observe plaques. Cross reaction of the phages on
      test E. coli strains was performed to determine broader-spectrum phages. Phage
      TPR7 was selected for animal trials. Five groups of mice including a control
      group, bacterial group, phage group, antibiotic therapy group and phage therapy
      group, were examined. RESULTS: Ten E. coli strains were isolated from hospital
      samples. They showed high resistance to the used antibiotics. An effective
      bacteriophage was isolated for each strain. The cross-reaction showed phages
      which affect more than six E. coli strains. They can be a good choice for
      clinical therapeutic use. In animal trials the group challenged with phages after
      being infected showed similar results as the group treated with gentamicin after
      being infected. In both groups infection was removed after 48 hours. CONCLUSIONS:
      According to the results, six strains were resistant to six or seven antibiotics
      and all strains were at least resistant to two antibiotics. However, for each of
      these resistant bacteria one bacteriophage was isolated from environmental
      samples, which showed the effectiveness of bacteriophages to remove clinically
      resistant E. coli strains. Effective phages in vitro showed effective results in
      vivo as well.

PMID- 25834713
TI  - Oncogenic Virus Infections in the General Population and End-stage Renal Disease
      Patients With Special Emphasis on Kaposi's Sarcoma Associated Herpes Virus (KSHV)
      in Northeast of Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Globally, almost 20% of cancers are related to infectious agents that
      can be prevented. Oncogenicity refers to viruses that may cause cancers, more
      importantly in immunocompromised subjects such as transplant and hemodialysis
      patients. Therefore, epidemiological studies are the first line for understanding
      the importance of these agents in public health, particularly, in mobile
      populations, tourism and pilgrimage regions. OBJECTIVES: Oncogenic viral
      infections, such as hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Epstein
      barr virus (EBV) are the most common viral agents in immunocompromised patients.
      Furthermore, human T lymphocyte virus type I (HTLV-I), due to endemicity in
      Khorasan Razavi province located northeast of Iran as a pilgrimage region, and
      Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpes virus (KSHV), as an oncogenic herpesvirus in
      immunocompromised subjects have been investigated among the general population
      and those with end-stage renal diseases (ESRD). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross
      sectional study was carried out among 1227 randomly selected individuals; 25
      donors and 195 patients with ESRD, including 60 kidney transplant recipients and
      135 dialysis patients from the Khorasan Razavi province, Iran. Serological tests
      were carried out using commercial enzyme-immunoassay kits. To confirm positive
      serology tests, the extracted viral DNA or RNA was examined for the presence of
      KSHV, HTLV-I and HCV by conventional PCR. RESULTS: The prevalence of KSHV
      infection in the general population was 1.71% (21/1227); 2.60% (10/384) males and
      1.30% (11/843) females. In kidney transplants, viral infections occurred in 23.3%
      of subjects; including EBV, HTLV-I and HBV-HCV co-infection in 8.3%, 3.3% and
      1.7%, respectively. In patients on hemodialysis, viral infections were present in
      29.6% including EBV, HTLV-I and HBV-HCV co-infection in 2.2%, 5.9% and 16.3%,
      respectively. Seroprevalence of KSHV in patients with kidney transplants was 1.7%
      and in patients on dialysis was 3.0%. Furthermore, KSHV and HTLV-I genome was
      detected in 25% and 100% of seropositive subjects, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In
      conclusion, this study demonstrated that these tumor virus infections including
      HTLV-I, KSHV and particularly hepatitis viruses (HBV plus HCV) are prevalent in
      the general population and in patients on hemodialysis, which might be an
      important health concern in this region due to the mobile population.

PMID- 25834714
TI  - Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora spp. Infections in Arab Horses,
      Southwest of Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Because of the economic importance of the Arab race horses and also
      the role of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora spp. in abortion and reproductive
      failure of these animals, we decided to perform this study. OBJECTIVES: We
      designed this study to investigate the seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii
      and anti-Neospora spp. antibodies in Arab horses from 12 cities of Khuzestan
      province in southwest of Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From October 2009 to March
      2011, a total of 235 blood samples were collected from jugular veins of Arab
      horses of different ages and genders from 12 cities of Khuzestan province. All
      the sera were tested for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies using the modified
      agglutination test (MAT) and the existence of anti-Neospora antibodies were
      tested using N-MAT for Neospora spp. RESULTS: According to the MAT results,
      antibodies to T. gondii were found in 114 (48.5%) of 235 sera with titers of 1:20
      in 84, 1:40 in 19, 1:80 in four, 1:160 in four, and 1:320 in three horses.
      According to the N-MAT results, antibodies to Neospora spp. were found in 47
      (20%) of 235 sera with titers of 1:40 in 39, 1:80 in five, and 1:160 in three
      horses. We did not observe any statistically significant differences regarding
      age groups and genders between seropositive and seronegative horses for Neospora
      spp. using chi-square (chi(2)) test, but it seemed that anti-Toxoplasma
      antibodies were more prevalent in older horses (>= 10 years old). CONCLUSIONS:
      The results indicated that Arab horses are exposed to these parasites in
      southwest of Iran. Further research is required to determine the genomic
      structures of these parasites in Arab horses in southwest of Iran.

PMID- 25834716
TI  - Rapid quantitative estimation of chlorinated methane utilizing bacteria in
      drinking water and the effect of nanosilver on biodegradation of the
      trichloromethane in the environment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Halomethanes are toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, which are widely
      used in industry. Also they can be formed during water disinfection by chlorine.
      Biodegradation by methylotrophs is the most important way to remove these
      pollutants from the environment. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to represent a
      simple and rapid method for quantitative study of halomethanes utilizing bacteria
      in drinking water and also a method to facilitate the biodegradation of these
      compounds in the environment compared to cometabolism. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Enumeration of chlorinated methane utilizing bacteria in drinking water was
      carried out by most probable number (MPN) method in two steps. First, the
      presence and the number of methylotroph bacteria were confirmed on methanol
      containing medium. Then, utilization of dichloromethane was determined by
      measuring the released chloride after the addition of 0.04 mol/L of it to the
      growth medium. Also, the effect of nanosilver particles on biodegradation of
      multiple chlorinated methanes was studied by bacterial growth on Bushnell-Haas
      Broth containing chloroform (trichloromethane) that was treated with 0.2 ppm
      nanosilver. RESULTS: Most probable number of methylotrophs and chlorinated
      methane utilizing bacteria in tested drinking water were 10 and 4 MPN Index/L,
      respectively. Chloroform treatment by nanosilver leads to dechlorination and the
      production of formaldehyde. The highest growth of bacteria and formic acid
      production were observed in the tubes containing 1% chloroform treated with
      nanosilver. CONCLUSIONS: By combining the two tests, a rapid approach to
      estimation of most probable number of chlorinated methane utilizing bacteria is
      introduced. Treatment by nanosilver particles was resulted in the easier and
      faster biodegradation of chloroform by bacteria. Thus, degradation of these
      chlorinated compounds is more efficient compared to cometabolism.

PMID- 25834715
TI  - Isolation and Identification of Two Novel Escherichia coli Bacteriophages and
      Their Application in Wastewater Treatment and Coliform's Phage Therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Phage therapy or use of lytic bacteriophages for eliminating
      bacterial populations has been developed for several aspects of human affairs
      such as medicine, agriculture and food industries. OBJECTIVES: The high load of
      coliforms of treated wastewater effluents that are discharged into the rivers or
      agricultural lands is a serious concern of the Iran Department of Environment and
      the reduction of coliforms using phages to overcome this problem is an asset.
      This research aimed to isolate and identify specific lytic coliphages and
      investigate their effects on native and standard Escherichia coli strains as well
      as coliform populations in municipal wastewater. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The
      wastewater sample was cultured on selective culture media to isolate a native
      coliform strain and characterized using molecular methods. River water was
      centrifuged and passed through a 0.45 MUm filter and its lytic coliphages were
      enriched and purified against a native E. coli as well as a standard E. coli
      strain. Municipal wastewater was treated with isolated lytic coliphages and most
      probable number (MPN) reduction was examined. RESULTS: E. coli SBSWF27, which is
      a native strain of E. coli from Isfahan municipal wastewater treatment plant, was
      isolated and characterized. Also two novel bacteriophages related to Myoviridae
      and Podoviridae families of bacteriophages from Zayandehrood River (Isfahan,
      Iran) were isolated. These coliphages had lytic effects on E. coli PTCC1399 and
      E. coli SBSWF27 as coliform's index. The myovirus had a hexagonal head measuring
      27.28 nm and a noncontractile tail measuring 204.5 * 13.63 nm. The podovirus had
      an oval head measuring 98 * 35 nm and a tail, 14 nm in diameter. The treatment of
      municipal sewage with the coliphage mixture resulted in a 22-fold decrease of the
      coliform's MPN from 2400 to 110 after two hours of incubation. CONCLUSIONS: This
      is the first report on isolation and identification of two novel lytic myovirus
      and podovirus from Zayandehrood River in Isfahan that had lytic effects on E.
      coli PTCC1399 and E. coli SBSWF27 strains as well as coliform's population of
      Isfahan municipal wastewater. We suggest that the use of these lytic coliphages
      for reduction of coliform's population in sewage could be considered as an
      effective and simple alternative for costly replacement of instruments and
      establishments of the old wastewater treatment plants.

PMID- 25834717
TI  - Identification of Legionella Pneumophila in Intubated Patients With TaqMan Real
      Time PCR.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Legionellaceae contains Legionella genus with over 52 species and 64
      serogroups. It is one of the most important causes of respiratory disease in
      human. More than 30% of hospital-acquired pneumonia is caused by Legionella.
      Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is an infection acquired in hospital wards,
      particularly in intensive care unit (ICU). This disease approximately affects 9%
      to 20% of intubated patients. Mortality in these patients varies between 8% and
      76%. Legionella is one of the important factors for infection in intubated
      patients. OBJECTIVES: The present study was aimed to investigate the use of
      molecular methods in diagnosis of infection caused by Legionella pneumophila.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, 109 samples of lung secretions collected
      from intubated patients admitted to ICU wards of four university hospitals in a
      three-month period were examined. Cultivation and Real time Polymerase Chain
      Reaction (PCR) methods were used to assess L. pneumophila colonization in these
      samples. RESULTS: Eleven samples had positive results using real time PCR
      analysis of 16s rRNA gene fragments specific for L. pneumophila, but according to
      culture method on specific buffered charcoal-yeast extract medium (BCYE), no
      positive cases were detected. Of the total positive cases, six were males, one
      female and four infants. The seven adults aged 40-65 years. CONCLUSIONS: Using
      molecular methods in diagnosis of infection caused by L. pneumophila has a great
      value because of its high specificity and rapid diagnosis potency.

PMID- 25834718
TI  - Frequency of adenoviruses, rotaviruses and noroviruses among diarrhea samples
      collected from infants of zabol, southeastern iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Viruses are one of the major reasons of gastrointestinal disease
      worldwide, and commonly infect children less than five years of age in developing
      countries. OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to determine the frequency of
      adenoviruses, rotaviruses and noroviruses among diarrhea samples collected from
      infants of Zabol, south-east of Iran. This study is the first investigation of
      adenoviruses, rotaviruses and noroviruses among diarrhea samples in Zabol.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, eighty-two diarrhea stool samples were
      collected from infants aged < 1 to 12 months admitted to the hospital, internal
      laboratory and central laboratory of Zabol, Iran. All samples were subjected to
      the rapid immunochromatography assay. RESULTS: The results showed that the
      frequency of rotaviruses, adenoviruses and noroviruses among infants with
      diarrhea were 70.20%, 20.30% and 9.50%, respectively. There were 50 subjects aged
      one to five months and 2 subjects aged nine to twelve months. The results of
      geographical distribution showed that the number of infants living in rural and
      urban areas with these viruses were 50 and 32, respectively. Rotaviruses were
      most common in rural and urban infants with 42 and 10 cases, respectively.
      Regarding the feeding patterns of infants with diarrhea, mixed feeding and breast
      feeding were found in 51 and 31 cases, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion,
      the results of our study showed that the major viral pathogens that caused
      infantile diarrhea in Zabol city were rotaviruses followed by adenoviruses and
      noroviruses. The results of our study can useful for prosperous control of
      infantile diarrhea.

PMID- 25834719
TI  - Cytomegalovirus infection and atherosclerosis in candidate of coronary artery
      bypass graft.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although there is enough evidence that infectious agents such as
      Chlamydia pneumonia and Helicobacter pylori may play a pathogenic role in
      atherosclerosis, this role for cytomegalovirus (CMV) is yet controversial.
      OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to detect CMV-DNA in atherosclerotic
      plaques in patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: In this case-control study, candidates for CABG (cases) and patients
      with valvular or congenital malformation but without atherosclerotic plaques
      (controls) were studied from 2012 to 2013 at Golestan hospital, Ahvaz, IR Iran.
      Demographic and laboratory data were collected. Atherosclerotic and histological
      samples were obtained from visible plaques and from aorta by the surgeon. All the
      samples were examined for the presence of CMV-DNA by polymerase chain reaction
      (PCR) method using a commercial kit (SinaClon, Tehran, IR Iran). RESULTS: The
      mean ages in case and control groups were 60.8 +/- 6.8 and 57.5 +/- 11.5 years,
      respectively, with no significant difference (P = 0.09). Thirty patients (54.5%)
      in case and 32 (58.2%) in control groups were male with no significant difference
      (P = 0.7). CMV-DNA was present in 8 (14.5%) of the cases and 2 (4%) of the
      controls. CMV-DNA was associated with higher risk of atherosclerosis (OR: 7.7,
      95% CI = 1.1-51.4, P = 0.03). Of the total normal aortic samples (55 in cases and
      55 in controls), there was no individual with simultaneous positive CMV-DNA among
      aortic atherosclerotic and normal tissue samples. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of
      CMV-DNA in aortic plaques is associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis.
      CMV infection may be considered as an independent risk factor for this event.

PMID- 25834720
TI  - RNA Polymerase II Second Largest Subunit Molecular Identification of Boletus
      griseipurpureus Corner From Thailand and Antibacterial Activity of Basidiocarp
      Extracts.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Boletus griseipurpureus Corner, an edible mushroom, is a putative
      ectomycorrhizal fungus. Currently, the taxonomic boundary of this mushroom is
      unclear and its bitter taste makes it interesting for evaluating its
      antibacterial properties. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify
      the genetic variation of this mushroom and also to evaluate any antibacterial
      activities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Basidiocarps were collected from 2 north
      eastern provinces, Roi Et and Ubon Ratchathani, and from 2 southern provinces,
      Songkhla and Surat Thani, in Thailand. Genomic DNA was extracted and molecular
      structure was examined using the RNA polymerase II (RPB2) analysis. Antibacterial
      activities of basidiocarp extracts were conducted with Escherichia coli ATCC
      25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29523 and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
      aureus (MRSA) 189 using the agar-well diffusion method. RESULTS: All the samples
      collected for this study constituted a monophyletic clade, which was closely
      related with the Boletus group of polypore fungi. For the antibacterial study, it
      was found that the crude methanol extract of basidiomes inhibited the growth of
      all bacteria in vitro more than the crude ethyl acetate extract. CONCLUSIONS:
      Basidomes collected from four locations in Thailand had low genetic variation and
      their extracts inhibited the growth of all tested bacteria. The health benefits
      of this edible species should be evaluated further.

PMID- 25834721
TI  - Predicting local and non-local effects of resources on animal space use using a
      mechanistic step selection model.
AB  - Predicting space use patterns of animals from their interactions with the
      environment is fundamental for understanding the effect of habitat changes on
      ecosystem functioning. Recent attempts to address this problem have sought to
      unify resource selection analysis, where animal space use is derived from
      available habitat quality, and mechanistic movement models, where detailed
      movement processes of an animal are used to predict its emergent utilization
      distribution. Such models bias the animal's movement towards patches that are
      easily available and resource-rich, and the result is a predicted probability
      density at a given position being a function of the habitat quality at that
      position. However, in reality, the probability that an animal will use a patch of
      the terrain tends to be a function of the resource quality in both that patch and
      the surrounding habitat.We propose a mechanistic model where this non-local
      effect of resources naturally emerges from the local movement processes, by
      taking into account the relative utility of both the habitat where the animal
      currently resides and that of where it is moving. We give statistical techniques
      to parametrize the model from location data and demonstrate application of these
      techniques to GPS location data of caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in
      Newfoundland.Steady-state animal probability distributions arising from the model
      have complex patterns that cannot be expressed simply as a function of the local
      quality of the habitat. In particular, large areas of good habitat are used more
      intensively than smaller patches of equal quality habitat, whereas isolated
      patches are used less frequently. Both of these are real aspects of animal space
      use missing from previous mechanistic resource selection models.Whilst we focus
      on habitats in this study, our modelling framework can be readily used with any
      environmental covariates and therefore represents a unification of mechanistic
      modelling and step selection approaches to understanding animal space use.

PMID- 25834722
TI  - Measuring telomere length and telomere dynamics in evolutionary biology and
      ecology.
AB  - Telomeres play a fundamental role in the protection of chromosomal DNA and in the
      regulation of cellular senescence. Recent work in human epidemiology and
      evolutionary ecology suggests adult telomere length (TL) may reflect past
      physiological stress and predict subsequent morbidity and mortality, independent
      of chronological age.Several different methods have been developed to measure TL,
      each offering its own technical challenges. The aim of this review is to provide
      an overview of the advantages and drawbacks of each method for researchers, with
      a particular focus on issues that are likely to face ecologists and evolutionary
      biologists collecting samples in the field or in organisms that may never have
      been studied in this context before.We discuss the key issues to consider and
      wherever possible try to provide current consensus view regarding best practice
      with regard to sample collection and storage, DNA extraction and storage, and the
      five main methods currently available to measure TL.Decisions regarding which
      tissues to sample, how to store them, how to extract DNA, and which TL
      measurement method to use cannot be prescribed, and are dependent on the
      biological question addressed and the constraints imposed by the study system.
      What is essential for future studies of telomere dynamics in evolution and
      ecology is that researchers publish full details of their methods and the quality
      control thresholds they employ.

PMID- 25834723
TI  - Inferring positive selection in humans from genomic data.
AB  - Adaptation can be described as an evolutionary process that leads to an
      adjustment of the phenotypes of a population to their environment. In the
      classical view, new mutations can introduce novel phenotypic features into a
      population that leave footprints in the genome after fixation, such as selective
      sweeps. Alternatively, existing genetic variants may become beneficial after an
      environmental change and increase in frequency. Although they may not reach
      fixation, they may cause a shift of the optimum of a phenotypic trait controlled
      by multiple loci. With the availability of polymorphism data from various
      organisms, including humans and chimpanzees, it has become possible to detect
      molecular evidence of adaptation and to estimate the strength and target of
      positive selection. In this review, we discuss the two competing models of
      adaptation and suitable approaches for detecting the footprints of positive
      selection on the molecular level. 

PMID- 25834724
TI  - Genome-wide insights into the genetic history of human populations.
AB  - Although mtDNA and the non-recombining Y chromosome (NRY) studies continue to
      provide valuable insights into the genetic history of human populations, recent
      technical, methodological and computational advances and the increasing
      availability of large-scale, genome-wide data from contemporary human populations
      around the world promise to reveal new aspects, resolve finer points, and provide
      a more detailed look at our past demographic history. Genome-wide data are
      particularly useful for inferring migrations, admixture, and fine structure, as
      well as for estimating population divergence and admixture times and fluctuations
      in effective population sizes. In this review, we highlight some of the stories
      that have emerged from the analyses of genome-wide SNP genotyping data concerning
      the human history of Southern Africa, India, Oceania, Island South East Asia,
      Europe and the Americas and comment on possible future study directions. We also
      discuss advantages and drawbacks of using SNP-arrays, with a particular focus on
      the ascertainment bias, and ways to circumvent it. 

PMID- 25834725
TI  - Clinical decision support systems for improving diagnostic accuracy and achieving
      precision medicine.
AB  - As research laboratories and clinics collaborate to achieve precision medicine,
      both communities are required to understand mandated electronic health/medical
      record (EHR/EMR) initiatives that will be fully implemented in all clinics in the
      United States by 2015. Stakeholders will need to evaluate current record keeping
      practices and optimize and standardize methodologies to capture nearly all
      information in digital format. Collaborative efforts from academic and industry
      sectors are crucial to achieving higher efficacy in patient care while minimizing
      costs. Currently existing digitized data and information are present in multiple
      formats and are largely unstructured. In the absence of a universally accepted
      management system, departments and institutions continue to generate silos of
      information. As a result, invaluable and newly discovered knowledge is difficult
      to access. To accelerate biomedical research and reduce healthcare costs,
      clinical and bioinformatics systems must employ common data elements to create
      structured annotation forms enabling laboratories and clinics to capture sharable
      data in real time. Conversion of these datasets to knowable information should be
      a routine institutionalized process. New scientific knowledge and clinical
      discoveries can be shared via integrated knowledge environments defined by
      flexible data models and extensive use of standards, ontologies, vocabularies,
      and thesauri. In the clinical setting, aggregated knowledge must be displayed in
      user-friendly formats so that physicians, non-technical laboratory personnel,
      nurses, data/research coordinators, and end-users can enter data, access
      information, and understand the output. The effort to connect astronomical
      numbers of data points, including '-omics'-based molecular data, individual
      genome sequences, experimental data, patient clinical phenotypes, and follow-up
      data is a monumental task. Roadblocks to this vision of integration and
      interoperability include ethical, legal, and logistical concerns. Ensuring data
      security and protection of patient rights while simultaneously facilitating
      standardization is paramount to maintaining public support. The capabilities of
      supercomputing need to be applied strategically. A standardized, methodological
      implementation must be applied to developed artificial intelligence systems with
      the ability to integrate data and information into clinically relevant knowledge.
      Ultimately, the integration of bioinformatics and clinical data in a clinical
      decision support system promises precision medicine and cost effective and
      personalized patient care. 

PMID- 25834726
TI  - PGC-1alpha modulates denervation-induced mitophagy in skeletal muscle.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Alterations in skeletal muscle contractile activity necessitate an
      efficient remodeling mechanism. In particular, mitochondrial turnover is
      essential for tissue homeostasis during muscle adaptations to chronic use and
      disuse. While mitochondrial biogenesis appears to be largely governed by the
      transcriptional co-activator peroxisome proliferator co-activator 1 alpha (PGC
      1alpha), selective mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy) is thought to mediate
      organelle degradation. However, whether PGC-1alpha plays a direct role in
      autophagy is currently unclear. METHODS: To investigate the role of the co
      activator in autophagy and mitophagy during skeletal muscle remodeling, PGC
      1alpha knockout (KO) and overexpressing (Tg) animals were unilaterally
      denervated, a common model of chronic muscle disuse. RESULTS: Animals lacking PGC
      1alpha exhibited diminished mitochondrial density alongside myopathic
      characteristics reminiscent of autophagy-deficient muscle. Denervation promoted
      an induction in autophagy and lysosomal protein expression in wild-type (WT)
      animals, which was partially attenuated in KO animals, resulting in reduced
      autophagy and mitophagy flux. PGC-1alpha overexpression led to an increase in
      lysosomal capacity as well as indicators of autophagy flux but exhibited reduced
      localization of LC3II and p62 to mitochondria, compared to WT animals. A
      correlation was observed between the levels of the autophagy-lysosome master
      regulator transcription factor EB (TFEB) and PGC-1alpha in muscle, supporting
      their coordinated regulation. CONCLUSIONS: Our investigation has uncovered a
      regulatory role for PGC-1alpha in mitochondrial turnover, not only through
      biogenesis but also via degradation using the autophagy-lysosome machinery. This
      implies a PGC-1alpha-mediated cross-talk between these two opposing processes,
      working to ensure mitochondrial homeostasis during muscle adaptation to chronic
      disuse.

PMID- 25834727
TI  - Helping address the national research and research capacity needs of Australian
      chiropractic: introducing the Australian Chiropractic Research Network (ACORN)
      project.
AB  - Chiropractic is a popular health care choice in Australia and yet major gaps in
      our empirical understanding of this area of practice remain. Furthermore, while
      some research excellence exists, a largely uncoordinated approach to research
      activity and development has in effect led to silos of interest and a lack of
      strategic 'big-picture' planning essential to producing a sustainable research
      culture and capacity for the profession. This commentary identifies the
      significance of a number of key features - including a national, coordinated
      focus, and a rich engagement with the practitioner and patient base amongst
      others - arguably important to the future development of research and research
      capacity within Australian chiropractic. The design features and phases of the
      Australian Chiropractic Research Network (ACORN) project are also outlined. ACORN
      is one contemporary initiative specifically developed to address chiropractic's
      research and research capacity building needs and help grow a broad evidence-base
      to inform safe, effective patient care. 

PMID- 25834728
TI  - Emergence of Escherichia coli producing OXA-48 beta-lactamase in the community in
      Switzerland.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The emergence and worldwide spread of carbapenemase-producing
      Enterobacteriaceae is of great concern to public health services. The aim of this
      study was to investigate the occurrence of carbapenemase-producing
      Enterobacteriaceae in the community in Switzerland. FINDINGS: One thousand and
      eighty-six stool samples of healthy humans (staff members of a food-processing
      company which were screened for the occurrence of salmonellae) were collected in
      September 2014. After an initial enrichment-step, carbapenemase-producing
      Enterobacteriaceae were isolated from the carbapenem-containing selective medium
      SUPERCARBA II. Grown colonies from 11 samples were screened by PCR for the
      presence of bla KPC, bla NDM, bla OXA-48 and bla VIM. A single OXA-48-producing
      Escherichia coli was detected. Phylogenetic grouping and multi-locus sequence
      typing (MLST) revealed that this strain belonged to D:ST38, a type which had been
      previously reported in the UK, France, Lebanon and Egypt. CONCLUSIONS: The
      results of this study show that OXA-48-producing Enterobacteriaceae have started
      to spread into the community in Switzerland, and a continuous monitoring is
      necessary to better understand their dissemination in the human population as
      well as in animals and the environment.

PMID- 25834729
TI  - Mini review: linkage between alpha-Synuclein protein and cognition.
AB  - alpha-synuclein is a protein that plays important roles in cognitive function in
      the normal brain, although its exact role is not fully understood. However,
      current studies reveal that defects in alpha-synuclein function could contribute
      to various neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), a
      disease with symptomatic progression of deterioration in motor and cognitive
      function. Recent studies show that the level of alpha -synuclein in cerebrospinal
      fluid (CSF) is highly correlated with speed of cognitive decline, suggesting a
      potential role of alpha-synuclein in cognitive function. In this mini review, we
      will be focus on literatures of alpha-synuclein in cognitive function in the non
      diseased brain, as well as the impact that defective alpha-synuclein has on
      cognition in disease brain. This will be accomplished by assessing the effects of
      soluble alpha-synuclein, alpha-synuclein oligomers, and extracellular alpha
      synuclein transport, on neurodegeneration. 

PMID- 25834730
TI  - Voxel-based meta-analysis of grey matter changes in Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) using structural brain MRI has been
      widely used for the assessment of impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but
      previous studies in VBM studies on AD remain inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: We
      conducted meta-analyses to integrate the reported studies to determine the
      consistent grey matter alterations in AD based on VBM method. METHODS: The
      PubMed, ISI Web of Science, EMBASE and Medline database were searched for
      articles between 1995 and June 2014. Manual searches were also conducted, and
      authors of studies were contacted for additional data. Coordinates were extracted
      from clusters with significant grey matter difference between AD patients and
      healthy controls (HC). Meta-analysis was performed using a new improved voxel
      based meta-analytic method, Effect Size Signed Differential Mapping (ES-SDM).
      RESULTS: Thirty data-sets comprising 960 subjects with AD and 1195 HC met
      inclusion criteria. Grey matter volume (GMV) reduction at 334 coordinates in AD
      and no GMV increase were found in the current meta-analysis. Significant
      reductions in GMV were robustly localized in the limbic regions (left
      parahippocampl gyrus and left posterior cingulate gyrus). In addition, there were
      GM decreases in right fusiform gyrus and right superior frontal gyrus. The
      findings remain largely unchanged in the jackknife sensitivity analyses.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis clearly identified GMV atrophy in AD. These
      findings confirm that the most prominent and replicable structural abnormalities
      in AD are in the limbic regions and contributes to the understanding of
      pathophysiology underlying AD.

PMID- 25834731
TI  - Endovascular recanalisation of an acute superior mesenteric artery occlusion. A
      case report and review of the literature.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Acute mesenteric ischaemia (AMI) continues to have a high
      mortality, ranging from 60 to 80%. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 78-year-old male
      presented with a 20-hour history of abdominal pain, secondary to a superior
      mesenteric artery (SMA) thromboembolic occlusion diagnosed on computed tomography
      (CT) angiography. Following confirmation of bowel viability at laparotomy,
      endovascular intervention using combined thrombolysis, angioplasty and
      thromboaspiration was performed. Despite successful recanalisation of the
      occlusion, his condition continued to deteriorate fatally due to progressive
      sepsis. DISCUSSION: We discuss the role of biphasic CT in diagnosis of AMI, and
      review the evidence for endovascular interventions now increasingly used in the
      emergent management of thromboembolic AMI. CONCLUSION: Early diagnosis using CT
      angiography is essential, as it is highly sensitive in detecting a visceral
      arterial occlusion. However, laparotomy is often required to accurately determine
      bowel viability and the need for resection. Endovascular interventions appear to
      be effective alternatives to open surgery with appropriate patient selection.

PMID- 25834732
TI  - Pre-operative thrombotic complications of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast
      cancer: Implications for immediate breast reconstruction.
AB  - Thrombotic complications arising during the treatment of breast cancer can impact
      the breast reconstruction pathway. We set out to review the details of cases of
      thromboembolism occurring during neoadjuvant chemotherapy and peri-operatively to
      study the impact of the event and its management on subsequent breast
      reconstruction. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of seven
      patients who had experienced a thrombotic event during their treatment of breast
      cancer between 2008 and 2012, who then proceeded to breast reconstruction. We
      recorded size and grade of tumour, neoadjuvant chemotherapeutic regimen, details
      of port insertion, planned reconstruction, thrombotic event and its management
      and the surgery performed and outcome. RESULTS: All patients received
      chemotherapy via central venous access and went on to present with local
      symptomatic thrombosis. They were managed with anticoagulant regimens at the time
      of mastectomy and reconstruction, which were unique for each patient. The results
      revealed delays to surgery and modifications to planned reconstruction.
      DISCUSSION: The majority of patients developing thrombotic complications go on to
      achieve successful reconstruction. There is significant variation in the
      anticoagulation management in this patient group. Identification of optimal
      anticoagulant regimes and the possibilities for prophylaxis may prove key in
      informing surgeons when planning the reconstructive process. CONCLUSION: An
      awareness of the effects of thrombotic events in this patient group is important
      in terms of developing an understanding of its impact on the performance of
      reconstruction, on the management of anticoagulation peri-operatively and on
      monitoring for post-operative complications.

PMID- 25834733
TI  - The daily dynamics of cystic fibrosis airway microbiota during clinical stability
      and at exacerbation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent work indicates that the airways of persons with cystic
      fibrosis (CF) typically harbor complex bacterial communities. However, the day-to
      day stability of these communities is unknown. Further, airway community dynamics
      during the days corresponding to the onset of symptoms of respiratory
      exacerbation have not been studied. RESULTS: Using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing
      of 95 daily sputum specimens collected from four adults with CF, we observed
      varying degrees of day-to-day stability in airway bacterial community structures
      during periods of clinical stability. Differences were observed between study
      subjects with respect to the degree of community changes at the onset of
      exacerbation. Decreases in the relative abundance of dominant taxa were observed
      in three subjects at exacerbation. We observed no relationship between total
      bacterial load and clinical status and detected no viruses by multiplex PCR.
      CONCLUSION: CF airway microbial communities are relatively stable during periods
      of clinical stability. Changes in microbial community structure are associated
      with some, but not all, pulmonary exacerbations, supporting previous observations
      suggesting that distinct types of exacerbations occur in CF. Decreased abundance
      of species that are dominant at baseline suggests a role for less abundant taxa
      in some exacerbations. Daily sampling revealed patterns of change in microbial
      community structures that may prove useful in the prediction and management of CF
      pulmonary exacerbations.

PMID- 25834734
TI  - Being me and being us - adolescents' experiences of treatment for eating
      disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This qualitative study addresses adolescents' perception of treatment
      for eating disorders. The importance of involving parents in treatment of young
      people with eating disorders, especially young people with Anorexia Nervosa, is
      emphasized in a number of studies. Even so, this form of treatment does not work
      for everybody, not even within a limited diagnostic group. Previous research has
      revealed that many young people are not entirely satisfied with their treatment.
      However, there is a lack of knowledge concerning the perspectives of adolescents
      in outpatient treatment, whose treatment often involves family. The aim of the
      present study was to investigate how young people with experience from adolescent
      outpatient treatment for eating disorders, involving family-based and individual
      based interventions, perceive their time in treatment. METHODS: This study was
      conducted using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Fifteen participants
      were recruited in collaboration with four specialized eating disorder units and
      interviewed with the purpose to gather narratives. RESULTS: The analysis revealed
      that the adolescents sometimes felt more or less forced into treatment, and
      strong ambivalent feelings about if and how to participate in treatment permeated
      the adolescents' narratives. The common factors which emerged in the narratives
      were assembled under the two major themes: Having to involve family in treatment 
      in one way or another and Making progress in treatment - a matter of trust.
      CONCLUSIONS: It is of great importance to involve family in treatment in order to
      understand the problems of the adolescents in their context and be able to take
      advantage of the resource that parents constitute. However, in certain
      situations, it is necessary to prioritise individual treatment interventions so
      that instead of sorting out difficult family situations the therapist focuses on
      enhancing the young people's resilience, thus enabling them to tackle problematic
      situations in life.

PMID- 25834736
TI  - Enzootic plague foci, Algeria.
AB  - In Algeria, PCR sequencing of pla, glpD and rpoB genes found Yersinia pestis in
      18/237 (8%) rodents of five species, including Apodemus sylvaticus, previously
      undescribed as pestiferous; and disclosed three new plague foci. Multiple spacer
      typing confirmed a new Orientalis variant. Rodent survey should be reinforced in
      this country hosting reemerging plague. 

PMID- 25834735
TI  - Anorexia nervosa - medical complications.
AB  - In contrast to other mental health disorders, eating disorders have a high
      prevalence of concomitant medical complications. Specifically, patients suffering
      from anorexia nervosa (AN) have a litany of medical complications which are
      commonly present as part of their eating disorders. Almost every body system can
      be adversely, affected by this state of progressive malnutrition. Moreover, some
      of the complications can have permanent adverse effects even after there is a
      successful program of nutritional rehabilitation and weight restoration. Within
      this article we will review all body systems affected by AN. There is also
      salient information about both, how to diagnose these medical complications and
      which are the likely ones to result in permanent sequelae if not diagnosed and
      addressed early in the course of AN. In a subsequent article, the definitive
      medical treatment for these complications will be presented in a clinically
      practical manner. 

PMID- 25834737
TI  - Associations of the major international high-risk resistant clones and virulent
      clones with specific ompK36 allele groups in Klebsiella pneumoniae in Taiwan.
AB  - This study was conducted to investigate the association between ompK36 variants
      and international high-risk clones in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Fifty-nine sequence
      types (STs) divided into four ompK36 allele groups (groups A to D) were
      identified among 185 K. pneumoniae isolates. The major high-risk clones (29 ST11,
      13 ST15, 7 ST37 and 1 ST147 isolates) were assigned to group A, while 6 STs (15
      ST23, 2 ST65, 3 ST86, 1 ST163, 1 ST373 and 2 ST375 isolates) associated with
      pyogenic liver abscess were assigned to group C. The genotyping assay developed
      in this study may be useful for screening of epidemic STs. 

PMID- 25834738
TI  - Experimental design approach to the optimization of PAHs bioremediation from
      artificially contaminated soil: application of variables screening development.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of bioremediation systems for PAH-contaminated soil
      may be constrained by physicochemical properties of contaminants and
      environmental factors. Information on what is the most effective factor in
      bioremediation process is essential in the decision of what stimulations can be
      taken to assist the biodegradation efficacy. METHODS: In this study, four factors
      of surfactant (Tween 80), humic acid (HA), salinity and nutrients in a 2(4) full
      factorial design were screened in bioremediation of phenanthrene contaminated
      soil by using a consortium of bacteria. RESULTS: Between the employed levels of
      the factors only salinity had not significant effect. Optimal concentrations of
      surfactant, HA and nutrient were obtained by a response surface design. For
      phenanthrene biodegradation, a central composite face centred design (CCFD)
      showed that nutrient, surfactant and HA concentrations had highly significant,
      significant and insignificant effects, respectively. The best conditions with
      87.1% phenanthrene biodegradation were 150 mg HA/Kg soil, 12.68 MUg/L surfactant,
      and nutrients as K2HPO4, 0.8; KH2PO4, 0.2 and KNO3, 1 g/L. A high similarity was
      between the model prediction and experimental results. CONCLUSIONS: This study
      showed that nutrient with 81.27% efficiency could be considered as the most
      effective factor for practical implications of bioremediation process for PAHs
      contaminated soil cleanup strategies.

PMID- 25834739
TI  - Randomized, clinical trial on diathermy and scalpel incisions in elective general
      surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Since a long time skin incisions have routinely been made with
      scalpels. Now a day there is a shift in trend from this method to electrosurgical
      skin incisions. However, fear of bad scars and improper wound healing has
      prevented its wide spread use. This Study aimed to compare both methods of skin
      incisions for different variables. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to
      examine incisional time, blood loss during incision and postoperative wound
      complications and pain with both methods of skin incision. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      A prospective, comparative and randomized study was conducted at different
      hospitals of Hyderabad and Nawabshah, Pakistan from 1(st) of December 2009 to
      30(th) of November 2011. The study included patients of either sex above the age
      of five years with general surgical pathology who were to undergo surgery. these
      candidates were randomly put into two groups. In Group A patients incision was
      made with a scalpel and in group B with diathermy. Data was analyzed for age,
      sex, comorbid illness, incisional time, blood loss during incision making and
      postoperative pain and wound complications. RESULTS: A total of 283 patients
      completed the follow-up and were included in the final analysis. Group A
      comprised of 143 (50.53%) patients; 83 (58%) males and 60 (42%) females with a
      mean age of 36.03 years. Amongst the 140 patients of group B, there were 85
      (60.7%) males and 55 (39.3%) females with a mean age of 36.52 years. Twenty-five
      (17.48%) patients of group A and 27 (19.28%) of group B had comorbid illnesses.
      Mean incision time was 8.9025-sec/cm(2) for group A and 7.3057 sec/cm(2) for
      group B patients. Mean blood loss during incision making was 1.8262 mL/cm(2) and
      1.1346 mL/cm(2) for group A and B patients, respectively. Pain was 5.2957 for
      group A patients on day one and 3.1181 for group B patients. Pain score was
      2.1049 and 1.6206 on day two and 0.8191 and 0.7192 on day five, for group A and B
      patients, respectively. Postoperative wound complications were noticed in 26
      (18.18%) patients of group A and 22 (15.71%) patients of group B. CONCLUSIONS:
      Diathermy incision is a safe and expedient technique. It takes less time than
      scalpel incision and loss of blood is also lower during incision. Diathermy is
      associated with lesser post-operative pain and complications than the scalpel
      incision. Diathermy should be method of choice in general elective surgery.

PMID- 25834740
TI  - Expectations of multiple sclerosis patients and their families: a qualitative
      study in iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that is most
      commonly observed among young people. Drug and non-drug treatments are used to
      prevent the progression of the disease and to control illness-related disorders.
      Patients with MS often have multiple and complicated needs that require a broad
      spectrum of health services. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to identify the
      expectations of individuals with MS and their families for healthcare services.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: This article is part of a qualitative case study. The
      participants were selected by a purposive sampling method. In this study, semi
      structured interviews of 20 individuals with MS and 8 family members were
      conducted to identify the expectations of MS patients and their families. In
      addition to the interviews, the documents related to the aim of the study,
      including weblogs, MS magazines, special websites of individuals with MS, and
      news agencies were gathered. Analysis of data was performed by a conventional
      content analysis method. RESULTS: The age of the participants ranged from 22-63
      years. The data obtained from this study was classified into 5 main categories as
      follows: being cured, need for comfort, promoting knowledge, economic welfare,
      and social security. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with MS and their families had
      different expectations pertaining to all dimensions of life, such that not
      meeting the needs related to any dimension could have affect the other
      dimensions. Therefore, it is necessary for healthcare providers to have a
      holistic assessment as well as try to meet all needs and expectations.

PMID- 25834741
TI  - Combination of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Insertion/Deletion (I/D) (rs4646994)
      and VEGF Polymorphism (+405G/C; rs2010963) Synergistically Associated With the
      Development, of Albuminuria in Iranian Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) and
      vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) polymorphisms have been shown to
      associate with diabetic nephropathy (DN). OBJECTIVES: We examined the hypothesis
      that ACE-D and VEGF-G alleles act synergistically in association with DN, in
      patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The VEGF
      (rs2010963) and ACE (rs4646994) genotypes were detected by polymerase chain
      reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in 490 T2DM
      patients. Diabetic patients were classified as T2DM patients with and without
      albuminuria (control). The PCR and RFLP were used to detect the VEGF and ACE
      alleles. RESULTS: A total of 255 consecutive patients with T2DM and
      microalbuminuria (Group A) and 235 patients with T2DM and normoalbuminuria (Group
      B) were included in the study. In univariate analysis, the groups were
      statistically similar for all variables, except for glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c)
      (P = 0.034), and the frequency of ACE (P = 0.015) and VEGF (P = 0.006) genotypes.
      Our study showed that the VEGF-G and ACE-D alleles are independently associated
      with the development of nephropathy. According to our data, the combination of
      these two risk factors had a significant synergistic effect on the risk of
      microalbuminuria development. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicated that ACE-D and
      VEGF-G alleles can be an independent risk factor for microalbominuria in T2DM
      patients.

PMID- 25834742
TI  - Stability of renal function in spite of low glomerular filtration rate: a case
      report.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Chronic renal dysfunction is a progressive and irreversible process
      in kidney function, which often resulted in chronic kidney disease (CKD) or
      chronic renal failure (CRF). Range of CKD is varying from proteinuria and renal
      failure to CRF. CASE PRESENTATION: A 78-year-old man presented with stage 4 CKD
      for 7 years; the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and creatinine levels remained
      constant despite no change in his weight. CONCLUSIONS: Although our patient had
      CKD stage 4, but his condition has not deteriorated and remained constant and
      stable for several years only by control of blood pressure and usual treatment
      which prescribed for patients at this stage.

PMID- 25834743
TI  - Iranian Women's Experiences of Health Information Seeking Barriers: A Qualitative
      Study in Kerman.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Women as active health information seekers play a key role in
      determining lifestyle and possible implementation of preventive measures, thereby
      improving the health of individuals, families and society. Although studies
      indicate that equipping people with adequate health information leads to optimal
      health outcomes, sometimes the complexity of human behavior and presence of
      barriers and limitations expose them to challenges. OBJECTIVES: This study was
      designed to explore women's experiences of health information seeking barriers.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this qualitative content analysis study, data collection
      was conducted regarding inclusion criteria, through purposive sampling and semi
      structured interviews with 17 women and using documentation and field notes until
      data saturation. Qualitative data analysis was performed constantly and
      simultaneously with data collection. RESULTS: Five central themes were emerged to
      explain women's experiences of barriers to health information seeking as
      inadequate support from health care system, shame and embarrassment, costs, wrong
      ideas and beliefs and inadequate health literacy. CONCLUSIONS: It seems the
      accurate and evidence-based review of the current health system is crucial to
      support the health informative requirements in a community-based approach,
      respecting the community cultural-religious beliefs and client participation in
      health care and according to local resources.

PMID- 25834744
TI  - Synthesis and biological activity of arylspiroborate salts derived from caffeic
      Acid phenethyl ester.
AB  - Two novel boron compounds containing caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE)
      derivatives have been prepared and characterized fully. These new compounds and
      CAPE have been investigated for potential antioxidant and antimicrobial
      properties and their ability to inhibit 5-lipoxygenase and whether chelation to
      boron improves their biological activity. Sodium salt 4 was generally more active
      than ammonium salt 5 in the biological assays and surpassed the radical
      scavenging ability of CAPE. Compounds 4 and 5 were more active than CAPE and
      Zileuton in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. These results clearly show the
      effectiveness of the synthesized salts as transporter of CAPE. 

PMID- 25834745
TI  - Similar and additive effects of ovariectomy and diabetes on insulin resistance
      and lipid metabolism.
AB  - Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is among the leading causes of death in
      postmenopausal women. The disruption of ovarian function may contribute to the
      incidence of T2DM. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of
      ovariectomy and T2DM on glucose and lipid homeostasis, perilipin levels in
      adipose tissues, as a lipolytic regulator, and levels of certain adipokines.
      Ovariectomized (OVX) rats were used as a model for postmenopausal women. The
      study was performed on sham, OVX, sham diabetic, and OVX diabetic female rats.
      The results indicated that ovariectomy alters adipose tissue metabolism through
      reducing perilipin content in white adipose tissue (WAT); however it has no
      effect on perilipin level in brown adipose tissue (BAT). OVX diabetic females
      suffer from serious metabolic disturbances, suggested by exacerbation of insulin
      resistance in terms of disrupted lipid profile, higher HOMA-IR, hyperinsulinemia,
      higher leptin, and lower adiponectin concentrations. These metabolic derangements
      may underlie the predisposition for cardiovascular disease in women after
      menopause. Therefore, for efficient treatment, the menopausal status of diabetic
      female should be addressed, and the order of events is of great importance
      because ovariectomy following development of diabetes has more serious
      complications compared to development of diabetes as result of menopause. 

PMID- 25834746
TI  - If hunters end up in the emergency room: a retrospective analysis of hunting
      injuries in a swiss emergency department.
AB  - Aim. to characterize the mechanisms, patterns, and outcomes of nonfatal hunting
      related injuries in patients presenting to Bern University Hospital, Switzerland,
      and compare these to reports of hunting injuries worldwide. Methods. patients
      presenting with hunting-related injuries to the Emergency Department at Bern
      University hospital from 2000 to 2014 were identified by retrospectively
      searching the department database using the keyword "hunt." Each case was
      analyzed in terms of the patient age and gender, the mechanism and pattern of
      injury, and management and patient follow-up. Results. 19 patients were
      identified. 16 were male with a mean age of 50 years (range: 16-74). Mechanisms
      of injury included firearm-related injuries, falls, and knife wounds. The most
      common patterns of injury were head injuries (7), followed by injuries to the
      upper (5) or lower limb (5) and trunk (2). Over half of the patients were
      admitted, and nine required emergency surgery. Conclusion. Nonfatal hunting
      accidents in Bern, Switzerland, are largely caused by firearms and falls and tend
      to occur in male hunters with a mean age of 50 years. The most common patterns of
      injury are orthopedic and head injuries, often requiring surgery. These findings
      are consistent with international studies of nonfatal hunting accidents. 

PMID- 25834747
TI  - Erratum to "Partial Gene Deletions of PMP22 Causing Hereditary Neuropathy with
      Liability to Pressure Palsies".
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2014/946010.]. 

PMID- 25834748
TI  - A CADASIL-Like Case with a Novel Noncysteine Mutation of the NOTCH3 Gene and
      Granular Deposits in the Renal Arterioles.
AB  - We herein report the finding of a 62-year-old male, who developed dysarthria and
      dysphagia, with cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical
      infarcts and leukoencephalopathy- (CADASIL-) like cerebral lesions. He also
      suffered from slowly progressive renal failure with the findings of granular
      deposits similar to electron-dense granular osmiophilic material in the renal
      arterioles. We found a novel heterozygous missense mutation of the NOTCH3 gene,
      c.4039G>C in exon 24, resulting in a p.Gly1347Arg substitution in its
      extracellular domain. The noncysteine substitution may underlie the pathogenesis
      of white matter lesions in the brain and of the chronic renal failure in the
      present case. 

PMID- 25834749
TI  - Round ligament of uterus leiomyoma: an unusual cause of dyspareunia.
AB  - Round ligament of uterus leiomyoma is a rare, benign tumor of the vulva. Its
      incidence is not known exactly, and the mean age ranges from 13 to 70. Although
      clinical properties of benign and malignant diseases in the vulvar area are
      frequently similar, early diagnosis and treatment are essential. Local excision
      is recommended as definitive therapy. We present an 28-year-old female without
      any birth with a mass in anterior vaginal wall diagnosed as vulvar leiomyoma. In
      conclusion, a brief review of relevant literature emphasizes that leiomyomas are
      quite rare outside of the uterus but they might occur in any tissue or organ
      containing smooth muscle, spontaneously or parasitically after the spreading
      effect of an accident or surgical trauma. Clinicians should be alert especially
      for the diagnosis in a tissue with smooth muscle content. 

PMID- 25834750
TI  - Carbon Monoxide Poisoning during Pregnancy: Presentation of a Rare Severe Case
      with Fetal Bladder Complications.
AB  - Carbon monoxide poisoning during pregnancy is a rare and potentially serious
      condition. Fetal complications are uncommon, related to anoxic lesions. The
      severity of these complications does not depend on the level of maternal COHb. We
      report the case of a 22-year-old pregnant woman who at 30 weeks of gestation had
      carbon monoxide poisoning secondary to a fire in her home, complicated by cardiac
      arrest and severe fetal damage. The child had not brain damage, but presented
      bladder lesions not previously described, with urinary ascites complicating
      megacystis. 

PMID- 25834751
TI  - Validation of an RPHPTLC-Densitometric Method Using Silica Gel 60 RP18WF254 for
      Simultaneous Determination of Nicotinamide in Selected Pharmaceutical
      Formulations.
AB  - This research study describes the applicability of silica gel 60 RPW18F254 plates
      for the development and validation of new, simple, economic, accurate, and
      precise RPHPTLC-densitometric method suitable for the quantification of
      nicotinamide (as Vitamin PP) in three marketed preparations. The mobile phase
      used was methanol-water in volume composition 3 : 7. Detection wavelength was 200
      nm. The proposed method was validated according to ICH guidelines and also based
      on Ferenczi-Fodor and Konieczka reports. Results were found to be linear over a
      range of 1.00 to 2.00 MUg/spot. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of
      quantification (LOQ) were 0.15 MUg/spot and 0.45 MUg/spot, respectively. The
      percent content of nicotinamide in the investigated preparations was found to be
      99.2% (Product 1), 99.3% (Product 2), and 99.4% (Product 3). Developed method is
      accurate and precise (CV < 3%) and may be successfully applied for the quality
      control of pharmaceutical formulations containing nicotinamide in the presence of
      its derivatives, such as N,N-diethylnicotinamide, N-methylnicotinamide, and
      nicotinic acid. 

PMID- 25834752
TI  - An on-line solid phase extraction-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
      method for the determination of perfluoroalkyl acids in drinking and surface
      waters.
AB  - An UHPLC-MS/MS multiresidue method based on an on-line solid phase extraction
      (SPE) procedure was developed for the simultaneous determination of 9
      perfluorinated carboxylates (from 4 to 12 carbon atoms) and 3 perfluorinated
      sulphonates (from 4 to 8 carbon atoms). This work proposes using an on-line solid
      phase extraction before chromatographic separation and analysis to replace
      traditional methods of off-line SPE before direct injection to LC-MS/MS. Manual
      sample preparation was reduced to sample centrifugation and acidification, thus
      eliminating several procedural errors and significantly reducing time-consuming
      and costs. Ionization suppression between target perfluorinated analytes and
      their coeluting SIL-IS were detected for homologues with a number of carbon atoms
      less than 9, but the quantitation was not affected. Total matrix effect corrected
      by SIL-IS, inclusive of extraction efficacy, and of ionization efficiency, ranged
      between -34 and +39%. The percentage of recoveries, between 76 and 134%,
      calculated in different matrices (tap water and rivers impacted by different
      pollutions) was generally satisfactory. LODs and LOQs of this on-line SPE method,
      which also incorporate recovery losses, ranged from 0.2 to 5.0 ng/L and from 1 to
      20 ng/L, respectively. Validated on-line SPE-LC/MS/MS method has been applied in
      a wide survey for the determination of perfluoroalkyl acids in Italian surface
      and ground waters. 

PMID- 25834753
TI  - Resolution of Suicidal Ideation With Corticosteroids in a Patient With Concurrent
      Addison's Disease and Depression.

PMID- 25834754
TI  - Assessing capacity in psychiatric patients with acute medical illness who refuse
      care.
AB  - Three cases are presented that demonstrate the difficulty of assessing medical
      decision-making capacity in patients with psychiatric illness who are refusing
      care. Health professionals often assess capacity differently in practice.
      Provided their patients have some understanding of their illness and have some
      plans for meeting basic needs, psychiatrists are often inclined to give patients
      the freedom to refuse care even if they do not exhibit a full understanding of
      the medical facts of their case and why they are refusing it. Adult medicine
      physicians, in contrast, are inclined to require patients to state a more
      complete understanding of the benefits and burdens of evaluation and treatment
      before allowing them to refuse care when their refusals might result in adverse
      medical outcomes. The 3 cases exemplify the tension between these approaches and
      highlight the role of hospital ethics consultation in addressing this conflict. 

PMID- 25834756
TI  - Live until you die.

PMID- 25834757
TI  - Fludrocortisone in posttraumatic stress disorder: effective for symptoms and
      prazosin-induced hypotension.

PMID- 25834755
TI  - Sadness: diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment.

PMID- 25834758
TI  - Alcohol and prescription drug abuse and borderline personality disorder
      symptomatology among male and female perpetrators of partner violence.

PMID- 25834759
TI  - A case of glioblastoma masquerading as an affective disorder.

PMID- 25834760
TI  - A case report of clozapine-induced severe gastrointestinal hypomotility.

PMID- 25834761
TI  - Outpatient metformin management of obese individuals with schizophrenia.

PMID- 25834762
TI  - Clozapine-induced euphoria: a case report.

PMID- 25834763
TI  - Impact of the creation and implementation of a clinical management guideline for
      personality disorders in reducing use of mechanical restraints in a psychiatric
      inpatient unit.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of the implementation of a guideline for the
      management of personality disorders on reducing the frequency of use of
      mechanical restraints in a psychiatric inpatient unit. METHOD: This retrospective
      study was conducted in a psychiatric inpatient unit with 42 beds, which serves an
      urban area of 330,000 inhabitants. The sample consisted of all patients with a
      clinical diagnosis of personality disorder (DSM-IV-TR criteria) who were admitted
      to the unit from January 2010 to December 2010 and from January 2011 to December
      2011 (ie, before and after, respectively, the implementation of the guideline).
      The guideline focused on cluster B disorders and follows a psychodynamic
      perspective. RESULTS: Restraint use was reduced from 38 of 87 patients with
      personality disorders (43.7%) to 3 of 112 (2.7%), for a relative risk of 0.06
      (95% CI, 0.02-0.19) and an absolute risk reduction of 41% (95% CI, 29.9%-51.6%).
      The risk of being discharged against medical advice increased after the
      intervention, with a relative risk of 1.84 (95% CI, 0.96-3.51). Restraint use in
      patients with other diagnoses was also reduced to a similar extent. CONCLUSIONS:
      The use of mechanical restraints was dramatically reduced after the
      implementation of a clinical practice guideline on personality disorders,
      suggesting that these coercive measures might be decreased in psychiatric
      inpatient units.

PMID- 25834764
TI  - Illness progression as a function of independent and accumulating poor prognosis
      factors in outpatients with bipolar disorder in the United States.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Many patients with bipolar disorder in the United States experience a
      deteriorating course of illness despite naturalistic treatment in the community.
      We examined a variety of factors associated with this pattern of illness
      progression. METHOD: From 1995 to 2002, we studied 634 adult outpatients with
      bipolar disorder (mean age of 40 years) emanating from 4 sites in the United
      States. Patients gave informed consent and completed a detailed questionnaire
      about demographic, vulnerability, and course-of-illness factors and indicated
      whether their illness had shown a pattern of increasing frequency or severity of
      manic or depressive episodes. Fifteen factors previously linked in the literature
      to a poor outcome were examined for their relationship to illness progression
      using Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by a 2-sample Wilcoxon rank sum (Mann
      Whitney) test, chi(2), and logistical regression. RESULTS: All of the putative
      poor prognosis factors occurred with a high incidence, and, with the exception of
      obesity, were significantly (P < .05) associated with illness progression. These
      factors included indicators of genetic and psychosocial risk and loss of social
      support, early onset, long delay to first treatment, anxiety and substance abuse
      comorbidity, rapid cycling in any year, and the occurrence of more than 20 prior
      episodes prior to entering the network. A greater number of factors were linearly
      associated with the likelihood of a progressively worsening course. CONCLUSIONS:
      Multiple genetic, psychosocial, and illness factors were associated with a
      deteriorating course of bipolar disorder from onset to study entry in adulthood.
      The identification of these factors provides important targets for earlier and
      more effective therapeutic intervention in the hope of achieving a more benign
      course of bipolar disorder.

PMID- 25834765
TI  - Nonpsychiatric medication interventions initiated by a postgraduate year 2
      psychiatric pharmacy resident in a patient-centered medical home.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Studies have demonstrated the benefits of incorporating comprehensive
      medication management into primary care, but no study describes the types of
      nonpsychiatric medication-related interventions provided by a psychiatric
      pharmacist while providing comprehensive medication management. METHOD: A chart
      review of Center for Community Health patients enrolled in the University of
      Southern California Psychiatric Pharmacy Clinic, Los Angeles, between July 1,
      2013, and January 10, 2014, was conducted. Progress notes were reviewed to
      collect medication recommendations and interventions. The number and types of
      interventions were compared between groups based on substance abuse history,
      comorbid medical conditions, number of psychiatric diagnoses, and number of
      medications. An anonymous survey was distributed to primary care providers (PCPs)
      regarding perceptions and attitudes toward a postgraduate year 2 psychiatric
      pharmacy resident's interventions pertaining to nonpsychiatric medications.
      RESULTS: 177 nonpsychiatric medication interventions were documented. Fifty
      interventions required PCP approval, and 45% of those were accepted. Having a
      diagnosis of diabetes (P < .0001), hypertension (P < .0001), gastroesophageal
      reflux disease (P < .0001), >= 9 medications (P < .0001), or >= 5 medical
      diagnoses (P < .0001) were all associated with an increased mean number of
      interventions. Of the PCPs, 66% viewed the psychiatric pharmacist as a resource
      for addressing medical interventions by providing drug information. The PCPs were
      agreeable to having a psychiatric pharmacist provide drug information and monitor
      the patient but reported mixed opinions on whether a psychiatric pharmacist
      should comanage nonpsychiatric conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatric pharmacists
      can successfully collaborate with PCPs in primary care clinics to provide
      comprehensive medication management that optimizes pharmacotherapy for patients
      with medical and psychiatric conditions. Continued efforts are needed to promote
      interdisciplinary approaches to provide comprehensive medication management
      services for patients with both psychiatric and medical disorders.

PMID- 25834766
TI  - Promoting medication adherence in older adults through early diagnosis of
      neurocognitive disorders.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Community-dwelling older adults with neurocognitive disorders
      experience high risk of and often suffer severe consequences from medication
      nonadherence. Due to the important role of informal caregivers in the care of
      patients with neurocognitive disorders, medication management involves both
      patients and families. A formal diagnosis of a neurocognitive disorder may
      improve both provider-patient and provider-family communications and resulting
      regimen adherence, yet many with signs of neurocognitive disorders remain
      undiagnosed. The goal of this study was to examine the differences in medication
      management behaviors for family caregivers of mildly impaired older adults with
      or without a formal neurocognitive disorder diagnosis. METHOD: The study included
      112 women who provided at least 2 forms of medication assistance for a mildly
      cognitively impaired older adult with (n = 38, 34%) or without (n = 75, 66%) a
      reported neurocognitive disorder diagnosis and who completed online self
      assessments of medication adherence and self-efficacy for medication management
      from May 2012 to May 2013. Cases were selected for analyses based on analog
      Clinical Dementia Rating scores between 0.5 and 1, indicating mild cognitive
      impairment in the older adult. RESULTS: Compared to families unaware of a
      neurocognitive disorder diagnosis, caregivers reporting knowledge of a
      neurocognitive disorder diagnosis in their older family member endorsed higher
      medication management self-efficacy and increased levels of adherence-related
      behaviors. Step-wise logistic regression analyses demonstrated statistical
      significance in using these adherence and self-efficacy variables to
      differentiate between the presence or absence of a known neurocognitive disorder
      diagnosis (N = 112, chi (2) 6 = 22.84, P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: A formally charted
      and communicated neurocognitive disorder diagnosis is associated with improved
      medication management behaviors and medication-related self-efficacy in
      neurocognitive disorder family caregivers.

PMID- 25834767
TI  - A cross-sectional survey of childhood trauma and compliance with general health
      care among adult primary care outpatients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Beyond the examination of medication compliance among individuals with
      substance abuse or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency
      syndrome (AIDS), few studies have examined relationships between childhood trauma
      and health care compliance in adulthood-the focus of the present study. METHOD:
      Using a cross-sectional approach and a self-report survey methodology, we
      examined 5 types of childhood trauma (ie, witnessing violence, physical neglect,
      emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse) in relationship to 4 measures of
      general health care compliance (ie, self-rated general conscientiousness with
      medical treatment; 5 items pertaining to general health care compliance such as
      scheduling regular dental checkups, timely arrival for doctor's appointments, and
      timely completion of laboratory work; 2 medication compliance items; and the
      Medical Outcomes Study general adherence score) among a sample of adult primary
      care outpatients (N = 272). Data were collected in March 2014. RESULTS: According
      to findings, some health care adherence variables demonstrated relationships with
      the summed childhood trauma score, whereas others did not. It could be
      interpreted that the more subjective health care compliance variables (eg, self
      rated conscientiousness with regard to medical treatment) demonstrated no
      relationship with a summed childhood trauma score, whereas the more objective
      health care compliance variables (eg, frequency of regular dental checkups,
      ability to remember to take all medications, Medical Outcomes Study general
      adherence score) did demonstrate statistically significant relationships with a
      summed childhood trauma score (most at P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with
      histories of childhood trauma demonstrate some deficits with health care
      compliance in comparison to those without childhood trauma. One interpretation is
      that the mistreated appear to believe that they are fairly compliant with health
      care treatment, but objective variables appear to suggest otherwise.

PMID- 25834768
TI  - Diagnosis and management of sleep disorders in posttraumatic stress disorder:a
      review of the literature.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: International and societal conflicts and natural disasters can leave
      physical and mental scars in people who are directly affected by these traumatic
      experiences. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the clinical manifestation
      of these experiences in the form of re-experiencing the trauma, avoidance of
      trauma-related stimuli, and persistent symptoms of hyperarousal. There is growing
      evidence that sleep disruption that occurs following trauma exposure may in fact
      contribute to the pathophysiology of PTSD and poor clinical outcomes. The purpose
      of this review is to highlight the importance of recognition and management of
      sleep disorders in patients with PTSD. DATA SOURCES: English-language, adult
      research studies published between 1985 and April 2014 were identified via the
      PubMed database. The search terms used were PTSD AND sleep disorders. STUDY
      SELECTION: The search identified 792 original and review articles. Of these, 53
      articles that discussed or researched sleep disorders in PTSD were selected.
      Fourteen randomized controlled trials of therapy for PTSD are included in this
      review. RESULTS: Impaired sleep is a common complaint mainly in the form of
      nightmares and insomnia among people with PTSD. Sleep apnea and periodic limb
      movement disorder are particularly prevalent in patients with PTSD and, yet,
      remain unrecognized. Although selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are
      effective in improving PTSD global symptoms, they have a variable and modest
      effect on sleep disorder symptoms. Cognitive-behavioral treatment targeted to
      sleep and/or the use of the centrally acting selective alpha1 antagonist prazosin
      have been more successful in treating insomnia and nightmares in PTSD than other
      classes of medications. In view of the high occurrence of sleep apnea and
      periodic leg movement disorder, a thorough sleep evaluation and treatment are
      warranted. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with PTSD have a high prevalence of sleep
      disorders and should be queried for insomnia, nightmares, periodic limb movement
      disorder, and sleep-disordered breathing.

PMID- 25834769
TI  - Classifying acoustic signals into phoneme categories: average and dyslexic
      readers make use of complex dynamical patterns and multifractal scaling
      properties of the speech signal.
AB  - Several competing aetiologies of developmental dyslexia suggest that the problems
      with acquiring literacy skills are causally entailed by low-level auditory and/or
      speech perception processes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the
      diverging claims about the specific deficient peceptual processes under
      conditions of strong inference. Theoretically relevant acoustic features were
      extracted from a set of artificial speech stimuli that lie on a /bAk/-/dAk/
      continuum. The features were tested on their ability to enable a simple
      classifier (Quadratic Discriminant Analysis) to reproduce the observed
      classification performance of average and dyslexic readers in a speech perception
      experiment. The 'classical' features examined were based on component process
      accounts of developmental dyslexia such as the supposed deficit in Envelope Rise
      Time detection and the deficit in the detection of rapid changes in the
      distribution of energy in the frequency spectrum (formant transitions). Studies
      examining these temporal processing deficit hypotheses do not employ measures
      that quantify the temporal dynamics of stimuli. It is shown that measures based
      on quantification of the dynamics of complex, interaction-dominant systems
      (Recurrence Quantification Analysis and the multifractal spectrum) enable QDA to
      classify the stimuli almost identically as observed in dyslexic and average
      reading participants. It seems unlikely that participants used any of the
      features that are traditionally associated with accounts of (impaired) speech
      perception. The nature of the variables quantifying the temporal dynamics of the
      speech stimuli imply that the classification of speech stimuli cannot be regarded
      as a linear aggregate of component processes that each parse the acoustic signal
      independent of one another, as is assumed by the 'classical' aetiologies of
      developmental dyslexia. It is suggested that the results imply that the
      differences in speech perception performance between average and dyslexic readers
      represent a scaled continuum rather than being caused by a specific deficient
      component. 

PMID- 25834770
TI  - A predictive model for canine dilated cardiomyopathy-a meta-analysis of Doberman
      Pinscher data.
AB  - Dilated cardiomyopathy is a prevalent and often fatal disease in humans and dogs.
      Indeed dilated cardiomyopathy is the third most common form of cardiac disease in
      humans, reported to affect approximately 36 individuals per 100,000 individuals.
      In dogs, dilated cardiomyopathy is the second most common cardiac disease and is
      most prevalent in the Irish Wolfhound, Doberman Pinscher and Newfoundland breeds.
      Dilated cardiomyopathy is characterised by ventricular chamber enlargement and
      systolic dysfunction which often leads to congestive heart failure. Although
      multiple human loci have been implicated in the pathogenesis of dilated
      cardiomyopathy, the identified variants are typically associated with rare
      monogenic forms of dilated cardiomyopathy. The potential for multigenic
      interactions contributing to human dilated cardiomyopathy remains poorly
      understood. Consistent with this, several known human dilated cardiomyopathy loci
      have been excluded as common causes of canine dilated cardiomyopathy, although
      canine dilated cardiomyopathy resembles the human disease functionally. This
      suggests additional genetic factors contribute to the dilated cardiomyopathy
      phenotype.This study represents a meta-analysis of available canine dilated
      cardiomyopathy genetic datasets with the goal of determining potential multigenic
      interactions relating the sex chromosome genotype (XX vs. XY) with known dilated
      cardiomyopathy associated loci on chromosome 5 and the PDK4 gene in the incidence
      and progression of dilated cardiomyopathy. The results show an interaction
      between known canine dilated cardiomyopathy loci and an unknown X-linked locus.
      Our study is the first to test a multigenic contribution to dilated
      cardiomyopathy and suggest a genetic basis for the known sex-disparity in dilated
      cardiomyopathy outcomes. 

PMID- 25834771
TI  - Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): a flow-like mental state.
AB  - Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a previously unstudied sensory
      phenomenon, in which individuals experience a tingling, static-like sensation
      across the scalp, back of the neck and at times further areas in response to
      specific triggering audio and visual stimuli. This sensation is widely reported
      to be accompanied by feelings of relaxation and well-being. The current study
      identifies several common triggers used to achieve ASMR, including whispering,
      personal attention, crisp sounds and slow movements. Data obtained also
      illustrates temporary improvements in symptoms of depression and chronic pain in
      those who engage in ASMR. A high prevalence of synaesthesia (5.9%) within the
      sample suggests a possible link between ASMR and synaesthesia, similar to that of
      misophonia. Links between number of effective triggers and heightened flow state
      suggest that flow may be necessary to achieve sensations associated with ASMR. 

PMID- 25834772
TI  - Capsules of the diatom Achnanthidium minutissimum arise from fibrillar precursors
      and foster attachment of bacteria.
AB  - Achnanthidium minutissimum is a benthic freshwater diatom that forms biofilms on
      submerged surfaces in aquatic environments. Within these biofilms, A.
      minutissimum cells produce extracellular structures which facilitate substrate
      adhesion, such as stalks and capsules. Both consist of extracellular polymeric
      substance (EPS), but the microstructure and development stages of the capsules
      are so far unknown, despite a number of hypotheses about their function,
      including attachment and protection. We coupled scanning electron microscopy
      (SEM) to bright-field microscopy (BFM) and found that A. minutissimum capsules
      mostly possess an unstructured surface. However, capsule material that was
      mechanically stressed by being stretched between or around cells displayed
      fibrillar substructures. Fibrils were also found on the frustules of non
      encapsulated cells, implicating that A. minutissimum capsules may develop from
      fibrillar precursors. Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy revealed that
      the capsule material do not contain silicon, distinguishing it from the frustule
      material. We furthermore show that bacteria preferentially attach to capsules,
      instead of non-encapsulated A. minutissimum cells, which supports the idea that
      capsules mediate diatom-bacteria interactions. 

PMID- 25834773
TI  - Disentangling the impacts of heat wave magnitude, duration and timing on the
      structure and diversity of sessile marine assemblages.
AB  - Extreme climatic events, including heat waves (HWs) and severe storms, influence
      the structure of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Despite growing consensus
      that anthropogenic climate change will increase the frequency, duration and
      magnitude of extreme events, current understanding of their impact on communities
      and ecosystems is limited. Here, we used sessile invertebrates on settlement
      panels as model assemblages to examine the influence of HW magnitude, duration
      and timing on marine biodiversity patterns. Settlement panels were deployed in a
      marina in southwest UK for >=5 weeks, to allow sufficient time for colonisation
      and development of sessile fauna, before being subjected to simulated HWs in a
      mesocosm facility. Replicate panel assemblages were held at ambient sea
      temperature (~17  degrees C), or +3  degrees C or +5  degrees C for a period of 1
      or 2 weeks, before being returned to the marina for a recovery phase of 2-3
      weeks. The 10-week experiment was repeated 3 times, staggered throughout summer,
      to examine the influence of HW timing on community impacts. Contrary to our
      expectations, the warming events had no clear, consistent impacts on the
      abundance of species or the structure of sessile assemblages. With the exception
      of 1 high-magnitude long-duration HW event, warming did not alter not assemblage
      structure, favour non-native species, nor lead to changes in richness, abundance
      or biomass of sessile faunal assemblages. The observed lack of effect may have
      been caused by a combination of (1) the use of relatively low magnitude,
      realistic heat wave treatments compared to previous studies (2), the greater
      resilience of mature adult sessile fauna compared to recruits and juveniles, and
      (3) the high thermal tolerance of the model organisms (i.e., temperate fouling
      species, principally bryozoans and ascidians). Our study demonstrates the
      importance of using realistic treatments when manipulating climate change
      variables, and also suggests that biogeographical context may influence community
      level responses to short-term warming events, which are predicted to increase in
      severity in the future. 

PMID- 25834774
TI  - A specimen of Paralycoptera Chang & Chou 1977 (Teleostei: Osteoglossoidei) from
      Hong Kong (China) with a potential Late Jurassic age that extends the temporal
      and geographical range of the genus.
AB  - We describe a Mesozoic fish Paralycoptera sp. (Teleostei: Osteoglossoidei), on
      the basis of a postcranial skeleton collected from the volcaniclastic mudstones
      of the Lai Chi Chong Formation of Hong Kong, China. The new finding-representing
      the city's first Mesozoic fish-extends the geographical distribution of
      Paralycoptera from eastern mainland China into Hong Kong, demonstrating a wider
      distribution than previously appreciated for this genus. A radiometric age for
      the Lai Chi Chong Formation of 146.6 +/- 0.2 Ma implies a temporal range
      expansion for Paralycoptera of approximately 40 million years back from the Early
      Cretaceous (~110 Ma). However, spores found in the Formation suggest an Early
      Cretaceous age that is consistent with the existing age assignment to
      Paralycoptera. We argue that the proposed temporal range extension is genuine
      because it is based on recent high precision radiometric age data, but given the
      discrepancies with the biostratigraphic ages further investigation is needed to
      confirm this. This study provides an important step towards revealing Hong Kong's
      Mesozoic vertebrate fauna and understanding its relationship to well-studied
      mainland Chinese ones. 

PMID- 25834775
TI  - Low-cost, low-input RNA-seq protocols perform nearly as well as high-input
      protocols.
AB  - Recently, a number of protocols extending RNA-sequencing to the single-cell
      regime have been published. However, we were concerned that the additional steps
      to deal with such minute quantities of input sample would introduce serious
      biases that would make analysis of the data using existing approaches invalid. In
      this study, we performed a critical evaluation of several of these low-volume RNA
      seq protocols, and found that they performed slightly less well in per-gene
      linearity of response, but with at least two orders of magnitude less sample
      required. We also explored a simple modification to one of these protocols that,
      for many samples, reduced the cost of library preparation to approximately
      $20/sample. 

PMID- 25834776
TI  - Effects of preservation methods of muscle tissue from upper-trophic level reef
      fishes on stable isotope values (delta (13)C and delta (15)N).
AB  - Research that uses stable isotope analysis often involves a delay between sample
      collection in the field and laboratory processing, therefore requiring
      preservation to prevent or reduce tissue degradation and associated isotopic
      compositions. Although there is a growing literature describing the effects of
      various preservation techniques, the results are often contextual, unpredictable
      and vary among taxa, suggesting the need to treat each species individually. We
      conducted a controlled experiment to test the effects of four preservation
      methods of muscle tissue from four species of upper trophic-level reef fish
      collected from the eastern Gulf of Mexico (Red Grouper Epinephelus morio, Gag
      Mycteroperca microlepis, Scamp Mycteroperca phenax, and Red Snapper Lutjanus
      campechanus). We used a paired design to measure the effects on isotopic values
      for carbon and nitrogen after storage using ice, 95% ethanol, and sodium chloride
      (table salt), against that in a liquid nitrogen control. Mean offsets for both
      delta (13)C and delta (15)N values from controls were lowest for samples
      preserved on ice, intermediate for those preserved with salt, and highest with
      ethanol. Within species, both salt and ethanol significantly enriched the delta
      (15)N values in nearly all comparisons. Ethanol also had strong effects on the
      delta (13)C values in all three groupers. Conversely, for samples preserved on
      ice, we did not detect a significant offset in either isotopic ratio for any of
      the focal species. Previous studies have addressed preservation-induced offsets
      in isotope values using a mass balance correction that accounts for changes in
      the isotope value to that in the C/N ratio. We tested the application of standard
      mass balance corrections for isotope values that were significantly affected by
      the preservation methods and found generally poor agreement between corrected and
      control values. The poor performance by the correction may have been due to
      preferential loss of lighter isotopes and corresponding low levels of mass loss
      with a substantial change in the isotope value of the sample. Regardless of
      mechanism, it was evident that accounting for offsets caused by different
      preservation methods was not possible using the standard correction. Caution is
      warranted when interpreting the results from specimens stored in either ethanol
      or salt, especially when using those from multiple preservation techniques. We
      suggest the use of ice as the preferred preservation technique for muscle tissue
      when conducting stable isotope analysis as it is widely available, inexpensive,
      easy to transport and did not impart a significant offset in measured isotopic
      values. Our results provide additional evidence that preservation effects on
      stable isotope analysis can be highly contextual, thus requiring their effects to
      be measured and understood for each species and isotopic ratio of interest before
      addressing research questions. 

PMID- 25834777
TI  - Measuring spinal canal size in lumbar spinal stenosis: description of method and
      preliminary results.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lumbar spinal stenosis is a pathological condition of the spinal
      channel with its concentric narrowing with presence of specific clinical
      syndrome. Absence of the clear unified radiological signs is the one of the basic
      problems of the lumbar spinal stenosis. PURPOSE: The authors seek to create
      method of assessment of the spinal canal narrowing degree, based on anatomical
      aspects of lumbar spinal stenosis. STUDY DESIGN: Development of diagnostic
      criteria based on analysis of a consecutive patients group and a control group.
      METHODS: Thirty seven patients (73 stenotic segments) with mean age 62,4 years
      old were involved in the study. Severity of clinical symptoms has been estimated
      by the measuring scales: Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Swiss Spinal
      Stenosis Questionnaire (SSQ). Mean number of the stenotic segments was 1.97. For
      all patients 8 radiological criteria have been measured. In the control group
      have been included 37 randomly selected patients (volunteers) in mean age of 53,4
      years old without stenosis signs and narrowing of the spinal canal on the MRI
      imaging (73 segments total). Measurements were performed at the middle of
      intervertebral disc and facet joints level. RESULTS: For description of the state
      of spinal canal we offer the coefficient: ratio of the lateral canals total area
      to the cross-sectional area of the dural sac ("coefficient of stenosis").
      Comparison of mean values of "coefficient of stenosis" for main and control
      groups showed statistically significant differences (t = -12,5; p < 0.0001).
      Strong statistically significant correlation with the ODI and SSS scales was
      revealed for the obtained coefficient (p <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In our study new
      method of assessment of the spinal canal narrowing degree has been applied.
      Promising results have been obtained in a small group of patients. It is
      necessary to check the data on a large sample of recommendations for its clinical
      application.

PMID- 25834778
TI  - Structure-based identification of functional residues in the nucleoside-2'-O
      methylase domain of Bluetongue virus VP4 capping enzyme.
AB  - Bluetongue virus (BTV) encodes a single capping protein, VP4, which catalyzes all
      reactions required to generate cap1 structures on nascent viral transcripts.
      Further, structural analysis by X-ray crystallography indicated each catalytic
      reaction is arranged as a discrete domain, including a nucleoside-2'-O
      methyltransferase (2'-O MTase). In this study, we have exploited the structural
      information to identify the residues that are important for the catalytic
      activity of 2'-O MTase of VP4 and their influence on BTV replication. The effect
      of these mutations on GMP binding, guanylyltransferase (GTase) and methylase
      activities were analysed by a series of in vitro biochemical assays using
      recombinant mutant proteins; subsequently their effects on virus replication were
      assessed by introducing the same mutations in replicating viral genome using a
      reverse genetics system. Our data showed that single substitution mutations in
      the catalytic tetrad K-D-K-E were sufficient to abolish 2'-O MTase activity in
      vitro and to completely abrogate BTV replication in cells; although these mutants
      retained the upstream GMP binding, GTase and guanine-N7-methyltransferase
      activities. Mutations of the surrounding substrate-binding pocket (predicted to
      recruit cap0) had variable effects on in vitro VP4 capping activity. Only triple
      but not single substitution mutations of these residues in genome resulted in
      reduced virus replication kinetics. This is the first report investigating the
      importance of 2'-O MTase function for any member of the Reoviridae and highlights
      the significance of K-D-K-E tetrad and surrounding residues for the efficiency of
      2'-O MTase activity and in turn, for virus fitness. 

PMID- 25834779
TI  - Kruppel-like factor 4 induces apoptosis and inhibits tumorigenic progression in
      SK-BR-3 breast cancer cells.
AB  - Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) functions as either a tumor suppressor or an
      oncogene in different tissues by regulating the expression of various genes. The
      aim of this study was to reveal the functions of KLF4 in regulating breast cancer
      apoptosis, proliferation, and tumorigenic progression. KLF4 expression levels in
      breast cancer tissues and breast cancer cell lines were found to be much lower
      than those in nontumorous tissues and a nontransformed mammary epithelial cell
      line. KLF4 was upregulated in the tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced SK-BR-3
      breast cancer cell apoptotic process. Overexpression of KLF4 promoted SK-BR-3
      breast cancer cell apoptosis and suppressed SK-BR-3 cell tumorigenicity in vivo. 

PMID- 25834781
TI  - A novel FBN2 mutation in a Chinese family with congenital contractural
      arachnodactyly.
AB  - Congenital contractural arachnodactyly (CCA, OMIM: 121050) is an autosomal
      dominant condition that shares skeletal features with Marfan syndrome (MFS, OMIM:
      154700), including contractures, arachnodactyly, dolichostenomelia, scoliosis,
      crumpled ears and pectus deformities but excluding the ocular and cardiovascular
      complications that characterize MFS. These two similar syndromes result from
      mutations in two genes belonging to the fibrillin family, FBN1 and FBN2,
      respectively. We successfully identified a novel FBN2 mutation (C1406R) in a
      Chinese family with CCA for over five generations. This mutation was detected in
      the patients of this family but not in the seven unaffected family members or 100
      normal individuals. SIFT and PolyPhen analyses suggested that the mutation was
      pathogenic. We identified a missense mutation in the calcium binding-epidermal
      growth factor (cbEGF)-like domain. Our study extends the mutation spectrum of CCA
      and confirms a relationship between mutations in the FBN2 gene and the clinical
      findings of CCA. 

PMID- 25834780
TI  - Oligomer-dependent and -independent chaperone activity of sHsps in different
      stressed conditions.
AB  - A great number of studies have proven that sHsps protect cells by inhibiting
      protein aggregation under heat stress, while little is known about their function
      to protect cells under acid stress. In this work, we show that Hsp20.1 and
      Hsp14.1 oligomers dissociated to smaller oligomeric species or even dimer/monomer
      at low pH (pH 4.0 and pH 2.0), whereas no prominent quaternary structural changes
      were seen at 50  degrees C. Both oligomers and smaller oligomeric species
      exhibited abilities to suppress client aggregation at low pH and at 50  degrees
      C. These results suggest that sHsps may function in different modes in different
      stressed conditions. 

PMID- 25834782
TI  - Analysis of a temperature-sensitive mutation in Uba1: Effects of the click
      reaction on subsequent immunolabeling of proteins involved in DNA replication.
AB  - In our previous study, a Met-to-Ile substitution at amino acid 256 in the
      catalytic domain of Uba1 was determined in temperature-sensitive CHO-K1 mutant
      tsTM3 cells, which exhibited chromosomal instability and cell-cycle arrest in the
      S to G2 phases with decreased DNA synthesis at the nonpermissive temperature, 39 
      degrees C. Mutant cells were also characterized by a significant decrease of Uba1
      in the nucleus with decreased ubiquitination activity at 39  degrees C. Defects
      of ubiquitination activity in the nucleus resulted in an inappropriate balance
      between Cdt1 and geminin, a licensing factor of DNA replication and its
      inhibitor. In the present study, we found that the Cu(I)-catalyzed [3 + 2]
      cycloaddition (click) reaction inhibits the subsequent indirect immunolabeling of
      Cdt1 but allows for the detection of PCNA with nascent DNA. Using a procedure
      without the click reaction, we also demonstrated that Cdt1 remained close to
      active replication sites in tsTM3 cells at the nonpermissive temperature.
      Analysis of genome replication by DNA fiber spreading revealed that DNA synthesis
      continues for at least 10 h after incubation at 39  degrees C, suggesting that
      impaired ubiquitination in the nucleus, caused by the defect of Uba1, affected
      DNA replication only after a long delay. 

PMID- 25834783
TI  - Functional characterization of a BCL10 isoform in the rainbow trout Oncorhynchus
      mykiss.
AB  - The complexes formed by BCL10, MALT1 and members of the family of CARMA proteins
      have recently been the focus of much attention because they represent a key
      mechanism for regulating activation of the transcription factor NF-kappaB. Here,
      we report the functional characterization of a novel isoform of BCL10 in the
      trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, which we named tBCL10. tBCL10 dimerizes, binds to
      components of the CBM complex and forms cytoplasmic filaments. Functionally,
      tBCL10 activates NF-kappaB transcription factor and is inhibited by the
      deubiquitinating enzyme A20. Finally, depletion experiments indicate that tBCL10
      can functionally replace the human protein. This work demonstrates the
      evolutionary conservation of the mechanism of NF-kappaB activation through the
      CBM complex, and indicates that the rainbow trout O . mykiss can serve as a model
      organism to study this pathway. 

PMID- 25834784
TI  - Characterization of G protein coupling mediated by the conserved D134(3.49) of
      DRY motif, M241(6.34), and F251(6.44) residues on human CXCR1.
AB  - CXCR1, a receptor for interleukin-8 (IL-8), plays an important role in defending
      against pathogen invasion during neutrophil-mediated innate immune response.
      Human CXCR1 is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) with its characteristic seven
      transmembrane domains (TMs). Functional and structural analyses of several GPCRs
      have revealed that conserved residues on TM3 (including the highly conserved Asp
      Arg-Tyr (DRY) motif) and TM6 near intracellular loops contain domains critical
      for G protein coupling as well as GPCR activation. The objective of this study
      was to elucidate the role of critical amino acid residues on TM3 near
      intracellular loop 2 (i2) and TM6 near intracellular loop 3 (i3), including
      S132(3.47) (Baldwin location), D134(3.49), M241(6.34), and F251(6.44), in G
      protein coupling and CXCR1 activation. The results demonstrate that mutations of
      D134(3.49) at DRY motif of CXCR1 (D134N and D134V) completely abolished the
      ligand binding and functional response of the receptor. Additionally, point
      mutations at positions 241 and 251 between TM6 and i3 loop generated mutant
      receptors with modest constitutive activity via Galpha15 signaling activation.
      Our results show that D134(3.49) on the highly conserved DRY motif has a distinct
      role for CXCR1 compared to its homologues (CXCR2 and KSHV-GPCR) in G protein
      coupling and receptor activation. In addition, M241(6.34) and F251(6.44) along
      with our previously identified V247(6.40) on TM6 are spatially located in a "hot
      spot" likely essential for CXCR1 activation. Identification of these amino acid
      residues may be useful for elucidating mechanism of CXCR1 activation and
      designing specific antagonists for the treatment of CXCR1-mediated diseases. 

PMID- 25834785
TI  - Insertion of sequences at the original provirus integration site of mouse ROSA26
      locus using the CRISPR/Cas9 system.
AB  - Targeted transgenic mouse models, where an exogenous gene is inserted into a
      specified genomic locus to achieve its stable and reliable expression, have been
      widely used in biomedical research. However, the available methodologies for
      targeted insertion of sequences require many laborious steps that involve the use
      of embryonic stem (ES) cells. We recently developed Pronuclear Injection-based
      Targeted Transgenesis (PITT), a method that uses a recombinase-mediated cassette
      exchange (RMCE) to enable insertion of sequences at a predetermined genomic
      locus, such as ROSA26. The PITT technique uses fertilized eggs (instead of ES
      cells) collected from 'seed mice' that contain the RMCE landing pad. The PITT
      method can rapidly generate reliable targeted transgenic mice; it requires a seed
      mouse, which in our previous study was generated using ES cell targeting
      approaches. Here, we demonstrate that seed mice containing the RMCE landing pad
      can be developed rapidly by using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. One of the CRISPR
      targets tested in this study enabled the insertion of sequences precisely at the
      original ROSA26 provirus integration site. We anticipate that using a similar
      approach, PITT landing pad sequences can be rapidly and precisely inserted at
      other genomic loci to develop an array of PITT tools. This two-step strategy
      combines the best features of the two newer technologies-rapid creation of PITT
      landing pads using the CRISPR/Cas9 system and efficient and precise insertion of
      larger cassettes at the landing pads using PITT. This study also revealed that
      anomalous and mosaic sequence insertions can occur with the CRISPR/Cas9 system. 

PMID- 25834786
TI  - How should we manage a patient with invasive mucoromycosis who develops life
      threatening reaction to amphotericin B? Report of two cases and literature
      review.
AB  - This report presents two cases of invasive rhino-orbital mucormycosis who had
      life-threatening reactions to amphotericin B. Both cases were treated with a
      combination of posaconazole-caspofungin favorably with no evidence of recurrence
      upon long-term follow-up. To our knowledge, this is the first report of
      successful treatment of invasive mucormycosis with azole-echinocandin
      combination. It may suggest that caspofungin exerts additional or even
      synergistic antimucoral effects to posaconazole. 

PMID- 25834787
TI  - Calcium oxalate in the sputum may aid in the diagnosis of pulmonary
      aspergillosis: A report of two cases.
AB  - We present two cases of pulmonary aspergillosis in which calcium oxalate crystals
      in the sputum proved to be a useful diagnostic clue. In case 1, Aspergillus
      hyphae was not identified; however, calcium oxalate crystals were present, and
      chronic necrotizing pulmonary aspergillosis was diagnosed. In case 2, calcium
      oxalate was detected and Aspergillus fumigatus was identified later. Thus, the
      presence of calcium oxalate in the sputum may be an important indicator for an A.
      fumigatus infection. 

PMID- 25834788
TI  - Elevation and vegetation determine Cryptosporidium oocyst shedding by yellow
      bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
AB  - Wildlife are increasingly recognized as important biological reservoirs of
      zoonotic species of Cryptosporidium that might contaminate water and cause human
      exposure to this protozoal parasite. The habitat range of the yellow-bellied
      marmot (Marmota flaviventris) overlaps extensively with the watershed boundaries
      of municipal water supplies for California communities along the foothills of the
      Sierra Nevada. We conducted a cross-sectional epidemiological study to estimate
      the fecal shedding of Cryptosporidium oocysts by yellow-bellied marmots and to
      quantify the environmental loading rate and determine risk factors for
      Cryptosporidium fecal shedding in this montane wildlife species. The observed
      proportion of Cryptosporidium positive fecal samples was 14.7% (33/224, positive
      number relative to total number samples) and the environmental loading rate was
      estimated to be 10,693 oocysts animal(-1) day(-1). Fecal shedding was associated
      with the elevation and vegetation status of their habitat. Based on a portion of
      the 18s rRNA gene sequence of 2 isolates, the Cryptosporidium found in Marmota
      flaviventris were 99.88%-100% match to multiple isolates of C. parvum in the
      GenBank. 

PMID- 25834789
TI  - Diversity of Cryptosporidium in brush-tailed rock-wallabies (Petrogale
      penicillata) managed within a species recovery programme.
AB  - Host-parasite relationships are likely to be impacted by conservation management
      practices, potentially increasing the susceptibility of wildlife to emerging
      disease. Cryptosporidium, a parasitic protozoan genus comprising host-adapted and
      host-specific species, was used as an indicator of parasite movement between
      populations of a threatened marsupial, the brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale
      penicillata). PCR screening of faecal samples (n = 324) from seven wallaby
      populations across New South Wales, identified Cryptosporidium in 7.1% of
      samples. The sampled populations were characterised as captive, supplemented and
      wild populations. No significant difference was found in Cryptosporidium
      detection between each of the three population categories. The positive samples,
      detected using 18S rRNA screening, were amplified using the actin and gp60 loci.
      Multi-locus sequence analysis revealed the presence of Cryptosporidium fayeri, a
      marsupial-specific species, and C. meleagridis, which has a broad host range, in
      samples from the three population categories. Cryptosporidium meleagridis has not
      been previously reported in marsupials and hence the pathogenicity of this
      species to brush-tailed rock-wallabies is unknown. Based on these findings, we
      recommend further study into Cryptosporidium in animals undergoing conservation
      management, as well as surveying wild animals in release areas, to further
      understand the diversity and epidemiology of this parasite in threatened
      wildlife. 

PMID- 25834790
TI  - Zonisamide-induced acute kidney injury.

PMID- 25834791
TI  - The economic burden of traumatic brain injury due to fatal traffic accidents in
      shahid rajaei trauma hospital, shiraz, iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) as a result of traffic accidents are
      one of the major causes of deaths, which lead to the loss of individuals'
      productive and working years of life. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to calculate
      the economic burden of traumatic brain injuries in fatal crashes at Shahid Rajaei
      Trauma Hospital, Shiraz, Iran for a period of five years. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      In this descriptive, cross-sectional study the population included people who had
      died as a result of TBIs during 2009 to 2013 in Shiraz Shahid Rajaei Trauma
      Hospital. Cost and demographic data were obtained from the participants' medical
      records using data gathering forms, and some other information was also collected
      via telephone calls to the victims' families. Economic burden of TBIs due to
      traffic accidents, which led to death, was estimated using the human capital as
      direct costs of treatment, and the number of potential years of life lost and
      lost productivity as indirect costs. RESULTS: Deaths resulting from TBIs due to
      traffic accidents in Shiraz imposed 6.2 billion Rials (511000 USD) of hospital
      costs, 6390 potential years of life lost, and 506 billion Rials (20 million USD)
      of productivity lost. In the present study, the mean age of the individuals who
      died was 38.4 +/- 19.41 and the productivity lost per capita was 1.8 billion
      Rials (73000 USD). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study indicated that the
      economic burden of TBIs was high in fatal accidents in Fars Province so that it
      was equivalent to 0.00011% of Iran's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013.
      Therefore, more attention has to be paid to the rules to prevent the fatal
      accidents.

PMID- 25834792
TI  - Bilateral symptomatic discoid medial meniscus of the knee: a case report and
      review of literature.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: A discoid medial meniscus is a rare pathology of the knee joint,
      and is even rarer when it presents bilaterally with clinical symptoms. CASE
      PRESENTATION: We present the case of a 38-year-old female with symptomatic
      bilateral discoid medial meniscus. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) showed
      complete discoid meniscus in one knee and incomplete, on the other side. The MRI
      findings were confirmed on arthroscopy, with horizontal cleavage tear in both
      knees. Arthroscopic partial meniscectomies of both menisci were performed.
      CONCLUSIONS: The patient had an excellent functional outcome at the most recent
      follow-up, with no recurrence of symptoms and full range of movements.

PMID- 25834793
TI  - Establishing an integrated trauma system in iran: the time of translating
      information into action.

PMID- 25834794
TI  - Retracted: epidemiological pattern of bullying among school children in
      mazandaran province, iran.
AB  - [This retracts the article DOI: 10.5812/atr.22551.]. 

PMID- 25834795
TI  - Personalized treatment of hepatitis B.
AB  - There are seven approved drugs for treatment of hepatitis B. Professional
      guidelines provide a framework for managing patients but these guidelines should
      be interpreted in the context of the individual patient's clinical and social
      circumstances. Personalized management of hepatitis B can be applied based on
      prediction of the individual patient's risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular
      carcinoma to guide the frequency and intensity of monitoring and urgency of
      treatment. It can also be applied to decisions regarding when to start treatment,
      which drug to use, and when to stop based on the individual patient's disease
      characteristics, preference, comorbidities and other mitigating circumstances. 

PMID- 25834796
TI  - Clinical implications of advances in liver regeneration.
AB  - Remarkable advances have been made recently in the area of liver regeneration.
      Even though liver regeneration after liver resection has been widely researched,
      new clinical applications have provided a better understanding of the process.
      Hepatic damage induces a process of regeneration that rarely occurs in normal
      undamaged liver. Many studies have concentrated on the mechanism of hepatocyte
      regeneration following liver damage. High mortality is usual in patients with
      terminal liver failure. Patients die when the regenerative process is unable to
      balance loss due to liver damage. During disease progression, cellular
      adaptations take place and the organ microenvironment changes. Portal vein
      embolization and the associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for
      staged hepatectomy are relatively recent techniques exploiting the remarkable
      progress in understanding liver regeneration. Living donor liver transplantation
      is one of the most significant clinical outcomes of research on liver
      regeneration. Another major clinical field involving liver regeneration is cell
      therapy using adult stem cells. The aim of this article is to provide an outline
      of the clinical approaches being undertaken to examine regeneration in liver
      diseases. 

PMID- 25834797
TI  - The cost of liver disease in Korea: methodology, data, and evidence.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study introduces methods for estimating the cost of liver
      disease and presents useful and reliable sources of data. The available evidence
      on the costs associated with liver disease is also discussed. METHODS: Costing
      methodology can be used to identify, measure, and value relevant resources
      incurred during the care of patients with liver diseases. It adjusts for
      discounting, skewed distribution, and missing or censored cost data. The human
      capital approach for productivity cost assumes that deceased patients would have
      lived to a normal expected life expectancy, and have earned a salary in line with
      the current age profile of wages, in order to measure potential earnings lost due
      to premature death or job loss. EVIDENCE: The number of deaths due to liver
      cancer (C22) increased from 6,384 in 1983 to 11,405 in 2013, while deaths due to
      other liver diseases (K70-K76) increased from 12,563 in 1983 to 13,458 in 1995,
      and then declined to 6,665 in 2013. According to the Global Burden of Disease
      study conducted by the World Health Organization, liver cancer caused 325,815
      disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and cirrhosis of the liver caused 206,917
      DALYs in 2012. The total cost of liver disease was estimated at 1,941 billion
      Korean won in 2001 and 5,689 billion Korean won in 2008. Much of this cost is
      attributable to productivity cost, and especially that of economically active
      men. CONCLUSIONS: The economic burden of liver disease is immense because of the
      associated high mortality and morbidity, especially among the economically active
      population. This indicates the need to prioritize the development of appropriate
      health interventions.

PMID- 25834798
TI  - Regression of liver cirrhosis: orthodoxy or paradigm shift?

PMID- 25834799
TI  - Efficacy of prolonged entecavir monotherapy in treatment-naive chronic hepatitis
      B patients exhibiting a partial virologic response to entecavir.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The optimal management of patients exhibiting a partial
      virologic response (PVR) to entecavir (ETV) has not been determined. The aim of
      this study was to determine the long-term efficacy of prolonged ETV monotherapy
      in treatment-naive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients exhibiting a PVR to ETV
      therapy. METHODS: This study included 364 treatment-naive CHB patients treated
      with ETV for >=48 weeks and who received continuous ETV monotherapy for >=96
      weeks. PVR was defined as a decrease in serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA of more
      than 2 log(10) IU/mL from baseline but with detectable HBV DNA by real-time PCR
      assay at week 48. RESULTS: Fifty-two of the 364 patients (14.3%) showed a PVR.
      Among them, 41 patients received continuous ETV monotherapy for >=96 weeks
      (median duration 144 weeks, range 96-312 weeks), and 40 of these patients (95%)
      achieved a virologic response (VR, HBV DNA <20 IU/mL) during prolonged ETV
      monotherapy (median duration 78 weeks, range 60-288 weeks). The cumulative
      probabilities of a VR at weeks 96, 144, and 192 from treatment initiation were
      78.0%, 92.7%, and 95.1%, respectively. The VR rate was 97.2% (35/36) in HBeAg
      positive patients and 100% (5/5) in HBeAg-negative patients. In multivariate
      analysis, HBeAg positivity (odds ratio [OR], 9.231; 95% confidence interval [CI],
      1.03-82.91; P=0.047) and a high baseline HBV DNA level (OR, 0.170; 95% CI, 0.08
      0.37; P=0.000) were independently associated with a delayed virologic response.
      No patient developed genotypic resistance to ETV during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS:
      Long-term ETV monotherapy is effective for achieving a VR in treatment-naive CHB
      patients exhibiting a PVR to ETV. HBeAg positivity and high baseline HBV DNA
      level were independently associated with a delayed virologic response.

PMID- 25834800
TI  - The factors associated with longitudinal changes in liver stiffness in patients
      with chronic hepatitis B.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Liver stiffness (LS) as assessed by transient elastography (TE)
      can change longitudinally in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The aim of
      this study was to identify the factors that improve LS. METHODS: Between April
      2007 and December 2012, 151 patients with CHB who underwent two TE procedures
      with an interval of about 2 years were enrolled. Ninety-six of the 151 patients
      were treated with nucleos(t)ide analogues [the antiviral therapy (+) group],
      while the remaining 55 patients were not [the antiviral therapy (-) group]. The
      two groups of patients were stratified according to whether they exhibited an
      improvement or a deterioration in LS during the study period (defined as an LS
      change of <=0 or >0 kPa, respectively, over a 1-year period), and their data were
      compared. RESULTS: No differences were observed between the antiviral therapy (+)
      and (-) groups with respect to either their clinical characteristics or their
      initial LS. The observed LS improvement was significantly greater in the
      antiviral therapy (+) group than in the antiviral therapy (-) group (-3.0 vs.
      0.98 kPa, P=0.011). In the antiviral therapy (+) group, the initial LS was higher
      in the LS improvement group (n=63) than in the LS deterioration group (n=33; 7.9
      vs. 4.8 kPa, P<0.001). However, there were no differences in any other clinical
      characteristic. In the antiviral therapy (-) group, the initial LS was also
      higher in the LS improvement group (n=29) than in the LS deterioration group
      (n=26; 8.3 vs. 6.5 kPa, P=0.021), with no differences in any other clinical
      characteristic. CONCLUSIONS: A higher initial LS was the only factor associated
      with LS improvement in patients with CHB in this study.

PMID- 25834801
TI  - Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate monotherapy for nucleos(t)ide analogue-naive and
      nucleos(t)ide analogue-experienced chronic hepatitis B patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study investigated the antiviral effects of tenofovir
      disoproxil fumarate (TDF) monotherapy in nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA)-naive and NA
      experienced chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. METHODS: CHB patients treated
      with TDF monotherapy (300 mg/day) for >=12 weeks between December 2012 and July
      2014 at a single center were retrospectively enrolled. Clinical, biochemical, and
      virological parameters were assessed every 12 weeks. RESULTS: In total, 136
      patients (median age 49 years, 96 males, 94 HBeAg positive, and 51 with liver
      cirrhosis) were included. Sixty-two patients were nucleos(t)ide (NA)-naive, and
      74 patients had prior NA therapy (NA-exp group), and 31 patients in the NA-exp
      group had lamivudine (LAM)-resistance (LAM-R group). The baseline serum hepatitis
      B virus (HBV) DNA level was 4.9+/-2.3 log IU/mL (mean+/-SD), and was higher in
      the NA-naive group than in the NA-exp and LAM-R groups (5.9+/-2.0 log IU/mL vs
      3.9+/-2.0 log IU/mL vs 4.2+/-1.7 log IU/mL, P<0.01). The complete virological
      response (CVR) rate at week 48 in the NA-naive group (71.4%) did not differ
      significantly from those in the NA-exp (71.3%) and LAM-R (66.1%) groups. In
      multivariate analysis, baseline serum HBV DNA was the only predictive factor for
      a CVR at week 48 (hazard ratio, 0.809; 95% confidence interval, 0.729-0.898),
      while the CVR rate did not differ with the NA experience. CONCLUSIONS: TDF
      monotherapy was effective for CHB treatment irrespective of prior NA treatment or
      LAM resistance. Baseline serum HBV DNA was the independent predictive factor for
      a CVR.

PMID- 25834802
TI  - Combined treatment with silibinin and either sorafenib or gefitinib enhances
      their growth-inhibiting effects in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Silibinin, the main component of silymarin, is used as a
      hepatoprotectant and exhibits anticancer effects against various cancer cells.
      This study evaluated the effects of a combination of silibinin with either
      gefitinib or sorafenib on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. METHODS: Several
      different human HCC cell lines were used to test the growth-inhibiting effects
      and cell toxicity of silibinin both alone and in combination with either
      gefitinib or sorafenib. The cell viability and growth inhibition were assessed
      using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay,
      trypan blue staining, and a colony-forming assay. Furthermore, changes in
      epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-related signals were evaluated by Western
      blot analysis. RESULTS: Gefitinib, sorafenib, and silibinin individually
      exhibited dose-dependent antiproliferative effects on HCC cells. Combined
      treatment with silibinin enhanced the gefitinib-induced growth-inhibiting effects
      in some HCC cell lines. The combination effect of gefitinib and silibinin was
      synergistic in the SNU761 cell line, but was only additive in the Huh-BAT cell
      line. The combination effect may be attributable to inhibition of EGFR-dependent
      Akt signaling. Enhanced growth-inhibiting effects were also observed in HCC cells
      treated with a combination of sorafenib and silibinin. CONCLUSIONS: Combined
      treatment with silibinin enhanced the growth-inhibiting effects of both gefitinib
      and sorafenib. Therefore, the combination of silibinin with either sorafenib or
      gefitinib could be a useful treatment approach for HCC in the future.

PMID- 25834803
TI  - Fibroblast growth factor receptor isotype expression and its association with
      overall survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Fibroblast growth factor signaling is involved in
      hepatocarcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to determine the fibroblast
      growth factor receptor (FGFR) isotype expression in hepatocellular carcinoma
      (HCC) and neighboring nonneoplastic liver tissue, and elucidate its prognostic
      implications. METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining of FGFR1, -2, -3, and -4 was
      performed in the HCCs and paired neighboring nonneoplastic liver tissue of 870
      HCC patients who underwent hepatic resection. Of these, clinical data for 153
      patients who underwent curative resection as a primary therapy were reviewed, and
      the relationship between FGFR isotype expression and overall survival was
      evaluated (development set). This association was also validated in 73
      independent samples (validation set) by Western blot analysis. RESULTS: FGFR1, 
      2, -3, and -4 were expressed in 5.3%, 11.1%, 3.8%, and 52.7% of HCCs,
      respectively. Among the development set of 153 patients, FGFR2 positivity in HCC
      was associated with a significantly shorter overall survival (5-year survival
      rate, 35.3% vs. 61.8%; P=0.02). FGFR2 expression in HCC was an independent
      predictor of a poor postsurgical prognosis (hazard ratio, 2.10; P=0.02) in the
      development set. However, the corresponding findings were not statistically
      significant in the validation set. CONCLUSIONS: FGFR2 expression in HCC could be
      a prognostic indicator of postsurgical survival.

PMID- 25834804
TI  - Alteration of laboratory findings after radiofrequency ablation of hepatocellular
      carcinoma: relationship to severity of the underlying liver disease and the
      ablation volume.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: To investigate sequential changes in laboratory markers after
      radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the
      relationship of these changes to the severity of the underlying liver disease.
      METHODS: This retrospective analysis included 65 patients (44 males, 21 females)
      who underwent RFA of HCC. Hematologic and biochemical markers were assessed at
      the pre-RFA period and 1 day, 2-3 days, and 1-2 weeks after RFA. We classified
      the subjects into two groups: Child-Pugh A (n=41) and Child-Pugh B (n=24). The
      ablative margin volume (AMV) of each patient was measured. We analyzed the
      changes in laboratory profiles from the baseline, and investigated whether these
      laboratory changes were correlated with the AMV and the Child-Pugh
      classification. RESULTS: Most of the laboratory values peaked at 2-3 days after
      RFA. AMV was significantly correlated with changes in WBC count, hemoglobin
      level, and serum total bilirubin level (Pearson's correlation coefficient, 0.324
      0.453; P<0.05). The alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level varied significantly
      over time (P=0.023). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the measured laboratory markers changed
      from baseline, peaking at 2-3 days. The ALT level was the only parameter for
      which there was a significant difference after RFA between Child-Pugh A and B
      patients: it increased significantly more in the Child-Pugh A patients.

PMID- 25834805
TI  - A case of primary hepatic actinomycosis: an enigmatic inflammatory lesion of the
      liver.
AB  - Primary hepatic actinomycosis is one of the chronic abscess-forming infections of
      the liver. Accurate diagnosis is frequently delayed due to its indolent course
      and nonspecific clinical and radiological manifestations. We report a case of a
      57-year-old man presenting with asymptomatic multiple hepatic masses on follow-up
      abdominal computed tomography performed 1 year after stomach cancer surgery.
      Although a percutaneous liver biopsy procedure was conducted twice in order to
      obtain confirmative pathology, only a nonspecific organizing abscess with plasma
      cell infiltration was revealed, without identification of any organism in the
      tissue cultures. Ultimately, actinomycosis was diagnosed following the detection
      of sulfur granules on open surgical biopsied tissue. This case suggests that
      primary hepatic actinomycosis should be considered as one of the possible causes
      for enigmatic inflammatory lesions of the liver. 

PMID- 25834806
TI  - Low-dose steroid-induced tumor lysis syndrome in a hepatocellular carcinoma
      patient.
AB  - Tumor lysis syndrome is rare in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but it has been
      reported more frequently recently in response to treatments such as transcatheter
      arterial chemoembolization (TACE), radiofrequency thermal ablation (RFTA), and
      sorafenib. Tumor lysis syndrome induced by low-dose steroid appears to be very
      unusual in HCC. We report a patient with hepatitis-C-related liver cirrhosis and
      HCC in whom tumor lysis syndrome occurred due to low-dose steroid (10 mg of
      prednisolone). The patient was a 90-year-old male who presented at the emergency
      room of our hospital with general weakness and poor oral intake. He had started
      to take prednisolone to treat adrenal insufficiency 2 days previously. Laboratory
      results revealed hyperuricemia, hyperphosphatemia, and increased creatinine.
      These abnormalities fulfilled the criteria in the Cairo-Bishop definition of
      tumor lysis syndrome. Although the patient received adequate hydration, severe
      metabolic acidosis and acute kidney injury progressed unabated. He finally
      developed multiple organ failure, and died 3 days after admission. This was a
      case of tumor lysis syndrome caused by administration of low-dose steroid in a
      patient with HCC. 

PMID- 25834807
TI  - Budd-Chiari syndrome with multiple large regenerative nodules.

PMID- 25834809
TI  - Erratum.
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. 355 in vol. 20, PMID: 25548741.][This corrects
      the article on p. 368 in vol. 20, PMID: 25548743.]. 

PMID- 25834808
TI  - Recent advances in the imaging of hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - The role of imaging is crucial for the surveillance, diagnosis, staging and
      treatment monitoring of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Over the past few years,
      considerable technical advances were made in imaging of HCCs. New imaging
      technology, however, has introduced new challenges in our clinical practice. In
      this article, the current status of clinical imaging techniques for HCC is
      addressed. The diagnostic performance of imaging techniques in the context of
      recent clinical guidelines is also presented. 

PMID- 25834810
TI  - Comprehensive Analysis of Transcriptome Sequencing Data in the Lung Tissues of
      COPD Subjects.
AB  - Background and Objectives. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a
      complex disease characterized by airflow limitation. Although airway inflammation
      and oxidative stress are known to be important in the pathogenesis of COPD, the
      mechanism underlying airflow obstruction is not fully understood. Gene expression
      profiling of lung tissue was performed to define the molecular pathways that are
      dysregulated in COPD. Methods. RNA was isolated from lung tissues obtained from
      98 subjects with COPD and 91 control subjects with normal spirometry. The RNA
      samples were processed with RNA-seq using the HiSeq 2000 system. Genes expressed
      differentially between the two groups were identified using Student's t-test.
      Results. After filtering for genes with zero counts and noncoding genes, 16,676
      genes were evaluated. A total of 2312 genes were differentially expressed between
      the lung tissues of COPD and control subjects (false discovery rate corrected q <
      0.01). The expression of genes related to oxidative phosphorylation and protein
      catabolism was reduced and genes related to chromatin modification were
      dysregulated in lung tissues of COPD subjects. Conclusions. Oxidative
      phosphorylation, protein degradation, and chromatin modification were the most
      dysregulated pathways in the lung tissues of COPD subjects. These findings may
      have clinical and mechanistic implications in COPD. 

PMID- 25834811
TI  - Genetic vectors as a tool in association studies: definitions and application for
      study of rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - To identify putative relations between different genetic factors in the human
      genome in the development of common complex disease, we mapped the genetic data
      to an ensemble of spin chains and analysed the data as a quantum system. Each SNP
      is considered as a spin with three states corresponding to possible genotypes.
      The combined genotype represents a multispin state, described by the product of
      individual-spin states. Each person is characterized by a single genetic vector
      (GV) and individuals with identical GVs comprise the GV group. This consolidation
      of genotypes into GVs provides integration of multiple genetic variants for a
      single statistical test and excludes ambiguity of biological interpretation known
      for allele and haplotype associations. We analyzed two independent cohorts, with
      2633 rheumatoid arthritis cases and 2108 healthy controls, and data for 6 SNPs
      from the HTR2A locus plus shared epitope allele. We found that GVs based on
      selected markers are highly informative and overlap for 98.3% of the healthy
      population between two cohorts. Interestingly, some of the GV groups contain
      either only controls or only cases, thus demonstrating extreme susceptibility or
      protection features. By using this new approach we confirmed previously detected
      univariate associations and demonstrated the most efficient selection of SNPs for
      combined analyses for functional studies. 

PMID- 25834812
TI  - Own experience in treatment of patients with penile cancer using photodynamic
      therapy.
AB  - Penile cancer is a rare pathology. For penile cancer surgical treatment,
      radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and combined modality treatment are available.
      Because of great importance of this organ for mental condition of patient, the
      development of organ-preserving methods allowing to minimize impact on patient's
      quality of life without compromising of oncological results is desirable. In the
      Center of Laser and Photodynamic diagnosis and treatment of tumors in P.A. Herzen
      Moscow Cancer Research Institute the methods of photodynamic therapy in patients
      with penile cancer have been developed. From 2011 to 2013 the treatment was
      conducted in 11 patients with precancer and cancer of penile. The average age was
      56.6. According to morphological diagnosis photodynamic therapy (PDT) was
      performed using two methods. One method included topical application of agent for
      PDT and the second intravenous administration of photosensitizer. For topical
      application alasens was used and for intravenous injection we applied
      radachlorine. All patients had no complications. Complete regression was achieved
      in 9 patients, and partial regression in 2. Thus, the results showed that
      photodynamic therapy for penile cancer stage Tis-1N0M0 permits performing organ
      preserving treatment with satisfactory oncological results and no impairment of
      patient's quality of life. 

PMID- 25834813
TI  - Technological advances in instrumental assessment in rehabilitation.

PMID- 25834814
TI  - Incidence and diversity of antimicrobial multidrug resistance profiles of
      uropathogenic bacteria.
AB  - The aim of this study was to assess the most frequent multidrug resistant (MDR)
      profiles of the main bacteria implicated in community-acquired urinary tract
      infections (UTI). Only the MDR profiles observed in, at least, 5% of the MDR
      isolates were considered. A quarter of the bacteria were MDR and the most common
      MDR profile, including resistance to penicillins, quinolones, and sulfonamides
      (antibiotics with different mechanisms of action, all mainly recommended by the
      European Association of Urology for empirical therapy of uncomplicated UTI), was
      observed, alone or in association with resistance to other antimicrobial classes,
      in the main bacteria implicated in UTI. The penicillin class was included in all
      the frequent MDR profiles observed in the ten main bacteria and was the
      antibiotic with the highest prescription during the study period. The
      sulfonamides class, included in five of the six more frequent MDR profiles, was
      avoided between 2000 and 2009. The results suggest that the high MDR percentage
      and the high diversity of MDR profiles result from a high prescription of
      antibiotics but also from antibiotic-resistant genes transmitted with other
      resistance determinants on mobile genetic elements and that the UTI standard
      treatment guidelines must be adjusted for the community of Aveiro District. 

PMID- 25834815
TI  - Antimicrobial peptides: current and potential applications in biomedical
      therapies.

PMID- 25834816
TI  - A functional variant at miR-520a binding site in PIK3CA alters susceptibility to
      colorectal cancer in a Chinese Han population.
AB  - An increasing body of evidence has indicated that polymorphisms in the miRNA
      binding site of target gene can alter the ability of miRNAs to bind their target
      genes and modulate the risk of cancer. We aimed to investigate the association
      between a miR-520a binding site polymorphism rs141178472 in the PIK3CA 3'-UTR and
      the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) in a Chinese Han population. The polymorphism
      rs141178472 was analyzed in a case-control study, including 386 CRC patients and
      394 age- and sex-matched controls; the relationship between the polymorphism and
      the risk of colorectal cancer was examined. Individuals carrying the rs141178472
      CC genotype or C allele had an increased risk of developing CRC (CC versus TT, OR
      (95% CI): 1.716 (1.084-2.716), P = 0.022; C versus T, OR (95% CI): 1.258 (1.021
      1.551), P = 0.033). Furthermore, the expression of PIK3CA was detected in the
      peripheral blood mononucleated cell of CRC patients, suggesting that mRNA levels
      of PIK3CA might be associated with SNP rs141178472. These findings provide
      evidence that a miR-520a binding site polymorphism rs141178472 in the PIK3CA 3'
      UTR may play a role in the etiology of CRC. 

PMID- 25834817
TI  - TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand in ocular cancers and ocular diabetic
      complications.
AB  - TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) is an intensively studied cytokine,
      in particular for its anticancer activity. The discovery that conjunctival sac
      fluid contains extremely high levels of soluble TRAIL as compared to other body
      fluids suggested important implications in the context of the immunological
      surveillance of the eye, in particular of the anterior surface. In this review,
      we discuss the potential physiopathologic and therapeutic role of the TRAIL/TRAIL
      receptor system in a variety of ocular cancers. Moreover, since an increasing
      amount of data has indicated the important biological activities of the
      TRAIL/TRAIL receptor systems also in a completely different pathologic context
      such as diabetes mellitus, in the second part of this review we summarize the
      currently available data on the involvement of TRAIL in the ocular complications
      of diabetes mellitus as modulator of the inflammatory and angiogenic response in
      the eye. 

PMID- 25834818
TI  - The effect of iloprost and N-acetylcysteine on skeletal muscle injury in an acute
      aortic ischemia-reperfusion model: an experimental study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the effects of iloprost and
      N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injuries to the gastrocnemius
      muscle, following the occlusion-reperfusion period in the abdominal aorta of
      rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided
      into four equal groups. Group 1: control group. Group 2 (IR): aorta was occluded.
      The clamp was removed after 1 hour of ischemia. Blood samples and muscle tissue
      specimens were collected following a 2-hour reperfusion period. Group 3 (IR +
      iloprost): during a 1-hour ischemia period, iloprost infusion was initiated from
      the jugular catheter. During a 2-hour reperfusion period, the iloprost infusion
      continued. Group 4 (IR + NAC): similar to the iloprost group. FINDINGS: The mean
      total oxidant status, CK, and LDH levels were highest in Group 2 and lowest in
      Group 1. The levels of these parameters in Group 3 and Group 4 were lower
      compared to Group 2 and higher compared to Group 1 (P < 0.05). The
      histopathological examination showed that Group 3 and Group 4, compared to Group
      2, had preserved appearance with respect to hemorrhage, necrosis, loss of nuclei,
      infiltration, and similar parameters. CONCLUSION: Iloprost and NAC are effective
      against ischemia-reperfusion injury and decrease ischemia-related tissue injury.

PMID- 25834820
TI  - Incidence of alpha-globin gene defect in the Lebanese population: a pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is well established that the Mediterranean and Arab populations
      are at high risk for thalassemias in general and for alpha-thalassemia in
      particular. Yet, reports on alpha-thalassemia in Lebanon are still lacking. In
      this study, we aim at assessing the incidence of alpha-thalassemia in the
      Lebanese population. METHODS: 230 newborns' dried blood cards remaining from
      routine neonatal screening at the American University of Beirut Medical Center
      were collected for DNA extraction. Samples were screened for the 21 most common
      alpha-globin deletions and point mutations reported worldwide, through multiplex
      Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Reverse-Hybridization technique. RESULTS:
      Upon analyses, the carrier rate of alpha-thalassemia was found to be 8%. Two
      mutations detected the -alpha(3,7) single gene deletion found in 75% of cases and
      the nongene deletion alpha2 IVS1 [-5nt] in the remaining samples. CONCLUSION:
      This study is the first dedicated to investigate alpha-thalassemia trait
      incidence in Lebanon. Data obtained demonstrates a high carrier rate in a
      relatively, highly consanguineous population; it also highlighted the presence of
      two common mutations. These results may be of an important impact on premarital
      and newborn screening policies in our country.

PMID- 25834819
TI  - TRAF1/C5 but not PTPRC variants are potential predictors of rheumatoid arthritis
      response to anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of our work was to replicate, in a Southern European
      population, the association reported in Northern populations between PTPRC locus
      and response to anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) treatment in rheumatoid
      arthritis (RA). We also looked at associations between five RA risk alleles and
      treatment response. METHODS: We evaluated associations between anti-TNF treatment
      responses assessed by DAS28 change and by EULAR response at six months in 383
      Portuguese patients. Univariate and multivariate linear and logistic regression
      analyses were performed. In a second step to confirm our findings, we pooled our
      population with 265 Spanish patients. RESULTS: No association was found between
      PTPRC rs10919563 allele and anti-TNF treatment response, neither in Portuguese
      modeling for several clinical variables nor in the overall population combining
      Portuguese and Spanish patients. The minor allele for RA susceptibility,
      rs3761847 SNP in TRAF1/C5 region, was associated with a poor response in linear
      and logistic univariate and multivariate regression analyses. No association was
      observed with the other allellic variants. Results were confirmed in the pooled
      analysis. CONCLUSION: This study did not replicate the association between PTPRC
      and the response to anti-TNF treatment in our Southern European population. We
      found that TRAF1/C5 risk RA variants potentially influence anti-TNF treatment
      response.

PMID- 25834821
TI  - Soluble c-Met is a reliable and sensitive marker to detect c-Met expression level
      in lung cancer.
AB  - c-Met has been demonstrated as an attractive target in lung cancer therapy.
      Current studies showed that detection of c-Met status in tumor is critical in Met
      targeted therapy. However not all patients are suitable for tissue sample
      collection. It is important to discover novel surrogate markers to detect c-Met
      status. In the study, soluble c-Met (s-Met) in plasma from 146 Chinese lung
      cancer patients and 40 disease-free volunteers was measured by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent. In parallel, expression of c-Met in those tumors was also assessed
      by immunohistochemistry. Results showed that, in 146 lung cancer patients, 93
      were c-Met expression positive and 74 of 93 were overexpressed. In c-Met
      overexpressed patients, plasma s-Met was significantly increased. And further
      studies showed that plasma s-Met linearly correlated with c-Met expression in
      tumor. After tumor was removed in Met-overexpressed patients via resection,
      plasma s-Met significantly decreased to basal level. In addition, plasma s-Met
      showed to be poorly correlated with tumor size in Met-overexpressed patients.
      These results demonstrated that plasma s-Met is a sensitive and reliable marker
      to detect c-Met overexpression in lung cancers, and it is independent of tumor
      volume. 

PMID- 25834822
TI  - Comparative analysis of classifiers for developing an adaptive computer-assisted
      EEG analysis system for diagnosing epilepsy.
AB  - Computer-assisted analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) has a tremendous
      potential to assist clinicians during the diagnosis of epilepsy. These systems
      are trained to classify the EEG based on the ground truth provided by the
      neurologists. So, there should be a mechanism in these systems, using which a
      system's incorrect markings can be mentioned and the system should improve its
      classification by learning from them. We have developed a simple mechanism for
      neurologists to improve classification rate while encountering any false
      classification. This system is based on taking discrete wavelet transform (DWT)
      of the signals epochs which are then reduced using principal component analysis,
      and then they are fed into a classifier. After discussing our approach, we have
      shown the classification performance of three types of classifiers: support
      vector machine (SVM), quadratic discriminant analysis, and artificial neural
      network. We found SVM to be the best working classifier. Our work exhibits the
      importance and viability of a self-improving and user adapting computer-assisted
      EEG analysis system for diagnosing epilepsy which processes each channel
      exclusive to each other, along with the performance comparison of different
      machine learning techniques in the suggested system. 

PMID- 25834823
TI  - Inhibition of osteoclast activation by phloretin through disturbing alphavbeta3
      integrin-c-Src pathway.
AB  - This study was to explore the sequential signaling of disorganization of the
      actin cytoskeletal architecture by phloretin. RAW 264.7 macrophages were
      incubated with 1-20 MUM phloretin for 5 days in the presence of RANKL. C57BL/6
      mice were ovariectomized (OVX) and orally treated with 10 mg/kg phloretin once a
      day for 8 weeks. Phloretin allayed RANKL stimulated formation of actin podosomes
      with the concomitant retardation of the vinculin activation. Oral administration
      of phloretin suppressed the induction of femoral gelsolin and vinculin in OVX
      mice. The RANK-RANKL interaction resulted in the alphavbeta3 integrin induction,
      which was demoted by phloretin. The RANKL induction of actin rings and vacuolar
      type H(+)-ATPase entailed Pyk2 phosphorylation and c-Src and c-Cbl induction, all
      of which were blunted by phloretin. Similar inhibition was also observed in
      phloretin-exposed OVX mouse femoral bone tissues with decreased trabecular
      collagen formation. Phloretin suppressed the paxillin induction in RANKL
      activated osteoclasts and in OVX epiphyseal bone tissues. Also, phloretin
      attenuated the Syk phosphorylation and phospholipase Cgamma induction by RANKL in
      osteoclasts. These results suggest that phloretin was an inhibitor of actin
      podosomes and sealing zone, disrupting alphavbeta3 integrin-c-Src-Pyk2/Syk
      signaling pathway for the regulation of actin cytoskeletal organization in
      osteoclasts. 

PMID- 25834824
TI  - Novel mutations in the transcriptional activator domain of the human TBX20 in
      patients with atrial septal defect.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The relevance of TBX20 gene in heart development has been
      demonstrated in many animal models, but there are few works that try to elucidate
      the effect of TBX20 mutations in human congenital heart diseases. In these
      studies, all missense mutations associated with atrial septal defect (ASD) were
      found in the DNA-binding T-box domain, none in the transcriptional activator
      domain. METHODS: We search for TBX20 mutations in a group of patients with ASD or
      ventricular septal defect (VSD) using the High Resolution Melting (HRM) method
      and DNA sequencing. RESULTS: We report three missense mutations (Y309D, T370O,
      and M395R) within the transcriptional activator domain of human TBX20 that were
      associated with ASD. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first association of TBX20
      transcriptional activator domain missense mutations with ASD. These findings
      could have implications for diagnosis, genetic screening, and patient follow-up.

PMID- 25834826
TI  - Gold nanotheranostics: photothermal therapy and imaging of Mucin 7 conjugated
      antibody nanoparticles for urothelial cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To kill urothelial cancer cells while preserving healthy cells, this
      study used photothermal therapy (PTT). PTT techniques target urothelial cancer
      cells using gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and a green light laser. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: The GNPs were conjugated with anti-Mucin 7 antibodies, which acted as a
      probe for targeting tumor cells. Conjugated GNPs were exposed to a green light
      laser (532 nm) with sufficient thermal energy to kill the transitional cell
      carcinomas (TCCs). RESULTS: According to our results, nanoparticles conjugated
      with Mucin 7 antibodies damaged all types of cancer cells (MBT2, T24, 9202, and
      8301) at relatively low energy levels (i.e., 500 laser shots at 10 W/cm(2) in
      power, 1.6 Hz in frequency, and 300 ms in duration). Nonconjugated nanoparticles
      required 30 W/cm(2) or more to achieve the same effect. Cell damage was directly
      related to irradiation time and applied laser energy. CONCLUSIONS: The minimally
      invasive PTT procedure combined with Mucin 7 targeted GNPs is able to kill cancer
      cells and preserve healthy cells. The success of this treatment technique can
      likely be attributed to the lower amount of energy required to kill targeted
      cancer cells compared with that required to kill nontargeted cancer cells. Our in
      vitro pilot study yielded promising results; however, additional animal studies
      are required to confirm these findings.

PMID- 25834825
TI  - Endocrine and bone complications in beta-thalassemia intermedia: current
      understanding and treatment.
AB  - Thalassemia intermedia (TI), also known as nontransfusion dependent thalassemia
      (NTDT), is a type of thalassemia where affected patients do not require lifelong
      regular transfusions for survival but may require occasional or even frequent
      transfusions in certain clinical settings and for defined periods of time. NTDT
      encompasses three distinct clinical forms: beta-thalassemia intermedia (beta-TI),
      Hb E/beta-thalassemia, and alpha-thalassemia intermedia (Hb H disease). Over the
      past decade, our understanding of the molecular features, pathophysiology, and
      complications of NTDT particularly beta-TI has increased tremendously but data on
      optimal treatment of disease and its various complications are still lacking. In
      this paper, we shall review a group of commonly encountered complications in beta
      TI, mainly endocrine and bone complications. 

PMID- 25834827
TI  - Mosaicism of mitochondrial genetic variation in atherosclerotic lesions of the
      human aorta.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was an analysis of heteroplasmy level in
      mitochondrial mutations 652delG, A1555G, C3256T, T3336C, 652insG, C5178A,
      G12315A, G13513A, G14459A, G14846A, and G15059A in normal and affected by
      atherosclerosis segments of morphologically mapped aortic walls. METHODS: We
      investigated the 265 normal and atherosclerotic tissue sections of 5 human
      aortas. Intima of every aorta was divided according to morphological
      characteristics into segments with different types of atherosclerotic lesions:
      fibrous plaque, lipofibrous plaque, primary atherosclerotic lesion (fatty streak
      and fatty infiltration), and normal intima from human aorta. PCR-fragments were
      analyzed by a new original method developed in our laboratory on the basis of
      pyrosequence technology. RESULTS: According to the obtained data, mutations
      G12315A and G14459A are significantly associated with total and primary
      atherosclerotic lesions of intimal segments and lipofibrous plaques (P <= 0.01
      and P <= 0.05, accordingly). Mutation C5178A is significantly associated with
      fibrous plaques and total atherosclerotic lesions (P <= 0.01). A1555G mutation
      shows an antiatherosclerotic effect in primary lesion in lipofibrous plaques (P
      <= 0.05). Meanwhile, G14846A mutation is antiatherogenic for lipofibrous plaques
      (P <= 0.05). CONCLUSION: Therefore, mutations C5178A, G14459A, G12315A, A1555G,
      and G14846A were found to be associated with atherosclerotic lesions.

PMID- 25834828
TI  - Sepsis: pathogenesis, biomarkers, and treatment.

PMID- 25834829
TI  - A versatile orthotopic nude mouse model for study of esophageal squamous cell
      carcinoma.
AB  - Increasing evidence indicates tumor-stromal interactions play a crucial role in
      cancer. An in vivo esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) orthotopic animal
      model was developed with bioluminescence imaging established with a real-time
      monitoring platform for functional and signaling investigation of tumor-stromal
      interactions. The model was produced by injection of luciferase-labelled ESCC
      cells into the intraesophageal wall of nude mice. Histological examination
      indicates this orthotopic model is highly reproducible with 100% tumorigenesis
      among the four ESCC cell lines tested. This new model recapitulates many clinical
      and pathological properties of human ESCC, including esophageal luminal stricture
      by squamous cell carcinoma with nodular tumor growth, adventitia invasion,
      lymphovascular invasion, and perineural infiltration. It was tested using an AKT
      shRNA knockdown of ESCC cell lines and the in vivo tumor suppressive effects of
      AKT knockdown were observed. In conclusion, this ESCC orthotopic mouse model
      allows investigation of gene functions of cancer cells in a more natural tumor
      microenvironment and has advantages over previous established models. It provides
      a versatile platform with potential application for metastasis and therapeutic
      regimen testing. 

PMID- 25834830
TI  - The use of infrared thermography as a rapid, quantitative, and noninvasive method
      for evaluation of inflammation response in different anatomical regions of rats.
AB  - PURPOSE: Thermographic assessment of temperature distribution within the examined
      tissues allows a quick, noncontact, noninvasive measurement of their temperature.
      The aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of digital infrared imaging
      in monitoring experimental inflammation of pleura (PL), lower lip (LL), and left
      paw (LP) and right paw (RP) of lower limbs in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The
      inflammatory reaction was induced by injection of 1% carrageenin solution into
      pleural cavity, lip, or paws. With the use of digital infrared imaging
      temperature measurement was conducted at 0 to 72 hours of the inflammatory
      reaction. RESULTS: The temperature decrease was observed at the site of injection
      directly afterwards. Next, it was gradually increasing and it reached the maximum
      on the third day of the inflammatory reaction. Statistically significant changes
      were observed after 48-hour period in PL and LL regions, as well as after 72-hour
      period in LP and RP regions (P < 0.005). CONCLUSION: It was found that
      thermographic examination allows for indicating the presence of inflammatory
      reaction within examined tissues and determining the dynamics of this process.
      This method could be used as alternative procedure that allows using fewer
      animals for experiments.

PMID- 25834831
TI  - Regulation of hyaluronan synthesis in vascular diseases and diabetes.
AB  - Cell microenvironment has a critical role determining cell fate and modulating
      cell responses to injuries. Hyaluronan (HA) is a ubiquitous extracellular matrix
      glycosaminoglycan that can be considered a signaling molecule. In fact,
      interacting with several cell surface receptors can deeply shape cell behavior.
      In vascular biology, HA triggers smooth muscle cells (SMCs) dedifferentiation
      which contributes to vessel wall thickening. Furthermore, HA is able to modulate
      inflammation by altering the adhesive properties of endothelial cells. In
      hyperglycemic conditions, HA accumulates in vessels and can contribute to the
      diabetic complications at micro- and macrovasculature. Due to the pivotal role in
      favoring atherogenesis and neointima formation after injuries, HA could be a new
      target for cardiovascular pathologies. This review will focus on the recent
      findings regarding the regulation of HA synthesis in human vascular SMCs. In
      particular, the effects of the intracellular HA substrates availability,
      adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and protein O
      GlcNAcylation on the main HA synthetic enzyme (i.e., HAS2) will be discussed. 

PMID- 25834832
TI  - NADPH oxidase-induced NALP3 inflammasome activation is driven by thioredoxin
      interacting protein which contributes to podocyte injury in hyperglycemia.
AB  - Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the major causes of end-stage renal disease,
      and previously we demonstrated that NALP3 inflammasome was involved in the
      pathogenesis of DN. Here we investigated the mechanisms of NALP3 inflammasome
      activation in podocyte injury during DN. We found that, besides the activation of
      NALP3 inflammasome and upregulated thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP), the
      glomerular expression of gp91 (phox) , a subunit of NADPH oxidase, was enhanced
      in DN mice simultaneously. Inhibiting NADPH oxidase abrogated NALP3 inflammasome
      activation, and IL-1beta production and eventually protected podocytes from high
      glucose- (HG-) induced injury. TXNIP, an inhibitor of thioredoxin, acts as a
      suppressor for antioxidant defense system. Our observation indicated that in HG
      exposed podocytes genetic deletion of TXNIP by shRNA reversed gp91 (phox)
      overexpression and alleviated the injury of podocyte. Collectively, our findings
      proposed that HG-induced NADPH oxidase activation was driven by TXNIP which
      subsequently triggered NALP3 inflammasome activation in podocytes and ultimately
      led to podocyte injury, and blocking TXNIP/NADPH oxidase signaling may be a
      promising treatment for DN. 

PMID- 25834834
TI  - Safety evaluation of local weight-gain formulas in the Saudi Arabian markets.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The utilization of herbal formulas is continuously increasing on the
      global level. However, assessment of contamination and impurities is the leading
      challenge in the use of herbal medicines. OBJECTIVE: Assessment of therapeutic
      application in relation to herbal formulas usage for reducing weight is the
      objective for this investigation. RESULTS: Reduced dietary fibers and fats are
      common outcomes of herbal usage. 9.8% of the mixtures were contaminated because
      of lead. However, investigation has indicated <10 microbial counts in herbal
      products. Increased levels of calcium, minerals, fibers, and lead traces have
      been identified in the herbals; however, products lacked nicotinamide,
      riboflavin, and vitamin C. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that majority of herbal
      products were pure and uncontaminated in order to reduce the complications of
      obesity efficiently.

PMID- 25834835
TI  - On some transverse geometrical structures of lifted foliation to its conormal
      bundle.
AB  - We consider the lift of a foliation to its conormal bundle and some transverse
      geometrical structures associated with this foliation are studied. We introduce a
      good vertical connection on the conormal bundle and, moreover, if the conormal
      bundle is endowed with a transversal Cartan metric, we obtain that the lifted
      foliation to its conormal bundle is a Riemannian one. Also, some transversally
      framed f(3, epsilon)-structures of corank 2 on the normal bundle of lifted
      foliation to its conormal bundle are introduced and an almost (para)contact
      structure on a transverse Liouville distribution is obtained. 

PMID- 25834833
TI  - The story of CD4+ CD28- T cells revisited: solved or still ongoing?
AB  - CD4(+)CD28(-) T cells are a unique type of proinflammatory T cells characterised
      by blockade of costimulatory CD28 receptor expression at the transcriptional
      level, which is still reversible by IL-12. In healthy individuals older than 65
      years, these cells may accumulate to up to 50% of total CD4(+) T lymphocytes as
      in many immune-mediated diseases, immunodeficiency, and specific infectious
      diseases. Here we focus on CD4(+)CD28(-) T cells in chronic immune-mediated
      diseases, summarizing various phenotypic and functional characteristics, which
      vary depending on the underlying disease, disease activity, and concurrent
      treatment. CD4(+)CD28(-) T cells present as effector/memory cells with increased
      replicative history and oligoclonality but reduced apoptosis. As an alternative
      costimulatory signal instead of CD28, not only natural killer cell receptors and
      Toll-like receptors, but also CD47, CTLA-4, OX40, and 4-1BB have to be
      considered. The proinflammatory and cytotoxic capacities of these cells indicate
      an involvement in progression and maintenance of chronic immune-mediated disease.
      So far it has been shown that treatment with TNF-alpha blockers, abatacept,
      statins, and polyclonal antilymphocyte globulins (ATG) mediates reduction of the
      CD4(+)CD28(-) T cell level. The clinical relevance of targeting CD4(+)CD28(-) T
      cells as a therapeutic option has not been examined so far. 

PMID- 25834836
TI  - Abstract computation in schizophrenia detection through artificial neural network
      based systems.
AB  - Schizophrenia stands for a long-lasting state of mental uncertainty that may
      bring to an end the relation among behavior, thought, and emotion; that is, it
      may lead to unreliable perception, not suitable actions and feelings, and a sense
      of mental fragmentation. Indeed, its diagnosis is done over a large period of
      time; continuos signs of the disturbance persist for at least 6 (six) months.
      Once detected, the psychiatrist diagnosis is made through the clinical interview
      and a series of psychic tests, addressed mainly to avoid the diagnosis of other
      mental states or diseases. Undeniably, the main problem with identifying
      schizophrenia is the difficulty to distinguish its symptoms from those associated
      to different untidiness or roles. Therefore, this work will focus on the
      development of a diagnostic support system, in terms of its knowledge
      representation and reasoning procedures, based on a blended of Logic Programming
      and Artificial Neural Networks approaches to computing, taking advantage of a
      novel approach to knowledge representation and reasoning, which aims to solve the
      problems associated in the handling (i.e., to stand for and reason) of defective
      information. 

PMID- 25834837
TI  - Virtual goods recommendations in virtual worlds.
AB  - Virtual worlds (VWs) are computer-simulated environments which allow users to
      create their own virtual character as an avatar. With the rapidly growing user
      volume in VWs, platform providers launch virtual goods in haste and stampede
      users to increase sales revenue. However, the rapidity of development incurs
      virtual unrelated items which will be difficult to remarket. It not only wastes
      virtual global companies' intelligence resources, but also makes it difficult for
      users to find suitable virtual goods fit for their virtual home in daily virtual
      life. In the VWs, users decorate their houses, visit others' homes, create
      families, host parties, and so forth. Users establish their social life circles
      through these activities. This research proposes a novel virtual goods
      recommendation method based on these social interactions. The contact strength
      and contact influence result from interactions with social neighbors and
      influence users' buying intention. Our research highlights the importance of
      social interactions in virtual goods recommendation. The experiment's data were
      retrieved from an online VW platform, and the results show that the proposed
      method, considering social interactions and social life circle, has better
      performance than existing recommendation methods. 

PMID- 25834838
TI  - Mobility based key management technique for multicast security in mobile ad hoc
      networks.
AB  - In MANET multicasting, forward and backward secrecy result in increased packet
      drop rate owing to mobility. Frequent rekeying causes large message overhead
      which increases energy consumption and end-to-end delay. Particularly, the
      prevailing group key management techniques cause frequent mobility and
      disconnections. So there is a need to design a multicast key management technique
      to overcome these problems. In this paper, we propose the mobility based key
      management technique for multicast security in MANET. Initially, the nodes are
      categorized according to their stability index which is estimated based on the
      link availability and mobility. A multicast tree is constructed such that for
      every weak node, there is a strong parent node. A session key-based encryption
      technique is utilized to transmit a multicast data. The rekeying process is
      performed periodically by the initiator node. The rekeying interval is fixed
      depending on the node category so that this technique greatly minimizes the
      rekeying overhead. By simulation results, we show that our proposed approach
      reduces the packet drop rate and improves the data confidentiality. 

PMID- 25834839
TI  - A simulated annealing methodology to multiproduct capacitated facility location
      with stochastic demand.
AB  - A stochastic multiproduct capacitated facility location problem involving a
      single supplier and multiple customers is investigated. Due to the stochastic
      demands, a reasonable amount of safety stock must be kept in the facilities to
      achieve suitable service levels, which results in increased inventory cost. Based
      on the assumption of normal distributed for all the stochastic demands, a
      nonlinear mixed-integer programming model is proposed, whose objective is to
      minimize the total cost, including transportation cost, inventory cost, operation
      cost, and setup cost. A combined simulated annealing (CSA) algorithm is presented
      to solve the model, in which the outer layer subalgorithm optimizes the facility
      location decision and the inner layer subalgorithm optimizes the demand
      allocation based on the determined facility location decision. The results
      obtained with this approach shown that the CSA is a robust and practical approach
      for solving a multiple product problem, which generates the suboptimal facility
      location decision and inventory policies. Meanwhile, we also found that the
      transportation cost and the demand deviation have the strongest influence on the
      optimal decision compared to the others. 

PMID- 25834840
TI  - Mathematical modeling of uniaxial mechanical properties of collagen gel scaffolds
      for vascular tissue engineering.
AB  - Small diameter tissue-engineered arteries improve their mechanical and functional
      properties when they are mechanically stimulated. Applying a suitable stress
      and/or strain with or without a cycle to the scaffolds and cells during the
      culturing process resides in our ability to generate a suitable mechanical model.
      Collagen gel is one of the most used scaffolds in vascular tissue engineering,
      mainly because it is the principal constituent of the extracellular matrix for
      vascular cells in human. The mechanical modeling of such a material is not a
      trivial task, mainly for its viscoelastic nature. Computational and experimental
      methods for developing a suitable model for collagen gels are of primary
      importance for the field. In this research, we focused on mechanical properties
      of collagen gels under unconfined compression. First, mechanical viscoelastic
      models are discussed and framed in the control system theory. Second, models are
      fitted using system identification. Several models are evaluated and two
      nonlinear models are proposed: Mooney-Rivlin inspired and Hammerstein models. The
      results suggest that Mooney-Rivlin and Hammerstein models succeed in describing
      the mechanical behavior of collagen gels for cyclic tests on scaffolds (with best
      fitting parameters 58.3% and 75.8%, resp.). When Akaike criterion is used, the
      best is the Mooney-Rivlin inspired model. 

PMID- 25834841
TI  - Similar Outcomes for Two Anemia Treatment Strategies among Elderly Hemodialysis
      Patients with Diabetes.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: To compare mortality and cardiovascular risk in elderly dialysis
      patients with diabetes under two clinical strategies of anemia correction:
      maintaining hematocrit (Hct) between 34.5 and < 39.0% (high Hct strategy), and
      between 30.0 and <34.5% (low Hct strategy) using intravenous alpha epoetin.
      METHODS: Observational data were used to emulate a randomized trial in which
      diabetic patients who initiated hemodialysis in 2006-2008 were assigned to each
      anemia correction strategy. Inverse-probability weighting was used to adjust for
      measured time-dependent confounding. RESULTS: Comparing high with low hematocrit
      strategy, the hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) was 1.07 (0.83, 1.38) for
      all-cause mortality and 1.00 (0.81, 1.24) for a composite mortality and
      cardiovascular endpoint. CONCLUSIONS: Among a cohort of elderly hemodialysis
      patients with diabetes, no differences were found between the low and high
      hematocrit strategies. A lower target hematocrit - per current Food and Drug
      Administration (FDA) guidelines - appears to be as safe as higher targets among
      this population.

PMID- 25834842
TI  - Test-retest reliability of postural stability on two different foam pads.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Foam pads are commonly used devices in the clinics and laboratories to
      assess postural control. However, no reliability data are presently available to
      support the use of one type of foam over another. The purpose of this study was
      to evaluate the test-rest reliability of postural sway parameters while using two
      different types of foam that are commonly used and to determine which type of
      foam is optimal for providing a consistent and effective perturbation. DESIGN:
      Test-retest reliability. SETTING: Clinical setting. PARTICIPANTS: Ten healthy
      young subjects were recruited. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Balance Accelerometry
      Measure device was used to collect postural sway for 90 seconds with eyes open
      and closed on three different surface conditions (firm, Airex foam and Neurocom
      foam). Intraclass correlation coefficients were used to determine test-retest
      reliability. RESULTS: Eyes open and eyes closed on a firm surface showed fair to
      good reliability for the path length value (ICC (3,1) = 0.61-0.64, p <0.05). Eyes
      open and eyes closed on the Airex pad showed fair to excellent reliability for
      the path length value (ICC (3,1) = 0.41-0.81, p >0.05 with eyes open and eyes
      closed). Eyes open and eyes closed on the Neurocom foam showed fair to good
      reliability for the path length value (ICC (3,1)= 0.29-0.45, p >0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: The Airex and Neurocom foam pads both provide fair to good
      reliability. The Airex foam had higher reliability scores with eyes closed than
      the Neurocom foam pad. Both foam pads appear to produce repeatable findings.

PMID- 25834843
TI  - Antibiotic translocation through porins studied in planar lipid bilayers using
      parallel platforms.
AB  - In general, the method of choice to characterize the conductance properties of
      channel-forming bacterial porins is electrophysiology. Here, the classical method
      is to reconstitute single porins into planar lipid bilayers to derive functional
      information from the observed channel conductance. In addition to an estimated
      pore size, ion selectivity or transport properties in general are of importance.
      For the latter, measuring the ion current fluctuation can provide some
      information about the mode of transport of charged molecules penetrating the
      proteins. For instance, increasing the external voltage modifies the residence
      time in the channel: charged molecules with the ability to permeate through
      channels will travel faster whereas non-permeating molecules get pushed to the
      constriction zone with enhanced residence time. Here, we are interested in the
      ability of antibiotics to permeate channels and compare different techniques to
      reveal fast events. 

PMID- 25834844
TI  - 3D elemental sensitive imaging by full-field XFCT.
AB  - X-ray fluorescence computed tomography (XFCT) is a stimulated emission tomography
      modality that maps the three-dimensional (3D) distribution of elements.
      Generally, XFCT is done by scanning a pencil-beam across the sample. This paper
      presents a feasibility study of full-field XFCT (FF-XFCT) for 3D elemental
      imaging. The FF-XFCT consists of a pinhole collimator and X-ray imaging detector
      with no energy resolution. A prototype imaging system was set up at the Shanghai
      Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) for imaging the phantom. The first FF-XFCT
      experimental results are presented. The cadmium (Cd) and iodine (I) distributions
      were reconstructed. The results demonstrate FF-XFCT is fit for 3D elemental
      imaging and the sensitivity of FF-XFCT is higher than a conventional CT system. 

PMID- 25834846
TI  - Proceedings of the 20th Annual Think Tank: "Exfoliation Syndrome: What We Know
      and Where We Need To Go" September 19-21, 2013 New York, NY.

PMID- 25834847
TI  - Proceedings of The 12th OESO World Conference: Cancers of the Esophagus, August
      27-30, 2013, Paris, France.

PMID- 25834845
TI  - Er(3+)/Yb(3+) upconverters for InGaP solar cells under concentrated broadband
      illumination.
AB  - The inability of solar cell materials to convert all incident photon energy into
      electrical current, provides a fundamental limit to the solar cell efficiency;
      the so called Shockley-Queisser (SQ) limit. A process termed upconversion
      provides a pathway to convert otherwise unabsorbed low energy photons passing
      through the solar cell into higher energy photons, which subsequently can be
      redirected back to the solar cell. The combination of a semi-transparent InGaP
      solar cell with lanthanide upconverters, consisting of ytterbium and erbium ions
      doped in three different host materials (Gd2O2S, Y2O3 and NaYF4) is investigated.
      Using sub-band gap light of wavelength range 890 nm to 1045 nm with a total
      accumulated power density of 2.7 kW m(-2), a distinct photocurrent was measured
      in the solar cell when the upconverters were applied whereas a zero current was
      measured without upconverter. Furthermore, a time delay between excitation and
      emission was observed for all upconverter systems which can be explained by
      energy transfer upconversion. Also, a quadratic dependence on the illumination
      intensity was observed for the NaYF4 and Y2O3 host material upconverters. The
      Gd2O2S host material upconverter deviated from the quadratic illumination
      intensity dependence towards linear behaviour, which can be attributed to
      saturation effects occurring at higher illumination power densities. 

PMID- 25834848
TI  - Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference, September 8-11, 2013,
      Tokyo, Japan.

PMID- 25834849
TI  - Proceedings of the 60th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology,
      August 17th-22nd, 2014, Punta Del Este, Uruguay.

PMID- 25834851
TI  - Proceedings of The 13th International Conference on Trichinellosis, August 1-6,
      2011, Changchun, China.

PMID- 25834850
TI  - Author's reply.

PMID- 25834852
TI  - Author's reply.

PMID- 25834853
TI  - "The man in the red hoodie": thoughts on a provoking letter to the editor.

PMID- 25834854
TI  - Author's response: Prosthetic rehabilitation after orbital exenteration: a case
      series.

PMID- 25834855
TI  - Author's response Comments on Repeat gas insufflation for successful closure of
      idiopathic macular hole following failed primary surgery.

PMID- 25834857
TI  - Abstracts from the 2014 Advances in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Crohn's & Colitis
      Foundation's National Clinical & Research Conference, December 4-6, 2014,
      Orlando, Florida, USA.

PMID- 25834856
TI  - Author's response: Maximizing the visual outcome in traumatic cataract cases: the
      value of a primary posterior capsulotomy and anterior vitrectomy.

PMID- 25834858
TI  - EJO talks to Stefan Seregard, President of the European Society of Ophthalmology,
      about the SOE 2015 congress and what makes the SOE congress so unique.

PMID- 25834859
TI  - Adult congenital heart disease: a substrate for infective endocarditis.

PMID- 25834860
TI  - [Comment on "The relationship of left ventricular trabeculation to ventricular
      function and structure over a 9.5 year follow-up. The MESA study"].

PMID- 25834912
TI  - [Current and future trend of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer].

PMID- 25834861
TI  - Heroin use in Indonesia is associated with higher expression of CCR5 on CD4+
      cells and lower ex-vivo production of CCR5 ligands.
AB  - Opioid use may affect HIV infection through altered expression of HIV co
      receptors. This was examined in Indonesia among antiretroviral therapy-naive HIV
      patients, many of whom use drugs. C-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5) expression
      on CD4+ cells was higher in heroin (P = 0.007), methadone (P = 0.024) and former
      opioid users (P = 0.003) compared to nonusers, whereas production of RANTES and
      other CCR5 ligands was similar or lower. This suggests that opioids can affect
      HIV susceptibility through up-regulation of CCR5 or down-regulation of its
      ligands.

PMID- 25834913
TI  - [Impact of molecular classification on clinical management of ovarian cancer].

PMID- 25834914
TI  - [Recent process of molecular target therapies in ovarian serous and endometrioid
      carcinomas on basis of intergrated genomic characterization].

PMID- 25834915
TI  - [Treatment of ovarian clear cell carcinoma].

PMID- 25834916
TI  - [Low-grade serous, mucinous carcinoma].

PMID- 25834917
TI  - Individual Phosphatidylcholine Species Analysis by RP-HPLC-ELSD for Determination
      of Polyenylphosphatidylcholine in Lecithins.
AB  - Polyenylphosphatidylcholine (PPC), a subgroup of the bioactive agents in
      phosphatidylcholine (PC), has been indicated to possess liver-protective effects.
      This study aimed to investigate a promising and feasible method to determine PC
      molecular species with a reverse phase (RP) high-performance liquid chromatograph
      (HPLC) equipped with an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD).
      Chromatography was achieved using a C30 column and an isocratic mobile phase
      consisting of acetonitrile/methanol/triethylamine (40/58/2, v/v/v) at a flow rate
      of 1 mL/min, and ELSD detection was performed using 80  degrees C for the drift
      tube and an air flow rate of 1.8 L/min. To identify individual peaks on the
      chromatogram, MALDI-TOF-MS was employed for initial detection, and then the
      results were used to investigate the relationship between the retention time and
      fatty acyl chains of each PC molecule. A linear correlation was observed between
      the retention time and theoretical carbon number (TCN) of individual PC species.
      The compositions of PC molecular species in soybean and sunflower lecithins were
      similar to each other, and the major PC molecular species were 1,2-dilinoleoyl-sn
      glycero-3-phosphocholine (LLPC), 1-oleoyl-2-linoleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine
      (OLPC), and 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (PLPC). The
      contents of LLPC in soybean PC and sunflower PC were 40.6% and 64.3%,
      respectively. 

PMID- 25834918
TI  - A method of cryoprotection for protein crystallography by using a microfluidic
      chip and its application for in situ X-ray diffraction measurements.
AB  - We demonstrate a seamless and contactless method from protein crystallization to
      X-ray analysis using a microfluidic chip with the aim of obtaining a complete
      crystallographic data set of a protein crystal under cryogenic conditions. Our
      microfluidics-based approach did not require direct manipulation of the protein
      crystal. Therefore, the microfluidic chip approach is suitable for novices of X
      ray analysis of protein crystals. We also investigated the effect of stepwise
      cryoprotection on the quality of protein crystals. Protein crystals with
      cryoprotection via on-chip manipulation did not show deterioration of
      crystallographic quality of the protein crystal. The complete diffraction data
      set of a protein crystal, which is required for determining the 3D structure of
      the target protein, is obtainable by a simple manipulation. 

PMID- 25834919
TI  - Integrated plant nutrient system - with special emphasis on mineral nutriton and
      biofertilizers for Black pepper and cardamom - A review.
AB  - Integrated Plant Nutrition System (IPNS) as a concept and farm management
      strategy embraces and transcends from single season crop fertilization efforts to
      planning and management of plant nutrients in crop rotations and farming systems
      on a long-term basis for enhanced productivity, profitability and sustainability.
      It is estimated that about two-thirds of the required increase in crop production
      in developing countries will have to come from yield increases from lands already
      under cultivation. IPNS enhances soil productivity through a balanced use of soil
      nutrients, chemical fertilizers, combined with organic sources of plant
      nutrients, including bio-inoculants and nutrient transfer through agro-forestry
      systems and has adaptation to farming systems in both irrigated and rainfed
      agriculture. Horticultural crops, mainly plantation crops, management practices
      include application of fertilizers and pesticides which become inevitable due to
      the depletion of soil organic matter and incidence of pests and diseases. The
      extensive use of chemical fertilizers in these crops deteriorated soil health
      that in turn affected the productivity. To revitalize soil health and to enhance
      productivity, it is inexorable to enrich the soil using microorganisms. The
      lacunae observed here is the lack of exploitation of indigenous microbes having
      the potential to fix atmospheric nitrogen (N) and to solubilize Phosphorus (P)
      and Potassium (K). The concept of biofertilizer application appears to be
      technically simple and financially feasible, but the task of developing
      biofertilizers with efficient strains in appropriate combinations in a consortia
      mode is not easier. More than developing consortia, a suitable delivery system to
      discharge the microbial inoculants warranted much effort. This review focuses on
      the integrated plant nutrition system incorporating biofertilizer with special
      emphasis on developing and formulating biofertilizer consortium. 

PMID- 25834920
TI  - Normal flora and bacterial vaginosis in pregnancy: an overview.
AB  - The female genital tract is an intricate, yet balanced ecosystem that hosts a
      variety of different residential microflora. The physiological changes that occur
      during pregnancy may disrupt this balanced ecosystem and predispose women to a
      potentially pathogenic microbiota. Bacteria that are associated with bacterial
      vaginosis (BV) are opportunistic pathogens that frequently form part of this
      microbiota. The overgrowth of and infections with these bacteria are linked to
      poor obstetric outcomes and increased transmission of other reproductive tract
      infections (RTIs). These infections increase women's susceptibility of acquiring
      HIV, the rates of HIV shedding and the development of acquired immune deficiency
      syndrome (AIDS) in HIV-infected patients. It is unknown how the plethora of
      bacterial species associated with BV contributes to the dynamics of this
      condition. The use of high-throughput methods have led to the in-depth
      investigation of different BV-related bacterial species and the functional
      capabilities of these species. However, the pathogenesis of BV is still poorly
      defined and the role of individual BV-related bacterial species in specific
      pregnancy complications is unclear and controversial. The majority of BV
      infections are asymptomatic and successful diagnosis is complicated by the lack
      of reliable and standardized diagnostic tests. 

PMID- 25834921
TI  - Effects of notoginsenoside R1 on CYP1A2, CYP2C11, CYP2D1, and CYP3A1/2 activities
      in rats by cocktail probe drugs.
AB  - CONTEXT: Notoginsenoside R1 (NGR1) is the main component with cardiovascular
      activity in Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen, an herbal medicine that is
      widely used to enhance blood circulation and dissipate blood stasis. OBJECTIVE:
      The objective of this study is to investigate NGR1's effects on CYP1A2, CYP2C11,
      CYP2D1, and CYP3A1/2 activities in rats in vivo through the use of the Cytochrome
      P450 (CYP450) probe drugs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After pretreatment with NGR1 or
      physiological saline, the rats were administered intraperitoneally with a mixture
      solution of cocktail probe drugs containing caffeine (10 mg/kg), tolbutamide (15
      mg/kg), metoprolol (20 mg/kg), and dapsone (10 mg/kg). The bloods were then
      collected at a set of time-points for the ultra-performance liquid
      chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) analysis. RESULTS: NGR1 was
      shown to exhibit an inhibitory effect on CYP1A2 by increased caffeine Cmax
      (43.13%, p < 0.01) and AUC0 - infinity (40.57%, p < 0.01), and decreased CL/F
      (62.16%, p < 0.01) in the NGR1-treated group compared with those of the control
      group, but no significant changes in pharmacokinetic parameters of tolbutamide,
      metoprolol, and dapsone were observed between the two groups, indicating that
      NGR1 had no effects on rat CYP2C11, CYP2D1, and CYP3A1/2. DISCUSSION AND
      CONCLUSION: When NGR1 is co-administered with drugs that are metabolized by
      CYP1A2, the pertinent potential herb-drug interactions should be monitored.

PMID- 25834922
TI  - A national incident reporting and learning system in England and Wales, but at
      what cost?
AB  - Recent high-profile failures in healthcare highlight the ongoing need for
      improvements in patient safety. Moreover, the fiscal challenge facing many health
      systems has brought the costs and economic efficiencies associated with improving
      quality (and safety) to bear. Currently, there is a lack of economic evidence
      underpinning resource allocation decisions in patient safety. Incident reporting
      systems are considered an important means of addressing these challenges by
      monitoring incident rates over time, identifying new threats to patient care and
      ultimately preventing repetition of costly adverse events. Uniquely, for more
      than a decade, the UK has been developing a National Reporting and Learning
      System to provide these functions for the English and Welsh health system(s), in
      addition to pre-existing local systems. The need to evaluate the impact of
      national incident reporting, and learning systems in terms of effectiveness and
      efficiency is argued and the methodological challenges that must be considered in
      an economic analysis are outlined. 

PMID- 25834923
TI  - Preparation of Pickering double emulsions using block copolymer worms.
AB  - The rational formulation of Pickering double emulsions is described using a
      judicious combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic block copolymer worms as
      highly anisotropic emulsifiers. More specifically, RAFT dispersion polymerization
      was utilized to prepare poly(lauryl methacrylate)-poly(benzyl methacrylate) worms
      at 20% w/w solids in n-dodecane and poly(glycerol monomethacrylate)-poly(2
      hydroxypropyl methacrylate)-poly(benzyl methacrylate) worms at 13% w/w solids in
      water by polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA). Water-in-oil-in-water
      (w/o/w) double emulsions can be readily prepared with mean droplet diameters
      ranging from 30 to 80 MUm using a two-stage approach. First, a w/o precursor
      emulsion comprising 25 MUm aqueous droplets is prepared using the hydrophobic
      worms, followed by encapsulation within oil droplets stabilized by the
      hydrophilic worms. The double emulsion droplet diameter and number of
      encapsulated water droplets can be readily varied by adjusting the stirring rate
      employed during the second stage. For each stage, the droplet volume fraction is
      relatively high at 0.50. The double emulsion nature of the final formulation was
      confirmed by optical and fluorescence microscopy studies. Such double emulsions
      are highly stable to coalescence, with little or no change in droplet diameter
      being detected over storage at 20  degrees C for 10 weeks as judged by laser
      diffraction. Preliminary experiments indicate that the complementary o/w/o
      emulsions can also be prepared using the same pair of worms by changing the order
      of homogenization, although somewhat lower droplet volume fractions were required
      in this case. Finally, we demonstrate that triple and even quadruple emulsions
      can be formulated using these new highly anisotropic Pickering emulsifiers. 

PMID- 25834924
TI  - Beneficial effects of omega-3 PUFA in children on cardiovascular risk factors
      during childhood and adolescence.
AB  - Omega-3 polyunsatured fatty acids (omega-3 PUFA) are essential nutrients mainly
      derived from fish and seafood but present also in vegetables such as nuts and
      seed-oils. Some epidemiological and clinical studies indicate a protection of
      omega-3 FA against cardiovascular disease and a favourable effect on
      cardiovascular risk factors control in adults. The evidences of their effects in
      children and adolescents are scanty but a possible beneficial role, especially
      for insulin sensitivity and blood pressure control, has been proposed. In this
      review we want to focus especially on the evidences, which could justify the
      assumption of omega-3 in children and adolescents, and to underline the aspects
      which need further investigation. Mechanisms through which omega-3 FA act are
      manifolds and still a matter of investigation: beside their interaction with ion
      channel and their influence on plasma membrane fluidity, probably the main effect
      is acting as competitor for cytochrome P-450 (CYP) with respect to omega-6 FA.
      Thus, they can modulate the biosynthesis of eicosanoids and other lipid
      mediators, which likely exert a protective action. Another suggestive hypothesis
      is that their beneficial effect is not dependent only on the intake of omega-3
      FA, but also on the complex interaction between different nutrients including
      omega-3 and other FAs with polymorphisms in genes involved in omega-3 FA
      modulation. This complex interaction has seldom been explored in children and
      adolescents. Further studies are needed to investigate all these points in order
      to find a better collocation of omega-3 FA on the available armamentarium for
      preventive, possibly individualized, medicine. 

PMID- 25834925
TI  - Au133(SPh-tBu)52 nanomolecules: X-ray crystallography, optical, electrochemical,
      and theoretical analysis.
AB  - Crystal structure determination has revolutionized modern science in biology,
      chemistry, and physics. However, the difficulty in obtaining periodic crystal
      lattices which are needed for X-ray crystal analysis has hindered the
      determination of atomic structure in nanomaterials, known as the "nanostructure
      problem". Here, by using rigid and bulky ligands, we have overcome this
      limitation and successfully solved the X-ray crystallographic structure of the
      largest reported thiolated gold nanomolecule, Au133S52. The total composition,
      Au133(SPh-tBu)52, was verified using high resolution electrospray ionization mass
      spectrometry (ESI-MS). The experimental and simulated optical spectra show an
      emergent surface plasmon resonance that is more pronounced than in the slightly
      larger Au144(SCH2CH2Ph)60. Theoretical analysis indicates that the presence of
      rigid and bulky ligands is the key to the successful crystal formation. 

PMID- 25834926
TI  - Antioxidant and antitumor activities in vitro of polysaccharides from E.
      sipunculoides.
AB  - Three polysaccharides (SAP30, SAP60 and SAP80) were separated from the body of
      Edwardsia sipunculoides by tissue homogenate and papain hydrolysis. Total soluble
      sugar contents, monosaccharide compositions, antioxidant and antitumor activities
      in vitro of those polysaccharides were investigated, respectively. Results showed
      that the total soluble sugar contents of SAP composed of Man, GlcN, Rha, GalN,
      GlcUA, Glc, Gal, Xyl and Fuc were more than 85% estimated by the phenol-sulfuric
      acid assay. In addition, SAP had potential antioxidant and antitumor activities.
      SAP30 has the most significant antitumor effect. This study suggested that SAP
      could be a potential natural antioxidants and antitumor agents. 

PMID- 25834927
TI  - Does it matter? Discounting and its role in the cost-effectiveness of
      preventative interventions. The case of HPV vaccination.

PMID- 25834928
TI  - Occupational vaccination of health care workers: uptake, attitudes and potential
      solutions.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Occupational vaccination of health care workers is strongly
      recommended to prevent health care associated transmission but coverage in
      general remains suboptimal. The aim of this survey was to: 1. Estimate levels
      vaccination coverage for annual flu and MMR vaccines among hospital-based health
      care workers; 2. Explore the reasons behind low vaccination rates; and 3.
      Identify potential practical and policy solutions. STUDY DESIGN: A cross
      sectional study. METHODS: An opportunistic survey was used to estimate MMR and
      flu vaccination coverage, and review attitudes and explore solutions. Staff from
      eight randomly selected wards, stratified by ward-level patient susceptibility,
      were invited to participate. RESULTS: In total 133 staff responded, an
      approximate response rate of 68%. Seventy one percent had ever received an MMR
      and 42% had received the most recent flu vaccination. Actively declining
      vaccination was more common for flu than MMR (29% and 7% respectively). Side
      effects, insufficient knowledge and vaccine ineffectiveness were popular
      justifications for declining flu vaccination but not MMR. Not seeing vaccination
      as a professional responsibility was associated with declining flu vaccination (P
      < 0.001). Improving vaccination coverage with booster vaccines for new staff and
      immunity testing received strong support from staff working with vulnerable
      groups (82% and 74% respectively); 70% of this staff group also supported
      compulsory vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: Improving staff education may increase
      coverage. Clarification of the benefits of vaccination in specific staff groups
      may also improve uptake. Routine booster vaccinations and immunity testing were
      generally acceptable and compulsory vaccination of certain staff groups warrants
      further investigation.

PMID- 25834929
TI  - Getting food policy on the Mayoral table: a comparison of two election cycles in
      New York and London.
AB  - Cities and Mayors are increasingly being recognized as important in shaping
      social policy and improving social well-being. And municipal food policies are
      increasingly important as a tool to reduce food insecurity and prevent diet
      related chronic diseases. Thus city governments have a unique ability to improve
      local food environments. To realize this potential for improving urban food
      environments, nutrition advocates will need to find innovative approaches for
      influencing municipal food policy. This paper examines Mayoral elections as a
      vehicle to advance food policy. To explore this strategy, Mayoral elections in
      two cities, New York City (NYC) and London, during two recent cycles were
      compared. To gather evidence multiple sources were used including campaign
      documents, media and opinion polls as well as the authors' own observations as
      food policy observers and participants in the two cities. Mayoral governance
      differs between NYC and London, with the Mayor in NYC having greater powers of
      management and administration, whilst the London Mayor has a more strategic role
      and may need to also use 'influence'. Food policy and related issues did not
      feature strongly in the first election cycles in either city. However by the 2012
      and 2013 elections food issues were definitely 'on the table' and featured in
      main candidates' campaign literature. These latter elections also saw the
      importance of food advocates coming together to form common alliances and place
      food issues higher on the municipal agenda. In this way, food policy has become
      part of the election dialogue in both cities and candidates are expected to
      consider food policy issues. This analysis leads to make observations which could
      guide advocates as to how to use Mayoral elections to raise policy objectives for
      the benefit of public health. 

PMID- 25834930
TI  - Cost-utility analysis of a 12-week whole-body vibration based treatment for
      people with type 2 diabetes: reanalysis of a RCT in a primary care context.

PMID- 25834931
TI  - Predicting storage-lipid water partitioning of organic solutes from molecular
      structure.
AB  - Partitioning to storage fat is the major process for bioaccumulation of many
      neutral organic chemicals. In this work, we evaluated the performance of four
      predictive models, ABSOLV, COSMOtherm, KOWWIN, and SPARC to calculate storage
      lipid-water partition coefficients. In a first step of the validation, we used
      over 300 literature data for chemicals with relatively simple molecular
      structures. For these compounds the overall performance was similar for all
      models with a root-mean-square error (rmse) between 0.45 and 0.61 log units.
      Clear differences became visible in the second validation step where a subset
      with only H-bond-donor compounds was used. Here, COSMOtherm and SPARC performed
      clearly better with an rmse of 0.35 and 0.42 log units, respectively, compared to
      ABSOLV and KOWWIN with an rmse of 0.91 and 0.85 log units, respectively. The last
      step in our validation was a comparison with experimental values for 22 complex,
      multifunctional chemicals (including pesticides, hormones, mycotoxins) that we
      measured specifically for this validation purpose. For these chemicals,
      predictions by all models were less accurate than those for simpler chemicals.
      COSMOtherm performed the best (rmse 0.71 log units) while the other methods
      showed considerably poorer results (rmse 1.29 (ABSOLV), 1.25 (SPARC), and 1.62
      (KOWWIN) log units). 

PMID- 25834933
TI  - Facile one-pot synthesis of highly porous carbon foams for high-performance
      supercapacitors using template-free direct pyrolysis.
AB  - Foam-like porous carbons with specific surface area (SSA) up to 2340 m(2)/g were
      synthesized using direct pyrolysis of sugar and zinc nitrate mixtures without any
      hard templates. The role of the ZnO nanoparticles formed from the decomposition
      of zinc nitrate, and the effects of high-temperature annealing on the formation
      of the high-SSA carbon foams were systematically studied. Due to the facile and
      quick reaction conditions, these carbon foams could be easily synthesized on a
      large scale. When used as supercapacitor electrode materials, a specific
      capacitance up to 280 F/g was achieved at current density of 0.1 A/g and remained
      as high as 207 F/g, even at a high current density of 10 A/g. 

PMID- 25834934
TI  - The on-road experiences and awareness of sleepiness in a sample of Australian
      highway drivers: A roadside driver sleepiness study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Driver sleepiness contributes substantially to road crash incidents.
      Simulator and on-road studies clearly reveal an impairing effect from sleepiness
      on driving ability. However, the degree to which drivers appreciate the
      dangerousness of driving while sleepy is somewhat unclear. This study sought to
      determine drivers' on-road experiences of sleepiness, their prior sleep habits,
      and personal awareness of the signs of sleepiness. METHODS: Participants were a
      random selection of 92 drivers traveling on a major highway in the state of
      Queensland, Australia, who were stopped by police as part of routine drink
      driving operations. Participants completed a brief questionnaire that included
      demographic information, sleepy driving experiences (signs of sleepiness and on
      road experiences of sleepiness), and prior sleep habits. A modified version of
      the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) was used to assess subjective sleepiness in
      the 15 min prior to being stopped by police. RESULTS: Participants' ratings of
      subjective sleepiness were quite low, with 90% reporting being alert to extremely
      alert on the KSS. Participants were reasonably aware of the signs of sleepiness,
      with many signs of sleepiness associated with on-road experiences of sleepiness.
      Additionally, the number of hours spent driving was positively correlated with
      the drivers' level of sleep debt. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that
      participants had moderate experiences of driving while sleepy and many were aware
      of the signs of sleepiness. The relationship between driving long distances and
      increased sleep debt is a concern for road safety. Increased education regarding
      the dangers of sleepy driving seems warranted.

PMID- 25834935
TI  - A phonology-free mobile communication app.
AB  - PURPOSE: Aphasia - loss of comprehension or expression of language - is a
      devastating functional sequela of stroke. There are as yet no effective methods
      for rehabilitation of aphasia. An assistive device that allows aphasia patients
      to communicate and interact at speeds approaching real time is urgently needed.
      METHODS: Behavioral and linguistic studies of aphasia patients show that they
      retain normal thinking processes and most aspects of language. They lack only
      phonology: the ability to translate (input) and/or output sounds (or written
      words) such as "ta-ble" into the image of a four-legged object with a top at
      which one works or eats. RESULTS: We have made a phonology-free communication
      mobile app that may be useful for patients with aphasia and other communication
      disorders. Particular innovations of our app include calling Google Images as a
      "subroutine" to allow a near-infinite number of choices (e.g. food or clothing
      items) for patients without having to make countless images, and by the use of
      animation for words, phrases or concepts that cannot be represented by a single
      image. We have tested our app successfully in one patient. CONCLUSIONS: The app
      may be of great benefit to patients with aphasia and other communication
      disorders. Implications for Rehabilitation We have made a phonology-free mobile
      communication app. This app may facilitate communication for patients with
      aphasia and other communication disorders.

PMID- 25834932
TI  - The American Geriatrics Society/National Institute on Aging Bedside-to-Bench
      Conference: Research Agenda on Delirium in Older Adults.

PMID- 25834936
TI  - Cathelicidin related antimicrobial peptide, laminin, Toll-like receptors and
      chemokines levels in experimental hypersensitivity pneumonitis in mice.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is an interstitial lung disease
      caused by unresolved inflammation and tissue repair pathologies triggered by
      repeated organic dust exposure. The aim of the study was to investigate changes
      in levels of the cathelicidin related antimicrobial peptide (CRAMP), laminin (LAM
      A1), selected Toll-like receptors (TLR) and chemokines in experimental HP in
      mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three and 18-month-old female C57BL/6J mice
      underwent inhalations of the saline extract of Pantoea agglomerans cells, Gram
      negative bacterium common in organic dust and known for its pathogenic impact.
      The inhalations were repeated daily (28 days). ELISA was used for measuring in
      lung tissue homogenates concentration of CRAMP, LAM-A1, TLR2, TLR4, TLR8, CXCL9
      (chemokine [C-X-C motif] ligand) and CXCL10. RESULTS: Levels of TLR2, TLR4 and
      CXCL9 were significantly higher in both young and old mice lungs already after 7
      days of inhalations, while significant increase of LAM-A1 and CXCL10 was noted
      after 28 days, compared to untreated samples. TLR8 level was significantly
      augmented only in young mice. Only CRAMP level significantly declined.
      Significantly higher TLR8 and CXCL9 concentration in untreated samples were noted
      in old animals compared to young ones. CONCLUSION: Significant alterations of the
      examined factors levels indicate their role in HP pathogenesis.

PMID- 25834937
TI  - The effects of long-term stress exposure on aging cognition: a behavioral and EEG
      investigation.
AB  - A large field of research seeks to explore and understand the factors that may
      cause different rates of age-related cognitive decline within the general
      population. However, the impact of experienced stress on the human aging process
      has remained an under-researched possibility. This study explored the association
      between cumulative stressful experiences and cognitive aging, addressing whether
      higher levels of experienced stress correlate with impaired performance on 2
      working memory tasks. Behavioral performance was paired with
      electroencephalographic recordings to enable insight into the underlying neural
      processes impacted on by cumulative stress. Thus, the electroencephalogram was
      recorded while both young and elderly performed 2 different working memory tasks
      (a Sternberg and N-back paradigm), and cortical oscillatory activity in the
      theta, alpha, and gamma bandwidths was measured. Behavioral data indicated that a
      higher stress score among elderly participants related to impaired performance on
      both tasks. Electrophysiological findings revealed a reduction in alpha and gamma
      event-related synchronization among high-stress-group elderly participants,
      indicating that higher levels of experienced stress may impact on their ability
      to actively maintain a stimulus in working memory and inhibit extraneous
      information interfering with successful maintenance. Findings provide evidence
      that cumulative experienced stress adversely affects cognitive aging.

PMID- 25834938
TI  - Superficial white matter as a novel substrate of age-related cognitive decline.
AB  - Studies of diffusion tensor imaging have focused mainly on the role of deep white
      matter tract microstructural abnormalities associated with aging and age-related
      cognitive decline. However, the potential role of superficial white matter (SWM)
      in aging and, by extension, cognitive-aging, is less clear. Healthy individuals
      (n = 141; F/M: 66/75 years) across the adult lifespan (18-86 years) underwent
      diffusion tensor imaging and a battery of cognitive testing. SWM was assessed via
      a combination of probabilistic tractography and tract-based spatial statistics
      (TBSS). A widespread inverse relationship of fractional anisotropy (FA) values in
      SWM with age was observed. SWM-FA adjacent to the precentral gyri was associated
      with fine-motor-speed, whereas performance in visuomotor-attention/processing
      speed correlated with SWM-FA in all 4 lobes of the left-hemisphere and in right
      parieto-occipital SWM-FA (family-wise error corrected p < 0.05). Independent of
      deep white matter-FA, right frontal and right occipital SWM-FA-mediated age
      effects on motor-speed and visuomotor-attention/processing speed, respectively.
      Altogether, our results indicate that SWM-FA contributes uniquely to age-related
      cognitive performance, and should be considered as a novel biomarker of cognitive
      aging.

PMID- 25834939
TI  - Goldmann versus Disposable Applanation Tonometer Tips in Glaucoma Patients and
      Normal Subjects.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess agreement of intraocular pressure (IOP) measured with Goldmann
      applanation and disposable Luneau SA applanation prisms in glaucoma patients
      compared with normal subjects. METHODS: In a prospective comparative study, one
      eye per primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patient was measured for IOP using
      Goldmann and disposable Luneau SA (Tonojet) applanation tonometry prisms.
      Glaucoma patients found with IOP < 21 mmHg were compared to an age-matched group
      of normal subjects. The main outcomes measured were IOP and the difference in IOP
      between either prism. Bland-Altman plots were used to study the agreement between
      measurements. Regression analysis was applied to either group. RESULTS: One
      hundred and four POAG patients (eyes) were enrolled into this study. Seventy-one
      of them were found with IOPs < 21 mmHg, and were compared to 71 normal subjects
      (eyes). The mean difference between either prism was almost similar, 2.0 +/- 2.0
      and 2.1 +/- 1.7 mmHg in the glaucoma and normal eye groups, respectively. Bias of
      two SD from the mean ranged from -1.8 to 5.8 mmHg in glaucoma group and -1.2 to
      5.4 mmHg with normal subjects (p < 0.0001 in either group). The inaccuracy was
      non-systematic with glaucoma patients while was systematic with normal subjects.
      CONCLUSIONS: The disagreement between disposables and standard Goldmann tips
      followed different patterns in glaucoma patients when compared with normal
      subjects. The use of the Goldmann tip is advised with glaucoma patients.

PMID- 25834940
TI  - Aspects of abuse: consequences of childhood victimization.
AB  - Childhood maltreatment is unfortunately a common occurrence in the United States,
      affecting 1 in 8 children annually.(1) The consequences of maltreatment can be
      considerable, and exact a heavy toll on the individual, family, and society.
      Child abuse and neglect can cause permanent, heritable changes in the body's
      response to stress, which in turn inflicts profound changes in the developing
      brain. While these changes allow a child to contend with a neglectful, chaotic,
      or possibly violent environment, they strongly influence an individual's
      behavioral, educational, physical, and mental functioning and well-being
      throughout his/her lifetime, long after the maltreatment has ended. As the
      adverse childhood experiences (ACE) studies clearly demonstrate, adult survivors
      of maltreatment experience significant health harms that can cause significant
      morbidity and contribute to early death. Further, the lifetime economic cost to
      society of childhood maltreatment is estimated to be $124 billion dollars.(2) The
      study of resilient individuals who appear to suffer fewer negative consequences
      of their maltreatment offers insights into possible interventions for clinical
      practice as well as advocacy and public policy opportunities that would begin to
      lessen the significant burdens of childhood maltreatment. 

PMID- 25834941
TI  - The Affordable Care Act: how can we know whether the intended consequences are
      occurring and the unintended ones are being avoided?
AB  - When the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law on March 23, 2010,
      policymakers intended that it would improve access to care by lowering the
      uninsured rate, improve health care quality, and lower costs. Now, 4 years later,
      researchers and policymakers need to ask whether those intentions have been
      realized or whether the ACA has produced unintended consequences that affect
      patient care. This article raises the importance of assessing what changes in
      patient access and clinical care have occurred, points out how challenging those
      assessments may be to conduct, and concludes with a call to action about how
      those challenges might be addressed. 

PMID- 25834943
TI  - Fracture mechanics of monolayer molybdenum disulfide.
AB  - Molecular dynamics (MD) modeling is used to study the fracture toughness and
      crack propagation path of monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS(2)) sheets under
      mixed modes I and II loading. Sheets with both initial armchair and zigzag cracks
      are studied. The MD simulations predict that crack edge chirality, tip
      configuration and the loading phase angle influence the fracture toughness and
      crack propagation path of monolayer MoS(2) sheets. Furthermore, under all loading
      conditions, both armchair and zigzag cracks prefer to extend along a zigzag path,
      which is in agreement with the crack propagation path in graphene. A remarkable
      out-of-plane buckling can occur during mixed mode loading which can lead to the
      development of buckling cracks in addition to the propagation of the initial
      cracks.

PMID- 25834942
TI  - A phase 1 trial of preoperative partial breast radiation therapy: Patient
      selection, target delineation, and dose delivery.
AB  - PURPOSE: Diffusion of accelerated partial breast irradiation into clinical
      practice is limited by the need for specialized equipment and training. The
      accessible external beam technique yields unacceptable complication rates, likely
      from large postoperative target volumes. We designed a phase 1 trial evaluating
      preoperative radiation therapy to the intact tumor using widely available
      technology. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Patients received 15, 18, or 21 Gy in a single
      fraction to the breast tumor plus margin. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was
      used in conjunction with standard computed tomography (CT)-based planning to
      identify contrast enhancing tumor. Skin markers and an intratumor biopsy marker
      were used for verification during treatment. RESULTS: MRI imaging was critical
      for target delineation because not all breast tumors were reliably identified on
      CT scan. Breast shape differences were consistently seen between CT and MRI but
      did not impede image registration or tumor identification. Target volumes were
      markedly smaller than historical postoperative volumes, and normal tissue
      constraints were easily met. A biopsy marker within the breast proved sufficient
      for setup localization. CONCLUSIONS: This single fraction linear accelerator
      based partial breast irradiation approach can be easily incorporated at most
      treatment centers. In vivo targeting may improve accuracy and can reduce the dose
      to normal tissues.

PMID- 25834944
TI  - Energy flows in graphene: hot carrier dynamics and cooling.
AB  - Long lifetimes of hot carriers can lead to qualitatively new types of responses
      in materials. The magnitude and time scales for these responses reflect the
      mechanisms governing energy flows. We examine the microscopics of two processes
      which are key for energy transport, focusing on the unusual behavior arising due
      to graphene's unique combination of material properties. One is hot carrier
      generation in its photoexcitation dynamics, where hot carriers multiply through
      an Auger type carrier-carrier scattering cascade. The hot-carrier generation
      manifests itself through elevated electronic temperatures which can be accessed
      in a variety of ways, in particular optical conductivity measurements. Another
      process of high interest is electron-lattice cooling. We survey different cooling
      pathways and discuss the cooling bottleneck arising for the momentum-conserving
      electron-phonon scattering pathway. We show how this bottleneck can be relieved
      by higher-order collisions-supercollisions-and examine the variety of
      supercollision processes that can occur in graphene.

PMID- 25834945
TI  - Interactive multimedia consent for biobanking: a randomized trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: The potential of interactive multimedia to improve biobank informed
      consent has yet to be investigated. The aim of this study was to test the
      separate effectiveness of interactivity and multimedia at improving participant
      understanding and confidence in understanding of informed consent compared with a
      standard, face-to-face (F2F) biobank consent process. METHODS: A 2 (face-to-face
      versus multimedia) * 2 (standard versus enhanced interactivity) experimental
      design was used with 200 patients randomly assigned to receive informed consent.
      All patients received the same information provided in the biobank's nine-page
      consent document. RESULTS: Interactivity (F(1,196) = 7.56, P = 0.007, partial
      eta(2) = 0.037) and media (F(1,196) = 4.27, P = 0.04, partial eta(2) = 0.021)
      independently improved participants' understanding of the biobank consent.
      Interactivity (F(1,196) = 6.793, P = 0.01, partial eta(2) = 0.033), but not media
      (F(1,196) = 0.455, not significant), resulted in increased participant confidence
      in their understanding of the biobank's consent materials. Patients took more
      time to complete the multimedia condition (mean = 18.2 min) than the face-to-face
      condition (mean = 12.6 min). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that
      interactivity and multimedia each can be effective at promoting an individual's
      understanding and confidence in their understanding of a biobank consent, albeit
      with additional time investment. Researchers should not assume that multimedia is
      inherently interactive, but rather should separate the two constructs when
      studying electronic consent.

PMID- 25834946
TI  - Novel first-dose adverse drug reactions during a phase I trial of olipudase alfa
      (recombinant human acid sphingomyelinase) in adults with Niemann-Pick disease
      type B (acid sphingomyelinase deficiency).
AB  - PURPOSE: Enzyme replacement therapy with olipudase alfa (recombinant human acid
      sphingomyelinase) is being developed for Niemann-Pick disease type B (NPD B).
      METHODS: A single-center, open-label, nonrandomized, single-ascending-dose trial
      evaluated the safety of intravenous olipudase alfa (0.03-1.0 mg/kg) in 11 adults
      with NPD B. Patients were monitored in the hospital for 72 h after infusion and
      had follow-up visits on days 14 and 28. RESULTS: Plasma ceramide, a product of
      sphingomyelin catabolism by olipudase alfa, showed dose-dependent elevations by 6
      h postdose, or postinfusion. No serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs) occurred
      during the study. Acute phase reaction-type ADRs, as evidenced by elevated
      inflammatory biomarkers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin-8, and
      calcitonin) and constitutional symptoms (fever, pain, nausea, and/or vomiting)
      emerged 12-24 h following doses >=0.3 mg/kg olipudase alfa. Three patients
      experienced hyperbilirubinemia. The study was terminated after a patient dosed at
      1 mg/kg exhibited severe hyperbilirubinemia; he was subsequently diagnosed with
      Gilbert syndrome. CONCLUSION: The maximum tolerated dose of olipudase alfa in
      adults with NPD B was 0.6 mg/kg. First-dose ADRs were likely induced by elevated
      concentrations of ceramide (or its downstream derivatives) generated by the
      catabolism of accumulated sphingomyelin. Within-patient dose escalation to slowly
      catabolize sphingomyelin stores may be a strategy to mitigate first-dose ADRs in
      patients with NPD B.Genet Med 18 1, 34-40.

PMID- 25834947
TI  - The challenge of comprehensive and consistent sequence variant interpretation
      between clinical laboratories.
AB  - PURPOSE: Genetic testing has shifted from academic laboratories with expertise in
      specific genes to commercial laboratories that offer tests of a diverse array of
      genes. The purpose of this comparative study was to determine whether one
      academic laboratory's model of variant interpretation is similar to that of
      several commercial laboratories. METHODS: The Collagen Diagnostic Laboratory
      (CDL) received, over a 14-month period, 38 requests to interpret variants
      originally identified by an outside laboratory (OL). The interpretations by the
      OL and CDL were compared and discrepancies were assessed. RESULTS:
      Interpretations from the OL and CDL were concordant in 11 inquiries (29%);
      discrepancies were moderate in 11 instances (29%) and significant in 16 (42%).
      Factors that caused discrepancies included the following: (i) private data were
      not shared in a public database (n = 9); (ii) publicly available allele frequency
      data were not referenced and used as evidence (n = 5); and (iii) important
      aspects of protein structure and function were not taken into account (n = 13).
      CONCLUSION: Comprehensive interpretation of sequence variants depends on good
      functional tests and well-curated variant databases. Provision of clinical
      information to the clinical laboratory, mandatory submission of identified
      variants with phenotype data to common resources, and collaboration between
      clinical laboratories and recognized experts is likely to improve consistency in
      variant interpretation among clinical laboratories.Genet Med 18 1, 20-24.

PMID- 25834948
TI  - A phase I/II study of intrathecal idursulfase-IT in children with severe
      mucopolysaccharidosis II.
AB  - PURPOSE: Approximately two-thirds of patients with the lysosomal storage disease
      mucopolysaccharidosis II have progressive cognitive impairment. Intravenous
      (i.v.) enzyme replacement therapy does not affect cognitive impairment because
      recombinant iduronate-2-sulfatase (idursulfase) does not penetrate the blood
      brain barrier at therapeutic concentrations. We examined the safety of
      idursulfase formulated for intrathecal administration (idursulfase-IT) via
      intrathecal drug delivery device (IDDD). A secondary endpoint was change in
      concentration of glycosaminoglycans in cerebrospinal fluid. METHODS: Sixteen
      cognitively impaired males with mucopolysaccharidosis II who were previously
      treated with weekly i.v. idursulfase 0.5 mg/kg for >=6 months were enrolled.
      Patients were randomized to no treatment or 10-mg, 30-mg, or 1-mg idursulfase-IT
      monthly for 6 months (four patients per group) while continuing i.v. idursulfase
      weekly. RESULTS: No serious adverse events related to idursulfase-IT were
      observed. Surgical revision/removal of the IDDD was required in 6 of 12 patients.
      Twelve total doses were administrated by lumbar puncture. Mean cerebrospinal
      fluid glycosaminoglycan concentration was reduced by approximately 90% in the 10
      mg and 30-mg groups and approximately 80% in the 1-mg group after 6 months.
      CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary data support further development of
      investigational idursulfase-IT in MPS II patients with the severe phenotype who
      have progressed only to a mild-to-moderate level of cognitive impairment.Genet
      Med 18 1, 73-81.

PMID- 25834949
TI  - Fatty acid oxidation flux predicts the clinical severity of VLCAD deficiency.
AB  - PURPOSE: Very-long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (VLCAD) deficiency (VLCADD) is an
      inherited disorder of mitochondrial long-chain fatty acid beta-oxidation (LC-FAO)
      and is included in many newborn screening (NBS) programs worldwide. Patients may
      present with hypoketotic hypoglycemia, cardiomyopathy, and/or myopathy, but
      clinical severity varies widely and the clinical outcome is unpredictable. We
      investigated predictive markers that may determine clinical severity. METHODS: We
      developed a clinical severity score (CSS), which was determined for 13 Dutch
      patients with VLCADD, all of whom were diagnosed before the introduction of
      VLCADD in NBS to prevent bias from early diagnosis. In cultured skin fibroblasts
      from these patients, we measured LC-FAO flux (the rate of oleate oxidation),
      VLCAD activity, and acylcarnitine profiles following palmitate loading. RESULTS:
      The strongest correlation (r = 0.93; P < 0.0001) was observed between LC-FAO flux
      and the CSS. VLCAD activity measurement and the C14/C16-to-acylcarnitine ratio
      correlated much less. A median LC-FAO flux of 6% of control values (range 5.6
      6.8%) was associated with cardiomyopathy (P < 0.01), and 32.4% (range 5.6-50.5%)
      was associated with myopathy (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate a
      very strong correlation between LC-FAO flux in fibroblasts and the clinical
      severity of VLCADD. LC-FAO flux measurements may thus predict whether patients
      are likely to develop symptoms.

PMID- 25834950
TI  - Patient feedback and early outcome data with a novel tiered-binned model for
      multiplex breast cancer susceptibility testing.
AB  - PURPOSE: The risks, benefits, and utilities of multiplex panels for breast cancer
      susceptibility are unknown, and new counseling and informed consent models are
      needed. We sought to obtain patient feedback and early outcome data with a novel
      tiered-binned model for multiplex testing. METHODS: BRCA1/2-negative and untested
      patients completed pre- and posttest counseling and surveys evaluating testing
      experiences and cognitive and affective responses to multiplex testing. RESULTS:
      Of 73 patients, 49 (67%) completed pretest counseling. BRCA1/2-negative patients
      were more likely to proceed with multiplex testing (86%) than those untested for
      BRCA1/2 (43%; P < 0.01). Many patients declining testing reported concern for
      uncertainty and distress. Most patients would not change anything about their pre
      (76%) or posttest (89%) counseling sessions. Thirty-three patients (72%) were
      classified as making an informed choice, including 81% of those who proceeded
      with multiplex testing. Knowledge increased significantly. Anxiety, depression,
      uncertainty, and cancer worry did not significantly increase with multiplex
      testing. CONCLUSION: Some patients, particularly those without prior BRCA1/2
      testing, decline multiplex testing. Most patients who proceeded with testing did
      not experience negative psychological responses, but larger studies are needed.
      The tiered-binned approach is an innovative genetic counseling and informed
      consent model for further study in the era of multiplex testing.Genet Med 18 1,
      25-33.

PMID- 25834951
TI  - Risk of new tumors in von Hippel-Lindau patients depends on age and genotype.
AB  - PURPOSE: The von Hippel-Lindau (vHL) phenotype is variable, which complicates
      genetic counseling and surveillance. We describe how the rate of new tumor
      development varies through the lifetimes of vHL patients and how it is influenced
      by age and genotype. METHODS: In a national cohort study, we included 52 VHL
      mutation carriers who were retrospectively followed for a total of 799 person
      years. From birth to current age, 581 manifestations were diagnosed during 2,583
      examinations in the study subjects. Manifestation rates were analyzed using
      Poisson regression and compared in groups of different ages, tumor sites, and
      genotypes. RESULTS: The rate of new tumor development varied significantly with
      age and was highest at 30-34 years (0.4 new tumors/year). Tumor location further
      influenced the rate. The risk of retinal tumors was highest in subjects during
      the teenage years but was highest for cerebellar tumors in subjects during their
      30s. Truncating VHL mutation carriers had a significantly higher manifestation
      rate compared with missense mutation carriers (hazard ratio = 1.85, 95%
      confidence interval: 1.06-3.24, P value = 0.031). CONCLUSION: The rate of new
      manifestation development is not constant throughout the life span of vHL
      patients; instead, it varies significantly with age and genotype and depends on
      anatomical location. Retinal surveillance is crucial during the teenage years,
      whereas cerebellar surveillance is especially important in adulthood.Genet Med 18
      1, 89-97.

PMID- 25834952
TI  - Is maternal plasma DNA testing impacting serum-based screening for aneuploidy in
      the United States?
AB  - PURPOSE: We sought to determine whether tests for fetal aneuploidy based on next
      generation sequencing of cell-free DNA in maternal circulation have had an impact
      on routine serum-based screening in the general pregnant population. METHODS: We
      compared results from laboratory surveys in 2011 and 2014 that reported types of
      prenatal serum screening tests and numbers of tests performed. Testing records
      from two prenatal serum screening laboratories examined temporal trends in the
      proportion of screened women 35 years of age and older from 2008 (or 2009) to
      2014. RESULTS: The 82 laboratory survey results available for comparison showed
      that 1.7 million women were screened in 2014, a 5% increase over 2011. In the two
      screening laboratories, the proportion of screened women age 35 and older
      increased for several years but then experienced reductions of 8 and 18% by mid
      2014 when compared with the highest rates observed. CONCLUSION: As of 2014,
      maternal plasma DNA testing appears to have had only a minor impact on serum
      screening rates in the United States. Ongoing surveillance has the potential to
      determine if, and when, DNA testing begins to replace serum testing as a primary
      screen for Down syndrome in the United States.

PMID- 25834954
TI  - Whole-exome sequencing revealed two novel mutations in Usher syndrome.
AB  - Usher syndrome is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous autosomal recessive
      inherited disorder accompanied by hearing loss and retinitis pigmentosa (RP).
      Since the associated genes are various and quite large, we utilized whole-exome
      sequencing (WES) as a diagnostic tool to identify the molecular basis of Usher
      syndrome. DNA from a 12-year-old male diagnosed with Usher syndrome was analyzed
      by WES. Mutations detected were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. The pathogenicity
      of these mutations was determined by in silico analysis. A maternally inherited
      deleterious frameshift mutation, c.14439_14454del in exon 66 and a paternally
      inherited non-sense c.10830G>A stop-gain SNV in exon 55 of USH2A were found as
      two novel compound heterozygous mutations. Both of these mutations disrupt the C
      terminal of USH2A protein. As a result, WES revealed two novel compound
      heterozygous mutations in a Turkish USH2A patient. This approach gave us an
      opportunity to have an appropriate diagnosis and provide genetic counseling to
      the family within a reasonable time.

PMID- 25834955
TI  - Graphene-modified Pd/C cathode and Pd/GAC particles for enhanced electrocatalytic
      removal of bromate in a continuous three-dimensional electrochemical reactor.
AB  - Bromate (BrO3(-)) is a carcinogenic and genotoxic contaminant commonly generated
      during ozonation of bromide-containing water. In this work, the reductive removal
      of BrO3(-) in a continuous three-dimensional electrochemical reactor with
      palladium-reduced graphene oxide modified carbon paper (Pd-rGO/C) cathode and Pd
      rGO modified granular activated carbon (Pd-rGO/GAC) particles was investigated.
      The results indicated that the rGO sheets significantly promoted the
      electrochemical reduction of BrO3(-). With the enhanced electron transfer by rGO
      sheets, the electroreduction of H2O to atomic H* on the polarized Pd particles
      could be significantly accelerated, leading to a faster reaction rate of BrO3(-)
      with atomic H*. The synergistic effect of the Pd-rGO/C cathode and Pd-rGO/GAC
      particles were also exhibited. The atomic H* involved in various electroreduction
      processes was detected by electron spin resonance spectroscopy and its role for
      BrO3(-) reduction was determined. The performance of the reactor was evaluated in
      terms of the removal of BrO3(-) and the yield of Br(-) as a function of the GO
      concentration, Pd loading amount, current density, hydraulic residence time
      (HRT), and initial BrO3(-) concentration. Under the current density of 0.9
      mA/cm(2), BrO3(-) with the initial concentration of 20 MUg/L was reduced to be
      less than 6.6 MUg/L at the HRT of 20 min. The BrO3(-) reduction was inhibited in
      the presence of dissolved organic matter. Although the precipitates generated
      from Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) in the tap water would cover the Pd catalysts, a long
      lasting electrocatalytic activity could be maintained for the 30 d treatment. SEM
      and XPS analysis demonstrated that the precipitates were predominantly deposited
      onto the Pd-rGO/C cathode rather than the Pd-rGO/GAC particles.

PMID- 25834953
TI  - Signaling and sensory adaptation in Escherichia coli chemoreceptors: 2015 update.
AB  - Motile Escherichia coli cells track gradients of attractant and repellent
      chemicals in their environment with transmembrane chemoreceptor proteins. These
      receptors operate in cooperative arrays to produce large changes in the activity
      of a signaling kinase, CheA, in response to small changes in chemoeffector
      concentration. Recent research has provided a much deeper understanding of the
      structure and function of core receptor signaling complexes and the architecture
      of higher-order receptor arrays, which, in turn, has led to new insights into the
      molecular signaling mechanisms of chemoreceptor networks. Current evidence
      supports a new view of receptor signaling in which stimulus information travels
      within receptor molecules through shifts in the dynamic properties of adjoining
      structural elements rather than through a few discrete conformational states. 

PMID- 25834956
TI  - Effects of Rapid Intravenous Rehydration in Children With Mild-to-Moderate
      Dehydration.
AB  - BACKGROUND: New guidelines for "rapid or ultrarapid" intravenous rehydration are
      being developed in different emergency departments. These new guidelines propose
      a faster administration of fluids and electrolytes than in traditional protocols.
      However, there is still insufficient evidence to establish a standard protocol.
      OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to determine the effects of an outpatient rapid
      intravenous rehydration regimen based on the administration of 0.9% saline + 2.5%
      dextrose, at a rate of 20 mL/kg per hour for 2 hours, in children with mild-to
      moderate isonatremic dehydration resulting from acute gastroenteritis. METHODS:
      We performed a 2-institution, prospective, observational, descriptive study.
      Eighty-three patients were included in the study. All patients underwent a first
      evaluation, including physical examination, laboratory tests, and assessment of
      clinical degree of dehydration. After this initial evaluation, all children
      received our intravenous rehydration regimen. A second evaluation including the
      same items as in the first one was made after in all the children. RESULTS:
      Intravenous rehydration was successful in 69 patients (83.1%). It failed in 14
      patients (16.8%), who required hospitalization because of persistent vomiting in
      9 patients and poor general appearance in 5 patients. After intravenous
      rehydration, we observed a statistically significant decrease in the levels of
      ketonemia and uremia and in the Gorelick scale score. However, no significant
      changes were observed in sodium, chloride, potassium, and osmolarity values.
      CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that, in children with mild-to-moderate dehydration, the
      administration of 20 mL/kg per hour for 2 hours of 0.9% saline solution + 2.5%
      glucose improved clinical scores and may be used as an alternative and safe way
      for intravenous rehydration.

PMID- 25834957
TI  - Mental Health Utilization in a Pediatric Emergency Department.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Mental health complaints are frequent in the pediatric emergency
      department (PED). The objective of this study was to describe trends over time in
      PED utilization for mental health care at in a single pediatric tertiary care
      hospital. It is our hypothesis that the resources used by this patient population
      are high and that mental health-related visits have increased over the most
      recent decade. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of all pediatric mental
      health presentations to the PED from January 2009 to July 2013 at a single
      pediatric hospital. All patients aged 1 to 19 years with an International
      Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code of 291, 292, 295 to 309, and 311
      to 314 were included. Data collected included demographic data, medications
      received, restraint use, suicidality, length of stay (LOS), charges incurred,
      final disposition, and daily PED operation variables. Trends over time in
      presentation, charges, and LOS were analyzed using multiple mixed effects
      regression models after adjusting for potential patient and PED level confounding
      variables and clustering of multiple visits within patients. RESULTS: A total of
      732 PED visits from 2009 to 2013 were identified representing 646 unique
      patients. The average age was 13.8 years, and 53% were male. Approximately 25% of
      the patients expressed suicidal ideation, and 44% of those had attempted suicide
      before arrival. Behavioral or chemical restraints were used in 33% of patients
      during their PED visit. There were statistically significant increases in annual
      visits, LOS, and charges over this period (P < 0.05). Increased charges were
      significantly associated with longer LOS (P = 0.0062). Charges (P = 0.46) and LOS
      (P = 0.62) were not significantly different between suicidal and nonsuicidal
      patients. Approximately 21% of patients were admitted or transferred to another
      facility. CONCLUSIONS: In this single-center study, we found evidence that the
      resources required to care for pediatric patients with mental health complaints
      have increased significantly over time both by increased number of annual visits
      and an increasing LOS. Further research is necessary to determine if our data are
      consistent with national trends to further our understanding of the problem and
      improve resource allocation.

PMID- 25834958
TI  - Concussion Among Youth Skiers and Snowboarders: A Review of the National Trauma
      Data Bank From 2009 to 2010.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: There are limited data regarding concussion among youth skiers and
      snowboarders. The objective of this study was to examine the frequency of
      concussion among helmeted and unhelmeted youth skiers and snowboarders presenting
      to trauma centers. METHODS: Subjects 18 years or younger with a ski- or snowboard
      related injury were studied using data from the National Trauma Data Bank from
      2009 to 2010. We further selected those with head/neck injuries and stratified
      based on helmet status. Concussive injuries were identified from International
      Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision codes. Severity analysis was based on
      the Glasgow Coma Scale and Injury Severity Score. RESULTS: A total of 1001
      subjects met inclusion criteria with 678 subjects having documented helmet
      status. Subjects 12 years or younger were more likely to use helmets compared to
      13-18 year-olds (odds ratio, 2.21; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.52-3.21).
      Skiers were more likely to use helmets compared to snowboarders (odds ratios,
      1.60; 95% CI, 1.16-2.19). Snowboarders had a greater likelihood of concussion
      (estimated-beta, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.48-2.85) after adjusting for helmet status and
      age. There was no significant difference in the frequency of concussion among
      helmeted compared to unhelmeted subjects. Imputing missing values for helmets
      status had no effect on outcome for concussion. We found no difference in injury
      severity among helmeted compared to unhelmeted subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Among youth
      skiers and snowboarders who present to trauma centers with a head injury, the
      likelihood of that injury involving a concussion was not associated with helmet
      use.

PMID- 25834959
TI  - Improving Quality of Care for Sickle Cell Patients in the Pediatric Emergency
      Department.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify the factors associated with
      delays in treatment of sickle pain crisis in the pediatric emergency department
      with the goal of discerning whether earlier pain management is correlated with
      better clinical outcome. METHODS: This retrospective study examined data
      collected from clinical records of patients, aged 21 years or younger, who was
      treated for sickle cell pain crisis between January and June 2012. Demographic
      and clinical characteristics were extracted from electronic records, as well as
      time of registration, triage, initial pain assessment, analgesic administration,
      and pain reassessment. RESULT: A total of 160 sickle cell pain crises visits by
      67 unique patients were identified. Opiates were the most common initial pain
      medication prescribed and administered. The mean time to initial analgesic
      administration and pain reassessment was 89 and 60 minutes, respectively.
      Patients with orders for imaging studies experienced significant delays in time
      to initial analgesic medication and pain reassessment. In addition, higher triage
      pain score correlated with shorter time to first dose of pain medication.
      However, age, sex, and final disposition did not affect time to administration of
      analgesic medications.Earlier pain management resulted in shorter ED length of
      stay for all patients regardless of disposition. However, earlier pain management
      did not affect the total length of hospitalization for patients admitted to the
      inpatient services. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric patients with sickle cell pain crises
      experienced significant delays to initial analgesic medication. A standardized
      approach to pain management may improve ED management of SCD crises.

PMID- 25834960
TI  - Pediatricians Support Initiation of Asthma Controller Medications in the
      Emergency Department: A National Survey.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Although National Asthma Guidelines recommend that emergency
      department (ED) physicians consider initiating controller medications, research
      suggests that this practice occurs infrequently. The goal of this study was to
      assess primary care pediatricians' (PCP) beliefs and attitudes regarding ED
      initiation of controller medications for children with persistent asthma
      symptoms. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional mail survey of a randomly selected
      national sample of pediatricians from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The
      survey posed questions regarding beliefs, barriers, and support for national
      guideline recommendations. RESULTS: Eight hundred eighty-six (44.3%) of 2000
      subjects responded. Five hundred seventy-two (64.5%) respondents met eligibility
      for analysis. When presented with a vignette of a child with persistent asthma,
      476 (83%) of PCPs felt it was appropriate for the ED physician to initiate
      controller medications. Most (80%) PCPs supported the national guideline
      recommendation, although a similar proportion reported they have never or rarely
      experienced this practice before. Only 11% opposed the practice in all
      circumstances. Beliefs supporting this practice included the following:
      opportunity to capture patients lost to follow-up (85%), reinforcement of daily
      use of controller medications (83%), and controller medication may shorten an
      acute exacerbation (53%). Barriers included lack of time for education in ED
      (65%), reinforcement of ED use for primary care (64%), lack of PCP communication
      (62%), and inability to assess severity appropriately (41%). Most (90%) PCPs
      expect communication from the ED provider. CONCLUSIONS: A majority of
      pediatricians support the practice of ED physicians initiating controller
      medication during an acute visit for asthma. Communication with the PCP,
      appropriate screening of severity, and education about controller medications
      were important considerations expressed by these providers.

PMID- 25834961
TI  - Assessing the Utility of Urine Testing in Febrile Infants Aged 2 to 12 Months
      With Bronchiolitis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to investigate whether the prevalence of
      urinary tract infections (UTIs) in febrile infants aged 2 to 12 months with
      bronchiolitis is higher than the presumed prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria
      (1%) in similarly aged patients and thus to determine whether UTI testing is
      necessary for these patients. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study in
      which we enrolled a convenience sample of febrile infants aged 2 to 12 months
      with a clinical diagnosis of bronchiolitis. All patients were seen in the
      emergency department at a large children's hospital between November 1, 2011 and
      April 15, 2012, had reported or documented fever higher than 38 degrees C, and
      had urine collected for determination of the presence of UTI. After the
      conclusion of enrollment, a chart review was conducted to assess missed cases.
      RESULTS: Positive urine cultures were found in 6/90 (6.7%) patients (confidence
      interval, 2.5%-13.9%). The positive urine cultures and urinalysis results were
      found in 4/90 (4.5%) patients (confidence interval, 1.2%-11%). CONCLUSIONS: In
      our patient population, a significant proportion of infants aged 2 to 12 months
      who present with bronchiolitis and fever have a concurrent UTI. Obtaining a urine
      specimen for UTI testing should be considered in infants aged 2 to 12 months with
      bronchiolitis and fever. A larger multicenter study is needed to further assess
      the risk factors for UTIs in this patient population.

PMID- 25834962
TI  - Pediatric Endotracheal Tube Cuff Pressures During Aeromedical Transport.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Cuffed endotracheal tubes (ETTs) are frequently used in children,
      allowing fewer air leaks and helping prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia.
      Tracheal mucosal perfusion is compromised at an ETT cuff pressure (ETTCP) of 30
      cm H2O with blood flow completely absent above 50 cm H2O. Our objective was to
      compare multiple pediatric-sized ETTCPs at ground level and various altitudes
      during aeromedical transport. METHODS: Simulating the transport environment, 4
      pediatric-sized mannequin heads were intubated with appropriately sized cuffed
      ETTs (3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0) and transported by helicopter or nonpressurized fixed
      wing aircraft 20 times each. The ETTCP was set to 10 cm H2O before transport, and
      the pressure was measured with a standard manometer at 1000-ft intervals until
      reaching peak altitude or CP greater than 60 cm H2O. Ground elevation ranged from
      400-650 ft mean sea level (MSL) and peak altitude from 3500 to 5000 ft MSL.
      RESULTS: Increased altitude caused a significant increase in ETTCP of all ETT
      sizes (P < 0.001). However, there is no statistical difference in pressures
      between ETT sizes (P = 0.28). On average, ETTCP in 3.0, 4.0, and 6.0 ETTs
      surpassed 30 cm H2O at approximately 1500 ft MSL and 50 cm H2O at approximately
      2800 ft MSL. In the 5.0 ETT, the CP reached 30 cm H2O at 2000 ft MSL and 50 cm
      H2O at 3700 ft MSL. CONCLUSIONS: The ETTCP in pediatric-sized ETTs regularly
      exceed recommended pressure limits at relatively low altitudes. There is no
      additional pressure increase related to ETT size. This has the potential to
      decrease mucosal blood flow, possibly increasing risk of subsequent tracheal
      stenosis, rupture, and other complications.

PMID- 25834963
TI  - Teaching Splinting Techniques Using a Just-in-Time Training Instructional Video.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Splinting is a multistep procedure that is seldom performed by primary
      care physicians. Just-in-time training (JITT) is an emerging teaching modality
      and can be an invaluable asset for infrequently performed procedures or in
      locations where teaching resources and trained professionals are limited. Our
      objective was to determine the utility of JITT for teaching medical students the
      short-arm (SA) volar splinting technique. METHODS: This was a prospective
      randomized controlled pilot study. An instructional video on SA volar splinting
      was produced. Students viewed the video or had access to standard medical
      textbooks (control group) immediately before applying an SA volar splint. The
      students were assessed for the quality of the splint via a standard 6-point
      skills checklist. The times required for presplinting preparation and for
      completion of the splint were also measured. RESULTS: Just-in-time training group
      students scored higher on the splint checklist (mean [SD], 5.45 [1.06]; 95%
      confidence interval [CI], 4.99-5.92 vs mean [SD], 1.58 [1.12]; 95% CI, 1.04-2.12;
      P < 0.0001), had higher pass rates (73%; 95% CI, 53%-93% vs 0%; P < 0.0001), and
      required less time (minutes) for presplinting preparation (mean [SD], 7.86
      [2.45]; 95% CI, 6.78-8.94 vs mean [SD], 9.89 [0.46]; 95% CI, 9.67-10.12; P <
      0.0001) compared with the control group. No difference was seen in the time
      required to complete a splint, successful or not. CONCLUSIONS: In comparison with
      reading standard textbooks, watching a brief JITT instructional video before
      splinting yielded faster learning times combined with more successful procedural
      skills. The use of a JITT instructional video may have potential applications,
      including globally, as an alternative resource for teaching and disseminating
      procedural skills, such as SA volar splinting.

PMID- 25834964
TI  - Etomidate Versus Ketamine: Effective Use in Emergency Procedural Sedation for
      Pediatric Orthopedic Injuries.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare the induction and recovery
      times, postsedation observation durations, and adverse effects of etomidate and
      ketamine in pediatric patients with fractures and/or dislocations requiring
      closed reduction in the emergency department. METHODS: Forty-four healthy
      children aged 7 to 18 years were included. The patients were randomly divided
      into 2 groups. Group 1 (24 patients) received etomidate and fentanyl, and group 2
      (20 patients) received ketamine intravenously. The Ramsay Sedation Scale and
      American Pediatric Association discharge criteria were used to evaluate the
      patients. RESULTS: There were 70 fractured bones and 3 joint dislocations. Except
      in 1 case (2.3%), all of the injuries were reducted successfully. The mean amount
      of drugs used to provide adequate sedation and analgesia were 0.25 mg/kg of
      etomidate and 1.30 MUg/kg of fentanyl in group 1 and 1.25 mg/kg of ketamine in
      group 2. Fourteen patients (31.8%) reported adverse effects, and none required
      hospitalization. There was no difference between the groups in the recovery
      times, occurrence of adverse effects, and postsedation observation durations (P >
      0.05). The mean (SD) induction time for the patients in group 1 was 4.3 (1.0)
      minutes, whereas it was 2.2 (1.6) minutes in group 2 (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS:
      Etomidate induces effective and adequate sedation in the pediatric emergency
      department for painful orthopedic procedures. Ketamine, which has longer action
      times, might be preferred for reductions because orthopedic procedures could be
      lengthy.

PMID- 25834965
TI  - Practices, Beliefs, and Perceived Barriers to Adolescent Human Immunodeficiency
      Virus Screening in the Emergency Department.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Limited data exist regarding knowledge of and compliance to the
      Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's universal adolescent human
      immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening recommendations. Our objective was to
      assess current guideline knowledge, practice, and perceived barriers to emergency
      department (ED)-based adolescent HIV screening. METHODS: We administered an
      anonymous Web-based cross-sectional survey from May 1, 2012, to June 30, 2012, to
      1073 physicians from the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Emergency
      Medicine LISTSERV. Survey participants were included if they (1) practiced as
      attending-level physicians, (2) practiced primarily in pediatric emergency
      medicine or general emergency medicine, and (3) provided clinical care for
      patients younger than the age of 21 years. The survey examined respondent
      demographics, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, practices, and barriers to ED-based
      HIV screening. Standard descriptive statistics and comparative analyses were
      performed. RESULTS: A total of 220 responses were obtained; 29 responses were
      excluded and 191 responses were included in the study. Most of the participants
      were from urban, free-standing children's hospitals and had an annual ED volume
      of more than 61,000 patient visits. Respondent knowledge of the Centers for
      Disease Control and Prevention guidelines was low; less than 40% of the
      respondents identified correct consent requirements. Only 15.4% of the
      respondents reported screening for HIV more than 10 times for the prior 6 months.
      Most frequently cited barriers included concerns for privacy (67.4%), follow-up
      (67%), and cost-effectiveness (65.4%). Human immunodeficiency virus screening
      facilitators included availability of health educators (83%), established follow
      up (74.7%), and rapid HIV tests (65.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Emergency department
      clinicians exhibit poor knowledge of adolescent HIV screening recommendations.
      Current universal screening practices remain low; barriers to screening are
      numerous. Future efforts should disseminate guideline knowledge, increase rapid
      HIV testing and health educator availability, as well as reduce adolescent
      specific barriers.

PMID- 25834966
TI  - Laboratory Errors in a Pediatric Emergency Department Network: An Analysis of
      Incident Reports.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To describe the types and severity of reported laboratory errors in
      pediatric emergency departments. METHODS: Retrospective review of incident
      reports classified as laboratory errors from July 2007 to June 2008 within the
      Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network. Laboratory testing errors
      recorded included: delayed results or lost specimen, unlabeled specimens, wrong
      patient, failure to label specimen correctly, and other. The severity of
      laboratory-related incidents was characterized using the National Coordinating
      Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention severity classification
      system. Contributing factors were classified as environmental, equipment, human
      (employee), information technology systems, parent or guardian, or systems-based.
      RESULTS: A total of 335 (42.2%) laboratory reports were related to events in the
      preanalytic phase. Involved staff personnel were identified in 345 of the reports
      (43.5%). Nurses were identified in 179 (22.6%) and physicians in 38 (4.8%). The
      majority of laboratory errors [408 (51.5%)] were not associated with harm; 138
      (17.4%) patients were harmed by the error; 136 (98.6%) patients were temporarily
      harmed and required treatment, and 1 (0.7%) patient was hospitalized or had their
      hospitalization prolonged with the event. Human factors 657 (82.8%) were the most
      common contributing factor. CONCLUSIONS: Laboratory errors are a common cause of
      safety events in the pediatric ED. Most events are preanalytic and involve
      problems with specimens that are improperly collected, mislabeled, or lost.
      Although most events were not associated with harm, there is potential for
      significant injury.

PMID- 25834967
TI  - Minimally invasive surgical approach to treat posterior urethral diverticulum.
AB  - Urethral diverticulum is a localized saccular or fusiform out-pouching of the
      urethra. It may occur at any point along the urethra in both male and females.
      Male urethral diverticulum is rare, and could be either congenital or acquired,
      anterior or posterior. The mainstay treatment of posterior urethral diverticulum
      (PUD) is the open surgical approach. Here we discuss our minimally invasive
      surgical approach (MIS) in managing posterior urethral diverticulum. 

PMID- 25834968
TI  - The role of implantable hemodynamic monitors to manage heart failure.
AB  - Heart failure is associated with high rates of hospitalization and
      rehospitalization, resulting in substantial clinical and economic burden. Current
      approaches to monitoring patients with heart failure have done little to reduce
      these high rates of heart failure hospitalization. Implantable hemodynamic
      monitors have been developed to remotely provide direct measurement of
      intracardiac and pulmonary artery pressures in ambulatory patients with heart
      failure. These devices have the potential to direct day-to-day management of
      patients with heart failure to reduce hospitalization rates. The use of a
      pulmonary artery pressure measurement system has been shown to reduce the risk of
      heart failure hospitalization in patients with systolic and diastolic heart
      failure.

PMID- 25834969
TI  - Nonhemodynamic parameters from implantable devices for heart failure risk
      stratification.
AB  - "Implantable devices are well suited to monitor and record several parameters
      that carry prognostic information. Specifically, the primary function of
      implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) is to monitor for changes in heart
      rhythm and treat both tachyarrhythmias and bradyarrhythmias. They are efficient
      in monitoring the heart rate, incidence of arrhythmias, and patient activity
      level, which provide prognostic information. Parameters such as thoracic
      impedance, heart sounds, and respiratory rate and patterns may further refine
      prognostic information available from ICDs. Combining parameters may provide a
      better way to interpret and use the available information."

PMID- 25834970
TI  - Role of revascularization to improve left ventricular function.
AB  - Coronary revascularization to improve left ventricular (LV) function and improve
      mortality in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy remains controversial,
      especially in the absence of angina or ischemia. A large body of observational
      evidence suggests that patients with dysfunctional but viable myocardium may
      experience improvement in mortality and LV function after revascularization.
      However, results of randomized trials conducted in the last decade dispute the
      value of viability testing or coronary revascularization in improving outcomes of
      patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy. However, because of the numerous
      methodological limitations of these studies, clinical equipoise persists
      regarding the role of coronary revascularization in certain patients.

PMID- 25834971
TI  - Hemodynamic support with percutaneous devices in patients with heart failure.
AB  - The use of surgically implanted durable mechanical circulatory support (MCS) in
      high-risk patients with heart failure is declining and short-term, nondurable MCS
      device use is growing. Percutaneously delivered MCS options for advanced heart
      failure include the intra-aortic balloon pump, Impella axial flow catheter,
      TandemHeart centrifugal pump, and venoarterial extracorporeal membrane
      oxygenation. Nondurable MCS devices have unique implantation characteristics and
      hemodynamic effects. Algorithms and guidelines for optimal nondurable MCS device
      selection do not exist. Emerging technologies and applications will address the
      need for improved left ventricular unloading using lower-profile devices, longer
      term ambulatory support, and the potential for myocardial recovery.

PMID- 25834972
TI  - Transcatheter aortic valve replacement for patients with heart failure.
AB  - Older patients suffering severe heart failure related to aortic stenosis (AS)
      undergo transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), owing to their high
      surgical risk. The diagnosis is made based on echocardiographic examination, but
      may require a multimodality imaging approach in patients with low gradients. In
      severely decompensated heart failure or cardiogenic shock, rescue percutaneous
      balloon aortic valvuloplasty as a bridge to TAVR seems reasonable. Emergent TAVR
      has been reported. Efforts should be made to avoid late diagnosis or referring
      patients with severe AS to offer them timely interventions, reduce the risk of
      TAVR, and predict whether left ventricular function will improve.

PMID- 25834973
TI  - Percutaneous intervention for mitral regurgitation.
AB  - Percutaneous treatment of mitral regurgitation (MR) is a promising alternative
      for patients with functional MR (FMR) who are not appropriate for surgery and are
      not responding to optimal medical therapy and cardiac resynchronization therapy.
      Unlike degenerative MR, where repair therapy is clearly preferred, the optimal
      approach for FMR has not been defined. Challenges for novel mitral repair devices
      are to demonstrate safety and superior efficacy to medical management in higher
      risk patients. Transcatheter mitral valve replacement is emerging as a feasible
      therapy, but requires significant additional clinical trials to define its place
      in treating heart failure related to MR.

PMID- 25834974
TI  - Percutaneous left ventricular restoration.
AB  - The ventricular partitioning device known as Parachute is the first and only
      percutaneously implantable device aimed at restoration of normal left ventricular
      geometry in humans. Since its conception, this technology has undergone extensive
      animal and human testing, with proved feasibility and safety, and is currently
      being studied in a pivotal randomized clinical trial. This article discusses
      ventricular remodeling and therapies attempted in the past, details the
      components of the ventricular partitioning device, describes the implanting
      technique, and reviews the most current experience of this device in humans.

PMID- 25834975
TI  - Stem cell therapy for heart failure.
AB  - "During the past decade, studies in animals and humans have suggested that cell
      therapy has positive effects for the treatment of heart failure. This clinical
      effect may be mediated by angiogenesis and reduction in fibrosis rather than by
      regeneration of myocytes. Increased microvasculature and decreased scar also
      likely lead to improved cardiac function in the failing heart. The effects of
      cell therapy are not limited to one type of cell or delivery technique. Well
      designed, large-scale, randomized clinical trials with objective end points will
      help to fully realize the therapeutic potential of cell-based therapy for
      treating heart failure." 

PMID- 25834976
TI  - Cardiac resynchronization therapy: past, present, and future.
AB  - Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), or biventricular pacing, has become a
      standard therapeutic modality for patients with symptomatic heart failure (HF),
      depressed left ventricular (LV) function, and electrical dyssynchrony. Despite
      the overall success of CRT in improving morbidity and mortality in selected
      patients with HF, a significant minority demonstrates nonresponse. This review
      describes the electrical and physiologic rationale for biventricular pacing
      therapy, summarizes landmark clinical trials assessing CRT efficacy, highlights
      strategies to optimize the response to CRT, and frames future challenges in the
      use, delivery, and care of patients undergoing CRT.

PMID- 25834977
TI  - Ablation of atrial arrhythmias in heart failure.
AB  - HF and AF are on the rise and often coexist. Pharmacologic rhythm control has not
      been shown to improve outcomes compared with pharmacologic rate control. It is
      possible that the benefits of maintaining SR are offset by the adverse effects of
      AADs. Catheter ablation of AF offers an opportunity to achieve SR without the
      downside of AADs. Several studies have shown that AF ablation improves prognostic
      markers, including ventricular function, exercise tolerance, and perceived
      quality of life in HF patients. Studies addressing the impact of this treatment
      strategy on cardiovascular outcomes and cost-effectiveness are ongoing.

PMID- 25834978
TI  - Ablation of ventricular arrhythmia in patients with heart failure.
AB  - Ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) in patients with cardiomyopathy and advanced
      symptom class heart failure (HF) are associated with significant morbidity and
      mortality. VAs are typically managed with antiarrhythmic drug therapy and
      implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICD). Although ICDs are highly effective in
      reducing sudden cardiac death by termination of VA, they do not prevent
      arrhythmia recurrences. Recurrent shocks are not only associated with poor
      quality of life but also progressive HF and increased mortality and morbidity.
      Radiofrequency catheter ablation has emerged as an important therapeutic option
      for patients with drug-refractory ventricular tachycardia to reduce or prevent
      ICD shocks. 

PMID- 25834979
TI  - Interventional and device-based autonomic modulation in heart failure.
AB  - "Heart failure is an increasingly prevalent disease with high mortality and
      public health burden. It is associated with autonomic imbalance characterized by
      sympathetic hyperactivity and parasympathetic hypoactivity. Evolving novel
      interventional and device-based therapies have sought to restore autonomic
      balance by neuromodulation. Results of preclinical animal studies and early
      clinical trials have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of these therapies in
      heart failure. This article discusses specific neuromodulatory treatment
      modalities individually-spinal cord stimulation, vagus nerve stimulation,
      baroreceptor activation therapy, and renal sympathetic nerve denervation." 

PMID- 25834980
TI  - The hi-tech age of heart failure management.

PMID- 25834981
TI  - Expanding the boundaries of heart failure care with interventional and device
      therapy.

PMID- 25834982
TI  - Laparoscopic management of recurrent ureteropelvic junction obstruction following
      pyeloplasty.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim was to analyze the operative, postoperative and functional
      outcome of laparoscopic management of previously failed pyeloplasty and to
      compare operative and postoperative outcome with laparoscopic pyeloplasty for
      primary ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO). MATERIALS AND METHODS: All
      patients who underwent laparoscopic management for previously failed dismembered
      pyeloplasty were analyzed in this study. Detailed clinical and imaging evaluation
      was performed. Transperitoneal approach was followed to repair the recurrent
      UPJO. Operative, postoperative, and follow-up functional details were recorded.
      Operative and postoperative outcomes of laparoscopic redo pyeloplasty were
      compared with that of laparoscopic primary pyeloplasty. RESULTS: A total of 16
      patients were managed with laparoscopic approach for previously failed
      pyeloplasty. Primary surgical approach for dismembered pyeloplasty was open in
      11, laparoscopy in four patients and robotic assisted in one patient. Fifteen
      were treated with redo pyeloplasty and one with ureterocalicostomy. Mean
      operative time was 191.25 +/- 24.99 min, mean duration of hospital stay was 3.2
      +/- 0.45 days and mean follow-up duration was 29.9 +/- 18.5 months with success
      rate of 93.3%. Operative time was significantly prolonged with redo pyeloplasty
      group compared with primary pyeloplasty group (191.25 +/- 24.99 vs. 145 +/-
      22.89, P = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic redo pyeloplasty is a viable option
      with a satisfactory outcome and less morbidity.

PMID- 25834983
TI  - Performance of the Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool for Asians in Screening
      Osteoporosis Among Middle-Aged and Old Women in the Chengdu Region of China:
      Commentary.

PMID- 25834984
TI  - Video game experience and its influence on visual attention parameters: an
      investigation using the framework of the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA).
AB  - Experts with video game experience, in contrast to non-experienced persons, are
      superior in multiple domains of visual attention. However, it is an open question
      which basic aspects of attention underlie this superiority. We approached this
      question using the framework of Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) with tools that
      allowed us to assess various parameters that are related to different visual
      attention aspects (e.g., perception threshold, processing speed, visual short
      term memory storage capacity, top-down control, spatial distribution of
      attention) and that are measurable on the same experimental basis. In Experiment
      1, we found advantages of video game experts in perception threshold and visual
      processing speed; the latter being restricted to the lower positions of the used
      computer display. The observed advantages were not significantly moderated by
      general person-related characteristics such as personality traits, sensation
      seeking, intelligence, social anxiety, or health status. Experiment 2 tested a
      potential causal link between the expert advantages and video game practice with
      an intervention protocol. It found no effects of action video gaming on
      perception threshold, visual short-term memory storage capacity, iconic memory
      storage, top-down control, and spatial distribution of attention after 15 days of
      training. However, observations of a selected improvement of processing speed at
      the lower positions of the computer screen after video game training and of
      retest effects are suggestive for limited possibilities to improve basic aspects
      of visual attention (TVA) with practice.

PMID- 25834985
TI  - Probing the interaction of anthraquinone with DNA by spectroscopy, molecular
      modeling and cancer cell imaging technique.
AB  - A new anthraquinone derivative, (E)-2-(1-(4,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)
      tetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-yloxyimino)ethyl)-1,4-dihydroxyanthracene-9,10-dione
      (AODGlc), was synthesized and its binding properties towards DNA were explored
      under physiological conditions by fluorescence spectroscopy, DNA melting as well
      as docking techniques. The experimental results revealed that AODGlc could bind
      to calf thymus DNA (ctDNA) through intercalation between DNA base pairs. The
      values of thermodynamic parameters at different temperatures including DeltaG,
      DeltaH, and DeltaS and the molecular modeling study implied that hydrophobic
      interactions and hydrogen bonds were the main interactions in the AODGlc-ctDNA
      system. Cervical cancer cells (HepG2 cells) were used in cell viability assay and
      cell imaging experiment. AODGlc could interact with HepG2 cells and kill HepG2
      cells under high concentration with nice curative effect, indicating its
      potential bioapplication in the future. 

PMID- 25834986
TI  - NMR study of the O-specific polysaccharide and the core oligosaccharide from the
      lipopolysaccharide produced by Plesiomonas shigelloides O24:H8 (strain CNCTC
      92/89).
AB  - The structures of the O-specific polysacccharide and core oligosaccharide of the
      lipopolysaccharide from Plesiomonas shigelloides O24:H8, strain CNCTC 92/89, have
      been investigated by NMR spectroscopy and ESI mass spectrometry. The O-specific
      polysaccharide was found to be composed of a tetrasaccharide repeating unit
      consisting of [->3)-alpha-FucpNAc-(1->3)-alpha-GalpNAcA-(1->3)-alpha-QuipNAc-(1
      >] and of alpha-RhapNAc (1->4) linked to the GalpNAcA residue. An identical
      structure has been reported for the capsular polysaccharide of the clinical
      isolate of Vibrio vulnificus strain BO62316 [1]. The core oligosaccharide was
      composed of a decasaccharide which structure is identical with these in P.
      shigelloides serotype O54 [2] and serotype O37 [3]. 

PMID- 25834987
TI  - Antileishmanial and cytotoxic compounds from Valeriana wallichii and
      identification of a novel nepetolactone derivative.
AB  - The chloroform extract of Valeriana wallichii (V. wallichii) rhizomes was
      investigated to elucidate the structures responsible for reported antileishmanial
      activity. Besides bornyl caffeate (1, already been reported by us previously),
      bioassay-guided fractionation resulted in two additional cinnamic acid
      derivatives 2-3 with moderate leishmanicidal activity. The structure of a novel
      nepetolactone derivative 4 having a cinnamic acid moiety was elucidated by means
      of spectral analysis. To the best of our knowledge villoside aglycone (5) was
      isolated from this plant for the first time. The bioassay-guided fractionation
      yielded two new (compounds 6-7) and two known valtrates (compounds 8-9) with
      leishmanicidal potential against Leishmania major (L. major) promastigotes. In
      addition, beta-bisabolol (10), alpha-kessyl alcohol (11), valeranone (12), bornyl
      isovalerate (13) and linarin-2-O-methylbutyrate (14) were identified. This is the
      first report on the isolation of 4'-demethylpodophyllotoxin (15), podophyllotoxin
      (16) and pinoresinol (17) in V. wallichii. In total thirteen known and four new
      compounds were identified from the extract and their cytotoxic and
      antileishmanial properties were evaluated. 

PMID- 25834988
TI  - Synthesis and QSAR study of novel 6-chloro-3-(2-Arylmethylene-1-methylhydrazino)
      1,4,2-benzodithiazine 1,1-dioxide derivatives with anticancer activity.
AB  - A series of new 6-chloro-3-(2-arylmethylene-1-methylhydrazino)-1,4,2
      benzodithiazine 1,1-dioxide derivatives were effectively synthesized from N
      methyl-N-(6-chloro-1,1-dioxo-1,4,2-benzodithiazin-3-yl)hydrazines. The
      intermediate compounds as well as the products, were evaluated for their
      cytotoxic effects toward three human cancer cell lines. All compounds shown
      moderate or weak cytotoxic effects against the tested cancer cell lines, but
      selective cytotoxic effects were observed. Compound 16 exhibited the most potent
      cytotoxic activity against the HeLa cell line, with an IC50 value of 10 uM, while
      14 was the most active against the MCF-7 and HCT-116 cell lines, affording IC50
      values of 15 uM and 16 uM, respectively. The structure-activity relationship was
      evaluated based on QSAR methodology. The QSAR MCF-7 model indicated that natural
      charge on carbon atom C13 and energy of highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)
      are highly involved in cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cell line. The cytotoxic
      activity of compounds against HCT-116 cell line is dependent on natural charge on
      carbon atom C13 and electrostatic charge on nitrogen atom N10. The obtained QSAR
      models could provide guidelines for further development of novel anticancer
      agents. 

PMID- 25834989
TI  - Fibulin1C peptide induces cell attachment and extracellular matrix deposition in
      lung fibroblasts.
AB  - Fibulin-1 is an extracellular matrix (ECM) protein, levels of which are elevated
      in serum and lung tissue from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
      compared to healthy volunteers. Inhibition of fibulin-1C, one of four fibulin-1
      isoforms, reduced proliferation and wound healing in human airway smooth muscle
      (ASM) cells. This study identified the bioactive region/s of fibulin-1C which
      promotes fibrosis. Seven fibulin-1C peptides were synthesized and used to pre
      coat tissue culture plates before lung derived ASM cells and fibroblasts from
      patients with pulmonary fibrosis (PF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
      (COPD) or neither disease (Control) were plated. Peptide effects on in vitro
      measures of fibrosis: cell attachment, proliferation and viability, and ECM
      deposition, were examined. Among these peptides, peptide 1C1 (FBLN1C1) enhanced
      ASM cell and fibroblast attachment. FBLN1C1 increased mitochondrial activity and
      proliferation in fibroblasts. In addition, FBLN1C1 stimulated fibulin1 deposition
      in PF and COPD fibroblasts, and augmented fibronectin and perlecan deposition in
      all three groups. Peptides FBLN1C2 to FBLN1C7 had no activity. The active fibulin
      1C peptide identified in this study describes a useful tool for future studies.
      Ongoing investigation of the role of fibulin-1 may reveal the mechanisms
      underlying the pathphysiology of chronic lung diseases. 

PMID- 25834990
TI  - IgG4-related disease mimicking chalazion in the upper eyelid with skin
      manifestations on the trunk.
AB  - IgG4-related disease is a recently defined inflammatory process characterized by
      IgG4-bearing plasma cells in the involved tissues. The most common sites of
      involvement are the pancreas, hepatobiliary tract, salivary glands, lymph nodes,
      retroperitoneum and orbit, especially the lacrimal glands. Other ocular or ocular
      adnexal sites are rare. To our knowledge, there is one reported case of a
      conjunctival involvement. We describe a patient, who had an IgG4-RD mimicking
      chalazion in the upper eyelid, confined to the tarsus, with multiple skin lesions
      on the trunk. This is a case report of a 55-year-old female. A 55-year-old female
      presented with an upper eyelid lesion, which was clinically diagnosed as
      chalazion and drained three times. Histopathological diagnoses were chalazion and
      inflammation with mixed cells, respectively. Additionally, the patient had had
      skin nodules on the trunk for several years. Finally, after a third recurrence,
      the tarsal eyelid lesion was completely excised. The tarsal pathology specimen
      showed 85 IgG4 positive plasma cells per HPF and the IgG4/IgG ratio was 0.64,
      suggesting a probable IgG4-related disease. The re-examined skin lesions
      resembled histologically the eyelid lesion. It is essential to be aware of IgG4
      related disease, including in recurrent chalazia. 

PMID- 25834991
TI  - Transoral robotic surgery alone for oropharyngeal cancer: quality-of-life
      outcomes.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Few studies have examined quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes in patients
      who undergo transoral robotic surgery (TORS) alone (ie, without adjuvant
      radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy). OBJECTIVE: To report QOL outcomes of patients
      with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma who receive only TORS. DESIGN,
      SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Medical records for all patients undergoing TORS for
      treatment of primary oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma from May 1, 2010, to
      March 31, 2014, at a tertiary care academic cancer center were examined from June
      through September 2014. Thirty-four patients who did not receive adjuvant therapy
      after TORS were included in the study. INTERVENTION: Primary surgical resection
      via TORS. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The University of Washington Quality of
      Life, version 4, questionnaire was completed by patients preoperatively and at 1
      , 6-, 12-, and 24-month intervals after TORS. Demographic, clinicopathologic, and
      follow-up data were collected. RESULTS: Mean follow-up time was 14 months (May 1,
      2010, to April 30, 2014). Most patients had T1 (20 [59%]) or T2 (13 [38%]) and N0
      (13 [38%]) or N1 (16 [47%]) disease. Statistically significant improvement in QOL
      outcomes was noted in the following postoperative domains: chewing from 1 month
      (median, 50 [IQR, 50-100]) to 12 months (100 [IQR, 100-100]; P = .048),
      swallowing from 1 month (70 [IQR, 30-85]) to 6 months (100 [IQR, 70-100]; P =
      .047) and 1 to 24 months (100 [IQR, 70-100]; P = .048), pain from 1 month (38
      [IQR, 25-75]) to 6 months (88 [IQR, 75-100]; P = .006) and 1 to 12 months after
      surgery (100 [IQR, 75-100]; P = .01), and activity from 1 month (63 [IQR, 50-88])
      to 24 months (100 [IQR, 75-100]; P = .03). Two participants (6%) died during the
      follow-up period: 1 because of disease and 1 because of a myocardial infarction.
      Two patients (6%) required temporary gastrostomy tube placement, but none
      required tracheostomy. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Appropriately selected patients
      who undergo TORS alone for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma experience
      acceptable short- and long-term QOL outcomes.

PMID- 25834992
TI  - The impact of regional economic reliance on the tobacco industry on current
      smoking in China.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to conduct a preliminary assessment of province of
      residence and other contextual factors on the likelihood of being a current
      smoker in China. A cross-sectional, multistage sampling process was used to
      recruit participants, and their smoking status and sociodemographic
      characteristics were obtained through face-to-face interviews. The contextual
      variables were retrieved from a national database. Multilevel logistic regression
      analysis was performed to assess the impact of provincial economic reliance on
      the tobacco industry, as well as individual-level characteristics, on the
      likelihood of being a current smoker. Participants totaled 20,601 from 27 cities
      located in 26 of the 31 municipalities/provinces in China. Overall smoking
      prevalence was 31.3% (95% CI: 19.3-33.2%), with rates being highest in Yinchuan
      City in Ningxia Province (49.8%) and lowest in Shanghai (21.6%). The multilevel
      analysis showed an excess likelihood of being a current smoker for individuals
      living in provinces with the highest rate of cigarette production relative to
      those with the smallest (p<0.001). Findings underscore the importance of
      restricting cigarette production and regulating the marketing of tobacco products
      in China. 

PMID- 25834993
TI  - Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy Use Among Melanoma Patients 75 Years of Age and Older.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: While SLN biopsy is recommended for melanoma >=1 mm in depth, its
      use among the elderly population is more controversial. We reviewed our
      experience at the University of Michigan with melanoma patients >=75 years of
      age. METHODS: A total of 952 melanoma patients >=75 years of age from 1996 to
      2011 were identified from our institutional review board-approved database. In
      addition to clinicopathologic features and outcome data, comorbidity data were
      collected to calculate the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI). Univariate and
      multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed to characterize predictors of
      outcome. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to generate survival curves. RESULTS:
      Among 553 clinically node-negative patients with melanoma >=1 mm in Breslow
      thickness, 213 had wide excision alone, whereas 340 had excision and SLN biopsy,
      with 83 (24 %) having a positive SLN. SLN biopsy was less likely with older age
      (p < 0.0001) and H&N location (p = 0.007), but not CCI. SLN involvement was
      associated with female gender [odds ratio (OR) 2.15, p = 0.009], Breslow
      thickness [OR 1.23/mm increase, p = 0.004], and satellitosis (OR 4.43, p =
      0.004). Distant disease-specific survival was negatively associated with male
      gender (OR 1.5, p = 0.007), increasing age (OR 1.05/year, p < 0.001), increasing
      Breslow thickness (OR 1.07/year, p = 0.013), ulceration (OR 1.51, p = 0.004), a
      positive SLN (OR 2.61, p < 0.001), and not having a SLN biopsy (OR 1.72, p <
      0.001). CCI did not predict worse disease-free or melanoma-specific survival.
      CONCLUSIONS: WLE and SLN biopsy was not only strongly prognostic, but compared
      with WLE alone was associated with improved outcome, even after factoring for age
      and comorbidities. If otherwise healthy, SLN biopsy should be strongly considered
      for this population.

PMID- 25834995
TI  - Consumption of sucrose from infancy increases the visceral fat accumulation,
      concentration of triglycerides, insulin and leptin, and generates abnormalities
      in the adrenal gland.
AB  - Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages promotes the development of metabolic
      syndrome (MetS) and type 2 diabetes mellitus in humans. One factor related to the
      appearance of MetS components is the dysfunction of the adrenal gland. In fact,
      the experimental generation of hyperglycemia has been associated with
      morphological and microvascular changes in the adrenal glands of rats. We
      hypothesized that high sucrose consumption from infancy promotes histological
      disruption of the adrenal glands associated with the appearance of metabolic
      syndrome indicators. Male Wistar rats were separated at weaning (21 days old)
      into two groups: free access to tap water (control group, C) or 30 % sucrose
      diluted in water (sugar-fed group). After 12 weeks, high sucrose consumption
      promoted an increase in visceral fat accumulation, adipose cell number, and
      insulin resistance. Also, a rise in the concentration of triglycerides, very low
      density lipoprotein, insulin and leptin was observed. In control rats, a
      histomorphometric asymmetry between the right and left adrenal glands was found.
      In the sugar-fed group, sucrose consumption produced a major change in adrenal
      gland asymmetry. No changes in corticosterone serum level were observed in either
      group. Our results suggest that a high sucrose liquid-diet from early life alters
      the morphology of adrenocortical zones, leading to MetS indicators. 

PMID- 25834996
TI  - Twist grain boundary (TGB) states of chiral liquid crystalline bent-core
      mesogens.
AB  - 4-Cyanoresorcinol derived bent-core molecules with a chiral (S)-2-methylbutoxy
      chain form liquid crystalline phases with TGBA- and TGBC-like structures at the
      transition from cybotactic nematic via SmA to SmC phases. 

PMID- 25834998
TI  - The Use of Wearable Microsensors to Quantify Sport-Specific Movements.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Microtechnology has allowed sport scientists to understand the
      locomotor demands of various sports. While wearable global positioning technology
      has been used to quantify the locomotor demands of sporting activities,
      microsensors (i.e. accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers) embedded within
      the units also have the capability to detect sport-specific movements. OBJECTIVE:
      The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which microsensors
      (also referred to as inertial measurement units and microelectromechanical
      sensors) have been utilised in quantifying sport-specific movements. METHODS: A
      systematic review of the use of microsensors and associated terms to evaluate
      sport-specific movements was conducted; permutations of the terms used included
      alternate names of the various technologies used, their applications and
      different applied environments. Studies for this review were published between
      2008 and 2014 and were identified through a systematic search of six electronic
      databases: Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and
      Web of Science. Articles were required to have used athlete-mounted sensors to
      detect sport-specific movements (e.g. rugby union tackle) rather than sensors
      mounted to equipment and monitoring generic movement patterns. RESULTS: A total
      of 2395 studies were initially retrieved from the six databases and 737 results
      were removed as they were duplicates, review articles or conference abstracts.
      After screening titles and abstracts of the remaining papers, the full text of 47
      papers was reviewed, resulting in the inclusion of 28 articles that met the set
      criteria around the application of microsensors for detecting sport-specific
      movements. Eight articles addressed the use of microsensors within individual
      sports, team sports provided seven results, water sports provided eight articles,
      and five articles addressed the use of microsensors in snow sports. All articles
      provided evidence of the ability of microsensors to detect sport-specific
      movements. Results demonstrated varying purposes for the use of microsensors,
      encompassing the detection of movement and movement frequency, the identification
      of movement errors and the assessment of forces during collisions. CONCLUSION:
      This systematic review has highlighted the use of microsensors to detect sport
      specific movements across a wide range of individual and team sports. The ability
      of microsensors to capture sport-specific movements emphasises the capability of
      this technology to provide further detail on athlete demands and performance.
      However, there was mixed evidence on the ability of microsensors to quantify some
      movements (e.g. tackling within rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules
      football). Given these contrasting results, further research is required to
      validate the ability of wearable microsensors containing accelerometers,
      gyroscopes and magnetometers to detect tackles in collision sports, as well as
      other contact events such as the ruck, maul and scrum in rugby union.

PMID- 25834997
TI  - Chronotropic Incompetence During Exercise in Type 2 Diabetes: Aetiology,
      Assessment Methodology, Prognostic Impact and Therapy.
AB  - During incremental exercise tests, chronotropic incompetence (CI), which is the
      inability of the heart rate (HR) to rise in proportion to an increase in
      metabolic demand, is often observed in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
      (T2DM). Despite the fact that CI is associated with exercise intolerance and
      elevated risks of development of cardiovascular disease and premature death, this
      clinical anomaly is often ignored or overlooked by clinicians and physiologists.
      CI is, however, a significant clinical abnormality that deserves further
      attention, examination and treatment. The aetiology of CI in T2DM remains poorly
      understood and is complex. Certain T2DM-related co-morbidities or physiological
      anomalies may contribute to development of CI, such as altered blood
      catecholamine and/or potassium levels during exercise, structural myocardial
      abnormalities, ventricular and/or arterial stiffness, impaired baroreflex
      sensitivity and cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy. Clinicians should thus be
      aware of the potential presence of yet undetected anomalies or diseases in T2DM
      patients who experience CI during exercise testing. However, an effective
      treatment for CI in T2DM is yet to be developed. Exercise training programmes
      seem to be the only potentially effective and feasible interventions for partial
      restoration of the chronotropic response in T2DM, but it remains poorly
      understood how these interventions lead to restoration of the chronotropic
      response. Studies are thus warranted to elucidate the aetiology of CI and develop
      an effective treatment for CI in T2DM. In particular, the impact of (different)
      exercise interventions on CI in T2DM deserves greater attention in future
      studies. 

PMID- 25834999
TI  - Morph-specific genetic and environmental variation in innate and acquired immune
      response in a color polymorphic raptor.
AB  - Genetic color polymorphism is widespread in nature. There is an increasing
      interest in understanding the adaptive value of heritable color variation and
      trade-off resolution by differently colored individuals. Melanin-based
      pigmentation is often associated with variation in many different life history
      traits. These associations have recently been suggested to be the outcome of
      pleiotropic effects of the melanocortin system. Although pharmacological research
      supports that MC1R, a gene with a major role in vertebrate pigmentation, has
      important immunomodulatory effects, evidence regarding pleiotropy at MC1R in
      natural populations is still under debate. We experimentally assessed whether
      MC1R-based pigmentation covaries with both inflammatory and humoral immune
      responses in the color polymorphic Eleonora's falcon. By means of a cross
      fostering experiment, we disentangled potential genetic effects from
      environmental effects on the covariation between coloration and immunity.
      Variation in both immune responses was primarily due to genetic factors via the
      nestlings' MC1R-related color genotype/phenotype, although environmental effects
      via the color morph of the foster father also had an influence. Overall, dark
      nestlings had lower immune responses than pale ones. The effect of the color
      morph of the foster father was also high, but in the opposite direction, and
      nestlings raised by dark eumelanic foster fathers had higher immune responses
      than those raised by pale foster fathers. Although we cannot completely discard
      alternative explanations, our results suggest that MC1R might influence immunity
      in this species. Morph-specific variation in immunity as well as pathogen
      pressure may therefore contribute to the long-term maintenance of genetic color
      polymorphism in natural populations. 

PMID- 25835001
TI  - cocor: a comprehensive solution for the statistical comparison of correlations.
AB  - A valid comparison of the magnitude of two correlations requires researchers to
      directly contrast the correlations using an appropriate statistical test. In many
      popular statistics packages, however, tests for the significance of the
      difference between correlations are missing. To close this gap, we introduce
      cocor, a free software package for the R programming language. The cocor package
      covers a broad range of tests including the comparisons of independent and
      dependent correlations with either overlapping or nonoverlapping variables. The
      package also includes an implementation of Zou's confidence interval for all of
      these comparisons. The platform independent cocor package enhances the R
      statistical computing environment and is available for scripting. Two different
      graphical user interfaces-a plugin for RKWard and a web interface-make cocor a
      convenient and user-friendly tool. 

PMID- 25835000
TI  - Lipid-induced epigenomic changes in human macrophages identify a coronary artery
      disease-associated variant that regulates PPAP2B Expression through Altered C/EBP
      beta binding.
AB  - Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified over 40 loci that affect
      risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and the causal mechanisms at the majority
      of loci are unknown. Recent studies have suggested that many causal GWAS variants
      influence disease through altered transcriptional regulation in disease-relevant
      cell types. We explored changes in transcriptional regulation during a key
      pathophysiological event in CAD, the environmental lipid-induced transformation
      of macrophages to lipid-laden foam cells. We used a combination of open chromatin
      mapping with formaldehyde-assisted isolation of regulatory elements (FAIRE-seq)
      and enhancer and transcription factor mapping using chromatin immuno
      precipitation (ChIP-seq) in primary human macrophages before and after exposure
      to atherogenic oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL), with resultant foam cell
      formation. OxLDL-induced foam cell formation was associated with changes in a
      subset of open chromatin and active enhancer sites that strongly correlated with
      expression changes of nearby genes. OxLDL-regulated enhancers were enriched for
      several transcription factors including C/EBP-beta, which has no previously
      documented role in foam cell formation. OxLDL exposure up-regulated C/EBP-beta
      expression and increased genomic binding events, most prominently around genes
      involved in inflammatory response pathways. Variants at CAD-associated loci were
      significantly and specifically enriched in the subset of chromatin sites altered
      by oxLDL exposure, including rs72664324 in an oxLDL-induced enhancer at the
      PPAP2B locus. OxLDL increased C/EBP beta binding to this site and C/EBP beta
      binding and enhancer activity were stronger with the protective A allele of
      rs72664324. In addition, expression of the PPAP2B protein product LPP3 was
      present in foam cells in human atherosclerotic plaques and oxLDL exposure up
      regulated LPP3 in macrophages resulting in increased degradation of pro
      inflammatory mediators. Our results demonstrate a genetic mechanism contributing
      to CAD risk at the PPAP2B locus and highlight the value of studying epigenetic
      changes in disease processes involving pathogenic environmental stimuli. 

PMID- 25835003
TI  - The impact of forest thinning on the reliability of water supply in central
      Arizona.
AB  - Economic growth in Central Arizona, as in other semiarid systems characterized by
      low and variable rainfall, has historically depended on the effectiveness of
      strategies to manage water supply risks. Traditionally, the management of supply
      risks includes three elements: hard infrastructures, landscape management within
      the watershed, and a supporting set of institutions of which water markets are
      frequently the most important. In this paper we model the interactions between
      these elements. A forest restoration initiative in Central Arizona (the Four
      Forest Restoration Initiative, or 4FRI) will result in thinning of ponderosa pine
      forests in the upper watershed, with potential implications for both
      sedimentation rates and water delivery to reservoirs. Specifically, we model the
      net effect of ponderosa pine forest thinning across the Salt and Verde River
      watersheds on the reliability and cost of water supply to the Phoenix
      metropolitan area. We conclude that the sediment impacts of forest thinning (up
      to 50% of canopy cover) are unlikely to compromise the reliability of the
      reservoir system while thinning has the potential to increase annual water supply
      by 8%. This represents an estimated net present value of surface water storage of
      $104 million, considering both water consumption and hydropower generation. 

PMID- 25835004
TI  - Thriving through transformation.

PMID- 25835002
TI  - Effects of verapamil SR and atenolol on 24-hour blood pressure and heart rate in
      hypertension patients with coronary artery disease: an international verapamil SR
      trandolapril ambulatory monitoring substudy.
AB  - Elevated nighttime blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR), increased BP and HR
      variability, and altered diurnal variations of BP and HR (nighttime dipping and
      morning surge) in patients with systemic hypertension are each associated with
      increased adverse cardiovascular events. However, there are no reports on the
      effect of hypertension treatment on these important hemodynamic parameters in the
      growing population of hypertensive patients with atherosclerotic coronary artery
      disease (CAD). This was a pre-specified subgroup analysis of the INternational
      VErapamil SR-Trandolapril STudy (INVEST), which involved 22,576 clinically stable
      patients aged >= 50 years with hypertension and CAD randomized to either
      verapamil SR- or atenolol-based hypertension treatment strategies. The subgroup
      consisted of 117 patients undergoing 24-hour ambulatory monitoring at baseline
      and after 1 year of treatment. Hourly systolic and diastolic BP (SBP and DBP)
      decreased after 1 year for both verapamil SR- and atenolol-based treatment
      strategies compared with baseline (P<0.0001). Atenolol also decreased hourly HR
      (P<0.0001). Both treatment strategies decreased SBP variability (weighted
      standard deviation: P = 0.012 and 0.021, respectively). Compared with verapamil
      SR, atenolol also increased the prevalence of BP and HR nighttime dipping among
      prior non-dippers (BP: OR = 3.37; 95% CI: 1.26-8.97 P = 0.015; HR: OR = 4.06; 95%
      CI: 1.35-12.17; P = 0.012) and blunted HR morning surge (+2.8 vs. +4.5
      beats/min/hr; P = 0.019). Both verapamil SR- and especially atenolol-based
      strategies resulted in favorable changes in ambulatory monitoring parameters that
      have been previously associated with increased adverse cardiovascular events.

PMID- 25835005
TI  - Getting buzzed on innovative leadership.

PMID- 25835006
TI  - Safety culture and care: a program to prevent surgical errors.
AB  - Surgical errors are under scrutiny in health care as part of ensuring a culture
      of safety in which patients receive quality care. Hospitals use safety measures
      to compare their performance against industry benchmarks. To understand patient
      safety issues, health care providers must have processes in place to analyze and
      evaluate the quality of the care they provide. At one facility, efforts made to
      improve its quality and safety led to the development of a robust safety program
      with resources devoted to enhancing the culture of safety in the Perioperative
      Services department. Improvement initiatives included changing processes for
      safety reporting and performance improvement plans, adding resources and nurse
      roles, and creating communication strategies around adverse safety events and how
      to improve care. One key outcome included a 54% increase in the percentage of
      personnel who indicated in a survey that they would speak up if they saw
      something negatively affecting patient care. 

PMID- 25835007
TI  - I can't read that! Improving perioperative literacy for ambulatory surgical
      patients.
AB  - Low literacy and low health literacy are surprisingly rampant problems facing
      health care providers. Patient educators in all settings should consider the need
      for improved patient education materials that are easy to read and understand for
      the majority of patients. In the ambulatory surgery setting, patients often have
      time to prepare for scheduled outpatient surgery, yet education is provided
      primarily in the postoperative period. This article highlights the need for
      incorporating education into all phases of the perioperative process, beginning
      in the preoperative period. Perioperative educators should address all learning
      styles that provide education in a simple and cost-effective way to appeal to all
      patients and help to reduce postoperative complications and increase patient
      satisfaction in the ambulatory surgery setting.

PMID- 25835008
TI  - The nature and hazards of diathermy plumes: a review.
AB  - Perioperative nurses in the OR may experience more extensive and sustained
      exposure to surgical plumes than other surgical personnel. Compared with laser
      plumes, less policy attention has been given to mitigating the risks associated
      with exposure to diathermy plumes. Diathermy can produce ultrafine particles and
      volatile chemical and biological substances, of which a number are teratogenic or
      carcinogenic. Evidence suggests diathermy plumes contain more biohazards than
      laser plumes, although protective smoke evacuation equipment is less likely to be
      used with diathermy. Although there is no direct evidence of harm to OR
      personnel, further research is required to conclusively establish actual risks
      and appropriate standards for safe exposure. Interventional strategies should
      address staff attitudes toward diathermy plume exposure and protective measures.
      This structured review of the literature describes the nature and risks
      associated with exposure to diathermy plumes and clarifies the implications for
      protective techniques and nursing practices. 

PMID- 25835009
TI  - Special needs population: Care of the geriatric patient population in the
      perioperative setting.
AB  - The geriatric population, defined as people 65 years of age and older, undergoing
      surgical procedures is a vulnerable population. Age, once considered a
      contraindication for a surgical procedure, is no longer a constraint for
      individuals requiring surgical intervention. However, older adult patients are at
      increased risk for developing a variety of complications. This article reviews
      age-related physiological changes and discusses the special needs of the
      geriatric population across the perioperative continuum of care.

PMID- 25835010
TI  - Stepping up teamwork via TeamSTEPPS.

PMID- 25835011
TI  - Crisis management of air embolism in the or.
AB  - An air embolism in the OR is a life-threatening emergency that demands prompt
      coordinated interventions by all perioperative team members. Specific
      applications of protocols and guidelines, such as the flowchart provided in this
      article, provide key components of traditional and effective responses to
      surgical crises. Successful management of an air embolism event requires critical
      skills of perioperative nurses who must consider both the risks for VAE or AAE
      and preventive actions, be aware of the resources available during an air
      embolism in the OR, and collaborate with their team members through precise and
      accurate communication.

PMID- 25835012
TI  - Safe instrument reprocessing: the perioperative role.

PMID- 25835014
TI  - DRESSed for failure.

PMID- 25835015
TI  - Regime shift by an exotic nitrogen-fixing shrub mediates plant facilitation in
      primary succession.
AB  - Ecosystem invasion by non-native, nitrogen-fixing species is a global phenomenon
      with serious ecological consequences. However, in the Mediterranean basin few
      studies addressed the impact of invasion by nitrogen-fixing shrubs on soil
      quality and hydrological properties at local scale, and the possible effects on
      succession dynamics and ecosystem invasibility by further species. In this
      multidisciplinary study we investigated the impact of Genista aetnensis (Biv.)
      DC., an exotic nitrogen-fixing shrub, on the Vesuvius Grand Cone (Southern
      Italy). Specifically, we tested the hypotheses that the invasion of G. aetnensis
      has a significant impact on soil quality, soil hydrological regime, local
      microclimate and plant community structure, and that its impact increases during
      the plant ontogenetic cycle. We showed that G. aetnensis, in a relatively short
      time-span (i.e. ~ 40 years), has been able to build-up an island of fertility
      under its canopy, by accumulating considerable stocks of C, N, and P in the soil,
      and by also improving the soil hydrological properties. Moreover, G. aetnensis
      mitigates the daily range of soil temperature, reducing the exposure of
      coexisting plants to extremely high temperatures and water loss by soil
      evaporation, particularly during the growing season. Such amelioration of soil
      quality, coupled with the mitigation of below-canopy microclimatic conditions,
      has enhanced plant colonization of the barren Grand Cone slopes, by both
      herbaceous and woody species. These results suggest that the invasion of G.
      aetnensis could eventually drive to the spread of other, more resource-demanding
      exotic species, promoting alternative successional trajectories that may
      dramatically affect the local landscape. Our study is the first record of the
      invasion of G. aetnensis, an additional example of the regime shifts driven by N
      fixing shrubs in Mediterranean region. Further studies are needed to identity
      specific management practices that can limit the spread and impacts of this
      species. 

PMID- 25835016
TI  - Correction: effects of the magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent Gd-DTPA on
      plant growth and root imaging in rice.

PMID- 25835017
TI  - Detoxification of 1,1,2-trichloroethane to ethene by desulfitobacterium and
      identification of its functional reductase gene.
AB  - 1,1,2-trichloroethane (1,1,2-TCA) has become a common groundwater pollutant due
      to historically extensive utilization, improper disposal, as well as from
      incomplete dechlorination of 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane. Currently, limited
      information is available on microbial detoxification of 1,1,2-TCA.
      Desulfitobacterium sp. strain PR, which was isolated from an anaerobic bioreactor
      maintained to dechlorinate chloroethenes/ethanes, exhibited the capacity to
      dechlorinate 1,1,1-trichloroethane and chloroform. In this study, the
      dechlorinating ability of strain PR was further explored. Strain PR showed the
      capability to dechlorinate 1,1,2-TCA (~1.12 mM) predominantly to 1,2
      dichloroethane (1,2-DCA) and chloroethane, and to trace amounts of vinyl chloride
      and ethene within 20 days. Strain PR coupled growth with dechlorination of 1,1,2
      TCA to 1,2-DCA, while no cell growth was observed with dechlorination of 1,2-DCA
      to chloroethane. Later, through transcriptomic and enzymatic analysis, the
      reductive dehalogenase CtrA, which was previously reported to be responsible for
      1,1,1-trichloroethane and chloroform dechlorination, was identified as the 1,1,2
      TCA reductive dehalogenase. Since trichloroethene (TCE) is usually co
      contaminated with 1,1,2-TCA, a co-culture containing Dehalococcoides mccartyi
      strain 11a capable of detoxifying TCE and 1,2-DCA and strain PR was established.
      Interestingly, this co-culture dechlorinated 1,1,2-TCA and TCE to the non-toxic
      end-product ethene within 48 days without chloroethane production. This novel
      pathway avoids production of the carcinogenic intermediate dechlorination product
      vinyl chloride, providing a more environmentally friendly strategy to treat 1,1,2
      TCA. 

PMID- 25835018
TI  - Incidence of carbapenem-resistant gram negatives in Italian transplant
      recipients: a nationwide surveillance study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bacterial infections remain a challenge to solid organ
      transplantation. Due to the alarming spread of carbapenem-resistant gram negative
      bacteria, these organisms have been frequently recognized as cause of severe
      infections in solid organ transplant recipients. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Between 15
      May and 30 September 2012 we enrolled 887 solid organ transplant recipients in
      Italy with the aim to describe the epidemiology of gram negative bacteria
      spreading, to explore potential risk factors and to assess the effect of early
      isolation of gram negative bacteria on recipients' mortality during the first 90
      days after transplantation. During the study period 185 clinical isolates of gram
      negative bacteria were reported, for an incidence of 2.39 per 1000 recipient
      days. Positive cultures for gram negative bacteria occurred early after
      transplantation (median time 26 days; incidence rate 4.33, 1.67 and 1.14 per
      1,000 recipient-days in the first, second and third month after SOT,
      respectively). Forty-nine of these clinical isolates were due to carbapenem
      resistant gram negative bacteria (26.5%; incidence 0.63 per 1000 recipient-days).
      Carbapenems resistance was particularly frequent among Klebsiella spp. isolates
      (49.1%). Recipients with longer hospital stay and those who received either heart
      or lung graft were at the highest risk of testing positive for any gram negative
      bacteria. Moreover recipients with longer hospital stay, lung recipients and
      those admitted to hospital for more than 48h before transplantation had the
      highest probability to have culture(s) positive for carbapenem-resistant gram
      negative bacteria. Forty-four organ recipients died (0.57 per 1000 recipient
      days) during the study period. Recipients with at least one positive culture for
      carbapenem-resistant gram negative bacteria had a 10.23-fold higher mortality
      rate than those who did not. CONCLUSION: The isolation of gram-negative bacteria
      is most frequent among recipient with hospital stays >48 hours prior to
      transplant and in those receiving either heart or lung transplants. Carbapenem
      resistant gram negative isolates are associated with significant mortality.

PMID- 25835020
TI  - Pegylated-interferon alpha therapy for treatment-experienced chronic hepatitis B
      patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies are limited on pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) therapy for
      chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients who failed or relapsed on previous antiviral
      therapy. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the effect of Peg-IFN therapy in
      treatment-experienced CHB patients. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 57 treatment
      experienced CHB patients at two medical centers were enrolled. All of the
      patients were treated with Peg-IFN alpha-2a at 180 MUg weekly for 24 or 48 weeks.
      The hepatitis B serological markers and viral loads were tested every 3 months
      until 1 year after stopping Peg-IFN therapy. The endpoints were HBV DNA
      <2000IU/mL, hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion, and a hepatitis B
      surface antigen (HBsAg) loss at 12 months post-treatment. RESULTS: In HBeAg
      positive patients, 25.0%, 29.2%, and 12.5% of the patients achieved HBeAg
      seroconversion, HBV DNA <2000 IU/mL and a combined response, respectively, at 12
      months post-treatment. Prior IFN therapy, a high baseline ALT level, a low
      creatinine level, undetectable HBV DNA at 12 weeks and a decline in HBV DNA >2
      log10 IU/mL at 12 weeks of therapy were factors associated with treatment
      response. In HBeAg-negative patients, 9.1%, 15.2%, and 6.1% of the patients
      achieved undetectable HBV DNA, HBV DNA <2000 IU/mL, and an HBsAg loss,
      respectively, at 12 months post-treatment. No factor was significantly associated
      with the treatment response in the HBeAg-negative patients. The median HBsAg
      level declined from 3.4 to 2.6 log10 IU/mL in all the patients, and the 5-year
      cumulative rate of the HBsAg loss was 9.8% in the HBeAg-negative patients.
      Overall, none of the patients prematurely discontinued the Peg-IFN therapy.
      CONCLUSIONS: Peg-IFN re-treatment is effective for a proportion of HBeAg-positive
      treatment-experienced patients; it has limited efficacy for HBeAg-negative
      treatment-experienced patients. Peg-IFN might facilitate HBsAg loss in HBeAg
      negative treatment-experienced patients.

PMID- 25835021
TI  - The Standardization Approach in End-of-Life Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining
      Treatment: Sacrificing Patient's Safety and the Quality of Care.

PMID- 25835022
TI  - Milk bioactives may manipulate microbes to mediate parent-offspring conflict.
AB  - Among mammals, milk constituents directly influence the ecology of the infant's
      commensal microbiota. The immunological and nutritional impacts of breast milk
      and microbiota are increasingly well understood; less clear are the consequences
      for infant behavior. Here, we propose that interactions among bioactives in
      mother's milk and microbes in the infant gut contribute to infant behavioral
      phenotype and, in part, have the potential to mediate parent-offspring conflict.
      We hypothesize that infant behavior likely varies as a function of their mother's
      milk composition interacting with the infant's neurobiology directly and
      indirectly through the commensal gut bacteria. In this article, we will explore
      our hypothesis of a milk-microbiota-brain-behavior dynamic in the context of the
      coevolution between human milk oligosaccharides, bacteria, the gut-brain axis and
      behavior. Integrating established features of these systems allows us to generate
      novel hypotheses to motivate future research and consider potential implications
      of current and emerging clinical treatments. 

PMID- 25835023
TI  - Should Age Limit the Use of Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis: Results of National
      Survey.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether advanced age should be a contraindication to
      catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) based on hemorrhagic complication rate.
      METHODS: A survey was generated via Survey Monkey and sent out to vascular
      surgeons who were members of the society of vascular surgery (SVS). RESULTS: Of
      the responders, 32.7% state they do not have an age limit for tissue plasminogen
      activator (TPA) infusion, and the remaining 29.2% of the responders use 80 years
      of age as their limitation. When asked why place limits on age for TPA infusion,
      56.6% stated concern for intracranial hemorrhage. Major complications were access
      site hemorrhage (58.4%) and intracranial hemorrhage (41.6%). Chi-square analysis
      did not show age as a limiting factor to thrombolysis. Furthermore, when asked in
      which age-group complications occurred most commonly, 72.4% were less than 80.
      CONCLUSION: Among vascular specialist, there seems to be no consensus on age
      limitations for TPA infusion. Serious complications do not seem to be age related
      and thus age alone should not be a contraindication for catheter-directed
      thrombolysis.

PMID- 25835024
TI  - Block of postjunctional muscle-type acetylcholine receptors in vivo causes train
      of-four fade in mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Train-of-four (TOF) fade during nerve-mediated muscle contraction is
      postulated to be attributable to inhibition of prejunctional nicotinic
      alpha3beta2 acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), while decrease of twitch tension is
      attributable to block of postjunctional muscle nAChRs. The validity of these
      presumptions was tested using specific prejunctional and postjunctional nAChR
      antagonists, testing the hypothesis that fade is not always a prejunctional
      phenomenon. METHODS: Pentobarbital anaesthetized mice had TOF fade measured after
      administration of: either 0.9% saline; the prejunctional alpha3beta2 nAChR
      antagonist, dihydro-beta-erythroidine (DHbetaE); the postjunctional nAChR
      antagonists, alpha-bungarotoxin (alpha-BTX) or alpha-conotoxin GI; and a
      combination of alpha-BTX and DHbetaE; or a combination of alpha-conotoxin GI and
      DHbetaE. RESULTS: Saline caused no neuromuscular changes. Administration of
      muscle nAChR antagonists, alpha-BTX or alpha-conotoxin GI caused significant
      decrease of twitch tension and TOF fade compared with baseline (P<0.01). DHbetaE
      alone caused no change of twitch tension or fade even after 90 min, but its
      coadministration with alpha-BTX or alpha-conotoxin GI significantly accelerated
      the onset of paralysis and degree of fade compared with alpha-BTX or alpha
      conotoxin GI alone (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Occupation of postjunctional nAChRs
      alone by alpha-BTX or alpha-conotoxin GI causes fade. As the prejunctional
      effects of DHbetaE on fade became manifest only when co-administered with alpha
      BTX or alpha-conotoxin GI, specific inhibition of prejunctional nAChR alone is
      not necessary and sufficient to cause fade. Fade observed during repetitive nerve
      stimulation can be because of block of either postjunctional nAChRs alone, or
      block of prejunctional and postjunctional nAChRs together.

PMID- 25835025
TI  - Intrajugular balloon catheter reduces air embolism in vitro and in vivo.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neurosurgical procedures requiring a sitting position may put the
      patient at risk of a potentially life-threatening air embolism. Transient manual
      jugular venous compression limits further air entry in this situation. This study
      presents an alternative technique aimed at reducing the risk of air embolism.
      METHODS: In an in vitro model, an intrajugular balloon catheter was inserted to
      demonstrate that this device prevents air embolism. In an in vivo study, this
      device was bilaterally placed into jugular vessels in pigs. Using an ultrasound
      technique, blood flow was monitored and jugular venous pressure was recorded
      before and during cuff inflation. Air was applied proximally to the inflated
      cuffs to test the hypothesis that this novel device blocks air passage. RESULTS:
      In vitro, the intrajugular balloon catheter reliably prevented further air entry
      (n=10). Additionally, accumulated air could be aspirated from an orifice of the
      catheter (n=10). In vivo, inflation of the catheter balloon completely obstructed
      venous blood flow (n=8). Bilateral inflation of the cuff significantly increased
      the proximal jugular venous pressure from 9.8 (2.4) mm Hg to 14.5 (2.5) mm Hg
      (n=8, P<0.05). Under conditions mimicking an air embolism, air passage across the
      inflated cuffs was prevented and 78 (20%) (n=6) of the air dose could be
      aspirated by the proximal orifice of the catheter. CONCLUSIONS: These findings
      may serve as a starting point for the development of intrajugular balloon
      catheters designed to reduce the risk of air embolism in patients undergoing
      neurosurgery in a sitting position.

PMID- 25835026
TI  - Marinobacter nitratireducens sp. nov., a halophilic and lipolytic bacterium
      isolated from coastal surface sea water.
AB  - A novel Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, motile bacterium, designated strain
      AK21(T), was isolated from coastal surface sea water at Visakhapatnam, India. The
      strain was positive for oxidase, catalase, lipase, L-proline arylamidase and
      tyrosine arylamidase activities. The predominant fatty acids were C12:0, C12:0 3
      OH, C16:0, C16:1omega9c, C18:1omega9c and summed feature 3 (C16:1omega7c and/or
      iso-C15:0 2-OH). The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol,
      phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified
      aminophospholipid, two unidentified phospholipids and one unidentified lipid. Q
      10 was the predominant respiratory quinone. The DNA G+C content of the strain was
      54.6 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain AK21(T) was a
      member of the genus Marinobacter and was closely related to Marinobacter
      xestospongiae, with pairwise sequence similarity of 97.2% to the type strain,
      with similarity to other members of the genus of 94.0-96.8%. The mean DNA-DNA
      relatedness of strain AK21(T) with M. xestospongiae JCM 17469(T) was 34.5%, and
      relatedness with Marinobacter mobilis JCM 15154(T) was 40.5%. Phylogenetic
      analysis showed that strain AK21(T) clustered with the type strains of M.
      xestospongiae and M. mobilis at distances of 2.9 and 2.8% (97.1 and 97.2%
      similarity), respectively. Based on the phenotypic characteristics and on
      phylogenetic inference, it appears that strain AK21(T) represents a novel species
      of the genus Marinobacter, for which the name Marinobacter nitratireducens sp.
      nov. is proposed. The type strain of Marinobacter nitratireducens is AK21(T) ( =
      MTCC 11704(T ) = JCM 18428(T)).

PMID- 25835027
TI  - Phylogenomic analysis shows that Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. plantarum is a
      later heterotypic synonym of Bacillus methylotrophicus.
AB  - The rhizosphere-isolated bacteria belonging to the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
      subsp. plantarum and Bacillus methylotrophicus clades are an important group of
      strains that are used as plant growth promoters and antagonists of plant
      pathogens. These properties have made these strains the focus of commercial
      interest. Here, we present the draft genome sequence of B. methylotrophicus KACC
      13105(T) ( = CBMB205(T)). Comparative genomic analysis showed only minor
      differences between this strain and the genome of the B. amyloliquefaciens subsp.
      plantarum type strain, with the genomes sharing approximately 95% of the same
      genes. The results of morphological, physiological, chemotaxonomic and
      phylogenetic analyses indicate that the type strains of these two taxa are highly
      similar. In fact, our results show that the type strain of B. amyloliquefaciens
      subsp. plantarum FZB42(T) ( = DSM 23117(T) = BGSC 10A6(T)) does not cluster with
      other members of the B. amyloliquefaciens taxon. Instead, it clusters well within
      a clade of strains that are assigned to B. methylotrophicus, including the type
      strain of that species. Therefore, we propose that the subspecies B.
      amyloliquefaciens subsp. plantarum should be reclassified as a later heterotypic
      synonym of B. methylotrophicus.

PMID- 25835028
TI  - Differentiating Milk and Non-milk Proteins by UPLC Amino Acid Fingerprints
      Combined with Chemometric Data Analysis Techniques.
AB  - Amino acid fingerprinting combined with chemometric data analysis was used to
      differentiate milk and non-milk proteins in this study. Microwave-assisted
      hydrolysis and ultraperformance liquid chromatography (UPLC) were used to obtain
      the amino acid fingerprints. Both univariate and multivariate chemometrics
      methods were applied for differentiation. The confidence boundary of amino acid
      concentration, principal component analysis (PCA), and partial least-squares
      discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) of the amino acid fingerprints demonstrated that
      there were significant differences between milk proteins and inexpensive non-milk
      protein powders from other biological sources including whey, peanut, corn, soy,
      fish, egg yolk, beef extract, collagen, and cattle bone. The results indicate
      that the amino acid compositions with the chemometric techniques could be applied
      for the detection of potential protein adulterants in milk. 

PMID- 25835029
TI  - Hot carrier relaxation of Dirac fermions in bilayer epitaxial graphene.
AB  - Energy relaxation of hot Dirac fermions in bilayer epitaxial graphene is
      experimentally investigated by magnetotransport measurements on Shubnikov-de Haas
      oscillations and weak localization. The hot-electron energy loss rate is found to
      follow the predicted Bloch-Gruneisen power-law behaviour of T(4) at carrier
      temperatures from 1.4 K up to ~100 K, due to electron-acoustic phonon
      interactions with a deformation potential coupling constant of 22 eV. A carrier
      density dependence n(e)(-1.5) in the scaling of the T(4) power law is observed in
      bilayer graphene, in contrast to the n(e)(-0.5) dependence in monolayer graphene,
      leading to a crossover in the energy loss rate as a function of carrier density
      between these two systems. The electron-phonon relaxation time in bilayer
      graphene is also shown to be strongly carrier density dependent, while it remains
      constant for a wide range of carrier densities in monolayer graphene. Our results
      and comparisons between the bilayer and monolayer exhibit a more comprehensive
      picture of hot carrier dynamics in graphene systems.

PMID- 25835030
TI  - Hydrogen adsorption study. Formation of quantum dots on graphene nanoribbons
      within tight-binding approach.
AB  - Based on the tight-binding model, we investigate the formation process of quantum
      dots onto graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) by the sequential adsorption of hydrogen
      atoms onto the ribbon's surface. We define the difference between hydrogenation
      processes onto the surface of zigzag (ZGNR) and armchair graphene nanoribbons
      (AGNR) by calculating the binding energies with respect to the energy of isolated
      hydrogen atoms for all considered structures. 

PMID- 25835031
TI  - Growth Behavior, Geometrical Shape, and Second CMC of Micelles Formed by Cationic
      Gemini Esterquat Surfactants.
AB  - Micelles formed by novel gemini esterquat surfactants have been investigated with
      small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The growth behavior of the micelles is
      found to differ conspicuously depending on the length of the gemini surfactant
      spacer group. The gemini surfactant with a long spacer form rather small triaxial
      ellipsoidal tablet-shaped micelles that grow weakly with surfactant concentration
      in the entire range of measured concentrations. Geminis with a short spacer, on
      the other hand, form weakly growing oblates or tablets at low concentrations that
      start to grow much more strongly into polydisperse rodlike or wormlike micelles
      at higher concentrations. The latter behavior is consistent with the presence of
      a second CMC that marks the transition from the weakly to the strongly growing
      regime. It is found that the growth behavior in terms of aggregation number as a
      function of surfactant concentration always appear concave in weakly growing
      regimes, while switching to convex behavior in strongly growing regimes. As a
      result, we are able to determine the second CMC of the geminis with short spacer
      by means of suggesting a rather precise definition of it, located at the point of
      inflection of the growth curve that corresponds to the transition from concave to
      convex growth behavior. Our SANS results are rationalized by comparison with the
      recently developed general micelle model. In particular, this theory is able to
      explain and reproduce the characteristic appearances of the experimental growth
      curves, including the presence of a second CMC and the convex strongly growing
      regime beyond. By means of optimizing the agreement between predictions from the
      general micelle model and results from SANS experiments, we are able to determine
      the three bending elasticity constants spontaneous curvature, bending rigidity,
      and saddle-splay constant for each surfactant. 

PMID- 25835032
TI  - Realization of Cu-Doped p-Type ZnO Thin Films by Molecular Beam Epitaxy.
AB  - Cu-doped p-type ZnO films are grown on c-sapphire substrates by plasma-assisted
      molecular beam epitaxy. Photoluminescence (PL) experiments reveal a shallow
      acceptor state at 0.15 eV above the valence band edge. Hall effect results
      indicate that a growth condition window is found for the formation of p-type ZnO
      thin films, and the best conductivity is achieved with a high hole concentration
      of 1.54 * 10(18) cm(-3), a low resistivity of 0.6 Omega cm, and a moderate
      mobility of 6.65 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) at room temperature. Metal oxide semiconductor
      capacitor devices have been fabricated on the Cu-doped ZnO films, and the
      characteristics of capacitance-voltage measurements demonstrate that the Cu-doped
      ZnO thin films under proper growth conditions are p-type. Seebeck measurements on
      these Cu-doped ZnO samples lead to positive Seebeck coefficients and further
      confirm the p-type conductivity. Other measurements such as X-ray diffraction, X
      ray photoelectron, Raman, and absorption spectroscopies are also performed to
      elucidate the structural and optical characteristics of the Cu-doped p-type ZnO
      films. The p-type conductivity is explained to originate from Cu substitution of
      Zn with a valency of +1 state. However, all p-type samples are converted to n
      type over time, which is mostly due to the carrier compensation from extrinsic
      defects of ZnO.

PMID- 25835033
TI  - Direct night-time ejection of particle-phase reduced biogenic sulfur compounds
      from the ocean to the atmosphere.
AB  - The influence of oceanic biological activity on sea spray aerosol composition,
      clouds, and climate remains poorly understood. The emission of organic material
      and gaseous dimethyl sulfide (DMS) from the ocean represents well-documented
      biogenic processes that influence particle chemistry in marine environments.
      However, the direct emission of particle-phase biogenic sulfur from the ocean
      remains largely unexplored. Here we present measurements of ocean-derived
      particles containing reduced sulfur, detected as elemental sulfur ions (e.g.,
      (32)S(+), (64)S2(+)), in seven different marine environments using real-time,
      single particle mass spectrometry; these particles have not been detected outside
      of the marine environment. These reduced sulfur compounds were associated with
      primary marine particle types and wind speeds typically between 5 and 10 m/s
      suggesting that these particles themselves are a primary emission. In studies
      with measurements of seawater properties, chlorophyll-a and atmospheric DMS
      concentrations were typically elevated in these same locations suggesting a
      biogenic source for these sulfur-containing particles. Interestingly, these
      sulfur-containing particles only appeared at night, likely due to rapid
      photochemical destruction during the daytime, and comprised up to ~67% of the
      aerosol number fraction, particularly in the supermicrometer size range. These
      sulfur-containing particles were detected along the California coast, across the
      Pacific Ocean, and in the southern Indian Ocean suggesting that these particles
      represent a globally significant biogenic contribution to the marine aerosol
      burden. 

PMID- 25835034
TI  - Fibroepithelial vaginal polyp in a newborn.
AB  - A fibroepithelial polyp of the vagina (FEPV) is a mucosal polypoid lesion with a
      connective tissue core covered by a benign squamous epithelium. A vaginal polyp
      must be considered in the evaluation of interlabial masses in prepubertal girls.
      This article describes a newborn girl with an interlabial mass that the
      histological analysis revealed to be an FEPV. Surgical excision of the mass was
      performed, and the patient has not experienced recurrence after 1-year of follow
      up. A review of the literature revealed that our case was the third reported case
      of a fibroepithelial polyp in a neonate. 

PMID- 25835035
TI  - Role of steroidal anti-inflammatory agent prior to intracorporeal lithotripsy
      under local anesthesia for ureterovesical junction calculus: A prospective
      randomized controlled study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of the following study is to assess the effect of
      steroidal anti-inflammatory agent on the outcome of ureterorenoscopic lithotripsy
      (URSL) for ureterovesical junction (UVJ) calculus. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was
      a prospective randomized controlled study conducted at the Department of Urology,
      Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One hundred
      and twenty-six patients requiring ureteroscopic lithotripsy for UVJ calculus were
      randomly assigned into two groups. The study group received tablet deflazacort 30
      mg once a day for 10 days prior to the procedure, whereas the control group did
      not receive such treatment. Parameters with respect to the outcome of the
      procedure were recorded for all patients in both groups. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
      USED: Fisher's exact and independent t-test was used to compare the outcome
      between the groups where P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
      RESULTS: There was significant statistical difference (P - 0.016) on the
      endoscopic appearance of the region of ureteric orifice in patients receiving
      steroidal anti-inflammatory agent compared with control. Severe procedure related
      pain and mean operative time was less in the study group compared to control (P -
      0.020 and 0.031, respectively). Re-treatment rates in the study group were lower
      than the control group (4.76% vs. 17.46%) and found to be statistically
      significant (P - 0.044). It is found that computed tomography (CT) appearance (r 
      0.399) and stone size (r - 0.410) strongly correlate with the endoscopic
      findings of the region of UVJ (P - 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Inflamed and or
      obliterated ureteric orifice is the major constraints for stone clearance at
      ureterovesical junction. The present study showed the administration of tablet
      deflazacort (a steroidal anti-inflammatory agent) significantly improves the
      outcome of URSL under local anesthesia. We strongly recommend its use prior to
      URSL for UVJ calculus, especially for stone size >=10.24 mm and on CT evidence of
      prominent soft tissue swelling at the UVJ.

PMID- 25835036
TI  - Ventricular tachycardia on chronic fingolimod treatment for multiple sclerosis.

PMID- 25835037
TI  - Psychosis associated with expansions in the C9orf72 gene: the influence of a 10
      base pair gene deletion.

PMID- 25835039
TI  - Mitochondrial transfer RNA variants and primary congenital glaucoma.
AB  - Variants in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are the most important causes for vision
      loss, the mt-tRNA variants being the largest group among them. In this study, we
      report the molecular characterization of 15 mt-tRNA variants with primary
      congenital glaucoma (PCG). Based on phylogenetic approach, we found that only
      half of them were definitely pathogenic with PCG, other mutations were single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in human population. Thus, our study provided
      novel insight into the pathogenesis of PCG.

PMID- 25835038
TI  - Candidate-gene analysis of white matter hyperintensities on neuroimaging.
AB  - BACKGROUND: White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are a common radiographic finding
      and may be a useful endophenotype for small vessel diseases. Given high
      heritability of WMH, we hypothesised that certain genotypes may predispose
      individuals to these lesions and consequently, to an increased risk of stroke,
      dementia and death. We performed a meta-analysis of studies investigating
      candidate genes and WMH to elucidate the genetic susceptibility to WMH and tested
      associated variants in a new independent WMH cohort. We assessed a causal
      relationship of WMH to methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR). METHODS:
      Database searches through March 2014 were undertaken and studies investigating
      candidate genes in WMH were assessed. Associated variants were tested in a new
      independent ischaemic cohort of 1202 WMH patients. Mendelian randomization was
      undertaken to assess a causal relationship between WMH and MTHFR. RESULTS: We
      identified 43 case-control studies interrogating eight polymorphisms in seven
      genes covering 6,314 WMH cases and 15,461 controls. Fixed-effects meta-analysis
      found that the C-allele containing genotypes of the aldosterone synthase CYP11B2
      T(-344)C gene polymorphism were associated with a decreased risk of WMH (OR=0.61;
      95% CI, 0.44 to 0.84; p=0.003). Using mendelian randomisation the association
      among MTHFR C677T, homocysteine levels and WMH, approached, but did not reach,
      significance (expected OR=1.75; 95% CI, 0.90-3.41; observed OR=1.68; 95% CI, 0.97
      2.94). Neither CYP11B2 T(-344)C nor MTHFR C677T were significantly associated
      when tested in a new independent cohort of 1202 patients with WMH. CONCLUSIONS:
      There is a genetic basis to WMH but anonymous genome wide and exome studies are
      more likely to provide novel loci of interest.

PMID- 25835040
TI  - Extent and divergence of heteroplasmy of the DNA barcoding region in Anapodisma
      miramae (Orthoptera: Acrididae).
AB  - A partial sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene
      is widely used as a molecular marker for species identification in animals, also
      termed a DNA barcode. However, the presence of more than one sequence type in a
      single individual, also known as heteroplasmy, is one of the shortcomings of
      barcode identification. In this study, we examined the extent and divergence of
      COI heteroplasmy, including nuclear-encoded mitochondrial pseudogenes (NUMTs), at
      the genomic-DNA level from 13 insect species including orthopteran Anapodisma
      miramae, and a long fragment of mitochondrial DNA and cDNA from A. miramae as
      templates. When multiple numbers of clones originated from genomic DNA were
      sequenced, heteroplasmy was prevalent in all species and NUMTs were observed in
      five species. Long fragment DNA (~13.5 kb) also is a source of heteroplasmic
      amplification, but the divergent haplotypes and NUMTs obtained from genomic DNA
      were not detected in A. miramae. On the other hand, cDNA was relatively
      heteroplasmy-free. Consistently, one dominant haplotype was always obtained from
      the genomic DNA-origin clones in all species and also from the long fragment- and
      cDNA-origin clones in the two tested individuals of A. miramae. Furthermore, the
      dominant haplotype was identical in sequence, regardless of the DNA source in A.
      miramae. Thus, one possible solution to avoid the barcoding problem in
      relationship to heteroplasmy could be the acquisition of multiple numbers of
      barcoding sequences to determine a dominant haplotype that can be assigned as
      barcoding sequence for a given species.

PMID- 25835041
TI  - A new method for fast chitin extraction from shells of crab, crayfish and shrimp.
AB  - A new method for quick chitin isolation from the shells of crab, crayfish and
      shrimp is described. The main difference between the new method and the
      conventional method is two sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) treatments for 10 min each
      before the processes of demineralisation and deproteinisation. After the NaClO
      treatment, only 15 min is adequate for the demineralisation and 20 min for the
      deproteinisation processes. Newly extracted chitin from crab, crayfish and shrimp
      shells and commercial chitin were characterised using FT-IR, TGA, X-ray
      diffractometry and elemental analysis. From the results, it was observed that the
      chitins isolated with the new method and the commercial chitin had almost the
      same physicochemical properties. The advantage of the new method compared to
      traditional methods is the relatively rapid chitin extraction. When compared to
      the traditional chitin extraction method, the proposed method appears to be
      promising regarding its time and energy saving nature.

PMID- 25835042
TI  - Novel natural food colourant G8000 benefits LDL- and HDL-cholesterol in humans.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate the phenolic composition of a natural
      food colourant (G8000TM) as well as its effects on plasma markers after 28-day
      consumption by healthy individuals at a dietary dose (70 g). Parameters of total
      cholesterol and its fractions, triglycerides and plasma enzymes biomarkers of
      muscle injury were measured. Major compounds identified in G8000TM by ESI-MS
      showed the presence of anthocyanins, organic acids, phenolic acids as well as
      monosaccharides. HDL levels significantly increased from 43 +/- 10.2 mg/dL to 95
      +/- 16.9 mg/dL. LDL levels significantly decreased from 110 +/- 40.9 mg/dL to 69
      +/- 39 mg/dL (p < 0.001). No significant statistical differences (p > 0.05) were
      observed for total cholesterol, triglycerides and VLDL. After the intake, plasma
      enzyme CK-MB decreased from 20 +/- 12.1 U/L to 10 +/- 1.9 U/L while LDH levels
      increased from 275 +/- 124.4 U/L to 317 +/- 114.7 U/L (p < 0.005). No significant
      differences were observed for CK levels. Taken together, dietary intake of
      natural colourant G8000TM was able to exert beneficial effects on atherosclerosis
      biomarkers.

PMID- 25835043
TI  - Evaluation of the risk of post-operative bleeding complications in skin cancer
      surgery without interruption of anticoagulant/antithrombotic medication: A
      prospective cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous reports showed lack of consensus concerning interruption of
      anticoagulant/antithrombotic (AC/AT) treatment before skin cancer surgery. AIM:
      The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of postoperative bleeding in
      patients on AC/AT treatment undergoing skin cancer surgery without interruption
      of this treatment. METHOD: This prospective cohort study included 271 consecutive
      patients divided into two groups - patients without and patients with AC/AT
      therapy. Inclusion criteria were skin cancer (basal-cell carcinoma, squamous-cell
      carcinoma, or malignant melanoma). Exclusion criteria were patients undergoing
      regional lymph node dissection or sentinel lymph node biopsy. Postoperative
      bleeding complications taken into consideration were those evaluated as moderate
      or severe and requiring some form of surgical or non-surgical hemostasis on an
      outpatient or inpatient basis. RESULTS: There were 47 patients in the AC/AT group
      and 224 in the control group (mean age = 76.6 and 68 years, respectively), with
      almost equal distribution of tumours in both groups. There were 34.1% of patients
      on AT, 55% on AC treatment, and 10.6% on mixed treatment (AC+AT or AT+AT).
      Postoperative bleeding complications did not show a statistically significant
      difference between the two groups (p = 0.063). CONCLUSION: Skin cancer surgery
      can be safely performed without discontinuation of AC/AT treatment, since the
      risk of postoperative bleeding is statistically insignificant.

PMID- 25835044
TI  - Protection motivation theory and social distancing behaviour in response to a
      simulated infectious disease epidemic.
AB  - Epidemics of respiratory infectious disease remain one of the most serious health
      risks facing the population. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g. hand-washing
      or wearing face masks) can have a significant impact on the course of an
      infectious disease epidemic. The current study investigated whether protection
      motivation theory (PMT) is a useful framework for understanding social distancing
      behaviour (i.e. the tendency to reduce social contacts) in response to a
      simulated infectious disease epidemic. There were 230 participants (109 males,
      121 females, mean age 32.4 years) from the general population who completed self
      report measures assessing the components of PMT. In addition, participants
      completed a computer game which simulated an infectious disease epidemic in order
      to provide a measure of social distancing behaviour. The regression analyses
      revealed that none of the PMT variables were significant predictors of social
      distancing behaviour during the simulation task. However, fear (beta = .218, p <
      .001), response efficacy (beta = .175, p < .01) and self-efficacy (beta = .251, p
      < .001) were all significant predictors of intention to engage in social
      distancing behaviour. Overall, the PMT variables (and demographic factors)
      explain 21.2% of the variance in intention. The findings demonstrated that PMT
      was a useful framework for understanding intention to engage in social distancing
      behaviour, but not actual behaviour during the simulated epidemic. These findings
      may reflect an intention-behaviour gap in relation to social distancing
      behaviour.

PMID- 25835045
TI  - Discrete-choice experiments versus rating scale exercises to evaluate the
      importance of attributes.
AB  - AIM: To examine the difference between discrete-choice experiments (DCE) and
      rating scale exercises (RSE) in determining the most important attributes using a
      case study. METHODS: Undergraduate health sciences students were asked to
      complete a DCE and a RSE. Six potentially important attributes were identified in
      focus groups. Fourteen unlabelled choice tasks were constructed using a
      statistically efficient design. Mixed multinomial logistic regression analysis
      was used for DCE data analysis. RESULTS: In total, 254 undergraduate students
      filled out the questionnaire. In the DCE, only four attributes were statistically
      significant, whereas in the RSE, all attributes except one were rated four or
      higher. CONCLUSION: Attribute importance differs between DCE and RSE. The DCE had
      a differentiating effect on the relative importance of the attributes; however,
      determining relative importance using DCE should be done with caution as a lack
      of statistically significant difference between levels does not necessarily imply
      that the attribute is not important.

PMID- 25835046
TI  - Biomarkers of selenium status.
AB  - The essential trace element, selenium (Se), has multiple biological activities,
      which depend on the level of Se intake. Relatively low Se intakes determine the
      expression of selenoenzymes in which it serves as an essential constituent.
      Higher intakes have been shown to have anti-tumorigenic potential; and very high
      Se intakes can produce adverse effects. This hierarchy of biological activities
      calls for biomarkers informative at different levels of Se exposure. Some Se
      biomarkers, such as the selenoproteins and particularly GPX3 and SEPP1, provide
      information about function directly and are of value in identifying nutritional
      Se deficiency and tracking responses of deficient individuals to Se-treatment.
      They are useful under conditions of Se intake within the range of regulated
      selenoprotein expression, e.g., for humans <55 MUg/day and for animals <20 MUg/kg
      diet. Other Se-biomarkers provide information indirectly through inferences based
      on Se levels of foods, tissues, urine or feces. They can indicate the likelihood
      of deficiency or adverse effects, but they do not provide direct evidence of
      either condition. Their value is in providing information about Se status over a
      wide range of Se intake, particularly from food forms. There is need for
      additional Se biomarkers particularly for assessing Se status in non-deficient
      individuals for whom the prospects of cancer risk reduction and adverse effects
      risk are the primary health considerations. This would include determining
      whether supranutritional intakes of Se may be required for maximal selenoprotein
      expression in immune surveillance cells. It would also include developing methods
      to determine low molecular weight Se-metabolites, i.e., selenoamino acids and
      methylated Se-metabolites, which to date have not been detectable in biological
      specimens. Recent analytical advances using tandem liquid chromatography-mass
      spectrometry suggest prospects for detecting these metabolites. 

PMID- 25835047
TI  - The infant gut microbiome: evidence for obesity risk and dietary intervention.
AB  - Increasing globally, particularly in children, obesity is a serious public health
      issue and risk factor for overweight and metabolic disease in later life. Both in
      experimental animal and human studies, advances in gene sequencing technologies
      have yielded intriguing possibilities for the role of the gut microbiome in later
      development of overweight status. Before translating study findings into
      practice, we must first reconcile inconsistencies between animal experimentation,
      and human adult and infant studies. Recent evidence for associations with gut
      microbiota and infant weight gain or child weight status, implicate Bacteroides
      and Lactobacillus species. Dietary manipulation with human milk and pre/probiotic
      formulations holds promise for preventing obesity. 

PMID- 25835048
TI  - The role of omega-3 fatty acids in acute pancreatitis: a meta-analysis of
      randomized controlled trials.
AB  - To determine whether treatment with omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3 FA) provides
      benefits to patients with acute pancreatitis (AP). The Cochrane Library, PubMed,
      Embase, Web of Science, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database were searched.
      Data analysis was performed using Revman 5.2 software. A total of eight
      randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. Overall, omega-3 FA treatment
      resulted in a significantly reduced risk of mortality (RR 0.35; 95% CI 0.16 to
      0.75, p < 0.05), infectious complications (RR 0.54; 95% CI 0.34 to 0.85, p <
      0.05) and length of hospital stay (MD -6.50; 95% CI -9.54 to -3.46, p < 0.05),
      but not length of ICU stay (MD -1.98; 95% CI -6.92 to 2.96, p > 0.05). In
      subgroup analysis, only patients who received omega-3 FA parenterally had some
      statistically significant benefits in terms of mortality (risk ratio (RR) 0.37;
      95% confidence interval (CI) 0.16 to 0.86, p < 0.05), infectious complications
      (RR 0.5; 95% CI 0.28 to 0.9, p < 0.05) and length of hospital stay (mean
      difference (MD) -8.13; 95% CI -10.39 to -5.87, p < 0.001). The administration of
      omega-3 FA may be beneficial for decreasing mortality, infectious complications,
      and length of hospital stay in AP, especially when used parenterally. Large and
      rigorously designed RCTs are required to elucidate the efficacy of parenteral or
      enteral omega-3 FA treatment in AP. 

PMID- 25835051
TI  - Surgical Treatment of Dysthyroid Optic Neuropathy: Long-Term Visual Outcomes with
      Comparison of 2-Wall versus 3-Wall Orbital Decompression.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the long-term visual outcomes after 2-wall (medial-lateral)
      versus 3-wall (medial-lateral-inferior) orbital decompression combined with fat
      removal in patients with dysthyroid optic neuropathy (DON). METHODS: Records of
      68 eyes of 42 patients were retrospectively reviewed. Two-and 3-wall
      decompression was performed in 41 and 27 eyes, respectively. Transcaruncular
      approach was used for medial wall decompression. Lateral canthotomy combined with
      upper eyelid crease incision was used for lateral wall removal, and combined with
      transconjunctival lower eyelid incision if floor decompression performed. Outcome
      measures were visual acuity (VA), color vision, Hertel measures, visual field
      mean deviation (MD) and pattern standard deviation (PSD) Result: The mean follow
      up time was 39.3 months (range, 12-72 months). All indicators of visual function
      significantly improved after 2-and 3-wall decompression. The improvement in VA
      and color vision was similar between groups. (logMAR VA: 2-wall: 0.52 +/- 0.68
      versus 3-wall: 0.71 +/- 0.86, p = 0.335); (color vision on Ishihara plates: 2
      wall: 10.1 +/- 8.1 versus 3-wall: 11.6 +/- 7.8, p = 0.447). The improvement in MD
      and PSD were higher after 3-wall decompression (MD: 2-wall: 10.0 +/- 5.5 versus 3
      wall: 14.3 +/- 7.5 dB, p = 0.020); (PSD: 2-wall: 3.5 +/- 1.9 versus 3-wall: 4.8
      +/- 3.0 dB, p = 0.045). Proptosis reduction was higher after 3-wall decompression
      (2-wall: 5.1 +/- 1.3 versus 3-wall: 7.2 +/- 1.9 mm, p = 0.0001). New onset
      diplopia was seen 20% and 28.5% of cases in 2-and 3-wall decompression,
      respectively. No adnexal/orbital complications were seen in 2-wall group, however
      orbital hematoma (1 case) and persisting eyelid edema (1 case) were encountered
      in 3-wall group. CONCLUSION: Both 2-and 3-wall orbital decompressions are safe
      and effective for management of visual dysfunction in DON. Although 3-wall
      decompression provide better improvement in the parameters of visual field
      analysis and Hertel measures, new onset diplopia, adnexal/orbital complications
      are more common with this technique.

PMID- 25835050
TI  - c-Myc modulation: a key role in melanoma drug response.
AB  - Understanding molecular mechanisms involved in melanoma resistance to drugs is a
      big challenge. Experimental evidences suggested a correlation between mutational
      status in B-RAF and melanoma cell susceptibility to drugs, such as paclitaxel,
      doxorubicin and temozolomide, which generate an accumulation of hydrogen peroxide
      (H2O2) in the cells. We investigated the survival phenotype and the protein level
      of c-myc, a B-RAF target molecule, in melanoma cells, carrying a different
      mutational status in B-RAF, upon paclitaxel, doxorubicin and H2O2 treatment. For
      the first time, we reported c-myc modulation is critical for melanoma drug
      response. It appeared drug-specific and post-transcriptionally driven through
      PP2A; in correlation, cell pre-treatment with okadaic acid (OA), a specific PP2A
      inhibitor, as well as PP2A silencing of melanoma cells, was able to increase
      melanoma cell drug-sensitivity and c-myc protein level. This is relevant for
      designing efficacious therapeutic strategies in melanoma. 

PMID- 25835052
TI  - Functional flexibility in women's commitment-skepticism bias.
AB  - If a woman overestimates her romantic partner's commitment, the cost to her
      fitness-reproduction without an investing partner-can be considerable. Error
      Management Theory predicts that women have an evolved bias to be skeptical of
      men's commitment in a relationship, which reduces the likelihood of making a
      costly false positive error. However, because error probabilities are inversely
      related, this commitment-skepticism bias simultaneously increases the likelihood
      of missed opportunities, or false negatives. False positives when gauging a
      partner's commitment are the more costly error for women, but missing an
      opportunity to secure a genuinely high-quality mate can also be quite costly. We
      predicted and found that women's mating cognitions are functionally flexible,
      such that women do not exhibit the commitment-skepticism bias when faced with
      behavioral evidence that a male partner is willing to commit (Study 1). This
      suggests that relationship-enhancing behaviors are one contextual cue that may
      lessen the bias. However, not all relationship-enhancing behaviors are equally
      diagnostic of a person's true commitment intent. When comparing men and women's
      commitment thresholds, we found that women require more behavioral evidence than
      men do to feel certain of their partner's commitment to them (Study 2).

PMID- 25835049
TI  - Duodenal cytochrome b (DCYTB) in iron metabolism: an update on function and
      regulation.
AB  - Iron and ascorbate are vital cellular constituents in mammalian systems. The bulk
      requirement for iron is during erythropoiesis leading to the generation of
      hemoglobin-containing erythrocytes. Additionally; both iron and ascorbate are
      required as co-factors in numerous metabolic reactions. Iron homeostasis is
      controlled at the level of uptake; rather than excretion. Accumulating evidence
      strongly suggests that in addition to the known ability of dietary ascorbate to
      enhance non-heme iron absorption in the gut; ascorbate regulates iron
      homeostasis. The involvement of ascorbate in dietary iron absorption extends
      beyond the direct chemical reduction of non-heme iron by dietary ascorbate. Among
      other activities; intra-enterocyte ascorbate appears to be involved in the
      provision of electrons to a family of trans-membrane redox enzymes; namely those
      of the cytochrome b561 class. These hemoproteins oxidize a pool of ascorbate on
      one side of the membrane in order to reduce an electron acceptor (e.g., non-heme
      iron) on the opposite side of the membrane. One member of this family; duodenal
      cytochrome b (DCYTB); may play an important role in ascorbate-dependent reduction
      of non-heme iron in the gut prior to uptake by ferrous-iron transporters. This
      review discusses the emerging relationship between cellular iron homeostasis; the
      emergent "IRP1-HIF2alpha axis"; DCYTB and ascorbate in relation to iron
      metabolism. 

PMID- 25835054
TI  - Is ring breaking feasible in relative binding free energy calculations?
AB  - Our interest is relative binding free energy (RBFE) calculations based on
      molecular simulations. These are promising tools for lead optimization in drug
      discovery, computing changes in binding free energy due to modifications of a
      lead compound. However, in the "alchemical" framework for RBFE calculations, some
      types of mutations have the potential to introduce error into the computed
      binding free energies. Here we explore the magnitude of this error in several
      different model binding calculations. We find that some of the calculations
      involving ring breaking have significant errors, and these errors are especially
      large in bridged ring systems. Since the error is a function of ligand strain,
      which is unpredictable in advance, we believe that ring breaking should be
      avoided when possible. 

PMID- 25835053
TI  - Psychosocial interventions for pregnant women in outpatient illicit drug
      treatment programs compared to other interventions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Illicit drug use in pregnancy is a complex social and public health
      problem. The consequences of drug use in pregnancy are high for both the woman
      and her child. Therefore, it is important to develop and evaluate effective
      treatments. There is evidence for the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions
      in drug treatment but it is unclear whether they are effective in pregnant women.
      This is an update of a Cochrane review originally published in 2007. OBJECTIVES:
      To evaluate the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in pregnant women
      enrolled in illicit drug treatment programmes on birth and neonatal outcomes, on
      attendance and retention in treatment, as well as on maternal and neonatal drug
      abstinence. In short, do psychosocial interventions translate into less illicit
      drug use, greater abstinence, better birth outcomes, or greater clinic
      attendance? SEARCH METHODS: We conducted the original literature search in May
      2006 and performed the search update up to January 2015. For both review stages
      (original and update), we searched the Cochrane Drugs and Alcohol Group Trial's
      register (May 2006 and January 2015); the Cochrane Central Register of Trials
      (CENTRAL; the Cochrane Library 2015, Issue 1); PubMed (1996 to January 2015);
      EMBASE (1996 to January 2015); and CINAHL (1982 to January 2015). SELECTION
      CRITERIA: We included randomized controlled trials comparing any psychosocial
      intervention vs. a control intervention that could include pharmacological
      treatment, such as methadone maintenance, a different psychosocial intervention,
      counselling, prenatal care, STD counselling and testing, transportation, or
      childcare. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We used standard methodological
      procedures expected by the Cochrane Collaboration. We performed analyses based on
      three comparisons: any psychosocial intervention vs. control, contingency
      management (CM) interventions vs. control, and motivational interviewing based
      (MIB) interventions vs. MAIN RESULTS: In total, we included 14 studies with 1298
      participants: nine studies (704 participants) compared CM vs. control, and five
      studies (594 participants) compared MIB interventions vs. CONTROL: We did not
      find any studies that assessed other types of psychosocial interventions. For the
      most part, it was unclear if included studies adequately controlled for biases
      within their studies as such information was not often reported. We assessed risk
      of bias in the included studies relating to participant selection, allocation
      concealment, personnel and outcome assessor blinding, and attrition.The included
      trials rarely captured maternal and neonatal outcomes. For studies that did
      measure such outcomes, no difference was observed in pre-term birth rates (RR
      0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.34 to 1.51; three trials, 264 participants,
      moderate quality evidence), maternal toxicity at delivery (RR 1.18, 95% CI 0.52
      to 2.65; two trials, 217 participants, moderate quality evidence), or low birth
      weight (RR 0.72, 95% CI 0.36 to 1.43; one trial, 160 participants, moderate
      quality evidence). However, the results did show that neonates remained in
      hospital for fewer days after delivery in CM intervention groups (RR -1.27, 95%
      CI -2.52 to -0.03; two trials, 103 participants, moderate quality evidence).
      There were no differences observed at the end of studies in retention or
      abstinence (as assessed by positive drug test at the end of treatment) in any
      psychosocial intervention group compared to control (Retention: RR 0.99, 95% CI
      0.93 to 1.06, nine trials, 743 participants, low quality evidence; and
      Abstinence: RR 1.14, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.73, three trials, 367 participants, low
      quality evidence). These results held for both CM and MIB combined. Overall, the
      quality of the evidence was low to moderate. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The present
      evidence suggests that there is no difference in treatment outcomes to address
      drug use in pregnant women with use of psychosocial interventions, when taken in
      the presence of other comprehensive care options. However, few studies evaluated
      obstetrical or neonatal outcomes and rarely did so in a systematic way, making it
      difficult to assess the effect of psychosocial interventions on these clinically
      important outcomes. It is important to develop a better evidence base to evaluate
      psychosocial modalities of treatment in this important population.

PMID- 25835055
TI  - Breast cancer in women in their thirties (2007-2013): a retrospective review.
AB  - Due to an increasing number of breast cancer diagnoses in younger women
      anecdotally noted at our institution, we conceived of this study %was to
      retrospectively review the records of women diagnosed with breast cancer under
      the age of 40 for potentially alterable versus unalterable risk factors in their
      history. Between 2007 and 2013, there were 52 patients less than 40 years of age
      with breast cancer at our institution: 79% (41/52) presented with a clinical
      abnormality (palpable mass, nipple discharge or inversion) and 21% (11/52) were
      asymptomatic but diagnosed on early screening mammograms. Seventy-five percent
      (39/52) of the cancers had an invasive component and 87% (45/52) were
      intermediate to high grade. Sixty percent (31/52) of subjects had stage 0 or I
      disease, but 40% (21/52) had later stage disease (stage II or greater). The vast
      majority of the cancers were ER+ (82%) and PR+ (78%). Fifty-six percent (28/50; 2
      unknown) of the subjects had a documented history of hormonal contraception.
      Fifty-three percent (27/51; 1 unknown) of had no family history of breast cancer
      whatsoever, and 80% (41/51) had no family history of breast cancer in a first
      degree relative. Six were positive for BRCA 1, 2, or a variant (6/52 = 12%). 

PMID- 25835056
TI  - Ultrasensitive graphene far-infrared power detectors.
AB  - We describe the properties of ultrasensitive graphene photon detectors for use in
      the far-infrared/terahertz spectral region and present theoretical predictions
      for their power detection sensitivity. These predictions are based on two
      graphene contacting schemes with superconducting contacts: contacts with a thin
      insulating barrier, and direct superconducting contacts. To quantitatively assess
      these predictions, we perform thermal measurements of graphene at low
      temperatures and analyse them to extract information on electron-phonon cooling
      in graphene. These new results for the electron-phonon cooling channel allow
      reliable prediction of the noise equivalent power (NEP) that can be expected from
      an optimized graphene detector, using measurement of the Johnson noise emission
      as the thermometry method. We find that an NEP of 2 * 10(-19) W Hz(-1/2) should
      be achievable under certain biasing conditions with an ideal device.

PMID- 25835057
TI  - Stick-jump mode in surface droplet dissolution.
AB  - The analogy between evaporating surface droplets in air to dissolving long-chain
      alcohol droplets in water is worked out. We show that next to the three known
      modi for surface droplet evaporation or dissolution (constant contact angle mode,
      constant contact radius mode, and stick-slide mode), a fourth mode exists for
      small droplets on supposedly smooth substrates, the stick-jump mode: intermittent
      contact line pinning causes the droplet to switch between sticking and jumping
      during the dissolution. We present experimental data and compare them to theory
      to predict the dissolution time in this stick-jump mode. We also explain why
      these jumps were easily observed for microscale droplets but not for larger
      droplets. 

PMID- 25835058
TI  - Disulfide-Mediated beta-Strand Dimers: Hyperstable beta-Sheets Lacking Tertiary
      Interactions and Turns.
AB  - Disulfide bonds between cysteine residues are essential to the structure and
      folding of many proteins. Yet their role in the design of structured peptides and
      proteins has frequently been limited to use as intrachain covalent staples that
      reinforce existing structure or induce knot-like conformations. In beta-hairpins,
      their placement at non-H-bonding positions across antiparallel strands has proven
      useful for achieving fully folded positive controls. Here we report a new class
      of designed beta-sheet peptide dimers with strand-central disulfides as a key
      element. We have found that the mere presence of a disulfide bond near the middle
      of a short peptide chain is sufficient to nucleate some antiparallel beta-sheet
      structure; addition of beta-capping units and other favorable cross-strand
      interactions yield hyperstable sheets. Strand-central cystines were found to be
      superior to the best designed reversing turns in terms of nucleating beta-sheet
      structure formation. We have explored the limitations and possibilities of this
      technique (the use of disulfides as sheet nucleators), and we provide a set of
      rules and rationales for the application and further design of disulfide-tethered
      "turnless" beta-sheets. 

PMID- 25835059
TI  - Antibiotics prophylaxis before prostate biopsy in practice: Review of online
      clinical guidelines.

PMID- 25835061
TI  - In vitro assessment of endocrine disrupting potential of naphthenic Acid
      fractions derived from oil sands-influenced water.
AB  - Oil sands-influenced process waters have been observed to cause reproductive
      effects and to induced CYP1A activity in fishes; however, little progress has
      been made in determining causative agents. Naphthenic acids (NAs) are the
      predominant organic compounds in process-affected waters, but due to the
      complexity of the mixture, it has been difficult to examine causal linkages in
      fishes. The aim of this study was to use in vitro assays specific to reproductive
      and CYP1A mechanisms to determine if specific acid extractable fractions of NAs
      obtained from oil sands-influenced water are active toward reproductive processes
      or interact with the Ah receptor responsible for CYP1A activity. NAs were
      extracted from aged oil sands-influenced waters by use of acid precipitation, and
      the mixture was fractionated into three acidic and one neutral fraction. The four
      fractions were examined for Ah receptor-mediated potency by use of the H4IIE-luc
      bioassay, effects on production of steroid hormones by use of the H295R
      steroidogenesis assay, and sex steroid receptor binding activity using the yeast
      estrogen screen and yeast androgen screen. The mixtures were characterized by
      high resolution mass spectrometry, (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance, and
      attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy. The neutral fraction elicited
      Ah-receptor mediated activity after 24 h but not after 48 or 72 h. None of the
      fractions contained measurable levels of estrogen or androgen receptor agonists
      nor did they cause reductions in steroidogenesis. A number of fractions showed
      antiestrogenic or antiandrogenicity potency, with the neutral and main acidic
      fractions being the most potent. Neutral aromatic compounds are likely
      responsible for the CYP1A activity observed. Direct estrogenic, androgenic, or
      steroidogenic mechanisms are unlikely for NAs based on these results, but NAs act
      as potent antiandrogen or antiestrogens. 

PMID- 25835062
TI  - Plasmonic three-dimensional transparent conductor based on Al-doped zinc oxide
      coated nanostructured glass using atomic layer deposition.
AB  - Transparent nanostructured glass coatings, fabricated on glass substrates, with a
      unique three-dimensional (3D) architecture were utilized as the foundation for
      designing plasmonic 3D transparent conductors. Transformation of the
      nonconducting 3D structure to a conducting porous surface network was
      accomplished through atomic layer deposition of aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO).
      After AZO growth, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were deposited by electron-beam
      evaporation to enhance light trapping and decrease the overall sheet resistance.
      Field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microcopy images
      revealed the highly porous, nanostructured morphology of the AZO-coated glass
      surface along with the in-plane dimensions of the deposited AuNPs. Sheet
      resistance measurements conducted on the coated samples verified that the
      electrical properties of the 3D network are comparable to those of untextured two
      dimensional AZO-coated glass substrates. In addition, transmittance measurements
      of the glass samples coated at various AZO thicknesses showed preservation of the
      transparent nature of each sample, and the AuNPs demonstrated enhanced light
      scattering as well as light-trapping capabilities. 

PMID- 25835063
TI  - A narrowing range of bone scan in newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients: A
      retrospective comparative study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective of the following study is to clarify a suitable group
      whereby a bone scan could be spared at the initial staging of prostate cancer, we
      wished to identify the possible relationship between bone metastasis and clinical
      and pathological parameters including serum total prostate specific antigen (PSA)
      concentration, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), biopsy Gleason Score (GS), and
      percentage of pathological cores. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the results
      of 220 bone scintigraphies, which were done between January 1, 2011 and June 30,
      2013 in patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer. These parameters were
      evaluated together with standard clinicopathological data to determine the
      prediction ability of the bone scan by univariate and multivariate analyses.
      RESULTS: Bone metastases were seen in 44 patients of all 220 patients (20%, 95%
      confidence interval, 17-24%). In univariate analysis, PSA and biopsy GS were
      useful in predicting the bone scan result, but ALP and percentage of pathological
      cores was not. In multivariate analysis, the single most useful parameter in
      predicting the bone scan result was PSA (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: A bone scan
      seems to be impractical in newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients with serum
      PSA level <20 ng/ml and GS up to seven and pre-treatment PSA is the best
      predictor of the need for the bone scan according to results of this study.

PMID- 25835064
TI  - Large Syncytia in Lymph Nodes Induced by CCR5-Tropic HIV-1.

PMID- 25835065
TI  - Hydrodynamic modelling of free water-surface constructed storm water wetlands
      using a finite volume technique.
AB  - One of the key factors in designing free water-surface constructed wetlands (FWS
      CW) is the hydraulic efficiency (lambda), which depends primarily on the
      retention time of the polluted storm water. Increasing the hydraulic retention
      time (HRT) at various flow levels will increase lambda of the overall constructed
      wetland (CW). The effects of characteristic geometric features that increase HRT
      were explored through the use of a two-dimensional depth-average hydrodynamic
      model. This numerical model was developed to solve the equations of continuity
      and motions on an unstructured triangular mesh using the Galerkin finite volume
      formulation and equations of the k-epsilon turbulence model. Eighty-nine diverse
      forms of artificial FWS CW with 11 different aspect ratios were numerically
      simulated and subsequently analysed for four scenarios: rectangular CW, modified
      rectangular CW with rounded edges, different inlet/outlet configurations of CW,
      and surface and submerged obstructions in front of the inlet part of the CW.
      Results from the simulations showed that increasing the aspect ratio has a direct
      influence on the enhancement of lambda in all cases. However, the aspect ratio
      should be at least 9 in order to achieve an appropriate rate for lambda in
      rectangular CW. Modified rounded rectangular CW improved lambda by up to 23%,
      which allowed for the selection of a reduced aspect ratio. Simulation results
      showed that CW with low aspect ratios benefited from obstructions and optimized
      inlet/outlet configurations in terms of improved HRT. 

PMID- 25835066
TI  - Complete mitochondrial genome of the spotted scat Scatophagus argus (Teleostei,
      Scatophagidae).
AB  - The complete mitochondrial sequence of the spotted scat Scatophagus argus has
      been determined using long amplification polymerase chain reaction (LA-PCR). The
      total length of sequence is 16,778 bp, and includes 13 protein-coding genes, 2
      ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and 1 control region. The base
      composition of H-strand is 27.23% (A), 27.54% (T), 16.22% (G) and 28.81% (C),
      with an AT content of 55.08%. The arrangement of genes in S. argus is identical
      to that of other fish species. All genes are encoded on the heavy strand with the
      exception of ND6 and eight tRNA genes. The mitochondrial genome of S. argus
      presented here will contribute to resolve phylogenetic relationships within the
      family Scatophagidae and the Perciformes. 

PMID- 25835067
TI  - New metastable form of glibenclamide prepared by redispersion from ternary solid
      dispersions containing polyvinylpyrrolidone-K30 and sodium lauryl sulfate.
AB  - Modification of polymorphic forms of poorly water-soluble drugs is one way to
      achieve the desirable properties. In this study, glibenclamide (GBM) particles
      with different polymorphic forms, including a new metastable form, were obtained
      from redispersion of ternary solid dispersion systems. The ternary solid
      dispersion systems, consisting of GBM, polyvinylpyrrolidone-K30 (PVP-K30) and
      sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), were prepared by solvent evaporation method and
      subsequently redispersed in deionized water. The precipitated drug particles were
      then collected at a given time period. The drug particles with different
      polymorphic forms could be achieved depending on the polymer/surfactant ratio.
      Amorphous drug nanoparticles could be obtained by using a high polymer/surfactant
      ratio, whereas two different crystalline forms were obtained from the systems
      containing low polymer/surfactant ratios. Interestingly, a new metastable form IV
      of GBM with improved dissolution behavior could be obtained from the system of
      GBM:PVP-K30:SLS with the weight ratio of 2:2:4. This new polymorphic form IV of
      GBM was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform
      infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffractometry (PXRD) and solid state
      13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The molecular arrangement of
      the new polymorphic form IV of GBM was proposed. The GBM particles with
      polymorphic form IV also showed an improved dissolution behavior. In addition, it
      was found that the formation of the new polymorphic form IV of GBM by this
      process was reproducible.

PMID- 25835068
TI  - Influence of drug physicochemical characteristics on in vitro transdermal
      absorption of hydrophobic drug nanosuspensions.
AB  - The purpose of this paper was to study the influence of drug physicochemical
      characteristics on in vitro transdermal absorption of hydrophobic drug
      nanosuspensions. Four drug nanosuspensions were produced by high-pressure
      homogenization technique, which were the same in stabilizer and similar in
      particle size. Differential scanning calorimetry and powder X-ray diffraction
      analysis showed that the crystalline state of the nanocrystals did not change. In
      vitro permeation study demonstrated that the drug nanosuspensions have a higher
      rate of permeation that ranged from 1.69- to 3.74-fold compared to drug
      microsuspensions. Correlation analysis between drug physicochemical properties
      and Jss revealed that log P and pKa were factors that influenced the in vitro
      transdermal absorption of hydrophobic drug nanosuspensions, and drugs with a log
      P value around 3 and a higher pKa value (when pKa < pH+2) would gain higher Jss
      in this paper. 

PMID- 25835069
TI  - Giotto's applications of embodied perception: Lateral and vertical dimensions of
      space.
AB  - Giotto's Arena Chapel frescoes, dating from the early fourteenth century, provide
      salient illustrations of two types of embodied perceptions. One is universal, a
      consequence of biology and the physical laws of nature, linked to the vertical
      dimension of space, and impacting on affect and moral judgement. The other is
      culturally determined, acquired from the direction of reading script and
      affecting perceptions of directions of movement, time and causality. Giotto's
      intuitive use of embodiments, the result of a newly evolving realism in painting,
      may have prompted late mediaeval chapel-visitors to empathize with the storied
      biblical characters, so that figures that were once only the object of religious
      veneration and awe were now made into living beings with a shared humanity,
      resulting in an awakening of a personal agency that fueled the Renaissance and
      Modernism. 

PMID- 25835070
TI  - Emerging therapeutic targets for the treatment of human acute myeloid leukemia
      (part 1) - gene transcription, cell cycle regulation, metabolism and
      intercellular communication.
AB  - Human acute myeloid leukemia is a heterogeneous disease and the effect of
      therapeutic targeting of specific molecular mechanisms will probably vary between
      patient subsets. Cell cycle regulators are among the emerging targets (e.g.,
      aurora and polo-like kinases, cyclin-dependent kinases). Inhibition of
      communication between acute myeloid leukemia and stromal cells is also
      considered; among the most promising of these strategies are inhibition of
      hedgehog-initiated, CXCR4-CXCL12 and Axl-Gas6 signaling. Finally, targeting of
      energy and protein metabolism is considered, the most promising strategy being
      inhibition of isocitrate dehydrogenase in patients with IDH mutations. Thus,
      several strategies are now considered, and a major common challenge for all of
      them is to clarify how they should be combined with each other or with
      conventional chemotherapy, and whether their use should be limited to certain
      subsets of patients. 

PMID- 25835071
TI  - Development of an HPLC post-column antioxidant assay for Solidago canadensis
      radical scavengers.
AB  - The aim of this work was to modify and validate the post-column high-performance
      liquid chromatography (HPLC)-ABTS and DPPH methods for evaluating the antioxidant
      activity of the methanolic extracts of Solidago canadensis (Canadian goldenrod)
      leaves and flowers. Separation of the analytes was performed via the HPLC-PDA
      method on a YMC analytical column using a gradient elution program. Three
      compounds with antioxidant properties - chlorogenic acid, rutin and isoquercitrin
      - and two unidentified antioxidants were established. The research showed that
      the coil temperature regimes and loop length combinations influence the optimised
      post-column assay method for detecting the antioxidant activity of goldenrod
      radical scavengers. Investigations established that the temperature in the
      reaction coil was a substantial factor contributing to the signal strength of the
      analytes after reacting with the DPPH and ABTS radicals. 

PMID- 25835072
TI  - KDM4D crosstalks with PARP1 and RNA at DNA DSBs.

PMID- 25835073
TI  - Target fortification of breast milk: how often should milk analysis be done?
AB  - Target fortification (TFO) reduces natural macronutrient variation in breast milk
      (BM). Daily BM analysis for TFO increases neonatal intensive care unit work load
      by 10-15 min/patient/day and may not be feasible in all nurseries. The variation
      of macronutrient intake when BM analysis is done for various schedules was
      studied. In an observational study, we analyzed 21 subsequent samples of native
      24-h BM batches, which had been prepared for 10 healthy infants (gestational age
      26.1 +/- 1.3 weeks, birth weight: 890 +/- 210 g). Levels of protein and fat
      (validated near-infrared milk analyzer), as well as lactose (UPLC-MS/MS)
      generated the database for modelling TFO to meet recommendations of European
      Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition. Intake of
      macronutrients and energy were calculated for different schedules of BM
      measurements for TFO (n = 1/week; n = 2/week; n = 3/week; n = 5/week; n = 7/week)
      and compared to native and fixed dose fortified BM. Day-to-day variation of
      macronutrients (protein 20%, carbohydrate 13%, fat 17%, energy 10%) decreased as
      the frequency of milk analysis increased and was almost zero for protein and
      carbohydrate with daily measurements. Measurements two/week led to mean
      macronutrient intake within a range of +/- 5% of targeted levels. A reduced
      schedule for macronutrient measurement may increase the practical use of TFO. To
      what extent the day-to-day variation affects growth while mean intake is stable
      needs to be studied.

PMID- 25835074
TI  - Moderate amounts of vitamin D3 in supplements are effective in raising serum 25
      hydroxyvitamin D from low baseline levels in adults: a systematic review.
AB  - There is controversy surrounding the designation of vitamin D adequacy as defined
      by circulating levels of the metabolite 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D). Depending
      on the cutoff level chosen, dietary intakes of vitamin D may or may not provide
      sufficient impact upon vitamin D status measured as improvement in serum levels
      of 25(OH)D. We sought to examine whether modest daily doses (5-20 MUg) as found
      in fortified foods or multivitamin supplements had a measureable impact on
      vitamin D status, defined as moving from below to above 50 nmol/L, or from less
      than 30 nmol/L to above 30 nmol/L. Published literature was searched for relevant
      articles describing randomized controlled trials. Exclusion criteria were:
      studies not involving humans; review articles; studies lacking blood level data
      pre- and post-treatment; no control group; bolus treatments (weekly, monthly,
      yearly); vitamin D < 5 MUg or > 20 MUg; baseline 25(OH)D >= 75 nmol/L; subjects
      not defined as healthy; studies < 8 weeks; and age < 19 years. Of the 127 studies
      retrieved, 18 publications with 25 separate comparisons met criteria. The mean
      rate constant, defined as change in 25(OH)D in nmol/L per MUg vitamin D
      administered, was calculated as 2.19 +/- 0.97 nmol/L per MUg. There was a
      significant negative correlation (r = -0.65, p = 0.0004) between rate constant
      and administered dose. To determine impact of the dose reflecting the Estimated
      Average Requirement (EAR) of 10 MUg administered in nine studies (10
      comparisons), in every case mean 25(OH)D status rose either from "insufficient"
      (30-50 nmol/L) to "sufficient" (> 50 nmol/L) or from "deficient" (< 30 nmol/L) to
      "insufficient" (> 30 but < 50 nmol/L). Our study shows that when baseline levels
      of groups were < 75 nmol/L, for every microgram of vitamin D provided, 25(OH)D
      levels can be raised by 2 nmol/L; and further, when groups were deficient or
      insufficient in vitamin D, there was significant value in providing additional 10
      MUg per day of vitamin D.

PMID- 25835075
TI  - Endoscopical Orbital Fat Decompression with Medial Orbital Wall Decompression for
      Dysthyroid Optic Neuropathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe a novel approach to orbital decompression for dysthyroid
      optic neuropathy (DON). METHODS: An augmented endoscopic transethmoid medial
      orbital wall decompression (ETMOWD) was performed on 43 consecutive patients (72
      eyes) with DON in order to access the orbital apex adequately. Concurrently,
      endoscopic transethmoid fat decompression (ETFD) using a novel aspiration/cutting
      instrument to remove orbital fat was performed for further reduction of
      proptosis. All patients were followed up periodically for at least 6 months.
      Outcomes such as improvement of visual acuity (VA), color vision, degree of
      proptosis reduction as well as the incidence of surgical induced diplopia were
      analyzed at the final review. RESULTS: Sixty-nine out of 72 eyes (95.8%) had a
      statistically significant improvement in VA from -0.65 +/- 0.30 to -0.25 +/- 0.22
      postoperatively, with a mean improvement of 0.55 +/- 0.17 (p < 0.001). Thirty
      four out of 45 eyes had an improvement in color vision (p < 0.001). The range of
      proptosis reduction was 4 to 9 mm (mean 6.2 +/- 1.2 mm). Postoperative symmetry
      was achieved to within 2 mm using an exophthalmometer in 39 of 43 patients
      (90.7%). Five patients developed diplopia in the postoperative phase, but had
      complete resolution within 3 months. Two patients had further deterioration in
      their diplopia following surgery. CONCLUSION: Our technique of a combined ETFD
      with ETMOWD appears to be effective in managing patients with DON, with minimal
      morbidities and a low incidence of postoperative diplopia.

PMID- 25835076
TI  - Percutaneous treatment of a duodenocutaneous high-flow fistula using a new
      biological plug.
AB  - Enterocutaneous fistula is a challenging entity and a gold-standard treatment is
      not settled so far. Here, we describe the successful closure of a
      duodenocutaneous fistula with the use of the Biodesign enterocutaneous fistula
      plug (Cook Medical), which is derived from a biological plug that has been used
      in recent years in order to close anorectal fistula tracts. 

PMID- 25835077
TI  - Microstructural effects of Ramadan fasting on the brain: a diffusion tensor
      imaging study.
AB  - PURPOSE: We aimed to examine whether the brain displays any microstructural
      changes after a three-week Ramadan fasting period using diffusion tenson imaging.
      METHODS: This study included a study and a control group of 25 volunteers each.
      In the study group, we examined and compared apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)
      and fractional anisotropy (FA) values of the participants during (phase 1) and
      after (phase 2) a period of fasting. The control group included individuals who
      did not fast. ADC and FA values obtained in phase 1 and phase 2 were compared
      between the study and control groups. RESULTS: In the study group, ADC values of
      hypothalamus and, to a lesser extent, of insula were lower in phase 1 compared
      with phase 2 and the control group. The FA values of amygdala, middle temporal
      cortex, thalamus and, to a lesser extent, of medial prefrontal cortex were lower
      in phase 1 compared with phase 2 and the control group. Phase 2 ADC and FA values
      of the study group were not significantly different compared with the control
      group at any brain location. CONCLUSION: A three-week Ramadan fasting period can
      cause microstructural changes in the brain, and diffusion tensor imaging enables
      the visualization of these changes. The identification of brain locations where
      changes occurred in ADC and FA values during fasting can be helpful in diagnostic
      imaging and understanding the pathophysiology of eating disorders.

PMID- 25835078
TI  - Pharmacokinetic study of conventional sorafenib chemoembolization in a rabbit VX2
      liver tumor model.
AB  - PURPOSE: Use of oral sorafenib, an antiangiogenic chemotherapeutic agent for
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is limited by an unfavorable side effect profile.
      Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) employs targeted intravascular drug
      administration, and has potential as a novel sorafenib delivery method to
      increase tumoral concentrations and reduce systemic levels. This study aimed to
      discern the pharmacokinetics of sorafenib TACE in a rabbit VX2 liver tumor model.
      METHODS: A 3 mg/kg dose of sorafenib ethiodized oil emulsion was delivered via an
      arterial catheter to VX2 liver tumors in seven New Zealand white rabbits.
      Following TACE, serum sorafenib levels were measured at days 0, 1, 2, 3, 7, 10,
      and 14 until the time of sacrifice, after which rabbit livers were harvested for
      analysis of sorafenib concentrations within treated tumors and normal liver.
      Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was used for drug quantification.
      RESULTS: Sorafenib uptake within liver tumor and nontumorous liver tissue peaked
      at mean 3.53 and 0.75 MUg/mL, respectively, immediately post-procedure (5:1 tumor
      to normal tissue drug uptake ratio), before decreasing with a 10-18 hour half
      life. Serum sorafenib levels peaked immediately after TACE at a mean value of
      58.58 MUg/mL before normalizing with a 5.2-hour half-life, suggesting early drug
      washout from liver into the systemic circulation. Hepatic lab parameters showed
      transient increase 24 hours post-TACE with subsequent resolution. CONCLUSION:
      While targeted transarterial delivery of sorafenib ethiodized oil emulsion shows
      preferential tumor uptake compared to normal liver, systemic washout occurs with
      a short half-life, resulting in high circulating drug levels.

PMID- 25835079
TI  - Nonpalpable BI-RADS 4 breast lesions: sonographic findings and pathology
      correlation.
AB  - PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate ultrasonography (US) findings for Breast Imaging
      Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) category 4 lesions using BI-RADS US lexicon
      and determine the positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV) of US
      with respect to biopsy results. METHODS: Sonograms of 186 BI-RADS 4 nonpalpable
      breast lesions with a known diagnosis were reviewed retrospectively. The
      morphologic features of all lesions were described using BI-RADS lexicon and the
      lesions were subcategorized into 4A, 4B, and 4C on the basis of the physician's
      level of suspicion. Lesion descriptors and biopsy results were correlated.
      Pathologic results were compared with US features. PPVs of BI-RADS subcategories
      4A, 4B, and 4C were calculated. RESULTS: Of 186 lesions, 38.7% were malignant and
      61.2% were benign. PPVs according to subcategories 4A, 4B, and 4C were 19.5%,
      41.5%, and 74.3%, respectively. Microlobulated, indistinct, and angular margins,
      posterior acoustic features, and echo pattern were nonspecific signs for
      nonpalpable BI-RADS 4 lesions. Typical signs of malignancy were irregular shape
      (PPV, 66%), spiculated margin (PPV, 80%) and nonparallel orientation (PPV,
      58.9%). Typical signs of benign lesions were oval shape (NPV, 77.1%),
      circumscribed margin (NPV, 67.5%), parallel orientation (NPV, 70%), and abrupt
      interface (NPV, 67.6%). CONCLUSION: BI-RADS criteria are not sufficient for
      discriminating between malignant and benign lesions, and biopsy is required.
      Subcategories 4A, 4B, and 4C are useful in predicting the likelihood of
      malignancy. However, objective and clear subclassification rules are needed.

PMID- 25835080
TI  - Endovascular management of iatrogenic renal arterial lesions and clinical
      outcomes.
AB  - PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate iatrogenic renal arterial lesions, including
      pseudoaneurysm, arteriovenous fistula, and arteriocaliceal fistula, their
      management by endovascular embolization, and the clinical results. METHODS: Fifty
      five patients (forty males, fifteen females) with a median age of 40 years
      (range, 8-85 years), who underwent endovascular embolization of iatrogenic renal
      arterial lesions between March 2003 and December 2013 were included in this
      retrospective study. Types of iatrogenic lesions and details of embolization
      procedures were reported. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), renal
      function tests, hemoglobin, and hematocrit levels before and after embolization
      were recorded and compared. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 24 months. We
      identified 53 pseudoaneurysms, 30 arteriovenous fistulas, and 11 arteriocaliceal
      fistulas in 55 patients, after percutaneous nephrolithotomy (n=26), renal biopsy
      (n=21), nephrostomy (n=3), renal surgery (n=3), and extracorporeal shock wave
      lithotripsy (n=2). Median number of pseudoaneurysms was 1 (range, 1-4) with a
      median size of 7 mm (range, 1.5-35 mm). Fifty-one patients underwent coil
      embolization. Median number of coils was 5 (range, 2-21) and median renal
      parenchymal loss was 5% (range, 1%-50%). There were no significant differences
      between pre- and postoperative eGFR and serum parameters. CONCLUSION: Iatrogenic
      renal arterial lesion can be a life threatening condition. Superselective coil
      embolization is a safe, minimally invasive treatment option with minimal renal
      parenchymal loss and without significant change in renal function.

PMID- 25835081
TI  - Can unenhanced breast MRI be used to decrease negative biopsy rates?
AB  - PURPOSE: We aimed to determine whether low-risk breast masses can be effectively
      managed with unenhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combining T2-weighted
      sequences with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) instead of immediate biopsy to
      decrease negative biopsy rates. METHODS: After institutional review board and
      patient approvals, 141 consecutive women with 156 low-risk breast masses, who
      underwent unenhanced MRI and later on received a final diagnosis, were included
      in the study. There were 72 BI-RADS 3 masses in women with relative risk factors
      and 84 BI-RADS 4A masses, all referred for biopsy. Apparent diffusion coefficient
      (ADC) cutoff was 0.90*10-3 mm2/s. According to ADC values and T2-weighted imaging
      characteristics, masses were classified as either malignant or benign. Unenhanced
      MRI results were compared with final diagnoses obtained by histopathology or
      imaging surveillance, and diagnostic values were calculated. RESULTS: Of 156
      masses, 112 underwent biopsy. Four malignancies were diagnosed, three of which
      having ADC values lower than the cutoff. In women who rejected the biopsy, masses
      were stable during a follow-up of at least two years (n=44). MRI revealed 91%
      specificity and 99% negative predictive value (NPV) for detection of breast
      cancer. CONCLUSION: Combination of T2-weighted imaging with DWI is a feasible
      method to further characterize breast masses with a low probability of
      malignancy. With the use of unenhanced MRI instead of immediate biopsy, it might
      be possible to decrease negative biopsy rates of low-risk breast masses.

PMID- 25835082
TI  - PockDrug: A Model for Predicting Pocket Druggability That Overcomes Pocket
      Estimation Uncertainties.
AB  - Predicting protein druggability is a key interest in the target identification
      phase of drug discovery. Here, we assess the pocket estimation methods' influence
      on druggability predictions by comparing statistical models constructed from
      pockets estimated using different pocket estimation methods: a proximity of
      either 4 or 5.5 A to a cocrystallized ligand or DoGSite and fpocket estimation
      methods. We developed PockDrug, a robust pocket druggability model that copes
      with uncertainties in pocket boundaries. It is based on a linear discriminant
      analysis from a pool of 52 descriptors combined with a selection of the most
      stable and efficient models using different pocket estimation methods. PockDrug
      retains the best combinations of three pocket properties which impact
      druggability: geometry, hydrophobicity, and aromaticity. It results in an average
      accuracy of 87.9% +/- 4.7% using a test set and exhibits higher accuracy (~5-10%)
      than previous studies that used an identical apo set. In conclusion, this study
      confirms the influence of pocket estimation on pocket druggability prediction and
      proposes PockDrug as a new model that overcomes pocket estimation variability. 

PMID- 25835083
TI  - Population inversion in monolayer and bilayer graphene.
AB  - The recent demonstration of saturable absorption and negative optical
      conductivity in the Terahertz range in graphene has opened up new opportunities
      for optoelectronic applications based on this and other low dimensional
      materials. Recently, population inversion across the Dirac point has been
      observed directly by time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (tr
      ARPES), revealing a relaxation time of only ~130 femtoseconds. This severely
      limits the applicability of single layer graphene to, for example, Terahertz
      light amplification. Here we use tr-ARPES to demonstrate long-lived population
      inversion in bilayer graphene. The effect is attributed to the small band gap
      found in this compound. We propose a microscopic model for these observations and
      speculate that an enhancement of both the pump photon energy and the pump fluence
      may further increase this lifetime. 

PMID- 25835084
TI  - Reconstruction of Colloidal Spheres by Targeted Etching: A Generalized Self
      Template Route to Porous Amphoteric Metal Oxide Hollow Spheres.
AB  - Despite the significant progress in developing various synthetic strategies for
      metal oxide hollow spheres (h-MO), the so-far explored materials are mostly
      chemically inert metal oxides. Very few attempts have been made for amphoteric
      metal oxides such as Al2O3 and ZnO due to the difficulties in the control of the
      dissolution and recrystallization process. Herein, a facile self-template route
      to the synthesis of amphoteric h-MO with tunable size and shell thickness is
      developed by targeted etching via an acid-base reaction. With the protection of
      polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on the surface, the interior of metal oxide solid
      colloidal spheres (c-MOs) that possess radially divergent structures could be
      selectively etched with acid/alkali as an etchant, forming h-MO of Al2O3 and ZnO.
      Our results also show that a wide variety of metal oxide colloidal spheres can be
      potential self-templates for targeted etching, which paves the way for developing
      a generalized strategy for the synthesis of various metal oxide hollow spheres. 

PMID- 25835085
TI  - Grain-boundary-dependent CO2 electroreduction activity.
AB  - Uncovering new structure-activity relationships for metal nanoparticle (NP)
      electrocatalysts is crucial for advancing many energy conversion technologies.
      Grain boundaries (GBs) could be used to stabilize unique active surfaces, but a
      quantitative correlation between GBs and catalytic activity has not been
      established. Here we use vapor deposition to prepare Au NPs on carbon nanotubes
      (Au/CNT). As deposited, the Au NPs have a relatively high density of GBs that are
      readily imaged by transmission electron microscopy (TEM); thermal annealing
      lowers the density in a controlled manner. We show that the surface-area
      normalized activity for CO2 reduction is linearly correlated with GB surface
      density on Au/CNT, demonstrating that GB engineering is a powerful approach to
      improving the catalytic activity of metal NPs. 

PMID- 25835086
TI  - Author reply on: Relationship between development of urethral stricture after
      transurethral resection of prostate and glycemic control.

PMID- 25835087
TI  - Comparison of dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion weighted magnetic resonance
      image in staging and grading of carcinoma bladder with histopathological
      correlation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer is the second most common neoplasm of the urinary
      tract worldwide. Dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion-weighted MRI has been
      introduced in clinical MRI protocols of bladder cancer because of its accuracy in
      staging and grading. AIM: To evaluate and compare accuracy of Dynamic contrast
      enhanced (DCE) and Diffusion weighted (DW) MRI for preoperative T staging of
      urinary bladder cancer and find correlation between apparent diffusion
      coefficient (ADC) and maximum enhancement with histological grade. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Sixty patients with bladder cancer were included in study. All patients
      underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) on a 1.5-T scanner with a phased-array
      pelvic coil. MR images were evaluated and assigned a stage which was compared
      with the histolopathological staging. ADC value and maximum enhancement curve
      were used based on previous studies. Subsequently histological grade was compared
      with MR characteristics. RESULTS: The extent of agreement between the radiologic
      staging and histopathological staging was relatively greater with the DW-MRI
      (kappa=0.669) than DCE-MRI (kappa=0.619). The sensitivity, specificity, and
      accuracy are maximum and similar for stage T4 tumors in both DCEMRI (100.0, 96.2
      and 96.7) and DW-MRI (100.0, 96.2 and 96.7) while minimum for stage T2 tumors -
      DCEMRI (83.3, 72.2, and 76.7) and DWI-MRI (91.7, 72.2, and 80). CONCLUSION: MRI
      is an effective tool for determining T stage and histological grade of urinary
      bladder cancers. Stage T2a and T2b can be differentiated only by DCE-MRI. Results
      were more accurate when both ADC and DCE-MRI were used together and hence a
      combined approach is suggested.

PMID- 25835088
TI  - A Slow-Release Substrate Stimulates Groundwater Microbial Communities for Long
      Term in Situ Cr(VI) Reduction.
AB  - Cr(VI) is a widespread environmental contaminant that is highly toxic and
      soluble. Previous work indicated that a one-time amendment of polylactate
      hydrogen-release compound (HRC) reduced groundwater Cr(VI) concentrations for
      >3.5 years at a contaminated aquifer; however, microbial communities responsible
      for Cr(VI) reduction are poorly understood. In this study, we hypothesized that
      HRC amendment would significantly change the composition and structure of
      groundwater microbial communities, and that the abundance of key functional genes
      involved in HRC degradation and electron acceptor reduction would increase long
      term in response to this slowly degrading, complex substrate. To test these
      hypotheses, groundwater microbial communities were monitored after HRC amendment
      for >1 year using a comprehensive functional gene microarray. The results showed
      that the overall functional composition and structure of groundwater microbial
      communities underwent sequential shifts after HRC amendment. Particularly, the
      abundance of functional genes involved in acetate oxidation, denitrification,
      dissimilatory nitrate reduction, metal reduction, and sulfate reduction
      significantly increased. The overall community dynamics was significantly
      correlated with changes in groundwater concentrations of microbial biomass,
      acetate, NO3-, Cr(VI), Fe(II) and SO4(2-). Our results suggest that HRC amendment
      primarily stimulated key functional processes associated with HRC degradation and
      reduction of multiple electron acceptors in the aquifer toward long-term Cr(VI)
      reduction.

PMID- 25835089
TI  - Graphene-Diatom Silica Aerogels for Efficient Removal of Mercury Ions from Water.
AB  - A simple synthetic approach for the preparation of graphene-diatom silica
      composites in the form of self-assembled aerogels with three-dimensional networks
      from natural graphite and diatomite rocks is demonstrated for the first time.
      Their adsorption performance for the removal of mercury from water was studied as
      a function of contact time, solution pH, and mercury concentration to optimize
      the reaction conditions. The adsorption isotherm of mercury fitted well with the
      Langmuir model, representing a very high adsorption capacity of >500 mg of
      mercury/g of adsorbent. The prepared aerogels exhibited outstanding adsorption
      performance for the removal of mercury from water, which is significant for
      environmental applications. 

PMID- 25835090
TI  - Comparison of Clinical Features, Virulence, and Relapse among Mycobacterium avium
      Complex Species.
AB  - RATIONALE: Traditionally, Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) has been composed of
      M. avium and M. intracellulare; however, advances in genetic sequencing have
      allowed discovery of several novel species. With these discoveries, investigation
      of differences in risk factors, virulence, and clinical outcomes have emerged.
      OBJECTIVES: We conducted a retrospective cohort study evaluating all MAC isolates
      obtained from pulmonary specimens at our institution from 2000 to 2012 and
      investigated the clinical courses associated with distinct MAC species. METHODS:
      To classify isolates into distinct species, a multilocus sequence analysis using
      rpoB and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) as targets was performed. We reviewed
      patient medical records to analyze clinical characteristics and outcomes for the
      cohort. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of the isolates from the 448 included
      patients, 54% were M. avium, 18% were M. intracellulare, and 28% were M.
      chimaera. Using American Thoracic Society/Infectious Diseases Society of America
      criteria, patients whose isolates were identified as M. avium (adjusted odds
      ratio [AOR], 2.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-3.44) or M. intracellulare
      (AOR, 3.12; 95% CI, 1.62-5.99) were more likely to meet criteria for infection
      than patients with M. chimaera. Patients infected with M. chimaera were more
      likely to be prescribed an immunosuppressant compared with all other patients
      (AOR, 2.75; 95% CI, 1.17-6.40). Patients treated for infections with M. avium
      (AOR, 5.64; 95% CI, 1.51-21.10) and M. chimaera (AOR, 4.47; 95% CI, 1.08-18.53)
      were more likely to have a clinical relapse/reinfection than those with M.
      intracellulare. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that specific MAC species have
      varying degrees of virulence and classifying MAC isolates into distinct species
      aids in identifying which patients are at higher risk of clinical
      relapse/reinfection.

PMID- 25835091
TI  - Liposomal conjugates for drug delivery to the central nervous system.
AB  - Treatments of central nervous system (CNS) diseases often fail due to the blood
      brain barrier. Circumvention of this obstacle is crucial for any systemic
      treatment of such diseases to be effective. One approach to transfer drugs into
      the brain is the use of colloidal carrier systems-amongst others, liposomes. A
      prerequisite for successful drug delivery by colloidal carriers to the brain is
      the modification of their surface, making them invisible to the
      reticuloendothelial system (RES) and to target them to specific surface epitopes
      at the blood-brain barrier. This study characterizes liposomes conjugated with
      cationized bovine serum albumin (cBSA) as transport vectors in vitro in porcine
      brain capillary endothelial cells (PBCEC) and in vivo in rats using fluorescently
      labelled liposomes. Experiments with PBCEC showed that sterically stabilized
      (PEGylated) liposomes without protein as well as liposomes conjugated to native
      bovine serum albumin (BSA) were not taken up. In contrast, cBSA-liposomes were
      taken up and appeared to be concentrated in intracellular vesicles. Uptake
      occurred in a concentration and time dependent manner. Free BSA and free cBSA
      inhibited uptake. After intravenous application of cBSA-liposomes, confocal
      fluorescence microscopy of brain cryosections from male Wistar rats showed
      fluorescence associated with liposomes in brain capillary surrounding tissue
      after 3, 6 and 24 h, for liposomes with a diameter between 120 and 150 nm,
      suggesting successful brain delivery of cationized-albumin coupled liposomes. 

PMID- 25835092
TI  - Spinal cord toxoplasmosis in human immunodeficiency virus infection/acquired
      immunodeficiency syndrome.
AB  - Neurological complications in patients with human immunodeficiency virus
      infection/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) are still common, even in
      the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy. Opportunistic infections, immune
      reconstitution, the virus itself, antiretroviral drugs and neurocognitive
      disorders have to be considered when establishing the differential diagnosis.
      Toxoplasmic encephalitis remains the major cause of space-occupying lesions in
      the brain of patients with HIV/AIDS; however, spinal cord involvement has been
      reported infrequently. Here, we review spinal cord toxoplasmosis in HIV infection
      and illustrate the condition with a recent case from our hospital. We suggest
      that most patients with HIV/AIDS and myelitis with enhanced spine lesions,
      multiple brain lesions and positive serology for Toxoplasma gondii should receive
      immediate empirical treatment for toxoplasmosis, and a biopsy should be performed
      in those cases without clinical improvement or with deterioration. 

PMID- 25835093
TI  - Robot-integrated intraoperative ultrasound: Initial experience with hepatic
      malignancies.
AB  - PURPOSE: A new robotic surgery tool allows intraoperative ultrasound to be
      performed using a fully robotic technique. Herein, we evaluate the feasibility
      and reliability of robotically integrated ultrasound to guide resection of
      malignant hepatic tumors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A consecutive series of
      ultrasound-guided robotic resections of primary and secondary hepatic
      malignancies was analyzed in terms of perioperative data and specimen evaluation,
      focusing on the reliability of the new robot-integrated ultrasound probe.
      RESULTS: Ten consecutive patients underwent 15 robotic liver resections. Two
      patients were resected to excise primary hepatocellular cancers and eight
      underwent resections of liver metastases. R0 resections were achieved for all
      lesions. The median operative time was 247 min, and blood loss was limited. No
      mortality occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Our present analysis confirmed the reliability
      of fully robotic liver resection guided via robotically integrated ultrasonic
      assessment. Robotic surgery, particularly hepatic resection, may benefit greatly
      from better manageability, and the fact that the surgeon can directly manage both
      the operative and the diagnostic parts of the procedure.

PMID- 25835094
TI  - PCB 77 action in ovary cells--toxic effects, apoptosis induction and cell cycle
      analysis.
AB  - CONTEXT: PCB 77 (3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl), a non-ortho congener with planar
      configuration, has been identified as potential endocrine disrupter capable to
      increase the risk of reproductive and developmental failure. OBJECTIVE: In the
      present study, in vitro PCB 77 toxic potential, apoptosis induction and cell
      cycle alterations were investigated to reveal direct toxic effects on ovarian
      cells. METHODS: Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO-K1) cell line was selected as a model
      system and decreased cell viability was confirmed by application of four
      bioassays. Cellular morphology and quantitative analysis of apoptotic, necrotic
      and viable cells were determined with fluorescent microscopy and cell cycle phase
      distributions by measuring DNA content using flow cytometry. RESULTS: We have
      indicated Trypan blue exclusion assay as the most sensitive for quantifying
      cytotoxicity of PCB 77 in terms of IC50 values, while the results obtained by
      other methods pointed to a possible localized effect on the lysosomes/endosomes
      (Neutral red), compromised intracellular metabolic processes (MTT) and possible
      interferation with the rate of protein synthesis (Kenacid blue). The loss of cell
      viability, as a consequence of treatment with 10-100 MUM PCB 77, fundamentally
      was due to induction of apoptosis with observed common series of specific
      morphological changes characteristic to apoptotic phenomenon. The level of
      alterations of normal cell cycle progression was low without significant changes
      at analyzed time intervals. CONCLUSION: These results indicate toxic outcomes of
      PCB 77 at ovarian cellular level with regard to potential direct adverse effects
      to female reproductive system.

PMID- 25835095
TI  - Functional proteomics of the epigenetic regulators ASXL1, ASXL2 and ASXL3: a
      convergence of proteomics and epigenetics for translational medicine.
AB  - ASXL1, ASXL2 and ASXL3 are epigenetic scaffolds for BAP1, EZH2, NCOA1, nuclear
      receptors and WTIP. Here, functional proteomics of the ASXL family members are
      reviewed with emphasis on mutation spectra, the ASXM2 domain and the plant
      homeodomain (PHD) finger. Copy number gains of ASXL1 occur in chromosome 20q11.2
      duplication syndrome and cervical cancer. Truncation mutations of ASXLs occur in
      autism, Bohring-Opitz and related syndromes, hematological malignancies and solid
      tumors, such as prostate cancer, breast cancer and high-grade glioma, which are
      gain- or loss-of-function mutations. The ASXM2 domain is a binding module for
      androgen receptor and estrogen receptor alpha, while the PHD finger is a ligand
      of WTIP LIM domains and a putative chromatin-binding module. Phylogenetic
      analyses of 139 human PHD fingers revealed that ASXL PHD fingers cluster with
      those of BPTF, DIDO, ING1, KDM5A (JARID1A), KMT2E (MLL5), PHF2, PHF8 and PHF23.
      The cell context-dependent epigenetic code of ASXLs should be deciphered to
      develop therapeutics for human diseases. 

PMID- 25835097
TI  - [A breakthrough for the treatment of spasticity in multiple sclerosis].

PMID- 25835096
TI  - Pros and cons of fatty acids in bone biology.
AB  - Despite the growing interest in deciphering the causes and consequences of
      obesity-related disorders, the mechanisms linking fat intake to bone behaviour
      remain unclear. Since bone fractures are widely associated with increased
      morbidity and mortality, most notably in elderly and obese people, bone health
      has become a major social and economic issue. Consistently, public health system
      guidelines have encouraged low-fat diets in order to reduce associated
      complications. However, from a bone point of view, mechanisms linking fat intake
      to bone alteration remain quite controversial. Thus, after more than a decade of
      dedicated studies, this timely review offers a comprehensive overview of the
      relationships between bone and fatty acids. Using clinical evidences as a
      starting-point to more complex molecular elucidation, this work highlights the
      complexity of the system and reveals that bone alteration that cannot be solved
      simply by taking omega-3 pills. Fatty acid effects on bone metabolism can be both
      direct and indirect and require integrated investigations. Furthermore, even at
      the level of a single cell, one fatty acid is able to trigger several different
      independent pathways (receptors, metabolites...) which may all have a say in the
      final cellular metabolic response. 

PMID- 25835098
TI  - Food, the immune system, and the gastrointestinal tract.

PMID- 25835099
TI  - Identification of MMP-1 and MMP-9 inhibitors from the roots of Eleutherococcus
      divaricatus, and the PAMPA test.
AB  - The purpose of this study was the isolation of metalloproteinases MMP-1 and MMP-9
      inhibitors from the chloroform extract of the Eleutherococcus divaricatus roots.
      Using GC-MS, (1)H and (13)C NMR, HMQC, HMBC, COSY and DEPT, (+)-sesamin has been
      identified as a new anti-MMP inhibitor. We report for the first time that (+)
      sesamin inhibited MMP-1 and MMP-9 activity in 40% and 17%, respectively. The high
      inhibitory potential has been shown by ursolic acid (90.9% and 89.8% for MMP-1
      and MMP-9). In the PAMPA test, the Pe value for sesamin was established as 17.4 *
      10(-6) cm/s, that for ursolic acid as 30.0 * 10(- 6) cm/s. Verapamil and
      theophylline were used as a positive and negative control (Pe 42.1 and 2.9 * 10(
      6) cm/s). To our best knowledge, no information was available on this activity of
      sesamin and other compounds. These studies provide a biochemical basis for the
      regulation of MMP-1 and MMP-9 by E. divaricatus compounds.

PMID- 25835100
TI  - The efficacy and nephrotoxicity associated with colistin use in an intensive care
      unit in Vietnam: Use of colistin in a population of lower body weight.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There has been a growing need for colistin as a key drug for the
      treatment of MDR-GNB infection. Information on colistin use in Asian population
      is limited. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted to assess
      the efficacy and nephrotoxicity in critically ill adult patients who received
      intravenous colistin for MDR-GNB infection in the intensive care unit (ICU) at
      Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. Colistin was administered according to the
      dosing guideline that was based on pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and
      toxicodynamic principles, adjusted by body weight and creatinine clearance.
      RESULTS: Twenty-eight eligible patients were included. The mean patient age was
      60+/-20.4 years. The mean body weight was 53+/-8.6kg. The mean daily dose of
      colistin was 4.1+/-1.6 MIU, and the mean cumulative dose of colistin was 48.2+/
      22.8 MIU. Colistin therapies were classified as clinically effective in 19
      (67.9%) cases. Six (21.4%) patients developed nephrotoxicity during the study
      period according to RIFLE criteria. CONCLUSION: A personalized dosing protocol of
      colistin was effective, with low nephrotoxicity, among critically ill Vietnamese
      patients with low body weight. Further studies are warranted for assessing the
      efficacy and toxicity in a larger cohort.

PMID- 25835101
TI  - Spontaneous ascitic fluid infection and bacteremia due to Yersinia
      pseudotuberculosis in a liver transplant patient.
AB  - We report herein a case of bacteremic ascitic fluid infection in a liver
      transplant patient caused by a strain of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis serogroup I
      that lost the yersiniabactin core. The patient's outcome was favorable after a
      combined therapy with a third-generation cephalosporin and gentamicin. 

PMID- 25835102
TI  - Klebsiella oxytoca with reduced sensitivity to chlorhexidine isolated from a
      diabetic foot ulcer.
AB  - In most hospitals, chlorhexidine is used as skin antiseptic prior to clinical
      procedures, in dressings and when bathing patients. We hereby report, for the
      first time, the isolation of a clinical Klebsiella oxytoca isolate with reduced
      sensitivity to chlorhexidine from a foot ulcer of a diabetic patient, which is a
      common and serious complication associated with diabetes. The Minimum Inhibitory
      Concentration of the K. oxytoca isolate to chlorhexidine was found to be 30 mg/L
      and the Minimum Bactericidal Concentration was 60 mg/L. An increased resistance
      to ethidium bromide (MIC 200 mg/ L) was also observed. Molecular tests revealed
      that the isolate contained blaCTXM15, blaT(EM-1) and bla(SHV). The other
      resistant genes detected were qnrB1 and aac(6')-Ib-cr. The resistant determinants
      were located on a class I integron integrase (intI1) containing qacE gene. DNA
      sequencing showed homology to K. oxytoca plasmid pACM1. Identification of K.
      oxytoca with reduced sensitivity to chlorhexidine raises concern regarding
      dilution standards in hospitals. Adherence to the hospitals' infection control
      policies should be strictly monitored to avoid continuous low level exposure of
      bacteria to biocides, specifically in developing countries.

PMID- 25835103
TI  - Leptospirosis presenting as honeymoon fever.
AB  - An increasing number of travelers from western countries visit tropical regions,
      questioning western physicians on the prophylaxis, the diagnosis and the
      therapeutic management of patients with travel-associated infection. In July
      2014, a French couple stayed for an adventure-travel in Columbia without malaria
      prophylaxis. A week after their return the woman presented with fever, myalgia,
      and retro-orbital pain. Three days later, her husband presented similar symptoms.
      In both patients, testing for malaria, arboviruses and blood cultures remained
      negative. An empirical treatment with doxycycline and ceftriaxone was initiated
      for both patients. Serum collected from the female patient yielded positive IgM
      for leptospirosis but was negative for her husband. Positive Real-Time PCR were
      observed in blood and urine from both patients, confirming leptospirosis. Three
      lessons are noteworthy from this case report. First, after exclusion of malaria,
      as enteric fever, leptospirosis and rickettsial infection are the most prevalent
      travel-associated infections, empirical treatment with doxycycline and third
      generation cephalosporin should be considered. In addition, the diagnosis of
      leptospirosis requires both serology and PCR performed in both urine and blood
      samples. Finally, prophylaxis using doxycycline, also effective against
      leptospirosis, rickettsial infections or travellers' diarrhea should be
      recommended for adventure travelers in malaria endemic areas. 

PMID- 25835104
TI  - Variant achalasia, the hole of the original classification.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: High-resolution manometry (HRM) is a useful tool for classifying
      esophageal motility disorders. However, there remain findings that cannot be
      classified in clinical fields. Recently, an updated classification system was
      announced. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether originally
      unclassifiable groups can now be classified according to the updated Chicago
      Classification system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the results of HRM
      studies performed from January 2008 to December 2010 on 150 consecutive patients
      (75 men, age 17-76) referred to the Gospel Hospital manometry laboratory for
      evaluation. We found originally unclassified results and re-categorized them
      according to the updated Chicago Classification system. RESULTS: Thirty-seven of
      150 patients were originally unclassified cases. Patients from the unclassified
      and classified groups had similar distributions of age and sex. All unclassified
      patients were re-diagnosed as having variant achalasia according to the updated
      Chicago Classification system. CONCLUSION: The updated Chicago Classification can
      categorize originally unclassified groups of esophageal motility disorder.

PMID- 25835105
TI  - A functional study of the esophagus in patients with non-cardiac chest pain and
      dysphagia.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Nutcracker esophagus and non-specific motility disorders are the
      main causes of non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP), with gastroesophageal reflux in 60%
      of cases. Achalasia and diffuse esophageal spasm are the most frequent anomalies
      described in patients with dysphagia. The goal of this study was to evaluate the
      occurrence of esophageal body and lower esophageal sphincter motor abnormalities
      in patients with dysphagia, NCCP, or both. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a
      retrospective analysis of 716 patients with NCCP and/or dysphagia tested between
      January 1994 and December 2010. 1023 functional studies were performed, 707 of
      which were esophageal manometries, 225 esophageal pH-meters, and 44 bilimetries.
      We divided the patients into three groups: group 1 was composed of patients
      affected with dysphagia, group 2 with NCCP and group 3 with NCCP and dysphagia.
      RESULTS: Manometric anomalies were detected in 84.4% of cases (p<0.001). The most
      frequent esophageal motility alteration was achalasia (36%). The lower esophageal
      sphincter was normal in 45.9% of patients (p<0.001). In all 3 groups, 80.9%,
      98.8%, and 93.8, respectively, of patients showed normal upper esophageal
      sphincter (p=0.005). CONCLUSION: Our data differs from those of other studies
      because they were collected from and analyzed by a single tertiary level referral
      center by a single examiner. This could have eliminated the variability found in
      different hands and different experiences. The high percentage of symptomatic
      patients with non-pathologic esophageal motility pattern suggests an unclear
      origin of the disease, with possible neuromuscular involvement. As a result,
      these patients may need more-detailed diagnostic studies.

PMID- 25835106
TI  - P53, KI-67, CD117 expression in gastrointestinal and pancreatic neuroendocrine
      tumours and evaluation of their correlation with clinicopathological and
      prognostic parameters.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Gastrointestinal and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEPNETs)
      originate from the cells of the endocrine system. Their molecular genetic
      mechanism of development and progression is complex and remains largely unknown.
      The purpose of this study was to review the gastrointestinal and pancreatic
      neuroendocrine tumors and to evaluate p53, Ki-67 and CD 117 expressions with
      their clinicopathological correlations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-one
      patients were reviewed and classified as having well-differentiated
      neuroendocrine neoplasm (WDET, Grade I), well-differentiated neuroendocrine
      carcinoma (WDEC, Grade II) and poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma
      (PDEC, Grade III). We performed immunohistochemical tests to characterize the
      expession of the immunoreactivity for synaptophysin, chromogranin, p53, Ki67 and
      CD 117. RESULTS: Median age of 21 patients was 43 years. Thirteen (61.9%)
      patients were male and eight (38.1%) patients were female. Tumors were located in
      the stomach (38.1%), appendix (38.1%), duodenum (4.8%), ileum (4.8%), colon
      (9.5%), and pancreas (4.8%). CONCLUSION: There was a statistically significant
      difference between well-differentiated endocrine neoplasm (Grade I), and well
      differentiated endocrine carcinoma (WDEC, Grade II) and PDEC for Ki-67 >20%
      (p<0.001) (Pearson chi-square test). There was a statistically significant
      difference between WDET (Grade I), WDEC (Grade II) and PDEC (Grade III) for p53
      positivity (p<0.05) (Pearson chi-square test).

PMID- 25835107
TI  - The diagnostic value of endoscopic narrow band imaging in helicobacter pylori
      gastritis in children.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: In this study we aimed to investigate the sensitivity and
      specificity of Narrow Band Imaging (NBI) in H. pylori gastritis and compare them
      with those of rapid urease test and urea breath test. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A
      hundred sixty-five children who admitted to Uludag University Pediatric
      Gastroenterology Unit between October 2009-March 2011 with upper gastrointestinal
      symptoms were consecutively enrolled. During the endoscopy procedure gastric
      corporeal, antral and fundal images were obtained, afterwards the same areas were
      visualized with narrow band imaging and images were recorded again. RESULTS: The
      study included 68 (41.2%) boys and 97(58.8%) girls. The mean age of the patients
      were 11.88+/-4.55. Tissue culture positivity and/or histopathological staining
      for H. pylori was determined in 56 (33.9%) patients (Group 1) and the other
      patients (n:109, 43.6%) didn't have an evidence of H. pylori infection (Group 2).
      Narrow band images have supported H. pylori infection in 56.4%. The sensitivity
      of narrow band images for determining H. pylori infection was 92.86% (95% CI 82.7
      98), specificity was 62.39% (95% CI 52.6-71.5). CONCLUSION: Our study is the
      first to show the role of NBI in diagnosing H. pylori infection in children, as
      well as determining the sensitivity and specificity of the technique. The
      specificity is low; however, we suggest that the specific mucosal view of H.
      pylori gastritis provided by NBI is useful for identifying the areas from which
      the biopsies should be taken. Moreover, by using this technique, treatment of H.
      pylori infection may be initiated immediately without performing rapid urease
      test and without waiting for histopathology report and tissue culture.

PMID- 25835108
TI  - Gastric polyps and polypoid lesions: Retrospective analysis of 36650 endoscopic
      procedures in 29940 patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The frequency of gastric polyps increases with the widespread
      use of endoscopy for diagnosis and treatment. As gastric polyps can be malignant
      or premalignant, histopathological evaluation is needed. The aim of this study is
      to determine the prevalence and characteristics of gastric polyps in patients
      undergoing endoscopy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study consisted of a
      retrospective analysis of 36650 consecutive endoscopy and associated pathology
      reports of 29940 patients between December 2005 and February 2012 in a tertiary
      referral center. RESULTS: Gastric polypoid lesions were detected in 666 (2.22%)
      patients. Hyperplastic polyps were the most common type of polyps (36.2%),
      followed by fundic gland polyps (8.3%), inflammatory fibroid polyps (2.4%) and
      adenomatous polyps (1.9%). Foveolar hyperplasia, neuroendocrine tumor, xanthoma,
      gastrointestinal stromal tumor, adenocarcinoma and lymphoma were less commonly
      seen. Malignant transformation was seen in 0.42% of hyperplastic polyps and in
      23.1% of adenomatous polyps. CONCLUSION: Endoscopic appearance of gastric polyps
      can be variable, distinguishing macroscopically can be misleading. Because of
      their malignant potential histopathological evaluation is mandatory and
      polypectomy should be performed whenever possible.

PMID- 25835109
TI  - Low-dose ramosetron accelerates gastric emptying in the early phase: A crossover
      study in healthy volunteers using a continuous real-time 13C breath test
      (BreathID System).
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between
      low-dose ramosetron pre-treatment and gastric emptying using a novel, non
      invasive technique for measuring gastric emptying, namely, the continuous real
      time 13C breath test (BreathID system: Exalenz Bioscience Ltd., Israel).
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve healthy male volunteers participated in this
      randomized two-way crossover study. The subjects fasted overnight and were
      randomly assigned to receive the test meal (200 kcal per 200 mL) after an hour
      pre-treatment with 5 ug ramosetron or the test meal alone. Gastric emptying was
      monitored for 4 hours after administration of the test meal with the 13C-acetic
      acid breath test performed continuously using the BreathID system. Using Oridion
      Research Software (beta version), T 1/2, T lag, GEC and the regression-estimated
      constants (beta and kappa) were calculated. The differences in the parameters
      measured at two time-points were analyzed using Wilcoxon's signed-rank test.
      RESULTS: There was a significant difference in the calculated parameter beta. No
      significant differences in the calculated parameters T 1/2, T lag, GEC or kappa
      were observed between the test meal with ramosetron group and the test meal alone
      group. CONCLUSION: This study showed that ramosetron pre-treatment enhances the
      early gastric emptying of liquid nutrients.

PMID- 25835110
TI  - Assessment of 35 children with abdominal tuberculosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: To contribute to the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric
      abdominal tuberculosis cases by assessing the clinical, laboratory, and
      radiological features of patients who presented at our clinic and were diagnosed
      with abdominal tuberculosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical, laboratory, and
      radiological features were reviewed retrospectively for 35 patients diagnosed
      with abdominal tuberculosis and followed up at the Pediatric Infectious Diseases
      Clinic between January 1987 and August 2012. RESULTS: The study group included 16
      female (45.7%) and 19 male (54.3%) patients with an age range of 6 months to 16
      years (mean: 9.77+/-4.36 years). Twenty-nine patients were diagnosed with
      tuberculosis peritonitis, five patients with intestinal tuberculosis, and one
      patient with pelvic tuberculosis. The most common signs and symptoms were
      ascites, abdominal pain, abdominal distention, weight loss, and fever. Mean
      duration of the complaints was 109 days (range: 10 days to 3 years). CONCLUSION:
      Abdominal tuberculosis is a disease with an insidious course without disease
      specific clinical and laboratory signs. When the disease is suspected,
      laparoscopy or laparotomy could be helpful in diagnosis. Employing ultrasound and
      computed tomography signs, abdominal tuberculosis should be included in
      differential diagnoses in regions with a high incidence of tuberculosis when
      there is abdominal pain, weight loss, ascites, history of contact with
      individuals with tuberculosis, and positive tuberculin skin test when patients
      have not been Bacillus Calmette Guerin BCG vaccinated.

PMID- 25835111
TI  - Different effect of smoking on genders in Crohn's disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Smoking is a well-established environmental risk factor in
      Crohn's disease (CD). The study was aimed to investigate possible gender
      differences in the effect of smoking on the course of CD, with a special focus on
      selected immune parameters such as Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokines and regulatory T cells
      (Tregs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A group of 55 adults with CD was enrolled to the
      study. The analysis of clinical, demographic and immunological characteristics of
      patients was performed according to their smoking status and gender. Values were
      considered significant when p<=0.05. RESULTS: Patients who smoked, particularly
      females, more frequently suffered from a moderate-to-severe form of the disease,
      requiring glucocorticoid and immunosuppressive therapies. Smokers, particularly
      females, were also hospitalized and underwent surgeries more frequently than non
      smokers. Cytometric analysis showed higher levels of serum proinflammatory
      cytokines and lower levels of peripheral Tregs in female smokers and former
      smokers, comparing to males from these subgroups. CONCLUSION: Presented results
      demonstrate that in all investigated subgroups, particularly however among
      current smokers and former smokers, female patients seemed to be more affected by
      CD. Females developed more severe form of the disease and experienced the onset
      earlier than men. The imbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory factors
      observed in CD patients was also more distinct in female smokers and former
      smokers, comparing to males, and could substantially contribute to the severity
      of the disease. Exposure to smoking seems to be one of the environmental factors
      contributing to the gender differences in CD.

PMID- 25835112
TI  - The impact of anorectal biofeedback therapy on the quality of life of patients
      with dyssynergic defecation.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Dyssynergic defecation is a common health problem affecting the
      quality of life of patients adversely. We aimed to evaluate the impact of
      biofeedback therapy on the quality of life of constipated patients due to
      dyssynergic defecation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Constipated patients due to
      dyssynergic defecation were enrolled to the study. Patients having secondary
      causes of constipation and who didn't fulfill the eligible criteria were
      excluded. All the patients underwent three to ten sessions each of which was
      thirty minutes biofeedback therapy under the supervision of a trained nurse.
      After one month the patients were assessed for the control. The impact of
      biofeedback therapy on the quality of life of patients having dyssynergic
      defecation was assessed using the validated Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36
      (SF-36) questionnaire before and one month after therapy. RESULTS: Thirty-two
      patients (20 female 62.5%, 12 male 37.5% and mean age 48 (18-72) underwent three
      to ten sessions biofeedback therapy. Post-therapy improvements of subscores of SF
      36 consists of eight domains were all statistically significant when we compared
      with the pre-therapy values. CONCLUSION: This study showed not only the
      effectiveness of biofeedback as a therapy modality for constipation but also its
      impact on the improvement of QOL of constipated patients due to dyssynergic
      defecation. Patients with chronic constipation not improved by dietary fiber and
      laxatives should be referred to specialized centers that have facilities for
      further anorectal physiological assessments.

PMID- 25835113
TI  - Epidemiology of colorectal cancer in Turkey: A cross-sectional disease registry
      study (A Turkish Oncology Group trial).
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study aimed to determine the epidemiological
      characteristics of colorectal cancer in Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this
      multicenter, prospective, and cross-sectional registry study, data for 968
      patients with colorectal cancer from 21 centers in 7 geographic regions were
      analyzed. RESULTS: Diagnosis was colon cancer in 662 (68.4%) and rectum cancer in
      306 (31.6%) patients. In total, 60.9% of patients was male; mean age was 58.9+/
      12.6 years. Among patients, 15.0% was drinking alcohol, 17.5% was smoking, 1.5%
      had familial history of polyposis, 15.0% had diabetes mellitus, 1.0% had
      inflammatory bowel disease. Fruit and vegetable consumption was low (<3
      times/week) in 35.5% and red meat consumption was high (>=3 times/week) in 47.4%
      of the patients. Median time-to diagnosis was 3.0 months and 4.0 months for
      patients with colon and rectum cancer, respectively. Mean body mass index was >25
      in all group of patients. Distal rectum (61.3%) and sigmoid colon (36.8%) were
      the most common locations of cancer, for rectum and colon respectively. In total,
      85.6% of patients were operated; 25.8% had emergency surgery. Low anterior
      resection rate was 64.2% in rectum cancer. In majority (89.8%) of the patients
      with rectum cancer who received preoperative treatment, conventional chemo
      radiotherapy regimen was given. pTNM staging at diagnosis showed that stage III
      and IV patients were in majority (35.9% and 29.7%, respectively). CONCLUSION:
      Colon cancer is more frequent than rectum cancer in Turkey. Colorectal cancer
      patients are diagnosed at later stages. Most of the cases were operated.
      Interregional differences for risk factors are worthwhile for evaluation in
      future trials.

PMID- 25835114
TI  - Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) gene polymorphisms and the risk of sporadic colorectal
      cancer and polyps among Jordanian population.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) is a crucial enzyme involved in the
      metabolism of Prostaglandins and it has been implicated in several processes.
      This study was done to investigate the associations of polymorphisms in COX2 gene
      with the risk of colorectal cancer or polyps development among Jordanian
      population and to correlate with other ethnicities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One
      hundred and thirty five cases (135) of colorectal carcinoma were studied for COX2
      -A1195G polymorphisms employing PCR-RFLP technique, in addition to 104 cases of
      adenomatous polyps and 115 matched controls taken from the general population.
      RESULTS: Sixty eight colorectal cancer patients were males and 67 of patients
      were females with a median age of (58.0+/-13.9 year). Sixty six (66) of polyp
      cases were males and 38 were females with a median age of (58.1+/-14.16). The A
      1195G AA carriers were 3.1 times less likely to develop CRC (95% CI: 1.8-5.3,
      p<0.0001), and 1.8 times less likely to develop polyps (95% CI: 0.99-3.2,
      p=0.056).The A-1195G AG carriers were at higher risk to develop cancer in a dose
      dependent manner. The AG carriers were 2.9 time more likely to develop CRC and
      two times more likely to develop polyps when compared to controls. The A allele
      was more predominant in controls than in polyps or CRC cases. Carriers of the A
      allele were 1.6 times less likely to develop polyps and 2.6 times less likely to
      develop CRC. CONCLUSION: The presence of the COX-2 -1195AA genotype may protect
      against risk of developing colorectal cancer.

PMID- 25835115
TI  - The long-term mortality of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in cirrhotic
      patients: A 3-year nationwide cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: There is no nationwide population-based study for the long-term
      mortality after single episode of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) in
      cirrhotic patients. Our study showed the short-term and long-term mortalities,
      and identified the mortality risk of SBP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The National
      Health Insurance Database, derived from the Taiwan National Health Insurance
      program, was used to collect data from 16,992 cirrhotic patients. These cirrhotic
      patients were classified into three groups: SBP group (n=451, 2.7%), ascites
      without SBP group (n=2,564, 15.1%), and non-ascites (n=13,977, 82.3%) group. Each
      patient was followed up to 3 years after the initial hospitalization. RESULTS:
      The 30-day mortalities in SBP, ascites without SBP, and non-ascites groups were
      24.2%, 14.1%, and 8.1%, respectively. The 3-year mortalities in SBP, ascites
      without SBP, and non-ascites groups were 66.5%, 61.1%, and 41.5%. After Cox's
      regression analysis adjusted by the patients' age, gender, and underlying medical
      disorders, the SBP patients (hazard ratio=2.52) and ascites without SBP patients
      (hazard ratio=1.91) have higher risk for 3-year mortality than those without
      ascites. CONCLUSION: Cirrhotic patients with SBP have a 2.5-fold increase of 3
      year mortality, compared to those without ascites.

PMID- 25835116
TI  - The efficacy and the immunomodulatory effect of rifaximin in prophylaxis of
      spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in cirrhotic Egyptian patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and the
      immunomodulatory effect of rifaximin as another promising prophylactic therapy
      against spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) in cirrhotics. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Seventy cirrhotic patients with ascites were included in the study.
      Patients were divided into two groups in a randomized single-blind fashion. Group
      one (n=40) received rifaximin and group two (n=30) received norfloxacin (control
      group). The treatment duration was 6 months. Serum levels of tumor necrosis
      factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6 ( IL-6), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were
      the primary inflammatory markers of the study to evaluate the effect of the
      medications used. RESULTS: Three months after treatment, five cases on
      norfloxacin therapy showed SBP, whereas all cases on rifaxmine therapy were free
      from SBP. In addition, there was no significant difference between patients on
      rifaximin and norfloxacin therapy with respect to TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-10
      serum levels (p>0.05). Furthermore, patients on both rifaximin and norfloxacin
      therapies showed a statistically significant decrease in TNF-alpha and IL-6 serum
      levels compared with their baseline levels (p=0.000 and p=0.000, respectively).
      In contrast, serum IL-10 showed a statistically significant increase in both
      groups in comparison with its baseline level (p>0.00). Six-month after treatment,
      patients on rifaximin therapy showed more effective remission from SBP than those
      on norfloxacin therapy. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the use of rifaximin not only
      prevents bacterial translocation but also modulates the immune response of the
      inflammatory and the anti-inflammatory cytokines in SBP patients. However, the
      efficacy and the immunomodulatory effect of rifaximin in the prophylaxis of SBP
      in cirrhotics needs further prospective large-scale, double-blind studies.

PMID- 25835117
TI  - 18F-FDG activitiy PET/CT and CA-19.9 levels for the prediction of
      histopathological features and localization of peri- ampullary tumors.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: We sought to investigate the roles of maximum standardized
      uptake value (SUVmax) and serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) in predicting
      the histopathological features of periampullary tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Thirty-four patients with histologically confirmed periampullary tumors were
      classified into two groups, according to the localizations of their tumors
      (ampulla Vateri or pancreas). SUVmax was obtained from [(18)F]-fluorodeoxyglucose
      positron emission tomography computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT). SUVmax and CA
      19-9 levels were measured and compared with histopathological features of the
      tumors. Logistic regression was used to assess the significance and independence
      of predictive factors. RESULTS: 18F-FDG PET/CT SUVmax (<2.5 vs. >=2.5; p=0.031)
      and CA 19-9 level (normal vs. elevated; p=0.045) were significantly and
      independently predictive of the histopathological origin of the tumors (ampulla
      Vateri vs. pancreas). The ratio of CA 19-9 levels and SUVmax were found to be
      higher in cases of poorly differentiated tumors and tumors greater than 2 cm in
      diameter. CONCLUSION: A surgical approach to treatment may be considered for
      patients who have both i) an established or suspected diagnosis of periampullary
      tumors and ii) low SUVmax and CA 19-9 levels.

PMID- 25835118
TI  - Mutation analysis of PRSS1, SPINK1 and CFTR gene in patients with alcoholic and
      idiopathic chronic pancreatitis: A single center study.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: A relation between some genetic mutations and chronic
      pancreatitis (CP) has been reported. However, the relation of genetic mutation to
      alcoholic CP (ACP) and idiopathic CP (ICP) still remains controversial. In this
      study, we investigated the prevalence of protease serine 1 (PRSS1), serine
      protease inhibitor, Kazal type 1 (SPINK1) SPINK1 and cystic fibrosis
      transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) mutations in ACP and ICP patients in
      Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-one patients with ACP and 38 patients with
      ICP were enrolled, and 35 healthy individuals served as controls. The PRSS1 and
      SPINK1 mutations were investigated by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
      restriction fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) technique. The CFTR mutation was
      examined with PCR direct sequencing. RESULTS: The mean ages of the ACP, ICP and
      healthy control groups were 53.2, 40.4 and 46.3 years, respectively. A CFTR F508
      mutation was detected as a heterozygote in one (2.4%) patient with ACP. In the
      ICP and control populations, PRSS1, SPINK1 and CFTR mutations were not detected.
      CONCLUSION: This study shows that PRSS1, SPINK1 and CFTR mutations do not play a
      role in ACP and ICP patients.

PMID- 25835119
TI  - Effects of preoperative and postoperative enteral nutrition on postoperative
      nutritional status and immune function of gastric cancer patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Effects of preoperative one week enteral nutrition (EN) support
      on the postoperative nutritional status, immune function and inflammatory
      response of gastric cancer patients were investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 106
      cases of gastric cancer patients were randomly divided into preoperative one week
      EN group (trial group) and early postoperative EN group (control group), which
      were continuously treated with EN support until the postoperative 9th day
      according to different treatment protocols. All the patients were checked for
      their body weight, skinfold thickness, upper arm circumference, white blood cell
      count (WBC), albumin (ALB), prealbumin (PA), C-reactive protein (CRP), humoral
      immunity (IgA, IgG), T cell subsets (CD4, CD8 and CD4/CD8), interleukin-6 (IL-6),
      tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), etc. on the preoperative and the
      postoperative 1st and 10th day, respectively. RESULTS: PA and IgG levels of the
      experimental group were higher than those of the control group on the
      postoperative 10th day, whereas IL-6 level of the experimental group was lower
      than that of the control group. CONCLUSION: EN support for preoperative gastric
      cancer patients will improve the postoperative nutritional status and immune
      function, alleviate inflammatory response, and facilitate the recovery of
      patients.

PMID- 25835120
TI  - Megabulbus in endoscopy; suspect for superior mesenteric artery syndrome in
      children.
AB  - Rarity of Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome (SMAS) and necessity of invasive
      tests to verify the diagnosis leads to patients receiving symptom-oriented drugs
      for a long period without any definite diagnosis. Diagnostic tests such as barium
      series, abdominal CT scan, abdominal angiography or magnetic resonance
      arteriography are used in patients with suspected SMAS. In pediatric patients, a
      non-invasive SMAS diagnosis may be considered easily with abdominal ultrasound
      performed by experienced hands. Megabulbus is used as a radiological term;
      however, reviewing the literature an endoscopic definition for megabulbus was not
      found. We decided to mention severely dilated pyloric ring and bulb as
      megabulbus. Megabulbus might be an indicator for SMAS. This is the first case of
      SMAS in adult and pediatric age groups presenting with megabulbus. 

PMID- 25835121
TI  - Face skin hyperpigmentation during pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy.

PMID- 25835122
TI  - A case of upper extremity thrombosis in patient with ulcerative colitis.

PMID- 25835123
TI  - Idiopathic abdominal cocoon syndrome: Preoperative diagnosis with computed
      tomography.

PMID- 25835124
TI  - Subcutaneous and muscular metastasis of the colorectal cancer on F-18 FDG PET/CT.

PMID- 25835125
TI  - Verneuil's disease: A case report and literature review.

PMID- 25835126
TI  - Self-Assembly and Collagen-Stimulating Activity of a Peptide Amphiphile
      Incorporating a Peptide Sequence from Lumican.
AB  - The self-assembly and bioactivity of a peptide amphiphile (PA) incorporating a 13
      residue sequence derived from the last 13 amino acids of the C-terminus of
      lumican, C16-YEALRVANEVTLN, attached to a hexadecyl (C16) lipid chain have been
      examined. Lumican is a proteoglycan found in many types of tissue and is involved
      in collagen fibril organization. A critical aggregation concentration (cac) for
      the PA was determined through pyrene fluorescence measurements. The structure of
      the aggregates was imaged using electron microscopy, and twisted and curved
      nanotapes were observed. In situ small-angle X-ray scattering and fiber X-ray
      diffraction reveal that these tapes contain interdigitated bilayers of the PA
      molecules. FTIR and circular dichroism spectroscopy and fiber X-ray diffraction
      indicate that the lumican sequence in the PA adopts a beta-sheet secondary
      structure. Cell assays using human dermal fibroblasts show that below the cac the
      PA displays good biocompatibility and also stimulates collagen production over a
      period of 3 weeks, exceeding a 2-fold enhancement for several concentrations.
      Thus, this PA has promise in future biological applications, in particular, in
      tissue engineering. 

PMID- 25835127
TI  - Pianists exhibit enhanced memory for vocal melodies but not piano melodies.
AB  - Nonmusicians remember vocal melodies (i.e., sung to la la) better than
      instrumental melodies. If greater exposure to the voice contributes to those
      effects, then long-term experience with instrumental timbres should elicit
      instrument-specific advantages. Here we evaluate this hypothesis by comparing
      pianists with other musicians and nonmusicians. We also evaluate the possibility
      that absolute pitch (AP), which involves exceptional memory for isolated pitches,
      influences melodic memory. Participants heard 24 melodies played in four timbres
      (voice, piano, banjo, marimba) and were subsequently required to distinguish the
      melodies heard previously from 24 novel melodies presented in the same timbres.
      Musicians performed better than nonmusicians, but both groups showed a comparable
      memory advantage for vocal melodies. Moreover, pianists performed no better on
      melodies played on piano than on other instruments, and AP musicians performed no
      differently than non-AP musicians. The findings confirm the robust nature of the
      voice advantage and rule out explanations based on familiarity, practice, and
      motor representations. 

PMID- 25835128
TI  - High-field transport in graphene: the impact of Zener tunneling.
AB  - We study, theoretically, the impact of Zener tunneling (the generation of
      electron-hole pairs by the electric field) on the charge-transport properties of
      graphene in the high-field regime. We model Zener tunneling in a rigorous way,
      using the quantum master equation for the density matrix. In the presence of
      Zener tunneling, a steady-state can be reached only by further including an
      efficient mechanism for the electron thermalization such as electron-electron
      scattering. We treat the effects of electron-electron relaxation within a
      simplified model, that assumes an instantaneous separate thermalization of the
      electrons in the conduction band and of the holes in the valence band. The
      inclusion of both Zener tunneling and electron-electron relaxation improves the
      agreement with measurements performed in graphene in the high-field regime at low
      doping. 

PMID- 25835129
TI  - Segregating phototransduction from morphogenesis in photoreceptor outer segments.

PMID- 25835131
TI  - Latex urinary catheters for the short-time drainage.

PMID- 25835130
TI  - Incomplete Blinking May Attribute to the Development of Meibomian Gland
      Dysfunction.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between meibomian gland dysfunction
      (MGD) and incomplete blinking caused by cranial nerve seven (CN VII) palsy.
      METHODS: A prospective case series of 60 consecutive patients with unilateral CN
      VII palsy was evaluated for MGD. According to the House-Brackmann scale, patients
      were divided into complete or incomplete blinking group, with the incomplete
      group further subdivided to early, middle or late stage according to the
      paralysis duration. Schirmer's I test, tear break-up time (BUT), superficial
      punctate keratopathy, eyelid abnormality, ability and quality of meibum
      expression were evaluated. Unaffected contralateral eyes were used as control for
      comparison. RESULTS: A paired sample t-test between affected and unaffected eyes
      demonstrated a significant difference for BUT, superficial punctate keratopathy,
      eyelid abnormality, ability and quality of meibum expression in the incomplete
      blinking group. However, only BUT showed significant difference between affected
      and unaffected eyes in complete blinking group. Furthermore, we showed that
      paralysis duration was related to the incidence of MGD. Significant difference
      was demonstrated between the affected and unaffected eyes for superficial
      punctate keratopathy, eyelid abnormality, ability and quality of meibum
      expression in the middle and late stage, but not early stage. CONCLUSIONS: These
      findings suggest that the inability to blink completely induced by CN VII palsy
      for more than one week might contribute to the development of MGD. Clinical
      optimization of blinking may ameliorate MGD symptom and benefit CN VII palsy
      patients.

PMID- 25835132
TI  - A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of "on-demand"
      tramadol for treatment of premature ejaculation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to assess the dose-related effects of
      tramadol on a group of patients with premature ejaculation (PE). SUBJECTS AND
      METHODS: During the period of months between June 2010 and July 2012, 180 PE
      patients presented to outpatient clinic of our hospital. Patients were randomized
      in a 1:1:1 fashion to receive different sequences of the three medications:
      placebo, 50 mg of tramadol and 100 mg of tramadol. Every patient received 10
      doses of each medication for 2 months. Intra-vaginal ejaculatory latency time
      (IELT) was recorded in seconds initially and for each arm. Successful treatment
      of PE is defined if IELT exceeded 120 s. Side-effects of medications were
      reported. RESULTS: Of patients enrolled, 125 (69.4%) continued the study.
      Patients' age range was 20-55 years with PE complaint of 1 to 10 years duration.
      Mean IELT was 72 at presentation, 82 for placebo, 150 for tramadol 50 mg, and 272
      for tramadol 100 mg (P < 0.001 for all comparisons). PE was successfully treated
      in only 2.4% of patients with placebo, in contrast to 53.6% and 85.6% with 50 and
      100 mg tramadol, respectively (P < 0.001 for all comparisons). On multivariate
      logistic regression analysis, baseline IELT was the only predictor of successful
      treatment of PE with both tramadol 50 mg (odds ratio [OR]: 1.05, 95% confidence
      interval [CI]: 1.03-1.07, P < 0.001) and tramadol 100 mg (OR: 1.07, 95% CI: 1.04
      1.11, P < 0.001). Postmicturition dribble annoyed 12.8% of those who received 50
      mg tramadol and 33.6% of those who received 100 mg tramadol (P < 0.001). Weak
      scanty ejaculation was the main complaint in 7.2% versus 21.6% of those using 50
      and 100 mg tramadol, respectively (P = 0.002). Two patients discontinued tramadol
      100 mg due to side-effects. CONCLUSION: Tramadol hydrochloride exhibits a
      significant dose-related efficacy and side-effects over placebo for treatment of
      PE.

PMID- 25835133
TI  - [Not to do].

PMID- 25835134
TI  - [Certainties and doubts about the management of acute pharyngitis].

PMID- 25835135
TI  - [Childhood obesity prevention from a community view].
AB  - The percentage of failure and relapse in the treatment of obesity is high. Where
      possible, the preferred strategy for preventing obesity is to modify eating
      habits and lifestyles. This article aims to provide a framework for evidence on
      the most effective interventions for addressing childhood obesity, both from a
      prevention point of view, as well as reducing it, when it is already established.
      After a review of the scientific literature, the issues that must be considered
      both in the universal and selective prevention of childhood obesity are
      presented. Also, in light of the controversy over the tools for measuring and
      controlling the problem, some clarification is provided on the criteria. Finally,
      the approach to the prevention of overweight and obesity with a community
      perspective is separated, with two short protocols being offered with diagrams of
      the basic procedure to follow. 

PMID- 25835136
TI  - The observation of an ipsilateral carotid canal hypoplasia cannot be used to
      ascertain the congenital nature of a carotid artery occlusion.

PMID- 25835137
TI  - Commentary: Consistency and collapsibility: are they crucial for instrumental
      variable analysis with a survival outcome in mendelian randomization?

PMID- 25835138
TI  - In utero SSRI exposure and risk of clubfoot.

PMID- 25835139
TI  - The authors respond.

PMID- 25835141
TI  - Alternative splicing in plants: directing traffic at the crossroads of adaptation
      and environmental stress.
AB  - In recent years, high-throughput sequencing-based analysis of plant
      transcriptomes has suggested that up to ~60% of plant gene loci encode
      alternatively spliced mature transcripts. These studies have also revealed that
      alternative splicing in plants can be regulated by cell type, developmental
      stage, the environment, and the circadian clock. Alternative splicing is coupled
      to RNA surveillance and processing mechanisms, including nonsense mediated decay.
      Recently, non-protein-coding transcripts have also been shown to undergo
      alternative splicing. These discoveries collectively describe a robust system of
      post-transcriptional regulatory feedback loops which influence RNA abundance. In
      this review, we summarize recent studies describing the specific roles
      alternative splicing and RNA surveillance play in plant adaptation to
      environmental stresses and the regulation of the circadian clock. 

PMID- 25835142
TI  - Radial head arthroplasty, 11 years experience: A series of 82 patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The indications for radial head arthroplasty are essentially complex
      fractures with ligament damage (medial, lateral or Essex-Lopresti), and/or
      associated with bone damage (coronoids or olecranon). The aim of this study is to
      review our experience with the use of a radial head prosthesis in the context of
      a trauma. MATERIAL AND METHOD: An observational, descriptive and retrospective
      study, with a follow-up of 1- 11 years, was performed on a study group of 82
      patients with a mean age of 41.6 (+/- 9.2) years. The inclusion criteria were:
      patients of working age (25-64 years) with complex radial head fractures (Mason
      II, III, IV), with soft tissue and bone injuries that caused instability, non
      reconstructable by osteosynthesis and treated using arthroplasty. The primary
      variables analysed were social demographics, Mason classification, or surgical
      aspects such as delay, surgical time, type of prosthesis (where the bipolar
      prosthesis was most used, 88.6%), need of fixation or further surgery.
      Rehabilitation time, causes of prosthesis failure, radiological findings
      (according to Van-Riet), areas of loosening (according to Popovic), as well as
      the Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS) and the Cassebaum scale. Various
      associated injuries were observed, such as injuries in the lateral collateral
      ligament of the elbow in 39% of cases, coronoid fractures in 25.6%, and an
      olecranon fracture in 15.9% of the series. There was one case of an Essex-
      Lopresti injury. The tests used for the statistical analysis were Chi squared and
      Fisher test for categorical variables and contingency tables. The Mann Whitney U
      or Kruskall Wallis tests were used for the numerical variables. Evidence level:
      IV. RESULTS: The mean surgical time was 100 (+/- 56.8) minutes. The prosthesis
      was fixed in 53.8% of cases. The mean score on the MEPS scale was 80.4 (+/- 19.3)
      points, being good-excellent in 71.6%. The elbow was stable in 93.7% of cases.
      There was moderate instability, with 10 degrees  or more in varus or valgus, and
      in 1.3% in the rest of the series. The rehabilitation time was lower in the fixed
      cases (P=.03), and there was greater rigidity (P=.03) and more sequelae
      (limitations in mobility, residual pain), (P<0.05) in the cases where the LCL had
      to be repaired (given that there were other serious injuries in these cases).
      When the surgical delay was less than one week, better results were obtained on
      the Cassebaum scale (P=.02), as well as more excellent results on the MEPS scale
      MEPS (P=.02). The prosthesis was removed in 11 cases (13.4%), with the main cause
      for removal being pain in pronosupination in 5 cases, and capitellar injuries in
      4 cases, one dislocation, and one infections. The most frequent complication was
      rigidity (30.5%). There were 3 infections (3.7%). Popovic areas 1 and 7 had
      greater osteolysis. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of concomitant bone and ligament
      injuries determined a longer surgical time and more sequelae. Early surgery would
      achieve better clinical results.

PMID- 25835143
TI  - Recurrent seizures, mental retardation and extensive brain calcinosis related to
      delayed diagnosis of hypoparathyroidism in an adolescent boy.
AB  - Reports of adolescent patients presenting with intractable seizures and mental
      retardation secondary to idiopathic hypothyroidism are uncommon in the
      literature. In this case, we report a 17-year-old boy who developed recurrent
      seizures, mental retardation and extensive brain calcinosis related to delayed
      diagnosis of hypoparathyroidism. Hypoparathyroidism can be easily missed in
      children and adolescents, and may lead to irreversible neurologic sequelae. This
      case highlights the need to consider hypocalcemia in any patient with
      uncontrolled seizures.

PMID- 25835144
TI  - Osteoblastic cells trigger gate currents on nanocrystalline diamond transistor.
AB  - We show the influence of osteoblastic SAOS-2 cells on the transfer
      characteristics of nanocrystalline diamond solution-gated field-effect
      transistors (SGFET) prepared on glass substrates. Channels of these fully
      transparent SGFETs are realized by hydrogen termination of undoped diamond film.
      After cell cultivation, the transistors exhibit about 100* increased leakage
      currents (up to 10nA). During and after the cell delamination, the transistors
      return to original gate currents. We propose a mechanism where this triggering
      effect is attributed to ions released from adhered cells, which depends on the
      cell adhesion morphology, and could be used for cell culture monitoring. 

PMID- 25835145
TI  - Hybridization of different antisense oligonucleotides on the surface of gold
      nanoparticles to silence zinc metalloproteinase gene after uptake by Leishmania
      major.
AB  - The use of antisense oligonucleotides is a novel strategy to treat infectious
      diseases. In this approach, vital mRNAs are targeted by antisense
      oligonucleotides. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of gold
      nanoparticles hybridized with different antisense oligonucleotides on Leishmania
      (L) major. In this project, gold nanoparticles were first synthesized, and then
      conjugated with primary oligonucleotides, 3'-AAA-5'. Next, conjugated gold
      nanoparticles (NP1) were separately hybridized with three types of antisense
      oligonucleotide from coding reign of GP63 gene (NP2), non-coding reign of GP63
      gene (NP3), and both coding and non-coding reigns of GP63 (NP4). Then, 1mL of L.
      major suspension was separately added to 1mL of different hybridized gold
      nanoparticles at serial concentrations (1-200MUg/mL), and incubated for 24, 48,
      and 72h at 37 degrees C. Next, the uptake of each nanoparticle was separately
      measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy. After incubation, the cell viability
      was separately evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium
      bromide assay. Also, the expression of GP63 gene was read out by quantitative
      real-time PCR. This study showed that NP2 and NP3 had higher (5-fold) uptake than
      NP1 and NP4. Moreover, NP2 and NP3 led to less cell viability and gene
      expression, compared with NP1 and NP4. It could be concluded that both sequence
      and size of antisense oligonucleotide were important for transfection of L.
      major. Importantly, these antisense oligonucleotides can be obtained from both
      coding and non-coding reign of GP63 gene. Moreover, hybridized gold nanoparticles
      not only could silence GP63 gene, but also could kill L. major. 

PMID- 25835146
TI  - Dynamic surface properties of lysozyme solutions. Impact of urea and guanidine
      hydrochloride.
AB  - Urea and guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl) have different influence on surface
      properties of lysozyme solutions. The increase of GuHCl concentration leads to
      noticeable changes of kinetic dependencies of the dynamic surface elasticity and
      ellipsometric angles while the main effect of urea reduces to a strong drop of
      the static surface tension. The difference between the effects of these two
      denaturants on the surface properties of other investigated globular proteins is
      significantly weaker and is mainly a consequence of a different extent of the
      globule unfolding in the surface layer at equal concentrations of the
      denaturants. The obtained results for lysozyme solutions are connected with the
      strongly different denaturation mechanisms under the influence of urea and GuHCl.
      In the former case the protein preserves its globular structure in the adsorption
      layer at high urea concentrations (up to 9M) but without tightly packed interior
      of the globule and with a dynamic tertiary structure (molten globule state). On
      the contrary, the increase of GuHCl concentration leads to partial destruction of
      the protein tertiary structure in the surface layer, although this effect is not
      as strong as in the case of previously studied bovine serum albumin and beta
      lactoglobulin. 

PMID- 25835147
TI  - Decompression induced bubble dynamics on ex vivo fat and muscle tissue surfaces
      with a new experimental set up.
AB  - Vascular gas bubbles are routinely observed after scuba dives using ultrasound
      imaging, however the precise formation mechanism and site of these bubbles are
      still debated and growth from decompression in vivo has not been extensively
      studied, due in part to imaging difficulties. An experimental set-up was
      developed for optical recording of bubble growth and density on tissue surface
      area during hyperbaric decompression. Muscle and fat tissues (rabbits, ex vivo)
      were covered with nitrogen saturated distilled water and decompression
      experiments performed, from 3 to 0bar, at a rate of 1bar/min. Pictures were
      automatically acquired every 5s from the start of the decompression for 1h with a
      resolution of 1.75MUm. A custom MatLab analysis code implementing a circular
      Hough transform was written and shown to be able to track bubble growth sequences
      including bubble center, radius, contact line and contact angles over time.
      Bubble density, nucleation threshold and detachment size, as well as coalescence
      behavior, were shown significantly different for muscle and fat tissues surfaces,
      whereas growth rates after a critical size were governed by diffusion as
      expected. Heterogeneous nucleation was observed from preferential sites on the
      tissue substrate, where the bubbles grow, detach and new bubbles form in turn. No
      new nucleation sites were observed after the first 10min post decompression start
      so bubble density did not vary after this point in the experiment. In addition, a
      competition for dissolved gas between adjacent multiple bubbles was demonstrated
      in increased delay times as well as slower growth rates for non-isolated bubbles.

PMID- 25835148
TI  - Expression of hepatic cytochrome P450s and UDP-glucuronosyltransferases in PXR
      and CAR double humanized mice treated with rifampicin.
AB  - Nuclear receptor humanized mice models have been developed to predict regulation
      of drug metabolizing enzyme by xenobiotics. However, limited information is
      available concerning xenobiotic-induced regulation of drug metabolizing enzymes
      in multiple nuclear receptor humanized mice. The present study investigated the
      hepatic regulation of cytochrome P450s (CYPs) and UDP-glucuronosyltransferases
      (UGTs) in the pregnane X receptor (PXR) and the constitutive androstane receptor
      double humanized mice treated with rifampicin (RIF; 10mg/kg) for 4 days. RIF
      increased hepatic microsomal protein and total CYP contents, and CYP reductase
      activity in the humanized mice, but not in normal mice. Moreover, hepatic
      induction of Cyp2b10, Cyp2c, and Cyp3a11 were observed only in the RIF-treated
      humanized mice, suggesting that the humanized mice are sensitive to RIF with
      respect to the regulation of the hepatic CYP system. Hepatic UGT activities using
      estradiol, serotonin, and mefenamic acid, but not chenodeoxycholic acid as
      substrates, increased in the RIF-treated humanized mice, and the glucuronidation
      activities of estradiol and chenodeoxycholic acid increased in RIF-treated normal
      mice. These results raise the possibility that a PXR-independent mechanism may be
      involved in hepatic regulation of UGTs by RIF. 

PMID- 25835149
TI  - Temporal variation and interaction of full size spectrum Alcian blue stainable
      materials and water quality parameters in a reservoir.
AB  - This paper reports on the fate of different fractions of Alcian blue (AB)
      stainable material in Pao-Shan reservoir, Taiwan, in a one-year study (2013-2014)
      and an intensive study during phytoplankton bloom (2014). The interactions
      between the fractions, including AB stained particles, particle and colloidal
      transparent exopolymer particles (pTEP and cTEP), dissolved acid polysaccharide
      (dAPS), and their relationship to other water quality parameters were analyzed.
      The Flow Cytometer and Microscope (FlowCAM) was for first time used to
      characterize AB stained particles. The results of the one-year study likely
      showed relationships of pTEP concentration to phytoplankton count and chlorophyll
      a, while in the intensive study, AB stained particles abundance and pTEP
      concentration were correlated neither phytoplankton count nor chlorophyll a, but
      strongly positively correlated with some phytoplankton species' abundance. The
      difference indicates that sampling frequency and phytoplankton composition should
      be addressed for studying the links between AB stained fractions and
      phytoplankton. The interaction between different AB stained fractions further
      suggests that the majority of AB stained particles and pTEP would be directly
      generated by some phytoplankton species, whereas their abiotic generation by cTEP
      or dAPS may only have contributed partly to their formation. This differs from
      previous studies which generally posited that pTEP are mainly formed abiotically
      from dissolved precursors. Successful application of FlowCAM for visualization of
      AB stained particles recommends this technique by which particle morphologies can
      be conserved and morphological features of particle can be simultaneously
      elucidated. 

PMID- 25835151
TI  - Determination of iohexol in human serum by a semi-automated liquid chromatography
      tandem mass spectrometry method.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Measured glomerular filtration rate (mGFR) is the best indicator of
      renal function in children and adolescents. GFR determination using iohexol
      clearance has been increasingly accepted and applied in clinical practice because
      it is accurate, readily available, non-radioactive, safe and is used
      intravenously even in the presence of renal disease. This study describes the
      development and evaluation of a semi-automated method for determination of
      iohexol in human serum using liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray
      ionization (ESI) tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). DESIGN AND METHODS: Iohexol
      was extracted from serum using a MICROLAB(r) NIMBUS4 automation robot and
      supernatant was dried under nitrogen gas and reconstituted in mobile phase.
      Ioversol was used as the internal standard. Chromatography was performed using a
      C-8 analytical column (Phenomenex, 3 MUm, 50 * 3.0 mm I.D.) at room temperature
      and a gradient LC method on a Waters 2795 Alliance HT HPLC system. The flow rate
      was 0.5 mL/min and the retention times were 2.36 min and 2.14 min for iohexol and
      ioversol, respectively. Detection by MS/MS was achieved using a (Micromass
      Quattro Micro) tandem mass spectrometer operated in the ESI-positive mode. The
      multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) method used ion transitions m/z 821.9 to 803.7
      for iohexol and m/z 807.9 to 588.7 for ioversol. Method validation studies were
      conducted to determine the linearity, accuracy, precision, matrix effects and
      stability. A method comparison of blinded, residual patient samples was conducted
      with a well-established method. RESULTS: The method was linear from 7.7 MUg/mL to
      2000.0 MUg/mL. The low limit of quantification and the detection limit were
      established at 7.7 and 3.0 MUg/mL, respectively. Within-run and between-run
      precisions were found to be <6% CV and measured values deviated no more than 5%
      from target concentrations. Carryover and matrix effects were not significant.
      Comparison to a well-established method showed very good agreement with
      correlation coefficient of 0.996 for iohexol and 0.993 for GFR/1.73 m(2).
      CONCLUSIONS: This method accurately and precisely quantifies iohexol in 50 MUL of
      serum, enabling determination of mGFR by iohexol clearance. The method is highly
      correlated to a reference method. Use of an automated liquid handler reduces
      labor-intensive, manual sample preparation steps. The stability of this analyte
      and the robustness of this assay fit well within our clinical workflow and we
      have successfully applied this method to determine mGFR in pediatric patients.

PMID- 25835152
TI  - Evaluation of a HbA1c point-of-care analyzer.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A better glycemic monitoring of diabetic patients and avoiding
      complications of poorly controlled diabetes could be possible with point-of-care
      testing technology (POCT) for HbA1c determination. B-Analyst(r) was studied to
      check whether it complied with the quality requirements for this purpose. DESIGN
      AND METHODS: We evaluated the B-Analyst(r) (Menarini Diagnostics), which is based
      in the principle of latex agglutination immunoturbidimetry, to assess the
      validity of the technique of HbA1c. We carried out the method comparison with the
      HA-8180(r) (Menarini Diagnostics) as a reference method [High Performance Liquid
      Chromatography (HPLC)]. We assessed the analytical quality of the B-Analyst(r)
      studying the accuracy: inter-assay variability and intra-assay study.
      Furthermore, possible interferences by hemoglobinopathies were studied. RESULTS:
      Regression analysis of the data for the method comparison between HA-8180(r) and
      B-Analyst(r) showed a slope of 1.0085 and an intercept of 0.1208. The Pearson's
      correlation coefficient was 0.9958 (p<0.0001). Bias study showed a mean
      difference from B-Analyst(r) with respect to HA-8180(r) of 0.1872 with a 95%
      confidence interval. The standard error of the estimate (Syx) was 0.2091. The
      concordance correlation coefficient to assess accuracy was 0.9922 (0.9891
      0.9945). The CV for the inter-assay study was 1.4%. For the intra-assay study we
      analyzed 3 samples with different HbA1c % whose CV were 1.03% [4.7% HbA1c (28
      mmol/mol)], 0.46% [6.4% HbA1c (46 mmol/mol)] and 0.78% [8.1% HbA1c (65
      mmol/mol)]. CONCLUSION: The B-Analyst(r) evaluated not only showed good
      correlation with HA-8180(r), but also it presented a great accuracy both in the
      inter-assay and in the intra-assay studies. The B-Analyst(r) complies with
      quality specifications required for monitoring of diabetic patients.

PMID- 25835153
TI  - The advent of genome-wide association studies for bacteria.
AB  - Significant advances in sequencing technologies and genome-wide association
      studies (GWAS) have revealed substantial insight into the genetic architecture of
      human phenotypes. In recent years, the application of this approach in bacteria
      has begun to reveal the genetic basis of bacterial host preference, antibiotic
      resistance, and virulence. Here, we consider relevant differences between
      bacterial and human genome dynamics, apply GWAS to a global sample of
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomes to highlight the impacts of linkage
      disequilibrium, population stratification, and natural selection, and finally
      compare the traditional GWAS against phyC, a contrasting method of mapping
      genotype to phenotype based upon evolutionary convergence. We discuss strengths
      and weaknesses of both methods, and make suggestions for factors to be considered
      in future bacterial GWAS. 

PMID- 25835154
TI  - Guiding bioprocess design by microbial ecology.
AB  - Industrial bioprocess development is driven by profitability and eco-efficiency.
      It profits from an early stage definition of process and biocatalyst design
      objectives. Microbial bioprocess environments can be considered as synthetic
      technical microbial ecosystems. Natural systems follow Darwinian evolution
      principles aiming at survival and reproduction. Technical systems objectives are
      eco-efficiency, productivity, and profitable production. Deciphering technical
      microbial ecology reveals differences and similarities of natural and technical
      systems objectives, which are discussed in this review in view of biocatalyst and
      process design and engineering strategies. Strategies for handling opposing
      objectives of natural and technical systems and for exploiting and engineering
      natural properties of microorganisms for technical systems are reviewed based on
      examples. This illustrates the relevance of considering microbial ecology for
      bioprocess design and the potential for exploitation by synthetic biology
      strategies. 

PMID- 25835155
TI  - Label-free surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy detection of DNA with single-base
      sensitivity.
AB  - Direct, label-free detection of unmodified DNA is a great challenge for DNA
      analyses. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a promising tool for DNA
      analyses by providing intrinsic chemical information with a high sensitivity. To
      address the irreproducibility in SERS analysis that hampers reliable DNA
      detection, we used iodide-modified Ag nanoparticles to obtain highly reproducible
      SERS signals of single- and double-strand DNA in aqueous solutions close to
      physiological conditions. The phosphate backbone signal was used as an internal
      standard to calibrate the absolute signal of each base for a more reliable
      determination of the DNA structure, which has not been achieved before. Clear
      identification of DNA with single-base sensitivity and the observation of a
      hybridization event have been demonstrated. 

PMID- 25835156
TI  - [Tinea pedis due to Fusarium solani in Dakar].
AB  - A patient presented with intertrigo at the second, third and fourth interdigitals
      spaces lasting for four years in which Fusarium solani was highlighted. The
      search for contributing factors revealed a concept of foot washing with water at
      least five times a day for ablutions, associated with wearing closed shoes all
      day and the absence of immunosuppression and diabetes. The diagnosis of Fusarium
      was made on the basis of direct examination and culture. Combined treatment with
      griseofulvin oral and topical ciclopirox was introduced and allowed healing after
      45 days at which an antifungal powder was prescribed for relay. This case adds to
      the rare cases of intertrigo Fusarium sp. and confirms the frequent practice of
      ablutions as favoring factor.

PMID- 25835157
TI  - Updating the epidemiology of dermatophyte infections in Palestine with special
      reference to concomitant dermatophytosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the epidemiology of dermatophytosis in Palestinian
      patients, detect changes in the etiological agents during the last three decades,
      and to correlate between concomitant tinea pedis infections, and other cutaneous
      lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 220 suspected dermatophytosis patients were
      involved in this study. In an additional 38 cases, where consultation was
      prompted by tinea pedis, the presence of other lesions of concomitant
      dermatophytosis was studied, to further investigate the diagnosis. Clinical
      specimens were collected and identification of dermatophyte species was based on
      gross and microscopic morphology. RESULTS: Epidemiology of tinea capitis has gone
      the most radical changes in Palestine in the last three decades, with the
      zoophilic dermatophyte Microsporum canis replacing Trichophyton violaceum,
      becoming the predominant causative agent. During this study, 21.6% (38/176)
      patients with tinea pedis and concomitant lesions caused by the same
      dermatophytes at sites distant from the primary lesions in the foot were
      prospectively identified. About 63.2% of patients with tinea pedis have a
      concomitant toenail onychomycosis infection. CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiology of
      dermatophytosis, especially tinea capitis, has gone the most radical changes in
      Palestine in the last three decades, with M. canis replacing T. violaceum, and
      becoming the predominant causative agent of all cases of infections. The
      coexistence of tinea pedis with other types of fungal skin infections is a
      frequent phenomenon; we believe that the infected foot may be a site of primary
      infection. Thus, the effective therapy for tinea pedis is essential to prevent
      spreading the infection to other sites of the skin.

PMID- 25835158
TI  - Sinus balloon catheter dilation in pediatric chronic rhinosinusitis resistant to
      medical therapy.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Sinus balloon catheter dilation (SBCD) has been used for chronic
      rhinosinusitis (CRS). It is necessary to evaluate its effect on children with
      CRS. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of SBCD on pediatric CRS in China.
      DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A prospective case-control study was conducted
      from October 1, 2012, to May 31, 2013, in an academic tertiary referral hospital.
      Participants included a total of 79 patients, aged 7 to 12 years, with CRS
      resistant to medical therapy. INTERVENTIONS: Medical or SBCD treatment of
      pediatric CRS. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Age, sex, and results of computed
      tomographic scan, SBCD (case group) or conservative treatment (control group),
      sinonasal-5 questionnaire (SN-5), and visual analog scale (VAS) were analyzed and
      compared. RESULTS: Data from 79 of 96 patients who had complete follow-up
      documents were statistically analyzed (42 boys; 37 girls; mean [SD] age, 9.3
      [1.7] years). Compared with the preoperative scores, the SN-5 and VAS scores in
      children with CRS who underwent SBCD with or without adenoidectomy were
      significantly lower at 3 months (2.5 vs 4.3 for SN-5; P < .001; 3.1 vs 5.2 for
      VAS; P < .001) and at 1 year (2.9 vs 4.3 for SN-5; P = .001; 3.1 vs 5.2 for VAS;
      P < .001). Both SN-5 and VAS scores in the control group were significantly
      decreased at 3 months (3.1 vs 4.2 for SN-5; P = .001; 3.9 vs 5.1 for VAS; P <
      .001) but not significantly changed at 12 months (3.8 vs 4.2 for SN-5; P = .01;
      4.9 vs 5.1 for VAS; P = .54). The SN-5 and VAS scores in the SBCD group were
      significantly lower than those for controls at 3 months (2.5 vs 3.1 for SN-5; P =
      .003; 3.1 vs 3.9 for VAS; P = .01) and at 1 year after surgery (2.9 vs 3.8 for SN
      5; P < .001; 3.1 vs 4.9 for VAS; P < .001). By the 12-month SN-5 score
      evaluation, the rates of marked, moderate, and mild improvement were
      significantly better in the SBCD group (52% [22 of 42], 26% [11 of 42], and 14%
      [6 of 42], respectively) than in the control group (14% [5 of 37], 19% [7 of 37],
      and 11% [4 of 37], respectively) (P < .05 for all comparisons). CONCLUSIONS AND
      RELEVANCE: The SBCD procedure is a safe and effective technique for pediatric CRS
      resistant to medical therapy.

PMID- 25835159
TI  - Solid-State Solvation and Enhanced Exciton Diffusion in Doped Organic Thin Films
      under Mechanical Pressure.
AB  - Direct modification of exciton energy has been previously used to optimize the
      operation of organic optoelectronic devices. One demonstrated method for exciton
      energy modification is through the use of the solvent dielectric effects in doped
      molecular films. To gain a deeper appreciation of the underlying physical
      mechanisms, in this work we test the solid-state solvation effect in molecular
      thin films under applied external pressure. We observe that external mechanical
      pressure increases dipole-dipole interactions, leading to shifts in the Frenkel
      exciton energy and enhancement of the time-resolved spectral red shift associated
      with the energy-transfer-mediated exciton diffusion. Measurements are performed
      on host:dopant molecular thin films, which show bathochromic shifts in
      photoluminescence (PL) under increasing pressure. This is in agreement with a
      simple solvation theory model of exciton energetics with a fitting parameter
      based on the mechanical properties of the host matrix material. We measure no
      significant change in exciton lifetime with increasing pressure, consistent with
      unchanged aggregation in molecular films under compression. However, we do
      observe an increase in exciton spectral thermalization rate for compressed
      molecular films, indicating enhanced exciton diffusion for increased dipole
      dipole interactions under pressure. The results highlight the contrast between
      molecular energy landscapes obtained when dipole-dipole interactions are
      increased by the pressure technique versus the conventional dopant concentration
      variation methods, which can lead to extraneous effects such as aggregation at
      higher doping concentrations. The present work demonstrates the use of pressure
      probing techniques in studying energy disorder and exciton dynamics in amorphous
      molecular thin films. 

PMID- 25835160
TI  - Budesonide/Formoterol for bronchiolitis obliterans after hematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation.
AB  - RATIONALE: Systemic steroids are the standard treatment for bronchiolitis
      obliterans syndrome (BOS) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation (HSCT) despite their poor efficacy and disabling side effects.
      OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness and tolerance of budesonide/formoterol
      as an alternative treatment for BOS after HSCT. METHODS: In this randomized,
      double-blind, placebo-controlled study, we randomly assigned 32 HSCT recipients
      with mild/severe BOS to receive budesonide/formoterol or placebo for 6 months.
      The primary outcome was the change in the FEV1 after 1 month of treatment (M1)
      compared with the baseline value. Patients were unblinded at M1 if there was no
      improvement in the FEV1. Those who had initially received placebo were switched
      to budesonide/formoterol. Intention-to-treat analysis was performed to assess the
      primary outcome. Additional analyses took scheduled treatment contamination into
      account. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: At M1, the median FEV1 increased by 260
      ml in the budesonide/formoterol arm compared with 5 ml in the placebo arm (P =
      0.012). The median increases in the FEV1 at M1 relative to the baseline value for
      the treated and placebo groups were 13 and 0%, respectively (P = 0.019). Twenty
      five patients received budesonide/formoterol during the study. The median
      difference in the FEV1 between the baseline and after 1 month of treatment for
      these patients was +240 ml (P = 0.0001). The effect of budesonide/formoterol on
      the FEV1 was maintained in the 13 patients who completed 6 months of treatment.
      CONCLUSIONS: Budesonide/formoterol administration led to a significant
      improvement in the FEV1 in patients with mild/severe BOS after allogeneic HSCT.
      Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00624754).

PMID- 25835162
TI  - Report sheds new light on veterinary employment.
AB  - Findings range from wage implications of internships to veterinarians' wish to
      work fewer hours

PMID- 25835163
TI  - Ideas for research into feral cat management.

PMID- 25835164
TI  - What is your diagnosis? Seminal vesicle disease.

PMID- 25835165
TI  - ECG of the Month. Third-degree AV block with sick sinus syndrome.

PMID- 25835166
TI  - Theriogenology question of the month. Lymphangioma of the spermatic cord.

PMID- 25835167
TI  - Correction: Comparison of anamnestic responses to rabies vaccination in dogs and
      cats with current and out-of-date vaccination status.

PMID- 25835168
TI  - Pathology in practice. Parvoviral myocarditis in a dog.

PMID- 25835169
TI  - Pathology in practice. Chylous ascites with secondary neutrophilic inflammation
      in a foal.

PMID- 25835170
TI  - Urine protein-to-creatinine concentration ratio in samples collected by means of
      cystocentesis versus manual compression in cats.
AB  - Objective-To compare urine protein-to-creatinine concentration (UPC) ratios in
      samples collected by means of cystocentesis versus manual compression in cats.
      Design-Evaluation study. Animals-43 client-owned cats requiring urinalysis.
      Procedures-In all cats, 5 mL of urine from the midstream phase of micturition was
      collected by means of manual compression and, subsequently, an additional 5 mL of
      urine was obtained by means of ultrasound-guided cystocentesis. A complete
      urinalysis was performed on all samples, and UPC ratios were determined. Results
      Cats were classified on the basis of the International Renal Interest Society
      substaging system as being free from proteinuria (UPC ratio, < 0.2; n = 19) or as
      having borderline proteinuria (UPC ratio, 0.2 to 0.4; 7) or proteinuria (UPC
      ratio, > 0.4; 17). None of the cats had postrenal proteinuria. A significant
      linear correlation was identified between UPC ratios in urine samples obtained by
      means of manual compression and ratios in samples obtained by means of
      cystocentesis. For all cats, UPC ratios for samples obtained by the 2 collection
      methods resulted in classification in the same IRIS substage. Conclusions and
      Clinical Relevance-Results suggested that collection of a urine sample from the
      midstream phase of micturition by manual compression would be a reliable
      alternative to cystocentesis for the determination of UPC ratio in cats, provided
      that postrenal proteinuria was excluded by means of urine sediment analysis. Once
      postrenal proteinuria was ruled out, the method used to collect urine samples did
      not appear to influence the quantification of urine protein concentration. 

PMID- 25835171
TI  - Ultrasonographic anatomy of bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine which organs can be reliably visualized
      ultrasonographically in bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps), describe their normal
      ultrasonographic appearance, and describe an ultrasonographic technique for use
      with this species. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. ANIMALS: 14 healthy bearded
      dragons (6 females and 8 males). PROCEDURES: Bearded dragons were manually
      restrained in dorsal and sternal recumbency, and coelomic organs were evaluated
      by use of linear 7- to 15-MHz and microconvex 5- to 8-MHz transducers.
      Visibility, size, echogenicity, and ultrasound transducer position were assessed
      for each organ. RESULTS: Coelomic ultrasonography with both microconvex and
      linear ultrasound transducers allowed for visualization of the heart, pleural
      surface of the lungs, liver, caudal vena cava, aorta, ventral abdominal vein,
      gallbladder, fat bodies, gastric fundus, cecum, colon, cloaca, kidneys, and
      testes or ovaries in all animals. The pylorus was visualized in 12 of 14 animals.
      The small intestinal loops were visualized in 12 of 14 animals with the linear
      transducer, but could not be reliably identified with the microconvex transducer.
      The hemipenes were visualized in 7 of 8 males. The adrenal glands and spleen were
      not identified in any animal. Anechoic free coelomic fluid was present in 11 of
      14 animals. Heart width, heart length, ventricular wall thickness, gastric fundus
      wall thickness, and height of the caudal poles of the kidneys were positively
      associated with body weight. Testis width was negatively associated with body
      weight in males. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results indicated coelomic
      ultrasonography is a potentially valuable imaging modality for assessment of most
      organs in bearded dragons and can be performed in unsedated animals.

PMID- 25835173
TI  - Comparison of laparoscopic versus conventional open cryptorchidectomies on
      intraoperative and postoperative complications and duration of surgery,
      anesthesia, and hospital stay in horses.
AB  - Objective-To compare surgical preparation time, surgery and anesthesia times,
      hospitalization duration, and intra- and postoperative complications between
      laparoscopic and conventional open cryptorchidectomy in horses. Design
      Retrospective cohort study. Animals-60 horses that underwent cryptorchidectomy.
      Procedures-Medical records were reviewed to identify horses that had undergone
      cryptorchidectomy from 1991 to 2012. Thirty horses that underwent laparoscopic
      cryptorchidectomy (case horses) were matched with 30 control horses that had
      undergone open cryptorchidectomy (ie, inguinal and parainguinal surgical
      approaches). Horses were matched according to history of previous surgery,
      testicle location, and type of closure following removal of an undescended
      unilateral testicle. Duration of surgery, surgical preparation and anesthesia
      times, hospitalization duration, and number of intra- and postoperative
      complications were compared between horses that underwent laparoscopic
      cryptorchidectomy versus open cryptorchidectomy. Comparisons were also made
      between horses in terms of whether there was a history of previous failed
      cryptorchidectomy or unknown location of testicle prior to surgery. Results
      Horses that underwent laparoscopic cryptorchidectomy had significantly longer
      surgery and anesthesia times overall, compared with horses that underwent open
      cryptorchidectomy. No difference in surgery time was found between case and
      control horses that had a previous surgical attempt to remove an undescended
      testicle or in which the testicle location was unknown prior to surgery. Overall,
      horses undergoing laparoscopy had a nonsignificant increase in intraoperative
      complications, compared with control horses, and had significantly more
      postoperative complications. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-Horses undergoing
      laparoscopic cryptorchidectomy had increased surgical preparation time, increased
      surgery and anesthesia times, and more postoperative complications, compared with
      horses undergoing open cryptorchictomy. Laparoscopy may be advantageous for a
      second attempt at cryptorchidectomy or if the testicle location is unknown prior
      to surgery. 

PMID- 25835172
TI  - Surgical excision of anal sac apocrine gland adenocarcinomas with and without
      adjunctive chemotherapy in dogs: 42 cases (2005-2011).
AB  - Objective-To identify variables associated with prognosis in dogs undergoing
      surgical excision of anal sac apocrine gland adenocarcinomas (ASACs) with and
      without adjunctive chemotherapy. Design-Retrospective case series. Animals-42
      dogs with ASACs. Procedures-Information on signalment, clinical signs, diagnostic
      procedures, surgical procedures, adjunctive therapies, survival time, and disease
      free interval was obtained from the medical records. Results-Survival time was
      significantly associated with the presence of sublumbar lymphadenopathy and
      sublumbar lymph node extirpation, with median survival time significantly shorter
      for dogs with sublumbar lymphadenopathy (hazard ratio, 2.31) than for those
      without and for dogs that underwent lymph node extirpation (hazard ratio, 2.31)
      than for those that did not. Disease-free interval was significantly associated
      with the presence of sublumbar lymphadenopathy, lymph node extirpation, and
      administration of platinum-containing chemotherapeutic agents, with median
      disease-free interval significantly shorter for dogs with sublumbar
      lymphadenopathy (hazard ratio, 2.47) than for those without, for dogs that
      underwent lymph node extirpation (hazard ratio, 2.47) than for those that did
      not, and for dogs that received platinum-containing chemotherapeutic agents
      (hazard ratio, 2.69) than for those that did not. Survival time and disease-free
      interval did not differ among groups when dogs were grouped on the basis of
      histopathologic margins (complete vs marginal vs incomplete excision).
      Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-Results suggested that in dogs with ASAC
      undergoing surgical excision, the presence of sublumbar lymphadenopathy and lymph
      node extirpation were both negative prognostic factors. However, completeness of
      surgical excision was not associated with survival time or disease-free interval.

PMID- 25835174
TI  - Evaluation of annual survival and mortality rates and longevity of bottlenose
      dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at the United States Navy Marine Mammal Program
      from 2004 through 2013.
AB  - Objective-To evaluate annual survival and mortality rates and the longevity of a
      managed population of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Design
      Retrospective cohort study. Animals-103 bottlenose dolphins at the US Navy Marine
      Mammal Program (MMP). Procedures-Population age structures, annual survival and
      crude mortality rates, and median age at death for dolphins > 30 days old were
      determined from 2004 through 2013. Results-During 2004 through 2013, the annual
      survival rates for MMP dolphins ranged from 0.98 to 1.0, and the annual crude
      mortality rates ranged from 0% to 5%, with a mean of 2.7%. The median age at
      death was 30.1 years from 2004 through 2008 and increased to 32 years from 2009
      through 2013. The maximum age for a dolphin in the study was 52 years.
      Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-Results indicated that the annual mortality
      rates were low and survival rates were high for dolphins in the MMP from 2004
      through 2013 and that the median age at death for MMP dolphins during that time
      was over 10 years greater than that reported in free-ranging dolphins. These
      findings were likely attributable to the continually improving care and husbandry
      of managed dolphin populations. 

PMID- 25835175
TI  - Multi-susceptibile single-phased ceramics with both considerable magnetic and
      dielectric properties by selectively doping.
AB  - Multiferroic ceramics with extraordinary susceptibilities coexisting are vitally
      important for the multi-functionality and integration of electronic devices.
      However, multiferroic composites, as the most potential candidates, will
      introduce inevitable interface deficiencies and thus dielectric loss from
      dissimilar phases. In this study, single-phased ferrite ceramics with
      considerable magnetic and dielectric performances appearing simultaneously were
      fabricated by doping target ions in higher valence than that of Fe(3+), such as
      Ti(4+), Nb(5+) and Zr(4+), into BaFe12O19. In terms of charge balance,
      Fe(3+)/Fe(2+) pair dipoles are produced through the substitution of Fe(3+) by
      high-valenced ions. The electron hopping between Fe(3+) and Fe(2+) ions results
      in colossal permittivity. Whilst the single-phased ceramics doped by target ions
      exhibit low dielectric loss naturally due to the diminishment of interfacial
      polarization and still maintain typical magnetic properties. This study provides
      a convenient method to attain practicable materials with both outstanding
      magnetic and dielectric properties, which may be of interest to integration and
      multi-functionality of electronic devices. 

PMID- 25835176
TI  - Expression of aberrant CD markers in acute leukemia: a study of 100 cases with
      immunophenotyping by multiparameter flowcytometry.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute leukemia is a heterogenous disease having diverse phenotypes.
      Immunophenotyping by flowcytometry is essential for diagnosis of myeloid and
      lymphoid subtypes. Aberrant phenotype incidence is controversial and dissimilar
      results have been reported by different groups. OBJECTIVES: Purpose of the study
      was to determine the incidence of aberrant phenotypes in North East Indian
      patients with acute leukemia. METHODS: We analysed a total of 100 cases (AML =
      36, ALL = 61, MPAL = 3) by multiparametric flow cytometry using an acute panel of
      monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs). The MoAbs were selected to identify
      differentiation-associated antigens of both myeloid and lymphoid lineages.
      RESULTS: Aberrant phenotypes were found in 21 (58.3%) cases of AML, 36 (59.2%)
      cases of B-ALL and 6 (66.7%) cases of T-ALL. CD7 was the most frequent lymphoid
      associated antigen found in 33% of AML cases while CD117 was the myeloid antigen
      most frequently detected in ALL (54%) cases. Aberrant expression of CD 117 is
      highly significant by Fischer's exact test (P< 0.0001). CONCLUSION: We conclude
      that aberrant phenotypes are present in a great majority of acute leukemia
      patients of North East India. Future studies will be directed to correlate of
      these markers with prognosis and therapeutic response.

PMID- 25835177
TI  - MMP-9/ANC score as a predictive biomarker for efficacy of bevacizumab plus
      platinum doublet chemotherapy in patients with advanced or recurrent non-squamous
      non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bevacizumab is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody against
      vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is a key regulator of tumor
      angiogenesis. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate biomarkers to predict the benefit of
      paclitaxel and carboplatin plus bevacizumab (PCB) therapy in patients with
      advanced or recurrent non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. METHODS: Among 21
      patients treated with PCB, 10 were included in the good responder group and 11 in
      the non-responder group. Serum VEGF, MMP-2 and MMP-9 were measured using ELISA.
      RESULTS: There were no significant differences in these markers levels between
      groups. However, the good responder group showed a significantly higher pre
      treatment MMP-9/ absolute neutrophil count (ANC) score than the non-responder
      group before the treatment (p= 0.014), and there was a positive correlation
      between the score and the tumor reduction rate (r= 0.57, p= 0.016). Furthermore,
      by dividing patients into a high scoring group (MMP-9/ANC >= median, n= 11) and a
      low scoring group (MMP-9/ANC < median, n= 10), former group showed a significant
      improvement in the median progression-free survival compared with latter group
      (636 vs. 196 days, p = 0.032). CONCLUSIONS: MMP-9/ANC score before PCB treatment
      may be a suitable biomarker to assess the anti-tumor effects of PCB therapy.

PMID- 25835178
TI  - Cyst fluid iron-related compounds as useful markers to distinguish malignant
      transformation from benign endometriotic cysts.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate cyst fluid levels of
      total iron, heme iron and free iron in benign endometriotic cysts and
      endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer (EAOC) and to demonstrate the
      significance of these biomarkers in differential diagnosis between EAOC and
      endometriotic cysts. METHODS: Cyst fluid samples were obtained from eleven
      patients with EAOC and thirty-six women with benign endometriotic cysts at the
      time of surgery. RESULTS: The median (+/- SD) total iron levels for endometriotic
      cysts and EAOC cysts were 244.4 +/- 204.9 mg/L and 14.2 +/- 36.6 mg/L,
      respectively. EAOC patients had much lower levels of iron-related compounds
      compared with endometriotic cyst samples (p< 0.001). When the total iron results
      were analyzed using the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve method,
      the optimum diagnostic cut-off point was 64.8 mg/L, sensitivity was 90.9%,
      specificity was 100%, positive predictive value (PPV) was 100%, and negative
      predictive value (NPV) was 97.3%. Patient demographic characteristics such as
      tumor size, age at operation, parity and menopause were not correlated with cyst
      fluid iron levels. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude for the first time that iron-related
      compounds are important biomarkers that can predict malignant transformation with
      high sensitivity and specificity for women with endometriosis.

PMID- 25835179
TI  - Significant association of TP53 Arg72Pro polymorphism in susceptibility to
      differentiated thyroid cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Among various polymorphic variants of TP53 gene, codon 72
      polymorphism (Arg72Pro) has been found to be associated with cancer
      susceptibility, but only few studies have investigated their effect on thyroid
      cancer risk. OBJECTIVE: A case control study was conducted to elucidate the
      possible role of this SNP as risk factor in thyroid cancer development and to
      examine its correlation with various clinicopathological variables. METHODS: In
      this study, we tested the genotype distribution by PCR-RFLP in 140 thyroid cancer
      patients and 200 cancer-free controls from Kashmir Valley. RESULTS: Genotype
      frequencies of Arg/Arg (GG), Arg/Pro (GC), and Pro/Pro (CC) genotypes among cases
      were 0.286, 0.343 and 0.371 while in controls 0.45, 0.37 and 0.18 respectively.
      Proline allele frequency was significantly higher than arginine frequency in
      patient group (OR = 2.06, 95% C.I = 1.5-2.8). Significant association was found
      between variant genotype of codon 72 of TP53 gene and young age group, female
      gender, urban dwellers, non-smokers and patients with elevated TSH levels (P <
      0.05). CONCLUSION: It is evident from our study that Arg72Pro SNP of TP53 gene is
      connected with higher susceptibility to thyroid cancer especially in young age
      group, female gender, non-smokers and patients with elevated TSH levels, hence,
      implicated in thyroid carcinogenesis.

PMID- 25835180
TI  - L-amino acid transporter 1 may be a prognostic marker for local progression of
      prostatic cancer under expectant management.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oncocytic L-amino acid transporter (LAT) 1 could be a target of new
      molecular therapy against malignancies. OBJECTIVE: To assess the correlation
      between overexpression of LAT1 and local progression (LP) in prostatic carcinoma
      (PC) patients under expectant management (EM). METHODS: This retrospective study
      analyzed 109 patients with PC who received EM from 1991 to 2006. The expression
      of LAT1, LAT2, and CD98, as well as Ki-67 labeling indices (LI), was analyzed
      immunohistochemically in first biopsy or TUR samples diagnosed as
      adenocarcinomas. RESULTS: Of the 109 patients, 44 (40%) showed LP on clinical
      examinations, whereas 65 showed stable disease (SD). LAT1 score and intensity
      were significantly higher in the LP than in the SD group, as well as among
      Gleason score (GS)-low (GS < 7) patients who were associated with low-risk. When
      the LP group was subdivided by D'Amico risk category (low-, intermediate- and
      high-risk groups), each showed higher LAT1 expression than the SD group. LAT1
      expression did not correlate with GS or Ki-67 LI. CONCLUSIONS: Independently of
      GS, aberrant overexpression of LAT1 in prostatic adenocarcinoma could predict LP
      under EM. Although prostate biopsy samples are small, LAT1 may be a novel
      prognostic biomarker of LP.

PMID- 25835181
TI  - Polymorphic GT dinucleotide repeat in the PIK3CA gene and risk of colorectal
      cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Activated PI3K generate PIP3 to trigger different signaling pathways
      which regulate a number of cellular functions including cell survival, apoptosis,
      proliferation and motility. Mutations in many cancers were discovered in the gene
      encoding the PI3K catalytic subunit, PIK3CA. OBJECTIVE: To date, there has been
      no report on the association between polymorphism of PIK3CA gene microsatellites
      and risk of colorectal cancer. In this study, we investigate the relation between
      the GT dinucleotide repeat in intron 1 of the PIK3CA gene and colorectal cancer
      risk. METHODS: A case-control study of 103 colorectal cancer patients and 150
      controls was conducted in Iranian people. RESULTS: The results of our study
      demonstrate that PIK3CA gene allele distribution in Iranian population varies
      between 13 and 20 repeats. Here we demonstrate that individuals who carry alleles
      shorter than 17 GT repeat are at higher risk of developing colorectal cancer (OR
      = 4.0, p= 0), by contrast, those individuals with two alleles longer than 16 GT
      repeats are at a significantly lower risk of developing colorectal cancer (OR =
      0.12, p= 0). CONCLUSION: This result suggests polymorphic GT repeat of PIK3CA
      gene may be a potential predictive marker of colorectal cancer risk in Iranian
      population.

PMID- 25835182
TI  - An association of selected ERCC2 and ERCC5 genes polymorphisms, the level of
      oxidative DNA damage and its repair efficiency with a risk of colorectal cancer
      in Polish population.
AB  - Aim of this study was to analyze the correlation between polymorphisms of ERCC2
      and ERCC5 genes and efficiency of repair of oxidative DNA damage with the risk of
      colorectal cancer (CRC). Experimental material was peripheral blood and tumor
      slices from CRC collected from 235 patients, 240 people without any cancer were
      control group. Distribution of polymorphisms of ERCC2 and ERCC5 genes in patients
      with CRC and healthy subjects, as well as level of oxidative DNA damage in
      patients and in healthy controls was performed. It has been found that the
      genotype 751Gln/Gln and allele Gln of ERCC2 gene and allele Asp of 312Asn/Asp
      polymorphism of ERCC2 gene may be associated with an increased risk of colorectal
      cancer. Reduced DNA repair efficiency was also demonstrated, which can confirm
      the important role of oxidative damage and polymorphisms of ERCC2 and ERCC5 genes
      in the pathogenesis of CRC. In summary, it is critical to establish a link
      between gene polymorphisms in repair of oxidative DNA damage with the risk of
      cancer. This in future will allow for diagnostic tests which will let to identify
      persons with high risk of developing cancer and thus effectively implement
      prophylactic treatment. 

PMID- 25835185
TI  - Congestion based mechanism for route discovery in a V2I-V2V system applying smart
      devices and IoT.
AB  - The Internet of Things is a new paradigm in which objects in a specific context
      can be integrated into traditional communication networks to actively participate
      in solving a determined problem. The Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to
      Infrastructure (V2I) technologies are specific cases of IoT and key enablers for
      Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). V2V and V2I have been widely used to
      solve different problems associated with transportation in cities, in which the
      most important is traffic congestion. A high percentage of congestion is usually
      presented by the inappropriate use of resources in vehicular infrastructure. In
      addition, the integration of traffic congestion in decision making for vehicular
      traffic is a challenge due to its high dynamic behavior. In this paper, an
      optimization model over the load balancing in the congestion percentage of the
      streets is formulated. Later, we explore a fully congestion-oriented route
      discovery mechanism and we make a proposal on the communication infrastructure
      that should support it based on V2I and V2V communication. The mechanism is also
      compared with a modified Dijkstra's approach that reacts at congestion states.
      Finally, we compare the results of the efficiency of the vehicle's trip with the
      efficiency in the use of the capacity of the vehicular network. 

PMID- 25835183
TI  - Accessing Ni(III)-thiolate versus Ni(II)-thiyl bonding in a family of Ni-N2S2
      synthetic models of NiSOD.
AB  - Superoxide dismutase (SOD) catalyzes the disproportionation of superoxide (O2(* 
      )) into H2O2 and O2(g) by toggling through different oxidation states of a first
      row transition metal ion at its active site. Ni-containing SODs (NiSODs) are a
      distinct class of this family of metalloenzymes due to the unusual coordination
      sphere that is comprised of mixed N/S-ligands from peptide-N and cysteine-S donor
      atoms. A central goal of our research is to understand the factors that govern
      reactive oxygen species (ROS) stability of the Ni-S(Cys) bond in NiSOD utilizing
      a synthetic model approach. In light of the reactivity of metal-coordinated
      thiolates to ROS, several hypotheses have been proffered and include the
      coordination of His1-Ndelta to the Ni(II) and Ni(III) forms of NiSOD, as well as
      hydrogen bonding or full protonation of a coordinated S(Cys). In this work, we
      present NiSOD analogues of the general formula [Ni(N2S)(SR')](-), providing a
      variable location (SR' = aryl thiolate) in the N2S2 basal plane coordination
      sphere where we have introduced o-amino and/or electron-withdrawing groups to
      intercept an oxidized Ni species. The synthesis, structure, and properties of the
      NiSOD model complexes (Et4N)[Ni(nmp)(SPh-o-NH2)] (2), (Et4N)[Ni(nmp)(SPh-o-NH2-p
      CF3)] (3), (Et4N)[Ni(nmp)(SPh-p-NH2)] (4), and (Et4N)[Ni(nmp)(SPh-p-CF3)] (5)
      (nmp(2-) = dianion of N-(2-mercaptoethyl)picolinamide) are reported. NiSOD model
      complexes with amino groups positioned ortho to the aryl-S in SR' (2 and 3)
      afford oxidized species (2(ox) and 3(ox)) that are best described as a resonance
      hybrid between Ni(III)-SR and Ni(II)-(*)SR based on ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis),
      magnetic circular dichroism (MCD), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR)
      spectroscopies, as well as density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The
      results presented here, demonstrating the high percentage of S(3p) character in
      the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of the four-coordinate reduced form
      of NiSOD (NiSODred), suggest that the transition from NiSODred to the five
      coordinate oxidized form of NiSOD (NiSODox) may go through a four-coordinate Ni
      (*)S(Cys) (NiSODox-Hisoff) that is stabilized by coordination to Ni(II). 

PMID- 25835184
TI  - Rationally designing aptamer sequences with reduced affinity for controlled
      sensor performance.
AB  - The relative ease of predicting the secondary structure of nucleic acid sequences
      lends itself to the design of sequences to perform desired functions. Here, we
      combine the utility of nucleic acid aptamers with predictable control over the
      secondary structure to rationally design sequences with controlled affinity
      towards a target analyte when employed as the recognition element in an
      electrochemical sensor. Specifically, we present a method to modify an existing
      high-gain aptamer sequence to create sequences that, when employed in an
      electrochemical, aptamer-based sensor, exhibit reduced affinity towards a small
      molecule analyte tobramycin. Sensors fabricated with the high-gain parent
      sequence saturate at concentrations much below the therapeutic window for
      tobramycin (7-18 uM). Accordingly, the rationale behind modifying this high-gain
      sequence to reduce binding affinity was to tune sensor performance for optimal
      sensitivity in the therapeutic window. Using secondary structure predictions and
      analysis of the NMR structure of an aminoglycoside RNA aptamer bound to
      tobramycin, we are able to successfully modify the aptamer sequence to tune the
      dissociation constants of electrochemical aptamer-based sensors between 0.17 and
      3 uM. The guidelines we present represent a general strategy to lessening binding
      affinity of sensors employing aptamer-modified electrodes. 

PMID- 25835186
TI  - A support vector machine approach for truncated fingerprint image detection from
      sweeping fingerprint sensors.
AB  - A sweeping fingerprint sensor converts fingerprints on a row by row basis through
      image reconstruction techniques. However, a built fingerprint image might appear
      to be truncated and distorted when the finger was swept across a fingerprint
      sensor at a non-linear speed. If the truncated fingerprint images were enrolled
      as reference targets and collected by any automated fingerprint identification
      system (AFIS), successful prediction rates for fingerprint matching applications
      would be decreased significantly. In this paper, a novel and effective
      methodology with low time computational complexity was developed for detecting
      truncated fingerprints in a real time manner. Several filtering rules were
      implemented to validate existences of truncated fingerprints. In addition, a
      machine learning method of supported vector machine (SVM), based on the principle
      of structural risk minimization, was applied to reject pseudo truncated
      fingerprints containing similar characteristics of truncated ones. The
      experimental result has shown that an accuracy rate of 90.7% was achieved by
      successfully identifying truncated fingerprint images from testing images before
      AFIS enrollment procedures. The proposed effective and efficient methodology can
      be extensively applied to all existing fingerprint matching systems as a
      preliminary quality control prior to construction of fingerprint templates. 

PMID- 25835187
TI  - A novel multi-digital camera system based on tilt-shift photography technology.
AB  - Multi-digital camera systems (MDCS) are constantly being improved to meet the
      increasing requirement of high-resolution spatial data. This study identifies the
      insufficiencies of traditional MDCSs and proposes a new category MDCS based on
      tilt-shift photography to improve ability of the MDCS to acquire high-accuracy
      spatial data. A prototype system, including two or four tilt-shift cameras (TSC,
      camera model: Nikon D90), is developed to validate the feasibility and
      correctness of proposed MDCS. Similar to the cameras of traditional MDCSs,
      calibration is also essential for TSC of new MDCS. The study constructs indoor
      control fields and proposes appropriate calibration methods for TSC, including
      digital distortion model (DDM) approach and two-step calibrated strategy. The
      characteristics of TSC are analyzed in detail via a calibration experiment; for
      example, the edge distortion of TSC. Finally, the ability of the new MDCS to
      acquire high-accuracy spatial data is verified through flight experiments. The
      results of flight experiments illustrate that geo-position accuracy of prototype
      system achieves 0.3 m at a flight height of 800 m, and spatial resolution of 0.15
      m. In addition, results of the comparison between the traditional (MADC II) and
      proposed MDCS demonstrate that the latter (0.3 m) provides spatial data with
      higher accuracy than the former (only 0.6 m) under the same conditions. We also
      take the attitude that using higher accuracy TSC in the new MDCS should further
      improve the accuracy of the photogrammetry senior product. 

PMID- 25835188
TI  - Dielectric sensors based on electromagnetic energy tunneling.
AB  - We show that metallic wires embedded in narrow waveguide bends and channels
      demonstrate resonance behavior at specific frequencies. The electromagnetic
      energy at these resonances tunnels through the narrow waveguide channels with
      almost no propagation losses. Under the tunneling behavior, high-intensity
      electromagnetic fields are produced in the vicinity of the metallic wires. These
      intense field resonances can be exploited to build highly sensitive dielectric
      sensors. The sensor operation is explained with the help of full-wave
      simulations. A practical setup consisting of a 3D waveguide bend is presented to
      experimentally observe the tunneling phenomenon. The tunneling frequency is
      predicted by determining the input impedance minima through a variational formula
      based on the Green function of a probe-excited parallel plate waveguide. 

PMID- 25835189
TI  - Using multiple barometers to detect the floor location of smart phones with built
      in barometric sensors for indoor positioning.
AB  - Following the popularity of smart phones and the development of mobile Internet,
      the demands for accurate indoor positioning have grown rapidly in recent years.
      Previous indoor positioning methods focused on plane locations on a floor and did
      not provide accurate floor positioning. In this paper, we propose a method that
      uses multiple barometers as references for the floor positioning of smart phones
      with built-in barometric sensors. Some related studies used barometric formula to
      investigate the altitude of mobile devices and compared the altitude with the
      height of the floors in a building to obtain the floor number. These studies
      assume that the accurate height of each floor is known, which is not always the
      case. They also did not consider the difference in the barometric-pressure
      pattern at different floors, which may lead to errors in the altitude
      computation. Our method does not require knowledge of the accurate heights of
      buildings and stories. It is robust and less sensitive to factors such as
      temperature and humidity and considers the difference in the barometric-pressure
      change trends at different floors. We performed a series of experiments to
      validate the effectiveness of this method. The results are encouraging. 

PMID- 25835190
TI  - Interfacing liquid metals with stretchable metal conductors.
AB  - Highly stretchable conductors are essential components in deformable electronics.
      Owing to their high stretchability and conductivity, liquid metals have attracted
      significant attention for use as circuits and interconnections. However, their
      poor wettability to stretchable metal electrodes prevents the formation of stable
      electrical connections. This study examined two approaches for creating a stable
      interface between a liquid metal (EGaIn) and stretchable metal electrodes via:
      (i) the use of honeycomb-structured stretchable metal electrodes and (ii) the
      addition of a conducting polymer interlayer. The line width of the honeycomb had
      a significant influence on the formation of a stable interface. The liquid metal
      formed a stable film layer on honeycomb metal electrodes, which have line widths
      of less than 50 MUm. Coating PEDOT: PSS with a nonionic surfactant lowered the
      interfacial energy of EGaIn with flat stretchable metal surfaces; hence EGaIn was
      coated uniformly on the stretchable metal surfaces. Strain sensors were
      fabricated as a demonstrative example of an application that utilizes the stable
      interface.

PMID- 25835193
TI  - Is there a link between COQ6 and schwannomatosis?

PMID- 25835194
TI  - Response to Trevisson et al.

PMID- 25835195
TI  - Key emerging themes for assessing the cost-effectiveness of reporting incidental
      findings.

PMID- 25835196
TI  - Response to Phillips et al.

PMID- 25835197
TI  - CORRIGENDUM: Results of clinical genetic testing of 2,912 probands with
      hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: expanded panels offer limited additional
      sensitivity.
AB  - Genet Med advance online publication, January 22, 2015; doi:10.1038/gim.2014.205.
      In the Advance Online Publication version, of this article, there is a mistake on
      page 2 in the first paragraph of the Materials and Methods section. The sentence
      beginning "Among 3,459 probands initially referred for HCM genetic testing ..."
      the correct number of probands is 3,473 not 3,459. The authors regret the error.

PMID- 25835198
TI  - Contamination of freshly slaughtered pig carcasses with enteropathogenic Yersinia
      spp.: Distribution, quantification and identification of risk factors.
AB  - A cross-sectional survey was undertaken to determine the overall prevalence of
      enteropathogenic Yersinia spp. in the tonsils, feces and on carcasses of pigs at
      slaughter. Moreover, factors associated with Yersinia contamination of freshly
      eviscerated pig carcasses were studied. Yersinia enterocolitica serotype O:3 was
      isolated from the tonsils and feces of 55.3% and 25.6% of pigs, and Y.
      pseudotuberculosis from 1.4% and 0.6%, respectively. The pathogens were also
      recovered from 39.7% of carcass surfaces post-evisceration. The highest
      prevalence was found at the mandibular region (28.9%), followed by the sternal
      region (16.4%), pelvic duct (7.8%), and split surface near the sacral vertebrae
      (6.9%). Regarding the quantification of the pathogen, the median concentration of
      pathogenic Y. enterocolitica was 4.14l og10 CFU/g in tonsils with countable
      numbers (n=143) and 2.80 log10 CFU/g for fecal samples with countable numbers
      (n=26). The quantitative load on the carcass surface was generally low as the
      majority of the carcass samples (97.0%) had Yersinia concentrations below the
      detection limit of enumeration (<1.30 log10 CFU/100 cm(2)). The initial presence
      of Y. enterocolitica in the tonsils and/or feces was significantly associated
      with carcass contamination at all sampled areas. Other risk factors for carcass
      contamination are the splitting of the head together with the carcass, and
      incision of the tonsils during removal of the pluck. Small adaptations in
      slaughter practices and the training of slaughterhouse personnel to respect basic
      hygienic instructions may diminish carcass contamination with enteropathogenic
      Yersinia.

PMID- 25835199
TI  - Take the monkey and run.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a small, New World
      primate that is used extensively in biomedical and behavioral research. This
      short-lived primate, with its small body size, ease of handling, and docile
      temperament, has emerged as a valuable model for aging and neurodegenerative
      research. A growing body of research has indicated exercise, aerobic exercise
      especially, imparts beneficial effects to normal aging. Understanding the
      mechanisms underlying these positive effects of exercise, and the degree to which
      exercise has neurotherapeutic effects, is an important research focus. Thus,
      developing techniques to engage marmosets in aerobic exercise would have great
      advantages. NEW METHOD: Here we describe the marmoset exercise ball (MEB)
      paradigm: a safe (for both experimenter and subjects), novel and effective means
      to engage marmosets in aerobic exercise. We trained young adult male marmosets to
      run on treadmills for 30 min a day, 3 days a week. RESULTS: Our training
      procedures allowed us to engage male marmosets in this aerobic exercise within 4
      weeks, and subjects maintained this frequency of exercise for 3 months.
      COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: To our knowledge, this is the first described
      method to engage marmosets in aerobic exercise. A major advantage of this
      exercise paradigm is that while it was technically forced exercise, it did not
      appear to induce stress in the marmosets. CONCLUSIONS: These techniques should be
      useful to researchers wishing to address physiological responses of exercise in a
      marmoset model.

PMID- 25835200
TI  - Synthesis of beta-Carboline-Based N-Heterocyclic Carbenes and Their
      Antiproliferative and Antimetastatic Activities against Human Breast Cancer
      Cells.
AB  - A series of novel beta-carboline-based N-heterocyclic carbenes was prepared via
      Mannich reaction between methyl 1-(dimethoxymethyl)-9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole-3
      carboxylate, formaldehyde, and primary amines. All compounds were evaluated for
      their antiproliferative activity using human breast cancer and lung cancer cell
      lines. Three compounds, 3c, 3j, and 3h, were discovered to display IC50 less than
      10 MUM against human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells at 24 h of treatment.
      Pharmacologically these compounds lead to G2/M phase cell cycle arrest and
      induction of cellular apoptosis by triggering intrinsic apoptotic pathway through
      depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential and activation of caspases. At
      lower concentrations, these compounds also showed antimigratory and antiinvasive
      effects against highly metastatic human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells via
      aberration of MAP-kinase signaling and by the inhibition of matrix
      metalloproteinases. However, these analogues lack in vivo effect in mouse model
      which may be attributed to their strong affinity to HSA that was investigated
      spectroscopically with compound 3h. 

PMID- 25835201
TI  - Preliminary Assessment of Tricuspid Valve Annular Velocity Parameters by Cardiac
      Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Adults with a Volume-Overloaded Right Ventricle:
      Comparison of Unrepaired Atrial Septal Defect and Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot.
AB  - The aim is to compare tricuspid valve (TV) atrioventricular junction (AVJ)
      annular motion parameters in unrepaired atrial septal defect (ASD) and repaired
      Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. We
      retrospectively reviewed CMR studies performed between November 2007 and November
      2013 in patients 16-45 years of age with unrepaired ASD (with or without partial
      anomalous pulmonary venous return) and with repaired TOF, who had previous
      infundibulotomy, but have not undergone pulmonary valve replacement. Longitudinal
      motion of lateral TV in four-chamber view cine image was tracked through the
      cardiac cycle with custom software. Twenty TOF patients and 12 ASD patients were
      included, and values were compared with 80 controls. Right ventricular end
      diastolic volume index and right ventricular end-systolic volume index were
      similar in the ASD and TOF groups and were significantly higher in both groups
      than in controls. Maximum displacement of the TV in systole, velocity at half
      maximal displacement during systole, and velocity at half-maximal displacement
      during early diastole were all significantly lower in the TOF group than the ASD
      group [1.39 +/- 0.47 vs. 2.21 +/- 0.46 (cm, p < 0.01), 5.9 +/- 2.1 vs. 10.1 +/-
      2.3 (cm/s, p < 0.01), and 7.7 +/- 2.6 vs. 10.9 +/- 3.1 (cm/s, p < 0.05)]. TOF
      patients have diminished early diastolic TV AVJ velocity compared to patients
      with an unrepaired ASD, despite similar RV volumes. This observation could
      suggest diastolic dysfunction or cardiac mechanics unique to the postoperative,
      volume-overloaded right ventricle in patients with repaired TOF.

PMID- 25835202
TI  - A Short History of Cardiac Inspection: A Quest "To See with a Better Eye".
AB  - Cardiac examination has evolved over centuries. The goal of cardiac evaluation,
      regardless the era, is to "see" inside the heart to diagnose congenital and
      acquired intra-cardiac structural and functional abnormalities. This article
      briefly reviews the history of cardiac examination and discusses contemporary
      best, evidence-based methods of cardiac inspection. 

PMID- 25835203
TI  - Repair of Tetralogy of Fallot in Children Less Than 4 kg Body Weight.
AB  - We reviewed our experience of surgical repair of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) in
      children weighing less than or equal to 4 kg to compare outcome of early
      palliation versus complete repair as the initial surgical approach. Seventy-six
      patients, weighing <= 4 kg, with TOF surgery between January 2005 and September
      2013 were included in this single-center retrospective study. Twenty-five
      patients who underwent initial shunt procedure followed by later full repair were
      compared to 51 patients who had primary full repair for differences in baseline
      characteristics and outcomes. Shunt group patients had lower body weight, 2.76 +/
      0.69 versus 3.11 +/- 0.65 (kg), p = 0.03, and lower preoperative oxygen
      saturations, 82 +/- 7 versus 90 +/- 6 (%), p = 0.0001, than full repair group. A
      higher number of surgical procedures per patient was recorded in shunt patients,
      2.29 +/- 0.59 versus 1.27 +/- 0.49, p = 0.00002. Thirteen of 51 patients in the
      full repair group required a repeat surgery. Catheterization procedures were
      performed in 12 patients in shunt and in 15 patients in full repair group, with
      interventional angioplasty in three and 11, respectively, p >= 0.05. Two
      patients, both in the shunt group, died after the surgery. Early full repair had
      longer hospital stay but significantly less hospitalizations 1.95 +/- 1.3 versus
      2.5 +/- 1.4, p = 0.03. Initial complete repair of TOF in small children yielded
      favorable outcome with significantly less surgical procedures and subsequent
      hospitalizations. Cath laboratory re-interventions for residual defects were
      similar after both surgical approaches, and type of initial surgery does not
      predict freedom from re-intervention.

PMID- 25835204
TI  - Systemic Embolic Complications of Pulmonary Vein Angioplasty in Children.
AB  - Pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS) carries significant morbidity and mortality for
      affected children, and its management often requires multiple angioplasty
      procedures. PVS angioplasty can be complicated by systemic embolic events such as
      stroke, but incidence and risk factors are poorly understood. We reviewed
      pediatric catheterizations involving PVS angioplasty and/or stent placement
      performed at Boston Children's Hospital between July 2005 and February 2014. A
      total of 406 cases were performed in 144 distinct patients. Patients underwent a
      median of two catheterizations, at median age 1 year and weight 6.9 kg. Eleven
      (2.7 %) catheterizations were complicated by clinically apparent systemic embolic
      events, comprising 10 strokes (one with associated hepatic embolism) and 1 renal
      infarct. Prevalence of clinically evident stroke among this cohort was 7.6 %.
      Using a prior (uncomplicated) catheterization to allow each patient to serve as
      their own control, we sought to identify potentially modifiable risk factors for
      systemic embolic events. Although this analysis was limited by low power,
      complicated and uncomplicated angioplasties did not appear to differ in case
      time, contrast dose, anticoagulation management, use of cutting balloons, number
      of catheter exchanges, or size of long sheath used. Significant non-embolic
      adverse events were common, occurring in 25 % of catheterizations. Systemic
      embolism appears to complicate PVS angioplasty at a rate much higher than that
      described for other congenital catheterizations. This risk may be inherent to the
      procedure rather than related to any modifiable or operator-dependent factors.

PMID- 25835205
TI  - [Suprapatellar approach to tibial medullary nailing with electromagnetic field
      guided distal locking].
AB  - Closed tibial shaft fractures are the domain of intramedullary nailing. With the
      introduction of new nail designs and technologies, even small, dislocated distal
      fragments can be anatomically aligned and safely fixed. Unsolved or to a lesser
      degree controlled are the problems of distal locking in the freehand technique,
      which can still be difficult and can lead to a significant radiation exposure,
      and how to control very short proximal tibial fragments in metaphyseal tibial
      fractures or tibial segmental fractures, where the proximal fracture line also
      runs through the metaphysis.By using a suprapatellar approach, i.e. a skin
      incision proximal to the patella with an entry point into the tibial bone from
      within the knee at the same site as for a standard infrapatellar approach, and
      then nailing the tibia in a semi-extended position, i.e. the knee is only flexed
      10-20 degrees , the intraoperative dislocation of a short proximal fragment can
      be avoided. The main indications for semi-extended tibial nailing are a short
      diaphyseal fragment in an isolated tibial shaft fracture, a segmental fracture
      where the proximal fracture line is metaphyseal and in patients where
      infrapatellar soft tissues are compromised.The use of the electromagnetic
      guidance system SureShot(r) generates reliable and reproducible results, reduces
      the operating time and is independent from radiation for distal locking. 

PMID- 25835206
TI  - [Intramedullary nailing of the distal tibia. Does angular stable locking make a
      difference?].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Osteosynthesis of distal tibia fractures relies on stable fixation of
      the distal fragment. Modern intramedullary implants provide various fixation
      options for locking screws. These implants expand the indications for
      intramedullary nailing of tibia fractures towards more distally located
      fractures. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The most essential options which improve the
      fixation of the distal fragment include an increase in number, in size and in
      spacing of the distal locking screws. Further options for nailing of distal tibia
      fractures include interfragmentary compression and angular stability.
      Interfragmentary compression considerably increases mechanical stability in
      axially stable fracture situations. Angular stable fixation of the locking screws
      has recently become a popular feature in intramedullary nailing; however, the
      effect of angular stability on the mechanical properties of distal tibia
      osteosynthesis has been found to be limited. CONCLUSION: The initial stability to
      provide sufficient load bearing capacity appears to be provided by the available
      locking options. With at least two screws, preferably in crossed configuration
      and spaced over the largest available distance of the distal fragment, secure and
      stable fixation can be achieved. Insertion of the locking screws in a free hand
      technique typically results in jamming of the locking screw with the nail and
      with cortical bone, providing inherent angular stability of the construct.
      Angular stable locking features of the nail itself do not appear to improve
      mechanical stability or to affect healing of distal tibia fractures.

PMID- 25835207
TI  - [Plantar approach to hindfoot arthrodesis with compressed angle stable locking
      option].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tibiotalocalcaneal arthrodesis is indicated in severe combined
      arthritis of the upper and lower ankle joints and otherwise untreatable
      malpositioning of the hindfoot. CONCLUSION: Currently available arthrodesis nails
      have a hindfoot valgus bend which allows the anatomy to be more faithfully
      reproduced and respected. Anatomical investigations show the endangered
      structures during retrograde arthrodesis nailing. The valgus bend of the
      arthrodesis nail necessitates a corresponding correctly placed opening in the
      calcaneus and talus as the entry point for the nail. A locking screw in the
      calcaneus running from posterior to anterior increases the stability and is now
      taken into consideration for nearly all designs of arthrodesis medullary nails.
      The compression mechanism can be used for apposition and pressing the arthrodesis
      surfaces together and locking in the hindfoot should be carried out in an angle
      stable fashion. Augmentation of the locking screws in the calcaneus with bone
      cement can be an option as a salvage procedure in revision cases.

PMID- 25835208
TI  - [Surgical treatment of skeletal metastases].
AB  - The prevalence of cancerous diseases in Germany is rising. The skeletal system
      represents the third most common localization for metastases. Nearly two thirds
      of metastases are found in the region of the spine. Due to longer survival times
      of tumor patients in the metastasis stage, an increase in the number of patients
      with bone metastases is to be expected. The treatment of patients with osseus
      metastases is nowadays an integral component of orthopedic trauma surgery
      practices. This article presents the principles of the diagnostics, provides aids
      for estimation of the prognosis and danger of fractures and discusses the various
      surgical treatment procedures for skeletal metastases with the accompanying
      advantages and disadvantages. 

PMID- 25835209
TI  - [Dynamic intraligamentary stabilization of the anterior cruciate ligament.
      Operative technique and short-term clinical results].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Reconstruction of tears in the anterior cruciate ligament with a
      tendon graft is the current gold standard. OBJECTIVES: Dynamic intraligamentary
      stabilization is a new technique for preservation of the anterior cruciate
      ligament. METHODS: This article describes the indications, operative technique,
      rehabilitation and preliminary results after dynamic intraligamentary
      stabilization for acute anterior cruciate ligament ruptures. RESULTS: A total of
      24 women and 31 men with an acute anterior cruciate ligament tear were included
      in a prospective clinical trial. Of the patients 26 had already been followed-up
      for 12 months and satisfying values for the Lysholm, Tegner and International
      Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) outcome scores were achieved. High subjective
      patient satisfaction was also achieved. The Lachman test showed a mean anterior
      translation difference to the healthy side of 1.7 mm. CONCLUSION: Dynamic
      intraligamentary stabilization in combination with microfracturing of the notch
      can provide biomechanical and biological conditions for self-healing of the
      anterior cruciate ligament. Further clinical and biomechanical research is needed
      to identify appropriate patients and rupture types suitable for this new
      technique.

PMID- 25835210
TI  - Stability and Change in the Cognitive and Adaptive Behaviour Scores of
      Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
AB  - We examined the stability of cognitive and adaptive behaviour standard scores in
      children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) between diagnosis and school entry
      approximately age 6. IQ increased 18 points in 2-year-olds, 12 points in 3-year
      olds, and 9 points in 4-year-olds (N = 281). Adaptive behaviour scores increased
      4 points across age groups (N = 289). At school entry, 24 % of children met
      criteria for intellectual disability (cognitive and adaptive behaviour scores
      <70). No children with both scores >=70 at diagnosis later met criteria for
      intellectual disability. Outcomes were more variable for children with initial
      delays in both areas (in 57 %, both scores remained <70). Findings are relevant
      to clinical decision-making, including specification of intellectual disability
      in young children with ASD.

PMID- 25835211
TI  - Influence of Autism Traits and Executive Functioning on Quality of Life in
      Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.
AB  - Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) often experience a low Quality of
      Life (QoL). We studied if IQ, early language development, current autism traits,
      and daily Executive Functions (EFs) are related to QoL in children (aged 8-12
      years) with ASD (N = 120) and typically developing (TD) children (N = 76).
      Children with ASD showed a lower QoL than TD children. This lower QoL was related
      to higher levels of autism traits and EF deficits. Moreover, specific autism
      traits and EFs were related to specific QoL subdomains. The low QoL and the
      aggravating effects of autism traits and EF deficits indicate a potential to
      identify and target such factors in treatment to improve QoL.

PMID- 25835212
TI  - Controlled and Extended Release of a Model Protein from a Microsphere-Hydrogel
      Drug Delivery System.
AB  - In extended ocular drug delivery applications, it is necessary to exert control
      over the release characteristics of the drug. Design considerations must be made
      to limit the initial burst (IB) and ensure complete release of drug from the drug
      delivery system (DDS). In this study, ovalbumin was used as a model protein to
      explore the effects on release of polymer formulation and fabrication technique
      in poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microspheres. Furthermore, the effect on
      release of suspending these microspheres in an injectable, thermo-responsive
      poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-based hydrogel was determined. To characterize
      release, ovalbumin was radiolabeled with iodine-125. Regardless of polymer
      formulation or fabrication technique, pulsatile release was achieved with a
      second burst occurring after ~70 days for microspheres alone. Suspending PLGA
      75:25 microspheres within hydrogel reduced the IB by ~75%, delayed the second
      burst by 28 days, and extended release out to ~200 days with steadier, consistent
      release throughout compared to microspheres alone. The combined microsphere
      hydrogel DDS remains injectable through small-gauge needles and may have many
      applications, namely ocular drug delivery to the posterior segment.

PMID- 25835213
TI  - Structural biology response of a collagen hydrogel synthetic extracellular matrix
      with embedded human fibroblast: computational and experimental analysis.
AB  - Adherent cells exert contractile forces which play an important role in the
      spatial organization of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Due to these forces, the
      substrate experiments a volume reduction leading to a characteristic shape. ECM
      contraction is a key process in many biological processes such as embryogenesis,
      morphogenesis and wound healing. However, little is known about the specific
      parameters that control this process. With this aim, we present a 3D
      computational model able to predict the contraction process of a hydrogel matrix
      due to cell-substrate mechanical interaction. It considers cell-generated forces,
      substrate deformation, ECM density, cellular migration and proliferation. The
      model also predicts the cellular spatial distribution and concentration needed to
      reproduce the contraction process and confirms the minimum value of cellular
      concentration necessary to initiate the process observed experimentally. The
      obtained continuum formulation has been implemented in a finite element
      framework. In parallel, in vitro experiments have been performed to obtain the
      main model parameters and to validate it. The results demonstrate that cellular
      forces, migration and proliferation are acting simultaneously to display the ECM
      contraction. 

PMID- 25835214
TI  - A computational study to evaluate the activation pattern of nerve fibers in
      response to interferential currents stimulation.
AB  - Interferential current (IFC) is one of the most popular electrical currents used
      in electrotherapy. However, there have been limited studies investigating how
      this stimulation affects the nerve fibers. The aim of this computational study
      was to evaluate the temporal and spatial patterns of fiber activation in IFC
      therapy for different modulation and carrier frequencies. The interferential
      currents were applied by two pairs of point electrodes perpendicular to each
      other in an infinite homogeneous medium, and a model of myelinated nerve fibers
      was implemented in NEURON to study the neural response. The activation thresholds
      for different positions of the fiber and the resultant firing patterns were
      evaluated. The results suggest that the fibers may fire continuously or in
      bursts, with frequencies equal or higher than the modulation frequency, or may be
      blocked, based on their position relative to the electrodes, the modulation
      frequency and the stimulus strength. The results confirm traditional belief about
      the role of the modulation frequency in firing frequency of nerve fibers and
      describe a possible mechanism for less sensation of pain, due to blockage of the
      fibers by the high-frequency nature of the interferential currents. 

PMID- 25835215
TI  - Perinatal asphyxia leads to PARP-1 overactivity, p65 translocation, IL-1beta and
      TNF-alpha overexpression, and apoptotic-like cell death in mesencephalon of
      neonatal rats: prevention by systemic neonatal nicotinamide administration.
AB  - Perinatal asphyxia (PA) is a leading cause of neuronal damage in newborns,
      resulting in long-term neurological and cognitive deficits, in part due to
      impairment of mesostriatal and mesolimbic neurocircuitries. The insult can be as
      severe as to menace the integrity of the genome, triggering the overactivation of
      sentinel proteins, including poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1). PARP-1
      overactivation implies increased energy demands, worsening the metabolic failure
      and depleting further NAD(+) availability. Using a global PA rat model, we report
      here evidence that hypoxia increases PARP-1 activity, triggering a signalling
      cascade leading to nuclear translocation of the NF-kappaB subunit p65, modulating
      the expression of IL-1beta and TNF-alpha, pro-inflammatory molecules, increasing
      apoptotic-like cell death in mesencephalon of neonate rats, monitored with
      Western blots, qPCR, TUNEL and ELISA. PARP-1 activity increased immediately after
      PA, reaching a maximum 1-8 h after the insult, while activation of the NF-kappaB
      signalling pathway was observed 8 h after the insult, with a >twofold increase of
      p65 nuclear translocation. IL-1beta and TNF-alpha mRNA levels were increased 24 h
      after the insult, together with a >twofold increase in apoptotic-like cell death.
      A single dose of the PARP-1 inhibitor nicotinamide (0.8 mmol/kg, i.p.), 1 h post
      delivery, prevented the effect of PA on PARP-1 activity, p65 translocation, pro
      inflammatory cytokine expression and apoptotic-like cell death. The present study
      demonstrates that PA leads to PARP-1 overactivation, increasing the expression of
      pro-inflammatory cytokines and cell death in mesencephalon, effects prevented by
      systemic neonatal nicotinamide administration, supporting the idea that PARP-1
      inhibition represents a therapeutic target against the effects of PA.

PMID- 25835216
TI  - The impact of laparoscopic versus open colorectal cancer surgery on subsequent
      laparoscopic resection of liver metastases: A multicenter study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic liver surgery is expanding. Most laparoscopic liver
      resections for colorectal carcinoma metastases are performed subsequent to the
      resection of the colorectal primary, raising concerns about the feasibility and
      safety of advanced laparoscopic liver surgery in the context of an abdomen with
      possible postoperative adhesions. The aim was to compare the outcome of
      laparoscopic hepatectomy for colorectal metastases after open versus laparoscopic
      colorectal surgery. METHODS: This observational, multicenter study reviewed 394
      patients undergoing laparoscopic minor and major liver resection for colorectal
      carcinoma metastases. Main outcome measures were intraoperative unfavorable
      incidents and short-term results in patients who had previous open versus
      laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery. RESULTS: Three hundred six patients (78%)
      had prior open and 88 (22%) had prior laparoscopic colorectal resection.
      Laparoscopic major hepatectomies were undertaken in 63 (16%). Intraoperative
      unfavorable incidents during laparoscopic liver surgery were significantly higher
      among patients who had prior open colorectal surgery (26%) compared with the
      laparoscopic group (14%; P = .017). Positive resection margins and postoperative
      complications were not associated with the approach adopted for the resection of
      the primary cancer. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, intraoperative
      unfavorable incidents were associated significantly only with prior open
      colorectal surgery (odds ratio, 2.8; P = .006) and laparoscopic major hepatectomy
      (odds ratio, 2.4; P = .009). CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic minor hepatectomy can be
      performed safely in patients who have undergone previous open colorectal surgery.
      Laparoscopic major hepatectomy after open colorectal surgery may be challenging.
      Careful risk assessment in the decision-making process is required not to
      compromise patient safety and to guarantee the expected benefits from the
      minimally invasive approach.

PMID- 25835217
TI  - A new poly(1,3-trimethylene carbonate) film provides effective adhesion reduction
      after major abdominal surgery in a rat model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Postoperative adhesions remain a major clinical problem after
      abdominal surgery. We evaluated the efficacy of a new poly(trimethylene
      carbonate) (PTMC) film as an antiadhesive material. In many abdominal operations,
      there is an increased risk of fecal contamination; the risk of (increased)
      infection in presence of PTMC film was studied in 2 additional animal models.
      METHODS: A validated rat adhesion model with peritoneal ischemic buttons was used
      to compare the new PTMC film with a hyaluronate carboxymethylcellulose (HA-CMC)
      sheet, icodextrin solution, and a control group. Primary endpoint was occurrence
      of adhesions at the ischemic buttons after 14 days in 44 rats (n = 11 per group).
      To evaluate potential risks associated with the film, both an anastomotic leakage
      model and a cecal ligation and puncture model were used. Kruskal-Wallis tests
      with subsequent Mann-Whitney tests were used to detect differences between
      groups. RESULTS: PTMC film showed a significant reduction in the amount of
      adhesions (median, 0.5 buttons) compared with control group (median, 4 buttons; P
      < .001) and icodextrin group (median, 4.5; P < .001). The amount of adhesions was
      similar to the HA-CMC group (median, 2; P = .04). The presence of the film did
      not increase the risk of anastomotic leakage or bacterial growth in a
      contaminated environment. CONCLUSION: The presence of a PTMC film leads to a
      significant reduction in the amount of adhesions after 14 days in an ischemic
      button rat model. Furthermore, this film was found to be safe in an animal model,
      even in complex abdominal operations with an increased risk of fecal
      contamination.

PMID- 25835218
TI  - Nontechnical skills training for the operating room: A prospective study using
      simulation and didactic workshop.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The best surgeons demonstrate skills beyond those required for the
      performance of technically competent surgery. These skills are described under
      the term nontechnical skills. Failure in these domains has been associated with
      adverse events inside the operating room. These nontechnical skills are not
      learned commonly in a structured manner during surgery training. The main purpose
      of this study was to explore the effects of participation in simulation-based
      training, either as a sole strategy or as part of a combined approach on surgeons
      and surgical trainees nontechnical skills performance in simulation environment.
      METHODS: The study consisted of a single-blinded, prospective comparative trial.
      Forty participants were enrolled, all participating in 2 simulation sessions
      challenging nontechnical skills comprising 3 surgical scenarios. Seventeen
      participants attended a 1-day, nontechnical skills workshop between simulation
      sessions. Scenarios were video-recorded for assessment and debriefing purposes.
      Assessment was made by 2 observers using the Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons
      (NOTSS) scoring system. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in
      nontechnical skills performance of both groups from the first to the second
      simulation session, for 2 of the 3 scenarios. No difference in performance
      between the simulation and the simulation plus workshop groups was noted.
      CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that formal training in nontechnical
      skills is feasible and can impact positively participants' nontechnical
      performance in a simulated environment. The addition of a 1-day didactic workshop
      does not seem to provide additional benefit over simulation-based training as a
      sole strategy for nontechnical skills training.

PMID- 25835220
TI  - Aging-related changes in oxidative stress response of human endothelial cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress is strongly associated with aging and age-related
      diseases and plays a crucial role in endothelial dysfunction development. AIM: To
      better understand the molecular mechanisms of aging and stress response in
      humans, we examined changes to young and older human endothelial cells over time
      (72, 96 and 120 h), before and after H2O2-induced stress. METHODS: We measured
      the expression of the deacetylase Sirtuin 1 (Sirt1) and its transcriptional
      target Forkhead box O3a (Foxo3a); TBARS, a well-known marker of overall oxidative
      stress, and catalase activity as index of antioxidation. Moreover, we quantified
      levels of cellular senescence by senescence-associated beta galactosidase (SA
      betagal) assay. RESULTS: Under oxidative stress induction older cells showed a
      progressive decrease of Sirt1 and Foxo3a expression, persistently high TBARS
      levels with high, but ineffective Cat activity to counteract such levels. In
      addition cellular senescence drastically increased in older cells compared with
      Young cells both in presence and in the absence of oxidative stress. DISCUSSION:
      By following the cell behavior during the time course, we can hypothesize that
      while in young cells an oxidative stress induction stimulated an adequate
      response through activation of molecular factor crucial to counteract oxidative
      stress, the older cells are not able to adequately adapt themselves to external
      stress stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: During their life, endothelial cells impair the
      ability to defend themselves from oxidative stress stimuli. This dysfunction
      involves the pathway of Sirt1 a critical regulator of oxidative stress response
      and cellular lifespan, underlining its crucial role in endothelial homeostasis
      control during aging and age-associated diseases.

PMID- 25835219
TI  - Predictive factors for early unplanned rehospitalization of older adults after an
      ED visit: role of the caregiver burden.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: For older adults, an Emergency Department (ED) visit
      represents a period of vulnerability that extends beyond the visit itself. This
      study aimed to determine the impact of the role of caregiver, and geriatric
      conditions of patients on early unplanned rehospitalization (EUR) within 3 months
      after an ED visit. METHODS: This prospective longitudinal experimental study
      included consecutively 173 patients aged 75 and older admitted in an ED over a 2
      week period (18.7% of the total visits). Only older patients having a caregiver
      were analyzed (78.0%, n = 135). Medical conditions and a comprehensive geriatric
      assessment were recorded for each patient. All caregivers were interviewed about
      their tasks and emotional impact using the short Zarit Burden Inventory. Three
      months after, patients or their caregivers were called about the vital status,
      and EUR of patients. RESULTS: Among the patients included, 64.2% had an EUR and
      28.9% of their caregivers reported a high level of burden. EUR was strongly
      associated with a high caregiver burden (OR 8.7, 95% CI 1.5-49.8). No association
      was found for patient's medical or geriatric status. Caregivers reported a
      significantly high burden when patients were malnourished, or were at risk of
      adverse health outcomes based on the ISAR scale, and when they had greater
      disabilities in IADLs and ADLs, or cognitive impairments. CONCLUSIONS: Many
      hospital readmissions after an ED visit may be preventable by identifying
      caregiver's high burden. Reasons that lead to this high burden should be checked
      at the first visit.

PMID- 25835221
TI  - Co-delivery of honokiol, a constituent of Magnolia species, in a self
      microemulsifying drug delivery system for improved oral transport of lipophilic
      sirolimus.
AB  - Sirolimus is recognized as a P-glycoprotein (P-gp) substrate with poor water
      solubility. To improve its solubility and bioabsorption, self-microemulsifying
      drug delivery systems (SMEDDS) containing a novel P-gp inhibitor, honokiol, were
      prepared. The aim of this work was to evaluate the enhanced transport of
      sirolimus SMEDDS as well as the roles of honokiol. In situ single-pass intestinal
      perfusion and in vitro human colon adenocarcinoma (Caco-2) cell models were
      applied to study the effects of honokiol within SMEDDS on the transport of
      sirolimus. The results indicated that a combination of honokiol with sirolimus in
      SMEDDS did not significantly alter the particle size, polydispersity index and
      release of drugs. In addition, the absorption rate constant (Ka) as well as the
      effective permeability coefficients (Peff) of sirolimus in situ intestinal
      absorption, and the apparent permeability coefficients (Papp) of sirolimus in
      caco-2 cells were significantly enhanced by cremophor EL-based SMEDDS with
      honokiol as compared with those of SMEDDS without honokiol. Rhodamine123 uptake
      rate in caco-2 cells and in vitro cytotoxicity of sirolimus were enhanced by
      honokiol in SMEDDS indicating a substantial P-gp inhibition of honokiol. In
      conclusion, coadministration of honokiol with poor soluble P-gp substrate in
      SMEDDS, could serve as a favorable approach for oral delivery.

PMID- 25835222
TI  - Computational analysis of drug transport in tumor microenvironment as a critical
      compartment for nanotherapeutic pharmacokinetics.
AB  - Over the last decade, nanotherapeutics gained increasingly important role in drug
      delivery because of their frequently beneficial pharmacokinetics (PK) and lower
      toxicity when compared to classical systemic drug delivery. In view of
      therapeutic payload delivery, convective transport is crucial for systemic
      distribution via circulatory system, but the target domain is tissue outside
      vessels where transport is governed by diffusion. Here, we have computationally
      investigated the understudied interplay of physical transports to characterize PK
      of payload of nanotherapeutics. The analysis of human vasculature tree showed
      that convective transport is still 5 times more efficient than diffusion
      suggesting that circulating and payload releasing drug vectors can contribute
      mostly to systemic delivery. By comparing payload delivery using systemic
      circulation and drug vectors to microenvironment, internalized vectors were the
      most efficient and showed Area under the Curve almost 100 higher than in systemic
      delivery. The newly introduced zone of influence parameter indicated that
      vectors, especially internalized, lead to the largest tissue fraction covered
      with therapeutically significant payload concentration. The internalization to
      microenvironment minimizes effects of plasma domain on payload extravasation from
      nanotherapeutics. The computed results showed that classical PK, which mostly
      relies on concentration profiles in plasma, sometimes might be inadequate or not
      sufficient in explaining therapeutic efficacy of nanotherapeutics. These results
      provide a deeper look into PK of drug vectors and can help in the design of
      better drug delivery strategies.

PMID- 25835223
TI  - In vitro/in vivo evaluation of agar nanospheres for pulmonary delivery of
      bupropion HCl.
AB  - Bupropion HCl is an atypical antidepressant drug with rapid and high first-pass
      metabolism. Sustained release dosage form of this drug is suggested for reducing
      its side effects which are mainly seizures. The aim of the present study was to
      design pulmonary agar nanospheres of bupropion HCl with effective systemic
      absorption and extended release properties. Bupropion HCl was encapsulated in
      agar nanospheres by ionic gelation, and characterized for physical and release
      properties. Pharmacokinetic studies on nanospheres were performed on rats by
      intratracheal spraying of 5 mg/kg of drug in form of nanospheres compared to
      intravenous and pulmonary delivery of the same dose as simple solution of the
      drug. The optimized nanoparticles showed particle size of 320 +/- 90 nm with
      polydispersity index of 0.85, the zeta potential of -29.6 mV, drug loading
      efficiency of 43.1 +/- 0.28% and release efficiency of 66.7 +/- 2%. The area
      under the serum concentration-time profile for the pulmonary nanospheres versus
      simple solution was 10 237.84 versus 28.8 ug/ml min, Tmax of 360 versus 60 min
      and the Cmax of 1927.93 versus9.93 ng/ml, respectively. The absolute
      bioavailability of the drug was 86.69% for nanospheres and 0.25% for pulmonary
      simple solution. Our results indicate that pulmonary delivery of bupropion loaded
      agar nanospheres achieves systemic exposure and extends serum levels of the drug.

PMID- 25835224
TI  - Melanoma therapy with transdermal mitoxantrone cubic phases.
AB  - CONTEXT: Melanoma therapy absorbs attention because of the high morbidity and
      mortality. However, currently systematic administrations could take little
      therapeutic efficiency and severe side effects. OBJECTIVE: An effective
      transdermal formulation for the convenient melanoma therapy was found and
      evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A mitoxantrone (MTO) cubic phase was prepared
      with glyceryl monooleate, ethanol and water. The permeation, cytotoxicity, in
      vivo anti-melanoma effect of the MTO cubic phases were evaluated. The anti-cancer
      mechanism of the MTO cubic phases was explored according to the
      immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The isotropic
      structure of MTO cubic phases was identified. The transdermal permeability of MTO
      was greatly improved by the cubic phase compared to that of the MTO solution. The
      MTO cubic phases showed the high cytotoxicity in B16 melanoma cells evidenced by
      a modified electrical cell-substrate impedance sensing system. High anti-melanoma
      effect of the MTO cubic phases was confirmed according to the tumor volume
      changes and tumor weight. The tumor inhibitory rate of the MTO cubic phases was
      68.44%. The calreticulin expression of B16 cells was improved by the MTO cubic
      phases, and the improved cell uptake of MTO was confirmed by the flow cytometry.
      CONCLUSION: The MTO cubic phase is a promising topical delivery system for
      melanoma therapy with the advantages of non-invasion and no severe side effects.

PMID- 25835225
TI  - Versicorin, a new lovastatin analogue from the fungus Aspergillus versicolor
      SC0156.
AB  - A new lovastatin analogue versicorin (1), together with three related compounds,
      decumbenones A (2) and B (3) and versiol (4), were isolated from mycelial solid
      cultures of Aspergillus versicolor SC0156. Their structures were elucidated on
      the basis of MS data and NMR spectroscopic analysis. The new compound versicorin
      (1) possesses a hexahydro-2H-naphtho[1,8-bc]furan moiety, which is a rare type of
      the lovastatin-analogous compounds. A hypothetical biosynthetic pathway for
      compounds 1-4 was proposed. 

PMID- 25835226
TI  - There is no better time than the present: nanotechnology as a disruptive
      innovation for drug development.

PMID- 25835227
TI  - Molecular dynamics studies of modular polyketide synthase ketoreductase
      stereospecificity.
AB  - Ketoreductases (KRs) from modular polyketide synthases (PKSs) can perform
      stereospecific catalysis, selecting a polyketide with a D- or L-alpha-methyl
      substituent for NADPH-mediated reduction. In this report, molecular dynamics (MD)
      simulations were performed to investigate the interactions that control
      stereospecificity. We studied the A1-type KR from the second module of the
      amphotericin PKS (A1), which is known to be stereospecific for a D-alpha-methyl
      substituted diketide substrate (dkD). MD simulations of two ternary complexes
      comprised of the enzyme, NADPH, and either the correct substrate, dkD, or its
      enantiomer (dkL) were performed. The coordinates for the A1/NADPH binary complex
      were obtained from a crystal structure (PDB entry 3MJS), and substrates were
      modeled in the binding pocket in conformations appropriate for reduction.
      Simulations were intended to reproduce the initial weak binding of the polyketide
      substrate to the enzyme. Long (tens of nanoseconds) MD simulations show that the
      correct substrate is retained in a conformation closer to the reactive
      configuration. Many short (up to a nanosecond) MD runs starting from the initial
      structures display evidence that Q364, three residues N-terminal to the catalytic
      tyrosine, forms a hydrogen bond to the incorrect dkL substrate to yield an
      unreactive conformation that is more favorable than the reactive configuration.
      This interaction is not as strong for dkD, as the D-alpha-methyl substituent is
      positioned between the glutamine and the reactive site. This result correlates
      with experimental findings [Zheng, J., et al. (2010) Structure 18, 913-922] in
      which a Q364H mutant was observed to lose stereospecificity.

PMID- 25835228
TI  - The growth of oleaginous Rhodotorula glutinis in an airlift bioreactor on crude
      glycerol through a non-sterile fermentation process.
AB  - While the use of oleaginous Rhodotorula glutinis as a feedstock for biodiesel
      production is an attractive idea, as it can avoid the pollutions associated with
      over-consumption of fossil fuels. Nevertheless, the related costs, including the
      energy required for sterilization, remain a barrier to commercialization. This
      study thus used a low-pH non-sterile medium, instead of a completely sterilized
      one, to grow R. glutinis in a 5-L airlift bioreactor. The results show that R.
      glutinis can grow well at a low pH level of 4.0 and without sterilization of the
      medium, producing a final biomass of 11.7 g/L. Nevertheless, such a low pH will
      lead to fewer total lipids accumulation, and so a two-stage process of pH control
      in a non-sterile batch was proposed. Even this two-stage pH operation was also
      able to produce a similar final biomass of 11.7 g/L. However, the batch with two
      stage pH control had a far higher lipid content of 55 +/- 4% as compared to that
      of 21 +/- 3% in the batch grown at pH 4.0. This study shows the potential of the
      proposed non-sterile process with two-stage pH control applied to the growth of
      R. glutinis to enhance the total lipid accumulation.

PMID- 25835230
TI  - L-ascorbic acid addition to chitosan reduces body weight in overweight women.
AB  - Previously, we have found that the addition of L-ascorbic acid to chitosan
      enhanced the reduction in body weight gain in guinea pigs fed a high-fat diet. We
      hypothesized that the addition of L-ascorbic acid to chitosan would accelerate
      the reduction of body weight in humans, similar to the animal model. Overweight
      subjects administered chitosan with or without L-ascorbic acid for 8 weeks, were
      assigned to three groups: Control group (N=26, placebo, vehicle only), Chito
      group (N=27, 3 g/day chitosan), and Chito-vita group (N=27, 3 g/day chitosan plus
      2 g/day L-ascorbic acid). The body weights and body mass index (BMI) of the Chito
      and Chito-vita groups decreased significantly (p<0.05) compared to the Control
      group. The BMI of the Chito-vita group decreased significantly compared to the
      Chito group (Chito: -1.0 kg/m2 vs. Chito-vita: -1.6 kg/m2, p<0.05). The results
      showed that the chitosan enhanced reduction of body weight and BMI was
      accentuated by the addition of L-ascorbic acid. The fat mass, percentage body
      fat, body circumference, and skinfold thickness in the Chito and Chito-vita
      groups decreased more than the Control group; however, these parameters were not
      significantly different between the three groups. Chitosan combined with L
      ascorbic acid may be useful for controlling body weight.

PMID- 25835229
TI  - Does comparing alcohol use along a single dimension obscure within-group
      differences? Investigating men's hazardous drinking by sexual orientation and
      race/ethnicity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Some studies have found that gay, bisexual, and other men who have
      sex with men (MSM) have higher odds of alcohol abuse and dependence than
      heterosexual men, but others have found no differences. We investigated whether
      the association between sexual orientation and hazardous drinking varied by
      race/ethnicity. METHODS: We estimated the odds of past-year heavy daily, heavy
      weekly, and binge drinking by sexual orientation and race/ethnicity among non
      Latino White, non-Latino Black, and Latino (any race) men (n = 9689) who reported
      current alcohol use in the 2004-2005 National Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol
      and Related Conditions (NESARC). Interaction terms were included in multivariable
      logistic regression models to evaluate possible effect modification. RESULTS: In
      most comparisons, sexual minority men reported equivalent or lower levels of
      hazardous drinking than heterosexual peers. There was no association between
      sexual orientation and heavy daily drinking. Sexual minority Black men had lower
      odds of heavy weekly drinking and binge drinking than both heterosexual White men
      and heterosexual Black men. Among Latinos, the odds of heavy weekly drinking were
      higher for sexual minority men than heterosexuals; there was no difference by
      sexual orientation for binge drinking among Latinos. CONCLUSIONS: With one
      exception, sexual minority men were at equivalent or lower risk of hazardous
      drinking than heterosexual men. The Black-White advantage observed in other
      alcohol studies was observed in our study and was heightened among sexual
      minority men, suggesting the presence of protective factors that curb hazardous
      drinking. Additional research is necessary to identify the mechanisms responsible
      for these patterns.

PMID- 25835231
TI  - Poor vitamin C status is associated with increased depression symptoms following
      acute illness in older people.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Vitamin C has important physical and mental health benefits and
      plasma concentrations reflect recent intakes. Inflammation associated with any
      acute illness can lead to poor appetite and low food intake in older people. The
      aims of this report were to assess the prevalence and clinical significance of
      vitamin C deficiency among hospitalized acutely-ill older patients. METHODS:
      Three hundred and twenty two patients (152 [47%] female), aged 65 yrs. and over
      who took part in a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial had their
      nutritional status assessed from anthropometric, hematological and biochemical
      data at baseline, and after 6 weeks and 6 months. Vitamin C was measured using a
      fluorimetric technique and logistic regression analysis was performed to
      determine the influence of a number of clinical indicators, including tissue
      inflammation measured using C-reactive protein on vitamin C concentrations.
      Clinical outcome measures including symptoms of depression were also compared
      between patients with vitamin C deficiency and those with normal levels. RESULTS:
      At baseline, 116 (36%) patients had a vitamin C concentration below 11 umol/L
      indicating biochemical depletion. The figures at 6 weeks and 6 months were 28
      (22%) and 44 (28%) patients, respectively. Older age, male gender, smoking,
      increased dependency and tissue inflammation were associated with lower vitamin C
      concentrations. Patients with vitamin C biochemical depletion had significantly
      increased symptoms of depression compared with those with higher concentrations
      at baseline (p=0.035) and at 6 weeks (p=0.028). CONCLUSIONS: A high proportion of
      older patients had sub-optimal vitamin C status and this was associated with
      increased symptoms of depression.

PMID- 25835232
TI  - Fish oil supplementation, resting blood flow and markers of cellular metabolism
      during incremental exercise.
AB  - Dietary supplementation of fish oils (n-3 PUFA) have been observed to affect
      insulin action and hence metabolism, affecting the ability to carry out work.
      Here we examine the effects of fish oil supplementation in conjunction with a
      glucose load during exertion, on markers of substrate utilization. A pre-test,
      post-test design was performed on ten healthy young males to assess the effects
      of 4 weeks fish oil supplementation on muscle metabolism during incremental
      exertion. Breath-by-breath analysis for respiratory exchange ratio (RER) along
      with blood lactate and blood glucose were determined at baseline, during exercise
      following an acute glucose bolus (10% solution at 4 mL/kg/bw), and again
      following supplementation of 4.2 g.day(-1) (2.2 g EPA, 1.4 g DHA). To examine the
      effect of fish oil on blood flow, Doppler ultrasound was used to assess femoral
      blood flow at rest. Following consumption of fish oils, exercising blood glucose
      and RER were seen to change significantly (4.66+/-0.44 vs. 4.58+/-0.31 mmol.L(-1)
      and 0.97+/-0.03 vs. 0.99+/-0.04; p<0.05). Resting femoral arterial blood flow was
      seen to increase significantly (p<0.05) pre- to post- test; 0.26+/-0.02-0.30+/
      0.03 L.min(-1). Specific population groups such as those undertaking high
      intensity exercise, and clinical groups such as intermittent claudicants, may
      benefit from the effects of fish oil supplementation.

PMID- 25835233
TI  - Vitamin D supplementation and serum levels of magnesium and selenium in type 2
      diabetes mellitus patients: gender dimorphic changes.
AB  - The aim of our study was to evaluate the effects of vitamin D supplementation on
      circulating levels of magnesium and selenium in patients with type 2 diabetes
      mellitus (T2DM). A total of 126 adult Saudi patients (55 men and 71 women, mean
      age 53.6+/-10.7 years) with controlled T2DM were randomly recruited for the
      study. All subjects were given vitamin D3 tablets (2000 IU/day) for six months.
      Follow-up mean concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25-(OH) vitamin D]
      significantly increased in both men (34.1+/-12.4 to 57.8+/-17.0 nmol/L) and women
      (35.7+/-13.5 to 60.1+/-18.5 nmol/L, p<0.001), while levels of parathyroid hormone
      (PTH) decreased significantly in both men (1.6+/-0.17 to 0.96+/-0.10 pmol/L,
      p=0.003) and women (1.6+/-0.17 to 1.0+/-0.14 pmol/L, p=0.02). In addition, there
      was a significant increase in serum levels of selenium and magnesium in men and
      women (p-values<0.001 and 0.04, respectively) after follow-up. In women, a
      significant correlation was observed between delta change (variables at six
      months-variable at baseline) of serum magnesium versus high-density lipoprotein
      (HDL)-cholesterol (r=0.36, p=0.006) and fasting glucose (r=-0.33, p=0.01). In
      men, there was a significant correlation between serum selenium and triglycerides
      (r=0.32, p=0.04). Vitamin D supplementation improves serum concentrations of
      magnesium and selenium in a gender-dependent manner, which in turn could affect
      several cardiometabolic parameters such as glucose and lipids.

PMID- 25835234
TI  - Homocysteine but not serum amyloid A, vitamin A and E related to increased risk
      of metabolic syndrome in post-menopausal Thai women.
AB  - This study aims to investigate serum amyloid A, homocysteine, and biochemical
      anthropometric measurements in post-menopausal women with and without metabolic
      syndrome (MS), and determine whether serum amyloid A and homocysteine are linked
      to MS among this group. This study was performed with 405 post-menopausal Thai
      volunteers with a mean age of 57.95+/-5.90 years (135 subjects with MS and 270
      subjects without MS). The levels of serum amyloid A, homocysteine, vitamins,
      glucose, and lipids were measured. Homocysteine levels were significantly higher
      in the group with MS than in that without MS (p<0.001), whereas for serum amyloid
      A, vitamin A, vitamin E and vitamin B12, there were no significant differences.
      There were significant differences between the groups in folate, HDL-C, and
      anthropometric measurements (p<0.001). Thirty seven percent of the group with MS
      and 14.1% of the group without MS were classified as having hyperhomocysteinemia
      (p<0.001). Furthermore, logistic regression analysis revealed that
      hyperhomocysteinemia (odds ratio (OR): 2.67, 95% confidence interval (95%CI):
      1.57-4.58), low folate (OR: 1.79, 95%CI: 1.11-2.89), and BMI (OR: 1.25, 95%CI:
      1.16-1.33) were significantly related to MS. These findings suggest that
      increased homocysteine levels and decreased folate concentrations may influence
      susceptibility to MS and this effect may be an early event in the development of
      cardiovascular diseases among post-menopausal women. Therefore, there is a need
      to evaluate homocysteine levels, especially among post-menopausal Thai women.

PMID- 25835235
TI  - The effect of oral loading doses of cholecalciferol on the serum concentration of
      25-OH-vitamin-D.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Severe vitamin D deficiency can be treated with oral
      loading doses of cholecalciferol. Our objective was to develop an algorithm to
      accurately calculate the amount of cholecalciferol needed for a loading dose, and
      what factors should be taken into account. METHODS: Two studies were conducted on
      subjects with Vitamin D deficiency. Study 1 was observational, retrospective and
      included 88 subjects treated with a daily supplementation of cholecalciferol. 60
      of these furthermore received a loading dose, calculated by an algorithm.Study 2
      was prospective and included 29 subjects treated with a cholecalciferol loading
      dose, calculated by an algorithm developed based on data from study 1, which
      included BMI. RESULTS: Baseline 25OH-vit.D was below 25 nmol/L (study 1) and 23
      nmol/L (study 2). Subjects were given a single loading dose of cholecalciferol,
      averaging 172,000 IU (study 1) and 212,000 IU (study 2), based on their baseline
      25OH-vit.D level.25OH-vit.D increased by 35 nmol/L (study 1) and 56 nmol/L (study
      2)(range 113.0, SD 29.79) respectively. In study 2 the increase lead to an end
      25OH-vit.D of 79 nmol/L--not significantly different from the target value of 80
      nmol/L (P=0.46). The increase in 25OH-vit.D in study 1 was significantly lower
      than in study 2 (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: When calculating loading doses of
      cholecalciferol, taking subject BMI into account gives a better estimate of the
      loading dose of vitamin D3 needed to treat vitamin D deficiency. It does not,
      however, remove the large interindividual variation in dose-response.

PMID- 25835236
TI  - Combination of vitamin E and folic acid ameliorate oxidative stress and apoptosis
      in diabetic rat uterus.
AB  - This study was designed to assess oxidative damage and cell apoptosis in the
      uterus of rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. The role of vitamin E
      (VE) and/or folic acid (FA) in the protection from such damage was also
      evaluated. The treatments were performed for 4 weeks on six groups of rats: 1)
      normal control 2) diabetic control 3) diabetic rats receiving olive oil as a
      vehicle (without VE) 4) diabetic rats treated with VE (200 mg/kg) in olive oil 5)
      diabetic rats treated with FA (25 mg/kg) and 6) diabetic rats treated with VE+FA
      (200 and 25 mg/kg, respectively). We measured the malondialdehyde level (MDA),
      glutathione content (GSH) and the activity of GSH peroxidase (GPx), GSH reductase
      (GR) and catalase. Changes in caspase-3 activity were quantified in uterine
      tissue to assess the rate of apoptosis. In the rat uterine tissues, MDA content
      and caspase-3 activity were significantly elevated, while GPx, GR and CAT
      activities and the GSH level were significantly decreased in the diabetic control
      compared with those in normal rats (p<0.05). The combination of the vitamins
      (VE+FA) restored uterine GSH content and enzymatic activities of GPx, GR and CAT
      and reduced the MDA level (p<0.05). A prominent reduction in apoptosis of uterine
      cells was detected in diabetic rats treated with two vitamins (p<0.05). Overall,
      VE alone, not FA, produced results similar to those of the VE+FA combination.
      Thus, in the uterine tissue of diabetic rats, diabetes complications (that are
      caused by oxidative damage and apoptosis induction) can be prevented by the
      systemic administration of VE and FA.

PMID- 25835237
TI  - The potential of orange-fleshed sweet potato to prevent vitamin A deficiency in
      Africa.
AB  - PURPOSE: Vitamin A deficiency is among major health problems worldwide that leads
      to blindness, retarded growth and death, particularly in developing countries. In
      these countries, vitamin A deficiency largely affects pre-school children,
      pregnant and lactating mothers, and the rural poor. For instance, the predicted
      prevalence of vitamin A deficiency for 36 sub-Saharan African countries is 19.1%.
      METHODS: Different strategies, including vitamin A supplementation, food
      fortification and dietary diversification, have been used to combat this problem.
      However, these strategies are not sustainable due to their high costs. RESULTS:
      Orange-fleshed sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L. Lam) is a low priced crop, which
      is part of staple foods in most of sub-Saharan Africa that can be a year-round
      source of vitamin A. Most of the orange-fleshed sweet potato varieties contain
      3000-16000 MUg 100 g(-1) of beta-carotene and this contributes to 250 to 1300 MUg
      100 g(-1) Retinol Activity Equivalents (RAE). Therefore, by using orange-fleshed
      sweet potato, it is possible to improve vitamin A status, increase the bio
      availability of different micro-nutrients such as Fe, Zn, Ca and Mg, reduce
      vitamin A deficiency and hence reduce child mortality rates by 23 to 30%.
      CONCLUSION: The article highlights the significance of vitamin A for human
      nutrition, the effect of vitamin A deficiency, the different prevention methods
      and the potential of orange- fleshed sweet potato as a food crop to prevent
      vitamin A deficiency.

PMID- 25835238
TI  - The anti-atherogenic properties of sesamin are mediated via improved macrophage
      cholesterol efflux through PPARgamma1-LXRalpha and MAPK signaling.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Foam cell formation resulting from disrupted macrophage cholesterol
      efflux, which is triggered by PPARgamma1 and LXRalpha, is a hallmark of
      atherosclerosis. Sesamin and sesame oil exert anti-atherogenic effects in vivo.
      However, the exact molecular mechanisms underlying such effects are not fully
      understood. AIM: This study examines the potential effects of sesamin (0, 25, 50,
      75, 100 MUM) on PPARgamma1 and LXRalpha expression and transcriptional activity
      as well as macrophage cholesterol efflux. METHODS: PPARgamma1 and LXRalpha
      expression and transcriptional activity are assessed by luciferase reporter
      assays. Macrophage cholesterol efflux is evaluated by ApoAI-specific cholesterol
      efflux assays. RESULTS: The 50 MUM, 75 MUM, and 100 MUM concentrations of sesamin
      up-regulated the expression of PPARgamma1 (p<0.001, p<0.001, p<0.001,
      respectively) and LXRalpha (p=0.002, p<0.001, p<0.001, respectively) in a
      concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, 75 MUM and 100 MUM concentrations of
      sesamin led to 5.2-fold (p<0.001) and 6.0-fold (p<0.001) increases in PPAR
      transcriptional activity and 3.9-fold (p<0.001) and 4.2-fold (p<0.001) increases
      in LXR transcriptional activity, respectively, in a concentration- and time
      dependent manner via MAPK signaling. Consistently, 50 MUM, 75 MUM, and 100 MUM
      concentrations of sesamin improved macrophage cholesterol efflux by 2.7-fold
      (p<0.001), 4.2-fold (p<0.001), and 4.2-fold (p<0.001), respectively, via MAPK
      signaling. CONCLUSION: Our findings shed light on the molecular mechanism(s)
      underlying sesamin?s anti-atherogenic effects, which seem to be due, at least in
      part, to its ability to up-regulate PPARgamma1 and LXRalpha expression and
      transcriptional activity, improving macrophage cholesterol efflux. We anticipate
      that sesamin may be used as a therapeutic agent for treating atherosclerosis.

PMID- 25835239
TI  - Serum vitamin B12 levels during the first trimester of pregnancy correlate with
      newborn screening markers of vitamin B12 deficiency.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Low maternal vitamin B12 status is a risk factor for various
      adverse pregnancy outcomes. Although vitamin B12 deficiency is not a primary
      target of newborn screening (NBS) programs, measurements of propionylcarnitine
      (C3) and its ratios with acetylcarnitine (C3/C2) and palmitoylcarnitine (C3/C16)
      may incidentally identify vitamin B12-deficient newborns. The objective of this
      study was to measure vitamin B12 levels in women during the first trimester of
      pregnancy, evaluate predictors of these concentrations, and study their
      relationship with newborn screening results. DESIGN: Vitamin B12 concentrations
      were evaluated in 204 women during the first trimester of pregnancy and possible
      confounding factors were analyzed. After giving birth, data of their newborns
      (189) were collected (sex, gestational age, birthweight) and the acylcarnitine
      profile obtained by tandem mass spectrometry during NBS was analyzed. To assess
      the effects of the variables on vitamin B12 serum concentrations and newborn
      screening markers, stepwise multiple linear regression models were used. RESULTS:
      The mean serum concentration of vitamin B12 was 370.8 pmol/L (502.4 pg/mL) (SD
      142.81). Vitamin B12 concentrations were significantly lower in smokers
      (p=0.027), and in women with low meat consumption (p=0.040). There was a
      significant inverse correlation between mothers'? vitamin B12 concentrations and
      their children?'s C3 (r=-0.24; p=0.001), C3/C2 (r=-0.23; p=0.002) and C3/C16
      levels (r=-0.20; p=0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Newborn screening markers (C3, C3/C2, and
      C3/C16) present an inverse correlation with maternal vitamin B12 status in the
      first trimester of pregnancy. Regarding factors that may influence maternal serum
      vitamin B12 levels during the first trimester, smoking seems to have a negative
      effect, and meat consumption a positive effect.

PMID- 25835240
TI  - Moderate vitamin D deficiency and inflammation related markers in
      overweight/obese schoolchildren.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Obesity has been associated with vitamin D deficiency and increased
      oxidative stress, which can lead to the dysregulation of adipokines and
      inflammation. The aim of the present work was to examine the association of
      vitamin D status [25(OH)D] on inflammatory related markers in overweight/obese
      children. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 137 Spanish schoolchildren between 9 and
      12 years of age (31.4% with overweight/obesity) were studied. Being overweight
      was defined as BMI>=85th percentile and obesity as BMI>=97th percentile using the
      reference tables of Hernandez. Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were measured by
      chemiluminescent assay. Plasma tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) and interleukin
      6 (IL-6) were measured by immunoenzyme assay. Serum adiponectin was determined
      using an ELISA kit. Serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-PCR) was tested
      by immunonephelometry. RESULTS: IL-6 concentrations were higher in the
      overweight/obese children with deficient serum 25(OH)D (<20 ng/mL) than in those
      in this group but whose serum 25(OH)D concentrations were adequate (>=20 ng/mL).
      Serum 25(OH)D was inversely associated with IL-6 concentrations in the
      overweight/obese subjects taking into account different covariates; thus, for
      every 1 ng/mL rise in the former, the latter fell by 0.160 pg/mL (beta=-0.160+/
      0.068; R2=0.131; p=0.023). The obese subjects with concentrations of >=25 ng/mL
      had lower hs-CRP values compared to those with concentrations of <25 ng/mL
      (0.053+/-0.035 vs. 0.356+/-0.613 mg/dL; p=0.035). CONCLUSION: Low serum 25(OH)D
      was significantly associated high serum IL-6 in overweight/obese children, and
      with increased hs-CRP in obese children.

PMID- 25835241
TI  - Correlations between psychometric schizotypy, scan path length, fixations on the
      eyes and face recognition.
AB  - Psychometric schizotypy in the general population correlates negatively with face
      recognition accuracy, potentially due to deficits in inhibition, social
      withdrawal, or eye-movement abnormalities. We report an eye-tracking face
      recognition study in which participants were required to match one of two faces
      (target and distractor) to a cue face presented immediately before. All faces
      could be presented with or without paraphernalia (e.g., hats, glasses, facial
      hair). Results showed that paraphernalia distracted participants, and that the
      most distracting condition was when the cue and the distractor face had
      paraphernalia but the target face did not, while there was no correlation between
      distractibility and participants' scores on the Schizotypal Personality
      Questionnaire (SPQ). Schizotypy was negatively correlated with proportion of time
      fixating on the eyes and positively correlated with not fixating on a feature. It
      was negatively correlated with scan path length and this variable correlated with
      face recognition accuracy. These results are interpreted as schizotypal traits
      being associated with a restricted scan path leading to face recognition
      deficits. 

PMID- 25835242
TI  - Bio-inspired CO2 conversion by iron sulfide catalysts under sustainable
      conditions.
AB  - The mineral greigite presents similar surface structures to the active sites
      found in many modern-day enzymes. We show that particles of greigite can reduce
      CO2 under ambient conditions into chemicals such as methanol, formic, acetic and
      pyruvic acid. Our results also lend support to the Origin of Life theory on
      alkaline hydrothermal vents. 

PMID- 25835244
TI  - Spinal accessory nerve transfer outperforms cervical root grafting for
      suprascapular nerve reconstruction in neonatal brachial plexus palsy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The authors evaluated long-term shoulder function in patients with
      neonatal brachial plexus palsy undergoing suprascapular nerve reconstruction with
      cervical root grafting or spinal accessory nerve transfer. METHODS: A
      retrospective review was performed on all infants presenting with neonatal
      brachial plexus palsy between 1994 and 2010. Functional outcomes were compared by
      type of suprascapular nerve reconstruction. RESULTS: Seventy-four patients met
      the inclusion criteria (46 transfers, 28 grafts). Both groups presented with an
      active movement scale score of 2.0 for shoulder abduction and 0.0 for external
      rotation. Postoperative follow-up was 9.0 years for the graft group and 6.7 years
      for the transfer group. Both groups achieved an active movement scale score of
      5.0 for shoulder abduction at 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively. Active
      movement scale scores for shoulder external rotation were 1.0, 2.0, and 2.5 for
      the graft group versus 2.0, 2.0, and 3.0 for the transfer group at 12, 24, and 36
      months postoperatively. None of these differences reached statistical
      significance. Composite Mallet scores were 13.0 for the graft group versus 15.0
      for the transfer group at 3 years (p = 0.06) and 13.0 for the graft group versus
      16.0 for the transfer group at 5 years postoperatively (p = 0.07). Secondary
      shoulder surgery was performed on 57.1 percent (16 of 28) of patients with grafts
      compared with 26.1 percent (12 of 46) of patients with transfers (OR, 3.17; p =
      0.02). CONCLUSION: Suprascapular nerve reconstruction by cervical root grafting
      results in poorer shoulder function and a two-fold increase in secondary shoulder
      surgery compared with spinal accessory nerve transfer. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF
      EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.

PMID- 25835245
TI  - Three-dimensional surface imaging in plastic surgery: foundation, practical
      applications, and beyond.
AB  - Three-dimensional surface imaging has gained clinical acceptance in plastic and
      reconstructive surgery. In contrast to computed tomography/magnetic resonance
      imaging, three-dimensional surface imaging relies on triangulation in
      stereophotography to measure surface x, y, and z coordinates. This study reviews
      the past, present, and future directions of three-dimensional topographic imaging
      in plastic surgery. Historically, three-dimensional imaging technology was first
      used in a clinical setting in 1944 to diagnose orthodontologic conditions. Karlan
      established its use in the field of plastic surgery in 1979, analyzing contours
      and documenting facial asymmetries. Present use of three-dimensional surface
      imaging has focused on standardizing patient topographic measurements to enhance
      preoperative planning and to improve postoperative outcomes. Various measurements
      (e.g., volume, surface area, vector distance, curvature) have been applied to
      breast, body, and facial topography to augment patient analysis. Despite the
      rapid progression of the clinical applications of three-dimensional imaging,
      current use of this technology is focused on the surgeon's perspective and
      secondarily the patient's perspective. Advancements in patient simulation may
      improve patient-physician communication, education, and satisfaction. However, a
      communal database of three-dimensional surface images integrated with emerging
      three-dimensional printing and portable information technology will validate
      measurements and strengthen preoperative planning and postoperative outcomes.
      Three-dimensional surface imaging is a useful adjunct to plastic and
      reconstructive surgery practices and standardizes measurements to create
      objectivity in a subjective field. Key improvements in three-dimensional imaging
      technology may significantly enhance the quality of plastic and reconstructive
      surgery in the near future. 

PMID- 25835246
TI  - Enhancement of the repair of dog alveolar cleft by an autologous iliac bone, bone
      marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell, and platelet-rich fibrin mixture.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Autologous bone graft has been regarded as the criterion standard for
      the repair of alveolar cleft. However, the most prominent issue in alveolar cleft
      treatment is the high absorption rate of the bone graft. The authors' objective
      was to investigate the effects of an autologous iliac bone, bone marrow-derived
      mesenchymal stem cell, and platelet-rich fibrin mixture on the repair of dog
      alveolar cleft. METHODS: Twenty beagle dogs with unilateral alveolar clefts
      created by surgery were divided randomly into four groups: group A underwent
      repair with an autologous iliac bone, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell,
      and platelet-rich fibrin mixture; group B underwent repair with autologous iliac
      bone and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells; group C underwent repair
      with autologous iliac bone and platelet-rich fibrin; and group D underwent repair
      with autologous iliac bone as the control. One day and 6 months after
      transplantation, the transplant volumes and bone mineral density were assessed by
      quantitative computed tomography. All of the transplants were harvested for
      hematoxylin and eosin staining 6 months later. RESULTS: Bone marrow-derived
      mesenchymal stem cells and platelet-rich fibrin transplants formed the greatest
      amounts of new bone among the four groups. The new bone formed an extensive union
      with the underlying maxilla in groups A, B, and C. Transplants with the bone
      marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, platelet-rich fibrin, and their mixture
      retained the majority of their initial volume, whereas the transplants in the
      control group showed the highest absorption rate. Bone mineral density of
      transplants with the bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, platelet-rich
      fibrin, and their mixture 6 months later was significantly higher than in the
      control group (p < 0.05), and was the highest in bone marrow-derived mesenchymal
      stem cells and platelet-rich fibrin mixed transplants. Hematoxylin and eosin
      staining showed that the structure of new bones formed the best in group A.
      CONCLUSION: Both bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and platelet-rich
      fibrin are capable of improving the repair of dog alveolar cleft, and the mixture
      of them is more potent than each one of them used singly for enhancing new bone
      regeneration.

PMID- 25835247
TI  - The impact of plastic and reconstructive surgery: by the numbers.

PMID- 25835248
TI  - Algorithmic approach to anterolateral thigh flaps lacking suitable perforators in
      lower extremity reconstruction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The anterolateral thigh flap is preferred at the authors' institution
      for lower extremity reconstruction. When variations in vascular anatomy preclude
      flap harvest, the authors follow an algorithm for contingency planning. The
      authors compared outcomes of contingency strategies to anterolateral thigh flaps
      that go as planned. METHODS: Between January of 2001 and February of 2012, 548
      free anterolateral thigh flaps were planned for lower extremity reconstruction at
      Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. In 30 cases, the flap could not be used because
      perforators were not identified (n = 12), unreliably small (n = 14), or injured
      (n = 4). Using the authors' algorithm, the flap was converted to an ipsilateral
      tensor fasciae latae (n = 21), anteromedial thigh (n = 5), or contralateral
      vastus lateralis myocutaneous flap (n = 4). Outcomes, including flap failure,
      necrosis, and re-exploration rate, were compared in successful cases and those
      that required conversion. RESULTS: The incidence of unreliably small or absent
      perforators was 4.8 percent. Adding cases of iatrogenic perforator injury, the
      incidence was 5.5 percent. There was no difference in flap survival, flap loss,
      or need for re-exploration regardless of whether or not the anterolateral thigh
      flap was used. In 70 percent of cases, the authors favored the tensor fasciae
      latae flap; partial flap necrosis occurred in six of 21 cases, and total flap
      loss occurred in one. CONCLUSIONS: Without preoperative imaging, dilemmas may be
      encountered in roughly one of 20 anterolateral thigh flaps raised. Using the
      authors' algorithm, alternative options can reliably confer results comparable to
      those of planned anterolateral thigh flaps. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:
      Therapeutic, III.

PMID- 25835249
TI  - Ultrafast electron dynamics in epitaxial graphene investigated with time- and
      angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.
AB  - In order to exploit the intriguing optical properties of graphene it is essential
      to gain a better understanding of the light-matter interaction in the material on
      ultrashort timescales. Exciting the Dirac fermions with intense ultrafast laser
      pulses triggers a series of processes involving interactions between electrons,
      phonons and impurities. Here we study these interactions in epitaxial graphene
      supported on silicon carbide (semiconducting) and iridium (metallic) substrates
      using ultrafast time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (TR-ARPES)
      based on high harmonic generation. For the semiconducting substrate we reveal a
      complex hot carrier dynamics that manifests itself in an elevated electronic
      temperature and an increase in linewidth of the pi band. By analyzing these
      effects we are able to disentangle electron relaxation channels in graphene. On
      the metal substrate this hot carrier dynamics is found to be severely perturbed
      by the presence of the metal, and we find that the electronic system is much
      harder to heat up than on the semiconductor due to screening of the laser field
      by the metal. 

PMID- 25835250
TI  - Transient neonatal radial nerve palsy. A case series and review of the
      literature.
AB  - Transient neonatal radial nerve palsy manifests at birth by wrist drop and intact
      elbow and shoulder function. Spontaneous resolution is universal. We present a
      case series, including two bilateral cases, and a review of the cases found in
      the English literature, hypothesizing how this condition is probably misdiagnosed
      as brachial plexus injury. 

PMID- 25835251
TI  - Characterization and intervention for upper extremity exploration & reaching
      behaviors in infancy.
AB  - This article aims to: 1) highlight general exploration, reaching, and object
      exploration behaviors as key activities of daily living in infancy, 2) describe
      how knowledge of early warning signs for these behaviors may improve early
      assessment, and 3) discuss interventions that may advance performance of these
      behaviors. Early intervention should focus on improving performance of these
      behaviors because: a) these early, interrelated upper extremity behaviors serve
      an integral role in global learning and development in infancy, b) among at-risk
      populations, differences have been observed in the quantity and quality of
      performance of these behaviors and, in many cases, these differences are
      associated with related perceptual-motor and cognitive delays. This article
      highlights how early assessment and intervention can target these key early
      behaviors in populations at risk for upper extremity disabilities, such as those
      born preterm, with Down syndrome, brachial plexus palsy, or arthrogryposis
      multiplex congentia. 

PMID- 25835252
TI  - Long term functional outcomes after early childhood pollicization.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective Cohort INTRODUCTION: Important outcomes of
      polliciation to treat thumb hypoplasia/aplasia include strength, function,
      dexterity, and quality of life. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: To evaluate outcomes and
      examine predictors of outcome after early childhood pollicization. METHODS: 8
      children (10 hands) were evaluated 3-15 years after surgery. Physical
      examination, questionnaires, grip and pinch strength, Box and Blocks, 9-hole
      pegboard, and strength-dexterity (S-D) tests were performed. RESULTS: Pollicized
      hands had poor strength and performance on functional tests. Six of 10 pollicized
      hands had normal dexterity scores but less stability in maintaining a steady
      state force. Predictors of poorer outcomes included older age at surgery, reduced
      metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal range of motion, and radial absence.
      DISCUSSION: Pollicization resulted in poor strength and overall function, but
      normal dexterity was often achieved using altered control strategies.
      CONCLUSIONS: Most children should obtain adequate dexterity despite weakness
      after pollicization except older or severely involved children. LEVEL OF
      EVIDENCE: IV.

PMID- 25835253
TI  - Perspectives on glenohumeral joint contractures and shoulder dysfunction in
      children with perinatal brachial plexus palsy.
AB  - Shoulder joint deformities continue to be a challenging aspect of treating upper
      plexus lesions in children with perinatal brachial plexus palsy (PBPP). It is
      increasingly recognized that PBPP affects the glenohumeral joint specifically,
      and that abnormal scapulothoracic movements are a compensatory development. The
      pathophysiology and assessment of glenohumeral joint contractures, the
      progression of scapular dyskinesia and skeletal dysplasia, and current shoulder
      imaging techniques are reviewed. 

PMID- 25835254
TI  - Current and emerging strategies for treatment of childhood dystonia.
AB  - Childhood dystonia is a movement disorder characterized by involuntary sustained
      or intermittent muscle contractions causing twisting and repetitive movements,
      abnormal postures, or both (Sanger et al, 2003). Dystonia is a devastating
      neurological condition that prevents the acquisition of normal motor skills
      during critical periods of development in children. Moreover, it is particularly
      debilitating in children when dystonia affects the upper extremities such that
      learning and consolidation of common daily motor actions are impeded. Thus, the
      treatment and rehabilitation of dystonia is a challenge that continuously
      requires exploration of novel interventions. This review will initially describe
      the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms of the motor impairments found in
      childhood dystonia followed by the clinical measurement tools that are available
      to document the presence and severity of symptoms. Finally, we will discuss the
      state-of-the-art of therapeutic options for childhood dystonia, with particular
      emphasis on emergent and innovative strategies. 

PMID- 25835256
TI  - The implications of injury in the developing nervous system on upper extremity
      function.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Literature review. PURPOSE: The corticospinal system (CS) and
      peripheral nervous system (PNS) are common sites of damage during the early
      stages of life. The prenatal or immediately prenatal period is the most common
      time for damage to occur. Here we briefly review the basic features of the
      development of the CS and the PNS and the clinical consequences of injury to or
      improper development of these systems on upper extremity (UE) function. RESULTS:
      The proper development of both the CS and PNS is necessary to achieve adequate
      function of the (UE). Injury or improper development of these systems can lead to
      upper extremity dysfunction and limit participation in activities of daily
      living. CONCLUSIONS: Both the PNS and CS play major roles in the proper
      functioning of the UE. A better understanding of their roles and common
      developmental disorders is needed to move rehabilitation of motor impairments
      forward.

PMID- 25835255
TI  - Innovative evaluation of dexterity in pediatrics.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Review paper. INTRODUCTION: Hand dexterity is multifaceted and
      essential to the performance of daily tasks. Timed performance and precision
      demands are the most common features of quantitative dexterity testing.
      Measurement concepts such as rate of completion, in-hand manipulation and dynamic
      force control of instabilities are being integrated into assessment tools for the
      pediatric population. PURPOSE: To review measurement concepts inherent in
      pediatric dexterity testing and introduce concepts that are infrequently measured
      or novel as exemplified with two assessment tools. METHODS: Measurement concepts
      included in common assessment tools are introduced first. We then describe seldom
      measured and novel concepts embedded in two instruments; the Functional Dexterity
      Test (FDT) and the Strength-Dexterity (SD) Test. DISCUSSION: The inclusion of
      novel yet informative tools and measurement concepts in our assessments could aid
      our understanding of atypical dexterity, and potentially contribute to the design
      of targeted therapy programs.

PMID- 25835257
TI  - Fundamental Study of Emulsions Stabilized by Soft and Rigid Particles.
AB  - Two distinct uniform hybrid particles, with similar hydrodynamic diameters and
      comparable zeta potentials, were prepared by copolymerizing N-isopropylacrylamide
      (NIPAM) and styrene. These particles differed in their styrene to NIPAM (S/N)
      mass ratios of 1 and 8 and are referred to as S/N 1 and S/N 8, respectively.
      Particle S/N 1 exhibited a typical behavior of soft particles; that is, the
      particles shrank in bulk aqueous solutions when the temperature was increased. As
      a result, S/N 1 particles were interfacially active. In contrast, particle S/N 8
      appeared to be rigid in response to temperature changes. In this case, the
      particles showed a negligible interfacial activity. Interfacial shear rheology
      tests revealed the increased rigidity of the particle-stabilized film formed at
      the heptane-water interface by S/N 1 than S/N 8 particles. As a result, S/N 1
      particles were shown to be better emulsion stabilizers and emulsify a larger
      amount of heptane, as compared with S/N 8 particles. The current investigation
      confirmed a better performance of emulsion stabilization by soft particles (S/N
      1) than by rigid particles (S/N 8), reinforcing the importance of controlling
      softness or deformability of particles for the purpose of stabilizing emulsions. 

PMID- 25835259
TI  - Increased O-GlcNAcylation of NF-kappaB Enhances Retinal Ganglion Cell Death in
      Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Retinopathy.
AB  - PURPOSE: Hyperglycemia results in increased flux through the hexoxamine
      biosynthetic pathway. We examined whether hyperglycemia increases O-GlcNAcylation
      in the diabetic retina and whether elevated O-GlcNAcylation of nuclear factor
      (NF)-kappaB increases apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in diabetic
      retinopathy (DR). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Diabetes was induced in C57BL/6 mice by
      five consecutive intraperitoneal injections of 55 mg/kg streptozotocin. All mice
      were killed 2 months after injections and expression levels of O-GlcNAcylated
      proteins, O-linked N-acetylglucosamine transferase (OGT), beta-d-N
      acetylglucosaminidase and NF-kappaB, and the extent of RGC death were examined.
      Immunoprecipitations were performed to investigate whether O-GlcNAcylation of NF
      kappaB led to its activation and RGC death in DR. RESULTS: The expression levels
      of O-GlcNAcylated proteins and OGT were markedly higher in diabetic retinas than
      in control retinas. OGT colocalized with NeuN, a RGC-specific marker, and
      terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling-positive
      cells in the ganglion cell layer of diabetic retinas. The p65 subunit of NF
      kappaB was O-GlcNAcylated and the level of O-GlcNAcylated p65 was higher in
      diabetic retinas than in control retinas. CONCLUSION: The present data suggest
      that hyperglycemia increases O-GlcNAcylation in DR and that O-GlcNAcylation of
      the p65 subunit of NF-kappaB is involved in hyperglycemia-induced NF-kappaB
      activation and RGC death in DR.

PMID- 25835258
TI  - Local electrostatic interactions determine the diameter of fusion pores.
AB  - In regulated exocytosis vesicular and plasma membranes merge to form a fusion
      pore in response to stimulation. The nonselective cation HCN channels are
      involved in the regulation of unitary exocytotic events by at least 2 mechanisms.
      They can affect SNARE-dependent exocytotic activity indirectly, via the
      modulation of free intracellular calcium; and/or directly, by altering local
      cation concentration, which affects fusion pore geometry likely via electrostatic
      interactions. By monitoring membrane capacitance, we investigated how
      extracellular cation concentration affects fusion pore diameter in pituitary
      cells and astrocytes. At low extracellular divalent cation levels predominantly
      transient fusion events with widely open fusion pores were detected. However,
      fusion events with predominately narrow fusion pores were present at elevated
      levels of extracellular trivalent cations. These results show that electrostatic
      interactions likely help determine the stability of discrete fusion pore states
      by affecting fusion pore membrane composition. 

PMID- 25835260
TI  - [Budd-Chiari syndrome as clinical expression of POEMS syndrome].

PMID- 25835261
TI  - [Severe bone marrow aplasia due to triple therapy for hepatitis C virus
      infection: Apropos of a case].

PMID- 25835262
TI  - Attitude and perception of urology by medical students at the end of their
      medical school: An appraisal from Saudi Arabia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the attitude and perception of the graduates of King Saud
      University (KSU) College of Medicine regarding the quality of their urology
      rotation, urology exposure during this rotation, confidence about managing common
      conditions, and career prospects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 2013, a questionnaire
      regarding the students' perceptions of urology rotation was developed and E
      mailed to all final (5(th)) year medical students and interns of KSU College of
      Medicine, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Individual responses were recorded, tabulated and
      compared using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The overall response rate was
      67.7%. Respondents included 101 (49.8%) males and 102 (50.2%) females. All the
      respondents but 18 (8.9%) were enrolled in a urology rotation during
      undergraduate years. Only 27 (13.3%) were willing to choose urology specialty as
      a future career. Significant gender differences were found regarding choice of
      urology as a future career (P = 0.002) and the need for more urology exposure
      during surgical rotation (P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge of medical school
      graduates is insufficient in many urologic subjects, and there is a need for more
      urology exposure. Social reasons and lack of knowledge about urology hinder the
      choice of urology specialty as a future career. Clearance of learning objectives,
      immediate and prompt feedback on performance and adequate emphasis of common
      problems and ambulatory care are some aspects that should be taken into account
      by curriculum planners as they consider improvements to urology rotation program.

PMID- 25835263
TI  - Association between Smoking and Uveitis: Results from the Pacific Ocular
      Inflammation Study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess whether cigarette smoking is associated with the development
      of uveitis in a population-based setting. DESIGN: Retrospective, population
      based, case-control study. PARTICIPANTS: Patients aged >= 18 years who were seen
      at a Kaiser Permanente Hawaii clinic between January 1, 2006, and December 31,
      2007. Analysis included 100 confirmed incident uveitis cases, 522 randomly
      selected controls from the general Kaiser Hawaii population, and 528 randomly
      selected controls from the Kaiser Hawaii ophthalmology clinic. METHODS:
      International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision (ICD-9), diagnosis codes
      were used to identify possible uveitis cases. A uveitis fellowship-trained
      ophthalmologist then conducted individual chart review to confirm case status.
      Multivariate logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association
      between smoking and uveitis, adjusting for age, sex, race, and socioeconomic
      status. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Development of uveitis. RESULTS: Current smokers
      had a 1.63 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88-3.00; P = 0.12) and 2.33 (95% CI,
      1.22-4.45; P = 0.01) times greater odds of developing uveitis compared with those
      who never smoked using the general and ophthalmology control groups,
      respectively. The association was even stronger with noninfectious uveitis, which
      yielded odds ratios of 2.10 (95% CI, 1.10-3.99; P = 0.02) and 2.96 (95% CI, 1.52
      5.77; P = 0.001) using the general and ophthalmology control groups,
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Cigarette smoking is significantly associated with new
      onset uveitis within a population-based setting. The association was stronger for
      noninfectious uveitis. Given the well-established risks of smoking with regard to
      other inflammatory disorders, these results reaffirm the importance of
      encouraging patients to avoid or cease smoking.

PMID- 25835264
TI  - Using linkage to electronic primary care records to evaluate recruitment and
      nonresponse bias in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.

PMID- 25835265
TI  - In vivo kinematic effects of ball and socket third condyle as a post-cam
      mechanism in tri-condylar knee implants.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tri-condylar implants containing a ball and socket third condyle as a
      post-cam mechanism were developed to accommodate a lifestyle requiring frequent
      deep flexion activities. The purpose of the current study was to examine the
      kinematic effects of the ball and socket third condyle during a deep knee bend
      activity, and to confirm the contact status of the ball and socket joint.
      METHODS: Seventeen knees implanted with tri-condylar implants were analyzed using
      a 3D to 2D registration approach. A distance of less than 1mm denoted ball and
      socket contact. Medial and lateral contact positions and axial rotation were
      compared before and after contact. Moreover, the contact position at the third
      condyle and the center of the ball joint were analyzed. RESULTS: After the third
      condyle contact, posterior translation of the medial and lateral contact
      positions increased considerably. Meanwhile, the angular rotation remained still.
      The center of the third condyle did not move after contact, and the contact
      position at the third condyle remained low. CONCLUSIONS: The third condyle
      induced intensive posterior translation of both condyles, and did not prevent
      axial rotation, which was proved to work properly as a posterior stabilizing post
      cam mechanism.

PMID- 25835266
TI  - An in-vitro-in-vivo model for the transdermal delivery of cholecalciferol for the
      purposes of rodent management.
AB  - The natural selection of anticoagulant resistant rats has resulted in a need for
      an alternative to anticoagulant rodenticides which differs in both active
      ingredient and in the method of dosing. Cholecalciferol toxicity to rodents using
      the dermal route is demonstrated using a variety of penetration enhancing
      formulations in two in-vitro models and finally in-vivo. A 1 ml dose of 50/50
      (v/v) DMSO/ethanol containing 15% (v/v) PEG 200 and 20% (w/v) cholecalciferol was
      judged as 'sufficiently effective' in line with the European Union's Biocidal
      Products Regulation (No. 528/2012) during in-vivo studies. This dose was found to
      cause 100% mortality in a rat population in 64.4h (+/- 22h).

PMID- 25835267
TI  - Product and process understanding to relate the effect of freezing method on
      glycation and aggregation of lyophilized monoclonal antibody formulations.
AB  - The objective of the study was to analyze the effect of controlled and
      uncontrolled freezing step of a lyophilization process on the extent of non
      enzymatic glycation and aggregation of an IgG1 formulation at two concentrations
      (1mg/ml and 20mg/ml). The degree of glycation (%) was determined through boronate
      affinity chromatography and its effect on the formation of soluble aggregates and
      higher molecular weight species was studied using dynamic light scattering (DLS)
      and size exclusion chromatography with multi-angle light scattering (SEC-MALS).
      The effect of non-enzymatic glycation on the secondary structure of the
      formulations was also studied using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and
      Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Results indicated that
      controlled nucleation yielded higher residual moisture contents and significantly
      lower specific surface areas for the two monoclonal antibody concentrations
      compared with uncontrolled nucleation cycle (p<0.05). For the two concentrations,
      uncontrolled nucleation resulted in significantly higher levels of glycation
      compared with controlled nucleation samples (p<0.05). Further, it was observed
      that higher storage temperatures (25 degrees C/60% RH) versus 5 degrees C
      resulted in higher glycation. Even though SEC-MALS analyses of the low
      concentrated formulations did not reveal the formation of higher molecular weight
      species, DLS analyses at two storage conditions revealed increases in the
      hydrodynamic radii and polydispersity index of the reconstituted formulations,
      suggesting the onset of formation of smaller species in the formulations. CD
      spectroscopy did not reveal any differences in the secondary structure of the mAb
      for the two concentrations after lyophilization. In conclusion, the freezing step
      method impacted the extent of glycation in lyophilized samples and the hydrolyzed
      component of sucrose was critical for increasing glycation. Even though some
      level of glycation was observed in lyophilized samples, the native structure of
      the protein was not affected. Further, it was demonstrated that storage of both
      lyophilized cakes and reconstituted formulations at higher temperatures could
      increase the extent of glycation in monoclonal antibody formulations. 

PMID- 25835268
TI  - Predicting the dissolution behavior of pharmaceutical tablets with NIR chemical
      imaging.
AB  - Near infrared chemical imaging (NIRCI) is a common analytical non-destructive
      technique for the analysis of pharmaceutical tablets. This powerful process
      analytical technology provides opportunity to chemically understand the sample,
      and also to determine spatial distribution and size of ingredients in a tablet.
      NIRCI has been used to link disintegrant, excipients and active pharmaceutical
      ingredient (API) to tablet dissolution, as disintegrants play an important role
      in tablet disintegration, resulting in API dissolution. This article describes a
      specific methodology to predict API dissolution based on disintegrant chemical
      information obtained with NIRCI. First, several tablet batches with different
      disintegrant characteristics were produced. Then, NIRCI was successfully used to
      provide chemical images of pharmaceutical tablets. A PLS regression model
      successfully predicted dissolution profiles. These results show that NIRCI is a
      robust and versatile technique for measuring disintegrant properties in tablet
      formulations and predicting their effects on dissolution profiles. Thus, NIRCI
      could routinely complement and eventually replace dissolution testing by
      monitoring a critical material attribute: disintegrant content. 

PMID- 25835269
TI  - Superficial venous disease and combined hormonal contraceptives: a systematic
      review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Superficial venous disease, which includes superficial venous
      thrombosis (SVT) and varicose veins, may be associated with a higher risk of
      venous thromboembolism (VTE). Use of combined hormonal contraceptives (CHCs) has
      been associated with an increased risk of VTE compared with nonuse. Little is
      known about whether use of CHCs by women with superficial venous disease may
      further elevate the risk of VTE. OBJECTIVES: To investigate evidence regarding
      risk of VTE in women with SVT or varicose veins who use CHCs compared with non
      CHC users. METHODS: We searched the PubMed database for all English-language
      articles published from database inception through September 2014. We included
      primary research studies that examined women with SVT or varicose veins who used
      CHCs compared to women with these conditions who did not use CHCs. Outcomes of
      interest included VTE (among women with SVT or varicose veins) and SVT (for those
      with varicose veins). RESULTS: Two studies were identified that met inclusion
      criteria. One fair-quality case-control study reported an odds ratio (OR) for VTE
      of 43.0 (95% confidence interval [CI] 15.5-119.3) among women with SVT using oral
      contraceptives (OCs) compared with nonusers without SVT. The OR for VTE was also
      increased for women with SVT not using OCs (OR 5.1; 95% CI 2.8-9.5) and for women
      without SVT using OCs (OR 4.0; 95% CI 3.3-4.7), compared with nonusers without
      SVT. One fair-quality cohort study demonstrated that women with varicose veins
      had an increased rate of VTE with use of OCs (1.85 per 1000 women-years [WY]),
      compared with users without varicose veins (0.84 per 1000 WY), nonusers with
      varicose veins (0.31 per 1000 WY) and nonusers without varicose veins (0.19 per
      1000 WY). This study also demonstrated that women with varicose veins had an
      increased rate of SVT with use of OCs (10.63 per 1000 WY), compared with nonusers
      with varicose veins (7.59 per 1000 WY), users without varicose veins (1.89 per
      1000 WY) and nonusers without varicose veins (0.77 per 1000 WY). CONCLUSION: Two
      studies suggest increased risk of VTE among OC users with superficial venous
      disease; however, no definitive conclusions can be made due to the limited number
      of studies and limitations in study quality. Theoretical concerns need to be
      clarified with further research on whether the risk of significant sequelae from
      superficial venous disease among CHC users is related to clinical severity of
      disease and underlying factors.

PMID- 25835270
TI  - Blocking the entrance of AMP pocket results in hormetic stimulation of
      imidazolium-based ionic liquids to firefly luciferase.
AB  - The hormesis characterized by low-concentration stimulation and high
      concentration inhibition has gained significant interest over the past decades.
      Some organic solvents and ionic liquids (ILs) have hormetic concentration
      responses (HCR) to bioluminescence such as firefly luciferase and Vibrio
      qinghaiensis sp.-Q67. In this study, we determine the effects of 1-alkyl-3
      methylimidazolium chlorine ILs ([Cnmim]Cl, n=2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12) to firefly
      luciferase in order to verify the mechanism of hormesis. The luminescence
      inhibition toxicity tests show that the stimulation effects of [C8mim]Cl and
      [C10mim]Cl are obvious, [C6mim]Cl and [C12mim]Cl are minor, and [C2mim]Cl and
      [C4mim]Cl are rare. The enzyme kinetics show that [C8mim]Cl and [C10mim]Cl are
      the competitive inhibitors with ATP while [C2mim]Cl and [C4mim]Cl are the
      noncompetitive ones. Molecular dynamics simulation results reveal that
      imidazolium rings of [C8mim] and [C10mim] locate at the entrance of luciferin
      pocket which is adjacent to AMP pocket, while alkyl-chains insert into the bottom
      of the luciferin pocket. Combining the results from inhibition test, kinetics
      assay and molecular simulation, we can deduce that occupying AMP pocket by
      imidazolium ring is responsible for hormetic stimulation. 

PMID- 25835271
TI  - Biochemical and physiological responses of Carcinus maenas to temperature and the
      fungicide azoxystrobin.
AB  - Research on the effects of thermal stress is currently pertinent as climate
      change is expected to cause more severe climate-driven events. Carcinus maenas, a
      recognised estuarine model organism, was selected to test temperature-dependence
      of azoxystrobin toxicity, a widely applied fungicide. Crabs' responses were
      assessed after a 10-d acclimation at different temperatures (5 degrees C, 22
      degrees C, and 27 degrees C) of which the last 72h were of exposure to an
      environmental concentration of azoxystrobin. SOD and GST activities,
      mitochondrial oxygen consumption rates and protein content, as well as the
      Coupling Index were determined. The hypothesis proposed that extreme temperatures
      (5 degrees C and 27 degrees C) and azoxystrobin would affect crabs' responses.
      Results showed statistically significant different effects of SOD and all oxygen
      rates measured promoted by temperature, and that neither 30.3MUgL(-1) of
      azoxystrobin nor the combined effect were crab-responsive. Protein content at 5
      degrees C was statistically higher when compared with the control temperature (22
      degrees C). The Coupling Index revealed both a slight and a drastic decrease of
      this index promoted by 5 degrees C and 27 degrees C, respectively. Regarding
      azoxystrobin effects, at 22 degrees C, this index only decreased slightly.
      However, at extreme temperatures it fell 47% at 5 degrees C and slightly
      increased at 27 degrees C. Results provided evidence that crabs' responses to
      cope with low temperatures were more effective than their responses to cope with
      high temperatures, which are expected in future climate projections. Moreover,
      crabs are capable of handling environmental concentrations of azoxystrobin.
      However, the Coupling Index showed that combined stress factors unbalance crabs'
      natural capability to handle a single stressor. 

PMID- 25835272
TI  - Overview of current multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging approach in the
      diagnosis and staging of prostate cancer.
AB  - This article is primarily based on the utility and validity of multiparametric
      magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis and staging of prostate gland tumors.
      Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging is an emerging, useful approach for
      evaluating and detecting prostate cancers. It also aids in the management of a
      tumor and improve the care and follow-up of patients.

PMID- 25835273
TI  - Aberrant brain activation of error processing among adults with attention deficit
      and hyperactivity disorder.
AB  - Individuals with adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have a
      deficit in their cognitive control. The aim of this study was to reveal the brain
      correlates of the deficits in response inhibition or error processing in adult
      ADHD. A total of 29 adults with ADHD and 25 control individuals were recruited.
      They completed an event-related-design Go/No-go task under functional magnetic
      resonance imaging scanning. Both the ADHD group and the control group exhibited
      activation of the frontostriatal network when processing response inhibition.
      They also exhibited activation of the frontoinsula cortex and anterior cingulate
      in error processing. Adults with ADHD have a lower brain activation of error
      processing over the right inferior frontal lobe adjacent to the insula than
      control individuals. The altered frontoinsula cortex activation may represent the
      mechanism of error processing deficit among adults with ADHD.

PMID- 25835274
TI  - Comparison of the Roche COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 test v1.0 with v2.0 in
      HIV-1 viral load quantification.
AB  - Roche modified the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan human immunodeficiency virus type
      1 (HIV-1) test version 1.0 (CAP/CTM v1.0), resulting in the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS
      TaqMan HIV-1 test version 2.0 (CAP/CTM v2.0). The aim of this study was to
      evaluate the performance of the CAP/CTM v2.0 and to compare this performance with
      that of the CAP/CTM v1.0. The study was conducted in a small local study group in
      Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A total of 86 plasma
      samples from HIV-1-seropositive patients were tested using the two assays. The
      correlation and concordance of results between the two assays were calculated.
      The CAP/CTM v2.0 generated higher values than did the CAP/CTM v1.0, and five
      samples (5.8%) yielded a difference of > 1 log10 copies/mL. In addition, our data
      show that CAP/CTM v1.0 and CAP/CTM v2.0 yielded relatively consistent values for
      23 samples with low viral loads (< 200 copies/mL). Furthermore, when viral loads
      were in a medium range (2-5 log10 copies/mL), the results of the two assays were
      more compatible. This study shows a good correlation between CAP/CTM v1.0 and
      v2.0 in HIV-1 viral load measurement. Further attention must be paid to those
      cases in which measured viral loads present larger differences between the two
      assays.

PMID- 25835275
TI  - Association between prostatic resistive index and cardiovascular risk factors in
      patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.
AB  - We evaluated the relationship between prostatic resistive index (RI) and
      cardiovascular system (CVS) risk factors in patients with benign prostatic
      hyperplasia. The study included 120 patients who were attending our outpatient
      clinic with lower urinary tract symptoms related to benign prostatic hyperplasia.
      The clinical, laboratory, anthropometric data, and CVS risk factors
      (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, history of CVS events, and
      smoking) of the patients were evaluated regarding the association between
      prostate RI level by regression analyses. The prostatic RI levels of the patients
      were measured using power Doppler imaging. In univariate regression analysis,
      there were statistically significant relationships between prostatic RI levels
      and the patients' age, International Prostate Symptom Score, hip circumference,
      fasting blood glucose, prostate specific antigen, triglycerides, high-density
      lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total prostate
      volume, uroflowmetric maximal flow rate, and all investigated CVS risk factors (p
      < 0.05). The prostatic RI levels were found to be associated with fasting blood
      glucose and total prostate volume, and also with CVS risk factors including only
      metabolic syndrome and cigarette smoking in the multivariate regression analysis.
      Our results showed that prostatic RI level is significantly related to metabolic
      syndrome and smoking among the investigated CVS risk factors.

PMID- 25835276
TI  - Increased carotid artery intima-media thickness in patients with
      tympanosclerosis: Common risk factors with atherosclerosis?
AB  - We investigated the relationship between tympanosclerosis, known atherosclerotic
      risk factors, and the intima-media thickness of bilateral carotid arteries using
      ultrasonography. A total of 122 patients admitted to our clinic with chronic
      otitis media between 2005 and 2010 were included in the study. The study group
      consisted of 61 patients with tympanosclerosis; the control group comprised 61
      patients without tympanosclerosis. Internal carotid artery intima-media thickness
      (CAIMT), total cholesterol, triglyceride, low- and high-density lipoprotein
      cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and homocysteine levels were measured in all
      patients. Homocysteine, low-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, and
      triglyceride levels in the study group were higher compared with those of the
      control group (p < 0.05). Right and left CAIMT was greater in the study group
      versus the control group (p <= 0.001). In conclusion, atherosclerosis and
      tympanosclerosis were associated with identical risk factors; in the
      tympanosclerosis group, CAIMT was increased significantly.

PMID- 25835277
TI  - Modified Mitchell osteotomy alone does not have higher rate of residual
      metatarsalgia than combined first and lesser metatarsal osteotomy.
AB  - Transfer metatarsalgia (TM) is a common forefoot disorder secondary to hallux
      valgus (HV). Some authors suggest that a combined lesser metatarsal osteotomy
      while undergoing HV surgery improves metatarsalgia, whereas others concluded that
      isolated HV corrective osteotomy can improve symptomatic metatarsalgia. The main
      purpose of this retrospective study was to compare clinical outcomes in patients
      with and without combined lesser metatarsal osteotomy while receiving HV
      correction surgery. We retrospectively reviewed the patients who underwent
      osteotomy for HV correction between January 2000 and December 2010. All patients
      underwent HV correction with modified Mitchell osteotomy. Clinical evaluations
      including the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society score and residual
      metatarsalgia were assessed, and radiographic measurements were carried out.
      Sixty-five patients (83 feet) meeting the selection criteria were enrolled.
      Thirty feet receiving a combined lesser metatarsal osteotomy were classified as
      the combined surgery (CS) group, and the others were classified as the control
      (CN) group (53 feet). The overall rate of persistent symptomatic metatarsalgia
      was 19.28% after operative treatment. There were six feet with residual
      metatarsalgia in the CS group, and 10 feet in the CN group. There was no
      significant difference in the rate of persistent symptoms between the two groups
      (p = 0.9). According to this result, modified Mitchell osteotomy alone did not
      have a higher rate of residual metatarsalgia than CS. We also found that the
      average recovery rate of TM was about 80.7% and those patients whose preoperative
      HV angle was > 30 degrees  had the higher risk of residual metatarsalgia after
      surgery.

PMID- 25835278
TI  - The psychosocial indicators related to neuroticism in both sexes: A study of
      incoming university students.
AB  - Neuroticism may have great impact on mental and physical health in both sexes.
      The aims of this study were to explore whether relationships between neuroticism
      scores and psychosocial indicators as well as metabolic syndrome in a population
      of incoming university students existed in the different sexes. In total, 4266
      incoming students were included in this study. The test battery comprised a self
      administered structured questionnaire, including the neuroticism subscale of the
      Maudsley Personality Inventory, the 12-item Chinese Health Questionnaire, the
      Chinese Internet Addiction Scale-Revision, the measurement of support functions,
      and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Multivariate logistic regression showed
      that higher Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores, higher Chinese Internet
      Addiction Scale-Revision scores, and higher 12-item Chinese Health Questionnaire
      scores were significantly correlated with neuroticism in both sexes, but lower
      perceived routine support: measurement of support functions scores were
      associated only with the male participants. No significant differences were found
      in terms of body mass index or other metabolic profiles. Individuals with poorer
      mental health and a poorer personal lifestyle had higher neuroticism scores, and
      sex effects may influence the scale of perceived social support in the
      neuroticism group. However, the lack of an association between neuroticism score
      and metabolic syndrome may be due to the recruitment of younger participants in
      this study. 

PMID- 25835279
TI  - Establish a perioperative check forum for peripheral intravenous access to
      prevent the occurrence of phlebitis.
AB  - The prevalence of intravenous (IV) catheter-related infections is 0.5 per 1000
      device days, and these infections cause tenderness, erythema, swelling and
      phlebitis. Catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) may independently
      increase hospital costs and length of stay; the aim of the study was to set up a
      standard operating procedure (SOP) for the maintenance of peripheral vein
      catheter patency and the prevention of IV catheter-related complications. This is
      a retrospective study, enrolling patients who received anesthesia between April
      2010 and January 2011. The study included 1 month of pretest phase, and 3 months
      each of "notification" phase, "observation" phase and "end" phase, respectively.
      The cannulations were set up by surgical ward nurses following the SOP on
      establishing peripheral intravenous catheter in our hospital. The cannulation
      sites were then examined before surgery and postoperatively by registered nurse
      anesthetists using the Baxter Scale. We also tried to set up a feedback circuit
      to let ward nurses know about the IV patency rate. As a result, 14,682 patients
      were enrolled in the study. The incidence of IV therapy-related adverse events
      was 0.78% in the notification phase, 0.43% in the observation phase, and 0.13% in
      the end phase. Overall IV therapy-related events declined significantly (p <
      0.01), and the presence of phlebitis was associated with age (p < 0.05). An SOP
      established to assess IV patency through a checklist can reduce phlebitis and
      improve quality. The checklist increases ward nurses' and nurse anesthetists'
      awareness of IV patency, and the feedback circuit substantially reduces IV event
      rate.

PMID- 25835280
TI  - Enantioselective A(3) reactions of secondary amines with a Cu(I)/acid-thiourea
      catalyst combination.
AB  - Pyrrolidine and related amines undergo asymmetric A(3) reactions in the presence
      of copper iodide and an easily accessible cocatalyst possessing both a carboxylic
      acid and a thiourea moiety. Propargylamines are obtained with up to 96% ee, and
      catalyst loadings can be as low as 1 mol %. Pyrrolidine-derived propargylamines,
      in the absence of directing groups, can be transformed to the corresponding
      allenes without loss of enantiopurity. 

PMID- 25835281
TI  - Perinatal overnutrition exacerbates adipose tissue inflammation caused by high
      fat feeding in C57BL/6J mice.
AB  - Obesity causes white adipose tissue (WAT) inflammation and insulin resistance in
      some, but not all individuals. Here, we used a mouse model of early postnatal
      overfeeding to determine the role of neonatal nutrition in lifelong WAT
      inflammation and metabolic dysfunction. C57BL/6J mice were reared in small
      litters of 3 (SL) or normal litters of 7 pups (NL) and fed either regular chow or
      a 60% high fat diet (HFD) from 5 to 17 weeks. At weaning, SL mice did not develop
      WAT inflammation despite increased fat mass, although there was an up-regulation
      of WAT Arg1 and Tlr4 expression. On HFD, adult SL mice had greater inguinal fat
      mass compared to NL mice, however both groups showed similar increases in
      visceral fat depots and adipocyte hypertrophy. Despite the similar levels of
      visceral adiposity, SL-HFD mice displayed greater impairments in glucose
      homeostasis and more pronounced hepatic steatosis compared to NL-HFD mice. In
      addition, WAT from SL mice fed a HFD displayed greater crown-like structure
      formation, increased M1 macrophages, and higher cytokine gene expression.
      Together, these data suggest that early postnatal overnutrition may be a critical
      determinant of fatty liver and insulin resistance in obese adults by programming
      the inflammatory capacity of adipose tissue. 

PMID- 25835283
TI  - Revision rates and speech outcomes following pharyngeal flap surgery for
      velopharyngeal insufficiency.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Velopharyngeal insufficiency in children with cleft palate (and other
      causes) contributes to difficulty with communication and quality of life. The
      pharyngeal flap is a workhorse to address hypernasality and nasal air escape.
      However, there is a paucity of literature on the characteristics of cases that
      require revision. OBJECTIVE: To measure the revision rate of pharyngeal flaps,
      compare the preperceptual and postperceptual speech scores, and identify the
      characteristics of those patients who required revision. DESIGN, SETTING, AND
      PARTICIPANTS: A retrospective medical record review was completed for patients
      who underwent pharyngeal flap surgery from June 1, 2008, through January 31,
      2013, at a tertiary academic center. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Perceptual
      speech analyses and surgical revision rates. Perceptual speech patterns before
      and after surgery were compared using nasal air emission and resonance scores.
      The association between requiring revision surgery and covariates was analyzed
      using multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression. RESULTS: Sixty-one
      patients were identified, including 24 boys (39%) and 37 girls (61%). The mean
      (SD) patient age at the time of pharyngeal flap surgery was 8.2 (6.8) years
      (range, 3-55 years). Velopharyngeal insufficiency was associated with cleft
      palate in 51 patients (84%), and 17 patients (28%) had a syndrome. The mean (SD)
      time to surgery after the speech evaluation was 225 (229) days (range, 14-1341
      days). The mean (SD) nasal air emission scores decreased by -1.1 (2.0 [1.1]
      preoperatively to 0.8 [1.1] postoperatively). The mean (SD) resonance score
      decreased by -1.5 (2.4 [1.1] preoperatively to 0.9 [1.1] postoperatively; P <
      .001). Flaps were revised in 12 patients (20%), including port revision in 9,
      complete flap revision in 2, and flap takedown in 1. The only covariate that was
      significantly associated with revision rates was increased age at surgery, which
      was associated with a higher probability of revision surgery (odds ratio, 1.31;
      95% CI, 1.03-1.66; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Pharyngeal flap surgery,
      when appropriately selected, was effective at improving speech with a revision
      rate of 20%, which is comparable to previously published studies. Increased age
      at the time of the pharyngeal flap surgery was associated with an increased need
      for revision surgery, supporting evidence that cleft centers should encourage
      early childhood speech evaluations with consistent documentation and prompt
      treatment. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3.

PMID- 25835282
TI  - Understanding the anatomic basis for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in
      adolescents.
AB  - RATIONALE: Structural risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) in
      adolescents have not been well characterized. Because many adolescents with OSAS
      are obese, we hypothesized that the anatomic OSAS risk factors would be more
      similar to those in adults than those in children. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the
      anatomic risk factors in adolescents with OSAS compared with obese and lean
      control subjects using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS: Three groups of
      adolescents (age range: 12-16 yr) underwent MRI: obese individuals with OSAS (n =
      49), obese control subjects (n = 38), and lean control subjects (n = 50).
      MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We studied 137 subjects and found that (1) obese
      adolescents with OSAS had increased adenotonsillar tissue compared with obese and
      lean control subjects; (2) obese OSAS adolescents had a smaller nasopharyngeal
      airway than control subjects; (3) the size of other upper airway soft tissue
      structures (volume of the tongue, parapharyngeal fat pads, lateral walls, and
      soft palate) was similar between subjects with OSAS and obese control subjects;
      (4) although there were no major craniofacial abnormalities in most of the
      adolescents with OSAS, the ratio of soft tissue to craniofacial space surrounding
      the airway was increased; and (5) there were sex differences in the pattern of
      lymphoid proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: Increased size of the pharyngeal lymphoid
      tissue, rather than enlargement of the upper airway soft tissue structures, is
      the primary anatomic risk factor for OSAS in obese adolescents. These results are
      important for clinical decision making and suggest that adenotonsillectomy should
      be considered as the initial treatment for OSAS in obese adolescents, a group
      that has poor continuous positive airway pressure adherence and difficulty in
      achieving weight loss.

PMID- 25835284
TI  - Spin transition in arrays of gold nanoparticles and spin crossover molecules.
AB  - We investigate if the functionality of spin crossover molecules is preserved when
      they are assembled into an interfacial device structure. Specifically, we prepare
      and investigate gold nanoparticle arrays, into which room-temperature spin
      crossover molecules are introduced, more precisely, [Fe(AcS-BPP)2](ClO4)2, where
      AcS-BPP = (S)-(4-{[2,6-(dipyrazol-1-yl)pyrid-4-yl]ethynyl}phenyl)ethanethioate
      (in short, Fe(S-BPP)2). We combine three complementary experiments to
      characterize the molecule-nanoparticle structure in detail. Temperature-dependent
      Raman measurements provide direct evidence for a (partial) spin transition in the
      Fe(S-BPP)2-based arrays. This transition is qualitatively confirmed by
      magnetization measurements. Finally, charge transport measurements on the Fe(S
      BPP)2-gold nanoparticle devices reveal a minimum in device resistance versus
      temperature, R(T), curves around 260-290 K. This is in contrast to similar
      networks containing passive molecules only that show monotonically decreasing
      R(T) characteristics. Backed by density functional theory calculations on single
      molecular conductance values for both spin states, we propose to relate the
      resistance minimum in R(T) to a spin transition under the hypothesis that (1) the
      molecular resistance of the high spin state is larger than that of the low spin
      state and (2) transport in the array is governed by a percolation model. 

PMID- 25835285
TI  - Spreading pathologies precede cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease.

PMID- 25835286
TI  - Alzheimer's disease: distinct stages in neurogenic decline?

PMID- 25835287
TI  - Reducing beta-amyloid by inhibition of BACE1: how low should you go?

PMID- 25835288
TI  - Association Between Vitamin K and the Metabolic Syndrome: A 10-Year Follow-Up
      Study in Adults.
AB  - CONTEXT: The Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of metabolic abnormalities
      and is associated with increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
      Phylloquinone, menaquinones, and vitamin K status are associated with several
      components of MetS, but the association with MetS has hardly been studied to
      date. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine whether the intake and/or status of
      vitamin K is associated with MetS and its components. DESIGN: This study
      comprised two cohorts, one of 402 women and one of 400 men (age 40-80 y). At
      followup 625 participants were still alive and willing to participate. Data were
      analyzed both cross sectionally and longitudinally with Poisson and linear
      regression adjusted for multiple confounders. Baseline phylloquinone/menaquinone
      intakes were measured with a validated food frequency questionnaire and vitamin K
      status with serum desphospho-uncarborxylated matrix-Gla protein level. RESULTS:
      At baseline 270 (34.5%) participants had MetS and 171 (35.7%) at followup. Cross
      sectionally, high menaquinones intakes were associated (P(trend) = .08) with a
      lower prevalence of MetS with a prevalence ratio (PR) of 0.74 (95% confidence
      interval [CI], 0.54-1.03) for the highest vs the lowest tertile. At followup, the
      highest tertiles of menaquinones intake (PR = 0.62; 95% CI, 0.40-0.95) and
      vitamin K status (PR = 0.57; 95% CI, 0.38-0.87) were associated (P(trend) = .01)
      with a lower occurrence of MetS. These associations were mainly driven by
      relations with lower triacylglycerol concentrations for menaquinones and lower
      waist circumference for vitamin K status. Phylloquinone intake was not associated
      with MetS prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that a high intake of
      menaquinones and high vitamin K status are associated with a lower occurrence of
      MetS.

PMID- 25835289
TI  - Genetic and Epigenetic Modulation of Growth Hormone Sensitivity Studied With the
      IGF-1 Generation Test.
AB  - CONTEXT: Like all hormones, GH has variable physiological effects across people.
      Many of these effects initiated by the binding of GH to its receptor (GHR) in
      target tissues are mediated by the expression of the IGF1 gene. Genetic as well
      as epigenetic variation is known to contribute to the individual diversity of GH
      dependent phenotypes through two mechanisms. The first one is the genetic
      polymorphism of the GHR gene due to the common deletion of exon 3. The second,
      more recently reported, is the epigenetic variation in the methylation of a
      cluster of CGs dinucleotides located within the proximal part of the P2 promoter
      of the IGF-1 (IGF1) gene, notably CG-137. OBJECTIVE: The current study evaluates
      the relative contribution of these two factors controlling individual GH
      sensitivity by measuring the response of serum IGF-1 to a GH injection (IGF-1
      generation test) in a sample of 72 children with idiopathic short stature.
      RESULTS: Although the d3 polymorphism of the GHR contributed 19% to the variance
      of the IGF-1 response, CG-137 methylation in the IGF-1 promoter contributed 30%,
      the combined contribution of the two factors totaling 43%. CONCLUSION: Our
      observation indicates that genetic and epigenetic variation at the GHR and IGF-1
      loci play a major role as independent modulators of individual GH sensitivity.

PMID- 25835290
TI  - Spermine alleviates drought stress in white clover with different resistance by
      influencing carbohydrate metabolism and dehydrins synthesis.
AB  - The objective of this research was to analyse whether ameliorating drought stress
      through exogenously applied spermine (Spm) was related to carbohydrate
      metabolism, dehydrins accumulation and the transcription of genes encoding
      dehydrins in two white clovers (drought-susceptible cv. 'Ladino' and drought
      resistant cv. 'Haifa') under controlled drying conditions for 10 days. The
      results show that the application of Spm effectively alleviates negative effects
      caused by drought stress in both cultivars. Exogenous Spm led to accumulation of
      more water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC), sucrose, fructose and sorbitol in both
      cultivars under drought stress, and also significantly elevated glucose content
      in leaves of drought-resistant cv. 'Haifa', but had no effect on drought
      susceptible cv. 'Ladino'. Accordingly, the key enzyme activities of sucrose and
      sorbitol metabolism changed along with the application of Spm under drought
      stress. Spm induced a significant increase in sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) or
      sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH) activity, but decrease in sucrose synthetase (SS)
      activity when two cultivars were subjected to drought. In addition, the improved
      accumulation of dehydrins induced by exogenous Spm coincided with three genes
      expression which was responsible for dehydrins synthesis. But Spm-induced
      transcript level of dehydrin genes increased earlier in cv. 'Ladino' than that in
      cv. 'Haifa'. Thus, these results suggest that ameliorating drought stress through
      exogenously applied Spm may be associated with increased carbohydrate
      accumulation and dehydrins synthesis. There are differences between drought
      susceptible and -resistant white clover cultivars related to Spm regulation of
      WSC metabolism and dehydrins expression. 

PMID- 25835292
TI  - Delivering an Automated and Integrated Approach to Combination Screening Using
      Acoustic-Droplet Technology.
AB  - Drug combination testing in the pharmaceutical industry has typically been driven
      by late-stage opportunistic strategies rather than by early testing to identify
      drug combinations for clinical investigation that may deliver improved efficacy.
      A rationale for combinations exists across a number of diseases in which pathway
      redundancy or resistance to therapeutics are evident. However, early assays are
      complicated by the absence of both assay formats representative of disease
      biology and robust infrastructure to screen drug combinations in a medium
      throughput capacity. When applying drug combination testing studies, it may be
      difficult to translate a study design into the required well contents for assay
      plates because of the number of compounds and concentrations involved. Dispensing
      these plates increases in difficulty as the number of compounds and concentration
      points increase and compounds are subsequently rolled onto additional labware. We
      describe the development of a software tool, in conjunction with the use of
      acoustic droplet technology, as part of a compound management platform, which
      allows the design of an assay incorporating combinations of compounds. These
      enhancements to infrastructure facilitate the design and ordering of assay-ready
      compound combination plates and the processing of combinations data from high
      content organotypic assays. 

PMID- 25835291
TI  - Leptin levels are negatively correlated with 2-arachidonoylglycerol in the
      cerebrospinal fluid of patients with osteoarthritis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is compelling evidence in humans that peripheral
      endocannabinoid signaling is disrupted in obesity. However, little is known about
      the corresponding central signaling. Here, we have investigated the relationship
      between gender, leptin, body mass index (BMI) and levels of the endocannabinoids
      anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) in the serum and cerebrospinal
      fluid (CSF) of primarily overweight to obese patients with osteoarthritis.
      METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Patients (20 females, 15 males, age range 44-78
      years, BMI range 24-42) undergoing total knee arthroplasty for end-stage
      osteoarthritis were recruited for the study. Endocannabinoids were quantified by
      liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry. AEA and 2-AG levels in the serum and
      CSF did not correlate with either age or BMI. However, 2-AG levels in the CSF,
      but not serum, correlated negatively with CSF leptin levels (Spearman's rho 
      0.48, P=0.0076, n=30). No such correlations were observed for AEA and leptin.
      CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In the patient sample investigated, there is a negative
      association between 2-AG and leptin levels in the CSF. This is consistent with
      pre-clinical studies in animals, demonstrating that leptin controls the levels of
      hypothalamic endocannabinoids that regulate feeding behavior.

PMID- 25835293
TI  - Dissemination of Methicillin-Susceptible CC398 Staphylococcus aureus strains in a
      rural Greek area.
AB  - A large collection of Staphylococcus aureus including a. 745 clinically
      significant isolates that were consecutively recovered from human infections
      during 2012-2013, b. 19 methicillin-susceptible (MSSA), randomly selected between
      2006-2011 from our Staphylococcal Collection, c. 16 human colonizing isolates,
      and d. 10 strains from colonized animals was investigated for the presence and
      the molecular characteristics of CC398. The study was conducted in Thessaly, a
      rural region in Greece. The differentiation of livestock-associated clade from
      the human clade was based on canSNPs combined with the presence of the phi3
      bacteriophage and the tetM, scn, sak, and chp genes. Among the 745 isolates, two
      MRSA (0.8% of total MRSA) and thirteen MSSA (2.65% of total MSSA) were found to
      belong to CC398, while, between MSSA of our Staphylococcal Collection, one CC398,
      isolated in 2010, was detected. One human individual, without prior contact with
      animals, was found to be colonized by a MSSA CC398. No CC398 was identified among
      the 10 S. aureus isolated from animals. Based on the molecular markers, the 17
      CC398 strains were equally placed in the livestock-associated and in the human
      clades. This is the first report for the dissemination of S. aureus CC398 among
      humans in Greece. 

PMID- 25835294
TI  - Ratiometric analysis of fura red by flow cytometry: a technique for monitoring
      intracellular calcium flux in primary cell subsets.
AB  - Calcium flux is a rapid and sensitive measure of cell activation whose utility
      could be enhanced with better techniques for data extraction. We describe a
      technique to monitor calcium flux by flow cytometry, measuring Fura Red calcium
      dye by ratiometric analysis. This technique has several advantages: 1) using a
      single calcium dye provides an additional channel for surface marker
      characterization, 2) allows robust detection of calcium flux by minority cell
      populations within a heterogeneous population of primary T cells and monocytes 3)
      can measure total calcium flux and additionally, the proportion of responding
      cells, 4) can be applied to studying the effects of drug treatment,
      simultaneously stimulating and monitoring untreated and drug treated cells. Using
      chemokine receptor activation as an example, we highlight the utility of this
      assay, demonstrating that only cells expressing a specific chemokine receptor are
      activated by cognate chemokine ligand. Furthermore, we describe a technique for
      simultaneously stimulating and monitoring calcium flux in vehicle and drug
      treated cells, demonstrating the effects of the Galphai inhibitor, pertussis
      toxin (PTX), on chemokine stimulated calcium flux. The described real time
      calcium flux assay provides a robust platform for characterizing cell activation
      within primary cells, and offers a more accurate technique for studying the
      effect of drug treatment on receptor activation in a heterogeneous population of
      primary cells. 

PMID- 25835295
TI  - Viable neuronopathic Gaucher disease model in Medaka (Oryzias latipes) displays
      axonal accumulation of alpha-synuclein.
AB  - Homozygous mutations in the glucocerebrosidase (GBA) gene result in Gaucher
      disease (GD), the most common lysosomal storage disease. Recent genetic studies
      have revealed that GBA mutations confer a strong risk for sporadic Parkinson's
      disease (PD). To investigate how GBA mutations cause PD, we generated GBA
      nonsense mutant (GBA-/-) medaka that are completely deficient in
      glucocerebrosidase (GCase) activity. In contrast to the perinatal death in humans
      and mice lacking GCase activity, GBA-/- medaka survived for months, enabling
      analysis of the pathological progression. GBA-/- medaka displayed the
      pathological phenotypes resembling human neuronopathic GD including infiltration
      of Gaucher cell-like cells into the brains, progressive neuronal loss, and
      microgliosis. Detailed pathological findings represented lysosomal abnormalities
      in neurons and alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn) accumulation in axonal swellings
      containing autophagosomes. Unexpectedly, disruption of alpha-syn did not improve
      the life span, formation of axonal swellings, neuronal loss, or neuroinflammation
      in GBA-/- medaka. Taken together, the present study revealed GBA-/- medaka as a
      novel neuronopathic GD model, the pahological mechanisms of alpha-syn
      accumulation caused by GCase deficiency, and the minimal contribution of alpha
      syn to the pathogenesis of neuronopathic GD. 

PMID- 25835296
TI  - The influence of mitigation on sage-grouse habitat selection within an energy
      development field.
AB  - Growing global energy demands ensure the continued growth of energy development.
      Energy development in wildlife areas can significantly impact wildlife
      populations. Efforts to mitigate development impacts to wildlife are on-going,
      but the effectiveness of such efforts is seldom monitored or assessed. Greater
      sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are sensitive to energy development and
      likely serve as an effective umbrella species for other sagebrush-steppe obligate
      wildlife. We assessed the response of birds within an energy development area
      before and after the implementation of mitigation action. Additionally, we
      quantified changes in habitat distribution and abundance in pre- and post
      mitigation landscapes. Sage-grouse avoidance of energy development at large
      spatial scales is well documented. We limited our research to directly within an
      energy development field in order to assess the influence of mitigation in close
      proximity to energy infrastructure. We used nest-location data (n = 488) within
      an energy development field to develop habitat selection models using logistic
      regression on data from 4 years of research prior to mitigation and for 4 years
      following the implementation of extensive mitigation efforts (e.g., decreased
      activity, buried powerlines). The post-mitigation habitat selection models
      indicated less avoidance of wells (well density beta = 0.18 +/- 0.08) than the
      pre-mitigation models (well density beta = -0.09 +/- 0.11). However, birds still
      avoided areas of high well density and nests were not found in areas with greater
      than 4 wells per km2 and the majority of nests (63%) were located in areas with
      <= 1 well per km2. Several other model coefficients differed between the two time
      periods and indicated stronger selection for sagebrush (pre-mitigation beta =
      0.30 +/- 0.09; post-mitigation beta = 0.82 +/- 0.08) and less avoidance of rugged
      terrain (pre-mitigation beta = -0.35 +/- 0.12; post-mitigation beta = -0.05 +/-
      0.09). Mitigation efforts implemented may be responsible for the measurable
      improvement in sage-grouse nesting habitats within the development area. However,
      we cannot reject alternative hypotheses concerning the influence of population
      density and intraspecific competition. Additionally, we were unable to assess the
      actual fitness consequences of mitigation or the source-sink dynamics of the
      habitats. We compared the pre-mitigation and post-mitigation models predicted as
      maps with habitats ranked from low to high relative probability of use (equal
      area bins: 1 - 5). We found more improvement in habitat rank between the two time
      periods around mitigated wells compared to non-mitigated wells. Informed
      mitigation within energy development fields could help improve habitats within
      the field. We recommend that any mitigation effort include well-informed plans to
      monitor the effectiveness of the implemented mitigation actions that assess both
      habitat use and relevant fitness parameters. 

PMID- 25835298
TI  - Correction: Sugarcane giant borer transcriptome analysis and identification of
      genes related to digestion.

PMID- 25835299
TI  - Coarse initial orbit determination for a geostationary satellite using single
      epoch GPS measurements.
AB  - A practical algorithm is proposed for determining the orbit of a geostationary
      orbit (GEO) satellite using single-epoch measurements from a Global Positioning
      System (GPS) receiver under the sparse visibility of the GPS satellites. The
      algorithm uses three components of a state vector to determine the satellite's
      state, even when it is impossible to apply the classical single-point solutions
      (SPS). Through consideration of the characteristics of the GEO orbital elements
      and GPS measurements, the components of the state vector are reduced to three.
      However, the algorithm remains sufficiently accurate for a GEO satellite. The
      developed algorithm was tested on simulated measurements from two or three GPS
      satellites, and the calculated maximum position error was found to be less than
      approximately 40 km or even several kilometers within the geometric range, even
      when the classical SPS solution was unattainable. In addition, extended Kalman
      filter (EKF) tests of a GEO satellite with the estimated initial state were
      performed to validate the algorithm. In the EKF, a reliable dynamic model was
      adapted to reduce the probability of divergence that can be caused by large
      errors in the initial state. 

PMID- 25835297
TI  - Function and regulation domains of a newly isolated putative beta-actin promoter
      from pacific white shrimp.
AB  - Current development of transgenic shrimp research has been hampered due to the
      lack of the suitable promoters and efficient transfection methods for
      crustaceans. A 1642 bp sequence, containing 5'-upstream sequence, exon 1, intron
      1 and partial exon 2, which is responsible for transcriptional initiation of the
      newly reported shrimp beta-actin (actinT1), has been isolated from the Pacific
      white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) and named as SbaP. To determine its function
      and potential application in marine biotechnology, the sequence and functional
      domains were examined by constitutive expression of the luciferase reporter gene.
      We have identified 5' regions that play a central role in the expression of the
      beta-actin gene. The proximal promoter (-1642/-1325) contains two highly
      conserved transcriptional sites, CCAAT box and CArG motif. Two negative (-1140/
      924, -222/-21) and one positive (-810/-425) regulatory elements have been
      identified in intron1. Transient transfection assay with a construct containing
      proximal promoter and enhancer (SbaPDelta-222/+1Delta-1325/-924) regions of the
      shrimp beta-actin coupled with luciferase and EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent
      protein) showed that the promoter was not only functional in sf21 cells, but
      promoter activity was more than 8-fold higher than a viral-origin promoter (ie1,
      white spot syndrome virus immediate early gene promoter). Furthermore, SbaPDelta
      222/+1Delta-1325/-924 drove a successful expression of luciferase injection assay
      in vivo injection and also showed higher promoter activity than the ie1 promoter,
      suggesting that the expression vectors constructed with SbaPDelta-222/+1Delta
      1325/-924 have important potential in gene transfer studies for shrimp and other
      crustacean species. 

PMID- 25835300
TI  - A simple method for decreasing the liquid junction potential in a flow-through
      type differential pH sensor probe consisting of pH-FETs by exerting
      spatiotemporal control of the liquid junction.
AB  - The liquid junction potential (LJP), the phenomenon that occurs when two
      electrolyte solutions of different composition come into contact, prevents
      accurate measurements in potentiometry. The effect of the LJP is usually
      remarkable in measurements of diluted solutions with low buffering capacities or
      low ion concentrations. Our group has constructed a simple method to eliminate
      the LJP by exerting spatiotemporal control of a liquid junction (LJ) formed
      between two solutions, a sample solution and a baseline solution (BLS), in a flow
      through-type differential pH sensor probe. The method was contrived based on
      microfluidics. The sensor probe is a differential measurement system composed of
      two ion-sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFETs) and one Ag/AgCl electrode.
      With our new method, the border region of the sample solution and BLS is vibrated
      in order to mix solutions and suppress the overshoot after the sample solution is
      suctioned into the sensor probe. Compared to the conventional method without
      vibration, our method shortened the settling time from over two min to 15 s and
      reduced the measurement error by 86% to within 0.060 pH. This new method will be
      useful for improving the response characteristics and decreasing the measurement
      error of many apparatuses that use LJs. 

PMID- 25835302
TI  - Highly luminescent Sm(III) complexes with intraligand charge-transfer
      sensitization and the effect of solvent polarity on their luminescent properties.
AB  - Samarium complexes with the highest quantum yields to date have been synthesized,
      and their luminescence properties were studied in 12 solvents. Sensitization via
      a nontriplet intraligand charge-transfer pathway was also successfully
      demonstrated in solution states with good quantum yields. 

PMID- 25835301
TI  - Brain process for perception of the "out of the body" tactile illusion for
      virtual object interaction.
AB  - "Out of the body" tactile illusion refers to the phenomenon in which one can
      perceive tactility as if emanating from a location external to the body without
      any stimulator present there. Taking advantage of such a tactile illusion is one
      way to provide and realize richer interaction feedback without employing and
      placing actuators directly at all stimulation target points. However, to further
      explore its potential, it is important to better understand the underlying
      physiological and neural mechanism. As such, we measured the brain wave patterns
      during such tactile illusion and mapped out the corresponding brain activation
      areas. Participants were given stimulations at different levels with the
      intention to create veridical (i.e., non-illusory) and phantom sensations at
      different locations along an external hand-held virtual ruler. The experimental
      data and analysis indicate that both veridical and illusory sensations involve,
      among others, the parietal lobe, one of the most important components in the
      tactile information pathway. In addition, we found that as for the illusory
      sensation, there is an additional processing resulting in the delay for the ERP
      (event-related potential) and involvement by the limbic lobe. These point to
      regarding illusion as a memory and recognition task as a possible explanation.
      The present study demonstrated some basic understanding; how humans process
      "virtual" objects and the way associated tactile illusion is generated will be
      valuable for HCI (Human-Computer Interaction). 

PMID- 25835303
TI  - Eu3+-based bridged silsesquioxanes for transparent luminescent solar
      concentrators.
AB  - The sol-gel preparation of a bridged silsesquioxane containing europium(III)
      salts and 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone has been achieved from a new ethane
      tetracarboxamide-based organosilane. Free-standing films with thicknesses up to
      440 MUm and maximum absolute quantum yield (q) of 0.34 +/- 0.03 (excitation at
      320 nm) were prepared by the drop cast method, while thin films (~200-400 nm)
      spin-coated on glass substrates led to highly luminescent coatings with q = 0.60
      +/- 0.02 (excitation at 345 nm). The thin films were tested as planar luminescent
      solar concentrators and the optimized device displays an optical conversion
      efficiency of 12.3% in the absorbing spectral region of the active layer (300-380
      nm). 

PMID- 25835304
TI  - Database improvements for motor vehicle/bicycle crash analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bicycling is healthy but needs to be safer for more to bike. Police
      crash templates are designed for reporting crashes between motor vehicles, but
      not between vehicles/bicycles. If written/drawn bicycle-crash-scene details
      exist, these are not entered into spreadsheets. OBJECTIVE: To assess which
      bicycle-crash-scene data might be added to spreadsheets for analysis. METHODS:
      Police crash templates from 50 states were analysed. Reports for 3350 motor
      vehicle/bicycle crashes (2011) were obtained for the New York City area and 300
      cases selected (with drawings and on roads with sharrows, bike lanes, cycle
      tracks and no bike provisions). Crashes were redrawn and new bicycle-crash-scene
      details were coded and entered into the existing spreadsheet. The association
      between severity of injuries and bicycle-crash-scene codes was evaluated using
      multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Police templates only consistently include
      pedal-cyclist and helmet. Bicycle-crash-scene coded variables for templates could
      include: 4 bicycle environments, 18 vehicle impact-points (opened-doors and
      mirrors), 4 bicycle impact-points, motor vehicle/bicycle crash patterns, in/out
      of the bicycle environment and bike/relevant motor vehicle categories. A test of
      including these variables suggested that, with bicyclists who had minor injuries
      as the control group, bicyclists on roads with bike lanes riding outside the lane
      had lower likelihood of severe injuries (OR, 0.40, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.98) compared
      with bicyclists riding on roads without bicycle facilities. CONCLUSIONS: Police
      templates should include additional bicycle-crash-scene codes for entry into
      spreadsheets. Crash analysis, including with big data, could then be conducted on
      bicycle environments, motor vehicle potential impact points/doors/mirrors,
      bicycle potential impact points, motor vehicle characteristics, location and
      injury.

PMID- 25835305
TI  - WITHDRAWN: Psychosocial interventions for cocaine and psychostimulant
      amphetamines related disorders.

PMID- 25835306
TI  - Letter to the editor.

PMID- 25835307
TI  - Comparing aflibercept, bevacizumab, and ranibizumab for DME: analysis of DRCR
      Protocol T.

PMID- 25835308
TI  - Paraneoplastic retinopathy associated with systemic follicular cell lymphoma.
AB  - The authors describe two rare cases of autoimmune retinopathy associated with
      follicular cell lymphoma, including a 54-year-old man who experienced nyctalopia
      for 1 year (patient 1) and a 59-year-old man who had bilateral loss of central
      vision for 6 months (patient 2). Visual field testing of patient 1 revealed
      nonspecific defects, and multifocal electroretinogram (ERG) testing showed mildly
      subnormal amplitudes more pronounced in the left than the right eye. Serologic
      testing detected antibodies against a 47-kD protein, presumed to be alpha
      enolase. Goldmann perimetry of patient 2 showed dense central scotomas, and a
      full-field ERG revealed reduced amplitudes of bright scotopic responses.
      Serological testing yielded anti-bipolar cell antibodies. A variable presentation
      of autoimmune retinopathy can occur in the setting of follicular cell lymphoma.
      Disparate serum autoantibodies may have mediated the pathogenesis of retinal
      degeneration in these two patients and could explain the difference in course and
      severity of retinopathy.

PMID- 25835309
TI  - Localized choroidal thickness variation and pigment epithelial detachment in dome
      shaped macula with subretinal fluid.
AB  - The objective of this report is to demonstrate that individuals with dome-shaped
      macula can develop persistent subretinal fluid due to abrupt changes in the
      thickness of the choroid, making it unlikely to be reported. Additionally, these
      patients often have pigment epithelial detachments, suggestive of possible
      choroidal neo-vascularization. These two qualities can often lead to persistent
      subretinal fluid that is refractory to treatment.

PMID- 25835310
TI  - 8 Questions with Dr. Puliafito.

PMID- 25835311
TI  - Adenovirus-mediated artificial MicroRNAs targeting matrix or nucleoprotein genes
      protect mice against lethal influenza virus challenge.
AB  - Influenza virus (IV) infection is a major public health problem, causing millions
      of cases of severe illness and as many as 500 000 deaths each year worldwide.
      Given the limitations of current prevention or treatment of acute influenza,
      novel therapies are needed. RNA interference (RNAi) through microRNAs (miRNA) is
      an emerging technology that can suppress virus replication in vitro and in vivo.
      Here, we describe a novel strategy for the treatment of infuenza based on RNAi
      delivered by a replication-defective adenovirus (Ad) vector, derived from
      chimpanzee serotype 68 (AdC68). Our results showed that artificial miRNAs
      (amiRNAs) specifically targeting conserved regions of the IV genome could
      effectively inhibit virus replication in human embryonic kidney 293 cells.
      Moreover, our results demonstrated that prophylactic treatment with AdC68
      expressing amiRNAs directed against M1, M2 or nucleoprotein genes of IV
      completely protected mice from homologous A/PR8 virus challenge and partially
      protected the mice from heterologous influenza A virus strains such as H9N2 and
      H5N1. Collectively, our data demonstrate that amiRNAs targeting the conserved
      regions of influenza A virus delivered by Ad vectors should be pursued as a novel
      strategy for prophylaxis of IV infection in humans and animals. 

PMID- 25835312
TI  - North American paragonimiasis: epidemiology and diagnostic strategies.
AB  - Paragonimiasis is a zoonotic, food-borne trematode infection that affects around
      23 million people in Asia, Africa and the Americas. North American
      paragonimiasis, caused by Paragonimus kellicotti, is a common infection of
      crustacean-feeding mammals in parts of the USA and Canada. Although infection
      rates in crayfish are very high in some areas, human infections are rare and
      depend on the consumption of raw or undercooked crayfish. Human infections can be
      easily prevented and treated, but proper diagnosis of paragonimiasis is a
      problem. Paragonimus lung flukes often cause serious disease symptoms before they
      produce eggs that may be detectable in sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage, stool or
      histological sections by microscopy or PCR. Antibodies against selected
      Paragonimus proteins are detectable as early as 2-3 weeks after infection.
      Therefore, antibody serology is the most promising diagnostic approach for
      paragonimiasis in North America and elsewhere. 

PMID- 25835314
TI  - Upregulation of BMP-2 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by
      proinflammatory cytokines and radiographic progression in ankylosing spondylitis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of inflammation on expressions of bone
      morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and
      its association with individual radiographic changes in patients with ankylosing
      spondylitis (AS). METHODS: The changes in BMP-2, -4, and -7 gene expressions in
      PBMCs were measured after stimulation by tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)
      and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta). The correlation of increase in gene expression
      with clinical and radiographic findings in patients with AS were analyzed.
      RESULTS: Both TNF-alpha and IL-1beta could enhance BMP-2 expression in PBMCs from
      AS patients. Increases in BMP-2, -4, and -7 expressions in PBMCs positively
      correlated with total modified Stoke Ankylosing Spondylitis Spinal Score (all p <
      0.05). Moreover, increases in BMP-2, -4, and -7 gene expressions after TNF-alpha
      and IL-1beta stimulation were greater among AS patients with versus without
      severe sacroiliitis (all p < 0.05). Increases in BMP-2 and -7 expressions were
      greater in PBMCs from 4 patients with total (cervical, thoracic, and lumbar)
      spinal ankylosis than in the 8 patients who did not have total spinal ankylosis
      (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In AS, inflammation upregulates the expression of
      BMPs in PBMCs which may lead to the radiographic progression with new bone
      formation.

PMID- 25835315
TI  - Therapeutic drug monitoring of cyclosporine microemulsion in patients with
      corticosteroid-resistant systemic lupus erythematosus.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We retrospectively examined how the cyclosporine-A (CSA)
      microemulsion administration mode affected blood CSA levels, as well as how the
      dose and blood levels of CSA affected its therapeutic effect against systemic
      lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: We calculated the area under the blood
      concentration time curve (AUC) of CSA in 16 patients with corticosteroid
      resistant SLE, and analyzed its correlation with CSA levels at the blood sampling
      time points to investigate the optimum monitoring and dosing regimen. RESULTS:
      The blood CSA level peaked at 2 h after administration (C2) in all patients. AUC0
      6, which most markedly reflects the immunosuppressive effect, significantly
      correlated with C2 (R2 = 0.905), but not with the trough (C0). In
      concentration/dose ratio (C/D) of CSA, C2/D level was significantly higher when
      administered once daily before breakfast than when administered in the divided
      dose after meals (R2 = 0.355, P = 0.015), but not C0/D. During the 6-month follow
      up, the CSA C2 tended to correlate with improvement in SLE disease activity index
      2000 (R2 = 0.633, P = 0.067). CONCLUSIONS: The treatment with a single dose of
      CSA before breakfast, followed by monitoring of C2, may be useful for improving
      the therapeutic effect in patients with corticosteroid-resistant SLE.

PMID- 25835316
TI  - [Distal clavicle and acromioclavicular joint].

PMID- 25835317
TI  - Design, Synthesis, and Structure-Activity Relationship Studies of 3
      (Phenylethynyl)-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4-amine Derivatives as a New Class of
      Src Inhibitors with Potent Activities in Models of Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
AB  - A series of 3-(phenylethynyl)-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4-amine derivatives
      were designed and synthesized. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis of
      these compounds led to the discovery of compound 1j, which showed the highest
      inhibitory potency against the Src kinase and the most potent antiviability
      activity against the typical TNBC cell line MDA-MB-231 among all the synthesized
      compounds. Further kinase inhibition assays showed that compound 1j was a
      multikinase inhibitor and potently inhibited Src (IC50 = 0.0009 MUM) and MAPK
      signaling protein kinases B-RAF and C-RAF. In an MDA-MB-231 xenograft mouse
      model, a once-daily dose of compound 1j at 30 mg/kg for 18 days completely
      suppressed the tumor growth with a tumor inhibition rate larger than 100% without
      obvious toxicity. It also displayed good pharmacokinetic properties in a
      preliminary pharmacokinetic assay. Western blot and immunohistochemical assays
      revealed that compound 1j significantly inhibited Src and MAPK signaling and
      markedly induced apoptosis in tumor tissues. 

PMID- 25835318
TI  - Vitamin D3 improves decline in cognitive function and cholinergic transmission in
      prefrontal cortex of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
AB  - Complications of diabetes mellitus include cognitive impairments and functional
      changes in the brain. The present study aimed to investigate the possible
      beneficial effect of vitamin D3 on episodic memory and cholinergic transmission
      in the prefrontal cortex of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Thirty male
      Wistar rats (150-200 g) were included into control, diabetic and diabetic
      supplemented with vitamin D3 groups. Diabetes was induced by single
      intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin 45 mg/kg in citrate buffer. Vitamin
      D3 was administered orally in a dose of 500 IU/kg/day in corn oil for 10 weeks.
      Then rats were subjected to novel object recognition test to examine for episodic
      memory. Animals were sacrificed under diethyl ether anesthesia and prefrontal
      cortices were dissected to measure the activity of choline acetyl transferase
      (CAT) and acetyle choline esterase (ACE) enzymes to assess for cholinergic
      transmission. Diabetic rats spent significantly less time exploring the novel
      object compared to control animals. Vitamin D3 significantly attenuated the
      diabetes-induced impairment so that animals again spent significantly more time
      exploring the novel object. The CAT activity was significantly decreased in
      diabetic animals while the ACE activity was significantly increased compared to
      control non-diabetic animals. Diabetes-induced alterations in enzyme activity in
      the prefrontal cortex were mitigated by vitamin D3 supplementation. The present
      findings demonstrate the potential effect of vitamin D3 supplementation on
      cognitive function in diabetic animals. It is possible that this effect is
      mediated through enhancing the prefrontal cortex cholinergic transmission.

PMID- 25835319
TI  - Motor cortex guides selection of predictable movement targets.
AB  - The present paper asks whether the motor cortex contributes to prediction-based
      guidance of target selection. This question was inspired by recent evidence that
      suggests (i) recurrent connections from the motor system into the attentional
      system may extract movement-relevant perceptual information and (ii) that the
      motor cortex cannot only generate predictions of the sensory consequences of
      movements but may also operate as predictor of perceptual events in general. To
      test this idea we employed a choice reaching task requiring participants to
      rapidly reach and touch a predictable or unpredictable colour target. Motor
      cortex activity was modulated via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).
      In Experiment 1 target colour repetitions were predictable. Under such conditions
      anodal tDCS facilitated selection versus sham and cathodal tDCS. This improvement
      was apparent for trajectory curvature but not movement initiation. Conversely,
      where no predictability of colour was embedded reach performance was unaffected
      by tDCS. Finally, the results of a key-press experiment suggested that motor
      cortex involvement is restricted to tasks where the predictable target colour is
      movement-relevant. The outcomes are interpreted as evidence that the motor system
      contributes to the top-down guidance of selective attention to movement targets. 

PMID- 25835320
TI  - Cocaine counteracts LPS-induced hypolocomotion and triggers locomotor
      sensitization expression.
AB  - Neuroimmune signalling underlies addiction and comorbid depression. Clinical
      observations indicate that infections and chronic lesions are more frequent in
      drug users and elevated inflammatory states are evident in cocaine dependents.
      Therefore, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and inflammatory cytokines represent an
      important tool for the investigation of sickness, depressive illness and
      addiction behaviour. A major component of addiction is the progressive and
      persistent increase in locomotor activity after repeated drug administration and
      even prolonged periods of abstinence. The aim of this study was to investigate
      the response of locomotor sensitization when a non-sensitizing dose of cocaine is
      paired with a systemic inflammatory stimulus. LPS and cocaine were administered
      intraperitonealy in young-adult male C57bl/6 mice during a 5-day acquisition
      phase. After a 48-h withdrawal period all groups were challenged with cocaine to
      evaluate locomotor expression. During the acquisition phase, the LPS-treated
      groups displayed characteristic hypolocomotion related to sickness behaviour. The
      low dose of cocaine did not increase the distance travelled, characterizing a non
      sensitization dose. Groups that received both LPS and cocaine did not display
      hypolocomotion, indicating that cocaine might counteract hypolocomotion sickness
      behaviour. Moreover, during challenge, only these animals expressed locomotor
      sensitization. Our results indicate that LPS could facilitate the expression of
      locomotor sensitization in mice and that the immune system may modulate cocaine
      induced sensitization. 

PMID- 25835321
TI  - Role of dopamine D1-like receptor within the nucleus accumbens in acute food
      deprivation- and drug priming-induced reinstatement of morphine seeking in rats.
AB  - Dopamine is a predominant neurotransmitter in the nervous system, which plays an
      important role in both drug priming- and cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine and
      heroin seeking. Therefore, in the present study, the conditioned place preference
      (CPP) paradigm was used to evaluate the effects of intra-accumbal administration
      of SCH23390 as a dopamine D1-like receptor antagonist on food deprivation (FD)
      and drug priming-induced reinstatement. Sixty-eight adult male albino Wistar rats
      weighing 200-280 g were bilaterally implanted by cannulae into the nucleus
      accumbens (NAc). For induction of the CPP, subcutaneous (sc) administration of
      morphine (5mg/kg) was used daily during a three-day conditioning phase. The
      conditioning score and locomotor activity were recorded by using the Ethovision
      software. Under extinction conditions, rats were given an 'off' period and were
      tested for FD-induced reinstatement following the 24-h or 48-h FD condition, and
      for drug priming-induced reinstatement under the sated condition following an
      injection of 0.5 and 1mg/kg (sc) morphine. In the next experiments, animals
      received different doses of intra-accumbal SCH23390 (0.25, 1 and 4 MUg/0.5 MUl
      saline) bilaterally and were subsequently tested for FD- and morphine priming
      induced reinstatement. Our findings indicated that only a dose of 1mg/kg and not
      0.5mg/kg of morphine induced the reinstatement of morphine. 24-h FD similar to 48
      h FD induced the reinstatement of seeking behaviors facilitated by an ineffective
      dose of morphine (0.5mg/kg). Furthermore, the D1-like receptor antagonist
      attenuated FD- and drug priming-induced reinstatement dose-dependently. It is
      concluded that FD- and drug priming-induced reinstatement may be mediated, at
      least in some way, by activation of dopamine D1-like receptors in the NAc.

PMID- 25835322
TI  - Sclerosteosis (craniotubular hyperostosis-syndactyly) with complex hyperphalangy
      of the index finger.
AB  - We report a 4-year-old boy with sclerosteosis associated with severe digital
      dysostosis. The initial medical consultation was prompted by bilateral,
      asymmetrical syndactyly of the index and middle fingers. The left index finger
      had complicated phalangeal anomalies: hyperphalangy (supernumerary phalanx distal
      to the middle phalanx) and hypoplasia with bracket epiphyses of the proximal and
      middle phalanges. Development of facial nerve palsy, hearing impairment and
      generalized osteosclerosis had occurred between 3 years and 4 years of age, with
      the subsequent identification of a homozygous SOST mutation. Bilateral second and
      third fingers syndactyly associated with abnormal patterning of the same fingers
      should be considered prodromal signs of sclerosteosis. 

PMID- 25835323
TI  - Differential effects of conductances on the phase resetting curve of a bursting
      neuronal oscillator.
AB  - The intrinsically oscillating neurons in the crustacean pyloric circuit have
      membrane conductances that influence their spontaneous activity patterns and
      responses to synaptic activity. The relationship between the magnitudes of these
      membrane conductances and the response of the oscillating neurons to synaptic
      input has not yet been fully or systematically explored. We examined this
      relationship using the phase resetting curve (PRC), which summarizes the change
      in the cycle period of a neuronal oscillator as a function of the input's timing
      within the oscillation. We first utilized a large database of single-compartment
      model neurons to determine the effect of individual membrane conductances on PRC
      shape; we found that the effects vary across conductance space, but on average,
      the hyperpolarization-activated and leak conductances advance the PRC. We next
      investigated how membrane conductances affect PRCs of the isolated pacemaker
      kernel in the pyloric circuit of Cancer borealis by: (1) tabulating PRCs while
      using dynamic clamp to artificially add varying levels of specific conductances,
      and (2) tabulating PRCs before and after blocking the endogenous
      hyperpolarization-activated current. We additionally used a previously described
      four-compartment model to determine how the location of the hyperpolarization
      activated conductance influences that current's effect on the PRC. We report that
      while dynamic-clamp-injected leak current has much smaller effects on the PRC
      than suggested by the single-compartment model, an increase in the
      hyperpolarization-activated conductance both advances and reduces the noisiness
      of the PRC in the pacemaker kernel of the pyloric circuit in both modeling and
      experimental studies. 

PMID- 25835324
TI  - Association between Pregnancy and Active Injection Drug Use and Sex Work among
      Women Injection Drug Users in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
AB  - Widespread use of unsafe sexual practices among women injecting drugs both
      practicing and not practicing sex work leads to high levels of unplanned
      pregnancies in this population. The goal of this study was to investigate the
      association between pregnancy and active drug use and sex work. Data were
      collected using a convenience sample of 500 women in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in
      2013. All women had recent experience of drug use, of which 200 were pregnant at
      the time of the study. The study consisted of a structured interview followed by
      a rapid HIV test. Pregnancy was protective against both active drug use and sex
      work. For HIV-positive women, these associations were stronger than for HIV
      negative women: drug use prevalence ratio (PR) was 0.59 vs 0.85; for sex work,
      the PRs were 0.36 vs 0.64. Higher levels of education were associated with a
      lower prevalence ratio for active drug use and sex work in all models. Having
      children was not associated with active drug use or sex work. Pregnancy might be
      an optimal time for conducting interventions aimed at cessation of drug use and
      sex work among women injecting drugs. 

PMID- 25835325
TI  - Replacing stressful challenges with positive coping strategies: a resilience
      program for clinical placement learning.
AB  - Clinical education is foundational to health professional training. However, it
      is also a time of increased stress for students. A student's perception of
      stressors and their capacity to effectively manage them is a legitimate concern
      for educators, because anxiety and decreased coping strategies can interfere with
      effective learning, clinical performance and capacity to care for patients.
      Resilience is emerging as a valuable construct to underpin positive coping
      strategies for learning and professional practice. We report the development and
      evaluation of a psycho-education resilience program designed to build practical
      skills-based resilience capacities in health science (physiotherapy) students.
      Six final year undergraduate physiotherapy students attended four action research
      sessions led by a clinical health psychologist. Resilience strategies drawn from
      cognitive behavioural therapy, and positive and performance psychology were
      introduced. Students identified personal learning stressors and their beliefs and
      responses. They chose specific resilience-based strategies to address them, and
      then reported their impact on learning performance and experiences. Thematic
      analysis of the audio-recorded and transcribed action research sessions, and
      students' de identified notes was conducted. Students' initial descriptions of
      stressors as 'problems' outside their control resulting in poor thinking and
      communication, low confidence and frustration, changed to a focus on how they
      managed and recognized learning challenges as normal or at least expected
      elements of the clinical learning environment. The research suggests that
      replacing stressful challenges with positive coping strategies offers a
      potentially powerful tool to build self-efficacy and cognitive control as well as
      greater self-awareness as a learner and future health practitioner. 

PMID- 25835326
TI  - Activation of p38 in C2C12 myotubes following ATP depletion depends on
      extracellular glucose.
AB  - Muscle cells adjust their glucose metabolism in response to myriad stimuli, and
      particular attention has been paid to glucose metabolism after contraction, ATP
      depletion, and insulin stimulation. Each of these requires translocation of GLUT4
      to the cell membrane, and may require activation of glucose transporters by p38.
      In contrast, AICAR stimulates glucose transport without activation of p38,
      suggesting that p38 activation may be an indirect consequence of accelerated
      glucose transport or metabolism. This study was designed to investigate the
      contribution of AMPK and p38 to ATP homeostasis and glucose metabolism to test
      the hypothesis that p38 reflects glycolytic activity rather than controls glucose
      uptake. Treating mature myotubes with rotenone caused transient ATP depletion in
      15 min with recovery by 120 min, associated with increased lactate production.
      Both ACC and p38 were rapidly phosphorylated, but ACC remained phosphorylated
      while p38 phosphorylation declined as ATP recovered. AMPK inhibition blocked ATP
      recovery, lactate production, and phosphorylation of p38 and ACC. Inhibition of
      p38 had little effect. AICAR induced ACC phosphorylation, but not lactate
      production or p38 phosphorylation. Finally, removing extracellular glucose
      potentiated rotenone-induced AMPK activation, but reduced lactate generation, ATP
      recovery and p38 activation. Thus, glucose metabolism is highly sensitive to ATP
      homeostasis via AMPK activity, but p38 activity is dispensable. Although p38 is
      strongly phosphorylated during ATP depletion, this appears to be an indirect
      consequence of accelerated glycolysis. 

PMID- 25835328
TI  - Caprine herpesvirus 1 (CpHV-1) vaginal infection of goats: clinical efficacy of
      fig latex.
AB  - The latex of Ficus carica Linn. (Moraceae) has been shown to interfere with the
      replication of caprine herpesvirus (CpHV)-1 in vitro. The present study was
      undertaken to determine the efficacy of vaginal administration of fig latex in
      goats experimentally infected with CpHV-1. The fig latex reduced the clinical
      signs of the herpetic disease although it slightly influenced the titres of CpHV
      1 shed. Thus, the fig latex maintained a partial efficacy in vivo.

PMID- 25835327
TI  - Secondary use of empirical research data in medical ethics papers on gamete
      donation: forms of use and pitfalls.
AB  - This paper aims to provide a description of how authors publishing in medical
      ethics journals have made use of empirical research data in papers on the topic
      of gamete or embryo donation by means of references to studies conducted by
      others (secondary use). Rather than making a direct contribution to the
      theoretical methodological literature about the role empirical research data
      could play or should play in ethics studies, the focus is on the particular uses
      of these data and the problems that can be encountered with this use. In the
      selection of papers examined, apart from being used to describe the context,
      empirical evidence was mainly used to recount problems that needed solving. Few
      of the authors looked critically at the quality of the studies they quoted, and
      several instances were found of empirical data being used poorly or
      inappropriately. This study provides some initial baseline evidence that shows
      empirical data, in the form of references to studies, are sometimes being used in
      inappropriate ways. This suggests that medical ethicists should be more concerned
      about the quality of the empirical data selected, the appropriateness of the
      choice for a particular type of data (from a particular type of study) and the
      correct integration of this evidence in sound argumentation. Given that empirical
      data can be misused also when merely cited instead of reported, it may be
      worthwhile to explore good practice requirements for this type of use of
      empirical data in medical ethics. 

PMID- 25835329
TI  - Mutants of metal binding site M1 in APP E2 show metal specific differences in
      binding of heparin but not of sorLA.
AB  - The amyloid precursor protein (APP) and its neurotoxic cleavage product Abeta are
      key players in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and appear to be
      essential for neuronal development and cell homeostasis. Proteolytic processing
      of APP and its physiological function depend on its interaction with heparin and
      are influenced by the binding of metal ions and sorLA. We created various
      mutations of metal binding site M1 residing within the extracellular E2 domain of
      APP. Using isothermal titration calorimetry and circular dichroism spectroscopy,
      we analyzed the binding of Cu(2+) and Zn(2+) to APP E2 and identified two
      mutations that are most suited for functional studies to dissect ion specific
      effects of metal binding. The H313A mutation abrogates only copper-based effects,
      whereas the H382A mutation weakens any metal binding at M1 of APP E2.
      Subsequently, we tested the effect of Cu(2+) and Zn(2+) on the binding of heparin
      and sorLA to APP E2 using a chromatographic technique and surface plasmon
      resonance. We show that Zn(2+) and to a larger degree also Cu(2+) enhance the
      binding of heparin to APP E2, consistent with an extracellular regulation of the
      function of APP by both metal ions. In contrast, neither ion seemed to affect the
      interaction between APP E2 and sorLA. This supports an intracellular interaction
      between the latter two partners that would not sense extracellular variations of
      metal ions upon synaptic activity.

PMID- 25835330
TI  - Associations between socio-demographic factors, encounters with healthcare
      professionals and perceived ability to return to work in people sick-listed due
      to heart failure in Sweden: a cross-sectional study.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate associations between socio
      demographic factors, experiences of positive/negative encounters with healthcare
      professionals, and the encounters' impact on the ability to return to work in a
      population of people on sick leave due to heart failure. METHODS: This was a
      cross-sectional study. Data were collected from two official registries in Sweden
      and from a postal questionnaire. In all, 590 people with heart failure responded
      to the questionnaire. Associations between variables were calculated with
      bivariate correlation analyses and logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: For
      people on sick leave due to heart failure, positive encounters with healthcare
      professionals are associated with being Swedish-born, female gender, and high
      income. People with high income are more likely to be supported back to work by
      positive encounters with healthcare professionals. To perceive that healthcare
      professionals believe in person's ability to return to work can be facilitating.
      CONCLUSIONS: Women, people who are not foreign-born, and people with high income
      are more likely to perceive encounters with healthcare professionals as positive.
      Healthcare professionals who work with rehabilitation for people with heart
      failure need to be aware of social inequalities and that being on sick leave is a
      process of change. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: A failing heart limits
      everyday life implying risk for long-term sick leave. Even though there are
      rehabilitation programs for people with heart failure, vocational rehabilitation
      is often over-looked. The knowledge about factors associated with sick leave due
      to heart failure is scarce. Experiences of positive encounters with healthcare
      professionals were associated with being Swedish-born, female gender, and high
      income. People with high income were more likely to be supported back to work by
      positive encounters with healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals who
      work with rehabilitation for people with heart failure can support patients with
      heart failure by showing them confidence and trust. However, they need to be
      aware that sick leave implies a process of change.

PMID- 25835331
TI  - Esophageal Adenocarcinoma: The Influence of Medications Used to Treat
      Comorbidities on Cancer Prognosis.
AB  - Esophageal adenocarcinoma has undergone a continuous rise in incidence since the
      early 1970s and is the fastest rising cancer among white men in the United
      States. Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that medications commonly used to
      treat multiple chronic conditions (for example, aspirin, non-aspirin nonsteroidal
      anti-inflammatory drugs, and statins) as well as powerful acid suppressants such
      as proton pump inhibitors are associated with a reduced risk of esophageal
      adenocarcinoma. The chemopreventive potential of these classes of medications
      appears to be especially applicable to persons with Barrett's esophagus, the only
      known premalignant condition for esophageal adenocarcinoma. However, it is not
      known whether these medications also influence cancer recurrence and cancer
      specific mortality in persons diagnosed with esophageal adenocarcinoma. This is
      an important question because most patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma have 1
      or more comorbid conditions at the time of their cancer diagnosis and are
      receiving medication to treat these conditions. This article summarizes the
      evidence on the associations between 4 commonly used classes of medications and
      (1) risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma and Barrett's esophagus and (2)
      risk of cancer recurrence and cancer-specific mortality in patients with
      esophageal adenocarcinoma. 

PMID- 25835332
TI  - Food for Thought: Complications of Acute Gastric Distension in Prader-Willi
      Syndrome.

PMID- 25835333
TI  - Medical information on the internet: a tool for measuring consumer perception of
      quality aspects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Most of adult Internet users have searched for health information on
      the Internet. The Internet has become one of the most important sources for
      health information and treatment advice. In most cases, the information found is
      not verified with a medical doctor, but judged by the "online-diagnosers"
      independently. Facing this situation, public health authorities raise concern
      over the quality of medical information laypersons can find on the Internet.
      OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was aimed at developing a measure to
      evaluate the credibility of websites that offer medical advice and information.
      The measure was tested in a quasi-experimental study on two sleeping-disorder
      websites of different quality. METHODS: There were 45 survey items for rating the
      credibility of websites that were tested in a quasi-experimental study with a
      random assignment of 454 participants to either a high- or a low-quality website
      exposure. Using principal component analysis, the original items were reduced to
      13 and sorted into the factors: trustworthiness, textual deficits of the content,
      interferences (external links on the Web site), and advertisements. The first two
      factors focus more on the provided content itself, while the other two describe
      the embedding of the content into the website. The 45 survey items had been
      designed previously using exploratory observations and literature research.
      RESULTS: The final scale showed adequate power and reliability for all factors.
      The loadings of the principal component analysis ranged satisfactorily (.644 to
      .854). Significant differences at P<.001 were found between the low- and high
      quality groups. Advertisements on the website were rated as disturbing in both
      experimental conditions, meaning that they do not differentiate between good and
      bad information. CONCLUSIONS: The scale reliably distinguished high- and low
      quality of medical advice given on websites.

PMID- 25835334
TI  - Analysis of Hyoid-Larynx Complex Using 3D Geometric Morphometrics.
AB  - The aim of this study was to obtain a quantitative anatomical description of the
      hyoid bone-larynx complex using modern 3D reconstruction tools. The study was
      conducted on 104 bones from CT scan images of living adult subjects. Three
      dimensional reconstructions were created from CT scan images using AVIZO 6.2
      software package. A study of this complex was carried out using metric and
      morphological analyses. Characteristics of the hyoid bone and larynx were highly
      heterogeneous and were closely linked with the sex, height, and weight of the
      individuals. Height and width of larynx were significantly greater in men than in
      women (24.99 vs. 17.3 mm, p <= 0.05 and 46.75 vs. 41.07, p <= 0.05), whereas the
      thyroid angle was larger in females (81.12 degrees  vs. 74.48 degrees , p <=
      0.05). There was a significant correlation between the height and weight of
      subjects and different measurements of the hyoid-larynx complex. (Pearson's
      coefficient correlation r = 0.42, p <= 0.05 between the height of thyroid ala and
      the height of subjects and r = 0.1, p <= 0.05 between the height of thyroid ala
      and the weight of subjects). Shape and size analysis of the hyoid-larynx complex
      showed the existence of a significant sexual dimorphism and high interindividual
      heterogeneity depending to patient morphology. These results encourage us to go
      further with functional and imaging correlations. 

PMID- 25835336
TI  - The electronic, optical and magnetic consequences of delocalization in
      multifunctional donor-acceptor organic polymers.
AB  - Two organic polymers containing alternating electron donating triarylamine and
      electron accepting thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole (TzTz) moieties have been synthesized
      and their redox states investigated. When donor and acceptor units are proximal
      (polymer )1, electron density is delocalized, leading to a small electrical and
      optical band gap; these are larger with the inclusion of an adjoining alkynyl
      phenyl bridge (polymer 2), where electron density is more localized due to the
      rotation of the monomer units. As a result, 1 and 2 display different optical and
      fluorescence properties in their neutral states. Upon chemical and
      electrochemical redox reactions, radicals form in both 1 and 2, yielding magnetic
      materials that display temperature-independent paramagnetism, attributable to
      delocalization of radical spins along the polymeric backbones. The ability to
      convert between diamagnetic and paramagnetic states upon chemical oxidation
      and/or reduction allows for the materials to display switchable magnetism and
      fluorescence, imparting multifunctionality to these solid-state purely organic
      materials.

PMID- 25835337
TI  - Erratum.

PMID- 25835338
TI  - Hot-carrier photocurrent effects at graphene-metal interfaces.
AB  - Photoexcitation of graphene leads to an interesting sequence of phenomena, some
      of which can be exploited in optoelectronic devices based on graphene. In
      particular, the efficient and ultrafast generation of an electron distribution
      with an elevated electron temperature and the concomitant generation of a photo
      thermoelectric voltage at symmetry-breaking interfaces is of interest for
      photosensing and light harvesting. Here, we experimentally study the generated
      photocurrent at the graphene-metal interface, focusing on the time-resolved
      photocurrent, the effects of photon energy, Fermi energy and light polarization.
      We show that a single framework based on photo-thermoelectric photocurrent
      generation explains all experimental results. 

PMID- 25835339
TI  - Si microstructures laminated with a nanolayer of TiO2 as long-term stable and
      effective photocathodes in PEC devices.
AB  - Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is one of the most emerging fields for
      green energy generation and storage. Here we show a study of microstructured Si
      covered by a TiO2 nano-layer. The microstructures are prepared by galvanostatic
      selective etching of Si. The TiO2 nano-layer was deposited by atomic layer
      deposition (ALD) to protect the microstructured photocathode against corrosion.
      The obtained microstructured photocathode showed a shift in the onset potential
      of 400 mV towards the anodic direction compared to bare Si. The Si
      microstructures laminated with a nano-layer of TiO2 show stability over 60 hours
      of measurement. 

PMID- 25835340
TI  - Myocardial Damage Detected by Two-Dimensional Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography
      in Patients with Extracardiac Sarcoidosis: Comparison with Magnetic Resonance
      Imaging.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine whether two-dimensional
      speckle-tracking echocardiography can identify the myocardial damage detected by
      delayed enhancement (DE) magnetic resonance imaging via the differences in
      myocardial deformation in patients with extracardiac sarcoidosis who showed no
      structural and functional abnormalities in the heart. METHODS: Forty-five
      patients with biopsy-proven extracardiac sarcoidosis were analyzed
      retrospectively. Patients with abnormal electrocardiographic and
      echocardiographic findings, including ventricular arrhythmias, heart block,
      regional wall motion abnormalities, valvular heart disease, and cardiomyopathy,
      were excluded. Ten age-matched healthy control subjects were recruited as a
      control group. Comprehensive echocardiography and DE magnetic resonance imaging
      were performed, and circumferential, longitudinal, and radial strain were
      consecutively assessed using two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiographic
      software in a 16-segment model of the left ventricle in accordance to the
      presence (DE+) or absence (DE-) of DE. RESULTS: Among the 45 patients, 36
      segments in 13 patients showed DE. DE+ segments had lower peak circumferential
      strain than DE- and control segments (-14 +/- 5% vs -28 +/- 7% vs -30 +/- 7%, P <
      .0001). Peak longitudinal strain in DE+ segments was significantly decreased
      compared with control segments (-19 +/- 4% vs -23 +/- 5%, P = .005). However,
      peak radial strain was similar among the three groups: 41 +/- 17% in DE+
      segments, 45 +/- 23% in DE- segments, and 46 +/- 18% in control segments (P =
      .50). CONCLUSIONS: Circumferential and longitudinal strain via two-dimensional
      speckle-tracking echocardiography can identify the myocardial damage detected by
      DE magnetic resonance imaging in patients with extracardiac sarcoidosis.

PMID- 25835341
TI  - Mitral Annular Dynamics in Mitral Annular Calcification: A Three-Dimensional
      Imaging Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The mitral annulus displays complex conformational changes during the
      cardiac cycle that can now be quantified by three-dimensional echocardiography.
      Mitral annular calcification (MAC) is increasingly encountered, but its
      structural and dynamic consequences are largely unexplored. The objective of this
      study was to describe alterations in mitral annular dimensions and dynamics in
      patients with MAC. METHODS: Transthoracic three-dimensional echocardiography was
      performed in 43 subjects with MAC and 36 age- and sex-matched normal control
      subjects. Mitral annular dimensions were quantified, using dedicated software, at
      six time points (three diastolic, three systolic) during the cardiac cycle.
      RESULTS: In diastole, the calcified annulus was larger and flatter than normal,
      with increased anteroposterior diameter (29.4 +/- 0.6 vs 27.8 +/- 0.6 mm, P =
      .046), reduced height (2.8 +/- 0.2 vs 3.6 +/- 0.2 mm, P = .006), and decreased
      saddle shape (8.9 +/- 0.6% vs 11.4 +/- 0.6%, P = .005). In systole, patients with
      MAC had greater annular area at all time points (P < .05 for each) compared with
      control subjects, because of reduced contraction along the anteroposterior
      diameter (P < .001). Saddle shape increased in early systole (from 10.5% to
      13.5%, P = .04) in control subjects but not in those with MAC (P = NS). Valvular
      alterations were also noted; although mitral valve tent length decreased during
      systole in both groups, decreases were less in patients with MAC (P < .05 for mid
      and late systole). For certain parameters (e.g., annular area), changes were
      confined largely to those patients with moderate to severe MAC (P = .006 vs
      control subjects, but nonsignificant for patients with mild MAC). CONCLUSIONS:
      Quantitative three-dimensional echocardiography provides new insights into the
      dynamic consequences of MAC. This imaging technique demonstrates that the mitral
      annulus is not made smaller by calcification. However, there is loss of annular
      contraction, particularly along the anteroposterior diameter, and loss of early
      systolic folding along the intercommissural diameter. Associated valvular
      alterations include smaller than usual declines in tenting during systole. These
      quantitative three-dimensional echocardiographic data provide new insights into
      the dynamic physiology of the calcified mitral annulus.

PMID- 25835342
TI  - Self-Assembled Monolayers Get Their Final Finish via a Quasi-Langmuir-Blodgett
      Transfer.
AB  - The growth of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of octadecylphosphonic acid (ODPA)
      molecules on alpha-Al2O3(0001) and subsequent dewetting of the SAMs were studied
      with a combination of in situ sum-frequency generation (SFG) and molecular
      dynamics (MD) simulations. Although SAM growth after deposition times >8 h
      reduces to nearly negligible values, the resultant ODPA SAMs in solution are
      still not in a well-ordered state with the alkyl chains in all-trans
      configurations. In fact, in situ SFG spectroscopy revealed a comparatively high
      concentration of gauche defects of the SAM in the ODPA 2-propanol solution even
      after a growth time of 16 h. Here, results of the MD simulations strongly suggest
      that defects can be caused by ODPA molecules which are not attached to the
      substrate but are incorporated into the SAM layer with the polar headgroup
      oriented into the 2-propanol solvent. This inverted adsorption geometry of
      additional ODPA molecules blocks adsorption sites and thus stabilizes the SAM
      without improving ordering to an extent that all molecules are in the all-trans
      configuration. While persistent in solution, the observed defects can be healed
      out when the SAMs are transferred from the solvent to a gas phase. During this
      process, a quasi-Langmuir-Blodgett transfer of molecules takes place which drives
      the SAM into a higher conformational state and significantly improves its
      quality. 

PMID- 25835343
TI  - Autism spectrum disorders and intestinal microbiota.
AB  - Through extensive microbial-mammalian co-metabolism, the intestinal microbiota
      have evolved to exert a marked influence on health and disease via gut-brain
      microbiota interactions. In this addendum, we summarize the findings of our
      recent study on the fecal microbiota and metabolomes of children with pervasive
      developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) or autism (AD) compared
      with healthy children (HC). Children with PDD-NOS or AD have altered fecal
      microbiota and metabolomes (including neurotransmitter molecules). We hypothesize
      that the degree of microbial alteration correlates with the severity of the
      disease since fecal microbiota and metabolomes alterations were higher in
      children with PDD-NOS and, especially, AD compared to HC. Our study indicates
      that the levels of free amino acids (FAA) and volatile organic compounds (VOC)
      differ in AD subjects compared to children with PDD-NOS, who are more similar to
      HC. Finally, we propose a new perspective on the implications for the interaction
      between intestinal microbiota and AD. 

PMID- 25835344
TI  - [Are health district prevalence studies useful in family practice? Report of a
      case: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of COPD and smoking in a Health District,
      to correlate real, registered, and extrapolated morbidity. To determine personal,
      family and social profiles. To determine the validity of the lung function
      questionnaire. DESIGN: Prevalence study. LOCATION: Urban District Health.
      PARTICIPANTS: Random selection of 233 people aged 40-75years. MAIN MEASUREMENTS:
      Age, sex, pack/years, spirometry, pulse-oximetry, medication, income. TESTS:
      Fagerstrom, Richmond, MOS, APGAR, and lung function. RESULTS: Mean age was
      53.7+7.6years, with 57.9% women. Registered morbidity for COPD 1.2% (0.5-3.9%).
      Prevalence 4.7% (1.5% female, 9.2% male), extrapolated prevalence: 10.2%.
      Registered morbidity for Smoking 10.7% (1-19.4%); prevalence: 18.5% (20% female,
      16.3% male), extrapolated prevalence 23.95%. Lung function questionnaire:
      positive likelihood ratio 3.18; negative 0.1. High probability of COPD (59.5%) in
      >30 packs/year smokers. Smokers consume a mean of 20.8 packs/year. Women showed
      higher physical dependence (36% versus 21%). More probability of achieving
      successful smoking cessation in men (57.1% versus 44%). There was 14.7% perceived
      family dysfunction; 6.9% have a low global index of social support, and 9.1% in
      COPD subjects. More than two-thirds (70%) of COPD patients had never been
      hospitalized. There were 10% polymedicated patients compared to 60% in identified
      COPDs. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of COPD and smoking (indicator of avoidable
      morbidity attributable to primary care) are substantially lower than the
      reference data. The lung function questionnaire is valid. There was evidence of
      inter-professional variability. Women smoke more, are more dependent and are less
      motivated to quit. Their family and social perception is worse. These
      investigations are essentials for community intervention and operational
      planning.

PMID- 25835345
TI  - Ratio of anogenital warts between different anatomical sites in homosexual and
      heterosexual individuals in Australia, 2002-2013: implications for susceptibility
      of different anatomical sites to genital warts.
AB  - There is little known regarding the transmissibility of human papillomavirus
      (HPV) between different sites in men who have sex with men (MSM) and heterosexual
      individuals. We conducted a retrospective analysis investigating all new patients
      attending the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre in Australia between 2002 and 2013.
      We describe the prevalence and ratio of the first episode of anogenital warts in
      MSM and heterosexual males and females. The proportion of new MSM clients with
      anal and penile warts was 4.0% (362/8978) and 1.6% (141/8978), respectively;
      which gave an anal-to-penile wart ratio of 1:2.6. About 13.7% (1656/12112) of
      heterosexual males had penile warts and 10.0% (1121/11166) of females had vulval
      warts, which yielded a penile-to-vulval wart ratio of 1:0.7. Penile-anal
      transmission has a higher ratio than penile-vulval transmission, suggesting that
      the anal epithelium may be more susceptible to HPV infection than the vulval
      epithelium in females; these ratios are important in modelling the control of HPV
      in MSM.

PMID- 25835346
TI  - Lactoferrin Reduces Chorioretinal Damage in the Murine Laser Model of Choroidal
      Neovascularization.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine whether lactoferrin, specifically endogenous mouse
      lactoferrin and exogenous intraperitoneal lactoferrin treatment, plays a role in
      reducing the chorioretinal damage in the laser-induced model of choroidal
      neovascularization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four 532-nm argon laser spots were
      placed between the retinal vessels of each eye. At Day 7, Fluorescein Angiography
      was performed to grade the lesions. The mice were perfused with fluorescein
      labeled tomato lectin and sacrificed. The retinal pigment epithelium-choroid
      sclera complex was flat-mounted and analyzed with a confocal microscope to
      measure the volume of the lesions. The effect of endogenous lactoferrin was
      studied by comparing lactoferrin knockout and wild-type (WT) mice. The effect of
      exogenous lactoferrin treatment was studied by comparing lactoferrin knockout and
      WT mice treated with lactoferrin for seven days to their respective controls.
      RESULTS: Lactoferrin knockout mice demonstrated 47% larger lesion volumes than WT
      mice (p < 0.001). Intraperitoneal treatment with Lactoferrin reduced the lesion
      volume in Lactoferrin knockout mice by 26% (p < 0.04). Regarding the fluorescein
      angiography, lesions indicating the greatest damage (grade 2B) occurred more
      frequently in control lactoferrin knockout mice compared with control WT mice
      (16% versus 5%). Intraperitoneal treatment with Lactoferrin reduced the grade 2B
      lesions from 16% to 2% in Lactoferrin knockout mice. CONCLUSION: The endogenous
      lactoferrin present in WT mice appears to reduce the choroidal neovascularization
      in the laser-induced choroidal neovascularization model in mice. Treatment with
      exogenous lactoferrin is capable of reducing the choroidal neovascularization in
      lactoferrin knockout mice but does not add a significant protective effect to WT.

PMID- 25835347
TI  - Postpartum reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome: review and analysis of
      the current data.
AB  - Postpartum reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (PPRCVS) is a rare but
      serious cause of headache that occurs in the early postpartum period. The rarity
      of this disorder has limited the current literature to single case reports and
      small, observational case series. The lack of familiarity with PPRCVS may
      contribute to mismanagement of these unique patients and lead to poor outcomes.
      To address current gaps in the understanding of PPRCVS, this review and data
      analysis characterizes the demographics, presentation, clinical course,
      management and prognosis of PPRCVS and provides a general review of the
      epidemiology, pathophysiology and diagnosis to assist clinicians who may care for
      patients with this rare disorder.

PMID- 25835348
TI  - Proton pump inhibitors and vascular function: A prospective cross-over pilot
      study.
AB  - Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are commonly used drugs for the treatment of
      gastric reflux. Recent retrospective cohorts and large database studies have
      raised concern that the use of PPIs is associated with increased cardiovascular
      (CV) risk. However, there is no prospective clinical study evaluating whether the
      use of PPIs directly causes CV harm. We conducted a controlled, open-label, cross
      over pilot study among 21 adults aged 18 and older who are healthy (n=11) or have
      established clinical cardiovascular disease (n=10). Study subjects were assigned
      to receive a PPI (Prevacid; 30 mg) or a placebo pill once daily for 4 weeks.
      After a 2-week washout period, participants were crossed over to receive the
      alternate treatment for the ensuing 4 weeks. Subjects underwent evaluation of
      vascular function (by the EndoPAT technique) and had plasma levels of asymmetric
      dimethylarginine (ADMA, an endogenous inhibitor of endothelial function
      previously implicated in PPI-mediated risk) measured prior to and after each
      treatment interval. We observed a marginal inverse correlation between the
      EndoPAT score and plasma levels of ADMA (r = -0.364). Subjects experienced a
      greater worsening in plasma ADMA levels while on PPI than on placebo, and this
      trend was more pronounced amongst those subjects with a history of vascular
      disease. However, these trends did not reach statistical significance, and PPI
      use was also not associated with an impairment in flow-mediated vasodilation
      during the course of this study. In conclusion, in this open-label, cross-over
      pilot study conducted among healthy subjects and coronary disease patients, PPI
      use did not significantly influence vascular endothelial function. Larger, long
      term and blinded trials are needed to mechanistically explain the correlation
      between PPI use and adverse clinical outcomes, which has recently been reported
      in retrospective cohort studies. 

PMID- 25835349
TI  - Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker use is
      associated with reduced major adverse cardiovascular events among patients with
      critical limb ischemia.
AB  - Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin receptor blockers
      (ARBs) are recommended for secondary prevention in peripheral artery disease, but
      their effectiveness in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI) is uncertain.
      We reviewed 464 patients with CLI who underwent diagnostic angiography or
      endovascular intervention from 2006-2013 at a multidisciplinary vascular center.
      ACEI or ARB use was assessed at the time of angiography. Major adverse
      cardiovascular events (MACE), mortality, and major adverse limb events (MALE)
      were assessed during three-year follow-up. Propensity weighting was used to
      adjust for baseline differences between patients taking and not taking ACEIs or
      ARBs. ACEIs or ARBs were prescribed to 269 (58%) patients. Patients prescribed
      ACEIs or ARBs had more baseline comorbidities including diabetes and hypertension
      (p<0.05). Patients prescribed ACEIs or ARBs had lower three-year unadjusted rates
      of MACE (40% versus 47%) and mortality (33% versus 43%). After propensity
      weighting, ACEI or ARB use was associated with significantly lower rates of MACE
      (hazard ratio [HR] 0.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.58-0.99, p=0.04) and
      overall mortality (HR 0.71, 95% CI 0.53-0.95, p=0.02). There was no significant
      association between ACEI or ARB use and MALE (HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.69-1.35, p=0.2)
      or major amputation (HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.47-1.18, p=0.1). ACEI/ARB use is
      associated with lower MACE and mortality in patients with CLI, but there was no
      effect on limb-related outcomes.

PMID- 25835350
TI  - Viscum album (mistletoe) for pancreatic cancer, electromagnetic field therapy for
      osteoarthritis, homeopathy for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, vitamin D for
      depression, acupuncture for insomnia.

PMID- 25835351
TI  - Three Polymorphisms of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (+936C > T, -460C > T,
      and -2578C > A) and Their Susceptibility to Ovarian Cancer: A Meta-Analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent endothelial cell
      mitogen that plays a vital role in angiogenesis, tumor growth, and metastasis.
      The associations between 3 polymorphisms of VEGF (+936 C > T, -2578 C > A, and 
      460 C > T) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk have been extensively investigated, but
      the currently available results are inconsistent. To obtain a more accurate
      estimation of the association, a meta-analysis was conducted in this study.
      METHODS: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Chinese National Knowledge
      Infrastructure were searched for all relevant studies published before November
      30, 2014. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated
      for the VEGF polymorphisms to assess the strength of the association. RESULTS:
      With regard to the +936 C > T polymorphism, 5 articles were available for
      analysis (882 cases and 1155 controls), whereas for -2578 C > A (559 cases and
      632 controls) and -460 C > T (350 cases and 409 controls), only 2 articles were
      eligible for analysis, respectively. A significant association between the VEGF
      +936 C/T polymorphism and OC was demonstrated in white populations (CT vs CC: OR,
      0.638 [95% CI, 0.437-0.932; P = 0.020]; TT + CT vs CC: OR, 0.694 [95% CI, 0.483
      0.995; P = 0.047]). No relationship was found between -2578 C > A and -460 C > T
      and susceptibility to develop OC. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis provides
      supportive evidence that the VEGF +936 C/T polymorphism may influence the risk
      for the development of OC in a protective model among whites.

PMID- 25835352
TI  - Assessment of lower urinary tract symptoms in Saudi men using the International
      Prostate Symptoms Score.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Benign prostatic hyperplasia-related lower urinary tract symptoms
      (LUTS) are common among older men, the incidence and prevalence are increasing
      rapidly, and they are associated with diminished health-related quality-of-life
      (QOL). OBJECTIVE: The aim was to describe the prevalence of LUTS in Saudi
      population and its relation to some other parameters. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Saudi
      men over the age of 40 were invited to participate in the study; in Riyadh city
      from August 2012 through March 2013. All participants were assessed for the serum
      level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and digital rectal examination.
      Participants were given a linguistically validated Arabic version of the
      International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). Demographic and other medical
      comorbidities were assessed. RESULTS: Based on the IPSS, a subdivision of men
      into three symptoms classes has been proposed, resulting in groups with mild
      (1265, 58.3%), moderate (505, 27.3%), and severe symptoms (81, 4.4%) and the
      prevalence of moderate to severe was 31.7%. There was a weak, but significant
      correlation between the total IPSS and age, total prostate volume, and PSA.
      Severity of symptoms is increasing with increased age. Multiple regression
      analysis reported that prostate volume and all individual items of IPSS except
      straining were significant predictors of QOL and patient satisfaction, where
      frequency and incomplete emptying had the heaviest impact on patient's QOL.
      CONCLUSION: LUTS were common among men in Saudi population over 40, the
      prevalence increases with age and most of them were unpleased because of their
      urinary symptoms, poor QOL was mainly determined by individual symptoms; mainly
      frequency and incomplete emptying.

PMID- 25835353
TI  - Insight into the 3D-trabecular architecture of the human patella.
AB  - The subchondral bone plate (SBP), a dynamic component of the osteochondral unit,
      shows functional adaptation to long-term loading by distribution of the mineral
      content in a manner best serving the mechanical demands. Since the received joint
      load is transmitted into the trabecular system, the spongy bone also exhibits
      differences in strain energy density which models it for optimal support. To
      evaluate the regional variations in trabecular architecture, in accordance with
      the density distribution of the SBP revealing its long-term load intake, CT- and
      MUCT-datasets of ten physiologic patellae were analysed for defined parameters of
      bony structure. For the SBP, the density distributions as well as area
      measurements were used. The trabecular architecture was described using
      parameters of bone morphology comprising the first 5mm (examined in 1mm steps)
      below the SBP. The obtained measurements are: Bone volume fraction (BV/TV); Bone
      surface density (BS/TV); Trabecular number (Tb.N); Trabecular separation (Tb.Sp);
      Trabecular thickness (Tb.Th); structure model index (SMI); and the Degree of
      anisotropy (DA). The evaluated architectural parameters varied within the
      trabecular system and showed an inhomogeneous distribution pattern. It proved to
      be distinctive with maxima of material and stability situated below areas of the
      highest long-term load intake. With increasing depth, the pattern of distribution
      was persistent but lessened in intensity. The parameters significantly correlated
      with the density distribution of the SBP within the first and second millimetres.
      With increasing depth down to the fifth millimetre, the coefficients of
      correlation decreased for all values. The trabecular network adapts to its
      mechanical needs and is therefore not homogenously built. Dependent upon the long
      term load intake, the trabecular model optimizes the support with significant
      correlation to the density distribution of the SBP.

PMID- 25835355
TI  - Tyrosine phosphorylation of cytochrome c as a signaling event in frozen thawed
      buffalo spermatozoa at the cross-roads of capacitation and apoptosis.
AB  - Considering the importance of cytochrome c in both life and death, it was of
      significant interest to investigate the expression of cytochrome c, its tyrosine
      phosphorylation status and immunolocalization patterns in a frozen-thawed buffalo
      sperm cell in comparison to in vitro capacitated [heparin (10 MUg/ml) induced,
      for 4h] and stress [apoptotic (10 MUM staurosporine), oxidative (25 MUM H2O2) and
      osmotic (180 mM NaCl) for 4h] induced conditions. Proteins were subjected to
      immunoblotting and probed by using monoclonal anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies. A
      significant (p<0.05) increase in expression of tyrosine phosphorylated cytochrome
      c was observed in capacitated buffalo sperm in comparison to frozen-thawed
      samples. cAMP protein kinase-A dependent and extracellular signal-regulated
      kinase independent tyrosine phosphorylation of cytochrome c was found during in
      vitro capacitation of buffalo spermatozoa. Localized increase in cytochrome c and
      tyrosine phosphorylated proteins were observed in frozen thawed and capacitated
      sperm. The information generated in this study can be used to understand the
      molecular mechanism of regulation of an apoptotic protein (cytochrome c) by
      tyrosine phosphorylation (a capacitation marker) in a frozen thawed sperm cell
      which could be a good target to combat apoptosis.

PMID- 25835354
TI  - Antidepressant-like Effects of Medial Forebrain Bundle Deep Brain Stimulation in
      Rats are not Associated With Accumbens Dopamine Release.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Medial forebrain bundle (MFB) deep brain stimulation (DBS) is
      currently being investigated in patients with treatment-resistant depression.
      Striking features of this therapy are the large number of patients who respond to
      treatment and the rapid nature of the antidepressant response. OBJECTIVE: To
      study antidepressant-like behavioral responses, changes in regional brain
      activity, and monoamine release in rats receiving MFB DBS. METHODS:
      Antidepressant-like effects of MFB stimulation at 100 MUA, 90 MUs and either 130
      Hz or 20 Hz were characterized in the forced swim test (FST). Changes in the
      expression of the immediate early gene (IEG) zif268 were measured with in situ
      hybridization and used as an index of regional brain activity. Microdialysis was
      used to measure DBS-induced dopamine and serotonin release in the nucleus
      accumbens. RESULTS: Stimulation at parameters that approximated those used in
      clinical practice, but not at lower frequencies, induced a significant
      antidepressant-like response in the FST. In animals receiving MFB DBS at high
      frequency, increases in zif268 expression were observed in the piriform cortex,
      prelimbic cortex, nucleus accumbens shell, anterior regions of the
      caudate/putamen and the ventral tegmental area. These structures are involved in
      the neurocircuitry of reward and are also connected to other brain areas via the
      MFB. At settings used during behavioral tests, stimulation did not induce either
      dopamine or serotonin release in the nucleus accumbens. CONCLUSIONS: These
      results suggest that MFB DBS induces an antidepressant-like effect in rats and
      recruits structures involved in the neurocircuitry of reward without affecting
      dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens.

PMID- 25835356
TI  - New heterocyclic compounds: Synthesis and antitrypanosomal properties.
AB  - Three new series of quinoline, quinolone, and benzimidazole derivatives were
      synthesized and evaluated in vitro against Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. In the
      quinoline series, the metallo antimalarial drug candidate (ferroquine, FQ) and
      its ruthenium analogue (ruthenoquine, RQ, compound 13) showed the highest in
      vitro activities with IC50 values around 0.1 MUM. Unfortunately, both compounds
      failed to cure Trypanosoma brucei brucei infected mice in vivo. The other
      heterocyclic compounds were active in vitro with IC50 values varying from 0.8 to
      34 MUM. One of the most interesting results was a fluoroquinolone derivative
      (compound 2) that was able to offer a survival time of 8 days after a treatment
      at the single dose of 100 MUmol/kg by intraperitoneal route. Although no clear
      cut structure-activity relationships emerged, further pharmacomodulations are
      worth to be developed in this series.

PMID- 25835357
TI  - Novel arylazopyrazole inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases.
AB  - Here, we describe new 4-arylazo-3,5-diamino-1H-pyrazole derivatives developed
      from CAN508, one of the first inhibitors to show preference for transcriptional
      regulator cyclin-dependent kinase 9. By substituting nitrogen in the pyrazole
      ring and employing a heteroatom in the 4-aryl ring, we obtained more potent
      derivatives differing in their CDK-selectivity profiles. The antiproliferative
      and anti-CDK kinase activities of the novel arylazopyrazoles were examined. The
      cellular effect of compound IVc was studied on MCF-7 cells synchronized by
      various methods and compared with other selective CDK inhibitors. The results
      demonstrated that IVc shows a preference for CDK4 and CDK1. In contrast to
      cytostatic effects induced by IVc in MCF-7 and K562 cells, we observed apoptotic
      activities in the RPMI-8226 cell line, which were confirmed by detecting active
      caspases by different biochemical assays. 

PMID- 25835358
TI  - Synthesis and ABCG2 inhibitory evaluation of 5-N-acetylardeemin derivatives.
AB  - An efficient and versatile synthesis of 5-N-acetylardeemin (1a) and sixteen 2-, 3
      and 13-substituted derivatives 1b-q was achieved through Ugi three-component
      reaction of 3,3a,8,8a-tetrahydropyrrolo[2,3-b]indole and
      cyclization/epimerization. Their inhibitory activity on the drug efflux of breast
      cancer resistance protein (ABCG2) was evaluated by flow cytometric analysis of
      accumulation of Hoechst 33342 stain in Flp-In-293/ABCG2 cells. Most of the
      derivatives exhibited a stronger ABCG2 inhibitory effect compared with natural
      product 1a. The derivative 1m with a 4-tolyl substituent at the C-13 position
      exhibited the most potent ABCG2 inhibition. This preliminary structure-activity
      relationship study indicates that an electron-rich aryl moiety as the 13
      substituent is key to increasing the inhibitory activity. 

PMID- 25835359
TI  - Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel homocamptothecin analogues
      as potent antitumor agents.
AB  - Fifteen novel homocamptothecin derivatives with alpha-OMe substituted E-rings
      were designed and synthesized. All of the derivatives exhibited similar or
      superior cytotoxicities compared with that of SN-38, and they inhibited Topo I
      activity in a cell-free assay in a manner similar to that of SN-38, confirming
      that they represent a new class of Topo I inhibitors. Notably, the water soluble
      compound 36o (1.2 mg/mL) exhibited increased lactone stability, and at 0.5 mg/kg
      and 3.0 mg/kg, it demonstrated significant antitumor activity in mice bearing a
      xenograft model using human colon cancer cell line HT-29. On the basis of these
      positive results, further development of 36o-related compounds as potential
      anticancer clinical trial candidates is definitely warranted.

PMID- 25835360
TI  - Editorial: Cutting-edge publications impacting sciences: beyond natural
      medicines.

PMID- 25835361
TI  - Salvia miltiorrhiza: Traditional medicinal uses, chemistry, and pharmacology.
AB  - Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (SM) is a very popular medicinal plant that has been
      extensively applied for many years to treat various diseases, especially coronary
      heart diseases and cerebrovascular diseases, either alone or in combination with
      other Chinese plant-based medicines. Although a large number of studies on SM
      have been performed, they are scattered across a variety of publications. The
      present review is an up-to-date summary of the published scientific information
      about the traditional uses, chemical constituents, pharmacological effects, side
      effects, and drug interactions with SM, in order to lay the foundation for
      further investigations and better utilization of SM. SM contains diverse chemical
      components including diterpenoid quinones, hydrophilic phenolic acids, and
      essential oils. Many pharmacological studies have been done on SM during the last
      30 years, focusing on the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular effects, and the
      antioxidative, neuroprotective, antifibrotic, anti-inflammatory, and
      antineoplastic activities. The research results strongly support the notion that
      SM has beneficial therapeutic properties and has a potential of being an
      effective adaptogenic remedy.

PMID- 25835362
TI  - Flavonoid-rich fraction of the Monodora tenuifolia seed extract attenuates
      behavioural alterations and oxidative damage in forced-swim stressed rats.
AB  - The antidepressant effects of the flavonoid-rich fraction of Monodora tenuifolia
      seed extract were examined by assessing the extent of attenuation of behavioural
      alterations and oxidative damage in the rats that were stressed by forced swim
      test. Compared with the model control group, the altered behavioural parameters
      were attenuated significantly (P < 0.05) in the group treated with the flavonoid
      rich fraction (100 and 200 mg.kg(-1)), comparable to the group treated with the
      standard drug, fluoxetine (10 mg.kg(-1)). The flavonoid-rich fraction and
      fluoxetine improved significantly (P < 0.05) the activities of the antioxidant
      enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and catalase as well as other biochemical
      parameters such as reduced glutathione, protein, and nitrite in the brain of the
      stressed rats. These results suggested that the flavonoid-rich fraction of
      Monodora tenuifolia seed extract exerted the antidepressant-like effects which
      could be useful in the management of stress induced disease.

PMID- 25835363
TI  - Antipyretic and anti-inflammatory activities of Thais luteostoma extracts and
      underlying mechanisms.
AB  - Thais luteostoma has been utilized as a crude drug whose shell and soft tissue
      have been widely used for the treatment of heat syndrome in China for thousands
      of years. The present study was designed to investigate the antipyretic and anti
      inflammatory activities of T. luteostoma. T. luteostoma was divided into shell
      (TLSH) and soft tissue (TLST) samples in the present study. The rat model of
      yeast-induced fever was used to investigate their antipyretic effects; and the
      rat model of hind paw edema induced by carrageenan was utilized to study their
      anti-inflammatory activities, and at the same time, the concentration variations
      of the central neurotransmitter [prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and cyclic adenosine
      monophosphate (cAMP)], inflammatory mediators [tumor necrosis factor (TNFalpha),
      interleukin-1beta (IL-1), interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)] and ion
      (Na(+) and Ca(2+)) were also tested. The results showed that TLSH and TLST
      extracts significantly inhibited yeast-induced pyrexia in rats (P < 0.05), and
      exhibited more lasting effects as compared to aspirin, and TLSH had the better
      antipyretic activity than TLST, and that TLSH and TLST could significantly
      prevent against carrageenan induced paw edema in rats (P < 0.05); and markedly
      reduced levels of PGE2, cAMP, TNFalpha, IL-1beta, IL-2, IL-6, and Na(+)/Ca(2+).
      In fever model, TLST could significantly reduce the levels of PGE2 (P < 0.01) in
      rats' homogenate and TNFalpha (P < 0.05), IL-1beta (P < 0.01) in the plasma than
      TLSH, whereas TLSH could reduce the content of IL-2 (P < 0.01) and IL-6 (P <
      0.01) in plasma and increase the content of Ca(2+) (P < 0.01) in plasma and
      homogenate more significantly than TLST. In conclusion, T. luteostoma extract has
      antipyretic and anti-inflammatory activities, which may be mediated through the
      suppression of production of PGE2, cAMP, Na(+)/Ca(2+), TNFalpha, IL-1beta, IL-2,
      and IL-6.

PMID- 25835364
TI  - Characterization of pumpkin polysaccharides and protective effects on
      streptozotocin-damaged islet cells.
AB  - The polysaccharides from pumpkin fruit (PP) were obtained and purified by hot
      water extraction, anion-exchange chromatography, and gel column chromatography.
      The physicochemical properties of PP were determined by gel filtration
      chromatography, gas chromatography, fourier transform infrared (FTIR)
      spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Results
      indicated that the molecular weight of PP was about 23 kDa and PP was composed of
      D-Arabinose, D-Mannose, D-Glucose, and D-Galactose with a molar ratio of 1 : 7.79
      : 70.32 : 7.05. FTIR and NMR spectra indicated that PP was the polysaccharide
      containing pyranose ring. Additionally, PP protected islets cells from
      streptozotocin (STZ) injury in vitro via increasing the levels of super-oxide
      dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) and reducing the production of NO. The
      experiment of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction further proved that
      PP inhibited apoptosis via modulating the expression of Bax/Bcl-2 in STZ-damaged
      islet cells. In conclusion, PP could be explored as a novel agent for the
      treatment of diabetes mellitus.

PMID- 25835366
TI  - UPLC/Q-TOF-MS analysis of iridoid glycosides and metabolites in rat plasma after
      oral administration of Paederia scandens extracts.
AB  - A rapid and validated UPLC-MS method was developed for investigating the absorbed
      components of Paederia scandens (Lour.) Merrill (P. scandensy) in rat plasma. The
      bioactive constituents in plasma samples from rats administrated orally with P.
      scandens extract were analyzed by Ultra-performance liquid chromatography
      quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS). Four prototype
      compounds were identified in rat serum as potential bioactive components of P.
      scandens by comparing their retention times and mass spectrometry data or by mass
      spectrometry analysis and retrieving the reference literatures. Glucuronidation
      after deglycosylation was the major metabolic pathway for the iridoid glycosides
      in P. scandens. These results showed that the methods had high sensitivity and
      resolution and were suitable for identifying the bioactive constituents in plasma
      after oral administration of P. scandens. providing helpful chemical information
      for further pharmacological and mechanistic researched on the P. scandens.

PMID- 25835365
TI  - Determination of alpha-glucosidase inhibitors from Scutellaria baicalensis using
      liquid chromatography with quadrupole time of flight tandem mass spectrometry
      coupled with centrifugal ultrafiltration.
AB  - The present study aimed at identifying potential lead compounds for diabetes
      mellitus drug discovery. We developed a novel method involving centrifugal
      ultrafiltration separation subsequent liquid chromatography with quadrupole time
      of flight tandem mass spectrometry (LC-Q/TOF-MS/MS) determination to screen alpha
      glucosidase inhibitors in complex Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi (SBG) extract.
      By adding a second filter to the screening process, the level of non-specific
      binding of Compounds 1, 3, 10 and 11 was significantly decreased, and the level
      of non-specific binding of Compounds 5 and 15 also was reduced. As a result, five
      flavonoids identified as baicalein, baicalein, wogonin, chrysin, and oroxylin A,
      were rapidly found to interact with alpha-glucosidase and possess potent anti
      alpha-glucosidase activity in vitro. Specific binding of ligands to alpha
      glucosidase was demonstrated though the proposed method and the ligands could be
      ranked in order of affinity for alpha-glucosidase, which were corresponded to the
      order of inhibitory activity in vitro. In conclusion, our results indicated that
      the developed method is a rapid and effective screening method for rat intestinal
      alpha-glucosidase inhibitors from complex herbal medicines such as SBG.

PMID- 25835367
TI  - Optimization of the processing technology of Fructus Arctii by response surface
      methodology.
AB  - The present study was designed to optimize the processing of Fructus Arctii by
      response surface methodology (RSM). Based on single factor studies, a three
      variable, three-level Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to monitor the effects of
      independent variables, including processing temperature and time, on the
      dependent variables. Response surfaces and contour plots of the contents of total
      lignans, chlorogenic acid, arctiin, and arctigenin were obtained through
      ultraviolet and visible (UV-Vis) monitoring and high performance liquid
      chromatography (HPLC). Fructus Arctii should be processed under heating in a pot
      at 311  degrees C, medicine at 119  degrees C for 123s with flipping frequently.
      The experimental values under the optimized processing technology were consistent
      with the predicted values. In conclusion, RSM is an effective method to optimize
      the processing of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

PMID- 25835368
TI  - Simultaneous determination and assignment of 13 major flavonoids and glycyrrhizic
      acid in licorices by HPLC-DAD and Orbirap mass spectrometry analyses.
AB  - To determine 13 flavonoids and glycyrrhizic acid in licorice (Glycyrrhiza spp.),
      several samples from different areas were examined by HPLC-DAD analysis. The
      analysis was performed on a Zorbax Extend-C18 (250 mm * 4.6 mm, 5 MUm) column
      connected with a Zorbax Extend guard column (20 mm * 4.6 mm, 5 MUm). The mobile
      phase consisted of (A) acetonitrile and (B) 0.026% aqueous H3PO4 (VV) using a
      gradient elution of 20%-25% A at 0-20 min, 25%-33% A at 20-30 min, 33%-50% A at
      30-55 min, 50%-60% A at 55-65 min, and 60% A between 65 min and 80 min, and peaks
      were detected at 280 nm. The fourteen compounds were assigned by HPLC-Orbitrap MS
      methods. The regression coefficient for the linear equations for the 14 compounds
      ranged between 0.9998 and 1. The limits of detection and quantification lay in
      the range of 0.032-2.461 and 0.154-8.202 MUg.mL(1), respectively. The relative
      recovery rates for the 14 compounds were in the range of 93.90%-106.73% with RSDs
      being less than 5%. Coefficient variations for intra-day and inter-day precisions
      were in the range of 0.27%-2.38% and 0.31%-3.51%, respectively. In summary, the
      validated method was applied to the simultaneous determination of the 14
      components in 29 different licorice samples and was proven to be suitable for
      quality evaluation of licorices and their active fractions.

PMID- 25835369
TI  - Akebia quinata extract exerts anti-obesity and hypolipidemic effects in high-fat
      diet-fed mice and 3T3-L1 adipocytes.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The dry ripe fruit of the Akebia quinata (A.
      quinata) plant is used as an analgesic, an antiphlogistic, and a diuretic in
      traditional medicine. A. quinata has also been used in Korea as a crude drug for
      treating obesity. The aim of the study was to determine the anti-obesity and
      hypolipidemic effects of A. quinata extract (AQE) in mice consuming a high-fat
      diet and in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We measured obesity-related
      physiological parameters, gene expression, and protein phosphorylation in mice
      consuming a high-fat diet supplemented with AQE (400mg/kg/day) for 6.5 weeks.
      RESULTS: AQE reduced gain in body weight, adipose tissue weight, and serum lipid
      levels in mice consuming a high-fat diet. AQE supplementation reduced expression
      of genes related to adipogenesis and increased expression of PPARalpha, acetyl
      CoA oxidase, and adiponectin in the epididymal adipose tissue. Furthermore, AQE
      increased phosphorylation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase
      (AMPK) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase, both of which are related to fatty acid
      oxidation, in vivo. HPLC analysis revealed that AQE contained chlorogenic acid,
      isochlorogenic acid A, and isochlorogenic acid C. AQE and all of these
      constituents inhibited differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells and enhanced AMPK
      phosphorylation. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest the AQE exerted anti-obesity
      and hypolipidemic effects in mice consuming a high-fat diet by regulating
      adipogenesis and fatty acid oxidation via AMPK activation.

PMID- 25835370
TI  - Anti-inflammatory activity and phenolic profile of propolis from two locations in
      Region Metropolitana de Santiago, Chile.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Propolis has long been used as a popular folk
      medicine due to its wide spectrum of alleged biological and pharmaceutical
      properties. In Chile, propolis is widely used by folklore medicine as an anti
      inflammatory agent; however, this property has not been demonstrated by
      scientific methods. AIM OF THE STUDY: The objective of this study was to
      determine the anti-inflammatory activity in vivo and in vitro and to establish
      the phenolic profile of propolis collected in two localities in Region
      Metropolitana de Santiago (RM), Chile. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Propolis was
      collected in the areas of Caleu and Buin, RM Chile. Following that, the samples
      were unwaxed to obtain the global ethanolic extracts of propolis (EEPs) and, from
      these, the serial extracts of dichloromethane (EEP-DCMs) and ethanol (EEP-EtOHs).
      The topic anti-inflammatory effect was evaluated through mice ear edema induced
      by arachidonic acid (AA) and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) at a dose
      of 3 mg/ear. Nitric oxide (NO) measurements were determined
      spectrophotometrically (Greiss reagent) by the accumulation of nitrite in the
      medium of macrophages RAW 264.7 stimulated with the lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 1
      MUg/mL) for 20 h at different concentrations of the EEPs, EEP-DCMs and EEP-EtOHs
      (6.25-50.00 MUg/mL). The content of total phenols and flavonoids were determined
      through the methods of Folin-Ciocalteau and AlCl3, respectively. The profile of
      phenolic compounds was determined by HPLC-UV-ESI-MS/MS. RESULTS: The EEP-EtOH
      (64%) and EEP (59%) of Buin were the most active in the inflammation induced by
      TPA and AA respectively, being the anti-inflammatory effect stronger than the
      same Caleu extracts. Regarding the release of NO, all the extracts from the Buin
      propolis inhibited significantly its release in a concentration-dependent manner,
      this inhibition was stronger than the extracts from Caleu propolis. CONCLUSIONS:
      Our research shows for the first time a comparative study of the topical in vivo
      activity of two Chilean propolis. Both propolis showed in vivo topical anti
      inflammatory activity against AA and TPA, the most active was Buin propolis and
      this difference is due in part to the variations in total phenols and flavonoids
      content and the phenolic profile. The phenols and flavonoids content of Buin
      propolis was higher than Caleu propolis. The extracts from Buin propolis result
      in a lower release of NO.

PMID- 25835371
TI  - Anti-platelet aggregation activities of different fractions in leaves of Apocynum
      venetum L.
AB  - Ethnopharmacological relevance Apocynum venetum: is widely used in Uygur and
      traditional Chinese medicine. Modern pharmaceutical studies have shown that
      leaves of A. venetum have effects of liver protection, antidepressant and
      regulation of blood pressure. However, it is unclear that which components have
      pharmacological activities. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim was to study chemical
      constituents of A. venetum and its anti-platelet aggregation activity. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Nephelometery was applied to evaluate anti-platelet aggregation
      activity of multi-components of A. venetum. Systematic separation components were
      characterized by HPLC analysis method, and in vitro screening active components
      by anti-platelet aggregation study. RESULTS: Ethyl acetate fraction (L-III) and L
      III-4 have better anti-platelet aggregation activity than other fractions. The
      results indicated that isoquercitrin, hyperoside and other flavonoids have anti
      platelet aggregation activity in A. venetum. CONCLUSION: Our studies provide
      basis on the endeavors of screening chemicals with that anti-platelet aggregation
      activity in leaves of A. venetum.

PMID- 25835372
TI  - Intramolecular Insertions into Unactivated C(sp3)-H Bonds by Oxidatively
      Generated beta-Diketone-alpha-Gold Carbenes: Synthesis of Cyclopentanones.
AB  - Generation of reactive alpha-oxo gold carbene intermediates via gold-catalyzed
      oxidation of alkynes has become an increasing versatile strategy of replacing
      hazardous diazo carbonyl compounds with benign and readily available alkynes in
      the development of efficient synthetic methods. However, one of the hallmarks of
      metal carbene/carbenoid chemistry, i.e., insertion into an unactivated C(sp(3))-H
      bond, has not be realized. This study reveals for the first time that this highly
      valuable transformation can be readily realized intramolecularly by oxidatively
      generated beta-diketone-alpha-gold carbenes using ynones as substrates. Substrate
      conformation control via the Thorpe-Ingold effect is the key design feature that
      enables generally good to excellent efficiencies, and synthetically versatile
      cyclopentanones including spiro-, bridged, and fused bicyclic ones can be readily
      accessed. 

PMID- 25835374
TI  - Volumetric modulated arc therapy for hippocampal-sparing radiotherapy in
      transformed low-grade glioma: A treatment planning case report.
AB  - Timing of radiotherapy for low-grade gliomas is still controversial due to
      concerns of possible adverse late effects. Prevention of possible late cognitive
      sequelae by hippocampal avoidance has shown promise in phase II trials. A patient
      with progressive low-grade glioma with gradual dedifferentiation into anaplastic
      astrocytoma is presented along with description of radiotherapy planning process
      attempting to spare the hippocampus. To our knowledge, this is the first
      described case using volumetric modulated arc technique to spare hippocampus
      during transformed low-grade glioma radiotherapy. Using modern intensity
      modulated radiotherapy systems it is possible to selectively spare hippocampus
      together with other standard organs at risk. For selected patients, an attempt to
      spare hippocampus can be considered as long as other dose characteristics are not
      significantly compromised compared to standard treatment plan created without any
      effort to avoid hippocampus. 

PMID- 25835375
TI  - Identification of traffic-related metals and the effects of different
      environments on their enrichment in roadside soils along the Qinghai-Tibet
      highway.
AB  - The road transportation could affect roadside soils environment detrimentally,
      including heavy metal enrichment. In order to identify and evaluate the
      enrichment of heavy metals resulted from road transportation on the Tibetan
      Plateau, the 11 heavy metals (V, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Rb, Pb and Tl) in
      the topsoil (0-10 cm depth) from four sites along the Qinghai-Tibet highway were
      discussed in this study. Our results indicate that heavy metals such as Cr, Cu,
      Zn, As, Cd and Pb are related to road transportation. The content of most of
      these heavy metals in roadside soils decreased exponentially with the distance
      from the road, as did some of the Nemero Synthesis Indexes (PN values). The
      contamination factor for the traffic-related metals ranged from 0.56 (no
      pollution) to 5.67 (considerable pollution) and the Nemero Synthesis Indexes of
      these heavy metals ranged from 0.80 (no pollution) to 4.49 (severe pollution). Cd
      was of priority concern as it had the highest contamination factor. The highest
      PN value for these traffic-related heavy metals was found in soils at site TTH
      (alpine steppe). Although transportation contributed to the high contents of
      these traffic-related metals in roadside environments, regional differences such
      as wind and the terrain also had significant relationship with their enrichment
      in these roadside soils. The roadside distance at which there is a potential risk
      to livestock and wildlife from the contamination of soils by heavy metals should
      be determined scientifically along the Qinghai-Tibet highway, based on the
      different natural environments found in the region. 

PMID- 25835376
TI  - Effects of water quality parameters on agglomeration and dissolution of copper
      oxide nanoparticles (CuO-NPs) using a central composite circumscribed design.
AB  - Once released into the aquatic environment, nanoparticles (NPs) are expected to
      interact (e.g., dissolve, agglomerate, settle), with important consequences for
      particle fate and toxicity. However, a clear understanding of how environmental
      factors influence the toxicity and fate of NPs in the environment is still in its
      infancy. In this study, a second order central composite circumscribed design
      (CCCD) was employed to systematically explore how different combinations of pH,
      hardness, and natural organic matter (NOM) in receiving water affect the
      hydrodynamic diameter, surface charge (zeta potential), and release of free
      Cu(2+) from CuO-NPs under a range of environmentally realistic conditions. The
      results clearly showed that all three CuO-NP properties varied markedly as
      functions of pH, hardness and dissolved NOM, confirming that agglomeration and
      the extent of release of free Cu(2+) largely depend on the surrounding
      environmental conditions. The response of hydrodynamic diameter, but not zeta
      potential, to water quality parameters was highly time dependent, showing very
      different patterns on day 2 and day 10. The approach used in this study can
      contribute to improving understanding of how, and to what extent, environmental
      factors affect the physicochemical properties of CuO-NPs once they enter aquatic
      environments. This understanding can help to predict the conditions under which
      CuO-NPs are likely to become problematic, which can inform management and
      mitigation actions. 

PMID- 25835377
TI  - DFT study and crystal structure analysis of a new nano-structure five coordinated
      Hg(II) complex involving C-H?O, N?O and pi?pi interactions in a supra-molecular
      structure.
AB  - In this research, template synthesis and crystal structure of a new HgLI2 complex
      are presented (L=N(1)-(4-nitrobenzylidene)-N(2)-(2-((E)-(4
      nitrobenzylidene)amino)ethyl)ethane-1,2-diamine). The mercury complex
      crystallizes in the triclinic system with space group of P1-. The crystal
      structure of the complex shows a distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry around
      the mercury(II) center; including two I and an N atoms of Schiff base ligand in
      equatorial plane and two iminic N atoms in axial positions. Two five membered
      mercury containing rings [Hg(-N-C-C-N-)] are found in the structure. Some C-H?O,
      N?O and pi?pi intermolecular interactions causes a supra-molecular network in the
      solid-state. In addition to crystal structure analysis, density functional theory
      (DFT) study at the B3LYP/LanL2DZ level of theory has been also performed on the
      structure. Thereafter some theoretical structural and spectral data were compared
      with experimental results. Furthermore, total energy levels of HOMO and LUMO
      orbitals, molecular electrostatic potential, Mullikan atomic charges,
      thermodynamic and polarizability properties of the complex were calculated.
      Finally the mercury complex was prepared in nano-structure size confirmed by SEM
      and XRD analyses. The particles size of the titled complex was evaluated under 40
      nm based on Sherrer's formula.

PMID- 25835378
TI  - A simple spectrophotometric method for the determination of trace levels of
      molybdenum using N,N'-bis(2-hydroxy-5-bromo-benzyl)1,2 diaminopropane.
AB  - The present work describes a selective, rapid and economical spectrophotometric
      method for the determination of molybdenum using N,N'-bis(2-hydroxy-5-bromo
      benzyl)1,2 diaminopropane. Molybdenum(VI) reacts with N,N'-bis(2-hydroxy-5-bromo
      benzyl)1,2 diaminopropane to form a stable 1:1 yellow complex with an absorption
      maximum at 342 nm. The reaction is completed within 10 min and the absorbance of
      the molybdenum complex remains stable for at least 1 week at room temperature.
      The effective molar absorption coefficient at 342 nm was 9.6 * 10(3)L mol(-1)cm(
      1). Under optimal conditions, the complex obeys Beer's law from 0 to 9.9 MUg mL(
      1). The relative standard deviation was 0.08% (for 11 samples, each containing 6
      MUg mL(-1) molybdenum). Under the optimum conditions, the detection limit
      (3sigma) was 17.7 MUg L(-1) for molybdenum without any preconcentration. The
      precision was determined from 30 results obtained for 4.80 MUg mL(-1) Mo(VI); the
      mean value of a molybdenum(VI) was 4.83 MUg ml(-1) with a standard derivation of
      0.002 MUg ml(-1) molybdenum(VI).

PMID- 25835380
TI  - Erratum.

PMID- 25835379
TI  - In situ investigation of the effect of TiF4 and CO2 laser irradiation on the
      permeability of eroded enamel.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Interest in erosion and its role in tooth wear has increased
      considerably. Due to the limited contribution of patients in modifying their
      dietary habits, therapeutic resources aiming to reduce the progression of erosion
      like lesions have been discussed. This study sought to evaluate the effect of
      TiF4 and CO2 laser in controlling the permeability of in situ eroded enamel.
      DESIGN: Ten volunteers wore an intraoral palatal device containing two enamel
      slabs, treated with TiF4 gel and TiF4 gel + CO2 or placebo gel and placebo gel +
      CO2. After the washout period, volunteers were crossed over to the other
      treatment. During both phases, specimens were submitted to erosive challenges and
      then evaluated for permeability measured as the percentage of copper ion
      penetration over the total enamel thickness. RESULTS: Two-way analysis of
      variance (ANOVA) revealed that there was a significant interaction between the
      factors under study (p = 0.0002). Tukey's test showed that TiF4 significantly
      reduced the enamel permeability of eroded enamel specimens, regardless of whether
      CO2 laser irradiation was performed. CONCLUSIONS: It may be concluded that when
      the placebo gel was applied, CO2 laser was able to reduce enamel permeability;
      however, when TiF4 was applied, laser irradiation did not imply a reduction in
      permeability. TiF4 provided a lower permeability of eroded enamel, regardless of
      whether the CO2 laser was used.

PMID- 25835381
TI  - Maternal risk factors associated with lead, mercury and cadmium levels in
      umbilical cord blood, breast milk and newborn hair.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd) are environmental pollutants
      that are wide spread throughout the world. The present study aimed to investigate
      the level of exposure to Pb, Hg and Cd during the prenatal period, and the
      possible routes of maternal exposure to these toxic heavy metals. PARTICIPANTS:
      The study included 123 mothers and their newborns. Umbilical cord blood samples
      were collected immediately after delivery, and breast milk and newborn hair
      samples were collected between postpartum d 3 and 10. RESULTS: Among the 121 cord
      blood samples that were analyzed, Pb was present in 120 (99.2%) and the mean
      level was 1.66 +/- 1.60 ug dL(-1) (range: <detection limit-12.50 ug dL(-1)),
      whereas Hg was noted in only 2 (1.7%) (15.74 and 33.20 ugL(-1)) and Cd was
      detected in 24 (19.8%) (range: < detection limit-6.71 ugL(-1)). The level of Pb
      in cord blood was >=2 ug dL(-1) in 29% of the samples. Pb, Hg and Cd were
      detectable in all the newborn hair samples. DISCUSSION: Among the 107 breast milk
      samples analyzed, 89 (83.2%) had a detectable level of Pb and the mean level was
      14.56 +/- 12.13 ugL(-1). Detection rate of Cd in breast milk was higher in women
      who resided near to city waste disposal site. Detection rate of Cd in cord blood
      was significantly higher in the women who consumed >=2 servings of fish weekly.
      Maternal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) resulted in elevated
      levels of Pb and Cd in newborn hair samples. CONCLUSION: Most of the study
      samples had detectable levels of Pb, Hg and Cd, indicating that there was long
      term maternal exposure prior to and during pregnancy, and a considerable number
      of the cord and breast milk samples had levels that exceeded the present accepted
      safety level.

PMID- 25835382
TI  - In situ changes of tropical crustose coralline algae along carbon dioxide
      gradients.
AB  - Crustose coralline algae (CCA) fulfill important ecosystem functions in coral
      reefs, including reef framework stabilization and induction of larval settlement.
      To investigate in situ the effects of high carbon dioxide on CCA communities, we
      deployed settlement tiles at three tropical volcanic CO2 seeps in Papua New
      Guinea along gradients spanning from 8.1 to 7.4 pH. After 5 and 13 months
      deployment, there was a steep transition from CCA presence to absence around pH
      7.8 (660 MUatm pCO2): 98% of tiles had CCA at pH > 7.8, whereas only 20% of tiles
      had CCA at pH <= 7.8. As pH declined from 8.0 to 7.8, the least and most
      sensitive CCA species lost 43% and 85% of cover, respectively. Communities on
      upward facing surfaces exposed to high light and high grazing pressure showed
      less steep losses than those on shaded surfaces with low grazing. Direct CO2
      effects on early life stages were the main mechanisms determining CCA cover,
      rather than competitive interactions with other benthic groups. Importantly,
      declines were steepest at near-ambient pH, suggesting that CCA may have already
      declined in abundance due to the recent seawater pH decline of 0.1 units, and
      that future severe losses are likely with increasing ocean acidification. 

PMID- 25835383
TI  - Increased autoimmune diabetes in pIgR-deficient NOD mice is due to a
      "Hitchhiking" interval that refines the genetic effect of Idd5.4.
AB  - Selective breeding to introduce a gene mutation from one mouse strain onto the
      genetic background of another strain invariably produces "hitchhiking" (i.e.
      flanking) genomic intervals, which may independently affect a disease trait of
      interest. To investigate a role for the polymeric Ig receptor in autoimmune
      diabetes, a congenic nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse strain was generated that
      harbors a Pigr null allele derived from C57BL/6 (B6) mice. These pIgR-deficient
      NOD mice exhibited increased serum IgA along with an increased diabetes
      incidence. However, the Pigr null allele was encompassed by a relatively large
      "hitchhiking" genomic interval that was derived from B6 mice and overlaps Idd5.4,
      a susceptibility locus for autoimmune diabetes. Additional congenic NOD mouse
      strains, harboring smaller B6-derived intervals, confirmed Idd5.4 independently
      of the other three known susceptibility loci on chromosome 1, and further
      localized Idd5.4 to an interval proximal to Pigr. Moreover, these congenic NOD
      mice showed that B6 mice harbor a more diabetogenic allele than NOD mice for this
      locus. The smallest B6-derived interval encompassing the Pigr null allele may,
      however, confer a small degree of protection against diabetes, but this
      protection appears to be dependent on the absence of the diabetogenic B6 allele
      for Idd5.4. This study provides another example of the potential hidden effects
      of "hitchhiking" genomic intervals and how such intervals can be used to localize
      disease susceptibility loci. 

PMID- 25835384
TI  - Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) and CPE-binding domain (c-CPE) for the
      detection and treatment of gynecologic cancers.
AB  - Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) is a three-domain polypeptide, which
      binds to Claudin-3 and Claudin-4 with high affinity. Because these receptors are
      highly differentially expressed in many human tumors, claudin-3 and claudin-4 may
      provide an efficient molecular tool to specifically identify and target
      biologically aggressive human cancer cells for CPE-specific binding and
      cytolysis. In this review we will discuss these surface proteins as targets for
      the detection and treatment of chemotherapy-resistant gynecologic malignancies
      overexpressing claudin-3 and -4 using CPE-based theranostic agents. We will also
      discuss the use of fluorescent c-CPE peptide in the operative setting for real
      time detection of micro-metastatic tumors during surgery and review the potential
      role of CPE in other medical applications.

PMID- 25835386
TI  - Bio-inspired wooden actuators for large scale applications.
AB  - Implementing programmable actuation into materials and structures is a major
      topic in the field of smart materials. In particular the bilayer principle has
      been employed to develop actuators that respond to various kinds of stimuli. A
      multitude of small scale applications down to micrometer size have been
      developed, but up-scaling remains challenging due to either limitations in
      mechanical stiffness of the material or in the manufacturing processes. Here, we
      demonstrate the actuation of wooden bilayers in response to changes in relative
      humidity, making use of the high material stiffness and a good machinability to
      reach large scale actuation and application. Amplitude and response time of the
      actuation were measured and can be predicted and controlled by adapting the
      geometry and the constitution of the bilayers. Field tests in full weathering
      conditions revealed long-term stability of the actuation. The potential of the
      concept is shown by a first demonstrator. With the sensor and actuator
      intrinsically incorporated in the wooden bilayers, the daily change in relative
      humidity is exploited for an autonomous and solar powered movement of a tracker
      for solar modules. 

PMID- 25835387
TI  - Cs(TaO2)3(SeO3)2 and Cs(TiOF)3(SeO3)2: structural and second harmonic generation
      changes induced by the different d(0)-TM coordination octahedra.
AB  - Two new cesium selenites containing TaO6 or TiO4F2 octahedra, namely,
      Cs(TaO2)3(SeO3)2 (1) and Cs(TiOF)3(SeO3)2 (2), have been prepared using standard
      high temperature solid-state method and hydrothermal reaction, respectively.
      Compound 1 crystallizes in P3m1 and features an unusual [(TaO2)3(SeO3)2](-)
      sandwich-like double layer in which two [Ta(1)O3(SeO3)](3-) layers are bridged by
      central Ta(2)O6 octahedra via corner-sharing, whereas Cs(TiOF)3(SeO3)2 with a
      polar space group P63mc features an interesting hexagonal tungsten oxide (HTO)
      layered topology and presents a strong second harmonic generation (SHG) of about
      5 * KDP (KH2PO4), which is much larger than those of A(VO2)3(QO3)2 (A = K, Tl,
      Rb, Cs, or NH4; Q = Se, Te) with a similar HTO layered structure.
      Cs(TiOF)3(SeO3)2 is also type-I phase matching. The SHG of above-mentioned HTO
      materials can be enhanced greatly with the replacement of VO6 octahedra by TiO4F2
      octahedra. Furthermore, thermal stabilities, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra,
      infrared spectra, relationship between crystal structure and SHG, and theoretical
      calculations were also reported. 

PMID- 25835385
TI  - Three valuable peptides from bee and wasp venoms for therapeutic and
      biotechnological use: melittin, apamin and mastoparan.
AB  - While knowledge of the composition and mode of action of bee and wasp venoms
      dates back 50 years, the therapeutic value of these toxins remains relatively
      unexploded. The properties of these venoms are now being studied with the aim to
      design and develop new therapeutic drugs. Far from evaluating the extensive
      number of monographs, journals and books related to bee and wasp venoms and the
      therapeutic effect of these toxins in numerous diseases, the following review
      focuses on the three most characterized peptides, namely melittin, apamin, and
      mastoparan. Here, we update information related to these compounds from the
      perspective of applied science and discuss their potential therapeutic and
      biotechnological applications in biomedicine.

PMID- 25835389
TI  - Erratum: In vitro and in vivo anti-schistosomal activity of the alkylphospholipid
      analog edelfosine.

PMID- 25835388
TI  - Chromosome replacement and deletion lead to clonal polymorphism of berry color in
      grapevine.
AB  - Clonal polymorphism mainly results from somatic mutations that occur naturally
      during plant growth. In grapevine, arrays of clones have been selected within
      varieties as a valuable source of diversity, among them clones showing berry
      color polymorphism. To identify mutations responsible for this color
      polymorphism, we studied a collection of 33 clones of Pinot noir, Pinot gris, and
      Pinot blanc. Haplotypes of the L2 cell layer of nine clones were resolved by
      genotyping self-progenies with molecular markers along a 10.07 Mb region of
      chromosome 2, including the color locus. We demonstrated that at least six
      haplotypes could account for the loss of anthocyanin biosynthesis. Four of them
      resulted from the replacement of sections of the 'colored' haplotype, sized from
      31 kb to 4.4 Mb, by the homologous sections of the 'white' haplotype mutated at
      the color locus. This transfer of information between the two homologous
      sequences resulted in the partial homozygosity of chromosome 2, associated in one
      case with a large deletion of 108 kb-long. Moreover, we showed that, in most
      cases, somatic mutations do not affect the whole plant; instead, they affect only
      one cell layer, leading to periclinal chimeras associating two genotypes.
      Analysis of bud sports of Pinot gris support the hypothesis that cell layer
      rearrangements in the chimera lead to the homogenization of the genotype in the
      whole plant. Our findings shed new light on the way molecular and cellular
      mechanisms shape the grapevine genotypes during vegetative propagation, and
      enable us to propose a scheme of evolutionary mechanism of the Pinot clones. 

PMID- 25835390
TI  - Early successional microhabitats allow the persistence of endangered plants in
      coastal sand dunes.
AB  - Many species are adapted to disturbance and occur within dynamic, mosaic
      landscapes that contain early and late successional microhabitats. Human
      modification of disturbance regimes alters the availability of microhabitats and
      may affect the viability of species in these ecosystems. Because restoring
      historical disturbance regimes is typically expensive and requires action at
      large spatial scales, such restoration projects must be justified by linking the
      persistence of species with successional microhabitats. Coastal sand dune
      ecosystems worldwide are characterized by their endemic biodiversity and frequent
      disturbance. Dune-stabilizing invasive plants alter successional dynamics and may
      threaten species in these ecosystems. We examined the distribution and population
      dynamics of two federally endangered plant species, the annual Layia carnosa and
      the perennial Lupinus tidestromii, within a dune ecosystem in northern
      California, USA. We parameterized a matrix population model for L. tidestromii
      and examined the magnitude by which the successional stage of the habitat (early
      or late) influenced population dynamics. Both species had higher frequencies and
      L. tidestromii had higher frequency of seedlings in early successional habitats.
      Lupinus tidestromii plants in early successional microhabitats had higher
      projected rates of population growth than those associated with stabilized, late
      successional habitats, due primarily to higher rates of recruitment in early
      successional microhabitats. These results support the idea that restoration of
      disturbance is critical in historically dynamic landscapes. Our results suggest
      that large-scale restorations are necessary to allow persistence of the endemic
      plant species that characterize these ecosystems. 

PMID- 25835391
TI  - Ternary Ag/epoxy adhesive with excellent overall performance.
AB  - Excellent electrical conductivity (EC) generally conflicts with high lap shear
      strength (LSS) for electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs) since EC increases
      while LSS decreases with increasing conductive filler content. In this work, the
      ECAs with the excellent overall performance are developed based on the ternary
      hybrid of Ag microflakes (Ag-MFs), Ag nanospheres (Ag-NSs), and Ag nanowires (Ag
      NWs). First, a low silver content adhesive system is determined. Then, the
      effects of the relative contents of Ag fillers on the EC and the LSS are studied.
      It is shown that a small amount of Ag-NSs or Ag-NWs can dramatically improve the
      EC for the Ag-MF/epoxy adhesives. The Ag-NSs and Ag-NWs with appropriate contents
      have a synergistic effect in improving the EC. Meanwhile, the LSS of the as
      prepared adhesive with the appropriate Ag contents reaches an optimal value. Both
      the EC and the LSS of the as-prepared ternary hybrid ECA with a low content of 40
      wt % Ag are higher than those of the commercial ECAs filled with the Ag-MF
      content over 60 wt %. Finally, the ternary hybrid ECA with the optimal
      formulation is shown to be promising for printing the radio frequency
      identification tag antennas as an immediate application example. 

PMID- 25835392
TI  - Hydrogen peroxide-inducible clone-5 regulates mesangial cell proliferation in
      proliferative glomerulonephritis in mice.
AB  - Hydrogen peroxide-inducible clone-5 (Hic-5) is a transforming growth factor (TGF)
      beta1-inducible focal adhesion protein. We previously demonstrated that Hic-5 was
      localized in mesangial cells and its expression was associated with glomerular
      cell proliferation and matrix expansion in human and rat glomerulonephritis (GN).
      In the present study, we first assessed the role of Hic-5 in
      mesangioproliferative GN by injecting Habu venom into heminephrectomized wild
      type (Hic-5+/+) and Hic-5-deficient (Hic-5-/-) mice. Hic-5+/+ GN mice exhibited
      glomerular cell proliferation on day 7. Surprisingly, glomerular cell number and
      Ki-67-positive cells in Hic-5-/- GN mice were significantly greater than those in
      Hic-5+/+ GN mice on day 7, although the number of glomerular apoptotic cells and
      the expression of growth factors (platelet-derived growth factor-BB and TGF
      beta1) and their receptors were similarly increased in both Hic-5+/+ and Hic-5-/-
      GN mice. In culture experiments, proliferation assays showed that platelet
      derived growth factor-BB and TGF-beta1 enhanced the proliferation of Hic-5-/-
      mesangial cells compared with Hic-5+/+ mesangial cells. In addition, mitogenic
      regulation by Hic-5 was associated with altered and coordinated expression of
      cell cycle-related proteins including cyclin D1 and p21. The present results
      suggest that Hic-5 might regulate mesangial cell proliferation in proliferative
      GN in mice. In conclusion, modulation of Hic-5 expression might have a potential
      to prevent mesangial cell proliferation in the acute mitogenic phase of
      glomerulonephritis. 

PMID- 25835393
TI  - Childhood- versus adolescent-onset antisocial youth with conduct disorder:
      psychiatric illness, neuropsychological and psychosocial function.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The present study investigates whether youths with childhood-onset
      antisocial behavior have higher rates of psychiatric illness, neuropsychological
      and psychosocial dysfunction than youths who engage in antisocial behavior for
      the first time in adolescence. Prior studies have generally focused on single
      domains of function in heterogeneous samples. The present study also examined the
      extent to which adolescent-onset antisocial behavior can be considered normative,
      an assumption of Moffitt's dual taxonomy model. METHOD: Forty-three subjects (34
      males, 9 females, mean age = 15.31, age range 12-21) with a diagnosis of conduct
      disorder (CD) were recruited through Headspace Services and the Juvenile Justice
      Community Centre. We compared childhood-onset antisocial youths (n = 23) with
      adolescent-onset antisocial youths (n = 20) with a conduct disorder, across a
      battery of psychiatric, neuropsychological and psychosocial measures.
      Neuropsychological function of both groups was also compared with normative
      scores from control samples. RESULTS: The childhood-onset group displayed
      deficits in verbal learning and memory, higher rates of psychosis, childhood
      maltreatment and more serious violent behavior, all effects associated with a
      large effect size. Both groups had impaired executive function, falling within
      the extremely low range (severely impaired). CONCLUSIONS: Childhood-onset CD
      displayed greater cognitive impairment, more psychiatric symptoms and committed
      more serious violent offences. The finding of severe executive impairment in both
      childhood- and adolescent-onset groupings challenges the assumption that
      adolescent-onset antisocial behavior is a normative process.

PMID- 25835395
TI  - Correction: Retinol improves in vitro differentiation of pre-pubertal mouse
      spermatogonial stem cells into sperm during the first wave of spermatogenesis.

PMID- 25835398
TI  - JNK2 Regulates Stress-Induced Mitophagy.

PMID- 25835394
TI  - Heme oxygenase-1 protects corexit 9500A-induced respiratory epithelial injury
      across species.
AB  - The effects of Corexit 9500A (CE) on respiratory epithelial surfaces of
      terrestrial mammals and marine animals are largely unknown. This study
      investigated the role of CE-induced heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a cytoprotective
      enzyme with anti-apoptotic and antioxidant activity, in human bronchial airway
      epithelium and the gills of exposed aquatic animals. We evaluated CE-mediated
      alterations in human airway epithelial cells, mice lungs and gills from zebrafish
      and blue crabs. Our results demonstrated that CE induced an increase in gill
      epithelial edema and human epithelial monolayer permeability, suggesting an acute
      injury caused by CE exposure. CE induced the expression of HO-1 as well as C
      reactive protein (CRP) and NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4), which are associated with ROS
      production. Importantly, CE induced caspase-3 activation and subsequent apoptosis
      of epithelial cells. The expression of the intercellular junctional proteins,
      such as tight junction proteins occludin, zonula occludens (ZO-1), ZO-2 and
      adherens junctional proteins E-cadherin and Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK), were
      remarkably inhibited by CE, suggesting that these proteins are involved in CE
      induced increased permeability and subsequent apoptosis. The cytoskeletal protein
      F-actin was also disrupted by CE. Treatment with carbon monoxide releasing
      molecule-2 (CORM-2) significantly inhibited CE-induced ROS production, while the
      addition of HO-1 inhibitor, significantly increased CE-induced ROS production and
      apoptosis, suggesting a protective role of HO-1 or its reaction product, CO, in
      CE-induced apoptosis. Using HO-1 knockout mice, we further demonstrated that HO-1
      protected against CE-induced inflammation and cellular apoptosis and corrected CE
      mediated inhibition of E-cadherin and FAK. These observations suggest that CE
      activates CRP and NOX4-mediated ROS production, alters permeability by inhibition
      of junctional proteins, and leads to caspase-3 dependent apoptosis of epithelial
      cells, while HO-1 and its reaction products protect against oxidative stress and
      apoptosis. 

PMID- 25835399
TI  - A targeted therapy-driven tumor secretome underlies drug resistance.

PMID- 25835401
TI  - Nivolumab approved for lung cancer.

PMID- 25835402
TI  - Mediated learning in the workplace: student perspectives on knowledge resources.
AB  - PURPOSE: In contemporary clinical practice, student radiographers can use many
      types of knowledge resources to support their learning. These include workplace
      experts, digital and nondigital information sources (eg, journals, textbooks, and
      the Internet), and electronic communication tools such as e-mail and social
      media. Despite the range of knowledge tools available, there is little available
      data about radiography students' use of these resources during clinical
      placement. METHODS: A 68-item questionnaire was distributed to 62 students
      enrolled in an Australian university undergraduate radiography program after they
      completed a clinical placement. Researchers used descriptive statistics to
      analyze student access to workplace experts and their use of digital and
      nondigital information sources and electronic communication tools. A 5-point
      Likert scale (1 = very important; 5 = not important) was used to assess the
      present importance and perceived future value of knowledge tools for workplace
      learning. RESULTS: Of the 53 students who completed and returned the
      questionnaire anonymously, most rely on the knowledge of practicing technologists
      and on print and electronic information sources to support their learning; some
      students also use electronic communication tools. Students perceive that these
      knowledge resources also will be important tools for their future learning as
      qualified health professionals. DISCUSSION: The findings from this study present
      baseline data regarding the value students attribute to multiple knowledge tools
      and regarding student access to and use of these tools during clinical placement.
      In addition, most students have access to multiple knowledge tools in the
      workplace and incorporate these tools simultaneously into their overall learning
      practice during clinical placement. CONCLUSION: Although a range of knowledge
      tools is used in the workplace to support learning among student radiographers,
      the quality of each tool should be critically analyzed before it is adopted in
      practice. Integrating practice-based learning with learning mediated by
      information sources provides a more complete paradigm of learning during clinical
      placement.

PMID- 25835403
TI  - A comparison of sequential and spiral scanning techniques in brain CT.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate and compare image quality and radiation dose of sequential
      computed tomography (CT) examinations of the brain and spiral CT examinations of
      the brain imaged on a GE HiSpeed NX/I Dual Slice 2CT scanner. METHODS: A random
      sample of 40 patients referred for CT examination of the brain was selected and
      divided into 2 groups. Half of the patients were scanned using the sequential
      technique; the other half were scanned using the spiral technique. Radiation dose
      data-both the computed tomography dose index (CTDI) and the dose length product
      (DLP)-were recorded on a checklist at the end of each examination. Using the
      European Guidelines on Quality Criteria for Computed Tomography, 4 radiologists
      conducted a visual grading analysis and rated the level of visibility of 6
      anatomical structures considered necessary to produce images of high quality.
      RESULTS: The mean CTDI(vol) and DLP values were statistically significantly
      higher (P <.05) with the sequential scans (CTDI(vol): 22.06 mGy; DLP: 304.60 mGy
      * cm) than with the spiral scans (CTDI(vol): 14.94 mGy; DLP: 229.10 mGy * cm).
      The mean image quality rating scores for all criteria of the sequential scanning
      technique were statistically significantly higher (P <.05) in the visual grading
      analysis than those of the spiral scanning technique. DISCUSSION: In this local
      study, the sequential technique was preferred over the spiral technique for both
      overall image quality and differentiation between gray and white matter in brain
      CT scans. Other similar studies counter this finding. CONCLUSION: The radiation
      dose seen with the sequential CT scanning technique was significantly higher than
      that seen with the spiral CT scanning technique. However, image quality with the
      sequential technique was statistically significantly superior (P <.05).

PMID- 25835404
TI  - Light beam diaphragm collimation errors and their effects on radiation dose for
      pelvic radiography.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the range of collimation errors in x-ray rooms and to
      calculate their possible effects on the radiation dose for anteroposterior pelvic
      examinations. METHODS: A collimator test tool was suspended at 3 heights (14, 21,
      and 28 cm) above the table Bucky in 9 x-ray rooms. Heights corresponded to the
      typical patient thickness (mean, +/- 2 SD) of 67 patients undergoing
      anteroposterior pelvic radiography. The x-ray beam was visually collimated to the
      inner boundary of the test tool and exposed to radiation. Differences between the
      visualized field size and the resultant x-ray field size (corrected for
      magnification) indicated a collimation error. Next, using a pelvic phantom,
      minimum textbook collimation was set and then changed and verified to simulate a
      range of possible collimation errors. Phantom examinations used a standard
      anteroposterior technique with exposure termination using outer automatic
      exposure control chambers. Dose area product (DAP) was recorded. RESULTS: All but
      1 of the 9 x-ray machines had a smaller irradiated area than was visually set.
      Errors ranged from a 16% reduction in irradiated field size to a slight
      overirradiation by 0.4%. Assuming that these errors could be larger in other
      institutions, additional errors with a range of -27% to 18% were simulated.
      Increases in field size by 1 cm (superiorly/inferiorly) increased the DAP by 5%.
      Laterally, a 1-cm increase caused a 4% rise in DAP. Increases of 1 cm in both
      planes raised DAP by 4%. DISCUSSION: Within a single clinical department, minimal
      collimation errors were demonstrated. Further evidence from multiple centers
      would be beneficial; however, such low incidences might reflect strict
      legislative requirements governing the use of ionizing radiation. Understanding
      the magnitude of any error is important, but it is also important to ascertain an
      error's influence on the effective radiation dose for any given examination.
      CONCLUSION: Overall, collimation errors were minimal and favored
      underirradiation. Small collimation errors can affect DAP and are more dose
      significant in the superior/inferior plane.

PMID- 25835405
TI  - Techniques, benefits, and challenges of PET-MR.
AB  - Positron emission tomography (PET) scans can now be acquired in unison with
      magnetic resonance (MR) scans as a single resource. This hybrid PET-MR solution
      combines the anatomic detail and functional data of MR scans with the biologic or
      physiological information offered by PET scans. This article describes aspects of
      implementing a PET-MR imaging program, including various technical and
      operational challenges, scheduling and workflow solutions, room construction and
      equipment, and finally clinical applications of this novel modality. The Directed
      Reading also discusses the possible future role of PET-MR in the clinical
      setting. 

PMID- 25835406
TI  - Acute respiratory distress syndrome.
AB  - Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a life-threatening condition with
      multiple causes and a high mortality rate. Approximately 150,000 cases are
      reported in the United States annually, making ARDS a public health concern.
      Management of the condition is complex because of its severity, and medical
      imaging is essential for both the diagnosis and management of ARDS. This article
      introduces common signs, symptoms, risk factors, and causes of ARDS. Diagnostic
      criteria, histopathology, treatment strategies, and prognostic information also
      are discussed. The article explains the value of medical imaging studies of ARDS,
      especially radiography, computed tomography, and ultrasonography.

PMID- 25835407
TI  - Signal equalization processing artifacts.

PMID- 25835408
TI  - Competency-based education: a brief overview.

PMID- 25835409
TI  - A generational assessment of volunteerism among radiation science professionals.

PMID- 25835410
TI  - Mammography training at home and abroad.

PMID- 25835411
TI  - A modified Danelius-Miller method solution.

PMID- 25835412
TI  - Writing for publication: enhancing your scientific writing skills.

PMID- 25835413
TI  - Positioning challenges.

PMID- 25835414
TI  - Bullies are common.

PMID- 25835416
TI  - The "lumpy" chest.

PMID- 25835415
TI  - Quo vadis: where are we going?

PMID- 25835417
TI  - Breast disorders in pregnant and lactating women.
AB  - The breast undergoes extensive changes during pregnancy and lactation that can
      create diagnostic challenges. This article reviews the anatomy of the breast,
      breast changes associated with pregnancy and lactation, and breast imaging
      techniques for pregnant and lactating women. Various benign breast conditions in
      this patient population also are discussed, such as lactating adenomas,
      galactoceles, and granulomatous mastitis. Finally, pregnancy-associated breast
      cancer is presented, including its epidemiology, diagnosis, staging, treatment,
      and prognosis. 

PMID- 25835418
TI  - Variants in Antiviral Genes are Risk Factors for Cognitive Decline and Dementia.
AB  - A gene association study of factors regulating antiviral response such as
      interferon (IFN)-lambda3, also known as IL-28B, mediator complex (Med) 23, and
      interferon regulatory factor (IRF) 7 with cognitive deterioration and Alzheimer's
      disease (AD) was performed. Differences in the TT genotype distribution of IL-28B
      single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) between AD patients and controls were found.
      The GG genotype of Med23 gene appeared to influence the progression of the
      disease, being more frequent in the APOE E4 negative elderly that developed AD
      during the five year follow-up. Leukocyte positivity for Epstein Barr virus (EBV)
      and human herpes virus (HHV)-6 DNA was analyzed. Med23 GG genotype correlated
      with the positivity to HHV-6 DNA. EBV and HHV-6 plasma IgG levels were also
      investigated and EBV IgG levels were increased in AD with the IRF7 GG genotype. A
      differential genetic background in genes regulating anti-virus responses was
      associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline and AD. EBV and HHV-6
      appeared to be risk factors for AD in genetically susceptible elderly.

PMID- 25835419
TI  - Altered Neural Activity during Semantic Object Memory Retrieval in Amnestic Mild
      Cognitive Impairment as Measured by Event-Related Potentials.
AB  - Deficits in semantic memory in individuals with amnestic mild cognitive
      impairment (aMCI) have been previously reported, but the underlying
      neurobiological mechanisms remain to be clarified. We examined event-related
      potentials (ERPs) associated with semantic memory retrieval in 16 individuals
      with aMCI as compared to 17 normal controls using the Semantic Object Retrieval
      Task (EEG SORT). In this task, subjects judged whether pairs of words (object
      features) elicited retrieval of an object (retrieval trials) or not (non
      retrieval trials). Behavioral findings revealed that aMCI subjects had lower
      accuracy scores and marginally longer reaction time compared to controls. We used
      a multivariate analytical technique (STAT-PCA) to investigate similarities and
      differences in ERPs between aMCI and control groups. STAT-PCA revealed a left
      fronto-temporal component starting at around 750 ms post-stimulus in both groups.
      However, unlike controls, aMCI subjects showed an increase in the frontal
      parietal scalp potential that distinguished retrieval from non-retrieval trials
      between 950 and 1050 ms post-stimulus negatively correlated with the performance
      on the logical memory subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale-III. Thus, individuals
      with aMCI were not only impaired in their behavioral performance on SORT relative
      to controls, but also displayed alteration in the corresponding ERPs. The altered
      neural activity in aMCI compared to controls suggests a more sustained and
      effortful search during object memory retrieval, which may be a potential marker
      indicating disease processes at the pre-dementia stage.

PMID- 25835420
TI  - Zinc and Copper in Alzheimer's Disease.
AB  - In a recent meta-analysis by Ventriglia and colleagues studying the association
      of zinc levels with Alzheimer's disease (AD), serum zinc has been found
      significantly decreased in AD patients compared with healthy controls. However,
      such a finding does not necessarily propose the causal role of low zinc in the
      pathophysiology of this neurodegenerative disease. On the basis of available
      evidence, free copper toxicosis may play a causal role in age-related AD, and
      zinc therapy can be a rational causal treatment. Nevertheless, a randomized
      controlled clinical trial testing a definite hypothesis is needed before
      conclusions can be drawn about the value of zinc supplements in the treatment of
      AD.

PMID- 25835421
TI  - The Synergistic Relationship between Alzheimer's Disease and Sleep Disorders: An
      Update.
AB  - Sleep disorders are frequently reported in Alzheimer's disease (AD), with a
      significant impact on patients and caregivers and a major risk factor for early
      institutionalization. Although changes in sleep organization are a hallmark of
      the normal aging processes, sleep macro- and micro-architectural alterations are
      more evident in patients affected by AD. Degeneration of neural pathways
      regulating sleep-wake patterns and sleep architecture may contribute to sleep
      alterations. In return, several recent studies suggested that common sleep
      disorders may precede clinical symptoms of dementia and represent risk factors
      for cognitive decline, through impairment of sleep-dependent memory consolidation
      processes. Thus, a close relationship between sleep disorders and AD has been
      largely hypothesized. Here, sleep alterations in AD and its pre-dementia stage,
      mild cognitive impairment, and their complex interactions are reviewed.

PMID- 25835422
TI  - False Positives, Outliers, and Other Considerations in Decisional Capacity
      Screening for Research Consent.

PMID- 25835423
TI  - Gender-Specific Differences in Cognitive Profiles of Patients with Alzheimer's
      Disease: Results of the Prospective Dementia Registry Austria (PRODEM-Austria).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common age-related
      diseases in the western world. Gender differences in neuropsychological functions
      are seldom evaluated in AD. OBJECTIVE: Recent investigations suggested that
      gender may be an important modifying factor in the development and progression of
      AD. We examined gender-specific differences in the pattern of cognitive
      dysfunction of patients with mild to moderate AD. METHODS: We examined 113 males
      (mean age 78) and 173 females (mean age 80) of the prospective registry on
      dementia in Austria (PRODEM). We analyzed differences in the cognitive profile
      between male and female AD patients on the CERAD-Plus test battery. RESULTS: We
      found gender-related differences in the neuropsychological domains of verbal
      learning; the women tended to perform worse than men. Controlling for depression,
      stage and duration of dementia, and the level of education, there was still a
      significant effect of gender on verbal episodic memory. CONCLUSION: There is an
      interaction between gender and cognitive function, most notable in verbal
      episodic memory; female patients in the early stage of AD performed worse on
      verbal episodic memory than men. This indicates that the gender-specificities of
      neuropsychological functions should be given careful consideration in clinical
      diagnosis of dementia.

PMID- 25835424
TI  - Metabolic Modifications in Human Biofluids Suggest the Involvement of
      Sphingolipid, Antioxidant, and Glutamate Metabolism in Alzheimer's Disease
      Pathogenesis.
AB  - Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative dementia, with the
      accumulation of extracellular amyloid-beta and formation of neurofibrillary tau
      tangles as leading explanations of pathology. With the difficulties of studying
      the brain directly, it is hoped that identifying the effect of AD on the
      metabolite composition of biofluids will provide insights into underlying
      mechanisms of pathology. The present review identified 705 distinct metabolite
      reports representing 448 structurally distinct metabolites in six human
      biofluids, with 147 metabolites increased and 214 metabolites decreased with AD,
      while 80 metabolites showed inconsistent shifts. Sphingolipid, antioxidant, and
      glutamate metabolism were found to be strongly associated with AD and were
      selected for detailed investigation of their role in pathogenesis. In plasma, two
      ceramides increased and eight sphingomyelins decreased with AD, with total
      ceramides shown to increase in both serum and cerebrospinal fluid. In general
      antioxidants were shown to be depleted, with oxidative stress markers elevated in
      a range of biofluids in patients suggesting AD produces a pro-oxidative
      environment. Shifts in glutamate and glutamine and elevation of 4-hydroxy-2
      nonenal suggests peroxidation of the astrocyte lipid bilayer resulting in reduced
      glutamate clearance from the synaptic cleft, suggesting a excitotoxicity
      component to AD pathology; however, due to inconsistencies in literature reports,
      reliable interpretation is difficult. The present review has shown that
      metabolite shifts in biofluids can provide valuable insights into potential
      pathological mechanisms in the brain, with sphingolipid, antioxidant, and
      glutamate metabolism being implicated in AD pathology. 

PMID- 25835425
TI  - Genetics of Vascular Dementia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common type of dementia.
      So far, little is known about the contribution of genetic polymorphisms to the
      risk of VaD. Many candidate genetic polymorphisms have been examined in a large
      number of studies. However, due to the conflicting results, the genetics of VaD
      is still behind the shadow. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis
      on associations between genetic polymorphisms of any gene and VaD to investigate
      the genetics of VaD. METHOD: We sought the published studies of associations
      between any genetic polymorphism and VaD and critically appraised them. We
      assessed the effects of genetic models by calculating pooled odds ratios (ORs),
      investigating the origin of heterogeneity by subgroup analysis, and testing the
      robustness by random effect model and sensitivity analysis. RESULTS: 69 studies
      with 4,462 cases and 11,583 controls were included. We identified APOE E2/E3/E4
      and additional four genetic polymorphisms including MTHFR C677T, PON1 L55M, TGF
      beta1 +29C/T, and TNF-alpha -850C/T associated with VaD. Tested by random effect
      model and sensitivity analysis, the pooled results show nice robustness.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our comprehensive meta-analysis highlighted the genetic contribution
      to sporadic VaD. Because of the small amount of data on associations between
      genetic polymorphisms, except for APOE, and VaD, more studies are needed to test
      the existing genetic polymorphisms and detect other related genetic variants.

PMID- 25835426
TI  - Characterizing Sexual Behavior in Frontotemporal Dementia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is characterized by a number of
      prominent behavioral changes. While FTD has been associated with the presence of
      aberrant or unusual sexual behaviors in a proportion of patients, few studies
      have formally investigated changes in sexual function in this disease. OBJECTIVE:
      We aimed to systematically quantify changes in sexual behavior, including current
      symptoms and changes from prior diagnoses, in behavioral-variant (bvFTD) and
      semantic dementia (SD), compared to Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: Carers of
      49 dementia patients (21 bvFTD, 11 SD, 17 AD) were interviewed using the Sexual
      Behavior and Intimacy Questionnaire (SIQ), a survey designed to assess changes in
      sexual function across multiple domains including initiating, level of affection,
      and aberrant or unusual sexual behavior. RESULTS: BvFTD patients show prominent
      hyposexual behavior including decreased affection, initiation, and response to
      advances by partners, and decreased frequency of sexual relations, compared to AD
      and to SD patients. The greatest changes in sexual behavior compared to pre
      diagnoses were found in the bvFTD group with a 90-100% decrease in initiation,
      response, and frequency of sexual relations. Notably, aberrant or unusual sexual
      behavior was reported in a minority of bvFTD and SD patients and occurred in
      patients who also showed hyposexual behavior toward their partner. CONCLUSION:
      Overall loss of affection, reduced initiation of sexual activity, and
      responsiveness is an overwhelming feature of bvFTD. In contrast, aberrant or
      unusual sexual behavior is observed in the minority of bvFTD patients. The
      underlying pathophysiology of these changes likely reflects structural and
      functional changes in frontoinsular and limbic regions including the
      hypothalamus.

PMID- 25835427
TI  - Effects of Aerobic Training on Cognition and Brain Glucose Metabolism in Subjects
      with Mild Cognitive Impairment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Aerobic training (AT) is a promising intervention for mild cognitive
      impairment (MCI). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of AT on cognition and
      regional brain glucose metabolism (rBGM) in MCI patients. METHODS: Subjects
      performed a twice-a-week, moderate intensity, AT program for 24 weeks. Assessment
      with ADAS-cog, a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, and evaluation of rBGM
      with positron emission tomography with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F]FDG-PET) were
      performed before and after the intervention. Aerobic capacity was compared using
      the maximal oxygen consumption VO2max (mL/Kg/min). [18F]FDG-PET data were
      analyzed on a voxel-by-voxel basis with SPM8 software. RESULTS: Forty subjects
      were included, with a mean (M) age of 70.3 (5.4) years and an initial Mini-Mental
      State Exam score of 27.4 (1.7). Comparisons using paired t-tests revealed
      improvements in the ADAS-cog (M difference: -2.7 (3.7), p <  0.001) and VO2max
      scores (M difference: 1.8 (2.0) mL/kg/min, p <  0.001). Brain metabolic analysis
      revealed a bilateral decrease in the rBGM of the dorsal anterior cingulate
      cortex, pFWE = 0.04. This rBGM decrease was negatively correlated with
      improvement in a visuospatial function/attentional test (rho =-0.31, p = 0.04).
      Several other brain areas also showed increases or decreases in rBGM. Of note,
      there was an increase in the retrosplenial cortex, an important node of the
      default mode network, that was negatively correlated with the metabolic decrease
      in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (r =-0.51, p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: AT
      improved cognition and changed rBGM in areas related to cognition in subjects
      with MCI.

PMID- 25835430
TI  - The MS4A family: counting past 1, 2 and 3.
AB  - The MS4A (membrane-spanning 4-domain family, subfamily A) family of proteins
      contains some well-known members including MS4A1 (CD20), MS4A2 (FcERIbeta) and
      MS4A3 (HTm4). These three MS4A family members are expressed on the cell surface
      of specific leukocyte subsets and have been well characterized as having key
      roles in regulating cell activation, growth and development. However, beyond
      MS4A1-3 there are a large number of related molecules (18 to date in humans)
      where our understanding of their biological roles is at a relatively nascent
      stage. This review examines the larger MS4A family focusing on their structure,
      expression, regulation and characterized and/or emerging biological roles. Our
      own work on one family member MS4A8B, and its possible role in epithelial cell
      regulation, is also highlighted.

PMID- 25835431
TI  - Introduction of a community water supply in rural western Kenya: impact on
      community wellbeing and child health.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine water availability and community health
      before and after tube wells were introduced in a rural western Kenyan community.
      Differences in impact among income quintile groups were quantified, and users'
      perceptions of their water supply measured. METHODS: We conducted a two-part pre-
      (2009) and post-intervention (2011), cross-sectional study using structured
      questionnaires for mothers. RESULTS: In total, 1391 (576 in 2009 and 815 in 2011)
      mothers participated. Well introduction changed the households' drinking-water
      source from river to ground water. The median distance to the water source was
      reduced by 40% (500 to 300 metres) and median collection time was reduced by 50%
      (30 to 15 minutes). Water consumption per household increased by approximately
      20% (from 82.6 to 99.0 L) and drinking of untreated water decreased by
      approximately 10%. Regression analyses revealed mothers with higher monthly
      incomes had the highest satisfaction levels (beta=0.167, p<0.001). Positive
      impacts were strongest among wealthier groups. CONCLUSIONS: The small-scale
      community water supply dramatically affected user hygiene behaviours and daily
      life. Water supply access improved from 'no access' to 'basic access'. Household
      connections to a water supply and hygiene education are important steps to
      enhance community health.

PMID- 25835432
TI  - Adjunctive corticosteroids for Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia in patients with
      HIV infection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PCP) remains the most common
      opportunistic infection in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency
      virus (HIV). Among patients with HIV infection and PCP the mortality rate is 10%
      to 20% during the initial infection and this increases substantially with the
      need for mechanical ventilation. It has been suggested that corticosteroids
      adjunctive to standard treatment for PCP could prevent the need for mechanical
      ventilation and decrease mortality in these patients. OBJECTIVES: To assess the
      effects of adjunctive corticosteroids on overall mortality and the need for
      mechanical ventilation in HIV-infected patients with PCP and substantial
      hypoxaemia (arterial oxygen partial pressure < 70 mmHg or alveolar-arterial
      gradient > 35 mmHg on room air). SEARCH METHODS: For the original review we
      searched The Cochrane Library (2004, Issue 4), MEDLINE (January 1980 to December
      2004) and EMBASE (January 1985 to December 2004) without language restrictions.
      We further reviewed the reference lists from previously published overviews,
      searched UptoDate version 2005 and Clinical Evidence Concise (Issue 12, 2004),
      contacted experts in the field and searched the reference lists of identified
      publications for citations of additional relevant articles.In this update of our
      review, we searched the above-mentioned databases in September 2010 and April
      2014 for trials published since our original review. We also searched for ongoing
      trials in ClinicalTrials.gov and the World Health Organization International
      Clinical Trial Registry Platform (ICTRP). We searched for conference abstracts
      via AEGIS. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials that compared
      corticosteroids to placebo or usual care in HIV-infected patients with PCP in
      addition to baseline treatment with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, pentamidine or
      dapsone-trimethoprim, and reported mortality data. We excluded trials in patients
      with no or mild hypoxaemia (arterial oxygen partial pressure > 70 mmHg or an
      alveolar-arterial gradient < 35 mmHg on room air) and trials with a follow-up of
      less than 30 days. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two teams of review authors
      independently evaluated the methodology and extracted data from each primary
      study. We pooled treatment effects across studies and calculated a weighted
      average risk ratio of overall mortality in the treatment and control groups using
      a random-effects model.In this update of our review, we used the GRADE
      methodology to assess evidence quality. MAIN RESULTS: Of 2029 screened records,
      we included seven studies in the review and six in the meta-analysis. Risk of
      bias varied: the randomisation and allocation process was often not clearly
      described, five of seven studies were double-blind and there was almost no
      missing data. The quality of the evidence for mortality was high. Risk ratios for
      overall mortality for adjunctive corticosteroids were 0.56 (95% confidence
      interval (CI) 0.32 to 0.98) at one month and 0.59 (95% CI 0.41 to 0.85) at three
      to four months of follow-up. In adults, to prevent one death, numbers needed to
      treat are nine patients in a setting without highly active antiretroviral therapy
      (HAART) available, and 23 patients with HAART available. The three largest trials
      provided moderate quality data on the need for mechanical ventilation, with a
      risk ratio of 0.38 (95% CI 0.20 to 0.73) in favour of adjunctive corticosteroids.
      One study was conducted in infants, suggesting a risk ratio for death in hospital
      of 0.81 (95% CI 0.51 to 1.29; moderate quality evidence). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS:
      The number and size of trials investigating adjunctive corticosteroids for HIV
      infected patients with PCP is small, but the evidence from this review suggests a
      beneficial effect for adult patients with substantial hypoxaemia. There is
      insufficient evidence on the effect of adjunctive corticosteroids on survival in
      infants.

PMID- 25835433
TI  - Antiviral treatment of influenza in South Korea.
AB  - Antiviral therapy has an important role in the treatment and chemoprophylaxis of
      influenza. At present, two classes of antiviral agents, adamantanes and
      neuraminidase inhibitors, are available for the treatment and chemoprophylaxis of
      influenza in Korea. Because of the widespread resistance against adamantanes,
      neuraminidase inhibitors are mainly used. Because each country has a unique
      epidemiology of influenza, the proper use of antiviral agents should be
      determined based on local data. Decisions on the clinical practice in the
      treatment of influenza in South Korea are guided by the local surveillance data,
      practice guidelines, health insurance system and the resistance patterns of the
      circulating influenza viruses. This review highlights the role of antiviral
      agents in the treatment and outcome of influenza in Korea by providing
      comprehensive information of their clinical usage in Korea. 

PMID- 25835434
TI  - In vivo biocompatibility of boron nitride nanotubes: effects on stem cell biology
      and tissue regeneration in planarians.
AB  - AIM: Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) represent an extremely interesting class of
      nanomaterials, and recent findings have suggested a number of applications in the
      biomedical field. Anyhow, extensive biocompatibility investigations are mandatory
      before any further advancement toward preclinical testing. MATERIALS & METHODS:
      Here, we report on the effects of multiwalled BNNTs in freshwater planarians, one
      of the best-characterized in vivo models for developmental biology and
      regeneration research. RESULTS & DISCUSSION: Obtained results indicate that BNNTs
      are biocompatible in the investigated model, since they do not induce oxidative
      DNA damage and apoptosis, and do not show adverse effects on planarian stem cell
      biology and on de novo tissue regeneration. In summary, collected findings
      represent another important step toward BNNT realistic applications in
      nanomedicine.

PMID- 25835435
TI  - Medication adherence in people dually treated for HIV infection and mental health
      conditions: test of the medications beliefs framework.
AB  - Beliefs about medication necessity and concerns predict treatment adherence in
      people with a wide-array of medical conditions, including HIV infection. However,
      medication beliefs have not been examined in people dually treated with
      psychotropic medications and antiretroviral therapy. In the current study, we
      used a prospective design to investigate the factors associated with adherence to
      psychotropic medications and antiretrovirals among 123 dually treated persons
      living with HIV. We used unannounced phone-based pill counts to monitor adherence
      to psychiatric and antiretroviral medications over a 6-week period. Hierarchical
      regression models included demographic, health and psychosocial characteristics
      as predictors of adherence followed by medication necessity and concerns beliefs.
      Results showed that medication necessity beliefs predicted both antiretroviral
      and psychiatric medication adherence over and above established predictors of
      adherence. Medication concerns also predicted psychotropic adherence, but not
      antiretroviral adherence. These models accounted for 31 and 22 % of the variance
      in antiretroviral and psychotropic adherence, respectively. Findings suggest that
      the necessity-concerns medication beliefs framework has utility in understanding
      adherence to multiple medications and addressing these beliefs should be
      integrated into adherence interventions.

PMID- 25835437
TI  - Stability analysis of neutral type neural networks with mixed time-varying delays
      using triple-integral and delay-partitioning methods.
AB  - This paper investigates the asymptotical stability problem for a class of neutral
      type neural networks with mixed time-varying delays. The system not only has time
      varying discrete delay, but also distributed delay, which has never been
      discussed in the previous literature. Firstly, improved stability criteria are
      derived by employing the more general delay partitioning approach and
      generalizing the famous Jensen inequality. Secondly, by constructing a newly
      augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals, some less conservative stability
      criteria are established in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Finally,
      four numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness and the
      advantage of the proposed main results. 

PMID- 25835436
TI  - The role of inflammatory markers in explaining the association between depression
      and cardiovascular hospitalisations.
AB  - This study investigated whether inflammation may explain the relationship between
      depression and incident cardiovascular hospitalisations. Participants (55-85
      years) completed baseline depression and physical assessment. Those without self
      reported cardiovascular events were followed prospectively for hospital
      admissions for angina, myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction (median 937
      days). Across 5140 person-years of risk (N = 1692), there were 47 incident
      cardiovascular hospitalisations (2.8 %). Controlling for age and gender,
      interleukin (IL)-6, C-reactive protein (CRP), body mass index (BMI) and waist-to
      hip ratio were associated with future cardiovascular events. Mediation analysis
      showed that CRP accounted for 8.1 % and IL-6 10.9 % of the effect of depression
      on cardiovascular events, and including the indirect effect in the model
      substantially reduced the direct relationship between depression and
      cardiovascular hospitalisations. BMI and waist-to-hip ratio accounted for
      indirect effects of 7.7 and 10.4 %, respectively. Inflammatory markers partly
      explain the association between depression and cardiovascular events, although
      other shared factors also likely contribute.

PMID- 25835438
TI  - Impact of statins on serial coronary calcification during atheroma progression
      and regression.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Statins can regress coronary atheroma and lower clinical events.
      Although pre-clinical studies suggest procalcific effects of statins in vitro, it
      remains unclear if statins can modulate coronary atheroma calcification in vivo.
      OBJECTIVES: This study compared changes in coronary atheroma volume and calcium
      indices (CaI) in patients receiving high-intensity statin therapy (HIST), low
      intensity statin therapy (LIST), and no-statin therapy. METHODS: In a post-hoc
      patient-level analysis of 8 prospective randomized trials using serial coronary
      intravascular ultrasound, serial changes in coronary percent atheroma volume
      (PAV) and CaI were measured across matched coronary segments in patients with
      coronary artery disease. RESULTS: Following propensity-weighted adjustment for
      differences in baseline and changes in clinical, laboratory, and ultrasonic
      characteristics, HIST (n = 1,545) associated with PAV regression from baseline (
      0.6 +/- 0.1%; p < 0.001), whereas both LIST (n = 1,726) and no-statin therapy (n
      = 224) associated with PAV progression (+0.8 +/- 0.1% and +1.0 +/- 0.1%; p <
      0.001, respectively; p < 0.001 for both HIST vs. LIST and HIST vs. no-statin; p =
      0.35 for LIST vs. no-statin). Significant increases in CaI from baseline were
      noted across all groups (median [interquartile range] HIST, +0.044 [0.0-0.12];
      LIST, +0.038 [0.0-0.11]; no-statin, +0.020 [0.0-0.10]; p < 0.001 for all), which
      could relate to statin intensity (p = 0.03 for LIST vs. no-statin; p = 0.007 for
      HIST vs. no-statin; p = 0.18 for HIST vs. LIST). No correlations were found
      between changes in CaI and on-treatment levels of atherogenic and antiatherogenic
      lipoproteins, and C-reactive protein, in either of the HIST groups or the no
      statin group. CONCLUSIONS: Independent of their plaque-regressive effects,
      statins promote coronary atheroma calcification. These findings provide insight
      as to how statins may stabilize plaque beyond their effects on plaque regression.

PMID- 25835439
TI  - The never-ending story on coronary calcium: is it predictive, punitive, or
      protective?

PMID- 25835441
TI  - Lipid biomarkers and cardiovascular risk: which path to take at the fork in the
      road?

PMID- 25835440
TI  - Relationship of oxidized phospholipids on apolipoprotein B-100 to cardiovascular
      outcomes in patients treated with intensive versus moderate atorvastatin therapy:
      the TNT trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oxidized phospholipids on apolipoprotein B-100 (OxPL-apoB) is a
      biomarker of increased risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in
      community cohorts, but its role in patients with stable coronary heart disease
      (CHD) is unknown. OBJECTIVES: This study sought to examine the relationship
      between these oxidative biomarkers and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with
      established CHD. METHODS: In a random sample from the TNT (Treating to New
      Targets) trial, OxPL-apoB levels were measured in 1,503 patients at randomization
      (after an 8-week run-in period taking atorvastatin 10 mg) and 1 year after being
      randomized to atorvastatin 10 or 80 mg. We examined the association between
      baseline levels of OxPL-apoB and MACE, defined as death from CHD, nonfatal
      myocardial infarction, resuscitation after cardiac arrest, and fatal/nonfatal
      stroke, as well as the effect of statin therapy on OxPL-apoB levels and MACE.
      RESULTS: Patients with events (n = 156) had higher randomization levels of OxPL
      apoB than those without events (p = 0.025). For the overall cohort, randomization
      levels of OxPL-apoB predicted subsequent MACE (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.21; 95%
      confidence interval: 1.04 to 1.41; p = 0.018) per doubling and tertile 3 versus
      tertile 1 (hazard ratio: 1.69; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.14 to 2.49; p =
      0.01) after multivariate adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, among others,
      and treatment assignment. In the atorvastatin 10-mg group, tertile 3 was
      associated with a higher risk of MACE compared to the first tertile (HR: 2.08;
      95% CI: 1.20 to 3.61; p = 0.01) but this was not significant in the atorvastatin
      80-mg group (HR: 1.40; 95% CI: 0.80 to 2.46; p = 0.24). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated
      OxPL-apoB levels predict secondary MACE in patients with stable CHD, a risk that
      is mitigated by atorvastatin 80 mg. (A Study to Determine the Degree of
      Additional Reduction in CV Risk in Lowering LDL Below Minimum Target Levels
      [TNT]; NCT00327691).

PMID- 25835442
TI  - The optimal duration of dual antiplatelet therapy after drug-eluting stent
      implantation: chasing a mirage.

PMID- 25835443
TI  - 12-month blood pressure results of catheter-based renal artery denervation for
      resistant hypertension: the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Results of the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 (Renal Denervation in Patients With
      Uncontrolled Hypertension) trial confirmed the safety but not the efficacy of
      renal denervation for treatment-resistant hypertension at 6 months post
      procedure. OBJECTIVES: This study sought to analyze the 12-month SYMPLICITY HTN-3
      results for the original denervation group, the sham subjects who underwent
      denervation after the 6-month endpoint (crossover group), and the sham subjects
      who did not undergo denervation after 6 months (non-crossover group). METHODS:
      Eligible subjects were randomized 2:1 to denervation or sham procedure. Subjects
      were unblinded to their treatment group after the 6-month primary endpoint was
      ascertained; subjects in the sham group meeting eligibility requirements could
      undergo denervation. Change in blood pressure (BP) at 12 months post
      randomization (6 months for crossover subjects) was analyzed. RESULTS: The 12
      month follow-up was available for 319 of 361 denervation subjects and 48 of 101
      non-crossover subjects; 6-month denervation follow-up was available for 93 of 101
      crossover subjects. In denervation subjects, the 12-month office systolic BP
      (SBP) change was greater than that observed at 6 months (-15.5 +/- 24.1 mm Hg vs.
      -18.9 +/- 25.4 mm Hg, respectively; p = 0.025), but the 24-h SBP change was not
      significantly different at 12 months (p = 0.229). The non-crossover group office
      SBP decreased by -32.9 +/- 28.1 mm Hg at 6 months, but this response regressed to
      -21.4 +/- 19.9 mm Hg (p = 0.01) at 12 months, increasing to 11.5 +/- 29.8 mm Hg.
      CONCLUSIONS: These data support no further reduction in office or ambulatory BP
      after 1-year follow-up. Loss of BP reduction in the non-crossover group may
      reflect decreased medication adherence or other related factors. (Renal
      Denervation in Patients With Uncontrolled Hypertension [SYMPLICITY HTN-3];
      NCT01418261).

PMID- 25835444
TI  - The setback of renal denervation should not backfire on sympathetic overactivity
      in hypertension.

PMID- 25835446
TI  - Heritable thoracic aortic aneurysm disease: recognizing phenotypes, exploring
      genotypes.

PMID- 25835445
TI  - Mutations in a TGF-beta ligand, TGFB3, cause syndromic aortic aneurysms and
      dissections.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Aneurysms affecting the aorta are a common condition associated with
      high mortality as a result of aortic dissection or rupture. Investigations of the
      pathogenic mechanisms involved in syndromic types of thoracic aortic aneurysms,
      such as Marfan and Loeys-Dietz syndromes, have revealed an important contribution
      of disturbed transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta signaling. OBJECTIVES: This
      study sought to discover a novel gene causing syndromic aortic aneurysms in order
      to unravel the underlying pathogenesis. METHODS: We combined genome-wide linkage
      analysis, exome sequencing, and candidate gene Sanger sequencing in a total of
      470 index cases with thoracic aortic aneurysms. Extensive cardiological
      examination, including physical examination, electrocardiography, and
      transthoracic echocardiography was performed. In adults, imaging of the entire
      aorta using computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging was done. RESULTS:
      Here, we report on 43 patients from 11 families with syndromic presentations of
      aortic aneurysms caused by TGFB3 mutations. We demonstrate that TGFB3 mutations
      are associated with significant cardiovascular involvement, including
      thoracic/abdominal aortic aneurysm and dissection, and mitral valve disease.
      Other systemic features overlap clinically with Loeys-Dietz, Shprintzen-Goldberg,
      and Marfan syndromes, including cleft palate, bifid uvula, skeletal overgrowth,
      cervical spine instability and clubfoot deformity. In line with previous
      observations in aortic wall tissues of patients with mutations in effectors of
      TGF-beta signaling (TGFBR1/2, SMAD3, and TGFB2), we confirm a paradoxical up
      regulation of both canonical and noncanonical TGF-beta signaling in association
      with up-regulation of the expression of TGF-beta ligands. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      findings emphasize the broad clinical variability associated with TGFB3 mutations
      and highlight the importance of early recognition of the disease because of high
      cardiovascular risk.

PMID- 25835447
TI  - Practical management of anticoagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation.
AB  - Anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation has become more complex due to the
      introduction of new anticoagulant agents, the number and kinds of patients
      requiring therapy, and the interactions of those patients in the matrix of care.
      The management of anticoagulation has become a "team sport" involving multiple
      specialties in multiple sites of care. The American College of Cardiology,
      through the College's Anticoagulation Initiative, convened a roundtable of
      experts from multiple specialties to discuss topics important to the management
      of patients requiring anticoagulation and to make expert recommendations on
      issues such as the initiation and interruption of anticoagulation, quality of
      anticoagulation care, management of major and minor bleeding, and treatment of
      special populations. The attendees continued to work toward consensus on these
      topics, and present the key findings of this roundtable in a state-of- the-art
      review focusing on the practical aspects of anticoagulation care for the patient
      with atrial fibrillation. 

PMID- 25835448
TI  - Clinician-patient risk discussion for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease
      prevention: importance to implementation of the 2013 ACC/AHA Guidelines.
AB  - Successful implementation of the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American
      Heart Association cholesterol guidelines hinges on a clear understanding of the
      clinician-patient risk discussion (CPRD). This is a dialogue between the
      clinician and patient about potential for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease
      risk reduction benefits, adverse effects, drug-drug interactions, and patient
      preferences. Designed especially for primary prevention patients, this process of
      shared decision making establishes the appropriateness of a statin for a specific
      patient. CPRD respects the autonomy of an individual striving to make an informed
      choice aligned with personal values and preferences. Dedicating sufficient time
      to high-quality CPRD offers an opportunity to strengthen clinician-patient
      relationships, patient engagement, and medication adherence. We review the
      guideline-recommended CPRD, the general concept of shared decision making and
      decision aids, the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Risk
      Estimator application as an implementation tool, and address potential barriers
      to implementation. 

PMID- 25835449
TI  - The American College of Cardiology Board of Governors: an idea incubator and
      instrument for action.

PMID- 25835450
TI  - Global cardiovascular research training for implementation science, health
      systems research, and health policy research.

PMID- 25835451
TI  - The art of presentation: a valuable skill in a contemporary era.

PMID- 25835452
TI  - Global survey of esophageal and gastric injury in atrial fibrillation ablation:
      incidence, time to presentation, and outcomes.

PMID- 25835453
TI  - Blunted cardiomyocyte remodeling response in exercise-resistant rats.

PMID- 25835454
TI  - Cardiovascular function and exercise capacity in patients with colorectal cancer:
      does anticancer therapy matter?

PMID- 25835455
TI  - Reply: Cardiovascular function and exercise capacity in patients with colorectal
      cancer: does anticancer therapy matter?

PMID- 25835456
TI  - The importance of the cardiac cycle in the imaging criteria for left ventricular
      noncompaction.

PMID- 25835457
TI  - Reply: The importance of cardiac cycle in the imaging criteria for left
      ventricular noncompaction.

PMID- 25835458
TI  - What can a brief narrative exercise reveal about medical students' development as
      patient-centered physicians and their attitudes toward patients with mental
      illness?

PMID- 25835460
TI  - Diffusion tensor imaging change in crus cerebri in striatocapsular infarction and
      correlation with upper extremity motor dysfunction.
AB  - PURPOSE: There is limited information about the secondary changes in the
      pyramidal tract after some specific types of deep brain infarction including
      striatocapsular infarction. The aims of the current study were to investigate
      diffusion changes in the crus cerebri in patients with striatocapsular infarction
      using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and analyze the relationship between such
      changes and upper extremity motor dysfunction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifteen
      patients with acute onset of striatocapsular infarction and unilateral upper
      extremity motor dysfunction for the first time were studied prospectively. DTI
      was performed 2 weeks after disease onset, fractional anisotropy and mean
      diffusivity values of the bilateral crus cerebri were measured, the asymmetry
      indices of bilateral fractional anisotropy were calculated, and the relationship
      between the asymmetry index value and the Fugl-Meyer assessment score for the
      affected upper extremity function was evaluated. RESULTS: Two weeks after disease
      onset, the fractional anisotropy value of the affected crus cerebri was reduced
      significantly compared with that of the unaffected crus cerebri (0.69 vs. 0.77; p
      < 0.001); there was no significant difference between bilateral mean diffusivity
      values. After correction for infarct size (448.93 +/- 227.67 mm(2)) there was a
      negative correlation between the asymmetry index value and the Fugl-Meyer
      assessment score of the affected upper extremity (r = -0.78, p = 0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: DTI can detect the diffusion change in the crus cerebri in patients
      with striatocapsular infarction during the early stage of the disease and the
      integrity of the pyramidal tract in the crus cerebri is closely related to the
      motor function of the affected upper extremity.

PMID- 25835461
TI  - An Electronic Daily Diary Study of Anal Intercourse in Drug-Using Women.
AB  - Women (N = 138) with histories of illicit drug use were recruited into an
      electronic diary study that used Android smartphones for data collection. The
      diary was to be completed each day for 12 weeks using an "app" created in HTML5
      and accessed over the Internet via smartphone. Data collection included
      information on sexual behaviors with up to 10 partners per day and contextual
      factors surrounding sexual behavior such as drug use before/after, type of sexual
      behavior (oral, vaginal, anal), and other activities such as using condoms for
      vaginal and anal intercourse and use of sexual lubricants. The sample was
      predominantly African American (58 %); 20 % Latina, 20 % White and 2 % reported
      as Other. Most women reported either less than a high school education (33 %) or
      having a high school diploma (33 %). The mean age was 39 years (SD = 11.78). Anal
      intercourse occurred on days when women also reported using illicit drugs,
      specifically methamphetamine and cocaine. Anal intercourse was not an isolated
      sexual activity, but took place on days when vaginal intercourse and giving and
      receiving oral sex also occurred along with illicit drug use. Anal intercourse
      also occurred on days when women reported they wanted sex. HIV prevention
      interventions must address the risks of anal intercourse for women, taking into
      account concurrent drug use and sexual pleasure that may reduce individual harm
      reduction behaviors. 

PMID- 25835464
TI  - Editorial Comment.

PMID- 25835463
TI  - Sexual Behavior, Risk Compensation, and HIV Prevention Strategies Among
      Participants in the San Francisco PrEP Demonstration Project: A Qualitative
      Analysis of Counseling Notes.
AB  - Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a viable HIV prevention strategy but risk
      compensation could undermine potential benefits. There are limited data that
      examine this phenomenon outside of clinical trials. We conducted a qualitative
      analysis of counseling notes from the San Francisco site of the US PrEP
      demonstration project to assess how men who have sex with men used PrEP as a
      prevention strategy and its impact on their sexual practices. Four major themes
      emerged from our analysis of 130 distinct notes associated with 26 participants.
      Prevention strategy decision-making was dynamic, often influenced by the context
      and perceived risk of a sexual encounter. Counselors noted that participants used
      PrEP in conjunction with other health promotion strategies like condoms, asking
      about HIV status of their sex partners, and seroadaptation. With few exceptions,
      existing risk reduction strategies were not abandoned upon initiation of PrEP.
      Risk-taking behavior was 'seasonal' and fluctuations were influenced by various
      personal, psychosocial, and health-related factors. PrEP also helped relieve
      anxiety regarding sex and HIV, particularly among serodiscordant partners.
      Understanding sexual decision-making and how PrEP is incorporated into existing
      prevention strategies can help inform future PrEP implementation efforts.

PMID- 25835462
TI  - Behavioral intervention improves treatment outcomes among HIV-infected
      individuals who have delayed, declined, or discontinued antiretroviral therapy: a
      randomized controlled trial of a novel intervention.
AB  - Nationally up to 60 % of persons living with HIV are neither taking
      antiretroviral therapy (ART) nor well engaged in HIV care, mainly racial/ethnic
      minorities. This study examined a new culturally targeted multi-component
      intervention to address emotional, attitudinal, and social/structural barriers to
      ART initiation and HIV care. Participants (N = 95) were African American/Black
      and Latino adults with CD4 < 500 cells/mm(3) not taking ART, randomized 1:1 to
      intervention or control arms, the latter receiving treatment as usual. Primary
      endpoints were adherence, evaluated via ART concentrations in hair samples, and
      HIV viral load suppression. The intervention was feasible and acceptable. Eight
      months post-baseline, intervention participants tended to be more likely to
      evidence "good" (that is, 7 days/week) adherence (60 vs. 26.7 %; p = 0.087; OR =
      3.95), and had lower viral load levels than controls (t(22) = 2.29, p = 0.032; OR
      = 5.20), both large effect sizes. This highly promising intervention merits
      further study. 

PMID- 25835465
TI  - Method for fluorescent marker swapping and its application in Steinernema
      nematode colonization studies.
AB  - An allelic exchange vector was constructed to replace gfp by mCherry in bacteria
      previously tagged with mini-Tn5 derivatives. The method was successfully applied
      to a gfp-labeled Yersinia pseudotuberculosis strain and the re-engineered
      bacterium was used to study the colonization of Steinernema nematodes hosting
      their Xenorhabdus symbiont using dual-color confocal microscopy. 

PMID- 25835466
TI  - Reply to the Editor--Re: Extraction of nonfunctional leads at the time of device
      upgrade: Still unproven benefit compared to abandoning leads.

PMID- 25835467
TI  - Endoscopic electrocautery dilation of benign anastomotic colonic strictures: a
      single-center experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Benign anastomotic colonic stenosis sometimes occur after surgery and
      usually require surgical or endoscopic dilation. Endoscopic dilation of
      anastomotic colonic strictures by using balloon or bougie-type dilators has been
      demonstrated to be safe and effective in multiple uncontrolled series. However,
      few data are available on safety and efficacy of endoscopic electrocautery
      dilation. The aim of our study was to retrospectively investigate safety and
      efficacy of endoscopic electrocautery dilation of postsurgical benign anastomotic
      colonic strictures. METHODS: Sixty patients (37 women; median age 63.6 years,
      range 22.6-81.7) with benign anastomotic colonic or rectal strictures treated
      with endoscopic electrocautery dilation between June 2001 and February 2013 were
      included in the study. Anastomotic stricture was defined as a narrowed
      anastomosis through which a standard colonoscope could not be passed. Only
      annular anastomotic strictures were considered suitable for electrocautery
      dilation which consisted of radial incisions performed with a precut
      sphincterotome. Treatment was considered successful if the colonic anastomosis
      could be passed by a standard colonoscope immediately after dilation. Recurrence
      was defined as anastomotic stricture reappearance during follow-up. RESULTS: The
      time interval between colorectal surgery and the first endoscopic evaluation or
      symptoms development was 7.3 months (1.3-60.7). Electrocautery dilation was
      successful in all the patients. There were no procedure-related complications.
      Median follow-up was 35.5 months (2.0-144.0). Anastomotic stricture recurrence
      was observed in three patients who were successfully treated with electrocautery
      dilation and Savary dilation. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic electrocautery dilation is
      a safe and effective treatment for annular benign anastomotic postsurgical
      colonic strictures.

PMID- 25835468
TI  - Quantification and antioxidant and anti-HCV activities of the constituents from
      the inflorescences of Scabiosa comosa and S. tschilliensis.
AB  - To investigate the bioactive constituents of the inflorescences of Scabiosa
      comosa and S. tschilliensis, which are used traditionally for liver diseases, we
      tested the antioxidant activity using 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'
      azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS), ferric reducing
      antioxidant potential (FRAP), and DPPH-ultra high performance liquid
      chromatography-mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS) assay. In addition, cell-based anti
      HCV activity of the major compounds were evaluated. The plant extracts showed
      strong antioxidant activity. For the first time, 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid
      (DCQA), 3,5-DCQA and 4,5-DCQA were identified from genus Scabiosa. A UPLC-MS
      method in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was established to quantify 18
      constituents in the inflorescences of Scabiosa. The 3,5-DCQA, chlorogenic acid
      and some glycosides of luteolin or apigenin were found to be the most abundant
      constituents. Chlorogenic acid and 3,5-DCQA showed excellent radical scavenging
      activity and demonstrated anti-HCV activity. These findings provided scientific
      evidences for the clinic use of this herbal medicine for liver diseases. 

PMID- 25835469
TI  - Current strategies for targeted delivery of bio-active drug molecules in the
      treatment of brain tumor.
AB  - Brain tumor is one of the most challenging diseases to treat. The major obstacle
      in the specific drug delivery to brain is blood-brain barrier (BBB). Mostly
      available anti-cancer drugs are large hydrophobic molecules which have limited
      permeability via BBB. Therefore, it is clear that the protective barriers
      confining the passage of the foreign particles into the brain are the main
      impediment for the brain drug delivery. Hence, the major challenge in drug
      development and delivery for the neurological diseases is to design non-invasive
      nanocarrier systems that can assist controlled and targeted drug delivery to the
      specific regions of the brain. In this review article, our major focus to treat
      brain tumor by study numerous strategies includes intracerebral implants, BBB
      disruption, intraventricular infusion, convection-enhanced delivery, intra
      arterial drug delivery, intrathecal drug delivery, injection, catheters, pumps,
      microdialysis, RNA interference, antisense therapy, gene therapy,
      monoclonal/cationic antibodies conjugate, endogenous transporters, lipophilic
      analogues, prodrugs, efflux transporters, direct conjugation of antitumor drugs,
      direct targeting of liposomes, nanoparticles, solid-lipid nanoparticles,
      polymeric micelles, dendrimers and albumin-based drug carriers. 

PMID- 25835470
TI  - Phenotypic features and phylogenetic background of extraintestinal hemolytic
      Escherichia coli responsible of mortality in puppies.
AB  - A 10-day-old litter of five puppies of Bracco Italiano dog breed showed weakness
      and diarrhea and, 2 days later, four of them died. At the same time, the bitch
      showed high hyperthermia (40  degrees C) and endometritis. The necropsy of a
      puppy revealed a severe lobar pneumonia accompanied with a bilateral nephrosis.
      No gross lesions were detected in other organs. Histopathology of the lung
      revealed severe multifocal fibrino-suppurative necrotizing bronchiolar-alveolitis
      associated with rod-shaped bacterial aggregates and diffuse interstitial
      lymphocytic infiltration. The kidney showed severe multifocal necrosis of the
      tubular epithelium and diffuse severe congestion of the parenchyma. A pure
      culture of hemolytic Escherichia coli carrying the Cnf-1 gene was identified,
      from both the puppy organs and bitch's milk. Moreover, phylo-typing assigned them
      to the phylogroup B2. Two weeks later, fecal samples from the bitch and the
      survived puppy were collected for a second microbiological analysis, identifying
      two hemolytic E. coli strains, Cnf positive and Cdt negative and Cnf and Cdt
      negative, respectively. Some E. coli pathogenic strains may cause enteric or
      extraintestinal disease. In dogs and cats, strains of extraintestinal pathogenic
      E. coli (ExPEC) produce specific virulent factors such as hemolysis and cytotoxin
      necrotizing factors (Cnf). In this episode, we hypothesize that the bitch's milk
      could be the main source of ExPEC infection causing high puppies mortality. The
      role of the bitch as a carrier could not be excluded: stressful conditions, such
      as pregnancy and delivery, would change the host-pathogen dynamics possibly
      increasing the release of the infectious burden.

PMID- 25835472
TI  - Efficacy of a Web-based, crowdsourced peer-to-peer cognitive reappraisal platform
      for depression: randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Self-guided, Web-based interventions for depression show promising
      results but suffer from high attrition and low user engagement. Online peer
      support networks can be highly engaging, but they show mixed results and lack
      evidence-based content. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to introduce and evaluate a novel
      Web-based, peer-to-peer cognitive reappraisal platform designed to promote
      evidence-based techniques, with the hypotheses that (1) repeated use of the
      platform increases reappraisal and reduces depression and (2) that the social,
      crowdsourced interactions enhance engagement. METHODS: Participants aged 18-35
      were recruited online and were randomly assigned to the treatment group,
      "Panoply" (n=84), or an active control group, online expressive writing (n=82).
      Both are fully automated Web-based platforms. Participants were asked to use
      their assigned platform for a minimum of 25 minutes per week for 3 weeks. Both
      platforms involved posting descriptions of stressful thoughts and situations.
      Participants on the Panoply platform additionally received crowdsourced
      reappraisal support immediately after submitting a post (median response time=9
      minutes). Panoply participants could also practice reappraising stressful
      situations submitted by other users. Online questionnaires administered at
      baseline and 3 weeks assessed depression symptoms, reappraisal, and perseverative
      thinking. Engagement was assessed through self-report measures, session data, and
      activity levels. RESULTS: The Panoply platform produced significant improvements
      from pre to post for depression (P=.001), reappraisal (P<.001), and perseverative
      thinking (P<.001). The expressive writing platform yielded significant pre to
      post improvements for depression (P=.02) and perseverative thinking (P<.001), but
      not reappraisal (P=.45). The two groups did not diverge significantly at post
      test on measures of depression or perseverative thinking, though Panoply users
      had significantly higher reappraisal scores (P=.02) than expressive writing. We
      also found significant group by treatment interactions. Individuals with elevated
      depression symptoms showed greater comparative benefit from Panoply for
      depression (P=.02) and perseverative thinking (P=.008). Individuals with baseline
      reappraisal deficits showed greater comparative benefit from Panoply for
      depression (P=.002) and perseverative thinking (P=.002). Changes in reappraisal
      mediated the effects of Panoply, but not the expressive writing platform, for
      both outcomes of depression (ab=-1.04, SE 0.58, 95% CI -2.67 to -.12) and
      perseverative thinking (ab=-1.02, SE 0.61, 95% CI -2.88 to -.20). Dropout rates
      were similar for the two platforms; however, Panoply yielded significantly more
      usage activity (P<.001) and significantly greater user experience scores
      (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Panoply engaged its users and was especially helpful for
      depressed individuals and for those who might ordinarily underutilize reappraisal
      techniques. Further investigation is needed to examine the long-term effects of
      such a platform and whether the benefits generalize to a more diverse population
      of users. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02302248;
      https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02302248 (Archived by WebCite at
      http://www.webcitation.org/6Wtkj6CXU).

PMID- 25835474
TI  - Hope for regenerative treatments: toward safe transplantation of human
      pluripotent stem-cell-based therapies.

PMID- 25835473
TI  - The effects of radio-frequency electromagnetic fields on T cell function during
      development.
AB  - With the widespread use of radio-frequency devices, it is increasingly important
      to understand the biological effects of the associated electromagnetic fields.
      Thus, we investigated the effects of radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF
      EMF) on T cell responses during development due to the lack of science-based
      evidence for RF-EMF effects on developmental immune systems. Sprague Dawley (SD)
      rats were exposed to 2.14-GHz wideband code division multiple-access (W-CDMA) RF
      signals at a whole-body specific absorption rate (SAR) of 0.2 W/kg. Exposures
      were performed for a total of 9 weeks spanning in utero development, lactation
      and the juvenile period. Rats were continuously exposed to RF-EMF for 20 h/day, 7
      days/week. Comparisons of control and exposed rats using flow cytometry revealed
      no changes in the numbers of CD4/CD8 T cells, activated T cells or regulatory T
      cells among peripheral blood cells, splenocytes and thymocytes. Expression levels
      of 16 genes that regulate the immunological Th1/Th2 paradigm were analyzed using
      real-time PCR in the spleen and thymus tissues of control and RF-EMF-exposed
      rats. Although only the Il5 gene was significantly regulated in spleen tissues,
      Il4, Il5 and Il23a genes were significantly upregulated in thymus tissues
      following exposure to RF-EMF. However, ELISAs showed no changes in serum IL-4
      protein concentrations. These data indicate no adverse effects of long-term RF
      EMF exposure on immune-like T cell populations, T cell activation, or Th1/Th2
      balance in developing rats, although significant transcriptional effects were
      observed. 

PMID- 25835475
TI  - Ink4a/Arf locus role in neuronal transdifferentiation.

PMID- 25835476
TI  - Fifth Congress of Industrial Cell Technology 2014.
AB  - The highly specialized and informative Fifth Congress of Industrial Cell
      Technology took place in Luebeck, close to Hamburg, on 11-12 September 2014. It
      was organized by the Fraunhofer Institution for Marine Biotechnology (EMB),
      Luebeck and supported by the cluster agency Life Science Nord Management GmbH as
      well as the Luebeck Chamber of Industry and Commerce. The central aim of the
      congress was to promote the name-giving platform applications of industrial cell
      technologies, in other words, the development of complex cell culture systems,
      analyzing technologies, innovative instruments and materials, etc. This year's
      sessions were: smart cell culture, bioreactor systems and cell goods including 3D
      bioprinting. This article highlights selected presentations of the congress. 

PMID- 25835477
TI  - BMP2 repression and optimized culture conditions promote human bone marrow
      derived mesenchymal stem cell isolation.
AB  - AIM: Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) are multipotent progenitor cells. We
      propose the optimization of hMSC isolation and recovery using the application of
      a controlled hypoxic environment. MATERIALS & METHODS: We evaluated oxygen,
      glucose and serum in the recovery of hMSC from bone marrow (BMhMSC). Colony
      forming units-fibroblastic, cell numbers, tri-lineage differentiation,
      immunofluorescence and microarray were used to confirm and characterize BMhMSC.
      RESULTS: In an optimized (2% O(2), 4.5 g/l glucose and 5% serum) environment both
      colony forming units-fibroblastic (p = 0.01) and cell numbers (p = 0.0001) were
      enhanced over standard conditions. Transcriptional analysis identified
      differential expression of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) and, putatively,
      chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 2 (CXCR2) signaling pathways. CONCLUSION: We
      have detailed a potential milestone in the process of refinement of the BMhMSC
      isolation process.

PMID- 25835478
TI  - Association of mesenchymal stem cells and osteoblasts for bone repair.
AB  - AIM: We tested the hypothesis that the association of bone marrow mesenchymal
      stem cells (MSCs) and osteoblasts (OBs) optimize bone repair. MATERIALS &
      METHODS: MSCs were cultured in growth or osteogenic medium and seeded into
      gelatin sponge prior to implantation. Defects were created into rat calvariae and
      implanted with gelatin sponge without cells, with MSCs, with OBs and with
      association of MSCs and OBs. Histological analysis and micro-CT-based
      histomorphometry were carried out after 4 weeks. RESULTS: Increased bone
      formation was observed in defects treated with cells and bone volume was greater
      in defects treated with either OBs or MSCs/OBs. CONCLUSION: Association of MSCs
      and OBs did not increase the process of bone repair compared with cell-based
      therapy using either MSCs or OBs alone.

PMID- 25835479
TI  - Repair of osteochondral defects in the minipig model by OPF hydrogel loaded with
      adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells.
AB  - AIM: Critical knee osteochondral defects in seven adult minipigs were treated
      with oligo(polyethylene glycol)fumarate (OPF) hydrogel combined with autologous
      or human adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs), and evaluated after 6 months.
      METHODS: Four defects were made on the peripheral part of right trochleas (n =
      28), and treated with OPF scaffold alone or pre-seeded with ASCs. RESULTS: A
      better quality cartilage tissue characterized by improved biomechanical
      properties and higher collagen type II expression was observed in the defects
      treated by autologous or human ASC-loaded OPF; similarly this approach induced
      the regeneration of more mature bone with upregulation of collagen type I
      expression. CONCLUSION: This study provides the evidence that both porcine and
      human adipose-derived stem cells associated to OPF hydrogel allow improving
      osteochondral defect regeneration in a minipig model.

PMID- 25835480
TI  - Fibrin hydrogels to deliver dental stem cells of the apical papilla for
      regenerative medicine.
AB  - AIM: Evaluation of survival, proliferation and neurodifferentiation of dental
      stem cells from the apical papilla (SCAP) in fibrin hydrogels. We hypothesized
      that fibrin composition will influence cell behavior. METHODS: Modulus, pore and
      fiber size were measured. SCAP in vitro viability, proliferation and neural
      differentiation, as well as in vivo proliferation and angiogenesis were studied.
      RESULTS: Hydrogel moduli were influenced by fibrin formulation but not hydrogel
      morphology, SCAP in vitro viability and proliferation. In total 60% of SCAP
      expressed PanNeurofilament in vitro without induction in Fibrinogen50-Thrombin10.
      SCAP proliferated when implanted in vivo and stimulated host endothelial cell
      infiltration. CONCLUSION: Fibrinogen30-Thrombin10 or Thrombin50 would be more
      favorable to in vitro SCAP viability and in vivo proliferation, while Fibrinogen
      50-Thrombin50 would be more adapted to neurodifferentiation.

PMID- 25835481
TI  - Landscape of current and emerging cell therapy clinical trials in the UK: current
      status, comparison to global trends and future perspectives.
AB  - Cell Therapy Clinical Trial and Preclinical Research databases have been
      established by the Cell Therapy Catapult to document current and future cell
      therapy clinical trials in the UK. We identified 41 ongoing trials in April 2014,
      an increase of seven trials from April 2013. In addition, we identified 45 late
      stage preclinical research projects. The majority of the clinical trials are
      early phase, primarily led by academic groups. The leading therapeutic areas are
      cancer, cardiology and neurology. The trends in the UK are also seen globally. As
      the field matures, more later phase and commercial studies will emerge and the
      challenges will likely evolve into how to manufacture sufficient cell quantities,
      manage complex logistics for multi-center trials and control cost. 

PMID- 25835482
TI  - Cell therapy worldwide: an incipient revolution.
AB  - The regenerative medicine field is large, diverse and active worldwide. A variety
      of different organizational and product models have been successful, and
      pioneering entrepreneurs have shown both what can work and, critically, what does
      not. Evolving regulations, novel funding mechanisms combined with new
      technological breakthroughs are keeping the field in a state of flux. The field
      struggles to cope with the lack of infrastructure and investment, it nevertheless
      has evolved from its roots in human stem cell therapy and tissue and organ
      transplants to a field composed of a variety of products from multiple cell
      sources with approval for use in numerous countries. Currently, tens of thousands
      of patients have been treated with some kind of cell therapy. 

PMID- 25835483
TI  - Vascularization strategies for tissue engineers.
AB  - All tissue-engineered substitutes (with the exception of cornea and cartilage)
      require a vascular network to provide the nutrient and oxygen supply needed for
      their survival in vivo. Unfortunately the process of vascular ingrowth into an
      engineered tissue can take weeks to occur naturally and during this time the
      tissues become starved of essential nutrients, leading to tissue death. This
      review initially gives a brief overview of the processes and factors involved in
      the formation of new vasculature. It then summarizes the different approaches
      that are being applied or developed to overcome the issue of slow
      neovascularization in a range of tissue-engineered substitutes. Some potential
      future strategies are then discussed. 

PMID- 25835484
TI  - Posterior hemivertebra resection and short segment fusion with pedicle screw
      fixation for congenital scoliosis in children younger than 10 years: greater than
      7-year follow-up.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the surgical outcomes
      of posterior hemivertebra resection and short segment fusion with segmental
      pedicle screw fixation in congenital scoliosis in children younger than 10 years.
      SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: This is the first long-term follow-up on surgical
      outcomes of posterior hemivertebra resection and short segment fusion using
      segmental pedicle screw fixation in children younger than 10 years with
      congenital scoliosis. METHODS: Patients with congenital scoliosis (n = 18)
      younger than 10 years at the time of the surgery were treated by posterior
      hemivertebra resection and bilateral pedicle screw fixation. The mean age at the
      time of surgery was 6.6 years (range, 2.6-9.8 yr). They were retrospectively
      studied with a mean follow-up of 11.4 years (range, 7.1-17.3 yr). RESULTS: The
      mean Cobb angle of the main curve was 34.4 degrees  before surgery, 8.6 degrees 
      after surgery, and 12.9 degrees  at last follow-up. In the compensatory cranial
      curve, the preoperative Cobb angle of 14.5 degrees  was corrected to 5.9 degrees 
      postoperatively and was 8.4 degrees  at last follow-up. In the compensatory
      caudal curve, the preoperative Cobb angle of 17.4 degrees  improved to 4 degrees 
      postoperatively and 6.6 degrees  at last follow-up. There were no crankshaft
      phenomena and no clinical and radiographical features suggestive of spinal
      stenosis during follow-up. There were no major vascular or neurological
      complications related to the pedicle screws. CONCLUSION: Posterior hemivertebra
      resection after pedicle screw fixation in congenital scoliosis is a safe and
      effective procedure that can achieve rigid fixation and deformity correction and
      restore spinal balance. This study showed that early posterior hemivertebra
      resection of congenital scoliosis before structural changes occur above or below
      can reduce fusion length, prevent curve progression, and effectively achieve a
      more satisfactory correction without hazardous iatrogenic spinal stenosis,
      crankshaft phenomena, or neurological complications. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3.

PMID- 25835485
TI  - Spin transport properties in lower n-acene-graphene nanojunctions.
AB  - A series of n-acene-graphene (n = 3, 4, 5, 6) devices, in which n-acene molecules
      are sandwiched between two zigzag graphene nanoribbon (ZGNR) electrodes, are
      modeled through the spin polarized density functional theory combined with the
      non-equilibrium Green's function technique. Our theoretical results show that for
      n-acene molecules ranging from anthracene to hexacene, the spin-polarized
      electronic states near the Fermi level can be induced by the spin-polarized ZGNR
      electrodes, which strengthen gradually to facilitate the electronic transport. A
      nearly 100% spin filtering ratio and a dual-orientation spin-rectifying effect
      are observed in a wide range of bias voltage. Importantly, an over 8000% giant
      magnetoresistance is obtained in the low bias range from -0.1 V to +0.1 V.
      Moreover, negative differential resistance behaviors are detected in these
      devices. The potential mechanisms of these intriguing phenomena are proposed and
      these findings would be instructive for the design and synthesis of high
      performance graphene-based spin-related devices. 

PMID- 25835486
TI  - Onset of optical-phonon cooling in multilayer graphene revealed by RF noise and
      black-body radiation thermometries.
AB  - We report on electron cooling power measurements in few-layer graphene excited by
      Joule heating by means of a new setup combining electrical and optical probes of
      the electron and phonon baths temperatures. At low bias, noise thermometry allows
      us to retrieve the well known acoustic phonon cooling regimes below and above the
      Bloch-Gruneisen temperature, with additional control over the phonon bath
      temperature. At high electrical bias, we show the relevance of direct optical
      investigation of the electronic temperature by means of black-body radiation
      measurements. In this regime, the onset of new efficient relaxation pathways
      involving optical modes is observed. 

PMID- 25835487
TI  - Animal Models of Diabetic Retinopathy.
AB  - Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of today's main causes of blindness in numerous
      developed countries worldwide. The underlying pathogenesis of DR is complex and
      not well understood, thus impeding development of specific, effective treatment
      modalities. Consequently, the use of animal models of DR is of critical
      importance for investigating the pathogenesis of and treatment for DR. While rats
      and mice are the most commonly used animal models of DR, the zebrafish now
      appears to be a promising model. Nonhuman primates and humans have similar eye
      structures, and both can develop spontaneous diabetes mellitus (DM). Although
      various traditionally used animal models of DR undergo a number of pathological
      changes similar to those of human DR, several human variations, e.g. retinal
      neovascularization, cannot yet be fully mimicked in any existing animal model of
      DM. Since both the animal models and the methods chosen for inducing DR have
      great influence on experimental results, a clear understanding of available
      animal models is vital for planning an experimental design. In this review, we
      summarize the mechanisms, methodologies and pros and cons of the most commonly
      used animal models of DR. 

PMID- 25835488
TI  - Lorentz microscopy sheds light on the role of dipolar interactions in magnetic
      hyperthermia.
AB  - Monodispersed Fe3O4 nanoparticles with comparable size distributions have been
      synthesized by two different synthesis routes, co-precipitation and thermal
      decomposition. Thanks to the different steric stabilizations, the described
      samples can be considered as a model system to investigate the effects of
      magnetic dipolar interactions on the aggregation states of the nanoparticles.
      Moreover, the presence of magnetic dipolar interactions can strongly affect the
      nanoparticle efficiency as a hyperthermic mediator. In this paper, we present a
      novel way to visualize and map the magnetic dipolar interactions in different
      kinds of nanoparticle aggregates by the use of Lorentz microscopy, an easy and
      reliable in-line electron holographic technique. By exploiting Lorentz
      microscopy, which is complementary to the magnetic measurements, it is possible
      to correlate the interaction degrees of magnetic nanoparticles with their
      magnetic behaviors. In particular, we demonstrate that Lorentz microscopy is
      successful in visualizing the magnetic configurations stabilized by dipolar
      interactions, thus paving the way to the comprehension of the power loss
      mechanisms for different nanoparticle aggregates. 

PMID- 25835489
TI  - Off-clamp robotic partial nephrectomy: Technique and outcome.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Robotic partial nephrectomy (RPN) is a technically challenging
      procedure. Advanced skills are needed to accomplish tumor resection, hemostasis,
      and renorrhaphy within short ischemia time in RPN. Off-clamp RPN with zero
      ischemia may decrease the risk of ischemic reperfusion injury to the kidney.
      However, the off-clamp technique has been associated with an increased risk of
      blood loss. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome of our modified
      off-clamp technique utilized in certain RPN cases. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total
      of 81 patients underwent RPN between September 2009 and July 2013 for renal
      masses. We studied a subgroup of patients who underwent off-clamp RPN with zero
      ischemia time. The off-clamp technique was utilized for exophytic, nonhilar
      tumors that have a base of 2 cm or less. We developed a novel technique to avoid
      ischemia reperfusion renal injury while minimizing blood loss in certain cases of
      RPN. RESULTS: Of the 81 cases of RPN, we reviewed and adopted the off-clamp
      technique in 34 patients (41.98%). Utilizing off-clamp RPN resulted in an average
      blood loss of 96.29 ml and 1.56 days (range: 1-3 days) of hospital stay and
      minimal change in serum creatinine. CONCLUSIONS: Off-clamp RPN is safe and
      feasible approach to excise certain kidney tumors. It carries the benefits of RPN
      and prevents ischemia reperfusion renal injury.

PMID- 25835491
TI  - Health administrative data can be used to define a shared care typology for
      people with HIV.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Building on an existing theoretical shared primary care/specialist
      care framework to (1) develop a unique typology of care for people living with
      human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Ontario, (2) assess sensitivity of the
      typology by varying typology definitions, and (3) describe characteristics of
      typology categories. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective population-based
      observational study from April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2012. A total of 13,480
      eligible patients with HIV and receiving publicly funded health care in Ontario.
      We derived a typology of care by linking patients to usual family physicians and
      to HIV specialists with five possible patterns of care. Patient and physician
      characteristics and outpatient visits for HIV-related and non-HIV-related care
      were used to assess the robustness and characteristics of the typology. RESULTS:
      Five possible patterns of care were described as low engagement (8.6%),
      exclusively primary care (52.7%), family physician-dominated comanagement
      (10.0%), specialist-dominated comanagement (30.5%), and exclusively specialist
      care (5.2%). Sensitivity analyses demonstrated robustness of typology
      assignments. Visit patterns varied in ways that conform to typology assignments.
      CONCLUSION: We anticipate this typology can be used to assess the impact of care
      patterns on the quality of primary care for people living with HIV.

PMID- 25835490
TI  - Inadequate use and regulation of interventions against publication bias decreases
      their effectiveness: a systematic review.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of interventions designed to prevent
      or reduce publication and related biases. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We searched
      multiple databases and performed manual searches using terms related to
      publication bias and known interventions against publication bias. We dually
      reviewed citations and assessed risk of bias. We synthesized results by
      intervention and outcomes measured and graded the quality of the evidence (QoE).
      RESULTS: We located 38 eligible studies. The use of prospective trial registries
      (PTR) has increased since 2005 (seven studies, moderate QoE); however, positive
      outcome-reporting bias is prevalent (14 studies, low QoE), and information in
      nonmandatory fields is vague (10 studies, low QoE). Disclosure of financial
      conflict of interest (CoI) is inadequate (five studies, low QoE). Blinding peer
      reviewers may reduce geographical bias (two studies, very low QoE), and open
      access publishing does not discriminate against authors from low-income countries
      (two studies, very low QoE). CONCLUSION: The use of PTR and CoI disclosures is
      increasing; however, the adequacy of their use requires improvement. The effect
      of open-access publication and blinding of peer reviewers on publication bias is
      unclear, as is the effect of other interventions such as electronic publication
      and authors' rights to publish their results.

PMID- 25835492
TI  - No impact of vitamin D on the CYP3A biomarker 4beta-hydroxycholesterol in
      patients with abnormal glucose regulation.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of vitamin D3 on hepatic Cytochrome P450
      enzyme (CYP) 3A4 in patients with abnormal glucose regulation using the
      endogenous marker 4beta-hydroxycholesterol (4beta-OHC):cholesterol ratio.
      METHODS: The present study took advantage of a trial primarily aiming to
      investigate the effect of vitamin D3 on beta cell function and insulin
      sensitivity in patients with abnormal glucose regulation. 44 subjects were
      randomized to receive vitamin D3, 30000 IU given orally once weekly or placebo
      for 8 weeks. The two sample t-test was used to test the means of the intra
      individual differences of 4beta-OHC:cholesterol ratio between the two groups.
      RESULTS: Mean (SD) 4beta-OHC in the whole group of patients before and after the
      intervention was 26 (11) ng/ml and 26 (12). Mean (SD) 4beta-OHC:cholesterol ratio
      in the whole group of patients before and after the intervention was 0.12 (0.046)
      and 0.13 (0.047). In the Vitamin D group mean (SD) serum 25-OH-vitamin D3
      increased from 46 (16) to 85nM (13) during the corresponding time period. To
      investigate the impact of vitamin D3 on hepatic CYP3A4 we calculated the mean
      intra-individual differences in 4beta-OHC:cholesterol ratio (delta 4beta
      OHC:cholesterol ratio) before versus after the intervention in the two treatment
      groups. The difference (95% CI) between delta 4beta-OHC:cholesterol ratio in the
      control group and intervention group was -0.0010 (-0.0093, 0.0072), a difference
      being not statistically significant (p = 0.80). CONCLUSIONS: We provide further
      evidence that vitamin D3 may not substantially affect hepatic CYP3A4. This does
      not exclude the possibility of an impact of intestinal first-pass metabolism of
      orally administered drugs which should be investigated. TRIAL REGISTRATION:
      ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01497132.

PMID- 25835493
TI  - Sustained virologic response and other potential genotype-specific roles of
      statins among patients with hepatitis C-related chronic liver diseases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: While statins have shown antiviral effects in different studies, few
      data are available about their effect among different HCV genotypes. AIM: To
      evaluate the effect of concomitant statin use on sustained virologic response
      (SVR) and other treatment outcomes among patients with HCV genotypes 1-3. METHOD:
      Using US Department of Veterans Affairs database, multivariate (MV), propensity
      score matched (PSM) and repeated measures mixed model analyses were performed on
      patients who received combination therapy with Peg-IFN and Ribavirin for
      treatment of HCV genotypes 1-3 between October 2001-December 2011. Concomitant
      statin users were matched with non-users in each genotype and SVR rates were
      compared. Changes in serum ALT during treatment was assessed. RESULTS: Of 37,611
      treated patients, 236 genotype 1 (GT1), 78 genotype 2 (GT2) and 23 genotype 3
      (GT3) statin users and non-users were used for PSM. SVR among GT1 patients was
      22.8% (overall), significantly higher among statin users (26.3% vs. 19.5% P<0.01
      from PSM; OR=1.49 CI 1.06-2.08 P=0.02 from MV). No significant impact of statin
      use was observed among GT2 (overall SVR - 55.8%, statin users vs. non-users -
      53.9% vs. 57.7%, P=0.32), and GT3 (overall SVR - 58.7%, statin users vs. non
      users - 60.9% vs. 56.2%, P=0.39) patients. Higher baseline LDL was positively
      associated with SVR while statin use reduced ALT during treatment in GT1
      patients. CONCLUSION: In view of additional benefits of statins, and the
      prohibitive cost of newer HCV therapies, statins could be a potential assist for
      hard-to-treat GT1 patients especially in resource-poor settings.

PMID- 25835494
TI  - Correction: Drosophila tribbles antagonizes insulin signaling-mediated growth and
      metabolism via interactions with Akt kinase.

PMID- 25835495
TI  - Thymosin beta 4 may translocate from the cytoplasm in to the nucleus in HepG2
      cells following serum starvation. An ultrastructural study.
AB  - Due to its actin-sequestering properties, thymosin beta-4 (Tbeta4) is considered
      to play a significant role in the cellular metabolism. Several physiological
      properties of Tbeta4 have been reported;, however, many questions concerning its
      cellular function remain to be ascertained. To better understand the role of this
      small peptide we have analyzed by means of transmission immunoelectron microscopy
      techniques the ultrastructural localization of Tbeta4 in HepG2 cells. Samples of
      HepG2 cells were fixed in a mixture of 3% formaldehyde and 0.1% glutaraldehyde in
      0.1 M cacodylate buffer and processed for standard electron microscopic
      techniques. The samples were dehydrated in a cold graded methanol series and
      embedded in LR gold resin. Ultrathin sections were labeled with rabbit antibodies
      to Tbeta4, followed by gold-labeled goat anti-rabbit, stained with uranyl acetate
      and bismuth subnitrate, observed and photographed in a JEOL 100S transmission
      electron microscope. High-resolution electron microscopy showed that Tbeta4 was
      mainly restricted to the cytoplasm of HepG2 growing in complete medium. A strong
      Tbeta4 reactivity was detected in the perinuclear region of the cytoplasmic
      compartment where gold particles appeared strictly associated to the nuclear
      membrane. In the nucleus specific Tbeta4 labeling was observed in the nucleolus.
      The above electron microscopic results confirm and extend previous observations
      at light microscopic level, highlighting the subcellular distribution of Tbeta4
      in both cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments of HepG2 cells. The meaning of
      Tbeta4 presence in the nucleolus is not on the best of our knowledge clarified
      yet. It could account for the interaction of Tbeta4 with nucleolar actin and
      according with this hypothesis, Tbeta4 could contribute together with the other
      nucleolar acting binding proteins to modulate the transcription activity of the
      RNA polymerases. 

PMID- 25835496
TI  - Dual-specificity anti-sigma factor reinforces control of cell-type specific gene
      expression in Bacillus subtilis.
AB  - Gene expression during spore development in Bacillus subtilis is controlled by
      cell type-specific RNA polymerase sigma factors. sigmaFand sigmaE control early
      stages of development in the forespore and the mother cell, respectively. When,
      at an intermediate stage in development, the mother cell engulfs the forespore,
      sigmaF is replaced by sigmaG and sigmaE is replaced by sigmaK. The anti-sigma
      factor CsfB is produced under the control of sigmaF and binds to and inhibits the
      auto-regulatory sigmaG, but not sigmaF. A position in region 2.1, occupied by an
      asparagine in sigmaG and by a glutamate in omicronF, is sufficient for CsfB
      discrimination of the two sigmas, and allows it to delay the early to late switch
      in forespore gene expression. We now show that following engulfment completion,
      csfB is switched on in the mother cell under the control of sigmaK and that CsfB
      binds to and inhibits sigmaE but not sigmaK, possibly to facilitate the switch
      from early to late gene expression. We show that a position in region 2.3
      occupied by a conserved asparagine in sigmaE and by a conserved glutamate in
      sigmaK suffices for discrimination by CsfB. We also show that CsfB prevents
      activation of sigmaG in the mother cell and the premature sigmaG-dependent
      activation of sigmaK. Thus, CsfB establishes negative feedback loops that curtail
      the activity of sigmaE and prevent the ectopic activation of sigmaG in the mother
      cell. The capacity of CsfB to directly block sigmaE activity may also explain how
      CsfB plays a role as one of the several mechanisms that prevent sigmaE activation
      in the forespore. Thus the capacity of CsfB to differentiate between the highly
      similar sigmaF/sigmaG and sigmaE/sigmaK pairs allows it to rinforce the cell-type
      specificity of these sigma factors and the transition from early to late
      development in B. subtilis, and possibly in all sporeformers that encode a CsfB
      orthologue. 

PMID- 25835497
TI  - Optimal ligand descriptor for pocket recognition based on the Beta-shape.
AB  - Structure-based virtual screening is one of the most important and common
      computational methods for the identification of predicted hit at the beginning of
      drug discovery. Pocket recognition and definition is frequently a prerequisite of
      structure-based virtual screening, reducing the search space of the predicted
      protein-ligand complex. In this paper, we present an optimal ligand shape
      descriptor for a pocket recognition algorithm based on the beta-shape, which is a
      derivative structure of the Voronoi diagram of atoms. We investigate six
      candidates for a shape descriptor for a ligand using statistical analysis: the
      minimum enclosing sphere, three measures from the principal component analysis of
      atoms, the van der Waals volume, and the beta-shape volume. Among them, the van
      der Waals volume of a ligand is the optimal shape descriptor for pocket
      recognition and best tunes the pocket recognition algorithm based on the beta
      shape for efficient virtual screening. The performance of the proposed algorithm
      is verified by a benchmark test. 

PMID- 25835499
TI  - Spirituality and religion in older adults: building knowledge in an emerging
      discipline.

PMID- 25835498
TI  - Association between P16INK4a promoter methylation and HNSCC: a meta-analysis of
      21 published studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The p16INK4a is an important tumor suppressor gene (TSG) and aberrant
      methylation of promoter is known to be a major inactivation mechanism of the
      tumor suppressor and tumor-related genes. Aberrant TSG methylation was considered
      an important epigenetic silencing mechanism in the progression of head and neck
      squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). However, some studies have reported differences
      in the methylation frequencies of P16INK4a promoter between cancer and the
      corresponding control group. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to better
      identify the association. METHODS: PubMed, Ovid, ISI Web of Science, and EMBASE
      were searched to identify eligible studies to evaluate the association of
      p16INK4a promoter methylation and HNSCC. Odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence
      intervals (95%CI) were calculated to evaluate the strength of association between
      p16INK4a promoter methylation and HNSCC. RESULTS: A total of twenty-one studies
      with 1155 cases and 1017 controls were included in the meta-analysis. The
      frequencies of p16INK4a promoter methylation in the cancer group were
      significantly higher than those in the control group (cancer group: median:
      46.67%, range = 7.84%-95.12%; control group: median: 18.37%, range = 0-83.33%;
      respectively). The pooled odds ratio was 3.37 (95%CI = 2.32-4.90) in the cancer
      group versus the corresponding control group under the random-effects model.
      CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis of 21 published studies identified that aberrant
      methylation of p16INK4a promoter was found to be significantly associated with
      HNSCC.

PMID- 25835500
TI  - Commentary on "Disability but not social support predicts cognitive deterioration
      in late-life depression".

PMID- 25835501
TI  - Prevalence of mental disorders in non-demented elderly people in primary care-
      erratum.

PMID- 25835502
TI  - Notch receptor regulation of intestinal stem cell homeostasis and crypt
      regeneration.
AB  - The Notch signaling pathway regulates intestinal epithelial cell homeostasis,
      including stem cell maintenance, progenitor cell proliferation and
      differentiation. Notch1 and Notch2 receptors are expressed in the epithelium, but
      individual contributions to these functions are unclear. We used genetic deletion
      to define receptor roles on stem cell function, cell
      proliferation/differentiation, and repair after injury. Loss of Notch1 induced a
      transient secretory cell hyperplasia that spontaneously resolved over time. In
      contrast, deletion of Notch2 had no secretory cell effect. Compound deletions of
      Notch1 and Notch2 resulted in a more severe secretory cell hyperplasia than
      deletion of Notch1 alone. Furthermore, only double deletion of Notch1 and Notch2
      decreased cell proliferation, suggesting a low threshold for maintenance of
      proliferation compared to differentiation. Stem cells were affected by deletion
      of Notch1, with reduced expression of Olfm4 and fewer LGR5(+) stem cells.
      Deletion of Notch2 had no apparent affect on stem cell homeostasis. However, we
      observed impaired crypt regeneration after radiation in both Notch1- and Notch2
      deleted intestine, suggesting that higher Notch activity is required post-injury.
      These findings suggest that Notch1 is the primary receptor regulating intestinal
      stem cell function and that Notch1 and Notch2 together regulate epithelial cell
      proliferation, cell fate determination, and post-injury regeneration. 

PMID- 25835503
TI  - Differential alterations in the expression of neurotransmitter receptors in inner
      retina following loss of photoreceptors in rd1 mouse.
AB  - Loss of photoreceptors leads to significant remodeling in inner retina of rd1
      mouse, a widely used model of retinal degeneration. Several morphological and
      physiological alterations occur in the second- and third-order retinal neurons.
      Synaptic activity in the excitatory bipolar cells and the predominantly
      inhibitory amacrine cells is enhanced. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) exhibit
      hyperactivity and aberrant spiking pattern, which adversely affects the quality
      of signals they can carry to the brain. To further understand the pathophysiology
      of retinal degeneration, and how it may lead to aberrant spiking in RGCs, we
      asked how loss of photoreceptors affects some of the neurotransmitter receptors
      in rd1 mouse. Using Western blotting, we measured the levels of several
      neurotransmitter receptors in adult rd1 mouse retina. We found significantly
      higher levels of AMPA, glycine and GABAa receptors, but lower levels of GABAc
      receptors in rd1 mouse than in wild-type. Since GABAa receptor is expressed in
      several retinal layers, we employed quantitative immunohistochemistry to measure
      GABAa receptor levels in specific retinal layers. We found that the levels of
      GABAa receptors in inner plexiform layer of wild-type and rd1 mice were similar,
      whereas those in outer plexiform layer and inner nuclear layer combined were
      higher in rd1 mouse. Specifically, we found that the number of GABAa
      immunoreactive somas in the inner nuclear layer of rd1 mouse retina was
      significantly higher than in wild-type. These findings provide further insights
      into neurochemical remodeling in the inner retina of rd1 mouse, and how it might
      lead to oscillatory activity in RGCs. 

PMID- 25835504
TI  - Small scale trial of photodynamic treatment of onychomycosis in Sao Paulo.
AB  - The use of methylene blue and toluidine blue in the photodynamic treatment of
      onychomycosis at an ambulatory clinic in Sao Paulo, Brazil is reported. Local
      application and illumination of infected nails produced a response in 53 of 62
      patients, without any pain or burning associated with the therapy. 

PMID- 25835506
TI  - Pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome: multifactorial assessment from the
      foetal stage to menopause.
AB  - Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a multifactorial disorder that arises from
      interactions between genetic, environmental and intra-uterine factors. Small-for
      gestational-age (SGA) babies and the daughters of mothers with PCOS represent
      possible postnatal clinical targets for developmental programming by steroid
      excess. The presence of excess glucocorticoids and/or androgens during foetal
      organogenesis and growth might promote changes in gene expression, and these
      changes might be related to an increase in the risk of PCOS-like reproductive and
      metabolic disorders in postnatal life, such as rapid growth and weight gain
      during the first 2 years of life (only in SGA babies), hyperinsulinaemia,
      adipocyte dysfunction and childhood visceral obesity, premature pubarche and
      adrenarche (only in SGA babies) and PCOS. In the fourth decade of life, women who
      have PCOS may be at higher risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia and
      systemic arterial hypertension, which suggests that these women are also at
      higher risk for cardiovascular disease during menopause. However, PCOS can also
      occur in women who were born at appropriate weight for GA or in newborns of women
      without PCOS, which suggests that genetic variation and environmental factors
      play important roles in the development and maintenance of PCOS in a population.
      Genome-wide association studies based on adequate population samples have shown a
      higher frequency of genetic polymorphisms of the LHCGR, THADA and DENND1A genes
      in women with PCOS. Genetic studies of PCOS have also included analyses of
      structural changes in the chromosome based on an assessment of telomere length in
      single, cross-sectional evaluations, and these studies have produced
      controversial results. The present narrative review assesses the multifactorial
      origins of PCOS (including environmental, genetic and intra-uterine factors) and
      the development of conditions associated with this disorder. It is concluded that
      although PCOS might originate in the intra-uterine environment through
      developmental programming by steroid excess, the interaction between genetic and
      environmental factors is crucial for its appearance. Follow-up studies should be
      conducted to assess the same populations over their entire lifespans while taking
      into account different aspects of the pathogenesis of PCOS. 

PMID- 25835505
TI  - Melatonin prevents myeloperoxidase heme destruction and the generation of free
      iron mediated by self-generated hypochlorous acid.
AB  - Myeloperoxidase (MPO) generated hypochlorous acid (HOCl) formed during catalysis
      is able to destroy the MPO heme moiety through a feedback mechanism, resulting in
      the accumulation of free iron. Here we show that the presence of melatonin (MLT)
      can prevent HOCl-mediated MPO heme destruction using a combination of UV-visible
      photometry, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-specific electrode, and ferrozine assay
      techniques. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis showed that
      MPO heme protection was at the expense of MLT oxidation. The full protection of
      the MPO heme requires the presence of a 1:2 MLT to H2O2 ratio. Melatonin prevents
      HOCl-mediated MPO heme destruction through multiple pathways. These include
      competition with chloride, the natural co-substrate; switching the MPO activity
      from a two electron oxidation to a one electron pathway causing the buildup of
      the inactive Compound II, and its subsequent decay to MPO-Fe(III) instead of
      generating HOCl; binding to MPO above the heme iron, thereby preventing the
      access of H2O2 to the catalytic site of the enzyme; and direct scavenging of
      HOCl. Collectively, in addition to acting as an antioxidant and MPO inhibitor,
      MLT can exert its protective effect by preventing the release of free iron
      mediated by self-generated HOCl. Our work may establish a direct mechanistic link
      by which MLT exerts its antioxidant protective effect in chronic inflammatory
      diseases with MPO elevation. 

PMID- 25835507
TI  - Tuberculosis transmission from healthcare workers to patients and co-workers: a
      systematic literature review and meta-analysis.
AB  - Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk of becoming infected with tuberculosis
      (TB), and potentially of being infectious themselves when they are ill. To assess
      the magnitude of healthcare-associated TB (HCA-TB) transmission from HCWs to
      patients and colleagues, we searched three electronic databases up to February
      2014 to select primary studies on HCA-TB incidents in which a HCW was the index
      case and possibly exposed patients and co-workers were screened.We identified 34
      studies out of 2,714 citations. In 29 individual investigations, active TB was
      diagnosed in 3/6,080 (0.05%) infants, 18/3,167 (0.57%) children, 1/3,600 (0.03%)
      adult patients and 0/2,407 HCWs. The quantitative analysis of 28 individual
      reports showed that combined proportions of active TB among exposed individuals
      were: 0.11% (95% CI 0.04-0.21) for infants, 0.38% (95% CI 0.01-1.60) for
      children, 0.09% (95% CI 0.02-0.22) for adults and 0.00% (95% CI 0.00-0.38) for
      HCWs. Combined proportions of individuals who acquired TB infection were: 0.57%
      (95% CI 7.28E-03 - 2.02) for infants, 0.9% (95% CI 0.40-1.60) for children, 4.32%
      (95% CI 1.43-8.67) for adults and 2.62% (95% CI 1.05-4.88) for HCWs. The risk of
      TB transmission from HCWs appears to be lower than that recorded in other
      settings or in the healthcare setting when the index case is not a HCW. To
      provide a firm evidence base for the screening strategies, more and better
      information is needed on the infectivity of the source cases, the actual exposure
      level of screened contacts, and the environmental characteristics of the
      healthcare setting. 

PMID- 25835508
TI  - Do depressed newly diagnosed cancer patients differentially benefit from nurse
      navigation?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the effects of a nurse navigator intervention for
      cancer vary with baseline depressive symptoms. METHOD: Participants were enrolled
      in a randomized controlled trial of a nurse navigation intervention for patients
      newly diagnosed with lung, breast or colorectal cancer (N=251). This exploratory
      analysis used linear regression models to estimate the effect of a nurse
      navigator intervention on patient experience of care. Models estimated
      differential effects by including interactions between randomization group and
      baseline depressive symptoms. Baseline scores on the 9-item Patient Health
      Questionnaire (PHQ) were categorized into 3 groups: no depression (PHQ=0-4,
      N=138), mild symptoms of depression (PHQ=5-9, N=76) and moderate to severe
      symptoms (PHQ=10 or greater, N=34). Patient experience outcomes were measured by
      subscales of the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) and subscales
      from an adaptation of the Picker Institute's patient experience survey at 4-month
      follow-up. RESULTS: With the exception of the PACIC subscale of delivery
      system/practice design, interaction terms between randomization group and PHQ-9
      scores were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention was
      broadly useful; we found that it was equally beneficial for both depressed
      patients and patients who were not significantly depressed in the first 4 months
      postdiagnosis. However, because of the small sample size, we cannot conclude with
      certainty that patients with depressive symptoms did not differentially benefit
      from the intervention.

PMID- 25835509
TI  - Neuromyelitis optica presenting with psychiatric symptoms and catatonia: a case
      report.
AB  - Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an aggressive disease characteristically affecting
      the spinal cord and optic nerves that has recently been differentiated from
      multiple sclerosis. We present a case of a 16-year-old Antiguan female previously
      diagnosed with NMO who presented with a 1-week history of confusion and
      agitation. She had symptoms of psychosis, including delusional thinking and
      auditory and visual hallucinations, and scored 11/23 on the Bush-Francis
      Catatonia Scale. This case demonstrates an NMO exacerbation that presented with
      psychotic symptoms and catatonia. 

PMID- 25835510
TI  - Improvement of dumping syndrome and oversecretion of glucose-dependent
      insulinotropic polypeptide following a switch from olanzapine to quetiapine in a
      patient with schizophrenia.
AB  - Among the most important adverse effects of antipsychotics is abnormal glucose
      metabolism, which includes not only hyperglycemia but hyperinsulinemia and
      hypoglycemia. We have previously described five patients who experienced
      hypoglycemia during treatment with antipsychotics. Thus, an anamnesis of gastric
      surgery, which often causes dumping syndrome, and treatment with antipsychotics
      may synergistically induce hypoglycemia. We describe here a patient with
      schizophrenia under treatment of olanzapine and an anamnesis of gastric surgery,
      who experienced late dumping syndrome, hyperinsulinemia and overactivation of
      glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide. Dumping syndrome, however, was
      improved after the patient was switched from olanzapine to quetiapine. 

PMID- 25835511
TI  - What's on Your Mind? Conversation Topics Chosen by People With Degenerative
      Cognitive-Linguistic Disorders for Communication Boards.
AB  - PURPOSE: Conversational topics chosen by a group of adults with degenerative
      cognitive-linguistic disorders for personalized communication board development
      were examined. The patient-generated themes commonly selected are presented to
      guide treatment planning and communication board development. METHOD:
      Communication boards were created for 109 adults as part of a larger research
      project. One autobiographical topic that each participant would enjoy discussing
      multiple times was represented on each communication board with 16 pictures and
      word labels. For this review, topics were collapsed into general themes through a
      consensus process and examined by gender and age. RESULTS: Sixty unique
      conversational topics were identified from 109 participants and collapsed into 9
      general themes: Hobbies, Family, Travel, Work, Home/Places I've Lived,
      Sports/Fitness, Religion, Animals, and World War II. Age and gender produced
      variations in themes chosen, though no significance in rank orders was found
      across groups. CONCLUSIONS: Topics selected by adults with degenerative cognitive
      linguistic disorders for communication boards resemble common conversational
      adult themes and do not center around basic needs or medical issues. Differences
      in gender and age for topic selection tend to be based on traditional roles.
      These general themes should be used when creating personalized communication
      boards for those who benefit from conversational aids.

PMID- 25835512
TI  - Pilot study on the bioactivity of vitamin d in the skin after oral
      supplementation.
AB  - Laboratory studies suggest that vitamin D (VD) supplementation inhibits skin
      carcinogenesis. However, epidemiologic studies report mixed findings in the
      association between circulating VD levels and skin cancer risk. We conducted a
      clinical study to determine whether oral cholecalciferol supplementation would
      exert direct bioactivity in human skin through modulation of the VD receptor
      (VDR). We enrolled 25 individuals with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin-D levels <30 ng/mL
      and with skin photodamage to take 50,000 IU of cholecalciferol biweekly for 8 to
      9 weeks. Then, we obtained baseline and end-of-study skin biopsies from
      photodamaged (PD) and photoprotected (PP) skin, and from benign nevi (BN) and
      tested for mRNA expression of VDR and cytochrome P450-24 (CYP24), and markers of
      keratinocytic differentiation. High-dose cholecalciferol supplementation
      significantly elevated circulating levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin-D (P < 0.0001) and
      1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D (P < 0.0001). VDR expression in PD- and PP-skin showed
      minimum changes after supplementation. CYP24 expression in PD- and PP-skin was
      increased after supplementation by 186%, P = 0.08, and 134%, P = 0.07,
      respectively. In BNs from 11 participants, a trend for higher VDR and CYP24
      expression was observed (average of 20%, P = 0.08, and 544%, P = 0.09,
      respectively). Caspase-14 expression at the basal layer in PD skin samples was
      the only epidermal differentiation marker that was significantly increased (49%,
      P < 0.0001). High-dose cholecalciferol supplementation raised serum VD metabolite
      levels concurrently with CYP24 mRNA and caspase-14 levels in the skin. Our
      findings of significant variability in the range of VDR and CYP24 expression
      across study samples represent an important consideration in studies evaluating
      the role of VD as a skin cancer chemopreventive agent.

PMID- 25835514
TI  - Plaque score change as an indicator for periimplant health in periodontal
      patients with immediately restored dental implants.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with a history of periodontitis might have a higher risk for
      implant failure as compared with periodontally healthy subjects. The aim of the
      present study was to look into this risk factor by examining the association
      between plaque scores, probing depths (PD), and bleeding on probing (BOP) around
      teeth and immediately restored dental implants up to 1 year after implant
      surgery. METHODS: Patients with partial edentulism, diagnosed with and previously
      treated for generalized chronic periodontitis, received dental implants,
      abutments, and cemented provisional prostheses up to 72 hours after implant
      surgery. Plaque scores, PD, and BOP were recorded and evaluated 6 and 12 months
      postsurgery. RESULTS: Plaque scores deteriorated slightly around teeth and
      improved around implants. No significant change was observed in the distribution
      of PD around teeth. The proportion of shallow pockets increased around implants.
      Improvement in plaque scores was associated with a stable/reduced PD, whereas
      deterioration in plaque scores was associated with increased PD around implants
      and teeth. CONCLUSIONS: A direct relationship was found between plaque score
      improvement and stable/reduced PD. Therefore, partially edentulous patients with
      a history of periodontitis should be encouraged to improve their plaque scores to
      maintain shallower pockets around implants.

PMID- 25835513
TI  - Profiles of influenza A/H1N1 vaccine response using hemagglutination-inhibition
      titers.
AB  - To identify distinct antibody profiles among adults 50-to-74 years old using
      influenza A/H1N1 HI titers up to 75 days after vaccination. Healthy subjects 50
      to 74 years old received the 2010-2011 trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine.
      We measured venous samples from Days 0, 28, and 75 for HI and VNA and B-cell
      ELISPOTs. Of 106 subjects, HI titers demonstrated a ceiling effect for 11 or 10%
      for those with a pre-vaccination HI titer of 1:640 where no subject post
      vaccination had an increase in titer. Of the remaining 95 subjects, only 37 or
      35% overall had at least a 4-fold increase by Day 28. Of these 37, 3 waned at
      least 4-fold, and 13 others 2-fold. Thus 15% of the subjects showed waning
      antibody titers by Day 75. More than half failed to respond at all. The profiles
      populated by these subjects as defined by HI did not vary with age or gender. The
      VNA results mimicked the HI profiles, but the profiles for B-cell ELISPOT did
      not. HI titers at Days 0, 28, and 75 populate 4 biologically plausible profiles.
      Limitations include lack of consensus for operationally defining waning as well
      as for the apparent ceiling. Furthermore, though well accepted as a marker for
      vaccine response, assigning thresholds with HI has limitations. However, VNA
      closely matches HI in populating these profiles. Thus, we hold that these
      profiles, having face- and content-validity, may provide a basis for
      understanding variation in genomic and transcriptomic response to influenza
      vaccination in this age group.

PMID- 25835515
TI  - The effect of the European traditional use directive on the register of herbal
      medicinal products in Spain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Directive 2004/24/EC, which came into force in 2011, created new
      regulatory requirements for traditional herbal medicines (THM). This study
      compared the Spanish THM registry before and after the Directive came fully into
      force in 2011. METHODS: We consulted the herbal medicinal plant and drug
      catalogues (General Council of the Official Colleges of Pharmacists), the website
      of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and retail web sites. RESULTS: Of 315 THM
      (from 39 companies) licensed in Spain in 2010, only 48 (10 companies) remained
      licensed in 2013, mainly due to their withdrawal: the EMA had received just 123
      applications from Spain and at least 34% formerly licensed THM had shifted to the
      less strictly regulated food sector, while up to 54% might have disappeared from
      the market. However, there is still a significant presence of retail websites
      making illegal health claims. CONCLUSION: In Spain, the public health benefits of
      the Directive 2004/24/EC might be less than expected.

PMID- 25835517
TI  - Impact of methylmercury exposure on mitochondrial energetics in AC16 and H9C2
      cardiomyocytes.
AB  - It has been reported that chronic low dose exposures of methylmercury (MeHg) is
      associated with cardiovascular diseases in many populations worldwide. The toxic
      mechanisms through which these adverse effects occur are currently unknown. The
      objective of this study was to determine the bioenergetic and cytotoxic effects
      of MeHg on AC16 and H9C2 cardiomyocyte cell lines. Both cell lines exhibit
      significantly decreased mitochondrial function, cell viability and increased
      reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Decreases in maximal respiration and
      reserve capacity was observed in both cell lines at 1MUM. Bioenergetic profile
      experiments were also performed in tandem with cells exposed to diamide or
      menadione, compounds which accumulate in mitochondria and disrupt oxidative
      phosphorylation. AC16 cells show MeHg dose dependant sensitivities with
      Stateapparent and ATP production values, but H9C2 cells do not show these trends.
      H9C2 cells may be more resistant to MeHg toxicity than AC16 cells as reflected in
      the increases of proton leak and Stateapparent. No changes in expression of
      respiratory complexes were observed. Results suggest that MeHg has the potential
      to induce cytotoxicity. Furthermore, MeHg may have differential effects on AC16
      and H9C2 cells, derived from human and rat cardiac tissue respectively,
      suggesting that differences in MeHg toxicity may be species-dependent. 

PMID- 25835516
TI  - Impact of the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial on cortical and hippocampal
      volumes.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There is a substantial interest in identifying interventions that
      can protect and buffer older adults from atrophy in the cortex and particularly,
      the hippocampus, a region important to memory. We report the 2-year effects of a
      randomized controlled trial of an intergenerational social health promotion
      program on older men's and women's brain volumes. METHODS: The Brain Health Study
      simultaneously enrolled, evaluated, and randomized 111 men and women (58
      interventions; 53 controls) within the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial to
      evaluate the intervention impact on biomarkers of brain health at baseline and
      annual follow-ups during the 2-year trial exposure. RESULTS: Intention-to-treat
      analyses on cortical and hippocampal volumes for full and sex-stratified samples
      revealed program-specific increases in volumes that reached significance in men
      only (P's <= .04). Although men in the control arm exhibited age-related declines
      for 2 years, men in the Experience Corps arm showed a 0.7% to 1.6% increase in
      brain volumes. Women also exhibited modest intervention-specific gains of 0.3% to
      0.54% by the second year of exposure that contrasted with declines of about 1%
      among women in the control group. DISCUSSION: These findings showed that
      purposeful activity embedded within a social health promotion program halted and,
      in men, reversed declines in brain volume in regions vulnerable to dementia.
      CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT0038.

PMID- 25835518
TI  - Detection of CMY-2 AmpC beta-lactamase-producing enterohemorrhagic Escherichia
      coli O157:H7 from outbreak strains in a nursery school in Japan.
AB  - In 2013, an outbreak of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7
      occurred in a nursery school in Japan. The outbreak affected 12 school children
      and five members of their families. All 17 isolates obtained from these
      individuals were found to be clonal, as determined by pulsed-field gel
      electrophoresis analysis and multilocus variable number tandem repeat analysis.
      The antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of the isolates to 20 drugs were
      examined, with three isolates showing resistance to the extended-spectrum
      cephalosporins (ESC) and cephamycin, including cefotaxime, ceftazidime, and
      cefminox. The resistant isolates carried the blaCMY-2 AmpC beta-lactamase gene.
      It is proposed that the ESC-resistant EHEC O157:H7 isolates might have acquired
      the resistance plasmid encoding the blaCMY-2 gene during human to human infection
      in the nursery school. 

PMID- 25835519
TI  - Electrochemiluminescence biosensor for ultrasensitive determination of ochratoxin
      A in corn samples based on aptamer and hyperbranched rolling circle
      amplification.
AB  - Determination of ochratoxin A (OTA) is highly important for food safety control.
      In this study, a signal-on electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor which
      combined the characteristics of high efficiency of hyperbranched rolling circle
      amplification (HRCA) and high selectivity of aptamer was developed for OTA
      determination. The capture probe DNA (CDNA) was firstly immobilized on the gold
      electrode surface through Au-S interaction, then the OTA aptamer was modified on
      the electrode surface through hybridization with CDNA. Since OTA can
      competitively bind with the aptamer due to their high affinity, which would
      induce the releasing of aptamer from the electrode surface. Subsequently, the
      free CDNA on the electrode surface can hybridize with the padlock probe and
      induce HRCA reaction subsequently. Thus, the HRCA products which contained large
      amount of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) fragments can be accumulated on the
      electrode surface. Since Ru(phen)3(2+) can intercalate into the groove of dsDNA
      and acts as ECL indicator, high ECL intensity can be detected from the electrode
      surface. The enhanced ECL intensity has a linear relationship with OTA in the
      range of 0.05-500 pg/mL with a correlation coefficient of 0.9957, and the limit
      of detection (LOD) was 0.02 pg/mL. The developed biosensor has been applied to
      determine OTA concentration in the corn samples with satisfied results.

PMID- 25835520
TI  - Enzymatic electrochemical detection of epidemic-causing Vibrio cholerae with a
      disposable oligonucleotide-modified screen-printed bisensor coupled to a dry
      reagent-based nucleic acid amplification assay.
AB  - In this study, we developed a nucleic acid-sensing platform in which a simple,
      dry-reagent-based nucleic acid amplification assay is combined with a portable
      multiplex electrochemical genosensor. Preparation of an amplification reaction
      mix targeting multiple DNA regions of interest is greatly simplified because the
      lyophilized reagents need only be reconstituted with ultrapure water before the
      DNA sample is added. The presence of single or multiple target DNAs causes the
      corresponding single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) amplicons to be generated and tagged
      with a fluorescein label. The fluorescein-labeled ssDNA amplicons are then
      analyzed using capture probe-modified screen-printed gold electrode bisensors.
      Enzymatic amplification of the hybridization event is achieved through the
      catalytic production of electroactive alpha-naphthol by anti-fluorescein
      conjugated alkaline phosphatase. The applicability of this platform as a
      diagnostic tool is demonstrated with the detection of toxigenic Vibrio cholerae
      serogroups O1 and O139, which are associated with cholera epidemics and
      pandemics. The platform showed excellent diagnostic sensitivity and specificity
      (100%) when challenged with 168 spiked stool samples. The limit of detection was
      low (10 colony-forming units/ml) for both toxigenic V. cholerae serogroups. A
      heat stability assay revealed that the dry-reagent amplification reaction mix was
      stable at temperatures of 4-56  degrees C, with an estimated shelf life of seven
      months. The findings of this study highlight the potential of combining a dry
      reagent-based nucleic acid amplification assay with an electrochemical genosensor
      in a more convenient, sensitive, and sequence-specific detection strategy for
      multiple target nucleic acids.

PMID- 25835521
TI  - Therapeutic utility of antibacterial peptides in wound healing.
AB  - Cationic antimicrobial peptides were first thought to fight infection in animal
      models by disintegrating bacterial peptides and later by inhibiting bacteria
      specific intracellular processes. However, ever increasing evidences indicate
      that cationic peptides accumulate around and modulate the immune system both
      systemically and in cutaneous and mucosal surfaces where injuries and infections
      occur. Native and designer antibacterial peptides as well as cationic peptides,
      never considered as antibiotics, promote wound healing at every step of cutaneous
      tissue regeneration. This article provides an introductory list of examples of
      how cationic peptides are involved in immunostimulation and epithelial tissue
      repair, eliminating wound infections and promoting wound healing in potential
      therapeutic utility in sight. Although a few antimicrobial peptides reached the
      Phase II clinical trial stage, toxicity concerns limit the potential
      administration routes. Resistance induction to both microbiology actions and the
      integrity of the innate immune system has to be carefully monitored. 

PMID- 25835522
TI  - Virtual lesion of right posterior superior temporal sulcus modulates conscious
      visual perception of fearful expressions in faces and bodies.
AB  - The posterior Superior Temporal Suclus (pSTS) represents a central hub in the
      complex cerebral network for person perception and emotion recognition as also
      suggested by its heavy connections with face- and body-specific cortical (e.g.,
      the fusiform face area, FFA and the extrastriate body area, EBA) and subcortical
      structures (e.g., amygdala). Information on whether pSTS is causatively involved
      in sustaining conscious visual perception of emotions expressed by faces and
      bodies is lacking. We explored this issue by combining a binocular rivalry
      procedure (where emotional and neutral face and body postures rivaled with house
      images) with off-line, 1-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).
      We found that temporary inhibition of the right pSTS reduced perceptual dominance
      of fearful faces and increased perceptual dominance of fearful bodies, while
      leaving unaffected the perception of neutral face and body images. Inhibition of
      the vertex had no effect on conscious visual perception of neutral or emotional
      face or body stimuli. Thus, the right pSTS plays a causal role in shortening
      conscious vision of fearful faces and in prolonging conscious vision of fearful
      bodies. These results suggest that pSTS selectively modulates the activity of
      segregated networks involved in the conscious visual perception of emotional
      faces or bodies. We speculate that the opposite role of the right pSTS for
      conscious perception of fearful face and body may be explained by the different
      connections that this region entertains with face- and body-selective visual
      areas as well as with amygdalae and premotor regions. 

PMID- 25835523
TI  - Seeing fearful body language rapidly freezes the observer's motor cortex.
AB  - Fearful body language is a salient signal alerting the observer to the presence
      of a potential threat in the surrounding environment. Although detecting
      potential threats may trigger an immediate reduction of motor output in animals
      (i.e., freezing behavior), it is unclear at what point in time similar reductions
      occur in the human motor cortex and whether they originate from excitatory or
      inhibitory processes. Using single-pulse and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic
      stimulation (TMS), here we tested the hypothesis that the observer's motor cortex
      implements extremely fast suppression of motor readiness when seeing emotional
      bodies - and fearful body expressions in particular. Participants observed
      pictures of body postures and categorized them as happy, fearful or neutral while
      receiving TMS over the right or left motor cortex at 100-125 msec after picture
      onset. In three different sessions, we assessed corticospinal excitability, short
      intracortical inhibition (SICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF).
      Independently of the stimulated hemisphere and the time of the stimulation,
      watching fearful bodies suppressed ICF relative to happy and neutral body
      expressions. Moreover, happy expressions reduced ICF relative to neutral actions.
      No changes in corticospinal excitability or SICI were found during the task.
      These findings show extremely rapid bilateral modulation of the motor cortices
      when seeing emotional bodies, with stronger suppression of motor readiness when
      seeing fearful bodies. Our results provide neurophysiological support for the
      evolutionary notions that emotion perception is inherently linked to action
      systems and that fear-related cues induce an urgent mobilization of motor
      reactions.

PMID- 25835524
TI  - The diversity of karyotypes and genomes within section Syllinum of the Genus
      Linum (Linaceae) revealed by molecular cytogenetic markers and RAPD analysis.
AB  - The wide variation in chromosome number found in species of the genus Linum (2n =
      16, 18, 20, 26, 28, 30, 32, 36, 42, 72, 84) indicates that chromosomal mutations
      have played an important role in the speciation of this taxon. To contribute to a
      better understanding of the genetic diversity and species relationships in this
      genus, comparative studies of karyotypes and genomes of species within section
      Syllinum Griseb. (2n = 26, 28) were carried out. Elongated with 9-aminoacridine
      chromosomes of 10 species of section Syllinum were investigated by C- and DAPI/S
      banding, CMA and Ag-NOR-staining, FISH with probes of rDNA and of telomere
      repeats. RAPD analysis was also performed. All the chromosome pairs in karyotypes
      of the studied species were identified. Chromosome DAPI/C-banding patterns of 28
      chromosomal species were highly similar. Two of the species differed from the
      others in chromosomal location of rDNA sites. B chromosomes were revealed in all
      the 28-chromosomal species. Chromosomes of Linum nodiflorum L. (2n = 26) and the
      28-chromosomal species were similar in DAPI/C-banding pattern and localization of
      several rDNA sites, but they differed in chromosomal size and number. The
      karyotype of L. nodiflorum was characterized by an intercalary site of telomere
      repeat, one additional 26S rDNA site and also by the absence of B chromosomes.
      Structural similarities between different chromosome pairs in karyotypes of the
      studied species were found indicating their tetraploid origin. RAPD analysis did
      not distinguish the species except L. nodiflorum. The species of section Syllinum
      probably originated from a common tetraploid ancestor. The 28-chromosomal species
      were closely related, but L. nodiflorum diverged significantly from the rest of
      the species probably due to chromosomal rearrangements occurring during
      evolution. 

PMID- 25835525
TI  - Impact of Yangtze river water transfer on the water quality of the Lixia river
      watershed, China.
AB  - To improve water quality and reduce the negative impacts of sudden inputs of
      water pollution in the Lixia River watershed, China, a series of experimental
      water transfers from the Yangtze River to the Lixia River were conducted from 2
      December 2006 to 7 January 2007. Water samples were collected every six days at
      55 monitoring sites during this period. Eight water parameters (water
      temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), potassium
      permanganate index (CODMn), ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N), electrical conductivity
      (EC), and water transparency (WT)) were analyzed to determine changes in nutrient
      concentrations during water transfers. The comprehensive pollution index (Pi) and
      single-factor (Si) evaluation methods were applied to evaluate spatio-temporal
      patterns of water quality during water transfers. Water quality parameters
      displayed different spatial and temporal distribution patterns within the
      watershed. Water quality was improved significantly by the water transfers,
      especially for sites closer to water intake points. The degree of improvement is
      positively related to rates of transfer inflow and drainage outflow. The effects
      differed for different water quality parameters at each site and at different
      water transfer times. There were notable decreases in NH4+-N, DO, COD, and CODMn
      across the entire watershed. However, positive effects on EC and pH were not
      observed. It is concluded that freshwater transfers from the Yangtze River can be
      used as an emergency measure to flush pollutants from the Lixia River watershed.
      Improved understanding of the effects of water transfers on water quality can
      help the development and implementation of effective strategies to improve water
      quality within this watershed. 

PMID- 25835526
TI  - Effects of Biotin Supplementation in the Diet on Adipose Tissue cGMP
      Concentrations, AMPK Activation, Lipolysis, and Serum-Free Fatty Acid Levels.
AB  - Several studies have shown that pharmacological concentrations of biotin decrease
      hyperlipidemia. The molecular mechanisms by which pharmacological concentrations
      of biotin modify lipid metabolism are largely unknown. Adipose tissue plays a
      central role in lipid homeostasis. In the present study, we analyzed the effects
      of biotin supplementation in adipose tissue on signaling pathways and critical
      proteins that regulate lipid metabolism, as well as on lipolysis. In addition, we
      assessed serum fatty acid concentrations. Male BALB/cAnN Hsd mice were fed a
      control or a biotin-supplemented diet (control: 1.76 mg biotin/kg; supplemented:
      97.7 mg biotin/kg diet) over 8 weeks postweaning. Compared with the control
      group, biotin-supplemented mice showed an increase in the levels of adipose
      guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) (control: 30.3+/-3.27 pmol/g wet
      tissue; supplemented: 49.5+/-3.44 pmol/g wet tissue) and of phosphorylated forms
      of adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK; 65.2%+/-1.06%),
      acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA), carboxylase-1 (196%+/-68%), and acetyl-CoA carboxylase-2
      (78.1%+/-18%). Serum fatty acid concentrations were decreased (control: 1.12+/
      0.04 mM; supplemented: 0.91+/-0.03 mM), and no change in lipolysis was found
      (control: 0.29+/-0.05 MUmol/mL; supplemented: 0.33+/-0.08 MUmol/mL). In
      conclusion, 8 weeks of dietary biotin supplementation increased adipose tissue
      cGMP content and protein expression of the active form of AMPK and of the
      inactive forms of acetyl-CoA carboxylase-1 and acetyl-CoA carboxylase-2. Serum
      fatty acid levels fell, and no change in lipolysis was observed. These findings
      provide insight into the effects of biotin supplementation on adipose tissue and
      support its use in the treatment of dyslipidemia.

PMID- 25835527
TI  - Accurate Measurements of Dielectric and Optical Functions of Liquid Water and
      Liquid Benzene in the VUV Region (1-100 eV) Using Small-Angle Inelastic X-ray
      Scattering.
AB  - Using a third-generation synchrotron source (the BL12XU beamline at SPring-8),
      inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) spectra of liquid water and liquid benzene were
      measured at energy losses of 1-100 eV with 0.24 eV resolution for small momentum
      transfers (q) of 0.23 and 0.32 au with +/-0.06 au uncertainty for q. For both
      liquids, the IXS profiles at these values of q converged well after we corrected
      for multiple scattering, and these results confirmed the dipole approximation for
      q <= ~0.3 au. Several dielectric and optical functions [including the optical
      oscillator strength distribution (OOS), the optical energy-loss function (OLF),
      the complex dielectric function, the complex index of refraction, and the
      reflectance] in the vacuum ultraviolet region were derived and tabulated from
      these small-angle (small q) IXS spectra. These new data were compared with
      previously obtained results, and this comparison demonstrated the strong
      reproducibility and accuracy of IXS spectroscopy. For both water and benzene,
      there was a notable similarity between the OOSs of the liquids and amorphous
      solids, and there was no evidence of plasmon excitation in the OLF. The static
      structure factor [S(q)] for q <= ~0.3 au was also deduced and suggests that
      molecular models that include electron correlation effects can serve as a good
      approximation for the liquid S(q) values over the full range of q. 

PMID- 25835528
TI  - Enhanced care team response to incidents involving major trauma at night: are
      helicopters the answer?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Challenges exist in how to deliver enhanced care to patients
      suffering severe injury in geographically remote areas within regionalised trauma
      networks at night. The physician led Enhanced Care Teams (ECTs) in the West
      Midlands region of England do not currently utilise helicopters to respond to
      incidents at night. This study describes this remote trauma workload at night
      within the regional network in terms of incident location; injury profile and
      patient care needs and discusses various solutions to the delivery of ECTs to
      such incidents, including the need for helicopter based platforms. METHODS: We
      present a retrospective analysis of incidents involving Major Trauma occurring in
      the West Midlands Regional Trauma Network in England over a one year period (1st
      April 2012 until the 31st March 2013). Anonymised patient records from the Trauma
      Audit and Research Network (TARN) for patients that had been conveyed to hospital
      by ambulance/air ambulance were cross-referenced with the West Midlands Ambulance
      Service NHS Foundation Trust (WMAS) Computer Assisted Dispatch (CAD) archive for
      the same period. Data were abstracted from the combined dataset relating to
      injury severity (ISS/ICU admission/death at scene or as inpatient); ECT resource
      activations/scene attendances; incident location and the need for enhanced level
      care. RESULTS: A total of 603 incidents involving Major Trauma were identified
      during night time hours. Enhanced Care Team resources attended scene in 167 cases
      (27.7%). Of the incidents not attended by an ECT 179 (41.1%) were due to falls
      and 91 (20.9%) involved a 'Road Traffic Collision'. A total of 36 incidents (6.0%
      of total at night) occurred in locations identified as being greater than 45min
      by road from the nearest major trauma centre. In these cases 13 patients had
      enhanced care needs that could not be addressed at scene by the attending
      ambulance service personnel. CONCLUSIONS: There is limited evidence to support
      the need for night HEMS operations in the West Midlands regional trauma network.
      The potential role of night HEMS in other regional trauma networks in England
      requires further evaluation with specific reference to the incidence of Major
      Trauma and efficiency of existing road based systems.

PMID- 25835529
TI  - Cadaveric analysis of capsular attachments of the distal femur related to pin and
      wire placement.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Septic arthritis following intra-capsular penetration of the knee by
      external fixation devices is a complication of traction/fixation devices inserted
      in the lower extremity [1,2]. The authors were unable to find reference to or
      exact measurements of the capsular attachments relating to the distal femur
      documented in the current literature. This study aimed to demonstrate the
      capsular attachments and reflections of the distal femur to determine safe
      placements of wires or traction devices. METHODS: The attachments of the capsule
      to the distal femur were measured in 10 unembalmed cadaveric knees. Capsular
      attachments were measured anteriorly at the maximal extension of the supra
      patella pouch. Medially and laterally measurements were expressed as percentages
      related to the maximal AP diameter of the distal femur. RESULTS: Mean distance
      from the centre of the anterior part of the notch to the superior fold was 79.5mm
      (Range 48.1-120.7 mm). The medial capsular reflections measured in a plane from
      the adductor tubercle to the anterior edge of the medial femoral condyle
      demonstrated the capsular reflection was attached an average of 57% back from the
      anterior edge (Range 41-74%). Laterally the capsular reflections on a line drawn
      from the maximal diameter in the sagittal plane were attached an average of 48%
      from the anterior reference point (Range 33-57%). Measuring the reflections at 45
      degrees to the long axis of the femur in the sagittal plane the attachment was an
      average of 51% from the anterior reference point. CONCLUSIONS: Capsular
      reflections varied among specimens. Medially the capsule attachment was up to 74%
      of diameter of distal femur at the level of the adductor tubercle. Therefore, the
      insertion of distal femoral traction pins or similar should be placed proximal to
      the adductor tubercle and no further than 25% of the distance to the anterior
      cortex. Care is also needed to ensure pins do not travel to exit too anteriorly
      on the lateral side as capsular attachments were found to be up to a distance 48%
      of the diameter of the femur from anterior reference point. Distal condylar extra
      articular fixation with Schanz screws is feasible if orientated in the oblique
      plane.

PMID- 25835531
TI  - Development of a recombination system for the generation of occlusion positive
      genetically modified Anticarsia gemmatalis multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus.
AB  - Anticarsia gemmatalis is an important pest in legume crops in South America and
      it has been successfully controlled using Anticarsia gemmatalis Multiple
      Nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgMNPV) in subtropical climate zones. Nevertheless, in
      temperate climates its speed of kill is too slow. Taking this into account,
      genetic modification of AgMNPV could lead to improvements of its biopesticidal
      properties. Here we report the generation of a two-component system that allows
      the production of recombinant AgMNPV. This system is based on a parental AgMNPV
      in which the polyhedrin gene (polh) was replaced by a bacterial beta
      galactosidase (lacZ) gene flanked by two target sites for the homing endonuclease
      I-PpoI. Co-transfection of insect cells with linearized (I-PpoI-digested)
      parental genome and a transfer vector allowed the restitution of polh and the
      expression of a heterologous gene upon homologous recombination, with a low
      background of non-recombinant AgMNPV. The system was validated by constructing a
      recombinant occlusion-positive (polh+) AgMNPV expressing the green fluorescent
      protein gene (gfp). This recombinant virus infected larvae normally per os and
      led to the expression of GFP in cell culture as well as in A. gemmatalis larvae.
      These results demonstrate that the system is an efficient method for the
      generation of recombinant AgMNPV expressing heterologous genes, which can be used
      for manifold purposes, including biotechnological and pharmaceutical applications
      and the production of orally infectious recombinants with improved biopesticidal
      properties.

PMID- 25835530
TI  - Eradication of HIV-1 from the macrophage reservoir: an uncertain goal?
AB  - Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) establishes latency in resting memory
      CD4+ T cells and cells of myeloid lineage. In contrast to the T cells, cells of
      myeloid lineage are resistant to the HIV-1 induced cytopathic effect. Cells of
      myeloid lineage including macrophages are present in anatomical sanctuaries
      making them a difficult drug target. In addition, the long life span of
      macrophages as compared to the CD4+ T cells make them important viral reservoirs
      in infected individuals especially in the late stage of viral infection where
      CD4+ T cells are largely depleted. In the past decade, HIV-1 persistence in
      resting CD4+ T cells has gained considerable attention. It is currently believed
      that rebound viremia following cessation of combination anti-retroviral therapy
      (cART) originates from this source. However, the clinical relevance of this
      reservoir has been questioned. It is suggested that the resting CD4+ T cells are
      only one source of residual viremia and other viral reservoirs such as tissue
      macrophages should be seriously considered. In the present review we will discuss
      how macrophages contribute to the development of long-lived latent reservoirs and
      how macrophages can be used as a therapeutic target in eradicating latent
      reservoir. 

PMID- 25835532
TI  - Apigenin restricts FMDV infection and inhibits viral IRES driven translational
      activity.
AB  - Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease of domestic and wild
      ruminants that is caused by FMD virus (FMDV). FMD outbreaks have occurred in
      livestock-containing regions worldwide. Apigenin, which is a flavonoid naturally
      existing in plant, possesses various pharmacological effects, including anti
      inflammatory, anticancer, antioxidant and antiviral activities. Results show that
      apigenin can inhibit FMDV-mediated cytopathogenic effect and FMDV replication in
      vitro. Further studies demonstrate the following: (i) apigenin inhibits FMDV
      infection at the viral post-entry stage; (ii) apigenin does not exhibit direct
      extracellular virucidal activity; and (iii) apigenin interferes with the
      translational activity of FMDV driven by internal ribosome entry site. Studies on
      applying apigein in vivo are required for drug development and further
      identification of potential drug targets against FDMV infection. 

PMID- 25835533
TI  - Glycosylation of KSHV encoded vGPCR functions in its signaling and
      tumorigenicity.
AB  - Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is a tumor virus and the etiologic
      agent of Kaposi's Sarcoma (KS). KSHV G protein-coupled receptor (vGPCR) is an
      oncogene that is implicated in malignancies associated with KHSV infection. In
      this study, we show that vGPCR undergoes extensive N-linked glycosylation within
      the extracellular domains, specifically asparagines 18, 22, 31 and 202. An
      immunofluorescence assay demonstrates that N-linked glycosylation are necessary
      for vGPCR trafficking to the cellular membrane. Employing vGPCR mutants whose
      glycosylation sites were ablated, we show that these vGPCR mutants failed to
      activate downstream signaling in cultured cells and were severely impaired to
      induce tumor formation in the xenograph nude mouse model. These findings support
      the conclusion that glycosylation is critical for vGPCR tumorigenesis and imply
      that chemokine regulation at the plasma membrane is crucial for vGPCR mediated
      signaling. 

PMID- 25835534
TI  - Presence of poly(A) tails at the 3'-termini of some mRNAs of a double-stranded
      RNA virus, southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus.
AB  - Southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV), a new member of the genus
      Fijivirus, is a double-stranded RNA virus known to lack poly(A) tails. We now
      showed that some of SRBSDV mRNAs were indeed polyadenylated at the 3' terminus in
      plant hosts, and investigated the nature of 3' poly(A) tails. The non-abundant
      presence of SRBSDV mRNAs bearing polyadenylate tails suggested that these viral
      RNA were subjected to polyadenylation-stimulated degradation. The discovery of
      poly(A) tails in different families of viruses implies potentially a wide
      occurrence of the polyadenylation-assisted RNA degradation in viruses. 

PMID- 25835536
TI  - Addendum: Kazmierczak, Z.; Gorski, A.; Dabrowska, K. Facing antibiotic
      resistance: Staphylococcus aureus phages as a medical tool. Viruses 2014, 6, 2551
      2570.

PMID- 25835535
TI  - Tenth International Foamy Virus Conference 2014--achievements and perspectives.
AB  - For the past two decades, scientists from around the world, working on different
      aspects of foamy virus (FV) research, have gathered in different research
      institutions almost every two years to present their recent results in formal
      talks, to discuss their ongoing studies informally, and to initiate fruitful
      collaborations. In this report we review the 2014 anniversary conference to share
      the meeting summary with the virology community and hope to arouse interest by
      other researchers to join this exciting field. The topics covered included
      epidemiology, virus molecular biology, and immunology of FV infection in non
      human primates, cattle, and humans with zoonotic FV infections, as well as recent
      findings on endogenous FVs. Several topics focused on virus replication and
      interactions between viral and cellular proteins. Use of FV in biomedical
      research was highlighted with presentations on using FV vectors for gene therapy
      and FV proteins as scaffold for vaccine antigen presentation. On behalf of the FV
      community, this report also includes a short tribute to commemorate Prof. Axel
      Rethwilm, one of the leading experts in the field of retrovirology and foamy
      viruses, who passed away 29 July 2014.

PMID- 25835537
TI  - Steroidal Alkaloids from Veratrum nigrum Enhance Glucose Uptake in Skeletal
      Muscle Cells.
AB  - Veratrum nigrum is recognized as a medicinal plant used for the treatment of
      hypertension, stroke, and excessive phlegm. Chemical investigation of the roots
      and rhizomes led to the isolation of five new steroidal alkaloids, jervine-3-yl
      formate (1), veramarine-3-yl formate (2), jerv-5,11-diene-3beta,13beta-diol (3),
      (1beta,3beta,5beta)-1,3-dihydroxyjervanin-12(13)-en-11-one (4), and veratramine-3
      yl acetate (5). Compounds 1 and 5 exhibited potent inhibitory activity (11.3 and
      4.7 MUM, respectively) against protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), which has
      emerged as a viable target for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. On the
      basis of their PTP1B inhibitory activity, the compounds were evaluated for their
      potential to enhance glucose uptake in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells. The insulin
      stimulated glucose uptake was enhanced upon treatment with compounds 1 and 5 (10
      MUM) by 49.9 +/- 6.5% and 56.0 +/- 9.7%, respectively, in a more potent manner
      than that with the positive control rosiglitazone (47.3 +/- 3.4% at 30 MUM).
      These results suggest that steroidal alkaloids serve as practical antidiabetes
      mellitus leads capable of enhancing glucose uptake. 

PMID- 25835538
TI  - Estimating influenza attack rates in the United States using a participatory
      cohort.
AB  - We considered how participatory syndromic surveillance data can be used to
      estimate influenza attack rates during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons in the
      United States. Our inference is based on assessing the difference in the rates of
      self-reported influenza-like illness (ILI, defined as presence of fever and
      cough/sore throat) among the survey participants during periods of active vs. low
      influenza circulation as well as estimating the probability of self-reported ILI
      for influenza cases. Here, we combined Flu Near You data with additional sources
      (Hong Kong household studies of symptoms of influenza cases and the U.S. Centers
      for Disease Control and Prevention estimates of vaccine coverage and
      effectiveness) to estimate influenza attack rates. The estimated influenza attack
      rate for the early vaccinated Flu Near You members (vaccination reported by week
      45) aged 20-64 between calendar weeks 47-12 was 14.7%(95% CI(5.9%,24.1%)) for the
      2012-2013 season and 3.6%(-3.3%,10.3%) for the 2013-2014 season. The
      corresponding rates for the US population aged 20-64 were 30.5% (4.4%, 49.3%) in
      2012-2013 and 7.1%(-5.1%, 32.5%) in 2013-2014. The attack rates in women and men
      were similar each season. Our findings demonstrate that participatory syndromic
      surveillance data can be used to gauge influenza attack rates during future
      influenza seasons. 

PMID- 25835539
TI  - Fourier power spectrum characteristics of face photographs: attractiveness
      perception depends on low-level image properties.
AB  - We investigated whether low-level processed image properties that are shared by
      natural scenes and artworks - but not veridical face photographs - affect the
      perception of facial attractiveness and age. Specifically, we considered the
      slope of the radially averaged Fourier power spectrum in a log-log plot. This
      slope is a measure of the distribution of special frequency power in an image.
      Images of natural scenes and artworks possess - compared to face images - a
      relatively shallow slope (i.e., increased high spatial frequency power). Since
      aesthetic perception might be based on the efficient processing of images with
      natural scene statistics, we assumed that the perception of facial attractiveness
      might also be affected by these properties. We calculated Fourier slope and other
      beauty-associated measurements in face images and correlated them with ratings of
      attractiveness and age of the depicted persons (Study 1). We found that Fourier
      slope - in contrast to the other tested image properties - did not predict
      attractiveness ratings when we controlled for age. In Study 2A, we overlaid face
      images with random-phase patterns with different statistics. Patterns with a
      slope similar to those in natural scenes and artworks resulted in lower
      attractiveness and higher age ratings. In Studies 2B and 2C, we directly
      manipulated the Fourier slope of face images and found that images with shallower
      slopes were rated as more attractive. Additionally, attractiveness of unaltered
      faces was affected by the Fourier slope of a random-phase background (Study 3).
      Faces in front of backgrounds with statistics similar to natural scenes and faces
      were rated as more attractive. We conclude that facial attractiveness ratings are
      affected by specific image properties. An explanation might be the efficient
      coding hypothesis. 

PMID- 25835540
TI  - Association of household and community socioeconomic position and urbanicity with
      underweight and overweight among women in Pakistan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Similar to other developing countries, Pakistan is going through a
      rapid nutrition transition where shift from underweight to overweight and obesity
      is occurring. In this paper, we report on the relationship of household
      socioeconomic position (SEP), community SEP and urbanicity with under- and over
      weight categories of BMI among Pakistani women. METHODS: We analyzed data on
      4,767 women ages 15-49 years enrolled in a nationally representative Pakistan
      Demographic Health Survey (PDHS) conducted in 2012-13 that employed a multistage,
      stratified cluster sampling design. We assessed the association of urbanicity,
      household and community SEP derived from household assets and utilities, with
      categories of body mass index (BMI) using multinomial regression analysis where
      normal weight (BMI 18.6-22.5) was the reference category. RESULTS: Thirteen
      percent of women were underweight (BMI <18.5), 15% pre-overweight (BMI: 22.6
      24.9), 25% overweight (BMI: 25.0-29.9) and 14% were obese (BMI>=30). Pre
      overweight, overweight and obesity among women increased across household wealth
      quintiles (HWQs) in a graded fashion whereas there was no significant difference
      in underweight by household wealth. Women in urban areas were more likely to be
      obese. There was a pronounced increase in adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for
      overweight/obesity across HWQs within urban areas compared to rural areas. There
      was a steeper gradient in aORs for obesity from 1st to 5th HWQs in high income
      communities compared to the middle- and low income communities. In community
      level analyses, communities in urban areas were more likely to have higher levels
      of obesity while in rural areas, especially in Sindh, more communities were more
      likely to have a higher level of underweight. CONCLUSION: A shift to higher
      overweight and obesity than underweight in Pakistan is associated with high
      household and community wealth as well as living in urban areas. Clustering of
      obesity and underweight in distinct communities afford opportunity for tailored
      intervention programs.

PMID- 25835541
TI  - Reiki for depression and anxiety.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anxiety and depression affect many people. Treatments do not have
      complete success and often require people to take drugs for long periods of time.
      Many people look for other treatments that may help. One of those is Reiki, a
      2500 year old treatment described as a vibrational or subtle energy therapy, and
      is most commonly facilitated by light touch on or above the body. There have been
      reports of Reiki alleviating anxiety and depression, but no specific systematic
      review. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of Reiki for treating anxiety and
      depression in people aged 16 and over. SEARCH METHODS: Search of the Cochrane
      Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL - all years), the Cochrane Depression,
      Anxiety and Neurosis Review Group's Specialised Register (CCDANCTR - all years),
      EMBASE, (1974 to November 2014), MEDLINE (1950 to November 2014), PsycINFO (1967
      to November 2014) and AMED (1985 to November 2014). Additional searches were
      carried out on the World Health Organization Trials Portal (ICTRP) together with
      ClinicalTrials.gov to identify any ongoing or unpublished studies. All searches
      were up to date as of 4 November 2014. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised trials in
      adults with anxiety or depression or both, with at least one arm treated with
      Reiki delivered by a trained Reiki practitioner. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS:
      The two authors independently decided on inclusion/exclusion of studies and
      extracted data. A prior analysis plan had been specified but was not needed as
      the data were too sparse. MAIN RESULTS: We found three studies for inclusion in
      the review. One recruited males with a biopsy-proven diagnosis of non-metastatic
      prostate cancer who were not receiving chemotherapy and had elected to receive
      external-beam radiation therapy; the second study recruited community-living
      participants who were aged 55 years and older; the third study recruited
      university students.These studies included subgroups with anxiety and depression
      as defined by symptom scores and provided data separately for those subgroups. As
      this included only 25 people with anxiety and 17 with depression and 20 more with
      either anxiety or depression, but which was not specified, the results could only
      be reported narratively. They show no evidence that Reiki is either beneficial or
      harmful in this population. The risk of bias for the included studies was
      generally rated as unclear or high for most domains, which reduces the certainty
      of the evidence. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is insufficient evidence to say
      whether or not Reiki is useful for people over 16 years of age with anxiety or
      depression or both.

PMID- 25835543
TI  - Correction: Cryoprotectants and extreme freeze tolerance in a subarctic
      population of the wood frog.

PMID- 25835542
TI  - Two distinct effector memory cell populations of WT1 (Wilms' tumor gene 1)
      specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in acute myeloid leukemia patients.
AB  - Wilms' tumor gene 1 (WT1) protein is a promising tumor-associated antigen for
      cancer immunotherapy. We have been performing WT1 peptide vaccination with good
      clinical responses in over 750 patients with leukemia or solid cancers. In this
      study, we generated single-cell gene-expression profiles of the effector memory
      (EM) subset of WT1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in peripheral blood of
      nine acute myeloid leukemia patients treated with WT1 peptide vaccine, in order
      to discriminate responders (WT1 mRNA levels in peripheral blood decreased to
      undetectable levels, decreased but stayed at abnormal levels, were stable at
      undetectable levels, or remained unchanged from the initial abnormal levels more
      than 6 months after WT1 vaccination) from non-responders (leukemic blast cells
      and/or WT1 mRNA levels increased relative to the initial state within 6 months of
      WT1 vaccination) prior to WT1 vaccination. Cluster and principal component
      analyses performed using 83 genes did not discriminate between responders and non
      responders prior to WT1 vaccination. However, these analyses revealed that EM
      subset of WT1-specific CTLs could be divided into two groups: the "activated" and
      "quiescent" states; in responders, EM subset of the CTLs shifted to the
      "quiescent" state, whereas in non-responders, those shifted to the "activated"
      state following WT1 vaccination. These results demonstrate for the first time the
      existence of two distinct EM states, each of which was characteristic of
      responders or non-responders, of WT1-specific CTLs in AML patients, and raises
      the possibility of using advanced gene-expression profile analysis to clearly
      discriminate between responders and non-responders prior to WT1 vaccination.

PMID- 25835544
TI  - Fate of the antibiotic sulfadiazine in natural soils: Experimental and numerical
      investigations.
AB  - Based on small-scale laboratory and field-scale lysimeter experiments, the
      sorption and biodegradation of sulfonamide sulfadiazine (SDZ) were investigated
      in unsaturated sandy and silty-clay soils. Sorption and biodegradation were low
      in the laboratory, while the highest leaching rates were observed when SDZ was
      mixed with manure. The leaching rate decreased when SDZ was mixed with pure
      water, and was smallest with the highest SDZ concentrations. In the laboratory,
      three transformation products (TPs) developed after an initial lag phase.
      However, the amount of TPs was different for different mixing-scenarios. The TP 2
      aminopyrimidine was not observed in the laboratory, but was the most prevalent TP
      at the field scale. Sorption was within the same range at the laboratory and
      field scales. However, distinctive differences occurred with respect to
      biodegradation, which was higher in the field lysimeters than at the laboratory
      scale. While the silty-clay soil favored sorption of SDZ, the sandy, and thus
      highly permeable, soil was characterized by short half-lives and thus a quick
      biodegradation of SDZ. For 2-aminopyrimidine, half-lives of only a few days were
      observed. Increased field-scale biodegradation in the sandy soil resulted from a
      higher water and air permeability that enhanced oxygen transport and limited
      oxygen depletion. Furthermore, low pH was more important than the organic matter
      and clay content for increasing the biodegradation of SDZ. A numerical analysis
      of breakthrough curves of bromide, SDZ, and its TPs showed that preferential flow
      pathways strongly affected the solute transport within shallow parts of the soil
      profile at the field scale. However, this effect was reduced in deeper parts of
      the soil profile. Due to high field-scale biodegradation in several layers of
      both soils, neither SDZ nor 2-aminopyrimidine was detected in the discharge of
      the lysimeter at a depth of 1m. Synthetic 50 year long simulations, which
      considered the application of manure with SDZ for general agricultural practices
      in Germany and humid climate conditions, showed that the concentration of SDZ
      decreased below 0.1 MUg/L in both soils below the depth of 50 cm.

PMID- 25835545
TI  - Using vapor phase tomography to measure the spatial distribution of vapor
      concentrations and flux for vadose-zone VOC sources.
AB  - A test was conducted at a chlorinated-solvent contaminated site in Tucson, AZ, to
      evaluate the effectiveness of vapor-phase tomography (VPT) for characterizing the
      distribution of volatile organic contaminants (VOC) in the vadose zone. A soil
      vapor extraction (SVE) system has been in operation at the site since 2007. Vapor
      concentration and vacuum pressure were measured at four different depths in each
      of the four monitoring wells surrounding the extraction well. The test provided a
      3D characterization of local vapor concentrations under induced-gradient
      conditions. Permeability data obtained from analysis of borehole logs were used
      along with pressure and the vapor-concentration data to determine VOC mass flux
      within the test domain. A region of higher mass flux was identified in the
      deepest interval of the S-SW section of the domain, indicating the possible
      location of a zone with greater contaminant mass. These results are consistent
      with the TCE-concentration distribution obtained from sediment coring conducted
      at the site. In contrast, the results of a standard soil gas survey did not
      indicate the presence of a zone with greater contaminant mass. These results
      indicate that the VPT test provided a robust characterization of VOC
      concentration and flux distribution at the site. 

PMID- 25835546
TI  - Using dual isotopes to evaluate sources and transformations of nitrate in the
      West Lake watershed, eastern China.
AB  - The West Lake is a World Heritage site in the West Lake watershed in eastern
      China. In this study, the hydrogeological and dual isotopic approaches were
      integrated to evaluate the seasonal and spatial variations of nitrate (NO3(-)) in
      the West Lake watershed, and to characterize NO3(-) sources and transformations.
      The results revealed that the geochemical facies of the water samples were
      dominated by Ca(2+)+Na(+)-HCO3(-)+SO4(2)(-) in the surface water and transfer
      water, Ca(2+)+Na(+)-HCO3(-) and Ca(2+)+Na(+)-SO4(2-) in the groundwater, which
      most likely reflect natural reactions and anthropogenic inputs. About 13% of the
      groundwater samples containing NO3(-) exceeded the World Health Organization
      (WHO) standard of 10 mg N L(-1). NO3(-) was the dominant form of total nitrogen
      (TN) and was the main surface water contaminant in the West Lake watershed. The
      delta(15)NNO3 and delta(18)ONO3 values indicated that the dominant NO3(-) sources
      in surface water were soil nitrogen (soil N) and chemical fertilizers, while the
      main NO3(-) sources in groundwater were soil N from the forest, chemical
      fertilizers and manure in the tea garden, domestic sewage from the small, old
      residential area in the forest as well as urban areas. The distribution of NO3(-)
      in groundwater was strongly influenced by land use. Results also suggest that
      there was significant nitrification in surface water and groundwater in the West
      Lake watershed, and that there were also denitrification processes in
      groundwater. The annual net fluxes of TN, NO3(-), and NH4(+) into the West Lake
      were 2.0*10(4), 4.0*10(3), and 1.31*10(4) kg as N, respectively.

PMID- 25835548
TI  - Persistent decrease in alpha current density in fully remitted subjects with
      major depressive disorder treated with fluoxetine: A prospective electric
      tomography study.
AB  - Major depressive disorder (MDD) is recurrent, and its pathophysiology is not
      fully understood. Studies using electric tomography (ET) have identified
      abnormalities in the current density (CD) of MDD subjects in regions associated
      with the neurobiology of MDD, such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and
      medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC). However, little is known regarding the long
      term CD changes in MDD subjects who respond to antidepressants. The aim of this
      study was to compare CD between healthy and MDD subjects who received 1-year open
      label treatment with fluoxetine. Thirty-two-channel electroencephalograms (EEGs)
      were collected from 70 healthy controls and 74 MDD subjects at baseline (pre
      treatment), 1 and 2weeks and 1, 2, 6, 9 and 12months. Variable-resolution ET
      (VARETA) was used to assess the CD between subject groups at each time point. The
      MDD group exhibited decreased alpha CD (alphaCD) in the occipital and parietal
      cortices, ACC, mOFC, thalamus and caudate nucleus at each time point. The alphaCD
      abnormalities persisted in the MDD subjects despite their achieving full
      remission. The low sub-alpha band was different between the healthy and MDD
      subjects. Differences in the amount of alphaCD between sexes and treatment
      outcomes were observed. Lack of a placebo arm and the loss of depressed patients
      to follow-up were significant limitations. The persistence of the decrease in
      alphaCD might suggest that the underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms of MDD are
      not corrected despite the asymptomatic state of MDD subjects, which could be
      significant in understanding the highly recurrent nature of MDD. 

PMID- 25835547
TI  - Impaired T cell responsiveness to interleukin-6 in hematological patients with
      invasive aspergillosis.
AB  - Invasive mold infections (IMI) are among the most devastating complications
      following chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), with
      high mortality rates. Yet, the molecular basis for human susceptibility to
      invasive aspergillosis (IA) and mucormycosis remain poorly understood. Herein, we
      aimed to characterize the immune profile of individuals with hematological
      malignancies (n = 18) who developed IMI during the course of chemotherapy or
      HSCT, and compared it to that of hematological patients who had no evidence of
      invasive fungal infection (n = 16). First, we measured the expression of the
      pattern recognition receptors pentraxin 3, dectin-1, and Toll-like receptors
      (TLR) 2 and 4 in peripheral blood of chemotherapy and HSCT recipients with IMI.
      Compared to hematological controls, individuals with IA and mucormycosis had
      defective expression of dectin-1; in addition, patients with mucormycosis had
      decreased TLR2 and increased TLR4 expression. Since fungal recognition via dectin
      1 favors T helper 17 responses and the latter are highly dependent on activation
      of the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3, we next used
      phospho-flow cytometry to measure the phosphorylation of the transcription
      factors STAT1 and STAT3 in response to interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and
      interleukin (IL)-6, respectively. While IFN-gamma/STAT1 signaling was similar
      between groups, naive T cells from patients with IA, but not those with
      mucormycosis, exhibited reduced responsiveness to IL-6 as measured by STAT3
      phosphorylation. Furthermore, IL-6 increased Aspergillus-induced IL-17 production
      in culture supernatants from healthy and hematological controls but not in
      patients with IA. Altogether, these observations suggest an important role for
      dectin-1 and the IL-6/STAT3 pathway in protective immunity against Aspergillus. 

PMID- 25835549
TI  - An odor identification approach based on event-related pupil dilation and gaze
      focus.
AB  - Olfactory disorders constitute a potential marker of many diseases and are
      considered valuable clues to the diagnosis and evaluation of progression for many
      disorders. The most commonly used test for the evaluation of impairments of
      olfactory identification requires the active participation of the subject, who
      must select the correct name of the perceived odor from a list. An alternative
      method is required because speech may be impaired or not yet learned in many
      patients. As odor identification is known to be facilitated by searching for
      visual clues, we aimed to develop an objective, vision-based approach for the
      evaluation of odor identification. We used an eye tracking method to quantify
      pupillary and ocular responses during the simultaneous presentation of olfactory
      and visual stimuli, in 39 healthy participants aged from 19 to 77years. Odor
      presentation triggered an increase in pupil dilation and gaze focus on the
      picture corresponding to the odor presented. These results suggest that odorant
      stimuli increase recruitment of the sympathetic system (as demonstrated by the
      reactivity of the pupil) and draw attention to the visual clue. These results
      validate the objectivity of this method. 

PMID- 25835550
TI  - Mitochondrial vulnerability and increased susceptibility to nutrient-induced
      cytotoxicity in fibroblasts from leigh syndrome French canadian patients.
AB  - Mutations in LRPPRC are responsible for the French Canadian variant of Leigh
      Syndrome (LSFC), a severe disorder characterized biochemically by a tissue
      specific deficiency of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) and clinically by the
      occurrence of severe and deadly acidotic crises. Factors that precipitate these
      crises remain unclear. To better understand the physiopathology and identify
      potential treatments, we performed a comprehensive analysis of mitochondrial
      function in LSFC and control fibroblasts. Furthermore, we have used this cell
      based model to screen for conditions that promote premature cell death in LSFC
      cells and test the protective effect of ten interventions targeting well-defined
      aspects of mitochondrial function. We show that, despite maintaining normal ATP
      levels, LSFC fibroblasts present several mitochondrial functional abnormalities
      under normal baseline conditions, which likely impair their capacity to respond
      to stress. This includes mitochondrial network fragmentation, impaired oxidative
      phosphorylation capacity, lower membrane potential, increased sensitivity to Ca2+
      induced permeability transition, but no changes in reactive oxygen species
      production. We also show that LSFC fibroblasts display enhanced susceptibility to
      cell death when exposed to palmitate, an effect that is potentiated by high
      lactate, while high glucose or acidosis alone or in combination were neutral.
      Furthermore, we demonstrate that compounds that are known to promote flux through
      the electron transport chain independent of phosphorylation (methylene blue,
      dinitrophenol), or modulate fatty acid (L-carnitine) or Krebs cycle metabolism
      (propionate) are protective, while antioxidants (idebenone, N-acetyl cysteine,
      resveratrol) exacerbate palmitate plus lactate-induced cell death. Collectively,
      beyond highlighting multiple alterations in mitochondrial function and increased
      susceptibility to nutrient-induced cytotoxicity in LSFC fibroblasts, these
      results raise questions about the nature of the diets, particularly excess fat
      intake, as well as on the use of antioxidants in patients with LSFC and,
      possibly, other COX defects. 

PMID- 25835551
TI  - Genome sequencing of the perciform fish Larimichthys crocea provides insights
      into molecular and genetic mechanisms of stress adaptation.
AB  - The large yellow croaker Larimichthys crocea (L. crocea) is one of the most
      economically important marine fish in China and East Asian countries. It also
      exhibits peculiar behavioral and physiological characteristics, especially
      sensitive to various environmental stresses, such as hypoxia and air exposure.
      These traits may render L. crocea a good model for investigating the response
      mechanisms to environmental stress. To understand the molecular and genetic
      mechanisms underlying the adaptation and response of L. crocea to environmental
      stress, we sequenced and assembled the genome of L. crocea using a bacterial
      artificial chromosome and whole-genome shotgun hierarchical strategy. The final
      genome assembly was 679 Mb, with a contig N50 of 63.11 kb and a scaffold N50 of
      1.03 Mb, containing 25,401 protein-coding genes. Gene families underlying
      adaptive behaviours, such as vision-related crystallins, olfactory receptors, and
      auditory sense-related genes, were significantly expanded in the genome of L.
      crocea relative to those of other vertebrates. Transcriptome analyses of the
      hypoxia-exposed L. crocea brain revealed new aspects of neuro-endocrine
      immune/metabolism regulatory networks that may help the fish to avoid cerebral
      inflammatory injury and maintain energy balance under hypoxia. Proteomics data
      demonstrate that skin mucus of the air-exposed L. crocea had a complex
      composition, with an unexpectedly high number of proteins (3,209), suggesting its
      multiple protective mechanisms involved in antioxidant functions, oxygen
      transport, immune defence, and osmotic and ionic regulation. Our results reveal
      the molecular and genetic basis of fish adaptation and response to hypoxia and
      air exposure. The data generated by this study will provide valuable resources
      for the genetic improvement of stress resistance and yield potential in L.
      crocea. 

PMID- 25835553
TI  - Reply to Vikrant and Verma about "Monitor Lizard Envenoming".

PMID- 25835552
TI  - Diversification, evolution and sub-functionalization of 70kDa heat-shock proteins
      in two sister species of antarctic krill: differences in thermal habitats,
      responses and implications under climate change.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A comparative thermal tolerance study was undertaken on two sister
      species of Euphausiids (Antarctic krills) Euphausia superba and Euphausia
      crystallorophias. Both are essential components of the Southern Ocean ecosystem,
      but occupy distinct environmental geographical locations with slightly different
      temperature regimes. They therefore provide a useful model system for the
      investigation of adaptations to thermal tolerance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDING:
      Initial CTmax studies showed that E. superba was slightly more thermotolerant
      than E. crystallorophias. Five Hsp70 mRNAs were characterized from the RNAseq
      data of both species and subsequent expression kinetics studies revealed notable
      differences in induction of each of the 5 orthologues between the two species,
      with E. crystallorophias reacting more rapidly than E. superba. Furthermore,
      analyses conducted to estimate the evolutionary rates and selection strengths
      acting on each gene tended to support the hypothesis that diversifying selection
      has contributed to the diversification of this gene family, and led to the
      selective relaxation on the inducible C form with its possible loss of function
      in the two krill species. CONCLUSIONS: The sensitivity of the epipelagic species
      E. crystallorophias to temperature variations and/or its adaptation to cold is
      enhanced when compared with its sister species, E. superba. These results
      indicate that ice krill could be the first of the two species to be impacted by
      the warming of coastal waters of the Austral ocean in the coming years due to
      climate change.

PMID- 25835554
TI  - Heme oxygenase-1 gene promoter polymorphism and the risk of pediatric
      nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Oxidative stress and the insulin-resistant state are
      thought to be key components in the pathogenesis of pediatric nonalcoholic fatty
      liver disease (NAFLD). Heme oxygenase (HO) is important in the defense against
      oxidative stress. This study aimed to assess the association of HO-1 gene
      promoter polymorphism and insulin resistance with NAFLD among obese children.
      METHODS: A total of 101 obese children aged 6-17 years were recruited.
      Anthropometric, serum biochemical variables and biomarkers for glucose and
      insulin metabolism were measured. We screened the allelic frequencies of (GT)n
      repeats in the HO-1 gene promoter among these obese children. NAFLD was
      determined through liver ultrasonography. Because the distribution of numbers of
      (GT)n repeats was bimodal, we divided the alleles into two classes: class S
      included shorter (27) repeats, and class L included longer (?27) repeats. We
      assessed the effects of the length of (GT)n repeats in HO-1 gene promoter on
      pediatric NAFLD. RESULTS: Of the 101 obese subjects, 27 (26.7%) had NAFLD. The
      alanine aminotransferase level was higher in patients carrying L alleles (L/L and
      L/S) than patients with S alleles (S/S) (46.2+/-49.3 IU|(-1) versus 30.2+/-20.1
      IU|(-1); P=0.027). The significant risk factors for pediatric NAFLD were patients
      carrying L alleles (L/L and L/S) (odds ratio (OR)=18.84; 95% confidence interval
      (CI): 1.45-245.22; P=0.025), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance
      (OR=1.40; 95% CI: 1.07-1.83; P=0.014) and age (OR=1.24; 95% CI: 1.03-1.50;
      P=0.025). CONCLUSION: In this hospital-based study, the obese children with
      longer GT repeats in the HO-1 gene promoter and insulin resistance were
      susceptible to NAFLD.

PMID- 25835556
TI  - Cognitive rehabilitation of working memory in juvenile multiple sclerosis-effects
      on cognitive functioning, functional MRI and network related connectivity.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess possible effects of working memory (WM) training on cognitive
      functionality, functional MRI and brain connectivity in patients with juvenile
      MS. METHODS: Cognitive status, fMRI and inter-network connectivity were assessed
      in 5 cases with juvenile MS aged between 12 and 18 years. Afterwards they
      received a computerized WM training for four weeks. Primary cognitive outcome
      measures were WM (visual and verbal) and alertness. Activation patterns related
      to WM were assessed during fMRI using an N-Back task with increasing difficulty.
      Inter-network connectivity analyses were focused on fronto-parietal (left and
      right), default-mode (dorsal and ventral) and the anterior salience network.
      Cognitive functioning, fMRI and inter-network connectivity were reassessed
      directly after the training and again nine months following training. RESULTS:
      Response to treatment was seen in two patients. These patients showed increased
      performance in WM and alertness after the training. These behavioural changes
      were accompanied by increased WM network activation and systematic changes in
      inter-network connectivity. The remaining participants were non-responders to
      treatment. Effects on cognitive performance were maintained up to nine months
      after training, whereas effects observed by fMRI disappeared. CONCLUSIONS:
      Responders revealed training effects on all applied outcome measures. Disease
      activity and general intelligence may be factors associated with response to
      treatment.

PMID- 25835555
TI  - A new technique for modeling neuronal connectivity using human pluripotent stem
      cells.
AB  - PURPOSE: We describe a technique for independently differentiating neocortical
      and mesencephalic dopaminergic (mDA) neurons from a single human pluripotent stem
      cell (hPSC) line, and subsequently allowing the two cell types to interact and
      form connections. METHODS: Dopaminergic and neocortical progenitors were
      differentiated in separate vessels, then separately seeded into the inner and
      outer compartments of specialized cell culture vessels designed for in vitro
      studies of wound healing. Cells were further differentiated using dopamine
      specific and neocortex-specific trophic factors, respectively. The barrier was
      then removed, and differentiation was continued for three weeks in the presence
      of BDNF. RESULTS: After three weeks of differentiation, neocortical and mDA cell
      bodies largely remained in the areas into which they had been seeded, and the gap
      between the mDA and neocortical neuron populations could still be discerned.
      Abundant tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive projections had extended from the
      area of the inner chamber to the outer chamber neocortical area. CONCLUSIONS: We
      have developed a hPSC-based system for producing connections between neurons from
      two brain regions, neocortex and midbrain. Future experiments could employ
      modifications of this method to examine connections between any two brain regions
      or neuronal subtypes that can be produced from hPSCs in vitro.

PMID- 25835557
TI  - Impact of left versus right hemisphere subcortical stroke on the neural
      processing of action observation and imagery.
AB  - PURPOSE: Mental training appears to be an attractive tool in stroke
      rehabilitation. The objective of this study was to investigate whether any
      differences in the processing of action observation and imagery might exist
      between patients with left and right hemisphere subcortical strokes. METHODS:
      Eighteen patients with strictly subcortical stroke (nine right-hemispheric)
      underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study with an
      experimental paradigm in which motor acts had to be observed and/or imagined from
      a first person perspective. Changes in hemodynamic activity were measured using
      fMRI. RESULTS: The activity level was found to be higher in the non-lesioned
      compared to the lesioned hemisphere. Patients with lesions in the left hemisphere
      had a higher activation level in visual (fusiform and lingual gyri), superior
      temporal areas and dorsal premotor regions across all performed comparisons than
      those with right hemisphere lesions. Furthermore they had more vivid imagery
      experiences and lower scores on the Stroke Impact Scale. CONCLUSIONS: Patients
      with left hemisphere subcortical lesions recruit more cortical regions in the
      processing of action pictures and videos. This recruitment was further enhanced
      during imagery. This is most likely related to the fact that the lesion touched
      the dominant hemisphere.

PMID- 25835558
TI  - Polyanionic carbosilane dendrimer-conjugated antiviral drugs as efficient
      microbicides: Recent trends and developments in HIV treatment/therapy.
AB  - Polyanionic carbosilane dendrimers (PCDs) are potential candidates for the
      development of new microbicides for the prevention of HIV transmission. Tenofovir
      (TFV), which has dual antiviral activity (anti-HIV/HSV-2), and maraviroc (MRV)
      are the most studied antiretrovirals as microbicides. Here, we introduce
      developments in the design of innovative dendrimer-based microbicides. We also
      review and discuss the combination of various PCDs with TFV and/or MRV for their
      anti-HIV-1 activity and synergistic combinatory potential. Well-defined
      combinations blocking HIV-1 infection in early steps of HIV-1 replication provide
      greater efficacy than monotherapy, as reflected by the decrease in concentration
      and increase in HIV-1 inhibition. These combinations are characterized by lower
      doses, which minimize toxic side-effects and the emergence of multi-drug
      resistant mutants. The above facts suggest that the combination of first- and
      second-generation PCDs with TFV and/or MRV represents a promising candidate
      microbicide for preventing HIV-1 sexual transmission and simultaneously
      suppressing HSV-2. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: HIV infection remains a significant
      and unresolved problem for humankind, despite the development of combination
      antiretroviral therapy. It has been found that polyanionic carbosilane dendrimers
      have efficacy in preventing HIV transmission. In this comprehensive review
      article, the authors discuss the current status and latest development of the use
      of dendrimers in combination with other antiretroviral drugs as microbicides,
      which should stimulate others into further research in the fight against HIV.

PMID- 25835559
TI  - How to manage the reproductive issues of PCOS: a 2015 integrated endocrinological
      and gynecological consensus statement of the Italian Society of Endocrinology.

PMID- 25835560
TI  - Intersubgeneric hybridization between Glycine max and G. tomentella: production
      of F1, amphidiploid, BC1, BC2, BC3, and fertile soybean plants.
AB  - KEY MESSAGE: This paper describes methods for unlocking genetic treasure from
      wild perennial Glycine species of Australia for soybean improvement. The genetic
      resources of the ca. 26 species of the genus Glycine subgenus Glycine have not
      been exploited to broaden the genetic base of soybean (Glycine max; 2n = 40). The
      objectives of this study were to develop methods for producing F1, amphidiploid,
      BC1, BC2, BC3, and fertile soybean plants from crosses of soybean and the genus
      Glycine subgenus Glycine species, in order to utilize the subgenus Glycine
      germplasm in soybean breeding. Soybean cultivars were hybridized with six
      accessions of 78-chromosome G. tomentella as well as one accession each of 40
      chromosome G. tomentella, G. argyrea and G. latifolia. They were chosen because
      they exhibit resistance to soybean rust. We were successful in producing fertile
      soybean from soybean cv. 'Dwight' and 78-chromosome G. tomentella accession PI
      441001, while other hybrids were discontinued either at F1 or amphidiploid stage.
      The F1 seeds aborted prior to reaching maturity, so developing seeds from 19 to
      21 day old pods were cultured aseptically in various media formulations. Seed
      maturation and multiple embryo generation media were developed. F1 plants with
      shoots and roots (2n = 59) were transplanted to pots in greenhouse. Amphidiploid
      (2n = 118) plants were backcrossed to 'Dwight'. BC1 (2n = 79) plants were
      propagated through in vitro and 43 mature BC2F1 seeds were harvested. Fifteen
      surviving BC2F1 plants were morphologically distinct, sterile, and had chromosome
      numbers ranging 2n = 56-59. Chromosome numbers of the BC3F1 plants ranged 2n = 40
      49. Derived fertile soybeans were first planted in the field in 2008 and are
      being evaluated for yield, resistance to pathogens and pests and tolerance to
      salt through material transfer agreement.

PMID- 25835562
TI  - Letter by Spence regarding article, "differential effect of B-vitamin therapy by
      antiplatelet use on risk of recurrent vascular events after stroke".

PMID- 25835563
TI  - Insular cortex lesions, cardiac troponin, and detection of previously unknown
      atrial fibrillation in acute ischemic stroke: insights from the troponin
      elevation in acute ischemic stroke study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Detection rates of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF)
      after acute ischemic stroke increase with duration of ECG monitoring. To date, it
      is unknown which patient group may benefit most from intensive monitoring
      strategies. Therefore, we aimed to identify predictors of previously unknown AF
      during in-hospital ECG monitoring. METHODS: All consecutive patients with imaging
      confirmed ischemic stroke admitted to our tertiary care hospital from February
      2011 to December 2013 were registered prospectively. Patients received continuous
      bedside ECG monitoring for at least 24 hours. Detection of previously unknown AF
      during in-hospital ECG monitoring was obtained from medical records. Patients
      with AF on admission ECG or known history of AF were excluded from analysis.
      RESULTS: Among 1228 patients (median age, 73 years; median National Institutes of
      Health Stroke Scale, 4; 43.4% women), previously unknown AF was detected in 114
      (9.3%) during a median time of continuous ECG monitoring of 3 days (interquartile
      range, 2-4 days). Duration of monitoring (P<0.01), older age (P<0.01), history of
      hypertension (P=0.03), insular cortex involvement (P<0.01), and higher high
      sensitivity cardiac troponin T (P=0.04) on admission were independently
      associated with subsequent detection of AF in a multiple regression analysis.
      Addition of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T, insular cortex stroke, or both
      to the CHADS2 score (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age >=75 years,
      diabetes mellitus, stroke [2P]) significantly improved c-statistics from 0.63 to
      0.68 (P=0.01), 0.70 (P<0.01), and 0.72 (P<0.001), respectively. CONCLUSIONS:
      Insular cortex involvement, higher admission high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T,
      older age, hypertension, and longer monitoring are associated with new detection
      of AF during in-hospital ECG monitoring. Patients with higher high-sensitivity
      cardiac troponin T or insular cortex involvement may be candidates for prolonged
      ECG monitoring.

PMID- 25835564
TI  - The use of behavior change theory in Internet-based asthma self-management
      interventions: a systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The high prevalence rate of asthma represents a major societal
      burden. Advancements in information technology continue to affect the delivery of
      patient care in all areas of medicine. Internet-based solutions, social media,
      and mobile technology could address some of the problems associated with
      increasing asthma prevalence. OBJECTIVE: This review evaluates Internet-based
      asthma interventions that were published between 2004 and October 2014 with
      respect to the use of behavioral change theoretical frameworks, applied clinical
      guidelines, and assessment tools. METHODS: The search term (Asthma AND [Online or
      Internet or Mobile or Application or eHealth or App]) was applied to six
      bibliographic databases (Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, BioMed Central, ProQuest
      Computing, Web of Knowledge, and ACM Digital Library) including only English
      language articles published between 2004 and October 2014. In total, 3932
      articles matched the priori search terms and were reviewed by the primary
      reviewer based on their titles, index terms, and abstracts. The matching articles
      were then screened by the primary reviewer for inclusion or exclusion based on
      their abstract, study type, and intervention objectives with respect to the full
      set of priori inclusion and exclusion criteria; 331 duplicates were identified
      and removed. A total of 85 articles were included for in-depth review and the
      remaining 3516 articles were excluded. The primary and secondary reviewer
      independently reviewed the complete content of the 85 included articles to
      identify the applied behavioral change theories, clinical guidelines, and
      assessment tools. Findings and any disagreement between reviewers were resolved
      by in-depth discussion and through a consolidation process for each of the
      included articles. RESULTS: The reviewers identified 17 out of 85 interventions
      (20%) where at least one model, framework, and/or construct of a behavioral
      change theory were applied. The review identified six clinical guidelines that
      were applied across 30 of the 85 interventions (35%) as well as a total of 21
      assessment tools that were applied across 32 of the 85 interventions (38%).
      CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this literature review indicate that the majority of
      published Internet-based interventions do not use any documented behavioral
      change theory, clinical guidelines, and/or assessment tools to inform their
      design. Further, it was found that the application of clinical guidelines and
      assessment tools were more salient across the reviewed interventions. A
      consequence, as such, is that many Internet-based asthma interventions are
      designed in an ad hoc manner, without the use of any notable evidence-based
      theoretical frameworks, clinical guidelines, and/or assessment tools.

PMID- 25835565
TI  - Nuclear quantum tunnelling in enzymatic reactions--an enzymologist's perspective.
AB  - Enzyme-catalysed H-transfer reactions are ubiquitous, yet fundamental details of
      these reactions remain unresolved. In this perspective, we discuss the roles of
      nuclear quantum tunnelling and (compressive) dynamics during these reactions.
      Evidence for the coupling of specific substrate and/or protein vibrations to the
      chemical coordinate is considered and a case is made for the combination of
      multiple experimental and computational/theoretical approaches when studying
      these reactions. 

PMID- 25835566
TI  - Role of laparoscopic partial splenectomy for tumorous lesions of the spleen.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic partial splenectomy (LPS) is a surgical option for
      splenic masses, with the goal of reducing postoperative complications while
      preserving splenic function. METHODS: Thirty-seven patients who underwent
      laparoscopic splenectomy for tumorous lesions of the spleen at two affiliated
      hospitals were enrolled. Among them, 22 patients underwent laparoscopic total
      splenectomy (LTS) and 15 patients underwent LPS. RESULTS: The tumorous lesions of
      the spleen in both groups, in order of decreasing frequency, consisted of
      epithelial cysts, hemangiomas, lymphangiomas, abscesses, metastatic tumors, and
      hamartomas. All procedures were completed by laparoscopy, and the pathologic
      lesions in the spleen were completely removed in both groups. There were no
      significant differences between the groups in terms of the operative time (LTS
      151.5 +/- 98.5 min, LPS 168.6 +/- 46.8 min, p = 0.483), intraoperative blood loss
      (LTS 337.3 +/- 188.4 ml, LPS 422.6 +/- 187.4 ml, p = 0.185), and transfusion rate
      (LTS 3/22 [13.6 %], LPS 3/15 [20.0 %], p = 0.606). However, there were
      significant differences in postoperative complications such as pleural effusion
      (LTS 9/22 [40.9 %], LPS 0/15 [0 %], p = 0.005), splenic vein thrombosis (LTS
      10/22 [45.5 %], LPS 0/15 [0 %], p = 0.002), and postoperative hospital stay (LTS
      5.4 +/- 1.8 days, LPS 4.2 +/- 0.8 days, p = 0.027). CONCLUSIONS: LPS is a
      feasible, safe surgical procedure in patients with tumorous lesions of the
      spleen, and it represents an effective approach to reduce postoperative hospital
      stay and complications.

PMID- 25835568
TI  - First-principles molecular dynamics study of water dissociation on the gamma-U(1
      0 0) surface.
AB  - Based on first-principles molecular dynamics simulations at finite temperatures,
      we systematically study the adsorption and dissociation of water molecules on the
      gamma-U(1 0 0) surface. We predict that water molecules spontaneously dissociate
      upon approaching the native gamma-U(1 0 0) surface. The dissociation results from
      electronic interactions between surface uranium 6d states and 1b2, 3a1, and 1b1
      molecular orbitals of water. With segregated Nb atoms existing on the surface,
      adsorbing water molecules also dissociate spontaneously because Nb 3d electronic
      states can also interact with the molecular orbitals similarly. After
      dissociation, the isolated hydrogen atoms are found to diffuse fast on both the
      gamma-U surface and that with a surface substitutional Nb atom, which is very
      similar to the 'Hot-Atom' dissociation of oxygen molecules on the Al(1 1 1)
      surface. From a series of consecutive molecular dynamics simulations, we further
      reveal that on both the gamma-U surface and that with a surface substitutional Nb
      atom, one surface U atom will be pulled out to form the U-O-U structure after
      dissociative adsorption of 0.44 ML water molecules. This result indicates that
      oxide nucleus can form at low coverage of water adsorption on the two surfaces. 

PMID- 25835567
TI  - Chemistry and Biology of Resveratrol-Derived Natural Products.

PMID- 25835569
TI  - Mechanism of protection of catalysts supported in redox hydrogel films.
AB  - The use of synthetic inorganic complexes as supported catalysts is a key route in
      energy production and in industrial synthesis. However, their intrinsic oxygen
      sensitivity is sometimes an issue. Some of us have recently demonstrated that
      hydrogenases, the fragile but very efficient biological catalysts of H2
      oxidation, can be protected from O2 damage upon integration into a film of a
      specifically designed redox polymer. Catalytic oxidation of H2 produces electrons
      which reduce oxygen near the film/solution interface, thus providing a self
      activated protection from oxygen [Plumere et al., Nat Chem. 2014, 6, 822-827].
      Here, we rationalize this protection mechanism by examining the time-dependent
      distribution of species in the hydrogenase/polymer film, using measured or
      estimated values of all relevant parameters and the numerical and analytical
      solutions of a realistic reaction-diffusion scheme. Our investigation sets the
      stage for optimizing the design of hydrogenase-polymer films, and for expanding
      this strategy to other fragile catalysts. 

PMID- 25835570
TI  - Semen-Like Floral Scents and Pollination Biology of a Sapromyophilous Plant
      Stemona japonica (Stemonaceae).
AB  - By emitting scent resembling that of organic material suitable for oviposition
      and/or consumption by flies, sapromyophilous flowers use these flies as
      pollinators. To date, intensive scent analyses of such flowers have been
      restricted to Apocynaceae, Annonaceae, and Araceae. Recent studies have suggested
      that the wide range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from sapromyophilous
      flowers play an important role in attracting saprophagous flies by mimicking
      different types of decomposing substrates (herbivore and carnivore feces,
      carrion, and the fruiting bodies of fungi, etc.). In this study, we report the
      flower visitors and the floral VOCs of Stemona japonica (Blume) Miquel, a species
      native to China. The flowers do not produce rewards, and pollinators were not
      observed consuming pollen, thus suggesting a deceptive pollination system.
      Headspace samples of the floral scent were collected via solid-phase micro
      extraction and analysed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.
      Main floral scent compounds were 1-pyrroline (59.2%), 2-methyl-1-butanol (27.2%),
      and 3-methyl-1-butanol (8.8%), and resulted in a semen-like odor of blooming
      flowers. The floral constituents of S. japonica were significantly different from
      those found in previous sapromyophilous plants. An olfaction test indicated that
      1-pyrroline is responsible for the semen-like odor in S. japonica flowers. Main
      flower visitors were shoot flies of the genus Atherigona (Muscidae). Bioassays
      using a mixture of all identified floral volatiles revealed that the synthetic
      volatiles can attract Atherigona flies in natural habitats. Our results suggest
      that the foul-smelling flowers of S. japonica may represent a new type of
      sapromyophily through scent mimicry.

PMID- 25835571
TI  - Sperm population structure in high and low field fertility rams.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to investigate whether differences in field
      fertility of rams are reflected in differences in sperm morphometric and
      kinematic population structures. The association between sperm morphometric and
      kinematic subpopulations was also investigated. Ejaculates from 8 adult rams, 4
      with high and 4 with low field fertility, were collected weekly using an
      artificial vagina over 6 consecutive weeks. Analyses of sperm motility using
      computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) and sperm nuclear morphometry using
      computer-assisted sperm morphometry-fluorescence were performed. Clustering
      procedures using the kinematic and morphometric data from high and low field
      fertility rams resulted in the classification of spermatozoa in three kinematic
      and three morphometric sperm subpopulations. The distribution of subpopulations
      between rams of high and low field fertility was significantly different
      (P<0.05), with higher percentages of spermatozoa exhibiting fast and linear
      movements and those with large and long nuclei in the high fertility group.
      However, these subpopulations were not correlated. Logistic regression analyses
      were also performed to evaluate the relative utility of sperm subpopulations to
      classify rams in high and low field fertility. Total progressive sperm motility
      and the proportion of large and long spermatozoa were identified as the most
      consistent indicators of fertility. It was concluded that high and low fertility
      rams had clear differences in morphometric and kinematic sperm subpopulations,
      and that the most consistent indicators of fertility were the total progressive
      motility and the proportion of spermatozoa with large and long head present in
      the ejaculate. 

PMID- 25835572
TI  - Non-mosaic monosomy 59,X in cattle: a case report.
AB  - A 3-year-old Longhorn heifer was referred to the Veterinary Medical Teaching
      Hospital of Texas A&M University for inability to get pregnant. Physical
      examination revealed a small-sized female for age and breed with a normal vulva,
      vaginal length, and external cervical os. Further assessment by per rectum
      palpation and trans-rectal ultrasonography revealed a small uterine cervix and
      cord-like uterine horns with no identifiable ovaries. Additional evaluation
      including laparoscopy, hormonal evaluation, and genetic analysis allowed ruling
      out conditions commonly associated with a phenotypic female with infantile or
      underdeveloped reproductive organs such as freemartin, XY gonadal dysgenesis,
      testicular feminization, and bilateral ovarian agenesis. Laparoscopy confirmed
      the presence of a small cervix with small uterine horns and absence of ovaries.
      Testosterone, progesterone, and 17-beta estradiol concentrations were 200.0pg/mL,
      1.48ng/mL, and undetectable, respectively. Genetic evaluation determined that the
      karyotype was 59,X non-mosaic. Evaluation of phenotypically female cattle with
      infertility and infantile genital organs and absence of ovaries should include
      cytogenetic analysis to test for possible X monosomy. The 59,X condition should
      be considered in the differential diagnoses together with freemartin, dysgenesis
      XY, testicular feminization, and bilateral ovarian agenesis. 

PMID- 25835574
TI  - Influenza vaccination in children with neurologic or neurodevelopmental
      disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Children with neurologic or neurodevelopmental disorders (NNDDs) are
      at increased risk of complications from influenza. Although the Advisory
      Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recognized NNDDs as high-risk
      conditions for influenza complications since 2005, little is known about
      influenza vaccination practices in this population. METHODS: CDC collaborated
      with Family Voices, a national advocacy group for children with special
      healthcare needs, to recruit parents of children with chronic medical conditions.
      Parents were surveyed about their knowledge, attitudes, and practices surrounding
      influenza vaccination. The primary outcome of interest was parental report of
      vaccination, or intent to vaccinate, at the time of survey participation. CDC
      also collaborated with the American Academy of Pediatrics to recruit primary care
      and specialty physicians who provide care for high-risk children, specifically
      those with neurologic conditions. The primary outcome was physician recognition
      of ACIP high-risk influenza conditions. RESULTS: 2138 surveys were completed by
      parents of children with high-risk conditions, including 1143 with at least one
      NNDD. Overall, 50% of children with an NNDD were vaccinated, or their parents
      planned to have them vaccinated against influenza. Among all 2138 children, in
      multivariable analysis, the presence of a respiratory condition and prior
      seasonal influenza vaccination was significantly associated with receipt or
      planned current season influenza vaccination, but the presence of an NNDD was
      not. 412 pediatricians completed the provider survey. Cerebral palsy was
      recognized as a high-risk influenza condition by 74% of physician respondents,
      but epilepsy (51%) and intellectual disability (46%) were less commonly
      identified. CONCLUSIONS: Our estimates of influenza vaccination in children with
      NNDDs are comparable to published reports of vaccination in healthy children,
      which continue to be suboptimal. Education of parents of children with NNDDs and
      healthcare providers about influenza and the benefit of annual influenza
      vaccination is needed.

PMID- 25835575
TI  - Vaccines against influenza A viruses in poultry and swine: Status and future
      developments.
AB  - Influenza A viruses are important pathogens with a very broad host spectrum
      including domestic poultry and swine. For preventing clinical disease and
      controlling the spread, vaccination is one of the most efficient tools. Classical
      influenza vaccines for domestic poultry and swine are conventional inactivated
      preparations. However, a very broad range of novel vaccine types ranging from (i)
      nucleic acid-based vaccines, (ii) replicon particles, (iii) subunits and virus
      like particles, (iv) vectored vaccines, or (v) live-attenuated vaccines has been
      described, and some of them are now also used in the field. The different novel
      approaches for vaccines against avian and swine influenza virus infections are
      reviewed, and additional features like universal vaccines, novel application
      approaches and the "differentiating infected from vaccinated animals" (DIVA)
      strategy are summarized. 

PMID- 25835573
TI  - The MM/PBSA and MM/GBSA methods to estimate ligand-binding affinities.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The molecular mechanics energies combined with the Poisson
      Boltzmann or generalized Born and surface area continuum solvation (MM/PBSA and
      MM/GBSA) methods are popular approaches to estimate the free energy of the
      binding of small ligands to biological macromolecules. They are typically based
      on molecular dynamics simulations of the receptor-ligand complex and are
      therefore intermediate in both accuracy and computational effort between
      empirical scoring and strict alchemical perturbation methods. They have been
      applied to a large number of systems with varying success. AREAS COVERED: The
      authors review the use of MM/PBSA and MM/GBSA methods to calculate ligand-binding
      affinities, with an emphasis on calibration, testing and validation, as well as
      attempts to improve the methods, rather than on specific applications. EXPERT
      OPINION: MM/PBSA and MM/GBSA are attractive approaches owing to their modular
      nature and that they do not require calculations on a training set. They have
      been used successfully to reproduce and rationalize experimental findings and to
      improve the results of virtual screening and docking. However, they contain
      several crude and questionable approximations, for example, the lack of
      conformational entropy and information about the number and free energy of water
      molecules in the binding site. Moreover, there are many variants of the method
      and their performance varies strongly with the tested system. Likewise, most
      attempts to ameliorate the methods with more accurate approaches, for example,
      quantum-mechanical calculations, polarizable force fields or improved solvation
      have deteriorated the results.

PMID- 25835576
TI  - Phased introduction of a universal childhood influenza vaccination programme in
      England: population-level factors predicting variation in national uptake during
      the first year, 2013/14.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Through a phased rollout, the UK is implementing annual influenza
      vaccination for all healthy children aged 2-16 years old. In the first year of
      the programme in England in 2013/14, all 2-3 year olds were offered influenza
      vaccine through primary care and a primary school age programme was piloted,
      mainly through schools, in geographically distinct areas. Equitable delivery is a
      key aim of the programme; it is unclear if concerns by some religious groups over
      influenza vaccine content have impacted on uptake. METHODS: At the end of the
      2013/14 season, variations in uptake for 2-3 year olds and 4-11 year olds were
      assessed and stratified by population-level predictors: deprivation, ethnicity,
      religious beliefs and rurality. GP practice or school level uptake was linearly
      regressed against these variables to determine potential predictors and changes
      in uptake, adjusting for significant factors. RESULTS: Uptake varied considerably
      by geographic locality for both 2-3 year olds and 4-11 year olds. Lower uptake
      was seen in increasingly deprived areas, with an adjusted uptake in the most
      deprived quintile 12% and 8% lower than the least deprived areas by age-group
      respectively. By ethnicity, the highest non-white population quartile had an
      adjusted uptake 9% and 14% lower than the lowest non-white quartile by age-group
      respectively. Uptake also varied according to religious beliefs, with adjusted
      uptake in 4-11 year olds in the highest Muslim population tertile 8% lower than
      the lowest Muslim population tertile. CONCLUSION: In the first season of the
      childhood influenza vaccination programme, uptake was not uniform across the
      country, with deprivation and ethnicity both predictors of low uptake in pre
      school and primary school age children, and religious beliefs also an important
      factor, particularly the latter group. With the continued rollout of the
      programme, these population-level factors should be addressed to achieve
      sustained successful uptake, along with assessment of contribution of individual
      and household-level factors.

PMID- 25835578
TI  - Predicting stability constants for uranyl complexes using density functional
      theory.
AB  - The ability to predict the equilibrium constants for the formation of 1:1
      uranyl/ligand complexes (log K1 values) provides the essential foundation for the
      rational design of ligands with enhanced uranyl affinity and selectivity. We use
      density functional theory (B3LYP) and the integral equation formalism polarizable
      continuum model (IEF-PCM) to compute aqueous stability constants for UO2(2+)
      complexes with 18 donor ligands. Theoretical calculations permit reasonably good
      estimates of relative binding strengths, while the absolute log K1 values are
      significantly overestimated. Accurate predictions of the absolute log K1 values
      (root-mean-square deviation from experiment <1.0 for log K1 values ranging from 0
      to 16.8) can be obtained by fitting the experimental data for two groups of mono-
      and divalent negative oxygen donor ligands. The utility of correlations is
      demonstrated for amidoxime and imide dioxime ligands, providing a useful means of
      screening for new ligands with strong chelating capability to uranyl. 

PMID- 25835577
TI  - A retrospective study of administration of vaccination for hepatitis B among
      newborn infants prior to hospital discharge at a midwestern tertiary care center.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Infants are at high risk of developing chronic, life-threatening
      disease as a result of hepatitis B virus infection. Universal vaccination of
      infants against hepatitis B virus, before discharge from the hospital after
      delivery is recommended as a measure to eradicate infection and associated
      mortality and morbidity. The purpose of this study was to determine rates of
      perinatal hepatitis B vaccine (Hep B) administration at a tertiary care center in
      Iowa and to assess the impact of maternal factors on Hep B uptake. METHODS: Data
      concerning mother-infant pairs that received care at one institution from 1/2009
      to 4/1/2013 were extracted from the system's electronic medical record.
      Characteristics of study participants were compared using chi-square tests.
      Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between each
      factor and vaccination status, controlling for other characteristics. RESULTS: Of
      5663 mother-infant pairs, 5175 (91.4%) infants received Hep B within 7 days after
      delivery. The majority of those not vaccinated had a medical indication to delay
      vaccination. Single women were significantly more likely to have an infant not
      vaccinated, after adjustment for all other factors. Women of minority groups were
      significantly less likely to have an infant who lacked Hep B at hospital
      discharge than Caucasian women. CONCLUSIONS: Significant improvements have
      occurred in Hep B rates in the state and region. Infants of single mothers may be
      at the greatest risk for lacking vaccination at hospital discharge.

PMID- 25835579
TI  - Argumentation and persuasion in patient-centred communication.

PMID- 25835580
TI  - The difficulty of staying awake during alpha/theta neurofeedback training.
AB  - Alpha/theta neurofeedback training is supposed to enhance cognitive performance
      as well as alleviate psychiatric disorders. Sleep during this training is
      regarded a confounding factor, although it is usually not controlled. Here, the
      amount of sleep, the impact of sleep on frequency results and the validity of
      subjective judgments of having fallen asleep were investigated. 40 healthy young
      subjects participated in 31 training units of real or mock feedback. It turned
      out that stage 2 sleep occurred in 10-14 % of training time, in 95 % of the
      subjects and in 1/3 of all training units. Sleep significantly influenced the
      theta/alpha ratio and theta but not alpha amplitudes. Only about 2/3 of the
      subjective judgements were correct and no more than 13 % of the participants
      could reliably identify sleep. These data demonstrate that sleep can easily occur
      during alpha/theta neurofeedback training and should be controlled by objective
      means.

PMID- 25835581
TI  - Efficient synthesis of (R)-harmonine--the toxic principle of the multicolored
      Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis).
AB  - A flexible synthetic route to (R)-harmonine ((R)-1), the toxic principle of the
      Asian lady beetle Harmonia axyridis (H. axyridis), via reductive olefination of
      the macrocyclic lactone (S)-5, is reported. High enantiomeric purity is achieved
      by enantioselective saponification of the lactone rac-5 with horse liver
      esterase. Minor modifications in the synthetic route give access to racemic and
      chiral harmonine ()1, analogs and putative biosynthetic precursors. In addition,
      the antimicrobial activity of harmonine against Leishmania major (L. major) is
      demonstrated and provides the rationale for harmonine-based drug development
      against parasitic diseases.

PMID- 25835582
TI  - The shoulder.

PMID- 25835583
TI  - MRI of the hand and fingers.
AB  - Injuries of the hand and fingers occur commonly in professional athletes as well
      as weekend warriors. Magnetic resonance imaging plays a vital role in the
      evaluation of these injuries for accurate diagnosis, preoperative planning,
      potential complication, and follow-up during rehabilitation. A detailed analysis
      of these smaller structures necessitates optimal imaging quality coupled with
      comprehensive knowledge of the imaging anatomy. In this article, we discuss
      technical aspects and normal anatomy of hand and fingers imaging on magnetic
      resonance imaging. This section is followed by discussion of soft tissue and
      osseous injuries including mechanism of injury, clinical presentation, and
      imaging findings. 

PMID- 25835584
TI  - Overuse injuries in children.
AB  - There has been a substantial increase in the number of children participating in
      organized competitive sports, which has led to a surge in the number of both
      acute and overuse injuries. To prevent further complications such as limb
      deformity and disability, radiologists must be familiar with typical overuse
      injury patterns in children. Traction apophysitis, chronic physeal injury, and
      stress fractures are the principal overuse injuries. This article reviews overuse
      injuries in children with an emphasis on the role of magnetic resonance imaging
      in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. 

PMID- 25835585
TI  - Elbow magnetic resonance imaging: imaging anatomy and evaluation.
AB  - The elbow is a complex joint. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is often the
      imaging modality of choice in the workup of elbow pain, especially in sports
      injuries and younger patients who often have either a history of a chronic
      repetitive strain such as the throwing athlete or a distinct traumatic injury.
      Traumatic injuries and alternative musculoskeletal pathologies can affect the
      ligaments, musculotendinous, cartilaginous, and osseous structures of the elbow
      as well as the 3 main nerves to the upper limb, and these structures are best
      assessed with MRI.Knowledge of the complex anatomy of the elbow joint as well as
      patterns of injury and disease is important for the radiologist to make an
      accurate diagnosis in the setting of elbow pain. This chapter will outline elbow
      anatomy, basic imaging parameters, compartmental pathology, and finally
      applications of some novel MRI techniques. 

PMID- 25835586
TI  - WITHDRAWN: Iodinated contrast media and its influence in emphysema CT
      measurements.

PMID- 25835587
TI  - WITHDRAWN: Meetings and courses.

PMID- 25835588
TI  - Photopolymerized Network Polysiloxane Films with Dangling Hydrophilic/Hydrophobic
      Chains for the Biofouling Release of Invasive Marine Serpulid Ficopomatus
      enigmaticus.
AB  - Novel photopolymerized network films based on a polysiloxane matrix containing
      varied amounts of polyoxyethylene (P3) or perfluorohexylethyl (F) dangling side
      chains were investigated. For films containing less than 10 wt % P3 and F, the
      wettability and elastic modulus were similar to those of the photopolymerized
      network matrix. However, angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
      measurements proved that the surface of films with F dangling chains was highly
      enriched in fluorine depending on both the amount of P3 and F and their relative
      ratio in the films. The biological performance of the films was evaluated against
      a new widespread and invasive marine biofoulant, the serpulid Ficopomatus
      enigmaticus. The diatom Navicula salinicola was also assayed as a conventional
      model organism for comparison. Films richer in P3 better resisted the settlement
      and promoted the release of calcified tubeworms of F. enigmaticus. 

PMID- 25835589
TI  - Occurrence of selected pharmaceuticals at drinking water purification plants in
      Japan and implications for human health.
AB  - The present study was performed to determine the occurrence of 64 pharmaceuticals
      and metabolites in source water and finished water at 6 drinking water
      purification plants and 2 industrial water purification plants across Japan. The
      analytical methods employed were sample concentration using solid-phase
      extraction cartridges and instrumental analysis by liquid chromatography with
      tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry
      (LC/MS), or trimethylsilyl derivatization followed by gas chromatography with
      mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Thirty-seven of the 64 target substances were detected
      in the source water samples. The maximum concentrations in the source water were
      mostly below 50 ng/L except for 13 substances. In particular, residual
      concentrations of iopamidol (contrast agent) exceeded 1000 ng/L at most
      facilities. Most of the residual pharmaceuticals and metabolites in the source
      water samples were removed in the course of conventional and/or advanced drinking
      water treatments, except for 7 pharmaceuticals and 1 metabolite, i.e.,
      amantadine, carbamazepine, diclofenac, epinastine, fenofibrate, ibuprofen,
      iopamidol, and oseltamivir acid. The removal ratios of the advanced water
      treatment processes including ozonation and granular activated carbon filtration
      were typically much higher than those of the conventional treatment processes.
      The margins of exposure estimated by the ratio of daily minimum therapeutic dose
      to daily intake via drinking water were substantial, and therefore the
      pharmacological and physiological impacts of ingesting those residual substances
      via drinking water would be negligible. 

PMID- 25835590
TI  - Analysis of the persistence of enteric markers in sewage polluted water on a
      solid matrix and in liquid suspension.
AB  - Addressing the persistence of bacterial indicators using qPCR and their
      respective DNA targets under various conditions is a critical part of risk
      assessment for water quality monitoring. The goal of this study was to examine
      the persistence of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) via Escherichia coli uidA,
      enterococci 23S rDNA and Bacteroides thetataiotaomicron 1,6 alpha mannanase from
      cells attached to a solid matrix and in suspension. Raw sewage (10% vol/vol) was
      seeded into autoclaved river water with half of the sample volume in suspension
      and the other half was filtered onto membranes and stored at 4 degrees , 27
      degrees  and 37 degrees C for up to 28 days. At various time points, DNA from
      cells was extracted, markers were quantified, and were fit to linear and non
      linear models (first order exponential, biphasic (double) exponential, two
      staged, log-logistic, and Gompertz 3-parameter). First order and biphasic
      exponential models fit 73% of the experimental data. Persistence increased
      significantly when the cells were stored in an attached state (p < 0.001).
      Increasing temperature had an inverse effect on persistence for the cells in
      suspension. Bacterial cells could be stored on a solid matrix at 4 degrees , 27
      degrees  and 37  degrees C for up to 27, 18, and 3 days, respectively, with <90%
      decay. The least stable indicator at 4 degrees , 27 degrees  and 37  degrees C
      was B. thetataiotaomicron in suspension with T90 = 9.6, 1.8, and 1.1 days,
      respectively. The most persistent indicator was enterococci, with T90 > 28 days
      in an attached state at all temperatures. 

PMID- 25835591
TI  - High-frequency oscillatory ventilation combined with partial liquid ventilation
      in experimental lung injury: effects on lung cell apoptosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation
      (HFOV) and partial liquid ventilation (PLV) on apoptosis of lung tissue induced
      by steam inhalation injury in rabbit. DESIGN: A prospective, randomized,
      controlled, multiple-group study. SETTING: An animal research laboratory centre
      in a university burns centre. SUBJECTS: New Zealand rabbits (n = 32; 2.25 +/-
      0.25 kg) of either sex. INTERVENTIONS: The animals were ventilated by HFOV with a
      mean airway pressure of 10 cm H2O, a frequency of 10 Hz, an amplitude of 20 cm
      H2O, an inspiratory:expiratory ratio of 1:1, and an FiO2 of 1.0. After the
      induction of acute lung injury (ALI) by steam inhalation, the animals were
      randomly divided into four groups: CMV, HFOV, CMV + PLV, HFOV + PLV group. Then
      they were ventilated for 4 h by CMV, HFOV, CMV + PLV and HFOV + PLV,
      respectively. After the experimental period, cell apoptosis and apoptosis indexes
      in the lung tissue were assessed with TUNEL FragELTM (Fragment End Labeling).
      RESULTS: Lung tissue apoptosis indexes in HFOV group and HFOV + PLV group were
      lower than that of in CMV group and CMV + PLV group; between-group comparison had
      significant difference (P < 0.01). HFOV + PLV group showed lowest apoptosis
      indexes. CONCLUSION: HFOV combined with PLV can suppress lung tissue apoptosis
      induced by steam inhalation.

PMID- 25835592
TI  - Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency is not a cause of abdominal complaints in
      patients with Fabry disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fabry disease (FD), also called Anderson-Fabry disease, is the second
      most prevalent lysosomal storage disorder after Gaucher disease. Gastrointestinal
      (GI) symptoms are very common among male and female individuals, although the age
      of onset is later among female patients. To our best knowledge, exocrine
      pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) has not yet been studied in patients with FD as a
      possible cause of abdominal complaints. The aim of our study was to determine
      whether exocrine pancreatic function is impaired in patients with FD. PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: We analysed medical records of patients with FD treated in Fabry
      Center in Slovenj Gradec General Hospital (Slovenian referral centre for FD) by
      the evaluation of the following features: gender, age, first symptoms before
      confirmation of FD diagnosis, time interval between first symptoms and diagnosis,
      therapy and current abdominal complaints. Diagnosis of FD was established by
      genetic analysis and confirmation of mutation in the alpha-galactosidase A gene.
      Faecal elastase-1 (FE-1) measurements were performed using enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay and the commercial kit ScheBo Biotech, Giessen, Germany.
      RESULTS: There were 28 adult patients (Slovene, Caucasians) with known FD
      included in the study: 12 male and 16 female; mean age, 45.6 +/- 14.3 (range, 19
      75) years. Seventeen patients (63%) were on enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). In
      seven (25.9%) patients, abdominal complaints (diarrhoea, bloating and feeling of
      satiety) were present before introduction of ERT. In three out of these seven
      patients, abdominal complaints resolved after ERT, and in four patients, they
      were still occasionally present. FE-1 was normal in all patients (547.9 +/- 104.5
      ug/g). CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that exocrine pancreatic function is normal
      in all patients with FD and is most likely not a cause of abdominal complaints in
      this group of patients. Nevertheless, EPI still could not be completely excluded
      as an aetiology factor for GI problems in patients with FD because all our
      patients with GI problems were treated with ERT. Therefore, a potential effect of
      ERT on EPI cannot be excluded. Further studies are necessary to determine the
      aetiology, especially in the group of naive male patients.

PMID- 25835593
TI  - Real-time shear wave elastography may predict autoimmune thyroid disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare the values of the elasticity index as measured
      by shear wave elastography in healthy subjects and in patients with autoimmune
      thyroid disease, in order to establish if this investigation can predict the
      occurrence of autoimmune thyroid disease. METHODS: A total of 104 cases were
      included in the study group: 91 women (87.5%), out of which 52 (50%) with
      autoimmune thyroid disease diagnosed by specific tests and 52 (50%) healthy
      volunteers, matched for age and gender. For all the subjects, three measurements
      were performed on each thyroid lobe and a mean value was calculated. The data
      were expressed in kPa. The investigation was performed with an Aixplorer system
      (SuperSonic Imagine, France), using a linear high-resolution 15-4 MHz transducer.
      RESULTS: The mean value for the elasticity index was similar in the right and the
      left thyroid lobes, both in normal subjects and in patients with autoimmune
      thyroid disease: 19.6 +/- 6.6 vs. 19.5 +/- 6.8 kPa, p = 0.92, and 26.6 +/- 10.0
      vs. 25.8 +/- 11.7 kPa, p = 0.71, respectively. This parameter was significantly
      higher in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease than in controls (p < 0.001).
      For a cut-off value of 22.3 kPa, which resulted in the highest sum of sensitivity
      and specificity, the elasticity index assessed by shear wave elastography had a
      sensitivity of 59.6% and a specificity of 76.9% (AUROC = 0.71; p < 0.001) for
      predicting the presence of autoimmune thyroid disease. CONCLUSION: Quantitative
      elasticity index measured by shear wave elastography was significantly higher in
      autoimmune thyroid disease than in normal thyroid parenchyma and may predict the
      presence of autoimmune thyroid disease.

PMID- 25835594
TI  - [Guidelines for outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation in Austria].
AB  - Pulmonary rehabilitation has become a standard of care for patients with chronic
      lung disease. It has been clearly demonstrated that pulmonary rehabilitation
      improves exercise capacity and quality of life in patients with chronic lung
      disease and reduces the number of hospital days and other measures of health-care
      utilization in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This
      is an update of the guidelines in outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation in Austria,
      closely related to the official American Thoracic Society and European
      Respiratory Society Statement published in 2013.The guidelines represent
      standards of quality for requirements of structural and personal qualifications. 

PMID- 25835595
TI  - Featuring the nucleosome surface as a therapeutic target.
AB  - Chromatin is the major regulator of gene expression and genome maintenance.
      Proteins that bind the nucleosome, the repetitive unit of chromatin, and the
      histone H4 tail are critical to establishing chromatin architecture and
      phenotypic outcomes. Intriguingly, nucleosome-binding proteins (NBPs) and the H4
      tail peptide compete for the same binding site at an acidic region on the
      nucleosome surface. Although the essential facts about the nucleosome were
      revealed 17 years ago, new insights into its atomic structure and molecular
      mechanisms are still emerging. Several complex nucleosome:NBP structures were
      recently revealed, characterizing the NBP-binding sites on the nucleosome
      surface. Here we discuss the potential of the nucleosome surface as a therapeutic
      target and the impact and development of exogenous nucleosome-binding molecules
      (eNBMs). 

PMID- 25835596
TI  - A new minor diketopiperazine from the sponge-derived fungus Simplicillium sp. YZ
      11.
AB  - Chemical investigation of the cultures of a sponge-derived fungus Simplicillium
      sp. YZ-11 led to the isolation of a new minor diketopiperazine alkaloid cyclo-(2
      hydroxy-Pro-Gly) (1) and a natural lactone (S)-dihydro-5-[(S)-
      hydroxyphenylmethyl]-2(3H)-furanone (2), together with five known ergostane-type
      sterols (3-7). Their structures were established based on extensive spectroscopic
      methods ((1)H and (13)C NMR, (1)H-(1)H COSY, HSQC and HMBC) and optical rotation
      analysis. 

PMID- 25835597
TI  - CHEK2 c.1100delC allele is rarely identified in Greek breast cancer cases.
AB  - The CHEK2 gene encodes a protein kinase that plays a crucial role in maintenance
      of genomic integrity and the DNA repair mechanism. CHEK2 germline mutations are
      associated with increased risk of breast cancer and other malignancies. From a
      clinical perspective, the most significant mutation identified is the c.1100delC
      mutation, which is associated with an approximately 25% lifetime breast cancer
      risk. The distribution of this mutation shows wide geographical variation; it is
      more prevalent in the Northern European countries and less common, or even
      absent, in Southern Europe. In order to estimate the frequency of the CHEK2
      c.1100delC mutation in Greek breast cancer patients, we genotyped 2,449 patients
      (2,408 females and 41 males), which was the largest series ever tested for
      c.1100delC. The mean age of female and male breast cancer diagnosis was 49 and 59
      years, respectively. All patients had previously tested negative for the Greek
      BRCA1 founder and recurrent mutations. The CHEK2 c.1100delC mutation was detected
      in 0.16% (4 of 2,408) of females, all of whom were diagnosed with breast cancer
      before the age of 50 years. Only one c.1100delC carrier was reported with breast
      cancer family history. The present study indicates that the CHEK2 c.1100delC
      mutation does not contribute substantially to hereditary breast cancer in
      patients of Greek descent. 

PMID- 25835598
TI  - Editorial retraction.

PMID- 25835599
TI  - Decoding skills in children with language impairment: contributions of
      phonological processing and classroom experiences.
AB  - PURPOSE: Children with language impairment (LI) often demonstrate difficulties
      with word decoding. Research suggests that child-level (i.e., phonological
      processing) and environmental-level (i.e., classroom quality) factors both
      contribute to decoding skills in typically developing children. The present study
      examined the extent to which these same factors influence the decoding skills of
      children with LI, and the extent to which classroom quality moderates the
      relationship between phonological processing and decoding. METHOD: Kindergarten
      and first-grade children with LI (n = 198) were assessed on measures of
      phonological processing and decoding twice throughout the academic year. Live
      classroom observations were conducted to assess classroom quality with respect to
      emotional support and instructional support. RESULTS: Hierarchical regression
      analyses revealed that of the 3 phonological processing variables included, only
      phonological awareness significantly predicted spring decoding outcomes when
      controlling for children's age and previous decoding ability. One aspect of
      classroom quality (emotional support) was also predictive of decoding, but there
      was no significant interaction between classroom quality and phonological
      processing. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides further evidence that phonological
      awareness is an important skill to assess in children with LI and that high
      quality classroom environments can be positively associated with children's
      decoding outcomes.

PMID- 25835600
TI  - Liberating Levy walk research from the shackles of optimal foraging.
AB  - There is now compelling evidence that many organisms have movement patterns that
      can be described as Levy walks, or Levy flights. Levy movement patterns have been
      identified in cells, microorganisms, molluscs, insects, reptiles, fish, birds and
      even human hunter-gatherers. Most research into Levy walks as models of organism
      movement patterns has been shaped by the 'Levy flight foraging hypothesis'. This
      states that, since Levy walks can optimize search efficiencies, natural selection
      should lead to adaptations that select  for Levy walk foraging. However, a
      growing body of research on generative mechanisms suggests that Levy walks can
      arise freely as by-products of otherwise innocuous behaviours; consequently their
      advantageous properties are purely coincidental. This suggests that the Levy
      flight foraging hypothesis should be amended, or even replaced, by a simpler and
      more general hypothesis. This new hypothesis would state that 'Levy walks emerge
      spontaneously and naturally from innate behaviours and innocuous responses to the
      environment but, if advantageous, then there could be selection against losing
      them'. The new hypothesis has the virtue of making fewer assumptions and being
      broader than the original hypothesis; it also encompasses the many examples of
      suboptimal Levy patterns that challenge the prevailing paradigm. This does not
      detract from the Levy flight foraging hypothesis, in fact, it adds to the theory
      by providing a stronger and more compelling case for the occurrence of Levy
      walks. It dispenses with concerns about the theoretical arguments in support of
      the Levy flight foraging hypothesis and so may lead to a wider acceptance of Levy
      walks as models of movement pattern data. Furthermore, organisms can approximate
      Levy walks by adapting intrinsic behaviour in simple ways; this occurs when Levy
      movement patterns are advantageous, but come with an associated cost. These new
      developments represent a major change in perspective and provide the broadest
      picture yet of Levy movement patterns. However, the process of understanding and
      identifying Levy movement patterns still has a long way to go, and further
      reinterpretations and shifts in understanding will occur. In conclusion, Levy
      walk research remains exciting precisely because so much remains to be
      understood, and because, even relatively small studies, are interesting
      discoveries in their own right. 

PMID- 25835601
TI  - A comparative study of open, laparoscopic and robotic partial nephrectomy in
      obese patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Partial nephrectomy is a standard intervention for the treatment of
      small renal tumors. Our study compares the outcomes of three different partial
      nephrectomy methods (open, laparoscopic and robotic assisted) in obese (>=30
      Kg/m(2)) patients with renal tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 2005-2011, 66
      obese patients had partial nephrectomy. Patients were divided into three groups
      according to intervention received: Open (n = 21), laparoscopic (n = 31) and
      robotic (n = 14). The outcome variables of blood loss, length of hospital stay,
      and complications were assessed. RESULTS: Mean blood loss in the laparoscopic
      group (100 mls) was significantly less than open group (300 mls) and no
      difference between laparoscopic and robotic groups (150 mls). We observed a
      shorter median hospital stay in the laparoscopic group (two days) than open group
      (four days) and no difference between laparoscopic and robotic groups (three
      days). Three patients in the laparoscopic group had complications: Two grade II
      and one with grade III (based on Clavien-Dindo classification). Tumor location,
      pathology, grade, stage, patient gender, age, preoperative creatinine and
      postoperative creatinine were not different among the groups (P > 0.05). The mean
      tumor size in the laparoscopic group (2.70 cms) was significantly smaller than
      that of the open group (4.22 cm) (P < 0.05), but not statistically different from
      that of the robotic group (2.99 cm). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that in
      obese patients, both laparoscopic and robotic partial nephrectomy are associated
      with less blood loss than open partial nephrectomy. Second, the length of the
      hospital stay was not related to the type of utilized intervention.

PMID- 25835603
TI  - HIV Care Continuum Applied to the US Department of Veterans Affairs: HIV
      Virologic Outcomes in an Integrated Health Care System.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the largest integrated HIV
      care provider in the United States (US), used the HIV Care Continuum to compare
      clinical care within the VA HIV population with the general US HIV population and
      to identify areas for improvement. METHODS: National data from the VA's HIV
      Clinical Case Registry were used to construct measures along the Continuum for
      Veterans in VA care diagnosed with HIV by June 2013 and alive by December 31,
      2013. Comparisons were made to recent estimates for the same measures for the US
      HIV population. Additional comparisons were performed for demographic subgroups
      of sex, race/ethnicity, and age. RESULTS: Of 25,480 Veterans diagnosed with HIV,
      77.4% were engaged in care compared with 46.3% in the US population diagnosed
      with HIV (P < 0.001). Seventy-three percent of Veterans diagnosed with HIV
      received antiretroviral therapy compared with 43% of the US population diagnosed
      with HIV (P < 0.001). Nearly two-thirds (65.3%) of HIV-diagnosed Veterans had
      suppressed HIV viral loads compared with 35.0% of the US population diagnosed
      with HIV (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The VA health care system performed better at
      every stage of the HIV Care Continuum compared with the general US estimates.
      Comparable high rates with some variation were noted among the demographic groups
      in the VA cohort. The high viral suppression rate in VA, which was almost double
      the estimate for the HIV-diagnosed US population, demonstrates that improved
      outcomes along the HIV Care Continuum can be achieved in a comprehensive
      integrated health care system.

PMID- 25835602
TI  - Termination of DNA replication forks: "Breaking up is hard to do".
AB  - To ensure duplication of the entire genome, eukaryotic DNA replication initiates
      from thousands of replication origins. The replication forks move through the
      chromatin until they encounter forks from neighboring origins. During replication
      fork termination forks converge, the replisomes disassemble and topoisomerase II
      resolves the daughter DNA molecules. If not resolved efficiently, terminating
      forks result in genomic instability through the formation of pathogenic
      structures. Our recent findings shed light onto the mechanism of replisome
      disassembly upon replication fork termination. We have shown that termination
      specific polyubiquitylation of the replicative helicase component - Mcm7, leads
      to dissolution of the active helicase in a process dependent on the p97/VCP/Cdc48
      segregase. The inhibition of terminating helicase disassembly resulted in a
      replication termination defect. In this extended view we present hypothetical
      models of replication fork termination and discuss remaining and emerging
      questions in the DNA replication termination field. 

PMID- 25835604
TI  - Critical Review: Building on the HIV Cascade: A Complementary "HIV States and
      Transitions" Framework for Describing HIV Diagnosis, Care, and Treatment at the
      Population Level.
AB  - The HIV cascade--often referred to as "the HIV continuum"--provides a valuable
      framework for population-level representations of engagement with the HIV
      healthcare system. The importance and appeal of this framework are evidenced by a
      large body of scientific literature, as well as by the adoption of cascade
      related indicators by medical and public health organizations worldwide. Despite
      its centrality in the fields of HIV treatment and prevention, however, the
      traditional cascade provides limited description of the processes affecting the
      numbers it represents. Representations that describe these processes and capture
      the dynamic nature of HIV-infected persons' pathways through the healthcare
      system are essential for monitoring and predicting intervention effects and
      epidemic trends. We propose here a complementary schema--termed the "HIV States
      and Transitions" framework--designed to maintain key strengths of the traditional
      cascade while addressing key limitations and more fully describing the dynamic
      aspects of HIV testing, care, and treatment at the population level.

PMID- 25835605
TI  - Impact of Availability and Use of ART/PMTCT Services on Fertility Desires of
      Previously Pregnant Women in Rakai, Uganda: A Retrospective Cohort Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess fertility desires by availability and use of antiretroviral
      therapy and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (ART/PMTCT) services in
      Rakai, Uganda. DESIGN: Retrospective analyses of longitudinal data from the Rakai
      Community Cohort Study. METHODS: Study participants were retrospectively
      identified and categorized by HIV status. Availability of ART/PMTCT services in
      Rakai was defined in three periods: (1) pre-ART/PMTCT (<2005), (2) ART/PMTCT
      rollout (2005-2006), and (3) universal ART/PMTCT (>2006); and use of ART/PMTCT
      was coded as yes if the woman received services. Trends in fertility desires were
      assessed by chi. "Modified" Poisson regression was performed using generalized
      linear models with a log link and Poisson family to estimate prevalence rate
      ratios (PRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of desire for another child
      among previously and currently pregnant women; PRRs were adjusted for demographic
      and behavioral factors. RESULTS: A total of 4227 sexually active women in Rakai,
      including 436 HIV+ women, contributed 13,970 observations over 5 survey rounds.
      Fertility desires increased in the population in the ART/PMTCT rollout [adjusted
      (adj.) PRR: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.13] and the universal availability periods
      (adj. PRR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.08 to 1.14) compared with pre-ART/PMTCT period. A
      total of 862 woman observations used ART/PMTCT services. Fertility desires were
      similar among ART/PMTCT service users and nonusers in cross-sectional analysis
      (adj. PRR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.62 to 1.14) and 1 year after ART/PMTCT use (adj. PRR:
      1.27, 95% CI: 0.83 to 1.94). CONCLUSIONS: Availability of ART/PMTCT may increase
      fertility desires of previously pregnant women in Rakai, Uganda. Use of ART/PMTCT
      services was not correlated with fertility desires of previously or current
      pregnant women.

PMID- 25835606
TI  - Transmission Networks of HIV-1 Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in East and
      Southeast Asia.

PMID- 25835608
TI  - "Seek, Test, Treat" Lessons From Australia: A Study of HIV Testing Patterns From
      a Cohort of Men Who Have Sex With Men.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: HIV diagnoses are increasing in Australia, mostly among men who have
      sex with men (MSM). Similar to many countries, Australia's HIV prevention
      strategies emphasize a "seek, test, treat" approach including enhancing HIV
      testing frequency. We describe HIV testing among MSM and correlates of returning
      for testing within 12 months in the context of new HIV prevention paradigms.
      METHODS: Testing and behavioral data (2007-2013) contributed by MSM aged >= 16
      years were included. Total HIV tests by calendar year and repeat tests within 12
      months were described, alongside negative binomial regression for trend. A 2
      level mixed-effects logistic regression model examined correlates of testing
      within 12 months. Median (days) between HIV tests was compared between MSM
      diagnosed with HIV and persistently HIV-negative MSM. RESULTS: The study included
      46,060 tests from 17,904 MSM. There was an increase in annual tests (P < 0.01),
      repeat tests within 12 months (P < 0.01), and the proportion of tests within 12
      months of an index test (P < 0.01), although only to 53.3% in 2013. Return rates
      were higher in MSM aged 16-29 years (adjusted odds ratio 1.30, 95% confidence
      interval: 1.1 to 1.5) and those reporting higher numbers of partners (adjusted
      odds ratio 3.5, 95% confidence interval: 3.0 to 4.0). Median time between tests
      among MSM diagnosed with HIV (233 days) was greater than for HIV-negative MSM
      (189 days) (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Although testing has increased, testing
      frequency among many MSM remains suboptimal. To optimize "seek, test, treat"
      based HIV prevention strategies, new approaches to increase testing uptake and
      early HIV detection among MSM are needed.

PMID- 25835607
TI  - Determination of HIV Status in African Adults With Discordant HIV Rapid Tests.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In resource-limited settings, HIV infection is often diagnosed using
      2 rapid tests. If the results are discordant, a third tie-breaker test is often
      used to determine HIV status. This study characterized samples with discordant
      rapid tests and compared different testing strategies for determining HIV status
      in these cases. METHODS: Samples were previously collected from 173 African
      adults in a population-based survey who had discordant rapid test results.
      Samples were classified as HIV positive or HIV negative using a rigorous testing
      algorithm that included two fourth-generation tests, a discriminatory test, and 2
      HIV RNA tests. Tie-breaker tests were evaluated, including rapid tests (1
      performed in-country), a third-generation enzyme immunoassay, and two fourth
      generation tests. Selected samples were further characterized using additional
      assays. RESULTS: Twenty-nine samples (16.8%) were classified as HIV positive and
      24 of those samples (82.8%) had undetectable HIV RNA. Antiretroviral drugs were
      detected in 1 sample. Sensitivity was 8.3%-43% for the rapid tests; 24.1% for the
      third-generation enzyme immunoassay; 95.8% and 96.6% for the fourth-generation
      tests. Specificity was lower for the fourth-generation tests than the other
      tests. Accuracy ranged from 79.5% to 91.3%. CONCLUSIONS: In this population-based
      survey, most HIV-infected adults with discordant rapid tests were virally
      suppressed without antiretroviral drugs. Use of individual assays as tie-breaker
      tests was not a reliable method for determining HIV status in these individuals.
      More extensive testing algorithms that use a fourth-generation screening test
      with a discriminatory test and HIV RNA test are preferable for determining HIV
      status in these cases.

PMID- 25835609
TI  - Perspective: The RNA exosome, cytokine gene regulation and links to autoimmunity.
AB  - The RNA exosome is a highly conserved exoribonuclease complex that is involved in
      RNA processing, quality control and turnover regulation. The exosome plays
      pleiotropic functions by recruiting different cofactors that regulate its target
      specificity. Recently, the exosome has been implicated in the regulation of
      immune processes including cytokine production and negative regulation of innate
      sensing of nucleic acids. Careful regulation of such mechanisms is critical to
      avoid a breakdown of self-tolerance and the pathogenesis of autoimmune disorders.
      This perspective briefly introduces the exosome, its its normal function in RNA
      biology and summarizes regulatory roles of the RNA exosome in immunity. Finally
      we discuss how dysregulation of exosome function can lead to autoimmune disease. 

PMID- 25835610
TI  - Increased Rho-kinase-mediated prostate contractions associated with impairment of
      beta-adrenergic-cAMP-signaling pathway by chronic nitric oxide deficiency.
AB  - Impairment of nitric oxide (NO) - cyclic GMP signaling pathway is likely to
      contribute to human begnin prostate hyperplasia (BPH). In the present study we
      have used a model of chronic NO synthesis inhibition to evaluate the functional
      alterations of prostate smooth muscle (PSM) machinery, and involvement of Rho
      kinase pathway. Wistar rats were treated with the NO inhibitor N(omega)-nitro-l
      arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 20mg/kg/day; 4 weeks), after which contractile
      responses to phenylephrine (alpha1-adrenoceptor agonist; 1nM to 100uM), carbachol
      (muscarinic agonist; 1nM to 1mM) and alpha,beta-methylene ATP (P2X receptor
      agonist; 1-10uM), as well as to electrical-field stimulation (EFS; 1-32Hz) were
      evaluated. PSM relaxations to isoproterenol (non-selective beta-adrenoceptor
      agonist, 0.1nM to 10uM) and sodium nitroprusside (NO donor, 1nM to 10mM) were
      also evaluated. The ratio prostate weight/body weight was 22% greater (P<0.05) in
      L-NAME compared with control group. The PSM contractions to phenylephrine,
      carbachol and alpha,beta-methylene ATP were higher in L-NAME (Emax: 3.85+/-0.25,
      3.52+/-0.35 and 2.03+/-0.2mN, respectively) compared with control group (Emax:
      3.08+/-0.17, 2.37+/-0.18 and 1.57+/-0.18mN, respectively). The PSM contractions
      induced by EFS were also significantly greater in L-NAME group. Prior incubation
      with the Rho-kinase inhibitor Y27632 (1uM) fully reversed the enhanced
      contractions to phenylephrine and carbachol. Isoproterenol-induced PSM
      relaxations were 34% lower in L-NAME group, which was associated with reduced
      levels of cAMP in prostate tissue. The relaxations to sodium nitroprusside
      remained unaltered in L-NAME group. In summary, chronic NO deficiency leads to
      increased Rho-kinase-mediated PSM contractile responses accompanied by impairment
      of beta-adrenergic-cAMP-signaling pathway. 

PMID- 25835611
TI  - (+)-Borneol alleviates mechanical hyperalgesia in models of chronic inflammatory
      and neuropathic pain in mice.
AB  - Chronic pain is a major public health problem categorized as inflammatory or
      neuropathic, each involving impaired GABAergic control in the spinal cord of
      mammals. (+)-Borneol, a bicyclic monoterpene present in the essential oil of
      plants, is used for analgesia and anesthesia in traditional Chinese medicine. It
      has been reported that (+)-borneol directly potentiates GABA activity at
      recombinant human GABAA receptors. Although borneol has antinociceptive effect on
      acute pain models, little is known about its effect on chronic pain and its
      mechanism. Here we report that (+)-borneol has remarkable anti-hyperalgesic
      effects on neuropathic and inflammatory pain in animal models. Neuropathic
      hypersensitivity was induced by segmental spinal nerve ligation (SNL), and
      inflammatory hypersensitivity was induced by intraplantar (i.pl.) injection of
      complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Both oral administration (125, 250 or 500
      mg/kg) and intrathecal injection (i.t.) (15, 30 and 60 MUg) of (+)-borneol
      reduced mechanical hypersensitivity dose-dependently in SNL and CFA models. The
      anti-hyperalgesic effects of (+)-borneol were abolished by a selective GABAA
      receptor (GABAAR) antagonist bicuculline (i.t., at 30 min after (+)-borneol
      injection). Furthermore, (+)-borneol (500 mg/kg, p.o. or 60 MUg, i.t.) did not
      influence motor function. These findings suggest that (+)-borneol may ameliorate
      mechanical hyperalgesia by enhancing GABAAR-mediated GABAergic transmission in
      the spinal cord, and could serve as a therapeutic for chronic pain.

PMID- 25835612
TI  - [Statins diabetogenicity: are all the same? state of art].
AB  - Statins are the cornerstone of cardiovascular prevention for general population,
      and in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, statin therapy
      predisposes to type 2 diabetes, particularly in patients with predisposition to
      this condition. Some statins have been associated with increases in blood glucose
      in patients with or without DM2, and others have shown to have neutral effects,
      varying from one another their glucose or diabetogenic capacity. In many statin
      trials the incidence of DM2 has not been systematically evaluated and others the
      power to detect differences between statins is lacking. Evidence highest quality
      available comes from the meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials. The only
      controlled clinical trial to evaluate the incidence of new-onset T2DM is the J
      PREDICT conducted with pitavastatin in patients with abnormal glucose tolerance.
      Preliminary results of this study show that pitavastatin is associated with a
      significant decrease in the incidence of de novo T2DM compared to only
      modification lifestyle. Therefore, pitavastatin may be an appropriate therapeutic
      alternative of choice to reduce vascular risk in patients with T2DM or at risk of
      presenting it. 

PMID- 25835613
TI  - [Guide recommendations for diagnosis and treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm].

PMID- 25835614
TI  - Sonochemical synthesis of two new copper(II) complexes with azo ligands derived
      from anthranilic acid and beta-naphtol.
AB  - Nanostructures of two new copper(II) complexes, (CuL1), 0.5EtOH. 1.5H2O (1),
      [H2L1=5-(4-Carboxy phenyl azo) anthranilic acid], (Cu(L2)2) (2), [HL2=1-(4
      Carboxy phenyl azo) 2-naphtol] have been synthesized by the reaction of H2L1 and
      HL2 with Cu(OAc)2 . H2O through sonochemical process. Calcination of the nano
      sized compounds 1-2 yield CuO nanoparticles at 550-450 degrees C under air
      atmosphere. Metallic copper nanoparticles were prepared by direct calcination of
      compound 2 in surfactant at 180 degrees C. These nanostructures were
      characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy
      (SEM). Thermal stability of compounds 1-2 was studied by thermal gravimetric (TG)
      and differential thermal analyses (DTA).

PMID- 25835615
TI  - Oncology scan-New treatment and no treatment: enduring issues in the management
      of prostate cancer.

PMID- 25835616
TI  - Fate of manuscripts rejected from the Red Journal.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate characteristics associated with higher rates of acceptance
      for original manuscripts submitted for publication to the International Journal
      of Radiation Oncology * Biology * Physics (IJROBP) and describe the fate of
      rejected manuscripts. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Manuscripts submitted to the IJROBP
      from May 1, 2010, to August 31, 2010, and May 1, 2012, to August 31, 2012, were
      evaluated for author demographics and acceptance status. A PubMed search was
      performed for each IJROBP-rejected manuscript to ascertain whether the manuscript
      was ultimately published elsewhere. The Impact Factor of the accepting journal
      and the number of citations of the published manuscript were also collected.
      RESULTS: Of the 500 included manuscripts, 172 (34.4%) were accepted and 328
      (65.6%) were rejected. There was no significant difference in acceptance rates
      according to gender or degree of the submitting author, but there were
      significant differences seen based on the submitting author's country, rank, and
      h-index. On multivariate analysis, earlier year submitted (P<.0001) and higher
      author h-index (P=.006) remained significantly associated with acceptance into
      the IJROBP. Two hundred thirty-five IJROBP-rejected manuscripts (71.7%) were
      ultimately published in a PubMed-listed journal as of July 2014. There were no
      significant differences in any submitting author characteristics. Journals
      accepting IJROBP-rejected manuscripts had a lower median [interquartile range]
      2013 impact factor compared with the IJROBP (2.45 [1.53-3.71] vs 4.176). The
      IJROBP-rejected manuscripts ultimately published elsewhere had a lower median
      [interquartile range] number of citations (1 [0-4] vs 6 [2-11]; P<.001), which
      persisted on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The acceptance rate for
      manuscripts submitted to the IJROBP is approximately one-third, and approximately
      70% of rejected manuscripts are ultimately published in other PubMed-listed
      journals, but these ultimate-destination journals usually have a lower impact
      factor, leading to fewer citations and overall visibility.

PMID- 25835617
TI  - A hypothesis: indirect cell death in the radiosurgery era.

PMID- 25835618
TI  - Evolving traditions on the technology journey.

PMID- 25835619
TI  - Research on quality and safety: what are we missing?

PMID- 25835620
TI  - What makes a physics article appealing to a clinical audience?

PMID- 25835621
TI  - Attenuation of the DNA damage response by transforming growth factor-beta
      inhibitors enhances radiation sensitivity of non-small-cell lung cancer cells in
      vitro and in vivo.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine whether transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta inhibition
      increases the response to radiation therapy in human and mouse non-small-cell
      lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cells in vitro and in vivo. METHODS AND MATERIALS: TGF
      beta-mediated growth response and pathway activation were examined in human NSCLC
      NCI-H1299, NCI-H292, and A549 cell lines and murine Lewis lung cancer (LLC)
      cells. Cells were treated in vitro with LY364947, a small-molecule inhibitor of
      the TGF-beta type 1 receptor kinase, or with the pan-isoform TGF-beta
      neutralizing monoclonal antibody 1D11 before radiation exposure. The DNA damage
      response was assessed by ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) or Trp53 protein
      phosphorylation, gammaH2AX foci formation, or comet assay in irradiated cells.
      Radiation sensitivity was determined by clonogenic assay. Mice bearing syngeneic
      subcutaneous LLC tumors were treated with 5 fractions of 6 Gy and/or neutralizing
      or control antibody. RESULTS: The NCI-H1299, A549, and LLC NSCLC cell lines
      pretreated with LY364947 before radiation exposure exhibited compromised DNA
      damage response, indicated by decreased ATM and p53 phosphorylation, reduced
      gammaH2AX foci, and increased radiosensitivity. The NCI-H292 cells were
      unresponsive. Transforming growth factor-beta signaling inhibition in irradiated
      LLC cells resulted in unresolved DNA damage. Subcutaneous LLC tumors in mice
      treated with TGF-beta neutralizing antibody exhibited fewer gammaH2AX foci after
      irradiation and significantly greater tumor growth delay in combination with
      fractionated radiation. CONCLUSIONS: Inhibition of TGF-beta before radiation
      attenuated DNA damage recognition and increased radiosensitivity in most NSCLC
      cells in vitro and promoted radiation-induced tumor control in vivo. These data
      support the rationale for concurrent TGF-beta inhibition and RT to provide
      therapeutic benefit in NSCLC.

PMID- 25835622
TI  - Is intermediate radiation dose escalation with concurrent chemotherapy for stage
      III non-small-cell lung cancer beneficial? A multi-institutional propensity score
      matched analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: The clinical benefits and risks of dose escalation (DE) for stage III
      non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain uncertain despite the results from
      Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) protocol 0617. There is significant
      heterogeneity of practice, with many clinicians prescribing intermediate dose
      levels between the 0617 study arms of 60 and 74 Gy. This study investigated
      whether this strategy is associated with any survival benefits/risks by analyzing
      a large multi-institutional database. METHODS AND MATERIALS: An individual
      patient database of stage III NSCLC patients treated with radical intent
      concurrent chemoradiation therapy was created (13 institutions, n=1274 patients).
      Patients were divided into 2 groups based on tumor Biological Effective Dose at
      10 Gy (BED 10): those receiving standard dose (SD; n=552), consisting of 72Gy <=
      BED 10 <= 76.8 Gy (eg 60-64 Gy/30-32 fractions [fr]), and those receiving
      intermediate dose (ID; n=497), consisting of 76.8Gy < BED 10 < 100.8 Gy (eg >64
      Gy/32 fr and <74 Gy/37 fr), with lower-dose patients (n=225) excluded from
      consideration. Patients were then matched using propensity scores, leading to 2
      matched groups of 196 patients. Outcomes were compared using various statistics
      including interquartile range (IQR), Kaplan-Meier curves, and adjusted Cox
      regression analysis. RESULTS: Matched groups were found to be balanced except for
      N stage (more N3 disease in SD), median treatment year (SD in 2003; ID in 2007),
      platinum and taxane chemotherapy (SD in 28%; ID in 39%), and median follow-up (SD
      were 89 months; ID were 40 months). Median dose fractionation was 60 Gy/30 fr in
      SD (BED 10 IQR: 72.0-75.5 Gy) and 66 Gy/33 fr (BED 10 IQR: 78.6-79.2 Gy) in ID.
      Survival curves for SD and ID matched cohorts were statistically similar (P=.27);
      however, a nonstatistically significant trend toward better survival for ID was
      observed after 15 months (median survival SD: 19.3 months; ID: 21.0 months).
      There was an increase in grades III to V lung toxicity associated with ID (13.0%
      vs 4.9%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: No significant overall survival benefits
      were found with intermediate DE; however, more grade III or greater lung toxicity
      was observed. The separation of survival curves after 15 months of follow-up
      suggests that a small overall survival improvement associated with intermediate
      DE cannot be excluded.

PMID- 25835623
TI  - Prospective evaluation of severe skin toxicity and pain during postmastectomy
      radiation therapy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To prospectively capture acute toxicities and pain associated with
      postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT), to analyze patient and treatment risk
      factors for severe side effects. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Women referred for PMRT
      were prospectively enrolled and assessed weekly during and after radiation
      therapy. The endpoint included severe National Cancer Institute Common
      Terminology Criteria for Adverse Effects grade 3 moist desquamation, other skin
      symptoms, and pain. RESULTS: Of 257 patients, 73 (28.4%) experienced extensive
      moist desquamation, 84 (32.7%) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Effects
      skin toxicity grade 3, and 57 (22.2%) a pain impacting on daily life activities.
      Among symptoms only grade 3 moist desquamation was significantly associated with
      severe pain (P<.001). On multivariate analysis, smoking, high-energy photons, and
      skin bolus were significantly associated with severe moist desquamation. Skin
      toxicity doubled for smokers, with 40% severe pain, 48% grade 3 moist
      desquamation, and 64% grade 3 skin toxicity. Without skin bolus 4.2% had severe
      pain, none moist desquamation, and 2.1% grade 3 skin toxicity. When skin bolus
      was used on alternate days, the frequency increased to 15% for pain, 22% for
      moist desquamation, and 26% for grade 3 skin toxicity. When bolus was used daily,
      32% had pain, 41% moist desquamation, and 47% grade 3 skin toxicity. Symptoms
      peaked 1 to 2 weeks after the end of PMRT. CONCLUSIONS: The present cohort study
      suggests excessive radiation toxicity after PMRT. Among factors associated with
      an increase of toxicity are smoking habits and the use of skin bolus.

PMID- 25835624
TI  - Role of the technical aspects of hypofractionated radiation therapy treatment of
      prostate cancer: a review.
AB  - The increasing use of moderate (<35 fractions) and extreme (<5 fractions)
      hypofractionated radiation therapy in prostate cancer is yielding favorable
      results, both in terms of maintained biochemical response and toxicity. Several
      hypofractionation (HF) schemes for the treatment of prostate cancer are
      available, although there is considerable variability in the techniques used to
      manage intra-/interfraction motion and deliver radiation doses. We performed a
      review of the published studies on HF regimens as a topic of interest for the
      Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy working group, which is part of the Italian
      Association of Medical Physics. Aspects of organ motion management (imaging for
      contouring, target volume definition, and rectum/bladder preparation) and
      treatment delivery (prostate localization, image guided radiation therapy
      strategy and frequency) were evaluated and categorized to assess outcome relative
      to disease control and toxicity. Despite the heterogeneity of the data, some
      interesting trends that emerged from the review might be useful in identifying an
      optimum HF strategy.

PMID- 25835625
TI  - Rates and durability of response to salvage radiation therapy among patients with
      refractory or relapsed aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the response rate (RR) and time to local recurrence (TTLR)
      among patients who received salvage radiation therapy for relapsed or refractory
      aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and investigate whether RR and TTLR
      differed according to disease characteristics. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A
      retrospective review was performed for all patients who completed a course of
      salvage radiation therapy between January 2001 and May 2011 at Brigham and
      Women's Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Separate analyses were conducted
      for patients treated with palliative and curative intent. Predictors of RR for
      each subgroup were assessed using a generalized estimating equation model. For
      patients treated with curative intent, local control (LC) and progression-free
      survival were estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method; predictors for TTLR were
      evaluated using a Cox proportional hazards regression model. RESULTS: Salvage
      radiation therapy was used to treat 110 patients to 121 sites (76 curative, 45
      palliative). Salvage radiation therapy was given as part of consolidation in 18%
      of patients treated with curative intent. Median dose was 37.8 Gy, with 58% and
      36% of curative and palliative patients, respectively, receiving 39.6 Gy or
      higher. The RR was high (86% curative, 84% palliative). With a median follow-up
      of 4.8 years among living patients, 5-year LC and progression-free survival for
      curative patients were 66% and 34%, respectively. Refractory disease (hazard
      ratio 3.3; P=.024) and lack of response to initial chemotherapy (hazard ratio
      4.3; P=.007) but not dose (P=.93) were associated with shorter TTLR. Despite
      doses of 39.6 Gy or higher, 2-year LC was only 61% for definitive patients with
      refractory disease or disease that did not respond to initial chemotherapy.
      CONCLUSIONS: Relapsed or refractory aggressive NHL is responsive to salvage
      radiation therapy, and durable LC can be achieved in some cases. However,
      refractory disease is associated with a shorter TTLR, suggesting that radiation
      dose escalation, addition of radiosensitizers, or a combination of both may be
      indicated in these patients.

PMID- 25835626
TI  - Predictors of radiation therapy noncompliance in an urban academic cancer center.
AB  - PURPOSE: To quantify the frequency of patient noncompliance in an urban radiation
      oncology department and identify predictors of noncompliance. METHODS AND
      MATERIALS: We identified patients treated with external beam radiation therapy
      (RT) with curative intent in our department from 2007 to 2012 for 1 of 7 commonly
      treated malignancies. Patients who missed 2 or more scheduled RT appointments
      were deemed "noncompliant." An institutional database was referenced to obtain
      clinical and demographic information for each patient, as well as a quantitative
      estimate of each patient's socioeconomic status. Logistic regression was used to
      identify factors associated with RT noncompliance. RESULTS: A total of 2184
      patients met eligibility criteria. Of these, 442 (20.2%) were deemed
      "noncompliant." On multivariate analysis, statistically significant predictors of
      noncompliance included diagnosis of head-and-neck, cervical, or uterine cancer,
      treatment during winter months, low socioeconomic status, and use of a long
      treatment course (all P<.05). CONCLUSION: This is the first large effort
      examining patient noncompliance with daily RT. We have identified demographic,
      clinical, and treatment-related factors that can be used to identify patients at
      high risk for noncompliance. These findings may inform future strategies to
      improve adherence to prescribed therapy.

PMID- 25835627
TI  - Need for consensus when prescribing stereotactic body radiation therapy for
      prostate cancer.

PMID- 25835628
TI  - In regard to Duchesne et al.

PMID- 25835629
TI  - In reply to Jenkins.

PMID- 25835630
TI  - In regard to Duchesne et al.

PMID- 25835631
TI  - In regard to Brink et al.

PMID- 25835632
TI  - In reply to Yamazaki et al.

PMID- 25835633
TI  - In Regard to Hodges et al.

PMID- 25835638
TI  - Receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1: a novel target for cancer
      immunotherapy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1) is a member
      of the receptor tyrosine kinase family. ROR1 is selectively overexpressed in a
      number of solid and hematological malignancies without significant expression in
      normal adult tissues. There are also some lines of evidence, which support the
      critical role of ROR1 in tumorigenesis. These characteristics introduce ROR1 as a
      suitable target for selective cancer immunotherapy. ROR1 targeting using
      different approaches such as siRNA, tyrosine kinase inhibitors and antibody
      induces tumor growth suppression in cancer cells. AREAS COVERED: The current
      review focuses on ROR1 structure and biological functions, expression profiles in
      normal and malignant tissues and its potential therapeutic applications in
      different malignancies. We aimed to encompass almost all important aspects of
      ROR1 biology and its importance in tumor targeted therapy approaches based on
      published papers in this field. EXPERT OPINION: Considering ROR1 unique
      characters, it seems that it can pass most of the criteria for being an ideal
      target for cancer immunotherapy. ROR1 unique expression on cancer cells with
      subtle expression on normal tissues make it a suitable target with minimum
      potential side effects using different cancer therapy approaches such as mAb
      therapy, peptide and protein vaccination, cell therapy and small molecules.

PMID- 25835639
TI  - Is Trichomonas tenax a Parasite or a Commensal?
AB  - Trichomonas tenax is considered a commensal organism found under poor oral
      hygiene conditions. T. tenax presents morphological similarities with T.
      vaginalis, and there are doubts concerning whether this protist is a parasite and
      whether it is a genetic variant of T. vaginalis. This study aimed to investigate
      the capacity of T. tenax to cause mammalian cell damage and compare its
      cytotoxicity with that of T. vaginalis. Protozoan-host cell interaction assays
      were performed with Madin-Darby canine kidney, HeLa, and gum cells and 3D
      spheroids, which were examined by scanning electron and transmission electron
      microscopy. Cellular viability experiments were also performed. T. tenax attached
      and had different forms when interacting with mammalian cells and caused damage
      with time-dependent host-cell viability. We observed that T. tenax produced
      plasma membrane projections and phagocytosed portions of the mammalian cells. In
      addition, T. tenax caused membrane blebbing and apoptotic bodies in HeLa cells,
      thus inducing cell death. Spheroids were also used in interaction assays with T.
      tenax and they were damaged by these cells. This study shows that T. tenax
      fulfills the requisites of a parasite, causing damage to different mammalian
      cells and behaving similarly to T. vaginalis when in contact with target cells in
      vitro. 

PMID- 25835640
TI  - Cannabis: the never-ending, nefarious nepenthe of the 21st century: what should
      the clinician know?

PMID- 25835637
TI  - Interaction of thrombospondin1 and CD36 contributes to obesity-associated
      podocytopathy.
AB  - Obesity is associated with podocyte injury and the development of proteinuria.
      Elevated plasma free fatty acid is one of the characteristics of obesity and has
      been linked to podocyte dysfunction. However, the mechanisms remain unclear. In
      the current study, we examined the effect of saturated free fatty acid (FFA) on
      human podocyte apoptosis and function in vitro. The mechanism and its in vivo
      relevance were also determined. We found that FFA treatment induced human
      podocyte apoptosis and dysfunction, which was associated with increased
      expression of a matricellular protein-thrombospondin1 (TSP1). FFA stimulated TSP1
      expression in podocytes at the transcriptional levels through activation of MAPK
      pathway. Addition of purified TSP1 to cell culture media induced podocyte
      apoptosis and dysfunction. Tis effect is though a TGF-beta independent mechanism.
      Moreover, peptide treatment to block TSP1 binding to its receptor-CD36 attenuated
      FFA induced podocyte apoptosis, suggesting that TSP1/CD36 interaction mediates
      FFA-induced podocyte apoptosis. Importantly, using a diet-induced obese mouse
      model, in vivo data demonstrated that obesity-associated podocyte apoptosis and
      dysfunction were attenuated in TSP1 deficient mice as well as in CD36 deficient
      mice. Taken together, these studies provide novel evidence that the interaction
      of TSP1 with its receptor CD36 contributes to obesity--associated podocytopathy.

PMID- 25835641
TI  - Hepatoprotective and Renoprotective Effects of Lavender (Lavandula stoechas L.)
      Essential Oils Against Malathion-Induced Oxidative Stress in Young Male Mice.
AB  - We aimed in the present study to investigate the hepato- and nephroprotective
      effects of Lavandula stoechas essential oils (LSEO) against malathion-induced
      oxidative stress in young male mice as well as the possible mechanism implicated
      in such protection. Animals were divided into eight groups of 12 each: Control,
      malathion (200 mg/kg b.w.); Various doses of LSEO (10, 30, and 50 mg/kg b.w.),
      malathion+various doses of LSEO. Malathion and LSEO were daily per orally (p.o.)
      administered by intragastric gavage during 30 days. We initially found that
      malathion treatment induced body weight gain decrease as well as a clear nephro-
      and hepatotoxicity as assessed by significant relative liver and kidney weight
      increase and related hemodynamic parameters deregulation. Malathion exposure of
      mice also induced a considerable perturbation of metabolic parameters. On the
      other hand, we showed that malathion administration was accompanied by an
      oxidative stress status assessed by an increase of malondialdehyde (MDA) and
      hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels as well as a depletion of sulfhydril group
      content (-SH) and antioxidant enzyme activities such as catalase (CAT) and
      glutathione peroxidase (GPx), total superoxide dismutase (SOD), Cu/Zn-SOD, Mn
      SOD, and Fe-SOD in the kidney and liver. More importantly, LSEO treatment
      abolished all malathion-induced body gain loss, liver and kidney relative weight
      increase, hemodynamic and metabolic disorders, as well as hepatic and renal
      oxidative stress. In conclusion, our data suggest that LSEO exerted potential
      hepato- and nephroprotective effects against malathion-induced oxidative stress
      in mice. The beneficial effect of LSEO might be related, in part, to its
      antioxidant properties.

PMID- 25835642
TI  - Double-blind randomized controlled trial comparing misoprostol and oxytocin for
      management of the third stage of labor in a Nigerian hospital.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of oral misoprostol with that of oxytocin for
      active management of the third stage of labor (AMTSL). METHODS: A double-blind
      randomized control trial was undertaken at a center in Ilorin, Nigeria, between
      January and June 2013. Every other eligible patient (in the first stage of labor
      at term, to have a spontaneous vaginal delivery, and no/low risk of postpartum
      hemorrhage [PPH]) were randomly assigned with computer-generated random numbers
      to receive oral misoprostol (600MUg) plus placebo injection or oral placebo plus
      oxytocin injection (1mL of 10IU) in the third stage of labor. The primary outcome
      was amount of blood loss during delivery. RESULTS: Mean postpartum blood loss was
      325.85+/-164.72mL in the 100 patients given misoprostol and 303.95+/-163.33mL in
      the 100 patients given oxytocin (P=0.391). PPH (>=500mL blood loss) was recorded
      in 15 (15.0%) patients given misoprostol and 14 (14.0%) given oxytocin (P=0.841).
      Shivering, pyrexia, and diarrhea were all significantly more common in the
      misoprostol group (P<0.01 for all). CONCLUSION: The efficacy of oral misoprostol
      was similar to that of intramuscular oxytocin. Adverse effects associated with
      misoprostol were transient and self-limiting. Thus, oral misoprostol is
      efficacious and a good alternative to oxytocin for AMTSL. Pan African Clinical
      Trials Registry:PACTR201407000825227.

PMID- 25835643
TI  - Eye Care Service Use and Its Determinants in Marginalized Communities in
      Pakistan: The Karachi Marine Fishing Communities Eye and General Health Survey.
AB  - PURPOSE: To examine gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences in access to
      eye care services in marine fishing communities in Karachi, Pakistan. METHODS:
      The Karachi Marine Fishing Communities Eye and General Health Survey was a door
      to-door, cross-sectional survey conducted between March 2009 and April 2010 in
      fishing communities in Keamari, Karachi, located on the coast of the Arabian Sea.
      Adults aged >=50 years living on three islands and in four coastal areas were
      enrolled. Participants underwent a detailed interview regarding
      sociodemographics, eye problems and eye care service use, testing of presenting
      and best-corrected visual acuity with a reduced logMAR chart, and detailed eye
      examination. RESULTS: A total of 700 people were planned to be included in the
      study; 638 (91.1%) were interviewed and examined. Most participants were
      extremely poor and had no formal education. Only 45.3% (95% confidence interval,
      CI, 41.4-49.2%) of participants reported having had an eye examination in the
      past; 12.1% (95% CI 9.5-14.6%) and 30.9% (95% CI 27.3-34.5%) had seen an eye
      doctor within the last year or prior 5 years, respectively. In the multivariable
      analysis, ethnicity was the strongest independent predictor of eye care service
      use, followed by self-reported eye problems and diabetes. Ethnic Bengalis were
      4.2 times less likely (adjusted odds ratio 0.24, 95% CI 0.15-0.38; p < 0.001) to
      have had an eye examination in the past than Kutchis. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a high
      prevalence of visual impairment and blindness, levels of eye care examinations in
      fishing communities, especially among ethnic Bengalis, are disappointingly low.
      Such communities deserve particular attention in Vision 2020 and other national
      and international strategies and plans.

PMID- 25835644
TI  - Formation and Mechanism of Superhydrophobic/Hydrophobic Surfaces Made from
      Amphiphiles through Droplet-Mediated Evaporation-Induced Self-Assembly.
AB  - Superhydrophobic/hydrophobic surfaces have attracted wide attention because of
      their broad applications in various regions, including coating, textile,
      packaging, electronic devices, and bioengineering. Many studies have been focused
      on the fabrication of superhydrophobic/hydrophobic surfaces using natural
      materials. In this paper, superhydrophobic/hydrophobic surfaces were formed by an
      amphiphilic natural protein, zein, using electrospinning. Water contact angle
      (WCA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the
      hydrophobicity and surface morphology of the electrospun structures. The highest
      WCA of the zein electrospun surfaces could reach 155.5 +/- 1.4 degrees . To
      further understand the mechanism of superhydrophobic surface formation from
      amphiphiles using electrospinning, a synthetic amphiphilic polymer was selected,
      and also, a method similar to electrospinning, spray drying, was tried. The
      electrospun amphiphilic polymer surface showed a high hydrophobicity with a WCA
      of 141.4 +/- 0.7 degrees . WCA of the spray-dried zein surface could reach 125.3
      +/- 2.1 degrees . The secondary structures of the zein in the electrospun film
      and cast-dried film were studied using ATR-FTIR, showing that alpha-helix to beta
      sheet transformation happened during the solvent evaporation in the cast drying
      process but not in the electrospinning process. A formation mechanism was
      proposed on the basis of the orientation of the amphiphiles during the solvent
      evaporation of different fabrication methods. The droplet-based or jet-based
      evaporation during electrospinning and spray drying led to the formation of the
      superhydrophobic/hydrophobic surface by the accumulation of the hydrophobic
      groups of the amphiphiles on the surface, while the surface-based evaporation
      during cast drying led to the formation of the hydrophilic surface by the
      accumulation of the hydrophilic groups of the amphiphiles on the surface. 

PMID- 25835645
TI  - Evaluation of a multiple sclerosis cluster among nurses in an inpatient oncology
      ward.

PMID- 25835646
TI  - Small-fiber neuropathy in pompe disease: first reported cases and prospective
      screening of a clinic cohort.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prior autopsy reports demonstrate glycogen deposition in Schwann
      cells of the peripheral nerves in patients with infantile and late-onset Pompe
      disease (LOPD), but little is known about associated clinical features. CASE
      REPORT: Here, we report the first confirmed cases of small-fiber neuropathy (SFN)
      in LOPD and present the results of a first attempt at screening for SFN in this
      patient population. After confirming small-fiber neuropathy in 2 LOPD patients,
      44 consecutive Pompe patients (iOPD=7, LOPD n=37) presenting to the Duke
      University Glycogen Storage Disease Program between September 2013 and November
      2014 were asked to complete the 21-item Small-Fiber Neuropathy Screening List
      (SFNSL), where a score of >=11 is considered to be a positive screen. Fifty
      percent of patients had a positive SFN screen (mean score 11.6, 95% CI 9.0-14.2).
      A modest correlation between the SFNSL score and current age was seen (r=0.38,
      p=0.01), along with a correlation with duration of ERT (r=0.31, p=0.0495). Trends
      toward correlation with forced vital capacity and age at diagnosis were also
      present. Women had a higher mean SFNSL score (14.2) than men (8.2, p=0.017).
      CONCLUSIONS: SFN may occur in association with Pompe disease and precede the
      diagnosis. Further studies are needed to determine its true prevalence and
      impact.

PMID- 25835648
TI  - Spectral dispersion modeling of virtually imaged phased array by using angular
      spectrum of plane waves.
AB  - We present an analytical treatment for the relatively new spectral disperser
      termed virtually imaged phased array (VIPA). Angular spectrum representation of
      the input Gaussian beam helps us obtain an exact analytic dispersion model and a
      dispersion law for a general VIPA by using the principle of multiple-beam
      interference. The consideration of the optical aberrations caused by refractions
      makes our model more accurate and practical than previous models. The validity of
      the proposed dispersion law has been validated theoretically by comparing with
      previous results. Some considerations of using a VIPA are also provided. 

PMID- 25835647
TI  - Immunomodulatory and Antileishmanial Activity of Phenylpropanoid Dimers Isolated
      from Nectandra leucantha.
AB  - Three phenylpropanoid dimers (1-3) including two new metabolites were isolated
      from the extract of the twigs of Nectandra leucantha using antileishmanial
      bioassay-guided fractionation. The in vitro antiparasitic activity of the
      isolated compounds against Leishmania donovani parasites and mammalian
      cytotoxicity and immunomodulatory effects were evaluated. Compounds 1-3 were
      effective against the intracellular amastigotes within macrophages, with IC50
      values of 26.7, 17.8, and 101.9 MUM, respectively. The mammalian cytotoxicity,
      given by the 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC50), was evaluated against peritoneal
      macrophages. Compounds 1 and 3 were not toxic up to 290 MUM, whereas compound 2
      demonstrated a CC50 value of 111.2 MUM. Compounds 1-3 also suppressed production
      of disease exacerbatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-10 but had minimal effect on nitric
      oxide production in L. donovani-infected macrophages, indicating that
      antileishmanial activity of these compounds is mediated via an NO-independent
      mechanism. Therefore, these new natural products could represent promising
      scaffolds for drug design studies for leishmaniasis. 

PMID- 25835649
TI  - Joint robustness security in optical OFDM access system with Turbo-coded
      subcarrier rotation.
AB  - This paper proposes a novel robust physical secure method for optical orthogonal
      frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) access system based on Turbo-coded
      subcarrier rotation. It can realize a secure communication while keep robustness
      to channel noise. The subcarrier rotation is controlled by the interleaver module
      of Turbo coding, which is under the charge of Logistic map. The random puncturing
      can further enhance the security. The channel feedback can ensure the puncturing
      module working at a suitable coding rate. A 72.28 Gb/s encrypted 16QAM-OFDM
      signal is successfully demonstrated in the experiment. The results show robust
      performance under different channel noise conditions and good resistance to
      illegal optical network unit (ONU). 

PMID- 25835650
TI  - Photo-assisted proton exchange and chemical etching on Fe-doped lithium niobate
      crystals.
AB  - We report the photo-assisted proton exchange and chemical etching on Fe-doped
      LiNbO(3) crystals. Selective proton exchange and chemical etching are realized
      through the 455nm-laser irradiation on the crystal surface in pyrophosphoric
      acid. Optical microscopy and Micro-IR spectroscopy analysis show that the
      hydrogen incorporation is confined spatially by the laser irradiation. Moreover,
      under the laser irradiation, + z surface is found to be more easily etched than 
      z surface. This unexpected etching anisotropy is attributed to the photogalvanic
      effect of the crystal.

PMID- 25835651
TI  - Tunable beam shaping with a phased array acousto-optic modulator.
AB  - We demonstrate the generation of Bessel beams using an acousto-optic array based
      on a liquid filled cavity surrounded by a cylindrical multi-element ultrasound
      transducer array. Conversion of a Gaussian laser mode into a Bessel beam with
      tunable order and position is shown. Also higher-order Bessel beams up to the
      fourth order are successfully generated with experimental results very closely
      matching simulations. 

PMID- 25835652
TI  - CDOM-DOC relationship in contrasted coastal waters: implication for DOC retrieval
      from ocean color remote sensing observation.
AB  - Increasing our knowledge on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) spatio-temporal
      distribution in the coastal ocean represents a crucial challenge for better
      understanding the role of these ecosystems in the global oceanic carbon cycle.
      The assessment of DOC concentration from the absorption properties of the colored
      part of the dissolved organic matter (a(cdom)) was investigated from an extensive
      data set covering a variety of coastal environments. Our results confirmed that
      variation in the a(cdom)(412) to DOC ratio (a*(cdom)(412)) can be depicted from
      the CDOM spectral slope in the UV domain (S(275-295)). They also evidenced that
      regional first order variation in both a*(cdom)(412) and S(275-295) are highly
      correlated to variation in a(cdom)(412). From these observations, generalized
      relationships for estimating a*(cdom)(412) from S(275-295) or a(cdom)(412) were
      parameterized from our development sites (N = 158; English Channel, French
      Guiana, Hai Phong Bay) and tested against an independent data set covering others
      coastal regions (N = 223; French Polynesia, Rhone River estuary, Gulf of Maine,
      Chesapeake Bay, Southern Middle Atlantic Bight) demonstrating the possibility to
      derive DOC estimates from in situ CDOM optical properties with an average
      accuracy of ~16% over very contrasted coastal environments (with DOC ranging from
      50 to 250 umol.L(-1)). The applicability of these generalized approaches was
      evaluated in the context of ocean color remote sensing observation emphasizing
      the limits of S(275-295)-based formulations and the potential for a(cdom)-based
      approaches to represent a compelling alternative for assessing synoptic DOC
      distribution.

PMID- 25835653
TI  - Nonlinear interaction in differential mode delay managed mode-division
      multiplexed transmission systems.
AB  - We analyze the impact of Differential Mode Delay (DMD) Management on the
      nonlinear impairments in mode-division multiplexed transmission systems. It is
      found out that DMD Management can lead to a degraded performance, due to enhanced
      intermodal nonlinear interaction. This can be attributed to an increased
      correlation of co-propagating channels, similar to the effects that show up in
      dispersion managed single-mode systems. 

PMID- 25835654
TI  - Femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures on silicon upon
      polarization controlled two-color double-pulse irradiation.
AB  - Two-color double-fs-pulse experiments were performed on silicon wafers to study
      the temporally distributed energy deposition in the formation of laser-induced
      periodic surface structures (LIPSS). A Mach-Zehnder interferometer generated
      parallel or cross-polarized double-pulse sequences at 400 and 800 nm wavelength,
      with inter-pulse delays up to a few picoseconds between the sub-ablation 50-fs
      pulses. Multiple two-color double-pulse sequences were collinearly focused by a
      spherical mirror to the sample. The resulting LIPSS characteristics (periods,
      areas) were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. A wavelength-dependent
      plasmonic mechanism is proposed to explain the delay-dependence of the LIPSS.
      These two-color experiments extend previous single-color studies and prove the
      importance of the ultrafast energy deposition for LIPSS formation. 

PMID- 25835655
TI  - Electro-optical 1 x 2, 1 x N and N x N fiber-optic and free-space switching over
      1.55 to 3.0 MUm using a Ge-Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5)-Ge prism structure.
AB  - New device designs are proposed and theoretical simulations are performed on
      electro-optical routing switches in which light beams enter and exit the device
      either from free space or from lensed fibers. The active medium is a ~100 nm
      layer of phase change material (Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) or GeTe) that is electrically
      "triggered" to change its phase, giving "self-holding" behavior in each of two
      phases. Electrical current is supplied to that film by a pair of transparent
      highly doped conducting Ge prisms on both sides of the layer. For S-polarized
      light incident at ~80 degrees  on the film, a three-layer Fabry-Perot analysis,
      including dielectric loss, predicts good 1 x 2 and 2 x 2 switch performance at
      infrared wavelengths of 1.55, 2.1 and 3.0 MUm, although the performance at 1.55
      MUm is degraded by material loss and prism mismatch. Proposals for in-plane and
      volumetric 1 x 4 and 4 x 4 switches are also presented. An unpolarized 1 x 2
      switch projects good performance at mid infrared.

PMID- 25835656
TI  - On the anisotropy of stress-distribution induced in glasses and crystals by non
      ablative femtosecond laser exposure.
AB  - Femtosecond laser exposure in the non-ablative regime induces a variety of bulk
      structural modifications, in which anisotropy may depend on the polarization of
      the writing beam. In this work, we investigate the correlation between
      polarization state and stress anisotropy. In particular, we introduce a
      methodology that allows for rapid analysis and visualization of laser-induced
      stress anisotropy in glasses and crystals. Using radial and azimuthal
      polarization, we also demonstrate stress states that are nearly isotropic. 

PMID- 25835657
TI  - Spectral broadband anastigmatic Wadsworth imaging spectrometer.
AB  - A new advanced optical design based on the Wadsworth mounting for a broadband
      stigmatic, coma-free practical spectrometer with high imaging quality is
      presented. By the addition of an inclined cylindrical lens with a wedge angle,
      the stigmatic imaging conditions in a broad waveband have been obtained by our
      analysis. An example which presents excellent optical performances over a
      spectral broadband of 380nm centered at 570nm has been designed to certify the
      analysis. 

PMID- 25835658
TI  - Microfluidic tunable inkjet-printed metamaterial absorber on paper.
AB  - In this paper, we propose a novel microfluidic tunable metamaterial (MM) absorber
      printed on a paper substrate in silver nanoparticle ink. The metamaterial is
      designed using a periodic array consisting of square patches. The conductive
      patterns are inkjet-printed on paper using silver nanoparticle inks. The
      microfluidic channels are laser-etched on polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). The
      conductive patterns on paper and the microfluidic channels on PMMA are bonded by
      an SU-8 layer that is also inkjet-printed on the conductive patterns. The
      proposed MM absorber provides frequency-tuning capability for different fluids in
      the microfluidic channels. We performed full-wave simulations and measurements
      that confirmed that the resonant frequency decreased from 4.42 GHz to 3.97 GHz
      after the injection of distilled water into the microfluidic channels. For both
      empty and water-filled channels, the absorptivity is higher than 90% at
      horizontal and vertical polarizations. 

PMID- 25835659
TI  - Fabrication of 3D photonic components on bulk crystalline silicon.
AB  - We have fabricated three dimensional photonic components such as waveguides and
      beam splitters from crystalline silicon using a process based on one or more ion
      irradiation steps with different energies and fluences, followed by
      electrochemical anodization and thermal annealing. We first demonstrate the
      fabrication of multilevel silicon waveguides and then extend this process to make
      multilevel beam splitters, in which three output waveguides are distributed over
      two depths. The dimensions of the waveguides can be defined within a range from
      0.5 MUm to several micrometers simply by varying the ion beam fluence. 

PMID- 25835660
TI  - Orthogonal and parallel lattice plasmon resonance in core-shell SiO(2)/Au
      nanocylinder arrays.
AB  - Height induced coupling behavior between the plasmonic modes and diffraction
      orders were studied in the core-shell SiO(2)/Au nanocylinder arrays (NCAs) using
      finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations. New lattice plasmon modes
      (LPMs) are observed in the structures with high aspect ratio. Specifically,
      parallel coupling between the plasmonic modes and diffraction orders is obtained
      here, which shows different coupling behavior from orthogonal LPMs.
      Electromagnetic (EM) field distributions indicate that horizontal propagation of
      the magnetic or electric field component is responsible for the generation of
      these orthogonal and parallel LPMs, respectively. Radiative loss could be
      effectively suppressed when the height increases. This is important for the
      applications of fluorescence enhancement and nano laser. Further studies confirm
      that the LPMs associated with the superstrate diffraction orders could be well
      maintained even when the Au coating is imperfect. The interference from the
      substrate associated LPMs could be eliminated by cutting off the corresponding
      diffraction waves by inducing a Si(3)N(4) substrate. This study of coupling
      behavior in the core-shell NCAs enables a novel route to design and optimize the
      LPMs for applications of bio-sensing and nano laser.

PMID- 25835661
TI  - Soliton's eigenvalue based analysis on the generation mechanism of rogue wave
      phenomenon in optical fibers exhibiting weak third order dispersion.
AB  - One of the extraordinary aspects of nonlinear wave evolution which has been
      observed as the spontaneous occurrence of astonishing and statistically
      extraordinary amplitude wave is called rogue wave. We show that the eigenvalues
      of the associated equation of nonlinear Schrodinger equation are almost constant
      in the vicinity of rogue wave and we validate that optical rogue waves are formed
      by the collision between quasi-solitons in anomalous dispersion fiber exhibiting
      weak third order dispersion. 

PMID- 25835662
TI  - A 2.95 GHz, femtosecond passive harmonic mode-locked fiber laser based on
      evanescent field interaction with topological insulator film.
AB  - By utilizing the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method, we fabricated a kind of
      microfiber-based topological insulator (TI) saturable absorber (SA) which has
      inherent merits of effective and robust properties. We also proposed a newly
      explanation for the impact of nonlinear effect of SA on the harmonic mode-locking
      (HML) behavior. Upon employing on the SA, we achieved stable fundamental mode
      locking (FML) at central wavelength of 1562.4 nm with pulse duration as short as
      320 fs. By adjusting the intracavity polarization state at maximum pump power of
      395 mW, we obtained stable femtosecond harmonic soliton pulse generation with
      repetition rate of 2.95 GHz and output power of 45.3 mW. Our results demonstrated
      that the microfiber-based TI PLD film SA is a promising device for practical
      multi-GHz ultrashort pulses generation. 

PMID- 25835663
TI  - Spontaneous formation of 10-MUm-scale periodic patterns in transverse-scanning
      femtosecond laser processing.
AB  - We report spontaneous formation of 10-MUm-scale periodic patterns in transverse
      scanning femtosecond (fs) laser processing inside a glass substrate. The
      formation of the periodic patterns was critically dependent on the distance of
      the focus from the back surface; they formed only when fs pulses were focused
      slightly inside (~ a few micrometers) from the back surface. The periods ranged
      from 7 to 16 MUm, which is much longer than the distance between neighboring
      irradiation spots (0.1-1 MUm in the present experiments), the diameter of the
      individual modified spots (about 2 MUm), and the wavelength (0.8 MUm). The
      patterns formed without any intentional modulation; just by scanning the sample
      at a constant speed during irradiation of fs laser pulses. The dependence on
      scanning speed and repetition rate of the laser were also investigated, and a
      possible formation scenario for this "long" periodic pattern was described. 

PMID- 25835664
TI  - Seamless full color holographic printing method based on spatial partitioning of
      SLM.
AB  - The holographic wavefront printer decodes the wavefront coming from a three
      dimensional object from a computer generated hologram displayed on a spatial
      light modulator. By recording this wavefront as an analog volume hologram this
      printing method is highly suitable for realistic color 3D imaging. We propose in
      the paper spatial partitioning of the spatial light modulator to perform mosaic
      delivery of exposures at primary colors for seamless reconstruction of a white
      light viewable color hologram. The method is verified for a 3 * 3 color
      partitioning scheme by a wavefront printer with demagnification of the light beam
      diffracted from the modulator. 

PMID- 25835665
TI  - Selective mode multiplexer based on phase plates and Mach-Zehnder interferometer
      with image inversion function.
AB  - We propose a novel mode multiplexer based on phase plates followed by a Mach
      Zehnder interferometer (MZI) with image inversion. After the higher-order modes
      are selectively converted from fundamental linear-polarized (LP) modes by the
      phase plates, the converted modes are coupled without fundamental loss using MZI
      with image inversion, in which the original spatial pattern and inverted pattern
      of the optical signal are interfered. Our scheme is also applicable to the
      coupling of degenerated LP modes such as LP(11a) and LP(11b). First, we
      numerically and experimentally evaluate the performance of the mode converter
      based on phase plates. The mode converter is suitable as long as the five LP
      modes such as LP(01), LP(11ab) and LP(21ab) are sustained in a few-mode fiber
      (FMF), although the crosstalk due to excitation of undesirable modes is
      unavoidable when the higher-order modes over LP(02) are sustained in FMF. Next,
      we develop and characterize the proposed mode multiplexers based on phase plates
      and MZIs with image inversion. The insertion loss is suppressed to around 3 dB
      for mode multiplexing of LP(11a) and LP(11b). Using a fabricated mode multiplexer
      for LP(31a) and LP(31b), we measure the bit-error rate performance of single
      polarization mode-multiplexed quadrature-phase shift keying optical signals.

PMID- 25835666
TI  - Single mode operation with mid-IR hollow fibers in the range 5.1-10.5 um.
AB  - Single mode beam delivery in the mid-infrared spectral range 5.1-10.5 MUm
      employing flexible hollow glass waveguides of 15 cm and 50 cm lengths, with
      metallic/dielectric internal layers and a bore diameter of 200 MUm were
      demonstrated. Three quantum cascade lasers were coupled with the hollow core
      fibers. For a fiber length of 15 cm, we measured losses down to 1.55 dB at 5.4
      MUm and 0.9 dB at 10.5 MUm. The influence of the launch conditions in the fiber
      on the propagation losses and on the beam profile at the waveguide exit was
      analyzed. At 10.5 um laser wavelength we found near perfect agreement between
      measured and theoretical losses, while at ~5 um and ~6 um wavelengths the losses
      were higher than expected. This discrepancy can be explained considering an
      additional scattering loss effect, which scales as 1/lambda(2) and is due to
      surface roughness of the metallic layer used to form the high-reflective internal
      layer structure of the hollow core waveguide.

PMID- 25835667
TI  - Harmonic mode locking of bound-state solitons fiber laser based on MoS(2)
      saturable absorber.
AB  - We present a kind of harmonic mode locking of bound-state solitons in a fiber
      laser based on molybdenum disulfide (MoS(2)) saturable absorber (SA). The mode
      locker is fabricated by depositing MoS(2) nanosheets on a D-shaped fiber (DF). In
      the fiber laser, two solitons form the bound-state pulses with a temporal
      separation of 3.4 ps, and the bound-state pulses are equally distributed at a
      repetition rate of 125 MHz, corresponding to 14th harmonics of fundamental cavity
      repetition rate (8.968 MHz). Single- and multiple-pulses emissions are also
      observed by changing the pump power and optimizing the DF based MoS(2) SA. Our
      experiment demonstrates an interesting operation regime of mode-locked fiber
      laser, and shows that DF based MoS(2) SA can work as a promising high-power mode
      locker in ultrafast lasers.

PMID- 25835668
TI  - 2000-fold parallelized dual-color STED fluorescence nanoscopy.
AB  - Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED) nanoscopy enables multi-color fluorescence
      imaging at the nanometer scale. Its typical single-point scanning implementation
      can lead to long acquisition times. In order to unleash the full spatiotemporal
      resolution potential of STED nanoscopy, parallelized scanning is mandatory. Here
      we present a dual-color STED nanoscope utilizing two orthogonally crossed
      standing light waves as a fluorescence switch-off pattern, and providing a
      resolving power down to 30 nm. We demonstrate the imaging capabilities in a
      biological context for immunostained vimentin fibers in a circular field of view
      of 20 um diameter at 2000-fold parallelization (i.e. 2000 "intensity minima").
      The technical feasibility of massively parallelizing STED without significant
      compromises in resolution heralds video-rate STED nanoscopy of large fields of
      view, pending the availability of suitable high-speed detectors. 

PMID- 25835669
TI  - All-fiber mode-group-selective photonic lantern using graded-index multimode
      fibers.
AB  - We demonstrate the first all-fiber mode-group-selective photonic lantern using
      multimode graded-index fibers. Mode selectivity for mode groups LP(01), LP(11)
      and LP(21)+LP(02) is 20-dB, 10-dB and 7-dB respectively. The insertion loss when
      butt coupled to multimode graded-index fiber is below 0.6-dB. The use of the
      multimode graded-index fibers in the taper can significantly reduce the
      adiabaticity requirement.

PMID- 25835670
TI  - Mode-multiplexed transmission over conventional graded-index multimode fibers.
AB  - We present experimental results for combined mode-multiplexed and wavelength
      multiplexed transmission over conventional graded-index multimode fibers. We use
      mode-selective photonic lanterns as mode couplers to precisely excite a subset of
      the modes of the multimode fiber and additionally to compensate for the
      differential group delay between the excited modes. Spatial mode filters are
      added to suppress undesired higher order modes. We transmit 30-Gbaud QPSK signals
      over 60 WDM channels, 3 spatial modes, and 2 polarizations, reaching a distance
      of 310 km based on a 44.3 km long span. We also report about transmission
      experiments over 6 spatial modes for a 17-km single-span experiment. The results
      indicate that multimode fibers support scalable mode-division multiplexing
      approaches, where modes can be added over time if desired. Also the results
      indicate that mode-multiplexed transmission distance over 300 km are possible in
      conventional multimode fibers. 

PMID- 25835671
TI  - Actio et reactio in optical binding.
AB  - The symmetry in action and reaction between interacting particulate matter breaks
      down when the interaction is mediated by an out-of-equilibrium environment.
      Nevertheless, even in this case, the space translational invariance still imposes
      the conservation of canonical momentum. Here we show that optical binding of an
      asymmetric material system can result in non-reciprocal interactions between
      constituents. We demonstrate that a non-conservative force applies to the center
      of mass of an optically bound dimer of dissimilar particles, which leads to an
      unexpected action in the transversal direction. The sign and the magnitude of
      this positional force depend on the abrupt phase transitions in the properties of
      the asymmetric dimer. 

PMID- 25835672
TI  - Study on the crucial conditions for efficient third harmonic generation using a
      metal-hybrid-metal plasmonic slot waveguide.
AB  - We provide a comprehensive study on the efficient third harmonic generation (THG)
      in a lossy metal-hybrid-metal asymmetric plasmonic slot waveguide (MHM) to
      develop a method for efficient THG by focusing on the modal phase-matching
      condition (PMC), the third-order nonlinear susceptibility of the nonlinear
      interactive material, and the pump-harmonic modal overlap in conjunction with
      reasonable linear propagation loss. In addition to the PMC and the nonlinear
      material, the stimulated THG process can be greatly enhanced by the large pump
      harmonic modal overlap. With 1 W pump power, simulation results present that THG
      conversion efficiency up to 2.79 * 10(-4) within 4.5 ????m MHM can be achieved.

PMID- 25835673
TI  - Arbitrary GRIN component fabrication in optically driven diffusive photopolymers.
AB  - We introduce a maskless lithography tool and optically-initiated diffusive
      photopolymer that enable arbitrary two-dimensional gradient index (GRIN) polymer
      lens profiles. The lithography tool uses a pulse-width modulated deformable
      mirror device (DMD) to control the 8-bit gray-scale intensity pattern on the
      material. The custom polymer responds with a self-developing refractive index
      profile that is non-linear with optical dose. We show that this nonlinear
      material response can be corrected with pre-compensation of the intensity pattern
      to yield high fidelity, optically induced index profiles. The process is
      demonstrated with quadratic, millimeter aperture GRIN lenses, Zernike polynomials
      and GRIN Fresnel lenses. 

PMID- 25835674
TI  - Terahertz waveguiding between parallel dielectric films.
AB  - We report a study of terahertz waveguiding between parallel dielectric films, a
      system that can be viewed as a planar analogue of hollow core fibres that exploit
      anti-resonant reflection optical waveguiding (ARROW). With the aid of time domain
      waveguide mode imaging, the frequency dependent transition from ARROW to total
      internal reflection guiding in the individual films as the film separation is
      reduced and the effect on the transmission of adding variably spaced cladding
      layers are clearly revealed. Good agreement for the transmission, dispersion and
      loss is obtained with simple analytical models for film separations greater than
      about five wavelengths suggesting that the same models could be usefully used to
      predict the behavior in the case of the technologically more important
      cylindrical geometry. 

PMID- 25835675
TI  - Compactly packaged monolithic four-wavelength VCSEL array with 100-GHz wavelength
      spacing for future-proof mobile fronthaul transport.
AB  - We report a cost-effective transmitter optical sub-assembly using a monolithic
      four-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) array with 100-GHz
      wavelength spacing for future-proof mobile fronthaul transport using the data
      rate of common public radio interface option 6. The wavelength spacing is
      achieved using selectively etched cavity control layers and fine current
      adjustment. The differences in operating current and output power for maintaining
      the wavelength spacing of four VCSELs are <1.4 mA and <1 dB, respectively. Stable
      operation performance without mode hopping is observed, and error-free
      transmission under direct modulation is demonstrated over a 20-km single-mode
      fiber without any dispersion-compensation techniques. 

PMID- 25835676
TI  - Vertical plasmonic resonance coupler.
AB  - Efficient wavelength-selective coupling of lights between sub-wavelength
      plasmonic waveguides and free space is theoretically investigated. The idea is
      based on a new type of vertical resonance coupling devices built on plasmonic
      metal/insulator/metal (MIM) waveguides. The device structure consists of a
      vertical grating coupler in a resonance cavity formed by two distributed Bragg
      reflectors (DBRs). With the metal loss included, maximum coupling efficiency
      around 50% can be obtained at the 1550 nm wavelength with a filtering 3 dB
      bandwidth around 20 nm (7 nm for the lossless case), demonstrating the
      feasibility of the idea for achieving high efficiency wavelength-selective
      vertical coupling through optical resonance. By utilizing this coupler, a
      plasmonic add-drop device is proposed and theoretically demonstrated. This kind
      of compact wavelength selective coupling devices shall have the potential to open
      up a new avenue of photonics circuitry at nanoscale.

PMID- 25835677
TI  - Neutron guide optimisation for a time-of-flight neutron imaging instrument at the
      European Spallation Source.
AB  - A neutron transport system for the planned imaging instrument ODIN at the future
      European Spallation Source (ESS) based on neutron optical components was designed
      and optimized. Different ways of prompt pulse suppression were studied. The
      spectral performance of the optimal neutron guide configuration is presented. In
      addition, the influence of the gaps in the guide system needed for the required
      chopper configuration was investigated. Given that the requirements for an
      imaging instrument located on a long guide system and hosting a complex chopper
      system are extremely demanding in terms of spectral and divergence needs, this
      study can be beneficial for a wide range of instruments in various ways. 

PMID- 25835678
TI  - MicroStructure Element Method (MSEM): viscous flow model for the virtual draw of
      microstructured optical fibers.
AB  - We propose a new method to accurately model the structural evolution of a
      microstructured fiber (MOF) during its drawing process, given its initial preform
      structure and draw conditions. The method, applicable to a broad range of MOFs
      with high air-filling fraction and thin glass membranes, is an extension of the
      Discrete Element Method; it determines forces on the nodes in the microstructure
      to progressively update their position along the neck-down region, until the
      fiber reaches a final frozen state. The model is validated through simulation of
      6 Hollow Core Photonic Band Gap Fibers (HC-PBGFs) and is shown to predict
      accurately the final fiber dimensions and cross-sectional distortions. The model
      is vastly more capable than other state of the art models and allows fast
      exploration of wide drawing parameter spaces, eliminating the need for expensive
      and time-consuming empirical parameter scans. 

PMID- 25835679
TI  - Geometrical optics in the near field: local plane-interface approach with
      evanescent waves.
AB  - We show that geometrical models may provide useful information on light
      propagation in wavelength-scale structures even if evanescent fields are present.
      We apply a so-called local plane-wave and local plane-interface methods to study
      a geometry that resembles a scanning near-field microscope. We show that fair
      agreement between the geometrical approach and rigorous electromagnetic theory
      can be achieved in the case where evanescent waves are required to predict any
      transmission through the structure. 

PMID- 25835680
TI  - All-fiber multiwavelength thulium-doped laser assisted by four-wave mixing in
      highly germania-doped fiber.
AB  - An all-fiber multiwavelength Tm-doped laser assisted by four-wave mixing (FWM) in
      highly Germania-doped highly nonlinear fiber (HG-HNLF) has been experimentally
      demonstrated. Benefiting from the high nonlinearity of the HG-HNLF, intensity
      dependent gain caused by FWM is introduced into the laser cavity to mitigate the
      gain competition in Tm-doped fiber. Thanks to a 50-m HG-HNLF, 9, 22, and 36
      lasing lines with considering 10-dB, 20-dB, and 30-dB bandwidth, respectively is
      obtained at room temperature with wavelength spacing of 0.86 nm. More than 30-nm
      broad-band lasing can be obtained. The stability of the proposed fiber laser has
      also been studied. Repeat measurements show the power fluctuations and wavelength
      drifts of the lasing lines are less than 1.6 dB and 0.05 nm, respectively. The
      laser performances without the assistance of HG-HNLF have fewer center
      wavelengths lasing, which indicates that FWM in HG-HNLF plays an important role
      for the multiwavelength laser operation. 

PMID- 25835681
TI  - Watch-hand-like optical rogue waves in three-wave interactions.
AB  - We investigate the resonant interaction of three optical pulses of different
      group velocity in quadratic media and report on the novel watch-hand-like super
      rogue wave patterns. In addition to having a giant wall-like hump, each rogue
      wave hand involves a peak amplitude more than five times its background height.
      We attribute such peculiar structures to the nonlinear superposition of six
      Peregrine-type solitons. The robustness has been confirmed by numerical
      simulations. This stability along with the non-overlapping distribution property
      may facilitate the experimental diagnostics and observation of these super rogue
      waves. 

PMID- 25835682
TI  - Active resonance wavelength stabilization for silicon microring resonators with
      an in-resonator defect-state-absorption-based photodetector.
AB  - We propose and demonstrate active resonance wavelength stabilization for silicon
      microring resonators with an in-resonator defect-state-absorption (DSA)-based
      photodetector (PD) for optical interconnects. We integrate an electro-optic (EO)
      tuner and a thermo-optic (TO) tuner on the microring, which are both feedback
      controlled following a photocurrent threshold-detection method. Our BF(2)-ion
      implanted DSA-based PIN PD exhibits a cavity-enhanced sub-bandgap responsivity at
      1550 nm of 3.3 mA/W upon -2 V, which is 550-fold higher than that exhibited by an
      unimplanted PIN diode integrated on the same microring. Our experiment reveals
      active stabilization of the resonance wavelength within a tolerance of 0.07 nm
      upon a step increment of the stage temperature by 7  degrees C. Upon temperature
      modulations between 23  degrees C and 32  degrees C and between 18  degrees C and
      23  degrees C, the actively stabilized resonance exhibits a transmission power
      fluctuation within 2 dB. We observe open eye diagrams at a data transmission rate
      of up to 30 Gb/s under the temperature modulations.

PMID- 25835683
TI  - Robust and tunable 16.375Gb/s dual-band optical OFDM transmissions over directly
      modulated VCSEL-based 200m OM2 MMFs.
AB  - Utilizing low-cost, 2.2GHz modulation bandwidth, uncooled and standalone directly
      modulated VCSEL (DM-VCSEL)-based real-time dual-band optical OFDM (OOFDM)
      transmitters, aggregated 16.375Gb/s transmissions of OOFDM signals having
      bandwidths approximately 3.8 times higher than the VCSEL manufacturer-specified
      modulation bandwidths, are experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, over
      200m OM2 MMF links based on intensity modulation and direct detection. The
      aggregated signal transmission capacities of the aforementioned links vary by
      just 8% for various OM2 MMFs ranging from 100m to 500m, and by just 10% over a
      1GHz passband carrier frequency detuning range. Such dual-band OOFDM adaptability
      induced excellent performance robustness and large passband frequency tunability
      can significantly relax the requirements on VCSEL modulation bandwidth for
      achieving specific transmission performances for cost-sensitive application
      scenarios such as data centers. 

PMID- 25835684
TI  - Flexible dynamic measurement method of three-dimensional surface profilometry
      based on multiple vision sensors.
AB  - Single vision sensor cannot measure an entire object because of their limited
      field of view. Meanwhile, multiple rigidly-fixed vision sensors for the dynamic
      vision measurement of three-dimensional (3D) surface profilometry are complex and
      sensitive to strong environmental vibrations. To overcome these problems, a novel
      flexible dynamic measurement method for 3D surface profilometry based on multiple
      vision sensors is presented in this paper. A raster binocular stereo vision
      sensor is combined with a wide-field camera to produce a 3D optical probe.
      Multiple 3D optical probes are arranged around the object being measured, then
      many planar targets are set up. These planar targets function as the mediator to
      integrate the local 3D data measured by the raster binocular stereo vision
      sensors into the coordinate system. The proposed method is not sensitive to
      strong environmental vibrations, and the positions of these 3D optical probes
      need not be rigidly-fixed during the measurement. The validity of the proposed
      method is verified in a physical experiment with two 3D optical probes. When the
      measuring range of raster binocular stereo vision sensor is about 0.5 m * 0.38 m
      * 0.4 m and the size of the measured object is about 0.7 m, the accuracy of the
      proposed method could reach 0.12 mm. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of the proposed
      method in dynamic measurement is confirmed by measuring the rotating fan blades. 

PMID- 25835685
TI  - Far-field imaging beyond diffraction limit using single sensor in combination
      with a resonant aperture.
AB  - Far-field imaging beyond the diffraction limit is a long sought-after goal in
      various imaging applications, which requires usually mechanical scanning or an
      array of antennas. Here, we propose to solve this challenging problem using a
      single sensor in combination with a spatio-temporal resonant aperture antenna. We
      theoretically and numerically demonstrate that such resonant aperture antenna is
      capable of converting part evanescent waves into propagating waves and delivering
      them to far fields. The proposed imaging concept provides the unique ability to
      achieve super resolution for real-time data when illuminated by broadband
      electromagnetic waves, without the harsh requirements such as near- field
      scanning, mechanical scanning, or antenna arrays. We expect the imaging
      methodology to make breakthroughs in super-resolution imaging in microwave,
      terahertz, optical, and ultrasound regimes. 

PMID- 25835686
TI  - Adjustable diffractive spiral phase plates.
AB  - We report on the fabrication and the experimental demonstration of Moire
      diffractive spiral phase plates with adjustable helical charge. The proposed
      optical unit consists of two axially stacked diffractive elements of conjugate
      structure. The joint transmission function of the compound system corresponds to
      that of a spiral phase plate where the angle of mutual rotation about the central
      axis enables continuous adjustment of the helical charge. The diffractive
      elements are fabricated by gray-scale photolithography with a pixel size of 200
      nm and 128 phase step levels in fused silica. We experimentally demonstrate the
      conversion of a TEM(00) beam into approximated Laguerre-Gauss (LG) beams of
      variable helical charge, with a correspondingly variable radius of their ring
      shaped intensity distribution.

PMID- 25835687
TI  - Laser forward transfer using structured light.
AB  - A digital micromirror device (DMD) is used to spatially structure a 532 nm laser
      beam to print features spatially congruent to the laser spot in a laser-induced
      forward transfer (LIFT) process known as laser decal transfer (LDT). The DMD is a
      binary (on/off) spatial light modulator and its resolution, half-toning and beam
      shaping properties are studied using LDT of silver nanopaste layers. Edge
      enhanced "checkerboard" beam profiles led to a ~30% decrease in the laser
      transfer fluence threshold (compared to a reference "checkerboard" profile) for a
      20-pixel bitmap pattern and its resulting 10-MUm square feature. 

PMID- 25835688
TI  - Improving the quality of filament-impaired images in Kerr media by statistical
      averaging.
AB  - In focusing Kerr media, small-scale filamentation is the major obstacle to
      imaging at high light intensities. In this article, we experimentally and
      numerically demonstrate a method based on statistical averaging to reduce the
      detrimental effects of filamentation on the reconstructed images. The experiments
      are performed with femtosecond optical pulses propagating through a nonlinear
      liquid (toluene). We use digital holography to capture the transmitted optical
      image. The reverse propagation of the captured field is numerically performed
      using a numerical solution of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation. Because of
      their intrinsic sensitivity to measurement noise, filaments fail to propagate
      back on their initial trajectories and parasitic filaments form. The principle of
      the method is the introduction of artificial perturbations on the measurement,
      which spatially displace the parasitic filaments. By averaging the reconstruction
      over many realizations of the artificial perturbation, we show that the
      reconstruction improves the quality of the images. Finally, in order to identify
      the different regimes of optical power for which the filaments are time
      reversible, we also derive an analytical estimate for the condition number of the
      nonlinear propagator. 

PMID- 25835689
TI  - Modeling vanadium dioxide phase transition due to continuous-wave optical
      signals.
AB  - Vanadium dioxide (VO(2)) is a material that undergoes thermal phase transition
      resulting in drastic changes in its material properties. The phase change can
      also be brought on by optical pumping. Several experimental results have been
      presented in the literature dealing with such phase transitions brought on by
      optical pumping. In this manuscript we present a theoretical framework, which
      addresses this problem by self consistently solving the electromagnetic problem
      and the thermodynamic problem using a multiphysics approach when such transitions
      are thermally mediated, as is the case with continuous-wave optical pumps. Such
      an analysis provides us with insights into the transition process and also helps
      explain the conditions under which some of the observed experimental results like
      bistability takes place. Such optically induced phase transition materials also
      present the intriguing possibility of ultrahigh nonlinearity where the input
      optical signal essentially converts a dielectric into a plasmonic material. These
      materials can find significant applications in nonlinear metatronics.

PMID- 25835690
TI  - Observation of grating regeneration by direct CO(2) laser annealing.
AB  - In this work, we have demonstrated for the first time grating regeneration in
      hydrogenated fibers by direct CO(2) laser annealing. During the annealing
      process, the center wavelength redshifts as the intensity of the focused CO(2)
      laser on the grating is elevated. The reflectivity of the grating begins to decay
      as the temperature induced in the grating approaches the erasure temperature. The
      grating is completely erased and regenerated afterwards. The observed spectral
      results have provided the proof of occurrence of dehydroxylation and stress
      relaxation in the fiber core during the annealing process. Regenerated gratings
      with low loss, good temperature sensitivities and sustainability have been
      successfully developed by this technique.

PMID- 25835691
TI  - Residual vibration reduction of white-light scanning interferometry by input
      shaping.
AB  - White-light scanning interferometry is widely used for precision metrology of
      engineering surfaces. It needs a mechanical scanning for capturing an
      interferogram that determines where the surface of a measured sample is located.
      The residual vibration during the scanning procedure distorts the interferogram
      and it reduces the accuracy and the precision of the system. The residual
      vibration becomes bigger as the proportional gain gets higher for the fast
      response. So it is hard to achieve the fast and precise measurement
      simultaneously. In this study, input shaping which convolves a reference signal
      with the input shaper is investigated to reduce the residual vibration of the
      scanning system. The step response data is analyzed using Continuous Wavelet
      Transform (CWT) to design the input shaper. Using proposed method, the residual
      vibration of the white light scanning interferometry is reduced and it achieved
      both faster measurement speed and more accurate measurement. 

PMID- 25835692
TI  - Ultra-broadband wavelength-swept Tm-doped fiber laser using wavelength-combined
      gain stages.
AB  - A wavelength-swept thulium-doped fiber laser system employing two parallel
      cavities with two different fiber gain stages is reported. The fiber gain stages
      were tailored to provide emission in complementary bands with external wavelength
      dependent feedback cavities sharing a common rotating polygon mirror for
      wavelength scanning. The wavelength-swept laser outputs from the fiber gain
      elements were spectrally combined by means of a dichroic mirror and yielded over
      500 mW of output with a scanning range from ~1740 nm to ~2070 nm for a scanning
      frequency of ~340 Hz. 

PMID- 25835693
TI  - Micro optical diffusion sensor using a comb-driven micro Fresnel mirror.
AB  - We have developed a novel micro optical diffusion sensor (MODS) with a newly
      proposed comb-driven-micro Fresnel mirror (CD-MFM) scanner to detect structural
      changes in biological samples. By controlling the fringe spacing of the
      excitation laser beam, we can tune the decay time to obtain quick and precise
      measurements. In this study, the pre-tilted mirror is rotated by vertical comb
      driven actuators; the resulting change in the mirror angle alters the fringe
      spacing. The validity of the proposed mirror scanner is confirmed in simulations
      and in an experiment using a fabricated prototype device. 

PMID- 25835694
TI  - Nonlinear Photonics 2014: introduction.
AB  - International Conference "Nonlinear Photonics-2014" took place in Barcelona,
      Spain on July 27-31, 2014. It was a part of the "Advanced Photonics Congress"
      which is becoming a traditional notable event in the world of photonics. The
      current focus issue of Optics Express contains contributions from the
      participants of the Conference and the Congress. The articles in this focus issue
      by no means represent the total number of the congress contributions (around
      400). However, it demonstrates wide range of topics covered at the event. The
      next conference of this series is to be held in 2016 in Australia, which is the
      home of many researchers working in the field of photonics in general and
      nonlinear photonics in particular. 

PMID- 25835695
TI  - Advanced modulation formats for 400-Gbps short-reach optical inter-connection.
AB  - Besides the long-haul optical networks covering over thousands of kilometers for
      backbone transmission, short reach optical networks (SR-ONs) are widely deployed
      in metro-area for aggregation and accessing. The SR-ONs include the metro optical
      transport networks (Metro-OTN), optical access networks or other optical inter
      connection systems with even shorter distance. As predicted, the growing
      bandwidth demanding from SR-ONs will be much more than that from the long-haul
      optical networks in the near future. Besides, there are tremendous amounts of
      optical terminals and end-users in SR-ONs compared with the long-haul
      transmission systems and thus will induce large cost and huge energy consumption.
      So, the power and cost efficiency should be the key consideration for SR-ONs
      besides the transmission performance. To improve the power and cost efficiency in
      SR-ONs, advanced modulations and detection techniques based on low power, low
      cost and integrated optical modulators should be utilized. In this paper,
      different advanced modulation formats have been discussed. 56Gbps PAM4, 112Gbps
      poly-binary and 100Gbps DMT that can be used to realize 400-Gbps SR-ONs for
      different applications have also been demonstrated respectively. In addition, low
      cost and low-power opto-electronic components suitable for SR-ONs, the
      impairments induced by all kinds of defects and bandwidth limitation of opto
      electronic components and the corresponding compensation techniques based on DSP
      algorithms have also been discussed in the experiments. 

PMID- 25835696
TI  - Towards low timing phase noise operation in fiber lasers mode locked by graphene
      oxide and carbon nanotubes at 1.5 um.
AB  - We investigate the timing phase noise of fiber lasers mode locked by graphene
      oxide (GO) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), respectively, integrated in a linear
      cavity fiber laser in the reflecting operation. Due to the shorter decay time of
      the GO and CNTs, weaker slow saturable absorber effects are expected and mode
      locked lasers based on these two saturable absorbers exhibit low excess timing
      phase noise coupled from the laser intensity noise. Compared with a reference
      laser mode locked by semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM), GO based
      laser obtains a timing phase noise reduction of 7 dB at 1 kHz and a timing jitter
      reduction of 45% experimentally whereas CNTs based laser obtains a timing phase
      noise reduction of 3 dB and a timing jitter reduction of 29%. This finding
      suggests that saturable absorbers with short decay time have the potential for
      achieving mode locking operation with low timing phase noise, which is important
      for applications including frequency metrology, high-precision optical sampling,
      clock distribution and optical sensing. 

PMID- 25835697
TI  - Optical pulse compression reflectometry: proposal and proof-of-concept
      experiment.
AB  - This paper proposes a novel reflectometry based on the frequency modulation pulse
      compression technology, called optical pulse compression reflectometry (OPCR).
      Linear frequency modulation (LFM) pulse is taken as an example to implement the
      OPCR. Its working principle and theoretical analysis are demonstrated. The
      spatial resolution is determined by the sweeping range of the LFM rather than the
      pulse width, which overcomes the tradeoff between spatial resolution and
      measurement range in the conventional pulse-based optical time domain
      reflectometry. The influence of the laser's phase noise on the integrated side
      lobe ratio and peak side lobe ratio is theoretically studied. Thanks to the
      continuous acquisition nature of the OPCR, time averaging is valid to eliminate
      the influence and results in the measurement range of the OPCR beyond a few times
      of the source coherent length. A proof-of-concept experiment of the OPCR is
      carried out to verify the spatial resolution and measurement range. 

PMID- 25835698
TI  - Quantitative imaging using high-energy X-ray phase-contrast CT with a 70 kVp
      polychromatic X-ray spectrum.
AB  - Imaging of large and dense objects with grating-based X-ray phase-contrast
      computed tomography requires high X-ray photon energy and large fields of view.
      It has become increasingly possible due to the improvements in the grating
      manufacturing processes. Using a high-energy X-ray phase-contrast CT setup with a
      large (10 cm in diameter) analyzer grating and operated at an acceleration tube
      voltage of 70 kVp, we investigate the complementarity of both attenuation and
      phase contrast modalities with materials of various atomic numbers (Z). We
      confirm experimentally that for low-Z materials, phase contrast yields no
      additional information content over attenuation images, yet it provides increased
      contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs). The complementarity of both signals can be seen
      again with increasing Z of the materials and a more comprehensive material
      characterization is thus possible. Imaging of a part of a human cervical spine
      with intervertebral discs surrounded by bones and various soft tissue types
      showcases the benefit of high-energy X-ray phase-contrast system. Phase-contrast
      reconstruction reveals the internal structure of the discs and makes the boundary
      between the disc annulus and nucleus pulposus visible. Despite the fact that it
      still remains challenging to develop a high-energy grating interferometer with a
      broad polychromatic source with satisfactory optical performance, improved image
      quality for phase contrast as compared to attenuation contrast can be obtained
      and new exciting applications foreseen. 

PMID- 25835699
TI  - Speckle-free femtosecond red-green-blue (RGB) source from a fiber laser driven
      spectrally efficient two zero dispersion wavelength fiber source.
AB  - We report a novel ultrafast red-green-blue (RGB) laser source based on second
      harmonic generation from a two zero dispersion wavelength (TZDW) fiber continuum
      source. The TZDW fiber source consists of a custom-built Yb:fiber amplifier and a
      commercially available TZDW photonic crystal fiber (PCF) which enables low noise
      and efficient frequency conversion from the 1035 nm pump source to two spectrally
      localized pulses centered at 850 nm and 1260 nm with 39.6% and 33.7% power
      efficiencies. With angularly multiplexed simultaneous phase matching, we achieve
      mW average power of red, green and blue pulses at 630 nm, 517 nm and 426 nm from
      single pass second harmonic generation. With broad RGB bandwidths of 7.4 nm, 3.2
      nm and 5.2 nm, the source is inherently speckle-free while maintaining an
      excellent color rendering capability with higher than 99.7% excitation purity of
      the RGB color primaries, leading to the coverage of 192% NTSC color gamut (CIE
      1976). The reported source features a simple system geometry; its potential in
      power scaling is discussed with currently available technologies. 

PMID- 25835700
TI  - Tunable multiple phase-coupled plasmon-induced transparencies in graphene
      metamaterials.
AB  - We demonstrate the existence of multiple electromagnetically induced
      transparencies (EIT)-like spectral responses in graphene metamaterials consisting
      of a series of self-assembled graphene Fabry-Perot (FP) cavities. By exploiting
      the graphene plasmon resonances and phase-coupling effects, the transfer matrix
      model is established to theoretically predict the EIT-like responses, and the
      calculated results coincide well with numerical simulations. It is found that
      high-contrast (~90%) multiple EIT-like windows are observed over a broad range of
      mid-infrared. Additionally, these optical responses can be efficiently tuned by
      altering the Fermi level in graphene and the separations of FP cavities. The
      proposed scheme paves the way toward control of the multiple EIT-like responses,
      enabling exploration of the on-chip multifunctional electro-optic devices
      including multi-channel-selective filters, sensors, and modulators. 

PMID- 25835701
TI  - Determination of the nonlinear optical coefficients of the BaGa(4)Se(7) crystal.
AB  - The second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) coefficients of the BaGa(4)Se(7) crystal
      were experimentally determined through the Maker Fringe Technique for the first
      time. The values of the two major nonlinear tensor elements d11 and d13 were 24.3
      and 20.4 pm/V, respectively. These results were in agreement with the ones
      obtained through theoretical calculations.

PMID- 25835702
TI  - Saturable absorption behavior of free-standing graphene polymer composite films
      over broad wavelength and time ranges.
AB  - A comparative research on saturable absorption (SA) behavior dependence on
      wavelength and pulse duration was performed for graphene polymer composites. Free
      standing graphene-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composite films were fabricated by
      using solution cast method in combination of liquid phase exfoliation. SA
      responses were observed by using an open-aperture Z-scan technique for 340 fs
      pulses at 1030 nm and 515 nm from a mode-locked fiber laser, and 6 ns pulses at
      1064 nm and 532 nm from a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The graphene films possess
      better SA property, i.e., larger SA coefficient and figure of merit (FOM), and
      lower saturation intensity I(s), for ns pulses than that for fs pulses at the
      similar near infrared (NIR) wavelength. For fs pulses, the films show better SA
      response at 1030 nm than that at 515 nm. By employing slow and fast SA modelling,
      the excited state and ground state absorption cross sections were estimated to be
      ~10(-17) cm(2), and the ratio was ~0.6 at NIR for both fs and ns pulses.

PMID- 25835703
TI  - Large size crystalline vs. co-sintered ceramic Yb(3+):YAG disk performance in
      diode pumped amplifiers.
AB  - A comprehensive experimental benchmarking of Yb(3+):YAG crystalline and co
      sintered ceramic disks of similar thickness and doping level is presented in the
      context of high average power laser amplifier operation. Comparison is performed
      considering gain, depolarization and wave front deformation quantitative
      measurements and analysis.

PMID- 25835704
TI  - Spectral design of temperature-invariant narrow bandpass filters for the mid
      infrared.
AB  - The ability of narrow bandpass filters to discriminate wavelengths between
      closely-separated gas absorption lines is crucial in many areas of infrared
      spectroscopy. As improvements to the sensitivity of infrared detectors enables
      operation in uncontrolled high-temperature environments, this imposes demands on
      the explicit bandpass design to provide temperature-invariant behavior. The
      unique negative temperature coefficient (dn/dT<0) of Lead-based (Pb) salts, in
      combination with dielectric materials enable bandpass filters with exclusive
      immunity to shifts in wavelength with temperature. This paper presents the
      results of an investigation into the interdependence between multilayer bandpass
      design and optical materials together with a review on invariance at elevated
      temperatures. 

PMID- 25835705
TI  - Power functions improving the performance of color-difference formulas.
AB  - Color-difference formulas modified by power functions provide results in better
      agreement with visually perceived color differences. Each of the modified color
      difference formulas proposed here adds only one relevant parameter to the
      corresponding original color-difference formula. Results from 16 visual data sets
      and 11 color-difference formulas indicate that the modified formulas achieve an
      average decrease of 5.7 STRESS (Standardized Residual Sum of Squares) units with
      respect to the original formulas, signifying an improvement of 17.3%. In
      particular, for these 16 visual data sets, the average decrease for the current
      CIE/ISO recommended color-difference formula CIEDE2000 modified by an exponent
      0.70 was 5.4 STRESS units (17.5%). The improvements of all modified color
      difference formulas with respect to the original ones held for each of the 16
      visual data sets and were statistically significant in most cases, particularly
      for all data sets with color differences close to the threshold. Results for 2
      additional data sets with color pairs in the blue and black regions of the color
      space confirmed the usefulness of the proposed power functions. The main reason
      of the improvements found for the modified color-difference formulas with respect
      to the original color-difference formulas seems to be the compression provided by
      power functions. 

PMID- 25835706
TI  - Hybrid time-frequency domain equalization for LED nonlinearity mitigation in OFDM
      based VLC systems.
AB  - A novel hybrid time-frequency domain equalization scheme is proposed and
      experimentally demonstrated to mitigate the white light emitting diode (LED)
      nonlinearity in visible light communication (VLC) systems based on orthogonal
      frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). We handle the linear and nonlinear
      distortion separately in a nonlinear OFDM system. The linear part is equalized in
      frequency domain and the nonlinear part is compensated by an adaptive nonlinear
      time domain equalizer (N-TDE). The experimental results show that with only a
      small number of parameters the nonlinear equalizer can efficiently mitigate the
      LED nonlinearity. With the N-TDE the modulation index (MI) and BER performance
      can be significantly enhanced. 

PMID- 25835707
TI  - Maternal and foetal outcomes following natural vaginal versus caesarean section
      (c-section) delivery in women with bleeding disorders and carriers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bleeding disorders are uncommon but may pose significant bleeding
      complications during pregnancy, labour and following delivery for both the woman
      and the foetus. While many bleeding disorders in women tend to improve in
      pregnancy, thus decreasing the haemorrhagic risk to the mother at the time of
      delivery, some do not correct or return quite quickly to their pre-pregnancy
      levels in the postpartum period. Therefore, specific measures to prevent maternal
      bleeding and foetal complications during childbirth, are required. The safest
      method of delivery to reduce morbidity and mortality in these women is
      controversial. OBJECTIVES: To assess the optimal mode of delivery in women with,
      or carriers of, bleeding disorders. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane
      Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Coagulopathies Trials Register, compiled
      from electronic database searches and handsearching of journals and conference
      abstract books. We also searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's
      Trials Register as well as trials registries and the reference lists of relevant
      articles and reviews.Date of last search of the Group's Trials Registers: 13
      January 2015. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials and all types of
      controlled clinical trials investigating the optimal mode of delivery in women
      with, or carriers of, any type of bleeding disorder during pregnancy were
      eligible for the review. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: No trials matching the
      selection criteria were eligible for inclusion MAIN RESULTS: No results from
      randomized controlled trials were found. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The review did not
      identify any randomised controlled trials investigating the safest mode of
      delivery and associated maternal and foetal complications during delivery in
      women with, or carriers of, a bleeding disorder. In the absence of high quality
      evidence, clinicians need to use their clinical judgement and lower level
      evidence (e.g. from observational trials, case studies) to decide upon the
      optimal mode of delivery to ensure the safety of both mother and foetus.Given the
      ethical considerations, the rarity of the disorders and the low incidence of both
      maternal and foetal complications, future randomised controlled trials to find
      the optimal mode of delivery in this population are unlikely to be carried out.
      Other high quality controlled studies (such as risk allocation designs,
      sequential design, and parallel cohort design) are needed to investigate the
      risks and benefits of natural vaginal and caesarean section in this population or
      extrapolation from other clinical conditions that incur a haemorrhagic risk to
      the baby, such as platelet alloimmunisation.

PMID- 25835708
TI  - Labia Majora Augmentation with De-epithelialized Labial Rim (Minora) Flaps as an
      Auxiliary Procedure for Labia Minora Reduction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Esthetic surgery of external female genitalia remains an uncommon
      procedure. This article describes a novel, de-epithelialized, labial rim flap
      technique for labia majora augmentation using de-epithelialized labia minora
      tissue otherwise to be excised as an adjunct to labia minora reduction. METHODS:
      Ten patients were included in the study. The protruding segments of the labia
      minora were de-epithelialized with a fine scissors or scalpel instead of being
      excised, and a bulky section of subcutaneous tissue was obtained. Between the
      outer and inner surfaces of the labia minora, a flap with a subcutaneous pedicle
      was created in continuity with the de-epithelialized marginal tissue. A pocket
      was dissected in the labium majus, and the flap was transposed into the pocket to
      augment the labia majora. RESULTS: Mean patient age was 39.9 (+/-13.9) years,
      mean operation time was 60 min, and mean follow-up period was 14.5 (+/-3.4)
      months. There were no major complications (hematoma, wound dehiscence, infection)
      following surgery. No patient complained of postoperative difficulty with coitus
      or dyspareunia. All patients were satisfied with the final appearance.
      CONCLUSION: Several methods for labia minora reduction have been described.
      Auxiliary procedures are required with labia minora reduction for better results.
      Nevertheless, few authors have taken into account the final esthetic appearance
      of the whole female external genitalia. The described technique in this study is
      indicated primarily for mild atrophy of the labia majora with labia minora
      hypertrophy; the technique resulted in perfect patient satisfaction with no major
      complications or postoperative coital problems. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This
      journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a
      full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the
      Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

PMID- 25835709
TI  - Complement component C3 and butyrylcholinesterase activity are associated with
      neurodegeneration and clinical disability in multiple sclerosis.
AB  - Dysregulation of the complement system is evident in many CNS diseases but
      mechanisms regulating complement activation in the CNS remain unclear. In a
      recent large rat genome-wide expression profiling and linkage analysis we found
      co-regulation of complement C3 immediately downstream of butyrylcholinesterase
      (BuChE), an enzyme hydrolyzing acetylcholine (ACh), a classical neurotransmitter
      with immunoregulatory effects. We here determined levels of neurofilament-light
      (NFL), a marker for ongoing nerve injury, C3 and activity of the two main ACh
      hydrolyzing enzymes, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and BuChE, in cerebrospinal
      fluid (CSF) from patients with MS (n = 48) and non-inflammatory controls (n =
      18). C3 levels were elevated in MS patients compared to controls and correlated
      both to disability and NFL. C3 levels were not induced by relapses, but were
      increased in patients with >=9 cerebral lesions on magnetic resonance imaging and
      in patients with progressive disease. BuChE activity did not differ at the group
      level, but was correlated to both C3 and NFL levels in individual samples. In
      conclusion, we show that CSF C3 correlates both to a marker for ongoing nerve
      injury and degree of disease disability. Moreover, our results also suggest a
      potential link between intrathecal cholinergic activity and complement
      activation. These results motivate further efforts directed at elucidating the
      regulation and effector functions of the complement system in MS, and its
      relation to cholinergic tone. 

PMID- 25835710
TI  - Vibrotactile perception in finger pulps and in the sole of the foot in healthy
      subjects among children or adolescents.
AB  - AIMS: To evaluate vibrotactile perception at different frequencies in fingers and
      in foot in healthy girls and boys. METHODS: Vibration perception thresholds
      (VPTs) were measured in 283 healthy (8-20 years), consecutively included, girls
      (n=146) and boys (n=137); i.e., 269 children after excluding those with diseases
      or disorders possibly affecting the nervous system. Thresholds were measured in
      finger pulps of index and little fingers (seven frequencies; 8-500 Hz) and at
      first and fifth metatarsal head and at heel in the sole of the foot (six
      frequencies; 8-250 Hz;) using Multi Frequency Tactilometry. RESULTS: VPTs,
      divided in six groups by age and gender (i.e., 8-10 years, 11-15 years and 16-20
      years), at all three sites in the sole increased with higher frequencies, but
      without gender differences. Thresholds at 64 and 125 Hz were generally higher at
      heel compared to metatarsal heads. VPTs in finger pulps of index and little
      fingers, with no finger differences, had a different pattern with increasing
      thresholds with frequency, but with lower thresholds at 64 and 125 Hz. Thresholds
      at lower frequencies were higher in finger pulps, while at higher frequencies
      VPTs were lower in finger pulps than in the sole of the foot; thus, vibration
      perception in the sole was better than perception in finger pulps at lower
      frequencies and opposite at higher frequencies. VPTs were higher among
      adolescents than in younger children in the foot, while thresholds were lower in
      the finger pulps among adolescents, particularly in index finger. Thresholds in
      finger pulps of index and little fingers, particularly at higher frequencies,
      correlated with each other, which the three sites in the sole also did.
      CONCLUSIONS: VPTs in fingers and in feet are different as related to frequency in
      healthy girls and boys. Multi Frequency Tactilometry is a future valuable method
      to detect neuropathy in children and adolescents.

PMID- 25835711
TI  - Differential response of NADP-dehydrogenases and carbon metabolism in leaves and
      roots of two durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) cultivars (Karim and Azizi) with
      different sensitivities to salt stress.
AB  - Wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) is a common Mediterranean species of considerable
      agronomic importance. Salinity is one of the major threats to sustainable
      agricultural production mainly because it limits plant productivity. After
      exposing the Karim and Azizi durum wheat cultivars, which are of agronomic
      significance in Tunisia, to 100mM NaCl salinity, growth parameters (dry weight
      and length), proline content and chlorophylls were evaluated in their leaves and
      roots. In addition, we analyzed glutathione content and key enzymatic activities,
      including phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenase
      (NADP-ICDH), NADP-malic enzyme (NADP-ME), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase
      (G6PDH) and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH), involved in the carbon
      metabolism and NADPH-generating system. The sensitivity index indicates that cv
      Karim was more tolerant to salinity than cv Azizi. This higher tolerance was
      corroborated at the biochemical level, as cv Karim showed a greater capacity to
      accumulate proline, especially in leaves, while the enzyme activities studied
      were differentially regulated in both organs, with NADP-ICDH being the only
      activity to be unaffected in all organs. In summary, the data indicate that
      higher levels of proline accumulation and the differential responses of some key
      enzymes involved in the carbon metabolism and NADPH regeneration contribute to
      the salinity tolerance mechanism and lead to increased biomass accumulation in cv
      Karim. 

PMID- 25835712
TI  - Splicing defects in ABCD1 gene leading to both exon skipping and partial intron
      retention in X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy Tunisian patient.
AB  - X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) affects the nervous system white matter and
      adrenal cortex secondary to mutations in the ABCD1 gene that encodes a
      peroxisomal membrane protein: the adrenoleukodystrophy protein. The disease is
      characterized by high concentrations of very long-chain fatty acids in plasma,
      adrenal, testicular and nervous tissues. Various types of mutations have been
      identified in the ABCD1 gene: point mutations, insertions, and deletions. To
      date, more than 40 point mutations have been reported at the splice junctions of
      the ABCD1 gene; only few functional studies have been performed to explore these
      types of mutations. In this study, we have identified de novo splice site
      mutation c.1780+2T>G in ABCD1 gene in an X-ALD Tunisian patient. Sequencing
      analysis of cDNA showed a minor transcript lacking exon 7 and a major transcript
      with a partial intron 7 retention due to activation of a new intronic cryptic
      splice site. Both outcomes lead to frameshifts with premature stop codon
      generation in exon 8 and intron 7 respectively. To the best of our knowledge, the
      current study demonstrates that a single splicing mutation affects the ABCD1
      transcripts and the ALDP protein function. 

PMID- 25835713
TI  - Can reproductive health voucher programs improve quality of postnatal care? A
      quasi-experimental evaluation of Kenya's safe motherhood voucher scheme.
AB  - This study tests the group-level causal relationship between the expansion of
      Kenya's Safe Motherhood voucher program and changes in quality of postnatal care
      (PNC) provided at voucher-contracted facilities. We compare facilities accredited
      since program inception in 2006 (phase I) and facilities accredited since 2010
      2011 (phase II) relative to comparable non-voucher facilities. PNC quality is
      assessed using observed clinical content processes, as well as client-reported
      outcome measures. Two-tailed unpaired t-tests are used to identify differences in
      mean process quality scores and client-reported outcome measures, comparing
      changes between intervention and comparison groups at the 2010 and 2012 data
      collection periods. Difference-in-differences analysis is used to estimate the
      reproductive health (RH) voucher program's causal effect on quality of care by
      exploiting group-level differences between voucher-accredited and non-accredited
      facilities in 2010 and 2012. Participation in the voucher scheme since 2006
      significantly improves overall quality of postnatal care by 39% (p=0.02), where
      quality is defined as the observable processes or components of service provision
      that occur during a PNC consultation. Program participation since phase I is
      estimated to improve the quality of observed maternal postnatal care by 86%
      (p=0.02), with the largest quality improvements in counseling on family planning
      methods (IRR 5.0; p=0.01) and return to fertility (IRR 2.6; p=0.01). Despite
      improvements in maternal aspects of PNC, we find a high proportion of mothers who
      seek PNC are not being checked by any provider after delivery. Additional
      strategies will be necessary to standardize provision of packaged postnatal
      interventions to both mother and newborn. This study addresses an important gap
      in the existing RH literature by using a strong evaluation design to assess RH
      voucher program effectiveness on quality improvement. 

PMID- 25835714
TI  - Health-related quality of life of latin-american immigrants and spanish-born
      attended in spanish primary health care: socio-demographic and psychosocial
      factors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study compares the health-related quality of life of Spanish
      born and Latin American-born individuals settled in Spain. Socio-demographic and
      psychosocial factors associated with health-related quality of life are analyzed.
      METHODS: A cross-sectional Primary Health Care multi center-based study of Latin
      American-born (n = 691) and Spanish-born (n = 903) outpatients from 15 Primary
      Health Care Centers (Madrid, Spain). The Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short
      Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used to assess health-related quality of life.
      Socio-demographic, psychosocial, and specific migration data were also collected.
      RESULTS: Compared to Spanish-born participants, Latin American-born participants
      reported higher health-related quality of life in the physical functioning and
      vitality dimensions. Across the entire sample, Latin American-born participants,
      younger participants, men and those with high social support reported
      significantly higher levels of physical health. Men with higher social support
      and a higher income reported significantly higher mental health. When stratified
      by gender, data show that for men physical health was only positively associated
      with younger age. For women, in addition to age, social support and marital
      status were significantly related. Both men and women with higher social support
      and income had significantly better mental health. Finally, for immigrants, the
      physical and mental health components of health-related quality of life were not
      found to be significantly associated with any of the pre-migration factors or
      conditions of migration. Only the variable "exposure to political violence" was
      significantly associated with the mental health component (p = 0.014).
      CONCLUSIONS: The key factors to understanding HRQoL among Latin American-born
      immigrants settled in Spain are age, sex and social support. Therefore,
      strategies to maintain optimal health outcomes in these immigrant communities
      should include public policies on social inclusion in the host society and focus
      on improving social support networks in order to foster and maintain the health
      and HRQoL of this group.

PMID- 25835715
TI  - Expression of p53, p21(CIP1/WAF1) and eIF4E in the adjacent tissues of oral
      squamous cell carcinoma: establishing the molecular boundary and a cancer
      progression model.
AB  - The present study evaluated the expression of key molecules and the status of DNA
      in both oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and adjacent tissues to establish a
      molecular surgical boundary and provide a cancer progression model. Biopsy
      samples from 50 OSCC patients were divided into T (cancer), P1 (0-0.5 cm), P2
      (0.5-1 cm), P3 (1-1.5 cm) and P4 (1.5-2 cm) groups based on the distances from
      the visible boundary of the primary focus. Twenty samples of normal mucosa were
      used as controls. We used immunohistochemical staining and flow cytometry to
      evaluate p53, p21(CIP1/WAF1), eIF4E and Ki-67 expression and to determine DNA
      status, respectively. Sub-mucosal invasion was present in the P1 and P2 groups as
      determined by haematoxylin and eosin staining. Mutant p53 expression decreased
      gradually from cancerous to normal mucosae, whereas p21(CIP1/WAF1) expression
      displayed an opposite trend. eIF4E expression decreased from cancerous to normal
      mucosae. Ki-67 expression, the heteroploidy ratio, S-phase fraction and
      proliferative index decreased gradually with the distance from the tumour centre.
      Based on these results, we suggest that the resection boundary in OSCC surgery
      should be beyond 2 cm from the tumour. Additionally, the adjacent tissues of the
      primary focus could be used as a model for assessing cancer progression.

PMID- 25835716
TI  - Parentage of overlapping offspring of an arboreal-breeding frog with no nest
      defense: implications for nest site selection and reproductive strategy.
AB  - Overlapping offspring occurs when eggs are laid in a nest containing offspring
      from earlier reproduction. Earlier studies showed that the parentage is not
      always obvious due to difficulties in field observation and/or alternative
      breeding tactics. To unveil the parentage between overlapping offspring and
      parents is critical in understanding oviposition site selection and the
      reproductive strategies of parents. Amplectant pairs of an arboreal-breeding
      frog, Kurixalus eiffingeri, lay eggs in tadpole-occupied nests where offspring of
      different life stages (embryos and tadpoles) coexist. We used five microsatellite
      DNA markers to assess the parentage between parents and overlapping offspring. We
      also tested the hypothesis that the male or female frog would breed in the same
      breeding site because of the scarcity of nest sites. Results showed varied
      parentage patterns, which may differ from the phenomenon of overlapping egg
      clutches reported earlier. Parentage analyses showed that only 58 and 25% of the
      tadpole-occupied stumps were reused by the same male and female respectively,
      partially confirming our prediction. Re-nesting by the same individual was more
      common in males than females, which is most likely related to the cost of tadpole
      feeding and/or feeding schemes of females. On the other hand, results of
      parentage analyses showed that about 42 and 75% of male and female respectively
      bred in tadpole-occupied stumps where tadpoles were genetically unrelated.
      Results of a nest-choice experiment revealed that 40% of frogs chose tadpole
      occupied bamboo cups when we presented identical stumps, without or with
      tadpoles, suggesting that the habitat saturation hypothesis does not fully
      explain why frogs used the tadpole-occupied stumps. Several possible benefits of
      overlapping offspring with different life stages were proposed. Our study
      highlights the importance of integrating molecular data with field observations
      to better understand the reproductive biology and nest site selection of anuran
      amphibians. 

PMID- 25835717
TI  - Comparison of different methods for work accidents investigation in hospitals: A
      Portuguese case study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The hospital environment has many occupational health risks that
      predispose healthcare workers to various kinds of work accidents. OBJECTIVE: This
      study aims to compare different methods for work accidents investigation and to
      verify their suitability in hospital environment. METHODS: For this purpose, we
      selected three types of accidents that were related with needle stick, worker
      fall and inadequate effort/movement during the mobilization of patients. A total
      of thirty accidents were analysed with six different work accidents investigation
      methods. RESULTS: The results showed that organizational factors were the group
      of causes which had the greatest impact in the three types of work accidents.
      CONCLUSIONS: The methods selected to be compared in this paper are applicable and
      appropriate for the work accidents investigation in hospitals. However, the
      Registration, Research and Analysis of Work Accidents method (RIAAT) showed to be
      an optimal technique to use in this context.

PMID- 25835718
TI  - Management of health and safety in micro companies in Cyprus: Results on
      ergonomic issues.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ergonomics in Cyprus is a rather neglected area of safety. The size
      of the country, the lack of scientific expertise, the nature of the economy and
      the nature of the majority of the enterprises make it a case, different from the
      average. OBJECTIVE: The aims of the survey were to examine the views and
      perceptions of employees and owners/managers on safety issues of micro-firms in
      Cyprus, to collect information on accidents and other aspects of safety
      performance in micro-firms and to cross-check the above data with data collected
      from safety inspectors for the above firms. METHODS: The authors with the
      collaboration of the Department of Labour Inspection of the Republic of Cyprus
      collected information from a relatively large number of micro companies in a
      National survey. Information from employees, employers and labour inspectors was
      drawn. RESULTS: Particular emphasis is paid on the exploration of the
      relationship of the non-use of personal protection equipment with a number of
      factors. Results show the resistance of employees to the use of PPE (Personal
      Protective Equipment) and GPM (General Protective Measures). CONCLUSIONS: The
      results of the survey are in line with the relevant literature. Micro firms
      illustrate several interesting findings that are discussed in detail in the
      paper.

PMID- 25835719
TI  - Is it important to know the load mass in lifting tasks to prevent falls?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Lifting objects without knowing its weight may result in postural
      imbalances and be a risk factor for falls. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was
      to examine the influence of the load knowledge in postural balance when lifting
      different weight loads. METHODS: Thirteen male subjects (23.8 +/- 3.1 years; 73.5
      +/- 7.8 kg; 179.1 +/- 7.5 cm; foot length, 25.7 +/- 1.2 cm) participated in the
      study. The effect of the weight overestimation on the postural stability was
      measured by the Index of Proximity to Stability Boundary (IPSB) and through the
      anterior-posterior and medio-lateral lengths displacements of the Center of
      Pressure (CoP). RESULTS: The results showed an increase in the IPSB when the 5 kg
      lifting task was performed with load knowledge. Moreover, the length of the
      antero-posterior and medio-lateral CoP displacement was reduced in the 5 kg lift
      with knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: Results showed that the lack of the loads' knowledge
      may lead to balance loss. Thus, when the preparation processes are not adequate,
      picking up similar objects with different loads may increase the risk of fall,
      mainly when a light weight is suddenly lifted up after a heavy one.

PMID- 25835721
TI  - Human action quality evaluation based on fuzzy logic with application in
      underground coal mining.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The work system is defined by its components, their roles and the
      relationships between them. Any work system gravitates around the human resource
      and the interdependencies between human factor and the other components of it.
      Researches in this field agreed that the human factor and its actions are
      difficult to quantify and predict. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper is to
      apply a method of human actions evaluation in order to estimate possible risks
      and prevent possible system faults, both at human factor level and at equipment
      level. METHODS: In order to point out the importance of the human factor
      influence on all the elements of the working systems we propose a fuzzy logic
      based methodology for quality evaluation of human actions. This methodology has a
      multidisciplinary character, as it gathers ideas and methods from: quality
      management, ergonomics, work safety and artificial intelligence. RESULTS: The
      results presented refer to a work system with a high degree of specificity,
      namely, underground coal mining and are valuable for human resources risk
      evaluation pattern. CONCLUSIONS: The fuzzy logic evaluation of the human actions
      leads to early detection of possible dangerous evolutions of the work system and
      alarm the persons in charge.

PMID- 25835720
TI  - Multilevel model of safety climate for furniture industries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Furniture companies can analyze their safety status using
      quantitative measures. However, the data needed are not always available and the
      number of accidents is under-reported. Safety climate scales may be an
      alternative. However, there are no validated Portuguese scales that account for
      the specific attributes of the furniture sector. OBJECTIVE: The current study
      aims to develop and validate an instrument that uses a multilevel structure to
      measure the safety climate of the Portuguese furniture industry. METHODS: The
      Safety Climate in Wood Industries (SCWI) model was developed and applied to the
      safety climate analysis using three different scales: organizational, group and
      individual. A multilevel exploratory factor analysis was performed to analyze the
      factorial structure. The studied companies' safety conditions were also analyzed.
      RESULTS: Different factorial structures were found between and within levels. In
      general, the results show the presence of a group-level safety climate. The
      scores of safety climates are directly and positively related to companies'
      safety conditions; the organizational scale is the one that best reflects the
      actual safety conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The SCWI instrument allows for the
      identification of different safety climates in groups that comprise the same
      furniture company and it seems to reflect those groups' safety conditions. The
      study also demonstrates the need for a multilevel analysis of the studied
      instrument.

PMID- 25835722
TI  - Will I be able to do my work at 60? An analysis of working conditions that hinder
      active ageing.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Most developed countries have considered population ageing as one of
      the economic challenges that need to be overcome. Managing ageing has led to
      consideration of a number of policies where it is essential to increase the
      employment rate for older workers. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to analyze the
      working conditions which tend to be perceived as hindering continuity in the
      workplace at the age of 60. PARTICIPANTS: 1234 workers from different sectors and
      socio-professional categories (52% men and 48% women; 64.5% younger than 45 years
      old). METHODS: A quantitative overview was adopted with the use of logistic
      regression models. The INSAT was used (Work and Health Questionnaire). RESULTS:
      Apart from factors of great physical constraint, other less visible aspects play
      a role in the idea of workers not being able to continue to work by the age of
      60, namely factors linked to work organizational options and relationships with
      others. CONCLUSIONS: Working conditions have a great influence in the idea of
      inability to perform the same type of work at 60. This notion does not only apply
      to older workers. In fact, even younger workers under certain working conditions
      hold the same view, thus raising social concerns that should be taken into
      account by public policies.

PMID- 25835723
TI  - Measurable results: Reducing staff injuries on a specialty psychiatric unit for
      patients with developmental disabilities.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Quality improvement initiative focused on staff injury reduction on a
      specialized inpatient psychiatric unit which offers acute stabilization for
      children and adolescents with complex high-risk behaviors. OBJECTIVE: To utilize
      quality improvement principles and interventions to reduce staff injuries on a
      specialized inpatient child/adolescent psychiatric unit. PARTICIPANTS: Direct
      care clinical staff within an inpatient psychiatric unit for patients with co
      occurring developmental disabilities and psychiatric illness were the focus of
      the initiative. Direct care clinical staff and clinical administrators were the
      active participants in the quality improvement initiative, focusing upon the
      interactions between staff and patients. METHODS: OSHA-recordable injuries were
      documented to guide initiatives and measure outcomes on weekly run charts with
      raw data measures of all staff injuries and the number of days elapsed between
      injuries. Rapid Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycles were utilized to test
      interventions and guide decision making. RESULTS: Three months of a structured
      and systematic intervention trial produced the first adopted interventions in
      August 2011. The following six months reflected a 65% reduction of staff injuries
      (from 2.2 injuries per week to 0.77 injuries per week). Between January and
      August 2011, there were eight OSHA-recordable injuries with an average of 26.5
      days between injuries. The average number of days between OSHA-recordable
      injuries has increased from 26.5 days at baseline to 124 days. CONCLUSIONS: An
      initiative utilizing quality improvement principles reduced staff injuries on an
      inpatient specialized psychiatric unit. Reliability principles, system adaption,
      and engagement of the frontline nursing clinicians have proven to be foundational
      and vital to guide the initiative.

PMID- 25835724
TI  - Perceptions of horizontal violence in staff nurses and intent to leave.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The impact of horizontal violence is multifaceted. From the impact
      upon the individual, the unit, and the institution, horizontal violence affects
      professional nursing activities in a variety of aspects of health care.
      OBJECTIVE: To examine registered nurses' experiences with horizontal violence and
      explore the relationship between horizontal violence and intent to leave.
      PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of 300 registered nurses from a Midwestern hospital
      received the Briles' Sabotage Savvy Questionnaire (BSSQ), the Michigan
      Organizational Assessment Questionnaire (MOAQ) Intent to Turnover measure, and a
      Demographic questionnaire. METHODS: Descriptive correlational study was
      implemented. Questionnaires were distributed to the selected registered nurses.
      Descriptive and correlational statistics were calculated. RESULTS: Horizontal
      violence had been experienced by nurses of all ages and experience. Based upon
      measurement tools, examples of horizontal violence were: Being held responsible
      for coworkers' duties; Reprimanded or confronted in front of others; Failure to
      be acknowledged or confronted in front of others; and Untrue information about
      you being passed or exchanged. Correlations indicated a significant, positive
      relationship between perceptions of horizontal violence and intent to leave.
      Results also indicated the longer nurses were employed the more likely to
      perceive themselves as victims of horizontal violence. Additionally, results
      associated with the MOAQ, age and years employed indicated that older nurses and
      those with increasing years of employment were less likely to leave. Younger
      nurses indicated more willingness to leave a position due to perceived horizontal
      violence than older nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Activities to address the impact of
      perceived horizontal violence are needed. Workplace strategies may include
      mentoring, ongoing assessment of organizational climate, and zero tolerance for
      horizontal violence.

PMID- 25835726
TI  - Co-ordinating meals and exercise for diabetes management.

PMID- 25835725
TI  - Abrogation of adenosine A1 receptor signalling improves metabolic regulation in
      mice by modulating oxidative stress and inflammatory responses.
AB  - AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Adenosine is an important regulator of metabolism; however, the
      role of the A1 receptor during ageing and obesity is unclear. The aim of this
      study was to investigate the effects of A1 signalling in modulating metabolic
      function during ageing. METHODS: Age-matched young and aged A 1 (also known as
      Adora1)-knockout (A1(-/-)) and wild-type (A1(+/+)) mice were used. Metabolic
      regulation was evaluated by body composition, and glucose and insulin tolerance
      tests. Isolated islets and islet arterioles were used to detect islet endocrine
      and vascular function. Oxidative stress and inflammation status were measured in
      metabolic organs and systemically. RESULTS: Advanced age was associated with both
      reduced glucose clearance and insulin sensitivity, as well as increased visceral
      adipose tissue (VAT) in A1(+/+) compared with A1(-/-) mice. Islet morphology and
      insulin content were similar between genotypes, but relative changes in in vitro
      insulin release following glucose stimulation were reduced in aged A1(+/+)
      compared with A1(-/-) mice. Islet arteriolar responses to angiotensin II were
      stronger in aged A1(+/+) mice, this being associated with increased NADPH oxidase
      activity. Ageing resulted in multiple changes in A1(+/+) compared with A1(-/-)
      mice, including enhanced NADPH oxidase-derived O2(-) formation and NADPH oxidase
      isoform 2 (Nox2) protein expression in pancreas and VAT; elevated levels of
      circulating insulin, leptin and proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-1beta,
      IL-6 and IL-12); and accumulation of CD4(+) T cells in VAT. This was associated
      with impaired insulin signalling in VAT from aged A1(+/+) mice.
      CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: These studies emphasise that A1 receptors regulate
      metabolism and islet endocrine and vascular functions during ageing, including
      via the modulation of oxidative stress and inflammatory responses, among other
      things.

PMID- 25835727
TI  - Impact of cancer on use of glucose-lowering drug treatment in individuals with
      diabetes: potential mechanisms. Reply to Pouwer F [letter].

PMID- 25835728
TI  - XAV939-mediated ARTD activity inhibition in human MB cell lines.
AB  - Diphtheria toxin-like ADP-ribosyltransferases 1 and 5 (ARTD-1, ARTD-5) are poly
      ADP-ribose enzymes (PARP) involved in non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ), which is
      the major pathway of double-strand break (DSB) repair. In addition, ARTD-5, or
      Tankyrase (TNKS), is a positive regulator of the WNT signaling implicated in the
      development and biological behavior of many neoplasms, such as Medulloblastoma
      (MB), in which radiotherapy is an essential part of the treatment. The use of
      radiosensitizing agents may improve the therapeutic index in MB patients by
      increasing the efficacy of radiotherapy, while reducing toxicity to the
      neuroaxis. ARTD-5 seems to be a good molecular target for improving the current
      treatment of MB. In this study, we used the small molecule XAV939, a potent ARTD
      5 inhibitor with a slight affinity for ARTD-1, in different human MB cell lines.
      XAV939 inhibited the WNT pathway and DNA-PKcs in our MB cells, with many
      biological consequences. The co-administration of XAV939 and ionizing radiations
      (IR) inhibited MB cells proliferation and clonogenic capacity, decreased their
      efficacy in repairing DNA damage, and increased IR-induced cell mortality. In
      conclusion, our in vitro data show that XAV939 could be a very promising small
      molecule in MB treatment, and these results lay the basis for further in vivo
      studies with the aim of improving the current therapy available for MB patients. 

PMID- 25835730
TI  - Calciphylaxis: from the disease to the diseased.
AB  - Calciphylaxis, or calcific uremic arteriolopathy, is a vascular ossification
      calcification disease involving cutaneous or visceral arterioles, with ischemic
      damage of the surrounding tissues, usually in the setting of chronic kidney
      disease. Pathogenesis is still unclear and probably comprises the participation
      of vascular smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells and macrophages surrounded by
      a uremic and/or pro-calcifying environment. According to the original concept of
      calcific uremic arteriolopathy coined by Hans Selye, risk factors may be divided
      into sensitizers and challengers and their knowledge is useful in clinical
      practice to pre-emptively identify both uremic and non-uremic 'at risk' patients
      and guide treatment. Systemic calcific uremic arteriolopathy is a rarity.
      Cutaneous calcific uremic arteriolopathy is more frequent and clinically presents
      as a first phase of cutaneous hardening and erythema, followed by a second phase
      of ulcerations and scars; these two phases are probably associated with the
      initial development of arteriolar lesion and tissue ischemic damage,
      respectively. Clinical history, physical examination, laboratory analysis,
      histology and imaging are the main tools to exclude important differential
      diagnoses and obtain a definitive diagnosis. Treatment is generally unrewarding
      and consists of rigorous control of comorbid conditions, anti-oxidant, anti
      inflammatory and antithrombotic strategies, avoidance of iatrogeny and wound and
      pain management. Prognosis remains poor in terms of morbidity and mortality.
      Efforts should be made towards a greater awareness of calcific uremic
      arteriolopathy, development of better therapies and improvement of clinical
      outcomes.

PMID- 25835732
TI  - Standard operating procedures in experimental liver research: time to achieve
      uniformity.

PMID- 25835729
TI  - Shake, rattle, and roll: Impact of the dynamics of flavivirus particles on their
      interactions with the host.
AB  - Remarkable progress in structural biology has equipped virologists with insight
      into structures of viral proteins and virions at increasingly high resolution.
      Structural information has been used extensively to address fundamental questions
      about virtually all aspects of how viruses replicate in cells, interact with the
      host, and in the design of antiviral compounds. However, many critical aspects of
      virology exist outside the snapshots captured by traditional methods used to
      generate high-resolution structures. Like all proteins, viral proteins are not
      static structures. The conformational flexibility and dynamics of proteins play a
      significant role in protein-protein interactions, and in the structure and
      biology of virus particles. This review will discuss the implications of the
      dynamics of viral proteins on the biology, antigenicity, and immunogenicity of
      flaviviruses. 

PMID- 25835733
TI  - The carbon tetrachloride model in mice.
AB  - Recently, the need for more standardized operation procedures in experimental
      liver fibrosis research was suggested due to dramatic changes in European animal
      welfare rules. Here, we present a short series of standard operation procedures
      (SOPs) summarizing the most relevant and widely accepted experimental models for
      the induction of liver injury leading to liver fibrosis. The described procedures
      are based on the long-term experience of the Collaborative Research Centre 'Organ
      Fibrosis: From Mechanisms of Injury to Modulation of Disease'
      (http://www.sfbtrr57.rwth-aachen.de/), which is supported by the German Research
      Foundation (SFB/TRR57). These SOPs will help to improve standardization of
      fibrosis models and to increase the comparability of data between different
      laboratories with the aim of reducing animal experimentation according to the
      principle that was proposed in 1959 by Russell and Burch as an ethical framework
      for conducting scientific experiments with animals, namely the replacement,
      refinement and reduction (3R) principle. In the first section we focus on the
      carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) model in mice, which is the toxic model of liver
      fibrosis induction most commonly used worldwide. 

PMID- 25835731
TI  - An overview of the Families Improving Together (FIT) for weight loss randomized
      controlled trial in African American families.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Families Improving Together (FIT) randomized controlled trial
      tests the efficacy of integrating cultural tailoring, positive parenting, and
      motivational strategies into a comprehensive curriculum for weight loss in
      African American adolescents. The overall goal of the FIT trial is to test the
      effects of an integrated intervention curriculum and the added effects of a
      tailored web-based intervention on reducing z-BMI in overweight African American
      adolescents. DESIGN AND SETTING: The FIT trial is a randomized group cohort
      design the will involve 520 African American families with an overweight
      adolescent between the ages of 11-16 years. The trial tests the efficacy of an 8
      week face-to-face group randomized program comparing M + FWL (Motivational Plus
      Family Weight Loss) to a comprehensive health education program (CHE) and re
      randomizes participants to either an 8-week on-line tailored intervention or
      control on-line program resulting in a 2 (M + FWL vs. CHE group) * 2 (on-line
      intervention vs. control on-line program) factorial design to test the effects of
      the intervention on reducing z-BMI at post-treatment and at 6-month follow-up.
      INTERVENTION: The interventions for this trial are based on a theoretical
      framework that is novel and integrates elements from cultural tailoring, Family
      Systems Theory, Self-Determination Theory and Social Cognitive Theory. The
      intervention targets positive parenting skills (parenting style, monitoring,
      communication); cultural values; teaching parents to increase youth motivation by
      encouraging youth to have input and choice (autonomy-support); and provides a
      framework for building skills and self-efficacy through developing weight loss
      action plans that target goal setting, monitoring, and positive feedback.

PMID- 25835734
TI  - The concanavalin A model of acute hepatitis in mice.
AB  - The intravenous injection of the plant lectin concanavalin A (ConA) is a widely
      used model for acute immune-mediated hepatitis in mice. In contrast to several
      other models for acute hepatic damage, ConA-induced injury is primarily driven by
      the activation and recruitment of T cells to the liver. Hence, the ConA model has
      unique features with respect to its pathogenesis and important similarities to
      immune-mediated hepatitis in humans, such as autoimmune hepatitis, acute viral
      hepatitis or distinct entities of drug toxicity leading to immune activation.
      However, the ConA model has considerable variability, depending on the
      preparation of the compound, genetic background of the mice, sex, age and
      microbial environment of the animal facility barrier. This standard operating
      procedure (SOP) comprises a detailed protocol for the ConA application, including
      preparation of ConA working solution, handling of the animals, choice of the
      appropriate conditions and endpoints, as well as efficient dose-finding. 

PMID- 25835735
TI  - Standard operating procedures in experimental liver research: thioacetamide model
      in mice and rats.
AB  - In addition to carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), thioacetamide (TAA) represents a
      second widely used model for the induction of experimental liver fibrosis, but
      can also be employed for the development of acute liver failure and liver
      tumours. While TAA itself is not hepatotoxic, its reactive metabolites covalently
      bind to proteins and lipids thereby causing oxidative stress and centrilobular
      necrosis. Compared with CCl4, TAA leads to more periportal infiltrates and more
      pronounced ductal proliferation. While TAA has been shown to induce liver
      fibrosis development in several different mouse strains, wide variations in the
      administration routes, doses and treatment durations have been reported.
      Therefore, an adoption of a universal standard operating procedure for the
      administration of TAA is urgently needed. For that purpose, we are presenting
      here two TAA models (intraperitoneal administration of 150 mg/kg of TAA three
      times per week for 11 weeks in rats, and TAA administration in drinking water at
      300 mg/L for 2-4 months in mice) with which we have had success in reliably and
      reproducibly developing chronic liver injury and fibrosis.

PMID- 25835736
TI  - Acetaminophen-induced acute liver injury in mice.
AB  - The induction of acute hepatic damage by acetaminophen (N-acetyl-p-aminophenol
      [APAP]), also termed paracetamol, is one of the most commonly used experimental
      models of acute liver injury in mice. The specific values of this model are the
      highly reproducible, dose-dependent hepatotoxicity of APAP and its outstanding
      translational importance, because acetaminophen overdose is one of the most
      frequent reasons for acute liver failure (ALF) in humans. However, preparation of
      concentrated APAP working solutions, application routes, fasting period and
      variability due to sex, genetic background or barrier environment represent
      important considerations to be taken into account before implementing this model.
      This standard operating procedure (SOP) provides a detailed protocol for APAP
      preparation and application in mice, aimed at facilitating comparability between
      research groups as well as minimizing animal numbers and distress. The mouse
      model of acetaminophen poisoning therefore helps to unravel the pathogenesis of
      APAP-induced toxicity or subsequent immune responses in order to explore new
      therapeutic interventions for improving the prognosis of ALF in patients. 

PMID- 25835737
TI  - Lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory liver injury in mice.
AB  - The intraperitoneal application of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) alone or in
      combination with other hepatotoxins is an experimental model for inducing
      systemic and hepatic inflammation in rodents applied worldwide. The endotoxin is
      recognized by the LPS-binding protein. This complex binds together with the
      lymphocyte antigen 96 (MD2) and the pattern-recognition receptor CD14 to members
      of the toll-like receptor family. The activated receptor complex in turn
      transduces signals to well characterized intracellular cascades that result in a
      multifaceted network of intracellular responses ending in inflammation. The most
      prominent among these is the activation of the NF-kappaB pathway and the
      production of a multitude of inflammatory cytokines. Although the application of
      LPS is in general easy to perform, unintended variations in preparation of the
      injection solution or in handling of the animals might affect the reproducibility
      or the outcome of a specific experiment. Here, we present a well-standardized
      protocol that allows for an induction of highly reproducible acute hepatic
      inflammation in mice. Furthermore, examples of appropriate readouts for the
      resulting inflammatory response are given. 

PMID- 25835738
TI  - Mouse models of metabolic liver injury.
AB  - Metabolic liver injury is one of the fastest growing health problems worldwide.
      Alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty livers have been shown to be associated with
      progression to end-stage liver diseases, as well as to liver cancers, in humans.
      More importantly, there are no validated therapies for these disorders, therefore
      intensive research is required in this area. This review of standard operation
      procedures focuses on the experimental models of fatty liver disease in the
      mouse. Firstly, use of these experimental models might improve understanding of
      underlying mechanisms, and secondly this might help to test potential therapeutic
      options. This article includes, besides a short historic background, an insight
      into the pathobiochemical mechanisms and detailed experimental procedures as well
      as the practical implementation of these models. 

PMID- 25835739
TI  - Diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced carcinogenic liver injury in mice.
AB  - The toxic properties of various nitrosamines in animals and humans are well
      established. The parenteral or oral administration of the smallest quantities of
      diethylnitrosamine (DEN) or dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) results in severe liver
      damage. Most prominent are intense neutrophilic infiltration, extensive
      centrilobular haemorrhagic necrosis, bile duct proliferation, fibrosis, and
      bridging necrosis that ends in hepatocarcinogenesis. Due to the robustness of the
      induced hepatic alterations, the application of DEN in rodents has become an
      attractive experimental model for studies aimed at understanding the pathogenetic
      alterations underlying the formation of liver cancer, which represents one of the
      most common malignancies in humans worldwide. However, several studies have shown
      that the hepatocarcinogenic effects of nitrosamines might vary with the genetic
      background of the animals, their sex, their age, and other factors that might
      impact the outcome of experimentation. We present general guidelines for working
      with DEN, and a detailed protocol that allows the establishment of highly
      reproducible liver cancer in mice. The outcome of liver injury after the
      application of DEN in mice, as estimated by the formation of cirrhosis and
      cancer, appears to be a suitable animal model for the analysis of some aspects
      and processes that promote the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma in
      humans. 

PMID- 25835740
TI  - Induction of experimental obstructive cholestasis in mice.
AB  - The induction of experimental obstructive cholestasis is a reliable model for
      cholestatic liver diseases in rodents. Bile duct ligation (BDL) in mice provokes
      typical time-dependent morphological and structural changes in the liver, ranging
      from liver cell injury and elevated serum enzyme levels after several days, to a
      severe inflammatory response in the liver after 5-7 days, up to an advanced
      hepatic fibrosis as soon as three to four weeks after surgical ligation of the
      common biliary duct. Upon BDL induction, hepatic stellate cells become activated
      and transdifferentiate into myofibroblasts that produce extracellular matrix
      proteins such as collagen. In principle, the periportal fibrosis induced by BDL
      in rat livers is reversible. After the relief of a biliary obstruction, the liver
      has the capacity to revert to a nearly normal histological architecture and a
      fully normal biochemical function. When BDL surgery is performed by an
      experienced scientist, this model has very high reproducibility among all
      fibrotic models. All these factors corroborate the outstanding value of this
      model for basic and translational research in biomedicine and hepatology.
      Nevertheless, this model can result in significant variations when surgery is
      carried out by untrained personnel or when unconscious modifications are
      implemented that affect the quality of the intervention. A detailed protocol is
      provided here for the provision of reliable and reproducible BDL in mice. 

PMID- 25835741
TI  - Partial hepatectomy in mice.
AB  - The surgical procedure of two-thirds partial hepatectomy (PH) in rodents was
      first described more than 80 years ago by Higgins and Anderson. Nevertheless,
      this technique is still a state-of-the-art method for the community of liver
      researchers as it allows the in-depth analysis of signalling pathways involved in
      liver regeneration and hepatocarcinogenesis. The importance of PH as a key method
      in experimental hepatology has even increased in the last decade due to the
      increasing availability of genetically-modified mouse strains. Here, we propose a
      standard operating procedure (SOP) for the implementation of PH in mice, which is
      based on our experience of more than 10 years. In particular, the SOP offers all
      relevant background information on the PH model and provides comprehensive
      guidelines for planning and performing PH experiments. We provide established
      recommendations regarding optimal age and gender of animals, use of appropriate
      anaesthesia and biometric calculation of the experiments. We finally present an
      easy-to-follow step-by-step description of the complete surgical procedure
      including required materials, critical steps and postoperative management. This
      SOP especially takes into account the latest changes in animal welfare rules in
      the European Union but is still in agreement with current international
      regulations. In summary, this article provides comprehensive information for the
      legal application, design and implementation of PH experiments. 

PMID- 25835742
TI  - Strategic assessment of fisheries independent monitoring programs in the gulf of
      Mexico.
AB  - This study evaluates information produced from 14 fisheries independent
      monitoring programs (FIM) in the Gulf of Mexico. We consider the uniqueness of
      information from each program and its usefulness in estimating fisheries
      management indices. Biomass values of 35 functional groups are extracted from an
      operating model (Ecospace) with a method that replicates the patterns of historic
      FIM samplings. Observation error is added to these data in order to create a set
      of pseudo data that replicate the type and quality of information obtained from
      FIM programs. The pseudo data were put into a separate fishery assessment model
      (Pella-Tomlinson) to determine management indices of each functional group
      (maximum sustainable yield (MSY), biomass at MSY, and fishing mortality at MSY).
      These indices are compared against values in Ecospace, and against previously
      published single-species stock assessments. We also evaluate the full suite of
      information derived from FIM within an ecosystem context, considering whether
      functional roles are over- or under-sampled, and whether sampling effort is
      proportional to the value of fish stocks. Results reveal that model derived
      fishery indices closely matched published indices for the majority of the
      functional groups, economic and ecological evaluation suggests that several
      piscivorous functional groups are under-sampled include forage base species that
      are likely to indirectly support fisheries for piscivores, and sampling efforts
      are not proportional to the value of some fish stocks. Following ecological
      modelling we performed statistical analyses on historic FIM catch data to
      identify optimal species-specific sampling months and gear-types that can be used
      to refine future FIM sampling efforts. 

PMID- 25835743
TI  - Nxf1 natural variant E610G is a semi-dominant suppressor of IAP-induced RNA
      processing defects.
AB  - Endogenous retroviruses and retrotransposons contribute functional genetic
      variation in animal genomes. In mice, Intracisternal A Particles (IAPs) are a
      frequent source of both new mutations and polymorphism across laboratory strains.
      Intronic IAPs can induce alternative RNA processing choices, including
      alternative splicing. We previously showed IAP I?1 subfamily insertional
      mutations are suppressed by a wild-derived allele of the major mRNA export
      factor, Nxf1. Here we show that a wider diversity of IAP insertions present in
      the mouse reference sequence induce insertion-dependent alternative processing
      that is suppressed by Nxf1CAST alleles. These insertions typically show more
      modest gene expression changes than de novo mutations, suggesting selection or
      attenuation. Genome-wide splicing-sensitive microarrays and gene-focused assays
      confirm specificity of Nxf1 genetic modifier activity for IAP insertion alleles.
      Strikingly, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing demonstrates that a single amino
      acid substitution in Nxf1, E610G, is sufficient to recreate a quantitative
      genetic modifier in a co-isogenic background. 

PMID- 25835744
TI  - Internet Use and Access Among Pregnant Women via Computer and Mobile Phone:
      Implications for Delivery of Perinatal Care.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The use of Internet-based behavioral programs may be an efficient,
      flexible method to enhance prenatal care and improve pregnancy outcomes. There
      are few data about access to, and use of, the Internet via computers and mobile
      phones among pregnant women. OBJECTIVE: We describe pregnant women's access to,
      and use of, computers, mobile phones, and computer technologies (eg, Internet,
      blogs, chat rooms) in a southern United States population. We describe the
      willingness of pregnant women to participate in Internet-supported weight-loss
      interventions delivered via computers or mobile phones. METHODS: We conducted a
      cross-sectional survey among 100 pregnant women at a tertiary referral center
      ultrasound clinic in the southeast United States. Data were analyzed using Stata
      version 10 (StataCorp) and R (R Core Team 2013). Means and frequency procedures
      were used to describe demographic characteristics, access to computers and mobile
      phones, and use of specific Internet modalities. Chi-square testing was used to
      determine whether there were differences in technology access and Internet
      modality use according to age, race/ethnicity, income, or children in the home.
      The Fisher's exact test was used to describe preferences to participate in
      Internet-based postpartum weight-loss interventions via computer versus mobile
      phone. Logistic regression was used to determine demographic characteristics
      associated with these preferences. RESULTS: The study sample was 61.0% white,
      26.0% black, 6.0% Hispanic, and 7.0% Asian with a mean age of 31.0 (SD 5.1). Most
      participants had access to a computer (89/100, 89.0%) or mobile phone (88/100,
      88.0%) for at least 8 hours per week. Access remained high (>74%) across age
      groups, racial/ethnic groups, income levels, and number of children in the home.
      Internet/Web (94/100, 94.0%), email (90/100, 90.0%), and Facebook (50/100, 50.0%)
      were the most commonly used Internet technologies. Women aged less than 30 years
      were more likely to report use of Twitter and chat rooms compared to women 30
      years of age or older. Of the participants, 82.0% (82/100) were fairly willing or
      very willing to participate in postpartum lifestyle intervention. Of the
      participants, 83.0% (83/100) were fairly willing or very willing to participate
      in an Internet intervention delivered via computer, while only 49.0% (49/100)
      were fairly willing or very willing to do so via mobile phone technology. Older
      women and women with children tended to be less likely to desire a mobile phone
      based program. CONCLUSIONS: There is broad access and use of computer and mobile
      phone technology among southern US pregnant women with varied demographic
      characteristics. Pregnant women are willing to participate in Internet-supported
      perinatal interventions. Our findings can inform the development of computer- and
      mobile phone-based approaches for the delivery of clinical and educational
      interventions.

PMID- 25835745
TI  - The effects of 1alpha, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 and transforming growth factor
      beta3 on bone development in an ex vivo organotypic culture system of embryonic
      chick femora.
AB  - Transforming growth factor-beta3 (TGF-beta3) and 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3
      (1alpha,25 (OH) 2D3) are essential factors in chondrogenesis and osteogenesis
      respectively. These factors also play a fundamental role in the developmental
      processes and the maintenance of skeletal integrity, but their respective direct
      effects on these processes are not fully understood. Using an organotypic bone
      rudiment culture system the current study has examined the direct roles the
      osteotropic factors 1alpha,25 (OH)2D3 and TGF-beta3 exert on the development and
      modulation of the three dimensional structure of the embryonic femur. Isolated
      embryonic chick femurs (E11) were organotypically cultured for 10 days in basal
      media, or basal media supplemented with either 1alpha,25 (OH) 2D3 (25 nM) or TGF
      beta3 (5 ng/mL & 15 ng/mL). Analyses of the femurs were undertaken using micro
      computed tomography (MUCT), histology and immunohistochemistry. 1alpha,25 (OH)2D3
      supplemented cultures enhanced osteogenesis directly in the developing femurs
      with elevated levels of osteogenic markers such as type 1 collagen. In marked
      contrast organotypic femur cultures supplemented with TGF-beta3 (5 ng/mL & 15
      ng/mL) demonstrated enhanced chondrogenesis with a reduction in osteogenesis.
      These studies demonstrate the efficacy of the ex vivo organotypic embryonic femur
      culture employed to elucidate the direct roles of these molecules, 1alpha,25 (OH)
      2D3 and TGF-beta3 on the structural development of embryonic bone within a three
      dimensional framework. We conclude that 1alpha,25(OH)2D and TGF-beta3 modify
      directly the various cell populations in bone rudiment organotypic cultures
      effecting tissue metabolism resulting in significant changes in embryonic bone
      growth and modulation. Understanding the roles of osteotropic agents in the
      process of skeletal development is integral to developing new strategies for the
      recapitulation of bone tissue in later life. 

PMID- 25835746
TI  - Strong field laser control of photochemistry.
AB  - Strong ultrashort laser pulses have opened new avenues for the manipulation of
      photochemical processes like photoisomerization or photodissociation. The
      presence of light intense enough to reshape the potential energy surfaces may
      steer the dynamics of both electrons and nuclei in new directions. A controlled
      laser pulse, precisely defined in terms of spectrum, time and intensity, is the
      essential tool in this type of approach to control chemical dynamics at a
      microscopic level. In this Perspective we examine the current strategies
      developed to achieve control of chemical processes with strong laser fields, as
      well as recent experimental advances that demonstrate that properties like the
      molecular absorption spectrum, the state lifetimes, the quantum yields and the
      velocity distributions in photodissociation processes can be controlled by the
      introduction of carefully designed strong laser fields. 

PMID- 25835749
TI  - Band-gap tunability and dynamical instability in strained monolayer and bilayer
      phosphorenes.
AB  - Very recently, field-effect transistors based on few-layer phosphorene crystals
      with a thickness of down to a few nanometres were successfully fabricated,
      triggering interest in this new functional two-dimensional material. In this
      work, we apply first-principles calculations to studying the evolution of
      electronic and phononic structures with out-of-plane strain for monolayer and
      bilayer phosphorenes. It is found that the vertical stress can be used to tune
      the band gap of a semiconducting phosphorene in a wide range. On the other hand,
      the vertical stress can make the phosphorene lattice become dynamically unstable
      and surface reconstruction or structural phase transition may occur. Due to the
      interlayer van der Waals coupling, the dynamically stable range of bilayer
      phosphorene under vertical stress is wider than that of monolayer phosphorene. It
      is proposed whether or not a semiconductor-semimetal transition occurring in a
      strained phosphorene is determined not only by its band gap closing, but also by
      its lattice stability against strain. This information is essential for the
      strain engineering of phosphorene and future device fabrication. 

PMID- 25835747
TI  - Occurrence of Distal Colorectal Neoplasia Among Whites and Blacks Following
      Negative Flexible Sigmoidoscopy: An Analysis of PLCO Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether the higher rate of colorectal cancer (CRC)
      among non-Hispanic blacks (blacks) is due to lower rates of CRC screening or
      greater biologic risk. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate whether blacks are more
      likely than non-Hispanic whites (whites) to develop distal colon neoplasia
      (adenoma and/or cancer) after negative flexible sigmoidoscopy (FSG). DESIGN: We
      analyzed data of participants with negative FSGs at baseline in the Prostate,
      Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) cancer screening trial who underwent repeat
      FSGs 3 or 5 years later. Subjects with polyps or masses were referred to their
      physicians for diagnostic colonoscopy. We collected and reviewed the records of
      diagnostic evaluations. PARTICIPANTS: Our analytic cohort consisted of 21,550
      whites and 975 blacks. MAIN MEASURES: We did a comparison by race (whites vs.
      blacks) in the findings of polyps or masses at repeat FSG, the follow-up of
      abnormal test results and the detection of colorectal neoplasia at diagnostic
      colonoscopy. KEY RESULTS: At the follow-up FSG examination, 304 blacks (31.2 %)
      and 4183 whites (19.4 %) had abnormal FSG, [adjusted relative risk (RR) = 1.00;
      95 % confidence interval (CI), 0.90-1.10]. However, blacks were less likely to
      undergo diagnostic colonoscopy (76.6 % vs. 83.1 %; RR = 0.90; 95 % CI, 0.84
      0.96). Among all included patients, blacks had similar risk of any distal adenoma
      (RR = 0.86; 95 % CI, 0.65-1.14) and distal advanced adenoma (RR = 1.01; 95 % CI,
      0.60-1.68). Similar results were obtained when we restricted our analysis to
      compliant subjects who underwent diagnostic colonoscopy (RR = 1.01; 95 % CI, 0.80
      1.29) for any distal adenoma and (RR = 1.18; 95 % CI, 0.73-1.92) for distal
      advanced adenoma. CONCLUSIONS: We did not find any differences between blacks and
      whites in the risk of distal colorectal adenoma 3-5 years after negative FSG.
      However, follow-up evaluations were lower among blacks.

PMID- 25835748
TI  - Organization and dynamics of tryptophan residues in brain spectrin: novel insight
      into conformational flexibility.
AB  - Brain spectrin enjoys overall structural and sequence similarity with erythroid
      spectrin, but less is known about its function. We utilized the fluorescence
      properties of tryptophan residues to monitor their organization and dynamics in
      brain spectrin. Keeping in mind the functional relevance of hydrophobic binding
      sites in brain spectrin, we monitored the organization and dynamics of brain
      spectrin bound to PRODAN. Results from red edge excitation shift (REES) indicate
      that the organization of tryptophans in brain spectrin is maintained to a
      considerable extent even after denaturation. These results are supported by
      acrylamide quenching experiments. To the best of our knowledge, these results
      constitute the first report of the presence of residual structure in urea
      denatured brain spectrin. We further show from REES and time-resolved emission
      spectra that PRODAN bound to brain spectrin is characterized by motional
      restriction. These results provide useful information on the differences between
      erythroid spectrin and brain spectrin. 

PMID- 25835750
TI  - A Nonenzymatic Hairpin DNA Cascade Reaction Provides High Signal Gain of mRNA
      Imaging inside Live Cells.
AB  - Enzyme-free signal amplification has enabled sensitive in vitro detection of
      biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. However, monitoring targets of
      interest in live cells via enzyme-free amplification is still challenging,
      especially for analytes with low concentrations. To the best of our knowledge,
      this paper reports the first attempt to perform mRNA imaging inside live cells,
      using a nonenzymatic hairpin DNA cascade reaction for high signal gain, termed a
      hairpin DNA cascade amplifier (HDCA). In conventional nucleic acid probes, such
      as linear hybridization probes, mRNA target signaling occurs in an equivalent
      reaction ratio (1:1), whereas, in HDCA, one mRNA target is able to yield multiple
      signal outputs (1:m), thus achieving the goal of signal amplification for low
      expression mRNA targets. Moreover, the recycled mRNA target in the HDCA serves as
      a catalyst for the assembly of multiple DNA duplexes, generating the fluorescent
      signal of reduced MnSOD mRNA expression, thus indicating amplified intracellular
      imaging. This programmable cascade reaction presents a simple and modular
      amplification mechanism for intracellular biomarkers of interest, providing a
      significant boost to the search for clues leading to the accurate identification
      and effective treatment of cancers. 

PMID- 25835752
TI  - A new approach to treatment of vulvo-vaginal atrophy.

PMID- 25835751
TI  - 17beta-Estradiol and natural progesterone for menopausal hormone therapy:
      REPLENISH phase 3 study design of a combination capsule and evidence review.
AB  - Several formulations combining estrogens and progestins for hormone therapy (HT)
      have been approved worldwide for the treatment of menopausal symptoms, yet recent
      data indicate a decline in their use and an increase in compounded bioidentical
      HT. Up to now, no single product combining natural 17beta-estradiol and
      progesterone has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or
      the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A phase 3 trial (REPLENISH) is underway to
      study a novel oral formulation of solubilized 17beta-estradiol and natural
      progesterone combined in a single gelatin capsule (TX-001HR; TherapeuticsMD, Inc,
      Boca Raton, FL) for treating vasomotor symptoms (VMS) in postmenopausal women.
      The REPLENISH trial evaluates the efficacy and safety of TX-001HR (4 doses)
      versus placebo for the reduction of moderate to severe VMS frequency and severity
      at 4 and 12 weeks and evaluates the endometrial safety of the combinations at 1
      year. TX-001HR contains hormones that are molecularly identical to endogenous
      estradiol and progesterone and is intended as an option for women who prefer
      bioidentical hormones; further, it does not contain peanut oil, a common
      allergen. The constituents of TX-001HR, in a pharmacokinetic report, showed
      similar bioavailability and safety compared with reference estradiol tablets and
      micronized progesterone capsules administered together. Published data suggest a
      safer profile of estradiol and natural progesterone compared with HT containing
      conjugated equine estrogens and progestins. This report summarizes the
      methodology of the REPLENISH trial and reviews the evidence suggesting clinical
      differences between HT containing progesterone or progestins, and estradiol or
      conjugated equine estrogens.

PMID- 25835753
TI  - Safety of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment in recovering stroke
      patients.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are widely used for
      psychiatric complications after stroke. Studies have indicated additional
      effects, and SSRIs could potentially be used as enhancers of stroke recovery.
      However, beneficial effects should be weighed against potential adverse effects.
      In particular, the possible association with cerebrovascular events has raised
      concern. AREAS COVERED: We review the literature on cerebrovascular events
      associated with SSRI treatment after stroke. The possible beneficial effects of
      SSRI treatment for stroke recovery and survival, and potential safety concerns,
      are discussed. EXPERT OPINION: Evidence suggests that SSRIs may enhance stroke
      recovery. Most studies on cerebrovascular risk are from non-stroke populations
      and little is known about recurrent events and mortality post-stroke. In non
      stroke populations treatment has been associated with increased risk of
      intracerebral and intracranial hemorrhage; however the absolute risk is low. The
      association between SSRIs and ischemic stroke is less clear. Randomized stroke
      trials indicate that treatment is safe and well tolerated, and the most common
      side effects are often benign and transient. The trials are small however and not
      powered to detect potential differences in cerebrovascular events. We await
      several ongoing large randomized trials before SSRIs can be recommended as a
      routine pharmacotherapy in stroke recovery.

PMID- 25835754
TI  - New three-fold interpenetrated uranyl organic framework constructed by
      terephthalic acid and imidazole derivative.
AB  - A new 3-fold interpenetrated uranyl organic framework, UO2(bdc)(dmpi), was
      hydrothermally synthesized using 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (H2bdc) and 1-(4
      (1H-imidazol-1-yl)-2,5-dimethylphenyl)-1H-imidazole (dmpi). This framework, which
      was determined by synchrotron radiation X-ray, exhibited a new 3-fold
      interpenetrated (2,4)-connected topology with the Schlafli symbol of
      (12(6))(12)2. Additionally, large incurvation happened to the bond angle of
      [O=U=O](2+), which was always arranged in a rigorous line. Computational results
      based on density functional theory (DFT) indicated that the bent geometry of
      uranyl in UO2(bdc)(dmpi) was mainly due to the higher charge populations in the
      valence 6d shells of uranium, rendered by the electronegative imidazoles.

PMID- 25835755
TI  - The synergistic effect of BCR signaling inhibitors combined with an HDAC
      inhibitor on cell death in a mantle cell lymphoma cell line.
AB  - Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a B cell malignancy characterized by aberrant
      expression of cyclin D1 due to a t(11;14) translocation. MCL is refractory to
      conventional chemotherapy, and treatment remains challenging. We investigated the
      efficacy of the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor vorinostat combined with one
      of several B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling inhibitors on MCL cell death and the
      underlying mechanisms, using MCL cell lines. The Bruton's tyrosine kinase
      inhibitor PCI-32765 and the spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitor R406 showed
      synergistic effects with vorinostat on growth inhibition. Treatment with PCI
      32765 or R406 alone induced 27.3 +/- 2.1 or 25.1 +/- 3.2% apoptosis. When
      combined with vorinostat, these apoptotic fractions significantly increased to
      50.8 +/- 4.9 and 63.1 +/- 5.0%, respectively. Activation of caspase-3 and poly
      (ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage were markedly increased. We performed gene
      expression profiling following treatment with the combination of vorinostat and
      individual BCR signaling inhibitors using a microarray, and differentially
      expressed genes were identified. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway
      enrichment analysis showed that the nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB signaling pathway
      was significantly enriched following treatment with the combination of vorinostat
      and R406. Protein expression analysis confirmed the down-regulation of NF
      kappaB1/p105 and cyclin D1, suggesting inhibition of the NF-kappaB pathway. Taken
      together, the combination of an HDAC inhibitor and a BCR signaling inhibitor may
      be a novel therapeutic strategy for MCL.

PMID- 25835756
TI  - Treatment Options for Pediatric Patent Ductus Arteriosus: Systematic Review and
      Meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in the nonpremature pediatric patient
      is currently treated by surgical ligation or catheter occlusion. There is no
      clear superiority of one technique over the other. This meta-analysis compares
      the clinical outcomes of the two treatment options for PDA. METHODS: We performed
      a literature search of MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and the Cochrane database of
      randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that took place between 1950 and February
      2014 and hand-searched references from included studies. We excluded studies of
      adult or premature patients and those without a direct comparison between
      surgical and catheter-based treatments of PDAs. Outcomes of interest were
      reintervention, total complications, length of stay, and cost. RESULTS: One
      thousand three hundred thirty-three manuscripts were screened. Eight studies
      fulfilled the inclusion criteria (one RCT and seven observational studies [N =
      1,107]). In pooled observational studies, there were significantly decreased odds
      (OR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.03-0.42) for reintervention in the surgical ligation group
      but insignificantly higher odds for overall complications (OR, 2.01; 95% CI, 0.68
      5.91). There were no complications reported in the RCT, but surgical ligation was
      associated with decreased odds for reintervention and a longer length of stay.
      Funnel plots revealed a possible publication bias and a quality review identified
      comparability bias. CONCLUSIONS: Both therapies have comparable outcomes.
      Reintervention is more common with catheter-based treatment, but overall
      complication rates are not higher and hospital stay is shorter. Our data span > 2
      decades and may not reflect current surgical and catheterization outcomes. Large,
      randomized, prospective studies may help determine the optimal treatment
      strategy.

PMID- 25835757
TI  - Combination of microvascular medial femoral condyle and iliac crest flap for hemi
      midface reconstruction.
AB  - In midface defects including the orbit (Brown class III and IV), no single flap
      can provide adequate reconstruction. In this technical note, the combination of
      vascularized iliac crest flap and vascularized medial femoral condyle flap (MFC)
      is described. The vascularized iliac crest flap is reported to be the gold
      standard for maxilla reconstruction. There is, however, no consensus on the best
      method for orbital and nasal wall reconstruction. The MFC flap can be harvested
      as a thin corticoperiosteal flap or as an osteomyocutaneous flap. Due to the
      periosteal blood supply, this flap can be customized for an individual defect of
      the upper hemi-midface. It is therefore of great benefit in orbital and nasal
      wall reconstruction. By combining the deep circumflex iliac artery (DCIA) bone
      flap and the MFC flap, the best standard reconstruction technique of the hemi
      maxilla can be combined with a new anatomical precise microvascular
      reconstruction technique of the orbit. A nearly symmetric midface appearance can
      be achieved.

PMID- 25835758
TI  - Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound enhances bone morphogenetic protein expression of
      human mandibular fracture haematoma-derived cells.
AB  - We previously demonstrated that human mandibular fracture haematoma-derived cells
      (MHCs) play an important role in mandibular fracture healing and that low
      intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) accelerates this effect by stimulating
      various osteogenic cytokines. In the present study, we investigated how LIPUS
      affects the expression of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), which are also
      known to have the ability to induce bone formation. MHCs were isolated from human
      mandibular fracture haematomas and the cells were divided into two groups: a
      LIPUS (+) group and a LIPUS (-) group, both of which were cultured in osteogenic
      medium. LIPUS was applied to the LIPUS (+) group 20 min a day for 4, 8, 14, and
      20 days (1.5 MHz, 30 mW/cm(2)). Real-time PCR and immunofluorescence studies were
      carried out to determine the expression of BMP-2, 4, and 7. Compared to the LIPUS
      (-) group, gene expression levels were significantly increased in the LIPUS (+)
      group for BMP-2 on day 20 (67.38 +/- 26.59 vs. 11.52 +/- 3.42, P < 0.001), for
      BMP-4 on days 14 (45.12 +/- 11.06 vs. 9.20 +/- 2.88, P = 0.045) and 20 (40.96 +/-
      24.81 vs. 3.22 +/- 1.53, P = 0.035), and for BMP-7 on day 8 (48.11 +/- 35.36 vs.
      7.03 +/- 3.96, P = 0.034). These findings suggest that BMP-2, 4, and 7 may be
      mediated by LIPUS therapy during the bone repair process.

PMID- 25835759
TI  - Effect of unilateral mandibular distraction osteogenesis on mandibular morphology
      in rabbits with antigen-induced temporomandibular joint arthritis.
AB  - Aim was to evaluate effect of unilateral distraction osteogenesis (DO) on
      mandibular morphology in rabbits with antigen-induced arthritis in the
      temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Forty 8-week-old rabbits were divided into four
      groups. In groups A,C, arthritis was induced in the right TMJ. Groups A,B
      underwent DO. Group D served as control group. Cephalometric analysis of
      mandibular angle, mandibular ramus height, mandibular collum height, and total
      posterior mandibular height was done on CT-scans preoperatively (T0), after
      distraction (T1), and at euthanasia (T2). Two-factor ANOVA evaluated the effect
      of DO and antigen-induced arthritis. No effect of DO or arthritis was observed on
      mandibular angle or mandibular collum height. For T0-T1, DO increased mandibular
      ramus height 12.3% (95% CI 5.2-19.4%) in group B (P=0.001) and total posterior
      mandibular height 6.2% (95% CI 0.3-12.1%) in group A (P=0.04) and 10.0% (95% CI
      4.3-15.7%) in group B (P=0.001). For T1-T2, no significant changes occurred in
      arthritic rabbits (group A). In conclusion, DO increased total posterior
      mandibular height in rabbits with arthritis. Postoperatively, no significant
      effect of DO was observed in rabbits with arthritis. Mandibular DO could be a
      viable treatment modality in patients with TMJ-arthritis. 

PMID- 25835760
TI  - The journey continues.
AB  - Here is the second special issue of the journal Acta BioMedica, dedicated to the
      health professions.The publication of the first issue gave rise to diverse
      reactions - all positive - in the relevant circles.

PMID- 25835761
TI  - The metaphors of collaboration, or the social construction of collaborative
      interactions between health professionals.
AB  - This article illustrates the ways in which symbolic representations of reality,
      embodied in metaphors and language, can affect collaborative interactions in the
      current situation of social and economic change. We assume that corporate
      transformation and organizational configurations influence health professionals'
      representations in largely unconscious ways and, with these, their everyday
      practice. On the basis of empirical data collected through 13 focus groups in an
      Italian hospital, our intention is to show the extent to which joint working can
      be linked to three main metaphors each matching specific forms of social and
      professional interaction. The three metaphors of collaboration constitute
      different attempts to interpret social and organizational changes in proactive -
      encouraging social innovation - or defensive terms - as actions of cultural
      resistance. The three metaphors are: apparatus, family and team. In different
      ways, the first two represent forms of resistance to change and are widely
      present within organizations. The latter, on the other hand, consists of a
      proactive way to deal with ongoing social and organizational change. This
      metaphor testifies to the existence of a different approach to collaborative
      interactions, a perspective related to specific combinations of organizational
      and professional characteristics. This study indicates that organizational change
      and collaboration can be strengthened by metaphors that illustrate open, plural
      and highly heterogeneous professional settings.

PMID- 25835762
TI  - Ambivalent stereotypes of nurses and physicians: impact on students' attitude
      toward interprofessional education.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK: Nurse-physician stereotypes have been proposed as
      a factor hindering interprofessional collaboration among practitioners and
      interprofessional learning among nursing and medical students. Using socio
      psychological theories about ambivalent stereotypes, the present work aimed to
      analyse: a) the content of nurse and physician stereotypes held by nursing and
      medical students and b) the role of auto-stereotype on students' attitude toward
      interprofessional education (IPE).  Methods. A cross-sectional on-line survey was
      adopted and a questionnaire was emailed to 205 nursing students and 151 medical
      students attending an Italian university. RESULTS: Nursing and medical students
      shared the stereotypical belief that nurses are warmer but less competent than
      physicians. Nurses and physicians were basically depicted with ambivalent
      stereotypes: nurses were seen as communal, socially competent and caring but less
      competent, not agentic and less autonomous, while physicians were seen as
      agentic, competent and autonomous, but less communal, less collectivist and less
      socially competent. Moreover, a professional stereotypical image impacted the
      students' attitude toward IPE. More precisely, when nurses and physicians were
      seen with classic ambivalent stereotypes, both nursing and medical students were
      less favourable towards interprofessional education programmes. CONCLUSIONS: The
      content of professional stereotypes of healthcare students was still linked to
      classical views of nurses as caring and physicians as curing. This seemed to
      limit students' attitude and intention to be engaged in IPE.

PMID- 25835763
TI  - Threats to identity: lipodystrophy and identity changes in people with HIV/AIDS
      (PWA).
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: PWA today have to face new problems associated with their
      disease state. One of these is tied to bodily changes that are related to HAART
      (lipodystrophy syndrome, LDS). Applying the Identity Process Theory (Breakwell,
      1986), this research aimed to study the impact that LDS body changes may have on
      the identity of PWA. METHOD: One hundred and eight patients (79 M and 29 F,
      ranging from 35 to 75 years old) at a North Italian clinic completed a
      questionnaire composed of scales measuring the perception of threats to the
      identity of PWA, physicians' and patients' assessment of LDS, time from
      diagnosis, disclosure and perceived social support. RESULTS: Results showed that
      lipodystrophy changes represent a new aspect of the disease that PWA need to
      handle in terms of identity: the changes resulted in 'loss of the self' and
      constituted a particular threat to the dimension of personal identity whereby
      bodily changes called more into question the principles of self-esteem and
      distinctness. LDS, however, lead to a multiple identity threat that is aggravated
      by patients' perception of the severity of their bodily changes and by the
      perception of a lack of friendship and social support. CONCLUSIONS: The study
      highlights how complex, cyclical and dynamic are the effects that HIV status can
      have on the sick person: they are no longer only clinical, but also psychological
      and psychosocial.

PMID- 25835764
TI  - Correlation between quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and self-efficacy
      measured during in-hospital cardiac arrest simulation; preliminary results.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The concept of self-assess it's a central mechanism in human agency
      for behavior change and should translate to desirable practice patterns. There
      are no many studies that have investigated the relationship between the
      perception of the ability to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the
      quality of the same. The aim of this work is to investigate the relation between
      physiological and psychosocial variables in cardiac resuscitation in order to
      improve the involvement and motivation of professionals in training courses.
      METHODS: During the year 2012, 322 medical staff of Ospedale-Universitario of
      Parma were trained to basic life support defibrillation (BLSD). Before started
      the course the partecipants were randomly selected among the staff working in the
      same department to create a team of two persons and involved in a simulation that
      reproduced the first five minutes that occurs for a cardiac arrest in a medical
      or surgical department in our hospital before the intervention of the hospital
      emergency team. Before and after simulation to each participant was asked to
      answer a self-efficacy questionnaire on a 10-point scale on the management of
      cardiac. During simulation were registered the activation time of the emergency
      response system, hands-on time, defibrillation time, number of compression and
      correct compression rate. RESULTS: Activation time of the emergency response
      system was 70.52 +/- 78.77 seconds. In 55 teams was not made the allert. The
      defibrillation time was 148.63 +/- 58.43 seconds. In 44 teams the defibrillator
      were used within 120 seconds, in 36 (22.1%) it was not used. Hands-on time
      average was of 166.20 +/- 62.9 seconds. The mean number of compression was 216.22
      +/- 115.57. The percentage of satisfactory compression was 9.97 +/- 21.23 %. The
      level of self-efficacy was under the average for the 35.6%, while the 26.8% of
      the participants had a medium level of 5 and the 38.5% of the sample declared to
      feel an efficacy level included in 6-10. The sense of self efficacy after the
      simulation was constant in the 38.3% of the sample, while increased in the 30.5%
      and decreased in the 31.2%. We found no significant correlations between self
      efficacy levels and specific results in scenario acting before simulation,
      instead, after the simulation the skills performances are much more correlated
      with self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: The medical staff reported an individual's
      perception of good efficacy in the management of simulation of cardiac arrest,
      but it does not correspond to a high skills. An open question is if and how these
      psychosocial variables may play a role in improving the quality of CPR and if
      knowledge of the low capacity to manage a cardiac arrest can be translated into
      the need for the medical staff to be regularly engaged in BLSD retraining.

PMID- 25835765
TI  - Strangers in a strange land: work experiences of foreign nurses in Parma's
      territory.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this research is to explore, investigate and describe
      experiences and points of view of foreign nurses working in the area of Parma. We
      focalize particularly on two areas of interest: negativities and positivities in
      experiences related to the process of integration into the new working
      environment. BACKGROUND: The literature search has revealed that the phenomenon
      of "nursing immigration" is numerically significant in Italy and more
      particularly in Emilia Romagna. From studies conducted in other countries (UK,
      USA, Canada, Australia and Iceland) there are two categories of factors which
      influence the process of integration of foreign nurses in the new working
      environment, facilitators and barriers. METHOD: For this study we followed the
      phenomenological method . A total of twelve foreign nurses were interviewed in
      the months of October and November 2013 in the territory of Parma working in
      various professional fields (medicine, critical care and surgery). We did not
      impose any structure to interviews so that respondents were free to express their
      lived experiences spontaneously. All interviews were recorded, transcribed
      verbatim and analyzed by the method of Giorgi (1970). RESULTS: Results obtained
      from the analysis of interviews revealed seven themes, divided in positivities
      and negativities. Positivities are psycho-social support (Italian colleagues,
      fellow countrymen, patients), opportunities of cultural enrichment, positive work
      ethic. negativities are difficulty of language and communication, and
      inequalities racial prejudice, differences in care practices and inadequate
      opportunities for professional growth related to the Italian working environment.
      CONCLUSIONS: The study concludes by pointing out the importance of the role that
      foreign nurses can play in our health care system and how the results of this
      search can help all professionals in the health sector to have a greater
      understanding of their experiences. This knowledge can make a contribution to the
      development of new quantitative research in the same area and then to the
      formation of new strategies for hospitality and support.

PMID- 25835766
TI  - Factors affecting women's well-being during the experience of acute myocardial
      infarction: a literature review.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK: Many factors influence the experience of acute
      myocardial infarction (AMI) and the well-being of affected patients; gender
      differences emerge in the patterns of influence, and women's specificity is
      frequently highlighted. The purpose of this literature review is exploring in
      depth the experience of AMI in women. METHODS: We selected and analyzed 44
      articles on five factors strongly affecting women's well-being after AMI: the
      delay in seeking treatment for symptoms, medical treatment, therapeutic
      adherence, social support and coping strategies. RESULTS: The studies have
      attributed gender differences in the delay in seeking care for symptoms partly to
      a lack of information, but especially to socially built factors, such as the
      stereotypic belief of cardiac diseases as "male diseases". Studies on the medical
      treatment show that women are less likely to undergo diagnostic tests and
      clinical treatment compared to men, but women's older age may counterbalance the
      gender effect. Compared to men, therapeutic adherence appears lower in women, who
      find lifestyle changes more difficult to achieve; however, women rely more on
      social support, affecting positively their well-being. Also, women use more
      emotion-focused, evasive or fatalistic coping strategies; they are likely to
      minimize the severity of symptoms, to try to control the disease and to protect
      the significant others from the negative consequences of the infarction.
      CONCLUSIONS: Most studies highlight gender differences in the experience of AMI
      and in the patterns of influence of the factors we analyzed.

PMID- 25835767
TI  - The hypothesis of contact in nursing: a narrative review of the literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: In Social Psychology, in relation to the effects of contact,
      there are two theoretical strands apparently fighting against each other: to one
      side, the contact hypothesis of Allport according to which, the meeting between
      members of different groups can, if managed in favorable conditions, reduce
      prejudice, on the other side, the Social Identity Theory of Tajfel and Turner,
      according to which the comparison between people belonging to different groups
      may actually generate an attitude of ingroup favoritism and outgroup
      discrimination. The aim of this review was to analyze how the literature has
      dealt with the problem of contact with people from different cultures in relation
      to its outcomes taking into account the environment of nursing. METHOD:
      Systematic review. RESULTS: There is sufficient evidence that contacts by race /
      ethnicity, present in nursing-education settings, in the relationship among nurse
      practitioners, and between nurses and patients, they produce discriminations and
      prejudices. The contact in the workplace shows however, also favorable outcomes,
      highlighting then contradictory results. CONCLUSIONS: The scarcity of material
      available in the literature and the inconsistency of results, both as regards to
      the effects of the contact in the training nursing, and as regards to the effects
      of the contact in relation to the quality of care provided, does not allow
      definitive conclusions to support the usefulness of the contact in nursing in
      terms of reducing prejudices and discriminations. It would therefore be advisable
      to investigate more deeply the effects of contact in the nursing environment.

PMID- 25835768
TI  - The Health Professions: developments in legislation and training, from student
      application to employment.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: The legislation and training of health workers have undergone
      various changes during the course of the last 90 years. In addition to the
      Degrees Medicine in Surgery and Dentistry, with a duration of six years, the
      Faculty of Medicine and Surgery also offers three-year degree courses in the 22
      health professions, including Nursing, Obstetrics, Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy,
      Laboratory work, Radiology, Neurophysiopathology and Dietetics. METHOD: A data
      research study was carried out over the last 18 years, on the legislation and
      training requirements for health workers, including the availability of
      University places and the applications presented, as well as the number of
      university lecturers and the employment opportunities. RESULTS: Data reveal a
      steady increase from 1997 to 2011 in the number of student admission applications
      for Medicine and Surgery as well as for the other Health Professions, reaching a
      peak in 2012 and currently continuing to fall. The trend is different for
      lecturers, who, apart from a slight increase up to 2008, have remained at around
      9400 in number since 1997. CONCLUSIONS: The drop in applications for places would
      appear to be linked to the fall in employment in the last six years, from 86% in
      2007 to 62% in 2012. Although the health sector is still in first place among all
      the other sectors, careful reflection would seem to be warranted on the part of
      the Regions and the Ministries of Health and University Education when defining
      the annual training requirements for each of the 22 Health Professions.

PMID- 25835769
TI  - Desalination by Membrane Distillation using Electrospun Polyamide Fiber Membranes
      with Surface Fluorination by Chemical Vapor Deposition.
AB  - Fibrous membranes of poly(trimethyl hexamethylene terephthalamide) (PA6(3)T) were
      fabricated by electrospinning and rendered hydrophobic by applying a conformal
      coating of poly(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyl acrylate) (PPFDA) using initiated
      chemical vapor deposition (iCVD). A set of iCVD-treated electrospun PA6(3)T fiber
      membranes with fiber diameters ranging from 0.25 to 1.8 MUm were tested for
      desalination using the air gap membrane distillation configuration. Permeate
      fluxes of 2-11 kg/m2/h were observed for temperature differentials of 20-45 
      degrees C between the feed stream and condenser plate, with rejections in excess
      of 99.98%. The liquid entry pressure was observed to increase dramatically, from
      15 to 373 kPa with reduction in fiber diameter. Contrary to expectation, for a
      given feed temperature the permeate flux was observed to increase for membranes
      of decreasing fiber diameter. The results for permeate flux and salt rejection
      show that it is possible to construct membranes for membrane distillation even
      from intrinsically hydrophilic materials after surface modification by iCVD and
      that the fiber diameter is shown to play an important role on the membrane
      distillation performance in terms of permeate flux, salt rejection, and liquid
      entry pressure.

PMID- 25835770
TI  - Small groups, big gains: efficacy of a tier 2 phonological awareness intervention
      with preschoolers with early literacy deficits.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of a
      phonological awareness (PA) intervention, designed for Tier 2 instruction in a
      Response to Intervention (RTI) model, delivered to small groups of preschoolers.
      METHOD: A multiple-baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the
      efficacy of the intervention on low-income preschool children's PA skills. A
      trained interventionist delivered small group sessions 3 to 4 days a week and
      ensured children received frequent opportunities to respond and contingent
      feedback. Participants received 28 to 36 lessons that lasted about 10 min each
      and focused on PA and alphabet knowledge. Initiation of intervention was
      staggered across 3 triads, and 7 children completed the study. RESULTS: The
      intervention produced consistent gains on weekly progress monitoring assessments
      of the primary outcome measure for first sound identification (First Sound
      Fluency). Most children also demonstrated gains on other measures of PA and
      alphabet knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: Results provide support for the application of a
      small group intervention consistent with an RTI framework and document the
      potential benefits of the intervention to learners who need early literacy
      instruction beyond the core curriculum.

PMID- 25835771
TI  - The prognostic ability of the STarT Back Tool was affected by episode duration.
AB  - PURPOSE: The prognostic ability of the STarT Back Tool (SBT) reportedly varies,
      but the factors affecting this are unclear. This study investigated the
      influences of care setting (chiropractic, GP, physiotherapy, spine centre),
      episode duration (0-2, 3-4, 4-12, >12 weeks), and outcome time period (3, 6, 12
      months) on SBT prognostic ability. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of data
      from three primary care cohorts [chiropractic (n = 416), GP (n = 265), and
      physiotherapy (n = 200) practices] and one cohort from a secondary care
      outpatient spine centre (n = 974) in Denmark. Care pathways were not
      systematically affected by SBT risk subgroup (non-stratified care). Using
      generalised estimating equations, we investigated statistical interactions
      between SBT risk subgroups and potentially influential factors on the prognostic
      ability of the SBT subgroups, when Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire scores
      were the outcome. RESULTS: SBT risk subgroup, age, care setting, and episode
      duration were all independent prognostic factors. The only investigated factor
      that modified the prognostic ability of the SBT subgroups was episode duration.
      CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the prognostic ability of the SBT in
      these non-stratified care settings was unaffected by care setting on its own.
      However, the prognosis of patients is affected by diverse clinical
      characteristics that differ between patient populations, many of which are not
      assessed by the SBT. When controlling for some of those factors and testing
      potential interactions, the results showed that only episode duration affected
      the SBT prognostic ability and, specifically, that the SBT was less predictive in
      very acute patients (<2 weeks duration).

PMID- 25835772
TI  - Viral hepatitis and anti-phospholipid antibodies positivity: A systematic review
      and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anti-phospholipid antibodies positivity is associated with several
      clinical conditions, including infectious diseases. AIMS: We performed a meta
      analysis evaluating the association of hepatitis B and C with anti-phospholipid
      antibody positivity and with anti-phospholipid antibody-related thrombotic
      complications. METHODS: Studies evaluating the association of viral hepatitis
      with anti-cardiolipin, anti-beta2 glycoprotein-I and lupus anticoagulant
      antibodies and anti-phospholipid antibody-related thrombotic events were
      systematically searched. RESULTS: 20 studies (2319 cases, 1901 controls) were
      included. The analyses showed that viral hepatitis is associated with the
      presence of anti-cardiolipin and anti-beta2 glycoprotein-I antibodies. The
      association with anticardiolipin antibodies was confirmed in both hepatitis B (OR
      11.22, 95% CI: 6.68-18.84) and hepatitis C (OR 11.26, 95% CI: 6.82-18.59).
      Similarly, compared to controls, anti-beta2 glycoprotein-I antibodies were found
      more frequently in hepatitis B (OR 14.07, 95% CI: 3.06-64.66) and hepatitis C (OR
      5.64, 95% CI: 1.69-18.77). Moreover, 11 studies (257 cases, 1079 controls) showed
      a higher prevalence of venous and/or arterial thrombosis in patients with
      hepatitis and anti-cardiolipin antibody positivity compared hepatitis alone (OR
      3.29, 95% CI: 1.79-6.07). This result was consistently confirmed in hepatitis C
      (OR 3.64, 95% CI: 1.78-7.46) but not in hepatitis B. CONCLUSIONS: Viral hepatitis
      is significantly associated with anti-phospholipid antibody positivity and with
      anti-phospholipid antibody-related thrombotic complications.

PMID- 25835773
TI  - A comparison of muscle stiffness and musculoarticular stiffness of the knee joint
      in young athletic males and females.
AB  - The objective of this study was to investigate the gender-specific differences in
      peak torque (PT), muscle stiffness (MS) and musculoarticular stiffness (MAS) of
      the knee joints in a young active population. Twenty-two male and twenty-two
      female recreational athletes participated. PT of the knee joint extensor
      musculature was assessed on an isokinetic dynamometer, MS of the vastus lateralis
      (VL) muscle was measured in both relaxed and contracted conditions, and knee
      joint MAS was quantified using the free oscillation technique. Significant gender
      differences were observed for all dependent variables. Females demonstrated less
      normalized PT (mean difference (MD)=0.4Nm/kg, p=0.005, eta(2)=0.17), relaxed MS
      (MD=94.2N/m, p<.001, eta(2)=0.53), contracted MS (MD=162.7N/m, p<.001,
      eta(2)=0.53) and MAS (MD=422.1N/m, p<.001, eta(2)=0.23) than males. MAS increased
      linearly with the external load in both genders with males demonstrating a
      significantly higher slope (p=0.019) than females. The observed differences
      outlined above may contribute to the higher knee joint injury incidence and
      prevalence in females when compared to males. 

PMID- 25835774
TI  - Acute hyperkinetic syndrome due to ephedrone abuse.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A new form of manganese poisoning is related to the intravenous use
      of self-prepared methcathinone hydrochloride (ephedrone). Manganese
      encephalopathy typically manifests as a levodopa-resistant parkinsonism. MAIN
      POINTS: A 32-year-old drug-addicted man with acute gait disturbances after the
      ephedrone injections was presented. Choreic movements, severe postural
      instability, and "cock-walk" gait were observed. Magnetic resonance imaging T1
      images showed high signal intensity of white matter in the basal ganglia and
      pituitary gland, and T2 images showed decreased signal mostly of globus pallidus
      with decreased N-acetylaspartate and choline levels in MR spectroscopy.
      CONCLUSIONS: The unusual pattern of MR imaging may explain the unusual clinical
      symptoms with dominant hyperkinetic syndrome.

PMID- 25835775
TI  - Economic losses occurring due to brucellosis in Indian livestock populations.
AB  - Brucellosis is a serious public health issue in India. Estimation of economic
      losses occurring due to brucellosis is required to help formulate prevention and
      control strategies, but has not been done in India. We estimated economic losses
      due to brucellosis by sourcing prevalence data from epidemiological surveys
      conducted in India. Data for livestock populations were obtained from official
      records. Probability distributions were used for many of the input parameters to
      account for uncertainty and variability. The analysis revealed that brucellosis
      in livestock is responsible for a median loss of US $ 3.4 billion (5th-95th
      percentile 2.8-4.2 billion). The disease in cattle and buffalo accounted for
      95.6% of the total losses occurring due to brucellosis in livestock populations.
      The disease is responsible for a loss of US $ 6.8 per cattle, US$18.2 per
      buffalo, US $ 0.7 per sheep, US $ 0.5 per goat and US $ 0.6 per pig. These losses
      are additional to the economic and social consequences of the disease in humans.
      The results suggest that the disease causes significant economic losses in the
      country and should be controlled on a priority basis. 

PMID- 25835777
TI  - A comparative study of open, laparoscopic and robotic partial nephrectomy in
      obese patients.

PMID- 25835778
TI  - Asiaticoside attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury via down
      regulation of NF-kappaB signaling pathway.
AB  - Asiaticoside (AS), a triterpene glycoside isolated from Centella asiatica, has
      been shown to possess potent anti-inflammatory activity. However, the detailed
      molecular mechanisms of AS on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury
      (ALI) model in mice are scanty. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the
      effect of AS on LPS-induced mouse ALI via down-regulation of NF-kappaB signaling
      pathway. We investigated the efficacy of AS on cytokine levels induced by LPS in
      bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and RAW 264.7 cells. The production of
      cytokine (TNF-alpha and IL-6) was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
      (ELISA). The lung wet-to-dry weight ratios were measured in LPS-challenged mice,
      and lung histopathologic changes observed via paraffin section were assessed. To
      further study the mechanism of AS protective effects on ALI, the activation of NF
      kappaB p65 subunit and the degradation of IkappaBalpha were tested by western
      blot assay. We found that AS treatment at 15, 30 or 45mg/kg dose-dependently
      attenuated LPS-induced pulmonary inflammation by reducing inflammatory
      infiltration, histopathological changes, descended cytokine production, and
      pulmonary edema initiated by LPS. Furthermore, our results suggested that AS
      suppressed inflammatory responses in LPS-induced ALI through inhibition of the
      phosphorylation of NF-kappaB p65 subunit and the degradation of its inhibitor
      IkappaBalpha, and might be a new preventive agent of ALI in the clinical setting.

PMID- 25835779
TI  - Guiding efficient microbial synthesis of non-natural chemicals by physicochemical
      properties of reactants.
AB  - The recent progress in sustainable chemistry and in synthetic biology increased
      the interest of chemical and pharmaceutical industries to implement microbial
      processes for chemical synthesis. However, most organisms used in
      biotechnological applications are not evolved by Nature for the production of
      hydrophobic, non-charged, volatile, or toxic compounds. In order to overcome this
      discrepancy, bioprocess design should consist of an integrated approach
      addressing pathway, cellular, reaction, and process engineering. Highlighting
      selected examples, we show that surprisingly often Nature provides conceptual
      solutions to enable chemical synthesis. Complemented by established methods from
      (bio)chemical and metabolic engineering, these concepts offer potential
      strategies yet to be explored and translated into innovative technical solutions
      enabling sustainable microbial production of non-natural chemicals. 

PMID- 25835780
TI  - Validity and reliability of smartphone magnetometer-based goniometer evaluation
      of shoulder abduction--A pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Goniometers are commonly used by physical therapists to measure range
      of-motion (ROM) in the musculoskeletal system. These measurements are used to
      assist in diagnosis and to help monitor treatment efficacy. With newly emerging
      technologies, smartphone-based applications are being explored for measuring
      joint angles and movement. OBJECTIVE: This pilot study investigates the intra-
      and inter-rater reliability as well as concurrent validity of a newly-developed
      smartphone magnetometer-based goniometer (MG) application for measuring passive
      shoulder abduction in both sitting and supine positions, and compare against the
      traditional universal goniometer (UG). DESIGN: This is a comparative study with
      repeated measurement design. METHODS: Three physical therapists utilized both the
      smartphone MG and a traditional UG to measure various angles of passive shoulder
      abduction in a healthy subject, whose shoulder was positioned in eight different
      positions with pre-determined degree of abduction while seated or supine. Each
      therapist was blinded to the measured angles. Concordance correlation
      coefficients (CCCs), Bland-Altman plotting methods, and Analysis of Variance
      (ANOVA) were used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Both traditional UG and
      smartphone MG were reliable in repeated measures of standardized joint angle
      positions (average CCC > 0.997) with similar variability in both measurement
      tools (standard deviation (SD) +/- 4 degrees ). Agreement between the UG and MG
      measurements was greater than 0.99 in all positions. CONCLUSION: Our results show
      that the smartphone MG has equivalent reliability compared to the traditional UG
      when measuring passive shoulder abduction ROM. With concordant measures and
      comparable reliability to the UG, the newly developed MG application shows
      potential as a useful tool to assess joint angles.

PMID- 25835781
TI  - Mitochondrial dysfunction in skeletal muscle during experimental Chagas disease.
AB  - Trypanosoma cruzi invasion and replication in cardiomyocytes and other tissues
      induce cellular injuries and cytotoxic reactions, with the production of
      inflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide, both sources of reactive oxygen species.
      The myocyte response to oxidative stress involves the progression of cellular
      changes primarily targeting mitochondria. Similar alterations could be taking
      place in mitochondria from the skeletal muscle; if that is the case, a simple
      skeletal muscle biopsy would give information about the cardiac energetic
      production that could be used as a predictor of the chagasic cardiopathy
      evolution. Therefore, in the present paper we studied skeletal muscle
      mitochondrial structure and the enzymatic activity of citrate synthase and
      respiratory chain complexes I to IV (CI-CIV), in Albino Swiss mice infected with
      T. cruzi, Tulahuen strain and SGO Z12 and Lucky isolates, along the infection.
      Changes in the mitochondrial structure were detected in 100% of the mitochondria
      analyzed from the infected groups: they all presented at least 1 significant
      abnormality such as increase in their matrix or disorganization of their cristae,
      which are probably related to the enzymatic dysfunction. When we studied the
      Krebs cycle functionality through the measurement of the specific citrate
      synthase activity, we found it to be significantly diminished during the acute
      phase of the infection in Tulahuen and SGO Z12 infected groups with respect to
      the control one; citrate synthase activity from the Lucky group was significantly
      increased (p<0.05). The activity of this enzyme was reduced in all the infected
      groups during the chronic asymptomatic phase (p<0.001) and return to normal
      values (Tulahuen and SGO Z12) or increased its activity (Lucky) by day 365 post
      infection (p.i.). When the mitochondrial respiratory chain was analyzed from the
      acute to the chronic phase of the infection through the measurement of the
      activity of complexes I to IV, the activity of CI remained similar to control in
      Tulahuen and Lucky groups, but was significantly augmented in the SGO Z12 one in
      the acute and chronic phases (p<0.05). CII increased its activity in Tulahuen and
      Lucky groups by day 75 p.i. and in SGO Z12 by day 365 p.i. (p<0.05). CIII showed
      a similar behavior in the 3 infected groups, remaining similar to control values
      in the first two stages of the infection and significantly increasing later on
      (p<0.0001). CIV showed an increase in its activity in Lucky throughout all stages
      of infection (p<0.0001) and an increase in Tulahuen by day 365days p.i.
      (p<0.0001); SGO Z12 on the other hand, showed a decreased CIV activity at the
      same time. The structural changes in skeletal muscle mitochondria and their
      altered enzyme activity began in the acute phase of infection, probably modifying
      the ability of mitochondria to generate energy; these changes were not
      compensated in the rest of the phases of the infection. Chagas is a systemic
      disease, which produces not only heart damage but also permanent skeletal muscle
      alterations. 

PMID- 25835782
TI  - KRAS gene mutation in a series of unselected colorectal carcinoma patients with
      prognostic morphological correlations: a pyrosequencing method improved by nested
      PCR.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Inhibition of EGFR is a strategy for treating metastatic colorectal
      cancer (CRC) patients. KRAS sequencing is mandatory for selecting wild-type tumor
      patients who might benefit from this treatment. DNA from formalin-fixed paraffin
      embedded (FFPE) tissues is commonly used for routine clinical detection of
      mutations, and its amplification succeeds only when all preanalytical
      histological processes have been controlled. In cases that are not properly
      processed, the DNA results can be poor, with low peak pyrosequencing findings. We
      designed and tested a pair of forward and reverse primers for a nested PCR
      method, followed by pyrosequencing, in a single Latin American institution series
      of 422 unselected CRC patients, correlating KRAS mutations with pathological and
      clinical data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patient DNA samples from tumors were
      obtained by scraping or laser microdissection of cells from FFPE tissue and
      extracted using a commercial kit. DNA was first amplified by PCR using 2 primers
      that we designed; then, nested PCR was performed with the amplicon from the
      preamplification PCR using the KRAS PyroMarkTM Q96 V2.0 kit (Qiagen).
      Pathological data were retrieved from pathology reports. RESULTS: KRAS mutation
      was observed in 33% of 421 cases. Codon 12 was mutated in 76% of cases versus
      codon 13 in 24%. Right-sided CRCs harbored more KRAS mutations than left-sided
      tumors, as did tumors that presented with perineural invasion. CONCLUSION: Our
      findings in this Latin American population are consistent with the literature
      regarding the frequency of KRAS mutations in CRC, their distribution between
      codons 12 and 13, and type of nucleotide substitution. By combining nested PCR
      and pyrosequencing, we achieved a high rate of conclusive results in testing KRAS
      mutations in CRC samples - a method that can be used as an ancillary test for
      failed assays by conventional PCR.

PMID- 25835783
TI  - Diagnostic performance of HPV E6/E7, hTERT, and Ki67 mRNA RT-qPCR assays on
      formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded cervical tissue specimens from women with
      cervical cancer.
AB  - Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major cause of cervical cancer, which is the
      third most common cancer in women. Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT)
      and Ki67 are tumor cell markers indicating cancer cell proliferation in cancer
      patients, and activation of hTERT and Ki67 leads to progressive cervical
      carcinogenesis. In the present study, we evaluated the CervicGen HPVE6/E7 mRNA RT
      qDx assay, which detects 16 HPV high-risk (HR) genotypes (HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 35,
      39, 45, 51, 52, 53, 56, 58, 59, 66, 68 and 69), and the CervicGen hTERT and Ki67
      mRNA RT-qDx assay using 117 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cervical
      cancer tissue samples. The diagnostic validity of the CervicGen HPV RT-qDx assay
      for detecting histologically proven prevalent squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was
      94% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 77.8% positive predictive value (PPV), and
      78.9% negative predictive value (NPV). The most common HPV genotypes detected in
      FFPE cervical cancer tissue samples were HPV 16 (56%) and HPV 18 (10%). The
      positivity rate of hTERT and Ki67 mRNA expressions in FFPE cervical cancer tissue
      samples on RT-qPCR was 65% and 93% respectively. Moreover, the positivity rates
      were 92% for a combination of HPV E6/E7 and hTERT mRNA expressions, 97% for HPV
      E6/E7 and Ki67 mRNA expressions, and 99% (99/100) for the combination of HPV
      E6/E7, hTERT, and Ki67 mRNA expressions. These data showed that SSC FFPE cervical
      cancer tissue samples correlated more strongly with high Ki67 mRNA expressions
      than with hTERT mRNA expressions. Notably, hTERT and Ki67 mRNA expression level
      was increased in high-grade cervical lesions, but was very low in normal samples.
      Our findings suggest that the combination of HPV E6/E7, hTERT, and Ki67 mRNA
      expression levels could be used in a complementary manner in diagnosing high
      grade cervical lesions. Further studies are required to evaluate these assays as
      a useful predictive tool for screening low-grade cervical lesions. 

PMID- 25835784
TI  - Lipophilic constituents from two processed products and three different parts of
      Changium smyrnioides Wolff.
AB  - This article reports the lipophilic chemical composition of different processed
      products (Changii Radix, Changii Radix Alba) and parts (root bark, leaf and
      fruit) of Changium smyrnioides Wolff.. The lipophilic constituents were extracted
      with petroleum ether in Soxhlet apparatus, subsequently identified and determined
      by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). Yield of lipophilic constituents
      from Changii Radix (3.65%) was about three times more than Changii Radix Alba's
      (1.07%), which indicated processing by boiling in water had an impact on the
      content of lipophilic constituents. Moreover, the major compounds in different
      processed products and parts were found to be fatty acids and sesquiterpenes. The
      results are a contribution for the lipophilic chemical composition and can serve
      as a reference for product development of Changium smyrnioides Wolff.. 

PMID- 25835785
TI  - Clinical application of antenatal genetic diagnosis of osteogenesis imperfecta
      type IV.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Clinical analysis and genetic testing of a family with osteogenesis
      imperfecta type IV were conducted, aiming to discuss antenatal genetic diagnosis
      of osteogenesis imperfecta type IV. MATERIAL/METHODS: Preliminary genotyping was
      performed based on clinical characteristics of the family members and then high
      throughput sequencing was applied to rapidly and accurately detect the changes in
      candidate genes. RESULTS: Genetic testing of the III5 fetus and other family
      members revealed missense mutation in c.2746G>A, pGly916Arg in COL1A2 gene coding
      region and missense and synonymous mutation in COL1A1 gene coding region.
      CONCLUSIONS: Application of antenatal genetic diagnosis provides fast and
      accurate genetic counseling and eugenics suggestions for patients with
      osteogenesis imperfecta type IV and their families.

PMID- 25835786
TI  - Football practice and urinary incontinence: Relation between morphology, function
      and biomechanics.
AB  - Current evidence points to a high prevalence of urinary incontinence among female
      athletes. In this context, this study aims to assess if structural and
      biomechanical characteristics of the pubovisceral muscles may lead to urine
      leakage. Clinical and demographic data were collected, as well as pelvic Magnetic
      Resonance Imaging. Furthermore, computational models were built to verify if they
      were able to reproduce similar biomechanical muscle response as the one measured
      by dynamic imaging during active contraction by means of the percent error.
      Compared to the continent ones (n=7), incontinent athletes (n=5) evidenced
      thicker pubovisceral muscles at the level of the midvagina (p=0.019 and p=0.028
      for the right and left sides, respectively). However, there were no differences
      neither in the strength of contraction in the Oxford Scale or in the displacement
      of the pelvic floor muscles during simulation of voluntary contraction, which
      suggests that urine leakage may be related with alterations in the intrafusal
      fibers than just the result of thicker muscles. Additionally, we found similar
      values of displacement retrieved from dynamic images and numerical models (6.42
      +/- 0.36 mm vs. 6.10 +/- 0.47 mm; p=0.130), with a percent error ranging from
      1.47% to 17.20%. However, further refinements in the mechanical properties of the
      striated skeletal fibers of the pelvic floor muscles and the inclusion of pelvic
      organs, fascia and ligaments would reproduce more realistically the pelvic
      cavity.

PMID- 25835788
TI  - Meniscus replacement: Influence of geometrical mismatches on chondroprotective
      capabilities.
AB  - The chondroprotective success of meniscal transplantation is variable. Poorly
      controlled factors such as a geometrical mismatch of the implant may be partly
      responsible. Clinical data, animal studies and cadaver experiments suggest that
      smaller transplants perform better than oversized, but clear evidence is lacking.
      The hypothesis of this study is that smaller menisci outperform larger ones
      because they distribute stresses more effectively at those particular locations
      that receive the highest loads. Consequently, collagen in the adjacent cartilage
      is protected from damage due to overstraining. Experimentally it is not possible
      to measure load distribution and collagen strain inside articular cartilage (AC).
      Therefore, a numerical model was used to determine the mechanical conditions
      throughout the depth of the AC. Meniscus implants with different sizes and
      mechanical properties were evaluated. These were compared with healthy and with
      meniscectomized joints. To account for the time-dependent behavior 600s of
      loading was simulated; results were visualized after 1s and 600s. Simulations
      showed that AC's strains strongly depended on implant size and loading duration.
      They depended less on the stiffness of the implant material. With an oversized
      implant, collagen strains were particularly large in the femoral AC initially and
      further increased upon sustained loading. The severest compressive strains
      occurred after sustained loading in the meniscectomized joint. Strains with an
      undersized meniscus were comparable to a perfectly sized implant. In conclusion,
      these results support the hypothesis that an undersized implant may outperform an
      oversized one because it distributes stresses better in the most intensely loaded
      joint area. 

PMID- 25835789
TI  - A viscoelastic model for axonal microtubule rupture.
AB  - Axon is an important part of the neuronal cells and axonal microtubules are
      bundles in axons. In axons, microtubules are coated with microtubule-associated
      protein tau, a natively unfolded filamentous protein in the central nervous
      system. These proteins are responsible for cross-linking axonal microtubule
      bundles. Through complimentary dimerization with other tau proteins, bridges are
      formed between nearby microtubules creating bundles. Formation of bundles of
      microtubules causes their transverse reinforcement and has been shown to enhance
      their ability to bear compressive loads. Though microtubules are conventionally
      regarded as bearing compressive loads, in certain circumstances during traumatic
      brain injuries, they are placed in tension. In our model, microtubule bundles
      were formed from a large number of discrete masses. We employed Standard Linear
      Solid model (SLS), a viscoelastic model, to computationally simulate
      microtubules. In this study, we investigated the dynamic responses of two
      dimensional axonal microtubules under suddenly applied end forces by implementing
      discrete masses connected to their neighboring masses with a Standard Linear
      Solid unit. We also investigated the effect of the applied force rate and
      magnitude on the deformation of bundles. Under tension, a microtubule fiber may
      rupture as a result of a sudden force. Using the developed model, we could
      predict the critical regions of the axonal microtubule bundles in the presence of
      varying end forces. We finally analyzed the nature of microtubular failure under
      varying mechanical stresses. 

PMID- 25835787
TI  - Computational study of false vocal folds effects on unsteady airflows through
      static models of the human larynx.
AB  - Compressible large eddy simulation is employed to numerically investigate the
      laryngeal flow. Symmetric static models of the human larynx with a divergent
      glottis are considered, with the presence of false vocal folds (FVFs). The
      compressible study agrees well with that of the incompressible study. Due to the
      high enough Reynolds number, the flow is unsteady and develops asymmetric states
      downstream of the glottis. The glottal jet curvature decreases with the presence
      of FVFs or the ventricular folds. The gap between the FVFs stretches the flow
      structure and reduces the jet curvature. The presence of FVFs has a significant
      effect on the laryngeal flow resistance. The intra-glottal vortex structures are
      formed on the divergent wall of the glottis, immediately downstream of the
      separation point. The vortices are then convected downstream and characterized by
      a significant negative static pressure. The FVFs are a main factor in the
      generation of stronger vortices, and thus on the closure of the TVFs. The direct
      link between the FVFs geometry and the motion of the TVFs, and by extension to
      the voice production, is of interest for medical applications as well as future
      research works. The presence of the FVFs also changes the dominant frequencies in
      the velocity and pressure spectra. 

PMID- 25835790
TI  - Dimensionless analysis of valveless pumping in a thick-wall elastic tube:
      Application to the tubular embryonic heart.
AB  - The physical mechanism that drives blood flow in the valveless tubular embryonic
      heart is still debatable whether it is peristaltic flow or valveless dynamic
      suction. Previous studies of valveless pumping were concerned with either the
      role of the excitation parameters or the mechanisms that generate the
      unidirectional outflow. In this study, a dimensionless one-dimensional (1D)
      analysis of the valveless pumping due to local excitation at an asymmetric
      longitudinal location was performed for non-uniform thick-wall elastic tubes,
      including tubes with local bulging and tapering. A general tube law that accounts
      for wall thicknesses was implemented for describing the physically realistic
      dynamics of the tube and the two-step MacCormack algorithm was utilized for the
      numerical analysis. A comprehensive analysis was conducted to explore the
      affecting roles of the system (e.g., tube geometry) and the working (e.g.,
      Strouhal number and flow friction parameter) parameters on the net outflow of the
      pump. The maximal positive net outflow in all the tested cases always occurred
      when the natural Strouhal number was about pi. Flow reversals were observed only
      for relatively low friction parameters. A local bulging at the site of excitation
      and thick walls contributed to larger outflows, while tube tapering reduced the
      net outflow.

PMID- 25835791
TI  - A data mining approach to optimize pellets manufacturing process based on a
      decision tree algorithm.
AB  - The present study is focused on the thorough analysis of cause-effect
      relationships between pellet formulation characteristics (pellet composition as
      well as process parameters) and the selected quality attribute of the final
      product. The shape using the aspect ratio value expressed the quality of pellets.
      A data matrix for chemometric analysis consisted of 224 pellet formulations
      performed by means of eight different active pharmaceutical ingredients and
      several various excipients, using different extrusion/spheronization process
      conditions. The data set contained 14 input variables (both formulation and
      process variables) and one output variable (pellet aspect ratio). A tree
      regression algorithm consistent with the Quality by Design concept was applied to
      obtain deeper understanding and knowledge of formulation and process parameters
      affecting the final pellet sphericity. The clear interpretable set of decision
      rules were generated. The spehronization speed, spheronization time, number of
      holes and water content of extrudate have been recognized as the key factors
      influencing pellet aspect ratio. The most spherical pellets were achieved by
      using a large number of holes during extrusion, a high spheronizer speed and
      longer time of spheronization. The described data mining approach enhances
      knowledge about pelletization process and simultaneously facilitates searching
      for the optimal process conditions which are necessary to achieve ideal spherical
      pellets, resulting in good flow characteristics. This data mining approach can be
      taken into consideration by industrial formulation scientists to support rational
      decision making in the field of pellets technology. 

PMID- 25835792
TI  - Basic concepts and techniques of dental implants.
AB  - Dental implants provide completely edentulous and partial edentulous patients the
      function and esthetics they had with natural dentition. It is critical to
      understand and apply predictable surgical principles when treatment planning and
      surgically restoring edentulous spaces with implants. This article defines basic
      implant concepts that should be meticulously followed for predictable results
      when treating patients and restoring dental implants. Topics include biological
      and functional considerations, biomechanical considerations, preoperative
      assessments, medical history and risk assessments, oral examinations,
      radiographic examinations, contraindications, and general treatment planning
      options. 

PMID- 25835793
TI  - Three-dimensional imaging and guided surgery for dental implants.
AB  - Clinicians worldwide are increasingly adopting guided surgical applications for
      dental implants. Clinicians are becoming more aware of the benefits of proper
      planning through advanced imaging modalities and interactive treatment planning
      applications. All aspects of the planning phase are based on sound surgical and
      restorative fundamentals. As an integral part of the implant team, dental
      laboratories have now moved from analog to the digital world, providing the
      necessary support to the new digital workflow. 

PMID- 25835794
TI  - Treatment planning for restorative implantology.
AB  - In this article, current literature on fixed and removable prosthodontics is
      reviewed along with evidence-based systematic reviews, including advice from
      those in the dental profession with years of experience, which help restorative
      dentists manage and treat their cases successfully. Treatment planning for
      restorative implantology should be looked at in 4 sections: (1) review of past
      medical history, (2) oral examination and occlusion, (3) dental imaging (ie, cone
      beam computed tomography), and (4) fixed versus removable prosthodontics. These 4
      concepts of treatment planning, along with proper surgical placements of the
      implant(s), result in successful cases. 

PMID- 25835796
TI  - Short implants: are they a viable option in implant dentistry?
AB  - Short-length implants (<10 mm) can be used effectively in atrophic maxillae or
      mandibles even with crown/implant ratios that previously would have been
      considered excessive. Short implants can support either single or multiple units
      and can be used for fixed prostheses or overdentures. The use of short-length
      implants may avoid the need for complicated bone augmentation procedures, thus
      allowing patients who were either unwilling or unable for financial or medical
      reasons to undergo these advanced grafting techniques to be adequately treated.

PMID- 25835795
TI  - Tissue response: biomaterials, dental implants, and compromised osseous tissue.
AB  - Tissue response represents an important feature in biocompatibility in implant
      procedures. This review article highlights the fundamental characteristics of
      tissue response after the implant procedure. This article also highlights the
      tissue response in compromised osseous conditions. Understanding the histologic
      events after dental implants in normal and abnormal bone reinforces the concept
      of case selection in dental implants. 

PMID- 25835797
TI  - Treatment of peri-implantitis and the failing implant.
AB  - Appropriate treatment of implants is becoming increasingly important for the
      general dentist as the number of implants placed per year continues to increase.
      Early diagnosis of peri-implantitis is imperative; initiating the correct
      treatment protocol depends on a proper diagnosis. Several risk factors exist for
      the development of peri-implantitis, which can guide patient selection and
      treatment planning. Treatment of peri-implantitis should be tailored to the
      severity of the lesion (as outlined by the cumulative interceptive supportive
      treatment protocol), ranging from mechanical debridement to explantation. Several
      surgical and nonsurgical treatment alternatives exist. There is little consensus
      on superior treatment methods. 

PMID- 25835798
TI  - Immediate placement and immediate loading: surgical technique and clinical
      pearls.
AB  - Dental implants have had tremendous improvement since their initial introduction
      into clinical practice. With ongoing advances in implant technology and
      materials, better data emerge to allow shorter time between placement and
      restoration. This allows the restorative dentist and surgeon to provide improved
      treatment options to patients. Most evidence that exists supports the practice of
      immediately placed (after extraction) and immediately loaded implants. Additional
      high-quality studies are still needed to develop specific guidelines for a
      standardized approach to immediate rehabilitation. 

PMID- 25835799
TI  - Implant-related nerve injuries.
AB  - Injuries to branches of the trigeminal nerves are a known complication during
      dental implant placement. These injuries tend to be more severe than those
      experienced during other dentoalveolar procedures. This article reviews the types
      of nerve injuries and areas and situations of which clinicians should be
      cognizant when placing dental implants. Strategies to avoid injuries, and a
      management algorithm for suspected nerve injuries, are also discussed. 

PMID- 25835800
TI  - Maxillary sinus augmentation.
AB  - Pneumatization of the maxillary sinus secondary to posterior maxillary tooth loss
      is an extremely common finding. Significant atrophy of the maxilla prevents
      implant placement in this region. For several decades, sinus augmentation has
      been used to develop these sites for dental implant placement. The main
      techniques for increasing the vertical bone height of the posterior maxilla are
      the transalveolar and lateral antrostomy approaches. The clinical and
      radiographic examinations dictate the appropriate method for each clinical
      situation. Both techniques have been shown to have high success rates. However,
      practitioners must be aware of potential complications and how to address them. 

PMID- 25835801
TI  - Surgical techniques for augmentation in the horizontally and vertically
      compromised alveolus.
AB  - The deficient alveolar ridge has been an impediment to the placement of dental
      implants in the past. A greater comprehension of bone biophysiology and
      biotechnology has greatly increased the surgical options available to
      rehabilitate these patients. Technology and regenerative science has also allowed
      clinicians to simplify some of the approaches to these patients. This article
      presents the authors' perspective on the current surgical treatment methodologies
      that have been most beneficial in reconstructing atrophic alveolar bone. 

PMID- 25835802
TI  - Autogenous bone harvest for implant reconstruction.
AB  - Autogenous bone harvest is the gold standard for restoring deficiencies of the
      recipient site. A deficient site requires adequate grafting before placement of
      implants; therefore, proper understanding of the wide variety of grafting options
      is the key to successfully planned implant dentistry. This provides general
      dentists with a better understanding of autogenous bone harvest and the variety
      of techniques available to provide the best outcomes for the patient. 

PMID- 25835803
TI  - Contemporary "All-on-4" concept.
AB  - Restoration of the atrophic edentulous maxilla and mandible with implant retained
      prostheses has involved the use of axially placed implants in regions of the
      maxilla and mandible based on the adequate availability of bone, often using a
      staged surgical approaches. Anatomic limitations including pneumatized maxillary
      sinus, proximity of the inferior alveolar nerve and lack of available native bone
      have many clinicians performing traditional grafting procedure prior to implant
      placement. Utilization of the "All-on-4" concept has overcome these anatomic
      restrictions by allowing placement of 2 vertical and 2 angled implants in the
      premaxilla and anterior mandible. This technique has enabled immediate placement
      of full arch fixed restoration at the time of implant surgery if sufficient
      torque is achieved. It has biomechanical advantages including increasing in A-P
      spread, enhancing load distribution with cross arch stabilization, shorten
      cantilever, longer implants to be placed by titling them posteriorly, and
      maintenance of marginal bone height. High implant survival rates of in the
      maxilla (92.5-100%), in the mandible (93-100%) and restoration (99.2-100%) prove
      that the "All-on-4" concept is a viable treatment option for edentulous patients
      with atrophic alveolar ridges circumventing these traditional grafting
      procedures. 

PMID- 25835804
TI  - Soft tissue surgery for implants.
AB  - Adequate quality and quantity of soft tissue plays an integral part in the
      esthetic outcome of dental implants. Adequate band of attached tissue decreases
      the incidence of mucositis and improves hygiene around implants. This article
      discusses a variety of techniques for soft tissue augmentation. Soft tissue
      grafting can be achieved at various stages of implant therapy. Epithelial
      connective tissue grafts are commonly used to increase the band of attached
      tissue. Subepithelial connective tissue grafts are great for increasing soft
      tissue thickness and improving the gingival biotype. 

PMID- 25835805
TI  - Bone morphogenic protein: application in implant dentistry.
AB  - Alveolar bone that is insufficient to support implant placement due to lack of
      height or width may be augmented with grafting materials including bone
      morphogenic protein to create sites that are adequate for implant placement and
      long-term stability of implant-supported prosthesis. Bone morphogenic protein can
      be used alone or in concert with other bone graft materials as an alternative to
      invasive allograft bone harvesting procedures. 

PMID- 25835806
TI  - Implant surface material, design, and osseointegration.
AB  - The structural and functional union of the implant with living bone is greatly
      influenced by the surface properties of the implant. The success of a dental
      implant depends on the chemical, physical, mechanical, and topographic
      characteristics of its surface. The influence of surface topography on
      osseointegration has translated to shorter healing times from implant placement
      to restoration. This article presents a discussion of surface characteristics and
      design of implants, which should allow the clinician to better understand
      osseointegration and information coming from implant manufacturers, allowing for
      better implant selection. 

PMID- 25835807
TI  - Implant procedures for the general dentist.

PMID- 25835808
TI  - Investigation of the Effect of the Tortuous Pore Structure on Water Diffusion
      through a Polymer Film Using Lattice Boltzmann Simulations.
AB  - Understanding how the pore structure influences the mass transport through a
      porous material is important in several applications, not the least in the design
      of polymer film coatings intended to control drug release. In this study, a
      polymer film made of ethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl cellulose was
      investigated. The 3D structure of the films was first experimentally
      characterized using confocal laser scanning microscopy data and then
      mathematically reconstructed for the whole film thickness. Lattice Boltzmann
      simulations were performed to compute the effective diffusion coefficient of
      water in the film and the results were compared to experimental data. The local
      porosities and pore sizes were also analyzed to determine how the properties of
      the internal film structure affect the water effective diffusion coefficient. The
      results show that the top part of the film has lower porosity, lower pore size,
      and lower connectivity, which results in a much lower effective diffusion
      coefficient in this part, largely determining the diffusion rate through the
      entire film. Furthermore, the local effective diffusion coefficients were not
      proportional to the local film porosity, indicating that the results cannot be
      explained by a single tortuosity factor. In summary, the proposed methodology of
      combining microscopy data, mass transport simulations, and pore space analysis
      can give valuable insights on how the film structure affects the mass transport
      through the film. 

PMID- 25835809
TI  - Serotypes and Pulsotypes diversity of Listeria monocytogenes in a beef-processing
      environment.
AB  - Utensils and equipment from meat-processing facilities are considered relevant
      cross-contamination points of Listeria monocytogenes to foods, demanding tracking
      studies to identify their specific origins, and predict proper control. The
      present study aimed to detect L. monocytogenes in a beef-processing facility,
      investigating the diversity of serotypes and pulsotypes in order to identify the
      possible contamination routes. Surface samples from knives (n=26), tables (n=78),
      and employees hands (n=74) were collected before and during the procedures from a
      beef-processing facility, in addition to surface samples of end cuts: round
      (n=32), loin (n=30), and chuck (n=32). All samples were subjected to L.
      monocytogenes screening according ISO 11.290-1, and the obtained isolates were
      subjected to serotyping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Listeria spp. were
      identified in all processing steps, in 61 samples, and L. monocytogenes was
      detected in 17 samples, not being found only in knives. Eighty-five isolates were
      identified as L. monocytogenes, from serotypes 1/2c (n=65), 4b (n=13), and 1/2b
      (n=7), being grouped in 19 pulsotypes. Considering these results, cross
      contamination among hands, tables, and beef cuts could be identified. The
      obtained data indicated the relevance of cross-contamination in the beef
      processing facility, and the occurrence of serotypes 1/2b and 4b in beef cuts
      distributed for retail sale is a public health concern.

PMID- 25835810
TI  - Expert elicitation as a means to attribute 28 enteric pathogens to foodborne,
      waterborne, animal contact, and person-to-person transmission routes in Canada.
AB  - Enteric illness contributes to a significant burden of illness in Canada and
      globally. Understanding its sources is a critical step in identifying and
      preventing health risks. Expert elicitation is a powerful tool, used previously,
      to obtain information about enteric illness source attribution where information
      is difficult or expensive to obtain. Thirty-one experts estimated transmission of
      28 pathogens via major transmission routes (foodborne, waterborne, animal
      contact, person-to-person, and other) at the point of consumption. The
      elicitation consisted of a (snowball) recruitment phase; administration of a pre
      survey to collect background information, an introductory webinar, an elicitation
      survey, a 1-day discussion, survey readministration, and a feedback exercise, and
      surveys were administered online. Experts were prompted to quantify changes in
      contamination at the point of entry into the kitchen versus point of consumption.
      Estimates were combined via triangular probability distributions, and medians and
      90% credible-interval estimates were produced. Transmission was attributed
      primarily to food for Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Cyclospora
      cayetanensis, Trichinella spp., all three Vibrio spp. categories explored, and
      Yersinia enterocolitica. Multisource pathogens (e.g., transmitted commonly
      through both water and food) such as Campylobacter spp., four Escherichia coli
      categories, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and Staphylococcus aureus
      were also estimated as mostly foodborne. Water was the primary pathway for
      Giardia spp. and Cryptosporidium spp., and person-to-person transmission
      dominated for six enteric viruses and Shigella spp. Consideration of the point of
      attribution highlighted the importance of food handling and cross-contamination
      in the transmission pathway. This study provides source attribution estimates of
      enteric illness for Canada, considering all possible transmission routes. Further
      research is necessary to improve our understanding of poorly characterized
      pathogens such as sapovirus and E. coli subgroups in Canada. 

PMID- 25835812
TI  - 77Se NMR spectroscopy as a sensitive probe for Hammett sigma constants.
AB  - Herein we showcase the use of a combination of (1)H, (13)C, and (77)Se NMR
      spectroscopy as a sensitive tool for correlation analysis. A series of
      substituted O-aryl selenocarbamates [ArOC(Se)N(CH3)2] and Se-aryl
      selenocarbamates [ArSeC(O)N(CH3)2] have been investigated by means of (1)H,
      (13)C, and (77)Se NMR spectroscopy. We have determined the (1)H, (13)C, and
      (77)Se chemical shift values as well as both one- and two-bond heteronuclear
      (13)C-(77)Se coupling constants, and the changes in both the chemical shift
      values and the coupling constants were found to obey linear free energy
      relationships with Hammett's sigma(p) and sigma(p)(-) constants. For the eight
      studied O-aryl selenocarbamates, we observe linear free energy correlations with
      two of the (13)C and (77)Se chemical shift values and as well as one (13)C-(77)Se
      coupling constant. With the five examples of Se-aryl selenocarbamates, linear
      correlations are observed with three different (13)C-(77)Se coupling constants.
      The strong internal consistency validates the use of (77)Se NMR spectroscopy for
      correlation analysis.

PMID- 25835811
TI  - Array comparative genomic hybridization identifies a heterozygous deletion of
      exon 3 of the RYR2 gene.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is a
      heritable cardiac disorder characterized by life-threatening ventricular
      tachycardia caused by exercise or acute emotional stress. The standard diagnostic
      screening involves Sanger-based sequencing of 45 of the 105 translated exons of
      the RYR2 gene, and copy number changes of a limited number of exons that are
      detected using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). METHODS:
      In the current study, a previously validated bespoke array comparative genomic
      hybridization (aCGH) technique was used to detect copy number changes in the RYR2
      gene in a 43-year-old woman clinically diagnosed with CPVT. RESULTS: The CGH
      array detected a 1.1 kb deletion encompassing exon 3 of the RYR2 gene. This is
      the first report using the aCGH technique to screen for mutations causing CPVT.
      CONCLUSIONS: The aCGH method offers significant advantages over MLPA in genetic
      screening for heritable cardiac disorders.

PMID- 25835813
TI  - Minimally invasive bone-saving orbitotomy for removal of optic nerve
      cysticercosis.
AB  - A 32-year-old man previously being managed for multiple neurocysticercosis
      presented with a reduction in vision and pain on eye movement. Fundus examination
      revealed disc edema with venous dilatation. MRI showed a localized hypointensity
      on T1 weighted images and hyperintensity on T2 weighted images suggestive of a
      cyst in the optic nerve sheath. Medical therapy with albendazole and steroids did
      not improve vision. Surgical removal of the cyst was achieved by a modified
      lateral orbital exploration using a lateral canthal incision without bone
      removal, with full recovery of vision. Histopathological examination confirmed
      cysticercosis. 

PMID- 25835814
TI  - Ethanol Extract of Sarcodon asparatus Mitigates Inflammatory Responses in
      Lipopolysaccharide-Challenged Mice and Murine Macrophages.
AB  - A number of compounds isolated from mushrooms have exhibited disease-modifying
      effects. We sought to investigate the mechanisms responsible for the anti
      inflammatory effects of an extract from the mushroom species Sarcodon asparatus
      (SAE). Male BALB/c mice (N=42; 6 weeks old) were randomly assigned to four
      treatment groups. Intraperitoneal administration of SAE significantly attenuated
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated increases in alanine aminotransferase (ALT)
      activity. LPS also increased serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines, including
      IL-1beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha, which were dose-dependently and significantly
      attenuated by SAE. Correlative relationships between serum ALT activity and
      proinflammatory cytokines suggested that SAE-mediated suppression of liver injury
      was partly attributable to the attenuation of serum inflammatory responses. SAE
      significantly decreased hepatic NO(*) production and subsequent 3-nitrotyrosine
      formation, and the hepatic NO(*) production significantly correlated with serum
      ALT and cytokine levels, suggesting that SAE mitigates liver injury in
      association with inflammatory processes, likely by suppressing NO(*) production.
      Anti-inflammatory activity and further mechanisms of SAE were evaluated using
      RAW264.7 with LPS challenge. Noncytotoxic levels of SAE significantly attenuated
      NO(*) production in RAW264.7 cells and also markedly suppressed the expression of
      iNOS and other proinflammatory mediators, including COX-2 and IL-6, which were
      upregulated in the presence of LPS. SAE inhibited the phosphorylation of p65, an
      observation that occurred independently of IKKalphabeta-mediated IkappaBalpha
      phosphorylation. Collectively, our results demonstrate that SAE suppressed NO(*)
      mediated inflammation by inhibiting p65 transcriptional activation without
      affecting IKKalphabeta-mediated IkappaBalpha phosphorylation. Further studies are
      warranted to examine the major compounds responsible for these effects and the
      mechanisms responsible for the p65 phosphorylation observed. 

PMID- 25835820
TI  - Dispersion and monochromatization of x-rays using a beryllium prism.
AB  - We demonstrate experimentally and numerically that an x-ray prism made of
      beryllium can be used to disperse and monochromatize x-rays. A polished beryllium
      cuboid was employed as refractive and dispersive optics. The results of a proof
      of-principle experiment and methods of performance optimization are presented.
      The spatial separation of undulator harmonics and their subsequent selection
      using a slit are described. A numerical study, assuming realistic beam and
      beamline parameters, suggests that undulator harmonics can be spatially separated
      in the range from 3 keV to beyond 20 keV, while maintaining throughput above 50%.
      Refractive optics is particularly suitable for low-repetition-rate sources such
      as free-electron lasers and other LINAC-based short-pulse sources. 

PMID- 25835821
TI  - Comparison of femtosecond laser ablation of aluminum in water and in air by time
      resolved optical diagnosis.
AB  - The dynamic process of material ejection and shock wave evolution during one
      single femtosecond laser pulse ablation of aluminum target in water and air is
      experimentally investigated by employing pump-probe technique. Shadowgraphs and
      digital holograms with high temporal resolution are recorded, which intuitively
      reveal the characteristics of femtosecond laser ablation in the water-confined
      environment. The experimental result indicates that the liquid significantly
      restrict the diffusion of the ejected material, and it has a considerable effect
      on the attenuation of the shock wave. In addition, the expansion Mach wave
      generated by the ultrasonic expansion of the shock wave is observed. 

PMID- 25835819
TI  - Brief report: Correlates of inpatient psychiatric admission in children and
      adolescents with eating disorders.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence and importance of psychological,
      behavioural, and situational correlates of impending psychiatric inpatient
      admissions in children and adolescents with eating disorders. METHOD: The sample
      consisted of 285 patients (8-17 years, M = 14.4, SD = 1.49) with DSM-5 eating
      disorders assessed between 2006 and 2013 from the Helping to Outline Pediatric
      Eating Disorders (HOPE) Project. The sample was split into two groups, those with
      (n = 38) and without (n = 247) impending psychiatric admission; Discriminant
      function analysis was used to examine correlates. RESULTS: The prevalence of
      impending psychiatric admission was 13.3%. Suicidal ideation provided the
      greatest discriminating power, followed by eating pathology, depressive symptoms,
      anxiety, multiple methods of weight control, binge eating, and family
      functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Earlier recognition of comorbid symptoms in eating
      disorders in the community may reduce the number of young people with eating
      disorders who present needing critical psychiatric care.

PMID- 25835822
TI  - Contact poling of Rb:KTiOPO(4) using a micro-structured silicon electrode.
AB  - A contact poling technique for domain engineering of ferroelectrics using a micro
      structured silicon electrode is demonstrated on Rb:KTiOPO<sub>4</sub>. High
      quality QPM gratings were reproducibly fabricated. The silicon electrode is
      reusable and the technique potentially suitable when complex structures with sub
      MUm features are to be domain engineered, which otherwise is incompatible with
      conventional photolithography. A non-negligible domain broadening was seen and
      attributed to a low nucleation rate using this type of electrode. However, under
      the appropriate poling conditions, this could be exploited to obtain a QPM
      grating with a short pitch (2 MUm), equal to half of the electrode period. 

PMID- 25835823
TI  - High confinement, high yield Si(3)N(4) waveguides for nonlinear optical
      applications.
AB  - In this paper we present a novel fabrication technique for silicon nitride
      (Si(3)N(4)) waveguides with a thickness of up to 900 nm, which are suitable for
      nonlinear optical applications. The fabrication method is based on etching
      trenches in thermally oxidized silicon and filling the trenches with Si(3)N(4).
      Using this technique no stress-induced cracks in the Si(3)N(4) layer were
      observed resulting in a high yield of devices on the wafer. The propagation
      losses of the obtained waveguides were measured to be as low as 0.4 dB/cm at a
      wavelength of around 1550 nm.

PMID- 25835824
TI  - Tomography of spatial mode detectors.
AB  - Transformation and detection of photons in higher-order spatial modes usually
      requires complicated holographic techniques. Detectors based on spatial holograms
      suffer from non-idealities and should be carefully calibrated. We report a novel
      method for analyzing the quality of projective measurements in spatial mode basis
      inspired by quantum detector tomography. It allows us to calibrate the detector
      response using only gaussian beams. We experimentally investigate the inherent
      inaccuracy of the existing methods of mode transformation and provide a full
      statistical reconstruction of the POVM (positive operator valued measure)
      elements for holographic spatial mode detectors. 

PMID- 25835825
TI  - Optical encryption using photon-counting polarimetric imaging.
AB  - We present a polarimetric-based optical encoder for image encryption and
      verification. A system for generating random polarized vector keys based on a
      Mach-Zehnder configuration combined with translucent liquid crystal displays in
      each path of the interferometer is developed. Polarization information of the
      encrypted signal is retrieved by taking advantage of the information provided by
      the Stokes parameters. Moreover, photon-counting model is used in the encryption
      process which provides data sparseness and nonlinear transformation to enhance
      security. An authorized user with access to the polarization keys and the optical
      design variables can retrieve and validate the photon-counting plain-text.
      Optical experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the encryption
      method. 

PMID- 25835826
TI  - Snapshot phase shift fringe projection 3D surface measurement.
AB  - We propose a novel snapshot phase shift fringe projection three-dimensional (3D)
      surface measurement method using polarization-coded light illumination and
      polarization camera. The light from the light source is split into two beams, one
      is left circularly polarized and the other is right circularly polarized, to
      illuminate the object simultaneously. A four-channel division of focal plane
      (DoFP) polarization camera is employed to capture the light reflected from the
      object surface. Four images with a phase shift of pi/2 are extracted from the
      snapshot image and then analyzed to reconstruct a 3D object surface. The proposed
      method is the first snapshot phase shift fringe projection approach for 3D
      surface imaging. It is insensitive to motion and has the potential for ultrafast
      3D surface imaging. 

PMID- 25835827
TI  - Cascaded interferometers structure based on dual-pass Mach-Zehnder interferometer
      and Sagnac interferometer for dual-parameter sensing.
AB  - In this article, we propose and demonstrate a cascaded interferometers structure
      based on a dual-pass Mach-Zehnder interferometer (DP-MZI) and a Sagnac
      interferometer (SI) for simultaneous measurement of strain and lateral stress.
      The cascaded interferometers configuration consists of a SI structure following
      with a MZI setup. By inserting a section of polarization-maintaining photonic
      crystal fiber (PM-PCF) in the sensing loop of the SI structure, an inline
      interference between the two orthogonal polarization modes of PM-PCF, as well as
      the interference between the sensing arm and the reference arm of the DP-MZI,
      i.e., the cascaded interferometers with dual interference, are realized.
      Theoretical study shows that the reflection spectrum of such cascaded
      interferometers is consisted of two parts: the big spectrum envelope owing to the
      SI and the fine interference fringes as a result of the DP-MZI. Experimental
      results show that the SI achieves the sensitivity of lateral stress and strain
      1.28 nm/kPa, 0.78 pm/uepsilon, respectively, while the DP-MZI achieves -0.009
      nm/kPa and 5.65 pm/uepsilon, demonstrating the ability for dual parameters
      measurement with high accuracy. 

PMID- 25835828
TI  - High-quality near-field beam achieved in a high-power laser based on SLM adaptive
      beam-shaping system.
AB  - We demonstrate a high-power laser system with a high-quality near-field beam by
      using a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator (SLM). An efficient spatial beam
      shaping algorithm is discussed which can improve the output nearfield beam
      quality effectively. Both small-signal and large-signal amplification situation
      of the laser are considered in the beam shaping algorithm. The experimental
      results show that the near field fluence modulation of output is improved from
      1.99:1 to 1.26:1 by using the liquid-crystal SLM. Obvious uniform spatial fluence
      distribution and near-field beam quality improvement are observed. 

PMID- 25835829
TI  - Spherical and sub-wavelength longitudinal magnetization generated by 4pi tightly
      focusing radially polarized vortex beams.
AB  - Based on the vector diffraction theory and the inverse Faraday effect, we
      numerically study the light-induced magnetization near the focus of a 4pi high
      numerical aperture focusing configuration under the illumination of two counter-
      propagating radially polarized hollow Gaussian vortex beams. The simulated
      results demonstrate that, by selecting higher-order vortex beam modes (e.g.
      n=4with n - the beam order) and proper truncation parameter (e.g. beta=1.75 with
      beta- the ratio of the pupil radius to the incident beam waist), spherical and
      sub-wavelength longitudinal magnetization can be generated in the vicinity of
      focus. Such special magnetization feature is attributed to not only the
      interaction between optical vortices and the radially polarized beams, but also
      the completely destructive interference of azimuthal components and the
      constructive interference of the longitudinal component of the two counter
      propagating radially polarized vortex beams. This spherical and sub-wavelength
      longitudinal magnetization distribution may be of interest for applications in
      all-optical magnetic recording and confocal and magnetic resonance microscopy. 

PMID- 25835830
TI  - Heterogeneously integrated photonic-crystal lasers on silicon for on/off chip
      optical interconnects.
AB  - We demonstrate the continuous-wave operation of lambda-scale embedded active
      region photonic-crystal (LEAP) lasers at room temperature, which we fabricated on
      a Si wafer. The on-Si LEAP lasers exhibit a threshold current of 31 MUA, which is
      the lowest reported value for any type of semiconductor laser on Si. This reveals
      the great potential of LEAP lasers as light sources for on- or off-chip optical
      interconnects with ultra-low power consumption in future information
      communication technology devices including CMOS processors. 

PMID- 25835831
TI  - Numerical modeling of femtosecond laser inscribed IR gratings in photonic crystal
      fibers.
AB  - During grating inscription in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) the intensity of the
      inscribing laser beam is non-uniformly distributed over the core region due to
      the interaction with the air holes in the fiber's microstructure. In this paper
      we model and study the non-uniformity of the index modification and its influence
      on the grating reflection spectra, taking into account the non-linear nature of
      the index change. For femtosecond laser inscription pulses at 800 nm, we show
      that the intensity redistribution in the PCF core region can result in Type II
      index changes even if the peak intensity of the incident beam is well below the
      corresponding threshold. Our coupled mode analysis reveals that the non-uniform
      nature of the index change can seriously affect the reflectivity of the grating
      due to a limited overlap of the guided mode with the transverse index modulation
      profile for almost all angular orientations of the PCFs with respect to the
      inscription beam. We also evaluate the influence of PCF tapering and we found
      that for the considered PCF a significant increase in the induced index change
      and reflectivity is observed only for taper diameters below 40 MUm. 

PMID- 25835832
TI  - Flexible terabit/s Nyquist-WDM super-channels using a gain-switched comb source.
AB  - Terabit/s super-channels are likely to become the standard for next-generation
      optical networks and optical interconnects. A particularly promising approach
      exploits optical frequency combs for super-channel generation. We show that
      injection locking of a gain-switched laser diode can be used to generate
      frequency combs that are particularly well suited for terabit/s super-channel
      transmission. This approach stands out due to its extraordinary stability and
      flexibility in tuning both center wavelength and line spacing. We perform a
      series of transmission experiments using different comb line spacings and
      modulation formats. Using 9 comb lines and 16QAM signaling, an aggregate line
      rate (net data rate) of 1.296 Tbit/s (1.109 Tbit/s) is achieved for transmission
      over 150 km of standard single mode fiber (SSMF) using a spectral bandwidth of
      166.5 GHz, which corresponds to a (net) spectral efficiency of 7.8 bit/s/Hz (6.7
      bit/s/Hz). The line rate (net data rate) can be boosted to 2.112 Tbit/s (1.867
      Tbit/s) for transmission over 300 km of SSMF by using a bandwidth of 300 GHz and
      QPSK modulation on the weaker carriers. For the reported net data rates and
      spectral efficiencies, we assume a variable overhead of either 7% or 20% for
      forward- error correction depending on the individual sub-channel quality after
      fiber transmission. 

PMID- 25835833
TI  - Simulation investigation of tensile strained GeSn fin photodetector with
      Si(3)N(4) liner stressor for extension of absorption wavelength.
AB  - In this paper, we design a biaxial tensile strained GeSn photodetector with fin
      structure wrapped in Si(3)N(4) liner stressor. A large biaxial tensile strain is
      induced in GeSn fins by the expansion of Si(3)N(4) liner stressor. The
      distribution of tensile strain in GeSn fins was calculated by a finite element
      simulation. It is observed that magnitude of the strain increases with the
      reduction of fin thickness T(fin). Under the biaxial tensile strain, the direct
      band gap E(G,Gamma) of GeSn fin photodetector is significantly reduced by
      lowering Gamma conduction valley in energy and lifting of degeneracy of valence
      bands. As the 30 nm Si(3)N(4) liner stressor expanses by 1%, a E(G,Gamma)
      reduction of ~0.14 eV is achieved in Ge(0.92)Sn(0.08) fins with a T(fin) of 100
      nm. The cut-off wavelengths of strained Ge(0.96)Sn(0.04), Ge(0.92)Sn(0.08) and
      Ge(0.90)Sn(0.10) fin photodetectors with a T(fin) of 100 nm are extended to 2.4,
      3.3, and 4 MUm, respectively. GeSn fin photodetector integrated with Si(3)N(4)
      liner stressor provides an effective technique for extending the absorption edge
      of GeSn with Sn composition less than 10% to mid-infrared wavelength.

PMID- 25835834
TI  - 980nm pumped erbium doped tellurium oxide planar rib waveguide laser and
      amplifier with gain in S, C and L band.
AB  - A thin film based erbium doped tellurium oxide (TeO<sub>2</sub>) waveguide
      amplifier producing gain from 1500nm to 1640nm when pumped at 980nm is
      demonstrated. At measured internal gains exceeding 14dB lasing due to end facet
      reflection set in producing the first tellurite waveguide laser. High gains were
      observed despite significant upconversion, whose impact appears to be mitigated
      to some extent by residual OH contamination. The device displayed no
      photosensitive effects from either the high pumping intensities used or the
      intracavity intensity at 1550nm. 

PMID- 25835835
TI  - Experimental quantification of surface optical nonlinearity in GaP nanopillar
      waveguides.
AB  - We report on surface second-order optical nonlinearity in single GaP nanopillars
      (nanowaveguides). The relative contribution of optical nonlinearity from the
      surface and the bulk is resolved by mode confinement analysis and polarization
      measurements. By investigating the thickness of nonlinear region at the surface
      of nanopillars, we estimated the nonlinear coefficient to be ~15 times higher at
      the surface with respect to the bulk. The presented results are interesting both
      from the fundamental aspects of light-matter interaction and for future nonlinear
      nanophotonic devices with smaller footprint. 

PMID- 25835836
TI  - Millisecond laser machining of transparent materials assisted by nanosecond
      laser.
AB  - A new form of double pulse composed of a nanosecond laser and a millisecond laser
      is proposed for laser machining transparent materials. To evaluate its advantages
      and disadvantages, experimental investigations are carried out and the
      corresponding results are compared with those of single millisecond laser. The
      mechanism is discussed from two aspects: material defects and effects of
      modifications induced by nanosecond laser on thermal stress field during
      millisecond laser irradiation. It is shown that the modifications of the sample
      generated by nanosecond laser improves the processing efficiency of subsequent
      millisecond laser, while limits the eventual size of modified region. 

PMID- 25835837
TI  - High resolution double-sided diffractive optics for hard X-ray microscopy.
AB  - The fabrication of high aspect ratio metallic nanostructures is crucial for the
      production of efficient diffractive X-ray optics in the hard X-ray range. We
      present a novel method to increase their structure height via the double-sided
      patterning of the support membrane. In transmission, the two Fresnel zone plates
      on the two sides of the substrate will act as a single zone plate with added
      structure height. The presented double-sided zone plates with 30 nm smallest zone
      width offer up to 9.9% focusing efficiency at 9 keV, that results in a factor of
      two improvement over their previously demonstrated single-sided counterparts. The
      increase in efficiency paves the way to speed up X-ray microscopy measurements
      and allows the more efficient utilization of the flux in full-field X-ray
      microscopy. 

PMID- 25835838
TI  - Three dimensional multi-molecule tracking in thick samples with extended depth-of
      field.
AB  - We present a non-z-scanning multi-molecule tracking system with nano-resolution
      in all three dimensions and extended depth of field (DOF), which based on
      distorted grating (DG) and double-helix point spread function (DH-PSF)
      combination microscopy (DDCM). The critical component in DDCM is a custom
      designed composite phase mask (PM) combining the functions of DG and DH-PSF. The
      localization precision and the effective DOF of the home-built DDCM system based
      on the designed PM were tested. Our experimental results show that the three
      dimensional (3D) localization precision for the three diffraction orders of the
      grating are sigma(-1st)(x, y, z) = (6.5 nm, 9.2nm, 23.4 nm), sigma(0th)(x, y, z)
      = (3.7 nm, 2.8nm, 10.3 nm), and sigma(+1s)(x, y, z) = (5.8 nm, 6.9 nm, 18.4 nm),
      respectively. Furthermore, the total effective DOF of the DDCM system is extended
      to 14 MUm. Tracking experiment demonstrated that beads separated over 12 MUm
      along the axial direction at some instants can be localized and tracked
      successfully.

PMID- 25835839
TI  - Strong magneto-optical effects due to surface states in three-dimensional
      topological insulators.
AB  - We show that a thin film of a three-dimensional topological insulator such as
      Bi(2)Se(3)or Bi(2)Te(3) can exhibit strong linear and nonlinear magneto-optical
      effects in a transverse magnetic field. In particular, one can achieve an almost
      complete circular polarization of an incident terahertz or mid-infrared radiation
      and an efficient four-wave mixing.

PMID- 25835840
TI  - Engineered liquid crystal anchoring energies with nanopatterned surfaces.
AB  - The anchoring energy of liquid crystals was shown to be tunable by surface
      nanopatterning of periodic lines and spaces. Both the pitch and height were
      varied using hydrogen silsesquioxane negative tone electron beam resist,
      providing for flexibility in magnitude and spatial distribution of the anchoring
      energy. Using twisted nematic liquid crystal cells, it was shown that this energy
      is tunable over an order of magnitude. These results agree with a literature
      model which predicts the anchoring energy of sinusoidal grooves. 

PMID- 25835841
TI  - High sensitivity 10Gb/s Si photonic receiver based on a low-voltage waveguide
      coupled Ge avalanche photodetector.
AB  - We demonstrate low-voltage germanium waveguide avalanche photodetectors (APDs)
      with a gain * bandwidth product above 100GHz. A photonic receiver based on such a
      Ge APD, including a 0.13MUm SiGe BiCMOS low-noise trans-impedance amplifier and a
      limiting amplifier, is realized. A 5.8dB sensitivity improvement is demonstrated
      at -5.9V bias at an avalanche gain of 6 through bit error ratio measurements. The
      absolute sensitivity in avalanche mode is -23.4dBm and -24.4dBm at a bit error
      ratio of 1 * 10(-12) and 1 * 10(-9) respectively.

PMID- 25835842
TI  - Photo-induced voltage in nano-porous gold thin film.
AB  - We report an experimental study of generation of photo-induced voltage in nano
      porous gold (NPG) thin film under the radiation of obliquely incident nanosecond
      laser light in visible regions. For s- polarized light, negative voltage is
      observed along the incident plane for positive incident angles, while for p-
      polarized light, positive voltage is observed for wavelength longer than 510 nm,
      while it turns to negative for shorter wavelengths. The transverse voltage for
      various polarized light is explained in terms of symmetry of configuration and
      that of microscopically random but macroscopically isotropic NPG. 

PMID- 25835843
TI  - High-efficiency CW all-fiber parametric oscillator tunable in 0.92-1 MUm range.
AB  - Continuous tuning over 80 nm is demonstrated for the anti-Stokes wave generated
      in an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a birefringent photonic
      crystal fiber pumped by a CW Ytterbium-doped fiber laser tuned around 1.05 MUm
      (within 4 nm only). An influence of the pump laser linewidth and polarization
      state on the fiber OPO threshold and efficiency is studied. Slope efficiency of
      parametric generation at 931 nm reaches 19% for ~0.1 nm linearly polarized pump
      with threshold power of ~5W. At that, the generated linewidth amounts to about 1
      nm. 

PMID- 25835844
TI  - Broadband RF front-end using microwave photonics filter.
AB  - We propose and demonstrate a novel RF front-end with broadened processing
      bandwidth, where a tunable microwave photonic filter based on optical frequency
      comb (OFC) is incorporated to accomplish simultaneous down-conversion and
      filtering. By designing additional phase shaping and time delay controlling, the
      frequency tunability of the system could be enhanced. More importantly, the
      beating interferences generated from broadband RF input could also be suppressed,
      which help to break the limitation on the processing bandwidth. In our
      experiments, a photonics RF receiver front-end for RF input with wide bandwidth
      of almost 20 GHz was realized using 10-GHz-space OFC, where the center frequency
      of the pass band signals could be tuned continuously. 

PMID- 25835845
TI  - Frequency modulation based continuous-wave terahertz homodyne system.
AB  - In this study, inspired by the frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) method,
      an operation scheme of continuous-wave (CW) terahertz (THz) homodyne system is
      proposed and evaluated. For this purpose, we utilized the fast and stable
      wavelength tuning characteristics of a dual-mode laser (DML) as a beating source.
      Using the frequency-modulated THz waves generated by DML, a cost-effective and
      robust operation of CW THz system to be applicable to the measurements of
      thickness or refractive index of a sample is demonstrated. We believe that the
      proposed scheme shows a potential to the implementations of compact and fast CW
      THz measurement systems that can be useful in many THz applications. 

PMID- 25835846
TI  - Optoelectronic method for inline compensation of XPM in long-haul optical links.
AB  - We propose an optoelectronic subsystem for inline compensation of XPM-induced
      phase noise in long-haul optical links. Based on intensity-dependent phase
      rotation, these compensators are used to suppress XPM on a span-by-span basis.
      Using a 7-channel hybrid WDM system as a test case, our simulations show that
      this technique is effective at suppressing XPM in dispersion managed and
      unmanaged links for various transmission distances. 

PMID- 25835847
TI  - Three-dimensional efficient dispersive alternating-direction-implicit finite
      difference time-domain algorithm using a quadratic complex rational function.
AB  - Efficient unconditionally stable FDTD method is developed for the electromagnetic
      analysis of dispersive media. Toward this purpose, a quadratic complex rational
      function (QCRF) dispersion model is applied to the alternating-direction-implicit
      finite-difference time-domain (ADI-FDTD) method. The 3-D update equations of QCRF
      ADI-FDTD are derived using Maxwell's curl equations and the constitutive
      relation. The periodic boundary condition of QCRF-ADI-FDTD is discussed in
      detail. A 3-D numerical example shows that the time-step size can be increased by
      the proposed QCRF-ADI-FDTD beyond the Courant-Friedrich-Levy (CFL) number,
      without numerical instability. It is observed that, for refined computational
      cells, the computational time of QCRF-ADI-FDTD is reduced to 28.08 % of QCRF
      FDTD, while the L<sub>2</sub> relative error norm of a field distribution is 6.92
      %. 

PMID- 25835848
TI  - Experimental investigation on the nonlinear tolerance of root M-shaped pulse in
      spectrally efficient coherent transmissions.
AB  - We experimentally demonstrate improved intra-channel nonlinearity tolerance of
      the root M-shaped pulse (RMP) with respect to the root raised cosine (RRC) pulse
      in spectrally efficient 128 Gbit/s PDM-16QAM coherent transmission systems. In
      addition we evaluate the impact of dispersion map and fiber dispersion parameter
      on the intra-channel nonlinearity tolerance of the RRC pulse and the RMP via both
      simulation and experimentation. The RMP is shown to have a better nonlinear
      tolerance than the RRC pulse for most investigated scenarios except for links
      with zero residual dispersion percentage per span or the zero dispersion region
      of a fiber. Therefore, the RMP is suitable for extending the maximum reach of
      spectrally efficient coherent transmission systems in legacy links in addition to
      currently intensively studied standard single mode fiber (SSMF) based dispersion
      unmanaged links. 

PMID- 25835849
TI  - Raman amplification of pure side-seeded higher-order modes in hydrogen-filled
      hollow-core PCF.
AB  - We use Raman amplification in hydrogen-filled hollow-core kagome photonic crystal
      fiber to generate high energy pulses in pure single higher-order modes. The
      desired higher-order mode at the Stokes frequency is precisely seeded by
      injecting a pulse of light from the side, using a prism to select the required
      modal propagation constant. An intense pump pulse in the fundamental mode
      transfers its energy to the Stokes seed pulse with measured gains exceeding 60 dB
      and output pulse energies as high as 8 uJ. A pressure gradient is used to
      suppress stimulated Raman scattering into the fundamental mode at the Stokes
      frequency. The growth of the Stokes pulse energy is experimentally and
      theoretically investigated for six different higher-order modes. The technique
      has significant advantages over the use of spatial light modulators to synthesize
      higher-order mode patterns, since it is very difficult to perfectly match the
      actual eigenmode of the fiber core, especially for higher-order modes with
      complex multi-lobed transverse field profiles. 

PMID- 25835850
TI  - Improved WDM performance of a fibre optical parametric amplifier using Raman
      assisted pumping.
AB  - We experimentally demonstrate a Raman-Assisted Fibre Optical Parametric Amplifier
      (RA-FOPA) with 20dB net gain using wavelength division multiplexed signals. We
      report amplification of 10x58Gb/s 100GHz-spaced QPSK signals and show that by
      appropriate tuning of the parametric pump power and frequency, gain improvement
      of up to 5dB can be achieved for the RA-FOPA compared with combined individual
      contributions from the parametric and Raman pumps. We compare the RA-FOPA with an
      equivalent-gain conventional FOPA and find that four-wave mixing crosstalk is
      substantially reduced by up to 5.8 +/- 0.4dB using the RA-FOPA. Worst-case
      performance penalty of the RA-FOPA is found to be only 1.0 +/- 0.2dB over all
      measured OSNRs, frequencies and input powers, making it an attractive proposal
      for future communications systems. 

PMID- 25835851
TI  - Broadband standoff detection of large molecules by mid-infrared active coherent
      laser spectrometry.
AB  - A widely tunable active coherent laser spectrometer (ACLaS) has been demonstrated
      for standoff detection of broadband absorbers in the 1280 to 1318 cm<sup>-1</sup>
      spectral region using an external cavity quantum cascade laser as a mid-infrared
      source. The broad tuning range allows detection and quantification of vapor phase
      molecules, such as dichloroethane, ethylene glycol dinitrate, and
      tetrafluoroethane. The level of confidence in molecular mixing ratios retrieved
      from interfering spectral measurements is assessed in a quantitative manner. A
      first qualitative demonstration of condensed phase chemical detection on
      nitroacetanilide has also been conducted. Detection performances of the broadband
      ACLaS have been placed in the context of explosive detection and compared to that
      obtained using distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers. 

PMID- 25835852
TI  - Bio-inspired variable imaging system simplified to the essentials: modelling
      accommodation and gaze movement.
AB  - A combination of an aspherical hybrid diffractive-refractive lens with a flexible
      fluidic membrane lens allows the implementation of a light sensitive and wide
      aperture optical system with variable focus. This approach is comparable to the
      vertebrate eye in air, in which the cornea offers a strong optical power and the
      flexible crystalline lens is used for accommodation. Also following the natural
      model of the human eye, the decay of image quality with increasing field position
      is compensated, in the optical system presented here, by successively addressing
      different tilting angles which mimics saccadic eye-movements. The optical design
      and the instrumental implementation are presented and discussed, and the working
      principle is demonstrated. 

PMID- 25835853
TI  - Silicon hybrid (de)multiplexer enabling simultaneous mode and wavelength-division
      multiplexing.
AB  - On-chip simultaneous mode and wavelength division-multiplexing (MWDM) is proposed
      using a tapered directional coupler and multimode interference (MMI) waveguide. A
      simulation is performed on the two different MWDM architectures, in which, two
      waveguide eigenmodes and two wavelength channels (1310/1550nm) are multiplexed.
      One of the proposed devices is compact (6MUm x 100MUm) and exhibits insertion
      loss as low as 1.2dB with a cross-talk of (-18dB). 

PMID- 25835854
TI  - Backscattering-immune one-way surface magnetoplasmons at terahertz frequencies.
AB  - Surface magnetoplasmons (SMPs) in a basic physical model for the terahertz
      regime, which consists of a semi-infinite magnetized semiconductor with
      dielectric cladding terminated by a metal slab, are theoretically investigated.
      The dispersion properties of such SMPs are analyzed and examined in detail. It is
      shown that SMPs may follow three different kinds of dispersion diagrams,
      depending on the applied dc magnetic field intensity. Complete one-way
      propagation that operates within the band gap of the semiconductor is available
      for SMPs, and the one-way bandwidth reaches a maximum at a certain magnetic field
      intensity. Regular modes guided by the dielectric layer are also analyzed. These
      modes may cause the (complete) SMP one-way region to be compressed or even
      removed, but they can be suppressed by reducing the dielectric layer thickness.
      Owing to the mirror effect of the metal slab, one-way propagating and
      backscattering-immune basic SMPs can exhibit a larger propagation length than
      those sustained by a single dielectric-semiconductor interface. 

PMID- 25835855
TI  - Dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders for wide-angle band absorbers.
AB  - We propose nano-meanders that can achieve wide-angle band absorption in visible
      regime. The nano-meander consists of a subwavelength dielectric grating covered
      by continuous ultra-thin Aluminum film (less than one tenth of the incident
      wavelength). The excited photonic resonant modes, such as cavity mode, surface
      plasmonic mode and Rayleigh-Wood anomaly, are discussed in detail. Nearly total
      resonant absorption due to funneling mechanism in the air nano-groove is almost
      invariant with large incident angle in transverse magnetic polarization. From
      both the structural geometry and the nanofabrication point of view, the light
      absorber has a very simple geometrical structure and it is easy to be integrated
      into complex photonic devices. The highly efficient angle-robust light absorber
      can be potential candidate for a range of passive and active photonic
      applications, including solar-energy harvesting as well as producing artificial
      colors on a large scale substrate. 

PMID- 25835856
TI  - Hexagonal liquid crystal lens array for 3D endoscopy.
AB  - A liquid crystal lens array with a hexagonal arrangement is investigated
      experimentally. The uniqueness of this study exists in the fact that using convex
      ring electrode provides a smooth and controllable applied potential profile
      across the aperture to manage the phase profile. We observed considerable
      differences between flat electrode and convex-ring electrode; in particular the
      lens focal length is variable in a wider range from 2.5cm to infinity. This study
      presents several noteworthy characteristics such as low driving voltage; 30 MUm
      cell gap and the lens is electrically switchable between 2D/3D modes. We
      demonstrate a hexagonal LC-lens array for capturing 3D images by using single
      sensor using integral imaging. 

PMID- 25835857
TI  - Optical single-sideband OFDM transmission based on a two-segment EAM.
AB  - This paper presents a novel optical single-sideband (SSB) OFDM modulation scheme
      using a two-segment electro-absorption modulator (EAM). Differences in the chirp
      characteristics of two segments of the EAM make it possible to design driving
      signals capable of suppressing one of the optical sidebands, such that the
      optical OFDM signal does not suffer from frequency-selective power fading
      following dispersive fiber transmission. Our experiment results demonstrate
      optical OFDM transmissions at 13.5-Gbps over a 0 ~ 200-km IM/DD system without
      the need for dispersion compensation and distance-dependent bit- and power
      loading. 

PMID- 25835858
TI  - Single channel 112Gbit/sec PAM4 at 56Gbaud with digital signal processing for
      data centers applications.
AB  - 112Gbit/sec DSP-based single channel transmission of PAM4 at 56Gbaud over 15GHz
      of effective analog bandwidth is experimentally demonstrated. The DSP enables use
      of mature 25G optoelectronics for 2-10km datacenter intra-connections, and
      8Tbit/sec over 80km interconnections between data centers. 

PMID- 25835859
TI  - Planar-type polarization beam splitter based on a bridged silicon waveguide
      coupler.
AB  - We demonstrate a compactly integrated polarization beam splitter (PBS) with high
      polarization extinction ratios greater than 20 dB over the full C-band wavelength
      range based on a simple bridged silicon nanowaveguide directional coupler. The
      PBS device is designed via three dimensional finite-difference time-domain (3D
      FDTD) simulation, and fabricated experimentally. The optimum dimension of the
      bridge waveguide is determined to be 7.5-MUm-long and 500 nm-wide for 250-nm
      thick silicon core. At the 1,550-nm wavelength, the measured polarization
      extinction ratios (PERs) of the PBS device are 22.5 dB and 22.9 dB for TE and TM
      polarization modes, respectively, and its corresponding insertion losses (ILs)
      are about 2.1 dB and 1.8 dB, both PERs and ILs within the maximum error range of
      +/- 2.0 dB. 

PMID- 25835860
TI  - Nanoscale roughness micromilled silica evanescent refractometer.
AB  - We demonstrate machining of precision slots in silica with nanoscale roughness
      for applications in photonics. Using our in-house developed milling system we
      have achieved machined slots with surface roughness of 3.0 nm (Sa) and 17 um
      depth of cut. This result represents eight times improvement in surface roughness
      and forty times increase in depth of cut than previously reported. We also
      demonstrate integration of these milled slots with UV-written waveguides and
      Bragg gratings to create optical refractometers, based on monitoring Fabry-Perot
      spectral fringe changes. 

PMID- 25835861
TI  - Terahertz isolator based on nonreciprocal magneto-metasurface.
AB  - A magneto-metasurface with nonreciprocal terahertz (THz) transmission has been
      proposed to form a THz isolator. Importantly, we have discussed the two necessary
      conditions for THz nonreciprocal transmission in the metasurface: (1) There
      should be magneto-optical responses for THz waves in the metasurface; (2) The
      transmission system of the metasurface needs to be asymmetric for forward and
      backward waves. These two conditions lead to the time reversal symmetry breaking
      of system, and the magnetoplasmon mode splitting and nonreciprocal resonance
      enhancement can be observed in the asymmetry magneto-metasurface. Moreover, the
      isolation dependences and tunability on the external magnetic field and
      temperature have also been investigated, which shows that the best operating
      state with a high isolation can be designed. The numerical simulations show a
      maximum isolation of 43 dB and a 10 dB operating bandwidth of 20 GHz under an
      external magnetic field of 0.3 T, and the insertion loss is smaller than 1.79 dB.
      This low-loss, high isolation, easy coupling THz isolator has broadly potentials
      for THz application systems. 

PMID- 25835862
TI  - Efficient free-space read-out of WGM lasers using circular micromirrors.
AB  - Lasing from whispering-gallery mode (WGM) resonators occurs omnidirectional in
      azimuthal plane. Most applications of WGM resonators require spectral analysis
      with off-chip detectors, where in-plane emission and beam divergence hinder
      efficient detection. We demonstrate redirecting WGM laser emission from all
      azimuthal angles using a circular micromirror placed around the cavity. By
      collecting reflections off the micromirror via free-space optics, read-out
      intensity improved by one order of magnitude. Blocking vertically emitted
      spontaneous emission and recording reflections off the micromirror only, signal
      to-noise ratio improved from 4.6 dB to 15 dB. Our read-out concept may be applied
      to arbitrary WGM cavity geometries without deteriorating the cavity's quality
      factor. 

PMID- 25835863
TI  - Heat accumulation in ultra-short pulsed scanning laser ablation of metals.
AB  - High average laser powers can have a serious adverse impact on the ablation
      quality in ultra-short pulsed laser material processing of metals. With respect
      to the scanning speed, a sharp transition between a smooth, reflective and an
      uneven, dark ablated surface is observed. Investigating the influence of the
      sample temperature, it is experimentally shown that this effect stems from heat
      accumulation. In a numerical heat flow simulation, the critical scanning speed
      indicating the change in ablation quality is determined in good agreement with
      the experimental data. 

PMID- 25835864
TI  - Near-zero pretilt alignment of liquid crystals using polyimide films doped with
      UV-curable polymer.
AB  - We propose an alignment method for the near-zero pretilt angle of liquid crystals
      (LCs) using polyimide films doped with a UV-curable polymer. The near-zero
      pretilt angle can be obtained by UV curing of reactive mesogen monomers mixed
      with planar alignment material while a vertical electric field is applied to an
      LC cell assembled after the rubbing process. We demonstrated that the pretilt
      angle can be decreased from 2.390 degrees  to 0.082 degrees  by employing the
      proposed method. 

PMID- 25835865
TI  - Beam shaping of complex amplitude with separate constraints on the output beam.
AB  - We present a beam shaping technique in controlling the complex amplitude of an
      optical beam. The constraint on the amplitude of the output beam in the Gerchberg
      Saxton algorithm is replaced with constraints both on the amplitude and phase of
      the output beam in the proposed method. The total areas of the constrained
      regions and free regions on the complex amplitude of the output beam in the
      proposed method are maintained. An output beam with arbitrary complex amplitude
      can be realized with the proposed method. The computing result from the proposed
      method is a phase-only distribution, which can be fabricated as diffractive
      optical element for higher diffraction efficiency. Both simulations and
      experiments are present and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified.

PMID- 25835866
TI  - A diffuser-based three-dimensional measurement of polarization-dependent
      scattering characteristics of optical films for 3D-display applications.
AB  - We propose an accurate and easy-to-use three-dimensional measurement method using
      a diffuser plate to analyze the scattering characteristics of optical films. The
      far-field radiation pattern of light scattered by the optical film is obtained
      from the illuminance pattern created on the diffuser plate by the light. A
      mathematical model and calibration methods were described, and the results were
      compared with those obtained by a direct measurement using a luminance meter. The
      new method gave very precise three-dimensional polarization-dependent scattering
      characteristics of scattering polarizer films, and it can play an effective role
      in developing high performance polarization-selective screens for 3D display
      applications. 

PMID- 25835867
TI  - Excimer laser induced quantum well intermixing: a reproducibility study of the
      process for fabrication of photonic integrated devices.
AB  - Excimer (ultraviolet) laser-induced quantum well intermixing (UV-Laser-QWI) is an
      attractive technique for wafer level post-growth processing and fabrication of a
      variety of monolithically integrated photonic devices. The results of UV-Laser
      QWI employed for the fabrication of multibandgap III-V semiconductor wafers have
      demonstrated the attractive character of this approach although the process
      accuracy and reproducibility have remained relatively weakly covered in related
      literature. We report on a systematic investigation of the reproducibility of
      this process induced with a KrF excimer laser. The influence of both the
      irradiation with different laser doses and the annealing temperatures on the
      amplitude of intermixing in InGaAs/InGaAsP/InP quantum well heterostructures has
      been evaluated based on the photoluminescence measurements. Under optimized
      conditions, the process allows to blue shift the bandgap of a heterostructure by
      more than 100 nm with a remarkable 5.3% relative standard deviation. 

PMID- 25835868
TI  - An 11.6 W output, 6 kHz linewidth, single-polarization EDFA-MOPA system with a
      (13)C(2)H(2) frequency stabilized fiber laser.
AB  - We demonstrate a record high CW output power of 11.6 W and an ultra-narrow
      linewidth of 6 kHz in an all-fiber master oscillator and power amplifier (MOPA)
      fiber laser system. The master oscillator is a (13)C(2)H(2) frequency-stabilized
      single-polarization fiber laser with a 100 mW output. The power amplifier section
      consists of a core-pumped polarization-maintained erbium-doped fiber pumped by a
      1480 nm cascaded Raman fiber laser. A total electric-to-optical conversion
      efficiency with a record high value of 12% was achieved with an all-fiber
      configuration.

PMID- 25835869
TI  - Propagation properties of partially coherent electromagnetic hyperbolic-sine
      Gaussian vortex beams through non-Kolmogorov turbulence.
AB  - Propagation properties of partially coherent electromagnetic hyperbolic-sine
      Gaussian (PCESHG) vortex beams through non-Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulence,
      including the spectral degree of polarization and evolution behavior of coherent
      vortices and average intensity are investigated in detail by using the extended
      Huygens-Fresnel principle and the spatial power spectrum of the refractive index
      of non-Kolmogorov turbulence. It is shown that the motion, creation and
      annihilation of the coherent vortices of PCESHG vortex beams in non-Kolmogorov
      turbulence may appear with the increasing propagation distance, and the distance
      for the conservation of the topological charge depends on the turbulence
      parameters and beam parameters. In additions, the evolution behavior of coherent
      vortices, average intensity and spectral degree of polarization vary
      significantly for different values of the generalized exponent parameter and the
      generalized refractive-index structure parameter of non-Kolmogorov turbulence,
      and the beam parameters as well as the propagation distance. 

PMID- 25835870
TI  - Time-bin entangled photon pair generation from Si micro-ring resonator.
AB  - We demonstrate time-bin entanglement generation in telecom wavelength using a 7
      MUm radius Si micro-ring resonator pumped by a continuous wave laser. The
      resonator structure can enhance spontaneous four wave mixing, leading to a photon
      pair generation rate of about 90-100 Hz with a laser pump power of as low as 
      3.92 dBm (0.41 mW). We succeed in observing time-bin entanglement with the
      visibility over 92%. Moreover, wavelength-tunability of the entangled photon pair
      is demonstrated by changing the operation temperature. 

PMID- 25835871
TI  - Refractive index sensitivity of nano-film coated long-period fiber gratings.
AB  - We demonstrate the fabrication of long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) coated with
      high index nano-film using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology. Higher
      index sensitivity can be achieved in the transition region of the coated LPFGs.
      For the LPFG coated by nano-film with a thickness of 100 nm, the high index
      sensitivity of 3000 nm/RIU and the expanded index sensitive range are obtained.
      The grating contrast of the over-coupled LPFGs and conventional LPFGs are
      measured and the over-coupled gratings are found to have a higher contrast in the
      transition region. The cladding modes transition is observed experimentally with
      increasing surrounding index using an infrared camera. The theoretical model of
      the hybrid modes in four-layer cylindrical waveguide is proposed for numerical
      simulation. The experimental results are well consistent with theoretical
      analysis. 

PMID- 25835872
TI  - Observation of a new interference phenomenon in internal conical diffraction.
AB  - Conical diffraction is observed in biaxial materials when a beam of light is
      directed along one of the two optic axis directions. When the beam is directed
      close to but not along an optic axis, a rich interference pattern is observed
      beyond the material. We observe some of the previously predicted low intensity
      interference patterns, representing a qualitatively new optical phenomenon in
      biaxial materials. 

PMID- 25835873
TI  - Utilization of multi-band OFDM modulation to increase traffic rate of phosphor
      LED wireless VLC.
AB  - To increase the traffic rate in phosphor-LED visible light communication (VLC), a
      multi-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) modulation is first
      proposed and demonstrated. In the measurement, we do not utilize optical blue
      filter to increase modulation bandwidth of phosphor-LED in the VLC system. In
      this proposed scheme, different bands of OFDM signals are applied to different
      LED chips in a LED lamp, this can avoid the power fading and nonlinearity issue
      by applying the same OFDM signal to all the LED chips in a LED lamp. Here, the
      maximum increase percentages of traffic rates are 41.1%, 17.8% and 17.8% under
      received illuminations of 200, 500 and 1000 Lux, respectively, when the proposed
      three-band OFDM modulation is used in the VLC system. In addition, the analysis
      and verification by experiments are also performed. 

PMID- 25835874
TI  - Few-mode fiber based optical sensors.
AB  - Few-mode fibers (FMFs) have found applications in optical communications and
      sensors with attractive features that standard single mode fiber (SSMF) do not
      possess. We report our recent progress on FMF based optical sensors, and show the
      potential of utilizing the spatial dimension for multi-parameter sensing with
      discrimination capability. We first show a discrete type FMF sensor based on
      interferometer structure with a short FMF, utilizing the modal interference
      between either the polarizations (x and y) or the spatial modes (LP(01) and
      LP(11)). We then show a distributed type FMF sensor by generating the stimulated
      Brillouin scattering (SBS) in a long FMF. We characterize the Brillouin gain
      spectrum (BGS) with a pump-probe configuration, and measure the temperature and
      strain coefficients for LP(01) and LP(11) modes. The proposed FMF based optical
      sensor can be applied to sensing a wide range of parameters.

PMID- 25835875
TI  - Time-division-multiplexed few-mode passive optical network.
AB  - We demonstrate the first few-mode-fiber based passive optical network,
      effectively utilizing mode multiplexing to eliminate combining loss for upstream
      traffic. Error-free performance has been achieved for 20-km low-crosstalk 3-mode
      transmission in a commercial GPON system carrying live Ethernet traffic. The
      alternative approach of low modal group delay is also analyzed with simulation
      results over 10 modes. 

PMID- 25835876
TI  - Scaling silicon photonic switch fabrics for data center interconnection networks.
AB  - With the rapidly increasing aggregate bandwidth requirements of data centers
      there is a growing interest in the insertion of optically interconnected networks
      with high-radix transparent optical switch fabrics. Silicon photonics is a
      particularly promising and applicable technology due to its small footprint, CMOS
      compatibility, high bandwidth density, and the potential for nanosecond scale
      dynamic connectivity. In this paper we analyze the feasibility of building
      silicon photonic microring based switch fabrics for data center scale optical
      interconnection networks. We evaluate the scalability of a microring based switch
      fabric for WDM signals. Critical parameters including crosstalk, insertion loss
      and switching speed are analyzed, and their sensitivity with respect to device
      parameters is examined. We show that optimization of physical layer parameters
      can reduce crosstalk and increase switch fabric scalability. Our analysis
      indicates that with current state-of-the-art devices, a high radix 128 * 128
      silicon photonic single chip switch fabric with tolerable power penalty is
      feasible. The applicability of silicon photonic microrings for data center
      switching is further supported via review of microring operations and control
      demonstrations. The challenges and opportunities for this technology platform are
      discussed. 

PMID- 25835877
TI  - Experimental study of PAM-4, CAP-16, and DMT for 100 Gb/s short reach optical
      transmission systems.
AB  - Advanced modulation formats combined with digital signal processing and direct
      detection is a promising way to realize high capacity, low cost and power
      efficient short reach optical transmission system. In this paper, we present a
      detailed investigation on the performance of three advanced modulation formats
      for 100 Gb/s short reach transmission system. They are PAM-4, CAP-16 and DMT. The
      detailed digital signal processing required for each modulation format is
      presented. Comprehensive simulations are carried out to evaluate the performance
      of each modulation format in terms of received optical power, transmitter
      bandwidth, relative intensity noise and thermal noise. The performance of each
      modulation format is also experimentally studied. To the best of our knowledge,
      we report the first demonstration of a 112 Gb/s transmission over 10km of SSMF
      employing single band CAP-16 with EML. Finally, a comparison of computational
      complexity of DSP for the three formats is presented. 

PMID- 25835878
TI  - Evaluating the coherence and time-domain profile of quantum cascade laser
      frequency combs.
AB  - Recently, much attention has been focused on the generation of optical frequency
      combs from quantum cascade lasers. We discuss how fast detectors can be used to
      demonstrate the mutual coherence of such combs, and present an inequality that
      can be used to quantitatively evaluate their performance. We discuss several
      technical issues related to shifted wave interference Fourier Transform
      spectroscopy (SWIFTS), and show how such measurements can be used to elucidate
      the time-domain properties of such combs, showing that they can possess
      signatures of both frequency-modulation and amplitude-modulation. 

PMID- 25835879
TI  - Orbital angular momentum entanglement via fork-poling nonlinear photonic
      crystals.
AB  - We report a compact scheme for the generation and manipulation of photon pairs
      entangled in the orbital angular momentum (OAM) from the fork-poling quadratic
      nonlinear crystal. The chi<sup>(2)</sup>-modulation in this crystal is designed
      for fulfilling a tilted quasi-phase-matching geometry to ensure the efficient
      generation of entangled photons as well as for transferring of topological charge
      of the crystal to the photon pairs. Numerical results show that the OAM of photon
      pair is anti-correlated and the degree of OAM entanglement can be enhanced by
      modulating the topological charge of crystal, which indicates a feasible
      extension to high-dimensional OAM entanglement. These studies suggest that the
      fork-poling nonlinear photonic crystal a unique platform for compact generation
      and manipulation of high-dimensional and high-order OAM entanglement, which may
      have potential applications in quantum communication, quantum cryptography and
      quantum remote sensing. 

PMID- 25835880
TI  - Ultrafast self-gating Bragg diffraction of exploding nanocrystals in an X-ray
      laser.
AB  - In structural determination of crystalline proteins using intense femtosecond X
      ray lasers, damage processes lead to loss of structural coherence during the
      exposure. We use a nonthermal description for the damage dynamics to calculate
      the ultrafast ionization and the subsequent atomic displacement. These effects
      degrade the Bragg diffraction on femtosecond time scales and gate the ultrafast
      imaging. This process is intensity and resolution dependent. At high intensities
      the signal is gated by the ionization affecting low resolution information first.
      At lower intensities, atomic displacement dominates the loss of coherence
      affecting high-resolution information. We find that pulse length is not a
      limiting factor as long as there is a high enough X-ray flux to measure a
      diffracted signal. 

PMID- 25835881
TI  - On the complex point spread function in interferometric cross-polarisation
      microscopy.
AB  - The ability to characterize the Point Spread Function(PSF) is crucial in
      practical microscopy, but requires knowledge of the complex PSF for approaches
      that detect fields instead of intensities. Here we experimentally measure and
      theoretically model the volumetric amplitude and phase response of an
      Interferometric Cross-polarisation Microscope to demonstrate the technique's
      capability to provide confocal-like images of weakly birefringent structures in
      living cells. We find the axial FWHM of the amplitude PSF to be 0.70 +/- 0.01 MUm
      and 0.83 MUm for model and measurement, respectively, on par with confocal
      microscopy. Ultimately retaining both amplitude and phase information will
      however enable approaches for improved localisation of objects. 

PMID- 25835882
TI  - Waveguides in single-crystal lithium niobate thin film by proton exchange.
AB  - The proton exchanged (PE) planar and channel waveguides in a 500 nm thick single
      crystal lithium niobate thin film (lithium niobate on insulator, LNOI) were
      studied. The mature PE technique and strong confinement of light in the LN single
      crystal thin film were used. The single mode and cut-off conditions of the
      channel waveguides were obtained by finite difference simulation. The results
      showed that the single mode channel waveguide would form if the width of the PE
      region was between 0.75 MUm and 2.1 MUm in the beta(4) phase. The channel
      waveguide in LNOI had a much smaller mode size than that in the bulk material due
      to the high-refractive-index contrast. The mode size reached as small as 0.6
      MUm(2). in simulation. In the experiment, the refractive index and phase
      transition after PE in LNOI were analyzed using the prism coupling method and X
      ray diffraction. Three different width waveguides (5 MUm, 7 MUm and 11 MUm) were
      optically characterized. Near-field intensity distribution showed that their mode
      sizes were 3.3 MUm(2).,5 MUm(2). and 7 MUm(2). The propagation losses were
      evaluated to be about 16 dB/cm, 12 dB/cm and 11 dB/cm, respectively. The results
      indicate that PE is a promising method for building more complicated photonic
      integrated circuits in single-crystal LN thin film.

PMID- 25835883
TI  - High-capacity and low-cost long-reach OFDMA PON based on distance-adaptive
      bandwidth allocation.
AB  - We propose and experimentally demonstrate a distance-adaptive bandwidth
      allocation scheme to realize high-capacity long-reach orthogonal frequency
      division multiple access passive optical network (OFDMA PON) with cost-effective
      electro-absorption modulator (EAM). In our scheme, the subcarriers in downstream
      OFDM signal are properly allocated to the optical network units (ONUs) with
      different fiber transmission lengths. By this means, the detrimental influence of
      power fading induced by dispersion and chirp can be avoided, thus all OFDM
      subcarriers can be modulated with high-order quadrature amplitude modulation
      (QAM) format, leading to a high transmission capacity. A proof-of-concept
      experiment is performed, in which three ONUs with transmission distances of 25,
      50, and 100 km are assigned with different subcarriers, respectively. By using
      distance-adaptive bandwidth allocation technique, an OFDM signal of 34.5 Gb/s is
      successfully delivered to the ONUs with a bit error ratio (BER) lower than 2 *
      10(-3).

PMID- 25835884
TI  - Time resolved photo-luminescent decay characterization of mercury cadmium
      telluride focal plane arrays.
AB  - The minority carrier lifetime is a measurable material property that is an
      indication of infrared detector device performance. To study the utility of
      measuring the carrier lifetime, an experiment has been constructed that can time
      resolve the photo-luminescent decay of a detector or wafer sample housed inside a
      liquid nitrogen cooled Dewar. Motorized stages allow the measurement to be
      scanned over the sample surface, and spatial resolutions as low as 50um have been
      demonstrated. A carrier recombination simulation was developed to analyze the
      experimental data. Results from measurements performed on 4 mercury cadmium
      telluride focal plane arrays show strong correlation between spatial maps of the
      lifetime, dark current, and relative response. 

PMID- 25835885
TI  - Engineering optical properties of a graphene oxide metamaterial assembled in
      microfluidic channels.
AB  - The dense packing of two dimensional flakes by van der Waals forces has enabled
      the creation of new metamaterials with desirable optical properties. Here we
      assemble graphene oxide sheets into a three dimensional metamaterial using a
      microfluidic technique and confirm their ordering via measurements of
      ellipsometric parameters, polarized optical microscopy, polarized transmission
      spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. We show
      that the produced metamaterials demonstrate strong in-plane optical anisotropy
      (Deltan~0.3 at n~1.5-1.8) combined with low absorption (k<0.1) and compare them
      with as-synthesized samples of graphene oxide paper. Our results pave the way for
      engineered birefringent metamaterials on the basis of two dimensional atomic
      crystals including graphene and its derivatives. 

PMID- 25835886
TI  - Direct 15-GHz mode-spacing optical frequency comb with a Kerr-lens mode-locked
      Yb:Y(2)O(3) ceramic laser.
AB  - A 15-GHz mode spacing optical frequency comb based on a Kerr-lens mode-locked
      Yb:Y<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> ceramic laser has been developed. Individual modes
      were clearly resolved by a commercial spectrometer. To demonstrate the long-term
      operation of the optical frequency comb, a single longitudinal mode was phase
      locked to a frequency-stabilized continuous wave laser and the repetition rate to
      a radio frequency standard. To the best of our knowledge, 15 GHz is the largest
      reported mode spacing (repetition rate) for both a Kerr-lens mode-locked laser
      and a direct femtosecond laser based-optical frequency comb. 

PMID- 25835887
TI  - 1-GHz harmonically pumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillator frequency
      comb.
AB  - We present the first example of a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator
      frequency comb harmonically-pumped by a 333-MHz Ti:sapphire laser to achieve a
      stabilized signal comb at 1-GHz mode spacing in the 1.1-1.6-um wavelength band.
      Simultaneous locking of the comb carrier-envelope-offset and repetition
      frequencies is achieved with uncertainties over 1 s of 0.27 Hz and 5 mHz
      respectively, which are comparable with those of 0.27 Hz and 1.5 mHz achieved for
      333-MHz fundamental pumping. The phase-noise power-spectral density of the CEO
      frequency integrated from 1 Hz-64 kHz was 2.8 rad for the harmonic comb, 1.0 rad
      greater than for fundamental pumping. The results show that harmonic operation
      does not substantially compromise the frequency-stability of the comb, which is
      shown to be limited only by the Rb atomic frequency reference used. 

PMID- 25835888
TI  - Anti-resonant hexagram hollow core fibers.
AB  - Various simple anti-resonant, single cladding layer, hollow core fiber structures
      are examined. We show that the spacing between core and jacket glass and the
      shape of the support struts can be used to optimize confinement loss. We
      demonstrate the detrimental effect on confinement loss of thick nodes at the
      strut intersections and present a fabricated hexagram fiber that mitigates this
      effect in both straight and bent condition by presenting thin and radially
      elongated nodes. This fiber has loss comparable to published results for a first
      generation, multi-cladding ring, Kagome fiber with negative core curvature and
      has tolerable bend loss for many practical applications. 

PMID- 25835889
TI  - Mid-infrared optical nonlinearities of chalcogenide glasses in Ge-Sb-Se ternary
      system.
AB  - Optical nonlinearities of chalcogenide glasses in the Ge-Sb-Se ternary system are
      investigated at mid-infrared wavelengths (2000 and 2500 nm) with femtosecond Z
      scan technique. Strong nonlinear refraction in the chalcogenide glasses is
      observed at 2000 nm, due to three-photon absorption resonance. In addition, the
      variation in the nonlinear refraction (gamma) of the Ge-Sb-Se glasses shows two
      jumpoints as mean co-ordination number (MCN) approaches 2.4 or 2.7, consistent
      with the theoretical predication. 

PMID- 25835890
TI  - Versatile long cavity widely tunable pulsed Yb-doped fiber laser with up to
      27655th harmonic mode locking order.
AB  - We report flexible dissipative soliton generation from an all-fiberized all
      normal-dispersion (ANDi) long cavity actively mode locked ytterbium doped fiber
      laser based on improved harmonic mode locking technique. The laser is featured
      with unusually wide and fine tunabilities in repetition rate and operating
      wavelength, meanwhile superior stability is maintained. The repetition rate of
      the laser can be flexibly controlled from 226 kHz to 6.25 GHz (corresponding to
      the highest 27655th order harmonic mode locking) in the interval of 226 kHz,
      while supermode suppression is confined above 50 dB and the pulse duration is
      retained in the range of 38 ps~80 ps. As high as 4.3 nJ pulse energy can be
      achieved with a low pump power of 160 mW when operating at the fundamental mode
      locking regime. The operating wavelength of the laser can be tuned in the wide
      range of 1005 nm~1100 nm. As far as we know, it is the first demonstration of up
      to ten thousands order stable harmonic mode locking in ANDi fiber laser, which
      manifests the capability of generating both high energy pulse and ultra-high
      repetition rate pulse in a single ANDi cavity. The destabilization of dissipative
      soliton under strong pump is also demonstrated. 

PMID- 25835891
TI  - Optical quality assessment of whole slide imaging systems for digital pathology.
AB  - Whole Slide Imaging (WSI) systems are high-throughput automated microscopes for
      digital pathology applications. We present a method for testing and monitoring
      the optical quality of WSI-systems using a measurement of the through-focus
      Optical Transfer Function (OTF) obtained from the edge response of a custom made
      resolution target, composed of sagittal and tangential edges. This enables
      quantitative analysis of a number of primary aberrations. The curvature of the
      best focus as a function of spatial frequency is indicative for spherical
      aberration, the argument of the OTF quantifies for coma, and the best focus as a
      function of field position for sagittal and tangential edges allows assessment of
      astigmatism and field curvature. The statistical error in the determined
      aberrations is typically below 20 mlambda. We use the method to compare different
      tube lens designs and to study the effect of objective lens aging. The results
      are in good agreement with direct measurement of aberrations based on Shack
      Hartmann wavefront sensing with a typical error ranging from 10 mlambda to 40
      mlambda. 

PMID- 25835892
TI  - Virtual-source diffusion approximation for enhanced near-field modeling of photon
      migration in low-albedo medium.
AB  - Most analytical methods for describing light propagation in turbid medium exhibit
      low effectiveness in the near-field of a collimated source. Motivated by the
      Charge Simulation Method in electromagnetic theory as well as the established
      discrete source based modeling, we herein report on an improved explicit model
      for a semi-infinite geometry, referred to as "Virtual Source" (VS) diffuse
      approximation (DA), to fit for low-albedo medium and short source-detector
      separation. In this model, the collimated light in the standard DA is analogously
      approximated as multiple isotropic point sources (VS) distributed along the
      incident direction. For performance enhancement, a fitting procedure between the
      calculated and realistic reflectances is adopted in the near-field to optimize
      the VS parameters (intensities and locations). To be practically applicable, an
      explicit 2VS-DA model is established based on close-form derivations of the VS
      parameters for the typical ranges of the optical parameters. This parameterized
      scheme is proved to inherit the mathematical simplicity of the DA approximation
      while considerably extending its validity in modeling the near-field photon
      migration in low-albedo medium. The superiority of the proposed VS-DA method to
      the established ones is demonstrated in comparison with Monte-Carlo simulations
      over wide ranges of the source-detector separation and the medium optical
      properties. 

PMID- 25835893
TI  - Switchable dual-wavelength Q-switched and mode-locked fiber lasers using a large
      angle tilted fiber grating.
AB  - We proposed and demonstrated pulsed fiber lasers Q-switched and mode-locked by
      using a large-angle tilted fiber grating, for the first time to our best
      knowledge. Owing to the unique polarization properties of the large-angle tilted
      fiber grating (LA-TFG), i.e. polarization-dependent loss and polarization-mode
      splitting, switchable dual-wavelength Q-switched and mode-locked pulses have been
      achieved with short and long cavities, respectively. For the mode-locking case,
      the laser was under the operation of nanosecond rectangular pulses, due to the
      peak-power clamping effect. With the increasing pump power, the durations of both
      single- and dual-wavelength rectangular pulses increase. It was also found that
      each filtered wavelength of the dual-wavelength rectangular pulse corresponds to
      an individual nanosecond rectangular pulse by employing a tunable bandpass
      filter. 

PMID- 25835894
TI  - GaSb-based SESAM mode-locked Tm:YAG ceramic laser at 2 um.
AB  - Tunable and mode-locked laser operation near 2 um based on different Tm-doped YAG
      ceramics, 4 at.% and 10 at.%, is demonstrated. Several designs of GaSb-based
      surface-quantum-well SESAMs are characterized and studied as saturable absorbers
      for mode-locking. Best mode-locking performance was achieved using an
      antireflection-coated near-surface quantum-well SESAM, resulting in a pulse
      duration of ~3 ps and ~150 mW average output power at 89 MHz. All mode-locked
      Tm:YAG ceramic lasers operated at 2012 nm, with over 133 nm demonstrated tuning
      for continuous-wave operation. 

PMID- 25835895
TI  - Influence of laser-induced air breakdown on femtosecond laser ablation of
      aluminum.
AB  - We investigated the influence of laser-induced air breakdown on the femtosecond
      laser ablation of aluminum target using time-resolved pump-probe shadowgraphic
      imaging method. The early-stage plasma expanding dynamics and subsequent
      expanding behaviors of shockwaves and material ejection plume were analyzed
      through shadowgraphs recorded at different time delays. The dominated mechanisms
      were clarified at different stages during femtosecond laser pulses ablating
      aluminum, which provide very valuable information for ultrashort laser ablation
      of metals. 

PMID- 25835896
TI  - Carrier density dependence of plasmon-enhanced nonradiative energy transfer in a
      hybrid quantum well-quantum dot structure.
AB  - An array of Ag nanoboxes fabricated by helium-ion lithography is used to
      demonstrate plasmon-enhanced nonradiative energy transfer in a hybrid quantum
      well-quantum dot structure. The nonradiative energy transfer, from an InGaN/GaN
      quantum well to CdSe/ZnS nanocrystal quantum dots embedded in an ~80 nm layer of
      PMMA, is investigated over a range of carrier densities within the quantum well.
      The plasmon-enhanced energy transfer efficiency is found to be independent of the
      carrier density, with an efficiency of 25% reported. The dependence on carrier
      density is observed to be the same as for conventional nonradiative energy
      transfer. The plasmon-coupled energy transfer enhances the QD emission by 58%.
      However, due to photoluminescence quenching effects an overall increase in the QD
      emission of 16% is observed. 

PMID- 25835897
TI  - CEP-stable, sub-6 fs, 300-kHz OPCPA system with more than 15 W of average power.
AB  - We report on a CEP-stable OPCPA system reaching multi-GW peak powers at 300 kHz
      repetition rate. It delivers 15 W of average power, over 50 uJ of compressed
      pulse energy and a pulse duration below 6 fs. By implementing an additional pump
      seed-synchronization, the output parameters are stabilized over hours with power
      fluctuations of less than 1.5%. 

PMID- 25835898
TI  - Application of attitude jitter detection based on short-time asynchronous images
      and compensation methods for Chinese mapping satellite-1.
AB  - Given the recent development in high-resolution (HR) optical satellites, the
      study of both attitude jitter (AJ) detection and compensation has become
      increasingly essential to improving the radiometric and geometric quality of HR
      images. A group of HR optical stereo mapping satellites in China, mapping
      satellite-1 (MS-1) has launched two satellites and will launch one satellite to
      build a satellite network. The geometric accuracy of the launched MS-1 satellites
      is greater than 80 m because of the AJ caused by the instability of the platform.
      AJ detection and compensation are critical issues that must be addressed to
      improve the accuracy of geo-positioning and mapping before launching a new
      satellite. The present study employs a method of jitter detection based on short
      time asynchronous images to detect MS-1 jitter. The adjacent overlapping areas of
      an original panchromatic image are used as detection images instead of the
      traditional multispectral images, and a differential recursion optimal estimation
      filter is proposed for the optimal estimation and elimination of the gross errors
      of the registration data procedure, thereby increasing the detection accuracy.
      The space variant blurring model and viewing angles correction method are
      employed for the radiometric and geometric jitter compensation of images,
      respectively. The methods of radiometric objective evaluation indices and
      geometric checkpoint are then utilised to evaluate the quality of jitter
      compensation. Finally, the DeZhou regional image (ShanDong province, China) from
      MS-1 is used as the experimental data. Results for the AJ of MS-1 are analysed
      and reported for the first time. The assessment results obtained show that both
      radiometric and geometric qualities greatly increase after the jitter
      compensation procedure. Thus, the work of this study for jitter detection and
      compensation effectively addresses the jitter of MS-1 HR optical satellites. 

PMID- 25835899
TI  - Advanced coding techniques for few mode transmission systems.
AB  - We experimentally verify the advantage of employing advanced coding schemes such
      as space-time coding and 4 dimensional modulation formats to enhance the
      transmission performance of a 3-mode transmission system. The performance gain of
      space-time block codes for extending the optical signal-to-noise ratio tolerance
      in multiple-input multiple-output optical coherent spatial division multiplexing
      transmission systems with respect to single-mode transmission performance are
      evaluated. By exploiting the spatial diversity that few-mode-fibers offer, with
      respect to single mode fiber back-to-back performance, significant OSNR gains of
      3.2, 4.1, 4.9, and 6.8 dB at the hard-decision forward error correcting limit are
      demonstrated for DP-QPSK 8, 16 and 32 QAM, respectively. Furthermore, by
      employing 4D constellations, 6 * 28Gbaud 128 set partitioned quadrature amplitude
      modulation is shown to outperform conventional 8 QAM transmission performance,
      whilst carrying an additional 0.5 bit/symbol. 

PMID- 25835900
TI  - Role of the mirror's reflectivity in forward-pumped random fiber laser.
AB  - In this paper, we thoroughly analyze the role of the point reflector's
      reflectivity in the performance of forward-pumped random fiber laser, in both the
      long- and short-cavity cases. The results show that the power performance is
      sensitive to the small reflection added on the pump side of the fiber end,
      whereas both the power distribution and threshold tend to be stable when the
      reflectivity reaches a relatively high level (>0.4). Moreover, for the short
      cavity case (e.g. 500m), the maximum achievable 1st-oder random lasing output can
      even increase when the reflectivity decreases from 0.9 to 0.01, due to the
      different lasing power distributions with different reflectivity values. This
      work reveals a new and unique property of random fiber lasers and provides
      insights into their design for the applications such as distributed amplification
      and high power sources. 

PMID- 25835901
TI  - Tailored surface birefringence by femtosecond laser assisted wet etching.
AB  - Surface texturing is demonstrated by the combination of wet etching and ultrafast
      laser nanostructuring of silica glass. Using potassium hydroxide (KOH) at room
      temperature as an etchant of laser modified glass, we show the polarization
      dependent linear increase in retardance reaching a threefold value within 25
      hours. The dispersion control of birefringence by the etching procedure led to
      achromatic behaviour over the entire visible spectral range. The mechanism of
      enhanced KOH etching selectivity after femtosecond laser exposure is discussed
      and correlated to the formation of various laser-induced defects, such as silicon
      rich oxygen deficiency and color centers. 

PMID- 25835902
TI  - Mode coupling at connectors in mode-division multiplexed transmission over few
      mode fiber.
AB  - In mode-division multiplexed (MDM) transmission systems, mode coupling is
      responsible for inter-modal crosstalk. We consider the transmission of modulated
      signals over a few-mode fiber (FMF) having low mode coupling and large
      differential mode group delay in the presence of a non-ideal fiber connection
      responsible for extra mode coupling. In this context, we first analytically
      derive the coupling matrix of the multimode connector and we numerically study
      the dependence of the matrix coefficients as a function of the butt-joint
      connection characteristics. The numerical results are then validated through an
      experiment with a five-mode setup. Finally, through numerical simulations, we
      assess the impact of the connector on the signal quality investigating different
      receiver digital signal processing (DSP) schemes. 

PMID- 25835903
TI  - Diffusive random laser modes under a spatiotemporal scope.
AB  - At present the prediction and characterization of the emission output of a
      diffusive random laser remains a challenge, despite the variety of investigated
      materials and theoretical interpretations given up to now. Here, a new mode
      selection method, based on spatial filtering and ultrafast detection, which
      allows to separate individual lasing modes and follow their temporal evolution is
      presented. In particular, the work explores the random laser behavior of a ground
      powder of an organic-inorganic hybrid compound based on Rhodamine B incorporated
      into a di-ureasil host. The experimental approach gives direct access to the mode
      structure and dynamics, shows clear modal relaxation oscillations, and
      illustrates the lasing modes stochastic behavior of this diffusive scattering
      system. The effect of the excitation energy on its modal density is also
      investigated. Finally, imaging measurements reveal the dominant role of diffusion
      over amplification processes in this kind of unconventional lasers. 

PMID- 25835904
TI  - Tb/s physical random bit generation with bandwidth-enhanced chaos in three
      cascaded semiconductor lasers.
AB  - We experimentally demonstrate fast physical random bit generation from bandwidth
      enhanced chaos by using three-cascaded semiconductor lasers. The bandwidth
      enhanced chaos is obtained with the standard bandwidth of 35.2 GHz, the effective
      bandwidth of 26.0 GHz and the flatness of 5.6 dB, whose waveform is used for
      random bit generation. Two schemes of single-bit and multi-bit extraction methods
      for random bit generation are carried out to evaluate the entropy rate and the
      maximum random bit generation rate. For single-bit generation, the generation
      rate at 20 Gb/s is obtained for physical random bit sequences. For multi-bit
      generation, the maximum generation rate at 1.2 Tb/s ( = 100 GS/s * 6 bits * 2
      data) is equivalently achieved for physical random bit sequences whose randomness
      is verified by using both NIST Special Publication 800-22 and TestU01. 

PMID- 25835905
TI  - 500 kHz OPCPA delivering tunable sub-20 fs pulses with 15 W average power based
      on an all-ytterbium laser.
AB  - An optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier fully based on Yb lasers at 500 kHz
      is described. Passive optical-synchronization is achieved between a fiber laser
      pumped white-light and a 515 nm pump produced with a 200 W picosecond Yb:YAG
      InnoSlab amplifier. An output power up to 19.7 W with long-term stability of 0.3%
      is demonstrated for wavelength tunable pulses between 680 nm and 900 nm and
      spectral stability of 0.2%; 16.5 W can be achieved with a bandwidth supporting
      5.4 fs pulses. We demonstrate compression of 30 uJ pulses to sub-20 fs duration
      with a prism compressor, suitable for high harmonic generation. 

PMID- 25835906
TI  - Observation of focal point shift in solid immersion mirror.
AB  - Focal point shift in a solid immersion mirror of a high numerical-aperture is
      experimentally demonstrated with a scanning near-field optical microscope. The
      solid immersion mirror focuses light by a two-dimensional parabolic reflective
      surface integrated in a planar waveguide. The focal point shifts inward along the
      optical axis for metallized surface. The amount of shift from its geometrical
      node depends on the wavelength of the incident light and is determined to be
      roughly one-fifth of the wavelength. 

PMID- 25835907
TI  - Influence of Stark splitting levels on the lasing performance of Yb(3+) in
      phosphate and fluorophosphate glasses.
AB  - Lasing properties have been investigated for Yb(3+) doped glasses with similar
      emission cross sections (sigma(emi)) and lifetime while possessing different
      Stark levels. Narrow Stark splitting of Yb(3+)-phosphate glass is responsible for
      severe heat generation, narrow emission band and much smaller sigma(emi) at
      lasing wavelength, making Yb(3+)-phosphate glass unsuccessful to achieve laser
      output, whereas 1.166W cw laser was obtained in Yb(3+)-fluorophosphate (FP) glass
      with broader Stark splitting. Analysis on laser system levels reveals that under
      room temperature, Yb(3+) laser is quasi-3.13-level in phosphate glass and quasi
      3.36-level in FP glass. These demonstrations suggest that unless the Stark
      splitting is enlarged, conventional Yb(3+)-phosphate glass is not a good gain
      medium for bulk Yb(3+)-laser.

PMID- 25835908
TI  - Simultaneous measurement of NO and NO(2) by dual-wavelength quantum cascade laser
      spectroscopy.
AB  - The concept of a multi-wavelength quantum cascade laser emitting at two or more
      spectrally well-separated wavelengths is highly appealing for applied
      spectroscopy, as it allows detecting several species with compact and cost
      efficient optical setups. Here we present a practical realization of such a dual
      wavelength setup, which is based on a room-temperature quantum cascade laser
      emitting single-mode at 1600 cm<sup>-1</sup> and 1900 cm<sup>-1</sup> and is thus
      well-suited for simultaneous NO and NO<sub>2</sub> detection. Operated in a time
      division multiplexed mode, our spectrometer reaches detection limits of 0.5 and
      1.5 ppb for NO<sub>2</sub> and NO, respectively. The performance of the system is
      validated against the well-established chemiluminescence detection while
      measuring the NOx emissions on an automotive test-bench, as well as upon
      monitoring the pollution at a suburban site. 

PMID- 25835909
TI  - High temperature operation of far infrared (lambda ~20 um) InAs/AlSb quantum
      cascade lasers with dielectric waveguide.
AB  - We demonstrate the high temperature operation, up to 80 degrees C, of quantum
      cascade lasers emitting at a wavelength of 20 um. The lasers are based on the
      InAs/AlSb materials and take benefit of a low loss plasmon-enhanced dielectric
      waveguide. The waveguide consists of doped InAs cladding layers and low-doped
      InAs spacers. For 2.9-mm-long devices, the threshold current density is 4.3
      kA/cm<sup>2</sup> and the measured peak output power is 7 mW at room temperature.
      The cavity length dependence of the threshold currents also indicates that very
      large optical gain is achieved and effectively overcome the strong free carrier
      absorption. 

PMID- 25835910
TI  - Microlensless interdigitated photoconductive terahertz emitters.
AB  - We report here fabrication of interdigitated photoconductive antenna (iPCA)
      terahertz (THz) emitters based on plasmonic electrode design. Novel design of
      this iPCA enables it to work without microlens array focusing, which is otherwise
      required for photo excitation of selective photoconductive regions to avoid the
      destructive interference of emitted THz radiation from oppositely biased regions.
      Benefit of iPCA over single active region PCA is, photo excitation can be done at
      larger area hence avoiding the saturation effect at higher optical excitation
      density. The emitted THz radiation power from plasmonic-iPCAs is ~2 times more
      than the single active region plasmonic PCA at 200 mW optical excitation, which
      will further increase at higher optical powers. This design is expected to reduce
      fabrication cost of photoconductive THz sources and detectors. 

PMID- 25835911
TI  - Electro-optical switching at 1550 nm using a two-state GeSe phase-change layer.
AB  - New designs for electro-optical free-space and waveguided 2 x 2 switches are
      presented and analyzed at the 1.55 MUm telecoms wavelength. The proposed devices
      employ a ~10 nm film of GeSe that is electrically actuated to transition the
      layer forth-and-back from the amorphous to the crystal phase, yielding a switch
      with two self-sustaining states. This phase change material was selected for its
      very low absorption loss at the operation wavelength, along with its electro
      refraction Deltan ~0.6. All switches are cascadeable into N x M devices. The free
      space prism-shaped structures use III-V prism material to match the GeSe crystal
      index. The Si/GeSe/Si "active waveguides" are quite suitable for directional
      coupler switches as well as Mach-Zehnder devices-all of which have an active
      length 16x less than that in the free-carrier art. 

PMID- 25835912
TI  - Optical injection locking to optical frequency combs for superchannel coherent
      detection.
AB  - Optical injection locking characteristics of a distributed feedback laser are
      experimentally investigated for multiple-wavelength injection. Using a three
      wavelength source generated by intensity modulation as the injected signal, it
      was found that the presence of adjacent lines could cause disturbance to the
      locking if a minimum guard band between the respective locking limits of two
      adjacent lines was not observed. With a 21-line comb with 20 GHz line spacing as
      the injected signal, the injection locking range was observed to become
      asymmetrical in relation to the laser free-running frequency under high-power
      injection conditions and was found to be dependent on whether the laser was
      locked to lines located at centre and or edges of the comb. Finally, the use of
      the injection locked laser as a seed laser for generating a local oscillator (LO)
      comb for superchannel coherent detection was investigated and the phase error
      between the input and LO combs analysed. 

PMID- 25835913
TI  - Optical wireless transmission of 405 nm, 1.45 Gbit/s optical IM/DD-OFDM signals
      through a 4.8 m underwater channel.
AB  - In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate wireless transmission of optical
      intensity modulation/direct detection-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
      (IM/DD-OFDM) signals in an underwater channel using a field programmable gate
      array based real-time transmitter. The real-time transmission of a 405 nm 1.45
      Gbit/s optical OFDM signal through a 4.8 m underwater channel with an error
      vector magnitude of approximately 10% was successfully achieved. 

PMID- 25835914
TI  - High directional backlight using an integrated light guide plate.
AB  - A high directional backlight system that combined a composite microstructure
      light guide plate (LGP) with a collimated light source was proposed for eco
      displays. The collimated planar light was expanded from a point light source and
      guided towards the normal direction by utilizing the micro-prism array on LGP.
      High uniformity of spatial luminous, 91%, with a narrow viewing cone of +/- 4
      degrees  can be achieved without additional optical films. Moreover, compared to
      the conventional backlight, only 5% of power consumption was needed to keep the
      same luminance, hence, the optical efficiency increased by a factor of 1.47. 

PMID- 25835915
TI  - Surface profiling of X-ray mirrors for shaping focused beams.
AB  - Grazing incidence mirrors are a standard optic for focusing X-rays. Active
      mirrors, whose surface profile can be finely adjusted, allow control of beam
      shape and size at the sample. However, progress towards their routine use for
      beam shaping has been hampered by the strong striations in reflected beams away
      from the focal plane. Re-entrant (partly concave and partly convex) surface
      modifications are proposed for shaping X-ray beams to a top-hat in the focal
      plane while reducing the striations caused by unavoidable polishing errors. A
      method for constructing such surfaces with continuous height and slope (but only
      piecewise continuous curvature) will be provided. Ray tracing and wave
      propagation calculations confirm its effectiveness. A mirror system is proposed
      allowing vertical beam sizes in the range 0.5 to 10MUm. A prototype will be
      fabricated and is expected to have applications on many synchrotron X-ray
      beamlines. 

PMID- 25835916
TI  - Fan-in/out polymer optical waveguide for a multicore fiber fabricated using the
      mosquito method.
AB  - A fan-in/out polymer optical waveguide with 25-MUm cores and 40-MUm interchannel
      pitch is fabricated for a multimode multicore fiber using a microdispenser. We
      design a fan-in/out structure to which the Mosquito method is applicable since
      the Mosquito method is capable of drawing a circular graded-index core three
      dimensionally. Then, we experimentally fabricate a 10-cm long fan-in/out polymer
      waveguide with seven cores, which is expected to connect a multicore fiber and a
      fiber ribbon. A minimum insertion loss of 5.26 dB at 850-nm wavelength for a 10
      cm long fan-in/out waveguide is experimentally observed. Causes of variation in
      the insertion loss and interchannel pitch are discussed. 

PMID- 25835918
TI  - Advanced in situ metrology for x-ray beam shaping with super precision.
AB  - We report a novel method for in situ metrology of an X-ray bimorph mirror by
      using the speckle scanning technique. Both the focusing beam and the "tophat"
      defocussed beam have been generated by optimizing the bimorph mirror in a single
      iteration. Importantly, we have demonstrated that the angular sensitivity for
      measuring the slope error of an optical surface can reach accuracy in the range
      of two nanoradians. When compared with conventional ex-situ metrology techniques,
      the method enables a substantial increase of around two orders of magnitude in
      the angular sensitivity and opens the way to a previously inaccessible region of
      slope error measurement. Such a super precision metrology technique will be
      beneficial for both the manufacture of polished mirrors and the optimization of
      beam shaping. 

PMID- 25835917
TI  - On the dispersion management of fluorite whispering-gallery mode resonators for
      Kerr optical frequency comb generation in the telecom and mid-infrared range.
AB  - Optical whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators have been very attracting
      platforms for versatile Kerr frequency comb generations. We report a systematic
      study on the material dispersion of various optical materials that are capable of
      supporting quality factors above 10<sup>9</sup>. Using an analytical
      approximation of WGM resonant frequencies in disk resonators, we investigate the
      effect of the geometry and transverse mode order on the total group-velocity
      dispersion (GVD). We demonstrate that the major radii and the radial mode indices
      play an important role in tailoring the GVD of WGM resonators. In particular, our
      study shows that in WGM disk-resonators, the polar families of modes have very
      similar GVD, while the radial families of modes feature dispersion values that
      can differ by up to several orders of magnitude. The effect of these giant
      dispersion shifts are experimentally evidenced in Kerr comb generation with
      magnesium fluoride. From a more general perspective, this critical feature
      enables to push the zero-dispersion wavelength of fluorite crystals towards the
      mid-infrared (mid-IR) range, thereby allowing for efficient Kerr comb generation
      in that spectral range. We show that barium fluoride is the most interesting
      crystal in this regard, due to its zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW) at 1.93 MUm
      and an optimal dispersion profile in the mid-IR regime. We expect our results to
      facilitate the design of different platforms for Kerr frequency comb generations
      in both telecommunication and mid-IR spectral ranges. 

PMID- 25835919
TI  - Nonlinear coupling between a nitrogen-vacancy-center ensemble and a
      superconducting qubit.
AB  - By exchange of virtual microwave photon induced by a transmission line resonator,
      the nonlinear interaction between a nitrogen-vacancy-center ensemble (NVE) and a
      superconducting charge qubit is achieved in circuit quantum electrodynamics,
      where the nonlinear coupling results from the second order of the coupling
      between the magnetic field of the transmission line resonator and the charge
      qubit. In our case, the nonlinear coupling can be much enhanced by a factor of
      the total spin number in the NVE. As an application, we present a potentially
      practical scheme to realize the squeezing of the NVE using the nonlinear
      coupling, which is within reach of the currently available technology. 

PMID- 25835920
TI  - Towards a 100 Gb/s visible light wireless access network.
AB  - Potential visible light communication (VLC) data rates at over 10 Gb/s have been
      recently demonstrated using light emitting diodes (LEDs). The disadvantage is,
      LEDs have an inherent trade-off between optical efficiency and bandwidth.
      Consequently, laser diodes (LDs) can be considered as a very promising
      alternative for better utilization of the visible light spectrum for
      communication purposes. This work investigates the communication capabilities of
      off-the-shelf LDs in a number of scenarios with illumination constraints. The
      results indicate that optical wireless access data rates in the excess of 100
      Gb/s are possible at standard indoor illumination levels. 

PMID- 25835921
TI  - Blue-detuned optical ring trap for Bose-Einstein condensates based on conical
      refraction.
AB  - We present a novel approach for the optical manipulation of neutral atoms in
      annular light structures produced by the phenomenon of conical refraction
      occurring in biaxial optical crystals. For a beam focused to a plane behind the
      crystal, the focal plane exhibits two concentric bright rings enclosing a ring of
      null intensity called the Poggendorff ring. We demonstrate both theoretically and
      experimentally that the Poggendorff dark ring of conical refraction is confined
      in three dimensions by regions of higher intensity. We derive the positions of
      the confining intensity maxima and minima and discuss the application of the
      Poggendorff ring for trapping ultra-cold atoms using the repulsive dipole force
      of blue-detuned light. We give analytical expressions for the trapping
      frequencies and potential depths along both the radial and the axial directions.
      Finally, we present realistic numerical simulations of the dynamics of a
      <sup>87</sup>Rb Bose-Einstein condensate trapped inside the Poggendorff ring
      which are in good agreement with corresponding experimental results. 

PMID- 25835922
TI  - Quantum cascade laser combs: effects of modulation and dispersion.
AB  - Frequency comb formation in quantum cascade lasers is studied theoretically using
      a Maxwell-Bloch formalism based on a modal decomposition, where dispersion is
      considered. In the mid-infrared, comb formation persists in the presence of weak
      cavity dispersion (500 fs<sup>2</sup> mm<sup>-1</sup>) but disappears when much
      larger values are used (30'000 fs<sup>2</sup> mm<sup>-1</sup>). Active modulation
      at the round-trip frequency is found to induce mode-locking in THz devices, where
      the upper state lifetime is in the tens of picoseconds. Our results show that
      mode-locking based on four-wave mixing in broadband gain, low dispersion cavities
      is the most promising way of achieving broadband quantum cascade laser frequency
      combs. 

PMID- 25835923
TI  - Monte Carlo analysis of the terahertz difference frequency generation
      susceptibility in quantum cascade laser structures.
AB  - Based on self-consistent ensemble Monte Carlo simulations coupled to the optical
      field dynamics, we investigate the giant nonlinear susceptibility giving rise to
      terahertz difference frequency generation in quantum cascade laser structures.
      Specifically, the dependence on temperature, bias voltage and frequency is
      considered. It is shown that the optical nonlinearity is temperature insensitive
      and covers a broad spectral range, as required for widely tunable room
      temperature terahertz sources. The obtained results are consistent with available
      experimental data. 

PMID- 25835924
TI  - Terahertz dual-band metamaterial absorber based on graphene/MgF(2) multilayer
      structures.
AB  - We design an ultra-thin terahertz metamaterial absorber based on graphene/MgF(2)
      multilayer stacking unit cells arrayed on an Au film plane and theoretically
      demonstrate a dual-band total absorption effect. Due to strong anisotropic
      permittivity, the graphene/MgF(2) multilayer unit cells possess a hyperbolic
      dispersion. The strong electric and magnetic dipole resonances between unit cells
      make the impedance of the absorber match to that of the free space, which induces
      two total absorption peaks in terahertz range. These absorption peaks are
      insensitive to the polarization and nearly omnidirectional for the incident
      angle. But the absorption intensity and frequency depend on material and
      geometric parameters of the multilayer structure. The absorbed electromagnetic
      waves are finally converted into heat and, as a result, the absorber shows a good
      nanosecond photothermal effect.

PMID- 25835925
TI  - Highly efficient and perfectly vertical chip-to-fiber dual-layer grating coupler.
AB  - A novel high-efficiency silicon-chip-to-fiber grating coupler is investigated
      here. By introducing a dual layer grating structure with an inter-layer lateral
      shift to mimic 45 degrees  tilted mirror behavior, perfectly vertical coupling is
      successfully demonstrated. Our numerical results show that a peak silicon-chip-to
      fiber coupling efficiency about 70% is possible near 1550 nm. Meanwhile, for the
      entire telecom C-band, i.e. wavelengths from 1530 nm to 1565 nm, the coupling
      efficiency is > 50% and the back reflection is less than < 1%. Our proposed high
      performance silicon perfectly vertical coupling structure is suitable for
      interfacing with multi-core fiber platform, which may play an important role in
      the future CMOS photonic integration technology. 

PMID- 25835926
TI  - Modeling the anisotropic electro-optic interaction in hybrid silicon
      ferroelectric optical modulator.
AB  - We present a numerical method to accurately model the electro-optic interaction
      in anisotropic materials. Specifically, we combine a full-vectorial finite
      difference optical mode solver with a radio-frequency solver to analyze the
      overlap between optical modes and applied electric field. This technique enables
      a comprehensive understanding on how electro-optic effects modify individual
      elements in the permittivity tensor of a material. We demonstrate the interest of
      this approach by designing a modulator that leverages the Pockels effect in a
      hybrid silicon-BaTiO<sub>3</sub> slot waveguide. Optimized optical confinement in
      the active BaTiO<sub>3</sub> layer as well as design of travelling-wave index
      matched electrodes is presented. Most importantly, we show that the overall
      electro-optic modulation is largely governed by off-diagonal elements in the
      permittivity tensor. As most of active electro-optic materials are anisotropic,
      this method paves the way to better understand the physics of electro-optic
      effects and to improve optical modulators. 

PMID- 25835927
TI  - Role of antenna modes and field enhancement in second harmonic generation from
      dipole nanoantennas.
AB  - We study optical second harmonic generation from metallic dipole antennas with
      narrow gaps. Enhancement of the fundamental-frequency field in the gap region
      plays a marginal role on conversion efficiency. In the symmetric configuration,
      i.e., with the gap located at the center of the antenna axis, reducing gap size
      induces a significant red-shift of the maximum conversion efficiency peak. Either
      enhancement or inhibition of second-harmonic emission may be observed as gap size
      is decreased, depending on the antenna mode excited at the harmonic frequency.
      The second-harmonic signal is extremely sensitive to the asymmetry introduced by
      gap's displacements with respect to the antenna center. In this situation, second
      harmonic light can couple to all the available antenna modes. We perform a
      multipolar analysis that allows engineering the far-field SH emission and find
      that the interaction with quasi-odd-symmetry modes generates radiation patterns
      with a strong dipolar component. 

PMID- 25835928
TI  - Quantitative measurement of binary liquid distributions using multiple-tracer x
      ray fluorescence and radiography.
AB  - The complex geometry and large index-of-refraction gradients that occur near the
      point of impingement of binary liquid jets present a challenging environment for
      optical interrogation. A simultaneous quadruple-tracer x-ray fluorescence and
      line-of-sight radiography technique is proposed as a means of distinguishing and
      quantifying individual liquid component distributions prior to, during, and after
      jet impact. Two different pairs of fluorescence tracers are seeded into each
      liquid stream to maximize their attenuation ratio for reabsorption correction and
      differentiation of the two fluids during mixing. This approach for instantaneous
      correction of x-ray fluorescence reabsorption is compared with a more time
      intensive approach of using stereographic reconstruction of x-ray attenuation
      along multiple lines of sight. The proposed methodology addresses the need for a
      quantitative measurement technique capable of interrogating optically complex,
      near-field liquid distributions in many mixing systems of practical interest
      involving two or more liquid streams. 

PMID- 25835929
TI  - Acceleration of computer-generated holograms using tilted wavefront recording
      plane method.
AB  - Computer Generated Holograms (CGH) are generated on computers; however, a great
      deal of computational power is required because the quality of the image is
      proportional to the number of point light sources of a 3D object. The Wavefront
      Recording Plane (WRP) method is an algorithm that enables reduction of the amount
      of calculations required. However, the WRP method also has a defect; it is not
      effective in the case of a 3D object with a deep structure. In this study, we
      propose two improved WRP methods: "Least Square Tilted WRP method" and "RANSAC
      Multi-Tilted WRP method." 

PMID- 25835930
TI  - Anisotropic model for the fabrication of annealed and reverse proton exchanged
      waveguides in congruent lithium niobate.
AB  - An anisotropic model for the fabrication of annealed and reverse proton exchange
      waveguides in lithium niobate is presented. We characterized the anisotropic
      diffusion properties of proton exchange, annealing and reverse proton exchange in
      Z-cut and X-cut substrates using planar waveguides. Using this model we
      fabricated high quality channel waveguides with propagation losses as low as
      0.086 dB/cm and a coupling efficiency with optical fiber of 90% at 1550 nm. The
      splitting ratio of a set of directional couplers is predicted with an accuracy of
      +/- 0.06. 

PMID- 25835931
TI  - Characterization of the frequency stability of an optical frequency standard at
      1.39 um based upon noise-immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular
      spectroscopy.
AB  - Frequency fluctuations of an optical frequency standard at 1.39 um have been
      measured by means of a highly-sensitive optical frequency discriminator based on
      the fringe-side transmission of a high finesse optical resonator. Built on a
      Zerodur spacer, the optical resonator exhibits a finesse of 5500 and a cavity
      mode width of about 120 kHz. The optical frequency standard consists of an
      extended-cavity diode laser that is tightly stabilized against the center of a
      sub-Doppler H(2) (18)O line, this latter being detected by means of noise-immune
      cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy. The emission linewidth
      has been carefully determined from the frequency-noise power spectral density by
      using a rather simple approximation, known as beta-line approach, as well as the
      exact method based on the autocorrelation function of the laser light field. It
      turns out that the linewidth of the optical frequency standard amounts to about 7
      kHz (full width at half maximum) for an observation time of 1 ms. Compared to the
      free-running laser, the measured width corresponds to a line narrowing by a
      factor of ~220.

PMID- 25835932
TI  - Observation of photonic spin Hall effect with phase singularity at dielectric
      metasurfaces.
AB  - Observation of photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) near the phase singularity at
      dielectric metasurfaces is presented. The structured metasurface works as a space
      variant Pancharatnam-Berry phase element and produces a vortex beam with phase
      singularity. The dynamical vortex phase is introduced to eliminate or enhance the
      phase singularity, thus realizing the manipulation of spin-dependent Pancharatnam
      Berry phase. The spin-orbit coupling near the singularity of the Pancharatnam
      Berry phase leads to the observation of the photonic SHE which manifests itself
      as spin-dependent splitting. The underlying mechanism is significantly different
      from previously reported cases. It thereby provides an alternative way to
      manipulate the spin states of photons. 

PMID- 25835933
TI  - Robust fast direct integral equation solver for quasi-periodic scattering
      problems with a large number of layers.
AB  - We present a new boundary integral formulation for time-harmonic wave diffraction
      from two-dimensional structures with many layers of arbitrary periodic shape,
      such as multilayer dielectric gratings in TM polarization. Our scheme is robust
      at all scattering parameters, unlike the conventional quasi-periodic Green's
      function method which fails whenever any of the layers approaches a Wood anomaly.
      We achieve this by a decomposition into near- and far-field contributions. The
      former uses the free-space Green's function in a second-kind integral equation on
      one period of the material interfaces and their immediate left and right
      neighbors; the latter uses proxy point sources and small least-squares solves
      (Schur complements) to represent the remaining contribution from distant copies.
      By using high-order discretization on interfaces (including those with corners),
      the number of unknowns per layer is kept small. We achieve overall linear
      complexity in the number of layers, by direct solution of the resulting block
      tridiagonal system. For device characterization we present an efficient method to
      sweep over multiple incident angles, and show a 25* speedup over solving each
      angle independently. We solve the scattering from a 1000-layer structure with 3 *
      10<sup>5</sup> unknowns to 9-digit accuracy in 2.5 minutes on a desktop
      workstation. 

PMID- 25835934
TI  - Optimum heterodyning angle for heterodyned optical Kerr gated ballistic imaging.
AB  - We perform heterodyned optical Kerr gated (HOKG) ballistic imaging of an object
      hidden behind a turbid medium using a femtosecond laser. The experimental results
      show that an optimum heterodyning angle should be selected to acquire the highest
      spatial resolution of the HOKG imaging system. The optimum heterodyning angle
      depends on the scattering parameters of the turbid media, and it decreases with
      increasing optical density or decreasing thickness of the turbid medium. 

PMID- 25835935
TI  - Performance analysis of communication links based on VCSEL and silicon photonics
      technology for high-capacity data-intensive scenario.
AB  - To face the increased demand for bandwidth, cost-effectiveness and simplicity of
      future Ethernet data communications, a comparison between two different solutions
      based on directly-modulated VCSEL sources and Silicon Photonics technologies is
      carried out. Also by exploiting 4-PAM modulation, the transmission of 50-Gb/s and
      beyond capacity per channel is analyzed by means of BER performance. Applications
      for optical backplane, very short reach and in case of client-optics networks and
      intra and inter massive data centers communications (up to 10 km) are taken into
      account. A comparative analysis based on the power consumption is also proposed. 

PMID- 25835936
TI  - Optimized SNR simultaneous multispectral photoacoustic imaging with laser diodes.
AB  - Multispectral photoacoustic laser diode systems have multiple wavelengths
      available simultaneously. In addition to multispectral imaging, this can be
      exploited to increase the signal to noise ratio (SNR) by combining these
      wavelengths to form a combined image, but at the loss of spectral information.
      Here, a novel signal processing concept is introduced, which optimizes the SNR in
      the reconstructions of single wavelength data from combined acquisitions while
      simultaneously permitting to obtain a higher SNR fused image from the same data.
      The concept is derived for an arbitrary number of wavelengths; it is also
      applicable at low pulse repetition frequencies. The concept is applied in an
      experiment using two wavelengths, verifying the theoretical results. 

PMID- 25835937
TI  - Tracking radiometric responsivity of optical sensors without on-board calibration
      systems-case of the Chinese HJ-1A/1B CCD sensors.
AB  - The radiometric stability of satellite sensors is crucial for generating highly
      consistent remote sensing measurements and products. We have presented a
      radiometric responsivity tracking method designed especially for optical sensors
      without on-board calibration systems. Using a temporally stable desert site with
      high reflectance, the sensor responsivity was simulated using the Second
      Simulation of the Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum (6S) radiative transfer
      model (RTM) with information from validated MODIS atmospheric data. Next,
      radiometric responsivity drifting was identified using a linear regression of the
      time series bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) normalized
      coefficients. The proposed method was applied to Chinese HJ-1A/1B charge-coupled
      device (CCD) sensors, which have been on-orbit operations for more than 5 years
      without continuous assessment of their radiometric performance. Results from the
      Dunhuang desert site between 2008 and 2013 indicated that the CCD sensors
      degraded at various rates, with the most significant degradation occurring in the
      blue bands, ranging from 2.8% to 4.2% yr<sup>-1</sup>. The red bands were more
      stable, with a degradation rate of 0.7-3.1% yr<sup>-1</sup>. A cross-sensor
      comparison revealed the least degradation for the HJ-1A CCD1 (blue: 2.8%; green:
      2.8%; red: 0.7%; and NIR: 0.9% yr<sup>-1</sup>), whereas the degradation of HJ-1B
      CCD1 was most pronounced (blue: 3.5%; green: 4.1%; red: 2.3%; and NIR: 3.4%
      yr<sup>-1</sup>). The uncertainties of the method were evaluated theoretically
      based on the propagation of uncertainties from all possible sources of the RT
      simulations. In addition, a cross comparison with matchup ground-based absolute
      calibration results was conducted. The comparison demonstrated that the method
      was useful for continuously monitoring the radiometric performance of remote
      sensors, such as HJ-1A/1B CCD and GaoFen (GF) series (China's latest high
      definition Earth observation satellite), and indicated the potential use of the
      method for high-precision absolute calibration. 

PMID- 25835938
TI  - Free-space propagation of optical coherence lattices and periodicity reciprocity.
AB  - We examine paraxial propagation of recently introduced optical coherence lattices
      in free space and demonstrate a novel phenomenon of periodicity reciprocity
      between their intensity and coherence properties. The periodicity reciprocity
      arises because an aperiodic source intensity profile of an optical coherence
      lattice evolves into a lattice-like far-field profile, while the periodic
      spectral degree of coherence at the source becomes aperiodic on free-space
      propagation. We discuss how the discovered periodicity reciprocity can make
      optical coherence lattices attractive for robust free-space optical
      communications. 

PMID- 25835939
TI  - Feedback-controlled Raman dissipative solitons in a fiber laser.
AB  - Energy of chirped dissipative solitons (DS) generated in fiber lasers may exceed
      a threshold of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) leading to formation of a noisy
      Raman pulse (RP). As we demonstrated recently, a feedback loop providing re
      injection of the Raman pulse into the laser cavity can form a Raman dissipative
      soliton (RDS) with similar characteristics to those of the main dissipative
      soliton. Here, we present the results of feedback optimization of the generated
      RDS spectra. First experimental results of coherent combining of DS and RDS are
      also shown. 

PMID- 25835940
TI  - Large-scale fabrication of flexible metallic nanostructure pairs using
      interference ablation.
AB  - Paired one- and two-dimensional metallic nanostructures are created directly by
      exposing a thin gold film to the interference pattern between ultraviolet laser
      pulses, where the gold film is coated onto a soft substrate and is sandwiched by
      another soft slab. Metallic films in the bright fringes are melted and
      transformed into nanodroplets that are ejected onto the soft slab forming
      stretchable nanoisland structures. The pattern of the remaining films is
      coincident with the dark fringes. Thus, complementary metallic nanostructure
      pairs were fabricated using a single laser pulse. Fano resonance can be observed
      in the spectroscopic response of the fabricated nanostructures for TM and TE
      polarizations simultaneously. This nanofabrication technique may provide an
      annealing-free approach for the fabrication of flexible metallic nanostructures
      on a large scale and with low cost. 

PMID- 25835941
TI  - Non-invasive biopsy of doped-ions inside optical substrate by modified two-photon
      microscopy.
AB  - Doped-ion based optical elements play key roles in optical signal processes,
      including amplification, absorption, wavelength-filtering, lighting, and
      polarizing plate. Non-invasively mapping the spatial distribution of the ion
      concentrations in these optical elements is highly desirable either during the
      fabrication process or to determine their optical qualities. In this work, we
      applied modified two-photon fluorescence (m-TPF) microscopy to trace the ion
      distributions deep inside the optical elements. For demonstration purposes,
      polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer films inside polarizing plates are taken as an
      example, where the spatial distributions of Iodine-dyed ions were measured by the
      m-TPF microscope in a fast and non-invasive way. The durability of the polarizer
      films can be distinguished from the axial distribution of the Iodine-dyed ions,
      without the need to perform a biopsy. This proposed method and demonstrated
      results show great potential for monitoring the spatial distributions of doped
      ions in the optical elements quickly and non-destructively, which would be of
      great benefit in both scientific research and industrial applications. 

PMID- 25835942
TI  - A user-friendly two-color super-resolution localization microscope.
AB  - We report a robust two-color method for super-resolution localization microscopy.
      Two-dye combination of Alexa647 and Alexa750 in an imaging buffer containing COT
      and using TCEP as switching regent provides matched and balanced switching
      characteristics for both dyes, allowing simultaneous capture of both on a single
      camera. Active sample locking stabilizes sample with 1nm accuracy during imaging.
      With over 4,000 photons emitted from both dyes, two-color superresolution images
      with high-quality were obtained in a wide range of samples including cell
      cultures, tissue sections and yeast cells. 

PMID- 25835943
TI  - Testing the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution using Brownian particles.
AB  - We report on shot-noise limited measurements of the instantaneous velocity
      distribution of a Brownian particle. Our system consists of a single micron-sized
      glass sphere held in an optical tweezer in a liquid in equilibrium at room
      temperature. We provide a direct verification of a modified Maxwell-Boltzmann
      velocity distribution and modified energy equipartition theorem that account for
      the kinetic energy of the liquid displaced by the particle. Our measurements
      confirm the distribution over a dynamic range of more than six orders of
      magnitude in count-rate and five standard deviations in velocity. 

PMID- 25835944
TI  - Conservation planning for biodiversity and wilderness: a real-world example.
AB  - Several of the most important conservation prioritization approaches select
      markedly different areas at global and regional scales. They are designed to
      maximize a certain biodiversity dimension such as coverage of species in the case
      of hotspots and complementarity, or composite properties of ecosystems in the
      case of wilderness. Most comparisons between approaches have ignored the
      multidimensionality of biodiversity. We analyze here the results of two species
      based methodologies-hotspots and complementarity-and an ecosystem-based
      methodology-wilderness-at local scale. As zoning of protected areas can increase
      the effectiveness of conservation, we use the data employed for the management
      plan of the Peneda-Geres National Park in Portugal. We compare the approaches
      against four criteria: species representativeness, wilderness coverage, coverage
      of important areas for megafauna, and for regulating ecosystem services. Our
      results suggest that species- and ecosystem-based approaches select significantly
      different areas at local scale. Our results also show that no approach covers
      well all biodiversity dimensions. Species-based approaches cover species
      distribution better, while the ecosystem-based approach favors wilderness, areas
      important for megafauna, and for ecosystem services. Management actions
      addressing different dimensions of biodiversity have a potential for
      contradictory effects, social conflict, and ecosystem services trade-offs,
      especially in the context of current European biodiversity policies. However,
      biodiversity is multidimensional, and management and zoning at local level should
      reflect this aspect. The consideration of both species- and ecosystem-based
      approaches at local scale is necessary to achieve a wider range of conservation
      goals. 

PMID- 25835945
TI  - Improving ecological response monitoring of environmental flows.
AB  - Environmental flows are now an important restoration technique in flow-degraded
      rivers, and with the increasing public scrutiny of their effectiveness and value,
      the importance of undertaking scientifically robust monitoring is now even more
      critical. Many existing environmental flow monitoring programs have poorly
      defined objectives, nonjustified indicator choices, weak experimental designs,
      poor statistical strength, and often focus on outcomes from a single event. These
      negative attributes make them difficult to learn from. We provide practical
      recommendations that aim to improve the performance, scientific robustness, and
      defensibility of environmental flow monitoring programs. We draw on the
      literature and knowledge gained from working with stakeholders and managers to
      design, implement, and monitor a range of environmental flow types. We recommend
      that (1) environmental flow monitoring programs should be implemented within an
      adaptive management framework; (2) objectives of environmental flow programs
      should be well defined, attainable, and based on an agreed conceptual
      understanding of the system; (3) program and intervention targets should be
      attainable, measurable, and inform program objectives; (4) intervention
      monitoring programs should improve our understanding of flow-ecological responses
      and related conceptual models; (5) indicator selection should be based on
      conceptual models, objectives, and prioritization approaches; (6) appropriate
      monitoring designs and statistical tools should be used to measure and determine
      ecological response; (7) responses should be measured within timeframes that are
      relevant to the indicator(s); (8) watering events should be treated as replicates
      of a larger experiment; (9) environmental flow outcomes should be reported using
      a standard suite of metadata. Incorporating these attributes into future
      monitoring programs should ensure their outcomes are transferable and measured
      with high scientific credibility. 

PMID- 25835946
TI  - Farmer-managed natural regeneration enhances rural livelihoods in dryland west
      Africa.
AB  - Declining agricultural productivity, land clearance and climate change are
      compounding the vulnerability of already marginal rural populations in West
      Africa. 'Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration' (FMNR) is an approach to arable
      land restoration and reforestation that seeks to reconcile sustained food
      production, conservation of soils, and protection of biodiversity. It involves
      selecting and protecting the most vigorous stems regrowing from live stumps of
      felled trees, pruning off all other stems, and pollarding the chosen stems to
      grow into straight trunks. Despite widespread enthusiasm and application of FMNR
      by environmental management and development projects, to date, no research has
      provided a measure of the aggregate livelihood impact of community adoption of
      FMNR. This paper places FMNR in the context of other agroforestry initiatives,
      then seeks to quantify the value of livelihood outcomes of FMNR. We review
      published and unpublished evidence about the impacts of FMNR, and present a new
      case study that addresses gaps in the evidence-base. The case study focuses on a
      FMNR project in the district of Talensi in the semi-arid Upper East Region in
      Ghana. The case study employs a social return on investment analysis, which
      identifies proxy financial values for non-economic as well as economic benefits.
      The results demonstrate income and agricultural benefits, but also show that
      asset creation, increased consumption of wild resources, health improvements, and
      psycho-social benefits created more value in FMNR-adopting households during the
      period of the study than increases in income and agricultural yields. 

PMID- 25835947
TI  - Vagus nerve stimulation for partial seizures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a neuromodulatory treatment that is
      used as an adjunctive therapy for treating people with medically refractory
      epilepsy. VNS consists of chronic intermittent electrical stimulation of the
      vagus nerve, delivered by a programmable pulse generator. The majority of people
      given a diagnosis of epilepsy have a good prognosis, and their seizures will be
      controlled by treatment with a single antiepileptic drug (AED), but up to 20%-30%
      of patients will develop drug-resistant epilepsy, often requiring treatment with
      combinations of AEDs. The aim of this systematic review was to overview the
      current evidence for the efficacy and tolerability of vagus nerve stimulation
      when used as an adjunctive treatment for people with drug-resistant partial
      epilepsy. This is an updated version of a Cochrane review published in Issue 7,
      2010. OBJECTIVES: To determine:(1) The effects on seizures of VNS compared to
      controls e.g. high-level stimulation compared to low-level stimulation (presumed
      sub-therapeutic dose); and(2) The adverse effect profile of VNS compared to
      controls e.g. high-level stimulation compared to low-level stimulation. SEARCH
      METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Epilepsy Group's Specialised Register (23
      February 2015), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The
      Cochrane Library 23 February 2015), MEDLINE (1946 to 23 February 2015), SCOPUS
      (1823 to 23 February 2015), ClinicalTrials.gov (23 February 2015) and ICTRP (23
      February 2015). No language restrictions were imposed. SELECTION CRITERIA: The
      following study designs were eligible for inclusion: randomised, double-blind,
      parallel or crossover studies, controlled trials of VNS as add-on treatment
      comparing high and low stimulation paradigms (including three different
      stimulation paradigms - duty cycle: rapid, mid and slow) and VNS stimulation
      versus no stimulation or a different intervention. Eligible participants were
      adults or children with drug-resistant partial seizures not eligible for surgery
      or who failed surgery. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors
      independently selected trials for inclusion and extracted data. The following
      outcomes were assessed: (a) 50% or greater reduction in total seizure frequency;
      (b) treatment withdrawal (any reason); (c) adverse effects; (d) quality of life;
      (e) cognition; (f) mood. Primary analyses were intention-to-treat. Sensitivity
      best and worst case analyses were also undertaken to account for missing outcome
      data. Pooled Risk Ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% Cl) were
      estimated for the primary outcomes of seizure frequency and treatment withdrawal.
      For adverse effects, pooled RRs and 99% CI's were calculated. MAIN RESULTS: Five
      trials recruited a total of 439 participants and between them compared different
      types of VNS stimulation therapy. Baseline phase ranged from 4 to 12 weeks and
      double-blind treatment phases from 12 to 20 weeks in the five trials. Overall,
      two studies were rated as having a low risk of bias and three had an unclear risk
      of bias due to lack of reported information around study design. Effective
      blinding of studies of VNS is difficult due to the frequency of stimulation
      related side effects such as voice alteration; this may limit the validity of the
      observed treatment effects. Four trials compared high frequency stimulation to
      low frequency stimulation and were included in quantitative syntheses (meta
      analyses).The overall risk ratio (95% CI) for 50% or greater reduction in seizure
      frequency across all studies was 1.73 (1.13 to 2.64) showing that high frequency
      VNS was over one and a half times more effective than low frequency VNS. For this
      outcome, we rated the evidence as being moderate in quality due to incomplete
      outcome data in one included study; however results did not vary substantially
      and remained statistically significant for both the best and worst case
      scenarios. The risk ratio (RR) for treatment withdrawal was 2.56 (0.51 to 12.71),
      however evidence for this outcome was rated as low quality due to imprecision of
      the result and incomplete outcome data in one included study. The RR of adverse
      effects were as follows: (a) voice alteration and hoarseness 2.17 (99% CI 1.49 to
      3.17); (b) cough 1.09 (99% CI 0.74 to 1.62); (c) dyspnea 2.45 (99% CI 1.07 to
      5.60); (d) pain 1.01 (99% CI 0.60 to 1.68); (e) paresthesia 0.78 (99% CI 0.39 to
      1.53); (f) nausea 0.89 (99% CI 0.42 to 1.90); (g) headache 0.90 (99% CI 0.48 to
      1.69); evidence of adverse effects was rated as moderate to low quality due to
      imprecision of the result and/or incomplete outcome data in one included study.
      No important heterogeneity between studies was found for any of the outcomes.
      AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: VNS for partial seizures appears to be an effective and
      well tolerated treatment in 439 included participants from five trials. Results
      of the overall efficacy analysis show that VNS stimulation using the high
      stimulation paradigm was significantly better than low stimulation in reducing
      frequency of seizures. Results for the outcome "withdrawal of allocated
      treatment" suggest that VNS is well tolerated as withdrawals were rare. No
      significant difference was found in withdrawal rates between the high and low
      stimulation groups, however limited information was available from the evidence
      included in this review so important differences between high and low stimulation
      cannot be excluded . Adverse effects associated with implantation and stimulation
      were primarily hoarseness, cough, dyspnea, pain, paresthesia, nausea and
      headache, with hoarseness and dyspnea more likely to occur on high stimulation
      than low stimulation. However, the evidence on these outcomes is limited and of
      moderate to low quality. Further high quality research is needed to fully
      evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of VNS for drug resistant partial
      seizures.

PMID- 25835948
TI  - Diagnostic confidence of run-off CT-angiography as the primary diagnostic imaging
      modality in patients presenting with acute or chronic peripheral arterial
      disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the reliability of CT-angiography of the lower
      extremities (run-off CTA) to derive a treatment decision in patients with acute
      and chronic peripheral artery disease (PAD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: 314 patients
      referred for run-off CTA were includ-ed in this retrospective study. First,
      diagnostic confidence of run-off CTA to derive a treat-ment decision was assessed
      in an interdisciplinary vascular conference using a 2 point scale (sufficient or
      not sufficient diagnostic confidence) and compared with the image quality eval
      uated by two readers in consensus in four different levels (abdominopelvic,
      thigh, calf, foot arteries). Second, reliability of treatment decision was
      verified in all patients undergoing re-vascularization therapy. RESULTS:
      Diagnostic confidence of run-off CTA to derive a treatment deci-sion was
      sufficient in all patients with acute and in 97% of patients (215/221) with
      chronic PAD, whereas the rate of run-off CTA with non-diagnostic image quality
      was considerably higher in the calf and foot level (acute vs. chronic; calf: 28%
      vs.17%; foot: 52% vs. 20%). Reliability of treatment decision was superior for
      patients with chronic (123/133 = 92%) than for patients with acute PAD (64/78 =
      82%, P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Run-off CTA is a reliable imaging modality for
      primary diag-nostic work-up of patients with acute and chronic PAD.

PMID- 25835949
TI  - Influences of operating conditions on continuous lactulose synthesis in an
      enzymatic membrane reactor system: A basis prior to long-term operation.
AB  - Lactulose synthesis was performed in a continuous stirred enzymatic membrane
      reactor. Each investigated operating condition (agitation, pH, feed molar ratio
      of lactose to fructose (mL/mF ratio), hydraulic residence time (HRT)) had an
      influence on reaction performances, in terms of lactulose concentration,
      productivity and selectivity. Lactulose concentration was maximum at an mL/mF
      ratio of 1/2. Higher than this ratio, synthesis of galactooligosaccharides was
      promoted rather than lactulose. At mL/mF ratios lower than 1/2, enzyme inhibition
      was pronounced to the detriment of lactulose production. At 7 or 9h HRT, higher
      lactulose concentrations were obtained than at shorter HRTs. Applying an mL/mF
      ratio of 1/2 and an HRT of 9h in a long-term operation, nearly constant lactulose
      concentration was reached after 23h and lasted up to 32h with a mean
      concentration of 14.51+/-0.07g/L and a reaction selectivity of 0.075
      0.080mollactulose/molcons.lactose. After 7d, lactulose concentration reduced by
      31%. A continuous synthesis of lactulose at lab-scale was shown to be amenable
      using a membrane reactor process. Moreover, for process evaluation, this study
      can bridge the gap between batch laboratory scale and continuous full-scale
      operation regarding lactulose synthesis. 

PMID- 25835950
TI  - A new application of aptamer: One-step purification and immobilization of enzyme
      from cell lysates for biocatalysis.
AB  - Aptamers are nucleic acid-based high affinity ligands that are able to capture
      their corresponding target through molecular recognition. In this study, several
      DNA aptamers with high affinity and specificity for beta-glucuronidases (PGUS-E)
      were obtained by our modified SELEX method. Among them, Apt5 and Apt9 were
      selected as representatives and covalently linked to magnetic beads,
      respectively. The aptamer-modified magnetic beads were characterized and
      successfully applied to one-step purification and immobilization of PGUS-E from
      the complex cell lysates. By conveniently adjusting the pH and ion strength, the
      PGUS-E purities reached 84% for Apt5-modified beads and 88% for Apt9-modified
      beads. Moreover, the maximum PGUS-E capturing capacity of the Apt5 and Apt9
      modified magnetic beads were found to be 31.75MUg/mg and 32.95MUg/mg,
      respectively. The immobilized PGUS-E on aptamer-based magnetic beads showed good
      reusability, and the conversion of glycyrrhizin still remained more than 70%
      after 7 cycles. In addition, the aptamer-modified beads support can be easily
      regenerated, and the conversion rate of glycyrrhizin (GL) was still 62% after the
      7th cycle of regeneration. This investigation can be easily extended to other
      enzyme systems and may help open a generic route to develop a novel enzyme
      immobilization technology for biocatalysis based on aptamer. 

PMID- 25835951
TI  - Genome sequence of Pseudomonas parafulva CRS01-1, an antagonistic bacterium
      isolated from rice field.
AB  - Pseudomonas parafulva (formerly known as Pseudomonas fulva) is an antagonistic
      bacterium against several rice bacterial and fungal diseases. The total genome
      size of P. parafulva CRS01-1 is 5,087,619 bp with 4389 coding sequences (CDSs),
      77 tRNAs, and 7 rRNAs. The annotated full genome sequence of the P. parafulva
      CRS01-1 strain might shed light on its role as an antagonistic bacterium.

PMID- 25835952
TI  - Lack of multisensory integration in hemianopia: no influence of visual stimuli on
      aurally guided saccades to the blind hemifield.
AB  - In patients with visual hemifield defects residual visual functions may be
      present, a phenomenon called blindsight. The superior colliculus (SC) is part of
      the spared pathway that is considered to be responsible for this phenomenon.
      Given that the SC processes input from different modalities and is involved in
      the programming of saccadic eye movements, the aim of the present study was to
      examine whether multimodal integration can modulate oculomotor competition in the
      damaged hemifield. We conducted two experiments with eight patients who had
      visual field defects due to lesions that affected the retinogeniculate pathway
      but spared the retinotectal direct SC pathway. They had to make saccades to an
      auditory target that was presented alone or in combination with a visual
      stimulus. The visual stimulus could either be spatially coincident with the
      auditory target (possibly enhancing the auditory target signal), or spatially
      disparate to the auditory target (possibly competing with the auditory tar-get
      signal). For each patient we compared the saccade endpoint deviation in these two
      bi-modal conditions with the endpoint deviation in the unimodal condition
      (auditory target alone). In all seven hemianopic patients, saccade accuracy was
      affected only by visual stimuli in the intact, but not in the blind visual field.
      In one patient with a more limited quadrantano-pia, a facilitation effect of the
      spatially coincident visual stimulus was observed. We conclude that our results
      show that multisensory integration is infrequent in the blind field of patients
      with hemianopia. 

PMID- 25835953
TI  - Isotopic incorporation rates and discrimination factors in mantis shrimp
      crustaceans.
AB  - Stable isotope analysis has provided insights into the trophic ecology of a wide
      diversity of animals. Knowledge about isotopic incorporation rates and isotopic
      discrimination between the consumer and its diet for different tissue types is
      essential for interpreting stable isotope data, but these parameters remain
      understudied in many animal taxa and particularly in aquatic invertebrates. We
      performed a 292-day diet shift experiment on 92 individuals of the predatory
      mantis shrimp, Neogonodactylus bredini, to quantify carbon and nitrogen
      incorporation rates and isotope discrimination factors in muscle and hemolymph
      tissues. Average isotopic discrimination factors between mantis shrimp muscle and
      the new diet were 3.0 +/- 0.6 0/00 and 0.9 +/- 0.3 0/00 for carbon and nitrogen,
      respectively, which is contrary to what is seen in many other animals (e.g. C and
      N discrimination is generally 0-1 0/00 and 3-4 0/00, respectively). Surprisingly,
      the average residence time of nitrogen in hemolymph (28.9 +/- 8.3 days) was over
      8 times longer than that of carbon (3.4 +/- 1.4 days). In muscle, the average
      residence times of carbon and nitrogen were of the same magnitude (89.3 +/- 44.4
      and 72.8 +/- 18.8 days, respectively). We compared the mantis shrimps'
      incorporation rates, along with rates from four other invertebrate taxa from the
      literature, to those predicted by an allometric equation relating carbon
      incorporation rate to body mass that was developed for teleost fishes and sharks.
      The rate of carbon incorporation into muscle was consistent with rates predicted
      by this equation. Our findings provide new insight into isotopic discrimination
      factors and incorporation rates in invertebrates with the former showing a
      different trend than what is commonly observed in other animals. 

PMID- 25835954
TI  - Intra-operative tissue oxygen tension is increased by local insufflation of
      humidified-warm CO2 during open abdominal surgery in a rat model.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Maintenance of high tissue oxygenation (PtO2) is recommended during
      surgery because PtO2 is highly predictive of surgical site infection and colonic
      anastomotic leakage. However, surgical site perfusion is often sub-optimal,
      creating an obstructive hurdle for traditional, systemically applied therapies to
      maintain or increase surgical site PtO2. This research tested the hypothesis that
      insufflation of humidified-warm CO2 into the abdominal cavity would increase sub
      peritoneal PtO2 during open abdominal surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 15 Wistar
      rats underwent laparotomy under general anesthesia. Three sets of randomized
      cross-over experiments were conducted in which the abdominal cavity was subjected
      to alternating exposure to 1) humidified-warm CO2 & ambient air; 2) humidified
      warm CO2 & dry-cold CO2; and 3) dry-cold CO2 & ambient air. Sub-peritoneal PtO2
      and tissue temperature were measured with a polarographic oxygen probe. RESULTS:
      Upon insufflation of humidified-warm CO2, PtO2 increased by 29.8 mmHg (SD 13.3;
      p<0.001), or 96.6% (SD 51.9), and tissue temperature by 3.0 degrees C (SD 1.7
      p<0.001), in comparison with exposure to ambient air. Smaller, but significant,
      increases in PtO2 were seen in experiments 2 and 3. Tissue temperature decreased
      upon exposure to dry-cold CO2 compared with ambient air (-1.4 degrees C, SD 0.5,
      p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In a rat model, insufflation of humidified-warm CO2 into
      the abdominal cavity during open abdominal surgery causes an immediate and
      potentially clinically significant increase in PtO2. The effect is an additive
      result of the delivery of CO2 and avoidance of evaporative cooling via the
      delivery of the CO2 gas humidified at body temperature.

PMID- 25835955
TI  - Associations of sedentary behaviour, physical activity, blood pressure and
      anthropometric measures with cardiorespiratory fitness in children with cerebral
      palsy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have poor cardiorespiratory fitness
      in comparison to their peers with typical development, which may be due to low
      levels of physical activity. Poor cardiorespiratory fitness may contribute to
      increased cardiometabolic risk. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine
      the association between sedentary behaviour, physical activity and
      cardiorespiratory fitness in children with CP. An objective was to determine the
      association between cardiorespiratory fitness, anthropometric measures and blood
      pressure in children with CP. METHODS: This study included 55 ambulatory children
      with CP [mean (SD) age 11.3 (0.2) yr, range 6-17 yr; Gross Motor Function
      Classification System (GMFCS) levels I and II]. Anthropometric measures (BMI,
      waist circumference and waist-height ratio) and blood pressure were taken.
      Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured using a 10 m shuttle run test. Children
      were classified as low, middle and high fitness according to level achieved on
      the test using reference curves. Physical activity was measured by accelerometry
      over 7 days. In addition to total activity, time in sedentary behaviour and
      light, moderate, vigorous, and sustained moderate-to-vigorous activity (>=10 min
      bouts) were calculated. RESULTS: Multiple regression analyses revealed that
      vigorous activity (beta = 0.339, p<0.01), sustained moderate-to-vigorous activity
      (beta = 0.250, p<0.05) and total activity (beta = 0.238, p<0.05) were associated
      with level achieved on the shuttle run test after adjustment for age, sex and
      GMFCS level. Children with high fitness spent more time in vigorous activity than
      children with middle fitness (p<0.05). Shuttle run test level was negatively
      associated with BMI (r2 = -0.451, p<0.01), waist circumference (r2 = -0.560,
      p<0.001), waist-height ratio (r2 = -0.560, p<0.001) and systolic blood pressure
      (r2 = -0.306, p<0.05) after adjustment for age, sex and GMFCS level. CONCLUSIONS:
      Participation in physical activity, particularly at a vigorous intensity, is
      associated with high cardiorespiratory fitness in children with CP. Low
      cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with increased cardiometabolic risk.

PMID- 25835956
TI  - Hepatocyte Growth Factor Gene-Modified Mesenchymal Stem Cells Augment Sinonasal
      Wound Healing.
AB  - This study was designed to investigate the effects of hepatocyte growth factor
      (HGF) transgenic mesenchymal stem cells (HGF-MSCs) on wound healing in the
      sinonasal mucosa and nasal epithelial cells (NECs). We also sought to determine
      whether HGF-MSCs and MSCs can migrate into the injured mucosa and differentiate
      into ciliated cells. Human HGF-overexpressing umbilical cord MSCs (hHGF-UCMSCs)
      were established, and upregulation of hHGF expression was confirmed by real-time
      PCR (RT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA). To investigate the
      paracrine effect of human MSCs (hMSCs) on nasal epithelial repair, hMSC- and HGF
      MSC-conditioned media (CM) were used in NEC proliferation assays and in an in
      vitro scratch-wound repair model. The in vivo sinonasal wound-healing model was
      established, and all enrolled rabbits were randomly assigned to four groups: the
      GFP-MSC group, the HGF-MSC group, the Ad-HGF group, and the surgery control
      group. The average decreased diameter was recorded, and the medial wall of the
      maxillary sinus was removed for histological analysis and scanning electron
      microscopy. Collagen deposition in the wound tissue was detected via Masson
      trichrome (M&T) staining. The distribution of MSCs and HGF-MSCs was observed by
      immunofluorescence. MSCs improved nasal wound healing both in vivo and in vitro.
      HGF overexpression in MSCs augmented the curative effects. Reduced collagen
      deposition and transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1) expression were
      detected in the HGF-MSC group compared with the MSC-, Ad-HGF-, and phosphate
      buffered saline-treated groups based on M&T staining and ELISA. The enhanced
      therapeutic effects of HGF-MSCs were accompanied by decreased level of the
      fibrogenic cytokine TGF-beta1. In addition, both HGF-MSCs and MSCs can migrate to
      the injured mucosa and epithelial layer. 

PMID- 25835957
TI  - Self-Antigen Presentation by Keratinocytes in the Inflamed Adult Skin Modulates T
      Cell Auto-Reactivity.
AB  - Keratinocytes have a pivotal role in the regulation of immune responses, but the
      impact of antigen presentation by these cells is still poorly understood,
      particularly in a situation where the antigen will be presented only in adult
      life. Here, we generated a transgenic mouse model in which keratinocytes
      exclusively present a myelin basic protein (MBP) peptide covalently linked to the
      major histocompatibility complex class II beta-chain, solely under inflammatory
      conditions. In these mice, inflammation caused by epicutaneous contact sensitizer
      treatment resulted in keratinocyte-mediated expansion of MBP-specific CD4(+) T
      cells in the skin. Moreover, repeated contact sensitizer application preceding a
      systemic MBP immunization reduced the reactivity of the respective CD4(+) T cells
      and lowered the symptoms of the resulting experimental autoimmune
      encephalomyelitis. This downregulation was CD4(+) T-cell-mediated and dependent
      on the presence of the immune modulator Dickkopf-3. Thus, presentation of a neo
      self-antigen by keratinocytes in the inflamed, adult skin can modulate CD4(+) T
      cell auto-aggression at a distal organ. 

PMID- 25835958
TI  - The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study: overview of the first
      40 years, with an eye to the future.
AB  - The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study began more than four
      decades ago. Unusual at the time, it was founded as a multidisciplinary research
      enterprise, and was strongly supported by the Dunedin community, both
      professional and lay, in its early years. Seven research themes have evolved over
      the past 40 years focusing on mental health and neuro-cognition, cardiovascular
      risk, respiratory health, oral health, sexual and reproductive health, and
      psychosocial functioning. A seventh, more applied theme, seeks to maximise the
      value of the Study findings for New Zealand's indigenous people-Maori (or tangata
      whenua transl people of the land). The study has published over 1200 papers and
      reports to date, with almost 2/3 of these being in peer-reviewed journals. Here
      we provide an overview of the study, its history, leadership structure,
      scientific approach, operational foci, and some recent examples of work that
      illustrate the following: (a) the value of multidisciplinary data; (b) how the
      study is well positioned to address contemporary issues; and (c) how research can
      simultaneously address multiple audiences-from researchers and theoreticians to
      policy makers and practitioners. Near-future research plans are described, and we
      end by reflecting upon the core aspects of the study that portend future useful
      contributions.

PMID- 25835959
TI  - Physical diseases as predictors of suicide in older adults: a nationwide,
      register-based cohort study.
AB  - PURPOSE: The objective of the study was to examine the association between 39
      physical diseases and death by suicide in older adults. METHODS: Individual-level
      register data on all older adults aged 65 years and over living in Denmark during
      1990-2009 (N = 1,849,110) were analysed. Rate ratios were calculated for 39
      physical diseases while adjusting for period, age group, conjugal status, income,
      physical comorbidity, and psychiatric disorders. RESULTS: In all, 4792 older
      adults aged 65+ died by suicide during the follow-up of >16 million person-years.
      Gastrointestinal cancer was linked to a rate ratio of 2.5 (95 % CI 1.9-3.5) in
      men while excess suicide risk for women with brain cancer was 3.5 (95 % CI 1.1
      10.8) within three years of diagnosis. Men and women diagnosed with liver
      diseases within three years experienced a 2.7- (95 % CI 1.7-4.2) and 4.0- (95 %
      CI 2.5-6.4) fold higher risk of suicide, respectively, than those not diagnosed.
      Elevated risks of suicide were identified for lung cancer, gastrointestinal
      cancer, breast cancer, genital cancer, bladder cancer, lymph node cancer,
      epilepsy, cerebrovascular diseases, cataract, heart diseases, chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disorders (COPD), gastrointestinal disease, liver disease, arthritis,
      osteoporosis, prostate disorders, male genital disorders, and spinal fracture
      when compared to persons not diagnosed within three years. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple
      physical diseases were linked to increased risks of suicide in older adults.
      Increased attention to suicidal ideation and risk assessment might be warranted
      during the diagnosis and treatment of these disorders.

PMID- 25835960
TI  - Labor inclusion of individuals with disabilities: Managers' conceptions as a
      contributing factor.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aims to analyze the managers' conceptions involved in the
      process of labor inclusion in 18 supermarkets with 5,000 employees, 300 of whom
      with disabilities. METHODS: A group of 90 managers working with people with
      disability completed a Conceptions of Disability Inventory (CDI) about their
      conceptions of people with disabilities. Their responses were categorized as
      follows: (a) disability as a spiritual manifestation; b) disability as a
      deviation from normality; (c) disability based on assumptions of inclusion; (d)
      disability assessed from performance criteria; (e) disability assessed from the
      connection established with the work organization; (f) disability conceived by
      contracting benefits, and (g) disability based on the perception of the need for
      training. RESULTS: Based on the outcomes of the Pearson Correlation Matrix,
      significant linear correlations were found in seven managers' conceptions of
      disability. The results also indicate that the managers' conceptions contributed
      to differentiated inclusionist actions based on their perceptions related to
      people with disabilities. CONCLUSIONS: This study data contributes to identifying
      the best practices in labor inclusion. The outcomes of the present study could
      lead to development of a public policy aimed towards humanizing job alternatives
      for people with disability.

PMID- 25835961
TI  - Using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
      (ICF) to address facilitators and barriers to participation at work.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and
      Health (ICF) was approved by the World Health Assembly in 2001. Ten years later,
      strong arguments have arisen regarding the added value of ICF to the policies on
      employment and the outcomes at the workplace. As a conceptual framework, ICF has
      universality because of its inclusive and comprehensive view of human
      functioning. At a practical level ICF can be used to quantify the impact of
      impairment on an individual's ability to act in his/her environment and to assess
      interventions to minimize the impact of disability and maximize functioning.
      OBJECTIVE: To explore key indicators of social participation (life habits) of
      persons with disabilities, particularly related to work, among environmental and
      personal factors. METHODOLOGY/PARTICIPANTS: Data were collected by self
      administered questionnaires from a convenience sample of 149 working-age persons
      with disabilities. RESULTS: Social participation is a construct composed by
      multiple components and employment domain is the strongest indicator of
      participation. Correlations between social participation and personal factors,
      such as self-efficacy and attitudes towards disability were moderate. Those who
      are employed scored higher quality of life in terms of satisfaction with life,
      more positive attitudes toward disabilities and higher self-efficacy than the
      ones who are retired or unemployed. Persons using adapted wheelchair and those
      who were involved in wheelchair selection scored higher in social participation
      in general, performance at work, and quality of life. Age and disability duration
      were not associated with participants' employment status. DISCUSSION AND
      CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that rehabilitation and vocational agents,
      like physiotherapists and other professionals, should have knowledge and
      understanding of the multiple factors that influence persons with disabilities'
      participation at work. Programs should provide appropriate wheelchairs, skills
      training, empowerment and problem-solving strategies in labour activities and
      occupational environment to promote employment of working-age persons with
      disabilities.

PMID- 25835962
TI  - The process of aging: A case study approach implementing an ergonomics evaluation
      of the built environment for the elderly in Brazil.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The phenomenon of aging is increasing worldwide. Various problems
      accompany it since aging makes the elderly undergo a decline in their natural
      functions. As such, senility can present itself as a barrier for everyday
      activities. OBJECTIVE: This article presents a research that deals with the study
      of collective residences for the elderly. It seeks to identify configurations of
      these homes by seeking shortcomings and/or successful solutions. METHODS: The
      Ergonomic Methodology for the Built Environment was applied. The method of the
      approach is qualitative and consists of multi-case study. RESULTS: Through the
      methodological approach, conflicts in the environment created by missing or
      inadequate elements were identified. Also, the opinions and suggestions from the
      elderly were analyzed, which shows their perception of the environment in use.
      CONCLUSIONS: The situations detected in this study indicate the occurrence of
      problems, exacerbated by the multiple deficiencies found in the user population
      of the environments analyzed. Thus it highlights the importance of there being
      future studies that are better targeted on designing environments for the
      elderly.

PMID- 25835965
TI  - Quantitative proteomics analysis of platelet-derived microparticles reveals
      distinct protein signatures when stimulated by different physiological agonists.
AB  - Platelet-derived MPs (PMPs) are a heterogeneous population of microvesicles
      released from platelets upon activation and apoptosis. Different platelet
      activations may affect PMP protein profiles and roles in intercellular
      communication. Here, we performed a quantitative proteomics study to characterize
      the protein content of PMPs generated by four differentially activated platelet
      samples. We selected known physiological agonists for platelet activation such as
      ADP, thrombin and collagen. Thrombin, which is mostly used to generate PMPs in
      vitro, was set as control. Platelets were activated by following a known agonist
      strength scale in which ADP was the weakest activation and thrombin and collagen
      stimulations were the strongest ones. Our proteomic analysis allowed the
      quantification of 3383 proteins, of which 428 membrane and 131 soluble proteins
      were found as significantly different in at least one of the analyzed conditions.
      Activation with stronger agonists led to the enrichment of proteins related to
      platelet activation in PMPs. In addition, proteins involved in platelet
      degranulation and proteins from the electron transport chain were less abundant
      in PMPs when stronger activation was used. Collectively, our data describe the
      most detailed characterization of PMPs after platelet physiological activation.
      Furthermore, we show that PMP protein content is highly dependent on the type of
      physiological agonist involved in platelet stimulation. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
      Platelet-derived MPs (PMPs) are a population of vesicles generated upon platelet
      activation by various stimuli known to be involved in several physiological and
      pathological processes. This manuscript investigates the protein profile of PMPs
      obtained by performing four different activation protocols using mass
      spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics. By following a known physiological
      agonist strength scale our findings suggest a biological link between agonist
      strength and proteins associated to platelet mediated processes such as
      activation and degranulation. These data may provide new insights for
      understanding PMP biological role and formation.

PMID- 25835966
TI  - Label-free quantitative proteomic analysis reveals strong involvement of
      complement alternative and terminal pathways in human glomerular sclerotic
      lesions.
AB  - Since glomerular sclerosis frequently accompanies various glomerular diseases at
      the end stages, it is challenging to differentiate ubiquitous biological
      processes underlying this pathology from those critically involved in specific
      diseases. Furthermore, in-depth proteomic profile of human glomerular sclerosis
      remains limited. In this study, human glomeruli with intermediate (i-GS) and
      advanced (GS) sclerotic lesions, which were excluded from specific renal diseases
      and assumed to be aging-related, were laser captured from macroscopically normal
      cortex distant from urological carcinoma, and subjected to label-free
      quantitative proteomic analysis. We explicate an evident increase of membrane
      attack complex in i-GS and GS with an up-going tendency, which is accompanied by
      increasing of inhibitory regulators of alternative and terminal pathways. GO
      annotation and IPA pathway analysis agree to these results. Proteomic findings
      are validated by immunohistochemical studies which indicate that alternative and
      terminal pathways are positively involved in the glomerular sclerosis seen in
      distinct renal diseases. Furthermore, proteomic analysis also demonstrates
      remarkable increases of complement factor B in GS and TGF-beta1 in both GS and i
      GS. Identification of complement factor B implicates that on-site activation of
      alternative pathway may occur in injured glomeruli and stepwise increase of TGF
      beta1 suggests its contribution to the progression of glomerulosclerosis.
      BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides in-depth quantitative proteomic
      profiles of human glomeruli with intermediate and advanced sclerotic lesions. It
      reveals that the over-expression of alternative and terminal pathway components
      is significantly involved in human glomerulosclerosis seen in distinct renal
      diseases. Proteomic identification of the increased TGF-beta1 provides supporting
      evidence for the role of podocyte apoptosis leading to human glomerulosclerosis.

PMID- 25835967
TI  - Erratum.

PMID- 25835968
TI  - Glutathione S-transferase O2 gene rs157077 polymorphism predicts response to
      transarterial chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Some genetic alterations of glutathione S-transferase omega 2 (GSTO2) have been
      reported to increase the risk of many malignancies, including hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC); however, their prognostic capability remained unresolved in HCC
      patients treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). To fill this gap,
      we genotyped three well-defined polymorphisms in GSTO2 to assess whether they can
      predict overall survival among 228 HCC patients under TACE treatment. The median
      follow-up time and survival time were 22.0 months (range 3.0-60.0) and 19.2
      months, respectively. Only one of three polymorphisms examined, rs157077, was
      significantly associated with overall survival of TACE-treated HCC (P = 0.003),
      and its mutant allele conferred a higher risk of death than its wild homozygotes
      (hazard ratio 1.58, 95 % confidence interval 1.17-2.14). Moreover, carriers of
      this mutant allele had higher tissue GSTO2 expression, reinforcing the prognostic
      capability of GSTO2 rs157077 for HCC, especially in combination with age and
      tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage. Taken together, we for the first time provided
      evidence supporting the prognostic role of GSTO2 in the progression of TACE
      treated HCC.

PMID- 25835969
TI  - Transcription factor decoy: a pre-transcriptional approach for gene
      downregulation purpose in cancer.
AB  - Gene therapy as a therapeutic approach has been the dream for many scientists
      around the globe. Many strategies have been proposed and applied for this
      purpose, yet the void for a functional safe method is still apparent. Since most
      of the diseases are caused by undesirable upregulation (oncogenes) or
      downregulation (tumor suppressor genes) of genes, major gene therapy's techniques
      affect gene expression. Most of the methods are used in post-transcriptional
      level such as RNA inhibitory (RNAi) and splice-switching oligonucleotides (SSOs).
      RNAi blocks messenger RNA (mRNA) translation by mRNA degradation or interruption
      between attachments of mRNA with ribosomes' subunits. However, one of the novel
      methods is the usage of transcription factor targeted decoys. DNA decoys are the
      new generation of functional gene downregulatory oligonucleotides which compete
      with specific binding sites of transcription factors. Considering the exponential
      growth of this technique in both in vitro and in vivo studies, in this paper, we
      aim to line out the description, design, and application of decoys in research
      and therapy. 

PMID- 25835970
TI  - Role of Lgr5-positive cells in colorectal cancer.
AB  - The molecular regulation of the growth of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells is not
      completely understood. Here, we report expression of Lgr5, a stem cell marker for
      the intestine and hair follicle, in some of the CRC cells in the patients. To
      determine the role of Lgr5-positive cells in the tumorigenesis of CRCs, we
      prepared an adeno-associated virus (AAV) that carries diphtheria toxin fragment A
      (DTA) under the control of Lgr5 promoter (AAV-pLgr5-DTA). Transduction of several
      CRC cell lines with this virus selectively killed Lgr5-positive cells, resulting
      in significant inhibition of the CRC cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Thus, our
      data highlight a potential role of Lgr5-positive cells in the tumorigenesis of
      CRCs, and suggest that treating these Lgr5-positive cells in CRCs may
      substantially improve the outcome of CRC therapy.

PMID- 25835971
TI  - A polysaccharide from the alkaline extract of Glycyrrhiza inflata induces
      apoptosis of human oral cancer SCC-25 cells via mitochondrial pathway.
AB  - In the present study, we isolated and characterized a homogenous polysaccharide
      (GIAP1) from the alkaline extract of the roots of Glycyrrhiza inflata. The anti
      tumor activity of GIAP1 toward human oral cancer SCC-25 cells and the underlying
      mechanisms were also examined in vitro. GIAP1 dose-dependently inhibited the
      proliferation of SCC-25 cells via inducing apoptosis. Moreover, GIAP1
      downregulated Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, disrupted the mitochondrial membrane potential
      (MMP), and caused the release of cytochrome c to cytosol. Besides, GIAP1
      triggered activation of capase-3 and caspase-9, as well as the degradation of
      poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). In addition, the caspase-3 or caspase-9
      inhibitor significantly inhibited GIAP1-induced apoptosis in SCC-25 cells.
      Collectively, we can conclude that the GIAP1 induces apoptosis in SCC-25 cells
      via a mitochondrial pathway.

PMID- 25835972
TI  - Temozolomide may induce cell cycle arrest by interacting with URG4/URGCP in SH
      SY5Y neuroblastoma cells.
AB  - Temozolomide (TMZ) is an alkylating drug used usually in glioma treatment by
      inducing the apoptosis in glioma cell. The aim of the study is to investigate the
      anticancer mechanism of TMZ in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cell line. Cytotoxic
      effects of TMZ were determined by using XTT assay. IC50 doses in the SH-SY5Y were
      detected as 5 mM. Expression profiles of novel genes URG4/URGCP, CCND1, CCND2,
      CDK4, and BCL2 were determined by real-time PCR. The apoptotic effects of TMZ
      were evaluated with TUNEL method. Furthermore, effects of TMZ on colony formation
      and invasion were investigated in this study. It was observed that TMZ in SH-SY5Y
      cell line caused a significant decrease in the gene expressions of URG4/URGCP,
      CCND1, CCND2, CDK4, and BCL2. According to TUNEL assay results, TMZ markedly
      induced apoptosis in SH-SY5Y cell line. It was found that TMZ in SH-SY5Y cell
      line suppressed invasion and colony formation using matrigel invasion chamber and
      colony formation assay, respectively. To conclude, it is thought that TMZ
      demonstrates anticarcinogenesis activity by affecting cell cycle arrest,
      apoptosis, invasion, and colony formation on SH-SY5Y cells. TMZ may be an
      effective agent for treatment of neuroblastoma as a single or in combination with
      other drugs.

PMID- 25835973
TI  - Long noncoding RNA SPRY4-IT1 predicts poor patient prognosis and promotes
      tumorigenesis in gastric cancer.
AB  - Gastric cancer (GC) is the second common cause of cancer-related death worldwide.
      Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as novel regulators in the cancer
      paradigm. However, investigation of lncRNAs on GC is still in its infancy. In
      this study, we focused on lncRNA SPRY4 intronic transcript 1 (SPRY4-IT1) and
      investigated its expression pattern, clinical significance, biological function,
      and molecular mechanism in GC. SPRY4-IT1 expression was examined, and its
      correlation with clinicopathological characteristics and patient prognosis was
      analyzed. A series of assays were performed to understand the role of SPRY4-IT1
      in GC. SPRY4-IT1 expression was elevated in GC tissues and cell lines, and SPRY4
      IT1 levels were highly positively correlated with tumor size, invasion depth,
      distant metastasis, TNM stage, and reduced overall survival (OS) and disease-free
      survival (DFS). A multivariate analysis showed that SPRY4-IT1 expression is an
      independent prognostic factor of OS and DFS in patients with GC. Additionally,
      the results of in vitro assays showed that the suppression of SPRY4-IT1
      expression in GC cell line MKN-45 significantly reduced cell proliferation,
      colony formation, and cell migration/invasion. Moreover, the tumorigenic effects
      of SPRY4-IT1 were partially mediated by the regulation of certain cyclins and
      matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)-related genes. Our data suggest that SPRY4-IT1
      plays a critical role in GC tumorigenesis and may represent a novel prognostic
      marker and potential therapeutic target in patients with GC.

PMID- 25835974
TI  - Note of clarification of data in the paper titled X-ray repair cross
      complementing group 1 codon 399 polymorphism and lung cancer risk: an updated
      meta-analysis.
AB  - We read with great interest the paper titled "X-ray repair cross-complementing
      group 1 codon 399 polymorphism and lung cancer risk: an updated meta-analysis"
      published by Wang et al in Tumor Biology, 2014, 35:411-418. Their results suggest
      that codon 399 polymorphism of XRCC1 gene might contribute to individual's
      susceptibility to lung cancer in Asian population and especially in nonsmoking
      Chinese women. The result is encouraging. Nevertheless, several key issues are
      worth noticing. 

PMID- 25835975
TI  - Ginsenoside Rh2 inhibits metastasis of glioblastoma multiforme through Akt
      regulated MMP13.
AB  - Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant type of primary brain tumor.
      Although the growth of the tumor cells in a relatively closed space may partially
      account for its malignancy, highly invasive nature of glioblastoma cells has been
      suggested to be the main reason for the failure of current therapeutic
      approaches. Ginsenoside Rh2 (GRh2) has recently been shown to significantly
      suppress the growth and survival of GBM through inhibiting epidermal growth
      factor receptor signaling, whereas its effects on the invasion and metastasis
      have not been examined. Here, we showed that GRh2 dose-dependently decreased GBM
      cell invasiveness in both scratch wound healing assay and Transwell cell
      migration assay. Moreover, the inhibitory effects of GRh2 on cell migration
      seemed to be conducted through decreased expression of matrix metalloproteinase
      (MMP)-13. Furthermore, using specific inhibitors, we found that GRh2 inhibited
      MMP13 through PI3k/Akt signaling pathway. Finally, high MMP13 levels were
      detected in GBM specimen from the patients. Together, these data suggest that
      GRh2 may suppress GBM migration through inhibiting Akt-mediated MMP13 activation.
      Thus, our data highlight a previous unappreciated role for GRh2 in suppressing
      GBM cell metastasis.

PMID- 25835977
TI  - Prognostic significance of SLC9A9 in patients with resectable esophageal squamous
      cell carcinoma.
AB  - The survival rate of esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) patients is still
      dismal. Therefore, novel prognostic biomarkers are critically needed for patients
      with ESCC. SLC9A9 has been reported to be downregulated in hormone-sensitive
      prostate cancer; however, the correlations between SLC9A9 and ESCC prognosis are
      unclear. The aim of this study is to evaluate the expression and prognostic
      significance of SLC9A9 in resectable ESCC. Fresh frozen or paraffin-embedded
      samples were collected from 167 or 59 patients with resectable ESCC,
      respectively. The expression of SLC9A9 was assessed by reverse transcription and
      quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis (167 patients) and
      immunohistochemistry (61 patients). The expression of SLC9A9 was not associated
      with patient clinicopathological characteristics at both transcription and
      protein levels. The 5-year overall survival in the high SLC9A9 messenger RNA
      (mRNA) group (n = 106) was poorer than that in the low expression group (n = 61)
      (34.6 vs. 65.9 %, P < 0.001). Notably, higher SLC9A9 protein expression was also
      correlated with lower 5-year overall survival (33.1 vs. 66.5 %, P = 0.023).
      Moreover, multivariate analysis revealed that SLC9A9 mRNA (HR, 2.41; 95 % CI,
      1.47-3.97; P = 0.001) and protein (HR, 2.31; 95 %CI, 1.06-5.02; P = 0.034) were
      independent prognostic factors. In conclusion, the expression of SLC9A9 can be a
      prognostic predictor for ESCC.

PMID- 25835978
TI  - Lifetime effectiveness of mifamurtide addition to chemotherapy in nonmetastatic
      and metastatic osteosarcoma: a Markov process model analysis.
AB  - The mortality and progression rates in osteosarcoma differ depending on the
      presence of metastasis. A decision model would be useful for estimating long-term
      effectiveness of treatment with limited clinical trial data. The aim of this
      study was to explore the lifetime effectiveness of the addition of mifamurtide to
      chemotherapy for patients with metastatic and nonmetastatic osteosarcoma. The
      target population was osteosarcoma patients with or without metastasis. A Markov
      process model was used, whose time horizon was lifetime with a starting age of 13
      years. There were five health states: disease-free (DF), recurrence, post
      recurrence disease-free, post-recurrence disease-progression, and death.
      Transition probabilities of the starting state, DF, were calculated from the INT
      0133 clinical trials for chemotherapy with and without mifamurtide. Quality
      adjusted life-years (QALY) increased upon addition of mifamurtide to chemotherapy
      by 10.5 % (10.13 and 9.17 QALY with and without mifamurtide, respectively) and
      45.2 % (7.23 and 4.98 QALY with and without mifamurtide, respectively) relative
      to the lifetime effectiveness of chemotherapy in nonmetastatic and metastatic
      osteosarcoma, respectively. Life-years gained (LYG) increased by 10.1 % (13.10
      LYG with mifamurtide and 11.90 LYG without mifamurtide) in nonmetastatic patients
      and 42.2 % (9.43 LYG with mifamurtide and 6.63 LYG without mifamurtide) in
      metastatic osteosarcoma patients. The Markov model analysis showed that
      chemotherapy with mifamurtide improved the lifetime effectiveness compared to
      chemotherapy alone in both nonmetastatic and metastatic osteosarcoma. Relative
      effectiveness of the therapy was higher in metastatic than nonmetastatic
      osteosarcoma over lifetime. However, absolute lifetime effectiveness was higher
      in nonmetastatic than metastatic osteosarcoma.

PMID- 25835976
TI  - Isothiocyanates: a class of bioactive metabolites with chemopreventive potential.
AB  - In recent years, growing interest has been focused on the field of
      chemoprevention using natural therapies. The reason to turn toward "natural"
      remedies is associated with diverse beneficial pharmacological properties of
      natural compounds. Isothiocyanates (ITCs), the major pharmacological active
      constituents of cruciferous vegetables, are derived from the enzymatic hydrolysis
      of glucosinolates (GSLs). ITCs govern many intracellular targets including
      cytochrome P 450 (CYP) enzymes, proteins involved in antioxidant response,
      tumorigenesis, apoptosis, cell cycle, and metastasis. Investigation of the
      mechanisms of anti-cancer drugs has given important information regarding the use
      of natural chemopreventive compounds. This extensive review covers various
      molecular aspects of the interactions of ITCs with their recognized cellular
      targets involved in cancer treatment in order to enhance anti-tumor outcome with
      decreased toxicity to patients.

PMID- 25835979
TI  - Correction: Early stage lung cancer detection in systemic sclerosis does not
      portend survival benefit: a cross sectional study.

PMID- 25835980
TI  - On the mechanism of methanol photooxidation to methylformate and carbon dioxide
      on TiO2: an operando-FTIR study.
AB  - This work is a mechanistic study of total and partial methanol photooxidation
      using operando FTIR coupled to gas phase analysis techniques (gas-IR and MS).
      Methoxy and formate/formyl species play a key role in the reaction. Methoxy
      species are formed by thermal and photochemical dissociation of methanol. The
      formation of methylformate is favored by a high surface coverage by methoxy
      species. Surface and/or bridged oxygen atoms are also important actors. Steady
      State Isotopic Transient Kinetic Analysis (SSITKA) experiments showed that the
      limiting step is the conversion of chemisorbed formyl/formate and that
      methylformate is a secondary product from a reaction between methoxy and
      neighboring formyl species. Methanol concentration, among other reaction
      parameters, influences greatly the selectivity of photooxidation. 

PMID- 25835981
TI  - Gas phase condensation of superparamagnetic iron oxide-silica nanoparticles-
      control of the intraparticle phase distribution.
AB  - Spherical, softly agglomerated and superparamagnetic nanoparticles (NPs)
      consisting of maghemite (gamma-Fe2O3) and amorphous silica (SiO2) were prepared
      by CO2 laser co-vaporization (CoLAVA) of hematite powder (alpha-Fe2O3) and quartz
      sand (SiO2). The alpha-Fe2O3 portion of the homogeneous starting mixtures was
      gradually increased (15 mass%-95 mass%). It was found that (i) with increasing
      iron oxide content the NPs' morphology changes from a nanoscale SiO2 matrix with
      multiple gamma-Fe2O3 inclusions to Janus NPs consisting of a gamma-Fe2O3 and a
      SiO2 hemisphere to gamma-Fe2O3 NPs each carrying one small SiO2 lens on its
      surface, (ii) the multiple gamma-Fe2O3 inclusions accumulate at the NPs' inner
      surfaces, and (iii) all composite NPs are covered by a thin layer of amorphous
      SiO2. These morphological characteristics are attributed to (i) the phase
      segregation of iron oxide and silica within the condensed Fe2O3-SiO2 droplets,
      (ii) the temperature gradient within these droplets which arises during rapid
      cooling in the CoLAVA process, and (iii) the significantly lower surface energy
      of silica when compared to iron oxide. The proposed growth mechanism of these
      Fe2O3-SiO2 composite NPs during gas phase condensation can be transferred to
      other systems comprising a glass-network former and another component that is
      insoluble in the regarding glass. Thus, our model will facilitate the development
      of novel functional composite NPs for applications in biomedicine, optics,
      electronics, or catalysis. 

PMID- 25835982
TI  - Prevalence and Predictors of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Morbidly Obese
      South Indian Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Numerous studies worldwide have identified a high prevalence of non
      alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among morbidly obese subjects. Several
      predictors have been found to be associated with NAFLD and its histological high
      risk components. Similar data from India is lacking. We aimed to determine the
      prevalence and the predictors of NAFLD and its histological high-risk components
      in a cohort of Indians with morbid obesity undergoing bariatric surgery. Safety
      of a routine intraoperative liver biopsy was also assessed. METHODS: There were
      134 morbidly obese patients who underwent bariatric surgery with concomitant
      liver biopsy. These were assessed for NAFLD and its histological high-risk
      components. Clinical, biochemical, and histological features were evaluated, and
      predictors of NAFLD, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and advanced
      fibrosis were identified. RESULTS: Mean BMI was 44.66 +/- 9.81. Eighty-eight
      (65.7 %) showed NAFLD. Forty-five (33.6 %) showed NASH and 42 (31.3 %) showed
      fibrosis both not mutually exclusive. Nineteen (14.1 %) showed advanced fibrosis.
      Higher alanine aminotransferase (ALT) independently predicted NAFLD and was
      significantly associated with NASH and fibrosis. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)
      and the metabolic syndrome were significantly associated with fibrosis. Systemic
      hypertension (HT) independently predicted NASH and fibrosis. There were no
      intraoperative or postoperative complications related to the liver biopsy.
      CONCLUSIONS: NAFLD has a high prevalence among morbidly obese patients. Elevated
      ALT, HT, T2DM, and the metabolic syndrome are predictors for NAFLD and its high
      risk histological components. Routine intraoperative liver biopsy is safe in
      morbidly obese undergoing bariatric surgery for diagnosing NAFLD.

PMID- 25835983
TI  - Bariatric Surgery Worldwide 2013.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The first global survey of bariatric/metabolic surgery based on data
      from the nations or national groupings of the International Federation for the
      Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Diseases (IFSO) was published in 1998, followed
      by reports in 2003, 2009, 2011, and 2012. In this survey, we report a global
      overview of worldwide bariatric surgery in 2013. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A
      questionnaire evaluating the number and the type of bariatric procedure performed
      in 2013 was emailed to all members of bariatric societies belonging to IFSO.
      Trend analyses from 2003 to 2013 were also performed. RESULTS: There were 49/54
      (90.7%) responders; 37 of the 49 with national registries. The total number of
      bariatric procedures performed worldwide in 2013 was 468,609, 95.7% carried out
      laparoscopically. The highest number (n = 154,276) was from the USA/Canada
      region. The most commonly performed procedure in the world was Roux-en-Y gastric
      bypass (RYGB), 45%; followed by sleeve gastrectomy (SG), 37%; and adjustable
      gastric banding (AGB), 10%. Most significant were the rise in prevalence of SG
      from 0 to 37% of the world total from 2003 to 2013, and the fall in AGB of 68%
      from its peak in 2008 to 2013. CONCLUSIONS: SG is currently the most frequently
      performed procedure in the USA/Canada and in the Asia/Pacific regions, and second
      to RYGB in the Europe and Latin/South America regions. The accuracy of the IFSO
      based world survey of procedures would be enhanced if each nation or national
      group would create a national registry.

PMID- 25835986
TI  - Corrigendum.
AB  - In the Editorial 'Creature Comfort? Animal Assistance in Therapeutic Work with
      Children and Young People' published in Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry,
      Volume 19, Number 2, April 2014, pp. 165-168, DOI: 10.1177/1359104513517446,
      author Keren Bachi's name was spelt incorrectly, in the text and references, as
      Keren Bach. The editor apologises for this error and any confusion it may have
      caused. 

PMID- 25835984
TI  - Catalytic Soman Scavenging by the Y337A/F338A Acetylcholinesterase Mutant
      Assisted with Novel Site-Directed Aldoximes.
AB  - Exposure to the nerve agent soman is difficult to treat due to the rapid
      dealkylation of the soman-acetylcholinesterase (AChE) conjugate known as aging.
      Oxime antidotes commonly used to reactivate organophosphate inhibited AChE are
      ineffective against soman, while the efficacy of the recommended nerve agent
      bioscavenger butyrylcholinesterase is limited by strictly stoichiometric
      scavenging. To overcome this limitation, we tested ex vivo, in human blood, and
      in vivo, in soman exposed mice, the capacity of aging-resistant human AChE mutant
      Y337A/F338A in combination with oxime HI-6 to act as a catalytic bioscavenger of
      soman. HI-6 was previously shown in vitro to efficiently reactivate this mutant
      upon soman, as well as VX, cyclosarin, sarin, and paraoxon, inhibition. We here
      demonstrate that ex vivo, in whole human blood, 1 MUM soman was detoxified within
      30 min when supplemented with 0.5 MUM Y337A/F338A AChE and 100 MUM HI-6. This
      combination was further tested in vivo. Catalytic scavenging of soman in mice
      improved the therapeutic outcome and resulted in the delayed onset of toxicity
      symptoms. Furthermore, in a preliminary in vitro screen we identified an even
      more efficacious oxime than HI-6, in a series of 42 pyridinium aldoximes, and 5
      imidazole 2-aldoxime N-propylpyridinium derivatives. One of the later imidazole
      aldoximes, RS-170B, was a 2-3-fold more effective reactivator of Y337A/F338A AChE
      than HI-6 due to the smaller imidazole ring, as indicated by computational
      molecular models, that affords a more productive angle of nucleophilic attack. 

PMID- 25835985
TI  - Islamic Personal Religiosity as a Moderator of Job Strain and Employee's Well
      Being: The Case of Malaysian Academic and Administrative Staff.
AB  - Presently, there is increased in research on job strain and the effects of
      religiosity on employee well-being. Despite increased recognition of religiosity
      as a moderator of well-being, limited research has focused on Islamic perspective
      of moderating job strain. This study examines the moderating effects of Islamic
      personal religiosity on the relationship between job strain and employee well
      being in Malaysian universities. One hundred and seventeen (117) Muslim academic
      and administrative staff from four public universities were sampled. Data were
      collected via questionnaires, and our findings show that the effect of job strain
      on well-being is significant for employees and that personal religiosity of
      employees contributed to alleviating job strain and enhancing well-being. Thus,
      the study concludes that Islamic personal religiosity moderates the relationship
      between job strain and employee well-being. 

PMID- 25835987
TI  - The binaural masking-level difference of mandarin tone detection and the binaural
      intelligibility-level difference of mandarin tone recognition in the presence of
      speech-spectrum noise.
AB  - Binaural hearing involves using information relating to the differences between
      the signals that arrive at the two ears, and it can make it easier to detect and
      recognize signals in a noisy environment. This phenomenon of binaural hearing is
      quantified in laboratory studies as the binaural masking-level difference (BMLD).
      Mandarin is one of the most commonly used languages, but there are no publication
      values of BMLD or BILD based on Mandarin tones. Therefore, this study
      investigated the BMLD and BILD of Mandarin tones. The BMLDs of Mandarin tone
      detection were measured based on the detection threshold differences for the four
      tones of the voiced vowels /i/ (i.e., /i1/, /i2/, /i3/, and /i4/) and /u/ (i.e.,
      /u1/, /u2/, /u3/, and /u4/) in the presence of speech-spectrum noise when
      presented interaurally in phase (S0N0) and interaurally in antiphase (SpiN0). The
      BILDs of Mandarin tone recognition in speech-spectrum noise were determined as
      the differences in the target-to-masker ratio (TMR) required for 50% correct tone
      recognitions between the S0N0 and SpiN0 conditions. The detection thresholds for
      the four tones of /i/ and /u/ differed significantly (p<0.001) between the S0N0
      and SpiN0 conditions. The average detection thresholds of Mandarin tones were all
      lower in the SpiN0 condition than in the S0N0 condition, and the BMLDs ranged
      from 7.3 to 11.5 dB. The TMR for 50% correct Mandarin tone recognitions differed
      significantly (p<0.001) between the S0N0 and SpiN0 conditions, at -13.4 and -18.0
      dB, respectively, with a mean BILD of 4.6 dB. The study showed that the
      thresholds of Mandarin tone detection and recognition in the presence of speech
      spectrum noise are improved when phase inversion is applied to the target speech.
      The average BILDs of Mandarin tones are smaller than the average BMLDs of
      Mandarin tones. 

PMID- 25835988
TI  - The evolutionary origination and diversification of a dimorphic gene regulatory
      network through parallel innovations in cis and trans.
AB  - The origination and diversification of morphological characteristics represents a
      key problem in understanding the evolution of development. Morphological traits
      result from gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that form a web of transcription
      factors, which regulate multiple cis-regulatory element (CRE) sequences to
      control the coordinated expression of differentiation genes. The formation and
      modification of GRNs must ultimately be understood at the level of individual
      regulatory linkages (i.e., transcription factor binding sites within CREs) that
      constitute the network. Here, we investigate how elements within a network
      originated and diversified to generate a broad range of abdominal pigmentation
      phenotypes among Sophophora fruit flies. Our data indicates that the coordinated
      expression of two melanin synthesis enzymes, Yellow and Tan, recently evolved
      through novel CRE activities that respond to the spatial patterning inputs of Hox
      proteins and the sex-specific input of Bric-a-brac transcription factors. Once
      established, it seems that these newly evolved activities were repeatedly
      modified by evolutionary changes in the network's trans-regulators to generate
      large-scale changes in pigment pattern. By elucidating how yellow and tan are
      connected to the web of abdominal trans-regulators, we discovered that the yellow
      and tan abdominal CREs are composed of distinct regulatory inputs that exhibit
      contrasting responses to the same Hox proteins and Hox cofactors. These results
      provide an example in which CRE origination underlies a recently evolved novel
      trait, and highlights how coordinated expression patterns can evolve in parallel
      through the generation of unique regulatory linkages. 

PMID- 25835989
TI  - The thylakoid membrane protein CGL160 supports CF1CF0 ATP synthase accumulation
      in Arabidopsis thaliana.
AB  - The biogenesis of the major thylakoid protein complexes of the photosynthetic
      apparatus requires auxiliary proteins supporting individual assembly steps. Here,
      we identify a plant lineage specific gene, CGL160, whose homolog, atp1, co-occurs
      with ATP synthase subunits in an operon-like arrangement in many cyanobacteria.
      Arabidopsis thaliana T-DNA insertion mutants, which no longer accumulate the
      nucleus-encoded CGL160 protein, accumulate less than 25% of wild-type levels of
      the chloroplast ATP synthase. Severe cosmetic or growth phenotypes result under
      either short day or fluctuating light growth conditions, respectively, but this
      is ameliorated under long day constant light growth conditions where the growth,
      ATP synthase activity and photosynthetic electron transport of the mutants are
      less affected. Accumulation of other photosynthetic complexes is largely
      unaffected in cgl160 mutants, suggesting that CGL160 is a specific assembly or
      stability factor for the CF1CF0 complex. CGL160 is not found in the mature
      assembled complex but it does interact specifically with subunits of ATP
      synthase, predominantly those in the extrinsic CF1 sub-complex. We suggest
      therefore that it may facilitate the assembly of CF1 into the holocomplex. 

PMID- 25835990
TI  - The effect of point defects on diffusion pathway within alpha-Fe.
AB  - The diffusion mechanism of point defects within alpha-Fe with a single vacancy is
      investigated using the density functional theory. Calculation reveals that H has
      a slight effect towards Fe diffusion to a vacancy. He has a strong binding with a
      vacancy; therefore, Fe diffusion is unlikely to happen. The diffusion of C and N
      from a vacancy has a high barrier. However, Fe diffusion to a vacancy decreases
      if the C and N diffuse from a vacancy. Thus, the effect of interstitial atoms
      within alpha-Fe with a single vacancy towards diffusion and a possible diffusion
      pathway is discussed. 

PMID- 25835991
TI  - Worldwide distribution of the NS3 gene 80K polymorphism among circulating
      hepatitis C genotype 1 viruses: implication for simeprevir usage.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Several direct-acting agents against the hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3
      protease and NS5b polymerase have been developed in recent years to improve
      treatment of this viral infection. Of these, simeprevir is currently recommended
      for HCV genotype 1 and 4 infections, but genotypic assessment for the presence of
      80K is required prior to simeprevir administration due to the reduced
      susceptibility of genotype 1 viruses carrying that polymorphism. Because the
      prevalence of 80K at baseline in genotype 1 viruses varies between reports, we
      wanted to assess its worldwide prevalence. METHODS: Over 3000 HCV genotype 1
      sequences reported from drug-naive subjects distributed around the world were
      retrieved from the HCV Los Alamos and GenBank databases. These were categorized
      into subtypes and geographical provenance (continent and country), and the
      presence of the 80K and 80R polymorphisms was visually inspected and counted.
      RESULTS: Disparate prevalence of 80K was observed depending on the
      country/continent analysed. While in resource-rich areas (USA, Western Europe and
      Australia) a high prevalence of 80K was seen in HCV subtype 1a, in emerging
      countries, such as Brazil, this prevalence was very low (<1%). HCV subtype 1b
      sequences from France also displayed a significant occurrence of 80K (6.1%). 80R,
      on the other hand, was negligible worldwide. CONCLUSIONS: The genotypic
      assessment of 80K in HCV subtype 1a prior to simeprevir administration in
      emerging countries with significant numbers of HCV infection is questionable,
      while it should be performed for subtype 1b in certain developed countries.

PMID- 25835992
TI  - Description of IMP-31, a novel metallo-beta-lactamase found in an ST235
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain in Western Germany.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to characterize a novel IMP-type
      metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) found in an MDR clinical isolate of Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa. METHODS: The P. aeruginosa isolate NRZ-00156 was recovered from an
      inguinal swab from a patient hospitalized in Western Germany and showed high MICs
      of carbapenems. MBL production was analysed by Etest for MBLs, an EDTA combined
      disc test and an EDTA bioassay. Typing of the isolate was performed by MLST.
      Genetic characterization of the new blaIMP gene was performed by sequencing the
      PCR products. A phylogenetic tree was constructed. The novel blaIMP gene was
      expressed in Escherichia coli TOP10 and the enzyme was subjected to biochemical
      characterization. RESULTS: The P. aeruginosa isolate NRZ-00156 expressed the
      ST235 allelic profile and was resistant to all the beta-lactams tested except
      aztreonam. The isolate was positive for MBL production and harboured a new IMP
      allele, blaIMP-31, located on a disrupted class I integron [also carrying the
      blaOXA-35, aac(6')-Ib, aac(3)-Ic and aphA15 genes]. Its closest relative was IMP
      35, with 96.7% amino acid identity. Expression of blaIMP-31 demonstrated that E.
      coli TOP10 producing IMP-31 had elevated resistance to all the beta-lactams
      tested except aztreonam. Kinetic data were obtained for both IMP-31 and IMP-1. In
      comparison with IMP-1, IMP-31 showed weaker hydrolytic activity against all the
      beta-lactams tested, which resulted from lower kcat values. CONCLUSIONS: The
      characterization of the new IMP-type gene blaIMP-31 from an ST235 P. aeruginosa
      isolate indicates an ongoing spread of highly divergent IMP-type carbapenemases
      in clinical P. aeruginosa strains and highlights the continuous need for the
      prevention of nosocomial infections caused by MDR Gram-negative bacteria.

PMID- 25835993
TI  - Confinement of single polysilane chains in coordination nanospaces.
AB  - Understanding the intrinsic properties of single conducting polymer chains is of
      interest, largely for their applications in molecular devices. In this study, we
      report the accommodation of single polysilane chains with hole-transporting
      ability in porous coordination polymers (PCPs), [Al(OH)(L)]n (1a; L = 2,6
      naphthalenedicarboxylate, channel size = 8.5 * 8.5 A(2), 1b; L = 4,4'
      biphenyldicarboxylate, channel size = 11.1 * 11.1 A(2)). Interestingly, the
      isolation of single polysilane chains increased the values of carrier mobility in
      comparison with that in the bulk state due to the elimination of the slow
      interchain hole hopping. Moreover, even when the chains are isolated one another,
      the main chain conformation of polysilane could be controlled by changing the
      pore environment of PCPs, as evidenced by Raman spectroscopy, solid-state NMR
      measurements, and molecular dynamics simulation. Hence, we succeeded in varying
      the conducting property of single polysilane chains. Additionally, polysilanes
      have a drawback, photodegradation under ultraviolet light, which should be
      overcome for the application of polysilanes. It is noteworthy that the
      accommodation of polysilane in the nanopores did not exhibit photodegradation.
      These results highlight that PCP-polysilane hybrids are promising candidates for
      further use in the field of molecular electronics. 

PMID- 25835994
TI  - The journey from the past to the future.

PMID- 25835995
TI  - The mouse and the mousetrap.

PMID- 25835996
TI  - Author's response.

PMID- 25835997
TI  - Justification for computed tomography scanning.

PMID- 25835998
TI  - Effectiveness of 3 methods of anchorage reinforcement.

PMID- 25835999
TI  - Authors' response.

PMID- 25836000
TI  - Orthodontic profiles: Albert H. Ketcham.

PMID- 25836001
TI  - "No way, Jose".

PMID- 25836002
TI  - Three-dimensional computed tomography analysis of airway volume changes between
      open and closed jaw positions.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Airway dimensions are closely linked to the bone and soft-tissue
      craniofacial anatomy. Reduction of the airway is seen with airway disorders and
      can impair function. The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine
      whether changing from open to closed jaw position affects the volume of the nasal
      cavity, nasopharynx, and oropharynx; the soft palate; the soft-tissue thickness
      of the airway; and the most constricted area of the airway. METHODS: Following
      reliability studies, in this retrospective study, we analyzed cone-beam computed
      tomography scans taken in both closed and open jaw positions of 60 subjects who
      were undergoing diagnosis and treatment of temporomandibular disorders. On each
      scan, condyle-fossa measurements, volumes of airway segments (nasal cavity,
      nasopharynx, oropharynx), soft palate areas, soft tissue thicknesses of the
      airway, and the most constricted area of the airway and its location were
      measured using Dolphin imaging software (version 11.5; Patterson Dental Supply,
      Chatsworth, Calif). Differences between the 2 jaw positions were analyzed with
      paired t tests, accepting P <=0.05 as significant. RESULTS: Significant changes
      in airway dimensions were found between the closed and open jaw positions. With
      jaw opening, the nasopharynx volume increased, whereas the oropharynx volume
      decreased. Significant decreases were also found for measurements of basion to
      posterior airway wall, cervical vertebrae to posterior airway wall, most
      constricted area, nasal cavity volume, and soft palate area when the jaw was
      open. CONCLUSIONS: Changing jaw position significantly affects airway dimensions.

PMID- 25836003
TI  - Pattern of maxillary and mandibular proximal enamel thickness at the contact area
      of the permanent dentition from first molar to first molar.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Proximal enamel thickness (PET) at the mesial and distal contact
      areas of the complete permanent dentition has not been previously reported.
      Anatomic investigation of PET is essential for interproximal reduction treatment.
      Our objectives were to measure the PETs of the complete maxillary and mandibular
      dentitions at the contact areas, to compare the PETs of adjacent teeth, and to
      evaluate the vertical position of each contact area. METHODS: We evaluated 720
      extracted teeth; of these, 109 intact teeth were selected. The mesial and distal
      contact areas were demarcated, and each tooth was embedded in transparent epoxy
      resin. Blocks were prepared so that the 2 demarcated contact areas were exposed,
      and 6 measurements were taken and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: Both jaws
      showed the same PET pattern characterized by 5 features: PET increased
      progressively from incisor (0.63 mm) to first molar (1.48 mm). Per tooth, mesial
      and distal PET did not differ. Total maxillary (26.86 mm) and mandibular (24.52
      mm) PETs were similar. Paired PETs at the interproximal interface were similar,
      with the exception of the lateral incisor-canine interfaces. From incisor to
      first molar, the contact area becomes located farther gingivally. CONCLUSIONS:
      The existing guideline of maximal 0.5-mm interproximal reduction per 2 adjacent
      teeth should be kept in the anterior region and could be increased to 1 mm in the
      posterior region, when an equal amount is removed.

PMID- 25836005
TI  - Prospective assessment of maxillary advancement effects: maxillary incisor
      exposure, and upper lip and nasal changes.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Our aim was to assess changes in maxillary incisor exposure, and
      upper lip and nasal soft tissues with maxillary advancement with or without
      impaction, accounting for the use of cinch sutures and VY closures. METHODS: This
      was a prospective study of 41 consecutive patients undergoing maxillary
      advancement with or without impaction. Lateral cephalometric radiographs and
      clinical measurements were taken preoperatively and up to 6 months
      postoperatively by 1 examiner. RESULTS: Thirty-one patients (19 female, 12 male)
      with a mean age of 25.5 years (range, 16.9-49.9 years) completed the study.
      Twenty-six received bimaxillary surgery. Fifteen had simple closures, 6 had cinch
      sutures, and 10 had alar base cinch and VY closures. The mean amounts of
      maxillary advancement and impaction were 3.34 and 1.6 mm, respectively. Soft
      tissues followed increasingly more closely the hard tissue advancement from
      pronasale to stomion superius. Mean maxillary incisor exposure increased at rest
      (0.5 mm) and on smiling (1.0 mm). The nasolabial angle increased (1.88 degrees )
      because of columella upturning. Alar base width (3.09 mm) significantly
      increased. CONCLUSIONS: Soft to hard tissue horizontal ratios increased
      progressively from pronasale to stomion superius. Alar base cinch and VY closures
      increased these further. Maxillary incisor display changes were partly explained
      by presurgical upper lip thickness and soft tissue manipulation. Nasolabial angle
      increased, and cinch sutures seemed to increase this further. Alar base width
      increased significantly, and the cinch sutures did not significantly limit this.

PMID- 25836004
TI  - Hounsfield unit change in root and alveolar bone during canine retraction.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to determine the Hounsfield unit
      (HU) changes in the alveolar bone and root surfaces during controlled canine
      retractions. METHODS: Eighteen maxillary canine retraction patients were selected
      for this split-mouth design clinical trial. The canines in each patient were
      randomly assigned to receive either translation or controlled tipping treatment.
      Pretreatment and posttreatment cone-beam computed tomography scans of each
      patient were used to determine tooth movement direction and HU changes. The
      alveolar bone and root surface were divided into 108 divisions, respectively. The
      HUs in each division were measured. Mixed-model analysis of variance was applied
      to test the HU change distribution at the P <0.05 significance level. RESULTS:
      The HU changes varied with the directions relative to the canine movement. The HU
      reductions occurred at the root surfaces. Larger reductions occurred in the
      divisions that were perpendicular to the moving direction. However, HUs decreased
      in the alveolar bone in the moving direction. The highest HU reduction was at the
      coronal level. CONCLUSIONS: HU reduction occurs on the root surface in the
      direction perpendicular to tooth movement and in the alveolar bone in the
      direction of tooth movement when a canine is retracted.

PMID- 25836006
TI  - Differences of treatment outcomes between self-ligating brackets with
      microimplant and headgear anchorages in adults with bimaxillary protrusion.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Our aim was to determine differences between the outcomes of
      treatment using microimplant anchorage compared with headgear anchorage in adult
      patients with bimaxillary protrusion treated with self-ligating brackets.
      METHODS: Thirty-one adult orthodontic patients (13 men, 18 women; age, 25.87 +/-
      3.37 years) who were diagnosed with bimaxillary protrusion were selected. All
      patients were treated with self-ligating brackets and maximum anchorage after
      extraction of 4 first premolars. Group 1 received microimplant anchorage, and
      group 2 received headgear. Lateral cephalometric radiographs were obtained before
      and after treatment. Differences in the skeletal and dental parameters between
      and within groups were analyzed. RESULTS: No significant difference was observed
      in the mean treatment times between the groups (21.93 +/- 3.10 vs 23.88 +/- 2.68
      months). There was no significant difference in skeletal measurements before or
      after treatment in patients who received microimplant anchorage. Patients who
      received headgear anchorage had an increase of the mandibular plane angle. The
      microimplant anchorage group had greater anterior tooth retraction and less
      maxillary molar mesialization than did the headgear group. CONCLUSIONS: In both
      the anteroposterior and vertical directions, microimplant anchorage achieved
      better control than did the traditional headgear appliance during the treatment
      of bimaxillary protrusion.

PMID- 25836007
TI  - Contribution of malocclusion and female facial attractiveness to smile esthetics
      evaluated by eye tracking.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There is disagreement in the literature concerning the importance
      of the mouth in overall facial attractiveness. Eye tracking provides an objective
      method to evaluate what people see. The objective of this study was to determine
      whether dental and facial attractiveness alters viewers' visual attention in
      terms of which area of the face (eyes, nose, mouth, chin, ears, or other) is
      viewed first, viewed the greatest number of times, and viewed for the greatest
      total time (duration) using eye tracking. METHODS: Seventy-six viewers underwent
      1 eye tracking session. Of these, 53 were white (49% female, 51% male). Their
      ages ranged from 18 to 29 years, with a mean of 19.8 years, and none were dental
      professionals. After being positioned and calibrated, they were shown 24 unique
      female composite images, each image shown twice for reliability. These images
      reflected a repaired unilateral cleft lip or 3 grades of dental attractiveness
      similar to those of grades 1 (near ideal), 7 (borderline treatment need), and 10
      (definite treatment need) as assessed in the aesthetic component of the Index of
      Orthodontic Treatment Need (AC-IOTN). The images were then embedded in faces of 3
      levels of attractiveness: attractive, average, and unattractive. During viewing,
      data were collected for the first location, frequency, and duration of each
      viewer's gaze. RESULTS: Observer reliability ranged from 0.58 to 0.92 (intraclass
      correlation coefficients) but was less than 0.07 (interrater) for the chin, which
      was eliminated from the study. Likewise, reliability for the area of first
      fixation was kappa less than 0.10 for both intrarater and interrater
      reliabilities; the area of first fixation was also removed from the data
      analysis. Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed a significant effect (P
      <0.001) for level of attractiveness by malocclusion by area of the face. For both
      number of fixations and duration of fixations, the eyes overwhelmingly were most
      salient, with the mouth receiving the second most visual attention. At times, the
      mouth and the eyes were statistically indistinguishable in viewers' gazes of
      fixation and duration. As the dental attractiveness decreased, the visual
      attention increased on the mouth, approaching that of the eyes. AC-IOTN grade 10
      gained the most attention, followed by both AC-IOTN grade 7 and the cleft. AC
      IOTN grade 1 received the least amount of visual attention. Also, lower dental
      attractiveness (AC-IOTN 7 and AC-IOTN 10) received more visual attention as
      facial attractiveness increased. CONCLUSIONS: Eye tracking indicates that dental
      attractiveness can alter the level of visual attention depending on the female
      models' facial attractiveness when viewed by laypersons.

PMID- 25836008
TI  - Effects of tooth root contact on the stability of orthodontic anchor screws in
      the maxilla: Comparison between self-drilling and self-tapping methods.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: We evaluated the effects of screw placement angle on the frequency
      of root contact and the effects of root contact on screw stability, comparing
      self-drilling and self-tapping methods. METHODS: In total, 80 patients with 142
      screws (diameter, 1.6 mm; length, 8.0 mm) were included. Cone-beam computed
      tomography images were taken. Cortical bone thickness, interroot distance,
      shortest distance between the screw and adjacent tooth root, and screw placement
      angle were measured. RESULTS: The success rates of the screws were 91.5% for the
      self-drilling method and 94.4% for the self-tapping method (P >0.05). The self
      drilling screws tended to contact the distal tooth roots in the right maxilla. In
      the self-drilling method, the failure rate was significantly higher in the root
      contact group than in the no-contact group (P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The success
      rate was not significantly different between the self-drilling and the self
      tapping methods in the maxilla. Avoidance of tooth root contact may improve the
      success rate more in the self-drilling method than in the self-tapping method.

PMID- 25836009
TI  - Deciduous-dentition malocclusion predicts orthodontic treatment needs later:
      findings from a population-based birth cohort study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Estimating orthodontic treatment need in the permanent dentition
      using information from the deciduous-dentition malocclusion may assist in
      defining the time for appropriate orthodontic intervention. Our objective was to
      investigate whether malocclusion in the deciduous teeth predicts orthodontic
      treatment need in the permanent dentition. METHODS: Two oral health studies
      nested in a birth cohort were carried out at ages 6 (n = 359) and 12 (n = 339)
      years. Open bite, crossbite, and canine malocclusion were assessed in the
      deciduous teeth. Orthodontic treatment need was determined in the permanent
      dentition using the dental esthetic index. Prevalence ratios were estimated using
      2 dental esthetic index cutoff points: highly desirable/mandatory orthodontic
      treatment and only mandatory orthodontic treatment. We tested all combinations of
      the deciduous malocclusion and the outcomes, controlling for confounders.
      RESULTS: Children with only open bite and those with concurrent open bite and
      canine malocclusion were more likely to have either highly desirable/mandatory
      orthodontic treatment or only mandatory orthodontic treatment needs by age 12.
      The combination of crossbite and open bite in the deciduous teeth was associated
      with the highest risk of need for mandatory orthodontic treatment. CONCLUSIONS:
      Malocclusion in the deciduous teeth is a risk factor for orthodontic treatment
      need in the permanent dentition. Children with malocclusion at a young age should
      be monitored regularly, and caregivers may be able to better prepare for possible
      orthodontic treatment.

PMID- 25836010
TI  - Nonsurgical approach to Class I open-bite malocclusion with extrusion mechanics:
      a 3-year retention case report.
AB  - Anterior open bite is one of the most challenging malocclusions for orthodontic
      treatment. The high incidence of relapse is a major concern. Therefore, accurate
      initial examination, diagnosis, treatment plan, and consideration of habitual
      risk factors are crucial for a successful outcome without unwanted sequelae.
      Excellent patient compliance for retainer wear is also a critical factor. This
      case report shows the 3-year stability of a nonsurgical and nonextraction
      orthodontic treatment of a 5-mm anterior open-bite malocclusion in a 12-year-old
      girl with extrusion mechanics and habit modification. After 2 years of
      orthodontic treatment, excellent outcomes were achieved. With an appropriate
      retention protocol, the long-term stability of the treatment was favorable. 

PMID- 25836011
TI  - Digital casts in orthodontics: a comparison of 4 software systems.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The introduction of digital cast models is inevitable in the
      otherwise digitized everyday life of orthodontics. The introduction of this new
      technology, however, is not straightforward, and selecting an appropriate system
      can be difficult. The aim of the study was to compare 4 orthodontic digital
      software systems regarding service, features, and usability. METHODS: Information
      regarding service offered by the companies was obtained from questionnaires and
      Web sites. The features of each software system were collected by exploring the
      user manuals and the software programs. Replicas of pretreatment casts were sent
      to Cadent (OrthoCAD; Cadent, Carlstadt, NJ), OthoLab (O3DM; OrthoLab, Poznan,
      Poland), OrthoProof (DigiModel; OrthoProof, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands), and
      3Shape (OrthoAnalyzer; 3Shape, Copenhagen, Denmark). The usability of the
      programs was assessed by experts in interaction design and usability using the
      "enhanced cognitive walkthrough" method: 4 tasks were defined and performed by a
      group of domain experts while they were observed by usability experts. RESULTS:
      The services provided by the companies were similar. Regarding the features, all
      4 systems were able to perform basic measurements; however, not all provided the
      peer assessment rating index or the American Board of Orthodontics analysis,
      simulation of the treatment with braces, or digital articulation of the casts.
      All systems demonstrated weaknesses in usability. However, OrthoCAD and 03DM were
      considered to be easier to learn for first-time users. CONCLUSIONS: In general,
      the usability of these programs was poor and needs to be further developed. Hands
      on training supervised by the program experts is recommended for beginners.

PMID- 25836012
TI  - The sampling distribution.

PMID- 25836014
TI  - 8 - N rule and chemical bonding in main-group MgAgAs-type compounds.
AB  - The chemical bonding of main-group MgAgAs-type compounds is analyzed with quantum
      chemical direct-space techniques. A new bonding concept is developed that unites
      the former ionic bonding and polyanionic network models. Polar and nonpolar
      contributions to the bonding are extracted by the combined analysis of electron
      density and electron localizability. A direct-space representation of the 8 - N
      rule is introduced. In this approach, the anions' heteropolar bonds are treated
      as a superposition of covalent (nonpolar) and lone-pair closed-shell (polar)
      contributions. The relation between covalent (nonpolar) and lone-pair (polar)
      character is obtained with the ELI-D/QTAIM basin intersection technique. This
      ratio depends on the constituting elements. On basis of this approach, MgAgAs
      type compounds are compared with Zintl phases, where covalent bonds and lone
      pairs are spatially separated. 

PMID- 25836015
TI  - Influence of multidrug resistance and drug transport proteins on chemotherapy
      drug metabolism.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Chemotherapy involving the use of anticancer drugs remains an
      important strategy in the overall management of patients with metastatic cancer.
      Acquisition of multidrug resistance remains a major impediment to successful
      chemotherapy. Drug transporters in cell membranes and intracellular drug
      metabolizing enzymes contribute to the resistance phenotype and determine the
      pharmacokinetics of anticancer drugs in the body. AREAS COVERED: ATP-binding
      cassette (ABC) transporters mediate the transport of endogenous metabolites and
      xenobiotics including cytotoxic drugs out of cells. Solute carrier (SLC)
      transporters mediate the influx of cytotoxic drugs into cells. This review
      focuses on the substrate interaction of these transporters, on their biology and
      what role they play together with drug metabolizing enzymes in eliminating
      therapeutic drugs from cells. EXPERT OPINION: The majority of anticancer drugs
      are substrates for the ABC transporter and SLC transporter families. Together,
      these proteins have the ability to control the influx and the efflux of
      structurally unrelated chemotherapeutic drugs, thereby modulating the
      intracellular drug concentration. These interactions have important clinical
      implications for chemotherapy because ultimately they determine therapeutic
      efficacy, disease progression/relapse and the success or failure of patient
      treatment.

PMID- 25836016
TI  - Oscillations for a delayed predator-prey model with Hassell-Varley-type
      functional response.
AB  - In this paper, a delayed predator-prey model with Hassell-Varley-type functional
      response is investigated. By choosing the delay as a bifurcation parameter and
      analyzing the locations on the complex plane of the roots of the associated
      characteristic equation, the existence of a bifurcation parameter point is
      determined. It is found that a Hopf bifurcation occurs when the parameter tau
      passes through a series of critical values. The direction and the stability of
      Hopf bifurcation periodic solutions are determined by using the normal form
      theory and the center manifold theorem due to Faria and Maglhalaes (1995). In
      addition, using a global Hopf bifurcation result of Wu (1998) for functional
      differential equations, we show the global existence of periodic solutions. Some
      numerical simulations are presented to substantiate the analytical results.
      Finally, some biological explanations and the main conclusions are included. 

PMID- 25836013
TI  - Tumor Budding Correlates With the Protumor Immune Microenvironment and Is an
      Independent Prognostic Factor for Recurrence of Stage I Lung Adenocarcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Immune cell infiltration associated with tumor capsule disruption and
      tumor budding has been shown to reflect invasiveness, metastasis, and unfavorable
      prognosis in colorectal cancer. We investigated the influence of tumor budding on
      prognosis and its association with the immune microenvironment in lung
      adenocarcinoma. METHODS: Tumor slides from resected stage I lung adenocarcinomas
      were reviewed (n = 524 and n = 514, for training and validation cohorts,
      respectively) for assessment of tumor budding. CD3+ and forkhead box P3+ (FoxP3+)
      lymphocytes, CD68+ macrophages, IL-7 receptor, and IL-12 receptor beta2 were
      analyzed using tissue microarrays constructed from tumor and stroma. Probability
      of recurrence was calculated using the competing risks method. RESULTS: In the
      training cohort, risk of recurrence for high-grade tumor budding was higher than
      it was for low-grade tumor budding (32% vs 12%, P < .001), which was confirmed in
      the validation cohort (P = .005). Tumor budding stratified the risk of recurrence
      for acinar-predominant (22% vs 9%, P < .001), papillary-predominant (22% vs 13%,
      P = .045), and solid-predominant (39% vs 19%, P = .022) tumors. Tumor budding was
      associated with higher stromal FoxP3+ lymphocyte infiltration, higher stromal
      FoxP3/CD3 risk index, higher tumoral and stromal CD68+ macrophage infiltration,
      and IL-7 receptor overexpression (P < .001, all associations). Tumor budding
      remained independently associated with recurrence on multivariate analysis
      (hazard ratio, 1.61; P = .008). CONCLUSIONS: Tumor budding is an independent
      prognostic factor of stage I lung adenocarcinoma and correlates with the protumor
      immune microenvironment. Our findings advocate investigating tumor-immune cell
      interactions at the invading edge as a biologic driver of tumor aggressiveness.

PMID- 25836017
TI  - Characterization and structure of the polysaccharide produced by Pseudomonas
      fluorescens strain TF7 isolated from an arid region of Algeria.
AB  - Many bacteria possess a natural ability to synthesize and excrete
      exopolysaccharides which are widely varied in structure and function. These
      bacteria have the ability to solubilize inorganic phosphorus, which is important
      to promote growth and increase crop yields. The objective of this study is to
      select an adaptive strain to the constraints of erratic rainfall and large
      temperature variations and to determine the possible synergistic effects of its
      EPS and organic acid on tricalcium phosphate (TCP) solubilization. The strain TF7
      isolated from an arid region of Algeria was characterized on the basis of its
      morphological and physiological traits. Polysaccharide production and the
      phosphate-solubilizing activity of the strain were evaluated using sucrose and
      tricalcium phosphate. This EPS was studied by sugar analysis as well as proton
      NMR spectra. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of this strain shared a similarity of
      more than 96% with Pseudomonas fluorescens. The maximum polysaccharide
      productivity was estimated at 4.5g.L(-1) after 5 days. The analyzed sugar was
      comprised of fructose, glucose, and mannose in a ratio of 4:1:0.6. NMR spectra
      indicated that the polysaccharide produced by the strain was levan with beta-(2
      >6)-linked fructose units in accordance with the generally accepted structure.
      The strain TF7 solubilizes phosphate and forms a clear halo around the colony.
      The phosphate-solubilizing index is 2.33.

PMID- 25836018
TI  - Doxycycline kills human lice through its activity on their bacterial symbiont.

PMID- 25836019
TI  - Intracellular accumulation of boceprevir according to plasma concentrations and
      pharmacogenetics.
AB  - Boceprevir (BOC) is a directly-acting antiviral agent for the treatment of
      hepatitis C virus genotype 1 (HCV-1) infection. It is a mixture of two
      stereoisomers, the inactive R and the active S isomers. No data have previously
      been published on BOC intracellular accumulation. In this study, BOC isomer
      concentrations in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and plasma were
      determined. The influence of various single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on
      plasma and intracellular drug exposure at Week 4 of triple therapy were also
      evaluated. Plasma and intracellular BOC concentrations were determined at the end
      of the dosing interval (C(trough)) using a UPLC-MS/MS validated method. Allelic
      discrimination was performed through real-time PCR. Median plasma concentrations
      were 65.97 ng/mL for the S isomer and 36.31 ng/mL for the R isomer; the median
      S/R plasma concentration ratio was 1.66. The median PBMC concentration was
      2285.88 ng/mL for the S isomer; the R isomer was undetectable within PBMCs. The
      median S isomer PBMC/plasma concentration ratio was 28.59. A significant positive
      correlation was found between plasma and PBMC S isomer concentrations. ABCB1
      1236, SLC28A2 124 and IL28B rs12979860 SNPs were associated with the S isomer
      PBMC/plasma concentration ratio. In regression models, S isomer plasma levels and
      FokI polymorphism were able to predict S isomer intracellular exposure, whereas
      SNPs in AKR1, BCRP1 and SLC28A2 predicted the S isomer PBMC/plasma concentration
      ratio. No similar data regarding BOC pharmacogenetics and pharmacokinetics have
      been published previously. This study adds a novel and useful overview of the
      pharmacological properties of this drug.

PMID- 25836020
TI  - Assessment and Treatment of Cognition and Communication Skills in Adults With
      Acquired Brain Injury via Telepractice: A Systematic Review.
AB  - PURPOSE: This is a systematic review of assessment and treatment of cognitive and
      communicative abilities of individuals with acquired brain injury via
      telepractice versus in person. The a priori clinical questions were informed by
      previous research that highlights the importance of considering any functional
      implications of outcomes, determining disorder- and setting-specific concerns,
      and measuring the potential impact of diagnostic accuracy and treatment efficacy
      data on interpretation of findings. METHOD: A literature search of multiple
      databases (e.g., PubMed) was conducted using key words and study inclusion
      criteria associated with the clinical questions. RESULTS: Ten group studies were
      accepted that addressed assessment of motor speech, language, and cognitive
      impairments; assessment of motor speech and language activity
      limitations/participation restrictions; and treatment of cognitive impairments
      and activity limitations/participation restrictions. In most cases, equivalence
      of outcomes was noted across service delivery methods. CONCLUSIONS: Limited
      findings, lack of diagnostic accuracy and treatment efficacy data, and
      heterogeneity of assessments and interventions precluded robust evaluation of
      clinical implications for telepractice equivalence and the broader area of
      telepractice efficacy. Future research is needed that will build upon current
      knowledge through replication. In addition, further evaluation at the impairment
      and activity limitation/participation restriction levels is needed.

PMID- 25836021
TI  - Diagnostic Role of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Obstructive Sleep Apnea
      Syndrome.
AB  - We aim to review the diagnostic role of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in
      obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Basic background about sleep apnea, MR
      anatomy of the pharyngeal airway, and MR imaging sequences applied in obstructive
      sleep apnea are discussed. Static and dynamic MR imaging is used in the
      assessment of patients with OSAS. Magnetic resonance imaging can detect the
      level, degree, and cause of obstruction in the upper airway that guide the
      clinical diagnosis and treatment. Imaging is used for prediction of treatment
      outcome and monitoring and follow-up of patients with OSAS after therapy. 

PMID- 25836022
TI  - Characterization of Liver Tumors by Diffusion-Weighted Imaging: Comparison of
      Diagnostic Performance Using the Mean and Minimum Apparent Diffusion Coefficient.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the minimum apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC(min))
      values of benign and malignant hepatic lesions based on diffusion-weighted
      imaging and to compare the diagnostic performance of ADC(min) and mean ADC
      (ADC(mean)) values for differentiating between benign and malignant tumors of the
      liver. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively subjected 240 patients with 195
      malignant (hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC], n = 137; metastases, n = 44;
      cholangiocellular carcinoma [CCC], n = 14) and 45 benign tumors (hemangiomas, n =
      37; focal nodular hyperplasia [FNH], n = 8). Both ADC(mean) and ADC(min) were
      evaluated independently by 2 readers, the sensitivity and specificity for the
      detection of malignancy were calculated, and receiver operating characteristic
      (ROC) curves were generated. To determine interobserver agreement, we calculated
      the Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Mean ADC (*10 mm/s) was 1.19 for
      malignant (HCC, 1.15; metastasis, 1.23; CCC, 1.51) and 2.01 for benign tumors
      (hemangioma, 2.09; FNH, 1.52; P < 0.001). Minimum ADC was 0.81 for malignant
      (HCC, 0.79; metastasis, 0.81; CCC, 0.91) and 1.62 for benign tumors (hemangioma,
      1.66; FNH, 1.28; P < 0.001). The sensitivity, specificity, and the calculated
      area under the ROC curve for diagnosing malignant lesions were 86.2%, 86.7%, and
      0.942 (reader 1) and 88.7%, 88.9%, and 0.939 (reader 2) for ADC(mean); they were
      of 92.3%, 97.8%, and 0.984 (reader 1) and 94.9%, 97.8%, and 0.983 (reader 2) for
      ADC(min). CONCLUSIONS: Mean ADC and ADC(min) were valuable for differentiating
      between malignant and benign hepatic lesions. The area under the ROC curve of
      ADC(min) was significant higher than that of ADC(mean).

PMID- 25836023
TI  - Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Manifestations of Spinal Pigmented
      Villonodular Synovitis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
      findings of spinal pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS), with the aim of
      improving diagnostic accuracy. METHODS: Findings from CT (n = 7) and MRI (n = 5)
      of 7 cases of spinal PVNS, diagnosed by pathological examination, were
      retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: One case presented with a small lesion,
      whereas the remaining 6 cases showed lobulated soft tissue masses centering on
      the facet joints, with lytic expansive destruction of the bone. The CT density of
      lesions in 3 cases was similar to that of the surrounding muscles, whereas the
      remaining 4 cases had lesions that were slightly hypodense relative to muscle.
      Among 5 cases for which MRI was available, 1 lesion was small with a hypointense
      edge, 1 manifested homogenous intensity without any obvious hypointense nodule,
      and multiple hypointensity nodules were visible in the remaining cases.
      CONCLUSIONS: The CT and MR manifestations of spinal PVNS have certain
      characteristics and can provide the basis for the preoperative diagnosis.

PMID- 25836024
TI  - Imaging Manifestation of Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma of the Breast.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to describe the imaging features of adenoid cystic
      carcinoma (ACC) of the breast using multimode imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The
      findings from mammography, sonography, magnetic resonance imaging, or digital
      breast tomosynthesis in 11 patients with histopathologically confirmed ACC of the
      breast were reviewed. The imaging criteria included location, shape, size,
      number, margin, calcification, attenuation, echo and/or signal intensity,
      internal mass enhancement pattern, and dynamic-enhancement characteristics.
      RESULTS: On mammography (n = 9), ACC demonstrated as an irregular or lobulated
      mass with indistinct or spiculated margins. Sonographically (n = 11), ACCs
      appeared as a hypoechoic solid or heterogeneous mass with minimum vascularity on
      color Doppler examination. With regard to magnetic resonance imaging (n = 9), 2
      of the largest masses had an extensive high T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) signal and
      hypointense internal septations, which demonstrated delayed enhancement. Dynamic
      enhancement illustrated washout kinetics. The 7 smaller masses appeared
      isointense on T2WI, and their internal septations were unenhanced. Among them, 5
      demonstrated plateau kinetics and 2 demonstrated persistent kinetics.
      CONCLUSIONS: Although ACC is a rare event in the breast, we believe that the
      following signs may suggest the diagnosis of this entity: a well-defined border,
      extensive high T2WI signals, and internal septations that demonstrate delayed
      enhancement in larger lesions.

PMID- 25836026
TI  - A Framework for Sexual Decision-Making Among Female Sex Workers in Jamaica.
AB  - The Jamaican government has provided targeted HIV and sexually transmitted
      infection prevention, treatment, and other services for female sex workers (FSW)
      since 1989. HIV prevalence among FSW declined from 20 to 12% between 1989 and
      1994, then to 9% in 2005, 5% in 2008, and 4.1% in 2011. This article distills the
      literature and two decades of experience working with FSW in Jamaica. Drawing on
      the constant comparative method, we put forward an innovative conceptual
      framework for explaining sexual decision-making and risk behaviors within both
      transactional and relational sexual situations. This framework helps fill the
      gaps in existing models that focus on individual behaviors. The model identifies
      interactions between environmental and structural elements of sex work, and three
      individual-level factors: risk perception, perceived relationship intimacy, and
      perceived control, as the four primary mediating factors influencing sexual
      decision-making among FSW. We propose that other factors such as violence,
      socioeconomic vulnerability, and policy/legal frameworks influence sexual
      decision-making through these primary mediating factors. This conceptual model
      may offer a useful framework for planning and evaluating prevention interventions
      among sex workers. However, it remains to be tested in order to establish its
      value.

PMID- 25836025
TI  - Metabolic alterations induce oxidative stress in diabetic and failing hearts:
      different pathways, same outcome.
AB  - SIGNIFICANCE: Several authors have proposed a link between altered cardiac energy
      substrate metabolism and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. A cogent
      evidence of this association has been found in diabetic cardiomyopathy (dCM);
      however, experimental findings in animal models of heart failure (HF) and in
      human myocardium also seem to support the coexistence of the two alterations in
      HF. CRITICAL ISSUES: Two important questions remain open: whether pathological
      changes in metabolism play an important role in enhancing oxidative stress and
      whether there is a common pathway linking altered substrate utilization and
      activation of ROS-generating enzymes, independently of the underlying cardiac
      pathology. In this regard, the comparison between dCM and HF is intriguing, in
      that these pathological conditions display very different cardiac metabolic
      phenotypes. RECENT ADVANCES: Our literature review on this topic indicates that a
      vast body of knowledge is now available documenting the relationship between the
      metabolism of energy substrates and ROS generation in dCM. In some cases,
      biochemical mechanisms have been identified. On the other hand, only a few and
      relatively recent studies have explored this phenomenon in HF and their
      conclusions are not consistent. FUTURE DIRECTIONS: Better methods of
      investigation, especially in vivo, will be necessary to test whether the
      metabolic fate of certain substrates is causally linked to ROS production. If
      successful, these studies will place a new emphasis on the potential clinical
      relevance of metabolic modulators, which might indirectly mitigate cardiac
      oxidative stress in dCM, HF, and, possibly, in other pathological conditions.

PMID- 25836027
TI  - Body Image in Young Gender Dysphoric Adults: A European Multi-Center Study.
AB  - The alteration of sex-specific body features and the establishment of a
      satisfactory body image are known to be particularly relevant for individuals
      with Gender Dysphoria (GD). The aim of the study was to first develop new scales
      and examine the psychometric properties of the Hamburg Body Drawing Scale (Appelt
      & Straubeta 1988). For the second part of this study, the satisfaction with
      different body features in young GD adults before cross-sex treatment were
      compared to female and male controls. Data collection took place within the
      context of the European Network for the Investigation of Gender Incongruence
      (ENIGI) including 135 female-to-male (FtMs) and 115 male-to-female (MtFs) young
      GD adults and 235 female and 379 male age-adjusted controls. The five female and
      six male body feature subscales revealed good internal consistency. The ENIGI
      sample reported less satisfaction with overall appearance (d = 0.30) and with all
      of their body features than controls, but no subgroup differences for sexual
      orientation (FtM and MtF) and Age of Onset (FtM) were found. Body dissatisfaction
      was higher with regard to sex-specific body features (largest effect sizes of d =
      3.21 for Genitalia in FtMs and d = 2.85 for Androgen-responsive features and
      genitalia in MtFs) than with those that appeared less related to the natal sex (d
      = 0.64 for Facial features in FtMs and d = 0.59 for Body shape in MtFs). Not only
      medical body modifying interventions, but also psychosocial guidance with regard
      to body image might be helpful for GD individuals before transitioning.

PMID- 25836028
TI  - Environmental enrichment reverses histone methylation changes in the aged
      hippocampus and restores age-related memory deficits.
AB  - A decline in long-term memory (LTM) formation is a common feature of the normal
      aging process, which corresponds with abnormal expression of memory-related genes
      in the aged hippocampus. Epigenetic modulation of chromatin structure is required
      for proper transcriptional control of genes, such as the brain-derived
      neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) and Zif268 in the hippocampus during the consolidation
      of new memories. Recently, the view has emerged that aberrant transcriptional
      regulation of memory-related genes may be reflective of an altered epigenetic
      landscape within the aged hippocampus, resulting in memory deficits with aging.
      Here, we found that baseline resting levels for tri-methylation of histone H3 at
      lysine 4 (H3K4me3) and acetylation of histone H3 at lysine 9 and 14 (H3K9,K14ac)
      were altered in the aged hippocampus as compared to levels in the hippocampus of
      young adult rats. Interestingly, object learning failed to increase activity
      dependent H3K4me3 and di-methylation of histone H3 at lysine 9 (H3K9me2) levels
      in the hippocampus of aged adults as compared to young adults. Treatment with the
      LSD-1 histone demethylase inhibitor, t-PCP, increased baseline resting H3K4me3
      and H3K9,K14ac levels in the young adult hippocampus, while young adult rats
      exhibited similar memory deficits as observed in aged rats. After environmental
      enrichment (EE), we found that object learning induced increases in H3K4me3
      levels around the Bdnf, but not the Zif268, gene region in the aged hippocampus
      and rescued memory deficits in aged adults. Collectively, these results suggest
      that histone lysine methylation levels are abnormally regulated in the aged
      hippocampus and identify histone lysine methylation as a transcriptional
      mechanism by which EE may serve to restore memory formation with aging. 

PMID- 25836029
TI  - Preparation of cross-linked, multilayer-coated fluorescent microspheres with
      functional groups on the surface for bioconjugation.
AB  - This study is to develop a method for preparing fluorescent microspheres with
      steady and strong fluorescence as well as the surface functionality for
      bioconjugation. Layer-by-layer technique was employed to introduce
      poly(phenylenevinylene) (PPV) precursor, diazoresin (DAR), and polyanion,
      including poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly(sodium-p-styrenesulfonate) (PSS),
      onto the substrate polystyrene-divinylbenzene microspheres with sulfonic groups
      on the surface (SPSDVB). The conversion of PPV precursor into fluorescent PPV as
      well as the cross-linking reaction between DAR and polyanion, were accomplished
      simultaneously in the following thermal treatment. After optimizing the DAR
      concentration, the selection of polyelectrolytes and the coating sequence, the
      cross-linked multilayer coated PPV microspheres, SPSDVB-(PPV/PSS/DAR/PAA)
      spheres, were prepared. These spheres were found to have uniform size with a
      clear core-shell structure and display even and strong fluorescence, based on the
      characterization by flow cytometry, microscopy, and photophysics. They were found
      to be stable and highly resistant to common solvents and even "dissociation
      agent", as well as possess good thermal stability and photostability. The
      feasibility of conjugating biomolecules on the surface of spheres was also
      demonstrated. 

PMID- 25836030
TI  - Intrathoracic extramedullary haemopoiesis in a patient with hereditary
      spherocytosis.

PMID- 25836031
TI  - Microscale technology and biocatalytic processes: opportunities and challenges
      for synthesis.
AB  - Despite the expanding presence of microscale technology in chemical synthesis and
      energy production as well as in biomedical devices and analytical and diagnostic
      tools, its potential in biocatalytic processes for pharmaceutical and fine
      chemicals, as well as related industries, has not yet been fully exploited. The
      aim of this review is to shed light on the strategic advantages of this promising
      technology for the development and realization of biocatalytic processes and
      subsequent product recovery steps, demonstrated with examples from the
      literature. Constraints, opportunities, and the future outlook for the
      implementation of these key green engineering methods and the role of supporting
      tools such as mathematical models to establish sustainable production processes
      are discussed. 

PMID- 25836032
TI  - Relevance of the plasma membrane calcium-ATPase in the homeostasis of calcium in
      the fetal liver.
AB  - During the early stages of development, the embryo depends on the placenta as
      provider of oxygen and calcium, among other essential compounds. Although fetal
      liver accomplishes a well-known haematopoietic function, its contribution to
      calcium homeostasis upon development is poorly understood. The homeostasis of
      cell calcium contributes to diverse signaling pathways across developmental
      stages of most tissues and the calcium-ATPase located at the plasma membrane
      (PMCA) helps pumping excess calcium into the extracellular space. To date, the
      understanding of the equilibrium shift between PMCA isoforms during liver
      development is still missing. This review focuses on the characterization of the
      hepatic PMCA along the early stages of development, followed by a description of
      modern approaches to study calcium homeostasis involving several types of
      pluripotent cells. The application of interdisciplinary techniques to improve our
      understanding of liver development and the role calcium homeostasis plays in the
      definition of pathogenesis is also discussed. 

PMID- 25836033
TI  - Anammox cultivation in a closed sponge-bed trickling filter.
AB  - A feasibility study was carried out to assess the cultivation of Anammox bacteria
      in lab-scale closed sponge-bed trickling filter (CSTF) reactors, namely: CSTF-1
      at 20 degrees C and CSTF-2 at 30 degrees C. Stable conditions were reached from
      day 66 in CSTF-2 and from day 104 in CSTF-1. The early stability of CSTF-2 is
      attributable to the influence of temperature; nevertheless, by day 405, the
      nitrogen removal performed by CSTF-1 increased up to similar values of CSTF-2.
      The maximum total nitrogen removal efficiency was 82% in CSTF-1 and 84% in CSTF
      2. After more than 400 days of operation, CSTF-1 and CSTF-2 were capable to
      attain a total nitrogen removal efficiency of 74+/-5% and 78+/-4% with a total
      nitrogen conversion rate of 1.52 and 1.60kg-N/m(sponge)(3)d, respectively. The
      proposed technology could be a suitable alternative for mainstream nitrogen
      removal in post-treatment units via the Anammox conversion pathway.

PMID- 25836034
TI  - Biogas production from brewery spent grain enhanced by bioaugmentation with
      hydrolytic anaerobic bacteria.
AB  - Lignocellulosic substrates are widely available but not easily applied in biogas
      production due to their poor anaerobic degradation. The effect of bioaugmentation
      by anaerobic hydrolytic bacteria on biogas production was determined by the
      biochemical methane potential assay. Microbial biomass from full scale upflow
      anaerobic sludge blanket reactor treating brewery wastewater was a source of
      active microorganisms and brewery spent grain a model lignocellulosic substrate.
      Ruminococcus flavefaciens 007C, Pseudobutyrivibrio xylanivorans Mz5(T),
      Fibrobacter succinogenes S85 and Clostridium cellulovorans as pure and mixed
      cultures were used to enhance the lignocellulose degradation and elevate the
      biogas production. P. xylanivorans Mz5(T) was the most successful in elevating
      methane production (+17.8%), followed by the coculture of P. xylanivorans Mz5(T)
      and F. succinogenes S85 (+6.9%) and the coculture of C. cellulovorans and F.
      succinogenes S85 (+4.9%). Changes in microbial community structure were detected
      by fingerprinting techniques. 

PMID- 25836035
TI  - Hybrid system up-flow constructed wetland integrated with microbial fuel cell for
      simultaneous wastewater treatment and electricity generation.
AB  - An innovative design of upflow constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell (UFCW-MFC)
      planted with cattail was used for simultaneous wastewater treatment and
      electricity generation. The electrodes material employed in the study was carbon
      felt. The main aim of this study is to assess the performance of the UFCW
      coupling with MFC in term of ability to treat wastewater and the capability to
      generate bioelectricity. The oxidation reduction potential (ORP) and dissolved
      oxygen (DO) profile showed that the anaerobic and aerobic regions were well
      developed in the lower and upper bed, respectively, of UFCW-MFC. Biodegradation
      of organic matter, nitrification and denitrification was investigated and the
      removal efficiencies of COD, NO3(-), NH4(+) were 100%, 40%, and 91%,
      respectively. The maximum power density of 6.12 mW m(-2) and coulombic efficiency
      of 8.6% were achieved at electrode spacing of anode 1 (A1) and cathode (15 cm).

PMID- 25836036
TI  - Rheological and fractal hydrodynamics of aerobic granules.
AB  - The structural and hydrodynamic features for granules were characterized using
      settling experiments, predefined mathematical simulations and ImageJ-particle
      analyses. This study describes the rheological characterization of these
      biologically immobilized aggregates under non-Newtonian flows. The second order
      dimensional analysis defined as D2=1.795 for native clusters and D2=1.099 for
      dewatered clusters and a characteristic three-dimensional fractal dimension of
      2.46 depicts that these relatively porous and differentially permeable fractals
      had a structural configuration in close proximity with that described for a
      compact sphere formed via cluster-cluster aggregation. The three-dimensional
      fractal dimension calculated via settling-fractal correlation, U?l(D) to
      characterize immobilized granules validates the quantitative measurements used
      for describing its structural integrity and aggregate complexity. These results
      suggest that scaling relationships based on fractal geometry are vital for
      quantifying the effects of different laminar conditions on the aggregates'
      morphology and characteristics such as density, porosity, and projected surface
      area. 

PMID- 25836037
TI  - Bioaugmentation of biogas production by a hydrogen-producing bacterium.
AB  - The rate-limiting nature of the hydrogen concentration prevailing in the
      anaerobic digester has been recognized, but the associated alterations in the
      microbial community are unknown. In response to the addition of Enterobacter
      cloacae cells in laboratory anaerobic digesters, the level of biogas production
      was augmented. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and
      real-time polymerase chain reaction (Real-Time PCR) were used to study the
      survival of mesophilic hydrogen-producing bacteria and the effects of their
      presence on the composition of the other members of the bacterial community. E.
      cloacae proved to maintain a stable cell number and to influence the microbial
      composition of the system. Bioaugmentation by a single strain added to the
      natural biogas-producing microbial community was demonstrated. The community
      underwent pronounced changes as a result of the relatively slight initial shift
      in the microbiological system, responding sensitively to the alterations in local
      hydrogen concentration. 

PMID- 25836038
TI  - Opportunities to improve the areal oil productivity of microalgae.
AB  - Microalgae are often considered as a promising alternative source of vegetable
      oils. These oils can be used for food and biofuel applications. Productivities
      that are projected for large-scale microalgal oil production are, however, often
      poorly supported by scientific evidence and based on too optimistic assumptions.
      To facilitate the inclusion of the microalgal physiology in these projections,
      existing knowledge and novel scientific insights were condensed into a
      mechanistic model that describes photosynthesis and carbon partitioning during
      nitrogen starvation. The model is validated using experimental data from both
      wild-type and a starchless mutant of Scenedesmus obliquus. The model is
      subsequently used to quantify how reactor design, process design, and strain
      improvement can improve the oil productivity from 2.1 to up to 10.9 g m(-2) day(
      1). These projected productivities are used to reflect on commonly assumed oil
      productivities and it is concluded that the microalgal oil productivity is often
      overestimated several folds.

PMID- 25836039
TI  - Ionic liquids for the concomitant use in extremophiles lysis and extremozymes
      extraction.
AB  - Ionic liquids have been successfully proposed to modify membrane permeability in
      cultures of a model extremophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus HB27, which
      makes up the first time that aqueous solutions of these molten salts are applied
      in downstream stages of this kind of microorganisms. The presence of 1g/L of
      C10MIMCl entails a great solubilisation of cell biomass, thus allowing the
      release of intracellular and membrane-bound enzyme. The influence on the enzyme
      activity of two inorganic salts such as Na2CO3 and (NH4)2SO4, selected on the
      basis of their high salting out potential and biocompatibility with enzymes,
      respectively, was investigated. In parallel, their ability to trigger phase
      segregation was confirmed in the presence of the enzyme crude, leading to very
      high levels of enzyme extraction (96%). The validity of the strategy was
      confirmed by operating at bioreactor scale, and the main bioprocess parameters
      were obtained by modelling the experimental data. 

PMID- 25836040
TI  - Enzymatic saccharification and bioethanol production from Cynara cardunculus
      pretreated by steam explosion.
AB  - The correct choice of the specific lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment allows
      obtaining high biomass conversions for biorefinery implementations and cellulosic
      bioethanol production from renewable resources. Cynara cardunculus (cardoon)
      pretreated by steam explosion (SE) was involved in second-generation bioethanol
      production using separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) or simultaneous
      saccharification and fermentation (SSF) processes. Steam explosion pretreatment
      led to partial solubilisation of hemicelluloses and increased the accessibility
      of residual polysaccharides towards enzymatic hydrolysis revealing 64% of sugars
      yield against 11% from untreated plant material. Alkaline extraction after SE
      pretreatment of cardoon (CSEOH) promoted partial removal of degraded lignin,
      tannins, extractives and hemicelluloses thus allowing to double glucose
      concentration upon saccharification step. Bioethanol fermentation in SSF mode was
      faster than SHF process providing the best results: ethanol concentration 18.7 g
      L(-1), fermentation efficiency of 66.6% and a yield of 26.6g ethanol/100 g CSEOH
      or 10.1 g ethanol/100 g untreated cardoon.

PMID- 25836041
TI  - Primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the kidney in a young male: Case report and
      review of literature.
AB  - Primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the kidney is a rare tumor. A total of
      approximately 79 primary renal cases have been reported to date. Primitive
      neuroectodermal tumors occur preferentially in the soft-tissues of the
      paravertebral region and chest wall, less frequently in extremities, with a
      slight male predominance. We report a case of primitive neuroectodermal tumor of
      the kidney in a 17-year-old male with a pre-operative diagnosis of renal cell
      carcinoma-stage 4. The patient underwent radical nephrectomy and
      histopathological examination revealed a highly aggressive tumor of monotonous
      sheets of round cells with focal areas of rosette formations and high mitotic
      rate with Ki67 index of 25-30%. Tumor cells were positive for CD 99 confirming
      the diagnosis of primitive neuroectodermal tumor. Primitive neuroectodermal tumor
      of the kidney needs to be kept in mind as a differential diagnosis in young
      adults presenting with a large kidney mass. 

PMID- 25836042
TI  - Association of anorectal malformation and intestinal malrotation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients born with anorectal malformations (ARM) frequently have
      other congenital anomalies that are well-defined; however, limited data exist
      examining the relationship of ARM with malrotation. METHODS: A 10-year
      retrospective review was performed to examine all patients treated at a regional
      children's medical center with a diagnosis of ARM. Data were collected to
      identify malrotation, vertebral, anorectal, cardiac, tracheo-esophageal fistula,
      renal, radial, limb (VACTERL) anomalies, the type of ARM, operative procedures
      performed, and long-term bowel management. RESULTS: One hundred forty-six
      patients were identified. Upper gastrointestinal evaluation was performed in 21
      patients (14.4%), while contrast enemas were performed in 22 patients (15.1%).
      Seven patients were found to have malrotation (4.8%) and 6/7 of these patients
      had 2 or more VACTERL anomalies. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with ARM and 2 or more
      VACTERL anomalies should undergo screening for malrotation. Patients with
      intestinal malrotation, ARM, and poor potential for bowel control should have
      their appendix preserved during a Ladd's procedure.

PMID- 25836043
TI  - Women in surgical leadership positions: further assessment and future planning
      needed.

PMID- 25836046
TI  - Two new eunicellin diterpenoids from the South China Sea gorgonian Muricella
      sibogae and their bioactivities.
AB  - A systematic re-study on gorgonian Muricella sibogae from South China Sea yielded
      10 eunicellin-based diterpenoids including two new ones, sibogins C and D (1 and
      2). Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analyses (1D and
      2D NMR, IR and MS) and by comparison with data reported in literatures. All the
      isolates were tested for cytotoxic and antifouling activities. Compounds 3 and 5
      showed significant antifouling activity against the green mussel Perna viridis,
      and especially 3 was suggested as a potent low-toxic antifouling agent with a
      large LC50/EC50 value of 18.6. This was the first report on the antifouling
      activity of the eunicellin-type diterpenoids against the green mussel. 

PMID- 25836044
TI  - White matter injury and microglia/macrophage polarization are strongly linked
      with age-related long-term deficits in neurological function after stroke.
AB  - Most of the successes in experimental models of stroke have not translated well
      to the clinic. One potential reason for this failure is that stroke mainly
      afflicts the elderly and the majority of experimental stroke studies rely on data
      gathered from young adult animals. Therefore, in the present study we established
      a reliable, reproducible model of stroke with low mortality in aged (18month)
      male mice and contrasted their pathophysiological changes with those in young
      (2month) animals. To this end, mice were subjected to permanent tandem occlusion
      of the left distal middle cerebral artery (dMCAO) with ipsilateral common carotid
      artery occlusion (CCAO). Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was evaluated repeatedly
      during and after stroke. Reduction of CBF was more dramatic and sustained in aged
      mice. Aged mice exhibited more severe long-term sensorimotor deficits, as
      manifested by deterioration of performance in the Rotarod and hanging wire tests
      up to 35d after stroke. Aged mice also exhibited significantly worse long-term
      cognitive deficits after stroke, as measured by the Morris water maze test.
      Consistent with these behavioral observations, brain infarct size and neuronal
      tissue loss after dMCAO were significantly larger in aged mice at 2d and 14d,
      respectively. The young versus aged difference in neuronal tissue loss, however,
      did not persist until 35d after dMCAO. In contrast to the transient difference in
      neuronal tissue loss, we found significant and long lasting deterioration of
      white matter in aged animals, as revealed by the loss of myelin basic protein
      (MBP) staining in the striatum at 35d after dMCAO. We further examined the
      expression of M1 (CD16/CD32) and M2 (CD206) markers in Iba-1(+) microglia by
      double immunofluorescent staining. In both young and aged mice, the expression of
      M2 markers peaked around 7d after stroke whereas the expression of M1 markers
      peaked around 14d after stroke, suggesting a progressive M2-to-M1 phenotype shift
      in both groups. However, aged mice exhibited significantly reduced M2
      polarization compared to young adults. Remarkably, we discovered a strong
      positive correlation between favorable neurological outcomes after dMCAO and MBP
      levels or the number of M2 microglia/macrophages. In conclusion, our studies
      suggest that the distal MCAO stroke model consistently results in ischemic brain
      injury with long-term behavioral deficits, and is therefore suitable for the
      evaluation of long-term stroke outcomes. Furthermore, aged mice exhibit
      deterioration of functional outcomes after stroke and this deterioration is
      linked to white matter damage and reductions in M2 microglia/macrophage
      polarization. 

PMID- 25836047
TI  - Estrogen receptor alpha polymorphisms, estradiol level, and occurrence of
      atherosclerosis risk factors in healthy postmenopausal women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The objective of the study was to analyze the relationship between
      interaction of polymorphisms in the estrogen receptor alpha gene (Eralpha) and
      estradiol (E2), and the occurrence of selected atherosclerosis risk factors in
      postmenopausal women without the diagnosis of a cardiovascular disease.
      MATERIAL/METHODS: The study covered 210 women, a minimum of 2 years after
      menopause, with FSH >30 mlU/ml, aged 50-60 years, with no chronic diseases
      diagnosed. In the women examined, the levels of estradiol, total cholesterol, HDL
      cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides were determined, as well as
      height, waist circumference (W), hip circumference (R), and arterial
      hypertension. The BMI and W/H ratio were calculated. Genotyping of the ER-alpha
      polymorphism was performed using a polymerase chain reaction and restriction
      enzymes (PCR-RFLP). The alleles of the XbaI polymorphism were defined as A and G:
      heterozygote AG, wild type GG and homozygote AA. The alleles of PvuII
      polymorphism were defined as T and C: heterozygote TC, homozygote TT, and wild
      type CC. RESULTS: The concentration of endogenous estradiol and ERalpha XbaI and
      PuvII polymorphisms as independent parameters did not significantly affect the
      BMI, waist circumference, W/H ratio, levels of CHOL, HDL, LDL, TG, or LDL/HDL,
      nor the systole and diastole in the postmenopausal women in the study.
      CONCLUSIONS: The presented study suggests that ERalpha XbaI AA polymorphism may
      intensify the beneficial effect of estradiol on the distribution of fatty tissue
      after menopause; ERalpha XbaI GG and PuvII TC genotypes may intensify the
      beneficial effect of estradiol on HDL level; ERalpha PuvII TT genotype
      unfavorably modifies the relation between concentration of estradiol and systolic
      pressure after menopause.

PMID- 25836045
TI  - The slow forgetting of emotional episodic memories: an emotional binding account.
AB  - Emotional events are remembered better than neutral events, and this emotion
      advantage becomes particularly pronounced over time. The time-dependent effects
      of emotion impact upon recollection rather than on familiarity-based recognition,
      and they influence the recollection of item-specific details rather than
      contextual details. Moreover, the amygdala, but not the hippocampus, is crucial
      for producing these effects. Time-dependent effects of emotion have been
      attributed to an emotional consolidation process whereby the amygdala gradually
      facilitates the storage of emotional memories by other medial temporal lobe
      regions. However, we propose that these effects can be better understood by an
      emotional binding account whereby the amygdala mediates the recollection of item
      emotion bindings that are forgotten more slowly than item-context bindings
      supported by the hippocampus. 

PMID- 25836048
TI  - Analysis of computer-aided techniques for virtual planning in nasoalveolar
      moulding.
AB  - We compared two methods of planning virtual alveolar moulding as the first step
      in nasoalveolar moulding to provide the basis for an automated process to
      fabricate nasoalveolar moulding appliances by using computer-assisted design and
      computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM). First, the initial intraoral casts taken
      from seven newborn babies with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate were
      digitised. This was repeated for the target models after conventional
      nasoalveolar moulding had been completed. The initial digital model for each
      patient was then virtually modified by two different modelling techniques to
      achieve the corresponding target model: parametric and freeform modelling with
      the software Geomagic((r)). The digitally-remodelled casts were quantitatively
      compared with the actual target model for each patient, and the comparison
      between the two modified models and the target model showed that freeform
      modelling of the initial cast was successful (mean (SD) deviation n=7, +0.723
      (0.148) to -0.694 (0.157)mm) but needed continuous orientation and was difficult
      to automate. The results from the parametric modelling (mean (SD) deviation, n=7,
      +1.168 (0.185) to -1.067 (0.221)mm) were not as good as those from freeform
      modelling. During parametric modelling, we found some irregularities on the
      surface, and transverse growth of the maxilla was not accounted for. However,
      this method seems to be the right one as far as automation is concerned. In
      addition, an external algorithm must be implemented because the function of the
      commercial software is limited. 

PMID- 25836050
TI  - Highly sensitive determination of dialkyl phosphinate acids in environmental
      samples by ion chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.
AB  - Dialkyl phosphinate acids (DPAs) are the hydrolysates of aluminum dialkyl
      phosphinates (ADPs), one class of emerging phosphorus flame retardants since
      brominated flame retardants have been gradually phased out in recent years. It
      has been found that once dissolved in water, ADPs are completely hydrolyzed and
      exist as DPAs. However, there is no report on the determination of DPAs in
      environmental water samples. For the first time, we developed a method for the
      analysis of trace DPAs and ADPs in different environmental samples, including
      waters, soils and sediments. In this proposed method, MAX cartridges were
      employed for the purification, and ion chromatography (IC) tandem mass
      spectrometry (MS) method with large volume injection (200MUL) and postcolumn
      addition of methanol and NH3.H2O were employed for the determination of DPAs and
      ADPs. The matrix effects were <16% for water samples and <25% for soil/sediment
      samples, which were greatly improved in comparison to the liquid chromatography
      (LC) tandem MS determination. Determined at three fortified levels of 0.02MUg/L,
      0.2MUg/L and 1.0MUg/L, the mean recoveries were from 75.8% to 110.2%, with an
      acceptable coefficient of variation (3.3-20%, n=6) for water samples. The limits
      of the method were 3.5-9.3ng/L for DPAs in environmental water samples, and 0.06
      0.09MUg/kg for DPAs and ADPs in soil and sediment samples. For soil and sediment
      samples, results determined by the present IC-MS method were in good agreement
      with that determined by LC-MS in our previous study. 

PMID- 25836049
TI  - Reversed phase and cation exchange liquid chromatography with spectrophotometric
      and elemental/molecular mass spectrometric detection for S-adenosyl methionine/S
      adenosyl homocysteine ratios as methylation index in cell cultures of ovarian
      cancer.
AB  - S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) are essential
      compounds in the carbon metabolic cycle that have clinical implications in a
      broad range of disease conditions. The measurement of the ratio SAM/SAH also
      called methylation index, has become a way of monitoring the DNA methylation of a
      cell which is an epigenetic event with important clinical implications in
      diagnosis; therefore the development of suitable methods to accurately quantify
      these compounds is mandatory. This work illustrates the comparison of three
      independent methods for the determination of the methylation index, all of them
      based on the chromatographic separation of the two species (SAM and SAH) using
      either ion-pairing reversed phase or cation exchange chromatography. The species
      detection was conducted using either molecular absorption spectrophotometry (HPLC
      UV) or mass spectrometry with electrospray (ESI-MS/MS) as ionization source or
      inductively coupled plasma (DF-ICP-MS) by monitoring the S-atom contained in both
      analytes. The analytical performance characteristics of the three methods were
      critically compared obtaining best features for the combination of reversed phase
      HPLC with ESI-MS in the MRM mode. In this case, detection limits of about
      0.5ngmL(-1) for both targeted analytes permitted the application of the designed
      strategy to evaluate the effect of cisplatin on the changes of the methylation
      index among epithelial ovarian cancer cell lines sensitive (A2780) and resistant
      (A2780CIS) to this drug after exposition to cisplatin. 

PMID- 25836051
TI  - Thermo-responsive adsorbent for size-selective protein adsorption.
AB  - A thermo-responsive random copolymer, POEGMA (poly(oligoethylene glycol)
      methacrylate) grafted on cationized agarose adsorbent was used for size selective
      protein adsorption. The effects of OEGMA300 ((oligoethylene glycol) methyl ether
      methacrylate, Mn=300g/mol) content and temperature on the adsorption of bovine
      serum albumin (BSA) were evaluated. Increasing the content of OEGMA300 resulted a
      reduction in BSA adsorption due to the enhanced shielding effect of OEGMA300
      chains. Grafting of POEGMA chains onto cationized agarose adsorbent reduced the
      BSA adsorption by more than 95% at 26.5 degrees C, which is below the LCST (lower
      critical solution temperature) of POEGMA. The BSA adsorption capacities for
      adsorbents grafted with 10 and 20mol% of OEGMA300 decreased by 48% and 46%
      respectively at 38 degrees C, a temperature higher than their LCSTs. The
      temperature-dependent adsorption of BSA on the adsorbents was attributed to
      changes in the polymer conformation. The thermal transition of grafted POEGMA
      conformation exposed the ligand when the temperature was increased. Myoglobin
      (Myo), which was smaller than BSA, its adsorption behavior was less dependent on
      the polymer conformation. The adsorption of myoglobin onto the adsorbent with and
      without POEGMA showed similar percentage of reduction whereas the adsorption of
      BSA onto the adsorbent with POEGMA decreased by 7.6 times compared to the one
      without POEGMA. The packed bed of POEGMA grafted adsorbent was used for flow
      through separation of a protein mixture consisted of virus-like particle,
      Hepatitis B virus-like particle (HBVLP), BSA and insulin aspart. The recovery of
      HBVLP in 20mol% of OEGMA300 grafted adsorbent was increased by 19% compared to
      ungrafted adsorbent. The flow through of BSA can be reduced by increasing the
      operating temperature above LCST of 20mol% of OEGMA300 while the smaller protein,
      insulin aspart, remained adsorbed onto the cationized surface. Hence, this thermo
      responsive adsorbent has a potential for size-selective separation of protein
      especially for the recovery of large biomolecule. 

PMID- 25836052
TI  - Intra-articular bioactivity of a p38 MAPK inhibitor and development of an
      extended-release system.
AB  - In the treatment of arthritic diseases, oral or systemic administration of anti
      inflammatory substances, such as p38 MAPK inhibitors, is hampered by numerous
      side effects. To overcome them, formulations of rapid and extended drug delivery
      systems were studied in intra-articular administration. For the first time, VX
      745, a highly selective p38 MAPK inhibitor, demonstrated in vivo bioactivity,
      similar to dexamethasone activity, following intra-articular administration in an
      antigen-induced arthritic (AIA) mouse model. The in vitro bioactivity of VX-745
      was also shown on synoviocytes, reducing the IL-6 concentration. Process and
      formulation parameters (i.e., polymer concentration, aqueous/organic phase ratio,
      emulsification speed and process, and evaporation pressure) and particle
      characterisation (i.e., drug loading, size of particle, and surface aspect) were
      extensively examined to produce optimised formulations. Indeed, a burst release
      provides a rapid saturation of intracellular p38 MAPK to relieve patients from
      pain and inflammation. Then, drug diffusion would be sufficient to maintain an
      effective dose over 2-3 months. This study confirms the effectiveness of
      encapsulated p38 MAPK inhibitors in extended drug delivery systems and seems to
      be a promising strategy for intra-articular treatment. 

PMID- 25836053
TI  - In-vitro simulation of luminal conditions for evaluation of performance of oral
      drug products: Choosing the appropriate test media.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Biorelevant media for evaluation of dosage form performance in the
      gastrointestinal lumen were first introduced in the late 1990s. Since then, a
      variety of additional media have been proposed, making it now possible to
      simulate most regions in the gastrointestinal tract in both prandial states.
      However, recent work suggests that the complexity and degree of biorelevance
      required to predict in-vivo release varies with the drug, dosage form and dosing
      conditions. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this commentary was to establish which levels
      of biorelevant media are appropriate to various combinations of active
      pharmaceutical ingredient(s), dosage form and dosing conditions. With regard to
      their application, a decision tree for the selection of the appropriate
      biorelevant medium/media is proposed and illustrative case scenarios are
      provided. Additionally, media to represent the distal small intestine in both
      prandial states are presented. CONCLUSION: The newly proposed levels of
      biorelevance and accompanying decision tree may serve as a useful tool during
      formulation development in order to ensure high quality, predictive performance
      results without unnecessary complexity of media. In future work, further specific
      case examples will be evolved, which will additionally address the need to take
      gastrointestinal passage times and type and intensity of agitation into
      consideration.

PMID- 25836054
TI  - A retrospective evaluation of retigabine in patients with cognitive impairment
      with highly drug-resistant epilepsy.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate retrospectively the efficacy
      and tolerability of retigabine (RTG) in residential patients of an epilepsy
      center. METHOD: We used an industry-independent noninterventional retrospective
      evaluation on the basis of paper and electronic records plus interrogation of the
      treating neurologists. All patients (N=20; 7 females; mean age: 31.8, range: 18
      54years) started on RTG between May 2011 and March 2012 were included. Evaluation
      was carried out after 6, 12, and 24months. Changes in seizure frequency were
      measured as the number of seizures during three months on RTG compared with a
      three-month baseline period. The Clinical Global Impression scale was applied to
      include qualitative changes in seizure severity. All but one patient had
      symptomatic (structural; one patient: metabolic) or cryptogenic focal or
      multifocal epilepsy. All had grade III drug-resistant epilepsy and cognitive
      deficits of different degrees. RESULTS: The retention rates were 60% after
      6months, 35% after 12months, and 20% after 24months. At 12months, there were 2
      responders (10%): one had a >90% seizure reduction and the other had a >50%
      seizure reduction. Another 5 patients were still on RTG because of minor
      improvements. The reasons for discontinuation in 13 patients were adverse effects
      (6), lack of effect (6), and both (1). Cognitive or emotional changes were the
      side effects that most frequently led to discontinuation. Beyond the 12-month
      evaluation, 3 patients were discontinued as a consequence of the FDA warning
      regarding retinal pigmentation and discoloration of skin and nails in patients
      exposed to RTG. One patient had a moderate blue-gray finger coloring.
      Ophthalmological changes were not discovered. CONCLUSION: Retigabine proved to be
      useful only for a small minority of patients in a sample of patients with
      particularly difficult-to-treat epilepsy.

PMID- 25836055
TI  - Depressive symptoms in younger women and men with acute myocardial infarction:
      insights from the VIRGO study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Depression was recently recognized as a risk factor for adverse
      medical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The degree
      to which depression is present among younger patients with an AMI, the patient
      profile associated with being a young AMI patient with depressive symptoms, and
      whether relevant sex differences exist are currently unknown. METHODS AND
      RESULTS: The Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes of Young AMI
      Patients (VIRGO) study enrolled 3572 patients with AMI (67.1% women; 2:1 ratio
      for women to men) between 2008 and 2012 (at 103 hospitals in the United States,
      24 in Spain, and 3 in Australia). Information about lifetime history of
      depression and depressive symptoms experienced over the past 2 weeks (Patient
      Health Questionnaire; a cutoff score >=10 was used for depression screening) was
      collected during index AMI admission. Information on demographics, socioeconomic
      status, cardiovascular risk, AMI severity, perceived stress (14-item Perceived
      Stress Scale), and health status (Seattle Angina Questionnaire, EuroQoL 5D) was
      obtained through interviews and chart abstraction. Nearly half (48%) of the women
      reported a lifetime history of depression versus 1 in 4 in men (24%; P<0.0001).
      At the time of admission for AMI, more women than men experienced depressive
      symptoms (39% versus 22%, P<0.0001; adjusted odds ratio 1.64; 95% CI 1.36 to
      1.98). Patients with more depressive symptoms had higher levels of stress and
      worse quality of life (P<0.001). Depressive symptoms were more prevalent among
      patients with lower socioeconomic profiles (eg, lower education, uninsured) and
      with more cardiovascular risk factors (eg, diabetes, smoking). CONCLUSIONS: A
      high rate of lifetime history of depression and depressive symptoms at the time
      of an AMI was observed among younger women compared with men. Depressive symptoms
      affected those with more vulnerable socioeconomic and clinical profiles.

PMID- 25836056
TI  - Disparities in cardiovascular research output and citations from 52 African
      countries: a time-trend, bibliometric analysis (1999-2008).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular research output and citations of publications from
      Africa have historically been low yet may be increasing. However, data from the
      continent are limited. METHODS AND RESULTS: To evaluate the cardiovascular
      research output and citations from 52 African countries between 1999 and 2008, we
      created a bibliometric filter to capture cardiovascular research articles
      published in the Web of Knowledge based on specialist journals and title words.
      Two coauthors with expertise in cardiovascular medicine tested and refined this
      filter to achieve >90% precision and recall. We matched retrieved records with
      their associated citation reports and calculated the running 5-year citation
      count postpublication, including the year of publication. Publications from
      Africa were identified by author addresses. South Africa published 872
      cardiovascular research papers, Egypt 393, Tunisia 264, and Nigeria 192 between
      1999 and 2008. The number of publications increased over the time period for a
      small number of countries (range 0.1 to 4.8 more publications per year by
      fractional count). Most countries' citations were low (<50), but citations were
      greatest for South Africa (7063), Egypt (2557), Tunisia (903), and Nigeria (540).
      The same countries had the greatest annual increase in 5-year citation index
      values: 65 (95% CI: 30, 99) for South Africa, 46 (34, 58) for Egypt, 22 (15, 28)
      for Tunisia, and 8 (2, 14) for Nigeria. The burden of cardiovascular disease had
      a weak and inconsistent relationship to cardiovascular publications (r(2)=0.07,
      P=0.05). Greater gross domestic product was associated with more cardiovascular
      publications in 2008 (r(2)=0.53, P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The increases in
      cardiovascular research outputs from Africa are concentrated in a few countries.
      The reasons for regional differences in research outputs require further
      investigation, particularly relative to competing disease burdens. Higher
      prioritization of cardiovascular research funding from African countries is
      warranted.

PMID- 25836058
TI  - Disparities in Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Literacy and Vaccine Completion Among
      Asian American Pacific Islander Undergraduates: Implications for Cancer Health
      Equity.
AB  - PURPOSE: Low rates of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among young Asian
      American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women need to be addressed, particularly
      given the high incidence of cervical cancer in this population. The current study
      aims to investigate predictors of HPV vaccination in young AAPI and non-Latina
      white (NLW) women. METHODS: A secondary data analysis was conducted of a health
      survey administered to college-aged women (N = 2,270) at a large public
      university in the Midwest. Andersen's behavioral model of health services
      utilization guided the study theoretically, and hierarchical logistic regression
      analysis was conducted to investigate research aim. RESULTS: NLW women had a
      significantly higher rate of vaccine completion than AAPI women (NLW = 60.7%;
      AAPI = 38.6%). NLW women also scored higher on all 5 measures of HPV vaccine
      literacy than AAPI women. Both groups of undergraduate women reported that
      increasing age, knowledge about HPV, greater use of gynecological services, and
      knowing someone who had cancer were significant factors related to HPV
      vaccination completion. In the NLW group, father's income was also found to be a
      predictor of HPV vaccination completion. CONCLUSIONS: Rate and predictors of HPV
      vaccination completion vary between NLW and AAPI women. Greater promotion of HPV
      literacy and gynecological service use should be made to young AAPI women to
      increase their HPV uptake. Further research should examine sociocultural factors
      that could hinder or promote HPV vaccination in young AAPI women.

PMID- 25836057
TI  - Treatment, behavioral, and psychosocial components of cardiovascular disease risk
      among survivors of childhood and young adult cancer.

PMID- 25836059
TI  - Understanding the Effects of Bidentate Directing Groups: A Unified Rationale for
      sp(2) and sp(3) C-H Bond Activations.
AB  - Bidentate directing group (DG) strategy is a promising way to achieve sp(2) and
      more inert sp(3) C-H bond activations in transition metal (TM) catalysis. In this
      work, we systematically explored the assisting effects exerted by bidentate DGs
      in the C-H bond activations. Through DFT calculations and well-defined
      comparative analysis, we for the first time unified the rationale of the
      reactivity promoted by bidentate DG in sp(2) and sp(3) C-H activations, which are
      generally consistent with available experimental discoveries about the C-H
      activation reactivity up to date. In addition to the general rationale of the
      reactivity, the assisting effects of several typical bidentate DGs were also
      quantitatively evaluated and compared to reveal their relative promoting ability
      for C-H activation reactivity. Finally, the effect of the ligating group charge
      and the position of the ligating group charge in bidentate DGs were also
      investigated, based on which new types of DGs were designed and proposed to be
      potentially effective in C-H activation. The deeper understanding and new insight
      about the bidentate DG strategy gained in this work would help to enhance its
      further experimental development in sp(2) and sp(3) C-H bond activations. 

PMID- 25836060
TI  - Outcome of inferior and superior rectus recession in Graves' orbitopathy
      patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the surgical effect of unilateral inferior rectus recession
      (IR-group) with or without a recession of contralateral superior rectus (IR-SR
      group) on squint angle and motility restrictions in Graves' Orbitopathy (GO)
      patients. DESIGN: Retrospective case series. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Primary
      outcome parameters were the changes of squint angle 3 months and 6-12 months
      postoperatively. As in a previous study, success was defined as a postoperative
      vertical squint angle of <=3 degrees  in primary position and on downgaze.
      Secondary outcome parameters were the influence of surgery on duction range and
      influence of muscle size on dose-effect response. RESULTS: Fifty-six patients
      were included in the study; 31 patients in the IR-group and 25 patients in the IR
      SR-group. The amount of (fixed suture) recession ranged from 2 mm to 7 mm.
      Vertical deviations in primary position changed from 8.0 degrees  [95% CI 6.6-9.7
      degrees ] to 1.0 degrees  [95% CI -0.4-6.5 degrees ] in the IR-group and from
      17.0 degrees  [95% CI 15.7-20.0 degrees ] to 1.5 degrees  [95% CI 0.8-2.9 degrees
      ] in the IR-SR-group. The success rate was 74% in the IR-group and 64% in the IR
      SR-group. Elevation significantly improved in both groups (IR-group p = 0.007; IR
      SR- group p = 0.000). The volume of vertical rectus muscles as assessed on CT
      scans did not influence the dose-effect response. CONCLUSIONS: The highest
      success rate and highest reduction of depression was found in the IR-group. The
      total duction range remained stable after strabismus surgery (IR-group) or
      improved (IR-SR-group). Both squint angle and cyclodeviation remained stable
      during long time follow-up (6-12 months after surgery).

PMID- 25836062
TI  - GPC light shaping a supercontinuum source.
AB  - Generalized Phase Contrast (GPC) is a versatile tool for efficiently rerouting
      and managing photon energy into speckle-free contiguous spatial light
      distributions. We have previously shown theoretically and numerically that a GPC
      Light Shaper shows robustness to shift in wavelength and can maintain both
      projection length scale and high efficiency over a range [0.75lambda(0);
      1.5lambda(0)] with lambda(0) as the characteristic design wavelength. With this
      performance across multiple wavelengths and the recent availability of tabletop
      supercontinuum lasers, GPC light shaping opens the possibility for creatively
      incorporating various multi-wavelength approaches into spatially shaped
      excitations that can enable new broadband light applications. We verify this new
      approach using a supercontinuum light source, interfaced with a compact GPC light
      shaper. Our experiments give ~70% efficiency, ~3x intensity gain, and ~85% energy
      savings, limited, however, by the illumination equipment, but still in very good
      agreement with theoretical and numerical predictions.

PMID- 25836061
TI  - A novel biometric authentication approach using ECG and EMG signals.
AB  - Security biometrics is a secure alternative to traditional methods of identity
      verification of individuals, such as authentication systems based on user name
      and password. Recently, it has been found that the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal
      formed by five successive waves (P, Q, R, S and T) is unique to each individual.
      In fact, better than any other biometrics' measures, it delivers proof of
      subject's being alive as extra information which other biometrics cannot deliver.
      The main purpose of this work is to present a low-cost method for online
      acquisition and processing of ECG signals for person authentication and to study
      the possibility of providing additional information and retrieve personal data
      from an electrocardiogram signal to yield a reliable decision. This study
      explores the effectiveness of a novel biometric system resulting from the fusion
      of information and knowledge provided by ECG and EMG (Electromyogram)
      physiological recordings. It is shown that biometrics based on these ECG/EMG
      signals offers a novel way to robustly authenticate subjects. Five ECG databases
      (MIT-BIH, ST-T, NSR, PTB and ECG-ID) and several ECG signals collected in-house
      from volunteers were exploited. A palm-based ECG biometric system was developed
      where the signals are collected from the palm of the subject through a minimally
      intrusive one-lead ECG set-up. A total of 3750 ECG beats were used in this work.
      Feature extraction was performed on ECG signals using Fourier descriptors
      (spectral coefficients). Optimum-Path Forest classifier was used to calculate the
      degree of similarity between individuals. The obtained results from the proposed
      approach look promising for individuals' authentication. 

PMID- 25836063
TI  - Simultaneous measurement of pressure and temperature by employing Fabry-Perot
      interferometer based on pendant polymer droplet.
AB  - We investigated a novel and ultracompact polymer-capped Fabry-Perot
      interferometer, which is based on a polymer capped on the endface of a single
      mode fiber (SMF). The proposed Fabry-Perot interferometer has advantages of easy
      fabrication, low cost, and high sensitivity. The variation of the Fabry-Perot
      cavity length can be easily controlled by using the motors of a normal arc fusion
      splicer. Moreover, the enhanced mechanical strength of the Fabry-Perot
      interferometer makes it suitable for high sensitivity pressure and temperature
      sensing in harsh environments. The proposed interferometer exhibits a wavelength
      shift of the interference fringes that corresponds to a temperature sensitivity
      of 249 pm/ degrees C and a pressure sensitivity of 1130 pm/MPa, respectively,
      around the wavelength of 1560 nm. 

PMID- 25836064
TI  - A one-shot-projection method for measurement of specular surfaces.
AB  - In this paper, a method is proposed to measure the shapes of specular surfaces
      with one-shot-projection of structured laser patterns. By intercepting the
      reflection of the reflected laser pattern twice with two diffusive planes, the
      closed form solution is achieved for each reflected ray. The points on the
      specular surface are reconstructed by computing the intersections of the incident
      rays and the reflected rays. The proposed method can measure both static and
      dynamic specular shapes due to its one-shot-projection, which is beyond the
      capability of most of state of art methods that need multiple projections. To our
      knowledge, the proposed method is the only method so far that could yield the
      closed form solutions for the dynamic and specular surfaces. 

PMID- 25836065
TI  - Temperature sensor based on a hybrid ITO-silica resonant cavity.
AB  - Integrated optical devices comprised of multiple material systems are able to
      achieve unique performance characteristics, enabling applications in sensing and
      in telecommunications. Due to ease of fabrication, the majority of previous work
      has focused on polymer-dielectric or polymer-semiconductor systems. However, the
      environmental stability of polymers is limited. In the present work, a hybrid
      device comprised of an indium tin oxide (ITO) coating on a silicon dioxide
      toroidal resonant cavity is fabricated. Finite element method simulations of the
      optical field in the multi-material device are performed, and the optical mode
      profile is significantly altered by the high index film. The quality factor is
      also measured and is material loss limited. Additionally, its performance as a
      temperature sensor is characterized. Due to the high thermo-optic coefficient of
      ITO and the localization of the optical field in the ITO layer, the hybrid
      temperature sensor demonstrates a nearly 3-fold improvement in performance over
      the conventional silica device. 

PMID- 25836066
TI  - A sensor-data-based denoising framework for hyperspectral images.
AB  - Many denoising approaches extend image processing to a hyperspectral cube
      structure, but do not take into account a sensor model nor the format of the
      recording. We propose a denoising framework for hyperspectral images that uses
      sensor data to convert an acquisition to a representation facilitating the noise
      estimation, namely the photon-corrected image. This photon corrected image format
      accounts for the most common noise contributions and is spatially proportional to
      spectral radiance values. The subsequent denoising is based on an extended
      variational denoising model, which is suited for a Poisson distributed noise. A
      spatially and spectrally adaptive total variation regularisation term accounts
      the structural proposition of a hyperspectral image cube. We evaluate the
      approach on a synthetic dataset that guarantees a noise-free ground truth, and
      the best results are achieved when the dark current is taken into account. 

PMID- 25836067
TI  - Sum decomposition of Mueller-matrix images and spectra of beetle cuticles.
AB  - Spectral Mueller matrices measured at multiple angles of incidence as well as
      Mueller matrix images are recorded on the exoskeletons (cuticles) of the scarab
      beetles Cetonia aurata and Chrysina argenteola. Cetonia aurata is green whereas
      Chrysina argenteola is gold-colored. When illuminated with natural (unpolarized)
      light, both species reflect left-handed and near-circularly polarized light
      originating from helicoidal structures in their cuticles. These structures are
      referred to as circular Bragg reflectors. For both species the Mueller matrices
      are found to be nondiagonal depolarizers. The matrices are Cloude decomposed to a
      sum of non-depolarizing matrices and it is found that the cuticle optical
      response, in a first approximation can be described as a sum of Mueller matrices
      from an ideal mirror and an ideal circular polarizer with relative weights
      determined by the eigenvalues of the covariance matrices of the measured Mueller
      matrices. The spectral and image decompositions are consistent with each other. A
      regression-based decomposition of the spectral and image Mueller matrices is also
      presented whereby the basic optical components are assumed to be a mirror and a
      circular polarizer as suggested by the Cloude decomposition. The advantage with a
      regression decomposition compared to a Cloude decomposition is its better
      stability as the matrices in the decomposition are determined a priori. The
      origin of the depolarizing features are discussed but from present data it is not
      possible to conclude whether the two major components, the mirror and the
      circular polarizer are laterally separated in domains in the cuticle or if the
      depolarization originates from the intrinsic properties of the helicoidal
      structure. 

PMID- 25836068
TI  - Plasma-mediated photothermal effects in ultrafast laser irradiation of gold
      nanoparticle dimers in water.
AB  - The intention of this paper is to study the physical mechanism underlying the
      response of gold nanoparticle (AuNP) dimers to a near-infrared off-resonance
      femtosecond pulse laser in aqueous medium. We show that the strongly localized
      field enhancement in the gap distance and around nanoparticles significantly
      reduces the laser fluence threshold to achieve an optical breakdown in comparison
      with an AuNP monomer. This optical breakdown results from highly localized plasma
      in surrounding media where the nanoparticles stay intact. Also the impact of the
      gap distance, field polarization, laser fluence and pulse duration on the energy
      deposition in plasma is presented. These results can be used to make nanoscale
      plasmonic devices for variety of absorption-based applications. 

PMID- 25836069
TI  - A near-field light probe with an optical slot-waveguide structure.
AB  - In this study, we present a new design for an optical near-field probe with a
      slot-waveguide structure and evaluate it using a finite-difference time-domain
      simulation. Our model, with a 50-nm slot core, enables illumination around the
      tip of the probe using a small optical spot 50-250 nm wide with 20%-30%
      transmission efficiency. Based on the high-index-contrast structure in a slot
      waveguide, a nanosized optical spot is easily generated, which is impossible with
      a normal slab waveguide. Similar properties of optical spot and transmission
      efficiency are obtained for different geometric configurations of flat-faced and
      tapered dielectric slot waveguides in illumination mode. The transmission
      efficiency of our models is the same or higher than that in conventional metallic
      tapered optical probes. When operating in illumination and collection modes, a
      near-field light reflected at 50-200-nm-wide measured objects is clearly
      observed, and a spatial resolution of ~50 nm is obtained. These findings suggest
      the potential for slot-waveguide structures to expand the versatility of
      nanosized optical probes. 

PMID- 25836070
TI  - High resolution Fourier domain optical coherence tomography in the 2 MUm
      wavelength range using a broadband supercontinuum source.
AB  - A 220 nm bandwidth supercontinuum source in the two-micron wavelength range has
      been developed for use in a Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FDOCT)
      system. This long wavelength source serves to enhance probing depth in highly
      scattering material with low water content. We present results confirming
      improved penetration depth in high opacity paint samples while achieving the high
      axial resolution needed to resolve individual paint layers. This is the first
      FDOCT developed in the 2 MUm wavelength regime that allows fast, efficient
      capturing of 3D image cubes at a high axial resolution of 13 MUm in air (or 9 MUm
      in paint). 

PMID- 25836071
TI  - Reducing polarization-fluctuation induced drift in resonant fiber optic gyro by
      using single-polarization fiber.
AB  - A novel hybrid single-polarization (SP) fiber ring resonator is demonstrated by
      using a polarization-maintaining coupler formed by splicing a section of SP fiber
      into the resonator. The SP fiber selectively eliminates the unwanted resonance by
      introducing high loss for the unwanted eigenstates of polarization in the
      resonator. The calculated result shows that this hybrid SP resonator is a good
      candidate for a tactical-grade performance gyro with a high environmental
      temperature stability. The experiment shows that the desired resonance in the
      resonator can keep an excellent stability in a wide temperature range, thus the
      temperature-dependent polarization-fluctuation drift in the resonant fiber optic
      gyro is sufficiently suppressed. As a result, a random walk coefficient of 0.08
      degrees /?h and a typical bias stability below 0.3 degrees /h for an integration
      time of 300 s have been carried out. 

PMID- 25836072
TI  - Phase regeneration for polarization-division multiplexed signals based on vector
      dual-pump nondegenerate phase sensitive amplification.
AB  - The polarization-division multiplexing (PDM) technology is a practical method to
      double the transmission capacity, and the corresponding phase regeneration (PR)
      for PDM signals is meaningful and necessary to extend the transmission distance
      and increase the transparency for the phase-encoded PDM system. Those reported
      PDM PR schemes either utilized polarization-diversity technique or required
      special PDM format. In order to overcome these issues, the PR for the PDM phase
      modulated signals is proposed and theoretically demonstrated in this paper, based
      on the vector dual-pump nondegenerate phase sensitive amplification (PSA). The
      theoretical model is established and the detailed characteristics are
      investigated to optimize the PR performance. Results show an obvious phase
      squeezing for the degraded 80 Gbit/s PDM differential phase-shift keying (DPSK)
      signals, and the error vector magnitude (EVM) of the regenerated signals on dual
      polarization states can be improved from 22.58% and 21.39% to 4.57% and 4.63%,
      respectively. Furthermore, the applicability of the proposed scheme for PDM
      quaternary-phase shift keying (QPSK) signals is investigated. The proposed scheme
      can be useful and promising in current PDM based coherent fiber-optic
      communication. 

PMID- 25836073
TI  - Topological edge plasmon modes between diatomic chains of plasmonic
      nanoparticles.
AB  - We study the topological edge plasmon modes between two "diatomic" chains of
      identical plasmonic nanoparticles. Zak phase for longitudinal plasmon modes in
      each chain is calculated analytically by solutions of macroscopic Maxwell's
      equations for particles in quasi-static dipole approximation. This approximation
      provides a direct analogy with the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model such that the
      eigenvalue is mapped to the frequency dependent inverse-polarizability of the
      nanoparticles. The edge state frequency is found to be the same as the single
      particle resonance frequency, which is insensitive to the separation distances
      within a unit cell. Finally, full electrodynamic simulations with realistic
      parameters suggest that the edge plasmon mode can be realized through near-field
      optical spectroscopy. 

PMID- 25836074
TI  - Ultra-broadband terahertz perfect absorber by exciting multi-order diffractions
      in a double-layered grating structure.
AB  - Terahertz (THz) perfect absorber, as a useful functional device, has attracted
      considerable attention. Traditional metamaterial perfect absorbers are usually in
      response to single-frequency or multi-frequency owing to the resonance features
      of the metal-based sub-wavelength structure. In this paper, a simple double
      layered doped-silicon grating structure was designed to realize an ultra
      broadband and polarization-independent THz perfect absorber. Both theoretical and
      experimental results demonstrate that the incident THz waves ranging from 0.59 to
      2.58 THz can be efficiently absorbed with an absorptivity of more than 95% and a
      bandwidth of about 2.0 THz. The excellent characteristic of this broad-bandwidth
      THz perfect absorber is mainly resulted from the air gap mode resonance together
      with the first-order and the second-order grating diffractions. 

PMID- 25836075
TI  - Efficient coupling of a sub-5-nm-gap plasmonic crystal cavity with an integrated
      waveguide.
AB  - An effective engineering method for efficient coupling between a tightly focused
      sub-5-nm-gap plasmonic crystal cavity and an integrated waveguide is proposed. A
      three-dimensionally tapered 2-nm-gap plasmonic crystal cavity exhibiting a mode
      volume of 6x10(-6) (lambda/n)(3) can efficiently couple to an integrated
      waveguide with over 90% efficiency by optimally selecting the number of air-holes
      in the plasmonic crystal. The field intensity is accordingly maximized, and its
      enhancement reaches to 205,000 for the light incident from the waveguide. Here,
      the optimal coupling is achieved by matching the radiation rate of the cavity
      mode to its absorption rate. In addition, the strongly enhanced field intensity
      boosts the spontaneous emission rate of the dipole emitter embedded in the
      cavity. The maximum radiative Purcell enhancement is calculated to be 362,000
      where the quantum efficiency exceeds 50%.

PMID- 25836076
TI  - Terahertz volatile gas sensing by using polymer microporous membranes.
AB  - A compact, inexpensive, low loss, highly sensitive gas sensor is important for
      various biomedical and industrial applications. However, current gas sensors
      still have an inadequate study in terahertz (THz) frequency range. In this study,
      simple multilayer-stacked microporous polymer membranes are experimentally
      validated in the THz regime for organic vapor sensing under ambient atmosphere
      and room temperature. The hydrophilic porous polymer structure provides a large
      surface area to adsorb polar vapors, and exhibits excellent discrimination in
      different types of organic vapors based on distinct dipole moments. Various
      concentrations of volatile vapors can also be successfully distinguished by
      detecting the limits of low ppm concentrations. Furthermore, the microporous
      structural gas sensor has a reasonable response time in repeat usage. This study
      would provide new perspectives on toxic gas sensing and exhaled breath detection
      applications in the THz spectral frequency. 

PMID- 25836077
TI  - Generation of 360 degrees  three-dimensional display using circular-aligned OLED
      microdisplays.
AB  - A 360 degrees  all-around multiview three-dimensional (3D) display system is
      proposed by using coarse-pitch circular-aligned OLED microdisplays. The magnified
      virtual color images projected from microdisplays serve as stereo images, which
      can create separate eyeboxes for the viewer. Through inserting baffles, a
      transitional stereo image assembled by two spatially complementary segments from
      adjacent stereo images is presented to a complementary fusing zone (CFZ) which
      locates between adjacent eyeboxes. For a moving observation point, the spatial
      ratio of the two complementary segments evolves gradually, resulting in
      continuously changing transitional stereo images and thus overcoming the problem
      of discontinuous moving parallax. Such a controllable light-ray fusing
      technology, assured by the inherent large divergent angle of OLED pixels,
      decreases the required number of display panels for 360 degrees  multiview 3D
      display greatly. A prototype display system with only 67 full-color OLED
      microdisplays is set up to demonstrate the 360 degrees  3D color display. The
      develop system is freed from the dependence on mechanical moving elements, high
      speed components and diffusion screens. 

PMID- 25836078
TI  - Hidden image recovery using a biased photorefractive crystal in the Fourier plane
      of an optical imaging system.
AB  - Self-diffraction can be induced using a biased photorefractive crystal in the
      Fourier plane of an imaging system where the light beam intensity is naturally
      high due to the concentration effect of an optical lens. The spatial frequency
      spectrum of the output image is proportional to the optical power density
      distribution in the Fourier plane. A photorefractive crystal with small size can
      be used and hence an reduced amount of biased voltage is needed to obtain
      significant diffraction effect in the image plane. When the input image is an
      overlay of a signal and a noise pattern, theoretic model reveals that the induced
      diffraction in the Fourier plane may be preferably applied on the noise pattern.
      In order to illustrate the effect experimentally, a signal from a weakly
      illuminated object is coupled with an overwhelming noise pattern and then the
      hidden signal is successfully recovered using a SBN61 crystal with an applied
      voltage of 800 V in the Fourier plane. Such technology can be employed in
      encrypted spatial communication systems for security purposes. 

PMID- 25836079
TI  - Numerical analysis of resolution enhancement in laser scanning microscopy using a
      radially polarized beam.
AB  - The spatial resolution characteristics in confocal laser scanning microscopy
      (LSM) and two-photon LSM utilizing a higher-order radially polarized Laguerre
      Gaussian (RP-LG) beam are numerically analyzed. The size of the point spread
      function (PSF) and its dependence on the confocal pinhole size are compared with
      practical LSM using a circularly polarized Gaussian beam on the basis of vector
      diffraction theory. The spatial frequency response in terms of the optical
      transfer function (OTF) is also evaluated for LSM using the RP-LG beam. The
      smaller focal spot characteristics of higher-order RP-LG beams contribute to a
      dramatic enhancement of the lateral spatial resolution in confocal LSM and two
      photon LSM. 

PMID- 25836080
TI  - Large data centers interconnect bottlenecks.
AB  - Large data centers interconnect bottlenecks are dominated by the switch I/O BW
      and the front panel BW as a result of pluggable modules. To overcome the front
      panel BW and the switch ASIC BW limitation one approach is to either move the
      optics onto the mid-plan or integrate the optics into the switch ASIC. Over the
      last 4 years, VCSEL based optical engines have been integrated into the packages
      of large-scale HPC routers, moderate size Ethernet switches, and even FPGA's.
      Competing solutions based on Silicon Photonics (SiP) have also been proposed for
      integration into HPC and Ethernet switch packages but with better integration
      path through the use of TSV (Through Silicon Via) stack dies. Integrating either
      VCSEL or SiP based optical engines into complex ASIC package that operates at
      high temperatures, where the required reliability is not trivial, one should ask
      what is the technical or the economic advantage before embarking on such a
      complex integration. High density Ethernet switches addressing data centers
      currently in development are based on 25G NRZ signaling and QSFP28 optical module
      that can support up to 3.6 Tb of front panel bandwidth. 

PMID- 25836081
TI  - Anomalous forward scattering of dielectric gain nanoparticles.
AB  - For usual lossy and lossless dielectric spherical particles, it can never realize
      zero forward scattering, since their Mie expansion coefficients cannot be totally
      offset at forward direction. By introducing suitable gain in dielectric spherical
      particles, we find that the electric and magnetic dipolar responses can achieve
      complete destructive interference at forward direction under certain incident
      wavelength. When the radius of particle is much smaller than the incident
      wavelength, the quadrupole and other higher order Mie coefficients are
      negligible, thus zero forward scattering can be observed and simultaneously
      backscattering will get enhanced. However, if the quadrupole Mie coefficients are
      of the same order of magnitude with dipolar terms, coherent effect between them
      may result in the scattering minimum and maximum shift away from forward and
      backward directions, respectively. These results may provide new insight into the
      manipulation of light scattering direction at nanoscale. 

PMID- 25836082
TI  - Object tracking mask-based NLUT on GPUs for real-time generation of holographic
      videos of three-dimensional scenes.
AB  - A new object tracking mask-based novel-look-up-table (OTM-NLUT) method is
      proposed and implemented on graphics-processing-units (GPUs) for real-time
      generation of holographic videos of three-dimensional (3-D) scenes. Since the
      proposed method is designed to be matched with software and memory structures of
      the GPU, the number of compute-unified-device-architecture (CUDA) kernel function
      calls and the computer-generated hologram (CGH) buffer size of the proposed
      method have been significantly reduced. It therefore results in a great increase
      of the computational speed of the proposed method and enables real-time
      generation of CGH patterns of 3-D scenes. Experimental results show that the
      proposed method can generate 31.1 frames of Fresnel CGH patterns with 1,920 *
      1,080 pixels per second, on average, for three test 3-D video scenarios with
      12,666 object points on three GPU boards of NVIDIA GTX TITAN, and confirm the
      feasibility of the proposed method in the practical application of electro
      holographic 3-D displays. 

PMID- 25836083
TI  - Simultaneous atmospheric nitrous oxide, methane and water vapor detection with a
      single continuous wave quantum cascade laser.
AB  - A continuous wave (CW) quantum cascade laser (QCL) based absorption sensor system
      was demonstrated and developed for simultaneous detection of atmospheric nitrous
      oxide (N(2)O), methane (CH(4)), and water vapor (H(2)O). A 7.73-um CW QCL with
      its wavelength scanned over a spectral range of 1296.9-1297.6 cm(-1) was used to
      simultaneously target three neighboring strong absorption lines, N(2)O at 1297.05
      cm(-1), CH(4) at 1297.486 cm(-1), and H(2)O at 1297.184 cm(-1). An astigmatic
      multipass Herriott cell with a 76-m path length was utilized for laser based gas
      absorption spectroscopy at an optimum pressure of 100 Torr. Wavelength modulation
      and second harmonic detection was employed for data processing. Minimum detection
      limits (MDLs) of 1.7 ppb for N(2)O, 8.5 ppb for CH(4), and 11 ppm for H(2)O were
      achieved with a 2-s integration time for individual gas detection. This single
      QCL based multi-gas detection system possesses applications in environmental
      monitoring and breath analysis.

PMID- 25836084
TI  - Re-evaluation of literature values of silver optical constants.
AB  - Silver has unique optical properties for topical applications such as plasmonics.
      The two most widely used silver optical data sets are the Palik handbook
      compilation and that determined by Johnson and Christy. Unfortunately these are
      inconsistent making realistic modelling of the likely performance of silver in
      optical applications difficult, with modelling producing either highly optimistic
      or very pessimistic results, depending on application. By critical examination
      and duplication of the original experiments leading to the widely accepted
      literature values, we show that both data sets have drawbacks and conclude that
      there is a need for an improved data set for realistic simulation of
      experimentally obtainable properties. 

PMID- 25836085
TI  - Fiber-coupled high-speed asynchronous optical sampling with sub-50 fs time
      resolution.
AB  - We present a fiber-coupled pump-probe system with a sub-50 fs time resolution and
      a nanosecond time window, based on high-speed asynchronous optical sampling. By
      use of a transmission grism pulse compressor, we achieve pump pulses with a pulse
      duration of 42 fs, an average power of 300 mW and a peak power exceeding 5 kW at
      a pulse repetition rate of 1 GHz after 6 m of optical fiber. With this system we
      demonstrate thickness mapping of soft X-ray mirrors at a sub-nm thickness
      resolution on a cm(2) scan area. In addition, terahertz field generation with
      resolved spectral components of up to 3.5 THz at a GHz frequency resolution is
      demonstrated.

PMID- 25836086
TI  - Experimental demonstration of iterative post-equalization algorithm for 37.5
      Gbaud PM-16QAM quad-carrier Terabit superchannel.
AB  - We experimentally demonstrate a quad-carrier 1-Tb/s solution with 37.5-GBaud PM
      16QAM signal over 37.5-GHz optical grid at 6.7 b/s/Hz net spectral efficiency.
      Digital Nyquist pulse shaping at the transmitter and post-equalization at the
      receiver are employed to mitigate the impairments of joint inter-symbol
      interference (ISI) and inter-channel-interference (ICI) symbol degradation. The
      post-equalization algorithms consist of one sample/symbol based decision-directed
      least mean square (DD-LMS) adaptive filter, digital post filter and maximum
      likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE), and a positive iterative process among
      them. By combining these algorithms, the improvement as much as 4-dB OSNR (0.1nm)
      at SD-FEC limit (Q(2) = 6.25 corresponding to BER = 2.0e-2) is obtained when
      compared to no such post-equalization process, and transmission over 820-km EDFA
      only standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) link is achieved for two 1.2-Tb/s signals
      with the averaged Q(2) factor larger than 6.5 dB for all sub-channels.
      Additionally, 50-GBaud 16QAM operating at 1.28 samples/symbol in a DAC is also
      investigated and successful transmission over 410-km SSMF link is achieved at
      62.5-GHz optical grid.

PMID- 25836087
TI  - Type-II second-harmonic-generation properties of YCOB and GdCOB single crystals.
AB  - As excellent nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals, YCa(4)O(BO(3))(3) (YCOB) and
      GdCa(4)O(BO(3))(3) (GdCOB) have been paid much attention since their first
      appearance in 1990's. From that time to now, almost all of related researches and
      applications have focused on their type-I phase-matching (PM) configurations
      which possess large effective NLO coefficient (d(eff)). In this paper, type-II
      second-harmonic-generation (SHG) properties of these two crystals are reported,
      including PM curve, d(eff), angular acceptance and walk-off angle. Both of the
      type-II SHG experiments for 1064 and 1320 nm have indicated that the optimum
      directions which have maximum d(eff) locate in the second octant, i.e. (90
      degrees  < theta< 180 degrees , 0 degrees  < phi < 90 degrees ). For a (112
      degrees , 81.3 degrees )-cut, 24 mm long YCOB crystal, the largest type-II SHG
      conversion efficiency of a 1064 nm Nd:YAG pico-second laser is 55%, which reaches
      the same level of the optimum type-I sample. To our knowledge this is the first
      time that type-II SHG performance of YCOB and GdCOB crystals is investigated
      intensively. Our research has shown that the smaller d(eff) of type-II PM can be
      compensated by its larger angular acceptance and less beam walk-off. The same
      level SHG conversion efficiency implies for such type crystals the type-II
      components have the potential to replace type-I ones and obtain important NLO
      applications in the future.

PMID- 25836088
TI  - Theoretical and experimental analysis of channel mismatch in time-wavelength
      interleaved optical clock based on mode-locked laser.
AB  - We demonstrate a theoretical model of channel mismatch effect in a mode-locked
      laser based time-wavelength interleaved optical clock generation system. The
      channel mismatch effect includes clock timing mismatch, amplitude mismatch, and
      pulse shape mismatch. An explicit expression of this model is derived for 2
      channel simple system and a numerical simulation of multiple-channel complicated
      system is carried out. In comparison with the experimental measurement, the
      feasibility of the theoretical model is verified for calibration and compensation
      of the channel mismatches. 

PMID- 25836089
TI  - Room temperature fabrication of ZnO/ST-cut quartz SAW UV photodetector with small
      temperature coefficient.
AB  - Room-temperature fabricated ZnO/ST-cut quartz is adopted for SAW ultraviolet (UV)
      photodetector. The ST-cut quartz substrate and ZnO layer are used for SAW
      excitation and photodetection, respectively. High resolution x-ray diffraction
      (XRD) and photoluminescence (PL) measurement indicate that high quality ZnO films
      can be deposited on ST-cut quartz using radio frequency (RF) sputtering. As the
      SAW devices under UV illumination (6 mW/cm(2)), a downshift in frequency of about
      35 KHz can be observed. The observed small temperature coefficient of frequency
      (TCF) indicates that SAW devices exhibit good temperature stability. The results
      present feasibility of using ZnO/ST-cut quartz SAW photodetectors in ultraviolet
      region.

PMID- 25836090
TI  - The delay spread in fibers for SDM transmission: dependence on fiber parameters
      and perturbations.
AB  - Contrary to single mode fibers, where random imperfections are responsible for
      polarization-mode dispersion, modal dispersion (MD) in multi-mode fiber
      structures for space-division multiplexed (SDM) transmission, originates chiefly
      from the intrinsic non-degeneracy of the propagating modes, also known as modal
      birefringence. The presence of random imperfections in such fibers has a positive
      aspect, as it reduces the intrinsic MD, and in the limit of strong coupling it
      causes the signal delay spread to increase with the square root of the
      propagation distance, rather than linearly, as would be the case in an ideal
      fiber. In this paper we derive a formula that relates the signal delay spread to
      the fiber geometry and to the statistical properties of the structural fiber
      perturbations. The derived formula provides insight into the MD phenomenon and
      facilitates the design of low-MD multi-mode fiber structures. 

PMID- 25836091
TI  - Modeling and performance metrics of MIMO-SDM systems with different amplification
      schemes in the presence of mode-dependent loss.
AB  - Mode-dependent loss (MDL) is a major factor limiting the achievable information
      rate in multiple-input multiple-output space-division multiplexed systems. In
      this paper we show that its impact on system performance, which we quantify in
      terms of the capacity reduction relative to a reference MDL-free system, may
      depend strongly on the operation of the inline optical amplifiers. This
      dependency is particularly strong in low mode-count systems. In addition, we
      discuss ways in which the signal-to-noise ratio of the MDL-free reference system
      can be defined and quantify the differences in the predicted capacity loss.
      Finally, we stress the importance of correctly accounting for the effect of MDL
      on the accumulation of amplification noise. 

PMID- 25836092
TI  - Pixel-wise orthogonal decomposition for color illumination invariant and shadow
      free image.
AB  - In this paper, we propose a novel, effective and fast method to obtain a color
      illumination invariant and shadow-free image from a single outdoor image.
      Different from state-of-the-art methods for shadow-free image that either need
      shadow detection or statistical learning, we set up a linear equation set for
      each pixel value vector based on physically-based shadow invariants, deduce a
      pixel-wise orthogonal decomposition for its solutions, and then get an
      illumination invariant vector for each pixel value vector on an image. The
      illumination invariant vector is the unique particular solution of the linear
      equation set, which is orthogonal to its free solutions. With this illumination
      invariant vector and Lab color space, we propose an algorithm to generate a
      shadow-free image which well preserves the texture and color information of the
      original image. A series of experiments on a diverse set of outdoor images and
      the comparisons with the state-of-the-art methods validate our method. 

PMID- 25836093
TI  - Practical limitations of near-field goniophotometer measurements imposed by a
      dynamic range mismatch.
AB  - Within near-field goniophotometry, measurement results of both an imaging
      luminance measurement device and a photometer detector are combined to generate
      the luminous intensity distribution of a light source. The simultaneous use of
      these two detectors may engender incorrect measurement results, due to their
      difference in dynamic range. In this paper, near-field and far-field based
      luminous intensity distribution measurements of two luminaires are presented, in
      order to exemplify the problem. Results demonstrate that the distributions
      obtained from near-field measurements may deviate from the correct intensity
      distribution, by an amount of up to 16% of the total luminous flux of the
      luminaire. A method to check for the correctness of the luminous intensity
      distribution from the near-field measurement, the so-called sanity check, is
      discussed. To conclude, some possible solutions to eliminate the dynamic range
      mismatch induced errors are treated. 

PMID- 25836094
TI  - Linearized electro-optic racetrack modulator based on double injection method in
      silicon.
AB  - Racetrack-based modulator of increased linearity for optical links is presented
      and analyzed. The modulator is referred to as FLAME - Finer Linearity Amplitude
      Modulation Element. Linearity is improved via the introduction of a Double
      Injection approach. Large spurious-free-dynamic-range (SFDR) of 132dB.Hz(4/5) can
      thus be theoretically obtained. The FLAME is studied for silicon platform and
      requires small footprint size (100 * 50um2) and low operation voltage, 2.5V. This
      makes the FLAME an appealing candidate for large scale integration in RF
      photonics.

PMID- 25836095
TI  - Band shifting for ocean color multi-spectral reflectance data.
AB  - An approach to perform band shifting applied to multi-spectral ocean remote
      sensing reflectance RRS values in the visible spectral range is presented. The
      band-shifting scheme aims at expressing RRS at a wavelength not originally part
      of the spectrum from data at neighboring bands. The scheme relies on the
      determination of inherent optical properties (IOPs) by a bio-optical model, the
      calculation of the IOPs at the target wavelength using the spectral shapes
      assumed for each IOP, and the operation of the bio-optical model in forward mode
      to express RRS at the target wavelength. The performance of the band-shifting
      scheme applied to bands typical of satellite missions is assessed with hyper
      spectral data sets obtained from radiative transfer simulations or from field
      measurements. The relative error epsilon on the conversion factors from 488 to
      490 nm is mostly within 1%. Analogous results are obtained for conversions in the
      red spectral domain (665, 667 and 670 nm) only for synthetic data sets. The range
      of epsilon for conversions between green bands (547, 555 and 560 nm) is within 2%
      to 5% depending on the data set considered. Similar results are obtained when RRS
      values are computed at 510 nm from data at 488 and 531 nm. In the case of the
      assessment with simulated data, all band-shifting operations are characterized by
      an epsilon range within 2% for all conversions when the concentration of
      chlorophyll-a is lower than 1 mg m(-3). Applied to satellite data, the band
      shifting scheme noticeably improves the agreement between RRS data from different
      missions.

PMID- 25836096
TI  - Engineering plasmon dispersion relations: hybrid nanoparticle chain-substrate
      plasmon polaritons.
AB  - We consider the dispersion relations of the optical excitations in a chain of
      silver nanoparticles situated above a metal substrate and show that they are
      hybrid plasmon polaritons, composed of localized surface plasmons and surface
      plasmon polaritons. We demonstrate a strong dependence of the system's optical
      properties on the plasma frequency of the substrate and that choosing the
      appropriate plasma frequency allows one to engineer the modes to have a very
      high, very low or even negative group velocity. For the latter, Poynting vector
      calculations reveal opposite phase and energy propagation. We expect that our
      results will contribute to the design of nano-optical devices with specific
      transport properties. 

PMID- 25836097
TI  - Tailoring dielectric resonator geometries for directional scattering and Huygens'
      metasurfaces.
AB  - In this paper we describe a methodology for tailoring the design of metamaterial
      dielectric resonators, which represent a promising path toward low-loss
      metamaterials at optical frequencies. We first describe a procedure to decompose
      the far field scattered by subwavelength resonators in terms of multipolar field
      components, providing explicit expressions for the multipolar far fields. We
      apply this formulation to confirm that an isolated high-permittivity dielectric
      cube resonator possesses frequency separated electric and magnetic dipole
      resonances, as well as a magnetic quadrupole resonance in close proximity to the
      electric dipole resonance. We then introduce multiple dielectric gaps to the
      resonator geometry in a manner suggested by perturbation theory, and demonstrate
      the ability to overlap the electric and magnetic dipole resonances, thereby
      enabling directional scattering by satisfying the first Kerker condition. We
      further demonstrate the ability to push the quadrupole resonance away from the
      degenerate dipole resonances to achieve local behavior. These properties are
      confirmed through the multipolar expansion and show that the use of geometries
      suggested by perturbation theory is a viable route to achieve purely dipole
      resonances for metamaterial applications such as wave-front manipulation with
      Huygens' metasurfaces. Our results are fully scalable across any frequency bands
      where high-permittivity dielectric materials are available, including microwave,
      THz, and infrared frequencies. 

PMID- 25836098
TI  - Chaos time delay signature suppression and bandwidth enhancement by electrical
      heterodyning.
AB  - We numerically investigated the chaos time delay signature (TDS) suppression and
      bandwidth enhancement by electrical heterodyning. Chaos signals generated with a
      semiconductor laser subject to optical feedback typically have distinct loop
      frequency peaks in their power spectra corresponding to the reciprocals of the
      time delays, which deteriorates the performance in applications including chaos
      radar/lidar and fast random bit generation. By electrically heterodyning the
      chaos signal with a single frequency local oscillator, we show that the power in
      the chaos spectrum can be redistributed and a smoother spectrum with a broader
      effective bandwidth can be obtained. Compared with the chaos directly generated
      from a semiconductor laser subject to optical feedback, the amplitudes of the TDS
      (rho(TDS)) measured under different feedback strengths can be suppressed up to
      63% and the effective bandwidths can be enhanced up to 46% in average after the
      electrical heterodyning is applied.

PMID- 25836099
TI  - Refractive index insensitive temperature sensor based on specialty triple-clad
      fiber.
AB  - A refractive index (RI) insensitive temperature sensor based on specialty triple
      clad fiber (STCF) is proposed. Based on coupling mode theory, the STCF can be
      equivalent to a rod waveguide and two tube waveguides. Then the cladding mode
      resonance characteristic of STCF is analyzed by calculating different mode
      dispersion curves, which indicates that it works only on the mode resonance from
      core to the fluorine-doped silica cladding, and finally a resonance wavelength
      can be obtained. Two straightforward experiments are performed to prove its
      sensing properties. Experimental results show that it has sensitivities of 72.17
      pm/ degrees C at temperature range from 35 degrees C~95 degrees C with
      characteristics of insensitive to external RI in the range from 1.3450 to 1.4607.
      Thus, this proposed sensor can be used for solution temperature monitoring in
      real time. 

PMID- 25836100
TI  - Dispersion engineering of plasmonic nanocomposite for ultrathin broadband optical
      absorber.
AB  - We theoretically study the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure based ultrathin
      broadband optical absorber which consists of a metallic substrate, a dielectric
      middle layer, and a nanostructured metallic top layer. It is found that, there
      exists an effective permittivity, epsilonnull, for the top nanostructured
      metallic layer which leads to unit-absorption (zero-reflection) of the MIM
      structure. Importantly, this epsilonnull exhibits abnormal dispersion behaviors.
      Both its real and imaginary parts increase monotonically with the wavelength. To
      obtain such naturally non-existing permittivity, we investigate the optical
      properties of two typical types of metal-dielectric nanocomposites, namely,
      thoroughly mingled composites using Bruggeman's effective medium theory, and more
      realistic Au nanosphere-in-dielectric structures using numerical permittivity
      retrieval techniques. We demonstrate that the epsilonnull-type dispersions, and
      consequently, perfect absorption can be obtained over a broad spectral range when
      the filling factor of the metal component is close to the percolation threshold.
      The result not only explains the recently reported broadband absorbers made of
      randomly deposited Au nanoparticles [M. K. Hedayati, et al, Adv. Mater. 23, 5410
      (2011)], but also provides theoretical guidelines for designing ultrathin
      broadband plasmonic absorbers for a wealthy of important applications. 

PMID- 25836101
TI  - Design and performance of 10-Gb/s L-band REAM-SOA for OLT Transmitter in next
      generation access networks.
AB  - We present a 10-Gb/s L-band reflective electro-absorption modulator integrated
      with a semiconductor optical amplifier (REAM-SOA) having improved transmission
      performance at very low input power of seed light. To decrease the input power of
      seed light, the absorption characteristics of the REAM are adjusted to reduce the
      amplified spontaneous emission light returned into the SOA, suppressing the gain
      saturation effect of the SOA. At a considerably low input power of -16 dBm, the
      REAM-SOA exhibits a low transmission penalty of about 1.2 dB after 50-km SMF
      transmission. Over a wide input power range from -16 dBm to 5 dBm, a penalty of
      less than 1.6 dB is achieved at 50-km transmission. 

PMID- 25836102
TI  - Lidar remote sensing of laser-induced incandescence on light absorbing particles
      in the atmosphere.
AB  - Carbon aerosol is now recognized as a major uncertainty on climate change and
      public health, and specific instruments are required to address the time and
      space evolution of this aerosol, which efficiently absorbs light. In this paper,
      we report an experiment, based on coupling lidar remote sensing with Laser
      Induced-Incandescence (LII), which allows, in agreement with Planck's law, to
      retrieve the vertical profile of very low thermal radiation emitted by light
      absorbing particles in an urban atmosphere over several hundred meters altitude.
      Accordingly, we set the LII-lidar formalism and equation and addressed the main
      features of LII-lidar in the atmosphere by numerically simulating the LII-lidar
      signal. We believe atmospheric LII-lidar to be a promising tool for radiative
      transfer, especially when combined with elastic backscattering lidar, as it may
      then allow a remote partitioning between strong/less light absorbing carbon
      aerosols. 

PMID- 25836103
TI  - Low voltage polymer network liquid crystal for infrared spatial light modulators.
AB  - We report a low-voltage and fast-response polymer network liquid crystal (PNLC)
      infrared phase modulator. To optimize device performance, we propose a physical
      model to understand the curing temperature effect on average domain size. Good
      agreement between model and experiment is obtained. By optimizing the UV curing
      temperature and employing a large dielectric anisotropy LC host, we have lowered
      the 2pi phase change voltage to 22.8V at 1.55MUm wavelength while keeping
      response time at about 1 ms. Widespread application of such a PNLC integrated
      into a high resolution liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS) for infrared spatial
      light modulator is foreseeable. 

PMID- 25836104
TI  - Stochastic Simulator for modeling the transition to lasing.
AB  - A Stochastic Simulator (SS) is proposed, based on a semiclassical description of
      the radiation-matter interaction, to obtain an efficient description of the
      lasing transition for devices ranging from the nanolaser to the traditional
      "macroscopic" laser. Steady-state predictions obtained with the SS agree both
      with more traditional laser modeling and with the description of phase
      transitions in small-sized systems, and provide additional information on
      fluctuations. Dynamical information can easily be obtained, with good computing
      time efficiency, which convincingly highlights the role of fluctuations at
      threshold. 

PMID- 25836105
TI  - 3D mapping of intensity field about the focus of a micrometer-scale parabolic
      mirror.
AB  - We report on the fabrication and diffraction-limited characterization of
      parabolic focusing micromirrors. Sub-micron beam waists are measured for mirrors
      with 10-MUm radius aperture and measured fixed focal lengths in the range from 24
      MUm to 36 MUm. Optical characterization of the 3D intensity in the near-field
      produced when the device is illuminated with collimated light is performed using
      a modified confocal microscope. Results are compared directly with angular
      spectrum simulations, yielding strong agreement between experiment and theory,
      and identifying the competition between diffraction and focusing in the regime
      probed. 

PMID- 25836106
TI  - Directional excitation of graphene surface plasmons.
AB  - We propose a scheme to directionally couple light into graphene plasmons by
      placing a graphene sheet on a magneto-optical substrate. When a magnetic field is
      applied parallel to the surface, the graphene plasmon dispersion relation becomes
      asymmetric in the forward and backward directions. It is possible to achieve
      unidirectional excitation of graphene plasmons with normally incident
      illumination by applying a grating to the substrate. The directionality can be
      actively controlled by electrically gating the graphene, or by varying the
      magnetic bias. This scheme may have applications in graphene-based opto
      electronics and sensing. 

PMID- 25836107
TI  - Mitigation of nonlinearities using conjugate data repetition.
AB  - We investigate a time-domain implementation of generalized phase-conjugated twin
      waves which we call conjugate data repetition. A theory based on time-domain
      perturbation analysis explaining the mitigation of nonlinear effects is provided,
      and the concept is evaluated using numerical simulations. Compared to PM-QPSK at
      the same channel bit rate, the single-channel transmission reach in a
      conventional system with standard single-mode fiber of conjugate data repetition
      QPSK is increased by approximately a factor of 2. 

PMID- 25836108
TI  - Multi-cavity optoelectronic oscillators using multicore fibers.
AB  - We propose the use of both homogeneous and heterogeneous multicore fibers to
      implement multi-cavity optoelectronic oscillators. We present design equations
      and examples that show the potential for unique performance in terms of spectral
      selectivity, tunability and high-frequency operation. 

PMID- 25836109
TI  - Optical chaos and hybrid WDM/TDM based large capacity quasi-distributed sensing
      network with real-time fiber fault monitoring.
AB  - An optical chaos and hybrid wavelength division multiplexing/time division
      multiplexing (WDM/TDM) based large capacity quasi-distributed sensing network
      with real-time fiber fault monitoring is proposed. Chirped fiber Bragg grating
      (CFBG) intensity demodulation is adopted to improve the dynamic range of the
      measurements. Compared with the traditional sensing interrogation methods in
      time, radio frequency and optical wavelength domains, the measurand sensing and
      the precise locating of the proposed sensing network can be simultaneously
      interrogated by the relative amplitude change (RAC) and the time delay of the
      correlation peak in the cross-correlation spectrum. Assisted with the WDM/TDM
      technology, hundreds of sensing units could be potentially multiplexed in the
      multiple sensing fiber lines. Based on the proof-of-concept experiment for axial
      strain measurement with three sensing fiber lines, the strain sensitivity up to
      0.14% RAC/MUepsilon and the precise locating of the sensors are achieved.
      Significantly, real-time fiber fault monitoring in the three sensing fiber lines
      is also implemented with a spatial resolution of 2.8 cm. 

PMID- 25836111
TI  - Self-focusing in multicore fibers.
AB  - Self-focusing is the ultimate power limit of single mode fiber amplifiers. As
      fiber technology is approaching this limit, ways to mitigate self-focusing are
      becoming more and more important. Here we show a theoretical analysis of this
      limitation in coupled multicore fibers. Significant scaling of the self-focusing
      limit is possible even for coupled multicore fibers if the out-of-phase mode is
      chosen. On the other hand the in-phase mode can - depending on the coupling
      strength - be prone to instabilities. 

PMID- 25836110
TI  - Polarization dynamic patterns of vector solitons in a graphene mode-locked fiber
      laser.
AB  - Multiple polarization dynamic patterns of vector solitons, including fundamental
      solitons, bunched solitons, loosely or tightly bound states and harmonic mode
      locking have been observed experimentally in an erbium-doped fiber ring laser
      with graphene as a saturable absorber. By carefully adjusting the pump power and
      the orientation of the intra-cavity polarization controller, either polarization
      rotation or polarization locked operation have all been achieved for the above
      vector solitons. This is the first time that high order harmonic mode locking of
      polarization rotation vector solitons has been achieved. The signal to noise
      ratio of our system was ~51 dB, which indicates that the laser operated with high
      stability. 

PMID- 25836112
TI  - Single-mode high-power interband cascade lasers for mid-infrared absorption
      spectroscopy.
AB  - For high-sensitivity absorption spectroscopy, single-mode light sources capable
      of emitting high optical output power in the 3 to 5 um wavelength range are
      vital. Here, we report on interband cascade lasers that emit 20 mW of optical
      power in a single spectral mode at room temperature and up to 40 mW at 0  degrees
      C using second-order laterally coupled Bragg gratings for distributed feedback.
      The lasers employ a double-ridge design with a narrow 3-um-wide top ridge to
      confine the optical mode and a 9-um-wide ridge for current confinement. The
      lasers were developed for an integrated cavity output spectroscopy instrument for
      stratospheric detection of hydrogen chloride at a wavelength of 3.3746 um and
      emit at the target wavelength with more than 34 mW of single-mode power. 

PMID- 25836113
TI  - Development of a grating-based interferometer for six-degree-of-freedom
      displacement and angle measurements.
AB  - A grating-based interferometer for 6-DOF displacement and angle measurement is
      proposed in this study. The proposed interferometer is composed of three
      identical detection parts sharing the same light source. Each detection part
      utilizes three techniques: heterodyne, grating shearing, and Michelson
      interferometries. Displacement information in the three perpendicular directions
      (X, Y, Z) can be sensed simultaneously by each detection part. Furthermore, angle
      information (thetaX, thetaY, thetaZ) can be obtained by comparing the
      displacement measurement results between two corresponding detection parts. The
      feasibility and performance of the proposed grating-based interferometer are
      evaluated in displacement and angle measurement experiments. In comparison with
      the internal capacitance sensor built into the commercial piezo-stage, the
      measurement resolutions of the displacement and angle of our proposed
      interferometer are about 2 nm and 0.05 MUrad. 

PMID- 25836114
TI  - Negative dispersion of birefringence of smectic liquid crystal-polymer composite:
      dependence on the constituent molecules and temperature.
AB  - We investigated the dependence of the negative dispersion of birefringence of
      smectic liquid crystal-polymer composites on the constituent molecules and
      temperature. The dispersion of birefringence was significantly varied from
      positive dispersion to negative dispersion by the change of the relative fraction
      of the constituent monomers. For the temperature dependence of the dispersion, a
      composite with more fraction of monomers located at the inter-layer space showed
      a wider temperature range of the negative dispersion of birefringence. 

PMID- 25836115
TI  - Enhanced efficiency of AlGaInP disk laser by in-well pumping.
AB  - The performance of a 665-nm GaInP disk laser operated continuous-wave at 15
      degrees C both in-well-pumped at 640 nm and barrier pumped at 532 nm is reported.
      The efficiency with respect to the absorbed power was enhanced by 3.5 times when
      using a 640-nm pump instead of a 532-nm pump. In-well pumping which is based on
      the absorption of the pump photons within the quantum-well heterostructures of
      the gain region instead of short-wavelength absorption in the barrier and spacer
      regions reduces the quantum defect between pump and laser photon and hence the
      heat generation. A slope efficiency of 60% with respect to the absorbed pump
      power was obtained by in-well pumping at 15 degrees C. Continuous-wave laser
      operation was further demonstrated at heat sink temperatures of up to 55 degrees
      C. Both the measurement of photoluminescence and COMSOL simulation show that the
      overall heat load in the in-well pumped laser is smaller than in the barrier
      pumped laser. These results demonstrate the potential of optical in-well pumping
      for the operation of red AlGaInP disk lasers if combined with means for efficient
      pump-light absorption. 

PMID- 25836116
TI  - Recent advances in silicon-based passive and active optical interconnects.
AB  - Silicon photonics has experienced phenomenal transformations over the last
      decade. In this paper, we present some of the notable advances in silicon-based
      passive and active optical interconnect components, and highlight some of our key
      contributions. Light is also cast on few other parallel technologies that are
      working in tandem with silicon-based structures, and providing unique functions
      not achievable with any single system acting alone. With an increasing
      utilization of CMOS foundries for silicon photonics fabrication, a viable path
      for realizing extremely low-cost integrated optoelectronics has been paved. These
      advances are expected to benefit several application domains in the years to
      come, including communication networks, sensing, and nonlinear systems. 

PMID- 25836117
TI  - Heterogeneously integrated long-wavelength VCSEL using silicon high contrast
      grating on an SOI substrate.
AB  - We report an electrically pumped hybrid cavity AlGaInAs-silicon long-wavelength
      VCSEL using a high contrast grating (HCG) reflector on a silicon-on-insulator
      (SOI) substrate. The VCSEL operates at silicon transparent wavelengths ~1.57 MUm
      with >1 mW CW power outcoupled from the semiconductor DBR, and single-mode
      operation up to 65  degrees C. The thermal resistance of our device is measured
      to be 1.46 K/mW. We demonstrate >2.5 GHz 3-dB direct modulation bandwidth, and
      show error-free transmission over 2.5 km single mode fiber under 5 Gb/s direct
      modulation. We show a theoretical design of SOI-HCG serving both as a VCSEL
      reflector as well as waveguide coupler for an in-plane SOI waveguide,
      facilitating integration of VCSEL with in-plane silicon photonic circuits. The
      novel HCG-VCSEL design, which employs scalable flip-chip eutectic bonding, may
      enable low cost light sources for integrated optical links. 

PMID- 25836118
TI  - Size dependence of bandgaps in a two-dimensional plasmonic crystal with a
      hexagonal lattice.
AB  - The optical properties of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are investigated at
      the G point in a two-dimensional plasmonic crystal with a hexagonal lattice (Hex
      PlC). The cathodoluminescence (CL) technique combined with a scanning
      transmission electron microscope (STEM) are used to produce spectral images of
      the SPP standing waves at the G point and identify the four types of band-edge
      modes predicted by group theory. The systematic measurement of the band-edge
      energies employed here is used to determine the characteristic dependence of each
      band-edge mode on the structure parameters, which provides some criteria for the
      design of plasmonic devices with Hex-PlCs. 

PMID- 25836119
TI  - Full wave model of image formation in optical coherence tomography applicable to
      general samples.
AB  - We demonstrate a highly realistic model of optical coherence tomography, based on
      an existing model of coherent optical microscopes, which employs a full wave
      description of light. A defining feature of the model is the decoupling of the
      key functions of an optical coherence tomography system: sample illumination,
      light-sample interaction and the collection of light scattered by the sample. We
      show how such a model can be implemented using the finite-difference time-domain
      method to model light propagation in general samples. The model employs vectorial
      focussing theory to represent the optical system and, thus, incorporates general
      illumination beam types and detection optics. To demonstrate its versatility, we
      model image formation of a stratified medium, a numerical point-spread function
      phantom and a numerical phantom, based upon a physical three-dimensional
      structured phantom employed in our laboratory. We show that simulated images
      compare well with experimental images of a three-dimensional structured phantom.
      Such a model provides a powerful means to advance all aspects of optical
      coherence tomography imaging. 

PMID- 25836120
TI  - Origins of modal loss of antiresonant hollow-core optical fibers in the
      ultraviolet.
AB  - Recently, a novel antiresonant hollow core fiber was introduced having promising
      UV guiding properties. Accompanying simulations predicted ten times lower loss
      than observed experimentally. Increasing loss is observed in many antiresonant
      fibers with the origin being unknown. Here, two possible reasons for the enhanced
      loss are discussed: strand thickness variation and surface roughness scattering.
      Our analysis shows that the attenuation is sensitive to thickness variations of
      the strands surrounding the hollow-core which strongly increase loss at short
      wavelengths. The contribution of surface roughness stays below the dB/km level
      and can be neglected. Thus, preventing structural irregularities by improved
      fabrication approaches is essential for decreasing loss. 

PMID- 25836121
TI  - Effect of initial frequency chirp on Airy pulse propagation in an optical fiber.
AB  - We study both analytically and numerically the propagation dynamics of an
      initially chirped Airy pulse in an optical fiber. It is found that the linear
      propagation of an initially chirped Airy pulse depends considerably on whether
      the second-order dispersion parameter beta(2) and chirp C have the same or
      opposite signs. For beta(2)C<0, the chirped Airy pulse first undergoes an initial
      compression phase, then reaches a breakup area as depending on the values of C,
      and then experiences a lossy inversion transformation such that it continues to
      propagate with an opposite acceleration. The chirped Airy pulse is always
      dispersed during propagation in the case of beta(2)C>0. The impact of truncation
      coefficient and Kerr nonlinearity on the chirped Airy pulse propagation is also
      disclosed separately.

PMID- 25836122
TI  - Protein biosensing with fluorescent microcapillaries.
AB  - Capillaries with a high-index fluorescent coating represent a new type of
      whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microcavity sensor. By coating silicon quantum dots
      (Si-QDs) onto the channel wall of a microcapillary, a cylindrical microcavity
      forms in which the optical confinement arises from the index contrast at the
      interface between the QD layer and the glass capillary wall. However, the ability
      to functionalize the QD layer for biosensing applications is an open question,
      since the layer consists of a mixture of Si-QDs embedded in a glassy SiOx matrix.
      Here, we employ a polyelectrolyte (PE) multilayer approach to functionalize the
      microcapillary inner surface and demonstrate the potential of this refractive
      index sensing platform for label-free biosensing applications, using biotin
      neutravidin as a specific interaction model. 

PMID- 25836123
TI  - Analytic spatial and temporal temperature profile in a finite laser rod with
      input laser pulses.
AB  - In this communication, we present an analytic expression of the thermal load in a
      cylindrical laser rod. We consider a pump beam with Gaussian temporal and spatial
      profile, which permits, using superposition of the single pulse solution, an
      explicit calculation of the optical path length difference across the radial
      direction of the rod and of the transient thermal focal length changes for a
      variable pump repetition rate and pulse width. We have chosen to model
      Ti:Al(2)O(3) as a specific example, however our solution is completely general
      and can be applied to any materials with cylindrical geometry employing a stable
      laser cavity design.

PMID- 25836124
TI  - Impact of relay placement on diversity order in adaptive selective DF relay
      assisted FSO communications.
AB  - The impact of relay placement on diversity order in adaptive selective decode-and
      forward (DF) cooperative strategies is here investigated in the context of free
      space optical (FSO) communications over atmospheric turbulence channels with
      pointing errors when line of sight is available. The irradiance of the
      transmitted optical beam here considered is susceptible to moderate-to-strong
      turbulence conditions, following a gamma-gamma (GG) distribution together with a
      misalignment fading model where the effect of beam width, detector size and
      jitter variance is considered. Novel closed-form approximate bit error-rate (BER)
      expressions are obtained for a cooperative FSO communication setup with N relays,
      assuming that these relays are located in an area similar to an annulus around
      source or destination node. An analytical expression is here found that
      determines the best selection criterion based on the knowledge of the channel
      state information (CSI) of source-relay or relay-destination links in order to
      significantly increase the diversity order corresponding to the cooperative
      strategy under study. It is concluded that the highest diversity order is
      achieved when the relation beta(SR(min)) > beta(SD) + beta(R(min)D) is satisfied,
      wherein beta(SR(min)), beta(R(min)D) and beta(SD) are parameters corresponding to
      the atmospheric turbulence conditions of source-relay and relay-destination link
      with the greatest scintillation index, and source-destination link, respectively.

PMID- 25836125
TI  - On the benefit of DMT modulation in nonlinear VLC systems.
AB  - In a visible light communication (VLC) system, the nonlinear characteristic of
      the light emitting diode (LED) in transmitter is a limiting factor of system
      performance. Modern modulation signals with large peak-to-power-ratio (PAPR)
      suffers uneven distortion. The nonlinear response directly impacts the intensity
      modulation and direct detection VLC system with pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM).
      The amplitude of the PAM signal is distorted unevenly and large signal is
      vulnerable to noise. Orthogonal linear transformations, such as discrete multi
      tone (DMT) modulation, can spread the nonlinear effects evenly to each data
      symbol, thus perform better than PAM signals. In this paper, we provide
      theoretical analysis on the benefit of DMT modulation in nonlinear VLC system. We
      show that the DMT modulation is a better choice than the PAM modulation for the
      VLC system as the DMT modulation is more robust against nonlinearity. We also
      show that the post-distortion nonlinear elimination method, which is applied at
      the receiver, can be a reliable solution to the nonlinear VLC system. Simulation
      results show that the post-distortion greatly improves the system performance for
      the DMT modulation. 

PMID- 25836126
TI  - Compact high power mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator pumped by a gain
      switched fiber laser with "figure-of-h" pulse shape.
AB  - We demonstrate a compact high power mid-infrared (MIR) optical parametric
      oscillator (OPO) pumped by a gain-switched linearly polarized, pulsed fiber
      laser. The gain-switched fiber laser was constructed with a piece of Yb doped
      polarization maintaining (PM) fiber, a pair of fiber Bragg gratings written into
      the matched passive PM fiber and 6 pigtailed pump laser diodes working at 915 nm
      with 30 W output peak power each. By modulating the pulse width of the pump laser
      diode, simple pedestal-free pulse shape or pedestal-free trailing pulse shape
      ("figure-of-h" as we call it) could be achieved from the gain-switched fiber
      laser. The laser was employed as the pump of a two-channel, periodically poled
      magnesium oxide lithium niobate-based OPO system. High power MIR emission was
      generated with average output power of 5.15 W at 3.8 MUm channel and 8.54 W at
      3.3 MUm channel under the highest pump power of 45 W. The corresponding pump-to
      idler conversion efficiency was computed to be 11.7% and 19.1%, respectively.
      Experimental results verify a significant improvement to signal-to-idler
      conversion efficiency by using "figure-of-h" pulses over simple pedestal-free
      pulses. Compared to the master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) fiber laser
      counterpart, the presented gain switched fiber laser is more attractive in OPO
      pumping due to its compactness and simplicity which are beneficial to
      construction of OPO systems for practical MIR applications. 

PMID- 25836127
TI  - Theoretical analysis and design guideline for focusing subwavelength gratings.
AB  - We propose a planar dielectric reflector with focusing ability using concentric
      circular subwavelength gratings (CC-SWGs). The two-dimensional focusing ability
      of CC-SWGs is investigated by the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) and
      finite element method (FEM). By designing the concentric circular pattern of the
      grating surface, a focusing reflector with high numerical aperture (NA) and high
      reflectivity is constructed. A CC-SWG reflector with a diameter of 32.6MUm and a
      focal length of 6MUm is investigated, which exhibits high focusing ability at
      normal incidence with a radially polarized plane wave. At the reflection focal
      plane, the full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) of the electric field intensity is
      0.89MUm. Numerical aperture value as high as 0.93 is achieved for the reflector
      with very high reflectivity of 92%. 

PMID- 25836128
TI  - Characterization of energy transfer for passively Q-switched laser ignition.
AB  - Miniaturized passively Q-switched Nd:YAG/Cr(4+):YAG lasers are promising
      candidates as spark sources for sophisticated laser ignition. The influence of
      the complex spatial-temporal pulse profile of such lasers on the process of
      plasma breakdown and on the energy transfer is studied. The developed measurement
      technique is applied to an open ignition system as well as to prototypes of laser
      spark plugs. A detected temporal breakdown delay causes an advantageous
      separation of plasma building phase from energy transfer. In case of fast rising
      laser pulses, an advantageous reduction of the plasma breakdown delay occurs
      instead.

PMID- 25836129
TI  - Impact of broadened laser line-shape on retrievals of atmospheric species from
      lidar sounding absorption spectra.
AB  - We examine the impact of broadened laser line-shape on retrievals of atmospheric
      species from lidar-sounding absorption spectra. The laser is assumed to be
      deterministically modulated into a stable, nearly top-hat frequency comb to
      suppress the stimulated Brillouin scattering, allowing over 10-fold pulse energy
      increase without adding measurement noise. Our model remains accurate by
      incorporating the laser line-shape factor into the effective optical depth.
      Retrieval errors arising from measurement noise and model bias are analyzed
      parametrically and numerically to provide deeper insight. The stable laser line
      shape broadening minimally degrades the column-averaged retrieval, but can
      significantly degrade the multiple-layer retrievals. 

PMID- 25836130
TI  - Optical bistability in a one-dimensional photonic crystal resonator using a
      reverse-biased pn-junction.
AB  - Optical bistability provides a simple way to control light with light. We
      demonstrate low-power thermo-optical bistability caused by the Joule heating
      mechanism in a one-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) nanobeam resonator with a
      moderate quality factor (Q ~8900) with an embedded reverse-biased pn-junction. We
      show that the photocurrent induced by the linear absorption in this compact
      resonator considerably reduces the threshold optical power. The proposed approach
      substantially relaxes the requirements on the input optical power for achieving
      optical bistability and provides a reliable way to stabilize the bistable
      features of the device. 

PMID- 25836131
TI  - Saturable Lorentz model for fully explicit three-dimensional modeling of
      nonlinear optics.
AB  - Inclusion of the instantaneous Kerr nonlinearity in the FDTD framework leads to
      implicit equations that have to be solved iteratively. In principle, explicit
      integration can be achieved with the use of anharmonic oscillator equations, but
      it tends to be unstable and inappropriate for studying strong-field phenomena
      like laser filamentation. In this paper, we show that nonlinear susceptibility
      can be provided instead by a harmonic oscillator driven by a nonlinear force,
      chosen in a way to reproduce the polarization obtained from the solution of the
      quantum mechanical two-level equations. The resulting saturable, nonlinearly
      driven, harmonic oscillator model reproduces quantitatively the quantum
      mechanical solutions of harmonic generation in the under-resonant limit, up to
      the 9th harmonic. Finally, we demonstrate that fully explicit leapfrog
      integration of the saturable harmonic oscillator is stable, even for the intense
      laser fields that characterize laser filamentation and high harmonic generation. 

PMID- 25836132
TI  - Extremely compact hybrid III-V/SOI lasers: design and fabrication approaches.
AB  - In this manuscript we discuss state of the art hybrid integration techniques and
      III-V/Si active components with an emphasis on hybrid distributed feedback (DFB)
      lasers for telecom applications. We review our work on ultra-compact III-V/Si DFB
      lasers and further describe design considerations and challenges associated with
      electrically pumped hybrid lasers. We conclude with a perspective on DFB lasers
      with extremely small footprint, a direction for future research with potential
      applications to densely-packed optical interconnects. 

PMID- 25836133
TI  - High power spiral cavity quantum cascade superluminescent emitter.
AB  - Quantum Cascade devices with an emission wavelength centered around 5 MUm have
      been shaped into compact, yet long (8 mm and 12 mm) spiral cavities to increase
      mid-infrared superluminescence (SL) power. Up to ~57 mW of SL power at 250 K is
      obtained with a Gaussian emission spectrum with a full width at half maximum of
      56 cm(-1) and a coherence length of ~107 MUm.

PMID- 25836134
TI  - The MBE growth and optimization of high performance terahertz frequency quantum
      cascade lasers.
AB  - The technique of molecular beam epitaxy has recently been used to demonstrate the
      growth of terahertz frequency GaAs/AlGaAs quantum cascade lasers (QCL) with Watt
      level optical output powers. In this paper, we discuss the critical importance of
      achieving accurate layer thicknesses and alloy compositions during growth, and
      demonstrate that precise growth control as well as run-to-run growth
      reproducibility is possible. We also discuss the importance of minimizing
      background doping level in maximizing QCL performance. By selecting high
      performance active region designs, and optimizing the injection doping level and
      device fabrication, we demonstrate total optical (two-facet) output powers as
      high as 1.56 W. 

PMID- 25836135
TI  - Difference-frequency generation of ultrashort pulses in the mid-IR using Yb-fiber
      pump systems and AgGaSe(2).
AB  - We employ AgGaSe(2) for difference-frequency generation between signal and idler
      of synchronously-pumped picosecond / femtosecond OPOs at 80 / 53 MHz. Continuous
      tuning in the picosecond regime is achieved from 5 to 18 um with average power of
      140 mW at 6 um. In the femtosecond regime the tunability extends from 5 to 17 um
      with average power of 69 mW at 6 um. Maximum single pulse energies of >1 nJ in
      both cases represent the highest values at such high repetition rates.

PMID- 25836136
TI  - Scheduling for indoor visible light communication based on graph theory.
AB  - Visible light communication (VLC) has drawn much attention in the field of high
      rate indoor wireless communication. While most existing works focused on point-to
      point VLC technologies, few studies have concerned multiuser VLC, where multiple
      optical access points (APs) transmit data to multiple user receivers. In such
      scenarios, inter-user interference constitutes the major factor limiting the
      system performance. Therefore, a proper scheduling scheme has to be proposed to
      coordinate the interference and optimize the whole system performance. In this
      work, we aim to maximize the sum rate of the system while taking into account
      user fairness by appropriately assigning LED lamps to multiple users. The
      formulated scheduling problem turns out to be a maximum weighted independent set
      problem. We then propose a novel and efficient resource allocation method based
      on graph theory to achieve high sum rates. Moreover, we also introduce
      proportional fairness into our scheduling scheme to ensure the user fairness. Our
      proposed scheduling scheme can, with low complexity, achieve more multiplexing
      gains, higher sum rate, and better fairness than the existing works. 

PMID- 25836137
TI  - Interscale mixing microscopy: numerically stable imaging of wavelength- scale
      objects with sub-wavelength resolution and far field measurements.
AB  - We present an imaging technique that allows the recovery of the profile of
      wavelength-scale objects with deep subwavelength resolution based on far-field
      intensity measurements. The approach, interscale mixing microscopy (IMM), relies
      on diffractive elements positioned in the near-field proximity of an object in
      order to scatter information carried by evanescent waves into propagating part of
      the spectrum. A combination of numerical solutions of Maxwell equations and
      nonlinear fitting is then used to recover the information about the object based
      on far-field intensity measurements. It is demonstrated that IMM has the
      potential to recover wavelength/20 features of wavelength-scale objects in the
      presence of 10% noise. 

PMID- 25836138
TI  - Diffractive interface theory: nonlocal susceptibility approach to the optics of
      metasurfaces.
AB  - We present a formalism for understanding the electromagnetism of metasurfaces,
      optically thin composite films with engineered diffraction. The technique,
      diffractive interface theory (DIT), takes explicit advantage of the small optical
      thickness of a metasurface, eliminating the need for solving for light
      propagation inside the film and providing a direct link between the spatial
      profile of a metasurface and its diffractive properties. Predictions of DIT are
      compared with full-wave numerical solutions of Maxwell's equations, demonstrating
      DIT's validity and computational advantages for optically thin structures.
      Applications of the DIT range from understanding of fundamentals of light-matter
      interaction in metasurfaces to efficient analysis of generalized refraction to
      metasurface optimization. 

PMID- 25836139
TI  - Phase noise characteristics of microwave signals generated by semiconductor laser
      dynamics.
AB  - Phase noise of the period-one (P1) nonlinear dynamical oscillation in an
      optically injected semiconductor laser is numerically investigated. The P1
      dynamics causes the laser output intensity to oscillate at a widely tunable
      frequency for photonic microwave generation, although the intrinsic spontaneous
      emission in the laser inevitably degrades the microwave signal and manifests as
      the oscillation phase noise. To characterize the phase noise, the P1 microwave
      linewidth is first numerically examined through the rate equations with a
      Langevin term. The P1 microwave linewidth is found to vary with the injection
      parameters. It is nearly minimized when the microwave power maximizes. Owing to
      the laser nonlinearities, the P1 microwave linewidth can even be smaller than the
      free-running optical linewidth. By adding an optical feedback to the laser, the
      P1 microwave linewidth is found to reduce as the feedback strength and feedback
      delay increase, in which an inverse-square dependency is followed asymptotically.
      By modification to a dual-loop feedback, noisy side peaks around the central P1
      frequency are effectively suppressed through the Vernier effect. The dual-loop
      feedback maintains a low phase noise variance over a wide tuning range of the P1
      frequency, while allowing long delay times for significant P1 microwave linewidth
      narrowing. 

PMID- 25836140
TI  - Graphene plasmonics for tuning photon decay rate near metallic split-ring
      resonator in a multilayered substrate.
AB  - Study of photon decay rate is essential to various optical devices, where
      graphene is an emerging building block due to its electrical tunability. In this
      paper, we study photon decay rate of a quantum emitter near a metallic split-ring
      resonator, which is embedded in a multilayered substrate incorporating a graphene
      layer. Analyzing photon decay rate in such a complex multilayered system is not
      only computationally challenging but also highly important to experimentally
      realizable devices. First, the dispersion relation of graphene plasmonics
      supported at a dieletric/graphene/dielectric structure is investigated
      systematically. Meanwhile, the dispersion relation of metallic plasmonics
      supported at a dielectric/metal structure is studied comparatively. According to
      our investigation, graphene offers several flexible tuning routes for
      manipulating photon decay rate, including tunable chemical potential and the
      emitter's position and polarization. Next, considering plasmonic waves in a
      graphene sheet occur in the infrared regime, we carefully design a metallic split
      ring resonating around the same frequency range. Consequently, this design
      enables a mutual interaction between graphene plasmonics and metallic plasmonics.
      The boundary element method with a multilayered medium Green's function is
      adopted in the numerical simulation. Blue-shifted and splitting resonance peaks
      are theoretically observed, which suggests a strong mode coupling. Moreover, the
      mode coupling has a switch on-off feature via electrostatically doping the
      graphene sheet. This work is helpful to dynamically manipulate photon decay rate
      in complex optical devices. 

PMID- 25836141
TI  - Tailoring the amplification of attosecond pulse through detuned X-ray FEL
      undulator.
AB  - We demonstrate that the amplification of attosecond pulse in X-ray free electron
      laser (FEL) undulator can be tailored. The characteristic of the amplification of
      an isolated attosecond pulse in the FEL undulator is investigated. An isolated
      180 attoseconds full width half maximum (FWHM) pulse at 1.25 nm with a spectral
      bandwidth of 1% is injected into an undulator. The simulation results show that
      for a direct seeding of 3MW, the seed is amplified to the peak power of 106 GW
      (40 MUJ, an output pulse-width of 383 attoseconds) in the presence of a detuning
      at FEL resonance condition in 100-m long undulator. We note that the introduction
      of detuning leads to the better performance compared to the case without
      detuning: shorter by 15.5% in a pulse-width and higher by 76.6% in an output
      power. Tapering yields a higher power (116% increases in the output power
      compared to the case without detuning) but a longer pulse (15.4% longer in the
      pulse-width). It was observed that +/- Deltalambda(r)/8 (Deltalambda(r)/lambda(r)
      ~1%) is the maximum degree of detuning, beyond which the amplification becomes
      poor: lower in the output power and longer in the pulse duration. The minimum
      power for a seed pulse needs to be higher than 1 MW for the successful
      amplification of an attosecond pulse at 1.25 nm. Also, the electron beam energy
      spread must be less than 0.1% for a suitable propagation of attosecond pulse
      along the FEL undulator under this study.

PMID- 25836142
TI  - Color-tunable electroluminescence from Eu-doped TiO(2)/p(+)-Si heterostructured
      devices: engineering of energy transfer.
AB  - We report on color-tunable electroluminescence (EL) from TiO(2):Eu/p(+)-Si
      heterostructured devices using different TiO(2):Eu films in terms of Eu content
      and annealing temperature. It is found that the Eu-related emissions are
      activated by the energy transferred from TiO(2) host via oxygen vacancies, at the
      price of weakened oxygen-vacancy-related emissions. Both the higher Eu content
      and the higher annealing temperature for TiO(2):Eu films facilitate the
      aforementioned energy transfer. In this context, the dominant EL from the
      TiO(2):Eu/p(+)-Si heterostructured devices can be transformed from oxygen-vacancy
      related emissions into Eu-related emissions with increasing Eu-content and
      annealing temperature for TiO(2):Eu films, exhibiting different colors of
      emanated light. We believe that this work sheds light on developing silicon-based
      red emitters using the Eu-doped oxide semiconductor films.

PMID- 25836143
TI  - Influence of oceanic turbulence on propagation of a radial Gaussian beam array.
AB  - The analytical expression for the root-mean-square (Rms) beam width of the radial
      Gaussian beam array propagating in oceanic turbulence is derived, where the
      coherent combination is considered. Meanwhile, the analytical expression for
      effect of the turbulence on the beam F is also obtained. Giving a comparison of
      results of F calculated by the analytical expression and the previously
      integrating one, it can be seen that the two results are in agreement with each
      other exactly. Further, the influences of the rate of dissipation of mean-squared
      temperaturechi(T), the rate of dissipation of kinetic energy per unit mass of
      seawater epsilonand the ratio of temperature to salinity contribution to the
      refractive index spectrum w are investigated. The results indicate that the Rms
      beam width increases as chi(T) increases, epsilondecreases and the salinity
      induced turbulence dominates. Moreover, the changings of effective radius of
      curvature with mentioned above parameters are studied. The strength of turbulence
      determines the value of effective radius of curvature, and which decreases
      aschi(T) and w increases, and epsilondecreases.

PMID- 25836144
TI  - Room temperature ammonia sensing using tapered multimode fiber coated with
      polyaniline nanofibers.
AB  - We demonstrate an ammonia sensor composed of a tapered multimode fiber coated
      with polyaniline nanofibers that operates at room temperature (26 degrees C). The
      optical properties of the polyaniline layer changes when it is exposed to
      ammonia, leading to a change in the absorption of evanescent field. The fiber
      sensor was tested by exposing it to ammonia at different concentrations and the
      absorbance is measured using a spectrophotometer system. Measured response and
      recovery times are about 2.27 minutes and 9.73 minutes, respectively. The sensor
      sensitivity can be controlled by adjusting the tapered fiber diameter and the
      highest sensitivity is achieved when the diameter is reduced to 20 um. 

PMID- 25836145
TI  - Electrically tuneable lateral leakage loss in liquid crystal clad shallow-etched
      silicon waveguides.
AB  - We demonstrate electrical tuning of the lateral leakage loss of TM-like modes in
      nematic liquid crystal (LC) clad shallow-etched Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI)
      waveguides. The refractive index of the LC layer can be modulated by applying a
      voltage over it. This results in a modulation of the effective index of the SOI
      waveguide modes. Since the leakage loss is linked to these effective indices,
      tunable leakage loss of the waveguides is achieved. We switch the wavelength at
      which the minimum in leakage loss occurs by 39.5nm (from 1564nm to 1524.5nm) in a
      785nm wide waveguide. We show that the leakage loss in this waveguide can either
      be increased or decreased by modulating the refractive index of the LC cladding
      at a fixed wavelength. 

PMID- 25836146
TI  - Transfer of orbital angular momentum through sub-wavelength waveguides.
AB  - Data capacity of optical communication is achieving its limit owing to the non
      linear effect of optical fiber. As an effective alternative, light carrying
      orbital angular momentum can greatly increase the capacity for its unprecedented
      degree of freedom. We demonstrate the propagation of orbital angular momentum
      with topological charge of 1 and 2 in plasmonic circular waveguide with sub
      wavelength diameter with little propagation loss of 2.73 dB/MUm, which has never
      been observed in optical fibers with sub-wavelength diameter. We also confirm
      that lights carrying orbital angular momentum can be maintained in sharp bended
      sub-wavelength waveguide. This plasmonic waveguide may serve as a key component
      in on-chip systems involving OAM. 

PMID- 25836147
TI  - Accelerated synthesis algorithm of polygon computer-generated holograms.
AB  - For the real-time computation of computer-generated holograms (CGHs), various
      accelerated algorithms have been actively investigated. This paper proposes a
      novel concept of sparse computation of polygon CGH, which is inspired by an
      observation of the sparsity in the angular spectrum of a unit triangular polygon
      and present the accelerated algorithm using the intrinsic sparsity in the polygon
      CGH pattern for the enhancement of computational efficiency effectively. It is
      shown with numerical results that computation efficiency can be greatly improved
      without degrading the quality of holographic image. 

PMID- 25836148
TI  - Compact light source for ultrabroadband coherent anti-Stoke Raman scattering
      (CARS) microscopy.
AB  - A compact light source module for ultrabroadband coherent anti-Stoke Raman
      scattering (CARS) microscopy was developed. It mainly consists of a nanosecond
      microchip laser, a photonic crystal fiber for Stokes light generation, and a
      single mode polarization maintaining fiber for pump light propagation. It is
      alignment-free and relatively low-cost compared with previous light sources of
      CARS microscopy. By using an assembled module, we successfully observed an
      ultrabroadband CARS spectrum and a CARS image of a murine adipocyte. The module
      is expected to greatly spread the CARS microscopy to various fields by its
      extreme easiness to handle. 

PMID- 25836149
TI  - Thermal and high speed modulation characteristics for AlGaInAs/InP microdisk
      lasers.
AB  - Thermal and high speed modulation characteristics are investigated for a
      unidirectional-emission microdisk laser with a radius of 7 MUm surrounded by BCB
      cladding layer, with a threshold current of 1.5 mA at the temperature of 287 K.
      The lasing spectra under different widths of pulsed current are measured to
      characterize the temperature rise during the pulse period, and the thermal
      distribution in the microdisk laser is simulated by the finite-element modeling
      technique. A temperature rise of 25 K is estimated for the microdisk laser biased
      at 20 mA. Furthermore, small signal modulation response with 3dB bandwidth up to
      20 GHz is obtained for the microdisk laser at the biasing current of 18 mA, and
      eye-diagrams at the modulation bit rates of 20, 25, and 30 GHz are also measured
      at the temperature of 287 K. 

PMID- 25836150
TI  - Study on DFB semiconductor laser array integrated with grating reflector based on
      reconstruction-equivalent-chirp technique.
AB  - A 4-channel distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor laser array with
      incorporation of a grating reflector utilizing reconstruction-equivalent-chirp
      technique is theoretically studied and experimentally demonstrated. By
      integrating with a grating reflector, 40% increase of slope efficiency, about
      10mA decrease of threshold current and 7dB increase of side mode suppression
      ratio (SMSR) are achieved with a deviation of wavelength spacing being less than
      0.07nm. The SMSRs of all the lasers are higher than 60dB. 

PMID- 25836151
TI  - Sharp Fano resonance induced by a single layer of nanorods with perturbed
      periodicity.
AB  - In this paper, we report the formation of extremely sharp (Quality factor Q~ +
      infinity) FR in a single layer of dielectric nanorods with perturbed periodicity.
      The interference between the broadband Fabry-Perot (F-P) resonance and defect
      induced dark mode results in refractive index sensitivity (S) of 1312.75 nm/RIU
      and figure of merit (FOM) of 500, offering an excellent platform for biological
      sensing and detection. 

PMID- 25836152
TI  - Free-space communications over exponentiated Weibull turbulence channels with
      nonzero boresight pointing errors.
AB  - In this paper, we present analytical expressions for the performance of urban
      free-space optical (FSO) communication systems under the combined influence of
      atmospheric turbulence- and misalignment-induced fading (pointing errors). The
      atmospheric turbulence channel is modeled by the exponentiated Weibull (EW)
      distribution that can accurately describe the probability density function (PDF)
      of the irradiance fluctuations associated with a transmitted Gaussian-beam wave
      and a finite-sized receiving aperture. The nonzero boresight pointing error PDF
      model, which is recently proposed for considering the effects of both boresight
      and jitter, is adopted in analysis. We derive a novel expression for the
      composite PDF in terms of a convergent double series involving a Meijer's G
      function. Based on the statistical results mentioned above, exact expressions for
      the average bit error rate of on-off keying modulation scheme and the outage
      probability are developed. To provide more insight, we also perform an asymptotic
      error rate analysis at high average signal-to-noise ratio. Our analytical results
      indicate that the diversity gain for the zero boresight case is determined only
      by the ratio between the equivalent beamwidth at the receiver and the jitter
      standard deviation, while for the nonzero boresight case, the diversity gain is
      related to the ratio of the equivalent beamwidth to the jitter variance as well
      as the parameter of the EW distribution. 

PMID- 25836153
TI  - Near-infrared grating-assisted SPR optical fiber sensors: design rules for
      ultimate refractometric sensitivity.
AB  - Plasmonic optical fiber sensors are continuously developed for (bio)chemical
      sensing purposes. Recently, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) generation was
      achieved in gold-coated tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs). These sensors probe
      the surrounding medium with near-infrared narrowband resonances, which enhances
      both the penetration depth of the evanescent field in the external medium and the
      wavelength resolution of the interrogation. They constitute a unique
      configuration to probe all the fiber cladding modes individually. We use them to
      analyze the modal distribution of gold-coated telecommunication-grade optical
      fibers immersed in aqueous solutions. Theoretical investigations with a finite
      difference complex mode solver are confirmed by experimental data obtained on
      TFBGs. We show that the refractometric sensitivity varies with the mode order and
      that the global SPR envelope shift in response to surrounding refractive index
      (SRI) changes higher than 1e-2 RIU (refractive index unit) can be ~25% bigger
      than the local SPR mode shift arising from SRI changes limited to 1e-4 RIU. We
      bring clear evidence that the optimum gold thickness for SPR generation lies in
      the range between 50 and 70 nm while a cladding diameter decrease from 125 um to
      80 um enhances the refractometric sensitivity by ~20%. Finally, we demonstrate
      that the ultimate refractometric sensitivity of cladding modes is ~550 nm/RIU
      when they are probed by gold-coated TFBGs. 

PMID- 25836154
TI  - Multi-perturbation stochastic parallel gradient descent method for wavefront
      correction.
AB  - The multi-perturbation stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) method for
      adaptive optics is presented in this work. The method is based on a new
      architecture. The incoming beam with distorted wavefront is split into N sub
      beams. Each sub-beam is modulated by a wavefront corrector and its performance
      metric is measured subsequently. Adaptive system based on the multi-perturbation
      SPGD can operate in two modes - the fast descent mode and the modal basis
      updating mode. Control methods of the two operation modes are given. Experiments
      were carried out to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method. Analysis as
      well as experimental results showed that the two operation modes of the multi
      perturbation SPGD enhance the conventional SPGD in different ways. The fast
      descent mode provides faster convergence than the conventional SPGD. The modal
      basis updating mode can optimize the modal basis set for SPGD with global
      coupling. 

PMID- 25836155
TI  - Optical-coupling of distant spins via collective enhancement in multi-mode
      whispering gallery resonators.
AB  - The quantum coupling of spatially distant spins via optical photons using cavity
      quantum electrodynamic (cQED) methods has proved experimentally challenging due
      to the large spin-photon coupling strengths required. To achieve such coupling
      strengths using traditional cQED methods requires either individual spins and
      ultra-small cavities or an ensemble of identical spins coupled to larger
      cavities. In this work we describe a method to couple distant spins via the
      collective enhanced coupling to a large ensemble ~ N, of degenerate optical
      Whispering Gallery Modes (WGM) in a spherical resonator where the spins are
      spatially located at the antipodes. The setup can be scaled-up to build 1D, 2D
      and 3D cQED lattices to enable quantum simulation or computing. 

PMID- 25836156
TI  - Nanosecond UV laser-induced fatigue effects in the bulk of synthetic fused
      silica: a multi-parameter study.
AB  - Multiple-pulse S-on-1 laser damage experiments were carried out in the bulk of
      synthetic fused silica at 355 nm and 266 nm. Two beam sizes were used for each
      wavelength and the pulse duration was 8 ns. The results showed a fatigue effect
      that is due to cumulative material modifications. The modifications have a long
      lifetime and the fatigue dynamics are independent of the used beam sizes but
      differ for the two wavelengths. Based on the fact that, in the context of
      material-modification induced damage, the damage thresholds for smaller beams are
      higher than for larger beams, we discuss possible mechanisms of damage
      initiation. 

PMID- 25836157
TI  - Optomechanical nonlinearity enhanced optical sensors.
AB  - We propose and investigate an ultra-sensitive optical sensor system based on
      optomechanically induced nonlinear effects in high-Q optical resonators. In both
      dispersive and dissipative optomechanical systems, a positive feedback is formed
      between the optical resonance frequency and the mechanical displacement, which
      results in nonlinear transmission spectra different from a Lorentzian profile.
      Given the same resonator design, the optomechanical nonlinearity can increase the
      overall sensitivity by at least two orders of magnitude. Further improvement is
      possible by employing the phase sensitive detection. For the stable operation of
      the proposed sensor, we also analyze the requirement on the input power and the
      optomechanical coupling rate to overcome the thermal-optically induced frequency
      shift. 

PMID- 25836158
TI  - Laser frequency stabilization using a dispersive line shape induced by Doppler
      Effect.
AB  - We report a simple and robust Doppler-free spectroscopic technique to stabilize a
      laser frequency to the atomic transition. By employing Doppler Effect on the
      atomic beam, we obtained a very stable dispersive signal with a high signal-to
      noise ratio and no Doppler-background, which served as an error signal to
      electronically stabilize a laser frequency without modulation. For validating the
      performance of this technique, we locked a DFB laser to the (133)Cs D2 line and
      observed an efficient suppression of the frequency noise and a long-term
      reduction of the frequency drifts in a laboratory environment.

PMID- 25836159
TI  - High power tandem-pumped thulium-doped fiber laser.
AB  - We propose a cascaded tandem pumping technique and show its high power and high
      efficient operation in the 2-MUm wavelength region, opening up a new way to scale
      the output power of the 2-MUm fiber laser to new levels (e.g. 10 kW). Using a
      1942 nm Tm(3+) fiber laser as the pump source with the co- (counter-) propagating
      configuration, the 2020 nm Tm(3+) fiber laser generates 34.68 W (35.15W) of
      output power with 84.4% (86.3%) optical-to-optical efficiency and 91.7% (92.4%)
      slope efficiency, with respect to launched pump power. It provides the highest
      slope efficiency reported for 2-MUm Tm(3+)-doped fiber lasers, and the highest
      output power for all-fiber tandem-pumped 2-MUm fiber oscillators. This system
      fulfills the complete structure of the proposed cascaded tandem pumping technique
      in the 2-MUm wavelength region (~1900 nm -> ~1940 nm -> ~2020 nm). Numerical
      analysis is also carried out to show the power scaling capability and efficiency
      of the cascaded tandem pumping technique.

PMID- 25836160
TI  - Relationship between two- and three-photon coherence in a ladder-type atomic
      system.
AB  - We investigated the relationship between two- and three-photon coherence in terms
      of the transition routes and coupling field intensities in a Doppler-broadened
      ladder-type atomic system for the 5S(1/2)-5P(3/2)-5D(5/2) transition in (87)Rb
      atoms. Three-photon electromagnetically induced absorption (TPEIA) due to three
      photon coherence was observed in the only transition route that exhibited a
      dominant two-photon coherence effect. We showed that two-photon coherence is a
      necessary condition for three-photon coherence phenomena. A comparison of the
      relative magnitudes of the electromagnetically induced transparency and TPEIA as
      a function of the coupling field intensity revealed that the increase of three
      photon coherence was faster than that of two-photon coherence. Considering three
      photon coherence in a Doppler-broadened ladder-type three-level atomic system,
      the relation between two- and three-photon coherence was numerically calculated.

PMID- 25836161
TI  - Micro-bending vector sensor based on six-air-hole grapefruit microstructure fiber
      using lateral offset splicing.
AB  - A one-dimensional micro-bending vector sensor based on two-mode interference has
      been introduced. This device was fabricated by lateral offset splicing a piece of
      six-air-hole grapefruit microstructure fiber (GMF) with single mode fiber (SMF).
      Variation of effective mode index occurred by micro-bending was investigated in
      simulation and experiment. This device exhibits micro-bending sensitivities of
      0.441 nm/m(-1) and -0.754 nm/m(-1) at 0 degrees  and 180 degrees  bending
      orientations, respectively. Moreover, this sensor is immune to surrounding
      refractive index (SRI) and presents a low crosstalk of temperature.

PMID- 25836162
TI  - Determination of cavity length of cavity-resonator-integrated guided-mode
      resonance filter.
AB  - A cavity-resonator-integrated guided-mode resonance filter is a kind of
      narrowband filters, which uses a resonance effect of a waveguide cavity. Two
      experimental methods for determining the cavity length were investigated in order
      to estimate the response time of the filter. SiO(2)-based filters for operation
      at 1540-nm wavelength were fabricated and their cavity lengths were determined
      from measured resonance wavelengths. In the both of methods, the cavity length
      determined to be 65 MUm and the response time was estimated to be 4 psec.

PMID- 25836163
TI  - Stand-off Raman spectrometer for identification of liquids in a pressurized gas
      pipelines.
AB  - a stand-off Raman spectrometer has been developed to make observations of liquid
      samples within a gas pipeline. The instrument is based on a static Fourier
      Transform spectrometer. The high etendue offered by the instrument enabled four
      liquid samples to be measured from a distance of 2.4 m within a gas pipeline.
      Liquids were identified with depths less than 5 mm demonstrating that the concept
      is viable for active pipeline measurement. 

PMID- 25836164
TI  - Robust copyright protection using multiple ownership watermarks.
AB  - Generally, conventional transform (DWT and DFT, etc.) -based watermarking
      techniques provide only one spectrum plane for embedding the watermark, thus the
      embedding watermark information can be easily removed. To solve this problem, we
      propose an efficient cellular automata (CA) based watermarking method that CA
      transform (CAT) with various gateway values can provide many transform planes for
      watermark embedding according to various CA rules. In this paper, multiple
      ownership watermarks are first recorded in the form of an elemental image array
      (EIA), simultaneously, and then the recorded EIA as the watermark data is
      embedded into the CAT coefficient. An additional advantage of this proposed
      method is that EIA is composed of many elemental images and each elemental image
      has its own property of watermarks. Even though most data of elemental images are
      lost, the watermarks can be reconstructed from the remaining elemental images
      successfully. Experimental results show that the proposed technique provides good
      image quality and is robust in varying degree to some image processing attacks. 

PMID- 25836165
TI  - Demonstration of full 4*4 Mueller polarimetry through an optical fiber for
      endoscopic applications.
AB  - A novel technique to measure the full 4 * 4 Mueller matrix of a sample through an
      optical fiber is proposed, opening the way for endoscopic applications of Mueller
      polarimetry for biomedical diagnosis. The technique is based on two subsequent
      Mueller matrices measurements: one for characterizing the fiber only, and another
      for the assembly of fiber and sample. From this differential measurement, we
      proved theoretically that the polarimetric properties of the sample can be
      deduced. The proof of principle was experimentally validated by measuring various
      polarimetric parameters of known optical components. Images of manufactured and
      biological samples acquired by using this approach are also presented. 

PMID- 25836166
TI  - Estimating phycocyanin pigment concentration in productive inland waters using
      Landsat measurements: a case study in Lake Dianchi.
AB  - Using remote sensing reflectance (R(rs)(lambda), sr(-1)) and phycocyanin (PC, mg
      m(-3)) pigment data as well as other bio-optical data collected from two cruises
      in September and December 2009 in Lake Dianchi (a typical plateau lake of China),
      we developed a practical approach to estimate PC concentrations that could be
      applied directly to Landsat measurements. The visible and near-IR bands as well
      as their band ratios of simulated Landsat data were used as inputs to the
      algorithms, where the algorithm coefficients for each Landsat sensor were
      determined through multivariate regressions. The coefficients of determination
      (R(2)) between the R(rs)-modeled and measured PC were all > 0.97 for the spectral
      bands corresponding to Landsat 8 OLI, Landsat 7 ETM + , Landsat 5 TM, and Landsat
      4 TM, with mean absolute percentage errors (MAPE) < 10% for PC ranging between
      ~80 and 700 mg m(-3) (n = 14). The algorithms were further evaluated using an
      independent data set (n = 14), yielding larger but still acceptable MAPE (~30%)
      for PC ranging between ~80 and 500 mg m(-3). Application of the approach to
      Landsat 8 measurements over Lake Dianchi suggests potential use of the approach
      for periodical assessment of the lake's bloom conditions, yet its empirical
      nature together with the lack of specific narrow bands on Landsat sensors to
      explicitly account for the PC absorption around 625 nm calls for extra caution
      when applied to other eutrophic lakes.

PMID- 25836167
TI  - Potentials and challenges of using orbital angular momentum communications in
      optical interconnects.
AB  - Ultra-short- and short-reach optical interconnects are the new high growth
      applications for optical communications. High capacity density, high spectral
      efficiency, low cost, low power consumption, and fast configurability are some of
      the key requirements for potential optical transmission technology candidates.
      Based on recent progress in orbital angular momentum multiplexed optical
      transmission and optical device technologies, this paper discusses the potentials
      and challenges of using orbital angular momentum multiplexing in optical
      interconnect applications scenarios to meet above requirements. 

PMID- 25836168
TI  - Bright and dark plasmon resonances of nanoplasmonic antennas evanescently coupled
      with a silicon nitride waveguide.
AB  - In this work we investigate numerically and experimentally the resonance
      wavelength tuning of different nanoplasmonic antennas excited through the
      evanescent field of a single mode silicon nitride waveguide and study their
      interaction with this excitation field. Experimental interaction efficiencies up
      to 19% are reported and it is shown that the waveguide geometry can be tuned in
      order to optimize this interaction. Apart from the excitation of bright plasmon
      modes, an efficient coupling between the evanescent field and a dark plasmonic
      resonance is experimentally demonstrated and theoretically explained as a result
      of the propagation induced phase delay. 

PMID- 25836169
TI  - Programmable multiport optical circuits in opaque scattering materials.
AB  - We propose and experimentally verify a method to program the effective
      transmission matrix of general multiport linear optical circuits in random
      multiple-scattering materials by phase modulation of incident wavefronts. We
      demonstrate the power of our method by programming linear optical circuits in
      white paint layers with 2 inputs and 2 outputs, and 2 inputs and 3 outputs. Using
      interferometric techniques we verify our ability to program any desired phase
      relation between the outputs. The method works in a deterministic manner and can
      be directly applied to existing wavefront-shaping setups without the need of
      measuring a transmission matrix or to rely on sensitive interference
      measurements. 

PMID- 25836170
TI  - Broadband terahertz amplification in a heterogeneous quantum cascade laser.
AB  - We demonstrate a broadband terahertz amplifier based on ultrafast gain switching
      in a quantum cascade laser. A heterogeneous active region is processed into a
      coupled cavity metal-metal waveguide device and provides broadband terahertz gain
      that allows achieving an amplification bandwidth of more than 500 GHz. The
      temporal and spectral evolution of a terahertz seed pulse, which is generated in
      an integrated emitter section, is presented and an amplification factor of 21 dB
      is reached. Furthermore, the quantum cascade amplifier emission spectrum of the
      emerging sub-nanosecond terahertz pulse train is measured by time-domain
      spectroscopy and reveals discrete modes between 2.14 and 2.68 THz. 

PMID- 25836171
TI  - Design and experimental demonstration of a large pedestal thulium-doped fibre.
AB  - We present a novel large-mode-area thulium-doped fibre with a large pedestal
      design. We discuss the advantages of this large pedestal fibre in the context of
      overcoming limitations imposed by cleaving and splicing tolerances. Finally we
      demonstrate the use of such a fibre in constructing monolithic fibre lasers
      operating at 1.95 um with 170 W of output power, 0.1 nm line-width and a
      diffraction limited beam quality of M(2)(X,Y) = 1.02, 1.03.

PMID- 25836172
TI  - 87 W, narrow-linewidth, linearly-polarized 1178 nm photonic bandgap fiber
      amplifier.
AB  - High-power narrow-linewidth photonic bandgap fiber amplifier was demonstrated. In
      order to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering, the seed linewidth was
      broadened by applying a random phase noise with an electro-optical modulator. A
      factor of 15 in terms of Brillouin gain suppression can be theoretically
      expected. An 87 W linearly-polarized (11 dB PER) and narrow-linewidth (780 MHz
      FWHM) output was obtained. 

PMID- 25836173
TI  - Inverse scattering designs of dispersion-engineered planar waveguides.
AB  - We have introduced a semi-analytical IS technique suitable for multipole,
      rational function reflection coefficients, and used it for the design of
      dispersion-engineered planar waveguides. The technique is used to derive
      extensive dispersion maps, including higher dispersion coefficients,
      corresponding to three-, five- and seven-pole reflection coefficients. It is
      shown that common features of dispersion-engineered waveguides such as refractive
      index trenches, rings and oscillations come naturally from this approach when the
      magnitude of leaky poles in increased. Increasing the number of poles is shown to
      offer a small but measureable change in higher order dispersion with designs
      dominated by a three pole design with a leaky pole pair of the smallest modulus. 

PMID- 25836174
TI  - Long-haul quasi-single-mode transmissions using few-mode fiber in presence of
      multi-path interference.
AB  - We study long-haul Quasi-Single-mode (QSM) systems in which signals are
      transmitted in the fundamental modes of a few-mode fiber (FMF) while keeping
      other system components such as amplifiers and receivers are kept single-moded.
      The large-effective-area nature of the FMF fundamental modes improves system
      nonlinear tolerance in the expense of mode coupling along FMF transmissions which
      induces multi-path interference (MPI) and needs to be compensated. We
      analytically investigate 6-spatial-polarization mode QSM transmission systems in
      presence of MPI and show that in the weak coupling regime, the QSM channel is a
      Gaussian random process in frequency. MPI compensation filters are derived and
      performance penalties due to MPI and signal loss from higher-order modes are
      characterized. We also experimentally demonstrate 256 Gb/s polarization
      multiplexed (PM)-16-QAM QSM transmissions over a record distance of 2600 km with
      100-km span using decision directed least mean square (DD-LMS) algorithm for MPI
      compensation. 

PMID- 25836175
TI  - Incoherent on-off keying with classical and non-classical light.
AB  - We analyze the performance of on-off keying (OOK) and its restricted version
      pulse position modulation (PPM) over a lossy narrowband optical channel under the
      constraint of a low average photon number, when direct detection is used at the
      output. An analytical approximation for the maximum PPM transmission rate is
      derived, quantifying the effects of photon statistics on the communication
      efficiency in terms of the g((2)) second-order intensity correlation function of
      the light source. Enhancement attainable through the use of sub-Poissonian light
      is discussed.

PMID- 25836176
TI  - Nanoparticle containing channel waveguides produced by a multi-energy masked ion
      implantation process.
AB  - We present the fabrication and characterization of channel waveguides based on
      composites containing silver nanoparticles. The substrate employed is silica and
      the nanoparticles were produced by a masked ion-implantation technique. Multiple
      implantation processes were made at different energies in order to produce
      waveguides with an appropriate width. We also present results for the
      characterization of the waveguiding properties of the devices produced. 

PMID- 25836177
TI  - Large bandwidth mode order converter by differential waveguides.
AB  - In this article, we propose a large bandwidth mode-order converter design by
      dielectric waveguides with equal lengths but different cross-sectional areas. The
      efficient conversion between even and odd modes is verified by inducing required
      phase difference between the equal length waveguides of different widths. Y
      junctions are composed of both tapered mode splitter and combiner to connect mono
      mode waveguide to multi-mode waveguide. The converted mode profiles at the output
      port show that the device operates successfully at designed wavelengths with wide
      bandwidth. This study provides a novel technique to implement compact mode order
      converters and direction selective/sensitive photonic structures. 

PMID- 25836179
TI  - General considerations for the miniaturization of radiative antennae.
AB  - The small size of plasmonic nanostructures compared to the wavelength of light is
      one of their most distinct and defining characteristics. It results in the strong
      compression of an incident wave to intense hot spots which have been used most
      remarkably for molecular sensing and nanoscale lasers. But another important
      direction for research is to use this ability to design miniaturized
      interconnects and modulators between fast, loss-less photonic components. Here we
      show that despite their high absorption, conductors are still the best materials
      to reach the sub-wavelength regime for efficient antennae when compared to polar
      crystals and high-index dielectrics, two classes of material which have shown a
      lot of potential recently in nanophotonic applications. By identifying the
      relevant dimensionless properties for the three materials considered, we present
      an unified understanding of the behaviour of sub-wavelength components which are
      at the heart of current photonic research and cast the upper achievable limits
      for radiative antennae crucial to the development of real-life implementation. 

PMID- 25836178
TI  - Strong opto-electro-mechanical coupling in a silicon photonic crystal cavity.
AB  - We fabricate and characterize a microscale silicon opto-electromechanical system
      whose mechanical motion is coupled capacitively to an electrical circuit and
      optically via radiation pressure to a photonic crystal cavity. To achieve large
      electromechanical interaction strength, we implement an inverse shadow mask
      fabrication scheme which obtains capacitor gaps as small as 30 nm while
      maintaining a silicon surface quality necessary for minimizing optical loss.
      Using the sensitive optical read-out of the photonic crystal cavity, we
      characterize the linear and nonlinear capacitive coupling to the fundamental
      omega(m)/2pi = 63 MHz in-plane flexural motion of the structure, showing that the
      large electromechanical coupling in such devices may be suitable for realizing
      efficient microwave-to-optical signal conversion.

PMID- 25836180
TI  - Narrow-linewidth short-pulse III-V-on-silicon mode-locked lasers based on a
      linear and ring cavity geometry.
AB  - Picosecond-pulse III-V-on-silicon mode-locked lasers based on linear and ring
      extended cavity geometries are presented. In passive mode-locked operation a 12
      kHz -3dB linewidth of the fundamental RF tone at 4.7 GHz is obtained for the
      linear cavity geometry and 16 kHz for the ring cavity geometry. Stabilization of
      the repetition rate of these devices using hybrid mode-locking is also
      demonstrated. 

PMID- 25836181
TI  - Anisotropic exciton relaxation in nanostructured metal (Zn and F(16)Zn)
      phthalocyanine.
AB  - We report ultrafast excited state dynamics of zinc phthalocyanine and zinc
      hexadecafluoro phthalocyanine thin films which have nanorod-like structures.
      Excitons in the singlet states undergo multi-exponential relaxation processes to
      the ground state and the singlet lifetime within a few tens of picoseconds is
      attributed to the diffusion-limited exciton annihilation process. Diffusive
      migration of the singlet excitons shows the anisotropic lifetimes depending on
      the polarization of probe beam. Similar anisotropy is observed in the X-ray
      diffraction data which exhibits long-range alignment of molecular columns along
      the long axis of nanorod, whereas disordered arrangement in lateral direction to
      the axis of nanorod. 

PMID- 25836182
TI  - Electrical control of second harmonic generation in a graphene-based plasmonic
      Fano structure.
AB  - We propose a strategy for active control of second harmonic generation (SHG) in a
      plasmonic Fano structure by electrically doping its underlying monolayer
      graphene. A detailed theoretical model for the proposed scheme is developed and
      numerical simulations are carried out to demonstrate the operation. Specifically,
      we show that a merely 30 meV change in graphene Fermi level can result in 45
      times increase in SHG peak intensity, accompanied by a resonance wavelength shift
      spanning 220 nm. Further analysis uncovers that such tunability in SHG arises
      from the Fermi-level-modulated graphene permittivity, the real and imaginary
      parts of which dominate the resonance wavelength and the intensity of SHG,
      respectively. 

PMID- 25836183
TI  - Advanced modulation formats for high-performance short-reach optical
      interconnects.
AB  - The explosive growth of the traffic between data centers has led to an urgent
      demand for high-performance short-reach optical interconnects with data rate
      beyond 100G per wavelength and transmission distance over hundreds of kilometers.
      Since direct detection (DD) provides a cost-efficient solution for short-reach
      interconnects, various advanced modulation formats have been intensively studied
      to improve the performance of DD for high-performance short-reach optical
      interconnects. In this paper, we report the recent progress on the advanced DD
      modulation formats that provide superior electrical spectral efficiency (SE) and
      transmission reach beyond that of simple direct modulation (DM) based direct
      detection (DM/DD). We first provide a review of the current advanced modulation
      formats for high-performance short-reach optical interconnects. Among these
      formats, Stokes vector direct detection (SV-DD) achieves the highest electrical
      spectrum efficiency, presenting itself as a promising candidate for future short
      reach networks. We then expound some novel algorithms to achieve high-performance
      SV-DD systems under severe impairments of either polarization mode dispersion
      (PMD) or polarization dependent loss (PDL). 

PMID- 25836184
TI  - Safe range of free space light propagation calculation in single precision.
AB  - Calculations of free space light propagation, such as those used in digital
      holography, deal with distances much longer than a wavelength. Computer
      representation of real numbers must therefore provide enough precision to handle
      this situation. We show that single precision must be used with the utmost care,
      which is especially important in GPU calculations. We also show that Fresnel
      approximation significantly improves single precision calculations for distances
      bigger than about one metre. 

PMID- 25836185
TI  - Impact of rare earth element clusters on the excited state lifetime evolution
      under irradiation in oxide glasses.
AB  - Rare earth doped active glasses and fibers can be exposed to ionizing radiations
      in space and nuclear applications. In this work, we analyze the evolution of
      (2)F(5/2) excited state lifetime in Yb(3+) ions in irradiated aluminosilicate
      glasses by electrons and gamma rays. It is found that the variation of lifetimes
      depends on the Yb(3+) clusters content of the glasses for irradiation doses in
      the 10(2)- 1.5?10(9) Gy range. In particular, glasses with high clustering show a
      smaller decrease in lifetime with increasing radiation dose. This behavior is
      well correlated to the variation in paramagnetic defects concentration determined
      by electron paramagnetic resonance. This effect is also observed in Yb(3+) doped
      phosphate and Er(3+) doped aluminosilicate glasses, inferring that clustering
      plays an important role in irradiation induced quenching.

PMID- 25836186
TI  - Multi-milliwatt mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in a suspended core
      chalcogenide fiber.
AB  - A low-loss suspended core As(38)Se(62) fiber with core diameter of 4.5 MUm and a
      zero-dispersion wavelength of 3.5 MUm was used for mid-infrared supercontinuum
      generation. The dispersion of the fiber was measured from 2.9 to 4.2 MUm and was
      in good correspondence with the calculated dispersion. An optical parametric
      amplifier delivering 320 fs pulses with a peak power of 14.8 kW at a repetition
      rate of 21 MHz was used to pump 18 cm of suspended core fiber at different
      wavelengths from 3.3 to 4.7 MUm. By pumping at 4.4 MUm with a peak power of 5.2
      kW coupled to the fiber a supercontinuum spanning from 1.7 to 7.5 MUm with an
      average output power of 15.6 mW and an average power >5.0 MUm of 4.7 mW was
      obtained.

PMID- 25836187
TI  - On-chip grating coupler array on the SOI platform for fan-in/fan-out of MCFs with
      low insertion loss and crosstalk.
AB  - We report the design and fabrication of a compact multi-core fiber fan-in/fan-out
      using a grating coupler array on the SOI platform. The grating couplers are fully
      etched, enabling the whole circuit to be fabricated in a single lithography and
      etching step. Thanks to the apodized design for the grating couplers and the
      introduction of an aluminum reflective mirror, a highest coupling efficiency of 
      3.8 dB with 3 dB coupling bandwidth of 48 nm and 1.5 dB bandwidth covering the
      whole C band, together with crosstalk lower than -32 dB are demonstrated. 

PMID- 25836188
TI  - Polarization evolution of ultrashort pulses in air.
AB  - Measurements of polarization of filamenting light pulses at 800 nm are presented.
      Electronic nonlinearity, molecular alignment and nonlinear losses all contribute
      to modify the polarization of a femtosecond filamenting pulse. The polarization
      is modified in each stage of preparation, filamentation and divergence after the
      filament. 

PMID- 25836189
TI  - Radiative recombination rate measurement by the optically pumped variable stripe
      length method.
AB  - Using the optically pumped variable stripe length technique we demonstrate that,
      through calibration of measured spontaneous emission spectra, it is possible to
      determine the total radiative recombination rate for a gain material as a
      function of the intrinsic quasi-Fermi level separation. Specifically we compare
      the room temperature optical characteristics of a self-assembled InP/GaInP
      quantum dot material measured using both optical and electrical pumping. The
      comparison reveals good agreement between gain and emission spectra measured with
      the two techniques, for the same inversion, from which we conclude that the
      carrier distributions in each case are equivalent. The results demonstrate that
      the optically pumped experiment can provide a good measure of the overall
      radiative efficiency. 

PMID- 25836190
TI  - Platinum germanides for mid- and long-wave infrared plasmonics.
AB  - Platinum germanides (PtGe) were investigated for infrared plasmonic applications.
      Layers of Pt and Ge were deposited and annealed. X-ray diffraction identified
      PtGe(2) and Pt(2)Ge(3) phases, and x-ray photo-electron spectroscopy determined
      vertical atomic composition profiles for the films. Complex permittivity spectra
      were measured by ellipsometry over the 2 to 15 MUm wavelength range. Surface
      plasmon polariton (SPP) characteristics such as propagation length and field
      penetration depth were calculated. Photon-to-SPP couplers in the form of 1D
      lamellar gratings were fabricated and characterized in the range 9 - 10.5 MUm via
      wavelength-dependent specular reflection spectra for multiple angles of
      incidence. The observed resonances compare well with calculated spectra for SPP
      excitation on PtGe(2). Platinum germanides are CMOS compatible and may serve as
      SPP hosts for on-chip mid-IR plasmonic components with tighter field confinement
      than noble-metal hosts.

PMID- 25836191
TI  - Self-calibrating common-path interferometry.
AB  - A quantitative phase measuring technique is presented that estimates the object
      phase from a series of phase shifted interferograms that are obtained in a common
      path configuration with unknown phase shifts. The derived random phase shifting
      algorithm for common-path interferometers is based on the Generalized Phase
      Contrast theory [pl. Opt.40(2), 268 (2001)10.1063/1.1404846], which accounts for
      the particular image formation and includes effects that are not present in two
      beam interferometry. It is shown experimentally that this technique can be used
      within common-path configurations employing nonlinear liquid crystal materials as
      self-induced phase filters for quantitative phase imaging without the need of
      phase shift calibrations. The advantages of such liquid crystal elements compared
      to spatial light modulator based solutions are given by the cost-effectiveness,
      self-alignment, and the generation of diminutive dimensions of the phase filter
      size, giving unique performance advantages. 

PMID- 25836192
TI  - Numerical far field simulations with the fast Fourier transformation and Fourier
      space interpolation.
AB  - As more complicated microscope systems are engineered, the amount of effects
      taken into account rises steadily. In this context we experienced the need for a
      simulation approach, that will deliver the intensity distribution in space and
      time for scanning laser microscopes. To achieve this goal, the frequency space
      representation of microscope objectives was used and adapted to determine their
      solution of the electromagnetic wave equation. We describe the steps necessary to
      efficiently implement an approach to simulate multidimensional solutions of the
      wave equation. This includes the connection between the back focal plane and the
      Fourier space representation as well as a proper interpolation method for the
      latter. The error-potential of our least erroneous interpolation, the power of
      hann (POH) interpolation, is compared to other common interpolation methods.
      Finally we demonstrate the current potential of the approach by simulating an
      "expanding" optical vortex focus. 

PMID- 25836194
TI  - Young's double-slit experiment: noise-resolution duality.
AB  - Statistical aspects of Young's double-slit diffraction experiment are analysed
      quantitatively. It is shown that the signal-to-noise ratio and the spatial
      resolution in the detected diffraction pattern satisfy a duality relationship
      which implies that both of them cannot be improved simultaneously beyond a
      certain limit if the total number of particles forming the image is fixed. As a
      consequence of this duality, it is possible to estimate the minimal number of
      particles that have to be detected in order for two slits separated by a given
      distance to be resolved with a confidence level corresponding to a pre-defined
      signal-to-noise ratio, e.g. according to the Rose criterion. These results are
      related to the recently introduced imaging system quality characteristic which
      combines the spatial resolution and the noise sensitivity, and allows one to
      estimate the efficiency with which imaging quanta are utilised in a system to
      deliver maximal amount of information about the imaged object. The presented
      results can be useful for applications where the imaging quanta are at a premium
      or where minimization of the radiation dose is important. 

PMID- 25836195
TI  - High power, widely tunable, narrowband superfluorescent source at 2 MUm based on
      a monolithic Tm-doped fiber amplifier.
AB  - We present a widely tunable narrowband superfluorescent source near 2 MUm
      employing a monolithic Tm-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA), and the output power
      exceeds 250 W. A broadband superfluorescent source with a narrowband tunable band
      pass filter was used as the seed source. The spectra of the seed source can be
      tuned in a range of ~1930-2030 nm with full width at half maximum (FWHM) of ~1.7
      nm. The Tm-doped fiber amplifier scales up the power of the seed source to a
      level of more than 250 W with a tuning range of ~35 nm (1966-2001 nm) and a FWHM
      of ~1.5-2.0 nm, and the slope efficiency is about 0.50. The output power is
      limited by the available pump power, and the tuning range is limited by the
      amplifier spontaneous emission at other wavelengths. Higher output power can be
      achieved if launching more pump power into the amplifier, and the tuning range
      can be further improved by optimizing the parameters of the TDFA. To the best of
      our knowledge, this is the first demonstration on a widely tunable narrowband
      superfluorescent source at 2 MUm with average output power exceeding 250 W. 

PMID- 25836193
TI  - Pulse-shaping based two-photon FRET stoichiometry.
AB  - Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) based measurements that calculate the
      stoichiometry of intermolecular interactions in living cells have recently been
      demonstrated, where the technique utilizes selective one-photon excitation of
      donor and acceptor fluorophores to isolate the pure FRET signal. Here, we present
      work towards extending this FRET stoichiometry method to employ two-photon
      excitation using a pulse-shaping methodology. In pulse-shaping, frequency
      dependent phases are applied to a broadband femtosecond laser pulse to tailor the
      two-photon excitation conditions to preferentially excite donor and acceptor
      fluorophores. We have also generalized the existing stoichiometry theory to
      account for additional cross-talk terms that are non-vanishing under two-photon
      excitation conditions. Using the generalized theory we demonstrate two-photon
      FRET stoichiometry in live COS-7 cells expressing fluorescent proteins mAmetrine
      as the donor and tdTomato as the acceptor. 

PMID- 25836196
TI  - Polarization sensitive optical frequency domain imaging system for endobronchial
      imaging.
AB  - A polarization sensitive endoscopic optical frequency domain imaging (PS-OFDI)
      system with a motorized distal scanning catheter is demonstrated. It employs a
      passive polarization delay unit to multiplex two orthogonal probing polarization
      states in depth, and a polarization diverse detection unit to detect interference
      signal in two orthogonal polarization channels. Per depth location four electro
      magnetic field components are measured that can be represented in a complex 2x2
      field matrix. A Jones matrix of the sample is derived and the sample
      birefringence is extracted by eigenvalue decomposition. The condition of balanced
      detection and the polarization mode dispersion are quantified. A complex field
      averaging method based on the alignment of randomly pointing field phasors is
      developed to reduce speckle noise. The variation of the polarization states
      incident on the tissue due to the circular scanning and catheter sheath
      birefringence is investigated. With this system we demonstrated imaging of ex
      vivo chicken muscle, in vivo pig lung and ex vivo human lung specimens. 

PMID- 25836197
TI  - Converting optical scanning holograms of real objects to binary Fourier holograms
      using an iterative direct binary search algorithm.
AB  - In this paper, we present a three-dimensional holographic imaging system. The
      proposed approach records a complex hologram of a real object using optical
      scanning holography, converts the complex form to binary data, and then
      reconstructs the recorded hologram using a spatial light modulator (SLM). The
      conversion from the recorded hologram to a binary hologram is achieved using a
      direct binary search algorithm. We present experimental results that verify the
      efficacy of our approach. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time
      that a hologram of a real object has been reconstructed using a binary SLM. 

PMID- 25836198
TI  - Precise calibration of linear camera equipped with cylindrical lenses using a
      radial basis function-based mapping technique.
AB  - The linear camera equipped with cylindrical lenses has prominent advantages in
      high-precision coordinate measurement and dynamic position-tracking. However, the
      serious distortion of the cylindrical lenses limits the application of this
      camera. To overcome this obstacle, a precise two-step calibration method is
      developed. In the first step, a radial basis function-based (RBF-based) mapping
      technique is employed to recover the projection mapping of the imaging system by
      interpolating the correspondence between incident rays and image points. For an
      object point in 3D space, the plane passing through the object point in camera
      coordinate frame can be calculated accurately by this technique. The second step
      is the calibration of extrinsic parameters, which realizes the coordinate
      transformation from the camera coordinate frame to world coordinate frame. The
      proposed method has three aspects of advantage. Firstly, this method (black box
      calibration) is still effective even if the distortion is high and asymmetric.
      Secondly, the coupling between extrinsic parameters and other parameters, which
      is normally occurred and may lead to the failure of calibration, is avoided
      because this method simplifies the pinhole model and only extrinsic parameters
      are concerned in the simplified model. Thirdly, the nonlinear optimization, which
      is widely used to refine camera parameters, is better conditioned since fewer
      parameters are needed and more accurate initial iteration value is estimated.
      Both simulative and real experiments have been carried out and good results have
      been obtained. 

PMID- 25836199
TI  - High speed, high strength microwelding of Si/glass using ps-laser pulses.
AB  - A novel microwelding procedure to join Si-to-glass using ps-laser pulses with
      high repetition rates is presented. The procedure provides weld joint with
      mechanical strength as high as 85 MPa and 45 MPa in sample pairs of
      Si/aluminosilicate (Si/SW-Y) and Si/borosilicate (Si/Borofloat 33), respectively,
      which are higher than anodic bonding, at high spatial resolution (< 20 um) and
      very high throughput without pre- and post-heating. Laser-matter interaction
      analysis indicates that excellent weld joint of Si/glass is obtained by avoiding
      violent evaporation of Si substrate using ps-laser pulses. Laser welded Si/glass
      samples can be singulated along the weld lines by standard blade dicer without
      defects, demonstrating welding by ps-laser pulses is applicable to wafer-level
      packaging. 

PMID- 25836200
TI  - Polarization or phase insensitive fiber parametric amplifier with clamped output
      phase.
AB  - This paper proposes a low polarization- or phase-dependent fiber parametric
      amplifier system with a clamped output phase, which consists of an orthogonally
      pumped nonlinear fiber and a fiber loop with a polarization beam splitter.
      Numerical calculations show that the proposed system exhibits a constant output
      phase, low insensitive to the signal input phase or polarization state. 

PMID- 25836201
TI  - Simultaneous and localized measurement of diffusion and flow using optical
      coherence tomography.
AB  - We report on the simultaneous and localized measurement of the diffusion
      coefficient and flow velocity based on the normalized autocorrelation function
      using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Our results on a flowing suspension of
      polystyrene spheres show that the flow velocity and the diffusion coefficient can
      be reliably estimated in a regime determined by the sample diffusivity, the local
      flow velocity, and the Gaussian beam waist. We experimentally demonstrate that a
      smaller beam waist results in an improvement of the velocity sensitivity at the
      expense of the precision and accuracy of the estimation of the diffusion
      coefficient. Further, we show that the decay of the OCT autocorrelation function
      due to flow depends only on the Gaussian beam waist irrespective of the sample
      position with respect to the focus position. 

PMID- 25836202
TI  - Cramer-Rao bounds for determination of electric and magnetic susceptibilities in
      metasurfaces.
AB  - Accurate and robust characterization of metasurfaces and metamaterials in terms
      of effective parameters is critical to the design of novel metadevices. We
      compute the Cramer-Rao lower bounds on the variance of any estimator for both the
      electric and magnetic surface susceptibilities of metasurfaces. We show that
      retrieval of such effective properties is inherently difficult around resonances,
      most notably for low-loss metasurfaces. We also put forth a least-squares
      estimator to mitigate this difficulty for the normal components of susceptibility
      tensors, which are observed to be the most ill-behaved. The present work is
      relevant to the development of loss-compensated metasurfaces for which noise has
      to be closely considered for accurate and robust device characterization. 

PMID- 25836204
TI  - Spatiotemporal dynamics of multimode optical solitons.
AB  - As optical fiber communications and fiber lasers approach fundamental limits
      there is considerable interest in multimode fibers. In nonlinear science, they
      represent an exciting environment for complex nonlinear waves. As in single-mode
      fiber, solitons may be particularly important. Multimode solitons consist of
      synchronized, non-dispersive pulses in multiple spatial modes, which interact via
      the Kerr nonlinearity of the fiber. They are expected to exhibit novel
      spatiotemporal characteristics, dynamics and, like single-mode solitons, may
      provide a convenient intuitive tool for understanding more complex nonlinear
      phenomena in multimode fibers. Here we explore experimentally and numerically
      basic properties and spatiotemporal behaviors of these solitons: their formation,
      fission, and Raman dynamics. 

PMID- 25836203
TI  - High numerical aperture Fourier ptychography: principle, implementation and
      characterization.
AB  - Fourier ptychography (FP) utilizes illumination control and computational post
      processing to increase the resolution of bright-field microscopes. In effect, FP
      extends the fixed numerical aperture (NA) of an objective lens to form a larger
      synthetic system NA. Here, we build an FP microscope (FPM) using a 40X 0.75NA
      objective lens to synthesize a system NA of 1.45. This system achieved a two-slit
      resolution of 335 nm at a wavelength of 632 nm. This resolution closely adheres
      to theoretical prediction and is comparable to the measured resolution (315 nm)
      associated with a standard, commercially available 1.25 NA oil immersion
      microscope. Our work indicates that Fourier ptychography is an attractive method
      to improve the resolution-versus-NA performance, increase the working distance,
      and enlarge the field-of-view of high-resolution bright-field microscopes by
      employing lower NA objectives. 

PMID- 25836205
TI  - Experimental solution for scattered imaging of the interference of plasmonic and
      photonic mode waves launched by metal nano-slits.
AB  - Using an L-shaped metal nanoslit to generate waves of the pure photonic and
      plasmonic modes simultaneously, we perform an experimental solution for the
      scattered imaging of the interference of the two waves. From the fringe data of
      interference, the amplitudes and the wavevector components of the two waves are
      obtained. The initial phases of the two waves are obtained from the phase map
      reconstructed with the interference of the scattered image and the reference wave
      in the interferometer. The difference in the wavevector components gives rise to
      an additional phase delay. We introduce the scattering theory under Kirchhoff's
      approximation to metal slit regime and explain the wavevector difference
      reasonably. The solution of the quantities is a comprehensive reflection of
      excitation, scattering and interference of the two waves. By decomposing the
      polarized incident field with respect to the slit element, the scattered image
      produced by slit of arbitrary shape can be solved with the nanoscale Huygens
      Fresnel principle. This is demonstrated by the experimental intensity pattern and
      phase map produced by a ring-slit and its consistency with the calculated
      results. 

PMID- 25836206
TI  - Multiband and broadband polarization-insensitive perfect absorber devices based
      on a tunable and thin double split-ring metamaterial.
AB  - We demonstrate a polarization-insensitive perfect absorber with multiband and
      broadband absorption based on a tunable and thin metamaterial, which consists of
      a double split-ring microstructure (DSRM) on double-layer and a coating
      substrate. The multiband absorption at different frequencies and broadband
      absorption with the relative bandwidth of 90.63% from 5.69GHz to 15.12GHz, of
      which the absorptivity is larger than 90%, can be achieved by changing the rotary
      angle of the proposed DSRM perfect metamaterial absorber (DSRM-PMA). The
      advantages of polarized-insensitivity, wide bandwidth and multiband absorption
      are illuminated by the angular absorptions and the surface current distributions.
      The DSRM-PMA device with similar geometry in simulation is fabricated and tested
      to clearly validate the functionality of our design. The simulated and
      experimental results indicate that the DSRM-PMA performs multiband and broadband
      absorptions with the rotary angle of 0 degrees  and 90 degrees  respectively. 

PMID- 25836208
TI  - Efficient hyperconcentration of nonlocal multipartite entanglement via the cross
      Kerr nonlinearity.
AB  - We propose two schemes for concentration of hyperentanglement of nonlocal
      multipartite states which are simultaneously entangled in the polarization and
      spatial modes. One scheme uses an auxiliary single-photon state prepared
      according to the parameters of the less-entangled states. The other scheme uses
      two less-entangled states with unknown parameters to distill the maximal
      hyperentanglement. The procrustean concentration is realized by two parity check
      measurements in both the two degrees of freedom. Nondestructive quantum
      nondemolition detectors based on cross-Kerr nonlinearity are used to implement
      the parity check, which makes the unsuccessful instances reusable in the next
      concentration round. The success probabilities in both schemes can be made to
      approach unity by iteration. Moreover, in both schemes only one of the N parties
      has to perform the parity check measurements. Our schemes are efficient and
      useful for quantum information processing involving hyperentanglement. 

PMID- 25836207
TI  - Portable waveguide display system with a large field of view by integrating
      freeform elements and volume holograms.
AB  - A compact waveguide display system integrating freeform elements and volume
      holograms is presented here for the first time. The use of freeform elements can
      broaden the field of view, which limits the applications of a holographic
      waveguide. An optimized system can achieve a diagonal field of view of 45 degrees
      when the thickness of the waveguide planar is 3mm. Freeform-elements in-coupler
      and the volume holograms out-coupler were designed in detail in our study, and
      the influence of grating configurations on diffraction efficiency was analyzed
      thoroughly. The off-axis aberrations were well compensated by the in-coupler and
      the diffraction efficiency of the optimized waveguide display system could reach
      87.57%. With integrated design, stability and reliability of this monochromatic
      display system were achieved and the alignment of the system was easily
      controlled by the record of the volume holograms, which makes mass production
      possible. 

PMID- 25836209
TI  - Fully programmable and scalable optical switching fabric for petabyte data
      center.
AB  - We present a converged EPS and OCS switching fabric for data center networks
      (DCNs) based on a distributed optical switching architecture leveraging both WDM
      & SDM technologies. The architecture is topology adaptive, well suited to dynamic
      and diverse *-cast traffic patterns. Compared to a typical folded-Clos network,
      the new architecture is more readily scalable to future multi-Petabyte data
      centers with 1000 + racks while providing a higher link bandwidth, reducing
      transceiver count by 50%, and improving cabling efficiency by more than 90%. 

PMID- 25836210
TI  - Coupled cavity terahertz quantum cascade lasers with integrated emission
      monitoring.
AB  - We demonstrate the on-chip generation and detection of terahertz radiation in
      coupled cavity systems using a single semiconductor heterostructure. Multiple
      sections of a terahertz quantum cascade laser structure in a double-metal
      waveguide are optically coupled and operate either as a laser or an integrated
      emission monitor. A detailed analysis of the photon-assisted carrier transport in
      the active region below threshold reveals the detection mechanism for photons
      emitted by the very same structure above threshold. Configurations with a single
      laser cavity and two coupled laser cavities are studied. It is shown that the
      integrated detector can be used for spatial sensing of the light intensity within
      a coupled cavity. 

PMID- 25836211
TI  - Simultaneous multi-parameter measurement using Sagnac loop hybrid interferometer
      based on a highly birefringent photonic crystal fiber with two asymmetric cores.
AB  - We have experimentally investigated the multi-parameter sensing characteristics
      in a novel all-fiber Sagnac loop hybrid interferometer based on a highly
      birefringent photonic crystal fiber with two asymmetric cores. The sensor device
      was based on a combination of two types of in-fiber interferences, the intra-core
      mode Sagnac interference and the inter-core-mode Mach-Zehnder interference due to
      the distinct birefringent properties associated with the asymmetric cores. Fast
      Fourier transform analysis on the transmission spectra of the device exhibited
      six clear peaks in the spatial frequency domain. By examining the phase shift
      responses of two distinct Sagnac and one Mach-Zehnder interference peaks, the
      response matrix that enable simultaneous measurement of torsion, strain, and
      temperature could be obtained. The proposed all-fiber Sagnac loop hybrid
      interferometer has the advantages such as simplicity of the device structure,
      compact device size, and capability for simultaneous sensing of multiple
      parameters. 

PMID- 25836212
TI  - Sub-harmonic periodic pulse train recovery from aperiodic optical pulse sequences
      through dispersion-induced temporal self-imaging.
AB  - Temporal self-imaging effects (TSIs) are observed when a periodic pulse train
      propagates through a first-order dispersive medium. Under specific dispersion
      conditions, either an exact, rate multiplied or rate divided image of the input
      signal is reproduced at the output. TSI possesses an interesting self-restoration
      capability even when acting over an aperiodic train of pulses. In this work, we
      investigate and demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, the capability
      of TSI to produce periodic sub-harmonic (rate-divided) pulse trains from
      aperiodic sequences. We use this inherent property of the TSI to implement a
      novel, simple and reconfigurable sub-harmonic optical clock recovery technique
      from RZ-OOK data signals. The proposed technique features a very simple
      realization, involving only temporal phase modulation and first-order dispersion
      and it allows one to set the repetition rate of the reconstructed clock signal in
      integer fractions (sub-harmonics) of the input bit rate. Proof-of-concept
      experiments are reported to validate the proposed technique and guidelines for
      optimization of the clock-recovery process are also outlined. 

PMID- 25836213
TI  - Flexible, fast, and low-cost production process for polymer based diffractive
      optics.
AB  - The generation of diffractive optical elements often requires time and cost
      consuming production techniques such as photolithography. Especially in research
      and development, small series of diffractive microstructures are needed and
      flexible and cost effective fabrication techniques are desirable to enable the
      fabrication of versatile optical elements on a short time scale. In this work, we
      introduce a novel process chain for fabrication of diffractive optical elements
      in various polymers. It is based on a maskless lithography process step, where a
      computer generated image of the optical element is projected via a digital mirror
      device and a microscope setup onto a silicon wafer coated with photosensitive
      resist. In addition, a stitching process allows us to microstructure a large area
      on the wafer. After development, a soft stamp of the microstructure is made from
      Polydimethylsiloxane, which is used as a mold for the subsequent hot embossing
      process, where the final diffractive optical element is replicated into
      thermoplastic polymer. Experimental results are presented, which demonstrate the
      applicability of the process. 

PMID- 25836214
TI  - High-efficiency BAlGaN/AlN quantum well structures for optoelectronic
      applications in ultraviolet spectral region.
AB  - Light emission characteristics of ultraviolet (UV) B(x)Al(y)Ga(1-x-y)N/AlN
      quantum well (QW) structures were using the multiband effective-mass theory. The
      TE-polarized spontaneous emission is found to be significantly improved owing to
      the decrease in the lattice-mismatch between the well and the substrate with the
      inclusion of boron. However, the spontaneous emission peak begins to decrease
      when the boron composition exceeds a critical value (x = 0.08 for y = 0.2), which
      is mainly due to an increase in the heavy-hole effective mass. In addition, in
      the case of QW structures with higher Al composition (y > 0.5), the light
      emission is shown to decrease with increasing the boron composition because the
      characteristic of the topmost valence subband is changed to the crystal-field
      splitoff hole band. Hence, we expect that B(x)Al(y)Ga(1-x-y)N/AlN QW structures
      with y < 0.5 can be used as a TE-polarized light source with a high efficiency.

PMID- 25836215
TI  - Photophoretic trapping of airborne particles using ultraviolet illumination.
AB  - We demonstrate photophoretic trapping of micron-sized absorbing particles in air
      using pulsed and continuous-wave (CW) ultraviolet laser illumination at
      wavelengths of 351 nm and 244 nm. We compared the particle trapping dynamics in
      two trapping geometries consisting of a hollow optical cone formed by light
      propagating either with or against gravity. This comparison allowed us to isolate
      the influence of the photophoretic force from the radiative pressure and the
      convective forces. We found that the absorbing spherical particles tested
      experienced a positive photophoretic force, whereas the spatially irregular, non
      spherical particles tested experienced a negative photophoretic force. By using
      two trapping geometries, both spherical and non-spherical absorbing particles
      could be trapped and held securely in place. The position of the trapped
      particles exhibited a standard deviation of less than 1 um over 20 seconds.
      Moreover, by operating in the UV and deep-UV where the majority of airborne
      materials are absorptive, the system was able to trap a wide range of particle
      types. Such a general purpose optical trap could enable on-line characterization
      of airborne particles when coupled with interrogation techniques such as Raman
      spectroscopy. 

PMID- 25836216
TI  - Multichannel nonlinear distortion compensation using optical phase conjugation in
      a silicon nanowire.
AB  - We experimentally demonstrate compensation of nonlinear distortion caused by the
      Kerr effect in a 3 * 32-Gbaud quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) wavelength
      division multiplexing (WDM) transmission system. We use optical phase conjugation
      (OPC) produced by four-wave mixing (FWM) in a 7-mm long silicon nanowire. A clear
      improvement in Q-factor is shown after 800-km transmission with high span input
      power when comparing the system with and without the optical phase conjugation
      module. The influence of OSNR degradation introduced by the silicon nanowire is
      analysed by comparing transmission systems of three different lengths. This is
      the first demonstration of nonlinear compensation using a silicon nanowire. 

PMID- 25836217
TI  - Simultaneous dual-wavelength imaging of nonfluorescent tissues with 3D
      subdiffraction photothermal microscopy.
AB  - Multi-wavelength microscopic imaging is essential to visualize a variety of
      nanoscale cellular components with high specificity and high spatial resolution.
      However, previous techniques are based on fluorescence, and thus cannot visualize
      nonfluorescent species, which are much less suffered from photodamage or
      photobleaching and hence are intrinsically useful in wider range of optical
      microscopy. Here, we show that simultaneous multi-wavelength imaging of
      nonfluorescent species can be achieved with the use of a photothermal microscope.
      Dual-wavelength subdiffraction imaging of biological tissues stained with
      hematoxylin and eosin is demonstrated. Three-dimensional label-free imaging of
      mouse melanoma tissue section is also presented to demonstrate the effectiveness
      of the enhanced spatial resolution. Our technique can be implemented using cost
      effective and compact laser diodes and is applicable for various types of both
      fluorescent and nonfluorescent tissues. 

PMID- 25836218
TI  - Wavelength-size hybrid Si-VO(2) waveguide electroabsorption optical switches and
      photodetectors.
AB  - Ultra-compact waveguide electroabsorption optical switches and photodetectors
      with micron- and sub-micron lengths and compatible with silicon (Si) waveguides
      are demonstrated using the insulator-metal phase transition of vanadium dioxide
      (VO(2)). A 1 MUm long hybrid Si-VO(2) device is shown to achieve a high
      extinction ratio of 12 dB and a competitive insertion loss of 5 dB over a broad
      bandwidth of 100 nm near lambda = 1550 nm. The device, operated as a
      photodetector, can measure optical powers less than 1 MUW with a responsivity in
      excess of 10 A/W. With volumes that are about 100 to 1000 times smaller than
      today's active Si photonic components, the hybrid Si-VO(2) devices show the
      feasibility of integrating transition metal oxides on Si photonic platforms for
      nanoscale electro-optic elements.

PMID- 25836219
TI  - Tunable narrow band difference frequency THz wave generation in DAST via dual
      seed PPLN OPG.
AB  - We report a widely tunable narrowband terahertz (THz) source via difference
      frequency generation (DFG). A narrowband THz source uses the output of dual
      seeded periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) optical parametric generators
      (OPG) combined in the nonlinear crystal 4-dimthylamino-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium
      tosylate (DAST). We demonstrate a seamlessly tunable THZ output that tunes from
      1.5 THz to 27 THz with a minimum bandwidth of 3.1 GHz. The effects of dispersive
      phase matching, two-photon absorption, and polarization were examined and
      compared to a power emission model that consisted of the current accepted
      parameters of DAST. 

PMID- 25836220
TI  - Modal analysis in 2D media with variable disorder.
AB  - Modal properties of 2D disordered optical structures have been numerically
      analyzed, in the Mid-IR region, varying the amount of scattering and the disorder
      level. The modal properties study has been carried out through the use of Finite
      Element Method, highlighting the localized regime transition and investigating
      the quality factor. The results have been interpreted in a statistical fashion,
      investigating light diffusion in these structures with the help of Monte Carlo
      Method. An alternative measure of randomness weight has been proposed to support
      the numerical results. 

PMID- 25836221
TI  - Optical nonreciprocity with large bandwidth in asymmetric hybrid slot waveguide
      coupler.
AB  - On-chip broadband optical nonreciprocal transmission based on asymmetric hybrid
      slot waveguide (HSW) coupler is proposed. Filled with flint glass LaSF-010 and
      organic material DDMEBT in slots, respectively, two branches of an asymmetric HSW
      coupler have very distinct nonlinear coefficients, yet very close effective
      indexes. Since asymmetric coupler with low linear mismatch has a large free
      spectral range, the results show that our device has a 10-dB nonreciprocal
      transmission bandwidth (NTB) as large as about 66 nm corresponding to 80-mW
      operating power. The NTB could be even larger when the incident power is raised.
      This indicates over two orders of magnitude enhancement compared to previous on
      chip passive schemes. Owing to the large NTB, the device also functions properly
      for sub-picosecond pulses. Our scheme paves a path toward practical all-optical
      nonreciprocal applications. 

PMID- 25836222
TI  - Angle dependent Fiber Bragg grating inscription in microstructured polymer
      optical fibers.
AB  - We report on an incidence angle influence on inscription of the Fiber Bragg
      Gratings in Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) microstructured polymer optical
      fibers. We have shown experimentally that there is a strong preference of certain
      angles, labeled GK, over the other ones. Angles close to GK showed fast start of
      inscription, rapid inscription and stronger gratings. We have also shown that
      gratings can be obtained at almost any angle but their quality will be lower if
      they are not around GK angle. Our experimental results verify earlier numerical
      and experimental predictions of Marshall et al. 

PMID- 25836223
TI  - Second-order rogue wave breathers in the nonlinear Schrodinger equation with
      quadratic potential modulated by a spatially-varying diffraction coefficient.
AB  - Nonlinear Schrodinger equation with simple quadratic potential modulated by a
      spatially-varying diffraction coefficient is investigated theoretically. Second
      order rogue wave breather solutions of the model are constructed by using the
      similarity transformation. A modal quantum number is introduced, useful for
      classifying and controlling the solutions. From the solutions obtained, the
      behavior of second order Kuznetsov-Ma breathers (KMBs), Akhmediev breathers
      (ABs), and Peregrine solitons is analyzed in particular, by selecting different
      modulation frequencies and quantum modal parameter. We show how to generate
      interesting second order breathers and related hybrid rogue waves. The emergence
      of true rogue waves - single giant waves that are generated in the interaction of
      KMBs, ABs, and Peregrine solitons - is explicitly displayed in our analytical
      solutions. 

PMID- 25836224
TI  - Optical interconnects: recent advances and future challenges.
AB  - This focus issue is a collection of 17 invited papers showcasing the recent
      advances and the future challenges of optical interconnect technology. These
      papers represent multiple key areas that include the enabling devices and
      components, advances in the system and sub-system technologies as well as
      networking and its applications. 

PMID- 25836225
TI  - On the scalability of ring fiber designs for OAM multiplexing.
AB  - The promise of the infinite-dimensionality of orbital angular momentum (OAM) and
      its application to free-space and fiber communications has attracted immense
      attention in recent years. In order to facilitate OAM-guidance, novel fibers have
      been proposed and developed, including a class of so-called ring-fibers. In these
      fibers, the wave-guiding region is a high-index annulus instead of a conventional
      circular core, which for reasons related to polarization-dependent differential
      phase shifts for light at waveguide boundaries, leads to enhanced stability for
      OAM modes. We review the theory and implementation of this nascent class of
      waveguides, and discuss the opportunities and limitations they present for OAM
      scalability. 

PMID- 25836226
TI  - Contradiction within wave optics and its solution within a particle picture.
AB  - It is shown that the condition provided by paraxial wave optics for the resonance
      frequencies of the eigenmodes of an optical resonator leads to a contradiction,
      if the resonator is divided into subcavities. Moreover, it is shown that the
      results obtained in this way imply a violation of energy conservation. Since for
      nearly plane waves, paraxial wave optics becomes exact within wave optics, this
      contradiction also concerns wave optics. A solution for this problem is proposed
      within a particle picture as presented recently by the author. It is based on a
      consideration of the change of momentum of a photon bouncing between two
      equiphase surfaces with vanishing distance. This leads to a transverse force
      exerted on the photon. Assigning a relativistic mass to the photon leads to a
      Schrodinger equation describing a transverse motion of the photon. In this way
      the transverse modes of an optical resonator can be understood as the quantum
      mechanical eigenfunctions of a single photon. 

PMID- 25836227
TI  - High-Q resonant cavities for terahertz quantum cascade lasers.
AB  - We report on the realization and characterization of two different designs for
      resonant THz cavities, based on wire-grid polarizers as input/output couplers,
      and injected by a continuous-wave quantum cascade laser (QCL) emitting at 2.55
      THz. A comparison between the measured resonators parameters and the expected
      theoretical values is reported. With achieved quality factor Q ~ 2.5 * 10(5),
      these cavities show resonant peaks as narrow as few MHz, comparable with the
      typical Doppler linewidth of THz molecular transitions and slightly broader than
      the free-running QCL emission spectrum. The effects of the optical feedback from
      one cavity to the QCL are examined by using the other cavity as a frequency
      reference.

PMID- 25836228
TI  - Optofluidic tunable manipulation of microparticles by integrating graded-index
      fiber taper with a microcavity.
AB  - We propose and demonstrate optofluidic tunable manipulation of polystyrene
      microparticles based on the combination of a graded-index fiber (GIF) taper and a
      microcavity. The tunability on the manipulation length is experimentally explored
      by changing the balance between the optical force and the microfluidic flow
      force, as well as by tuning the focus of light emitting from the GIF taper via
      adjusting the length of an air microcavity. By optimizing the geometric shape of
      the GIF taper, as well as the flow rate and laser power, a manipulation length of
      177 MUm is achieved, more than 4 times longer than the state-of-the-art optical
      fiber tweezers. This method has advantages of high flexibility, ease of
      fabrication and use, integration with microfluidics and has the potential for
      optofluidic sensing applications. 

PMID- 25836229
TI  - Ultra-stable and versatile widefield cryo-fluorescence microscope for single
      molecule localization with sub-nanometer accuracy.
AB  - We developed a stand-alone cryostat with optical access to the sample which can
      be adapted to any epi-fluorescence microscope for single-molecule fluorescence
      spectroscopy and imaging. The cryostat cools the sample to a cryogenic
      temperature of 89 K, and allows for imaging single molecules using an air
      objective with a numerical aperture of 0.7. An important property of this system
      is its excellent thermal and mechanical stability, enabling long-time
      observations of samples over several hours with negligible drift. Using this
      system, we performed photo-bleaching studies of Atto647N dye molecules, and find
      an improvement of the photostability of these molecules by more than two orders
      of magnitude. The resulting increased photon numbers of several millions allow
      for single-molecule localization accuracy of sub-nanometer. 

PMID- 25836230
TI  - All-optical 1st- and 2nd-order differential equation solvers with large tuning
      ranges using Fabry-Perot semiconductor optical amplifiers.
AB  - We experimentally demonstrate an all-optical temporal computation scheme for
      solving 1st- and 2nd-order linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with
      tunable constant coefficients by using Fabry-Perot semiconductor optical
      amplifiers (FP-SOAs). By changing the injection currents of FP-SOAs, the constant
      coefficients of the differential equations are practically tuned. A quite large
      constant coefficient tunable range from 0.0026/ps to 0.085/ps is achieved for the
      1st-order differential equation. Moreover, the constant coefficient p of the 2nd
      order ODE solver can be continuously tuned from 0.0216/ps to 0.158/ps,
      correspondingly with the constant coefficient q varying from 0.0000494/ps(2) to
      0.006205/ps(2). Additionally, a theoretical model that combining the carrier
      density rate equation of the semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) with the
      transfer function of the Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity is exploited to analyze the
      solving processes. For both 1st- and 2nd-order solvers, excellent agreements
      between the numerical simulations and the experimental results are obtained. The
      FP-SOAs based all-optical differential-equation solvers can be easily integrated
      with other optical components based on InP/InGaAsP materials, such as laser,
      modulator, photodetector and waveguide, which can motivate the realization of the
      complicated optical computing on a single integrated chip.

PMID- 25836231
TI  - Broadband silicon photonic directional coupler using asymmetric-waveguide based
      phase control.
AB  - We design and demonstrate broadband directional couplers that use asymmetric
      waveguide based phase control sections, on the silicon-on-insulator platform.
      Broadband directional couplers with various power splitting ratios, including
      10%/90%, 20%/80%, 30%/70%, 40%/60% and 50%/50%, were realized for both transverse
      electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes. Some of the devices exhitbit
      bandwidths in excess of 100 nm, and all in excess of 75 nm. The footprints of the
      TE mode couplers are 32 MUm *1.3 MUm, or less, and those of the TM mode couplers
      are 13 MUm *1.3 MUm, or less. 

PMID- 25836232
TI  - Simple method for locking birefringent resonators.
AB  - We report on a simple method of locking a laser to a birefringent cavity using
      polarization spectroscopy. The birefringence of the resonator permits the simple
      extraction of an error signal by using one polarization state as a phase
      reference for another state. No modulation of the light or the resonator is
      required, reducing the complexity of the laser locking setup. This method of
      producing an error signal can be used on most birefringent optical resonators,
      even if the details of birefringence and eigenpolarizations are not known. This
      technique is particularly well suited for fiber ring resonators due to the
      inherent birefringence of the fiber and the unknown nature of that birefringence.
      We present an experimental demonstration of this technique using a fiber ring. 

PMID- 25836233
TI  - Near-infrared luminescence of bismuth in fluorine-doped-core silica fibres.
AB  - Photoluminescence spectra and decay kinetics of bismuth inclusions in silica
      optical fibres containing fluorine additive in the core glass are studied in the
      vicinity of a wavelength of 1420 nm at temperatures of 80-900 K under a
      continuous wave (CW) and a pulsed diode laser pump at a wavelength of 808 nm. At
      high fluorine concentration and low temperatures, luminescence decay kinetics
      becomes essentially bi-exponential, typical lifetimes being 720 and 1200 us.
      Hydrogen and deuterium loading at pressures of up to 125 bar leads to a decrease
      of the steady-state luminescence intensity and lifetime. We attribute this to the
      appearance of an energy transfer bridge from bismuth clusters to vibrational
      degrees of freedom of diatomic molecules. It is found that in the presence of
      H(2) or D(2) molecules experiencing random walking in silica, luminescence decay
      kinetics stop following a single exponential function even in fluorine-free
      silica-core fibre, deviation from the single exponent being greater at higher
      temperatures. The induced quenching rate increases with the increase of
      temperature as well and is greater for H(2) molecules. All conditions being
      equal, the equilibrium concentration of hydrogen molecules is greater in heavily
      fluorinated silica. At temperatures below ~250 K, the presence of dissolved
      molecules has no effect, which speaks for the primary importance of having
      rotational degrees of freedom of migrating interstitial diatomic molecules in an
      excited state for effective quenching of bismuth electronic excitations. It is
      found that the influence of dissolved deuterium is weaker than that of hydrogen.
      We attribute this feature to a greater angular momentum of the D(2) molecule and
      correspondingly smaller energy of the molecule's rotational quantum. The results
      of the experiments show that bismuth clusters mainly located in voids of the
      silica network, rather than bismuth point defects, are responsible for near
      infrared luminescence.

PMID- 25836234
TI  - Spatially-resolved Rayleigh scattering for analysis of vector mode propagation in
      few-mode fibers.
AB  - We use high-resolution imaging of Rayleigh scattered light through the side of
      few-mode optical fibers to measure the local spatial structure of propagating
      vector fields. We demonstrate the technique by imaging both pure modes and
      superpositions of modes in the LP01 and LP11 families. Direct imaging not only
      gives high-resolution beat length measurements, but also records the local
      propagation dynamics including those due to perturbations. The imaging setup uses
      polarization discrimination to monitor both the transverse and the longitudinal
      polarization components simultaneously. 

PMID- 25836235
TI  - Energy-saving framework for passive optical networks with ONU sleep/doze mode.
AB  - This paper proposes an energy-saving passive optical network framework (ESPON)
      that aims to incorporate optical network unit (ONU) sleep/doze mode into dynamic
      bandwidth allocation (DBA) algorithms to reduce ONU energy consumption. In the
      ESPON, the optical line terminal (OLT) schedules both downstream (DS) and
      upstream (US) transmissions in the same slot in an online and dynamic fashion
      whereas the ONU enters sleep mode outside the slot. The ONU sleep time is
      maximized based on both DS and US traffic. Moreover, during the slot, the ONU
      might enter doze mode when only its transmitter is idle to further improve energy
      efficiency. The scheduling order of data transmission, control message exchange,
      sleep period, and doze period defines an energy-efficient scheme under the ESPON.
      Three schemes are designed and evaluated in an extensive FPGA-based evaluation.
      Results show that whilst all the schemes significantly save ONU energy for
      different evaluation scenarios, the scheduling order has great impact on their
      performance. In addition, the ESPON allows for a scheduling order that saves ONU
      energy independently of the network reach. 

PMID- 25836236
TI  - Approaching conversion limit with all-dielectric solar cell reflectors.
AB  - Metallic back reflectors has been used for thin-film and wafer-based solar cells
      for very long time. Nonetheless, the metallic mirrors might not be the best
      choices for photovoltaics. In this work, we show that solar cells with all
      dielectric reflectors can surpass the best-configured metal-backed devices.
      Theoretical and experimental results all show that superior large-angle light
      scattering capability can be achieved by the diffuse medium reflectors, and the
      solar cell J-V enhancement is higher for solar cells using all-dielectric
      reflectors. Specifically, the measured diffused scattering efficiency (D.S.E.) of
      a diffuse medium reflector is >0.8 for the light trapping spectral range (600nm
      1000nm), and the measured reflectance of a diffuse medium can be as high as
      silver if the geometry of embedded titanium oxide(TiO(2)) nanoparticles is
      optimized. Moreover, the diffuse medium reflectors have the additional advantage
      of room-temperature processing, low cost, and very high throughput. We believe
      that using all-dielectric solar cell reflectors is a way to approach the
      thermodynamic conversion limit by completely excluding metallic dissipation.

PMID- 25836237
TI  - Color uniformity in spotlights optimized with reflectors and TIR lenses.
AB  - We analyze the color uniformity in the far field of spotlight systems to estimate
      visual perception with a merit function derived from human factor experiments. A
      multi-colored light-emitting diode (LED) light engine with different light mixing
      levels is combined with several reflectors and total internal reflection (TIR)
      lenses. The optimized systems are analyzed at several color uniformity levels
      with regard to the efficiency, peak luminous intensity and dimensions. It is
      shown that these properties cannot all be optimized at the same time.
      Furthermore, excellent color uniformity can be reached by a light mixing layer in
      the light engine or by adding mixing elements to the secondary optics. 

PMID- 25836239
TI  - Vanadium dioxide nanogrid films for high transparency smart architectural window
      applications.
AB  - This study presents a novel approach towards achieving high luminous
      transmittance (T(lum)) for vanadium dioxide (VO(2)) thermochromic nanogrid films
      whilst maintaining the solar modulation ability (DeltaT(sol)). The perforated
      VO(2)-based films employ orderly-patterned nano-holes, which are able to
      favorably transmit visible light dramatically but retain large near-infrared
      modulation, thereby enhancing DeltaT(sol). Numerical optimizations using
      parameter search algorithms have implemented through a series of Finite
      Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulations by varying film thickness, cell
      periodicity, grid dimensions and variations of grid arrangement. The best
      performing results of T(lum) (76.5%) and DeltaT(sol) (14.0%) are comparable, if
      not superior, to the results calculated from nanothermochromism, nanoporosity and
      biomimic nanostructuring. It opens up a new approach for thermochromic smart
      window applications.

PMID- 25836240
TI  - Nanoparticle scattering layer for improving light extraction efficiency of
      organic light emitting diodes.
AB  - Nanoparticle scattering layer based on polymer-metal oxide composite is
      successfully introduced to enhance the light extraction efficiency of organic
      light emitting diodes (OLEDs). We find that the density and the distribution of
      nanoparticles is the key factor to maximize the light extraction efficiency of
      pristine OLEDs by out-coupling the unusable light with the scattering film. In
      our experiment, 71 wt% of Al(2)O(3) mixed with polymer matrix shows the increase
      of light extraction efficiency of 40%. This method is expected to play a critical
      role to create the low-power OLED application such as OLED lightings with simple
      fabrication process and low cost.

PMID- 25836241
TI  - Study on the correlations between color rendering indices and the spectral power
      distributions: comment.
AB  - This is a comment on a recently published paper by Lin at el. [Optics Express
      22(S4), A1029 (2014)]. The original article suffers three fatal defects as
      follow: (1) Some peak distortions are not present in the spectral loss simulation
      due to large wavelength step; (2) The correlations between the modulated
      deviations (MDs) and the color rendering indices (CRIs) are poor at high CRI
      region; (3) How to determine the optimal peak wavelengths of multi-peak LED in
      the guideline for the CRI optimization does not make any statement. There are
      poor correlations between the MDs and CRIs at high CRI region. 

PMID- 25836242
TI  - Study on the correlations between color rendering indices and the spectral power
      distributions: reply to comment.
AB  - We demonstrate the strong theory strength of our original article [Optics Express
      22 (S4), A1029 (2014)] and the statements in the comment letter were wrong
      because it was based on misunderstanding of our article. 

PMID- 25836243
TI  - Liquid-crystal-modulated correlated color temperature tunable light-emitting
      diode with highly accurate regulation.
AB  - A precise correlated color temperature (CCT) tuning method for light-emitting
      diodes (LEDs) has been developed and is demonstrated in this article. By
      combining LEDs and a liquid crystal (LC) cell, a light source with continuous CCT
      variation along a straight track on the chromaticity diagram is achieved.
      Moreover, the manner of CCT variation can be modulated by choosing appropriate
      LEDs and phosphors to yield a variation going from 3800 K to 6100 K with the
      track near the black-body locus. By adapting various developed LC technologies
      for diverse demands, the performance and applications of LEDs can be greatly
      improved. 

PMID- 25836244
TI  - Design and demonstration of high efficiency anti-glare LED luminaires for indoor
      lighting.
AB  - An anti-glare luminaire design is proposed to reduce the effect of glare and the
      multi-shadow while preserving high optical efficiency, high illumination
      uniformity and low unified glare rating (UGR). Comparison to the traditional
      direct light emitting diode (LED) luminaire in optical simulations showed an
      enhancement of the illumination uniformity from 64.9% to 80.0%. The optical
      efficiency was 79.5%, and the UGR value was controlled under 18.8. For the actual
      measurement, the finished product had an illumination uniformity of 77.0%,
      optical efficiency of 76.0%, UGR value of 19.0, and efficacy of 81.4 lm/w.
      Through this design, the lighting performance was greatly enhanced. 

PMID- 25836245
TI  - Photonic crystal enhanced silicon cell based thermophotovoltaic systems.
AB  - We report the design, optimization, and experimental results of large area
      commercial silicon solar cell based thermophotovoltaic (TPV) energy conversion
      systems. Using global non-linear optimization tools, we demonstrate theoretically
      a maximum radiative heat-to-electricity efficiency of 6.4% and a corresponding
      output electrical power density of 0.39 W cm(-2) at temperature T = 1660 K when
      implementing both the optimized two-dimensional (2D) tantalum photonic crystal
      (PhC) selective emitter, and the optimized 1D tantalum pentoxide - silicon
      dioxide PhC cold-side selective filter. In addition, we have developed an
      experimental large area TPV test setup that enables accurate measurement of
      radiative heat-to-electricity efficiency for any emitter-filter-TPV cell
      combination of interest. In fact, the experimental results match extremely well
      with predictions of our numerical models. Our experimental setup achieved a
      maximum output electrical power density of 0.10W cm(-2) and radiative heat-to
      electricity efficiency of 1.18% at T = 1380 K using commercial wafer size back
      contacted silicon solar cells.

PMID- 25836246
TI  - Improvement in light harvesting of dye-sensitized solar cells with antireflective
      and hydrophobic textile PDMS coating by facile soft imprint lithography.
AB  - We demonstrated the improved conversion efficiency (eta) of dye-sensitized solar
      cells (DSSCs) using the textile-patterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)
      antireflection layers prepared by metal-coated textile master molds by a simple
      soft imprint lithography. When light propagates through the textile-patterned
      surface of PDMS (i.e., textile PDMS) laminated on the outer glass surface
      deposited with fluorine-doped tin oxide (i.e., FTO/glass), both the transmitted
      and diffused lights into the photo-anode of DSSCs were simultaneously enhanced.
      Compared to the bare FTO/glass, the textile PDMS increased the total
      transmittance from 82.3 to 85.1% and its diffuse transmittance was significantly
      increased from 5.9 to 78.1% at 550 nm of wavelength. The optical property of
      textile PDMS was also theoretically analyzed by the finite-difference time-domain
      simulation. By laminating the textile PDMS onto the outer glass surface of DSSCs,
      the eta was enhanced from 6.04 to 6.51%. Additionally, the fabricated textile
      PDMS exhibited a hydrophobic surface with water contact angle of ~123.15 degrees
      . 

PMID- 25836247
TI  - Improving LED CCT uniformity using micropatterned films optimized by combining
      ray tracing and FDTD methods.
AB  - Although the light-emitting diode (LED) has revolutionized lighting, the non
      uniformity of its correlated color temperature (CCT) still remains a major
      concern. In this context, to improve the light distribution performance of remote
      phosphor LED lamps, we employ a micropatterned array (MPA) optical film
      fabricated using a low-cost molding process. The parameters of the MPA, including
      different installation configurations, positioning, and diameters, are optimized
      by combining the finite-difference time-domain and ray-tracing methods. Results
      show that the sample with the upward-facing convex-cone MPA film that has a
      diameter of half of that of the remote phosphor glass, and is tightly affixed to
      the inward surface of the remote phosphor glass renders a superior light
      distribution performance. When compared with the case in which no MPA film is
      used, the deviation of the CCT distribution decreases from 1033 K to 223 K, and
      the corresponding output power of the sample is an acceptable level of 85.6%. We
      perform experiments to verify our simulation results, and the two sets of results
      exhibit a close agreement. We believe that our approach can be used to optimize
      MPA films for various lighting applications. 

PMID- 25836249
TI  - Improvement of light quality by DBR structure in white LED.
AB  - This study demonstrates the application of DBR structure into the remote phosphor
      structure to improve the angular correlated color temperature (CCT) deviation in
      white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs). In the experiment, the LED device with DBR
      structure yielded a higher luminous efficiency than a conventional structure. The
      CCT deviation can be improved from 1758K to 280K in a range of -70 to 70 degree
      and the luminous flux increases more than 10% due to the enhancement of the light
      extraction of the blue light. Moreover, the reflectance of the different DBR
      structures is analyzed with different angles to reveal the reasons of such
      improvements. As the result, this LED device with DBR structure shows the great
      potential to use as the next generation lighting source. 

PMID- 25836251
TI  - Nonradiative recombination--critical in choosing quantum well number for
      InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes.
AB  - In this work, InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) possessing varied quantum
      well (QW) numbers were systematically investigated both numerically and
      experimentally. The numerical computations show that with the increased QW
      number, a reduced electron leakage can be achieved and hence the efficiency droop
      can be reduced when a constant Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) nonradiative
      recombination lifetime is used for all the samples. However, the experimental
      results indicate that, though the efficiency droop is suppressed, the LED optical
      power is first improved and then degraded with the increasing QW number. The
      analysis of the measured external quantum efficiency (EQE) with the increasing
      current revealed that an increasingly dominant SRH nonradiative recombination is
      induced with more epitaxial QWs, which can be related to the defect generation
      due to the strain relaxation, especially when the effective thickness exceeds the
      critical thickness. These observations were further supported by the carrier
      lifetime measurement using a pico-second time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL)
      system, which allowed for a revised numerical modeling with the different SRH
      lifetimes considered. This work provides useful guidelines on choosing the
      critical QW number when designing LED structures. 

PMID- 25836252
TI  - Effect of transmittance on luminescence properties of phosphor-in-glass for LED
      packaging.
AB  - The transmittance of phosphor-in-glass (PIG) color converter material was studied
      as a factor affecting the luminescence properties of light emitting diode
      packaging; it is closely related to the residual pores of sintered glass. In this
      study, the correlation between porosity and optical properties of the glass and
      PIG plates was investigated. The transmittance, luminescence properties, and
      porosity were measured by UV-visible spectrometer, integrating sphere and
      scanning electron microscope, respectively. Transmittance of the sintered glass
      plate and the luminous efficacy of the PIG plate both increase with decreased
      porosity, while the light scattering coefficient decreases. Luminescence
      properties such as emission intensity and color coordinates are also influenced
      by transmittance of the PIG plate. 

PMID- 25836253
TI  - Sensitized intense near-infrared downconversion quantum cutting three-photon
      luminescence phenomena of the Tm(3+) ion activator in Tm(3+)Bi(3+):YNbO(4) powder
      phosphor.
AB  - In present study, the intense sensitized three photon near-infrared quantum
      cutting luminescence of Tm(3+) ion activator in Tm(3+)Bi(3+):YNbO(4) powder
      phosphor is reported. It is induced both by [{(1)G(4)->(3)H(4), (3)H(6)->(3)H(5)}
      or {(1)G(4)->(3)H(5), (3)H(6)->(3)H(4)}] and {(3)H(4)->(3)F(4), (3)H(6)->(3)F(4)}
      cross-energy transfer. We found that the 1820.0 nm (3)F(4)->(3)H(6) luminescence
      intensity of Tm(0.08)Bi(0.01)Y(0.91)NbO(4) powder phosphor excited by 302.0 nm is
      151 and 8.38 times larger, compared to Tm(0.005)Y(0.995)NbO(4) excited by 302.0
      and 468.0 nm, in which the quantum cutting takes place between Tm(3+) ions and
      Bi(3+) ion only acts as sensitizer. To the knowledge of the authors, it is the
      first time that the effective Bi(3+) sensitized near-infrared quantum cutting of
      Tm(3+) ion activator has been reported. It can facilitate the probing of the next
      generation environmentally friendly germanium solar cell.

PMID- 25836254
TI  - Modulation of optical transmittance and conductivity by the period, linewidth and
      height of Au square mesh electrodes.
AB  - Metal transparent conductive electrode (TCE) with surface plasmons has been
      extensively studied for light absorption enhancement in solar cells and light
      extraction in Light-Emitting Diodes etc. But its transparent conductive
      properties and surface plasmons are controlled by its micromorphologies and
      microstructures. In this work, photoelectric coupling effects and optical
      transmittance modulations of period, linewidth and height of Au nanowire in
      square mesh electrode were investigated detailedly using a comprehensive finite
      difference time domain calculation stimulation, and then Au square mesh TCEs with
      the 500 nm in period, 70 nm in height and linewidth ranging from 60 to 100 nm
      were fabricated using electron beam lithography. The measured results showed that
      the optical transmittance of the TCEs is about 70% in the 350-700 nm wavelength
      range and over 80% in the 700-1000 nm range, which accord with the theoretical
      simulation results. Optical transmittance is affected by reflection loss,
      localized surface plasmon resonances and surface plasmon polarizations (SPPs)
      absorption loss, concerned about geometry parameters. SPPs dip peak position
      exhibits a blue-shift from 844 to 812 nm and the width of peak increases with
      increasing the linewidth from 60 to 100 nm, The measured surface resistivity of
      the TCEs with the 500 nm in period, 50 nm in height and 50 nm in linewidth is
      about 74.5 Omega/m(2), about two times bigger than that of commercial indium tin
      oxide glass.

PMID- 25836255
TI  - Electrophoretic deposited TiO(2) pigment-based back reflectors for thin film
      solar cells.
AB  - Highly reflective coatings with strong light scattering effect have many
      applications in optical components and optoelectronic devices. This work reports
      titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) pigment-based reflectors that have 2.5 times higher
      broadband diffuse reflection than commercially produced aluminum or silver based
      reflectors and result in efficiency enhancements of a single-junction amorphous
      Si solar cell. Electrophoretic deposition is used to produce pigment-based back
      reflectors with high pigment density, controllable film thickness and site
      specific deposition. Electrical conductivity of the pigment-based back reflectors
      is improved by creating electrical vias throughout the pigment-based back
      reflector by making holes using an electrical discharge / dielectric breakdown
      approach followed by a second electrophoretic deposition of conductive
      nanoparticles into the holes. While previous studies have demonstrated the use of
      pigment-based back reflectors, for example white paint, on glass superstrate
      configured thin film Si solar cells, this work presents a scheme for producing
      pigment-based reflectors on complex shape and flexible substrates. Mechanical
      durability and scalability are demonstrated on a continuous electrophoretic
      deposition roll-to-roll system which has flexible metal substrate capability of 4
      inch wide and 300 feet long.

PMID- 25836256
TI  - Metal electrode-free perovskite solar cells with transfer-laminated conducting
      polymer electrode.
AB  - We report perovskite solar cells with a new device structure that employ highly
      conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (
      PEDOT: PSS) as the top electrode replacing commonly used metal electrodes. The
      PEDOT: PSS top electrode is prepared from its aqueous solution through a transfer
      lamination technique rather than direct spin-coating, which converts the
      CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3) into PbI(2). Perovskite solar cells with the structure of
      glass/FTO/c-TiO(2)/m-TiO(2)/CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3)/spiro-OMeTAD/PEDOT:PSS yield a
      maximum open-circuit voltage (V(OC)) of 1.02 V, and a maximum power conversion
      efficiency (PCE) of 11.29% under AM1.5 100 mW/cm(2) illumination. The whole
      device was fabricated in air without high-vacuum deposition which simplifies the
      processing and lowers the threshold of both scientific research and industrial
      production of perovskite solar cells.

PMID- 25836257
TI  - Plasmonic effects in ultrathin amorphous silicon solar cells: performance
      improvements with Ag nanoparticles on the front, the back, and both.
AB  - Thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells that are free
      standing over a 2x2 mm area have been fabricated with thicknesses of 150 nm, 100
      nm, and 60 nm. Silver nanoparticles (NPs) created on the front and/or back
      surfaces of the solar cells led to improvement in performance measures such as
      current density, overall efficiency, and external quantum efficiency. The effect
      of changing silver nanoparticle size and incident light angle was tested. Finite
      Difference Time-Domain simulations are presented as a way to understand the
      experimental results as well as guide future research efforts. 

PMID- 25836259
TI  - Correction: Accumulation of oxidized LDL in the tendon tissues of C57BL/6 or
      apolipoprotein E knock-out mice that consume a high fat diet: potential impact on
      tendon health.

PMID- 25836258
TI  - Association between ankylosing spondylitis and the miR-146a and miR-499
      polymorphisms.
AB  - miRNAs are small, non-coding RNAs that regulate the expression of multiple target
      genes at the post-transcriptional level. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)
      in miRNA sequences may alter miRNA expression and have been implicated in the
      pathogenesis of multiple forms of arthritis, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
      and osteoarthritis. The present study explored the association between ankylosing
      spondylitis (AS) and two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), miR-146a
      rs2910164G>C and miR-499 rs3746444T>C, in a Han Chinese population. A case
      control study consisting of 102 subjects with AS and 105 healthy controls was
      designed. The two miRNA SNPs were identified by direct sequencing. Subsequently,
      their gene and genotype frequencies were compared with healthy controls. A
      significant difference was observed in the miR-146a rs2910164G>C SNP. The
      frequency of the G allele was markedly higher in the AS patients than in the
      healthy controls (P = 0.005, Pc = 0.01, OR = 1.787), and the frequency of the GG
      genotype was higher in AS patients than in controls (P = 0.014, Pc = 0.042, OR =
      2.516). However, no significant association was found between the miR-499
      rs3746444T>C variant and susceptibility to AS. This is the first study to address
      the association between the miR-146a rs2910164G>C and miR-499 rs3746444T>C
      polymorphisms and AS, and it suggests a potential pathogenic factor for AS.
      Further studies are needed to validate our findings in a larger series, as well
      as in other ethnic backgrounds. 

PMID- 25836260
TI  - Effects of hemin and nitrite on intestinal tumorigenesis in the A/J Min/+ mouse
      model.
AB  - Red and processed meats are considered risk factors for colorectal cancer (CRC);
      however, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. One cause for the potential
      link between CRC and meat is the heme iron in red meat. Two pathways by which
      heme and CRC promotion may be linked have been suggested: fat peroxidation and N
      nitrosation. In the present work we have used the novel A/J Min/+ mouse model to
      test the effects of dietary hemin (a model of red meat), and hemin in combination
      with nitrite (a model of processed meat) on intestinal tumorigenesis. Mice were
      fed a low Ca2+ and vitamin D semi-synthetic diet with added hemin and/or nitrite
      for 8 weeks post weaning, before termination followed by excision and examination
      of the intestinal tract. Our results indicate that dietary hemin decreased the
      number of colonic lesions in the A/J Min/+ mouse. However, our results also
      showed that the opposite occurred in the small intestine, where dietary hemin
      appeared to stimulate tumor growth. Furthermore, we find that nitrite, which did
      not have an effect in the colon, appeared to have a suppressive effect on tumor
      growth in the small intestine. 

PMID- 25836261
TI  - Application of allogeneic bone marrow cells in view of residual alloreactivity:
      sirolimus but not cyclosporine evolves tolerogenic properties.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Application of bone marrow cells (BMC) is a promising strategy for
      tolerance induction, but usually requires strong depletion of the host immune
      system. This study evaluates the ability of immunosuppressants to evolve
      tolerogenic properties of BMC in view of residual alloreactivity. METHODS: The
      rat model used a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II disparate bone
      marrow transplantation (BMT) setting (LEW.1AR1 (RT1auu) -> LEW.1AR2 (RT1aau)).
      Heart grafts (LEW.1WR1 (RT1uua)) were disparate for the complete MHC to
      recipients and for MHC class I to BMC donors. Limited conditioning was performed
      by total body irradiation of 6 Gy. Cyclosporine (CsA) or Sirolimus (Srl) were
      administered for 14 or 28 days. Transplantation of heart grafts (HTx) was
      performed at day 16 or at day 100 after BMT. Chimerism and changes in the T cell
      pool were detected by flow cytometry. RESULTS: Mixed chimeras accepted HTx
      indefinitely, although the composition of the regenerated T cell pool was not
      changed to a basically donor MHC class II haplotype. Non-chimeric animals
      rejected HTx spontaneously. BMC recipients, who received HTx during T cell
      recovery at day 16, accepted HTx only after pre-treatment with Srl, although
      chimerism was lost. CsA pre-treatment led to accelerated HTx rejection as did
      isolated application of BMC. CONCLUSION: Srl evolves tolerogenic properties of
      allogeneic BMC to achieve indefinite acceptance of partly MHC disparate HTx
      despite residual alloreactivity and in particular loss of chimerism.

PMID- 25836262
TI  - A universal mariner transposon system for forward genetic studies in the genus
      Clostridium.
AB  - DNA transposons represent an essential tool in the armoury of the molecular
      microbiologist. We previously developed a catP-based mini transposon system for
      Clostridium difficile in which the expression of the transposase gene was
      dependent on a sigma factor unique to C. difficile, TcdR. Here we have shown that
      the host range of the transposon is easily extended through the rapid chromosomal
      insertion of the tcdR gene at the pyrE locus of the intended clostridial target
      using Allele-Coupled Exchange (ACE). To increase the effectiveness of the system,
      a novel replicon conditional for plasmid maintenance was developed, which no
      longer supports the effective retention of the transposon delivery vehicle in the
      presence of the inducer isopropyl beta-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). As a
      consequence, those thiamphenicol resistant colonies that arise in clostridial
      recipients, following plating on agar medium supplemented with IPTG, are almost
      exclusively due to insertion of the mini transposon into the genome. The system
      has been exemplified in both Clostridium acetobutylicum and Clostridium
      sporogenes, where transposon insertion has been shown to be entirely random.
      Moreover, appropriate screening of both libraries resulted in the isolation of
      auxotrophic mutants as well as cells deficient in spore formation/germination.
      This strategy is capable of being implemented in any Clostridium species. 

PMID- 25836263
TI  - Baclofen for alcohol withdrawal.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The treatment baclofen shows potential for rapidly reducing symptoms
      of severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) in people with alcoholism. Treatment
      with baclofen is easy to manage and rarely produces euphoria or other pleasant
      effects, or craving for the drug. This is an updated version of the original
      Cochrane review published in Issue 2, 2013. OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy
      and safety of baclofen for people with AWS. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the
      Cochrane Drugs and Alcohol Group Specialised Register (searched 13 January 2015),
      the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2015, Issue 1),
      MEDLINE (1966 to January 2015), EMBASE (1980 to January 2015), and CINAHL (1982
      to January 2015). We also searched registers of ongoing trials, including
      ClinicalTrials.gov, the ISRCTN registry, and the European Clinical Trials
      Database. At the same time, we handsearched the references quoted in the
      identified trials, and sought information from researchers, pharmaceutical
      companies, and relevant trial authors about unpublished or uncompleted trials. We
      placed no restrictions on language. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included all
      randomised controlled clinical trials (RCTs) evaluating baclofen versus placebo
      or any other treatment for people with AWS. We excluded uncontrolled, non
      randomised, or quasi-randomised trials. We included both parallel group and cross
      over studies. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently
      assessed references retrieved for possible inclusion. Any disagreements were
      resolved by an independent party. We contacted study authors for additional
      information where needed. We collected adverse effects information from the
      trials. MAIN RESULTS: Two RCTs with a total of 81 participants were eligible
      according to the inclusion criteria. One study suggested that both baclofen and
      diazepam significantly decreased the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of
      Alcohol Scale, Revised (CIWA-Ar) score, without any significant difference
      between the two interventions. The other study showed no significant difference
      in CIWA-Ar score between baclofen and placebo, but a significantly decreased
      dependence on high-dose benzodiazepines with baclofen compared to placebo. Only
      one study reported on the safety of baclofen, without any side effects. AUTHORS'
      CONCLUSIONS: The evidence for recommending baclofen for AWS is insufficient. We
      therefore need more well-designed RCTs to prove its efficacy and safety.

PMID- 25836264
TI  - Comparison of metal concentrations in the organs of two fish species from the
      Zabol Chahnimeh reservoirs, Iran.
AB  - This study was conducted to measure the Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr, Co, Ni, and Fe
      concentrations in organs of Cyprinus carpio and Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, in
      Zabol Chahnimeh reservoirs, Iran. The highest Pb, Cu, Co, Ni, and Fe
      concentrations in both fish species were observed in the gill of C. carpio at
      0.70, 3.7, 0.7, 0.8 and 31.2 ug/g, respectively; while the highest concentrations
      of Cd, Zn, and Cr were found in the gill of H. molitrix at 0.13, 22.5, and 0.5
      ug/g, respectively. The maximum allowable fish consumption rate for an adult
      person (71.5 kg body weight) were 10.64, 0.677, 0.558, 1.17, and 0.92 kg/day
      based on Cd, Cu, Cr, Zn, and Fe levels respectively. Results showed that the Cd,
      Cu, Zn, and Pb (except of Pb in H. molitrix) concentrations in the muscle of both
      fish species are below levels of concern for human consumption. 

PMID- 25836265
TI  - Magnesium Contamination in Soil at a Magnesite Mining Region of Liaoning
      Province, China.
AB  - Magnesite is the world's most important source material for magnesia refractory
      production, and Haicheng City in Liaoning Province, China has been called "the
      magnesium capital of the world." However, magnesite mining in these areas has
      caused serious environmental problems. Field investigations have shown that the
      soil profile of many sites in the mining region are contaminated by magnesium,
      and the magnesium-enriched crusts that have formed on the soil surface have
      affected ecologically important soil functions, particularly reduced water
      penetration rate. Laboratory experiment revealed that anionic polyacrylamide and
      calcium dihydrogen phosphate can be used to improve soil condition, and have
      positive effects on soil function. The findings of this study are of significance
      in the magnetite mining areas, providing clear options for the remediation of
      soils that should be carried out immediately. 

PMID- 25836266
TI  - Distributions and concentrations of thallium in Korean soils determined by single
      and sequential extraction procedures.
AB  - The objectives of this study were to investigate the distribution of thallium in
      soils collected near suspected areas such as cement plants, active and closed
      mines, and smelters and to examine the extraction of thallium in the soils using
      19 single chemical and sequential chemical extraction procedures. Thallium
      concentrations in soils near cement plants were distributed between 1.20 and
      12.91 mg kg(-1). However, soils near mines and smelters contained relatively low
      thallium concentrations ranging from 0.18 to 1.09 mg kg(-1). Thallium
      extractability with 19 single chemical extractants from selected soils near
      cement plants ranged from 0.10% to 8.20% of the total thallium concentration. In
      particular, 1.0 M NH4Cl, 1.0 M (NH4)2SO4, and 1.0 M CH3COONH4 extracted more
      thallium than other extractants. Sequential fractionation results of thallium
      from different soils such as industrially and artificially contaminated soils
      varied with the soil properties, especially soil pH and the duration of thallium
      contamination.

PMID- 25836267
TI  - IgG4-Related Hypertrophic Pachymeningitis at the Falx Cerebrii with Brain
      Parenchymal Invasion: A Case Report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hypertrophic pachymeningitis has been described as a manifestation of
      a number of conditions, like infection and neoplasms such as dural carcinomatosis
      or lymphomas. IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis is a new entity
      identified during the past decade and most reports described pachymeningeal
      involvement only. CASE DESCRIPTION: We present a 58-year-old woman with isolated
      IgG4 hypertrophic pachymeningitis at the falx cerebrii that exhibited cerebral
      parenchymal invasion. She initially presented with left lower limb weakness.
      Magnetic resonance imaging of brain showed a contrast enhancing lesion located at
      the falx and that eroded into the right frontal lobe. Subsequent excisional
      biopsy confirmed the lesion with brain parenchyma invasion. The pathologic
      diagnosis was IgG4-related disease. She had no evidence of extracranial
      involvement. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this is an uncommon condition that may exhibit
      parenchymal invasion. Surgical biopsy would serve to establish a definitive
      diagnosis, and prompt comprehensive management of what is essentially a systemic
      and treatable condition.

PMID- 25836268
TI  - Addressing the Efficacy of Intra-arterial Treatment in Acute Ischemic Strokes.

PMID- 25836269
TI  - Acute Onset of Guillain-Barre Syndrome After Elective Spinal Surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an acute peripheral neuropathy
      caused by an autoimmune response against myelin of peripheral nerves. GBS has
      been reported after surgery, in general, and after spinal surgery, in particular.
      In most cases, GBS developed 1-3 weeks after surgery. METHODS: Report of 2 cases
      of GBS after elective spine surgery that developed in the immediate postoperative
      period. RESULTS: Within 1 and 3 hours after surgery, respectively, both patients
      developed ascending loss of motor and sensory function. They were taken back
      urgently to the operating room for wound exploration to ensure that an epidural
      hematoma had not developed. Cerebrospinal fluid studies and
      electromyography/nerve conduction velocity were then rapidly obtained and were
      compatible with acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy. Therapy
      was initiated with administration of intravenous immunoglobulin and
      plasmapheresis. Both patients made substantial motor recovery during the course
      of 1-2 years but have residual sensory abnormalities. CONCLUSIONS: GBS developing
      acutely after spinal surgery is a rare occurrence but should be considered in the
      differential diagnosis of neurological deterioration after surgery. Rapid
      diagnosis and treatment are essential for recovery of neurological function.

PMID- 25836270
TI  - Turning Point of Acute Stroke Therapy: Mechanical Thrombectomy as a Standard of
      Care.

PMID- 25836271
TI  - Three Randomized Controlled Trials Confirm the Benefits of Mechanical
      Endovascular Therapy in Acute Ischemic Stroke.

PMID- 25836272
TI  - Historical Vignette of Infamous Gunshot Injury to Spine: "An Ailment not to be
      Treated"?
AB  - The increasing prevalence and gloomy socioeconomic consequence of spine injury
      remain a concern in modern medicine. In this article, we highlight the infamous
      gunshot spinal injuries of a few eminent personalities across multiple centuries
      and their sociopolitical impact in context with the evolution of modern medicine.
      The role of available medicine in these victims was not more than a mere watcher,
      thus substantiating an infamous quote from ancient literature that describes
      spine injury as "an ailment not to be treated." 

PMID- 25836273
TI  - Time Is Brain: A Critical Analysis of the EXTEND-IA and ESCAPE Trials.

PMID- 25836274
TI  - We Need to Consult Our Patients with Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy on Strong
      Data.

PMID- 25836275
TI  - Unraveling the genome structure of cyanobacterial podovirus A-4L with long direct
      terminal repeats.
AB  - The freshwater cyanobacterial virus (cyanophage) A-4L, a podovirus, can infect
      the model cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 resulting in a high burst
      size and forming concentric plaques on its lawns. The complete genome sequence of
      A-4L was determined by the combination of high-throughput sequencing, terminal
      transferase-mediated polymerase chain reaction and restriction mapping. It
      contains 41,750 bp with 810 bp direct terminal repeats and 38 potential open
      reading frames. As compared with other cyanobacterial podoviruses in diverse
      ecosystems, the A-4L has the longest terminal repeat and shares similar genome
      organizations with freshwater members. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis based
      on concatenated sequences of eight core proteins indicated that freshwater
      cyanobacterial podoviruses were clustered together and distinct from marine
      counterparts, suggesting a clear divergence in the cyanobacterial podovirus
      lineage between freshwater and marine ecosystems. Our findings uncover the unique
      genome structure of A-4L which contains long direct terminal repeats, and create
      the first model system to address knowledge gaps in understanding cyanobacterial
      virus-host interactions at the molecular level.

PMID- 25836276
TI  - Functional comparison of RNA silencing suppressor between the p5 protein of rice
      grassy stunt virus and the p3 protein of rice stripe virus.
AB  - Rice grassy stunt virus (RGSV) is a member of the genus Tenuivirus, which
      includes rice stripe virus (RSV), as the type species. A viral suppressor of RNA
      silencing (VSR) of RGSV has not been identified, whereas the p3 protein of RSV
      (RSVp3) encoded by the viral-sense (v) strand of RNA3 has been reported to act as
      a VSR. In this study, we examined the VSR function of the p5 protein of RGSV
      (RGSVp5), encoded by vRNA5. Expecting it to correspond to the vRNA3 of RSV, we
      compared the VSR function of RGSVp5 with that of RSVp3. In an Agrobacterium
      mediated transient expression assay using a transgenic line of Nicotiana
      benthamiana that expressed green fluorescent protein and the wild type, RGSVp5
      suppressed sense transgene-mediated post-transcriptional gene silencing (S-PTGS),
      inverted-repeat (IR) transgene-induced PTGS (IR-PTGS), and the systemic spread of
      GFP silencing, as in the case with RSVp3. By contrast, a gel mobility shift assay
      revealed that RGSVp5 did not have any distinct binding activity with 21-, 22-, or
      24-nucleotide small interfering RNA (siRNA) duplexes, whereas RSVp3 binds to all
      three sizes of siRNA duplexes. Furthermore, the transiently expressed p5 protein
      fused with GFP was dispersed mainly in the cytoplasm, whereas the GFP-fused p3
      protein of RSV was localized both in the nucleus and in the cytoplasm. Our
      results suggest that RGSVp5 functions as a VSR but that the suppression mechanism
      of RNA silencing and the subcellular localization of RGSVp5 differ from those of
      the analogous VSR, RSVp3, even in the same genus. 

PMID- 25836277
TI  - Cellular stress responses in hepatitis C virus infection: Mastering a two-edged
      sword.
AB  - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects chronically more than 150 million
      humans worldwide. Chronic HCV infection causes severe liver disease and
      hepatocellular carcinoma. While immune response-mediated events are major players
      in HCV pathogenesis, the impact that viral replication has on cellular
      homeostasis is increasingly recognized as a necessary contributor to pathological
      manifestations of HCV infection such as steatosis, insulin-resistance or liver
      cancer. In this review, we will briefly overview the different cellular stress
      pathways that are induced by hepatitis C virus infection, the response that the
      cell promotes to attempt regaining homeostasis or to induce dysfunctional cell
      death, and how the virus co-opts these response mechanisms to promote both viral
      replication and survival of the infected cell. We will review the role of
      unfolded protein and oxidative stress responses as well as the role of auto- and
      mitophagy in HCV infection. Finally, we will discuss the recent discovery of a
      cellular chaperone involved in stress responses, the sigma-1 receptor, as a
      cellular factor required at the onset of HCV infection and the potential
      molecular events underlying the proviral role of this cellular factor in HCV
      infection. 

PMID- 25836278
TI  - N-H...S and C-H...S hydrogen bonds in two tetraalkylammonium dithiobiurea(1-)
      inclusion compounds.
AB  - Two inclusion compounds of dithiobiurea and tetrapropylammonium and
      tetrabutylammonium are characterized and reported, namely tetrapropylammonium
      carbamothioyl(carbamothioylamino)azanide, C12H28N(+).C2H5N4S2(-), (1), and
      tetrabutylammonium carbamothioyl(carbamothioylamino)azanide, C16H36N(+).C2H5N4S2(
      ), (2). The results show that in (1), the dithiobiurea anion forms a dimer via N
      H...N hydrogen bonds and the dimers are connected into wide hydrogen-bonded
      ribbons. The guest tetrapropylammonium cation changes its character to become the
      host molecule, generating pseudo-channels containing the aforementioned ribbons
      by C-H...S contacts, yielding the three-dimensional network structure. In
      comparison, in (2), the dithiobiurea anions are linked via N-H...S interactions,
      producing one-dimensional chains which pack to generate two-dimensional hydrogen
      bonded layers. These layers accommodate the guest tetrabutylammonium cations,
      resulting in a sandwich-like layer structure with host-guest C-H...S contacts.

PMID- 25836279
TI  - Reversible phase transition of 2-carboxypyridinium perchlorate-pyridinium-2
      carboxylate (1/1).
AB  - The title salt, C6H6NO2(+).ClO4(-).C6H5NO2, was crystallized from an aqueous
      solution of equimolar quantities of perchloric acid and pyridine-2-carboxylic
      acid. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements show that the compound
      undergoes a reversible phase transition at about 261.7 K, with a wide heat
      hysteresis of 21.9 K. The lower-temperature polymorph (denoted LT; T = 223 K)
      crystallizes in the space group C2/c, while the higher-temperature polymorph
      (denoted RT; T = 296 K) crystallizes in the space group P2/c. The relationship
      between these two phases can be described as: 2a(RT) = a(LT); 2b(RT) = b(LT);
      c(RT) = c(LT). The crystal structure contains an infinite zigzag hydrogen-bonded
      chain network of 2-carboxypyridinium cations. The most distinct difference
      between the higher (RT) and lower (LT) temperature phases is the change in
      dihedral angle between the planes of the carboxylic acid group and the pyridinium
      ring, which leads to the formation of different ten-membered hydrogen-bonded
      rings. In the RT phase, both the perchlorate anions and the hydrogen-bonded H
      atom within the carboxylic acid group are disordered. The disordered H atom is
      located on a twofold rotation axis. In the LT phase, the asymmetric unit is
      composed of two 2-carboxypyridinium cations, half an ordered perchlorate anion
      with ideal tetrahedral geometry and a disordered perchlorate anion. The phase
      transition is attributable to the order-disorder transition of half of the
      perchlorate anions.

PMID- 25836280
TI  - Synthesis, crystal structure and magnetic properties of (acetato
      kappa2O,O')bis(5,5'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine-kappa2N,N')nickel(II) perchlorate
      monohydrate.
AB  - The title hydrated ionic complex, [Ni(CH3COO)(C12H12N2)2]ClO4.H2O or [Ni(ac)(5,5'
      dmbpy)2]ClO4.H2O (where 5,5'-dmbpy is 5,5'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine and ac is
      acetate), (1), was isolated as violet crystals from the aqueous ethanolic nickel
      acetate-5,5'-dmbpy-KClO4 system. Within the complex cation, the Ni(II) atom is
      hexacoordinated by two chelating 5,5'-dmbpy ligands and one chelating ac ligand.
      The mean Ni-N and Ni-O bond lengths are 2.0628 (17) and 2.1341 (15) A,
      respectively. The water solvent molecule is disordered over two partially
      occupied positions and links two complex cations and two perchlorate anions into
      hydrogen-bonded centrosymmetric dimers, which are further connected by pi-pi
      interactions. The magnetic properties of (1) at low temperatures are governed by
      the action of single-ion anisotropy, D, which arises from the reduced local
      symmetry of the cis-NiO2N4 chromophore. The fitting of the variable-temperature
      magnetic data (2-300 K) gives g(iso) = 2.134 and D/hc = 3.13 cm(-1).

PMID- 25836281
TI  - A two-dimensional silver(I) coordination polymer constructed from 4
      aminophenylarsonate and triphenylphosphane: poly[[(MU3-4-aminophenylarsonato
      kappa3N:O:O)(triphenylphosphane-kappaP)silver(I)] monohydrate].
AB  - The title compound, {[Ag(C6H7AsNO3)(C18H15P)].H2O}n, has been synthesized from
      the reaction of 4-aminophenylarsonic acid with silver nitrate, in aqueous
      ammonia, with the addition of triphenylphosphane (PPh3). The Ag(I) centre is four
      coordinated by one amino N atom, one PPh3 P atom and two arsonate O atoms,
      forming a severely distorted [AgNPO2] tetrahedron. Two Ag(I)-centred tetrahedra
      are held together to produce a dinuclear [Ag2O2N2P2] unit by sharing an O-O edge.
      4-Aminophenylarsonate (Hapa(-)) adopts a MU3-kappa(3)N:O:O-tridentate
      coordination mode connecting two dinuclear units, resulting in a neutral
      [Ag(Hapa)(PPh3)]n layer lying parallel to the (101) plane. The PPh3 ligands are
      suspended on both sides of the [Ag(Hapa)(PPh3)]n layer, displaying up and down
      orientations. There is an R2(2)(8) hydrogen-bonded dimer involving two arsonate
      groups from two Hapa(-) ligands related by a centre of inversion. Additionally,
      there are hydrogen-bonding interactions involving the solvent water molecules and
      the arsonate and amine groups of the Hapa(-) ligands, and weak pi-pi stacking
      interactions within the [Ag(Hapa)(PPh3)]n layer. These two-dimensional layers are
      further assembled by weak van der Waals interactions to form the final
      architecture.

PMID- 25836282
TI  - Tetrahydroberberine, a pharmacologically active naturally occurring alkaloid.
AB  - Tetrahydroberberine (systematic name: 9,10-dimethoxy-5,8,13,13a-tetrahydro-6H
      benzo[g][1,3]benzodioxolo[5,6-a]quinolizine), C20H21NO4, a widely distributed
      naturally occurring alkaloid, has been crystallized as a racemic mixture about an
      inversion center. A bent conformation of the molecule is observed, with an angle
      of 24.72 (5) degrees  between the arene rings at the two ends of the reduced
      quinolizinium core. The intermolecular hydrogen bonds that play an apparent role
      in crystal packing are 1,3-benzodioxole -CH2...OCH3 and -OCH3...OCH3 interactions
      between neighboring molecules.

PMID- 25836283
TI  - Inversion twinning in a second polymorph of the hydrochloride salt of the
      recreational drug ethylone.
AB  - A second polymorph of the hydrochloride salt of the recreational drug ethylone,
      C12H16NO3(+).Cl(-), is reported [systematic name: (+/-)-2-ethylammonio-1-(3,4
      methylenedioxyphenyl)propane-1-one chloride]. This polymorph, denoted form (A),
      appears in crystallizations performed above 308 K. The originally reported form
      (B) [Wood et al. (2015). Acta Cryst. C71, 32-38] crystallizes preferentially at
      room temperature. The conformations of the cations in the two forms differ by a
      180 degrees  rotation about the C-C bond linking the side chain to the aromatic
      ring. Hydrogen bonding links the cations and anions in both forms into similar
      extended chains in which any one chain contains only a single enantiomer of the
      chiral cation, but the packing of the ions is different. In form (A), the
      aromatic rings of adjacent chains interleave, but pack equally well if
      neighbouring chains contain the same or opposite enantiomorph of the cation. The
      consequence of this is then near perfect inversion twinning in the structure. In
      form (B), neighbouring chains are always inverted, leading to a centrosymmetric
      space group. The question as to why the polymorphs crystallize at slightly
      different temperatures has been examined by density functional theory (DFT) and
      lattice energy calculations and a consideration of packing compactness. The free
      energy (DeltaG) of the crystal lattice for polymorph (A) lies some 52 kJ mol(-1)
      above that of polymorph (B). 

PMID- 25836285
TI  - Three cocrystals and a cocrystal salt of pyrimidin-2-amine and glutaric acid.
AB  - Four new cocrystals of pyrimidin-2-amine and propane-1,3-dicarboxylic (glutaric)
      acid were crystallized from three different solvents (acetonitrile, methanol and
      a 50:50 wt% mixture of methanol and chloroform) and their crystal structures
      determined. Two of the cocrystals, namely pyrimidin-2-amine-glutaric acid (1/1),
      C4H5N3.C6H8O4, (I) and (II), are polymorphs. The glutaric acid molecule in (I)
      has a linear conformation, whereas it is twisted in (II). The pyrimidin-2-amine
      glutaric acid (2/1) cocrystal, 2C4H5N3.C6H8O4, (III), contains glutaric acid in
      its linear form. Cocrystal-salt bis(2-aminopyrimidinium) glutarate-glutaric acid
      (1/2), 2C4H6N3(+).C6H6O4(2-).2C6H8O4, (IV), was crystallized from the same
      solvent as cocrystal (II), supporting the idea of a cocrystal-salt continuum when
      both the neutral and ionic forms are present in appreciable concentrations in
      solution. The diversity of the packing motifs in (I)-(IV) is mainly caused by the
      conformational flexibility of glutaric acid, while the hydrogen-bond patterns
      show certain similarities in all four structures. 

PMID- 25836284
TI  - Unexpected proline coordination in the copper chain polymer [Cu(MU-Cl)2(MU-DL
      proline-kappa2O:O')]1infinity.
AB  - In catena-poly[copper(II)-di-MU-chlorido-MU-proline-kappa(2)O:O'],
      [CuCl2(C5H9NO2)]n, two symmetry-independent metal cations adopt distorted
      octahedral coordination, typical for d(9) Jahn-Teller systems. Each chloride
      bridge is involved in both a short and a very long interaction with a Cu(II)
      centre. The centrosymmetric crystal structure contains homochiral chains of
      opposite handedness which extend along the shortest lattice parameter (i.e. a).
      The O:O'-bridging coordination mode of proline, although a common motif for such
      complexes in general, is remarkable for Cu(II); the vast majority of amino acid
      derivatives of this cation are characterized by N,O-chelation. 

PMID- 25836286
TI  - Evidence for stereoelectronic effects in the N-C-N group of 8,10,12-triaza-1
      azoniatetracyclo[8.3.1.1(8,12).0(2,7)]pentadecane 4-nitrophenolate 4-nitrophenol
      monosolvate from the protonation of aminal (2R,7R)-1,8,10,12
      tetraazatetracyclo[8.3.1.1(8,12).0(2,7)]pentadecane: X-ray and natural bond
      orbital analysis.
AB  - The title molecular salt, C11H21N4(+).C6H4NO3(-).C6H5NO3, (II), crystallizes with
      two independent three-component aggregates in the asymmetric unit. In the
      cations, the cyclohexane rings fused to the cage azaadamantane systems both adopt
      a chair conformation. In the crystal structure, the aggregates are connected by C
      H...O hydrogen bonds, forming a supramolecular unit enclosing an R4(4)(24) ring
      motif. These units are linked via C-H...O and C-H...N hydrogen bonds, forming a
      three-dimensional network. Even hydrogen-bond formation to one of the N atoms is
      enough to induce structural stereoelectronic effects in the normal donor
      >acceptor direction. The C-N bond distances provide structural evidence for a
      strong anomeric effect. The structure also displays O-H...O and N-H...O hydrogen
      bonding. Geometric optimization and natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis of (II)
      were undertaken by utilizing DFT/B3LYP with the 6-31+G(d,p) basis set. NBO second
      order perturbation theory calculations indicate donor-acceptor interactions
      between nitrogen lone pairs and the antibonding orbital of the C-C and C-N bonds
      for the protonated polyamine, in agreement with the occurrence of bond-length and
      bond-angle changes within the aminal cage structure.

PMID- 25836287
TI  - A three-dimensional cadmium(II) coordination polymer with unequal homochiral
      double-stranded concentric helical chains.
AB  - A homochiral helical three-dimensional coordination polymer, poly[[(MU2-acetato
      kappa(3)O,O':O)(hydroxido-kappaO)(MU4-5-nicotinamido-1H-1,2,3,4-tetrazol-1-ido
      kappa(5)N(1),O:N(2):N(4):N(5))(MU3-5-nicotinamido-1H-1,2,3,4-tetrazol-1-ido
      kappa(4)N(1),O:N(2):N(4):N(5))dicadmium(II)] 0.75-hydrate],
      {[Cd2(C7H5N6O)2(CH3COO)(OH)].0.75H2O}n, was synthesized by the reaction of
      cadmium acetate, N-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)isonicotinamide (H-NTIA), ethanol and H2O
      under hydrothermal conditions. The asymmetric unit contains two
      crystallographically independent Cd(II) cations, two deprotonated 5-nicotinamido
      1H-1,2,3,4-tetrazol-1-ide (NTIA(-)) ligands, one acetate anion, one hydroxide
      anion and three independent partially occupied water sites. The two Cd(II)
      cations, with six-coordinated octahedral and seven-coordinated pentagonal
      bipyramidal geometries are located on general sites. The tetrazole group of one
      symmetry-independent NTIA(-) ligand links one of the independent Cd(II) cations
      into 61 helical chains, while the other NTIA(-) ligand links the other
      independent Cd(II) cations into similar but unequal 61 helical chains. These
      chains, with a pitch of 24.937 (5) A, intertwine into a double-stranded helix.
      Each of the double-stranded 61 helices is further connected to six adjacent
      helical chains through an acetate MU2-O atom and the tetrazole group of the NTIA(
      ) ligand into a three-dimensional framework. The helical channel is occupied by
      the isonicotinamide groups of NTIA(-) ligands and two helices are connected to
      each other through the pyridine N and carbonyl O atoms of isonicotinamide groups.
      In addition, N-H...O and O-H...N hydrogen bonds exist in the complex.

PMID- 25836289
TI  - A square-planar hydrated cationic tetrakis(methimazole)gold(III) complex.
AB  - The cationic pseudo-square-planar complex tetrakis(1-methyl-2,3-dihydro-1H
      imidazole-2-thione-kappaS)gold(III) trichloride sesquihydrate,
      [Au(C4H6N2S)4]Cl3.1.5H2O, was isolated as dark-red crystals from the reaction of
      chloroauric acid trihydrate (HAuCl4.3H2O) with four equivalents of methimazole in
      methanol. The Au(III) atoms reside at the corners of the unit cell on an
      inversion center and are bound by the S atoms of four methimazole ligands in a
      planar arrangement, with S-Au-S bond angles of approximately 90 degrees . 

PMID- 25836288
TI  - A monoclinic form of dendocarbin A: a borderline case of one-dimensional
      isostructural polymorphism.
AB  - The title compound, dendocarbin A [systematic name: (1R,5aS,9aS,9bR)-1-hydroxy
      6,6,9a-trimethyldodecahydronaphtho[1,2-c]furan-3-one], C15H22O3, is a
      sesquiterpene lactone isolated from Drimys winteri var chilensis. The monoclinic
      phase described herein displays an identical molecular structure to the
      orthorhombic phase that we reported previously [Paz Robles et al. (2014). Acta
      Cryst. C70, 1007-1010], while varying significantly in chain pitch, and can thus
      be considered as a borderline case of one-dimensional isostructural polymorphism.

PMID- 25836290
TI  - Three isotypic polymeric complexes with rare earth cations, but-2-enoate anions
      and 4,4'-(ethane-1,2-diyl)dipyridine and 4,4'-(ethene-1,2-diyl)dipyridine
      bridging ligands.
AB  - Three isotypic rare earth complexes, catena-poly[[aquabis(but-2-enoato
      kappa(2)O,O')yttrium(III)]-bis(MU-but-2-enoato)-kappa(3)O,O':O;kappa(3)O:O,O'
      [aquabis(but-2-enoato-kappa(2)O,O')yttrium(III)]-MU-4,4'-(ethane-1,2
      diyl)dipyridine-kappa(2)N:N'], [Y2(C4H5O2)6(C12H12N2)(H2O)2], the gadolinium(III)
      analogue, [Gd2(C4H5O2)6(C12H12N2)(H2O)2], and the gadolinium(III) analogue with a
      4,4'-(ethene-1,2-diyl)dipyridine bridging ligand, [Gd2(C4H5O2)6(C12H10N2)(H2O)2],
      are one-dimensional coordination polymers made up of centrosymmetric dinuclear
      [M(but-2-enoato)3(H2O)]2 units (M = rare earth), further bridged by
      centrosymmetric 4,4'-(ethane-1,2-diyl)dipyridine or 4,4'-(ethene-1,2
      diyl)dipyridine spacers into sets of chains parallel to the [201] direction.
      There are intra-chain and inter-chain hydrogen bonds in the structures, the
      former providing cohesion of the linear arrays and the latter promoting the
      formation of broad planes parallel to (010).

PMID- 25836291
TI  - A one-dimensional zinc(II) coordination polymer based on mixed multidentate N-
      and O-donor ligands.
AB  - In the title coordination polymer, catena-poly[[bis[{1-[(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl
      kappaN(3))methyl]-1H-tetrazole}zinc(II)]-bis(MU4-pentane-1,5-dioato
      1:2:1':2'kappa(4)O(1):O(1'):O(5):O(5'))] methanol disolvate],
      {[Zn(C5H6O4)(C9H8N6)].CH3OH}n, each Zn(II) ion is five-coordinated by four O
      atoms from four glutarate ligands and by one N atom from a 1-[(1H-benzimidazol-2
      yl)methyl]-1H-tetrazole (bimt) ligand, leading to a slightly distorted square
      pyramidal coordination environment. Two Zn(II) ions are linked by four bridging
      glutarate carboxylate groups to generate a dinuclear [Zn2(CO2)4] paddle-wheel
      unit. The dinuclear units are further connected into a one-dimensional chain via
      the glutarate ligands. The bimt ligands coordinate to the Zn(II) ions in a
      monodentate mode and are pendant on both sides of the main chain. In the crystal,
      the chains are linked by O-H...O and N-H...O hydrogen bonds into a two
      dimensional layered structure. Adjacent layers are further packed into a three
      dimensional network through van der Waals forces. A thermogravimetric analysis
      was carried out and the photoluminescent behaviour of the polymer was
      investigated.

PMID- 25836292
TI  - One- and two-dimensional polymers from proline and calcium bromide.
AB  - Reactions of calcium bromide with enantiopure and racemic proline in aqueous
      solution lead to two solids in which the zwitterionic amino acid acts as a
      bridging ligand between neighbouring cations. Depending on the chirality of the
      amino acid, topologically very different products are obtained. With racemic
      proline, bromide acts as a simple uncoordinated counter-anion for the cationic
      heterochiral chains in catena-poly[[aquacalcium(II)]-MU-aqua-MU3-DL-proline-MU2
      DL-proline], {[Ca(C5H9NO2)2(H2O)2]Br2}n. In agreement with chemical intuition,
      only carboxylate and aqua O atoms coordinate the alkaline earth cation in a low
      symmetry arrangement. In contrast, L-proline affords the two-dimensional network
      poly[dibromidobis(MU2-L-proline)calcium(II)], [CaBr2(C5H9NO2)2]n, with an
      unexpected CaBr2 unit in a more regular coordination sphere. 

PMID- 25836293
TI  - A new two-dimensional anionic cadmium(II) polymer constructed through thiocyanate
      coordination bridges.
AB  - A new cadmium-thiocyanate complex, poly[4-(dimethylamino)pyridin-1-ium [di-MU
      thiocyanato-kappa(2)N:S;kappa(2)S:N-thiocyanato-kappaN-cadmium(II)]],
      {(C7H11N2)[Cd(NCS)3]}n, was synthesized by the reaction of cadmium thiocyanate
      and 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine hydrochloride in aqueous solution. In the crystal
      structure, each Cd(II) ion is square-pyramidally coordinated by three N and two S
      atoms from five different thiocyanate ligands, four of which are bridging. The
      thiocyanate ligands play different roles in the build up of the structure; one
      role results in the formation of [Cd2(NCS)2] building blocks, while the other
      links the building blocks and cations via N-H...S hydrogen bonds. The N-H...S
      hydrogen bonds and weak pi-pi stacking interactions are involved in the formation
      of both a two-dimensional network structure and the supramolecular network.

PMID- 25836294
TI  - Four oxoindole-linked alpha-alkoxy-beta-amino acid derivatives.
AB  - Four structures of oxoindolyl alpha-hydroxy-beta-amino acid derivatives, namely,
      methyl 2-{3-[(tert-butoxycarbonyl)amino]-1-methyl-2-oxoindolin-3-yl}-2-methoxy-2
      phenylacetate, C24H28N2O6, (I), methyl 2-{3-[(tert-butoxycarbonyl)amino]-1-methyl
      2-oxoindolin-3-yl}-2-ethoxy-2-phenylacetate, C25H30N2O6, (II), methyl 2-{3-[(tert
      butoxycarbonyl)amino]-1-methyl-2-oxoindolin-3-yl}-2-[(4-methoxybenzyl)oxy]-2
      phenylacetate, C31H34N2O7, (III), and methyl 2-[(anthracen-9-yl)methoxy]-2-{3
      [(tert-butoxycarbonyl)amino]-1-methyl-2-oxoindolin-3-yl}-2-phenylacetate,
      C38H36N2O6, (IV), have been determined. The diastereoselectivity of the chemical
      reaction involving alpha-diazoesters and isatin imines in the presence of benzyl
      alcohol is confirmed through the relative configuration of the two stereogenic
      centres. In esters (I) and (III), the amide group adopts an anti conformation,
      whereas the conformation is syn in esters (II) and (IV). Nevertheless, the amide
      group forms intramolecular N-H...O hydrogen bonds with the ester and ether O
      atoms in all four structures. The ether-linked substituents are in the extended
      conformation in all four structures. Ester (II) is dominated by intermolecular N
      H...O hydrogen-bond interactions. In contrast, the remaining three structures are
      sustained by C-H...O hydrogen-bond interactions.

PMID- 25836295
TI  - An investigation of polyhedral deformation in two mixed-metal diarsenates:
      SrZnAs2O7 and BaCuAs2O7.
AB  - Two isostructural diarsenates, SrZnAs2O7 (strontium zinc diarsenate), (I), and
      BaCuAs2O7 [barium copper(II) diarsenate], (II), have been synthesized under
      hydrothermal conditions and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.
      The three-dimensional open-framework crystal structure consists of corner-sharing
      M2O5 (M2 = Zn or Cu) square pyramids and diarsenate (As2O7) groups. Each As2O7
      group shares its five corners with five different M2O5 square pyramids. The
      resulting framework delimits two types of tunnels aligned parallel to the [010]
      and [100] directions where the large divalent nine-coordinated M1 (M1 = Sr or Ba)
      cations are located. The geometrical characteristics of the M1O9, M2O5 and As2O7
      groups of known isostructural diarsenates, adopting the general formula
      M1(II)M2(II)As2O7 (M1(II) = Sr, Ba, Pb; M2(II) = Mg, Co, Cu, Zn) and
      crystallizing in the space group P21/n, are presented and discussed.

PMID- 25836296
TI  - A new phosphorothioic triamide structure: P(S)[NHCH2C6H5]3.
AB  - The structure of N,N',N''-tribenzylphosphorothioic triamide, C21H24N3PS, (I), and
      analysis of the bond-angle sums at the N atoms for this compound, and for 74
      structures with a P(S)[N]3 skeleton and the N atom in a three-coordinate geometry
      found in the Cambridge Structural Database [CSD; Groom & Allen (2014). Angew.
      Chem. Int. Ed. 53, 662-671], are reported. For (I), the bond-angle sum at one of
      the N atoms [359 (1) degrees ] shows a nearly planar configuration, while the
      other two show a nonplanar geometry with bond-angle sums of 342 (1) and 347 (1)
      degrees . The location of the atoms attached to the nonplanar N atoms suggests an
      anti orientation of the corresponding lone electron pairs (LEPs) on these N atoms
      with respect to the P=S group. For 74 structures with a P(S)[N]3 skeleton and
      with the N atom in a three-coordinate geometry, the bond-angle sums at the N
      atoms were found to be in the range 293-360 degrees . Among 307 such three
      coordinate N atoms, 39% (120 N atoms) have bond-angle sums in the range 359-360
      degrees , in accordance with sp(2) hybridization, and 45% (138 N atoms) have bond
      angle sums in the range 352-359 degrees , with hybridization close to sp(2). For
      the orientation of the LEP with respect to the P=S group, the anti orientation
      was found to be a general rule for N atoms, with the corresponding bond-angle
      sums deviating by more than 8 degrees  from the planar value of 360 degrees . In
      the title structure, the S atom takes part in intermolecular (N-H...)(N-H...)S
      hydrogen bonds, connecting the molecules into extended chains parallel to the b
      axis. The co-operation of one N atom in an N-H...S hydrogen bond as an H-atom
      donor, and in an N-H...N hydrogen bond as an acceptor, is a novel feature of the
      crystal structure.

PMID- 25836297
TI  - Identification of mouse T follicular helper cells by flow cytometry.
AB  - T follicular helper (Tfh) cells are a subset of CD4(+) T cells that accumulate in
      the B cell-rich regions of secondary lymphoid organs and provide activation
      signals essential for long-lived humoral immunity. Herein, we describe a flow
      cytometric cell-based approach to identify Tfh cells within the total leukocyte
      population isolated from the spleen, lymph nodes, and Peyer's patches of mice.
      This protocol focuses on markers that have established relevance in Tfh cell
      differentiation and function allowing its use across varied settings of infection
      and immunity. 

PMID- 25836298
TI  - Identification of follicular T helper cells in tissue sections.
AB  - Follicular T helper (Tfh) cells are a critical population of CD4 T helper cells
      that are primarily localized in the germinal centers (GCs) to help B cell
      maturation and antibody production. Tfh cells can be identified in tissue
      sections based on the expression of a panel of classical Tfh surface makers,
      transcription marker(s), and effector-function cytokines, as well as by their
      unique anatomic proximity to other GC cells, including follicular dendritic cells
      (FDC) and GC B cells. Here, we describe an immunofluorescence staining method for
      visualization of GC Tfh cells in frozen spleen tissue sections of the autoimmune
      BXD2 mouse using a confocal imaging strategy. Tfh cells were characterized based
      on the expression of CD4, CXCR5, Bcl6, IL-21, and IL-17. 

PMID- 25836299
TI  - Tracking early T follicular helper cell differentiation in vivo.
AB  - T follicular helper (Tfh) cells provide essential help to B cells for the
      generation of high-affinity antibodies. These mechanisms provide the basis for
      the success of modern vaccines, but dysregulated Tfh cell responses are also
      linked to autoimmune diseases. In addition to their established role in driving
      humoral immunity, Tfh cells are gaining attention for their role in other
      processes of the adaptive immune system. For example, Tfh cells may serve as
      transitional differentiation intermediates during effector and memory T-helper
      cell differentiation and as a reservoir of HIV-infected cells. While B cells are
      required for the full maturation and maintenance of Tfh cell responses, they are
      dispensable for the initial induction of the Tfh cell phenotype, which occurs at
      the priming stage through interaction with dendritic cells. Nevertheless, the
      precise mechanisms of these early events during Tfh cell differentiation remain
      relatively unknown. Here, we describe a method for tracking early Tfh cell
      differentiation by following cell division kinetics and phenotypic changes of
      recently activated antigen-specific CD4(+) T cells in vivo. As an example, we use
      this method to visualize the requirements for T cell-expressed CD28 for the
      differentiation of CXCR5(+)Bcl6(+) Tfh cells. 

PMID- 25836300
TI  - Tracking by flow cytometry antigen-specific follicular helper T cells in wild
      type animals after protein vaccination.
AB  - Flow cytometry is a valuable technology used in immunology to characterize and
      enumerate the different cell subpopulations specific for a nonself-antigen in the
      context of an ongoing immune response. Among them, follicular helper T cells are
      the cognate regulators of B cells in secondary lymphoid tissues. Thus, tracking
      them is of high interest especially in the context of protein vaccination. For
      this purpose, transgenic antigen-receptor mouse models have been largely used. It
      is now clear that transgenic models are not always the best means to study the
      dynamics of the immune response since they can modify the response. In this
      chapter, we describe how to track endogenous antigen-specific follicular helper T
      cells by flow cytometry after protein vaccination in nonmodified wild-type
      animals, which ultimately provides a comprehensive way to enumerate,
      characterize, and isolate these particular cells in vivo. 

PMID- 25836301
TI  - Retroviral vector expression in TCR transgenic CD4+ T cells.
AB  - The regulation of gene expression is key to understand the function of genes of
      interest. To explore the biological functions of genes, transgenic knock-in or
      knockout technologies have served as invaluable tools. While recent advances in
      molecular biology have introduced new techniques (i.e., CRISPR mediated gene
      editing) (Cong et al., Science 339(6121):819-823, 2013; Wang et al., Cell
      153(4):910-918, 2013) for the generation of transgenic mice in a relatively short
      period of time, it can still take a long time to test biological hypotheses from
      scratch to design how to generate knock-in or knockout mice. Here, we describe
      methods to manipulate gene expression in T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic CD4 T
      cells, which allow us to investigate gene functions in the study of
      differentiation pathways of follicular helper T (Tfh) cells. 

PMID- 25836302
TI  - Two-photon microscopy for imaging germinal centers and T follicular helper cells.
AB  - One of the principle features of immune cells is their dynamic nature.
      Lymphocytes circulate in the blood between secondary lymphoid organs and tissues
      in an effort to maximize the likelihood of a rapid and appropriate immune
      response to invading pathogens and tissue damage. Conventional experimental
      techniques such as histology and flow cytometry have greatly increased our
      understanding of immune cells, but in the last decade, two-photon microscopy has
      revolutionized our ability to interrogate the dynamic behavior of immune cells, a
      facet so critical to their function. Two-photon microscopy relies on the
      excitation of fluorophores by simultaneous application of two photons of longer
      wavelength light. This allows a greater depth of imaging with minimal
      photodamage. Thus, living tissues can be imaged, including immune cells in lymph
      nodes. This technique has been used to interrogate the events occurring in a
      germinal center response and the interactions between cells in the germinal
      center, including T follicular helper cells (Tfh), germinal center B cells, and
      follicular dendritic cells (FDC). Herein, a method is described by which the
      interactions between Tfh and B cells within a germinal center in a popliteal
      lymph node can be imaged in a live mouse. 

PMID- 25836303
TI  - In vivo induction of T-follicular helper cells by modulation of regulatory T cell
      function.
AB  - Regulatory T cells, particularly their follicular resident subset, T-follicular
      regulatory cells, play a critical role in the maintenance of immune homeostasis
      and prevention of the expansion of T-follicular helper cells. One of the key
      mechanisms used by these cells is CTLA-4 dependent suppression of inflammation.
      In this chapter, we detail methods to increase the formation of T-follicular
      helper cells following vaccination by either depleting Treg cells, via Foxp3
      linked diphtheria toxin receptor, or blocking CTLA-4 function by the use of
      antibodies. 

PMID- 25836304
TI  - Assessing T follicular helper cell function in vivo: antigen-specific B cell
      response to hapten and affinity maturation.
AB  - The mechanisms controlling affinity maturation have been extensively studied over
      the last 20 years and the central role of T follicular helper cells (Tfh) in this
      process has now been clearly established. In order to analyze how Tfh impact on
      affinity maturation several models have been developed. This chapter aims to
      present three different techniques to evaluate antigen-specific B cell response
      and affinity maturation using the NP system: Flow cytometric single cell sorting
      and sequence analysis, ELISA and ELISpot. They have the advantages of being
      applicable on all types of mice independently of the presence of a transgenic BCR
      and to give multiple readout of the antigen-specific immune response and affinity
      maturation. Although first developed more than 20 years ago, these techniques are
      still considered to be the gold standard for the analysis of affinity maturation
      in vivo. 

PMID- 25836305
TI  - The SW(HEL) system for high-resolution analysis of in vivo antigen-specific T
      dependent B cell responses.
AB  - T cell-dependent B cell responses generate optimal antibodies to combat foreign
      antigens. Naive B cells responding to antigen undergo a complex series of
      differentiation events and cell fate decisions to provide long-lived memory B
      cells and plasma cells. Historically, B cell biologists have been challenged by
      the task of investigating rare antigen-specific B cells in an in vivo setting
      such that their interactions with antigen, regulation and migration may be
      accurately tracked. We have developed the SW(HEL) experimental system capable of
      accurately monitoring B cells that interact with a protein antigen and then
      subsequently undergo isotype switching, somatic hypermutation, and affinity
      maturation within germinal centers (GC) to generate high-affinity antibodies.
      Here we provide a comprehensive description of the procedures involved in
      establishing and using the SW(HEL) system to assess B cell responses to a foreign
      antigen. This system can provide a valuable measure of the functional
      capabilities of T follicular helper cells, whose role is ultimately to support
      and shape long-term humoral immunity.

PMID- 25836306
TI  - Triggering positive selection of germinal center B cells by antigen targeting to
      DEC-205.
AB  - Germinal centers (GCs) are the site of maturation of antibody affinity and are
      thus of key importance to humoral immunity. The study of B-cell dynamics and
      selection within the GC has been hampered by the limited number of techniques
      available to manipulate GC output in vivo. Here, we describe an approach to
      trigger positive selection of B cells in vivo by targeting antigen specifically
      to a subpopulation of GC B cells via the surface lectin DEC-205 and forcing their
      interaction with T follicular helper cells. Targeted GC B cells can then be
      followed over time as they progress through the stages of positive selection. 

PMID- 25836307
TI  - Detection of mouse natural killer T follicular helper (NKT(FH)) cells by flow
      cytometry.
AB  - Natural killer T follicular helper (NKT(FH)) cell, a recently identified B-cell
      helper innate cell population, can be easily missed due to its low frequency and
      the fact that it only forms upon immunization or infection with glycolipid
      containing antigens or microbes. Here, we describe our in-house optimized
      protocol to detect these mouse NKT(FH) cells by multiparameter flow cytometer.

PMID- 25836308
TI  - Identification of Foxp3+ T follicular regulatory (Tfr) cells by flow cytometry.
AB  - Flow cytometry is a technology that allows multiparametric analysis of individual
      cells. As a consequence, it is among the most commonly used tools for the study
      of immune cells. It is useful both for the study of ex vivo cell populations
      isolated from experimental animals or human tissue and for characterizing the
      phenotype of cultured cells. The phenotypic analysis is based on antibodies
      associated to different fluorophores that specifically bind to key molecules.
      Genetically modified mouse strains that express a reporter gene under the control
      of a promoter of interest offer an important alternative for the staining of
      intracellular molecules without the need to permeabilize the cell membrane. In
      this chapter, we describe how Foxp3(+) follicular regulatory T (Tfr) cells, a
      population of regulatory T (Treg) cells related to T follicular helper (Tfh)
      cells and involved in the regulation of germinal centers (GC), can be identified
      by flow cytometry. 

PMID- 25836309
TI  - In vitro assay to sensitively measure T(FR) suppressive capacity and T(FH)
      stimulation of B cell responses.
AB  - T follicular helper (T(FH)) cells stimulate, whereas T follicular regulatory
      (T(FR)) cells inhibit, B cell responses. Despite the potent immunoregulatory
      roles for TFR cells in controlling the magnitude of antibody production, the
      precise mechanisms by which T(FR) cells exert their suppressive effects are not
      yet clear. The lack of specific assays to assess T(FR) cell function separately
      from differentiation has hindered progress in elucidating T(FR) cell function.
      This is due, in part, to difficulty in separating T(FR) cells from phenotypically
      similar, but functionally different, T(FH) cells. Here we describe an in vitro
      approach for sensitively and quantitatively assessing the capacity of T(FR) cells
      to suppress T(FH)-mediated B cell antibody production utilizing both ELISA and
      flow cytometry to measure B cell responses. Beyond assessing T(FR) function, this
      assay system can also be used to sensitively measure T(FH) stimulatory capacity
      as well as B cell function.

PMID- 25836310
TI  - Flow cytometric detection and isolation of human tonsil or lymph node T
      follicular helper cells.
AB  - T-follicular helper (Tfh) cells have emerged as an independent CD4(+) helper T
      cell lineage required for antigen-selected germinal center B-cell survival, class
      switch recombination, and differentiation into long-lived plasma cells. The
      quantification and function of Tfh subsets are currently extensively explored in
      humans with infectious diseases, cancer, or autoimmune disorders. Reliable
      methods to identify and isolate human Tfh cells in patients and healthy donors
      are necessary to perform these studies. Here, we propose a classical and robust
      flow cytometric method to detect and isolate Tfh cells from human secondary
      lymphoid organs based on the expression of CXCR5, PD-1, and CD25 in the CD4(+) T
      cell population. An alternative protocol using anti-ICOS and anti-Bcl-6
      antibodies and requiring fixation and permeabilization steps without a decrease
      of detection of membrane markers is also described. 

PMID- 25836311
TI  - Human Tfh and Tfr cells: identification and assessment of their migration
      potential.
AB  - The ability of follicular T cells to migrate into B-cell follicles is central for
      them to participate in germinal center responses. The chemokine receptor CXCR5 is
      expressed by both Tfh and Tfr cells and is the defining marker for follicular T
      cells. In addition, Tfh and Tfr cells express additional chemokine receptors to
      enable them to interact with B cells and other cell types. CXCR5(+) Tfh and Tfr
      cells are divided into CCR7(+) perifollicular cells and CCR7(-) follicular cells.
      Most of the CXCR5(+) CCR7(-) Tfh cells reside in germinal centers and are called
      GC T cells. The methods to identify human Tfh and Tfr cell subsets based on
      chemokine receptors and other antigens and assess their migration potential are
      provided in this article. 

PMID- 25836312
TI  - Analysis of human blood memory T follicular helper subsets.
AB  - Human blood contains a memory counterpart of T follicular helper (T(FH)) cells.
      Blood T(FH) cells are composed of subsets that differ in phenotype and function.
      Recent studies show that analysis of blood circulating memory T(FH) cells can
      provide clues to understand the mode of actions of vaccines and the pathogenesis
      of human autoimmune diseases. We will describe here a detailed protocol to
      analyze the memory T(FH) subsets in human whole blood samples. We will also
      describe a protocol to assess the helper capacity of blood memory T(FH) subsets.

PMID- 25836313
TI  - Flow cytometric analysis of circulating follicular helper T (Tfh) and follicular
      regulatory T (Tfr) populations in human blood.
AB  - Follicular helper T (Tfh) cells are the helper T-cell subset that localizes in
      germinal centers within secondary lymphoid organs. They support B cells to
      produce high-affinity antibodies and generate B-cell memory. By contrast,
      follicular regulatory T (Tfr) cells localize in germinal centers to suppress B
      cell responses. Coordinately regulating antibody responses, Tfh and Tfr cells
      play a critical role for vaccination, infectious disease control, and the
      development of autoimmune diseases. Although bona fide Tfh and Tfr cells are
      hardly detected in human blood, circulating Tfh and Tfr memory cells in blood can
      be used to investigate their functions in health and disease. We have developed a
      comprehensive flow cytometric analysis to define different circulating Tfh and
      Tfr populations within CXCR5(+) CD4(+) T-cell population in human blood, based on
      numerous cell surface markers including CD25, CD127, CCR7, PD-1, CXCR3, and CCR6.

PMID- 25836314
TI  - Quantifying helper cell function of human TFH cells in vitro.
AB  - Blood-circulating CXCR5(+) CD4(+) T cells and T follicular helper (TFH) cells,
      which participate in germinal center (GC) reactions within secondary lymphoid
      organs, are specialized in providing help to B cells. This chapter describes ways
      to isolate TFH-like cells out of peripheral blood or tonsils and to quantify
      their B cell helper function. This comprises different co-culture approaches of
      TFH-like cells and B cells and the evaluation of their capacity to induce
      immunoglobulin secretion and plasma cell differentiation. In addition, B cell
      helper function of CD4 T cells can be estimated indirectly by quantifying the
      expression of B cell helper cytokines and co-stimulatory and TFH-associated
      molecules. 

PMID- 25836315
TI  - Effect of young sibling visitation on respiratory syncytial virus activity in a
      NICU.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the restriction of young sibling (<13 years)
      visitation in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during the respiratory
      syncytial virus (RSV) season was associated with a reduction in the rate of RSV
      infection among NICU patients. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective chart review of all
      RSV positive infants from the 2001-2010 RSV seasons. The 2001-2006 RSV seasons
      (group 1) contained 639 admissions and the 2007-2010 (group 2, with sibling
      restriction) contained 461 admissions. Groups were compared by using the Fisher's
      Exact Test. RESULTS: There was a reduction of RSV positive infants from 6.7% in
      Group 1 to 1.7% in Group 2 (P<0.0001). There was a reduction of symptomatic
      infants from the number of infants with symptomatic RSV infection from 23/639
      infants with young sibling visitation to 2/461 (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Exclusion
      of young sibling visitors <13 years of age during RSV season was associated with
      a significant reduction in the number of RSV positive infants in the NICU.

PMID- 25836316
TI  - Maternal pregnancy weight gain and cord blood iron status are associated with
      eosinophilia in infancy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Allergic disease is multifactorial in origin. Because iron nutrition
      affects immune responses and maternal pregnancy weight gain impairs fetal iron
      delivery while increasing fetal demands for growth, the study examined maternal
      pregnancy weight gain, newborn iron status and an index of atopic disease, infant
      eosinophilia. STUDY DESIGN: Within a larger prospective study of healthy newborns
      at risk for developing iron deficiency anemia, umbilical cord iron indicators
      were compared to infant eosinophil counts. RESULT: Infants who developed
      eosinophilia exhibited higher cord reticulocyte-enriched zinc protoporphyrin/heme
      ratio, P<0.05 and fewer cord ferritin values in the highest (best) quartile,
      P<0.05. If cord ferritin was in the upper three quartiles, the negative
      predictive value for infant eosinophilia was 90%. High maternal pregnancy weight
      gain predicted infant eosinophil counts, P<0.04, and contributed to cord ferritin
      predicting eosinophilia, P<0.003. CONCLUSION: Poor fetal iron status may be an
      additional risk factor for infant eosinophilia.

PMID- 25836317
TI  - Growth and developmental outcome of infants with in-utero exposure to methadone
      vs buprenorphine.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare early growth and developmental outcome of infants with in
      utero exposure to low-dose methadone (<100 mg per  day), high-dose methadone
      (?100 mg  per day) and buprenorphine. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective review of
      infants with in-utero methadone and buprenorphine exposure who were evaluated at
      the Southcoast Developmental Pediatric clinic in New Bedford, MA, USA was
      completed. Growth data and developmental testing results during infancy were
      compared among the groups. RESULT: Infants in the high-dose methadone group had
      lower head circumference z scores and a lower mean score on the Alberta Infant
      Motor Scale (AIMS). Regression results confirmed an association between methadone
      dose and head circumference z score and AIMS score. CONCLUSION: Exposure to
      maternal methadone dose in excess of 100 mg is associated with a reduction in
      infant head circumference when compared with buprenorphine or lower dose
      methadone, and may have a negative impact on motor skill development during early
      infancy.

PMID- 25836318
TI  - Prospective, controlled study of an intervention to reduce errors in neonatal
      antibiotic orders.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of an interactive computerized order set
      with decision support (ICOS-DS) in preventing medication errors in neonatal late
      onset sepsis (LOS). STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, controlled comparison of error
      rates in antibiotic orders for neonates admitted to the Medical University of
      South Carolina neonatal intensive care unit with suspected LOS (after postnatal
      day of life 3) prior to (n=153) and after (n=146) implementation of the ICOS-DS.
      Antibiotic orders were independently evaluated by two pharmacists for prescribing
      errors, potential errors and omissions. Prescribing errors included>10% overdoses
      or underdoses, inappropriate route, schedule or antibiotic, drug-drug or drug
      disease interactions, and incorrect patient demographics. Potential errors
      included misspelled drugs, leading decimals, trailing zeroes, impractical doses
      and error-prone abbreviations. Multiple errors and omissions in an order were
      counted individually. RESULTS: Overall error rate per order decreased from 1.7 to
      0.8 (P<0.001) and potential error rate from 1.0 to 0.06 (P<0.001). The reduction
      in omission error rate per order from 0.2 to 0.1 was not significant (P=0.17).
      The prescribing error rate per order increased from 0.4 to 0.7 (P=0.03) because
      of the use of incorrect patient weights (P<0.001). Renal dysfunction was
      significantly associated with an increased risk of prescribing errors (odds
      ratio=3.7, P=0.01) which was not significantly different for handwritten versus
      ICOS-DS orders (P=0.15). CONCLUSIONS: The ICOS-DS significantly improved the
      quality of neonatal LOS antibiotic orders although the use of incorrect patient
      weights was increased. In both groups, orders for patients with renal dysfunction
      were at risk for prescribing errors. Further evaluation of interventions to
      promote medication safety for this population is needed.

PMID- 25836319
TI  - Standard methods based on last menstrual period dates misclassify and
      overestimate US preterm births.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare number of US preterm births based on obstetric versus last
      menstrual period (LMP) estimates and evaluate their correlations with clinical
      risk indicators associated with prematurity. STUDY DESIGN: Preterm births were
      assessed from LMP, per standard practice, and, separately, from obstetric
      estimates using the 2012 Natality Public Use File. Percentages of infants with
      neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission and low birth weight (LBW) were
      calculated. RESULT: More births were <37 weeks gestational age (GA) by reported
      LMP (11.4%) versus obstetric estimates (9.5%). Among infants preterm by LMP, but
      born at 37-41 weeks by obstetric estimates, there were 5.7% NICU admission and
      7.7% LBW rates versus 25.2% and 35.4%, respectively, of those preterm by
      obstetric estimates but born 37-41 weeks by LMP assessments. CONCLUSION:
      Obstetric estimates provide the most clinically relevant estimates of US preterm
      births. Assessments calculated from LMP alone may overestimate prematurity
      incidence by ~20%.

PMID- 25836320
TI  - The impact of altitude on birth weight depends on further mother- and infant
      related factors: a population-based study in an altitude range up to 1600 m in
      Austria between 1984 and 2013.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A negative impact of altitude on birth weight has been demonstrated
      for medium to high-altitude countries. STUDY DESIGN: The present study aims to
      show a similar effect for a lower altitude range up to 1600 m in the country of
      Austria and to adjust for several further risk factors related to mother and
      infant. In addition, we analyzed whether the effect of altitude influenced birth
      weight independently or interacted with other factors. For the purpose of this
      study, almost 1.9 million individual birth certificates of Austrian newborns born
      between 1984 and 2013 were analyzed. In a multivariate linear regression model,
      birth weight was associated with altitude of living address and following
      variables: sex, birth length, gestational age, level of education, maternal age,
      year of birth, parity, time to previous birth and marital status. RESULT: Birth
      weight decreased by 150 g/1000 m altitude, demonstrating a clear effect of
      altitude on birth weight also in a low to medium altitude level. Additionally, we
      could show that this effect also depends on other factors, namely gestational
      age, education of the mother, sex, birth length, year of birth and time to
      previous delivery. All variables interacted significantly (p<0.0001) with
      altitude. CONCLUSION: We observed a negative effect of altitude in an altitude
      range up to 1600 m. Furthermore, this effect also depends on other risk factors.
      Therefore, unadjusted estimates as described in many studies may be biased. This
      population-based study describes the effect of low-to-medium altitude on birth
      weight in central Europe over a period of 30 years.

PMID- 25836321
TI  - ADHD and developmental speech/language disorders in late preterm, early term and
      term infants.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We sought to compare the long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of late
      preterm, early term and term infants while controlling for a wide range of
      maternal complications and comorbidities. STUDY DESIGN: Data for the study was
      obtained from the South Carolina Medicaid claims and vital records databases from
      1 January 2000 to 31 December 2003. We included infants weighing between 1500 and
      4500 g, born between 34 0/7 and 41 6/7 weeks, and with no congenital anomalies.
      Outcome measures were based on the presence of ICD-9-CM codes for attention
      deficit hyperactivity disorders and developmental speech or language disorders.
      RESULT: A total of 3270 late preterm (LPIs), 11,527 early term (ETIs) and 24,005
      term infants met the eligibility criteria. Rates for all outcome variables were
      statistically significant and elevated for LPI, but adjusted hazard ratios (AHRs)
      were only significant for the risk of developmental speech and/or language delay
      (LPI: AHR 1.36 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.23 to 1.50; ETI: AHR 1.27 95% CI
      1.17 to 1.37). CONCLUSION: Late preterm and early term deliveries have adverse
      long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes, and these outcomes should be considered
      when determining the timing of delivery.

PMID- 25836322
TI  - Lost in translation? English- and Spanish-speaking women's perceptions of
      gestational weight gain safety, health risks and counseling.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine English- and Spanish-speaking women's perceptions on
      gestational weight gain (GWG) counseling. STUDY DESIGN: We administered a written
      survey to 279 pregnant women regarding GWG counseling and knowledge. We compared
      English- and Spanish-speaking women's responses using X(2)-tests and logistic
      regression analyses. RESULT: Seventy-four (27%) women completed the survey in
      Spanish and 205 (73%) in English. More Spanish compared with English speakers did
      not know if their provider recommended weight gain goals (26% vs 10%, odds ratio
      (OR) 3.2, confidence interval (CI) 1.5 to 6.5); if there are risks to excessive
      GWG for mother (27% vs 11%, OR 3.1, CI 1.5 to 6.4) or infant (38% vs 16%, OR 3.3,
      CI 1.7 to 6.3); or if exercise (15% vs 1%, OR 12.1, CI 3.0 to 69.1) or weight
      loss (35% v 12%, OR 4.0, CI 2.0 to 8.0) were safe during pregnancy. CONCLUSION:
      Significant differences exist between Spanish- and English-speaking women's
      perception of GWG counseling, which may be due to language or cultural barriers.

PMID- 25836323
TI  - Ovarian embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare manifestation of the DICER1
      syndrome.
AB  - Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS), a soft tissue sarcoma, is one of the most
      common pediatric cancers. Certain ERMSs are associated with the DICER1 syndrome,
      a tumor predisposition syndrome caused by germ-line DICER1 mutations.
      Characteristic somatic mutations have also been identified in DICER1-associated
      tumor types. These "hotspot" mutations affect the catalytic activity of the
      DICER1 ribonuclease IIIb domain. Primary ovarian ERMS (oERMS) is extremely rare.
      We present a case of a 6-year-old girl with an oERMS harboring 2 DICER1
      mutations. The girl also exhibited other DICER1 phenotypes: cystic nephroma (CN)
      and multinodular goiter. Somatic investigations of the CN identified a hotspot
      DICER1 mutation different from that in the oERMS. Significantly, the CN presented
      at 12 years of age, which is much older than the previously reported age range of
      susceptibility. This report documents the occurrence of DICER1 mutations in a
      case of oERMS, expanding the spectrum of DICER1-associated tumors. 

PMID- 25836324
TI  - [Molecular pathology for breast cancer: Importance of the gene expression
      profile].
AB  - Gene expression arrays are currently used to guide therapy decisions in breast
      cancer. The indications for gene expression tests are especially important in the
      group of hormone receptor negative, HER2 positive tumors to decide whether
      endocrine therapy alone is sufficient or additional chemotherapy is necessary. In
      this group of luminal tumors conventional clinicopathological parameters are
      often not suitable to select patients who would benefit from an endocrine therapy
      alone. Gene expression tests can provide additional information and, therefore,
      support decision-making and avoid unnecessary chemotherapy. There are a variety
      of test systems available which poses the questions of which tests should be
      selected for which patients and how the test results should be evaluated in a
      direct comparison. This report provides information about three currently
      available gene expression tests (i.e. OncotypeDx(r), Endopredict(r) and
      PAM50/Prosigna(r)), comments on similarities and differences and discusses the
      impact on therapy decisions. The focus of this article is on a discussion of
      clinical studies that have compared the different molecular tests in the same
      clinical study cohort. These investigations allow a first comparative evaluation
      of the various assays for breast cancer.

PMID- 25836325
TI  - Amplified electron transfer at poly-ethylene-glycol (PEG) grafted electrodes.
AB  - "Amplified" electron transfer is observed purely based on electron transfer
      kinetic effects at modified carbon surfaces. An anodic attachment methodology is
      employed to modify the surface of glassy carbon or boron doped diamond electrodes
      with poly-ethylene glycols (PEGs) for polymerisation degrees of n = 4.5 to 9.1
      (PEG200 to PEG400). Voltammetry and impedance data for aqueous Fe(CN)6(3-/4-)
      suggest systematic PEG structure-dependent effects on the standard rate constant
      for heterogeneous electron transfer as a function of PEG deposition conditions
      and average polymer chain length. Tunnel distance coefficients are polymerisation
      degree dependent and estimated for shorter PEG chains, beta = 0.17 A(-1) for
      aqueous Fe(CN)6(3-/4-), consistent with a diffuse water-PEG interface. In
      contrast, electron transfer to 1,1'-ferrocene-dimethanol (at 1 mM concentration)
      appears un-impeded by PEG grafts. Mediated or "amplified" electron transfer to
      Fe(CN)6(3-/4-) based on the 1,1'-ferrocene-dimethanol redox shuttle is observed
      for both oxidation and reduction with estimated bimolecular rate constants for
      homogeneous electron transfer of kforward = 4 * 10(5) mol dm(3) s(-1) and
      kbackward = 1 * 10(5) mol dm(3) s(-1). Digital simulation analysis suggests an
      additional resistive component within the PEG graft double layer. 

PMID- 25836326
TI  - The second best arterial graft to the left coronary system in off-pump bypass
      surgery: a propensity analysis of the radial artery with a proximal anastomosis
      to the ascending aorta versus the right internal thoracic artery.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The second best arterial graft to the left coronary artery (LCA)
      system between the radial artery (RA) and the right internal thoracic artery
      (RITA) has been unknown. Moreover, a composite RA may be inferior to direct aorta
      RA bypass grafting. The aim of the present study is to compare clinical outcomes
      between the RA anastomosed to the aorta and the RITA as a second arterial graft
      to the LCA. METHODS: A total of 805 patients received off-pump coronary arterial
      bypass grafting between 2000 and 2013. Of these patients, 232 received the
      bilateral internal thoracic arteries (BITA) and 152 received left internal
      thoracic arteries (LITA) + RA anastomosed to the aorta, following the inclusion
      criteria. Patients (1) received at least two arterial grafts in the LCA, (2) did
      not have renal insufficiency, and (3) did not receive composite RA grafts. A
      propensity score-matched analysis was performed, resulting in 118 matched pairs.
      RESULTS: There was no difference in operative mortality and stroke rate between
      the matched groups; however, the mean operation time was significantly shorter in
      the LITA + RA and the incidence of mediastinitis was lower in the LITA + RA
      (BITA: 2.5 %, LITA + RA: 0 %, p < 0.01). Kaplan-Meier cumulative mortality and
      freedom from cardiac events were similar. The long-term patency rates of the RITA
      and the RA were similar at 5 years (RITA: 78 %, RA: 84 %, p = 0.55). CONCLUSIONS:
      The RA anastomosed to the aorta appears to have good long-term outcomes, similar
      to the RITA as the second arterial graft. Furthermore, the choice of RA avoids
      sternal complications and shortens the operation time compared to the use of
      BITA.

PMID- 25836327
TI  - Akira Masaoka (1930-2014): a great surgeon and a special musician.

PMID- 25836328
TI  - A modified Bentall procedure in a patient with a displaced left coronary ostium.
AB  - We encountered a 63-year-old female in whom the left coronary ostium was located
      close to the commissure between the right and left coronary cusps, and performed
      aortic root replacement leaving the left coronary artery and surrounding the
      sinus of Valsalva. The sinus of Valsalva, prosthetic valve cuff, and prosthetic
      vessel were sutured together when the region other than the left coronary artery
      containing sinus of Valsalva was sutured. The hemostatic effect of our procedure,
      which is for cases in which preparation of a coronary button is difficult, was
      favorable and antegrade coronary arterial blood flow could be maintained. 

PMID- 25836329
TI  - Pulmonary metastasectomy: outcomes and issues according to the type of surgical
      resection.
AB  - According to a recent report by the Committee for Scientific Affairs of the
      Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery, pulmonary metastasectomy accounted for
      as many as 10.2 % of all entry cases of general thoracic surgery, and its use is
      increasing year by year. Accordingly, many studies have examined the surgical
      procedures used during pulmonary metastasectomy for metastases from primary
      tumors affecting various organs as well as the outcomes of and indications for
      such procedures, but some problems remain. In this article, the following
      questions related to the surgical approach and the type of resection used during
      pulmonary metastasectomy are reviewed: (1) Wedge resection--what is a safe margin
      for preventing local recurrence? (2) What is the clinical significance of node
      sampling/dissection during pulmonary metastasectomy? and (3) When is
      segmentectomy necessary? In addition, we discuss: (4) open thoracotomy vs. video
      assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), (5) repeated metastasectomy for pulmonary
      metastases, (6) the surgical approach for bilateral pulmonary metastasectomy, (7)
      pneumonectomy, and (8) pulmonary metastasectomy combined with resection of the
      neighboring organs.

PMID- 25836330
TI  - TGF-beta suppression of HBV RNA through AID-dependent recruitment of an RNA
      exosome complex.
AB  - Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta inhibits hepatitis B virus (HBV)
      replication although the intracellular effectors involved are not determined.
      Here, we report that reduction of HBV transcripts by TGF-beta is dependent on AID
      expression, which significantly decreases both HBV transcripts and viral DNA,
      resulting in inhibition of viral replication. Immunoprecipitation reveals that
      AID physically associates with viral P protein that binds to specific virus RNA
      sequence called epsilon. AID also binds to an RNA degradation complex (RNA
      exosome proteins), indicating that AID, RNA exosome, and P protein form an RNP
      complex. Suppression of HBV transcripts by TGF-beta was abrogated by depletion of
      either AID or RNA exosome components, suggesting that AID and the RNA exosome
      involve in TGF-beta mediated suppression of HBV RNA. Moreover, AID-mediated HBV
      reduction does not occur when P protein is disrupted or when viral transcription
      is inhibited. These results suggest that induced expression of AID by TGF-beta
      causes recruitment of the RNA exosome to viral RNP complex and the RNA exosome
      degrades HBV RNA in a transcription-coupled manner. 

PMID- 25836331
TI  - High ionic strength depresses muscle contractility by decreasing both force per
      cross-bridge and the number of strongly attached cross-bridges.
AB  - An increase in ionic strength (IS) lowers Ca(2+) activated tension in muscle
      fibres, however, its molecular mechanism is not well understood. In this study,
      we used single rabbit psoas fibres to perform sinusoidal analyses. During Ca(2+)
      activation, the effects of ligands (ATP, Pi, and ADP) at IS ranging 150-300 mM
      were studied on three rate constants to characterize elementary steps of the
      cross-bridge cycle. The IS effects were studied because a change in IS modifies
      the inter- and intra-molecular interactions, hence they may shed light on the
      molecular mechanisms of force generation. Both the ATP binding affinity (K1) and
      the ADP binding affinity (K 0) increased to 2-3x, and the Pi binding affinity
      (K5) decreased to 1/2, when IS was raised from 150 to 300 mM. The effect on
      ATP/ADP can be explained by stereospecific and hydrophobic interaction, and the
      effect on Pi can be explained by the electrostatic interaction with myosin. The
      increase in IS increased cross-bridge detachment steps (k2 and k-4), indicating
      that electrostatic repulsion promotes these steps. However, IS did not affect
      attachment steps (k-2 and k4). Consequently, the equilibrium constant of the
      detachment step (K2) increased by ~100%, and the force generation step (K4)
      decreased by ~30%. These effects together diminished the number of force
      generating cross-bridges by 11%. Force/cross-bridge (T56) decreased by 26%, which
      correlates well with a decrease in the Debye length that limits the ionic
      atmosphere where ionic interactions take place. We conclude that the major effect
      of IS is a decrease in force/cross-bridge, but a decrease in the number of force
      generating cross-bridge also takes place. The stiffness during rigor induction
      did not change with IS, demonstrating that in-series compliance is not much
      affected by IS.

PMID- 25836332
TI  - Why do workaholics experience depression? A study with Chinese University
      teachers.
AB  - This study focuses on the relationships of workaholism to job burnout and
      depression of university teachers. The direct and indirect (via job burnout)
      effects of workaholism on depression were investigated in 412 Chinese university
      teachers. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap method were used. Results
      revealed that workaholism, job burnout, and depression significantly correlated
      with each other. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap test indicated the
      partial mediation role of job burnout on the relationship between workaholism and
      depression. The findings shed some light on how workaholism influenced depression
      and provided valuable evidence for prevention of depression in work.

PMID- 25836333
TI  - Hay fever in childhood, traits Neuroticism and Conscientiousness as independent
      predictors of the occurrence of hay fever in adulthood.
AB  - The study investigated the associations between social and psychological factors
      in childhood and adulthood and the occurrence of adulthood hay fever in a
      longitudinal birth cohort study. A total of 5780 participants with data on
      parental social class, childhood hay fever up to age 7 years, childhood cognitive
      ability at age 11 years, educational qualifications at age 33 years, personality
      traits, occupational levels and adult hay fever (all measured at age 50 years)
      were included in the study. Using logistic regression analyses, results showed
      that childhood hay fever identified by medical doctors and traits Emotional
      Stability and Conscientiousness were significantly and independently associated
      with the occurrence of hay fever in adulthood.

PMID- 25836334
TI  - Opisthorchiasis: an overlooked danger.

PMID- 25836335
TI  - TAT and HA2 facilitate cellular uptake of gold nanoparticles but do not lead to
      cytosolic localisation.
AB  - The methods currently available to deliver functional labels and drugs to the
      cell cytosol are inefficient and this constitutes a major obstacle to cell
      biology (delivery of sensors and imaging probes) and therapy (drug access to the
      cell internal machinery). As cell membranes are impermeable to most molecular
      cargos, viral peptides have been used to bolster their internalisation through
      endocytosis and help their release to the cytosol by bursting the endosomal
      vesicles. However, conflicting results have been reported on the extent of the
      cytosolic delivery achieved. To evaluate their potential, we used gold
      nanoparticles as model cargos and systematically assessed how the
      functionalisation of their surface by either or both of the viral peptides TAT
      and HA2 influenced their intracellular delivery. We evaluated the number of gold
      nanoparticles present in cells after internalisation using photothermal
      microscopy and their subcellular localisation by electron microscopy. While their
      uptake increased when the TAT and/or HA2 viral peptides were present on their
      surface, we did not observe a significant cytosolic delivery of the gold
      nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25836336
TI  - Evaluation of interictal autonomic function during attack and remission periods
      in cluster headaches.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate which part of the autonomic system is mainly involved
      and assess the sensitivity of face sympathetic skin response in cluster headache.
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study sample consisted of 19 drug-free cluster headache
      patients (16 males, three females) and 19 healthy volunteers. Demographic
      features and pain characteristics were thoroughly identified. Dysautonomic
      symptoms were evaluated during attack and remission periods of cluster headache
      patients. Orthostatic hypotension, R-R interval variation and sympathetic skin
      responses obtained from the face and four extremities were evaluated and the
      sensitivity of face sympathetic skin responses was assessed in contrast to
      extremity sympathetic skin responses. RESULTS: All sympathetic skin responses of
      face and extremities could be obtained during attack and remission periods. On
      the symptomatic side, mean latency of face sympathetic skin responses was longer
      compared to the asymptomatic side and controls (p = 0.02, p = 0.004). There were
      no differences in latency or amplitude of extremity sympathetic skin responses
      between symptomatic and asymptomatic sides and controls. No significant
      relationship was determined between sympathetic skin responses, R-R interval
      variation, orthostatic hypotension and cluster headache clinical features.
      CONCLUSION: Sympathetic hypoactivity of the face seems to predominate the
      pathophysiology of cluster headache. Face sympathetic skin responses might be
      more sensitive compared to extremity sympathetic skin response in demonstrating
      dysautonomic symptoms in cluster headache patients.

PMID- 25836337
TI  - The effects of drought and shade on the performance, morphology and physiology of
      Ghanaian tree species.
AB  - In tropical forests light and water availability are the most important factors
      for seedling growth and survival but an increasing frequency of drought may
      affect tree regeneration. One central question is whether drought and shade have
      interactive effects on seedling growth and survival. Here, we present results of
      a greenhouse experiment, in which seedlings of 10 Ghanaian tree species were
      exposed to combinations of strong seasonal drought (continuous watering versus
      withholding water for nine weeks) and shade (5% irradiance versus 20%
      irradiance). We evaluated the effects of drought and shade on seedling survival
      and growth and plasticity of 11 underlying traits related to biomass allocation,
      morphology and physiology. Seedling survival under dry conditions was higher in
      shade than in high light, thus providing support for the "facilitation
      hypothesis" that shade enhances plant performance through improved microclimatic
      conditions, and rejecting the trade-off hypothesis that drought should have
      stronger impact in shade because of reduced root investment. Shaded plants had
      low biomass fraction in roots, in line with the trade-off hypothesis, but they
      compensated for this with a higher specific root length (i.e., root length per
      unit root mass), resulting in a similar root length per plant mass and, hence,
      similar water uptake capacity as high-light plants. The majority (60%) of traits
      studied responded independently to drought and shade, indicating that within
      species shade- and drought tolerances are not in trade-off, but largely
      uncoupled. When individual species responses were analysed, then for most of the
      traits only one to three species showed significant interactive effects between
      drought and shade. The uncoupled response of most species to drought and shade
      should provide ample opportunity for niche differentiation and species
      coexistence under a range of water and light conditions. Overall our greenhouse
      results suggest that, in the absence of root competition shaded tropical forest
      tree seedlings may be able to survive prolonged drought. 

PMID- 25836338
TI  - Direct Aqueous-Phase Synthesis of Sub-10 nm "Luminous Pearls" with Enhanced in
      Vivo Renewable Near-Infrared Persistent Luminescence.
AB  - Near-infrared (NIR) persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs), possessing
      unique NIR PL properties, have recently emerged as important materials for a wide
      variety of applications in chemistry and biology, for which they must endure high
      temperature solid-state annealing reactions and subsequent complicated physical
      post-treatments. Herein, we report on a first direct aqueous-phase chemical
      synthesis route to NIR PLNPs and present their enhanced in vivo renewable NIR PL.
      Our method leads to monodisperse PLNPs as small as ca. 8 nm. Such sub-10 nm
      nanocrystals are readily dispersed and functionalized, and can form stable
      colloidal solutions in aqueous solution and cell culture medium for biological
      applications. Under biotissue-penetrable red-light excitation, we found that such
      nanocrystals possess superior renewable PL photoluminescence in vitro and in vivo
      compared to their larger counterparts currently made by existing methods. We
      believe that this solid-state-reaction-free chemical approach overcomes the
      current key roadblock in regard to PLNP development, and thus will pave the way
      to broad use of these advanced miniature "luminous pearls" in photonics and
      biophotonics. 

PMID- 25836340
TI  - Fano resonances in hexagonal zigzag graphene rings under external magnetic flux.
AB  - We study transport properties of hexagonal zigzag graphene quantum rings
      connected to semi-infinite nanoribbons. Open two-fold symmetric structures
      support localized states that can be traced back to those existing in the
      isolated six-fold symmetric rings. Using a tight-binding Hamiltonian within the
      Green's function formalism, we show that an external magnetic field promotes
      these localized states to Fano resonances with robust signatures in transport.
      Local density of states and current distributions of the resonant states are
      calculated as a function of the magnetic flux intensity. For structures on
      corrugated substrates we analyze the effect of strain by including an out-of
      plane centro-symmetric deformation in the model. We show that small strains shift
      the resonance positions without further modifications, while high strains
      introduce new ones. 

PMID- 25836339
TI  - Low Physical Function in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients Is Independent of
      Muscle Mass and Comorbidity.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: It is unknown whether muscle wasting accounts for impaired physical
      function in adults on maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). DESIGN: Observational
      study. SETTING: Outpatient dialysis units and a fall clinic. SUBJECTS: One
      hundred eight MHD and 122 elderly nonhemodialysis (non-HD) participants. EXPOSURE
      VARIABLE: Mid-thigh muscle area was measured by magnetic resonance imaging. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASURE: Physical function was measured by distance walked in 6 minutes.
      RESULTS: Compared with non-HD elderly participants, MHD participants were younger
      (49.2 +/- 15.8 vs. 75.3 +/- 7.1 years; P < .001) and had higher mid-thigh muscle
      area (106.2 +/- 26.8 vs. 96.1 +/- 21.1 cm2; P = .002). However, the distance
      walked in 6 minutes was lower in MHD participants (322.9 +/- 110.4 vs. 409.0 +/-
      128.3 m; P < .001). In multiple regression analysis adjusted for demographics,
      comorbid conditions, and mid-thigh muscle area, MHD patients walked significantly
      less distance (-117 m; 95% confidence interval: -177 to -56 m; P < .001) than the
      non-HD elderly. CONCLUSIONS: Even when compared with elderly non-HD participants,
      younger MHD participants have poorer physical function that was not explained by
      muscle mass or comorbid conditions. We speculate that the uremic milieu may
      impair muscle function independent of muscle mass. The mechanism of impaired
      muscle function in uremia needs to be established in future studies.

PMID- 25836341
TI  - Effect of archwire cross-section changes on force levels during complex tooth
      alignment with conventional and self-ligating brackets.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Our objective was to investigate the effect of archwire cross
      section increases on the levels of force applied to teeth during complex
      malalignment correction with various archwire-bracket combinations using an
      experimental biomechanical setup. METHODS: The study comprised 3 types of
      orthodontic brackets: (1) conventional ligating brackets (Victory Series [3M
      Unitek, Monrovia, Calif] and Mini-Taurus [Rocky Mountain Orthodontics, Denver,
      Colo]), (2) self-ligating brackets (SmartClip, a passive self-ligating bracket
      [3M Unitek]; and Time3 [Rocky Mountain Orthodontics, Denver, Colo] and SPEED
      [Strite Industries, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada], both active self-ligating
      brackets), and (3) a conventional low-friction bracket (Synergy [Rocky Mountain
      Orthodontics]). All brackets had a nominal 0.022-in slot size. The brackets were
      combined with 0.014-in and 0.016-in titanium memory wires, Therma-Ti archwires
      (American Orthodontics, Sheboygan, Wis). The archwires were tied to the
      conventional brackets with both stainless steel ligatures of size 0.010-in and
      elastomeric rings. A malocclusion of the maxillary central incisor displaced 2 mm
      gingivally (x-axis) and 2 mm labially (z-axis) was simulated. RESULTS: The forces
      recorded when using the 0.014-in archwires ranged from 1.7 +/- 0.1 to 5.0 +/- 0.3
      N in the x-axis direction, and from 1.2 +/- 0.1 to 5.5 +/- 0.3 N in the z-axis
      direction. When we used the 0.016-in archwires, the forces ranged from 2.6 +/-
      0.1 to 6.0 +/- 0.3 N in the x-axis direction, and from 2.0 +/- 0.2 to 6.0 +/- 0.4
      N in the z-axis direction. Overall, the increases ranged from 16.0% to 120.0% in
      the x-axis and from 10.4% to 130.0% in the z-axis directions. CONCLUSIONS:
      Increasing the cross section of the wire increased the force level invariably
      with all brackets. Wires of size 0.014 in produced relatively high force levels,
      and the force level increased with 0.016-in wires.

PMID- 25836342
TI  - Consecutive condylectomy and molar intrusion using temporary anchorage devices as
      an alternative for correcting facial asymmetry with condylar hyperplasia.
AB  - This case report demonstrates the successful treatment of facial asymmetry with
      condylar hyperplasia with limited surgical and orthodontic treatment. A high
      condylectomy was performed to shorten the elongated condyle and to remove its
      active growth site. The maxillary molars on the affected side were then
      orthodontically intruded using temporary anchorage devices to improve the
      occlusal cant and posterior open bite of the unaffected side. This combined
      surgical-orthodontic treatment provided a satisfactory outcome without additional
      orthognathic surgery. 

PMID- 25836343
TI  - Restoration of a vertical alveolar bone defect by orthodontic relocation of a
      mesially impacted mandibular first molar.
AB  - An impacted mandibular first molar tends to cause serious bone defects of the
      adjacent teeth. When choosing between the 2 typical treatment options-extraction
      or orthodontic relocation of the impacted tooth-the decision should be based on
      assessment of the prognosis. A 22-year-old man with severe mesioangulation and
      impaction of the mandibular first molar and a related vertical bone defect on the
      distal side of the second premolar was treated with extraction of the second
      molar and orthodontic relocation of the first molar with a retromolar miniscrew.
      Comprehensive orthodontic treatment involving premolar extraction was conducted.
      Strategic extraction of the molar and adequate orthodontic movement helped to
      restore the bone structure on the affected side. This case report suggests the
      effectiveness of restoration of bone defects by using viable periodontal tissues
      around the impacted tooth for the longevity of the periodontium. 

PMID- 25836344
TI  - Litigation and legislation. Deliberations on duty and deportment.

PMID- 25836345
TI  - The evolution of bonding in orthodontics.
AB  - In the early days of fixed-appliance orthodontic treatment, brackets were welded
      to gold or stainless steel bands. Before treatment, the orthodontist had to
      create enough space around each tooth to accommodate the bands, and then those
      spaces had to be closed at the end of treatment, when the bands were removed.
      This was time-consuming for the orthodontist and uncomfortable for the patient.
      Banded appliances frequently caused gingival trauma when fitted, and
      decalcification could occur under the band. In the mid-1960s, Dr George Newman,
      an orthodontist in Orange, New Jersey, and Professor Fujio Miura, chair of the
      Department of Orthodontics at Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Japan,
      pioneered the bonding of orthodontic brackets to enamel. Many developments have
      occurred in the decades that followed, including many new adhesives,
      sophisticated base designs, new bracket materials, faster or more efficient
      curing methods, self-etching primers, fluoride-releasing agents, and sealants.
      The purpose of this article is to review the history of orthodontic bonding,
      especially the materials used in the bonding process. 

PMID- 25836347
TI  - Effects of sandblasting before orthophosphoric acid etching on lingual enamel: in
      vitro roughness assessment.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In this study, we evaluated changes in lingual enamel roughness due
      to sandblasting with 27-, 50-, and 90-MUm aluminum oxide particles followed by
      37% orthophosphoric acid etching. METHODS: Twenty-four maxillary premolars were
      included in the study. The lingual enamel roughness of 20 teeth was evaluated
      using a laser confocal microscope before and after enamel conditioning. Group 1
      (control) was etched with 37% orthophosphoric acid; groups 2, 3, and 4 were
      sandblasted with 27-, 50-, and 90-MUm aluminum oxide particles, respectively,
      before acid etching. The lingual surfaces of the other 4 teeth were evaluated
      using scanning electron microscopy after they had received one of the
      conditioning methods under study. Paired t tests were used to compare the
      roughness parameters obtained before and after conditioning in each group, and 1
      way analysis of variance was used to compare the surface roughness between
      groups. The significance level was set at 5% for all statistical analyses.
      RESULTS: The 4 conditioning methods significantly increased the roughness of the
      lingual enamel. However, the roughness increases in the groups that were
      sandblasted with 27-, 50-, and 90-MUm aluminum oxide particles before
      orthophosphoric acid etching were statistically greater than was the increase in
      the group conditioned only with orthophosphoric acid. Scanning electron
      microscopy showed different conditioning patterns among specimens that were
      conditioned only with orthophosphoric acid and those sandblasted with aluminum
      oxide before acid etching. CONCLUSIONS: Lingual enamel conditioning with aluminum
      oxide sandblasting before acid etching results in greater roughness and produces
      a conditioning pattern different from that of acid etching alone.

PMID- 25836346
TI  - Surface and interfacial analysis of sandblasted and acid-etched enamel for
      bonding orthodontic adhesives.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The purposes of this study were to characterize enamel surfaces
      treated with sandblasting, acid etching, or sandblasting followed by acid etching
      for bonding of orthodontic adhesives and to evaluate the enamel-adhesive
      interfaces. METHODS: Buccal premolar surfaces were sandblasted, acid etched,
      sandblasted and subsequently acid etched, or left intact. For 2 treatments (acid
      etching and sandblasting plus acid etching), orthodontic brackets were bonded for
      resin infiltration assessment. Surface roughness and enamel loss were evaluated
      by optical profilometry, and surface morphology and elemental composition were
      examined by low-vacuum scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive x-ray
      analysis, whereas interfacial resin infiltration was assessed by high-vacuum
      scanning electron microscopy. Differences were statistically analyzed by 1-way
      analysis of variance and Tukey-Kramer multiple comparison tests or t tests (alpha
      = 0.05). RESULTS: The sandblasted and sandblasted-plus-acid-etched groups showed
      higher surface roughness values than the acid-etched group. Sandblasting plus
      acid etching removed more enamel than did sandblasting or acid etching alone.
      Sandblasting plus acid etching demonstrated a more uniform type I etching
      pattern, without alumina particles implanted in the enamel, unlike sandblasting.
      No difference was found in the extent of resin infiltration between the bonded
      acid-etched and sandblasted-plus-acid-etched groups, although the latter showed
      improved infiltration characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Sandblasting-plus-acid
      etching treatment creates a rough enamel surface, typical of type I etching, with
      the greatest extent of enamel loss, free of alumina interferences, demonstrating
      the same extent of resin infiltration as acid etching, but exhibiting improved
      infiltration quality.

PMID- 25836348
TI  - Effect of methacrylated-based antibacterial monomer on orthodontic adhesive
      system properties.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Antibacterial adhesives were developed to reduce the incidence of
      white spot lesions in orthodontic patients. Compounds that contain triazine are
      known as effective antibacterial agents. The aims of this study were to develop
      an experimental orthodontic adhesive containing 1,3,5-triacryloylhexahydro-1,3,5
      triazine (TAT) and to characterize it. METHODS: TAT was added in 3 concentrations
      (10%, 15%, and 20%) to the experimental orthodontic adhesive. Antibacterial
      activity was assayed by brain-heart infusion broth dilution against Streptococcus
      mutans. The degree of conversion was measured using Fourier transform infrared
      spectroscopy, and solvent degradation was evaluated by Knoop microhardness before
      and after immersion in ethanol for 2 hours. The shear bond strength of metal
      brackets bonded to bovine enamel surface was assessed. RESULTS: All experimental
      adhesives reduced bacterial growth. The addition of 15% and 20% TAT increased the
      degree of conversion compared with the control group (0%) and the 10% group. All
      groups showed a decrease in hardness after ethanol immersion, and there was also
      a decrease in the percentage of variation of Knoop hardness in the experimental
      adhesives containing TAT, whereas the shear bond strength increased. CONCLUSIONS:
      Orthodontic adhesives containing TAT are promising antibacterial materials,
      especially those with 15% and 20% TAT.

PMID- 25836350
TI  - The pleasure of your company...

PMID- 25836349
TI  - Surface deterioration and elemental composition of retrieved orthodontic
      miniscrews.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: This study provides insight into surface and elemental analyses of
      orthodontic retrieved miniscrew implants (MSIs). The sole purpose was to
      investigate the behavior of MSIs while they are in contact with bone and soft
      tissues, fluids, and food in the oral cavity. The information thus gathered may
      help to understand the underlying process of success or failure of MSIs and can
      be helpful in improving their material composition and design. METHODS: The study
      was carried out on 28 titanium-alloy MSIs (all from the same manufacturer) split
      into 3 groups: 18 MSIs were retrieved after successful orthodontic treatment, 5
      were failed MSIs, and 5 were as-received MSIs serving as the controls. All MSIs
      were subjected to energy dispersive x-ray microanalysis to investigate the
      changes in surface elemental composition and to scanning electron microscopy to
      analyze their surface topography. Data thus obtained were subjected to suitable
      statistical analyses. RESULTS: Scanning electron microscope analysis showed
      surface manufacturing imperfections of the as-received MSIs in the form of
      stripes. Their elemental composition was confirmed to the specifications of the
      American Society for Testing of Materials for surgical implants. Retrieved MSIs
      exhibited generalized surface dullness; variable corrosion; craters in the head,
      neck, body, and tip regions; and blunting on tips and threads. Energy dispersive
      x-ray analyses showed deposition of additional elements: calcium had greater
      significance in its proportion in the body region by 0.056 weight percent; iron
      was seen in greater proportion in the failed retrieved MSIs compared with the
      successful miniscrews; cerium was seen in greater proportions in the head region
      by 0.128 weight percent and in the neck region by 0.147 weight percent than in
      the body and tip regions of retrieved MSIs. CONCLUSIONS: Retrieved MSIs showed
      considerable surface and structural alterations such as dullness, corrosion, and
      blunting of threads and tips. Their surfaces showed interactions and adsorption
      of several elements, such as calcium, at the body region. A high content of iron
      was found on the failed MSIs, and cerium was seen in the head and neck regions of
      retrieved MSIs.

PMID- 25836351
TI  - Relapse in FEV1 Decline After Steroid Withdrawal in COPD.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We previously observed that 30 months of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS)
      treatment can attenuate FEV1 decline in COPD, but it is unclear whether
      withdrawal induces a relapse. We hypothesized that FEV1 decline, airway
      hyperresponsiveness (AHR), and quality of life (QOL) deteriorate after ICS
      cessation even after prolonged use. METHODS: One hundred fourteen patients with
      moderate to severe COPD finished randomized 6-month or 30-month treatment with
      fluticasone (500 MUg bid), 30-month treatment with fluticasone and salmeterol
      (500/50 MUg bid), or placebo (first part of the Groningen and Leiden Universities
      Corticosteroids in Obstructive Lung Disease [GLUCOLD] study [GL1]). The
      subsequent 5 years, patients were prospectively followed annually, treated by
      their physician (GLUCOLD follow-up study [GL2]). Postbronchodilator FEV1, AHR,
      and QOL were initially recorded at baseline, at 30 months (GL1), and annually
      during GL2. Analysis was performed by linear mixed-effects models. RESULTS: Among
      101 adherent patients during GL1, 79 patients started and 58 completed GL2.
      Patients using ICSs during GL1, but only using ICSs 0% to 50% of the time during
      GL2 (n = 56 of 79), had significantly accelerated annual FEV1 decline compared
      with GL1 (difference GL2-GL1 [95% CI]: 30-month treatment with fluticasone and
      salmeterol, -68 mL/y [-112 to -25], P = .002; 30-month treatment with
      fluticasone, -73 mL/y [-119 to -26], P = .002), accompanied by deterioration in
      AHR and QOL. CONCLUSIONS: ICS discontinuation after 30 months in COPD can worsen
      lung function decline, AHR, and QOL during 5-year follow-up. This suggests that
      ICS treatment lacks sustained disease-modifying effect after treatment cessation.
      TRIAL REGISTRY: ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT00158847; URL:
      www.clinicaltrials.gov.

PMID- 25836353
TI  - Identifying the spatial and temporal variability of economic opportunity costs to
      promote the adoption of alternative land uses in grain growing agricultural
      areas: an Australian example.
AB  - Grain growers face many future challenges requiring them to adapt their land uses
      to changing economic, social and environmental conditions. To understand where to
      make on ground changes without significant negative financial repercussions, high
      resolution information on income generation over time is required. We propose a
      methodology which utilises high resolution yield data collected with precision
      agriculture (PA) technology, gross margin financial analysis and a temporal
      standardisation technique to highlight the spatial and temporal consistency of
      farm income. On three neighbouring farms in Western Australia, we found non
      linear relationships between income and area. Spatio-temporal analysis on one
      farm over varying seasons found that between 37 and 49% (1082-1433ha) of cropping
      area consistently produced above the selected income thresholds and 43-32% (936
      1257ha) regularly produced below selected thresholds. Around 20% of area showed
      inconsistent temporal variation in income generation. Income estimated from these
      areas represents the income forgone if a land use change is undertaken (the
      economic opportunity cost) and the average costs varied spatially from $190+/
      114/ha to $560+/-108/ha depending on what scenario was chosen. The interaction
      over space and time showed the clustering of areas with similar values at a
      resolution where growers make input decisions. This new evidence suggests that
      farm area could be managed with two strategies: (a) one that maximises grain
      output using PA management in temporally stable areas which generate moderate to
      high income returns and (b) one that proposes land use change in low and
      inconsistent income returning areas where the financial returns from an
      alternative land use may be comparable. The adoption of these strategies can help
      growers meet the demand for agricultural output and offer income diversity and
      adaptive capacity to deal with the future challenges to agricultural production. 

PMID- 25836352
TI  - Transgenic mice and metabolomics for study of hepatic xenobiotic metabolism and
      toxicity.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The study of xenobiotic metabolism and toxicity has been greatly
      aided by the use of genetically modified mouse models and metabolomics. AREAS
      COVERED: Gene knockout mice can be used to determine the enzymes responsible for
      the metabolism of xenobiotics in vivo and to examine the mechanisms of xenobiotic
      induced toxicity. Humanized mouse models are especially important because there
      exist marked species differences in the xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes and the
      nuclear receptors that regulate these enzymes. Humanized mice expressing CYPs and
      nuclear receptors including the pregnane X receptor, the major regulator of
      xenobiotic metabolism and transport were produced. With genetically modified
      mouse models, metabolomics can determine the metabolic map of many xenobiotics
      with a level of sensitivity that allows the discovery of even minor metabolites.
      This technology can be used for determining the mechanism of xenobiotic toxicity
      and to find early biomarkers for toxicity. EXPERT OPINION: Metabolomics and
      genetically modified mouse models can be used for the study of xenobiotic
      metabolism and toxicity by: i) comparison of the metabolomics profiles between
      wild-type and genetically modified mice, and searching for genotype-dependent
      endogenous metabolites; ii) searching for and elucidating metabolites derived
      from xenobiotics; and iii) discovery of specific alterations of endogenous
      compounds induced by xenobiotics-induced toxicity.

PMID- 25836354
TI  - Three-dimensional display of peripheral nerves in the wrist region based on MR
      diffusion tensor imaging and maximum intensity projection post-processing.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To achieve 3-dimensional (3D) display of peripheral nerves in the
      wrist region by using maximum intensity projection (MIP) post-processing methods
      to reconstruct raw images acquired by a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scan, and
      to explore its clinical applications. METHODS: We performed DTI scans in 6 (DTI6)
      and 25 (DTI25) diffusion directions on 20 wrists of 10 healthy young volunteers,
      6 wrists of 5 patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, 6 wrists of 6 patients with
      nerve lacerations, and one patient with neurofibroma. The MIP post-processing
      methods employed 2 types of DTI raw images: (1) single-direction and (2) T2
      weighted trace. The fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient
      (ADC) values of the median and ulnar nerves were measured at multiple testing
      sites. Two radiologists used custom evaluation scales to assess the 3D nerve
      imaging quality independently. RESULTS: In both DTI6 and DTI25, nerves in the
      wrist region could be displayed clearly by the 2 MIP post-processing methods. The
      FA and ADC values were not significantly different between DTI6 and DTI25, except
      for the FA values of the ulnar nerves at the level of pisiform bone (p=0.03). As
      to the imaging quality of each MIP post-processing method, there were no
      significant differences between DTI6 and DTI25 (p>0.05). The imaging quality of
      single-direction MIP post-processing was better than that from T2-weighted traces
      (p<0.05) because of the higher nerve signal intensity. CONCLUSIONS: Three
      dimensional displays of peripheral nerves in the wrist region can be achieved by
      MIP post-processing for single-direction images and T2-weighted trace images for
      both DTI6 and DTI25. The FA and ADC values of the median nerves can be accurately
      measured by using DTI6 data. Adopting 6-direction DTI scan and MIP post
      processing is an efficient method for evaluating peripheral nerves.

PMID- 25836355
TI  - IGF-I in major depression and antidepressant treatment response.
AB  - We analyzed insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in serum of 78 inpatients with
      depression and 92 healthy controls. Patients were selected according to remission
      status after 6 weeks of antidepressant treatment with remission defined by
      Hamilton depression rating scale (HAM-D) 21-item score <10 (39 remitters and 39
      non-remitters). IGF-I was analyzed in patients at admission and after 6 weeks of
      psychopharmacological treatment. IGF-I levels were compared between patients and
      controls and between remitters and non-remitters with general linear model using
      age, gender, and body mass index as covariates. In patients, IGF-I levels were
      significantly higher at admission (p=3.29E-04) and in week 6 (p=0.002) compared
      to controls. Furthermore, non-remitters showed significantly higher IGF-I levels
      at admission (p=0.046) and a trend for higher IGF-I levels in week 6 (p=0.11)
      compared to remitters. In remitters change in IGF-I levels during treatment was
      significantly correlated with change in cortisol levels (p=0.019). A genetic
      association analysis of polymorphisms in 10 genes contributing to the IGF-I
      system (IGF1, IGF1R, IGFBP1 to IGFBP7, and IGFBPL1) in the currently largest
      genetic databases for major depression (Psychiatric Genomics Consortium) revealed
      nominal associations with susceptibility for depression and treatment response,
      although results did not remain significant after multiple testing correction. In
      our study, elevated IGF-I levels were significantly associated with depression
      and impaired treatment response. Based on these findings IGF-I signaling could
      play a role in the pathophysiology of depression and could possibly influence the
      response to antidepressant treatment. 

PMID- 25836356
TI  - Learning from the past and looking to the future: Emerging perspectives for
      improving the treatment of psychiatric disorders.
AB  - Modern neuropsychopharmacology commenced in the 1950s with the serendipitous
      discovery of first-generation antipsychotics and antidepressants which were
      therapeutically effective yet had marked adverse effects. Today, a broader
      palette of safer and better-tolerated agents is available for helping people that
      suffer from schizophrenia, depression and other psychiatric disorders, while
      complementary approaches like psychotherapy also have important roles to play in
      their treatment, both alone and in association with medication. Nonetheless,
      despite considerable efforts, current management is still only partially
      effective, and highly-prevalent psychiatric disorders of the brain continue to
      represent a huge personal and socio-economic burden. The lack of success in
      discovering more effective pharmacotherapy has contributed, together with many
      other factors, to a relative disengagement by pharmaceutical firms from
      neuropsychiatry. Nonetheless, interest remains high, and partnerships are
      proliferating with academic centres which are increasingly integrating drug
      discovery and translational research into their traditional activities. This is,
      then, a time of transition and an opportune moment to thoroughly survey the
      field. Accordingly, the present paper, first, chronicles the discovery and
      development of psychotropic agents, focusing in particular on their mechanisms of
      action and therapeutic utility, and how problems faced were eventually overcome.
      Second, it discusses the lessons learned from past successes and failures, and
      how they are being applied to promote future progress. Third, it comprehensively
      surveys emerging strategies that are (1), improving our understanding of the
      diagnosis and classification of psychiatric disorders; (2), deepening knowledge
      of their underlying risk factors and pathophysiological substrates; (3), refining
      cellular and animal models for discovery and validation of novel therapeutic
      agents; (4), improving the design and outcome of clinical trials; (5), moving
      towards reliable biomarkers of patient subpopulations and medication efficacy and
      (6), promoting collaborative approaches to innovation by uniting key partners
      from the regulators, industry and academia to patients. Notwithstanding the
      challenges ahead, the many changes and ideas articulated herein provide new hope
      and something of a framework for progress towards the improved prevention and
      relief of psychiatric and other CNS disorders, an urgent mission for our Century.

PMID- 25836357
TI  - TNF-alpha-induced depressive-like phenotype and p38(MAPK) activation are
      abolished by ascorbic acid treatment.
AB  - We investigated the effects of ascorbic acid on depressive-like behavior induced
      by tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) in mice. Additionally, we examined the
      effects of combined administration of ascorbic acid and antidepressants, MK-801
      and 7-nitroindazole in mice exposed or not to TNF-alpha and the capacity of TNF
      alpha and ascorbic acid to modulate hippocampal and cerebrocortical
      phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), p38(MAPK) and c
      Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). In control animals, ascorbic acid reduced the
      immobility time in the tail suspension test (TST). Unilateral
      intracerebroventricular administration of TNF-alpha produced a depressive-like
      behavior in the TST, and the treatment with ascorbic acid prevented this effect.
      Sub-effective dose of ascorbic acid combined with sub-effective doses of
      fluoxetine, imipramine, bupropion, MK-801 or 7-nitroindazole produced a
      synergistic antidepressant-like effect in mice exposed or not to TNF-alpha. No
      treatment caused significant alterations in the locomotor activity of mice.
      Administration of TNF-alpha increased the phosphorylation of p38(MAPK) in
      hippocampus and cerebral cortex, and the treatment with ascorbic acid prevented
      this effect. Ascorbic acid increased phosphorylation of ERK1 in the hippocampus
      of saline- and TNF-alpha-treated animals, however it did not produce alterations
      in the cerebral cortex. No effects on phosphorylation of ERK2 or JNK were found.
      The observed effect of ascorbic acid seems to be associated, at least partially,
      with a reduced p38(MAPK) phosphorylation, activation of the monoaminergic systems
      as well as inhibition of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and nitric oxide
      (NO) synthesis. 

PMID- 25836358
TI  - Label-free imaging and biochemical characterization of bovine sperm cells.
AB  - A full label-free morphological and biochemical characterization is desirable to
      select spermatozoa during preparation for artificial insemination. In order to
      study these fundamental parameters, we take advantage of two attractive
      techniques: digital holography (DH) and Raman spectroscopy (RS). DH presents new
      opportunities for studying morphological aspect of cells and tissues non
      invasively, quantitatively and without the need for staining or tagging, while RS
      is a very specific technique allowing the biochemical analysis of cellular
      components with a spatial resolution in the sub-micrometer range. In this paper,
      morphological and biochemical bovine sperm cell alterations were studied using
      these techniques. In addition, a complementary DH and RS study was performed to
      identify X- and Y-chromosome-bearing sperm cells. We demonstrate that the two
      techniques together are a powerful and highly efficient tool elucidating some
      important criterions for sperm morphological selection and sex-identification,
      overcoming many of the limitations associated with existing protocols. 

PMID- 25836359
TI  - Biconically tapered fiber optic probes for rapid label-free immunoassays.
AB  - We report use of U-shaped biconically tapered optical fibers (BTOF) as probes for
      label-free immunoassays. The tapered regions of the sensors were functionalized
      by immobilization of immunoglobulin-G (Ig-G) and tested for detection of anti-IgG
      at concentrations of 50 ng/mL to 50 ug/mL. Antibody-antigen reaction creates a
      biological nanolayer modifying the waveguide structure leading to a change in the
      sensor signal, which allows real-time monitoring. The kinetics of the antibody
      (mouse Ig-G)-antigen (rabbit anti-mouse IgG) reactions was studied. Hydrofluoric
      acid treatment makes the sensitive region thinner to enhance sensitivity, which
      we confirmed by experiments and simulations. The limit of detection for the
      sensor was estimated to be less than 50 ng/mL. Utilization of the rate of the
      sensor peak shift within the first few minutes of the antibody-antigen reaction
      is proposed as a rapid protein detection method. 

PMID- 25836360
TI  - Heterogeneity of competition at decameter scale: patches of high canopy leaf area
      in a shade-intolerant larch stand transpire less yet are more sensitive to
      drought.
AB  - Small differences in the sensitivity of stomatal conductance to light intensity
      on leaf surfaces may lead to large differences in total canopy transpiration (EC)
      with increasing canopy leaf area (L). Typically, the increase of L would more
      than compensate for the decrease of transpiration per unit of leaf area (EL),
      resulting in concurrent increase of EC. However, highly shade-intolerant species,
      such as Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr., may be so sensitive to increased
      shading that such compensation is not complete. We hypothesized that in such a
      stand, windfall-induced spatial variation at a decameter scale would result in
      greatly reduced EL in patches of high L leading to lower EC than low competition
      patches of sparse canopy. We further hypothesized that quicker extraction of soil
      moisture in patches of lower competition will result in earlier onset of drought
      symptoms in these patches. Thus, patches of low L will transition from light to
      soil moisture as the factor dominating EL. This process should progressively
      homogenize EC in the stand even as the variation of soil moisture is increasing.
      We tested the hypotheses utilizing sap flux of nine trees, and associated
      environmental and stand variables. The results were consistent with only some of
      the expectations. Under non-limiting soil moisture, EL was very sensitive to the
      spatial variation of L, decreasing sharply with increasing L and associated
      decrease of mean light intensity on leaf surfaces. Thus, under the conditions of
      ample soil moisture maximum EC decreased with increasing patch-scale L. Annual EC
      and biomass production also decreased with L, albeit more weakly. Furthermore,
      variation of EC among patches decreased as average stand soil moisture declined
      between rain events. However, contrary to expectation, high L plots which
      transpired less showed a greater EL sensitivity to decreasing stand-scale soil
      moisture, suggesting a different mechanism than simple control by decreasing soil
      moisture. We offer potential explanations to the observed phenomenon. Our results
      demonstrate that spatial variation of L at decameter scale, even within
      relatively homogeneous, single-species, even-aged stands, can produce large
      variation of transpiration, soil moisture and biomass production and should be
      considered in 1-D soil-plant-atmosphere models. 

PMID- 25836361
TI  - Seasonal variability of foliar photosynthetic and morphological traits and
      drought impacts in a Mediterranean mixed forest.
AB  - The Mediterranean region is a hot spot of climate change vulnerable to increased
      droughts and heat waves. Scaling carbon fluxes from leaf to landscape levels is
      particularly challenging under drought conditions. We aimed to improve the
      mechanistic understanding of the seasonal acclimation of photosynthesis and
      morphology in sunlit and shaded leaves of four Mediterranean trees (Quercus ilex
      L., Pinus halepensis Mill., Arbutus unedo L. and Quercus pubescens Willd.) under
      natural conditions. Vc,max and Jmax were not constant, and mesophyll conductance
      was not infinite, as assumed in most terrestrial biosphere models, but varied
      significantly between seasons, tree species and leaf position. Favourable
      conditions in winter led to photosynthetic recovery and growth in the evergreens.
      Under moderate drought, adjustments in the photo/biochemistry and
      stomatal/mesophyllic diffusion behaviour effectively protected the photosynthetic
      machineries. Severe drought, however, induced early leaf senescence mostly in A.
      unedo and Q. pubescens, and significantly increased leaf mass per area in Q. ilex
      and P. halepensis. Shaded leaves had lower photosynthetic potentials but
      cushioned negative effects during stress periods. Species-specificity, seasonal
      variations and leaf position are key factors to explain vegetation responses to
      abiotic stress and hold great potential to reduce uncertainties in terrestrial
      biosphere models especially under drought conditions. 

PMID- 25836362
TI  - Photocurrent generation in diamond electrodes modified with reaction centers.
AB  - Photoactive reaction centers (RCs) are protein complexes in bacteria able to
      convert sunlight into other forms of energy with a high quantum yield. The
      photostimulation of immobilized RCs on inorganic electrodes result in the
      generation of photocurrent that is of interest for biosolar cell applications.
      This paper reports on the use of novel electrodes based on functional conductive
      nanocrystalline diamond onto which bacterial RCs are immobilized. A three
      dimensional conductive polymer scaffold grafted to the diamond electrodes enables
      efficient entrapment of photoreactive proteins. The electron transfer in these
      functional diamond electrodes is optimized through the use of a ferrocene-based
      electron mediator, which provides significant advantages such as a rapid electron
      transfer as well as high generated photocurrent. A detailed discussion of the
      generated photocurrent as a function of time, bias voltage, and mediators in
      solution unveils the mechanisms limiting the electron transfer in these
      functional electrodes. This work featuring diamond-based electrodes in
      biophotovoltaics offers general guidelines that can serve to improve the
      performance of similar devices based on different materials and geometries. 

PMID- 25836363
TI  - Posterior urethral valve with unilateral vesicoureteral reflux and patent
      urachus: A rare combination of urinary tract anomaliess.
AB  - Posterior urethral valve (PUV) is a common cause of lower urinary tract
      obstruction in male infants with an incidence of 1:5000-8000. PUV continues to be
      a significant cause of morbidity and ongoing renal damage in infants and
      children. It can coexist with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) in about 50% of cases
      and also with patent urachus in about one-third of cases. It is a case of a 22
      day-old full-term male child who presented with poor urinary stream and
      progressive abdominal distension of 5-day duration as well as leakage of clear
      fluid from umbilicus of 1-day duration. Abdominopelvic ultrasonography showed
      bilateral hydronephrosis. Micturating cystourethrogram also showed features of
      bladder outlet obstruction and PUV. In addition, a grade V left VUR and a
      fistulous tract between the dome of the urinary bladder and the umbilicus, which
      was consistent with a patent urachus was demonstrated. In conclusion, this case
      demonstrates a rare combination of congenital urinary tract anomalies involving
      PUV, left VUR and patent urachus. 

PMID- 25836364
TI  - Correction: DNA barcoding in pencilfishes (Lebiasinidae: Nannostomus) reveals
      cryptic diversity across the Brazilian Amazon.

PMID- 25836365
TI  - Sweetpotato- and cereal-based infant foods: protein quality assessment, and
      effect on body composition using sprague dawley rats as a model.
AB  - The Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) of sweetpotato
      based complementary foods (OFSP ComFa and CFSP ComFa) and cereal-based infant
      products (Weanimix and Cerelac) was assessed using 3 wk-old male Sprague Dawley
      rats weighing between 53-67 g as a model for human infants. Also, the effect of
      consumption of the infant formulations on lean mass, bone mass content and fat
      mass was evaluated by Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) using 6 wk-old
      Sprague Dawley rats (initial weight, 206-229 g). The ComFa products and Weanimix
      are household-level formulations, and Cerelac is a commercial infant cereal. The
      true protein digestibility score for Cerelac was 96.27%, and about 1.8%
      (P<0.0001) higher than that for OFSP ComFa, CFSP ComFa and Weanimix. However,
      OFSP ComFa had the highest un-truncated PDCAAS by a difference of 4.1%, than CFSP
      ComFa, and about 20% difference compared with both the Weanimix and Cerelac. All
      the products investigated had PDCAAS greater than 70%, the minimum protein
      quality requirement for complementary foods. Among the rats assigned to the four
      formulations, their bone mass and fat mass composition were not significantly
      different (P=0.08 and P=0.85, respectively). However, the rats on CFSP ComFa had
      higher lean mass than those on Cerelac (321.67 vs. 297.19 g; P=0.03). The
      findings from the PDCAAS and the DEXA-measured body composition studies indicate
      that complementary foods could be formulated from readily available agricultural
      resources at the household-level to support growth as would a nutritionally
      adequate industrial-manufactured infant cereal. Nonetheless, it should be noted
      that the findings of our studies are based on an animal model. 

PMID- 25836366
TI  - Factors affecting dengue prevention practices: nationwide survey of the Malaysian
      public.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Efforts to stamp dengue in many dengue endemic countries has met
      little success. There is a need to re-examine and understand how the public at
      large view the dengue prevention efforts. This study aimed to examine the
      demographic factors, theoretical constructs of the Health Belief Model and
      knowledge about dengue and how these influence the practice of dengue prevention.
      METHODS: A national telephone survey was carried out with 2,512 individuals of
      the Malaysian public aged 18-60 years. RESULTS: The majority (73%) of the
      Malaysian public had a total dengue prevention score of 51-100 (of a possible
      score of 1-100). Multivariate analysis suggests significant correlates of higher
      dengue prevention practices with demographic background, perception of
      susceptibility to dengue, perceived density of mosquitoes in the neighbourhood
      and knowledge about dengue. Households of lower income of which the majority
      (40.7%) were from the rural areas, were associated with the highest odds [OR =
      1.33; 95%CI = 1.09-1.67; p = 0.004] of dengue prevention. Dengue prevention
      practices were also less likely to be undertaken in neighbourhoods where the
      responders perceived there is no and/or low density of mosquitoes. Dengue
      prevention practices are also less likely to be practiced by skilled workers [OR
      = 0.78; 95%CI = 0.63-0.95; p = 0.029] compared to those unemployed. Higher
      perceived susceptibility to dengue was associated with higher dengue prevention
      practices and participants with higher dengue knowledge were found to have a
      higher level of involvement in dengue prevention practices. CONCLUSION: Results
      from the study suggest that in formulating approaches to contain dengue,
      strategies should be developed to cultivate dengue prevention practices among
      urban population and target areas with low density of mosquitoes where public
      perceived a less likely chance of getting dengue. Dengue prevention campaigns
      should focus on messages highlighting the risk of contracting dengue and
      education to increase knowledge about dengue.

PMID- 25836367
TI  - VUV and mid-UV photoabsorption cross sections of thin films of guanine and
      uracil: application on their photochemistry in the solar system.
AB  - We present a photostability study of two nucleobases, guanine and uracil. For the
      first time, the photoabsorption cross-section spectra of these molecules in the
      solid phase were measured in the VUV and mid-UV domain (115<=lambda<=300 nm).
      They show a quite similar absorption level throughout this wavelength range,
      highlighting the importance of considering the whole VUV and UV domain during
      photolysis experiments in the laboratory. Their photolysis constant (J) can be
      estimated from those measurements as follows: 2.2*10(-2) s(-1)+/-11% for guanine
      and 5.3*10(-2) s(-1)+/-14% for uracil. This work shows that (i) measuring kinetic
      constants from a direct and "traditional" photolysis of a thin sample in the
      laboratory suffers strong limitations and (ii) achieving this measurement
      requires comprehensive modeling of the radiative transfer that occurs in any
      sample not optically thin (i.e.,<=2 nm). Moreover, this work has provided other
      data of interest: the refractive index of solid guanine and of uracil at 650 nm
      are 1.52 (+/-0.01) and 1.39 (+/-0.02), respectively, and the integrated IR band
      strengths (A) of solid guanine between 3700 and 2120 cm(-1) (3.4*10(-16)
      cm.molecule(-1)+/-13%) and of solid uracil between 3400 and 1890 cm(-1) (2.1*10(
      16) cm.molecule(-1)+/-21%).

PMID- 25836368
TI  - Transcriptome analysis and gene expression profiling of abortive and developing
      ovules during fruit development in hazelnut.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A high ratio of blank fruit in hazelnut (Corylus heterophylla Fisch)
      is a very common phenomenon that causes serious yield losses in northeast China.
      The development of blank fruit in the Corylus genus is known to be associated
      with embryo abortion. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms
      responsible for embryo abortion during the nut development stage. Genomic
      information for C. heterophylla Fisch is not available; therefore, data related
      to transcriptome and gene expression profiling of developing and abortive ovules
      are needed. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, de novo transcriptome
      sequencing and RNA-seq analysis were conducted using short-read sequencing
      technology (Illumina HiSeq 2000). The results of the transcriptome assembly
      analysis revealed genetic information that was associated with the fruit
      development stage. Two digital gene expression libraries were constructed, one
      for a full (normally developing) ovule and one for an empty (abortive) ovule.
      Transcriptome sequencing and assembly results revealed 55,353 unigenes, including
      18,751 clusters and 36,602 singletons. These results were annotated using the
      public databases NR, NT, Swiss-Prot, KEGG, COG, and GO. Using digital gene
      expression profiling, gene expression differences in developing and abortive
      ovules were identified. A total of 1,637 and 715 unigenes were significantly
      upregulated and downregulated, respectively, in abortive ovules, compared with
      developing ovules. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis was
      used in order to verify the differential expression of some genes.
      CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The transcriptome and digital gene expression profiling
      data of normally developing and abortive ovules in hazelnut provide exhaustive
      information that will improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of
      abortive ovule formation in hazelnut.

PMID- 25836369
TI  - Ultrasonic extraction of anthocyanin from Clitoria ternatea flowers using
      response surface methodology.
AB  - The ultrasonic extraction (UE) method of anthocyanin from Clitoria ternatea
      flowers using response surface methodology (RSM) was performed in this study. By
      using RSM, the objective is to optimise the extraction yield of anthocyanin from
      C. ternatea which is influenced by various factors, including the extraction
      temperature, time, ratio of solvent to solid and ultrasonic power. The empirical
      model was investigated by performing first-level optimisation in a two-level
      factorial design with Design Expert 7 software. In comparison with the
      conventional solvent extraction, UE showed a 246.48% better extraction yield and
      produced an anthocyanin extract with a radical scavenging activity of 68.48% at
      the optimised factors of 50 degrees C, 150 min, 15 mL/g and 240 W.

PMID- 25836371
TI  - Influence of sodium salicylate on rosmarinic acid, carnosol and carnosic acid
      accumulation by Salvia officinalis L. shoots grown in vitro.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate sodium salicylate (NaSA) as an elicitor of rosmarinic
      acid (RA) and phenolic diterpenes, carnosol (C) and carnosic acid (CA)
      production, in a culture of Salvia officinalis shoots. RESULTS: In sage shoots
      grown in vitro, 28 polyphenolic compounds (phenolic acids, flavonoids, and
      phenolic diterpenes) were identified. In shoots treated for 1 week with
      increasing NaSA concentrations, the content of C increased from 2.3 in control to
      5.7 mg g(-1) DW in shoots treated with 500 uM NaSA. In shoots that were recovered
      on basal medium for 3 weeks, the maximal amount of C (14 mg/g(-1) DW) was with
      150 uM NaSA treatment. In treated and recovered shoots, the increase in C was
      accompanied with a decrease in CA, resulting in 1.9-fold increase in the C/CA
      ratio. Accumulation of RA was not affected by the NaSA treatment. However,
      elicitation by NaSA was accompanied with growth retardation. CONCLUSIONS: NaSA
      can improve C production in sage shoot culture, probably by stimulating the
      conversion of CA to C.

PMID- 25836370
TI  - Glucocorticoids suppress renal cell carcinoma progression by enhancing Na,K
      ATPase beta-1 subunit expression.
AB  - Glucocorticoids are commonly used as palliative or chemotherapeutic clinical
      agents for treatment of a variety of cancers. Although steroid treatment is
      beneficial, the mechanisms by which steroids improve outcome in cancer patients
      are not well understood. Na,K-ATPase beta-subunit isoform 1 (NaK-beta1) is a cell
      cell adhesion molecule, and its expression is down-regulated in cancer cells
      undergoing epithelial-to mesenchymal-transition (EMT), a key event associated
      with cancer progression to metastatic disease. In this study, we performed high
      throughput screening to identify small molecules that could up-regulate NaK-beta1
      expression in cancer cells. Compounds related to the glucocorticoids were
      identified as drug candidates enhancing NaK-beta1 expression. Of these compounds,
      triamcinolone, dexamethasone, and fluorometholone were validated to increase NaK
      beta1 expression at the cell surface, enhance cell-cell adhesion, attenuate
      motility and invasiveness and induce mesenchymal to epithelial like transition of
      renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cells in vitro. Treatment of NaK-beta1 knockdown cells
      with these drug candidates confirmed that these compounds mediate their effects
      through up-regulating NaK-beta1. Furthermore, we demonstrated that these
      compounds attenuate tumor growth in subcutaneous RCC xenografts and reduce local
      invasiveness in orthotopically-implanted tumors. Our results strongly indicate
      that the addition of glucocorticoids in the treatment of RCC may improve outcome
      for RCC patients by augmenting NaK-beta1 cell-cell adhesion function. 

PMID- 25836372
TI  - A low-cost solid-liquid separation process for enzymatically hydrolyzed corn
      stover slurries.
AB  - Solid-liquid separation of intermediate process slurries is required in some
      process configurations for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to
      transportation fuels. Thermochemically pretreated and enzymatically hydrolyzed
      corn stover slurries have proven difficult to filter due to formation of very low
      permeability cakes that are rich in lignin. Treatment of two different slurries
      with polyelectrolyte flocculant was demonstrated to increase mean particle size
      and filterability. Filtration flux was greatly improved, and thus scaled filter
      unit capacity was increased approximately 40-fold compared with unflocculated
      slurry. Although additional costs were accrued using polyelectrolyte, techno
      economic analysis revealed that the increase in filter capacity significantly
      reduced overall production costs. Fuel production cost at 95% sugar recovery was
      reduced by $1.35 US per gallon gasoline equivalent for dilute-acid pretreated and
      enzymatically hydrolyzed slurries and $3.40 for slurries produced using an
      additional alkaline de-acetylation preprocessing step that is even more difficult
      to natively filter. 

PMID- 25836373
TI  - Strategies to achieve high-solids enzymatic hydrolysis of dilute-acid pretreated
      corn stover.
AB  - Three strategies were presented to achieve high solids loading while maximizing
      carbohydrate conversion, which are fed-batch, splitting/thickening, and clarifier
      processes. Enzymatic hydrolysis was performed at water insoluble solids (WIS) of
      15% using washed dilute-acid pretreated corn stover. The carbohydrate
      concentration increased from 31.8 to 99.3g/L when the insoluble solids content
      increased from 5% to 15% WIS, while the final carbohydrate conversion was
      decreased from 78.4% to 73.2%. For the fed-batch process, a carbohydrate
      conversion efficiency of 76.8% was achieved when solid was split into 60:20:20
      ratio, with all enzymes added first. For the splitting/thickening process, a
      carbohydrate conversion of 76.5% was realized when the filtrate was recycled to
      simulate a steady-state process. Lastly, the clarifier process was evaluated and
      the highest carbohydrate conversion of 81.4% was achieved. All of these results
      suggests the possibility of enzymatic hydrolysis at high solids to make the
      overall conversion cost-competitive. 

PMID- 25836374
TI  - Struvite for composting of agricultural wastes with termite mound: Utilizing the
      unutilized.
AB  - Although, compost is the store house of different plant nutrients, there is a
      concern for low amount of major nutrients especially nitrogen content in prepared
      compost. The present study deals with preparation of compost by using
      agricultural wastes with struvite (MgNH4PO4.6H2O) along with termite mound. Among
      four composting mixtures, 50kg termite mound and 2.5kg struvite with crop
      residues (stover of ground nut: 361.65kg; soybean: 354.59kg; potato: 357.67kg and
      mustard: 373.19kg) and cow dung (84.90kg) formed a good quality compost within
      70days of composting having nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as 21.59, 3.98 and
      34.6gkg(-1), respectively. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant
      differences among the composts. The four composts formed two (pit 1, pit 2 and
      pit 3, pit 4) different groups. Two principal components expressed more than 97%
      of the total variability. Hierarchical cluster analysis resulted two homogeneous
      groups of composts. 

PMID- 25836375
TI  - Protective effect of small molecule analogues of the Acanthocheilonema viteae
      secreted product ES-62 on oxazolone-induced ear inflammation.
AB  - ES-62 is the major secreted protein of the rodent filarial nematode
      Acanthocheilonema viteae. The molecule contains covalently attached
      phosphorylcholine (PC) residues, which confer anti-inflammatory properties on ES
      62, underpinning the idea that drugs based on this active moiety may have
      therapeutic potential in human diseases associated with aberrant inflammation.
      Here we demonstrate that two synthetic small molecule analogues (SMAs) of ES-62
      termed SMA 11a and SMA 12b are protective in the oxazolone-induced acute allergic
      contact dermatitis mouse model of skin inflammation, as measured by a significant
      reduction in ear inflammation following their administration before oxazolone
      sensitisation and before oxazolone challenge. Furthermore, it was found that when
      tested, 12b was effective at reducing ear swelling even when first administered
      before challenge. Histological analysis of the ears showed elevated cellular
      infiltration and collagen deposition in oxazolone-treated mice both of which were
      reduced by treatment with the two SMAs. Likewise, the oxazolone-induced increase
      in IFNgamma mRNA in the ears was reduced but no effect on other cytokines
      investigated was observed. Finally, no influence on the mast cell populations in
      the ear was observed. 

PMID- 25836376
TI  - Anthelmintic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of Garcinia mangostana
      extract in hamster opisthorchiasis.
AB  - Administration of praziquantel for treatment of liver fluke infection may affect
      the host, with mild and severe effects after treatment caused by host immune
      response. Therefore, we focused on the antioxidant property, inflammatory and
      anthelmintic effects of the traditional folk medicine, G. mangostana pericarp
      extract, in hamster opisthorchiasis. Syrian hamsters were divided into four
      groups: normal (control) (N); administered G. mangostana alone (GM); infected
      with Opisthorchis viverrini alone (OV); and infected with O. viverrini and
      administered G. mangostana extract for 1.5 months (OVGM). Hamster livers were
      collected 45 days after infection to determine histopathological changes, i.e.
      aggregation of inflammatory cells. The morphology of adult O. viverrini (body
      size and sizes of reproductive organs) was analyzed, as well as worm burden, eggs
      per worm and eggs per gram of feces. Toxicity was tested by kidney function
      (blood urea nitrogen and creatinine); the results demonstrated that G. mangostana
      had no renal toxic effect. ABTS radical-scavenging assay indicated that the
      extract had antioxidant property. Reduction in aggregation of inflammatory cells
      surrounding the hepatic bile duct, especially at the hilar region, was found in
      the OVGM group. Worm burden was similar in both infected groups (treated or
      untreated with G. mangostana), but the average size of adults in the OV group was
      larger than in the OVGM group; moreover, eggs per worm and eggs per gram of feces
      were also comparatively higher. The present study suggests that G. mangostana
      extract possesses anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and can interfere
      with parasite development by affecting adult size and egg production. This may be
      useful for controlling the spread of OV infection and other parasites in endemic
      areas.

PMID- 25836377
TI  - Fathers' and Mothers' Verbal Responsiveness and the Language Skills of Young
      Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.
AB  - PURPOSE: In this observational study, we examined the interactions of 16 young
      children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents to investigate (a)
      differences in verbal responsiveness used by fathers and mothers in interactions
      with their children with ASD and (b) concurrent associations between the language
      skills of children with ASD and the verbal responsiveness of both fathers and
      mothers. METHOD: Parent verbal responsiveness was coded from video recordings of
      naturalistic parent-child play sessions using interval-based coding. Child
      language skills were measured by the Preschool Language Scale-Fourth Edition
      (Zimmerman, Steiner, & Pond, 2002). RESULTS: For both fathers and mothers, parent
      verbal responsiveness was positively associated with child language skills.
      Mothers' responsiveness was also significantly associated with child cognition.
      After controlling for child cognition, fathers' verbal responsiveness continued
      to be significantly related to child language skills. CONCLUSIONS: Although other
      studies have documented associations between mothers' responsiveness and child
      language, this is the 1st study to document a significant concurrent association
      between child language skills of children with ASD and the verbal responsiveness
      of fathers. Findings of this study warrant the inclusion of fathers in future
      research on language development and intervention to better understand the
      potential contributions fathers may make to language growth for children with ASD
      over time as well as to determine whether coaching fathers to use responsive
      verbal strategies can improve language outcomes for children with ASD.

PMID- 25836378
TI  - A Novel and Intuitive Method of Displaying and Interacting with Mass Difference
      Information: Application to Oligonucleotide Drug Impurities.
AB  - A new method is presented for determining relationships between components in
      complex analytical systems. The method uses the mass differences between peaks in
      high resolution electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectra. It relates peaks that
      share common mass differences. The method is based on the fundamental assumption
      that peaks in the spectra having the same exact mass difference are related by
      the same chemical moiety/substructure. Moreover, the presence (or absence/loss)
      of the same chemical moiety from a series of molecules may reflect similarities
      in the mechanisms of formation of each molecule. The determined mass differences
      in the spectra are used to automatically differentiate the types of components in
      the samples. Contour plots and summary plots of the summed total ion signal as a
      function of the mass difference are generated, which form powerful tools for the
      rapid and automated determination of the components in the samples and for
      comparisons with other samples. For the first time, in this work a unique profile
      contour plot has been developed that permits the interactive interrogation of the
      mass range by mass difference data matrix to obtain valuable information about
      components that share a common mechanism of formation, and all possible
      mechanisms of formation linked to a selected precursor molecule. The method can
      be used as an additional and complementary method to the existing analytical
      methods to determine relationships between components in complex chemical
      systems.

PMID- 25836380
TI  - The effect of thermal annealing on the charge transfer dynamics of a donor
      acceptor copolymer and fullerene: F8T2 and F8T2:PCBM.
AB  - Ultrafast charge delocalization dynamics in an internal donor-acceptor copolymer
      poly(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-co-bithiophene) (F8T2) and its blend with the fullerene
      derivative [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) was studied by
      resonant Auger spectroscopy measured around sulfur K-edge using the core-hole
      clock approach. The effect of thermal annealing on the charge transfer
      delocalization times (tauCT) was also investigated. Two main transitions with S
      1s -> pi* and S 1s -> sigma*(S-C) character were measured at the S 1s NEXAFS
      spectra. Poor charge delocalization was observed for as cast polymeric films at
      photon energies corresponding to the S 1s -> pi* transition, which may suggest a
      weak pi-electronic coupling due to weak polymer crystallinity and chain stacking.
      Enhancement in the charge transfer process for photon energies close to the
      resonance maximum was observed for thermally annealed F8T2 and its blends. Atomic
      Force Microscopy (AFM) topography for as cast F8T2:PCBM shows a top position of
      PCBM units relative to the polymer, homogeneously distributed on the film
      surface. This configuration improves the charge delocalization through S 1s ->
      pi* molecular orbitals for the as cast blended film, suggesting a strong pi
      electronic coupling. A new rearrangement of F8T2:PCBM film was found after
      thermal annealing, leading to a more efficient electron transfer channel through
      sigma* molecular orbitals. 

PMID- 25836381
TI  - The two roads of passionate goal pursuit: links with appraisal, coping, and
      academic achievement.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In this research, we tested the role of cognitive
      appraisals in explaining why harmonious and obsessive passion dimensions are
      related to distinct forms of coping and explored if performance was impacted by
      these appraisal and coping processes. DESIGN: Undergraduate students (N = 489)
      participated in a longitudinal study and completed three surveys throughout the
      course of an academic year. METHODS: Participants completed assessments of both
      passion dimensions (Time 1), reported how they were appraising and coping with
      the mid-year examination period (Time 2), and provided consent to obtain their
      final grade in Introductory Psychology (Time 3). The hypothesized model was
      tested using structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Harmonious and obsessive
      passion dimensions were linked with approach and avoidant coping responses,
      respectively. Cognitive appraisals, particularly appraisals of challenge and
      uncontrollability, played an indirect role in these relationships. In addition,
      both appraisals and coping responses had an indirect effect in the relationship
      between passion dimensions and final grade. CONCLUSIONS: These results identify
      cognitive appraisal as a reason why passion dimensions are linked with distinct
      coping tendencies and demonstrate the role of appraisal and coping processes in
      the journey to passionate goal attainment.

PMID- 25836379
TI  - Electrocardiographic right and left bundle branch block patterns in athletes:
      prevalence, pathology, and clinical significance.
AB  - Differentiating benign electrocardiographic (ECG) patterns in athletes from those
      representative of underlying cardiac pathology is both clinically relevant and
      challenging. Complete right (RBBB) and left (LBBB) bundle branch block are
      relatively rare in asymptomatic athletic populations, and current expert
      consensus guidelines recommend further clinical investigation upon detection of
      either ECG pattern. However, present data suggest that typical RBBB is not
      associated with structural cardiac pathology and may alternatively represent an
      ECG marker of exercise-induced right ventricular remodeling. In accordance with
      current guidelines, the presence of asymptomatic LBBB in athletes is not
      associated with normal exercise physiology and more likely indicative of
      underlying cardiac pathology. While long-term outcomes for asymptomatic athletes
      with RBBB or LBBB remain unknown, current evidence regarding these ECG patterns
      should be considered to improve the specificity of future athlete-specific ECG
      interpretation guidelines. 

PMID- 25836382
TI  - Distribution and elevated soil pools of mercury in an acidic subtropical forest
      of southwestern China.
AB  - Tieshanping catchment in southwest China was supposed to a large pool of
      atmospheric mercury. This work was aimed to examine THg (total mercury)
      concentrations, pools and influence factors in the acidic forest. THg
      concentrations were highly elevated in the study area, which was significantly
      depended on TOM (total organic matter) concentrations and altitudinal elevation,
      whereas negatively correlated with soil pH. The pools of mercury accumulated in
      soils were correlated strongly with the stocks of TOM and altitude, ranged from
      5.9 to 32 mg m(-2) and averaged 14.5 mg m(-2), indicating that the acidic forest
      was a great sink of atmospheric mercury in southwest China. THg concentrations in
      stream waters decreased with altitude increasing and regression analyses showed
      that soil/air exchange flux would be increased with the decrease of altitude.
      Present results suggest that elevation increasing decreases THg losses as low THg
      concentrations in runoffs and volatilization from soils. 

PMID- 25836383
TI  - Competitive binding between miR-122 and p68 onto hepatitis C viral RNA.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Liver-specific microRNA (miR)-122 has been shown to be involved in
      regulating translation of hepatitis C viral (HCV) RNA. This study aimed to
      explore the molecular mechanism of miR-122 in regulating HCV RNA translation
      initiation. MATERIAL/METHODS: In human liver hepatocellular carcinoma cell line
      HepG2, UV cross-link assay was performed on a large scale to identify RNA-binding
      proteins with gradient concentrations of miR-122. Analytical ultracentrifugation
      was then used to separate the translation initiation complexes. All RNA-binding
      proteins were then identified by Western blotting. RESULTS: The binding of 68 kDa
      protein (p68) to HCV RNA was suppressed by the addition of miR-122 via the
      competitive binding assay. Such inhibition can be eliminated by the addition of
      2'-O-methylated oligonucleotides. This binding suppression was determined to be
      specific for miR-122, which used the mature single-stranded RNA to suppress the
      binding of p68 onto HCV RNA. This binding inhibition was further validated by
      using authentic miR-122 with conserved regions and mutated sequences.
      CONCLUSIONS: The binding of p68 onto HCV RNA can be specifically inhibited by miR
      122 via a competitive binding process.

PMID- 25836384
TI  - Positive Testing for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis and the Risk
      of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease in IUD Users.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Unintended pregnancies are a major public health problem in the
      United States, and intrauterine devices (IUDs) are among the most effective
      reversible birth control methods available. Historically, there have been
      concerns about IUD use and infection among young and/or high-risk women that may
      increase the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and subsequent
      infertility. METHODS: The Contraceptive CHOICE Project (CHOICE) was a prospective
      cohort study of over 9,000 women 14-45 years of age residing in the St. Louis
      area who were interested in initiating a new form of reversible contraception. At
      enrollment, participants were counseled regarding long-acting contraceptive
      methods with the goal of increasing awareness of all reversible methods
      available. Participants were also tested for Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) and
      Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) during enrollment and were provided with contraception
      at no cost for 2-3 years. RESULTS: We estimate the frequency of self-reported PID
      in new IUD users compared with women using other contraceptive methods. Among
      both new IUD users who tested positive for GC and/or CT and those who tested
      negative, the PID rate was 1% or below. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that
      IUD use is safe for all women, including women at high risk for sexually
      transmitted infections.

PMID- 25836385
TI  - Developing a Research Agenda on Resident-to-Resident Aggression: Recommendations
      From a Consensus Conference.
AB  - This article provides an overview of the development of a research agenda on
      resident-to-resident aggression (RRA) in long-term care facilities by an expert
      panel of researchers and practitioners. A 1-day consensus-building workshop using
      a modified Delphi approach was held to gain consensus on nomenclature and an
      operational definition for RRA, to identify RRA research priorities, and to
      develop a roadmap for future research on these priorities. Among the six
      identified terms in the literature, RRA was selected. The top five priorities
      were: (a) developing/assessing RRA environmental interventions; (b)
      identification of the environmental factors triggering RRA; (c)
      incidence/prevalence of RRA; (d) developing/assessing staff RRA education
      interventions; and (e) identification of RRA perpetrator and victim
      characteristics. Given the significant harm RRA poses for long-term care
      residents, this meeting is an important milestone, as it is the first organized
      effort to mobilize knowledge on this under-studied topic at the research,
      clinical, and policy levels. 

PMID- 25836386
TI  - Longitudinal study of Escherichia coli O157 shedding and super shedding in dairy
      heifers.
AB  - A longitudinal study was conducted to assess the methods available for detection
      of Escherichia coli O157 and to investigate the prevalence and occurrence of long
      term shedding and super shedding in a cohort of Australian dairy heifers. Samples
      were obtained at approximately weekly intervals from heifers at pasture under
      normal management systems. Selective sampling techniques were used with the aim
      of identifying heifers with a higher probability of shedding or super shedding.
      Rectoanal mucosal swabs (RAMS) and fecal samples were obtained from each heifer.
      Direct culture of feces was used for detection and enumeration. Feces and RAMS
      were tested by enrichment culture. Selected samples were further tested
      retrospectively by immunomagnetic separation of enriched samples. Of 784 samples
      obtained, 154 (19.6%) were detected as positive using culture methods. Adjusting
      for selective sampling, the prevalence was 71 (15.6%) of 454. In total, 66
      samples were detected as positive at >10(2) CFU/g of which 8 were >10(4) CFU/g
      and classed as super shedding. A significant difference was observed in detection
      by enriched culture of RAMS and feces. Dairy heifers within this cohort exhibited
      variable E. coli O157 shedding, consistent with previous estimates of shedding.
      Super shedding was detected at a low frequency and inconsistently from individual
      heifers. All detection methods identified some samples as positive that were not
      detected by any other method, indicating that the testing methods used will
      influence survey results. 

PMID- 25836387
TI  - Determining the potential link between irrigation water quality and the
      microbiological quality of onions by phenotypic and genotypic characterization of
      Escherichia coli isolates.
AB  - The potential transfer of human pathogenic bacteria present in irrigation water
      onto fresh produce was investigated, because surface water sources used for
      irrigation purposes in South Africa have increasingly been reported to be
      contaminated with enteric bacterial pathogens. A microbiological analysis was
      performed of a selected river in Limpopo Province, South Africa, that is often
      contaminated with raw sewage from municipal sewage works and overhead irrigated
      onions produced on a commercial farm. Counts of Escherichia coli, coliforms,
      aerobic bacteria, fungi, and yeasts and the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7,
      Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes were determined. Identities of bacterial
      isolates from irrigation water and onions were confirmed using matrix-assisted
      laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry, PCR, and
      biochemical tests. To establish a potential link between the microbiological
      quality of the irrigation source and the onions, the E. coli isolates from both
      were subjected to antibiotic resistance, virulence gene, and enterobacterial
      repetitive intergenic consensus PCR analyses. River water E. coli counts exceeded
      South African Department of Water Affairs and World Health Organization
      irrigation water guidelines. Counts of aerobic bacteria, coliforms, fungi, and
      yeasts of onions from the market were acceptable according to Department of
      Health Directorate, Food Control, South Africa, microbiological guidelines for
      ready-to-eat fresh fruits and vegetables. E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and L.
      monocytogenes were not detected in onions, whereas only Salmonella was detected
      in 22% of water samples. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of
      flight mass spectrometry and PCR identification of E. coli isolates from water
      and onions correlated. Of the 45 E. coli isolates from water and onions, 42.2%
      were resistant to multiple antibiotics. Virulence genes eae, stx1, and stx2 were
      detected in 2.2, 6.6, and 2.2% of the E. coli isolates, respectively. Phenotypic
      (antimicrobial) and genotypic (virulence gene prevalence, DNA fingerprinting)
      analyses showed a link between river, dam, irrigation pivot point, and onion E.
      coli isolates. 

PMID- 25836388
TI  - Survival of Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 on strawberries, basil, and
      other leafy greens during storage.
AB  - The survival of Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 on strawberries, basil
      leaves, and other leafy greens (spinach leaves, lamb and butterhead lettuce
      leaves, baby leaves, and fresh-cut iceberg lettuce) was assessed at cold (<7 
      degrees C) and ambient temperatures. All commodities were spot inoculated with E.
      coli O157:H7 or Salmonella to obtain an initial inoculum of 5 to 6 log and 4 to 5
      log CFU/g for strawberries and leafy greens, respectively. Samples were air
      packed. Strawberries were stored at 4, 10, 15, and 22  degrees C and basil leaves
      and other leafy greens at 7, 15, and 22  degrees C for up to 7 days (or less if
      spoiled before). Both Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 showed a gradual decrease in
      numbers if inoculated on strawberries, with a similar reduction observed at 4,
      10, and 15  degrees C (2 to 3 log after 5 days). However, at 15  degrees C (and
      10  degrees C for E. coli O157:H7), the survival experiment stopped before day 7,
      as die-off of both pathogens below the lower limit of detection was achieved or
      spoilage occurred. At 22  degrees C, strawberries were moldy after 2 or 4 days.
      At that time, a 1- to 2-log reduction of both pathogens had occurred. A
      restricted die-off (on average 1.0 log) and increase (on average , 0.5 log) of
      both pathogens on basil leaves occurred after 7 days of storage at 7 and 22 
      degrees C, respectively. On leafy greens, a comparable decrease as on basil was
      observed after 3 days at 7  degrees C. At 22  degrees C, both pathogens increased
      to higher numbers on fresh-cut iceberg and butterhead lettuce leaves (on average
      1.0 log), probably due to the presence of exudates. However, by using spot
      inoculation, the increase was rather limited, probably due to minimized contact
      between the inoculum and cell exudates. Avoiding contamination, in particular, at
      cultivation (and harvest or postharvest) is important, as both pathogens survive
      during storage, and strawberries, basil, and other leafy green leaves are
      consumed without inactivation treatment.

PMID- 25836389
TI  - Survival of Salmonella on chamomile, peppermint, and green tea during storage and
      subsequent survival or growth following tea brewing.
AB  - The survival of Salmonella on dried chamomile flowers, peppermint leaves, and
      green tea leaves stored under different conditions was examined. Survival and
      growth of Salmonella was also assessed after subsequent brewing using dried
      inoculated teas. A Salmonella enterica serovar cocktail was inoculated onto
      different dried tea leaves or flowers to give starting populations of
      approximately 10 log CFU/g. The inoculum was allowed to dry (at ambient
      temperature for 24 h) onto the dried leaves or flowers prior to storage under 25
      and 35  degrees C at low (<30% relative humidity [RH]) and high (>90% RH)
      humidity levels. Under the four storage conditions tested, survival followed the
      order 25  degrees C with low RH > 35  degrees C with low RH > 25  degrees C with
      high RH > 35  degrees C with high RH. Salmonella losses at 25  degrees C with low
      RH occurred primarily during drying, after which populations showed little
      decline over 6 months. In contrast, Salmonella decreased below detection after 45
      days at 35  degrees C and high RH in all teas tested. The thermal resistance of
      Salmonella was assessed at 55  degrees C immediately after inoculation of tea
      leaves or flowers, after drying (24 h) onto tea leaves or flowers, and after 28
      days of storage at 25  degrees C with low RH. All conditions resulted in similar
      D-values (2.78 +/- 0.12, 3.04 +/- 0.07, and 2.78 +/- 0.56, at 0 h, 24 h, and 28
      days, respectively), indicating thermal resistance of Salmonella in brewed tea
      did not change after desiccation and 28 days of storage. In addition, all brewed
      teas tested supported the growth of Salmonella. If Salmonella survives after
      storage, it may also survive and grow after a home brewing process.

PMID- 25836390
TI  - Rapid and early detection of Salmonella serotypes with hyperspectral microscopy
      and multivariate data analysis.
AB  - This study was designed to evaluate hyperspectral microscope images for early and
      rapid detection of Salmonella serotypes Enteritidis, Heidelberg, Infantis,
      Kentucky, and Typhimurium at incubation times of 6, 8, 10, 12, and 24 h. Images
      were collected by an acousto-optical tunable filter hyperspectral microscope
      imaging system with a metal halide light source measuring 89 contiguous
      wavelengths every 4 nm between 450 and 800 nm. Pearson correlation values were
      calculated for incubation times of 8, 10, and 12 h and compared with data for 24
      h to evaluate the change in spectral signatures from bacterial cells over time.
      Regions of interest were analyzed at 30% of the pixels in an average cell size.
      Spectral data were preprocessed by applying a global data transformation
      algorithm and then subjected to principal component analysis (PCA). The
      Mahalanobis distance was calculated from PCA score plots for analyzing serotype
      cluster separation. Partial least-squares regression was applied for calibration
      and validation of the model, and soft independent modeling of class analogy was
      utilized to classify serotype clusters in the training set. Pearson correlation
      values indicate very similar spectral patterns for reduced incubation times
      ranging from 0.9869 to 0.9990. PCA score plots indicated cluster separation at
      all incubation times, with incubation time Mahalanobis distances of 2.146 to
      27.071. Partial least-squares regression had a maximum root mean squared error of
      calibration of 0.0025 and a root mean squared error of validation of 0.0030. Soft
      independent modeling of class analogy correctly classified values at 8 h
      (98.32%), 10 h (96.67%), 12 h (88.33%), and 24 h (98.67%) with the optimal number
      of principal components (four or five). The results of this study suggest that
      Salmonella serotypes can be classified by applying a PCA to hyperspectral
      microscope imaging data from samples after only 8 h of incubation. 

PMID- 25836391
TI  - Use of the ecf1 gene to detect Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in beef
      samples.
AB  - Escherichia coli O157:H7 and six serovars (O26, O103, O121, O111, O145, and O45)
      are frequently implicated in severe clinical illness worldwide. Standard testing
      methods using stx, eae, and O serogroup-specific gene sequences for detecting the
      top six non-O157 STEC bear the disadvantage that these genes may reside,
      independently, in different nonpathogenic organisms, leading to false-positive
      results. The ecf operon has previously been identified in the large
      enterohemolysin-encoding plasmid of eae-positive Shiga toxin-producing E. coli
      (STEC). Here, we explored the utility of the ecf operon as a single marker to
      detect eae-positive STEC from pure broth and primary meat enrichments. Analysis
      of 501 E. coli isolates demonstrated a strong correlation (99.6%) between the
      presence of the ecf1 gene and the combined presence of stx, eae, and ehxA genes.
      Two large studies were carried out to determine the utility of an ecf1 detection
      assay to detect non-O157 STEC strains in enriched meat samples in comparison to
      the results using the U. S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection
      Service (FSIS) method that detects stx and eae genes. In ground beef samples (n =
      1,065), the top six non-O157 STEC were detected in 4.0% of samples by an ecf1
      detection assay and in 5.0% of samples by the stx- and eae-based method. In
      contrast, in beef samples composed largely of trim (n = 1,097), the top six non
      O157 STEC were detected at 1.1% by both methods. Estimation of false-positive
      rates among the top six non-O157 STEC revealed a lower rate using the ecf1
      detection method (0.5%) than using the eae and stx screening method (1.1%).
      Additionally, the ecf1 detection assay detected STEC strains associated with
      severe illness that are not included in the FSIS regulatory definition of
      adulterant STEC. 

PMID- 25836392
TI  - Quantifying the effect of hand wash duration, soap use, ground beef debris, and
      drying methods on the removal of Enterobacter aerogenes on hands.
AB  - Hand washing is recognized as a crucial step in preventing foodborne disease
      transmission by mitigating crosscontamination among hands, surfaces, and foods.
      This research was undertaken to establish the importance of several keys factors
      (soap, soil, time, and drying method) in reducing microorganisms during hand
      washing. A nonpathogenic nalidixic acid-resistant Enterobacter aerogenes
      surrogate for Salmonella was used to assess the efficacy of using soap or no soap
      for 5 or 20 s on hands with or without ground beef debris and drying with paper
      towel or air. Each experiment consisted of 20 replicates, each from a different
      individual with ~ 6 log CFU/ml E. aerogenes on their hands. A reduction of 1.0 +/
      0.4 and 1.7 +/- 0.8 log CFU of E. aerogenes was observed for a 5-s wash with no
      soap and a 20-s wash with soap, respectively. When there was no debris on the
      hands, there was no significant difference between washing with and without soap
      for 20 s (P > 0.05). Likewise, there was no significant difference in the
      reductions achieved when washing without soap, whether or not debris was on the
      hands (P > 0.05). A significantly greater reduction (P < 0.05) in E. aerogenes
      (0.5 log CFU greater reduction) was observed with soap when there was ground beef
      debris on the hands. The greatest difference (1.1 log CFU greater average
      reduction) in effectiveness occurred when ground beef debris was on the hands and
      a 20-s wash with water was compared with a 20-s wash with soap. Significantly
      greater (P < 0.05) reductions were observed with paper towel drying compared with
      air (0.5 log CFU greater reductions). Used paper towels may contain high
      bacterial levels (>4.0 log CFU per towel) when hands are highly contaminated. Our
      results support future quantitative microbial risk assessments needed to
      effectively manage risks of foodborne illness in which food workers' hands are a
      primary cause.

PMID- 25836393
TI  - Effect of oxygen stress on growth and survival of Clostridium perfringens,
      Campylobacter jejuni, and Listeria monocytogenes under different storage
      conditions.
AB  - This study investigated the growth and survival of three foodborne pathogens
      (Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter jejuni, and Listeria monocytogenes) in
      beef (7% fat) and nutrient broth under different oxygen levels. Samples were
      tested under anoxic (<0.5%), microoxic (6 to 8%), and oxic (20%) conditions
      during storage at 7  degrees C for 14 days and at 22  degrees C for 5 days. Two
      initial inoculum concentrations were used (1 and 2 log CFU per g of beef or per
      ml of broth). The results show that C. perfringens could grow in beef at 22 
      degrees C, with an increase of approximately 5 log under anoxic conditions and a
      1-log increase under microoxic conditions. However, C. perfringens could not
      survive in beef held at 7  degrees C under microoxic and oxic storage conditions
      after 14 days. In an anoxic environment, C. perfringens survived in beef samples
      held at 7  degrees C, with a 1-log reduction. A cell decline was observed at 2
      log under these conditions, with no surviving cells at the 1-log level. However,
      the results show that C. jejuni under microoxic conditions survived with
      declining cell numbers. Significant increases in L. monocytogenes (5 to 7 log)
      were observed in beef held at 22  degrees C for 5 days, with the lowest levels
      recovered under anoxic conditions. L. monocytogenes in refrigerated storage
      increased by a factor of 2 to 4 log. It showed the greatest growth under oxic
      conditions, with significant growth under anoxic conditions. These findings can
      be used to enhance food safety in vacuum-packed and modified atmosphere-packaged
      food products.

PMID- 25836394
TI  - Evaluation of novel micronized encapsulated essential oil-containing phosphate
      and lactate blends for growth inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella
      on poultry bologna, pork ham, and roast beef ready-to-eat deli loaves.
AB  - Essential oils and their constituents are reported to possess potent
      antimicrobial activity, but their use in food processing is limited because of
      low solubility in aqueous systems and volatilization during processing. Two
      proprietary noncommercial essential oil-containing phosphate blends were
      evaluated for antimicrobial activity against Salmonella enterica cocktail (SC)
      and Listeria monocytogenes (Lm)-inoculated deli meat products made from pork,
      poultry, or beef. Four treatments were tested on restructured cured pork ham,
      emulsified chicken bologna, and restructured beef loaf: nonencapsulated essential
      oil with phosphate version 1 at 0.45% of final batch (EOV145; chicken and pork,
      or EEOV245 beef), micronized encapsulated essential oil with phosphate version 2
      at 0.60% of final batch (EEOV260), a 2.0% potassium lactate (PL) control, and a
      negative control (CN) with no applied antimicrobial agent. Compared with the CN,
      none of the antimicrobial agents (EEOV260, EOV145, PL) successfully limited Lm or
      SC growth to <2.0 log cycles over 49 days or 35 days of refrigerated storage,
      respectively. The PL and EEOV260-treated ham loaves did show Lm growth limiting
      ability of up to 1 log cycle by days 35 and 42. On formed roast beef, the EEOV260
      was able to extend the lag phase and inhibited the growth of Lm in the same
      manner as the PL. For SC-treated samples, the following effects were observed: in
      poultry bologna treated with EEOV260, a lag-phase extension was observed through
      35 days of storage compared with the other samples. For pork deli loaves, the
      EEOV260 inhibited growth of SC at days 21 and 28 to the same level of efficacy as
      PL (0.5 log cycle). In roast beef samples, on day 35, the SC growth was inhibited
      ca. 0.5 log CFU/g by EEOV260 when compared with the CN. In conclusion the EEOV260
      can function to replace PL to limit Salmonella and Lm growth in ready-to-eat deli
      products. Further testing is needed to ensure consumer acceptability. 

PMID- 25836395
TI  - Effectiveness of sanitizing products on controlling selected pathogen surrogates
      on retail deli slicers.
AB  - The objectives of this study were (i) to assess the efficacy of quaternary
      ammonium chloride-based wet foam (WF) and dry foam (DF) sanitizer systems (600
      ppm) for reducing Listeria innocua (a nonpathogenic surrogate of Listeria
      monocytogenes) or a 100.0 MUg/ml rifampin-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium LT2 (a
      nonpathogenic surrogate of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium) on niche and
      transfer point areas of an unwashed retail deli slicer as compared with
      traditional chlorine (Cl(-)) treatment (200 ppm) and (ii) to compare sanitizer
      surface contact times (10 and 15 min) for pathogen surrogate control. Turkey
      frankfurter slurries inoculated with L. innocua or Salmonella Typhimurium were
      used to inoculate seven high-risk sites on a commercial slicer. After 30 min of
      bacterial attachment, slicers were dry wiped to remove excess food matter,
      followed by a randomly assigned sanitizer treatment. Surviving pathogen surrogate
      cells were enumerated on modified Oxford's agar not containing antimicrobic
      supplement (L. innocua) or on tryptic soy agar supplemented with 100 MUg/ml
      rifampin (Salmonella Typhimurium LT2). Replicate-specific L. innocua and
      Salmonella Typhimurium reductions were calculated as log CFU per square
      centimeter of control minus log CFU per square centimeter of enumerated survivors
      for each site. For both organisms, all sanitizer treatments differed from each
      other, with Cl(-) producing the least reduction and WF the greatest reduction. A
      significant (P < 0.05) site-by-treatment interaction was observed. The results of
      the study indicate that quaternary ammonium chloride sanitizers (600 ppm) applied
      by both WF and DF were more effective at reducing L. innocua and Salmonella
      Typhimurium than a traditional Cl sanitizer (200 ppm) on unwashed slicer
      surfaces. 

PMID- 25836396
TI  - Efficient reduction of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms from apple cider by
      combining microfiltration with UV treatment.
AB  - Thermal pasteurization can achieve the U. S. Food and Drug Administration
      required 5-log reduction of pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 and
      Cryptosporidium parvum in apple juice and cider, but it can also negatively
      affect the nutritional and organoleptic properties of the treated products. In
      addition, thermal pasteurization is only marginally effective against the
      acidophilic, thermophilic, and spore-forming bacteria Alicyclobacillus spp.,
      which is known to cause off-flavors in juice products. In this study, the
      efficiency of a combined microfiltration (MF) and UV process as a nonthermal
      treatment for the reduction of pathogenic and nonpathogenic E. coli, C. parvum,
      and Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris from apple cider was investigated. MF was
      used to physically remove suspended solids and microorganisms from apple cider,
      thus enhancing the effectiveness of UV and allowing a lower UV dose to be used.
      MF, with ceramic membranes (pore sizes, 0.8 and 1.4 MUm), was performed at a
      temperature of 10  degrees C and a transmembrane pressure of 155 kPa. The
      subsequent UV treatment was conducted using at a low UV dose of 1.75 mJ/cm(2).
      The combined MF and UV achieved more than a 5-log reduction of E. coli, C.
      parvum, and A. acidoterrestris. MF with the 0.8-MUm pore size performed better
      than the 1.4-MUm pore size on removal of E. coli and A. acidoterrestris. The
      developed nonthermal hurdle treatment has the potential to significantly reduce
      pathogens, as well as spores, yeasts, molds, and protozoa in apple cider, and
      thus help juice processors improve the safety and quality of their products.

PMID- 25836397
TI  - Isothermal target and probe amplification assay for the real-time rapid detection
      of Staphylococcus aureus.
AB  - Staphylococcus aureus, the species most commonly associated with staphylococcal
      food poisoning, is one of the most prevalent causes of foodborne disease in Korea
      and other parts of the world, with much damage inflicted to the health of
      individuals and economic losses estimated at $120 million. To reduce food
      poisoning outbreaks by implementing prevention methods, rapid detection of S.
      aureus in foods is essential. Various types of detection methods for S. aureus
      are available. Although each method has advantages and disadvantages, high levels
      of sensitivity and specificity are key aspects of a robust detection method.
      Here, we describe a novel real-time isothermal target and probe amplification
      (iTPA) method that allows the rapid and simultaneous amplification of target DNA
      (the S. aureus nuc gene) and a fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based
      signal probe under isothermal conditions at 61  degrees C or detection of S.
      aureus in real time. The assay was able to specifically detect all 91 S. aureus
      strains tested without nonspecific detection of 51 non-S. aureus strains. The
      real-time iTPA assay detected S. aureus at an initial level of 10(1) CFU in
      overnight cultures of preenriched food samples (kiwi dressing, soybean milk, and
      custard cream). The advantage of this detection system is that it does not
      require a thermal cycler, reducing the cost of the real-time PCR and its
      footprint. Combined with a miniaturized fluorescence detector, this system can be
      developed into a simplified quantitative hand-held real-time device, which is
      often required. The iTPA assay was highly reliable and therefore may be used as a
      rapid and sensitive means of identifying S. aureus in foods.

PMID- 25836398
TI  - Effects of acetic acid and arginine on pH elevation and growth of Bacillus
      licheniformis in an acidified cucumber juice medium.
AB  - Bacillus licheniformis has been shown to cause pH elevation in tomato products
      having an initial pH below 4.6 and metabiotic effects that can lead to the growth
      of pathogenic bacteria. Because of this, the organism poses a potential risk to
      acidified vegetable products; however, little is known about the growth and
      metabolism of this organism in these products. To clarify the mechanisms of pH
      change and growth of B. licheniformis in vegetable broth under acidic conditions,
      a cucumber juice medium representative of a noninhibitory vegetable broth was
      used to monitor changes in pH, cell growth, and catabolism of sugars and amino
      acids. For initial pH values between pH 4.1 to 6.0, pH changes resulted from both
      fermentation of sugar (lowering pH) and ammonia production (raising pH). An
      initial pH elevation occurred, with starting pH values of pH 4.1 to 4.9 under
      both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and was apparently mediated by the
      arginine deiminase reaction of B. licheniformis. This initial pH elevation was
      prevented if 5 mM or greater acetic acid was present in the brine at the same pH.
      In laboratory media, under favorable conditions for growth, data indicated that
      growth of the organism was inhibited at pH 4.6 with protonated acetic acid
      concentrations of 10 to 20 mM, corresponding to 25 to 50 mM total acetic acid;
      however, growth inhibition required greater than 300 mM citric acid (10-fold
      excess of the amount in processed tomato products) products under similar
      conditions. The data indicate that growth and pH increase by B. licheniformis may
      be inhibited by the acetic acid present in most commercial acidified vegetable
      products but not by the citric acid in many tomato products. 

PMID- 25836399
TI  - Analysis of older adults' domestic kitchen storage practices in the United
      Kingdom: identification of risk factors associated with listeriosis.
AB  - Increased listeriosis incidence among older adults (>= 60 years) has been
      reported internationally, with many cases reported to be sporadic and associated
      with ready-to-eat (RTE) food products with extended refrigerated shelf life.
      Given that the home kitchen is recognized as a significant location where
      foodborne illnesses are acquired, it is important that consumers implement safe
      food practices to minimize risks. This is crucial for vulnerable consumers, such
      as older adults. Consumer food safety recommendations in the United Kingdom to
      reduce the risk of listeriosis at home include (i) following "use-by" dates on
      unopened prepacked RTE food products, (ii) consuming RTE food products within 2
      days of opening, and (iii) ensuring the safe operating temperatures of domestic
      refrigerators (<= 5  degrees C). This study utilized observation, self-reporting,
      and microbiological analysis to determine actual food storage practices to
      identify behavioral risk factors. A domestic kitchen survey was conducted in
      older adult (>= 60 years) consumers' domestic kitchens (n = 100) in South Wales,
      United Kingdom. Forty-one percent of foods in home refrigerators were beyond the
      use-by date, of which 11% were unopened RTE food products commonly associated
      with listeriosis. Sixty-six percent of opened RTE foods had been or were intended
      to be stored beyond the recommended 2 days after opening. Older adults failed to
      ensure safe refrigeration temperatures, with 50% of central storage and 85% of
      door storage areas operating at temperatures >5  degrees C. Older refrigerators
      operated at significantly (P < 0.05) higher temperatures. Given that Listeria
      monocytogenes was isolated in 2% of kitchens, these findings suggest that storage
      malpractices may have a greater effect on the potential risk of listeriosis than
      its presence alone. The study has determined that many older adults fail to
      adhere to recommendations and subject RTE foods associated with L. monocytogenes
      to prolonged storage at unsafe temperatures which may render food unsafe for
      consumption.

PMID- 25836400
TI  - Regional variations in home canning practices and the risk of foodborne botulism
      in the Republic of Georgia, 2003.
AB  - Foodborne botulism is a severe, paralytic illness caused by ingestion of
      preformed neurotoxins produced by Clostridium botulinum. In 2003, we conducted a
      population-based household survey of home canning practices to explore marked
      regional variations in botulism incidence in the Republic of Georgia (ROG). We
      designed a cluster sampling scheme and subdivided each of the 10 regions of the
      ROG into a variable number of strata. Households were selected from each stratum
      using a two-step cluster sampling methodology. We administered a questionnaire
      about home canning practices to household members responsible for food
      preparation. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, we modeled high
      (eastern ROG) against low (western ROG) incidence areas. Overall, we surveyed
      2,742 households nationwide. Home canning with a capping device hermetically
      sealing the lid covering the jar was practiced by 1,909 households (65.9%; 95%
      confidence interval [CI]: 59.8 to 72.1%). Canning was more prevalent in regions
      of low botulism incidence (34 versus 32%; P < 0.01). When compared with low
      botulism areas, the following practices were associated with an increased risk in
      high-botulism areas: >= 6 months between canning vegetables and consuming them
      (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.1; 95% CI: 1.3 to 3.5) and adding any of the
      following ingredients to the jar at time of preparation: >1 tablespoon of salt
      per liter (aOR = 5.1; 95% CI: 1.2 to 22.6); vinegar (aOR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.3 to
      3.7), and greens (aOR = 5.6; 95% CI: 1.7 to 18.2). The following practices were
      associated with a decreased risk in high-botulism areas: >57 jars canned per
      household annually (aOR = 0.5; 95% CI: 0.3 to 0.9), covering or immersing
      vegetables in boiling water before placing them into the jar (aOR = 0.3 95% CI:
      0.2 to 0.6), covering or immersing vegetables in boiling water after placing them
      into the jar (aOR = 0.4; 95% CI: 0.2 to 0.9), or adding garlic (aOR = 0.2; 95%
      CI: 0.1 to 0.5) or aspirin (aOR = 0.1; 95% CI: 0.1 to 0.2) to the jar at the time
      of preparation.

PMID- 25836401
TI  - Prevalence, resistance patterns, and risk factors for antimicrobial resistance in
      bacteria from retail chicken meat in Colombia.
AB  - As a step toward implementing the Colombian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial
      Resistance Surveillance (COIPARS), this study aimed to establish the baseline
      antimicrobial resistance patterns of Salmonella serovars, Escherichia coli, and
      Enterococcus spp. isolates in retail poultry meat from independent stores and
      from a main chain distributor center. MICs of the isolates were determined for
      antimicrobials used both in humans and animals, using an automated system.
      Salmonella serovars were isolated from 26% of the meat samples and E. coli from
      83%, whereas Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium were detected in 81
      and 13% of the meat samples, respectively. A principal finding of concern in this
      study was that almost 98% of isolates tested were multidrug resistant. Ceftiofur,
      enrofloxacin, nalidixic acid, and tetracycline were the antimicrobials that
      showed the highest frequency of resistance among Salmonella and E. coli isolates.
      For enterococci, 61.5% of E. faecium isolates were found to be resistant to
      quinupristin-dalfopristin; this is significant because it is used to treat
      nosocomial infections when vancomycin resistance is present. Vancomycin
      resistance was detected in 4% of the E. faecalis isolates. The results of our
      study highlight the need for rapid implementation of an integrated program for
      surveillance of antimicrobial resistance by the Colombian authorities in order to
      monitor trends, raise awareness, and help promote practices to safeguard later
      generation antimicrobial agents. 

PMID- 25836402
TI  - Occurrence and antimicrobial resistance of enterococci isolated from organic and
      conventional retail chicken.
AB  - Antibiotic-resistant bacteria existing in agricultural environments may be
      transferred to humans through food consumption or more multifaceted environmental
      paths of exposure. Notably, enterococcal infections are becoming more challenging
      to treat as their resistance to antibiotics intensifies. In this study, the
      prevalence and antibiotic resistance profiles of enterococci in organic and
      conventional chicken from retail stores were analyzed. Of the total 343 retail
      chicken samples evaluated, 282 (82.2%) were contaminated with Enterococcus spp.
      The prevalence was higher in organic chicken (62.5%) than conventional chicken
      (37.5%). Enterococcus isolates were submitted to susceptibility tests against 12
      antimicrobial agents. Among the isolates tested, streptomycin had the highest
      frequencies of resistance (69.1 and 100%) followed by erythromycin (38.5 and
      80.0%), penicillin (14.1 and 88.5%), and kanamycin (11.3 and 76.9%) for organic
      and conventional isolates, respectively. Chloramphenicol had the lowest frequency
      (0.0 and 6.6%, respectively). The predominant species in raw chicken was E.
      faecium (27.3%), followed by E. gallinarum (6.0%), E. casseliflavus (2.1%), and
      E. durans (1.4%). These species were also found to be resistant to three or more
      antibiotics. The data indicated that antibiotic-resistant enterococci isolates
      were found in chicken whether it was organic or conventional. However,
      enterococci isolates that were resistant to antibiotics were less common in
      organic chicken (31.0%) when compared with those isolated from conventional
      chicken (43.6%). The results of this study suggest that raw retail organic and
      conventional chickens could be a source of antibiotic-resistant enterococci. 

PMID- 25836403
TI  - Effect of allyl isothiocyanate against Anisakis larvae during the anchovy
      marinating process.
AB  - Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), is a natural compound found in plants belonging to
      the family Cruciferae and has strong antimicrobial activity and a biocidal
      activity against plants parasites. Anisakidosis is a zoonotic disease caused by
      the ingestion of larval nematodes in raw, almost raw, and marinated and/or salted
      seafood dishes. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of AITC against
      Anisakis larvae and to study its potential use during the marinating process. The
      effects of AITC against Anisakis larvae were tested in three experiment: in vitro
      with three liquid media, in semisolid media with a homogenate of anchovy muscle,
      and in a simulation of two kinds of anchovy fillets marinating processes. For all
      tests, the concentrations of AITC were 0, 0.01, 0.05, and 0.1%. Significant
      activity of AITC against Anisakis larvae was observed in liquid media, whereas in
      the semisolid media, AITC was effective only at higher concentrations. In anchovy
      fillets, prior treatment in phosphate buffer solution (1.5% NaCl, pH 6.8) with
      0.1% AITC and then marination under standard conditions resulted in a high level
      of larval inactivation. AITC is a good candidate for further investigation as a
      biocidal agent against Anisakis larvae during the industrial marinating process. 

PMID- 25836404
TI  - Analysis of the essential oil of Illicium henryi Diels root bark and its
      insecticidal activity against Liposcelis bostrychophila Badonnel.
AB  - Water-distilled essential oil from Illicium henryi (Illiciaceae) root bark was
      analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Thirty-four compounds,
      accounting for 97.86% of the total oil, were identified. The main components of
      the essential oil of I. henryi root bark were safrole (46.12%), myristicin
      (20.39%), and 1,8-cineole (6.17%), followed by alpha-cadinol (3.784%) and
      linalool (3.22%). The essential oil had higher levels of phenylpropanoids
      (66.89%) than of monoterpenoids (14.83%) and sesquiternoids (16.14%). Three
      constituents were isolated from the oil based on bioactivity fractionation. The
      essential oil possessed fumigant toxicity against booklice (Liposcelis
      bostrychophila), with a 50% lethal concentration (LC50) of 380.39 MUg/liter of
      air, while the two isolated constituents myristicin and safrole had LC50s of
      121.95 and 322.54 MUg/liter, respectively. Another constituent, 1,8-cineole,
      showed weaker toxicity, with an LC50 of 1,120.43 MUg/liter. The essential oil
      also exhibited contact toxicity against L. bostrychophila, with an LC50 of 96.83
      MUg/cm(2). Myristicin (LC50, 18.74 MUg/cm(2)) and safrole (LC50, 69.28 MUg/cm(2))
      exhibited stronger acute toxicity than 1,8-cineole (LC50, 1,049.41 MUg/cm(2))
      against the booklice. The results indicated that the essential oil and its
      constituent compounds have potential for development into natural insecticides
      for control of psocids in stored grains. 

PMID- 25836405
TI  - Quantitative data analysis to determine best food cooling practices in U.S.
      restaurants.
AB  - Data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that
      improper cooling practices contributed to more than 500 foodborne illness
      outbreaks associated with restaurants or delis in the United States between 1998
      and 2008. CDC's Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) personnel
      collected data in approximately 50 randomly selected restaurants in nine EHS-Net
      sites in 2009 to 2010 and measured the temperatures of cooling food at the
      beginning and the end of the observation period. Those beginning and ending
      points were used to estimate cooling rates. The most common cooling method was
      refrigeration, used in 48% of cooling steps. Other cooling methods included ice
      baths (19%), room-temperature cooling (17%), ice-wand cooling (7%), and adding
      ice or frozen food to the cooling food as an ingredient (2%). Sixty-five percent
      of cooling observations had an estimated cooling rate that was compliant with the
      2009 Food and Drug Administration Food Code guideline (cooling to 41  degrees F
      [5  degrees C] in 6 h). Large cuts of meat and stews had the slowest overall
      estimated cooling rate, approximately equal to that specified in the Food Code
      guideline. Pasta and noodles were the fastest cooling foods, with a cooling time
      of just over 2 h. Foods not being actively monitored by food workers were more
      than twice as likely to cool more slowly than recommended in the Food Code
      guideline. Food stored at a depth greater than 7.6 cm (3 in.) was twice as likely
      to cool more slowly than specified in the Food Code guideline. Unventilated
      cooling foods were almost twice as likely to cool more slowly than specified in
      the Food Code guideline. Our data suggest that several best cooling practices can
      contribute to a proper cooling process. Inspectors unable to assess the full
      cooling process should consider assessing specific cooling practices as an
      alternative. Future research could validate our estimation method and study the
      effect of specific practices on the full cooling process.

PMID- 25836406
TI  - Belgian and Spanish consumption data and consumer handling practices for fresh
      fruits and vegetables useful for further microbiological and chemical exposure
      assessment.
AB  - A consumer survey was organized in Spain and Belgium to obtain consumption data
      and to gain insight into consumer handling practices for fresh vegetables
      consumed raw or minimally processed (i.e., heads of leafy greens, bell peppers,
      tomatoes, fresh herbs, and precut and packed leafy greens) and fruits to be
      consumed without peeling (i.e., apples, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, other
      berries, fresh juices, and precut mixed fruit). This information can be used for
      microbiological and/or chemical food safety research. After extensive cleanup of
      rough databases for missing and extreme values and age correction, information
      from 583 respondents from Spain and 1,605 respondents from Belgium (18 to 65
      years of age) was retained. Daily intake (grams per day) was calculated taking
      into account frequency and seasonality of consumption, and distributions were
      obtained that can be used in quantitative risk assessment for chemical hazards
      with chronic effects on human health. Data also were recalculated to obtain
      discrete distributions of consumption per portion and the corresponding frequency
      of consumption, which can be used in acute microbiological risk assessment or
      outbreak investigations. The ranked median daily consumption of fruits and
      vegetables was similar in Spain and Belgium: apple > strawberry > grapes >
      strawberries and raspberries; and tomatoes > leafy greens > bell peppers > fresh
      herbs. However, vegetable consumption was higher (in terms of both portion and
      frequency of consumption) in Spain than in Belgium, whereas the opposite was
      found for fruit consumption. Regarding consumer handling practices related to
      storage time and method, Belgian consumers less frequently stored their fresh
      produce in a refrigerator and did so for shorter times compared with Spanish
      consumers. Washing practices for lettuce heads and packed leafy greens also were
      different. The survey revealed differences between these two countries in
      consumption and consumer handling practices, which can have an impact on outcomes
      of future microbiological or chemical risk assessment studies. 

PMID- 25836407
TI  - Genetic characterization of Escherichia coli isolated from cattle carcasses and
      feces in Mexico state.
AB  - Meat of bovine origin is one of the major vehicles in the transmission of
      verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) to human consumers. This pathogen can
      produce serious human illness, including bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic
      syndrome. The aim of the current study was to characterize E. coli isolates
      (mainly VTEC strains) belonging to several serotypes in samples from cattle
      carcasses and feces of three municipal slaughter plants from Mexico State. The
      genetic diversity and molecular relatedness among the isolates was evaluated with
      multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA). To our knowledge,
      and with the exception of E. coli O157:H7, this is the first time that serotypes
      analyzed here have been subtyped by MLVA in Mexico. MLVA typing grouped the 37
      strains from this study into 30 distinct genotypes, 26 of which were unique.
      These findings indicate that cattle carcasses and feces from slaughter plants in
      Mexico are a source of VTEC that are genetically diverse in terms of serotypes
      and virulence profiles. The presence of these pathogens in carcasses indicates
      the high probability of the spread of VTEC strains during slaughter and
      processing. 

PMID- 25836408
TI  - Molecular characterization of Salmonella paratyphi B dT+ and Salmonella
      Heidelberg from poultry and retail chicken meat in Colombia by pulsed-field gel
      electrophoresis.
AB  - Salmonella Paratyphi B dT+ variant (also termed Salmonella Java) and Salmonella
      Heidelberg are pathogens of public health importance that are frequently isolated
      from poultry. As a step toward implementing the Colombian Integrated Program for
      Antimicrobial Resistant Surveillance, this study characterized molecular patterns
      of Salmonella Paratyphi B dT+ and Salmonella Heidelberg isolated from poultry
      farms, fecal samples, and retail chicken meat using pulsed-field gel
      electrophoresis (PFGE). The objective of this study was to determine the genetic
      relationship among isolates and to determine potential geographically predominant
      genotypes. Based on PFGE analysis, both serovars exhibited high heterogeneity:
      the chromosomal DNA fingerprints of 82 Salmonella Paratyphi B dT+ isolates
      revealed 42 PFGE patterns, whereas the 21 isolates of Salmonella Heidelberg
      revealed 10 patterns. Similar genotypes of both serovars were demonstrated to be
      present on farms and in retail outlets. For Salmonella Paratyphi B dT+, closely
      genetically related strains were found among isolates coming from different farms
      and different integrated poultry companies within two departments (Santander and
      Cundinamarca) and also from farms located in the two geographically distant
      departments. For Salmonella Heidelberg, there were fewer farms with genetically
      related isolates than for Salmonella Paratyphi B dT+. A possible dissemination of
      similar genotypes of both serovars along the poultry production chain is
      hypothesized, and some facilitating factors existing in Colombia are reviewed. 

PMID- 25836409
TI  - Zoonotic species of the genus Arcobacter in poultry from different regions of
      Costa Rica.
AB  - In recent years, emerging pathogens have received special attention due to their
      consequences for public health. Given that Arcobacter has been isolated in Costa
      Rica from commercial meat poultry samples, the aim of this research was to
      determine its isolation frequency from laying hens, broilers, ducks, and geese
      and to compare two types of samples, namely, cloacal swabs and stool collection.
      Arcobacter was isolated from 22 (11%) of the 200 samples examined. Fifteen (55%),
      eight (30%), and four (15%) of the isolated strains were identified as A.
      butzleri, A. cryareophilus, and Arcobacter spp., respectively. Also, there is a
      statistically significant difference among the isolation frequencies of
      Arcobacter for the types of samples evaluated, yielding more isolates from stool
      samples than from cloacal swab collection. This work describes the distribution
      of Arcobacter in farm animals as potential sources for its spread from animal
      derived products. 

PMID- 25836410
TI  - Microbiological diversity and prevalence of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria in
      commercial fermented alcoholic beverages (beer, fruit wine, refined rice wine,
      and yakju).
AB  - The present study examined 469 commercially available fermented alcoholic
      beverages (FABs), including beer (draft, microbrewed, and pasteurized), fruit
      wine (grape and others), refined rice wine, and yakju (raw and pasteurized).
      Samples were screened for Escherichia coli and eight foodborne pathogens
      (Bacillus cereus, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli
      O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, and
      Yersinia enterocolitica), and the aerobic plate count, lactic acid bacteria,
      acetic acid bacteria, fungi, and total coliforms were also enumerated.
      Microbrewed beer contained the highest number of microorganisms (average aerobic
      plate count, 3.5; lactic acid bacteria, 2.1; acetic acid bacteria, 2.0; and
      fungi, 3.6 log CFU/ml), followed by draft beer and yakju (P < 0.05), whereas the
      other FABs contained , 25 CFU/25 ml microorganisms. Unexpectedly, neither
      microbial diversity nor microbial count correlated with the alcohol content (4.7
      to 14.1%) or pH (3.4 to 4.2) of the product. Despite the harsh conditions,
      coliforms (detected in 23.8% of microbrewed beer samples) and B. cereus (detected
      in all FABs) were present in some products. B. cereus was detected most
      frequently in microbrewed beer (54.8% of samples) and nonpasteurized yakju
      (50.0%), followed by pasteurized yakju (28.8%), refined rice wine (25.0%), other
      fruit wines (12.3%), grape wine (8.6%), draft beer (5.6%), and pasteurized beer
      (2.2%) (P < 0.05). The finding that spore-forming B. cereus and coliform bacteria
      can survive the harsh conditions present in alcoholic beverages should be taken
      into account (alongside traditional quality indicators such as the presence of
      lactic acid-producing bacteria, acetic acid-producing bacteria, or both) when
      developing manufacturing systems and methods to prolong the shelf life of high
      quality FAB products. New strategic quality management plans for various FABs are
      needed. 

PMID- 25836411
TI  - Growth Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, and Escherichia
      coli O157:H7 by D-tryptophan as an incompatible solute.
AB  - Under osmotic stress, bacterial cells uptake compatible solutes such as glycine
      betaine to maintain homeostasis. It is unknown whether incompatible solutes exist
      that are similar in structure to compatible solutes but have adverse
      physiological effects on bacterial physiology. The objective of this study was to
      evaluate solute incompatibility of various amino acids against bacterial growth.
      Bacterial growth was evaluated by changes in optical density at 595 nm in peptone
      yeast-glucose (PYG) broth. Twenty-three amino acids with L and/or D isomers were
      examined for the effect of bacterial growth inhibition. Among the various amino
      acids examined, D-tryptophan (~ 40 mM) in PYG broth supplemented with 0 to 4%
      (wt/vol) salt inhibited the growth of Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella
      enterica, and Escherichia coli O157:H7 at 25  degrees C. D-Tryptophan (30 to 40
      mM) completely inhibited the growth of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in the
      presence of >3% salt, but the growth of L. monocytogenes was not completely
      inhibited under the same conditions. Low concentrations of salt (0 to 2% NaCl)
      with D-tryptophan did not significantly inhibit the growth of all bacteria except
      L. monocytogenes, which was relatively inhibited at 0% NaCl. The effect of D
      tryptophan differed depending on the bacterial species, illustrating the
      difference between gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. These results
      indicate that the uptake of D-tryptophan as a compatible solute during osmotic
      stress may inhibit bacterial growth. The antibacterial effect of D-tryptophan
      found in this study suggests that D-tryptophan could be used as a novel
      preservative for controlling bacterial growth in foods.

PMID- 25836412
TI  - Aerobic plate counts and ATP levels correlate with Listeria monocytogenes
      detection in retail delis.
AB  - Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that causes an estimated 1,591
      cases of illness and 255 deaths annually in the United States, the majority of
      which are attributed to ready-to-eat deli meats processed in retail delis.
      Because retail delis distribute product directly to consumers, rapid methods to
      validate cleaning and sanitation are needed to improve retail food safety. This
      study investigated the relationships among ATP levels, standard aerobic plate
      count (APC), and L. monocytogenes presence in fully operational delis. Fifteen
      full-service delis were concurrently sampled for ATP, APC, and L. monocytogenes
      during preoperational hours once monthly for 3 months. Fifteen additional delis
      were recruited for 6 months of operational sampling (n = 30). A 1-log increase in
      APC was equivalent to a 3.3-fold increase in the odds of detecting L.
      monocytogenes (P < 0.001) and a 1.9-log increase in L monocytogenes population (P
      = 0.03). An ATP level increase of 1 log relative light unit correlated to a 0.22
      log increase in APC (P < 0.001). A preoperational ATP level mean increase by 1
      log relative light unit increased the odds of detecting L. monocytogenes
      concurrently fourfold. A 0.5-log increase in mean ATP level during preoperational
      sampling corresponded to a 2% increase in the predicted L. monocytogenes
      prevalence during operation (P < 0.01). Additionally, 10 statistically
      representative sites were identified and recommended for use in sanitation
      monitoring programs. Our data support the use of ATP as a rapid method to
      validate effective cleaning and sanitation to reduce L. monocytogenes in retail
      delis. 

PMID- 25836413
TI  - Effect of extrinsic factors on the production of guaiacol by Alicyclobacillus
      spp.
AB  - Alicyclobacillus spp. is of significance to the fruit juice industry due to the
      production of guaiacol. Studies on Alicyclobacillus regarding guaiacol focus
      mainly on novel ways to detect guaiacol or evaluate guaiacol-producing potential
      of isolated Alicyclobacillus. Basic studies on factors that induce or affect the
      production of guaiacol and the conversion pathway of vanillic acid to guaiacol
      are not available. The goal of this study was to evaluate how extrinsic factors
      can affect the production of guaiacol by Alicyclobacillu s isolates. Guaiacol
      producing Alicyclobacillus isolates 1016 and 1101 were used in this study and the
      effects of temperature (25 to 55  degrees C), pH (3.0 to 5.5), and oxygen
      concentration on guaiacol production in laboratory media was investigated.
      Maximum production of guaiacol by isolate 1016 was detected within 9 h when
      incubated at 43  degrees C, pH 4.0, under microaerophilic conditions. Isolate
      1101 produced detectable amounts of guaiacol within 8 h at pH 5.0. However,
      maximum guaiacol production was achieved within 14 h by isolate 1101 when
      incubated at 50  degrees C. Our results indicate that the production of guaiacol,
      contrary to common belief, is a rapid reaction under desirable conditions
      specific to each isolate. The results of this study can be useful for developing
      rapid guaiacol monitoring methods for Alicyclobacillus-related spoilage or be
      applied to more detailed enzyme-related studies.

PMID- 25836414
TI  - Occurrence of ochratoxin a contamination and detection of ochratoxigenic
      Aspergillus species in retail samples of dried fruits and nuts.
AB  - Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin produced by several species of Aspergillus and
      Penicillium and is a potential contaminant of a wide variety of food products. To
      determine the incidence of OTA contamination in dried fruits and tree nuts,
      retail packaged and bulk raisins, dates, figs, prunes, almonds, pistachios, and
      walnuts were collected from small and large supermarkets in seven areas of the
      United States between 2012 and 2014. Of the 665 samples analyzed, OTA was
      detected in 48 raisin samples, 4 fig samples, 4 pistachio samples, and 1 date
      sample. OTA contamination levels ranged from 0.28 to 15.34 ng/g in dried fruits
      and 1.87 to 890 ng/g in pistachios; two raisin samples and one pistachio sample
      exceeded the European Union regulatory limit of 10 ng/g. PCR detection of
      potential OTA-producing Aspergillus species revealed the presence of A. niger, A.
      welwitschiae, and A. carbonarius in 20, 7, and 7 of the 57 OTA-contaminated
      samples, respectively. However, OTA-producing A. carbonarius was isolated from
      only one raisin sample, and no other OTA-producing Aspergillus species were
      found. These results suggest that raisins are more frequently contaminated with
      low levels of OTA than are other dried fruits and nuts and that Aspergillus
      species are the likely source of that contamination. 

PMID- 25836415
TI  - Composition, diffusion, and antifungal activity of black mustard (Brassica nigra)
      essential oil when applied by direct addition or vapor phase contact.
AB  - In this study, we characterized the essential oil (EO) of black mustard (Brassica
      nigra) and quantified its antimicrobial activity, when applied by direct contact
      into the liquid medium or by exposure in the vapor phase (in laboratory media or
      in a bread-type product), against the growth of Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus
      ochraceus, or Penicillium citrinum. Allyl-isothiocyanate (AITC) was identified as
      the major component of B. nigra EO with a concentration of 378.35 mg/ml. When B.
      nigra EO was applied by direct contact into the liquid medium, it inhibited the
      growth of A. ochraceus and P. citrinum when the concentration was 2 MUl/ml of
      liquid medium (MIC), while for A. niger, a MIC of B. nigra EO was 4 MUl/ml of
      liquid medium. Exposure of molds to B. nigra EO in vapor phase showed that 41.1
      MUl of B. nigra EO per liter of air delayed the growth of P. citrinum and A.
      niger by 10 days, while A. ochraceus growth was delayed for 20 days. Exposure to
      concentrations >= 47 MUl of B. nigra EO per liter of air (MIC) inhibited the
      growth of tested molds by 30 days, and they were not able to recover after
      further incubation into an environment free of EO (fungicidal effect). Adsorbed
      AITC was quantified by exposing potato dextrose agar to B. nigra EO in a vapor
      phase, exhibiting that AITC was retained at least 5 days when testing EO at its
      MIC or with higher concentrations. Mustard EO MIC was also effective against the
      evaluated molds inhibiting their growth for 30 days in a bread-type product when
      exposed to EO by vapor contact, demonstrating its antifungal activity.

PMID- 25836416
TI  - Associations between weather and microbial load on fresh produce prior to
      harvest.
AB  - Contaminated produce causes approximately 1 million cases of foodborne illness
      and 1 billion dollars in damages to the U.S. economy annually. The environmental
      conditions, especially weather, that influence the inoculation, proliferation,
      and dispersal of microbial load on produce are not well understood. Using a mixed
      models approach, we examined the relationship of temperature and precipitation to
      microbial indicators of contamination on fresh produce on the farm over a week
      long period prior to harvest. Between 2000 and 2002, we assayed for four
      microbial indicators of contamination (aerobic plate count, Enterococcus, total
      coliforms, and Escherichia coli) on 10 produce types in 15 fields in the southern
      United States. The sample collection times varied, with most occurring between
      January and May. We collected hourly weather data for the corresponding time
      period and location. Our results indicated that there was a significant
      association between the average daily temperature (20 degrees C) and both log
      aerobic plate count (e.g., an increase of 0.074 log CFU/g [standard error {SE},
      0.023] per  degrees C increase in weekly average temperature) and log
      Enterococcus (e.g., an increase of 0.15 log CFU/g [SE, 0.031] per  degrees C
      increase in weekly average temperature) for approximately 5 days prior to sample
      collection. Daily total precipitation was significantly associated with log
      coliforms on 2 days (~0.11 log CFU/g [SE, 0.06] per mm of precipitation) during
      the week-long lag period prior to harvest. Our results suggest that microbial
      indicator concentrations may increase as the temperature increases. Precipitation
      may have a positive but complex relationship with microbial indicators, as
      precipitation may create moist conditions conducive to bacterial growth, spread
      contamination onto the field, or wash contamination off of the plant. 

PMID- 25836417
TI  - Rapid detection of Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens in kefir grain and kefir milk
      using newly developed real-time PCR.
AB  - Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens is an indicator microorganism for kefir and a key
      factor in kefir grain formation and kefiran production. We designed a novel real
      time PCR primer and probe set, LKF_KU504, for the rapid detection of L.
      kefiranofaciens. In inclusivity and exclusivity tests, only 14 L. kefiranofaciens
      strains were positive among 61 microorganisms, indicating 100 % sensitivity and
      specificity. The LKF_KU504 set also differentiated kefir milk from 30 commercial
      nonkefir yogurts. The levels of L. kefiranofaciens in kefir grain and kefir milk
      were significantly different, indicating L. kefiranofaciens was more concentrated
      in kefir grain than in kefir milk. 

PMID- 25836418
TI  - BAFF receptors and ligands create independent homeostatic niches for B cell
      subsets.
AB  - The BAFF family of receptors and ligands controls B cell homeostasis and
      selection. Recent studies reveal distinct sources and roles for systemic versus
      locally produced BAFF. Moreover, the notion that differential BAFF receptor
      expression patterns establish independent homeostatic and selective niches has
      been strengthened. Finally, unique roles for BAFF family members in the
      regulation of antigen experienced and innate B cell subsets have been revealed.
      Herein, we overview current knowledge in these areas, emphasizing recent findings
      that inform these ideas. 

PMID- 25836419
TI  - Mitochondrial iron and energetic dysfunction distinguish fibroblasts and induced
      neurons from pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration patients.
AB  - Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration is an early onset autosomal
      recessive movement disorder caused by mutation of the pantothenate kinase-2 gene,
      which encodes a mitochondrial enzyme involved in coenzyme A synthesis. The
      disorder is characterised by high iron levels in the brain, although the
      pathological mechanism leading to this accumulation is unknown. To address this
      question, we tested primary skin fibroblasts from three patients and three
      healthy subjects, as well as neurons induced by direct fibroblast reprogramming,
      for oxidative status, mitochondrial functionality and iron parameters. The
      patients' fibroblasts showed altered oxidative status, reduced antioxidant
      defence, and impaired cytosolic and mitochondrial aconitase activities compared
      to control cells. Mitochondrial iron homeostasis and functionality analysis of
      patient fibroblasts indicated increased labile iron pool content and reactive
      oxygen species development, altered mitochondrial shape, decreased membrane
      potential and reduced ATP levels. Furthermore, analysis of induced neurons,
      performed at a single cell level, confirmed some of the results obtained in
      fibroblasts, indicating an altered oxidative status and signs of mitochondrial
      dysfunction, possibly due to iron mishandling. Thus, for the first time, altered
      biological processes have been identified in vitro in live diseased neurons.
      Moreover, the obtained induced neurons can be considered a suitable human
      neuronal model for the identification of candidate therapeutic compounds for this
      disease. 

PMID- 25836423
TI  - Experimental observation of aberration cancellation in entangled two-photon
      beams.
AB  - In this work we show that using two-photon correlation imaging and a suitably
      prepared source of photon pairs, antisymmetric optical aberrations of an imaging
      system can be cancelled out. The conditions under which this cancellation takes
      place are discussed. 

PMID- 25836422
TI  - Targeting P(2)X(7) receptor for the treatment of central post-stroke pain in a
      rodent model.
AB  - Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in industrialized countries.
      Approximately 8-14% of stroke survivors suffer from central post-stroke pain
      (CPSP) when hemorrhagic stroke occurs in lateral thalamic regions, which severely
      affects their quality of life. Because the mechanisms of CPSP are not well
      understood, effective treatments have not been developed. In the present study,
      we tested the hypothesis that persistent CPSP is caused by P(2)X(7)receptor
      activation after brain tissue damage and subsequent elevations in inflammatory
      cytokines. A thalamic hemorrhagic rat model was used, characterized by thermal
      and mechanical allodynia that develops in the subacute to chronic phases upon
      CPSP onset. We found a significant increase in P(2)X(7) expression in reactive
      microglia/macrophages in thalamic peri-lesion tissues at 5 weeks post-hemorrhage.
      Thalamic P(2)X(7) receptors were directly involved in pain transmission and
      hypersensitivity. The systemic targeting of P(2)X(7) receptors during the acute
      stage of hemorrhage rescued abnormal pain behaviors and neuronal activity in the
      thalamocingulate pathway by reducing reactive microglia/macrophage aggregation
      and associated inflammatory cytokines. After CPSP onset, the targeting of
      interleukin-1beta reversed abnormal pain sensitivity. The aberrant spontaneous
      thalamocortical oscillations in rats with CPSP were modulated by blocking
      P(2)X(7) receptors. Taken together, our results suggest that targeting P(2)X(7)
      may be bi-effective in the treatment of CPSP, as both a pain blocker and
      immunosuppressant that inhibits inflammatory damage to brain tissue.
      P(2)X(7)receptors may serve as a potential target to prevent the occurrence of
      CPSP and may be beneficial for the recovery of patients from stroke.

PMID- 25836424
TI  - Biaxial crystal alpha-BaTeMo(2)O(9): theory study of large birefringence and wide
      band polarized prisms design.
AB  - alpha-BaTeMo(2)O(9) is a novel biaxial crystal with wide-band transmittance
      spectrum. The refractive index dispersion curves and birefringence of the alpha
      BaTeMo(2)O(9) crystal were obtained in spectral range of 0.4~5 MUm. The origin of
      the birefringence for the crystal has been calculated and interpreted on the
      basis of the crystal structure combined with theoretical studies. The polarized
      directions and formulations of refractive index of optical waves in biaxial alpha
      BaTeMo(2)O(9) were investigated by solving the refractive index ellipsoid
      equations. Furthermore, polarized prisms based on the alpha-BaTeMo(2)O(9) crystal
      used in spectral ranges of 0.4~2.7 MUm and 0.48~4.5 MUm were designed and
      characterized. The extinction ratios of both prisms were determined to be larger
      than 10000:1, which would satisfy the practical requirements. The impacts on
      extinction ratio for biaxial and uniaxial crystals were also discussed. To our
      knowledge, it is the first report about biaxial crystals for the polarized
      prisms, and the results show that the alpha-BaTeMo(2)O(9) crystal is a promising
      material for polarized optical components, especially in the range of 3~5 MUm.

PMID- 25836421
TI  - Albumin induces excitatory synaptogenesis through astrocytic TGF-beta/ALK5
      signaling in a model of acquired epilepsy following blood-brain barrier
      dysfunction.
AB  - Post-injury epilepsy (PIE) is a common complication following brain insults,
      including ischemic, and traumatic brain injuries. At present, there are no means
      to identify the patients at risk to develop PIE or to prevent its development.
      Seizures can occur months or years after the insult, do not respond to anti
      seizure medications in over third of the patients, and are often associated with
      significant neuropsychiatric morbidities. We have previously established the
      critical role of blood-brain barrier dysfunction in PIE, demonstrating that
      exposure of brain tissue to extravasated serum albumin induces activation of
      inflammatory transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) signaling in astrocytes
      and eventually seizures. However, the link between the acute astrocytic
      inflammatory responses and reorganization of neural networks that underlie
      recurrent spontaneous seizures remains unknown. Here we demonstrate in vitro and
      in vivo that activation of the astrocytic ALK5/TGF-beta-pathway induces
      excitatory, but not inhibitory, synaptogenesis that precedes the appearance of
      seizures. Moreover, we show that treatment with SJN2511, a specific ALK5/TGF-beta
      inhibitor, prevents synaptogenesis and epilepsy. Our findings point to astrocyte
      mediated synaptogenesis as a key epileptogenic process and highlight the
      manipulation of the TGF-beta-pathway as a potential strategy for the prevention
      of PIE. 

PMID- 25836420
TI  - Progressive dopaminergic alterations and mitochondrial abnormalities in LRRK2
      G2019S knock-in mice.
AB  - Mutations in the LRRK2 gene represent the most common genetic cause of late onset
      Parkinson's disease. The physiological and pathological roles of LRRK2 are yet to
      be fully determined but evidence points towards LRRK2 mutations causing a gain in
      kinase function, impacting on neuronal maintenance, vesicular dynamics and
      neurotransmitter release. To explore the role of physiological levels of mutant
      LRRK2, we created knock-in (KI) mice harboring the most common LRRK2 mutation
      G2019S in their own genome. We have performed comprehensive dopaminergic,
      behavioral and neuropathological analyses in this model up to 24months of age. We
      find elevated kinase activity in the brain of both heterozygous and homozygous
      mice. Although normal at 6months, by 12months of age, basal and pharmacologically
      induced extracellular release of dopamine is impaired in both heterozygous and
      homozygous mice, corroborating previous findings in transgenic models over
      expressing mutant LRRK2. Via in vivo microdialysis measurement of basal and drug
      evoked extracellular release of dopamine and its metabolites, our findings
      indicate that exocytotic release from the vesicular pool is impaired.
      Furthermore, profound mitochondrial abnormalities are evident in the striatum of
      older homozygous G2019S KI mice, which are consistent with mitochondrial fission
      arrest. We anticipate that this G2019S mouse line will be a useful pre-clinical
      model for further evaluation of early mechanistic events in LRRK2 pathogenesis
      and for second-hit approaches to model disease progression. 

PMID- 25836425
TI  - Dual broadband metamaterial absorber.
AB  - We propose polarization-independent and dual-broadband metamaterial absorbers at
      microwave frequencies. This is a periodic meta-atom array consisting of metal
      dielectric-multilayer truncated cones. We demonstrate not only one broadband
      absorption from the fundamental magnetic resonances but additional broadband
      absorption in high-frequency range using the third-harmonic resonance, by both
      simulation and experiment. In simulation, the absorption was over 90% in 3.93
      6.05 GHz, and 11.64-14.55 GHz. The corresponding experimental absorption bands
      over 90% were 3.88-6.08 GHz, 9.95-10.46 GHz and 11.86-13.84 GHz, respectively.
      The origin of absorption bands was elucidated. Furthermore, it is independent of
      polarization angle owing to the multilayered circular structures. The design is
      scalable to smaller size for the infrared and the visible ranges. 

PMID- 25836426
TI  - Modulation instability in amplitude modulated dispersion oscillating fibers.
AB  - We investigate theoretically and experimentally the modulation instability
      process in a dispersion oscillating fiber characterized by an amplitude
      modulation of its group velocity dispersion. We developed an analytical model
      that allows us to calculate the parametric gain in these fibers and to predict
      the position of the quasi-phase matched modulation instability sidelobes. The two
      fundamental frequencies characterizing the dispersion profile lead to the
      splitting of the original multiple sidelobes generated in basic sinusoidally
      varying dispersion oscillating fibers. These theoretical predictions are
      confirmed by experiments. 

PMID- 25836427
TI  - Gain-guided index-antiguided fiber with a Fabry-Perot layer for large mode area
      laser amplifiers.
AB  - We propose a modified gain-guided index-antiguided (GGIAG) fiber structure for
      large mode area laser amplifiers, in which a thin dielectric layer is placed
      between the low-index core and the high-index cladding. The introduced dielectric
      layer functions as a Fabry-Perot etalon. By letting the resonant wavelength of
      the Fabry-Perot layer coincide with the signal wavelength, the signal is gain
      guided in the fiber core. Moreover, the pump is confined in the low-index core
      owing to the antiresonant reflection originated from the Fabry-Perot layer.
      Numerical results indicate that the leakage loss of the pump can be minified over
      two orders of magnitude in the proposed structure, and thus the end-pumping
      efficiency could be enhanced significantly. 

PMID- 25836428
TI  - Performance analysis of an all-optical OFDM system in presence of non-linear
      phase noise.
AB  - The potential for higher spectral efficiency has increased the interest in all
      optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. However, the
      sensitivity of all-optical OFDM to fiber non-linearity, which causes nonlinear
      phase noise, is still a major concern. In this paper, an analytical model for
      estimating the phase noise due to self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-phase
      modulation (XPM), and four-wave mixing (FWM) in an all-optical OFDM system is
      presented. The phase noise versus power, distance, and number of subcarriers is
      evaluated by implementing the mathematical model using Matlab. In order to verify
      the results, an all-optical OFDM system, that uses coupler-based inverse fast
      Fourier transform/fast Fourier transform without any nonlinear compensation, is
      demonstrated by numerical simulation. The system employs 29 subcarriers; each
      subcarrier is modulated by a 4-QAM or 16-QAM format with a symbol rate of 25
      Gsymbol/s. The results indicate that the phase variance due to FWM is dominant
      over those induced by either SPM or XPM. It is also shown that the minimum phase
      noise occurs at -3 dBm and -1 dBm for 4-QAM and 16-QAM, respectively. Finally,
      the error vector magnitude (EVM) versus subcarrier power and symbol rate is
      quantified using both simulation and the analytical model. It turns out that both
      EVM results are in good agreement with each other. 

PMID- 25836429
TI  - Fully computed holographic stereogram based algorithm for computer-generated
      holograms with accurate depth cues.
AB  - We propose an algorithm based on fully computed holographic stereogram for
      calculating full-parallax computer-generated holograms (CGHs) with accurate depth
      cues. The proposed method integrates point source algorithm and holographic
      stereogram based algorithm to reconstruct the three-dimensional (3D) scenes.
      Precise accommodation cue and occlusion effect can be created, and computer
      graphics rendering techniques can be employed in the CGH generation to enhance
      the image fidelity. Optical experiments have been performed using a spatial light
      modulator (SLM) and a fabricated high-resolution hologram, the results show that
      our proposed algorithm can perform quality reconstructions of 3D scenes with
      arbitrary depth information. 

PMID- 25836430
TI  - Linear compression of chirped pulses in optical fibre with large step-index mode
      area.
AB  - The possibilities and limitations of linear compression of positively chirped
      pulses in the negative-dispersion region of a step-index large mode-area single
      mode optical fibre are investigated for the first time. Analytical formulae for
      critical values of radiation power are found, below which pedestal-free pulse
      compression is possible down to the Fourier limit. It is demonstrated that at
      radiation powers exceeding these critical values, there exists an optimal
      compressing fibre length, over which laser pulses reach the minimum of the time
      bandwidth product, and beyond which irreversible pulse deformation occurs. The
      modelling results agree well with the experimental data. 

PMID- 25836431
TI  - Enhanced emission of 2.86 MUm from diode-pumped Ho(3+)/Yb(3+)-codoped PbF(2)
      crystal.
AB  - A novel Ho(3+)Yb(3+)-codoped PbF(2) mid-IR laser crystal was successfully grown
      and analyzed. Enhanced emission at 2.86 MUm was observed from the crystal under
      excitation of a common 970 nm laser diode for the first time. The effect of
      Yb(3+) codoping on the 2.86 MUm photoluminescence of Ho(3+) was investigated. In
      comparison to Ho(3+)-singly doped PbF(2) crystal, the Ho(3+)/Yb(3+)-codoped
      PbF(2) crystal possessed comparable quantum efficiency (88.8%), and fluorescence
      branching ratio (20.52%) along with a larger calculated emission cross section
      (1.90*10(-20) cm(2)) corresponding to the laser transition (5)I(6)->(5)I(7) of
      Ho(3+). It was found that the introduced Yb(3+) enhanced the 2.86 MUm emission by
      depopulating the Ho(3+):(5)I(7) level. The energy transfer (ET) efficiency from
      Yb(3+):(2)F(5/2) to Ho(3+):(5)I(6) is as high as 96.7%, indicating that Yb(3+)
      ion is an effective sensitizer for Ho(3+) ion in PbF(2) crystal. These results
      suggest that Ho(3+)/Yb(3+)-codoped PbF(2) crystal may become an attractive host
      for developing solid state lasers at around 2.86 MUm under a conventional 970 nm
      LD pump.

PMID- 25836432
TI  - Metasurfaces based dual wavelength diffractive lenses.
AB  - We demonstrate experimentally and by simulations a method for using thin
      nanostructured plasmonic metasurfaces to design diffractive Fresnel zone plate
      lenses that focus pairs of wavelengths to a single focal point. The metasurfaces
      are made of tightly packed cross and rod shaped optical nanoantennas with strong
      polarization and wavelength selectivity. This selectivity allows multiplexing two
      different lenses with low spectral crosstalk on the same substrate and to address
      any superposition of the two colors at the focus of the lenses by controlling the
      polarization of light. This concept can open the door to use ultrathin
      diffractive lenses in fluorescence microscopy and in stimulated emission
      depletion microscopy. 

PMID- 25836433
TI  - Design of ultra-compact triplexer with function-expansion based topology
      optimization.
AB  - In this paper, in order to optimize wavelength selective photonic devices using
      the function-expansion-based topology optimization method, several expansion
      functions are considered and the influence on the optimized structure based on
      each expansion function was investigated. Although the Fourier series is
      conventionally used in the function-expansion-based method, the optimized
      structure sometimes has a complicated refractive index distribution. Therefore,
      we employed a sampling function and a pyramid function to obtain a simpler
      structure through the optimal design. A triplexer was designed by using our
      method, and the comparison between the optimized structures based on the three
      expansion functions was also discussed in detail. 

PMID- 25836434
TI  - Raman shift and strain effect in high-Q photonic crystal silicon nanocavity.
AB  - We have precisely measured the Raman shift of photonic crystal silicon
      heterostructure nanocavities for Raman laser applications. We utilized a near
      infrared excitation laser of wavelength 1.42 MUm in order to avoid local sample
      heating and exploited two high-Q nanocavity modes to calibrate the Raman
      frequency. The measured Raman shift was 15.606 THz (520.71 cm(-1)) with a small
      uncertainty of 1.0 * 10(-3) THz. In addition, we investigated the compressive
      stress generated in a photonic crystal slab in which a ~5.1 * 10(-3) THz blue
      shift of the Raman peak and a slight warpage of the slab were observed. We also
      demonstrated that the stress could be eliminated by using a cantilever structure.

PMID- 25836435
TI  - Efficient silicon polarization rotator based on mode-hybridization in a double
      stair waveguide.
AB  - We present a compact silicon polarization rotator (PR) based on mode
      hybridization by breaking the cross-sectional symmetry of a double-stair
      waveguide. The device fabrication is fully compatible with the commonly used
      silicon photonics processes with no extra masks required. The dependence of
      device performance on the double-stair waveguide dimensions is investigated using
      FDTD simulations. Characterizations of the fabricated devices reveal that the 23
      MUm-long PR exhibits a polarization extinction ratio (PER) of >17 dB in the
      wavelength range of 1500-1540 nm. The maximum PER exceeds 30 dB at 1518 nm. 

PMID- 25836436
TI  - Plasmon enhanced Raman scattering effect for an atom near a carbon nanotube.
AB  - Quantum electrodynamics theory of the resonance Raman scattering is developed for
      an atom in a close proximity to a carbon nanotube. The theory predicts a dramatic
      enhancement of the Raman intensity in the strong atomic coupling regime to
      nanotube plasmon near-fields. This resonance scattering is a manifestation of the
      general electromagnetic surface enhanced Raman scattering effect, and can be used
      in designing efficient nanotube based optical sensing substrates for single atom
      detection, precision spontaneous emission control, and manipulation. 

PMID- 25836437
TI  - Generation of hyper-entanglement on polarization and energy-time based on a
      silicon micro-ring cavity.
AB  - In this paper, hyper-entanglement on polarization and energy-time is generated
      based on a silicon micro-ring cavity. The silicon micro-ring cavity is placed in
      a fiber loop connected by a polarization beam splitter. Photon pairs are
      generated by the spontaneous four wave mixing (SFWM) in the cavity bi
      directionally. The two photon states of photon pairs propagate along the two
      directions of the fiber loop and are superposed in the polarization beam splitter
      with orthogonal polarizations, leading to the polarization entanglement
      generation. On the other hand, the energy-time entanglement is an intrinsic
      property of photon pairs generated by the SFWM, which maintains in the process of
      the state superposition. The property of polarization entanglement is
      demonstrated by the two photon interferences under two non-orthogonal
      polarization bases. The property of energy-time entanglement is demonstrated by
      the Franson type interference under two non-orthogonal phase bases. The raw
      visibilities of all the measured interference fringes are higher than 1/2, the
      bench mark for violation of the Bell inequality. It indicates that silicon micro
      ring cavity is a promising candidate to realize high performance hyper
      entanglement generation. 

PMID- 25836438
TI  - Modeling of surface plasmon resonance in metalized optical waveguides with low V
      number by eigenmode expansion method.
AB  - The paper reports on the numerical study of surface plasmon resonance excitation
      in a bent metal-coated single mode optical fiber with a low V-number. It was
      shown that by choosing a proper combination of normalized frequency, bend radius,
      and metal film thickness one can achieve strong coupling between the fundamental
      mode guided by the fiber core, and symmetric surface plasmon mode supported by
      the metal layer applied to the fiber cladding. The effect is demonstrated to
      allow precision refractive index measurement, with spectral sensitivity and
      resolution estimated at 70 MUm/refractive index unit and 3?10(-7), respectively.

PMID- 25836439
TI  - Adaptive state observer and PD control for dynamic perturbations in optical
      systems.
AB  - High-performance objectives pose strict limitations on residual errors present in
      the system. External mechanical influences can induce structural vibrations in
      the optical system which causes a displacement of the lenses present in the
      system. This will influence the imaging performance, causing degraded images or
      broadened structures in a lithographic processes. In this paper an adaptive state
      observer for the detection of structural vibrations of the optical elements of an
      imaging system based on a series of wavefront tilt measurements is introduced.
      The observer output is used as an input for a closed-loop PD control to mitigate
      the lens displacements directly. 

PMID- 25836440
TI  - Optical sideband generation up to room temperature with mid-infrared quantum
      cascade lasers.
AB  - Mid-infrared (MIR) sideband generation on a near infrared (NIR) optical carrier
      is demonstrated within a quantum cascade laser (QCL). By employing an externally
      injected NIR beam, E(NIR), that is resonant with the interband transitions of the
      quantum wells in the QCL, the nonlinear susceptibility is enhanced, leading to
      both frequency mixing and sideband generation. A GaAs-based MIR QCL (E(QCL) = 135
      meV) with an aluminum-reinforced waveguide was utilized to overlap the NIR and
      MIR modes with the optical nonlinearity of the active region. The resulting
      difference sideband (E(NIR) - E(QCL)) shows a resonant behavior as a function of
      NIR pump wavelength and a maximum second order nonlinear susceptibility,
      chi((2)), of ~1 nm/V was obtained. Further, the sideband intensity showed little
      dependence with the operating temperature of the QCL, allowing sideband
      generation to be realized at room temperature.

PMID- 25836441
TI  - High performance computing for a 3-D optical diffraction tomographic application
      in fluid velocimetry.
AB  - Optical Diffraction Tomography has been recently introduced in fluid velocimetry
      to provide three dimensional information of seeding particle locations. In
      general, image reconstruction methods at visible wavelengths have to account for
      diffraction. Linear approximation has been used for three-dimensional image
      reconstruction, but a non-linear and iterative reconstruction method is required
      when multiple scattering is not negligible. Non-linear methods require the
      solution of the Helmholtz equation, computationally highly demanding due to the
      size of the problem. The present work shows the results of a non-linear method
      customized for spherical particle location using GPU computing and a made-to
      measure storing format. 

PMID- 25836442
TI  - Fully programmable spectrum sliced chirped microwave photonic filter.
AB  - A novel chirped microwave photonic filter (MPF) capable of achieving a large
      radio frequency (RF) group delay slope and a single passband response free from
      high frequency fading is presented. The design is based upon a Fourier domain
      optical processor (FD-OP) and a single sideband modulator. The FD-OP is utilized
      to generate both constant time delay to tune the filter and first order
      dispersion to induce the RF chirp, enabling full software control of the MPF
      without the need for manual adjustment. An optimized optical parameter region
      based on a large optical bandwidth >750 GHz and low slicing dispersion < +/- 1
      ps/nm is introduced, with this technique greatly improving the RF properties
      including the group delay slope magnitude and passband noise. Experimental
      results confirm that the structure simultaneously achieves a large in-band RF
      chirp of -4.2 ns/GHz, centre frequency invariant tuning and independent
      reconfiguration of the RF amplitude and phase response. Finally, a stochastic
      study of the device passband noise performance under tuning and reconfiguration
      is presented, indicating a low passband noise <-120 dB/Hz. 

PMID- 25836444
TI  - Improvement of light extraction in organic light-emitting diodes using a
      corrugated microcavity.
AB  - Based on the phase separation effect in the film formation process of Polystyrene
      and Poly(methyl methacrylate) blend solution, bottom-emitting organic light
      emitting diodes (OLEDs) with corrugated microcavity was demonstrated. This device
      exhibited high efficiency, broad spectra and Lambertian angular emission.
      Compared with the traditional bottom-emitting OLEDs with ITO anode and the planar
      microcavity OLEDs, about 57% and 41% enhancement for external quantum efficiency
      was achieved in this corrugated microcavity OLEDs respectively. This improvement
      can be understood by the scattering effect of the quasi-periodic characteristic
      of this corrugated microcavity which reduces the optical loss at surface plasmon
      polariton modes and wave-guided modes. This work provides a simple as well as
      efficienct method to recover trapped light in OLEDs, which will benefit the low
      cost fabrication process. 

PMID- 25836445
TI  - Absolute optical thickness measurement of transparent plate using excess fraction
      method and wavelength-tuning Fizeau interferometer.
AB  - The absolute optical thickness of a transparent plate 6-mm thick and 10 mm in
      diameter was measured by the excess fraction method and a wavelength-tuning
      Fizeau interferometer. The optical thickness, defined by the group refractive
      index at the central wavelength, was measured by wavelength scanning. The optical
      thickness deviation, defined by the ordinary refractive index, was measured using
      the phase-shifting technique. Two kinds of optical thicknesses, measured by
      discrete Fourier analysis and the phase-shifting technique, were synthesized to
      obtain the optical thickness with respect to the ordinary refractive index using
      Sellmeier equation and least-square fitting. 

PMID- 25836443
TI  - Wigner analysis of three dimensional pupil with finite lateral aperture.
AB  - A three dimensional (3D) pupil is an optical element, most commonly implemented
      on a volume hologram, that processes the incident optical field on a 3D fashion.
      Here we analyze the diffraction properties of a 3D pupil with finite lateral
      aperture in the 4-f imaging system configuration, using the Wigner Distribution
      Function (WDF) formulation. Since 3D imaging pupil is finite in both lateral and
      longitudinal directions, the WDF of the volume holographic 4-f imager
      theoretically predicts distinct Bragg diffraction patterns in phase space. These
      result in asymmetric profiles of diffracted coherent point spread function
      between degenerate diffraction and Bragg diffraction, elucidating the fundamental
      performance of volume holographic imaging. Experimental measurements are also
      presented, confirming the theoretical predictions. 

PMID- 25836446
TI  - Gigashot optical degradation in silica optics at 351 nm.
AB  - As applications of lasers demand higher average powers, higher repetition rates,
      and longer operation times, optics will need to perform well under unprecedented
      conditions. We investigate the optical degradation of fused silica surfaces at
      351 nm for up to 10(9) pulses with pulse fluences up to 12 J/cm(2). The central
      result is that the transmission loss from defect generation is a function of the
      pulse intensity, I(p), and total integrated fluence, phi(T), and is influenced by
      oxygen partial pressure. In 10(-6) Torr vacuum, at low I(p), a transmission loss
      is observed that increases monotonically as a function of number of pulses. As
      the pulse intensity increases above 13 MW/cm(2), the observed transmission losses
      decrease, and are not measureable for 130 MW/cm(2). A physical model which
      supports the experimental data is presented to describe the suppression of
      transmission loss at high pulse intensity. Similar phenomena are observed in anti
      reflective sol-gel coated optics. Absorption, not scattering, is the primary
      mechanism leading to transmission loss. In 2.5 Torr air, no transmission loss was
      detected under any pulse intensity used. We find that the absorption layer that
      leads to transmission loss is less than 1 nm in thickness, and results from a
      laser-activated chemical process involving photo-reduction of silica within a few
      monolayers of the surface. The competition between photo-reduction and photo
      oxidation explains the measured data: transmission loss is reduced when either
      the light intensity or the O(2) concentration is high. We expect processes
      similar to these to occur in other optical materials for high average power
      applications.

PMID- 25836447
TI  - Ultrafast tunable chirped phase-change metamaterial with a low power.
AB  - We numerically demonstrate an all-optical tunable dual-band double negative (DNG)
      index chirped metamaterial (MM) in the mid-infrared (M-IR) region. This MM
      possesses an ultrafast and significant tunability under low pump light power,
      realized by combining phase change material (PCM). It has a configuration of
      elliptical nanohole array (ENA) penetrating through metal/PCM/metal (Au
      Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5)-Au) films. Here, we consider the case when the chirp is
      introduced by displacing the positions of the ENA along the short axis of the
      elliptical apertures inside the primitive cell, which can achieve multiple
      internal surface-plasmon polariton (SPP) modes at the inner metal-dielectric
      interfaces of the structure and thus providing a dual-band negative index with
      simultaneous negative permittivity and permeability. The influence of amorphous
      and crystalline states of Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) on the effective optical parameters of
      the structure is analyzed. Switching between these states provides a large
      wavelength shift of the structure's effective optical parameters. A photothermal
      model is used to study the temporal variation of the temperature of the
      Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) layer to show a potential to switch the phase of Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5)
      by optical heating. Generation of the tunable dual-band DNG index presents clear
      advantages as it possesses a fast tuning time of 0.4 ns, a low pump light
      intensity of 7.3MUW/MUm(2), and a large tunable wavelength range of 978 nm. We
      expect that our design may have potential applications in actively tunable multi
      band nanodevices.

PMID- 25836448
TI  - An ultrastable Michelson interferometer for high-resolution spectroscopy in the
      XUV.
AB  - We developed an ultra-stable and accurately-controllable Michelson interferometer
      to be used in a deeply unbalanced arm configuration for split-pulse XUV Ramsey
      type spectroscopy with high-order laser harmonics. The implemented active and
      passive stabilization systems allow one to reach instabilities in the nanometer
      range over meters of relative optical path differences. Producing precisely
      delayed pairs of pump pulses will generate XUV harmonic pulses that may
      significantly improve the achievable spectral resolution and the precision of
      absolute frequency measurements in the XUV. 

PMID- 25836449
TI  - Welding of PMMA by a femtosecond fiber laser.
AB  - Developing versatile joining techniques to weld transparent materials on a
      micrometer scale is of great importance in a growing number of applications,
      especially for the fabrication and assembly of biomedical devices. In this paper,
      we report on fs-laser microwelding of two transparent layers of polymethyl
      methacrylate (PMMA) based on nonlinear absorption and localized heat accumulation
      at high repetition rates. A fiber CPA laser system was used delivering 650-fs
      pulses at 1030 nm with repetition rates in the MHz regime. The laser-induced
      modifications produced by the focused beam into the bulk PMMA were firstly
      investigated, trying to find a suitable set of process parameters generating
      continuous and localized melting. Results have been evaluated based on existing
      heat accumulation models. Then, we have successfully laser welded two 1-mm-thick
      PMMA layers in a lap-joint configuration. Sealing of the sample was demonstrated
      through static and dynamic leakage tests. This fs-laser micro-welding process
      does not need any pre-processing of the samples or any intermediate absorbing
      layer. Furthermore, it offers several advantages compared to other joining
      techniques, because it prevents contamination and thermal distortion of the
      samples, thus being extremely interesting for application in direct laser
      fabrication of microfluidic devices. 

PMID- 25836450
TI  - Broadband cascaded four-wave mixing and supercontinuum generation in a tellurite
      microstructured optical fiber pumped at 2 MUm.
AB  - We demonstrate the broadband cascaded four-wave mixing (FWM) and supercontinuum
      (SC) generation in a tellurite MOF which is made from 76.5TeO(2)-6ZnO-11.5Li(2)O
      6Bi(2)O(3) (TZLB, mol%) glass. By using a 2-MUm picosecond laser with the center
      wavelength of ~1958 nm as the pump source, the broadband FWM with the frequency
      separation of ~1.1 THz is obtained. The bandwidth of the frequency comb spans a
      range of ~630 nm from ~1620 to 2250 nm at the average pump power of ~125 mW. With
      the average pump power increasing to ~800 mW, the broadband mid-infrared SC
      generation with the spectrum from ~900 to 3900 nm is observed. Changing the pump
      source to a femtosecond laser (optical parametric oscillator, OPO) with the
      center wavelength of ~2000 nm, solitons and dispersive waves (DWs) are obtained.

PMID- 25836451
TI  - Continuously active interferometer stabilization and control for time-bin
      entanglement distribution.
AB  - We describe a new method enabling continuous stabilization and fine-level phase
      control of time-bin entanglement interferometers. Using this technique we
      demonstrate entangled photon transmission through 50 km of standard single-mode
      fiber. This technique reuses the entangled-pair generation pump which is co
      propagated with the transmitted entangled photons. The co-propagating pump adds
      minimal noise to the entangled photons which are characterized by measuring a two
      photon interference fringe. 

PMID- 25836452
TI  - Energy scaling of terahertz-wave parametric sources.
AB  - Terahertz-wave parametric oscillators (TPOs) have advantages of room temperature
      operation, wide tunable range, narrow line-width, good coherence. They have also
      disadvantage of small pulse energy. In this paper, several factors preventing
      TPOs from generating high-energy THz pulses and the corresponding solutions are
      analyzed. A scheme to generate high-energy THz pulses by using the combination of
      a TPO and a Stokes-pulse-injected terahertz-wave parametric generator (spi-TPG)
      is proposed and demonstrated. A TPO is used as a source to generate a seed pulse
      for the surface-emitted spi-TPG. The time delay between the pump and Stokes
      pulses is adjusted to guarantee they have good temporal overlap. The pump pulses
      have a large pulse energy and a large beam size. The Stokes beam is enlarged to
      make its size be larger than the pump beam size to have a large effective
      interaction volume. The experimental results show that the generated THz pulse
      energy from the spi-TPG is 1.8 times as large as that obtained from the TPO for
      the same pumping pulse energy density of 0.90 J/cm(2) and the same pumping beam
      size of 3.0 mm. When the pumping beam sizes are 5.0 and 7.0 mm, the enhancement
      times are 3.7 and 7.5, respectively. The spi-TPG here is similar to a difference
      frequency generator; it can also be used as a Stokes pulse amplifier.

PMID- 25836453
TI  - Characterizing the polarization and cross-polarization of electromagnetic vortex
      pulses in the space-time and space-frequency domain.
AB  - The dynamics of the degree of polarization and the degree of cross-polarization
      for electromagnetic pulsed vortex beams in dispersive media are explored both in
      the space-time and space-frequency domains. It is shown that the impacts, arising
      from the second-order dispersion coefficient and the temporal coherence length,
      on the variations of the temporal degree of polarization are distinctly different
      from those on the spectral degree of polarization. Besides, we also suggest a
      method to access the measurement of the orbital angular momentum of pulsed vortex
      beams through the mapping relationship between the distribution of the temporal
      degree of cross-polarization and the number of topological charge. 

PMID- 25836454
TI  - Wavelength conversion in Er(3+) doped chalcogenide fibers for optical gas
      sensors.
AB  - We report for the first time the conversion of incoherent infrared light around
      4.4um into a near-infrared signal at 810nm in erbium-doped GaGeSbS fibers and
      bulk glass samples. This energy conversion is made possible by pumping erbium
      doped chalcogenide samples at 982 nm and simultaneously exciting them with a
      4.4um infrared signal. This result paves the way for the development of an "all
      optical" gas sensor able to detect various gas traces using a remote detection
      based on commercial silica fibers. 

PMID- 25836455
TI  - Active mode-locking of mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers with short gain
      recovery time.
AB  - We investigate the dynamics of actively modulated mid-infrared quantum cascade
      lasers (QCLs) using space- and time-domain simulations of coupled density matrix
      and Maxwell equations with resonant tunneling current taken into account. We show
      that it is possible to achieve active mode locking and stable generation of
      picosecond pulses in high performance QCLs with a vertical laser transition and a
      short gain recovery time by bias modulation of a short section of a monolithic
      Fabry-Perot cavity. In fact, active mode locking in QCLs with a short gain
      recovery time turns out to be more robust to the variation of parameters as
      compared to previously studied lasers with a long gain recovery time. We
      investigate the effects of spatial hole burning and phase locking on the laser
      output. 

PMID- 25836456
TI  - Prospects and merits of metal-clad semiconductor lasers from nearly UV to far IR.
AB  - Using metal-clad (or plasmonic) waveguide structures in semiconductor lasers
      carries a promise of reduced size, threshold, and power consumption. This promise
      is put to a rigorous theoretical test, that takes into account increased
      waveguide loss, Auger recombination, and Purcell enhancement of spontaneous
      recombination. The conclusion is that purported benefits of metal waveguides are
      small to nonexistent for all the band-to-band and intersubband lasers operating
      from UV to Mid-IR range, with a prominent exception of far-IR and THz quantum
      cascade lasers. For these devices, however, metal waveguides already represent
      the state of the art, and the guiding mechanism in them has far more in common
      with a ubiquitous transmission line than with plasmonics. 

PMID- 25836457
TI  - Effect of multiple scattering to optical forces on a sphere near an optical
      waveguide.
AB  - We have investigated the effect of multiple scattering to optical forces on a
      particle in the evanescent field produced by an optical waveguide. Considering
      the multiple scattering between the sphere and the waveguide, we extend the
      formalism based on transition matrix and reflection matrix to calculate the
      optical forces on a sphere near an optical waveguide. Numerical results show that
      the influence that multiple scattering has on the optical forces can't be
      ignored, especially when the structure resonance of the particle arises.
      Moreover, the effect of multiple scattering to optical forces is also studied in
      detail on the condition that the distance between the sphere and the waveguide is
      within the effective operating distance. 

PMID- 25836458
TI  - Highly asymmetric near infrared light transmission in an all-dielectric grating
      on-mirror photonic structure.
AB  - We demonstrate a photonic structure, composed of a dielectric quarter-wavelength
      stack topped with a transmission phase grating, designed to exhibit a significant
      asymmetry in the near infrared light transmission for waves propagating in
      opposite directions. The asymmetry, defined as the difference between the
      intensity transmission coefficients, reaches 0.72 +/- 0.06 for a single
      wavelength and exceeds 0.2 over a spectral range spanning from 700 to 850 nm for
      one incident polarization and 750-800 nm for both polarizations. The experimental
      results are consistent with the numerical model of light propagation in the
      structure. 

PMID- 25836460
TI  - Production rate enhancement of size-tunable silicon nanoparticles by temporally
      shaping femtosecond laser pulses in ethanol.
AB  - This paper proposes an efficient approach for production-rate enhancement and
      size reduction of silicon nanoparticles produced by femtosecond (fs) double-pulse
      ablation of silicon in ethanol. Compared with a single pulse, the production rate
      is ~2.6 times higher and the mean size of the NPs is reduced by ~1/5 with a delay
      of 2 ps. The abnormal enhancement in the production rate is obtained at pulse
      delays Deltat > 200 fs. The production-rate enhancement is mainly attributed to
      high photon absorption efficiency. It is caused by an increase in localized
      transient electron density, which results from the first sub-pulse ionization of
      ethanol molecules before the second sub-pulse arrives. The phase-change mechanism
      at a critical point might reduce nanoparticle size.

PMID- 25836459
TI  - Spectral fractionation detection of gold nanorod contrast agents using optical
      coherence tomography.
AB  - We demonstrate the proof of concept of a novel Fourier-domain optical coherence
      tomography contrast mechanism using gold nanorod contrast agents and a spectral
      fractionation processing technique. The methodology detects the spectral shift of
      the backscattered light from the nanorods by comparing the ratio between the
      short and long wavelength halves of the optical coherence tomography signal
      intensity. Spectral fractionation further divides the halves into sub-bands to
      improve spectral contrast and suppress speckle noise. Herein, we show that this
      technique can detect gold nanorods in intralipid tissue phantoms. Furthermore,
      cellular labeling by gold nanorods was demonstrated using retinal pigment
      epithelial cells in vitro. 

PMID- 25836461
TI  - 105 W ultra-narrowband nanosecond pulsed laser at 2 MUm based on monolithic Tm
      doped fiber MOPA.
AB  - We present a high power ultra-narrowband pulsed fiber amplifier at 2 MUm. A
      single frequency fiber laser was modulated by a phase modulator and an intensity
      modulator to serve as the ultra-narrowband pulsed seed laser with a bandwidth of
      307 MHz. The pulsed seed laser was amplified by a monolithic Tm-doped fiber
      master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA). The average output power reaches 105 W
      with a slope efficiency of 0.41. The output pulse train has a repetition rate of
      1 MHz and a pulse width of 66 ns. The output power is limited by the onset of
      stimulated Brillouin scattering. Higher output power can be achieved by further
      broadening the linewidth or narrowing the pulse width to several nanoseconds. To
      the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration on a monolithic ultra
      narrowband nanosecond pulsed MOPA at 2 MUm with an average power exceeding 100 W.

PMID- 25836462
TI  - Uncertainty quantification of silicon photonic devices with correlated and non
      Gaussian random parameters.
AB  - Process variations can significantly degrade device performance and chip yield in
      silicon photonics. In order to reduce the design and production costs, it is
      highly desirable to predict the statistical behavior of a device before the final
      fabrication. Monte Carlo is the mainstream computational technique used to
      estimate the uncertainties caused by process variations. However, it is very
      often too expensive due to its slow convergence rate. Recently, stochastic
      spectral methods based on polynomial chaos expansions have emerged as a promising
      alternative, and they have shown significant speedup over Monte Carlo in many
      engineering problems. The existing literature mostly assumes that the random
      parameters are mutually independent. However, in practical applications such
      assumption may not be necessarily accurate. In this paper, we develop an
      efficient numerical technique based on stochastic collocation to simulate silicon
      photonics with correlated and non-Gaussian random parameters. The effectiveness
      of our proposed technique is demonstrated by the simulation results of a silicon
      on-insulator based directional coupler example. Since the mathematic formulation
      in this paper is very generic, our proposed algorithm can be applied to a large
      class of photonic design cases as well as to many other engineering problems. 

PMID- 25836464
TI  - Gigahertz single source IIR microwave photonic filter based on coherence managed
      multi-longitudinal-mode fiber laser.
AB  - In this paper, we propose to use a multi-longitudinal-mode (MLM) laser as the
      source of an infinite-impulse response (IIR) microwave photonic filter (MPF) to
      obtain GHz level free spectral range (FSR). The response function of such an IIR
      MPF and the degree of coherence of the laser are discussed theoretically. The
      degree of coherence of the MLM laser shows a periodic structure which is
      significantly different to that of single mode lasers. By engineering the degree
      of coherence of the MLM laser, we are able to control the stability of the IIR
      MPFs with different Q factors. It is found that stable IIR-MPF with GHz level FSR
      can be realized with an MLM laser and its stability can be enhanced if the
      coherence of the laser is managed. Based on the theoretical analysis, we
      fabricate an IIR-MPF based on an MLM erbium doped fiber laser. The impacts of the
      mode spacing Deltanu and the bandwidth to the stability are investigated
      experimentally. A stable IIR-MPF with an FSR of 0.59 GHz is realized and the
      relative fluctuation of the response curve is optimized to be less than 2%.
      Besides stable response, the IIR-MPF is reconfigurable by tuning the central
      wavelength of the laser in a range of 20 nm. 

PMID- 25836463
TI  - Determining the rotational mobility of a single molecule from a single image: a
      numerical study.
AB  - Measurements of the orientational freedom with which a single molecule may rotate
      or 'wobble' about a fixed axis have provided researchers invaluable clues about
      the underlying behavior of a variety of biological systems. In this paper, we
      propose a measurement and data analysis procedure based on a widefield
      fluorescence microscope image for quantitatively distinguishing individual
      molecules that exhibit varying degrees of rotational mobility. Our proposed
      technique is especially applicable to cases in which the molecule undergoes
      rotational motions on a timescale much faster than the framerate of the camera
      used to record fluorescence images. Unlike currently available methods,
      sophisticated hardware for modulating the polarization of light illuminating the
      sample is not required. Additional polarization optics may be inserted in the
      microscope's imaging pathway to achieve superior measurement precision, but are
      not essential. We present a theoretical analysis, and benchmark our technique
      with numerical simulations using typical experimental parameters for single
      molecule imaging. 

PMID- 25836465
TI  - La/B(4)C multilayer mirrors with an additional wavelength suppression.
AB  - In this paper, the authors report on La/B(4)C multilayer mirrors designed for an
      incidence angle of 45 degrees  with both maximum reflectivity at a wavelength of
      6.7 nm and reflectivity suppression at a wavelength of 20.1 nm. These mirrors
      were deposited for the EIS-TIMER at the FERMI@Elettra Free Electron Laser. The
      multilayer structure and optical properties were characterized using grazing
      incidence X-ray reflectometry with Cu-K(alpha) radiation and EUV reflectometry in
      the spectral region of 6.5 - 21.0 nm. An anti-reflective coating designed at the
      wavelength of 20.1 nm had to be deposited on top of the high reflective La/B(4)C
      multilayer mirror optimized at a wavelength of 6.7 nm. Measured reflectivities of
      53.4% at the wavelength of 6.72 nm and 0.15% at the wavelength of 20.1 nm were
      simultaneously achieved. It is shown that the reflectivity loss at the wavelength
      of 6.7 nm due to the utilization of antireflective coating designed at the
      wavelength of 20.1 nm can be minimized up to 1.0%.

PMID- 25836466
TI  - Distributed acoustic and vibration sensing via optical fractional Fourier
      transform reflectometry.
AB  - Distributed acoustic sensing has been traditionally implemented using optical
      reflectometry. Here we describe an alternative to the common interrogation
      approaches. According to the new method the frequency of the source is varied
      sinusoidally with time. For a sufficiently high scan frequency there is a
      position along the fiber,  z(0), for which the roundtrip time is half the scan
      period. Back-reflections from this point will generate a linear chirp at the
      receiver output. The Fractional Fourier Transform (FrFT) is used to analyze the
      receiver output and yields the reflection profile at z(0) and its vicinity. The
      method, which enables high spatial resolution at long distances with high scan
      rates, is demonstrated by detecting deliberate perturbations in the Rayleigh
      backscatter profile at the end of a 20km fiber with a scanning frequency of
      ~2.5kHz. The spatial resolution at this range and scan-rate is characterized by a
      measurement of the backscatter profile from a FBG's-array and is found to be
      ~2.8m.

PMID- 25836467
TI  - Polarizing ytterbium-doped all-solid photonic bandgap fiber with ~1150um(2)
      effective mode area.
AB  - We demonstrate an Yb-doped polarizing all-solid photonic bandgap fiber for single
      polarization and single-mode operation with an effective mode area of ~1150um(2),
      a record for all-solid photonic bandgap fibers. The differential polarization
      mode loss is measured to be >5dB/m over the entire transmission band with a 160nm
      bandwidth and >15dB/m on the short wavelength edge of the band. A 2.6m long fiber
      was tested in a laser configuration producing a linearly polarized laser output
      with a PER value of 21dB without any polarizer, the highest for any fiber lasers
      based on polarizing fibers.

PMID- 25836468
TI  - Polar-grids based source-target mapping construction method for designing
      freeform illumination system for a lighting target with arbitrary shape.
AB  - The freeform optical system plays a key role in illumination engineering, and
      several methods have been reported to manage the design of such system. In this
      paper, an approach to generate the polar-grids based flux transportation mapping
      for an arbitrarily-shaped target is proposed based on the conventional variable
      separation method. The source emitting grid is divided along the azimuth angle
      and the zenith angle respectively under the spherical coordinate system. Then,
      the target grid is achieved by solving the flux integral equations in polar
      coordinates using separation of variables method. When establishing the target
      grid along the polar radius, a strategy based on uniformly scaling down the
      external contour of the target is introduced. According to the mapping, a smooth
      freeform surface is then generated using the geometric construction method
      according to Snell's law. Finally, an iterative feedback process is adopted to
      compensate the deterioration of the target distribution caused by surface
      construction errors and the extension of a real source. Based on this method, a
      series of freeform lenses are designed for a 1 * 1 mm(2) LED source to generate
      uniform, Gaussian and multiple-rings illumination distributions within different
      target regions. High-performance optical systems with the light utilization
      efficiency eta over 0.8 and the relative standard deviation (RSD) of the
      simulated illumination distribution less than 0.1 are obtained simultaneously for
      all the cases.

PMID- 25836469
TI  - Optical Nyquist pulse generation using a time lens with spectral slicing.
AB  - Optical Nyquist pulse generation based on a time lens with subsequent optical
      filtering is proposed. A nearly chirp-free 10-GHz 8.1-ps Nyquist pulse generator
      is experimentally demonstrated. By inserting group velocity dispersion (GVD)
      between cascaded phase and amplitude modulators, 11 tones ultraflat optical
      frequency comb (OFC) of 10-GHz frequency spacing within 0.9 dB power variation is
      obtained. The quasi-rectangular shape spectrum is then filtered out with a
      tunable rectangular-shaped optical band-pass filter (OBPF) and the quasi-linear
      chirp is compensated by a segment of standard single mode fiber (SSMF). By
      changing the wavelength of the continuous wave (CW) light, nearly chirp-free
      Nyquist pulses over C band are obtained. Furthermore, simultaneous dual
      wavelength pulse generation is also demonstrated. 

PMID- 25836470
TI  - Broadband extreme ultraviolet probing of transient gratings in vanadium dioxide.
AB  - Nonlinear spectroscopy in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft x-ray spectral
      range offers the opportunity for element selective probing of ultrafast dynamics
      using core-valence transitions (Mukamel et al., Acc. Chem. Res. 42, 553 (2009)).
      We demonstrate a step on this path showing core-valence sensitivity in transient
      grating spectroscopy with EUV probing. We study the optically induced insulator
      to-metal transition (IMT) of a VO(2) film with EUV diffraction from the optically
      excited sample. The VO(2) exhibits a change in the 3p-3d resonance of V
      accompanied by an acoustic response. Due to the broadband probing we are able to
      separate the two features.

PMID- 25836471
TI  - Electro-optical modulation with immunity to optical damage by bipolar operation
      in potassium lithium tantalate niobate.
AB  - A method for suppressing the formation of optical damage in quadratic
      electrooptic devices operated at short wavelengths is presented. Formation of
      optical damage is attributed to the generation of a trapped space charge induced
      by photoionization of impurity ions by the propagating beam. It is shown that in
      potassium lithium tantalate niobate where the electrooptic effect is quadratic,
      operating the electrooptic device by a bipolar driving voltage prevents the space
      charge from accumulating, which inhibits the formation of the optical damage. A 6
      hours continuous operation of electrooptic modulator for a 30 W/cm(2) at lambda =
      445 nm input beam is demonstrated.

PMID- 25836472
TI  - Polarization microscope using a near infrared full-Stokes imaging polarimeter.
AB  - This paper presents a polarization microscope using an infrared (IR) full-Stokes
      imaging polarimeter. The IR polarimeter utilizes an optimized interference-based
      micropolarizer design, and provides full-Stokes images with resolution of 1608 *
      1208 at 35 frames/second. The device fabrication, instrument calibration,
      performance evaluation, and measurement results are presented. The measurement
      error of the imaging polarimeter is less than 3.5%, and the standard deviations
      are less than 2%. 

PMID- 25836473
TI  - Tunable and switchable dual-wavelength Tm-doped mode-locked fiber laser by
      nonlinear polarization evolution.
AB  - We propose and demonstrate a tunable and switchable dual-wavelength ultra-fast Tm
      doped fiber laser. The tunability is based on nonlinear polarization evolution
      (NPE) technique in a passively mode-locked laser cavity. The NPE effect induces
      wavelength-dependent loss in the cavity to effectively alleviate mode competition
      and enables the multiwavelength mode locking. The laser exhibits tunable dual
      wavelength mode locking over a wide range from 1852 to 1886 nm. The system has
      compact structure and both the wavelength tuning and switching capabilities can
      be realized by controlling the polarization in the fiber ring cavity. 

PMID- 25836474
TI  - Precise localized thinning and vertical taper fabrication for silicon photonics
      using a modified local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) fabrication process.
AB  - This paper presents a method to locally fine tune silicon-on-insulator (SOI)
      device layer thickness for the fabrication of optimal silicon photonics devices.
      Very precise control of thickness can be achieved with a modified local oxidation
      of silicon (LOCOS) process. The fabrication process is robust, complementary
      metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible and has the advantage of creating
      vertical tapers (~5.3 um long for ~210 nm of height) required for impedance
      matching between sections of different height. The technology is demonstrated by
      fabricating a TE-pass filter. 

PMID- 25836475
TI  - Mechanically tunable organic vertical-cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) for
      highly sensitive stress probing in dual-modes.
AB  - Herein, we report a straight forward stress probing method based on mechanically
      tunable organic VCSELs via dual detecting-modes. By designing the active layer
      thickness, uploaded stress was measured simultaneously by the laser wavelength
      and mode separations, facilitating highly sensitive stress detection in broad
      ranges. Single-mode laser emission with low threshold and narrow line-width was
      characterized, which could be tuned continuously within 8 nm. The probing
      sensitivity and resolution were estimated to be 60 Pa and 5.6 nm/KPa
      respectively, which were ~160-folds higher than previous results. 

PMID- 25836476
TI  - Observation of self-trapping and rotation of higher-band gap solitons in two
      dimensional photonic lattices.
AB  - We demonstrate self-trapping and rotation of higher-band dipole and quadruple
      like gap solitons by single-site excitation in a two-dimensional square photonic
      lattice under self-focusing nonlinearity. Experimental results show that the
      second-band dipole gap solitons reside in the first photonic (Bragg reflection)
      gap, whereas the quadruple-like gap solitons are formed in an even higher
      photonic gap, resulting from modes of the third-band. Moreover, both dipole and
      quadruple-like gap solitons exhibit dynamical rotation around the lattice
      principle axes and the direction of rotation is changing periodically during
      propagation, provided that they are excited under appropriate initial conditions.
      In the latter case, the nonlinear rotation is accompanied by periodic transitions
      between quadruple and doubly-charged vortex states. Our numerical simulations
      find good agreement with the experimental observations. 

PMID- 25836477
TI  - Mid-IR photoluminescence of Fe(2+) and Cr(2+) ions in ZnSe crystal under
      excitation in charge transfer bands.
AB  - Spectroscopic characterization of Fe:ZnSe(Cr:ZnSe) crystals under visible
      excitation into the charge transfer bands of Transition Metal ions were studied.
      The excitation efficiencies of mid-IR photoluminescence between (5)T(2)((5)E) and
      (5)E((5)T(2)) states via direct relaxation to the upper laser levels and via
      metastable upper (3)T(1) were investigated. It was demonstrated that the latter
      route is the dominant process for Cr(2+) ions and could provide sufficient pump
      rate for mid-IR lasing. The pump efficiencies via direct relaxation to the upper
      laser levels were estimated to be <2% for both ions under 532 nm excitation
      wavelength.

PMID- 25836478
TI  - Dynamic laser-induced effects in nanocomposite systems based on the cadmium
      sulfide quantum dots in a silicate matrix.
AB  - In this paper we study the laser-induced modification of optical properties of
      nanocomposite based on cadmium sulphide quantum dots encapsulated into thiomalic
      acid shell which were embedded into a porous silica matrix. It was found that
      exposure to laser radiation at lambda = 405.9 nm leads to modification of optical
      properties of nanocomposite. For this exposed area there is a significant amount
      of photodynamic changes under subsequent exposure to laser radiation at lambda =
      405.9 nm, namely photoabsorption and photorefraction which were studied at lambda
      = 633 nm. The value of these effects dependent on the concentration of quantum
      dots and modifying radiation parameters. Moreover, it has dependence from
      polarization of exposure radiation. 

PMID- 25836479
TI  - Fabrication and characterization of free-standing, high-line-density transmission
      gratings for the vacuum UV to soft X-ray range.
AB  - We present state-of-the-art high resolution transmission gratings, applicable for
      spectroscopy in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and the soft X-ray (SRX) wavelength
      range, fabricated with a novel process using ultraviolet based nano imprint
      lithography (UV-NIL). Free-standing, high-line-density gratings with up to 10,000
      lines per mm and various space-to-period ratios were fabricated. An optical
      characterization of the gratings was carried out in the range from 17 to 34 nm
      wavelength using high-harmonic generation in a capillary waveguide filled with
      Ne, and around 13.5 nm wavelength (from 10 to 17 nm) using a Xenon discharge
      plasma. 

PMID- 25836480
TI  - Optimization of particle size for high birefringence and fast switching time in
      electro-optical switching of graphene oxide dispersions.
AB  - In order to use graphene oxide (GO) dispersions for electro-optical applications,
      both a high GO concentration and a high electrical sensitivity are essential;
      however, these have not been achieved to date. Here, we report that by optimizing
      the mean size of GO particles to approximately 0.5 MUm, one can obtain a high GO
      concentration of up to 2 wt% and high electrical sensitivity simultaneously. By
      reducing the mean GO-particle size, the interparticle interaction and the
      rotational viscosity can be significantly reduced, and a high-concentration
      isotropic phase can be obtained. As a result, the maximum birefringence increases
      and the dynamic response becomes faster. However, further decrease of the mean
      size below 0.1 MUm causes a decrease in the anisotropy of electrical
      polarizability, resulting in the reduction of the electrical sensitivity of GO
      dispersions. 

PMID- 25836481
TI  - Dynamics of solid-state lasers pumped by mode-locked lasers.
AB  - We analyze the dynamics of mode-locked pumped solid-state lasers focusing on the
      transition between mode-locked and CW behavior. Where the ratio of the pump and
      laser cavity lengths is a rational number, 'rational-harmonic mode-locking' is
      obtained. When the cavity length is detuned away from such resonances, modulated
      continuous output is generated. The transition from mode-locked to modulated CW
      operation is explored experimentally for a Ce:LiCAF laser operating at 290 nm and
      pumped by a 78.75 MHz mode-locked frequency quadrupled Nd:YVO(4) laser. Both CW
      output and mode-locked output with pulse repetition rates up to 1.1 GHz were
      achieved. A rate equation model is developed to predict optimum cavity lengths
      for achieving CW output with minimized modulation.

PMID- 25836482
TI  - Demonstration of a fully integrated superconducting receiver with a 2.7 THz
      quantum cascade laser.
AB  - We demonstrate for the first time the integration of a superconducting hot
      electron bolometer (HEB) mixer and a quantum cascade laser (QCL) on the same 4-K
      stage of a single cryostat, which is of particular interest for terahertz (THz)
      HEB/QCL integrated heterodyne receivers for practical applications. Two key
      issues are addressed. Firstly, a low power consumption QCL is adopted for
      preventing its heat dissipation from destroying the HEB's superconductivity.
      Secondly, a simple spherical lens located on the same 4-K stage is introduced to
      optimize the coupling between the HEB and the QCL, which has relatively limited
      output power owing to low input direct current (DC) power. Note that simulation
      techniques are used to design the HEB/QCL integrated heterodyne receiver to avoid
      the need for mechanical tuning. The integrated HEB/QCL receiver shows an
      uncorrected noise temperature of 1500 K at 2.7 THz, which is better than the
      performance of the same receiver with all the components not integrated. 

PMID- 25836483
TI  - Multi-port admittance model for quantifying the scattering response of loaded
      plasmonic nanorod antennas.
AB  - In this paper we demonstrate the feasibility of using multiport network theory to
      describe the admittance properties of a longitudinally loaded plasmonic nanorod
      antenna. Our analysis reveals that if the appropriate terminal ports are defined
      across the nanorod geometry then the corresponding voltage and current quantities
      can be probed and thus it becomes feasible to extract the admittance matrix of
      the structure. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that by utilizing cylindrical
      dielectric waveguide theory, closed form expressions can be derived that uniquely
      characterize the loading material in terms of its admittance. The combination of
      the admittance matrix information along with the load admittance expressions
      provides an effective methodology for computing the nanorod's input
      admittance/impedance for arbitrary loading scenarios. This is important because
      the admittance resonances are associated with the structure's scattering peaks
      which are excited by a plane wave polarized parallel to its long dimension.
      Subsequently, the proposed approach provides a fast and computationally efficient
      circuit-based methodology to predict and custom engineer the scattering
      properties of a loaded plasmonic nanorod without having to rely on repetitive
      lengthy full wave simulations. 

PMID- 25836484
TI  - Size-dependence of the Lorentz friction for surface plasmons in metallic
      nanospheres.
AB  - An inclusion of the Lorentz friction to the damping of plasmons in metallic
      nanosphere is performed within the random phase approximation quasiclassical
      approach. The explanation of the experimentally observed anomalous red shift of
      plasmon resonance frequency with increase of the metallic particle radius for a
      large size limit is given and the perfect coincidence of the measured plasmon
      resonance red shift for Au nanospheres with radii 10 - 75 nm and the theory with
      accurately included Lorentz friction is demonstrated. 

PMID- 25836485
TI  - An approach to increase efficiency of DOE based pupil shaping technique for off
      axis illumination in optical lithography.
AB  - Off axis illumination (OAI) is one of the key resolution enhancement technologies
      in projection lithography system. Recently, phase type diffractive optical
      elements (DOEs) are adopted by most of the lithography machine manufactures to
      realize OAI. In general, the efficiency of the OAI unit is the main consideration
      compared with uniformity. However, the main goal of the traditional constraint of
      iterative Fourier transformation algorithm (IFTA) is used to optimize the SNR,
      while diffraction efficiency is the secondary consideration. Therefore a
      constraint for IFTA is well designed to increase the efficiency of DOE in this
      paper. This constraint can guarantee the pole balance at the same time. The main
      idea of this constraint is to apply amplitude and phase freedoms in the signal
      window and to control the total energy of each pole. Based on the proposed
      constraint several DOEs are designed for high NA lithography illumination system.
      And remarkable improvement in the efficiency is observed compared with the
      traditional constraint. Furthermore, the efficiency and uniformity could be
      weighted by adjusting the parameter with extending this constraint to general
      case. To demonstrate the proposed constraints, experiments are carried out where
      a spatial light modulator is utilized to represent DOEs. 

PMID- 25836486
TI  - Beam pen lithography based on focused laser diode beam with single microlens
      fabricated by excimer laser.
AB  - A method is proposed to minimize the focused spot size of an elliptically
      diverging laser diode beam by means of a circular aperture and a single plano
      convex aspherical microlens. The proposed microlens is fabricated using an
      excimer laser dragging method and has two different profiles in the x- and y-axis
      directions. The focused spot size of the beam is examined both numerically and
      experimentally. The feasibility of the proposed approach for beam pen lithography
      applications is demonstrated by patterning dotted, straight-line and spiral
      features on a photo resist layer followed by thin gold layer deposition and metal
      lift-off. The minimum feature size for dotted pattern is around 2.57 MUm, while
      the minimum line-widths for straight-line and spiral pattern are 3.05 MUm and
      4.35 MUm, respectively. Thus, the technique can be applied to write any arbitrary
      pattern for high-resolution lithography. 

PMID- 25836487
TI  - Modeling the specular spectral reflectance of partially ordered alumina nanopores
      on an aluminum substrate.
AB  - Anodizing of aluminum generates a porous alumina layer comprising cylindrical
      nanopores (300 nm diameter) extending essentially perpendicular to the substrate.
      The pore distribution over the surface exhibits a short-distance order close to
      hexagonal arrangement. On the contrary, long-distance order cannot be defined:
      the arrangement is not periodic. Visual observation of such nanoporous layers
      shows a reddish specular reflectance consistent with reflectance spectrum
      measurements. This work is a parametric study aiming at demonstrating that color
      effects are caused by the presence of disorder illustrated by the deviations from
      periodicity in terms of nanopore location and nanopore radius. Using the method
      of Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis (RCWA), the reflectance spectrum has been
      simulated. Although our calculations were done using a simple one-dimensional
      (1D) model, a fair fit with experimental results is found. 

PMID- 25836488
TI  - Compressive spectrum sensing of radar pulses based on photonic techniques.
AB  - We present a photonic-assisted compressive sampling (CS) system which can acquire
      about 10(6) radar pulses per second spanning from 500 MHz to 5 GHz with a 520-MHz
      analog-to-digital converter (ADC). A rectangular pulse, a linear frequency
      modulated (LFM) pulse and a pulse stream is respectively reconstructed faithfully
      through this system with a sliding window-based recovery algorithm, demonstrating
      the feasibility of the proposed photonic-assisted CS system in spectral
      estimation for radar pulses.

PMID- 25836489
TI  - Multiple-channel wavelength conversions in a photonic crystal cavity.
AB  - We demonstrate multiple-channel wavelength conversions of second harmonic and sum
      frequency generations in a silicon carbide photonic crystal cavity. The cavity is
      designed to have multiple modes including a nanocavity mode and Fabry-Perot
      modes. Multiple-channel wavelength conversions in the nanocavity and Fabry-Perot
      modes are shown experimentally. Furthermore, we investigate the polarization
      characteristics of wavelength-converted light. The experimental results of the
      polarization are in good agreement with calculation. 

PMID- 25836490
TI  - Approaching coherent performance in differential detection via diversity.
AB  - Digital self-coherent detection (DSCD) can be employed to approach coherent
      performance in optical receivers by digitally reconstructing the samples of the
      electrical field without employing a local oscillator. One major deficiency of
      this scheme is the abrupt loss of field reconstruction, and consequently phase
      tracking, immediately following the occurrence of a low intensity sample. A cross
      polarization DSCD scheme is introduced to mitigate this problem via diversity.
      The proposed scheme, termed X-DSCD, provides significantly improved signal
      reconstruction capabilities while doubling the achievable communication rate as
      compared to the original single-polarization DSCD scheme: two different and
      independent symbol streams are transmitted via two linear polarizations. X-DSCD
      performance is analyzed for the case of two cross-polarized, Gaussian signals.
      The analysis is supported by simulation results. Introducing coding into the
      system, the error performance attained by X-DSCD is shown to potentially approach
      that of a coherent receiver. 

PMID- 25836491
TI  - Enhanced plasmonic light absorption engineering of graphene: simulation by
      boundary-integral spectral element method.
AB  - Graphene's relatively poor absorption is an essential obstacle for designing
      graphene-based photonic devices with satisfying photo-responsivity. To enhance
      the tunable light absorption of graphene, appropriate excitation of localized
      surface plasmon resonance is considered as a promising approach. In this work,
      the strategy of incorporating periodic cuboid gold nanoparticle (NP) cluster
      arrays and cylindrical gold NP arrays with Bragg reflectors into graphene-based
      photodetectors are theoretically studied by the boundary-integral spectral
      element method (BI-SEM). With the BI-SEM, the models can be numerically analyzed
      with excellent accuracy and efficiency. Numerical simulation shows that the
      proposed structures can effectively engineer the light absorption in graphene by
      tuning plasmon resonance. In the spectra of 300 nm to 1000 nm, a maximum light
      absorption of 67.54% is observed for the graphene layer with optimal parameters
      of the photodetector model. 

PMID- 25836492
TI  - Down- and up-conversion of femtosecond light pulse excitation into visible
      luminescence in cerium-doped Lu(2)SiO(5)-Gd(2)SiO(5) solid solution crystals co
      doped with Sm(3+) or Dy(3+).
AB  - Luminescence phenomena following femtosecond pulse excitation in UV and IR of
      Ce(3+) + Sm(3+) and Ce(3+) + Dy(3+) systems in Lu(2)SiO(5) - Gd(2)SiO(5) single
      crystals are investigated. Effect of excitation wavelength in the UV on Ce(3+)
      luminescence is interpreted assuming selective excitation of weakly interacting
      Ce1 and Ce2 sites. IR-excited up-converted spectra differ as compared to UV
      excited spectra in that the contribution of Sm(3+) or Dy(3+) luminescence is
      higher and the Ce(3+) luminescence originates essentially in Ce1 sites. It has
      been concluded that excitation mechanism of up-conversion involves energy
      transfer from free electrons created in conduction band of the host.

PMID- 25836493
TI  - Carrier-envelope-phase stabilized terawatt class laser at 1 kHz with a wavelength
      tunable option.
AB  - We demonstrate a chirped-pulse-amplified Ti:Sapphire laser system operating at 1
      kHz, with 20 mJ pulse energy, 26 femtosecond pulse duration (0.77 terawatt), and
      excellent long term carrier-envelope-phase (CEP) stability. A new vibrational
      damping technique is implemented to significantly reduce vibrational noise on
      both the laser stretcher and compressor, thus enabling a single-shot CEP noise
      value of 250 mrad RMS over 1 hour and 300 mrad RMS over 9 hours. This is, to the
      best of our knowledge, the best long term CEP noise ever reported for any
      terawatt class laser. This laser is also used to pump a white-light-seeded
      optical parametric amplifier, producing 6 mJ of total energy in the signal and
      idler with 18 mJ of pumping energy. Due to preservation of the CEP in the white
      light generated signal and passive CEP stability in the idler, this laser system
      promises synthesized laser pulses spanning multi-octaves of bandwidth at an
      unprecedented energy scale. 

PMID- 25836494
TI  - High efficiency THz generation in DSTMS, DAST and OH1 pumped by Cr:forsterite
      laser.
AB  - We investigated Terahertz generation in organic crystals DSTMS, DAST and OH1
      directly pumped by a Cr:forsterite laser at central wavelength of 1.25 MUm. This
      pump laser technology provides a laser-to-THz energy conversion efficiency higher
      than 3 percent. Phase-matching is demonstrated over a broad 0.1-8 THz frequency
      range. In our simple setup we achieved hundred MUJ pulses in tight focus
      resulting in electric and magnetic field larger than 10 MV/cm and 3 Tesla. 

PMID- 25836495
TI  - Polarization effects in polymer FBGs: study and use for transverse force sensing.
AB  - Bragg gratings photo-inscribed in polymer optical fibers (POFs) are more
      sensitive to temperature and pressure than their silica counterparts, because of
      their larger thermo-optic coefficient and smaller Young's modulus. Polymer
      optical fiber Bragg gratings (POFBGs) are most often photo-written in
      poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) based materials using a continuous-wave 325 nm
      HeCd laser. In this work, we present the first study about birefringence effects
      in POFBGs manufactured in different types of fiber. To achieve this, highly
      reflective (> 90%) gratings were produced with the phase mask technique. Their
      spectral response was then monitored in transmission with polarized light.
      Polarization dependent loss (PDL) and differential group delay (DGD) were
      computed from the Jones matrix eigenanalysis using an optical vector analyzer.
      Maximum values exceeding several dB and a few picoseconds were obtained for the
      PDL and DGD, respectively. An inverse scattering technique applied to the
      experimental data provided an estimate of the photo-induced birefringence value
      arising from the side fabrication process. The response to lateral force was
      finally investigated for various incident directions using the PDL response of
      FBGs manufactured in step-index POFs. As the force induced birefringence adds to
      the photo-induced one, a force dependent evolution of the PDL maximum value was
      noticed, with a good temperature-insensitivity. 

PMID- 25836496
TI  - Light-driven dynamic Archimedes spirals and periodic oscillatory patterns of
      topological solitons in anisotropic soft matter.
AB  - Oscillatory and excitable systems commonly exhibit formation of dynamic non
      equilibrium patterns. For example, rotating spiral patterns are observed in
      biological, chemical, and physical systems ranging from organization of slime
      mold cells to Belousov-Zhabotinsky reactions, and to crystal growth from nuclei
      with screw dislocations. Here we describe spontaneous formation of spiral waves
      and a large variety of other dynamic patterns in anisotropic soft matter driven
      by low-intensity light. The unstructured ambient or microscope light illumination
      of thin liquid crystal films in contact with a self-assembled azobenzene
      monolayer causes spontaneous formation, rich spatial organization, and dynamics
      of twisted domains and topological solitons accompanied by the dynamic patterning
      of azobenzene group orientations within the monolayer. Linearly polarized
      incident light interacts with the twisted liquid crystalline domains, mimicking
      their dynamics and yielding patterns in the polarization state of transmitted
      light, which can be transformed to similar dynamic patterns in its intensity and
      interference color. This shows that the delicate light-soft-matter interaction
      can yield complex self-patterning of both. We uncover underpinning physical
      mechanisms and discuss potential uses. 

PMID- 25836497
TI  - A multi-pass pumping scheme for thin disk lasers with good anti-disturbance
      ability.
AB  - A multi-pass pumping scheme for thin disk lasers consisting of dual parabolic
      mirrors with conjugated relationship is presented. The anti-disturbance ability
      of pumping is analyzed by ray tracing method under different kinds of
      disturbances. Both theoretical and experiment results show that disturbances in
      this system won't lead to a misalignment of each pumping spot, but only the
      position of superposed pumping spot on disk crystal will be changed. Compared
      with the multi-pass pumping scheme consisting of parabolic mirror and folding
      prisms, this pumping scheme has a better anti-disturbance ability. 

PMID- 25836498
TI  - Mode-locked Tm,Ho:KLu(WO(4))(2) laser at 2060 nm using InGaSb-based SESAMs.
AB  - Passive mode-locking of a Tm,Ho:KLu(WO(4))(2) laser operating at 2060 nm using
      different designs of InGaAsSb quantum-well based semiconductor saturable absorber
      mirrors (SESAMs) is demonstrated. The self-starting mode-locked laser delivers
      pulse durations between 4 and 8 ps at a repetition rate of 93 MHz with maximum
      average output power of 155 mW. Mode-locking performance of a Tm,Ho:KLu(WO(4))(2)
      laser is compared for usage of a SESAM to a single-walled carbon nanotube
      saturable absorber.

PMID- 25836499
TI  - Real-time mode decomposition for few-mode fiber based on numerical method.
AB  - Today a specific attention has been paid to look into the modal characteristics
      of the high-power laser beam. And the instantaneous monitoring and analyzing on
      modal content via the mode decomposition technique will provide a novel route. We
      implement the first-ever experimental investigation on the real-time mode
      decomposition technique for few-mode laser beam based on stochastic parallel
      gradient descent algorithm. It will reduce the cost and the complexity of the
      mode decomposition system. We have succeeded to decompose the mode spectra as
      well as calculating the beam quality factor at about 9 Hz monitoring rate, while
      the high agreement between the measured and reconstructed intensity profiles in
      each frame indicating the high accuracy and stability during the process. By
      employing a fiber-squeezing-based polarization controller, the modal content
      under test can be time-varying automatically. 

PMID- 25836500
TI  - Ytterbium-doped glass-ceramics for optical refrigeration.
AB  - We report for the first time the characterization of glass-ceramics for optical
      refrigeration. Ytterbium-doped nanocrystallites were grown in an oxyfluoride
      glass matrix of composition 2YbF(3):30SiO(2)-15Al(2)O(3)-25CdF(2)-22PbF(2)
      4YF(3), forming bulk glass-ceramics at three different crystalisation levels. The
      samples are compared with a corresponding uncrystalised (glass) sample, as well
      as a Yb:YAG sample which has presented optical cooling. The measured X-ray
      diffraction spectra, and thermal capacities of the samples are reported. We also
      report for the first time the use of Yb:YAG as a reference for absolute
      photometric quantum efficiency measurement, and use the same setup to
      characterize the glass and glass-ceramic samples. The cooling figure-of-merit was
      measured by optical calorimetry using a fiber Bragg grating and found to depend
      on the level of crystallization of the sample, and that samples with
      nanocrystallites result in higher quantum efficiency and lower background
      absorption than the pure-glass sample. In addition to laser-induced cooling, the
      glass-ceramics have the potential to serve as a reference for quantum efficiency
      measurements.

PMID- 25836501
TI  - Achromatic wave plate in THz frequency region based on parallel metal plate
      waveguides with a pillar array.
AB  - We demonstrated an achromatic wave plate based on parallel metal plate waveguides
      in the high THz frequency region. The metal plates have periodic rough structures
      on the surface, which allow slow transverse magnetic wave propagation and fast
      transverse electric wave propagation. A numerical simulation showed that the
      height of the periodic roughness is important for optimizing the birefringence.
      We fabricated stacked metal plates containing two types of structures by chemical
      etching. An array of small pillars on the metal plates allows higher frequency
      optimization. We experimentally demonstrated an achromatic quarter-wave plate in
      the frequency region from 2.0 to 3.1 THz. 

PMID- 25836502
TI  - Nonlinear properties of dispersion engineered InGaP photonic wire waveguides in
      the telecommunication wavelength range.
AB  - We propose high index contrast InGaP photonic wires as a platform for the
      integration of nonlinear optical functions in the telecom wavelength window. We
      characterize the linear and nonlinear properties of these waveguide structures.
      Waveguides with a linear loss of 12 dB/cm and which are coupled to a single mode
      fiber through gratings with a -7.5 dB coupling loss are realized. From four wave
      mixing experiments, we extract the real part of the nonlinear parameter gamma to
      be 475 +/- 50 W(-1)m(-1) and from nonlinear transmission measurements we infer
      the absence of two-photon absorption and measure a three-photon absorption
      coefficient of (2.5 +/- 0.5) x 10(-2) cm(3)GW(-2).

PMID- 25836503
TI  - One-way absorber for linearly polarized electromagnetic wave utilizing composite
      metamaterial.
AB  - This paper presents the proposal and practical design of a one-way absorber for
      selective linearly polarized electromagnetic (EM) wave. The EM wave polarization
      rotation property has been combined with polarization selective absorption
      utilizing a composite metamaterial slab. The energy of certain linearly polarized
      EM wave can be absorbed along one particular incident direction, but will be
      fully transmitted through the opposite direction. For the cross polarized wave,
      the direction dependent propagation properties are totally reversed. A prototype
      designed with a total slab thickness of only one-sixth of the operating
      wavelength is verified through both full-wave simulation and experimental
      measurement in the microwave regime. It achieves absorption efficiency over 83%
      along one direction, while transmission efficiency over 83% along the opposite
      direction for one particular linearly polarized wave. The proposed one-way
      absorber can be applied in EM devices achieving asymmetric transmission for
      linearly polarized wave or polarization control. The composite metamaterial that
      combines different functionalities into one design may provide more potential in
      metamaterial designs for various applications. 

PMID- 25836504
TI  - Quantum dot SOA/silicon external cavity multi-wavelength laser.
AB  - We report a hybrid integrated external cavity, multi-wavelength laser for high
      capacity data transmission operating near 1310 nm. This is the first
      demonstration of a single cavity multi-wavelength laser in silicon to our
      knowledge. The device consists of a quantum dot reflective semiconductor optical
      amplifier and a silicon-on-insulator chip with a Sagnac loop mirror and microring
      wavelength filter. We show four major lasing peaks from a single cavity with less
      than 3 dB power non-uniformity and demonstrate error-free 4 * 10 Gb/s data
      transmission. 

PMID- 25836505
TI  - Two-shot fringe pattern phase-amplitude demodulation using Gram-Schmidt
      orthonormalization with Hilbert-Huang pre-filtering.
AB  - Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization is a very fast and efficient method for the
      fringe pattern phase demodulation. It requires only two arbitrarily phase-shifted
      frames. Images are treated as vectors and upon orthogonal projection of one
      fringe vector onto another the quadrature fringe pattern pair is obtained.
      Orthonormalization process is very susceptible, however, to noise, uneven
      background and amplitude modulation fluctuations. The Hilbert-Huang transform
      based preprocessing is proposed to enhance fringe pattern phase demodulation by
      filtering out the spurious noise and background illumination and performing
      fringe normalization. The Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization process error analysis
      is provided and its filtering-expanded capabilities are corroborated analyzing
      DSPI fringes and performing amplitude demodulation of Bessel fringes. Synthetic
      and experimental fringe pattern analyses presented to validate the proposed
      technique show that it compares favorably with other pre-filtering schemes, i.e.,
      Gaussian filtering and continuous wavelet transform. 

PMID- 25836506
TI  - Linearly interpolated sub-symbol optical phase noise suppression in CO-OFDM
      system.
AB  - An optical phase noise suppression algorithm, LI-SCPEC, based on phase linear
      interpolation and sub-symbol processing is proposed for CO-OFDM system. By
      increasing the temporal resolution of carrier phase tracking through dividing one
      symbol into several sub-blocks, i.e., sub-symbols, inter-carrier-interference
      (ICI) mitigation is achieved in the proposed algorithm. Linear interpolation is
      employed to obtain a reliable temporal reference for sub-symbol phase estimation.
      The new algorithm, with only a few number of sub-symbols (N(B) = 4), can provide
      a considerably larger laser linewidth tolerance than several other ICI mitigation
      algorithms as demonstrated by Monte-Carlo simulations. Numerical analysis
      verifies that the best performance is achieved with an optimal and moderate
      number of sub-symbols. Complexity analysis shows that the required number of
      complex-valued multiplications is independent of the number of sub-symbols used
      in the proposed algorithm.

PMID- 25836507
TI  - An optical monitoring method for depositing dielectric layers of arbitrary
      thickness using reciprocal of transmittance.
AB  - An approach extracting information of both optical monitoring signal and phase
      thickness of deposited layer on a trace diagram is proposed. Realtime fitting and
      calculation are performed to get both practical thickness and refractive index of
      deposited layer with the assist of quartz crystal monitoring for keeping steady
      rate of deposition. Monitoring error of thickness using this approach is
      analyzed. It was used to obtain the refractive indices and thickness of Ge layer
      and SiO layer in in situ measurement mode, and the results were compared with
      those of ex-situ spectral measurement using infrared spectrometer. The
      effectiveness of the proposed monitoring method was verified by fabricating
      narrow bandpass filter consisting of quarter-wave and non-quarter-wave layers. 

PMID- 25836508
TI  - Empirical concentration bounds for compressive holographic bubble imaging based
      on a Mie scattering model.
AB  - We use compressive in-line holography to image air bubbles in water and
      investigate the effect of bubble concentration on reconstruction performance by
      simulation. Our forward model treats bubbles as finite spheres and uses Mie
      scattering to compute the scattered field in a physically rigorous manner.
      Although no simple analytical bounds on maximum concentration can be derived
      within the classical compressed sensing framework due to the complexity of the
      forward model, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves in our
      simulation provide an empirical concentration bound for accurate bubble detection
      by compressive holography at different noise levels, resulting in a maximum
      tolerable concentration much higher than the traditional back-propagation method.

PMID- 25836509
TI  - Improvement of diffraction efficiency of flat-panel coherent backlight for
      holographic displays.
AB  - Coherent backlight is an essential component for holographic displays. In this
      paper, a compact design of edge-lit coherent backlight featuring two holographic
      optical elements for two-dimensional beam expansion is presented. Its diffraction
      efficiency is numerically studied using the coupled-wave theory. In experiments,
      the diffraction efficiency is measured as 4.3% and the feasibility of this design
      is verified by reconstructing 3D images with a spatial light modulator. 

PMID- 25836510
TI  - Polymer waveguides for electro-optical integration in data centers and high
      performance computers.
AB  - To satisfy the intra- and inter-system bandwidth requirements of future data
      centers and high-performance computers, low-cost low-power high-throughput
      optical interconnects will become a key enabling technology. To tightly integrate
      optics with the computing hardware, particularly in the context of CMOS
      compatible silicon photonics, optical printed circuit boards using polymer
      waveguides are considered as a formidable platform. IBM Research has already
      demonstrated the essential silicon photonics and interconnection building blocks.
      A remaining challenge is electro-optical packaging, i.e., the connection of the
      silicon photonics chips with the system. In this paper, we present a new single
      mode polymer waveguide technology and a scalable method for building the optical
      interface between silicon photonics chips and single-mode polymer waveguides. 

PMID- 25836511
TI  - Proposal for a broadband THz refractive-index sensor based on quantum-cascade
      laser arrays.
AB  - Many molecules have strong and characteristic rotational and vibrational
      transitions at terahertz (THz) frequencies, which makes this frequency range
      unique for applications in spectroscopic sensing of chemical and biological
      species. Here, we propose a broadband THz sensor based on arrays of single-mode
      QCLs, which could be utilized for sensing of the refractive-index of solids or
      liquids in reflection geometry. The proposed scheme does not require expensive
      THz detectors and consists of no movable parts. A recently developed antenna
      feedback geometry is utilized to enhance optical coupling between two single-mode
      QCLs, which facilitates optical downconversion of the THz frequency signal to
      microwave regime. Arrays of THz QCLs emitting at discrete frequencies could be
      utilized to provide more than 2 THz of spectral coverage to realize a broadband,
      low-cost, and portable THz sensor. 

PMID- 25836512
TI  - Monolithic polarization maintaining fiber chirped pulse amplification (CPA)
      system for high energy femtosecond pulse generation at 1.03 um.
AB  - A monolithic polarization maintaining fiber chirped pulse amplification system
      with 25 cm Yb(3+)-doped high efficiency media fiber that generates 62 uJ sub-400
      fs pulses with 25 W at 1.03 um has recently been demonstrated.

PMID- 25836513
TI  - High-order multilayer coated blazed gratings for high resolution soft x-ray
      spectroscopy.
AB  - A grand challenge in soft x-ray spectroscopy is to drive the resolving power of
      monochromators and spectrometers from the 10(4) achieved routinely today to well
      above 10(5). This need is driven mainly by the requirements of a new technique
      that is set to have enormous impact in condensed matter physics, Resonant
      Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS). Unlike x-ray absorption spectroscopy, RIXS is
      not limited by an energy resolution dictated by the core-hole lifetime in the
      excitation process. Using much higher resolving power than used for normal x-ray
      absorption spectroscopy enables access to the energy scale of soft excitations in
      matter. These excitations such as magnons and phonons drive the collective
      phenomena seen in correlated electronic materials such as high temperature
      superconductors. RIXS opens a new path to study these excitations at a level of
      detail not formerly possible. However, as the process involves resonant
      excitation at an energy of around 1 keV, and the energy scale of the excitations
      one would like to see are at the meV level, to fully utilize the technique
      requires the development of monochromators and spectrometers with one to two
      orders of magnitude higher energy resolution than has been conventionally
      possible. Here we investigate the detailed diffraction characteristics of
      multilayer blazed gratings. These elements offer potentially revolutionary
      performance as the dispersive element in ultra-high resolution x-ray
      spectroscopy. In doing so, we have established a roadmap for the complete
      optimization of the grating design. Traditionally 1st order gratings are used in
      the soft x-ray region, but we show that as in the optical domain, one can work in
      very high spectral orders and thus dramatically improve resolution without
      significant loss in efficiency.

PMID- 25836514
TI  - Design and fabrication of SOI micro-ring resonators based on sub-wavelength
      grating waveguides.
AB  - Standard silicon photonic strip waveguides offer a high intrinsic refractive
      index contrast; this permits strong light confinement, leading to compact bends,
      which in turn facilitates the fabrication of devices with small footprints. Sub
      wavelength grating (SWG) based waveguides can allow the fabrication of low loss
      devices with specific, engineered optical properties. The combination of SWG
      waveguides with optical micro-resonators can offer the possibility of achieving
      resonators with properties different from the traditional SOI rings. One
      important property that SWG rings can offer is decreased light confinement in the
      waveguide core; this improves the resonator's sensitivity to changes in the
      cladding refractive index, making the rings ideal for refractive index sensing
      applications. In this paper, we present the design and experimental
      characterization of SWG based rings realized on SOI chips without upper cladding
      (permitting their use as sensors). The fabricated rings offer quality factors in
      the range of ~1k-6k, depending on SWG parameters. Based on the comparison of
      experimental and simulated data we expect sensitivities exceeding 383 nm/RIU in
      water and 270 nm/RIU in air, showing excellent potential for use in sensing
      applications. 

PMID- 25836515
TI  - Optically pumped microplasma rare gas laser.
AB  - The optically pumped rare-gas metastable laser is a chemically inert analogue to
      three-state optically pumped alkali laser systems. The concept requires efficient
      generation of electronically excited metastable atoms in a continuous-wave (CW)
      electric discharge in flowing gas mixtures near atmospheric pressure. We have
      observed CW optical gain and laser oscillation at 912.3 nm using a linear micro
      discharge array to generate metastable Ar(4s, 1s(5)) atoms at atmospheric
      pressure. We observed the optical excitation of the 1s(5) -> 2p(9) transition at
      811.5 nm and the corresponding fluorescence, optical gain and laser oscillation
      on the 2p(10) <-> 1s(5) transition at 912.3 nm, following 2p(9)->2p(10)
      collisional energy transfer. A steady-state kinetics model indicates efficient
      collisional coupling within the Ar(4s) manifold.

PMID- 25836516
TI  - Characterization of temporal pulse broadening for horizontal propagation in
      strong anisotropic atmospheric turbulence.
AB  - The on-axis two-frequency mutual coherence function (MCF) for beam waves
      propagating along a horizontal path in strong anisotropic atmospheric turbulence
      is theoretically formulated by making use of the extended Huygens-Fresnel
      principle. Based on this formulation, a new closed-form expression for the mean
      square temporal width of Gaussian-beam-wave pulses passing horizontally through
      strong anisotropic atmospheric turbulence is developed. With the help of this
      expression, the increments of mean square temporal pulse width due to strong
      anisotropic atmospheric turbulence under various conditions are further
      calculated. Results show that the increment of mean square temporal pulse width
      due to strong anisotropic atmospheric turbulence is basically proportional to the
      effective anisotropic factor in most situations of interest, with the possible
      exception of cases in which both the Fresnel ratio and spectral index become
      relatively small; increasing the effective anisotropic factor can reduce the
      number of the said exceptions; the turbulence-induced increment of mean square
      temporal pulse width enlarges as the spectral index increases with a fixed value
      of the nondimensional turbulence-strength parameter. It is also illustrated that
      a significant enlargement in the turbulence-induced increment of mean square
      temporal pulse width occurs by changing the Fresnel ratio from a large to a tiny
      value if both the effective anisotropic factor and spectral index are relatively
      small. 

PMID- 25836517
TI  - Ultra-weak FBG and its refractive index distribution in the drawing optical
      fiber.
AB  - For the online writing of ultra-weak fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) in the drawing
      optical fibers, the effects of the intensity profile, pulse fluctuation and pulse
      width of the excimer laser, as well as the transverse and longitudinal vibrations
      of the optical fiber have been investigated. Firstly, using Lorentz-Loren
      equation, Gladstone-Dale mixing rule and continuity equation, we have derived the
      refractive index (RI) fluctuation along the optical fiber and the RI distribution
      in the FBG, they are linear with the gradient of longitudinal vibration velocity.
      Then, we have prepared huge amounts of ultra-weak FBGs in the non-moving optical
      fiber and obtained their reflection spectra, the measured reflection spectra
      shows that the intensity profile and pulse fluctuation of the excimer laser, as
      well as the transverse vibration of the optical fiber are little responsible for
      the inconsistency of ultra-weak FBGs. Finally, the effect of the longitudinal
      vibration of the optical fiber on the inconsistency of ultra-weak FBGs has been
      discussed, and the vibration equations of the drawing optical fiber are given in
      the appendix. 

PMID- 25836518
TI  - Bilayer graphene based surface passivation enhanced nano structured self-powered
      near-infrared photodetector.
AB  - A simple methyl-terminated (-CH(3)) surface passivation approach has been
      employed to enhance the performance of the bilayer graphene/Si nanohole array
      (BLG/SiNH array) Schottky junction based self-powered near infrared photodetector
      (SPNIRPD). The as-fabricated SPNIRPD exhibits high sensitivity to light at near
      infrared region at zero bias voltage. The I(light)/I(dark) ratio measured is 1.43
      * 10(7), which is more than an order of magnitude improvement compared with the
      sample without passivation (~6.4 * 10(5)). Its corresponding responsivity and
      detectivity are 0.328 AW(-1) and 6.03 * 10(13) cmHz(1/2)W(-1), respectively. The
      demonstrated results have confirmed the high-performance SPNIRPD compared with
      the photo-detectors of similar type and its great potential application in future
      optoelectronic devices.

PMID- 25836519
TI  - Temperature-controlled picosecond-pulsed high frequency second-harmonic
      generation by a periodically poled stoichiometric LiTaO(3).
AB  - We report experimental results of second-harmonic (SH) generation (SHG) by a
      quasi-phase-matched periodically poled Mg-doped stoichiometric LiTaO(3) crystal
      for 1030 nm input radiation of 18 ps pulse duration, within the range of peak
      input laser intensity I = 0.1-9.5 GW/cm(2) and under repetition rate 10-20 kHz.
      For I>3 GW/cm(2) SHG efficiency achieves the saturation level of eta~0.35 which
      can be maintained within a wide range of I = 3-9.5 GW/cm(2). The loss of SHG
      efficiency observed for I>5 GW/cm(2) can be recovered to the level of eta~0.35 by
      using temperature-controlled operation. By applying our experimental data we find
      the value of two-photon absorption (TPA) coefficient for 515 nm radiation,
      beta~1.1-2.7 cm/GW, agreeing well with the theoretical estimate beta~2.6 cm/GW.
      Our analysis suggests that the inhibition of SHG efficiency, its saturation and
      stabilization are due to a combined mechanism including: (i) non-steady-state ps
      effect scaled by ~zeta(-2)[1-exp(-zeta)](2) as compared with the efficiency for
      ns pulsed operation (zeta = L/V2tauP , L is the crystal length, tauP is the pulse
      duration and V(2) is the group velocity of SH); (ii) dephasing caused by the
      spectral bandwidth of the input radiation (~300 GHz); (iii) thermal dephasing
      caused by TPA of SH; and (iv) strong SH attenuation by TPA of order ~I(2) (
      1)dI2/dz~-(0.8-8) cm(-1) for I = 1-9.5 GW/cm(2).

PMID- 25836520
TI  - Fourier ptychographic reconstruction using Wirtinger flow optimization.
AB  - Recently Fourier Ptychography (FP) has attracted great attention, due to its
      marked effectiveness in leveraging snapshot numbers for spatial resolution in
      large field-of-view imaging. To acquire high signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) images
      under angularly varying illuminations for subsequent reconstruction, FP requires
      long exposure time, which largely limits its practical applications. In this
      paper, based on the recently reported Wirtinger flow algorithm, we propose an
      iterative optimization framework incorporating phase retrieval and noise
      relaxation together, to realize FP reconstruction using low SNR images captured
      under short exposure time. Experiments on both synthetic and real captured data
      validate the effectiveness of the proposed reconstruction method. Specifically,
      the proposed technique could save ~ 80% exposure time to achieve similar
      retrieval accuracy compared to the conventional FP. Besides, we have released our
      source code for non-commercial use. 

PMID- 25836521
TI  - Coherent amplification of attosecond light pulses in the water-window spectral
      region.
AB  - We present a theoretical study on coherent extreme ultraviolet (XUV) attosecond
      pulse amplification mediated by nonlinear parametric enhanced forward scattering
      occurring in the interaction of a strong femtosecond infrared (IR) laser pulse
      combined with a weak attosecond XUV pulse train with an atom. We predict large
      amplification of XUV radiation when the IR strong pulse and the XUV weak pulse
      are optimally phased. We study high-order harmonic processes (HHG) in He, He(+)
      and Ne(++), and show how although the HHG yield is largely affected by the
      particular atom used as target, nonlinear parametric XUV amplification is only
      weakly affected. We conclude that XUV nonlinear parametric attosecond pulse
      amplification can be most efficiently observed by using atoms with a high
      ionization potential and that the nonlinear amplification is robust at high
      photon energies where HHG is not efficient, such as in the water-window spectral
      region.

PMID- 25836522
TI  - Optical phased array radiating optical vortex with manipulated topological
      charges.
AB  - Optical antennas are key elements in quantum optics emitting and sensing, and
      behave wide range applications in optical domain. However, integration of optical
      antenna radiating orbital angular momentum is still a challenge in nano-scale. We
      theoretically demonstrate a sub-wavelength phased optical antenna array, which
      manipulates the distribution of the orbital angular momentum in the near field.
      Orbital angular momentum with topological charge of 4 can be obtained by
      controlling the phase distribution of the fundamental mode orbital angular
      momentum in each antenna element. Our results indicate this phased array may be
      utilized in high integrated optical communication systems. 

PMID- 25836523
TI  - High-power passively mode-locked Nd:YVO(4) laser using SWCNT saturable absorber
      fabricated by dip coating method.
AB  - Passive mode locked laser is typically achieved by the Semiconductor Saturable
      absorber Mirror, SESAM, saturable absorber, which is produced by expensive and
      complicated metal organic chemical vapor deposition method. Carbon based single
      wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT), saturable absorber, is a promising material which
      is capable to produce stable passive mode-locking in the high power laser cavity
      over a wide operational wavelength range. This study has successfully
      demonstrated the high power mode locking laser system operating at 1 micron by
      using SWCNT based absorbers fabricated by dip coating method. The proposed
      fabrication method is practical, simple and cost effective for fabricating SWCNT
      saturable absorber. The demonstrated high power Nd:YVO(4) mode-locked laser
      operating at 1064nm have maximum output power up to 2.7W,with the 167MHz
      repetition rate and 3.1 ps pulse duration, respectively. The calculated output
      pulse energy and peak power are 16.1nJ and 5.2kW, respectively.

PMID- 25836524
TI  - Research of micro-prism distribution on the bottom surface of the small-size
      integrated light guide plate.
AB  - The luminance uniformity of the backlight module (BLM) importantly depends on the
      microstructure distribution on the bottom surface of the light guide plate (LGP).
      Based on the small-size integrated LGP (ILGP) proposed, we put forward a
      distribution expression of micro-prisms on the bottom surface of the ILGP, and
      present the relational expressions between the coefficients of the analytical
      expression and the structural parameters of the ILGP, such as the light guide
      length L, width of the ILGP W, thickness of the ILGP H, and space between light
      emitting diodes (LEDs) d. Then, the research results above are applied to the
      design of the small-size ILGPs. Not only can the micro-structure distributions on
      the bottom surface of the ILGPs be directly given, but also the simulation
      results show that the luminance uniformities of the integrated BLMs are higher
      than 85%. The research indicates that the expressions proposed in this paper are
      correct and effective, and have important guiding significances and referential
      value. 

PMID- 25836525
TI  - Optical field enhancement of nanometer-sized gaps at near-infrared frequencies.
AB  - We report near-field and far-field measurements of transmission through nanometer
      sized gaps at near-infrared frequencies with varying the gap size from 1 nm to 10
      nm. In the far-field measurements, we excluded direct transmission on the metal
      film surface via interferometric method. Kirchhoff integral formalism was used to
      relate the far-field intensity to the electric field at the nanogaps. In near
      field measurements, field enhancement factors of the nanogaps were quantified by
      measuring transmission of the nanogaps using near-field scanning optical
      microscopy. All the measurements produce similar field enhancements of about ten,
      which we put in the context of comparing with the giant field enhancements in the
      terahertz regime. 

PMID- 25836526
TI  - 3-D ice shape measurements using mid-infrared laser scanning.
AB  - A general approach based on mid-infrared (MIR) laser scanning is proposed to
      measure the 3-D ice shape no matter whether the ice is composed of clear ice,
      rime ice, mixed ice, or even supercooled water droplets or films. This is
      possible because MIR radiation penetrates ice and water only within a depth of
      less than 10 micrometers. First, an MIR laser point scanning technique is
      implemented and verified on transparent glass and clear ice. Then, to improve
      efficiency, an MIR laser line scanning method is developed and validated on
      different models. At last, several sequential MIR laser line scans are applied to
      trace the 3-D shape evolution of the continuous ice accretion on an airfoil in an
      icing wind tunnel. The ice growth process can be well observed in the results.
      The MIR scan shows a good agreement with the traditional visible laser scan on a
      plastic replication of the final ice shape made by the mold and casting method. 

PMID- 25836527
TI  - Theoretical study of pre-formed hole geometries on femtosecond pulse energy
      distribution in laser drilling.
AB  - Maxwell's wave equation was solved for fs laser drilling of silicon. The pre
      formed hole wall's influence on the propagation behavior of subsequent laser
      pulses was investigated. The laser intensity at hole bottom shows distinct
      profile as compared with that at hole entrance. The multi-peaks and ring
      structure of the laser intensity were found at hole bottom. The position of
      maximum laser intensity (MLI) in relation to the wall taper angle was studied. It
      was found that the position of the MLI point would be closer to the hole entrance
      with increasing taper angle. This observation provides valuable information in
      predicting the position of plasma plume which is a key factor influencing laser
      drilling process. The elliptical entrance hole shape and zonal structure at the
      hole bottom reported in the literatures have been reasonably explained using the
      laser intensity distribution obtained in the present model. 

PMID- 25836528
TI  - Depth-encoded synthetic aperture optical coherence tomography of biological
      tissues with extended focal depth.
AB  - Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has proven to be able to provide three
      dimensional (3D) volumetric images of scattering biological tissues for in vivo
      medical diagnostics. Unlike conventional optical microscopy, its depth-resolving
      ability (axial resolution) is exclusively determined by the laser source and
      therefore invariant over the full imaging depth. In contrast, its transverse
      resolution is determined by the objective's numerical aperture and the wavelength
      which is only approximately maintained over twice the Rayleigh range. However,
      the prevailing laser sources for OCT allow image depths of more than 5 mm which
      is considerably longer than the Rayleigh range. This limits high transverse
      resolution imaging with OCT. Previously, we reported a novel method to extend the
      depth-of-focus (DOF) of OCT imaging in Mo et al.Opt. Express 21, 10048 (2013)].
      The approach is to create three different optical apertures via pupil
      segmentation with an annular phase plate. These three optical apertures produce
      three OCT images from the same sample, which are encoded to different depth
      positions in a single OCT B-scan. This allows for correcting the defocus-induced
      curvature of wave front in the pupil so as to improve the focus. As a
      consequence, the three images originating from those three optical apertures can
      be used to reconstruct a new image with an extended DOF. In this study, we
      successfully applied this method for the first time to both an artificial phantom
      and biological tissues over a four times larger depth range. The results
      demonstrate a significant DOF improvement, paving the way for 3D high resolution
      OCT imaging beyond the conventional Rayleigh range.

PMID- 25836529
TI  - 100 Gbit/s WDM transmission at 2 um: transmission studies in both low-loss hollow
      core photonic bandgap fiber and solid core fiber.
AB  - We show for the first time 100 Gbit/s total capacity at 2 um waveband, using 4 *
      9.3 Gbit/s 4-ASK Fast-OFDM direct modulation and 4 * 15.7 Gbit/s NRZ-OOK external
      modulation, spanning a 36.3 nm wide wavelength range. WDM transmission was
      successfully demonstrated over 1.15 km of low-loss hollow core photonic bandgap
      fiber (HC-PBGF) and over 1 km of solid core fiber (SCF). We conclude that the
      OSNR penalty associated with the SCF is minimal, while a ~1-2 dB penalty was
      observed after the HC-PBGF probably due to mode coupling to higher-order modes. 

PMID- 25836530
TI  - Experimental generation of 8.4 dB entangled state with an optical cavity
      involving a wedged type-II nonlinear crystal.
AB  - Entangled state of light is one of the essential quantum resources in quantum
      information science and technology. Especially, when the fundamental principle
      experiments have been achieved in labs and the applications of continuous
      variable quantum information in the real world are considered, it is crucial to
      design and construct the generation devices of entangled states with high
      entanglement and compact configuration. We have designed and built an efficient
      and compact light source of entangled state, which is a non-degenerate optical
      parametric amplifier (NOPA) with the triple resonance of the pump and two
      subharmonic modes. A wedged type-II KTP crystal inside the NOPA is used for
      implementing frequency-down-conversion of the pump field to generate the optical
      entangled state and achieving the dispersion compensation between the pump and
      the subharmonic waves. The EPR entangled state of light with quantum correlations
      of 8.4 dB for both amplitude and phase quadratures are experimentally produced by
      a single NOPA under the pump power of 75 mW. 

PMID- 25836531
TI  - 2048 QAM (66 Gbit/s) single-carrier coherent optical transmission over 150 km
      with a potential SE of 15.3 bit/s/Hz.
AB  - We describe a 2048 QAM single-carrier coherent optical transmission over 150 km
      in detail. The OSNR at the transmitter was increased by 5 dB and the phase noise
      at the receiver was reduced from 0.35 to 0.17 degrees compared with a previous
      1024 QAM transmission. Furthermore, we employed an A/D converter with a higher
      ENOB (7 bit) to guarantee the SNR of the digital QAM data, and introduced a
      polarization-demultiplexing algorithm to fast track the polarization state
      transition. As a result, a 66 Gbit/s polarization-multiplexed 2048 QAM signal was
      successfully transmitted within an optical bandwidth of 3.6 GHz including a pilot
      tone, and a potential SE of 15.3 bit/s/Hz under a 20% FEC overhead was achieved. 

PMID- 25836532
TI  - Precision and broadband frequency swept laser source based on high-order
      modulation-sideband injection-locking.
AB  - A precision and broadband laser frequency swept technique is experimentally
      demonstrated. Using synchronous current compensation, a slave diode laser is
      dynamically injection-locked to a specific high-order modulation-sideband of a
      narrow-linewidth master laser modulated by an electro-optic modulator (EOM),
      whose driven radio frequency (RF) signal can be agilely, precisely controlled by
      a frequency synthesizer, and the high-order modulation-sideband enables
      multiplied sweep range and tuning rate. By using 5th order sideband injection
      locking, the original tuning range of 3 GHz and tuning rate of 0.5 THz/s is
      multiplied by 5 times to 15 GHz and 2.5 THz/s respectively. The slave laser has a
      3 dB-linewidth of 2.5 kHz which is the same to the master laser. The settling
      time response of a 10 MHz frequency switching is 2.5 us. By using higher-order
      modulation-sideband and optimized experiment parameters, an extended sweep range
      and rate could be expected. 

PMID- 25836533
TI  - Investigation of the thermal lens effect of the TGG crystal in high-power
      frequency-doubled laser with single frequency operation.
AB  - The thermal lens effect of the TGG crystal is investigated theoretically and
      experimentally. The theoretical analysis is demonstrated by the experimental
      measurements on a home-made frequency-doubled Nd:YVO(4) laser with single
      frequency operation. In the presence of the thermal lens effect of the TGG
      crystal, the output power can be optimized by shortening the distance between the
      cavity mirrors of M(3) and M(4) (two plane-concave mirrors placed at two sides of
      the second-harmonic generator). Consequently, a single-frequency laser with
      output power of 18.7 W at 532 nm is obtained. The power stability and the beam
      quality M(2) are better than +/-0.4% for 5 hours and 1.08, respectively.
      Meanwhile, we observe and discuss a bistability-like phenomenon of the laser in
      the cases of increasing and decreasing the incident pump power.

PMID- 25836534
TI  - Controlled excitation of higher radial order whispering gallery modes with
      metallic diffraction grating.
AB  - Metallic diffraction grating coupler is investigated for controlled excitation of
      whispering gallery modes (WGMs) of different radial orders. Based on effective
      mode index calculations and finite difference time domain method, it is found
      that higher radial order WGMs can be separated from the fundamental modes by
      sending them into the opposite propagation direction. By phase-matching designs,
      the metallic diffraction grating provides extra freedom to switch propagation
      directions, and is able to selectively enhance or suppress different radial-order
      WGMs. Such structure offers a simple and practical configuration for various WGM
      applications including liquid sensing, band pass filtering and fiber lasers. 

PMID- 25836535
TI  - Double-layered nitrocellulose membrane sample holding technique for THz and FIR
      spectroscopic measurements.
AB  - In terahertz (THz) and far-infrared (FIR) spectroscopic measurements, weak
      absorption spectral features due to small quantities of test sample can be masked
      by undesirable etalon fringe artifacts caused by multiple reflections within a
      pellet or a rigid sample holder. A double-layered nitrocellulose (NC) membrane
      structure is proposed in this paper as an alternative holder for small quantities
      of either dry or wet pure (no added polyethylene powder) samples with
      significantly reduced etalon artifacts. Utilizing a THz time-domain spectroscopy
      system and a synchrotron source, we demonstrate the performance of the NC
      structure across the THz/FIR spectrum, benchmarking against pellets holding
      similarly small quantities of alpha-lactose powder either with or without
      different grades of polyethylene powder. With only pure samples to consider,
      scattering can be mitigated effectively in NC-derived spectra to reduce their
      baselines. 

PMID- 25836536
TI  - Self-imaging of orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes in rectangular multimode
      interference waveguides.
AB  - We study the propagation of orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes in rectangular
      multimode waveguides. Due to the multimode interference effect, an OAM mode input
      forms self-images at certain propagation distances. As OAM modes can be
      decomposed as the superposition of a pair of quarter-wave phase-shifted even and
      odd modes, their symmetry properties lead to two different self-imaging
      categories - forming the OAM-maintaining and the field-splitting self-images. We
      analyze these phenomena using multimode interference theory, and establish the
      rules governing the OAM-maintaining self-imaging, which allows the multi-mode
      interference waveguides to be used as OAM mode splitters and couplers. 

PMID- 25836537
TI  - High-speed terahertz reflection three-dimensional imaging using beam steering.
AB  - High-speed terahertz (THz) reflection three-dimensional (3D) imaging is
      demonstrated using electronically-controlled optical sampling (ECOPS) and beam
      steering. ECOPS measurement is used for scanning an axial range of 7.8 mm in free
      space at 1 kHz scan rate while a transverse range of 100 * 100 mm(2) is scanned
      using beam steering instead of moving an imaging target. Telecentric f-theta
      lenses with axial and non-axial symmetry have been developed for beam steering.
      It is experimentally demonstrated that the non-axially symmetric lens has better
      characteristics than the axially symmetric lens. The total scan time depends on
      the number of points in a transverse range. For example, it takes 40 s for 200 *
      200 points and 10 s for 100 * 100 points. To demonstrate the application of the
      imaging technique to nondestructive testing, THz 3D tomographic images of a glass
      fiber reinforced polymer sample with artificial internal defects have been
      acquired using the lenses for comparison.

PMID- 25836538
TI  - Combining efficiency degraded by gain in passively phase-locked laser arrays:
      contribution of the spectral filtering.
AB  - Passive phase-locking of laser arrays is usually less efficient when the
      operating point is far above the laser threshold. We investigated the
      contribution due to the spectral filtering effect induced by the coupled
      cavities. Experiments carried out on a basic dual-arm laser as well as modeling
      show that some laser combining losses arise from the spectral filtering whose
      transmission windows have a non-uniform profile. A simple analytical model of the
      laser confirms this interpretation. 

PMID- 25836539
TI  - Polarization evolution of radially polarized partially coherent vortex fields:
      role of Gouy phase of Laguerre-Gauss beams.
AB  - In the framework of the paraxial approximation, we derive the analytical
      expressions for describing the effect of the Gouy phase of Laguerre-Gauss beams
      on the polarization evolution of partially coherent vortex fields whose electric
      field vector at some transverse plane exhibits a radially polarized behavior. At
      each transverse plane, the polarization distribution across the beam profile is
      characterized by means of the percentage of irradiance associated with the radial
      or azimuthal components. The propagation laws for these percentages are also
      presented. As an illustrative example, we analyze a radially polarized partially
      coherent vortex beam. 

PMID- 25836540
TI  - Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensing based on binary-aberration-mode filtering.
AB  - Spot centroid detection is required by Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensing since the
      technique was first proposed. For a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, the standard
      structure is to place a camera behind a lenslet array to record the image of
      spots. We proposed a new Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensing technique without using
      spot centroid detection. Based on the principle of binary-aberration-mode
      filtering, for each subaperture, only one light-detecting unit is used to measure
      the local wavefront slopes. It is possible to adopt single detectors in Shack
      Hartmann wavefront sensor. Thereby, the method is able to gain noise benefits
      from using singe detectors behind each subaperture when used for sensing rapid
      varying wavefront in weak light. Moreover, due to non-discrete pixel imaging,
      this method is a potential solution for high measurement precision with fewer
      detecting units. Our simulations demonstrate the validity of the theoretical
      model. In addition, the results also indicate the advantage in measurement
      accuracy. 

PMID- 25836541
TI  - Adiabatic passage for three-dimensional entanglement generation through quantum
      Zeno dynamics.
AB  - We propose an adiabatic passage approach to generate two atoms three-dimensional
      entanglement with the help of quantum Zeno dynamics in a time-dependent
      interacting field. The atoms are trapped in two spatially separated cavities
      connected by a fiber, so that the individual addressing is needless. Because the
      scheme is based on the resonant interaction, the time required to generate
      entanglement is greatly shortened. Since the fields remain in vacuum state and
      all the atoms are in the ground states, the losses due to the excitation of
      photons and the spontaneous transition of atoms are suppressed efficiently
      compared with the dispersive protocols. Numerical simulation results show that
      the scheme is robust against the decoherences caused by the cavity decay and
      atomic spontaneous emission. Additionally, the scheme can be generalized to
      generate N-atom three-dimensional entanglement and high-dimensional entanglement
      for two spatially separated atoms. 

PMID- 25836542
TI  - Proof of concept of fiber dispersed Raman spectroscopy using superconducting
      nanowire single-photon detectors.
AB  - Due to its high molecular specificity, Raman spectroscopy is a well-established
      analytical tool. Usually the inelastically scattered Raman light is spectrally
      dispersed by a spectrometer. Here, we present an alternative method, using an
      optical fiber as dispersive element. As the group velocity within the fiber is
      wavelength-dependent, different Raman bands arrive at different times at the
      detector. In combination with time-correlated single-photon counting, Raman
      spectra can be measured in the time domain. As detector we implemented a
      Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detector (SNSPD), which possesses a timing
      accuracy of about 20 ps. Within this contribution we show first results of Raman
      spectra measured in the time domain using gradient index fibers of varying
      length. 

PMID- 25836543
TI  - Geometric correction of atmospheric turbulence-degraded video containing moving
      objects.
AB  - Long-distance surveillance is a challenging task because of atmospheric
      turbulence that causes time-varying image shifts and blurs in images. These
      distortions become more significant as the imaging distance increases. This paper
      presents a new method for compensating image shifting in a video sequence while
      keeping real moving objects in the video unharmed. In this approach, firstly, a
      highly accurate and fast optical flow technique is applied to estimate the motion
      vector maps of the input frames and a centroid algorithm is employed to generate
      a geometrically correct frame in which there is no moving object. The second step
      involves applying an algorithm for detecting real moving objects in the video
      sequence and then restoring it with those objects unaffected. The performance of
      the proposed method is verified by comparing it with that of a state-of-the-art
      approach. Simulation experiments using both synthetic and real-life surveillance
      videos demonstrate that this method significantly improves the accuracy of image
      restoration while preserving moving objects. 

PMID- 25836544
TI  - Analytical modeling and tolerance analysis of a linear variable filter for
      spectral order sorting.
AB  - This paper proposes an innovative method to overcome the low production rate of
      current linear variable filter (LVF) fabrication. During the fabrication process,
      a commercial coater is combined with a local mask on a substrate. The proposed
      analytical thin film thickness model, which is based on the geometry of the
      commercial coater, is developed to more effectively calculate the profiles of
      LVFs. Thickness tolerance, LVF zone width, thin film layer structure,
      transmission spectrum and the effects of variations in critical parameters of the
      coater are analyzed. Profile measurements demonstrate the efficacy of local mask
      theory in the prediction of evaporation profiles with a high degree of accuracy. 

PMID- 25836545
TI  - Nanophotonic coherent imager.
AB  - An integrated silicon nanophotonic coherent imager (NCI), with a 4 * 4 array of
      coherent pixels is reported. In the proposed NCI, on-chip optical processing
      determines the intensity and depth of each point on the imaged object based on
      the instantaneous phase and amplitude of the optical wave incident on each pixel.
      The NCI operates based on a modified time-domain frequency modulated continuous
      wave (FMCW) ranging scheme, where concurrent time-domain measurements of both
      period and the zero-crossing time of each electrical output of the nanophotonic
      chip allows the NCI to overcome the traditional resolution limits of frequency
      domain detection. The detection of both intensity and relative delay enables
      applications such as high-resolution 3D reflective and transmissive imaging as
      well as index contrast imaging. We demonstrate 3D imaging with 15MUm depth
      resolution and 50MUm lateral resolution (limited by the pixel spacing) at up to
      0.5-meter range. The reported NCI is also capable of detecting a 1% equivalent
      refractive index contrast at 1mm thickness. 

PMID- 25836546
TI  - Transport properties of disordered photonic crystals around a Dirac-like point.
AB  - At the Dirac-like point at the Brillouin zone center, the photonic crystals
      (PhCs) can mimic a zero-index medium. In the band structure, an additional flat
      band of longitudinal mode will intersect the Dirac cone. This longitudinal mode
      can be excited in PhCs with finite sizes at the Dirac-like point. By introducing
      positional shift in the PhCs, we study the dependence of the longitudinal mode on
      the disorder. At the Dirac-like point, the transmission peak induced by the
      longitudinal mode decreases as the random degree increases. However, at a
      frequency slightly above the Dirac-like point, in which the longitudinal mode is
      absent, the transmission is insensitive to the disorder because the effective
      index is still near zero and the effective wavelength in the PhC is very large. 

PMID- 25836547
TI  - Thermal analysis of optical reference cavities for low sensitivity to
      environmental temperature fluctuations.
AB  - The temperature stability of optical reference cavities is significant in state
      of-the-art ultra-stable narrow-linewidth laser systems. In this paper, the
      thermal time constant and thermal sensitivity of reference cavities are analyzed
      when reference cavities respond to environmental perturbations via heat transfer
      of thermal conduction and thermal radiation separately. The analysis as well as
      simulation results indicate that a reference cavity enclosed in multiple layers
      of thermal shields with larger mass, higher thermal capacity and lower emissivity
      is found to have a larger thermal time constant and thus a smaller sensitivity to
      environmental temperature perturbations. The design of thermal shields for
      reference cavities may vary according to experimentally achievable temperature
      stability and the coefficient of thermal expansion of reference cavities. A
      temperature fluctuation-induced length instability of reference cavities as low
      as 6 * 10(-16) on a day timescale can be achieved if a two-layer thermal shield
      is inserted between a cavity with the coefficient of thermal expansion of 1 * 10(
      10) /K and an outer vacuum chamber with temperature fluctuation amplitude of 1 mK
      and period of 24 hours.

PMID- 25836548
TI  - Dielectric loaded graphene plasmon waveguide.
AB  - Dielectric loaded graphene plasmon waveguide (DLGPW) is proposed and
      investigated. An analytical model based on effective-index method is presented
      and verified by the finite element method simulations. The mode effective index,
      propagation loss, cutoff wavelength of higher order modes and single-mode
      operation region were derived at mid-infrared spectral region. By changing Fermi
      energy level, the propagation properties of fundamental mode could be tuned
      flexibly. The structure of the DLGPW is simple and easy for fabrication. It
      provided a new freedom to manipulate the graphene surface plasmons, which may led
      to new applications in actively tunable integrated optical devices. 

PMID- 25836549
TI  - Rapid fabrication of thermoplastic polymer refractive microlens array using
      contactless hot embossing technology.
AB  - A thermoplastic polymer refractive microlens array has been rapidly fabricated by
      contactless hot embossing technology through the stainless steel template with
      micro through-holes array, which has a diameter of 150 um and a pitch of 185 um.
      By optimizing the technical parameters including heating and demoulding
      temperature, loading pressure, loading and pressure holding time, a series of
      high quality microlenses arrays of different sags could be obtained. In addition,
      the sag and the radius of curvature of the microlens are controllable. The
      geometrical and optical properties of the microlenses are measured and the
      influence of temperature and pressure duration on the optical properties of the
      microlenses are analysed. The results show good surface features and optical
      performances. Unlike previous contactless hot embossing, a low cost and durable
      stainless steel template was utilized instead of silicon or nickel mold to avoid
      valuable equipments and complicated fabrication procedure. Besides, the whole
      contactless hot embossing process was absence of vacuum equipment. We think that
      the technology could be an attractive high flexibility method for enhancing
      efficiency and reducing cost. 

PMID- 25836550
TI  - Quantum cascade lasers: 20 years of challenges.
AB  - We review the most recent technological and application advances of quantum
      cascade lasers, underlining the present milestones and future directions from the
      Mid-infrared to the Terahertz spectral range. Challenges and developments, which
      are the subject of the contributions to this focus issue, are also introduced. 

PMID- 25836551
TI  - Design, fabrication and characterization of a specially apodized chirped grating
      for reciprocal second harmonic generation.
AB  - A specially-designed apodized chirped PPLN based on particular positioning of
      poled regions within the periods has been realized theoretically and
      experimentally to demonstrate the reciprocal response in the SHG spectra over a
      30-nm bandwidth, for up-chirp and down-chirp directions. The simulation results
      are compared with another apodized chirped PPLN for which the placement of poled
      regions is deviated from optimum positions. The average power difference is less
      than 0.75 dB and the standard deviations of extrema on second harmonic power
      responses are 1.34 dB and 1.64 dB for two up-chirp and down-chirp directions
      respectively. 

PMID- 25836552
TI  - THz waveguide adapters for efficient radiation out-coupling from double metal THz
      QCLs.
AB  - We report the development of on-chip optical components designed to improve the
      out-coupling of double-metal terahertz (THz) frequency quantum cascade lasers
      (QCLs). A visible reshaping of the optical beam is achieved, independent of the
      precise waveguide configuration, by direct incorporation of cyclic-olefin
      copolymer (COC) dielectric optical fibers onto the QCL facet. A major improvement
      is further achieved by incorporating a micromachined feed-horn waveguide,
      assembled around the THz QCL and integrated with a slit-coupler. In its first
      implementation, we obtain a +/- 20 degrees  beam divergence, offering the
      potential for high-efficiency radiation coupling from a metal-metal waveguide
      into optical fibers. 

PMID- 25836553
TI  - Impact of interface roughness distributions on the operation of quantum cascade
      lasers.
AB  - We study the impact of interface roughness on the operation of mid-IR and THz
      quantum cascade lasers. Particular emphasis is given towards the differences
      between the Gaussian and exponential roughness distribution functions, for which
      we present results from simulation packages based on nonequilibrium Green's
      functions and density matrices. The Gaussian distribution suppresses scattering
      at high momentum transfer which enhances the lifetime of the upper laser level in
      mid-IR lasers. For THz lasers, a broader range of scattering transitions is of
      relevance, which is sensitive to the entire profile of the interface
      fluctuations. Furthermore we discuss the implementation of interface roughness
      within a two band model. 

PMID- 25836554
TI  - Defect analysis of UV high-reflective coatings used in the high power laser
      system.
AB  - By considering the rapid change of standing-wave electric-field and assuming the
      interface defect distribution, an improved model is developed to analyze the
      defect density distribution and assess the damage performance of high-reflective
      coatings. Two kinds of high-reflective coatings deposited by e-beam evaporation
      (EBE) and ion beam sputtering (IBS) techniques are analyzed with this method. The
      lower overall damage threshold is the major feature for the coatings deposited by
      IBS method according to the defect parameters extracted from the model. Typical
      damage morphologies of coatings are also measured and analyzed. The assumption of
      interface defects is supported by the damage behavior. The damage mechanisms of
      two high-reflective coatings are attributed to the formation of molten pool and
      mechanical ejection. The influence of the incident angle on the damage
      probability is also considered and numerically calculated. The defect analysis
      model improved here is suitable for high-reflective coatings. 

PMID- 25836555
TI  - The lensing effect of trapped particles in a dual-beam optical trap.
AB  - In dual-beam optical traps, two counterpropagating, divergent laser beams emitted
      from opposing laser fibers trap and manipulate dielectric particles. We
      investigate the lensing effect that trapped particles have on the beams. Our
      approach makes use of the intrinsic coupling of a beam to the opposing fiber
      after having passed the trapped particle. We present measurements of this
      coupling signal for PDMS particles, as well as a model for its dependence on size
      and refractive index of the trapped particle. As a more complex sample, the
      coupling of inhomogeneous biological cells is measured and discussed. We show
      that the lensing effect is well captured by the simple ray optics approximation.
      The measurements reveal intricate details, such as the thermal lens effect of the
      beam propagation in a dual-beam trap. For a particle of known size, the model
      further allows to infer its refractive index simply from the coupling signal. 

PMID- 25836556
TI  - Creating electron vortex beams with light.
AB  - We propose an all-optical method of creating electron vortices utilizing the
      Kapitza-Dirac effect. This technique uses the transfer of orbital angular
      momentum from photons to free electrons creating electron vortex beams in the
      process. The laser intensities needed for this experiment can be obtained with
      available pulsed lasers and the resulting electron beams carrying orbital angular
      momentum will be particularly useful in the study of magnetic materials and
      chiral plasmonic structures in ultrafast electron microscopy. 

PMID- 25836557
TI  - Two-way fiber-wireless convergence systems based on two-stage injection-locked
      VCSELs transmitter and optical interleaver.
AB  - A two-way fiber-wireless convergence system based on a two-stage injection-locked
      1.55-MUm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) transmitter and an
      optical interleaver (IL) to deliver intensity-modulated and phase-remodulated
      millimeter-wave (MMW) data signals over a 40-km single-mode fiber (SMF) and a 5-m
      radio frequency (RF) wireless transport is proposed and experimentally
      demonstrated. Bit error rate (BER) and eye diagram perform brilliantly through a
      serious investigation in systems. Such a two-way fiber-wireless convergence
      system is a promising option, it reveals a prominent one to present its
      advancement in integration of distribute fiber and in-house network. 

PMID- 25836558
TI  - Theory of terahertz generation by optical rectification using tilted-pulse
      fronts.
AB  - A model for terahertz (THz) generation by optical rectification using tilted
      pulse-fronts is developed. It simultaneously accounts for in two spatial
      dimensions (2-D) (i) the spatio-temporal variations of the optical pump pulse
      imparted by the tilted-pulse-front setup, (ii) the nonlinear coupled interaction
      of THz and optical radiation, (iii) self-phase modulation and (iv) stimulated
      Raman scattering. The model is validated by quantitative agreement with
      experiments and analytic calculations. We show that the optical pump beam is
      significantly broadened in the transverse-momentum (kx) domain as a consequence
      of its spectral broadening due to THz generation. In the presence of this large
      frequency and transverse-momentum (or angular) spread, group velocity dispersion
      causes a spatio-temporal break-up of the optical pump pulse which inhibits
      further THz generation. The implications of these effects on energy scaling and
      optimization of optical-to-THz conversion efficiency are discussed. This suggests
      the use of optical pump pulses with elliptical beam profiles for large optical
      pump energies. Furthermore, it is seen that optimization of the setup is highly
      dependent on optical pump conditions. Trade-offs in optimizing the optical-to-THz
      conversion efficiency on the spatial and spectral properties of THz radiation are
      discussed to guide the development of such sources.

PMID- 25836559
TI  - Scanning-free BOTDA based on ultra-fine digital optical frequency comb.
AB  - We realize a scanning-free Brillouin optical time domain analyzer (BOTDA) based
      on an ultra-fine digital optical frequency comb (DOFC) with 1.95MHz frequency
      spacing and 2GHz bandwidth. The DOFC can be used to reconstruct the Brillouin
      gain spectrum (BGS) and locate the Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) without
      frequency scanning and thus can improve the measurement speed about 100 times
      compared with the conventional BOTDA. This scanning-free BOTDA scheme has also
      been demonstrated experimentally with 51.2m spatial resolution over 10km standard
      single mode fiber (SSMF) and with resolution of 1.5 degrees C for temperature and
      43.3MUepsilon for strain measurement respectively. 

PMID- 25836560
TI  - Enhanced signal coupling in wide-field fiber-coupled imagers.
AB  - Some high-performance imaging systems, including wide angle "monocentric" lenses
      made of concentric spherical shells, form a deeply curved image surface coupled
      to focal plane sensors by optical fiber bundles with a curved input and flat
      output face. However, refraction at the angled input facet limits the range of
      input angles, even for fiber bundles with numerical aperture 1. Here we
      investigate using a curved beam deflector near the focal surface to increase the
      field of view and improve spatial resolution at the edges of the field of view.
      We show the field of view of such an imager can be increased from approximately
      60 degrees  (full width at half maximum intensity) to over 90 degrees  using an
      embossed refractive microprism array, where the prism angle varies across the
      aperture to maintain coupling. We describe a proof-of-principle experiment using
      a f = 17.8mm fiber-coupled monocentric singlet lens, and show that a local region
      of microprisms embossed into a thin layer of SU-8 photopolymer can increase the
      field of view by 50%. 

PMID- 25836561
TI  - Quantitative index of arbitrary molar concentration for coherent anti-Stoke Raman
      scattering (CARS) spectroscopy and microscopy.
AB  - We propose a simple quantitative index for coherent anti-Stoke Raman scattering
      (CARS) spectroscopy and microscopy. Unlike previous similar indices, it can be
      applied to samples with arbitrary molar concentration, and it is robust against
      environmental change. Concentrations of aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution and
      lipid concentration distribution in a live murine adipocyte were successfully
      quantified by the new index. The index can be obtained in a broad range of CARS
      setups and it is readily applicable to quantitative CARS microscopy for deep
      inspection of samples such as biological specimens. 

PMID- 25836562
TI  - Photonic-lantern-based coherent LIDAR system.
AB  - In this work, a photonic-lantern-based coherent LIDAR system is experimentally
      demonstrated and the voltage signal-to-noise ratio improvement is analyzed. A
      voltage signal-to-noise ratio (SNR(V)) improvement of 2.8 is demonstrated
      experimentally for photonic-lantern-based coherent receivers relative to single
      mode coherent receivers. The voltage signal-to-noise ratio improvement is
      obtained when other parameters are kept constant. We have also analyzed the
      effect of random optical power distribution among the single-mode fibers. We
      found that the distribution does not significantly impact the SNR(V) improvement.
      The mean value of voltage signal-to-noise ratio improvement is found to be ~ 2.4.

PMID- 25836563
TI  - Vertically coupled microring resonators using one epitaxial growth step and
      single-side lithography.
AB  - A new concept for the fabrication of integrated microring resonators, requiring
      only one single epitaxial growth and two single-side lithographic steps, is
      proposed in what is the simplest fabrication scheme for vertical microrings
      published to date. The approach is based on two vertically stacked phase matched
      core layers. The effect of bus waveguide, coupling region and ring structure
      parameters is theoretically analyzed. Numerical calculations predict high
      performance devices with quality factors of over 10000. The scheme can feature
      both active and passive regions, allowing the fabrication of microring lasers. 

PMID- 25836564
TI  - Incoherent structured illumination improves optical sectioning and contrast in
      multiphoton super-resolution microscopy.
AB  - Three-dimensional super-resolution imaging in thick, semi-transparent biological
      specimens is hindered by light scattering, which increases background and
      degrades both contrast and optical sectioning. We describe a simple method that
      mitigates these issues, improving image quality in our recently developed two
      photon instant structured illumination microscope without requiring any hardware
      modifications to the instrument. By exciting the specimen with three laterally
      structured, phase-shifted illumination patterns and post-processing the resulting
      images, we digitally remove both scattered and out-of-focus emissions that would
      otherwise contaminate our raw data. We demonstrate the improved performance of
      our approach in biological samples, including pollen grains, primary mouse aortic
      endothelial cells cultured in a three-dimensional collagen matrix and live tumor
      like cell spheroids. 

PMID- 25836565
TI  - Grating integrated single mode microring laser.
AB  - Microring and microdisk lasers are potential candidates for small footprint, low
      threshold in-plane integrated lasers; however, they exhibit multimode lasing
      spectra and bistability. Here, we theoretically propose and experimentally
      demonstrate a novel approach for achieving single mode lasing in microring
      lasers. Our approach is based on increasing the radiation loss of all but one of
      the resonant modes of microring resonators by integrating second order gratings
      on the microrings' waveguide. We present single mode operation of electrically
      pumped semiconductor microring lasers whose lasing modes are lithographically
      selected via the second order grating. We also show that adding the grating does
      not increase the lasing threshold current significantly. 

PMID- 25836566
TI  - Manipulating photoinduced voltage in metasurface with circularly polarized light.
AB  - Recently, the concept of metasurface has provided one an unprecedented
      opportunity and ability to control the light in the deep subwavelength scale.
      However, so far most efforts are devoted to exploiting the novel scattering
      properties and applications of metasurface in optics. Here, I theoretically and
      numerically demonstrate that longitudinal and transverse photoinduced voltages
      can be simultaneously realized in the proposed metasurface utilizing the magnetic
      resonance under the normal incidence of circularly polarized light, which may
      extend the concept and functionality of metasurface into the electronics and may
      provide a potential scheme to realize a nanoscale tunable voltage source through
      a nanophotonic roadmap. The signs of longitudinal and transverse photoin-duced
      voltages can be manipulated by tuning the resonant frequency and the handedness
      of circularly polarized light, respectively. Analytical formulae of photoinduced
      voltage are presented based on the theory of symmetry of field. This work may
      bridge nanophotonics and electronics, expands the capability of metasurface and
      has many potential applications. 

PMID- 25836567
TI  - Fabricating subwavelength dot-matrix surface structures of molybdenum by
      transient correlated actions of two-color femtosecond laser beams.
AB  - Two-dimensional matrix of subwavelength dot structures are directly generated on
      molybdenum surfaces by focusing two-color femtosecond laser pulses through an
      optical lens. In contrast to the traditional fabrication approaches, the spatial
      periodicities of such surface structures are demonstrated to rely on the time
      delay of two laser beams through transient correlation between their ultrafast
      dynamic processes, in spite of their different colors and polarizations. The
      structure orientations can be tuned effectively via the laser polarization.
      Discussion suggests a new possible flexible way towards the nanoscale
      sophisticated material processing for many potential applications. 

PMID- 25836568
TI  - Automatic identification of oculomotor behavior using pattern recognition
      techniques.
AB  - In this paper, a methodological scheme for identifying distinct patterns of
      oculomotor behavior such as saccades, microsaccades, blinks and fixations from
      time series of eye's angular displacement is presented. The first step of the
      proposed methodology involves signal detrending for artifacts removal and
      estimation of eye's angular velocity. Then, feature vectors from fourteen first
      order statistical features are formed from each angular displacement and velocity
      signal using sliding, fixed-length time windows. The obtained feature vectors are
      used for training and testing three artificial neural network classifiers,
      connected in cascade. The three classifiers discriminate between blinks and non
      blinks, fixations and non-fixations and saccades and microsaccades, respectively.
      The proposed methodology was tested on a dataset from 1392 subjects, each
      performing three oculomotor fixation conditions. The average overall accuracy of
      the three classifiers, with respect to the manual identification of eye movements
      by experts, was 95.9%. The proposed methodological scheme provided better results
      than the well-known Velocity Threshold algorithm, which was used for comparison.
      The findings of the present study indicate that the utilization of pattern
      recognition techniques in the task of identifying the various eye movements may
      provide accurate and robust results.

PMID- 25836569
TI  - Use of the gum elastic bougie during endotracheal intubation in emergent patients
      with difficult airways.

PMID- 25836570
TI  - A route to the heterocyclic cluster of the E-series of thiopeptide antibiotics.
AB  - A concise route to the 3-hydroxypyridine core of thiopeptide antibiotics such as
      nocathiacin is described. Key phases of the sequence involve a modified Hantzsch
      pyridine construction and a chemoselective Peng deprotection of a phenolic MOM
      ether. 

PMID- 25836571
TI  - Generating primary cultures of murine cardiac myocytes and cardiac fibroblasts to
      study viral myocarditis.
AB  - Viruses can induce direct damage to cardiac myocytes and cardiac fibroblasts
      resulting in myocarditis and impaired cardiac function. Cardiac myocytes and
      cardiac fibroblasts display different capacities to support viral infection and
      generate a protective antiviral response. This chapter provides detailed
      protocols for generation and characterization of primary cultures of murine
      cardiac myocytes and cardiac fibroblasts, offering a powerful tool to probe cell
      type-specific responses that determine protection against viral myocarditis. 

PMID- 25836572
TI  - Enrichment of cardiomyocytes in primary cultures of murine neonatal hearts.
AB  - In vitro culture of neonatal murine cardiomyocytes is vital for understanding the
      functions of the heart. Cardiomyocyte cultures are difficult to maintain because
      they do not proliferate after birth. The maintenance of primary cultures of
      viable and functional cardiomyocytes is considerably affected by the yield from
      initial steps of isolation procedures. This protocol describes an efficient and
      rapid method for isolation and maintenance of long-term cultures of neonatal
      murine cardiomyocytes by effectively shortening the trypsin enzyme digestion
      period and the cardiomyocyte enrichment step. 

PMID- 25836573
TI  - Deep sequencing of cardiac microRNA-mRNA interactomes in clinical and
      experimental cardiomyopathy.
AB  - MicroRNAs are a family of short (~21 nucleotide) noncoding RNAs that serve key
      roles in cellular growth and differentiation and the response of the heart to
      stress stimuli. As the sequence-specific recognition element of RNA-induced
      silencing complexes (RISCs), microRNAs bind mRNAs and prevent their translation
      via mechanisms that may include transcript degradation and/or prevention of
      ribosome binding. Short microRNA sequences and the ability of microRNAs to bind
      to mRNA sites having only partial/imperfect sequence complementarity complicate
      purely computational analyses of microRNA-mRNA interactomes. Furthermore,
      computational microRNA target prediction programs typically ignore biological
      context, and therefore the principal determinants of microRNA-mRNA binding: the
      presence and quantity of each. To address these deficiencies we describe an
      empirical method, developed via studies of stressed and failing hearts, to
      determine disease-induced changes in microRNAs, mRNAs, and the mRNAs targeted to
      the RISC, without cross-linking mRNAs to RISC proteins. Deep sequencing methods
      are used to determine RNA abundances, delivering unbiased, quantitative RNA data
      limited only by their annotation in the genome of interest. We describe the
      laboratory bench steps required to perform these experiments, experimental design
      strategies to achieve an appropriate number of sequencing reads per biological
      replicate, and computer-based processing tools and procedures to convert large
      raw sequencing data files into gene expression measures useful for differential
      expression analyses. 

PMID- 25836574
TI  - Next-generation sequencing technology in the genetics of cardiovascular disease.
AB  - In recent years, next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have
      revolutionized approaches to genetic studies, making whole-genome sequencing a
      possible way for obtaining global genomic information. At present, three most NGS
      platforms are used in genetics for clonally amplified templates. These
      technologies share general processing steps but differing in specific technical
      details that determine their limits or advantages. NGS has been recently shown to
      have great potential for identifying novel causative mutations in different
      disorders. It is expected that the NGS will be increasingly important in the
      study of inherited and complex traits such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
      Indeed, the identification and characterization of genes that enhance prediction
      of CVDs risk remain an important challenge for improving prevention and
      treatment. 

PMID- 25836575
TI  - Computational cardiac electrophysiology: implementing mathematical models of
      cardiomyocytes to simulate action potentials of the heart.
AB  - Mathematical models are now an important tool for studying cardiac
      electrophysiology and arrhythmias. Utilizing these models to quantify behavior
      and make predictions requires solving the models computationally using numerical
      schemes. We discuss different solution methods and other computational
      considerations for simulating cardiac action potentials in single cells and
      multicellular preparations. 

PMID- 25836576
TI  - Methods of myofibrillogenesis modeling.
AB  - Organization in the heart is important on multiple length scales.
      Myofibrillogenesis processes control the assembly of this multi-scale
      architecture. Understanding myofibrillogenesis might allow us to better control
      self-assembly of cardiac tissues. One approach consists of creating
      phenomenological models and comparing these models to in vitro data from primary
      myocytes. In this chapter, we present a method for building these models to
      recapitulate different aspects of myofibrillogenesis. We present a specific
      example for a cardiomyocyte model, but the same procedure can be used to model
      fibrillogenesis with other mechanisms such as motility. In sum, the models allow
      for a better understanding of mechanisms behind self-assembly. 

PMID- 25836577
TI  - Using the mechanical bidomain model to analyze the biomechanical behavior of
      cardiomyocytes.
AB  - The mechanical bidomain model provides a macroscopic description of cardiac
      tissue biomechanics and also predicts the microscopic coupling between the
      extracellular matrix and the intracellular cytoskeleton of cardiomyocytes. The
      goal of this chapter is to introduce the mechanical bidomain model, to describe
      the mathematical methods required to solve the model equations, and to predict
      where the membrane forces acting on integrin proteins coupling the intracellular
      and extracellular spaces are large. 

PMID- 25836578
TI  - Fabrication of a myocardial patch with cells differentiated from human-induced
      pluripotent stem cells.
AB  - The incidence of cardiovascular disease represents a significant and growing
      health-care challenge to the developed and developing world. The ability of
      native heart muscle to regenerate in response to myocardial infarct is minimal.
      Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine approaches represent one promising
      response to this difficulty. Here, we present methods for the construction of a
      cell-seeded cardiac patch with the potential to promote regenerative outcomes in
      heart muscle with damage secondary to myocardial infarct. This method leverages
      iPS cells and a fibrin-based scaffold to create a simple and commercially viable
      tissue-engineered cardiac patch. Human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)
      can, in principle, be differentiated into cells of any lineage. However, most of
      the protocols used to generate hiPSC-derived endothelial cells (ECs) and
      cardiomyocytes (CMs) are unsatisfactory because the yield and phenotypic
      stability of the hiPSC-ECs are low, and the hiPSC-CMs are often purified via
      selection for expression of a promoter-reporter construct. In this chapter, we
      describe an hiPSC-EC differentiation protocol that generates large numbers of
      stable ECs and an hiPSC-CM differentiation protocol that does not require genetic
      manipulation, single-cell selection, or sorting with fluorescent dyes or other
      reagents. We also provide a simple but effective method that can be used to
      combine hiPSC-ECs and hiPSC-CMs with hiPSC-derived smooth muscle cells to
      engineer a contracting patch of cardiac cells. 

PMID- 25836580
TI  - Isolation, culturing, and characterization of cardiac muscle cells from nonhuman
      primate heart tissue.
AB  - Cardiac safety pharmacology requires in vitro testing of all drug candidates
      before clinical trials in order to ensure they are screened for cardiotoxic
      effects which may result in severe arrhythmias and, ultimately, cardiomyopathy
      (Chi, Nat Rev Drug Discov 12:565-567, 2013). Given the physiological similarities
      between nonhuman primates and humans, isolated primate cardiac muscle cells are
      an ideal animal model for such in vitro testing. The aims of this chapter are to
      describe two methods for isolating and culturing primate cardiac muscle cells.
      One method uses mechanical dissociation of the tissue followed by placing the
      small pieces onto a Petri dish and culturing these tissue explants. The other
      method also uses mechanical dissociation but is then followed by enzymatic
      digestion and culturing of the cell suspension. Methods are also described for
      phenotypically characterizing cardiac muscle cells by flow cytometry. Based on
      the location within the heart tissue chosen for cell isolation, a dividing
      population of cardiac muscle cells expressing cardiomyocyte cell markers was
      obtained. 

PMID- 25836581
TI  - Mouse embryonic stem cell-derived cardiac myocytes in a cell culture dish.
AB  - Embryonic stem (ES) cells are pluripotent stem cells capable of self-renewal and
      have broad differentiation potential yielding cell types from all three germ
      layers. In the absence of differentiation inhibitory factors, when cultured in
      suspension, ES cells spontaneously differentiate and form three-dimensional cell
      aggregates termed embryoid bodies (EBs). Although various methods exist for the
      generation of EBs, the hanging drop method offers reproducibility and homogeneity
      from a predetermined number of ES cells. Herein, we describe the in vitro
      differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells into cardiac myocytes using the
      hanging drop method and immunocytochemistry to identify cardiomyogenic
      differentiation. In brief, ES cells, placed in droplets on the lid of culture
      dishes following a 2-day incubation, yield embryoid bodies, which are resuspended
      and plated. 1-2 weeks following plating of the EBs, spontaneous beating areas can
      be observed and staining for specific cardiac markers can be achieved. 

PMID- 25836579
TI  - Efficient differentiation of cardiomyocytes from human pluripotent stem cells
      with growth factors.
AB  - Human pluripotent stem cells have tremendous replicative capacity and
      demonstrated potential to generate functional cardiomyocytes. These
      cardiomyocytes represent a promising source for cell replacement therapy to treat
      heart disease and may serve as a useful tool for drug discovery and disease
      modeling. Efficient cardiomyocyte differentiation, a prerequisite for the
      application of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, can be achieved with a growth
      factor-guided method. Undifferentiated cells are sequentially treated with
      activin A and BMP4 in a serum-free and insulin-free medium and then maintained in
      a serum-free medium with insulin. This method yields as much as >75%
      cardiomyocytes in the differentiation culture within 2 weeks, and the beating
      cardiomyocytes have expected molecular, cellular, and electrophysiological
      characteristics. In this chapter, we describe in detail the differentiation
      protocol and follow-up characterization focusing on immunocytochemistry,
      quantitative RT-PCR, and flow cytometry analysis.

PMID- 25836582
TI  - Cryopreservation of neonatal cardiomyocytes.
AB  - Cardiomyocytes are frequently used for in vitro models for cardiac research. The
      isolation of cells is time-consuming and, due to the cells limited proliferative
      abilities, must be performed frequently. To reduce the time requirements and the
      impact on research animals, we describe a method for cryopreserving neonatal rat
      cardiomyocytes (NRCMs), and subsequently thawing them for use in assays. 

PMID- 25836583
TI  - Evaluation of sarcomeric organization in human pluripotent stem cell-derived
      cardiomyocytes.
AB  - High-resolution optical imaging provides valuable window in examining
      transitional and systemic changes in cellular processes. The relative spatial
      relationship of structural, transport, and signaling proteins, surface antigens,
      and transcription factors may reveal developmental state of the cellular system.
      Here, we describe the use of confocal microscopy to evaluate the organization of
      sarcomeric structural proteins, sarcoplasmic channel proteins, and cardiac
      transcription factors in human pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived
      cardiomyocytes. 

PMID- 25836584
TI  - Electrotonic coupled metabolic purification of chick cardiomyocytes.
AB  - Cardiomyocytes isolated from chick and rodent are widely used in studying cardiac
      physiology. However, contaminating non-cardiomyocytes are an inherent problem
      that hinders downstream analysis. Here, we report a novel electrical stimulation
      coupled with metabolic selection method using cytosine arabinoside (AraC) to
      efficiently eliminate contaminating cells in isolating chick embryonic
      cardiomyocytes. Compared with conventional methods of pre-plating or AraC alone,
      electrical stimulation coupled with AraC increased the percentage purity of
      cardiomyocytes by 2-6-fold with added effect of improved contractile function and
      maturation. This simple method could be useful in isolating and maintaining
      purified cardiomyocytes for long-term studies of cardiac physiology. 

PMID- 25836585
TI  - Gene transfer into cardiac myocytes.
AB  - Traditional methods for DNA transfection are often inefficient and toxic for
      terminally differentiated cells, such as cardiac myocytes. Vector-based gene
      transfer is an efficient approach for introducing exogenous cDNA into these types
      of primary cell cultures. In this chapter, separate protocols for adult rat
      cardiac myocyte isolation and gene transfer with recombinant adenovirus are
      provided and are routinely utilized for studying the effects of sarcomeric
      proteins on myofilament function. 

PMID- 25836586
TI  - Analysis of 4D myocardial wall motion during early stages of chick heart
      development.
AB  - 4D myocardial wall motion analysis (3D structure over time) during early
      embryonic stages of chick heart development provides a comprehensive view to
      characterize the biomechanical environment of cardiac growth. Myocardial wall
      strains, velocity, and area shortening over the cardiac cycle are common wall
      motion assessments and can be accurately measured from 4D datasets. Here, we
      describe how to employ a variety of image modalities (optical, ultrasound, and
      optical coherence tomography imaging) and analysis techniques to extract
      quantitative measures of myocardial wall motion. 

PMID- 25836587
TI  - The stability of epigenetic factor ASXL1 is regulated through ubiquitination and
      USP7-mediated deubiquitination.

PMID- 25836588
TI  - Clinical and biological implications of ancestral and non-ancestral IDH1 and IDH2
      mutations in myeloid neoplasms.
AB  - Mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1/2 (IDH1/2(MT)) are drivers of a variety
      of myeloid neoplasms. As they yield the same oncometabolite, D-2
      hydroxyglutarate, they are often treated as equivalent, and pooled. We studied
      the validity of this approach and found IDH1/2 mutations in 179 of 2119 myeloid
      neoplasms (8%). Cross-sectionally, the frequencies of these mutations increased
      from lower- to higher risk disease, thus suggesting a role in clinical
      progression. Variant allelic frequencies indicated that IDH1(MT) and IDH2(MT) are
      ancestral in up to 14/74 (19%) vs 34/99 (34%; P=0.027) of cases, respectively,
      illustrating the pathogenic role of these lesions in myeloid neoplasms.
      IDH1/2(MT) was associated with poor overall survival, particularly in lower risk
      myelodysplastic syndromes. Ancestral IDH1(MT) cases were associated with a worse
      prognosis than subclonal IDH1(MT) cases, whereas the position of IDH2(MT) within
      clonal hierarchy did not impact survival. This may relate to distinct mutational
      spectra with more DNMT3A and NPM1 mutations associated with IDH1(MT) cases, and
      more ASXL1, SRSF2, RUNX1, STAG2 mutations associated with IDH2(MT) cases. Our
      data demonstrate important clinical and biological differences between IDH1(MT)
      and IDH2(MT) myeloid neoplasms. These mutations should be considered separately
      as their differences could have implications for diagnosis, prognosis and
      treatment with IDH1/2(MT) inhibitors of IDH1/2(MT) patients. 

PMID- 25836590
TI  - Retention of the stemness of mouse adipose-derived stem cells by their expansion
      on human bone marrow stromal cell-derived extracellular matrix.
AB  - Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) usually lose their stemness during in vitro
      expansion as they are deprived of their niche environment. Cell-extracellular
      matrix (ECM) interaction is known to play important roles in preserving the
      stemness of the cells in their stem cell niche environment. Previously, coating
      with bone marrow MSC (BMSC)-derived ECM was found able to maintain the
      differentiation potential of in vitro cultured MSCs. This study aimed to
      determine if this ECM coating could also maintain the stemness of cultured murine
      adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) using a regular culture flask as a control.
      Cells were expanded in ECM-coated and ECM-noncoated flasks for two and four
      passages and then harvested for various analyses. The results showed that ASCs
      exhibited fibroblast-like spindle morphology in ECM-coated flasks, whereas ASCs
      gradually spread and enlarged in the ECM-noncoated flasks. After three and five
      passages, both groups of cells exhibited similar cytokinetics in the MSC culture
      medium (MesenPRO RSTM Medium). However, when cultured in Dulbecco's modified
      Eagles medium (DMEM) plus 10% fetal bovine serum, coating group cells exhibited
      more potent proliferation than control group cells with a significant difference
      in both passages 3 and 5 (p<0.01). When seeded at low density (500 cells/10-cm
      dish), coating group cells formed significantly more and larger sized cell
      colonies than control group cells with significant difference in cell colony
      numbers between two groups (p<0.05). In addition, coated colony cells were much
      smaller and more compactly arranged compared to control colony cells.
      Furthermore, ASCs expanded in coated flasks exhibited greater potentials for
      adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic differentiations than the cells expanded
      in regular flasks. Quantitatively, the Oil Red O staining area, Alizarin staining
      area, and Toluidine Blue staining area were all significantly larger than the
      respective staining areas of control cells (p<0.05). Real-time polymerase chain
      reaction also revealed significantly higher gene expression levels of peroxisome
      proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma), adipocyte protein 2 (aP2),
      CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP), Runx2, osteocalcin, Sox9, collagen II,
      and aggrecan in ECM-coated group cells than in control group cells (p<0.05).
      Collectively, these results suggest that human BMSC decellular ECM coating helps
      to preserve the stemness of cultured murine ASCs.

PMID- 25836589
TI  - Biomarker profiling of steroid-resistant acute GVHD in patients after infusion of
      mesenchymal stromal cells.
AB  - We performed a prospective phase II study to evaluate clinical safety and outcome
      in 48 patients with steroid-refractory grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host
      disease (aGVHD) treated with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). Clinical outcomes
      were correlated to comprehensive analyses of soluble and cellular biomarkers.
      Complete resolution (CR) of aGVHD at day 28 (CR-28) occurred in 12 (25%)
      patients, CR lasting >1 month (CR-B) occurred in 24 (50%) patients. One-year
      overall survival was significantly improved in CR-28 (75 versus 33%, P=0.020) and
      CR-B (79 versus 8%, P<0.001) versus non-CR patients. A six soluble biomarker
      panel was predictive for mortality (HR 2.924; CI 1.485-5.758) when measured
      before MSC-administration. Suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (ST2) was only
      predictive for mortality 2 weeks after but not before MSC-administration (HR
      2.389; CI 1.144-4.989). In addition, an increase in immature myeloid dendritic
      cells associated with decreased mortality (HR 0.554, CI 0.389-0.790). Patients
      had persisting T-cell responses against defined virus- and leukemia-associated
      antigens. In conclusion, our data emphasize the need to carefully assess
      biomarkers in cohorts with homogeneous GVHD treatments. Biomarkers might become
      an additional valuable component of composite end points for the rapid and
      efficient testing of novel compounds to decrease lifecycle of clinical testing
      and improve the success rate of phase II/III trials. 

PMID- 25836591
TI  - Ischemic Compression After Dry Needling of a Latent Myofascial Trigger Point
      Reduces Postneedling Soreness Intensity and Duration.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of ischemic compression (IC) versus placebo
      and control on reducing postneedling soreness of 1 latent myofascial trigger
      point and on improving cervical range of motion (CROM) in asymptomatic subjects.
      DESIGN: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with 72-hour follow
      up. SETTING: A university community. PARTICIPANTS: Asymptomatic volunteers (N =
      90: 40 men and 50 women) aged 18 to 39 years (mean +/- standard deviation [SD]:
      22 +/- 3 years). INTERVENTION: All subjects received a dry needling application
      over the upper trapezius muscle. Participants were then randomly divided into 3
      groups: a treatment group who received IC over the needled trapezius muscle, a
      placebo group who received sham IC, and a control group who did not receive any
      treatment after needling. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Visual analog scale (VAS; during
      needling, at posttreatment and 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours) and CROM (at
      preneedling, postneedling, and 24 and 72 hours). RESULTS: Subjects in the IC
      group showed significantly lower postneedling soreness than the placebo and the
      control group subjects immediately after treatment (mean +/- standard deviation
      [SD]: IC, 20.1 +/- 4.8; placebo, 36.7 +/- 4.8; control, 34.8 +/- 3.6) and at 48
      hours (mean +/- SD: IC, 0.6 +/- 1; placebo, 4.8 +/- 1; control, 3.8 +/- 0.7). In
      addition, subjects in the dry needling+IC group showed significantly lower
      postneedling soreness duration (P = .026). All subjects significantly improved
      CROM in contralateral lateroflexion and both homolateral and contralateral
      rotations, but only the improvements found in the IC group reached the minimal
      detectable change. CONCLUSIONS: IC can potentially be added immediately after dry
      needling of myofascial trigger point in the upper trapezius muscle because it has
      the effect of reducing postneedling soreness intensity and duration. The
      combination of dry needling and IC seems to improve CROM in homolateral and
      contralateral cervical rotation movements.

PMID- 25836592
TI  - Sequential delivery of angiogenic growth factors improves revascularization and
      heart function after myocardial infarction.
AB  - Treatment of ischemia through therapeutic angiogenesis faces significant
      challenges. Growth factor (GF)-based therapies can be more effective when
      concerns such as GF spatiotemporal presentation, bioactivity, bioavailability,
      and localization are addressed. During angiogenesis, vascular endothelial GF
      (VEGF) is required early to initiate neovessel formation while platelet-derived
      GF (PDGF-BB) is needed later to stabilize the neovessels. The spatiotemporal
      delivery of multiple bioactive GFs involved in angiogenesis, in a close mimic to
      physiological cues, holds great potential to treat ischemic diseases. To achieve
      sequential release of VEGF and PDGF, we embed VEGF in fibrin gel and PDGF in a
      heparin-based coacervate that is distributed in the same fibrin gel. In vitro, we
      show the benefits of this controlled delivery approach on cell proliferation,
      chemotaxis, and capillary formation. A rat myocardial infarction (MI) model
      demonstrated the effectiveness of this delivery system in improving cardiac
      function, ventricular wall thickness, angiogenesis, cardiac muscle survival, and
      reducing fibrosis and inflammation in the infarct zone compared to saline, empty
      vehicle, and free GFs. Collectively, our results show that this delivery approach
      mitigated the injury caused by MI and may serve as a new therapy to treat
      ischemic hearts pending further examination. 

PMID- 25836594
TI  - Treatment of Orbital Roof Blow-Up Fracture Using a Superior Blepharoplasty
      Incision.
AB  - In orbital roof blow-up fractures, reduction can be achieved easily using an
      approach from the anterior cranial fossa but the procedure is highly invasive. In
      contrast, an orbital approach using a superior blepharoplasty incision is
      minimally invasive. However, if bone fragments are adhered to the dura mater,
      there is a risk of dura mater injury when fragments are moved for reduction. In
      blow-in fractures, reduction is performed by pushing the bone fragments against
      the anterior cranial fossa. In contrast, the procedure is difficult for blow-up
      fractures because bone fragments must be pulled out into the orbit through the
      anterior cranial fossa. Orbital blow-up fractures are often associated with
      intracranial injuries and frequently treated by an approach from the anterior
      cranial fossa. There has not yet been a report that discusses whether reduction
      of bone fragments should be performed in blow-up fracture without intracranial
      injury. In this report, we describe two cases of orbital roof blow-up fracture
      that did not require treatment for intracranial injury and that were treated
      using an orbital approach. The treatment involved only the release of orbital fat
      entrapped between bone fragments and did not involve reduction. The treatment
      outcomes were good in both cases. 

PMID- 25836593
TI  - Exosomes as drug delivery vehicles for Parkinson's disease therapy.
AB  - Exosomes are naturally occurring nanosized vesicles that have attracted
      considerable attention as drug delivery vehicles in the past few years. Exosomes
      are comprised of natural lipid bilayers with the abundance of adhesive proteins
      that readily interact with cellular membranes. We posit that exosomes secreted by
      monocytes and macrophages can provide an unprecedented opportunity to avoid
      entrapment in mononuclear phagocytes (as a part of the host immune system), and
      at the same time enhance delivery of incorporated drugs to target cells
      ultimately increasing drug therapeutic efficacy. In light of this, we developed a
      new exosomal-based delivery system for a potent antioxidant, catalase, to treat
      Parkinson's disease (PD). Catalase was loaded into exosomes ex vivo using
      different methods: the incubation at room temperature, permeabilization with
      saponin, freeze-thaw cycles, sonication, or extrusion. The size of the obtained
      catalase-loaded exosomes (exoCAT) was in the range of 100-200nm. A reformation of
      exosomes upon sonication and extrusion, or permeabilization with saponin resulted
      in high loading efficiency, sustained release, and catalase preservation against
      proteases degradation. Exosomes were readily taken up by neuronal cells in vitro.
      A considerable amount of exosomes was detected in PD mouse brain following
      intranasal administration. ExoCAT provided significant neuroprotective effects in
      in vitro and in vivo models of PD. Overall, exosome-based catalase formulations
      have a potential to be a versatile strategy to treat inflammatory and
      neurodegenerative disorders. 

PMID- 25836595
TI  - Erratum to: Stress response signaling and virulence: insights from
      entomopathogenic fungi.

PMID- 25836597
TI  - Spirostanol steroids from the roots of Allium tuberosum.
AB  - Three new spirostanol saponins named tuberosines A-C (1-3), together with three
      known ones tuberoside O (4), 25(S)-Schidigera-saponin D5 (5), and shatavarin IV
      (6) were isolated from the roots of Allium tuberosum. Their structures were
      established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses. Whereas compounds 5
      and 6 exhibited potent antibacterial activities against Bacillus subtilis (32
      MUg/mL) and Escherichia coli (16 MUg/mL), the new saponin 2 showed only moderate
      antibacterial activities against these pathogens. The relationship between the
      antibacterial activities and the structures of these saponins are described.

PMID- 25836596
TI  - BRCA1 and BRCA2 protect against oxidative DNA damage converted into double-strand
      breaks during DNA replication.
AB  - BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers are predisposed to develop breast and ovarian
      cancers, but the reasons for this tissue specificity are unknown. Breast
      epithelial cells are known to contain elevated levels of oxidative DNA damage,
      triggered by hormonally driven growth and its effect on cell metabolism. BRCA1-
      or BRCA2-deficient cells were found to be more sensitive to oxidative stress,
      modeled by treatment with patho-physiologic concentrations of hydrogen peroxide.
      Hydrogen peroxide exposure leads to oxidative DNA damage induced DNA double
      strand breaks (DSB) in BRCA-deficient cells causing them to accumulate in S
      phase. In addition, after hydrogen peroxide treatment, BRCA deficient cells
      showed impaired Rad51 foci which are dependent on an intact BRCA1-BRCA2 pathway.
      These DSB resulted in an increase in chromatid-type aberrations, which are
      characteristic for BRCA1 and BRCA2-deficient cells. The most common result of
      oxidative DNA damage induced processing of S-phase DSB is an interstitial
      chromatid deletion, but insertions and exchanges were also seen in BRCA deficient
      cells. Thus, BRCA1 and BRCA2 are essential for the repair of oxidative DNA damage
      repair intermediates that persist into S-phase and produce DSB. The implication
      is that oxidative stress plays a role in the etiology of hereditary breast
      cancer. 

PMID- 25836598
TI  - Ultrasound assessment of gastric volume in critically ill patients: response to
      Gultekin et al.

PMID- 25836599
TI  - Understanding the setting of PEEP from esophageal pressure in patients with ARDS.

PMID- 25836600
TI  - Methylglyoxal modulates axonal excitability in diabetic polyneuropathy: A
      potential pathophysiological link?

PMID- 25836601
TI  - Safety of titanium rods used for spinal stabilization during repetitive magnetic
      stimulation.

PMID- 25836602
TI  - Prevalence and prescription of antidepressants in depression with somatic
      comorbidity in Asia: the Research on East Asian Psychotropic Prescription
      Patterns study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Depression is often comorbid with chronic somatic diseases. Few
      previous studies have investigated the prevalence of somatic diseases in
      depression or the prescription pattern of antidepressants in comorbidly depressed
      patients in Asia. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of somatic
      comorbidity (SC) in depression and compared the prescriptions of antidepressants
      in depressed patients with and without SC. METHODS: A total of 2320 patients
      treated with antidepressants in 8 Asian countries were examined, and a diagnosis
      was based on the International Classification of Disease, 10 th revision. We
      listed 17 common chronic somatic diseases. Patients' socio-demographic and
      clinical characteristics and psychotropic drug prescriptions were recorded using
      a standardized protocol and data collection procedure. RESULTS: Of the patients
      examined, 1240 were diagnosed with depression and 30% of them (n = 375) had SC.
      The most common comorbid condition was diabetes (23.7%). The patients with SC
      were more likely to seek help at a general hospital (74.7% vs. 47.2%), and had a
      higher incidence of symptoms involving sadness, disturbed sleep, and poor
      appetite. Noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant was prescribed
      more for patients with SC than for those without SC (30.4% vs. 22.9%).
      CONCLUSIONS: SC is common in depressed Asian patients. It is important to
      strengthen the recognition of depression, especially in general hospitals and
      when patients report some somatic discomfort. It is also a matter of urgency to
      establish evidence-based guidelines for the use of new antidepressants in
      depressed patients with SC.

PMID- 25836603
TI  - Influence of peritoneal transport characteristics on nutritional status and
      clinical outcome in Chinese diabetic nephropathy patients on peritoneal dialysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: High peritoneal transport status was previously thought to be a poor
      prognostic factor in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. However, its effect on
      diabetic nephropathy PD patients is unclear in consideration of the adverse
      impact of diabetes itself. The purpose of this study was to investigate the
      influence of peritoneal transport characteristics on nutritional status and
      clinical outcome in diabetic nephropathy patients on PD. METHODS: One hundred and
      two diabetic nephropathy patients on PD were enrolled in this observational
      cohort study. According to the initial peritoneal equilibration test result,
      patients were divided into two groups: Higher transport group (HT, including high
      and high average transport) and lower transport group (LT, including low and low
      average transport). Demographic characteristics, biochemical data, dialysis
      adequacy, and nutritional status were evaluated. Clinical outcomes were compared.
      Risk factors for death-censored technique failure and mortality were analyzed.
      RESULTS: Compared with LT group (n = 37), serum albumin was significantly lower
      and the incidence of malnutrition by subjective global assessment was
      significantly higher in HT group (n = 65) (P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier analyses
      showed that death-censored technique failure and mortality were significantly
      increased in HT group compared with that in LT group. On multivariate Cox
      analyses, higher peritoneal transport status and lower residual renal function
      (RRF) were independent predictors of death-censored technique failure when
      adjusted for serum albumin and total weekly urea clearance (Kt/V). Independent
      predictors of mortality were advanced age, anemia, hypoalbuminemia, and lower
      RRF, but not higher peritoneal transport status. CONCLUSIONS: Higher peritoneal
      transport status has an adverse influence on nutrition for diabetic nephropathy
      patients on PD. Higher peritoneal transport status is a significant independent
      risk factor for death-censored technique failure, but not for mortality in
      diabetic nephropathy patients on PD.

PMID- 25836604
TI  - Posterior reduction and monosegmental fusion with intraoperative three
      dimensional navigation system in the treatment of high-grade developmental
      spondylolisthesis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The treatment of high-grade developmental spondylolisthesis (HGDS) is
      still challenging and controversial. In this study, we investigated the efficacy
      of the posterior reduction and monosegmental fusion assisted by intraoperative
      three-dimensional (3D) navigation system in managing the HGDS. METHODS: Thirteen
      consecutive HGDS patients were treated with posterior decompression, reduction
      and monosegmental fusion of L5/S1, assisted by intraoperative 3D navigation
      system. The clinical and radiographic outcomes were evaluated, with a minimum
      follow-up of 2 years. The differences between the pre- and post-operative
      measures were statistically analyzed using a two-tailed, paired t-test. RESULTS:
      At most recent follow-up, 12 patients were pain-free. Only 1 patient had moderate
      pain. There were no permanent neurological complications or pseudarthrosis. The
      magnetic resonance imaging showed that there was no obvious disc degeneration in
      the adjacent segment. All radiographic parameters were improved. Mean slippage
      improved from 63.2% before surgery to 12.2% after surgery and 11.0% at latest
      follow-up. Lumbar lordosis changed from preoperative 34.9 +/- 13.3 degrees  to
      postoperative 50.4 +/- 9.9 degrees , and 49.3 +/- 7.8 degrees  at last follow-up.
      L5 incidence improved from 71.0 +/- 11.3 degrees  to 54.0 +/- 11.9 degrees  and
      did not change significantly at the last follow-up 53.1 +/- 15.4 degrees . While
      pelvic incidence remained unchanged, sacral slip significantly decreased from
      preoperative 32.7 +/- 12.5 degrees  to postoperative 42.6 +/- 9.8 degrees and
      remained constant to the last follow-up 44.4 +/- 6.9 degrees . Pelvic tilt
      significantly decreased from 38.4 +/- 12.5 degrees  to 30.9 +/- 8.1 degrees  and
      remained unchanged at the last follow-up 28.1 +/- 11.2 degrees . CONCLUSIONS:
      Posterior reduction and monosegmental fusion of L5/S1 assisted by intraoperative
      3D navigation are an effective technique for managing high-grade dysplastic
      spondylolisthesis. A complete reduction of local deformity and excellent
      correction of overall sagittal balance can be achieved.

PMID- 25836605
TI  - Mast Quadrant-assisted minimally invasive modified transforaminal lumbar
      interbody fusion: single incision versus double incision.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The concept of minimally invasive techniques is to make every effort
      to reduce tissue damage. Certainly, reducing skin incision is an important part
      of these techniques. This study aimed to investigate the clinical feasibility of
      Mast Quadrant-assisted modified transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF)
      with a small single posterior median incision. METHODS: During the period of
      March 2011 to March 2012, 34 patients with single-segment degenerative lumbar
      disease underwent the minimally invasive modified TLIF assisted by Mast Quadrant
      with a small single posterior median incision (single incision group). The cases
      in this group were compared to 37 patients with single-segment degenerative
      lumbar disease in the double incision group. The perioperative conditions of
      patients in these two groups were statistically analyzed and compared. The
      Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores, Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores, and
      sacrospinalis muscle damage evaluation indicators before operation and 3, 12
      months postoperation were compared. RESULTS: A total of 31 and 35 cases in the
      single incision and double incision groups, respectively, completed at least 12
      months of systemic follow-up. The differences in perioperative conditions between
      the two groups were not statistically significant. The incision length of the
      single incision group was significantly shorter than that of the double incision
      group (P < 0.01). The ODI and VAS scores of patients in both groups improved
      significantly at 3 and 12 months postoperation. However, these two indicators at
      3 and 12 months postoperation and the sacrospinalis muscle damage evaluation
      indicators at 3 months postoperation did not differ significantly between the two
      groups (P >= 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Mast Quadrant-assisted modified TLIF with a
      small single posterior median incision has excellent clinical feasibility
      compared to minimally invasive TLIF with a double paramedian incision.

PMID- 25836606
TI  - Rapid detection and identification of infectious pathogens based on high
      throughput sequencing.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The dilemma of pathogens identification in patients with unidentified
      clinical symptoms such as fever of unknown origin exists, which not only poses a
      challenge to both the diagnostic and therapeutic process by itself, but also to
      expert physicians. METHODS: In this report, we have attempted to increase the
      awareness of unidentified pathogens by developing a method to investigate
      hitherto unidentified infectious pathogens based on unbiased high-throughput
      sequencing. RESULTS: Our observations show that this method supplements current
      diagnostic technology that predominantly relies on information derived five cases
      from the intensive care unit. This methodological approach detects viruses and
      corrects the incidence of false positive detection rates of pathogens in a much
      shorter period. Through our method is followed by polymerase chain reaction
      validation, we could identify infection with Epstein-Barr virus, and in another
      case, we could identify infection with Streptococcus viridians based on the
      culture, which was false positive. CONCLUSIONS: This technology is a promising
      approach to revolutionize rapid diagnosis of infectious pathogens and to guide
      therapy that might result in the improvement of personalized medicine.

PMID- 25836607
TI  - Efficacy and safety of 120-W thulium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet vapoenucleation of
      prostates compared with holmium laser enucleation of prostates for benign
      prostatic hyperplasia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study compared the efficacy and safety between 120-W
      thulium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Tm:YAG) vapoenucleation of prostates (ThuVEP)
      and holmium laser enucleation of prostates (HoLEP) for patients with lower
      urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). METHODS:
      A retrospective analysis of 88 consecutive patients with symptomatic BPH was
      carried out, who underwent either 120-W ThuVEP or HoLEP nonrandomly. Patient
      demographics and peri-operative and 12-month follow-up data were analyzed with
      the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), quality of life (QoL) score,
      maximum flow rate (Qmax), postvoid residual urine volume (PVR), and rates of peri
      operative and late complications. RESULTS: The patients in each group showed no
      significant difference in preoperative parameters. Compared with the HoLEP group,
      patients in the 120-W ThuVEP group required significantly shorter time for laser
      enucleation (58.3 +/- 12.8 min vs. 70.5 +/- 22.3 min, P = 0.003), and resulted in
      a significant superiority in laser efficiency (resected prostate weight/laser
      enucleation time) for 120-W Tm:YAG laser compared to holmium:YAG laser (0.69 +/-
      0.18 vs. 0.61 +/- 0.19, P = 0.048). During 1, 6, and 12 months of follow-ups, the
      procedures did not demonstrate a significant difference in IPSS, QoL score, Qmax,
      or PVR (P > 0.05). Mean peri-operative decrease of hemoglobin in the HoLEP group
      was similar to the ThuVEP group (17.1 +/- 12.0 g/L vs. 15.2 +/- 10.1 g/L, P =
      0.415). Early and late incidences of complications were low and did not differ
      significantly between the two groups of 120-W ThuVEP and HoLEP patients (P >
      0.05). CONCLUSIONS: 120-W ThuVEP and HoLEP are potent, safe and efficient
      modalities of minimally invasive surgeries for patients with LUTS due to BPH.
      Compared with HoLEP, 120-W ThuVEP offers advantages of reduction of laser
      enucleation time and improvement of laser efficiency.

PMID- 25836608
TI  - Evaluation of PIMA point-of-care CD4 analyzer in Yunnan, China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: CD4 count is used to determine antiretroviral therapy (ART)
      eligibility. In China, flow cytometers are mostly located in urban areas with
      limited access by patients residing in remote areas. In an attempt to address
      this issue, we conducted a study to validate the performance of Alere PIMA point
      of-care CD4 analyzer. METHODS: Venous and finger-prick blood specimens were
      collected from HIV-positive participants from two voluntary counseling and
      testing sites in Yunnan Province. Both venous and finger-prick blood specimens
      were tested with the PIMA analyzer. Venous blood specimens tested with the Becton
      Dickinson FACSCalibur were used as a reference. RESULTS: Venous specimens from
      396 and finger-prick specimens from 387 persons were available for analysis. CD4
      counts by PIMA correlated well with those from FACSCalibur with an R2 of 0.91 for
      venous blood and 0.81 for finger-prick blood. Compared to FACSCalibur, the PIMA
      analyzer yielded lower counts with a mean bias of - 47.0 cells/MUl (limit of
      agreement, [LOA]: -204-110 cells/MUl) for venous blood and -71.0 cells/MUl (LOA: 
      295-153 cells/MUl) for finger-prick blood. For a CD4 threshold of 350 cells/MUl,
      the positive predictive value (PPV) of PIMA was 84.2% and 75.7% and the negative
      predictive value (NPV) was 97.6% and 95.8% for venous and finger-prick blood,
      respectively. For an ART threshold of 500 cells/MUl, the corresponding PPV was
      90.3% and 84.0% and NPV was 94.3% and 93.4%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: CD4
      counting using venous blood with PIMA analyzers is a feasible alternative to a
      large flow cytometer to determine ART eligibility.

PMID- 25836609
TI  - Incidence and clinical characteristics of pulmonary hypertension in patients with
      idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) frequently complicates the course of
      idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients and is associated with significantly
      worse outcomes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the incidence of
      PH in IPF patients and evaluate the correlation between clinical parameters and
      systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP). METHODS: Hospitalized patients with
      IPF, who were evaluated for sPAP by Doppler echocardiography from January 2004 to
      December 2011, were enrolled in our study. Patients were defined as PH by an
      estimated sPAP > 50 mmHg and graded as PH likely, PH possible and PH unlikely,
      based on the 2009 European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society PH
      Guidelines. The correlations between clinical parameters and sPAP were analyzed
      by multiple linear regression. RESULTS: Totally, 119 IPF patients were enrolled
      in our study and 28 (23.5%), 20 (16.8%) and 71 (59.7%) patients were PH likely,
      PH possible and PH unlikely, respectively. Borg dyspnea score was positively
      correlated with sPAP, r = 0.467, P < 0.001. Oxygen saturation was negatively
      correlated with sPAP, r = -0.416, P < 0.001. Diffusing capacity of the lung for
      carbon monoxide percentage predicted was negatively correlated with sPAP, r = 
      0.424, P = 0.003. N-terminal fragment of pro-brain natriuretic peptide and
      pulmonary artery width was positively correlated with sPAP, r = 0.452, P = 0.011
      and r = 0.513, P < 0.001, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of PH in IPF
      patients was 23.5% in a single center of China. PH may worsen the dyspnea, right
      heart dysfunction and decrease the life quality of the patients with IPF.

PMID- 25836610
TI  - Thin-section computed tomography detects long-term pulmonary sequelae 3 years
      after novel influenza A virus-associated pneumonia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this research was to evaluate long-term pulmonary sequelae
      on paired inspiration-expiration thin-section computed tomography (CT) scans 3
      years after influenza A (H1N1) virus-associated pneumonia, and to analyze the
      affecting factors on pulmonary fibrosis. METHODS: Twenty-four patients
      hospitalized with H1N1 virus-associated pneumonia at our hospital between
      September 2009 and January 2010 were included. The patients underwent thin
      section CT 3 years after recovery. Abnormal pulmonary lesion patterns (ground
      glass opacity, consolidation, parenchymal bands, air trapping, and reticulation)
      and evidence of fibrosis (architectural distortion, traction bronchiectasis, or
      honeycombing) were evaluated on follow-up thin-section CT. Patients were assigned
      to Group 1 (with CT evidence of fibrosis) and Group 2 (without CT evidence of
      fibrosis). Demographics, rate of mechanical ventilation therapy, rate of
      intensive care unit admission, cumulative prednisolone-equivalent dose,
      laboratory tests results (maximum levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate
      transaminase [AST], lactate dehydrogenase [LDH], and creatine kinase [CK]), and
      peak radiographic opacification of 24 patients during the course of their illness
      in the hospital were compared between two groups. RESULTS: Parenchymal
      abnormality was present in 17 of 24 (70.8%) patients and fibrosis occurred in 10
      of 24 (41.7%) patients. Patients in Group 1 (10/24; 41.7%) had a higher rate of
      mechanical ventilation therapy (Z = -2.340, P = 0.019), higher number of doses of
      cumulative prednisolone-equivalent (Z = -2.579, P = 0.010), higher maximum level
      of laboratory tests results (AST [Z = -2.140, P = 0.032], LDH [Z = -3.227, P =
      0.001], and CK [Z = -3.345, P = 0.019]), and higher peak opacification on chest
      radiographs (Z = -2.743, P = 0.006) than patients in group 2 (14/24; 58.3%).
      CONCLUSIONS: H1N1 virus-associated pneumonia frequently is followed by long-term
      pulmonary sequelae, including fibrotic changes, in lung parenchyma. Patients who
      need more steroid therapy, need more mechanical ventilation therapy, had higher
      laboratory tests results (maximum levels of AST, LDH, and CK), and had higher
      peak opacification on chest radiographs during treatment are more likely to
      develop lung fibrosis.

PMID- 25836611
TI  - Treatment and outcome of epileptogenic temporal cavernous malformations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to explore the treatment and outcome of
      epileptogenic temporal lobe cavernous malformations (CMs). METHODS: We analyzed
      retrospectively the profiles of 52 patients diagnosed as temporal lobe CMs
      associated with epilepsy. Among the 52 cases, 11 underwent a direct resection of
      CM along with the adjacent zone of hemosiderin rim without electrocorticogram
      (ECoG) monitoring while the other 41 cases had operations under the guidance of
      ECoG. Forty-six patients were treated by lesionectomy + hemosiderin rim while the
      other six were treated by lesionectomy + hemosiderin rim along with extended
      epileptogenic zone resection. The locations of lesions, the duration of illness,
      the manifestation, the excision ranges and the outcomes of postoperative follow
      up were analyzed, respectively. RESULTS: All of the 52 patients were treated by
      microsurgery. There was no neurological deficit through the long-term follow-up.
      Outcomes of seizure control are as follows: 42 patients (80.8%) belong to Engel
      Class I, 5 patients (9.6%) belong to Engel Class II, 3 patients (5.8%) belong to
      Engel Class III and 2 patients (3.8%) belong to Engel Class IV. CONCLUSION:
      Patients with epilepsy caused by temporal CMs should be treated as early as
      possible. Resection of the lesion and the surrounding hemosiderin zone is
      necessary. Moreover, an extended excision of epileptogenic cortex or cerebral
      lobes is needed to achieve a better prognosis if the ECoG indicates the existence
      of an extra epilepsy onset origin outside the lesion itself.

PMID- 25836612
TI  - Incidence and risk factors of retinopathy of prematurity in two neonatal
      intensive care units in North and South China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To investigate the incidence and risk factors of retinopathy of
      prematurity (ROP) in two Neonatal Intensive Care Units in North and South of
      China, respectively. METHODS: We studied data concerning 472 infants with
      gestational age (GA) <= 34 weeks or birth weight (BW) <= 2000 g who were admitted
      to the Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University and the Fourth Hospital
      of Shijiazhuang between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. Clinical
      information about perinatal neonates was collected and was confirmed by reviewing
      medical charts. The incidence and severity of ROP were assessed in the screened
      population. Main outcome measures are the incidence and severity of ROP. The
      relationship of clinical risk factors and the development of ROP were analyzed.
      RESULTS: The overall incidence of ROP was 12.7%, and the overall incidence of
      type 1 ROP was 2.3%; 9.4% of infants in Zhujiang Hospital had ROP compared to
      15.0% infants in the Fourth Hospital of Shijiazhuang developed ROP, and the
      difference is statistically significant. ROP was significantly associated with GA
      (odds ratio [OR]: 0.77 [0.62-0.95], P = 0.015), BW (OR: 0.998 [0.996-0.999], P =
      0.008), maternal supplemental oxygen administration before and during delivery
      (OR: 4.27 [1.21-15.10], P = 0.024) and preeclampsia (OR: 6.07 [1.73-21.36] P =
      0.005). The risk factors for ROP are different in two hospitals. In Zhujiang
      Hospital, BW is the independent risk factors for ROP while GA, BW and
      preeclampsia in the Fourth Hospital in Shijiazhuang Conclusions: Retinopathy of
      prematurity incidence is different based on area. Incidence of ROP is still high
      in China. More efforts need to prevent ROP.

PMID- 25836613
TI  - Propofol ameliorates calpain-induced collapsin response mediator protein-2
      proteolysis in traumatic brain injury in rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Collapsin response mediator protein-2 (CRMP2), a multifunctional
      cytosolic protein highly expressed in the brain, is degraded by calpain following
      traumatic brain injury (TBI), possibly inhibiting posttraumatic neurite
      regeneration. Lipid peroxidation (LP) is involved in triggering postinjury CRMP2
      proteolysis. We examined the hypothesis that propofol could attenuate LP, calpain
      induced CRMP2 degradation, and brain injury after TBI. METHODS: A unilateral
      moderate controlled cortical impact injury was induced in adult male Sprague
      Dawley rats. The animals were randomly divided into seven groups: Sham control
      group, TBI group, TBI + propofol groups (including propofol 1 h, 2 h, and 4 h
      groups), TBI + U83836E group and TBI + fat emulsion group. The LP inhibitor
      U83836E was used as a control to identify that antioxidation partially accounts
      for the potential neuroprotective effects of propofol. The solvent of propofol,
      fat emulsion, was used as the vehicle control. Ipsilateral cortex tissues were
      harvested at 24 h post-TBI. Immunofluorescent staining, Western blot analysis,
      and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling were
      used to evaluate LP, calpain activity, CRMP2 proteolysis and programmed cell
      death. The data were statistically analyzed using one-way analysis of variance
      and a paired t-test. RESULTS: Propofol and U83836E significantly ameliorated the
      CRMP2 proteolysis. In addition, both propofol and U83836E significantly decreased
      the ratio of 145-kDa alphaII-spectrin breakdown products to intact 270-kDa
      spectrin, the 4-hydroxynonenal expression and programmed cell death in the
      pericontusional cortex at 24 h after TBI. There was no difference between the TBI
      group and the fat emulsion group. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that
      propofol postconditioning alleviates calpain-mediated CRMP2 proteolysis and
      provides neuroprotective effects following moderate TBI potentially by
      counteracting LP and reducing calpain activation.

PMID- 25836614
TI  - Study of clinical practical model of urinary system injury.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In order to improve the clinical treatment level of urinary system
      injury, it is necessary to build up an animal model of urinary system wound,
      which is not only analogous to real clinical practice, but also simple and
      practical. METHODS: We have developed the third generation of firearm fragment
      wound generator based on the first and the second producer. The best explosive
      charge of the blank cartridge was selected by gradient powder loading
      experiments. The firearm fragment injuries were made to the bulbous urethra of 10
      New Zealand male rabbits. One week preoperatively and 2, 4 and 8 weeks
      postoperatively, all the animals underwent urethroscopy and urethrography. At 2,
      4 and 8 weeks postoperatively, two animals were randomly selected and killed, and
      the urethra was cut off for pathological examination. RESULTS: The shooting
      distance of the third generation of firearm fragment wound generator is 2 cm. The
      best explosive charge of the blank cartridge is 1 g of nitrocotton. All rabbits
      survived the procedures and stayed alive until they were killed. Injuries were
      limited to bulbous urethra and distal urethra. Round damaged areas, 1-1.5 cm in
      length, on the ventral wall were observed. Ureteroscopy results showed that canal
      diameter gradually shrank by over 50% in 9 rabbits. The rate of success was 90%.
      Urethrography result noted that a 1-1.3 cm stricture was formed at the bulbous
      urethra. Histology results of injured stricture urethra showed that fibrous
      connective tissue hyperplasia and hyaline degeneration caused further stricture
      in the canal. CONCLUSIONS: The third generation of firearm fragment wound
      generator imitates the bullet firing process and is more accurate and repeatable.
      The corresponding rabbit model of traumatic complex urethral stricture simulates
      the real complex clinical conditions. This animal model provides a standardized
      platform for clinical researches on treating traumatic injuries to the urinary
      system.

PMID- 25836615
TI  - In vivo confocal microscopic observation of lamellar corneal transplantation in
      the rabbit using xenogenic acellular corneal scaffolds as a substitute.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The limiting factor to corneal transplantation is the availability of
      donors. Research has suggested that xenogenic acellular corneal scaffolds (XACS)
      may be a possible alternative to transplantation. This study aimed to investigate
      the viability of performing lamellar corneal transplantation (LCT) in rabbits
      using canine XACS. METHODS: Fresh dog corneas were decellularized by serial
      digestion, and LCT was performed on rabbit eyes using xenogeneic decellularized
      corneal matrix. Cellular and morphological changes were observed by slit-lamp,
      light, and scanning electron microscopy at 7, 30 and 90 days postoperatively.
      Immunocytochemical staining for specific markers such as keratin 3, vimentin and
      MUC5AC, was used to identify cells in the graft. RESULTS: Decellularized
      xenogenic corneal matrix remained transparent for about 1-month after LCT. The
      recipient cells were able to survive and proliferate into the grafts. Three
      months after transplantation, grafts had merged with host tissue, and graft
      epithelialization and vascularization had occurred. Corneal nerve fibers were
      able to grow into the graft in rabbits transplanted with XACS. CONCLUSIONS:
      Xenogenic acellular corneal scaffolds can maintain the transparency of corneal
      grafts about 1-month and permit growth of cells and nerve fibers, and is,
      therefore, a potential substitute or carrier for a replacement cornea.

PMID- 25836616
TI  - MiR-27a promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation through suppression
      of its target gene peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) function as essential posttranscriptional
      modulators of gene expression, and are involved in a wide range of physiologic
      and pathologic states, including cancer. Numerous miRNAs are deregulated in
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to investigate the role of miR
      27a in the development of HCC. METHODS: The expression of MiR-27a was measured by
      quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). 3-(4,5
      dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide was used to examine changes
      in the viability of HepG2, Bel-7402, Bel-7404 hepatoma cell lines associated with
      up-regulation or down-regulation of miR-27a. A dual-luciferase activity assay was
      used to verify a target gene of miR-27a. Immunohistochemistry, qRT-PCR, Western
      blotting analysis, and cell cycle and apoptosis flow cytometric assays were used
      to elucidate the mechanism by which miR-27a modulates liver cancer cell
      proliferation. RESULTS: The expression of miR-27a was significantly increased in
      HCC tissues and HepG2, Bel-7402, Bel-7404 hepatoma cell lines (P < 0.05). We also
      found that the down-regulation of miR-27a in HepG2 cells dramatically inhibited
      proliferation, blocked the G1 to S cell cycle transition and induced apoptosis (P
      < 0.05). In addition, miR-27a directly targeted the 3'- untranslated region of
      peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-gamma), and ectopic miR
      27a expression suppressed PPAR-gamma expression on the mRNA and protein levels.
      The rosiglitazone-induced overexpression of PPAR-gamma attenuated the effect of
      miR-27a in HCC cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggested that miRNA-27a promoted
      HCC cell proliferation by regulating PPAR-gamma expression. MiR-27a may provide a
      potential therapeutic strategy for HCC treatment.

PMID- 25836617
TI  - Infection-stimulated anemia results primarily from interferon gamma-dependent,
      signal transducer and activator of transcription 1-independent red cell loss.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although the onset of anemia during infectious disease is commonly
      correlated with production of inflammatory cytokines, the mechanisms by which
      cytokines induce anemia are poorly defined. This study focused on the mechanism
      research. METHODS: Different types of mice were infected perorally with
      Toxoplasma gondii strain ME49. At the indicated times, samples from each mouse
      were harvested, processed, and analyzed individually. Blood samples were analyzed
      using a Coulter Counter and red blood cell (RBC) survival was measured by
      biotinylation. Levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), inducible
      nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and inducible protein 10 (IP-10) mRNA in liver
      tissue were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: T. gondii
      infected mice exhibited anemia due to a decrease in both erythropoiesis and
      survival time of RBC in the circulation (P < 0.02). In addition, infection
      stimulated anemia was associated with fecal occult, supporting previous
      literature that hemorrhage is a consequence of T. gondii infection in mice.
      Infection-induced anemia was abolished in interferon gamma (IFNgamma) and
      IFNgamma receptor deficient mice (P < 0.05) but was still evident in mice lacking
      TNF-alpha, iNOS, phagocyte NADPH oxidase or IP-10 (P < 0.02). Neither signal
      transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) deficient mice nor 129S6
      controls exhibited decreased erythropoiesis, but rather suffered from an anemia
      resulting solely from increased loss of circulating RBC. CONCLUSIONS: Infection
      stimulated decrease in erythropoiesis and losses of RBC have distinct mechanistic
      bases. These results show that during T. gondii infection, IFNgamma is
      responsible for an anemia that results from both a decrease in erythropoiesis and
      a STAT1 independent loss of circulating RBC.

PMID- 25836618
TI  - Phloroglucinol protects the urinary bladder via inhibition of oxidative stress
      and inflammation in a rat model of cyclophosphamide-induced interstitial
      cystitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Phloroglucinol plays an important role in oxidative stress and
      inflammatory responses. The effects of phloroglucinol have been proven in various
      disease models. The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy and
      possible mechanisms of phloroglucinol in the treatment of interstitial cystitis
      (IC). METHODS: Thirty-two female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were used in this
      study. IC was induced by intraperitoneal injection of cyclophosphamide (CYP).
      Rats were randomly allocated to one of four groups (n = 8 per group): A control
      group, which was injected with saline (75 mg/kg; i.p.) instead of CYP on days 1,
      4, and 7; a chronic IC group, which was injected with CYP (75 mg/kg; i.p.) on
      days 1, 4, and 7; a high-dose (30 mg/kg) phloroglucinol-treated group; and a low
      dose (15 mg/kg) phloroglucinol-treated group. On day 8, the rats in each group
      underwent cystometrography (CMG), and the bladders were examined for evidence of
      oxidative stress and inflammation. Statistical analysis was performed by analysis
      of variance (ANOVA) followed by least square difference multiple comparison post
      hoc test. RESULTS: Histological evaluation showed that bladder inflammation in
      CYP-treated rats was suppressed by phloroglucinol. CMG revealed that the CYP
      treatment induced overactive bladder in rats that was reversed by phloroglucinol.
      Up-regulated tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 expression in the CYP
      treated rats were also suppressed in the phloroglucinol treated rats. CYP
      treatment significantly increased myeloperoxidase activity as well as the
      decreased activities of catalase of the bladder, which was reversed by treatment
      with phloroglucinol. CONCLUSIONS: The application of phloroglucinol suppressed
      oxidative stress, inflammation, and overactivity in the bladder. This may provide
      a new treatment strategy for IC.

PMID- 25836619
TI  - Efficacy and safety of onabotulinumtoxinA in treating neurogenic detrusor
      overactivity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: OnabotulinumtoxinA is widely used in treating neurogenic detrusor
      overactivity (NDO). We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis to
      assess the efficacy and safety of the drug for treating NDO. METHODS: We searched
      the following databases: Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Controlled Trials
      Register. All published randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of
      onabotulinumtoxinA for the treatment of NDO were identified in the analysis. The
      reference lists of the retrieved studies were also investigated. RESULTS: Four
      publications involving a total of 807 patients were identified in the analysis,
      which compared onabotulinumtoxinA with placebo. The changes of the mean number of
      urinary incontinence per week (the standardized mean difference [SMD] = -10.91,
      95% confidence intervals [CIs] = -14.18--7.63, P < 0.0001); maximum cystometric
      capacity (SMD = 146.09, 95% CI = 126.19-165.99, P < 0.0001) and maximum detrusor
      pressure (SMD = -32.65, 95% CI = -37.83--27.48, P < 0.0001) indicated that
      onabotulinumtoxinA was more effective than the placebo, despite the doses of
      onabotulinumtoxinA. Safety assessments primarily localized to the urinary tract
      indicated onabotulinumtoxinA were often associated with more complications.
      Urinary tract infections (relative risk [RR] =1.48, 95% CI = 1.20-1.81, P =
      0.0002); hematuria (RR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.00-3.24, P = 0.05) and urinary
      retention (RR = 5.87, 95% CI = 3.61-9.56, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: This meta
      analysis indicates that onabotulinumtoxinA to be an effective treatment for NDO
      with side effects primarily localized to urinary tract.

PMID- 25836620
TI  - J wave syndromes: a decade of progress.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective was to provide a brief history of J wave syndromes and
      to summarize our current understanding of their molecular, ionic, cellular
      mechanisms, and clinical features. We will also discuss the existing debates and
      further direction in basic and clinical research for J wave syndromes. DATA
      SOURCES: The publications on key words of "J wave syndromes", "early
      repolarization syndrome (ERS)", "Brugada syndrome (BrS)" and "ST-segment
      elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)" were comprehensively reviewed through
      search of the PubMed literatures without restriction on the publication date.
      STUDY SELECTION: Original articles, reviews and other literatures concerning J
      wave syndromes, ERS, BrS and STEMI were selected. RESULTS: J wave syndromes were
      firstly defined by Yan et al. in a Chinese journal a decade ago, which represent
      a spectrum of variable phenotypes characterized by appearance of prominent
      electrocardiographic J wave including ERS, BrS and ventricular fibrillation (VF)
      associated with hypothermia and acute STEMI. J wave syndromes can be inherited or
      acquired and are mechanistically linked to amplification of the transient outward
      current (I to )-mediated J waves that can lead to phase 2 reentry capable of
      initiating VF. CONCLUSIONS: J wave syndromes are a group of newly highlighted
      clinical entities that share similar molecular, ionic and cellular mechanism and
      marked by amplified J wave on the electrocardiogram and a risk of VF. The
      clinical challenge ahead is to identify the patients with J wave syndromes who
      are at risk for sudden cardiac death and determine the alternative therapeutic
      strategies to reduce mortality.

PMID- 25836622
TI  - Incidence and concurrent laparoscopic repair of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis and
      patent processus vaginalis.

PMID- 25836621
TI  - Insulin neuroprotection and the mechanisms.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the mechanism of neuroprotection of insulin and which blood
      glucose range was benefit for insulin exerting neuroprotective action. DATA
      SOURCES: The study is based on the data from PubMed. STUDY SELECTION: Articles
      were selected with the search terms "insulin", "blood glucose",
      "neuroprotection", "brain", "glycogen", "cerebral ischemia", "neuronal necrosis",
      "glutamate", "gamma-aminobutyric acid". RESULTS: Insulin has neuroprotection. The
      mechanisms include the regulation of neurotransmitter, promoting glycogen
      synthesis, and inhibition of neuronal necrosis and apoptosis. Insulin could play
      its role in neuroprotection by avoiding hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia.
      CONCLUSIONS: Intermittent and long-term infusion insulin may be a benefit for
      patients with ischemic brain damage at blood glucose 6-9 mmol/L.

PMID- 25836623
TI  - Small lymphocytic lymphoma/chronic lymphocytic leukemia with chromothripsis in an
      old woman.

PMID- 25836624
TI  - A trick to control the bleeding in cardiovascular surgery.

PMID- 25836625
TI  - Fronts of internal Emergency Medicine research for years to come.

PMID- 25836626
TI  - An unusual complication related to invasive electroencephalography monitoring:
      nonhemorrhagic subdural fluid collection.

PMID- 25836627
TI  - One craniotomy at the highest altitude in the world and follow-up study.

PMID- 25836628
TI  - Clinical assessment of countermovement jump landing kinematics in early
      adolescence: Sex differences and normative values.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adolescent females have been reported to have a higher risk of non
      contact knee joint injuries compared to their male counterparts, with
      deficiencies in neuromuscular control being purported to be the primary
      differentiating factor. As such, assessment of movement quality during functional
      screening tests in this population is warranted. Widespread implementation of
      such screening requires clinically accessible screening measures and normative
      data. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to provide normative data for
      clinical analysis of landing kinematics in early adolescent male and female
      athletes, with a corollary of determining whether a difference between the sexes
      is evident with such screening. METHODS: Ninety seven male and 84 female athletes
      (mean age=13+/-1.41years) in the first year of high school participated. Each
      participant performed 3 countermovement jump trials. Frontal and sagittal plane
      knee joint angles were recorded by video cameras for both dominant and non
      dominant limbs. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to
      determine the effect of sex on the dependent variables. FINDINGS: Males displayed
      significantly greater knee flexion prior to initial contact (P<0.001) and knee
      varus displacement (P<0.001). No differences were observed between males and
      females for max knee flexion (P>0.05). INTERPRETATION: Early adolescent female
      athletes demonstrate less desirable landing biomechanics than their male peers.
      The first year in high school, when early adolescent females are first exposed to
      high school sports, may be an ideal time to assess movement quality during
      functional tasks and intervene with injury prevention programs if necessary.

PMID- 25836629
TI  - Reading difficulties in Spanish adults with dyslexia.
AB  - Recent studies show that dyslexia persists into adulthood, even in highly
      educated and well-read people. The main characteristic that adults with dyslexia
      present is a low speed when reading. In Spanish, a shallow orthographic system,
      no studies about adults with dyslexia are available; and it is possible that the
      consistency of the orthographic system favours the reading fluency. The aim of
      this study was to get an insight of the reading characteristics of Spanish adults
      with dyslexia and also to infer the reading strategies that they are using. For
      that purpose, a group of 30 dyslexics (M age = 32 years old) and an age-matched
      group of 30 adults without reading disabilities completed several phonological
      and reading tasks: phonological awareness tasks, rapid automatic naming, lexical
      decision, word and pseudoword reading, letter detection and text reading. The
      results showed that highly educated Spanish dyslexics performed significantly
      worse than the control group in the majority of the tasks. Specifically, they
      showed difficulties reading long pseudowords, indicating problems in automating
      the grapheme-phoneme rules, but they also seem to present difficulties reading
      words, which indicate problems with the lexical route. It seems that the Spanish
      dyslexic adults, as in deep orthographies, continue having difficulties in
      phonological awareness tasks, rapid naming and reading.

PMID- 25836630
TI  - Pre-existing Mobile Cardiac Thrombus and the Risk of Early Recurrent Embolism
      after Intravenous Thrombolysis: A Case Report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Early recurrence of an embolism is rarely observed in patients with
      stroke treated with intravenous thrombolysis. Pre-existing cardiac thrombus is
      thought as a risk factor for recurrent embolism, although the relationship
      remains unclear. METHODS: The present patient was a 30-year-old man with acute
      ischemic stroke. Transthoracic echocardiography performed before thrombolysis
      demonstrated an intraventricular mobile thrombus, and the patient was treated
      with intravenous thrombolysis 183 minutes after the onset of stroke. During
      thrombolysis, he suffered from a peripheral artery embolism, without further
      signs of neurologic deterioration. Repeated transthoracic echocardiography showed
      the disappearance of the intraventricular thrombus. However, follow-up magnetic
      resonance imaging disclosed new ischemic lesions at the splenium of the corpus
      callosum, and body computed tomography showed infarction of the spleen and
      kidney. The peripheral artery embolism improved spontaneously without further
      evidence of recurrent embolism. RESULTS: This is the first report to provide
      findings of an intracardiac mobile thrombus before thrombolysis and to
      demonstrate the acceleration of detachment of the thrombus during thrombolysis.
      CONCLUSIONS: Because there are currently no guidelines for the use of intravenous
      thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke associated with a pre-existing
      intracardiac thrombus with respect to the efficacy and safety, physicians should
      pay special attention to similar cases.

PMID- 25836631
TI  - Stroke rehabilitation and risk of mortality: a population-based cohort study
      stratified by age and gender.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To determine the survival of patients with stroke for up to 10 years
      after a first-time stroke and to investigate whether stroke rehabilitation within
      the first 3 months reduced long-term mortality in these patients. METHODS: We
      used the medical claims data for a random sample of 1 million insured Taiwanese
      registered in the year 2000. A total of 7767 patients admitted for a first-time
      stroke between 2000 and 2005; 1285 (16.7%) received rehabilitation within the
      first 3 months after stroke admission. The other 83.3% of patients served as a
      comparison cohort. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the
      relative risk of mortality in relation to the rehabilitation intervention.
      RESULTS: In all, 181 patients with rehabilitation and 1123 controls died,
      representing respective mortality rates of 25.0 and 32.7 per 1000 person-years.
      Rehabilitation was significantly associated with a lower risk of mortality
      (hazard ratio .68, 95% confidence interval .58-.79). Such a beneficial effect
      tended to be more obvious as the frequency of rehabilitation increased (P for the
      trend <.0001) and was more evident in female patients. CONCLUSIONS: Stroke
      rehabilitation initiated in the first 3 months after a stroke admission may
      significantly reduce the risk of mortality for 10 years after the stroke.

PMID- 25836632
TI  - Utility of High-b-Value Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging in
      Evaluating Reversible Medial Longitudinal Fasciculus Syndrome Caused by Acute
      Brainstem Ischemia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF) syndrome refers to a gaze
      disorder characterized by impaired adduction on the ipsilateral side to the
      injured MLF, with dissociated nystagmus of the contralateral abducting eye. The
      most common cause of the MLF syndrome is ischemic stroke. However, acute ischemic
      change in the MLF may be undetectable even on diffusion-weighted magnetic
      resonance imaging (DW-MRI) partly because of its small size and specific
      brainstem location. CASE REPORT: Herein, we present the first reported case of
      MLF syndrome in which, compared with the standard-b-value DWI, a higher b-value
      DWI revealed more clearly a small infarction in the dorsal pons in the acute
      stage. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that high-b-value DWI can be a useful diagnostic
      method for patients with MLF syndrome caused by possible brainstem ischemia and
      thus supportive for deciding the optimal treatment for such patients.

PMID- 25836635
TI  - Enhanced localization, energy anomalous diffusion and resonant mode in harmonic
      chains with correlated mass-spring disorder.
AB  - In this work, we study the vibrational modes and energy spreading in a harmonic
      chain model with diluted second-neighbors couplings and correlated mass-spring
      disorder. While all nearest neighbor masses are coupled by an elastic spring,
      second neighbors springs are introduced with a probability pD. The masses are
      randomly distributed according to the site connectivity mi = m0 (1 +
      1/n(alpha)(I), where ni is the connectivity of the site i and alpha is a tunable
      exponent. We show that maximum localization of the vibrational modes is achieved
      for alpha ? 3/4. The time-evolution of the energy wave-packet is followed after
      an initial localized excitation. While the participation number remains finite,
      the energy spread is shown to be sub-diffusive after a displacement and super
      diffusive after an impulse excitation. These features are related to the
      development of a power-law tail in the wave-packet distribution. Further, we
      unveil that the spring dilution leads to the emergence of a resonant localized
      state which is signaled by a van Hove singularity in the density of states.

PMID- 25836634
TI  - Nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling of photoredox-generated radicals: uncovering a
      general manifold for stereoconvergence in nickel-catalyzed cross-couplings.
AB  - The cross-coupling of sp(3)-hybridized organoboron reagents via photoredox/nickel
      dual catalysis represents a new paradigm of reactivity for engaging alkylmetallic
      reagents in transition-metal-catalyzed processes. Reported here is an
      investigation into the mechanistic details of this important transformation using
      density functional theory. Calculations bring to light a new reaction pathway
      involving an alkylnickel(I) complex generated by addition of an alkyl radical to
      Ni(0) that is likely to operate simultaneously with the previously proposed
      mechanism. Analysis of the enantioselective variant of the transformation reveals
      an unexpected manifold for stereoinduction involving dynamic kinetic resolution
      (DKR) of a Ni(III) intermediate wherein the stereodetermining step is reductive
      elimination. Furthermore, calculations suggest that the DKR-based stereoinduction
      manifold may be responsible for stereoselectivity observed in numerous other
      stereoconvergent Ni-catalyzed cross-couplings and reductive couplings. 

PMID- 25836633
TI  - Hantaan virus infection induces both Th1 and ThGranzyme B+ cell immune responses
      that associated with viral control and clinical outcome in humans.
AB  - Hantaviruses infection causing severe emerging diseases with high mortality rates
      in humans has become public health concern globally. The potential roles of
      CD4(+)T cells in viral control have been extensively studied. However, the
      contribution of CD4(+)T cells to the host response against Hantaan virus (HTNV)
      infection remains unclear. Here, based on the T-cell epitopes mapped on HTNV
      glycoprotein, we studied the effects and characteristics of CD4(+)T-cell
      responses in determining the outcome of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. A
      total of 79 novel 15-mer T-cell epitopes on the HTNV glycoprotein were
      identified, among which 20 peptides were dominant target epitopes. Importantly,
      we showed the presence of both effective Th1 responses with polyfunctional
      cytokine secretion and ThGranzyme B(+) cell responses with cytotoxic mediators
      production against HTNV infection. The HTNV glycoprotein-specific CD4(+)T-cell
      responses inversely correlated with the plasma HTNV RNA load in patients.
      Individuals with milder disease outcomes showed broader epitopes targeted and
      stronger CD4(+)T-cell responses against HTNV glycoproteins compared with more
      severe patients. The CD4(+)T cells characterized by broader antigenic repertoire,
      stronger polyfunctional responses, better expansion capacity and highly
      differentiated effector memory phenotype(CD27-CD28-CCR7-CD45RA-CD127(hi)) would
      elicit greater defense against HTNV infection and lead to much milder outcome of
      the disease. The host defense mediated by CD4(+)T cells may through the inducing
      antiviral condition of the host cells and cytotoxic effect of ThGranzyme B+
      cells. Thus, these findings highlight the efforts of CD4(+)T-cell immunity to
      HTNV control and provide crucial information to better understand the immune
      defense against HTNV infection.

PMID- 25836636
TI  - Imaging of pulmonary involvement in rheumatic disease.
AB  - Lung disease commonly occurs in connective tissue diseases (CTD) and is an
      important cause of morbidity and mortality. Imaging is central to the evaluation
      of CTD-associated pulmonary complications. In this article, a general discussion
      of radiologic considerations is followed by a description of the pulmonary
      appearances in individual CTDs, and the imaging appearances of acute and nonacute
      pulmonary complications. The contribution of imaging to monitoring disease,
      evaluating treatment response, and prognostication is reviewed. Finally, we
      address the role of imaging in the challenging multidisciplinary evaluation of
      interstitial lung disease where there is an underlying suspicion of an
      undiagnosed CTD. 

PMID- 25836637
TI  - Histopathology of lung disease in the connective tissue diseases.
AB  - The pathologic correlates of interstitial lung disease (ILD) secondary to
      connective tissue disease (CTD) comprise a diverse group of histologic patterns.
      Lung biopsies in patients with CTD-associated ILD tend to demonstrate
      simultaneous involvement of multiple anatomic compartments of the lung. Certain
      histologic patterns tend to predominate in each defined CTD, and it is possible
      in many cases to confirm connective tissue-associated lung disease and guide
      patient management using surgical lung biopsy. This article will cover the
      pulmonary pathologies seen in rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, myositis,
      systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren syndrome, and mixed CTD. 

PMID- 25836638
TI  - Determining respiratory impairment in connective tissue disease-associated
      interstitial lung disease.
AB  - Connective tissue diseases (CTDs) can affect the lungs through diseases of the
      chest wall, pleura, vasculature, airways, and parenchyma. Interstitial lung
      disease (ILD) is a common complication of CTD associated with increased morbidity
      and mortality. This article describes the evaluation of respiratory impairment in
      patients with CTD and summarizes the evidence that guides diagnosis and
      management of CTD-ILD. Patients with CTD with suspected ILD should undergo
      clinical, physiologic, and radiologic studies to evaluate for the presence of
      ILD, and these results should be integrated in a multidisciplinary setting to
      guide diagnosis and management. Screening for ILD may also be appropriate in
      asymptomatic patients with high-risk features. 

PMID- 25836639
TI  - Lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis.
AB  - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) affects approximately 1% of the US population
      frequently has extra-articular manifestations. Most compartments of the lung are
      susceptible to disease. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) and airways disease are
      the most common forms of RA-related lung disease. RA-ILD carries the worst
      prognosis and most often manifests in a histologic pattern of usual interstitial
      pneumonia or nonspecific interstitial pneumonia. There have been no large, well
      controlled prospective studies investigating therapies for RA-ILD. Treatment
      usually entails immunomodulatory agents. Further studies are needed to better
      understand pathogenic mechanisms of disease that lead to lung involvement in
      these patients. 

PMID- 25836641
TI  - Pulmonary complications of inflammatory myopathy.
AB  - Pulmonary complications cause significant morbidity and mortality in the
      idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. Advances in biomarker discovery have
      facilitated clinical phenotyping, allowing investigators to better define at-risk
      patient subsets and to potentially gauge disease activity. This serologic
      characterization has complemented more traditional assessment tools.
      Pharmacologic management continues to rely on the use of corticosteroids, often
      in combination with additional immunosuppressive agents. The rarity of myositis
      associated interstitial lung disease and lack of controlled trials have limited
      analyses of treatment efficacy, mandating the development of standardized outcome
      measures and improvement of data sharing between disciplines. 

PMID- 25836640
TI  - Interstitial lung disease in scleroderma.
AB  - Systemic sclerosis is a heterogeneous disease of unknown etiology with limited
      effective therapies. It is characterized by autoimmunity, vasculopathy, and
      fibrosis and is clinically manifested by multiorgan involvement. Interstitial
      lung disease is a common complication of systemic sclerosis and is associated
      with significant morbidity and mortality. The diagnosis of interstitial lung
      disease hinges on careful clinical evaluation and pulmonary function tests and
      high-resolution computed tomography. Effective therapeutic options are still
      limited. Several experimental therapies are currently in early-phase clinical
      trials and show promise. 

PMID- 25836642
TI  - Pulmonary manifestations of Sjogren syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, and
      mixed connective tissue disease.
AB  - Interstitial lung disease is a common and often life-threatening manifestation of
      different connective tissue disorders, often affecting its overall prognosis.
      Systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren syndrome, and mixed connective tissue
      disease, although all unique diseases, can have lung manifestations as an
      important part of these conditions. This article reviews the different pulmonary
      manifestations seen in these 3 systemic rheumatologic conditions. 

PMID- 25836643
TI  - Management of connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease.
AB  - A thorough, often multidisciplinary assessment to determine extrathoracic versus
      intrathoracic disease activity and degrees of impairment is needed to optimize
      the management of connective tissue disease (CTD)-associated interstitial lung
      disease (ILD). Pharmacologic intervention with immunosuppression is the mainstay
      of therapy for all forms of CTD-ILD, but should be reserved for those that show
      clinically significant and/or progressive disease. The management of CTD-ILD is
      not yet evidence based and there is a need for controlled trials across the
      spectrum of CTD-ILD. Nonpharmacologic management strategies and addressing
      comorbidities or aggravating factors should be included in the comprehensive
      treatment plan for CTD-ILD. 

PMID- 25836644
TI  - Connective tissue disease-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension.
AB  - Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by vascular remodeling of
      pulmonary arterioles that leads to increased pulmonary vascular resistance, right
      heart failure, and death. It is associated with connective tissue diseases,
      including systemic sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and mixed connective
      tissue disease. PAH is characterized by dyspnea on exertion and fatigue. Syncopal
      events suggest severe disease. Patients may present with signs of right heart
      failure. One- and 3-year survival rates are approximately 81% and 52%,
      respectively. Given the high prevalence and mortality, algorithms for screening
      are currently under investigation and will hopefully lead to earlier diagnosis
      and improved survival. 

PMID- 25836645
TI  - Pulmonary vasculitis.
AB  - Pulmonary vasculitis encompasses inflammation in the pulmonary vasculature with
      involved vessels varying in caliber from large elastic arteries to capillaries.
      Small pulmonary capillaries are the vessels most commonly involved in vasculitis
      affecting the lung. The antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated
      vasculitides, which include granulomatosis with polyangiitis (formerly Wegener
      granulomatosis), microscopic polyangiitis, and eosinophilic granulomatosis with
      polyangiitis (formerly Churg-Strauss syndrome), are the small vessel vasculitides
      in which pulmonary vasculitis is most frequently observed and are the major focus
      of this review. Vasculitic involvement of the large pulmonary vessels as may
      occur in Behcet syndrome and Takayasu arteritis is also discussed. 

PMID- 25836647
TI  - Demystifying lung disease in the rheumatic diseases.

PMID- 25836648
TI  - [Review of published cases of hepatic choristoma. Differential diagnosis of
      umbilical cord masses].

PMID- 25836649
TI  - CPAP and High-Flow Nasal Cannula Oxygen in Bronchiolitis.
AB  - Severe respiratory failure develops in some infants with bronchiolitis because of
      a complex pathophysiologic process involving increased airways resistance,
      alveolar atelectasis, muscle fatigue, and hypoxemia due to mismatch between
      ventilation and perfusion. Nasal CPAP and high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen
      may improve the work of breathing and oxygenation. Although the mechanisms behind
      these noninvasive modalities of respiratory support are not well understood, they
      may help infants by way of distending pressure and delivery of high
      concentrations of warmed and humidified oxygen. Observational studies of varying
      quality have suggested that CPAP and HFNC may confer direct physiologic benefits
      to infants with bronchiolitis and that their use has reduced the need for
      intubation. No trials to our knowledge, however, have compared CPAP with HFNC in
      bronchiolitis. Two randomized trials compared CPAP with oxygen delivered by low
      flow nasal cannula or face mask and found some improvements in blood gas results
      and some physiologic parameters, but these trials were unable to demonstrate a
      reduction in the need for intubation. Two trials evaluated HFNC in bronchiolitis
      (one comparing it with headbox oxygen, the other with nebulized hypertonic
      saline), with the results not seeming to suggest important clinical or
      physiologic benefits. In this article, we review the pathophysiology of
      respiratory failure in bronchiolitis, discuss these trials in detail, and
      consider how future research studies may be designed to best evaluate CPAP and
      HFNC in bronchiolitis. 

PMID- 25836650
TI  - On the road to elimination of Rhodesiense human African trypanosomiasis: first
      WHO meeting of stakeholders.

PMID- 25836651
TI  - Training improves the capacity of visual working memory when it is adaptive,
      individualized, and targeted.
AB  - The current study investigated whether training improves the capacity of visual
      working memory using individualized adaptive training methods. Two groups of
      participants were trained for two targeted processes, filtering and
      consolidation. Before and after the training, the participants, including those
      with no training, performed a lateralized change detection task in which one side
      of the visual display had to be selected and the other side ignored. Across ten
      day training sessions, the participants performed two modified versions of the
      lateralized change detection task. The number of distractors and duration of the
      consolidation period were adjusted individually to increase the task difficulty
      of the filtering and consolidation training, respectively. Results showed that
      the degree of improvement shown during the training was positively correlated
      with the increase in memory capacity, and training-induced benefits were most
      evident for larger set sizes in the filtering training group. These results
      suggest that visual working memory training is effective, especially when it is
      adaptive, individualized, and targeted. 

PMID- 25836652
TI  - Models for estimating projections for disease prevalence and burden: a systematic
      review focusing on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Epidemiological models for estimating the prevalence and burden of
      disease inform health policy and service planning decisions. Our aim was to
      describe the challenges in evaluating such models using the example of
      epidemiological models for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS:
      Two reviewers searched Medline, Embase, CAB Abstracts and World Health
      Organization (WHO) Databases from 1980 to November 2013 for epidemiological
      models of COPD prevalence and burden. Two reviewers extracted data and assessed
      the quality of the studies. We then undertook a descriptive and narrative
      synthesis of data. RESULTS: We identified 22 models employing a variety of
      techniques to calculate the prevalence and/or burden of COPD. Models calculated
      prevalence and/or mortality or other facet of disease burden using demographics
      and risk factors or trends, Markov-type modelling and microsimulation modelling.
      The six models which scored highly on the quality framework were: the Peabody
      model, which generated estimates of COPD prevalence; the WHO DISMOD II model
      which produced burden estimates in terms of disability adjusted life years with
      COPD and life years lost to COPD; the Atsou model which gave the life expectancy
      gains of individual smokers who quit smoking and associated costs; two Dutch COPD
      models which produced estimates of mortality and health care costs related to
      COPD; and the Pichon-Riviere model which gave the costs and cost effectiveness of
      smoking quit programmes. CONCLUSIONS: The field of chronic disease modelling is
      burgeoning. As a result, policy makers need to understand how to interpret
      epidemiological models and their data sources.

PMID- 25836653
TI  - A comparison of corn (Zea mays L.) residue and its biochar on soil C and plant
      growth.
AB  - In order to properly determine the value of charring crop residues, the C use
      efficiency and effects on crop performance of biochar needs to be compared to the
      un-charred crop residues. In this study we compared the addition of corn stalks
      to soil, with equivalent additions of charred (300  degrees C and 500  degrees C)
      corn residues. Two experiments were conducted: a long term laboratory
      mineralization, and a growth chamber trial with proso millet plants. In the
      laboratory, we measured soil mineral N dynamics, C use efficiency, and soil
      organic matter (SOM) chemical changes via infrared spectroscopy. The 300  degrees
      C biochar decreased plant biomass relative to a nothing added control. The 500
      degrees C biochar had little to no effect on plant biomass. With incubation we
      measured lower soil NO3 content in the corn stalk treatment than in the biochar
      amended soils, suggesting that the millet growth reduction in the stalk treatment
      was mainly driven by N limitation, whereas other factors contributed to the
      biomass yield reductions in the biochar treatments. Corn stalks had a C
      sequestration use efficiency of up to 0.26, but charring enhanced C sequestration
      to values that ranged from 0.64 to 1.0. Infrared spectroscopy of the soils as
      they mineralized showed that absorbance at 3400, 2925-2850, 1737 cm-1, and 1656
      cm-1 decreased during the incubation and can be regarded as labile SOM, corn
      residue, or biochar bands. Absorbances near 1600, 1500-1420, and 1345 cm-1
      represented the more refractory SOM moieties. Our results show that adding crop
      residue biochar to soil is a sound C sequestration technology compared to letting
      the crop residues decompose in the field. This is because the resistance to
      decomposition of the chars after soil amendment offsets any C losses during
      charring of the crop residues. 

PMID- 25836655
TI  - Air pressure-induced iridocornea contact in a patient with primary angle closure
      observed with a dynamic Scheimpflug analyzer.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report air pressure-induced corneal deformation and iridocornea
      contact in eyes with primary angle closure (PAC) during intraocular pressure
      (IOP) measurement performed using a novel noncontact tonometer. METHODS: A single
      case report. RESULTS: We report a patient with bilateral angle closure. One eye
      had acute PAC and the other had PAC. The latter was evaluated by the movements of
      the cornea and iris during IOP measurement using a noncontact tonometer. During
      the examination, the corneal endothelium and the iris came into contact at the
      mid-peripheral pupillary area in the left eye with PAC during the corneal
      reaction to an air puff. In contrast, the corneal endothelium in the pupillary
      area did not come into contact with the iris. CONCLUSIONS: Although we observed
      only 1 case and there could be limitations in its interpretation, IOP
      measurements using a noncontact tonometer may create mechanical stress on the
      corneal endothelium in eyes with PAC with a very shallow anterior chamber.

PMID- 25836654
TI  - Profiling invasiveness in head and neck cancer: recent contributions of genomic
      and transcriptomic approaches.
AB  - High-throughput molecular profiling approaches have emerged as precious research
      tools in the field of head and neck translational oncology. Such approaches have
      identified and/or confirmed the role of several genes or pathways in the
      acquisition/maintenance of an invasive phenotype and the execution of cellular
      programs related to cell invasion. Recently published new-generation sequencing
      studies in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have unveiled prominent
      roles in carcinogenesis and cell invasion of mutations involving NOTCH1 and PI3K
      patwhay components. Gene-expression profiling studies combined with systems
      biology approaches have allowed identifying and gaining further mechanistic
      understanding into pathways commonly enriched in invasive HNSCC. These pathways
      include antigen-presenting and leucocyte adhesion molecules, as well as genes
      involved in cell-extracellular matrix interactions. Here we review the major
      insights into invasiveness in head and neck cancer provided by high-throughput
      molecular profiling approaches. 

PMID- 25836656
TI  - Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Measurement Repeatability for Cirrus HD-OCT
      Retinal Tracking System During Eye Movement.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the repeatability of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber
      layer (RNFL) thickness measurements obtained using Cirrus high-definition optical
      coherence tomographic (Cirrus HD-OCT) retinal tracking system during various
      types of eye movements. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We included 20 healthy eyes, 40
      glaucomatous eyes of elderly patients, and 17 eyes with pathologic nystagmus. For
      healthy eyes, RNFL thickness measurements were obtained under 3 conditions: (1)
      without eye movement, fixated on the device's internal target, (2) with
      horizontal eye movement, and (3) with vertical eye movement during scan
      acquisition. Each session was performed 3 times with and without the use of the
      retinal tracking system. The repeatability of RNFL thickness measurements
      obtained with and without the retinal tracking was compared within each session
      and among the sessions. RESULTS: In healthy eyes, measurements obtained without
      the use of a retinal tracking system showed lower repeatability when measurements
      were obtained with eye movements than without (P<0.05). However, when retinal
      tracking system was used, measurement repeatability under conditions with eye
      movements was similar to that achieved without eye movement (P>0.05) and higher
      than that obtained without the use of a retinal tracking system (P<0.05). In
      elderly glaucomatous patients, the retinal tacking system did not significantly
      improve measurement repeatability during fixation (P>0.05). In eyes with
      pathologic nystagmus, the tracking system did not follow eye movement and scan
      acquisition was not processed. CONCLUSIONS: Cirrus HD-OCT retinal tracking system
      may enhance RNFL thickness measurement repeatability under certain, but not all,
      eye movement conditions.

PMID- 25836657
TI  - Elevated Intraocular Pressure in Patients Undergoing Penetrating Keratoplasty and
      Descemet Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty.
AB  - PURPOSE: Our aim was to compare changes in intraocular pressure (IOP) and
      management of glaucoma in patients undergoing either penetrating keratoplasty
      (PK) or Descemet stripping endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK). METHOD: A
      retrospective review of all patients who underwent primary corneal
      transplantation at Sydney Eye Hospital (Sydney, Australia) from January 2008 to
      December 2010 was performed. Eyes with comparable indications and either primary
      PK or DSEK with 12 months of follow-up were included. Data on IOP and
      antiglaucoma management postoperatively were collected. An IOP elevation of >=30%
      from baseline or an absolute IOP of >24 at 1 year postoperatively was
      significant. RESULTS: Sixty-one eyes from 61 patients met the inclusion criteria.
      Comparable eyes had undergone either PK (n=28, 46%) or DSEK (n=33, 54%). In
      patients without prior glaucoma (n=39), 29% of those in the PK group and 28% in
      the DSEK group required a change in therapy to control IOP (P=0.970). If there
      was prior glaucoma (n=22), the PK group required a change in 71% of patients
      compared with the DSEK group, 63% (P=0.665). In both groups of patients, PK and
      DSEK, elevation of IOP of at least 30% from baseline to 1 year was seen in 39%
      (P=0.993) regardless of glaucoma status. CONCLUSIONS: Elevation of IOP is a
      serious consequence of both PK and DSEK, even despite maximal medical therapy in
      certain cases. DSEK has an equivalent incidence of IOP elevation to PK in
      comparable patients. Careful monitoring of IOP and appropriate therapy should be
      instituted to prevent progression to glaucoma.

PMID- 25836658
TI  - Mathematical Modeling of Outflow Facility Increase With Trabecular Meshwork
      Bypass and Schlemm Canal Dilation.
AB  - PURPOSE: To mathematically model the conventional aqueous humor outflow system
      with trabecular meshwork (TM) bypass and Schlemm canal (SC) dilation. METHODS:
      The SC was modeled as a rectangular channel with the TM modeled as a permeable
      membrane. The collector channels (CCs) were modeled as fluid sinks distributed
      along the outer wall of SC. Two different implants were investigated in this
      study. The Hydrus Microstent (scaffold) was modeled with a TM bypass and a
      dilated region in SC that was 7 or 15 mm long and approximately 5-fold larger
      than the normal height of SC (h0). The iStent trabecular microbypass was modeled
      with a similar structure except that the dilated region in SC was 1 mm long and
      25% larger than h0. RESULTS: Creation of a TM bypass structure would increase the
      pressure in the surrounding regions inside the SC and make it close to the
      intraocular pressure. SC dilation would increase the pressure more uniformly in
      the dilated region. The pressure increase led to higher flow rates in SC and CCs,
      and subsequently increased outflow facility (C). If CCs were uniformly
      distributed, the increase in C was the smallest after implantation of 1
      microbypass, compared with that after implantation of 2 microbypasses or 1
      scaffold. If CCs were nonuniformly distributed, the magnitude of increase in C
      was sensitive to the location of implant, and the sensitivity was higher for the
      microbypass than the scaffold. CONCLUSION: The study showed that creation of TM
      bypass and SC dilation significantly increased outflow facility, and the amount
      of increase correlated with the length of dilated regions in SC.

PMID- 25836659
TI  - Automated Registration of Multimodal Optic Disc Images: Clinical Assessment of
      Alignment Accuracy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the accuracy of automated alignment algorithms for the
      registration of optic disc images obtained by 2 different modalities: fundus
      photography and scanning laser tomography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Images obtained
      with the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II and paired photographic optic disc images
      of 135 eyes were analyzed. Three state-of-the-art automated registration
      techniques Regional Mutual Information, rigid Feature Neighbourhood Mutual
      Information (FNMI), and nonrigid FNMI (NRFNMI) were used to align these image
      pairs. Alignment of each composite picture was assessed on a 5-point grading
      scale: "Fail" (no alignment of vessels with no vessel contact), "Weak" (vessels
      have slight contact), "Good" (vessels with <50% contact), "Very Good" (vessels
      with >50% contact), and "Excellent" (complete alignment). Custom software
      generated an image mosaic in which the modalities were interleaved as a series of
      alternate 5*5-pixel blocks. These were graded independently by 3 clinically
      experienced observers. RESULTS: A total of 810 image pairs were assessed. All 3
      registration techniques achieved a score of "Good" or better in >95% of the image
      sets. NRFNMI had the highest percentage of "Excellent" (mean: 99.6%; range, 95.2%
      to 99.6%), followed by Regional Mutual Information (mean: 81.6%; range, 86.3% to
      78.5%) and FNMI (mean: 73.1%; range, 85.2% to 54.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Automated
      registration of optic disc images by different modalities is a feasible option
      for clinical application. All 3 methods provided useful levels of alignment, but
      the NRFNMI technique consistently outperformed the others and is recommended as a
      practical approach to the automated registration of multimodal disc images.

PMID- 25836660
TI  - Deep Sclerectomy With a New Nonabsorbable Uveoscleral Implant (Esnoper-Clip): 1
      Year Outcomes.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report the safety and the effectiveness of deep sclerectomy (DS) with
      a new nonabsorbable uveoscleral hema implant (Esnoper-Clip) designed to increase
      trabecular and uveoscleral outflow and to achieve higher intrascleral blebs.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-seven eyes of 27 patients with open-angle glaucoma,
      who underwent DS with an Esnoper-Clip implant, were included in this study. All
      patients were followed up after 12 months. RESULTS: A significant decrease in
      intraocular pressure was observed after surgery, changing from a preoperative
      mean of 26.6+/-5.2 mm Hg to a postoperative mean of 15.3+/-5 mm Hg (P<0.001) at
      12 months. There was also a significant reduction in the number of glaucoma drugs
      needed, varying from 2.5 per patient to 0.3 (P<0.001) 1 year after surgery. The
      main intrascleral lake height and volume at 12 months was 0.7+/-0.1 mm and 3.9+/
      1.3 mm, respectively. No intraoperative complications occurred. The main
      postoperative complications were a positive Seidel test result at 24 hours in 2
      eyes (7.4%), hyphema in 2 eyes (7.4%), and choroidal detachment in 1 eye (3.7%).
      All these complications resolved successfully. The need for additional mitomycin
      C injections was recorded in 4 eyes (14.8%), twice in 2 of them. Twelve eyes
      (44.4%) underwent postsurgical Nd:YAG laser goniopuncture with a mean time
      between surgery and this procedure of 4.3 months. Mean intraocular pressure after
      Nd:YAG laser goniopuncture decreased from 19.2 to 15.5 mm Hg (P<0.001).
      CONCLUSION: DS with an uveoscleral hema implant (Esnoper-Clip) is a safe and
      effective technique for the management of open-angle glaucoma.

PMID- 25836661
TI  - Clinical Variability of Primary Congenital Glaucoma in a Spanish Family With
      Cyp1b1 Gene Mutations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) is a rare disease. In around a
      third of Spanish patients, the disease is attributed to mutations in the CYP1B1
      gene inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. Such mutations are the main
      known genetic cause of PCG. CASE REPORT: We describe the case of a family with 3
      of 7 siblings diagnosed with PCG. In a genetic study of the CYP1B1 gene, 2 null
      mutations were identified in the affected siblings (R355fsX69/T404fsX38). Two of
      the 4 healthy siblings were heterozygous for mutation R355fsX69 and the remaining
      2 had no mutations. The healthy parents were found to be heterozygous for
      mutations T404fsX38 (mother) and R355fsX69 (father). High variation in the
      expression of PCG was observed, especially in terms of disease onset and
      severity: Patient 1 in the eldest affected sibling, PCG was diagnosed at 8 years
      of age and is presently stable after 60 months of medical treatment; patient 2
      the second affected child underwent surgery at 7 days of age. Today, at 104
      months, she has undergone 2 operations on the right eye and 3 on the left eye;
      patient 3 the youngest sibling, the disease also manifested at birth and the boy
      underwent surgery at 4 days. Currently he is 84 months old, he has required 7
      operations for glaucoma, 3 in the right eye and 4 in the left. CONCLUSIONS: This
      clinical case reveals the etiological relationship between CYP1B1 mutations and
      PCG. In addition, it indicates a highly variable clinical picture associated with
      a single disease genotype mainly affecting disease onset and progression.

PMID- 25836662
TI  - Correlation Between Inter-Eye Difference in Average Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer
      Thickness and Afferent Pupillary Response as Measured by an Automated
      Pupillometer in Glaucoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the correlations between the relative afferent pupillary
      defect measured by a binocular, computerized, and commercially available
      pupillometer and the inter-eye differences in average retinal nerve fiber layer
      (RNFL) thickness measured by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD
      OCT) and visual field index (VFI) and mean deviation (MD) measured by automated
      static perimetry in patients with glaucoma. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.
      PARTICIPANTS: Thirty four patients with open-angle glaucoma. METHODS: Pupillary
      constriction amplitudes were measured with an automated pupillometer. SD-OCT
      imaging of the circumpapillary RNFL and automated static perimetry were performed
      within 6 months of pupillometry. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Main outcome measures
      included Spearman correlation coefficients between relative afferent pupillary
      defect as measured by pupillometry and inter-eye differences in average RNFL
      thickness, VFI, and MD. RESULTS: Correlation coefficients between relative
      afferent pupillary defect and inter-eye difference in average RNFL thickness, MD,
      and VFI were -0.81 (P<0.001), -0.73 (P<0.001), and -0.68 (P<0.001), respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: The automated pupillometer quantifies asymmetry in afferent
      pupillary responses in proportion to structural and functional asymmetry as
      measured SD-OCT and automated static perimetry.

PMID- 25836663
TI  - Ocular Biometrics of Myopic Eyes With Narrow Angles.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the ocular biometrics between
      myopic patients with and without narrow angles. METHODS: Patients with a stable
      myopic refraction (myopia worse than -1.00 D spherical equivalent) were
      prospectively recruited. Angle status was assessed using gonioscopy and biometric
      measurements were performed using an anterior segment optical coherence
      tomography and an IOLMaster. RESULTS: A total of 29 patients (58 eyes) were
      enrolled with 13 patients (26 eyes) classified as having narrow angles and 16
      patients (32 eyes) classified as having open angles. Baseline demographics of
      age, sex, and ethnicity did not differ significantly between the 2 groups. The
      patients with narrow angles were on average older than those with open angles but
      the difference did not reach statistical significance (P=0.12). The central
      anterior chamber depth was significantly less in the eyes with narrow angles
      (P=0.05). However, the average lens thickness, although greater in the eyes with
      narrow angles, did not reach statistical significance (P=0.10). Refractive error,
      axial lengths, and iris thicknesses did not differ significantly between the 2
      groups (P=0.32, 0.47, 0.15). CONCLUSIONS: Narrow angles can occur in myopic eyes.
      Routine gonioscopy is therefore recommended for all patients regardless of
      refractive error.

PMID- 25836664
TI  - Current and potential carbon stocks in Moso bamboo forests in China.
AB  - Bamboo forests provide important ecosystem services and play an important role in
      terrestrial carbon cycling. Of the approximately 500 bamboo species in China,
      Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) is the most important one in terms of
      distribution, timber value, and other economic values. In this study, we
      estimated current and potential carbon stocks in China's Moso bamboo forests and
      in their products. The results showed that Moso bamboo forests in China stored
      about 611.15 +/- 142.31 Tg C, 75% of which was in the top 60 cm soil, 22% in the
      biomass of Moso bamboos, and 3% in the ground layer (i.e., bamboo litter, shrub,
      and herb layers). Moso bamboo products store 10.19 +/- 2.54 Tg C per year. The
      potential carbon stocks reach 1331.4 +/- 325.1 Tg C, while the potential C stored
      in products is 29.22 +/- 7.31 Tg C a(-1). Our results indicate that Moso bamboo
      forests and products play a critical role in C sequestration. The information
      gained in this study will facilitate policy decisions concerning carbon
      sequestration and management of Moso bamboo forests in China. 

PMID- 25836665
TI  - Label-Free Luminescent Switch-On Probe for Ochratoxin A Detection Using a G
      Quadruplex-Selective Iridium(III) Complex.
AB  - A library of six luminescent Ir(III) complexes were synthesized and studied for
      their capacity to function as probes for G-quadruplex DNA. The novel Ir(III)
      complex 1 was discovered to be selective for G-quadruplex structures and was
      subsequently used for the construction of a label-free G-quadruplex-based
      ochratoxin A (OTA) sensing platform in aqueous solution. The assay exhibited
      linearity for OTA in the range of 0 to 60 nM (R2=0.9933), and the limit of
      detection for OTA was 5 nM. Furthermore, this assay was highly selective for OTA
      over its structurally related analogues.

PMID- 25836666
TI  - Calpain-10 Activity Underlies Angiotensin II-Induced Aldosterone Production in an
      Adrenal Glomerulosa Cell Model.
AB  - Aldosterone is a steroid hormone important in the regulation of blood pressure.
      Aberrant production of aldosterone results in the development and progression of
      diseases including hypertension and congestive heart failure; therefore, a
      complete understanding of aldosterone production is important for developing more
      effective treatments. Angiotensin II (AngII) regulates steroidogenesis, in part
      through its ability to increase intracellular calcium levels. Calcium can
      activate calpains, proteases classified as typical or atypical based on the
      presence or absence of penta-EF-hands, which are involved in various cellular
      responses. We hypothesized that calpain, in particular calpain-10, is activated
      by AngII in adrenal glomerulosa cells and underlies aldosterone production. Our
      studies showed that pan-calpain inhibitors reduced AngII-induced aldosterone
      production in 2 adrenal glomerulosa cell models, primary bovine zona glomerulosa
      and human adrenocortical carcinoma (HAC15) cells, as well as CYP11B2 expression
      in the HAC15 cells. Although AngII induced calpain activation in these cells,
      typical calpain inhibitors had no effect on AngII-elicited aldosterone
      production, suggesting a lack of involvement of classical calpains in this
      process. However, an inhibitor of the atypical calpain, calpain-10, decreased
      AngII-induced aldosterone production. Consistent with this result, small
      interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of calpain-10 inhibited aldosterone
      production and CYP11B2 expression, whereas adenovirus-mediated overexpression of
      calpain-10 resulted in increased AngII-induced aldosterone production. Our
      results indicate that AngII-induced activation of calpain-10 in glomerulosa cells
      underlies aldosterone production and identify calpain-10 or its downstream
      pathways as potential targets for the development of drug therapies for the
      treatment of hypertension. 

PMID- 25836667
TI  - Reprogramming Mouse Cells With a Pancreatic Duct Phenotype to Insulin-Producing
      beta-Like Cells.
AB  - Reprogramming technology has opened the possibility of converting one cell type
      into another by forced expression of transgenes. Transduction of adenoviral
      vectors encoding 3 pancreatic transcription factors, Pdx1, Ngn3, and MafA, into
      mouse pancreas results in direct reprogramming of exocrine cells to insulin
      producing beta-like cells. We hypothesized that cultured adult pancreatic duct
      cells could be reprogrammed to become insulin-producing beta-cells by adenoviral
      mediated expression of this same combination of factors. Exocrine were isolated
      from adult mouse insulin 1 promoter (MIP)-green fluorescent protein (GFP)
      transgenic mice to allow new insulin-expressing cells to be detected by GFP
      fluorescence. Cultured cells were transduced by an adenoviral vector carrying a
      polycistronic construct Ngn3/Pdx1/MafA/mCherry (Ad-M3C) or mCherry sequence alone
      as a control vector. In addition, the effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)
      receptor agonist, exendin-4 (Ex-4) on the reprogramming process were examined.
      GFP(+) cells appeared 2 days after Ad-M3C transduction; the reprogramming
      efficiency was 8.6 +/- 2.6% by day 4 after transduction. Ad-M3C also resulted in
      increased expression of beta-cell markers insulin 1 and 2, with enhancement by Ex
      4. Expression of other beta-cell markers, neuroD and GLP-1 receptor, were also
      significantly up-regulated. The amount of insulin release into the media and
      insulin content of the cells were significantly higher in the Ad-M3C-transduced
      cells; this too was enhanced by Ex-4. The transduced cells did not secrete
      insulin in response to increased glucose, indicating incomplete differentiation
      to beta-cells. Thus, cultured murine adult pancreatic cells with a duct phenotype
      can be directly reprogrammed to insulin-producing beta-like cells by adenoviral
      delivery of 3 pancreatic transcription factors. 

PMID- 25836668
TI  - [Alcohol use in young adolescents. A survey in French secondary schools].
AB  - Among young adolescents, early use of alcohol has been shown to be related to
      later alcohol use disorders and alcohol-related problems in numerous
      epidemiologic studies. However, if drinking problems are now well documented in
      young people, few data are available on alcohol use in children and young
      adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and
      attitudes with respect to alcohol use among young adolescents entering their
      first year of secondary school (mean age, 11.5 years). Data were collected from
      the ESPACE program, a preventive program conducted in the educational district of
      Limoges, France. Of the 2268 respondents with complete data, 73.4% (77.1% in
      males vs. 69.9% in females; P<0.001) reported having tasted alcohol drinks and
      3.7% (4.9% in males vs. 2.6% in females; P=0.004) having experienced drunkenness
      at least once. Of these adolescents, 5.4% (8.5% in males vs. 2.4% in females,
      P<0.001) reported consuming alcohol at least once per month, which may be
      considered as a sort of regular drinking pattern. Taking age, sex, and level of
      alcohol consumption into account, experience of drunkenness (21.9% in regular
      users vs. 3.7% in occasional users), tobacco use (25.8% in regular users vs.
      12.6% in occasional users and 1.5% in nonusers) and cannabis use (6.0% in regular
      users vs. 0.9% in occasional users and 0.2% in nonusers) were found to be
      significantly more frequent in regular alcohol users than in other students
      (P<0.001). Data analysis also showed that regular alcohol users felt
      significantly more frequently depressed, lacking self-assurance, dissatisfied
      with their physical appearance and their way of life, and they felt that they
      exhibited significantly more impairments in their interactions with parents,
      peers, and the school environment. Similarly, they were found to have
      significantly more frequently an inclination for risk behaviors and a
      significantly more positive view of drinking than other students. These results
      look almost like those reported in adolescents and young people, and show that
      the alcohol abuse pattern is drawn early in childhood. They also highlight the
      value of epidemiologic investigations for planning preventive interventions.

PMID- 25836669
TI  - Correction: Network meta-analysis using R: a review of currently available
      automated packages.

PMID- 25836670
TI  - Investigation of different sparsity transforms for the PICCS algorithm in small
      animal respiratory gated CT.
AB  - Respiratory gating helps to overcome the problem of breathing motion in
      cardiothoracic small-animal imaging by acquiring multiple images for each
      projection angle and then assigning projections to different phases. When this
      approach is used with a dose similar to that of a static acquisition, a low
      number of noisy projections are available for the reconstruction of each
      respiratory phase, thus leading to streak artifacts in the reconstructed images.
      This problem can be alleviated using a prior image constrained compressed sensing
      (PICCS) algorithm, which enables accurate reconstruction of highly undersampled
      data when a prior image is available. We compared variants of the PICCS algorithm
      with different transforms in the prior penalty function: gradient, unitary, and
      wavelet transform. In all cases the problem was solved using the Split Bregman
      approach, which is efficient for convex constrained optimization. The algorithms
      were evaluated using simulations generated from data previously acquired on a
      micro-CT scanner following a high-dose protocol (four times the dose of a
      standard static protocol). The resulting data were used to simulate scenarios
      with different dose levels and numbers of projections. All compressed sensing
      methods performed very similarly in terms of noise, spatiotemporal resolution,
      and streak reduction, and filtered back-projection was greatly improved.
      Nevertheless, the wavelet domain was found to be less prone to patchy cartoon
      like artifacts than the commonly used gradient domain. 

PMID- 25836671
TI  - Comparative genomic analysis of two novel sporadic Shiga toxin-producing
      Escherichia coli O104:H4 strains isolated 2011 in Germany.
AB  - A large outbreak of gastrointestinal disease occurred in 2011 in Germany which
      resulted in almost 4000 patients with acute gastroenteritis or hemorrhagic
      colitis, 855 cases of a hemolytic uremic syndrome and 53 deaths. The pathogen was
      an uncommon, multiresistant Escherichia coli strain of serotype O104:H4 which
      expressed a Shiga toxin characteristic of enterohemorrhagic E. coli and in
      addition virulence factors common to enteroaggregative E. coli. During post
      epidemic surveillance of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) all but two of
      O104:H4 isolates were indistinguishable from the epidemic strain. Here we
      describe two novel STEC O104:H4 strains isolated in close spatiotemporal
      proximity to the outbreak which show a virulence gene panel, a Shiga toxin
      mediated cytotoxicity towards Vero cells and aggregative adherence to Hep-2 cells
      comparable to the outbreak strain. They differ however both from the epidemic
      strain and from each other, by their antibiotic resistance phenotypes and some
      other features as determined by routine epidemiological subtyping methods. Whole
      genome sequencing of these two strains, of ten outbreak strain isolates
      originating from different time points of the outbreak and of one historical
      sporadic EHEC O104:H4 isolate was performed. Sequence analysis revealed a clear
      phylogenetic distance between the two variant strains and the outbreak strain
      finally identifying them as epidemiologically unrelated isolates from sporadic
      cases. These findings add to the knowledge about this emerging pathogen,
      illustrating a certain diversity within the bacterial core genome as well as loss
      and gain of accessory elements. Our results do also support the view that
      distinct new variants of STEC O104:H4 repeatedly might originate from yet unknown
      reservoirs, rather than that there would be a continuous diversification of a
      single epidemic strain established and circulating in Germany after the large
      outbreak in 2011. 

PMID- 25836672
TI  - Apolipoprotein CIII regulates lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 expression
      via the MAPK and NFkappaB pathways.
AB  - Apolipoprotein CIII (apo CIII), a small glycoprotein that binds to the surfaces
      of certain lipoproteins, is associated with inflammatory and atherogenic
      responses in vascular cells. Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2)
      has been proposed as an inflammatory biomarker and potential therapeutic target
      for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Here, we report that apo CIII increases Lp-PLA2
      mRNA and protein levels in dose- and time- dependent manner in human monocytic
      THP-1 cells, and the increase can be abolished by MAPK and NFkappaB pathway
      inhibitors. Lp-PLA2 inhibitor, 1-linoleoyl glycerol attenuates the inflammation
      induced by apo CIII. In turn, exogenous Lp-PLA2 expression upregulates apo CIII
      and the upregulation can be inhibited by 1-linoleoyl glycerol in HepG2 cells.
      Moreover, plasma Lp-PLA2 level is correlated with apo CIII expression in pig
      liver. In vivo, Lp-PLA2 expression in monocytes and its activity in serum were
      significantly increased in human apo CIII transgenic porcine models compared with
      wild-type pigs. Our results suggest that Lp-PLA2 and apo CIII expression level is
      correlated with each other in vitro and in vivo. 

PMID- 25836673
TI  - A chicken model of pharmacologically-induced Hirschsprung disease reveals an
      unexpected role of glucocorticoids in enteric aganglionosis.
AB  - The enteric nervous system originates from neural crest cells that migrate in
      chains as they colonize the embryonic gut, eventually forming the myenteric and
      submucosal plexus. Failure of the neural crest cells to colonize the gut leads to
      aganglionosis in the terminal gut, a pathological condition called Hirschsprung
      disease (HSCR) in humans, also known as congenital megacolon or intestinal
      aganglionosis. One of the characteristics of the human HSCR is its variable
      penetrance, which may be attributable to the interaction between genetic factors,
      such as the endothelin-3/endothelin receptor B pathway, and non-genetic
      modulators, although the role of the latter has not well been established. We
      have created a novel HSCR model in the chick embryo allowing to test the ability
      of non-genetic modifiers to alter the HSCR phenotype. Chick embryos treated by
      phosphoramidon, which blocks the generation of endothelin-3, failed to develop
      enteric ganglia in the very distal bowel, characteristic of an HSCR-like
      phenotype. Administration of dexamethasone influenced the phenotype, suggesting
      that glucocorticoids may be environmental modulators of the penetrance of the
      aganglionosis in HSCR disease. 

PMID- 25836674
TI  - The Drosophila TIPE family member Sigmar interacts with the Ste20-like kinase
      Misshapen and modulates JNK signaling, cytoskeletal remodeling and autophagy.
AB  - TNFAIP8 and other mammalian TIPE family proteins have attracted increased
      interest due to their associations with disease-related processes including
      oncogenic transformation, metastasis, and inflammation. The molecular and
      cellular functions of TIPE family proteins are still not well understood. Here we
      report the molecular and genetic characterization of the Drosophila TNFAIP8
      homolog, CG4091/sigmar. Previous gene expression studies revealed dynamic
      expression of sigmar in larval salivary glands prior to histolysis. Here we
      demonstrate that in sigmar loss-of-function mutants, the salivary glands are
      morphologically abnormal with defects in the tubulin network and decreased
      autophagic flux. Sigmar localizes subcellularly to microtubule-containing
      projections in Drosophila S2 cells, and co-immunoprecipitates with the Ste20-like
      kinase Misshapen, a regulator of the JNK pathway. Further, the Drosophila TNF
      ligand Eiger can induce sigmar expression, and sigmar loss-of-function leads to
      altered localization of pDJNK in salivary glands. Together, these findings link
      Sigmar to the JNK pathway, cytoskeletal remodeling and autophagy activity during
      salivary gland development, and provide new insights into TIPE family member
      function. 

PMID- 25836675
TI  - Xrn1/Pacman affects apoptosis and regulates expression of hid and reaper.
AB  - Programmed cell death, or apoptosis, is a highly conserved cellular process that
      is crucial for tissue homeostasis under normal development as well as
      environmental stress. Misregulation of apoptosis is linked to many developmental
      defects and diseases such as tumour formation, autoimmune diseases and
      neurological disorders. In this paper, we show a novel role for the
      exoribonuclease Pacman/Xrn1 in regulating apoptosis. Using Drosophila wing
      imaginal discs as a model system, we demonstrate that a null mutation in pacman
      results in small imaginal discs as well as lethality during pupation. Mutant wing
      discs show an increase in the number of cells undergoing apoptosis, especially in
      the wing pouch area. Compensatory proliferation also occurs in these mutant
      discs, but this is insufficient to compensate for the concurrent increase in
      apoptosis. The phenotypic effects of the pacman null mutation are rescued by a
      deletion that removes one copy of each of the pro-apoptotic genes reaper, hid and
      grim, demonstrating that pacman acts through this pathway. The null pacman
      mutation also results in a significant increase in the expression of the pro
      apoptotic mRNAs, hid and reaper, with this increase mostly occurring at the post
      transcriptional level, suggesting that Pacman normally targets these mRNAs for
      degradation. Our results uncover a novel function for the conserved
      exoribonuclease Pacman and suggest that this exoribonuclease is important in the
      regulation of apoptosis in other organisms. 

PMID- 25836676
TI  - Drug use by the breastfeeding mother: a medical and societal challenge.

PMID- 25836677
TI  - ABM clinical protocol #21: guidelines for breastfeeding and substance use or
      substance use disorder, revised 2015.
AB  - A central goal of The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine is the development of
      clinical protocols for managing common medical problems that may impact
      breastfeeding success. These protocols serve only as guidelines for the care of
      breastfeeding mothers and infants and do not delineate an exclusive course of
      treatment or serve as standards of medical care. Variations in treatment may be
      appropriate according to the needs of an individual patient. 

PMID- 25836678
TI  - Pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of a therapeutic enzyme (idursulfase) in
      cynomolgus monkeys after intrathecal and intravenous administration.
AB  - Intravenous enzyme replacement therapy with iduronate-2-sulfatase is an approved
      treatment for Hunter syndrome, however, conventional intravenous delivery cannot
      treat the neurologic manifestations of the disease due to its limited central
      nervous system penetration. Intrathecal administration of iduronate-2-sulfatase
      for delivery to the central nervous system is currently under investigation. The
      objective of this study was to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of idursulfase in
      the central nervous system of cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fasicularis) after
      intravenous and intrathecal administration. Twenty-seven monkeys, treatment-naive
      to enzyme replacement therapy, were placed into 4 groups according to body
      weight: Group 1 was administered 0.5 mg/kg idursulfase intravenously, Groups 2-4
      were administered an intrathecal formulation (1-, 10-, and 30-mg doses). Blood
      samples and cerebrospinal fluid (sampled at the cisterna magna or lumbar level)
      were collected at the same time points for 72 hours post dosing. Following
      intravenous administration, a high maximum serum concentration and rapid
      distribution of iduronate-2-sulfatase out of the central compartment were
      observed (elimination half-life: 4.3 hours). Iduronate-2-sulfatase exposure in
      the cerebrospinal fluid was limited, suggesting intravenous administration
      provided minimal penetration of the blood-brain barrier. Following intrathecal
      administration, a high maximum observed concentration was immediately noted and
      elimination half-life ranged between 7.8-10 hours and 5.9-6.7 hours (cisterna
      magna and lumbar sampling, respectively). Cerebrospinal fluid pharmacokinetic
      profiles at different doses of iduronate-2-sulfatase were similar and the
      dose/exposure relationship was proportional. After intrathecal administration,
      movement of iduronate-2-sulfatase from cerebrospinal fluid to serum was observed
      (systemic bioavailability was 40-83%). The clear penetration of iduronate-2
      sulfatase into the cerebrospinal fluid and the dose response suggest that
      intrathecal delivery of iduronate-2-sulfatase may be suitable for treating the
      central nervous system manifestations associated with Hunter syndrome. 

PMID- 25836679
TI  - The extent of irradiation-induced long-term visceral organ damage depends on
      cranial/brain exposure.
AB  - In case of high-dose radiation exposure, mechanisms controlling late visceral
      organ damage are still not completely understood and may involve the central
      nervous system. To investigate the influence of cranial/brain irradiation on late
      visceral organ damage in case of high-dose exposure, Wistar rats were irradiated
      at 12 Gy, with either the head and fore limbs or the two hind limbs protected
      behind a lead wall (head- and hind limbs-protected respectively), which allows
      long-term survival thanks to bone marrow protection. Although hind limbs- and
      head-protected irradiated rats exhibited similar hematopoietic and spleen
      reconstitution, a late body weight loss was observed in hind limbs-protected rats
      only. Histological analysis performed at this time revealed that late damages to
      liver, kidney and ileum were attenuated in rats with head exposed when compared
      to animals whose head was protected. Plasma measurements of inflammation
      biomarkers (haptoglobin and the chemokine CXCL1) suggest that the attenuated
      organ damage in hind limbs-protected rats may be in part related to reduced acute
      and chronic inflammation. Altogether our results demonstrate the influence of
      cranial/brain exposure in the onset of organ damage. 

PMID- 25836680
TI  - The influence of novel CT reconstruction technique and ECG-gated technique on
      image quality and patient dose of cardiac computed tomography.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to compare image quality and patient dose in
      cardiac computed tomography angiography (CTA) in terms of volume computed
      tomography dose index (CTDI vol), dose length product (DLP) and effective dose,
      when changing from filtered back projection (FBP) to adaptive iterative dose
      reduction (AIDR) reconstruction techniques. Further aim was to implement
      prospective electrocardiogram (ECG) gating for patient dose reduction. The study
      was performed with Aquilion ONE 320-row CT of Toshiba Medical Systems. Analysis
      of cardiac CT protocols was performed before and after integration of the new
      software. The AIDR technique showed more than 50 % reduction in CTDIvol values
      and 57 % in effective dose. The subjective evaluation of clinical images
      confirmed the adequate image quality acquired by the AIDR technique. The
      preliminary results indicated significant dose reduction when using prospective
      ECG gating by keeping the adequate diagnostic quality of clinical images.

PMID- 25836681
TI  - Determination of backscatter factors in breast tomosynthesis using MCNPX
      simulations and measurements.
AB  - The perspective of adding digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) to standard
      mammography in screening raises concerns regarding the dose absorbed by the
      fibroglandular breast tissue. Thus, it is important to estimate accurately the
      mean glandular dose (MGD), although there are no standard protocols for
      dosimetry, concerning DBT. This study aims at introducing backscatter factors
      (BSF) to calculate the entrance surface air kerma (ESAK), directly on patients or
      phantoms, in order to be introduced in the formalism proposed by Dance et al.
      MCNPX simulations were performed, to mimic a DBT acquisition, for a wide range of
      X-ray spectra. A homogeneous breast phantom with 50 % of glandular tissue was
      considered and several thicknesses were evaluated. Dose measurements were
      performed, to validate and support the simulation results. The BSF may indicate a
      real MGD estimation in vivo for DBT examinations and contribute for the
      improvement of the current guidelines used in these applications. 

PMID- 25836682
TI  - Dual-energy contrast-enhanced digital mammography: patient radiation dose
      estimation using a Monte Carlo code.
AB  - Mammography is a standard procedure that facilitates breast cancer detection.
      Initial results of contrast-enhanced digital mammography (CEDM) are promising.
      The purpose of this study is to assess the CEDM radiation dose using a Monte
      Carlo code. EGSnrc MC code was used to simulate the interaction of photons with
      matter and estimate the glandular dose (Dg). A voxel female human phantom with a
      2-8-cm breast thickness range and a breast glandular composition of 50 % was
      applied. Dg values ranged between 0.96 and 1.45 mGy (low and high energy). Dg
      values for a breast thickness of 5.0 cm and a glandular fraction of 50 % for
      craniocaudal and mediolateral oblique view were 1.12 (low energy image
      contribution is 0.98 mGy) and 1.07 (low energy image contribution is 0.95 mGy),
      respectively. The low kV part of CEDM is the main contributor to total glandular
      breast dose. 

PMID- 25836683
TI  - Examination frequency and population dose from medical X-ray examinations in
      Sudan in 2010.
AB  - This study was performed to estimate examination frequency and collective and per
      caput effective doses arising from medical X-ray procedures in Sudan, 2010.
      Information was collected from 30 hospitals performing radiography, computed
      tomography (CT), fluoroscopy and interventional radiology (IR) procedures. The
      estimated annual number of examinations was 33 million radiographic X-ray
      procedures (99 %), 0.34 million CT exams per year (14 % paediatrics CT), 0.02
      million fluoroscopy and IR procedures. The estimated annual number of
      examinations was 326 per 1000 people. The estimated annual collective and per
      caput effective doses from medical X-ray procedures mount 7197 man Sv and 0.18
      mSv, respectively. The study offered the first projection of frequency and
      population dose from medical X-ray examinations in Sudan and provides estimates
      of the impact of the medical X-ray procedures at the national level. 

PMID- 25836684
TI  - Establishment of diagnostic reference levels for dental panoramic radiography in
      Greece.
AB  - The purpose of the present study was to present the national diagnostic reference
      levels (DRL) established for panoramic dental examinations in Greece. The
      establishment of DRL, as a tool for the optimisation of radiological procedures,
      is a requirement of national regulations. Measurements performed by the Greek
      Atomic Energy Commission on 90 panoramic systems have been used for the
      derivation of DRL values. DRL values have been proposed for exposure settings of
      different patient types (child, small adult and standard adult), both for film
      and digital imaging. The DRLs for different patient types are grouped in three
      categories: children, small adults (corresponding to female) and average adults
      (corresponding to male). Proposed DRLs for these groups are 2.2, 3.3 and 4.1 mGy,
      respectively. In order to investigate the correlation of DRLs with the available
      imaging modalities (CR, DR and film), this parameter was taken into account. DR
      imaging DRL is the lowest at 3.5 mGy, CR imaging the highest at 4.2 mGy and film
      imaging at 3.7 mGy. In order to facilitate comparison with other studies, kerma
      width product values were calculated from Ki, air and field size. 

PMID- 25836686
TI  - Optimising delineation accuracy of tumours in PET for radiotherapy planning using
      blind deconvolution.
AB  - Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has been proven to be useful in
      radiotherapy planning for the determination of the metabolically active regions
      of tumours. Delineation of tumours, however, is a difficult task in part due to
      high noise levels and the partial volume effects originating mainly from the low
      camera resolution. The goal of this work is to study the effect of blind
      deconvolution on tumour volume estimation accuracy for different computer-aided
      contouring methods. The blind deconvolution estimates the point spread function
      (PSF) of the imaging system in an iterative manner in a way that the likelihood
      of the given image being the convolution output is maximised. In this way, the
      PSF of the imaging system does not need to be known. Data were obtained from a
      NEMA NU-2 IQ-based phantom with a GE DSTE-16 PET/CT scanner. The artificial
      tumour diameters were 13, 17, 22, 28 and 37 mm with a target/background ratio of
      4:1. The tumours were delineated before and after blind deconvolution. Student's
      two-tailed paired t-test showed a significant decrease in volume estimation error
      (p < 0.001) when blind deconvolution was used in conjunction with computer-aided
      delineation methods. A manual delineation confirmation demonstrated an
      improvement from 26 to 16 % for the artificial tumour of size 37 mm while an
      improvement from 57 to 15 % was noted for the small tumour of 13 mm. Therefore,
      it can be concluded that blind deconvolution of reconstructed PET images may be
      used to increase tumour delineation accuracy. 

PMID- 25836685
TI  - A study to establish international diagnostic reference levels for paediatric
      computed tomography.
AB  - The article reports results from the largest international dose survey in
      paediatric computed tomography (CT) in 32 countries and proposes international
      diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) in terms of computed tomography dose index
      (CTDI vol) and dose length product (DLP). It also assesses whether mean or median
      values of individual facilities should be used. A total of 6115 individual
      patient data were recorded among four age groups: <1 y, >1-5 y, >5-10 y and >10
      15 y. CTDIw, CTDI vol and DLP from the CT console were recorded in dedicated
      forms together with patient data and technical parameters. Statistical analysis
      was performed, and international DRLs were established at rounded 75th percentile
      values of distribution of median values from all CT facilities. The study
      presents evidence in favour of using median rather than mean of patient dose
      indices as the representative of typical local dose in a facility, and for
      establishing DRLs as third quartile of median values. International DRLs were
      established for paediatric CT examinations for routine head, chest and abdomen in
      the four age groups. DRLs for CTDI vol are similar to the reference values from
      other published reports, with some differences for chest and abdomen CT. Higher
      variations were observed between DLP values, based on a survey of whole multi
      phase exams. It may be noted that other studies in literature were based on
      single phase only. DRLs reported in this article can be used in countries without
      sufficient medical physics support to identify non-optimised practice.
      Recommendations to improve the accuracy and importance of future surveys are
      provided.

PMID- 25836687
TI  - Nuclear medicine examinations of children in Russia.
AB  - The number and specification of radionuclide examinations, administrated activity
      and effective doses were collected during 2011-13 for 4944 paediatric patients
      from 10 nuclear medicine (NM) departments of some Russian regions. The kidney
      examinations account for about 70 % of paediatric NM examinations in general
      hospitals. Diagnostics of all other organs contribute from 2 to 8 % each in the
      total number of paediatric examinations. Administrated activities of
      radiopharmaceuticals are approximately proportional to the child's age, and
      variations between different hospitals usually are within the factor of 3-4 and
      for some types of examination up to 10. The range of the effective dose due to
      paediatric NM examinations is roughly estimated as 2-6 mSv per examination,
      approximately the same as in adults. Some examinations (heart, thyroid, whole
      body) result in doses of younger children that are 2-3 times higher than the
      doses of adults. Effective doses in paediatric positron emission tomography (PET)
      diagnostics are in the range of 4-10 mSv per examination and are higher compared
      with the dose of adult patients. The application of combined radiodiagnostic
      technologies (single photon emission computer tomography with roentghen computer
      tomography [SPECT/CT] or PET with roetghen computer tomography [PET/CT])
      increases the effective dose of patients by the factor of 1.5-2 for the skeleton
      or whole body examinations. 

PMID- 25836688
TI  - Optimisation of paediatric chest radiography.
AB  - The purpose of this work is to present the algorithm for the optimisation of
      paediatric chest radiography aimed to reduce patient doses at keeping adequate
      image quality. Optimal tube voltage, tube current and exposure time, use of
      automatic or manual exposure control and use of antiscatter grid were recommended
      for different age groups and depending on the patient size. The optimised
      protocols and radiography technique resulted in decrease in Entrance surface air
      kerma and effective dose values in a factor of between 1.5 and over 5 for
      different age groups. Image quality was assessed to be of sufficient diagnostic
      quality. 

PMID- 25836689
TI  - CT scanning in children and risk of cancer: what three large-scale studies have
      demonstrated.
AB  - That irradiation from diagnostic CT examinations has caused cancers in a small
      minority of young patients in the past is no longer controversial. Three recent
      studies from the UK, Australia and the USA have published data supporting a small
      but real risk of a CT scan in early life being associated with a later risk of
      malignancy, due solely to the CT scan. The American study showed a temporary
      increase in the frequency of CT scanning of children with regrettably large
      variation in radiation dose per scan. Most of the patients in the published
      studies had their CT examinations over a decade ago, and it is likely in more
      recent years that widespread reductions in tube current-time product (mAs) have
      substantially lessened the radiation burden to children from CT. It must be
      remembered that CT is a very useful clinical test. Whenever CT is justified, the
      clinical benefit virtually always outweighs the longer term very small risk of
      malignancy. 

PMID- 25836690
TI  - Fetal radiation dose in computed tomography.
AB  - The connection between recorded volumetric CT dose index (CTDI vol) and
      determined mean fetal dose (Df) was examined from metal-oxide-semiconductor field
      effect transistor dose measurements on an anthropomorphic female phantom in four
      stages of pregnancy in a 64-slice CT scanner. Automated tube current modulation
      kept the mean Df fairly constant through all pregnancy stages in trauma (4.4-4.9
      mGy) and abdomino-pelvic (2.1-2.4 mGy) protocols. In pulmonary angiography
      protocol, the mean Df increased exponentially as the distance from the end of the
      scan range decreased (0.01-0.09 mGy). For trauma protocol, the relative mean Df
      as a function of gestational age were in the range 0.80-0.97 compared with the
      mean CTDI vol. For abdomino-pelvic protocol, the relative mean Df was 0.57-0.79
      and for pulmonary angiography protocol, 0.01-0.05 compared with the mean CTDI
      vol, respectively. In conclusion, if the fetus is in the primary beam, the CTDI
      vol can be used as an upper estimate of the fetal dose. If the fetus is not in
      the primary beam, the fetal dose can be estimated by considering also the
      distance of the fetus from the scan range.

PMID- 25836691
TI  - Performance evaluation of two computed radiography systems and patient dose in
      pelvic examination.
AB  - This study was carried out to evaluate the performance of two computed
      radiography (CR) units. These evaluations became necessary following the
      introduction of CR systems in Sudan. Evaluation of the CR systems was performed
      using physical image quality parameters: signal transfer property, modulation
      transfer function, normalised noise power spectrum, detective quantum efficiency
      and the subjective contrast detail detectability. Patient dose was measured in
      terms of entrance surface air kerma estimated from tube output and exposure
      factors for 100 patients who had undergone pelvic X-ray examinations. Fuji
      computed radiography velocity system with columnar screen dose results was much
      lower than those using CR975 system with granular screen. Patient doses delivered
      by both systems were within the international diagnostic reference levels. 

PMID- 25836692
TI  - Effect of the glandular composition on digital breast tomosynthesis image quality
      and dose optimisation.
AB  - In the image quality assessment for digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), a breast
      phantom with an average percentage of 50 % glandular tissue is seldom used, which
      may not be representative of the breast tissue composition of the women
      undergoing such examination. This work aims at studying the effect of the
      glandular composition of the breast on the image quality taking into
      consideration different sizes of lesions. Monte Carlo simulations were performed
      using the state-of-the-art computer program PENELOPE to validate the image
      acquisition system of the DBT equipment as well as to calculate the mean
      glandular dose for each projection image and for different breast compositions.
      The integrated PENELOPE imaging tool (PenEasy) was used to calculate, in
      mammography, for each clinical detection task the X-ray energy that maximises the
      figure of merit. All the 2D cranial-caudal projections for DBT were simulated and
      then underwent the reconstruction process applying the Simultaneous Algebraic
      Reconstruction Technique. Finally, through signal-to-noise ratio analysis, the
      image quality in DBT was assessed. 

PMID- 25836693
TI  - Description and benefits of dynamic collimation in digital breast tomosynthesis.
AB  - X-ray field to image receptor active area alignment is usually tested in
      mammographic QC. In digital breast tomosynthesis (dBT), the source moves during
      the acquisition, generating a displacement of the X-ray beam edges relative to
      the detector, in or out of the detector active area. To minimise unnecessary
      radiation while maximising the useful field of view, a solution consisting in
      adjusting the collimation with the source rotation was implemented on the GE
      SenoClaire dBT system. This solution is described and tested using three
      different methods based on: (1) images from the detector, (2) a non-screen film
      and (3) a semi-conductor tool providing the X-ray intensity profile. Method 1
      demonstrated a maximum positioning error of 0.3 mm. Method 2 was found non
      applicable; Method 3 provided measurements within 1.5 mm. Dynamic collimation
      enables maintaining an X-ray field to detector congruence comparable with 2D.
      Measuring the position of the X-ray field edges using a dedicated tool makes
      routine QC possible. 

PMID- 25836694
TI  - Establishment of diagnostic reference levels in computed tomography for
      paediatric patients in Sudan: a pilot study.
AB  - Paediatric patients are recognised to be at higher risk of developing radiation
      induced cancer than adults. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the
      radiation doses to paediatric patients during computed tomography (CT) procedures
      in order to propose local diagnostic reference levels (DRLs). A total of 296
      patients (aged 6-10 y) were investigated in 8 hospitals equipped with 64-, 16-
      and dual-slice CT machines. The mean dose length product values were 772, 446 and
      178 mGy cm for head, abdomen and chest, respectively. Imaging protocols were not
      adapted to the patient's weight in certain CT machines. The results confirmed
      that paediatric patients are exposed to an unnecessary radiation dose. The
      established DRLs were higher than those available in other countries. This study
      showed the need for harmonisation of the practice in CT departments and radiation
      dose optimisation. 

PMID- 25836695
TI  - Patient grouping for dose surveys and establishment of diagnostic reference
      levels in paediatric computed tomography.
AB  - There has been confusion in literature on whether paediatric patients should be
      grouped according to age, weight or other parameters when dealing with dose
      surveys. The present work aims to suggest a pragmatic approach to achieve
      reasonable accuracy for performing patient dose surveys in countries with limited
      resources. The analysis is based on a subset of data collected within the IAEA
      survey of paediatric computed tomography (CT) doses, involving 82 CT facilities
      from 32 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. Data for 6115
      patients were collected, in 34.5 % of which data for weight were available. The
      present study suggests that using four age groups, <1, >1-5, >5-10 and >10-15 y,
      is realistic and pragmatic for dose surveys in less resourced countries and for
      the establishment of DRLs. To ensure relevant accuracy of results, data for >30
      patients in a particular age group should be collected if patient weight is not
      known. If a smaller sample is used, patient weight should be recorded and the
      median weight in the sample should be within 5-10 % from the median weight of the
      sample for which the DRLs were established. Comparison of results from different
      surveys should always be performed with caution, taking into consideration the
      way of grouping of paediatric patients. Dose results can be corrected for
      differences in patient weight/age group. 

PMID- 25836696
TI  - Radiation effects and risks: overview and a new risk perception index.
AB  - Uncertainty provides opportunities for differences in perception, and radiation
      risks at low level of exposures involved in few computed tomography scans fall in
      this category. While there is good agreement among national and international
      organisations on risk probability of cancer, risk perception has barely been
      dealt with by these organisations. Risk perception is commonly defined as the
      subjective judgment that people make about the characteristics and severity of a
      risk. Severity and latency are important factors in perception. There is a need
      to connect all these. Leaving risk perception purely as a subjective judgement
      provides opportunities for people to amplifying risk. The author postulates a
      risk perception index as severity divided by latency that becomes determining
      factor for risk perception. It is hoped that this index will bring rationality in
      risk perception. 

PMID- 25836697
TI  - Eight years of quality control in Bulgaria: impact on mammography practice.
AB  - The requirements for quality control (QC) in diagnostic radiology were introduced
      in Bulgarian legislation in 2005. Hospital medical physicists and several private
      medical physics groups provide QC services to radiology departments. The aim of
      this study was to analyse data from QC tests in mammography and to investigate
      the impact of QC introduction on mammography practice in the country. The study
      was coordinated by the National Centre of Radiobiology and Radiation Protection.
      All medical physics services were requested to fill in standardised forms with
      information about most important parameters routinely measured during QC. All QC
      service providers responded. Results demonstrated significant improvement of
      practice since the introduction of QC, with reduction of established deviations
      from 65 % during the first year to 7 % in the last year. The systems that do not
      meet the acceptability criteria were suspended from use. Performance of automatic
      exposure control and digital detectors are not regularly tested because of the
      absence of requirements in the legislation. The need of updated guidance and
      training of medical physicists to reflect the change in technology was
      demonstrated. 

PMID- 25836698
TI  - Dose reduction in chest CT examination.
AB  - Computed tomography (CT) examinations involve relatively high doses to patients.
      The objectives of this study were to optimise the radiation dose for patient
      during CT chest scan and to estimate the lifetime cancer risk. A total of 50
      patients were studied: control group (A) (38 patients) and optimisation group (B)
      (12 patients). The optimisation protocol was based on CT pitch increment and
      lowering tube current. The mean volume CT dose index (CTDI vol) was 21.17 mGy and
      dose length product (DLP) was 839.0 mGy cm for Group A, and CTDI vol was 8.3 mGy
      and DLP was 339.7 for Group B. The overall cancer risk was estimated to be 8.0
      and 3.0 cancer incidence per million for Groups A and B, respectively. The
      patient dose optimisation during CT chest was investigated. Lowering tube current
      and pitch increment achieved a radiation dose reduction of up to 60 % without
      compromising the diagnostic findings.

PMID- 25836699
TI  - Radiation protection of linac bunkers. A user-friendly approach.
AB  - A well-known but complex formalism for the calculation of the leakage dose at the
      entrance of the linac maze was considered and simplified. These simplifications
      were based partly on the literature and partly on the authors' own measurements.
      The authors have included photon scatter originating from the irradiated patient
      in the formalism. A formalism for two different types of bunkers was developed,
      and the authors have obtained simple formulas to calculate the dose at the maze
      entrance for both bunker types. 

PMID- 25836700
TI  - Mixed nutcracker syndrome with left renal vein duplication: A severe and
      exceptional presentation in an 18-year-old boy.
AB  - The nutcracker syndrome (NCS) is rare and often misdiagnosed because it embraces
      an extended non-pathognomonic spectrum of symptoms that imply a difficult
      diagnosis. Ultimately it may be associated with substantial morbidity and even
      life-threatening events. Mixed NCS with renal vein duplication is an exceptional
      variety, have previously been reported to the best of our knowledge. We report a
      rare case of an 18-year-old boy who presented with a long history of abdominal,
      pelvic and left flank pain, fatigue and higher bilateral varicocele. Computed
      tomographic angiography, Doppler ultrasonography and venography were performed
      revealed left renal vein duplication with dilated retroaortic and preaortic
      branchs, entrapped respectively between the aorta and the vertebral column and in
      the aortico-mesenteric space, with extensive and complex varices of the deep
      pelvic venous plexus; promoting the mixed renal NCS. Auto transplantation of the
      left kidney was suggested, but refused by the patient; and only the varicocele
      was managed. The patient is still suffering from his severe initial symptoms.
      Diagnosis is difficult and should be considered in patients with inexplicable
      flank or abdominal pain. Our purpose is to raise clinician's awareness for this
      condition so that they will be more likely to diagnose it. This will facilitate
      prompt diagnosis and treatment. 

PMID- 25836701
TI  - Transition from fetus to newborn.
AB  - The fetus to newborn transition is a complex physiologic process that requires
      close monitoring. Approximately 10% of all newborns require some support in
      facilitating a successful transition after delivery. Clinicians should be aware
      of the physiologic processes and pay close regard to the newborn's
      cardiopulmonary transition at birth to provide appropriate treatment and
      therapies as required. Trained Personnel in the Neonatal Resuscitation program
      should be available at the delivery for all newborns to ensure that immediate and
      appropriate care is provided to achieve the best possible outcomes for those
      babies not smoothly transitioning to extrauterine life. 

PMID- 25836702
TI  - Initial assessment and management of the newborn.
AB  - This article summarizes the initial assessment of normal newborns and describes a
      few of the common variations that may occur. These variations require a pediatric
      provider to reassure anxious new parents and provide follow-up communication with
      the subsequent primary care provider. 

PMID- 25836703
TI  - Sensory development.
AB  - Sensory development is complex, with both morphologic and neural components.
      Development of the senses begins in early fetal life, initially with structures
      and then in-utero stimulation initiates perception. After birth, environmental
      stimulants accelerate each sensory organ to nearly complete maturity several
      months after birth. Vision and hearing are the best studied senses and the most
      crucial for learning. This article focuses on the cranial senses of vision,
      hearing, smell, and taste. Sensory function, embryogenesis, external and genetic
      effects, and common malformations that may affect development are discussed, and
      the corresponding sensory organs are examined and evaluated. 

PMID- 25836704
TI  - Metabolic screening and postnatal glucose homeostasis in the newborn.
AB  - Although individual metabolic diseases are relatively uncommon, inherited
      metabolic diseases collectively represent a more common cause of disease in the
      neonatal period than is generally appreciated. Newborn screening is among the
      most successful public health programs today. Every day, newborns considered to
      be at risk for hypoglycemia are screened. The definition of clinically
      significant hypoglycemia remains among the most confused and contentious issues
      in neonatology. There are 2 "competing" methods of defining hypoglycemia that
      suggest very different levels for management: one based on metabolic
      endocrinologic hormones and another that uses outcome data to determine threshold
      levels of risk. 

PMID- 25836705
TI  - Common genetic and epigenetic syndromes.
AB  - Cytogenetic anomalies should be considered in individuals with multiple
      congenital anomalies. DNA methylation analysis is the most sensitive initial test
      in evaluating for Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes. The timely identification
      of cytogenetic anomalies allows for prompt initiation of early intervention
      services to maximize the potential of every individual as they grow older.
      Although many of these conditions are rare, keeping them in mind can have a
      profound impact on the clinical course of affected individuals. This article
      reviews some of the more common genetic syndromes. 

PMID- 25836706
TI  - Neonatal nutrition.
AB  - Optimal nutrition in infancy is the foundation of health in later life. Based on
      the demonstrated health benefits of human milk, breastfeeding should be the
      primary means of nutrition for most infants. Although many mothers experience
      some problems with breastfeeding, health professionals can use simple strategies
      to overcome most of these problems. For infants who cannot breastfeed, standard
      infant formulas support adequate nutrition and growth. Gastroesophageal reflux is
      a common feeding-related event and occurs in most infants; it is part of normal
      physiology and requires no intervention. Gastroesophageal reflux disease occurs
      in a small number of infants necessitating the use of an algorithm-based
      evaluation and management strategy. 

PMID- 25836707
TI  - Management of the late preterm infant: not quite ready for prime time.
AB  - Preterm births account for 12.5% of all births in the United States. The preterm
      birth rate has increased by 33% over the last 2 decades. Late and premature
      infants do not develop the serious and chronic conditions of the extreme
      premature infant. However, there is growing evidence that these infants are not
      as healthy as previously thought and do in fact have an increase in morbidity and
      mortality compared with term infants. This article summarizes the epidemiology of
      late preterm infants and the associated morbidities associated with their
      prematurity. 

PMID- 25836708
TI  - Neonatal respiratory distress: a practical approach to its diagnosis and
      management.
AB  - Respiratory disorders are the most frequent cause of admission to the special
      care nursery both in term and preterm infants. Pediatricians and primary care
      providers may encounter newborn infants with respiratory distress in their
      office, emergency room, delivery room, or during physical assessment in the
      newborn nursery. The authors have proposed a practical approach to diagnose and
      manage such infants with suggestions for consulting a neonatologist at a regional
      center. Their objective is that practicing pediatricians should be able to assess
      and stabilize such infants, and transfer to or consult a neonatologist,
      cardiologist, or pulmonologist after reading this article. 

PMID- 25836709
TI  - Cardiac evaluation of the newborn.
AB  - The physical examination of the term newborn's cardiovascular system is reviewed
      detailing the normal and abnormal variants that can be found within the first few
      days after birth. The authors discuss the pathophysiologic changes that occur in
      the presence of congenital heart disease and how these changes affect the
      clinical presentation. The major common cardiac defects are described and
      discussed. Pulse oximetry screening is reviewed in detail indicating its value in
      the early detection of most cases of critical congenital heart disease. Finally,
      the reader is given several suggestions on diagnosis, stabilization, and when to
      refer to specialists. 

PMID- 25836710
TI  - A practical guide to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of neonatal
      infections.
AB  - Neonatal infections continue to cause morbidity and mortality in infants. Among
      approximately 400,000 infants followed nationally, the incidence rates of early
      onset sepsis infection within 3 days of life are 0.98 cases per 1000 live births.
      Newborn infants are at increased risk for infections because they have relative
      immunodeficiency. This article provides evidence-based practical approaches to
      the diagnosis, management, and prevention of neonatal infections. 

PMID- 25836711
TI  - Common hematologic problems in the newborn nursery.
AB  - "Common red blood cell disorders encountered in the normal newborn nursery
      include hemolytic disease of the newborn and resultant hyperbilirubinemia,
      anemia, and polycythemia. A less frequent clinically relevant hematologic issue
      in newborns to be covered herein is thrombocytopenia." 

PMID- 25836712
TI  - Neonatal medications.
AB  - Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is reaching epidemic proportions related to
      perinatal use of opioids. There are many approaches to assess and manage NAS,
      including one we have outlined. A standardized approach is likely to reduce
      length of stay and variability in practice. Circumcision is a frequent, painful
      procedure performed in the neonatal period. The rationale for providing analgesia
      is presented as well as a review of methods. Pharmacogenomics and
      pharmacogenetics have expanded our understanding of diseases and their drug
      therapy. Some applications of pharmacogenomics to the neonatal period are
      presented, along with pediatric challenges of developmental expression of drug
      metabolizing enzymes. 

PMID- 25836713
TI  - Discharge planning.
AB  - Hospital discharge is a time of transition for infants and families that requires
      oversight of common postnatal adaptations, screening tests, and establishment of
      necessary follow-up care. Preterm infants face additional medical problems that
      vary in complexity by the degree of prematurity. Infants born at lowest
      gestational ages are at highest risks for complicated neonatal course and adverse
      long-term outcomes. Successful transition from hospital to home care is essential
      to improved outcomes for high-risk infants. 

PMID- 25836714
TI  - The healthy and sick newborn.

PMID- 25836715
TI  - The problem baby: too much information.

PMID- 25836716
TI  - Host-imposed manganese starvation of invading pathogens: two routes to the same
      destination.
AB  - During infection invading pathogens must acquire all essential nutrients,
      including first row transition metals, from the host. To combat invaders, the
      host exploits this fact and restricts the availability of these nutrients using a
      defense mechanism known as nutritional immunity. While iron sequestration is the
      most well-known aspect of this defense, recent work has revealed that the host
      restricts the availability of other essential elements, notably manganese (Mn),
      during infection. Furthermore, these studies have revealed that the host utilizes
      multiple strategies that extend beyond metal sequestration to prevent bacteria
      from obtaining these metals. This review will discuss the mechanisms by which
      bacteria attempt to obtain the essential first row transition metal ion Mn during
      infection, and the approaches utilized by the host to prevent this occurrence. In
      addition, this review will discuss the impact of host-imposed Mn starvation on
      invading bacteria. 

PMID- 25836717
TI  - Accuracy of Molecular Data Generated with FFPE Biospecimens: Lessons from the
      Literature.
AB  - Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue biospecimens are a valuable
      resource for molecular cancer research. Although much can be gained from their
      use, it remains unclear whether the genomic and expression profiles obtained from
      FFPE biospecimens accurately reflect the physiologic condition of the patient
      from which they were procured, or if such profiles are confounded by biologic
      effects from formalin fixation and processing. To assess the physiologic accuracy
      of genomic and expression data generated with FFPE specimens, we surveyed the
      literature for articles investigating genomic and expression endpoints in case
      matched FFPE and fresh or frozen human biospecimens using the National Cancer
      Institute's Biospecimen Research Database (http://biospecimens.cancer.gov/brd).
      Results of the survey revealed that the level of concordance between
      differentially preserved biospecimens varied among analytical parameters and
      platforms but also among reports, genes/transcripts of interest, and tumor
      status. The identified analytical techniques and parameters that resulted in
      strong correlations between FFPE and frozen biospecimens may provide guidance
      when optimizing molecular protocols for FFPE use; however, discrepancies reported
      for similar assays also illustrate the importance of validating protocols
      optimized for use with FFPE specimens with a case-matched fresh or frozen cohort
      for each platform, gene or transcript, and FFPE processing regime. On the basis
      of evidence published to date, validation of analytical parameters with a
      properly handled frozen cohort is necessary to ensure a high degree of
      concordance and confidence in the results obtained with FFPE biospecimens.

PMID- 25836718
TI  - Mesoscopic and macroscopic optoacoustic imaging of cancer.
AB  - Optoacoustic imaging combines the rich contrast of optical methods with the
      resolution of ultrasound imaging. It can therefore deliver optical visualization
      of cancer far deeper in tissue than optical microscopy and other conventional
      optical imaging methods. Technological progress and novel contrast media have
      resulted in optoacoustic imaging being propagated to basic cancer research and in
      clinical translation projects. We briefly review recent technological advances,
      showcase the ability to resolve unique cancer biomarkers based on spectral
      features at different imaging scales, and highlight the imaging performance
      achieved in preclinical and clinical imaging applications. .

PMID- 25836719
TI  - Pharmacological Inhibition of KIT Activates MET Signaling in Gastrointestinal
      Stromal Tumors.
AB  - Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are the most common adult sarcomas and the
      oncogenic driver is usually a KIT or PDGFRA mutation. Although GISTs are often
      initially sensitive to imatinib or other tyrosine kinase inhibitors, resistance
      generally develops, necessitating backup strategies for therapy. In this study,
      we determined that a subset of human GIST specimens that acquired imatinib
      resistance acquired expression of activated forms of the MET oncogene. MET
      activation also developed after imatinib therapy in a mouse model of GIST
      (KitV558del/+ mice), where it was associated with increased tumor hypoxia. MET
      activation also occurred in imatinib-sensitive human GIST cell lines after
      imatinib treatment in vitro. MET inhibition by crizotinib or RNA interference was
      cytotoxic to an imatinib-resistant human GIST cell population. Moreover,
      combining crizotinib and imatinib was more effective than imatinib alone in
      imatinib-sensitive GIST models. Finally, cabozantinib, a dual MET and KIT small
      molecule inhibitor, was markedly more effective than imatinib in multiple
      preclinical models of imatinib-sensitive and imatinib-resistant GIST.
      Collectively, our findings showed that activation of compensatory MET signaling
      by KIT inhibition may contribute to tumor resistance. Furthermore, our work
      offered a preclinical proof of concept for MET inhibition by cabozantinib as an
      effective strategy for GIST treatment.

PMID- 25836720
TI  - Baseline blood levels of manganese, lead, cadmium, copper, and zinc in residents
      of Beijing suburb.
AB  - Baseline blood concentrations of metals are important references for monitoring
      metal exposure in environmental and occupational settings. The purpose of this
      study was to determine the blood levels of manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc
      (Zn), lead (Pb), and cadmium (Cd) among the residents (aged 12-60 years old)
      living in the suburb southwest of Beijing in China and to compare the outcomes
      with reported values in various developed countries. Blood samples were collected
      from 648 subjects from March 2009 to February 2010. Metal concentrations in the
      whole blood were determined by ICP-MS. The geometric means of blood levels of Mn,
      Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd were 11.4, 802.4, 4665, 42.6, and 0.68 ug/L, respectively. Male
      subjects had higher blood Pb than the females, while the females had higher blood
      Mn and Cu than the males. There was no gender difference for blood Cd and Zn.
      Smokers had higher blood Cu, Zn, and Cd than nonsmokers. There were significant
      age-related differences in blood levels of all metals studied; subjects in the 17
      30 age group had higher blood levels of Mn, Pb, Cu, and Zn, while those in the 46
      60 age group had higher Cd than the other age groups. A remarkably lower blood
      level of Cu and Zn in this population as compared with residents of other
      developed countries was noticed. Based on the current study, the normal reference
      ranges for the blood Mn were estimated to be 5.80-25.2 MUg/L; for blood Cu, 541
      1475 MUg/L; for blood Zn, 2349-9492 MUg/L; for blood Pb, <100 MUg/L; and for
      blood Cd, <5.30 MUg/L in the general population living in Beijing suburbs.

PMID- 25836721
TI  - Serum selenium and lipid levels: Associations observed in the National Health and
      Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2012.
AB  - Selenium is an essential micronutrient, and due to its antioxidant activity, is
      hypothesized to be beneficial to cardiovascular health. However, the evidence for
      an association between selenium and health markers such as lipid levels has been
      mixed. This may be due to substantial variability in the level of selenium intake
      between populations and potential non-linearity of selenium-health outcome
      associations. We used the 2011-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination
      Survey (NHANES) to examine the relationship between serum selenium and lipid
      levels among participants aged 12 years and older. Associations were evaluated
      using both linear regression models, as well as ordinal logistic regression and
      quantile regression models to allow for potential non-linear relationships. In
      all models, potential confounders of sex, age group, race/ethnicity, educational
      attainment and cotinine were included. Overall, 40% of participants had total
      cholesterol levels classified as borderline or elevated, and total cholesterol
      increased with increasing selenium (p=0.01). A similar pattern was seen for
      triglycerides (p=0.02). LDL cholesterol was also associated with selenium but not
      in a linear fashion; HDL cholesterol did not vary with selenium. Multivariate
      quantile regression showed significant associations between selenium and total
      cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. The effect of selenium was
      stronger with increasing quantile for total cholesterol and for triglycerides. In
      contrast, for LDL cholesterol the association was positive in the 10th and 50th
      percentiles, but (non-significant and) negative in the 90th percentile. These
      results show that while selenium may impact cardiovascular health via effects on
      lipid levels, the associations may not be linear. 

PMID- 25836722
TI  - Carbon-metal interfaces analyzed by aberration-corrected TEM: how copper and
      nickel nanoparticles interact with MWCNTs.
AB  - Experimental confirmation for the stronger interaction of Ni with multi-walled
      carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) compared to Cu with MWCNTs is presented. The interfaces
      between Cu (Ni) nanoparticles side-on oriented onto MWCNTs are analyzed with high
      spatial resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) of the carbon K-edge.
      The EEL spectra reveal a rehybridization from sp(2) to sp(3) hybridized carbon of
      the outermost MWCNT layer at the Ni interface, but no such rehybridization can be
      observed at the Cu interface. The EELS results are supported by transmission
      electron microscopy (TEM) images, which show a better wetting behavior of Ni and
      a smaller gap at the Ni-MWCNT interface, as compared to the corresponding Cu
      interfaces. The different behavior of Cu and Ni can be explained in terms of
      differing valence d-orbital occupancy. For the successful experimental
      demonstration of this effect the use of a soft chemical metal deposition
      technique is crucial. 

PMID- 25836723
TI  - POINT: Does the Risk of Electronic Cigarettes Exceed Potential Benefits? Yes.

PMID- 25836724
TI  - Visualization of the Peripheral Branches of the Mandibular Division of the
      Trigeminal Nerve on 3D Double-Echo Steady-State with Water Excitation Sequence.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Although visualization of the extracranial branches of
      the cranial nerves has improved with advances in MR imaging, only limited studies
      have assessed the detection of extracranial branches of the mandibular nerve
      (V3). We investigated the detectability of the branches of V3 on a 3D double-echo
      steady-state with water excitation sequence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      retrospectively evaluated the detectability of the 6 branches of the V3, the
      masseteric, buccal, auriculotemporal, lingual, inferior alveolar, and mylohyoid
      nerves, by using a 5-point scale (4, excellent; 3, good; 2, fair; 1, poor; and 0,
      none) in 86 consecutive patients who underwent MR imaging with the 3D double-echo
      steady-state with water excitation sequence. Weighted kappa analysis was used to
      calculate interobserver variability among the 3 readers. RESULTS: The detection
      of the lingual and inferior alveolar nerves was the most successful, with
      excellent average scores of 3.80 and 3.99, respectively. The detection of the
      masseteric, the buccal, and the auriculotemporal nerves was good, with average
      scores of 3.31, 2.67, and 3.11, respectively. The mylohyoid nerve was difficult
      to detect with poor average scores of 0.62. All nerves had excellent
      interobserver variability across the 3 readers (average weighted kappa value,
      0.95-1.00). CONCLUSIONS: The 3D double-echo steady-state with water excitation
      sequence demonstrated excellent visualization of the extracranial branches of V3
      in most patients. The 3D double-echo steady-state with water excitation sequence
      has the potential for diagnosing V3 pathologies and preoperatively identifying
      peripheral cranial nerves to prevent surgical complications.

PMID- 25836725
TI  - Using Texture Analysis to Determine Human Papillomavirus Status of Oropharyngeal
      Squamous Cell Carcinomas on CT.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Human papillomavirus-associated oropharyngeal squamous
      cell carcinoma is increasing in prevalence and typically occurs in younger
      patients than human papillomavirus-negative squamous cell carcinoma. While
      imaging features of human papillomavirus-positive versus human papillomavirus
      negative squamous cell carcinoma nodal metastases have been described,
      characteristics distinguishing human papillomavirus-positive from human
      papillomavirus-negative primary squamous cell carcinomas have not been well
      established. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the use of texture
      features to distinguish human papillomavirus-positive and human papillomavirus
      negative primary oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Following institutional review board approval, 40 patients with primary
      oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma and known human papillomavirus status who
      underwent contrast-enhanced CT between December 2009 and October 2013 were
      included in this study. Segmentation of the primary lesion was manually performed
      with a semiautomated graphical-user interface. Following segmentation, an in
      house-developed texture analysis program extracted 42 texture features from each
      segmented volume. A t test was used to evaluate differences in texture parameters
      between human papillomavirus-positive and human papillomavirus-negative squamous
      cell carcinomas. RESULTS: Of the 40 included patients, 29 had human
      papillomavirus-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma and 11 had human
      papillomavirus-negative oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Significant
      differences were seen in the histogram parameters median (P = .006) and entropy
      (P = .016) and squamous cell carcinoma entropy (P = .043). CONCLUSIONS: There are
      statistically significant differences in some texture features between human
      papillomavirus-positive and human papillomavirus-negative oropharyngeal tumors.
      Texture analysis may be considered an adjunct to the evaluation of human
      papillomavirus status and characterization of squamous cell carcinoma.

PMID- 25836726
TI  - Comeback victory.

PMID- 25836727
TI  - Degree of Collaterals and Not Time Is the Determining Factor of Core Infarct
      Volume within 6 Hours of Stroke Onset.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Growth of the core infarct during the first hours of
      ischemia onset is not well-understood. We hypothesized that factors other than
      time from onset of ischemia contribute to core infarct volume as measured by MR
      imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospectively collected clinical and imaging data
      of consecutive patients with stroke presenting between March 2008 and April 2013
      with anterior circulation large-vessel occlusion and MR imaging performed within
      6 hours from the time of onset were reviewed. The association of time from onset,
      clinical, and radiographic features with DWI volume was assessed by using chi(2)
      and Mann-Whitney U tests. RESULTS: Of 91 patients, 21 (23%) underwent MR imaging
      within 0-3 hours from onset, and 70 (76%), within 3-6 hours. Median MR imaging
      infarct volume was similar in both timeframes, (24.7 versus 29.4 mL, P = .906),
      and there was no difference in the proportion of patients with large infarct
      volumes (>=70 mL, 23.8% versus 22.8%, P = .928). Using receiver operating
      characteristic analysis, we detected no association between the time from onset
      and MR imaging infarct volume (area under the curve = 0.509). In multivariate
      analysis, CTA collaterals (>50% of the territory) (adjusted OR, 0.192; 95% CI,
      0.04-0.9; P = .046), CTA ASPECTS (adjusted OR, 0.464; 95% CI, 0.3-0.8; P = .003),
      and a history of hyperlipidemia (adjusted OR, 11.0; 95% CI, 1.4-88.0; P = .023)
      (but not time from stroke onset to imaging) were independent predictors of MR
      imaging infarct volume. CONCLUSIONS: Collateral status but not time from stroke
      onset to imaging was a predictor of the size of core infarct in patients with
      anterior circulation large-vessel occlusion presenting within 6 hours from onset.

PMID- 25836728
TI  - Prognostic Value of Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast-Enhanced and Diffusion
      Weighted MR Imaging in Patients with Glioblastomas.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Prediction of survival in patients with glioblastomas is
      important for individualized treatment planning. This study aimed to assess the
      prognostic utility of presurgical dynamic susceptibility contrast and diffusion
      weighted imaging for overall survival in patients with glioblastoma. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: MR imaging data from pathologically proved glioblastomas between
      June 2006 to December 2013 in 58 patients (mean age, 62.7 years; age range, 22-89
      years) were included in this retrospective study. Patients were divided into long
      survival (>=15 months) and short survival (<15 months) groups, depending on
      overall survival time. Patients underwent dynamic susceptibility contrast
      perfusion and DWI before surgery and were treated with chemotherapy and radiation
      therapy. The maximum relative cerebral blood volume and minimum mean diffusivity
      values were measured from the enhancing part of the tumor. RESULTS: Maximum
      relative cerebral blood volume values in patients with short survival were
      significantly higher compared with those who demonstrated long survival (P <
      .05). No significant difference was observed in the minimum mean diffusivity
      between short and long survivors. Receiver operator curve analysis demonstrated
      that a maximum relative cerebral blood volume cutoff value of 5.79 differentiated
      patients with low and high survival with an area under the curve of 0.93,
      sensitivity of 0.89, and specificity of 0.90 (P < .001), while a minimum mean
      diffusivity cutoff value of 8.35 * 10(-4)mm(2)/s had an area under the curve of
      0.55, sensitivity of 0.71, and specificity of 0.47 (P > .05) in separating the 2
      groups. CONCLUSIONS: Maximum relative cerebral blood volume may be used as a
      prognostic marker of overall survival in patients with glioblastomas.

PMID- 25836729
TI  - Predicting the Prognosis of Oral Tongue Carcinoma Using a Simple Quantitative
      Measurement Based on Preoperative MR Imaging: Tumor Thickness versus Tumor
      Volume.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Several studies indicated that tumor thickness or tumor
      volume might be helpful predictors for the prognosis of oral tongue squamous cell
      carcinoma. Our aim was to compare the value of tumor thickness versus tumor
      volume measurement based on preoperative MR imaging in predicting the prognosis
      of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma, especially focusing on lymph node
      metastases and local recurrence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical, pathologic, and
      imaging data of patients with 46 oral tongue squamous cell carcinomas were
      retrospectively studied. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the
      prognostic value of tumor thickness and tumor volume based on MR imaging.
      Receiver operating characteristic analysis was applied for the optimal cutoff
      value for the identified risk variable for prognosis. RESULTS: A higher
      intraclass correlation coefficient was achieved for the measurement of tumor
      thickness compared with tumor volume (0.990 versus 0.972). Multivariate analysis
      showed that tumor thickness was a significant predictor of lymph node metastases
      (P = .024), while tumor volume was not a significant predictor of either lymph
      node metastases or local recurrence (P > .05). Receiver operating characteristic
      results indicated that setting a tumor thickness of 8.5 mm as a cutoff value
      could achieve the optimal diagnostic efficiency for predicting lymph node
      metastases (area under the curve, 0.753; sensitivity, 0.889; specificity, 0.536).
      CONCLUSIONS: Tumor thickness based on preoperative MR imaging was useful in
      predicting the prognosis of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma, especially lymph
      node metastases, in our patient population, while tumor volume was not.

PMID- 25836730
TI  - ER-mitochondria contact sites in yeast: beyond the myths of ERMES.
AB  - A standout feature of eukaryotic cells is the presence of organelles with
      distinct chemical compositions and physical properties, which aid in the
      accomplishment of specialized metabolic tasks. This complex topology, however,
      makes a permanent crosstalk between the organelles a necessity for the
      coordination of cellular function. While molecule exchange between organelles via
      the vesicular transport system has been extensively studied, communication via
      direct connections has only recently become a new matter of interest. These
      direct connections termed membrane contact sites (MCSs) represent zones of close
      proximity (10-30nm) between two organelles. Research in the past years has
      revealed a number of MCSs especially between the ER and almost every other
      organelle [1(*)]. In particular, the MCSs between the ER and the mitochondria
      have undergone intense investigation. While the quest for ER-mitochondria MCS
      components in human cells has led to the revelation of an ever growing number of
      potential factors, studies in the simpler eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae
      revealed the actual existence of a molecular tether between the two organelles
      [2(**)]. 

PMID- 25836732
TI  - Telepractice Versus In-Person Delivery of Voice Therapy for Primary Muscle
      Tension Dysphonia.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of telepractice
      for delivering flow phonation exercises to persons with primary muscle tension
      dysphonia (MTD). METHOD: Fourteen participants with a diagnosis of primary MTD
      participated, 7 on site and 7 at remote locations. Each participant received 12
      treatment sessions across 6 weeks. Treatment consisted of flow phonation voice
      therapy exercises. Auditory-perceptual, acoustic, aerodynamic, and quality-of
      life measures were taken before and after treatment. RESULTS: Perceptual and
      quality-of-life measures were significantly better posttreatment and were
      statistically equivalent across groups. Acoustic and aerodynamic measures
      improved in both groups, but changes did not reach statistical significance.
      Results for the 2 service delivery groups were comparable, with no significant
      differences observed for perceptual and quality-of-life measures. CONCLUSIONS:
      Although the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association supports the use of
      telepractice for speech-language pathology services, evidence for the use of
      telepractice for providing behavioral treatment to patients with MTD has been
      lacking. The results of this study indicate that flow phonation exercises can be
      successfully used for patients with MTD using telepractice.

PMID- 25836733
TI  - Negative regulation of hepatitis B virus replication by forkhead box protein A in
      human hepatoma cells.
AB  - Hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication is controlled by liver-enriched
      transcriptional factors, including forkhead box protein A (FOXA) members. Here,
      we found that FOXA members are directly and indirectly involved in HBV
      replication in human hepatic cells. HBV replication was elevated in HuH-7 treated
      with individual FOXA members-specific siRNA. Reciprocally, the downregulation of
      HBV replication was observed in FOXA-induced HuH-7. However, the mechanism of
      downregulation is different among FOXA members at the level of HBV RNA
      transcription, such as precore/pg RNA and 2.1 kb RNA. In addition, FOXA1 and
      FOXA2 suppressed nuclear hormone receptors, such as HNF4alpha, that are related
      to HBV replication.

PMID- 25836734
TI  - Functional and structural insights into the piRNA factor Maelstrom.
AB  - PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) is a germline-specific class of small non-coding
      RNAs that repress transposons in the gonads. Mael, which comprises a high
      mobility group box and a MAEL domain, is one of the key players in piRNA-mediated
      transposon silencing. However, the mechanism whereby Mael is involved in this
      pathway remains unknown. Recent biochemical and structural studies, along with
      bioinformatic analyses of Mael-associating RNAs in vivo, have shed light on the
      functional aspects of Mael in the piRNA pathway. We summarize the current
      understanding of Mael functions in the piRNA pathway, particularly in Drosophila
      and in mice. 

PMID- 25836735
TI  - Photochemical chromophore isomerization in histidine kinase rhodopsin HKR1.
AB  - Histidine kinase rhodopsin 1 is a photoreceptor in green algae functioning as a
      UV-light sensor. It switches between a UV-absorbing state (Rh-UV) and a blue
      absorbing state (Rh-Bl) with a protonated retinal Schiff base (RSB) cofactor in a
      mixture of 13-trans,15-anti and 13-cis,15-syn isomers. The present spectroscopic
      study now shows that cofactor-protein assembly stabilizes the protonated 13
      trans,15-anti RSB isomer. Formation of the active photoswitch requires the
      photoinduced conversion to Rh-UV. The transitions between the Rh-Bl isomers and
      the deprotonated 13-cis,15-anti and 13-trans,15-syn isomers of Rh-UV proceed via
      multiple photoisomerizations of one or simultaneously two double bonds. 

PMID- 25836736
TI  - The oxidative pentose phosphate pathway in the haloarchaeon Haloferax volcanii
      involves a novel type of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase--The archaeal
      Zwischenferment.
AB  - The oxidative pentose phosphate pathway (OPPP), catalyzing the oxidation of
      glucose-6-phosphate to ribulose-5-phosphate is ubiquitous in eukarya and bacteria
      but has not yet been reported in archaea. In haloarchaea a putative 6
      phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH) is annotated, whereas a gene coding for
      glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (Glc6PDH) could not be identified. Here we
      report the purification and characterization of a novel type of Glc6PDH in
      Haloferax volcanii that is not related to bacterial and eukaryal Glc6PDHs and the
      encoding gene is designated as azf (archaeal zwischenferment). Further,
      recombinant H. volcanii 6PGDH was characterized. Deletion mutant analyses
      indicate that both, Glc6PDH and 6PGDH, are functionally involved in pentose
      phosphate formation in vivo. This is the first report on the operation of the
      OPPP in the domain of archaea. 

PMID- 25836738
TI  - Online matrix removal platform for coupling gel-based separations to whole
      protein electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.
AB  - A fractionation method called gel-eluted liquid fraction entrapment
      electrophoresis (GELFrEE) has been used to dramatically increase the number of
      proteins identified in top-down proteomic workflows; however, the technique
      involves the use of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), a surfactant that interferes
      with electrospray ionization. Therefore, an efficient removal of SDS is
      absolutely required prior to mass analysis. Traditionally, methanol/chloroform
      precipitation and spin columns have been used, but they lack reproducibility and
      are difficult to automate. Therefore, we developed an in-line matrix removal
      platform to enable the direct analysis of samples containing SDS and salts. Only
      small molecules like SDS permeate a porous membrane and are removed in a manner
      similar to cross-flow filtration. With this device, near-complete removal of SDS
      is accomplished within 5 min and proteins are subsequently mobilized into a mass
      spectrometer. The new platform was optimized for the analysis of GELFrEE
      fractions enriched for histones extracted from human HeLa cells. All four core
      histones and their proteoforms were detected in a single spectrum by high
      resolution mass spectrometry. The new method versus protein
      precipitation/resuspension showed 2- to 10-fold improved signal intensities,
      offering a clear path forward to improve proteome coverage and the efficiency of
      top-down proteomics. 

PMID- 25836739
TI  - Expression of the class 1 histone deacetylases HDAC8 and 3 are associated with
      improved survival of patients with metastatic melanoma.
AB  - Prior studies have shown that combinations of histone deacetylase (HDAC) and BRAF
      inhibitors (BRAFi) have synergistic effects on BRAFi-resistant melanoma through
      enhanced apoptosis and inhibition of the cAMP-dependent drug resistance pathway.
      However, little is known about the expression of various HDACs and their
      associations with BRAF/NRAS mutation status, clinicopathologic characteristics,
      and patient outcome. The present study extensively profiled HDAC class 1 and
      their targets/regulators utilizing immunohistochemistry in human melanoma samples
      from patients with stage IV melanoma, known BRAF/NRAS mutational status, and
      detailed clinicopatholgical data. HDAC8 was increased in BRAF-mutated melanoma
      (P=0.016), however, no association between expression of other HDACs and
      NRAS/BRAF status was identified. There was also a correlation between HDAC1,
      HDAC8 expression, and phosphorylated NFkappab p65 immunoreactivity (P<0.001).
      Increased cytoplasmic HDAC8 immunoreactivity was independently associated with an
      improved survival from both diagnosis of primary melanoma and from first
      detection of stage IV disease to melanoma death on multivariate analysis (HR
      0.992, 95% CI 0.987-0.996; P<0.001 and HR 0.993, 95% CI 0.988-0.998; P=0.009,
      respectively). These results suggest not only that HDAC8 may be a prognostic
      biomarker in melanoma, but also provide important data regarding the regulation
      of HDACs in melanoma and a rational basis for targeting them therapeutically. 

PMID- 25836737
TI  - Pediatric obesity. An introduction.
AB  - The prevalence of child and adolescent obesity in the United States increased
      dramatically between 1970 and 2000, and there are few indications that the rates
      of childhood obesity are decreasing. Obesity is associated with myriad medical,
      psychological, and neurocognitive abnormalities that impact children's health and
      quality of life. Genotypic variation is important in determining the
      susceptibility of individual children to undue gains in adiposity; however, the
      rapid increase in pediatric obesity prevalence suggests that changes to
      children's environments and/or to their learned behaviors may dramatically affect
      body weight regulation. This paper presents an overview of the epidemiology,
      consequences, and etiopathogenesis of pediatric obesity, serving as a general
      introduction to the subsequent papers in this Special Issue that address aspects
      of childhood obesity and cognition in detail. 

PMID- 25836740
TI  - Associations between size-fractionated particulate air pollution and blood
      pressure in a panel of type II diabetes mellitus patients.
AB  - Little is known regarding how the size distribution of particulate matter (PM)
      air pollution influences its effect on blood pressure (BP), especially among
      patients with diabetes. The objective of this study was to explore the short-term
      associations between size-fractionated PM and BP among diabetes patients. We
      scheduled 6 repeated BP examinations every 2 weeks from 13 April 2013 to 30 June
      2013 in a panel of 35 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients recruited from an urban
      community in Shanghai, China. We measured real-time PM concentrations in the size
      range of 0.25 to 10 MUm. We used linear mixed-effect models to examine the short
      term association of size-fractionated PM and BP after controlling for individual
      characteristics, mean temperature, relative humidity, day of the week, years with
      diabetes and use of antihypertensive medication. The association with systolic BP
      and pulse pressure strengthened with decreasing diameter. The size fractions with
      the strongest associations were 0.25 to 0.40 MUm for number concentrations and <=
      2.5 MUm for mass concentrations. Furthermore, these effects occurred immediately
      even after 0-2h and lasted for up to 48 h following exposure. An interquartile
      range increase in 24-h average number concentrations of PM0.25-0.40 was
      associated with increases of 3.61 mmHg in systolic BP and 2.96 mmHg in pulse
      pressure. Females, patients younger than 65 years of age and patients without
      antihypertensive treatment were more susceptible to these effects. Our results
      revealed important size and temporal patterns of PM in elevating BP among
      diabetes patients in China.

PMID- 25836741
TI  - Removing the economic burden of road traffic injuries from patients: a successful
      model.

PMID- 25836742
TI  - Cu-Catalyzed Consecutive Hydroxylation and Aerobic Oxidative Cycloetherification
      under Microwave Conditions: Entry to 2-Arylbenzofuran-3-carboxylic Acids.
AB  - A convenient one-pot synthesis of 2-arylbenzofuran-3-carboxylic acids from (E)-2
      (2-bromophenyl)-3-phenylacrylic acids via Cu-catalyzed consecutive hydroxylation
      and aerobic oxidative cycloetherification under microwave conditions has been
      developed. This protocol employed the reagent combination of Cu(OAc)2, 1,10-phen,
      and KOH in DMSO/H2O (1:1), all of which are cost-effective, readily available,
      and easily removable from the reaction mixture. Utilizing this synthetic
      protocol, various 2-arylbenzofuran-3-carboxylic acids as well as the natural
      product moracin M have been synthesized in satisfactory yields under mild
      conditions. 

PMID- 25836743
TI  - Effects of alkyl chain length on the optoelectronic properties and performance of
      pyrrolo-perylene solar cells.
AB  - While the impact of alkyl side-chain length on the photovoltaic properties of
      conjugated polymers and their performance in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar
      cells has been studied extensively, analogous studies on pyrrolo-perylene-based
      polymers have not received adequate attention. To explore these effects, we
      synthesized two copolymers based on N-annulated pyrrolo-perylene and consisting
      of cyano group substituents on thiophene vinylene thiophene units with two
      different alkyl groups of 2-decyltetradecyl and 7-decylnonadecyl, and we studied
      them with regard to chemical structure and photovoltaic performance. UV-vis
      spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry studies showed that variations in alkyl chain
      length affect crystallization, light absorption, and the highest occupied
      molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy levels. These
      factors have a pronounced impact on the morphology of BHJ thin films and their
      charge carrier separation and transportation characteristics, which, in turn,
      influences photovoltaic properties. 

PMID- 25836745
TI  - HLA class II alleles in the Otomi population of the Mezquital Valley: a genetic
      approach to the history of interethnic migrations in the Mexican Central Plateau.
AB  - From a historical and genetic point of view, the Otomi of the Mezquital Valley
      are a frontier people that have played an important role in the population
      dynamics of the Mexican Central Plateau. Due to the antiquity of their presence
      in the area, the Otomi may be bearers of ancient genetic variability, shared
      mainly today with other groups belonging to the Otomanguean linguistic family and
      with the Nahua. In this study we analyzed the HLA class II allele frequencies
      reported in Mexican indigenous populations, in order to provide an intraregional
      level historical perspective of the genetic relationships between the Otomi of
      the Mezquital Valley and indigenous populations from other regions of Mexico. We
      examined genetic variation in HLA-DRB1 and -DQB1 loci in 66 nonrelated
      individuals belonging to seven indigenous communities from the Ixmiquilpan
      municipality in the Mezquital Valley, in the State of Hidalgo, Mexico. The
      variability of the HLA-DRB1 gene among the Otomi of the Mezquital Valley was
      mainly concentrated in five alleles: -DRB1*08:02 (31.06%), -DRB1*04:07 (25.77%), 
      DRB1*14:06 (7.55%), -DRB1*14:02 (6.06%), and -DRB1*16:02 (4.55%); these alleles
      have been previously described in other indigenous populations. The most frequent
      alleles at the HLA-DQB1 locus were -DQB1*03:02 (34.09%), -DQB1*04:02 (31.03%),
      and -DQB1*03:01 (19.7%). Furthermore, the HLA-DQB1*02:02 allele was found in the
      Otomi group with a frequency of 2.27%; this allele has not been reported in
      Mexican indigenous populations. In conclusion, the genetic constitution of the
      Otomi population is intermediate to the northern groups and the genetic
      variability shared by the peoples of the central regions of Mexico. Furthermore,
      HLA-DRB1 and -DQB1 allelic variability among the Otomi provides insight into the
      historical processes implied in the biological admixture with European, Asian,
      and African populations as well as in the admixture with the population of Mexico
      City associated with long-standing migratory processes.

PMID- 25836746
TI  - A homogenizing process of selection has maintained an "ultra-slow" acetylation
      NAT2 variant in humans.
AB  - N-Acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) is an important enzyme involved in the metabolism of
      a wide spectrum of naturally occurring xenobiotics, including therapeutic drugs
      and common environmental carcinogens. Extensive polymorphism in NAT2 gives rise
      to a wide interindividual variation in acetylation capacity, which influences
      individual susceptibility to various drug-induced adverse reactions and cancers.
      Striking patterns of geographic differentiation have been described for the main
      slow acetylation variants of the NAT2 gene, suggesting the action of natural
      selection at this locus. In the present study, we took advantage of whole-genome
      sequence data available from the 1000 Genomes project to investigate the global
      patterns of population genetic differentiation at NAT2 and determine whether they
      are atypical compared with the remaining variation of the genome. The
      nonsynonymous substitution c.590G>A (rs1799930) defining the slow NAT2*6
      haplotype cluster exhibited an unusually low FST value compared with the genome
      average (FST = 0.006, P = 0.016). It was indicated as the most likely target of a
      homogenizing process of selection promoting the same allelic variant in globally
      distributed populations. The rs1799930 A allele has been associated with the
      slowest acetylation capacity in vivo, and its substantial correlation with the
      subsistence strategy adopted by past human populations suggests that it may have
      conferred a selective advantage in populations shifting from foraging to
      agricultural and pastoral activities in the Neolithic period. Results of
      neutrality tests further supported an adaptive evolution of the NAT2 gene through
      either balancing selection or directional selection acting on multiple standing
      slow acetylation variants.

PMID- 25836752
TI  - Dance for PD: a preliminary investigation of effects on motor function and
      quality of life among persons with Parkinson's disease (PD).
AB  - In 2001, Dance for Parkinson's disease (DfPD((r))) classes for persons with
      Parkinson's disease and care partners were developed by Brooklyn Parkinson Group
      and Mark Morris Dance Group. A previous assessment suggested that individuals
      experience positive benefits from DfPD((r)). The current preliminary uncontrolled
      study investigated the effects of a dance intervention on several motor and
      quality of life aspects of PD following 16 sessions (8 weeks; 20 h) taught by
      professional dancers/teachers. A mixed methods design was used to determine the
      effects of the class. Assessment instruments administered at baseline and post
      intervention included the Hoehn and Yahr, UPDRS (part III), Berg Balance Scale,
      Beck Depression Inventory, and PDQ-39 and individual interviews after the last
      class. Hoehn and Yahr scores ranged from 1 to 4. UPDRS III total scores and sub
      scores of gait and tremor improved following the intervention (P < 0.05). During
      interviews participants reported physical, emotional, and social benefits.
      Despite the diversity of baseline measures post-class interview results were
      consistently positive across the sample. Twelve of 14 subjects (mean age 66.2)
      with idiopathic PD completed the sessions. After 4 years, four participants
      regularly attended DfPD((r)) classes. The low attrition rate and continued
      attendance suggest notable adherence to the DfPD((r)) class. The importance of
      the results is both clinical and conceptual, highlighting the value of using both
      quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate the benefits of dance with PD.

PMID- 25836744
TI  - Population genetic structure of traditional populations in the Peruvian Central
      Andes and implications for South American population history.
AB  - Molecular-based characterizations of Andean peoples are traditionally conducted
      in the service of elucidating continent-level evolutionary processes in South
      America. Consequently, genetic variation among "western" Andean populations is
      often represented in relation to variation among "eastern" Amazon and Orinoco
      River Basin populations. This west-east contrast in patterns of population
      genetic variation is typically attributed to large-scale phenomena, such as dual
      founder colonization events or differing long-term microevolutionary histories.
      However, alternative explanations that consider the nature and causes of
      population genetic diversity within the Andean region remain underexplored. Here
      we examine population genetic diversity in the Peruvian Central Andes using data
      from the mtDNA first hypervariable region and Y-chromosome short tandem repeats
      among 17 newly sampled populations and 15 published samples. Using this
      geographically comprehensive data set, we first reassessed the currently accepted
      pattern of western versus eastern population genetic structure, which our results
      ultimately reject: mtDNA population diversities were lower, rather than higher,
      within Andean versus eastern populations, and only highland Y-chromosomes
      exhibited significantly higher within-population diversities compared with
      eastern groups. Multiple populations, including several highland samples,
      exhibited low genetic diversities for both genetic systems. Second, we explored
      whether the implementation of Inca state and Spanish colonial policies starting
      at about ad 1400 could have substantially restructured population genetic
      variation and consequently constitute a primary explanation for the extant
      pattern of population diversity in the Peruvian Central Andes. Our results
      suggest that Peruvian Central Andean population structure cannot be
      parsimoniously explained as the sole outcome of combined Inca and Spanish
      policies on the region's population demography: highland populations differed
      from coastal and lowland populations in mtDNA genetic structure only; highland
      groups also showed strong evidence of female-biased gene flow and/or effective
      sizes relative to other Peruvian ecozones. Taken together, these findings
      indicate that population genetic structure in the Peruvian Central Andes is
      considerably more complex than previously reported and that characterizations of
      and explanations for genetic variation may be best pursued within more localized
      regions and defined time periods.

PMID- 25836754
TI  - Strain engineering the work function in monolayer metal dichalcogenides.
AB  - We use first-principles density functional theory to investigate the effect of
      both tensile and compressive strain on the work functions of various metal
      dichalcogenide monolayers. We find that for all six species considered, including
      MoS2, WS2, SnS2, VS2, MoSe2 and MoTe2, that compressive strain of up to 10%
      decreases the work function continuously by as much as 1.0 eV. Large enough
      tensile strain is also found to decrease the work function, although in some
      cases we observe an increase in the work function for intermediate values of
      tensile strain. This work function modulation is attributed to a weakening of the
      chalcogenide-metal bonds and an increase in total energy of each system as a
      function of strain. Values of strain which bring the metal atoms closer together
      lead to an increase in electrostatic potential energy, which in turn results in
      an increase in the vacuum potential level. The net effect on the work function
      can be explained in terms of the balance between the increases in the vacuum
      potential levels and Fermi energy. 

PMID- 25836753
TI  - Sensitivity and specificity of a novel classifier for the early diagnosis of
      dengue.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dengue is the commonest arboviral disease of humans. An early and
      accurate diagnosis of dengue can support clinical management, surveillance and
      disease control and is central to achieving the World Health Organisation target
      of a 50% reduction in dengue case mortality by 2020. METHODS: 5729 children with
      fever of <72 hrs duration were enrolled into this multicenter prospective study
      in southern Vietnam between 2010-2012. A composite of gold standard diagnostic
      tests identified 1692 dengue cases. Using statistical methods, a novel Early
      Dengue Classifier (EDC) was developed that used patient age, white blood cell
      count and platelet count to discriminate dengue cases from non-dengue cases.
      RESULTS: The EDC had a sensitivity of 74.8% (95%CI: 73.0-76.8%) and specificity
      of 76.3% (95%CI: 75.2-77.6%) for the diagnosis of dengue. As an adjunctive test
      alongside NS1 rapid testing, sensitivity of the composite test was 91.6% (95%CI:
      90.4-92.9%). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that the early diagnosis of dengue can
      be enhanced beyond the current standard of care using a simple evidence-based
      algorithm. The results should support patient management and clinical trials of
      specific therapies.

PMID- 25836755
TI  - Impact of chronic lead exposure on metal distribution and biological effects to
      periphyton.
AB  - Chronic Pb exposure microcosm studies were carried out on two different
      periphyton communities over the course of 3 weeks to link Pb distribution to
      biological effects in periphyton. We show that three-week exposures of periphyton
      to 20.6 +/- 0.4 MUM PbT (330 nM Pb(2+)) did not have observable biological
      effects on photosynthesis, respiration, extracellular enzymatic activities, or
      biomass accrual. Metal distribution studies showed that the majority of Pb was
      associated with the operationally defined sorbed and non-EDTA-exchangeable
      fractions, and relatively little with extracellular polymeric substances (EPS).
      No significant effects of Pb on Fe and Mn distributions were observed, whereas
      higher Cu accumulation occurred from increased free Cu(2+) in the exposure
      medium. High Fe:C and Mn:C ratios indicated the presence of inorganic Fe and Mn
      material associated with the non-EDTA-exchangeable fraction, which likely
      sequesters Pb and explains the absence of measurable biological effects. Although
      no toxic effects of Pb were observed on the periphytic organisms themselves,
      periphyton can be a significant source of Pb to grazing organisms in aquatic
      ecosystems. 

PMID- 25836757
TI  - Model development for the assessment of terrestrial and aquatic habitat quality
      in conservation planning.
AB  - There is a growing pressure of human activities on natural habitats, which leads
      to biodiversity losses. To mitigate the impact of human activities, environmental
      policies are developed and implemented, but their effects are commonly not well
      understood because of the lack of tools to predict the effects of conservation
      policies on habitat quality and/or diversity. We present a straightforward model
      for the simultaneous assessment of terrestrial and aquatic habitat quality in
      river basins as a function of land use and anthropogenic threats to habitat that
      could be applied under different management scenarios to help understand the
      trade-offs of conservation actions. We modify the InVEST model for the assessment
      of terrestrial habitat quality and extend it to freshwater habitats. We assess
      the reliability of the model in a severely impaired basin by comparing modeled
      results to observed terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity data. Estimated habitat
      quality is significantly correlated with observed terrestrial vascular plant
      richness (R(2)=0.76) and diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates (R(2)=0.34), as
      well as with ecosystem functions such as in-stream phosphorus retention
      (R(2)=0.45). After that, we analyze different scenarios to assess the suitability
      of the model to inform changes in habitat quality under different conservation
      strategies. We believe that the developed model can be useful to assess potential
      levels of biodiversity, and to support conservation planning given its capacity
      to forecast the effects of management actions in river basins. 

PMID- 25836758
TI  - Monitoring drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in non-household settings:
      Priorities for policy and practice.
AB  - Inadequate drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) in non-household
      settings, such as schools, health care facilities, and workplaces impacts the
      health, education, welfare, and productivity of populations, particularly in low
      and middle-income countries. There is limited knowledge on the status of WaSH in
      such settings. To address this gap, we reviewed international standards,
      international and national actors, and monitoring initiatives; developed the
      first typology of non-household settings; and assessed the viability of
      monitoring. Based on setting characteristics, non-household settings include six
      types: schools, health care facilities, workplaces, temporary use settings, mass
      gatherings, and dislocated populations. To-date national governments and
      international actors have focused monitoring of non-household settings on schools
      and health care facilities with comparatively little attention given to other
      settings such as workplaces and markets. Nationally representative facility
      surveys and national management information systems are the primary monitoring
      mechanisms. Data suggest that WaSH coverage is generally poor and often lower
      than in corresponding household settings. Definitions, indicators, and data
      sources are underdeveloped and not always comparable between countries. While not
      all countries monitor non-household settings, examples are available from
      countries on most continents suggesting that systematic monitoring is achievable.
      Monitoring WaSH in schools and health care facilities is most viable. Monitoring
      WaSH in other non-household settings would be viable with: technical support from
      local and national actors in addition to international organizations such as WHO
      and UNICEF; national prioritization through policy and financing; and including
      WaSH indicators into monitoring initiatives to improve cost-effectiveness.
      International consultations on targets and indicators for global monitoring of
      WaSH post-2015 identified non-household settings as a priority. National and
      international monitoring systems will be important to better understand status,
      trends, to identify priorities and target resources accordingly, and to improve
      accountability for progressive improvements in WaSH in non-household settings. 

PMID- 25836759
TI  - Is the fact of parenting couples cohabitation affecting the serum levels of
      persistent organohalogen pollutants?
AB  - Organohalogen compounds constitute one of the important groups of persistent
      organic pollutants (POPs). Among them, due to their long-term health effects, one
      should pay attention on organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls
      (PCBs) and perfluoroalkylated substances (PFASs). This paper is an attempt to
      answer the question about relation between the fact of cohabitation by couples
      expecting a child and the level of the organohalogen compounds in the blood serum
      of both parents. The study was done on a population of parent couples from
      Greenland, Poland and Ukraine, from whom blood samples were collected in order to
      establish the levels of marker organohalogen compounds. We selected, as the
      representative of these compounds, the most persistent metabolite of DDT, i.e.
      p,p'-DDE, the most frequently detected PCB congener - CB-153, and PFOS and PFOA
      as the representatives of PFASs. The results show that in case of all compounds
      under study the highest concentrations were present always in men in relation to
      the levels detected in the blood serum of their female partners, regardless of
      the country of origin of the couple. A positive correlation was noted between the
      concentrations of the studied compounds in the blood serum of men and women in
      parenting couples. In some cases these correlations were statistically
      significant, e.g. for concentrations of p,p'-DDE in pairs from Greenland and
      Ukraine, of CB-153 in pairs from Poland and Ukraine, and of PFOS for parents from
      Greenland and Poland, while for PFOA - only for couples from Greenland. The
      concentrations of the compounds included in the study were similar to the levels
      found in general population in other countries. Our results show that the
      exposure to POPs resulting from cohabitation plays a role in the general exposure
      to these compounds. 

PMID- 25836760
TI  - Multicomponent Nanomaterials with Complex Networked Architectures from Orthogonal
      Degradation and Binary Metal Backfilling in ABC Triblock Terpolymers.
AB  - Selective degradation of block copolymer templates and backfilling the open
      mesopores is an effective strategy for the synthesis of nanostructured hybrid and
      inorganic materials. Incorporation of more than one type of inorganic material in
      orthogonal ways enables the synthesis of multicomponent nanomaterials with
      complex yet well-controlled architectures; however, developments in this field
      have been limited by the availability of appropriate orthogonally degradable
      block copolymers for use as templates. We report the synthesis and self-assembly
      into cocontinuous network structures of polyisoprene-block-polystyrene-block
      poly(propylene carbonate) where the polyisoprene and poly(propylene carbonate)
      blocks can be orthogonally removed from the polymer film. Through sequential
      block etching and backfilling the resulting mesopores with different metals, we
      demonstrate first steps toward the preparation of three-component polymer
      inorganic hybrid materials with two distinct metal networks. Multiblock
      copolymers in which two blocks can be degraded and backfilled independently of
      each other, without interference from the other, may be used in a wide range of
      applications requiring periodically ordered complex multicomponent
      nanoarchitectures. 

PMID- 25836761
TI  - Editor's Spotlight/Take 5: Future Patient Demand for Shoulder Arthroplasty by
      Younger Patients: National Projections.

PMID- 25836756
TI  - Transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of autophagy in aging.
AB  - Macroautophagy is a major intracellular degradation process recognized as playing
      a central role in cell survival and longevity. This multistep process is
      extensively regulated at several levels, including post-translationally through
      the action of conserved longevity factors such as the nutrient sensor TOR. More
      recently, transcriptional regulation of autophagy genes has emerged as an
      important mechanism for ensuring the somatic maintenance and homeostasis
      necessary for a long life span. Autophagy is increased in many long-lived model
      organisms and contributes significantly to their longevity. In turn, conserved
      transcription factors, particularly the helix-loop-helix transcription factor
      TFEB and the forkhead transcription factor FOXO, control the expression of many
      autophagy-related genes and are important for life-span extension. In this
      review, we discuss recent progress in understanding the contribution of these
      transcription factors to macroautophagy regulation in the context of aging. We
      also review current research on epigenetic changes, such as histone modification
      by the deacetylase SIRT1, that influence autophagy-related gene expression and
      additionally affect aging. Understanding the molecular regulation of
      macroautophagy in relation to aging may offer new avenues for the treatment of
      age-related diseases. 

PMID- 25836762
TI  - Your Best Life: Perfectionism--The Bane of Happiness.

PMID- 25836763
TI  - Chromatin modifiers and histone modifications in bone formation, regeneration,
      and therapeutic intervention for bone-related disease.
AB  - Post-translational modifications of chromatin such as DNA methylation and
      different types of histone acetylation, methylation and phosphorylation are well
      appreciated epigenetic mechanisms that confer information to progeny cells during
      lineage commitment. These distinct epigenetic modifications have defined roles in
      bone, development, tissue regeneration, cell commitment and differentiation, as
      well as disease etiologies. In this review, we discuss the role of these
      chromatin modifications and the enzymes regulating these marks
      (methyltransferases, demethylases, acetyltransferases, and deacetylases) in
      progenitor cells, osteoblasts and bone-related cells. In addition, the clinical
      relevance of deregulated histone modifications and enzymes as well as current and
      potential therapeutic interventions targeting chromatin modifiers are addressed. 

PMID- 25836764
TI  - In vivo mechanical loading rapidly activates beta-catenin signaling in osteocytes
      through a prostaglandin mediated mechanism.
AB  - The response of the skeleton to loading appears to be mediated through the
      activation of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway and osteocytes have long
      been postulated to be the primary mechanosensory cells in bone. To examine the
      kinetics of the mechanoresponse of bone and cell types involved in vivo, we
      performed forearm loading of 17-week-old female TOPGAL mice. beta-catenin
      signaling was observed only in embedded osteocytes, not osteoblasts, at 1h post
      loading, spreading to additional osteocytes and finally to cells on the bone
      surface by 24h. This early activation at 1h appeared to be independent of
      receptor (Lrp5/6) mediated activation as it occurred in the presence of the
      inhibitors sclerostin and/or Dkk1. The COX-2 inhibitor, Carprofen, blocked the
      activation of beta-catenin signaling and decline in sclerostin positive
      osteocytes post-loading implying an important role for prostaglandin. In vitro,
      PI3K/Akt activation was shown to be required for beta-catenin nuclear
      translocation downstream from prostaglandin in MLO-Y4 osteocyte-like cells
      supporting this mechanism. Downstream targets of beta-catenin signaling,
      sclerostin and Dkk1, were also examined and found to be significantly
      downregulated in osteocytes in vivo at 24h post-loading. The pattern of initially
      activated osteocytes appeared random and in order to understand this
      heterogeneous expression, a novel finite element model of the strain field in the
      ulna was developed, which predicts highly variable local magnitudes of strain
      experienced by osteocytes. In summary, both in vivo and in vitro models show the
      rapid activation of beta-catenin in response to load through the early release of
      prostaglandin and that strain fields in the bone are extremely heterogeneous
      resulting in heterogeneous activation of the beta-catenin pathway in osteocytes
      in vivo. 

PMID- 25836765
TI  - Low attention impairs optimal incorporation of prior knowledge in perceptual
      decisions.
AB  - When visual attention is directed away from a stimulus, neural processing is weak
      and strength and precision of sensory data decreases. From a computational
      perspective, in such situations observers should give more weight to prior
      expectations in order to behave optimally during a discrimination task. Here we
      test a signal detection theoretic model that counter-intuitively predicts
      subjects will do just the opposite in a discrimination task with two stimuli, one
      attended and one unattended: when subjects are probed to discriminate the
      unattended stimulus, they rely less on prior information about the probed
      stimulus' identity. The model is in part inspired by recent findings that
      attention reduces trial-by-trial variability of the neuronal population response
      and that they use a common criterion for attended and unattended trials. In five
      different visual discrimination experiments, when attention was directed away
      from the target stimulus, subjects did not adjust their response bias in reaction
      to a change in stimulus presentation frequency despite being fully informed and
      despite the presence of performance feedback and monetary and social incentives.
      This indicates that subjects did not rely more on the priors under conditions of
      inattention as would be predicted by a Bayes-optimal observer model. These
      results inform and constrain future models of Bayesian inference in the human
      brain. 

PMID- 25836767
TI  - Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) and PRES: a case-based
      review of literature in ANCA-associated vasculitides.
AB  - Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) is a small-sized vessel
      systemic necrotizing vasculitis and belongs to the family of antineutrophil
      cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides. The involvement of central
      nervous system in this condition is pretty rare. Posterior reversible
      encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a clinical and radiological entity described
      for the first time by Hinchey et al. (N Engl J Med 334(8):494-500, 1996) and
      characterized by MRI findings of reversible subcortical vasogenic edema
      predominantly in the white matter of posterior cerebral lobes. There are few case
      reports describing the concurrence of PRES with ANCA-associated vasculitides. We
      describe a case of PRES in a patient with a diagnosis of EGPA with a concise
      review of the literature. The exact cause of this syndrome is unknown. It has
      been related to eclampsia, drug-induced hypertension, renal insufficiency and
      also to rheumatologic diseases. Endothelial injury, hypertension and
      immunosuppressive medications can compromise the regulation of cerebral blood
      flow. In ANCA-associated vasculitides, patients presenting with symptoms of PRES
      represent a challenge to treatment with immunosuppressive medications. However,
      since an inflammatory process might be implicated, judicious use of these agents
      along with tight control of blood pressure and a supportive therapy may
      contribute to the resolution of the encephalopathic syndrome treating at the same
      time other manifestation related to the rheumatologic disease. Larger clinical
      studies are warranted to optimize the management of vasculitis-associated PRES. 

PMID- 25836768
TI  - Effect of mycophenolate mofetil on the white blood cell count and the frequency
      of infection in systemic lupus erythematosus.
AB  - Leukopenia is a common manifestation of SLE. Addition of immunosuppressive
      therapy in a SLE patient who is already leukopenic is a clinical concern. It
      could worsen leukopenia, increase the risk of infection, or both. The aim of this
      study was to analyze the immediate effect of mycophenolate mofetil on the white
      blood cell count and the rate of infection in SLE patients. Two hundred and forty
      four patients within the Hopkins Lupus Cohort who were newly started on
      mycophenolate mofetil were included in the study. The white blood cell count and
      interval infection history on the day mycophenolate mofetil was started were
      compared with the white blood cell count and interval infection history at the
      next visit. The study was based on 244 patients who began taking mycophenolate
      mofetil in the cohort. The study population included 47 % African Americans, 44 %
      Caucasians, and 9 % other ethnicities. There was a slight but not statistically
      significant increase in the white blood cell count (6.63 vs. 7.01), after
      starting mycophenolate mofetil. Patients with a baseline white blood cell count
      <3000/mm(3) did have a statistically significant increase in the white blood cell
      count after starting mycophenolate mofetil (2.57 vs. 5.13, P = 0.0047). We also
      found a statistically significant increase in the risk of bacterial infection
      (but not viral infection) after starting mycophenolate mofetil (4 vs. 9 %, P =
      0.0036). Leukopenia does not worsen with mycophenolate mofetil. However,
      mycophenolate mofetil appears to slightly increase the rate of bacterial (but not
      viral) infection. 

PMID- 25836769
TI  - Transient receptor potential melastatin-4 is involved in hypoxia-reoxygenation
      injury in the cardiomyocytes.
AB  - Ischemic heart disease still remains the most common cause of cardiac death.
      During ischemia-reperfusion (I/R), reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced in
      excess in cardiac tissue, where they induce cell death. Our previous study showed
      that 9-phenanthrol (9-Phe), a specific inhibitor of the TRPM4 channel, preserves
      cardiac contractile function and protects the heart from I/R injury-related
      infarction in the excised rat heart. Accordingly, we hypothesized that TRPM4
      channels are involved in the 9-Phe-mediated cardioprotection against ROS-induced
      injury. In rats, intravenous 9-Phe mitigated the development of myocardial
      infarction caused by the occlusion of the left anterior descending artery.
      Immunohistochemical analysis indicated that TRPM4 proteins are expressed in
      ventricular myocytes susceptible to I/R injury. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is among
      the main ROS overproduced during I/R. In the cardiomyocyte cell line H9c2,
      pretreatment with 9-Phe prevented cell death induced by conditions mimicking I/R,
      namely 200 MUM H2O2 and hypoxia-reoxygenation. Gene silencing of TRPM4 preserved
      the viability of H9c2 cardiomyocytes exposed to 200 MUM H2O2. These results
      suggest that the cardioprotective effects of 9-Phe are mediated through the
      inhibition of the TRPM4 channels. 

PMID- 25836766
TI  - Selection and spread of artemisinin-resistant alleles in Thailand prior to the
      global artemisinin resistance containment campaign.
AB  - The recent emergence of artemisinin resistance in the Greater Mekong Subregion
      poses a major threat to the global effort to control malaria. Tracking the spread
      and evolution of artemisinin-resistant parasites is critical in aiding efforts to
      contain the spread of resistance. A total of 417 patient samples from the year
      2007, collected during malaria surveillance studies across ten provinces in
      Thailand, were genotyped for the candidate Plasmodium falciparum molecular marker
      of artemisinin resistance K13. Parasite genotypes were examined for K13 propeller
      mutations associated with artemisinin resistance, signatures of positive
      selection, and for evidence of whether artemisinin-resistant alleles arose
      independently across Thailand. A total of seven K13 mutant alleles were found
      (N458Y, R539T, E556D, P574L, R575K, C580Y, S621F). Notably, the R575K and S621F
      mutations have previously not been reported in Thailand. The most prevalent
      artemisinin resistance-associated K13 mutation, C580Y, carried two distinct
      haplotype profiles that were separated based on geography, along the Thai
      Cambodia and Thai-Myanmar borders. It appears these two haplotypes may have
      independent evolutionary origins. In summary, parasites with K13 propeller
      mutations associated with artemisinin resistance were widely present along the
      Thai-Cambodia and Thai-Myanmar borders prior to the implementation of the
      artemisinin resistance containment project in the region. 

PMID- 25836770
TI  - Effects of chronic exposure to electromagnetic waves on the auditory system.
AB  - CONCLUSION: The results support that chronic electromagnetic field exposure may
      cause damage by leading to neuronal degeneration of the auditory system.
      OBJECTIVES: Numerous researches have been done about the risks of exposure to the
      electromagnetic fields that occur during the use of these devices, especially the
      effects on hearing. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of the
      electromagnetic waves emitted by the mobile phones through the
      electrophysiological and histological methods. METHODS: Twelve adult Wistar
      albino rats were included in the study. The rats were divided into two groups of
      six rats. The study group was exposed to the electromagnetic waves over a period
      of 30 days. The control group was not given any exposure to the electromagnetic
      fields. After the completion of the electromagnetic wave application, the
      auditory brainstem responses of both groups were recorded under anesthesia. The
      degeneration of cochlear nuclei was graded by two different histologists, both of
      whom were blinded to group information. RESULTS: The histopathologic and
      immunohistochemical analysis showed neuronal degeneration signs, such as
      increased vacuolization in the cochlear nucleus, pyknotic cell appearance, and
      edema in the group exposed to the electromagnetic fields compared to the control
      group. The average latency of wave in the ABR was similar in both groups (p >
      0.05).

PMID- 25836771
TI  - In vitro selection of deoxyribozymes active with Cd(2+) ions resulting in
      variants of DNAzyme 8-17.
AB  - In vitro selection was performed to search for RNA-cleaving DNAzymes
      catalytically active with Cd(2+) ions from the oligonucleotide combinatorial
      library with a 23-nucleotide random region. All the selected, catalytically
      active variants turned out to belong to the 8-17 type DNAzyme. Three DNAzymes
      were prepared in shortened, cis-acting versions which were subjected to a
      detailed study of the kinetic properties and metal ion preferences. Although the
      selection protocol was designed for Cd(2+)-dependent DNAzymes, the variants
      showed broader metal ion specificity. They preferred Cd(2+) but were also active
      with Mn(2+) and Zn(2+), suggesting that binding of the catalytic ion does not
      require an extremely specific coordination pattern. The unexpected decrease of
      the catalytic activity of the variants along with the temperature increase
      suggested that some changes occurred in their structures or the rate-limiting
      step of the reaction was changed. Two elements of the catalytic core of DNAzyme
      1/VIIWS, the nucleotide at position 12 and the three-base-pair hairpin motif,
      were mutated. The presence of a purine residue at position 12 was crucial for the
      catalytic activity but the changes at that position had a relatively small
      influence on the metal ion preferences of this variant. The middle base pair of
      the three-base-pair hairpin was changed from A-T to C-G interaction. The
      catalytic activity of the mutated variant was increased with Zn(2+), decreased
      with Mn(2+), and was not changed in the presence of Cd(2+) ions. Clearly, this
      base pair was important for defining the metal ion preferences of the DNAzyme
      1/VIIWS. 

PMID- 25836772
TI  - TV-based conjugate gradient method and discrete L-curve for few-view CT
      reconstruction of X-ray in vivo data.
AB  - High-resolution, three-dimensional (3D) imaging of soft tissues requires the
      solution of two inverse problems: phase retrieval and the reconstruction of the
      3D image from a tomographic stack of two-dimensional (2D) projections. The number
      of projections per stack should be small to accommodate fast tomography of rapid
      processes and to constrain X-ray radiation dose to optimal levels to either
      increase the duration of in vivo time-lapse series at a given goal for spatial
      resolution and/or the conservation of structure under X-ray irradiation. In
      pursuing the 3D reconstruction problem in the sense of compressive sampling
      theory, we propose to reduce the number of projections by applying an advanced
      algebraic technique subject to the minimisation of the total variation (TV) in
      the reconstructed slice. This problem is formulated in a Lagrangian multiplier
      fashion with the parameter value determined by appealing to a discrete L-curve in
      conjunction with a conjugate gradient method. The usefulness of this
      reconstruction modality is demonstrated for simulated and in vivo data, the
      latter acquired in parallel-beam imaging experiments using synchrotron radiation.

PMID- 25836773
TI  - Boosting light emission from Si-based thin film over Si and SiO(2) nanowires
      architecture.
AB  - Silicon (Si)-based light emitting thin film has been a key ingredient for all-Si
      based optoelectronics. Besides material engineering, adopting a novel 3D photonic
      architecture represents an effective strategy to boost light excitation and
      extraction from Si-based thin film material. We here explore the use of a
      nanowires (NW) framework, grown via vapor-liquid-solid mode, to achieve strongly
      enhanced yellow-green luminescence from SiN(x)O(y)/NW core-shell structure, with
      an order of magnitude enhancement compared to co-deposited planar references. We
      found that choosing geometrically-identical but different NW cores (Si or SiO(2))
      can lead to profound influence on the overall light emission performance.
      Combining parametric investigation and theoretical modeling, we have been able to
      evaluate the key contributions arising from different mechanisms that include
      near-field enhancement, 3D light trapping and enhanced light extraction. These
      new findings indicate a new and effective strategy for strong Si-based thin film
      light emitting source, while being generic enough to be applicable in a wide
      variety of other thin film materials.

PMID- 25836774
TI  - Damage threshold of platinum coating used for optics for self-seeding of soft X
      ray free electron laser.
AB  - We investigated the experimental damage threshold of platinum coating on a
      silicon substrate illuminated by soft x-ray radiation at grazing incidence angle
      of 2 degrees. The coating was the same as the blazed grating used for the soft X
      ray self-seeding optics of the Linac Coherent Light Source free electron laser.
      The irradiation condition was chosen such that the absorbed dose was similar to
      the maximum dose expected for the grating. The expected dose was simulated by
      solving the Helmholtz equation in non-homogenous media. The experiment was
      performed at 900 eV photon energy for both single pulse and multi-shot
      conditions. We have not observed single shot damage. This corresponds to a single
      shot damage threshold being higher than 3 J/cm(2). The multiple shot damage
      threshold measured for 10 shots and about 600 shots was determined to be 0.95
      J/cm(2) and 0.75 J/cm(2) respectively. The damage threshold occurred at an
      instantaneous dose which is higher that the melt dose of platinum.

PMID- 25836775
TI  - Coherent beam combining with an ultrafast multicore Yb-doped fiber amplifier.
AB  - Active coherent beam combination using a 7-non-coupled core, polarization
      maintaining, air-clad, Yb-doped fiber is demonstrated as a monolithic and compact
      power-scaling concept for ultrafast fiber lasers. A microlens array matched to
      the multicore fiber and an active phase controller composed of a spatial light
      modulator applying a stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm are utilized
      to perform coherent combining in the tiled aperture geometry. The mitigation of
      nonlinear effects at a pulse energy of 8.9 uJ and duration of 860 fs is
      experimentally verified at a repetition rate of 100 kHz. The experimental
      combining efficiency results in a far field central lobe carrying 49% of the
      total power, compared to an ideal value of 76%. This efficiency is primarily
      limited by group delay differences between cores which is identified as the main
      drawback of the system. Minimizing these group delay issues, e.g. by using short
      and straight rod-type multicore fibers, should allow a practical power scaling
      solution for femtosecond fiber systems. 

PMID- 25836776
TI  - Development of ocean color algorithms for estimating chlorophyll-a concentrations
      and inherent optical properties using gene expression programming (GEP).
AB  - This paper proposes new inversion algorithms for the estimation of Chlorophyll-a
      concentration (Chla) and the ocean's inherent optical properties (IOPs) from the
      measurement of remote sensing reflectance (Rrs). With in situ data from the NASA
      bio-optical marine algorithm data set (NOMAD), inversion algorithms were
      developed by the novel gene expression programming (GEP) approach, which creates,
      manipulates and selects the most appropriate tree-structured functions based on
      evolutionary computing. The limitations and validity of the proposed algorithms
      are evaluated by simulated Rrs spectra with respect to NOMAD, and a closure test
      for IOPs obtained at a single reference wavelength. The application of GEP
      derived algorithms is validated against in situ, synthetic and satellite match-up
      data sets compiled by NASA and the International Ocean Color Coordinate Group
      (IOCCG). The new algorithms are able to provide Chla and IOPs retrievals to those
      derived by other state-of-the-art regression approaches and obtained with the
      semi- and quasi-analytical algorithms, respectively. In practice, there are no
      significant differences between GEP, support vector regression, and multilayer
      perceptron model in terms of the overall performance. The GEP-derived algorithms
      are successfully applied in processing the images taken by the Sea Wide Field-of
      view Sensor (SeaWiFS), generate Chla and IOPs maps which show better details of
      developing algal blooms, and give more information on the distribution of water
      constituents between different water bodies. 

PMID- 25836778
TI  - Evaluation of partial coherence correction in X-ray ptychography.
AB  - Coherent X-ray Diffraction Imaging (CDI) and X-ray ptychography both heavily rely
      on the high degree of spatial coherence of the X-ray illumination for sufficient
      experimental data quality for reconstruction convergence. Nevertheless, the
      majority of the available synchrotron undulator sources have a limited degree of
      partial coherence, leading to reduced data quality and a lower speckle contrast
      in the coherent diffraction patterns. It is still an open question whether
      experimentalists should compromise the coherence properties of an X-ray source in
      exchange for a higher flux density at a sample, especially when some materials of
      scientific interest are relatively weak scatterers. A previous study has
      suggested that in CDI, the best strategy for the study of strong phase objects is
      to maintain a high degree of coherence of the illuminating X-rays because of the
      broadening of solution space resulting from the strong phase structures. In this
      article, we demonstrate the first systematic analysis of the effectiveness of
      partial coherence correction in ptychography as a function of the coherence
      properties, degree of complexity of illumination (degree of phase diversity of
      the probe) and sample phase complexity. We have also performed analysis of how
      well ptychographic algorithms refine X-ray probe and complex coherence functions
      when those variables are unknown at the start of reconstructions, for noise-free
      simulated data, in the case of both real-valued and highly-complex objects. 

PMID- 25836777
TI  - Continuous motion scan ptychography: characterization for increased speed in
      coherent x-ray imaging.
AB  - Ptychography is a coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) method for extended objects
      in which diffraction patterns are acquired sequentially from overlapping coherent
      illumination spots. The object's complex transmission function can be
      reconstructed from those diffraction patterns at a spatial resolution limited
      only by the scattering strength of the object and the detector geometry. Most
      experiments to date have positioned the illumination spots on the sample using a
      move-settle-measure sequence in which the move and settle steps can take longer
      to complete than the measure step. We describe here the use of a continuous "fly
      scan" mode for ptychographic data collection in which the sample is moved
      continuously, so that the experiment resembles one of integrating the diffraction
      patterns from multiple probe positions. This allows one to use multiple probe
      mode reconstruction methods to obtain an image of the object and also of the
      illumination function. We show in simulations, and in x-ray imaging experiments,
      some of the characteristics of fly-scan ptychography, including a factor of 25
      reduction in the data acquisition time. This approach will become increasingly
      important as brighter x-ray sources are developed, such as diffraction limited
      storage rings. 

PMID- 25836779
TI  - Research of far-field diffraction intensity pattern in hot atomic Rb sample.
AB  - In this work we present a study of the far-field diffraction intensity patterns
      in the Rb atomic medium. It is found that the far-field diffraction intensity
      patterns are intimately related to the incident frequency, power, the atomic
      number density and the position of the sample. The results demonstrate that the
      far-field diffraction intensity patterns can sensitively reflect the nonlinear
      optical properties of the medium. The information obtained is of meaning in the
      application fields, such as the nonlinearity of the medium measuring, optical
      limiting. 

PMID- 25836780
TI  - High performance, low dissipation quantum cascade lasers across the mid-IR range.
AB  - In this work, we present the development of low consumption quantum cascade
      lasers across the mid-IR range. In particular, short cavity single-mode lasers
      with optimised facet reflectivities have been fabricated from 4.5 to 9.2 MUm.
      Threshold dissipated powers as low as 0.5 W were obtained in continuous wave
      operation at room temperature. In addition, the beneficial impact of reducing
      chip length on laser mounting yield is discussed. High power single-mode lasers
      from the same processed wafers are also presented. 

PMID- 25836782
TI  - Sensing nitrous oxide with QCL-coupled silicon-on-sapphire ring resonators.
AB  - We report the initial evaluation of a mid-infrared QCL-coupled silicon-on
      sapphire ring resonator gas sensor. The device probes the N(2)O 2241.79 cm(-1)
      optical transition (R23 line) in the nu(3) vibrational band. N(2)O concentration
      is deduced using a non-linear least squares fit, based on coupled-mode theory, of
      the change in ring resonator Q due to gas absorption losses in the evanescent
      portion of the waveguide optical mode. These early experiments demonstrated
      response to 5000 ppmv N(2)O.

PMID- 25836781
TI  - 1.01 kW superfluorescent source in all-fiberized MOPA configuration.
AB  - We present a high power all-fiberized master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA)
      structured superfluorescent source based on dual-cladding ytterbium-doped fiber.
      The seed source is a 0.814 W homemade amplified spontaneous emission (ASE)
      source. Two-stage high power fiber amplifier is utilized to boost the seed power
      to 1.01 kW with a beam quality of M(x)(2) = 1.688 and M(y)(2) = 1.728. The
      central wavelength of the output light is 1074.4 nm, and the full width at half
      maximum (FWHM) linewidth is about 8.1 nm. No self pulsing or relaxation
      oscillation effect is observed and the power fluctuation is less than 2% in 100
      seconds continuous operating. In additional, spectral evolution effects of
      central-wavelength-drifting and linewidth-narrowing of broadband amplification in
      high power superfluorescent source system are investigated. To the best of our
      knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an all-fiberized superfluorescent
      source with output power exceeding kilowatt.

PMID- 25836783
TI  - Double bi-material cantilever structures for complex surface plasmon modulation.
AB  - A complex modulation structure of surface plasmon polaritons using double bi
      material cantilevers is proposed. It is shown with numerical analysis that the
      thermally controlled mechanical actuation of double bi-material cantilevers can
      modulate the amplitude and phase of surface plasmon polaritons across a full
      complex modulation range independently and simultaneously. The complex modulation
      structures designed for visible wavelengths are presented and their multi
      wavelength integration is discussed. 

PMID- 25836784
TI  - Compensation of spectral and RF errors in swept-source OCT for high extinction
      complex demodulation.
AB  - We provide a framework for compensating errors within passive optical quadrature
      demodulation circuits used in swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT).
      Quadrature demodulation allows for detection of both the real and imaginary
      components of an interference fringe, and this information separates signals from
      positive and negative depth spaces. To achieve a high extinction (~60 dB) between
      these positive and negative signals, the demodulation error must be less than
      0.1% in amplitude and phase. It is difficult to construct a system that achieves
      this low error across the wide spectral and RF bandwidths of high-speed swept
      source systems. In a prior work, post-processing methods for removing residual
      spectral errors were described. Here, we identify the importance of a second
      class of errors originating in the RF domain, and present a comprehensive
      framework for compensating both spectral and RF errors. Using this framework,
      extinctions >60 dB are demonstrated. A stability analysis shows that calibration
      parameters associated with RF errors are accurate for many days, while those
      associated with spectral errors must be updated prior to each imaging session.
      Empirical procedures to derive both RF and spectral calibration parameters
      simultaneously and to update spectral calibration parameters are presented. These
      algorithms provide the basis for using passive optical quadrature demodulation
      circuits with high speed and wide-bandwidth swept-source OCT systems. 

PMID- 25836785
TI  - Dual-comb modelocked laser.
AB  - In this paper we present the first semiconductor disk laser (SDL) emitting
      simultaneously two collinearly overlapping cross-polarized gigahertz modelocked
      pulse trains with different pulse repetition rates. Using only a simple photo
      detector and a microwave spectrum analyzer directly down-converts the frequency
      comb difference from the optical to the microwave frequency domain. With this
      setup, the relative carrier-envelope-offset (CEO) frequency can be accessed
      directly without an f-to2f interferometer. A very compact design is obtained
      using the modelocked integrated external-cavity surface emitting laser (MIXSEL)
      which is part of the family of optically pumped SDLs and similar to a vertical
      external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) but with both gain and saturable
      absorber integrated into the same semiconductor wafer (i.e. MIXSEL chip). We then
      simply added an additional intracavity birefringent crystal inside the linear
      straight cavity between the output coupler and the MIXSEL chip which splits the
      cavity beam into two collinear but spatially separated cross-polarized beams on
      the MIXSEL chip. This results in two modelocked collinear and fully overlapping
      cross-polarized output beams with adjustable pulse repetition frequencies with
      excellent noise performance. We stabilized both pulse repetition rates of the
      dual comb MIXSEL. 

PMID- 25836786
TI  - Analysis and minimization of spacing error of holographic gratings recorded with
      spherical collimation lenses.
AB  - This research proposes a feedback method to adjust the dual-beam exposure system
      with spherical collimation lenses to achieve gratings with low spacing error.
      Through theoretical analysis and numerical calculation, it is proved that the
      interference aberration can be analyzed with the Zernike polynomials and the
      adjustment errors can be estimated according to the linear relationship between
      the errors and the polynomial coefficients. Moreover moving the substrate along
      its normal is proposed to decrease the spacing error but keep the grating's
      period unchanged. In the experiments, the wavefront measurement results of the +/
      1st orders are used to deduce the spacing error. Based on the feedback
      adjustment method, the grating with a spacing error of 0.03 lambda within 70 mm *
      70 mm is fabricated with the collimation lenses of 0.6 lambda spherical
      aberration. 

PMID- 25836787
TI  - Plasmon-modulated photoluminescence from gold nanostructures and its dependence
      on plasmon resonance, excitation energy, and band structure.
AB  - Two distinct single-photon plasmon-modulated photo-luminescence processes are
      generated from nanostructured gold surfaces by tuning the spectral overlap of the
      incident laser source, localized surface plasmon resonance band, and the
      interband transitions between the d and sp bands, near the X- and L-symmetry
      points of the electronic band structure of gold. In the main section of the
      article, the characteristics of these photoluminescence processes are described
      and discussed. In the last section, the background continuum accompanying surface
      enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra from benzenethiol and 4-mercaptopyridine
      self-assembled monolayers chemisorbed on nanostructured gold surfaces is shown to
      originate from plasmon-modulated photoluminescence. 

PMID- 25836788
TI  - Sensitivity-directed refinement for designing broadband blocking filters.
AB  - We developed a new method aimed at designing short-pass filters, long-pass
      filters and filters blocking sidebands of Fabry-Perot bandpasses. The method is
      an automated version of a non-straightforward empirical approach invented as a
      result of many years' experience in design and production of optical coatings.
      The method allows obtaining near-quarter-wave solutions in a few seconds. In many
      cases these solutions are more advantageous for deposition systems. 

PMID- 25836789
TI  - Effects of periodic forcing on the temporally correlated spikes of a
      semiconductor laser with feedback.
AB  - Optical excitable devices that mimic neuronal behavior can be building-blocks of
      novel, brain-inspired information processing systems. A relevant issue is to
      understand how such systems represent, via correlated spikes, the information of
      a weak external input. Semiconductor lasers with optical feedback operating in
      the low frequency fluctuations regime have been shown to display optical spikes
      with intrinsic temporal correlations similar to those of biological neurons. Here
      we investigate how the spiking laser output represents a weak periodic input that
      is implemented via direct modulation of the laser pump current. We focus on
      understanding the influence of the modulation frequency. Experimental sequences
      of inter-spike-intervals (ISIs) are recorded and analyzed by using the ordinal
      symbolic methodology that identifies and characterizes serial correlations in
      datasets. The change in the statistics of the various symbols with the modulation
      frequency is empirically shown to be related to specific changes in the ISI
      distribution, which arise due to different phase-locking regimes. A good
      qualitative agreement is also found between simulations of the Lang and Kobayashi
      model and observations. This methodology is an efficient way to detect subtle
      changes in noisy correlated ISI sequences and may be applied to investigate other
      optical excitable devices. 

PMID- 25836790
TI  - Pulse polarization evolution and control in the wake of molecular alignment
      inside a filament.
AB  - The polarization evolution and control of a femtosecond laser pulse in the wake
      of molecular alignment inside a laser filament was investigated. A weak probe
      pulse was delayed with respect to the field-free revivals of the pre-excited
      rotational wave-packets created by an infrared filamenting pulse in nitrogen gas.
      30 degrees  was set between the pump and probe's initial linear polarization
      directions in order to control the output probe's polarization ellipse. The
      detailed physical response of the probe's polarization states was analyzed in the
      wake of alignment and dephasing of molecular N(2). The probe's polarization was
      modulated by varying the retarded time between the pump and probe pulses.

PMID- 25836791
TI  - Holographic projection with field-dependent aberration correction.
AB  - We present an algorithm for the computation of computer-generated holograms
      projecting arbitrary patterns through optical reconstruction systems with strong
      field-dependent aberrations. The algorithm is based on a modification of the
      iterative Fourier transform algorithm. Aberrations are specified using Zernike
      polynomials. The trade-off between reconstruction error and diffraction
      efficiency can be altered using a simple constant within the algorithm. We show
      first experimental results for the correction of the reconstruction through a
      strongly aberrated Fourier system. 

PMID- 25836792
TI  - High efficiency demagnetization cooling by suppression of light-assisted
      collisions.
AB  - Demagnetization cooling utilizes dipolar relaxations that couple the internal
      degree of freedom (spin) to the external (angular momentum) in order to cool an
      atomic cloud efficiently. Optical pumping into a dark state constantly recycles
      the atoms that were thermally excited to higher spin states. The net energy taken
      away by a single photon is very favorable since the lost energy per atom is the
      Zeeman energy rather than the recoil energy. As the density of the atomic sample
      rises the presence of the photons leads to limiting processes. In our previous
      publication [Volchkov et al. (2014)] we have shown that light-assisted collisions
      are such an important limiting process. In this paper we suppress light-assisted
      collisions by detuning the optical pumping light such that the Condon point
      coincides with the first node of the ground state wave function of two colliding
      atoms. This leads to an increased cooling efficiency chi >= 17 as well as to
      increased maximum densities of n ~ 1 . 10(20) m(-3). However, due to the high
      number of involved molecular states the net suppression is not strong enough to
      reach quantum degeneracy.

PMID- 25836793
TI  - Passively Q-switched nanosecond erbium-doped fiber laser with MoS(2) saturable
      absorber.
AB  - Passively Q-switched nanosecond pulsed erbium-doped fiber laser based on MoS(2)
      saturable absorber (SA) is experimentally demonstrated. The high quality MoS(2)
      SA deposited on the broadband high-reflectivity mirror with a large modulation
      depth of 9% was prepared by pulsed laser deposition method. By inserting the
      MoS(2) SA into an erbium-doped fiber laser, stable Q-switched operation can be
      achieved with the shortest pulse width of 660 ns, the maximum pulse energy up to
      152 nJ and pulse repetition rates varying from 116 to 131 kHz. The experimental
      results further verify that MoS(2) possesses the potential advantage for stable Q
      switched pulse generation at 1.5 MUm.

PMID- 25836794
TI  - A bio-inspired analog silicon retina with Michaelis-Menten auto-adaptive pixels
      sensitive to small and large changes in light.
AB  - In this paper, we present: (i) a novel analog silicon retina featuring auto
      adaptive pixels that obey the Michaelis-Menten law, i.e. V=V(m)
      I(n)/I(n)+sigma(n); (ii) a method of characterizing silicon retinas, which makes
      it possible to accurately assess the pixels' response to transient luminous
      changes in a +/-3-decade range, as well as changes in the initial steady-state
      intensity in a 7-decade range. The novel pixel, called M(2)APix, which stands for
      Michaelis-Menten Auto-Adaptive Pixel, can auto-adapt in a 7-decade range and
      responds appropriately to step changes up to +/-3 decades in size without causing
      any saturation of the Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) transistors. Thanks to
      the intrinsic properties of the Michaelis-Menten equation, the pixel output
      always remains within a constant limited voltage range. The range of the Analog
      to Digital Converter (ADC) was therefore adjusted so as to obtain a Least
      Significant Bit (LSB) voltage of 2.35mV and an effective resolution of about 9
      bits. The results presented here show that the M(2)APix produced a quasi-linear
      contrast response once it had adapted to the average luminosity. Differently to
      what occurs in its biological counterparts, neither the sensitivity to changes in
      light nor the contrast response of the M(2)APix depend on the mean luminosity
      (i.e. the ambient lighting conditions). Lastly, a full comparison between the
      M(2)APix and the Delbruck auto-adaptive pixel is provided.

PMID- 25836795
TI  - Optimization, tolerance analysis and implementation of a Stokes polarimeter based
      on the conical refraction phenomenon.
AB  - Recently, we introduced the basic concepts behind a new polarimeter device based
      on conical refraction (CR), which presents several appealing features compared to
      standard polarimeters. To name some of them, CR polarimeters retrieve the
      polarization state of an input light beam with a snapshot measurement, allow for
      substantially enhancing the data redundancy without increasing the measuring
      time, and avoid instrumental errors owing to rotating elements or phase-to
      voltage calibration typical from dynamic devices. In this article, we present a
      comprehensive study of the optimization, robustness and parameters tolerance of
      CR based polarimeters. In addition, a particular CR based polarimetric
      architecture is experimentally implemented, and some concerns and recommendations
      are provided. Finally, the implemented polarimeter is experimentally tested by
      measuring different states of polarization, including fully and partially
      polarized light. 

PMID- 25836796
TI  - 256 * 2 SPAD line sensor for time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy.
AB  - We present a CMOS chip 256 * 2 single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) line sensor,
      23.78 um pitch, 43.7% fill factor, custom designed for time resolved emission
      spectroscopy (TRES). Integrating time-to-digital converters (TDCs) implement on
      chip mono-exponential fluorescence lifetime pre-calculation allowing timing of
      65k photons/pixel at 200 Hz line rate at 40 ps resolution using centre-of-mass
      method (CMM). Per pixel time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) histograms
      can also be generated with 320 ps bin resolution. We characterize performance in
      terms of dark count rate, instrument response function and lifetime uniformity
      for a set of fluorophores with lifetimes ranging from 4 ns to 6 ns. Lastly, we
      present fluorescence lifetime spectra of multicolor microspheres and skin
      autofluorescence acquired using a custom built spectrometer. In TCSPC mode, time
      resolved spectra are acquired within 5 minutes whilst in CMM mode spectral
      lifetime signatures are acquired within 2 ms for fluorophore in cuvette and 200
      ms for skin autofluorescence. We demonstrate CMOS line sensors to be a versatile
      tool for time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy by providing parallelized and
      flexible spectral detection of fluorescence decay. 

PMID- 25836797
TI  - Surface-enhanced mid-infrared spectroscopy using a quantum cascade laser.
AB  - We report on the successful measurement of surface-enhanced infrared vibrational
      spectra from a few nanometer thick organic semiconductor layers on samples with
      resonant plasmonic nanoantennas arranged in arrays. For the first time, a setup
      with a tunable quantum cascade laser as the light source in mid-infrared range is
      used. The combination of the quantum cascade laser with a microbolometer array
      for infrared light allows to map an area 2.8 * 3.1 mm(2) with a spatial
      resolution of about 9 MUm, a bandwidth from 1170 to 1300 cm(-1), and a spectral
      resolution of 2.5 cm(-1) within only five minutes versus 16 hours using a
      conventional FTIR micro-spectrometer. We present a quantitative comparison of the
      experimental results from the setup with the quantum cascade laser with those
      from the FTIR micro-spectrometer.

PMID- 25836798
TI  - Gap bridging in joining of glass using ultra short laser pulses.
AB  - Glass welding by ultra-short laser pulses provides hermetic welding seams with
      high mechanical stability. The required distance between the samples must be
      extremely small (<100nm), otherwise cracks will form inside the seam reducing its
      stability. However, to achieve such small gaps the roughness of the samples must
      be small enough necessitating additional polishing. Additionally, Van-der-Waals
      forces grow substantial at such distances thereby effectively preventing sample
      movement and an easy and precise sample alignment. Here we present a method
      utilizing ultra-short laser pulses which exploits a volume expansion of
      irradiated glass enabling the joining of glass plates across gaps of up to 1um. 

PMID- 25836799
TI  - Femtosecond laser induced periodic surface structure on poly-L-lactic acid.
AB  - Laser-induced periodic surface structure (LIPSS) is one of the most remarkable
      nanostructures formed only by a simple procedure of laser irradiation that
      enables to control cell behaviors. To the best of our knowledge, however, LIPSS
      formation on a scaffold-usable biodegradable polymer had not been succeede d
      probably due to relatively-low glass transition temperature and melting
      temperature of such polymers. In this study, we demonstrate LIPSS formation on a
      poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA), a versatile biodegradable polymer which has been
      widely used in clinical practice. Experimental results revealed that the
      repetition rate of femtosecond laser is one of the key parameters for LIPSS
      formation on PLLA, suggesting that thermal properties and photochemical reactions
      should be considered. The present study expands the potential of femtosecond
      laser processing for fabrication of highly-biocompatible scaffold in tissue
      engineering. 

PMID- 25836800
TI  - Polarization tailored novel vector beams based on conical refraction.
AB  - Coherent vector beams with involved states of polarization (SOP) are widespread
      in the literature, having applications in laser processing, super-resolution
      imaging and particle trapping. We report novel vector beams obtained by
      transforming a Gaussian beam passing through a biaxial crystal, by means of the
      conical refraction phenomenon. We analyze both experimentally and theoretically
      the SOP of the different vector beams generated and demonstrate that the SOP of
      the input beam can be used to control both the shape and the SOP of the
      transformed beam. We also identify polarization singularities of such beams for
      the first time and demonstrate their control by the SOP of the input beam. 

PMID- 25836801
TI  - The Lissajous lens: a three-dimensional absolute optical instrument without
      spherical symmetry.
AB  - We propose a three dimensional optical instrument with an isotropic gradient
      index in which all ray trajectories form Lissajous curves. The lens represents
      the first absolute optical instrument discovered to exist without spherical
      symmetry (other than trivial cases such as the plane mirror or conformal maps of
      spherically-symmetric lenses). An important property of this lens is that a three
      dimensional region of space can be imaged stigmatically with no aberrations, with
      a point and its image not necessarily lying on a straight line with the lens
      center as in all other absolute optical instruments. In addition, rays in the
      Lissajous lens are not confined to planes. The lens can optionally be designed
      such that no rays except those along coordinate axes form closed trajectories,
      and conformal maps of the Lissajous lens form a rich new class of optical
      instruments. 

PMID- 25836803
TI  - Intensity impulse response of SDM links.
AB  - We study the response of space-division multiplexed fiber links to an excitation
      by a short impulse of the optical intensity. We show that, in the presence of
      full mixing, the intensity impulse response is Gaussian, confirming recently
      reported experimental observations, and relate its variance to the mean square of
      the mode dispersion vector of the link tau(->). The good agreement between our
      theory and the previously published experiments provides solid foundations to the
      random coupling model of SDM fiber links, and provides a tool for efficient
      design of MIMO-DSP receivers.

PMID- 25836802
TI  - Wavelength-selective switch with direct few mode fiber integration.
AB  - The first realization of a wavelength-selective switch (WSS) with direct
      integration of few mode fibers (FMF) is fully described. The free-space optics
      FMF-WSS dynamically steers spectral information-bearing beams containing three
      spatial modes from an input port to one of nine output ports using a phase
      spatial light modulator. Sources of mode dependent losses (MDL) are identified,
      analytically analyzed and experimentally confirmed on account of different modal
      sensitivities to fiber coupling in imperfect imaging and at spectral channel
      edges due to mode clipping. These performance impacting effects can be reduced by
      adhering to provided design guidelines, which scale in support of higher spatial
      mode counts. The effect on data transmission of cascaded passband filtering and
      MDL build-up is experimentally investigated in detail. 

PMID- 25836804
TI  - Enhanced phase stability in passive analog photonic links with coherent Rayleigh
      noise reduction.
AB  - Minimizing phase fluctuation along passive analog fiber link is proposed and
      experimentally demonstrated. By utilizing three different optical wavelengths, we
      could significantly reduce the effect of coherent Rayleigh noise (CRN). In
      addition, a phase-locked loop is employed for dynamic phase fluctuation
      compensation. The RMS phase jitter within two-hour period is reduced to ~1.7131
      ps over 40-km fiber link. 

PMID- 25836805
TI  - Surface-mode model of the extraordinary optical transmission without plasmons.
AB  - We propose a microscopic surface-mode model for the extraordinary optical
      transmission (EOT) through subwavelength metallic slit array covered with a thin
      dielectric layer under illumination of transverse-electric (TE) polarization.
      Remarkably, surface plasmon polarizations (SPPs) do not exist for this
      polarization. It is commonly believed that the waveguide mode in the dielectric
      layer plays a role similar to that of the SPP in classical EOT. To check the
      intuitive belief, we derive a surface-mode model by considering the multiple
      scattering process of the fundamental waveguide mode and neglecting all other
      residual field in the thin dielectric layer. The model captures the main feature
      of EOT and provides a phase-matching condition to predict the transmission
      resonance. Quantitative comparison between fully-vectorial calculations and model
      predictions shows that besides the fundamental waveguide mode, other residual
      field in the thin dielectric layer also contributes to the EOT without SPP. 

PMID- 25836806
TI  - Non-Markovian dynamics of a two-level system in the presence of hierarchical
      environments.
AB  - Dynamics of an open system is vividly influenced by the structure of
      environments. This paper studies in detail the dynamics of a two-level atom in
      the presence of an overall environment composed of two hierarchies. The first
      hierarchy is just a single lossy cavity while the second hierarchy consists of a
      number of other lossy cavities. The atom is coupled directly to the first
      hierarchy but indirectly to the second one via the couplings between the two
      hierarchies. We show that even when the coupling between the atom and the first
      hierarchy is weak the atom's dynamics can become non-Markovian if the number of
      cavities in the second hierarchy or/and the coupling between the two hierarchies
      are large enough. We also analyze the case when the coupling between the atom and
      the first hierarchy is strong and show that the non-Markovian dynamics exhibits
      different patterns depending on both the number of cavities in the second
      hierarchy and the coupling between the two hierarchies. 

PMID- 25836807
TI  - Joint timing and frequency synchronization based on weighted CAZAC sequences for
      reduced-guard-interval CO-OFDM systems.
AB  - A novel joint symbol timing and carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation
      algorithm is proposed for reduced-guard-interval coherent optical orthogonal
      frequency-division multiplexing (RGI-CO-OFDM) systems. The proposed algorithm is
      based on a constant amplitude zero autocorrelation (CAZAC) sequence weighted by a
      pseudo-random noise (PN) sequence. The symbol timing is accomplished by using
      only one training symbol of two identical halves, with the weighting applied to
      the second half. The special structure of the training symbol is also utilized in
      estimating the CFO. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by
      means of numerical simulations in a 115.8-Gb/s 16-QAM RGI-CO-OFDM system. 

PMID- 25836808
TI  - Microcavity enhanced directional transmission through a subwavelength plasmonic
      slit.
AB  - We show numerically that a compact structure, consisting of multiple optical
      microcavities at both the entrance and exit sides of a subwavelength plasmonic
      slit, can lead to greatly enhanced directional transmission through the slit. The
      microcavities can increase the reflectivity at both sides of the slit, and
      therefore the resonant transmission enhancement. In addition, the microcavities
      can greatly improve the impedance matching, and therefore the coupling between
      free-space waves and the slit mode. An optimized structure with two microcavities
      on both the entrance and exit sides of the slit leads to ~16 times larger
      transmission cross section per unit angle in the normal direction compared to the
      optimized reference slit without microcavities. We also show numerically that the
      operation frequency range for high emission in the normal direction is broad. 

PMID- 25836809
TI  - Plasmonic achromatic doublet lens.
AB  - An achromatic doublet lens (ADL) for surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) is
      designed. Similar to the conventional ADL, the proposed plasmonic ADL is composed
      of two lens layers with different dispersion relations. Considering these layers
      as effective media, their refractive indices with respect to the free-space
      wavelength are calculated. Geometric parameters of the lens are initially set
      according to the geometrical optic theory, and then optimized by reduced
      dimensional calculations. The performance of proposed device is verified by using
      full-wave simulations and compared with a double-convex plasmonic lens to verify
      its achromatic characteristics. It is shown that the standard deviation of the
      focal length shift is reduced from 668 nm to 168 nm, after introducing the ADL. 

PMID- 25836810
TI  - Frequency- and spectrally-encoded confocal microscopy.
AB  - We describe a three-dimensional microscopy technique based on spectral and
      frequency encoding. The method employs a wavelength-swept laser to illuminate a
      specimen with a spectrally-dispersed line focus that sweeps over the specimen in
      time. The spatial information along each spectral line is further mapped into
      different modulation frequencies. Spectrally-resolved detection and subsequent
      Fourier analysis of the back-scattered light from the specimen therefore enable
      high-speed, scanner-free imaging of the specimen with a single-element
      photodetector. High-contrast, three-dimensional imaging capability of this method
      is demonstrated by presenting images of various materials and biological
      specimens. 

PMID- 25836811
TI  - VO(2) based waveguide-mode plasmonic nano-gratings for optical switching.
AB  - In this paper, we present one dimensional plasmonic narrow groove nano-gratings,
      covered with a thin film of VO(2) (Vanadium Dioxide), as novel optical switches.
      These narrow groove gratings couple the incident optical radiation to plasmonic
      waveguide modes leading to high electromagnetic fields in the gaps between the
      nano-gratings. Since VO(2) changes from its semiconductor to its metallic phase
      on heating, on exposure to infra-red light, or on application of voltage, the
      optical properties of the underlying plasmonic grating also get altered during
      this phase transition, thereby resulting in significant switchability of the
      reflectance spectra. Moreover, as the phase transition in VO(2) can occur at
      femto-second time-scales, the VO(2)-coated plasmonic optical switch described in
      this paper can potentially be employed for ultrafast optical switching. We aim at
      maximizing this switchability, i.e., maximizing the differential reflectance (DR)
      between the two states (metallic and semiconductor) of this VO(2) coated nano
      grating. Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis (RCWA) reveals that the switching
      wavelengths - i.e., the wavelengths at which the values of the differential
      reflectance between VO(2) (S) and VO(2) (M) phases are maximum - can be tuned
      over a large spectral regime by varying the nano-grating parameters such as
      groove width, depth of the narrow groove, grating width, and thickness of the
      VO(2) layer. A comparison of the proposed ideal nano-gratings with various types
      of non-ideal nano-gratings - i.e., nano-gratings with non-parallel sidewalls -
      has also been carried out. It is found that significant switchability is also
      present for these non-ideal gratings that are easy to fabricate. Thus, we propose
      highly switchable and wide-spectra VO(2) based narrow groove nano-gratings that
      do not have a complex structure and can be easily fabricated.

PMID- 25836812
TI  - Optical micro-knot resonator hydrophone.
AB  - We present results of what are believed to be the first underwater acoustic
      sensor using an optical micro-knot resonator. The mechanism involves straining
      the micro-fibre loop of the knot via an appropriate encapsulation material. The
      micro-knot sensor exhibited a spectral full-width half-depth of 37.7pm with a Q
      factor of 41100 after deconvolution with the source. The shift in wavelength at
      1550nm was observed to be around 67pm RMS when exposed to underwater acoustic
      excitation at 40Hz demonstrating a normalized sensitivity of -288 dB re MUPa(-1),
      or 5.83 fm/Pa.

PMID- 25836813
TI  - Fully integrated hybrid silicon two dimensional beam scanner.
AB  - In this work we present the first fully-integrated free-space beam-steering chip
      using the hybrid silicon platform. The photonic integrated circuit (PIC) consists
      of 164 optical components including lasers, amplifiers, photodiodes, phase
      tuners, grating couplers, splitters, and a photonic crystal lens. The PIC
      exhibited steering over 23 degrees  x 3.6 degrees  with beam widths of 1 degrees 
      x 0.6 degrees . 

PMID- 25836814
TI  - Dynamic self-diffraction in MoS(2) nanoflake solutions.
AB  - We observe dynamic self-diffraction in MoS(2) supernatant solutions with laser
      for the first time, and conduct dynamic data simulation and analysis. Observation
      results indicate that self-diffraction can be divided in three stages: in the
      first stage, laser changes from Gauss beam to symmetric diffraction rings because
      of the force from laser. In the second stage, diffraction rings become asymmetric
      vertically because of gravity. In the third stage, diffraction rings become
      asymmetric horizontally, as a result of fine structure of laser. We obtain the
      dynamic distribution of MoS(2) nanoflake in solution under the effect of laser by
      dynamic diffraction image simulation.

PMID- 25836815
TI  - Numerical investigation of all-optical add-drop multiplexing for spectrally
      overlapping OFDM signals.
AB  - We propose a novel architecture for all-optical add-drop multiplexing of OFDM
      signals. Sub-channel extraction is achieved by means of waveform replication and
      coherent subtraction from the OFDM super-channel. Numerical simulations have been
      carried out to benchmark the performance of the architecture against critical
      design parameters. 

PMID- 25836816
TI  - Flexible inkjet-printed metamaterial absorber for coating a cylindrical object.
AB  - In this paper, a novel flexible inkjet-printed metamaterial absorber is proposed.
      The unit cell of the metamaterial is designed with a modified Jerusalem-cross
      ring resonator and is inkjet printed with silver nanoparticle ink on a flexible
      polymer film. All fabrication processes are performed using a commercial printer
      (EPSON WF-7011). The absorber's flexibility and absorption performance are
      demonstrated by measuring the absorption ratio after coating the proposed
      absorber on a cylindrical object with a radius of 4.56 cm. An absorption rate
      exceeding 99% is achieved at 9.21 GHz for both flat and cylindrical surfaces. In
      addition, the cylindrical model attains an absorption rate higher than 96% for
      all polarization angles, and a high absorption rate of 95% is preserved until the
      incident angle is less than 30p. 

PMID- 25836817
TI  - Spatial mapping of refractive index based on a plasmonic tapered channel
      waveguide.
AB  - A tapered plasmonic channel waveguide can be used for index sensing by spatial
      mapping of the scattering field intensity. A numerical simulation shows that this
      waveguide reflects the plasmonic channel waveguide mode at various points as the
      refractive index of an analyte changes, and a strong outgoing scattering wave
      appears at the reflection point. One can measure the index change by detecting
      variations in the scattering point. In the case of a unit index change, the
      scattering point moved 2670 nm, which can be observed by an imaging system.
      Detection limit of the index change is estimated as 0.12. However, the limit can
      be further reduced by increasing the tapered length or decreasing the tapered
      angle of the structure. 

PMID- 25836818
TI  - Experimental study of fs-laser induced sub-100-nm periodic surface structures on
      titanium.
AB  - In this work the formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS)
      on a titanium surface upon irradiation by linearly polarized femtosecond (fs)
      laser pulses with a repetition rate of 1 kHz in air environment was studied
      experimentally. In particular, the dependence of high-spatial-frequency-LIPSS
      (HSFL) characteristics on various laser parameters: fluence, pulse number,
      wavelength (800 nm and 400 nm), pulse duration (10 fs - 550 fs), and polarization
      was studied in detail. In comparison with low-spatial-frequency-LIPSS (LSFL), the
      HSFL emerge at a much lower fluence with orientation perpendicular to the ridges
      of the LSFL. It was observed that these two types of LIPSS demonstrate different
      fluence, shot number and wavelength dependencies, which suggest their origin is
      different. Therefore, the HSFL formation mechanism cannot be described by the
      widely accepted interference model developed for describing LSFL formation. 

PMID- 25836819
TI  - CMOS-compatible optical switching concept based on strain-induced refractive
      index tuning.
AB  - In this paper we present a planar lightwave switching mechanism based on large
      refractive index variations induced by electrically-driven strain control in a
      CMOS-compatible photonic platform. Feasibility of the proposed concept, having
      general validity, is numerically analyzed in a specific case-study given by a
      Mach-Zehnder Interferometer with Ge waveguides topped by a piezoelectric
      stressor. The stressor can be operated in order to dynamically tune the strain
      into the two interferometric arms. The strain modifies the Ge band structure and
      can induce refractive index variations up to 0.05. We demonstrate that this
      approach can enable ultra-compact devices featuring low loss propagation for
      light wavelengths below the waveguide band gap energy, high extinction ratios
      (>30 dB) and low intrinsic insertion losses (2 dB). The operation wavelength can
      be extended in the whole FIR spectrum by using SiGe(Sn) alloy waveguides. 

PMID- 25836820
TI  - Modeling of a diode four-side symmetrically pumped alkali vapor amplifier.
AB  - Considering the amplified spontaneous emission, the saturation effect and the
      energy distributions of the incident pump and seed lasers, a physical model is
      established to describe the kinetic process and the output performance of a four
      sided diode pumped alkali vapor laser amplifier. According to the experimental
      parameters of a single-side pumped configuration with a diffuse type hollow
      cylinder cavity, energy distributions in the cell and influences of several
      important factors are simulated and analyzed. The model is validated by comparing
      the simulation result with the experimental data, which shows the model can
      provide an effective way for designing an efficient diode four-side symmetrically
      pumped alkali vapor laser amplifier. 

PMID- 25836821
TI  - Intermodal and cross-polarization four-wave mixing in large-core hybrid photonic
      crystal fibers.
AB  - Degenerate four-wave mixing is considered in large mode area hybrid photonic
      crystal fibers, combining photonic bandgap guidance and index guidance. Co- and
      orthogonally polarized pump, signal and idler fields are considered numerically
      by calculating the parametric gain and experimentally by spontaneous degenerate
      four-wave mixing. Intermodal and birefringence assisted intramodal phase matching
      is observed. Good agreement between calculations and experimental observations is
      obtained. Intermodal four-wave mixing is achieved experimentally with a
      conversion efficiency of 17%. 

PMID- 25836822
TI  - Simulation of generation of dissipative soliton, dissipative soliton resonance
      and noise-like pulse in Yb-doped mode-locked fiber lasers.
AB  - we report three types of pulse generation in Yb-doped nonlinear polarization
      rotation mode-locked fiber lasers in all-normal-dispersion regime through
      simulation, including dissipative soliton, dissipative soliton resonance and
      noise-like pulse. We distinguish the different conditions of generating such
      different pulses by analyzing the transmission curve of saturable absorber, which
      plays a key role in pulse shaping. 

PMID- 25836823
TI  - MMI resonators based on metal mirrors and MMI mirrors: an experimental
      comparison.
AB  - We report, to the best of our knowledge, the first experimental proof of MMI
      based resonators. The resonators have been designed and fabricated on a micron
      scale silicon photonics platform and are based on different reflectors suitably
      placed on two of the four ports of 2x2 MMIs with uneven splitting ratios, namely
      85:15 and 72:28. The reflectors are either based on aluminum mirrors or on all
      dielectric MMI mirrors. Performances of the different designs are compared with
      each other and with numerical simulations. Finesse values as high as 13.1 (9.9)
      have been measured in best aluminum (all-dielectric) resonators, corresponding to
      a quality factor of 5.8.10(3) (12.5.10(3)) and mirror reflectivity exceeding 92%
      (88%).

PMID- 25836824
TI  - Performance analysis of large-scale OXC that enables dynamic modular growth.
AB  - We investigate the performance of our recently proposed novel subsystem modular
      OXC node that achieves graceful modular growth without any service disruption.
      Simulation experiments under a realistic traffic increase scenario verify that
      the node architecture offers almost the same performance as the conventional
      large scale OXC node, while greatly reducing the number of WSSs needed and
      allowing the use of small degree WSSs. It is shown that both the number of WSSs
      traversed and total end-to-end optical loss can be substantially reduced. 

PMID- 25836825
TI  - Multiview three-dimensional display with continuous motion parallax through
      planar aligned OLED microdisplays.
AB  - Existing multiview three-dimensional (3D) display technologies encounter
      discontinuous motion parallax problem, due to a limited number of stereo-images
      which are presented to corresponding sub-viewing zones (SVZs). This paper
      proposes a novel multiview 3D display system to obtain continuous motion parallax
      by using a group of planar aligned OLED microdisplays. Through blocking partial
      light-rays by baffles inserted between adjacent OLED microdisplays, transitional
      stereo-image assembled by two spatially complementary segments from adjacent
      stereo-images is presented to a complementary fusing zone (CFZ) which locates
      between two adjacent SVZs. For a moving observation point, the spatial ratio of
      the two complementary segments evolves gradually, resulting in continuously
      changing transitional stereo-images and thus overcoming the problem of
      discontinuous motion parallax. The proposed display system employs projection
      type architecture, taking the merit of full display resolution, but at the same
      time having a thin optical structure, offering great potentials for portable or
      mobile 3D display applications. Experimentally, a prototype display system is
      demonstrated by 9 OLED microdisplays. 

PMID- 25836826
TI  - Effect of the object 3D shape on the viscoelastic testing in optical tweezers.
AB  - Viscoelastic testing of biological cells has been performed with the optical
      tweezers and stretcher. Historically, the cells were modeled by the spring
      dashpot network or the power-law models, which can however characterize only the
      homogeneous, isotropic viscoelastic material, but not the 3D cell itself. Our
      mechanical and finite element analyses show that the cell elongations are
      different significantly for different cell 3D shapes in the creep testing. In the
      dynamic testing the loss tangent, which is measurable directly in the experiment,
      is not sensitive to the cell shape. However, the stress-strain hysteresis loop
      still depends on the cell 3D shape. 

PMID- 25836827
TI  - Binary phase oscillation of two mutually coupled semiconductor lasers.
AB  - A two-site Ising model is implemented as an injection-locked laser network
      consisting of a single master laser and two mutually coupled slave lasers. We
      observed ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic orders in the in-phase and out-of
      phase couplings between the two slave lasers. Their phase difference is locked to
      either 0 or pi even if the coupling path is continuously modulated. The system
      automatically selects the oscillation frequency to satisfy the in-phase or out-of
      phase coupling condition, when the mutual coupling dominates over the injection
      locking by the master laser. 

PMID- 25836828
TI  - Polarized vortices in optical speckle field: observation of rare polarization
      singularities.
AB  - Using a recent method able to characterize the polarimetry of a random field with
      high polarimetric and spatial accuracy even near places of destructive
      interference, we study polarized optical vortices at a scale below the transverse
      correlation width of a speckle field. We perform high accuracy polarimetric
      measurements of known singularities described with an half-integer topological
      index and we study rare integer index singularities which have, to our knowledge,
      never been observed in a speckle field. 

PMID- 25836829
TI  - Amplifying optical rotation using a coupled waveguide and ring resonator.
AB  - Measuring optical rotations in materials is a useful tool in many experimental
      studies. Research may be limited by the ability to measure small rotations due to
      weak interactions. We propose a novel scheme wherein we use a coupled waveguide
      and ring resonator to amplify the effects of optical rotation, potentially
      opening new avenues for investigation. Our proposed device can increase the
      resulting optical rotation by up to six orders of magnitude. 

PMID- 25836830
TI  - Highly sensitive liquid level monitoring system utilizing polymer fiber Bragg
      gratings.
AB  - A novel and highly sensitive liquid level sensor based on a polymer optical fiber
      Bragg grating (POFBG) is experimentally demonstrated. Two different
      configurations are studied and both configurations show the potential to
      interrogate liquid level by measuring the strain induced in a POFBG embedded in a
      silicone rubber diaphragm, which deforms due to hydrostatic pressure variations.
      The sensor exhibits a highly linear response over the sensing range and a good
      repeatability. For comparison, a similar sensor using a FBG inscribed in silica
      fiber is fabricated, which displays a sensitivity that is a factor of 5 smaller
      than the POFBG. The temperature sensitivity is studied and a novel multi-sensor
      arrangement proposed which has the potential to provide level readings
      independent of temperature and the liquid density. 

PMID- 25836831
TI  - A smart load-sensing system using standardized mechano-luminescence measurement.
AB  - The mechano-luminescence (ML) of phosphors has stirred a great deal of interest
      for its potential application in inexpensive, non-destructive load sensors.
      However, the most serious drawback of ML phosphors has been responses that differ
      according to the loading conditions. This has led to a lack of standardization in
      realizing smart ML sensor applications. We improved the applicability of ML
      phosphors to that of a smart, standardized load sensor by detecting ML based on
      the UV excitation above the threshold power density during the entire loading
      process. The ML behavior under these conditions was completely different from
      that of conventional ML behavior with UV excitation turned off. The ML output was
      clearly represented as a simple linear function of the applied load under
      conditions that could be either static or dynamic. In addition, neither a ML loss
      angle nor hysteresis behavior was observed under these ML measurement conditions.

PMID- 25836832
TI  - Ultra-narrow band perfect absorbers based on plasmonic analog of
      electromagnetically induced absorption.
AB  - A novel plasmonic metamaterial consisting of the solid (bar) and the inverse
      (slot) compound metallic nanostructure for electromagnetically induced absorption
      (EIA) is proposed in this paper, which is demonstrated to achieve an ultra-narrow
      absorption peak with the linewidth less than 8 nm and the absorptivity exceeding
      97% at optical frequencies. This is attributed to the plasmonic EIA resonance
      arising from the efficient coupling between the magnetic response of the slot
      (dark mode) and the electric resonance of the bar (bright mode). To the best of
      our knowledge, this is the first time that the plasmonic EIA is used to realize
      the narrow-band perfect absorbers. The underlying physics are revealed by
      applying the two-coupled-oscillator model. The near-perfect-absorption resonance
      also causes an enhancement of about 50 times in H-field and about 130 times in E
      field within the slots. Such absorber possesses potential for applications in
      filter, thermal emitter, surface enhanced Raman scattering, sensing and nonlinear
      optics. 

PMID- 25836833
TI  - Laser-induced plasmas in ambient air for incoherent broadband cavity-enhanced
      absorption spectroscopy.
AB  - The emission from a laser-induced plasma in ambient air, generated by a high
      power femtosecond laser, was utilized as pulsed incoherent broadband light source
      in the center of a quasi-confocal high finesse cavity. The time dependent spectra
      of the light leaking from the cavity was compared with those of the laser-induced
      plasma emission without the cavity. It was found that the light emission was
      sustained by the cavity despite the initially large optical losses of the laser
      induced plasma in the cavity. The light sustained by the cavity was used to
      measure part of the S(1) <- S(0) absorption spectrum of gaseous azulene at its
      vapour pressure at room temperature in ambient air as well as the strongly
      forbidden gamma-band in molecular oxygen: b(1)Sigma(g)(+)(nu'=2)<-X(3)Sigma(g)(
      )(nu''=0).

PMID- 25836834
TI  - Extend the field of view of selective plan illumination microscopy by tiling the
      excitation light sheet.
AB  - Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM) is attractive for its ability to
      acquire 3D images with high 3D spatial resolution, good optical sectioning
      capability and high imaging speed. However, tradeoffs have to be made when a
      large field of view (FOV) is required, results in lower axial resolution or worse
      optical sectioning capability. Here, we present a novel method for 3D imaging by
      SPIM that is capable to maintain its high 3D spatial resolution and good optical
      sectioning capability within a large FOV. Instead of trying to generate a large
      and uniformly thick excitation light sheet, the method tiles a relative small
      light sheet quickly to multiple positions within the image plane by defocusing
      the excitation beam used to create the light sheet, and takes one additional
      image at each position, so that a large FOV can be imaged by repeating this
      process and stitching all images together. By implementing this method, light
      sheets with thin thickness and good excitation light confinement can be used for
      SPIM imaging with slightly compromised imaging speed. The method was investigated
      through both numerical simulation and experiments, and the imaging performance
      was demonstrated by imaging fluorescent particles embedded in agarose gel and
      live C. elegans embryos. 

PMID- 25836835
TI  - Direct measurement of axial optical forces.
AB  - Direct measurement of optical forces based on recording the change of momentum
      between the in- and outgoing light does not have specific requirements on
      particle size or shape, or on beam shape. Thus this approach overcomes many of
      the limitations of force measurements based on position measurements, which
      require frequent calibration. In this work we validate the achievable accuracy
      for direct force measurements in the axial direction for a single beam optical
      tweezers setup, based on numerical simulations and experimental investigations of
      situations, where the true force is known. We find that for typical experimental
      situations a good accuracy with an error of less than 1 % of the maximum force
      can be achieved, independent of particle size or refractive index, provided that
      the total amount of light scattered in the backward direction is also taken into
      account, which is easy to accomplish experimentally. Due to the inherent particle
      shape independence of the direct force measurement method, these findings support
      that it provides accurate results for 3D force measurements for particles of
      arbitrary shape. 

PMID- 25836836
TI  - Prediction of metallic nano-optical trapping forces by finite element-boundary
      integral method.
AB  - The hybrid of finite element and boundary integral (FE-BI) method is employed to
      predict nano-optical trapping forces of arbitrarily shaped metallic
      nanostructures. A preconditioning strategy is proposed to improve the convergence
      of the iterative solution. Skeletonization is employed to speed up the design and
      optimization where iteration has to be repeated for each beam configuration. The
      radiation pressure force (RPF) is computed by vector flux of the Maxwell's stress
      tensor. Numerical simulations are performed to validate the developed method in
      analyzing the plasmonic effects as well as the optical trapping forces. It is
      shown that the proposed method is capable of predicting the trapping forces of
      complex metallic nanostructures accurately and efficiently. 

PMID- 25836837
TI  - In vivo neuroimaging through the highly scattering tissue via iterative multi
      photon adaptive compensation technique.
AB  - For in vivo deep tissue imaging, high order wavefront measurement and correction
      is needed for handling the severe wavefront distortion. Towards such a goal, we
      have developed the iterative multi-photon adaptive compensation technique
      (IMPACT). In this work, we explore using IMPACT to perform calcium imaging of
      neocortex through the intact skull of adult mice, and to image through the highly
      scattering white matter on the hippocampus surface. 

PMID- 25836838
TI  - Method for wavelength stabilization of pulsed difference frequency laser at 1572
      nm for CO(2) detection lidar.
AB  - High-accuracy on-line wavelength stabilization is required for differential
      absorption lidar (DIAL), which is ideal for precisely measuring atmospheric CO(2)
      concentration. Using a difference-frequency laser, we developed a ground-based
      1.57-MUm pulsed DIAL for performing atmospheric CO(2) measurements. Owing to the
      system complexity, lacking phase, and intensity instability, the stabilization
      method was divided into two parts-wavelength calibration and locking-based on
      saturated absorption. After obtaining the on-line laser position, accuracy
      verification using statistical theory and locking stabilization using a one
      dimensional template matching method, namely least-squares matching (LSM), were
      adopted to achieve wavelength locking. The resulting system is capable of
      generating a stable wavelength.

PMID- 25836839
TI  - Optimization of sampling pattern and the design of Fourier ptychographic
      illuminator.
AB  - Fourier ptychography (FP) is a recently developed imaging approach that
      facilitates high-resolution imaging beyond the cutoff frequency of the employed
      optics. In the original FP approach, a periodic LED array is used for sample
      illumination, and therefore, the scanning pattern is a uniform grid in the
      Fourier space. Such a uniform sampling scheme leads to 3 major problems for FP,
      namely: 1) it requires a large number of raw images, 2) it introduces the raster
      grid artefacts in the reconstruction process, and 3) it requires a high-dynamic
      range detector. Here, we investigate scanning sequences and sampling patterns to
      optimize the FP approach. For most biological samples, signal energy is
      concentrated at low-frequency region, and as such, we can perform non-uniform
      Fourier sampling in FP by considering the signal structure. In contrast,
      conventional ptychography perform uniform sampling over the entire real space. To
      implement the non-uniform Fourier sampling scheme in FP, we have designed and
      built an illuminator using LEDs mounted on a 3D-printed plastic case. The
      advantages of this illuminator are threefold in that: 1) it reduces the number of
      image acquisitions by at least 50% (68 raw images versus 137 in the original FP
      setup), 2) it departs from the translational symmetry of sampling to solve the
      raster grid artifact problem, and 3) it reduces the dynamic range of the captured
      images 6 fold. The results reported in this paper significantly shortened
      acquisition time and improved quality of FP reconstructions. It may provide new
      insights for developing Fourier ptychographic imaging platforms and find
      important applications in digital pathology. 

PMID- 25836840
TI  - High power tunable femtosecond ultraviolet laser source based on an Yb-fiber
      laser pumped optical parametric oscillator.
AB  - We report a high average power tunable 51 MHz femtosecond ultraviolet (UV) laser
      source based on an intra-cavity sum frequency mixing optical parametric
      oscillator (OPO) pumped by a fiber laser. The UV laser is generated by sum
      frequency generation (SFG) between the second harmonic of a mode-locked Yb-fiber
      laser and the signal of the OPO. A non-collinear configuration is used in the SFG
      to compensate the group velocity mismatch, and to increase the SFG conversion
      efficiency dramatically. Tunable ultraviolet pulses within the wavelength range
      from 385 to 400 nm have been produced with a maximum average power of 402 mW and
      a pulse width of 286 fs at 2 W Yb-fiber laser pump, corresponding to 20.1% near
      infrared to UV conversion efficiency at 387 nm. To our knowledge, this is the
      first demonstration of tunable femtosecond UV pulse generation from a fiber laser
      pumped OPO, and is also the highest average power tunable UV femtosecond pulses
      from an OPO. 

PMID- 25836841
TI  - Efficient assessment method of on-board modulation transfer function of optical
      remote sensing sensors.
AB  - Modulation transfer function (MTF) can be used to evaluate the imaging
      performance of on-board optical remote sensing sensors, as well as recover and
      restore images to improve imaging quality. Laboratory measurement approaches for
      MTF have achieved high precision. However, they are not yet suitable for on-board
      measurement. In this paper, a new five-step approach to calculate MTF of space
      optical remote sensing sensors is proposed. First, a pixel motion model is used
      to extract the conditional sub-frame images. Second, a mathematical morphology
      algorithm and a correlation-homomorphic filter algorithm are used to eliminate
      noise and enhance sub-frame image. Third, an image partial differentiation
      determines the accurate position of edge points. Fourth, a model optical function
      is used to build a high-resolution edge spread function. Finally, MTF is
      calculated by derivation and Fourier transform. The experiment shows that the
      assessment method of MTF is superior to others. 

PMID- 25836842
TI  - Optoelectronic performance optimization for transparent conductive layers based
      on randomly arranged silver nanorods.
AB  - Optoelectronic performance of transparent conductive layers (TCLs) based on
      randomly arranged silver (Ag) nanorods (NRs) is simulated. Models for calculation
      of optical and electronic properties were proposed founded on finite-difference
      time-domain method and percolation theory respectively. Obtained simulation
      results are well conformed to experimental data. The influence of angle deviation
      of NR crossings on the transmittance and sheet resistance are demonstrated. The
      balance between transmittance and sheet resistance which can be easily set by
      varying the combinations of NR radius and NR number is shown. Our results
      demonstrate that randomly arranged Ag layers are promising candidates for
      flexible TCLs. 

PMID- 25836843
TI  - Feed-forward carrier phase recovery for offset-QAM Nyquist WDM transmission.
AB  - Due to the half symbol delay between in-phase and quadrature components for
      offset quadrature amplitude modulation (OQAM) signal, phase noise cannot only
      lead to constellation rotation but also introduce additional crosstalk.
      Therefore, OQAM signal has very poor tolerance to the laser linewidth. Here, we
      carry out a semi-analytical investigation of phase noise induced crosstalk during
      OQAM Nyquist WDM transmission, and find that the carrier phase recovery (CPR) has
      to be implemented prior to the inter-symbol-interference (ISI) equalization.
      Then, after a function separation of polarization de-multiplexing and ISI
      equalization, we propose a new DSP flow with a linewidth-tolerant blind feed
      forward CPR scheme for OQAM signal. Its effectiveness is verified under the
      scenario of 5-channel 28-Gbaud polarization multiplexing (PM) OQAM Nyquist WDM
      systems. A tolerance of linewidth and symbol duration products of 6.5*10(-4) and
      1.1*10(-4) is secured for 4-OQAM and 16-OQAM, respectively, given 1-dB required
      OSNR penalty at BER = 10(-3).

PMID- 25836844
TI  - An exact surface-integral approach for accurate interferometric microscopy of
      single nanoparticles.
AB  - We present a half-plane surface-integral equation (SIE) approach for modeling the
      optical phase response of a single nanowire under phase-stepping interferometric
      (PSI) microscopy. This approach calculates scattered fields exactly from the
      Helmholtz equation in this 2D problem, obviating the need for ray-optic
      approximations. It is demonstrated that refractive index metrology is enabled by
      this method, with precision as low as 7 * 10(-5) possible for current state-of
      the-art PSI microscopes. For nanowires of known refractive index, radii as small
      as 0.001lambda are shown to yield a measurable phase signal and are therefore
      potentially measurable by this approach. Measurements are also demonstrated to be
      relatively insensitive to the spectral and coherence characteristics of the light
      source, the illumination conditions, and variations in nanowire cross-section
      shape. Prospects for measuring both the radius and refractive index
      simultaneously, and scope for generalizing this approach to arbitrary
      nanoparticle shapes are discussed.

PMID- 25836845
TI  - Optical information authentication using compressed double-random-phase-encoded
      images and quick-response codes.
AB  - In this paper, we develop a new optical information authentication system based
      on compressed double-random-phase-encoded images and quick-response (QR) codes,
      where the parameters of optical lightwave are used as keys for optical decryption
      and the QR code is a key for verification. An input image attached with QR code
      is first optically encoded in a simplified double random phase encoding (DRPE)
      scheme without using interferometric setup. From the single encoded intensity
      pattern recorded by a CCD camera, a compressed double-random-phase-encoded image,
      i.e., the sparse phase distribution used for optical decryption, is generated by
      using an iterative phase retrieval technique with QR code. We compare this
      technique to the other two methods proposed in literature, i.e., Fresnel domain
      information authentication based on the classical DRPE with holographic technique
      and information authentication based on DRPE and phase retrieval algorithm.
      Simulation results show that QR codes are effective on improving the security and
      data sparsity of optical information encryption and authentication system. 

PMID- 25836846
TI  - Bi-SERS sensing and enhancement by Au-Ag bimetallic non-alloyed nanoparticles on
      amorphous and crystalline silicon substrate.
AB  - We have demonstrated Au-Ag bimetallic non-alloy nanoparticles (BNNPs) on thin a
      Si film and c-Si substrate for high SERS enhancement, low cost, high sensitivity
      and reproducible SERS substrate with bi-SERS sensing properties where two
      different SERS peak for Au NPs and Ag NPs are observed on single SERS substrate.
      The isolated Au-Ag bimetallic NPs, with uniform size and spacing distribution,
      are suitable for uniform high density hotspot SERS enhancement. The SERS
      enhancement factor of Au-Ag BNNPs is 2.9 times higher compared to Ag NPs on
      similar substrates due to the increase of the localized surface plasmon resonance
      effect. However there is a decrement of SERS peak intensity at specific
      wavenumbers when the surrounding refractive index increases due to out-phase
      hybridization of Au NPs. The distinct changes of the two different SERS peaks on
      single Au-Ag BNNPs SERS substrate due to Au and Ag NPs independently show
      possible application for bi-molecular sensing. 

PMID- 25836847
TI  - Surface plasmon polaritons at linearly graded semiconductor interfaces.
AB  - New results are reported on investigation of dispersion curves for surface
      plasmon polaritons (SPPs) at an inhomogenously doped semiconductor/dielectric
      interface whereby the dielectric is represented by the same undoped
      semiconductor. The doped semiconductor is described by its frequency-dependent
      permittivity that varies with the depth. It is shown that a transition layer (TL)
      with a linear change in carrier concentration supports one branch dispersion
      curve regardless of the TL thickness. The obtained dispersion curves reach a
      maximum at a finite frequency depending on the TL thickness, and subsequently
      asymptotically approach the zero frequency in the shortwave limit. Therefore two
      surface plasmon modes are supported at a given frequency: a long-wave mode with a
      positive group velocity and a short-wave mode with a negative group velocity. A
      condition of a zero group velocity can be satisfied by tuning the TL layer. It is
      shown that the conventional dispersion relation for SPPs at a TL with a zero
      thickness is an asymptotic solution, and the convergence of real dispersion
      curves is point-wise instead of an expected uniform convergence. 

PMID- 25836848
TI  - External cavity diode laser-based detection of trace gases with NICE-OHMS using
      current modulation.
AB  - We combine an external cavity diode laser with noise-immune cavity-enhanced
      optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy (NICE-OHMS) using current modulation.
      With a finesse of 1600, we demonstrate noise equivalent absorption sensitivities
      of 4.1 x 10(-10) cm(-1) Hz(-1/2), resulting in sub-ppbv detection limits for
      Doppler-broadened transitions of CH(4) at 6132.3 cm(-1), C(2)H(2) at 6578.5 cm(
      1) and HCN at 6541.7 cm(-1). The system is used for hydrogen cyanide detection
      from sweet almonds.

PMID- 25836849
TI  - Quantum cascade detector utilizing the diagonal-transition scheme for high
      quality cavities.
AB  - A diagonal optically active transition in a quantum cascade detector is
      introduced as optimization parameter to obtain quality factor matching between a
      photodetector and a cavity. A more diagonal transition yields both higher
      extraction efficiency and lower noise, while the reduction of the absorption
      strength is compensated by the resonant cavity. The theoretical limits of such a
      scheme are obtained, and the impact of losses and cavity processing variations
      are evaluated. By optimizing the quantum design for a high quality cavity, a
      specific detectivity of 10(9) Jones can be calculated for lambda = 8MUm and T =
      300K.

PMID- 25836850
TI  - Pulse-shaping mechanisms in passively mode-locked thulium-doped fiber lasers.
AB  - Different pulse-shaping mechanisms were investigated experimentally and
      numerically in passively mode-locked thulium-doped fiber lasers. Conventional
      solitons were demonstrated in a passively semiconductor saturable absorber mirror
      mode-locked anomalous dispersion thulium-doped fiber laser. With normal
      dispersion fiber and spectral filter added in cavity, pulse-shaping processes
      were theoretically analyzed in the presence of dispersion map and dissipation in
      thulium-doped fiber lasers. The existence of parabolic pulse as nonlinear
      attraction was proved and distinct pulse intensity profiles evolution from
      Gaussian shape to parabolic shape was proposed in dissipative dispersion-managed
      thulium-doped fiber lasers. 

PMID- 25836851
TI  - High energy transmission annular beam X-ray diffraction.
AB  - We demonstrate material phase retrieval by linearly translating extended
      polycrystalline samples along the symmetry axis of an annular beam of high-energy
      X-rays. A series of pseudo-monochromatic diffraction images are recorded from the
      dark region encompassed by the beam. We measure Bragg maxima from different
      annular gauge volumes in the form of bright spots in the X-ray diffraction
      intensity. We present the experiment data from three materials with different
      crystallographic structural properties i.e. near ideal, large grain size and
      preferred orientation. This technique shows great promise for analytical
      inspection tasks requiring highly penetrating radiation such as security
      screening, medicine and non-destructive testing. 

PMID- 25836852
TI  - Analysis of angle of arrival fluctuations for optical waves' propagation through
      weak anisotropic non-Kolmogorov turbulence.
AB  - Analytical expressions for the variance of angle of arrival (AOA) fluctuations
      based on the Rytov approximation theory are derived for plane and spherical
      waves' propagation through weak anisotropic non-Kolmogorov turbulence atmosphere.
      The anisotropic spectrum model based on the assumption of circular symmetry in
      the orthogonal plane throughout the path is adopted and it includes the same
      degree of anisotropy along the direction of propagation for all the turbulence
      cells size in the inertial sub-range. The derived expressions consider a single
      anisotropic coefficient describing the turbulence anisotropic property and a
      general spectral power law value in the range 3 to 4. They reduce correctly to
      the previously published analytic expressions for the cases of plane and
      spherical waves' propagation through weak isotropic non-Kolmogorov turbulence for
      the special case of anisotropic factor equaling one. To reduce the complexity of
      the analytical results, the asymptotic-fit expressions are also derived and they
      fit well with the close-form ones. These results are useful for understanding the
      potential impact of deviations from the standard isotropic non-Kolmogorov
      turbulence atmosphere. 

PMID- 25836854
TI  - Novel control of plasma expansion direction aimed at very low pressure laser
      induced plasma spectroscopy.
AB  - A plasma confinement approach has been applied to enhance the signal intensity of
      laser-induced plasma in low pressure conditions down to 10(-2) torr. Detection of
      plasma emission spectrum is a daunting task at low pressure due to the low
      electron density and the short persistence time of plasma that undergoes a rapid
      expansion. Here we devised a spatial confinement setup that increases the
      electron density at various range of low pressures. A confining window is placed
      above the sample surface to control the direction of the expanding plasma aimed
      at optimizing the efficiency of the low pressure detection. More ions, atoms, and
      molecules can reach the detector by a direction-controlled confinement of an
      otherwise freely expanding plasma. The spectral intensities of neutral atoms
      increased up to 4 times with a single laser pulse by the proposed confining
      method at 1 torr. The signal of doubly ionized carbon atom which was detectable
      only at low pressure is also enhanced 4 times. The results of this study provide
      an important guideline for strengthening the otherwise weak signals at low
      pressure by controlling the plasma expansion direction.

PMID- 25836853
TI  - Realization of "trapped rainbow" in 1D slab waveguide with surface dispersion
      engineering.
AB  - We present a design of a one dimensional dielectric waveguide that can trap a
      broadband light pulse with different frequency component stored at different
      positions, effectively forming a "trapped rainbow" [Nature 450, 397 (2007)]. The
      spectrum of the rainbow covers the whole visible range. To do this, we first show
      that the dispersion of a SiO(2) waveguide with a Si grating placed on top can be
      engineered by the design parameter of the grating. Specifically, guided modes
      with zero group velocity(frozen modes) can be realized. Negative Goos-Hanchen
      shift along the surface of the grating is responsible for such a dispersion
      control. The frequency of the frozen mode is tuned by changing the lateral
      feature parameters (period and duty cycle) of the grating. By tuning the grating
      feature point by point along the waveguide, a light pulse can be trapped with
      different frequency components frozen at different positions, so that a "rainbow"
      is formed. The device is expected to have extremely low ohmic loss because only
      dielectric materials are used. A planar geometry also promises much reduced
      fabrication difficulty.

PMID- 25836855
TI  - Novel formulation of the M model through the Generalized-K distribution for
      atmospheric optical channels.
AB  - In this paper, a novel and deeper physical interpretation on the recently
      published Malaga or M statistical distribution is provided. This distribution,
      which is having a wide acceptance by the scientific community, models the optical
      irradiance scintillation induced by the atmospheric turbulence. Here, the
      analytical expressions previously published are modified in order to express them
      by a mixture of the known Generalized-K and discrete Binomial and Negative
      Binomial distributions. In particular, the probability density function (pdf) of
      the M model is now obtained as a linear combination of these Generalized-K pdf,
      in which the coefficients depend directly on the parameters of the M
      distribution. In this way, the Malaga model can be physically interpreted as a
      superposition of different optical sub-channels each of them described by the
      corresponding Generalized-K fading model and weighted by the M dependent
      coefficients. The expressions here proposed are simpler than the equations of the
      original M model and are validated by means of numerical simulations by
      generating M -distributed random sequences and their associated histogram. This
      novel interpretation of the Malaga statistical distribution provides a valuable
      tool for analyzing the performance of atmospheric optical channels for every
      turbulence condition. 

PMID- 25836856
TI  - Femtosecond harmonic mode-locking of a fiber laser based on a bulk-structured
      Bi(2)Te(3) topological insulator.
AB  - We experimentally demonstrate femtosecond harmonic mode-locking of a fiber laser
      using a bulk-structured Bi(2)Te(3) topological insulator (TI)-deposited on a side
      polished fiber as a mode-locker. A bulk-structured Bi(2)Te(3) TI film was
      prepared at a thickness of ~20 MUm using a mechanical exfoliation method. Using
      the mode-locker in an erbium-doped fiber ring cavity, it was experimentally shown
      that harmonically mode-locked pulses with temporal widths of 630 ~700 fs could
      readily be generated upto the 55th harmonics. The pulse repetition rate was shown
      to be tunable from the fundamental resonance frequency of 14.07 MHz to the
      harmonic frequency of 773.85 MHz with increasing pump power. The pumping
      efficiency was measured at ~3.36 MHz/mW. The side mode suppression ratio (SMSR)
      was observed to be more than 27.3 dB over all harmonic orders, while the
      corresponding signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ranged from 46.3 to 63 dB.

PMID- 25836857
TI  - Highly efficient second harmonic generation in hyperbolic metamaterial slot
      waveguides with large phase matching tolerance.
AB  - Highly efficient second harmonic generation (SHG) bridging the mid-infrared (IR)
      and near-IR wavelengths in a coupled hyperbolic metamaterial waveguide with a
      nonlinear-polymer-filled nanoscale slot is theoretically investigated. By
      engineering the geometrical parameters, the collinear phase matching condition is
      satisfied between the even hybrid modes at the fundamental frequency (3,100 nm)
      and the second harmonic (1,550 nm). Two modes manifest the great field overlap
      and the significant field enhancement in the nonlinear integration area (i.e. the
      slot), which leads to extreme large nonlinear coupling coefficient. For a low
      pumping power of 100 mW, the device length is as short as 2.19 um and the
      normalized conversion efficiency comes up to more than 6.37 * 10(5) W(-1)cm(-2)
      which outperforms that of the plasmonic-based structures. Moreover, the efficient
      SHG can be achieved with great phase matching tolerance, i.e., a small
      theoretical fabrication-error sensitivity to filling ratio and a broad pump
      bandwidth in a compact device length of 2.19 um using 100 mW pump. The proposed
      scheme links the mature near-IR devices to the mid-IR regime and have a great
      potential for integrated chip-scale all-optical signal processes.

PMID- 25836858
TI  - Diffraction manipulation by four-wave mixing.
AB  - We suggest a scheme to manipulate paraxial diffraction by utilizing the
      dependency of a four-wave mixing process on the relative angle between the light
      fields. A microscopic model for four-wave mixing in a Lambda-type level structure
      is introduced and compared to recent experimental data. We show that images with
      feature size as low as 10 MUm can propagate with very little or even negative
      diffraction. The mechanism is completely different from that conserving the shape
      of spatial solitons in nonlinear media, as here diffraction is suppressed for
      arbitrary spatial profiles. At the same time, the gain inherent to the nonlinear
      process prevents loss and allows for operating at high optical depths. Our scheme
      does not rely on atomic motion and is thus applicable to both gaseous and solid
      media. 

PMID- 25836860
TI  - Superlinear growth of Rayleigh scattering-induced intensity noise in single-mode
      fibers.
AB  - Rayleigh scattering generates intensity noise close to an optical carrier that
      propagates in a single-mode optical fiber. This noise degrades the performance of
      optoelectronic oscillators and RF-photonic links. When using a broad linewidth
      laser, we previously found that the intensity noise power scales linearly with
      optical power and fiber length, which is consistent with guided entropy mode
      Rayleigh scattering (GEMRS), a third order nonlinear scattering process, in the
      spontaneous limit. In this work, we show that this behavior changes significantly
      with the use of a narrow linewidth laser. Using a narrow linewidth laser, we
      measured the bandwidth of the intensity noise plateau to be 10 kHz. We found that
      the scattered noise power scales superlinearly with fiber length up to lengths of
      10 km in the frequency range of 500 Hz to 10 kHz, while it scales linearly in the
      frequency range of 10 Hz to 100 Hz. These results suggest that the Rayleigh
      scattering-induced intensity noise cannot be explained by third-order nonlinear
      scattering in the spontaneous limit, as previously hypothesized. 

PMID- 25836859
TI  - Passively mode-locked III-V/silicon laser with continuous-wave optical injection.
AB  - We demonstrate electrically pumped two-section mode locked quantum well lasers
      emitting at the L-band of telecommunication wavelength on silicon utilizing die
      to wafer bonding techniques. The mode locked lasers generate pulses at a
      repetition frequency of 30 GHz with signal to noise ratio above 30 dB and 1 mW
      average output power per facet. Optical injection-locking scheme was used to
      improve the noise properties of the pulse trains of passively mode-locked laser.
      The phases of the mode-locked frequency comb are shown to be coherent with that
      of the master continuous-wave (CW) laser. The radio-frequency (RF)-line-width is
      reduced from 7.6 MHz to 150 kHz under CW optical injection. The corresponding
      pulse-to-pulse jitter and integrated RMS jitter are 29.7 fs/cycle and 1.0 ps,
      respectively. The experimental results demonstrate that optical injection can
      reduce the noise properties of the passively mode locked III-V/Si laser in terms
      of frequency linewidth and timing jitter, which makes the devices attractive for
      photonic analog-to-digital converters and clock generation and recovery. 

PMID- 25836861
TI  - Polarimetric 3D integral imaging in photon-starved conditions.
AB  - We develop a method for obtaining 3D polarimetric integral images from elemental
      images recorded in low light illumination conditions. Since photon-counting
      images are very sparse, calculation of the Stokes parameters and the degree of
      polarization should be handled carefully. In our approach, polarimetric 3D
      integral images are generated using the Maximum Likelihood Estimation and
      subsequently reconstructed by means of a Total Variation Denoising filter. In
      this way, polarimetric results are comparable to those obtained in conventional
      illumination conditions. We also show that polarimetric information retrieved
      from photon starved images can be used in 3D object recognition problems. To the
      best of our knowledge, this is the first report on 3D polarimetric photon
      counting integral imaging. 

PMID- 25836862
TI  - Generation and evolution of mode-locked noise-like square-wave pulses in a large
      anomalous-dispersion Er-doped ring fiber laser.
AB  - In a passively mode-locked Erbium-doped fiber laser with large anomalous
      dispersion, we experimentally demonstrate the formation of noise-like square-wave
      pulse, which shows quite different features from conventional dissipative soliton
      resonance (DSR). The corresponding temporal and spectral characteristics of a
      variety of operation states, including Q-switched mode-locking, continuous-wave
      mode-locking and Raman-induced noise-like pulse near the lasing threshold, are
      also investigated. Stable noise-like square-wave mode-locked pulses can be
      obtained at a fundamental repetition frequency of 195 kHz, with pulse packet
      duration tunable from 15 ns to 306 ns and per-pulse energy up to 200 nJ. By
      reducing the linear cavity loss, stable higher-order harmonic mode-locking had
      also been observed, with pulse duration ranging from 37 ns at the 21st order
      harmonic wave to 320 ns at the fundamental order. After propagating along a piece
      of long telecom fiber, the generated square-wave pulses do not show any obvious
      change, indicating that the generated noise-like square-wave pulse can be
      considered as high-energy pulse packet for some promising applications. These
      experimental results should shed some light on the further understanding of the
      mechanism and characteristics of noise-like square-wave pulses. 

PMID- 25836863
TI  - Angular scan optical coherence tomography imaging and metrology of spherical
      gradient refractive index preforms.
AB  - The fabrication of high-performance spherical gradient refractive index (S-GRIN)
      optics requires nondestructive metrology techniques to inspect the samples. We
      have developed an angular-scan, swept-source-based, Fourier-domain optical
      coherence tomography (OCT) system centered at 1318 nm with 5 mm imaging depth
      capable of 180 degrees  polar scan and 360 degrees  azimuthal scan to investigate
      polymeric S-GRIN preforms. We demonstrate a method that enables simultaneous
      mapping of the group optical thickness, physical thickness, the radially-averaged
      group refractive index, and the transmitted wavefront of the S-GRIN preforms. The
      angular scan OCT imaging and metrology enables direct visualization, molding
      uniformity characterization, and optical property evaluations of the preforms.
      The results on two generations of S-GRIN preforms are discussed that showcase the
      evolution of the manufacturing process in response to the OCT metrology feedback.

PMID- 25836864
TI  - Blind symbol synchronization for direct detection optical OFDM using a reduced
      number of virtual subcarriers.
AB  - Symbol synchronization constitutes a major component in optical OFDM
      transceivers. In this paper, we propose reducing the complexity of a blind symbol
      synchronization technique for direct detection OFDM receivers based on virtual
      subcarriers by optimizing the number and location of the virtual subcarriers.
      Compared to the system design in our previous study, this new technique offers a
      reduction of 92% in the number of virtual subcarriers (from 26 to 2 in a system
      with 50 data carrying subchannels) resulting in significant savings in complexity
      with a minimal penalty. Moreover, it offers an increase in the system capacity as
      more subcarriers can be used to transmit data. The technique was assessed
      experimentally using a transmission system of direct detection 16-QAM optical
      OFDM operating at a data rate of 30.65 Gb/s over 23.3 km SSMF with BER of 10(-3).
      Negligible penalty was observed at high received powers. However, at low received
      powers, the number of averaging symbols had to be increased in order to improve
      the robustness of the method.

PMID- 25836865
TI  - Steady-state ab initio laser theory for complex gain media.
AB  - We derive and test a generalization of the steady-state ab initio laser theory
      (SALT) to treat complex gain media. The generalized theory (C-SALT) is able to
      treat atomic and molecular gain media with diffusion and multiple lasing
      transitions, and semiconductor gain media in the free carrier approximation
      including fully the effect of Pauli blocking. The key assumption of the theory is
      stationarity of the level populations, which leads to coupled self-consistent
      equations for the populations and the lasing modes that fully include the effects
      of openness and non-linear spatial hole-burning. These equations can be solved
      efficiently for the steady-state lasing properties by a similar iteration
      procedure as in SALT, where a static gain medium with a single transition is
      assumed. The theory is tested by comparison to much less efficient finite
      difference time domain (FDTD) methods and excellent agreement is found. Using C
      SALT to analyze the effects of varying gain diffusion constant we demonstrate a
      cross-over between the regime of strong spatial hole burning with multimode
      lasing to a regime of negligible spatial hole burning, leading to gain-clamping,
      and single mode lasing. The effect of spatially inhomogeneous pumping combined
      with diffusion is also studied and a relevant length scale for spatial
      inhomogeneity to persist under these conditions is determined. For the
      semiconductor gain model, we demonstrate the frequency shift due to Pauli
      blocking as the pumping strength changes. 

PMID- 25836866
TI  - Design optimization of single and double layer Graphene phase modulators in SOI.
AB  - In this paper we report on an electro-refractive modulator based on single or
      double-layer graphene on top of silicon waveguides. The graphene layers are
      biased to the transparency condition in order to achieve phase modulation with
      negligible amplitude modulation. By means of a detailed study of both the
      electrical and optical properties of graphene and silicon, as well as through
      optimization of the geometrical parameters, we show that the proposed devices may
      theoretically outperform existing modulators both in terms of V(pi)L and of
      insertion losses. The overall figures of merit of the proposed devices are as low
      as 8.5 and 2dB?V for the single and double layer cases, respectively.

PMID- 25836867
TI  - Design of flat-band superprism structures for on-chip spectroscopy.
AB  - We present a systematic design procedure of photonic crystal (PhC) superprism
      structures for on-chip spectroscopic applications. In specific, we propose a new
      figure of merit, namely the angular-group-dispersion-bandwidth-product (AGDBP) to
      quantitatively describe the spectroscopic performance of PhC superprism
      structures, and an optimum PhC structure for spectroscopic applications should
      have large angular group dispersion over a large bandwidth, i.e., a flat-top
      dispersion profile. We demonstrate the advantage of such a new design
      consideration by optimizing the geometry of a two-dimensional parallelogram
      lattice PhC superprism structure. The performance of such a superprism
      spectrometer is further analyzed numerically using finite-difference time-domain
      simulations, which out-performs current implementations in terms of the number of
      achievable output spectral channels. 

PMID- 25836868
TI  - Tunable optical bistability of dielectric/nonlinear graphene/dielectric
      heterostructures.
AB  - We have established the theoretical relation of nonlinear optical response with
      respect to the dielectric/nonlinear graphene/dielectric heterostructures and
      further demonstrated the tunable optical bistability at terahertz frequencies. It
      is shown that the hysteretic behavior is strongly dependent on the Fermi energy
      of graphene, and the threshold electric fields could be correspondingly adjusted
      with the continuous tuning of Fermi Energy level. It is clear that the bistable
      thresholds can be lowered dramatically by decreasing the Fermi energy of
      graphene, at the same time the optical hysteresis width is narrowed. Moreover, we
      have confirmed that the optical bistability can be tuned by adjusting the
      incident illumination angle, or by varying the thickness and permittivity of the
      dielectric slabs. Our contribution might provide a new avenue of fabricating
      graphene based optical switching device that could even operate at terahertz
      regime. 

PMID- 25836869
TI  - Monolithic optical phased-array transceiver in a standard SOI CMOS process.
AB  - Monolithic microwave phased arrays are turning mainstream in automotive radars
      and high-speed wireless communications fulfilling Gordon Moores 1965 prophecy to
      this effect. Optical phased arrays enable imaging, lidar, display, sensing, and
      holography. Advancements in fabrication technology has led to monolithic
      nanophotonic phased arrays, albeit without independent phase and amplitude
      control ability, integration with electronic circuitry, or including receive and
      transmit functions. We report the first monolithic optical phased array
      transceiver with independent control of amplitude and phase for each element
      using electronic circuitry that is tightly integrated with the nanophotonic
      components on one substrate using a commercial foundry CMOS SOI process. The 8 *
      8 phased array chip includes thermo-optical tunable phase shifters and
      attenuators, nano-photonic antennas, and dedicated control electronics realized
      using CMOS transistors. The complex chip includes over 300 distinct optical
      components and over 74,000 distinct electrical components achieving the highest
      level of integration for any electronic-photonic system. 

PMID- 25836870
TI  - Photonic microwave stabilization for period-one nonlinear dynamics of
      semiconductor lasers using optical modulation sideband injection locking.
AB  - Photonic microwave generation using period-one nonlinear dynamics of
      semiconductor lasers suffers from poor spectral purity. A stabilization approach
      based on optical modulation sideband injection locking is investigated. An
      optical signal carrying a highly correlated modulation sideband comb
      simultaneously injection-locks the regeneration of the optical carrier and the
      lower oscillation sideband in the dynamics, establishing a phase-locking between
      the two spectral components. A linewidth of below 1 Hz is therefore achieved for
      microwave generation up to at least 40 GHz. Because of the frequency
      multiplication in yielding the comb-like optical signal, only an electronic
      microwave reference at the tenth subharmonic or higher of the generated microwave
      frequency is required. 

PMID- 25836871
TI  - Table screen 360-degree holographic display using circular viewing-zone scanning.
AB  - A table screen 360-degree holographic display is proposed, with an increased
      screen size, having an expanded viewing zone over all horizontal directions
      around the table screen. It consists of a microelectromechanical systems spatial
      light modulator (MEMS SLM), a magnifying imaging system, and a rotating screen.
      The MEMS SLM generates hologram patterns at a high frame rate, the magnifying
      imaging system increases the screen of the MEMS SLM, and the reduced viewing
      zones are scanned circularly by the rotating screen. The viewing zones are
      localized to practically realize wavefront reconstruction. An experimental system
      has been constructed. The generation of 360-degree three-dimensional (3D) images
      was achieved by scanning 800 reduced and localized viewing zones circularly. The
      table screen had a diameter of 100 mm, and the frame rate of 3D image generation
      was 28.4 Hz. 

PMID- 25836872
TI  - Temporal cloak based on tunable optical delay and advance.
AB  - A temporal cloak scheme based on tunable optical delay and advance is
      theoretically proposed. An input optical signal is divided into two parts, and
      the front part is advanced while the rear part is delayed. A temporal gap which
      contains negligible optical energy is opened to hide events from observers, which
      can be closed by doing the inverse process. Different from the previous schemes
      that use continuous wave light, we use an optical data stream as the probe beam.
      Simulations have been done to investigate performance of the temporal cloak. The
      developed scheme can be applied in fiber-optical signal processing and secure
      communications. 

PMID- 25836873
TI  - Double plasmonic nanodisks design for electromagnetically induced transparency
      and slow light.
AB  - An analog of plasmonic system for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT),
      in which a small nanodisk with a big side-coupled-nanodisk is directly coupled to
      the metal-insulator -metal (MIM) waveguide, has been proposed and investigated
      theoretically and numerically. When the resonant frequencies of the two nanodisks
      differ not too much, a powerful EIT-like effect can be obtained, and the
      transparency window can be easily tuned by adjusting the radii of the two
      nanodisks. The plasmonic device can be used as a high-performance EIT-like filter
      with transmission over 80% and full width at half-maximum (FWHM) less than 30nm,
      besides, the novel structure shows a high group index over 355. The system paves
      a new way toward highly integrated optical circuits and networks, especially for
      wavelength-selective, ultrafast switching, light storage and nonlinear devices. 

PMID- 25836874
TI  - Refractometric monitoring of dissolution and fluid flow with distributed feedback
      dye laser sensor.
AB  - Monitoring the dissolution of solid material in liquids and monitoring of fluid
      flow is of significant interest for applications in chemistry, food production,
      medicine, and especially in the fields of microfluidics and lab on a chip. Here,
      real-time refractometric monitoring of dissolution and fast fluid flow with DFB
      dye laser sensors with an optical imaging spectroscopy setup is presented. The
      dye laser sensors provide both low detection limits and high spatial resolution.
      It is demonstrated how the materials NaCl, sucrose, and bovine serum albumin show
      characteristic dissolution patterns. The unique feature of the presented method
      is a high frame rate of up to 20 Hz, which is proven to enable the monitoring of
      fast flow of a sucrose solution jet into pure water. 

PMID- 25836875
TI  - Design and performance of a dual-laser instrument for multiple isotopologues of
      carbon dioxide and water.
AB  - A design and results for an instrument with a quantum cascade laser and an
      antimonide diode laser to measure simultaneously and with high precision seven
      isotopologues of carbon dioxide and water vapor. Methods and results for
      determining the effects that limit absorption noise at the level of 5x10(-6) are
      presented and discussed.

PMID- 25836876
TI  - Efficient method for the calculation of dissipative quantum transport in quantum
      cascade lasers.
AB  - We present a novel and very efficient method for calculating quantum transport in
      quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). It follows the nonequilibrium Green's function
      (NEGF) framework but sidesteps the calculation of lesser self-energies by
      replacing them by a quasi-equilibrium expression. This method generalizes the
      phenomenological Buttiker probe model by taking into account individual
      scattering mechanisms. It is orders of magnitude more efficient than a fully self
      consistent NEGF calculation for realistic devices. We apply this method to a new
      THz QCL design which works up to 250 K - according to our calculations. 

PMID- 25836877
TI  - Optical transport, lifting and trapping of micro-particles by planar waveguides.
AB  - Optical waveguides can be used to trap and transport micro-particles. The
      particles are held close to the waveguide surface by the evanescent field and
      propelled forward. We propose a new technique to lift and trap particles above
      the surface of the waveguides. This is made possible by a gap between two
      opposing, planar waveguides. The field emitted from each of the waveguide ends
      diverge fast, away from the substrate and into the cover-medium. By combining two
      fields propagating at an angle upwards and coming from opposite sides of a gap,
      particles can be stably lifted and trapped at the crossing of the two fields.
      Thus, particles are transported by waveguides leading to a gap, where they are
      lifted away from the substrate and trapped. The experiments are supported by
      numerical simulations of the forces on the micro-particles. Fluorescence imaging
      is used to track the particles in 3D with a precision of 50 nm. 

PMID- 25836878
TI  - Single shot telecentricity measurement by Fourier space grid separation.
AB  - The experimental documentation of the properties of an optical system represents
      a particular challenge. Besides the measurement of focal quality and field
      distortions, telecentric systems have to yield a parallel beam propagation
      direction. In this paper we propose a method to test, document and optimize the
      telecentricity of a laser scanning system by scanning two crossed polka dot beam
      splitters at once. By separating both beam splitters in Fourier space we were
      able to detect tilting angles below 2 . 10(-3) rad for four different laser
      wavelengths within the same optical system. By this we determined the optimum
      system parameters for our scanning laser optical tomography (SLOT) setup.

PMID- 25836879
TI  - Photonic jet with ultralong working distance by hemispheric shell.
AB  - Micro-particle assisted nano-imaging has proven its success in the past few years
      since it can magnify the nano-objects, especially the metallic objects, into an
      image then collected by a conventional microscope. Micro-shell, which is a novel
      design of micro-particle in the configuration of a hemisphere with a hollow core
      region, is proposed and optimized in this paper in order to obtain a long
      photonic jet far away from its flat surface, thus increasing its working
      distance. Its dependence on the configuration and refractive index is
      investigated numerically. A micro-shell with the outer and inner radii of 5 and
      2.5 um and the refractive index of 1.5 can focus the incident light of 400 nm
      wavelength 2.7 um away from the micro-shell flat surface, although the photonic
      jet intensity decreases to 25.8% compared to the solid hemisphere. Meanwhile, the
      photonic jet length of the micro-shell under the incident light of 400 nm and
      1000 nm wavelengths are 1.7 um and 4.3 um, respectively, because its hollow core
      region tends to reduce the angle variation of the Poynting vectors in the
      photonic jet. With the long working distance and long photonic jet, the micro
      shell could be used to scan over a sample to obtain a large area image when
      coupled with a conventional microscope, which is especially useful for the
      samples with the rough surfaces. 

PMID- 25836880
TI  - Differential absorption lidar for volcanic CO(2) sensing tested in an unstable
      atmosphere.
AB  - Motivated by the need for an extremely durable and portable instrument to
      quantify volcanic CO(2) we have produced a corresponding differential absorption
      lidar (DIAL). It was tested on a volcano (Vulcano, Italy), sensing a non-uniform
      volcanic CO(2) signal under turbulent atmospheric conditions. The measured CO(2)
      mixing ratio trend agrees qualitatively well but quantitatively poorly with a
      reference CO(2) measurement. The disagreement is not in line with the precision
      of the DIAL determined under conditions that largely exclude atmospheric effects.
      We show evidence that the disagreement is mainly due to atmospheric turbulence.
      We conclude that excluding noise associated with atmospheric turbulence, as
      commonly done in precision analysis of DIAL instruments, may largely
      underestimate the error of measured CO(2) concentrations in turbulent atmospheric
      conditions. Implications for volcanic CO(2) sensing with DIAL are outlined.

PMID- 25836881
TI  - 1.7-MUm spectroscopic spectral-domain optical coherence tomography for imaging
      lipid distribution within blood vessel.
AB  - We have developed a spectroscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) for imaging
      lipid distribution within blood vessel in order to detect coronary artery plaque.
      A 1.7-MUm spectral-domain OCT with A-scan rate of 47 kHz is fabricated using a
      broadband light source based on super-luminescent diodes and spectrometers based
      on extended InGaAs line sensors. We demonstrate imaging of lipid distribution in
      an in vitro artery model with lipid. The sensitivity and specificity in the
      differentiation between artery and lipid are 87% and 90% in the training,
      respectively. The validation test also shows detection of lipid with an accuracy
      over 90%. 

PMID- 25836882
TI  - Carbon irradiated semi insulating GaAs for photoconductive terahertz pulse
      detection.
AB  - We report here a photoconductive material for THz detection with sub-picosecond
      carrier lifetime made by C(12) (Carbon) irradiation on commercially available
      semi-insulating (SI) GaAs. We are able to reduce the carrier lifetime of SI-GaAs
      down to sub-picosecond by irradiating it with various irradiation dosages of
      Carbon (C(12)) ions. With an increase of the irradiation dose from ~10(12) /cm(2)
      to ~10(15) /cm(2) the carrier lifetime of SI-GaAs monotonously decreases to 0.55
      picosecond, whereas that of usual non-irradiated SI-GaAs is ~70 picosecond. This
      decreased carrier lifetime has resulted in a strong improvement in THz pulse
      detection compared with normal SI-GaAs. Improvement in signal to noise ratio as
      well as in detection bandwidth is observed. Carbon irradiated SI-GaAs appears to
      be an economical alternative to low temperature grown GaAs for fabrication of THz
      devices.

PMID- 25836883
TI  - Highly sensitive refractive index sensor based on cascaded microfiber knots with
      Vernier effect.
AB  - We propose and experimentally demonstrate a refractive index (RI) sensor based on
      cascaded microfiber knot resonators (CMKRs) with Vernier effect. Deriving from
      high proportional evanescent field of microfiber and spectrum magnification
      function of Vernier effect, the RI sensor shows high sensitivity as well as high
      detection resolution. By using the method named "Drawing-Knotting-Assembling
      (DKA)", a compact CMKRs is fabricated for experimental demonstration. With the
      assistance of Lorentz fitting algorithm on the transmission spectrum, sensitivity
      of 6523nm/RIU and detection resolution up to 1.533 * 10(-7)RIU are obtained in
      the experiment which show good agreement with the numerical simulation. The
      proposed all-fiber RI sensor with high sensitivity, compact size and low cost can
      be widely used for chemical and biological detection, as well as the
      electronic/magnetic field measurement.

PMID- 25836884
TI  - Highly-sensitive gas pressure sensor using twin-core fiber based in-line Mach
      Zehnder interferometer.
AB  - A Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on a twin-core fiber was proposed and
      experimentally demonstrated for gas pressure measurements. The in-line Mach
      Zehnder interferometer was fabricated by splicing a short section of twin-core
      fiber between two single mode fibers. A micro-channel was created to form an
      interferometer arm by use of a femtosecond laser to drill through one core of the
      twin-core fiber. The other core of the fiber was remained as the reference arm.
      Such a Mach-Zehnder interferometer exhibited a high gas pressure sensitivity of 
      9.6 nm/MPa and a low temperature cross-sensitivity of 4.4 KPa/ degrees C.
      Moreover, ultra-compact device size and all-fiber configuration make it very
      suitable for highly-sensitive gas pressure sensing in harsh environments. 

PMID- 25836885
TI  - Obtaining new local minima in lens design by constructing saddle points.
AB  - We show that in the lens design landscape saddle points exist that are closely
      related to local minima of simpler problems. On the basis of this new theoretical
      insight we develop a systematic and efficient saddle-point method that uses a
      priori knowledge for obtaining new local minima. In contrast with earlier saddle
      point methods, the present method can create both positive and negative lenses.
      As an example, by successively using the method a good-quality local minimum is
      obtained from a poor-quality one. The method could also be applicable in other
      global optimization problems that satisfy the requirements discussed in this
      paper. 

PMID- 25836886
TI  - Eight-state trellis-coded optical modulation with signal constellations of four
      dimensional M-ary quadrature-amplitude modulation.
AB  - We apply the eight-state trellis-coded modulation (TCM) using signal
      constellations of four-dimensional M-ary quadrature-amplitude modulation (4D
      MQAM) to optical communication systems for the first time to our knowledge. In
      the TCM scheme, the free distance of the trellis diagram is equal to the minimum
      distance between constellation points in partitioned subsets, which enlarges the
      coding gain effectively. In fact, its asymptotic power efficiency is 3-dB larger
      than that of the set-partitioned 4D-MQAM (SP-4D-MQAM) format, while their
      spectral efficiencies are the same. Such theoretical predictions are confirmed
      through computer simulations on eight-state TCM with constellations of 4D-4QAM
      (i.e., 4D quadrature phase-shift keying: 4D-QPSK) and 4D-16QAM. In particular,
      eight-state TCM with 4D-QPSK constellations is practically important because of
      its simple encoder structure, relatively low computational cost, and high coding
      gain against dual-polarization QPSK (DP-QPSK) and SP-4D-QPSK. Through
      measurements of its bit-error rate (BER) performance, we confirm that the coding
      gain against DP-QPSK is about 3 dB at BER=10(-3).

PMID- 25836887
TI  - Holistic random encoding for imaging through multimode fibers.
AB  - The input numerical aperture (NA) of multimode fiber (MMF) can be effectively
      increased by placing turbid media at the input end of the MMF. This provides the
      potential for high-resolution imaging through the MMF. While the input NA is
      increased, the number of propagation modes in the MMF and hence the output NA
      remains the same. This makes the image reconstruction process underdetermined and
      may limit the quality of the image reconstruction. In this paper, we aim to
      improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the image reconstruction in imaging
      through MMF. We notice that turbid media placed in the input of the MMF
      transforms the incoming waves into a better format for information transmission
      and information extraction. We call this transformation as holistic random (HR)
      encoding of turbid media. By exploiting the HR encoding, we make a considerable
      improvement on the SNR of the image reconstruction. For efficient utilization of
      the HR encoding, we employ sparse representation (SR), a relatively new signal
      reconstruction framework when it is provided with a HR encoded signal. This study
      shows for the first time to our knowledge the benefit of utilizing the HR
      encoding of turbid media for recovery in the optically underdetermined systems
      where the output NA of it is smaller than the input NA for imaging through MMF. 

PMID- 25836888
TI  - Tensile-strained germanium microdisk electroluminescence.
AB  - We report room temperature electroluminescence of tensile-strained germanium
      microdisks. The strain is transferred into the microdisks using silicon nitride
      stressors. Carrier injection is achieved with Schottky contacts on n-type doped
      germanium. We show that a biaxial tensile-strain up to 0.72% can be transferred
      by optimizing the carrier injection profile. The transferred strain is measured
      by the electroluminescence spectral red-shift and compared to finite element
      modeling. We discuss the impact of this strain level to achieve population
      inversion in germanium. 

PMID- 25836889
TI  - Rabi oscillations and stimulated mode conversion on the subwavelength scale.
AB  - We study stimulated mode conversion and dynamics of Rabi-like oscillations of
      weights of guided modes in deeply subwavelength guiding structures, whose
      dielectric permittivity changes periodically in the direction of light
      propagation. We show that despite strong localization of the fields of eigenmodes
      on the scales below the wavelength of light, even weak longitudinal modulation
      couples modes of selected parity and causes periodic energy exchange between
      them, thereby opening the way for controllable transformation of the internal
      structure of subwavelength beams. The effect is reminiscent of Rabi oscillations
      in multilevel quantum systems subjected to the action of periodic external
      fields. By using rigorous numerical solution of the full set of the Maxwell's
      equations, we show that the effect takes place not only in purely dielectric, but
      also in metallic-dielectric structures, despite the energy dissipation inherent
      to the plasmonic waveguides. The stimulated conversion of subwavelength light
      modes is possible in both linear and nonlinear regimes. 

PMID- 25836890
TI  - Automated mode locking in nonlinear polarization rotation fiber lasers by
      detection of a discontinuous jump in the polarization state.
AB  - A strategy to align a mode-locked fiber laser with nonlinear polarization
      rotation is presented. This strategy is based on measurements of the output
      polarization state. It is shown that, as the angle of a motorized polarization
      controller inside the cavity is swept, the laser eventually reaches a mode-locked
      regime and the values of the Stokes parameters undergo an abrupt change. The
      sensing of this sudden variation is thus used to detect the mode-locking
      condition and a feedback mechanism drives the alignment of the polarization
      controller to force mode locking. 

PMID- 25836891
TI  - Comment on "Optimal detection angle in sub-diffraction resolution photothermal
      microscopy: application for high sensitivity imaging of biological tissues".
AB  - A recent publication [Opt. Express, 22(16), 18833-18842 (2014)] discusses the
      optimal detection aperture in photothermal single particle microscopy. This new
      theory is in contradiction with rigorous ab-initio electrodynamic calculations.
      Nonetheless, the experimentally verified conclusion that a maximum signal occurs
      at a finite numerical detection aperture remains valid and is in accord with
      existing models. 

PMID- 25836892
TI  - "Optimal detection angle in sub-diffraction resolution photothermal microscopy:
      application for high sensitivity imaging of biological tissues": reply.
AB  - The differences between our model and existing models are rationalized in terms
      of the experimental conditions. The theory in [Opt. Express 22(16), 18833-18842
      (2014)] is applicable when the temperature increase is moderate (~1 K) and the
      spatial extend of refractive index being modulated is comparable to or smaller
      than the wavelength, which are in accordance with our experiment. 

PMID- 25836893
TI  - Multi-kW peak power acousto-optically tunable thulium-doped fiber laser system.
AB  - We demonstrate a core-pumped Q-switched thulium-doped fiber laser system with
      fast tunability capability over 100 nm without any movable part. With up to 7 kW
      peak power in a diffraction-limited beam, this source is well adapted for pumping
      a frequency agile mid-IR parametric oscillator or amplifier based on Quasi-Phase
      Match single-period crystals. 

PMID- 25836894
TI  - Versatile SERS sensing based on black silicon.
AB  - Black Si (b-Si) with gold or silver metal coating has been shown to be an
      extremely effective substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Here,
      we demonstrate that it is also a highly versatile SERS platform, as it supports a
      wide range of surface functionalizations. In particular, we report the use of a
      molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) coating and a hydrophobic coating on b-Si to
      establish two different sensing modalities. First, using a MIP layer on Au-coated
      b-Si, we show selective sensing of two closely related varieties of tetracycline.
      Second, a hydrophobic coating was used to concentrate the analyte adsorbed on
      gold colloidal nanoparticles, thus increasing the sensitivity of the measurement
      by an order of magnitude. In this experiment, Au nanoparticles and analyte were
      mixed just before SERS measurements and were concentrated by drop-drying on the
      super-hydrophobic b-Si. These approaches are promising for SERS measurements that
      are sensitive to the aging of bare plasmonic metal-coated substrates. 

PMID- 25836895
TI  - Planar optical correlators integrated with binary optical lens.
AB  - Planar optical correlators (POCs) can achieve smaller volume of optical system
      and hence have important applications to identify dynamic targets in complex
      scenarios. POCs, however, generally have serious astigmatism and optical
      efficiency loss introduced by its refractive lens with a zigzag optical beam. To
      conquer the disadvantages of POCs, we propose a type of binary optical planar
      integrated optical correlator. The correlator incorporates two pieces of
      reflective binary optical lens as Fourier transform lens and one spatial light
      modulator as a programmable filter. The off-axis aberrations commonly occurred in
      POCs can be corrected by using reflective binary optical lens instead of
      refractive lens. As a model of hybrid numerical-optical correlator using
      optoelectronic interface, the proposal is helpful to improve the integration and
      flexibility and robustness of POCs. 

PMID- 25836896
TI  - Sub-micron silicon nitride waveguide fabrication using conventional optical
      lithography.
AB  - We demonstrate a novel technique to fabricate sub-micron silicon nitride
      waveguides using conventional contact lithography with MEMS-grade photomasks.
      Potassium hydroxide anisotropic etching of silicon facilitates line reduction and
      roughness smoothing and is key to the technique. The fabricated waveguides is
      measured to have a propagation loss of 0.8dB/cm and nonlinear coefficient of
      gamma = 0.3/W/m. A low anomalous dispersion of <100ps/nm/km is also predicted.
      This type of waveguide is highly suitable for nonlinear optics. The channels
      naturally formed on top of the waveguide also make it promising for plasmonics
      and quantum efficiency enhancement in sensing applications. 

PMID- 25836897
TI  - Simplified flexible-PON upstream transmission using pulse position modulation at
      ONU and DSP-enabled soft-combining at OLT for adaptive link budgets.
AB  - We demonstrate a flexible modulation and detection scheme for upstream
      transmission in passive optical networks using pulse position modulation at
      optical network unit, facilitating burst-mode detection with automatic decision
      threshold tracking, and DSP-enabled soft-combining at optical line terminal.
      Adaptive receiver sensitivities of -33.1 dBm, -36.6 dBm and -38.3 dBm at a bit
      error ratio of 10(-4) are respectively achieved for 2.5 Gb/s, 1.25 Gb/s and 625
      Mb/s after transmission over a 20-km standard single-mode fiber without any
      optical amplification.

PMID- 25836898
TI  - A nanotweezer system for evanescent wave excited surface enhanced Raman
      spectroscopy (SERS) of single nanoparticles.
AB  - We experimentally demonstrate the integration of near-field optical tweezers with
      surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy by using the optical
      evanescent wave from a silicon nitride waveguide to trap single shell-isolated
      metallic nanoparticles (NPs) and simultaneously excite SERS signals of Raman
      reporter molecules adsorbed on the surface of the trapped metallic NPs. Both
      evanescent wave excited Stokes and anti-Stokes SERS spectra of waveguide trapped
      single silver (Ag) NPs were acquired, which were compared to their far-field SERS
      spectra. We investigated the trapping of bare and shell-isolated metallic NPs and
      determined that the addition of a shell to the metallic NPs minimized particle
      induced laser damage to the waveguide, which allowed for the stable acquisition
      of the SERS spectra. This work realizes a new nanophotonic approach, which we
      refer to as near-field light scattering Raman (NLS-Raman), for simultaneous near
      field optical trapping and SERS characterization of single metallic NPs. 

PMID- 25836899
TI  - Ultra-narrow linewidth measurement based on Voigt profile fitting.
AB  - We study the method of Voigt profile fitting for ultra-narrow linewidth
      measurement. It filters out the effect of the spectrum broadening due to the 1/f
      frequency noise and extracts out the Lorentzian lineshape from the measured
      spectrum. The resolution is thus greatly promoted than the direct measurement
      from the self-heterodyne technique. We apply this method to an ultra-narrow
      linewidth (~40 Hz by heterodyne beat technique) Brillouin/erbium fiber laser. The
      linewidth estimated from Voigt fitting method is indicated to be more accurate.
      In contrast, the linewidths estimated direct from the 3-dB and the 20-dB
      heterodyne-spectrum width are far over the true linewidth of the BEFL. The Voigt
      fitting method provides an efficient tool for ultra-narrow-linewidth measurement.
      And compared with heterodyne beat technique, it is applicable for all types of
      lasers. 

PMID- 25836900
TI  - 65-fs Yb-doped fiber laser system with gain-narrowing compensation.
AB  - We report a broadband Yb-doped fiber laser system with a gain-narrowing
      compensator comprised of multiple dielectric layers. Utilizing this filter, we
      obtained broadband pulses over a bandwidth of 1020-1080 nm directly from the
      amplifier. After the dispersion compensation, the chirped pulse amplification
      system delivered 65-fs pulses with energies of 100 nJ and a repetition rate of 3
      MHz. 

PMID- 25836901
TI  - Ultra-compact and broadband Si photonics polarization rotator by self-alignment
      process.
AB  - An ultra-simple polarization rotator is demonstrated on SOI platform with self
      aligned process to enhance performance repeatability and manufactural yield. The
      polarization rotation is essentially achieved by the symmetry breaking of a
      channel waveguide with a single-sided slab. The two-step lithography enabling
      this structure is fully compatible with the mainstream process flow of Si
      photonic integration. A polarization conversion efficiency of 93% is obtained at
      1560nm in less than 10MUm light propagation length. The merit of flat-band
      operation (> 100nm) by using asymmetric waveguide for polarization rotation is
      inherited. 

PMID- 25836902
TI  - Simple and efficient absorption filter for single photons from a cold atom
      quantum memory.
AB  - The ability to filter unwanted light signals is critical to the operation of
      quantum memories based on neutral atom ensembles. Here we demonstrate an
      efficient frequency filter which uses a vapor cell filled with (85)Rb and a
      buffer gas to attenuate both residual laser light and noise photons by nearly two
      orders of magnitude with little loss to the single photons associated with our
      cold (87)Rb quantum memory. This simple, passive filter provides an additional 18
      dB attenuation of our pump laser and erroneous spontaneous emissions for every 1
      dB loss of the single photon signal. We show that the addition of a frequency
      filter increases the non-classical correlations and the retrieval efficiency of
      our quantum memory by ~ 35%.

PMID- 25836903
TI  - High-contrast linear optical pulse compression using a temporal hologram.
AB  - Temporal holograms can be realized by temporal amplitude-only modulation devices
      and used for generation and processing of complex (amplitude and phase) time
      domain signals. Based on the temporal hologram concept, we numerically and
      experimentally demonstrate a novel design for linear optical pulse compression
      using temporal modulation of continuous-wave light combined with dispersion. The
      newly introduced scheme overcomes the undesired background problem that is
      intrinsic to designs based on temporal zone plates, while also offering an energy
      efficiency of ~25%. This pulse compression scheme can ideally provide an
      arbitrarily high time-bandwidth product using a low peak-power modulation driving
      signal, though in practice it is limited by the achievable modulation bandwidth
      and dispersion amount. 

PMID- 25836904
TI  - Fringe projection 3D microscopy with the general imaging model.
AB  - Three-dimensional (3D) imaging and metrology of microstructures is a critical
      task for the design, fabrication, and inspection of microelements. Newly
      developed fringe projection 3D microscopy is presented in this paper. The system
      is configured according to camera-projector layout and long working distance
      lenses. The Scheimpflug principle is employed to make full use of the limited
      depth of field. For such a specific system, the general imaging model is
      introduced to reach a full 3D reconstruction. A dedicated calibration procedure
      is developed to realize quantitative 3D imaging. Experiments with a prototype
      demonstrate the accessibility of the proposed configuration, model, and
      calibration approach. 

PMID- 25836905
TI  - Fano resonance in all-dielectric binary nanodisk array realizing optical filter
      with efficient linewidth tuning.
AB  - In this research paper, we study the Fano resonance originating from the
      interaction of in-phased lattice collective resonance and anti-phased lattice
      collective resonance supported by a binary silicon nanodisk array. Experimental
      results agree well with the calculations using finite-difference-time-domain
      method and show a strong dependence of such Fano lineshapes on the radius
      difference of the particles in the array. Further calculations demonstrate that
      such binary silicon nanodisk array can be used as an optical filter and offers an
      efficient way to tune the linewidth simply by changing the radius of the
      particles, linewidth from 12 nm to 0.7 nm and corresponding Q factor from 72 to
      1290 as the radius R(2) increasing from 60 nm to 115 nm. Such scheme possessing
      the merits of being easily fabricated, simulated, and tuned is very promising for
      practical applications.

PMID- 25836906
TI  - Residual strain sensor using Al-packaged optical fiber and Brillouin optical
      correlation domain analysis.
AB  - We propose a distributed residual strain sensor that uses an Al-packaged optical
      fiber for the first time. The residual strain which causes Brillouin frequency
      shifts in the optical fiber was measured using Brillouin optical correlation
      domain analysis with 2 cm spatial resolution. We quantified the Brillouin
      frequency shifts in the Al-packaged optical fiber by the tensile stress and
      compared them for a varying number of Al layers in the optical fiber. The
      Brillouin frequency shift of an optical fiber with one Al layer had a slope of
      0.038 MHz/MUepsilon with respect to tensile stress, which corresponds to 78% of
      that for an optical fiber without Al layers. After removal of the stress, 87% of
      the strain remained as residual strain. When different tensile stresses were
      randomly applied, the strain caused by the highest stress was the only one
      detected as residual strain. The residual strain was repeatedly measured for a
      time span of nine months for the purpose of reliability testing, and there was no
      change in the strain except for a 4% reduction, which is within the error
      tolerance of the experiment. A composite material plate equipped with our
      proposed Al-packaged optical fiber sensor was hammered for impact experiment and
      the residual strain in the plate was successfully detected. We suggest that the
      Al-packaged optical fiber can be adapted as a distributed strain sensor for smart
      structures, including aerospace structures. 

PMID- 25836907
TI  - Hybrid Si-VO(2)-Au optical modulator based on near-field plasmonic coupling.
AB  - We present a computational design for an integrated electro-optic modulator based
      on near-field plasmonic coupling between gold nanodisks and a thin film of
      vanadium dioxide on a silicon substrate. Active modulation is achieved by
      applying a time-varying electric field to initiate large changes in the
      refractive index of vanadium dioxide. Significant decrease in device footprint
      (200 nm x 560 nm) and increase in extinction ratio per unit length (9 dB/um)
      compared to state-of-the-art photonic and plasmonic modulators are predicted. 

PMID- 25836908
TI  - All-optical switching of nematic liquid crystal films driven by localized surface
      plasmons.
AB  - We have demonstrated an all-optical technique for reversible in-plane and out-of
      plane switching of nematic liquid crystal molecules in few micron thick films.
      Our method leverages the highly localized electric fields ("hot spots") and
      plasmonic heating that are generated in the near-field region of densely packed
      gold nanoparticle layers optically excited on-resonance with the localized
      surface plasmon absorption. Using polarized microscopy and transmission
      measurements, we observe this switching from homeotropic to planar over a
      temperature range starting at room temperature to just below the isotropic
      transition, and at on-resonance excitation intensity less than 0.03 W/cm(2). In
      addition, we controllably vary the in-plane directionality of the liquid crystal
      molecules in the planar state by altering the linear polarization of the incident
      excitation. Using discrete dipole simulations and control measurements, we
      establish spectral selectivity in this new and interesting perspective for
      photonic application using low light power.

PMID- 25836909
TI  - Dispersion-tunable designer-plasmonic resonator with enhanced high-order
      resonances.
AB  - We propose and experimentally demonstrate an approach to efficiently tune the
      dispersion of a designer-plasmonic resonator, or a plasmonic 'meta-atom', by
      incorporating an extra ground plane underneath. We demonstrate that this ground
      plane is able to enhance resonances, and the enhancing effect can render those
      higher-order azimuthal modes, being absent in previously reported designer
      plasmonic resonators, experimentally observable. After incorporating the ground
      plane, all resonance modes are red shifted with their Q factors enhanced. By
      increasing the separation from the planar resonator to the underneath ground
      plane, all enhanced modes are blue shifted with Q factors decreased slightly,
      whose trend is opposite to increasing the thickness of a dielectric substrate of
      a common meta-atom without a ground. These results may find potential
      applications in tunable designer-plasmonic sensors and plasmonic metamaterial
      designs. 

PMID- 25836910
TI  - Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation using dispersion-engineered
      Ge(11.5)As(24)Se(64.5) chalcogenide channel waveguide.
AB  - We numerically investigate mid-infrared supercontinuum (SC) generation in
      dispersion-engineered, air-clad, Ge(11.5)As(24)Se(64.5) chalcogenide-glass
      channel waveguides employing two different materials, Ge(11.5)As(24)Se(64.5) or
      MgF(2) glass for their lower cladding. We study the effect of waveguide
      parameters on the bandwidth of the SC at the output of 1-cm-long waveguide. Our
      results show that output can vary over a wide range depending on its design and
      the pump wavelength employed. At the pump wavelength of 2 MUm the SC never
      extended beyond 4.5 MUm for any of our designs. However, supercontinuum could be
      extended to beyond 5 MUm for a pump wavelength of 3.1 MUm. A broadband SC
      spanning from 2 MUm to 6 MUm and extending over 1.5 octave could be generated
      with a moderate peak power of 500 W at a pump wavelength of 3.1 MUm using an air
      clad, all-chalcogenide, channel waveguide. We show that SC can be extended even
      further when MgF(2) glass is used for the lower cladding of chalcogenide
      waveguide. Our numerical simulations produced SC spectra covering the wavelength
      range 1.8-7.7 MUm (> two octaves) by using this geometry. Both ranges exceed the
      broadest SC bandwidths reported so far. Moreover, we realize it using 3.1 MUm
      pump source and relatively low peak power pulses. By employing the same pump
      source, we show that SC spectra can cover a wavelength range of 1.8-11 MUm (> 2.5
      octaves) in a channel waveguide employing MgF(2) glass for its lower cladding
      with a moderate peak power of 3000 W.

PMID- 25836911
TI  - Phase-locked arrays of surface-emitting graded-photonic-heterostructure terahertz
      semiconductor lasers.
AB  - We have demonstrated that a hybrid laser array, combining graded-photonic
      heterostructure terahertz semiconductor lasers with a ring resonator, allows the
      relative phase (either symmetric or anti-symmetric) between the sources to be
      fixed by design. We have successfully phase-locked up to five separate lasers.
      Compared with a single device, we achieved a clear narrowing of the output beam
      profile. 

PMID- 25836912
TI  - Energetic mid-IR femtosecond pulse generation by self-defocusing soliton-induced
      dispersive waves in a bulk quadratic nonlinear crystal.
AB  - Generating energetic femtosecond mid-IR pulses is crucial for ultrafast
      spectroscopy, and currently relies on parametric processes that, while efficient,
      are also complex. Here we experimentally show a simple alternative that uses a
      single pump wavelength without any pump synchronization and without critical
      phase-matching requirements. Pumping a bulk quadratic nonlinear crystal (unpoled
      LiNbO(3) cut for noncritical phase-mismatched interaction) with sub-mJ near-IR 50
      fs pulses, tunable and broadband (~ 1,000 cm(-1)) mid-IR pulses around 3.0 MUm
      are generated with excellent spatio-temporal pulse quality, having up to 10.5 MUJ
      energy (6.3% conversion). The mid-IR pulses are dispersive waves phase-matched to
      near-IR self-defocusing solitons created by the induced self-defocusing cascaded
      nonlinearity. This process is filament-free and the input pulse energy can
      therefore be scaled arbitrarily by using large-aperture crystals. The technique
      can readily be implemented with other crystals and laser wavelengths, and can
      therefore potentially replace current ultrafast frequency-conversion processes to
      the mid-IR.

PMID- 25836913
TI  - Computationally effective solution of the inverse problem in time-of-flight
      spectroscopy.
AB  - Photon time-of-flight (PTOF) spectroscopy enables the estimation of absorption
      and reduced scattering coefficients of turbid media by measuring the propagation
      time of short light pulses through turbid medium. The present investigation
      provides a comparison of the assessed absorption and reduced scattering
      coefficients from PTOF measurements of intralipid 20% and India ink-based optical
      phantoms covering a wide range of optical properties relevant for biological
      tissues and dairy products. Three different models are used to obtain the optical
      properties by fitting to measured temporal profiles: the Liemert-Kienle model
      (LKM), the diffusion model (DM) and a white Monte-Carlo (WMC) simulation-based
      algorithm. For the infinite space geometry, a very good agreement is found
      between the LKM and WMC, while the results obtained by the DM differ, indicating
      that the LKM can provide accurate estimation of the optical parameters beyond the
      limits of the diffusion approximation in a computational effective and accurate
      manner. This result increases the potential range of applications for PTOF
      spectroscopy within industrial and biomedical applications. 

PMID- 25836914
TI  - All-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on two liquid infiltrations in a
      photonic crystal fiber.
AB  - We propose a novel all-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) fabricated by
      infiltrating two separated liquid sections along a PCF. Due to the reduced
      effective index difference between the core region and the liquid-filled cladding
      region, the guided field in the liquid sections possesses a larger mode field
      area and can simultaneously induce the core mode and cladding modes of the empty
      PCF to form a MZI. The measured results demonstrate that very clear interference
      spectra can be obtained. By increasing the length of the MZIs, the decreased
      average fringe spacing can be observed. We have also measured the temperature
      sensitivity of our proposed PCF-based MZIs. Due to the existence of the two
      liquid sections, the temperature sensitivities can be enlarged to -0.176nm/
      degrees C and -0.53dB/ degrees C. 

PMID- 25836915
TI  - Continuously tunable true-time delays with ultra-low settling time.
AB  - Ultra-fast, continuously tunable true-time delays are key components in many
      microwave and optical communications subsystems. In this paper, we introduce and
      demonstrate a new implementation method of a continuously tunable true-time delay
      featuring a settling time in the order of tens of picoseconds. Our solution
      relies on the splitting and combining of complementary phased shifted spectra
      (CPSS). It works for large bandwidth signals, has a low complexity, offers
      moderate losses, and can be fully integrated. 

PMID- 25836916
TI  - Experimental demonstration of propagation characteristics of mid-infrared
      photonic crystal waveguides in silicon-on-sapphire.
AB  - We provide the first experimental demonstration of optical transmission
      characteristics of a W1 photonic crystal waveguide in silicon on sapphire at mid
      infrared wavelength of 3.43 MUm. Devices are studied as a function of lattice
      constant to tune the photonic stop band across the single wavelength of the
      source laser. The shift in the transmission profile as a function of temperature
      and refractive index is experimentally demonstrated and compared with
      simulations. In addition to zero transmission in the stop gap, propagation losses
      less than 20 dB/cm are observed for group indices greater than 20 below the light
      line while more than 300 dB/cm propagation losses are observed above the light
      line, characteristic of the waveguiding behavior of photonic crystal line defect
      modes. 

PMID- 25836917
TI  - Noise reduction and signal-to-noise ratio improvement of atomic magnetometers
      with optical gradiometer configurations.
AB  - In the field of biomagnetic measurement, optically-pumped atomic magnetometers
      (OPAMs) have attracted significant attention. With the improvement of signal
      response and the reduction of sensor noise, the sensitivity of OPAMs is limited
      mainly by environmental magnetic noise. To reduce this magnetic noise, we
      developed the optical gradiometer, in which the differential output of two
      distinct measurement areas inside a glass cell was obtained directly via the
      magneto-optical rotation of one probe beam. When operating in appropriate
      conditions, the sensitivity was improved by the differential measurement of the
      optical gradiometer. In addition, measurements of the pseudo-magnetic noise and
      signal showed the improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio. These results
      demonstrate the feasibility of our optical gradiometer as an efficient method for
      reducing the magnetic noise. 

PMID- 25836918
TI  - One-week administration of hydroxytyrosol to humans does not activate Phase II
      enzymes.
AB  - The notion that (poly)phenols act as direct free radical scavengers is being
      challenged by mere chemical and biochemical considerations such as
      bioavailability and intracellular concentrations. An alternative hypothesis that
      is gaining considerable traction is that (poly)phenols are processed by the body
      as xenobiotics via the Keap1/Nrf2/ARE signaling axis, leading to the induction of
      Phase II enzymes. However, there are no solid human data to confirm this
      interesting supposition. In this study, we tested the activities of
      hydroxytyrosol (HT) on Phase II enzymes' expression in a double-blind,
      randomized, placebo-controlled study. We tested two HT doses, i.e. 5 and 25mg/d,
      vs. placebo following a Latin square design. We report that HT is well tolerated
      but does not significantly modify Phase II enzyme expression in peripheral blood
      mononuclear cells. Moreover, we were unable to record significant effects on a
      variety of surrogate markers of cardiovascular disease such as lipid profile and
      inflammation and oxidation markers. Available evidence indicates that the
      "hormesis hypothesis" that (poly)phenols activate Phase II enzymes requires solid
      human confirmation that might be provided by future trials. This study is
      registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier: NCT02273622). 

PMID- 25836919
TI  - A1-adenosine acute withdrawal response and cholecystokinin-8 induced contractures
      are regulated by Ca(2+)- and ATP-activated K(+) channels.
AB  - In isolated guinea-pig ileum (GPI), the A1-adenosine acute withdrawal response is
      under the control of several neuronal signalling systems, including the MU/kappa
      opioid and the cannabinoid CB1 systems. It is now well established that after the
      stimulation of the A1-adenosine system, the indirect activation of both MU/kappa
      opioid and CB1 systems is prevented by the peptide cholecystokinin-8 (CCk-8). In
      the present study, we have investigated the involvement of the Ca(2+)/ATP
      activated K(+) channels in the regulation of both acute A1-withdrawal and CCk-8
      induced contractures in the GPI preparation. Interestingly, we found that: (a)
      the A1-withdrawal contracture is inhibited by voltage dependent Ca(2+)-activated
      K(+) channels, Kv, while it is enhanced by the voltage independent Ca(2+)
      activated K(+) channels, SKCa; (b) in the presence of CCk-8, the inhibitory
      effect of the A1 agonist, CPA, on the peptide induced contracture is
      significantly enhanced by the voltage independent Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channel,
      SKCa; and (c) the A1-withdrawal contracture precipitated in the presence of CCk-8
      is controlled by the ATP-sensitive potassium channels, KATP. Our data suggest,
      for the first time, that both Ca(2+)- and ATP-activated K(+) channels are
      involved in the regulation of both A1-withdrawal precipitated and CCk-8 induced
      contractures. 

PMID- 25836920
TI  - Altered expression of connexin 43 and related molecular partners in a pig model
      of left ventricular dysfunction with and without dipyrydamole therapy.
AB  - Gap junctions (GJ) mediate electrical coupling between cardiac myocytes, allowing
      the spreading of the electrical wave responsible for synchronized contraction. GJ
      function can be regulated by modulation of connexon densities on membranes,
      connexin (Cx) phosphorylation, trafficking and degradation. Recent studies have
      shown that adenosine (A) involves Cx43 turnover in A1 receptor-dependent manner,
      and dipyridamole increases GJ coupling and amount of Cx43 in endothelial cells.
      As the abnormalities in GJ organization and regulation have been described in
      diseased myocardium, the aim of the present study was to assess the regional
      expression of molecules involved in GJ regulation in a model of left ventricular
      dysfunction (LVD). For this purpose the distribution and quantitative expression
      of Cx43, its phosphorylated form pS368-Cx43, PKC phosphorylated substrates, RhoA
      and A receptors, were investigated in experimental models of right ventricular
      pacing induced LVD, undergoing concomitant dipyridamole therapy or placebo, and
      compared with those obtained in the myocardium from sham-operated minipigs.
      Results demonstrate that an altered pattern of factors involved in Cx43-made GJ
      regulation is present in myocardium of a dysfunctioning left ventricle.
      Furthermore, dipyridamole treatment, which shows a mild protective role on left
      ventricular function, seems to act through modulating the expression and
      activation of these factors as confirmed by in vitro experiments on
      cardiomyoblastic cell line H9c2 cells. 

PMID- 25836921
TI  - Oral curcumin has anti-arthritic efficacy through somatostatin generation via
      cAMP/PKA and Ca(2+)/CaMKII signaling pathways in the small intestine.
AB  - Curcumin (CUR) has been proven to be clinically effective in rheumatoid arthritis
      (RA) therapy, but its low oral bioavailability eclipses existent evidence that
      attempts to explain the underlying mechanism. Small intestine, the only organ
      exposed to a relatively high concentration of CUR, is the main site that
      generates gut hormones which are involved in the pathogenesis of RA. This study
      aims at addressing the hypothesis that one or more gut hormones serve as an
      intermediary agent for the anti-arthritic action of CUR. The protein and mRNA
      levels of gut hormones in CUR-treated rats were analyzed by ELISA and RT-PCR.
      Somatostatin (SOM) depletor and receptor antagonist were used to verify the key
      role of SOM in CUR-mediated anti-arthritic effect. The mechanisms underlying CUR
      induced upregulation of SOM levels were explored by cellular experiments and
      immunohistochemical staining. The data showed that oral administration of CUR
      (100 mg/kg) for consecutive two weeks in adjuvant-induced arthritis rats still
      exhibited an extremely low plasma exposure despite of a dramatic amelioration of
      arthritis symptoms. When injected intraperitoneally, CUR lost anti-arthritic
      effect in rats, suggesting that it functions in an intestine-dependent manner.
      CUR elevated SOM levels in intestines and sera, and SOM depletor and non
      selective SOM receptor antagonist could abolish the inhibitory effect of CUR on
      arthritis. Immunohistochemical assay demonstrated that CUR markedly increased the
      number of SOM-positive cells in both duodenum and jejunum. In vitro experiments
      demonstrated that CUR could augment SOM secretion from intestinal endocrine
      cells, and this effect could be hampered by either MEK1/2 or Ca(2+)/calmodulin
      dependent kinase II (CAMKII) inhibitor. In summary, oral administration of CUR
      exhibits anti-arthritic effect through augmenting SOM secretion from the
      endocrine cells in small intestines via cAMP/PKA and Ca(2+)/CaMKII signaling
      pathways.

PMID- 25836923
TI  - Ebola virus disease.

PMID- 25836922
TI  - Administration of a multistrain probiotic product (VSL#3) to women in the
      perinatal period differentially affects breast milk beneficial microbiota in
      relation to mode of delivery.
AB  - Probiotic supplementation to a mother during the perinatal period can have a
      positive impact on the breast milk composition. The aim of our study was to
      evaluate the effect of oral supplementation with the probiotic VSL#3, during late
      pregnancy and lactation, on breast milk levels of beneficial bacteria and some
      functional components (oligosaccharides and lactoferrin) potentially able to have
      a positive influence on the microbiota. Breast milk microbiota was analyzed by
      conventional and quantitative real-time PCR. In a double-blind, placebo
      controlled, randomized trial, 66 women took daily either the probiotic (n=33) or
      a placebo (n=33). Intergroup analysis demonstrated that the amounts of both
      lactobacilli and bifidobacteria were significantly higher in the colostrum and
      mature milk of the mothers taking VSL#3 in comparison to those taking placebo.
      The analysis of bacterial strains and species present in breast milk of VSL#3
      supplemented mothers indicated that the administered probiotic microorganisms did
      not pass from maternal gut to mammary gland. In women with vaginal delivery,
      significantly higher amounts of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria were detected in
      colostrum and mature milk of probiotic treated group in comparison to placebo
      group, whereas no significant difference was observed between groups in women who
      had caesarean section, neither in colostrum nor in mature milk. Milk levels of
      oligosaccharides and lactoferrin were similar in placebo and probiotic
      supplemented groups at all timepoints and regardless of the mode of delivery. Our
      results indicate a probiotic-dependent modulation of breast milk microbiota in
      vaginally delivering women, possibly exerted through a systemic effect. 

PMID- 25836924
TI  - Cardiomyoblast (h9c2) differentiation on tunable extracellular matrix
      microenvironment.
AB  - Extracellular matrices (ECM) obtained from in vitro-cultured cells have been
      given much attention, but its application in cardiac tissue engineering is still
      limited. This study investigates cardiomyogenic potential of fibroblast-derived
      matrix (FDM) as a novel ECM platform over gelatin or fibronectin, in generating
      cardiac cell lineages derived from H9c2 cardiomyoblasts. As characterized through
      SEM and AFM, FDM exhibits unique surface texture and biomechanical property.
      Immunofluorescence also found fibronectin, collagen, and laminin in the FDM.
      Cells on FDM showed a more circular shape and slightly less proliferation in a
      growth medium. After being cultured in a differentiation medium for 7 days, H9c2
      cells on FDM differentiated into cardiomyocytes, as identified by stronger
      positive markers, such as alpha-actinin and cTnT, along with more elevated gene
      expression of Myl2 and Tnnt compared to the cells on gelatin and fibronectin. The
      gap junction protein connexin 43 was also significantly upregulated for the cells
      differentiated on FDM. A successive work enabled matrix stiffness tunable; FDM
      crosslinked by 2wt% genipin increased the stiffness up to 8.5 kPa, 100 times
      harder than that of natural FDM. The gene expression of integrin subunit alpha5
      was significantly more upregulated on FDM than on crosslinked FDM (X-FDM),
      whereas no difference was observed for beta1 expression. Interestingly, X-FDM
      showed a much greater effect on the cardiomyoblast differentiation into
      cardiomyocytes over natural one. This study strongly indicates that FDM can be a
      favorable ECM microenvironment for cardiomyogenesis of H9c2 and that tunable
      mechanical compliance induced by crosslinking further provides a valuable insight
      into the role of matrix stiffness on cardiomyogenesis. 

PMID- 25836925
TI  - Nuclear export of messenger RNA.
AB  - Transport of messenger RNA (mRNA) from the nucleus to the cytoplasm is an
      essential step of eukaryotic gene expression. In the cell nucleus, a precursor
      mRNA undergoes a series of processing steps, including capping at the 5' ends,
      splicing and cleavage/polyadenylation at the 3' ends. During this process, the
      mRNA associates with a wide variety of proteins, forming a messenger
      ribonucleoprotein (mRNP) particle. Association with factors involved in nuclear
      export also occurs during transcription and processing, and thus nuclear export
      is fully integrated into mRNA maturation. The coupling between mRNA maturation
      and nuclear export is an important mechanism for providing only fully functional
      and competent mRNA to the cytoplasmic translational machinery, thereby ensuring
      accuracy and swiftness of gene expression. This review describes the molecular
      mechanism of nuclear mRNA export mediated by the principal transport factors,
      including Tap-p15 and the TREX complex. 

PMID- 25836926
TI  - EMAST is a Form of Microsatellite Instability That is Initiated by Inflammation
      and Modulates Colorectal Cancer Progression.
AB  - DNA mismatch repair (MMR) function is critical for correcting errors coincident
      with polymerase-driven DNA replication, and its proteins are frequent targets for
      inactivation (germline or somatic), generating a hypermutable tumor that drives
      cancer progression. The biomarker for defective DNA MMR is microsatellite
      instability-high (MSI-H), observed in ~15% of colorectal cancers, and defined by
      mono- and dinucleotide microsatellite frameshift mutations. MSI-H is highly
      correlated with loss of MMR protein expression, is commonly diploid, is often
      located in the right side of the colon, prognosticates good patient outcome, and
      predicts poor efficacy with 5-fluorouracil treatment. Elevated microsatellite
      alterations at selected tetranucleotide repeats (EMAST) is another form of MSI at
      tetranucleotide repeats that has been observed in multiple cancers, but its
      etiology and clinical relevance to patient care has only been recently
      illuminated. Specifically, EMAST is an acquired somatic defect observed in up to
      60% of colorectal cancers and caused by unique dysfunction of the DNA MMR protein
      MSH3 (and its DNA MMR complex MutSbeta, a heterodimer of MSH2-MSH3), and in
      particular a loss-of-function phenotype due to a reversible shift from its normal
      nuclear location into the cytosol in response to oxidative stress and the pro
      inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6. Tumor hypoxia may also be a contributor.
      Patients with EMAST colorectal cancers show diminished prognosis compared to
      patients without the presence of EMAST in their cancer. In addition to defective
      DNA MMR recognized by tetranucleotide (and di- and tri-nucleotide) frameshifts,
      loss of MSH3 also contributes to homologous recombination-mediated repair of DNA
      double stranded breaks, indicating the MSH3 dysfunction is a complex defect for
      cancer cells that generates not only EMAST but also may contribute to chromosomal
      instability and aneuploidy. Areas for future investigation for this most common
      DNA MMR defect among colorectal cancers include relationships between EMAST and
      chemotherapy response, patient outcome with aneuploid changes in colorectal
      cancers, target gene mutation analysis, and mechanisms related to inflammation
      induced compartmentalization and inactivation for MSH3. 

PMID- 25836927
TI  - Epidemiology of bladder cancer.
AB  - Bladder cancer incidence is higher in old men, shows geographic variation, and is
      mostly an environmental disease. Cigarette smoking, occupational exposures, water
      arsenic, Schistosoma haematobium infestation, and some medications are the best
      established risk factors. Low-penetrance genetic factors also contribute to its
      origin, some through interaction with environmental factors. Bladder cancer has
      high prevalence and a low mortality, being largely a chronic disease. Data on
      environmental and genetic factors involved in the disease outcome are
      inconclusive. 

PMID- 25836928
TI  - Molecular biology of bladder cancer.
AB  - Classic as well as more recent large-scale genomic analyses have uncovered
      multiple genes and pathways important for bladder cancer development. Genes
      involved in cell-cycle control, chromatin regulation, and receptor tyrosine and
      PI3 kinase-mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathways are commonly mutated
      in muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Expression-based analyses have identified
      distinct types of bladder cancer that are similar to subsets of breast cancer,
      and have prognostic and therapeutic significance. These observations are leading
      to novel therapeutic approaches in bladder cancer, providing optimism for
      therapeutic progress. 

PMID- 25836929
TI  - Diagnosis and staging of bladder cancer.
AB  - Bladder cancer (BCa) is a heterogeneous disease with a variable natural history.
      Most patients (70%) present with superficial tumors (stages Ta, T1, or carcinoma
      in situ). However, 3 out of 10 patients present with muscle-invasive disease (T2
      4) with a high risk of death from distant metastases. Moreover, roughly between
      50% and 70% of superficial tumors do recur, and approximately 10% to 20% of them
      progress to muscle-invasive disease. However, BCa has a relatively low ratio of
      mortality versus incidence of new cases. In consequence, there is the danger of
      overdiagnosis and overtreatment. 

PMID- 25836930
TI  - Management of low-risk and intermediate-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder
      carcinoma.
AB  - Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer is a highly recurrent disease. The health care
      costs for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer are a major burden for society.
      Bladder cancer treatment starts with a presumed complete transurethral resection
      of a bladder tumor. Despite international guidelines for perioperative and/or
      adjuvant intravesical instillation therapy in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer,
      adequate worldwide application is lacking. In patients who do get adjuvant
      intravesical instillations, recurrences are still frequent. New therapies in non
      muscle-invasive bladder cancer are unsatisfactory and still experimental. 

PMID- 25836931
TI  - High-risk nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer.
AB  - Please also verify that the expansion of HGT1 is OK as set: The risk of
      progression for high-grade T1 (HGT1) cancer has been recently established at 21%
      using updated information on large series and a meta-analysis. These outcomes are
      better than those classically expected supporting the rule of thirds for HGT1.
      The main limitation of this subgroup is that most studies are retrospective
      observational studies, which, compared with randomized controlled trials, are
      subject to various selection biases, carrying a higher risk of uncontrolled
      confounding factors, with potential preferential reporting of positive findings. 

PMID- 25836932
TI  - Nonurothelial bladder cancer and rare variant histologies.
AB  - At present, radical cystectomy is a mainstay in the management of all bladder
      cancers, whether of conventional urothelial histology or variant. However, in the
      case of some variants, it is clearly not enough and multimodal therapy is an
      imperative. In other cases, systemic therapy might be ineffective or even
      detrimental if it leads to delay in surgery (ie, squamous cell carcinoma). Thus,
      identification of variant histology is a critical part of bladder cancer staging
      because such histology may require appropriately tailored therapy. 

PMID- 25836933
TI  - New trends in the surgical management of invasive bladder cancer.
AB  - Radical cystectomy with urinary diversion is one of the most complex urologic
      procedures and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Although
      it remains the gold standard for treatment of advanced localized disease,
      survival has not changed substantially over the preceding decades, and high
      complication rates and prolonged hospital stays remain common. However, recent
      years have seen the development of robotic-assisted radical cystectomy, trials on
      the benefit of extended lymph node dissection, and evidence supporting the role
      of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols. This article reviews recent trends
      in surgical management of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. 

PMID- 25836934
TI  - Diagnosis and management of upper tract urothelial carcinoma.
AB  - While UTUC is relatively uncommon, it has an aggressive natural history and poor
      prognosis, which has not substantially improved over the past two decades.
      Nevertheless, continued research has led to the discovery of risk factors
      improving the prevention and early detection of UTUC. Although RNU remains the
      standard treatment for localized invasive UTUC, nephron-sparing surgery for
      selected patients has made considerable progress in the recent years. The
      stagnation in the prognosis of UTUC over the past two decades highlights the
      necessity for incorporating multimodal approaches including refinements in
      systemic chemotherapy and radiotherapy to attain better outcomes for patients
      with UTUC. 

PMID- 25836935
TI  - Bladder preservation strategies.
AB  - Although cystectomy remains the standard for treatment of muscle-invasive bladder
      cancer in the United States, there exist potentially curative alternatives for a
      selected subset of these patients in organ preservation using concurrent
      chemotherapy with radiation following an aggressive transurethral resection of
      the tumor. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy in combination, with salvage cystectomy
      for invasive recurrence, have produced 10-year disease-specific survival rates of
      60% to 65% with overall survival similar to that of cystectomy in selected
      patients. Fine-tuning of the chemoradiotherapy sequencing, timing, and
      fractionation has been reported in both single-center and cooperative group
      publications from North America and Europe. 

PMID- 25836936
TI  - Perioperative therapy for muscle invasive bladder cancer.
AB  - Muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is an aggressive disease associated with
      poor survival rates. High rates of relapse, despite radical cystectomy, suggest
      that administration of systemic therapy in the perioperative period may improve
      clinical outcomes. Neoadjuvant treatment with cisplatin-based combination
      regimens is an established standard of care and has improved long-term survival
      in MIBC. As the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy steadily increases, clinicians
      still need to decide about administering adjuvant chemotherapy to patients with
      high-risk disease. This review examines in detail the latest evidence available
      for both neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy, and highlights pertinent studies.

PMID- 25836937
TI  - First-line treatment and prognostic factors of metastatic bladder cancer for
      platinum-eligible patients.
AB  - Metastatic urothelial carcinoma is primarily a disease of the elderly, with a
      median overall survival of approximately 15 months. Cisplatin-based combination
      chemotherapy is standard first-line treatment for eligible patients, with
      carboplatin-based regimens used as an alternative for patients considered unfit
      to receive cisplatin. Prognostic models incorporating clinical risk factors have
      been validated, and molecular characteristics that predict for treatment response
      are under investigation. This review summarizes the current status of first-line
      treatment of metastatic urothelial carcinoma in platinum-eligible patients as
      well as prognostic and predictive models in this disease. 

PMID- 25836938
TI  - First-line treatment of metastatic disease: cisplatin-ineligible patients.
AB  - More than 50% of patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma are not eligible for
      the standard treatment with cisplatin-based chemotherapy. In general, cisplatin
      ineligible patients with metastatic urothelial cancer experience poor outcomes
      with standard treatment, although substantial heterogeneity exists. Baseline
      variables associated with poor prognosis include borderline performance status,
      presence of visceral metastases, liver metastases, and low hemoglobin. Although
      no standard treatment has been defined for cisplatin-ineligible patients,
      recommendations regarding carboplatin-based combination chemotherapy versus
      single-agent chemotherapy versus best supportive care are typically based on
      performance status and renal function. The clinical development of novel agents
      is of considerable interest. 

PMID- 25836939
TI  - Second-line therapies in metastatic urothelial carcinoma.
AB  - Patients with relapsed or refractory urothelial carcinoma (UC) face a poor
      prognosis and a dearth of available treatment options that improve their
      survival. End-organ function and performance status play a vital role in the
      choice of second-line therapies. Evidence supporting the use of cytotoxic
      chemotherapy, as single agents or in combination, arises from small phase 2
      studies with modest responses. With the evolution of genomic testing in UC,
      several pathways amenable to available targeted therapies have emerged.
      Encouraging patient participation in clinical trials is critical to improve
      patient outcomes and to advance the current modest treatment armamentarium. 

PMID- 25836940
TI  - Future directions and targeted therapies in bladder cancer.
AB  - There are substantial unmet needs for patients with metastatic urothelial
      carcinoma (UC). First-line cisplatin-based chemotherapy regimens yield a median
      survival of 12 to 15 months and long-term survival in 5% to 15%. Salvage systemic
      therapy yields a median survival of 6 to 8 months. Hence, the discovery of novel
      therapeutic targets is of paramount importance. Recent molecular analyses have
      provided insights regarding molecular tumor tissue alterations on multiple
      platforms. A multidisciplinary effort using innovative clinical trial designs and
      exploiting preclinical signals of robust activity guided by predictive biomarkers
      may provide much needed clinical advances in therapy for advanced UC.

PMID- 25836941
TI  - Therapeutic opportunities in the intrinsic subtypes of muscle-invasive bladder
      cancer.
AB  - Recent studies revealed that muscle-invasive bladder cancers segregate into
      intrinsic basal and luminal subtypes that are similar to those described for
      breast cancer. Each subtype is enriched with potentially clinically actionable
      genomic alterations and epigenetic signatures; there are associations between
      tumor subtype and sensitivity to conventional cisplatin-based chemotherapy. The
      authors review biological and clinical characteristics of the intrinsic subtypes
      and describe their implications for the development of conventional and targeted
      agents. The role that tumor plasticity seems to play in basal and luminal bladder
      cancer biology and its potential effects on the development of therapeutic
      resistance is also discussed. 

PMID- 25836942
TI  - Bladder cancer.

PMID- 25836943
TI  - Lower serum 25 (OH) D concentrations in type 1 diabetes: A meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Vitamin D may have protective effects against type 1 diabetes (T1D).
      However, the results of current cross-sectional studies have been inconsistent.
      We aimed to examine the association of serum vitamin D and T1D by conducting a
      meta-analysis. METHODS: Multiple databases were searched until April 2014 to
      identify relevant studies. The search term was "serum vitamin D" and "type 1
      diabetes". Random effects model was used to calculate the pooled risk estimate.
      The data were accessed by software Review manager 5.2. RESULTS: We included a
      total of 23 studies (11 studies with 1900 participants of children or adolescents
      and 13 studies with 3494 participants of adults) in our meta-analysis. In
      children or adolescents, serum 25(OH) D in T1D was 5.69 ng/ml [95% confidence
      interval (CI) (2.82-8.55, P<0.0001) lower than in healthy controls. In adults,
      serum 25(OH) D in T1D was 2.61 ng/ml [95% confidence interval (CI) (1.13-4.09,
      P=0.0005) lower than in healthy controls. We did not find evidence of publication
      bias. CONCLUSION: Serum 25OHD is significantly lower in patients with T1D than in
      healthy controls.

PMID- 25836944
TI  - Lower serum fibroblast activation protein shows promise in the exclusion of
      clinically significant liver fibrosis due to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in
      diabetes and obesity.
AB  - Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is common in diabetes and obesity but
      few have clinically significant liver fibrosis. Improved risk-assessment is
      needed as the commonly used clinical-risk algorithm, the NAFLD fibrosis score
      (NFS), is often inconclusive. AIMS: To determine whether circulating fibroblast
      activation protein (cFAP), which is elevated in cirrhosis, has value in excluding
      significant fibrosis, particularly combined with NFS. METHODS: cFAP was measured
      in 106 with type 2 diabetes who had transient elastography (Cohort 1) and 146
      with morbid obesity who had liver biopsy (Cohort 2). RESULTS: In Cohort 1, cFAP
      (per SD) independently associated with median liver stiffness (LSM) >= 10.3 kPa
      with OR of 2.0 (95% CI 1.2-3.4), p=0.006. There was 0.12 OR (95% CI 0.03-0.61) of
      LSM >= 10.3 kPa for those in the lowest compared with the highest FAP tertile
      (p=0.010). FAP levels below 730 pmol AMC/min/mL had 95% NPV for LSM >= 10.3 kPa
      and reclassified 41% of 64 subjects from NFS 'indeterminate-risk' to 'low-risk'.
      In Cohort 2, cFAP (per SD), associated with 1.7 fold (95% CI 1.1-2.8) increased
      odds of significant fibrosis (F >= 2), p=0.021, and low cFAP reclassified 49% of
      73 subjects from 'indeterminate-risk' to 'low-risk'. CONCLUSIONS: Lower cFAP,
      when combined with NFS, may have clinical utility in excluding significant
      fibrosis in diabetes and obesity.

PMID- 25836945
TI  - Effects of sitagliptin on the serum creatinine in Japanese type 2 diabetes.
AB  - We found a slight elevation of serum creatinine in the subjects treated with
      sitagliptin for 2 years and a correlation between creatinine elevation and HbA1c
      reduction. These results suggest that creatinine elevation is associated with
      activation of incretin, most possibly with up-regulation of diuretic activity of
      GLP-1. 

PMID- 25836946
TI  - Pulmonary capillary permeability and pulmonary microangiopathy in diabetes
      mellitus.
AB  - Significant increase in permeability surface (PS) in patients with diabetes
      confirms pulmonary microcirculation damage in these patients. 

PMID- 25836947
TI  - Comprehensive bedside point of care testing in critical ED patients: a before and
      after study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We determined the effects of comprehensive point-of-care testing
      (POCT) on process of care in critically ill emergency department (ED) patients.
      We hypothesized that POCT would shorten ED length of stay (LOS), reduce time to
      test results, and reduce time to completion of intravenous (IV) contrast computed
      tomography (CT) imaging compared with central lab testing. METHODS: A before and
      after study was performed in ED patients triaged to the critical care area.
      During the before period, traditional lab testing was performed, whereas in the
      after period, bedside POCT devices were introduced in all 15 critical care beds
      with 5 testing cartridges (chemistry with hemoglobin and hematocrit, troponin I,
      brain natriuretic peptide, lactate, and international normalized ratio [INR]).
      Clinical protocols indicated when POCT should be used. RESULTS: The numbers of
      critical ED patients before and after introducing POCT were 1405 and 981
      respectively. Test turnaround (minutes) was significantly reduced with bedside
      POCT for all five tests. Use of POCT reduced the median [interquartile range]
      time to completion of IV contrast CT by 81 minutes (96 [55-214] vs 177 [78-300];
      P = .004). Point-of-care testing significantly reduced median ED LOS in patients
      who received an IV contrast CT (260 [180-410] vs 347 [347 (202-523]; P = .03).
      CONCLUSIONS: Introduction of comprehensive bedside POCT in critical ED patients
      is associated with significant reductions in test turnaround, and time to
      completion of CT scanning when IV contrast is required. ED LOS was also reduced
      in the latter population.

PMID- 25836948
TI  - Multimodality diagnosis and surgical management of prosthetic valve endocarditis
      complicated with perivalvular abscess formation.

PMID- 25836949
TI  - [An immobilising malignant phyllodes tumour of the breast].
AB  - Phyllodes tumours of the breast are rare occurrences, but they can reach huge
      dimensions. Descriptions of tumours whereby the women are immobilised as a
      consequence of the size of the tumour, are hard to find in the literature. In
      this presentation we show a case of a woman in otherwise healthy condition with a
      giant phyllodes tumour of her left breast. Because of the weight of the tumour,
      the patient could not leave her bed for more than 6 months. 

PMID- 25836950
TI  - Factors influencing meat emulsion properties and product texture: A review.
AB  - Emulsion-based meat products play an important role in modern meat industry.
      Though meat batters have been prepared traditionally since long back in the
      history, the scientific principles and the knowhow are significantly important in
      the case of commercial products. In India, the market for emulsion meat products
      is gaining importance in the recent years and the native producers are in
      critical need for the scientific basis of production of emulsion meat products
      with better yield, good sensory qualities and nutrition. Hence, this review will
      throw light on some of the important factors which influence the properties of
      meat emulsion such as stability, structure, etc. and the product texture and
      yield as the revealed by past researches which will be useful to the meat
      processors in their practical application in preparing meat emulsion products.

PMID- 25836951
TI  - Accounting for linear transformations of EEG and MEG data in source analysis.
AB  - Analyses of electro- and magnetoencephalography (EEG, MEG) data often involve a
      linear modification of signals at the sensor level. Examples include re
      referencing of the EEG, computation of synthetic gradiometer in MEG, or the
      removal of artifactual independent components to clean EEG and MEG data. A
      question of practical relevance is, if such modifications must be accounted for
      by adapting the physical forward model (leadfield) before subsequent source
      analysis. Here, we show that two scenarios need to be differentiated. In the
      first scenario, which corresponds to re-referencing the EEG and synthetic
      gradiometer computation in MEG, the leadfield must be adapted before source
      analysis. In the second scenario, which corresponds to removing artifactual
      components to 'clean' the data, the leadfield must not be changed. We demonstrate
      and discuss the consequences of wrongly modifying the leadfield in the latter
      case for an example. Future EEG and MEG studies employing source analyses should
      carefully consider whether and, if so, how the leadfield must be modified as
      explicated here. 

PMID- 25836952
TI  - Timing and Strategy for Weaning From Venoarterial ECMO are Complex Issues.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Weaning from venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA
      ECMO) usually is performed without clear guidelines; yet, patients still die
      after removal of extracorporeal circulation because of inadequate heart or end
      organ recovery. The aim of the study was to address the weaning procedure,
      analyzing the hemodynamic and echocardiographic picture of patients weaned and to
      identify predictors of poor outcome among this population. DESIGN: Observational
      study. SETTING: University hospital. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred twenty-nine VA
      ECMO cases. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Forty-nine
      patients (38%) were weaned, 7 (5.4%) were bridged to a ventricular assist device,
      and 6 (5.2%) were listed for heart transplantation. Weaned patients showed a
      significant increase of pulse pressure (35 [0-50] mmHg before ECMO, 59 [53-67]
      mmHg at weaning, 61 [51-76] mmHg after ECMO (p<0.001]) and reduction of dose of
      inotropes (inotropic score [as defined in the text] 20 [14-40] before ECMO, 10 [3
      15] at weaning, and 10 [5-15] after ECMO, p<0.001). Left ventricular ejection
      fraction (LVEF) increased from 19 (0-22.5)% before ECMO to 35 (22-55)% after ECMO
      (p<0.001). A significant improvement of right ventricular (RV) function was
      observed in weaned patients (RV dysfunction from 52% to 21%, p<0.001). Among
      weaned patients, 15 (31%) died. Patients who died after weaning had longer ECMO
      duration compared to discharged patients (8 [5-11] v 4 [2-6] days, p = 0.01) and
      more transfusions (22 [10-37] v 7 [0.5-15] units, p = 0.02); survival was lower
      in patients with central ECMO (postcardiotomy) compared to peripheral ECMO (p =
      0.045). Mortality was higher in those with persistence of RV failure, continuous
      venovenous hemofiltration, higher inotropic score, lower systolic pressure, or
      higher leucocyte count at weaning. CONCLUSIONS: Successful weaning from ECMO is a
      multifaceted process, which encompasses consistent recovery of myocardial and end
      organ function; LVEF, though improved, is still low at weaning. Hospital survival
      is correlated significantly to the duration of ECMO support and to bleeding
      complications.

PMID- 25836953
TI  - Efficacy of fibrinogen concentrate compared with cryoprecipitate for reversal of
      the antiplatelet effect of clopidogrel in an in vitro model, as assessed by
      multiple electrode platelet aggregometry, thromboelastometry, and modified
      thromboelastography.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The management of dual-antiplatelet therapy when patients present for
      surgical revascularization is a clinical challenge. Whether increasing fibrinogen
      levels can restore hemostasis in this context is not established but may
      represent increased platelet glycoprotein fibrinogen binding, altered adenosine
      diphosphate (ADP)-dependent platelet activation, or an increase in formation of
      soluble fibrin as a component of whole blood clot. DESIGN: The study hypothesis
      was that fibrinogen concentrate would normalize in vitro hemostatic parameters
      after clopidogrel loading. The effect was compared with cryoprecipitate. SETTING:
      University Hospital PARTICIPANTS: Elective coronary catheter studies
      INTERVENTIONS: Assessment of platelet aggregation was made using whole blood
      platelet impedance. Viscoelastic assessment also was made using whole blood
      rotational thromboelastometry and modified thromboelastography. Twenty patients
      presenting for cardiac catheterization on dual-antiplatelet therapy were studied.
      Whole blood was titrated with increasing amounts of cryoprecipitate and
      fibrinogen concentrate. Samples then were diluted 40% with normal saline and
      further titrated. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: The principal finding of the
      study was that fibrinogen supplementation primarily improved assays of fibrin
      formation. Improvement in platelet aggregation response to ADP and TRAP was not
      observed. Neither cryoprecipitate nor fibrinogen concentrate, at the
      concentrations used, were able to improve the amplitude at 30 minutes (A30) in
      the modified TEG-ADP assay. Furthermore, they produced comparable amplitudes at
      30 minutes despite a twofold difference in fibrinogen supplementation.
      CONCLUSIONS: Fibrinogen supplementation may play a role in the hemostatic
      resuscitation of patients on dual-antiplatelet therapy, but there is no evidence
      in this in vitro study that there is a specific platelet effect involved that
      would allow for platelet substitution.

PMID- 25836954
TI  - A Retrospective Examination of the Efficacy of Paravertebral Block for Patients
      Requiring Intraoperative High-Dose Unfractionated Heparin Administration During
      Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Postoperative respiratory complications are serious and frequently
      observed among patients who undergo thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA)
      repair. Paravertebral block (PVB) can provide effective analgesia for relief of
      postoperative thoracotomy pain and may reduce respiratory complications. However,
      the impact of PVB on postoperative pain and respiratory function in patients who
      undergo TAAA repair requiring intraoperative high-dose heparin administration is
      unknown. This study examined the efficacy of PVB on postoperative pain and
      respiratory function after TAAA repairs. DESIGN: Retrospective, observational
      cohort study. SETTING: Single center in Japan. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-eight
      consecutive patients who underwent TAAA repair from March 2013 to October 2014.
      INTERVENTIONS: Application of thoracic PVB. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: A total
      of 56 patients were analyzed. Two patients were excluded because 1 patient was
      dead within 24 hours after surgery and 1 patient was 9 years old. Patients with
      PVB were defined as group P (n = 17), and patients without PVB as group C (n =
      39). There was no significant difference in baseline characteristics between the
      2 groups. Both postoperative pain at rest and postoperative pain while coughing
      were assessed using a numeric rating scale (NRS); the incidence of reintubation
      and noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) also were compared between
      the 2 groups. The NRS score of postoperative pain at rest was significantly lower
      in group P (group P: Median 2, interquartile range 1 to 3; group C: Median 6,
      interquartile range 5 to 7; p = 0.000), and the NRS score of postoperative pain
      while coughing was significantly lower in group P (group P: Median 5,
      interquartile range 3.5 to 6.5; group C: Median 8, interquartile range 7 to 10; p
      = 0.000). Reintubation rate was significantly lower in group P (group P: 0%,
      group C: 23%, p = 0.045); the incidences of NPPV (group P: 12%, group C: 46%, p =
      0.016) and postoperative pneumonia were significantly lower in group P (group P:
      0%, group C: 28%, p = 0.024). CONCLUSIONS: PVB significantly reduced
      postoperative pain at rest and while coughing and significantly reduced the
      reintubation rate, the rate of NPPV use, and postoperative pneumonia without
      complications. PVB could be a safe and an effective analgesic method that reduces
      postoperative respiratory exacerbation in patients who undergo TAAA repair.

PMID- 25836955
TI  - Probing the factor structure of metabolic syndrome in Sardinian genetic isolates.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Owing to the multiplicity of the key components of metabolic
      syndrome (MetS), its diagnosis is very complex. The lack of a unique definition
      is responsible for the prevalence variability observed among studies; therefore,
      a definition based on continuous variables was recommended. The aim of this study
      was to compare competing models of the MetS factor structure for selecting the
      one that explains the best clustering pattern and to propose an algorithm for
      computing MetS as a continuous variable. METHODS AND RESULTS: Data were from
      isolated Sardinian populations (n = 8102). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and
      two-group CFA by gender were performed to evaluate the sex-specific factor
      structure of MetS. After selecting the best model, an algorithm was obtained
      using factor loadings/residual variances. The quality of the MetS score was
      evaluated by the receiver operating characteristics curve and the area under the
      curve. Cross-validation was performed to validate the score and to determine the
      best cut point. The best fit model was a bifactor one with a general factor
      (MetS) and three specific factors (f1: obesity/adiposity trait; f2:
      hypertension/blood pressure trait; and f3: lipid trait). Gender-specific
      algorithms were implemented to obtain MetS scores showing a good diagnostic
      performance (0.80 specificity and 0.80 sensitivity for the cut point).
      Furthermore, cross-validation confirmed these results. CONCLUSION: These analyses
      suggested that the bifactor model was the most representative one. In addition,
      they provided a score and a cut point that are both clinically accessible and
      interpretable measures for MetS diagnosis and likely useful for evaluating the
      association with adverse cardiovascular disease and diabetes and for
      investigating the MetS genetic component.

PMID- 25836956
TI  - Special issue: global 3Rs efforts - making progress and gaining momentum.

PMID- 25836957
TI  - Russell and Burch's 3Rs then and now: the need for clarity in definition and
      purpose.
AB  - Russell and Burch's The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique was first
      published in 1959. A Special Edition containing the original text was reissued in
      1992, after its ideas had gained widespread interest in the scientific community.
      In the Principles, Russell and Burch proposed a new applied science that would
      improve the treatment of laboratory animals while advancing the quality of
      science in studies that use animals. They introduced and defined the terms
      replacement, reduction, and refinement, which subsequently have become known as
      'alternatives' or 'alternative methods' for minimizing the potential for animal
      pain and distress in biomedical research. Here we describe and explain the
      original definitions of the 3Rs in the Principles, examine how current
      definitions differ among themselves and from Russell and Burch's definitions, and
      suggest relevant considerations for evaluating all definitions of the 3Rs. 

PMID- 25836958
TI  - Creative implementation of 3Rs principles within industry programs: beyond
      regulations and guidelines.
AB  - The industry involved with using animals as an essential part of research has
      supported the theory and philosophy of the 3Rs for years. However, both the
      culture and approach surrounding the 3Rs is evolving rapidly, and many
      institutions are attempting to surpass the regulations and guidelines to
      implement the 3Rs for improved science and animal welfare. Regulatory documents
      and guidelines such as the Animal Welfare Act, the Guide for the Care and Use of
      Laboratory Animals, the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of
      Laboratory Animals, and the US Government Principles for the Utilization and Care
      of Vertebrate Animals Used in Testing, Research, and Training clearly outline how
      the IACUC should address the 3Rs, but there are many additional paradigms and
      resources that an institution can use to promote the 3Rs creatively. We review
      the legal mandates and guidelines that institutions must or should follow, and we
      present some creative approaches toward their compliance, including the creation
      of full-time dedicated 3Rs roles as well as temporary 3Rs-focused positions such
      as visiting scientist and postdoctoral fellowships and internships. We also
      discuss how to creatively achieve 3Rs progress through internal committees and
      working groups, involvement in 3Rs consortia, recognizing 3Rs advances through
      awards programs, and creating 3Rs volunteer opportunities. Adherence to
      regulations and guidelines creates a solid foundation for good animal care and
      science, and creative 3Rs approaches enable the growth of a robust animal welfare
      culture that enhances the potential for 3Rs benefits to animals and science. 

PMID- 25836959
TI  - Using dried blood spot sampling to improve data quality and reduce animal use in
      mouse pharmacokinetic studies.
AB  - Traditional pharmacokinetic analysis in nonclinical studies is based on the
      concentration of a test compound in plasma and requires approximately 100 to 200
      MUL blood collected per time point. However, the total blood volume of mice
      limits the number of samples that can be collected from an individual animal
      often to a single collection per mouse-thus necessitating dosing multiple mice to
      generate a pharmacokinetic profile in a sparse-sampling design. Compared with
      traditional methods, dried blood spot (DBS) analysis requires smaller volumes of
      blood (15 to 20 MUL), thus supporting serial blood sampling and the generation of
      a complete pharmacokinetic profile from a single mouse. Here we compare plasma
      derived data with DBS-derived data, explain how to adopt DBS sampling to support
      discovery mouse studies, and describe how to generate pharmacokinetic and
      pharmacodynamic data from a single mouse. Executing novel study designs that use
      DBS enhances the ability to identify and streamline better drug candidates during
      drug discovery. Implementing DBS sampling can reduce the number of mice needed in
      a drug discovery program. In addition, the simplicity of DBS sampling and the
      smaller numbers of mice needed translate to decreased study costs. Overall, DBS
      sampling is consistent with 3Rs principles by achieving reductions in the number
      of animals used, decreased restraint-associated stress, improved data quality,
      direct comparison of interanimal variability, and the generation of multiple
      endpoints from a single study. 

PMID- 25836960
TI  - Miniaturized blood sampling techniques to benefit reduction in mice and
      refinement in nonhuman primates: applications to bioanalysis in toxicity studies
      with antibody-drug conjugates.
AB  - Minimizing the number of animals in regulatory toxicity studies while achieving
      study objectives to support the development of future medicines contributes to
      good scientific and ethical practices. Recent advances in technology have enabled
      the development of miniaturized blood sampling methods (including microsampling
      and dried blood spots) applicable to toxicokinetic determinations of small
      molecule drugs. Implementation of miniaturized blood sampling methods in the
      context of biotherapeutic drugs is desirable because a limitation to this type of
      medicine remains the total blood volume needed from a single animal to support
      toxicokinetic determinations of several analytes (parent drug, metabolites[s],
      antidrug antibodies, and so forth). We describe here the technical details,
      applicability, and relevance of new miniaturized blood sampling procedures in
      mice and nonhuman primates in the context of the toxicologic evaluation of
      biotherapeutic drugs consisting of antibody-drug conjugates developed for
      oncology indications. These examples illustrate how these techniques can benefit
      the reduction of animal usage in mouse toxicity studies by decreasing the number
      of animals dedicated to toxicokinetic determinations and the refinement of
      practices in nonhuman primate toxicity studies by decreasing the blood volume
      repeatedly drawn for toxicokinetic determinations. 

PMID- 25836962
TI  - Improving prediction of carcinogenicity to reduce, refine, and replace the use of
      experimental animals.
AB  - Cancer risk assessment of new pharmaceuticals is crucial to protect public
      health. However, clinical trials lack the duration needed to clearly detect drug
      related tumor emergence, and biomarkers suggestive of increased cancer risk from
      a drug typically are not measured in clinical trials. Therefore, the carcinogenic
      potential of a new pharmaceutical is extrapolated predominately based on 2-y
      bioassays in rats and mice. A key drawback to this practice is that the results
      are frequently positive for tumors and can be irrelevant to human cancer risk for
      reasons such as dose, mode of action, and species specificity. Alternative
      approaches typically strive to reduce, refine, and replace rodents in
      carcinogenicity assessments by leveraging findings in short-term studies, both in
      silico and in vivo, to predict the likely tumor outcome in rodents or, more
      broadly, to identify a cancer risk to patients. Given the complexities of
      carcinogenesis and the perceived impracticality of assessing risk in the course
      of clinical trials, studies conducted in animals will likely remain the standard
      by which potential cancer risks are characterized for new pharmaceuticals in the
      immediate foreseeable future. However, a weight-of-evidence evaluation based on
      short-term toxicologic, in silico, and pharmacologic data is a promising approach
      to identify with reasonable certainty those pharmaceuticals that present a likely
      cancer risk in humans and, conversely, those that do not present a human cancer
      risk. 

PMID- 25836963
TI  - A new path forward: the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of
      Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) and National Toxicology Program's Interagency Center
      for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM).
AB  - In 2000, the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative
      Methods (ICCVAM) was congressionally established, with representatives from
      Federal regulatory and research agencies that require, use, generate, or
      disseminate toxicologic and safety testing information. For over 15 y, ICCVAM and
      the National Toxicology Program's Interagency Center for the Evaluation of
      Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM) have worked together to promote the
      development, validation, and regulatory acceptance of test methods that replace,
      reduce, or refine the use of animals in regulatory testing. In 2013, both NICEATM
      and ICCVAM underwent major changes to their operating paradigms, to increase the
      speed and efficiency of regulatory approval and industry adoption of 3Rs testing
      methods within the United States and internationally. Accordingly, increased
      emphasis has been placed on international activities, primarily through
      interaction with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and
      participation in the International Cooperation on Alternative Test Methods. In
      addition, ICCVAM has committed to increasing public awareness of and transparency
      about federal agencies' 3R activities and to fostering interactions with
      stakeholders. Finally, although it continues to support ICCVAM, NICEATM's work
      now includes validation support for Tox21, a collaboration aimed at identifying
      in vitro methods and computational approaches for testing chemicals to better
      understand and predict hazards to humans and the environment. The combination of
      more efficient operating paradigms, increased international collaboration,
      improved communication and interaction with stakeholders, and active
      participation in Tox21 likely will substantially increase the number of 3Rs
      methods developed and used in the United States and internationally. 

PMID- 25836961
TI  - The use of systematic reviews and reporting guidelines to advance the
      implementation of the 3Rs.
AB  - In 1959, Russell and Burch published The Principles of Humane Experimental
      Technique, which included concrete advice on factors that they considered would
      govern progress in the implementation of these principles (enunciated as the 3Rs
      [Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement in animal-based studies]). One challenge
      to the implementation of the 3Rs was identified as information retrieval. Here,
      we further explore this challenge-the need for 'research on research'-and the
      role that systematic reviews and reporting guidelines can play in implementation
      of the 3Rs. First, we examine the 2-fold nature of the challenge of information
      retrieval: 1) the identification of relevant publications spread throughout a
      large population of nonrelevant publications and 2) the incomplete reporting of
      relevant details within those publications. Second, we evaluate how systematic
      reviews and reporting guidelines can be used generally to address this challenge.
      Third, we assess the explicit reporting of the 3Rs in a cohort of preclinical
      animal systematic reviews. Our results show that Reduction methods are the most
      commonly reported by authors of systematic reviews but that, in general,
      reporting on how findings relate to the 3Rs is limited at best. Although
      systematic reviews are excellent tools for resolving the challenge of information
      retrieval, their utility for making progress in implementation of the 3Rs may be
      limited unless authors improve their reporting of these principles. 

PMID- 25836964
TI  - Roles of the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) and
      International Association of Colleges of Laboratory Animal Medicine (IACLAM) in
      the Global Organization and Support of 3Rs Advances in Laboratory Animal Science.
AB  - Practical implementation of the 3Rs at national and regional levels around the
      world requires long-term commitment, backing, and coordinated efforts by
      international associations for laboratory animal medicine and science, including
      the International Association of Colleges of Laboratory Animal Medicine (IACLAM)
      and the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS). Together
      these organizations support the efforts of regional organization and communities
      of laboratory animal science professionals as well as the development of local
      associations and professional colleges that promote the training and continuing
      education of research facility personnel and veterinary specialists. The recent
      formation of a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) Collaborating Center
      for Laboratory Animal Science and Welfare emphasizes the need for research into
      initiatives promoting laboratory animal welfare, particularly in emerging
      economies and regions with nascent associations of laboratory animal science. 

PMID- 25836965
TI  - The evolution of animal welfare and the 3Rs in Brazil, China, and India.
AB  - Increasingly, scientific collaborations and contracts cross country borders. The
      need for assurance that the quality of animal welfare and the caliber of animal
      research conducted are equivalent among research partners around the globe is of
      concern to the scientific and laboratory animal medicine communities, the general
      public, and other key stakeholders. Therefore, global harmonization of animal
      care and use standards and practices, with the welfare of the animals as a
      cornerstone, is essential. In the evolving global landscape of enhanced attention
      to animal welfare, a widely accepted path to achieving this goal is the
      successful integration of the 3Rs in animal care and use programs. Currently,
      awareness of the 3Rs, their implementation, and the resulting animal care and use
      standards and practices vary across countries. This variability has direct
      effects on the animals used in research and potentially the data generated and
      may also have secondary effects on the country's ability to be viewed as a global
      research partner. Here we review the status of implementation of the 3Rs
      worldwide and focus on 3 countries-Brazil, China and India-with increasing
      economic influence and an increasing footprint in the biomedical research
      enterprise. 

PMID- 25836966
TI  - Making progress and gaining momentum in global 3Rs efforts: how the European
      pharmaceutical industry is contributing.
AB  - Animal research together with other investigational methods (computer modeling,
      in vitro tests, etc) remains an indispensable part of the pharmaceutical research
      and development process. The European pharmaceutical industry recognizes the
      responsibilities inherent in animal research and is committed to applying and
      enhancing 3Rs principles. New nonsentient, ex vivo, and in vitro methods are
      developed every day and contribute to reducing and, in some instances, replacing
      in vivo studies. Their utility is however limited by the extent of our current
      knowledge and understanding of complex biological systems. Until validated
      alternative ways to model these complex interactions become available, animals
      remain indispensable in research and safety testing. In the interim, scientists
      continue to look for ways to reduce the number of animals needed to obtain valid
      results, refine experimental techniques to enhance animal welfare, and replace
      animals with other research methods whenever feasible. As research goals foster
      increasing cross-sector and international collaboration, momentum is growing to
      enhance and coordinate scientific innovation globally-beyond a single company,
      stakeholder group, sector, region, or country. The implementation of 3Rs
      strategies can be viewed as an integral part of this continuously evolving
      science, demonstrating the link between science and welfare, benefiting both the
      development of new medicines and animal welfare. This goal is one of the key
      objectives of the Research and Animal Welfare working group of the European
      Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. 

PMID- 25836967
TI  - Pioneering better science through the 3Rs: an introduction to the national centre
      for the replacement, refinement, and reduction of animals in research (NC3Rs).
AB  - The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction of Animals in
      Research (NC3Rs) is an independent scientific organization that is based in the
      United Kingdom, which was set up by the government to lead the discovery and
      application of new technologies and approaches that minimize the use of animals
      in research and improve animal welfare. The NC3Rs uses a range of strategies to
      improve and advance science through application of the 3Rs. These include funding
      basic research, open innovation (CRACK IT), and programs run by inhouse
      scientists. We present several case studies from the NC3Rs portfolio, featuring
      asthma research, the use of nonhuman primates in monoclonal antibody development,
      and CRACK IT. Finally, we anticipate the future, as we use our experience to move
      into new research fields and expand toward international collaboration. Here we
      highlight how equipping scientists with relevant and emerging 3Rs tools can help
      overcome the challenges and limitations of the use of animals in research to the
      benefit of the whole bioscience community. 

PMID- 25836968
TI  - The European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA):
      promoting alternative methods in Europe and beyond.
AB  - Here in we introduce the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to
      Animal Testing (EPAA) and its activities, which are focused on international
      cooperation toward alternative methods. The EPAA is one of the leading
      organizations in Europe for the promotion of alternative approaches to animal
      testing. Its innovative public-private partnership structure enables a consensus
      driven dialogue across 7 industry sectors to facilitate interaction between
      regulators and regulated stakeholders. Through a brief description of EPAA's
      activities and organizational structure, we first articulate the value of this
      collaboration; we then focus on 2 key projects driven by EPAA. The first project
      aims to address research gaps on stem cells for safety testing, whereas the
      second project strives for an approach toward demonstration of consistency in
      vaccine batch release testing. We highlight the growing need for harmonization of
      international acceptance and implementation of alternative approaches and for
      increased international collaboration to foster progress on nonanimal
      alternatives. 

PMID- 25836970
TI  - Consideration and checkboxes: incorporating ethics and science into the 3Rs.
AB  - Members of the research community aim to both produce high-quality research and
      ensure that harm is minimized in animals. The primary means of ensuring these
      goals are both met is the 3Rs framework of replacement, reduction, and
      refinement. However, some approaches to the 3Rs may result in a 'check box
      mentality' in which IACUC members, researchers, administrators, and caretakers
      check off a list of tasks to evaluate a protocol. We provide reasons for thinking
      that the 3Rs approach could be enhanced with more explicit discussion of the
      ethical assumptions used to arrive at an approved research protocol during IACUC
      review. Here we suggest that the notion of moral considerability, and all of the
      related issues it gives rise to, should be incorporated into IACUC discussions of
      3Rs deliberations during protocol review to ensure that animal wellbeing is
      enhanced within the constraints of scientific investigation. 

PMID- 25836971
TI  - Correction: Functional genomics unique to week 20 post wounding in the deep
      cone/fat dome of the Duroc/Yorkshire porcine model of fibroproliferative
      scarring.

PMID- 25836969
TI  - Predicting the future: opportunities and challenges for the chemical industry to
      apply 21st-century toxicity testing.
AB  - Interest in applying 21st-century toxicity testing tools for safety assessment of
      industrial chemicals is growing. Whereas conventional toxicology uses mainly
      animal-based, descriptive methods, a paradigm shift is emerging in which
      computational approaches, systems biology, high-throughput in vitro toxicity
      assays, and high-throughput exposure assessments are beginning to be applied to
      mechanism-based risk assessments in a time- and resource-efficient fashion. Here
      we describe recent advances in predictive safety assessment, with a focus on
      their strategic application to meet the changing demands of the chemical industry
      and its stakeholders. The opportunities to apply these new approaches is
      extensive and include screening of new chemicals, informing the design of safer
      and more sustainable chemical alternatives, filling information gaps on data-poor
      chemicals already in commerce, strengthening read-across methodology for
      categories of chemicals sharing similar modes of action, and optimizing the
      design of reduced-risk product formulations. Finally, we discuss how these
      predictive approaches dovetail with in vivo integrated testing strategies within
      repeated-dose regulatory toxicity studies, which are in line with 3Rs principles
      to refine, reduce, and replace animal testing. Strategic application of these
      tools is the foundation for informed and efficient safety assessment testing
      strategies that can be applied at all stages of the product-development process. 

PMID- 25836972
TI  - Relationship between trusting behaviors and psychometrics associated with social
      network and depression among young generation: a pilot study.
AB  - Maladaptive social interaction and its related psychopathology have been
      highlighted in psychiatry especially among younger generations. In Japan, novel
      expressive forms of psychiatric phenomena such as "modern-type depression" and
      "hikikomori" (a syndrome of severe social withdrawal lasting for at least six
      months) have been reported especially among young people. Economic games such as
      the trust game have been utilized to evaluate real-world interpersonal
      relationships as a novel candidate for psychiatric evaluations. To investigate
      the relationship between trusting behaviors and various psychometric scales, we
      conducted a trust game experiment with eighty-one Japanese university students as
      a pilot study. Participants made a risky financial decision about whether to
      trust each of 40 photographed partners. Participants then answered a set of
      questionnaires with seven scales including the Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS)
      6 and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9. Consistent with previous
      research, male participants trusted partners more than female participants.
      Regression analysis revealed that LSNS-family (perceived support from family) for
      male participants, and item 8 of PHQ-9 (subjective agitation and/or retardation)
      for female participants were associated with participants' trusting behaviors.
      Consistent with claims by social scientists, our data suggest that, for males,
      support from family was negatively associated with cooperative behavior toward
      non-family members. Females with higher subjective agitation (and/or retardation)
      gave less money toward males and high attractive females, but not toward low
      attractive females in interpersonal relationships. We believe that our data
      indicate the possible impact of economic games in psychiatric research and
      clinical practice, and validation in clinical samples including modern-type
      depression and hikikomori should be investigated. 

PMID- 25836973
TI  - Analysis of genomic regions of Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844 related to biomass
      degradation.
AB  - Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844 secretes high levels of cellulolytic-active
      enzymes and is therefore a promising strain for use in biotechnological
      applications in second-generation bioethanol production. However, the T.
      harzianum biomass degradation mechanism has not been well explored at the genetic
      level. The present work investigates six genomic regions (~150 kbp each) in this
      fungus that are enriched with genes related to biomass conversion. A BAC library
      consisting of 5,760 clones was constructed, with an average insert length of 90
      kbp. The assembled BAC sequences revealed 232 predicted genes, 31.5% of which
      were related to catabolic pathways, including those involved in biomass
      degradation. An expression profile analysis based on RNA-Seq data demonstrated
      that putative regulatory elements, such as membrane transport proteins and
      transcription factors, are located in the same genomic regions as genes related
      to carbohydrate metabolism and exhibit similar expression profiles. Thus, we
      demonstrate a rapid and efficient tool that focuses on specific genomic regions
      by combining a BAC library with transcriptomic data. This is the first BAC-based
      structural genomic study of the cellulolytic fungus T. harzianum, and its
      findings provide new perspectives regarding the use of this species in biomass
      degradation processes. 

PMID- 25836974
TI  - Hidden penile fracture: An unusual presentation and review of literature.
AB  - Penile fractures, a not so uncommon urological emergency, mostly present with a
      characteristic history and physical examination. Here, we present an atypical
      case where even in the absence of physical findings, a characteristic history led
      us to penile exploration and timely repair, highlighting the importance of
      careful history-taking in these cases. 

PMID- 25836975
TI  - Abnormalities of AMPK activation and glucose uptake in cultured skeletal muscle
      cells from individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Post exertional muscle fatigue is a key feature in Chronic Fatigue
      Syndrome (CFS). Abnormalities of skeletal muscle function have been identified in
      some but not all patients with CFS. To try to limit potential confounders that
      might contribute to this clinical heterogeneity, we developed a novel in vitro
      system that allows comparison of AMP kinase (AMPK) activation and metabolic
      responses to exercise in cultured skeletal muscle cells from CFS patients and
      control subjects. METHODS: Skeletal muscle cell cultures were established from 10
      subjects with CFS and 7 age-matched controls, subjected to electrical pulse
      stimulation (EPS) for up to 24h and examined for changes associated with
      exercise. RESULTS: In the basal state, CFS cultures showed increased myogenin
      expression but decreased IL6 secretion during differentiation compared with
      control cultures. Control cultures subjected to 16 h EPS showed a significant
      increase in both AMPK phosphorylation and glucose uptake compared with
      unstimulated cells. In contrast, CFS cultures showed no increase in AMPK
      phosphorylation or glucose uptake after 16 h EPS. However, glucose uptake
      remained responsive to insulin in the CFS cells pointing to an exercise-related
      defect. IL6 secretion in response to EPS was significantly reduced in CFS
      compared with control cultures at all time points measured. CONCLUSION: EPS is an
      effective model for eliciting muscle contraction and the metabolic changes
      associated with exercise in cultured skeletal muscle cells. We found four main
      differences in cultured skeletal muscle cells from subjects with CFS; increased
      myogenin expression in the basal state, impaired activation of AMPK, impaired
      stimulation of glucose uptake and diminished release of IL6. The retention of
      these differences in cultured muscle cells from CFS subjects points to a
      genetic/epigenetic mechanism, and provides a system to identify novel therapeutic
      targets.

PMID- 25836977
TI  - A Monte Carlo study of an energy-weighted algorithm for radionuclide analysis
      with a plastic scintillation detector.
AB  - Nuisance and false alarms due to naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM)
      are major problems facing radiation portal monitors (RPMs) for the screening of
      illicit radioactive materials in airports and ports. Based on energy-weighted
      counts, we suggest an algorithm that distinguishes radioactive nuclides with a
      plastic scintillation detector that has poor energy resolution. Our simulation
      study, using a Monte Carlo method, demonstrated that man-made radionuclides can
      be separated from NORM by using a conventional RPM. 

PMID- 25836976
TI  - Scavenger receptor SREC-I mediated entry of TLR4 into lipid microdomains and
      triggered inflammatory cytokine release in RAW 264.7 cells upon LPS activation.
AB  - Scavenger receptor associated with endothelial cells I (SREC-I) was shown to be
      expressed in immune cells and to play a role in the endocytosis of peptides and
      antigen presentation. As our previous studies indicated that SREC-I required
      intact Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression for its functions in tumor
      immunity, we examined potential interactions between these two receptors. We have
      shown here that SREC-I became associated with TLR4 on binding bacterial
      lipopolysaccharides (LPS) in RAW 264.7 and HEK 293 cells overexpressing these two
      receptors. The receptors then became internalized together in intracellular
      endosomes. SREC-I promoted TLR4-induced signal transduction through the NF-kB and
      MAP kinase pathways, leading to enhanced inflammatory cytokine release.
      Activation of inflammatory signaling through SREC-I/TLR4 complexes appeared to
      involve recruitment of the receptors into detergent-insoluble, cholesterol-rich
      lipid microdomains that contained the small GTPase Cdc42 and the non-receptor
      tyrosine kinase c-src. Under conditions of SREC-I activation by LPS, TLR4
      activity required Cdc42 as well as cholesterol and actin polymerization for
      signaling through NF-kB and MAP kinase pathways in RAW 264.7 cells. SREC-I
      appeared to respond differently to another ligand, the molecular chaperone Hsp90
      that, while triggering SREC-I-TLR4 binding caused only faint activation of the NF
      kB pathway. Our experiments therefore indicated that SREC-I could bind LPS and
      might be involved in innate inflammatory immune responses to extracellular danger
      signals in RAW 264.7 cells or bone marrow-derived macrophages. 

PMID- 25836978
TI  - Production scale purification of Ge-68 and Zn-65 from irradiated gallium metal.
AB  - Germanium-68 (Ge-68) is produced by proton irradiation of a gallium metal target,
      purified by organic extraction and used in a medical isotope generator to produce
      Gallium-68 PET imaging agents. The purpose of this work was to implement a
      production scale separation of Ge-68 and Zn-65 that does not use organic solvents
      and uses a limited number of columns. The current separation approach was
      modified to use AG1 resin and/or Sephadex((c)) G25 with zinc spikes to purify Ge
      68 with near quantitative recovery. The purified Ge-68 meets DOE specifications.
      Methods utilizing zinc spikes resulted in the purist Ge-68 produced at Brookhaven
      National Lab with no other impurities by ICP-OES. During process optimization
      approximately 2.5 Ci of Ge-68 was purified utilizing the different processing
      methods, and the material was sold to the Nuclear Medicine community between 2012
      2013.

PMID- 25836979
TI  - Rebuttal From Drs Avdalovic and Murin.

PMID- 25836980
TI  - Evidence-Based Systematic Review: Effects of Speech-Language Pathology Treatment
      for Individuals With Paradoxical Vocal Fold Motion.
AB  - PURPOSE: In this article, our goal was to determine the state of the evidence and
      the effect of speech-language pathology (SLP) treatment for individuals with
      paradoxical vocal fold motion (PVFM). METHOD: The American Speech-Language
      Hearing Association's National Center for Evidence-Based Practice in
      Communication Disorders searched 22 electronic databases using key words related
      to PVFM, speech or voice treatment, and behavioral intervention for articles
      published through July 2013. Identified articles were systematically evaluated to
      assess the quality of the evidence using a modification of the American Speech
      Language-Hearing Association's critical appraisal scheme. RESULTS: Sixty-five
      articles met the search criteria. Only 2 out of the 65 articles were judged to
      contain adequate evidence to evaluate the effect of SLP treatment for PVFM. All
      65 articles exemplify the state of the evidence for SLP treatment for PVFM.
      CONCLUSION: The state of the evidence for the use of SLP treatment is in its
      infancy, with a majority of articles in the exploratory stage of research.
      Consequently, few clinical implications can be drawn at this time. SLP treatment
      for PVFM is promising; however, there is clearly a pressing need for systematic
      experimental studies that involve a control group to further the evidence base.

PMID- 25836981
TI  - Impact of Georgia's teenage and adult driver responsibility act: 15-year follow
      up.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to investigate the 15-year impact of Georgia's
      graduated drivers' licensing (GDL) law, the "Teenage and Adult Driver
      Responsibility Act" (TADRA), on fatality crashes among young drivers. METHODS:
      Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data for Georgia and Census
      denominators were used to determine fatal crash rates (FCRs) of drivers ages 16
      through 19 who passed through the Georgia GDL system during the 5.5 years prior
      to through 15.5 years after TADRA's implementation. FCRs of younger drivers were
      compared to those of drivers ages 20-54 and 55-75 and compared by gender.
      Attention was given to speeding- and alcohol-related crashes, 2 foci of TADRA.
      RESULTS: The decline in FCRs has been maintained and even increased through 15.5
      years after passage of the law. Extending the curfew and further limiting
      passengers (passed in 2001) and driver's education and supervised driving
      requirements (added in 2007) may have contributed. The greatest declines were
      among 16- and 17-year-olds; most of the gains were among male drivers. The
      changes were greatest for alcohol- and speeding-related crashes. Those 18 and 19
      years old did not demonstrate an increase in FCR over the period studied.
      CONCLUSION: Georgia's graduated licensing law, TADRA, has maintained and in some
      instances increased in effectiveness over the 15.5 years since its inception.
      Though national research suggests that GDL laws are associated with increased
      crash rates among 18- to 19-year-old drivers, this has not occurred in Georgia;
      18- and 19-year-olds demonstrated no change or reductions in FCR over the 20.5
      year period evaluated. Declines were greatest for those driving behaviors
      targeted by the law.

PMID- 25836983
TI  - Greeting from the President of the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology
      (JSID).

PMID- 25836982
TI  - Unwinding the mechanisms of a DEAD-box RNA helicase in cancer.

PMID- 25836984
TI  - Greetings from the new Secretary-General of the Japanese Society for
      Investigative Dermatology (JSID).

PMID- 25836985
TI  - Obesity Early in Adulthood Increases Risk but Does Not Affect Outcomes of
      Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Despite the significant association between obesity and
      several cancers, it has been difficult to establish an association between
      obesity and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Patients with HCC often have ascites,
      making it a challenge to determine body mass index (BMI) accurately, and many
      factors contribute to the development of HCC. We performed a case-control study
      to investigate whether obesity early in adulthood affects risk, age of onset, or
      outcomes of patients with HCC. METHODS: We interviewed 622 patients newly
      diagnosed with HCC from January 2004 through December 2013, along with 660
      healthy controls (frequency-matched by age and sex) to determine weights,
      heights, and body sizes (self-reported) at various ages before HCC development or
      enrollment as controls. Multivariable logistic and Cox regression analyses were
      performed to determine the independent effects of early obesity on risk for HCC
      and patient outcomes, respectively. BMI was calculated, and patients with a BMI
      of 30 kg/m(2) or greater were considered obese. RESULTS: Obesity in early
      adulthood (age, mid-20s to mid-40s) is a significant risk factor for HCC. The
      estimated odds ratios were 2.6 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-4.4), 2.3 (95%
      CI, 1.2-4.4), and 3.6 (95% CI, 1.5-8.9) for the entire population, for men, and
      for women, respectively. Each unit increase in BMI at early adulthood was
      associated with a 3.89-month decrease in age at HCC diagnosis (P < .001).
      Moreover, there was a synergistic interaction between obesity and hepatitis virus
      infection. However, we found no effect of obesity on the overall survival of
      patients with HCC. CONCLUSIONS: Early adulthood obesity is associated with an
      increased risk of developing HCC at a young age in the absence of major HCC risk
      factors, with no effect on outcomes of patients with HCC.

PMID- 25836986
TI  - Findings From a Randomized Controlled Trial of Fecal Transplantation for Patients
      With Ulcerative Colitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Several case series have reported the effects of fecal
      microbiota transplantation (FMT) for ulcerative colitis (UC). We assessed the
      efficacy and safety of FMT for patients with UC in a double-blind randomized
      trial. METHODS: Patients with mild to moderately active UC (n = 50) were assigned
      to groups that underwent FMT with feces from healthy donors or were given
      autologous fecal microbiota (control); each transplant was administered via
      nasoduodenal tube at the start of the study and 3 weeks later. The study was
      performed at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam from June 2011 through May
      2014. The composite primary end point was clinical remission (simple clinical
      colitis activity index scores <=2) combined with >=1-point decrease in the Mayo
      endoscopic score at week 12. Secondary end points were safety and microbiota
      composition by phylogenetic microarray in fecal samples. RESULTS: Thirty-seven
      patients completed the primary end point assessment. In the intention-to-treat
      analysis, 7 of 23 patients who received fecal transplants from healthy donors
      (30.4%) and 5 of 25 controls (20.0%) achieved the primary end point (P = .51). In
      the per-protocol analysis, 7 of 17 patients who received fecal transplants from
      healthy donors (41.2%) and 5 of 20 controls (25.0%) achieved the primary end
      point (P = .29). Serious adverse events occurred in 4 patients (2 in the FMT
      group), but these were not considered to be related to the FMT. At 12 weeks, the
      microbiota of responders in the FMT group was similar to that of their healthy
      donors; remission was associated with proportions of Clostridium clusters IV and
      XIVa. CONCLUSIONS: In this phase 2 trial, there was no statistically significant
      difference in clinical and endoscopic remission between patients with UC who
      received fecal transplants from healthy donors and those who received their own
      fecal microbiota, which may be due to limited numbers. However, the microbiota of
      responders had distinct features from that of nonresponders, warranting further
      study. ClinicalTrials.gov Number: NCT01650038.

PMID- 25836989
TI  - Corrigendum: metastatic breast carcinomas display genomic and transcriptomic
      heterogeneity.

PMID- 25836990
TI  - Susceptibility losses in heating of magnetic core/shell nanoparticles for
      hyperthermia: a Monte Carlo study of shape and size effects.
AB  - Optimizing the heating properties of magnetic nanoparticles is of great
      importance for hyperthermia applications. Recent experimental results show that
      core/shell nanoparticles could give an increased specific absorption rate (SAR)
      compared to the magnetic oxide nanoparticles currently used. We have developed a
      modified phenomenological model based on the linear Neel-Brown relaxation model
      to calculate the SAR due to susceptibility losses in complex nanoparticles with
      ferromagnetic (FM) core/ferrimagnetic (FiM) shell morphology. We use the Monte
      Carlo (MC) simulation technique with the implementation of the Metropolis
      algorithm to investigate the effect of size and shape on the magnetisation
      behaviour of complex ferromagnetic/ferrimagnetic nanoparticles covered by a
      surfactant layer. The findings of our simulations are used as an input in our
      modified model for the calculation of the SAR. Our calculations show that for all
      the sizes and shapes the complex FM/FiM nanoparticles give higher SAR values than
      the pure ferrimagnetic ones due to their higher core saturation magnetisation.
      For all sizes the nanoparticles with the truncated cuboctahedral shape give the
      highest SAR values and the cubic ones the lowest ones. The decrease in the
      surfactant thickness results in an increase of the SAR values. Our results have
      the same characteristics as the available experimental data from Fe/Fe3O4
      nanoparticles, confirming that the complex nanoparticles with core/shell
      morphology can optimise the heating properties for hyperthermia. 

PMID- 25836987
TI  - Rapamycin Inhibition of mTOR Reduces Levels of the Na+/H+ Exchanger 3 in
      Intestines of Mice and Humans, Leading to Diarrhea.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: The immunosuppressant rapamycin frequently causes
      noninfectious diarrhea in organ transplant recipients. We investigated the
      mechanisms of this process. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of
      renal transplant recipients treated with rapamycin from 2003 through 2010 at
      Albany Medical College, collecting data on serum levels of rapamycin. Levels of
      the Na+/H+ exchanger 3 (NHE3) were measured in human ileal biopsy specimens from
      patients who did and did not receive rapamycin (controls), in ileum tissues from
      rats or mice given rapamycin, and in mice with intestine-specific disruption of
      mammalian target of rapamycin (Mtor) (mTOR(f/f):Villin-cre mice) or Atg7
      (Atg7(flox/flox); Villin-Cre). Exchange activity and intestinal water absorption
      were measured using a pH-sensitive dye and small intestine perfusion,
      respectively. RESULTS: Episodes of noninfectious diarrhea occurred in organ
      recipients after increases in serum levels of rapamycin. The expression of NHE3
      was reduced in the ileal brush border of patients with diarrhea. In rats and
      mice, continuous administration of low doses of rapamycin reduced levels of NHE3
      in intestinal tissues; this effect was not observed in mice with intestinal
      deletion of ATG7, indicating that autophagy is required for the reduction.
      Administration of single high doses of rapamycin to mice, to model the spikes in
      rapamycin levels that occur in patients with severe diarrheal episodes, resulted
      in reduced phosphorylation of S6 and AKT in ileal tissues, indicating inhibition
      of the mTOR complex (mTORC1 and mTORC2). The intestines of mice with intestine
      specific deletion of mTOR were dilated and contained large amounts of liquid
      stools; they also had reduced levels of total NHE3 and NHERF1 compared with
      control mice. We observed a significant reduction in Na(+)/H(+) exchange activity
      in ileum tissues from these mice. CONCLUSIONS: Rapamycin inhibition of mTOR
      reduces levels of NHE3 and Na(+)/H(+) exchange activity in intestinal tissues of
      patients and rodents. This process appears to require the autophagic activity
      mediated by ATG7. Loss of mTOR regulation of NHE3 could mediate the development
      of diarrhea in patients undergoing rapamycin therapy.

PMID- 25836991
TI  - Neuropeptides as lung cancer growth factors.
AB  - This manuscript is written in honor of the Festschrift for Abba Kastin. I met
      Abba at a Society for Neuroscience meeting and learned that he was Editor-in
      Chief of the Journal Peptides. I submitted manuscripts to the journal on
      "Neuropeptides as Growth Factors in Cancer" and subsequently was named to the
      Editorial Advisory Board. Over the past 30 years I have published dozens of
      manuscripts in Peptides and reviewed hundreds of submitted manuscripts. It was
      always rewarding to interact with Abba, a consummate professional. When I
      attended meetings in New Orleans I would sometimes go out to dinner with him at
      the restaurant "Commanders Palace". When I chaired the Summer Neuropeptide
      Conference we were honored to have him receive the Fleur Strand Award one year in
      Israel. I think that his biggest editorial contribution has been the "Handbook of
      Biologically Active Peptides." I served as a Section Editor on "Cancer/Anticancer
      Peptides" and again found that it was a pleasure working with him. This review
      focuses on the mechanisms by which bombesin-like peptides, neurotensin and
      vasoactive intestinal peptide regulate the growth of lung cancer. 

PMID- 25836992
TI  - High throughput screening methods for assessing antibiofilm and immunomodulatory
      activities of synthetic peptides.
AB  - The recent observation that certain cationic peptides possess potent antibiofilm
      activity demonstrated that small peptides could be used to treat biofilm
      associated infections. Other so-called innate defense regulator peptides possess
      potent immunomodulatory properties such as leukocyte recruitment and suppression
      of harmful inflammation. A peptide that directly targets biofilm cells while
      favorably modulating the immune response would be particularly advantageous for
      treating serious skin infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus. In the present
      work, using SPOT-synthesized peptide arrays on cellulose membranes, we outline a
      strategy for systematically assessing the antibiofilm activity of hundreds of IDR
      1002 (VQRWLIVWRIRK-NH2) and IDR-HH2 (VQLRIRVAVIRA-NH2) peptide variants against
      MRSA biofilms. In addition, the ability of these peptides to stimulate production
      of a monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1) and suppress LPS-induced
      interleukin (IL)-1beta production in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells
      (PBMCs) was evaluated. These results informed the synthesis of second-generation
      peptides resulting in a new peptide, IDR-2009 (KWRLLIRWRIQK-NH2), with enhanced
      MCP-1 stimulatory activity, favorable IL-1beta suppression characteristics and
      strong antibiofilm activity against MRSA and Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms.
      This work provides a proof-of-concept that multiple peptide activities can be
      optimized simultaneously to generate novel sequences that possess a variety of
      biological properties. 

PMID- 25836994
TI  - Alcohol Consumption in Healthy OPRM1 G Allele Carriers and Its Association with
      Impulsive Behavior.
AB  - AIMS: A link between alcohol use disorders (AUD) and impulsivity is well
      established. As there is evidence for the heritability of AUD, the investigation
      of the underlying genetic disposition for both conditions is an important issue.
      An association between AUD and a coding single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)
      (rs1799971 encoding an Asn40Asp amino acid substitution, A118G) within the u
      opioid receptor 1 gene (OPRM1) has been reported. Therefore we tested the
      association between the OPRM1 A118G polymorphism and drinking as well as
      impulsive behavior in social drinkers. METHODS: A total of 214 healthy male
      social drinkers were recruited. Each participant was genotyped for the OPRM1
      A118G variant. Alcohol use was assessed with items of the Alcohol Use Disorders
      Identification Test (AUDIT). Impulsivity was assessed using the UPPS impulsive
      behavior scale. For statistical analyses, we considered correlations, t-tests and
      ordinal regression models using SPSS V21. RESULTS: In total, 49 out of 214
      participants were carriers of the OPRM1 118G allele. On average the OPRM1 118G
      carriers showed a slightly higher propensity for alcohol drinking. Higher
      drinking frequency among the G allele carriers was linked with higher urgency and
      perseveration subscores of impulsivity. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest a
      genetically influenced higher propensity for alcohol drinking among social
      drinkers carrying the 118G allele of the OPRM1 gene. The positive correlation
      between urgency and a higher drinking frequency among the OPRM1 118G hint towards
      a functional meaning of the opioid system in the regulation of impulsivity.

PMID- 25836993
TI  - Altered amygdala connectivity in urban youth exposed to trauma.
AB  - Early life trauma exposure represents a potent risk factor for the development of
      mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
      Moreover, deleterious consequences of trauma are exacerbated in youth living in
      impoverished, urban environments. A priori probability maps were used to examine
      resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of the amygdala in 21 trauma-exposed,
      and 21 age- and sex-matched urban children and adolescents (youth) without
      histories of trauma. Intrinsic FC analyses focused on amygdala-medial prefrontal
      circuitry, a key emotion regulatory pathway in the brain. We discovered reduced
      negative amygdala-subgenual cingulate connectivity in trauma-exposed youth.
      Differences between groups were also identified in anterior insula and dorsal
      anterior cingulate to amygdala connectivity. Overall, results suggest a model in
      which urban-dwelling trauma-exposed youth lack negative prefrontal to amygdala
      connectivity that may be critical for regulation of emotional responses.
      Functional changes in amygdala circuitry might reflect the biological embedding
      of stress reactivity in early life and mediate enhanced vulnerability to stress
      related psychopathology. 

PMID- 25836995
TI  - [Management of Patients with Preexisting Cardiac Complications during Thoracic
      Surgery for Lung Cancer].
AB  - In patients with preoperative cardiac complications such as myocardial ischemia,
      arrhythmia, or congestive heart failure, it is important to offer any necessary
      medical treatments, such as anticoagulation therapy, prior to surgery. This study
      investigated the perioperative results of surgical treatment for primary lung
      cancer in patients with cardiac complications. Data relating to 467 patients who
      underwent lung resection for lung cancer between April 2010 and March 2014 were
      collected. Perioperative factors for patients with preoperative cardiac
      complications and patients without preoperative cardiac complications were
      compared. Perioperative factors were also compared for a heparin bridging group
      and non-heparin bridging group in 53 anti-coagulation therapy patients. RESULTS:
      Fifty-three (11.3%) patients had preoperative cardiac complications;the majority
      of these had ischemic heart disease( n=31, 58.5%), while a significant minority
      had atrial fibrillation( n=14, 33.3 %). Of these, 42 patients(79.2%)were
      receiving anti-coagulation therapy;pre-operative bridging anti-coagulation using
      heparin was performed in 19 patients(45.2%). There were significant differences
      between those patients with preoperative cardiac complications, and those without
      preoperative cardiac complications, in terms of sex( male;81.1% vs 65.7%,
      p=0.024), mean age(73.1+/-1.0 year vs 68.4+/-0.7 year, p=0.001), and duration
      (days) of hospitalization after surgery(10.1+/-2.4 vs 7.8+/-2.0, p=0.023). There
      were significant differences between patients who received pre-operative heparin
      bridging anticoagulation, compared with those who did not, in terms of age(70.8+/
      1.2 year vs 76.8+/-0.9 year, p=0.001)and duration (days) of hospitalization after
      surgery(10.5+/-2.1 vs 7.5+/-1.3, p=0.005). CONCLUSION: Fifty-three(11.3%)patients
      had preoperative cardiac complications. Recent changes in the demographics of
      surgical candidates, in terms of age, have increased the number of patients with
      surgical risk factors. Perioperative patient management has become more important
      than before.

PMID- 25836996
TI  - [Perioperative management of primary lung cancer patients with cardiovascular
      comorbidities].
AB  - The number of patients with cardiovascular comorbidities is increasing due to
      aged society. We evaluated perioperative management of primary lung cancer
      patients with cardiovascular comorbidities. Between 2010 and 2013, 458 patients
      underwent lung cancer surgery at out hospital. 60(13%)patients had cardiovascular
      comorbidities (excluding hypertension and arrhythmia). Forty three(72%) patients
      were angina pectoris and myocardial infarction, and 7 (12%)were valve disease. In
      patients with cardiovascular comorbidities, high age, renal dysfunction, low %
      diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide and limited lymph node dissection were
      significantly seen. There was one patient with no symptoms of angina with the
      calcification of coronary artery detected by chest computed tomography(CT)before
      surgery. Percutaneous coronary artery intervention followed elective lung surgery
      was successfully performed. Short-term surgical results of patients with
      cardiovascular comorbidities were acceptable compared to those without. 

PMID- 25836997
TI  - [Perioperative management of lung cancer patients with cardiovascular
      complications].
AB  - Lung cancer patients with cardiovascular complications often require
      antithrombotic therapy. In this study, we discuss the present conditions and
      future problems associated with the perioperative management of such patients. We
      examined 36 lung cancer patients undergoing surgery who received antithrombotic
      therapy for cardiovascular complications. Twenty-one patients were administered
      unfractionated heparin in the perioperative period (heparin group). Fifteen
      patients were not administered unfractionated heparin in the perioperative period
      (no-heparin group). No significant intergroup differences were observed in
      operating time, intraoperative blood loss, duration of chest tube placement, and
      the number of hospitalization days. However, 2 serious cases of thromboembolism
      developed after surgery. One was a case of pulmonary thromboembolism and the
      other was one of superior mesenteric artery thromboembolism. These results
      suggest that the appropriate perioperative usage of heparin enables the standard
      surgical treatment of lung cancer patients with cardiovascular complications. We
      recommend the use of low-molecular-weight heparin or low-dose unfractionated
      heparin as the antithrombotic agent after lung cancer surgery. 

PMID- 25836998
TI  - [Perioperative Management of Lung Cancer Patients with atrial fibrillation being
      treated by antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapy].
AB  - In an aging society, the high incidence of surgery for the patients with ischemic
      heart disease(IHD)or atrial fibrillation(Af) under antiplatelet or anticoagulant
      therapy is a great problem. Interruption of antiplatelet or anticoagulant oral
      agents in the perioperative period may increase the risk of coronary or cerebral
      events. We retrospectively reviewed the surgical outcomes for lung cancer
      patients with IHD or Af. We reviewed 135 patients with lung cancer(41~88 years;97
      men) who had preoperative oral administration of antiplatelet or anticoagulant
      drugs for IHD or Af between 2005 and 2012 at 2 centers, and analyzed
      retrospectively the perioperative medications and complications. IHD, Af and
      vasospastic angina(VSA) were complicated in 94, 33 and 8 patients, respectively.
      Drugeluted and bare-metal stents had been placed in 18 and 19 patients. Oral
      agents were aspirin in 68 patients, ticlopidine in 10 patients, clopidogrel in 15
      patients and warfarin in 25 patients. These agents were stopped 2 to 60 days
      before surgery. Perioperative heparinization was performed in 22 patients. Oral
      agents were restarted after confirmation of hemostasis and no need for further
      invasive treatment. The surgical procedures were lobectomy in 88 patients,
      segmentectomy in 19 and partial resection in 25. There were no hemorrhagic or
      thromboembolic complications in a perioperative period except 1 case of pulmonary
      hemorrhage and 1 case of cerebral infarction. No perioperative hospital death was
      documented. Short-term interruption of antiplatelet or anticoagulant drugs before
      lung cancer surgery and heparinization was acceptable from the view of
      perioperative outcomes. 

PMID- 25836999
TI  - [Investigation of lung cancer patients with cardiovascular disease].
AB  - BACKGROUND: According to the aging in Japan, surgery of lung cancer with
      cardiovascular disease is increasing. Among them, the merger of the heart and
      large blood vessel disease would be expected to be directly linked to the
      perioperative management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective
      analysis of 1,005 patients who had undergone surgical resection of primary lung
      adenocarcinoma between January 1997 and June 2014 at Hokkaido University
      Hospital. Among them, 81 patients had more than one cardiovascular disease.
      RESULTS: The median age was 71 years old. Men are 62 cases(76%). 64 cases
      (79%)had smoking history. Ischemic heart disease( IHD) was 29 cases(33%),
      followed by atrial fibrillation(Af), arrhythmia other than Af, valve disease and
      macrovascular disease. Anticoagulant or antiplatelet therapy were preoperatively
      done in 41% of IHD cases, 39% of Af cases. Thirty four% of IHD, 50% of vascular
      disease received the treatment other than medication. Video-assisted thoracic
      surgery was performed in 67 cases(83%). Lobectomy, sublobectomy were performed
      for 59 cases(73%), 19 cases(23%), respectively. Postoperative complications were
      occurred in 32 cases(40%). Two patients(2.5%)died in hospital without discharge.
      Univariate analysis revealed tumor size, pStage, lymph node dissection, operation
      time or blood loss were correlated with postoperative complication. CONCLUSIONS:
      For the patients with cardiovascular disease, careful evaluation of surgical
      indication, perioperative management is required.

PMID- 25837000
TI  - [Management of patients with ischemic heart disease in lung cancer resection].
AB  - We reviewed the medical records of 1,047 consecutive patients with lung cancer
      who underwent surgery between April 2005 and March 2014. Among them 49
      patients(4.7%)had concomitant ischemic heart disease. Coronary angiography showed
      coronary artery stenosis in 41 patients, of whom 14 patients received bare metal
      stents and 9 patients received drug-eluting stents. Three patients underwent
      plain old balloon angioplasty. Coronary artery bypass graft were performed in 5
      patients. Eight patients with coronary spastic angina were also included in the
      present study. Aspirin administration was continued in 9 patients and
      heparinization was performed in 14 patients during the perioperative period.
      Postoperative major adverse cardiac events within 30-days occurred in 3
      patients(6.1%)resulting in a single fatality(2.0%). No major cardiac events,
      including stent thrombosis, developed in patient who received coronary stent.
      Perioperative aspirin administration and heparinization were not significantly
      associated with intraoperative bleeding during the operation. 

PMID- 25837001
TI  - [Strategies for lung cancer with ischemic heart disease].
AB  - For lung cancer surgery which merged ischemic heart disease to need coronary
      artery treatments, the strategy is demanded on the timing of each treatment. Our
      department conforms to American College of Chest Physicians( ACCP) guideline and
      treatment strategies are decided as follows. 1) If right heart load has already
      occurred, we choose limited surgery for lung cancer. 2) Two-stage surgery is
      performed with principle. Coronary artery treatment is given priority to against
      left main trunk disease and unstable angina. 3) Simultaneous surgery is chosen
      for lung cancer more than stage II or lung cancer pressing neighboring organ and
      vessel not to be able to wait coronary artery treatments. Since 2007, we
      performed 4 simultaneous surgeries and experienced 3 pneumonia cases, 1 patient
      died in 5 months. We must decide a strategy in consideration of progress of the
      lung cancer and cardiac urgency. 

PMID- 25837002
TI  - [Perioperative management for surgery against lung cancer in patients with
      receiving coronary stent implantation].
AB  - Increasing in patients with cardiac disease, it is estimated that the patients
      with receiving coronary artery stents implantation occur frequently at the time
      of surgery against lung cancer. However, the anti-thrombotic therapy in
      perioperative period is not well established. We reviewed the medical records of
      934 patients who underwent pulmonary resection for primary lung cancer in our
      institute from March 1997 to November 2014. The cardiac disease was observed 101
      patients, including 9 patients were implanted bare-metal stents( BMS) and 6
      patients were done drug-eluting stents( DES). The interval to surgery after stent
      implantation was almost over 1-month in BMS-group (median:18 months) and more
      than 1-year in DES-group( median:22.5 months). The anti-thrombotic therapy was
      interrupted less than 14-days in almost cases. The patients with receiving
      coronary artery stents implantation expected to be increased more in future,
      perioperative anti-thrombotic management protocols must be established. 

PMID- 25837003
TI  - [Simultaneous pulmonary resection and endovascular repair for patients with
      coexisting primary lung cancer and aneurysm].
AB  - The surgical strategy for coexisting lung cancer and aneurysm is controversial
      owing to the risk of aneurysm rupture during the perioperative period of
      pulmonary resection. We performed simultaneous pulmonary resection and
      endovascular repair in 2 patients with coexisting lung cancer and aneurysm. Case
      1:A 74-year-old man presented at our hospital with cT2aN0M0 lung cancer and a 5.0
      cm abdominal aortic aneurysm. Because computed tomography indicated the
      possibility of advanced lung cancer, we decided to perform simultaneous surgery
      for lung cancer and the aneurysm. Under general anesthesia, endovascular aneurysm
      repair was performed before right lower lobectomy with lymphadenectomy. The
      postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient was discharged on
      postoperative day 12. Case 2:A 72-year-old man presented at our hospital with
      cT2aN1M0 lung cancer, a 5.0 cm left internal iliac artery aneurysm, and right
      renal cell carcinoma( RCC). Because the lung cancer was advanced and the patients
      needed following surgical treatment for RCC, we decided to perform simultaneous
      surgery for lung cancer and the aneurysm. Under general anesthesia, endovascular
      aneurysm repair was performed before right upper lobectomy with lymphadenectomy.
      The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient was discharged on
      postoperative day 11. 

PMID- 25837004
TI  - [Combined resection of the aorta in primary lung cancer cases].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of a combined
      resection of the thoracic aorta and primary lung cancer. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In
      all 8 patients who underwent the procedure in our hospital chest computed
      tomography( CT) and magnetic resonance imaging( MRI) showed lung cancers invading
      the aorta. We evaluated the clinical and pathological staging according to the
      General Rules for Clinical and Pathological Records of Lung Cancer( 7th edition,
      in Japanese). RESULT: The mean age was 50.9 years old. Eight patients underwent
      thoracic aorta resection along with a left pneumonectomy (n=5), left upper
      lobectomy (n=3). Five patients received total replacement of the descending aorta
      with an artificial vessel. Three patients received a patch graft for repair of
      the defect in the thoracic aorta. Three postoperative major complications
      occurred, including postoperative bleeding, postoperative pneumonia, tachycardia.
      Operative death did not occur in any patients. The median survival time of
      patients with postoperative pathologic was 1,485 days, 5-year survivals were 50%
      in all patients. CONCLUSION: We conclude that clinicians must be aware of the
      possibility of overestimation in radiological diagnosis of thoracic aorta
      invasion in non-small cell lung cancer. In primary lung cancer patients with
      aortic invasion who was suspected by preoperative examination, the treatment
      policy should be carefully considered.

PMID- 25837005
TI  - [Aortic Root Reimplantation for Extra-cardiac Unruptured Sinus of Valsalva
      Aneurysm].
AB  - Aneurysms of the sinus of Valsalva are rare. We report a case of extra-cardiac
      unruptured aneurysm of the sinus of Valsalva with moderate aortic regurgitation
      (AR). A 57-year-old woman was referred to our institution because of AR.
      Echocardiography showed moderate AR and computed tomographic scanning
      demonstrated an extra-cardiac aneurysm of the unruptured sinus of Valsalva, which
      extended from the right sinus of Valsalva to the non-coronary sinus of Valsalva.
      She underwent aortic root reimplantation procedure with a Valsalva graft.
      Although mild AR was observed postoperatively, her postoperative course was
      uneventful. 

PMID- 25837006
TI  - [Cavernous hemangioma of the right cardiac chamber;report of a case].
AB  - Cardiac cavernous hemangioma is an extremely rare benign tumor. A 53-year-old
      female had undergone resection of left breast cancer 9 years before, and her
      clinical course had been uneventful for nearly 9 years. She then experienced
      sudden fatigability and palpitations. Pericardial effusion and a tumor-like
      lesion, pressing the right side of the heart, were detected by echocardiography,
      computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Though her symptoms were
      ameliorated with pericardial puncture, she was referred to our department for a
      definitive diagnosis and, if indicated, tumor resection. At surgery the tumor was
      poorly demarcated and most of it was resected under extracorporeal circulation.
      The histopathological examination revealed it was cavernous hemangioma. The
      patient's postoperative course has been uneventful without recurrence for
      approximately 2 years. 

PMID- 25837007
TI  - [Pericardiectomy of effusive constrictive pericarditis with an ultrasonic
      scalpel; report of a case].
AB  - Effusive constrictive pericarditis is a rare clinical entity characterized by
      concurrent pericardial effusion and visceral pericardial constriction. The most
      effective therapy for this state is pericardiectomy with complete removal of the
      parietal and visceral membranes, although the perioperative mortality and
      morbidity can be high. We presented a case of a 45-year-old man in whom a
      visceral pericardiectomy with waffle procedure was successfully performed using
      an ultrasonic scalpel without use of cardiopulmonary bypass. His postoperative
      course was uneventful and cardiac hemodynamics restored to normal. There were no
      signs or symptoms of recurrence in 2 years of follow-up. 

PMID- 25837008
TI  - Chlorin e6 Conjugated Poly(dopamine) Nanospheres as PDT/PTT Dual-Modal
      Therapeutic Agents for Enhanced Cancer Therapy.
AB  - Photodynamic therapy (PDT), using a combination of chemical photosensitizers (PS)
      and light, has been successfully applied as a noninvasive therapeutic procedure
      to treat tumors by inducing apoptosis or necrosis of cancer cells. However, most
      current clinically used PS have suffered from the instability in physiological
      conditions which lead to low photodynamic therapy efficacy. Herein, a highly
      biocompatible poly(dopamine) (PDA) nanoparticle conjugated with Chlorin e6
      (referenced as the PDA-Ce6 nanosphere) was designed as a nanotherapeutic agent to
      achieve simultaneous photodynamic/photothermal therapy (PDT/PTT). Compared to the
      free Ce6, the PDA-Ce6 nanosphere exhibited significantly higher PDT efficacy
      against tumor cells, because of the enhanced cellular uptake and subsequently
      greater reactive oxygen species (ROS) production upon laser irradiation at 670
      nm. Meanwhile, the PDA-Ce6 nanosphere could be also used as a photoabsorbing
      agent for PTT, because of the excellent photothermal conversion ability of PDA
      nanoparticle under laser irradiation at 808 nm. Moreover, our prepared nanosphere
      had extremely low dark toxicity, while excellent phototoxicity under the
      combination laser irradiation of 670 and 808 nm, both in vitro and in vivo,
      compared to any single laser irradiation alone. Therefore, our prepared PDA-Ce6
      nanosphere could be applied as a very promising dual-modal phototherapeutic agent
      for enhanced cancer therapy in future clinical applications. 

PMID- 25837010
TI  - Seed priming with BABA (beta-amino butyric acid): a cost-effective method of
      abiotic stress tolerance in Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek.
AB  - The effects of beta-amino butyric acid (BABA) on abiotic stress tolerance
      potential of three Vigna radiata varieties were studied. The reduction in the
      growth of seedlings subjected to NaCl/polyethylene glycol (PEG) stress is
      alleviated by BABA seed priming, which also enhanced photosynthetic pigment
      content and photosynthetic and mitochondrial activities, and also modified the
      chlorophyll a fluorescence-related parameters. Moreover, BABA seed priming
      reduced malondialdehyde content in the seedlings and enhanced the accumulation of
      proline, total protein, total carbohydrate, nitrate reductase activity, and
      activities of antioxidant enzymes like guaiacol peroxidase and superoxide
      dismutase. Most of these positive features of BABA priming were predominantly
      exhibited when the plants were encountered with stress (NaCl/PEG). The BABA
      content in the BABA-treated green gram seeds and seedlings was also detected and
      quantified with high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC), and it
      revealed that the priming effect of BABA initiated in seeds and further gets
      carried over to the seedlings. It was concluded that BABA seed priming improved
      the drought and salinity stress tolerance potential of all the three green gram
      varieties, and it was evident in the NaCl-tolerant variety Pusa Vishal as
      compared to Pusa Ratna (abiotic stress sensitive) and Pusa 9531(drought
      tolerant). Dual mode in cost effectiveness of BABA priming is evident from: (1)
      the positive features of priming are being exhibited more during the exposure of
      plants to stress, and (2) priming of seedlings can be carried out by BABA
      application to seeds at very low concentration and volume.

PMID- 25837009
TI  - Characterization of natural leaf senescence in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants
      grown in vitro.
AB  - Leaf senescence is a highly regulated final phase of leaf development preceding
      massive cell death. It results in the coordinated degradation of macromolecules
      and the subsequent nutrient relocation to other plant parts. Very little is still
      known about early stages of leaf senescence during normal leaf ontogeny that is
      not triggered by stress factors. This paper comprises an integrated study of
      natural leaf senescence in tobacco plants grown in vitro, using molecular,
      structural, and physiological information. We determined the time sequence of
      ultrastructural changes in mesophyll cells during leaf senescence, showing that
      the degradation of chloroplast ultrastructure fully correlated with changes in
      chlorophyll content. The earliest degenerative changes in chloroplast
      ultrastructure coinciding with early chromatin condensation were observed already
      in mature green leaves. A continuum of degradative changes in chloroplast
      ultrastructure, chromatin condensation and aggregation, along with progressive
      decrease in cytoplasm organization and electron density were observed in the
      course of mesophyll cells ageing. Although the total amounts of endogenous
      cytokinins gradually increased during leaf ontogenesis, the proportion of
      bioactive cytokinin forms, as well as their phosphate precursors, in total
      cytokinin content rapidly declined with ageing. Endogenous indole-3-acetic acid
      (IAA) levels were strongly reduced in senescent leaves, and a decreasing tendency
      was also observed for abscisic acid (ABA) levels. Senescence-associated tobacco
      cysteine proteases (CP, E.C. 3.4.22) CP1 and CP23 genes were induced in the
      initial phase of senescence. Genes encoding glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH, E.C.
      1.4.1.2) and one isoform of cytosolic glutamine synthetase (GS1, E.C. 6.3.1.2)
      were induced in the late stage of senescence, while chloroplastic GS (GS2) gene
      showed a continuous decrease with leaf ageing.

PMID- 25837012
TI  - Anilide formation from thioacids and perfluoroaryl azides.
AB  - A metal-free method for fast and clean anilide formation from perfluoroaryl azide
      and thioacid is presented. The reaction proved highly efficient, displaying fast
      kinetics, high yield, and good chemoselectivity. The transformation was
      compatible with various solvents and tolerant to a wide variety of functional
      groups, and it showed high performance in polar protic/aprotic media, including
      aqueous buffer systems. 

PMID- 25837013
TI  - Protected Fe valence in quasi-two-dimensional alpha-FeSi2.
AB  - We report the first comprehensive study of the high temperature form (alpha
      phase) of iron disilicide. Measurements of the magnetic susceptibility,
      magnetization, heat capacity and resistivity were performed on well characterized
      single crystals. With a nominal iron d(6) configuration and a quasi-two
      dimensional crystal structure that strongly resembles that of LiFeAs, alpha-FeSi2
      is a potential candidate for unconventional superconductivity. Akin to LiFeAs,
      alpha-FeSi2 does not develop any magnetic order and we confirm its metallic state
      down to the lowest temperatures (T = 1.8 K). However, our experiments reveal that
      paramagnetism and electronic correlation effects in alpha-FeSi2 are considerably
      weaker than in the pnictides. Band theory calculations yield small Sommerfeld
      coefficients of the electronic specific heat gamma = Ce/T that are in excellent
      agreement with experiment. Additionally, realistic many-body calculations further
      corroborate that quasi-particle mass enhancements are only modest in alpha-FeSi2.
      Remarkably, we find that the natural tendency to vacancy formation in the iron
      sublattice has little influence on the iron valence and the density of states at
      the Fermi level. Moreover, Mn doping does not significantly change the electronic
      state of the Fe ion. This suggests that the iron valence is protected against
      hole doping and indeed the substitution of Co for Fe causes a rigid-band like
      response of the electronic properties. As a key difference from the pnictides, we
      identify the smaller inter-iron layer spacing, which causes the active orbitals
      near the Fermi level to be of a different symmetry in alpha-FeSi2. This change in
      orbital character might be responsible for the lack of superconductivity in this
      system, providing constraints on pairing theories in the iron based pnictides and
      chalcogenides. 

PMID- 25837014
TI  - Dynamic Kinetic Asymmetric Amination of Alcohols: From A Mixture of Four Isomers
      to Diastereo- and Enantiopure alpha-Branched Amines.
AB  - The first dynamic kinetic asymmetric amination of alcohols via borrowing hydrogen
      methodology is presented. Under the cooperative catalysis by an iridium complex
      and a chiral phosphoric acid, alpha-branched alcohols that exist as a mixture of
      four isomers undergo racemization by two orthogonal mechanisms and are converted
      to diastereo- and enantiopure amines bearing adjacent stereocenters. The
      preparation of diastereo- and enantiopure 1,2-amino alcohols is also realized
      using this catalytic system. 

PMID- 25837011
TI  - Calcium alleviates cadmium-induced inhibition on root growth by maintaining auxin
      homeostasis in Arabidopsis seedlings.
AB  - Cadmium (Cd) toxicity has been widely studied in different plant species.
      However, the mechanism involved in its toxicity and the cell response to Cd has
      not been well established. In the present study, we investigated the possible
      mechanism of calcium (Ca) in protecting Arabidopsis from Cd toxicity. The results
      showed that 50 MUM Cd significantly inhibited the seedling growth and decreased
      the chlorophyll content in Arabidopsis. Specifically, the primary root (PR)
      length was decreased but the lateral root (LR) number was increased under Cd
      stress. Furthermore, Cd enhanced the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content and lipid
      peroxidation as indicated by malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation. Cd also altered
      the level and the distribution of auxin in PR tips (as evidenced by DR5::GUS and
      PIN:GFP reporter expression) and the expression of several putative auxin
      biosynthetic, catabolic, and transport pathway-related genes. Application of 3 mM
      Ca alleviated the inhibition of Cd on the root growth. Ca application not only
      led to reducing oxidative injuries but also restoring the normal auxin transport
      and distribution in Arabidopsis root under Cd stress. Taken together, these
      results suggest that Ca alleviates the root growth inhibition caused by Cd
      through maintaining auxin homeostasis in Arabidopsis seedlings.

PMID- 25837015
TI  - TNF-alpha gene polymorphisms and juvenile idiopathic arthritis: Influence on
      disease outcome and therapeutic response.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the genetic contribution of TNF-alpha gene
      polymorphisms on the disease course and therapeutic response in patients with
      juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). METHODS: 74 Caucasian patients with JIA were
      recruited with a control group of 77 healthy children. DNA was extracted for
      analysis of TNF-alpha gene promoter polymorphisms at positions -163, -244, -238, 
      376, and -308. RESULTS: No SNPs at position -163 were observed, while we observed
      only SNPs at positions -244 and -376 in the controls. No differences were
      observed in the prevalence of SNPs at -238 and -308 between JIA and controls. In
      JIA patients no significant differences were observed between the -238 and -308
      G/A genotypes and different disease phenotypes. We observed a significant lower
      disease activity expressed in the carriers of -308 GG genotype with respect to GA
      and AA genotypes after 6 (p = 0.008 and p = 0.013, respectively) and 12 months of
      disease (p = 0.02 and p = 0.08, respectively). Also the -238 GG genotypes showed
      a better disease course after 12 months of disease. Moreover, the -238/-308 GG
      genotypes presented the higher reduction of disease activity both after 6 (p <
      0.01 vs GA and p < 0.01 vs AA) and 12 months from baseline (p < 0.01 vs GA and p
      < 0.01 vs AA). After 12 months of biologic therapy, a significant higher disease
      activity was observed in patients with genotype -308 AA respect to both GA (p =
      0.012) and GG (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: JIA patients carrying the TNF-alpha -308
      GA/AA and -238 GA genotypes are associated with a worse prognosis and with a
      lower response to anti-TNF-alpha drugs.

PMID- 25837016
TI  - Comparison of Intravenous plus Oral Pantoprazole Therapy and Oral Pantoprazole
      Alone for Preventing Gastrointestinal Bleeding in Acute Coronary Syndrome
      Patients with High Bleeding Risk.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether intravenous proton pump inhibition is more
      effective than oral administration in preventing gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding
      in high bleeding risk patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). METHODS AND
      RESULTS: A total of 504 patients with ACS and high bleeding risk were randomly
      assigned into two groups. Study group (n=252) received intravenous pantoprazole
      for five days and subsequent oral pantoprazole for 12 months. Control group
      (n=252) received oral pantoprazole for 12 months. Major adverse cardiac events
      (death, re-infarction, re-revascularisation and stroke) and GI bleeding were
      registered after a follow-up of 12 months. No statistically significant
      differences were found in the major adverse cardiac events between the two groups
      after the follow-up (p >0.05). The incidence of major GI bleeding in the study
      group was lower than in the control group (1.2% vs. 3.9%, p=0.049). The bleeding
      rates in the first 30 days in the study group were also lower than in the control
      group (0.3% vs. 2.7%, p=0.032). CONCLUSIONS: The main outcome of cardiac events
      did not differ between the treatment groups. Intravenous plus oral pantoprazole
      therapy seemed more effective than oral therapy alone in the prevention of GI
      bleeding in high bleeding risk patients with ACS.

PMID- 25837017
TI  - Levosimendan Improves Neurological Outcome in a Swine Model of Asphyxial Cardiac
      Arrest.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In asphyxial cardiac arrest, the severe hypoxic stress complicates
      the resuscitation efforts and results in poor neurological outcomes. Our aim was
      to assess the effects of levosimendan on a swine model of asphyxial cardiac
      arrest. METHODS: Asphyxial cardiac arrest was induced in 20 Landrace/Large White
      piglets, which were subsequently left untreated for four minutes. The animals
      were randomised to receive adrenaline alone (n=10, Group A) and adrenaline plus
      levosimendan (n=10, Group B). All animals were resuscitated according to the 2010
      European Resuscitation Council guidelines. Haemodynamic variables were measured
      before arrest, during arrest and resuscitation, and during the first 30 minutes
      after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), while survival and neurologic
      alertness score were measured 24 hours later. RESULTS: Return of spontaneous
      circulation was achieved in six animals (60%) from Group A and nine animals (90%)
      from Group B (p=0.303). During the first minute of cardiopulmonary resuscitation,
      coronary perfusion pressure was significantly higher in Group B (p=0.046), but
      there was no significant difference at subsequent time points until ROSC.
      Although six animals (60%) from each group survived after 24 hours (p=1.000),
      neurologic examination was significantly better in the animals of Group B
      (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The addition of levosimendan to adrenaline improved
      coronary perfusion pressure immediately after the onset of cardiopulmonary
      resuscitation and resulted in better 24-hour neurological outcome.

PMID- 25837018
TI  - Differential Effects of Prevention and Reversal Treatment with Lisinopril on Left
      Ventricular Remodelling in a Rat Model of Heart Failure.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors such as lisinopril,
      represent the front line pharmacological treatment for heart failure, which is
      characterised by marked left ventricular (LV) dilatation and hypertrophy. This
      study sought to determine whether initiating treatment with ACE inhibitors at
      different stages in the remodelling process would alter the efficacy of
      treatment. METHODS: To this end, LV size and function were determined in the
      aortocaval (AV) fistula model of volume overload-induced heart failure. Sprague
      Dawley rats were assigned to sham, untreated AV fistula (21 weeks), AV fistula
      treated with lisinopril (21 weeks), or AV fistula treated with lisinopril from
      six to 21 weeks post-fistula groups. RESULTS: Administration of lisinopril for
      the entire 21-week period prevented LV dilatation, attenuated myocardial
      hypertrophy and prevented changes in myocardial compliance and contractility,
      whereas delaying initiation of treatment until six weeks post-fistula attenuated
      LV dilatation and hypertrophy, however, the delayed onset of treatment had no
      beneficial effect on ventricular compliance or systolic function. CONCLUSIONS:
      The results demonstrate differential effects that can occur with ACE inhibitors
      depending on the stage during the remodelling process at which treatment is
      administered.

PMID- 25837019
TI  - Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Fondaparinux vs Enoxaparin in Non-ST Elevation
      Acute Coronary Syndrome in Thailand.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) imposes a
      significant health and economic burden on a society. Anticoagulants are
      recommended as standard therapy by various clinical practice guidelines.
      Fondaparinux was introduced and evaluated in a number of large randomised,
      controlled trials. This study therefore aimed to determine the cost-effectiveness
      of fondaparinux versus enoxaparin in the treatment of NSTE-ACS in Thailand.
      METHODS: A two-part construct model comprising a one-year decision tree and a
      Markov model was developed to capture short and long-term costs and outcomes from
      the perspective of provider and society. Effectiveness data were derived from
      OASIS-5 trial while bleeding rates were derived from the Thai Acute Coronary
      Syndrome Registry (TACSR). Costs data were based on a Thai database and presented
      in the year of 2013. Both costs and outcomes were discounted by 3% annually. A
      series of sensitivity analyses were performed. RESULTS: The results showed that
      compared with enoxaparin, fondaparinux was a cost-saving strategy (lower cost
      with slightly higher effectiveness). Cost of revascularisation with major
      bleeding had a greater impact on the amount of cost saved both from societal and
      provider perspectives. With a threshold of 160,000 THB ((4,857.3 USD) per QALY in
      Thailand, fondaparinux was about 99% more cost-effective compared with
      enoxaparin. CONCLUSION: Fondaparinux should be considered as a cost-effective
      alternative when compared to enoxaparin for NSTE-ACS based on Thailand's context,
      especially in the era of limited healthcare resources.

PMID- 25837020
TI  - Giant Cervico-mediastinal Well-differentiated Liposarcoma.
AB  - Liposarcomas are rare entities and those located in the neck and mediastinum are
      exceptional. We report the case of a 58 year-old Caucasian male who presented
      with dysphonia, mild dysphagia to solids, dyspnoea at exertion and cough due to a
      giant mass of the neck originating from the deep cervical space at C6 vertebral
      level spreading into the posterior mediastinum. The lesion, that was associated
      with a right vocal cord palsy, caused severe lateral displacement of the trachea
      and oesophagus. The case has been managed by complete surgical resection through
      a combined cervical and thoracic approach associated with a tracheostomy due to
      the risk of bilateral recurrent nerve dysfunction at the end of the intervention.
      The tumour was diagnosed as a encapsulated low-grade liposarcoma. Six months
      after surgery the tracheostomy was closed. At 24 months clinical and radiological
      follow-up the patient is doing well and disease free. 

PMID- 25837021
TI  - A novel autophagy-independent, oncosuppressive function of BECN1: Degradation of
      MCL1.
AB  - The discovery that heterozygous disruption of Becn1 in mice leads to spontaneous
      tumor development was the first direct link arguing for a predominantly tumor
      suppressor function of autophagy. However, the mechanisms by which BECN1
      restrains tumorigenesis and whether autophagy-independent functions of BECN1
      contribute to its tumor-restraining potential remained unexplored. We recently
      described a novel function of BECN1-regulation of oncogene MCL1 protein levels.
      Our results show that BECN1 regulates MCL1 levels in an inverse-reciprocal
      manner, whereby changes in the levels of one of the 2 proteins inversely affects
      the proteasomal degradation of the other. Importantly, this mechanism is
      independent of autophagy and of the physical interaction between BECN1 and MCL1.
      In vitro and in vivo analysis using several models, including patient-derived
      melanoma cells and tissue samples from patients with melanocytic lesions at
      different stages, showed that the identified mechanism of inverse coregulation
      between BECN1 and MCL1 significantly contributes to their opposing roles in
      tumorigenesis. 

PMID- 25837023
TI  - Bioremediation of Petrochemical Wastewater Containing BTEX Compounds by a New
      Immobilized Bacterium Comamonas sp. JB in Magnetic Gellan Gum.
AB  - In this study, we investigated the bioremediation of petrochemical wastewater
      containing BTEX compounds by immobilized Comamonas sp. JB cells. Three kinds of
      magnetic nanoparticles were evaluated as immobilization supports for strain JB.
      After comparison with Fe3O4 and a-Fe2O3 nanoparticles, r-Fe2O3 nanoparticle was
      selected as the optimal immobilization support. The highest biodegradation
      activity of r-Fe2O3-magnetically immobilized cells was obtained when the
      concentration of r-Fe2O3 nanoparticle was 120 mg L(-1). Additionally, the
      recycling experiments demonstrated that the degradation activity of r-Fe2O3
      magnetically immobilized cells was still high and led to less toxicity than
      untreated wastewater during the eight recycles. qPCR suggested the concentration
      of strain JB in r-Fe2O3-magnetically immobilized cells was evidently increased
      after eight cycles of degradation experiments. These results supported developing
      efficient biocatalysts using r-Fe2O3-magnetically immobilized cells and provided
      a promising technique for improving biocatalysts used in the bioremediation of
      not only petrochemical wastewater but also other hazardous wastewater.

PMID- 25837024
TI  - Exploring the knowledge behind predictions in everyday cognition: an iterated
      learning study.
AB  - Making accurate predictions about events is an important but difficult task.
      Recent work suggests that people are adept at this task, making predictions that
      reflect surprisingly accurate knowledge of the distributions of real quantities.
      Across three experiments, we used an iterated learning procedure to explore the
      basis of this knowledge: to what extent is domain experience critical to accurate
      predictions and how accurate are people when faced with unfamiliar domains? In
      Experiment 1, two groups of participants, one resident in Australia, the other in
      China, predicted the values of quantities familiar to both (movie run-times),
      unfamiliar to both (the lengths of Pharaoh reigns), and familiar to one but
      unfamiliar to the other (cake baking durations and the lengths of Beijing bus
      routes). While predictions from both groups were reasonably accurate overall,
      predictions were inaccurate in the selectively unfamiliar domains and,
      surprisingly, predictions by the China-resident group were also inaccurate for a
      highly familiar domain: local bus route lengths. Focusing on bus routes, two
      follow-up experiments with Australia-resident groups clarified the knowledge and
      strategies that people draw upon, plus important determinants of accurate
      predictions. For unfamiliar domains, people appear to rely on extrapolating from
      (not simply directly applying) related knowledge. However, we show that people's
      predictions are subject to two sources of error: in the estimation of quantities
      in a familiar domain and extension to plausible values in an unfamiliar domain.
      We propose that the key to successful predictions is not simply domain experience
      itself, but explicit experience of relevant quantities. 

PMID- 25837022
TI  - Distribution and risk factors for Plasmodium and helminth co-infections: a cross
      sectional survey among children in Bagamoyo district, coastal region of Tanzania.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Plasmodium and soil transmitted helminth infections (STH) are a major
      public health problem, particularly among children. There are conflicting
      findings on potential association between these two parasites. This study
      investigated the Plasmodium and helminth co-infections among children aged 2
      months to 9 years living in Bagamoyo district, coastal region of Tanzania.
      METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1033
      children. Stool, urine and blood samples were examined using a broad set of
      quality controlled diagnostic methods for common STH (Ascaris lumbricoides,
      hookworm, Strongyloides stercoralis, Enterobius vermicularis, Trichuris
      trichura), schistosoma species and Wuchereria bancrofti. Blood slides and malaria
      rapid diagnostic tests (mRDTs) were utilized for Plasmodium diagnosis. RESULTS:
      Out of 992 children analyzed, the prevalence of Plasmodium infection was 13%
      (130/992), helminth 28.5% (283/992); 5% (50/992) had co-infection with Plasmodium
      and helminth. The prevalence rate of Plasmodium, specific STH and co-infections
      increased significantly with age (p < 0.001), with older children mostly affected
      except for S. stercoralis monoinfection and co-infections. Spatial variations of
      co-infection prevalence were observed between and within villages. There was a
      trend for STH infections to be associated with Plasmodium infection [OR adjusted
      for age group 1.4, 95% CI (1.0-2.1)], which was more marked for S. stercoralis
      (OR = 2.2, 95% CI (1.1-4.3). Age and not schooling were risk factors for
      Plasmodium and STH co-infection. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that STH and
      Plasmodium infections tend to occur in the same children, with increasing
      prevalence of co-infection with age. This calls for an integrated approach such
      as using mass chemotherapy with dual effect (e.g., ivermectin) coupled with
      improved housing, sanitation and hygiene for the control of both parasitic
      infections.

PMID- 25837026
TI  - Beriberi in Cambodia.
AB  - Beriberi had plagued humans for centuries. It was responsible for over 50% of
      infant deaths in the Philippines in the early 1900s. But since the discovery of
      its cause and treatment it has become a rarity, or has it?

PMID- 25837025
TI  - Volumetric measurement of compensatory hypertrophy in the contralateral normal
      kidney by the tumor growth.
AB  - PURPOSE: We evaluated the association between tumor size and preoperative
      volumetric kidney parameters measured with CT in patients with renal cell
      carcinoma (RCC). METHODS: We prospectively identified 1118 patients who underwent
      radical or partial nephrectomy for RCC between 2011 and 2014. Contrast-enhanced
      CT was performed within three months before surgery. Kidney volume was measured
      using a tissue segmentation tool program from CT images. We classified patients
      into three groups depending on tumor size (A: <=4 cm, B: 4-7 cm, C: >7 cm). The
      preoperative volumetric kidney parameters were compared and multivariable linear
      regression was used to analyze potential factors associated with compensatory
      hypertrophy of the contralateral normal kidney before surgery. RESULTS: Patients
      in group C had a significantly larger contralateral normal kidney volume than
      patients in A and B (A: 170.0 mL, B: 171.7 mL, C: 187.2 mL, p < 0.001). The
      contralateral kidney volume was not significantly different between groups A and
      B (p > 0.05). However, tumor-side real kidney volume in group C was significantly
      smaller than that of groups A and B (A: 168.8 mL, B: 164.9 mL, C: 150.9 mL, p <
      0.001). On multivariable analysis, increased contralateral kidney volume was
      positively associated with male gender, higher BMI, DM, higher preoperative GFR,
      and tumor size (>7 cm), and negatively associated with older age (p < 0.05).
      Tumor size had the strongest positive association with contralateral kidney
      volume (>7 cm, partial regression coefficient = 30.2). CONCLUSIONS: Tumor size
      (>7 cm) is the strongest factor associated with compensatory hypertrophy in the
      contralateral normal kidney before surgery.

PMID- 25837027
TI  - Efficient enhancement of magnetic anisotropy by optimizing the ligand-field in a
      typically tetranuclear dysprosium cluster.
AB  - The perturbation to the ligand field around the lanthanide ion may significantly
      contribute to the magnetic dynamics of single molecule magnets. This can be
      demonstrated by two typical Dy4 cluster-based single molecular magnets (SMMs),
      [Dy4X2(MU3-OH)2(MU-OH)2(2,2-bpt)4(H2O)4]X2.2H2O.4EtOH (X = Cl and Br for and ,
      respectively), which were constructed by using 3,5-bis(pyridin-2-yl)-1,2,4
      triazole (2,2-bptH) as the polynuclear-chelating ligand. Alternating-current (ac)
      magnetic susceptibility measurements show that the energy barriers in complexes
      and were immensely enhanced by comparing with our previous work due to the
      optimization of the ligand field around Dy(III) ions. Remarkably, their high
      thermal active barriers at 190 K () and 197 K () under a zero applied external dc
      magnetic field are also among the highest within the reported tetranuclear
      lanthanide-based SMMs. 

PMID- 25837028
TI  - Global Lung Function Initiative equations improve interpretation of FEV1 decline
      among patients with cystic fibrosis.

PMID- 25837029
TI  - Noninvasive identification of left-sided heart failure in a population suspected
      of pulmonary arterial hypertension.
AB  - Exclusion of pulmonary hypertension secondary to left-sided heart disease (left
      heart failure (LHF)) is pivotal in the diagnosis of pulmonary arterial
      hypertension (PAH). In case of doubt, invasive measurements are recommended. The
      aim of the present study was to investigate whether it is possible to diagnose
      LHF using noninvasive parameters in a population suspected of PAH.300 PAH and 80
      LHF patients attended our pulmonary hypertension clinic before August 2010, and
      were used to build the predictive model. 79 PAH and 55 LHF patients attended our
      clinic from August 2010, and were used for prospective validation.A medical
      history of left heart disease, S deflection in V1 plus R deflection in V6 in
      millimetres on ECG, and left atrial dilation or left valvular heart disease that
      is worse than mild on echocardiography were independent predictors of LHF. The
      derived risk score system showed good predictive characteristics: R(2)=0.66 and
      area under the curve 0.93. In patients with a risk score >=72, there is 100%
      certainty that the cause of pulmonary hypertension is LHF. Using this risk score
      system, the number of right heart catheterisations in LHF may be reduced by
      20%.In a population referred under suspicion of PAH, a predictive model
      incorporating medical history, ECG and echocardiography data can diagnose LHF
      noninvasively in a substantial percentage of cases. 

PMID- 25837030
TI  - Sleeping on animal fur is related to asthma outcomes in later childhood.
AB  - Animal furs might represent a "proxy" for high and diverse microbial exposures
      within a critical time window of immune development. We assessed whether sleeping
      on animal fur shortly after birth is associated with asthma and atopy up to the
      age of 10 years. LISAplus participants (n=2441) from Munich and Leipzig, Germany,
      were included in the analysis. Animal fur exposure, cofactors and health outcomes
      were obtained periodically up to 10 years of age by parental questionnaires.
      Information on specific IgE to aeroallergens was available at 10 years. Cytokine
      producing peripheral T-cells were assessed in a subgroup of children at 2 and 3
      years. Confounder-adjusted associations were evaluated using logistic regression
      analyses. Sleeping on animal fur was very common (55%). In adjusted logistic
      regression analyses, sleeping on animal fur was inversely associated with
      recurrent early wheezing at 4 years (adjusted OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.61-0.93) and
      current asthma at 6 years (adjusted OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.31-1.01). Furthermore,
      sleeping on animal fur during the first 3 months of life was significantly
      associated with a persistently stimulated interferon-gamma response until the age
      of 3 years. Animal fur could be an effective measure of creating environments
      associated with higher microbial exposure.

PMID- 25837032
TI  - Validation of two predictive models for survival in pulmonary arterial
      hypertension.
AB  - The French Pulmonary Hypertension Network (FPHN) registry and the Registry to
      Evaluate Early And Long-term Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Disease Management
      (REVEAL) have developed predictive models for survival in pulmonary arterial
      hypertension (PAH). In this collaboration, we assess the external validity (or
      generalisability) of the FPHN ItinerAIR-HTAP predictive equation and the REVEAL
      risk score calculator. Validation cohorts approximated the eligibility criteria
      defined for each model. The REVEAL cohort comprised 292 treatment-naive, adult
      patients diagnosed <1 year prior to enrolment with idiopathic, familial or
      anorexigen-induced PAH. The FPHN cohort comprised 1737 patients with group 1 PAH.
      Application of FPHN parameters to REVEAL and REVEAL risk scores to FPHN
      demonstrated estimated hazard ratios that were consistent between studies and had
      high probabilities of concordance (hazard ratios of 0.72, 95% CI 0.64-0.80, and
      0.73, 95% CI 0.70-0.77, respectively). The REVEAL risk score calculator and FPHN
      ItinerAIR-HTAP predictive equation showed good discrimination and calibration for
      prediction of survival in the FPHN and REVEAL cohorts, respectively, suggesting
      prognostic generalisability in geographically different PAH populations. Once
      prospectively validated, these may become valuable tools in clinical practice.

PMID- 25837031
TI  - The genetic basis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
AB  - Throughout the past decade, there have been substantial advances in understanding
      the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Recently, several large
      genome-wide association and linkage studies have identified common genetic
      variants in more than a dozen loci that appear to contribute to IPF risk. In
      addition, family-based studies have led to the identification of rare genetic
      variants in genes related to surfactant function and telomere biology, and
      mechanistic studies suggest pathophysiological derangements associated with these
      rare genetic variants are also found in sporadic cases of IPF. Current evidence
      suggests that rather than existing as distinct syndromes, sporadic and familial
      cases of IPF (familial interstitial pneumonia) probably reflect a continuum of
      genetic risk. Rapidly evolving bioinformatic and molecular biology techniques,
      combined with next-generation sequencing technologies, hold great promise for
      developing a comprehensive, integrated approach to defining the fundamental
      molecular mechanisms that underlie IPF pathogenesis. 

PMID- 25837033
TI  - Linezolid for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in HIV-infected and -uninfected
      patients.

PMID- 25837034
TI  - The relationship between asthma and suicidal behaviours: a systematic literature
      review.
AB  - Asthma is a highly prevalent chronic condition worldwide, and is particularly
      common in younger people compared to other chronic conditions. Asthma can result
      in a number of symptoms that are detrimental to the quality of life of sufferers.
      The aim of the present systematic literature review was to analyse the existing
      literature on the relationship between asthma and fatal and nonfatal suicidal
      behaviours. Articles were retrieved from Scopus, PubMed, ProQuest and Web of
      Knowledge. We searched for the terms (suicid* OR self-harm) AND (asthma* OR
      "bronchial hyperreactivity") published in English-language peer-reviewed journals
      between 1990 and December 2014. Original research papers providing empirical
      evidence about the potential link between asthma and suicidal behaviours were
      included. The initial search identified 746 articles. Specific limiting criteria
      reduced the number of articles to the 19 articles that were finally included in
      the systematic review. The review found a potential link between asthma and
      suicide mortality, ideation and attempts across the age groups. Limitations of
      the review include the restriction to English-language papers published within
      the chosen time period, the limited number of papers involving suicide mortality,
      and the fact that the majority of papers originated from the USA.

PMID- 25837036
TI  - Occupational exposures and fluorescent oxidation products in 723 adults of the
      EGEA study.

PMID- 25837035
TI  - Effects of quitting cannabis on respiratory symptoms.
AB  - Smoking cannabis is associated with symptoms of bronchitis. Little is known about
      the persistence of symptoms after stopping cannabis use. We assessed associations
      between changes in cannabis use and respiratory symptoms in a population-based
      cohort of 1037 young adults. Participants were asked about cannabis and tobacco
      use at ages 18, 21, 26, 32 and 38 years. Symptoms of morning cough, sputum
      production, wheeze, dyspnoea on exertion and asthma diagnoses were ascertained at
      the same ages. Frequent cannabis use was defined as >=52 occasions over the
      previous year. Associations between frequent cannabis use and respiratory
      symptoms were analysed using generalised estimating equations with adjustments
      for tobacco smoking, asthma, sex and age. Frequent cannabis use was associated
      with morning cough (OR 1.97, p<0.001), sputum production (OR 2.31, p<0.001) and
      wheeze (OR 1.55, p<0.001). Reducing or quitting cannabis use was associated with
      reductions in the prevalence of cough, sputum and wheeze to levels similar to
      nonusers.Frequent cannabis use is associated with symptoms of bronchitis in young
      adults. Reducing cannabis use often leads to a resolution of these symptoms.

PMID- 25837037
TI  - Global and regional trends in COPD mortality, 1990-2010.
AB  - Between 1990 and 2010, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) moved from
      the fourth to third most common cause of death worldwide. Using data from the
      Global Burden of Disease programme we quantified regional changes in the number
      of COPD deaths and COPD mortality rates between 1990 and 2010. We estimated the
      proportion of the change that was attributable to gross national income per
      capita and an index of cumulative smoking exposure, and quantified the difference
      in mortality rates attributable to demographic changes. Despite a substantial
      decrease in COPD mortality rates, COPD deaths fell only slightly, from three
      million in 1990 to 2.8 million in 2010, because the mean age of the population
      increased. The number of COPD deaths in 2010 would have risen to 5.2 million if
      the age- and sex-specific mortality rates had remained constant. Changes in
      smoking led to only a small increase in age- and sex-specific mortality rates,
      which were strongly associated with changes in gross national income. The
      increased burden of COPD mortality was mainly driven by changes in age
      distribution, but age- and sex-specific rates fell as incomes rose. The rapid
      response to increasing affluence suggests that changes in COPD mortality are not
      entirely explained by changes in early life. 

PMID- 25837038
TI  - Lung cancer screening feasibility in Australia.

PMID- 25837039
TI  - Mortality among patients with pleural effusion undergoing thoracentesis.
AB  - Of the 1.5 million people diagnosed with pleural effusion in the USA annually,
      ~178 000 undergo thoracentesis. While it is known that malignant pleural effusion
      portends a poor prognosis, mortality of patients with nonmalignant effusions has
      not been well studied.This prospective cohort study evaluated 308 patients
      undergoing thoracentesis. Chart review was performed to obtain baseline
      characteristics. The aetiology of the effusions was determined using standardised
      criteria. Mortality was determined at 30 days and 1 year.247 unilateral and 61
      bilateral thoracenteses were performed. Malignant effusion had the highest 30-day
      (37%) and 1-year (77%) mortality. There was substantial patient 30-day and 1-year
      mortality with effusions due to multiple benign aetiologies (29% and 55%),
      congestive heart failure (22% and 53%), and renal failure (14% and 57%,
      respectively). Patients with bilateral, relative to unilateral, pleural effusion
      were associated with higher risk of death at 30 days and 1 year (17% versus 47%
      (hazard ratio (HR) 2.58, 95% CI 1.44-4.63) and 36% versus 69% (HR 2.32, 95% CI
      1.55-3.48), respectively).Patients undergoing thoracentesis for pleural effusion
      have high short- and long-term mortality. Patients with malignant effusion had
      the highest mortality followed by multiple benign aetiologies, congestive heart
      failure and renal failure. Bilateral pleural effusion is distinctly associated
      with high mortality.

PMID- 25837040
TI  - Management of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in clinical practice:
      the INSIGHTS-IPF registry.
AB  - After introduction of the new international guidelines on idiopathic pulmonary
      fibrosis (IPF) in 2011, we investigated clinical management practices for
      patients with IPF according to physicians' diagnoses. A prospective, multicenter,
      noninterventional study with comprehensive quality measures including on-site
      source data verification was performed in Germany. 502 consecutive patients (171
      newly diagnosed, 331 prevalent; mean+/-SD age 68.7+/-9.4 years, 77.9% males) with
      a mean disease duration of 2.3+/-3.5 years were enrolled. IPF diagnosis was based
      on clinical assessments and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in 90.2%,
      and on surgical lung biopsy combined with histology in 34.1% (lavage in 61.8%).
      The median 6-min walk distance was 320 m (mean 268+/-200 m). The mean forced
      vital capacity was 72+/-20% pred and diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon
      monoxide was 35+/-15% pred. No drugs were administered in 17.9%, oral steroids in
      23.7%, N-acetylcysteine in 33.7%, pirfenidone in 44.2% and other drugs in 4.6% of
      patients. Only 2.8% of the cohort was listed for lung transplantation. IPF
      patients were diagnosed in line with the new guidelines. They had more severe
      disease than those enrolled in recent randomised controlled trials. In addition
      to HRCT, the frequency of lung biopsies was surprisingly high. Treatment patterns
      varied substantially.

PMID- 25837043
TI  - Optimization of phase modulation with arbitrary waveform generators for optical
      spectral control and suppression of stimulated Brillouin scattering.
AB  - We investigate the use of an arbitrary waveform generator to phase-modulate a
      laser source and externally broaden its linewidth. Through nonlinear optimization
      in a computer, we find modulation signals that produce top-hat-shaped optical
      spectra of discrete lines with highest total power within a limited bandwidth and
      limited peak spectral power density. The required modulation bandwidth is
      comparable to the targeted optical bandwidth. Such spectra are attractive for
      suppressing stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fiber. Experimentally, we
      generate 15 lines in a 0.5 GHz optical linewidth. However, the method can also be
      used to generate other optical spectra. 

PMID- 25837041
TI  - A randomised trial of lung sealant versus medical therapy for advanced emphysema.
AB  - Uncontrolled pilot studies demonstrated promising results of endoscopic lung
      volume reduction using emphysematous lung sealant (ELS) in patients with
      advanced, upper lobe predominant emphysema. We aimed to evaluate the safety and
      efficacy of ELS in a randomised controlled setting.Patients were randomised to
      ELS plus medical treatment or medical treatment alone. Despite early termination
      for business reasons and inability to assess the primary 12-month end-point, 95
      out of 300 patients were successfully randomised, providing sufficient data for 3
      and 6-month analysis.57 patients (34 treatment and 23 control) had efficacy
      results at 3 months; 34 (21 treatment and 13 control) at 6 months. In the
      treatment group, 3-month lung function, dyspnoea, and quality of life improved
      significantly from baseline when compared to control. Improvements persisted at 6
      months with >50% of treated patients experiencing clinically important
      improvements, including some whose lung function improved by >100%. 44% of
      treated patients experienced adverse events requiring hospitalisation (2.5-fold
      more than control, p=0.01), with two deaths in the treated cohort. Treatment
      responders tended to be those experiencing respiratory adverse events.Despite
      early termination, results show that minimally invasive ELS may be efficacious,
      yet significant risks (probably inflammatory) limit its current utility.

PMID- 25837044
TI  - Dissipative soliton resonance and reverse saturable absorption in graphene oxide
      mode-locked all-normal-dispersion Yb-doped fiber laser.
AB  - We observed dissipative soliton resonance phenomenon in a graphene oxide mode
      locked Yb-doped fiber laser, which delivered square-shaped pulse of 0.52 ns~60.8
      ns and single pulse energy of 159.4 nJ at 1064.9 nm. The 3 dB-bandwidth of
      Lorentz-shaped spectrum was 0.19 nm. We pointed out that the reverse saturable
      absorption played a big role in generating square-shaped or flat-top pulses,
      which verified by additional simulation work.

PMID- 25837045
TI  - Ultra-high tunable liquid crystal-plasmonic photonic crystal fiber polarization
      filter.
AB  - A novel ultra-high tunable photonic crystal fiber (PCF) polarization filter is
      proposed and analyzed using finite element method. The suggested design has a
      central hole infiltrated with a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) that offers high
      tunability with temperature and external electric field. Moreover, the PCF is
      selectively filled with metal wires into cladding air holes. Results show that
      the resonance losses and wavelengths are different in x and y polarized
      directions depending on the rotation angle phi of the NLC. The reported filter of
      compact device length 0.5 mm can achieve 600 dB / cm resonance losses at phi = 90
      degrees  for x-polarized mode at communication wavelength of 1300 mm with low
      losses of 0.00751 dB / cm for y-polarized mode. However, resonance losses of
      157.71 dB / cm at phi = 0 degrees  can be achieved for y-polarized mode at the
      same wavelength with low losses of 0.092 dB / cm for x-polarized mode. 

PMID- 25837046
TI  - Effect of structure and composition on optical properties of Er-Sc silicates
      prepared from multi-nanolayer films.
AB  - Polycrystalline Er-Sc silicates (Er(x)Sc(2-x)SiO5 and Er(x)Sc(2-x)Si2O7) were
      fabricated using multilayer nanostructured films of Er2O3/SiO2/Sc2O3 deposited on
      SiO2/Si substrates by RF- sputtering and thermal annealing at high temperature.
      RBS, TEM, GIXD, and PL results show the presence of Er(x)Sc(2-x)SiO5 with an
      emission peak at 1528 nm for annealing from 900 to 1100  degrees C, and Er(x)Sc(2
      x)Si2O7 with an emission peak at 1537 nm for higher annealing temperature. The PL
      intensity of the Er(x)Sc(2-x)Si2O7 phase is five times stronger than that of the
      Er(x)Sc(2-x)SiO5 phase at 1250  degrees C. From PLE and PL spectra of Er(x)Sc(2
      x)Si2O7 thin film, we schematically illustrate the Er3+ Stark energy levels of
      4I(13/2) to 4I(15/2) manifolds due to the crystal field strength effect of Sc3+.
      Temperature-dependent PL of the Er(x)Sc(2-x)Si2O7 phase exhibits a variation of
      the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) from 1.1 to 2.3 nm. The narrow FWHM is due
      to the small ionic radii of Sc3+, which enhance the crystal field strength
      affecting the optical properties of Er3+ ions located at the well-defined lattice
      sites of Sc silicate. A large excitation cross-section (sigma(ex)) is equal to
      3.0x10-20 cm2 at lambda(ex) = 1527.6 nm.

PMID- 25837047
TI  - Trapping surface plasmon polaritons on ultrathin corrugated metallic strips in
      microwave frequencies.
AB  - It has been demonstrated that an ultrathin uniformly corrugated metallic strip is
      a good plasmonic waveguide in microwave and terahertz frequencies to propagate
      spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) with well confinement and small loss
      (Shen et al., PNAS 110, 40-45, 2013). Here, we propose a simple method to trap
      SPP waves on the ultrathin corrugated metallic strips in broad band in the
      microwave frequencies. By properly designing non-uniform corrugations with
      gradient-depth grooves, we show that the SPP waves are slowed down gradually and
      then reflected at pre-designed positions along the ultrathin metallic strip when
      the frequency varies. We design and fabricate the ultrathin gradient-corrugation
      metallic strip on a thin dielectric film. Both numerical simulation and
      measurement results validate the efficient trapping of SPP waves in broadband
      from 9 to 14 GHz. This proposal is a promising candidate for slow-wave devices in
      both microwave and terahertz regimes. 

PMID- 25837042
TI  - Global genome and transcriptome analyses of Magnaporthe oryzae epidemic isolate
      98-06 uncover novel effectors and pathogenicity-related genes, revealing gene
      gain and lose dynamics in genome evolution.
AB  - Genome dynamics of pathogenic organisms are driven by pathogen and host co
      evolution, in which pathogen genomes are shaped to overcome stresses imposed by
      hosts with various genetic backgrounds through generation of a variety of
      isolates. This same principle applies to the rice blast pathogen Magnaporthe
      oryzae and the rice host; however, genetic variations among different isolates of
      M. oryzae remain largely unknown, particularly at genome and transcriptome
      levels. Here, we applied genomic and transcriptomic analytical tools to
      investigate M. oryzae isolate 98-06 that is the most aggressive in infection of
      susceptible rice cultivars. A unique 1.4 Mb of genomic sequences was found in
      isolate 98-06 in comparison to reference strain 70-15. Genome-wide expression
      profiling revealed the presence of two critical expression patterns of M. oryzae
      based on 64 known pathogenicity-related (PaR) genes. In addition, 134 candidate
      effectors with various segregation patterns were identified. Five tested proteins
      could suppress BAX-mediated programmed cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana
      leaves. Characterization of isolate-specific effector candidates Iug6 and Iug9
      and PaR candidate Iug18 revealed that they have a role in fungal propagation and
      pathogenicity. Moreover, Iug6 and Iug9 are located exclusively in the biotrophic
      interfacial complex (BIC) and their overexpression leads to suppression of
      defense-related gene expression in rice, suggesting that they might participate
      in biotrophy by inhibiting the SA and ET pathways within the host. Thus, our
      studies identify novel effector and PaR proteins involved in pathogenicity of the
      highly aggressive M. oryzae field isolate 98-06, and reveal molecular and genomic
      dynamics in the evolution of M. oryzae and rice host interactions. 

PMID- 25837048
TI  - Fast optical frequency sweeping using voltage controlled oscillator driven single
      sideband modulation combined with injection locking.
AB  - An ultrafast optical frequency sweeping technique for narrow linewidth lasers is
      reported. This technique exploits the large frequency modulation bandwidth of a
      wideband voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and a high speed electro-optic dual
      parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DPMZM) which works on the state of carrier
      suppressed single sideband modulation(CS-SSB). Optical frequency sweeping of a
      narrow linewidth fiber laser with 3.85 GHz sweeping range and 80 GHz/MUs tuning
      speed is demonstrated, which is an extremely high tuning speed for frequency
      sweeping of narrow linewidth lasers. In addition, injection locking technique is
      adopted to improve the sweeper's low optical power output and small side-mode
      suppression ratio (SMSR).

PMID- 25837049
TI  - Transition of correlated-electron emission in nonsequential double ionization of
      Ar atoms.
AB  - Emission of the two electrons released from nonsequential double ionization of
      argon atoms is anticorrelated at lower laser intensities but is correlated at
      higher laser intensities. Such a transition is caused by the momentum change of
      recollision-induced-ionization (RII) electrons. At lower laser intensities, the
      Coulomb repulsion between the two RII electrons dominates the motion of electrons
      and pushes them leaving the laser field back-to-back. At higher laser
      intensities, the drift momentum obtained from the laser field dominates the
      motion of electrons and drives them leaving the laser field side-by-side. 

PMID- 25837050
TI  - Multi-band transmissions of chiral metamaterials based on Fabry-Perot like
      resonators.
AB  - In this paper, a multi-layered metallic structure is proposed, which consists of
      split-ring resonators on both sides of two dielectric substrates. Numerical
      results reveal that the structure realizes a high magnitude of 0.94, three bands
      and broadband (more than 8 GHz) asymmetric transmission for linearly polarized
      wave. These properties are not observed in previous works. In order to better
      know these transmission properties, the Fabry-Perot like resonance model has been
      introduced to analyze the enhancement mechanism of asymmetric transmission in the
      multi-layered structure. The physical mechanism of linearly polarized wave
      conversion and asymmetric transmission based on electric fields and currents
      distribution is also analyzed in detail, respectively. 

PMID- 25837051
TI  - Broad baseband nonlinear distortion mitigation using digital pre- and post
      distortion in OFDM-based WDM LR-PON.
AB  - We propose a new technique for mitigation of nonlinear distortion of broadband
      signals due to electrical/optical conversions and fibre transmission. This
      technique uses memory polynomials on signals on their original format. The
      performance improvement is assessed experimentally for an orthogonal frequency
      division multiplexing signal, with 750 MHz of bandwidth (centred at 1.5 GHz) and
      carrying 1.25 Gbps, transmitted along a wavelength division multiplexing long
      reach passive optical network. It is shown that, in back-to-back, an error vector
      magnitude improvement of 4.1 dB and 11.8 dB can be achieved with digital pre
      distortion and digital post-distortion, respectively. With 125 km of single-mode
      fibre transmission, these improvements are reduced to about 1 dB and 3 dB,
      respectively. 

PMID- 25837052
TI  - Speckle-based volume holographic microscopy for optically sectioned multi-plane
      fluorescent imaging.
AB  - Structured illumination microscopy has been widely used to reconstruct optically
      sectioned fluorescence images in wide-field fashion; however, it still requires
      axial scanning to obtain multiple depth information of a volumetric sample. In
      this paper, a new imaging scheme, called speckle-based volume holographic
      microscopy system, is presented. The proposed system incorporates volumetric
      speckle illumination and multiplexed volume holographic gratings to acquire multi
      plane images with optical sectioning capability, without any axial scanning. We
      present the design, implementation, and experimental image data demonstrating the
      proposed system's ability to simultaneously obtain wide-field, optically
      sectioned, and multi-depth resolved images of fluorescently labeled microspheres
      and tissue structures. 

PMID- 25837053
TI  - Improvement of light extraction of LYSO scintillator by using a combination of
      self-assembly of nanospheres and atomic layer deposition.
AB  - The self-assembled monolayer periodic array of polystyrene spheres conformally
      coated with TiO2 layer using atomic layer deposition is designed to obtain a
      further enhancement of light extraction for LYSO scintillator. The maximum
      enhancement is 149% for the sample with polystyrene spheres conformally coated
      with TiO2 layer, while the enhancement is only 76% for the sample with only
      polystyrene spheres. Such further enhancement could be contributed from the
      additional modes forming by TiO2 layer due to its high refractive index, which
      can be approved by the simulation of electric field distribution. The
      experimental results are agreement with the simulated results. Furthermore, the
      prepared structured layer exhibits an excellent combination with the surface of
      scintillator, which is in favor of the practical application. Therefore, it is
      safely concluded that the combination of self-assembly method and atomic layer
      deposition is a promising approach to obtain a significant enhancement of light
      extraction for a large area. This method can be extended to many other
      luminescent materials and devices.

PMID- 25837054
TI  - Translation-reduced ion beam figuring.
AB  - A translation-reduced ion beam figuring (TRIBF) technique for five-axis ion beam
      figuring (IBF) plants is proposed to process large size components which cannot
      be processed in the traditional way. This novel technique enhances the capability
      of five-axis IBF plants by taking advantage of their rotation axes. The IBF
      kinematic model is described and the TRIBF processing technique is established by
      solving the motion parameters. Verification experiments are conducted on a 150 mm
      diameter planar mirror. This mirror was processed by TRIBF technique with only a
      100 mm translation stage. The surface error was reduced from initial 10.7 nm rms
      to 1.3 nm rms within 97 minute processing time. The result indicates that the
      TRIBF processing technique is feasible and effective.

PMID- 25837055
TI  - Discrimination of "specific" and "nonspecific" binding in two-dimensional
      photonic crystals.
AB  - In this paper, we propose a design for a 2D slab photonic crystal (PhC) virus
      sensor and an associated signal analysis methodology that together enable single
      virus detection while rejecting false positives that occur due to non-specific
      interactions of serum proteins and small molecules with the sensor surface. The
      slab-PhC design takes advantage of both the optical and geometrical properties of
      its incorporated structures by physically limiting virus infiltration to only the
      most sensitive region of the PhC sensor, while allowing simultaneous measurement
      of both site-selective virus infiltration and non-specific small molecule
      accumulation across the device. Notably, the proposed sensor transducer is
      compatible with both standard semiconductor fabrication procedures and lab-on-a
      chip style microfluidic delivery systems. 3D finite-difference time-domain
      electromagnetic field computation results are presented, the outcomes of which
      indicate that both specific (target) virus capture and non-specific (non-target)
      binding can be simultaneously measured and discerned from one another. This type
      of capacity for background-corrected, single-pathogen target detection would
      provide a new and novel advancement toward sensitive, label-free virus
      diagnostics. 

PMID- 25837056
TI  - Porous silicon ring resonator for compact, high sensitivity biosensing
      applications.
AB  - A ring resonator is patterned on a porous silicon slab waveguide to produce a
      compact, high quality factor biosensor with a large internal surface area
      available for enhanced recognition of biological and chemical molecules. The
      porous nature of the ring resonator allows molecules to directly interact with
      the guided mode. Quality factors near 10,000 were measured for porous silicon
      ring resonators with a radius of 25 MUm. A bulk detection sensitivity of 380
      nm/RIU was measured upon exposure to salt water solutions. Specific detection of
      nucleic acid molecules was demonstrated with a surface detection sensitivity of 4
      pm/nM. 

PMID- 25837057
TI  - Nanocavity absorption enhancement for two-dimensional material monolayer systems.
AB  - Here we propose a strategy to enhance the light-matter interaction of two
      dimensional (2D) material monolayers based on strong interference effect in
      planar nanocavities, and overcome the limitation between optical absorption and
      the atomically-thin thickness of 2D materials. By exploring the role of spacer
      layers with different thicknesses and refractive indices, we demonstrate that a
      nanocavity with an air spacer layer placed between a graphene monolayer and an
      aluminum reflector layer will enhance the exclusive absorption in the graphene
      monolayer effectively, which is particularly useful for the development of
      atomically-thin energy harvesting/conversion devices. 

PMID- 25837058
TI  - Modulation mechanism of multi-azimuthal masks on the redistributions of focused
      azimuthally polarized beams.
AB  - We propose a theoretical model to semi-quantitatively describe the modulation
      mechanism of multi-azimuthal masks on the focal fields of azimuthally polarized
      (AP) beam. With this model, we cannot only explain the redistributions of the
      polarization and intensity at the focal plane, but also consciously manage the
      focal fields by designing the mask structure parameters, such as the symmetry,
      area, and phase retardation of the sector photic regions. Our results may supply
      a guideline to realize the manipulation on the polarizations, angular momenta,
      and the distribution of focused fields. 

PMID- 25837059
TI  - Constructing metamaterials from subwavelength pixels with constant indices
      product.
AB  - We investigate a two-dimensional metamaterial template constructed from different
      pixels through a conservation law of effective indices: If the product of
      refractive indices along the principal axes is invariant for different
      anisotropic materials in a two-dimensional space, the product of indices of the
      effective medium remains constant after mixing these materials. Such effective
      media of constant indices product can be implemented using metamaterial
      structures. The orientation of the metamaterial structure in a single pixel
      controls the direction of the principal axis of the effective medium. Different
      pixels are assembled into an array to obtain reconfigurable anisotropy of the
      effective medium. These considerations would be useful for constructing
      reconfigurable metamaterials and transformation media with area-preserving maps. 

PMID- 25837060
TI  - Measurement of small light absorption in microparticles by means of optically
      induced rotation.
AB  - The absorption parameters of micro-particles have been associated with the
      induced spin exerted upon the particle, when embedded in a circularly polarized
      coherent field. The induced rotational speed is theoretically analyzed, showing
      the influence of the beam parameters, the parameters of the particle and the
      tribological parameters of the surrounding fluid. The theoretical findings have
      been adequately confirmed in experiments. 

PMID- 25837061
TI  - Mode- and wavelength-division multiplexed transmission using all-fiber mode
      multiplexer based on mode selective couplers.
AB  - We propose all-fiber mode multiplexer composed of two consecutive LP11 mode
      selective couplers that allows for the multiplexing of LP01 mode and two-fold
      degenerate LP11 modes. We demonstrate WDM transmission of 32 wavelength channels
      with 100 GHz spacing, each carrying 3 modes of 120 Gb/s polarization division
      multiplexed quadrature phase shifted keying (PDM-QPSK) signal, over 560 km of few
      mode fiber (FMF). Long distance transmission is achieved by 6*6 multiple-input
      multiple-output digital signal processing and modal differential group delay
      compensated link of FMF. The all-fiber mode multiplexer has considerable
      potential to be used in mode- and wavelength-division multiplexed transmission.

PMID- 25837062
TI  - Generation of polarization-resolved wideband unpredictability-enhanced chaotic
      signals based on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers subject to chaotic
      optical injection.
AB  - A system framework is proposed and analyzed for generating polarization-resolved
      wideband unpredictability-enhanced chaotic signals based on a slave vertical
      cavity surface-emitting laser (S-VCSEL) driven by an injected optical chaos
      signal from a master VCSEL (M-VCSEL) under optical feedback. After calculating
      the time series outputs from the M-VCSEL under optical feedback and the S-VCSEL
      under chaotic optical injection by using the spin-flip model (SFM), the
      unpredictability degree (UD) is evaluated by permutation entropy (PE), and the
      bandwidth of the polarization-resolved outputs from the M-VCSEL and S-VCSEL are
      numerically investigated. The results show that, under suitable parameters, both
      the bandwidth and UD of two polarization components (PCs) outputs from the S
      VCSEL can be enhanced significantly compared with that of the driving chaotic
      signals output from the M-VCSEL. By simulating the influences of the feedback and
      injection parameters on the bandwidth and UD of the polarization-resolved outputs
      from S-VCSEL, related operating parameters can be optimized. 

PMID- 25837063
TI  - Broadband superluminescence, 5.9 MUm to 7.2 MUm, of a quantum cascade gain
      device.
AB  - The broadband electroluminescence of a quantum cascade device based on a multi
      color active region covering the wavelengths 5.9 MUm - 7.2 MUm was measured. Anti
      reflection coatings were applied on both cleaved facets to remove the Fabry-Perot
      cavity and prevent the device from lasing. This allows the latter to be studied
      either as a superluminescent diode or a single-pass amplifier in order to
      determine its suitability as a source for low speckle imaging applications. At
      243 K, the amplified spontaneous emission has a peak power of 38 MUW that agrees
      well with a simple model of spontaneous emission intensity. The light of a
      similar structure could be modulated up to 1 GHz, limited by the RC constant of
      the device. The peak gain was measured from high-resolution luminescence spectra
      and determined to be 6.3 cm-1, corresponding to a single-pass gain of 1.89.

PMID- 25837064
TI  - Forces due to pulsed beams in optical tweezers: linear effects.
AB  - We present a method for the precise calculation of optical forces due to a
      tightly-focused pulsed laser beam using generalized Lorenz-Mie theory or the T
      matrix method. This method can be used to obtain the fields as a function of
      position and time, allowing the approximate calculation of weak non-linear
      effects, and provides a reference calculation for validation of calculations
      including non-linear effects. We calculate forces for femtosecond pulses of
      various widths, and compare with forces due to a continuous wave (CW) beam. The
      forces are similar enough so that the continuous beam case provides a useful
      approximation for the pulsed case, with trap parameters such as the radial spring
      constant usually differing by less than 1% for pulses of 100 fs or longer. For
      large high-index (e.g., polystyrene, with n = 1.59) particles, the difference can
      be as large as 3% for 100 fs pulses, and up to 8% for 25 fs pulses. A weighted
      average of CW forces for individual spectral components of the pulsed beam
      provides a simple improved approximation, which we use to illustrate the physical
      principles responsible for the differences between pulsed and CW beams. 

PMID- 25837065
TI  - Elliptical silicon nanowire photodetectors for polarization-resolved imaging.
AB  - Polarization-resolved imaging offers many advantages over conventional imaging
      because it provides additional information on materials and scenes. In this
      study, we present an image sensor pixel for polarization-resolved imaging based
      on an all-silicon nanowire device. As the structure has an intrinsically
      polarization-dependent response, it is not necessary to employ a polarizer. We
      fabricate pixels consisting of etched vertical silicon nanowires with elliptical
      cross-sections that incorporate vertical p-i-n junctions. Our photocurrent
      measurement reveals that the spectral responsivities are dependent on the
      polarization state of incident light. Polarization-resolved imaging is performed
      with fabricated devices. This approach is different from conventional approaches
      using polarization filters because absorbed light in the elliptical nanowire is
      converted to photocurrent while light absorbed by a polarization filter is
      discarded. 

PMID- 25837066
TI  - Sensitive and ultra-fast species detection using pulsed cavity ringdown
      spectroscopy.
AB  - Pulsed cavity ringdown spectroscopy (CRDS) is used to develop a novel, ultra
      fast, high-sensitivity diagnostic for measuring species concentrations in shock
      tube experiments. The diagnostic is demonstrated by monitoring trace
      concentrations of ethylene in the mid-IR region near 949.47 cm-1. Each ringdown
      measurement is completed in less than 1 us and the time period between successive
      pulses is 10 us. The high sensitivity diagnostic has a noise-equivalent detection
      limit of 1.08 x 10-5 cm-1 which enables detection of 15 ppm ethylene at fuel
      pyrolysis conditions (1845 K and 2 bar) and 294 ppb ethylene under ambient
      conditions (297 K and 1 bar). To our knowledge, this is the first successful
      application of the cavity ringdown method to the measurement of species time
      histories in a shock tube.

PMID- 25837067
TI  - Tunable circular polarization selective surfaces for low-THz applications using
      patterned graphene.
AB  - This paper demonstrates a new type of frequency tunable polarization selective
      surface operating at low THz, which is devised by utilizing the unique features
      of graphene. The device is comprised of an infinite array of identical unit cells
      in three layers. Multiple graphene dipoles are placed on the top and bottom
      layers to form the vertical and horizontal electric field filters. Using this new
      configuration, the proposed device exhibits reflection for the incident Left-Hand
      Circular-Polarization (LHCP) waves and becomes transparent to the incoming Right
      Hand-Circular-Polarization (RHCP) waves. The excited localized surface plasmonic
      resonance mode on the graphene based unit cells significantly reduces the
      physical dimension of the device. The unit cell dimension of the proposed design
      is in the order of 0.18 wavelengths in comparison to conventional metallic
      structures, where it is of order a half a wavelength. In the full wave analysis,
      the graphene based polarization selective surfaces exhibit an isolation of 21 dB
      for LHCP waves and a transmission loss of around 5.1 dB for waves with RHCP
      characteristics. The performance has also been examined under oblique incidence.
      The results fully verify that the proposed planar device operates properly for
      incident angles up to 40 degrees . The tuning effect of the described device is
      investigated by varying the chemical potentials of graphene. Significant
      frequency reconfiguration capability is achieved in the isolation of LHCP
      incident waves, and meanwhile, for RHCP incidence, the transmission rate remains
      reasonably high. 

PMID- 25837068
TI  - High-resolution and fast-response fiber-optic temperature sensor using silicon
      Fabry-Perot cavity.
AB  - We report a fiber-optic sensor based on a silicon Fabry-Perot cavity, fabricated
      by attaching a silicon pillar on the tip of a single-mode fiber, for high
      resolution and high-speed temperature measurement. The large thermo-optic
      coefficient and thermal expansion coefficient of the silicon material give rise
      to an experimental sensitivity of 84.6 pm/ degrees C. The excellent transparency
      and large refractive index of silicon over the infrared wavelength range result
      in a visibility of 33 dB for the reflection spectrum. A novel average wavelength
      tracking method has been proposed and demonstrated for sensor demodulation with
      improved signal-to-noise ratio, which leads to a temperature resolution of 6 * 10
      4  degrees C. Due to the high thermal diffusivity of silicon, a response time as
      short as 0.51 ms for a sensor with an 80-um-diameter and 200-um-long silicon
      pillar has been experimentally achieved, suggesting a maximum frequency of ~2 kHz
      can be reached, to address the needs for highly dynamic environmental variations
      such as those found in the ocean.

PMID- 25837069
TI  - Angle algorithm based on Hough transform for imaging polarization navigation
      sensor.
AB  - Polarization navigation is a promising orientation-determination method inspired
      by insects' foraging behavior that offers the advantages of autonomous and high
      precision. In this paper, using the solar meridian as an azimuth reference is
      proposed. The model of the distribution pattern of the polarized skylight
      projected onto an imaging sensor is analyzed. The sufficient features of the
      solar meridian are proven. According to these features, an angle algorithm for an
      imaging polarization navigation sensor based on a machine-vision algorithm is
      proposed. In consideration of noise in images, the relation between the measured
      angle and the noise in images is modeled. This model cannot only optimize the
      threshold tolerance R in the algorithm but also describe the effects of several
      primary factors that can affect the measuring precision. In the simulation test,
      the measurement accuracy was better than 0.34 degrees . When the algorithm was
      tested on the polarization-detection system, the measurement accuracy was better
      than 0.37 degrees . 

PMID- 25837070
TI  - Far-field correlation of bidirectional tracking beams due to wave-front
      deformation in inter-satellites optical communication links.
AB  - In some applications of optical communication systems, such as inter-satellites
      optical communication, the correlation of the bidirectional tracking beams
      changes in far-field as a result of wave-front deformation. Far-field correlation
      model with wave-front deformation on tracking stability is established. Far-field
      correlation function and factor have been obtained. Combining with parameters of
      typical laser communication systems, the model is corrected. It shows that
      deformation pointing-tracking errors theta(A) and theta(B), far-field correlation
      factor delta depend on RMS of deformation error rms, which decline with a
      increasing rms including Tilt and Coma. The principle of adjusting far-field
      correlation factor with wave-front deformation to compensate deformation pointing
      tracking errors has been given, through which the deformation pointing-tracking
      error is reduced to 18.12" (Azimuth) and 17.65" (Elevation). Work above possesses
      significant reference value on optimization design in inter-satellites optical
      communication.

PMID- 25837071
TI  - Complex rotational dynamics of multiple spheroidal particles in a circularly
      polarized, dual beam trap.
AB  - We examine the rotational dynamics of spheroidal particles in an optical trap
      comprising counter-propagating Gaussian beams of opposing helicity. Isolated
      spheroids undergo continuous rotation with frequencies determined by their size
      and aspect ratio, whilst pairs of spheroids display phase locking behaviour. The
      introduction of additional particles leads to yet more complex behaviour.
      Experimental results are supported by numerical calculations. 

PMID- 25837072
TI  - Optical beam and its operation in low dimensional space.
AB  - This paper proposes the concept of low dimensional optical beam and operator. In
      low dimensional space, beam (or operator) is decomposed into a limited number of
      orthogonalized low dimensional beams (or operators) through the singular value
      decomposition. It is possible to generate an unconventional beam by these low
      dimensional beams. Low dimensional operator allows independent operation of
      orthogonal dimensions which may produce greater freedoms. Storage space and
      computation resource are saved dramatically by using this method. Experimental
      realization of this scheme is briefly discussed at the end. 

PMID- 25837073
TI  - Two-party secret key distribution via a modified quantum secret sharing protocol.
AB  - We present and demonstrate a novel protocol for distributing secret keys between
      two and only two parties based on N-party single-qubit Quantum Secret Sharing
      (QSS). We demonstrate our new protocol with N = 3 parties using phase-encoded
      photons. We show that any two out of N parties can build a secret key based on
      partial information from each other and with collaboration from the remaining N -
      2 parties. Our implementation allows for an accessible transition between N-party
      QSS and arbitrary two party QKD without modification of hardware. In addition,
      our approach significantly reduces the number of resources such as single photon
      detectors, lasers and dark fiber connections needed to implement QKD. 

PMID- 25837074
TI  - Digital generation of shape-invariant Bessel-like beams.
AB  - Bessel beams have been extensive studied to date but are always created over a
      finite region inside the laboratory. Means to overcome this consider multi
      element refractive designs to create beams that have a longitudinal dependent
      cone angle, thereby allowing for a far greater quasi non-diffracting propagation
      region. Here we outline a generalized approach for the creation of shape
      invariant Bessel-like beams with a single phase-only element, and demonstrate it
      experimentally with a phase-only spatial light modulator. Our experimental
      results are in excellent agreement with theory, suggesting an easy-to-implement
      approach for long range, shape-invariant Bessel-like beams. 

PMID- 25837075
TI  - Effect of the gradient of complex refractive index at boundary of turbid media on
      total internal reflection.
AB  - We analyze the existence of non-uniformity at the boundary of turbid media, and
      develop a gradient complex refractive index multilayered model in terms of this
      fact. Our model reveals the physics mechanism of the discrepancies between
      experimental data above the critical angle and the fitting curve with Fresnel's
      Formula. Also, from the perspective of the energy flow, reflectance R is obtained
      by the simplified models. We get complex refractive indexes and reflectance
      curves by fitting experimental data of 20% and 30% Intralipid solutions and
      rutile TiO2 powder suspension with two different methods. Compared with Fresnel's
      Formula, our model can fit experimental data better.

PMID- 25837076
TI  - Asymmetric polarization-based frequency scanning interferometer.
AB  - An asymmetric polarization-based frequency scanning interferometer is proposed
      using the asymmetric polarimetric method. The proposed system controls the
      polarization direction of the beam using a polarizer and wave plate, along with a
      conventional interferometer system. By controlling the wave plate, it is possible
      to asymmetrically modulate the magnitude of the object and reference beam, which
      are divided by the polarizing beam splitter. Based on this principle, if the
      target object consists of both transparent and opaque parts with different
      polarization characteristics, each part can be measured. After a fast Fourier
      transform of the acquired interference signal, the shape of the object is
      obtained by analyzing its spectrum. The proposed system is evaluated in terms of
      measurement accuracy and noise robustness through a series of experiments to show
      the effectiveness of the system. 

PMID- 25837077
TI  - Improved time-resolved acousto-optic technique for optical fiber analysis of
      axial non-uniformities by using edge interrogation.
AB  - The time-resolved acousto-optic technique demonstrated recently to be a very
      useful method for the analysis of fiber axial non-uniformities, able to detect
      variations of fiber diameter in the nanometric scale with a spatial resolution of
      few cm. An edge interrogation approach is proposed to improve further the
      performance of this technique. The detection of subnanometer fiber diameter
      changes or sub-ppm changes of the core refractive index is demonstrated.

PMID- 25837078
TI  - Nanoscale welding aerosol sensing based on whispering gallery modes in a
      cylindrical silica resonator.
AB  - We report an experimental technique where one uses a standard silica fiber as a
      cylindrical whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonator to sense airborne nanoscale
      aerosols produced by electric arc welding. We find that the accumulation of
      aerosols on the resonator surface induces a measurable red-shift in resonance
      frequency, and establish an empirical relation that links the magnitude of
      resonance shift with the amount of aerosol deposition. The WGM quality factors,
      by contrast, do not decrease significantly, even for samples with a large
      percentage of surface area covered by aerosols. Our experimental results are
      discussed and compared with existing literature on WGM-based nanoparticle
      sensing. 

PMID- 25837079
TI  - Retina layer segmentation using kernel graph cuts and continuous max-flow.
AB  - Circular scan Spectral-Domain Optic Coherence Tomography imaging (SD-OCT) is one
      of the best tools for diagnosis of retinal diseases. This technique provides more
      comprehensive detail of the retinal morphology and layers around the optic disc
      nerve head (ONH). Since manual labelling of the retinal layers can be tedious and
      time consuming, accurate and robust automated segmentation methods are needed to
      provide the thickness evaluation of these layers in retinal disorder assessments
      such as glaucoma. The proposed method serves this purpose by performing the
      segmentation of retinal layers boundaries in circular SD-OCT scans acquired
      around the ONH. The layers are detected by adapting a graph cut segmentation
      technique that includes a kernel-induced space and a continuous multiplier based
      max-flow algorithm. Results from scan images acquired with Spectralis (Heidelberg
      Engineering, Germany) prove that the proposed method is robust and efficient in
      detecting the retinal layers boundaries in images. With a mean root-mean-square
      error (RMSE) of 0.0835 +/- 0.0495 and an average Dice coefficient of 0.9468 +/-
      0.0705 pixels for the retinal nerve fibre layer thickness, the proposed method
      demonstrated effective agreement with manual annotations. 

PMID- 25837080
TI  - Temporal coupled mode theory of standing wave resonant cavities for infrared
      photodetection.
AB  - Standing wave resonating cavities have been proposed in the past to increase the
      performance of infrared detectors by minimizing the volume of photogeneration,
      hence the noise, while maintaining the same quantum efficiency. We present an
      approach based on the temporal coupled mode theory to explain their behavior and
      limitations. If the ratio of the imaginary part of the absorber's dielectric
      function to the index of the incident medium epsilon"(d)/n0 is larger than 1.4,
      then the absorption cross section sigma(a) can attain its maximum value, which
      for an isolated cavity is approximately 2lambda/pi. Besides, for sigma(a) to
      exceed the cavity width, the incident medium refractive index must be close to
      unity. Metallic loss is negligible in the infrared, making those resonators
      suitable for integration in infrared photodetectors.

PMID- 25837082
TI  - Demonstration of ultra-low NA rare-earth doped step index fiber for applications
      in high power fiber lasers.
AB  - In this paper, we report the mode area scaling of a rare-earth doped step index
      fiber by using low numerical aperture. Numerical simulations show the possibility
      of achieving an effective area of ~700 um2 (including bend induced effective area
      reduction) at a bend diameter of 32 cm from a 35 MUm core fiber with a numerical
      aperture of 0.038. An effective single mode operation is ensured following the
      criterion of the fundamental mode loss to be lower than 0.1 dB/m while ensuring
      the higher order modes loss to be higher than 10 dB/m at a wavelength of 1060 nm.
      Our optimized modified chemical vapor deposition process in conjunction with
      solution doping process allows fabrication of an Yb-doped step index fiber having
      an ultra-low numerical aperture of ~0.038. Experimental results confirm a
      Gaussian output beam from a 35 MUm core fiber validating our simulation results.
      Fiber shows an excellent laser efficiency of ~81%and aM2 less than 1.1.

PMID- 25837081
TI  - Generation of multi-millijoule red-shifted pulses for seeding stimulated Raman
      backscattering amplifiers.
AB  - The efficient generation of redshifted pulses from chirped femtosecond joule
      level Bessel beam pulses in gases is studied. The redshift spans from a few 100
      cm-1 to several 1000 cm-1 corresponding to a shift of 50-500 nm for Nd:glass
      laser systems. The generated pulses have an almost perfect Gaussian beam profile
      insensitive of the pump beam profile, and are much shorter than the pump pulses.
      The highest measured energy is as high as 30 mJ, which is significantly higher
      than possible with solid state nonlinear frequency shifters.

PMID- 25837083
TI  - Nonlinear compression of high energy fiber amplifier pulses in air-filled
      hypocycloid-core Kagome fiber.
AB  - We report on the generation of 34 fs and 50 uJ pulses from a high energy fiber
      amplifier system with nonlinear compression in an air-filled hypocycloid-core
      Kagome fiber. The unique properties of such fibers allow bridging the gap between
      solid core fibers-based and hollow capillary-based post-compression setups,
      thereby operating with pulse energies obtained with current state-of-the-art
      fiber systems. The overall transmission of the compression setup is over 70%.
      Together with Yb-doped fiber amplifier technologies, Kagome fibers therefore
      appear as a promising tool for efficient generation of pulses with durations
      below 50 fs, energies ranging from 10 to several hundreds of uJ, and high average
      powers. 

PMID- 25837084
TI  - Clipped speckle autocorrelation metric for spot size characterization of focused
      beam on a diffuse target.
AB  - The clipped speckle autocorrelation (CSA) metric is proposed for estimating the
      laser beam energy concentration on a remote diffuse target in a laser beam
      projection system with feedback information. Using the second order statistics of
      the intensity distribution of the fully developed speckle and the relation of the
      autocorrelation functions for the clipped and unclipped speckles, we present the
      theoretical expression of this metric as a function of the normalized CSA
      function. The simulation technique based on the equivalence of the spatial
      average and the ensemble time average is provided. Based on this simulation
      technique, we analyze the influence of the surface roughness of the target on
      this metric and then show the influencing factors of the metric performance, for
      example the finite sample effect and aperture size of the observation system.
      Experimental results are illustrated to examine the capability of this metric and
      the correctness of the discussion about the metric performance. 

PMID- 25837085
TI  - Coherent pulse stacking amplification using low-finesse Gires-Tournois
      interferometers.
AB  - We demonstrate a new technique of coherent pulse stacking (CPS) amplification to
      overcome limits on achievable pulse energies from optical amplifiers. CPS uses
      reflecting resonators without active cavity-dumpers to transform a sequence of
      phase- and amplitude-modulated optical pulses into a single output pulse.
      Experimental validation with a single reflecting resonator demonstrates a near
      theoretical stacked peak-power enhancement factor of ~2.5 with 92% and 97.4%
      efficiency for amplified nanosecond and femtosecond pulses. We also show
      theoretically that large numbers of equal-amplitude pulses can be stacked using
      sequences of multiple reflecting resonators, thus providing a new path for
      generating very high-energy pulses from ultrashort pulse fiber amplifier systems.

PMID- 25837086
TI  - Numerical study of multi-conjugate large area wavefront correction for deep
      tissue microscopy.
AB  - Wavefront distortion fundamentally limits the achievable imaging depth and
      quality in thick tissue. Wavefront correction can help restore the diffraction
      limited focus albeit with a small field of view (FOV), which limits its imaging
      applications. In this work, we numerically investigate whether the multi
      conjugate configuration, originally developed for astronomical adaptive optics,
      may increase the correction FOV in random turbid media. The results show that the
      multi-conjugate configuration can significantly improve the correction area
      compared to the widely adopted pupil plane correction. Even in the simple case of
      single-conjugation, it still outperforms the pupil plane correction. This study
      provides a guideline for designing the optimal wavefront correction system in
      deep tissue imaging. 

PMID- 25837087
TI  - Difference-frequency generation of optical radiation from two-color x-ray pulses.
AB  - We describe the process of difference-frequency generation of short optical
      pulses from two-color X-ray pulses. By assuming 1011 photons per X-ray pulse, we
      predict that the optical count rate can exceed 107 photons per pulse. Similar to
      other effects involving nonlinear interactions of X-rays and optical radiation,
      the effect we describe can be used for microscopic studies of chemical bonds and
      as a probe for light-matter interactions on the atomic scale. Since the X-ray
      damage threshold is much higher than the optical damage threshold, the efficiency
      of difference-frequency generation from two X-ray pulses is expected to be orders
      of magnitude higher than the efficiency of effects such as sum/difference
      frequency mixing between X-rays and optical intense short-pulse sources.

PMID- 25837088
TI  - Large area photonic crystal cavities: a local density approach.
AB  - Large area photonic crystal cavities are devices of interest for photovoltaics,
      optoelectronics, and solid-state lighting. However, depending on their dimensions
      they pose a large computational challenge. Here, we use a local density approach
      to avoid direct simulation of the device. We capture the effect of both ideal and
      distorted photonic crystals in an effective mass and an effective potential. We
      use these to map the problem of calculating the electromagnetic field modes to
      solving a simple time-independent Schrodinger equation. We show that, in the case
      that the hole radius varies quadratically as a function of position, the
      eigenmodes of the photonic crystals can be described by the corresponding
      eigenmodes of the quantum harmonic oscillator with typical agreements well above
      90%. 

PMID- 25837089
TI  - Performance analysis of commercial multiple-input-multiple-output access point in
      distributed antenna system.
AB  - In this paper, we experimentally investigate the throughput of IEEE 802.11n 2x2
      multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) signals in a radio-over-fiber-based
      distributed antenna system (DAS) with different fiber lengths and power
      imbalance. Both a MIMO-supported access point (AP) and a spatial-diversity
      supported AP were separately employed in the experiments. Throughput measurements
      were carried out with wireless users at different locations in a typical office
      environment. For the different fiber length effect, the results indicate that
      MIMO signals can maintain high throughput when the fiber length difference
      between the two remote antenna units (RAUs) is under 100 m and falls quickly when
      the length difference is greater. For the spatial diversity signals, high
      throughput can be maintained even when the difference is 150 m. On the other
      hand, the separation of the MIMO antennas allows additional freedom in placing
      the antennas in strategic locations for overall improved system performance,
      although it may also lead to received power imbalance problems. The results show
      that the throughput performance drops in specific positions when the received
      power imbalance is above around 13 dB. Hence, there is a trade-off between the
      extent of the wireless coverage for moderate bit-rates and the area over which
      peak bit-rates can be achieved.

PMID- 25837090
TI  - Raw data normalization for a multi source inverse geometry CT system.
AB  - A multi-source inverse-geometry CT (MS-IGCT) system consists of a small 2D
      detector array and multiple x-ray sources. During data acquisition, each source
      is activated sequentially, and may have random source intensity fluctuations
      relative to their respective nominal intensity. While a conventional 3rd
      generation CT system uses a reference channel to monitor the source intensity
      fluctuation, the MS-IGCT system source illuminates a small portion of the entire
      field-of-view (FOV). Therefore, it is difficult for all sources to illuminate the
      reference channel and the projection data computed by standard normalization
      using flat field data of each source contains error and can cause significant
      artifacts. In this work, we present a raw data normalization algorithm to reduce
      the image artifacts caused by source intensity fluctuation. The proposed method
      was tested using computer simulations with a uniform water phantom and a Shepp
      Logan phantom, and experimental data of an ice-filled PMMA phantom and a rabbit.
      The effect on image resolution and robustness of the noise were tested using MTF
      and standard deviation of the reconstructed noise image. With the intensity
      fluctuation and no correction, reconstructed images from simulation and
      experimental data show high frequency artifacts and ring artifacts which are
      removed effectively using the proposed method. It is also observed that the
      proposed method does not degrade the image resolution and is very robust to the
      presence of noise.

PMID- 25837091
TI  - Optimization-free optical focal field engineering through reversing the radiation
      pattern from a uniform line source.
AB  - A simple and flexible method is presented for the generation of optical focal
      field with prescribed characteristics. By reversing the field pattern radiated
      from a uniform line source, for which the electric current is constant along its
      extent, situated at the focus of a 4Pi focusing system formed by two confocal
      high-NA objective lenses, the required illumination distribution at the pupil
      plane for creating optical focal field with desired properties can be obtained.
      Numerical example shows that an arbitrary length optical needle with extremely
      high longitudinal polarization purity and consistent transverse size of
      ~0.36lambda over the entire depth of focus (DOF) can be created with this method.
      Coaxially double-focus with spot size of ~0.36lambda in the transversal direction
      and ~lambda in the axial direction separated by a prescribed spacing is
      illustrated as another example. The length of optical needle field and the
      interval between double-focus are determined by the length of uniform line
      source. These engineered focal fields may found potential applications in
      particle acceleration, optical microscopy, optical trapping and manipulations. 

PMID- 25837092
TI  - Valid point detection in fringe projection profilometry.
AB  - Fringe projection profilometry has become one of the most popular 3D information
      acquisition techniques being developed over the past three decades. However, the
      general and practical issues on valid point detection, including object
      segmentation, error correction and noisy point removal, have not been studied
      thoroughly. Furthermore, existing valid point detection techniques require
      multiple case-dependent thresholds which increase processing inconvenience. In
      this paper, we proposed a new valid point detection framework, which includes the
      k-means clustering for automatic background segmentation, unwrapping error
      correction based on theoretical analysis, and noisy point detection in both
      temporal and spatial directions with automatic threshold setting. Experimental
      results are given to validate the proposed framework. 

PMID- 25837093
TI  - Leveraging master-slave OpenFlow controller arrangement to improve control plane
      resiliency in SD-EONs.
AB  - In this paper, we study how to improve the control plane resiliency of software
      defined elastic optical networks (SD-EONs) and design a master-slave OpenFlow
      (OF) controller arrangement. Specifically, we introduce two OF controllers (OF
      Cs), i.e., the master and slave OF-Cs, and make them work in a collaborative way
      to protect the SD-EON against controller failures. We develop a controller
      communication protocol (CCP) to facilitate the cooperation of the two OF-Cs. With
      the CCP, the master OF-C (M-OF-C) can synchronize network status to the slave OF
      C (S-OF-C) in real time, while S-OF-C can quickly detect the failure of M-OF-C
      and take over the network control and management (NC&M) tasks timely to avoid
      service disruption. We implement the proposed framework in an SD-EON control
      plane testbed built with high-performance servers, and perform NC&M experiments
      with different network failure scenarios to demonstrate its effectiveness.
      Experimental results indicate that the proposed system can restore services in
      both the data and control planes of SD-EON jointly while maintaining relatively
      good scalability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration
      that realizes control plane resiliency in SD-EONs. 

PMID- 25837094
TI  - Towards ten-watt-level 3-5 um Raman lasers using tellurite fiber.
AB  - Raman lasers based on mid-infrared fibers operating at 3-5 um atmospheric
      transparency window are attractive sources for several applications. Compared to
      fluoride and chalcogenide fibers, tellurite fibers are more advantageous for high
      power Raman fiber laser sources at 3-5 um because of their broader Raman gain
      bandwidth, much larger Raman shift and better physical and chemical properties.
      Here we report on our simulations for the development of 10-watt-level 3-5 um
      Raman lasers using tellurite fibers as the nonlinear gain medium and readily
      available continuous-wave (cw) and Q-switched erbium-doped fluoride fiber lasers
      at 2.8 um as the pump sources. Our results show that a watt-level or even ten
      watt-level fiber laser source in the 3-5 um atmospheric transparency window can
      be achieved by utilizing the 1st- and 2nd-order Raman scattering in the tellurite
      fiber. The presented numerical study provides valuable guidance for future 3-5 um
      Raman fiber laser development. 

PMID- 25837095
TI  - THz quartz-enhanced photoacoustic sensor for H2S trace gas detection.
AB  - We report on a quartz-enhanced photoacoustic (QEPAS) gas sensing system for
      hydrogen sulphide (H2S) detection. The system architecture is based on a custom
      quartz tuning fork (QTF) optoacoustic transducer with a novel geometry and a
      quantum cascade laser (QCL) emitting 1.1 mW at a frequency of 2.913 THz. The QTF
      operated on the first flexion resonance frequency of 2871 Hz, with a quality
      factor Q = 17,900 at 20 Torr. The tuning range of the available QCL allowed the
      excitation of a H2S rotational absorption line with a line-strength as small as S
      = 1.13.10-22 cm/mol. The measured detection sensitivity is 30 ppm in 3 seconds
      and 13 ppm for a 30 seconds integration time, which corresponds to a minimum
      detectable absorption coefficient alpha(min) = 2.3.10-7 cm-1 and a normalized
      noise-equivalent absorption NNEA = 4.4.10-10 W.cm-1.Hz(-1/2), several times lower
      than the values previously reported for near-IR and mid-IR H2S QEPAS sensors.

PMID- 25837096
TI  - High speed prototype quantum key distribution system and long term field trial.
AB  - Securing information in communication networks is an important challenge in
      today's world. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) can provide unique capabilities
      towards achieving this security, allowing intrusions to be detected and
      information leakage avoided. We report here a record high bit rate prototype QKD
      system providing a total of 878 Gbit of secure key data over a 34 day period
      corresponding to a sustained key rate of around 300 kbit/s. The system was
      deployed over a standard 45 km link of an installed metropolitan
      telecommunication fibre network in central Tokyo. The prototype QKD system is
      compact, robust and automatically stabilised, enabling key distribution during
      diverse weather conditions. The security analysis includes an efficient protocol,
      finite key size effects and decoy states, with a quantified key failure
      probability of epsilon = 10-10.

PMID- 25837097
TI  - Generation of spatial Bessel beams using holographic metasurface.
AB  - We propose to use backward radiations of leaky waves supported by a holographic
      metasurface to produce spatial Bessel beams in the microwave frequency regime.
      The holographic metasurface consists of a grounded dielectric slab and a series
      of metal patches. By changing the size of metal patches, the surface-impedance
      distribution of the holographic metasurface can be modulated, and hence the
      radiation properties of the leaky waves can be designed to realize Bessel beams.
      Both numerical simulations and experiments verify the features of spatial Bessel
      beams, which may be useful in imaging applications or wireless power
      transmissions with the dynamic focal-depth controls. 

PMID- 25837098
TI  - Bent-fiber intermodal interference based dual-channel fiber optic refractometer.
AB  - We present a novel dual-channel fiber optic interferometer based on intermodal
      interference from single-mode fiber (SMF) bending. This dual-channel
      interferometer has simple structure, consisting of two bare fiber semicircular
      bending regions with different bending radiuses connected by a section of
      straight fiber. A dual-channel interferometer with bending radiuses of 4 mm and
      4.3 mm is fabricated and refractive index (RI) sensing is realized by measuring
      the wavelength shift of the resonance dips in the transmission spectrum of the
      dual-channel interferometer. In the RI range of 1.3403 to 1.3726, the
      corresponding RI sensitivities for these two channels are 207 and 245 nm/RIU
      (refractive index unit) and the RI resolutions are about 6.57 * 10-5 RIU and 5.55
      * 10-5 RIU, respectively.

PMID- 25837099
TI  - Diffraction-limited real-time terahertz imaging by optical frequency up
      conversion in a DAST crystal.
AB  - Real-time terahertz (THz) wave imaging has wide applications in areas such as
      security, industry, biology, medicine, pharmacy, and the arts. This report
      describes real-time room-temperature THz imaging by nonlinear optical frequency
      up-conversion in an organic 4-dimethylamino-N'-methyl-4'-stilbazolium tosylate
      (DAST) crystal, with high resolution reaching the diffraction limit. THz-wave
      images were converted to the near infrared region and then captured using an
      InGaAs camera in a tandem imaging system. The resolution of the imaging system
      was analyzed. Diffraction and interference of THz wave were observed in the
      experiments. Videos are supplied to show the interference pattern variation that
      occurs with sample moving and tilting. 

PMID- 25837100
TI  - Highly controllable optical bistability effect in a 2 MUm Tm:YAG ceramic laser at
      room temperature.
AB  - A highly controllable optical bistability in a Tm:YAG ceramic laser system is
      reported, which is attributed to the thermal-induced change in the stability of
      the resonator. The width of the bistable region can be tuned in a large scale
      from 0.8 W to 6.3 W. At nearly semi-confocal cavity configuration, a second
      lasing condition was observed in the bistable region with a modulated shape of
      the laser beam and a broadened laser spectrum. The influence of the temperature
      on the bistable laser operation was also discussed in detail. To our knowledge,
      this is the first report on the optical bistability effect in Tm:YAG ceramic
      lasers. 

PMID- 25837102
TI  - Five-photon UV upconversion emissions of Er3+ for temperature sensing.
AB  - Under 980 nm excitation, the temperature dependence of five-photon UV (256 and
      276 nm) upconversion luminescence in Yb3+-Er3+ codoped beta-NaLuF4 nanocrystals
      was studied from 303 K to 523 K. The 4D(7/2) and 4G(9/2) levels of Er3+ are
      confirmed to be thermally coupled levels. They are the highest energy states for
      optical thermometry known so far. By using fluorescence intensity ratio
      technique, optical temperature sensing characteristics based on the
      4D(7/2)/4G(9/2) -> 4I(15/2) transitions of Er3+ were reported here for the first
      time. The obtained sensitivity of this UV-based sensor is higher than that of
      green-based optical thermometer in low temperature range.

PMID- 25837101
TI  - Determination of localization accuracy based on experimentally acquired image
      sets: applications to single molecule microscopy.
AB  - Fluorescence microscopy is a photon-limited imaging modality that allows the
      study of subcellular objects and processes with high specificity. The best
      possible accuracy (standard deviation) with which an object of interest can be
      localized when imaged using a fluorescence microscope is typically calculated
      using the Cramer-Rao lower bound, that is, the inverse of the Fisher information.
      However, the current approach for the calculation of the best possible
      localization accuracy relies on an analytical expression for the image of the
      object. This can pose practical challenges since it is often difficult to find
      appropriate analytical models for the images of general objects. In this study,
      we instead develop an approach that directly uses an experimentally collected
      image set to calculate the best possible localization accuracy for a general
      subcellular object. In this approach, we fit splines, i.e. smoothly connected
      piecewise polynomials, to the experimentally collected image set to provide a
      continuous model of the object, which can then be used for the calculation of the
      best possible localization accuracy. Due to its practical importance, we
      investigate in detail the application of the proposed approach in single molecule
      fluorescence microscopy. In this case, the object of interest is a point source
      and, therefore, the acquired image set pertains to an experimental point spread
      function. 

PMID- 25837103
TI  - An optimization procedure for the design of all-optical switches based on metal
      dielectric nanocomposites.
AB  - We present a procedure to optimize the performance of all-optical switches based
      on metal-dielectric nanocomposites. The management of constructive and
      destructive interference between the third-, fifth- and seventh-order
      susceptibilities allowed characterization of optimal conditions for ultrafast
      switching with reduced losses. Proof-of-principle experiments with metal-colloids
      are reported to validate the method. 

PMID- 25837104
TI  - Fast generation of digital holograms based on warping of the wavefront recording
      plane.
AB  - This paper reports a fast method for generating a 2048x2048 digital Fresnel
      hologram at a rate of over 100 frames per second. Briefly, the object wave of an
      image is nonuniformally sampled and generated on a wavefront recording plane
      (WPR) that is close to the object scene. The sampling interval at each point on
      the WRP image is then modulated according to the depth map. Subsequently, the WRP
      image is converted into a hologram. The hologram generated with our proposed
      method, which is referred to as the warped WRP (WWRP) hologram, is capable of
      presenting a 3-D object with faster speed as compared with existing methods. 

PMID- 25837105
TI  - Topological insulator Bi2Se3 based Q-switched Nd:LiYF4 nanosecond laser at 1313
      nm.
AB  - We report on a1.3 MUm Q-switched laser operation based on LD-end-pumped Nd:LiYF4
      (YLF) crystal firstly using few-layer topological insulator (TI) Bi2Se3 as
      saturable absorber (SA). The TI Bi2Se3 SA is fabricated by transferring the
      liquid-phase-exfoliated Bi2Se3 nanosheets onto a BK7 glass substrate. After a
      free-running laser operation, the TI Bi2Se3 SA is inserted into the concave-plano
      laser cavity and finally a stable Q-switched laser operation is achieved with a
      maximum average output power of close to 0.2 W corresponding to a pulse
      repetition rate of 161.3 kHz, a shortest pulse width of 433 ns and a pulse energy
      of about 1.23 MUJ. The results experimentally extend the promising application of
      the 2D material, few-layer TI Bi2Se3, in solid state lasers (SSLs).

PMID- 25837106
TI  - Wide spectral and wavelength-tunable dissipative soliton fiber laser with
      topological insulator nano-sheets self-assembly films sandwiched by PMMA polymer.
AB  - Topological insulators have been theoretically predicted as promising candidates
      for broadband photonics devices due to its large bulk band gap states in
      association with the spin-momentum-locked mass-less Dirac edge/surface states.
      Unlike the bulk counterpart, few-layer topological insulators possess some
      intrinsic optical advantages, such as low optical loss, low saturation intensity
      and high concentration of surface state. Herein, we use a solvothermal method to
      prepare few-layer Bi2Te3 flakes. By sandwiching few-layer Bi2Te3 flakes with
      polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) polymer, a novel light modulation device had been
      successfully fabricated with high chemical and thermal stabilities as well as
      excellent mechanical durability, originating from the contribution of PMMA acting
      as buffer layers that counteract excessive mechanical bending within the fragile
      Bi2Te3 flakes. The incorporation of the as-fabricated PMMA-TI-PMMA as saturable
      absorber, which could bear long-term mechanical loadings, into the fiber laser
      cavity generated the stable dissipative soliton mode-locking with a 3-dB spectral
      bandwidth up to 51.62 nm and tunable wavelength range of 22 nm. Our work provides
      a new way of fabricating PMMA-TI-PMMA sandwiched composite structure as saturable
      absorber with promising applications for laser operation.

PMID- 25837107
TI  - Registration of optical imagery and LiDAR data using an inherent geometrical
      constraint.
AB  - A novel method for registering imagery with Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR)
      data is proposed. It is based on the phenomenon that the back-projection of LiDAR
      point cloud of an object should be located within the object boundary in the
      image. Using this inherent geometrical constraint, the registration parameters
      computation of both data sets only requires LiDAR point clouds of several objects
      and their corresponding boundaries in the image. The proposed registration method
      comprises of four steps: point clouds extraction, boundary extraction, back
      projection computation and registration parameters computation. There are not any
      limitations on the geometrical and spectral properties of the object. So it is
      suitable not only for structured scenes with man-made objects but also for
      natural scenes. Moreover, the proposed method based on the inherent geometrical
      constraint can register two data sets derived from different parts of an object.
      It can be used to co-register TLS (Terrestrial Laser Scanning) LiDAR point cloud
      and UAV (Unmanned aerial vehicle) image, which are obtaining more attention in
      the forest survey application. Using initial registration parameters comparable
      to POS (position and orientation system) accuracy, the performed experiments
      validated the feasibility of the proposed registration method. 

PMID- 25837108
TI  - In-phased second harmonic wave array generation with intra-Talbot-cavity
      frequency-doubling.
AB  - The Talbot cavity is one promising method to synchronize the phase of a laser
      array. However, it does not achieve the lowest array mode with the same phase but
      the highest array mode with the anti-phase between every two adjacent lasers,
      which is called out-phase locking. Consequently, their far-field images exhibit 2
      peak profiles. We propose intra-Talbot-cavity frequency-doubling. By placing a
      nonlinear crystal in a Talbot cavity, the Talbot cavity generates an out-phased
      fundamental wave array, which is converted into an in-phase-locked second
      harmonic wave array at the nonlinear crystal. We demonstrate numerical
      calculations and experiments on intra-Talbot-cavity frequency-doubling and obtain
      an in-phase-locked second harmonic wave array for a Nd:YVO4 array laser.

PMID- 25837109
TI  - Frequency combs and platicons in optical microresonators with normal GVD.
AB  - We predict the existence of a novel type of the flat-top dissipative solitonic
      pulses, "platicons", in microresonators with normal group velocity dispersion
      (GVD). We propose methods to generate these platicons from cw pump. Their
      duration may be altered significantly by tuning the pump frequency. The
      transformation of a discrete energy spectrum of dark solitons of the Lugiato
      Lefever equation into a quasicontinuous spectrum of platicons is demonstrated.
      Generation of similar structures is also possible with bi-harmonic,
      phase/amplitude modulated pump or via laser injection locking. 

PMID- 25837110
TI  - Tm3+ doped barium gallo-germanate glass single-mode fibers for 2.0 MUm laser.
AB  - Tm3+ doped barium gallo-germanate (BGG) glass has emerged as a promising 2.0 MUm
      laser material offering excellent optical property. Unfortunately, low anti
      crystallization ability and high OH- content of the glass have hindered the
      fabrication of high-quality optical fibers. In this paper, La2O3 and Y2O3 were
      added into BGG glass to enhance the glass anti-crystallization ability.
      Additionally, the optimized Reaction Atmosphere Procedure (RAP) was utilized to
      minimize OH- content. Continuous Tm3+ doped BGG glass single-mode (SM) fibers
      were successfully obtained by the rod-in-tube technique for the first time to our
      best knowledge. A 140 mW all-fiber laser at 1.95 MUm was demonstrated using a 9.7
      cm-long as-drawn Tm3+ doped BGG glass SM fiber upon excitation of a home-made
      1568 nm fiber laser.

PMID- 25837111
TI  - Generation of bright attosecond x-ray pulse trains via Thomson scattering from
      laser-plasma accelerators: errata.
AB  - We report and correct a couple of calculation errors in the x-ray flux and
      maximum peak brightness in our paper [Opt. Express 22, 32098 (2014)].

PMID- 25837113
TI  - Angle-of-arrival reception for optical wireless location technology.
AB  - An optical wireless location (OWL) system is introduced for indoor positioning.
      The OWL system makes use of a mobile photoreceiver that facilitates triangulation
      by measuring angle-of-arrival (AOA) bearings from LEDs in an optical beacon grid.
      The photoreceiver has three photodiodes (PDs), arranged in a corner-cube, to
      facilitate differential photocurrent sensing of the incident light AOA, by way of
      azimuthal phi and polar theta angles. The AOA error for indoor positioning is
      characterized empirically. Optical AOA positioning is shown to have a fundamental
      advantage over known optical received signal strength (RSS) positioning, as AOA
      estimation is insensitive to power and alignment imbalances of the optical beacon
      grid. The OWL system is built, and a performance comparison is carried out
      between optical AOA and RSS positioning. It is shown that optical AOA positioning
      can achieve a mean 3-D positioning error of only 5 cm. Experimental design and
      future prospects of optical AOA positioning are discussed.

PMID- 25837112
TI  - MultiFocus Polarization Microscope (MF-PolScope) for 3D polarization imaging of
      up to 25 focal planes simultaneously.
AB  - We have developed an imaging system for 3D time-lapse polarization microscopy of
      living biological samples. Polarization imaging reveals the position, alignment
      and orientation of submicroscopic features in label-free as well as fluorescently
      labeled specimens. Optical anisotropies are calculated from a series of images
      where the sample is illuminated by light of different polarization states. Due to
      the number of images necessary to collect both multiple polarization states and
      multiple focal planes, 3D polarization imaging is most often prohibitively slow.
      Our MF-PolScope system employs multifocus optics to form an instantaneous 3D
      image of up to 25 simultaneous focal-planes. We describe this optical system and
      show examples of 3D multi-focus polarization imaging of biological samples,
      including a protein assembly study in budding yeast cells. 

PMID- 25837114
TI  - On the use of the Type I and II scheme for classifying ultrafast laser direct
      write photonics.
AB  - The use of the Type I and Type II scheme, first introduced and used by fiber
      Bragg grating researchers, has recently been adopted by the ultrafast laser
      direct-write photonics community to classify the physical geometry of waveguides
      written into glasses and crystals. This has created confusion between the fiber
      Bragg grating and direct-write photonics community. Here we propose a return to
      the original basis of the classification based on the characteristics of the
      material modification rather than the physical geometry of the waveguide. 

PMID- 25837115
TI  - Sub-milliampere threshold operation of butt-jointed built-in membrane DFB laser
      bonded on Si substrate.
AB  - We fabricated GaInAsP/InP waveguide-integrated lateral-current-injection (LCI)
      membrane distributed feedback (DFB) lasers on a Si substrate by using
      benzocyclobutene (BCB) adhesive bonding for on-chip optical interconnection. The
      integration ofa butt-jointed built-in (BJB) GaInAsP passive waveguide was
      performed by organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy (OMVPE).By introducing a strongly
      index-coupled DFB structure with a 50-um-long cavity, a threshold current of 230
      uA was achieved for a stripe width of 0.8 um under room-temperature continuous
      wave (RT-CW) conditions. The maximum output power of 32 uW was obtained. The
      lasing wavelength and submode suppression ratio (SMSR) were 1534 nm and 28 dB,
      respectively, at a bias current of 1.2 mA. 

PMID- 25837116
TI  - Ultrashort stretched-pulse L-band laser using carbon-nanotube saturable absorber.
AB  - In the paper, a passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber ring laser in the long
      wavelength band (L-band) is presented by using a single-wall nanotube saturable
      absorber (SWNT-SA). The optical properties of the SWNT-SA are compared with those
      in the C-band in view of the absorbance spectrum and the power-dependent
      transmittance of the SWNT-SA film. The effects of the net cavity dispersion and
      the length of the erbium-doped fiber (EDF) on L-band stretched pulse generation
      are discussed. The designed stretched-pulse L-band laser has a net dispersion of
      0.017-ps<sup>2</sup> and generates ultrashort (110 fs), broad-spectrum (41 nm)
      pulses with a signal-to-noise ratio over 70 dB. 

PMID- 25837117
TI  - Quantum phase gate for optical qubits with cavity quantum optomechanics.
AB  - We show that a cavity optomechanical system formed by a mechanical resonator
      simultaneously coupled to two modes of an optical cavity can be used for the
      implementation of a deterministic quantum phase gate between optical qubits
      associated with the two intracavity modes. The scheme is realizable for
      sufficiently strong single-photon optomechanical coupling in the resolved
      sideband regime, and is robust against cavity losses. 

PMID- 25837118
TI  - Acidity measurement of iron ore powders using laser-induced breakdown
      spectroscopy with partial least squares regression.
AB  - Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) with partial least squares regression
      (PLSR) has been applied to measuring the acidity of iron ore, which can be
      defined by the concentrations of oxides: CaO, MgO, Al2O3, and SiO2. With the
      conventional internal standard calibration, it is difficult to establish the
      calibration curves of CaO, MgO, Al2O3, and SiO2 in iron ore due to the serious
      matrix effects. PLSR is effective to address this problem due to its excellent
      performance in compensating the matrix effects. In this work, fifty samples were
      used to construct the PLSR calibration models for the above-mentioned oxides.
      These calibration models were validated by the 10-fold cross-validation method
      with the minimum root-mean-square errors (RMSE). Another ten samples were used as
      a test set. The acidities were calculated according to the estimated
      concentrations of CaO, MgO, Al2O3, and SiO2 using the PLSR models. The average
      relative error (ARE) and RMSE of the acidity achieved 3.65% and 0.0048,
      respectively, for the test samples.

PMID- 25837119
TI  - Metric of color-space coverage for wide-gamut displays.
AB  - Assessing the coverage of the color space of Recommendation ITU-R BT.2020 (Rec.
      2020) has become increasingly important in the design of wide-gamut displays, and
      an appropriate metric for measuring the display gamut size is urgently needed.
      Display manufactures calculate the area ratios of their displays' RGB triangles
      to a standard RGB triangle in the CIE 1931 xy or CIE 1976 u'v' chromaticity
      diagram to indicate the displays' relative gamut size. However, they typically
      fail to mention which of the two diagrams the metric is based on. This paper
      shows that the ratios calculated in the two chromaticity diagrams are highly
      inconsistent, and that the Rec. 2020 area-coverage ratios for wide-gamut displays
      in the xy diagram are much more correlated to the Rec. 2020 volume-coverage
      ratios in some color-appearance spaces than the Rec. 2020 area-coverage ratios in
      the u'v' diagram. This paper recommends the use of the xy diagram for area
      coverage ratio calculations for wide-gamut displays. 

PMID- 25837120
TI  - Plasmon excitation on flat graphene by s-polarized beams using four-wave mixing.
AB  - Graphene plasmons have received significant attention recently due to its
      attractive properties such as high spatial confinement and tunability. However,
      exciting plasmons on graphene effectively still remains a challenge owing to the
      large wave-vector mismatch between the optical beam in air and graphene plasmon.
      In this paper, we present a novel scheme capable of exciting graphene surface
      plasmons (GSPs) on a flat suspended graphene by using only s-polarized optical
      beams through four-wave mixing (FWM) process, where the GSPs fields were derived
      analytically based on the Green's function analysis, under the basis of momentum
      conservation. By incorporating the merits of nonlinear optics, the presented
      scheme avoids any patterning of either graphene or substrate. We believe that the
      proposed scheme potentially paves the way towards an efficient pure optical
      excitation, switching and modulation of GSPs for realizing graphene-based nano
      photonic and optoelectronic integrated circuits. 

PMID- 25837121
TI  - Multi-pulse time delay integration method for flexible 3D super-resolution range
      gated imaging.
AB  - Constructing flexible regular-shaped range-intensity profiles by the convolution
      of illuminator laser pulse and sensor gate pulse is crucial for 3D super
      resolution range-gated imaging. However, ns-scale rectangular-shaped laser pulse
      with tunable pulse width is difficult to be obtained, especially for pulsed solid
      stated lasers. In this paper we propose a multi-pulse time delay integration
      (MPTDI) method to reshape range-intensity profiles (RIP) free from the above
      limitation of pulsed lasers. An equivalent laser pulse temporal shaping model is
      established to evaluate and optimize the MPTDI method. By using MPTDI, the RIP
      shape and depth of viewing can both be flexibly changed as desired. Here typical
      triangular and trapezoidal RIPs are established for 3D imaging under triangular
      and trapezoidal range-intensity correlation algorithms. In addition, a prototype
      experiment is demonstrated to prove the feasibility of MPTDI. 

PMID- 25837122
TI  - Multimode phase-matched third-harmonic generation in sub-micrometer-wide anatase
      TiO2 waveguides.
AB  - Third-harmonic generation (THG) has applications ranging from wavelength
      conversion to pulse characterization, and has important implications for quantum
      sources of entangled photons. However, on-chip THG devices are nearly unexplored
      because bulk techniques are difficult to adapt to integrated photonic circuits.
      Using sub-micrometer-wide polycrystalline anatase TiO2 waveguides, we demonstrate
      third-harmonic generation on a CMOS-compatible platform. We correlate higher
      conversion efficiencies with phase-matching between the fundamental pump mode and
      higher-order signal modes. Using scattered light, we estimate conversion
      efficiencies as high as 2.5% using femtosecond pulses, and thus demonstrate that
      multimode TiO2 waveguides are promising for wideband wavelength conversion and
      new applications ranging from sensors to triplet-photon sources.

PMID- 25837123
TI  - Numerical simulation of the displayed image on the entire screen of
      autostereoscopic displays.
AB  - A three-dimensional simulation model calculating the optical intensity
      distribution for the entire screen of an autostereoscopic display at a given eye
      position was developed in this study. A parallax barrier array was used for the
      optical model and reverse ray tracing of light from the observer's eye to the
      subpixels through the slits of the barrier was performed based on reverse
      geometrical optics. By investigating the optical behavior of the displayed image
      for the nine-view design condition for various viewing distances, we found the
      inhomogeneous crosstalk from the unwanted views and predicted segmented images
      which were comprised of multiple images from different views on the entire
      display screen. From the results, our simulation model shows good potentiality
      for predicting the displayed image on the entire display screen of
      autostereoscopic displays for various positions of the observer's eye with
      sufficient calculation speed. 

PMID- 25837124
TI  - Graded index porous optical fibers - dispersion management in terahertz range.
AB  - A graded index porous optical fiber incorporating an air-hole array featuring
      variable air-hole diameters and inter-hole separations is proposed, fabricated,
      and characterized in a view of the fiber potential applications in low-loss, low
      dispersion terahertz guidance. The proposed fiber features simultaneously low
      modal and intermodal dispersions, as well as low loss in the terahertz spectral
      range. We experimentally demonstrate that graded index porous fibers exhibit
      smaller pulse distortion, larger bandwidth, and higher excitation efficiency when
      compared to fibers with uniform porosity. 

PMID- 25837125
TI  - Nonlinear characterization of Ge28Sb12Se60 bulk and waveguide devices.
AB  - Single-mode Ge28Sb12Se60 strip waveguides, fabricated with thermal evaporation
      and lift-off, were demonstrated at 1.03 um. The linear and nonlinear optical
      properties of these waveguides were shown to be similar to bulk samples, with
      differences attributed to small variations in composition of ~4 atomic % or less.
      From z-scan measurements at 1.03 um using circularly polarized, ~200 fs pulses at
      374 kHz, Ge28Sb12Se60 was found to have a nonlinear refractive index ~130 x fused
      silica and a two-photon absorption coefficient of 3.5 cm/GW. Given the large two
      photon absorption coefficient, this material shows promise for optical limiting
      applications at 1 um.

PMID- 25837126
TI  - Coupling of spatially partially coherent beams into planar waveguides.
AB  - The second-order coherence theory of partially spatially coherent light and the
      overlap integral method are applied to study the end-coupling of stationary
      multimode light beams into planar waveguides. A method is presented for the
      determination of the cross-spectral density function of the guided field.
      Examples are given on the effects of spatial coherence, lateral shift, angular
      tilt, and defocusing of the incident beam on the coupling efficiency, spatial
      coherence, and propagation characteristics of the guided field. 

PMID- 25837127
TI  - Engineering of near-IR photon pairs to be factorable in space-time and entangled
      in polarization.
AB  - We present a source of near-infrared photon pairs based on the process of
      spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC), for which the joint signal-idler
      quantum state is designed to be factorable in the frequency-time and in the
      transverse position-momentum degrees of freedom. Our technique is based on the
      use of a broadband pump and vector group velocity matching between the pump,
      signal, and idler waves. We show experimentally that a source based on this
      technique can be configured for the generation of: i) pure heralded single
      photons, and ii) polarization-entangled photon pairs which are free from spectral
      correlations, in both cases without resorting to spectral filtering. While
      critical for many applications in optical quantum information processing, such a
      source has not previously been demonstrated. 

PMID- 25837128
TI  - Accurate approach to capillary-supported optical diffraction tomography.
AB  - A new holographic data processing path for accurate quantitative tomographic
      reconstruction of 3D samples placed in a cylindrical capillary is proposed. The
      method considers strong unintentional focusing effects induced by the inner
      cylindrical boundary of the vessel: 1) introduction of cylindrical wave
      illumination of a sample, and 2) object wave deformation. The first issue is
      addressed by developing an arbitrary illumination tomographic reconstruction
      algorithm based on filtered backpropagation, while the second by a novel
      correction algorithm utilizing the optical rays analysis. Moreover, the
      processing path includes a novel holographic method for correction of spherical
      aberration related to refraction at a planar surface. Utility of the developed
      data processing path is proven with numerical simulations and experimental
      measurement of a specially prepared test sample. 

PMID- 25837129
TI  - Theoretical investigation of tensile strained GeSn waveguide with Si3N4 liner
      stressor for mid-infrared detector and modulator applications.
AB  - We theoretically investigate a tensile strained GeSn waveguide integrated with
      Si3N4 liner stressor for the applications in mid-infrared (MIR) detector and
      modulator. A substantial tensile strain is induced in a 1 * 1 MUm2 GeSn waveguide
      by the expansion of 500 nm Si3N4 liner stressor and the contour plots of strain
      are simulated by the finite element simulation. Under the tensile strain, the
      direct bandgap E(G,Gamma) of GeSn is significantly reduced by lowering the Gamma
      conduction valley in energy and lifting of degeneracy of valence bands.
      Absorption coefficients of tensile strained GeSn waveguides with different Sn
      compositions are calculated. As the Si3N4 liner stressor expands by 1%, the cut
      off wavelengths of tensile strained Ge(0.97)Sn(0.03), Ge(0.95)Sn(0.05), and
      Ge(0.90)Sn(0.10) waveguide photodetectors are extended to 2.32, 2.69, and 4.06
      MUm, respectively. Tensile strained Ge(0.90)Sn(0.10) waveguide electro-absorption
      modulator based on Franz-Keldysh (FK) effect is demonstrated in theory. External
      electric field dependence of cut-off wavelength and propagation loss of tensile
      strained Ge(0.90)Sn(0.10) waveguide is observed, due to the FK effect.

PMID- 25837130
TI  - Adaptive quadrature-polybinary detection in super-Nyquist WDM systems.
AB  - We propose an adaptive detection technique in super-Nyquist wavelength-division
      multiplexed (WDM) polarization-division-multiplexed quadrature-phase-shift-keying
      (PDM-QPSK) systems, where a QPSK signal is digitally converted to a quadrature n
      level polybinary signal followed by a MLSE detector at the receiver, and study
      the performance of quadrature-duobinary and quadrature four-level polybinary
      signals using this detection technique. We change the level of the quadrature
      polybinary modulation at the coherent receiver according to the channel spacing
      of a super-Nyquist system. Numerical studies show that the best performance can
      be achieved by choosing different modulation levels at the receiver in adaption
      to the channel spacing. In the experiment, we demonstrate the transmission of 3
      channel 112-Gbit/s PDM-QPSK signals at a 20-GHz channel spacing, which is
      detected as a quadrature four-level polybinary signal, with performance
      comparable to PDM 16-ary quadrature-amplitude modulation (16QAM) at the same bit
      rate. 

PMID- 25837131
TI  - Hand-manageable graphene sticker for ultrafast mode-locked fiber lasers.
AB  - We have developed a graphene sticker prepared by simply detaching graphene
      directly grown on a self-catalytic gamma-Al2O3 substrate with a spin-coated
      polymer film. Our scheme is highlighted by the metal-free and bare-hand
      manageable process. The sticker is attached onto the flat surface of a D-shaped
      fiber to demonstrate an efficient fiber mode-locked laser. The 1-ps output pluses
      have the center wavelength, spectral width, and repetition rate of 1558.2 nm,
      5.42 nm, and 4.77 MHz, respectively.

PMID- 25837132
TI  - Low loss mid-infrared ZBLAN waveguides for future astronomical applications.
AB  - Photonic technologies will be at the heart of future terrestrial planet hunting
      interferometers. In particular the mid-infrared spectral region between 3.5 - 4.2
      MUm is the ideal window for hunting for young extra-solar planets, since the
      planet is still hot from its formation and thus offers a favorable contrast with
      respect to the parent star compared to other spectral regions. This paper
      demonstrates two basic photonic building blocks of such an instrument, namely
      single-mode waveguides with propagation losses as low as 0.29+/-0.03 dB/cm at a
      wavelength of 4 MUm as well as directional couplers with a constant splitting
      ratio across a broad wavelength band of 500 nm. The devices are based on
      depressed cladding waveguides inscribed into ZBLAN glass using the femtosecond
      laser direct-write technique. This demonstration is the first stepping stone
      towards the realization of a high transmission mid-infrared nulling
      interferometer. 

PMID- 25837133
TI  - Passive optical interconnects at top of the rack: offering high energy efficiency
      for datacenters.
AB  - This paper introduces a new concept, namely passive optical interconnect at top
      of the rack in the datacenter networks, and investigates several architectures,
      which use only passive optical components to interconnect different servers. In
      such a manner, the proposed schemes are able to offer higher bandwidth and
      significantly improve energy efficiency compared to their electronic counterpart
      that is based on commodity switches. The proposed passive optical interconnect
      schemes are experimentally demonstrated in order to validate the transmission
      performance. Besides, an assessment in terms of energy consumption and cost has
      also been carried out, which shows our proposed concept can significantly
      outperform the conventional commodity switches on energy efficiency while keeping
      the cost in the similar level. 

PMID- 25837134
TI  - Upstream dispersion management supporting 100 km differential reach in TWDM-PON.
AB  - An optical dispersion compensator (ODC) with negative dispersion value in optical
      line terminal (OLT) is proposed to manage the chromatic dispersion of 10 Gb/s
      upstream directly-modulated signals from users with 100 km differential
      distances, achieving a maximal 51.9 dB loss budget thanks to the positive chirp
      of the directly-modulated signals and the characteristics of access networks that
      lower loss budget is required for the users at shorter transmission distance. The
      optimal dispersion value of the ODC is determined by the maximal distance of the
      users and the objective is to guarantee the loss budget monotonically improved
      with the increase of reach, therefore supporting differential reach. Experimental
      results show that it is a potential solution for practical implementation of long
      reach and high splitting-ratio time and wavelength division multiplexed passive
      optical network (TWDM-PON). 

PMID- 25837135
TI  - From laser ultrasonics to optical manipulation.
AB  - During the interaction of a laser pulse with the surface of a solid object, the
      object always gains momentum. The delivered force impulse is manifested as
      propulsion. Initially, the motion of the object is composed of elastic waves that
      carry and redistribute the acquired momentum as they propagate and reflect within
      the solid. Even though only ablation- and light-pressure-induced mechanical waves
      are involved in propulsion, they are always accompanied by the ubiquitous
      thermoelastic waves. This paper describes 1D elastodynamics of pulsed optical
      manipulation and presents two diametrical experimental observations of elastic
      waves generated in the confined ablation and in the radiation pressure regime. 

PMID- 25837136
TI  - Enabling area-selective potential-energy engineering in InGaN/GaN quantum wells
      by post-growth intermixing.
AB  - We report on a unique area-selective, post-growth approach in engineering the
      quantum-confined potential-energy profile of InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs)
      utilizing metal/dielectric-coating induced intermixing process. This led to
      simultaneous realization of adjacent regions with peak emission of 2.74 eV and
      2.82 eV with a high spatial resolution (~1 MUm) at the coating boundary. The
      potential profile softening in the intermixed QW light-emitting diode (LED) was
      experimentally and numerically correlated, shedding light on the origin of
      alleviated efficiency droop from 30.5% to 16.6% (at 150 A/cm2). The technique is
      advantageous for fabricating high efficiency light-emitters, and is amenable to
      monolithic integration of nitride-based photonic devices.

PMID- 25837137
TI  - Q-switched operation of a femtosecond-laser-inscribed Yb:YAG channel waveguide
      laser using carbon nanotubes.
AB  - We demonstrate a diode-pumped femtosecond-laser-inscribed Yb:YAG channel
      waveguide laser, Q-switched by using single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) near
      1029 nm. We used saturable absorber mirrors (SAMs) fabricated by depositing
      SWCNTs on three different output couplers. Best performance of the 9.3-mm-long
      ultra-compact Q-switched waveguide laser is obtained with an output coupling
      transmission of 20%. In this case, a maximum average output power of 60 mW with a
      corresponding pulse energy of 37.7 nJ and a pulse duration of 88 ns at 1.59-MHz
      repetition rate were achieved. The highest pulse energy of 39.2 nJ and the
      shortest pulse duration of 78 ns were obtained with 30% and 10% output couplers,
      respectively. 

PMID- 25837138
TI  - Removal of line artifacts on mesh boundary in computer generated hologram by mesh
      phase matching.
AB  - Mesh-based computer generated hologram enables realistic and efficient
      representation of three-dimensional scene. However, the dark line artifacts on
      the boundary between neighboring meshes are frequently observed, degrading the
      quality of the reconstruction. In this paper, we propose a simple technique to
      remove the dark line artifacts by matching the phase on the boundary of
      neighboring meshes. The feasibility of the proposed method is confirmed by the
      numerical and optical reconstruction of the generated hologram. 

PMID- 25837139
TI  - Optical side-band cooling of a low frequency optomechanical system.
AB  - For experimental investigations of macroscopic quantum superpositions and the
      possible role of gravitational effects on the reduction of the corresponding
      quantum wave function it is beneficial to consider large mass, low frequency
      optomechanical systems. We report optical side-band cooling from room temperature
      for a 1.5*10-10 kg (mode mass), low frequency side-band resolved optomechanical
      system based on a 5 cm long Fabry-Perot cavity. By using high-quality Bragg
      mirrors for both the stationary and the micromechanical mirror we are able to
      construct an optomechanical cavity with an optical linewidth of 23 kHz. This,
      together with a resonator frequency of 315 kHz, makes the system operate firmly
      in the side-band resolved regime. With the presented optomechanical system
      parameters cooling close to the ground state is possible. This brings us one step
      closer to creating and verifying macroscopic quantum superpositions.

PMID- 25837140
TI  - Generation of microswimmers from passive Brownian particles in a spherically
      aberrated optical trap.
AB  - We induce spontaneous motion that is both directed and complex in micron-sized
      asymmetric Brownian particles in a spherically aberrated optical trap to generate
      microswimmers. The aberrated optical trap is prepared in a slightly modified
      optical tweezers configuration where we use a refractive index mismatched cover
      slip leading to the formation of an annular intensity distribution near the trap
      focal plane. Asymmetric scattering from a micro-particle trapped in this annular
      trap gives rise to a net tangential force on the particle causing it to revolve
      spontaneously in the intensity ring. The rate of revolution can be controlled
      from sub-Hz to a few Hz by changing the intensity of the trapping light.
      Theoretical simulations performed using finite-difference time-domain method
      verify the experimental observations. We also experimentally demonstrate
      simultaneous spin and revolution of a micro-swimmer which shows that complex
      motion can be achieved by designing a suitable shape of a micro-swimmer in the
      optical potential. 

PMID- 25837141
TI  - SIMPEL: circuit model for photonic spike processing laser neurons.
AB  - We propose an equivalent circuit model for photonic spike processing laser
      neurons with an embedded saturable absorber-a simulation model for photonic
      excitable lasers (SIMPEL). We show that by mapping the laser neuron rate
      equations into a circuit model, SPICE analysis can be used as an efficient and
      accurate engine for numerical calculations, capable of generalization to a
      variety of different types of laser neurons with saturable absorber found in
      literature. The development of this model parallels the Hodgkin-Huxley model of
      neuron biophysics, a circuit framework which brought efficiency, modularity, and
      generalizability to the study of neural dynamics. We employ the model to study
      various signal-processing effects such as excitability with excitatory and
      inhibitory pulses, binary all-or-nothing response, and bistable dynamics.

PMID- 25837142
TI  - High sensitive refractometers based on lossy mode resonances (LMRs) supported by
      ITO coated D-shaped optical fibers.
AB  - Tin doped indium oxide (ITO) coatings fabricated onto D-shaped optical fibers are
      presented as the supporting medium for Lossy Mode Resonances (LMRs) generation.
      The characteristic geometry of ITO-coated D-shaped optical fibers enables to
      observe experimentally LMRs obtained with both TM and TE polarized light (LMR(TM)
      and LMR(TE)). This permits to obtain a maximum transmission decay of 36 dB with a
      LMR spectral width of 6.9 nm, improving that obtained in previous works, where
      the LMRs were a combination of an LMR(TM) and an LMR(TE). Surrounding medium
      refractive index (SMRI) sensitivity characterization of LMR(TM) has been
      performed obtaining a maximum sensitivity of 8742 nm/RIU in the range 1.365-1.38
      refractive index units (RIU) which overcomes that of surface plasmon resonance
      based optical fiber devices presented in recent works.

PMID- 25837143
TI  - Diffraction in a stratified region of a high numerical aperture Fresnel zone
      plate: a simple and rigorous integral representation.
AB  - An algorithm for calculating the field distribution of a high numerical aperture
      Fresnel zone plate (FZP) in stratified media is presented, which is based on the
      vector angular spectrum method. The diffraction problem of FZP is solved for the
      case of a multilayer film with planar interfaces perpendicular to the optical
      axis. The solution is obtained in a rigorous mathematical manner and it satisfies
      the homogeneous wave equations. The electric strength vector of the transmitted
      and reflected field in the multilayer media is obtained for any polarized beam
      normally incident onto a binary phase circular FZP. For radially-, azimuthally-
      and linearly-polarized beam, the electric field in the focal region can be
      simplified as double or single integral, which can be readily used for numerical
      computation. 

PMID- 25837144
TI  - POF misalignment model based on the calculation of the radiation pattern using
      the Hankel transform.
AB  - Here, we propose a method to estimate misalignment losses that is based on the
      calculation of the radiated angular power distribution as light propagates
      through space using the fiber far field pattern (FFP) and simplifying and
      speeding calculations with the Hankel transform. This method gives good estimates
      for combined transversal and longitudinal losses at short, intermediate and long
      offset distances. In addition, the same methodology can be adapted to describe
      not only scalar loss but also its angular dependence caused by misalignments. We
      show that this approach can be applied to upgrade a connector matrix included in
      a propagation model that is integrated into simulation software. This way, we
      assess the effects of misalignments at different points in the link and are able
      to predict the performance of different layouts at system level. 

PMID- 25837145
TI  - Ultrafast imaging of terahertz Cherenkov waves and transition-like radiation in
      LiNbO3.
AB  - We use ultrafast phase-contrast imaging to directly observethe cone-like
      terahertz (THz) Cherenkov wave generated by optical rectification of femtosecond
      laser pulses focused into bulk lithium niobate (LiNbO3) single crystals. The
      transverse imaging geometry allows the Cherenkov angle, THz wave velocity, and
      optical pump pulse group velocity to be measured. Furthermore, transition-like
      THz radiation generated by the femtosecond laser pulse at the air-crystal
      boundary is observed. The effect of optical pump pulse polarization on the
      generation of THz Cherenkov waves and transition-like radiation in LiNbO3 is also
      investigated.

PMID- 25837146
TI  - Measuring Bragg gratings in multimode optical fibers.
AB  - Fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) in multimode optical fibers provide a means for cost
      effictive devices resulting in simplified and robust optic sensor systems.
      Parasitic mode effects in optical components of the entire measurement system
      strongly influence the measured multi-resonance reflection spectrum. Using a mode
      transfer matrix formalism we can describe these complex mode coupling effects in
      multimode optical systems in more detail. We demonstrate the accordance of the
      theory by two experiments. With this formalism it is possible to understand and
      optimize mode effects in multimode fiber optic systems. 

PMID- 25837147
TI  - Wavelength selective mode division multiplexing on a silicon chip.
AB  - Multiplexing of optical modes in waveguides is demonstrated using coupled
      vertical gratings. The device utilizes sinusoidally corrugated waveguides of
      different widths with a period designed to multiplex information at 1.55 um. The
      design, fabrication and characterization of devices is performed. Multiplexing of
      modes is demonstrated in optical structures which support 3 and 5 quasi-TE modes.
      The design utilizes counter-propagating modes in periodic structures, thus
      enabling the device to combine its mode division multiplexing capabilities with
      wavelength division multiplexing functionalities to further augment the
      multiplexing capacity of the device.

PMID- 25837148
TI  - Diode-pumped tape casting planar waveguide YAG/Nd:YAG/YAG ceramic laser.
AB  - We demonstrated the efficient guided laser action in a diode-pumped
      YAG/Nd:YAG/YAG ceramic planar waveguide produced by tape casting and vacuum
      sintering technology for the first time to the best of our knowledge. In the
      regime of continuous wave operation, a maximum output power of 840 mW
      corresponding to the slope efficiency of 65% was achieved. During passively Q
      switched operation, by replacing the dichroic mirror with graphene-oxide based
      output coupler, we obtained the stable pulse trains with the shortest pulse
      duration of 179 ns at a pulse repetition rate of 930 kHz which resulted in the
      single pulse energy of 221 nJ. 

PMID- 25837149
TI  - Fabrication and characterization of periodically patterned silica fiber
      structures for enhanced second-order nonlinearity.
AB  - We develop and characterize a UV ablation technique that can be used to pattern
      soft materials such as polymers and nonlinear molecules self-assembled over
      silica microstructures. Using this method, we fabricate a spatially periodic
      coating of nonlinear film over a thin silica fiber taper for second harmonic
      generation (SHG). Experimentally, we find that the second harmonic signal
      produced by the taper with periodic nonlinear coating is 15 times stronger than
      the same taper with uniform nonlinear coating, which suggests that quasi-phase
      matching is at least partially achieved in the patterned nonlinear silica taper.
      The same technique can also be used to spatially pattern other types of
      functional nanomaterials over silica microstructures with curved surfaces, as
      demonstrated by deposition of gold nanoparticles in patterned structures. 

PMID- 25837150
TI  - Enhanced nonreciprocal effects in magnetoplasmonic systems supporting
      simultaneously localized and propagating plasmons.
AB  - Perforated magnetoplasmonic Au/Co/Au multilayers support both localized and
      propagating surface plasmon resonances. The presence of holes produces an
      enhancement of the magnetic field modulation of the propagating surface plasmon
      wavevector with respect to the isostructural continuous film in the spectral
      region corresponding to the hole associated localized plasmon resonance. This is
      due to the increased electromagnetic field in the surrounding area of the
      resonant hole, and the subsequent additional contribution to the magnetic
      modulation of the continuous film. This novel concept that gives rise to enhanced
      magnetic field induced nonreciprocal effects can be of interest in the
      development of innovative platforms for sensing applications, optical isolators
      and modulators. 

PMID- 25837151
TI  - Quantum effects in the optical response of extended plasmonic gaps: validation of
      the quantum corrected model in core-shell nanomatryushkas.
AB  - Electron tunneling through narrow gaps between metal nanoparticles can strongly
      affect the plasmonic response of the hybrid nanostructure. Although quantum
      mechanical in nature, this effect can be properly taken into account within a
      classical framework of Maxwell equations using the so-called Quantum Corrected
      Model (QCM). We extend previous studies on spherical cluster and cylindrical
      nanowire dimers where the tunneling current occurs in the extremely localized gap
      regions, and perform quantum mechanical time dependent density functional theory
      (TDDFT) calculations of the plasmonic response of cylindrical core-shell
      nanoparticles (nanomatryushkas). In this axially symmetric situation, the
      tunneling region extends over the entire gap between the metal core and the
      metallic shell. For core-shell separations below 0.5 nm, the standard classical
      calculations fail to describe the plasmonic response of the cylindrical
      nanomatryushka, while the QCM can reproduce the quantum results. Using the QCM we
      also retrieve the quantum results for the absorption cross section of the
      spherical nanomatryushka calculated by V. Kulkarni et al. [Nano Lett. 13, 5873
      (2013)]. The comparison between the model and the full quantum calculations
      establishes the applicability of the QCM for a wider range of geometries that
      hold tunneling gaps. 

PMID- 25837152
TI  - Modulation behaviors of surface plasmon coupled light-emitting diode.
AB  - The modulation bandwidths of the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) of different mesa
      sizes with and without surface plasmon (SP) coupling effect are compared. Due to
      the significant increase of carrier decay rate, within the size range of LED
      square-mesa from 60 through 300 micron and the injected current-density range
      from 139 through 1667 A/cm2, the SP coupling can lead to the enhancement of
      modulation bandwidth by 44-48%, independent of the variations of LED mesa size or
      injected current level. The enhancement ratios of modulation bandwidth of the
      samples with SP coupling with respect to those of the samples without SP coupling
      are lower than the corresponding ratios of the square-root of photoluminescence
      decay rate due to the increases of their RC time constants (the product of device
      resistance and capacitance). The increases of the RC time constants in the
      samples with SP coupling are attributed to the increases of their device
      resistance levels when the Ag nanoparticles and GaZnO dielectric interlayer are
      added to the LED surface for effectively inducing SP coupling.

PMID- 25837153
TI  - An energy adjustable linearly polarized passively Q-switched bulk laser with a
      wedged diffusion-bonded Nd:YAG/Cr4+:YAG crystal.
AB  - An energy adjustable passively Q-switched laser is demonstrated with a composite
      Nd:YAG/Cr4+:YAG crystal by applying a wedged interface inside the crystal. The
      theoretical model of the monolithic laser resonator is explored to show the
      energy adjustable feature with different initial transmissions of the saturable
      absorber at the horizontal axis. By adjusting the pump beam location across the
      Nd:YAG crystal, the output pulse energy can be flexibly changed from 10.9 MUJ to
      17.6 MUJ while maintaining the same output efficiency. The polarization state of
      the laser output is found to be along with the polarization of the C-mount pump
      diode. Finally, the behavior of the multi-transverse-mode oscillation is also
      discussed for eliminating the instability of the pulse train.

PMID- 25837154
TI  - Focus issue introduction: Advanced solid-state lasers (ASSL) 2014.
AB  - The editors introduce the focus issue on "Advanced Solid-State Lasers (ASSL)
      2014," which is based on the topics presented at a congress of the same name held
      in Shanghai, China, from October 27 to November 1, 2014. This focus issue,
      jointly prepared by Optics Express and Optical Materials Express, includes 28
      contributed papers (21 for Optics Express and 7 for Optical Materials Express)
      selected from the voluntary submissions by attendees who presented at the
      congress and have extended their work into complete research articles. We hope
      this focus issue offers a useful snapshot of the variety of topical discussions
      held at the congress and will contribute to the further expansion of the
      associated research areas. 

PMID- 25837156
TI  - Cell-secreted signals shape lymphoma identity.
AB  - Sequencing data show that both specific genes and a number of signaling pathways
      are recurrently mutated in various types of lymphoma. DNA sequencing analyses of
      lymphoma have identified several aberrations that might affect the interaction
      between malignant cells and the tumor microenvironment. Microenvironmental
      functions are essential to lymphoma; they provide survival and proliferation
      signals and license immune evasion. It is plausible that interventions that aim
      to destroy tumor-microenvironment interactions may improve responses to
      therapeutics. Accordingly, the identification of extrinsic factors and their
      downstream intracellular signaling targets has led to much progress in
      understanding tumor-microenvironment interactions. Lymphoma cells are differently
      influenced by cells' interactions with components of their microenvironment;
      these cell extrinsic factors include soluble and immobilized factors, the
      extracellular matrix, and signals presented by neighboring cells. Soluble
      factors, which are often cell-secreted autocrine and paracrine factors, comprise
      a significant fraction of targetable molecules. To begin to understand how
      intercellular communication is conducted in lymphoma, a first order of study is
      deciphering the soluble factors secreted by malignant cells and
      microenvironmental cells. These soluble factors are shed into the interstitial
      fluid in lymphoma and can be conveniently explored using mass spectrometry.
      Protein components can be detected and quantified, thus enabling the routine
      navigation of the soluble part of the microenvironment. Elucidating functional
      and signaling states affords a new paradigm for understanding cancer biology and
      devising new therapies. This review summarizes knowledge in this field and
      discusses the utility of studying tumor-secreted factors. 

PMID- 25837157
TI  - Microenvironmental abnormalities induced by viral cooperation: Impact on
      lymphomagenesis.
AB  - When stringent criteria have been used, the Epstein Barr virus (EBV), the
      Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV), human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)
      and human hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been identified with sufficient evidence
      to be causative agents of non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas. Initially, single viral
      infection was considered fully responsible for the oncogenic properties of each
      virus, while it is now established that in many cases, multiple viral agents
      collaborate as cofactors in inducing lymphomas, especially in the presence of HIV
      dependent immunodeficiency. Viruses cooperate by using their specific
      pathogenetic mechanisms in different combinations. The aim of this review is to
      describe the cooperation between different viruses in the development of
      lymphomas including the evidences supporting their pathogenetic role. Viral
      cooperation, a mechanism by which different viruses coinfecting human tissues
      have synergistic or regulatory effects on carcinogenesis, targets neoplastic B
      cells as well as cells of the microenvironment, such as reactive T-cells, B cells
      and macrophages, as well as non-immune cells such as endothelial cells, that
      contribute to tumor microenvironment. The most important viral genes involved in
      cooperation include HIV-1 tat and vpu, EBV LMP-1 and EBNA-2 and KSHV KIE2, Rta
      and LANA. Lymphomagenesis related to viral cooperation represents an interesting
      topic where microenvironmental abnormalities may be particularly relevant,
      particularly because antiviral targeted therapies and therapies producing the
      reconstitution of the immune system may constitute areas of interest aiming at
      improving the outcome of virus associated lymphomas. While the immune component
      of the lymphoma microenvironment can be easily studied by immunological and
      molecular techniques, the definition of the non-immune component of the lymphoma
      microenvironment is largely incomplete and may be the issue of future
      investigations. Understanding the pathogenetic role of viral infection in
      specific malignancies and defining microenvironmental abnormalities and
      mechanisms of viral carcinogenesis are important steps toward precise diagnosis
      and accurate treatment strategies for HIV-associated cancers. 

PMID- 25837155
TI  - Clinical and functional characterization of a novel mutation in lamin a/c gene in
      a multigenerational family with arrhythmogenic cardiac laminopathy.
AB  - Mutations in the lamin A/C gene (LMNA) were associated with dilated
      cardiomyopathy (DCM) and, recently, were related to severe forms of
      arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). Both genetic and
      phenotypic overlap between DCM and ARVC was observed; molecular pathomechanisms
      leading to the cardiac phenotypes caused by LMNA mutations are not yet fully
      elucidated. This study involved a large Italian family, spanning 4 generations,
      with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy of different phenotypes, including ARVC, DCM,
      system conduction defects, ventricular arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death.
      Mutation screening of LMNA and ARVC-related genes PKP2, DSP, DSG2, DSC2, JUP, and
      CTNNA3 was performed. We identified a novel heterozygous mutation (c.418_438dup)
      in LMNA gene exon 2, occurring in a highly conserved protein domain across
      several species. This newly identified variant was not found in 250 ethnically
      matched control subjects. Genotype-phenotype correlation studies suggested a co
      segregation of the LMNA mutation with the disease phenotype and an incomplete and
      age-related penetrance. Based on clinical, pedigree, and molecular genetic data,
      this mutation was considered likely disease-causing. To clarify its potential
      pathophysiologic impact, functional characterization of this LMNA mutant was
      performed in cultured cardiomyocytes expressing EGFP-tagged wild-type and mutated
      LMNA constructs, and indicated an increased nuclear envelope fragility, leading
      to stress-induced apoptosis as the main pathogenetic mechanism. This study
      further expands the role of the LMNA gene in the pathogenesis of cardiac
      laminopathies, suggesting that LMNA should be included in mutation screening of
      patients with suspected arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, particularly when they
      have ECG evidence for conduction defects. The combination of clinical, genetic,
      and functional data contribute insights into the pathogenesis of this form of
      life-threatening arrhythmogenic cardiac laminopathy. 

PMID- 25837158
TI  - Variability in reference point microindentation and recommendations for testing
      cortical bone: location, thickness and orientation heterogeneity.
AB  - Reference Point Indentation (RPI) has been proposed as a new clinical tool to aid
      the diagnosis of Osteoporosis. This study has examined the performance of the
      tool within entire femurs to improve the understanding of the mechanical
      properties of bone and also to guide future RPI testing to optimize repeatability
      of results obtained using the technique. Human, bovine, porcine and rat femurs
      were indented along three longitudinal axes: anterior and posterior: medial and
      lateral as well as around the circumference of the femoral head and neck.
      Cortical and subchondral bone thickness was measured using CT and radiography.
      The study shows that in some samples, bone is too thin to support the high loads
      applied with the technique and in these cases, RPI values are highly influenced
      by thickness. The technique will be useful in the mid-shaft region where cortical
      thickness is greatest, providing previously established guidelines are followed
      to optimize measurement repeatability, including performing multiple measurements
      per sample and investigating multiple samples. The study has also provided
      evidence that RPI values vary significantly with test site, hence mechanical
      properties should not be inferred from RPI findings alone away from the test
      site, even within the same bone. In conclusion, RPI appears to be a useful tool
      for scientific investigation; however further work is required to examine the
      feasibility of using RPI for assessing differences between healthy and diseased
      bone in a clinical setting. 

PMID- 25837159
TI  - Estrogen Modulates Bone Morphogenetic Protein-Induced Sclerostin Expression
      Through the Wnt Signaling Pathway.
AB  - Clinical data show that estrogen levels are inversely associated with the
      production of sclerostin, a Wnt antagonist that recently attracted great
      attention over the use of its antibody in the anabolic treatment of osteoporotic
      conditions. However, the molecular link between sclerostin expression and
      estrogen signaling is not yet known. We investigated the mechanisms by which
      estrogen modulates sclerostin (SOST) gene expression at the cellular level in
      human osteoblast cells in association with bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)2
      signaling given that BMP2 is a potential inducer of SOST in human mesenchymal
      stromal cells (hMSCs). 17beta-Estradiol (E2) alone had no effect on SOST
      expression, which was significantly induced by treatment with BMP2 in hMSCs and
      osteoblasts derived from the mandibles of female donors. However, E2 suppressed
      the induction of SOST and other BMP2 target genes by BMP2 in hMSCs. E2 signaling
      was independent of the Smad pathway, which plays a critical role in SOST
      induction mediated by BMP2. Instead, E2 increased the transcriptional expression
      of beta-catenin and levels of its activated form. Silencing of the gene encoding
      estrogen receptor (ER)alpha decreased E2 activity in beta-catenin activation and
      the suppression of SOST induction by BMP2, but had no influence on BMP2-mediated
      SOST induction in the same conditions. Similar results were obtained after
      treatment with ERalpha antagonist as a Wnt inhibitor. In human osteoblasts, the
      effect of E2 on SOST expression was either suppressive or absent, depending on
      the cell donor. Interestingly, the SOST expression pattern after treatment with
      BMP2 or BMP2/E2 in human osteoblasts showing a pattern of E2 suppression on SOST
      induction by BMP2 correlated with the ratio of receptor activator of nuclear
      factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) to osteoprotegerin (OPG) expression. These results
      demonstrate that estrogen signaling in osteoblasts negatively regulates SOST
      expression in an indirect manner through interaction with BMP2 signaling and that
      this regulation involves the Wnt/ERalpha and beta-catenin pathways. This study
      highlights several interactions between estrogen and BMP cascades in osteoblasts
      that may provide a basis for therapeutic intervention for the modification of
      bone mass density.

PMID- 25837160
TI  - Descending genicular artery free flaps: Multi-purpose tissue transfers in limb
      reconstruction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The descending genicular artery supplies skin, muscle, tendon, and
      bone structures in the medial knee area. Three types of skin perforator including
      musculocutaneous perforators through the vastus medialis (descending genicular
      artery perforator (DGAP)-vm), direct cutaneous perforators (DGAP), and saphenous
      artery perforators (SAP) can be elevated for the skin flap component. METHODS:
      This study included a prospective cohort of all patients in whom a descending
      genicular artery free flap was attempted in our center since January 2009. Data
      on patients' characteristics, type of injuries, the surgical procedures, and
      their outcomes were obtained for a minimum of 6 months postoperatively. FINDINGS:
      This cohort includes 22 descending genicular artery flaps for skin, bone, and
      tendon reconstruction after extensive soft tissue injury and/or bone nonunion. Of
      these, six were medial femoral condyle bone grafts, seven were skin flaps from
      the medial knee, and nine composite osteocutaneous or tendo-osteocutaneous flaps.
      Favorable outcome was achieved in 20 of 22 cases. We use the DGAP and DGAP-vm in
      15 of 16 cutaneous and osteocutaneous flaps. CONCLUSION: The descending genicular
      artery flap offers a wide range of simple and composite flaps. Recognition of all
      types of skin perforators should enhance the options, the chance of success, and
      the popularity of the flap.

PMID- 25837161
TI  - One muscle two functions: Reconstructing a complex facial defect and providing
      facial reanimation with a split functional latissimus dorsi flap.

PMID- 25837162
TI  - Severance Hospital: bringing modern medicine to Korea.

PMID- 25837163
TI  - Expression of sarcosine metabolism-related proteins in invasive lobular
      carcinoma: comparison to invasive ductal carcinoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to compare the expression of sarcosine
      metabolism-related proteins between invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) and invasive
      ductal carcinoma (IDC) and to determine the implications of these results.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tissue microarrays were constructed, containing 30 samples
      from normal breast tissue, 114 samples from patients with ILC, and 692 samples
      from patients with IDC. Immunohistochemical staining was performed to examine the
      expression of sarcosine metabolism-related proteins [glycine N-methyltransferase,
      sarcosine dehydrogenase, and l-pipecolic acid oxidase (PIPOX)]. RESULTS: The
      sarcosine metabolic phenotype differed between ILC and IDC (p<0.001). In IDC,
      sarcosine metabolic phenotype was distributed as null type (61.7%)>low sarcosine
      type (30.4%)>high sarcosine type (5.0%)>intermediate type (2.9%). However, in
      ILC, the sarcosine metabolic phenotype was distributed as low sarcosine type
      (61.4%)>null type (32.5%)>intermediate type (5.3%)>high sarcosine type (0.9%).
      PIPOX showed higher expression in ILC than in IDC (p<0.001) and correlated with
      androgen receptor (AR) positivity (p=0.001) in ILC. CONCLUSION: Expression of
      sarcosine metabolism-related proteins differed between ILC and IDC. Low sarcosine
      type was the majority sarcosine metabolic phenotype of ILC. PIPOX expression was
      predominant in ILC and correlated with AR positivity.

PMID- 25837164
TI  - Left atrial function following surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation:
      prospective evaluation using dual-source cardiac computed tomography.
AB  - PURPOSE: The Maze procedure has shown excellent efficacy in the elimination of
      atrial fibrillation (AF); however, little is known about the quality of
      functional recovery in the left atrium (LA) following successful sinus rhythm
      conversion by the Maze procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prospectively
      enrolled 12 patients (aged 52.5+/-10.1 years, 1 female) with valvular AF
      undergoing mitral valve surgery combined with the Maze procedure. Parameters of
      LA function in three anatomic compartments [anterior, posterior, and LA appendage
      (LAA)] were evaluated using electrocardiography-gated dual-source cardiac CT at
      one month and at six months after surgery. Twelve subjects matched by age,
      gender, and body surface area served as controls. RESULTS: At one month after
      surgery, ejection fraction (EF) and emptying volume (EV) of the LA were 14.9+/
      7.4% and 21.3+/-9.7 mL, respectively, and they were significantly lower than
      those of the control group (EF, 47.9+/-11.2%; EV, 46.0+/-10.7%; p<0001). These
      values did not significantly change throughout late periods (p=0.22 and 0.21,
      respectively). Functional contributions of the anterior, posterior, and appendage
      compartments (EV of each compartment/overall EV) were 80.4%, -0.9%, and 20.5%,
      respectively, for those with LAA preservation (n=6); 100.1%, -0.1%, and 0% for
      those with LAA resection (n=6; p<0.05); and 62.2%, 28.2%, and 9.7% in the control
      subjects (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Contractile functions of the LA significantly
      decreased after the Maze procedure. Functional contributions of three
      compartments of the LA were also altered. The influence of LAA preservation on
      postoperative LA functions needs to be evaluated through studies of larger
      populations.

PMID- 25837165
TI  - Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity as a screen for arterial stiffness: a
      comparison with cardiac magnetic resonance.
AB  - PURPOSE: Despite technical simplicity and the low cost of brachial-ankle pulse
      wave velocity (BA-PWV), its use has been hampered by a lack of data supporting
      its usefulness and reliability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the
      usefulness of BA-PWV to measure aortic stiffness in comparison to using
      cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 124
      participants without cardiovascular risk factors volunteered for this study. BA
      PWV was measured using a vascular testing device. On the same day, using CMR,
      cross-sectional areas for distensibility and average blood flow were measured at
      four aortic levels: the ascending, upper thoracic descending, lower thoracic
      descending, and abdominal aorta. RESULTS: Compared to PWV measured by CMR, BA-PWV
      values were significantly higher and the differences therein were similar in all
      age groups (all p<0.001). There was a significant correlation between BA-PWV and
      PWV by CMR (r=0.697, p<0.001). Both BA-PWV and PWV by CMR were significantly and
      positively associated with age (r=0.652 and 0.724, p<0.001). The reciprocal of
      aortic distensibility also demonstrated a statistically significant positive
      correlation with BA-PWV (r=0.583 to 0.673, all p<0.001). CONCLUSION: BA-PWV was
      well correlated with central aortic PWV and distensibility, as measured by CMR,
      regardless of age and sex.

PMID- 25837166
TI  - IL28B is associated with outcomes of chronic HBV infection.
AB  - PURPOSE: The role of IL28B gene variants and expression in hepatitis B virus
      (HBV) infections are not well understood. Here, we evaluated whether IL28B gene
      expression and rs12979860 variations are associated with HBV outcomes. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: IL28B genetic variations (rs12979860) were genotyped by
      pyrosequencing of DNA samples from 137 individuals with chronic HBV infection [50
      inactive carriers (IC), 34 chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 27 cirrhosis, 26
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)], and 19 healthy controls. IL28A/B mRNA expression
      in peripheral blood mononuclear cells was determined by qRT-PCR, and serum IL28B
      protein was measured by ELISA. RESULTS: Patients with IL28B C/C genotype had
      greater IL28A/B mRNA expression and higher IL28B protein levels than C/T
      patients. Within the various disease stages, compared to IC and healthy controls,
      IL28B expression was reduced in the CHB, cirrhosis, and HCC cohorts (CHB vs. IC,
      p=0.02; cirrhosis vs. IC, p=0.01; HCC vs. IC, p=0.001; CHB vs. controls, p<0.01;
      cirrhosis vs. controls, p<0.01; HCC vs. controls, p<0.01). When stratified with
      respect to serum HBV markers in the IC and CHB cohorts, IL28B mRNA and protein
      levels were higher in HBeAg-positive than negative individuals (p=0.01). Logistic
      regression analysis revealed that factors associated with high IL28B protein
      levels were C/C versus C/T genotype [p=0.016, odds ratio (OR)=0.25, 95%
      confidence interval (CI)=0.08-0.78], high alanine aminotransferase values
      (p<0.001, OR=8.02, 95% CI=2.64-24.4), and the IC stage of HBV infection
      (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that IL28B genetic variations may play an
      important role in long-term development of disease in chronic HBV infections.

PMID- 25837167
TI  - Detection of plasma BRAF(V600E) mutation is associated with lung metastasis in
      papillary thyroid carcinomas.
AB  - PURPOSE: The BRAF(V600E) mutation represents a novel indicator of the progression
      and aggressiveness of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). The purpose of this
      study was to determine the clinical significance of free circulating mutant
      BRAF(V600E) in predicting the advanced disease of PTC. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Seventy seven matched tumor and plasma samples obtained from patients with both
      benign and PTC were analyzed for BRAF(V600E) mutation using a peptide nucleic
      acid (PNA) clamp real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS: The
      BRAF(V600E) mutation was absent in tumor DNA samples obtained from patients with
      benign follicular adenomas or adenomatous goiter. In contrast, 49 of 72 (68.1%)
      PTC tumors were positive for the BRAF(V600E) mutation. Among them, 3 (6.1%)
      patients with PTC were positive for BRAF(V600E) mutation in plasma and tumor.
      However, all 3 patients (100%) had lateral lymph node and lung metastasis.
      CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the BRAF(V600E) mutation can be detected
      using a PNA clamp real-time PCR in the blood of PTC patients with lung
      metastasis. Future studies are warranted to determine clinical significance of
      serum BRAF(V600E) mutation in large prospective studies.

PMID- 25837168
TI  - Effect of socio-economic status on the prevalence of diabetes.
AB  - PURPOSE: As Korean society has become industrialized and westernized, the
      prevalence of diabetes has increased rapidly. Environmental factors, especially
      socio-economic status (SES), may account for the increased prevalence of
      diabetes. We evaluated the associations between the prevalence of diabetes and
      SES as reflected by household income and education level. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      This study was based on data obtained from the fifth Korea National Health and
      Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted in 2010-2012. Diabetes referred to a
      fasting plasma glucose >=126 mg/dL in the absence of known diabetes, previous
      diagnosis of diabetes made by a physician, and/or current use of oral
      hypoglycemic agents or insulin. RESULTS: Household income and education level
      were inversely associated with the prevalence of diabetes among individuals aged
      30 years or older. These associations were more prominent in females aged 30-64
      years. According to household income, the odds ratio (OR) [95% confidence
      interval (CI)] for the lowest quartile group versus the highest quartile group
      was 4.96 (2.87-8.58). According to education level, the OR (95% CI) for the
      lowest quartile group versus the highest quartile group was 8.02 (4.47-14.4).
      CONCLUSION: Public policies for the prevention and management of diabetes should
      be targeted toward people of lower SES, especially middle-aged females.

PMID- 25837169
TI  - Pre-clinical efficacy and safety evaluation of human amniotic fluid-derived stem
      cell injection in a mouse model of urinary incontinence.
AB  - PURPOSE: Stem cell-based therapies represent new promises for the treatment of
      urinary incontinence. This study was performed to assess optimized cell passage
      number, cell dose, therapeutic efficacy, feasibility, toxicity, and cell
      trafficking for the first step of the pre-clinical evaluation of human amniotic
      fluid stem cell (hAFSC) therapy in a urinary incontinence animal model. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: The proper cell passage number was analyzed with hAFSCs at passages
      4, 6, and 8 at week 2. The cell dose optimization included 1*104, 1*105, and
      1*106 cells at week 2. The in vivo cell toxicity was performed with 0.25*106,
      0.5*106, and 1*106 cells at weeks 2 and 4. Cell tracking was performed with 1*106
      cells at weeks 2 and 4. RESULTS: The selected optimal cell passage number was
      smaller than 6, and the optimal cell dose was 1*106 for the mouse model. In our
      pre-clinical study, hAFSC-injected animals showed normal values for several
      parameters. Moreover, the injected cells were found to be non-toxic and non
      tumorigenic. Furthermore, the injected hAFSCs were rarely identified by in vivo
      cell trafficking in the target organs at week 2. CONCLUSION: This study
      demonstrates for the first time the pre-clinical efficacy and safety of hAFSC
      injection in the urinary incontinence animal model and provides a basis for
      future clinical applications.

PMID- 25837170
TI  - The effect of specialized continuous renal replacement therapy team in acute
      kidney injury patients treatment.
AB  - PURPOSE: Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) has been established for
      critically ill acute kidney injury (AKI) patients. In addition, some centers
      consist of a specialized CRRT team (SCT) with physicians and nurses. To our best
      knowledge, however, ona a few studies have yet been carried out on the
      superiority of SCT management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 551 patients,
      who received CRRT between January 2008 and March 2009, were divided into two
      groups based on the controller of CRRT. The impact of the CRRT management on 28
      day mortality was compared between two groups by Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox
      analysis. RESULTS: During the study period, the number of filters used, down-time
      per day, and intensive care unit length of day were significantly higher in non
      SCT group than in SCT group (6.2 hrs vs. 5.0 hrs, p=0.042; 5.0 hrs vs. 3.8 hrs,
      p<0.001; 27.5 days vs. 21.1 days, p=0.027, respectively), while net
      ultrafiltration rate was significantly lower in non-SCT group than SCT group
      (28.0 mL/kg/hr vs. 29.5 mL/kg/hr, p=0.043, respectively). In addition, 28-day
      mortality rate was significantly lower in SCT group than with non-SCT group
      (p=0.031). Moreover, Cox regression analysis showed that 28-day mortality rate
      was significantly lower in SCT control group, even after adjusting for age,
      gender, severity scores, biomarkers, risk, injury, failure, loss, and end-stage
      renal disease, and contributing factors (hazard ratio 0.91, p=0.046). CONCLUSION:
      A well-trained CRRT team could be beneficial for mortality improvement of AKI
      patients requiring CRRT.

PMID- 25837171
TI  - Improving survival rate of Korean patients initiating dialysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the survival rate among
      Korean dialysis patients changed during the period between 2005 and 2008 in
      Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 32357 patients who began dialysis
      between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2008 were eligible for analysis.
      Baseline demographics, comorbidities, and mortality data were obtained from the
      database of the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service. RESULTS: Kaplan
      Meier curves according to the year of dialysis initiation showed that the
      survival rate was significantly different (log-rank test, p=0.005), most notably
      among peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients (p<0.001), although not among
      hemodialysis (HD) patients (p=0.497). In multivariate analysis, however, patients
      initiating either HD or PD in 2008 also had a significantly lower risk of
      mortality compared to those who began dialysis in 2005. Subgroup survival
      analysis among patients initiating dialysis in 2008 revealed that the survival
      rate of PD patients was significantly higher than that of HD patients (p=0.001),
      and the survival benefit of PD over HD remained in non-diabetic patients aged
      less than 65 years after adjustment of covariates. CONCLUSION: Survival of Korean
      patients initiating dialysis from 2005 to 2008 has improved over time,
      particularly in PD patients. In addition, survival rates among patients
      initiating dialysis in 2008 were different according to patients' age and
      diabetes, thus we need to consider these factors when dialysis modality should be
      chosen.

PMID- 25837172
TI  - Significance of myositis autoantibody in patients with idiopathic interstitial
      lung disease.
AB  - PURPOSE: Some patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) related to connective
      tissue disease (CTD) have a delayed diagnosis of the underlying CTD when the ILD
      is categorized as idiopathic. In this study, we evaluated the frequency of
      myositis autoantibodies in patients diagnosed with idiopathic ILD and
      investigated the clinical significance stemming from the presence of the
      antibodies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total 32 patients diagnosed with idiopathic
      ILD were enrolled in this study. We analyzed a panel of 11 myositis autoantibody
      specificities in the patients using a line blot immunoassay. Then, we divided
      them into myositis autoantibody-positive and -negative groups and compared the
      clinical features and laboratory data between the two groups. RESULTS: Of the 32
      idiopathic ILD patients, 12 patients had myositis autoantibodies encompassing 9
      specificities, except for anti-Mi-2 and anti-PM-Scl 100 (12/32, 38%). Anti
      synthetase autoantibodies including Jo-1, EJ, OJ, PL-7, and PL-12 were present in
      7 patients (7/32, 22%). The group with myositis autoantibodies presented more
      frequently with the symptom of mechanic's hand and showed abnormal pulmonary
      function test results with low forced vital capacity, diffusing capacity for
      carbon monoxide, total lung capacity, and high lactate dehydrogenase values in
      blood when compared with the group without myositis antibodies. CONCLUSION: We
      strongly suggest that patients undergo an evaluation of myositis autoantibodies,
      if they are diagnosed with idiopathic ILD in the presence of clinical
      characteristics including mechanic's hand, arthralgia, and autoantibodies which
      are insufficient to make a diagnosis of a specific CTD category.

PMID- 25837173
TI  - The utility of three screening questionnaires for obstructive sleep apnea in a
      sleep clinic setting.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of three
      screening questionnaires in identifying Korean patients at high risk for
      obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in a sleep clinic setting in Korea. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Data were collected from 592 adult patients with suspected OSA who
      visited a sleep center. All patients completed the Sleep Apnea of Sleep Disorder
      Questionnaire (SA-SDQ), the Berlin questionnaire, and the STOP-Bang
      questionnaire. Estimated OSA risk was compared to a diagnosis of OSA. The
      sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive
      value were calculated for each questionnaire. RESULTS: The prevalence of OSA was
      83.6% using an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) >=5/h and 58.4% for an AHI >=15/h. The
      STOP-Bang questionnaire had a high sensitivity (97% for AHI >=5/h, 98% for AHI
      >=15/h), but the specificity was low (19% and 11%, respectively). In contrast,
      the sensitivity of the SA-SDQ was not high enough (68% for AHI >=5/h, 74% for AHI
      >=15/h) to be useful in a clinical setting, whereas the specificity was
      relatively good (66% and 61%, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity
      values of the Berlin questionnaire fell between those of the STOP-Bang
      questionnaire and the SA-SDQ. CONCLUSION: The STOP-Bang questionnaire may be
      useful for screening OSA in a sleep clinic setting, but its specificity is lower
      than the acceptable level for this purpose. A new screening questionnaire with a
      high sensitivity and acceptable specificity is therefore needed in a sleep clinic
      setting.

PMID- 25837174
TI  - Efficacy of percutaneous epidural neuroplasty does not correlate with dural sac
      cross-sectional area in single level disc disease.
AB  - PURPOSE: Percutaneous epidural neuroplasty (PEN) is a minimally invasive
      treatment. The efficacy of PEN has been relatively well investigated; however,
      the relationship between the clinical effectiveness of PEN and the severity of
      spinal canal stenosis by disc material has not yet been established. The purpose
      of this study was to compare clinical outcomes of PEN according to the dural sac
      cross-sectional area in single level disc disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This
      study included 363 patients with back pain from single level disc disease with
      and without radiculopathy. Patients were categorized into groups according to
      spinal canal compromise by disc material: Category 1, less or more than 50%; and
      Category 2, three subgroups with lesser than a third, between a third and two
      thirds, and more than two thirds. Clinical outcomes were assessed according to
      the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score for back pain and leg pain and Odom's
      criteria at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after treatment. RESULTS: The demographic
      data showed no difference between groups according to spinal canal compromise by
      disc material except age (older age correlated with more spinal canal
      compromise). The dural sac cross-sectional area did not correlate with the VAS
      scores for back and leg pain after PEN in single level disc disease in Groups 1
      and 2. Odom's criteria after PEN were also not different according to dural sac
      cross-sectional area by disc material. CONCLUSION: PEN is an effective procedure
      in treating single level lumbar disc herniation without affecting dural sac cross
      sectional area.

PMID- 25837175
TI  - Relations between Eastern four pillars theory and Western measures of personality
      traits.
AB  - PURPOSE: The present study investigated the validity of personality
      classification using four pillars theory, a tradition in China and northeastern
      Asia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four pillars analyses were performed for 148 adults
      on the basis of their birth year, month, day, and hour. Participants completed
      two personality tests, the Korean version of Temperament and Character Inventory
      Revised-Short Version (TCI) and the Korean Inventory of Interpersonal Problems;
      scores were correlated with four pillars classification elements. Mean difference
      tests (e.g., t-test, ANOVA) were compared with groups classified by four pillars
      index. RESULTS: There were no significant correlations between personality scale
      scores and total yin/yang number (i.e., the 8 heavenly or earthly stems), and no
      significant between-groups results for classifications by yin/yang day stem and
      the five elements. There were significant but weak (r=0.18-0.29) correlations
      between the five elements and personality scale scores. For the six gods and
      personality scales, there were significant but weak (r=0.18-0.25) correlations.
      Features predicted by four pillars theory were most consistent when participants
      were grouped according to the yin/yang of the day stem and dominance of yin/yang
      numbers in the eight heavenly or earthly stems. CONCLUSION: Although the major
      criteria of four pillars theory were not independently correlated with
      personality scale scores, correlations emerged when participants were grouped
      according to the composite yin/yang variable. Our results suggest the utility of
      four pillars theory (beyond fortune telling or astrology) for classifying
      personality traits and making behavioral predictions.

PMID- 25837176
TI  - Abnormal brain activity in social reward learning in children with autism
      spectrum disorder: an fMRI study.
AB  - PURPOSE: We aimed to determine whether Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) would show
      neural abnormality of the social reward system using functional MRI (fMRI).
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: 27 ASDs and 12 typically developing controls (TDCs)
      participated in this study. The social reward task was developed, and all
      participants performed the task during fMRI scanning. RESULTS: ASDs and TDCs with
      a social reward learning effect were selected on the basis of behavior data. We
      found significant differences in brain activation between the ASDs and TDCs
      showing a social reward learning effect. Compared with the TDCs, the ASDs showed
      reduced activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right orbitofrontal
      cortex, right parietal lobe, and occipital lobe; however, they showed increased
      activity in the right parahippocampal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus.
      CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that there might be neural abnormality of the
      social reward learning system of ASDs. Although this study has several potential
      limitations, it presents novel findings in the different neural mechanisms of
      social reward learning in children with ASD and a possible useful biomarker of
      high-functioning ASDs.

PMID- 25837177
TI  - Mean platelet volume is elevated in patients with psoriasis vulgaris.
AB  - PURPOSE: This retrospective study was done to investigate the mean platelet
      volume (MPV) level in patients with psoriasis vulgaris and its relationship with
      disease severity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We undertook a cross-sectional study on
      176 patients and 101 healthy controls to examine the association between MPV and
      psoriasis. Various clinical and laboratory parameters were analyzed and compared.
      RESULTS: Platelet distribution width and MPV were significantly higher in
      patients with psoriasis than controls. In addition, there was positive
      correlation between Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) and MPV. When psoriasis
      patients were grouped into mild psoriasis (PASI<10) and moderate to severe
      psoriasis (PASI>=10), the MPV of the latter group was significantly elevated.
      Nevertheless, patients with higher MPV level (MPV>=10.4 fL) did not show higher
      PASI than lower MPV level (MPV<10.4 fL). MPV levels significantly decreased after
      improvements of psoriasis with various treatments. The variations of MPV and PASI
      also showed significant correlation. CONCLUSION: We have shown that MPV is
      increased in psoriasis patients and correlates with disease severity. Therefore,
      MPV levels may be considered as a marker of disease severity of psoriasis.

PMID- 25837178
TI  - Prevalence of vitiligo and associated comorbidities in Korea.
AB  - PURPOSE: Vitiligo prevalence and its associated comorbidities rate have been
      reported variably among different populations. We aimed to determine the
      prevalence of vitiligo in Korea along with the baseline rate of comorbidities and
      compared the risks to the general population using hospital visit information of
      the total population in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We assessed demographic
      characteristics of vitiligo patients in Korean population from 2009 to 2011 in a
      nationwide data from Health Insurance Review Assessment Service. Patients who had
      at least one visit to Korea's primary, secondary, or tertiary referral hospitals
      with International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical
      Modification diagnosis code for vitiligo were identified. As a supplementary
      study, comorbidities associated with vitiligo were selected for further review to
      calculate relative risks compared to the general population. RESULTS: The annual
      prevalence of vitiligo determined by hospital-visiting rate in Korea was 0.12% to
      0.13% over a three year period. In sync with other previous epidemiological
      studies, there was bimodal distribution among the age groups and no difference
      between genders. Also, vitiligo in Korean population was associated with various
      autoimmune/non-autoimmune diseases such as thyroiditis, atopic dermatitis, and
      psoriasis. CONCLUSION: This study was by far the most comprehensive review on
      prevalence of vitiligo using a data of total population in Korea. The prevalence
      is within a range of those reported in previous literatures, and increased risk
      of comorbidities such as thyroid diseases and psoriasis in vitiligo might aid
      clinicians in the initial work up of vitiligo patients and concurrent follow ups.

PMID- 25837179
TI  - A network analysis of 15O-H2O PET reveals deep brain stimulation effects on brain
      network of Parkinson's disease.
AB  - PURPOSE: As Parkinson's disease (PD) can be considered a network abnormality, the
      effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) need to be investigated in the aspect of
      networks. This study aimed to examine how DBS of the bilateral subthalamic
      nucleus (STN) affects the motor networks of patients with idiopathic PD during
      motor performance and to show the feasibility of the network analysis using cross
      sectional positron emission tomography (PET) images in DBS studies. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: We obtained [15O]H2O PET images from ten patients with PD during a
      sequential finger-to-thumb opposition task and during the resting state, with DBS
      On and DBS-Off at STN. To identify the alteration of motor networks in PD and
      their changes due to STN-DBS, we applied independent component analysis (ICA) to
      all the cross-sectional PET images. We analysed the strength of each component
      according to DBS effects, task effects and interaction effects. RESULTS: ICA
      blindly decomposed components of functionally associated distributed clusters,
      which were comparable to the results of univariate statistical parametric
      mapping. ICA further revealed that STN-DBS modifies usage-strengths of components
      corresponding to the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuits in PD patients by
      increasing the hypoactive basal ganglia and by suppressing the hyperactive
      cortical motor areas, ventrolateral thalamus and cerebellum. CONCLUSION: Our
      results suggest that STN-DBS may affect not only the abnormal local activity, but
      also alter brain networks in patients with PD. This study also demonstrated the
      usefulness of ICA for cross-sectional PET data to reveal network modifications
      due to DBS, which was not observable using the subtraction method.

PMID- 25837180
TI  - Retrospective assessment of the validity of robotic surgery in comparison to open
      surgery for pediatric choledochal cyst.
AB  - PURPOSE: We evaluated the validity of robotic surgery (RS) for pediatric
      choledochal cyst (CC) in comparison to open surgery (OS). MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      From January 2009 to April 2013, clinical data from 79 consecutive pediatric
      patients with CC, who underwent RS (n=36) or OS (n=43) performed by a single
      pediatric surgeon, were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: In the RS group, the
      age of the patients was significantly older, compared to the OS group. Operation
      and anesthesia times were significantly longer in the RS group than the OS group.
      Fluid input rates to maintain the same urine output were significantly smaller in
      the RS group than the OS group. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA)
      physical status, length of postoperative hospital stay, and the incidence of
      surgical complications did not differ significantly between the two groups.
      CONCLUSION: Although early complications could not be avoided during the
      development of robotic surgical techniques, RS for pediatric CC showed results
      comparable to those for OS. We believe that RS may be a valid and alternative
      surgery for pediatric CC. After further development of robotic surgical systems
      and advancement of surgical techniques therewith, future prospective studies may
      reveal more positive results.

PMID- 25837181
TI  - First metatarsal proximal opening wedge osteotomy for correction of hallux valgus
      deformity: comparison of straight versus oblique osteotomy.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare clinical and radiographic outcomes
      of proximal opening wedge osteotomy using a straight versus oblique osteotomy.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 104 consecutive first
      metatarsal proximal opening wedge osteotomies performed in 95 patients with
      hallux valgus deformity. Twenty-six feet were treated using straight metatarsal
      osteotomy (group A), whereas 78 feet were treated using oblique metatarsal
      osteotomy (group B). The hallux valgus angle (HVA), intermetatarsal angle (IMA),
      distal metatarsal articular angle, and distance from the first to the second
      metatarsal (distance) were measured for radiographic evaluation, whereas the
      American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) forefoot score was used for
      clinical evaluation. RESULTS: Significant corrections in the HVA, IMA, and
      distance from the first to the second metatarsal were obtained in both groups at
      the last follow-up (p<0.001). There was no difference in the mean IMA correction
      between the 2 groups (6.1+/-2.7 degrees  in group A and 6.0+/-2.1 degrees  in
      group B). However, a greater correction in the HVA and distance from the first to
      the second metatarsal were found in group B (HVA, 13.2+/-8.2 degrees ; distance,
      25.1+/-0.2 mm) compared to group A (HVA, 20.9+/-7.7 degrees ; distance, 28.1+/
      0.3 mm; p<0.001). AOFAS scores were improved in both groups. However, group B
      demonstrated a greater improvement relative to group A (p=0.005). CONCLUSION:
      Compared with a straight first metatarsal osteotomy, an oblique first metatarsal
      osteotomy yielded better clinical and radiological outcomes.

PMID- 25837182
TI  - Bilateral occurrence and morphologic analysis of complete discoid lateral
      meniscus.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to investigate and analyze bilateral incidence
      and morphology of complete discoid lateral meniscus (DLM) with possible relation
      to tears and symptoms in knee joints. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-eight
      consecutive patients with symptomatic or already-torn complete DLM on magnetic
      resonance imaging in a unilateral knee underwent diagnostic arthroscopy on both
      knee joints upon agreement. The presence and shape of complete DLM as well as
      presence and pattern of tear were recorded accordingly. RESULTS: In total, 89.5%
      (34 of 38 patients) showed bilateral complete DLM, and 84.2% yielded bilateralism
      with identical shape. Cape-slab was the most frequent shape, comprising 68.8% of
      patients with identically-shaped bilateral DLM overall. Tear patterns were more
      frequent, in the order of longitudinal, simple horizontal, radial, and
      degenerative; however, the morphological shape of complete DLM was not
      significantly related to tear incidence or pattern. Meniscus tears and knee
      symptoms occurred in the contralateral knee with incidences of 32.4% and 26.5% in
      patients with bilateral complete DLM, respectively. CONCLUSION: Based on these
      findings, more aggressive warning on the presence of discoid pathology and the
      need for evaluation on the contralateral knee should be considered during
      consultation with patients with symptomatic complete DLM in a unilateral knee in
      the outpatient clinic.

PMID- 25837183
TI  - Stimulating effect of a novel synthesized sulfonamido-based gallate ZXHA-TC on
      primary osteoblasts.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study is intended to investigate the effects of plants or plant
      derived antioxidants on prevention of osteoporosis through the maintenance of
      reactive oxygen species (ROS) at a favorable level. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In
      this study, a novel antioxidant, namely 3,4,5-Trihydroxy-N-[4-(5-hydroxy-6
      methoxy-pyrimidin-4-ylsulfamoyl)-phenyl]-benzamide (ZXHA-TC) was synthesized from
      gallic acid and sulfadimoxine. Its effect on osteoblast metabolism was
      investigated via the detection of cell proliferation, cell viability, production
      of ROS, and expression of osteogenic-specific genes including runt-related
      transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), bone sialoprotein (BSP), osteocalcin (OCN), alpha
      1 type I collagen (COL1A1), and osteogenic-related proteins after treatment for
      2, 4, and 6 days respectively. RESULTS: The results showed that ZXHA-TC has a
      stimulating effect on the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of primary
      osteoblasts by promoting cell proliferation, cell viability, and the expression
      of genes BSP and OCN. Productions of bone matrix and mineralization were also
      increased by ZXHA-TC treatment as a result of up-regulation of COL1A1 and
      alkaline phosphatase (ALP) at the early stage and down-regulation of both genes
      subsequently. A range of 6.25*10-3 microg/mL to 6.25*10-1 microg/mL is the
      recommended dose for ZXHA-TC, within which 6.25*10-2 MUg/mL showed the best
      performance. CONCLUSION: This study may hold promise for the development of a
      novel agent for the treatment of osteoporosis.

PMID- 25837184
TI  - Effect of a sleep aid in analgesia after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects and safety of a sleep
      aid for postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff
      repair. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-eight patients were prospectively assigned
      to either the zolpidem group (multimodal analgesia+zolpidem; 39 patients) or the
      control group (multimodal analgesia; 39 patients). Self-rated pain levels were
      assessed twice a day using a visual analog scale (VAS). The need for additional
      rescue analgesic, duration of functional recovery, and adverse effects were
      assessed for the first 5 days after surgery. RESULTS: The mean number of times
      that additional rescue analgesic was required during 5 days after surgery was
      2.1+/-2.0 in the zolpidem group and 3.3+/-2.8 in the control group, a significant
      difference. There were no significant differences between the two groups in mean
      VAS pain scores during the first 5 days after surgery, although the zolpidem
      group had lower VAS pain scores than the control group. Additionally, there were
      no significant differences in duration of functional recovery and adverse effects
      between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The use of zolpidem for analgesia after
      arthroscopic rotator cuff repair provided a significant reduction in the need for
      rescue analgesic without increasing adverse effects. Nevertheless, mean VAS pain
      scores during the first 5 days after surgery did not differ between the zolpidem
      group and the control group.

PMID- 25837185
TI  - Effect of antifreeze protein on mouse ovarian tissue cryopreservation and
      transplantation.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of antifreeze protein (AFP) supplementation on
      ovarian vitrification and transplantation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this
      experimental study, we researched a total of 182 ovaries from 4-week-old ICR
      mice. The equilibration solution included 20% ethylene glycol (EG), and the
      vitrification solution included 40% EG, 18% Ficoll, and 0.3 M sucrose. Intact
      ovaries were first suspended in 1 mL of equilibration solution for 10 min, and
      then mixed with 0.5 mL of vitrification solution for 5 min. Ovaries were randomly
      assigned to 3 groups and 0, 5, or 20 mg/mL of type III AFP was added into the
      vitrification solution (control, AFP5, and AFP20 groups, respectively). The
      vitrified ovaries were evaluated after warming and 2 weeks after
      autotransplantation. The main outcome measurements are follicular morphology and
      apoptosis assessed by histology and the TUNEL assay. RESULTS: A significantly
      higher intact follicle ratio was shown in the AFP treated groups (control, 28.9%;
      AFP5, 42.3%; and AFP20, 44.7%). The rate of apoptotic follicles was significantly
      lower in the AFP treated groups (control, 26.6%; AFP5, 18.7%; and AFP20, 12.6%).
      After transplantation of the vitrified-warmed ovaries, a significantly higher
      intact follicle ratio was shown in the AFP20 group. The rate of apoptotic
      follicles was similar among the groups. CONCLUSION: The results of the present
      study suggest that supplementing AFP in the vitrification solution has beneficial
      effects on the survival of ovarian tissue during cryopreservation and
      transplantation.

PMID- 25837186
TI  - Triglyceride is a useful surrogate marker for insulin resistance in Korean women
      with polycystic ovary syndrome.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate lipid profiles and liver enzymes as surrogate markers used
      for recognizing insulin resistance in Korean women with polycystic ovary syndrome
      (PCOS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: 458 women with PCOS were divided into two groups:
      non-obese with a body mass index (BMI)<25.0 kg/m2 and obese with a BMI>=25.0
      kg/m2. Anthropometric measures and blood sampling for hormone assay, liver
      enzymes, lipid profiles and 75 g oral glucose tolerance test were performed.
      Insulin resistance was defined as homeostasis model assessment of insulin
      resistance (HOMA-IR)>=2.5. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic
      (ROC) curves were used to compare the power of serum markers. Multiple linear
      regression analysis was used to evaluate the contribution of each confounding
      factor for HOMA-IR. RESULTS: In non-obese and obese groups, the ROC curve
      analyses demonstrated that the best marker for insulin resistance was
      triglyceride (TG), with the areas under the ROC curve of 0.617 and 0.837,
      respectively. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was the significant
      marker for insulin resistance with areas under the ROC curve of 0.698 in obese
      group, but not significant in non-obese group. TG and LDL-C were significantly
      associated with HOMA-IR in both non-obese and obese PCOS women by multiple linear
      regression analysis. The optimal cut-off points of TG>=68.5 was a marker for
      predicting insulin resistance in non-obese PCOS patients and TG>=100.5 in obese
      group. CONCLUSION: TG can be used as a useful marker for insulin resistance in
      Korean women with PCOS, especially for obese patients.

PMID- 25837187
TI  - Pregnancy outcomes in women with moyamoya disease: experiences at a single center
      in Korea.
AB  - PURPOSE: Moyamoya disease (MMD) occurs predominantly in Korean and Japanese
      women. The aim of this study was to investigate clinical features and pregnancy
      outcomes in women with MMD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective
      chart review of women with MMD who visited our Department of Obstetrics and
      Gynecology between January 2005 and October 2013. For all study subjects,
      clinical features, demographic characteristics, and perinatal outcomes were
      recorded. RESULTS: We identified 28 pregnancies in 22 patients who had been
      diagnosed with MMD. The mean maternal age at delivery was 31.9+/-3.5 years old.
      The mean gestational age at delivery was 38.0+/-0.9 weeks. Among the 28
      pregnancies, 25 (92.5%) underwent cesarean section; 19 (76.0%) of them were
      performed under regional anesthesia and six (24.0%) under general anesthesia. The
      mean newborn weight was 3233.7+/-348.2 g. The 5-minute Apgar score in 85% of the
      newborns was higher than 8, with no other apparent complications. During the
      puerperal period, transient ischemic attack symptom or seizure occurred in 4
      cases, although patients recovered within a few days. CONCLUSION: For pregnant
      women with MMD, it is important to control blood pressure and prevent
      hyperventilation during the intrapartum period, and the best methods of delivery
      and anesthesia should be considered to avoid unfavorable sequelae. Additionally,
      a multidisciplinary approach (i.e., neurosurgery) is necessary to constantly
      manage underlying diseases.

PMID- 25837188
TI  - The difference of lymphocyte subsets including regulatory T-cells in umbilical
      cord blood between AGA neonates and SGA neonates.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to compare the regulatory T cells in cord blood of
      appropriate for gestational age (AGA) neonates with those of small for
      gestational age (SGA) neonates. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Umbilical cord blood was
      collected upon labor in 108 healthy full-term (between 37 and 41 gestational
      weeks) neonates, who were born between November 2010 and April 2012. Among them,
      77 samples were obtained from AGA neonates, and 31 samples were obtained from SGA
      neonates. Regulatory T cells and lymphocyte subsets were determined using a flow
      cytometer. Student's t-test for independent samples was used to compare
      differences between AGA and SGA neonates. RESULTS: Regulatory T cells in cord
      blood were increased in the SGA group compared with normal controls (p=0.041).
      However, cytotoxic T cells in cord blood were significantly decreased in the SGA
      group compared with normal controls (p=0.007). CONCLUSION: This is the first
      study to compare the distribution of lymphocyte subsets including regulatory T
      cells in cord blood between AGA neonates and SGA neonates.

PMID- 25837190
TI  - Predictors of thyroid gland involvement in hypopharyngeal squamous cell
      carcinoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: Decision to perform concurrent ipsilateral thyroidectomy on patients
      with hypopharyngeal cancer is important, and unnecessary thyroidectomy should be
      avoided if oncologically feasible. We hypothesized that concurrent ipsilateral
      thyroidectomy is not routinely required to prevent occult metastasis. This study
      aimed to determine the prevalence of histological thyroid invasion in patients
      with hypopharyngeal cancer, and to refine the indications for prophylactic
      ipsilateral thyroidectomy in patients with hypopharyngeal cancer. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A retrospective review of the medical records from the Department of
      Otolaryngology at Yonsei University College of Medicine was conducted from
      January 1994 to December 2009. A total of 49 patients underwent
      laryngopharyngectomy with thyroidectomy as a primary treatment of hypopharyngeal
      cancer. RESULTS: The incidence of thyroid gland involvement was 10.2%. The most
      common route of invasion was direct extension through the thyroid cartilage.
      Thyroid cartilage invasion (p=0.034) was the most significant factor associated
      with thyroid invasion. Disease-specific survival at 5 years was lower in patients
      with than without thyroid gland invasion (26.7% vs. 55.2%, respectively;
      p=0.032). Disease-free survival at 5 years was also lower in patients with than
      without thyroid gland invasion (20.0% vs. 52.1%, respectively; p=0.024).
      CONCLUSION: Ipsilateral thyroidectomy in combination with total
      laryngopharyngectomy is indicated when invasion of the thyroid cartilage is
      suspected in patients with hypopharyngeal cancer.

PMID- 25837189
TI  - Intraocular lens power estimation in combined phacoemulsification and pars plana
      vitrectomy in eyes with epiretinal membranes: a case-control study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the accuracy of postoperative refractive outcomes of
      combined phacovitrectomy for epiretinal membrane (ERM) in comparison to cataract
      surgery alone. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-nine eyes that underwent combined
      phacovitrectomy with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation for cataract and ERM
      (combined surgery group) and 39 eyes that received phacoemulsification for
      cataract (control group) were analyzed, retrospectively. The predicted
      preoperative refractive aim was compared with the results of postoperative
      refraction. RESULTS: In the combined surgery group, refractive prediction error
      by A-scan and IOLMaster were -0.305+/-0.717 diopters (D) and -0.356+/-0.639 D,
      respectively, compared to 0.215+/-0.541 and 0.077+/-0.529 in the control group,
      showing significantly more myopic change compared to the control group (p=0.001
      and p=0.002, respectively). Within each group, there was no statistically
      significant difference in refractive prediction error between A-scan and
      IOLMaster (all p>0.05). IOL power calculation using adjusted A-scan measurement
      of axial length based on the macular thickness of the normal contralateral eye
      still resulted in significant postoperative refractive error (all p<0.05).
      Postoperative refraction calculated with adjusted axial length based on actual
      postoperative central foveal thickness change showed the closest value to the
      actual postoperative achieved refraction (p=0.599). CONCLUSION: Combined
      phacovitrectomy for ERM resulted in significantly more myopic shift of
      postoperative refraction, compared to the cataract surgery alone, for both A-scan
      and IOLMaster. To improve the accuracy of IOL power estimation in eyes with
      cataract and ERM, sequential surgery for ERM and cataract may need to be
      considered.

PMID- 25837191
TI  - Expectorant and antitussive effect of Hedera helix and Rhizoma coptidis extracts
      mixture.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the additive effect of the Hedera helix
      (HH) and Rhizoma coptidis (RC) extracts mixture on antitussive and expectorant
      activities in animals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expectorant assay was performed
      with phenol red secretion in mice trachea. Mice or guinea pigs were randomly
      divided into groups of 8 each, including negative and positive control groups.
      After gastric administration of the test extracts in mice, 2.5% phenol red
      solution (0.2 mL) was intraperitoneally injected. Trachea was dissected and
      optical density of tracheal secretion was measured. After gastric administration
      of the test extracts in guinea pigs, the antitussive activities were assessed
      using a citric acid-induced cough measurement. RESULTS: The extracts of HH and RC
      significantly increased tracheal secretion and inhibited cough. The mixture of HH
      and RC extracts in a 1:1 concentration at a dose of 200 mg/kg showed a more
      potent effect on phenol red secretion (25.25+/-3.14) and cough inhibition
      (61.25+/-5.36) than the individual use of each extracts [phenol red secretion; HH
      13.39+/-4.22 (p=0.000), RC 20.78+/-2.50 (p=0.010), cough inhibition; HH 9.89+/
      4.14 (p=0.010), RC 30.25+/-7.69 (p=0.000)]. A 3:1 ratio mixture of HH to RC
      demonstrated an optimal expectorant effect (p<0.001), and this mixture showed
      expectorant and antitussive effects in a dose-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: This
      study provides evidence for antitussive and expectorant effect of a 3:1 mixture
      of HH and RC, which may be a useful therapeutic option for respiratory diseases.

PMID- 25837192
TI  - Hypoxia increases epithelial permeability in human nasal epithelia.
AB  - PURPOSE: The nasal mucosa is the first site to encounter pathogens, and it forms
      continuous barriers to various stimuli. This barrier function is very important
      in the innate defense mechanism. Additionally, inflammation of the nasal sinus is
      known to be a hypoxic condition. Here, we studied the effect of hypoxia on
      barrier function in normal human nasal epithelial (NHNE) cells. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: The expression levels of various junction complex proteins were assessed
      in hypoxia-stimulated NHNE cells and human nasal mucosal tissues. We performed
      real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis, western blotting, and
      immunofluorescence assays to examine differences in the mRNA and protein
      expression of ZO-1, a tight junction protein, and E-cadherin in NHNE cells.
      Moreover, we evaluated the trans-epithelial resistance (TER) of NHNE cells under
      hypoxic conditions to check for changes in permeability. The expression of ZO-1
      and E-cadherin was measured in human nasal mucosa samples by western blotting.
      RESULTS: Hypoxia time-dependently decreased the expression of ZO-1 and E-cadherin
      at the gene and protein levels. In addition, hypoxia decreased the TER of NHNE
      cells, which indicates increased permeability. Human nasal mucosa samples, which
      are supposed to be hypoxic, showed significantly decreased levels of ZO-1 and E
      cadherin expression compared with control. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate
      that hypoxia altered the expression of junction complex molecules and increased
      epithelial permeability in human nasal epithelia. This suggests that hypoxia
      causes barrier dysfunction. Furthermore, it may be associated with innate immune
      dysfunction after encountering pathogens.

PMID- 25837193
TI  - Sparing effects of sufentanil on epidural ropivacaine in elderly patients
      undergoing transurethral resection of prostate surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study examined the sparing effect of sufentanil on the median
      effective concentration (EC50) of epidural ropivacaine in elderly patients
      undergoing elective transurethral resection of prostate (TURP). MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: This was a prospective randomized double-blind dose-response study.
      Fifty eight elderly patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical
      status I-II who were scheduled for TURP surgery under epidural anesthesia were
      randomly allocated to a group receiving 15 mL of ropivacaine (group R) or a group
      receiving ropivacaine plus 5 MUg of sufentanil (group RS). The concentration of
      ropivacaine was determined by a Dixon's up-and-down sequential allocation. The
      first participant received 0.3% of ropivacaine in both groups and subsequent
      concentrations were determined by the response of the previous patient in the
      same group. The EC50 of epidural ropivacaine was analyzed using the Dixon and
      Massey method. RESULTS: The EC50 of ropivacaine during TURP surgery was 0.186%
      (95% confidence interval, 0.173-0.200%) in group R, and 0.136% (95% confidence
      interval, 0.127-0.144%) in group RS (p<0.01). No differences in Bromage scale of
      motor block examination and the onset time of sensory block were observed.
      CONCLUSION: Administration of 5 MUg of epidural sufentanil caused a 37% reduction
      in the EC50 of epidural ropivacaine in elderly patients who underwent TURP
      surgery. Thus, sufentanil addition during surgery of TURP can decrease the dose
      of ropivacaine anesthesia required.

PMID- 25837194
TI  - Comparison of ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus block techniques:
      perineural injection versus single or double perivascular infiltration.
AB  - PURPOSE: We compared three methods of ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus
      block, which were single, and double perivascular (PV) infiltration techniques,
      and a perineural (PN) injection technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 78 patients of
      American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I-II undergoing surgery of
      the forearm, wrist, or hand were randomly allocated to three groups. 2% lidocaine
      with epinephrine 5 MUg/mL was used. The PN group (n=26) received injections at
      the median, ulnar, and radial nerve with 8 mL for each nerve. The PV1 group
      (n=26) received a single injection of 24 mL at 12-o'clock position of the
      axillary artery. The PV2 group (n=26) received two injections of 12 mL each at 12
      o'clock and 6-o'clock position. For all groups, musculocutaneous nerve was
      blocked separately. RESULTS: The PN group (391.2+/-171.6 sec) had the longest
      anesthetic procedure duration than PV1 (192.8+/-59.0 sec) and PV2 (211.4+/-58.6
      sec). There were no differences in onset time. The average induction time was
      longer in PN group (673.4+/-149.6 sec) than PV1 (557.6+/-194.9 sec) and PV2
      (561.5+/-129.8 sec). There were no differences in the success rate (89.7% vs.
      86.2% vs. 89.7%). CONCLUSION: The PV injection technique consisting of a single
      injection in 12-o'clock position above the axillary artery in addition to a
      musculocutaneous nerve block is equally effective and less time consuming than
      the PN technique. Therefore, the PV technique is an alternative method that may
      be used in busy clinics or for difficult cases.

PMID- 25837195
TI  - Dietary calcium and Framingham Risk Score in vitamin D deficient male (KNHANES
      2009-2011).
AB  - PURPOSE: The association between excess calcium intake and cardiovascular
      mortality has already been reported. In the present study, we investigated the
      relation between dietary calcium intake and Framingham Risk Score (FRS) according
      to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] status. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of
      7809 subjects (3452 males and 4357 female) aged over 40 years were selected for
      this cross-sectional study from data obtained from the Korea National Health and
      Nutrition Examination Survey (2008-2011). Daily dietary calcium intake was
      categorized into <300, 300-600, 600-900, 900-1200, and >1200 mg/day and serum
      25(OH)D concentration classified into <50, 50-75, >75 mmol/L. The FRS was
      compared by the daily dietary calcium intake categories according to 25(OH)D
      concentration after adjustment with relevant variables in both genders. RESULTS:
      Higher FRS was observed in males with both <300 mg and >1200 mg of dietary
      calcium intake and females with <300 mg of dietary calcium intake without
      adjustment. The significantly higher FRS remained in the <300 mg and >1200 mg of
      dietary calcium intake groups in both genders after adjustments for relevant
      variables. FRS was significantly higher in the group with >1200 mg of dietary
      calcium intake and serum 25(OH)D <50 nmol/L, which was the male only vitamin D
      deficient group. CONCLUSION: Very low (<300 mg/day) and excess (>1200 mg/day)
      dietary calcium intake were related with higher FRS in both genders. In
      particular, higher FRS was observed in the excess (>1200 mg/day) dietary calcium
      intake male group under vitamin D deficiency (<50 nmol/L).

PMID- 25837196
TI  - Mortality, length of stay, and inpatient charges for heart failure patients at
      public versus private hospitals in South Korea.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study compared in-hospital mortality within 30 days of admission,
      lengths of stay, and inpatient charges among patients with heart failure admitted
      to public and private hospitals in South Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      obtained health insurance claims data for all heart failure inpatients nationwide
      between November 1, 2011 and May 31, 2012. These data were then matched with
      hospital-level data, and multi-level regression models were examined. A total of
      8406 patients from 253 hospitals, including 31 public hospitals, were analyzed.
      RESULTS: The in-hospital mortality rate within 30 days of admission was 0.92%
      greater and the mean length of stay was 1.94 days longer at public hospitals than
      at private hospitals (mortality: 5.18% and 4.26%, respectively; LOS: 12.08 and
      10.14 days, respectively). The inpatient charges were 11.4% lower per case and
      24.5% lower per day at public hospitals than at private hospitals. After
      adjusting for patient- and hospital-level confounders, public hospitals had a
      1.62-fold higher in-hospital mortality rate, a 16.5% longer length of stay, and
      an 11.7% higher inpatient charge per case than private hospitals, although the
      charges of private hospitals were greater in univariate analysis. CONCLUSION: We
      recommend that government agencies and policy makers continue to monitor quality
      of care, lengths of stay in the hospital, and expenditures according to type of
      hospital ownership to improve healthcare outcomes and reduce spending.

PMID- 25837197
TI  - Jak1/Stat3 is an upstream signaling of NF-kappaB activation in Helicobacter
      pylori-induced IL-8 production in gastric epithelial AGS cells.
AB  - Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) induces the activation of nuclear factor-kB (NF
      kappaB) and cytokine expression in gastric epithelial cells. The Janus
      kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription (Jak/Stat) cascade is
      the inflammatory signaling in various cells. The purpose of the present study is
      to determine whether H. pylori-induced activation of NF-kappaB and the expression
      of interleukin-8 (IL-8) are mediated by the activation of Jak1/Stat3 in gastric
      epithelial (AGS) cells. Thus, gastric epithelial AGS cells were infected with H.
      pylori in Korean isolates (HP99) at bacterium/cell ratio of 300:1, and the level
      of IL-8 in the medium was determined by enzyme-linked immonosorbent assay.
      Phospho-specific and total forms of Jak1/Stat3 and IkappaBalpha were assessed by
      Western blot analysis, and NF-kappaB activation was determined by electrophoretic
      mobility shift assay. The results showed that H. pylori induced the activation of
      Jak1/Stat3 and IL-8 production, which was inhibited by a Jak/Stat3 specific
      inhibitor AG490 in AGS cells in a dose-dependent manner. H. pylori-induced
      activation of NF-kappaB, determined by phosphorylation of IkappaBalpha and NF
      kappaB-DNA binding activity, were inhibited by AG490. In conclusion, Jak1/Stat3
      activation may mediate the activation of NF-kappaB and the expression of IL-8 in
      H. pylori-infected AGS cells. Inhibition of Jak1/Stat3 may be beneficial for the
      treatment of H. pylori-induced gastric inflammation, since the activation of NF
      kappaB is inhibited and inflammatory cytokine expression is suppressed. 

PMID- 25837198
TI  - Metallic foreign body in heart mimicking moderator band.
AB  - A foreign body in heart is rare, but it is more frequently encountered than the
      past as iatrogenic causes are increasing. Clinicians should be aware that foreign
      body could be mistaken for normal structure of heart. In order for accurate
      diagnosis, multi-imaging modalities should be used for information of exact
      location, mobility and hemodynamic effects. A decision to intervene should be
      made based on potential harms harbored by foreign bodies. Endovascular retrieval
      should be considered as an option. However, when fatal complications occur or
      when foreign bodies are embedded deeply, a surgical removal should be attempted.

PMID- 25837199
TI  - Chronic cavitary pulmonary histoplasmosis in a non-HIV and immunocompromised
      patient without overseas travel history.
AB  - Korea is not known as an endemic area for Histoplasma. However, we experienced a
      case of histoplasmosis in a person who had never been abroad. A 65-year-old
      female was admitted to the hospital for evaluation of multiple lung nodules. A
      computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest showed multiple ill-defined
      consolidations and cavitations in all lobes of both lungs. The patient underwent
      a CT-guided lung biopsy, and a histopathology study showed findings compatible
      with histoplasmosis. Based on biopsy results and clinical findings, the patient
      was diagnosed with chronic cavitary pulmonary histoplasmosis. The patient
      recovered completely following itraconazole treatment. This is the first case
      report of pulmonary histoplasmosis unconnected with either HIV infection or
      endemicity in Korea. 

PMID- 25837200
TI  - Erratum to "Optimal effect-site concentration of remifentanil for inhibiting
      response to laryngeal mask airway removal during emergence" by Park SJ, et al.
      (Yonsei Med J 2015;56:529-34).

PMID- 25837201
TI  - Climate change impacts on environmental and human exposure to mercury in the
      arctic.
AB  - This paper reviews information from the literature and the EU ArcRisk project to
      assess whether climate change results in an increase or decrease in exposure to
      mercury (Hg) in the Arctic, and if this in turn will impact the risks related to
      its harmful effects. It presents the state-of-the art of knowledge on atmospheric
      mercury emissions from anthropogenic sources worldwide, the long-range transport
      to the Arctic, and it discusses the likely environmental fate and exposure
      effects on population groups in the Arctic under climate change conditions. The
      paper also includes information about the likely synergy effects (co-benefits)
      current and new climate change polices and mitigation options might have on
      mercury emissions reductions in the future. The review concludes that reductions
      of mercury emission from anthropogenic sources worldwide would need to be
      introduced as soon as possible in order to assure lowering the adverse impact of
      climate change on human health. Scientific information currently available,
      however, is not in the position to clearly answer whether climate change will
      increase or decrease the risk of exposure to mercury in the Arctic. New research
      should therefore be undertaken to model the relationships between climate change
      and mercury exposure. 

PMID- 25837202
TI  - Integrating environmental and human health databases in the great lakes basin:
      themes, challenges and future directions.
AB  - Many government, academic and research institutions collect environmental data
      that are relevant to understanding the relationship between environmental
      exposures and human health. Integrating these data with health outcome data
      presents new challenges that are important to consider to improve our effective
      use of environmental health information. Our objective was to identify the common
      themes related to the integration of environmental and health data, and suggest
      ways to address the challenges and make progress toward more effective use of
      data already collected, to further our understanding of environmental health
      associations in the Great Lakes region. Environmental and human health databases
      were identified and reviewed using literature searches and a series of one-on-one
      and group expert consultations. Databases identified were predominantly
      environmental stressors databases, with fewer found for health outcomes and human
      exposure. Nine themes or factors that impact integration were identified: data
      availability, accessibility, harmonization, stakeholder collaboration, policy and
      strategic alignment, resource adequacy, environmental health indicators, and data
      exchange networks. The use and cost effectiveness of data currently collected
      could be improved by strategic changes to data collection and access systems to
      provide better opportunities to identify and study environmental exposures that
      may impact human health. 

PMID- 25837203
TI  - A potential synergy between incomplete arsenic methylation capacity and
      demographic characteristics on the risk of hypertension: findings from a cross
      sectional study in an arsenic-endemic area of inner Mongolia, China.
AB  - Inefficient arsenic methylation capacity has been associated with various health
      hazards induced by arsenic. In this study, we aimed to explore the interaction
      effect of lower arsenic methylation capacity with demographic characteristics on
      hypertension risk. A total of 512 adult participants (126 hypertension subjects
      and 386 non-hypertension subjects) residing in an arsenic-endemic area in Inner
      Mongolia, China were included. Urinary levels of inorganic arsenic (iAs),
      monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) were measured for
      all subjects. The percentage of urinary arsenic metabolites (iAs%, MMA%, and
      DMA%), primary methylation index (PMI) and secondary methylation index (SMI) were
      calculated to assess arsenic methylation capacity of individuals. Results showed
      that participants carrying a lower methylation capacity, which is characterized
      by lower DMA% and SMI, have a higher risk of hypertension compared to their
      corresponding references after adjusting for multiple confounders. A potential
      synergy between poor arsenic methylation capacity (higher MMA%, lower DMA% and
      SMI) and older age or higher BMI were detected. The joint effects of higher MMA%
      and lower SMI with cigarette smoking also suggest some evidence of synergism. The
      findings of present study indicated that inefficient arsenic methylation capacity
      was associated with hypertension and the effect might be enhanced by certain
      demographic factors. 

PMID- 25837204
TI  - Cholesterol overload impairing cerebellar function: the promise of natural
      products.
AB  - The cerebellum is the part of the brain most involved in controlling motor and
      cognitive function. The surface becomes convoluted, forming folia that have a
      characteristic internal structure of three layers including molecular, Purkinje
      cell, and granular layer. This complex neural network gives rise to a massive
      signal-processing capability. Cholesterol is a major constituent, derived by de
      novo synthesis and the blood-brain barrier. Cholesterol is tightly regulated
      between neurons and glia-that is, astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes-and
      is essential for normal brain development. The axon is wrapped by myelin
      (cholesterol, phospholipids, and glycosphingolipids) and made up of membranes of
      oligodendrocytes, separated by periodic gaps in the myelin sheath, called nodes
      of Ranvier. Hypercholesterolemia is associated with increased oxidative stress
      and the development of neurotoxicity and Alzheimer's disease. Treatment with
      natural products has been found to support improved brain function and reduce low
      density-lipoprotein cholesterol level. Fish oil is one such product; among the
      many plant products are: Morus alba leaves, fruit, and bark; pomegranate fruit
      and peel; Barley beta - glucans; date palm; and Allium sativum. The therapeutic
      potential was discussed in relation with the antilipidemic drugs, statins (HMG
      CoA reductase inhibitors). 

PMID- 25837205
TI  - Effects of non-soy legume consumption on C-reactive protein: a systematic review
      and meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Because of conflicting results of presented studies, the aim of this
      systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) was to
      examine the effect of non-soy legume intake on inflammatory markers and C
      reactive protein (CRP). METHODS: We searched Pubmed, ISI Web of Knowledge,
      SCOPUS, and Google Scholar for relevant studies up to July 2013, using medical
      subject headings [MeSH] and other related keywords. Nine RCTs were systematically
      reviewed to examine the effect of non-soy legume consumption on inflammatory
      markers. Eight studies involving 464 participants were included in the meta
      analysis. RESULTS: The results of the meta-analysis showed that non-soy legume
      consumption had a trend toward a significant effect on decreasing CRP and high
      sensitivity (hs)-CRP concentrations (mean difference (MD) = -0.21; 95% confidence
      interval [CI], -0.44 to 0.02; P = 0.068). There was no overall effect of non-soy
      legume consumption on CRP or hs-CRP levels in either the parallel or crossover
      study designs. Our subgroup analysis of CRP type and study design, showed that
      non-soy legume intake had a significant effect on CRP levels in parallel studies
      (MD = -1.01; 95% CI, -1.78 to -0.23; P = 0.011) and a significant effect on hs
      CRP levels (MD = -0.53; 95% CI, -0.95 to -0.11; P = 0.014) and in the crossover
      sub group (MD = -0.68; 95% CI, -1.28 to -0.08; P = 0.026). CONCLUSIONS: This
      review of RCTs showed that non-soy legume consumption may contribute to
      reductions in CRP and hs-CRP concentrations. However, further controlled clinical
      trials are needed to investigate the effect of non-soy legume intake on other
      inflammatory markers.

PMID- 25837206
TI  - The effect of cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) on body weight and
      cardiovascular risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized
      clinical trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Hundreds of dietary supplements are currently marketed as weight loss
      supplements. However, the advertised health claims of effectiveness for most of
      these have not been proven. The aim of this study was to critically appraise and
      evaluate the evidence for effectiveness of cactus pear, Opuntia ficus-indica
      (OFI), using data from published randomized clinical trials. METHODS: We
      conducted electronic searches in Medline, Embase, Amed, Cinahl, and the Cochrane
      Library. No restrictions on age, time, or language were imposed. The risk for
      bias in the studies included was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration
      criteria. Two reviewers independently determined the eligibility of included
      studies, assessed reporting quality, and extracted data. RESULTS: We identified
      seven eligible studies, of which five were included. The studies varied in design
      and reporting quality. Meta-analysis revealed a nonsignificant difference in body
      weight between OFI and controls (mean difference = -0.83 kg; 95% confidence
      interval, -2.49 to 0.83; I(2) = 93%). Significant reductions in body mass index,
      percentage body fat, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and total
      cholesterol were observed. Adverse events included gastric intolerance and flu
      symptoms. CONCLUSION: The evidence from randomized clinical trials does not
      indicate that supplementation with OFI generates statistically significant
      effects on body weight. Consumption of OFI can cause significant reductions in
      percentage body fat, blood pressure, and total cholesterol. Few clinical trials
      evaluating the effects of OFI have been published. They vary in design and
      methodology, and are characterized by inconsistent quality of reporting. Further
      clinical trials evaluating the effects of OFI on body composition and metabolic
      parameters are warranted.

PMID- 25837207
TI  - Switching to a 10-day Mediterranean-style diet improves mood and cardiovascular
      function in a controlled crossover study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Even short-term adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet may benefit
      aspects of psychological functioning. The aim of the present study was to assess
      the effects of switching to a 10-d Mediterranean-style diet on mood, cognition,
      and cardiovascular measures. METHODS: Using a crossover design, 24 women were
      randomly assigned to either the diet change (where they switched to a
      Mediterranean-style diet) or no diet change (normal diet) condition for 10 days
      before switching to the other condition for the same duration. Mood, cognition,
      and cardiovascular measures of blood pressure, blood flow velocity, and arterial
      stiffness were assessed at baseline and at the completion of the two diets (days
      11 and 22). RESULTS: Independent of whether the Mediterranean-style diet was
      undertaken before or after the crossover, it was associated with significantly
      elevated contentment and alertness, and significantly reduced confusion.
      Additionally, aspects of cognition, such as memory recall, improved significantly
      as a result of switching to the Mediterranean-style diet. Regarding
      cardiovascular measures, there was a significant reduction in augmentation
      pressure associated with the Mediterranean-style diet intervention, but blood
      flow velocity through the common carotid artery did not change. CONCLUSIONS: This
      Mediterranean-style diet has the potential to enhance aspects of mood, cognition,
      and cardiovascular function in a young, healthy adult sample.

PMID- 25837208
TI  - Association between the APOB rs1469513 polymorphism and obesity is modified by
      dietary fat intake in Koreans.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The apolipoprotein B (APOB) gene has been reported to be a candidate
      gene for individual susceptibility to dyslipidemia and obesity. The aim of this
      study was to investigate the effect of the APOB rs1469513 polymorphism on plasma
      lipid profiles and obesity-related phenotypes, together with their modulation by
      dietary intake in Korean individuals. METHODS: We analyzed the plasma lipid
      profiles, obesity-related phenotypes, and dietary intake of 6470 Korean aged 40
      to 59 y from the KoGES (Korean Genome Epidemiology Study) database. The effects
      of APOB rs1469513 on traits, the interaction of APOB rs1469513 and dietary intake
      on traits were analyzed. RESULTS: Plasma levels of total cholesterol (P = 0.001)
      and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 0.010), body weight (P = 0.048), and
      body mass index (P = 0.029) were significantly different in carriers of the A
      allele and minor G allele of APOB rs1469513. Among individuals whose fat intake
      was above the median, the difference for the body mass index across genotypes is
      1.14% (AA 24.66 kg/m(2) versus AG+GG 24.94 kg/m(2), P = 0.004) and carriers of
      the minor G allele had increased odds of being obese (Odds ratios, 1.31; 95%
      confidence interval, 1.09-1.57; P = 0.004) compared with homozygotes for the A
      allele. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support a significant association between the
      APOB rs1469513 variant, plasma lipid profiles, and obesity-related phenotypes.
      This association has the potential to be modified by dietary fat intake. These
      results may offer proof that the differences between normal weight and
      overweight/obese individuals might partly result from different SNPs.

PMID- 25837209
TI  - Vitamin D deficiency and inadequacy in a correctional population.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Adequate nutrition among inmates at correctional facilities may
      prevent a variety of diseases and conditions. Vitamin D is a nutrient of
      particular interest to incarcerated populations; however, research in this area
      is sparse. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess vitamin D status among
      inmates in a prison in southern Arizona, a sun-replete region of the United
      States. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of circulating
      concentrations of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol [25(OH)D] among short-term (group 1;
      <6 wk; n = 29) and long-term (group 2; >1 y; n = 30) inmates at The Fourth Avenue
      Jail in Maricopa County (Phoenix) Arizona. RESULTS: The long-term inmates in
      group 2 had statistically significantly lower levels of 25(OH)D (13.9 +/- 6.3
      ng/mL) compared with group 1 (25.9 +/- 12.4; P < 0.0001). Defining vitamin D
      deficiency as circulating concentrations of 25(OH)D < 20 ng/mL, 37.9% of inmates
      in group 1 and 90% of those in group 2 were deficient. After adjusting for body
      mass index and age, the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for deficiency in
      group 2 was 18.7 (4.1-84.9) compared with group 1. CONCLUSIONS: This study
      demonstrates the presence of vitamin D deficiency at the Fourth Avenue Jail in
      Maricopa County, Arizona, particularly among inmates who have been housed at the
      facility for >1 y. Because marked vitamin D deficiency is associated with a
      myriad of adverse health outcomes, consideration should be given to providing
      dietary or supplemental vitamin D to inmates at correctional facilities.

PMID- 25837211
TI  - The personal nutrition-related attitudes and behaviors of Australian
      optometrists: is there evidence for an evidence-based approach?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the personal nutrition
      related attitudes and behaviors of Australian optometrists and, in particular,
      their understanding of the evidence relating to the merit of specific dietary
      supplements, as applicable to their own health. METHODS: An online survey was
      distributed to optometrists registered in Australia (N = 4242). Respondents
      anonymously provided information regarding their demographic characteristics
      (age, sex, practice location and modality), diet and lifestyle behaviors
      (assessment of self-perceived diet quality, smoking status), and nutritional
      supplement intake (including the rationale for consumption). RESULTS: Completed
      surveys were received from 283 practitioners. Although most respondents
      considered themselves to eat a healthy, balanced diet, approximately 75%
      indicated taking nutritional supplements in the preceding year. The four most
      common supplements were fish oil/omega-3 (62%), multivitamins (54%), vitamin C
      (30%), and vitamin D (29%). In addition to vitamin D, which was typically
      recommended by a general medical practitioner for an established deficiency, the
      other three supplement categories were consumed on the basis of the respondents'
      self-assessment and decision. Analyses of the motivations for taking these
      supplements highlighted a significant misunderstanding of the evidence;
      furthermore, these practitioners appeared to base their personal behaviors on
      this misinterpretation. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate scope for
      optometrists to enhance their critical thinking and/or understanding of the
      available evidence relating to the merit, or otherwise, of nutritional
      supplementation in managing their own health, and more broadly, improving their
      understanding of what a healthy diet is and its role in eye health.

PMID- 25837210
TI  - Vitamin A and retinol-binding protein deficiency among chronic liver disease
      patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is associated with the progression of
      chronic liver disease (CLD). The aim in this study was to assess levels of serum
      retinol and retinol-binding protein (RBP) as well as liver vitamin A stores in
      the presence of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. METHODS: We
      ascertained the serum retinol and RBP levels of randomly selected CLD patients
      divided into two groups, one given 1500 UI (n = 89) and the other receiving 2500
      UI (n = 89) doses of retinyl palmitate for the relative dose response test. Blood
      samples were collected in a fasting state and 5 and 7 h after supplementation.
      RESULTS: The prevalence of VAD was 62.4%. There was a progressive drop in serum
      retinol (P < 0.001) and RBP (P = 0.002) according to the severity of the liver
      disease, and a greater prevalence of severe VAD was noted in cirrhosis Child &
      Pugh C (52.8%). Fifty percent of the patients presented a low availability of RBP
      relative to retinol concentration, and there was no peak in RBP levels regardless
      of the dose of retinyl palmitate administered. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest
      serum retinol and RBP are relevant as indicators of vitamin A nutritional status
      in the presence of CLD. Liver vitamin A store cannot be evaluated using the RDR
      test because CLD causes a reduction in RBP synthesis and interferes with the
      mobilization of endogenous vitamin A. Considering how the patients already showed
      a drop in RBP relative to retinol concentrations, it is reasonable to assume
      vitamin A supplementation may trigger harmful effects in CLD patients.

PMID- 25837212
TI  - Effect of pistachio nut consumption on endothelial function and arterial
      stiffness.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have demonstrated beneficial effects of regular
      consumption of pistachio nuts on glycemic, lipid, and oxidative stress
      parameters. The aim of this study was to determine its effect on vascular health,
      which has not been adequately studied so far. METHODS: In this open label,
      randomized parallel-group study, 60 adults with mild dyslipidemia were randomized
      to lifestyle modification (LSM) alone or LSM with consumption of 80 g (in-shell)
      pistachios (equivalent to 40 g or 1.5 oz shelled pistachios) daily for 3 mo.
      Biochemical parameters, brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation (BAFMD), and
      carotid-femoral and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (cfPWV and baPWV,
      respectively) were measured before and after the intervention. RESULTS: At 3 mo,
      there was no change in any of the clinical or biochemical parameters in the LSM
      group. However, the patients in the pistachio group had a significant increase in
      high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C; 35.7 +/- 8.8 mg/dL versus 37.8 +/-
      10.1 mg/dL; P = 0.04) and a reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
      (137.2 +/- 32.6 mg/dL versus 127.6 +/- 34.0 mg/dL; P = 0.02), total cholesterol
      (TC)-to-HDL-C ratio (5.8 +/- 1.3 mg/dL versus 5.3 +/- 1.1 mg/dL; P = 0.001), and
      fasting blood sugar (88.8 +/- 7.1 mg/dL versus 86.6 +/- 6.3 mg/dL; P = 0.05).
      Additionally, whereas LSM alone was associated with no improvement in BAFMD or
      PWV, individuals in the pistachio group had significant reduction in left baPWV
      (1261.7 +/- 187.5 cm/sec versus 1192.4 +/- 152.5 cm/sec; P = 0.02) and
      statistically nonsignificant improvement in most other parameters, including
      BAFMD. As a result, at 3 mo the patients in the pistachio group had lower cfPWV
      (770.9 +/- 96.5 cm/sec versus 846.4 +/- 162.0 cm/sec; P = 0.08), lower left baPWV
      (1192.4 +/- 152.5 cm/sec versus 1326.3 +/- 253.7 cm/sec; P = 0.05), and lower
      average baPWV (1208.2 +/- 118.4 cm/sec versus 1295.8 +/- 194.1 cm/sec; P = 0.08)
      compared with the LSM group. Two-way analysis of variance revealed significant
      treatment effect of pistachio consumption on cfPWV, left baPWV, average baPWV,
      and BAFMD (P = 0.037, 0.01, 0.07, and 0.046, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The
      present study demonstrates that regular consumption of pistachio nuts not only
      improves glycemic and lipid parameters, but also results in improvements in
      vascular stiffness and endothelial function. Importantly, these improvements were
      seen in apparently healthy individuals and with a diet (including pistachios) and
      exercise regimen that every adult individual is expected to follow.

PMID- 25837213
TI  - Dietary intake of minerals in relation to depressive symptoms in Japanese
      employees: the Furukawa Nutrition and Health Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Although intake of minerals has been suggested to be beneficial
      against depression, epidemiologic data from free-living settings are limited. The
      aim of this study was to determine the cross-sectional associations between the
      intake of magnesium, calcium, iron, and zinc and the prevalence of depressive
      symptoms in Japanese employees. METHODS: Participants were 1792 men and 214 women
      ages 19 to 69 y. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated, brief self
      administered diet history questionnaire. Participants with depressive symptoms
      were defined as those with a scale score of >=16 on the Center for Epidemiologic
      Studies Depression Scale. RESULTS: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was
      27.8%. Intakes of magnesium, calcium, iron, and zinc were inversely associated
      with the prevalence of depressive symptoms. The multivariate adjusted odds ratios
      (95% confidence interval) of having depressive symptoms were 0.63 (0.44-0.91),
      0.64 (0.47-0.88), 0.59 (0.40-0.87), and 0.63 (0.45-0.87) in the highest versus
      lowest tertiles of magnesium, calcium, iron, and zinc, respectively. CONCLUSION:
      Results suggest that higher dietary intake of magnesium, calcium, iron, and zinc
      is associated with lower prevalence of depressive symptoms in Japanese employees.

PMID- 25837214
TI  - Tomato juice supplementation in young women reduces inflammatory adipokine levels
      independently of body fat reduction.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Lycopene is a carotene and phytochemical known to protect against
      metabolic diseases. It is found in red fruits and vegetables, predominantly
      tomatoes. This study aimed to show the supplementation effect of tomato juice on
      indices associated with metabolic health and adipokine profiles in generally
      healthy people. METHODS: A total of 30 young females (20- to 30-years-old) with a
      body mass index (BMI) >= 20 were recruited, of whom 25 completed the entire
      study. The subjects continued with their normal diet and exercise schedule, but
      were given 280 mL of tomato juice (containing 32.5 mg of lycopene) daily for 2
      mo. Metabolic indices, including anthropometric data and serum levels of glucose,
      lipids, adipokines, lycopene, and antioxidants, were compared pre- and
      postintervention. RESULTS: Tomato juice supplementation significantly reduced
      body weight, body fat, waist circumference, BMI, and serum levels of cholesterol,
      monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and thiobarbituric reactive
      substances, while significantly increasing serum levels of adiponectin,
      triglyceride, and lycopene. When subjects were stratified by body fat change,
      i.e., reduction or non-reduction (including increase or no change), the tomato
      juice-induced reduction in waist circumference, serum cholesterol, and MCP-1
      levels and increase in adiponectin and lycopene levels were seen in both
      subgroups. The changes in waist circumference, cholesterol, MCP-1, and
      adiponectin levels remained significant after adjusting for each covariable
      individually, with the exception of lycopene. CONCLUSIONS: These results show
      that daily tomato juice supplementation reduces waist circumference, as well as
      serum cholesterol and inflammatory adipokine levels in young healthy women and
      that these effects are unrelated to body fat changes.

PMID- 25837215
TI  - Association of dietary acid load with cardiovascular disease risk factors in
      patients with diabetic nephropathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: An association between dietary acid load and cardiovascular disease
      risk has been reported in epidemiologic studies; however, there are no reports to
      our knowledge of this association in patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN).
      Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the association between dietary
      acid load, based on potential renal acid load (PRAL) and protein:potassium ratio
      (Pro:K) scores, and cardiovascular disease risk factors in individuals with DN.
      METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we randomly enrolled 547 patients with
      DN. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire.
      Biochemical and anthropometric measures were assessed using standard methods.
      RESULTS: Participants had a mean age of 66.8 y and body mass index of 24 kg/m(2).
      After controlling for potential confounders, participants in the low PRAL group
      had lower hemoglobin (Hb)A1c (5.7% +/- 0.5% versus 7.8% +/- 0.5%; P = 0.01),
      triacylglycerols (246.9 +/- 2.3 mg/dL versus 257.4 +/- 2.3 mg/dL; P = 0.006),
      systolic blood pressure (103.6 +/- 0.7 mm Hg versus 106.1 +/- 0.7 mm Hg; P =
      0.03), and lower creatinine and fasting blood sugar compared with the high PRAL
      group. Pro:K was positively related to HbA1c (5.8% +/- 0.5% versus 7.6% +/- 0.5%;
      P = 0.03), but inversely associated with low-density lipoprotein and waist
      circumference. CONCLUSIONS: We found that both PRAL and Pro:K were positively
      related to HbA1c in the setting of DN, whereas other biochemical and kidney
      related markers varied with PRAL and Pro:K status. Future studies are warranted
      to clarify the clinical outcomes of dietary acid load in older populations as
      well as in patients with chronic kidney disease.

PMID- 25837216
TI  - Effects of ginger on serum glucose, advanced glycation end products, and
      inflammation in peritoneal dialysis patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ginger
      supplementation on serum glucose, advanced glycation end products, oxidative
      stress, and systemic and vascular inflammatory markers in patients on peritoneal
      dialysis (PD). METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled
      trial, 36 patients on PD were randomly assigned to either the ginger or the
      placebo group. The patients in the ginger group received 1000 mg/d ginger for 10
      wk, whereas the placebo group received corresponding placebos. At baseline and
      the end of week 10, serum concentrations of glucose, carboxymethyl lysine,
      pentosidine, malondialdehyde (MDA), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP),
      soluble intercellular adhesion molecule type 1 (sICAM-1), soluble vascular cell
      adhesion molecule type 1 (sVCAM-1), and sE-selectin were measured after a 12- to
      14-h fast. RESULTS: Serum fasting glucose decreased significantly up to 20% in
      the ginger group at the end of week 10 compared with baseline (P < 0.05), and the
      reduction was significant in comparison with the placebo group (P < 0.05). There
      were no significant differences between the two groups in mean changes of serum
      carboxymethyl lysine, pentosidine, MDA, hs-CRP, sICAM-1, sVCAM-1, and sE
      selectin. CONCLUSION: This study indicated that daily administration of 1000 mg
      ginger reduces serum fasting glucose, which is a risk factor for
      hyperinsulinemia, dyslipidemia, peritoneal membrane fibrosis, and cardiovascular
      disease, in patients on PD.

PMID- 25837217
TI  - Dietary contributors to glycemic load in the REasons for Geographic and Racial
      Differences in Stroke study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: High dietary glycemic load (GL) has been associated with an increased
      risk for chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and
      selected cancers. The aim of this study was to identify the main food and food
      group contributors to dietary GL in a representative sample of US adults to
      inform future interventions. METHODS: Participants were from the REGARDS (REasons
      for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) study, a longitudinal cohort of
      30 239 community-dwelling black and white women and men ages >=45 y from
      throughout the United States. Diet was assessed with a food frequency
      questionnaire. The amount of each carbohydrate food, and its glycemic index, were
      used to calculate GL values for each carbohydrate food reported. These were
      totaled to estimate the mean total daily GL for each participant. Individual
      carbohydrate foods also were collapsed into 18 carbohydrate food groups, and the
      portion of the total GL contributed by each carbohydrate food and food group was
      determined. Analyses were conducted overall, by race/sex groups, and by region.
      RESULTS: Sweetened beverages were the main contributors to GL overall (12.14
      median percentage [median %] of daily GL), by far the largest contributors in
      black men (17.79 median %) and black women (16.43 median %), and major
      contributors in white men (12.02 median %) and white women (11.22 median %).
      Other important contributors to GL overall and in all race/sex groups and regions
      included breads, starchy side dishes, and cereals. CONCLUSIONS: In this US cohort
      of white and black adults, sweetened beverages were major contributors to GL
      overall, especially in black participants. This information may help to inform
      future interventions targeting reduction in dietary GL.

PMID- 25837218
TI  - Dairy consumption is associated with a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome
      among young adults from Ribeirao Preto, Brazil.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: It has been suggested that a greater dairy consumption is a
      contributing factor to a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) as a
      result of the possible actions of some milk nutrients. However, results remain
      controversial. The aim of this study was to examine the association between dairy
      consumption and MetS and its components. METHODS: Dairy consumption and
      biochemical and anthropometric parameters were determined in 2031 young adults
      ages 23 to 25 y. Food consumption was assessed using a food frequency
      questionnaire. The estimated habitual portion of dairy products consumed daily
      was divided into quintiles. The criteria of the International Diabetes Federation
      (IDF) and of the Joint Interim Statement (JIS) were used for the classification
      of MetS. Nonadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were estimated by logistic
      regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of MetS was 11.9% by the IDF criteria and 9%
      by the JIS criteria. A greater dairy consumption was associated with a lower
      prevalence of MetS according to both IDF (OR, 0.61; 95% confidence interval [CI],
      0.38-0.97) and JIS (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.39-0.98) criteria when the last quintile
      was compared with the first. The association persisted in the model adjusted for
      demographic, socioeconomic, dietary, and lifestyle variables according to the IDF
      (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.30-0.93) and was borderline according to the JIS (OR, 0.59;
      95% CI, 0.34-1.00), but lost significance when data were adjusted for calcium in
      both models. CONCLUSIONS: A greater dairy consumption is associated with a lower
      prevalence of MetS, with calcium probably being the nutrient responsible for this
      association.

PMID- 25837219
TI  - Dietary diversity as a proxy measure of blood antioxidant status in women.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Dietary diversity is recognized as a key indicator of dietary quality.
      However, its association with blood antioxidant levels has not been investigated.
      The aim of this study was to assess the association of the dietary diversity
      score (DDS) with blood antioxidant status in women who attend the sports clubs of
      a municipality in western Tehran, Iran. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was
      conducted with 397 randomly selected women from the sport clubs of a Tehran
      municipality. Sociodemographic data were recorded and the women's weight and
      height were measured. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated by dividing the weight
      (kg) by height squared (m(2)). A 24-h recall questionnaire was used to estimate
      food intake. Biochemical indices, including serum total antioxidant capacity
      (TAC) and erythrocyte activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide
      dismutase (SOD), were measured in 90 women selected randomly from all
      participants. DDS was computed according to the guidelines of the Food and
      Agriculture Organization. The mean of SOD, TAC and GPx were compared across DDS
      quartiles after adjustment for age, education level, physical activity, energy
      intake, and BMI using analysis of covariance test. RESULTS: The mean of TAC, SOD,
      and GPx was linearly increased with increasing the quartile of DDS, after
      adjustment for age, education level, physical activity, energy intake, and BMI
      (Ptrend < 0.001). Significant differences were observed for intake of different
      food groups, except cereals and white roots, between the DDS quartiles.
      CONCLUSION: DDS is associated with blood antioxidant markers. Increasing the
      dietary diversity might be associated with a reduction in oxidative stress.

PMID- 25837220
TI  - Statistical review of US macronutrient consumption data, 1965-2011: Americans
      have been following dietary guidelines, coincident with the rise in obesity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For almost 50 y, the US National Health and Nutrition Examination
      Survey (NHANES) has measured the caloric consumption, and body heights and
      weights of Americans. The aim of this study was to determine, based on that data,
      how macronutrient consumption patterns and the weight and body mass index in the
      US adult population have evolved since the 1960s. METHODS: We conducted the first
      comprehensive analysis of the NHANES data, documenting how macronutrient
      consumption patterns and the weight and body mass index in the US adult
      population have evolved since the 1960s. RESULTS: Americans in general have been
      following the nutrition advice that the American Heart Association and the US
      Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services have been issuing for
      more than 40 y: Consumption of fats has dropped from 45% to 34% with a
      corresponding increase in carbohydrate consumption from 39% to 51% of total
      caloric intake. In addition, from 1971 to 2011, average weight and body mass
      index have increased dramatically, with the percentage of overweight or obese
      Americans increasing from 42% in 1971 to 66% in 2011. CONCLUSIONS: Since 1971,
      the shift in macronutrient share from fat to carbohydrate is primarily due to an
      increase in absolute consumption of carbohydrate as opposed to a change in total
      fat consumption. General adherence to recommendations to reduce fat consumption
      has coincided with a substantial increase in obesity.

PMID- 25837221
TI  - Duodenal-jejunal exclusion improves insulin resistance in type 2 diabetic rats by
      upregulating the hepatic insulin signaling pathway.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have shown duodenal-jejunal exclusion (DJE) results
      in the rapid resolution of type 2 diabetes; however, the underlying mechanism is
      unknown. This study aimed to measure the hepatic expression of insulin receptor
      substrate-2 (IRS-2) and glucose transporter-2 (GLUT-2) in type 2 diabetic rats
      post-DJE, and to investigate their roles in improved hepatic insulin resistance
      and glucose intolerance. METHODS: Type 2 diabetic Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were
      randomly divided into DJE operation (DO) and control (DC) groups. Normal SD rats
      were also divided into DJE operation and control groups. Fasting plasma glucose
      and insulin concentrations were measured, and the quantitative insulin
      sensitivity check index (QUICKI) and Homeostasis Model Assessment Insulin
      Resistance (HOMA-IR) were calculated. Eight weeks postoperation, the hepatic IRS
      2 and GLUT-2 protein and mRNA levels were measured using western blotting and
      reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, respectively. RESULTS: The
      fasting blood glucose in the DO group decreased from a preoperative level of
      20.21 +/- 2.14 mmol/L to 8.50 +/- 2.19 mmol/L (P < 0.05) 8 wk post-DJE. A change
      in the QUICKI revealed a dramatic increase, and HOMA-IR showed a significant
      decrease in the DO group (P < 0.05). Additionally, the IRS-2 and GLUT-2 protein
      and mRNA levels at 8 wk postoperation were significantly increased in the DO
      group compared with the DC group. CONCLUSIONS: DJE led to upregulated hepatic IRS
      2 and GLUT-2 expression in the hepatic insulin signaling pathway and improved
      insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetic rats.

PMID- 25837222
TI  - Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) enhances HSP, PGC-1alpha expressions and improves
      glucose tolerance in diet-induced obese rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of chia seed and
      chia oil on heat shock protein (HSP) and related parameters in diet-induced obese
      rats. METHODS: Animals were divided in six groups: control, high-fat and high
      fructose diet (HFF), and HFF with chia seed or chia oil in short (6-wk) and long
      (12-wk) treatments. Plasma indicators of glucose tolerance and liver damage,
      skeletal muscle expression of antioxidant enzymes, and proteins controlling
      oxidative energy metabolism were determined. The limit of significance was set at
      P < 0.05. RESULTS: The HFF diet induced glucose intolerance, insulin resistance,
      oxidative stress, and altered parameters related to obesity complications. The
      consumption of chia seed or chia oil did not reduce body weight gain or abdominal
      fat accumulation. However, chia seed and chia oil in both treatments improved
      glucose and insulin tolerance. Chia oil in both treatments induced expression of
      HSP70 and HSP25 in skeletal muscle. Short treatment with chia seed increased
      expression of HSP70, but not HSP25. Chia oil in both treatments restored
      superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase expression. Extended treatment
      with chia seed and short treatment with chia oil restored peroxisome proliferator
      activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1alpha (PGC-1alpha) expression. CONCLUSION:
      Chia oil restored the antioxidant system and induced the expression of a higher
      number of proteins than chia seed. The present study demonstrated new properties
      and molecular mechanisms associated with the beneficial effects of chia seed and
      chia oil consumption in diet-induced obese rats.

PMID- 25837223
TI  - Regulation of skeletal muscle protein synthetic and degradative signaling by
      alanyl-glutamine in piglets challenged with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of alanyl
      glutamine (Ala-Gln) on skeletal muscle protein synthetic and degradative
      signaling in piglets challenged with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS).
      METHODS: Piglets were arranged in a 2 * 2 factorial design and the main effects
      were LPS challenge (0 or 100 units) and diets (0.62% Ala or 0.5% Ala-Gln). After
      treatment with either Ala or Ala-Gln for 10 d, piglets were injected twice with
      either saline or LPS on days 11 and 15. RESULTS: During days 11 to 15
      (postchallenge), LPS challenge affected the growth performance of piglets. Ala
      Gln supplementation tended to alleviate the reduction of the average daily weight
      gain (P = 0.071) and the average daily feed intake (P = 0.087) of the LPS
      challenged piglets. LPS challenge increased the concentrations of cytokines in
      plasma (P < 0.05), however, Ala-Gln supplementation prevented the elevation of
      cortisol induced by LPS challenge (P < 0.05). Moreover, Ala-Gln supplementation
      increased the mRNA expressions of insulin-like growth factor-1 signaling and Akt
      (P < 0.05). Ala-Gln supplementation also increased the phosphorylation abundance
      of the mammalian target of rapamycin, eIF-4 E binding protein 1 and ribosomal
      protein S6 kinase 1 (P < 0.05). Additionally, Ala-Gln supplementation down
      regulated the mRNA abundances of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), muscle atrophy F
      box, and muscle RING finger 1, which are associated with protein degradation
      induced by LPS challenge. CONCLUSION: Ala-Gln supplementation had beneficial
      effects in improving protein synthesis signaling of skeletal muscle, and reversed
      the deleterious changes of signaling molecules in muscle atrophy mainly through
      down-regulation of Akt/FOXO and TLR4 signaling pathways induced by LPS challenge.

PMID- 25837224
TI  - Refeeding with glucose rather than fructose elicits greater hepatic inflammatory
      gene expression in mice.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We previously reported that refeeding after a 48-h fast, used as a
      study model of starvation and refeeding, promotes acute liver inflammatory gene
      expression, which is at least partly mediated by toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2). We
      also previously demonstrated that dietary carbohydrates play critical roles in
      this process. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of refeeding with
      different carbohydrate sources. METHODS: Mice were fasted for 46 h and then refed
      with 1.5% (w/w) agar gel containing 19% carbohydrate (sources: alpha-cornstarch,
      glucose, sucrose, or fructose). The liver expression of inflammatory and other
      specific genes was then sequentially measured for the first 14 h after refeeding
      initiation. RESULTS: Fasting for 46 h up-regulated the liver expression of
      endogenous ligands for TLRs (HspA5, Hsp90 aa1, and Hspd1). Refeeding with agar
      gel containing alpha-cornstarch or glucose increased the liver expression of
      Tlr2, proinflammatory genes (Cxcl2, Cxcl10, Cxcl1, Nfkb1, Nfkb2, RelB,
      Sectm1alpha, Il1beta), stress response genes (Atf3, Asns, Gadd45 a, Perk, Inhbe),
      detoxification genes (Hmox1, Gsta1, Abca8b), genes involved in tissue
      regeneration (Gdf15, Krt23, Myc, Tnfrsf12a, Mthfd2), and genes involved in tumor
      suppression (p53, Txnrd1, Btg2). This refeeding also moderately but significantly
      elevated the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase. These effects were
      attenuated in mice refed with agar gel containing sucrose or fructose.
      CONCLUSION: Dietary glucose, rather than fructose, plays a critical role in
      refeeding-induced acute liver inflammatory gene expression and moderate
      hepatocyte destruction. Further studies are recommended regarding the role of
      these effects in liver inflammation and, consequently, liver dysfunction.

PMID- 25837225
TI  - Parenteral glutamine supplementation in combination with enteral nutrition
      improves intestinal immunity in septic rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The gut-associated lymphoid tissue is continuously exposed to
      antigens in the gut lumen and becomes the first line of defense against enteric
      bacteria and associated toxin. The aim of this study was to investigate the
      effects of parenteral glutamine (GLN) supplementation in combination with enteral
      nutrition (EN) on intestinal mucosal immunity in septic rats by cecal ligation
      and puncture (CLP). METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into
      four groups: A sham CLP + EN + saline group (n = 10), a sham CLP + EN + GLN group
      (n = 10), a CLP + EN + saline group (n = 10), and a CLP + EN + GLN group (n =
      10). At 2 h after CLP or sham CLP, all rats in each of the four groups received
      an identical enteral nutrition solution as their base formula. Then, the rats in
      the sham CLP + EN + GLN group and CLP + EN + GLN group were given 0.35 g GLN/kg
      body weight daily for 7 d, all at the same time, via a tail vein injection;
      whereas those in the sham CLP + EN + saline group and CLP + EN + saline group
      were daily administered isovolumic sterile 0.9% saline for comparison. All rats
      in each of the four groups were given 290 kcal/kg body wt/d for 7 d. At the end
      of the seventh day after the nutritional program was finished, all rats were
      euthanized and the entire intestine was collected. Total Peyer's patches (PP)
      cell yield was counted by a hemocytometer. The percentage of PP lymphocyte
      subsets was analyzed by flow cytometry. The number of intestinal lamina propria
      IgA plasma cells was determined by the immunohistochemistry technique. The
      intestinal immunoglobulin A (IgA) levels were assessed by ELISA. PP apoptosis was
      evaluated by terminal deoxyuridine nick-end labeling. RESULTS: The results
      revealed total PP cell yield, the numbers of PP lymphocyte subsets, intestinal
      lamina propria IgA plasma cells, and intestinal IgA levels in the CLP + EN + GLN
      group were significantly increased when compared with the CLP + EN + saline group
      (P < 0.05). On the other hand, the number of TUNEL-stained cells within PPs in
      the CLP + EN + GLN group was markedly decreased as compared with the CLP + EN +
      saline group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that
      parenteral glutamine supplementation in combination with enteral nutrition may
      attenuate PP apoptosis, increase PP cell yield and intestinal lamina propria IgA
      plasma cells, and subsequently improve intestinal mucosal immunity. Clinically,
      these results suggest therapeutic efforts at improving intestinal immunity may
      contribute to the prevention and treatment of sepsis.

PMID- 25837226
TI  - Open letter to the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health
      and Human Services on the creation of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

PMID- 25837227
TI  - Correcting an imbalance.

PMID- 25837228
TI  - Posterior tibial translation resulting from the posterior drawer manoeuver in
      cadaveric knee specimens: a systematic review.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this systematic review of cadaver-based biomechanical
      studies is to accurately quantify how much posterior tibial translation occurs
      during posterior drawer testing in normal and PCL-deficient knees. METHODS: A
      search of the electronic databases, MEDLINE and EMBASE, was performed to identify
      relevant cadaveric studies that reported posterior tibial translation during
      posterior drawer testing. Studies were combined to determine overall increase in
      posterior tibial translation after PCL sectioning at 90 degrees  of flexion.
      Methodological quality of included studies was assessed by two reviewers using a
      novel clinometric tool. An intraclass correlation coefficient with 95 %
      confidence intervals (CIs) was used to determine agreement between reviewers on
      quality scores. RESULTS: Combined analysis of 244 cadaveric specimens from 23
      studies in which the PCL was sectioned yielded a mean net increase in tibial
      translation of 10.7 mm (95 % CI 9.68-11.8) with posterior drawer testing.
      Posterior tibial translation among cadaveric specimens with no disruption to any
      ligamentous structures was found to be 5.4 mm (95 % CI 4.3-6.6). CONCLUSIONS:
      Cadaveric data support previous study findings of >8 mm of posterior tibial
      translation on stress radiographs being indicative of isolated PCL insufficiency.
      Use of fixed reference points and strict control of tibial rotation are
      imperative to ensure accurate results in cadaveric studies and in the clinical
      setting when performing the posterior drawer examination. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III.

PMID- 25837230
TI  - Mass casualty disasters: who should run the show?
AB  - BACKGROUND: A clear command structure ensures quality patient care despite
      overwhelmed resources during a mass casualty incident (MCI). The American College
      of Surgeons has stated that surgeons should strive to occupy these leadership
      roles. OBJECTIVE: We sought to identify whether surgeons, as compared to
      emergency physicians, are sufficiently prepared to assume command in the event of
      a mass disaster. METHODS: We surveyed hospital-affiliated surgeons and emergency
      physicians to assess their knowledge of MCI response principles and to gauge
      opinions regarding who should be in charge during a disaster. RESULTS: One
      hundred and forty-nine (58%) surveys were completed, 78 by surgeons and 71 by
      emergency physicians. Both groups demonstrated a critical lack of knowledge
      regarding fundamental principles and key logistical components of preparedness
      and MCI response. Surgeons as a group were even less prepared than emergency
      physicians. Of those surgeons who had reviewed their hospital's disaster plan,
      half (50%) still did not know where to report for an MCI activation. Nonetheless,
      both groups believed they had sufficient training and both asserted they ought to
      occupy command positions during a disaster scenario. CONCLUSIONS: Errors in
      disaster triage have been known to increase mortality as well as the monetary
      cost of disaster response. Funding exists to improve hospital preparedness, but
      surgeons are lagging behind emergency physicians in taking advantage of these
      opportunities. Overall, it is imperative that physicians improve their
      understanding of the MCI response protocols they will be tasked to implement
      should disaster strike.

PMID- 25837231
TI  - American Academy of Emergency Medicine Position Statement: Safety of Droperidol
      Use in the Emergency Department.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Droperidol (Inapsine(r), Glaxosmithkline, Brent, UK) is a
      butyrophenone used in emergency medicine practice for a variety of uses. QT
      prolongation is a well-known adverse effect of this class of medications. Of
      importance to note, QT prolongation is noted with multiple medication classes,
      and droperidol increases QT interval in a dose-dependent fashion among
      susceptible individuals. The primary goal of this literature search was to
      determine the reported safety issues of droperidol in emergency department
      management of patients. METHODS: A MEDLINE literature search was conducted from
      January 1995 to January 2014 and limited to human studies written in English for
      articles with keywords of droperidol/Inapsine. Guideline statements and
      nonsystematic reviews were excluded. Studies identified then underwent a
      structured review from which results could be evaluated. RESULTS: There were 542
      papers on droperidol screened, and 35 appropriate articles were rigorously
      reviewed in detail and recommendations given. CONCLUSION: Droperidol is an
      effective and safe medication in the treatment of nausea, headache, and
      agitation. The literature search did not support mandating an electrocardiogram
      or telemetry monitoring for doses < 2.5 mg given either intramuscularly or
      intravenously. Intramuscular doses of up to 10 mg of droperidol seem to be as
      safe and as effective as other medications used for sedation of agitated
      patients.

PMID- 25837232
TI  - Novel Use of Glidescope Indirect Laryngoscopy for Insertion of a Minnesota Tube
      for Variceal Bleeding.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With improvements in endoscopic and interventional radiologic
      therapies, insertion of gastroesophageal balloon tamponade catheters, commonly
      known as Sengstaken-Blakemore or Minnesota tubes, is a rarely performed procedure
      for esophageal or gastric variceal bleeding. In small hospitals or freestanding
      emergency departments, endoscopic or interventional radiology (IR) therapies
      might not be available, so patients with exsanguinating variceal bleeding must be
      stabilized or temporized for transport to larger hospitals. Occasionally,
      tamponade devices are necessary as a rescue therapy for failed endoscopic or IR
      therapies or can be used as definitive therapy in select cases. In addition to
      being rarely performed, there are multiple technical complications associated
      with blind insertion of tamponade catheters. DISCUSSION: We describe a novel use
      of indirect laryngoscopy using a Glidescope for assisting in placement of a
      Minnesota tube in 4 patients with exsanguinating esophageal bleeding.
      CONCLUSIONS: Insertion of a Minnesota tube for bleeding esophageal or gastric
      varices is an uncommon, technically challenging procedure that can be lifesaving,
      and is something emergency physicians, intensivists, and gastroenterologists
      should be capable of performing. Addition of indirect laryngoscopy may help to
      improve rapid, safe, and successful placement of these devices.

PMID- 25837229
TI  - The human NAD metabolome: Functions, metabolism and compartmentalization.
AB  - The metabolism of NAD has emerged as a key regulator of cellular and organismal
      homeostasis. Being a major component of both bioenergetic and signaling pathways,
      the molecule is ideally suited to regulate metabolism and major cellular events.
      In humans, NAD is synthesized from vitamin B3 precursors, most prominently from
      nicotinamide, which is the degradation product of all NAD-dependent signaling
      reactions. The scope of NAD-mediated regulatory processes is wide including
      enzyme regulation, control of gene expression and health span, DNA repair, cell
      cycle regulation and calcium signaling. In these processes, nicotinamide is
      cleaved from NAD(+) and the remaining ADP-ribosyl moiety used to modify proteins
      (deacetylation by sirtuins or ADP-ribosylation) or to generate calcium-mobilizing
      agents such as cyclic ADP-ribose. This review will also emphasize the role of the
      intermediates in the NAD metabolome, their intra- and extra-cellular conversions
      and potential contributions to subcellular compartmentalization of NAD pools. 

PMID- 25837234
TI  - Cyprus in crisis: Recent changes in the pharmaceutical market and options for
      further reforms without sacrificing access to or quality of treatment.
AB  - The pharmaceutical market in Cyprus has been characterised by high volume and a
      steep increase in per-capita expenditure over the past decade. Most importantly,
      the market is fragmented due to the absence of universal health insurance, and
      the uninsured have to rely exclusively on the private market. The objective of
      this study is to examine the weaknesses of the Cypriot pharmaceutical market
      before the financial crisis; to discuss the measures recently introduced after
      recommendations by the Troika; and to propose interventions that can improve
      access to pharmaceuticals and efficiency without compromising health outcomes.
      Apart from the introduction of new pharmaceutical policies, we also recommend the
      swift implementation of universal health insurance. 

PMID- 25837233
TI  - Moral implications of obstetric technologies for pregnancy and motherhood.
AB  - Drawing on sociological and anthropological studies, the aim of this article is
      to reconstruct how obstetric technologies contribute to a moral conception of
      pregnancy and motherhood, and to evaluate that conception from a normative point
      of view. Obstetrics and midwifery, so the assumption, are value-laden, value
      producing and value-reproducing practices, values that shape the social
      perception of what it means to be a "good" pregnant woman and to be a "good"
      (future) mother. Activities in the medical field of reproduction contribute to
      "kinning", that is the making of particular social relationships marked by
      closeness and special moral obligations. Three technologies, which belong to
      standard procedures in prenatal care in postmodern societies, are presently
      investigated: (1) informed consent in prenatal care, (2) obstetric sonogram, and
      (3) birth plan. Their widespread application is supposed to serve the moral (and
      legal) goal of effecting patient autonomy (and patient right). A reconstruction
      of the actual moral implications of these technologies, however, reveals that
      this goal is missed in multiple ways. Informed consent situations are marked by
      involuntariness and blindness to social dimensions of decision-making; obstetric
      sonograms construct moral subjectivity and agency in a way that attribute
      inconsistent and unreasonable moral responsibilities to the pregnant woman; and
      birth plans obscure the need for a healthcare environment that reflects a shared
      decision-making model, rather than a rational-choice-framework. 

PMID- 25837235
TI  - The paradox of non-evidence based, publicly funded complementary alternative
      medicine in the English National Health Service: An explanation.
AB  - Despite the unproven effectiveness of many practices that are under the umbrella
      term 'complementary alternative medicine' (CAM), there is provision of CAM within
      the English National Health Service (NHS). Moreover, although the National
      Institute for Health and Care Excellence was established to promote
      scientifically validated medicine in the NHS, the paradox of publicly funded, non
      evidence based CAM can be explained as linked with government policy of patient
      choice and specifically patient treatment choice. Patient choice is useful in the
      political and policy discourse as it is open to different interpretations and can
      be justified by policy-makers who rely on the traditional NHS values of equity
      and universality. Treatment choice finds expression in the policy of personalised
      healthcare linked with patient responsibilisation which finds resonance in the
      emphasis CAM places on self-care and self-management. More importantly, however,
      policy-makers also use patient choice and treatment choice as a policy initiative
      with the objective of encouraging destabilisation of the entrenched healthcare
      institutions and practices considered resistant to change. This political
      strategy of system reform has the unintended, paradoxical consequence of allowing
      for the emergence of non-evidence based, publicly funded CAM in the NHS. The
      political and policy discourse of patient choice thus trumps evidence based
      medicine, with patients that demand access to CAM becoming the unwitting
      beneficiaries. 

PMID- 25837236
TI  - Intraoperative spinal cord monitoring using combined motor and sensory evoked
      potentials recorded from the spinal cord during surgery for intramedullary spinal
      cord tumor.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The risk of postoperative neurological impairment mandates the use of
      intraoperative spinal cord monitoring (IOM) during intramedullary spinal cord
      tumor (IMSCT) surgery. We have used spinal cord evoked potential after electrical
      stimulation of the cord(Sp-SCEP) to monitor the sensory tract, and SCEP after
      electrical stimulation to the brain (Br-SCEP) to monitor the motor tract. Both Sp
      SCEP and Br-SCEP are stable under general anesthesia. We assessed the clinical
      utility of these multimodal spinal cord monitoring methods in a retrospective
      study of a cohort of patients undergoing IMSCT surgery. METHODS: Thirteen
      patients with IMSCTs underwent tumor resection using Sp-SCEP and/or Br-SCEP.
      RESULTS: Four patients underwent surgery using only Sp-SCEP monitoring, resulting
      in two false negatives. Nine patients underwent surgery monitored by Br-SCEP and
      Sp-SCEP. In three of the nine cases, Br-SCEP amplitude fell by 50% from control
      levels, despite there being no change in Sp-SCEP. In one of the nine cases, Sp
      SCEP amplitude fell to 50% of control levels, but Br-SCEP amplitude was stable.
      CONCLUSIONS: During IMSCT surgery, localized regions of the cord may be damaged.
      Multimodal monitoring should be used to monitor.Combining Sp-SCEP and Br-SCEP is
      a useful means of monitoring the sensory and motor tracts.

PMID- 25837237
TI  - Brain diffusion changes in unilateral carotid artery stenosis with non-shunt
      endarterectomy: Correlation with white matter lesions.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Carotid stenosis is associated with hemodynamic cerebral ischemia.
      Diffusion-weighted MR imaging allows for the assessment of changes related to
      alterations in tissue integrity. The aim of this study was to investigate (a)
      whether white matter lesions (WML) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)
      values differ between ipsilateral and contralateral hemispheres, (b) whether ADC
      values are related to WMLs and common vascular risk factors, and (c) whether ADC
      values differ after carotid endarterectomy (CEA) without a shunt in patients with
      unilateral internal carotid artery stenosis (ICAS). METHODS: Twenty-five patients
      (16 men, 9 women; mean age of 68 years) with unilateral ICAS (>= 70% carotid
      stenosis) were assessed with brain MRI before and after CEA, prospectively. Two
      experienced radiologists scored the WMLs. Bilateral ADC values in anterior and
      posterior periventricular WM, occipital WM, and thalamus were evaluated on
      preoperative and postoperative MRI. Differences in ADC values and WML scores
      between the two hemispheres were assessed and associations between ADC values,
      WML scores, and explanatory variables (e.g., age, sex, vascular risk factors)
      were analyzed. RESULTS: WMLs were significantly greater and ADC values were
      elevated in the ipsilateral cerebral WM. After CEA, ADC values rapidly decreased
      but remained higher than within the contralateral hemisphere. Ipsilateral
      hemispheric ADC values were associated with basal ganglia WMLs. No association
      between ADC values and vascular risk factors was found. CONCLUSION: ICAS is
      associated with increased diffusion in normal-appearing WM in comparison to more
      prominent chronic ischemic lesions. CEA has a partial effect on diffusion. These
      cerebral changes may be related to chronic low-grade ischemic damage that is
      induced by ICAS.

PMID- 25837238
TI  - Abnormally high levels of anti-collagen type IV IgG antibodies in the serum of
      patients with a clinically isolated syndrome correlate with an increased risk of
      conversion to MS.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate anti-collagen-type-IV serum antibodies (ACIVAbs) levels
      in patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), and to determine their
      predictive value for conversion into multiple sclerosis (MS). MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: Serum levels of IgM and IgG ACIVAbs in 40 untreated patients with CIS
      (13 male, mean age 34.85+/-11.4 years, range 16-58 years) were compared to those
      of 27 gender- and age-matched healthy controls. ACIVAbs were quantified using
      ELISA. Patients were followed for 5 years by clinical examination and MRI
      studies. RESULTS: Thirty two patients (80%) converted to MS (converted CIS, C-CIS
      group) while the rest 8 (20%) did not (non-converted CIS, NC-CIS). The C-CIS
      patients had significantly higher levels of IgG ACIVAb compared to NC-CIS while
      the IgM levels did not differ between C-CIS and NC-CIS. Conversion to MS occurred
      in 66% of patients with IgG ACIVAbs levels exceeding the 95th percentile found in
      controls. IgG ACIVAbs levels correlated positively with the serum levels of
      matrix metalloproteinases type 9 (r = 0.37; p = 0.003) and inversely with those
      of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases type 1 (r = -0.43; p = 0.0008).
      CONCLUSION: High serum levels of IgG ACIVAbs in patients with CIS correlate
      strongly with increased risk of conversion to MS.

PMID- 25837239
TI  - Surgery of brain aneurysm in a BrainSuite((r)) theater: A review of 105 cases.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The BrainSuite((r)) is a highly integrated operating theater
      designed mainly for brain tumor surgery. The issues concerning its routine use in
      vascular neurosurgery have not been discussed in literature to date. We report
      our experience of surgical treatment of cerebral aneurysms in the
      BrainSuite((r)), with a view to evaluating safety, feasibility, advantages,
      disadvantages, and contraindications. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospectively, we
      reviewed all the patients affected by ruptured and unruptured aneurysms that
      underwent craniotomy with clipping between January 2007 and May 2013 and a
      subsequent minimum 12-month follow up. Intraoperative DWI, MRA, and volumetric
      MRI were always performed in order to evaluate vessel patency and early ischemic
      lesions. The usefulness of navigation was also evaluated in terms of loss/gain of
      time and its effectiveness as a surgical aid to both the localization of small
      distal aneurysms and the preoperative planning of the clipping strategies to
      adopt. RESULTS: A total of 105 patients were included in this report. Of these,
      39 and 66 were affected, respectively, by ruptured and unruptured aneurysms. The
      mean age was 56.1 and the male-to-female ratio was 1:2.9. The aneurysms affected,
      with progressively descending incidence, the MCA, ACoA, ICA bifurcation, PComA,
      A2, A1-A2, and C6 segment of the ICA in 40 (38.1%), 23 (22%), 15 (14.3%), 7
      (6.6%), 7 (6.6%), 7 (6.6%), and 6 (5.8%) cases, respectively. The aneurysms were
      clipped and completely excluded from blood circulation in all cases and no
      difficulty was encountered in positioning and fixing the patients' heads, despite
      the particular head holder of the BrainSuite((r)). MRI created no interference or
      problems in cases of carotid exposure at the neck, while harvesting of the lower
      limb saphenous vein was not feasible due to the vicinity of the operating field
      to the magnet. Intraoperative angiography was never performed since an angiogram
      is not compatible with the BrainSuite. Intraoperative DWI, MRA, and volumetric
      MRI proved to be effective tools for post-clipping evaluation of the patency of
      the parent vessels and their collateral branches as well as of aneurismal
      occlusion. This was also checked doubly by availing also of intraoperative micro
      Doppler ultrasonography. Intraoperative DWI also permitted us to evaluate the
      presence of initial ischemic lesions as possible consequences of both direct
      arterial occlusion and early vasospasm related to surgical manipulation.
      Intraoperative navigation of brain aneurysm with 3D-model reconstructions may be
      of some use to younger surgeons when planning the clipping strategies and
      localizing the aneurysm particularly in cases, respectively, of large-complex
      aneurysms where the sac involves collateral branches and small aneurisms
      affecting both distal ACA and MCA aneurysms. The outcomes for patients, evaluated
      according to the GOS (Glasgow outcome score), associated significantly with the
      preoperative HH (Hunt and Hess) scale grading. Patients with high HH scores (IV
      and V) in particular showed the highest incidence of unfavorable outcome (GOS=1
      or 2) CONCLUSIONS: The BrainSuite((r)) theater is completely suited to brain
      aneurysm surgery but only in cases where a combined endovascular approach may be
      required. It provides some advantages and few limitations compared to a normally
      equipped neurosurgical operating theater; our experience shows that the
      technological advances of this complex operating room are useful though not
      essential in aneurysm surgery.

PMID- 25837240
TI  - Driving among high school students - United States, 2013.
AB  - During 2004-2013, the number of passenger vehicle drivers aged 16-19 years
      involved in fatal crashes in the United States declined by 55% from 5,724 to
      2,568.* In addition to graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs and safer
      vehicles,? other possible contributors to the decline include adolescents waiting
      longer to get their driver licenses and driving less. The crash risk for drivers
      of any age is highest during the first months of independent driving, and this
      risk is highest for the youngest teenage drivers. To estimate the percentage of
      high school students aged >=16 years who have driven during the past 30 days, by
      age, race/ethnicity, and location, CDC analyzed 2013 data from the national Youth
      Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and YRBS data collected by 42 states and 21 large
      urban school districts. Nationwide, 76.3% of high school students aged >=16 years
      reported having driven during the 30 days before the survey; 83.2% of white
      students had driven compared with <70% of black and Hispanic students. Across 42
      states, the percentage of students who drove ranged from 53.8% to 90.2%. Driving
      prevalence was higher in the midwestern and mountain states. Across the 21 large
      urban school districts, the percentage of drivers varied more than twofold from
      30.2% to 76.0%. This report provides the most detailed evidence to date that the
      percentage of students who drive varies substantially depending on where they
      live. Such information will be vital as states and communities consider potential
      ways to improve safety for older teenage novice drivers and plan for safe,
      affordable transportation options for those who do not drive. 

PMID- 25837241
TI  - Importation and domestic transmission of Shigella sonnei resistant to
      ciprofloxacin - United States, May 2014-February 2015.
AB  - In December 2014, PulseNet, the national molecular subtyping network for
      foodborne disease, detected a multistate cluster of Shigella sonnei infections
      with an uncommon pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) pattern. CDC's National
      Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) laboratory determined that
      isolates from this cluster were resistant to ciprofloxacin, the antimicrobial
      medication recommended to treat adults with shigellosis. To understand the scope
      of the outbreak and to try to identify its source, CDC and state and local health
      departments conducted epidemiologic and laboratory investigations. During May
      2014-February 2015, PulseNet identified 157 cases in 32 states and Puerto Rico;
      approximately half were associated with international travel. Nine of the cases
      identified by PulseNet, and another 86 cases without PFGE data, were part of a
      related outbreak of ciprofloxacin-resistant shigellosis in San Francisco,
      California. Of 126 total isolates with antimicrobial susceptibility information,
      109 (87%) were nonsusceptible to ciprofloxacin (108 were resistant, and one had
      intermediate susceptibility). Travelers need to be aware of the risks of
      acquiring multidrug-resistant pathogens, carefully wash their hands, and adhere
      to food and water precautions during international travel. Clinicians should
      request stool cultures and antimicrobial susceptibilities when they suspect
      shigellosis, and counsel shigellosis patients to follow meticulous hygiene
      regimens while ill.

PMID- 25837242
TI  - Ebola virus disease in a humanitarian aid worker - New York City, October 2014.
AB  - In late October 2014, Ebola virus disease (Ebola) was diagnosed in a humanitarian
      aid worker who recently returned from West Africa to New York City (NYC). The NYC
      Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) actively monitored three close
      contacts of the patient and 114 health care personnel. No secondary cases of
      Ebola were detected. In collaboration with local and state partners, DOHMH had
      developed protocols to respond to such an event beginning in July 2014. These
      protocols included safely transporting a person at the first report of symptoms
      to a local hospital prepared to treat a patient with Ebola, laboratory testing
      for Ebola, and monitoring of contacts. In response to this single case of Ebola,
      initial health care worker active monitoring protocols needed modification to
      improve clarity about what types of exposure should be monitored. The response
      costs were high in both human resources and money: DOHMH alone spent $4.3
      million. However, preparedness activities that include planning and practice in
      effectively monitoring the health of workers involved in Ebola patient care can
      help prevent transmission of Ebola. 

PMID- 25837243
TI  - CDC Grand Rounds: the future of cancer screening.
AB  - Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, with 52% of
      deaths caused by cancers of the lung and bronchus, female breast, uterine cervix,
      colon and rectum, oral cavity and pharynx, prostate, and skin (melanoma). In the
      1930s, uterine cancer, including cancer of the uterine cervix, was the leading
      cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States. With the advent of the
      Papanicolaou (Pap) test in the 1950s to detect cellular level changes in the
      cervix, cervical cancer death rates declined significantly. Since this first
      cancer screening test, others have been developed that detect the presence of
      cancer through imaging procedures (e.g., mammography, endoscopy, and computed
      tomography) and laboratory tests (e.g., fecal occult blood tests). 

PMID- 25837244
TI  - Update on progress in electronic reporting of laboratory results to public health
      agencies - United States, 2014.
AB  - Since 2010, CDC has provided resources from the Prevention and Public Health Fund
      of the Affordable Care Act to 57 state, local, and territorial health departments
      through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases
      cooperative agreement to assist with implementation of electronic laboratory
      reporting (ELR)* from clinical and public health laboratories to public health
      agencies. To update information from a previous report about the progress in
      implementing ELR in the United States, CDC examined regular communications
      between the agency and the 57 health departments during 2012-2014. The results
      indicated that, as of July 2014, 67% of the approximately 20 million laboratory
      reports received annually for notifiable conditions were received electronically,
      compared with 62% in July 2013. These electronic reports were received by 55 of
      the 57 jurisdictions and came from 3,269 (up from nearly 2,900 in July 2013) of
      approximately 10,600 reporting laboratories. The proportion of laboratory reports
      received electronically varied by jurisdiction. In 2014, compared with 2013, the
      number of jurisdictions receiving >75% of laboratory reports electronically was
      higher (21 versus 14), and the number of jurisdictions receiving <25% of reports
      electronically was lower (seven versus nine). National implementation of ELR
      continues to increase and appears it might reach 80% of total laboratory report
      volume by 2016. 

PMID- 25837245
TI  - Acute Mountain Sickness, Hypoxia, Hypobaria and Exercise Duration each Affect
      Heart Rate.
AB  - In this study, we quantified the changes in post-exercise resting heart rate
      (HRrst) associated with acute mountain sickness (AMS), and compared the effects
      of hypobaric hypoxia (HH) and normobaric hypoxia (NH) on HRrst. We also examined
      the modulating roles of exercise duration and exposure time on HRrst. Each
      subject participated in 2 of 6 conditions: normobaric normoxia (NN), NH, or HH (4
      400 m altitude equivalent) combined with either 10 or 60 min of moderate cycling
      at the beginning of an 8-h exposure. AMS was associated with a 2 bpm higher HRrst
      than when not sick, after taking into account the ambient environment, exercise
      duration, and SpO2. In addition, HRrst was elevated in both NH and HH compared to
      NN with HRrst being 50% higher in HH than in NH. Participating in long duration
      exercise led to elevated resting HRs (0.8-1.4 bpm higher) compared with short
      exercise, while short exercise caused a progressive increase in HRrst over the
      exposure period in both NH and HH (0.77-1.2 bpm/h of exposure). This data
      suggests that AMS, NH, HH, exercise duration, time of exposure, and SpO2 have
      independent effects on HRrst. It further suggests that hypobaria exerts its own
      effect on HRrst in hypoxia. Thus NH and HH may not be interchangeable
      environments. 

PMID- 25837247
TI  - Does Vibration Warm-up Enhance Kinetic and Temporal Sprint Parameters?
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of vibration warm-up to
      enhance sprint performance. 12 males involved in representative team sports
      performed 4 warm-up conditions in a randomised order performed at least 24 h
      apart; VbX warm-up (VbX-WU); Neural activation warm-up (Neu-WU); Dynamic warm-up
      (Dyn-WU) and Control (No VbX). Participants completed 5 m sprint at 30 s, 2:30
      min and 5 min post warm-up where sprint time, kinetics, and temporal components
      were recorded. There was no significant (p>0.05) main effect or interaction
      effect between the split sprint times of 1 m, 2.5 m, and 5 m. There was a
      condition effect where vertical mean force was significantly higher (p<0.05) in
      Dyn-WU and Control compared to Neu-WU. No other significant (p>0.05) main and
      interaction effects in sprint kinetic and temporal parameters existed. Overall,
      all 4 warm-up conditions produced comparable results for sprint performance, and
      there was no detrimental effect on short-duration sprint performance using VbX
      WU. Therefore, VbX could be useful for adding variety to the training warm-up or
      be included into the main warm-up routine as a supplementary modality. 

PMID- 25837246
TI  - Effects of Swimming on the Inflammatory and Redox Response in a Model of Allergic
      Asthma.
AB  - In this study we hypothesized that swimming during sensitization phase could
      result in a preventive effect in mice with allergic asthma. Swiss mice were
      divided into 4 groups: Control and Swimming (non-sensitized), OVA and
      OVA+Swimming (sensitized). The allergic inflammation was induced by 2
      intraperitoneal injections and 4 aerosol challenges using ovalbumin. Swimming
      sessions were performed at high intensity over 3 weeks. 48 h after the last
      challenge mice were euthanized. Swimming decreased OVA-increased total IgE, IL-1,
      IL-4, IL-5 and IL-6 levels, as well as the number of total cells, lymphocytes and
      eosinophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, (p<0.05). Simultaneously, swimming
      also increased IL-10 and glutathione levels in the Swimming and OVA+Swimming
      groups (p<0.05). The levels of glutathione peroxidase and catalase were increased
      only in the Swimming group when compared to all groups (p<0.05). 21 days of
      swimming resulted in an attenuation of pulmonary allergic inflammation followed
      by an increase of glutathione levels in the OVA group. Swimming only increased
      the levels of glutathione peroxidase and catalase in non-sensitized mice
      (p<0.05). These data suggest that the pulmonary anti-inflammatory effects
      produced by 3 weeks of high-intensity swimming in this model of OVA-induced
      asthma may be, at least partly, modulated by reduced oxidative stress and
      increased IL-10 production.

PMID- 25837249
TI  - WITHDRAWN: WSTF Phosphorylation Specifically Links H3K9ac with H4K16ac through
      PCAF/WSTF/MOF Complex.
AB  - This article has been withdrawn by the authors.

PMID- 25837248
TI  - Bordetella pertussis Lipid A Recognition by Toll-like Receptor 4 and MD-2 Is
      Dependent on Distinct Charged and Uncharged Interfaces.
AB  - Lipid A in LPS activates innate immunity through the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)
      MD-2 complex on host cells. Variation in lipid A has significant consequences for
      TLR4 activation and thus may be a means by which Gram-negative bacteria modulate
      host immunity. However, although even minor changes in lipid A structure have
      been shown to affect downstream immune responses, the mechanism by which the TLR4
      MD-2 receptor complex recognizes these changes is not well understood. We
      previously showed that strain BP338 of the human pathogen Bordetella pertussis,
      the causative agent of whooping cough, modifies its lipid A by the addition of
      glucosamine moieties that promote TLR4 activation in human, but not mouse,
      macrophages. Using site-directed mutagenesis and an NFkappaB reporter assay
      screen, we have identified several charged amino acid residues in TLR4 and MD-2
      that are important for these species-specific responses; some of these are novel
      for responses to penta-acyl B. pertussis LPS, and their mutation does not affect
      the response to hexa-acylated Escherichia coli LPS or tetra-acylated lipid IVA.
      We additionally show evidence that suggests that recognition of penta-acylated B.
      pertussis lipid A is dependent on uncharged amino acids in TLR4 and MD-2 and that
      this is true for both human and mouse TLR4-MD-2 receptors. Taken together, we
      have demonstrated that the TLR4-MD-2 receptor complex recognizes variation in
      lipid A molecules using multiple sites for receptor-ligand interaction and
      propose that host-specific immunity to a particular Gram-negative bacterium is,
      at least in part, mediated by very subtle tuning of one of the earliest
      interactions at the host-pathogen interface. 

PMID- 25837250
TI  - Soluble Urokinase Receptor Is Released Selectively by Glioblastoma Cells That
      Express Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Variant III and Promotes Tumor Cell
      Migration and Invasion.
AB  - Genomic heterogeneity is characteristic of glioblastoma (GBM). In many GBMs, the
      EGF receptor gene (EGFR) is amplified and may be truncated to generate a
      constitutively active form of the receptor called EGFRvIII. EGFR gene
      amplification and EGFRvIII are associated with GBM progression, even when only a
      small fraction of the tumor cells express EGFRvIII. In this study, we show that
      EGFRvIII-positive GBM cells express significantly increased levels of cellular
      urokinase receptor (uPAR) and release increased amounts of soluble uPAR (suPAR).
      When mice were xenografted with human EGFRvIII-expressing GBM cells, tumor
      derived suPAR was detected in the plasma, and the level was significantly
      increased compared with that detected in plasma samples from control mice
      xenografted with EGFRvIII-negative GBM cells. suPAR also was increased in plasma
      from patients with EGFRvIII-positive GBMs. Purified suPAR was biologically active
      when added to cultures of EGFRvIII-negative GBM cells, activating cell signaling
      and promoting cell migration and invasion. suPAR did not significantly stimulate
      cell signaling or migration of EGFRvIII-positive cells, probably because cell
      signaling was already substantially activated in these cells. The activities of
      suPAR were replicated by conditioned medium (CM) from EGFRvIII-positive GBM
      cells. When the CM was preincubated with uPAR-neutralizing antibody or when uPAR
      gene expression was silenced in cells used to prepare CM, the activity of the CM
      was significantly attenuated. These results suggest that suPAR may function as an
      important paracrine signaling factor in EGFRvIII-positive GBMs, inducing an
      aggressive phenotype in tumor cells that are EGFRvIII-negative. 

PMID- 25837251
TI  - "Velcro" engineering of high affinity CD47 ectodomain as signal regulatory
      protein alpha (SIRPalpha) antagonists that enhance antibody-dependent cellular
      phagocytosis.
AB  - CD47 is a cell surface protein that transmits an anti-phagocytic signal, known as
      the "don't-eat-me" signal, to macrophages upon engaging its receptor signal
      regulatory protein alpha (SIRPalpha). Molecules that antagonize the CD47
      SIRPalpha interaction by binding to CD47, such as anti-CD47 antibodies and the
      engineered SIRPalpha variant CV1, have been shown to facilitate macrophage
      mediated anti-tumor responses. However, these strategies targeting CD47 are
      handicapped by large antigen sinks in vivo and indiscriminate cell binding due to
      ubiquitous expression of CD47. These factors reduce bioavailability and increase
      the risk of toxicity. Here, we present an alternative strategy to antagonize the
      CD47-SIRPalpha pathway by engineering high affinity CD47 variants that target
      SIRPalpha, which has restricted tissue expression. CD47 proved to be refractive
      to conventional affinity maturation techniques targeting its binding interface
      with SIRPalpha. Therefore, we developed a novel engineering approach, whereby we
      augmented the existing contact interface via N-terminal peptide extension, coined
      "Velcro" engineering. The high affinity variant (Velcro-CD47) bound to the two
      most prominent human SIRPalpha alleles with greatly increased affinity relative
      to wild-type CD47 and potently antagonized CD47 binding to SIRPalpha on human
      macrophages. Velcro-CD47 synergizes with tumor-specific monoclonal antibodies to
      enhance macrophage phagocytosis of tumor cells in vitro, with similar potency as
      CV1. Finally, Velcro-CD47 interacts specifically with a subset of myeloid-derived
      cells in human blood, whereas CV1 binds all myeloid, lymphoid, and erythroid
      populations interrogated. This is consistent with the restricted expression of
      SIRPalpha compared with CD47. Herein, we have demonstrated that "Velcro"
      engineering is a powerful protein-engineering tool with potential applications to
      other systems and that Velcro-CD47 could be an alternative adjuvant to CD47
      targeting agents for cancer immunotherapy. 

PMID- 25837252
TI  - The substrate-free and -bound crystal structures of the duplicated taurocyamine
      kinase from the human parasite Schistosoma mansoni.
AB  - The taurocyamine kinase from the blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni (SmTK) belongs
      to the phosphagen kinase (PK) family and catalyzes the reversible Mg(2+)
      dependent transfer of a phosphoryl group between ATP and taurocyamine. SmTK is
      derived from gene duplication, as are all known trematode TKs. Our
      crystallographic study of SmTK reveals the first atomic structure of both a TK
      and a PK with a bilobal structure. The two unliganded lobes present a canonical
      open conformation and interact via their respective C- and N-terminal domains at
      a helix-mediated interface. This spatial arrangement differs from that observed
      in true dimeric PKs, in which both N-terminal domains make contact. Our
      structures of SmTK complexed with taurocyamine or l-arginine compounds explain
      the mechanism by which an arginine residue of the phosphagen specificity loop is
      crucial for substrate specificity. An SmTK crystal was soaked with the dead end
      transition state analog (TSA) components taurocyamine-NO3 (2-)-MgADP. One SmTK
      monomer was observed with two bound TSAs and an asymmetric conformation, with the
      first lobe semiclosed and the second closed. However, isothermal titration
      calorimetry and enzyme kinetics experiments showed that the two lobes function
      independently. A small angle x-ray scattering model of SmTK-TSA in solution with
      two closed active sites was generated. 

PMID- 25837253
TI  - Mutation in Osteoactivin Promotes Receptor Activator of NFkappaB Ligand (RANKL)
      mediated Osteoclast Differentiation and Survival but Inhibits Osteoclast
      Function.
AB  - We previously reported on the importance of osteoactivin (OA/Gpnmb) in
      osteogenesis. In this study, we examined the role of OA in osteoclastogenesis,
      using mice with a nonsense mutation in the Gpnmb gene (D2J) and wild-type
      controls (D2J/Gpnmb(+)). In these D2J mice, micro-computed tomography and
      histomorphometric analyses revealed increased cortical thickness, whereas total
      porosity and eroded surface were significantly reduced in D2J mice compared with
      wild-type controls, and these results were corroborated by lower serum levels of
      CTX-1. Contrary to these observations and counterintuitively, temporal gene
      expression analyses supported up-regulated osteoclastogenesis in D2J mice and
      increased osteoclast differentiation rates ex vivo, marked by increased number
      and size. The finding that MAPK was activated in early differentiating and mature
      D2J osteoclasts and that survival of D2J osteoclasts was enhanced and mediated by
      activation of the AKT-GSK3beta pathway supports this observation. Furthermore,
      this was abrogated by the addition of recombinant OA to cultures, which restored
      osteoclastogenesis to wild-type levels. Moreover, mix and match co-cultures
      demonstrated an induction of osteoclastogenesis in D2J osteoblasts co-cultured
      with osteoclasts of D2J or wild-type. Last, in functional osteo-assays, we show
      that bone resorption activity of D2J osteoclasts is dramatically reduced, and
      these osteoclasts present an abnormal ruffled border over the bone surface.
      Collectively, these data support a model whereby OA/Gpnmb acts as a negative
      regulator of osteoclast differentiation and survival but not function by
      inhibiting the ERK/AKT signaling pathways. 

PMID- 25837254
TI  - Integrin engagement by the helical RGD motif of the Helicobacter pylori CagL
      protein is regulated by pH-induced displacement of a neighboring helix.
AB  - Arginine-aspartate-glycine (RGD) motifs are recognized by integrins to bridge
      cells to one another and the extracellular matrix. RGD motifs typically reside in
      exposed loop conformations. X-ray crystal structures of the Helicobacter pylori
      protein CagL revealed that RGD motifs can also exist in helical regions of
      proteins. Interactions between CagL and host gastric epithelial cell via
      integrins are required for the translocation of the bacterial oncoprotein CagA.
      Here, we have investigated the molecular basis of the CagL-host cell interactions
      using structural, biophysical, and functional analyses. We solved an x-ray
      crystal structure of CagL that revealed conformational changes induced by low pH
      not present in previous structures. Using analytical ultracentrifugation, we
      found that pH-induced conformational changes in CagL occur in solution and not
      just in the crystalline environment. By designing numerous CagL mutants based on
      all available crystal structures, we probed the functional roles of CagL
      conformational changes on cell surface integrin engagement. Together, our data
      indicate that the helical RGD motif in CagL is buried by a neighboring helix at
      low pH to inhibit CagL binding to integrin, whereas at neutral pH the neighboring
      helix is displaced to allow integrin access to the CagL RGD motif. This novel
      molecular mechanism of regulating integrin-RGD motif interactions by changes in
      the chemical environment provides new insight to H. pylori-mediated oncogenesis. 

PMID- 25837255
TI  - Spatial Control of Epsin-induced Clathrin Assembly by Membrane Curvature.
AB  - Epsins belong to the family of highly conserved clathrin-associated sorting
      proteins that are indispensable for clathrin-mediated endocytosis, but their
      precise functions remain unclear. We have developed an assay system of budded
      supported membrane tubes displaying planar and highly curved membrane surfaces to
      analyze intrinsic membrane curvature preference shown by clathrin-associated
      sorting proteins. Using real-time fluorescence microscopy, we find that epsin
      preferentially partitions to and assembles clathrin on highly curved membrane
      surfaces. Sorting of epsin to regions of high curvature strictly depends on
      binding to phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate. Fluorescently labeled clathrins
      rapidly assemble as foci, which in turn cluster epsin, while maintaining tube
      integrity. Clathrin foci grow in intensity with a typical time constant of ~75 s,
      similar to the time scales for coated pit formation seen in cells. Epsin
      therefore effectively senses membrane curvature to spatially control clathrin
      assembly. Our results highlight the potential role of membrane curvature in
      orchestrating the myriad molecular interactions necessary for the success of
      clathrin-mediated membrane budding. 

PMID- 25837256
TI  - Sodium content in packaged foods by census division in the United States, 2009.
AB  - Excess sodium intake correlates positively with high blood pressure. Blood
      pressure varies by region, but whether sodium content of foods sold varies across
      regions is unknown. We combined nutrition and sales data from 2009 to assess the
      regional variation of sodium in packaged food products sold in 3 of the 9 US
      census divisions. Although sodium density and concentration differed little by
      region, fewer than half of selected food products met Food and Drug
      Administration sodium-per-serving conditions for labeling as "healthy." Regional
      differences in hypertension were not reflected in differences in the sodium
      content of packaged foods from grocery stores.

PMID- 25837257
TI  - A comparison of cardiometabolic risk factors in households in rural Uganda with
      and without a resident with type 2 diabetes, 2012-2013.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Few studies have examined the health consequences of living in a
      household with a person who has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2D). We
      assessed the association of sharing a household with a person with diagnosed T2D
      and risk factors for cardio-metabolic diseases in Uganda, a low-income country.
      METHODS: Ninety households with 437 residents in southwestern Uganda were studied
      from December 2012 through March 2013. Forty-five of the households had a member
      with diagnosed T2D (hereafter "diabetic household"), and 45 households had no
      member with diagnosed T2D (hereafter "nondiabetic household"). We compared
      glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), hypertension,
      anthropometry, aerobic capacity, physical activity, nutrition, smoking, and
      diabetes-related knowledge of people without diagnosed T2D living in diabetic and
      nondiabetic households. RESULTS: People living in diabetic households had a
      significantly higher level of diabetes-related knowledge, lower levels of FPG
      (5.6 mmol/L vs 6.0 mmol/L), and fewer smoked (1.3% vs 12.9%) than residents of
      nondiabetic households. HbA1c was significantly lower in people aged 30 years or
      younger (5.2% vs 5.4%) and in males (5.2% vs 5.4%) living in diabetic households
      compared to residents of nondiabetic households. No differences were found
      between the 2 types of households in overweight and obesity, upper-arm fat area,
      intake of staple foods or cooking oil, or physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: Sharing
      a household with a person with T2D may have unexpected benefits on the risk
      factor profile for cardio-metabolic diseases, probably because of improved health
      behaviors and a closer connection with the health care system. Thus, future
      studies should consider the household for interventions targeting primary and
      secondary prevention of T2D.

PMID- 25837258
TI  - Identifying postpartum intervention approaches to reduce cardiometabolic risk
      among American Indian women with prior gestational diabetes, Oklahoma, 2012-2013.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Innovative approaches are needed to reduce cardiometabolic risk
      among American Indian women with a history of gestational diabetes. We assessed
      beliefs of Oklahoma American Indian women about preventing type 2 diabetes and
      cardiovascular disease after having gestational diabetes. We also assessed
      barriers and facilitators to healthy lifestyle changes postpartum and
      intervention approaches that facilitate participation in a postpartum lifestyle
      program. METHODS: In partnership with a tribal health system, we conducted a
      mixed-method study with American Indian women aged 19 to 45 years who had prior
      gestational diabetes, using questionnaires, focus groups, and individual
      interviews. Questionnaires were used to identify women's cardiometabolic risk
      perceptions and feasibility and acceptability of Internet or mobile phone
      technology for delivery of a postpartum lifestyle modification program. Focus
      groups and individual interviews were conducted to identify key perspectives and
      preferences related to a potential program. RESULTS: Participants were 26 women,
      all of whom completed surveys; 11 women participated in focus group sessions, and
      15 participated in individual interviews. Most women believed they would
      inevitably develop diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or both; however, they were
      optimistic that they could delay onset with lifestyle change. Most women
      expressed enthusiasm for a family focused, technology-based intervention that
      emphasizes the importance of delaying disease onset, provides motivation, and
      promotes accountability while accommodating women's competing priorities.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that an intervention that uses the Internet,
      text messaging, or both and that emphasizes the benefits of delaying disease
      onset should be tested as a novel, culturally relevant approach to reducing rates
      of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in this high-risk population.

PMID- 25837260
TI  - Correction: Researcher perspectives on publication and peer review of data.

PMID- 25837259
TI  - Aromatase expression increases the survival and malignancy of estrogen receptor
      positive breast cancer cells.
AB  - In postmenopausal women, local estrogen produced by adipose stromal cells in the
      breast is believed to support estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) positive breast
      cancer cell survival and growth. This raises the question of how the ERalpha
      positive metastatic breast cancer cells survive after they enter blood and lymph
      circulation, where estrogen level is very low in postmenopausal women. In this
      study, we show that the aromatase expression increased when ERalpha positive
      breast cancer cells were cultured in suspension. Furthermore, treatment with the
      aromatase substrate, testosterone, inhibited suspension culture-induced apoptosis
      whereas an aromatase inhibitor attenuated the effect of testosterone suggesting
      that suspended circulating ERalpha positive breast cancer cells may up-regulate
      intracrine estrogen activity for survival. Consistent with this notion, a
      moderate level of ectopic aromatase expression rendered a non-tumorigenic ERalpha
      positive breast cancer cell line not only tumorigenic but also metastatic in
      female nude mice without exogenous estrogen supplementation. The increased
      malignant phenotype was confirmed to be due to aromatase expression as the growth
      of orthotopic tumors regressed with systemic administration of an aromatase
      inhibitor. Thus, our study provides experimental evidence that aromatase plays an
      important role in the survival of metastatic ERalpha breast cancer cells by
      suppressing anoikis. 

PMID- 25837261
TI  - Angiosarcoma of penis: Case report of an aggressive penile cancer.
AB  - Angiosarcoma is a very rare mesenchymal tumor of penis. Though extremely unusual,
      it should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients presenting with
      a penile growth or a localized subcutaneous penile lesions as they are very
      aggressive and there is a high chance of recurrence. One such case is reported
      here, which was aggressively treated with total penectomy and the patient did not
      show any recurrence in 2 years of follow-up. 

PMID- 25837262
TI  - The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program: 25 Years of
      public health service to low-income women.
AB  - This article presents an overview of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer
      Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP), a valuable and successful national public
      health program in the USA that will soon celebrate its 25th anniversary.
      Simulation modeling and other analyses have demonstrated that the NBCCEDP has
      significantly reduced breast and cervical cancer mortality among low-income
      uninsured and underinsured women in the USA, a major goal of the original
      legislation. The NBCCEDP has also served to build cancer prevention and control
      capacity in state and local health agencies and created strong and unique public
      private partnerships aimed at improving women's health. As such, the impact of
      NBCCEDP extends beyond the millions of women served by the program to include
      increased public health system capacity and effectiveness regarding cancer early
      detection and control for all women. 

PMID- 25837263
TI  - Periodontal bone loss and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: Periodontitis, a chronic inflammatory response to pathogenic bacteria in
      the oral microbiome, is common among adults. It is associated with several
      medical conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, and potentially with
      esophageal, lung, oral, and pancreatic cancer. One of the proposed mechanisms
      behind these associations is systemic inflammation, which has also been
      implicated in ovarian cancer etiology. The aim of this study was to evaluate
      association between ovarian cancer and periodontal bone loss. METHODS: The
      association between periodontal bone loss, a marker of periodontitis, and risk of
      epithelial ovarian cancer was estimated among 60,560 participants of the
      prospective Nurses' Health Study using Cox proportional hazards analysis.
      Competing risks analysis was used to estimate association by histologic subtype.
      RESULTS: We did not observe an increased risk of ovarian cancer among
      participants with periodontal bone loss (HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.64-1.15). Among women
      younger than 69 years, periodontal bone loss was associated with a 40 % (HR 0.60,
      95% CI 0.36-0.98) decreased ovarian cancer risk, while there was no association
      in women older than 69 (HR 1.09, 95% CI 0.75-1.58), although this difference did
      not reach statistical significance (p-heterogeneity = 0.06). We observed a
      suggestive decreased risk for serous tumors (HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.53-1.09). The
      number of natural teeth and root canals, other metrics of oral health, were not
      associated with ovarian cancer risk. CONCLUSION: Our results do not support an
      increased ovarian cancer risk in women with periodontal bone loss; however, there
      was a significant decrease in risk in women younger than 69. Given the unexpected
      association between periodontal bone loss and ovarian cancer risk in younger
      women, further research is warranted.

PMID- 25837264
TI  - Inflammatory response to nano- and microstructured hydroxyapatite.
AB  - The proliferation and activation of leukocytes upon contact with a biomaterial
      play a crucial role in the degree of inflammatory response, which may then
      determine the clinical failure or success of an implanted biomaterial. The aim of
      this study was to evaluate whether nano- and microstructured biomimetic
      hydroxyapatite substrates can influence the growth and activation of macrophage
      like cells. Hydroxyapatite substrates with different crystal morphologies
      consisting of an entangled network of plate-like and needle-like crystals were
      evaluated. Macrophage proliferation was evaluated on the material surface (direct
      contact) and also in extracts i.e. media modified by the material (indirect
      contact). Additionally, the effect of supplementing the extracts with calcium
      ions and/or proteins was investigated. Macrophage activation on the substrates
      was evaluated by quantifying the release of reactive oxygen species and by
      morphological observations. The results showed that differences in the
      substrate's microstructure play a major role in the activation of macrophages as
      there was a higher release of reactive oxygen species after culturing the
      macrophages on plate-like crystals substrates compared to the almost non-existent
      release on needle-like substrates. However, the difference in macrophage
      proliferation was ascribed to different ionic exchanges and protein
      adsorption/retention from the substrates rather than to the texture of materials.

PMID- 25837265
TI  - Narrative Intervention for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
AB  - PURPOSE: This study was conducted to determine whether a narrative intervention
      program that targeted the use of mental state and causal language resulted in
      positive gains in narrative production for children with autism spectrum disorder
      (ASD). METHOD: Five children (2 girls and 3 boys) who had been diagnosed with ASD
      participated in the study. Children ranged in age from 8 to 12 years and were
      recruited through an autism clinic. Intervention was provided for two 50-min
      individual sessions per week for a total of 21-33 sessions (depending on the
      student). Children's spontaneous stories, collected weekly, were analyzed for
      overall story complexity, story structure, and the use of mental state and causal
      language. Following a multiple-baseline across-participants design, data were
      collected for lagged baseline and intervention phases over a 6-month period.
      RESULTS: All of the children made gains on all 3 measures of narration after
      participating in the instruction, with clear changes in level for all 5 children
      and changes in trend for 4 of the 5 children. The gains were maintained after
      intervention was discontinued. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate the efficacy
      of the 3-phase narrative instruction program for improving the fictional
      narration abilities of children with ASD.

PMID- 25837266
TI  - COUNTERPOINT: Does the Risk of Electronic Cigarettes Exceed Potential Benefits?
      No.

PMID- 25837267
TI  - Identifying risky drivers with simulated driving.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to examine whether high-risk drivers differ
      from low-risk drivers in driving behavior in a simulated environment. METHOD: The
      2 risk groups including 36 drivers (18 males and 18 females) performed driving
      tasks in a simulated environment. The simulated driving behaviors are compared
      between the 2 risk groups. RESULTS: The high-risk drivers drove much faster and
      exhibited larger offsets of the steering wheel than did the low-risk drivers in
      events without incidents. Additionally, the high-risk drivers used turn signals
      and horns less frequently than the low-risk drivers. CONCLUSIONS: The present
      study revealed that the high-risk group differed from the low-risk group in
      driving behavior in a simulated environment. These results also suggest that
      simulated driving tasks might be useful tools for the evaluation of drivers'
      potential risks.

PMID- 25837268
TI  - Variability in prefrontal hemodynamic response during exposure to repeated self
      selected music excerpts, a near-infrared spectroscopy study.
AB  - Music-induced brain activity modulations in areas involved in emotion regulation
      may be useful in achieving therapeutic outcomes. Clinical applications of music
      may involve prolonged or repeated exposures to music. However, the variability of
      the observed brain activity patterns in repeated exposures to music is not well
      understood. We hypothesized that multiple exposures to the same music would
      elicit more consistent activity patterns than exposure to different music. In
      this study, the temporal and spatial variability of cerebral prefrontal
      hemodynamic response was investigated across multiple exposures to self-selected
      musical excerpts in 10 healthy adults. The hemodynamic changes were measured
      using prefrontal cortex near infrared spectroscopy and represented by
      instantaneous phase values. Based on spatial and temporal characteristics of
      these observed hemodynamic changes, we defined a consistency index to represent
      variability across these domains. The consistency index across repeated exposures
      to the same piece of music was compared to the consistency index corresponding to
      prefrontal activity from randomly matched non-identical musical excerpts.
      Consistency indexes were significantly different for identical versus non
      identical musical excerpts when comparing a subset of repetitions. When all four
      exposures were compared, no significant difference was observed between the
      consistency indexes of randomly matched non-identical musical excerpts and the
      consistency index corresponding to repetitions of the same musical excerpts. This
      observation suggests the existence of only partial consistency between repeated
      exposures to the same musical excerpt, which may stem from the role of the
      prefrontal cortex in regulating other cognitive and emotional processes. 

PMID- 25837269
TI  - Radiation exposure and safety practices during pediatric central line placement.
AB  - PURPOSE: Pediatric surgeons routinely use fluoroscopy for central venous line
      (CVL) placement. We examined radiation safety practices and patient/surgeon
      exposure during fluoroscopic CVL. METHODS: Fluoroscopic CVL procedures performed
      by 11 pediatric surgeons in 2012 were reviewed. Fluoroscopic time (FT), patient
      exposure (mGy), and procedural data were collected. Anthropomorphic phantom
      simulations were used to calculate scatter and dose (mSv). Surgeons were surveyed
      regarding safety practices. RESULTS: 386 procedures were reviewed. Median FT was
      12.8 seconds. Median patient estimated effective dose was 0.13 mSv. Median annual
      FT per surgeon was 15.4 minutes. Simulations showed no significant difference
      (p=0.14) between reported exposures (median 3.5 mGy/minute) and the modeled
      regression exposures from the C-arm default mode (median 3.4 mGy/minute). Median
      calculated surgeon exposure was 1.5 mGy/year. Eight of 11 surgeons responded to
      the survey. Only three reported 100% lead protection and frequent dosimeter use.
      CONCLUSION: We found nonstandard radiation training, safety practices, and dose
      monitoring for the 11 surgeons. Based on simulations, the C-arm default setting
      was typically used instead of low dose. While most CVL procedures have low
      patient/surgeon doses, every effort should be used to minimize patient and
      occupational exposure, suggesting the need for formal hands-on training for
      nonradiologist providers using fluoroscopy.

PMID- 25837270
TI  - Intervention effects of puerarin on blood stasis in rats revealed by a (1)H NMR
      based metabonomic approach.
AB  - Puerarin possesses a wide spectrum of biological activities including
      ameliorating effects on blood stasis, but the definite mechanism of this effect
      is still not known. In this study, a (1)H NMR-based plasma and urinary
      metabonomic approach was applied to comprehensively and holistically investigate
      the therapeutic effects of puerarin on blood stasis and its underlying
      mechanisms. Puerarin was injected intraperitoneally once daily for consecutive 7
      days. The blood stasis rat model was established by placing the rats in ice-cold
      water during the time interval between two injections of adrenaline. With pattern
      recognition analysis, a clear separation of blood stasis model group and healthy
      control group was achieved and puerarin pretreatment group was located much
      closer to the control group than the model group, which was consistent with
      results of hemorheology studies. 15 and 10 potential biomarkers associated with
      blood stasis in plasma and urine, respectively, which were mainly involved in
      energy metabolism, lipid and membrane metabolisms, amino acid metabolism and gut
      microbiota metabolism, were identified. Puerarin could prevent blood stasis
      through partially regulating the disturbed metabolic pathways. This work
      highlights that metabonomics is a valuable tool for studying the essence of blood
      stasis as well as evaluating the efficacy of the corresponding drug treatment. 

PMID- 25837271
TI  - Alopecurone B reverses doxorubicin-resistant human osteosarcoma cell line by
      inhibiting P-glycoprotein and NF-kappa B signaling.
AB  - Doxorubicin (DOX) was first used in osteosarcoma in the early 1970s as a first
      line antineoplastic drug. However, the occurrence of drug resistance in
      chemotherapeutic treatment has greatly restricted its use. When resistance to DOX
      treatment occurs, osteosarcoma may become not only resistant to the drug
      originally administered but also to a wide variety of structurally and
      mechanistically unrelated drugs. Thus, there is an urgent need to find ways of
      reversing DOX chemotherapy resistance in osteosarcoma. Plant-derived agents have
      great potential in preventing the onset of the carcinogenic process and enhancing
      the efficacy of conventional antitumor drugs. Alopecurone B (ALOB), a flavonoid,
      is isolated from Traditional Chinese Medicine Sophora alopecuroides L., and is
      reported to have potent inhibitory effect on multidrug resistance associated
      protein 1. In this study, a DOX-resistant osteosarcoma cell line (MG-63/DOX) was
      established by increasing the concentration gradient of DOX in a stepwise manner.
      MTT assay, flow cytometry analysis, dual-luciferase reporter gene assay,
      quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis were
      applied to investigate the reversing effect of ALOB and its underlying
      mechanisms. The results indicated that ALOB mediated the resistance of MG-63/DOX
      cells to DOX by inhibiting P-glycoprotein function, transcription and expression.
      Besides, ALOB also enhanced the sensitivity of MG-63/DOX cells to other
      conventional chemotherapeutic drugs. Cell viability assay confirmed the reversing
      activity of ALOB. Furthermore, ALOB increased DOX-induced apoptosis at nontoxic
      concentration. In addition, ALOB showed inhibitory effect on NF-kappaB
      transcription in a DOX-independent manner. Furthermore, NF-kappaB signaling was
      suppressed by ALOB in an IKK-dependent manner. These studies not only demonstrate
      that ALOB is a potential agent for reversal of drug resistant cancers, but also
      testify that ALOB reverses multidrug resistance by inhibiting P-glycoprotein via
      NF-kappaB signaling. 

PMID- 25837272
TI  - Garlic for hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized
      controlled trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the past decade, garlic has become one of the most popular
      complementary therapies for blood pressure (BP) control used by hypertensive
      patients. Numerous clinical studies have focused on the BP-lowering effect of
      garlic, but results have been inconsistent. Overall, there is a dearth of
      information available to guide the clinical community on the efficacy of garlic
      in hypertensive patients. AIM: To systematically review the medical literature to
      investigate the current evidence of garlic for the treatment of hypertension.
      METHODS: PubMed, the Cochrane Library and EMBASE were searched for appropriate
      articles from their respective inceptions until August 2014. Randomized, placebo
      controlled trials comparing garlic vs. a placebo in patients with hypertension
      were considered. Papers were independently reviewed by two reviewers and were
      analyzed using Cochrane software Revman 5.2. RESULTS: A total of seven
      randomized, placebo-controlled trials were identified. Compared with the placebo,
      this meta-analysis revealed a significant lowering effect of garlic on both
      systolic BP (WMD: -6.71 mmHg; 95% CI: -12.44 to -0.99; P = 0.02) and diastolic BP
      (WMD: -4.79 mmHg; 95% CI: -6.60 to -2.99; P < 0.00001). No serious adverse events
      were reported in any of the trials. CONCLUSION: The present review suggests that
      garlic is an effective and safe approach for hypertension. However, more
      rigorously designed randomized controlled trials focusing on primary endpoints
      with long-term follow-up are still warranted before garlic can be recommended to
      treat hypertensive patients.

PMID- 25837273
TI  - Scopoletin has a potential activity for anti-aging via autophagy in human lung
      fibroblasts.
AB  - Autophagy was known to be associated with aging in addition to cancer and
      neurodegeneration. The effects of scopoletin on autophagy and anti-aging were
      investigated in human lung fibroblast cell line, IMR 90. Here we show that
      scopoletin induces autophagy. It is also identified that the modulation of p53 by
      scopoletin are related to the induction of autophagy. Moreover, the level of SA
      beta-Gal staining, an aging marker, is reduced by scopoletin. In addition, while
      the expression levels of histone deacetylases such as HDAC1, SIRT1 and SIRT6 are
      increased in IMR 90 cells in the presence of scopoletin, the expression levels of
      histone acetyltransferases are decreased. Furthermore, scopoletin enhances the
      level of transcription factors such as Nrf-2and p-FoxO1 related to anti-aging. In
      addition, scopoletin modulates the reprogramming proteins. Therefore, these
      findings suggest that scopoletin could exert a positive effect on anti-aging
      related to autophagy through modulation of p53 in human lung fibroblasts. 

PMID- 25837274
TI  - 4-Methylthiobutyl isothiocyanate (Erucin) from rocket plant dichotomously affects
      the activity of human immunocompetent cells.
AB  - Isothiocyanates (ITC) from the Brassicaceae plant family are regarded as
      promising for prevention and treatment of cancer. However, experimental settings
      consider their therapeutic action without taking into account the risk of
      unwanted effects on healthy tissues. In the present study we investigated the
      effects of Eruca sativa seed extract containing MTBITC (Erucin) and pure Erucin
      from rocket plant on healthy cells of the human immune system in vitro. Hereby,
      high doses of the plant extract as well as of Erucin inhibited cell viability of
      human lymphocytes via induction of apoptosis to comparable amounts. Non-toxic low
      concentrations of the plant extract and pure Erucin altered the expression of the
      interleukin (IL)-2 receptor but did not affect further T cell activation,
      proliferation and the release of the effector molecules interferon (IFN)-gamma
      and IL-2 of T-lymphocytes. However, the activity of NK-cells was significantly
      reduced by non-toxic concentrations of the plant extract and pure Erucin. These
      results indicate that the plant extract and pure Erucin interfere with the
      function of human T lymphocytes and decreases the activity of NK-cells in
      comparable concentrations. Long-term clinical studies with ITC-enriched plant
      extracts from Brassicaceae should take this into account. 

PMID- 25837275
TI  - Vitexin protects brain against ischemia/reperfusion injury via modulating mitogen
      activated protein kinase and apoptosis signaling in mice.
AB  - Vitexin is a major bioactive flavonoid compound derived from the dried leaf of
      hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida), a widely used conventional folk medicine in
      China. Recent studies have shown that vitexin presents neuroprotective effects in
      vitro. Whether this protective effect applies to the cerebral
      ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury remains elusive. In the present study, we
      examined the potential neuroprotective effect of vitexin against cerebral I/R
      injury and underlying mechanisms. A focal cerebral I/R model in male Kunming mice
      was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) for 2 h followed by
      reperfusion for 22 h. The neurological function and infarct volume were assessed
      by using Long's five-point scale system and triphenyl-tetrazolium chloride (TTC)
      staining technique, respectively. Neuronal damage was evaluated by histological
      staining. Extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2), c-Jun N-terminal
      kinases (JNK) and p38 phosphorylation, and apoptosis were measured via Western
      blot at 24 h after reperfusion. As a result, systemic vitexin treatment
      significantly reduced neurological deficit, cerebral infarct volume and neuronal
      damage when compared with the I/R group. Western blot analyses revealed that
      vitexin markedly upregulated p-ERK1/2 and downregulated p-JNK and p-p38.
      Meanwhile, vitexin increased Bcl-2 expression and suppressed the overexpression
      of Bax in the I/R injury mice. In conclusion, the results indicate that vitexin
      protects brain against cerebral I/R injury, and this effect may be regulated by
      mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and apoptosis signaling pathways.

PMID- 25837276
TI  - The eudesmanolide tanapsin from Tanacetum oshanahanii and its acetate induce cell
      death in human tumor cells through a mechanism dependent on reactive oxygen
      species.
AB  - In this study the cytotoxicities of two species of Tanacetum were evaluated
      against human tumor cells. Tanacetum oshanahanii extract was more cytotoxic than
      Tanacetum ptarmiciflorum. Analyses of both extracts of Tanacetum by ultrahigh
      performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry revealed that T.
      oshanahanii extract contains the eudesmanolide tanapsin, while T. ptarmiciflorum
      lacks this sesquiterpene lactone. Tanapsin was cytotoxic against leukemia and
      melanoma cells, including cells that overexpress Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, with IC50
      values of approximately 10 uM, but not against quiescent or proliferating human
      peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Treatment of cells with tanapsin induced
      apoptosis. This was prevented by the non-specific caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk,
      and reduced by the selective caspase-3/7 inhibitor z-DEVD-fmk. Tanapsin acetate
      was also cytotoxic against leukemia and melanoma cells and a potent apoptotic
      inducer. Tanapsin-induced cell death was found to be associated with (i) the loss
      of inner mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsim) and release of
      mitochondrial cytochrome c, (ii) the activation of multiple caspases and the
      mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, and (iii) an increase in reactive
      oxygen species generation. Generation of reactive oxygen species in response to
      tanapsin seems to play a crucial role in the cell death process since the
      antioxidant N-acetyl-l-cysteine blocked both ROS generation and cell death.

PMID- 25837278
TI  - Could EU herbal monographs contribute to Malta's treatment armamentarium?
AB  - Ten years have passed since Directive 2004/24/EC regulating herbal medicinal
      products across the EU were published. The directive created the Committee on
      Herbal Medicinal Products within the European Medicines Agency whose remit
      includes the creation and publishing of official EU monographs on herbal
      medicinal products. These monographs include the official uses of the products
      and their evidence for efficacy and safety. To this effect, we are interested in
      analysing the potential impact herbal product EU monographs could have on the
      therapeutic treatment options available for prescribers in Malta. Therefore our
      aim was two-fold. First, to rationalise the spread of indications of the herbal
      substances listed in the community herbal monograph inventory and subsequently
      determine if these herbal substances could potentially contribute to the
      treatment options available in our local scenario (Malta). 128 EU monographs were
      analysed resulting in a total of 230 indications which subsequently codified into
      42 unique ATC codes. The Malta Medicines List contains 1456 unique ATC codes.
      Comparative analysis of the Malta Medicines List revealed that the 21 therapeutic
      areas had 4 or less pharmaceutically used substances (5th level ATC codes)
      registered and therefore in our opinion are areas with limited therapeutic
      choice. The following 4 therapeutic areas, A05 bile and liver therapy, A13
      tonics, A15 appetite stimulants and D03 preparations for treatment of wounds and
      ulcers, could potentially benefit from the registration of herbal medicinal
      products according to the EU herbal monographs. If such registration is effected
      the aforementioned areas would no longer be considered limited because more than
      4 therapeutic choices would be available to prescribers. This study is the first
      study across the EU to analyse the potential impact of published EU herbal
      monographs on therapeutic coverage in an EU member state and confirms the notion
      that herbal products could potentially increase the treatment options available
      in areas where few medical products have been registered due to Malta's small
      market size. 

PMID- 25837277
TI  - Rhodiola rosea versus sertraline for major depressive disorder: A randomized
      placebo-controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We performed a proof of concept trial to evaluate relative safety and
      efficacy of Rhodiola rosea (R. rosea) versus sertraline for mild to moderate
      major depressive disorder. HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesize that R. rosea would have
      similar therapeutic effects as sertraline but with less adverse events. STUDY
      DESIGN: Phase II randomized placebo controlled clinical trial. METHODS: 57
      subjects were randomized to 12 weeks of standardized R. rosea extract,
      sertraline, or placebo. Changes over time in Hamilton Depression Rating (HAM-D),
      Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Clinical Global Impression Change (CGI/C)
      scores among groups were examined using mixed-effects models. RESULTS: Modest,
      albeit statistically non-significant, reductions were observed for HAM-D, BDI,
      and CGI/C scores for all treatment conditions with no significant difference
      between groups (p = 0.79, p = 0.28, and p = 0.17, respectively). The decline in
      HAM-D scores was greater for sertraline (-8.2, 95% confidence interval [CI], 
      12.7 to -3.6) versus R. rosea (-5.1, 95% CI: -8.8 to -1.3) and placebo (-4.6, 95%
      CI: -8.6 to -0.6). While the odds of improving (versus placebo) were greater for
      sertraline (1.90 [0.44-8.20]; odds ratio [95% CI]) than R. rosea (1.39 [0.38
      5.04]), more subjects on sertraline reported adverse events (63.2%) than R. rosea
      (30.0%) or placebo (16.7%) (p = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: Although R. rosea produced
      less antidepressant effect versus sertraline, it also resulted in significantly
      fewer adverse events and was better tolerated. These findings suggest that R.
      rosea, although less effective than sertraline, may possess a more favorable risk
      to benefit ratio for individuals with mild to moderate depression.

PMID- 25837279
TI  - Development of a standardized and effect-optimized herbal extract of Wedelia
      chinensis for prostate cancer.
AB  - Herbal medicine is a popular complementary or alternative treatment for prostate
      cancer. Wedelia chinensis has at least three active compounds, wedelolactone,
      luteolin, and apigenin synergistically inhibiting prostate cancer cell growth in
      vitro. Here, we report a systematic study to develop a standardized and effect
      optimized herbal extract, designated as W. chinensis extract (WCE) to facilitate
      its future scientific validation and clinical use. Ethanolic extract of dried W.
      chinensis plant was further condensed, acid hydrolyzed, and enriched with
      preparative chromatography. The chemical compositions of multiple batches of the
      standardized preparation WCE were quantified by LC/MS/MS, and biological
      activities were analyzed by in vitro and in vivo assays. Furthermore, the
      pharmacokinetics of the holistic WCE were compared with the combination of the
      equivalent principal active compounds through oral administration. The results
      indicated that quantitative chemical assay and PSA (prostate-specific antigen)
      reporter assay together are suitable to measure the quality and efficacy of a
      standardized Wedelia extract on a xenograft tumor model. The presence of minor
      concomitant compounds in WCE prolonged the systemic exposure to the active
      compounds, thus augmented the anti-tumor efficacy of WCE. In conclusion, a
      combination of LC/MS/MS and PSA reporter assay is suitable to qualify a
      standardized preparation of WCE. Furthermore, the pharmacokinetics and oral
      bioavailability of active compounds demonstrate that holistic WCE exerted
      additional pharmacological synergy beyond the multi-targeted therapeutic effects
      caused by more than one active compound. WCE merits a higher priority to be
      studied for use in prostate cancer treatment. 

PMID- 25837280
TI  - Salvia plebeia extract inhibits the inflammatory response in human rheumatoid
      synovial fibroblasts and a murine model of arthritis.
AB  - Salvia plebeia R. Br. has been used to treat a variety of inflammatory diseases
      and as an antioxidant in many countries, including Korea and China. In this
      study, we investigated the effects of S. plebeia extract (SPE) on inflammatory
      arthritis and the underlying mechanisms of action. We used a collagen-induced
      arthritis (CIA) mouse model. TNF-alpha-stimulated rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
      synovial fibroblasts were used to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of action.
      Oral administration of SPE improved the clinical arthritis score, footpad
      thickness, and histologic changes, as well as serum IgG1 and IgG2a levels. SPE
      administration inhibited Th1/Th2/Th17 phenotype CD4(+) T lymphocyte expansion in
      inguinal lymph node and expression of inflammatory mediators such as cytokines,
      MMP-1, and MMP-3 in the ankle joint tissue. SPE significantly suppressed the
      expression of cytokines and MMP-1 by down-regulating NF-kappaB, Akt, and mitogen
      activated protein kinases in RA synovial fibroblasts. Taken together, these
      results indicate that SPE is therapeutically efficacious against chronic
      inflammatory arthritis, suggesting that SPE is a candidate for treating RA. 

PMID- 25837281
TI  - The floating forest: traditional knowledge and use of matupa vegetation islands
      by riverine peoples of the central Amazon.
AB  - Matupas are floating vegetation islands found in floodplain lakes of the central
      Brazilian Amazon. They form initially from the agglomeration of aquatic
      vegetation, and through time can accumulate a substrate of organic matter
      sufficient to grow forest patches of several hectares in area and up to 12 m in
      height. There is little published information on matupas despite their singular
      characteristics and importance to local fauna and people. In this study we
      document the traditional ecological knowledge of riverine populations who live
      near and interact with matupas. We expected that their knowledge, acquired
      through long term observations and use in different stages of the matupa life
      cycle, could help clarify various aspects about the ecology and natural history
      of these islands that field biologists may not have had the opportunity to
      observe. Research was carried out in five riverine communities of the Amana
      Sustainable Development Reserve (Brazil). Semi-structured interviews were
      conducted with 45 inhabitants in order to register local understandings of how
      matupas are formed, biotic/abiotic factors related to their occurrence, the
      plants and animals that occur on them, their ecological relevance, and local
      uses. Local people elucidated several little-known aspects about matupa ecology,
      especially regarding the importance of seasonal dynamics of high/low water for
      matupas formation and the relevance of these islands for fish populations. Soil
      from matupas is especially fertile and is frequently gathered for use in
      vegetable gardens. In some cases, crops are planted directly onto matupas,
      representing an incipient agricultural experiment that was previously
      undocumented in the Amazon. Matupas are also considered a strategic habitat for
      fishing, mainly for arapaima (Arapaima gigas). The systematic study of
      traditional ecological knowledge proved to be an important tool for understanding
      this little-known Amazonian landscape. 

PMID- 25837282
TI  - The Dorsal Agranular Insular Cortex Regulates the Cued Reinstatement of Cocaine
      Seeking, but not Food-Seeking, Behavior in Rats.
AB  - Prior studies suggest that the insular cortex (IC), and particularly its
      posterior region (the PIc), is involved in nicotine craving and relapse in humans
      and rodents. The present experiments were conducted to determine whether the IC
      and its different subregions regulate relapse to cocaine-seeking behavior in
      rats. To address this issue, male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent cocaine self
      administration followed by extinction training and reinstatement tests. Before
      each reinstatement, the PIc or the more anterior dorsal agranular IC (AId) was
      inactivated to determine their roles in the reinstatement to cocaine seeking. In
      contrast to the nicotine findings, PIc inactivation had no effect on cue-induced
      reinstatement for cocaine seeking. However, AId inactivation reduced cued
      reinstatement while having no effect on cocaine-prime reinstatement. AId
      inactivation had no effect on reinstatement of food-seeking behavior induced by
      cues, a food-prime, or cues+food-prime. Based on previous work hypothesizing a
      role for corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in the IC during craving and
      relapse, a subsequent experiment found that CRF receptor-1 (CRF1) blockade in the
      AId similarly reduced cued reinstatement. Our results suggest that the AId, along
      with CRF1 receptors in this region, regulates reinstatement to cocaine seeking,
      but not food seeking, depending on the type of reinstatement, whereas PIc
      activity does not influence cue-induced reinstatement. 

PMID- 25837283
TI  - Pharmacological Selectivity Within Class I Histone Deacetylases Predicts Effects
      on Synaptic Function and Memory Rescue.
AB  - Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are promising therapeutic targets for neurological
      and psychiatric disorders that impact cognitive ability, but the relationship
      between various HDAC isoforms and cognitive improvement is poorly understood,
      particularly in mouse models of memory impairment. A goal shared by many is to
      develop HDAC inhibitors with increased isoform selectivity in order to reduce
      unwanted side effects, while retaining procognitive effects. However, studies
      addressing this tack at the molecular, cellular and behavioral level are limited.
      Therefore, we interrogated the biological effects of class I HDAC inhibitors with
      varying selectivity and assessed a subset of these compounds for their ability to
      regulate transcriptional activity, synaptic function and memory. The HDAC-1, -2,
      and -3 inhibitors, RGFP963 and RGFP968, were most effective at stimulating
      synaptogenesis, while the selective HDAC3 inhibitor, RGFP966, with known memory
      enhancing abilities, had minimal impact. Furthermore, RGFP963 increased
      hippocampal spine density, while HDAC3 inhibition was ineffective. Genome-wide
      gene expression analysis by RNA sequencing indicated that RGFP963 and RGFP966
      induce largely distinct transcriptional profiles in the dorsal hippocampus of
      mature mice. The results of bioinformatic analyses were consistent with RGFP963
      inducing a transcriptional program that enhances synaptic efficacy. Finally,
      RGFP963, but not RGFP966, rescued memory in a mouse model of Alzheimer's Disease.
      Together, these studies suggest that the specific memory promoting properties of
      class I HDAC inhibitors may depend on isoform selectivity and that certain
      pathological brain states may be more receptive to HDAC inhibitors that improve
      network function by enhancing synapse efficacy. 

PMID- 25837284
TI  - Treatment Outcome-Related White Matter Differences in Veterans with Posttraumatic
      Stress Disorder.
AB  - Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating disorder that has been
      associated with brain abnormalities, including white matter alterations. However,
      little is known about the effect of treatment on these brain alterations. To
      investigate the course of white matter alterations in PTSD, we used a
      longitudinal design investigating treatment effects on white matter integrity
      using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Diffusion tensor and magnetization transfer
      images were obtained pre- and posttreatment from veterans with (n=39) and without
      PTSD (n=22). After treatment, 16 PTSD patients were remitted, and 23 had
      persistent PTSD based on PTSD diagnosis. The dorsal and hippocampal cingulum
      bundle, stria terminalis, and fornix were investigated as regions of interest.
      Exploratory whole-brain analyses were also performed. Groups were compared with
      repeated-measures ANOVA for fractional anisotropy (FA), and magnetization
      transfer ratio. Persistently symptomatic PTSD patients had increasing FA of the
      dorsal cingulum over time, and at reassessment these FA values were higher than
      both combat controls and the remitted PTSD group. Group-by-time interactions for
      FA were found in the hippocampal cingulum, fornix, and stria terminalis,
      posterior corona radiata, and superior longitudinal fasciculus. Our results
      indicate that higher FA of the dorsal cingulum bundle may be an acquired feature
      of persistent PTSD that develops over time. Furthermore, treatment might have
      differential effects on the hippocampal cingulum, fornix, stria terminalis,
      posterior corona radiata, and superior longitudinal fasciculus in remitted vs
      persistent PTSD patients. This study contributes to a better understanding of the
      neural underpinnings of PTSD treatment outcome. 

PMID- 25837285
TI  - Comparison of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score and modified JOA
      (mJOA) score for the assessment of cervical myelopathy: a multicenter
      observational study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score is widely used to
      assess the severity of clinical symptoms in patients with cervical compressive
      myelopathy, particularly in East Asian countries. In contrast, modified versions
      of the JOA score are currently accepted as the standard tool for assessment in
      Western countries. The objective of the present study is to compare these scales
      and clarify their differences and interchangeability and verify their validity by
      comparing them to other outcome measures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five
      institutions participated in this prospective multicenter observational study.
      The JOA and modified JOA (mJOA) proposed by Benzel were recorded preoperatively
      and at three months postoperatively in patients with cervical compressive
      myelopathy who underwent decompression surgery. Patient reported outcome (PRO)
      measures, including Japanese Orthopaedic Association Cervical Myelopathy
      Evaluation Questionnaire (JOACMEQ), the Short Form-12 (SF-12) and the Neck
      Disability Index (NDI), were also recorded. The preoperative JOA score and mJOA
      score were compared to each other and the PRO values. A Bland-Altman analysis was
      performed to investigate their limits of agreement. RESULTS: A total of ninety
      two patients were included. The correlation coefficient (Spearman's rho) between
      the JOA and mJOA was 0.87. In contrast, the correlations between JOA/mJOA and the
      other PRO values were moderate (|rho| = 0.03 - 0.51). The correlation coefficient
      of the recovery rate between the JOA and mJOA was 0.75. The Bland-Altman analyses
      showed that limits of agreement were 3.6 to -1.2 for the total score, and 55.1%
      to -68.8% for the recovery rates. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, the JOA
      score and the mJOA score showed good correlation with each other in terms of
      their total scores and recovery rates. Previous studies using the JOA can be
      interpreted based on the mJOA; however it is not ideal to use them
      interchangeably. The validity of both scores was demonstrated by comparing these
      values to the PRO values.

PMID- 25837286
TI  - Differential interaction of hGDH1 and hGDH2 with manganese: Implications for
      metabolism and toxicity.
AB  - Manganese (Mn) is an essential trace element that serves as co-factor for many
      important mammalian enzymes. In humans, the importance of this cation is
      highlighted by the fact that low levels of Mn cause developmental and metabolic
      abnormalities and, on the other hand, chronic exposure to excessive amounts of Mn
      is characterized by neurotoxicity, possibly mediated by perturbation of
      astrocytic mitochondrial energy metabolism. Here we sought to study the effect of
      Mn on the two human glutamate dehydrogenases (hGDH1 and hGDH2, respectively), key
      mitochondrial enzymes involved in numerous cellular processes, including
      mitochondrial metabolism, glutamate homeostasis and neurotransmission, and cell
      signaling. Our studies showed that, compared to magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca),
      Mn exerted a significant inhibitory effect on both human isoenzymes with hGDH2
      being more sensitive than hGDH1, especially under conditions of low ADP levels.
      Specifically, in the presence of 0.25 mM ADP, the Mn IC50 was 1.14 +/- 0.02 mM
      and 1.54 +/- 0.08 mM for hGDH2 and for hGDH1, respectively (p = 0.0001).
      Increasing Mn levels potentiated this differential effect, with 3 mM Mn
      inhibiting hGDH2 by 96.5% and hGDH1 by 70.2%. At 1 mM ADP, the Mn IC50 was 1.84
      +/- 0.02 mM and 2.04 +/- 0.07 mM (p = 0.01) for hGDH2 and hGDH1, respectively,
      with 3 mM Mn inhibiting hGDH2 by 93.6% and hGDH1 by 70.9%. These results were due
      to the sigmoidal inhibitory curve of Mn that was more pronounced for hGDH2 than
      for hGDH1. Indeed, at 0.25 mM, the Hill coefficient value was higher for hGDH2
      (3.42 +/- 0.20) than for hGDH1 (1.94 +/- 0.25; p = 0.0002) indicating that
      interaction of Mn with hGDH2 was substantially more co-operative than for hGDH1.
      These findings, showing an enhanced sensitivity of the hGDH2 isoenzyme to Mn,
      especially at low ADP levels, might be of pathophysiological relevance under
      conditions of Mn neurotoxicity.

PMID- 25837287
TI  - Glutaminases in brain: Multiple isoforms for many purposes.
AB  - Glutaminase is expressed in most mammalian tissues and cancer cells, but recent
      studies are now revealing a considerably degree of complexity in its pattern of
      expression and functional regulation. Novel transcript variants of the mammalian
      glutaminase Gls2 gene have been recently found and characterized in brain. Co
      expression of different isoforms in the same cell type would allow cells to fine
      tune their Gln/Glu levels under a wide range of metabolic states. Moreover, the
      discovery of protein interacting partners and novel subcellular localizations,
      for example nucleocytoplasmic in neurons and astrocytes, strongly suggest non
      neurotransmission roles for Gls2 isoforms associated with transcriptional
      regulation and cellular differentiation. Of note, Gls isoforms have been
      considered as an important trophic factor for neuronal differentiation and
      postnatal development of brain regions. On the other hand, glutaminases are
      taking center stage in tumor biology as new therapeutic targets to inhibit
      metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells. Interestingly, glutaminase isoenzymes
      play seemingly opposing roles in cancer cell growth and proliferation; this issue
      will be also succinctly discussed with special emphasis on brain tumors. 

PMID- 25837288
TI  - Associations between infant temperament, maternal stress, and infants' sleep
      across the first year of life.
AB  - Effects of temperament and maternal stress on infant sleep behaviors were
      explored longitudinally. Negative temperament was associated with sleep problems,
      and with longer sleep latency and night wakefulness, whereas maternal stress was
      associated with day sleep duration, suggesting infant and maternal
      characteristics affect sleep differentially. 

PMID- 25837289
TI  - Galectin-3 binding protein links circulating microparticles with electron dense
      glomerular deposits in lupus nephritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A high level of galectin-3-binding protein (G3BP) appears to
      distinguish circulating cell-derived microparticles in systemic lupus
      erythematosus (SLE). The aim of this study is to characterize the population of
      G3BP-positive microparticles from SLE patients compared to healthy controls,
      explore putative clinical correlates, and examine if G3BP is present in immune
      complex deposits in kidney biopsies from patients with lupus nephritis. METHODS:
      Numbers of annexin V-binding and G3BP-exposing plasma microparticles from 56 SLE
      patients and 36 healthy controls were determined by flow cytometry. Quantitation
      of microparticle-associated G3BP, C1q and immunoglobulins was obtained by liquid
      chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Correlations between
      microparticle-G3BP data and clinical parameters were analyzed. Co-localization of
      G3BP with in vivo-bound IgG was examined in kidney biopsies from one non-SLE
      control and from patients with class IV (n = 2) and class V (n = 1) lupus
      nephritis using co-localization immune electron microscopy. RESULTS:
      Microparticle-G3BP, microparticle-C1q and microparticle-immunoglobulins were
      significantly (P < 0.01) increased in SLE patients by LC-MS/MS. Three G3BP
      exposing microparticle populations could be discerned by flow cytometry,
      including two subpopulations that were significantly increased in SLE samples (P
      = 0.01 and P = 0.0002, respectively). No associations of G3BP-positive
      microparticles with clinical manifestations or disease activity were found.
      Immune electron microscopy showed co-localization of G3BP with in vivo-bound IgG
      in glomerular electron dense immune complex deposits in all lupus nephritis
      biopsies. CONCLUSIONS: Both circulating microparticle-G3BP numbers as well as
      G3BP expression are increased in SLE patients corroborating G3BP being a feature
      of SLE microparticles. By demonstrating G3BP co-localized with deposited immune
      complexes in lupus nephritis, the study supports cell-derived microparticles as a
      major autoantigen source and provides a new understanding of the origin of immune
      complexes occurring in lupus nephritis.

PMID- 25837290
TI  - Harm Reduction Agencies as a Potential Site for Buprenorphine Treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Harm reduction agencies complement addiction treatment by providing
      diverse services that improve the health of people who use drugs. Buprenorphine
      maintenance treatment (BMT) is an effective opioid addiction treatment that may
      be provided from flexible settings, potentially including harm reduction
      agencies. This study investigated attitudes toward different potential sites for
      BMT (harm reduction agencies, general medical clinics, and drug treatment
      programs) among harm reduction clients. METHODS: Using computer-based interviews,
      participants indicated preferred potential site for BMT (harm reduction agency,
      drug treatment program, or general medical clinic), interest in BMT by potential
      site, motivation for treatment, and barriers to BMT. Multivariable logistic
      regression was used to determine factors associated with harm reduction agency
      preference. RESULTS: Of 102 opioid users, the most preferred potential site for
      BMT was a harm reduction agency (51%), whereas fewer preferred general medical
      clinics (13%), drug treatment programs (12%), or were not interested in BMT
      (25%). In multivariable analysis, experiencing >=1 barrier to BMT was strongly
      associated with preferring harm reduction agencies (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] =
      3.39, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.00-11.43). CONCLUSIONS: The potential to
      initiate BMT at harm reduction agencies is highly favorable among harm reduction
      clients, especially among those experiencing barriers to BMT. Offering BMT at
      harm reduction agencies could improve access to treatment, but studies are needed
      to determine safety and efficacy of this approach.

PMID- 25837295
TI  - Start-up of granule-based denitrifying reactors with multiple magnesium
      supplementation strategies.
AB  - In the present work, the effect of Mg(2+) supplementation on the start-up of a
      denitrification process and the granulation of denitrifying sludge was
      investigated in three upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors. The
      reactors R1 and R2 were continuously and intermittently, respectively, supplied
      with 50 mg L(-1) Mg(2+), whereas R0 was used as the control. The nitrogen loading
      rate (NLR) and organic loading rate (OLR) gradually increased, and extremely high
      values were obtained (36.0 kgN m(-3) d(-1) and 216.0 kgCOD m(-3) d(-1),
      respectively). Granulation occurred in R1 first, but the reactor capacities were
      comparable. Suffering from starvation, the R0-R2 performances were comparable. At
      the end of the experiment, the average diameter of the granules in R0, R1, and R2
      were 1.67, 1.72 and 1.68 mm, respectively, and the settling velocities of the
      granules in R1 and R2 were 1.14-fold the speed of R0. The specific denitrifying
      activity (SDA) of the sludge from the reactors supplied with Mg(2+) was greater
      than the reactor without Mg(2+). Intermittent Mg(2+) supplementation was
      identified as the best choice to be utilized to cultivate denitrifying granules,
      which was consistent with kinetic analysis. 

PMID- 25837296
TI  - A new method for determining the sources of airborne particles.
AB  - Air quality is a major issue for humans owing to the fact that the content of
      particles in the atmosphere has multiple implications for life quality, ecosystem
      dynamics and environment. Scientists are therefore particularly interested in
      discovering the origin of airborne particles. A new method has been developed to
      model the relationship between the emission surface and the total amount of
      airborne particles at a given distance, employing olive pollen and olive groves
      as examples. A third-degree polynomial relationship between the air particles at
      a particular point and the distance from the source was observed, signifying that
      the nearest area to a point is not that which is most correlated with its air
      features. This work allows the origin of airborne particles to be discovered and
      could be implemented in different disciplines related to atmospheric aerosol,
      thus providing a new approach with which to discover the dynamics of airborne
      particles. 

PMID- 25837297
TI  - What drives successful implementation of pollution prevention and cleaner
      technology strategy? The role of innovative capability.
AB  - Firms that are dynamic and prepared to implement environmental strategies have a
      potential competitive advantage over their industry counterparts. Therefore, it
      is important to understand, what capabilities are required to implement proactive
      environmental strategies. The paper discusses the attributes of innovative
      capability required by firms in order to adopt pollution prevention and cleaner
      technology strategies. Empirical results show that process and behavioral
      innovativeness are required by firms to implement a pollution prevention
      strategy. In addition to process and behavioral innovativeness, firms need a top
      management with high risk-taking ability as well as market, product, and
      strategic innovativeness to implement a cleaner technology strategy. The paper
      proposes some important managerial implications on the basis of the above
      research findings. 

PMID- 25837298
TI  - Soil organic carbon stocks assessment in Mediterranean natural areas: a
      comparison of entire soil profiles and soil control sections.
AB  - Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important part of the global carbon (C) cycle. In
      addition, SOC is a soil property subject to changes and highly variable in space
      and time. Over time, some researches have analyzed entire soil profile (ESP) by
      pedogenetic horizons and other researches have analyzed soil control sections
      (SCS) to different thickness. However, very few studies compare both methods (ESP
      versus SCS). This research sought to analyze the SOC stock (SOCS) variability
      using both methods (ESP and SCS) in The Despenaperros Natural Park, a nature
      reserve that consists of a 76.8 km(2) forested area in southern Spain. Thirty
      four sampling points were selected in the study zone. Each sampling point was
      analyzed in two different ways, as ESP (by horizons) and as SCS with different
      depth increments (0-25, 25-50, 50-75 and 75-100 cm). The major goal of this
      research was to study the SOCS variability at regional scale. The soils
      investigated in this study included Phaeozems, Cambisols, Regosols and Leptosols.
      Total SOCS in the Despenaperros Natural Park was over 28.2% greater when SCS were
      used compared to ESP, ranging from 0.8144 Tg C (10,604.2 Mg km(-2)) to 0.6353 Tg
      C (8272.1 Mg km(-2)) respectively (1 Tg = 10(12) g). However, when the topsoil
      (surface horizon and superficial section control) was analyzed, this difference
      increased to 59.8% in SCS compared to ESP. The comparison between ESP and SCS
      showed the effect of mixing pedogenetic horizons when depth increments were
      analyzed. This indicates an overestimate of T-SOCS when sampling by SCS. 

PMID- 25837299
TI  - Phthalocyanine-nanocarbon ensembles: from discrete molecular and supramolecular
      systems to hybrid nanomaterials.
AB  - Phthalocyanines (Pcs) are macrocyclic and aromatic compounds that present unique
      electronic features such as high molar absorption coefficients, rich redox
      chemistry, and photoinduced energy/electron transfer abilities that can be
      modulated as a function of the electronic character of their counterparts in
      donor-acceptor (D-A) ensembles. In this context, carbon nanostructures such as
      fullerenes, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and, more recently, graphene are among the
      most suitable Pc "companions". Pc-C60 ensembles have been for a long time the
      main actors in this field, due to the commercial availability of C60 and the well
      established synthetic methods for its functionalization. As a result, many Pc-C60
      architectures have been prepared, featuring different connectivities (covalent or
      supramolecular), intermolecular interactions (self-organized or molecularly
      dispersed species), and Pc HOMO/LUMO levels. All these elements provide a
      versatile toolbox for tuning the photophysical properties in terms of the type of
      process (photoinduced energy/electron transfer), the nature of the interactions
      between the electroactive units (through bond or space), and the kinetics of the
      formation/decay of the photogenerated species. Some recent trends in this field
      include the preparation of stimuli-responsive multicomponent systems with tunable
      photophysical properties and highly ordered nanoarchitectures and surface
      supported systems showing high charge mobilities. A breakthrough in the Pc
      nanocarbon field was the appearance of CNTs and graphene, which opened a new
      avenue for the preparation of intriguing photoresponsive hybrid ensembles showing
      light-stimulated charge separation. The scarce solubility of these 1-D and 2-D
      nanocarbons, together with their lower reactivity with respect to C60 stemming
      from their less strained sp(2) carbon networks, has not meant an unsurmountable
      limitation for the preparation of variety of Pc-based hybrids. These systems,
      which show improved solubility and dispersibility features, bring together the
      unique electronic transport properties of CNTs and graphene with the excellent
      light-harvesting and tunable redox properties of Pcs. A singular and distinctive
      feature of these Pc-CNT/graphene (single- or few-layers) hybrid materials is the
      control of the direction of the photoinduced charge transfer as a result of the
      band-like electronic structure of these carbon nanoforms and the adjustable
      electronic levels of Pcs. Moreover, these conjugates present intensified light
      harvesting capabilities resulting from the grafting of several chromophores on
      the same nanocarbon platform. In this Account, recent progress in the
      construction of covalent and supramolecular Pc-nanocarbon ensembles is
      summarized, with a particular emphasis on their photoinduced behavior. We believe
      that the high degree of control achieved in the preparation of Pc-carbon
      nanostructures, together with the increasing knowledge of the factors governing
      their photophysics, will allow for the design of next-generation light-fueled
      electroactive systems. Possible implementation of these Pc-nanocarbons in high
      performance devices is envisioned, finally turning into reality much of the
      expectations generated by these materials. 

PMID- 25837300
TI  - Chemically functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes enhance the glutamate
      uptake characteristics of mouse cortical astrocytes.
AB  - Using a radioactive glutamate uptake assay and immunolabeling, we report that
      single-walled carbon nanotubes, chemically functionalized with polyethylene
      glycol (SWCNT-PEG), delivered as a colloidal solute, cause an increase in the
      uptake of extracellular glutamate by astrocytes and an increase in the
      immunoreactivity of the glutamate transporter GLAST on their cell surface, which
      is likely a consequence of an increase in the immunoreactivity of glial
      fibrillary acidic protein. Additional corollary is that astrocytes exposed to
      SWCNT-PEG became larger and stellate, morphological characteristics of maturation
      and heightened activity of these glial cells. These results imply that SWCNT-PEG
      could potentially be used as a viable candidate for neural prosthesis
      applications, perhaps to alleviate the death toll of neurons due to glutamate
      excitotoxicity, a pathological process observed in brain and spinal cord
      injuries. 

PMID- 25837301
TI  - L-Alanylglutamine inhibits signaling proteins that activate protein degradation,
      but does not affect proteins that activate protein synthesis after an acute
      resistance exercise.
AB  - SustamineTM (SUS) is a dipeptide composed of alanine and glutamine (AlaGln).
      Glutamine has been suggested to increase muscle protein accretion; however, the
      underlying molecular mechanisms of glutamine on muscle protein metabolism
      following resistance exercise have not been fully addressed. In the present
      study, 2-month-old rats climbed a ladder 10 times with a weight equal to 75 % of
      their body mass attached at the tail. Rats were then orally administered one of
      four solutions: placebo (PLA-glycine = 0.52 g/kg), whey protein (WP = 0.4 g/kg),
      low dose of SUS (LSUS = 0.1 g/kg), or high dose of SUS (HSUS = 0.5 g/kg). An
      additional group of sedentary (SED) rats was intubated with glycine (0.52 g/kg)
      at the same time as the ladder-climbing rats. Blood samples were collected
      immediately after exercise and at either 20 or 40 min after recovery. The flexor
      hallucis longus (FHL), a muscle used for climbing, was excised at 20 or 40 min
      post exercise and analyzed for proteins regulating protein synthesis and
      degradation. All supplements elevated the phosphorylation of FOXO3A above SED at
      20 min post exercise, but only the SUS supplements significantly reduced the
      phosphorylation of AMPK and NF-kB p65. SUS supplements had no effect on mTOR
      signaling, but WP supplementation yielded a greater phosphorylation of mTOR,
      p70S6k, and rpS6 compared with PLA at 20 min post exercise. However, by 40 min
      post exercise, phosphorylation of mTOR and rpS6 in PLA had risen to levels not
      different than WP. These results suggest that SUS blocks the activation of
      intracellular signals for MPB, whereas WP accelerates mRNA translation. 

PMID- 25837302
TI  - Effects of Bond Location on the Ignition and Reaction Pathways of trans-Hexene
      Isomers.
AB  - Chemical structure and bond location are well-known to impact combustion
      reactivity. The current work presents new experimental autoignition and
      speciation data on the three trans-hexene isomers (1-hexene, trans-2-hexene, and
      trans-3-hexene), which describe the effects of the location of the carbon-carbon
      double bond. Experiments were conducted with the University of Michigan rapid
      compression facility to determine ignition delay times from pressure time
      histories. Stoichiometric (phi = 1.0) mixtures at dilution levels of buffer
      gas:O2 = 7.5 (mole basis) were investigated at an average pressure of 11 atm and
      temperatures from 837 to 1086 K. Fast gas sampling and gas chromatography were
      also used to quantitatively measure 13 stable intermediate species formed during
      the ignition delay period of each isomer at a temperature of ~900 K. The measured
      ignition delay times and species measurements were in good agreement with
      previous experimental studies at overlapping conditions. The results were modeled
      using a gasoline surrogate reaction mechanism from Lawrence Livermore National
      Laboratory, which contains a submechanism for the trans-hexene isomers. The model
      predictions captured the overall autoignition characteristics of the hexene
      isomers well (within a factor of 2), as well as the time histories of several of
      the intermediate species (e.g., propene). However, there were discrepancies
      between the model predictions and the experimental data for some species,
      particularly for the 3-hexene isomer. 

PMID- 25837303
TI  - Anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect in a ferrofluid with weakly interacting
      magnetite nanoparticles.
AB  - The anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect of a ferrofluid has been studied in a
      specially designed slit die viscometer, which allows three distinct orientations
      of the magnetic field with respect to the fluid flow. The corresponding Miesowicz
      viscosity coefficients were determined in dependence of the shear rate and the
      magnetic field intensity to gain a comprehensive magnetorheological
      characterization of the fluid. The particles in the fluid have a mean diameter of
      13 nm corresponding to an interaction parameter of lambda ~ 1.3 for magnetite.
      Thus, the fluid can be expected to show a transition from non-interacting
      individual particles to microstructures with chain-like associated particles when
      the magnetic field intensity is increased and the shear rate is decreased. The
      observed field and shear dependent anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect is
      explained coherently in terms of these microstructural changes in the fluid. 

PMID- 25837304
TI  - Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 as a Novel Player in Synaptic Plasticity and
      Schizophrenia.
AB  - Recent findings implicate alterations in glutamate signaling, leading to aberrant
      synaptic plasticity, in schizophrenia. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) has
      been shown to regulate glutamate receptors, be regulated by glutamate at
      excitatory synapses, and modulate physiological and morphological synaptic
      plasticity. By means of functional gene polymorphism, gene responsiveness to
      antipsychotics and blood plasma levels MMP-9 has recently been implicated in
      schizophrenia. This commentary critically reviews these findings based on the
      hypothesis that MMP-9 contributes to pathological synaptic plasticity in
      schizophrenia. 

PMID- 25837306
TI  - Visualizing unresolved scalar couplings by real-time J-upscaled NMR.
AB  - Scalar coupling patterns contain a wealth of structural information. The
      determination, especially of small scalar coupling constants, is often prevented
      by merging the splittings with the signal line width. Here we show that real-time
      J-upscaling enables the visualization of unresolved coupling constants in the
      acquisition dimension of one-dimensional (1D) or multidimensional NMR spectra.
      This technique, which works by introducing additional scalar coupling evolution
      delays within the recording of the FID (free induction decay), not only stretches
      the recorded coupling patterns but also actually enhances the resolution of
      multiplets, by reducing signal broadening by magnetic field inhomogeneities
      during the interrupted data acquisition. Enlarging scalar couplings also enables
      their determination in situations where the spectral resolution is limited, such
      as in the acquisition dimension of heteronuclear broadband decoupled HSQC
      (heteronuclear single quantum correlation) spectra. 

PMID- 25837305
TI  - Healthy worker survivor bias in the Colorado Plateau uranium miners cohort.
AB  - Cohort mortality studies of underground miners have been used to estimate the
      number of lung cancer deaths attributable to radon exposure. However, previous
      studies of the radon-lung cancer association among underground miners may have
      been subject to healthy worker survivor bias, a type of time-varying confounding
      by employment status. We examined radon-mortality associations in a study of
      4,124 male uranium miners from the Colorado Plateau who were followed from 1950
      through 2005. We estimated the time ratio (relative change in median survival
      time) per 100 working level months (radon exposure averaging 130,000 mega
      electron volts of potential alpha energy per liter of air, per working month)
      using G-estimation of structural nested models. After controlling for healthy
      worker survivor bias, the time ratio for lung cancer per 100 working level months
      was 1.168 (95% confidence interval: 1.152, 1.174). In an unadjusted model, the
      estimate was 1.102 (95% confidence interval: 1.099, 1.112)-39% lower. Controlling
      for this bias, we estimated that among 617 lung cancer deaths, 6,071 person-years
      of life were lost due to occupational radon exposure during follow-up. Our
      analysis suggests that healthy worker survivor bias in miner cohort studies can
      be substantial, warranting reexamination of current estimates of radon's
      estimated impact on lung cancer mortality. 

PMID- 25837307
TI  - Antithrombin heparin binding site deficiency: A challenging diagnosis of a not so
      benign thrombophilia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hereditary antithrombin (AT) deficiency is a rare autosomal dominant
      disorder characterised by decreased AT activity in plasma and predisposition to
      recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE). Thrombotic risk is thought to vary
      according to the subtype of deficiency, with Heparin Binding Site (HBS)
      deficiencies being the less thrombogenic. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: The study
      population consisted of 82 genetically confirmed HBS deficient patients sharing
      six different mutations. Plasma samples of 35 of them, including one homozygous
      patient, were used for the evaluation of 4 commercial activity assays in their
      ability to diagnose HBS deficiency. We assessed mutation-specific prevalence of
      venous and arterial thrombosis and the contribution of additional thrombophilic
      risk factors. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Only one assay showed 100% sensitivity for
      all HBS mutations. The other ones failed mainly in the cases with p.Pro73Leu and
      p.Arg79His mutations. Shortening of incubation time resulted in an increase in
      sensitivity. In one patient, a novel HBS mutation, p.Asn77His, was identified, a
      quite exceptional and important finding given the restricted number of causal
      mutations reported so far in AT HBS deficiency. The overall prevalence of VTE in
      our study population (35%) was higher than previously reported (6-8%) in these
      patients. The presence of additional thrombophilic risk factors such as Factor V
      Leiden or prothrombin gene mutation G20210A contributed to a higher risk of VTE.
      Interestingly, the p.Pro73Leu and p.Arg79His mutations were associated with a
      high prevalence of arterial thrombosis. Our data suggest that AT HBS deficiencies
      are probably more prevalent and less benign than previously assumed.

PMID- 25837308
TI  - Improving the approach to non-diagnostic aspirates: learning from each other.

PMID- 25837310
TI  - Plasmodium knowlesi: from severe zoonosis to animal model.
AB  - Plasmodium knowlesi malaria is a newly described zoonosis in Southeast Asia.
      Similarly to Plasmodium falciparum, P. knowlesi can reach high parasitaemia in
      the human host and both species cause severe and fatal illness. Interpretation of
      host-parasite interactions in studies of P. knowlesi malaria adds a counterpoint
      to studies on P. falciparum. However, there is no model system for testing the
      resulting hypotheses on malaria pathophysiology or for developing new
      interventions. Plasmodium knowlesi is amenable to genetic manipulation in vitro
      and several nonhuman primate species are susceptible to experimental infection.
      Here, we make a case for drawing on P. knowlesi as both a human pathogen and an
      experimental model to lift the roadblock between malaria research and its
      translation into human health benefits. 

PMID- 25837309
TI  - PDE5 expression in human thyroid tumors and effects of PDE5 inhibitors on growth
      and migration of cancer cells.
AB  - Recent studies have revealed in normal thyroid tissue the presence of the
      transcript of several phosphodiesterases (PDEs), enzymes responsible for the
      hydrolysis of cyclic nucleotides. In this work, we analyzed the expression of
      PDE5 in a series of human papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs) presenting or not
      BRAF V600E mutation and classified according to ATA risk criteria. Furthermore,
      we tested the effects of two PDE5 inhibitors (sildenafil, tadalafil) against
      human thyroid cancer cells. PDE5 gene and protein expression were analyzed in two
      different cohorts of PTCs by real-time PCR using a TaqMan micro-fluid card system
      and Western blot. MTT and migration assay were used to evaluate the effects of
      PDE5 inhibitors on proliferation and migration of TPC-1, BCPAP, and 8505C cells.
      In a first series of 36 PTCs, we found higher expression levels of PDE5A in
      tumors versus non-tumor (normal) tissues. PTCs with BRAF mutation showed higher
      levels of mRNA compared with those without mutation. No significant differences
      were detected between subgroups with low and intermediate ATA risk. Upregulation
      of PDE5 was also detected in tumor tissue proteins. Similar results were obtained
      analyzing the second cohort of 50 PTCs. Moreover, all tumor tissues with high
      PDE5 levels showed reduction of Thyroglobulin, TSH receptor, Thyroperoxidase, and
      NIS transcripts. In thyroid cancer cells in vitro, sildenafil and tadalafil
      determined a reduction of proliferation and cellular migration. Our findings
      demonstrate for the first time an overexpression of PDE5 in PTCs, and the ability
      of PDE5 inhibitors to block the proliferation of thyroid cancer cells in culture,
      therefore, suggesting that specific inhibition of PDE5 may be proposed for the
      treatment of these tumors. 

PMID- 25837311
TI  - The role of estrogens and estrogen receptor signaling pathways in cancer and
      infertility: the case of schistosomes.
AB  - Schistosoma haematobium, a parasitic flatworm that infects more than 100 million
      people, mostly in the developing world, is the causative agent of urogenital
      schistosomiasis, and is associated with a high incidence of squamous cell
      carcinoma (SCC) of the bladder. Schistosomiasis haematobia also appears to
      negatively influence fertility, and is particularly associated with female
      infertility. Given that estrogens and estrogen receptors are key players in human
      reproduction, we speculate that schistosome estrogen-like molecules may
      contribute to infertility through hormonal imbalances. Here, we review recent
      findings on the role of estrogens and estrogen receptors on both carcinogenesis
      and infertility associated with urogenital schistosomiasis and discuss the basic
      hormonal mechanisms that might be common in cancer and infertility. 

PMID- 25837313
TI  - Effectiveness and safety of short course liposomal amphotericin B (AmBisome) as
      first line treatment for visceral leishmaniasis in Bangladesh.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bangladesh is one of the endemic countries for Visceral Leishmaniasis
      (VL). Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) ran a VL treatment clinic in the most
      endemic district (Fulbaria) between 2010 and 2013 using a semi-ambulatory regimen
      for primary VL of 15 mg/kg Liposomal Amphotericin-B (AmBisome) in three equal
      doses of 5 mg/kg. The main objective of this study was to analyze the
      effectiveness and safety of this regimen after a 12 month follow-up period by
      retrospective analysis of routinely collected program data. A secondary objective
      was to explore risk factors for relapse. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our
      analysis included 1521 patients who were initially cured, of whom 1278 (84%) and
      1179 (77.5%) were followed-up at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Cure rates at 6
      and 12 months were 98.7% (1262/1278) and 96.4% (1137/1179), respectively. Most
      relapses (26/39) occurred between 6 and 12 months after treatment. Serious
      adverse events (SAE) were recorded for 7 patients (0.5%). Odds of relapse at 12
      months were highest in the youngest and oldest age groups. There was some
      evidence that spleen size measured on discharge (one month after initiation of
      treatment) was associated with risk of relapse: OR=1.25 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.55) per
      cm below lower costal margin (P=0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that
      15 mg/kg AmBisome in three doses of 5 mg/kg is an effective (>95% cure rate) and
      safe (<1% SAE) treatment for primary VL in Bangladesh. The majority of relapses
      occurred between 6 and 12 months, justifying the use of a longer follow-up period
      when feasible. Assessment of risk of relapse based on easily measured clinical
      parameters such as spleen size could be incorporated in VL treatment protocols in
      resource-poor settings where test-of-cure is not always feasible.

PMID- 25837312
TI  - Proteomics characterization of exosome cargo.
AB  - Characterization of exosomal cargo is of significant interest because this cargo
      can provide clues to exosome biogenesis, targeting, and cellular effects and may
      be a source of biomarkers for disease diagnosis, prognosis and response to
      treatment. With recent improvements in proteomics technologies, both qualitative
      and quantitative characterization of exosomal proteins is possible. Here we
      provide a brief review of exosome proteomics studies and provide detailed
      protocols for global qualitative, global quantitative, and targeted quantitative
      analysis of exosomal proteins. In addition, we provide an example application of
      a standard global quantitative analysis followed by validation via a targeted
      quantitative analysis of urine exosome samples from human patients. Advantages
      and limitations of each method are discussed as well as future directions for
      exosome proteomics analysis. 

PMID- 25837314
TI  - Endometriosis and mild bleeding disorders.

PMID- 25837315
TI  - Development of a particle-trap preconcentration-soft ionization mass
      spectrometric technique for the quantification of mercury halides in air.
AB  - Measurement of oxidized mercury, Hg(II), in the atmosphere poses a significant
      analytical challenge as Hg(II) is present at ultra-trace concentrations
      (picograms per cubic meter air). Current technologies are sufficiently sensitive
      to measure the total Hg present as Hg(II) but cannot determine the chemical
      speciation of Hg(II). We detail here the development of a soft ionization mass
      spectrometric technique coupled with preconcentration onto nano- or microparticle
      based traps prior to analysis for the measurement of mercury halides in air. The
      current methodology has comparable detection limits (4-11 pg m(-3)) to previously
      developed techniques for the measurement of total inorganic mercury in air while
      allowing for the identification of HgX2 in collected samples. Both mercury
      chloride and mercury bromide have been sporadically detected in Montreal urban
      and indoor air using atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry
      (APCI-MS). We discuss limitations and advantages of the current technique and
      discuss potential avenues for future research including quantitative trace
      measurements of a larger range of mercury compounds. 

PMID- 25837316
TI  - [Forms of age-related macular degeneration].
AB  - Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the major reason for blindness
      affecting about 50 % of blind people in Germany. Early forms of AMD with drusen
      and pigment epithelium changes can be detected in 20 % of patients over 65 years
      old. The dry form of AMD causes slow deterioration of visual acuity, which cannot
      currently be adequately treated. In contrast development of a choroidal
      neovascularization (CNV) membrane results in rapid visual loss which will become
      permanent if treatment is not started immediately. Using anti-vascular
      endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents stabilization and improvement of visual
      acuity is possible. Special types of AMD, such as retinal angiomatous
      proliferation and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy are much less common. The
      natural course of the diseases can be very different, end stages often result in
      scarring and anti-VEGF agents are only weakly effective. 

PMID- 25837317
TI  - A combination of chorea, myoclonus, and dystonia in a patient with
      pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 2: a video case presentation.

PMID- 25837318
TI  - Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis possibly triggered by measles virus.

PMID- 25837319
TI  - A frontal syndrome due to a brainstem lesion.

PMID- 25837320
TI  - Circulating levels of obestatin and copeptin in obese and nonobese women with
      polycystic ovary syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common
      endocrinopathies, affecting 5-8% of reproductive-age women. It is associated with
      insulin resistance, central obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and
      cardiovascular diseases. The current study was undertaken to evaluate serum
      copeptin and obestatin levels, carotid artery intima-media thickness, and
      brachial artery flow mediated dilatation in obese and nonobese women with PCOS
      and age-matched healthy controls and to investigate their relationship with each
      other and with clinical, metabolic, and hormonal parameters and cardiovascular
      risk factors. METHOD: In the study population, we analyzed 60 patients with PCOS
      and 30 age-matched healthy women as controls. The patients with PCOS were divided
      into two groups based on body mass index (BMI): obese group (BMI>30kg/m(2), n=30)
      or nonobese group (BMI<30kg/m(2), n=30). History was obtained and a physical
      examination, peripheral venous blood sampling, and carotid and brachial artery
      ultrasonography were performed. Serum copeptin and obestatin levels, total
      testosterone, C-reactive protein (CRP), glucose, total cholesterol, low-density
      lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol,
      triglycerides, homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR),
      carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT), and brachial artery flow-mediated
      vasodilation (FMD) were determined and compared among the groups. RESULTS: Women
      with PCOS, especially obese ones, had higher triglycerides, HOMA-IR, total
      testosterone, CRP, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and waist-to-hip ratio
      (WHR), and lower HDL. Serum obestatin levels were significantly lower in the
      obese PCOS group than they were in the nonobese and control groups (p<0.001).
      Serum copeptin levels were significantly higher in the obese PCOS group than they
      were in the nonobese PCOS and control groups (p<0.001). CIMT values were similar
      among the groups (p>0.05). Brachial artery FMD was lower in the PCOS groups than
      it was in the control group (p<0.001). Obestatin and FMD values were negatively
      correlated with cardiovascular risk factors, whereas copeptin was positively
      correlated. A significant positive correlation was found between copeptin, BMI,
      WHR, hirsutism score, total testosterone, and HOMA-IR. There was no correlation
      between CIMT, copeptin, obestatin, and FMD. A positive correlation was seen
      between CIMT, BMI, triglycerides, and HOMA-IR. CONCLUSION: Copeptin and obestatin
      may provide useful information regarding future cardiovascular risk in PCOS
      patients as copeptin was positively correlated and obestatin was negatively
      correlated with cardiovascular risk factors.

PMID- 25837322
TI  - Henoch-Schonlein purpura complicated by acalculous cholecystitis and
      intussusception, and following recurrent appendicitis.
AB  - Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) is the most common childhood systemic vasculitis.
      Gastro-intestinal involvement occurs in two-thirds of patients. The
      characteristic skin lesions generally precede abdominal symptoms or present
      concurrently. A 7-year-old boy presented with intussusception and acalculous
      cholecystitis and had a cholecystectomy. Two weeks later he was re-admitted with
      features typical of HSP which responded to corticosteroids. Eleven months later
      he presented with abdominal pain and recurrence of HSP and, at laparotomy, there
      was acute appendicitis. This is the first case of a child presenting with HSP
      complicated by acalculous cholecystitis.

PMID- 25837321
TI  - Effects of different media supplements on the production of an active recombinant
      plant peroxidase in a Pichia pastoris Deltaoch1 strain.
AB  - Recombinant protein production in microorganisms is one of the most studied areas
      of research in biotechnology today. In this respect the yeast Pichia pastoris is
      an important microbial production host due to its capability of secreting the
      target protein and performing posttranslational modifications. In a recent study,
      we described the development of a robust bioprocess for a glyco-engineered
      recombinant P. pastoris strain where the native alpha-1,6-mannosyltransfrease
      OCH1 was knocked out (Deltaoch1 strain). This strain produced the glycosylated
      enzyme horseradish peroxidase (HRP) with more homogeneous and shorter surface
      glycans than the respective benchmark strain. However, the recombinant Deltaoch1
      strain was physiologically impaired and thus hard to cultivate. We faced cell
      cluster formation, cell lysis and consequent intensive foam formation. Thus, we
      investigated the effects of the 3 process parameters temperature, pH and
      dissolved oxygen concentration on (1) cell physiology, (2) cell morphology, (3)
      cell lysis, (4) productivity and (5) product purity in a multivariate manner.
      However, not only process parameters might influence these characteristics, but
      also media supplements might have an impact. Here, we describe the effects of
      different heme-precursors as well as of a protease-inhibitor cocktail on the
      production of active HRP in therecombinant P. pastoris Deltaoch1strain. 

PMID- 25837324
TI  - Retraction. Lipomatosis of the terminal ileum and ileocaecal valve: multidetector
      CT findings.

PMID- 25837323
TI  - Dynamics of chemical bond: general discussion.

PMID- 25837325
TI  - Endometrial osseous metaplasia: an unusual cause of infertility.
AB  - Osseous metaplasia of the endometrium is a rare disorder associated with the
      presence of bone in the uterine endometrium. Most patients with this condition
      presenting with infertility do so owing to the presence of a foreign body in the
      endometrium. We report a case of a 38-year-old woman who presented with secondary
      infertility due to osseous metaplasia in the endometrial cavity. She conceived
      spontaneously after hysteroscopic removal of the bony fragments from the uterus.
      Uterine osseous metaplasia is a rare cause of infertility that can be easily
      managed by hysteroscopic removal of the bony fragments, which results in return
      of fertility. 

PMID- 25837327
TI  - Valvular atrial fibrillation: rheumatic mitral valve disease.

PMID- 25837326
TI  - Preclinical evaluation of cyclin dependent kinase 11 and casein kinase 2 survival
      kinases as RNA interference targets for triple negative breast cancer therapy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Targeted therapies for aggressive breast cancers like triple
      negative breast cancer (TNBC) are needed. The use of small interfering RNAs
      (siRNAs) to disable expression of survival genes provides a tool for killing
      these cancer cells. Cyclin dependent kinase 11 (CDK11) is a survival protein
      kinase that regulates RNA transcription, splicing and mitosis. Casein kinase 2
      (CK2) is a survival protein kinase that suppresses cancer cell death. Eliminating
      the expression of these genes has potential therapeutic utility for breast
      cancer. METHODS: Expression levels of CDK11 and CK2 mRNAs and associated proteins
      were examined in breast cancer cell lines and tissue arrays. RNA expression
      levels of CDC2L1, CDC2L2, CCNL1, CCNL2, CSNK2A1, CSNK2A2, and CSNK2B genes in
      breast cancer subtypes were analyzed. Effects following transfection of siRNAs
      against CDK11 and CK2 in cultured cells were examined by viability and clonal
      survival assays and by RNA and protein measures. Uptake of tenfibgen (TBG)
      nanocapsules by TNBC cells was analyzed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting.
      TBG nanocapsules delivered siRNAs targeting CDK11 or CK2 in mice carrying TNBC
      xenograft tumors. Transcript cleavage and response parameters were evaluated.
      RESULTS: We found strong CDK11 and CK2 mRNA and protein expression in most human
      breast cancer cells. Immunohistochemical analysis of TNBC patient tissues showed
      100% of tumors stained positive for CDK11 with high nuclear intensity compared to
      normal tissue. The Cancer Genome Atlas analysis comparing basal to other breast
      cancer subtypes and to normal breast revealed statistically significant
      differences. Down-regulation of CDK11 and/or CK2 in breast cancer cells caused
      significant loss of cell viability and clonal survival, reduced relevant mRNA and
      protein expression, and induced cell death changes. TBG nanocapsules were taken
      up by TNBC cells both in culture and in xenograft tumors. Treatment with TBG-
      siRNA to CDK11 or TBG- siRNA to CK2alphaalpha' nanocapsules induced appropriate
      cleavage of CDK11 and CK2alpha transcripts in TNBC tumors, and caused MDA-MB-231
      tumor reduction, loss of proliferation, and decreased expression of targeted
      genes. CONCLUSIONS: CDK11 and CK2 expression are individually essential for
      breast cancer cell survival, including TNBC. These genes serve as promising new
      targets for therapeutic development in breast cancer.

PMID- 25837328
TI  - Public Health Climate Change Adaptation Planning Using Stakeholder Feedback.
AB  - CONTEXT: Public health climate change adaptation planning is an urgent priority
      requiring stakeholder feedback. The 10 Essential Public Health Services can be
      applied to adaptation activities. OBJECTIVE: To develop a state health department
      climate and health adaptation plan as informed by stakeholder feedback. DESIGN:
      With Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding, the New York State
      Department of Health (NYSDOH) implemented a 2010-2013 climate and health planning
      process, including 7 surveys on perceptions and adaptation priorities.
      PARTICIPANTS: New York State Department of Health program managers participated
      in initial (n = 41, denominator unknown) and follow-up (72.2%) needs assessments.
      Surveillance system information was collected from 98.1% of surveillance system
      managers. For adaptation prioritization surveys, participants included 75.4% of
      NYSDOH leaders; 60.3% of local health departments (LHDs); and 53.7% of other
      stakeholders representing environmental, governmental, health, community, policy,
      academic, and business organizations. Interviews were also completed with 38.9%
      of other stakeholders. RESULTS: In 2011 surveys, 34.1% of state health program
      directors believed that climate change would impact their program priorities.
      However, 84.6% of state health surveillance system managers provided ideas for
      using databases for climate and health monitoring/surveillance. In 2012 surveys,
      46.5% of state health leaders agreed they had sufficient information about
      climate and health compared to 17.1% of LHDs (P = .0046) and 40.9% of other
      stakeholders (nonsignificant difference). Significantly fewer (P < .0001) LHDs
      (22.9%) were incorporating or considering incorporating climate and health into
      planning compared to state health leaders (55.8%) and other stakeholders (68.2%).
      Stakeholder groups agreed on the 4 highest priority adaptation categories
      including core public health activities such as surveillance,
      coordination/collaboration, education, and policy development. CONCLUSIONS:
      Feedback from diverse stakeholders was utilized by NYSDOH to develop its Climate
      and Health Strategic Map in 2013. The CDC Building Resilience Against Climate
      Effects (BRACE) framework and funding provides a collaborative model for state
      climate and health adaptation planning.

PMID- 25837329
TI  - [Listening to the real world for monitoring the clinical practice guidelines].

PMID- 25837330
TI  - [Nursing activities score: differences in nursing workload in three intensive
      care units].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The activities that impact on the nursing workload in an intensive
      care unit have not been described. AIM: To retrospectively analyze the nursing
      workload in the three intensive care units-ICU (general, neurosurgery and cardiac
      surgery) of the same department with the Nursing Activities Score (NAS) to
      describe the nursing interventions that mostly impact on the workload. METHODS:
      Retrospective observational study. Patients admitted from January 2006 to
      December 2012 were included in the study. The NAS was completed every 24 hours
      around 6 am. RESULTS: Patients included in the study were 7588; their mean NAS
      score was 61.7 +/- 19.02%; 75.9 +/- 1.44 in General ICU, 61.6 +/- 2.46 Neuro ICU,
      62.5 +/- 3.06 in the Cardiosurgical ICU. The items that mostly impacted on the
      nursing workload were the need of monitoring and titration, the hygiene
      procedures, and the Mobilization and positioning. The three procedures were
      performed with different frequencies in the three ICUs. CONCLUSIONS: The results
      confirm that the minimum required care in ICUs is around 950 minutes/day. The
      differences observed in the three ICUs were determined by the different clinical
      severity and caring complexity of the patients.

PMID- 25837331
TI  - [Continuous monitoring of endotracheal tube cuff pressure: best practice in
      intensive care unit].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The endotracheal tube cuff pressure must be maintained within an
      optimal range of 20-30 cmH2O, which ensures ventilation, prevents aspiration of
      secretions and guarantees a good tracheal perfusion. AIMS: To describe changes in
      the endotracheal tube cuff pressure over time through a continuous monitoring
      device, and assess the number of nursing actions. METHODS: Observation of 72
      patients admitted to a general ICU and monitored for 12 hours, with a continuos
      monitoring device of endotracheal tube cuff pressure (PressureEasy((r))).
      RESULTS: During the first four hours 4 cases (5.6%) of underinflated cuff were
      observed, and 5 (6.9%) of overinflation. From the fifth to the eighth hour 7
      (9.7%) patients showed a pressure <20 cmH2O, and 3 (4.2%) >30 cmH2O. During the
      last four hours 22 cases (30.5%) of underinflated cuff, and 4 (5.6%) of
      overinflation were observed. More than half of the patients (n=38, 52.8%) did not
      require any intervention of inflation or deflation of the cuff, 25 (34.7%) only
      one and 7 (9.7%) patients two, and twe patients, three. The majority of patients
      required the inflation of the cuff. CONCLUSION: Our study supports the need of
      continuous endotracheal tube cuff pressure monitoring to promptly identify
      deviations from the pressure ranges, allowing their rapid correction.

PMID- 25837332
TI  - [Unplanned extubations in adult intensive care units: an update].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Unplanned extubations (UEs) in adult Intensive Care Units (ICUs),
      have recently become an indicator of quality and safety of care. METHOD: A
      literature review published 10 years ago was updated to analyze any changes in
      UEs. RESULTS: The cumulative incidence of UEs varied between 0.3% and 27%, before
      2000, and more recently, from 0.5% to 35.8%, without substantial changes. The
      rate of Self Extubations (SE) outweighed the Accidental Extubation (AE),
      amounting to 50%-100% of all UE. The reintubations rate ranged between 1.81% and
      88%. The UEs increase the length of the mechanical ventilation, of ICU and
      hospital stay, and according to few studies the rate of death with UEs is lower.
      Major risk factors for UE are: APACHE II score >=17, agitation, physical
      restraints, administration of midazolam, and higher levels of consciousness. The
      implementation of ABCDE bundle in ICUs did not involve additional risks of UE.
      The prevention includes a sedation with drugs different from benzodiazepines, an
      early detection of patients' readiness to weaning trial from mechanical
      ventilation, and the adequate stabilization of the endotracheal tube, with
      securing systems passing behind the patient's neck. The use of physical
      restraints is inconsistent, since it can be a risk factor for SE. CONCLUSIONS:
      For preventing UEs the surveillance of nursing staff is fundamental, if the
      staffing is adequate to the real workloads in ICU.

PMID- 25837333
TI  - [Continuity of care: the concordance of discharge planning between public and
      private hospitals and district].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: A good post hospital discharge planning facilitates the discharge,
      improves patients' health conditions and decreases the social costs. AIM: To
      assess the agreement of the discharge settings suggested by the public or private
      hospitals and by the district. METHOD: A random sample of 318 over 1152 discharge
      reports send in 2013 by Hospitals to the District service of ASLTO2 - Piedmont
      Region was selected. RESULTS: The agreement for discharge planning between public
      hospitals and District was 57.4% (50% for private hospitals), with differences
      according to the discharge setting: 75.3% for Home care, 61.3% for Nursing Homes,
      44.4% long term rehabilitation, 42.9% for the Hospice and only 7.4% for
      specialized Nursing Homes. Reasons for lack of agreement were an inappropriate
      assessment of patients or family resources and of discharge settings.
      CONCLUSIONS: The District is in a better position for assessing the range
      services to be offered the to patients, their living and family conditions and
      thus, to identify the most suitable post discharge settings.

PMID- 25837334
TI  - [Guided clinical practice guidelines: how to blunt the weapon of evidence].
AB  - The public should trust practice guidelines only if the recommendations
      accurately reflect the underlying evidence about benefits and harms to individual
      patients. However, the process of development of clinical practice guidelines is
      fraught with problem, conflicts and controversies. A few examples, starting from
      the guidelines on osteoporosis are presented and commented on.

PMID- 25837335
TI  - [When life needs routine, imagination, listening].
AB  - When life needs routine, imagination, listening. Barbara is a 44 years old
      oncologist, married and with two children, that tells through others but also
      with her own words of her cancer, until death. Giuseppe is a laboratory
      technician, researcher, mountaineer, promoter of humanitarian initiatives Bosnia
      and Croatia; his lateral amyotrophic sclerosis is told by his wife, in a booklet
      written after his death. Their two stories are the occasions for reflecting on
      the importance and role of closeness, listening, dreaming, narrating in improving
      the quality of life and care: none of these words are included in the guidelines.

PMID- 25837336
TI  - [The late arousal of WHO on Ebola virus].
AB  - The late arousal of WHO on Ebola virus. The Ebola crisis brought to surface some
      problems in the coordination and readiness of the international community to face
      an infective challenge that, although originating in a part of the planet, could
      become a global epidemic. Ebola is still making victims and the answer to face
      and prevent future emergencies involves strengthening and upgrading of national
      health systems, investments in the education of doctors and nurses (many health
      professionals were victims of Ebola), in providing better salaries to attract
      more health professionals and a in a better and coordinated use of the army. A
      stronger WHO could play an important role.

PMID- 25837337
TI  - [The prison nurse: analysis of the evolution of the legislative framework].
AB  - The evolution of the role of prison nurses through the Italian legislation is
      presented, analyzing the implication of the transfer of competences from the Law
      ministry to the National Health Service. Until 60 years ago scarce attention was
      paid to the health of prisoners and only in the years 70' nurses were formally
      included in the staff of the prisons.

PMID- 25837338
TI  - Violence against nurses in the triage area: An Italian qualitative study.
AB  - AIM: This qualitative study aims to investigate the feelings experienced by
      nurses following episodes of violence in the workplace. BACKGROUND: Numerous
      studies show that healthcare professionals are increasingly finding themselves
      victims of violence; of all professionals, nurses in the Emergency Department and
      especially those performing triage are one of the staff categories which most
      frequently experience these episodes during their work. INTRODUCTION: In Italy,
      this phenomenon has been studied very little in comparison to other countries but
      has recently been gaining increasing attention. Few studies have investigated the
      feelings experienced by nurses following episodes of violence in the workplace.
      METHODS: For this study a phenomenological approach was used. Assumptions and
      previous findings were set aside (bracketing). A purposive sample of 9 nurses
      coming from 7 different Emergency Department in the region of Tuscany, Italy was
      interviewed during a focus group meeting. The data analysis was carried out using
      the Colaizzi method. RESULTS: Data analysis revealed 10 significant
      themes/responses. The quality of reporting was guaranteed by adopting the COREQ
      criteria. DISCUSSION: Data analysis revealed that nurses feel that violent
      episodes are "inevitable" and that they feel they have grown accustomed to high
      levels of violence, that they suffer feelings of "inadequacy" but also that they
      are aware that they themselves can trigger conflict with patients, and again
      suffer the feeling of "being alone" in facing these problems and a sense of
      "being left on their own" by the institution and feeling "hurt", "scared",
      "angry" and have a sense that "it is not fair". Last but not least, "the gender
      difference" appears to play an important role in the emotional response.
      CONCLUSIONS: To suffer episodes of violence has serious and severe "hidden costs"
      which are just as important as the direct, tangible costs.

PMID- 25837339
TI  - Fracture toughness of esthetic dental coating systems by nanoindentation and FIB
      sectional analysis.
AB  - Improving the esthetics of Ti-based dental implants is the last challenge
      remaining in the optimization process. The optical issues were recently solved by
      the application of highly and selectively reflective coatings on Ti implants.
      This work focuses on the mechanical durability of these esthetic ceramic based
      coating systems (with and without adhesion layers). The coating systems (Ti-ZrO2,
      Ti-Al-ZrO2, Ti-Ti-Al-ZrO2, Ti-Ag-ZrO2, Ti-Ti-Ag-ZrO2, Ti-Bragg and Ti-TiO2-Bragg)
      were subjected to nanoindentation experiments and examined using scanning
      electron microscopy and focused ion beam cross sectional analysis. Three coating
      systems contained adhesion layers (10nm of Ti or 60nm of TiO2 layers). The
      fracture toughness of selected samples was assessed applying two different models
      from literature, a classical for bulk materials and an energy-based model, which
      was further developed and adjusted. The ZrO2 based coating systems (total film
      thickness<200nm) followed a circumferential cracking behavior in contrast to
      Bragg coated samples (total film thickness around 1.5MUm), which showed radial
      cracking emanating from the indent corners. For Ti-ZrO2 samples, a fracture
      toughness between 2.70 and 3.70MPam(1/2) was calculated using an energy-based
      model. The classical model was applied to Bragg coated samples and their fracture
      toughness ranged between 0.70 and 0.80MPam(1/2). Furthermore, coating systems
      containing an additional layer (Ti-Ti-Al-ZrO2, Ti-Ti-Ag-ZrO2 and Ti-TiO2-Bragg)
      showed an improved adhesion between the substrate and the coating. The addition
      of a Ti or TiO2 layer improved the adhesion between substrate and coating. The
      validity of the models for the assessment of the fracture toughness depended on
      the layer structure and fracture profile of the samples investigated here
      (classical model for thick coatings and energy-based model for thin coatings). 

PMID- 25837341
TI  - Two-body wear comparison of zirconia crown, gold crown, and enamel against
      zirconia.
AB  - PROBLEM STATEMENT: Full zirconia crowns have recently been used for dental
      restorations because of their mechanical properties. However, there is little
      information about their wear characteristics against enamel, gold, and full
      zirconia crowns. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the wear rate
      of enamel, gold crowns, and zirconia crowns against zirconia blocks using an in
      vitro wear test. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Upper specimens were divided into three
      groups: 10 enamels (group 1), 10 gold crowns (group 2, Type III gold), and 10
      zirconia crowns (group 3, Prettau((r))Zirkon 9H, Zirkonzahn, Italy). Each of
      these specimens was wear tested against a zirconia block (40*30*3mm(3)) as a
      lower specimen (30 total zirconia blocks). Each specimen of the groups was
      abraded against the zirconia block for 600 cycles at 1Hz with 15mm front-to-back
      movement on an abrading machine. Moreover, the load applied during the abrading
      test was 50N, and the test was performed in a normal saline emulsion for 10min.
      Three-dimensional images were taken before and after the test, and the
      statistical analysis was performed using the Krushal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney
      test (p=0.05). RESULTS: The mean volume loss of group 1 was 0.47mm(3), while that
      of group 2 and group 3 was 0.01mm(3). CONCLUSION: The wear volume loss of enamels
      against zirconia was higher than that of gold and zirconia crowns. Moreover,
      according to this result, zirconia crowns are not recommended for heavy bruxers.

PMID- 25837340
TI  - Correlations between transmural mechanical and morphological properties in
      porcine thoracic descending aorta.
AB  - Determination of correlations between transmural mechanical and morphological
      properties of aorta would provide a quantitative baseline for assessment of
      preventive and therapeutic strategies for aortic injuries and diseases. A
      multimodal and multidisciplinary approach was adopted to characterize the
      transmural morphological properties of descending porcine aorta. Histology and
      multi-photon microscopy were used for describing the media layer micro
      architecture in the circumferential-radial plane, and Fourier Transform infrared
      imaging spectroscopy was utilized for determining structural protein, and total
      protein content. The distributions of these quantified properties across the
      media thickness were characterized and their relationship with the mechanical
      properties from a previous study was determined. Our findings indicate that there
      is an increasing trend in the instantaneous Young's modulus (E), elastic lamella
      density (ELD), structural protein (SPR), total protein (TPR), and elastin and
      collagen circumferential percentage (ECP and CCP) from the inner towards the
      outer layers. Two regions with equal thickness (inner and outer halves) were
      determined with significantly different morphological and material properties.
      The results of this study represent a substantial step toward anatomical
      characterization of the aortic wall building blocks and establishment of a
      foundation for quantifying the role of microstructural components on the
      functionality of aorta. 

PMID- 25837342
TI  - Mechanical properties and cytotoxicity of nanoplate-like
      hydroxyapatite/polylactide nanocomposites prepared by intercalation technique.
AB  - Hydroxyapatite (HAp) in the forms of fiber, needle, and whisker has been employed
      as fillers in polymer composites. Herein, nanoplate-like HAp synthesized by
      template-assisted self-assembly was used to reinforce polylactide (PLA)
      nanocomposites via the solution intercalation method. Dynamic and static
      mechanical properties and cytotoxicity of the as-prepared HAp/PLA nanocomposites
      were assessed in addition to characterizations by XRD, FTIR, and TGA. XRD
      analysis confirms the formation of exfoliated structure in the HAp/PLA
      nanocomposites. The HAp/PLA nanocomposites exhibit better static and dynamic
      mechanical properties than unreinforced PLA. Furthermore, the HAp/PLA
      nanocomposite with an optimum HAp content of 20wt% (20HAp/PLA) demonstrates not
      only the best mechanical performance but also the highest thermal stability among
      the nanocomposite samples. Cell studies using a mouse fibroblast cell line (L929)
      suggest that 20HAp/PLA shows excellent biocompatibility, which makes it a
      promising material for biomedical applications. 

PMID- 25837343
TI  - Mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of Mg-Gd-Ca-Zr alloys for medical
      applications.
AB  - Magnesium alloys are promising candidates for biomedical applications. In this
      work, influences of composition and heat treatment on the microstructure, the
      mechanical properties and the corrosion behavior of Mg-Gd-Ca-Zr alloys as
      potential biomedical implant candidates were investigated. Mg5Gd phase was
      observed at the grain boundaries of Mg-10Gd-xCa-0.5Zr (x=0, 0.3, 1.2wt%) alloys.
      Increase in the Ca content led to the formation of additional Mg2Ca phase. The Ca
      additions increased both the compressive and the tensile yield strengths, but
      reduced the ductility and the corrosion resistance in cell culture medium. After
      solution heat treatment, the Mg5Gd particles dissolved in the Mg matrix. The
      compressive strength decreased, while the corrosion resistance improved in the
      solution treated alloys. After ageing at 200 degrees C, metastable beta' phase
      formed on prismatic planes and a new type of basal precipitates have been
      observed, which improved the compressive and tensile ultimate strength, but
      decreased the ductility. 

PMID- 25837344
TI  - Carbamate pesticide-induced apoptosis in human T lymphocytes.
AB  - We previously found that carbamate pesticides induced significant apoptosis in
      human natural killer cells. To investigate whether carbamate pesticides also
      induce apoptosis in human T lymphocytes, in the present study Jurkat human T
      cells were treated in vitro with thiram, maneb, carbaryl or ziram. Apoptosis was
      determined by FITC-Annexin-V/PI staining. To explore the mechanism of apoptosis,
      intracellular levels of active caspase 3 and mitochondrial cytochrome-c release
      were determined by flow cytometry. We found that thiram, ziram, maneb and
      carbaryl also induced apoptosis in a time- and dose-dependent manner in the human
      T cells. However, the strength of the apoptosis-inducing effect differed among
      the pesticides, with the: thiram > ziram > maneb > carbaryl. Moreover, thiram
      significantly increased the intracellular level of active caspase 3 and caspase
      inhibitors significantly inhibited apoptosis. Thiram also significantly caused
      mitochondrial cytochrome-c release. These findings indicate that carbamate
      pesticides can induce apoptosis in human T cells, and the apoptosis is mediated
      by the activation of caspases and the release of mitochondrial cytochrome-c. 

PMID- 25837345
TI  - High resolution spatial and temporal mapping of traffic-related air pollutants.
AB  - Vehicle traffic is one of the most significant emission sources of air pollutants
      in urban areas. While the influence of mobile source emissions is felt throughout
      an urban area, concentrations from mobile emissions can be highest near major
      roadways. At present, information regarding the spatial and temporal patterns and
      the share of pollution attributable to traffic-related air pollutants is limited,
      in part due to concentrations that fall sharply with distance from roadways, as
      well as the few monitoring sites available in cities. This study uses a newly
      developed dispersion model (RLINE) and a spatially and temporally resolved
      emissions inventory to predict hourly PM2.5 and NOx concentrations across Detroit
      (MI, USA) at very high spatial resolution. Results for annual averages and high
      pollution days show contrasting patterns, the need for spatially resolved
      analyses, and the limitations of surrogate metrics like proximity or distance to
      roads. Data requirements, computational and modeling issues are discussed. High
      resolution pollutant data enable the identification of pollutant "hotspots",
      "project-level" analyses of transportation options, development of exposure
      measures for epidemiology studies, delineation of vulnerable and susceptible
      populations, policy analyses examining risks and benefits of mitigation options,
      and the development of sustainability indicators integrating environmental,
      social, economic and health information. 

PMID- 25837346
TI  - Assessment of foetal exposure to the homogeneous magnetic field harmonic spectrum
      generated by electricity transmission and distribution networks.
AB  - During the last decades studies addressing the effects of exposure to Extremely
      Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (ELF-EMF) have pointed out a possible link
      between those fields emitted by power lines and childhood leukaemia. They have
      also stressed the importance of also including in the assessment the contribution
      of frequency components, namely harmonics, other than the fundamental one. Based
      on the spectrum of supply voltage networks allowed by the European standard for
      electricity quality assessment, in this study the exposure of high-resolution
      three-dimensional models of foetuses to the whole harmonic content of a uniform
      magnetic field with a fundamental frequency of 50 Hz, was assessed. The results
      show that the main contribution in terms of induced electric fields to the foetal
      exposure is given by the fundamental frequency component. The harmonic components
      add some contributions to the overall level of electric fields, however, due to
      the extremely low permitted amplitude of the harmonic components with respect to
      the fundamental, their amplitudes are low. The level of the induced electric
      field is also much lower than the limits suggested by the guidelines for general
      public exposure, when the amplitude of the incident magnetic field is set at the
      maximum permitted level. 

PMID- 25837347
TI  - Temporal dynamics and drivers of ecosystem metabolism in a large subtropical
      shallow lake (lake Taihu).
AB  - With continuous measurements of dissolved oxygen, temperature, irradiance, and
      wind speed, as well as frequent measurements of pH, oxidation-reduction
      potential, and algal chlorophyll, temporal dynamics and drivers of ecosystem
      metabolism in a large nutrient-rich shallow lake (Lake Taihu) are tested in this
      study. The results show that the dissolved oxygen concentrations in the lake
      fluctuate annually. They increase in autumn and winter with a peak value of 14.19
      mg.L-1 in winter, and decrease in spring and summer with a trough value of 6.40
      mg.L-1 in summer. Gross primary production (GPP), ecosystem respiration (R), and
      net ecosystem production (NEP) increase in summer, with their peak values in late
      summer and autumn, and decrease in winter and spring. Mean values of GPP, R and
      NEP are 1.75 +/- 0.06 (Mean +/- SE), 1.52 +/- 0.05, and 0.23 +/- 0.03 g O2 m-3.d
      1, respectively. It is also found that water temperature and surface irradiance
      are the best predictors of GPP and R, while water temperature (wind speed) has a
      significantly positive (negative) relationship with NEP. The findings in this
      study suggest that Lake Taihu is a net autotrophic ecosystem, and water
      temperature and surface irradiance are the two important drivers of lake
      metabolism. 

PMID- 25837348
TI  - Longitudinal changes in functioning and disability in patients with disorders of
      consciousness: the importance of environmental factors.
AB  - Disorders of consciousness are neurological conditions associated with low levels
      of functioning which pose a serious challenge to public health systems. The
      current study aimed to examine longitudinal changes in functioning in patients
      with disorders of consciousness and to identify associated biopsychosocial
      factors using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and
      Health. An Italian sample of 248 patients was assessed longitudinally.
      Differences in relative variability (an index of change that controls for
      baseline levels) between acute and chronic patients and predictors of relative
      variability in "Activities & Participation" were examined. Results showed that
      there were subgroups of patients whose functioning improved over time. The number
      of problems in "Activities & Participation" decreased in acute patients over
      time, whereas in chronic patients, an increase was found. The significant
      difference in relative variability for the environmental factor "support and
      relationships" reflects the increase in facilitators in acute patients, whereas
      the number of facilitators in chronic patients remained unchanged over time. Age
      at event, time from event, and relative variability in "Environmental Factors"
      were significant predictors of relative variability in "Activities &
      Participation". It is of clinical relevance that patients with disorders of
      consciousness are kept in a supportive and facilitative environment, in order to
      prevent a decline in their functioning. Moreover, caregivers should receive
      tailored support in order to enhance and facilitate appropriate care of patients
      with disorders of consciousness. 

PMID- 25837349
TI  - Diuron in water: functional toxicity and intracellular detoxification patterns of
      active concentrations assayed in tandem by a yeast-based probe.
AB  - A study on the acute and chronic effects of the herbicide diuron was carried out.
      The test, basing on a yeast cell probe, investigated the interference with
      cellular catabolism and possible self-detoxification capacity of Saccharomyces
      cerevisiae. Aerobic respiration was taken as the toxicological end-point.
      Percentage interference (%r) with cellular respiration was measured in water by
      increased dissolved O2 concentration (ppm) after exposure to different doses.
      Interference was calculated through the comparison of respiratory activity of
      exposed and non-exposed cells. Short-term and long-term (6 and 24 h respectively)
      exposures were also considered. The test for short-term exposure gave positive %r
      values except that for 10-6 M (11.11%, 11.76%, 13.33% and 0% for 10-10 M, 10-8 M,
      10-7 M and 10-6 M respectively). In the case of long-term exposure the test
      showed positive %r values, but less effect than short-term exposure until 10-8 M
      and much higher at 10-6 M (7.41%, 8.82%, 11.76% and 6.06% for 10-10 M, 10-8 M, 10
      7 M and 10-6 M respectively). The findings of aerobic respiration as
      toxicological end-point were in agreement with known mechanisms of toxicity and
      intracellular detoxification for both the doses and exposure times employed. 

PMID- 25837350
TI  - When self-reliance is not safe: associations between reduced help-seeking and
      subsequent mental health symptoms in suicidal adolescents.
AB  - The majority of suicidal adolescents have no contact with mental health services,
      and reduced help-seeking in this population further lessens the likelihood of
      accessing treatment. A commonly-reported reason for not seeking help is youths'
      perception that they should solve problems on their own. In this study, we
      explore associations between extreme self-reliance behavior (i.e., solving
      problems on your own all of the time), help-seeking behavior, and mental health
      symptoms in a community sample of adolescents. Approximately 2150 adolescents,
      across six schools, participated in a school-based suicide prevention screening
      program, and a subset of at-risk youth completed a follow-up interview two years
      later. Extreme self-reliance was associated with reduced help-seeking, clinically
      significant depressive symptoms, and serious suicidal ideation at the baseline
      screening. Furthermore, in a subset of youth identified as at-risk at the
      baseline screening, extreme self-reliance predicted level of suicidal ideation
      and depressive symptoms two years later even after controlling for baseline
      symptoms. Given these findings, attitudes that reinforce extreme self-reliance
      behavior may be an important target for youth suicide prevention programs.
      Reducing extreme self-reliance in youth with suicidality may increase their
      likelihood of appropriate help-seeking and concomitant reductions in symptoms. 

PMID- 25837351
TI  - Temporal latency between pelvic floor trauma and presentation for prolapse
      surgery: a retrospective observational study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Levator avulsion is an etiological factor for female
      pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and generally occurs during a first vaginal birth.
      However, most women with POP present decades later. This study aimed to estimate
      latency between pelvic floor trauma and presentation for POP surgery. METHODS:
      This was a retrospective observational study in a tertiary urogynecological unit
      to which 354 patients presented for evaluation prior to prolapse surgery between
      June 2011 and December 2012. All underwent an interview, clinical assessment
      [International Continence Society Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification score (ICS
      POPQ) and 4D translabial ultrasound (US). Postprocessing analysis of US volumes
      was blinded against clinical data. The main outcome measure was temporal latency
      between first vaginal birth and prolapse presentation in women with levator
      avulsion. RESULTS: Three hundred and fifty-four patients presented with symptoms
      of prolapse, of whom 115 (32 %) were found to have an avulsion of the levator ani
      muscle. Of these, 30 patients were excluded due to previous prolapse surgery,
      leaving 85, all of whom showed significant prolapse on US and/or clinical
      staging. Mean latency between first vaginal delivery and presentation was 33.5 (3
      66.3) years. There were no associations between latency and potential predictors,
      except for maternal age at first birth, which was associated with shorter latency
      (r = -0.45 , P < 0.001). There was a trend toward shorter latency after forceps
      delivery (P = 0.09). CONCLUSIONS: Average latency between first birth and
      presentation for prolapse surgery in women with avulsion was 33.5 (3-66) years.
      Maternal age at first vaginal birth and possibly forceps delivery were associated
      with shorter time to presentation.

PMID- 25837353
TI  - Use of cataract surgery in urban Beijing: a post screening follow-up of the
      elderly with visual impairment due to age-related cataract.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To understand the perception for the use of cataract surgical services
      in a population of acceptors and non-acceptors of cataract surgery in urban
      Beijing. METHODS: From a community-based screening program a total of 158
      patients with presenting visual acuity of less than 6/18 on either eye due to age
      related cataract were informed about the possibility of surgical treatment. These
      patients were interviewed and re-examined 36 to 46 months after initial
      screening. The main reasons for not accepting surgery were obtained using a
      questionnaire. Vision function and vision-related quality of life scores were
      assessed in those who received and did not receive surgery. RESULTS: At the
      follow-up examination 116 of the 158 patients were available and 36 (31.0%) had
      undergone cataract surgery. Cases who chose surgery had higher education level
      than those who did not seek surgery (OR=2.64, 95% CI: 1.08-6.63, P=0.02). There
      were no significant differences in vision function (P=0.11) or quality of life
      scores (P=0.16) between the surgery group and the non-surgery group. Main reasons
      for not having surgery included no perceived need (50.0%), feeling of being "too
      old" (19.2%), and worry about the quality of surgery (9.6%). Cost was cited by 1
      (1.9%) subject as the main reason for not seeking surgery. CONCLUSIONS: The data
      suggest that in China's capital urban center for patients with moderate visual
      impairment there is a relative low acceptance rate of cataract surgery, mainly
      due to people's perception of marginal benefits of surgery. Cost is not a
      determining factor as barrier to undergo surgery and patients with poorer
      education are less likely to undertake surgery.

PMID- 25837352
TI  - medplot: a web application for dynamic summary and analysis of longitudinal
      medical data based on R.
AB  - In biomedical studies the patients are often evaluated numerous times and a large
      number of variables are recorded at each time-point. Data entry and manipulation
      of longitudinal data can be performed using spreadsheet programs, which usually
      include some data plotting and analysis capabilities and are straightforward to
      use, but are not designed for the analyses of complex longitudinal data.
      Specialized statistical software offers more flexibility and capabilities, but
      first time users with biomedical background often find its use difficult. We
      developed medplot, an interactive web application that simplifies the exploration
      and analysis of longitudinal data. The application can be used to summarize,
      visualize and analyze data by researchers that are not familiar with statistical
      programs and whose knowledge of statistics is limited. The summary tools produce
      publication-ready tables and graphs. The analysis tools include features that are
      seldom available in spreadsheet software, such as correction for multiple
      testing, repeated measurement analyses and flexible non-linear modeling of the
      association of the numerical variables with the outcome. medplot is freely
      available and open source, it has an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), it
      is accessible via the Internet and can be used within a web browser, without the
      need for installing and maintaining programs locally on the user's computer. This
      paper describes the application and gives detailed examples describing how to use
      the application on real data from a clinical study including patients with early
      Lyme borreliosis. 

PMID- 25837354
TI  - Lipopolysaccharide challenge induces long pentraxin 3 expression in mice
      independently from acute lung injury.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the onset of acute lung injury (ALI) induces the
      up-regulation of pentraxin 3 (PTX3) expression in mice and whether PTX3
      concentration in the biofluid can help recognizing sepsis-induced ALI. METHODS:
      Wild-type C57BL/6 mice (12-14 weeks old) were randomly divided into 3 groups.
      Mice in the group 1 (n=12) and group 2 (n=12) were instilled with
      lipopolysaccharide via intratracheal or intraperitoneal routes, respectively.
      Mice in the group 3 (n=8) were taken as blank controls. Pulmonary morphological
      and functional alterations were measured to determine the presence of
      experimental ALI. PTX3 expression in the lung was quantified at both protein and
      mRNA levels. PTX3 protein concentration in blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid
      was measured to evaluate its ability to diagnose sepsis-induced ALI by computing
      area under receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROCC). RESULTS: ALI was
      commonly confirmed in the group 1 but never in the other groups. PTX3 expression
      was up-regulated indiscriminately among lipopolysaccharide-challenged mice. PTX3
      protein concentration in the biofluid was unable to diagnose sepsis-induced ALI
      evidenced by its small AUROCC. PTX3 concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid
      did not correlate with that in serum. CONCLUSIONS: Lipopolysaccharide challenges
      induced PTX3 expression in mice regardless of the presence of ALI. PTX3 may act
      as an indicator of inflammatory response instead of organ injury per se.

PMID- 25837355
TI  - Reliability of a novel Cobb protractor for measuring the Cobb angle of radiograph
      in scoliosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To introduce a novel Cobb protractor and assess its reliability and
      rapidity for measuring Cobb angle in scoliosis patients. METHODS: The novel Cobb
      protractor had two endplate markers. A measurement was performed just to align
      the two markers to each endplate of the curve. The Cobb angle on the
      posteroanterior radiographs of 24 patients clinically diagnosed with adolescent
      idiopathic scoliosis was measured by three orthopedic surgeons with both standard
      Cobb method and the new technique, and the time of measurement was recorded.
      Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated to assess the
      reliability of the new method. RESULTS: The time for a measurement with the new
      tool was approximately 10 seconds less than the time that used to finish a
      measurement with the standard method (P<0.05). The overall mean Cobb angle for
      the major curve of the 24 patients was 47.8 degrees . The mean overall
      intraobserver and interobserver ICC was 0.971 and 0.971 for the Cobb method
      group, while the overall intraobserver ICC and the interobserver was 0.985 and
      0.979 for the new tool group. CONCLUSIONS: The novel Cobb protractor could
      perform quick measurement and measure almost all forms of radiographs. The Cobb
      protractor might be an ideal instrument to measure the Cobb angle.

PMID- 25837356
TI  - Role of removing stasis and reducing heat formula in clearance of proximal
      ureteral calculi after ureteroscopic Ho:YAG laser lithotripsy: a prospective
      randomized study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To prospectively evaluate the efficacy of Removing Stasis and Reducing
      Heat Formula in accelerating calculus clearance and improving lower urinary tract
      symptoms of patients with proximal ureteral calculi after ureteroscopic Ho:YAG
      laser lithotripsy. METHODS: A total of 138 patients with proximal ureteral
      calculi underwent ureteroscopic Ho:YAG laser lithotripsy by a single
      endocrinologist. Stone size varied from 10 to 15 mm. After operation, the
      patients were randomly divided into three groups: the control group (group A),
      tamsulosin group (group B), and Removing Stasis and Reducing Heat Formula group
      (group C). The treatment lasted for 4 weeks or until stone clearance. The primary
      and secondary outcomes of the three groups at follow-up were assessed. RESULTS:
      Of the 131 patients available for follow-up, 44 cases were in the group A, 45 in
      the group B, and 42 in the group C, respectively. The stone free rate at 2 weeks
      in the groups B and C were significantly higher than that in the group A (95.56%,
      97.62% vs. 79.55%; all P<0.05). The ureteral colic rate and mean time of fragment
      expulsion were significantly reduced in the groups B (4.44% and 7.86+/-4.99 days)
      and C (2.43% and 6.76+/-4.37 days) compared with the group A (22.73% and 11.54+/
      9.89 days, all P<0.05). On the day of double-J ureteric stent removal, the group
      C differed significantly from the group A in the total International Prostate
      Symptom Score, irritative subscore, obstructive subscore, and quality of life
      score (all P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Removing Stasis and Reducing Heat Formula in the
      medical expulsive therapy might be an effective modality for patients with
      calculus in the proximal uretera after ureteroscopic Ho:YAG laser lithotripsy.

PMID- 25837357
TI  - Redo coronary artery bypass grafting: on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass
      grafting revascularization techniques.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the short-term outcomes of redo coronary artery bypass
      grafting (CABG) using on-pump and off-pump CABG techniques. METHODS: From January
      2003 to August 2013, non-randomized 80 patients were treated with redo CABG in
      the Department of Cardiac Surgery, Peking University Third Hospital. Among these
      patients, 40 underwent on-pump CABG technique (redo-ONCAB group) and 40 underwent
      off-pump CABG technique (redo-OPCAB group). Furthermore, transmyocardial laser
      revascularization was performed in high-risk patients who were not suitable to
      conventional grafting. Clinical data of the two groups were recorded and analyzed
      including operation time, coronary grafts, incomplete revascularization,
      postoperative ventilation, perioperative stroke, and low output syndrome, etc.
      RESULTS: There were no significantly differences in age, gender distribution,
      incidences of hypertension, stroke, and other clinical characteristics between
      redo-OPCAB group and redo-ONCAB group (all P>0.05), except for incidences of
      renal dysfunction and pulmonary disease (all P<0.05). The number of grafting
      vessels in the redo-ONCAB and redo-OPCAB groups was 2.1 +/- 0.74 and 1.4 +/-0.52
      respectively. There was significant difference between the two groups (P=0.0243).
      Compared with the redo-ONCAB group, there was shorter operation time (P=0.0045),
      postoperative ventilation (P=0.0211) and intensive care unit stay (P=0.0400), as
      well as fewer use of platelet (P=0.0338) and blood transfusion (P=0.0034) in the
      redo-OPCAB group. The incidence of incomplete revascularization (P=0.0253) and
      the use of transmyocardial laser revascularization (P=0.0052) were higher in the
      redo-OPCAB group than those in the redo-ONCAB group (all P<0.05). However, no
      significant differences were showed for the incidence of the use of intra aortic
      balloon pump and continuous renal replacement therapy, perioperative stroke, low
      output syndrome, and in-hospital mortality between the two groups (all P>0.05).
      CONCLUSION: Redo CABG is the safety and efficacy surgical procedure, and redo
      OPCAB technique with better outcomes is commended especially in high-risk
      patients.

PMID- 25837358
TI  - MRI evaluation of lateral geniculate body in normal aging brain using
      quantitative susceptibility mapping.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes of lateral geniculate body (LGB) in the
      normal aging brain using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) technique.
      METHODS: Magnetic resonance (MR) phase and magnitude images were acquired from
      enhanced gradient echo T2 star weighted angiography sequence with 16 echoes on
      3.0T MR system using the head coil with 32 channels. Morphology Enabled Dipole
      Inversion (MEDI) method was applied for QSM, and the susceptibility value of LGB
      was measured by region of interest (ROI) drawn manually on three orthogonal
      planes. RESULTS: LGB of the middle-aged group had a higher susceptibility value
      (0.16+/-0.05 ppm) than that of the youth group (0.12+/-0.05 ppm) and elderly
      group (0.13+/-0.03 ppm) (all P<0.05). Partial correlation analysis demonstrated
      that there was significantly positive correlation between susceptibility value
      and age in the youth group (r=0.71, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: LGB could clearly be
      identified on QSM in the brain in vivo.

PMID- 25837359
TI  - Total glycosides of Ranunculus japonius prevent hypertrophy in cardiomyocytes via
      alleviating chronic Ca(2+) overload.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the in vitro anti-hypertrophic effect of total Glycosides
      of Ranunculus Japonius (TGRJ). METHODS: Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were cultured
      and hypertrophy was induced by administrating isoproterenol (ISO, 10 umol/L) or
      angiotensin 2 (Ang 2, 1 umol/L) for 48 hours. In the treatment groups, cells were
      pretreated with TGRJ (0.3 g/L) for 30 minutes prior to hypertrophic stimuli. The
      anti-hypertrophic effects of TGRJ were examined by measuring cell size, total
      protein content, and protein synthesis. Intracellular free Ca(2+) concentration
      ([Ca(2+)]i) was evaluated using fluorescence dye Fura-2/AM.
      Sacroplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) ATPase 2a (SERCA2a), atrial natriuretic
      peptide (ANP), B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), and beta-myosin heavy chain
      (beta-MHC) protein expression levels were measured by Western blotting . SERCA2a
      activity was assayed by p-nitrophenal phosphate disodium salt hexahydrate method.
      RESULTS: Increased cell size, total protein content, and protein synthesis
      following ISO or Ang 2 stimulation were significantly inhibited by pretreatment
      with TGRJ (all P<0.05). This anti-hypertrophic effect of TGRJ was confirmed by
      its suppressing effect on elevated expression of the three hypertrophic related
      genetic markers, ANP, BNP, and beta-MHC. In addition, TGRJ inhibited ISO or Ang 2
      induced up-regulation of [Ca(2+)]i under chronic but not acute conditions. And
      ISO or Ang 2 induced down-regulation of SERCA2a expression and activity was also
      effectively rectified by TGRJ pretreatment. CONCLUSIONS: The results of present
      study suggested that TGRJ could prevent ISO or Ang 2 induced cardiac hypertrophy
      through improving chronic [Ca(2+)]i disorder, might via normalizing SERCA2a
      expression and activity.

PMID- 25837360
TI  - Association between two polymorphisms of follicle stimulating hormone receptor
      gene and susceptibility to polycystic ovary syndrome: a meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between two polymorphisms of follicle
      stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) gene and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
      susceptibility. METHODS: Case-control studies on relationship of Thr307Ala and
      Asn680Ser polymorphisms in FSHR gene and PCOS susceptibility were searched from
      PubMed, ISI web of knowledge, EBSCO, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure
      (CNKI) databases up to March 21, 2013. The pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95%
      confidence interval (CI) were calculated using fixed- or random-effect model
      based on heterogeneity test in 5 genotype models analyses. RESULTS: A total of 11
      studies were included in the Meta-analysis. The random-effect analysis showed
      Asn680Ser was significantly associated with the reduced susceptibility to PCOS
      with dominant model (Asn/Asn+Asn/Ser vs. Ser/Ser, OR=0.83, 95% CI: 0.69-1.00),
      recessive model (Asn/Asn vs. Asn/Ser+ Ser/Ser, OR=0.84, 95% CI: 0.72-0.98),
      homozygote comparison (Asn/Asn vs. Ser/Ser, OR=0.79, 95% CI: 0.63-0.98), and the
      allele contrast (Asn vs. Ser, OR=0.87, 95% CI: 0.79-0.97) respectively(P=0.02,
      I(2)=56.0%), being protective factors for PCOS. However, no significant
      associations were found between Thr307Ala and PCOS. CONCLUSION: There might be a
      significant association between Asn680Ser polymorphism and PCOS.

PMID- 25837361
TI  - Effects of sunitinib malate on growth of human bladder transitional cell line T24
      in vitro.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the growth-inhibitory effect of sunitinib malate on
      human bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) in vitro. METHODS: Human bladder
      TCC cell line T24 was cultured and exposed to graded concentrations of sunitinib
      malate for 72 hours in vitro to determine the sensitivities to drug. Cell
      viability was measured by MTT assay. Cell apoptotic morphology was observed by
      fluorescence microscope following DAPI staining. Band expressions of Fas, Fas
      ligand, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and beta-actin were analyzed by
      Western blot. Wound healing process of T24 cells exposed to sunitinib malate was
      assayed. RESULTS: Sunitinib malate exerted a concentration-dependent and time
      dependent inhibitory effect on the T24 cell lines. Fluorescence microscopy showed
      that small vacuoles appeared in the nuclei of T24 cells and the vacuoles were
      bigger with higher drug concentrations. The expressions of Fas ligand and PARP in
      T24 cells treated with sunitinib malate exhibited a concentration-dependent
      increase. Moreover sunitinib malate suppressed the wound healing process in a
      concentration-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: Sunitinib malate exerted marked
      inhibitory activity against bladder cancer cell line T24.

PMID- 25837362
TI  - Calyceal diverticulum mimicking simple parapelvic cyst: a case report.
AB  - Calyceal diverticulum is a cystic intrarenal cavity lined by nonsecretory
      transitional epithelium that communicates with the collecting system via a narrow
      isthmus or infundibulum. It is a rare anatomic anomaly with an incidence of 0.2%
      to 0.6% in the patients undergoing renal imaging.1 Single imaging modality
      usually cannot differentiate calyceal diverticulum from other cystic renal
      diseases.2 Here, we report a 60-year-old male who was reliably diagnosed with
      calyceal diverticulum by retrograde urography combined with non-enhanced computed
      tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance urography (MRU).

PMID- 25837363
TI  - Systemic lupus erythematosus and antiphospholipid syndrome related retinal
      vasculitis mimicking ocular cysticercosis: a case report.
AB  - Making accurate and timely diagnosis is often challenging when patients with a
      systemic disease first present with ocular manifestations. The possibility that
      vasculitis associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and
      antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) can be misdiagnosed as cysticercosis has not been
      discussed in the literatures.

PMID- 25837364
TI  - Conjunctival langerhans cell histiocytosis: a case report.
AB  - Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare disease, mainly involving the bone,
      skin, lung, liver, spleen, and skin.1 The heterogenenous nature of LCH makes it
      difficult to diagnose. Not only do the involved organs vary from case to case,
      but also its natural history. Herein, we describe a rare case of conjuctival LCH
      in an Asian woman.

PMID- 25837365
TI  - [Tonsillectomy].

PMID- 25837366
TI  - [Upper airway stimulation in obstructive sleep apnea].
AB  - The stimulation of the upper airway represents an effective treatment option in
      case of CPAP failure in patients with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea.
      The stimulation with respiratory sensing (Inspire Medical Systems) has shown a
      high level of evidence in larger cohorts and longer follow-up studies. Whether
      the results of the stimulation without respiratory sensing (ImThera Medical) can
      be compared with the therapy with sensing, remains open up to now. Additional
      data are awaited after the planned phase III study THN#2. To optimize both
      procedure and to provide long term results, more studies are needed. The
      workgroup "sleep medicine" of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head
      and Neck Surgery supports theses activities with the help of the newly founded
      task force "Neurostimulation in Sleep Apnea". 

PMID- 25837368
TI  - [Informed consent at lost patient information sheet].

PMID- 25837369
TI  - [Allergic rhinitis in the context of chronic rhinosinusitis].
AB  - Chronic Rhinosinusitis is one of the most frequent chronic diseases. A major
      cause is allergic rhinitis. Both illnesses and the combination of both, which is
      the topic of this educational article, as well as the clarification and therapy
      of differential diagnoses are belonging in the hands of the
      otorhinolaryngologist. Finally, it is not completely understood which mechanisms
      of the allergic inflammation in the nose lead or predispose in the individual
      patient to the development of a chronic sinus disease. A series of excellent
      national and international guidelines have been published supporting the
      otorhinolaryngologist in diagnostics and treatment of patients with allergic
      rhinosinusitis. This article presents the most important and actual diagnostic
      and therapeutic procedures for the treatment of this important chronic disease in
      children and adults. 

PMID- 25837370
TI  - [Question: Please explain midfacial fractures. Forms, therapy?].

PMID- 25837371
TI  - [Support - anesthesia, surgery, instrument update, navigation technique, etc. 1].

PMID- 25837372
TI  - Analysis of threats to research validity introduced by audio recording clinic
      visits: Selection bias, Hawthorne effect, both, or neither?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify factors associated with participant consent to record
      visits; to estimate effects of recording on patient-clinician interactions.
      METHODS: Secondary analysis of data from a randomized trial studying
      communication about depression; participants were asked for optional consent to
      audio record study visits. Multiple logistic regression was used to model
      likelihood of patient and clinician consent. Multivariable regression and
      propensity score analyses were used to estimate effects of audio recording on 6
      dependent variables: discussion of depressive symptoms, preventive health, and
      depression diagnosis; depression treatment recommendations; visit length; visit
      difficulty. RESULTS: Of 867 visits involving 135 primary care clinicians, 39%
      were recorded. For clinicians, only working in academic settings (P=0.003) and
      having worked longer at their current practice (P=0.02) were associated with
      increased likelihood of consent. For patients, white race (P=0.002) and diabetes
      (P=0.03) were associated with increased likelihood of consent. Neither
      multivariable regression nor propensity score analyses revealed any significant
      effects of recording on the variables examined. CONCLUSION: Few clinician or
      patient characteristics were significantly associated with consent. Audio
      recording had no significant effect on any of the 6 dependent variables examined.
      PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Benefits of recording clinic visits likely outweigh the
      risks of bias in this setting.

PMID- 25837373
TI  - A summary of seven- and eight-membered ring sultam syntheses via three Michael
      addition reactions.
AB  - A series of seven- and eight-membered ring -N,O-, -N,N-, and -N,S-sultams were
      effectively synthesized via tandem reactions involving oxa-, aza-, and thia
      Michael addition to vinyl sulfonamides. These reactions are summarized here since
      they enrich current synthetic methodologies for sultams and provide a good
      example of sultam diversity-oriented synthesis. All reactions proceeded under
      relatively mild and environmentally friendly conditions, and all these reactions
      are quite suitable for the rapid preparation of sultam compound libraries, which
      are valuable for biological activity explorations. 

PMID- 25837374
TI  - Crystal structure of the FLT3 kinase domain bound to the inhibitor Quizartinib
      (AC220).
AB  - More than 30% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients possess activating
      mutations in the receptor tyrosine kinase FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 or FLT3. A
      small-molecule inhibitor of FLT3 (known as quizartinib or AC220) that is
      currently in clinical trials appears promising for the treatment of AML. Here, we
      report the co-crystal structure of the kinase domain of FLT3 in complex with
      quizartinib. FLT3 with quizartinib bound adopts an "Abl-like" inactive
      conformation with the activation loop stabilized in the "DFG-out" orientation and
      folded back onto the kinase domain. This conformation is similar to that observed
      for the uncomplexed intracellular domain of FLT3 as well as for related receptor
      tyrosine kinases, except for a localized induced fit in the activation loop. The
      co-crystal structure reveals the interactions between quizartinib and the active
      site of FLT3 that are key for achieving its high potency against both wild-type
      FLT3 as well as a FLT3 variant observed in many AML patients. This co-complex
      further provides a structural rationale for quizartinib-resistance mutations. 

PMID- 25837375
TI  - The alternative role of DNA methylation in splicing regulation.
AB  - Although DNA methylation was originally thought to only affect transcription,
      emerging evidence shows that it also regulates alternative splicing. Exons, and
      especially splice sites, have higher levels of DNA methylation than flanking
      introns, and the splicing of about 22% of alternative exons is regulated by DNA
      methylation. Two different mechanisms convey DNA methylation information into the
      regulation of alternative splicing. The first involves modulation of the
      elongation rate of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) by CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) and
      methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2); the second involves the formation of a
      protein bridge by heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) that recruits splicing factors
      onto transcribed alternative exons. These two mechanisms, however, regulate only
      a fraction of such events, implying that more underlying mechanisms remain to be
      found. 

PMID- 25837376
TI  - Molecular signatures of nicotinoid-pathogen synergy in the termite gut.
AB  - Previous studies in lower termites revealed unexpected synergies between
      nicotinoid insecticides and fungal entomopathogens. The present study
      investigated molecular mechanisms of nicotinoid-pathogen synergy in the lower
      termite Reticulitermes flavipes, using the nicotinoid, imidacloprid, in
      combination with fungal and bacterial entomopathogens. Particular focus was
      placed on metatranscriptome composition and microbial dynamics in the symbiont
      rich termite gut, which houses diverse mixes of protists and bacteria. cDNA
      microarrays containing a mix of host and protist symbiont oligonucleotides were
      used to simultaneously assess termite and protist gene expression. Five
      treatments were compared that included single challenges with sublethal doses of
      fungi (Metharizium anisopliae), bacteria (Serratia marcescens) or imidacloprid,
      and dual challenges with fungi + imidacloprid or bacteria + imidacloprid. Our
      findings point towards protist dysbiosis and compromised social behavior, rather
      than suppression of stereotypical immune defense mechanisms, as the dominant
      factors underlying nicotinoid-pathogen synergy in termites. Also, greater impacts
      observed for the fungal pathogen than for the bacterial pathogen suggest that the
      rich bacterial symbiont community in the R. flavipes gut (>5000 species-level
      phylotypes) exists in an ecological balance that effectively excludes exogenous
      bacterial pathogens. These findings significantly advance our understanding of
      antimicrobial defenses in this important eusocial insect group, as well as
      provide novel insights into how nicotinoids can exert deleterious effects on
      social insect colonies. 

PMID- 25837377
TI  - Imaging and analysis of microcalcifications and lipid/necrotic core calcification
      in fibrous cap atheroma.
AB  - The presence of microcalcifications (uCalcs) >5 um within the cap of human
      fibroatheroma has been shown to produce a 200-700% increase in peak
      circumferential stress, which can transform a stable plaque into a vulnerable
      one, whereas uCalcs < 5 um do not appear to increase risk. We quantitatively
      examine the possibility to distinguish caps with uCalcs > 5 um based on the gross
      morphological features of fibroatheromas, and the correlation between the size
      and distribution of uCalcs in the cap and the calcification in the lipid/necrotic
      core beneath it. Atherosclerotic lesions (N = 72) were imaged using HR-MUCT at
      2.1-MUm resolution for detailed analysis of atheroma morphology and composition,
      and validated using non-decalcified histology. At 2.1-MUm resolution one observes
      four different patterns of calcification within the lipid/necrotic core, and is
      able to elucidate the 3D spatial progression of the calcification process using
      these four patterns. Of the gross morphological features identified, only minimum
      cap thickness positively correlated with the existence of uCalcs > 5 um in the
      cap. We also show that uCalcs in the cap accumulate in the vicinity of the
      lipid/necrotic core boundary with few on the lumen side of the cap. HR-MUCT
      enables three-dimensional assessment of soft tissue composition, lipid content,
      calcification patterns within lipid/necrotic cores and analysis of the axial
      progression of calcification within individual atheroma. The distribution of
      uCalcs within the cap is highly non-uniform and decreases sharply as one proceeds
      from the lipid pool/necrotic core boundary to the lumen.

PMID- 25837378
TI  - A case series of two cases of juxta-adrenal schwannoma presenting as adrenal mass
      lesion and review of the literature.
AB  - Schwannomas are rare tumors in the retroperitoneal location. They can pose a
      diagnostic dilemma when presenting as an adrenal mass lesion due to their imaging
      characteristics. We report two cases of juxta-adrenal schwannomas presenting as
      symptomatic adrenal mass lesions. In both the cases, the clinical examination and
      functional evaluation was unremarkable and the radiological examination revealed
      a mixed intense adrenal mass lesion in one case with predominantly hyperintense
      areas and a very hyperintense lesion in another, in T2-weighted images, mimicking
      a adrenocortical malignancy and a pheochromocytoma respectively. Both cases were
      treated by surgical excision. Histopathological examination established the
      correct diagnosis of schwannoma, which was confirmed by immunohistochemical
      staining. Juxta-adrenal schwannoma is rare tumors of the retroperitoneum, which
      should also be borne in mind whenever encountering large nonsecreting adrenal
      tumors. We report a unique imaging characteristic, which helps in preoperative
      identification these rare lesions. 

PMID- 25837379
TI  - Respecting the circle of life: one year outcomes from a randomized controlled
      comparison of an HIV risk reduction intervention for American Indian adolescents.
AB  - Potential for widespread transmission of HIV/AIDS among American Indian (AI)
      adolescents exists, yet no evidence-based interventions (EBIs) have been adapted
      and evaluated with this population. Intensive psychoeducation may improve
      knowledge and decision-making which could potentially translate to reductions in
      HIV risk behaviors. A peer group randomized controlled comparison of an adapted
      EBI vs. control was delivered over an eight-day summer basketball camp in one
      reservation-based tribal community to adolescents ages 13-19. Outcome data were
      gathered immediately post-camp and at 6 and 12 months follow-up. Self-selected
      peer groups were randomized to intervention (n = 138) or control (n = 129)
      conditions for a total sample of 267 participants (56.2% female), mean age 15.1
      years (SD = 1.7). Intervention participants had better condom use self-efficacy
      post-camp (Adjusted Mean Difference [AMD] = -0.75, p < 0.005) and at 6 (AMD = 
      0.44, p < 0.005) and 12 months (AMD = -0.23, p < 0.05) follow-up. Intervention
      participants also had higher HIV prevention and transmission knowledge (post
      camp: AMD = 0.07, p < 0.01; 6 months: AMD = 0.06, p < 0.01) were more likely to
      believe condoms prevent sexually transmitted infections (post-camp: RR = 1.41, p
      < 0.005; 6 months: RR = 1.34, p < 0.05), to talk with an adult about HIV/AIDS
      (post-camp: RR=1.78, p < 0.005; 6 months: RR = 1.14, p < 0.005), had higher
      partner negotiation efficacy related to substance use during sex (post-camp: AMD
      = 0.37, p < 0.01), and were more likely to intend to use a condom (post-camp: RR
      = 1.39, p < 0.01). The adapted intervention had short- and medium-term impacts on
      AI adolescent risk for HIV/AIDS, but attenuated at 12 months. Intervention
      delivery through a community-based camp is feasible and acceptable with strong
      retention. Additional study is needed to evaluate the adapted intervention's
      impact on sexual risk behaviors and if booster sessions and parent involvement
      translate to long-term impacts. 

PMID- 25837381
TI  - Rebuttal From Dr Middlekauff.

PMID- 25837380
TI  - Gestational diabetes: differences between the current international diagnostic
      criteria and implications of switching to IADPSG.
AB  - AIMS: To highlight the differences between eight international expert panel
      diagnostic criteria (either current or outdated but in use) for the diagnosis of
      gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and implications of switching to the
      International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG)
      criterion. METHODS: 2337 pregnant women underwent a 75-g oral glucose tolerance
      test as part of a universal screening protocol. The GDM prevalence and number of
      women classified differently were compared between the criteria of the American
      Diabetes Association (2003); Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society (1998);
      the Canadian Diabetes Association, CDA (2003 & 2013); the European Association
      for the Study of Diabetes (1996); IADPSG (2010); the New Zealand Society for the
      Study of Diabetes (2004) and the World Health Organization (1999). RESULTS: The
      prevalence varied from 9.2% to 45.3% with the different criteria. The IADPSG
      compared a) best with CDA 2013 [356(15.2%) women classified differently, (kappa,
      k=68.3%)] and b) worst with CDA 2003 [843 (36.1%) women classified differently,
      (k=21.8%)]; p<0.001.Switching to IADPSG from the original criteria would increase
      the prevalence 1.5-4.9 times. CONCLUSIONS: In 2015, the various international
      guidelines for GDM continue to show major discrepancies in the prevalence and the
      women classified dissimilarly. A consensus on a single global guideline would be
      a giant leap forward.

PMID- 25837382
TI  - Hematological and serum biochemical parameters of blood in adolescent rats and
      histomorphological changes in the jejunal epithelium and liver after chronic
      exposure to cadmium and lead in the case of supplementation with green tea vs
      black, red or white tea.
AB  - Rats were used to check whether regular consumption of black, red, or white tea
      would have a protective effect similar to the action of green tea on the
      intestine and liver in the case of exposure to Cd and Pb within the limits of
      human environmental exposure to these elements. Rats at the age of 6 weeks were
      divided into the control and four groups supplemented with green (GT), black
      (BT), red (RT), or white (WT) tea extracts. Their diet (except the control) was
      mixed with 7 mg Cd/kg and 50mg Pb/kg. The experiment lasted 12 weeks. The effects
      of administration of tea in Cd- and Pb-poisoned rats on plasma biochemical
      parameters and the jejunal epithelium and liver were determined. The highest body
      mass was found in the GT group. The highest hemoglobin and Fe concentrations were
      in the control and GT groups. The highest activity of AST was in groups poisoned
      with Cd and Pb independently on supplementation. The highest ALT activity was in
      BT and RT groups with lower content of polifenoles. Pb and Cd disturbed the liver
      leading to necrosis and fatty degenerative changes, and a loss of normal
      architecture of the hepatocytes. Rats from the GT group had the highest cell
      proliferation rate in intestinal glands and the largest absorptive surface.
      Black, red, and white tea exerted a varied impact on the histological structure
      and innervation of the small intestine wall as well as on the absorptive function
      of small intestine mucosa in rats poisoned with Pb and Cd than green tea. On the
      other hand, taking into account the number of apoptotic cells, the effect of the
      teas was the same. Moreover, it is clear that long term exposure to Cd and Pb
      contamination causes toxic effect in the liver.

PMID- 25837383
TI  - Imaging centrosomes and cilia in the mouse kidney.
AB  - The centrosome and cilium are evolutionarily conserved components of the
      microtubule cytoskeleton, and act as a cellular signaling center that regulates
      the activity of numerous developmental signaling pathways. Several genetic
      syndromes, called the ciliopathies, are associated with defects in the structure
      or function of the centrosome-cilium complex. In the mammalian kidney, these
      organelles are found at the apical surface of renal epithelial cells lining the
      various segments of the nephron, where they relay information from the
      extracellular environment to the interior of the cell. Cilium-based signaling
      plays an important role in the development and homeostasis of mammalian kidneys,
      and ciliary dysfunction is implicated in the pathogenesis of cystic kidney
      disease. Given the importance of centrosomes and cilia in renal function,
      techniques used to visualize these organelles, analyze their composition, and
      test their functionality have become essential in many studies of kidney
      development and disease. Fluorescence microscopy is a powerful, widely used
      technique that has enhanced our understanding of molecular mechanisms that
      regulate the assembly, maintenance, and function of these organelles in various
      organs. Here, we present detailed steps for the isolation of kidneys from adult
      and embryonic mice, describe protocols to label centrosomes and cilia in renal
      tissues, and methods used to culture and image kidneys ex vivo. 

PMID- 25837384
TI  - Ependymal cell differentiation, from monociliated to multiciliated cells.
AB  - Primary and motile cilia differ in their structure, composition, and function. In
      the brain, primary cilia are immotile signalling organelles present on neural
      stem cells and neurons. Multiple motile cilia are found on the surface of
      ependymal cells in all brain ventricles, where they contribute to the flow of
      cerebrospinal fluid. During development, monociliated ependymal progenitor cells
      differentiate into multiciliated ependymal cells, thus providing a simple system
      for studying the transition between these two stages. In this chapter, we provide
      protocols for immunofluorescence staining of developing ependymal cells in vivo,
      on whole mounts of lateral ventricle walls, and in vitro, on cultured ependymal
      cells. We also provide a list of markers we currently use to stain both types of
      cilia, including proteins at the ciliary membrane and tubulin posttranslational
      modifications of the axoneme.

PMID- 25837385
TI  - Observing planar cell polarity in multiciliated mouse airway epithelial cells.
AB  - The concerted movement of cilia propels inhaled contaminants out of the lungs,
      safeguarding the respiratory system from toxins, pathogens, pollutants, and
      allergens. Motile cilia on the multiciliated cells (MCCs) of the airway
      epithelium are physically oriented along the tissue axis for directional
      motility, which depends on the planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling pathway. The
      MCCs of the mouse respiratory epithelium have emerged as an important model for
      the study of motile ciliogenesis and the PCP signaling mechanism. Unlike other
      motile ciliated or planar polarized tissues, airway epithelial cells are
      relatively easily accessible and primary cultures faithfully model many of the
      essential features of the in vivo tissue. There is growing interest in
      understanding how cells acquire and polarize motile cilia due to the impact of
      mucociliary clearance on respiratory health. Here, we present methods for
      observing and quantifying the planar polarized orientation of motile cilia both
      in vivo and in primary culture airway epithelial cells. We describe how to
      acquire and evaluate electron and light microscopy images of ciliary
      ultrastructural features that reveal planar polarized orientation. Furthermore,
      we describe the immunofluorescence localization of PCP pathway components as a
      simple readout for airway epithelial planar polarization and ciliary orientation.
      These methods can be adapted to observe ciliary orientation in other multi- and
      monociliated cells and to detect PCP pathway activity in any tissue or cell type.

PMID- 25837387
TI  - Cilia in photoreceptors.
AB  - Retina is a neurosensory tissue lining the back of the eye and is responsible for
      light detection and relaying the signal to the visual cortex in the brain.
      Mammalian retina consists of six major types of neurons (including
      photoreceptors; rods and cones) and one type of glial cells arranged in distinct
      layers. Photoreceptors are the most abundant cell types accounting for
      approximately 60% of all cells in the retina. Owing to their unique structure and
      function as ciliated neurons and their vast majority, dysfunction and
      degeneration of photoreceptors is associated with several inherited blindness
      disorders, such as retinitis pigmentosa, cone-rod degeneration, and age-related
      macular degeneration. Therefore, it is imperative to examine the structure and
      function of photoreceptors so that better understanding of the pathogenesis of
      associated diseases can be obtained for designing therapeutic modalities. In this
      chapter, we will provide detailed methods for analyzing photoreceptor function
      (electroretinography), structure, and biochemical analysis of sensory cilia of
      photoreceptors using mammalian retina as model system. These methods are widely
      used to assess photoreceptor development and degeneration during disease. 

PMID- 25837386
TI  - Imaging and analyzing primary cilia in cardiac cells.
AB  - The primary cilium is a small sensory organelle that is required for different
      aspects of embryonic development, including the formation of the heart. The
      structure and composition of cilia have been extensively studied, so that several
      markers of primary cilia have now been identified. However, the role of cilia in
      specific cell types remains poorly understood. We describe here a series of
      approaches to image primary cilia in the rodent heart or in primary cultures of
      cells dissociated from the heart. As the cilium is a marker of cell polarity, we
      also provide, for quantitative image analysis of cilium orientation, tools which
      are generally applicable to other types of tissues. 

PMID- 25837388
TI  - Analysis of primary cilia in the developing mouse brain.
AB  - Stem and progenitor cells in the developing mammalian brain are highly polarized
      cells that carry a primary cilium protruding into the brain ventricles. Here,
      cilia detect signals present in the cerebrospinal fluid that fills the
      ventricles. Recently, striking observations have been made regarding the dynamics
      of primary cilia in mitosis and cilium reformation after cell division. In neural
      progenitors, primary cilia are not completely disassembled during cell division,
      and some ciliary membrane remnant can be inherited by one daughter cell that
      tends to maintain a progenitor fate. Furthermore, newborn differentiating cells
      grow a primary cilium on their basolateral plasma membrane, in spite of them
      possessing apical membrane and adherens junctions, and thus change the
      environment to which the primary cilium is exposed. These phenomena are proposed
      to be involved in cell fate determination and delamination of daughter cells in
      conjunction with the production of neurons. Here, we describe several methods
      that can be used to study the structure, localization, and dynamics of primary
      cilia in the developing mouse brain; these include time-lapse imaging of live
      mouse embryonic brain tissues, and analysis of primary cilia structure and
      localization using correlative light- and electron- and serial-block-face
      scanning electron microscopy. 

PMID- 25837389
TI  - In vivo investigation of cilia structure and function using Xenopus.
AB  - Cilia are key organelles in development and homeostasis. The ever-expanding
      complement of cilia associated proteins necessitates rapid and tractable models
      for in vivo functional investigation. Xenopus laevis provides an attractive model
      for such studies, having multiple ciliated populations, including primary and
      multiciliated tissues. The rapid external development of Xenopus and the large
      cells make it an especially excellent platform for imaging studies. Here we
      present embryological and cell biological methods for the investigation of cilia
      structure and function in X. laevis, with a focus on quantitative live and fixed
      imaging.

PMID- 25837390
TI  - A quantitative approach to study endothelial cilia bending stiffness during blood
      flow mechanodetection in vivo.
AB  - Primary cilia are necessary for shear stress sensing in different developing
      organs such as the kidneys and blood vessels. In endothelial cells (ECs), primary
      cilia bend in response to blood flow forces and are necessary for flow sensing as
      well as for the control of angiogenesis. The different parameters guiding cilia
      bending reflect the forces generated at the surface of the ECs and the mechanical
      properties of the endothelial cilia. Here, we present an approach allowing the
      calculation of the bending rigidity of endothelial cilia based on live imaging.
      The method relies on segmentation and mathematical modeling to extract the
      critical parameters needed for the calculation.

PMID- 25837391
TI  - Quantitative description of fluid flows produced by left-right cilia in
      zebrafish.
AB  - Motile cilia generate directional flows that move mucus through airways,
      cerebrospinal fluid through brain ventricles, and oocytes through fallopian
      tubes. In addition, specialized monocilia beat in a rotational pattern to create
      asymmetric flows that are involved in establishing the left-right (LR) body axis
      during embryogenesis. These monocilia, which we refer to as "left-right cilia,"
      produce a leftward flow of extraembryonic fluid in a transient "organ of
      asymmetry" that directs asymmetric signaling and development of LR asymmetries in
      the cardiovascular system and gastrointestinal tract. The asymmetric flows are
      thought to establish a chemical gradient and/or activate mechanosensitive cilia
      to initiate calcium ion signals and a conserved Nodal (TGFbeta) pathway on the
      left side of the embryo, but the mechanisms underlying this process remain
      unclear. The zebrafish organ of asymmetry, called Kupffer's vesicle, provides a
      useful model system for investigating LR cilia and cilia-powered fluid flows.
      Here, we describe methods to visualize flows in Kupffer's vesicle using
      fluorescent microspheres and introduce a new and freely available MATLAB particle
      tracking code to quantitatively describe these flows. Analysis of normal and
      aberrant flows indicates this approach is useful for characterizing flow
      properties that impact LR asymmetry and may be more broadly applicable for
      quantifying other cilia flows.

PMID- 25837392
TI  - Efficient live fluorescence imaging of intraflagellar transport in mammalian
      primary cilia.
AB  - Intraflagellar transport (IFT) is a motile process critical for building most
      cilia, including those of mammalian cells. Defects in IFT lead to short or
      missing cilia, and in animals can cause defects in development, for example, in
      hedgehog-mediated signaling, as well as disease symptoms such as polycystic
      kidney disease or retinal degeneration. Understanding how IFT works is thus a
      high priority in ciliary biology. Imaging of living cells has played a key role
      in understanding the mechanism of IFT and this is particularly the case in
      mammalian cells where biochemical analysis of IFT is extremely difficult due to
      the difficulty of isolating cilia away from the rest of the cell. Imaging IFT in
      living mammalian cells requires solution to several problems: constructing cell
      lines that express fluorescent-protein-tagged IFT proteins, obtaining cell
      populations with a high degree of ciliation, confocal or TIRF imaging with
      sufficient time resolution and signal-to-noise ratio to observe the majority of
      IFT particles as they travel back and forth inside the cilium, and analyzing the
      image data to extract quantitative measurements of IFT. We describe optimized
      solutions to each of these technical challenges. Using the approaches described
      here, mammalian cultured cells become powerful platforms for quantitative
      analysis of IFT dynamics. 

PMID- 25837393
TI  - Analysis of soluble protein entry into primary cilia using semipermeabilized
      cells.
AB  - The primary cilium is a protrusion from the cell surface that serves as a
      specialized compartment for signal transduction. Many signaling factors are known
      to be dynamically concentrated within cilia and to require cilia for their
      function. Yet protein entry into primary cilia remains poorly understood. To
      enable a mechanistic analysis of soluble protein entry into cilia, we developed a
      method for semipermeabilization of mammalian cells in which the plasma membrane
      is permeabilized while the ciliary membrane remains intact. Using
      semipermeabilized cells as the basis for an in vitro diffusion-to-capture assay,
      we uncovered a size-dependent diffusion barrier that restricts soluble protein
      exchange between the cytosol and the cilium. The manipulability of this in vitro
      system enabled an extensive characterization of the ciliary diffusion barrier and
      led us to show that the barrier is mechanistically distinct from those at the
      axon initial segment and the nuclear pore complex. Because semipermeabilized
      cells enable a range of experimental perturbations that would not be easily
      feasible in intact cells, we believe this methodology will provide a unique
      resource for investigating primary cilium function in development and disease.

PMID- 25837394
TI  - Methods for imaging individual cilia in living echinoid embryos.
AB  - The embryos of echinoids (sea urchins and sand dollars) serve as excellent models
      for studying cilia differentiation and stages of the cilia life cycle including
      ciliogenic initiation, growth, maintenance, and retraction. Early in echinoid
      development, uniform motile cilia form on all cells simultaneously but then
      rapidly differentiate into multiple cilia types that differ in morphology,
      motility, and signaling sensitivity. Metal ion treatments that shift germ layer
      boundaries and thereby "animalize" or "vegetalize" embryos can be used to enrich
      for low-abundance cilia types rendering those specialized cilia and the
      differentiation processes they exhibit much easier to study. The experimental
      advantages of having robust cilia growth and differentiation is tempered by the
      challenge of restraining ciliated embryos well enough to view the process of
      ciliogenesis live. We have developed four observation chambers as modifications
      of the Kiehart chamber for long-term light microscopic imaging of ciliated
      echinoid embryos. One of these systems employs paramagnetic beads to render
      ciliated larvae magnetic so they can be gently and reversibly trapped directly
      under the objective lens. With this magnetic trapping system, the larva can be
      positioned and repositioned until they achieve the orientation with the clearest
      view of any cilia of interest. These methods of gentle embryo restraint allow
      normal embryo development and the normal ciliogenic cycle and ciliary
      differentiation processes to continue in direct view. Sequential image series can
      then be collected and analyzed to quantitatively study the wide spectrum of cilia
      behaviors and properties that arise in developing echinoid embryos.

PMID- 25837395
TI  - The planarian Schmidtea mediterranea as a model for studying motile cilia and
      multiciliated cells.
AB  - In the past few years, the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea has
      emerged as a powerful model system to study the assembly and function of cilia.
      S. mediterranea is a free-living flatworm that uses the beating of cilia on its
      ventral epidermis for locomotion. The ventral epidermis is composed of a single
      layer of multiciliated cells highly similar to the multiciliated cells that line
      the airway, the brain ventricles, and the oviducts in humans. The genome of S.
      mediterranea has been sequenced and efficient methods for targeting gene
      expression by RNA interference (RNAi) are available. Locomotion defects induced
      by perturbing the expression of ciliary genes can be often detected by simple
      visual screening, and more subtle defects can be detected by measuring locomotion
      speed. Cilia are present in large numbers and are directly accessible, which
      facilitates analyses by immunofluorescence and electron microscopy. Here we
      describe a set of methods for maintaining planarians in the lab. These include
      gene knockout by RNAi, cilia visualization by immunofluorescence, transmission
      electron microscopy, and live imaging.

PMID- 25837396
TI  - Quantitative analysis of flagellar proteins in Drosophila sperm tails.
AB  - The cilium has a well-defined structure, which can still accommodate some
      morphological and molecular composition diversity to suit the functional
      requirements of different cell types. The sperm flagellum of the fruit fly
      Drosophila melanogaster appears as a good model to study the genetic regulation
      of axoneme assembly and motility, due to the wealth of genetic tools publically
      available for this organism. In addition, the fruit fly's sperm flagellum
      displays quite a long axoneme (~1.8mm), which may facilitate both histological
      and biochemical analyses. Here, we present a protocol for imaging and
      quantitatively analyze proteins, which associate with the fly differentiating,
      and mature sperm flagella. We will use as an example the quantification of
      tubulin polyglycylation in wild-type testes and in Bug22 mutant testes, which
      present defects in the deposition of this posttranslational modification. During
      sperm biogenesis, flagella appear tightly bundled, which makes it more
      challenging to get accurate measurements of protein levels from immunostained
      specimens. The method we present is based on the use of a novel semiautomated,
      macro installed in the image processing software ImageJ. It allows to measure
      fluorescence levels in closely associated sperm tails, through an exact
      distinction between positive and background signals, and provides background
      corrected pixel intensity values that can directly be used for data analysis.

PMID- 25837397
TI  - Imaging cilia in Drosophila melanogaster.
AB  - Drosophila melanogaster is a powerful genetic model organism to understand the
      function of proteins in specific cellular processes. Cilia have been extensively
      studied in Drosophila playing various sensory functions that are essential for
      fly survival. Indeed, flies defective in cilia formation cannot walk, fly, or
      feed properly. Drosophila harbors different types of cilia that can be motile or
      immotile or that can show compartimentalized (intraflagellar transport (IFT)
      dependent) or cytoplasmic (IFT-independent) mode of assembly. Therefore,
      Drosophila represents an advantageous model organism to study the function of
      novel ciliary candidates and to address specific questions such as their
      requirement for IFT-dependent processes versus other aspects of cilia-associated
      functions. This chapter describes protocols to visualize cilia by direct or
      indirect fluorescent labeling and protocols to analyze ciliary ultrastructure by
      electron microscopy.

PMID- 25837398
TI  - Studying G protein-coupled receptors: immunoblotting, immunoprecipitation,
      phosphorylation, surface labeling, and cross-linking protocols.
AB  - Primary cilia are signaling organelles that have been shown to coordinate
      cellular responses to extracellular cues during physiological processes ranging
      from organ patterning to cell cycle regulation. A variety of receptors, including
      G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), downstream effectors (adenylyl cyclases),
      and second messengers, such as calcium, accumulate in the ciliary compartment.
      Isolation of GPCRs is essential for studying posttranslational modifications,
      intracellular trafficking, and protein-protein interactions that are important in
      downstream signaling. However, the presence of multiple hydrophobic transmembrane
      domains, and the inherent conformational flexibility of GPCRs make their
      extraction from membranes and solubilization particularly challenging. Here, we
      describe detailed methods for immunoblotting and immunoprecipitation of GPCRs
      from whole cell extracts. These methods are applicable for studying other
      multipass transmembrane proteins (such as adenylyl cyclases). We also describe
      methods for determining GPCR phosphorylation, surface labeling by biotinylation,
      and cross-linking to detect transient interactions with other proteins. These
      methods are amenable for studying both ciliary and nonciliary GPCRs in the
      context of cellular signaling pathways.

PMID- 25837399
TI  - Image analysis of Caenorhabditis elegans ciliary transition zone structure,
      ultrastructure, molecular composition, and function.
AB  - The transition zone (TZ) at the ciliary base has emerged as an important
      regulator of the composition and functions of cilia, which are microtubule-based
      structures extending from the surfaces of most eukaryotic cells, serving
      motility, chemo-/mechano-/photosensation and developmental signaling roles.
      Possessing distinct ultrastructural features such as microtubule-membrane
      spanning Y-links, the ~0.2-1.0-MUm long TZ is thought to act as a gated cytosolic
      (size dependent) and membrane diffusion barrier that drives ciliary
      compartmentalization by preventing unregulated protein exchange between the
      cilium and the rest of the cell. Multiple proteins associated with ciliary
      diseases (ciliopathies) such as Meckel-Gruber syndrome (MKS) and nephronophthisis
      are specifically found in the TZ, and work from a number of model systems,
      including Chlamydomonas reinharditii, Caenorhabditis elegans and the mouse
      indicates TZ-gating and associated ciliogenic functions for a number of these
      proteins. Here we present a suite of assays for probing the structure, function,
      and molecular composition of the C. elegans TZ, with emphasis on TZ
      ultrastructure, diffusion barrier kinetics, MKS module assembly hierarchy, and TZ
      dependent behaviors.

PMID- 25837401
TI  - Axonemal motility in Chlamydomonas.
AB  - Motile cilia and flagella rapidly propagate bending waves and produce water flow
      over the cell surface. Their function is important for the physiology and
      development of various organisms including humans. The movement is based on the
      sliding between outer doublet microtubules driven by axonemal dyneins, and is
      regulated by various axonemal components and environmental factors. For studies
      aiming to elucidate the mechanism of cilia/flagella movement and regulation,
      Chlamydomonas is an invaluable model organism that offers a variety of mutants.
      This chapter introduces standard methods for studying Chlamydomonas flagellar
      motility including analysis of swimming paths, measurements of swimming speed and
      beat frequency, motility reactivation in demembranated cells (cell models), and
      observation of microtubule sliding in disintegrating axonemes. Most methods may
      be easily applied to other organisms with slight modifications of the medium
      conditions.

PMID- 25837400
TI  - Genetic and genomic approaches to identify genes involved in flagellar assembly
      in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
AB  - Flagellar assembly requires intraflagellar transport of components from the cell
      body to the flagellar tip for assembly. The understanding of flagellar assembly
      has been aided by the ease of biochemistry and the availability of mutants in the
      unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. In this chapter, we discuss
      means to identify genes involved in these processes using forward and reverse
      genetics. In particular, the ease and low cost of whole genome sequencing (WGS)
      will help to make gene identification easier and promote the understanding of
      this important process.

PMID- 25837402
TI  - Posttranscriptional control over rapid development and ciliogenesis in Marsilea.
AB  - Marsilea vestita is a semiaquatic fern that produces its spores (meiotic
      products) as it undergoes a process of natural desiccation. During the period of
      desiccation, the spores mature, and produce large quantities of pre-mRNA, which
      is partially processed and stored in nuclear speckles and can remain stable
      during a period of extended quiescence in the dry spore. Rehydration of the
      spores initiates a highly coordinated developmental program, featuring nine
      successive mitotic division cycles that occur at precise times and in precise
      planes within the spore wall to produce 39 cells, 32 of which are spermatids. The
      spermatids then undergo de novo basal body formation, the assembly of a massive
      cytoskeleton, nuclear and cell elongation, and finally ciliogenesis, before being
      released from the spore wall. The entire developmental program requires only 11 h
      to reach completion, and is synchronous in a population of spores rehydrated at
      the same time. Rapid development in this endosporic gametophyte is controlled
      posttranscriptionally, where stored pre-mRNAs, many of which are intron-retaining
      transcripts, are unmasked, processed, and translated under tight spatial and
      temporal control. Here, we describe posttranscriptional mechanisms that exert
      temporal and spatial control over this developmental program, which culminates in
      the production of ~140 ciliary axonemes in each spermatozoid.

PMID- 25837403
TI  - Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy of intraflagellar transport in
      Tetrahymena thermophila.
AB  - Live imaging has become a powerful tool in studies of ciliary proteins.
      Tetrahymena thermophila is an established ciliated model with well-developed
      genetic and biochemical approaches, but its large size, complex shape, and the
      large number of short and overlapping cilia, have made live imaging of ciliary
      proteins challenging. Here we describe a method that combines paralysis of cilia
      by nickel ions and total internal reflection microscopy for live imaging of
      fluorescent proteins inside cilia of Tetrahymena. Using this method, we
      quantitatively documented the intraflagellar transport in Tetrahymena.

PMID- 25837404
TI  - Ciliary heterogeneity within a single cell: the Paramecium model.
AB  - Paramecium is a single cell able to divide in its morphologically differentiated
      stage that has many cilia anchored at its cell surface. Many thousands of cilia
      are thus assembled in a short period of time during division to duplicate the
      cell pattern while the cell continues swimming. Most, but not all, of these
      sensory cilia are motile and involved in two main functions: prey capture and
      cell locomotion. These cilia display heterogeneity, both in their length and
      their biochemical properties. Thanks to these properties, as well as to the
      availability of many postgenomic tools and the possibility to follow the regrowth
      of cilia after deciliation, Paramecium offers a nice opportunity to study the
      assembly of the cilia, as well as the genesis of their diversity within a single
      cell. In this paper, after a brief survey of Paramecium morphology and cilia
      properties, we describe the tools and the protocols currently used for
      immunofluorescence, transmission electron microscopy, and ultrastructural
      immunocytochemistry to analyze cilia, with special recommendations to overcome
      the problem raised by cilium diversity.

PMID- 25837405
TI  - Imaging intraflagellar transport in trypanosomes.
AB  - Trypanosoma brucei is a flagellated eukaryotic pathogen responsible for sleeping
      sickness in central Africa. Because of the presence of a long motile flagellum
      (>20 MUm) and its amenity to genetic manipulation, it is becoming an attractive
      model to study the assembly and the functions of cilia and flagella. In recent
      years, several aspects have been investigated, especially intraflagellar
      transport (IFT) that has been exhaustively characterized at the light microscopy
      level. In this manuscript, we review various methods to express fluorescent
      fusion proteins and to record IFT in living trypanosomes in normal or mutant
      contexts. We present an approach for separating anterograde and retrograde IFT,
      hence facilitating quantification of train speed, frequency, and size. A
      statistical analysis to discriminate different subpopulations of IFT trains is
      also summarized. These methods have proven their efficiency for the study of IFT
      in trypanosomes and could be applied to any other organism. 

PMID- 25837406
TI  - Scanning and three-dimensional electron microscopy methods for the study of
      Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania mexicana flagella.
AB  - Three-dimensional electron microscopy tools have revolutionized our understanding
      of cell structure and molecular complexes in biology. Here, we describe methods
      for studying flagellar ultrastructure and biogenesis in two unicellular parasites
      Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania mexicana. We describe methods for the
      preparation of these parasites for scanning electron microscopy cellular electron
      tomography, and serial block face scanning electron microscopy (SBFSEM). These
      parasites have a highly ordered cell shape and form, with a defined positioning
      of internal cytoskeletal structures and organelles. We show how knowledge of
      these can be used to dissect cell cycles in both parasites and identify the old
      flagellum from the new in T. brucei. Finally, we demonstrate the use of SBFSEM
      three-dimensional models for analysis of individual whole cells, demonstrating
      the excellent potential this technique has for future studies of mutant cell
      lines. 

PMID- 25837407
TI  - Surface functionalization of nanodiamond with phenylphosphonate.
AB  - HYPOTHESIS: This work explores arylation of oxidized nanodiamond (OND) and
      carboxylated nanodiamond (CND) using phenylphosphonate (PPA) to produce PPA
      grafted nanodiamond (PPA@ND). The specific hypothesis is that PPA can be readily
      grafted onto the surfaces of OND and CND particles via the nanodiamonds' reactive
      oxygen-rich surface functional groups. EXPERIMENTS: This work explores the effect
      of varying reaction conditions (reactant ratio, heat, sonication) on PPA graft
      density and grafting mode. The products were characterized by a variety of
      techniques including: (31)P MAS NMR and FTIR to confirm PPA grafting, XPS to
      estimate PPA grafted amounts, and TGA to assess thermal stability. The utility of
      PPA functionalization for improving ND dispersion in organic solvents was
      evaluated using dynamic light scattering. FINDINGS: The results confirm PPA
      grafting on both OND and CND, quantify the extent of PPA grafting, and suggest
      primarily bidentate grafting. For PPA grafting on OND, the grafted amount does
      not depend on PPA:ND ratio, application of heat, or use of sonication. The
      grafted amount of PPA on CND was significantly lower than that on OND. TGA data
      indicates that grafted PPA improves the thermal stability of both OND and CND.
      The starting OND disperses in water as aggregates with approximately 100 nm
      particle size. However, PPA-grafted OND does not disperse at all in water: thus
      grafted PPA changes the ND surface from hydrophilic to hydrophobic. PPA@OND
      prepared without sonication does not completely disperse in either DMF or
      toluene. Only PPA@OND prepared with sonication disperses well in these solvents,
      suggesting that sonication promotes more complete exposure of the ND surface to
      PPA grafting.

PMID- 25837408
TI  - On the scattered light by dilute aqueous dispersions of nanogel particles.
AB  - This work deals with the scattered light by nanoparticles formed by a temperature
      sensitive polymer networks, namely nanogel particles. The scattered light is
      measured as a function of the scattering angle at temperatures below and above
      the volume phase transition temperature (VPTT) of nanogel particles. Our
      experimental results indicate that nanogel particles have a core-shell structure,
      formed by a uniform highly cross-linked core surrounded by a fuzzy shell where
      the polymer density decays to zero gradually for swollen configurations and
      sharply for shrunken states. The theoretical fitting of the experimental curves
      shows that the scattered light at low angle obeys a decreasing power law with the
      scattering vector, q(-alpha). The value of exponent alpha provides information
      about the radial dependence of the polymer density at the external shell of the
      particles for swollen nanogels, and about the degree of roughness of the surface
      for the case of shrunken nanogels. On the one hand, at low temperatures (below
      the VPPT), the nanogel particle is in the swollen state and the light scattering
      data show that its shell structure follows a fractal behaviour, with a polymer
      density that decays as r(alpha-3), where r is the distance to the particle
      centre. On the other hand, above the VPPT the results indicate that nanogel
      collapses into a core of uniform polymer density and a rough shell, with a
      fractal surface dimension of 2.5.

PMID- 25837409
TI  - An empirical Bayes safety evaluation of tram/streetcar signal and lane priority
      measures in Melbourne.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Streetcars/tram systems are growing worldwide, and many are given
      priority to increase speed and reliability performance in mixed traffic
      conditions. Research related to the road safety impact of tram priority is
      limited. This study explores the road safety impacts of tram priority measures
      including lane and intersection/signal priority measures. METHOD: A before-after
      crash study was conducted using the empirical Bayes (EB) method to provide more
      accurate crash impact estimates by accounting for wider crash trends and
      regression to the mean effects. Before-after crash data for 29 intersections with
      tram signal priority and 23 arterials with tram lane priority in Melbourne,
      Australia, were analyzed to evaluate the road safety impact of tram priority.
      RESULTS: The EB before-after analysis results indicated a statistically
      significant adjusted crash reduction rate of 16.4% after implementation of tram
      priority measures. Signal priority measures were found to reduce crashes by 13.9%
      and lane priority by 19.4%. A disaggregate level simple before-after analysis
      indicated reductions in total and serious crashes as well as vehicle-, pedestrian
      , and motorcycle-involved crashes. In addition, reductions in on-path crashes,
      pedestrian-involved crashes, and collisions among vehicles moving in the same and
      opposite directions and all other specific crash types were found after tram
      priority implementation. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that streetcar/tram
      priority measures result in safety benefits for all road users, including
      vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. Policy implications and areas for future
      research are discussed.

PMID- 25837410
TI  - Assessment of Reliable Change Using 95% Credible Intervals for the Differences in
      Proportions: A Statistical Analysis for Case-Study Methodology.
AB  - PURPOSE: Case-study methodology studying change is often used in the field of
      speech-language pathology, but it can be criticized for not being statistically
      robust. Yet with the heterogeneous nature of many communication disorders, case
      studies allow clinicians and researchers to closely observe and report on change.
      Such information is valuable and can further inform large-scale experimental
      designs. In this research note, a statistical analysis for case-study data is
      outlined that employs a modification to the Reliable Change Index (Jacobson &
      Truax, 1991). The relationship between reliable change and clinical significance
      is discussed. Example data are used to guide the reader through the use and
      application of this analysis. METHOD: A method of analysis is detailed that is
      suitable for assessing change in measures with binary categorical outcomes. The
      analysis is illustrated using data from one individual, measured before and after
      treatment for stuttering. CONCLUSIONS: The application of this approach to assess
      change in categorical, binary data has potential application in speech-language
      pathology. It enables clinicians and researchers to analyze results from case
      studies for their statistical and clinical significance. This new method
      addresses a gap in the research design literature, that is, the lack of analysis
      methods for noncontinuous data (such as counts, rates, proportions of events)
      that may be used in case-study designs.

PMID- 25837411
TI  - Synthesis and structure of dicopper(II) complexes bridged by N-(5-chloro-2
      hydroxyphenyl)-N'-[3-(methy lamino)propyl]oxamide: evaluation of DNA/protein
      binding, DNA cleavage, and in vitro anticancer activity.
AB  - Three new dicopper(II) complexes bridged by N-(5-chloro-2-hydroxyphenyl)-N'-[3
      (methylamino)-propyl]oxamide (H3chmpoxd) and end-capped with 1,10-phenanthroline
      (phen); 2,2'-diamino-4,4'-bithiazole (dabt); and 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy), namely
      [Cu2(chmpoxd)(H2O)(phen)](ClO4)?CH3CN (1), [Cu2(chmpoxd)(dabt)(C2H5OH)](NO3) (2)
      and [Cu2(chmpoxd)(H2O)(bpy)](NO3)?CH3CN (3), were synthesized and structurally
      characterized. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that both
      the copper(II) ions bridged by the cis-chmpoxd(3-) ligands in the three complexes
      are in square-planar and square-pyramidal environments, respectively. The
      reactivity towards herring sperm DNA (HS-DNA) and protein bovine serum albumin
      (BSA) indicated that these copper(II) complexes can interact with the DNA in the
      mode of intercalation, and bind to BSA responsible for quenching of tryptophan
      fluorescence by the static quenching mechanism. The cytotoxicity and DNA cleavage
      suggested that all the dicopper(II) complexes are active against the selected
      tumor cell lines, and the complex 1 exhibits the cleavage capacity for plasmid
      DNA.

PMID- 25837412
TI  - Biological assessment of neonicotinoids imidacloprid and its major metabolites
      for potentially human health using globular proteins as a model.
AB  - The assessment of biological activities of imidacloprid and its two major
      metabolites, namely 6-chloronicotinic acid and 2-imidazolidone for nontarget
      organism, by employing essentially functional biomacromolecules, albumin and
      hemoglobin as a potentially model with the use of circular dichroism (CD),
      fluorescence, extrinsic 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid (ANS) fluorescence
      as well as molecular modeling is the theme of this work. By dint of CD spectra
      and synchronous fluorescence, it was clear that the orderly weak interactions
      between amino acid residues within globular proteins were disturbed by
      imidacloprid, and this event led to marginally alterations or self-regulations of
      protein conformation so as to lodge imidacloprid more tightly. Both steady state
      and time-resolved fluorescence suggested that the fluorescence of Trp residues in
      proteins was quenched after the presence of imidacloprid, corresponding to
      noncovalent protein-imidacloprid complexes formation and, the reaction belongs to
      moderate association (K=1.888/1.614*10(4)M(-1) for albumin/hemoglobin
      imidacloprid, respectively), hydrogen bonds and pi stacking performed a vital
      role in stabilizing the complexes, as derived from thermodynamic analysis and
      molecular modeling. With the aid of hydrophobic ANS experiments, subdomain IIA
      and alpha1beta2 interface of albumin and hemoglobin, respectively, were found to
      be preserved high-affinity for imidacloprid. These results ties in with the
      subsequently molecular modeling laying imidacloprid in the Sudlow's site I and
      close to Trp-213 residue on albumin, while settling down B/Trp-37 residue nearby
      in hemoglobin, and these conclusions further confirmed by site-directed
      mutagenesis and molecular dynamics simulation. But, at the same time, several
      crucial noncovalent bonds came from other amino acid residues, e.g. Arg-194 and
      Arg-198 (albumin) and B/Arg-40, B/Asp-99 and B/Asn-102 (hemoglobin) cannot be
      ignored completely. Based on the comparative studies of binding modes between
      imidacloprid and its two primary metabolites with globular proteins, it is
      evident to us that the noncovalent interactions of 6-chloronicotinic acid and 2
      imidazolidone with biopolymers are not always to be decreased obviously as a
      result of the relatively small molecular structures of these metabolites,
      compared with parent compound imidacloprid. Conversely, this could probably
      strengthen the weak interactions existed in the macromolecules-metabolites
      conjugation, or rather, the metabolites such as 6-chloronicotinic acid and 2
      imidazolidone contributed drastically to the overall toxicity of imidacloprid. 

PMID- 25837413
TI  - Predictors of functional outcome in individuals at high clinical risk for
      psychosis at six years follow-up.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The long-term functional status of subjects at ultra high risk for
      psychosis (HR) is relatively under investigated. This study explores baseline
      predictors of long-term functional outcome in HR subjects who did not convert to
      psychosis during a 6 years follow-up period. METHODS: A total of 154 HR were
      followed up for an average of 6 years. The primary outcome variable was global
      assessment of functioning at the last follow-up visit as assessed with the Global
      Assessment of Functioning tool. A multinomial logistic regression was performed
      to identify potential predictors of functional outcome. RESULTS: Baseline and
      follow-up data on functioning was available for 92 HR. Twenty-four (43%)
      individuals who did not convert to psychosis reported poor functioning at follow
      up. Baseline scores in the GAF (Exp(b) = 0.857; 95% CIs: 0.75/0.97), employment
      status (Exp(b) = 0.029; 95% CIs: 0.00/0.268), and CAARMS total scores (Exp(b) =
      1.976; 95% CIs: 1.00/1.14) predicted functional outcome in HR subjects at 6
      years. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the preventive treatments received, many individuals
      who did not convert to full-blown psychosis in the longer term do not
      functionally remit. These individuals are lower functioning, unemployed and have
      higher symptom loading at the time of their presentation to the prodromal clinic.
      Our study suggests the need for innovative treatments targeting long term
      functional status beyond the prevention of psychosis onset in the HR population.

PMID- 25837414
TI  - Development and applications of AlphaScreen-based FcRn binding assay to
      characterize monoclonal antibodies.
AB  - IgG antibodies are important pharmaceutical molecules that successfully treat a
      variety of human diseases. The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) interacts with IgG Fc
      in the CH2-CH3 domain and plays a key role in IgG antibody homeostasis and
      affects its pharmacokinetic properties. An in vitro FcRn binding assay could be a
      highly valuable complementary tool to assess IgG antibody pharmacokinetics in IgG
      engineering and screening during the early optimization stage. In addition, it
      could be useful in biological characterization studies for antibody minor
      variants, process optimization, and comparability study at later stages of
      antibody development. Here we developed a homogeneous AlphaScreen-based FcRn
      assay to assess the binding of FcRn to IgG antibody in vitro. The assay is found
      to be accurate, precise, specific, and simple: donor beads loaded with FcRn and
      acceptor beads loaded with IgG1 mAb1 are mixed together with sample IgG at
      various dilutions and incubated for 1h before acquiring data with a fluorescence
      reader. This assay can run up to four samples per plate in 2h, which is time and
      cost effective compared with other FcRn binding methods such as cell-based
      fluorescent-activated cell scan and surface plasma resonance. Our data
      demonstrated that this assay is suitable for assessing the FcRn binding in vitro
      and provides a platform approach that can be readily applied to various
      antibodies. 

PMID- 25837415
TI  - Interleukin-10 conjugated electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibre scaffolds
      for promoting alternatively activated (M2) macrophages around the peripheral
      nerve in vivo.
AB  - Macrophages play a key role in tissue regeneration following peripheral nerve
      injury by preparing the surrounding parenchyma for regeneration, however, they
      can be damaging if the response is excessive. Interleukin 10 (IL-10) is a
      cytokine that promotes macrophages toward an anti-inflammatory/wound healing
      state (M2 phenotype). The bioactive half-life of IL-10 is dependent on the
      cellular microenvironment and ranges from minutes to hours in vivo. Our objective
      was to extend the in vivo bioavailability and bioactivity of IL-10 by attaching
      the protein onto nanofibrous scaffolds and demonstrating increased expression
      levels of M2 macrophages when placed around healthy intact peripheral nerves. IL
      10 was adsorbed and covalently bound to electrospun poly(epsilon-caprolactone)
      (PCL) nanofibrous scaffolds. In vivo bioavailability and bioactivity of IL-10 was
      confirmed by wrapping IL-10 conjugated nanofibres around the sciatic nerves of
      Wistar rats and quantifying M2 macrophages immunohistochemically double labelled
      with ED1 and either arginase 1 or CD206. IL-10 remained immobilised to PCL
      scaffolds for more than 120 days when stored in phosphate buffered saline at room
      temperature and for up to 14d ays when implanted around the sciatic nerve. IL-10
      conjugated nanofibres successfully induced macrophage polarisation towards the M2
      activated state within the scaffold material as well as the adjacent tissue
      surrounding the nerve. PCL biofunctionalised nanofibres are useful for
      manipulating the cellular microenvironment. Materials such as these could
      potentially lead to new therapeutic strategies for nervous tissue injuries as
      well as provide novel investigative tools for biological research.

PMID- 25837416
TI  - An active contour model for the segmentation of images with intensity
      inhomogeneities and bias field estimation.
AB  - Intensity inhomogeneity causes many difficulties in image segmentation and the
      understanding of magnetic resonance (MR) images. Bias correction is an important
      method for addressing the intensity inhomogeneity of MR images before
      quantitative analysis. In this paper, a modified model is developed for
      segmenting images with intensity inhomogeneity and estimating the bias field
      simultaneously. In the modified model, a clustering criterion energy function is
      defined by considering the difference between the measured image and estimated
      image in local region. By using this difference in local region, the modified
      method can obtain accurate segmentation results and an accurate estimation of the
      bias field. The energy function is incorporated into a level set formulation with
      a level set regularization term, and the energy minimization is conducted by a
      level set evolution process. The proposed model first appeared as a two-phase
      model and then extended to a multi-phase one. The experimental results
      demonstrate the advantages of our model in terms of accuracy and insensitivity to
      the location of the initial contours. In particular, our method has been applied
      to various synthetic and real images with desirable results. 

PMID- 25837417
TI  - Profiling DNA methylome landscapes of mammalian cells with single-cell reduced
      representation bisulfite sequencing.
AB  - The heterogeneity of DNA methylation within a population of cells necessitates
      DNA methylome profiling at single-cell resolution. Recently, we developed a
      single-cell reduced-representation bisulfite sequencing (scRRBS) technique in
      which we modified the original RRBS method by integrating all the experimental
      steps before PCR amplification into a single-tube reaction. These modifications
      enable scRRBS to provide digitized methylation information on ~1 million CpG
      sites within an individual diploid mouse or human cell at single-base resolution.
      Compared with the single-cell bisulfite sequencing (scBS) technique, scRRBS
      covers fewer CpG sites, but it provides better coverage for CpG islands (CGIs),
      which are likely to be the most informative elements for DNA methylation. The
      entire procedure takes ~3 weeks, and it requires strong molecular biology skills.

PMID- 25837418
TI  - Dissecting protein reaction dynamics in living cells by fluorescence recovery
      after photobleaching.
AB  - Proteins within most macromolecular complexes or organelles continuously turn
      over. This turnover results from association and dissociation reactions that are
      mediated by each of the protein's functional domains. Thus, studying organelle or
      macromolecular formation from the bottom up using theoretical and computational
      modeling approaches will necessitate the determination of all of these reaction
      rates in vivo. Yet current methods for examining protein dynamics either
      necessitate highly specialized equipment or limit themselves to basic
      measurements. In this protocol, we describe a broadly applicable method based on
      fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) for determining how many
      reaction processes participate in the turnover of any given protein of interest,
      for characterizing their apparent association and dissociation rates, and for
      determining their relative importance in the turnover of the overall protein
      population. Experiments were performed in melanoma M2 cells expressing mutant
      forms of ezrin that provide a link between the plasma membrane and the cortical
      actin cytoskeleton. We also describe a general strategy for the identification of
      the protein domains that mediate each of the identified turnover processes. Our
      protocol uses widely available laser-scanning confocal microscopes, open-source
      software, graphing software and common molecular biology techniques. The entire
      FRAP experiment preparation, data acquisition and analysis require 3-4 d. 

PMID- 25837419
TI  - RNAi-based biosynthetic pathway screens to identify in vivo functions of non
      nucleic acid-based metabolites such as lipids.
AB  - The field of metabolomics continues to catalog new compounds, but their
      functional analysis remains technically challenging, and roles beyond metabolism
      are largely unknown. Unbiased genetic/RNAi screens are powerful tools to identify
      the in vivo functions of protein-encoding genes, but not of nonproteinaceous
      compounds such as lipids. They can, however, identify the biosynthetic enzymes of
      these compounds-findings that are usually dismissed, as these typically
      synthesize multiple products. Here, we provide a method using follow-on
      biosynthetic pathway screens to identify the endpoint biosynthetic enzyme and
      thus the compound through which they act. The approach is based on the principle
      that all subsequently identified downstream biosynthetic enzymes contribute to
      the synthesis of at least this one end product. We describe how to systematically
      target lipid biosynthetic pathways; optimize targeting conditions; take advantage
      of pathway branchpoints; and validate results by genetic assays and biochemical
      analyses. This approach extends the power of unbiased genetic/RNAi screens to
      identify in vivo functions of non-nucleic acid-based metabolites beyond their
      metabolic roles. It will typically require several months to identify a metabolic
      end product by biosynthetic pathway screens, but this time will vary widely
      depending, among other factors, on the end product's location in the pathway,
      which determines the number of screens required for its identification. 

PMID- 25837420
TI  - Classical olfactory conditioning in the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis.
AB  - The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is a serious pest of fruits and
      vegetables. Methyl eugenol (ME), a male attractant, is used to against this fly
      by mass trapping. Control effect may be influenced by learning, which could
      modify the olfactory response of the fly to this attractant. To collect the
      behavioral evidence, studies on the capability of this fly for olfactory learning
      are necessary. We investigated olfactory learning in male flies with a classical
      olfactory conditioning procedure using restrained individuals under laboratory
      conditions. The acquisition of the proboscis extension reflex was used as the
      criterion for conditioning. A high conditioned response level was found in
      oriental fruit flies when an odor was presented in paired association with a
      sucrose reward but not when the odor and sucrose were presented unpaired. We also
      found that the conditioning performance was influenced by the odor concentration,
      intertrial interval, and starvation time. A slight sensitization elicited by
      imbibing sucrose was observed. These results indicate that oriental fruit flies
      have a high capacity to form an olfactory memory as a result of classical
      conditioning. 

PMID- 25837421
TI  - Toxicological importance of human biomonitoring of metallic and metalloid
      elements in different biological samples.
AB  - Human biomonitoring has become an important tool for the assessment of internal
      doses of metallic and metalloid elements. These elements are of great
      significance because of their toxic properties and wide distribution in
      environmental compartments. Although blood and urine are the most used and
      accepted matrices for human biomonitoring, other non-conventional samples
      (saliva, placenta, meconium, hair, nails, teeth, breast milk) may have practical
      advantages and would provide additional information on health risk. Nevertheless,
      the analysis of these compounds in biological matrices other than blood and urine
      has not yet been accepted as a useful tool for biomonitoring. The validation of
      analytical procedures is absolutely necessary for a proper implementation of non
      conventional samples in biomonitoring programs. However, the lack of reliable and
      useful analytical methodologies to assess exposure to metallic elements, and the
      potential interference of external contamination and variation in biological
      features of non-conventional samples are important limitations for setting health
      based reference values. The influence of potential confounding factors on
      metallic concentration should always be considered. More research is needed to
      ascertain whether or not non-conventional matrices offer definitive advantages
      over the traditional samples and to broaden the available database for
      establishing worldwide accepted reference values in non-exposed populations. 

PMID- 25837422
TI  - Complete remission of Waldenstrom's associated generalized crystal-storing
      histiocytosis of IgM lambda subtype with bortezomib-based combination
      chemotherapy.

PMID- 25837423
TI  - Quantification of Left Ventricular Linear, Areal and Volumetric Dimensions: A
      Phantom and in Vivo Comparison of 2-D and Real-Time 3-D Echocardiography with
      Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.
AB  - Two-dimensional echocardiography and real-time 3-D echocardiography have been
      reported to underestimate human left ventricular volumes significantly compared
      with cardiovascular magnetic resonance. We investigated the ability of 2-D
      echocardiography, real-time 3-D echocardiography and cardiovascular magnetic
      resonance to delineate dimensions of increasing complexity (diameter-area-volume)
      in a multimodality phantom model and in vivo, with the aim of elucidating the
      main cause of underestimation. All modalities were able to delineate phantom
      dimensions with high precision. In vivo, 2-D and real-time 3-D echocardiography
      underestimated short-axis end-diastolic linear and areal and all left ventricular
      volumetric dimensions significantly compared with cardiovascular magnetic
      resonance, but not short-axis end-systolic linear and areal dimensions.
      Underestimation increased successively from linear to volumetric left ventricular
      dimensions. When analyzed according to the same principles, 2-D and real-time 3
      DE echocardiography provided similar left ventricular volumes. In conclusion,
      echocardiographic underestimation of left ventricular dimensions is due mainly to
      inherent technical differences in the ability to differentiate trabeculated from
      compact myocardium. Identical endocardial border definition criteria are needed
      to minimize differences between the modalities and to ensure better comparability
      in clinical practice.

PMID- 25837424
TI  - Visualizing the stress distribution within vascular tissues using intravascular
      ultrasound elastography: a preliminary investigation.
AB  - A methodology for computing the stress distribution of vascular tissue using
      finite element-based, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) reconstruction elastography
      is described. This information could help cardiologists detect life-threatening
      atherosclerotic plaques and predict their propensity to rupture. The calculation
      of vessel stresses requires the measurement of strain from the ultrasound images,
      a calibrating pressure measurement and additional model assumptions. In this
      work, we conducted simulation studies to investigate the effect of varying the
      model assumptions, specifically Poisson's ratio and the outer boundary
      conditions, on the resulting stress fields. In both simulation and phantom
      studies, we created vessel geometries with two fibrous cap thicknesses to
      determine if we could detect a difference in peak stress (spatially) between the
      two. The results revealed that (i) Poisson's ratios had negligible impact on the
      accuracy of stress elastograms, (ii) the outer boundary condition assumption had
      the greatest effect on the resulting modulus and stress distributions and (iii)
      in simulation and in phantom experiments, our stress imaging technique was able
      to detect an increased peak stress for the vessel geometry with the smaller cap
      thickness. This work is a first step toward understanding and creating a robust
      stress measurement technique for evaluating atherosclerotic plaques using IVUS
      elastography. 

PMID- 25837425
TI  - Altered circadian rhythm and metabolic gene profile in rats subjected to advanced
      light phase shifts.
AB  - The circadian clock regulates metabolic homeostasis and its disruption
      predisposes to obesity and other metabolic diseases. However, the effect of phase
      shifts on metabolism is not completely understood. We examined whether
      alterations in the circadian rhythm caused by phase shifts induce metabolic
      changes in crucial genes that would predispose to obesity. Three-month-old rats
      were maintained on a standard diet under lighting conditions with chronic phase
      shifts consisting of advances, delays or advances plus delays. Serum leptin,
      insulin and glucose levels decreased only in rats subjected to advances. The
      expression of the clock gene Bmal 1 increased in the hypothalamus, white adipose
      tissue (WAT), brown adipose tissue (BAT) and liver of the advanced group compared
      to control rats. The advanced group showed an increase in hypothalamic AgRP and
      NPY mRNA, and their lipid metabolism gene profile was altered in liver, WAT and
      BAT. WAT showed an increase in inflammation and ER stress and brown adipocytes
      suffered a brown-to-white transformation and decreased UCP-1 expression. Our
      results indicate that chronic phase advances lead to significant changes in
      neuropeptides, lipid metabolism, inflammation and ER stress gene profile in
      metabolically relevant tissues such as the hypothalamus, liver, WAT and BAT. This
      highlights a link between alteration of the circadian rhythm and metabolism at
      the transcriptional level. 

PMID- 25837426
TI  - Dinitrosyl iron complexes (DNICs): from biomimetic synthesis and spectroscopic
      characterization toward unveiling the biological and catalytic roles of DNICs.
AB  - Dinitrosyl iron complexes (DNICs) have been recognized as storage and transport
      agents of nitric oxide capable of selectively modifying crucial biological
      targets via its distinct redox forms (NO(+), NO(*) and NO(-)) to initiate the
      signaling transduction pathways associated with versatile physiological and
      pathological responses. For decades, the molecular geometry and spectroscopic
      identification of {Fe(NO)2}(9) DNICs ({Fe(NO)x}(n) where n is the sum of
      electrons in the Fe 3d orbitals and NO pi* orbitals based on Enemark-Feltham
      notation) in biology were limited to tetrahedral (CN = 4) and EPR g-value ~2.03,
      respectively, due to the inadequacy of structurally well-defined biomimetic DNICs
      as well as the corresponding spectroscopic library accessible in biological
      environments. The developed synthetic methodologies expand the scope of DNICs
      into nonclassical square pyramidal and trigonal bipyramidal (CN = 5) and
      octahedral (CN = 6) {Fe(NO)2}(9) DNICs, as well as two/three accessible redox
      couples for mononuclear {Fe(NO)2}(9/10) and dinuclear [{Fe(NO)2}(9/10)
      {Fe(NO)2}(9/10)] DNICs with biologically relevant S/O/N ligation modes. The
      unprecedented molecular geometries and electronic states of structurally well
      defined DNIC models provide the foundation to construct a spectroscopic library
      for uncovering the identity of DNICs in biological environments as well as to
      determine the electronic structures of the {Fe(NO)2} core in qualitative and
      quantitative fashions by a wide range of spectroscopic methods. On the basis of
      (15)N NMR, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), IR, cyclic voltammetry (CV),
      superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry, UV-vis, single
      crystal X-ray crystallography, and Fe/S K-edge X-ray absorption and Fe Kbeta X
      ray emission spectroscopies, the molecular geometry, ligation modes, nuclearity,
      and electronic states of the mononuclear {Fe(NO)2}(9/10) and dinuclear
      [{Fe(NO)2}(9/10)-{Fe(NO)2}(9/10)] DNICs could be characterized and
      differentiated. In addition, Fe/S K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy of
      tetrahedral DNICs deduced the qualitative assignment of Fe/NO oxidation states of
      {Fe(NO)2}(9) DNICs as a resonance hybrid of {Fe(II)((*)NO)(NO(-))}(9) and
      {Fe(III)(NO(-))2}(9) electronic states; the quantitative NO oxidation states of
      [(PhS)3Fe(NO)](-), [(PhS)2Fe(NO)2](-), and [(PhO)2Fe(NO)2](-) were further
      achieved by newly developed valence to core Fe Kbeta X-ray emission spectroscopy
      as -0.58 +/- 0.18, -0.77 +/- 0.18, and -0.95 +/- 0.18, respectively. The in-depth
      elaborations of electronic structures provide credible guidance to elucidate (a)
      the essential roles of DNICs modeling the degradation and repair of [Fe-S]
      clusters under the presence of NO, (b) transformation of DNIC into S-nitrosothiol
      (RSNO)/N-nitrosamine (R2NNO) and NO(+)/NO(*)/NO(-), (c) nitrite/nitrate
      activation producing NO regulated by redox shuttling of {Fe(NO)2}(9) and
      {Fe(NO)2}(10) DNICs, and (d) DNICs as H2S storage and cellular permeation pathway
      of DNIC/Roussin's red ester (RRE) for subsequent protein S-nitrosylation. The
      consolidated efforts on biomimetic synthesis, inorganic spectroscopy, chemical
      reactivity, and biological functions open avenues to the future designs of DNICs
      serving as stable inorganic NO(+)/NO(*)/NO(-) donors for pharmaceutical
      applications. 

PMID- 25837427
TI  - Large-Scale Persistent Network Reconfiguration Induced by Ketamine in
      Anesthetized Monkeys: Relevance to Mood Disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ketamine is a highly attractive candidate for developing fast-onset
      antidepressant agents; however, the relevant brain circuits that underlie
      sustained, efficacious antidepressant effects remain largely unknown. METHODS: We
      used a holistic scheme combining whole-brain resting-state fMRI and graph
      theoretical analysis to examine the sustained effects on brain networks after
      administration of a single dose of ketamine and to identify the brain regions and
      circuits preferentially targeted by ketamine. Topological differences in
      functional networks of anesthetized macaque monkeys were compared between
      ketamine (.5 mg/kg) and saline treatment after 18 hours. RESULTS: We observed
      persistent global reconfiguration of small-world properties in response to
      ketamine intake, accompanied by large-scale downregulation of functional
      connectivity, most prominently in the orbital prefrontal cortex, the subgenual
      and posterior cingulate cortices, and the nucleus accumbens. Intriguingly,
      intrinsic connectivity with the medial prefrontal areas in the reward circuits
      were selectively downregulated. Global and regional regulations of the brain
      networks precisely opposed the maladaptive alterations in the depressed brain.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that local synaptic plasticity triggered by
      blockade of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptors was capable of translating into
      prolonged network reconfiguration in the distributed cortico-limbic-striatal
      circuit, providing mechanistic insight into developing specific loci or circuit
      targeted, long-term therapeutics.

PMID- 25837428
TI  - Transcriptome analysis and its application in identifying genes associated with
      fruiting body development in basidiomycete Hypsizygus marmoreus.
AB  - To elucidate the mechanisms of fruit body development in H. marmoreus, a total of
      43609521 high-quality RNA-seq reads were obtained from four developmental stages,
      including the mycelial knot (H-M), mycelial pigmentation (H-V), primordium (H-P)
      and fruiting body (H-F) stages. These reads were assembled to obtain 40568
      unigenes with an average length of 1074 bp. A total of 26800 (66.06%) unigenes
      were annotated and analyzed with the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes
      (KEGG), Gene Ontology (GO), and Eukaryotic Orthologous Group (KOG) databases.
      Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from the four transcriptomes were analyzed.
      The KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the mycelium pigmentation stage was
      associated with the MAPK, cAMP, and blue light signal transduction pathways. In
      addition, expression of the two-component system members changed with the
      transition from H-M to H-V, suggesting that light affected the expression of
      genes related to fruit body initiation in H. marmoreus. During the transition
      from H-V to H-P, stress signals associated with MAPK, cAMP and ROS signals might
      be the most important inducers. Our data suggested that nitrogen starvation might
      be one of the most important factors in promoting fruit body maturation, and
      nitrogen metabolism and mTOR signaling pathway were associated with this process.
      In addition, 30 genes of interest were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR to
      verify their expression profiles at the four developmental stages. This study
      advances our understanding of the molecular mechanism of fruiting body
      development in H. marmoreus by identifying a wealth of new genes that may play
      important roles in mushroom morphogenesis. 

PMID- 25837429
TI  - Changes in bone mineral density following long-term simultaneous pancreas-kidney
      transplantation.
AB  - The symptoms of chronic renal disease-related mineral and bone disease improve
      significantly in patients after successful simultaneous pancreas-kidney
      transplantation (SPKT); however, bone pathology is still present even after many
      post-transplant years. The aim of this study was to analyze the bone densitometry
      in different periods after SPKT. Three-point densitometry was performed with the
      dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) technique. Serum levels of alkaline
      phosphatase (ALP), total serum calcium, phosphate and parathyroid hormone were
      analyzed as markers of mineral metabolism. The study population consisted of 48
      patients (28 females, 20 males) with a mean age of 35 +/- 6 years and mean 24 +/-
      6 years of prior diabetes. Mean period of maintenance dialysis was 36 +/- 26
      months. The median time from SPKT and DXA measurement was 0.53, 26.2 and 41.9
      months, respectively. Based on the DXA technique, 35.4 % of patients were
      categorized as having osteoporosis at the lumbar spine and 39.6 % at the femoral
      neck. Patients with diagnosed osteoporosis had significantly higher levels of ALP
      (OR = 1.5; 95 % CI = 1.1-2.2; p < 0.05 at the lumbar spine; OR = 1.4; 95 % CI =
      1.0-1.9; p < 0.05 at the femoral neck). In addition, subjects with lumbar
      osteoporosis were characterized by a significantly lower body mass index (BMI)
      (OR = 0.5; 95 % CI = 0.3-0.9; p < 0.05). In the long-term follow-up, BMD
      increased significantly at the lumbar spine (T-score -1.86 +/- 1.07 to -1.08 +/-
      0.89) and femoral neck (T-score -2.12 +/- 0.78 to -1.63 +/- 0.65). A multivariate
      linear model identified a BMI increase as a significant factor associated with
      improvement in BMD. Results of our study led us to conclude that, according to
      three-point densitometry, BMD among patients with functioning kidney and pancreas
      grafts improved. Increased serum levels of ALP were significantly associated with
      a decrease in BMD, suggesting a higher risk of osteoporosis. BMI gain was
      predictive of BMD improvement. 

PMID- 25837430
TI  - Evaluation of crystallographic orientation of biological apatite in vertebral
      cortical bone in ovariectomized cynomolgus monkeys treated with minodronic acid
      and alendronate.
AB  - Quantitative analysis of the orientational distribution of biological apatite
      (BAp) crystals is proposed as a new index of bone quality. This study aimed to
      analyze BAp c-axis orientation in ovariectomized (OVX) monkeys treated with amino
      bisphosphonates minodronic acid and alendronate as reference. Sixty female
      monkeys aged 9-17 years were divided into five groups: one sham group and four
      OVX groups. The sham group and one OVX group were treated daily with vehicle for
      17 months. The other three groups were treated daily with minodronic acid at
      doses of 0.015 and 0.15 mg/kg, and alendronate at 0.5 mg/kg orally, respectively.
      The seventh lumbar vertebrae were subjected to analysis of the preferential BAp c
      axis orientation in the ventral cortical bone. The BAp c-axis orientation along
      the craniocaudal axis was significantly increased in the OVX monkeys. The high
      dose of minodronic acid suppressed the OVX-induced increase in the BAp c-axis
      orientation, whereas alendronate showed a non-significant tendency to suppress
      the increase in the orientation. In analysis with other parameters, the BAp c
      axis orientation was positively correlated with bone formation indices in
      biochemical markers and bone histomorphometry and negatively correlated with the
      increase in lumbar bone mineral density. On the other hand, the BAp c-axis
      orientation was not correlated with bone resorption indices, except for the
      eroded surface. These results indicate that the increase in BAp c-axis
      orientation was ameliorated by minodronic acid treatment in OVX monkeys, mainly
      by suppression of bone formation increase. 

PMID- 25837432
TI  - The effects of size and surface modification of amorphous silica particles on
      biodistribution and liver metabolism in mice.
AB  - Engineered nanoparticles, with unconventional properties, are promising platforms
      for biomedical applications. Since they may interact with a wide variety of
      biomolecules, it is critical to understand the impact of the physicochemical
      properties of engineered nanoparticles on biological systems. In this study, the
      effects of particle size and surface modification alone or in combination of
      amorphous silica particles (SPs) on biological responses were determined using a
      suite of general toxicological assessments and metabonomics analysis in mice
      model. Our results suggested that amino or carboxyl surface modification
      mitigated the liver toxicity of plain-surface SPs. 30 nm SPs with amino surface
      modification were found to be the most toxic SPs among all the surface-modified
      SP treatments at the same dosage. When treatment dose was increased, submicro
      sized SPs with amino or carboxyl surface modification also induced liver
      toxicity. Biodistribution studies suggested that 70 nm SPs were mainly
      accumulated in liver and spleen regardless of surface modifications.
      Interestingly, these two organs exhibited different uptake trends. Furthermore,
      metabonomics studies indicated that surface modification plays a more dominant
      role to affect the liver metabolism than particle size. 

PMID- 25837433
TI  - Chemoradiation therapy reduces aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 expression in cervical
      cancer but does not improve patient survival.
AB  - Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH-1) is a cancer stem cell marker whose
      overexpression can predict the prognosis of several human cancers. In this study,
      we assessed ALDH-1 expression in cervical cancer tissues and investigated the
      usefulness of ALDH-1 expression levels for the prediction of patient response to
      chemoradiation therapy and survival. Tissue samples from 74 patients were
      examined via immunostaining with ALDH-1 antibody before and after chemoradiation
      therapy. Twenty-nine of the 74 cervical cancer cases exhibited ALDH-1 expression
      (39.19 %) in the pre-treatment tissue samples; however, only 19 of these 39 cases
      exhibited ALDH-1 expression (48.72 %) in post-treatment tissue samples,
      indicating that chemoradiotherapy eliminated the ALDH-1 positive tumor stem cells
      in cervical cancer. However, patient disease-free survival was not associated
      with ALDH-1 expression (11.78 +/- 1.95 vs. 12.50 +/- 1.91 months in ALDH-1
      positive and -negative tumors, respectively). This study indicates that the
      reduction of the cancer stem cell population via chemoradiotherapy may not be
      sufficient to improve patient survival. Thus, the clinical value of ALDH-1
      expression in cervical cancer may need to be re-examined.

PMID- 25837434
TI  - Socio-demographic and geographic variations in the utilization of hormone therapy
      in older women with breast cancer after Medicare Part-D coverage.
AB  - No study has previously reported the utilization and adherence to hormone therapy
      for Medicare Part-D beneficiaries with breast cancer. This study was conducted
      using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare-linked data to
      assess socio-demographic, geographic, and other variations in the receipt of
      hormone therapy among patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer and
      to assess adherence to hormone therapy within 1-year follow-up. The percentage of
      patients who received hormone therapy was calculated and stratified by
      chemotherapy status (yes or no). Logistic regression models were performed to
      assess the variations associated with the use of selective estrogen receptor
      modulators (SERMs), aromatase inhibitors (AIs), and hormone therapy (SERMs or
      AIs). Of 25,128 women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in 2006-2009
      who were enrolled in Medicare Part-D program, 70.8 % received hormone therapy,
      22.2 % received SERM, and 56.9 % received AIs. Among those receiving
      chemotherapy, significant predictors of receiving hormone therapy included age,
      tumor stage, surgery type, radiation therapy; significant predictors of receiving
      SERM included race, year of diagnosis, and tumor stage; and significant
      predictors of receiving AI included age, race, socioeconomic status, geographic
      location, tumor stage, and radiation therapy. For those without receiving
      chemotherapy, most of the above factors were significant, but differed across
      each drug class. In conclusion, over two-thirds of hormone receptor-positive
      breast cancer patients received hormone therapy, and still 29.2 % of patients did
      not receive it. Tumor and clinical factors are the most significant predictors
      for the receipt of hormone therapy.

PMID- 25837435
TI  - The impact of hypoxemia on serum total and free prostate-specific antigen levels
      in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the most important biochemical marker in the
      diagnosis and follow-up of patients with prostate cancer. In recent years, a
      relationship between PSA levels and hypoxic conditions has been described.
      However, no study has investigated the PSA levels in patients with chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The aim of the present study was to
      investigate the impact of hypoxemia on serum total (tPSA) and free PSA (fPSA)
      levels in patients with COPD. Between January 2010 and January 2014, 95 male
      patients who hospitalized for acute exacerbations of COPD and 80 control subjects
      were enrolled in the study. Serum tPSA and fPSA levels and f/tPSA ratios were
      determined in all patients on the first day of hospitalization (exacerbation) and
      7 days after the treatment (stable state). Statistical analysis included paired t
      test and Mann-Whitney U test. No statistically significant differences were found
      between COPD and control groups with regard to the baseline characteristics,
      except for smoking status. The levels of serum tPSA and fPSA during exacerbation
      of COPD were significantly higher than the levels of the stable period (p <
      0.01), whereas f/tPSA ratio did not change (p > 0.05). Hypoxemia during acute
      exacerbation of COPD can cause a rise in serum tPSA and fPSA levels, but f/tPSA
      ratio is not affected. Acute exacerbation of COPD may be added to list of the
      events in which PSA measurements must be interpreted with caution.

PMID- 25837437
TI  - Terpenoids Isolated From the Shoot of Plectranthus hadiensis Induces Apoptosis in
      Human Colon Cancer Cells Via the Mitochondria-Dependent Pathway.
AB  - The plant Plectranthus hadiensis is a rich source of many bioactive
      phytochemicals, especially terpenoids. The terpenoid fraction was isolated and
      phytochemical characterization was done using GC-MS. The aim of the present study
      was to find out the antiproliferative activity and the mechanism of cell death
      induction by the terpenoid fraction on human colon cancer cells (HCT-15). MTT
      assay was performed with different concentrations of the fraction (10, 20, and 50
      ug/mL) to obtain IC50 value for 24 h to induce cell death. The induction of
      apoptosis were studied by Hoechst staining, acridine orange/ethidium bromide
      staining, Comet assay, DNA fragmentation, and caspase-3 activity assays. The
      mechanism of apoptosis induction was studied by expression analysis of
      antiapoptotic Bcl-2 and proapoptotic Bax using RT-PCR and also by Western blot
      analysis of proteins involved in the apoptotic pathway. The terpenoid fraction
      induced significant morphological changes and DNA fragmentation in the cells.
      Positive Hoechst staining and acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining indicated
      apoptosis induction by the fraction. DNA fragmentation, which is a characteristic
      feature of apoptosis, was also observed. Upregulation of caspase-3 activity and
      proapoptotic Bax, and the downregulation of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 and COX-2
      confirmed that the apoptosis induction was via the mitochondria-dependent
      pathway.

PMID- 25837438
TI  - Statistical completion of a partially identified graph with applications for the
      estimation of gene regulatory networks.
AB  - We study the estimation of a Gaussian graphical model whose dependent structures
      are partially identified. In a Gaussian graphical model, an off-diagonal zero
      entry in the concentration matrix (the inverse covariance matrix) implies the
      conditional independence of two corresponding variables, given all other
      variables. A number of methods have been proposed to estimate a sparse large
      scale Gaussian graphical model or, equivalently, a sparse large-scale
      concentration matrix. In practice, the graph structure to be estimated is often
      partially identified by other sources or a pre-screening. In this paper, we
      propose a simple modification of existing methods to take into account this
      information in the estimation. We show that the partially identified dependent
      structure reduces the error in estimating the dependent structure. We apply the
      proposed method to estimating the gene regulatory network from lung cancer data,
      where protein-protein interactions are partially identified from the human
      protein reference database. The application shows that proposed method identified
      many important cancer genes as hub genes in the constructed lung cancer network.
      In addition, we validated the prognostic importance of a newly identified cancer
      gene, PTPN13, in four independent lung cancer datasets. The results indicate that
      the proposed method could facilitate studying underlying lung cancer mechanisms
      and identifying reliable biomarkers for lung cancer prognosis. 

PMID- 25837439
TI  - Expression and characterization of camel chymosin in Pichia pastoris.
AB  - Chymosin efficiently coagulates milk and so is widely used in commercial cheese
      production. Traditional chymosin production requires the slaughter of a large
      numbers of unweaned calves. In the present study, a full-length camel prochymosin
      gene was synthesized and cloned into the pPIC9K vector, which was then inserted
      into the yeast strain, Pichia pastoris GS115. Expression of the chymosin gene in
      yeast was under the control of an AOX1 inducible promoter. The yeast system
      produced approximately 37mg/L of recombinant enzyme under lab conditions. SDS
      PAGE of the raw supernatant revealed two molecular bands, which were
      approximately 42kDa and 45kDa in size. The 45kDa band disappeared after treatment
      of the supernatant with N-glycosidase F (PNGase F), indicating that the
      recombinant protein was partially glycosylated. When subjected to a low pH,
      recombinant prochymosin was converted into mature and active chymosin. The active
      chymosin was capable of specifically hydrolyzing kappa-casein. A pH of 5.04, and
      temperature range of 45-50 degrees C, was optimum for milk clotting activity.
      Maximum milk clotting activity was detected with the inclusion of 20-40mM CaCl2.
      The recombinant enzyme was highly active and stable over a wide pH range (from
      2.5 to 6.5) at 20 degrees C for 8h. Thermostability of the recombinant enzyme was
      also analyzed. Pilot-scale production (300mg/L) was attained using a 5L
      fermenter. We demonstrated that expression of the camel chymosin gene in P.
      pastoris could represent an excellent system for producing active camel chymosin
      for potential use in the commercial production of cheese. 

PMID- 25837440
TI  - Mucosal-associated invariant T cells are numerically and functionally deficient
      in patients with mycobacterial infection and reflect disease activity.
AB  - Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells contribute to protection against
      certain microorganism infections. The aims of this study were to examine the
      levels of MAIT cells in pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and nontuberculous
      mycobacteria (NTM) lung disease patients, to evaluate the clinical relevance of
      MAIT cell levels, and to investigate the functions of MAIT cells. Patients with
      pulmonary TB (n = 35), NTM (n = 29), and healthy controls (n = 75) were enrolled
      in the study. MAIT cell levels and functions were measured by flow cytometry.
      Circluating MAIT cell levels were found to be reduced in TB and NTM patients.
      MAIT cell deficiency reflects a variety of clinical conditions. In particular,
      MAIT cell numbers were significantly correlated with sputum AFB positivity,
      extent of disease, hemoglobin levels, lymphocyte counts, CRP and ESR levels. MAIT
      cells in TB patients failed to produce interferon-gamma irrespective of the mode
      of stimulation, whereas NTM patients displayed a defect in MR1-dependent
      signaling pathway. Notably, an elevated expression of programmed death-1 was also
      associated with MAIT cell deficiency in TB. This study shows that MAIT cells are
      numerically and functionally deficient in TB and NTM patients and these
      deficiencies could contribute to immune system dysreguation in mycobacterial
      infection. 

PMID- 25837441
TI  - The impact of anti-tuberculous antibiotics and corticosteroids on cytokine
      production in QuantiFERON-TB Gold In Tube assays.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The ability to monitor and confirm adequate treatment of latent TB
      infection (LTBI) would be a major advance. The potential immunomodulatory effects
      of anti-tuberculous drugs and steroids need to be considered in assessing the
      utility of cytokine-based assays for this purpose. METHODS: We determined whether
      anti-tuberculous antibiotics or dexamethasone affect the production of IFN-gamma
      and other potential cytokine biomarkers (TNF-alpha, IL-1ra, IL-2, IL-10, IL-13,
      IP-10, MIP-1beta) in the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-IT) assay. Blood from
      ten adults with LTBI was added to one standard set of QFT-IT tubes and five
      further sets containing therapeutic concentrations of either isoniazid,
      rifampicin, isoniazid and rifampicin, ciprofloxacin or dexamethasone. Resulting
      supernatants were analysed by ELISA (QFT-IT assay IFN-gamma) and xMAP-Luminex
      assays (all cytokines). RESULTS: Anti-tuberculous antibiotics had only a limited
      effect on categorical QFT-IT assay results and the production of cytokines. In
      contrast, dexamethasone resulted in a change in categorical results from positive
      to negative in four of ten patients, and caused a marked reduction in IL-13 and
      IL-1ra responses. CONCLUSION: Substantial changes in TB-antigen-induced IFN-gamma
      and other cytokine responses during treatment likely primarily reflect host
      immunological changes rather than immunomodulatory effects of anti-tuberculous
      antibiotics. Results from cytokine-based assays in patients on corticosteroids
      should be interpreted with caution.

PMID- 25837442
TI  - Pharmacokinetic variability of clindamycin and influence of rifampicin on
      clindamycin concentration in patients with bone and joint infections.
AB  - PURPOSE: Clindamycin, a lincosamide antibiotic with a good penetration into bone,
      is widely used for treating bone and joint infections by Gram-positive pathogens.
      To be active against Staphylococcus spp, its concentration at the infection site,
      C, must be higher than 2* the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC). The aims of
      the work were to study the determinants of plasma clindamycin trough
      concentration, C min, especially the effect of co-treatment with rifampicin, and
      the consequences on clinical outcome. METHODS: An observational study was
      performed, involving patients hospitalized for a bone and joint infection who
      received clindamycin as part of their antibiotic treatment. Target C min was 1.7
      mg/L, to reach the desired bone concentration/MIC >2, assuming a 30% diffusion
      into bone and MIC = 2.5 mg/L. RESULTS: Sixty one patients (mean age: 56.8 years,
      57.4% male) were included between 2007 and 2011. 72.1% underwent a surgery on a
      foreign material, and 91.1% were infected by at least a Gram-positive micro
      organism. Median C min value was 1.39 mg/L, with 58% of the values below the
      threshold value of 1.7 mg/L. Median C min was significantly lower for patients
      taking rifampicin (0.46 vs 1.52 mg/L, p = 0.034). No patient with rifampicin co
      administration reached the target concentration (maximal C min: 0.85 mg/L). After
      a median follow-up of 17 months (1.5-38 months), 4 patients relapsed, 2 died and
      47 (88.7% of the patients with known outcome) were cured, independently of
      association with rifampicin. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the high inter
      variability of plasma clindamycin concentration and confirms that co-treatment
      with rifampicin significantly decreases clindamycin trough concentrations.

PMID- 25837443
TI  - Identification of glycoproteins containing specific glycans using a lectin
      chemical method.
AB  - Glycosylation is one of the most common protein modifications. Each glycoprotein
      can be glycosylated at multiple glycosites, and each glycosites can be modified
      by different glycans. Due to this heterogeneity of glycosylation, it has proven
      difficult to study the structure-function relationship of specific glycans and
      their affected glycoproteins. Here, we report a novel method for rapid and
      quantitative identification of glycoproteins containing specific glycans. Lectin
      affinity isolations are followed by chemical immobilization of the captured
      glycopeptides, allowing the identification of glycoproteins containing specific
      glycans by subsequent mass spectrometry. The application of the method should be
      useful to facilitate our understanding of how changes in glycan associate with
      diseases, and to discover novel glycoproteins with certain glycans that could
      serve as biomarkers or therapeutic targets. 

PMID- 25837444
TI  - Enhancement of memory consolidation by the histone deacetylase inhibitor sodium
      butyrate in aged rats.
AB  - Here we show that a systemic injection of the histone deacetylase inhibitor
      (HDACi) sodium butyrate (NaB) immediately after training in a step-down
      inhibitory avoidance task produced an enhancement of memory consolidation that
      persisted across consecutive retention tests during 14 days in aged rats, while
      it did not significantly affect memory in young adults. Control aged and young
      adult rats showed comparable basal levels of memory retention. Our results
      suggest that HDACis can display memory-enhancing effects specific for aged
      animals, even in the absence of age-related memory impairment. 

PMID- 25837445
TI  - Differential phosphorylation of NMDAR1-CaMKII-MAPKs in the rat nucleus accumbens
      following chronic ethanol exposure.
AB  - Previous studies suggest that the nucleus accumbens shell (AcbSh) and core (AcbC)
      regions may have distinct roles in ethanol consumption. N-Methyl-d-aspartate
      receptor 1 (NMDAR1), Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) and
      extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) have been demonstrated to
      contribute to and possibly interact in the molecular mechanism underlying ethanol
      dependence and relapse. However, little is known regarding the mechanisms
      underlying the effects of ethanol exposure, withdrawal, and re-exposure,
      particularly with regard to NMDAR1-CaMKII-ERK signaling in accumbens subregions.
      In the present study, rats were provided with a 6% ethanol solution as their only
      drinking source. We found that ethanol exerted locomotor stimulant and anxiolytic
      effects in open field behaviors. Phosphorylation of NMDAR1, CaMKII and ERK was
      significantly decreased in the AcbSh and AcbC following chronic ethanol exposure.
      Ethanol withdrawal increased phospho-NMDAR1 and phospho-CaMKII expression in the
      AcbSh. Ethanol withdrawal also induced an increase of phospho-ERK1/2 in both the
      AcbSh and AcbC, while ethanol re-exposure decreased phospho-ERK in the AcbSh.
      These results indicated that the activation of NMDAR1-CaMKII-ERK signaling in the
      AcbSh but not the AcbC would contribute more to ethanol drinking and chronic
      ethanol-related negative emotional states. 

PMID- 25837446
TI  - Mechanical characterization of the rat and mice skin tissues using
      histostructural and uniaxial data.
AB  - The skin tissue has been shown to behave like a nonlinear anisotropic material.
      This study was aimed to employ a constitutive fiber family equation to
      characterize the nonlinear anisotropic mechanical behavior of the rat and mice
      skin tissues in different anatomical locations, including the abdomen and back,
      using histostructural and uniaxial data. The rat and mice skin tissues were
      excised from the animals' body and then the histological analyses were performed
      on each skin type to determine the mean fiber orientation angle. Afterward, the
      preconditioned skin tissues were subjected to a series of quasi-static axial and
      circumferential loads until the incidence of failure. The crucial role of fiber
      orientation was explicitly added into a proposed strain energy density function.
      The material coefficients were determined using the constrained nonlinear
      optimization method based on the axial and circumferential extension data of the
      rat and mice samples at different anatomical locations. The material coefficients
      of the skins were given with R(2) >= 0.998. The results revealed a significant
      load-bearing capacity and stiffness of the rat abdomen compared to the rat back
      tissues. In addition, the mice abdomen showed a higher stiffness in the axial
      direction in comparison with circumferential one, while the mice back displayed
      its highest stiffness in the circumferential direction. The material coefficients
      of the rat and mice skin tissues were determined and well compared to the
      experimental data. The optimized fiber angles were also compared to the
      experimental histological data, and in all cases less than 11.85% differences
      were observed in both the skin tissues. 

PMID- 25837448
TI  - EULAR recommendations for the use of imaging in the diagnosis and management of
      spondyloarthritis in clinical practice.
AB  - A taskforce comprised of an expert group of 21 rheumatologists, radiologists and
      methodologists from 11 countries developed evidence-based recommendations on the
      use of imaging in the clinical management of both axial and peripheral
      spondyloarthritis (SpA). Twelve key questions on the role of imaging in SpA were
      generated using a process of discussion and consensus. Imaging modalities
      included conventional radiography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging,
      computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography, single photon emission
      CT, dual-emission x-ray absorptiometry and scintigraphy. Experts applied research
      evidence obtained from systematic literature reviews using MEDLINE and EMBASE to
      develop a set of 10 recommendations. The strength of recommendations (SOR) was
      assessed by taskforce members using a visual analogue scale. A total of 7550
      references were identified in the search process, from which 158 studies were
      included in the systematic review. Ten recommendations were produced using
      research-based evidence and expert opinion encompassing the role of imaging in
      making a diagnosis of axial SpA or peripheral SpA, monitoring inflammation and
      damage, predicting outcome, response to treatment, and detecting spinal fractures
      and osteoporosis. The SOR for each recommendation was generally very high (range
      8.9-9.5). These are the first recommendations which encompass the entire spectrum
      of SpA and evaluate the full role of all commonly used imaging modalities. We
      aimed to produce recommendations that are practical and valuable in daily
      practice for rheumatologists, radiologists and general practitioners. 

PMID- 25837449
TI  - Robot-assisted gait training might be beneficial for more severely affected
      children with cerebral palsy.
AB  - PURPOSE: Robot-assisted gait training (RAGT) can complement conventional
      therapies in children with cerebral palsy. We investigated changes in walking
      related outcomes between children with different Gross Motor Function
      Classification System (GMFCS) levels and the dose-response relationship. METHODS:
      Data from 67 children (3.9-19.9 years) with GMFCS levels II-IV were evaluated
      retrospectively. Every child received RAGT with the Lokomat complementing a
      multidisciplinary rehabilitation program. Changes in various walking-related
      outcomes were assessed. RESULTS: Walking-related outcomes did not improve
      differently between GMFCS level groups. Significant within-group improvements
      were mainly observed in children with GMFCS level IV. A dose-response
      relationship was present for children with GMFCS levels III and IV. CONCLUSIONS:
      Our results indicated that, although children with a GMFCS level IV walked less
      during an average Lokomat session, they experienced significant improvements in
      walking-related outcomes. Further, training dose correlated with changes in
      walking-related outcomes. However, between-group differences in changes in
      walking-related outcomes were not significant.

PMID- 25837447
TI  - Phylogenetic and individual variation in gastropod central pattern generators.
AB  - Gastropod molluscs provide a unique opportunity to explore the neural basis of
      rhythmic behaviors because of the accessibility of their nervous systems and the
      number of species that have been examined. Detailed comparisons of the central
      pattern generators (CPGs) underlying rhythmic feeding and swimming behaviors
      highlight the presence and effects of variation in neural circuits both across
      and within species. The feeding motor pattern of the snail, Lymnaea, is
      stereotyped, whereas the feeding motor pattern in the sea hare, Aplysia, is
      variable. However, the Aplysia motor pattern is regularized with operant
      conditioning or by mimicking learning using the dynamic clamp to change
      properties of CPG neurons. Swimming evolved repeatedly in marine gastropods.
      Distinct neural mechanisms underlie dissimilar forms of swimming, with homologous
      neurons playing different roles. However, even similar swimming behaviors in
      different species can be produced by distinct neural mechanisms, resulting from
      different synaptic connectivity of homologous neurons. Within a species, there
      can be variation in the strength and even valence of synapses, which does not
      have functional relevance under normal conditions, but can cause some individuals
      to be more susceptible to lesion of the circuit. This inter- and intra-species
      variation provides novel insights into CPG function and plasticity. 

PMID- 25837450
TI  - The use of Bayesian networks to assess the quality of evidence from research
      synthesis: 1.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The grades of recommendation, assessment, development and evaluation
      (GRADE) approach is widely implemented in systematic reviews, health technology
      assessment and guideline development organisations throughout the world. A key
      advantage to this approach is that it aids transparency regarding judgments on
      the quality of evidence. However, the intricacies of making judgments about
      research methodology and evidence make the GRADE system complex and challenging
      to apply without training. METHODS: We have developed a semi-automated quality
      assessment tool (SAQAT) l based on GRADE. This is informed by responses by
      reviewers to checklist questions regarding characteristics that may lead to
      unreliability. These responses are then entered into the Bayesian network to
      ascertain the probabilities of risk of bias, inconsistency, indirectness,
      imprecision and publication bias conditional on review characteristics. The model
      then combines these probabilities to provide a probability for each of the GRADE
      overall quality categories. We tested the model using a range of plausible
      scenarios that guideline developers or review authors could encounter. RESULTS:
      Overall, the model reproduced GRADE judgements for a range of scenarios.
      Potential advantages over standard assessment are use of explicit and consistent
      weightings for different review characteristics, forcing consideration of
      important but sometimes neglected characteristics and principled downgrading
      where small but important probabilities of downgrading are accrued across
      domains. CONCLUSIONS: Bayesian networks have considerable potential for use as
      tools to assess the validity of research evidence. The key strength of such
      networks lies in the provision of a statistically coherent method for combining
      probabilities across a complex framework based on both belief and evidence. In
      addition to providing tools for less experienced users to implement reliability
      assessment, the potential for sensitivity analyses and automation may be
      beneficial for application and the methodological development of reliability
      tools.

PMID- 25837451
TI  - The Qur'an and the development of rational thinking.
AB  - In this study, the means utilized by the Qur'an in actualizing the possibilities
      of all intellect to face the problem of blind imitation of ancestors were
      elaborated. Rationality as meant by the Qur'an and embodied in its unique style
      is presented. Furthermore, the Qur'anic documentation of the role of practical
      demonstration on the individual's mind as well as the societies' collective mind
      is pointed out. In addition, the study shows how the Qur'an guides people to the
      proper use of reason within a scientific framework of mind. 

PMID- 25837452
TI  - The relationship between cervical and lumbar spine lesions in rheumatoid
      arthritis with a focus on endplate erosion.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional imaging study. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the
      relationship between cervical and lumbar spine lesions in patients with
      rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to analyze associated factors in those with
      concurrent cervical and lumbar endplate erosion (EE). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA:
      Both the lumbar and cervical spines are often involved in RA, but little is known
      about the relationship between cervical and lumbar lesions. EE is often found in
      the spine of RA patients, but its prevalence and associated factors have not been
      well studied. METHODS: We enrolled 201 RA patients in this study. Cervical
      lesions (horizontal and vertical atlantoaxial dislocation, subaxial subluxation)
      and lumbar lesions (vertebral fracture, scoliosis, spondylolisthesis) were
      evaluated on plain radiographs. EE was evaluated on sagittal T1-weighted magnetic
      resonance images, and graded into 4 categories. The prevalence of each lesion was
      calculated, and correlations between general cervical and lumbar lesions and
      between cervical and lumbar EE were analyzed. To assess the clinical condition of
      RA, we evaluated disease duration, Steinbrocker stage, modified Stanford Health
      Assessment Questionnaire results, and Disease Activity Score for 28 joints with
      the erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Factors associated with concurrent lumbar and
      cervical EE were analyzed using multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS:
      Cervical lesions were found in 42.3% of patients and lumbar lesions in 56.2%.
      There was no significant correlation between the presence of cervical and the
      presence of lumbar lesions, but patients with cervical subaxial subluxation were
      significantly more likely to have lumbar spondylolisthesis. Cervical EE (>=1
      points) was found in 61.2% of patients and lumbar EE in 39.3%. Total cervical EE
      score was significantly correlated with lumbar EE score. Moderate/high disease
      activity, Steinbrocker stage IV, and severe cervical or lumbar disk degeneration
      were associated with concurrent cervical and lumbar EE. CONCLUSIONS: Some
      cervical lesions are significantly associated with lumbar spinal lesions.
      Concurrent cervical and lumbar EE are related to RA disease activity and
      peripheral joint deterioration, suggesting that RA activity may play an important
      role in total spinal involvement.

PMID- 25837453
TI  - Juvenile Swine Surgical Alveolar Cleft Model to Test Novel Autologous Stem Cell
      Therapies.
AB  - Reconstruction of craniofacial congenital bone defects has historically relied on
      autologous bone grafts. Engineered bone using mesenchymal stem cells from the
      umbilical cord on electrospun nanomicrofiber scaffolds offers an alternative to
      current treatments. This preclinical study presents the development of a juvenile
      swine model with a surgically created maxillary cleft defect for future testing
      of tissue-engineered implants for bone generation. Five-week-old pigs (n=6)
      underwent surgically created maxillary (alveolar) defects to determine critical
      sized defect and the quality of treatment outcomes with rib, iliac crest
      cancellous bone, and tissue-engineered scaffolds. Pigs were sacrificed at 1
      month. Computed tomography scans were obtained at days 0 and 30, at the time of
      euthanasia. Histological evaluation was performed on newly formed bone within the
      surgical defect. A 1 cm surgically created defect healed with no treatment, the 2
      cm defect did not heal. A subsequently created 1.7 cm defect, physiologically
      similar to a congenitally occurring alveolar cleft in humans, from the central
      incisor to the canine, similarly did not heal. Rib graft treatment did not
      incorporate into adjacent normal bone; cancellous bone and the tissue-engineered
      graft healed the critical-sized defect. This work establishes a juvenile swine
      alveolar cleft model with critical-sized defect approaching 1.7 cm. Both
      cancellous bone and tissue engineered graft generated bridging bone formation in
      the surgically created alveolar cleft defect.

PMID- 25837454
TI  - [Fenoldopam in patients with acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery].

PMID- 25837455
TI  - [Assessment of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction according to the latest
      European guidelines on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy].

PMID- 25837456
TI  - [Molecular genetic testing according to the latest European guidelines on
      hypertrophic cardiomyopathy].

PMID- 25837457
TI  - [Risk of sudden death according to the latest European guidelines on hypertrophic
      cardiomyopathy].

PMID- 25837458
TI  - [Vagus nerve stimulation for the treatment of heart failure].
AB  - In the last two decades, the autonomic imbalance characterized by vagal
      withdrawal and sympathetic increase has been shown to play a major role in the
      progression and prognosis of heart failure. Therefore, modulation of the
      autonomic nervous system (neuromodulation) with the aim to restore autonomic
      balance is gaining increasing interest as a potential therapy for patients with
      heart failure. Recently, different non-pharmacological approaches to
      neuromodulation have been evaluated in phase II and III clinical trials.
      Electrical vagus nerve stimulation is the most studied. This technique showed
      excellent results in preclinical studies, but at present the clinical experience
      is limited to a few studies, the results of which are apparently conflicting.This
      review discusses the preclinical and clinical experience of vagal stimulation in
      heart failure, in order to help understand the complexity of the methodology and
      our still limited knowledge of the dose-response relationship, which make
      difficult to interpret and compare the results of studies conducted with
      different designs and evaluating different devices and stimulation protocols. 

PMID- 25837459
TI  - [Heart rate modulation in stable ischemic heart disease: what we have learned
      from the SIGNIFY study?].
AB  - Elevated heart rate is a marker of cardiovascular risk in patients with stable
      coronary artery disease. The addition of ivabradine to standard therapy to reduce
      heart rate did not improve outcomes in the recent SIGNIFY trial. Moreover, a
      significant interaction between the effect of ivabradine among subgroups with and
      without angina with a worse outcome in patients in CCS class >II at baseline was
      detected. The explanation for this surprising finding despite a significant
      reduction in angina and myocardial revascularization procedures is uncertain. A J
      curve for heart rate was not demonstrated. We speculate a significant
      interference on adverse events (mainly atrial fibrillation and consequently acute
      coronary syndromes) and on the outcome of unfavorable interactions between
      ivabradine and diltiazem, verapamil and strong inhibitors of CYP3A4 (4.6% of the
      total population). Excluding this subgroup, there are no significant changes in
      outcomes between the two treatment groups (ivabradine and placebo). In
      conclusion, heart rate is a marker of risk but is not a risk factor and/or a
      target of therapy in patients with stable coronary artery disease and preserved
      ventricular systolic function. Standard doses of ivabradine are indicated for
      treatment of angina as an alternative or in addition to beta-blockers, but should
      not be administered in association with CYP3A4 inhibitors or heart rate-lowering
      calcium antagonists. 

PMID- 25837461
TI  - [Ebstein's anomaly: diagnosis and surgical treatment].
AB  - Ebstein's anomaly is a rare congenital heart disorder secondary to a malformation
      of the tricuspid valve and right ventricle. The heterogeneous spectrum of
      presentation of its structural anomalies and associated cardiomyopathy accounts
      for a widely varied clinical and hemodynamic manifestation of the pathology and
      its impact on timing of diagnosis and prognosis. Neonatal Ebstein's anomaly is
      characterized by reduced survival, while an average risk of mortality per year of
      1% to 1.4% has been reported in infancy and adulthood. Medical management and a
      careful clinical and echocardiographic follow-up are advisable for all
      asymptomatic patients and those with minimal abnormalities. Surgical correction
      is recommended in presence of progressive dilation of the right atrium and right
      ventricle, development of right ventricular dysfunction, occurrence of
      supraventricular or ventricular arrhythmias or episodes of paradoxical
      embolization, reduced exercise capacity, or significant desaturation. Prosthetic
      valve replacement or repair of the tricuspid valve are both common strategies in
      the correction of tricuspid regurgitation. During the last three decades,
      important contributions in the development of repair techniques were driven from
      the experience of Danielson, Carpentier and da Silva, with satisfactory results
      in terms of safety and durability at long-term follow-up. 

PMID- 25837460
TI  - [Why NAO: Know How. Why and how to choose the new oral anticoagulant in
      cardiological clinical practice].
AB  - Although it is well recognized that warfarin dramatically reduces the risk for
      ischemic stroke, its use for stroke prevention in patients with atrial
      fibrillation is often inadequate. Even among patients with other known risk
      factors for stroke (e.g., high blood pressure) and no contraindications to
      warfarin, warfarin therapy is prescribed in less than 60% of cases. In addition,
      safety and efficacy of warfarin therapy depend on adequate anticoagulation
      effect, but time in therapeutic range is 63%. Notably, major bleeding and
      intracranial hemorrhage represent a feared, though infrequent, complication.
      Aspirin monotherapy for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation
      should be discouraged, as it does not provide adequate protection against stroke
      and is associated with a significant increase in bleeding complications. New oral
      anticoagulants have a favorable risk-benefit profile, resulting in significant
      reductions in stroke, intracranial hemorrhage and mortality, with similar rates
      of major bleeding compared to warfarin but increased risk for gastrointestinal
      bleeding. The present review describes the new oral anticoagulants dabigatran,
      rivaroxaban, apixaban and edoxaban with a focus on the results from major
      randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses. It also provides practical
      suggestions for their use in daily clinical practice, introducing a dedicated,
      novel application for smartphones and tablets. 

PMID- 25837462
TI  - [A matter of perspective: multimodality imaging of a giant cardiac mass].
AB  - A newborn was suspected of having situs inversus with levocardia based on chest X
      ray. Echocardiography ruled out this hypothesis but revealed a giant cardiac mass
      that was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging. Coronary angiography showed
      that the right coronary artery ran on the surface of the mass, and only partial
      debulking surgery was performed to relieve right heart compression. Histological
      examination classified the mass as cardiac fibroma. Complex diagnostic work-up
      allowed correct anatomic definition of the mass as well as its relationship with
      adjacent structures, and helped guide surgical planning. 

PMID- 25837463
TI  - [Letter to the editor].

PMID- 25837464
TI  - [Electrocardiographic diagnosis of interatrial block].

PMID- 25837465
TI  - Increased normalized pulmonary transit times and pulmonary blood volumes in
      cardiomyopathic cats with or without congestive heart failure.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To estimate heart rate-normalized pulmonary transit times (nPTTs) in
      cardiomyopathic cats with or without congestive heart failure (CHF). To assess
      potential associations of echocardiographic variables and nPTT and to evaluate
      nPTT as a test for the presence of CHF. ANIMALS: Forty-eight privately owned
      cats. METHODS: nPTT was measured using echocardiography and the ultrasound
      contrast media SonoVue((r)) in 3 groups of cats: healthy cats (group 1), cats
      with cardiomyopathy (CM) but without CHF (group 2), and cats with CM and CHF
      (group 3). Interrelations between pulmonary blood volume (PBV), nPTT, stroke
      volume (SV), and echocardiographic variables were investigated by means of linear
      univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Median nPTT values in group 1,
      group 2, and group 3 were 3.63 (interquartile range [IQR], 3.20-4.22), 6.09 (IQR,
      5.0-7.02), and 8.49 (IQR, 7.58-11.04), respectively. Values were significantly
      different between all 3 groups. Median PBVs in group 1, group 2, and group 3 were
      27.94 mL (IQR, 21.02-33.17 mL), 42.83 mL (IQR, 38.46-50.36 mL) and 49.48 mL (IQR,
      38.84-64.39 mL). SV, PBV, and shortening fraction <30% were significant
      predictors of nPTT. nPTT and left atrial to aortic root (LA:AO) ratio, not SV,
      were the main predictors of PBV. CONCLUSION: nPTT may be useful as a test for the
      presence of CHF in cats with CM and as a measure of cardiac performance. nPTT and
      LA:AO ratios predict CHF with equal accuracy. Increased PBV is significantly
      associated with higher nPTT and LA:AO ratios.

PMID- 25837466
TI  - Antibody specific epitope prediction-emergence of a new paradigm.
AB  - The development of accurate tools for predicting B-cell epitopes is important but
      difficult. Traditional methods have examined which regions in an antigen are
      likely binding sites of an antibody. However, it is becoming increasingly clear
      that most antigen surface residues will be able to bind one or more of the myriad
      of possible antibodies. In recent years, new approaches have emerged for
      predicting an epitope for a specific antibody, utilizing information encoded in
      antibody sequence or structure. Applying such antibody-specific predictions to
      groups of antibodies in combination with easily obtainable experimental data
      improves the performance of epitope predictions. We expect that further advances
      of such tools will be possible with the integration of immunoglobulin repertoire
      sequencing data. 

PMID- 25837468
TI  - In vitro investigation of self-assembled nanoparticles based on hyaluronic acid
      deoxycholic acid conjugates for controlled release doxorubicin: effect of degree
      of substitution of deoxycholic acid.
AB  - Self-assembled nanoparticles based on a hyaluronic acid-deoxycholic acid (HD)
      chemical conjugate with different degree of substitution (DS) of deoxycholic acid
      (DOCA) were prepared. The degree of substitution (DS) was determined by titration
      method. The nanoparticles were loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) as the model drug.
      The human cervical cancer (HeLa) cell line was utilized for in vitro studies and
      cell cytotoxicity of DOX incorporated in the HD nanoparticles was accessed by the
      3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. In
      addition, cellular uptake of fluorescently labeled nanoparticles was also
      investigated. An increase in the degree of deoxycholic acid substitution reduced
      the size of the nanoparticles and also enhanced their drug encapsulation
      efficiency (EE), which increased with the increase of DS. A higher degree of
      deoxycholic acid substitution also lead to a lower release rate and an initial
      burst release of doxorubicin from the nanoparticles. In summary, the degree of
      substitution allows the modulation of the particle size, drug encapsulation
      efficiency, drug release rate, and cell uptake efficiency of the nanoparticles.
      The herein developed hyaluronic acid-deoxycholic acid conjugates are a good
      candidate for drug delivery and could potentiate therapeutic formulations for
      doxorubicin-mediated cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25837467
TI  - Computational tools for epitope vaccine design and evaluation.
AB  - Rational approaches will be required to develop universal vaccines for viral
      pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis C virus, and influenza,
      for which empirical approaches have failed. The main objective of a rational
      vaccine strategy is to design novel immunogens that are capable of inducing long
      term protective immunity. In practice, this requires structure-based engineering
      of the target neutralizing epitopes and a quantitative readout of vaccine-induced
      immune responses. Therefore, computational tools that can facilitate these two
      areas have played increasingly important roles in rational vaccine design in
      recent years. Here we review the computational techniques developed for protein
      structure prediction and antibody repertoire analysis, and demonstrate how they
      can be applied to the design and evaluation of epitope vaccines. 

PMID- 25837469
TI  - Study of linkage between glutathione pathway and the antibiotic resistance of
      Escherichia coli from patients' swabs.
AB  - In this work, we focused on the differences between bacterial cultures of E. coli
      obtained from swabs of infectious wounds of patients compared to laboratory E.
      coli. In addition, blocking of the protein responsible for the synthesis of
      glutathione (gamma-glutamylcysteine synthase-GCL) using 10 mM buthionine
      sulfoximine was investigated. Each E. coli showed significant differences in
      resistance to antibiotics. According to the determined resistance, E. coli were
      divided into experimental groups based on a statistical evaluation of their
      properties as more resistant and more sensitive. These groups were also used for
      finding the differences in a dependence of the glutathione pathway on resistance
      to antibiotics. More sensitive E. coli showed the same kinetics of glutathione
      synthesis while blocking GCL (Km 0.1 uM), as compared to non-blocking. In
      addition, the most frequent mutations in genes of glutathione synthetase,
      glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase were observed in this group
      compared to laboratory E.coli. The group of "more resistant" E. coli exhibited
      differences in Km between 0.3 and 0.8 uM. The number of mutations compared to the
      laboratory E. coli was substantially lower compared to the other group. 

PMID- 25837471
TI  - Glycolic acid-catalyzed deamidation of asparagine residues in degrading PLGA
      matrices: a computational study.
AB  - Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) is a strong candidate for being a drug
      carrier in drug delivery systems because of its biocompatibility and
      biodegradability. However, in degrading PLGA matrices, the encapsulated peptide
      and protein drugs can undergo various degradation reactions, including
      deamidation at asparagine (Asn) residues to give a succinimide species, which may
      affect their potency and/or safety. Here, we show computationally that glycolic
      acid (GA) in its undissociated form, which can exist in high concentration in
      degrading PLGA matrices, can catalyze the succinimide formation from Asn residues
      by acting as a proton-transfer mediator. A two-step mechanism was studied by
      quantum-chemical calculations using Ace-Asn-Nme (Ace = acetyl, Nme = NHCH3) as a
      model compound. The first step is cyclization (intramolecular addition) to form a
      tetrahedral intermediate, and the second step is elimination of ammonia from the
      intermediate. Both steps involve an extensive bond reorganization mediated by a
      GA molecule, and the first step was predicted to be rate-determining. The present
      findings are expected to be useful in the design of more effective and safe PLGA
      devices. 

PMID- 25837470
TI  - Male reproductive cancers and infertility: a mutual relationship.
AB  - Reproductive dysfunction and malignancies related to the male gender represent a
      serious health concern, whose incidence has significantly risen over the past
      years. Prior to treatment, testicular or prostate cancer patients often display
      poor semen characteristics similar to subfertile or infertile patients. This fact
      is underscored by cases where the malignancy is often diagnosed in males who
      undergo a general fertility screening. This review aims to examine the
      associations between male infertility and reproductive cancers focusing on common
      etiologies and biological mechanisms underlining these pathologies. Furthermore,
      we discuss compelling epidemiological data hypothesizing that male reproductive
      failure may act as a precursor of future andrological malignancies, including
      testicular or prostate cancer, thus providing a stimulus for a more specific
      research in male reproductive health and emphasizing the importance of this
      relation for physicians taking care of male patients with a reproductive disease.

PMID- 25837472
TI  - Residue Asn277 affects the stability and substrate specificity of the SMG1 lipase
      from Malassezia globosa.
AB  - Thermostability and substrate specificity are important characteristics of
      enzymes for industrial application, which can be improved by protein engineering.
      SMG1 lipase from Malassezia globosa is a mono- and diacylglycerol lipase (MDL)
      that shows activity toward mono- and diacylglycerols, but no activity toward
      triacylglycerols. SMG1 lipase is considered a potential biocatalyst applied in
      oil/fat modification and its crystal structure revealed that an interesting
      residue-Asn277 may contribute to stabilize loop 273-278 and the 3104 helix which
      are important to enzyme characterization. In this study, to explore its role in
      affecting the stability and catalytic activity, mutagenesis of N277 with Asp (D),
      Val (V), Leu (L) and Phe (F) was conducted. Circular dichroism (CD) spectral
      analysis and half-life measurement showed that the N277D mutant has better
      thermostability. The melting temperature and half-life of the N277D mutant were
      56.6  degrees C and 187 min, respectively, while that was 54.6  degrees C and 121
      min for SMG1 wild type (WT). Biochemical characterization of SMG1 mutants were
      carried out to test whether catalytic properties were affected by mutagenesis.
      N277D had similar enzymatic properties as SMG1 WT, but N277F showed a different
      substrate selectivity profile as compared to other SMG1 mutants. Analysis of the
      SMG1 3D model suggested that N277D formed a salt bridge via its negative charged
      carboxyl group with a positively charged guanidino group of R227, which might
      contribute to confer N277D higher temperature stability. These findings not only
      provide some clues to understand the molecular basis of the lipase
      structure/function relationship but also lay the framework for engineering
      suitable MDL lipases for industrial applications. 

PMID- 25837473
TI  - Role of the cell envelope stress regulators BaeR and CpxR in control of RND-type
      multidrug efflux pumps and transcriptional cross talk with exopolysaccharide
      synthesis in Erwinia amylovora.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to identify the role of the cell envelope stress
      sensing systems BaeSR and CpxARP in regulation of multidrug efflux and
      exopolysaccharide synthesis in Erwinia amylovora. We have previously reported
      that BaeR activates transcription of the RND-type efflux pumps AcrD and MdtABC.
      In this study, we found that a cpxR-deficient mutant was highly susceptible to
      beta-lactams, aminoglycosides and lincomycin, whereas a baeR mutant showed no
      change in antimicrobial sensitivity. However, overexpression of BaeR in a mutant
      lacking the major RND pump AcrB increased resistance of E. amylovora to several
      compounds that are not substrates of AcrD or MdtABC. Furthermore, we observed
      that overexpression of BaeR significantly increased amylovoran production.
      Moreover, the expression of RND-type efflux pumps was changed in regulatory
      mutants of exopolysaccharide production. Our data suggest that BaeSR and CpxARP
      regulate additional mechanisms, beside efflux, which are responsible for
      antimicrobial resistance of E. amylovora. 

PMID- 25837474
TI  - [Organizational socialization in the first three years of nursing profession:
      strategies to decrease turnover intention].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In the first years of nursing profession, new-graduate nurses'
      turnover intention is a relevant issue due to both the tangible and intangible
      costs it generates to health care organizations, such as selection and
      recruitment costs, ward team burden in the onboarding process and the possibility
      to enhance ward team stability in order to provide an effective and safe nusing
      care. Organizational socialization is the main factor involved in these dynamics
      of turnover intention in the first years of nursing profession. AIMS: This study
      aims to identify the main factors involved in the organizational socialization
      process to reduce turnover intention in the first 3 years of nursing profession.
      METHODS: 101 new-graduate nurses have been enrolled within the first three years
      of nursing profession. They have been stratified looking at tenure and years in
      nursing. Organizational Socialization Inventory scale has been used to assess the
      onboarding process and 4 items to assess turnover intention. RESULTS: Turnover
      intention is of 23% in the first year in nursing, and it's over the 26% starting
      from the second year. The onboarding process explains over the 26% of the
      variance in turnover intention, and over the 36% in the sub-sample with a stable
      tenure. Unstable tenured nurses prefer to acquire those competences useful to
      perform their work, while stable tenure nurses aim to search for professional
      growth opportunities and integration in the ward-team, in order to reduce
      turnover intention. CONCLUSION: Turnover intention is relevant in the first three
      years of nursing profession. According to the different tenure, different
      strategies are necessary to plan an effective onboarding process and enhance
      nursing retention.

PMID- 25837475
TI  - [Emotional Leadership: a survey on the emotional skills expressed by nursing
      management].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The emotional leadership applied to nursing management is a new
      topic in the Italian nursing literature, but of great interest internationally.
      There is a close correlation between nursing leaders with a well-developed
      emotional intelligence and nurses working well-being. SCOPE: This study
      investigates knowledge about the emotional leadership and emotional competence in
      nursing management. METHODS: The survey was conducted using a questionnaire
      devised for the purpose, validated and administered to 130 managers, head nurses
      and nurses in a hospital in Rome. RESULTS: Analysis of data shows a great
      interest in the subject. 90% of the sample showed that it is essential for
      managerial roles, be aware and able to manage their own and others' emotions to
      generate wellbeing at work. Emotional competencies are considered important just
      as theoretical, technical and social skills to a effective leadership on nursing.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study is one of the first Italian survey on the importance of
      the development of emotional intelligence in nursing leadership to improve
      wellbeing at work. Results of the survey should be confirmed by further studies.
      The emotional skills could be improved in nursing education programs and used as
      a yardstick for the nursing managers selection.

PMID- 25837476
TI  - [Observational study on interruptions during nurses work in two surgical wards of
      a hospital in Liguria].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Interrumption that occur during nursing practice are hazardous for
      patient safety, resulting in a heavy cognitive load for the health care
      professionals and increases the risk of making mistakes. METHODS: An
      observational study was carried out in UU.OO operation of Neurosurgery and
      Vascular Surgery at a hospital in Liguria. The observation lasted one months,
      from July 1st, 2012 to August 1st, 2012. For data collection were used three
      form, one for each work shift, in which each health care professional had to
      report what activity was interrupted and why. RESULTS: A total of 7744
      interruptium (in 5676 in Neurosurgery and 2068 Vascular Surgery). The major
      source of interruption was the bell, followed by the phone and relatives'
      questions. In general, activities interrupted were mainly made beds / hygiene
      care, administration and preparation of medication, handover and completion of
      the nursing documentation CONCLUSIONS: Interrumption will be an inevitable part
      of nursing practice, because of its very nature. It is therefore necessary to
      intervene on interruptions deemed avoidable and organizational variables that
      generate them, in order to increase patient safety and improve care activities.

PMID- 25837477
TI  - ["Notte della Taranta": new competences of the Disaster Manager Nurse].
AB  - The disaster manager nurse is a new professional figure working in the field of
      rescue in environments struck by natural disasters, of land management, of
      contingency plans for the healthcare, of the setting up of Advanced Medical Posts
      and the management of events in which are foreseen a great influx of people.
      Analyzing the Advanced Medical Post set up during the "Notte della Taranta", a
      folk music festival that sees every years a large attendance, over 100.000 people
      we have predicted required human and logistic resources to health coverage of
      this event and to value criticality assessment of the scenario. A organized and
      precautionary response is basic to reduce consequences duty by the imbalance
      between required and available resources. 

PMID- 25837478
TI  - [Taking care of foreign users: what training is needed for the healthcare workers
      at the Municipal Health and Science Agency of Torino?].
AB  - INTRODUTION: Immigration is growing and immigrants' presence is important also in
      the health care system, thereby services reorientation and a multicultural
      approach are needed. OBJECTIVE: To explore health care professionals' training
      needs of Turin Azienda Citta della Salute e della Scienza in taking care of
      foreign users. METHODS: An ad hoc 4-sections questionnaire was built: (1)
      Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions; (2) Lived and Training; (3) Improvement in
      cultural competence; (4) Socio-demographic data. Questions were dichotomous
      (yes/no), closed and short open. Doctors, nurses, speech therapists and support
      staff of the "Head and Neck" Department were involved. RESULTS: One hundred
      seventy-six operators answered (75%). Less than 20% (n=34) knew the normative
      concerning immigrants' health services use; tubercolosis, venereal diseases and
      AIDS were believed to be the most frequent diseases in foreign users. Female sex
      (p=0.008) and allied health care profile (trend p=0051) were significantly
      associated to consider clients' values important, while a previous training was
      associated to the need of improving their knowledge (p=0.0002). The most
      important training needs were: meaning of illness and care, perception of
      prevention, hygiene and self-care practices and perception of care. Among the
      most effective strategies: lecture and discussion, group work and filmography.
      CONCLUSION: The analysis shows the main needing education areas and the training
      strategies which operators considered more effective.

PMID- 25837479
TI  - [Index of Caring Complexity as a management tool in a surgical setting: an
      observational study].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Among different methods of nursing classification, the Index of
      Caring Complexity (ICC) is a management tool to evaluate appropriateness of
      nursing procedures, integrate health-care support workers and to monitor the need
      of nursing staff. The objective of this observational study was to apply the ICC
      method in a surgical ward of the Marche Region (Italy), to determine the nursing
      staff level. METHODS: From 1 January to 30 April 2010, all data of patients
      admitted for more than 48 hours were collected. The determination of nursing
      staff level derived from the five patient classification on the basis of the
      complexity/gravity "scores" of data flow obtained during the caring process.
      RESULTS: The ICC method showed a staffing of 11 nurses: a staff shortage of three
      nurse, if compared to the actual staff. The ICC method also demonstrate its
      strength as a useful tool to reorganize care. The ICA showed that the most
      frequent nursing activities :"Apply postures to facilitate breathing
      "(83%),"Prepare/provide appropriate foods in temperature/texture/quantity
      "(100%); "Providing aids for elimination needs" (80.7%); "Help in dressing"
      (82.7%); "Transfer from stretcher to bed" (83.4%); "Remaking bed/unit sick"
      (100%); "Monitoring of vital signs" (100%); "Health Education" (100%); "Nursing
      Assessment" (100%); "Management and treatment of intravascular devices" (100%);
      "Performing instrumental exams". CONCLUSIONS: Assess the most frequent nursing
      activities, allows: to better distribute activities among professionals, identify
      nurses' competencies and activities to be prescribed to health-care support
      workers.

PMID- 25837480
TI  - Therapeutic education to cancer patients: experiences of Italian nurses.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Therapeutic patient' education is a complex process requiring a
      proper level of communication between the patient and the healthcare
      professional. Nurses play a key role in providing the patients and their families
      with educational activities. OBJECTIVE: This paper is the report of a study which
      investigates the experiences of some Italian nurses with regards to their role in
      therapeutic education to cancer patients. METHODS: Qualitative research. Semi
      structured interviews were carried out with 52 nurses working in different Local
      Health Service Units of two northern Italy regions: Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta.
      To identify categories and items arising from the data, the researchers used a
      qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The interview format was classified into
      six main categories: a) Patient education as daily care activity; b) Relevance of
      communication and dialogue for educational purposes; c) Relative usefulness of
      written information; d) Therapeutic education recording; e) Patients' feedbacks
      as a tool for assessing therapeutic education; and f) Difficult communication.
      CONCLUSIONS: The experience of nurses in terms of their professional role in
      therapeutic education for cancer patients shows the steady presence of
      educational activities carried out in a non-planned way. This research confirms
      the need to launch educational interventions for nurses. IMPLICATIONS FOR
      PRACTICE: It is essential to implement an action plan to promote opportunities of
      professional training in the field since among the most frequent reasons for
      project failure in therapeutic education is the lack of expert human resources.

PMID- 25837481
TI  - Erratum to: Bioinformatics study of the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglotaryl-coenzyme A
      reductase (HMGR) gene in Gramineae.

PMID- 25837483
TI  - The effect of ethanol on reversal learning in honey bees (Apis mellifera
      anatolica): Response inhibition in a social insect model.
AB  - We investigated the effects of ethanol on reversal learning in honey bees (Apis
      mellifera anatolica). The rationale behind the present experiment was to
      determine the species generality of the effect of ethanol on response inhibition.
      Subjects were originally trained to associate either a cinnamon or lavender odor
      with a sucrose feeding before a reversal of the conditioned stimuli. We
      administered 15 MUL of ethanol at varying doses (0%, 2.5%, 5%, 10%, or 20%)
      according to group assignment. Ethanol was either administered 5 min before
      original discrimination training or 5 min before the stimuli reversal. We
      analyzed the effects of these three manipulations via a recently developed
      individual analysis that eschews aggregate assessments in favor of a model that
      conceptualizes learning as occurring in individual organisms. We measured
      responding in the presence of conditioned stimuli associated with a sucrose
      feeding, responding in the presence of conditioned stimuli associated with
      distilled water, and responding in the presence of the unconditioned stimulus
      (sucrose). Our analyses revealed the ethanol dose manipulation lowered responding
      for all three measures at increasingly higher doses, which suggests ethanol
      served as a general behavioral suppressor. Consistent with previous ethanol
      reversal literature, we found administering ethanol before the original
      discrimination phase or before the reversal produced inconsistent patterns of
      responding at varying ethanol doses.

PMID- 25837482
TI  - The effects of postnatal alcohol exposure and galantamine on the context pre
      exposure facilitation effect and acetylcholine efflux using in vivo
      microdialysis.
AB  - Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are characterized by damage to multiple
      brain regions, including the hippocampus, which is involved in learning and
      memory. The acetylcholine neurotransmitter system provides major input to the
      hippocampus and is a possible target of developmental alcohol exposure. Alcohol
      (3.0 g/kg/day) was administered via intubation to male rat pups (postnatal day
      [PD] 2-10; ethanol-treated [ET]). Controls received a sham intubation (IC) or no
      treatment (NC). Acetylcholine efflux was measured using in vivo microdialysis (PD
      32-35). ET animals were not different at baseline, but had decreased K(+)/Ca(2+)
      induced acetylcholine efflux compared to NC animals and an enhanced acetylcholine
      response to galantamine (acetylcholinesterase inhibitor; 2.0 mg/kg) compared to
      both control groups. A separate cohort of animals was tested in the context pre
      exposure facilitation effect task (CPFE; PD 30-32) following postnatal alcohol
      exposure and administration of galantamine (2.0 mg/kg; PD 11-30). Neither chronic
      galantamine nor postnatal alcohol exposure influenced performance in the CPFE
      task. Using immunohistochemistry, we found that neither alcohol exposure nor
      behavioral testing significantly altered the density of vesicular acetylcholine
      transporter or alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in the ventral hippocampus
      (CA1). In the medial septum, the average number of choline acetyltransferase
      (ChAT+) cells was increased in ET animals that displayed the context-shock
      association; there were no changes in IC and NC animals that learned the context
      shock association or in any animals that were in the control task that entailed
      no learning. Taken together, these results indicate that the hippocampal
      acetylcholine system is significantly disrupted under conditions of
      pharmacological manipulations (e.g., galantamine) in alcohol-exposed animals.
      Furthermore, ChAT was up-regulated in ET animals that learned the CPFE, which may
      account for their ability to perform this task. In sum, developmental alcohol
      exposure may disrupt learning and memory in adolescence via a cholinergic
      mechanism.

PMID- 25837484
TI  - Negative feedback loop between p66Shc and ZEB1 regulates fibrotic EMT response in
      lung cancer cells.
AB  - The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program is crucial for the
      epithelial cancer progression and fibrotic diseases. Our previous work has
      demonstrated that p66Shc, a focal adhesion-associated adaptor protein, is
      frequently downregulated in lung cancers and its depletion promotes metastasis
      behavior through anoikis resistance. However, mechanism underlying loss of p66Shc
      and EMT response is not fully understood. Here, we showed that p66Shc deficiency
      enhanced the expression of ZEB1, the known mesenchymal transcription factor and
      consequently increased Vimentin, and decreased epithelial markers of E-cadherin
      and beta-catenin. p66Shc depletion also increased cell invasion and migration. In
      addition, ChIP and luciferase assays showed that these effects were directly
      mediated by ZEB1 repression of p66Shc promoter. Thus, our findings define a
      critical role of p66Shc in the suppression of fibrotic EMT response with a
      negative feedback loop between p66Shc and ZEB1 in lung epithelial cancer cells.

PMID- 25837485
TI  - Alzheimer's disease-related amyloid-beta induces synaptotoxicity in human iPS
      cell-derived neurons.
AB  - Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neurons have been proposed to
      be a highly valuable cellular model for studying the pathomechanisms of
      Alzheimer's disease (AD). Studies employing patient-specific human iPSCs as
      models of familial and sporadic forms of AD described elevated levels of AD
      related amyloid-beta (Abeta). However, none of the present AD iPSC studies could
      recapitulate the synaptotoxic actions of Abeta, which are crucial early events in
      a cascade that eventually leads to vast brain degeneration. Here we established
      highly reproducible, human iPSC-derived cortical cultures as a cellular model to
      study the synaptotoxic effects of Abeta. We developed a highly efficient
      immunopurification procedure yielding immature neurons that express markers of
      deep layer cortical pyramidal neurons and GABAergic interneurons. Upon long-term
      cultivation, purified cells differentiated into mature neurons exhibiting the
      generation of action potentials and excitatory glutamatergic and inhibitory
      GABAergic synapses. Most interestingly, these iPSC-derived human neurons were
      strongly susceptible to the synaptotoxic actions of Abeta. Application of Abeta
      for 8 days led to a reduction in the overall FM4-64 and vGlut1 staining of
      vesicles in neurites, indicating a loss of vesicle clusters. A selective analysis
      of presynaptic vesicle clusters on dendrites did not reveal a significant change,
      thus suggesting that Abeta impaired axonal vesicle clusters. In addition,
      electrophysiological patch-clamp recordings of AMPA receptor-mediated miniature
      EPSCs revealed an Abeta-induced reduction in amplitudes, indicating an impairment
      of postsynaptic AMPA receptors. A loss of postsynaptic AMPA receptor clusters was
      confirmed by immunocytochemical stainings for GluA1. Incubation with Abeta for 8
      days did not result in a significant loss of neurites or cell death. In summary,
      we describe a highly reproducible cellular AD model based on human iPSC-derived
      cortical neurons that enables the mechanistic analysis of Abeta-induced synaptic
      pathomechanisms and the development of novel therapeutic approaches. 

PMID- 25837486
TI  - Reduced mtDNA copy number increases the sensitivity of tumor cells to
      chemotherapeutic drugs.
AB  - Many cancer drugs are toxic to cells by activating apoptotic pathways. Previous
      studies have shown that mitochondria have key roles in apoptosis in mammalian
      cells, but the role of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number variation in the
      pathogenesis of tumor cell apoptosis remains largely unknown. We used the HEp-2,
      HNE2, and A549 tumor cell lines to explore the relationship between mtDNA copy
      number variation and cell apoptosis. We first induced apoptosis in three tumor
      cell lines and one normal adult human skin fibroblast cell line (HSF) with
      cisplatin (DDP) or doxorubicin (DOX) treatment and found that the mtDNA copy
      number significantly increased in apoptotic tumor cells, but not in HSF cells. We
      then downregulated the mtDNA copy number by transfection with shRNA-TFAM plasmids
      or treatment with ethidium bromide and found that the sensitivity of tumor cells
      to DDP or DOX was significantly increased. Furthermore, we observed that levels
      of reactive oxygen species (ROS) increased significantly in tumor cells with
      lower mtDNA copy numbers, and this might be related to a low level of antioxidant
      gene expression. Finally, we rescued the increase of ROS in tumor cells with
      lipoic acid or N-acetyl-L-cysteine and found that the apoptosis rate decreased.
      Our studies suggest that the increase of mtDNA copy number is a self-protective
      mechanism of tumor cells to prevent apoptosis and that reduced mtDNA copy number
      increases ROS levels in tumor cells, increases the tumor cells' sensitivity to
      chemotherapeutic drugs, and increases the rate of apoptosis. This research
      provides evidence that mtDNA copy number variation might be a promising new
      therapeutic target for the clinical treatment of tumors. 

PMID- 25837488
TI  - Pd(II)-catalyzed P(O)R(1)R(2)-directed asymmetric C-H activation and dynamic
      kinetic resolution for the synthesis of chiral biaryl phosphates.
AB  - An efficient method of Pd(II)-catalyzed P(O)R(1)R(2)-directed asymmetric C-H
      activation and dynamic kinetic resolution for synthesis of chiral phosphinate
      ligands has been performed and exhibits a wide scope of substrates and an
      excellent diastereomeric ratio (>95:5). 

PMID- 25837489
TI  - Orthogonal moments for determining correspondence between vessel bifurcations for
      retinal image registration.
AB  - Retinal image registration is a necessary step in diagnosis and monitoring of
      Diabetes Retinopathy (DR), which is one of the leading causes of blindness. Long
      term diabetes affects the retinal blood vessels and capillaries eventually
      causing blindness. This progressive damage to retina and subsequent blindness can
      be prevented by periodic retinal screening. The extent of damage caused by DR can
      be assessed by comparing retinal images captured during periodic retinal
      screenings. During image acquisition at the time of periodic screenings
      translation, rotation and scale (TRS) are introduced in the retinal images.
      Therefore retinal image registration is an essential step in automated system for
      screening, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of DR. This paper presents an
      algorithm for registration of retinal images using orthogonal moment invariants
      as features for determining the correspondence between the dominant points
      (vessel bifurcations) in the reference and test retinal images. As orthogonal
      moments are invariant to TRS; moment invariants features around a vessel
      bifurcation are unaltered due to TRS and can be used to determine the
      correspondence between reference and test retinal images. The vessel bifurcation
      points are located in segmented, thinned (mono pixel vessel width) retinal images
      and labeled in corresponding grayscale retinal images. The correspondence between
      vessel bifurcations in reference and test retinal image is established based on
      moment invariants features. Further the TRS in test retinal image with respect to
      reference retinal image is estimated using similarity transformation. The test
      retinal image is aligned with reference retinal image using the estimated
      registration parameters. The accuracy of registration is evaluated in terms of
      mean error and standard deviation of the labeled vessel bifurcation points in the
      aligned images. The experimentation is carried out on DRIVE database, STARE
      database, VARIA database and database provided by local government hospital in
      Pune, India. The experimental results exhibit effectiveness of the proposed
      algorithm for registration of retinal images. 

PMID- 25837487
TI  - In vitro evidence for senescent multinucleated melanocytes as a source for tumor
      initiating cells.
AB  - Oncogenic signaling in melanocytes results in oncogene-induced senescence (OIS),
      a stable cell-cycle arrest frequently characterized by a bi- or multinuclear
      phenotype that is considered as a barrier to cancer progression. However, the
      long-sustained conviction that senescence is a truly irreversible process has
      recently been challenged. Still, it is not known whether cells driven into OIS
      can progress to cancer and thereby pose a potential threat. Here, we show that
      prolonged expression of the melanoma oncogene N-RAS(61K) in pigment cells
      overcomes OIS by triggering the emergence of tumor-initiating mononucleated stem
      like cells from senescent cells. This progeny is dedifferentiated, highly
      proliferative, anoikis-resistant and induces fast growing, metastatic tumors. Our
      data describe that differentiated cells, which are driven into senescence by an
      oncogene, use this senescence state as trigger for tumor transformation, giving
      rise to highly aggressive tumor-initiating cells. These observations provide the
      first experimental in vitro evidence for the evasion of OIS on the cellular level
      and ensuing transformation. 

PMID- 25837490
TI  - Portrayal of the human resource crisis and accountability in healthcare: a
      qualitative analysis of ugandan newspapers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Uganda is one of the 57 countries with a critical shortage of health
      workers. The aim of this study was to determine how the human resources and
      health service crisis was covered in Ugandan newspapers and, in particular, how
      the newspapers attributed accountability for problems in the health services.
      METHODS: We collected all articles related to health workers and health services
      for the calendar year 2012 in the two largest national newspapers in Uganda
      (collection on daily basis) and in one local newspaper (collection on weekly
      basis). These articles were analysed qualitatively regarding the main themes
      covered and attribution of accountability. RESULTS: The two more urban national
      newspapers published 229 articles on human resources and health services in
      Uganda (on average over two articles per week), whereas the local more rural
      newspaper published only a single article on this issue in the 12 month period.
      The majority of articles described problems in the health service without
      discussing accountability. The question of accountability is raised in only 46%
      of articles (106 articles). The responsibility of the government was discussed in
      50 articles (21%), and negligence, corruption and misbehaviour by individual
      health workers was reported in 56 articles (25%). In the articles about
      corruption (n=35), 60% (21 articles) mention corruption by health workers and 40%
      (14 articles) mention corruption by government officials. Six articles defended
      the situation of health workers in Uganda. CONCLUSIONS: The coverage of
      accountability in the Ugandan newspapers surveyed is insufficient to generate
      informed debate on what political actions need to be taken to improve the crisis
      in health care and services. There exists not only an "inverse care law" but also
      an "inverse information law": those sections of society with the greatest health
      needs and problems in accessing quality health care receive the least information
      about health services.

PMID- 25837491
TI  - Observational tools for measuring parent-infant interaction: a systematic review.
AB  - The quality of the parent-infant interaction is essential for the infant's
      development and is most objectively measured by observation. The existing
      observational tools for assessing parent-infant interaction were identified and
      described, and their psychometric soundness was evaluated. Twenty electronic
      databases from inception through June 2013 were searched. Validity was evaluated
      in five domains (test content, response process, internal structure, relations to
      other variables, and consequences). Of the 23,961 citations identified, 24 tools
      were included. Most tools demonstrated a valid rating procedure, reproducibility,
      and discriminant validity, based on studies with credible quality. The tools
      lacked factorial and predictive validity, and standardized norms. Further
      refinement of the existing tools is needed, particularly in the domains of
      content validity and consequential validity. The synthesized validity evidence
      and descriptions of the tools reported in this review might guide clinicians and
      researchers in the selection of an appropriate tool. 

PMID- 25837492
TI  - Substance-use and sexual harm reduction strategies of methamphetamine-using men
      who have sex with men and inject drugs.
AB  - Research indicates that men who have sex with men (MSM), use methamphetamine, and
      inject drugs are at high risk of HIV infection and they employ multiple harm
      reduction strategies simultaneously to reduce that risk. In this study, we
      identified substances most commonly injected and harm reduction strategies most
      often employed by methamphetamine-using MSM, used latent class analysis (LCA) to
      identify patterns of harm reduction strategies, and differentiated MSM within
      each class by individual characteristics. We analyzed data from 284 participants
      who completed an online cross-sectional survey. Commonly injected substances were
      methamphetamine (93.70%), gamma-hydroxybutyrate/gamma-butyrolactone (41.55%),
      flunitrazepam (40.49%), and cocaine (35.56%). The substance-use strategies most
      often used were avoidance of sharing needles (85.92%) and use of bleach to clean
      drug paraphernalia (64.08%). The sexual strategy most often used was avoidance of
      condomless anal intercourse (CAS) while using drugs (77.11%). Using an LCA
      approach, we identified three classes distinguishable by age, race/ethnicity, and
      outness. One class (19%) employed lay strategies to reduce harm: they avoided
      sharing drug preparation equipment, serosorted when sharing needles and equipment
      or having CAS, and practiced withdrawal when having CAS. The largest class (53%)
      combined sexual and substance-use strategies: they avoided sharing needles, used
      bleach to clean needles and equipment, avoided CAS when using drugs, and used
      extra lubricant when having CAS. The remaining class (28%) employed only
      substance-use rather than sexual strategies. More MSM of color were in the
      substance-use class, and more young, non-Hispanic White men were in the lay
      class. The low utilization of sexual strategies by younger, non-Hispanic White
      men in the lay class is concerning as they are just as likely as older, non
      Hispanic White men in the combined class to have CAS with multiple male partners.
      Interventionists should consider these differences when developing interventions
      tailored to methamphetamine-using MSM. 

PMID- 25837493
TI  - Young-age prostate cancer.
AB  - Although prostate cancer is a disease of the elderly, its diagnosis is not
      uncommonly made in men younger than 55 years. Both ethnic, familial and genetic
      factors play a role in the early onset of prostate cancer, but the biology,
      particularly of low-grade prostate cancers detected at young age is not well
      understood. Autopsy studies have shown a high prevalence of Gleason score 6
      prostate cancers in men under 55 years, but mortality of prostate cancer at this
      young age is almost negligible. Recently, a number of susceptibility genes such
      as BRCA2 and HOXB13 were reported, each with their own specific biological and
      histopathology features. In this review, we provide an update on the most recent
      findings in young-age prostate cancer. 

PMID- 25837494
TI  - Epilepsy and recommendations for breastfeeding.
AB  - PURPOSE: The objective of this paper is to provide a synopsis of benefits and
      potential harmful effects of exposure to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) via
      breastmilk, and present recommendations for breastfeeding in women with epilepsy.
      METHODS: The article is based on a discretionary selection of English language
      articles retrieved by a literature search in the PubMed database, the LactMed
      database, and the authors' clinical experience. RESULTS: Breastfeeding is
      associated with benefits for the infant, including nutrition, protection against
      infectious and immunological disease, and promotion of development and
      psychological attachment. Exposure to AEDs via breastmilk could potentially
      produce side effects or negatively affect development. Most studies on AED
      transfer through breastmilk report infant serum levels well below the limit of an
      expected pharmacological effect. Some drugs have the potential to reach
      significant serum levels in breastfed infants, such as barbiturates,
      benzodiazepines, lamotrigine, and ethosuximide. Thus, breastfed infants should be
      monitored for side effects. Still, adverse symptoms are rarely reported in
      breastfed infants of mothers taking AEDs, and prospective studies have failed to
      demonstrate any negative developmental effects in children that have been exposed
      to AEDs via breastmilk. The nursing infant's degree of drug exposure can be
      minimized by breastfeeding when drug concentrations in the milk are low, reducing
      maternal AED dosage to prepregnancy levels, and administering mixed nutrition.
      CONCLUSION: Most AEDs are considered safe or moderately safe during
      breastfeeding. Mothers with epilepsy should be encouraged to breastfeed, provided
      careful monitoring of the infant.

PMID- 25837495
TI  - Identification of location of nerve catheters using pumping maneuver and M-Mode-a
      novel technique.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Optimum positioning of the nerve catheter is crucial for a successful
      nerve block. We present a novel technique for confirmation of catheter position.
      METHODS: We are describing a novel technique for localization of the shaft and
      tip of the peripheral nerve catheter. After introduction of the catheter 3 to 5
      cm beyond the needle tip and removal of the needle, the guide wire was
      reintroduced and was moved inward and outward rapidly. This movement produced the
      color Doppler effect along the track of the catheter and the catheter tip that
      helped us verify the proper positioning of the catheter. RESULTS: We used our
      technique in a cadaveric study for bilateral supraclavicular brachial plexus
      block, followed by a series of 5 patients undergoing femoral, sciatic (anterior
      approach), popliteal (2 patients), and brachial plexus blocks. Catheters were
      also identified on M-Mode sonography during pumping maneuver and during the
      injection of medications. CONCLUSION: Pumping maneuver and M-Mode can be
      additional tools in the array of modalities applied to verify proper positioning
      of a nerve catheter.

PMID- 25837496
TI  - Histologic Artifacts of Autolytic Muller Cell Foot Process Swelling in Postmortem
      Examination of Infant Eyes: Potential Pitfall in the Evaluation of Traumatic
      Retinal Hemorrhages.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Retinal hemorrhages are an important sequela of fatal head trauma.
      The accurate pathologic diagnosis of retinal hemorrhages has critical
      implications for determination of the manner of death. OBSERVATIONS: We describe
      an autolytic postmortem histologic artifact of eosinophilic Muller cell foot
      process swelling that mimics a nerve fiber layer hemorrhage. From April 24, 2012,
      through November 11, 2014, we conducted postmortem examination of the eyes of 23
      infants and children who were referred to our institution for possible
      nonaccidental head trauma. A focal artifact of Muller cell foot process swelling
      was identified in most patients (16 of 23) up to 4 years of age. Three infants,
      all of whom were younger than 3 months, demonstrated diffusely swollen Muller
      cell foot processes with intensely eosinophilic cytoplasm that mimicked
      erythrocytes of nerve fiber layer hemorrhages. The difference in the mean age
      between patients with diffuse eosinophilic artifacts (1.7 months) and patients
      with only a multifocal, focal, or absent artifact (13.3 months) was 11.6 months
      (95% CI, 6.5-16.7 months). Glycophorin C immunohistochemical analysis was useful
      to differentiate this artifact from nerve fiber layer hemorrhage. CONCLUSIONS AND
      RELEVANCE: Our case review demonstrates an artifact of eosinophilic Muller cell
      foot processes swelling in postmortem examination of young infant eyes, a
      potential pitfall in the diagnosis of retinal hemorrhages. Our findings have
      important implications for the diagnosis of retinal hemorrhages in potential
      cases of nonaccidental head injury.

PMID- 25837497
TI  - Bilateral primary adrenal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma without adrenal insufficiency.
AB  - We are presenting a rare case of bilateral adrenal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL)
      that presented as a primary malignancy. An 83-year-old man presented with newly
      discovered bilateral adrenal incidentalomas, fatigue, and 30 pound weight loss.
      Of the 116 cases of primary adrenal NHL reported, over half have presented
      bilaterally and occur with adrenal insufficiency. Therefore, the finding of
      bilateral adrenal masses requires an urgent work-up of the functional status of
      the adrenal gland as well as a thorough analysis of the imaging characteristics
      seen on noncontrast computed tomography (CT) in order to maximize patient
      survival. Adrenal function testing was normal. Repeat CT imaging revealed rapidly
      growing lesions with high attenuations; both masses >10 HU. Histological
      examination of core biopsies discovered malignant lymphoma with no known past
      history of lymphoma. Our case coincides with the literature, which states that a
      mass with attenuation >10 HU in the adrenal glands has a high risk of malignancy.

PMID- 25837498
TI  - Enhanced adsorption of trivalent arsenic from water by functionalized diatom
      silica shells.
AB  - The potential of porous diatom silica shells as a naturally abundant low-cost
      sorbent for the removal of arsenic in aqueous solutions was investigated in a
      batch study. The objective of this work was to chemically modify the silica
      shells of a diatom Melosira sp. with bifunctional (thiol and amino) groups to
      effectively remove arsenic in its toxic As(III) form (arsenite) predominant in
      the aquatic environment. Sorption experiments with this novel sorbent were
      conducted under varying conditions of pH, time, dosage, and As(III)
      concentration. A maximum adsorption capacity of 10.99 mg g-1 was achieved within
      26 h for a solution containing 12 mg L-1 As(III) at pH 4 and sorbent dosage of 2
      g L-1. The functionalized diatom silica shells had a surface morphological change
      which was accompanied by increased pore size at the expense of reduced specific
      surface area and total pore volume. As(III) adsorption was best fitted with the
      Langmuir-Freundlich model, and the adsorption kinetic data using pore surface
      diffusion model showed that both the external (film) and internal (intraparticle)
      diffusion can be rate-determining for As(III) adsorption. Fourier transform
      infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) indicated that the thiol and amino groups
      potentially responsible for As(III) adsorption were grafted on the surface of
      diatom silica shells. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) further verified
      that this unique sorbent proceeded via a chemisorption mechanism through the
      exchange between oxygen-containing groups of neutral As(III) and thiol groups,
      and through the surface complexation between As(III) and protonated nitrogen and
      hydroxyl groups. Results indicate that this functionalized bioadsorbent with a
      high As(III) adsorption capacity holds promise for the treatment of As(III)
      containing wastewater. 

PMID- 25837500
TI  - Mortality from road traffic accidents in a rapidly urbanizing Chinese city: A 20
      year analysis in Shenzhen, 1994-2013.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to describe the trends of motorization and mortality
      rates from road traffic accidents and examine their associations in a rapidly
      urbanizing city in China, Shenzhen. METHODS: Using data from the Shenzhen Deaths
      Registry between 1994 and 2013, we calculated the annual mortality rates of road
      traffic accidents, in addition to the age- and sex-specific mortality rates and
      their annual percentage changes (APCs) for the period of 2000-2013. We also
      examined the associations between mortality rate of road traffic accidents and
      traffic growth with Spearman's rank correlation analysis and a log-linear model
      derived from Smeed's law. RESULTS: A total of 20,196 deaths due to road traffic
      accidents, including 14,391 (71.3%) male deaths and 5,805 (28.7%) female deaths,
      were recorded in Shenzhen from 1994 to 2013. The annual mortality rates in terms
      of deaths per population and deaths per vehicle changed in similar patterns,
      demonstrating an increase since 1994 and peaking in 1997, followed by a steady
      decrease thereafter. The decrease in mortality was faster in individuals aged 20
      year or older compared to those younger than 20 years. The mortality rates in
      term of deaths per population were positively correlated with the total number of
      vehicles per kilometer of road but negatively correlated with the motorization
      rate in term of vehicles per population. The estimated model for deaths due to
      road traffic accidents in relation to the total population and the number of
      registered vehicles was ln (deaths/10,000 vehicles) = -1.902 * ln
      (vehicles/population) - 1.961. The coefficient was statistically significant (P <
      .001) and the coefficient of determination was 0.966, indicating a good model
      fit. CONCLUSIONS: We described a generally decreasing trend in the mortality
      rates of road traffic accidents in a rapidly urbanizing Chinese city based
      observations in the 20-year period from 1994 to 2013. The decreased mortality
      rate may be explained by the expansion of road network construction, improved
      road safety regulations and management, as well as more accessible ambulance
      services in recent years. Nevertheless, road traffic accidents remain a universal
      problem of great public health concern in the whole population.

PMID- 25837499
TI  - A phase I dose-escalation study of lenalidomide in combination with gemcitabine
      in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: Lenalidomide have both immunomodulatory and anti-angiogenic properties
      which could confer anti-cancer effects. The aim of this study was to assess the
      feasibility of combining lenalidomide with the standard treatment gemcitabine in
      pancreatic cancer patients with advanced disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eligible
      patients had locally advanced or metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.
      Patients received lenalidomide days 1-21 orally and gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2
      intravenously (days 1, 8 and 15), each 28 day cycle. Three cohorts of
      lenalidomide were examined (Cohort I = 15 mg, Cohort II = 20 mg and Cohort III =
      25 mg daily). The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of lenalidomide given in
      combination with gemcitabine was defined as the highest dose level at which no
      more than one out of four (25%) subjects experiences a dose-limiting toxicity
      (DLT). Patients should also be able to receive daily low molecular weight heparin
      (LMWH) (e.g. dalteparin 5000 IU s.c. daily) as a prophylactic anticoagulant for
      venous thromboembolic events (VTEs). Twelve patients (n = 4, n = 3 and n = 5 in
      cohort I, II and III, respectively) were enrolled in this study. RESULTS: Median
      duration of treatment was 11 weeks (range 1-66), and median number of treatment
      cycles were three (range 1-14). The only DLT was a cardiac failure grade 3 in
      cohort III. Frequent treatment-related adverse events (AEs) (all grades) included
      neutropenia, leucopenia and fatigue (83% each, but there was no febrile
      neutropenia); thrombocytopenia (75%); dermatological toxicity (75%); diarrhea and
      nausea (42% each); and neuropathy (42%). DISCUSSION: This phase I study
      demonstrates the feasibility of the combination of lenalidomide and gemcitabine
      as first-line treatment in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. The
      tolerability profile demonstrated in the dose escalation schedule of lenalidomide
      suggests the dosing of lenalidomide to be 25 mg daily on days 1-21 with standard
      dosing of gemcitabine and merits further evaluation in a phase II trial. TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01547260.

PMID- 25837501
TI  - Paenibacillus curdlanolyticus B-6 xylanase Xyn10C capable of producing a doubly
      arabinose-substituted xylose, alpha-L-Araf-(1->2)-[alpha-L-Araf-(1->3)]-D-Xylp,
      from rye arabinoxylan.
AB  - Paenibacillus curdlanolyticus B-6 Xyn10C is a single module xylanase consisting
      of a glycoside hydrolase family-10 catalytic module. The recombinant enzyme,
      rXyn10C, was produced by Escherichia coli and characterized. rXyn10C was highly
      active toward soluble xylans derived from rye, birchwood, and oat spelt, and
      slightly active toward insoluble wheat arabinoxylan. It hydrolyzed
      xylooligosaccharides larger than xylotetraose to produce xylotriose, xylobiose,
      and xylose. When rye arabinoxylan and oat spelt xylan were treated with the
      enzyme and the hydrolysis products were analyzed by thin layer chromatography
      (TLC), two unknown hydrolysis products, U1 and U2, were detected in the upper
      position of xylose on a TLC plate. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and
      enzymatic analysis using Bacillus licheniformis alpha-L-arabinofuranosidase
      Axh43A indicated that U1 was alpha-L-Araf-(1->2)-[alpha-L-Araf-(1->3)]-D-Xylp and
      U2 was alpha-L-Araf-(1->2)-D-Xylp, suggesting that rXyn10C had strong activity
      toward a xylosidic linkage before and after a doubly arabinose-substituted xylose
      residue and was able to accommodate an alpha-1,2- and alpha-1,3-linked arabinose
      substituted xylose unit in both the -1 and +1 subsites. A molecular docking study
      suggested that rXyn10C could accommodate a doubly arabinose-substituted xylose
      residue in its catalytic site, at subsite -1. This is the first report of a
      xylanase capable of producing alpha-L-Araf-(1->2)-[alpha-L-Araf-(1->3)]-D-Xylp
      from highly arabinosylated xylan.

PMID- 25837502
TI  - Effect of some redox mediators on FAD fluorescence of glucose oxidase from
      Penicillium adametzii LF F-2044.1.
AB  - Glucose oxidase (GOx) of Penicillium adametzii LF F-2044.1 recovered by
      ultrafiltration, was characterized by spectrophotometric and spectrofluorometric
      methods. It was shown that spectra of GOx from P. adametzii are typical for
      flavoproteins. Optimal buffer composition was chosen. It was determined that the
      GOx is the most efficiently interacting with substrate (glucose) in phosphate
      buffer at pH 7.0 with kkat/KM=15,217+/-550M(-1)s(-1). P. adametzii GOx
      fluorescence in the presence of different redox mediators (9,10-phenanthroline
      5,6-dione, 9,10-phenanthrenequinone, 1,4-benzoquinone, methylene blue, ferrocene,
      ferrocenecarboxylic acid, alpha-methylferrocenemethanol, ferrocenecarboxaldehyde)
      was evaluated. Maximal differences in fluorescence emission intensity were
      observed in the presence of ferrocene and 9,10-phenanthrenequinone.

PMID- 25837503
TI  - Synergistic effect and application of xylanases as accessory enzymes to enhance
      the hydrolysis of pretreated bagasse.
AB  - Recently, the new trend in the second-generation ethanol industry is to use mild
      pretreatments, in order to reduce costs and to keep higher content of
      hemicellulose in the biomass. Nevertheless, a high enzyme dosage is still
      required in the conversion of (hemi)cellulose. The interaction between cellulases
      and xylanases seems to be an effective alternative to reduce enzyme loading in
      the saccharification process. At first, to evaluate the synergism of xylanases on
      bagasse degradation, we have produced two xylanases from glycoside hydrolase
      family 10 (GH10) and three xylanases from glycoside hydrolase family 11 (GH11),
      from two thermophilic organisms, Thermobifida fusca and Clostridium thermocellum,
      and one mesophilic organism, Streptomyces lividans. Peracetic acid (PAA)
      pretreated bagasse was used as substrate. The combination of XynZ-C (GH10, from
      C. thermocellum), and XlnB (GH11, from S. lividans) presented the highest degree
      of synergy after 6h (3.62). However, the combination of XynZ-C and Xyn11A (GH11,
      from T. fusca) resulted in the highest total yield of reducing sugars. To
      evaluate the synergism between xylanases and cellulases, commercial cellulase
      preparation from Trichoderma reesei was combined with the selected xylanases,
      XynZ-C and Xyn11A. About 2-fold increase was observed in the concentration of
      reducing sugars, when both xylanases, XynZ-C and Xyn11A, were added together with
      T. reesei cellulases in the reaction mixture.

PMID- 25837504
TI  - Tackling codon usage bias for heterologous expression in Rhodobacter sphaeroides
      by supplementation of rare tRNAs.
AB  - The photosynthetic Rhodobacter species are promising alternative expression hosts
      in bioproduction and biorefinery due to their unique metabolic capacities. With
      prominent inner membrane areas and efficient endogenous translocation
      machineries, they are especially attractive for membrane protein expression.
      However, codon usage bias could be a limitation in the engineering of Rhodobacter
      species and has seldom been investigated. In this study, we tackled the codon
      bias of Rhodobacter by functionally expressing 8 rare tRNAs of Rhodobacter
      sphaeroides with a multi-copy vector. The impact of tRNA supplementation was
      evaluated through monitoring expression levels of two heterologous proteins with
      different phylogenetic origins, a membrane subunit of the riboflavin transporter,
      RibU, from Lactobacillus acidophilus La-14 and a decaheme cytochrome, MtrA, from
      Shewanella oneidensis. Our results showed that the performances were closely
      related to medium composition and rare codon percentages of raw DNA sequences.
      Provision of rare tRNAs has increased RibU production by 7.7-folds and 2.86-fold
      in minimal medium and rich medium, respectively, while MtrA levels were increased
      by 1-fold in minimal medium. The present study confirms the presence of codon
      bias in R. sphaeroides and offers a facile tool for improving heterologous
      expression of rare-codon containing genes. We anticipate that this tRNA
      supplementation system can be further extended to other species of Rhodobacter,
      and thus will facilitate the engineering of purple bacteria for interesting
      applications in microbial technology.

PMID- 25837505
TI  - The final acylation step in aromatic dithiolopyrrolone biosyntheses:
      identification and characterization of the first bacterium N-benzoyltransferase
      from Saccharothrix algeriensis NRRL B-24137.
AB  - The last step in the biosynthesis of dithiolopyrrolone antibiotics was thought to
      involve the transfer of acyl group from acyl-CoA to pyrrothine/holothin core. In
      Saccharothrix algeriensis NRRL B-24137, two acyltransferases, an
      acetyltransferase and a benzoyltransferase were proposed to catalyze this step.
      We have previously identified, in Sa. algeriensis genome, two open read frames,
      actA and actB patiently encoded these enzymes. This study focuses primarily on
      the characterization of the protein encoded by actA. After cloning and expressing
      of actA in Escherichia coli BL21, the recombinant protein encoded by actA was
      purified. Selectivity of ActA for pyrrothine/holothin as substrate and different
      acyl-CoA as co-substrate was evaluated using two acyls-groups, linear and
      aromatic. The enzyme was shown to prefer aromatic groups over linear groups as
      donor group; further neither product nor transfer was observed for linear groups.
      Therefore ActA has been determined to be a pyrrothine/holothin N
      benzoyltransferase which can either pyrrothine (Km of 72MUM) or holothin (Km of
      129.5MUM) as substrates and benzoyl-CoA (Km of 348.65 and 395.28MUM) as co
      substrates for pyrrothine and holothin, respectively. The optimum pH and
      temperature has been shown to be 8, 40 degrees C, respectively. ActA is the first
      enzyme characterized as N-benzoyltransferase in bacteria.

PMID- 25837506
TI  - Development of reproducible assays for polygalacturonase and pectinase.
AB  - Polygalacturonase and pectinase activities reported in the literature were
      measured by several different procedures. These procedures do not give comparable
      results, partly owing to the complexity of the substrates involved. This work was
      aimed at developing consistent and efficient assays for polygalacturonase and
      pectinase activities, using polygalacturonic acid and citrus pectin,
      respectively, as the substrate. Different enzyme mixtures produced by Aspergillus
      niger and Trichoderma reesei with different inducing carbon sources were used for
      the method development. A series of experiments were conducted to evaluate the
      incubation time, substrate concentration, and enzyme dilution. Accordingly, for
      both assays the recommended (optimal) hydrolysis time is 30min and substrate
      concentration is 5g/L. For polygalacturonase, the sample should be adjusted to
      have 0.3-0.8U/mL polygalacturonase activity, because in this range the assay
      outcomes were consistent (independent of dilution factors). Such a range did not
      exist for the pectinase assay. The recommended procedure is to assay the sample
      at multiple (at least 2) dilution factors and determine, by linear interpolation,
      the dilution factor that would release reducing sugar equivalent to 0.4g/L d
      galacturonic acid, and then calculate the activity of the sample accordingly
      (dilution factor*0.687U/mL). Validation experiments showed consistent results
      using these assays. Effects of substrate preparation methods were also examined.

PMID- 25837507
TI  - A facile enzymatic synthesis of geranyl propionate by physically adsorbed Candida
      rugosa lipase onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes.
AB  - In view of several disadvantages as well as adverse effects associated with the
      use of chemical processes for producing esters, alternative techniques such as
      the utilization of enzymes on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), have been
      suggested. In this study, the oxidative MWCNTs prepared using a mixture of HNO3
      and H2SO4 (1:3 v/v) were used as a supportive material for the immobilization of
      Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) through physical adsorption process. The resulting
      CRL-MWCNTs biocatalysts were utilized for synthesizing geranyl propionate, an
      important ester for flavoring agent as well as in fragrances. Enzymatic
      esterification of geraniol with propionic acid was carried out using heptane as a
      solvent and the efficiency of CRL-MWCNTs as a biocatalyst was compared with the
      free CRL, considering the incubation time, temperature, molar ratio of
      acid:alcohol, presence of desiccant as well as its reusability. It was found that
      the CRL-MWCNTs resulted in a 2-fold improvement in the percentage of conversion
      of geranyl propionate when compared with the free CRL, demonstrating the highest
      yield of geranyl propionate at 6h at 55 degrees C, molar ratio acid: alcohol of
      1:5 and with the presence of 1.0g desiccant. It was evident that the CRL-MWCNTs
      biocatalyst could be reused for up to 6 times before a 50% reduction in catalytic
      efficiency was observed. Hence, it appears that the facile physical adsorption of
      CRL onto F-MWCNTs has improved the activity and stability of CRL as well as
      served as an alternative method for the synthesis of geranyl propionate.

PMID- 25837508
TI  - An efficient ribitol-specific dehydrogenase from Enterobacter aerogenes.
AB  - An NAD(+)-dependent ribitol dehydrogenase from Enterobacter aerogenes KCTC 2190
      (EaRDH) was cloned and successfully expressed in Escherichia coli. The complete
      729-bp gene was amplified, cloned, expressed, and subsequently purified in an
      active soluble form using nickel affinity chromatography. The enzyme had an
      optimal pH and temperature of 11.0 and 45 degrees C, respectively. Among various
      polyols, EaRDH exhibited activity only toward ribitol, with Km, Vmax, and kcat/Km
      values of 10.3mM, 185Umg(-1), and 30.9s(-1)mM(-1), respectively. The enzyme
      showed strong preference for NAD(+) and displayed no detectable activity with
      NADP(+). Homology modeling and sequence analysis of EaRDH, along with its
      biochemical properties, confirmed that EaRDH belongs to the family of NAD(+)
      dependent ribitol dehydrogenases, a member of short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase
      (SCOR) family. EaRDH showed the highest activity and unique substrate specificity
      among all known RDHs. Homology modeling and docking analysis shed light on the
      molecular basis of its unusually high activity and substrate specificity.

PMID- 25837509
TI  - Development of a transparent, non-cytotoxic, silver ion-exchanged glass with
      antimicrobial activity and low ion elution.
AB  - We investigated the antimicrobial, cytotoxicity, skin irritation, and ion elution
      behaviors of glass doped with silver ions with respect to its application to
      electronic equipment such as phones and tablet screens. The microbes tested were
      Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Penicillium funiculosum. AgNO3
      powder was spread on both sides of aluminosilicate glass, and it was heated to
      250-280 degrees C for 10min. Under optimized heating conditions (260 degrees C,
      10min), the antimicrobial activity of ion-exchanged glass against bacteria and
      fungi was over 99.9% after 24 weeks. The glass failed to irritate the skin of
      experimental animals and was considered non-cytotoxic. The maximum amount of Ag
      ions that were eluted from the ion-exchanged glass into drinking water was
      measured at 0.037+/-0.003MUgL(-1), an amount which is several orders of magnitude
      below the standard limit of 0.1mgL(-1) in drinking water. Ag ion-exchanged glass
      had characteristics suitable for use as a display screen, such as a light
      transmittance of 90% and a surface roughness of 0.704nm. Our findings suggest
      that glass doped with silver ions is more hygienic than non-doped glass is, and
      should be applied to display screens and glassware.

PMID- 25837510
TI  - Magnetosomes extracted from Magnetospirillum magneticum strain AMB-1 showed
      enhanced peroxidase-like activity under visible-light irradiation.
AB  - Magnetosomes are intracellular structures produced by magnetotactic bacteria and
      are magnetic nanoparticles surrounded by a lipid bilayer membrane. Magnetosomes
      reportedly possess intrinsic enzyme mimetic activity similar to that found in
      horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and can scavenge reactive oxygen species depending
      on peroxidase activity. Our previous study has demonstrated the phototaxis
      characteristics of Magnetospirillum magneticum strain AMB-1 cells, but the
      mechanism is not well understood. Therefore, we studied the relationship between
      visible-light irradiation and peroxidase-like activity of magnetosomes extracted
      from M. magneticum strain AMB-1. We then compared this characteristic with that
      of HRP, iron ions, and naked magnetosomes using 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine as
      a peroxidase substrate in the presence of H2O2. Results showed that HRP and iron
      ions had different activities from those of magnetosomes and naked magnetosomes
      when exposed to visible-light irradiation. Magnetosomes and naked magnetosomes
      had enhanced peroxidase-like activities under visible-light irradiation, but
      magnetosomes showed less affinity toward substrates than naked magnetosomes under
      visible-light irradiation. These results suggested that the peroxidase-like
      activity of magnetosomes may follow an ordered ternary mechanism rather than a
      ping-pong mechanism. This finding may provide new insight into the function of
      magnetosomes in the phototaxis in magnetotactic bacteria. 

PMID- 25837511
TI  - Usage of polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography for investigation of
      collagen cross-linking.
AB  - To investigate morphological alternation in corneal stroma induced by collagen
      cross-linking (CXL) treatment, polarization-sensitive optical coherence
      tomography (PS-OCT) capable of providing scattering, phase retardation, and
      degree of polarization uniformity (DOPU) images were employed on fresh bovine
      cornea. Significant corneal thickness reduction was observed after the CXL
      procedure, and its variation was quantitatively analyzed. From the scattering
      contrast, a hyperscattering region was observed in the anterior of the cornea
      immediately after the CXL procedure and its range increased with time. Within the
      scattering region, a slow increase was observed in the phase retardation image,
      and a discriminable characteristic was found in the DOPU image. A global
      threshold value was empirically determined from the averaged DOPU depth profile
      in order to locate the effective cross-linking depth. In addition to the standard
      protocol, an accelerated CXL procedure shortening the treatment time with higher
      intensity of ultraviolet-A (UV-)A power was also performed. From the measurement
      results after the two different CXL protocols, different cross-linking aspects
      were found and their difference was discussed in terms of the effectiveness of
      cross-linking. Based on this study, we believe that PS-OCT could be a promising
      optical imaging modality to evaluate the progression and effectiveness of the
      riboflavin/UV-A induced corneal collagen cross-linking.

PMID- 25837512
TI  - Ribosome. The complete structure of the 55S mammalian mitochondrial ribosome.
AB  - Mammalian mitochondrial ribosomes (mitoribosomes) synthesize mitochondrially
      encoded membrane proteins that are critical for mitochondrial function. Here we
      present the complete atomic structure of the porcine 55S mitoribosome at 3.8
      angstrom resolution by cryo-electron microscopy and chemical cross-linking/mass
      spectrometry. The structure of the 28S subunit in the complex was resolved at 3.6
      angstrom resolution by focused alignment, which allowed building of a detailed
      atomic structure including all of its 15 mitoribosomal-specific proteins. The
      structure reveals the intersubunit contacts in the 55S mitoribosome, the
      molecular architecture of the mitoribosomal messenger RNA (mRNA) binding channel
      and its interaction with transfer RNAs, and provides insight into the highly
      specialized mechanism of mRNA recruitment to the 28S subunit. Furthermore, the
      structure contributes to a mechanistic understanding of aminoglycoside
      ototoxicity. 

PMID- 25837514
TI  - Stem cells. Asymmetric apportioning of aged mitochondria between daughter cells
      is required for stemness.
AB  - By dividing asymmetrically, stem cells can generate two daughter cells with
      distinct fates. However, evidence is limited in mammalian systems for the
      selective apportioning of subcellular contents between daughters. We followed the
      fates of old and young organelles during the division of human mammary stemlike
      cells and found that such cells apportion aged mitochondria asymmetrically
      between daughter cells. Daughter cells that received fewer old mitochondria
      maintained stem cell traits. Inhibition of mitochondrial fission disrupted both
      the age-dependent subcellular localization and segregation of mitochondria and
      caused loss of stem cell properties in the progeny cells. Hence, mechanisms exist
      for mammalian stemlike cells to asymmetrically sort aged and young mitochondria,
      and these are important for maintaining stemness properties. 

PMID- 25837513
TI  - Cancer immunotherapy. A dendritic cell vaccine increases the breadth and
      diversity of melanoma neoantigen-specific T cells.
AB  - T cell immunity directed against tumor-encoded amino acid substitutions occurs in
      some melanoma patients. This implicates missense mutations as a source of patient
      specific neoantigens. However, a systematic evaluation of these putative
      neoantigens as targets of antitumor immunity is lacking. Moreover, it remains
      unknown whether vaccination can augment such responses. We found that a dendritic
      cell vaccine led to an increase in naturally occurring neoantigen-specific
      immunity and revealed previously undetected human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I
      restricted neoantigens in patients with advanced melanoma. The presentation of
      neoantigens by HLA-A*02:01 in human melanoma was confirmed by mass spectrometry.
      Vaccination promoted a diverse neoantigen-specific T cell receptor (TCR)
      repertoire in terms of both TCR-beta usage and clonal composition. Our results
      demonstrate that vaccination directed at tumor-encoded amino acid substitutions
      broadens the antigenic breadth and clonal diversity of antitumor immunity. 

PMID- 25837515
TI  - Structural biology. Structures of the CRISPR-Cmr complex reveal mode of RNA
      target positioning.
AB  - Adaptive immunity in bacteria involves RNA-guided surveillance complexes that use
      CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-associated
      (Cas) proteins together with CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) to target invasive nucleic
      acids for degradation. Whereas type I and type II CRISPR-Cas surveillance
      complexes target double-stranded DNA, type III complexes target single-stranded
      RNA. Near-atomic resolution cryo-electron microscopy reconstructions of native
      type III Cmr (CRISPR RAMP module) complexes in the absence and presence of target
      RNA reveal a helical protein arrangement that positions the crRNA for substrate
      binding. Thumblike beta hairpins intercalate between segments of duplexed
      crRNA:target RNA to facilitate cleavage of the target at 6-nucleotide intervals.
      The Cmr complex is architecturally similar to the type I CRISPR-Cascade complex,
      suggesting divergent evolution of these immune systems from a common ancestor. 

PMID- 25837516
TI  - Sequence analysis and identification of new isoform of EP4 receptors in different
      atlantic salmon tissues (Salmo salar L.) and its role in PGE2 induced
      immunomodulation in vitro.
AB  - PGE2 plays an important role in a broad spectrum of physiological and
      pathological processes mediated through a membrane-bound G protein-coupled
      receptor (GPCR) called EP receptor. In mammals, four subtypes of EP receptor (EP
      1-4) are identified and each of them functions through different signal
      transduction pathways. Orthologous EP receptors have also been identified in
      other non-mammalian species, such as chicken and zebrafish. EP4 is the only
      identified PGE2 receptor to date in Atlantic salmon but its tissue distribution
      and function have not been studied in any detail. In this study, we first
      sequenced EP4 receptor in different tissues and found that the presence of the
      3nt deletion in the 5' untranslated region was accompanied by silent mutation at
      nt 668. While attempting to amplify the same sequence in TO cells (an Atlantic
      salmon macrophage-like cell line), we failed to obtain the full-length product.
      Further investigation revealed different isoform of EP4 receptor in TO cells and
      we subsequently documented its presence in different Atlantic salmon tissues.
      These two isoforms of EP4 receptor share high homology in their first half of
      sequence but differ in the second half part with several deletion segments though
      the final length of coding sequence is the same for two isoforms. We further
      studied the immunomodulation effect of PGE2 in TO cells and found that PGE2
      inhibited the induction of CXCL-10, CCL-4, IL-8 and IL-1beta genes expression in
      a time dependent manner and without cAMP upregulation. 

PMID- 25837517
TI  - Cryoglobulinemia Vasculitis.
AB  - Cryoglobulinemic vasculitis (CryoVas) is a small-vessel vasculitis involving
      mainly the skin, the joints, the peripheral nervous system, and the kidneys. Type
      I CryoVas is single monoclonal immunoglobulins related to an underlying B-cell
      lymphoproliferative disorder. Type II and III cryoglobulins, often referred to as
      mixed cryoglobulinemia, consist of polyclonal immunoglobulin (Ig)G with or
      without monoclonal IgM with rheumatoid factor activity. Hepatitis C virus (HCV)
      infection represents the main cause of mixed CryoVas. The 10-year survival rates
      are 63%, 65%, and 87% in HCV-positive mixed CryoVas, HCV-negative mixed CryoVas,
      and type I CryoVas patients, respectively. In HCV-positive patients, baseline
      poor prognostic factors include the presence of severe liver fibrosis, and
      central nervous system, kidney, and heart involvement. Treatment with antivirals
      is associated with a good prognosis, whereas use of immunosuppressants (including
      corticosteroids) is associated with a poor outcome. In HCV-negative patients,
      pulmonary and gastrointestinal involvement, renal insufficiency, and age > 65
      years are independently associated with death. Increased risk of lymphoma also
      should be underlined. Treatment of type I CryoVas is that of the hemopathy;
      specific treatment also includes plasma exchange, corticosteroids, rituximab, and
      ilomedine. In HCV-CryoVas with mild-to-moderate disease, an optimal antiviral
      treatment should be given. For HCV-CryoVas with severe vasculitis (ie, worsening
      of renal function, mononeuritis multiplex, extensive skin disease, intestinal
      ischemia...) control of disease with rituximab, with or without plasmapheresis,
      is required before initiation of antiviral therapy. Other immunosuppressants
      should be given only in case of refractory forms of CryoVas, frequently
      associated with underlying B-cell lymphoma. 

PMID- 25837518
TI  - The new lipid guidelines: what do primary care clinicians think?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Little is known about the opinions of primary care clinicians
      regarding the newly released 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart
      Association (ACC/AHA) Guidelines for the Prevention of Primary and Secondary
      Atherosclerotic Disease. This survey was created to assess the awareness,
      attitudes, and practices of primary care clinicians on adoption of the new
      guidelines and to explore obstacles to implementation and suggestions for
      improving shared decision-making. METHODS: Six hundred practicing clinicians
      within the San Francisco Bay Area Collaborative Research Network were invited to
      participate in this cross-sectional, Internet-based pilot survey of primary care
      clinicians. These survey data were collected in March 2014, approximately 4
      months after the release of the new guidelines and 1 month after the release of
      the ACC/AHA risk estimator application. RESULTS: One hundred eighty-three
      clinicians responded to the survey. Of those respondents, 176 (96%) were aware of
      the guidelines. The majority (64%) reported implementing the new guidelines with
      at least some of their patients, while a minority (25%) reported adopting the
      guidelines for many of their patients. Disagreeing with the guidelines was the
      main hindrance to adoption. CONCLUSIONS: While many primary care clinicians are
      aware of the new guidelines, a substantial proportion has yet to implement them
      into their clinical practice, and obstacles remain for full adoption. Further
      understanding of clinicians' views, opinions, and needs is necessary to optimize
      the approach to lipid management and ensure integration into current practice.

PMID- 25837519
TI  - Size distribution of air bubbles entering the brain during cardiac surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Thousands of air bubbles enter the cerebral circulation during
      cardiac surgery, but whether high numbers of bubbles explain post-operative
      cognitive decline is currently controversial. This study estimates the size
      distribution of air bubbles and volume of air entering the cerebral arteries
      intra-operatively based on analysis of transcranial Doppler ultrasound data.
      METHODS: Transcranial Doppler ultrasound recordings from ten patients undergoing
      heart surgery were analysed for the presence of embolic signals. The
      backscattered intensity of each embolic signal was modelled based on ultrasound
      scattering theory to provide an estimate of bubble diameter. The impact of
      showers of bubbles on cerebral blood-flow was then investigated using patient
      specific Monte-Carlo simulations to model the accumulation and clearance of
      bubbles within a model vasculature. RESULTS: Analysis of Doppler ultrasound
      recordings revealed a minimum of 371 and maximum of 6476 bubbles entering the
      middle cerebral artery territories during surgery. This was estimated to
      correspond to a total volume of air ranging between 0.003 and 0.12 mL. Based on
      analysis of a total of 18667 embolic signals, the median diameter of bubbles
      entering the cerebral arteries was 33 MUm (IQR: 18 to 69 MUm). Although bubble
      diameters ranged from ~5 MUm to 3.5 mm, the majority (85%) were less than 100
      MUm. Numerous small bubbles detected during cardiopulmonary bypass were estimated
      by Monte-Carlo simulation to be benign. However, during weaning from bypass,
      showers containing large macro-bubbles were observed, which were estimated to
      transiently affect up to 2.2% of arterioles. CONCLUSIONS: Detailed analysis of
      Doppler ultrasound data can be used to provide an estimate of bubble diameter,
      total volume of air, and the likely impact of embolic showers on cerebral blood
      flow. Although bubbles are alarmingly numerous during surgery, our simulations
      suggest that the majority of bubbles are too small to be harmful.

PMID- 25837520
TI  - Keep calm and carry on: improved frustration tolerance and processing speed by
      transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).
AB  - Cognitive control (CC) of attention is a major prerequisite for effective
      information processing. Emotional distractors can bias and impair goal-directed
      deployment of attentional resources. Frustration-induced negative affect and
      cognition can act as internal distractors with negative impact on task
      performance. Consolidation of CC may thus support task-oriented behavior under
      challenging conditions. Recently, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)
      has been put forward as an effective tool to modulate CC. Particularly, anodal,
      activity enhancing tDCS to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) can
      increase insufficient CC in depression as indicated by a reduction of attentional
      biases induced by emotionally salient stimuli. With this study, we provide first
      evidence that, compared to sham stimulation, tDCS to the left dlPFC enhances
      processing speed measured by an adaptive version of the Paced Auditory Serial
      Addition Task (PASAT) that is typically thwarted by frustration. Notably, despite
      an even larger amount of error-related negative feedback, the task-induced upset
      was suppressed in the group receiving anodal tDCS. Moreover, inhibition of task
      related negative affect was correlated with performance gains, suggesting a close
      link between enhanced processing speed and consolidation of CC by tDCS. Together,
      these data provide first evidence that activity enhancing anodal tDCS to the left
      dlPFC can support focused cognitive processing particularly when challenged by
      frustration-induced negative affect. 

PMID- 25837522
TI  - Unique cytokine and chemokine patterns in bronchoalveolar lavage are associated
      with specific causative pathogen among HIV infected patients with pneumonia, in
      Medellin, Colombia.
AB  - We wanted to investigate the pro-inflammatory cytokine/chemokine profile
      associated with the etiological agents identified in HIV patients.
      Immunosuppressed patients admitted to two hospitals in Medellin, Colombia, with
      clinical and radiographic diagnosis of pneumonia were enrolled in the study.
      After consent, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was collected for bacterial,
      mycobacterial and fungal diagnosis. All patients were followed for a year. A
      stored BAL sample was used for cytokine/chemokine detection and measurement using
      commercial, magnetic human cytokine bead-based 19-plex assays. Statistical
      analysis was performed by assigning cytokine/chemokine concentrations levels into
      <25 percentile (lower), 25-75 percentile (normal) and >75 percentile (higher).
      Principal component analysis (PCA) and Kruskal-Wallis analysis were conducted to
      identify the clustering of cytokines with the various infectious etiologies
      (fungi, Mycobacterium tuberculosis - MTB, and bacteria). Average age of patients
      was 35, of whom 77% were male, and the median CD4 count of 33cells/MUl. Of the 57
      HIV infected patients, in-hospital mortality was 12.3% and 33% died within a year
      of follow up. The PCA revealed increased IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, IL-17, Eotaxin,
      GCSF, MIP-1alpha, and MIP-1beta concentrations to be associated with MTB
      infection. In patients with proven fungal infection, low concentrations of IL
      1RA, IL-8, TNF-alpha and VEGF were identified. Bacterial infections displayed a
      distinct cytokine pattern and were not misclassified using the MTB or fungi
      cytokine patterns (p-value<0.0001). Our results indicate a unique pattern of pro
      inflammatory cytokine/chemokine, allowing differentiation between bacterial and
      non-bacterial pathogens. Moreover, we found distinct, if imperfectly
      discriminatory, cytokine/chemokine patterns associated with MTB and fungal
      infections. 

PMID- 25837521
TI  - Schizophrenia detection and classification by advanced analysis of EEG recordings
      using a single electrode approach.
AB  - Electroencephalographic (EEG) analysis has emerged as a powerful tool for brain
      state interpretation and diagnosis, but not for the diagnosis of mental
      disorders; this may be explained by its low spatial resolution or depth
      sensitivity. This paper concerns the diagnosis of schizophrenia using EEG, which
      currently suffers from several cardinal problems: it heavily depends on
      assumptions, conditions and prior knowledge regarding the patient. Additionally,
      the diagnostic experiments take hours, and the accuracy of the analysis is low or
      unreliable. This article presents the "TFFO" (Time-Frequency transformation
      followed by Feature-Optimization), a novel approach for schizophrenia detection
      showing great success in classification accuracy with no false positives. The
      methodology is designed for single electrode recording, and it attempts to make
      the data acquisition process feasible and quick for most patients. 

PMID- 25837523
TI  - The contribution of mycosporine-like amino acids, chromophoric dissolved organic
      matter and particles to the UV protection of sea-ice organisms in the Baltic Sea.
AB  - The effects of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) on the synthesis of mycosporine-like
      amino acids (MAAs) in sea-ice communities and on the other UV-absorption
      properties of sea ice were studied in a three-week long in situ experiment in the
      Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea in March 2011. The untreated snow-covered ice and two
      snow-free ice treatments, one exposed to wavelengths > 400 nm (PAR) and the other
      to full solar spectrum (PAR + UVR), were analysed for MAAs and absorption
      coefficients of dissolved (aCDOM) and particulate (ap) fractions, the latter
      being further divided into non-algal (anap) and algal (aph) components. Our
      results showed that the diatom and dinoflagellate dominated sea-ice algal
      community responded to UVR down to 25-30 cm depth by increasing their MAA :
      chlorophyll-a ratio and by extending the composition of MAA pool from shinorine
      and palythine to porphyra-334 and an unknown compound with absorption peaks at
      ca. 335 and 360 nm. MAAs were the dominant absorbing components in algae in the
      top 10 cm of ice, and their contribution to total absorption became even more
      pronounced under UVR exposure. In addition to MAAs, the high absorption by
      chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and by deposited atmospheric
      particles provided UV-protection for sea-ice organisms in the exposed ice.
      Efficient UV-protection will especially be of importance under the predicted
      future climate conditions with more frequent snow-free conditions. 

PMID- 25837526
TI  - Traditional Chinese medication for cardiovascular disease.

PMID- 25837528
TI  - Intraoperative Methadone for the Prevention of Postoperative Pain: A Randomized,
      Double-blinded Clinical Trial in Cardiac Surgical Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The intensity of pain after cardiac surgery is often underestimated,
      and inadequate pain control may be associated with poorer quality of recovery.
      The aim of this investigation was to examine the effect of intraoperative
      methadone on postoperative analgesic requirements, pain scores, patient
      satisfaction, and clinical recovery. METHODS: Patients undergoing cardiac surgery
      with cardiopulmonary bypass (n = 156) were randomized to receive methadone (0.3
      mg/kg) or fentanyl (12 MUg/kg) intraoperatively. Postoperative analgesic
      requirements were recorded. Patients were assessed for pain at rest and with
      coughing 15 min and 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h after tracheal extubation.
      Patients were also evaluated for level of sedation, nausea, vomiting, itching,
      hypoventilation, and hypoxia at these times. RESULTS: Postoperative morphine
      requirements during the first 24 h were reduced from a median of 10 mg in the
      fentanyl group to 6 mg in the methadone group (median difference [99% CI], -4 [-8
      to -2] mg; P < 0.001). Reductions in pain scores with coughing were observed
      during the first 24 h after extubation; the level of pain with coughing at 12 h
      was reduced from a median of 6 in the fentanyl group to 4 in the methadone group
      (-2 [-3 to -1]; P < 0.001). Improvements in patient-perceived quality of pain
      management were described in the methadone group. The incidence of opioid-related
      adverse events was not increased in patients administered methadone. CONCLUSIONS:
      Intraoperative methadone administration resulted in reduced postoperative
      morphine requirements, improved pain scores, and enhanced patient-perceived
      quality of pain management.

PMID- 25837529
TI  - Wheat-related disorders reviewed: making a grain of sense.
AB  - Wheat-related disorders have become a growing area of clinical and scientific
      interest and can be categorized broadly as: autoimmune-mediated; allergic; and
      non-autoimmune/non-allergic conditions. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) and
      non-celiac wheat sensitivity (NCWS) present on this spectrum as disorders
      associated with adverse gastrointestinal and extra-intestinal manifestations
      following exposure to gluten and/or other wheat-related constituents. NCGS/NCWS
      is increasingly considered in patients with unexplained symptoms after the
      exclusions of celiac disease and wheat allergy. As objective diagnostic data and
      specific biomarkers are lacking, response to a gluten-free/wheat-free diet can
      confirm the presence of NCGS/NCWS. An association with irritable bowel syndrome
      has been detected, and the effects of other food components, such as fermentable
      oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols, may contribute.
      Our organization and synthesis of extant knowledge pertaining to wheat-related
      disorders may advance current practice and research efforts toward an improved
      understanding of NCGS/NCWS as an evolving clinical entity. 

PMID- 25837530
TI  - Cough variant asthma patients are more depressed and anxious than classic asthma
      patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Many recent studies have indicated that depression and anxiety are
      more common in asthmatic patients than in the general population and
      psychological stress can lead to asthma exacerbations, but no study specifically
      targets cough variant asthma (CVA) patients. The purpose of this study was to
      evaluate depression and anxiety levels in CVA patients compared with classic
      asthma patients and to identify the psychological features of CVA patients.
      METHODS: Fifty-nine outpatients with CVA and 128 outpatients with classic asthma
      were interviewed about psychosomatic and psychiatric symptoms, and they underwent
      three psychological tests: Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), State-Trait
      Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Comprehensive Asthma Inventory (CAI). They were
      ultimately screened for major and minor depression, dysthymia, panic disorder,
      generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and other anxiety
      disorders. RESULTS: CVA patients showed higher SDS and STAI scores than classic
      asthma patients, and mood disorders and anxiety disorders were more common than
      in classic asthma outpatients. The psychological factors 'frustration', 'fright
      into illness', and 'distorted lifestyle' were more prominent in CVA patients than
      in classic asthma patients. CONCLUSION: CVA patients are on average more
      depressed and anxious than classic asthma outpatients. Though CVA appears
      pathologically to be just an early stage of typical asthma, the psychological
      stress may often be more serious than in asthma controlled by medication, which
      may explain why CVA cannot be controlled by a bronchodilator alone and patients
      often require no less intense therapy than for severe asthma.

PMID- 25837531
TI  - Social support, marital adjustment, and psychological distress among women with
      primary infertility in Pakistan.
AB  - This study aimed to identify prevalence rates of psychological distress among
      Pakistani women seeking help for primary infertility. The associations of social
      support, marital adjustment, and sociodemographic factors with psychological
      distress were also examined. A total of 177 women with primary infertility were
      interviewed from one hospital in Islamabad using a Self-Reporting Questionnaire,
      the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Locke-Wallace
      Marital Adjustment Test. The data were collected between November 2012 and March
      2013. The prevalence of psychological distress was 37.3 percent. The results of
      the logistic regression suggested that marital adjustment and social support were
      significantly negatively associated with psychological distress in this sample.
      These associations were not confounded by any of the demographic variables
      controlled in the multivariable regression models. The role of perceived social
      support and adjustment in marriage among women experiencing primary infertility
      are important factors in understanding their psychological distress. The results
      of this small-scale effort highlight the need for social and familial awareness
      to help tackle the psychological distress related to infertility. Future research
      needs to focus on the way the experience of infertility is conditioned by social
      structural realities. New ways need to be developed to better take into account
      the process and nature of the infertility experience. 

PMID- 25837532
TI  - Dose-response effect of fluoride dentifrice on remineralisation and further
      demineralisation of erosive lesions: A randomised in situ clinical study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective was to evaluate the ability of fluoride in a
      conventional, non-specialised sodium fluoride-silica dentifrice to promote tooth
      remineralisation and enamel fluoride uptake (EFU), and assess the resistance of
      the newly formed mineral to attack by dietary acid, across the concentration
      range used in mass-market dentifrices. METHODS: Subjects wore a palatal appliance
      containing eight polished bovine enamel specimens, each including an early
      erosive lesion. In a randomised full-crossover sequence, 62 healthy subjects were
      treated with dentifrices containing four different fluoride concentrations: no
      fluoride; 250ppm, 1150ppm and 1426ppm fluoride. At each treatment visit, under
      supervision, subjects brushed with 1.5g dentifrice and rinsed once while wearing
      the appliance; the appliance was removed after a 4-h remineralisation period and
      effects on the enamel specimens determined. The primary efficacy variable was
      surface microhardness recovery (SMHR); others included EFU, relative erosion
      resistance (RER) and comparative erosion resistance. RESULTS: Highly significant
      linear and, with the exception of SMHR, quadratic dose-response relationships
      were observed between all efficacy variables and fluoride concentration. For
      SMHR, EFU and RER, values for the different fluoride concentrations were
      statistically resolved from one another, with the exception of the two highest
      fluoride concentrations. The degree of remineralisation and the acid resistance
      of enamel after treatment were closely related to EFU. CONCLUSION: After a single
      brushing, conventional non-specialised sodium fluoride-silica dentifrices
      promoted remineralisation of early enamel lesions, and imparted increased acid
      resistance to the enamel surface, in a dose-dependent manner at least up to
      1500ppm fluoride. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Enamel erosive tissue loss is an
      increasing concern, associated with modern diets. This study demonstrated that
      sodium fluoride, in a conventional non-specialised dentifrice formulation, can
      promote repair of the earliest stages of enamel erosion after a single
      application, in a dose-dependent fashion across the fluoride concentration range
      used in mass-market dentifrices. This study is registered in the GlaxoSmithKline
      Study Register (ID RH01299), available at: www.gsk
      clinicalstudyregister.com/study/RH01299.

PMID- 25837533
TI  - Addressing missing participant outcome data in dental clinical trials.
AB  - Missing outcome data are common in clinical trials and despite a well-designed
      study protocol, some of the randomized participants may leave the trial early
      without providing any or all of the data, or may be excluded after randomization.
      Premature discontinuation causes loss of information, potentially resulting in
      attrition bias leading to problems during interpretation of trial findings. The
      causes of information loss in a trial, known as mechanisms of missingness, may
      influence the credibility of the trial results. Analysis of trials with missing
      outcome data should ideally be handled with intention to treat (ITT) rather than
      per protocol (PP) analysis. However, true ITT analysis requires appropriate
      assumptions and imputation of missing data. Using a worked example from a
      published dental study, we highlight the key issues associated with missing
      outcome data in clinical trials, describe the most recognized approaches to
      handling missing outcome data, and explain the principles of ITT and PP analysis.

PMID- 25837534
TI  - Transvaginal Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Nephrectomy in a Series of
      63 Cases: Stepwise Transition From Hybrid to Pure NOTES.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The feasibility of hybrid transvaginal NOTES (natural orifice
      transluminal endoscopic surgery) nephrectomy (HTNN) has already been
      demonstrated. However, pure transvaginal NOTES nephrectomy (PTNN) has been
      limited to animal experiments with only one report of its use in humans.
      OBJECTIVE: To describe our initial experience with HTNN and a stepwise transition
      towards PTNN. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Between May 2010 and September
      2011, 63 patients underwent nephrectomy (60 HTNNs and 3 PTNNs) in our
      institution, including 45 patients with benign renal disease and 18 patients with
      malignant renal disease. SURGICAL PROCEDURE: Of the HTNNs, 33 were performed
      using two umbilical trocars and one transvaginal trocar, and 27 were performed
      using one umbilical trocar and a transvaginal multi-instrument access port; 3
      PTNNs were performed using a self-developed, three-channel ZOU-port without any
      transumbilical assistance. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: All
      data referring to patient demographics, surgery, pathology, and perioperative
      outcomes were recorded. Sexual function was assessed with the Female Sexual
      Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire before and after surgery. The cosmetic result
      was investigated by administering the Patient Scar Assessment Questionnaire and
      Scoring System (PSAQ). RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: A total of 59 HTNNs and 3 PTNNs
      were successfully performed. One patient was converted to open surgery because of
      injury to the inferior vena cava. The mean operative time was 130min (range: 100
      260min) for HTNN and 193min (range: 180-210min) for PTNN. The mean estimated
      blood loss was 150ml. The mean postoperative hospital stay was 7.4 d. Forty-eight
      patients completed the FSFI questionnaire, and analysis did not show differences
      in FSFI scores before and after surgery. The better cosmetic results were
      confirmed by the PSAQ score. CONCLUSIONS: HTNN is feasible and safe in
      appropriate patients. Existing instruments are adequate for HTNN, but significant
      improvement is still needed. PTNN is technically challenging, but is feasible and
      may be performed safely. Further improvement of instruments is necessary for
      PTNN. Clinical investigation in comparison to the established techniques should
      take place to evaluate the outcome of technique. PATIENT SUMMARY: Pure
      transvaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic nephrectomy (PTNN) is
      technically challenging but feasible and may be performed safely. Further
      improvements in instruments are necessary for PTNN.

PMID- 25837535
TI  - Multi-Quadrant Biopsy Technique Improves Diagnostic Ability in Large
      Heterogeneous Renal Masses.
AB  - PURPOSE: Percutaneous biopsy obtained from a single location is prone to sampling
      error in large heterogeneous renal masses, leading to nondiagnostic results or
      failure to detect poor prognostic features. We evaluated the accuracy of
      percutaneous biopsy for large renal masses using a modified multi-quadrant
      technique vs a standard biopsy technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical and
      pathological data for all patients with cT2 or greater renal masses who underwent
      percutaneous biopsy from 2009 to 2014 were reviewed. The multi-quadrant technique
      was defined as multiple core biopsies from at least 4 separate solid enhancing
      areas in the tumor. The incidence of nondiagnostic findings, sarcomatoid features
      and procedural complications was recorded, and concordance between biopsy
      specimens and nephrectomy pathology was compared. RESULTS: A total of 122
      biopsies were performed for 117 tumors in 116 patients (46 using the standard
      biopsy technique and 76 using the multi-quadrant technique). Median tumor size
      was 10 cm (IQR 8-12). Biopsy was nondiagnostic in 5 of 46 (10.9%) standard and 0
      of 76 (0%) multi-quadrant biopsies (p=0.007). Renal cell carcinoma was identified
      in 96 of 115 (82.0%) tumors and nonrenal cell carcinoma tumors were identified in
      21 (18.0%). One complication occurred using the standard biopsy technique and no
      complications were reported using the multi-quadrant technique. Sarcomatoid
      features were present in 23 of 96 (23.9%) large renal cell carcinomas studied.
      Sensitivity for identifying sarcomatoid features was higher using the multi
      quadrant technique compared to the standard biopsy technique at 13 of 15 (86.7%)
      vs 2 of 8 (25.0%) (p=0.0062). CONCLUSIONS: The multi-quadrant percutaneous biopsy
      technique increases the ability to identify aggressive pathological features in
      large renal tumors and decreases nondiagnostic biopsy rates.

PMID- 25837536
TI  - Cystocele Repair by Autologous Rectus Fascia Graft: the Pubovaginal Cystocele
      Sling.
AB  - PURPOSE: The autologous rectus fascia pubovaginal sling has been a safe and
      effective means of correcting stress urinary incontinence. We tested the
      feasibility of using a larger graft to correct cystocele with or without stress
      urinary incontinence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2006 and October
      2010, 30 patients with symptomatic cystocele underwent the pubovaginal cystocele
      sling procedure, including 14 with and 16 without concomitant stress urinary
      incontinence. The technique is a modification of the standard pubovaginal sling
      procedure. A large trapezoidal (major base 6 cm, minor base 4 cm and height 5 cm)
      rectus fascia graft is used with 4 instead of 2 sutures to suspend the graft
      corners. The 2 sutures at the level of the mid urethra are tied above the rectus
      muscles in a tension-free manner while the 2 sutures at the level of the cervical
      fold are tied with tension. Data on anatomical outcomes (Baden-Walker
      classification), functional outcomes (PFIQ-7), post-void residual urine volume
      and urinary tract infection were prospectively collected. RESULTS: At a mean
      followup of 62.6 months (range 46 to 98) there was no recurrence in the anterior
      compartment. There was 1 recurrence involving the apical and posterior
      compartments. All patients reported a statistically significant improvement in
      PFIQ-7 score. When present preoperatively, post-void residual urine volume,
      urinary tract infection and stress urinary incontinence ceased in all cases. The
      only complication was donor site wound dehiscence without fascial involvement.
      CONCLUSIONS: The autologous pubovaginal cystocele sling seems to be a safe,
      effective technique to correct cystocele with or without stress urinary
      incontinence.

PMID- 25837537
TI  - Introduction.

PMID- 25837538
TI  - Eliminating a need for esophagectomy: endoscopic treatment of Barrett esophagus
      with early esophageal neoplasia.
AB  - Over the past several years, endoscopic ablation and resection have become a new
      standard of care in the management of Barrett esophagus (BE) with high-grade
      dysplasia (HGD) or intramucosal adenocarcinoma (IMC). Risk factors for failure of
      endoscopic therapy and the need for subsequent esophagectomy have not been well
      elucidated. The aims of this study were to determine the efficacy of
      radiofrequency ablation (RFA) with or without endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR)
      in the management of BE with HGD or IMC, to discern factors predictive of
      endoscopic treatment failure, and to assess the effect of endoscopic therapies on
      esophagectomy volume at our institution. Data were obtained retrospectively for
      all patients who underwent endoscopic therapies or esophagectomy for a diagnosis
      of BE with HGD or IMC in our department between January 1, 2004, and December 31,
      2012. Complete remission (CR) of BE or HGD or IMC was defined as 2 consecutive
      biopsy sessions without BE or HGD or IMC and no subsequent recurrence. Recurrence
      was defined by the return of BE or HGD or IMC after initial remission.
      Progression was defined as worsening of HGD to IMC or worsening of IMC to
      submucosal neoplasia or beyond. Overall, 57 patients underwent RFA with or
      without EMR for BE with HGD (n = 45) or IMC (n = 12) between 2007 and 2012, with
      a median follow-up duration of 35.4 months (range: 18.5-52.0 months). The 57
      patients underwent 181 ablation sessions and more than half (61%) of patients
      underwent EMR as a component of treatment. There were no major procedural
      complications or deaths, with only 2 minor complications including 1 symptomatic
      stricture requiring dilation. Multifocal HGD or IMC was present in 43% (25/57) of
      patients. CR of IMC was achieved in 100% (12/12) at a median of 6.1 months, CR of
      dysplasia was achieved in 79% (45/57) at a median of 11.5 months, and CR of BE
      was achieved in 49% (28/57) at a median of 18.4 months. Following initial
      remission, 28% of patients (16/57) had recurrence of dysplasia (n = 12) or BE (n
      = 4). Progression to IMC occurred in 7% (4/57). All patients without CR continue
      endoscopic treatment. No patient required esophagectomy or developed metastatic
      disease. Overall, 6 patients died during the follow-up interval, none from
      esophageal cancer. Factors associated with failure to achieve CR of BE included
      increasing length of BE (6.0 +/- 0.6 vs 4.0 +/- 0.6cm, P = 0.03) and shorter
      duration of follow-up (28.5 +/- 3.8 months vs 49.0 +/- 5.8 months, P = 0.004).
      Shorter surveillance duration (17.8 +/- 7.6 months vs 63.9 +/- 14.4 months, P =
      0.009) and shorter follow-up (21.1 +/- 6.1 months vs 43.2 +/- 4.1 months) were
      the only significant factors associated with failure to eradicate dysplasia. Our
      use of esophagectomy as primary therapy for BE with HGD or IMC has diminished
      since we began using endoscopic therapies in 2007. From a maximum of 16
      esophagectomies per year for early Barrett neoplasia in 2006, we performed only 3
      esophageal resections for such early disease in 2012, all for IMC, and we have
      not performed an esophagectomy for HGD since 2008. Although recurrence of BE or
      dysplasia/IMC was not uncommon, RFA with or without EMR ultimately resulted in CR
      of IMC in all patients, CR of HGD in the majority (79%), and CR of BE in nearly
      half (49%). No patient treated endoscopically for HGD or IMC subsequently
      required esophagectomy. In patients with BE with HGD or IMC, RFA and EMR are safe
      and highly effective. The use of endoscopic therapies appears justified as the
      new standard of care in most cases of BE with early esophageal neoplasia. 

PMID- 25837539
TI  - Editorial commentary: Endoscopically closing doors.

PMID- 25837540
TI  - Incidence and risk factors for respiratory complications in patients undergoing
      esophagectomy for malignancy: a NSQIP analysis.
AB  - Respiratory complications are the most frequent adverse events in patients
      undergoing esophagectomy for cancer, and their occurrence may negatively affect
      postoperative recovery and outcomes. We queried the American College of Surgeons
      National Surgical Quality Improvement Program dataset to study the rate and
      influence of pneumonia, unplanned intubation, and ventilator dependency >48 hours
      on the early outcomes after esophagectomy and risk factors for their development.
      We included adult patients with an esophageal or gastric cancer diagnosis who
      were treated with esophagectomy between 2005 and 2012 and grouped them into 2
      categories with respect to development of respiratory complications. Early
      surgical outcomes (including 30-day mortality, overall morbidity, return to
      operating room, and length of hospital stay) were compared. Risk factors
      associated with respiratory complications after esophagectomy were assessed using
      modified Poisson regression. A total of 2945 patients were identified and
      respiratory complications were observed in 687 (23.3%) of them. We observed a
      significant decrease in respiratory complication rates after esophagectomy
      throughout the studied years. Patients who developed respiratory complications
      were older and had more comorbidities and longer operative time. These patients
      also had statistically significantly higher rates of 30-day mortality and overall
      morbidity and were more likely to return to the operating room and to stay in the
      hospital longer. On multivariable analysis, numerous factors, including advanced
      age, smoking, alcohol use, dyspnea, history of chronic obstructive pulmonary
      disease, and prolonged operative time, were found to be risk factors for
      developing respiratory complications. As the development of respiratory
      complications leads to worse early surgical outcomes after esophagectomy, efforts
      should be made to prevent their occurrence by identifying patients with
      significant risk factors. 

PMID- 25837541
TI  - Editorial commentary: Esophageal complications: what are the real results?

PMID- 25837542
TI  - Technical performance score as predictor for post-discharge reintervention in
      valve-sparing tetralogy of Fallot repair.
AB  - Recognition of late problems following repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) with a
      transannular patch has stimulated modifications to preserve pulmonary valve (PV)
      function. This study assesses the ability of technical performance score (TPS) to
      determine the need for post-discharge reinterventions (RIs) in valve-sparing TOF
      repair. We retrospectively reviewed 157 patients following valve-sparing repair
      of TOF from 2007-2012. We assigned TPS as Class 1 (optimal), Class 2 (adequate),
      or Class 3 (inadequate) based on discharge echo and clinical criteria.
      Preoperative, discharge, and follow-up PV Z scores and post-discharge RIs were
      documented. Reasons for Class 2 or 3 designation were right ventricular outflow
      tract (RVOT) gradient in 52, pulmonary regurgitation in 13, residual ventricular
      septal defects in 7, both RVOT gradient and ventricular septal defects in 13, and
      both RVOT gradient and pulmonary regurgitation in 37 patients. Median follow-up
      was 19.6 (range: 0.1-86.1) months. Class 3 patients had a significantly longer
      median intensive care unit and hospital stay compared with Class 1 (3 vs 2 days
      [P = 0.015] and 7 vs 5 days [P < 0.001], respectively). Post-discharge RIs were
      significantly lower in Class 1 vs Class 2 and Class 3 (P = 0.003). Class 1
      patients had significantly larger PV Z scores compared with Class 2 or Class 3
      patients (P < 0.001). TPS is associated with post-discharge RI rate after valve
      sparing TOF repair. Preoperative PV Z score is highly correlated with Class I
      TPS. Patient selection based on preoperative PV Z scores may help determine if
      valve-sparing approach is appropriate, thus minimizing the need for RIs. 

PMID- 25837544
TI  - You be the judge: is long-term benefit worth the early risk?

PMID- 25837543
TI  - Editorial commentary: Technical performance anxiety: utility of the technical
      performance scale in predicting later intervention after repair of tetralogy of
      Fallot.

PMID- 25837545
TI  - The theory, practice, and future of process improvement in general thoracic
      surgery.
AB  - Process improvement, in its broadest sense, is the analysis of a given set of
      actions with the aim of elevating quality and reducing costs. The tenets of
      process improvement have been applied to medicine in increasing frequency for at
      least the last quarter century including thoracic surgery. This review outlines
      the theory underlying process improvement, the currently available data sources
      for process improvement and possible future directions of research. 

PMID- 25837546
TI  - The International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group thymic initiative: a state-of
      the-art study of thymic malignancies.
AB  - Thymic malignancies are relatively rare tumors. A general lack of knowledge,
      misconceptions about benignancy, confusion about the definition of terms, and
      variability in reporting of outcomes have further hampered progress in these
      diseases. The International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group has emerged to
      counter these challenges and has brought together a worldwide multidisciplinary
      community determined to improve outcomes for these patients. Although the
      organization is young (initiated in 2010), major early accomplishments have
      created a foundation and infrastructure for scientific research. These include
      consensus definitions of terms, an unprecedented global database, development of
      practical clinical resources and, together with the International Association for
      the Study of Lung Cancer, development of proposals for the first formal stage
      classification of these malignant tumors. Many articles have been published or
      are under way, and a second phase of projects building on the early success is
      proceeding. The greatest accomplishment of the International Thymic Malignancy
      Interest Group lies in the establishment of an open culture of collaboration and
      the engagement of a broad group of individuals united by a common mission. It is
      a testament to what can be achieved, despite ongoing and inherent challenges, by
      determination and a collective effort. 

PMID- 25837547
TI  - Current readings: Window-of-opportunity trials for thoracic malignancies.
AB  - Recent major advances in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer have occurred with
      the identification of molecular biomarker targets and administration of novel
      agents with resulting improvement in clinical outcomes. In the early-stage
      setting, personalized therapy with novel agents and molecular profiling are being
      incorporated into neoadjuvant "window-of-opportunity" trials. These important
      studies enable biomarker research and an expedited analysis of the efficacy of
      the targeted agent. However, there are significant limitations to window-of
      opportunity trials. The aim of this article is to review the current window-of
      opportunity trials of neoadjuvant targeted agents for thoracic malignancies,
      discuss the benefits and limitations of these trials, and propose more optimal
      alternative trial end points. Neoadjuvant trials of resectable non-small cell
      lung cancer and mesothelioma that are ongoing or under development and relevant
      to thoracic surgeons are also discussed. The success of these trials will depend
      on a collaborative multidisciplinary effort, especially from the field of
      thoracic surgery. 

PMID- 25837548
TI  - Current readings: Failed hiatal hernia repair.
AB  - Recurrent hiatal hernia is noted in up to 70% of patients undergoing reoperative
      antireflux procedure. Role of short esophagus vis-a-vis a need for Collis
      gastroplasty, mesh reinforcement of hiatus, and access of surgery (thoracotomy vs
      laparotomy) have been debated. The aim of this article is to review selected
      recent publications that address these issues. 

PMID- 25837549
TI  - Creativity is linked to ambition across the bipolar spectrum.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Beyond evidence for an association, little is known about the
      mechanism linking creativity bipolar spectrum conditions. Theory suggests that
      ambition, which is heightened in bipolar disorder (BD) and associated with
      creativity in the general population, might be an important variable. The
      overarching aim of this project was to evaluate whether ambition is related to
      creativity among those with bipolar spectrum conditions. METHOD: Across two
      studies, we examined correlations between a validated self-report measure of
      ambition, the WASSUP, and creativity. In Study One, 22 individuals diagnosed with
      BD who self-identified as highly creative completed the WASSUP and a measure of
      lifetime creative accomplishment. In Study Two, 221 undergraduates completed the
      WASSUP, a measure of mania risk (the Hypomanic Personality Scale, HPS) and a
      measure designed to assess creativity in business projects and tasks. RESULTS: In
      Study One, WASSUP scores were significantly elevated compared to normative levels
      in BD, and WASSUP scores were correlated with lifetime creative accomplishment
      within the artistic sample. In Study Two, mania risk was related to greater
      ambition and creativity, and ambition was also directly related to greater
      creativity. LIMITATIONS: Both studies were limited by the reliance on self
      reported ambition. CONCLUSION: Ambition could be one important component of
      creative success across the bipolar spectrum.

PMID- 25837550
TI  - Modifiable partner factors associated with perinatal depression and anxiety: a
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Perinatal distress is a significant public health problem that
      adversely impacts the individual and their family. The primary objective of this
      systematic review and meta-analysis was to identify factors that partners can
      modify to protect each other from developing perinatal depression and anxiety.
      METHOD: In accordance with the PRISMA statement, we reviewed the risk and
      protective factors associated with perinatal depression and anxiety symptoms that
      partners can potentially modify without professional assistance (PROSPERO
      reference CRD42014007524). Participants were new or expectant parents aged 16
      years or older. The partner factors were sub-grouped into themes (e.g.,
      instrumental support) based on a content analysis of the scale items and measure
      descriptions. A series of meta-analyses were conducted to estimate the pooled
      effect sizes of associations. RESULTS: We included 120 publications, reporting
      245 associations with depression and 44 with anxiety. Partner factors with sound
      evidence that they protect against both perinatal depression and anxiety are:
      emotional closeness and global support. Partner factors with a sound evidence
      base for depression only are communication, conflict, emotional and instrumental
      support, and relationship satisfaction. LIMITATIONS: This review is limited by
      the lack of generalizability to single parents and the inability to
      systematically review moderators and mediators, or control for baseline symptoms.
      CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that future prevention programs targeting
      perinatal depression and anxiety should aim to enhance relationship satisfaction,
      communication, and emotional closeness, facilitate instrumental and emotional
      support, and minimize conflict between partners.

PMID- 25837551
TI  - Cross-cultural adaptation, validation and factor structure of the Insight Scale
      for Affective Disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the last few decades, several tools for studying insight in
      bipolar disorders have been used. Olaya and colleagues developed the Insight
      Scale for Affective Disorders (ISAD), which consists of a scale measuring insight
      through hetero evaluation for patients with mood disorders. The objective of this
      work is to translate and adapt the original English version of the ISAD to
      Brazilian Portuguese (ISAD-BR) and to conduct an evaluation of its psychometric
      properties. METHODS: Adaptation procedures included translation/back-translation
      and consultation with a panel of experts. 95 patients with the diagnosis of Type
      1 bipolar disorder were evaluated with the final version of the ISAD-BR, which
      was applied, simultaneously, but independently, by two examiners. Internal
      consistency and inter-rater reliability were explored and the latent structure of
      the scale was investigated with principal axis factoring and promax rotation. A
      second-order factor analysis was conducted to test if the scale had a
      hierarchical factor structure. RESULTS: The ISAD-BR showed good internal
      consistency and good inter-rater reliability. The analysis pointed to a four
      factor solution of the ISAD-BR: awareness of symptoms associated with
      activity/energy; awareness of having a disorder; awareness of self-esteem and
      feelings of pleasure; and awareness of social functioning and relationships. The
      second order factor analysis indicated a hierarchical factor structure for the
      ISAD-BR, with the four lower-order factors loading on a single higher-order
      factor. CONCLUSIONS: Insight into bipolar disorder is a multidimensional
      construct, covering different aspects of the condition and its symptomatology.
      Nevertheless, insight about activity/energy changes may be a crucial aspect of
      insight into bipolar disorder.

PMID- 25837553
TI  - Patterning gold nanoparticles in liquid environment with high ionic strength for
      local fabrication of up to 100 MUm long metallic interconnections.
AB  - Metallic interconnections were fabricated in situ using the FluidFM as scanning
      probe lithography tool. In contrast to other SPL tools, the closed fluidic
      circuit of the FluidFM enables a pressure-controlled deposition of metallic
      nanoparticles in liquid environment. Taking advantage of the salt concentration
      of the liquid environment (i.e. the ionic strength) to tailor the resulting
      particle density in the deposited layer, a protocol was established for direct
      patterning of conductive interconnecting structures. The FluidFM microchannel was
      filled with an aqueous solution of negatively charged gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)
      to be delivered onto a glass surface coated with a polycation favoring
      electrostatic adhesion. The deposited structures were analyzed both
      topographically and electrically to optimize the external parameters such as
      contact time, salt concentration of the liquid environment and size of the AuNPs.
      Using this optimized protocol we succeeded in the local fabrication of conductive
      metallic wires between two prefabricated macroelectrodes in liquid environment.
      In a subsequent step, the conductivity of the deposited structure was improved by
      gold annealing. 

PMID- 25837552
TI  - Effects of increased surface coverage of polyvinylpyrrolidone over a polysulfone
      hemofilter membrane on permeability and cell adhesion during continuous
      hemofiltration.
AB  - The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the adhesiveness of blood cells
      and the solute removal performance change of modified polysulfone membranes which
      have increased polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) coverage over their surface. Continuous
      hemofiltration (CHF) experiments for 24 h were carried out using an ex vivo
      hemofilter evaluation system to compare a modified polysulfone hemofilter (SHG)
      with the conventional polysulfone hemofilter (SH). The 25 and 50 % cutoff values
      of the sieving coefficient of dextran after CHF and the protein concentration in
      the filtrate was higher in SHG, indicating that less fouling occurred in the SHG
      membrane. Adhesion of blood cells after 24 h of CHF was significantly higher in
      the case of SH than in the case of SHG. Blood cell adhesion and membrane fouling
      were reduced with the use of a polysulfone membrane modified with increased PVP
      coverage over the surface. 

PMID- 25837554
TI  - Mechanism of Co-C bond photolysis in methylcobalamin: influence of axial base.
AB  - A mechanism of Co-C bond photolysis in the base-off form of the methylcobalamin
      cofactor (MeCbl) and the influence of its axial base on Co-C bond
      photodissociation has been investigated by time-dependent density functional
      theory (TD-DFT). At low pH, the MeCbl cofactor adopts the base-off form in which
      the axial nitrogenous ligand is replaced by a water molecule. Ultrafast excited
      state dynamics and photolysis studies have revealed that a new channel for rapid
      nonradiative decay in base-off MeCbl is opened, which competes with bond
      dissociation. To explain these experimental findings, the corresponding potential
      energy surface of the S1 state was constructed as a function of Co-C and Co-O
      bond distances, and the manifold of low-lying triplets was plotted as a function
      of Co-C bond length. In contrast to the base-on form of MeCbl in which two
      possible photodissociation pathways were identified on the basis of whether the
      Co-C bond (path A) or axial Co-N bond (path B) elongates first, only path B is
      active in base-off MeCbl. Specifically, path A is inactive because the energy
      barrier associated with direct dissociation of the methyl ligand is higher than
      the barrier of intersection between two different electronic states: a metal-to
      ligand charge transfer state (MLCT), and a ligand field state (LF) along the Co-O
      coordinate of the S1 PES. Path B initially involves displacement of the water
      molecule, followed by the formation of an LF-type intermediate, which possesses a
      very shallow energy minimum with respect to the Co-C coordinate. This LF-type
      intermediate on path B may result in either S1/S0 internal conversion or singlet
      radical pair generation. In addition, intersystem crossing (ISC) resulting in
      generation of a triplet radical pair is also feasible. 

PMID- 25837556
TI  - Chronic exposure to aluminum, nickel, thallium and uranium and their relationship
      with essential elements in human whole blood and blood serum.
AB  - This study aimed to evaluate the influence of exposure to aluminum, nickel,
      thallium and uranium on the metabolism of essential elements in humans, as well
      as the relationship between uranium, thallium, nickel, and aluminum and essential
      elements (Ca, Mg, Zn, Se, Mn, Co, Cr, and Mo) in the whole blood and blood serum
      of healthy men who were occupationally exposed. This study included 97 healthy
      men, 31-64 years age, including 70 workers in a thermo power plant and 27 control
      subjects. The results showed that chronic, moderate exposure of trace elements
      (Al, Ni, Tl, and U) lead to decreased serum chromium (SCr) and blood molybdenum
      levels (BMo), whereas by the results achieved in terms of correlations between
      non-essential and essential elements, non-essential elements such as uranium,
      thallium, nickel, and aluminum, despite their concentration within the reference
      values, are strongly competitive with essential elements in biochemical
      processes.

PMID- 25837557
TI  - Comparative estimation of soil and plant pollution in the impact area of air
      emissions from an aluminium plant after technogenic load reduction.
AB  - The work provides a comparative analysis of changes in soil properties in the
      last 10-13 years along the pollution gradient of air emissions from Kandalaksha
      aluminium plant in connection with the reduction of their volume. The content of
      the priority pollutant fluorine (F) in atmospheric precipitation and in the
      organic horizon of soil in the plant impact zone significantly decreased in 2011
      2013 compared to 2001. The aluminium concentrations reduced only in immediate
      proximity to the plant (2 km). The fluorine, calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg)
      concentrations are higher in liquid phase compared to solid phase thus these
      elements can migrated to greater distances from the pollution source (up to 15-20
      km). Silicon (Si), aluminium (Al), iron (Fe) and phosphorus (P) can be found only
      in solid phases and in fall-out within the 5 km. The acidity of soil litter
      reduced by 2 pH units in the proximity to the plot within the 2 km. The zone of
      maximum soil contamination decreased from 2.5 km to 1.5 km from the emission
      source, the zones of heavy and moderate pollution reduced by 5 km in connection
      with the reduction of pollutant emissions in the plant. A high correlation
      between the fluorine concentrations in vegetables and litter was found. Higher
      fluorine concentrations in the soil result in its accumulation in plants. Mosses
      accumulate fluorine most intensively.

PMID- 25837555
TI  - Factors associated with blood lead concentrations of children in Jamaica.
AB  - Lead is a heavy metal known to be detrimental to neurologic, physiologic, and
      behavioral health of children. Previous studies from Jamaica reported that mean
      lead levels in soil are four times that of lead levels in some other parts of the
      world. Other studies detected lead levels in fruits and root vegetables, which
      were grown in areas with lead contaminated soil. In this study, we investigate
      environmental factors associated with blood lead concentrations in Jamaican
      children. The participants in this study comprised 125 typically developing (TD)
      children (ages 2-8 years) who served as controls in an age- and sex-matched case
      control study that enrolled children from 2009-2012 in Jamaica. We administered a
      questionnaire to assess demographic and socioeconomic information as well as
      potential exposures to lead through food. Using General Linear Models (GLMs), we
      identified factors associated with blood lead concentrations in Jamaican
      children. The geometric mean blood lead concentration (GMBLC) in the sample of
      children in this study was 2.80 MUg dL(-1). In univariable GLM analyses, GMBLC
      was higher for children whose parents did not have education beyond high school
      compared to those whose parents had attained this level (3.00 MUg dL(-1) vs. 2.31
      MUg dL(-1); P = 0.05), children living near a high traffic road compared to those
      who did not (3.43 MUg dL(-1) vs. 2.52 MUg dL(-1); P < 0.01), and children who
      reported eating ackee compared to those who did not eat this fruit (2.89 MUg dL(
      1) vs. 1.65 MUg dL(-1); P < 0.05). In multivariable analysis, living near a high
      traffic road was identified as an independent risk factor for higher adjusted
      GMBLC (3.05 MUg dL(-1) vs. 2.19 MUg dL(-1); P = 0.01). While our findings
      indicate that GMBLC in Jamaican children has dropped by at least 62% during the
      past two decades, children living in Jamaica still have GMBLC that is twice that
      of children in more developed countries. In addition, we have identified
      significant risk factors for higher blood lead concentrations in Jamaican
      children. We believe increasing awareness among parents regarding these risk
      factors could potentially lead to a lower level of lead exposure in Jamaican
      children.

PMID- 25837558
TI  - Iron-based catalysts for photocatalytic ozonation of some emerging pollutants of
      wastewater.
AB  - A synthetic secondary effluent containing an aqueous mixture of emerging
      contaminants (ECs) has been treated by photocatalytic ozonation using Fe(3+) or
      Fe3O4 as catalysts and black light lamps as the radiation source. For comparative
      purposes, ECs have also been treated by ultraviolet radiation (UVA radiation,
      black light) and ozonation (pH 3 and 7). With the exception of UVA radiation, O3
      based processes lead to the total removal of ECs in the mixture. The time taken
      to achieve complete degradation depends on the oxidation process applied.
      Ozonation at pH 3 is the most effective technique. The addition of iron based
      catalysts results in a slight inhibition of the parent compounds degradation
      rate. However, a positive effect is experienced when measuring the total organic
      carbon (TOC) and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removals. Photocatalytic
      oxidation in the presence of Fe(3+) leads to 81% and 88% of TOC and COD
      elimination, respectively, compared to only 23% and 29% of TOC and COD removals
      achieved by single ozonation. The RCT concept has been used to predict the
      theoretical ECs profiles in the homogeneous photocatalytic oxidation process
      studied. Treated wastewater effluent was toxic to Daphnia magna when Fe(3+) was
      used in photocatalytic ozonation. In this case, toxicity was likely due to the
      ferryoxalate formed in the process. Single ozonation significantly reduced the
      toxicity of the treated wastewater. 

PMID- 25837559
TI  - The removal of Microcystis ichthyoblabe cells and its hepatotoxin microcystin-LR
      during electrooxidation process using Pt/Ti electrodes.
AB  - Electrooxidation is widely used to remove harmful organic and inorganic
      substances as well as pathogenic microorganisms. This study investigates the
      removal of Microcystis ichthyoblabe cells and their hepatotoxin microcystin-LR by
      the electrooxidation process using Pt/Ti electrodes. Additionally, the morphology
      changes and cell sizes were determined by scanning electron microscopy and a
      particle size analyzer, respectively. The algal cells were severely damaged by
      the electrooxidation process. During the initial treatment, intracellular
      microcystin-LR was released from the cells, increasing the extracellular
      microcystin-LR concentration. The electrooxidation charge required to remove
      cells and MC-LR was 3 * 10(4) C and 6 * 10(4) C, respectively. The removal
      efficiencies of M. ichthyoblabe cells and microcystin-LR were insensitive to
      initial cell density, initial microcystin-LR concentration and solution
      conductivity, but were heavily reduced at large algal suspension volume.
      Therefore, to achieve simultaneous removal of Microcystis cells and their MC, it
      is necessary to control the volume of algal suspension. 

PMID- 25837560
TI  - Assessment of heavy metals pollution using AVS-SEM and fractionation techniques
      in Edku Lagoon sediments, Mediterranean Sea, Egypt.
AB  - A method is presented to evaluate the fractionation of metals (Fe, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd
      and Ni), acid volatile sulfide (AVS) and simultaneously extracted metals (SEM) in
      Edku lagoon sediments. Thirteen sediment samples were collected from the study
      area in the period of 2010-2011 to assess the potential bioavailability and
      toxicity of the selected metals. According to classification of the Interim
      Sediment Quality Quidelines (ISQG), five stations near the drains exhibited 10%
      toxic probability. The high AVS and low ?SEM ranges in Summer were identified as
      6-138 and 0.86-3.3 umol g(-1) dry wet, respectively which are referring to the
      low mobility of heavy metals in this season and vice versa for winter (2.5-23.9
      and 1.16-3.82 umol g(-1) dry wet, respectively). According to the evaluation of
      USEPA, all sediment samples showed ?SEM/AVS < 1 and SigmaSEM-AVS < 0 and this
      indicates that Edku lagoon sediments didn't cause any adverse effects. Meanwhile,
      the calculations of the global contamination factor (GCF) and the individual
      contamination factors (ICF) using fractionation technique gave values of 111.644
      and 84.555 in El Bosily drain and station 1 near the cages of fish farm,
      respectively due to possible contamination. Interestingly, the collected data
      refer that the mobility and bioavailability of heavy metals in Edku lagoon
      sediments posed a low risk of adverse biological effects due to cadmium, copper,
      lead, nickel and zinc in all evaluated stations.

PMID- 25837561
TI  - Microalgae: cultivation techniques and wastewater phycoremediation.
AB  - Generation of liquid and gaseous effluents is associated with almost all
      anthropogenic activities. The discharge of these effluents into the environment
      without treatment has reduced the availability and quality of natural resources,
      representing a serious threat to the balance of different ecosystems and human
      health. Universal access to water and global warming are topics of intense
      concern and are listed as priorities in the vast majority of global scientific,
      social and political guidelines. Conventional techniques to treat liquid and
      gaseous effluents pose economic and/or environmental limitations that prevent
      their use in certain applications. The technique of phycoremediation, which uses
      microalgae, macroalgae, and cyanobacteria for the removal or biotransformation of
      pollutants, is an emerging technology that has been highlighted due to its
      economic viability and environmental sustainability. This literature review
      discusses different techniques of microalgae cultivation and their use in the
      phycoremediation of contaminants in wastewater. 

PMID- 25837562
TI  - Microbacterium oxydans and Microbacterium liquefaciens: a biological alternative
      for the treatment of Ni-V-containing wastes.
AB  - The present study evaluated 15 isolates obtained of environmental samples capable
      of tolerating high Ni and V concentrations. Those coded as MNSH2-PHGII-1, MNSH2
      PHGII-2 and MV-PHGII-2 showed a minimum inhibitory concentration higher than 200
      ppm for Ni and V and showed removal percentages corresponding to 84, 75 and 26%
      for Ni and 60, 55 and 20.3% for V, respectively, in liquid medium. When spent
      catalyst was added at 16% (w/v) pulp density, the highest Ni and V removal
      corresponded to MNSH2-PHGII-1 and MNSH2-PHGII-2, which were identified as
      Microbacterium oxydans and Microbacterium liquefaciens respectively,
      Microbacterium oxydans was able to remove Ni at the extent of 45.4% and V at
      30.4% while Microbacterium liquefaciens removed Ni at 51% and V at 41.4% from the
      spent catalyst. The isolate MV-PHGII-2 identified also as Microbacterium oxydans
      showed the lowest removal for Ni and V corresponding to 16% and 9.5%,
      respectively. This is the first report where strains of Microbacterium were
      tested for their abilities to remove Ni and V from spent catalyst, suggesting its
      potential use in the treatment of this solid industrial waste.

PMID- 25837563
TI  - Effects of biosurfactant-producing bacteria on biodegradation and transport of
      phenanthrene in subsurface soil.
AB  - This study investigated the effects of surfactant-producing microorganism,
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027, on phenanthrene (PHE) biodegradation by two
      different PHE-degrading bacteria (Isolate P5-2 and Pseudomonas strain R) in soil.
      Phenanthrene mineralization experiments were conducted with soils inoculated with
      one of PHE-degraders and/or the surfactant-producer. Influence of co-inoculation
      with the surfactant-producing bacteria on phenanthrene transport and
      biodegradation was also examined in soil columns. P. strain R mineralized
      phenanthrene faster and to a greater extent than Isolate P5-2 in the test soil.
      Co-inoculation with the surfactant-producing bacteria significantly enhanced
      phenanthrene biodegradation by P. strain R but it did not affect the
      biodegradation by Isolate P5-2 in both batch and column systems. Production of
      biosurfactants by P. aeruginosa ATCC 9027 was negligible under the given
      conditions. This study demonstrated that bioaugmentation with surfactant
      producing bacteria could enhance in situ bioremediation of soils contaminated
      with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the beneficial effect of the
      bioaugmentation depended on types of PAH-degrading microorganisms present. 

PMID- 25837564
TI  - Two-stage electrochemical treatment of bio-digested distillery spent wash using
      stainless steel and aluminum electrodes.
AB  - The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of two-stage
      electro-coagulation (EC) process using multi-parameter optimization for treating
      bio-digested distillery spent wash by stainless steel (SS) and aluminum (Al)
      electrodes. Operating parameters have been optimized and treatment efficiency of
      SS and Al electrodes have been compared by central composite design of response
      surface analysis in terms of COD, color and total organic carbon (TOC) removal.
      Individual and interactive effects of four independent parameters namely initial
      pH (pHo: 2-10 and 4-10 for SS and Al electrodes, respectively), current density
      (j: 30.86-154.32 A m(-2)), inter-electrode distance (g: 0.5-2.5 cm) and
      electrolysis time (t: 30-150 min) on the COD, color and TOC removal efficiency
      were evaluated for both the electrodes. SS electrode was found to be more
      effective for the removal of COD, color and TOC with removal efficiencies of 70%,
      93% and 72%, respectively, as compared to Al electrode, which showed respective
      removal efficiencies of 59%, 80% and 55%. A two-stage EC process was also
      conducted to study the predominance of different types of electrodes, and to
      increase the efficiency of EC process. Results shows that SS followed by Al
      electrode (with total COD, color and TOC removal efficiency of 81%, 94% and 78%,
      respectively) was found to be more effective than Al followed by SS electrode
      combination (with total COD, color and TOC removal efficiency of 78%, 89% and
      76%, respectively). Present study shows that EC process can be used as an
      additional step to bio-methanation process so as to meet effluent discharge
      standards in distilleries.

PMID- 25837565
TI  - Environmental footprint of constructed wetlands treating wastewater.
AB  - The aim of the study is to determine environmentally friendlier construction
      materials for constructed wetland facilities treating wastewater. This is done by
      computing the environmental footprint of the facility based on the methodology of
      life cycle assessment (LCA). This methodology reveals the dominant aggravating
      processes during the construction of a constructed wetland (CW) and can help to
      create alternative environmentally friendlier solutions. This methodology was
      applied for the determination of the overall environmental profile of a hybrid CW
      facility. The LCA was applied first to the facility as originally designed, where
      reinforced concrete was used in some components. Then, alternative construction
      materials to reinforced concrete were used, such as earth covered with high
      density polyethylene (HDPE) or clay, and LCA was applied again. Earth structures
      were found to have reduced environmental impact compared to concrete ones, and
      clay was found environmentally friendlier compared to HDPE. Furthermore,
      estimation of the construction costs of the three scenarios indicate that the
      last scenario is also the least expensive. 

PMID- 25837566
TI  - Effects of black liquor shocks on activated sludge treatment of bleached kraft
      pulp mill wastewater.
AB  - Kraft pulp mills use activated sludge systems to remove organic matter from
      effluents. Process streams may appear as toxic spills in treatment plant
      effluents, such as black liquor, which is toxic to microorganisms of the
      activated sludge. The present study evaluates the effects of black liquor shocks
      in activated sludge systems. Four black liquor shocks from 883 to 3,225 mg
      chemical oxygen demand-COD L(-1) were applied during 24 hours in a continuously
      operating lab-scale activated sludge system. Removal efficiencies of COD, color
      and specific compounds were determined. Moreover, specific oxygen uptake rate
      (SOUR), sludge volumetric index (SVI) and indicator microorganisms were
      evaluated. Results show that the addition of black liquor caused an increase in
      COD removal (76-67%) immediately post shock; followed two days later by a
      decrease (-19-50%). On the other hand, SOUR ranged between 0.152 and 0.336 mgO2
      g(-1) volatile suspended solids-VSS* min(-1) during shocks, but the initial value
      was reestablished at hour 24. When the COD concentration of the shock was higher
      than 1,014 mg/L, the abundance of stalked ciliates and rotifers dropped. Finally,
      no changes in SVI were observed, with values remaining in the range 65.8-40.2 mL
      g(-1) total suspended solids-TSS during the entire operating process. Based on
      the results, the principal conclusion is that the activated sludge system with
      the biomass adapted to the kraft pulp effluent could resist a black liquor shock
      with 3,225 mgCOD L(-1) of concentration during 24 h, under this study's
      conditions.

PMID- 25837567
TI  - Activity of Andrographolide and Its Derivatives on HPV16 Pseudovirus Infection
      and Viral Oncogene Expression in Cervical Carcinoma Cells.
AB  - Andrographolide (Androg) has been reported to contain antiviral and antitumor
      activities, but the effects of Androg on human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and
      cervical cancer have not been elucidated. This study investigated the effects of
      Androg and its derivatives, namely, 14-deoxy-11,12-didehydroandrographolide (14
      DDA) and 3,19-isopropylidene andrographolide (IPAD), on HPV16 pseudovirus
      (HPV16PsV) infectivity, HPV16 E6 oncogene expression and cervical cancer cell
      apoptosis. The result demonstrated that all compounds inhibited HPV16PsV
      infection and that 14-DDA showed the highest potency. Only Androg suppressed long
      control region (LCR) transcription activity of HPV16 in transiently transfected
      C33A cells and significantly inhibited E6 oncogene expression in SiHa cells in a
      dose-dependent manner. A twofold subcytotoxic concentration of IPAD exhibited an
      inhibitory effect on E6 oncogene expression at 48-h posttreatment. Interestingly,
      p53 protein was restored in a downstream process and was detected earlier by IPAD
      treatment than by Androg treatment. This result corresponded to the level of cell
      apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase. E6 oncogene expression was
      also suppressed in CaSki cells treated with Androg and IPAD leading to cell
      apoptosis. These findings imply that Androg and its derivatives have different
      activities and may be effective agents for HPV prevention and cervical cancer
      treatment.

PMID- 25837568
TI  - SplitCore Technology Allows Efficient Production of Virus-Like Particles
      Presenting a Receptor-Contacting Epitope of Human IgE.
AB  - Immunoglobulin E (IgE) plays a central role in type I hypersensitivity including
      allergy and asthma. Novel treatment strategy envisages development of a
      therapeutic vaccine designed to elicit autologous blocking antibodies against the
      IgE. We sought to develop an IgE-epitope antigen that induces antibodies against
      a receptor-contacting epitope on human IgE molecule. We designed the VLP
      immunogens which utilize hepatitis B virus core protein (HBcAg) as a carrier, and
      present arrays of the receptor-contacting epitopes of the human IgE on their
      surfaces. FG loop from the IgE domain Cepsilon3 was engineered into the HBcAg.
      Two constructs explore a well-established approach of insertion into a main
      immunodominant region of the HBcAg. Third construct is different in that the
      carrier is produced in a form of an assembly of two polypeptide chains which upon
      expression remain associated in a stable VLP-forming subunit (SplitCore
      technology). No VLPs were isolated from E.coli expressing the IgE-epitope
      antigens with contiguous sequences. On the contrary, the SplitCore antigen
      carrying the FG loop efficiently formed the VLPs. Immunization of mice with the
      VLPs presenting receptor-contacting epitope of the IgE elicited antibodies
      recognizing the human IgE in ELISA.

PMID- 25837569
TI  - A novel outbreak enterovirus D68 strain associated with acute flaccid myelitis
      cases in the USA (2012-14): a retrospective cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Enterovirus D68 was implicated in a widespread outbreak of severe
      respiratory illness across the USA in 2014 and has also been reported
      sporadically in patients with acute flaccid myelitis. We aimed to investigate the
      association between enterovirus D68 infection and acute flaccid myelitis during
      the 2014 enterovirus D68 respiratory outbreak in the USA. METHODS: Patients with
      acute flaccid myelitis who presented to two hospitals in Colorado and California,
      USA, between Nov 24, 2013, and Oct 11, 2014, were included in the study.
      Additional cases identified from Jan 1, 2012, to Oct 4, 2014, via statewide
      surveillance were provided by the California Department of Public Health. We
      investigated the cause of these cases by metagenomic next-generation sequencing,
      viral genome recovery, and enterovirus D68 phylogenetic analysis. We compared
      patients with acute flaccid myelitis who were positive for enterovirus D68 with
      those with acute flaccid myelitis but negative for enterovirus D68 using the two
      tailed Fisher's exact test, two-sample unpaired t test, and Mann-Whitney U test.
      FINDINGS: 48 patients were included: 25 with acute flaccid myelitis, two with
      enterovirus-associated encephalitis, five with enterovirus-D68-associated upper
      respiratory illness, and 16 with aseptic meningitis or encephalitis who tested
      positive for enterovirus. Enterovirus D68 was detected in respiratory secretions
      from seven (64%) of 11 patients comprising two temporally and geographically
      linked acute flaccid myelitis clusters at the height of the 2014 outbreak, and
      from 12 (48%) of 25 patients with acute flaccid myelitis overall. Phylogenetic
      analysis revealed that all enterovirus D68 sequences associated with acute
      flaccid myelitis grouped into a clade B1 strain that emerged in 2010. Of six
      coding polymorphisms in the clade B1 enterovirus D68 polyprotein, five were
      present in neuropathogenic poliovirus or enterovirus D70, or both. One child with
      acute flaccid myelitis and a sibling with only upper respiratory illness were
      both infected by identical enterovirus D68 strains. Enterovirus D68 viraemia was
      identified in a child experiencing acute neurological progression of his
      paralytic illness. Deep metagenomic sequencing of cerebrospinal fluid from 14
      patients with acute flaccid myelitis did not reveal evidence of an alternative
      infectious cause to enterovirus D68. INTERPRETATION: These findings strengthen
      the putative association between enterovirus D68 and acute flaccid myelitis and
      the contention that acute flaccid myelitis is a rare yet severe clinical
      manifestation of enterovirus D68 infection in susceptible hosts. FUNDING:
      National Institutes of Health, University of California, Abbott Laboratories, and
      the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

PMID- 25837570
TI  - Can sequence data predict enterovirus D68 infection outcome?

PMID- 25837571
TI  - High resolution synoptic salinity mapping to identify groundwater--surface water
      discharges in lowland rivers.
AB  - Quantifying distributed lateral groundwater contributions to surface water (GW-SW
      discharges) is a key aspect of tracking nonpoint-source pollution (NPSP) within a
      watershed. In this study, we characterized distributed GW-SW discharges and
      associated salt loading using elevated GW specific conductance (SC) as a tracer
      along a 38 km reach of the Lower Merced River in Central California. High
      resolution longitudinal surveys for multiple flows (1.3-150 m(3) s(-1)) revealed
      river SC gradients that mainly decreased with increasing flow, suggesting a
      dilution effect and/or reduced GW-SW discharges due to hydraulic gradient
      reductions. However, exceptions occurred (gradients increasing with increasing
      flow), pointing to complex spatiotemporal influences on GW-SW dynamics. The
      surveys revealed detailed variability in salinity gradients, from which we
      estimated distributed GW-SW discharge and salt loading using a simple mixing
      model. Modeled cumulative GW discharges for two surveys unaffected by ungauged SW
      discharges were comparable in magnitude to differential gauging-based discharge
      estimates and prior GW-SW studies along the same river reach. Ungauged lateral
      inlets and sparse GW data limited the study, and argue for enhancing monitoring
      efforts. Our approach provides a rapid and economical method for characterizing
      NPSP for gaining rivers in the context of integrated watershed modeling and
      management. 

PMID- 25837572
TI  - Fast and sensitive total protein and Peptide assays for proteomic analysis.
AB  - The determination of total protein content is one of the most frequent analytical
      tasks in biochemistry and molecular biology. Here we evaluate measurements of
      tryptophan fluorescence (WF) for total protein determination in whole tissue
      lysates and for peptide quantification in protein digests. We demonstrate that
      the fluorescence spectrometry of tryptophan offers a simple, sensitive, and
      direct method for protein and peptide assays. The WF assay is fully compatible
      with SDS and other solutes that are commonly used for lysis of tissue and cells.
      We found that the content of tryptophan varies only a little between mouse
      tissues (1.16 +/- 0.08% of total amino acids) and is similar in human cells (1.19
      +/- 0.06%). Therefore, free tryptophan can be used as a universal standard. We
      show that the assay can be carried out on a standard fluorescence spectrometer
      with cuvettes as well as in a 96-well format using a plate reader. The method is
      particularly suitable for determination of peptide content in diluted samples.
      Notably, the whole sample can be recovered after the measurement. 

PMID- 25837573
TI  - The strategy and early clinical outcome of full-endoscopic L5/S1 discectomy
      through interlaminar approach.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the surgical strategy, safety and clinical outcome of full
      endoscopic discectomy through interlaminar approach in the case of L5/S1
      intervertebral disc excision. METHODS: From April 2011 to December 2011, 72 cases
      of intracanalicular non-contained disc herniations at L5/S1 level were treated
      with full-endoscopic discectomy through interlaminar approach. L5/S1 disc
      herniation was divided into three types according to position of herniated disc
      related to S1 nerve root: axilla type, ventral type and shoulder type. Axilla
      approach was selected for axilla type while shoulder approach was selected for
      ventral type and shoulder type. After operation, MRI was reexamined to evaluate
      the resection completeness of prolapsed disc material. Visual analog scales (VAS)
      of low back pain and sciatica, and Oswestry disability index (ODI) were recorded
      in certain preoperative and postoperative time points. MacNab scores were
      evaluated at the 12-month follow-up. RESULTS: All operations were completed
      without conversion to other surgical techniques. Average operation time was 45
      min (20-80 min). Only one reoccurrence was revised with microendoscopic
      discectomy. No nerve injury and infection were complicated. Postoperative ODI and
      VAS of low back pain and sciatica were significantly decreased in each time point
      (P < 0.05). MacNab scores of 12-month follow-up include 44 excellent, 26 good, 1
      fair and 1 poor. CONCLUSION: With proper selection between axilla approach and
      shoulder approach according to the sites of prolapsed or sequestered disc
      materials, full-endoscopic L5/S1 discectomy through interlaminar approach is a
      safe, rational and effective minimally invasive spine surgery technique with
      excellent clinical short-term outcomes.

PMID- 25837574
TI  - Prevention of venous thromboembolic complications with and without intermittent
      pneumatic compression in neurosurgical cranial procedures using intraoperative
      magnetic resonance imaging. A retrospective analysis.
AB  - OBJECT: To evaluate the introduction of intraoperative and postoperative
      pneumatic compression additionally to the use of compression stockings, low
      molecular weight heparin-LMWH and early mobilization, a retrospective study in
      cranial neurosurgery using intraoperative MRI was performed. METHODS: A
      retrospective analysis of 207 neurosurgical patients using intraoperative MRI was
      performed. A group of 86 patients was treated with the additional use of
      intraoperative and postoperative pneumatic compression until mobilization out of
      bed. One hundred twenty-one patients were treated without the use of additional
      pneumatic compression. Postoperatively the patients were screened for deep venous
      thrombosis by ultrasound and pulmonary embolism by CT-scan if suspicious.
      Statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: The development of deep venous
      thrombosis was reduced from 9.9% to 3.5% in our patients with the additional use
      of intraoperative and postoperative pneumatic compression. That is a 64.6%
      relative risk reduction to develop deep venous thrombosis with the use of
      intraoperative and postoperative pneumatic compression. An additional 52%
      relative risk reduction was found for the chance of developing pulmonary
      embolism. In the 15 patients with detected deep venous thrombosis, the OR-time
      was more than 100 min longer than in the 192 patients without detected deep
      venous thrombosis. The difference between both groups was significant.
      CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the benefit of pneumatic compression with a
      risk reduction for the development of thromboembolic complications. OR-time is
      another risk factor that attributes to a significant risk for the development of
      thromboembolic complications.

PMID- 25837575
TI  - Spinal cord injury in pediatric age in Spain. Reality of a national reference
      center.
AB  - The aim of this study was to analyze the incidence and the main characteristics
      of ambulant children with spinal cord injury (SCI) treated at the Unit of
      Biomechanics and Technical Assistance, at the National Spinal Cord Injury
      Hospital in Toledo, Spain. To date, there are no detailed studies on the effects
      of this disease in children regarding their walking ability. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: A retrospective study was performed including all patients attending the
      unit between January 2006 and December 2013, who were aged 18 years or younger
      and who were outpatients able to walk independently for at least 10 m, with or
      without technical aids. RESULTS: Forty-eight patients were included in this study
      (25 males and 23 females) aged between 2 and 18 years (mean age, 12 +/- 2.31
      years). The etiology of SCI ranged between congenital (33.33%), traumatic
      (29.16%), and neoplastic (8.33%), and the level of injury varied between cervical
      (31.25%), lumbar (29.16%), a non-spinal origin (20.83%), dorsal (16.66%), and
      sacral (2.08%). The mean score on the Barthel Index was 82.61, the mean value of
      the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) locomotion score was 6.4, and 29
      patients did not require the use of walking aids (WISCI 20). CONCLUSION: The
      findings of this study contribute to the knowledge regarding the situation of
      children with SCI in Spain. The incidence of pediatric SCI is very low; however,
      the provision of care remains a personal and social challenge.

PMID- 25837576
TI  - Healing calvarial eosinophilic granuloma or healing skull fracture?

PMID- 25837577
TI  - Brief account on the head injury of a noble youngster in the sixteenth century
      (Prince Don Carlos, heir to Philip II of Spain, 1545-1568).

PMID- 25837578
TI  - Dissecting Molecular Evolution in the Highly Diverse Plant Clade Caryophyllales
      Using Transcriptome Sequencing.
AB  - Many phylogenomic studies based on transcriptomes have been limited to "single
      copy" genes due to methodological challenges in homology and orthology
      inferences. Only a relatively small number of studies have explored analyses
      beyond reconstructing species relationships. We sampled 69 transcriptomes in the
      hyperdiverse plant clade Caryophyllales and 27 outgroups from annotated genomes
      across eudicots. Using a combined similarity- and phylogenetic tree-based
      approach, we recovered 10,960 homolog groups, where each was represented by at
      least eight ingroup taxa. By decomposing these homolog trees, and taking gene
      duplications into account, we obtained 17,273 ortholog groups, where each was
      represented by at least ten ingroup taxa. We reconstructed the species phylogeny
      using a 1,122-gene data set with a gene occupancy of 92.1%. From the homolog
      trees, we found that both synonymous and nonsynonymous substitution rates in
      herbaceous lineages are up to three times as fast as in their woody relatives.
      This is the first time such a pattern has been shown across thousands of nuclear
      genes with dense taxon sampling. We also pinpointed regions of the Caryophyllales
      tree that were characterized by relatively high frequencies of gene duplication,
      including three previously unrecognized whole-genome duplications. By further
      combining information from homolog tree topology and synonymous distance between
      paralog pairs, phylogenetic locations for 13 putative genome duplication events
      were identified. Genes that experienced the greatest gene family expansion were
      concentrated among those involved in signal transduction and oxidoreduction,
      including a cytochrome P450 gene that encodes a key enzyme in the betalain
      synthesis pathway. Our approach demonstrates a new approach for functional
      phylogenomic analysis in nonmodel species that is based on homolog groups in
      addition to inferred ortholog groups. 

PMID- 25837579
TI  - Maximum-Likelihood Phylogenetic Inference with Selection on Protein Folding
      Stability.
AB  - Despite intense work, incorporating constraints on protein native structures into
      the mathematical models of molecular evolution remains difficult, because most
      models and programs assume that protein sites evolve independently, whereas
      protein stability is maintained by interactions between sites. Here, we address
      this problem by developing a new mean-field substitution model that generates
      independent site-specific amino acid distributions with constraints on the
      stability of the native state against both unfolding and misfolding. The model
      depends on a background distribution of amino acids and one selection parameter
      that we fix maximizing the likelihood of the observed protein sequence. The
      analytic solution of the model shows that the main determinant of the site
      specific distributions is the number of native contacts of the site and that the
      most variable sites are those with an intermediate number of native contacts. The
      mean-field models obtained, taking into account misfolded conformations, yield
      larger likelihood than models that only consider the native state, because their
      average hydrophobicity is more realistic, and they produce on the average stable
      sequences for most proteins. We evaluated the mean-field model with respect to
      empirical substitution models on 12 test data sets of different protein families.
      In all cases, the observed site-specific sequence profiles presented smaller
      Kullback-Leibler divergence from the mean-field distributions than from the
      empirical substitution model. Next, we obtained substitution rates combining the
      mean-field frequencies with an empirical substitution model. The resulting mean
      field substitution model assigns larger likelihood than the empirical model to
      all studied families when we consider sequences with identity larger than 0.35,
      plausibly a condition that enforces conservation of the native structure across
      the family. We found that the mean-field model performs better than other
      structurally constrained models with similar or higher complexity. With respect
      to the much more complex model recently developed by Bordner and Mittelmann,
      which takes into account pairwise terms in the amino acid distributions and also
      optimizes the exchangeability matrix, our model performed worse for data with
      small sequence divergence but better for data with larger sequence divergence.
      The mean-field model has been implemented into the computer program Prot_Evol
      that is freely available at http://ub.cbm.uam.es/software/Prot_Evol.php. 

PMID- 25837580
TI  - Escherichia coli morphological changes and lipid A removal induced by reduced
      pressure nitrogen afterglow exposure.
AB  - Lipid A is a major hydrophobic component of lipopolysaccharides (endotoxin)
      present in the membrane of most Gram-negative bacteria, and the major responsible
      for the bioactivity and toxicity of the endotoxin. Previous studies have
      demonstrated that the late afterglow region of flowing post-discharges at reduced
      pressure (1-20 Torr) can be used for the sterilization of surfaces and of the
      reusable medical instrumentation. In the present paper, we show that the
      antibacterial activity of a pure nitrogen afterglow can essentially be attributed
      to the large concentrations of nitrogen atoms present in the treatment area and
      not to the UV radiation of the afterglow. In parallel, the time variation of the
      inactivation efficiency quantified by the log reduction of the initial
      Escherichia coli (E. coli) population is correlated with morphologic changes
      observed on the bacteria by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for increasing
      afterglow exposure times. The effect of the afterglow exposure is also studied on
      pure lipid A and on lipid A extracted from exposed E. coli bacteria. We report
      that more than 60% of lipid A (pure or bacteria-extracted) are lost with the used
      operating conditions (nitrogen flow QN2 = 1 standard liter per minute (slpm),
      pressure p = 5 Torr, microwave injected power PMW = 200 W, exposure time: 40
      minutes). The afterglow exposure also results in a reduction of the lipid A
      proinflammatory activity, assessed by the net decrease of the redox-sensitive
      NFkappaB transcription factor nuclear translocation in murine aortic endothelial
      cells stimulated with control vs afterglow-treated (pure and extracted) lipid A.
      Altogether these results point out the ability of reduced pressure nitrogen
      afterglows to neutralize the cytotoxic components in Gram-negative bacteria. 

PMID- 25837581
TI  - Role of the store-operated calcium entry protein, STIM1, in neutrophil chemotaxis
      and infiltration into a murine model of psoriasis-inflamed skin.
AB  - Stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) is a Ca(2+) sensor protein that initiates
      store-operated calcium entry (SOCE). STIM1 is known to be involved in the
      chemoattractant signaling pathway for FPR1 in cell lines, but its role in in vivo
      functioning of neutrophils is unclear. Plaque-type psoriasis is a chronic
      inflammatory skin disorder associated with chemoattractants driving neutrophils
      into the epidermis. We investigated the involvement of STIM1 in neutrophil
      chemotaxis in vitro, as well as during chronic psoriatic inflammation. To this
      end, we used conditional knockout (KO) mice lacking STIM1 in cells of myeloid
      lineage (STIM1(fl/fl) LysM-cre). We demonstrate that STIM1 is required for
      chemotaxis because of multiple chemoattractants in mouse neutrophils in vitro.
      Using an imiquimod-induced psoriasis-like skin model, we show that KO mice had
      less neutrophil infiltration in the epidermis than controls, whereas neither
      chemoattractant production in the epidermis nor macrophage migration was
      decreased. KO mice displayed a more rapid reversal of the outward signs of
      psoriasis (plaques). Thus, KO of STIM1 impairs neutrophil contribution to
      psoriatic inflammation. Our data provide new insights to our understanding of how
      STIM1 orchestrates the cellular behavior underlying chemotaxis and illustrate the
      important role of SOCE in a disease-related pathologic model.

PMID- 25837583
TI  - Factor-inhibiting HIF-1 (FIH-1) is required for human vascular endothelial cell
      survival.
AB  - Factor-inhibiting hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1 (FIH-1) is an asparaginyl beta
      hydroxylase enzyme that was initially found to hydroxylate the HIF-alpha,
      preventing its transcriptional activity and leading to adaptive responses to
      hypoxia. More recently, other substrates, such as neurogenic locus notch homolog
      (Notch), have been found to be alternative FIH targets, but the biologic
      relevance of this regulation was never investigated. Given the key function of
      Notch in angiogenesis, we here investigate the role of FIH/Notch signaling in
      endothelial cells. We report that FIH-1 silencing in HUVECs results in reduced
      growth and increased apoptosis. The knockdown of FIH is associated with increased
      Notch2 activity, leading to enhanced expression of the Notch target
      hairy/enhancer-of-split related with YRPW motif protein 1 (Hey-1). Consistent
      with recent findings showing that Notch2 suppresses survivin (a key inhibitor of
      apoptosis), FIH targeting in HUVECs leads to selective repression of survivin in
      endothelial cells, thus promoting cell apoptosis and growth arrest. Our data
      support the concept that FIH-1 may interact with Notch2 and repress its activity,
      thereby playing a critical role in controlling the survival of vascular
      endothelial cells. These findings might pave the way toward novel, antiangiogenic
      strategies in disorders that are characterized by excessive vascular growth, such
      as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.

PMID- 25837582
TI  - IGF1 stimulates crypt expansion via differential activation of 2 intestinal stem
      cell populations.
AB  - Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) has potent trophic effects on normal or
      injured intestinal epithelium, but specific effects on intestinal stem cells
      (ISCs) are undefined. We used Sox9-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)
      reporter mice that permit analyses of both actively cycling ISCs (Sox9-EGFP(Low))
      and reserve/facultative ISCs (Sox9-EGFP(High)) to study IGF1 action on ISCs in
      normal intestine or during crypt regeneration after high-dose radiation-induced
      injury. We hypothesized that IGF1 differentially regulates proliferation and gene
      expression in actively cycling and reserve/facultative ISCs. IGF1 was delivered
      for 5 days using subcutaneously implanted mini-pumps in uninjured mice or after
      14 Gy abdominal radiation. ISC numbers, proliferation, and transcriptome were
      assessed. IGF1 increased epithelial growth in nonirradiated mice and enhanced
      crypt regeneration after radiation. In uninjured and regenerating intestines,
      IGF1 increased total numbers of Sox9-EGFP(Low) ISCs and percentage of these cells
      in M-phase. IGF1 increased percentages of Sox9-EGFP(High) ISCs in S-phase but did
      not expand this population. Microarray revealed that IGF1 activated distinct gene
      expression signatures in the 2 Sox9-EGFP ISC populations. In vitro IGF1 enhanced
      enteroid formation by Sox9-EGFP(High) facultative ISCs but not Sox9-EGFP(Low)
      actively cycling ISCs. Our data provide new evidence that IGF1 activates 2 ISC
      populations via distinct regulatory pathways to promote growth of normal
      intestinal epithelium and crypt regeneration after irradiation.

PMID- 25837584
TI  - Cyclophilin-D: a resident regulator of mitochondrial gene expression.
AB  - Cyclophilin-D (Cyp-D) is a mitochondrial matrix peptidyl-prolyl isomerase.
      Because cyclophilins can regulate nuclear gene expression, we examined whether
      Cyp-D could regulate mitochondrial gene expression. We demonstrated in HEK 293T
      cells that transfected Cyp-D interacts with mitochondrial transcription factors
      B1 and B2 (TFB2M) but not with mitochondrial transcription factor A. We also
      demonstrated that Cyp-D interacts in vivo with TFB2M. Genetic silencing of Cyp-D
      and pharmacologic inhibition of Cyp-D markedly reduced mitochondrial
      transcription to 18 +/- 5% (P < 0.05) and 24 +/- 3% (P < 0.05) of respective
      controls. The level of interaction between Cyp-D and TFB2M correlated with the
      level of nascent mitochondrial RNA intensity (r = 0.896; P = 0.0156). Cyp-D
      silencing down-regulated mitochondrial transcripts initiated from the heavy
      strand promoter 2 [i.e., NADH dehydrogenase 1 (ND1) by 11-fold, P < 0.005;
      cytochrome oxidase 1 (COX1) by 4-fold, P < 0.001; and ATP synthase subunit 6
      (ATP6) by 6.5-fold, P < 0.005); but not NADH dehydrogenase 6 (ND6)], which is
      initiated from the light strand promoter. Cyp-D silencing reduced mitochondrial
      membrane potential and cellular oxygen consumption (from 59 +/- 5 to 34 +/- 1
      umol oxygen/min/10(6) cells, P < 0.001); the latter without a statistically
      significant reversal after uncoupling electron transport from ATP synthesis,
      consistent with down-regulation of electron transport complexes. Accordingly,
      these studies provide novel evidence that Cyp-D could play a key role in
      regulating mitochondrial gene expression.

PMID- 25837585
TI  - Negative cooperativity across beta1-adrenoceptor homodimers provides insights
      into the nature of the secondary low-affinity CGP 12177 beta1-adrenoceptor
      binding conformation.
AB  - At the beta1-adrenoceptor, CGP 12177 potently antagonizes agonist responses at
      the primary high-affinity catecholamine conformation while also exerting agonist
      effects of its own through a secondary low-affinity conformation. A recent
      mutagenesis study identified transmembrane region (TM)4 of the beta1-adrenoceptor
      as key for this low-affinity conformation. Others suggested that TM4 has a role
      in beta1-adrenoceptor oligomerization. Here, assessment of the dissociation rate
      of a fluorescent analog of CGP 12177 [bordifluoropyrromethane
      tetramethylrhodamine-(+/-)CGP 12177 (BODIPY-TMR-CGP)] at the human beta1
      adrenoceptor expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells revealed negative
      cooperative interactions between 2 distinct beta1-adrenoceptor conformations. The
      dissociation rate of 3 nM BODIPY-TMR-CGP was 0.09 +/- 0.01 min(-1) in the absence
      of competitor ligands, and this was enhanced 2.2- and 2.1-fold in the presence of
      1 uM CGP 12177 and 1 uM propranolol, respectively. These effects on the BODIPY
      TMR-CGP dissociation rate were markedly enhanced in beta1-adrenoceptor homodimers
      constrained by bimolecular fluorescence complementation (9.8- and 9.9-fold for 1
      uM CGP 12177 and 1 uM propranolol, respectively) and abolished in beta1
      adrenoceptors containing TM4 mutations vital for the second conformation
      pharmacology. This study suggests that negative cooperativity across a beta1
      adrenoceptor homodimer may be responsible for generating the low-affinity
      pharmacology of the secondary beta1-adrenoceptor conformation.

PMID- 25837587
TI  - Correction: Trapping particles using waveguide-coupled gold bowtie plasmonic
      tweezers.

PMID- 25837586
TI  - Spontaneous Cdc42 polarization independent of GDI-mediated extraction and actin
      based trafficking.
AB  - The small Rho-family GTPase Cdc42 is critical for cell polarization and polarizes
      spontaneously in absence of upstream spatial cues. Spontaneous polarization is
      thought to require dynamic Cdc42 recycling through Guanine nucleotide
      Dissociation Inhibitor (GDI)-mediated membrane extraction and vesicle
      trafficking. Here, we describe a functional fluorescent Cdc42 allele in fission
      yeast, which demonstrates Cdc42 dynamics and polarization independent of these
      pathways. Furthermore, an engineered Cdc42 allele targeted to the membrane
      independently of these recycling pathways by an amphipathic helix is viable and
      polarizes spontaneously to multiple sites in fission and budding yeasts. We show
      that Cdc42 is highly mobile at the membrane and accumulates at sites of activity,
      where it displays slower mobility. By contrast, a near-immobile transmembrane
      domain-containing Cdc42 allele supports viability and polarized activity, but
      does not accumulate at sites of activity. We propose that Cdc42 activation,
      enhanced by positive feedback, leads to its local accumulation by capture of fast
      diffusing inactive molecules. 

PMID- 25837588
TI  - Modification of nanocrystalline WO3 with a dicationic perylene bisimide:
      applications to molecular level solar water splitting.
AB  - [(N,N'-Bis(2-(trimethylammonium)ethylene) perylene 3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid
      bisimide)(PF6)2] (1) was observed to spontaneously adsorb on nanocrystalline WO3
      surfaces via aggregation/hydrophobic forces. Under visible irradiation (lambda >
      435 nm), the excited state of 1 underwent oxidative quenching by electron
      injection (kinj > 10(8) s(-1)) to WO3, leaving a strongly positive hole (Eox ~
      1.7 V vs SCE), which allows to drive demanding photo-oxidation reactions in
      photoelectrochemical cells (PECs). The casting of IrO2 nanoparticles (NPs),
      acting as water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) on the sensitized electrodes, led to a
      4-fold enhancement in photoanodic current, consistent with hole transfer from
      oxidized dye to IrO2 occurring on the microsecond time scale. Once the
      interaction of the sensitizer with suitable WOCs is optimized, 1/WO3 photoanodes
      may hold potentialities for the straightforward building of molecular level
      devices for solar fuel production. 

PMID- 25837589
TI  - Correction: a recombinant avian leukosis virus subgroup J for directly monitoring
      viral infection and the selection of neutralizing antibodies.

PMID- 25837590
TI  - Semiautomatic Analysis on Computed Tomography in Locally Advanced or Metastatic
      Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Reproducibility and Prognostic Significance of
      Unidimensional and 3-dimensional Measurements.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to compare both reproducibility and prognostic
      value of lesion size measurements obtained manually and semiautomatically on
      computed tomography in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Manual axial longest diameter, semiautomatic axial longest diameter, and
      volume of NSCLC lesions were independently analyzed by 4 readers at baseline and
      after at least 1 cycle of platinum-based chemotherapy. The prognostic value of
      the proportional change in lesion size between baseline and follow-up CT was
      evaluated using either RECIST or experimental thresholds derived from the
      quartiles of the changes as assessed manually or semiautomatically. RESULTS:
      Semiautomatic axial longest diameter (concordance correlation coefficient [CCC]:
      0.980 to 0.987; variation coefficient [VC%]: 6% to 7.3%) and volume (CCC: 0.974
      to 0.991; VC%: 5.6% to 9.5%) were more reproducible than manual axial longest
      diameter (CCC: 0.950 to 0.984; VC%: 6.4% to 11.7%). RECIST categories did not
      stratify patients with different survival durations. For 3/4 readers, a decrease
      of <= 70% in lesion volume was associated with shorter survival (median survival:
      11 mo, P < 0.05; hazard ratio: 5 to 22.2, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In advanced
      NSCLC, semiautomatic measures were more reproducible than manual diameter, and
      volumetric measurement may better predict patient survival.

PMID- 25837591
TI  - ACR Appropriateness Criteria(r) acute respiratory illness in immunocompromised
      patients.
AB  - The respiratory system is often affected by complications of immunodeficiency,
      typically manifesting clinically as acute respiratory illness. Ongoing literature
      reviews regarding the appropriateness of imaging in these patients are critical,
      as advanced medical therapies including stem cell transplantation, chemotherapy,
      and immunosuppressive therapies for autoimmune disease continue to keep the
      population of immunosuppressed patients in our health care system high. This ACR
      Appropriateness Criteria topic describes clinical scenarios of acute respiratory
      illness in immunocompromised patients with cough, dyspnea, chest pain, and fever,
      in those with negative, equivocal, or nonspecific findings on chest radiography,
      in those with multiple, diffuse, or confluent opacities on chest radiography, and
      in those in whom noninfectious disease is suspected. The use of chest
      radiography, chest computed tomography, transthoracic needle biopsy, and nuclear
      medicine imaging is discussed in the context of these clinical scenarios. The
      American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based
      guidelines for specific clinical conditions that are reviewed every 3 years by a
      multidisciplinary expert panel. The guideline development and review include an
      extensive analysis of current medical literature from peer-reviewed journals and
      the application of a well-established consensus methodology (modified Delphi) to
      rate the appropriateness of imaging and treatment procedures by the panel. In
      those instances in which evidence is lacking or is not definitive, expert opinion
      may be used to recommend imaging or treatment. 

PMID- 25837592
TI  - A TatABC-type Tat translocase is required for unimpaired aerobic growth of
      Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC13032.
AB  - The twin-arginine translocation (Tat) system transports folded proteins across
      the cytoplasmic membrane of bacteria and the thylakoid membrane of plant
      chloroplasts. Escherichia coli and other Gram-negative bacteria possess a TatABC
      type Tat translocase in which each of the three inner membrane proteins TatA,
      TatB, and TatC performs a mechanistically distinct function. In contrast, low-GC
      Gram-positive bacteria, such as Bacillus subtilis, use a TatAC-type minimal Tat
      translocase in which the TatB function is carried out by a bifunctional TatA. In
      high-GC Gram-positive Actinobacteria, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and
      Corynebacterium glutamicum, tatA, tatB, and tatC genes can be identified,
      suggesting that these organisms, just like E. coli, might use TatABC-type Tat
      translocases as well. However, since contrary to this view a previous study has
      suggested that C. glutamicum might in fact use a TatAC translocase with TatB only
      playing a minor role, we reexamined the requirement of TatB for Tat-dependent
      protein translocation in this microorganism. Under aerobic conditions, the
      misassembly of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein QcrA was identified as a major
      reason for the severe growth defect of Tat-defective C. glutamicum mutant
      strains. Furthermore, our results clearly show that TatB, besides TatA and TatC,
      is strictly required for unimpaired aerobic growth. In addition, TatB was also
      found to be essential for the secretion of a heterologous Tat-dependent model
      protein into the C. glutamicum culture supernatant. Together with our finding
      that expression of the C. glutamicum TatB in an E. coli DeltatatB mutant strain
      resulted in the formation of an active Tat translocase, our results clearly
      indicate that a TatABC translocase is used as the physiologically relevant
      functional unit for Tat-dependent protein translocation in C. glutamicum and,
      most likely, also in other TatB-containing Actinobacteria. 

PMID- 25837593
TI  - DnaK protein alleviates toxicity induced by citrate-coated gold nanoparticles in
      Escherichia coli.
AB  - A number of previously reported studies suggest that synthetic gold nanoparticles
      (AuNPs) are capable of stabilising proteins against heat stress in vitro.
      However, it remains to be understood if AuNPs confer stability to proteins
      against cellular stress in vivo. Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are conserved
      molecules whose main role is to facilitate folding of other proteins (chaperone
      function). Hsp70 (called DnaK in prokaryotes) is one of the most prominent
      molecular chaperones. Since gold nanoparticles exhibit chaperone-like function in
      vitro, we investigated the effect of citrate-coated gold nanoparticles on the
      growth of E. coli BB1553 cells that possess a deleted dnaK gene. We further
      investigated the effects of the AuNPs on the solubility of the E. coli BB1553
      proteome. E. coli BB1553 cells exposed to AuNPs exhibited cellular defects such
      as filamentation and plasma membranes pulled off the cell wall. The toxic effects
      of the AuNPs were alleviated by transforming the E. coli BB1553 cells with a
      construct expressing DnaK. We also noted that cells in which DnaK was restored
      exhibited distinct zones to which the nanoparticles were restricted. Our study
      suggests a role for DnaK in alleviating nanoparticle induced stress in E. coli. 

PMID- 25837595
TI  - Strengths and challenges faced by school-aged children with unilateral CP
      described by the Five To Fifteen parental questionnaire.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe motor and non-motor (e.g.
      cognitive, social, and behavioral) challenges faced in daily life by children
      with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP). METHODS: In this cross-sectional study,
      parents completed the Five to Fifteen questionnaire and provided demographic
      information for 46 children aged 6-15 years (mean 11.01 +/- 2.89 SD). RESULTS:
      Most children were reported to have problems in both motor and non-motor domains,
      ranging from 20 to 92% depending on the domain. Perception and learning were the
      non-motor functions most commonly reported as challenging (63 and 65%,
      respectively). The total number of problems was significantly higher in age
      groups above 9 years. The correlation between all domains was high, but was
      consistently higher with the fine motor sub-domain, which could be used to
      predict executive function, perception, memory, and learning outcomes (R2=0.502,
      0.642, 0.192, 0.192). CONCLUSION: Most children with CP have everyday challenges
      beyond their primary motor deficiencies.

PMID- 25837594
TI  - High fat diet causes depletion of intestinal eosinophils associated with
      intestinal permeability.
AB  - The development of intestinal permeability and the penetration of microbial
      products are key factors associated with the onset of metabolic disease. However,
      the mechanisms underlying this remain unclear. Here we show that, unlike liver or
      adipose tissue, high fat diet (HFD)/obesity in mice does not cause
      monocyte/macrophage infiltration into the intestine or pro-inflammatory changes
      in gene expression. Rather HFD causes depletion of intestinal eosinophils
      associated with the onset of intestinal permeability. Intestinal eosinophil
      numbers were restored by returning HFD fed mice to normal chow and were unchanged
      in leptin-deficient (Ob/Ob) mice, indicating that eosinophil depletion is caused
      specifically by a high fat diet and not obesity per se. Analysis of different
      aspects of intestinal permeability in HFD fed and Ob/Ob mice shows an association
      between eosinophil depletion and ileal paracelullar permeability, as well as
      leakage of albumin into the feces, but not overall permeability to FITC dextran.
      These findings provide the first evidence that a high fat diet causes intestinal
      eosinophil depletion, rather than inflammation, which may contribute to defective
      barrier integrity and the onset of metabolic disease. 

PMID- 25837596
TI  - A rational approach to estimating the surgical demand elasticity needed to guide
      manpower reallocation during contagious outbreaks.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Emerging infectious diseases continue to pose serious threats to
      global public health. So far, however, few published study has addressed the need
      for manpower reallocation needed in hospitals when such a serious contagious
      outbreak occurs. AIM: To quantify the demand elasticity of the major surgery
      types in order to guide future manpower reallocation during contagious outbreaks.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Based on a nationwide research database in Taiwan, we
      extracted the monthly volumes of major surgery types for the period 1998-2003,
      which covered the SARS period, in order to carry out a time series analysis. The
      demand elasticity of each surgery type was then estimated by autoregressive
      integrated moving average (ARIMA) analysis. RESULTS: During the study period, the
      surgical volumes of most selected surgery types either increased or remained
      steady. We categorized these surgery types into low-, moderate- and high-elastic
      groups according to their demand elasticity. Appendectomy, 'open reduction of
      fracture with internal fixation' and 'free skin graft' were in the low demand
      elasticity group. Transurethral prostatectomy and extracorporeal shockwave
      lithotripsy (ESWL) were in the high demand elasticity group. The manpower of the
      departments carrying out the surgeries with low demand elasticity should be
      maintained during outbreaks. In contrast, departments in charge of surgeries
      mainly with high demand elasticity, like urology departments, may be in a
      position to have part of their staff reallocated. CONCLUSIONS: Taking advantage
      of the demand variation during the SARS period in 2003, we adopted the concept of
      demand elasticity and used a time series approach to figure out an effective
      index of demand elasticity for various types of surgery that could be used as a
      rational reference to carry out manpower reallocation during contagious outbreak
      situations.

PMID- 25837597
TI  - The Trend of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases in Taiwan: A Population-Based Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: The purpose of this study was to estimate the sex- and age
      specific incidence rates of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in Taiwan. Site
      specific cancer occurred in patients with IBD would be reported, too. METHODS: A
      retrospective study by analyzing the data from the National Health Insurance
      Research Database of Taiwan. RESULTS: Between 2000 and 2010, the overall
      incidence rate of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) was 0.208 and
      0.838 per 100,000 person-years. For male, the incidence rate of CD was 0.195 (95
      % CI 0.113-0.276) per 100,000 persons in 2000 and increased to 0.318 (95 % CI
      0.216-0.421) per 100,000 persons in 2010. For female, the incidence rate of CD
      was 0.092 (95 % CI 0.035-0.149) per 100,000 persons in 2000 and increased to
      0.210 (95 % CI 0.128-0.293) per 100,000 persons in 2010. For male, the incidence
      rate of UC was 0.690 (95 % CI 0.537-0.843) per 100,000 persons in 2000 and
      increased to 1.351 (95 % CI, 1.140-1.562) per 100,000 persons in 2010. For
      female, the incidence rate of UC was 0.386 (95 % CI 0.269-0.503) per 100,000
      persons in 2000 and increased to 0.858 (95 % CI 0.691-1.024) per 100,000 persons
      in 2010. Among the CD patients, 0.19 % had colorectal cancers (1/519). Among the
      UC patients, 0.24 % had colorectal cancers (5/2098). CONCLUSIONS: This nationwide
      population-based longitudinal epidemiological study of IBD in Taiwan provides
      data for future global comparisons.

PMID- 25837598
TI  - Mesoscopic structure of neuronal tracts from time-dependent diffusion.
AB  - Interpreting brain diffusion MRI measurements in terms of neuronal structure at a
      micrometer level is an exciting unresolved problem. Here we consider diffusion
      transverse to a bundle of fibers, and show theoretically, as well as using Monte
      Carlo simulations and measurements in a phantom made of parallel fibers mimicking
      axons, that the time dependent diffusion coefficient approaches its macroscopic
      limit slowly, in a (ln t)/t fashion. The logarithmic singularity arises due to
      short range disorder in the fiber packing. We identify short range disorder in
      axonal fibers based on histological data from the splenium, and argue that the
      time dependent contribution to the overall diffusion coefficient from the extra
      axonal water dominates that of the intra-axonal water. This dominance may explain
      the bias in measuring axon diameters in clinical settings. The short range
      disorder is also reflected in the asymptotically linear frequency dependence of
      the diffusion coefficient measured with oscillating gradients, in agreement with
      recent experiments. Our results relate the measured diffusion to the mesoscopic
      structure of neuronal tissue, uncovering the sensitivity of diffusion metrics to
      axonal arrangement within a fiber tract, and providing an alternative
      interpretation of axonal diameter mapping techniques. 

PMID- 25837599
TI  - Electrophysiological signatures of spontaneous BOLD fluctuations in macaque
      prefrontal cortex.
AB  - Spontaneous brain activity is ubiquitous across brain structures and states.
      Determining the role of these metabolically costly intrinsic events may be
      critical for understanding the brain's fundamental physiological principles that
      govern cognition and behavior. To date, most investigations of large-scale
      fluctuations and their coupling have been conducted using electro- or magneto
      encephalography, modalities that are limited in their ability to spatially
      resolve the origin of the signals. Invasive, electrophysiological local field
      potential (LFP) recordings are limited in their spatial range and studies
      combining the approach with functional imaging have been primarily relegated to
      sensory/motor areas with little basis in which to extrapolate findings to
      evolutionarily newer prefrontal cortical regions. Here, we acquired spontaneous
      fMRI data in two anesthetized macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) at 7 T
      together with simultaneous recordings of intracortical LFPs recorded bilaterally
      from the prefrontal cortex (area 9/46d). High (beta-low gamma) and low (delta
      theta) band-limited power (BLP) ranges of the LFP frequencies were anticorrelated
      in the absence of any explicit stimuli. Beyond the high LFP-BLP signal being
      correlated with BOLD activity at the recording site, the high and low LFP-BLP
      envelopes were shown to be significantly correlated with spontaneous BOLD
      activity recorded from positively and negatively connected prefrontal network
      regions, respectively. The results suggest that complementary changes in low and
      high frequency bands may be an intrinsic property of LFPs, that local prefrontal
      cortical activity is related to spontaneous BOLD fluctuations, and further, that
      LFP-BLPs may be correlated at a network level.

PMID- 25837600
TI  - An automated pipeline for constructing personalized virtual brains from
      multimodal neuroimaging data.
AB  - Large amounts of multimodal neuroimaging data are acquired every year worldwide.
      In order to extract high-dimensional information for computational neuroscience
      applications standardized data fusion and efficient reduction into integrative
      data structures are required. Such self-consistent multimodal data sets can be
      used for computational brain modeling to constrain models with individual
      measurable features of the brain, such as done with The Virtual Brain (TVB). TVB
      is a simulation platform that uses empirical structural and functional data to
      build full brain models of individual humans. For convenient model construction,
      we developed a processing pipeline for structural, functional and diffusion
      weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and optionally electroencephalography
      (EEG) data. The pipeline combines several state-of-the-art neuroinformatics tools
      to generate subject-specific cortical and subcortical parcellations, surface
      tessellations, structural and functional connectomes, lead field matrices,
      electrical source activity estimates and region-wise aggregated blood oxygen
      level dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) time-series. The output files of the
      pipeline can be directly uploaded to TVB to create and simulate individualized
      large-scale network models that incorporate intra- and intercortical interaction
      on the basis of cortical surface triangulations and white matter tractograpy. We
      detail the pitfalls of the individual processing streams and discuss ways of
      validation. With the pipeline we also introduce novel ways of estimating the
      transmission strengths of fiber tracts in whole-brain structural connectivity
      (SC) networks and compare the outcomes of different tractography or parcellation
      approaches. We tested the functionality of the pipeline on 50 multimodal data
      sets. In order to quantify the robustness of the connectome extraction part of
      the pipeline we computed several metrics that quantify its rescan reliability and
      compared them to other tractography approaches. Together with the pipeline we
      present several principles to guide future efforts to standardize brain model
      construction. The code of the pipeline and the fully processed data sets are made
      available to the public via The Virtual Brain website (thevirtualbrain.org) and
      via github (https://github.com/BrainModes/TVB-empirical-data-pipeline).
      Furthermore, the pipeline can be directly used with High Performance Computing
      (HPC) resources on the Neuroscience Gateway Portal (http://www.nsgportal.org)
      through a convenient web-interface. 

PMID- 25837601
TI  - Simultaneous multi-slice Turbo-FLASH imaging with CAIPIRINHA for whole brain
      distortion-free pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling at 3 and 7 T.
AB  - Simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) or multiband (MB) imaging has recently been
      attempted for arterial spin labeled (ASL) perfusion MRI in conjunction with echo
      planar imaging (EPI) readout. It was found that SMS-EPI can reduce the T1
      relaxation effect of the label and improve image coverage and resolution with
      little penalty in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). However, EPI still suffers from
      geometric distortion and signal dropout from field inhomogeneity effects
      especially at high and ultrahigh magnetic fields. Here we present a novel scheme
      for achieving high fidelity distortion-free quantitative perfusion imaging by
      combining pseudo-continuous ASL (pCASL) with SMS Turbo-FLASH (TFL) readout at
      both 3 and 7 T. Bloch equation simulation was performed to characterize and
      optimize the TFL-based pCASL perfusion signal. Two MB factors (3 and 5) were
      implemented in SMS-TFL pCASL and compared with standard 2D TFL and EPI pCASL
      sequences. The temporal SNR of SMS-TFL pCASL relative to that of standard TFL
      pCASL was 0.76 +/- 0.10 and 0.74 +/- 0.11 at 7 T and 0.70 +/- 0.05 and 0.65 +/-
      0.05 at 3T for MB factor of 3 and 5, respectively. By implementing background
      suppression in conjunction with SMS-TFL at 3T, the relative temporal SNR improved
      to 0.84 +/- 0.09 and 0.79 +/- 0.10 for MB factor of 3 and 5, respectively.
      Compared to EPI pCASL, significantly increased temporal SNR (p<0.001) and
      improved visualization of orbitofrontal cortex were achieved using SMS-TFL pCASL.
      By combining SMS acceleration with TFL pCASL, we demonstrated the feasibility for
      whole brain distortion-free quantitative mapping of cerebral blood flow at high
      and ultrahigh magnetic fields.

PMID- 25837602
TI  - Participation and contribution in crowdsourced surveys.
AB  - This paper identifies trends within and relationships between the amount of
      participation and the quality of contributions in three crowdsourced surveys.
      Participants were asked to perform a collective problem solving task that lacked
      any explicit incentive: they were instructed not only to respond to survey
      questions but also to pose new questions that they thought might-if responded to
      by others-predict an outcome variable of interest to them. While the three
      surveys had very different outcome variables, target audiences, methods of
      advertisement, and lengths of deployment, we found very similar patterns of
      collective behavior. In particular, we found that: the rate at which participants
      submitted new survey questions followed a heavy-tailed distribution; the
      distribution in the types of questions posed was similar; and many users posed
      non-obvious yet predictive questions. By analyzing responses to questions that
      contained a built-in range of valid response we found that less than 0.2% of
      responses lay outside of those ranges, indicating that most participants tend to
      respond honestly to surveys of this form, even without explicit incentives for
      honesty. While we did not find a significant relationship between the quantity of
      participation and the quality of contribution for both response submissions and
      question submissions, we did find several other more nuanced participant behavior
      patterns, which did correlate with contribution in one of the three surveys. We
      conclude that there exists an optimal time for users to pose questions early on
      in their participation, but only after they have submitted a few responses to
      other questions. This suggests that future crowdsourced surveys may attract more
      predictive questions by prompting users to pose new questions at specific times
      during their participation and limiting question submission at non-optimal times.

PMID- 25837603
TI  - Formal consensus method to evaluate the conformity of prescription of a recently
      approved chemotherapy treatment in an observatory study.
AB  - Cabazitaxel is a second line chemotherapy drug recently approved for the
      treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. A first panel of
      French experts and a second independent panel of European experts were convened
      to assess the conformity of prescription of cabazitaxel with a Delphi consensus
      method. A two-round modified Delphi consensus process was conducted. This
      methodology is based on experts' opinion obtained in a systematic manner. The
      process was divided into five steps: (i) elaboration of the questionnaire, (ii)
      rating, (iii) analysis, (iv) discussion of the points with absence of consensus
      following rating of the questionnaire, and (v) final reporting. Consensus was
      defined according to RAND method and all analyses were conducted according to the
      same methodology. At the end of the two rounds of rating and a synthesis meeting,
      of the 26 items included in the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC), 11
      items were judged appropriate with strong consensus by the two independent panels
      of experts. These items can therefore be considered of prime importance to
      evaluate conformity of cabazitaxel prescription in the context of observatory
      studies as well as in further clinical trials using this new taxane. Our findings
      further provide important evidence about the value of the Delphi consensus and
      highlight a requirement for "conformity" standards to assist practitioners in a
      safe chemotherapy drug prescription. 

PMID- 25837604
TI  - Three-Dimensional In Vitro Skin and Skin Cancer Models Based on Human Fibroblast
      Derived Matrix.
AB  - Three-dimensional in vitro skin and skin cancer models help to dissect epidermal
      dermal and tumor-stroma interactions. In the model presented here, normal human
      dermal fibroblasts isolated from adult skin self-assembled into dermal
      equivalents with their specific fibroblast-derived matrix (fdmDE) over 4 weeks.
      The fdmDE represented a complex human extracellular matrix that was stabilized by
      its own heterogeneous collagen fiber meshwork, largely resembling a human dermal
      in vivo architecture. Complemented with normal human epidermal keratinocytes, the
      skin equivalent (fdmSE) thereof favored the establishment of a well-stratified
      and differentiated epidermis and importantly allowed epidermal regeneration in
      vitro for at least 24 weeks. Moreover, the fdmDE could be used to study the
      features of cutaneous skin cancer. Complementing fdmDE with HaCaT cells in
      different stages of malignancy or tumor-derived cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma
      cell lines, the resulting skin cancer equivalents (fdmSCEs) recapitulated the
      respective degree of tumorigenicity. In addition, the fdmSCE invasion phenotypes
      correlated with their individual degree of tissue organization, disturbance in
      basement membrane organization, and presence of matrix metalloproteinases.
      Together, fdmDE-based models are well suited for long-term regeneration of normal
      human epidermis and, as they recapitulate tumor-specific growth, differentiation,
      and invasion profiles of cutaneous skin cancer cells, also provide an excellent
      human in vitro skin cancer model. 

PMID- 25837605
TI  - First diabetic retinopathy prevalence study in Portugal: RETINODIAB Study-
      evaluation of the screening programme for Lisbon and Tagus Valley region.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: In Portugal, so far, there is no study or even accurate data on
      the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR), based on a large representative
      sample and on a long-term follow-up. The objective of our study was to determine
      the prevalence of DR based on a national screening community-based programme.
      METHODS: A 5-year retrospective analysis of the RETINODIAB screening programme
      results was implemented in Lisbon and Tagus Valley area between July 2009 and
      October 2014. We estimated the prevalence of retinopathy for all patients with
      type 2 diabetes and studied the association between known risk factors and
      retinopathy emergence at their first screening. RESULTS: Throughout this period,
      from a total of 103 102 DR readable screening examinations, 52 739 corresponded
      to patients who attended RETINODIAB screening at entry. Globally, DR was detected
      in 8584 patients (16.3%). Of these, 5484 patients (10.4%) had mild non
      proliferative (NP) DR, 1457 patients (2.8%) had moderate NPDR and 672 (1.3%) had
      severe NPDR. Finally, 971 patients (1.8%) had proliferative DR requiring urgent
      referral to an ophthalmologist. The presence of any DR, non-referable DR or
      referable DR was strongly associated with increasing duration of diabetes and
      earlier age at diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence rate of DR in our study
      (16.3%) was slightly lower than other published international data. The
      RETINODIAB network proved to be an effective screening programme as it improved
      DR screening in Lisbon and Tagus Valley surrounding area.

PMID- 25837606
TI  - Combined conjunctival rotational autograft with 0.02% mitomycin C in primary
      pterygium surgery: a long-term follow-up study.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: To compare the long-term outcomes of primary pterygium surgery
      with combined conjunctival rotational autograft and mitomycin C (CRA-MMC),
      mitomycin C alone (MMC) and limbal conjunctival autograft (LCAU). METHODS: The
      outcomes of primary pterygium excision followed by conjunctival rotational
      autograft (CRA) combined with intraoperative 0.02% MMC for 5 min (group 1, CRA
      MMC, n=61) were compared with historical control groups consisting of, pterygium
      excision with MMC (group 2, n=47), and, pterygium excision with limbal
      conjunctival autograft (LCAU) (group 3, n=29). The main outcome measures were
      recurrence rate and complications. RESULTS: The mean follow-up period was 101+/-3
      months, 138+/-2 and 137+/-2 months in the CRA-MMC, MMC and LCAU groups
      respectively. Recurrence was noted in one patient (1.6%) in the CRA-MMC, 12
      patients with MMC (25.5%) and 2 patients with LCAU (6.9%). The difference in
      recurrence rate between CRA-MMC and MMC was statistically significant (p<0.001).
      Early postoperative complications included 3 conjunctival cysts (1 from the CRA
      MMC, 2 with MMC alone), 2 symblephara (1 in the MMC group, 1 in the LCAU group),
      and 1 granuloma in the CRA-MMC group. CONCLUSIONS: Pterygium excision followed by
      CRA-MMC or LCAU are effective means of preventing recurrence. The use of CRA-MMC
      in pterygium excision may be considered for cases where conventional autograft
      harvesting is contraindicated or when large grafts for double-head pterygium are
      required.

PMID- 25837607
TI  - Morpho-functional correlation of fundus autofluorescence in Stargardt disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To correlate patterns in short-wavelength (SW) and near-infrared
      (NIR) fundus autofluorescence (FAF) with morpho-functional outcomes in eyes
      affected by Stargardt disease. METHODS: Fifty-four eyes of 27 patients were
      prospectively enrolled. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic
      examination including SW-FAF, NIR-FAF, microperimetry and spectral-domain optical
      coherence tomography (SD-OCT). The main outcome measures were identification of a
      correlation between NIR-FAF and SW-FAF patterns within the foveal region and best
      corrected visual acuity (BCVA) values. Secondary outcome measures were
      correlation of FAF patterns with SD-OCT findings and retinal sensitivity on
      microperimetry. RESULTS: Eyes showing a pattern of foveal hyper-FAF on NIR-FAF
      had a higher BCVA than eyes with a reduced FAF signal (0.44+/-0.23 LogMAR vs
      1.08+/-0.19, p<0.001). Similarly, mean sensitivity within 2 degrees  of the
      foveal region was significantly better (6.45+/-2.39 dB) in eyes with hyper-FAF
      than in eyes with hypo-FAF (0.23+/-0.45 dB, p<0.001). Moreover, eyes with hyper
      FAF on SW-FAF did not present a significant difference in BCVA (0.73+/-0.31 vs
      0.83+/-0.43, p=0.335) and mean retinal sensitivity (4.34+/-3.91 dB vs 2.33+/
      2.96, p=0.07) compared with the subgroup with foveal hypo-FAF. The integrity of
      both the photoreceptor inner/outer segment junction and the photoreceptor outer
      segment/retinal pigmented epithelium junction was significantly correlated with a
      preserved BCVA and a foveal hyper-FAF pattern on NIR-FAF. CONCLUSIONS: Our data
      suggest that NIR-FAF patterns correlate with morpho-functional outcomes in eyes
      affected by Stargardt disease. Longitudinal investigations are warranted to
      assess more precisely the actual contribution of NIR-FAF in the clinical
      characterisation of Stargardt disease.

PMID- 25837608
TI  - Clinical features and diagnostic evaluation of 83 biopsy-proven sarcoid uveitis
      cases.
AB  - AIMS: To determine the clinical features of patients with uveitis with biopsy
      proven sarcoidosis, document differences in these features according to
      ethnicity, age and sex, and assess the diagnostic value of biochemical and
      imaging examinations. METHODS: Retrospective study of 83 biopsy-proven sarcoid
      uveitis cases seen at two Departments of Internal Medicine and two Departments of
      Ophthalmology between April 2004 and March 2014. RESULTS: Caucasian patients
      presented with uveitis at a later age than non-Caucasian (58 years vs 41 years;
      p=0.001) and had more often a chronic form (78.3% vs 43.8%; p=0.01). Women had
      higher rates of chronic macular oedema than men (48.3% vs 14.3%; p=0.01). There
      were no statistically significant differences between patients aged <=50 years
      and patients aged >50 years. ACE levels were high (>62 U/L) in 61.7% and lysozyme
      levels high (>16.7 mg/L) in 83.9% of tested patients. Chest X-rays and CTs were
      suggestive of sarcoidosis in 62.8% and 91.2% of cases, respectively. Among 21
      patients with positive tomography and negative X-rays, 13 were Caucasian women
      >50 years. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of intrathoracic
      nodes contributed to the diagnosis in 7 patients with normal labial salivary
      gland and transbronchial biopsies. Any of the enzyme tests together with any of
      the imaging tests identified 100% of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: In this largest
      European series of biopsy-proven sarcoidosis to date, the outstanding diagnostic
      ability of enzyme test plus imaging test couple suggests that the recourse to
      invasive procedures should be limited to patients with ocular involvement that
      would justify systemic treatments.

PMID- 25837609
TI  - [What has been happening in the nursing profession for several months?].

PMID- 25837610
TI  - [Italian Center for ICNP research and development].

PMID- 25837611
TI  - [Self-care assessment in type-2 diabetes: the Italian translation and validation
      of the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Self-care represents a key factor for diabetes patients to maintain
      quality of life and to prevent serious disease complications. Self-care
      standardized assessment tools are needed to evaluate and to promote self-care in
      diabetes patients. The Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Scale (SDSCA) has
      been widely used in clinical and research settings and has been translated in
      many languages. Validity and reliability of this self-report scale were reported
      by several studies. However, SDSCA has not yet been translated, culturally
      adapted and tested in the Italian context. The aim of this methodological
      research was to translate and to provide a first validation study of the Italian
      SDSCA - 11 item Version. METHODS: A process of translation, back-translation and
      semantic concordance evaluation has been performed in order to translate the
      SDSCA into Italian language in collaboration with the original authors. A cross
      sectional survey has been planned to test internal consistency and test -retest
      reliability on a convenience sample of 80 type 2 diabetes patients. As secondary
      objective, SDSCA criterion validity has been explored referring to a range of
      clinical outcomes as glicated emoglobin and presence of complications. RESULTS: A
      description of respondents' self-care abilities is provided for the whole sample
      and for sub-groups by gender, age, instruction and income levels. Cronbach's Alfa
      and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient showed acceptable values considering the
      multidimensionality of SDSCA. High values were obtained in 3 out of 5 sub-classes
      of items. As in previous studies, specific diet and physical exercise sub-classes
      showed limited internal consistency. Cohen's Kappa Concordance Correlation
      Coefficient and t-test demonstrated high test-retest reliability of SDSCA.
      Overall SDSCA score did not show significant correlations with selected clinical
      outcomes; however 3 SDSCA single items significantly correlated with glicated
      emoglobin, complications and the clinical judgment of the diabetes case manager
      nurse. CONCLUSION: Further researches involving larger samples are needed to
      integrate data about Italian SDSCA performances, especially concerning construct
      and criterion validity. However, based on these preliminary results, SDSCA could
      find relevant applications in clinical settings to systematically evaluate, to
      compare over time and to improve specific self-care abilities of diabetes
      patients.

PMID- 25837612
TI  - [The model of Human Caring: results of a pre- and post-intervention study with a
      control group].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The "Human Caring" model is a philosophy of care based on
      individual centrality and which, although developed within nursing discipline,
      could be used by all professionals who take care of individuals. Nurses who work
      within the field of Mental Health, is subjected to a considerable emotional
      burden and it is believed that the introduction of this model can have a positive
      impact. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of the introduction of the model Human
      Caring in the Department of Mental Health Asl Cuneo 1, in order to improve health
      care professionals' well-being and patients' perception with respect to care and
      assistance. METHOD: A pre and post intervention design approach with control
      group where variables were measured before (T0) and after (T1) the implementation
      of the model of care Human Caring. RESULTS: 80 health care professionals and 125
      clients were observed. Results show a non statistically significant difference
      between the pre and post test both for health care professionals and clients.
      CONCLUSIONS: Human Caring model does not seem to have a positive impact in the
      short term. However, it is arguably a protective action for health care
      professionals that further studies should deeply explore with longer period of
      follow-up.

PMID- 25837613
TI  - [The use of expressive writing in the course of care for cancer patients to
      reduce emotional distress: analysis of the literature].
AB  - AIM: The emotional distress represents one of the symptoms most frequently
      reported in the cancer patient in therapy, increasing the risk of developing a
      disease depressive. Through the analysis of the literature we want to assess
      whether the use of expressive writing on cancer patients in their care pathway
      compared to the use of writing neutral reduces emotional distress. METHOD: The
      bibliographic search was conducted using the databases CINAHL, PubMed, Cochrane
      Library and PsycInfo. RESULTS: The results of research conducted on 7 randomized
      controlled trials, including 3 pilot studies have shown after expressive writing
      sessions (experimental group) versus neutral writing (control group) a
      significant reduction in distress in the experimental group early stages of
      cancer (p = 0,0183); in patients with a diagnosis of metastatic assigned to the
      group expressive writing there was a statistically significant relevance in the
      reduction of mood disorders (p = 0,03).Were determined statistically significant
      group differences also with respect to some measure on the quality of sleep (p =
      0,04). The expressive writing did not produce significant reductions in
      psychological distress and improvements in physical health (p > 0,20) in patients
      diagnosed with metastatic disease of long duration and, in the palliative care
      there have been results of feasibility for poor adherence at follow-up.
      CONCLUSION: From the results it is evident that the strategies of expressive
      writing improves the management of the disease, reduce the physical and
      psychological symptoms related to the tumor while reducing the emotional distress
      in patients at an early stage of the disease.

PMID- 25837614
TI  - [The ability of Decision Making in nursing students and user satisfaction: a
      quasi-experimental study].
AB  - AIM: The aim of the study is to measure 3rd year students' ability on decision
      making before and after the internship, where different educational strategies
      were experienced evaluating self perceived clients satisfaction. METHODS: This is
      a quasi-experimental pre-post intervention study 14 students of the 3rd year was
      asked to elaborate six clinical cases, for a total of 84 health care plans both
      before and after the clinical internship. During the internship discussions led
      by tutors, briefing and debriefing sessions once a week were set up and health
      care plans developed by students were used. The Newcastle Satisfaction with
      Nursing Scales questionnaire was used to detect clients satisfaction administered
      both during the internship and later on. RESULTS: Students have shown an increase
      from 19 to 69% in the ability to detect priority health care problems in the post
      test as well as in developing correct nursing interventions, from 24 to
      33%.Related factors and defining characteristics are improved at the limit of
      statistical significance. Clients claim they were fully satisfied with received
      care both with nursing students and without. CONCLUSIONS: Experimented
      educational strategies seems to be significantly related to the ability of
      nursing intervention/decision making. The internship has proven to be an
      effective model of education.

PMID- 25837615
TI  - [The graduate, the head nurse and the nursing supervisor. A descriptive study of
      the competence of recent graduates].
AB  - The study describes the representations of nursing graduate, by professionals
      involved in their socialization work. The study is a qualitative one. A
      convenience sample of 19 individuals was set up, graduate nurses (10), head
      nurses (6) and nurses' manager (3)were interviewed. A semi structured interviewed
      was carried out. aimed at investigate their own beliefs about relational
      competence, technical-operational and organizational skills, desired and held by
      graduates. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. The corpus was
      analyzed using appropriate software, comparing the three roles involved with
      respect to the three areas of expertise. Results show a lack of relational
      competences and emotional control by Graduates both with colleagues and patients.
      In addition to this, an overall reluctance of established teams to adopt new
      working methods and graduate competences too focused on theory. The results with
      respect to competences highlight the need to strength the training with respect
      to care and relationship with patients for recent graduate, the difficulty of
      management to set up technical and operational innovations, the need for an
      interactional approach of the three professional profiles. The study proposes
      actions aimed at a better graduates' social and professional integration using
      the contributions of professionals directly involved in the organization.
      Furthermore positive action were suggested both during university studies and
      within organizational contexts in nursing profession.

PMID- 25837616
TI  - Distraction as a technique to control pain in pediatric patients during
      venipuncture. A narrative review of literature.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Distraction is a non-pharmacological intervention aimed to reduce
      procedural pain in children. Venipuncture is one of the most widely used
      diagnostic and therapeutic procedure in pediatric patients. Analgesia during
      venipuncture may be efficiently achieved with distracting techniques. OBJECTIVE:
      To describe active and passive distraction techniques to reduce distress in
      children undergoing venipuncture. METHOD: Data from CINHAL, PubMed, ILISI and
      Cochrane's databases were used to review existing literature and primary and
      secondary studies published between 2003 and 2014 were included. Queries were
      obtained with keywords such as distraction, complementary therapies, pain,
      pediatric, the Boolean operators AND and OR were used. RESULT: Twenty eligible
      articles out of the one hundred and forty-three retrieved (20/143) were selected;
      among these there were 3 systematic and 5 narrative reviews, 11 experimental and
      quasi-experimental studies and 1 observational study. Active and passive
      distraction techniques seemed extremely effective to reduce distress and pain in
      children undergoing venipuncture. Modest evidence of efficacy and absent side
      effects support this approach. CONCLUSION: Further RCTs are needed to compare the
      different types of existing active and passive distraction techniques. The
      presence of parents and the location where painful procedures are administered
      should be included in the assessment of this approach.

PMID- 25837617
TI  - Worst Souvenir Ever? The Increasing Trend of Travel-Related Dermatoses / Votre
      pire souvenir? La tendance croissante aux dermatoses du voyage.

PMID- 25837618
TI  - Methacrylate allergy presenting as a persistent eczematous plaque on the dorsal
      hand of a dental assistant: peculiar behaviours make for bizarre patterns of
      dermatitis.

PMID- 25837619
TI  - Basal cell carcinoma arising from epidermal cyst.

PMID- 25837620
TI  - The need for encryption in mobile teledermatology.

PMID- 25837621
TI  - RE: The Need for Encryption in Mobile Teledermatology.

PMID- 25837622
TI  - Managing comorbidities in patients with chronic heart failure: first, do no harm.
AB  - Heart failure (HF) affects approximately 5.1 million adults in the USA, with
      expectations of a rise to nearly 8 million adults by 2030. Patients with HF are
      at increased risk for morbidity/mortality, and comorbidities can further
      complicate care for these patients. Diabetes mellitus, chronic pain, arrhythmias,
      and depression are diagnoses that often coexist with HF. Medications commonly
      used to treat these comorbidities may induce or worsen HF symptoms, so
      determining appropriate drug therapy is important. Healthcare providers must
      understand the relationship between these medications and HF in order to improve
      prescribing practices to increase patient safety and reduce morbidity and
      mortality. This manuscript discusses the association between certain medications
      used to treat the aforementioned diagnoses and their relationship to HF. The
      purpose of this article is to provide guidance on which pharmacologic options
      require special consideration, increased monitoring, or complete avoidance in HF
      patients with diabetes mellitus, chronic pain, arrhythmias, and/or depression. 

PMID- 25837624
TI  - 'Acceptability' of a new oral suspension formulation of mercaptopurine in
      children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this questionnaire-based survey was to determine the
      'acceptability' of Xaluprine(r), a new oral liquid formulation of mercaptopurine,
      when administered chronically to children during the maintenance treatment phase
      of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a single centre
      survey of children (aged 3 to 16 years) and their parents at a routine follow-up
      visit during the maintenance phase of acute lymphoblastic leukaemica treatment.
      The questionnaire probed for their views on overall acceptability such as taste,
      smell, incidences of vomiting, ease and willingness to take Xaluprine(r) on a
      daily basis, and utilised a 5-point facial hedonic scale (1 = bad, 5 = good) as
      well as open/closed questions. RESULTS: Twenty-two children were recruited; 17
      (77%) scored taste between 3 and 5 ('okay' to 'good') and 20 (91%) scored smell
      between 3 and 5. Only four children (18%) reported an aftertaste. Of the five
      children (23%) who scored taste as 1 or 2 ('bad'), three found taking all oral
      medicines difficult. Six children (27%) reported vomiting, but this was not
      considered related to Xaluprine(r). Seven children (32%) sometimes complained
      that they did not want to take Xaluprine(r); 15 (68%) never complained. In
      response to the question, 'How easy is it for you to take Xaluprine(r)?' 18
      children (82%) reported that it was 'Easy all the time.' This was more favourable
      than other oral liquid medicines that they were taking concurrently. CONCLUSION:
      The results of this survey show that Xaluprine(r) has good overall acceptability
      in the paediatric population and suggests that Xaluprine(r) is an important,
      alternative, age-appropriate formulation of mercaptopurine.

PMID- 25837623
TI  - Regulation of protein quality control by UBE4B and LSD1 through p53-mediated
      transcription.
AB  - Protein quality control is essential for clearing misfolded and aggregated
      proteins from the cell, and its failure is associated with many neurodegenerative
      disorders. Here, we identify two genes, ufd-2 and spr-5, that when inactivated,
      synergistically and robustly suppress neurotoxicity associated with misfolded
      proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans. Loss of human orthologs ubiquitination factor
      E4 B (UBE4B) and lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1), respectively encoding a
      ubiquitin ligase and a lysine-specific demethylase, promotes the clearance of
      misfolded proteins in mammalian cells by activating both proteasomal and
      autophagic degradation machineries. An unbiased search in this pathway reveals a
      downstream effector as the transcription factor p53, a shared substrate of UBE4B
      and LSD1 that functions as a key regulator of protein quality control to protect
      against proteotoxicity. These studies identify a new protein quality control
      pathway via regulation of transcription factors and point to the augmentation of
      protein quality control as a wide-spectrum antiproteotoxicity strategy. 

PMID- 25837625
TI  - Optimizing culture medium composition to improve oligodendrocyte progenitor cell
      yields in vitro from subventricular zone-derived neural progenitor cell
      neurospheres.
AB  - Neural Stem and Progenitor Cells (NSC/NPC) are gathering tangible recognition for
      their uses in cell therapy and cell replacement therapies for human disease, as
      well as a model system to continue research on overall neural developmental
      processes in vitro. The Subventricular Zone is one of the largest NSC/NPC niches
      in the developing mammalian Central Nervous System, and persists through to
      adulthood. Oligodendrocyte progenitor cell (OPC) enriched cultures are usefull
      tools for in vitro studies as well as for cell replacement therapies for treating
      demyelination diseases. We used Subventricular Zone-derived NSC/NPC primary
      cultures from newborn mice and compared the effects of different growth factor
      combinations on cell proliferation and OPC yield. The Platelet Derived Growth
      Factor-AA and BB homodimers had a positive and significant impact on OPC
      generation. Furthermore, heparin addition to the culture media contributed to
      further increase overall culture yields. The OPC generated by this protocol were
      able to mature into Myelin Basic Protein-expressing cells and to interact with
      neurons in an in vitro co-culture system. As a whole, we describe an optimized in
      vitro method for increasing OPC. 

PMID- 25837626
TI  - Seeing the unseen--bioturbation in 4D: tracing bioirrigation in marine sediment
      using positron emission tomography and computed tomography.
AB  - Understanding spatial and temporal patterns of bioirrigation induced by benthic
      fauna ventilation is critical given its significance on benthic nutrient exchange
      and biogeochemistry in coastal ecosystems. The quantification of this process
      challenges marine scientists because faunal activities and behaviors are
      concealed in an opaque sediment matrix. Here, we use a hybrid medical imaging
      technique, positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) to
      provide a qualitative visual and fully quantitative description of bioirrigation
      in 4D (space and time). As a study case, we present images of porewater advection
      induced by the well-studied lugworm (Arenicola marina). Our results show that
      PET/CT allows more comprehensive studies on ventilation and bioirrigation than
      possible using techniques traditionally applied in marine ecology. We provide a
      dynamic three-dimensional description of bioirrigation by the lugworm at very
      high temporal and spatial resolution. Results obtained with the PET/CT are in
      agreement with literature data on lugworm ventilation and bioirrigation. Major
      advantages of PET/CT over methods commonly used are its non-invasive and non
      destructive approach and its capacity to provide information that otherwise would
      require multiple methods. Furthermore, PET/CT scan is versatile as it can be used
      for a variety of benthic macrofauna species and sediment types and it provides
      information on burrow morphology or animal behavior. The lack of accessibility to
      the expensive equipment is its major drawback which can only be overcome through
      collaboration among several institutions. 

PMID- 25837627
TI  - A family with atypical Hailey Hailey disease--is there more to the underlying
      genetics than ATP2C1?
AB  - The autosomal dominant Hailey Hailey disease (HHD) is caused by mutations in the
      ATP2C1 gene encoding for human secretory pathway Ca2+/Mn2+ ATPase protein
      (hSPCA1) in the Golgi apparatus. Clinically, HHD presents with erosions and
      hyperkeratosis predominantly in the intertrigines. Here we report an exome next
      generation sequencing (NGS) based analysis of ATPase genes in a Greek family with
      3 HHD patients presenting with clinically atypical lesions mainly localized on
      the neck and shoulders. By NGS of one HHD-patient and in silico SNP calling and
      SNP filtering we identified a SNP in the expected ATP2C1 gene and SNPs in further
      ATPase genes. Verification in all 3 affected family members revealed a
      heterozygous frameshift deletion at position 2355_2358 in exon 24 of ATP2C1 in
      all three patients. 7 additional SNPs in 4 ATPase genes (ATP9B, ATP11A, ATP2B3
      and ATP13A5) were identified. The SNPs rs138177421 in the ATP9B gene and
      rs2280268 in the ATP13A5 gene were detected in all 3 affected, but not in 2 non
      affected family members. The SNPs in the ATP2B3 and ATP11A gene as well as
      further SNPs in the ATP13A5 gene could not be confirmed in all affected family
      members. One may speculate that besides the level of functional hSPCA1 protein,
      levels of other ATPase proteins may influence expressivity of the disease and
      might also contribute, as in this case, to atypical presentations. 

PMID- 25837628
TI  - Efficiency of ITS sequences for DNA barcoding in Passiflora (Passifloraceae).
AB  - DNA barcoding is a technique for discriminating and identifying species using
      short, variable, and standardized DNA regions. Here, we tested for the first time
      the performance of plastid and nuclear regions as DNA barcodes in Passiflora.
      This genus is a largely variable, with more than 900 species of high ecological,
      commercial, and ornamental importance. We analyzed 1034 accessions of 222 species
      representing the four subgenera of Passiflora and evaluated the effectiveness of
      five plastid regions and three nuclear datasets currently employed as DNA
      barcodes in plants using barcoding gap, applied similarity-, and tree-based
      methods. The plastid regions were able to identify less than 45% of species,
      whereas the nuclear datasets were efficient for more than 50% using "best match"
      and "best close match" methods of TaxonDNA software. All subgenera presented
      higher interspecific pairwise distances and did not fully overlap with the
      intraspecific distance, and similarity-based methods showed better results than
      tree-based methods. The nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1)
      region presented a higher discrimination power than the other datasets and also
      showed other desirable characteristics as a DNA barcode for this genus.
      Therefore, we suggest that this region should be used as a starting point to
      identify Passiflora species. 

PMID- 25837629
TI  - Role of long-range protein dynamics in different thymidylate synthase catalyzed
      reactions.
AB  - Recent studies of Escherichia coli thymidylate synthase (ecTSase) showed that a
      highly conserved residue, Y209, that is located 8 A away from the reaction site,
      plays a key role in the protein's dynamics. Those crystallographic studies
      indicated that Y209W mutant is a structurally identical but dynamically altered
      relative to the wild type (WT) enzyme, and that its turnover catalytic rate
      governed by a slow hydride-transfer has been affected. The most challenging test
      of an examination of a fast chemical conversion that precedes the rate-limiting
      step has been achieved here. The physical nature of both fast and slow C-H bond
      activations have been compared between the WT and mutant by means of observed and
      intrinsic kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) and their temperature dependence. The
      findings indicate that the proton abstraction step has not been altered as much
      as the hydride transfer step. Additionally, the comparison indicated that other
      kinetic steps in the TSase catalyzed reaction were substantially affected,
      including the order of the substrate binding. Enigmatically, although Y209 is H
      bonded to 3'-OH of 2'-deoxyuridine-5'-mono-phosphate (dUMP), its altered dynamics
      is more pronounced on the binding of the remote cofactor, (6R)-N5,N10-methylene
      5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofolate (CH2H4folate), revealing the importance of long-range
      dynamics of the enzymatic complex and its catalytic function. 

PMID- 25837630
TI  - Enhancement of phenol biodegradation by Pseudochrobactrum sp. through ultraviolet
      induced mutation.
AB  - The phenol-degrading efficiency of Pseudochrobactrum sp. was enhanced by
      ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. First, a bacterial strain, Pseudochrobactrum sp.
      XF1, was isolated from the activated sludge in a coking plant. It was subjected
      to mutation by UV radiation for 120 s and a mutant strain with higher phenol
      degrading efficiency, Pseudochrobactrum sp. XF1-UV, was selected. The mutant
      strain XF1-UV was capable of degrading 1800 mg/L phenol completely within 48 h
      and had higher tolerance to hydrogen ion concentration and temperature variation
      than the wild type. Haldane's kinetic model was used to fit the exponential
      growth data and the following kinetic parameters were obtained: MUmax = 0.092 h
      1, Ks = 22.517 mg/L, and Ki = 1126.725 mg/L for XF1, whereas MUmax = 0.110 h-1,
      Ks = 23.934 mg/L, and Ki = 1579.134 mg/L for XF1-UV. Both XF1 and XF1-UV degraded
      phenol through the ortho-pathway; but the phenol hydroxylase activity of XF1-UV1
      was higher than that of XF1, therefore, the mutant strain biodegraded phenol
      faster. Taken together, our results suggest that Pseudochrobactrum sp. XF1-UV
      could be a promising candidate for bioremediation of phenol-containing
      wastewaters.

PMID- 25837631
TI  - Development of an efficient electroporation method for iturin A-producing
      Bacillus subtilis ZK.
AB  - In order to efficiently introduce DNA into B. subtilis ZK, which produces iturin
      A at a high level, we optimized seven electroporation conditions and explored an
      efficient electroporation method. Using the optimal conditions, the
      electroporation efficiency was improved to 1.03 * 10(70 transformants/MUg of DNA,
      an approximately 10,000-fold increase in electroporation efficiency. This
      efficiency is the highest electroporation efficiency for B. subtilis and enables
      the construction of a directed evolution library or the knockout of a gene in B.
      subtilis ZK for molecular genetics studies. In the optimization process, the
      combined effects of three types of wall-weakening agents were evaluated using a
      response surface methodology (RSM) design, which led to a two orders of magnitude
      increase in electroporation efficiency. To the best of our limited knowledge,
      this study provides the first demonstration of using an RSM design for
      optimization of the electroporation conditions for B. subtilis. To validate the
      electroporation efficiency, a case study was performed and a gene (rapC) was
      inactivated in B. subtilis ZK using a suicide plasmid pMUTIN4. Moreover, we found
      that the rapC mutants exhibited a marked decrease in iturin A production,
      suggesting that the rapC gene was closely related to the iturin A production.

PMID- 25837633
TI  - Correction: Mezei, Z.A., et al; Factor XIII B subunit polymorphisms and the risk
      of coronary artery disease. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2015, 16, 1143-1159.

PMID- 25837632
TI  - Characterization and structure prediction of partial length protein sequences of
      pcoA, pcoR and chrB genes from heavy metal resistant bacteria from the Klip
      River, South Africa.
AB  - The Klip River has suffered from severe anthropogenic effects from industrial
      activities such as mining. Long-term exposure to heavy metal pollution has led to
      the development of heavy metal resistant strains of Pseudomonas sp. KR23,
      Lysinibacillus sp. KR25, and E. coli KR29. The objectives of this study were to
      characterize the genetics of copper and chromate resistance of the isolates.
      Copper and chromate resistance determinants were cloned and sequenced. Open
      reading frames (ORFs) related to the genes CopA and CopR were identified in E.
      coli KR29, PcoA in Lysinibacillus sp. KR25 and none related to chromate
      resistance were detected. The 3D-models predicted by I-TASSER disclose that the
      PcoA proteins consist of beta-sheets, which form a part of the cupredoxin domain
      of the CopA copper resistance family of genes. The model for PcoR_29 revealed the
      presence of a helix turn helix; this forms part of a DNA binding protein, which
      is part of a heavy metal transcriptional regulator. The bacterial strains were
      cured using ethidium bromide. The genes encoding for heavy metal resistance and
      antibiotic resistance were found to be located on the chromosome for both
      Pseudomonas sp. (KR23) and E. coli (KR29). For Lysinibacillus (KR25) the heavy
      metal resistance determinants are suspected to be located on a mobile genetic
      element, which was not detected using gel electrophoresis. 

PMID- 25837634
TI  - Effect of comprehensive oncogenetics training interventions for general
      practitioners, evaluated at multiple performance levels.
AB  - General practitioners (GPs) are increasingly called upon to identify patients at
      risk for hereditary cancers, and their genetic competencies need to be enhanced.
      This article gives an overview of a research project on how to build effective
      educational modules on genetics, assessed by randomized controlled trials (RCTs),
      reflecting the prioritized educational needs of primary care physicians. It also
      reports on an ongoing study to investigate long-term increase in genetic
      consultation skills (1-year follow-up) and interest in and satisfaction with a
      supportive website on genetics among GPs. Three oncogenetics modules were
      developed: an online Continuing Professional Development (G-eCPD) module, a live
      genetic CPD module, and a "GP and genetics" website (huisartsengenetica.nl)
      providing further genetics information applicable in daily practice. Three
      assessments to evaluate the effectiveness (1-year follow-up) of the oncogenetic
      modules were designed: 1.An online questionnaire on self-reported genetic
      competencies and changes in referral behaviour, 2.Referral rates from GPs to
      clinical genetics centres and 3.Satisfaction questionnaire and visitor count
      analytics of supportive genetics website. The setting was Primary care in the
      Netherlands and three groups of study participants were included in the reported
      studies:. Assessment 1. 168 GPs responded to an email invitation and were
      randomly assigned to an intervention or control group, evaluating the G-eCPD
      module (n = 80) or the live module (n = 88). Assessment 2. Referral rates by GPs
      were requested from the clinical genetics centres, in the northern and southern
      parts of the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Maastricht), for the two years before
      (2010 [n = 2510] and 2011 [n = 2940]) and the year after (2012 [n = 2875]) launch
      of the oncogenetics CPD modules and the website. Assessment 3. Participants of
      the website evaluation were all recruited online. When they visited the website
      during the month of February 2013, a pop-up invitation came up. Of the 1350
      unique visitors that month, only 38 completed the online questionnaire. Main
      outcomes measure showed long-term (self-reported) genetic consultation skills
      (i.e. increased genetics awareness and referrals to clinical genetics centres)
      among GPs who participated in the oncogenetic training course, and interest in
      and satisfaction with the supportive website. 42 GPs (52%) who previously
      participated in the G-eCPD evaluation study and 50 GPs (57%) who participated in
      the live training programme responded to the online questionnaire on long-term
      effects of educational outcome. Previous RCTs showed that the genetics CPD
      modules achieved sustained improvement of oncogenetic knowledge and consultation
      skills (3-months follow-up). Participants of these RCTs reported being more aware
      of genetic problems long term; this was reported by 29 GPs (69%) and 46 GPs (92%)
      participating in the G-eCPD and live module evaluation studies, respectively
      (Chisquare test, p<0.005). One year later, 68% of the respondents attending the
      live training reported that they more frequently referred patients to the
      clinical genetics centres, compared to 29% of those who attended the online
      oncogenetics training (Chisquare test, p<0.0005). However, the clinical genetics
      centres reported no significant change in referral numbers one year after the
      training. Website visitor numbers increased, as did satisfaction, reflected in a
      7.7 and 8.1 (out of 10) global rating of the website (by G-eCPD and live module
      participants, respectively). The page most often consulted was "family tree
      drawing". Self-perceived genetic consultation skills increased long-term and GPs
      were interested in and satisfied with the supportive website. Further studies are
      necessary to see whether the oncogenetics CPD modules result in more efficient
      referral. The results presented suggest we have provided a flexible and effective
      framework to meet the need for effective educational programmes for non
      geneticist healthcare providers, enabling improvement of genetic medical care. 

PMID- 25837635
TI  - Silicon-mediated resistance in a susceptible rice variety to the rice leaf
      folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis Guenee (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae).
AB  - The rice leaf folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenee), is one of the most
      destructive rice pests in Asian countries. Rice varieties resistant to the rice
      leaf folder are generally characterized by high silicon content. In this study,
      silicon amendment, at 0.16 and 0.32 g Si/kg soil, enhanced resistance of a
      susceptible rice variety to the rice leaf folder. Silicon addition to rice plants
      at both the low and high rates significantly extended larval development and
      reduced larval survival rate and pupation rate in the rice leaf folder. When
      applied at the high rate, silicon amendment reduced third-instars' weight gain
      and pupal weight. Altogether, intrinsic rate of increase, finite rate of increase
      and net reproduction rate of the rice leaf folder population were all reduced at
      both the low and high silicon addition rates. Although the third instars consumed
      more in silicon-amended treatments, C:N ratio in rice leaves was significantly
      increased and food conversion efficiencies were reduced due to increased silicon
      concentration in rice leaves. Our results indicate that reduced food quality and
      food conversion efficiencies resulted from silicon addition account for the
      enhanced resistance in the susceptible rice variety to the rice leaf folder. 

PMID- 25837636
TI  - Morphometric parameters of extraocular rectus muscles evaluated by dynamic
      multipositional magnetic resonance.
AB  - PURPOSE: To establish normal values of morphologic parameters of extraocular
      rectus muscles visualized in different gaze positions by means of an accessible
      method of dynamic-multipositional magnetic resonance imaging (dmMRI). METHODS:
      Twenty eyes of 10 healthy, orthotropic subjects were examined. A 1.5T scanner
      (Avanto) with standard head coil was used. The protocol of dmMRI included 6 gaze
      positions in 10 degrees  intervals in which 13-second, orbital, T2 sequences were
      performed in quasi-coronal plane. The measurements of extraocular rectus muscles
      shape, sectional area, and volume were obtained with use of ImageJ 1.38x (NIH)
      software. RESULTS: Relative change in cross-sectional area between position of
      rest and gaze of action of each muscle appears to be significant just in the
      medial and posterior parts of their belly. The maximal cross-section area
      increases significantly when the muscle contracts (21% to 32% depending on the
      muscle). The superior rectus must be assessed along with levator palpebrae as the
      distinction between their bellies is difficult. Relative change in partial muscle
      volume on contraction ranged from 12.3% to 21.6% depending on the muscle. Muscle
      contraction results in more circular shape of its belly while relaxation is more
      of an ellipse. CONCLUSIONS: Dynamic-multipositional MRI performed in the proposed
      manner is an accessible and repeatable method for visualization of extraocular
      rectus muscles. Assessment of morphometric parameters such as muscle shape,
      maximal cross-section area, and partial muscle volume is easy with digital
      imaging software.

PMID- 25837638
TI  - Meta-analysis of retinal changes in unilateral amblyopia using optical coherence
      tomography.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate retinal changes in unilateral amblyopia using optical
      coherence tomography. METHODS: Major literature databases were searched for
      relevant studies. The primary outcome parameters were foveal minimum thickness
      (FMT), mean foveal thickness (MFT), mean macular thickness (MMT), and
      peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness. Efficacy estimates
      were evaluated by standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval
      (CI) for changes in the outcomes of interest. RESULTS: This meta-analysis
      included 28 clinical trials involving 408 patients .The FMT, MFT, and MMT in the
      amblyopic eyes was significantly greater than that of the fellow eyes (SMD =
      0.22, 95% CI 0.05-0.39, p = 0.011; SMD = 0.21, 95% CI 0.06-0.36, p = 0.005; SMD =
      0.21, 95% CI 0.08-0.35, p = 0.002, respectively). Only FMT was significantly
      increased in the amblyopia group compared with the normal control group (SMD =
      0.38, 95% CI 0.19-0.57, p<0.00001). Analysis showed that pRNFL thickness in the
      amblyopic eyes was thicker than in the fellow eyes (SMD = 0.13, 95% CI 0.02-0.24,
      p = 0.016). We did not find that those outcome measures differ between strabismic
      and anisometropic amblyopia. CONCLUSIONS: The pooled evidence indicates that the
      amblyopic process may involve the retina, especially the macula. A thicker
      foveola was found in the amblyopic eyes when compared with visually normal
      control eyes. Further larger-scale studies especially involving emmetropic normal
      subjects will be valuable.

PMID- 25837637
TI  - Clinical analysis of 23-gauge vitrectomy for the treatment of acute
      endophthalmitis after cataract surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: We performed a retrospective study to evaluate the surgical efficacy and
      timing of 23-G vitrectomy for acute endophthalmitis following cataract surgery,
      and to determine when silicone oil tamponade and intraocular lens (IOL) removal
      are indicated during vitrectomy for endophthalmitis. METHODS: We enrolled 21
      patients (21 eyes) diagnosed with acute endophthalmitis following cataract
      surgery who underwent endoscope-assisted 23-G vitrectomy using a wide-angle
      noncontact lens. Silicone oil tamponade was performed when retinal tear or
      detachment occurred. The IOL was not removed during primary vitrectomy.
      Postoperative systemic broad-spectrum antibiotics were used. RESULTS: All
      infections were controlled by treatment. Best-corrected visual acuity was >0.05
      in 14 patients (66.7%) after treatment, which was significantly higher than that
      before treatment (2/21, 9.5%). Two patients experienced retinal detachment at 10
      and 14 days after primary vitrectomy; the IOL was removed during secondary
      surgery, and silicone oil tamponade was performed. One patient experienced
      endophthalmitis recurrence 2 months after vitrectomy; secondary surgery was
      performed to remove the peripheral vitreous body, the pars plana of the ciliary
      body, and the IOL and capsule. CONCLUSIONS: Vitrectomy should be performed when
      acute endophthalmitis is diagnosed following cataract surgery. Silicone oil
      tamponade should be performed only when retinal break or detachment occurs. The
      IOL does not necessarily require removal.

PMID- 25837639
TI  - Intraocular lens power changes after mitomycin trabeculectomy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate biometric changes after mitomycin C augmented trabeculectomy
      and their effect on intraocular lens (IOL) power calculation using different
      formulas. METHODS: In this prospective, interventional case series study, 34 eyes
      of 31 phakic glaucoma patients who were scheduled for primary trabeculectomy were
      enrolled. Using a noncontact biometry device (Lenstar, Haag-Streit AG, Koeniz,
      Switzerland), axial length (AL), mean corneal power, and IOL power were
      calculated with the Hoffer Q, Holladay, and SRK/T formulas 1 day before surgery
      and compared to those obtained 3 and 6 months after the operation. Bland-Altman
      plot was used to determine agreement between preoperative and postoperative IOL
      power values. RESULTS: The AL was significantly decreased at month 3 (-0.14 +/-
      0.13 mm) and month 6 (-0.14 +/- 0.15 mm) as compared to baseline values (both p
      values <0.001). Mean corneal power increased significantly at month 3 (0.41 +/-
      0.46 D; p<0.001) and month 6 (0.27 +/- 0.47 D; p = 0.008). Using different
      formulas, IOL power did not change significantly after the operation (all
      ps>=0.17). The IOL power changes using the Hoffer Q formula were -0.09 +/- 0.76
      (p = 0.505) and 0.14 +/- 0.9 D (p = 0.442) at 3 and 6 months, respectively;
      corresponding values were -0.1 +/- 0.75 (p = 0.427) and 0.16 +/- 0.79 D (p =
      0.319) for Holladay and 0.01 +/- 0.64 (p = 0.895) and 0.2 +/- 0.71 D (p = 0.17)
      employing the SRK/T formula. CONCLUSIONS: Despite significant changes in AL and
      corneal power after trabeculectomy, IOL power calculation remains unchanged;
      therefore adjustment of IOL power calculation after trabeculectomy seems
      unnecessary.

PMID- 25837640
TI  - Choroidal and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in adults with
      anisometropic amblyopia.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate choroidal thickness, macular thickness, and peripapillary
      retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in amblyopic eyes compared to fellow
      and normal control eyes using high-definition spectral-domain optical coherence
      tomography (SD-OCT). METHODS: Fifty-four without any systemic problem and ocular
      disease participated in this prospective study. Inclusion criteria included
      individuals older than 18 years with anisometropic amblyopia. Choroidal
      thickness, central macular thickness (CMT), and RNFL thickness were measured by
      using enhanced depth imaging SD-OCT. The choroidal thickness was measured at the
      fovea and at 500 um intervals from the foveal center in both temporal and nasal
      directions. Axial length measurements of the cases were also recorded. RESULTS:
      Mean peripapillary RNFL thickness of the amblyopic, fellow, and control eyes was
      107.5 +/- 15.5 um, 109.3 +/- 12.7 um, and 108.8 +/- 8.6 um, respectively (p =
      0.343). The average CMT was 231.7 +/- 14.7 um in amblyopic eyes, 232.5 +/- 15.7
      MUm in fellow eyes, and 230.8 +/- 14.8 um in control eyes (p = 0.599). Mean
      subfoveal choroidal thickness was significantly greater in the amblyopic eyes
      than in the fellow and control eyes (396.3 +/- 104.3 um, 361.0 +/- 103.9 um,
      390.6 +/- 91.7 um). Mean axial measurement in amblyopic eyes was 22.7 +/- 1.3 mm
      (20.5-26.1), in fellow eyes 23.1 +/- 0.9 mm (20.9-25.0), and in control eyes 23.3
      +/- 0.9 mm. CONCLUSIONS: In adults with anisometropic amblyopia, subfoveal,
      temporal, and nasal choroidal thickness of amblyopic eyes are significantly
      thicker than in fellow eyes. However, no significant differences in peripapillary
      RNFL thickness or CMT were found between amblyopic and fellow or control eyes.

PMID- 25837641
TI  - Choroidal neovascular membrane following hormonal stimulation for in vitro
      fertilization.
AB  - PURPOSE: To report the onset of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) following
      hormonal stimulation for in vitro fertilization (IVF) in a healthy young woman.
      METHODS: A 31-year-old woman presented with visual impairment following hormonal
      stimulation for IVF. Clinical history was collected and best-corrected visual
      acuity (BCVA), complete eye examination, optical coherence tomography (OCT),
      fluorescein angiography (FA), and indocyanine green angiography were -performed.
      RESULTS: Clinical history was negative with the exception of the use of
      medications for IVF in the previous weeks. Ocular examination revealed the
      presence of a CNV in the right eye, confirmed by OCT and FA, with a BCVA of 0.7
      decimal units. Possible ocular and systemic diseases associated with CNV
      development were investigated and excluded. Treatment with 3 monthly intravitreal
      injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was effective in
      reducing CNV size and restoring visual acuity. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first
      report describing the development of CNV following hormonal stimulation for IVF.
      The development of CNV may be associated with changes of sex hormones, cytokines,
      and angiogenic factor levels, including VEGF, induced by hormonal stimulation.

PMID- 25837643
TI  - Changes in the cornea related to sickle cell disease: a pilot investigation.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate corneal structural changes (central corneal thickness,
      endothelial cell count, and cellular morphology) in patients with sickle cell
      disease (SCD). METHODS: This prospective study included 56 patients with SCD and
      50 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects without any eye disease aside from
      refractive errors. Endothelial cell density (ECD), percentage of hexagonality,
      and the coefficient of variation in cell size (CV) were measured using noncontact
      specular microscopy, and central corneal thickness (CCT) was measured by
      pachymetry. RESULTS: The mean CCT value was 509.6 +/- 20.7 MUm in the study group
      and 520.8 +/- 23.6 MUm in the control group. The mean ECD, CV, and percentage of
      hexagonality values in the study group were 2712 +/- 335 cells/mm2, 34.5 +/-
      5.3%, and 57.2 +/- 6.6%, respectively, and 3030 +/- 247 cells/mm2, 31.6 +/- 5.0%,
      and 60.4 +/- 6.9% in the control group, respectively. Endothelial cell density (p
      = 0.001), CCT (p = 0.011), CV (p = 0.005), and percentage of hexagonality values
      (p = 0.018) were significantly different between the study and control groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study indicate that patients with SCD had
      considerable morphologic changes in the structure of the cornea when compared to
      healthy subjects.

PMID- 25837644
TI  - Undiagnosed patent foramen ovale as a rare cause for branch retinal artery
      occlusion.
AB  - PURPOSE: To present the case of a man with branch retinal artery occlusion (BRAO)
      and concomitant patent foramen ovale (PFO), which was first diagnosed during the
      evaluation of BRAO. METHODS: A 35-year-old man presented with blurred vision in
      the left eye for 2 days. His best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 6/6 in the
      right eye and 6/12 in the left eye. He had no ophthalmic or medical history.
      RESULTS: Ophthalmologic examination revealed a left inferior BRAO, confirmed by
      fluorescein angiography. The patient underwent a thorough diagnostic workup.
      Cardiologic examination with transesophageal echocardiography revealed a right-to
      left shunt across a PFO. The patient was treated with clopidogrel and at the 15
      day review, BCVA in his left eye was 6/7.5 and the retinal edema was resolved, as
      detected on optical coherence tomography, but relative afferent pupillary defect
      was persistent. The patient had developed no other embolic event at the 9-month
      follow-up, having undergone an operation for PFO repair. CONCLUSIONS: Patent
      foramen ovale, although usually asymptomatic, should be considered among the
      potential causes of BRAO, especially in young patients. Prompt diagnosis and
      liaison with cardiologists is important to help prevent ocular or systemic
      embolic events and associated morbidity.

PMID- 25837645
TI  - Comparison of refractive error and central corneal thickness in neonates of
      diabetic and healthy mothers.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the refractive error and central corneal thickness of
      neonates born to diabetic mothers and to compare these parameters with those of
      healthy neonates born to healthy mothers. METHODS: This prospective, cross
      sectional study was conducted on 16 consecutive full-term neonates born to
      diabetic mothers and 17 full-term healthy neonates. The neonates underwent
      ophthalmic examination within the first week of life. Refractive measurements
      were assessed by retinoscopy. Central corneal thickness was recorded by using
      ultrasound pachymeter. RESULTS: The mean spherical equivalent for both eyes in
      the diabetic group was +2.9 +/- 2.6 and significantly greater than that of the
      nondiabetic group (+1.3 +/- 2.1 D) (p = 0.008). The mean sphere value was +2.6 +/
      2.4 D in the diabetic group and +1.0 +/- 2.0 D in the nondiabetic group,
      significantly higher in the diabetic group (p = 0.008). In both groups, mean
      astigmatism was less than 1.00 D, it was lower in the diabetic group, and there
      was no statistically significant difference between groups (p = 0.95). There were
      2 patients in each group with anisometropia. The mean central corneal thickness
      in the nondiabetic group was 542.9 +/- 21.9 MUm whereas it was 592.0 +/- 40.2 MUm
      in the diabetic group, which was significantly thicker (p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:
      Our study revealed that neonates of diabetic mothers seem to be more
      hypermetropic compared to full-term healthy neonates; however, we did not observe
      any significant astigmatism in either group. Neonates of diabetic mothers had
      thicker corneas.

PMID- 25837646
TI  - Correction: Multimorbidity patterns in a national representative sample of the
      Spanish adult population.

PMID- 25837647
TI  - Traffic and Criminal Behavior of Adults with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity with
      a Prospective Follow-Up from Birth to the Age of 40 Years.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether individuals with
      attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) followed up to age 40 have a
      higher mortality, more involvement in criminal behavior, increased traffic
      accidents, and frequency or registered violations against traffic rules or
      whether they have been more frequently victims to crimes. METHODS: The ADHD
      cohort (N = 122) born in 1971-1974 was isolated at the age of 9 years from the
      base cohort of 865 children who had known risk factors at birth and were still
      alive at the age of 5 years. Ninety-four healthy individuals born during the same
      years served as control subjects. None of the individuals with ADHD had used
      psychostimulants before their adolescence. The follow-up data were available from
      the newborn period until the ages of 5 and 9 years. At the ages of 16 and 30, the
      data were collected via questionnaire. For this study, the national police
      registers (last 5 years) were examined for traffic violations, crimes, or being
      an object of a criminal act when the persons reached the age of 40 years.
      RESULTS: Ten men and one woman with ADHD but none of the controls had died by the
      age of 40. Three died of disease-related incidents, and 8 (13%) died of abnormal
      causes such as suicide (3), traffic accident (2), substance abuse (2), or
      violence (1). During the follow-up period, individuals with ADHD had been
      involved in violent behavior or economic criminality more frequently than the
      control subjects. They were also more commonly victims of criminal acts. No
      difference was found in traffic citations between those with ADHD and control
      subjects (at 35-40 years) when all traffic crimes were considered. A difference
      was not observed in the frequency of traffic accidents. However, there was a
      significant difference in drunk driving (at the ages of 30 and 35-40) and the
      number of persons without a driver's license. DISCUSSION: Subjects with ADHD
      showed an elevated risk of being involved in criminality and had a higher risk of
      dying before the age of 40 years. The early detection of ADHD in childhood and
      appropriate treatments and family support may decrease criminality and save both
      money and human distress.

PMID- 25837648
TI  - Shockwave therapy for refractory angina: promising but not definitive.

PMID- 25837649
TI  - Can optical coherence tomography objectively assess neointimal pattern after
      stenting?

PMID- 25837650
TI  - Clinoidal meningioma associated with an internal carotid artery aneurysm.
AB  - Coexistence of primary brain neoplasms with intracranial aneurysms is rare but
      presents a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to healthcare providers. We
      describe the case of a 60-year-old woman who had a left internal carotid artery
      aneurysm with a small ipsilateral clinoidal meningioma. The meningioma was an
      unexpected finding encountered during the surgery for aneurysmal clipping. Both
      the lesions were dealt with simultaneously. 

PMID- 25837651
TI  - Phlegmasia cerulea dolens in a teenage boy found to have Factor V Leiden.
AB  - A 16-year-old boy with morbid obesity and asthma presented with 1 week of
      progressive right leg pain, swelling and discolouration that started 1 week after
      a minor fall. Ultrasound and then CT with contrast revealed a large occlusive
      deep venous thrombosis (DVT) extending from the calf through the inferior vena
      cava bifurcation. Heparin was initiated and catheter-directed thrombolysis with
      tissue plasminogen activator and balloon angioplasty were performed with good
      flow postprocedure, however, the clot reaccumulated after several days and the
      procedure had to be repeated. After this occurred twice more, finally a right
      common iliac and femoral vein stent was placed to prevent clot reaccumulation and
      vein stenosis. Hypercoagability testing revealed activated protein C resistance
      and genetic testing confirmed homozygous Factor V Leiden (FVL). Family history
      was significant for maternal lower extremity DVT at age 21 and possible DVT in
      the patient's maternal grandmother.

PMID- 25837652
TI  - Anterior mediastinal mass due to thoracic splenosis.

PMID- 25837653
TI  - Psychosis post corona radiata and lentiform nucleus infarction.
AB  - Complications of stroke can include neuropsychiatric symptoms. However, post
      stroke psychosis is rare. We report a case where an acute presentation of
      psychosis, depression and fluctuating cognitive impairment in a middle-aged man
      turned out to be related to a silent brain infarction. The patient had a
      background of poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus with glycated
      haemoglobin level of 9.0-11.0%, hypertension and ischaemic heart disease. His CT
      brain results showed multifocal infarct with hypodensities at bilateral lentiform
      nucleus and bilateral corona radiata. His strong genetic predisposition of
      psychosis and a history of brief psychotic disorder with complete remission 3
      years prior to the current presentation might possibly contribute to his post
      stroke atypical neuropsychiatric presentation, and posed diagnostic challenges.
      He showed marked improvement with risperidone 6 mg nocte, chlorpromazine 50 mg
      nocte and fluvoxamine of 200 mg nocte. The need of comprehensive treatments to
      modify his stroke risk factors was addressed.

PMID- 25837654
TI  - Diabetic ketoacidosis in the setting of HNF1A-maturity onset diabetes of the
      young.
AB  - A female patient was treated for type 1 diabetes following presentation at 12
      years of age with hyperglycaemia, polydipsia and weight loss. Eleven years later,
      while screening relatives attending a genetic diabetes clinic, she was identified
      as potentially harbouring a mutation in the hepatocyte nuclear factor 1A (HNF1A)
      gene. Biochemical testing supported the diagnosis of HNF1A-maturity onset
      diabetes of the young (MODY) and genetic screening was positive for a
      heterozygous mutation in the HNF1A gene. The patient transitioned from insulin to
      sulfonylurea therapy. Three years later, in the setting of poor metabolic
      control, the patient presented to the emergency department with a history of
      nausea, vomiting and palpitations. A diagnosis of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) was
      confirmed and successfully treated. Although a diagnosis of HNF1A-MODY is rarely
      considered in a patient with a history of DKA, we demonstrate that DKA is
      possible in the setting of non-compliance with sulfonylurea therapy.

PMID- 25837655
TI  - The three faces of herpes simplex epithelial keratitis: a steroid-induced
      situation.

PMID- 25837656
TI  - Suspected ovarian molar pregnancy after assisted reproductive technology
      conception: a diagnostic challenge.
AB  - A 32-year-old patient with primary infertility received in vitro fertilisation
      (IVF) therapy. Four weeks later she developed intermittent left iliac fossa pain.
      Transvaginal ultrasound showed an empty uterus and an adnexal mass adjacent to
      the right ovary. Serum beta-human chronic gonadotropin was 33,492 IU/L. At
      laparoscopy a mass attached to right ovary, suggestive of a right ovarian ectopic
      pregnancy, was excised. Histological examination confirmed an ovarian ectopic
      gestation, but noted enlarged chorionic villi and trophoblastic atypia, which
      raised the suspicion of molar pregnancy. Subsequent p57 immunohistochemistry and
      DNA ploidy studies excluded a mole, however. Cases of suspected molar disease in
      ectopic pregnancy present a diagnostic challenge for both clinicians and
      histopathologists, and establishing a definitive diagnosis may be difficult.

PMID- 25837657
TI  - Herlyn-Werner-Wunderlich syndrome: a rare cause of acute urinary retention in an
      adolescent girl.

PMID- 25837658
TI  - Eosinophilic ulcer of the tongue: a rare and confusing clinical entity.
AB  - Eosinophilic ulcers are rare, benign, reactive and often self-limiting lesions of
      the oral cavity. Although the aetiology is not clear, trauma is believed to play
      a role in their development. Clinically, the lesion manifests as an isolated
      ulcer, with raised, indurated borders and a yellow fibrinous floor; because of
      its long duration it often leads to the suspicion of squamous cell carcinoma.
      Although the ulcer is benign in nature, a biopsy is necessary to rule out
      malignancy. Histopathologically, the ulcer is characterised by the presence of
      dense inflammatory infiltrate extending into the deeper muscle layers with sheets
      of lymphocytes intermixed with eosinophils. This is a case report of a 65-year
      old woman with an eosinophilic ulcer on the lateral border of the tongue. The
      ulcer healed rapidly after an incisional biopsy and topical steroid application.
      The final diagnosis was achieved following clinical and histopathological
      examination. 

PMID- 25837659
TI  - Cellulose nanomaterials in water treatment technologies.
AB  - Cellulose nanomaterials are naturally occurring with unique structural,
      mechanical and optical properties. While the paper and packaging, automotive,
      personal care, construction, and textiles industries have recognized cellulose
      nanomaterials' potential, we suggest cellulose nanomaterials have great untapped
      potential in water treatment technologies. In this review, we gather evidence of
      cellulose nanomaterials' beneficial role in environmental remediation and
      membranes for water filtration, including their high surface area-to-volume
      ratio, low environmental impact, high strength, functionalizability, and
      sustainability. We make direct comparison between cellulose nanomaterials and
      carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in terms of physical and chemical properties, production
      costs, use and disposal in order to show the potential of cellulose nanomaterials
      as a sustainable replacement for CNTs in water treatment technologies. Finally,
      we comment on the need for improved communication and collaboration across the
      myriad industries invested in cellulose nanomaterials production and development
      to achieve an efficient means to commercialization. 

PMID- 25837660
TI  - Evaluating the clinical impact of a genomic classifier in prostate cancer using
      individualized decision analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Currently there is controversy surrounding the optimal way to treat
      patients with prostate cancer in the post-prostatectomy setting. Adjuvant
      therapies carry possible benefits of improved curative results, but there is
      uncertainty in which patients should receive adjuvant therapy. There are concerns
      about giving toxicity to a whole population for the benefit of only a subset. We
      hypothesized that making post-prostatectomy treatment decisions using genomics
      based risk prediction estimates would improve cancer and quality of life
      outcomes. METHODS: We developed a state-transition model to simulate outcomes
      over a 10 year horizon for a cohort of post-prostatectomy patients. Outcomes
      included cancer progression rates at 5 and 10 years, overall survival, and
      quality-adjusted survival with reductions for treatment, side effects, and cancer
      stage. We compared outcomes using population-level versus individual-level risk
      of cancer progression, and for genomics-based care versus usual care treatment
      recommendations. RESULTS: Cancer progression outcomes, expected life-years (LYs),
      and expected quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were significantly different
      when individual genomics-based cancer progression risk estimates were used in
      place of population-level risk estimates. Use of the genomic classifier to guide
      treatment decisions provided small, but statistically significant, improvements
      in model outcomes. We observed an additional 0.03 LYs and 0.07 QALYs, a 12%
      relative increase in the 5-year recurrence-free survival probability, and a 4%
      relative reduction in the 5-year probability of metastatic disease or death.
      CONCLUSIONS: The use of genomics-based risk prediction to guide treatment
      decisions may improve outcomes for prostate cancer patients. This study offers a
      framework for individualized decision analysis, and can be extended to
      incorporate a wide range of personal attributes to enable delivery of patient
      centered tools for informed decision-making.

PMID- 25837661
TI  - Small molecule inhibitor of formin homology 2 domains (SMIFH2) reveals the roles
      of the formin family of proteins in spindle assembly and asymmetric division in
      mouse oocytes.
AB  - Dynamic actin reorganization is the main driving force for spindle migration and
      asymmetric cell division in mammalian oocytes. It has been reported that various
      actin nucleators including Formin-2 are involved in the polarization of the
      spindle and in asymmetric cell division. In mammals, the formin family is
      comprised of 15 proteins. However, their individual roles in spindle migration
      and/or asymmetric division have not been elucidated yet. In this study, we
      employed a newly developed inhibitor for formin family proteins, small molecule
      inhibitor of formin homology 2 domains (SMIFH2), to assess the functions of the
      formin family in mouse oocyte maturation. Treatment with SMIFH2 during in vitro
      maturation of mouse oocytes inhibited maturation by decreasing cytoplasmic and
      cortical actin levels. In addition, treatment with SMIFH2, especially at higher
      concentrations (500 MUM), impaired the proper formation of meiotic spindles,
      indicating that formins play a role in meiotic spindle formation. Knockdown of
      the mDia2 formins caused a similar decrease in oocyte maturation and abnormal
      spindle morphology, mimicking the phenotype of SMIFH2-treated cells.
      Collectively, these results suggested that besides Formin-2, the other proteins
      of the formin, including mDia family play a role in asymmetric division and
      meiotic spindle formation in mammalian oocytes. 

PMID- 25837662
TI  - Mini percutaneous nephrolithotomy in the treatment of renal and upper ureteral
      stones: Lessons learned from a review of the literature.
AB  - The aim of this review is to present the most recent data regarding the
      indications of mini percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL), the results and the
      complications of the method. Medline was searched from 1997 to January 2014,
      restricted to English language. The Medline search used a strategy including
      medical subject headings and free-text protocols. PCNL is a well-established
      treatment option for patients with large and complex renal calculi. In order to
      decrease morbidity associated with larger instruments like blood loss,
      postoperative pain and potential renal damage, a modification of the technique of
      standard PCNL has been developed. This is performed with a miniature endoscope
      via a small percutaneous tract (11-20 F) and was named as minimally invasive or
      mini-PCNL. This method was initially described as an alternative percutaneous
      approach to large renal stones in a pediatric patient population. Furthermore, it
      has become a treatment option for adults as well, and it is used as a treatment
      for calculi of various sizes and locations. However, the terminology has not been
      standardized yet, and the procedure lacks a clear definition. Nevertheless, mini
      PCNL can achieve comparable stone-free rates to the conventional method, even for
      large stones. It is a safe procedure, and no major complications are reported.
      Although less invasiveness has not been clearly demonstrated so far, mini-PCNL is
      usually related to less blood loss and shorter hospital stay than the standard
      method. 

PMID- 25837663
TI  - Mutations of the human interferon alpha-2b gene in brain tumor patients exposed
      to different environmental conditions.
AB  - This study was aimed at finding out mutations of an anticancerous, antiviral and
      immunomodulatory gene (human interferon alpha-2b) in low- and high-grade brain
      tumor patients and correlate from hematological profiles. A molecular analysis
      was performed in which DNAs were extracted from brain biopsy samples of brain
      tumor patients. The gene was amplified through the PCR technique, and genetic
      data from sequencing were analyzed by bioinformatics to determine how mutations
      will lead to changes in human interferon alpha 2b protein in patients. A total of
      38% gene mutations were identified among brain tumor patients. The highest
      percentage of (36%) frameshift mutations was identified. Hematological analysis
      shows modulations in the 'lymphocytes' parameter in a majority (64%) of the brain
      tumor patients. Environmental factors have been reported as risks of brain
      cancer. Patients were found to be under environmental stress from contaminated
      drinking water and from local gamma radiations. Brain tumor patients were found
      to have various mutations in an immunomodulating human interferon alpha-2b gene.
      These patients had immunosuppression that was further affirmed from their
      hematological profiles. This analysis may be helpful to develop certain
      biomarkers that may be used to develop novel immunotherapeutical drugs, which
      enhance a better immune response. 

PMID- 25837664
TI  - BCR/ABL oncogene-induced PI3K signaling pathway leads to chronic myeloid leukemia
      pathogenesis by impairing immuno-modulatory function of hemangioblasts.
AB  - An increasing number of studies indicate that during development, endothelial and
      hematopoietic cells derive from common progenitors named hemangioblasts that have
      important roles in the pathogenesis. This is particularly true in chronic myeloid
      leukemia (CML). Here, we isolated fetal liver kinase-1-positive (Flk1(+)) cells
      from CML patients and found they expressed BCR/ABL-specific CML oncogene. We
      examined their biological characteristics as well as immunological functions and
      further detected the possible molecular mechanism involved in the leukemia
      genesis. We showed that CML patient-derived Flk1(+)CD31(-)CD34(-) mesenchymal
      stem cells (MSCs) had normal morphology, phenotype and karyotype but appeared
      impaired immuno-modulatory function. The capacity of Flk1(+)CD31(-)CD34(-) MSCs
      from CML patients to inhibit T lymphocyte activation and proliferation was
      impaired in vitro. CML patient-derived MSCs have dampening immuno-modulatory
      functions, suggesting that the dysregulation of hematopoiesis and immune response
      might originate from MSCs rather than hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). These
      Ph(+) putative CML hemangioblast upregulated TGF-beta1 and resultantly activated
      matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) to enhance s-KitL and s-ICAM-1 secretion,
      which activated c-kit(+) HSCs from the quiescent state to the proliferative
      state. Further studies showed that phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase
      (PI3K)/Akt/nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB signaling pathway was involved in CML
      pathogenesis. Flk1(+)CD31(-)CD34(-) MSCs that express BCR/ABL leukemia oncogene
      are hemangioblasts and they have a critical role in the progression of CML
      through PI3K/Akt/NF-kappaB signaling pathway. 

PMID- 25837665
TI  - Adenoviral-mediated imaging of gene transfer using a somatostatin receptor
      cytosine deaminase fusion protein.
AB  - Suicide gene therapy is a process by which cells are administered a gene that
      encodes a protein capable of converting a nontoxic prodrug into an active toxin.
      Cytosine deaminase (CD) has been widely investigated as a means of suicide gene
      therapy owing to the enzyme's ability to convert the prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5
      FC) into the toxic compound 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). However, the extent of gene
      transfer is a limiting factor in predicting therapeutic outcome. The ability to
      monitor gene transfer, non-invasively, would strengthen the efficiency of
      therapy. In this regard, we have constructed and evaluated a replication
      deficient adenovirus (Ad) containing the human somatostatin receptor subtype 2
      (SSTR2) fused with a C-terminal yeast CD gene for the non-invasive monitoring of
      gene transfer and therapy. The resulting Ad (AdSSTR2-yCD) was evaluated in vitro
      in breast cancer cells to determine the function of the fusion protein. These
      studies demonstrated that both the SSTR2 and yCD were functional in binding
      assays, conversion assays and cytotoxicity assays. In vivo studies similarly
      demonstrated the functionality using conversion assays, biodistribution studies
      and small animal positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging studies. In
      conclusion, the fusion protein has been validated as useful for the non-invasive
      imaging of yCD expression and will be evaluated in the future for monitoring yCD
      based therapy. 

PMID- 25837666
TI  - Voice outcomes following radiation versus laser microsurgery for T1 glottic
      carcinoma: systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Systematic review of literature on patient-reported voice handicap
      following T1 glottic squamous cell carcinoma treatment using transoral laser
      microsurgery or radiation therapy. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Web of Science, and
      Scopus (1997-2013). REVIEW METHODS: These data sources were searched for papers
      reporting Voice Handicap Index (VHI) after treatment of early glottic carcinoma.
      Review and reference cross-checking were performed using a priori selection
      criteria. Study data were abstracted and publication quality categorized
      independently by 2 authors. Corresponding authors were contacted to maximize data
      for analysis. Meta-analysis was performed only with studies that included both
      treatment modalities, to reduce heterogeneity and maximize rigor; random effects
      modeling was used to pool results. RESULTS: Eighteen publications were identified
      that reported VHI data following surgery and radiotherapy for T1 glottic
      carcinoma. No studies were randomized. When studies that reported multiple T
      stages or systematic treatment selection bias were excluded, 8 retrospective
      cohort studies describing 362 patients were suitable for meta-analysis. Follow-up
      time (mean, 47 months; range, 1-298 mo) and extent of surgical excision varied
      across studies. Six studies showed no VHI difference between treatment arms; 2
      favored radiotherapy over surgery (1 of which reported transmuscular cordectomy
      for all surgical patients); and none favored surgery. Meta-analysis showed no
      significant difference in posttreatment VHI between radiotherapy and surgery
      (mean difference, -5.52; 95% confidence interval, -11.40, 0.36; heterogeneity I
      (2) = 61%, P = .01). CONCLUSION: VHI scores were comparable following transoral
      laser microsurgery and radiation therapy for T1 glottic carcinoma in the current
      literature, suggesting no clinically significant difference in functional voice
      outcomes between treatment types.

PMID- 25837667
TI  - High risks of HIV transmission for men who have sex with men--a comparison of
      risk factors of HIV infection among MSM associated with recruitment channels in
      15 cities of China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: While the HIV epidemic varies greatly by region and population group
      throughout China, the HIV incidence among men who have sex with men (MSM)
      continues to rise at an alarmingly fast pace. We seek to analyze the risk factors
      associated with HIV infection among MSM recruited from different channels in
      large urban centers across China, in an attempt to shed light on the design of
      future targeted intervention strategies. METHODS: A total of 33,684 MSM from 14
      cities and one province were recruited from July to December 2011. Demographic
      (e.g. age, marital status, education) and behavioral (e.g. condom use, HIV
      testing history) data were collected using information collection cards. Blood
      samples were also collected to test for HIV and Syphilis. RESULTS: Participants
      were recruited from five different channels, and all demonstrated distinct
      characteristics. The overall rate of positive HIV screening was 6.27% and the
      rate of syphilis infection was 6.50%. Participants recruited from bathhouses had
      the highest HIV (11.80%) and syphilis infection rates (11.20%). Participants who
      were infected with syphilis had the highest HIV-positive screening rate (13.75%;
      95% CI OR, 2.33-3.06). living in the southwest region of the country (11.64%;
      OR=2.76, 95%CI OR 2.19-3.47), Being >20 years of age (P<0.001), living in the
      southwest region of the country (OR=2.76, 95%CI 2.19-3.47), not having sex with
      female over the previous 3 months (OR=1.27, 95%CI 1.09-1.48), no condom use
      during the last anal intercourse (OR=1.54, 95%CI 1.39-1.70) and other factors
      were all associated with a higher probability of having an HIV-positive test
      result. CONCLUSION: Depending on the way they are recruited, more targeted
      interventions are required to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among MSM with
      different characteristics and behaviors. Results from this study could provide
      evidence for researchers to conduct further studies and policy-makers to
      establish more effective and strategic interventions for MSM in China.

PMID- 25837668
TI  - Identification of 3-methylbutanoyl glycosides in green Coffea arabica beans as
      causative determinants for the quality of coffee flavors.
AB  - The quality of coffee green beans is generally evaluated by the sensory cupping
      test, rather than by chemical compound-based criteria. In this study, we examined
      the relationship between metabolites and cupping scores for 36 varieties of
      beans, using a nontargeted LC-MS-based metabolic profiling technique. The cupping
      score was precisely predicted with the metabolic information measured using LC
      MS. Two markers that strongly correlated with high cupping scores were determined
      to be isomers of 3-methylbutanoyl disaccharides (3MDs; 0.01-0.035 g/kg of beans)
      by spectroscopic analyses after purification, and one of them was a novel
      structure. Further, both the 3MDs were determined to be precursors of 3
      methylbutanoic acid that enhance the quality of coffee. The applicability of 3MDs
      as universal quality indicators was validated with another sample set. It was
      concluded that 3MDs are the causative metabolites determining beverage quality
      and can be utilized for green bean selection and as key compounds for improving
      the beverage quality. 

PMID- 25837669
TI  - Geographic variation of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, extrahepatic
      cholangiocarcinoma, and hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intrahepatic (ICC) and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas (ECC) are
      tumors that arise from cholangiocytes in the bile duct, but ICCs are coded as
      primary liver cancers while ECCs are coded as biliary tract cancers. The etiology
      of these tumors is not well understood. It has been suggested that the etiology
      of ICC is more similar to that of another type of liver cancer, hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC), than to the etiology of ECC. If this is true, geographic
      incidence patterns and trends in ICC incidence should be more similar to that of
      HCC than ECC. METHODS: To examine this hypothesis, data from the North American
      Association of Central Cancer Registries Cancer in North America data file were
      analyzed. Incidence rates and joinpoint trends were calculated by demographic
      subgroup. County-level incidence rates were mapped. RESULTS: Overall incidence
      rates, racial distribution, male:female ratio, and peak ages were more similar
      between ICC and ECC than with HCC. During 2000-2009, average annual incidence
      rates of ECC increased. During 2005-2009, average annual ICC incidence rates also
      increased. High rates for all three cancer sites were found in the Pacific
      region, particularly Hawaii and Alaska. Rates of ICC and ECC were also high in
      the Northeast and the upper Midwest, while rates of HCC were high in the South.
      CONCLUSIONS: Demographic patterns and geographical variation were more closely
      related between ICC and ECC than HCC, suggesting that the etiology of ICC and ECC
      may be similar. Increasing rates of both tumors suggest that further etiology
      studies are warranted.

PMID- 25837670
TI  - A Role for Astrocytes in Sensing the Brain Microenvironment and Neuro-Metabolic
      Integration.
AB  - Astrocytes occupy a strategic position in the brain where they can act as an
      interface between neurones and blood vessels, and neurones and the cerebro-spinal
      fluid. This location is ideal for functioning as interoceptors, as they may sense
      changes in brain microenvironment and contribute to the adaptive homeostatic
      responses coordinated by neuronal networks. Here we briefly review some of the
      recent evidence, which implicates the involvement of astrocytes in the central
      nervous control of breathing, sympathetic tone and blood glucose levels. L
      lactate appears a potentially crucial signaling molecule in the communication
      between astrocytes and neurones. Based on the available evidence, we conclude
      that astrocytes contribute to the homeostasis by playing a significant role in
      the brain's interoceptive mechanisms. 

PMID- 25837672
TI  - Repair of articular osteochondral defects of the knee joint using a composite
      lamellar scaffold.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The major problem with repair of an articular cartilage injury is the
      extensive difference in the structure and function of regenerated, compared with
      normal cartilage. Our work investigates the feasibility of repairing articular
      osteochondral defects in the canine knee joint using a composite lamellar
      scaffold of nano-beta-tricalcium phosphate (beta-TCP)/collagen (col) I and II
      with bone marrow stromal stem cells (BMSCs) and assesses its biological
      compatibility. METHODS: The bone-cartilage scaffold was prepared as a laminated
      composite, using hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (nano-HAP)/collagen I/copolymer of
      polylactic acid-hydroxyacetic acid as the bony scaffold, and sodium
      hyaluronate/poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) as the cartilaginous scaffold. Ten-to
      12-month-old hybrid canines were randomly divided into an experimental group and
      a control group. BMSCs were obtained from the iliac crest of each animal, and
      only those of the third generation were used in experiments. An articular
      osteochondral defect was created in the right knee of dogs in both groups. Those
      in the experimental group were treated by implanting the composites consisting of
      the lamellar scaffold of beta-TCP/col I/col II/BMSCs. Those in the control group
      were left untreated. RESULTS: After 12 weeks of implantation, defects in the
      experimental group were filled with white semi-translucent tissue, protruding
      slightly over the peripheral cartilage surface. After 24 weeks, the defect space
      in the experimental group was filled with new cartilage tissues, finely
      integrated into surrounding normal cartilage. The lamellar scaffold of beta
      TCP/col I/col II was gradually degraded and absorbed, while new cartilage tissue
      formed. In the control group, the defects were not repaired. CONCLUSION: This
      method can be used as a suitable scaffold material for the tissue-engineered
      repair of articular cartilage defects. Cite this article: Bone Joint Res
      2015;4:56-64.

PMID- 25837671
TI  - MicroRNA 181b regulates decorin production by dermal fibroblasts and may be a
      potential therapy for hypertrophic scar.
AB  - Hypertrophic scarring is a frequent fibroproliferative complication following
      deep dermal burns leading to impaired function and lifelong disfigurement.
      Decorin reduces fibrosis and induces regeneration in many tissues, and is
      significantly downregulated in hypertrophic scar and normal deep dermal
      fibroblasts. It was hypothesized that microRNAs in these fibroblasts downregulate
      decorin and blocking them would increase decorin and may prevent hypertrophic
      scarring. Lower decorin levels were found in hypertrophic scar as compared to
      normal skin, and in deep as compared to superficial dermis. A decorin 3' un
      translated region reporter assay demonstrated microRNA decreased decorin in deep
      dermal fibroblasts, and microRNA screening predicted miR- 24, 181b, 421, 526b, or
      543 as candidates. After finding increased levels of mir-181b in deep dermal
      fibroblasts, it was demonstrated that TGF-beta1 stimulation decreased miR-24 but
      increased miR-181b and that hypertrophic scar and deep dermis contained increased
      levels of miR-181b. By blocking miR-181b with an antagomiR, it was possible to
      increase decorin protein expression in dermal fibroblasts. This suggests miR-181b
      is involved in the differential expression of decorin in skin and wound healing.
      Furthermore, blocking miR-181b reversed TGF-beta1 induced decorin downregulation
      and myofibroblast differentiation in hypertrophic scar fibroblasts, suggesting a
      potential therapy for hypertrophic scar. 

PMID- 25837673
TI  - Combined multivariate statistical techniques, Water Pollution Index (WPI) and
      Daniel Trend Test methods to evaluate temporal and spatial variations and trends
      of water quality at Shanchong River in the Northwest Basin of Lake Fuxian, China.
AB  - Understanding spatial and temporal variations in river water quality and
      quantitatively evaluating the trend of changes are important in order to study
      and efficiently manage water resources. In this study, an analysis of Water
      Pollution Index (WPI), Daniel Trend Test, Cluster Analysis and Discriminant
      Analysis are applied as an integrated approach to quantitatively explore the
      spatial and temporal variations and the latent sources of water pollution in the
      Shanchong River basin, Northwest Basin of Lake Fuxian, China. We group all field
      surveys into 2 clusters (dry season and rainy season). Moreover, 14 sampling
      sites have been grouped into 3 clusters for the rainy season (highly polluted,
      moderately polluted and less polluted sites) and 2 clusters for the dry season
      (highly polluted and less polluted sites) based on their similarities and the
      level of pollution during the two seasons. The results show that the main trend
      of pollution was aggravated during the transition from the dry to the rainy
      season. The Water Pollution Index of Total Nitrogen is the highest of all
      pollution parameters, whereas the Chemical Oxygen Demand (Chromium) is the
      lowest. Our results also show that the main sources of pollution are farming
      activities alongside the Shanchong River, soil erosion and fish culture at
      Shanchong River reservoir area and domestic sewage from scattered rural
      residential area. Our results suggest that strategies to prevent water
      pollutionat the Shanchong River basin need to focus on non-point pollution
      control by employing appropriate fertilizer formulas in farming, and take the
      measures of soil and water conservation at Shanchong reservoir area, and
      purifying sewage from scattered villages. 

PMID- 25837674
TI  - Upgrading prostate cancer following proton beam therapy.
AB  - Pre- and post-radiation therapy (RT) effects on prostate histology have not been
      rigorously studied, but there appears to be a correlation between escalating
      radiation dosage and increasing post-RT histologic changes. Despite this dose
      response relationship, radiation-induced changes may be heterogenous among
      different patients and even within a single tumor. When assessing residual tumor
      it is important to understand biopsy evaluation in the post-RT setting. We
      present the case of a poorly differentiated prostate adenocarcinoma following
      proton beam RT in a 45-year-old man with pre-RT Gleason 4 + 3 = 7 disease
      diagnosed in the setting of an elevated serum prostate-specific antigen level. 

PMID- 25837675
TI  - MAP17 (PDZKIP1) Expression Determines Sensitivity to the Proteasomal Inhibitor
      Bortezomib by Preventing Cytoprotective Autophagy and NFkappaB Activation in
      Breast Cancer.
AB  - MAP17 is a small nonglycosylated membrane protein that is overexpressed in a high
      percentage of carcinomas. High levels of MAP17 enhance the tumorigenic properties
      of tumor cells by increasing oxidative stress, which is dependent on Na(+)
      coupled cotransport. Here, we show that MAP17 is associated with proteins
      involved in protein degradation and that proteasome inhibition induces autophagy.
      To analyze whether MAP17 could also alter this process, we used the proteasome
      inhibitor bortezomib (Velcade, PS-341), which is approved for the treatment of
      multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma, although it has a high rate of
      resistance emergence and poor efficacy in solid tumors. We provide evidence that
      bortezomib induces a cytoprotective effect by activating autophagy and NFkappaB
      nuclear translocation, responses that are repressed in the presence of high
      levels of MAP17 both in vitro and in vivo. Indeed, patients with multiple myeloma
      treated with bortezomib showed higher response rates and a longer time to
      progression associated with increased levels of MAP17 expression. The MAP17
      induced sensitivity to bortezomib is dependent on the oxidative status of the
      cells and the activity of Na(+)-coupled transporters because treatment with
      antioxidants or the inhibitor furosemide restores the cytoprotective activity
      induced by bortezomib. Therefore, bortezomib induces a prosurvival response
      through cytoprotective autophagy and NFkappaB nuclear translocation, which is
      repressed by high levels of MAP17. We propose that the levels of MAP17 could be
      used as a prognostic marker to predict the response to bortezomib in hematologic
      malignancies and in other tissues that are not commonly responsive to the drug.

PMID- 25837677
TI  - On the origin of differential phase contrast at a locally charged and globally
      charge-compensated domain boundary in a polar-ordered material.
AB  - Differential phase contrast (DPC) imaging in the scanning transmission electron
      microscope is applied to the study of a charged antiphase domain boundary in
      doped bismuth ferrite. A clear differential signal is seen, which matches the
      expected direction of the electric field at the boundary. However, further study
      by scanned diffraction reveals that there is no measurable deflection of the
      primary diffraction disc and hence no significant free E-field in the material.
      Instead, the DPC signal arises from a modulation of the intensity profile within
      the primary diffraction disc in the vicinity of the boundary. Simulations are
      used to show that this modulation arises purely from the local change in
      crystallographic structure at the boundary and not from an electric field. This
      study highlights the care that is required when interpreting signals recorded
      from ferroelectric materials using both DPC imaging and other phase contrast
      techniques. 

PMID- 25837676
TI  - Growth of the obligate anaerobe Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough under
      continuous low oxygen concentration sparging: impact of the membrane-bound oxygen
      reductases.
AB  - Although obligate anaerobe, the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris
      Hildenborough (DvH) exhibits high aerotolerance that involves several enzymatic
      systems, including two membrane-bound oxygen reductases, a bd-quinol oxidase and
      a cc(b/o)o3 cytochrome oxidase. Effect of constant low oxygen concentration on
      growth and morphology of the wild-type, single (Deltabd, Deltacox) and double
      deletion (Deltacoxbd) mutant strains of the genes encoding these oxygen
      reductases was studied. When both wild-type and deletion mutant strains were
      cultured in lactate/sulfate medium under constant 0.02% O2 sparging, they were
      able to grow but the final biomasses and the growth yield were lower than that
      obtained under anaerobic conditions. At the end of the growth, lactate was not
      completely consumed and when conditions were then switched to anaerobic, growth
      resumed. Time-lapse microscopy revealed that a large majority of the cells were
      then able to divide (over 97%) but the time to recover a complete division event
      was longer for single deletion mutant Deltabd than for the three other strains.
      Determination of the molar growth yields on lactate suggested that a part of the
      energy gained from lactate oxidation was derived toward cells
      protection/repairing against oxidative conditions rather than biosynthesis, and
      that this part was higher in the single deletion mutant Deltabd and, to a lesser
      extent, Deltacox strains. Our data show that when DvH encounters oxidative
      conditions, it is able to stop growing and to rapidly resume growing when
      conditions are switched to anaerobic, suggesting that it enters active dormancy
      sate under oxidative conditions. We propose that the pyruvate-ferredoxin
      oxidoreductase (PFOR) plays a central role in this phenomenon by reversibly
      switching from an oxidative-sensitive fully active state to an oxidative
      insensitive inactive state. The oxygen reductases, and especially the bd-quinol
      oxidase, would have a crucial function by maintaining reducing conditions that
      permit PFOR to stay in its active state. 

PMID- 25837678
TI  - Ten simple rules to win a Nobel Prize.

PMID- 25837679
TI  - Role of cysteine residues in the structure, stability, and alkane producing
      activity of cyanobacterial aldehyde deformylating oxygenase.
AB  - Aldehyde deformylating oxygenase (AD) is a key enzyme for alkane biosynthesis in
      cyanobacteria, and it can be used as a catalyst for alkane production in vitro
      and in vivo. However, three free Cys residues in AD may impair its catalytic
      activity by undesired disulfide bond formation and oxidation. To develop Cys
      deficient mutants of AD, we examined the roles of the Cys residues in the
      structure, stability, and alkane producing activity of AD from Nostoc punctiforme
      PCC 73102 by systematic Cys-to-Ala/Ser mutagenesis. The C71A/S mutations reduced
      the hydrocarbon producing activity of AD and facilitated the formation of a
      dimer, indicating that the conserved Cys71, which is located in close proximity
      to the substrate-binding site, plays crucial roles in maintaining the activity,
      structure, and stability of AD. On the other hand, mutations at Cys107 and Cys117
      did not affect the hydrocarbon producing activity of AD. Therefore, we propose
      that the C107A/C117A double mutant is preferable to wild type AD for alkane
      production and that the double mutant may be used as a pseudo-wild type protein
      for further improvement of the alkane producing activity of AD. 

PMID- 25837680
TI  - Liver Disease, Systemic Inflammation, and Growth Using a Mixed Parenteral Lipid
      Emulsion, Containing Soybean Oil, Fish Oil, and Medium Chain Triglycerides,
      Compared With Soybean Oil in Parenteral Nutrition-Fed Neonatal Piglets.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The optimal parenteral lipid emulsion for neonates should reduce the
      risk of intestinal failure-associated liver disease and inflammation, while
      supporting growth and development. This could be best achieved by balanced
      content of omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Using a
      neonatal piglet model of parenteral nutrition (PN), we compared a 100% soy oil
      based emulsion (omega-6:omega-3 PUFA: 7:1) with a mixed lipid emulsion comprising
      30% soy oil, 30% medium-chain triglycerides, 25% olive oil, and 15% fish oil
      (omega-6:omega-3 PUFA: approximately 2.5:1) with regard to liver disease,
      inflammation, and fatty acid content in plasma and brain. METHOD: Neonatal
      piglets, 3-6 days old, underwent jugular catheter insertion for isonitrogenous,
      isocaloric PN delivery over 14 days. The IL group (n = 8) was treated with
      Intralipid; the ML group (n = 10) was treated with the mixed lipid (SMOFlipid).
      Bile flow, liver chemistry, C-reactive protein (CRP), and PUFA content in plasma
      phospholipids and brain were compared. RESULTS: Compared with the IL group, ML
      treated piglets had increased bile flow (P = .008) and lower total bilirubin (P =
      .001) and CRP (P = .023) concentrations. The omega-6 long-chain PUFA content was
      lower in plasma and brain for the ML group. The key omega-3 long-chain PUFA for
      neonatal development, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), was not different between
      groups. CONCLUSION: The mixed lipid, having less omega-6 PUFA and more omega-3
      PUFA, was able to prevent liver disease and reduce systemic inflammation in PN
      fed neonatal piglets. However, this lipid did not increase plasma or brain DHA
      status, which would be desirable for neonatal developmental outcomes.

PMID- 25837681
TI  - Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty: To Do or Not to Do?

PMID- 25837683
TI  - 2'-Fluorination of tricyclo-DNA controls furanose conformation and increases RNA
      affinity.
AB  - The synthesis of 2'-fluoro tricyclo-DNA pyrimidine nucleosides with fluorine in
      the ribo-configuration and their incorporation into oligodeoxynucleotides was
      accomplished. Unlike the parent tc-T nucleoside, the 2'F-RNA-tc-T unit occurs in
      the 2'-exo conformation in the crystal. Specifically, F-RNA-tc-T was found to
      stabilize duplexes with RNA by +2 to +4  degrees C in Tm/mod. F-RNA-tc
      nucleosides mix well with the DNA backbone and thus open up possibilities of
      using shorter and mixed-(DNA/tc-DNA) backbone oligonucleotides for therapeutic
      applications. 

PMID- 25837684
TI  - Transient eigenmodes analysis of single-impact cantilever dynamics combining
      Fourier and wavelet transforms.
AB  - The transient eigenmode structure of an interacting cantilever during a single
      impact on different surfaces evidences the excitation of higher flexural modes
      and low frequency oscillations. The frequency shift of the fundamental mode after
      the tip comes into contact with the sample surface allows calculating the tip
      sample interaction stiffness and evidences the role of capillary condensation and
      surface wettability on the cantilever dynamics. Wavelet transforms are used to
      trace the origin of spectral features in the cantilever spectra and calculate
      force gradients of the tip-sample interaction. 

PMID- 25837682
TI  - Expanding our understanding of sequence-function relationships of type II
      polyketide biosynthetic gene clusters: bioinformatics-guided identification of
      Frankiamicin A from Frankia sp. EAN1pec.
AB  - A large and rapidly increasing number of unstudied "orphan" natural product
      biosynthetic gene clusters are being uncovered in sequenced microbial genomes. An
      important goal of modern natural products research is to be able to accurately
      predict natural product structures and biosynthetic pathways from these gene
      cluster sequences. This requires both development of bioinformatic methods for
      global analysis of these gene clusters and experimental characterization of
      select products produced by gene clusters with divergent sequence
      characteristics. Here, we conduct global bioinformatic analysis of all available
      type II polyketide gene cluster sequences and identify a conserved set of gene
      clusters with unique ketosynthase alpha/beta sequence characteristics in the
      genomes of Frankia species, a group of Actinobacteria with underexploited natural
      product biosynthetic potential. Through LC-MS profiling of extracts from several
      Frankia species grown under various conditions, we identified Frankia sp. EAN1pec
      as producing a compound with spectral characteristics consistent with the type II
      polyketide produced by this gene cluster. We isolated the compound, a pentangular
      polyketide which we named frankiamicin A, and elucidated its structure by NMR and
      labeled precursor feeding. We also propose biosynthetic and regulatory pathways
      for frankiamicin A based on comparative genomic analysis and literature
      precedent, and conduct bioactivity assays of the compound. Our findings provide
      new information linking this set of Frankia gene clusters with the compound they
      produce, and our approach has implications for accurate functional prediction of
      the many other type II polyketide clusters present in bacterial genomes. 

PMID- 25837685
TI  - Novel CuCo2O4/graphitic carbon nitride nanohybrids: Highly effective catalysts
      for reducing CO generation and fire hazards of thermoplastic polyurethane
      nanocomposites.
AB  - Novel spinel copper cobaltate (CuCo2O4)/graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) (named
      C-CuCo2O4) nanohybrids with different weight ratios of g-C3N4 to CuCo2O4 were
      successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method. Then the nanohybrids
      were added into the thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) matrix to prepare TPU
      nanocomposites using a master batch-melt compounding approach. Morphological
      analysis indicated that CuCo2O4 nanoparticles were uniformly distributed on g
      C3N4 nanosheets. Thermal analysis revealed that C-CuCo2O4-7 (proportion of g-C3N4
      to CuCo2O4 of 93/7) was an optimal nanohybrid for the properties improvement of
      TPU. Incorporation of C-CuCo2O4-7 into TPU led to significant improvements in the
      onset decomposition temperature, temperature at maximal mass loss rate and char
      yields. The heat release rate and total heat release of TPU/C-CuCo2O4-7 decreased
      by 37% and 31.3%, respectively, compared with those of pure TPU. Furthermore, the
      amounts of pyrolysis gaseous products, including combustible volatiles and carbon
      monoxide (CO), were remarkably reduced, whereas, non-flammable gas (carbon
      dioxide) increased. Excellent dispersion of C-CuCo2O4-7 in TPU host was achieved,
      due to the synergistic effect between g-C3N4 and CuCo2O4. Enhancements in the
      thermal stability and flame retardancy were attributed to the explanations that g
      C3N4 nanosheets showed the physical barrier effect and catalytic nitrogen
      monoxide (NO) decomposition, and that CuCo2O4 catalyzes the reaction of CO with
      NO and increased char residues.

PMID- 25837686
TI  - Selective histone deacetylase 6 inhibition prolongs survival in a lethal two-hit
      model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hemorrhagic shock (HS) followed by a subsequent insult ("second hit")
      often initiates an exaggerated systemic inflammatory response and multiple organ
      failure. We have previously demonstrated that valproic acid, a pan histone
      deacetylase inhibitor, could improve survival in a rodent "two-hit" model. In the
      present study, our goal was to determine whether selective inhibition of histone
      deacetylase 6 with Tubastatin A (Tub-A) could prolong survival in a two-hit model
      where HS was followed by sepsis from cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). METHODS:
      C57Bl/6J mice were subjected to sublethal HS (30% blood loss) and then randomly
      divided into two groups (n = 13 per group) such as Tub-A group (treatment) and
      vehicle (VEH) group (control). The Tub-A group was given an intraperitoneal
      injection of Tub-A (70 mg/kg) dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The VEH
      group was injected with DMSO (1 MUl/g body weight). After 24 h, all mice were
      subjected CLP followed immediately by another dose of Tub-A or DMSO. Survival was
      monitored for 10 d. In a parallel study, peritoneal irrigation fluid and liver
      tissue from Tub-A- or DMSO-treated mice were collected 3 h after CLP. Enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay was performed to quantify activity of the
      myeloperoxidase and concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and
      interleukin 6 (IL-6) in the peritoneal irrigation fluid. RNA was isolated from
      the liver tissue, and real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to
      measure relative messenger RNA levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6. RESULTS: Treatment
      with Tub-A significantly improved survival compared with that of the control
      (69.2% versus 15.4%). In addition, Tub-A significantly suppressed myeloperoxidase
      activity (169.9 +/- 8.4 ng/mL versus 70.4 +/- 17.4 ng/mL; P < 0.01) and reduced
      levels of cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-6 in the peritoneal fluid (TNF-alpha: 105.7
      +/- 4.7 versus 7.4 +/- 2.4 pg/mL; IL-6: 907.4 +/- 2.3 versus 483.6 +/- 1.6 pg/mL;
      P < 0.01) compared with those in the VEH control. Gene expression measured by
      real-time polymerase chain reaction confirmed that Tub-A inhibits transcription
      of TNF-alpha and IL-6. CONCLUSIONS: Tub-A treatment significantly improves
      survival, attenuates inflammation, and downregulates TNF-alpha and IL-6 gene
      expression in a rodent two-hit model.

PMID- 25837687
TI  - Origin of Enhanced Reactivity of a Microsolvated Nucleophile in Ion Pair SN2
      Reactions: The Cases of Sodium p-Nitrophenoxide with Halomethanes in Acetone.
AB  - In a kinetic experiment on the SN2 reaction of sodium p-nitrophenoxide with
      iodomethane in acetone-water mixed solvent, Humeres et al. (J. Org. Chem. 2001,
      66, 1163) found that the reaction depends strongly on the medium, and the fastest
      rate constant was observed in pure acetone. The present work tries to explore why
      acetone can enhance the reactivity of the title reactions. Accordingly, we make a
      mechanistic study on the reactions of sodium p-nitrophenoxide with halomethanes
      (CH3X, X = Cl, Br, I) in acetone by using a supramolecular/continuum model at the
      PCM-MP2/6-311+G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) level, in which the ion pair nucleophile
      is microsolvated by one to three acetone molecules. We compared the reactivity of
      the microsolvated ion pair nucleophiles with solvent-free ion pair and anionic
      ones. Our results clearly reveal that the microsolvated ion pair nucleophile is
      favorable for the SN2 reactions; meanwhile, the origin of the enhanced reactivity
      induced by microsolvation of the nucleophile is discussed in terms of the
      geometries of transition state (TS) structures and activation strain model,
      suggesting that lower deformation energies and stronger interaction energies
      between the deformed reactants in the TS lead to the lower overall reaction
      barriers for the SN2 reaction of microsolvated sodium p-nitrophenoxide toward
      halomethanes in acetone.

PMID- 25837688
TI  - The metabolism of 4-bromoaniline in the bile-cannulated rat: application of ICPMS
      ((79/81)Br), HPLC-ICPMS & HPLC-oaTOFMS.
AB  - 1. An excretion balance study was performed following i.p. administration of 4
      bromoaniline (50 mg kg(-1)) to bile-cannulated rats, using bromine-detected
      ((79/81)Br) ICPMS for quantification. Approximately 90% of the dose was recovered
      in urine (68.9 +/- 3.6%) and bile (21.4 +/- 1.4%) by 48 h post-administration. 2.
      HPLC-ICPMS ((79/81)Br) was used to selectively detect and profile the major
      urinary and biliary-excreted metabolites and determined that the 0-12 h urine
      contained at least 21 brominated metabolites with 19 bromine-containing peaks
      observed in the 6-12 h bile samples. 3. The urinary and biliary metabolites were
      subsequently profiled using HPLC-oaTOFMS. By exploiting the distinctive bromine
      isotope pattern ca. 60 brominated metabolites were detected in the urine in
      negative electrospray ionisation (ESI) mode while bile contained ca. 21. 4. While
      a large number of bromine-containing metabolites were detected, the profiles were
      dominated by a few major components with the bulk of the 4-bromoaniline-related
      material in urine accounted for by 4-bromoanaline O-sulfate (~75% of the total by
      ICPMS, 84% by TOFMS). In bile a hydroxylated N-acetyl compound was the major
      metabolite detected, forming some ~65% of the 4-bromoaniline-related material by
      ICPMS (37% by TOFMS). 

PMID- 25837689
TI  - Establishment of pharmacophore and VolSurf models to predict the substrates of
      UDP-glucuronosyltransferase1A3.
AB  - 1.UDP-glucuronosyltransferase1A3 (UGT1A3) catalyzes glucuronidation of numerous
      xenobiotics/drugs. Here, we aimed to establish substrate selectivity models for
      UGT1A3 using the pharmacophore and VolSurf approaches. 2.Fifty structurally
      diverse substrates of UGT1A3 were collated from the literature. These substrates
      were divided into training (n=34) and test sets (n=16). The pharmacophore model
      was developed using the Discovery Studio 2.5 software. A user-defined feature
      (i.e. the glucuronidation site) was included in the program for model generation.
      The VolSurf model was derived using the VolSurf program implemented in SYBYL 8.0
      software. 3.The pharmacophore model consisted of three features (i.e. one
      glucuronidation site and two hydrogen-bond acceptors). The activities of 81% of
      test set substrates were adequately predicted (deviated by less than one-log
      unit) by the model, suggestive of a satisfactory predictive power. The refined
      VolSurf model based on 22 molecular descriptors was statistically significant
      (r(2)=0.793, q(2)=0.606). It also processed a good predictability as the
      activities of 14 test set compounds were well predicted. The VolSurf model
      highlighted the chemical features (including large molecule size, hydrophilic
      regions and hydrogen-bonding groups) contributing to favored glucuronidation by
      UGT1A3. 4.In conclusion, two predictive 3D-QSAR models (i.e. the pharmacophore
      and VolSurf models) for UGT1A3 were successfully established. These models
      contributed to an improved understanding of the substrate preference of UGT1A3
      and a more comprehensive prediction of UGT-mediated metabolism.

PMID- 25837690
TI  - Pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution study of novel potent antiplatelet agent
      S007-867 in mice using HPLC-MS/MS.
AB  - 1. S007-867 is a novel antiplatelet agent that shows promising in vitro and in
      vivo efficacy. For further development and better pharmacological elucidation, we
      characterized pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of S007-867 in a mouse
      model. 2. A sensitive, selective and robust LC-MS/MS method was developed and
      validated in the mouse plasma and tissue for quantification of S007-867. The
      chromatographic separation was performed on Waters Symmetry Shield C18 column
      (150 * 4.6 mm, 5 um) using methanol and ammonium acetate buffer. 3. S007-867 was
      rapidly absorbed and distributed to various tissues. Following single oral
      administration of S007-867 in the mouse, the concentration was in the order of C
      intestine > C liver > C kidney > C heart > C spleen > C lungs > C brain. Tissue
      to plasma area under the plasma curve ratio suggested that the maximum amount of
      drug was found in the intestine and liver. Half life of S007-867 was found longer
      in the heart (8.08 h), spleen (~ 7.94 h) and kidney (~ 15.41 h) as compared with
      other tissues. 4. The preclinical pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution data
      obtained using this LC-MS/MS method are expected to assist the future clinical
      investigations of S007-867 as a promising antiplatelet agent.

PMID- 25837692
TI  - The clinical and laboratory evaluation of the patient with erythrocytosis.
AB  - Erythrocytosis is frequently encountered as an incidental abnormality on
      laboratory testing that reveals persistent elevation of the hematocrit level
      (>52% in men and >48% in women). In many cases, erythrocytosis is the
      manifestation of an underlying cardiopulmonary process, drug-induced due to
      androgens, or secondary to smoking, rather than a primary bone marrow disorder
      such as polycythemia vera. A systematic approach to the clinical and laboratory
      evaluation of each patient is indicated to consider diverse differential
      diagnosis possibilities and to identify the underlying etiology of erythrocytosis
      in order to formulate appropriate subspecialist referral and management plans. A
      thorough medical history and meticulous physical examination supplemented by a
      focused initial laboratory evaluation will enable the general practitioner to
      ascertain the etiology of erythrocytosis in the majority of cases. Patients with
      clinical and laboratory features suggestive of polycythemia vera and those
      patients without an apparent underlying condition known to cause erythrocytosis
      benefit from early referral to a hematologist for further specialized diagnostic
      evaluation and therapy considerations. 

PMID- 25837691
TI  - Investigating breast cancer cell behavior using tissue engineering scaffolds.
AB  - Despite early detection through the use of mammograms and aggressive
      intervention, breast cancer (BC) remains a clinical dilemma. BC can resurge after
      >10 years of remission. Studies indicate that BC cells (BCCs) with self-renewal
      and chemoresistance could be involved in dormancy. The majority of studies use in
      vitro, two-dimensional (2-D) monolayer cultures, which do not recapitulate the in
      vivo microenvironment. Thus, to determine the effect of three-dimensional (3-D)
      microenvironment on BCCs, this study fabricated tissue engineering scaffolds made
      of poly (epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) having aligned or random fibers. Random and
      aligned fibers mimic, respectively, the random and highly organized collagen
      fibers found in the tumor extracellular matrix. Chemoresistant BCCs were obtained
      by treating with carboplatin. Western blot analysis of carboplatin resistant
      (treated) MDA-MB-231 (highly invasive, basal-like) and T47D (low-invasive,
      luminal) BCCs showed an increase in Bcl-2, Oct-4 and Sox-2, suggesting protection
      from apoptosis and increase in stem-like markers. Further studies with MDA-MB-231
      BCCs seeded on the scaffolds showed little to no change in cell number over time
      for non-treated BCCs whereas on tissue culture polystyrene (TCP), non-treated
      BCCs displayed a significant increase in cell number at days 4 and 7 as compared
      to day 1 (p<0.05). Treated BCCs did not proliferate on TCP and the fibrous
      scaffolds. Little to no cyclin D1 was expressed for non-treated BCCs on TCP. On
      fibrous scaffolds, non-treated BCCs stained for cyclin D1 during the 7-day
      culture period. Treated BCCs expressed cyclin D1 on TCP and fibrous scaffolds
      during the 7-day culture period. Proliferation, viability and cell cycle analysis
      indicated that this 3-D culture prompted the aggressive BCCs to adopt a dormant
      phenotype, while the treated BCCs retained their phenotype. The findings indicate
      that random and aligned fibrous PCL scaffolds may provide a useful system to
      study how the 3-D microenvironment affects the behavior of BCCs. 

PMID- 25837693
TI  - Models for predicting the adult height and age at first menstruation of girls
      with idiopathic central precocious puberty.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is difficult to determine whether to treat a given girl who has
      idiopathic central precocious puberty (CPP) with gonadotropin-releasing hormone
      analog (GnRHa) in terms of adult height (AH). The objective was to provide an
      easy tool for predicting AH and age at first menstruation at initial evaluation
      to help guide the decision regarding whether to treat. METHODS: Data analysis
      using multiple linear regression models was performed in 134 girls with CPP.
      Among them 78 were given GnRHa because of low predicted AH (n=45), pubertal
      luteinising hormone (LH)/follicle-stimulating hormone peaks (FSH) ratio (n=50)
      and/or high plasma estradiol concentration (n=45). 56 girls were followed without
      treatment. RESULTS: In the whole population, the actual AH (162.1+/-5.61 cm) was
      similar to target height (161.7+/-4.91 cm) and to AH predicted by the Bayley and
      Pinneau method (161.9+/-7.98 cm). Separated models for treated and untreated
      girls provide very close estimations, leading to a unique formula for both
      groups. The AH (cm) could be calculated at the initial evaluation: 2.21 (height
      at initial evaluation, SD) + 2.32 (target height, SD) - 1.83 (LH/FSH peaks ratio)
      + 159.68. The actual AH was lower than the calculated AH by more than 1 SD (5.6
      cm) in 11 girls (8.0%). The time between onset of puberty and first menstruation
      (in untreated girls) can be estimated with: 10.9 - 0.57 (LH/FSH peaks ratio). The
      formulae are available at http://www.kamick.org/lemaire/med/girls-cpp15.html.
      CONCLUSIONS: We established formulae that can be used at an initial evaluation to
      predict the AH, and the time between onset of puberty and first menstruation
      after spontaneous puberty. The similarity of the formulae for both groups
      suggests that the treatment had no significant effect on the AH. However, the
      criteria used to select treatment suggest that it prevents the deterioration of
      AH in cases with rapidly evolving form of CPP.

PMID- 25837694
TI  - The Position of the Patella and Extensor Mechanism Affects Intraoperative
      Compartmental Loads During Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Pilot Study Using
      Intraoperative Sensing to Guide Soft Tissue Balance.
AB  - The achievement of a well-balanced total knee arthroplasty is necessary for long
      term success. We hypothesize that the dislocation of the patella during surgery
      affects the distribution of loads in the medial and lateral compartments.
      Intraoperative load sensors were used to record medial and lateral compartment
      loads in 56 well-balanced TKAs. Loads were recorded in full extension, relaxed
      extension, at 45 and 90 degrees  of flexion at full gravity-assisted flexion,
      with the patella in four different positions: dislocated (everted and not),
      located, and located and secured with two retinacular sutures. The loads in the
      lateral compartment in flexion were higher with a dislocated patella than with a
      located patella (P<0.001). A lateralized extensor mechanism artificially
      increases in the lateral compartment loads in flexion during TKA surgery.
      Instruments that allow intraoperative soft tissue balance with the patella in a
      physiologic position are more likely to replicate postoperative compartment
      loads. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II (prospective comparative study).

PMID- 25837695
TI  - Spatial distribution and temporal evolution of DRONPA-fused SNAP25 clusters in
      adrenal chromaffin cells.
AB  - Sub-diffraction imaging of plasma membrane localized proteins, such as the SNARE
      (Soluble NSF Attachment Protein Receptor) proteins involved in exocytosis, in
      fixed cells have resulted in images with high spatial resolution, at the expense
      of dynamical information. Here, we have imaged localized fluorescence bursts of
      DRONPA-fused SNAP-25 molecules in live chromaffin cells by Total Internal
      Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) imaging. We find that this method allows tracking
      protein cluster dynamics over relatively long times (~20 min.), partly due to the
      diffusion into the TIRF field of fresh molecules, making possible the
      simultaneous identification of cluster size, location and temporal evolution. The
      results indicate that the DRONPA-fused SNAP-25 clusters display rich dynamics,
      going from staying constant to disappearing and reappearing in specific cluster
      domains within minutes. 

PMID- 25837696
TI  - Pharmacological Evidence for 5-HT6 Receptor Modulation of 5-HT Neuron Firing in
      Vivo.
AB  - 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) neurons in the midbrain dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) are
      implicated in the drug treatment and pathophysiology of a wide variety of
      neuropsychiatric disorders. Accumulating evidence suggests that 5-HT6 receptors
      may be located and functional in the DRN; therefore, 5-HT6 receptor ligands may
      have potential as novel modulators of 5-HT neurotransmission. The current study
      investigated the effect of intravenous (i.v.) administration of the selective 5
      HT6 receptor agonist, WAY-181187, and antagonist, SB-399885, on the firing of 5
      HT neurons in the DRN in vivo. Extracellular recordings were made in the DRN of
      anesthetized rats, and single 5-HT neurons were identified on the basis of
      electrophysiological properties combined with juxtacellular labeling and
      postmortem immunohistochemical analysis. WAY-181187 (1-4 mg/kg i.v.) caused a
      dose-dependent increase in 5-HT neuron firing rate. In comparison, SB-399885
      (0.125-1 mg/kg i.v.) caused a dose-dependent decrease in 5-HT neuron firing rate,
      an effect reversed by WAY-181187 (3 mg/kg i.v.). These effects of WAY-181187 and
      SB-399885 were observed in two separate sets of experiments. In summary, the
      current data show the modulation of 5-HT neuronal firing by the 5-HT6 ligands WAY
      181187 and SB-399885 and are consistent with the presence of 5-HT6 receptor
      mediated positive feedback control of 5-HT neurons. 

PMID- 25837697
TI  - The Relationship of Perceived Risk and Biases in Perceived Risk to Fracture
      Prevention Behavior in Older Women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A bias in perceived risk for health outcomes, including fracture,
      exists. PURPOSE: We compared perceived risk and biases in perceived risk for
      fracture to fracture preventive behavior. METHODS: Women over age 55 (n = 2874)
      completed a survey five times over 5 years, and data was pulled from the medical
      record. Perceived risk was measured by asking women to rate their risk of
      fracture compared to similar women. Actual risk was measured using FRAX score.
      Bias was measured using an interaction between perceived and actual risk.
      RESULTS: Higher perceived risk was related to lower quality of life and self
      reported health, more medication and calcium use, increased bone density scan
      use, and less walking. Bias was only associated with less medication use. Neither
      perceived risk nor bias predicted medication adherence. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived
      risk, but not bias, may predict different fracture prevention behaviors.
      Clinicians may need to base interventions on risk perceptions.

PMID- 25837698
TI  - Pediatric Pain Management in the Emergency Department: The Triage Nurses'
      Perspective.
AB  - Understanding triage nurses' perspectives of pain management is essential for
      timely pain care for children in the emergency department. Objectives of this
      study were to describe the triage pain treatment protocols used, knowledge of
      pain management modalities, and barriers and attitudes towards implementation of
      pain treatment protocols. METHODS: A paper-based survey was administered to all
      triage nurses at three Canadian pediatric emergency departments, between December
      2011 and January 2012. RESULTS: The response rate was 86% (n=126/147). The mean
      respondent age was 40 years (standard deviation [SD] 9.3) with 8.6 years (SD 7.7)
      of triage experience. General triage emergency department (GTED) nurses rated
      adequacy of triage pain treatment lower than pediatric-only triage emergency
      department (PTED) nurses (P < .001). GTED nurses reported a longer acceptable
      delay between triage time and administration of analgesia than PTED nurses (P <
      .002). Most nurses rated more comfort with a protocol involving administration of
      acetaminophen (97 mm, interquartile range [IQR] 92, 99) or ibuprofen (97 mm, IQR
      93, 100) than for oral morphine (67 mm, IQR 35, 94) or oxycodone (57 mm, IQR 15,
      81). The top three reported barriers to triage-initiated pain protocols were
      monitoring capability, time, and access to medications. Willingness to implement
      a triage-initiated pain protocol was rated as 81 mm (IQR 71, 96). DISCUSSION:
      Triage nurses are willing to implement pain protocols for children in the
      emergency department, but differences in comfort and experience exist between
      PTED and GTED nurses. Provision of triage initiated pain protocols and associated
      education may empower nurses to improve care for children in pain in the
      emergency department.

PMID- 25837699
TI  - Type I interferon response is delayed in human astrovirus infections.
AB  - Type I interferon (IFN) activation and its subsequent effects are important in
      the response to viral infections. Here we show that human astroviruses (HAstVs),
      which are important agents of acute gastroenteritis in children, induce a mild
      and delayed IFN response upon infecting CaCo-2 cells. Although IFN-beta mRNA is
      detected within infected cells and supernatant from infected cells show antiviral
      activity against the replication of other well-known IFN-sensitive viruses, these
      responses occur at late stages of infection once genome replication has taken
      place. On the other hand, HAstV replication can be partially reduced by the
      addition of exogenous IFN, and inhibition of IFN activation by BX795 enhances
      viral replication, indicating that HAstVs are IFN-sensitive viruses. Finally,
      different levels of IFN response were observed in cells infected with different
      HAstV mutants with changes in the hypervariable region of nsP1a/4, suggesting
      that nsP1a/4 genotype may potentially have clinical implications due to its
      correlation with the viral replication phenotype and the antiviral responses
      induced within infected cells. 

PMID- 25837700
TI  - Impact of physician specialty on quality care for patients hospitalized with
      decompensated cirrhosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Decompensated cirrhosis is a common precipitant for hospitalization,
      and there is limited information concerning factors that influence the delivery
      of quality care in cirrhotic inpatients. We sought to determine the relation
      between physician specialty and inpatient quality care for decompensated
      cirrhosis. DESIGN: We reviewed 247 hospital admissions for decompensated
      cirrhosis, managed by hospitalists or intensivists, between 2009 and 2013. The
      primary outcome was quality care delivery, defined as adherence to all evidence
      based specialty society practice guidelines pertaining to each specific
      complication of cirrhosis. Secondary outcomes included new complications, length
      of-stay, and in-hospital death. RESULTS: Overall, 147 admissions (59.5%) received
      quality care. Quality care was given more commonly by intensivists, compared with
      hospitalists (71.7% vs. 53.1%, P = .006), and specifically for gastrointestinal
      bleeding (72% vs. 45.8%, P = .03) and hepatic encephalopathy (100% vs. 63%, P =
      .005). Involvement of gastroenterology consultation was also more common in
      admissions in which quality care was administered (68.7% vs. 54.0%, P = .023).
      Timely diagnostic paracentesis was associated with reduced new complications in
      admissions for refractory ascites (9.5% vs. 46.6%, P = .02), and reduced length
      of-stay in admissions for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (5 days vs. 13 days,
      P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to quality indicators for decompensated
      cirrhosis is suboptimal among hospitalized patients. Although quality care
      adherence appears to be higher among cirrhotic patients managed by intensivists
      than by hospitalists, opportunities for improvement exist in both groups.
      Rational and cost-effective strategies should be sought to achieve this end.

PMID- 25837701
TI  - Geometry-controllable graphene layers and their application for supercapacitors.
AB  - A facile and ultrafast method for geometry controllable and vertically
      transformative 3D graphene architectures is demonstrated. The 2D stacked graphene
      layers produced by exfoliation of graphite were transformed, e.g., from
      horizontal to vertical, by applying electric charge (-2 V with 1-3 MUAh/cm2). The
      three-dimensionally transformed graphene layers have maximized surface area as
      well as high specific capacitance, 410 F g(-1) in LiClO4/PC electrolyte, which is
      4.4 times higher than that of planar (stacked) graphene layers. Furthermore, they
      can remarkably exhibit 87% of retained capacitance as the scan rate is increased
      from 100 to 1000 mV s(-1), unlike planar graphene, which displays 61% retention
      under the same conditions.

PMID- 25837702
TI  - Oxidative stress and human spermatozoa: diagnostic and functional significance of
      aldehydes generated as a result of lipid peroxidation.
AB  - Oxidative stress is known to compromise human sperm function and to activate the
      intrinsic apoptotic cascade in these cells. One of the key features of
      oxidatively stressed spermatozoa is the induction of a lipid peroxidation process
      that results in the formation of aldehydes potentially capable of disrupting
      sperm function through the formation of adducts with DNA and key proteins. In
      this study, we have examined the impact of a range of small molecular mass
      aldehydes generated as a consequence of lipid peroxidation on human sperm
      function and also compared the two most commonly formed compounds, 4
      hydroxynonenal (4HNE) and malondialdehyde (MDA), for their relative ability to
      reflect a state of oxidative stress in these cells. Dramatic differences in the
      bioactivity of individual aldehydes were observed, that generally correlated with
      the second order rate constants describing their interaction with the model
      nucleophile, glutathione. Our results demonstrate that acrolein and 4HNE were the
      most reactive lipid aldehydes, inhibiting sperm motility while augmenting
      reactive oxygen species production, lipid peroxidation, oxidative DNA damage and
      caspase activation, in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.001). In contrast, a
      variety of saturated aldehydes and the well-known marker of oxidative stress,
      MDA, were without effect on this cell type. While MDA was not cytotoxic per se,
      its generation did reflect the induction of oxidative stress in vivo and in vitro
      in a manner that was highly correlated with the bioactive lipid aldehyde, 4HNE.
      Despite such overall correlations, individual patient samples were observed in
      which either MDA or 4HNE predominated. Given the relative cytotoxicity of 4HNE,
      we propose that this aldehyde should be the preferred criterion for diagnosing
      oxidative stress in the male germ line. 

PMID- 25837703
TI  - Functional outcomes of early versus delayed pyeloplasty in prenatally diagnosed
      pelvi-ureteric junction obstruction.
AB  - Although initial conservative management is popular in the management of
      antenatally detected pelvi ureteric junction (PUJ) obstruction [1-3], several
      authors [4,5] have questioned this approach and expressed concern about failure
      to recover the function lost during expectant management following surgery. In
      this single center prospective study, we have compared the functional outcomes
      following early versus delayed pyeloplasty in SFU grade 3-4 PUJ obstruction.
      METHODS: Among those children, who presented between 2004 and 2013, with prenatal
      diagnoses of unilateral PUJ obstruction (n = 886), those with SFU grade 1 or 2
      hydronephrosis on USG (n = 533) were excluded. In the remaining 353 children with
      SFU grade 3 and 4 hydronephrosis, 243 had obstructive pattern on radionuclide
      scan. After excluding those with severely impaired or supranormal split renal
      function (SRF), palpable mass, single kidney status, bilateral disease and
      associated other urological anomalies a total of 126 children were included in
      the study group. Parents who were unwilling for a frequent follow-up underwent
      early pyeloplasty, (Group I: n = 62) while the remaining underwent initial
      conservative management, with 3 monthly USG and nuclear scans (Group II; n = 64).
      In this group pyeloplasty was performed whenever there was deterioration in SRF
      >10%, or urine infection or pain during the follow-up. A standard open
      dismembered pyeloplasty was performed by the same surgeon in all patients.
      Radionuclide scan was performed at 1 year, at the same center using the same
      protocol, to assess final SRF and drainage. The functional outcomes were compared
      using student's t test and chi square test. RESULTS: Group I comprised of 62
      patients while Group II 64 patients. The mean age at pyeloplasty was 2.8 months
      in group I while 12.5 months in group II. There was no significant difference in
      the initial antero posterior diameter (APD) between the groups; 30.2 (+/-3.2) mm
      in group I and 29.6 (+/-3.7) mm in group II. At 1-year follow up after surgery,
      there was improvement in the APD, 16.8 (+/-4.2) mm in group I and 18.2 (+/-4.5)
      mm in group II, with no significant difference between them. In group I, the
      initial mean SRF was 34.1% (+/-6.4) and there was significant improvement (p =
      0.01) in mean SRF to 37.2 (+/-7.1) at 1-year follow up after surgery. In group
      II, the mean SRF was 35.9 (5.7) initially and there was a deterioration to 32.6
      (+/-5.5) before surgery (Figure). At 1-year follow up after surgery, there was a
      marginal improvement to 33.5 (5.6), however it was significantly lower compared
      to the initial SRF (p = 0.01). Compared to initial function, at 1-year follow up
      after pyeloplasty, SRF improved in significantly higher number of patients; 17/62
      (27.4%) in group I while only 7/64 (10.9%) in group II (p = 0.03) (Table). There
      was significantly fewer patients with deterioration in final SRF at 8/62 (12.9%)
      in group I compared to 22/64 (34.4%) in group II (p = 0.03). DISCUSSION: Although
      several publications [1-3] have reported functional recovery during initial
      conservative treatment of PUJ obstruction, in our study a large proportion of
      patients (80%) in Group II had loss of function during follow-up. This is
      probably because the study population included only SFU grade 3-4 with
      obstructive renogram. Several authors have expressed concern about irreversible
      loss of renal function during expectant management [4,5]. Findings of our study
      reveal that irrespective of initial SRF, early pyeloplasty in prenatally
      diagnosed SFU grade 3-4 PUJ obstruction leads to significant improvement of SRF,
      while delayed pyeloplasty leads to a marginal but, significant loss. This fact
      should be highlighted to parents so that informed decisions can be made regarding
      early versus delayed surgery.

PMID- 25837704
TI  - Commentary to 'Renal damage detected by DMSA despite normal renal ultrasound in
      children with febrile UTI'.

PMID- 25837705
TI  - The effect of parenteral testosterone administration prior to hypospadias
      surgery: A prospective, randomized and controlled study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The goal of hypospadias surgery is to provide a functionally and
      cosmetically normal penis. Whether this goal will be to the patient's
      satisfaction depends largely on the original anatomy, surgical technique and
      surgeon's experience. It has been suggested that androgen administration is
      associated with better outcomes in hypospadias repair; however, few studies have
      included control groups and the issue is still controversial. PURPOSE: To
      evaluate the effects of parenteral testosterone administration on the results of
      hypospadias repair in children with untreated hypospadias. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      A total of 182 children with midshaft or distal hypospadias and a mean age of 30
      months (range 18-52 months) were enrolled in this study. Consecutive children
      were randomly allocated to the study group (testosterone administration) (Group
      1, n = 91) or control group (Group 2, n = 91). Only children with a flat urethral
      plate were included in this study. The control group did not receive any pre
      operative treatment. Children with a previous history of hypospadias repair and
      any proven endocrine disorder were excluded. The study children received 2 mg/kg
      testosterone enanthate monthly for two months before surgery. Tubularized incised
      plate (TIP) urethroplasty, with or without chordee correction, was performed for
      all children in both groups by the same urologist. Hypospadias repair was
      performed 4 weeks after the second dose of testosterone administration.
      Postoperative complications were recorded, including: urethrocutaneous fistulas,
      urethral diverticula, meatal stenosis, and glanular dehiscence. The mean
      stretched penile length and circumference were measured at baseline and at 1
      month and 2 months post operation. All children were examined every month for any
      adverse affects to testosterone treatment, like pubic and axillary hair, and
      height acceleration, up to 3 months post operation. RESULTS: An increase in
      penile length (from 28.1 +/- 2.2 mm to 38.5 +/- 2.6 mm) (P = 0.001) and penile
      circumference (from 35.1 +/- 1.6 mm to 45.5 +/- 2.2 mm) (P = 0.001) were noticed
      in all but four children in Group 1. The actual values for increase in penile
      length in the study group were, 22.0%, 35.0% and 36.0%, at postinjection months
      1, 2 and 3, respectively (P = 0.01, P = 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively)
      (Figure). The actual values for increase in penile circumference in the study
      group were, 16.0%, 27.0% and 29.0%, at postinjection months 1, 2 and 3,
      respectively (P=0.01, P=0.001 and P =0.001, respectively). The overall
      complication rates were significantly higher in Group 2 [12 children, 13.18%)
      compared to Group 1 (five children, 5.45%) (P=0.03). Urethrocutaneous fistula was
      the most common complication in both groups (four children [4.39%] in Group 1 and
      seven children [7.69%] in Group 2) (P=0.02), followed by meatal stenosis (one
      child [1.09%] in Group 1 and three children [3.29%] in Group 2) (P=0.03). All
      children in Group 1 developed pigmentation of the genitalia, and scant pubic hair
      appeared in 14 of them. These side effects disappeared by the 3 months
      postoperation follow-up visit. DISCUSSION: Tubularized incised plate
      urethroplasty is a popular reconstructive method for hypospadias repair and is
      widely accepted by pediatric urologists. It is a reliable and simple technique
      with low complication rates. Testosterone administration before hypospadias
      repair decreases complication rates, reduces the need for reoperation and results
      in better cosmetic outcomes. Some studies have demonstrated temporary side
      effects like pubic hair growth and aggressive behavior, which gradually became
      normalized after treatment cessation. Nowadays, many pediatric urologists
      administer testosterone prior to hypospadias surgery; however, this can be
      variable. CONCLUSION: Parenteral testosterone administration before hypospadias
      repair is beneficial in decreasing complication rates.

PMID- 25837706
TI  - Prepubertal presentation of varicocele does not affect outcomes.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Varicoceles in prepubertal boys are uncommon and little is known of
      the natural history. Historically, a large percentage of these boys have
      undergone surgical repair with the belief that such early presentation carried a
      worse prognosis, making assessment of longitudinal outcomes difficult. OBJECTIVE:
      While there may be concern that varicocele could represent a progressive disease
      and therefore prepubertal presentation would portend a worse prognosis, we
      hypothesized that there would be no difference between the prepubertal boys and
      other adolescents with varicocele. STUDY DESIGN: We retrospectively reviewed a
      database of boys at a single institution with a documented left-sided varicocele
      between 1995 and 2011. Inclusion criteria were one or more of the following: 1.
      Clinician-documented Tanner 1 status, 2. Right testis orchidometric or ultrasound
      calculated volume of <=3 cc's. Patients were drawn from a prospectively
      maintained database of all boys presenting to the outpatient urology clinic
      receiving a diagnosis of varicocele. A cohort of adolescent boys was assembled by
      matching as closely as possible with respect to testis volume disparity and grade
      of varicocele. All matches were within 2% of volume difference. Volume was
      calculated using the length*width*height*0.71 formula. Testis size disparity was
      set to a threshold of >=20% using the Lambert formula: (VolumeRight -
      VolumeLeft)/VolumeRight*100%. Our primary outcome was defined as hypotrophy or
      the need for surgery for hypotrophy at the termination of the study. We planned a
      single subgroup analysis of boys based on presentation with or without
      hypotrophy. The decision for surgery or observation was made by the individual
      clinician at the time of patient assessment. RESULTS: On presentation, the
      prepubertal cohort was younger (10.8 vs 14.1 years), and with smaller left (2.4
      vs 11.6 cc) and right (2.4 vs 11.6 cc) testis volume. There were no significant
      differences with respect to varicocele grade and volume differentials at
      presentation. At the end of the study, 76% of the prepubertal cohort had neither
      hypotrophy nor the requirement for operation, compared with 83% of the matched
      cohort (P = 0.71, Fisher's exact test). Similarly, there were no significant
      differences in outcome when comparing prepubertal boys with initial symmetry or
      hypotrophy to their matched cohort of older adolescents. DISCUSSION: The
      prepubertal varicocele is a rare clinical problem for which little data exists to
      guide the clinician. In a review of Pubmed indexed English language manuscripts,
      we were only able to find five papers with information on Tanner stage; only 31
      prepubertal boys have longitudinal data reported. This study approximately
      doubles the number of boys for whom such data is available in the literature. Our
      chief limitation was sample size. A power analysis indicated that a final
      analysis cohort of 90 prepubertal boys would be required to detect a 20%
      difference in outcome between that group and a matched cohort of pubertal or post
      pubertal boys. We propose that given the lack of evidence for worse outcomes in
      prepubertal boys with varicocele that prepubertal status, in and of itself, not
      be considered an additional indication for correction of varicocele. CONCLUSION:
      In our retrospective cohort of prepubertal boys with left testis varicocele and
      their matched cohort, we did not detect a difference in the rate of good
      outcomes, defined as the absence of hypotrophy and lack of need for surgical
      intervention. While we may have suspected, as have others, that prepubertal
      presentation would have conveyed a more pressing need to intervene, it is likely
      that these boys represent the very same patients that we see more commonly later
      in their adolescence, and should thus be managed in a similarly conservative
      fashion.

PMID- 25837707
TI  - Diagnosis of constipation does not correlate with trans-abdominal ultrasound of
      rectal distention.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Constipation has been shown to have a significant impact on lower
      urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in children, and treatment of constipation in
      children with bowel bladder dysfunction (BBD) has been shown to improve or
      completely resolve LUTS in many cases. Recent studies utilizing trans-abdominal
      ultrasound (US) to assess stool burden have correlated diagnosis of constipation
      with US appearance of rectal stool. An US scoring tool was published in 2008 to
      assess stool burden, showing linear correlation with constipation severity by
      symptom questionnaire in an outpatient pediatric constipation clinic population.
      We hypothesized that this US scoring tool would correlate with constipation
      symptoms in our outpatient pediatric urology population. METHODS: In 2010, our
      pediatric urology outpatient clinic began administering a previously published
      validated BBD questionnaire to new toilet-trained patients, containing three
      questions addressing bowel function. Patients in our clinic undergoing trans
      abdominal US of the bladder also have assessment of their stool burden by the
      previously published US scoring tool. We retrospectively reviewed patient charts
      beginning in June 2013 who had undergone trans-abdominal US of the bladder,
      gathering data on the first 100 patients with a complete BBD questionnaire and a
      completed stool burden US scoring tool. RESULTS: Chart review of 272 consecutive
      patients was required to enroll 100 patients with a completed US scoring of stool
      burden and a completed BBD questionnaire. Of these 272 patients, 225 (82%) had a
      complete scoring of stool burden during their US examination. BBD questionnaires
      were complete in 107 of 272 patients (39%). Median patient age was 8.2 years,
      with 69% of patients being female. The most common diagnosis was incontinence or
      bladder dysfunction (41%). Only one patient (1%) had constipation as the primary
      diagnosis for their visit. Linear regression analysis showed no correlation of US
      score to patient reported frequency of bowel movement, frequency of hard stool,
      frequency of fecal incontinence, or all three symptoms combined. When
      investigating the subgroup of patients who had diagnoses of BBD/incontinence,
      this group was seen to have higher mean symptom scores than the entire cohort as
      a whole, but US scores were still widely variable and again did not correlate
      with symptom scores. CONCLUSION: US examination has previously been shown to
      correlate with symptom severity for children with chronic constipation in a
      pediatric constipation clinic setting. However, in a pediatric urology outpatient
      clinic setting at our institution, US examination did not correlate with patient
      reported symptoms.

PMID- 25837708
TI  - Photodynamic therapy as a new treatment modality for inflammatory and infectious
      conditions.
AB  - Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is currently used as a minimally invasive therapeutic
      modality for cancer. Whereas antitumor treatment regimens require lethal doses of
      photosensitizer and light, sublethal doses may have immunomodulatory effects,
      antibacterial action and/or regenerative properties. A growing body of evidence
      now indicates that non-lethal PDT doses can alleviate inflammation or treat
      established soft-tissue infections in various murine models of arthritis,
      experimental encephalomyelitis, inflammatory bowel disease and chronic skin
      ulcers. Furthermore, PDT is already used in clinical application and clinical
      trial for the treatment of psoriasis, chronic wounds and periodontitis in humans.
      Sublethal PDT should be regarded as a new viable option for the treatment of
      inflammatory conditions. 

PMID- 25837711
TI  - Validation of the German Version of the Social Functioning Scale (SFS) for
      schizophrenia.
AB  - Deficits in social functioning are a core symptom of schizophrenia and an
      important criterion for evaluating the success of treatment. However, there is
      little agreement regarding its measurement. A common, often cited instrument for
      assessing self-reported social functioning is the Social Functioning Scale (SFS).
      The study aimed to investigate the reliability and validity of the German
      translation. 101 patients suffering from schizophrenia (SZ) and 101 matched
      controls (C) (60 male / 41 female, 35.8 years in both groups) completed the
      German version. In addition, demographic, clinical, and functional data were
      collected. Internal consistency was investigated calculating Cronbach's alpha for
      SFS full scale (alpha: .81) and all subscales (alpha: .59-.88). Significant
      bivariate correlation coefficients were found between all subscales as well as
      between all subscales and full scale (p <.01). For the total sample, principal
      component analysis gave evidence to prefer a single-factor solution (eigenvalue
      >= 1) accounting for 48.5 % of the variance. For the subsamples, a two-component
      solution (SZ; 57.0 %) and a three-component solution (C; 65.6 %) fitted best,
      respectively. For SZ and C, significant associations were found between SFS and
      external criteria. The main factor "group" emerged as being significant. C showed
      higher values on both subscales and full scale. The sensitivity of the SFS was
      examined using discriminant analysis. 86.5% of the participants could be
      categorized correctly to their actual group. The German translation of the SFS
      turned out to be a reliable and valid questionnaire comparable to the original
      English version. This is in line with Spanish and Norwegian translations of the
      SFS. Concluding, the German version of the SFS is well suited to become a useful
      and practicable instrument for the assessment of social functioning in both
      clinical practice and research. It accomplishes commonly used external assessment
      scales. 

PMID- 25837709
TI  - Modeling transmembrane domain dimers/trimers of plexin receptors: implications
      for mechanisms of signal transmission across the membrane.
AB  - Single-pass transmembrane (TM) receptors transmit signals across lipid bilayers
      by helix association or by configurational changes within preformed dimers. The
      structure determination for such TM regions is challenging and has mostly been
      accomplished by NMR spectroscopy. Recently, the computational prediction of TM
      dimer structures is becoming recognized for providing models, including alternate
      conformational states, which are important for receptor regulation. Here we
      pursued a strategy to predict helix oligomers that is based on packing
      considerations (using the PREDDIMER webserver) and is followed by a refinement of
      structures, utilizing microsecond all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. We
      applied this method to plexin TM receptors, a family of 9 human proteins,
      involved in the regulation of cell guidance and motility. The predicted models
      show that, overall, the preferences identified by PREDDIMER are preserved in the
      unrestrained simulations and that TM structures are likely to be diverse across
      the plexin family. Plexin-B1 and -B3 TM helices are regular and tend to
      associate, whereas plexin-A1, -A2, -A3, -A4, -C1 and -D1 contain sequence
      elements, such as poly-Glycine or aromatic residues that distort helix
      conformation and association. Plexin-B2 does not form stable dimers due to the
      presence of TM prolines. No experimental structural information on the TM region
      is available for these proteins, except for plexin-C1 dimeric and plexin-B1 -
      trimeric structures inferred from X-ray crystal structures of the intracellular
      regions. Plexin-B1 TM trimers utilize Ser and Thr sidechains for interhelical
      contacts. We also modeled the juxta-membrane (JM) region of plexin-C1 and plexin
      B1 and show that it synergizes with the TM structures. The structure and dynamics
      of the JM region and TM-JM junction provide determinants for the distance and
      distribution of the intracellular domains, and for their binding partners
      relative to the membrane. The structures suggest experimental tests and will be
      useful for the interpretation of future studies. 

PMID- 25837710
TI  - Ovarian hormones and borderline personality disorder features: Preliminary
      evidence for interactive effects of estradiol and progesterone.
AB  - Cyclical fluctuations in the ovarian hormones 17beta-estradiol (E2; estrogen) and
      progesterone (P4) predict emotions, cognitive processes, and behaviors relevant
      to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD); however, there are individual
      differences in sensitivity to normal hormone shifts. This study examined
      associations of naturally occurring hormonal changes with concurrent BPD feature
      expression. Forty women sampled for a flat distribution of the PAI-BOR (n=10
      where T<50, n=10 where 50<T<60, n=10 where 60<T<70, and n=10 where T>70) provided
      four weekly saliva samples and psychological assessments. Across most outcomes
      (e.g., BPD features, felt rejection, anger rumination, negative urgency) P4
      deviation (from one's person mean) moderated the effect of current E2 deviation
      (from one's person mean) among women high (+1 SD) in trait BPD features such that
      E2 deviation was negatively associated with symptoms only when P4 was higher-than
      usual. Cyclical hormone changes (e.g., higher P4 in the luteal phase; E2
      fluctuations at ovulation and in the luteal phase) may impact BPD feature
      expression among at-risk women. 

PMID- 25837712
TI  - Synaptic optical imaging platforms: Examining pharmacological modulation of
      neurotransmitter release at discrete synapses.
AB  - Chemical synapses are not only fundamental functional units of the brain but also
      anatomical and functional biomarkers of numerous brain disorders. Therefore, new
      experimental readouts of synaptic function are needed--with the spatial
      resolution of single synapses and the scale to image large ensembles of synapses
      in specific circuits--for the study of both acute and chronic effects of
      pharmacological agents on synaptic plasticity in living mammals. In this article
      we discuss the design and use of fluorescent false neurotransmitters (FFNs) as an
      important step in the development of versatile synaptic imaging platforms. This
      article is part of the Special Issue entitled 'Fluorescent Tools in
      Neuropharmacology'.

PMID- 25837714
TI  - Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders with multiple brainstem manifestations: a
      case report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Multiple brainstem manifestations have been rarely reported during
      the same attack in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD). CASE
      PRESENTATION: We describe a 39-year-old Asian woman presenting multiple brainstem
      manifestations including intractable nausea and vomiting, vertigo, diplopia,
      facial palsy, hypogeusia, ophthalmoplegia, hemiplegia, dysphagia and tonic spasm
      during the same attack. Hypogeusia was transient and recovered without any
      immunotherapy. The brain MRIs showed progressive multiple lesions in the
      brainstem. NMO-IgG (aquaporin4-antibody, AQP4-Ab) were positive in both serum and
      cerebral spinal fluid. The symptoms and signs were controlled after
      immunosuppressive therapy. No relapse happened during the 15-month follow-up.
      CONCLUSION: This report emphasizes multiple brainstem manifestations during the
      same attack in NMOSD and the most characteristic symptom was reversible
      hypogeusia.

PMID- 25837713
TI  - Focal experimental injury leads to widespread gene expression and histologic
      changes in equine flexor tendons.
AB  - It is not known how extensively a localised flexor tendon injury affects the
      entire tendon. This study examined the extent of and relationship between
      histopathologic and gene expression changes in equine superficial digital flexor
      tendon after a surgical injury. One forelimb tendon was hemi-transected in six
      horses, and in three other horses, one tendon underwent a sham operation. After
      euthanasia at six weeks, transected and control (sham and non-operated
      contralateral) tendons were regionally sampled (medial and lateral halves each
      divided into six 3 cm regions) for histologic (scoring and immunohistochemistry)
      and gene expression (real time PCR) analysis of extracellular matrix changes. The
      histopathology score was significantly higher in transected tendons compared to
      control tendons in all regions except for the most distal (P <= 0.03) with no
      differences between overstressed (medial) and stress-deprived (lateral) tendon
      halves. Proteoglycan scores were increased by transection in all but the most
      proximal region (P < 0.02), with increased immunostaining for aggrecan, biglycan
      and versican. After correcting for location within the tendon, gene expression
      for aggrecan, versican, biglycan, lumican, collagen types I, II and III, MMP14
      and TIMP1 was increased in transected tendons compared with control tendons (P <
      0.02) and decreased for ADAMTS4, MMP3 and TIMP3 (P < 0.001). Aggrecan, biglycan,
      fibromodulin, and collagen types I and III expression positively correlated with
      all histopathology scores (P < 0.001), whereas lumican, ADAMTS4 and MMP14
      expression positively correlated only with collagen fiber malalignment (P <
      0.001). In summary, histologic and associated gene expression changes were
      significant and widespread six weeks after injury to the equine SDFT, suggesting
      rapid and active development of tendinopathy throughout the entire length of the
      tendon. These extensive changes distant to the focal injury may contribute to
      poor functional outcomes and re-injury in clinical cases. Our data suggest that
      successful treatments of focal injuries will need to address pathology in the
      entire tendon, and that better methods to monitor the development and resolution
      of tendinopathy are required.

PMID- 25837716
TI  - Impact of casing damaging on aflatoxin B1 concentration during the ripening of
      dry-fermented meat sausages.
AB  - The aim of this article is to investigate the impact of casing damaging on the
      formation of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) during the ripening of dry-fermented meat
      sausages. The level of AFB1 contamination was determined in 24 samples using the
      ELISA immunoassay throughout a six-month production period. While with intact
      casing samples no contamination was observed throughout the whole production
      process, in damaged casing samples AFB1 was detected in the ripening end-stages
      in the range of 1.62-4.49 MUg/kg. The results showed that casing damaging
      occurring during long-term ripening of dry-fermented sausages can cause AFB1
      contamination, possibly arising on the grounds of diffusion of this mycotoxin
      from the product surface to its interior. 

PMID- 25837717
TI  - Editorial: HSA-based drug development and drug delivery systems.

PMID- 25837715
TI  - Genetic and childhood trauma interaction effect on age of onset in bipolar
      disorder: An exploratory analysis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: This study investigated whether early life trauma mediates genetic
      effects on the age at onset (AAO) of bipolar disorder. METHOD: Data from the BiGS
      Consortium case samples (N=1119) were used. Childhood traumatic events were
      documented using the Childhood Life Events Scale (CLES). Interaction between
      occurrence of childhood trauma and common genetic variants throughout the genome
      was tested to identify single nucleotide polymorphic gene variants (SNPs) whose
      effects on bipolar AAO differ between individuals clearly exposed (CLES>=2) and
      not exposed (CLES=0) to childhood trauma. RESULTS: The modal response to the CLES
      was 0 (N=480), but an additional 276 subjects had CLES=1, and 363 subjects
      reported 2 or more traumatic lifetime events. The distribution of age at onset
      showed a broad peak between ages 12 and 18, with the majority of subjects having
      onset during that period, and a significant decrease in age of onset with the
      number of traumatic events. No single SNP showed a statistically significant
      interaction with the presence of traumatic events to impact bipolar age at onset.
      However, SNPs in or near genes coding for calcium channel activity-related
      proteins (Gene Ontology: 0005262) were found to be more likely than other SNPs to
      show evidence of interaction using the INRICH method (p<0.001). LIMITATIONS:
      Retrospective ascertainment of trauma and AAO. CONCLUSION: Interaction effects of
      early life trauma with genotype may have a significant effect on the development
      and manifestation of bipolar disorder. These effects may be mediated in part by
      genes involved in calcium signaling.

PMID- 25837718
TI  - Exogenous ochronosis: a comprehensive review of the diagnosis, epidemiology,
      causes, and treatments.
AB  - Exogenous ochronosis (EO) can be an unintended psychologically troubling
      condition for patients who are already being treated for longer-term
      hyperpigmentation disorders such as melasma. Early diagnosis is key in order that
      the offending agent can be stopped to prevent further disfiguring discoloration.
      EO can be diagnosed in the right clinical setting with the aid of dermatoscopy,
      which can assist in early diagnosis and may negate the need for a biopsy. Laser
      modalities using Q-switched lasers of longer wavelengths and combination laser
      dermabrasion treatments have shown the most significant results with minimal
      adverse events. However, further large-scale studies are needed to determine
      optimal treatment modalities. Although considered uncommon, the incidence of EO
      will likely continue to increase with the growth of immigrant populations and the
      use of skin-lightening agents above the FDA's recommended over-the-counter
      concentrations, without the guidance of a dermatologist. 

PMID- 25837719
TI  - Flexible adaptive paradigms for fMRI using a novel software package 'Brain
      Analysis in Real-Time' (BART).
AB  - In this work we present a new open source software package offering a unified
      framework for the real-time adaptation of fMRI stimulation procedures. The
      software provides a straightforward setup and highly flexible approach to adapt
      fMRI paradigms while the experiment is running. The general framework comprises
      the inclusion of parameters from subject's compliance, such as directing gaze to
      visually presented stimuli and physiological fluctuations, like blood pressure or
      pulse. Additionally, this approach yields possibilities to investigate complex
      scientific questions, for example the influence of EEG rhythms or fMRI signals
      results themselves. To prove the concept of this approach, we used our software
      in a usability example for an fMRI experiment where the presentation of emotional
      pictures was dependent on the subject's gaze position. This can have a
      significant impact on the results. So far, if this is taken into account during
      fMRI data analysis, it is commonly done by the post-hoc removal of erroneous
      trials. Here, we propose an a priori adaptation of the paradigm during the
      experiment's runtime. Our fMRI findings clearly show the benefits of an adapted
      paradigm in terms of statistical power and higher effect sizes in emotion-related
      brain regions. This can be of special interest for all experiments with low
      statistical power due to a limited number of subjects, a limited amount of time,
      costs or available data to analyze, as is the case with real-time fMRI. 

PMID- 25837720
TI  - Effects of ankle-foot orthoses on functional recovery after stroke: a propensity
      score analysis based on Japan rehabilitation database.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to investigate potential effects
      of ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) on the functional recovery of post-acute stroke
      patients following rehabilitation. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study is a
      retrospective cohort study. Participants were in-hospital stroke patients
      registered in the Japan Rehabilitation Database between 2005 and 2012. A total of
      1862 patients were eligible after applying exclusion criteria. Propensity score
      analysis was applied to adjust for potential bias and to create two comparable
      groups. An additional subset analysis focused on Functional Independence Measure
      (FIM) scores on admission. RESULTS: In this sample, 30.7% of 1863 eligible
      patients were prescribed AFOs. Propensity score matched analysis showed that
      patients with AFOs had significantly higher scores than those without them for
      discharge FIM (mean: 91.3 vs 85.8; p=0.02), FIM gain (mean: 28.9 vs 23.5;
      p<0.001), and FIM efficiency (mean: 0.27 vs 0.22; p<0.001). Inverse probability
      weighting analysis showed similar results. In the subset analysis, patients with
      AFOs had significantly higher discharge FIM compared with those without them in
      the low admission FIM subgroup only. In addition, patients with AFOs performed
      independent exercise more than those without them (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: These
      data suggest that stroke survivors may have better functional recovery if they
      are prescribed an AFO than if they are not prescribed an AFO. The use of AFOs is
      considered to be a feasible option to improve functional recovery of stroke
      rehabilitation patients.

PMID- 25837721
TI  - Uptake of L-cystine via an ABC transporter contributes defense of oxidative
      stress in the L-cystine export-dependent manner in Escherichia coli.
AB  - Intracellular thiols like L-cystine and L-cystine play a critical role in the
      regulation of cellular processes. Here we show that Escherichia coli has two L
      cystine transporters, the symporter YdjN and the ATP-binding cassette importer
      FliY-YecSC. These proteins import L-cystine, an oxidized product of L-cystine
      from the periplasm to the cytoplasm. The symporter YdjN, which is expected to be
      a new member of the L-cystine regulon, is a low affinity L-cystine transporter
      (Km = 1.1 MUM) that is mainly involved in L-cystine uptake from outside as a
      nutrient. E. coli has only two L-cystine importers because DeltaydjNDeltayecS
      mutant cells are not capable of growing in the minimal medium containing L
      cystine as a sole sulfur source. Another protein YecSC is the FliY-dependent L
      cystine transporter that functions cooperatively with the L-cystine transporter
      YdeD, which exports L-cystine as reducing equivalents from the cytoplasm to the
      periplasm, to prevent E. coli cells from oxidative stress. The exported L-cystine
      can reduce the periplasmic hydrogen peroxide to water, and then generated L
      cystine is imported back into the cytoplasm via the ATP-binding cassette
      transporter YecSC with a high affinity to L-cystine (Km = 110 nM) in a manner
      dependent on FliY, the periplasmic L-cystine-binding protein. The double
      disruption of ydeD and fliY increased cellular levels of lipid peroxides. From
      these findings, we propose that the hydrogen peroxide-inducible L-cystine/L
      cystine shuttle system plays a role of detoxification of hydrogen peroxide before
      lipid peroxidation occurs, and then might specific prevent damage to membrane
      lipids. 

PMID- 25837722
TI  - Laparoscopic retroperitoneoscopic nephrectomy and partial nephrectomy in
      children.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim was to evaluate our experience in the retroperitoneal
      laparoscopic approach in total and partial nephrectomies in children. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 41 patients who
      underwent retroperitoneal laparoscopic total or partial nephrectomies performed
      in our center from 2004 to 2012. We looked at the demographic data, age at
      surgery, indication, operative time, surgical complications, conversion to open
      surgery and operative complications. RESULTS: Thirty-five total and six partial
      nephrectomies (upper pole) were performed. The mean age was 84 months (7-175).
      Vesicoureteric reflux, pelviureteric junction obstruction, and multicystic
      dysplastic kidney disease were the main underlying pathologies. The mean
      operative time was 158 min (60-280). There were no intraoperative complications
      (surgical and anesthetic), and no significant blood loss was observed. Conversion
      to open surgery was necessary in two cases caused by failure to progress due to
      difficult anatomy during the partial nephrectomies. No major postoperative
      complications were noted. The mean hospital stay was 2.5 days (1-5). A drain was
      used in 12 cases and was removed after a mean of 2 days. CONCLUSIONS:
      Laparoscopic retroperitoneoscopic renal surgery can be carried out safely and
      effectively in children. Still, this procedure is more challenging and requires
      an excellent image of the retroperitoneal space, especially when partial
      nephrectomies are concerned.

PMID- 25837723
TI  - Impact of the new density reporting laws: radiologist perceptions and actual
      behavior.
AB  - RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: To assess radiologists' perceptions of how the new
      Breast Density Notification Act (BDNA) of Pennsylvania would affect their breast
      density reporting and their actual reporting patterns after implementation.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Under an institutional review board-approved protocol, we
      surveyed 21 radiologists about how they believe the new law affected their breast
      density reporting patterns and analyzed actual changes for 16 respondents before
      and after the law took effect. Three hundred consecutive reports were assessed
      for each radiologist before and after the effective date. The distributions of
      reported density Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) (1-4) were
      compared using a type III test in the context of an ordinal mixed model
      accounting for between-reader variability and adjusting for age (PROC GLIMMIX,
      SAS, version 9.3) using a two-sided .05 significance level. RESULTS: Seventeen
      radiologists responded to the survey; however, one retired shortly after
      responding. Of the 16 respondents, 56% (nine of 16) did not favor the law, 13%
      (two of 16) were in favor, and 31% (five of 16) were neutral. The fraction
      perceived that after implementation, they rated more, equally, or less frequently
      breasts as scattered fibroglandular densities (BI-RADS 2) versus heterogeneously
      dense rating (BI-RADS 3) was 50% (eight of 16), 44% (seven of 16), and 6% (one of
      16), respectively. In practice, 44% (seven of 16) performed differently than
      their survey answers. Fourteen of 16 radiologists increased the frequency of
      reported BI-RADS 2 scores after BDNA implementation with seven having
      statistically significant (P < .05) increases after adjusting for age
      differences. CONCLUSIONS: Radiologists' reporting patterns changed, at least for
      a short duration, after the new density reporting law and for some of the
      radiologists in an unexpected way.

PMID- 25837724
TI  - Fabrication and Characterization of Nanoporous Niobia, and Nanotubular Tantala,
      Titania and Zirconia via Anodization.
AB  - Valve metals such as titanium (Ti), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb) and tantalum
      (Ta) that confer a stable oxide layer on their surfaces are commonly used as
      implant materials or alloying elements for titanium-based implants, due to their
      exceptional high corrosion resistance and excellent biocompatibility. The aim of
      this study was to investigate the bioactivity of the nanostructures of tantala
      (Ta2O5), niobia (Nb2O5), zirconia (ZrO2) and titania (TiO2) in accordance to
      their roughness and wettability. Therefore, four kinds of metal oxide nanoporous
      and nanotubular Ta2O5, Nb2O5, ZrO2 and TiO2 were fabricated via anodization. The
      nanosize distribution, morphology and the physical and chemical properties of the
      nanolayers and their surface energies and bioactivities were investigated using
      SEM-EDS, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and 3D profilometer. It was found that
      the nanoporous Ta2O5 exhibited an irregular porous structure, high roughness and
      high surface energy as compared to bare tantalum metal; and exhibited the most
      superior bioactivity after annealing among the four kinds of nanoporous
      structures. The nanoporous Nb2O5 showed a uniform porous structure and low
      roughness, but no bioactivity before annealing. Overall, the nanoporous and
      nanotubular layers of Ta2O5, Nb2O5, ZrO2 and TiO2 demonstrated promising
      potential for enhanced bioactivity to improve their biomedical application alone
      or to improve the usage in other biocompatible metal implants. 

PMID- 25837725
TI  - Inertia-enhanced pinched flow fractionation.
AB  - Separating target particles or cells from a heterogeneous mixture is often
      critical to many chemical and biomedical applications. Pinched flow fractionation
      (PFF) is a microfluidic technique that utilizes the laminar flow profile to
      continuously separate particles by size. We demonstrate that the flow-induced
      inertial lift force in microchannels can be exploited to significantly increase
      the particle displacement in PFF due to its strong size dependence. This inertia
      enhanced PFF (iPFF) technique can offer at least one-order-of-magnitude higher
      particle throughput than PFF does at the same sheath flow rate. Moreover, it is
      able to work effectively in a large range of Reynolds number that spans more than
      1 order of magnitude in the current study. In addition, iPFF is found to work
      most effectively in a rectangular microchannel with a width-to-height aspect
      ratio of around 2. 

PMID- 25837726
TI  - Music, clicks, and their imaginations favor differently the event-based timing
      component for rhythmic movements.
AB  - The involvement or noninvolvement of a clock-like neural process, an effector
      independent representation of the time intervals to produce, is described as the
      essential difference between event-based and emergent timing. In a previous work
      (Bravi et al. in Exp Brain Res 232:1663-1675, 2014a. doi: 10.1007/s00221-014-3845
      9 ), we studied repetitive isochronous wrist's flexion-extensions (IWFEs),
      performed while minimizing visual and tactile information, to clarify whether non
      temporal and temporal characteristics of paced auditory stimuli affect the
      precision and accuracy of the rhythmic motor performance. Here, with the
      inclusion of new recordings, we expand the examination of the dataset described
      in our previous study to investigate whether simple and complex paced auditory
      stimuli (clicks and music) and their imaginations influence in a different way
      the timing mechanisms for repetitive IWFEs. Sets of IWFEs were analyzed by the
      windowed (lag one) autocorrelation-wgamma(1), a statistical method recently
      introduced for the distinction between event-based and emergent timing. Our
      findings provide evidence that paced auditory information and its imagination
      favor the engagement of a clock-like neural process, and specifically that music,
      unlike clicks, lacks the power to elicit event-based timing, not counteracting
      the natural shift of wgamma(1) toward positive values as frequency of movements
      increase.

PMID- 25837727
TI  - The structural and functional role of the three tryptophan residues in Pin1.
AB  - Pin1, the only known isomerase catalyzing phosphorylated pSer/pThr-Pro motifs in
      proteins, plays unique roles in human diseases notably cancers and Alzheimer's
      disease. Herein, site-directed mutagenesis was employed to construct the
      tryptophan mutants of Pin1, including W11L, W34L, and W73L. Spectral
      methodologies, activity measurement, and proteinase resistance analysis were used
      to investigate the structural and functional role of the tryptophan residues in
      Pin1. In general, W11 and W34 are essential to the structure and the function of
      Pin1, because their mutations influence the structure of WW domain of Pin1,
      potentially attenuate the binding affinity of Pin1 to substrates, and thus
      inhibit the enzymatic activity of Pin1. Particularly, W11 mutation results in
      significantly varied structural features of Pin1 as revealed by fluorescence and
      circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopies, and decreases the enzymatic activity,
      thermal stability, and proteinase resistance of Pin1, all of which give an
      explanation for the high conservation of W11 in vivo. The synchronous
      fluorescence spectra indicate that W11 and W34 mutations possibly block their
      energy transfer to Y23 or Y24, suggesting the structural rearrangement in WW
      domain. By contrast, W73 is of minor importance for the structure and the
      function of Pin1, because the parameters of W73L observed in several experiments
      are very similar to wild-type Pin1. These observations are very beneficial for
      further understanding the structural and functional characteristics of Pin1 and
      for unveiling the pathogenesis of Pin1-related diseases especially those caused
      by tryptophan mutations.

PMID- 25837728
TI  - Influence of pH on the decay of beta-carotene radical cation in aqueous Triton X
      100: A laser flash photolysis study.
AB  - The identification of the spectral information of carotenoid neutral radicals is
      essential for studying their reactivities towards O2 and thereby evaluating their
      role in the antioxidant-prooxidant properties of the corresponding carotenoid.
      Recently, it was reported that beta-carotene neutral radical (beta-CAR) has an
      absorption maximum at 750 nm. This contradicts the results of many reports that
      show carotenoid neutral radicals (CAR) absorb in the same or near to the spectral
      region as their parent carotenoids. In this manuscript, the influence of pH on
      the decay of beta-carotene radical cation (beta-CAR-H(+)), generated in an
      aqueous solution of 2% Triton X-100 (TX-100), was investigated, employing laser
      flash photolysis (LFP) coupled with kinetic absorption spectroscopy, to identify
      the absorption bands of the beta-carotene neutral radicals. By increasing the pH
      value of the solution, the decay of beta-CAR-H(+) is enhanced and this
      enhancement is not associated with the formation of any positive absorption bands
      over the range 550-900 nm. By comparing these results with the literature, it can
      be concluded that beta-carotene neutral radicals most probably absorb within the
      same spectral range as that of beta-carotene. The reaction pathways of the
      reaction of beta-CAR-H(+) with (-)OH have been discussed.

PMID- 25837729
TI  - Attentional network deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder.
AB  - STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often
      demonstrate deficient attentional ability, but the specific nature of the deficit
      is unclear. The Attention Networks model provides a useful approach to
      deconstruct this attentional deficit into its component parts. METHOD: Fifty-two
      neurotypical (NT) children and 14 children with ASD performed the child version
      of the Attention Network Test (ANT). The latter requires participants to indicate
      the direction of a centre target stimulus, which is presented above/below
      fixation and sometimes flanked by either congruent or incongruent distractor
      stimuli. RESULTS: Relative to NT children, those with ASD were: (1) slower to
      react to spatially cued trials and (2) more error prone on executive (conflict)
      attention trials. CONCLUSIONS: Young children with ASD have intact alerting
      attention, but less-efficient orienting and executive attention.

PMID- 25837730
TI  - Reply to letter to the editor concerning: "Are paediatric operations evidence
      based?".

PMID- 25837731
TI  - A Paleogene origin for crown passerines and the diversification of the Oscines in
      the New World.
AB  - In this study, we present a detailed family-level phylogenetic hypothesis for the
      largest avian order (Aves: Passeriformes) and an unmatched multi-calibrated,
      relaxed clock inference for the diversification of crown passerines. Extended
      taxon sampling allowed the recovery of many challenging clades and elucidated
      their position in the tree. Acanthisittia appear to have diverged from all other
      passerines at the early Paleogene, which is considerably later than previously
      suggested. Thus, Passeriformes may be younger and represent an even more intense
      adaptive radiation compared to the remaining avian orders. Based on our
      divergence time estimates, a novel hypothesis for the diversification of modern
      Suboscines is proposed. According to this hypothesis, the first split between New
      and Old World lineages would be related to the severing of the Africa-South
      America biotic connection during the mid-late Eocene, implying an African origin
      for modern Eurylaimides. The monophyletic status of groups not recovered by any
      subsequent study since their circumscription, viz. Sylvioidea including Paridae,
      Remizidae, Hyliotidae, and Stenostiridae; and Muscicapoidea including the waxwing
      assemblage (Bombycilloidea) were notable topological findings. We also propose
      possible ecological interactions that may have shaped the distinct Oscine
      distribution patterns in the New World. The insectivorous endemic Oscines of the
      Americas, Vireonidae (Corvoidea), Mimidae, and Troglodytidae (Muscicapoidea),
      probably interfered with autochthonous Suboscines through direct competition.
      Thus, the Early Miocene arrival of these lineages before any other Oscines may
      have occupied the few available niches left by Tyrannides, constraining the
      diversification of insectivorous Oscines that arrived in the Americas later. The
      predominantly frugivorous-nectarivorous members of Passeroidea, which account for
      most of the diversity of New World-endemic Oscines, may not have been subjected
      to competition with Tyrannides. In fact, the vast availability of frugivory
      niches combined with weak competition with the autochthonous passerine fauna may
      have been crucial for passeroids to thrive in the New World. 

PMID- 25837732
TI  - Family matters: The first molecular phylogeny of the Onchidorididae Gray, 1827
      (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Nudibranchia).
AB  - Recent investigations into the evolution of the Onchidorididae using
      morphological based methods have resulted in low support for relationships among
      genera. This study aims to determine if molecular data corroborates recent
      morphological interpretations of the evolution of Onchidorididae. Five genetic
      markers: 16S, 18S, 28S, cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) and histone 3 (H3), were
      sequenced from 32 species comprising Onchidorididae and five other families,
      three from Phanerobranchia and two from Cryptobranchia. Phylogenies were
      estimated using maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference analyses; with both
      yielding similar topologies. Molecular analyses resulted in high support for the
      monophyly of the suctorian clade and the placement of the genera within
      Onchidorididae. However, the Onchidorididae forms a paraphyletic grouping due to
      the recovery of the Goniodorididae and the Akiodorididae nested within family. In
      addition, the placement of Corambe as the most derived member of Onchidorididae
      is contradicted by the present study. Rather it is sister to a large clade that
      includes Acanthodoris and the species traditionally placed in Onchidoris and
      Adalaria, now defined as Onchidorididae. We have chosen to maintain Corambidae as
      a distinct taxon (including Corambe and Loy), sister to Onchidorididae. We also
      maintain Goniodorididae, Akiodorididae and Calycidoridae (including Calycidoris
      and Diaphorodoris), which along with the Onchidorididae and Corambidae comprise
      the suctorian superfamily Onchidoridoidea. Ancestral character reconstruction
      also suggests that the formation of a gill pocket, a character that currently
      defines the Cryptobranchia, may have evolved multiple times from an ancestor that
      lacked the ability to retract its gills into a fully formed gill pocket. The
      diversity of gill morphology displayed by the Onchidoridoidea will help give new
      insight into the evolution of this complex character within the Nudibranchia. 

PMID- 25837733
TI  - Genetic divergence and diversity in the Mona and Virgin Islands Boas,
      Chilabothrus monensis (Epicrates monensis) (Serpentes: Boidae), West Indian
      snakes of special conservation concern.
AB  - Habitat fragmentation reduces the extent and connectivity of suitable habitats,
      and can lead to changes in population genetic structure. Limited gene flow among
      isolated demes can result in increased genetic divergence among populations, and
      decreased genetic diversity within demes. We assessed patterns of genetic
      variation in the Caribbean boa Chilabothrus monensis (Epicrates monensis) using
      two mitochondrial and seven nuclear markers, and relying on the largest number of
      specimens of these snakes examined to date. Two disjunct subspecies of C.
      monensis are recognized: the threatened C. m. monensis, endemic to Mona Island,
      and the rare and endangered C. m. granti, which occurs on various islands of the
      Puerto Rican Bank. Mitochondrial and nuclear markers revealed unambiguous genetic
      differences between the taxa, and coalescent species delimitation methods
      indicated that these snakes likely are different evolutionary lineages, which we
      recognize at the species level, C. monensis and C. granti. All examined loci in
      C. monensis (sensu stricto) are monomorphic, which may indicate a recent
      bottleneck event. Each population of C. granti exclusively contains private mtDNA
      haplotypes, but five of the seven nuclear genes assayed are monomorphic, and
      nucleotide diversity is low in the two remaining markers. The faster pace of
      evolution of mtDNA possibly reflects the present-day isolation of populations of
      C. granti, whereas the slower substitution rate of nuDNA may instead mirror the
      relatively recent episodes of connectivity among the populations facilitated by
      the lower sea level during the Pleistocene. The small degree of overall genetic
      variation in C. granti suggests that demes of this snake could be managed as a
      single unit, a practice that would significantly increase their effective
      population size. 

PMID- 25837734
TI  - Eligibility for low-dose computerized tomography screening among asbestos-exposed
      individuals.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to incorporate an estimate of risk for asbestos
      exposure in the Canadian Cancer Risk Management Lung Cancer (CRMM-LC)
      microsimulation model. METHODS: In CRMM-LC, a 3-year probability of developing
      lung cancer can be derived from different risk profiles. An asbestos-exposed
      cohort was simulated and different scenarios of low-dose computerized tomography
      (LDCT) screening were simulated. RESULTS: As annual LDCT screening among non
      asbestos-exposed individuals is less cost-effective than biennial screening, all
      the scenarios modeled for an asbestos-exposed cohort were biennial. For
      individuals with a two-fold risk of asbestos-induced lung cancer to be eligible
      for biennial LDCT screening, a smoking history of >=15 pack-years would be
      necessary. For non-smokers with asbestos exposure resulting in a relative risk
      (RR) for lung cancer, it is not cost-effective to screen those with a RR of 5,
      but it is cost-effective to screen those with a RR of 10 (the heavily exposed).
      CONCLUSION: Asbestos-exposed individuals with an estimated two-fold or more risk
      of lung cancer from asbestos-exposure are eligible for LDCT screening at all ages
      from 55-74 years if they have a cigarette smoking history of >=15 pack-years.
      Asbestos-exposed individuals who are lifelong non-smokers are eligible for LDCT
      screening at all ages from 55-74 years if they have accumulated a degree of
      asbestos exposure resulting in an estimated risk of lung cancer of >=10.

PMID- 25837735
TI  - Vitamin D, muscle and bone: Integrating effects in development, aging and injury.
AB  - Beyond the established effects of muscle loading on bone, a complex network of
      hormones and growth factors integrates these adjacent tissues. One such hormone,
      vitamin D, exerts broad-ranging effects in muscle and bone calcium handling,
      differentiation and development. Vitamin D also modulates muscle and bone-derived
      hormones, potentially facilitating cross-talk between these tissues. In the
      clinical setting, vitamin D deficiency or mutations of the vitamin D receptor
      result in generalized atrophy of muscle and bone, suggesting coordinated effects
      of vitamin D at these sites. In this review, we discuss emerging evidence that
      vitamin D exerts specific effects throughout the life of the musculoskeletal
      system - in development, aging and injury. From this holistic viewpoint, we offer
      new insights into an old debate: whether vitamin D's effects in the
      musculoskeletal system are direct via local VDR signals or indirect via its
      systemic effects in calcium and phosphate homeostasis. 

PMID- 25837736
TI  - Tumours and tumour mimics in the olecranon.
AB  - Lesions in the olecranon are rare and may be identified during the investigation
      of a clinically suspected abnormality or as an incidental finding. This review
      describes the spectrum of tumours and tumour-like lesions that can involve the
      olecranon and illustrates the radiographic, CT, and MRI appearances that may
      facilitate diagnosis. A variety of pathological processes affecting the olecranon
      are presented and discussed including the epidemiology and imaging features.

PMID- 25837737
TI  - Driver injury severity related to inclement weather at highway-rail grade
      crossings in the United States.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Previous studies on crash modeling at highway-rail grade crossings
      were aimed at exploring the factors that are likely to increase the crash
      frequencies at highway-rail grade crossings. In recent years, modeling driver's
      injury severity at highway-rail grade crossings has received interest. Because
      there were substantial differences among different weather conditions for
      driver's injury severity, this study attempts to explore the impact of weather
      influence on driver injury at highway-rail grade crossing. METHOD: Utilizing the
      most recent 10 years (2002-2011) of highway-rail grade crossing accident data,
      this study applied a mixed logit model to explore the determinants of driver
      injury severity under different weather conditions at highway-rail grade
      crossing. RESULTS: Analysis results indicate that drivers' injury severity at
      highway-rail grade crossings is strongly different for different weather
      conditions. It was found that the factors significantly impacting driver injury
      severity at highway-rail grade crossings include motor vehicle speed, train
      speed, driver's age, gender, area type, lighting condition, highway pavement,
      traffic volume, and time of day. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study indicate
      that crashes are more prevalent if vehicle drivers are driving at high speed or
      the oncoming trains are high speed. Hence, a reduction in speed limit during
      inclement weather conditions could be particularly effective in moderating injury
      severity, allowing more reaction time for last-minute maneuvering and braking in
      moments before impacts. In addition, inclement weather-related crashes were more
      likely to occur in open areas and highway-rail grade crossings without pavement
      and lighting. Paved highway-rail grade crossings with installation of lights
      could be particularly effective in moderating injury severity.

PMID- 25837738
TI  - Overexpression of the carbohydrate binding module of strawberry expansin2 in
      Arabidopsis thaliana modifies plant growth and cell wall metabolism.
AB  - Several cell wall enzymes are carbohydrate active enzymes that contain a putative
      Carbohydrate Binding Module (CBM) in their structures. The main function of these
      non-catalitic modules is to facilitate the interaction between the enzyme and its
      substrate. Expansins are non-hydrolytic proteins present in the cell wall, and
      their structure includes a CBM in the C-terminal that bind to cell wall polymers
      such as cellulose, hemicelluloses and pectins. We studied the ability of the
      Expansin2 CBM (CBMFaEXP2) from strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa, Duch) to modify
      the cell wall of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plants overexpressing CBMFaEXP2 were
      characterized phenotypically and biochemically. Transgenic plants were taller
      than wild type, possibly owing to a faster growth of the main stem. Cell walls of
      CBMFaEXP2-expressing plants were thicker and contained higher amount of pectins.
      Lower activity of a set of enzymes involved in cell wall degradation (PG, beta
      Gal, beta-Xyl) was found, and the expression of the corresponding genes (AtPG,
      Atbeta-Gal, Atbeta-Xyl5) was reduced also. In addition, a decrease in the
      expression of two A. thaliana Expansin genes (AtEXP5 and AtEXP8) was observed.
      Transgenic plants were more resistant to Botrytis cinerea infection than wild
      type, possibly as a consequence of higher cell wall integrity. Our results
      support the hypothesis that the overexpression of a putative CBM is able to
      modify plant cell wall structure leading to modulation of wall loosening and
      plant growth. These findings might offer a tool to controlling physiological
      processes where cell wall disassembly is relevant, such as fruit softening. 

PMID- 25837739
TI  - Identification and characterization of phosphodiesterases that specifically
      degrade 3'3'-cyclic GMP-AMP.
AB  - Cyclic dinucleotides act as intracellular second messengers, modulating a variety
      of cellular activities including innate immune activation. Although
      phosphodiesterases (PDEs) hydrolyzing c-di-GMP and c-di-AMP have been identified,
      no PDEs for cGAMPs have been reported. Here we identified the first three cGAMP
      specific PDEs in V. cholerae (herein designated as V-cGAP1/2/3). V-cGAPs are HD
      GYP domain-containing proteins and specifically break 3'3'-cGAMP, but not other
      forms of cGAMP. 3'3'-cGAMP is first linearized by all three V-cGAPs to produce 5'
      pApG, which is further hydrolyzed into 5'-ApG by V-cGAP1. In this two-step
      reaction, V-cGAP1 functions as both a PDE and a 5'-nucleotidase. In vivo
      experiments demonstrated that V-cGAPs play non-redundant roles in cGAMP
      degradation. The high specificity of V-cGAPs on 3'3'-cGAMP suggests the existence
      of specific PDEs for other cGAMPs, including 2'3'-cGAMP in mammalian cells. The
      absolute requirement of the GYP motif for 3'3'-cGAMP degradation suggests that HD
      domain-containing PDEs in eukaryotes are probably unable to hydrolyze cGAMPs. The
      fact that all V-cGAPs attack 3'3'-cGAMP on one specific phosphodiester bond
      suggests that PDEs for other cGAMPs would utilize a similar strategy. These
      results will provide valuable information for identification and characterization
      of mammalian 2'3'-cGAMP-specific PDEs in future studies. 

PMID- 25837740
TI  - Aggression and violence against primary care physicians-a nationwide
      questionnaire survey.
AB  - BACKGROUND: International studies show that aggressive behavior against primary
      care physicians is not an uncommon occurrence. There has been no systematic study
      to date of the nature and frequency of such occurrences in Germany. METHODS: A
      four-page questionnaire was sent to a nationwide random sample of 1500 primary
      care physicians. It contained questions about the type, frequency, severity, and
      site of aggressive behavior against the physician. RESULTS: 831 (59%) of 1408
      correctly delivered questionnaires could be included in the analysis. 91% of the
      respondents (95% confidence interval [CI], 89%-93%) said they had been the object
      of aggressive behavior at some time in their career as a primary care physician,
      73% (95% CI, 70%-76%) in the previous 12 months. Severe aggression or violence
      had been experienced by 23% (95% CI, 20%-25%) in their entire career and 11% (95%
      CI, 8%-13%) in the previous year. The vast majority of respondents said they felt
      safe in their offices. 66% of female and 34% of male respondents said they did
      not feel safe making house visits while on on-call duty. CONCLUSION: The
      frequency and extent of aggression and violence against primary care physicians
      in Germany is comparable to those reported by international studies. Strategies
      for dealing with this problem should be developed. In particular, the issue of
      safety on emergency call needs to be addressed.

PMID- 25837741
TI  - Preventing inadvertent perioperative hypothermia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: 25-90% of all patients undergoing elective surgery suffer from
      inadvertent postoperative hypothermia, i.e., a core body temperature below 36
      degrees C. Compared to normothermic patients, these patients have more frequent
      wound infections (relative risk [RR] 3.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.35
      7.84), cardiac complications (RR 4.49, 95% CI 1.00-20.16), and blood transfusions
      (RR 1.33, 95% CI 1.06-1.66). Hypothermic patients feel uncomfortable, and
      shivering raises oxygen consumption by about 40%. METHODS: This guideline is
      based on a systematic review of the literature up to and including October 2012
      and a further one from November 2012 to August 2014. The recommendations were
      developed and agreed upon by representatives of five medical specialty societies
      in a structured consensus process. RESULTS: The patient's core temperature should
      be measured 1-2 hours before the start of anesthesia, and either continuously or
      every 15 minutes during surgery. Depending on the nature of the operation, the
      site of temperature measurement should be oral, naso-/oropharyngeal, esophageal,
      vesical, or tympanic (direct). The patient should be actively prewarmed 20-30
      minutes before surgery to counteract the decline in temperature. Prewarmed
      patients must be actively warmed intraoperatively as well if the planned duration
      of anesthesia is longer than 60 minutes (without prewarming, 30 minutes). The
      ambient temperature in the operating room should be at least 21 degrees C for
      adult patients and at least 24 degrees C for children. Infusions and blood
      transfusions that are given at rates of >500 mL/h should be warmed first.
      Perioperatively, the largest possible area of the body surface should be
      thermally insulated. Emergence from general anesthesia should take place at
      normal body temperature. Postoperative hypothermia, if present, should be treated
      by the administration of convective or conductive heat until normothermia is
      achieved. Shivering can be treated with medications. CONCLUSION: Inadvertent
      perioperative hypothermia can adversely affect the outcome of surgery and the
      patient's postoperative course. It should be actively prevented.

PMID- 25837742
TI  - Far removed from patients.

PMID- 25837743
TI  - Significance of the respiratory rate in emergency medicine.

PMID- 25837744
TI  - In reply.

PMID- 25837745
TI  - Positive psychological effects.

PMID- 25837746
TI  - Different procedures should be on offer.

PMID- 25837747
TI  - In reply.

PMID- 25837748
TI  - Association of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide with contrast-induced
      nephropathy and long-term outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease and
      relative preserved left ventricular function.
AB  - The aim of the present article was to evaluate the association of N-terminal pro
      B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) with contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN)
      and long-term outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and relative
      preserved left ventricular function (LVF) undergoing percutaneous coronary
      intervention (PCI). We prospectively enrolled 1203 consecutive patients with CKD
      and preserved LVF undergoing elective PCI. The primary end point was the
      development of CIN, defined as an absolute increase in serum creatinine (SCr)
      >=0.5 mg/dL, from baseline within 48 to 72 hours after contrast medium exposure.
      CIN incidence varied from 2.2% to 5.2%. Univariate logistic analysis showed that
      lg-NT-pro-BNP was significantly associated with CIN (odds ratio [OR] = 3.93, 95%
      confidence interval [CI], 2.22-6.97, P < 0.001). Furthermore, lg-NT-pro-BNP
      remained a significant predictor of CIN (OR = 3.30, 95% CI, 1.57-6.93, P =
      0.002), even after adjusting for potential confounding risk factors. These
      results were confirmed by using other CIN criteria, which were defined as
      elevations of the SCr by 25% or 0.5 and 0.3 mg/dL from the baseline. The best
      cutoff value of lg-NT-pro-BNP for detecting CIN was 2.73 pg/mL (537 pg/mL) with
      73.1% sensitivity and 70.0% specificity according to the receiver operating
      characteristic (ROC) analysis (C statistic = 0.754, 95% CI, 0.67-0.84, P <
      0.001). In addition, NT-pro-BNP >=537 pg/mL (2.73 pg/mL, lg-NT-pro-BNP) was
      associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality and composite end points
      during 2.5 years of follow-up. NT-pro-BNP >=537 pg/mL is independently associated
      with an increased risk of CIN with different definitions and poor clinical
      outcomes in patients with CKD and relative preserved LVF undergoing PCI.

PMID- 25837749
TI  - Genetic association between PER3 genetic polymorphisms and cancer susceptibility:
      a meta-analysis.
AB  - The genes along the circadian pathways control and modulate circadian rhythms
      essential for the maintenance of physiological homeostasis through self-sustained
      transcription-translation feedback loops. PER3 (period 3) is a circadian pathway
      gene and its variants (rs1012477, 4/5-repeat) have frequently been associated
      with human cancer. The mixed findings, however, make the role of the 2 variants
      in cancer susceptibility elusive. We aimed in this article to clarify the
      association of PER3 variants with cancer. We collected genetic data from 8
      studies, providing 6149 individuals for rs1012477 and 5241 individuals for 4/5
      repeat. Based on the genotype and allele frequency, we chose the fixed-effects
      model to estimate risk of cancer. Overall analysis did not suggest a global role
      of rs1012477 in cancer susceptibility. For PER3 4/5-repeat variant, we found a
      moderate increase in risk of cancer among individuals with the 5-allele compared
      to individuals with the 4-allele, although this association was not statistically
      significant (homozygous model: odds ratio [OR] 1.17, 95% confidence interval [CI]
      0.81-1.67; recessive model: OR 1.17, 95% CI 0.82-1.67). No substantial
      heterogeneity was revealed in this analysis. Our meta-analysis provides no
      evidence supporting a global association of PER3 genetic variants with the
      incidence of cancer.

PMID- 25837750
TI  - Negative impact of preoperative platelet-lymphocyte ratio on outcome after
      hepatic resection for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.
AB  - The elevated platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), determined using an easy blood
      test based on platelet and lymphocyte counts, is reported to be a predictor of
      poor survival in patients with several cancers. The prognostic role of
      preoperative PLR in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) has,
      until now, been rarely investigated. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the
      prognostic significance of PLR in a large cohort of ICC patients after hepatic
      resection. We obtained data from 322 consecutive nonmetastatic ICC patients who
      underwent hepatectomy without preoperative therapy between 2005 and 2011.
      Clinicopathological parameters, including PLR, were evaluated. Overall survival
      (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier
      method. Using multivariate Cox regression models, the independent prognostic
      value of preoperative PLR was determined. Our results showed that PLR represents
      an independent adverse prognostic factor for OS and RFS in ICC patients using
      univariate and multivariate analyses. The optimal PLR cutoff value was 123 using
      receiver operating curve analyses. The 5-year OS and RFS rates after hepatectomy
      were 30.3% and 28.9% for the group with PLR 123 greater, compared with 46.2% and
      39.4% for the group with PLR less than 123 (P = 0.0058 and 0.0153, respectively).
      In addition, high PLR values were associated with tumor size (P = 0.020). Our
      results suggest that preoperative PLR might represent a novel independent
      prognostic factor for OS and RFS in ICC patients with hepatic resection.

PMID- 25837751
TI  - Prospective, randomized comparison of same-day dose of 2 different bowel cleanser
      for afternoon colonoscopy: picosulfate, magnesium oxide, and citric acid versus
      polyethylene glycol.
AB  - For afternoon colonoscopy, same-day administration of sodium picosulfate,
      magnesium oxide, and citric acid (PM/Ca) is recommended. However, few studies
      have evaluated the bowel-cleansing efficacy and safety of this regimen. The aim
      of this study was to compare the bowel-cleansing efficacy, side effects, and
      patient's tolerability of a same-day split administration of PM/Ca with
      polyethylene glycol (PEG) for afternoon colonoscopy. Patients were randomly
      assigned to a PM/Ca group or a PEG group. The PM/Ca group consumed 1 sachet of
      PM/Ca at 06:00 and 1 sachet of PM/Ca 4 hours before the colonoscopy. They also
      took 2 tablets of bisacodyl before sleep on the night before. The PEG group
      consumed 2 L of PEG at 06:00 and 2 L of PEG 4 hours before the colonoscopy. All
      subjects were instructed to finish the bowel cleanser or fluid at least 2 hours
      before colonoscopy. All colonoscopic examinations were performed in the afternoon
      on the same day. The bowel-cleansing efficacy was scored using 2 scales: the
      Ottawa Bowel Preparation Scale (OBPS) and the Aronchick scale. Ease of using the
      bowel cleanser was rated from 1 (very easy) to 5 (very difficult). Two hundred
      nine patients underwent colonoscopy. The bowel-cleansing scores by OBPS did not
      differ between groups (5.0 vs 4.9, P = 0.63). Ease of using the bowel cleanser
      was superior in the PM/Ca group (P < 0.01). The cleansing efficacy of PM/Ca
      administered on the day of colonoscopy is comparable to that of PEG. Patients
      prefer PM/Ca.

PMID- 25837752
TI  - Cerebral air embolism following the removal of a central venous catheter in the
      absence of intracardiac right-to-left shunting: a case report.
AB  - Air embolism following central venous catheter (CVC) removal is a relatively
      uncommon complication. Despite its rare occurrence, an air embolism can lead to
      serious outcomes. One of the most fatal complications is cerebral air embolism.
      We report a case of cerebral air embolism that occurred after the removal of a
      CVC in a patient with an underlying idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, subcutaneous
      emphysema, pneumomediastinum, and a possible intrapulmonary shunt. Although the
      patient had a brief period of recovery, his condition deteriorated again, and
      retention of carbon dioxide was sustained due to aggravation of pneumonia.
      Despite full coverage of antibiotics and maximum care with the ventilator, the
      patient died about 5 weeks after the removal of the CVC. We suggest that strict
      compliance to protocols is required even while removing the catheter.
      Furthermore, additional caution to avoid air embolism is demanded in high-risk
      patients, such as in this case.

PMID- 25837753
TI  - Diagnostic value of Wilms tumor 1 and CD44 in Langerhans cell sarcoma: case
      series of 4 patients.
AB  - Langerhans cell sarcoma (LCS) is a rare tumor with markedly malignant cytological
      features originating from Langerhans cells. LCS diagnosis is difficult and
      requires differentiation from other malignant tumors and Langerhans cell
      histiocytosis (LCH). Immunochemical antibodies, such as langerin, S-100 protein,
      and CD1a, have been used to diagnose LCS, but the results are crossed with LCH.
      To determine more significant biomarkers of LCS, we studied the expression and
      distribution pattern of Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) and cluster of differentiation 44
      (CD44) in LCS. A broad panel of antibodies was used for immunohistochemical
      technology. Simultaneously, dual immunofluorescence staining examination and
      fluorescence in situ hybridization staining methods were used to study the
      location of WT1 and CD44 in LCS tumor cells. The results showed that tumor cells
      expressed WT1, CD44, and other special Langerhans cell markers (langerin, CD1a,
      and S-100 protein). LCS cells in all the cases showed normal cytogenetic findings
      without overexpression of WT1 and CD44. The expression of WT1 and CD44 was
      observed on langerin tumor cells by dual immunofluorescence staining examination
      in LCS. Our results suggest that WT1 and CD44 are potential biomarkers for LCS
      diagnosis. Clear understanding of their functional roles may further explain the
      pathogenesis of this highly malignant tumor and develop some novel immunotherapy
      strategies.

PMID- 25837754
TI  - Association between severity and the determinant-based classification, Atlanta
      2012 and Atlanta 1992, in acute pancreatitis: a clinical retrospective study.
AB  - Recently, the determinant-based classification (DBC) and the Atlanta 2012 have
      been proposed to provide a basis for study and treatment of acute pancreatitis
      (AP). The present study aimed to evaluate the association between severity and
      the DBC, the Atlanta 2012 and the Atlanta 1992, in AP. Patients admitted to our
      center with AP from January 2007 to July 2013 were reviewed retrospectively.
      Patients were assigned to severity categories for all the 3 classification
      systems. The primary outcomes include long-term clinical prognosis (mortality and
      length-of-hospital stay), major complications (intraabdominal hemorrhage,
      multiple-organ dysfunction, single organ failure [OF], and sepsis) and clinical
      interventions (surgical drainage, continuous renal replace therapy [CRRT] lasting
      time, and mechanical ventilation [MV] lasting time). The classification systems
      were validated and compared in terms of these abovementioned primary outcomes. A
      total of 395 patients were enrolled in this retrospective study with an overall
      8.86% in-hospital mortality. Intraabdominal hemorrhage was present in 27 (6.84%)
      of the patients, multiple-organ dysfunction in 73(18.48%), single OF in 67
      (16.96%), and sepsis in 73(18.48%). For each classification system, different
      categories regarding severity were associated with statistically different
      clinical mortality, major complications, and clinical interventions (P < 0.05).
      However, the Atlanta 2012 and the DBC performed better than the Atlanta 1992, and
      they were comparable in predicting mortality (area under curve [AUC] 0.899 and
      0.955 vs 0.585, P < 0.05); intraabdominal hemorrhage (AUC 0.930 and 0.961 vs
      0.583, P < 0.05), multiple-organ dysfunction (AUC 0.858 and 0.881 vs 0.595, P <
      0.05), sepsis (AUC 0.826 and 0.879 vs 0.590, P < 0.05), and surgical drainage
      (AUC 0.900 and 0.847 vs 0.606, P < 0.05). For continuous variables, the Atlanta
      2012 and the DBC were also better than the Atlanta 1992, and they were similar in
      predicting CRRT lasting time (Somer D 0.379 and 0.360 vs 0.210, P < 0.05) and MV
      lasting time (Somer D 0.344 and 0.336 vs 0.186, P < 0.05). All the 3
      classification systems accurately classify the severity of AP. However, the
      Atlanta 2012 and the DBC performed better than the Atlanta 1992, and they were
      comparable in predicting long-term clinical prognosis, major complications, and
      clinical interventions.

PMID- 25837755
TI  - Dopamine transporter single-photon emission computerized tomography supports
      diagnosis of akinetic crisis of parkinsonism and of neuroleptic malignant
      syndrome.
AB  - Akinetic crisis (AC) is akin to neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) and is the
      most severe and possibly lethal complication of parkinsonism. Diagnosis is today
      based only on clinical assessments yet is often marred by concomitant
      precipitating factors. Our purpose is to evidence that AC and NMS can be reliably
      evidenced by FP/CIT single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT)
      performed during the crisis. Prospective cohort evaluation in 6 patients. In 5
      patients, affected by Parkinson disease or Lewy body dementia, the crisis was
      categorized as AC. One was diagnosed as having NMS because of exposure to
      risperidone. In all FP/CIT, SPECT was performed in the acute phase. SPECT was
      repeated 3 to 6 months after the acute event in 5 patients. Visual assessments
      and semiquantitative evaluations of binding potentials (BPs) were used. To
      exclude the interference of emergency treatments, FP/CIT BP was also evaluated in
      4 patients currently treated with apomorphine. During AC or NMS, BP values in
      caudate and putamen were reduced by 95% to 80%, to noise level with a nearly
      complete loss of striatum dopamine transporter-binding, corresponding to the
      "burst striatum" pattern. The follow-up re-evaluation in surviving patients
      showed a recovery of values to the range expected for Parkinsonisms of same
      disease duration. No binding effects of apomorphine were observed. By showing the
      outstanding binding reduction, presynaptic dopamine transporter ligand can
      provide instrumental evidence of AC in Parkinsonism and NMS.

PMID- 25837756
TI  - Factors influencing the dosimetry for high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation
      of uterine fibroids: a retrospective study.
AB  - The aim of this article is to analyze factors affecting sonication dose and build
      a dosimetry model of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation for
      uterine fibroids. Four hundred and three patients with symptomatic uterine
      fibroids who underwent HIFU were retrospectively analyzed. The energy efficiency
      factor (EEF) was set as dependent variable, and the factors possibly affecting
      sonication dose included age, body mass index, size of uterine fibroid, abdominal
      wall thickness, the distance from uterine fibroid dorsal side to sacrum, the
      distance from uterine fibroid ventral side to skin, location of uterus, location
      of uterine fibroids, type of uterine fibroids, abdominal wall scar, signal
      intensity on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), and enhancement type on T1-weighted
      imaging (T1WI) were set as predictors to build a multiple regression model. The
      size of uterine fibroid, distance from fibroid ventral side to skin, location of
      uterus, location of uterine fibroids, type of uterine fibroids, signal intensity
      on T2WI, and enhancement type on T1WI had a linear correlation with EEF. The
      distance from fibroid ventral side to skin, enhancement type on T1WI, size of
      uterine fibroid, and signal intensity on T2WI were eventually incorporated into
      the dosimetry model. The distance from fibroid ventral side to skin, enhancement
      type on T1WI, size of uterine fibroid, and signal intensity on T2WI can be used
      as dosimetric predictors for HIFU for uterine fibroids.

PMID- 25837757
TI  - Fibulin-1 is downregulated through promoter hypermethylation in colorectal
      cancer: a CONSORT study.
AB  - Fibulin-1 (FBLN1) is involved in the progression of some types of cancer.
      However, the role of FBLN1 in colorectal cancer (CRC) has not been examined. The
      purpose of this study was to understand the molecular mechanisms and clinical
      significance of FBLN1 inactivation in CRC. The expression of FBLN1 in CRC tissues
      and adjacent normal tissues was analyzed by immunohistochemical analysis and
      quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Methylation-specific
      polymerase chain reaction (MSP) and bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) were performed
      to examine the methylation status of the FBLN1 gene promoter. Furthermore, the
      methylated level of FBLN1 was analyzed with the clinicopathological
      characteristics. Immunohistochemical analysis and qRT-PCR analysis showed that
      FBLN1 protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in tumor tissues were both
      significantly decreased compared with that in adjacent nontumor tissues. The
      methylation rate of FBLN1 promoter was significantly higher in CRC tissues than
      that in adjacent nontumor tissues (P < 0.001). In addition, the correlation
      between FBLN1 hypermethylation, protein expression, and overall survival (OS) was
      statistically significant. Our results indicated that the FBLN1 gene may be a
      novel candidate of tumor suppressor gene in CRC, and that promoter
      hypermethylation of FBLN1 is an important reason for its downregulation and is
      also a good predictor of OS for CRC.

PMID- 25837758
TI  - Gouty arthritis of the spine in a renal transplant patient: a clinical case
      report: an unusual presentation of a common disorder.
AB  - Axial gout is a well-documented but uncommon manifestation of gout. Its mimicking
      nature and the impracticality of axial joint aspiration might considerably delay
      its diagnosis. We report a case in a normouricemic renal transplant recipient,
      whereby the primary symptom of severe neck pain suggested pyogenic
      spondylodiscitis as an initial tentative diagnosis. Clinical findings included a
      high C-reactive protein concentration and elevated body temperature. The patient
      did not respond to empiric antibiotic treatment and suffered consecutive attacks
      of severe wrist and ankle pain in conjunction with a persistent fever. Blood and
      joint cultures were negative, but analysis of aspirated ankle joint fluid
      revealed monosodium urate crystals. A dual-energy computed tomography scan
      confirmed the presence of monosodium urate crystals in the costovertebral joints.
      Colchicine treatment dramatically improved the patient's clinical condition.
      Axial gout should be considered in transplant recipients with severe neck or back
      pain, fever, and increased inflammatory parameters with a high likelihood of an
      infectious etiology, despite the presence of paradoxically normal or even
      decreased serum urate concentrations. Dual-energy computed tomography is a
      noninvasive technique of possible benefit in the detection of axial gout when
      joint fluid aspiration is not deemed safe.

PMID- 25837759
TI  - The effect of corneal irregularity on astigmatism measurement by automated versus
      ray tracing keratometry.
AB  - The aim of this study was to compare the effect of corneal irregularity on
      astigmatism assessment using automated keratometry (AK) (IOLMaster) versus ray
      tracing keratometry (Pentacam). This is an observational case series approved by
      the institutional review board of Dongguk University Hospital, Goyang, South
      Korea. A total of 207 eyes of 207 cataract patients were included. Preoperative
      corneal astigmatism was measured by both IOLMaster and Pentacam. Corneal
      irregularity index (IR) was calculated in Fourier analysis map of Pentacam. AK by
      IOLMaster and total corneal refractive power (TCRP, 3 mm and 4 mm zone analysis
      with pupil centered) by Pentacam were selected and the difference between the 2
      measurements (delta Delta) was calculated using vector analysis. Ocular residual
      astigmatism (ORA) after cataract surgery was calculated by subtracting 6-month
      postoperative refractive astigmatism (RA) measurements from corresponding
      preoperative values (AK, TCRP3, and TCRP4). The mean irregularity index measured
      was 0.042 +/- 0.019 mm (mean +/- standard deviation) and was positively
      correlated with age and magnitude of corneal astigmatism (P < 0.001 and P <
      0.05). The difference (Delta) between TCRPs and AK (DeltaTCRPs-AK) was 0.43 +/-
      0.37 (TCRP3) and 0.39 +/- 0.35 (TCRP4) diopters. Linear regression analysis
      revealed that age (P < 0.001), IR (P < 0.001), and AK (P < 0.001) were positively
      correlated with DeltaTCRPs-AK. In highly irregular corneas (IR over 0.77
      diopters: mean + 2 standard deviation), postoperative ORAs calculated using TCRPs
      were significantly lower than ORAs calculated using AK. Corneal irregularities
      significantly impact astigmatism assessment by IOLMaster (AK) and Pentacam
      (TCRPs). Compared with AK, TCRPs were more accurate in predicting postoperative
      residual astigmatism in highly irregular corneas.

PMID- 25837760
TI  - The catalase C-262T gene polymorphism and cancer risk: a systematic review and
      meta-analysis.
AB  - Many studies suggest that catalase C-262T gene polymorphism is associated with
      cancer risk, but with inconsistent results. This study aimed to summarize the
      overall association between catalase C-262T polymorphism and cancer risk.
      Literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, and other databases, studies
      regarding the association between catalase C-262T polymorphism and cancer risk
      were identified, and data were retrieved and analyzed by using Review Manager
      5.0.24 and STATA 12.0. A total of 18 publications with 22 case-control studies,
      including 9777 cancer patients and 12,223 controls, met the inclusion criteria.
      Meta-analysis results showed significant association between catalase C-262 T
      polymorphism and cancer risk (TT vs CT + CC: odds ratio [OR] = 1.17, 95%
      confidence interval [CI] = 1.03-1.31, P = 0.01). Subgroup analyses stratified by
      cancer types suggested the catalase C-262T polymorphism was significantly
      associated with an increased prostate cancer risk (TT vs CT + CC: OR = 1.61, 95%
      CI = 1.17-2.22, P = 0.004); for subgroup analyses stratified by ethnicity, no
      associations between this polymorphism and Asians or whites were identified (CT +
      TT vs CC: OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 0.98-1.26, P = 0.09 for whites; OR = 1.19, 95% CI =
      0.78-1.80, P = 0.42 for Asians). In summary, the catalase C-262T polymorphism may
      be a risk factor for cancer with cancer type-specific effects. Further studies
      should be performed to confirm these findings. 

PMID- 25837761
TI  - Added value of using a cocktail of F-18 sodium fluoride and F-18
      fluorodeoxyglucose in positron emission tomography/computed tomography for
      detecting bony metastasis: a case report.
AB  - Current nuclear imaging of the skeletal system is achieved using technetium-99m
      (Tc-99m) methylene diphosphonate (MDP), F-18 sodium fluoride (NaF), or F-18
      fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). However, comparisons of these are rare in the
      literature. We present a case of a 51-year-old female with suspicious lung cancer
      due to main symptoms of dyspnea, nonproductive cough, and pleural pain. Tc-99m
      MDP whole-body bone scan (WBBS) showed multiple bony metastases. Five days later,
      positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) images using both F-18
      NaF and a cocktail of F-18 NaF and F-18 FDG were obtained on the same day 2 hours
      apart. The former showed more foci and precisely showed bony lesions compared to
      those obtained using Tc-99m MDP WBBS. However, the latter demonstrated more
      extensive radiotracer uptake, especially in osteolytic lesions, and additional
      soft tissue lesions in the left axillary and surpraclavicular nodes as well as
      the left pleura. Surgical biopsy was performed in left axillary nodes, and the
      metastatic carcinoma was found to be of breast origin. This case demonstrated
      that a cocktail of F-18 NaF and F-18 FDG could be useful in PET/CT for not only
      detecting more skeletal lesions but also guiding biopsies accurately to the
      affected tissue.

PMID- 25837762
TI  - Huge gap between clinical efficacy and community effectiveness in the treatment
      of chronic hepatitis C: a nationwide survey in Taiwan.
AB  - Peginterferon/ribavirin provides a substantially high treatment efficacy for
      chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in Asians. Whether the clinical
      efficacy can be translated to community effectiveness remains unclear. The
      disease awareness, treatment accessibility, recommendations, acceptance, and
      barriers to anti-HCV treatment were explored to clarify the issue with a 3-step
      nationwide investigation in Taiwan. A crude HCV-infected population was estimated
      using databases from 3 large-scale surveillance studies and age-/geographic
      specific population database. HCV awareness and accessibility were investigated
      at the patient level in 58,129 residents. The recommendations/acceptances and
      barriers to treatment at the provider level were evaluated using a prospective,
      nationwide approach to 89 gastroenterologists/hepatologists. The estimated 10
      year interval age-adjusted anti-HCV-seropositive population is 745,109 (3.28%),
      with an anticipated HCV-viremic population of 554,361. Of anti-HCV-seropositive
      subjects, 36.2% had disease awareness. Among those with awareness, 39.6% had
      accessibility. The recommendation/acceptance rate of antiviral therapy was 70.6%.
      The treatment rate was 10.1% and 13.7% for the anti-HCV-seropositive and HCV
      viremic population, respectively. With an anticipated treatment success rate of
      80% in Taiwan, 8.1% of the anti-HCV-seropositive and 10.9% of the HCV-viremic
      population achieved successful treatment. The major treatment barriers were fear
      of adverse effects (37%), major disorders (17.6%), ineligibility for insurance
      reimbursement (17.6%), and lack of therapy awareness (11.3%). Despite the high
      rates of treatment response and nationwide coverage of insurance reimbursement,
      there remains a large gap between clinical efficacy and community effectiveness
      in anti-HCV treatment in Taiwan. Increasing disease awareness/treatment
      accessibility and introducing new therapeutic strategies with high tolerability
      are warranted.

PMID- 25837763
TI  - Newly detected pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial infection and peripheral
      lung cancers in patients during follow-up of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia:
      comparison of CT findings.
AB  - This article describes the difference between the computed tomography (CT)
      findings in patients with newly detected pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial
      infection (NTM-IIP) and Cancer-IIP. We retrospectively evaluated 35 NTM-IIP and
      78 Cancer-IIP patients in reference to their null idiopathic interstitial
      pneumonia CT (n = 113), using >10 years of data. Two independent radiologists
      analyzed the CT characteristics and the axial location of the main opacity. The
      interobserver agreement was good (kappa > 0.771). The NTM-IIP patients were older
      (P = 0.034). The median size of the main opacity in the NTM-IIP (27 mm; 11-73)
      was larger (19 mm; 5-60; P = 0.002). Consolidation (n = 30; 85.7%; odds ratio
      [OR], 45) and cavities (n = 14; 40%, OR, 25) were more common in NTM-IIP (all P <
      0.001). The midst of the fibrotic cysts including honeycomb cysts (n = 16; 45.7%,
      OR, 4.95) was more common in NTM-IIP (P = 0.006). NTM-IIP appeared larger, with
      more frequent consolidation and cavities, and was more likely to have been
      located in the midst of the fibrotic cysts including honeycomb cysts at the CT,
      which showed that it was older than Cancer-IIP.

PMID- 25837764
TI  - Mini-flank supra-12th rib incision for open partial nephrectomy for renal tumor
      with RENAL nephrometry score >=10: an innovation of traditional open surgery.
AB  - The skill of supra-12th rib mini-flank approach for open partial nephrectomy (MI
      OPN) provides an advanced operative method for renal tumor. Compared with
      laparoscopic and robotic surgery, it may be a feasible selection for the complex
      renal tumors. We describe our techniques and results of MI-OPN in complex renal
      tumors with high RENAL nephrometry score (RENAL nephrometry score >=10). Fifty
      five patients diagnosed with renal tumors between January 2009 and July 2013 were
      included in this study. Eligibility criteria comprised of patients with complex
      renal tumor (RENAL score >=10) being candidates for partial nephrectomy (PN). All
      patients received MI-OPN and all surgeries were performed by a single urologist.
      The preoperative workup comprised of medical history, physical examination, and
      routine laboratory tests. Serum creatinine was recorded preoperatively and 2 to 3
      months after operation. Operative time, ischemia time, blood loss, operative and
      postoperative complications, renal function, and pathology parameters were
      recorded. MI-OPN was successfully performed in all cases. Mean tumor size was 4.7
      cm (range: 2.5-8.1). Mean warm ischemia time was 28.1 minutes (range: 21-39),
      mean operative time was 105 minutes (range: 70-150) and mean estimated blood loss
      was 68 mL (range: 10-400). Mean postoperative hospital stay was 6.5 days (range:
      5-12). Postoperative complications were found in 3 patients (5.5%). The mean pre-
      and postoperative serum creatinine levels were 76.2 MUmol/L (range: 47-132) and
      87.1 MUmol/L (range: 61-189) with significant difference (P = 0.004). The mean
      pre- and postoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were 91.5
      (range: 34-133) and 82.5 (range: 22-126.5), respectively with significant
      difference (P = 0.024). In an average follow-up of 19.9 months (range: 8-50), no
      local recurrence or systemic progression occurred. In conclusion, MI-OPN can
      combine the benefits of both minimal invasive and traditional open partial
      nephrectomy (OPN) techniques with a smaller incision. It is an innovation of
      traditional OPN and suitable for the complex renal tumors with high RENAL
      nephrometry score safely and effectively.

PMID- 25837765
TI  - Differential expression of hypertension-associated microRNAs in the plasma of
      patients with white coat hypertension.
AB  - White coat hypertension (WCH) is a high cardiovascular risk condition, and a
      fundamental understanding of the cause and pathophysiology of the disorder is
      still lacking. Recent studies demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved
      in hypertension; however, the roles of miRNAs in WCH are not known. The
      expressions of selected 10 miRNAs were investigated independently in plasma
      samples from 30 hypertension (HT) patients, 30 WCH patients, and 30 normotensive
      (NT) subjects. MiR-21, miR-122, miR-637, and let-7e expression levels were
      significantly upregulated in the HT group compared with the NT groups (P = 0.017,
      P = 0.022, P = 0.048, and P = 0.013, respectively). MiR-122 and miR-637
      expressions were also significantly upregulated in the WCH group compared with
      the NT group (P = 0.048 and P = 0.039, respectively). MiR-296-5p expression level
      was significantly downregulated in HT patients and upregulated in the WCH
      patients compared with the NT group (P = 0.049 and P = 0.039, respectively).
      Additionally, the ambulatory 24-hour and daytime systolic and diastolic blood
      pressures were negatively correlated with miR-296-5p. MiR-296 and miR-637 had
      area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.778 and 0.774, respectively, which
      demonstrates their sufficiency to distinguish WCH from NT individuals. MiR-296
      and miR-637 had AUC values of 0.868 and 0.680, respectively, which shows their
      potential to distinguish WCH from HT individuals. We report for the first time a
      plasma miRNA profile for WCH patients and demonstrate a novel link between miRNA
      and WCH. These findings may reveal crucial insights into the development of WCH.

PMID- 25837766
TI  - Risk of erectile dysfunction in transfusion-naive thalassemia men: a nationwide
      population-based retrospective cohort study.
AB  - Based on the mechanism of pathophysiology, thalassemia major or transfusion
      dependent thalassemia patients may have an increased risk of developing organic
      erectile dysfunction resulting from hypogonadism. However, there have been few
      studies investigating the association between erectile dysfunction and
      transfusion-naive thalassemia populations. We constructed a population-based
      cohort study to elucidate the association between transfusion-naive thalassemia
      populations and organic erectile dysfunction. This nationwide population-based
      cohort study involved analyzing data from 1998 to 2010 obtained from the
      Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database, with a follow-up period
      extending to the end of 2011. We identified men with transfusion-naive
      thalassemia and selected a comparison cohort that was frequency-matched with
      these according to age, and year of diagnosis thalassemia at a ratio of 1
      thalassemia man to 4 control men. We analyzed the risks for transfusion-naive
      thalassemia men and organic erectile dysfunction by using Cox proportional
      hazards regression models. In this study, 588 transfusion-naive thalassemia men
      and 2337 controls were included. Total 12 patients were identified within the
      thalassaemia group and 10 within the control group. The overall risks for
      developing organic erectile dysfunction were 4.56-fold in patients with
      transfusion-naive thalassemia men compared with the comparison cohort after we
      adjusted for age and comorbidities. Our long-term cohort study results showed
      that in transfusion-naive thalassemia men, there was a higher risk for the
      development of organic erectile dysfunction, particularly in those patients with
      comorbidities.

PMID- 25837767
TI  - Association between catalase gene polymorphisms and risk of chronic hepatitis B,
      hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in Guangxi
      population: a case-control study.
AB  - Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play critical roles in hepatocarcinogenesis. The
      catalase (CAT) enzyme is involved in the repair of ROS. Therefore, we investigate
      the association between CAT gene polymorphisms and the risk of hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC). A total of 715 subjects were divided into 4 groups: 111 chronic
      hepatitis B (CHB) patients, 90 hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver cirrhosis
      (LC) patients, 266 HBV-HCC patients, and 248 healthy controls. The polymerase
      chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism strategy was used to
      detect CAT gene rs1001179, rs769217, and rs7943316 polymorphisms. Binary logistic
      regression analyses adjusting for sex, age, ethnicity, smoking and alcohol
      consumption, and body mass index suggested that subjects carrying the rs769217 T
      allele were at marginally increased risk of CHB, LC, and HCC, with adjusted odds
      ratios (ORs) of 1.51 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04-2.20, P = 0.029), 1.48
      (95% CI = 1.03-2.14, P = 0.035), and 1.51 (95% CI = 1.14-1.98, P = 0.004),
      respectively. Similarly, those individuals carrying the rs769217 TT genotype had
      a moderately increased risk of CHB, LC, and HCC, with adjusted ORs of 2.11 (95%
      CI = 1.05-4.22, P = 0.035), 2.00 (95% CI, 1.01-3.95, P = 0.047), and 1.93 (95% CI
      = 1.14-3.28, P = 0.015), respectively. Moreover, subjects carrying the rs769217
      CT genotype and at least 1 copy of the T allele (dominant model) were 1.78 times
      and 1.83 times more likely to develop HCC, respectively (OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 1.16
      2.73, P = 0.009 and OR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.23-2.71, P = 0.003). This association
      between CAT rs769217 T alleles and HCC risk is significantly strengthened among
      men, nonsmokers, nondrinkers, and among individuals <50 years of age.
      Furthermore, we found 1 high-risk haplotype GTA for CHB (OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.05
      2.01) and 1 protective haplotype GCA for HCC risk (OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.52
      0.87). We did not found any significant difference in CAT rs1001179 and rs7943316
      polymorphisms between controls and cases. Our findings suggest that the CAT
      rs769217 T allele is associated with increased risk of CHB, HBV-LC, and HBV-HCC
      in Guangxi population.

PMID- 25837768
TI  - Nonintubated thoracoscopic lobectomy for lung cancer using epidural anesthesia
      and intercostal blockade: a retrospective cohort study of 238 cases.
AB  - Intubated general anesthesia with single-lung ventilation has been considered
      mandatory for thoracoscopic lobectomy for nonsmall cell lung cancer. Few reports
      of thoracoscopic lobectomy without tracheal intubation are published, using
      either thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA) or intercostal blockade. The
      comparisons of perioperative outcomes of nonintubated thoracoscopic lobectomy
      using epidural anesthesia and intercostal blockade are not reported previously.
      From September 2009 to August 2014, a total of 238 patients with lung cancer who
      underwent nonintubated thoracoscopic lobectomy were recruited from our
      prospectively maintained database of all patients undergoing nonintubated
      thoracoscopic surgery using TEA or intercostal blockade. A multiple regression
      analysis, adjusting for preoperative variables, was performed to compare the
      perioperative outcomes of the 2 anesthesia methods. Overall, 130 patients
      underwent nonintubated thoracoscopic lobectomy using epidural anesthesia whereas
      108 had intercostal blockade. The 2 groups were similar in demographic data,
      except for sex, preoperative lung function, physical status classification, and
      history of smoking. After adjustment for the preoperative variables, nonintubated
      thoracoscopic lobectomy using intercostal blockade was associated with shorter
      durations of anesthetic induction and surgery (P < 0.001). Furthermore,
      hemodynamics were more stable with less use of vasoactive drugs (odds ratio:
      0.53; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.27 to 1.04; P = 0.064) and less blood loss
      (mean difference: -55.2 mL; 95% CI, -93 to -17.3; P = 0.004). Postoperatively,
      the 2 groups had comparable incidences of complications. Patients in the
      intercostal blockade group had a shorter average duration of chest tube drainage
      (P = 0.064) but a similar average length of hospital stay (P = 0.569). Conversion
      to tracheal intubation was required in 13 patients (5.5%), and no in-hospital
      mortality occurred in either group. Nonintubated thoracoscopic lobectomy using
      either epidural anesthesia or intercostal blockade is feasible and safe.
      Intercostal blockade is a simpler alternative to epidural anesthesia for
      nonintubated thoracoscopic lobectomy in selected patients with lung cancer.

PMID- 25837769
TI  - Rapid Removal of Atmospheric CO2 by Urban Soils.
AB  - The measured calcium carbonate content of soils to a depth of 100 mm at a large
      urban development site has increased over 18 months at a rate that corresponds to
      the sequestration of 85 t of CO2/ha (8.5 kg of CO2 m(-2)) annually. This is a
      consequence of rapid weathering of calcium silicate and hydroxide minerals
      derived from the demolition of concrete structures, which releases Ca that
      combines with CO2 ultimately derived from the atmosphere, precipitating as
      calcite. Stable isotope data confirm an atmospheric origin for carbonate carbon,
      and 14C dating indicates the predominance of modern carbon in the pedogenic
      calcite. Trial pits show that carbonation extends to depths of >=1 m. Work at
      other sites shows that the occurrence of pedogenic carbonates is widespread in
      artificially created urban soils containing Ca and Mg silicate minerals.
      Appropriate management of fewer than 12000 ha of urban land to maximize calcite
      precipitation has the potential to remove 1 million t of CO2 from the atmosphere
      annually. The maximal global potential is estimated to be approximately 700-1200
      Mt of CO2 per year (representing 2.0-3.7% of total emissions from fossil fuel
      combustion) based on current rates of production of industry-derived Ca- and Mg
      bearing materials.

PMID- 25837770
TI  - An accurate and sensitive Coomassie Brilliant Blue G-250-based assay for protein
      determination.
AB  - In this protocol we present a rapid and sensitive assay for the accurate
      determination of protein concentration. The assay is a modification of a previous
      method, and measures minimum 0.2 MUg protein.

PMID- 25837771
TI  - A combinatorial biophysical approach; FTSA and SPR for identifying small molecule
      ligands and PAINs.
AB  - Biophysical methods have emerged as attractive screening techniques in drug
      discovery both as primary hit finding methodologies, as in the case of weakly
      active compounds such as fragments, and as orthogonal methods for hit validation
      for compounds discovered through conventional biochemical or cellular assays.
      Here we describe a dual method employing fluorescent thermal shift assay (FTSA),
      also known as differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF) and surface plasmon
      resonance (SPR), to interrogate ligands of the kinase p38alpha as well as several
      known pan-assay interference compounds (PAINs) such as aggregators, redox
      cyclers, and fluorescence quenchers. This combinatorial approach allows for
      independent verification of several biophysical parameters such as KD, kon, koff,
      DeltaG, DeltaS, and DeltaH, which may further guide chemical development of a
      ligand series. Affinity values obtained from FTSA curves allow for insight into
      compound binding compared with reporting shifts in melting temperature. Ligand
      p38 interaction data were in good agreement with previous literature. Aggregators
      and fluorescence quenchers appeared to reduce fluorescence signal in the FTSAs,
      causing artificially high shifts in Tm values, whereas redox compounds caused
      either shifts in affinity that did not agree between FTSA and SPR or a depression
      of FTSA signal.

PMID- 25837772
TI  - Force majeure: Will climate change affect our ability to attain Good
      Environmental Status for marine biodiversity?
AB  - The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires that Good
      Environmental Status (GEnS), is achieved for European seas by 2020. These may
      deviate from GEnS, its 11 Descriptors, targets and baselines, due to endogenic
      managed pressures (from activities within an area) and externally due to exogenic
      unmanaged pressures (e.g. climate change). Conceptual models detail the likely or
      perceived changes expected on marine biodiversity and GEnS Descriptors in the
      light of climate change. We emphasise that marine management has to accommodate
      'shifting baselines' caused by climate change particularly during GEnS
      monitoring, assessment and management and 'unbounded boundaries' given the
      migration and dispersal of highly-mobile species. We suggest climate change may
      prevent GEnS being met, but Member States may rebut legal challenges by claiming
      that this is outside its control, force majeure or due to 'natural causes'
      (Article 14 of the MSFD). The analysis is relevant to management of other global
      seas. 

PMID- 25837773
TI  - Intersex in the clam Scrobicularia plana (Da Costa): Widespread occurrence in
      English Channel estuaries and surrounding areas.
AB  - Estuarine clams Scrobicularia plana were sampled from 108 intertidal locations
      around the English Channel and adjacent areas. Although S. plana is believed to
      be a strict gonochorist, 58% of the populations sampled included intersexed
      individuals (described as male clams exhibiting ovotestis). Over the entire
      region, on average, 8.6% of male clams exhibited intersex, although proportions
      of affected males ranged from 0% to 53% depending on location. The severity of
      intersex was assessed using a simple classification scale, with the majority of
      individuals showing low levels of impact. Sex ratios were significantly skewed at
      some sites. There were no significant relationships between incidence or severity
      of intersex; or with size or parasitism of individual clams. Intersex in S. plana
      is a useful tool to assess endocrine disruptive effects in estuaries, although
      mechanisms of impact and causative agents remain uncertain. 

PMID- 25837774
TI  - Mercury concentrations in the prey of apex piscivores from a large subtropical
      estuary.
AB  - Estuaries are important ecosystems for mercury methylation and accumulation, yet
      few studies have quantified mercury levels in prey species that expose large
      estuarine piscivores to contamination. We measured mercury concentrations in key
      prey species from the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, USA, to characterize
      variability and assess the spatial distribution of mercury levels throughout the
      estuary. Mean mercury concentrations ranged from 0.015mg/kg in Mugil cephalus to
      0.222mg/kg in Bairdiella chrysoura and varied considerably in some species.
      Spatial variation was observed within species, but a universal geographic pattern
      among species was not apparent, likely reflecting the broad habitat-use patterns
      associated with the estuarine-transient life histories of many of these common
      prey species. In contrast, estuarine-resident species, such as B. chrysoura, may
      be useful indicators of regional mercury methylation potential and
      bioaccumulation in biota. These results can advance future studies that relate
      dietary mercury uptake and mercury level variations in estuarine piscivores. 

PMID- 25837775
TI  - Microplankton dynamics under heavy anthropogenic pressure. The case of the Bahia
      Blanca Estuary, southwestern Atlantic Ocean.
AB  - Quantifying biotic feedbacks in response to environmental signals is fundamental
      to assess ecosystem perturbation. We analyzed the joint effects of
      eutrophication, derived from sewage pollution, and climate at the base of the
      pelagic food web in the Bahia Blanca Estuary (SW Atlantic Ocean). A two-year
      survey of environmental conditions and microplankton communities was conducted in
      two sites affected by contrasting anthropogenic eutrophication conditions. Under
      severe eutrophication, we found higher phytoplankton abundance consistently
      dominated by smaller sized, non siliceous species, while microzooplankton
      abundance remained lower and nutrient stoichiometry showed conspicuous deviations
      from the Redfield ratio. Phytoplankton growth in such conditions appeared
      controlled by phosphorous. In turn, microplankton biomass and phytoplankton size
      ratio (<20MUm:>20MUm) displayed a saturation relationship with nutrients in the
      highly eutrophic area, although mean phytoplankton growth was similar in both
      eutrophic systems. The strength of links within the estuarine network, quantified
      through path analysis, showed enhanced relationships under larger anthropogenic
      eutrophication, which fostered the climate influence on microplankton
      communities. Our results show conspicuous effects of severe sewage pollution on
      the ecological stoichiometry, i.e., N and P excess with respect to Si, altering
      nutrient ratios for microplankton communities. This warns on wide consequences on
      food web dynamics and ultimately in ecosystem assets of coastal pelagic
      environments. 

PMID- 25837776
TI  - Recent and near-future advances in nucleic acid-based diagnosis of stroke.
AB  - Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in adults, but at present,
      treatment for ischemic stroke reaches only a small percentage of patients. This
      is because of the very short time window for treatment and the time-consuming
      evaluation involved. Intense efforts are underway to find novel approaches to
      expedite stroke diagnosis and treatment. In this review, we provide the rationale
      for the use of blood-based nucleic acid biomarkers to advance stroke diagnosis.
      We describe mRNA markers identified in genomic profiling of circulating
      leukocytes and then outline technological issues involved in the application of
      these results. We then describe the novel point-of-care technology that is in
      development for the rapid detection of multiple mRNA molecules in circulating
      leukocytes. 

PMID- 25837777
TI  - Correction to "Microbacterins A and B, new peptaibols from the deep sea
      actinomycete Microbacterium sediminis sp. nov. YLB-01(T)".

PMID- 25837778
TI  - Enhanced Production of Resveratrol, Piceatannol, Arachidin-1, and Arachidin-3 in
      Hairy Root Cultures of Peanut Co-treated with Methyl Jasmonate and Cyclodextrin.
AB  - Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) produces stilbenoids upon exposure to abiotic and
      biotic stresses. Among these compounds, the prenylated stilbenoids arachidin-1
      and arachidin-3 have shown diverse biological activities with potential
      applications in human health. These compounds exhibit higher or novel biological
      activities in vitro when compared to their nonprenylated analogues piceatannol
      and resveratrol, respectively. However, assessment of these bioactivities in vivo
      has been challenging because of their limited availability. In this study, hairy
      root cultures of peanut were induced to produce stilbenoids upon treatment with
      elicitors. Co-treatment with 100 MUM methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and 9 g/L methyl
      beta-cyclodextrin (CD) led to sustained high levels of resveratrol, piceatannol,
      arachidin-1, and arachidin-3 in the culture medium when compared to other
      elicitor treatments. The average yields of arachidin-1 and arachidin-3 were 56
      and 148 mg/L, respectively, after co-treatment with MeJA and CD. Furthermore,
      MeJA and CD had a synergistic effect on resveratrol synthase gene expression,
      which could explain the higher yield of resveratrol when compared to treatment
      with either MeJA or CD alone. Peanut hairy root cultures were shown to be a
      controlled and sustainable axenic system for the production of the diverse types
      of biologically active stilbenoids. 

PMID- 25837780
TI  - Laurus nobilis L. Seed Extract Reveals Collateral Sensitivity in Multidrug
      Resistant P-Glycoprotein-Expressing Tumor Cells.
AB  - The frequent failure of standard cancer chemotherapy requires the development of
      novel drugs capable of killing otherwise drug-resistant tumors. Here, we have
      investigated a chloroform extract of Laurus nobilis seeds. Fatty acids and 23
      constituents of the volatile fraction were identified by gas chromotography/flame
      ionization detection (GC/FID) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS),
      in good agreement with (1)H NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectrum. Multidrug
      resistant P-glycoprotein-expressing CEM/ADR5000 leukemia cells were
      hypersensitive (collaterally sensitive) toward this extract compared to drug
      sensitive CCRF-CEM cells, whereas CEM/ADR5000 cells were 2586-fold resistant to
      doxorubicin as control drug. Collateral sensitivity was verified by measurement
      of apoptotic cells by flow cytometry. The log10IC50 values of 3 compounds in the
      extract (limonene, eucalyptol, oleic acid) did not correlate with mRNA expression
      of the P-glycoprotein-coding ABCB1/MDR1 gene and accumulation of the P
      glycoprotein substrate rhodamine in the NCI panel of tumor cell lines. A
      microarray-based profile of 20 genes predicted resistance to doxorubicin and 7
      other anticancer drugs involved in the multidrug resistance phenotype but not to
      limonene, eucalyptol and oleic acid. In conclusion, our results show that Laurus
      nobilis seed extract is suitable to kill multidrug-resistant P-glycoprotein
      expressing tumor cells. 

PMID- 25837779
TI  - The diagnosis and treatment of aplastic anemia: a review.
AB  - Aplastic anemia is a rare disorder characterized by suppression of bone marrow
      function resulting in progressive pancytopenia. A trigger-related abnormal T cell
      response facilitated by some genetic predisposition has been postulated as the
      pathogenetic mechanism leading to the overproduction of bone marrow-inhibiting
      cytokines. Immuno-mediated pathogenesis is confirmed by the response to
      immunosuppressive treatment (IST) (cyclosporin A+ATG), which represents the first
      choice therapy for patients <40 years when a matched sibling donor (MSD) is not
      available for transplant. MSD hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is
      associated with cure in ~90 % of patients. IST up-front provides an overall
      survival (OS) rate of above 90 %, but a response rate of about 60 %. Front-line
      matched unrelated donor (MUD) appears to be a viable option in children with
      similar OS and event-free survival to that in MSD HSCT. MUD HSCT post-IST failure
      proved to be a very good rescue strategy. Haploidentical donors/cord blood
      transplants or alternative immunosuppressive therapies, such as alemtuzumab, may
      represent valid tools for resistant/relapsing cases. New promising strategies,
      such as eltrombopag, are now under investigation. Patients should be offered an
      accurate diagnostic work-up in order to rule out other underlying disorders,
      primarily constitutional marrow failures, which may require different approaches.

PMID- 25837781
TI  - Quality of outcome data in total hip arthroplasty: comparison of registry data
      and worldwide non-registry studies from 5 decades.
AB  - PURPOSE: This systematic review assessed evidence on outcome (revision rate for
      all reasons) following hip arthroplasty from its beginning 5 decades ago.
      METHODS: We evaluated all studies from all current hip implants since their
      market introduction in 1962 regarding "revision rate per 100 observed component
      years". Data were compared with arthroplasty registries. RESULTS: A total of 54
      different hip implants were included: for 81% (44 of 54) data is either absent or
      poor; for 30% (16 of 54) not a single publication could be found. For 52% (28 of
      54) less than 100 revisions for all reasons are published in non-registry
      studies. The remaining 10 implants (19%) comprise 92638 primary implants with
      4473 revisions. Control group were the same implants with 111658 primary cases
      and 3029 revisions from arthroplasty registries. A systematic developer bias as
      in knee arthroplasty could not be found but several independent authors were
      found to significantly bias the literature. The overall revision rates per 100
      observed component years from non-registry studies (and joint registries) are 0.4
      (0.5) for stems, 0.7 (0.7) for cups and 1.4 (2.1) for resurfacing systems.
      CONCLUSIONS: For 81% of all hip implants assessed limited evidence exists from
      non-registry studies regarding outcome (revision rate) even 5 decades after
      market introduction. For the remaining 19% of implants no systematic developer
      bias could be found but several individual authors significantly biased results
      of single implants. We therefore ask for a more active publication of new
      implants.

PMID- 25837782
TI  - Piriformis syndrome: treatment of a rare cause of posterior hip pain with
      fluoroscopic-guided injection.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Piriformis syndrome involves the irritation of the piriformis
      muscle due to various reasons that are primarily related to anatomical variation
      or sciatic nerve compression due to contraction caused by overuse. In this study,
      we aimed to define an injection method that is easy to apply, safe, simple and
      repeatable. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We administered percutaneous lidocaine and
      depomedrol injections into the hips of 28 patients (14 men and 14 women) under
      fluoroscopic control. Bipolar injections of the piriformis muscle were performed
      at the medial pole, the intersection of the sciatic notch and the sacroiliac
      joint, and at the lateral pole of the femoral insertion region. Each injection
      was 5 cc, and the contrast agent was observed after the dyeing process. RESULTS:
      Clinical examinations were performed before and 6 weeks after the injections. The
      average of Harris Hip Score increased from a pre-injection score of 44.5 to a
      post-injection score of 68.5, and the Visual Analog Scale scores decreased from
      8.3 to 4.2 (p<0.05). COMMENTS: Our findings lead to the conclusion that
      fluoroscopy-guided percutaneous local anaesthetic and corticosteroid injection is
      a simple and effective piriformis syndrome treatment that can feasibly be
      effectively performed by orthopaedic surgeons.

PMID- 25837783
TI  - Acaricidal activity of essential oils from Lippia alba genotypes and its major
      components carvone, limonene, and citral against Rhipicephalus microplus.
AB  - The goal of the present study was to evaluate the acaricidal potential of Lippia
      alba essential oil, citral chemotypes (LA-10 and LA-44 genotypes) and carvone
      chemotypes (LA-13 and LA-57 genotypes), as well as purified citral and
      enantiomers of carvone and limonene. Efficacy against Rhipicephalus microplus was
      assessed by the larval packet and the engorged female immersion tests. Citral
      chemotypes had greater larvicidal activity than carvone chemotypes, and this was
      further supported by larvicidal and adulticidal activity of purified citral with
      LC50 values of 7.0 and 29.8 mg/mL, respectively. While purified enantiomers of
      carvone exhibited greater larvicidal activity than those of limonene,
      enantioselectivity of limonene was observed with R-(+) displaying significantly
      higher efficacy (LC50 of 31.2mg/mL) than S-(-) (LC50 of 54.5mg/mL). The essential
      oils and purified compounds were much less toxic toward engorged adult females,
      with the exception of citral, and this may be due to limited cuticular
      penetration.

PMID- 25837784
TI  - Human migration and pig/pork import in the European Union: What are the
      implications for Taenia solium infections?
AB  - Taenia solium taeniasis/cysticercosis is a neglected zoonotic disease complex
      occurring primarily in developing countries. Though claimed eradicated from the
      European Union (EU), an increasing number of human neurocysticercosis cases is
      being detected. Risk factors such as human migration and movement of pigs/pork,
      as well as the increasing trend in pig rearing with outside access are discussed
      in this review. The entry of a tapeworm carrier into the EU seems a lot more
      plausible than the import of infected pork. The establishment of local
      transmission in the EU is presently very unlikely. However, considering the
      potential changes in risk factors, such as the increasing trend in pig farming
      with outdoor access, the increasing human migration from endemic areas into the
      EU, this situation might change, warranting the establishment of an early warning
      system, which should include disease notification of taeniasis/cysticercosis both
      in human and animal hosts. As currently human-to-human transmission is the
      highest risk, prevention strategies should focus on the early detection and
      treatment of tapeworm carriers, and should be designed in a concerted way, across
      the EU and across the different sectors. 

PMID- 25837785
TI  - A new strategy for co-composting dairy manure with rice straw: Addition of
      different inocula at three stages of composting.
AB  - In considering the impact of inoculation time and the characteristics of
      composting material and inoculants on the usefulness of inoculation, a new
      composting strategy has been proposed and studied, in which three inocula were
      inoculated at three stages of composting process respectively: inoculum A
      (Thermoactinomyces sp. GF1 and GF2) was inoculated before fermentation to
      increase or maintain high temperature of pile, inoculum B (Coprinus cinerea and
      Coprinus comatus) was inoculated after thermophilic phase to promote degradation
      of lignin, and inoculum C (Trichoderma harzianum and Rhizopus oryzae) was
      inoculated after 30-day fermentation to promote degradation of cellulose. The
      results showed that the inoculations could significantly enhance the temperature
      of pile and the degradation of lignocelluloses. When inocula A, B, and C were
      inoculated into pile, temperature increased from 25 degrees C to 65 degrees C,
      from 33 degrees C to 39 degrees C and from 33 degrees C to 38 degrees C
      respectively and 35% lignin and 43% cellulose had been degraded in inoculated
      pile compared to the degradation of 15% lignin and 25% cellulose in control pile.
      As a result, the C/N ratio dropped more rapidly degraded in the inoculated pile
      (reached 20 after 33-day fermentation) than that in the control pile (reached
      21.7 after 45-day fermentation). In addition, the volume loss in inoculated pile
      (76.5%) was higher than that in control pile (53.2%). The study, therefore,
      indicated that inoculating proper microorganisms at appropriate time improved the
      composting process and our new composting strategy would be propitious to the co
      composting dairy manure with rice straw. 

PMID- 25837786
TI  - Life cycle assessment of integrated waste management systems for alternative
      legacy scenarios of the London Olympic Park.
AB  - This paper presents the results of the life cycle assessment (LCA) of 10
      integrated waste management systems (IWMSs) for 3 potential post-event site
      design scenarios of the London Olympic Park. The aim of the LCA study is to
      evaluate direct and indirect emissions resulting from various treatment options
      of municipal solid waste (MSW) annually generated on site together with avoided
      emissions resulting from energy, materials and nutrients recovery. IWMSs are
      modelled using GaBi v6.0 Product Sustainability software and results are
      presented based on the CML (v.Nov-10) characterisation method. The results show
      that IWMSs with advanced thermal treatment (ATT) and incineration with energy
      recovery have the lowest Global Warming Potential (GWP) than IWMSs where landfill
      is the primary waste treatment process. This is due to higher direct emissions
      and lower avoided emissions from the landfill process compared to the emissions
      from the thermal treatment processes. LCA results demonstrate that significant
      environmental savings are achieved through substitution of virgin materials with
      recycled ones. The results of the sensitivity analysis carried out for IWMS 1
      shows that increasing recycling rate by 5%, 10% and 15% compared to the baseline
      scenario can reduce GWP by 8%, 17% and 25% respectively. Sensitivity analysis
      also shows how changes in waste composition affect the overall result of the
      system. The outcomes of such assessments provide decision-makers with fundamental
      information regarding the environmental impacts of different waste treatment
      options necessary for sustainable waste management planning. 

PMID- 25837787
TI  - Continuous process of the vacuum ultraviolet- (VUV-) photochemical oxidation of
      thiophene in the gas phase.
AB  - Thiophene was taken as a model compound for investigations on the efficiency of a
      continuous process of the vacuum-ultraviolet- (VUV-) photochemically initiated
      oxidation and mineralization of sulfur containing organic compounds in the gas
      phase. In the presence of molecular oxygen, atomic oxygen and ozone were
      photochemically generated and are assumed to initiate or participate in the
      (thermal) oxidation network. Addition of water vapor for an additional initiation
      of the oxidation by hydroxyl radicals did not accelerate the process. For
      comparison, thiophene was exposed to ozone and oxidized under otherwise the same
      experimental conditions, but complete mineralization was only found in the
      photochemical process and for relatively small concentrations of the substrate.
      The result may be explained by low rates of secondary thermal reactions of a
      number of identified intermediate products. Combining already published results
      and mechanistic hypotheses with the results of the present work, pathways of
      oxidative degradation are proposed. The photolysis of thiophene in molecular
      nitrogen confirmed earlier findings. 

PMID- 25837788
TI  - Correction: Cerebral artery alpha-1 AR subtypes: high altitude long-term
      acclimatization responses.

PMID- 25837789
TI  - Assessment of apoptotic cells in the wall of thrombophlebitic saphenous vein.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Programmed cell death plays a critical role in various
      physiological processes. In the present study, we investigated its possible
      pathogenic role in primary varicose veins. We studied histological changes in
      surgical specimens from thrombophlebitic saphenous veins. In thrombophlebitic
      saphenous, varicose, and healthy veins, we also determined the number of
      apoptotic cells, and investigated apoptosis in the role of the pathogenesis of
      varicose veins. METHODS: Forty-four specimens of thrombophlebitic saphenous veins
      and simple varicose veins were collected. Thirteen samples of normal great
      saphenous veins were also collected (control group). Apoptosis of venous walls
      was determined by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick-end
      labeling (TUNEL) and immunofluorescence methods. The corpuscular number per high
      power field was counted under light microscopy. RESULTS: A significantly higher
      apoptotic ratio of the intima and media were observed in control veins as
      compared with thrombophlebitic saphenous veins and simple varicose veins (p <
      0.01). A significant difference was not observed between thrombophlebitic
      saphenous veins and simple varicose veins (p > 0.05). A significant difference
      was not seen between the intima and media of the three groups (p > 0.05).
      CONCLUSION: In the walls of thrombophlebitic saphenous veins and varicose veins,
      the apoptotic indices were clearly decreased. The results suggest that the
      process of programmed cell death was inhibited in walls of thrombophlebitic
      saphenous veins and varicose veins.

PMID- 25837790
TI  - Intra-arterial injection of sclerosants: Report of three cases treated with
      systemic steroids.
AB  - Intra-arterial injection of sclerosants is a significant but uncommon
      complication of sclerotherapy that may result in extensive tissue necrosis and in
      rare cases digit or limb amputation. We have managed three cases in the past 10
      years. One patient was referred for immediate treatment following intra-arterial
      injection of liquid polidocanol. The other two had undergone foam sclerotherapy
      with polidocanol and sodium tetradecyl sulphate, respectively. All patients were
      treated with a combination of oral steroids (prednisone 0.5-1 mg/kg) and systemic
      anticoagulants (enoxaparin 1.5 mg/kg daily subcutaneous injection). One case
      progressed to skin ulceration where prednisone was started five days after the
      adverse event and prematurely stopped after four weeks. The other cases did not
      progress to necrosis or other long-term sequelae. In these patients, prednisone
      was commenced immediately and slowly reduced over the following 12 weeks. The
      inflammation that follows ischemia plays a significant role in tissue necrosis
      and the immediate management of this adverse event may benefit from anti
      inflammatory measures and in particular systemic steroid therapy unless
      contraindicated. 

PMID- 25837791
TI  - Investigating the use of support vector machine classification on structural
      brain images of preterm-born teenagers as a biological marker.
AB  - Preterm birth has been shown to induce an altered developmental trajectory of
      brain structure and function. With the aid support vector machine (SVM)
      classification methods we aimed to investigate whether MRI data, collected in
      adolescence, could be used to predict whether an individual had been born preterm
      or at term. To this end we collected T1-weighted anatomical MRI data from 143
      individuals (69 controls, mean age 14.6y). The inclusion criteria for those born
      preterm were birth weight <= 1500g and gestational age < 37w. A linear SVM was
      trained on the grey matter segment of MR images in two different ways. First, all
      the individuals were used for training and classification was performed by the
      leave-one-out method, yielding 93% correct classification (sensitivity = 0.905,
      specificity = 0.942). Separately, a random half of the available data were used
      for training twice and each time the other, unseen, half of the data was
      classified, resulting 86% and 91% accurate classifications. Both gestational age
      (R = -0.24, p<0.04) and birth weight (R = -0.51, p < 0.001) correlated with the
      distance to decision boundary within the group of individuals born preterm.
      Statistically significant correlations were also found between IQ (R = -0.30, p <
      0.001) and the distance to decision boundary. Those born small for gestational
      age did not form a separate subgroup in these analyses. The high rate of correct
      classification by the SVM motivates further investigation. The long-term goal is
      to automatically and non-invasively predict the outcome of preterm-born
      individuals on an individual basis using as early a scan as possible. 

PMID- 25837792
TI  - Plasmonic AuNP/g-C3N4 Nanohybrid-based Photoelectrochemical Sensing Platform for
      Ultrasensitive Monitoring of Polynucleotide Kinase Activity Accompanying DNAzyme
      Catalyzed Precipitation Amplification.
AB  - A convenient and feasible photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing platform based on
      gold nanoparticles-decorated g-C3N4 nanosheets (AuNP/g-C3N4) was designed for
      highly sensitive monitoring of T4 polynucleotide kinase (PNK) activity, using
      DNAzyme-mediated catalytic precipitation amplification. To realize our design,
      the AuNP/g-C3N4 nanohybrid was initially synthesized through in situ reduction of
      Au(III) on the g-C3N4 nanosheets, which was utilized for the immobilization of
      hairpin DNA1 (HP1) on the sensing interface. Thereafter, a target-induced
      isothermal amplification was automatically carried out on hairpin DNA2 (HP2) in
      the solution phase through PNK-catalyzed 5'-phosphorylation accompanying
      formation of numerous trigger DNA fragments, which could induce generation of
      hemin/G-quadruplex-based DNAzyme on hairpin DNA1. Subsequently, the DNAzyme could
      catalyze the 4-chloro-1-naphthol (4-CN) oxidation to produce an insoluble
      precipitation on the AuNP/g-C3N4 surface, thereby resulting in the local
      alternation of the photocurrent. Experimental results revealed that introduction
      of AuNP on the g-C3N4 could cause a ~100% increase in the photocurrent because of
      surface plasmon resonance-enhanced light harvesting and separation of
      photogenerated e-/h+ pairs. Under the optimal conditions, the percentage of
      photocurrent decrement (DeltaI/I0, relative to background signal) increased with
      the increasing PNK activity in a dynamic working range from 2 to 100 mU mL(-1)
      with a low detection limit (LOD) of 1.0 mU mL(-1). The inhibition effect of
      adenosine diphosphate also received a good performance in PNK inhibitor screening
      research, thereby providing a useful scheme for practical use in quantitative PNK
      activity assay for life science and biological research.

PMID- 25837793
TI  - Meta-awareness and the involuntary memory spectrum: Reply to Meyer, Otgaar, and
      Smeets (2015).
AB  - In their commentary, Meyer, Otgaar, and Smeets (2015) raise several important
      issues about the definitions, characteristics and applications of various
      involuntary cognitive phenomena. Here we respond to the comments of Meyer et al.
      in ways that we hope will advance understanding of these issues, and inform
      future research. In particular, we have focused on the characteristics of
      involuntary phenomena-particularly in relation to meta-awareness-and the clinical
      relevance of mind-wandering. 

PMID- 25837795
TI  - Asymmetries in spatial perception are more prevalent under explicit than implicit
      attention.
AB  - Observers typically show systematic errors in spatial perception when asked to
      bisect a line. We examined whether misbisection relates to the extent by which
      the midpoint is scrutinized explicitly. Participants were required to position a
      soccer goalkeeper at the exact midpoint of the goal line, drawing explicit
      attention to the midpoint of the line. Subsequently, they carried out a penalty
      kick to score a goal, without eliciting explicit attention for the centre of the
      goal for choosing the side to which to kick the ball. We found that participants
      positioned the goalkeeper to the right of the centre, confirming the previously
      reported rightward bias for line bisections in extra-personal space. Although
      participants (erroneously) believed that the goalkeeper stood in the centre, they
      kicked the ball to the bigger side of the goal more often. These findings
      indicate that asymmetries in spatial perception are more evident with explicit
      than implicit attention. 

PMID- 25837794
TI  - Unconscious manipulation of free choice by novel primes.
AB  - The extent to which non-conscious perception can influence behaviour has been a
      topic of considerable controversy in psychology for decades. Although a
      challenging task, convincing empirical demonstrations have emerged suggesting
      that non-consciously perceived 'prime' stimuli can influence motor responses to
      subsequent targets. Interestingly, recent studies have shown that the influence
      of masked primes is not restricted to target-elicited responses, but can also
      bias free-choices between alternative behaviours. The present experiment extends
      these findings by showing that free-choices could also be biased by novel primes
      that never appeared as targets and therefore could not trigger acquired stimulus
      response (S-R) mappings. This new evidence suggests that free-choice behaviour
      can be influenced by non-consciously triggered semantic representations.
      Furthermore, the results reported here support accounts of masked priming that
      posit an automatic semantic categorisation of non-consciously perceived visual
      stimuli. 

PMID- 25837796
TI  - Near-Death Experiences in patients with locked-in syndrome: Not always a blissful
      journey.
AB  - Memories of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) most often are recounted as emotionally
      positive events. At present, no satisfactory explanatory model exists to fully
      account for the rich phenomenology of NDEs following a severe acute brain injury.
      The particular population of patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS) provides a
      unique opportunity to study NDEs following infratentorial brain lesions. We here
      retrospectively characterized the content of NDEs in 8 patients with LIS caused
      by an acute brainstem lesion (i.e., "LIS NDEs") and 23 NDE experiencers after
      coma with supratentorial lesions (i.e., "classical NDEs"). Compared to "classical
      NDEs", "LIS NDEs" less frequently experienced a feeling of peacefulness or well
      being. It could be hypothesized that NDEs containing less positive emotions might
      have a specific neuroanatomical substrate related to impaired pontine/paralimbic
      connectivity or alternatively might be related to the emotional distress caused
      by the presence of conscious awareness in a paralyzed body. 

PMID- 25837797
TI  - Prognostic impact of the combination of glucose transporter 1 and ATP citrate
      lyase in node-negative patients with non-small lung cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Metabolic alternations are deemed a hallmark of cancer cells. Among
      many metabolic pathways, glycolysis and lipogenesis are essential metabolic
      processes in cancer cells. In this study, we examined the prognostic impact of
      the combined expression of glycolysis-related glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) and
      ATP-citrate lyase (ACLY), which are important molecules in lipogenesis, in
      patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: GLUT1
      and ACLY expression in 134 NSCLC specimens were determined by
      immunohistochemistry using a tissue microarray (TMA). We examined the overall
      survival of patients with GLUT1-, ACLY- or GLUT+ACLY-positive expression using
      Kaplan-Meier analysis. We analyzed the prognostic impact of combined GLUT1 and
      ACLY expression according to lymph node status using multivariate Cox analysis.
      RESULTS: Patients with GLUT1- or ACLY-positive expression exhibited poorer
      overall survival compared with GLUT1- or ACLY-negative patients. GLUT1
      positive/ACLY-positive expression status was associated with the worst overall
      survival, in contrast with GLUT1 negative/ACLY-negative expression status, which
      was correlated with the best overall survival (P=0.003). GLUT1-positive/ACLY
      positive expression was significantly correlated with poor prognosis in node
      negative but not in node-positive patients. Multivariate Cox analysis indicated
      combined expression of GLUT1 and ACLY was an independent prognostic factor for
      overall survival in node-negative patients with NSCLC (P=0.049). CONCLUSION:
      These results suggest that the combined expression of GLUT1 and ACLY could be a
      more valuable prognostic factor than their individual expression in node-negative
      patients with NSCLC.

PMID- 25837798
TI  - Successful treatment with alectinib after crizotinib-induced esophageal
      ulceration.
AB  - Crizotinib was the first clinically available inhibitor of the tyrosine kinase
      ALK, and next-generation ALK inhibitors, such as alectinib, are now under
      development. Although crizotinib is generally well tolerated, severe esophageal
      injury has been reported as a rare but serious adverse event of crizotinib
      therapy. We now describe the successful treatment with alectinib of a patient who
      developed crizotinib-induced esophageal ulceration. 

PMID- 25837799
TI  - Can EGFR mutations in plasma or serum be predictive markers of non-small-cell
      lung cancer? A meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The detection of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in
      plasma or serum has previously been reported to be feasible for non-small-cell
      lung cancer (NSCLC). However, not all results indicate a consistency between EGFR
      mutation status in the plasma or serum and that in tissues. METHODS: A meta
      analysis was performed to evaluate the overall accuracy of EGFR mutation
      detection in plasma or serum. Publications up to December 2014 were searched for
      using the PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases. Sensitivity, specificity
      and other accuracy measures were pooled using the bivariate mixed-effects
      regression model. RESULTS: Twenty-six studies were included in this meta
      analysis. The pooled specificity, sensitivity, positive and negative likelihood
      ratios, and diagnostic odds ratios were 0.97 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.93
      0.99), 0.65 (95% CI: 0.54-0.74), 24.9 (95% CI: 9.2-67.2), 0.36 (95% CI: 0.27
      0.48), and 69 (95% CI: 24-202), respectively. The summary receiver operating
      characteristic curve was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.86-0.91). CONCLUSIONS: The detection of
      EGFR mutations in plasma or serum is a noninvasive method to confirm EGFR
      mutation status in patients with NSCLC. However, more work is necessary to
      identify which method can raise the sensitivity of EGFR mutation detection.

PMID- 25837800
TI  - Implementing and sustaining an early rehabilitation program in a medical
      intensive care unit: A qualitative analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Early rehabilitation programs in a medical intensive care unit can
      improve patient outcomes, but clinicians face barriers in implementing and
      sustaining such programs. We sought to describe a multidisciplinary team
      perspective regarding how to implement and sustain a successful early
      rehabilitation program. METHODS: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 20
      staff and faculty who were involved in the early rehabilitation program at the
      Johns Hopkins Hospital Medical Intensive Care Unit. Transcripts were evaluated
      using the Consolidated Framework of Implementation Research Theory. RESULTS: Four
      major constructs emerged as important, as follows: (1) necessary components, (2)
      implementation strategies, (3) perceived barriers, and (4) positive outcomes. All
      participants reported that staff buy-in was necessary, whereas having a
      multidisciplinary team with good communication among team members was reported as
      helpful by 90% of participants. The most common barrier reported was increased
      staff workload (80%). All participants (100%) noted improved patient outcomes as
      an important benefit, and 95% reported improved job satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS:
      This qualitative study of a successful early rehabilitation program highlights
      the importance of assessing and engaging a multidisciplinary team before
      implementation and the positive outcomes of early rehabilitation on staff by
      improving job satisfaction and changing the culture of a hospital unit.

PMID- 25837803
TI  - Mapping public engagement with research in a UK University.
AB  - Notwithstanding that 'public engagement' is conceptualised differently
      internationally and in different academic disciplines, higher education
      institutions largely accept the importance of public engagement with research.
      However, there is limited evidence on how researchers conceptualise engagement,
      their views on what constitutes engagement and the communities they would (or
      would not) like to engage with. This paper presents the results of a survey of
      researchers in the Open University that sought to gather data to fill these gaps.
      This research was part of an action research project designed to embed engagement
      in the routine practices of researchers at all levels. The findings indicate that
      researchers have a relatively narrow view of public engagement with research and
      the communities with which they interact. It also identified that very few
      strategically evaluate their public engagement activities. We conclude by
      discussing some of the interventions we have introduced with the aim of
      broadening and deepening future researcher engagement. 

PMID- 25837802
TI  - Immunogenicity, protective efficacy, and non-replicative status of the HSV-2
      vaccine candidate HSV529 in mice and guinea pigs.
AB  - HSV-2 vaccine is needed to prevent genital disease, latent infection, and virus
      transmission. A replication-deficient mutant virus (dl5-29) has demonstrated
      promising efficacy in animal models of genital herpes. However, the
      immunogenicity, protective efficacy, and non-replicative status of the highly
      purified clinical vaccine candidate (HSV529) derived from dl5-29 have not been
      evaluated. Humoral and cellular immune responses were measured in mice and guinea
      pigs immunized with HSV529. Protection against acute and recurrent genital
      herpes, mortality, latent infection, and viral shedding after vaginal HSV-2
      infection was determined in mice or in naive and HSV-1 seropositive guinea pigs.
      HSV529 replication and pathogenicity were investigated in three sensitive models
      of virus replication: severe combined immunodeficient (SCID/Beige) mice
      inoculated by the intramuscular route, suckling mice inoculated by the
      intracranial route, and vaginally-inoculated guinea pigs. HSV529 immunization
      induced HSV-2-neutralizing antibody production in mice and guinea pigs. In mice,
      it induced production of specific HSV-2 antibodies and splenocytes secreting
      IFNgamma or IL-5. Immunization effectively prevented HSV-2 infection in all three
      animal models by reducing mortality, acute genital disease severity and
      frequency, and viral shedding. It also reduced ganglionic viral latency and
      recurrent disease in naive and HSV-1 seropositive guinea pigs. HSV529
      replication/propagation was not detected in the muscles of SCID/Beige mice, in
      the brains of suckling mice, or in vaginal secretions of inoculated guinea pigs.
      These results confirm the non-replicative status, as well as its immunogenicity
      and efficacy in mice and guinea pigs, including HSV-1 seropositive guinea pigs.
      In mice, HSV529 produced Th1/Th2 characteristic immune response thought to be
      necessary for an effective vaccine. These results further support the clinical
      investigation of HSV529 in human subjects as a prophylactic vaccine. 

PMID- 25837801
TI  - Early levosimendan administration is associated with decreased mortality after
      cardiac surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess the effects on postoperative outcome
      of levosimendan with respect to timing of its administration in cardiac surgery
      patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Levosimendan administration was triggered by a
      severely reduced left ventricular systolic function (left ventricular ejection
      fraction, <35%) and/or signs of a low cardiac output syndrome. A total of 159
      patients were retrospectively assigned depending on an early (perioperatively up
      to the first hour after intensive care unit [ICU] admission) vs late (later than
      the first hour after ICU admission) start of treatment. RESULTS: Patients
      receiving levosimendan after the first hour of ICU admission (n = 89) had a
      significantly increased inhospital (P = .004) and 1-year (P = .027) mortality.
      Duration of mechanical ventilation (P = .002), incidence of renal dysfunction (P
      = .002), and need of renal replacement therapy (P = .032) were significantly
      increased in the late start group. A late start of levosimendan treatment was
      associated with an odds ratio of 2.258 (95% confidence interval, 1.139-4.550; P =
      .021) for inhospital mortality and an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.827 (95%
      confidence interval, 1.155-2.890; P = .010) for 1-year survival. CONCLUSIONS:
      Findings of this retrospective analysis favor an "early," that is,
      intraoperatively up to the first hour after ICU admission, start of perioperative
      levosimendan treatment to maximize its ability to reduce mortality and morbidity.

PMID- 25837804
TI  - Physical activities during pregnancy and type of delivery in nulliparae.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate changes in physical activity across
      pregnancy and the relationship between trimester-specific physical activity and
      unplanned caesarean sections (CSs). A cohort study design was carried out. A
      cohort of 150 pregnant women was established when they received prenatal care at
      29-40 weeks of gestation at a medical centre in northern Taiwan. Participants
      were asked to recall the amounts of physical activity in which they had engaged
      in the three trimesters as assessed by the Pregnancy Physical Activity
      Questionnaire (PPAQ). Overall self-reported physical activity for the cohort
      decreased by 31% in the first trimester compared to the pre-gravid period, then
      increased in the second trimester and remained stable until delivery. A repeated
      measures analysis of variance was used to evaluate the data and revealed
      significantly more physical activity during the second trimester than in the
      first and third trimesters (F = 36.471, P = 0.000). In addition, there was a
      significant difference between normal spontaneous delivery and unplanned CS
      groups (F = 4.770, P = 0.031). Logistic regression determined that the odds ratio
      of undergoing a CS increased by 0.644 (95% confidence interval: 0.429-0.968) for
      women in the third trimester who performed low levels of physical activity.
      Results support the benefits of physical activity, and professionals are
      encouraged to provide pregnant women with information on recommendations for
      physical activity, particularly in terms of reducing unplanned CSs. 

PMID- 25837805
TI  - Elution study of unreacted TEGDMA from bulk-fill composite (SDRTM Dentsply) using
      HPLC.
AB  - PURPOSE: The study evaluates the dynamics of unreacted TEGDMA monomer elution
      from new generation of flowable bulk fill composite resin (SDRTM Dentsply).
      MATERIAL AND METHODS: Polymerised specimens of SDRTM composite (7mm diameter and
      4mm thick) were placed in four solutions: 100% ethanol, 75% ethanol, distilled
      water and 100% methanol. The concentration of the eluted TEGDMA was measured
      using the HLPC method after 0.5, 1, 2 and 3h as well as after 1, 3, 7, 14, 21 and
      31 days. RESULTS: During the first 24h of storage in each medium, a significant
      elution of TEGDMA was observed (100% ethanol - 12.5MUg/g, 75% ethanol - 8.4MUg/g,
      distilled water - 5.4MUg/g and 100% methanol - 7MUg/g). The elution time of the
      TEGDMA into 100% ethanol, 75% ethanol, distilled water and 100% methanol was 14,
      7, 3 and 1 day, respectively. After 31 days, total concentrations of TEGDMA were
      as follows: 100% ethanol - 16MUg/g, 75% ethanol - 9.4MUg/g, distilled water -
      6MUg/g and 100% methanol - 7MUg/g. CONCLUSIONS: The TEGDMA was released from the
      SDRTM composite into each solution used. The TEGDMA concentration and the time of
      its elution depend on the type of the solvent. In an aqueous environment, the
      SDRTM composite exhibits a high chemical stability compared to other solutions.
      The direct toxicity towards to the dental pulp is established during the first
      hours after the placement of resin.

PMID- 25837808
TI  - Iranian risk model as a predictive tool for retinopathy in patients with type 2
      diabetes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of blindness in
      patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The gold standard for the detection of
      DR requires expensive equipment. This study was undertaken to develop a simple
      and practical scoring system to predict the probability of DR. METHODS: A total
      of 1782 patients who had first-degree relatives with type II diabetes were
      selected. Eye examinations were performed by an expert ophthalmologist.
      Biochemical and anthropometric predictors of DR were measured. Logistic
      regression was used to develop a statistical model that can be used to predict
      DR. Goodness of fit was examined using the Hosmer-Lemeshow test and the area
      under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. RESULTS: The risk model
      demonstrated good calibration and discrimination (ROC area=0.76) in the
      validation sample. Factors associated with DR in our model were duration of
      diabetes (odds ratio [OR]=2.14, confidence interval [CI] 95%=1.87 to 2.45);
      glycated hemoglobin (A1C) (OR=1.21, CI 95%=1.13 to 1.30); fasting plasma glucose
      (OR=1.83, CI 95%=1.28 to 2.62); systolic blood pressure (OR=1.01, CI 95%= 1.00 to
      1.02); and proteinuria (OR=1.37, CI 95%=1.01 to 1.85). The only factor that had a
      protective effect against DR were body mass index and education level (OR=0.95,
      CI 95%=0.92 to 0.98). CONCLUSIONS: The good performance of our risk model
      suggests that it may be a useful risk-prediction tool for DR. It consisted of the
      positive predictors like A1C, diabetes duration, sex (male), fasting plasma
      glucose, systolic blood pressure and proteinuria, as well as negative risk
      factors like body mass index and education level.

PMID- 25837807
TI  - Patterns of hepatitis C virus RNA levels during acute infection: the InC3 study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Understanding the patterns of HCV RNA levels during acute hepatitis C
      virus (HCV) infection provides insights into immunopathogenesis and is important
      for vaccine design. This study evaluated patterns of HCV RNA levels and
      associated factors among individuals with acute infection. METHODS: Data were
      from an international collaboration of nine prospective cohorts of acute HCV
      (InC3 Study). Participants with well-characterized acute HCV infection (detected
      within three months post-infection and interval between the peak and subsequent
      HCV RNA levels <= 120 days) were categorised by a priori-defined patterns of HCV
      RNA levels: i) spontaneous clearance, ii) partial viral control with persistence
      (>= 1 log IU/mL decline in HCV RNA levels following peak) and iii) viral plateau
      with persistence (increase or <1 log IU/mL decline in HCV RNA levels following
      peak). Factors associated with HCV RNA patterns were assessed using multinomial
      logistic regression. RESULTS: Among 643 individuals with acute HCV, 162 with well
      characterized acute HCV were identified: spontaneous clearance (32%), partial
      viral control with persistence (27%), and viral plateau with persistence (41%).
      HCV RNA levels reached a high viraemic phase within two months following
      infection, with higher levels in the spontaneous clearance and partial viral
      control groups, compared to the viral plateau group (median: 6.0, 6.2, 5.3 log
      IU/mL, respectively; P = 0.018). In the two groups with persistence, Interferon
      lambda 3 (IFNL3) CC genotype was independently associated with partial viral
      control compared to viral plateau (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 2.75; 95%CI: 1.08,
      7.02). In the two groups with viral control, female sex was independently
      associated with spontaneous clearance compared to partial viral control (AOR:
      2.86; 95%CI: 1.04, 7.83). CONCLUSIONS: Among individuals with acute HCV, a
      spectrum of HCV RNA patterns is evident. IFNL3 CC genotype is associated with
      initial viral control, while female sex is associated with ultimate spontaneous
      clearance.

PMID- 25837809
TI  - Are Behavioural Interventions Doomed to Fail? Challenges to Self-Management
      Support in Chronic Diseases.
AB  - Self-management and self-management support are concepts very familiar to those
      of us in diabetes care. These concepts require openness to understanding the
      behaviours of persons with diabetes broadly, not only behaviours restricted to
      the biomedical perspective. Understanding the importance of health behaviour
      change and working within the Expanded Chronic Care Model define the context
      within which self-management support should occur. The purpose of this
      perspective is to identify a potential limitation in existing self-management
      support initiatives. This potential limitation reflects provider issues, not
      patient issues; that is, true self-management support might require changes by
      healthcare providers. Specifically, although behavioural interventions within the
      context of academic research studies are evidence based, behaviour change
      interventions implemented in general practice settings might prove less effective
      unless healthcare providers are able to shift from a practice based on the
      biomedical model to a practice based on the self-management support model. The
      purpose of this article is to facilitate effective self-management support by
      encouraging providers to switch from a model of care based on the expert
      clinician encountering the uninformed help seeker (the biomedical model) to one
      guided by collaboration grounded in the principles of description, prediction and
      choice. Key to understanding the value of making this shift are patient-centered
      communication principles and the tenets of complexity theory. 

PMID- 25837810
TI  - Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty--Reply.

PMID- 25837811
TI  - Symptom Clusters in Ovarian Cancer Patients With Chemotherapy After Surgery: A
      Longitudinal Survey.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is 1 of the most common malignancies in the female
      reproductive system. Identification of symptom clusters in ovarian cancer
      patients may improve management of symptoms. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this
      article is to explore the changes in symptom clusters in ovarian cancer patients
      with adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery at different time points. METHODS: Basic
      details of the patients were documented and a longitudinal investigation was
      carried out. We used the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale to examine 115 Chinese
      ovarian cancer patients' symptom experience at 4 time points: days before
      chemotherapy (T1), chemotherapy cycle 1 (T2), chemotherapy cycle 3 (T3), and
      chemotherapy cycle 6 (T4). The exploratory factor analysis was performed to
      determine the numbers and components of symptom clusters. RESULTS: Symptom
      clusters varied at different time points, which were classified as pain-related
      symptom cluster, psychological symptom cluster, menopausal symptom cluster,
      gastrointestinal symptom cluster, body image symptom cluster, and peripheral
      neurologic symptom cluster. The gastrointestinal symptom cluster and body image
      symptom cluster appeared at T1 and remained consistent at T3 and T4, whereas the
      peripheral neurologic symptom cluster was noted at T3 and T4. CONCLUSIONS:
      Clinicians should prioritize symptom management interventions with ovarian cancer
      patients to focus on the most severe symptom cluster: psychological symptom
      cluster at T1, gastrointestinal symptom cluster at T2, and body image symptom
      cluster at T3 and T4. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The ability to predict symptom
      clusters in ovarian cancer patients receiving chemotherapy may help to make
      optimized clinical decision in advance to alleviate patients' symptoms and
      improve their life quality.

PMID- 25837812
TI  - Scroto-perineal hidradenitis suppurativa complicated by giant scrotal
      elephantiasis.
AB  - Scrotal elephantiasis has been a recognized complication of inguinal node
      irradiation, filarial infection, tumor involvement and surgical lymphatic
      destruction, but has rarely been reported in association with hidradenitis
      suppurativa (HS). HS, also known as acne inversa, is a chronic and often
      debilitating disease primarily affecting the axillae, inframammary regions and
      perineum. The location of the lesions may lead to social embarrassment and
      failure to seek medical treatment. Scroto-preineal HS complicated by scrotal
      elephantiasis is a distressing disease. Excisional surgery with reconstruction is
      the recommended treatment with a high likelihood of good outcome. We present a 38
      year-old male patient with long-standing scroto-perineal HS complicated by giant
      scrotal elephantiasis. 

PMID- 25837813
TI  - Allicin from garlic inhibits the biofilm formation and urease activity of Proteus
      mirabilis in vitro.
AB  - Several virulence factors contribute to the pathogenesis of Proteus mirabilis.
      This study determined the inhibitory effects of allicin on urease, hemolysin and
      biofilm of P. mirabilis ATCC 12453 and its antimicrobial activity against 20
      clinical isolates of P. mirabilis. Allicin did not inhibit hemolysin, whereas it
      did inhibit relative urease activity in both pre-lysed (half-maximum inhibitory
      concentration, IC50 = 4.15 MUg) and intact cells (IC50 = 21 MUg) in a
      concentration-dependent manner. Allicin at sub-minimum inhibitory concentrations
      (2-32 MUg mL(-1)) showed no significant effects on the growth of the bacteria (P
      > 0.05), but it reduced biofilm development in a concentration-dependent manner
      (P < 0.001). A higher concentration of allicin was needed to inhibit the
      established biofilms. Using the microdilution technique, the MIC90 and MBC90
      values of allicin against P. mirabilis isolates were determined to be 128 and 512
      MUg mL(-1), respectively. The results suggest that allicin could have clinical
      applications in controlling P. mirabilis infections. 

PMID- 25837814
TI  - Complete genome sequence of Selenomonas ruminantium subsp. lactilytica will
      accelerate further understanding of the nature of the class Negativicutes.
AB  - Selenomonas ruminantium subsp. lactilytica, a strictly anaerobic ruminal
      bacterium, possesses typical Gram-negative cell surface structure comprising
      cytoplasmic membrane, peptidoglycan layer and outer membrane, whereas its 16S
      rRNA-based taxonomy shows that the bacteria belongs to Gram-positive Firmicutes.
      Complete genome analysis showed that genes or gene clusters involved in Gram
      negative cell structure were scattered in the S. ruminantium genome, and might
      provide the new insight of phylogenetic relationship between the bacterium and
      other bacterial species. 

PMID- 25837815
TI  - Uptake of chitosan-derived D-glucosamine oligosaccharides in Streptomyces
      coelicolor A3(2).
AB  - The csnR gene, localized at the beginning of an operon, csnR-K, which
      organization is conserved through many actinomycete genomes, was previously shown
      to repress the transcription of the chitosanase gene csnA in Streptomyces
      lividans. However, knowledge on the function of the whole csnR-K operon in the
      metabolism of chitosan (an N-deacetylated derivative of chitin) remained limited.
      Mutants of S. coelicolor A3(2) harboring partial or total deletions of the csnR-K
      operon were analyzed for their capacity to uptake glucosamine oligosaccharides
      (GlcN)n. The csnR-K operon was autoregulated by CsnR repressor and its
      transcription was inducible by GlcN oligosaccharides. The operon controlled the
      uptake of GlcN oligosaccharides in S. coelicolor A3(2), with a minor contribution
      to the consumption of monomeric GlcN but not chitin-related N-acetylated
      derivatives. The deletion of the whole operon abolished the uptake of GlcN
      oligosaccharides. The CsnEFG transporter encoded by this operon is the front door
      for the assimilation of chitosan-derived hydrolysis products in S. coelicolor
      A3(2). The ATP-binding component MsiK was essential for CsnEFG transport
      function. Also, deletion of msiK abolished the induction of csnA transcription by
      GlcN oligosaccharides. 

PMID- 25837816
TI  - Glycerophosphorylcholine regulates Haemophilus influenzae glpQ gene expression.
AB  - An important virulence strategy adopted by Haemophilus influenzae to establish a
      niche on the mucosal surface of the host is the phosphorylcholine (ChoP)
      decoration of its lipopolysaccharides, which promotes adherence to the host
      cells. Haemophilus influenzae is able to use glycerophosphorylcholine (GPC) from
      host for ChoP synthesis. Utilization of GPC requires glpQ, which encodes a
      glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase enzyme. In this study, we investigate the
      transcriptional regulation of glpQ gene using real-time PCR and transcriptional
      fusion of H. influenzae glpQ promoter to the Escherichia coli lacZ reporter gene.
      The glpQ promoter activities were examined under environmental conditions
      including changes in temperature, oxygen, high salt and minimal growth medium.
      Our data showed that under room temperature and anaerobic conditions, the glpQ
      gene expression levels were significantly higher than under other growth
      conditions. In addition, the glpQ gene expression levels were upregulated in the
      presence of GPC. These results suggest that H. influenzae may upregulate glpQ
      expression in response to different environments it encounters during infection,
      from the airway surfaces (room temperature) to deep tissues (anaerobic).
      Upregulation of glpQ by GPC may allow efficient use of abundant GPC from
      mammalian cells by H. influenzae as a source of nutrient and for ChoP decoration
      of lipopolysaccharide that facilitates bacterial adhesion to host cells and
      growth during infection. 

PMID- 25837817
TI  - Inefficient translocation of a truncated O unit by a Salmonella Wzx affects both
      O-antigen production and cell growth.
AB  - Bacterial Wzx flippases translocate (flip) short oligosaccharide repeat units (O
      units) across the inner membrane into the periplasm, which is a critical step in
      the assembly of many O antigens, capsules and other surface polysaccharides.
      There is enormous diversity in O antigens and capsules in particular, even within
      species. Wzx proteins are similarly diverse, but it has been widely accepted that
      they have significant specificity only for the first sugar of an O unit. In this
      study, we analysed the Wzx from the Salmonella enterica group C2 O antigen gene
      cluster, which is a unique and divergent member of a set of gene clusters that
      produce galactose-initiated O antigens. We demonstrate that this Wzx has a strong
      preference for the presence of an abequose side-branch, which manifests in a
      reduction of long-chain O antigen and a major growth defect. This contributes to
      a growing body of evidence that, contrary to earlier proposals, Wzx flippases
      commonly exhibit a strong preference for the structure of their native O unit. 

PMID- 25837818
TI  - Family 13 carbohydrate-binding module of alginate lyase from Agarivorans sp. L11
      enhances its catalytic efficiency and thermostability, and alters its substrate
      preference and product distribution.
AB  - The carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) in polysaccharide hydrolases plays a key
      role in the hydrolysis of cellulose, xylan and chitin. However, the function of
      CBM in alginate lyases has not been elucidated. A new alginate lyase gene, alyL2,
      was cloned from the marine bacterium Agarivorans sp. L11 by using degenerate and
      site-finding PCR. The alginate lyase, AlyL2, contained an N-terminal CBM13 and a
      C-terminal catalytic family 7 polysaccharide lyase (PL7) module. To better
      understand the function of CBM13 in alginate lyase AlyL2, the full-length enzyme
      (AlyL2-FL) and its catalytic module (AlyL2-CM) were expressed in Escherichia coli
      and characterized. The specific activity and catalytic efficiency of AlyL2-FL
      were approximately twice those of AlyL2-CM. The half-lives of AlyL2-FL were 4.7
      6.6 times those of AlyL2-CM at 30-50 degrees C. In addition, the presence of
      CBM13 in AlyL2 changed its substrate preference and increased the percentage of
      disaccharides from 50.5% to 64.6% in the total products. This first report of the
      function of CBM13 in alginate lyase provides new insights into the degradation of
      alginate by marine microorganisms. 

PMID- 25837819
TI  - Improving the quality of biomarker discovery research: the right samples and
      enough of them.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Biomarker discovery research has yielded few biomarkers that validate
      for clinical use. A contributing factor may be poor study designs. METHODS: The
      goal in discovery research is to identify a subset of potentially useful markers
      from a large set of candidates assayed on case and control samples. We recommend
      the PRoBE design for selecting samples. We propose sample size calculations that
      require specifying: (i) a definition for biomarker performance; (ii) the
      proportion of useful markers the study should identify (Discovery Power); and
      (iii) the tolerable number of useless markers amongst those identified (False
      Leads Expected, FLE). RESULTS: We apply the methodology to a study of 9,000
      candidate biomarkers for risk of colon cancer recurrence where a useful biomarker
      has positive predictive value >= 30%. We find that 40 patients with recurrence
      and 160 without recurrence suffice to filter out 98% of useless markers (2% FLE)
      while identifying 95% of useful biomarkers (95% Discovery Power). Alternative
      methods for sample size calculation required more assumptions. CONCLUSIONS:
      Biomarker discovery research should utilize quality biospecimen repositories and
      include sample sizes that enable markers meeting prespecified performance
      characteristics for well-defined clinical applications to be identified. IMPACT:
      The scientific rigor of discovery research should be improved.

PMID- 25837823
TI  - Tip-enhanced Raman mapping of local strain in graphene.
AB  - We demonstrate local strain measurements in graphene by using tip-enhanced Raman
      spectroscopy (TERS). We find that a single 5 nm particle can induce a radial
      strain over a lateral distance of ~170 nm. By treating the particle as a point
      force on a circular membrane, we find that the strain in the radial direction (r)
      is ? r-(2 3),in agreement with force-displacement measurements conducted on
      suspended graphene flakes. Our results demonstrate that TERS can be used to map
      out static strain fields at the nanoscale, which are inaccessible using force
      displacement techniques.

PMID- 25837822
TI  - Exposure profiles of mercury in human hair at a terai belt of North India.
AB  - Human hair is frequently used as a bioindicator of mercury exposure. Mercury (Hg)
      has for centuries been a useful metal in a variety of applications.
      Unfortunately, this usefulness is counterbalanced by its neurotoxicological
      health impact. The US Environmental Protection Agency recommends keeping the hair
      Hg level <1.0 ug/g. Therefore, an investigation has been performed in order to
      ascertain the hair Hg levels among the people living at the terai belt of North
      India. Hair samples were collected from 111 individuals and were placed in an
      identified plastic bag, stapled to prevent the shift of the hair strand. Samples
      were analyzed by combustion, gold amalgamation, atomic absorption spectrometry (C
      GA-AAS). The mean Hg level in hair was 0.28 ug/g for the whole group ranging from
      0.0012 to 1.9091 ug/g. The mean hair Hg levels were 0.16 ug/g for men and 0.12
      ug/g for women, indicating that men had higher hair Hg levels than women. Total
      hair Hg was found to be significantly associated with age, gender and fish
      consumption frequency. 98 % of the total sample had hair Hg concentrations less
      than 1.0 ug/g, i.e, within safe dose, whereas only 2 % had Hg concentrations
      greater than 1.0 ug/g, thereby exceeding the safe dose. 

PMID- 25837821
TI  - Inherited genetic variants associated with occurrence of multiple primary
      melanoma.
AB  - Recent studies, including genome-wide association studies, have identified
      several putative low-penetrance susceptibility loci for melanoma. We sought to
      determine their generalizability to genetic predisposition for multiple primary
      melanoma in the international population-based Genes, Environment, and Melanoma
      (GEM) Study. GEM is a case-control study of 1,206 incident cases of multiple
      primary melanoma and 2,469 incident first primary melanoma participants as the
      control group. We investigated the odds of developing multiple primary melanoma
      for 47 SNPs from 21 distinct genetic regions previously reported to be associated
      with melanoma. ORs and 95% confidence intervals were determined using logistic
      regression models adjusted for baseline features (age, sex, age by sex
      interaction, and study center). We investigated univariable models and built
      multivariable models to assess independent effects of SNPs. Eleven SNPs in 6 gene
      neighborhoods (TERT/CLPTM1L, TYRP1, MTAP, TYR, NCOA6, and MX2) and a PARP1
      haplotype were associated with multiple primary melanoma. In a multivariable
      model that included only the most statistically significant findings from
      univariable modeling and adjusted for pigmentary phenotype, back nevi, and
      baseline features, we found TERT/CLPTM1L rs401681 (P = 0.004), TYRP1 rs2733832 (P
      = 0.006), MTAP rs1335510 (P = 0.0005), TYR rs10830253 (P = 0.003), and MX2
      rs45430 (P = 0.008) to be significantly associated with multiple primary
      melanoma, while NCOA6 rs4911442 approached significance (P = 0.06). The GEM Study
      provides additional evidence for the relevance of these genetic regions to
      melanoma risk and estimates the magnitude of the observed genetic effect on
      development of subsequent primary melanoma.

PMID- 25837825
TI  - Correction: Possible influence of B chromosomes on genes included in immune
      response and parasite burden in Apodemus flavicollis.

PMID- 25837820
TI  - Risk Analysis of Prostate Cancer in PRACTICAL, a Multinational Consortium, Using
      25 Known Prostate Cancer Susceptibility Loci.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies have identified multiple genetic
      variants associated with prostate cancer risk which explain a substantial
      proportion of familial relative risk. These variants can be used to stratify
      individuals by their risk of prostate cancer. METHODS: We genotyped 25 prostate
      cancer susceptibility loci in 40,414 individuals and derived a polygenic risk
      score (PRS). We estimated empirical odds ratios (OR) for prostate cancer
      associated with different risk strata defined by PRS and derived age-specific
      absolute risks of developing prostate cancer by PRS stratum and family history.
      RESULTS: The prostate cancer risk for men in the top 1% of the PRS distribution
      was 30.6 (95% CI, 16.4-57.3) fold compared with men in the bottom 1%, and 4.2
      (95% CI, 3.2-5.5) fold compared with the median risk. The absolute risk of
      prostate cancer by age of 85 years was 65.8% for a man with family history in the
      top 1% of the PRS distribution, compared with 3.7% for a man in the bottom 1%.
      The PRS was only weakly correlated with serum PSA level (correlation = 0.09).
      CONCLUSIONS: Risk profiling can identify men at substantially increased or
      reduced risk of prostate cancer. The effect size, measured by OR per unit PRS,
      was higher in men at younger ages and in men with family history of prostate
      cancer. Incorporating additional newly identified loci into a PRS should improve
      the predictive value of risk profiles. IMPACT: We demonstrate that the risk
      profiling based on SNPs can identify men at substantially increased or reduced
      risk that could have useful implications for targeted prevention and screening
      programs.

PMID- 25837824
TI  - Loss of serum and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 3 (SGK3) does not affect
      proliferation and survival of multiple myeloma cell lines.
AB  - Multiple myeloma (MM) is a generally fatal plasma cell cancer that often shows
      activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt (PI3K/Akt) pathway. Targeted
      pharmacologic therapies, however, have not yet progressed beyond the clinical
      trial stage, and given the complexity of the PI3K/Akt signalling system (e.g.
      multiple protein isoforms, diverse feedback regulation mechanisms, strong
      variability between patients) it is mandatory to characterise its ramifications
      in order to better guide informed decisions about the best therapeutic
      approaches. Here we explore whether serum and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 3
      (SGK3), a potential downstream effector of PI3K, plays a role in oncogenic
      signalling in MM cells--either in concert with or independent of Akt. SGK3 was
      expressed in all MM cell lines and in all primary MM samples tested. Four MM cell
      lines representing a broad range of intrinsic Akt activation (very strong: MM.1s,
      moderate: L 363 and JJN-3, absent: AMO-1) were chosen to test the effects of
      transient SGK3 knockdown alone and in combination with pharmacological inhibition
      of Akt, PI3K-p110alpha, or in the context of serum starvation. Although the
      electroporation protocol led to strong SGK3 depletion for at least 5 days its
      absence had no substantial effect on the activation status of potential
      downstream substrates, or on the survival, viability or proliferation of MM cells
      in all experimental contexts tested. We conclude that it is unlikely that SGK3
      plays a significant role for oncogenic signalling in multiple myeloma.

PMID- 25837826
TI  - Neural modularity helps organisms evolve to learn new skills without forgetting
      old skills.
AB  - A long-standing goal in artificial intelligence is creating agents that can learn
      a variety of different skills for different problems. In the artificial
      intelligence subfield of neural networks, a barrier to that goal is that when
      agents learn a new skill they typically do so by losing previously acquired
      skills, a problem called catastrophic forgetting. That occurs because, to learn
      the new task, neural learning algorithms change connections that encode
      previously acquired skills. How networks are organized critically affects their
      learning dynamics. In this paper, we test whether catastrophic forgetting can be
      reduced by evolving modular neural networks. Modularity intuitively should reduce
      learning interference between tasks by separating functionality into physically
      distinct modules in which learning can be selectively turned on or off.
      Modularity can further improve learning by having a reinforcement learning module
      separate from sensory processing modules, allowing learning to happen only in
      response to a positive or negative reward. In this paper, learning takes place
      via neuromodulation, which allows agents to selectively change the rate of
      learning for each neural connection based on environmental stimuli (e.g. to alter
      learning in specific locations based on the task at hand). To produce modularity,
      we evolve neural networks with a cost for neural connections. We show that this
      connection cost technique causes modularity, confirming a previous result, and
      that such sparsely connected, modular networks have higher overall performance
      because they learn new skills faster while retaining old skills more and because
      they have a separate reinforcement learning module. Our results suggest (1) that
      encouraging modularity in neural networks may help us overcome the long-standing
      barrier of networks that cannot learn new skills without forgetting old ones, and
      (2) that one benefit of the modularity ubiquitous in the brains of natural
      animals might be to alleviate the problem of catastrophic forgetting.

PMID- 25837827
TI  - Knowledge and attitude of the population toward cancer prostate Riyadh, Saudi
      Arabia.
AB  - AIMS: The aim of the following study is to assess the knowledge and attitude of
      men, in our region, regarding cancer prostate and its screening practices.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The field work was conducted in Riyadh City, during the
      period February through July 2011. It was a population - based cross-sectional
      study comprising 400 men over 40 years. In addition to socio-demographic data,
      history of the present and past medical illness, history of prostatic diseases
      and examination, family history of cancer prostate; participants were inquired
      about their knowledge and attitude toward prostate cancer (PC) and screening
      behavior using through two different Likert scales. RESULTS: Only 10% of the
      respondents had practiced a regular PC examination checkup. Their knowledge about
      PC was poor and their attitude toward examination and screening was fair, where
      the mean of total correct knowledge score was 10.25 +/- 2.5 (51.25%), while the
      mean of total attitude score was 18.3 +/- 4.08 (65.3%). The respondents
      identified the physicians as the main sources of this information (62.4%), though
      they were not the main motives for a regular checkup. Knowledge represented the
      only significant predictor for participants' attitude. CONCLUSION: Beliefs and
      attitudes have a great impact, at every stage of the cancer continuum, this
      attitudes depends mainly on level of knowledge and quantity of information
      provided to patients and their families. Such attitudes should rely on a solid
      background of proper information and motivation from physicians to enhance and
      empower attitudes toward PC screening behavior.

PMID- 25837828
TI  - Towards interferon-free treatment for all HCV genotypes.

PMID- 25837829
TI  - Ombitasvir plus paritaprevir plus ritonavir with or without ribavirin in
      treatment-naive and treatment-experienced patients with genotype 4 chronic
      hepatitis C virus infection (PEARL-I): a randomised, open-label trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 4 accounts for about 13% of global
      HCV infections. Because interferon-containing treatments for genotype 4 infection
      have low efficacy and poor tolerability, an unmet need exists for effective all
      oral regimens. We examined the efficacy and safety of an all-oral interferon-free
      regimen of ombitasvir, an NS5A inhibitor, and paritaprevir (ABT-450), an NS3/4A
      protease inhibitor dosed with ritonavir (ombitasvir plus paritaprevir plus
      ritonavir), given with or without ribavirin. METHODS: In this multicentre ongoing
      phase 2b, randomised, open-label combination trial (PEARL-I), patients were
      recruited from academic, public, and private hospitals and clinics in France,
      Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, and the USA. Eligible
      participants were aged 18-70 years with non-cirrhotic, chronic HCV genotype 4
      infection (documented >=6 months before screening) and plasma HCV RNA levels
      higher than 10,000 IU/mL. Previously untreated (treatment-naive) patients were
      randomly assigned (1:1) by computer-generated randomisation lists to receive once
      daily ombitasvir (25 mg) plus paritaprevir (150 mg) plus ritonavir (100 mg) with
      or without weight-based ribavirin for 12 weeks. Previously treated (treatment
      experienced) patients who had received pegylated interferon plus ribavirin all
      received the ribavirin-containing regimen. The primary endpoint was a sustained
      virological response (HCV RNA <25 IU/mL) 12 weeks after the end of treatment
      (SVR12). Analysis was by intention to treat. This study is registered with
      ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01685203. FINDINGS: Between Aug 14, 2012, and Nov
      19, 2013, 467 patients with HCV infection were screened, of whom 174 were
      infected with genotype 4. 135 patients were randomly assigned to treatment and
      received at least one dose of study medication; 86 patients were treatment-naive,
      of whom 44 received ombitasvir plus paritaprevir plus ritonavir and 42 received
      ombitasvir plus paritaprevir plus ritonavir with ribavirin, and 49 treatment
      experienced patients received the ribavirin-containing regimen. In previously
      untreated patients, SVR12 rates were 100% (42/42 [95% CI 91.6-100]) in the
      ribavirin-containing regimen and 90.9% (40/44 [95% CI 78.3-97.5]) in the
      ribavirin-free regimen. No statistically significant differences in SVR12 rates
      were noted between the treatment-naive groups (mean difference -9.16% [95% CI 
      19.61 to 1.29]; p=0.086). All treatment-experienced patients achieved SVR12
      (49/49; 100% [95% CI 92.7-100]). In the ribavirin-free group, two (5%) of 42
      treatment-naive patients had virological relapse, and one (2%) of 44 had
      virological breakthrough; no virological failures were recorded in the ribavirin
      containing regimen. The most common adverse event was headache (14 [29%] of 49
      treatment-experienced patients and 14 [33%] of 42 treatment-naive patients). No
      adverse event-related discontinuations or dose interruptions of study
      medications, including ribavirin, were noted, and only four patients (4%) of 91
      receiving ribavirin required dose modification for haemoglobin less than 100 g/L
      or anaemia. INTERPRETATION: An interferon-free regimen of ombitasvir plus
      paritaprevir plus ritonavir with or without ribavirin achieved high sustained
      virological response rates at 12 weeks after the end of treatment and was
      generally well tolerated, with low rates of anaemia and treatment discontinuation
      in non-cirrhotic previously untreated and previously treated patients with HCV
      genotype 4 infection. FUNDING: AbbVie.

PMID- 25837830
TI  - Development of histopathological indices in the digestive gland and gonad of
      mussels: integration with contamination levels and effects of confounding
      factors.
AB  - Bivalve histopathology has become an important tool in aquatic toxicology, having
      been implemented in many biomonitoring programmes worldwide. However, there are
      various gaps in the knowledge of many sentinel organisms and the interference of
      confounding factors. This work aimed (i) to develop a detailed semi-quantitative
      histopathological index of the digestive gland and gonad of the Mytilus
      galloprovincialis mussel collected from five sites contaminated with distinct
      patterns of organic and inorganic toxicants along the Basque coast (SE Bay of
      Biscay) and (ii) to investigate whether seasonal variability and parasitosis act
      as confounding factors. A total of twenty-three histopathological alterations
      were analysed in the digestive gland and gonad following a weighed condition
      index approach. The alterations were integrated into a single value for a better
      understanding of the mussels' health status. The digestive gland was consistently
      more damaged than the gonad. Mussels from the most impacted sites endured the
      most significant deleterious effects showing inflammation-related alterations
      together with digestive tubule atrophy and necrosis. Neoplastic diseases were
      scarce, with only a few cases of fibromas (benign neoplasia). In contrast, in
      moderately or little impacted sites, contamination levels did not cause
      significant tissue damage. However, parasites contributed to overestimating the
      values of histopathological indices (i.e. more severe tissue damage) in mussels
      from little impacted sites, whilst the opposite occurred in mussels from highly
      polluted sites. Accordingly, inter-site differences were more pronounced in
      autumn when natural physiological responses of advanced maturation stages did not
      interfere in the histological response. In conclusion, although seasonal
      variability and parasitosis mask the response of histopathological indices, this
      biomonitoring approach may provide good sensitivity for assessing the health
      status of mussels if fluctuations of these confounding factors are considered. 

PMID- 25837831
TI  - Expression of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus Envelope Glycoprotein E2 in Yeast
      Pichia pastoris and its Application to an ELISA for Detection of BVDV
      Neutralizing Antibodies in Cattle.
AB  - The aim of this article is to express envelope glycoprotein E2 of bovine viral
      diarrhea virus (BVDV) in yeast Pichia pastoris and its utility as a diagnostic
      antigen in ELISA. The BVDV E2 gene was cloned into the pPICZalphaA vector
      followed by integration into the Pichia pastoris strain X-33 genome for methanol
      induced expression. SDS-PAGE and Western blot results showed that the recombinant
      BVDV E2 protein (72 kDa) was expressed and secreted into the medium at a
      concentration of 40 mg/L of culture under optimized conditions. An indirect ELISA
      was then developed by using the yeast-expressed E2 protein. Preliminary testing
      of 300 field cattle serum samples showed that the E2 ELISA showed a sensitivity
      of 91.07% and a specificity of 92.02% compared to the reference virus
      neutralization test. The concordance between the E2 ELISA and VNT was 91.67%.
      This study demonstrates feasibility of BVDV E2 protein expression in yeast Pichia
      pastoris for the first time and its efficacy as an antigen in ELISA for detecting
      BVDV neutralizing antibodies in cattle. 

PMID- 25837833
TI  - Correction: implications of hybridization, NUMTs, and overlooked diversity for
      DNA barcoding of eurasian ground squirrels.

PMID- 25837832
TI  - The Pathogen of the Great Barrier Reef Sponge Rhopaloeides odorabile Is a New
      Strain of Pseudoalteromonas agarivorans Containing Abundant and Diverse Virulence
      Related Genes.
AB  - Sponge diseases have increased dramatically, yet the causative agents of disease
      outbreaks have eluded identification. We undertook a polyphasic taxonomic
      analysis of the only confirmed sponge pathogen and identified it as a novel
      strain of Pseudoalteromonas agarivorans. 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and gyraseB
      (gyrB) gene sequences along with phenotypic characteristics demonstrated that
      strain NW4327 was most closely related to P. agarivorans. DNA-DNA hybridization
      and in silico genome comparisons established NW4327 as a novel strain of P.
      agarivorans. Genes associated with type IV pili, mannose-sensitive hemagglutinin
      pili, and curli formation were identified in NW4327. One gene cluster encoding
      ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter, HlyD and TolC, and two clusters related
      to the general secretion pathway indicated the presence of type I secretion
      system (T1SS) and type II secretion system (T2SS), respectively. A contiguous
      gene cluster of at least 19 genes related to type VI secretion system (T6SS)
      which included all 13 core genes was found. The absence of T1SS and T6SS in
      nonpathogenic P. agarivorans S816 established NW4327 as the virulent strain.
      Serine proteases and metalloproteases of the classes S8, S9, M4, M6, M48, and U32
      were identified in NW4327, many of which can degrade collagen. Collagenase
      activity in NW4327 and its absence in the nonpathogenic P. agarivorans KMM 255(T)
      reinforced the invasiveness of NW4327. This is the first report unambiguously
      identifying a sponge pathogen and providing the first insights into the virulence
      genes present in any pathogenic Pseudoalteromonas genome. The investigation
      supports a theoretical study predicting high abundance of terrestrial virulence
      gene homologues in marine bacteria.

PMID- 25837835
TI  - Correlation of ERalpha/ERbeta expression with dendritic and behavioural changes
      in CUMS mice.
AB  - In response to chronic stress, oestrogen receptor (ER)alpha acts as an anxiogenic
      agent as opposed to ERbeta which predominantly acts as an anxiolytic agent. These
      properties of ER play an important role in mediating anxiety- and depression-like
      behaviour and physiological responses. However, the precise underlying mechanism
      remains unclear. In particular, not much is known about the expression of ERalpha
      and ERbeta in the stress-sensitive brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex,
      hippocampus and amygdala. Using a rodent model of chronic unpredictable mild
      stress (CUMS), we report that two weeks of CUMS in young male mice (10+/-2weeks)
      induces noteworthy changes in the ratio of ERalpha/ERbeta in the prefrontal
      cortex and hippocampus. While we observed a significant (P<0.05) increase in
      ERalpha mRNA and protein expression levels, the expression of ERbeta in the
      prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala was significantly reduced. This
      increase in ERalpha expression with concomitant decrease in ERbeta expression was
      associated with increased anxiety- and depression-like behaviour as observed in
      elevated plus maze test, open field test, forced swim test and sucrose preference
      test. In addition to these behavioural changes, we report the decrease of
      dendritic complexity with concomitant increase in spine density in the medial
      prefrontal cortex, dorsohippocampal CA3 region and basolateral complex of
      amygdala (BLA). Taken together, these results suggest that the CUMS-induced
      increase in the ratio of ERalpha/ERbeta causes dendritic remodeling, which in
      turn might be responsible for increase in anxiety- and depression-like behaviour
      in young male mice. 

PMID- 25837834
TI  - Nucleotides Acting at P2Y Receptors: Connecting Structure and Function.
AB  - Eight G protein-coupled P2Y receptor (P2YR) subtypes are important physiologic
      mediators. The human P2YRs are fully activated by ATP (P2Y2 and P2Y11), ADP
      (P2Y1, P2Y12, and P2Y13), UTP (P2Y2 and P2Y4), UDP (P2Y6 and P2Y14), and UDP
      glucose (P2Y14). Their structural elucidation is progressing rapidly. The X-ray
      structures of three ligand complexes of the Gi-coupled P2Y12R and two of the Gq
      coupled P2Y1Rs were recently determined and will be especially useful in
      structure-based ligand design at two P2YR subfamilies. These high-resolution
      structures, which display unusual binding site features, complement mutagenesis
      studies for probing ligand recognition and activation. The structural
      requirements for nucleotide agonist recognition at P2YRs are relatively
      permissive with respect to the length of the phosphate moiety, but less so with
      respect to base recognition. Nucleotide-like antagonists and partial agonists are
      also known for P2Y1, P2Y2, P2Y4, and P2Y12Rs. Each P2YR subtype has the ability
      to be activated by structurally bifunctional agonists, such as dinucleotides,
      typically, dinucleoside triphosphates or tetraphosphates, and nucleoside
      polyphosphate sugars (e.g., UDP glucose) as well as the more conventional
      mononucleotide agonists. A range of dinucleoside polyphosphates, from
      triphosphates to higher homologs, occurs naturally. Earlier modeling predictions
      of the P2YRs were not very accurate, but recent findings have provided much
      detailed structural insight into this receptor family to aid in the rational
      design of new drugs. 

PMID- 25837836
TI  - Pain perception and EEG dynamics: does hypnotizability account for the efficacy
      of the suggestions of analgesia?
AB  - We report novel findings concerning the role of hypnotizability, suggestions of
      analgesia and the activity of the Behavioral Inhibition/Activation System
      (BIS/BAS) in the modulation of the subjective experience of pain and of the
      associated EEG dynamics. The EEG of high (highs) and low hypnotizable
      participants (lows) who completed the BIS/BAS questionnaire was recorded during
      basal conditions, tonic nociceptive stimulation without (PAIN) and with
      suggestions for analgesia (AN). Participants scored the perceived pain intensity
      at the end of PAIN and AN. The EEG midline dynamics was characterized by indices
      indicating the signal predictability (Determinism) and complexity (Entropy)
      obtained through the Recurrence Quantification Analysis. The reduced pain
      intensity reported by highs during AN was partially accounted for by the activity
      of the Behavioral Activation System. The decreased midline cortical Determinism
      observed during nociceptive stimulation in both groups independently of
      suggestions remained significantly reduced only in lows after controlling for the
      activity of the Behavioral Activation System. Finally, controlling for the
      activity of the Behavioral Inhibition System abolished stimulation, suggestions
      and hypnotizability-related differences. Results indicate that the BIS/BAS
      activity may be more important than hypnotizability itself in pain modulation and
      in the associated EEG dynamics. 

PMID- 25837837
TI  - Cardiac myosin-binding protein C: a potential early biomarker of myocardial
      injury.
AB  - Cardiac troponins are released and cleared slowly after myocardial injury,
      complicating the diagnosis of early, and recurrent, acute myocardial infarction.
      Cardiac myosin-binding protein C (cMyC) is a similarly cardiac-restricted protein
      that may have different release/clearance kinetics. Using novel antibodies raised
      against the cardiac-specific N-terminus of cMyC, we used confocal microscopy,
      immunoblotting and immunoassay to document its location and release. In rodents,
      we demonstrate rapid release of cMyC using in vitro and in vivo models of acute
      myocardial infarction. In patients, with ST elevation myocardial infarction
      (STEMI, n = 20), undergoing therapeutic ablation of septal hypertrophy (TASH, n =
      20) or having coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG, n = 20), serum was collected
      prospectively and frequently. cMyC appears in the serum as full-length and
      fragmented protein. Compared to cTnT measured using a contemporary high
      sensitivity commercial assay, cMyC peaks earlier (STEMI, 9.3 +/- 3.1 vs 11.8 +/-
      3.4 h, P < 0.007; TASH, 9.7 +/- 1.4 vs 21.6 +/- 1.4 h, P < 0.0001), accumulates
      more rapidly (during first 4 h after TASH, 25.8 +/- 1.9 vs 4.0 +/- 0.4 ng/L/min,
      P < 0.0001) and disappears more rapidly (post-CABG, decay half-time 5.5 +/- 0.8
      vs 22 +/- 5 h, P < 0.0001). Our results demonstrate that following defined
      myocardial injury, the rise and fall in the serum of cMyC is more rapid than that
      of cTnT. We speculate that these characteristics could enable earlier diagnosis
      of myocardial infarction and reinfarction in suspected non-STEMI, a population
      not included in this early translational study.

PMID- 25837838
TI  - A long way to translation: will cMyC survive?

PMID- 25837839
TI  - Comparability of biosimilar filgrastim with originator filgrastim: protein
      characterization, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Biosimilars provide safety, purity, and potency similar to those of a
      reference biologic product. METHODS: An array of protein analytical techniques
      was used to compare the physicochemical properties of proposed biosimilar
      filgrastim (EP2006), US-approved originator filgrastim, and EU-approved
      originator filgrastim. Biological characterization involved surface plasmon
      resonance spectroscopy analyses and in vitro proliferation assays. A randomized,
      double-blind, two-way crossover, phase I study in healthy volunteers assessed the
      pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and safety profiles of EP2006 and US-approved
      originator filgrastim (administered as a single subcutaneous 10 ug/kg injection).
      RESULTS: EP2006 and originator filgrastim (US and EU approved) were highly
      similar with respect to primary, secondary, and tertiary protein structures;
      mass, size, purity, charge, and hydrophobicity. No differences in receptor
      binding affinity were observed, and all samples demonstrated similar in vitro
      bioactivity. In the phase I study, no statistically significant differences
      between EP2006 and US-approved originator filgrastim were noted in
      pharmacodynamic or pharmacokinetic parameters, and all confidence intervals were
      within the equivalence boundaries. The two products had similar safety profiles.
      CONCLUSION: These studies provide robust evidence of the structural and
      functional similarity between the proposed biosimilar filgrastim (EP2006) and the
      US-approved originator filgrastim.

PMID- 25837841
TI  - Determination of meningococcal serogroups in formulated monovalent and
      multivalent polysaccharide and polysaccharide-conjugate vaccines.

PMID- 25837840
TI  - The classic cadherins in synaptic specificity.
AB  - During brain development, billions of neurons organize into highly specific
      circuits. To form specific circuits, neurons must build the appropriate types of
      synapses with appropriate types of synaptic partners while avoiding incorrect
      partners in a dense cellular environment. Defining the cellular and molecular
      rules that govern specific circuit formation has significant scientific and
      clinical relevance because fine scale connectivity defects are thought to
      underlie many cognitive and psychiatric disorders. Organizing specific neural
      circuits is an enormously complicated developmental process that requires the
      concerted action of many molecules, neural activity, and temporal events. This
      review focuses on one class of molecules postulated to play an important role in
      target selection and specific synapse formation: the classic cadherins. Cadherins
      have a well-established role in epithelial cell adhesion, and although it has
      long been appreciated that most cadherins are expressed in the brain, their role
      in synaptic specificity is just beginning to be unraveled. Here, we review past
      and present studies implicating cadherins as active participants in the
      formation, function, and dysfunction of specific neural circuits and pose some of
      the major remaining questions. 

PMID- 25837842
TI  - Salvage high-dose chemotherapy for germ cell tumors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Salvage high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) along with autologous stem cell
      transplant (ASCT) plays an important role in the management of patients with germ
      cell tumors (GCT) and progression after first-line cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
      In this review, the authors will discuss the history of HDCT as salvage
      management of patients with GCT, improvement in efficacy and safety over the past
      25 years, prognostic factors for outcome, and the conflicting data on the optimal
      initial salvage approach. METHODS: The authors performed a PubMed search of HDCT
      and GCT to identify articles relevant to this review. After discussion, the
      articles felt to have contributed most notably to the field were selected for
      inclusion and summarized. RESULTS: Depending on patient selection and timing of
      HDCT, durable remission rates with salvage HDCT range between 30% and 63%. The
      combination of carboplatin and etoposide is the standard regimen for the high
      dose cycles with more variability in the regimens used for stem cell
      mobilization. Adding a third agent, particularly an oxazophosphorine
      (cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide), may add toxicity without increasing efficacy.
      In addition, sequential (2 or 3 cycle) HDCT regimens appear more effective and
      safer than single-cycle HDCT regimens. The optimal initial salvage approach (HDCT
      or conventional-dose chemotherapy) remains an unanswered question and highly
      controversial. CONCLUSIONS: Salvage HDCT with ASCT can cure a significant
      proportion of patients with GCT and progression after one or more lines of
      cisplatin-based chemotherapy and thus plays an important role in the contemporary
      management of high-risk patients.

PMID- 25837843
TI  - Role of cyanobacterial exopolysaccharides in phototrophic biofilms and in complex
      microbial mats.
AB  - Exopolysaccharides (EPSs) are an important class of biopolymers with great
      ecological importance. In natural environments, they are a common feature of
      microbial biofilms, where they play key protective and structural roles. As the
      primary colonizers of constrained environments, such as desert soils and lithic
      and exposed substrates, cyanobacteria are the first contributors to the synthesis
      of the EPSs constituting the extracellular polymeric matrix that favors the
      formation of microbial associations with varying levels of complexity called
      biofilms. Cyanobacterial colonization represents the first step for the formation
      of biofilms with different levels of complexity. In all of the possible systems
      in which cyanobacteria are involved, the synthesis of EPSs contributes a
      structurally-stable and hydrated microenvironment, as well as chemical/physical
      protection against biotic and abiotic stress factors. Notwithstanding the
      important roles of cyanobacterial EPSs, many aspects related to their roles and
      the relative elicited biotic and abiotic factors have still to be clarified. The
      aim of this survey is to outline the state-of-the-art of the importance of the
      cyanobacterial EPS excretion, both for the producing cells and for the microbial
      associations in which cyanobacteria are a key component. 

PMID- 25837844
TI  - Exploring the interest in and the usage of the internet among patients eligible
      for osteoporosis screening.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate the interest in the Internet and its usage
      for health-related issues among people eligible for osteoporosis screening. Self
      administered questionnaires have been distributed to subjects who were screened
      for osteoporosis and to menopausal women. 177 patients have responded to the
      survey (64.5 +/- 10.1 years, 88.1% of women). There are 78.5% of Internet users.
      Among them, 67.2% said searching information about their health and 74.5% said
      using the Internet for this purpose. All respondents attributed an average score,
      out of 10, of 5.7 +/- 2.3 regarding the reliability of information that they
      could find on the Internet. The use of the Internet differs significantly
      depending on age: those who use the Internet are younger (62.1 +/- 8.91 years)
      than those who do not use it (73.3 +/- 9.42 years). The socioeconomic status also
      has an impact on the Internet use: Internet users have a higher education, are
      more professionally active and have a higher net monthly household income
      compared to the group of non-users. Even if age and socioeconomic status appear
      to be determining factors in the use of the Internet for the search of health
      information in patients eligible for osteoporosis screening, almost 75% of the
      study population use the Internet for this purpose. Action to promote health
      through an Internet platform must therefore take these parameters into account.

PMID- 25837845
TI  - Pediatric reference values for tibial trabecular bone mineral density and bone
      geometry parameters using peripheral quantitative computed tomography.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to establish reference data, in relation to age and
      body height, for tibial trabecular and cortical volumetric bone mineral density,
      bone mineral content, and cross-sectional bone geometry in healthy children and
      adolescents using peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT). Over a 2
      year period, 432 (207 male and 225 female) healthy children, with an age range of
      5 to 19 years, from 6 different geographic areas in Belgium were recruited.
      Multislice pQCT scanning (XCT2000((r)), Stratec Medizintechnik, Pforzheim,
      Germany) was performed at the distal metaphysis (at the 4% site) and the distal
      diaphysis (14 and 38% sites) of the tibia of the dominant leg. Gender-specific
      centile curves in relation to age and body height were generated with the LMS
      method for total and trabecular volumetric bone mineral density (at 4% site),
      bone mineral content, total bone cross-sectional area, periosteal circumference
      (all at 4, 14, and 38% site), cortical volumetric bone mineral density, endosteal
      circumference, and cortical thickness (at the 14 and the 38% site). These centile
      curves can be used for the interpretation of pQCT results at the 4, 14, and 38%
      site of the tibia in European children and adolescents, at least when a similar
      methodology is used.

PMID- 25837846
TI  - Clinical implication of perioperative inflammatory cytokine alteration.
AB  - Cytokines are key modulators of inflammatory responses, and play an important
      role in the defense and repair mechanisms following trauma. After traumatic
      injury, an immuno-inflammatory response is initiated immediately, and cytokines
      rapidly appear and function as a regulator of immunity. In pathologic conditions,
      imbalanced cytokines may provide systemic inflammatory responses or
      immunosuppression. Expression of perioperative cytokines vary by different
      intensities of surgical trauma and types of anesthesia and anesthetic agents.
      Inflammatory cytokines play important roles in postoperative organ dysfunction
      including central nervous system, cardiovascular, lung, liver, and kidney injury.
      Inhibition of cytokines could protect against traumatic injury in some
      circumstances, therefore cytokine inhibitors or antagonists might have the
      potential for reducing postoperative tissue/organ dysfunction. Cytokines are also
      involved in wound healing and post-traumatic pain. Application of cytokines for
      the improvement of surgical wound healing has been reported. Anesthesia-related
      immune response adjustment might reduce perioperative morbidity because it
      reduces proinflammatory cytokine expression; however, the overall effects of
      anesthetics on postoperative immune-inflammatory responses needs to be further
      investigated.

PMID- 25837847
TI  - Thymopoietin Beta and Gamma Isoforms as a Potential Diagnostic Molecular Marker
      for Breast Cancer: Preliminary Data.
AB  - Thymopoietin (TMPO) is an inner nuclear membrane protein, the coding gene named
      equally, can give arise to six isoforms by alternative splicing. This gene has
      been found up regulated in several types of cancer. At present work, we evaluated
      the TMPO isoforms generated by alternative splicing as well as the protein signal
      detection in breast cancer samples. TMPO expression was analyzed by
      immunohistochemistry in tissue microarray containing 46 breast tissue samples
      including normal (n = 6), benign lesions (n = 18) (fibroadenomas (n = 6),
      fibrocystic changes (n = 6), ductal hyperplasias (n = 6)) and breast carcinoma (n
      = 22). Isoforms -alpha, -beta and -gamma of TMPO were evaluated using RT-PCR;
      clinical-pathological correlation analysis were done by mean of X(2). Neither the
      normal nor the benign lesions of the breast showed positive TMPO immunodetection,
      whilst 45 % of the breast carcinomas were immunopositive (p = 0.000), nine of ten
      positives carcinomas correspond to the Luminal A subtype. Further, alpha isoform
      was present in all breast samples analyzed; however, beta and gamma isoforms were
      only present in ten (p = 0.003) and 17 (p = 0.000), respectively, in the breast
      cancer samples. According with the present data, we suggest that TMPObeta and 
      gamma isoforms could provide a potential reliable diagnostic marker for breast
      cancer.

PMID- 25837848
TI  - Impact of prior azacitidine on the outcome of allogeneic hematopoietic
      transplantation for myelodysplastic syndrome.
AB  - To clarify the clinical impact of prior use of azacitidine (AZA) on outcomes of
      allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) for
      myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), we retrospectively reviewed the clinical outcomes
      of 15 MDS patients who were treated with AZA before allo-HSCT (AZA group). We
      compared the outcomes of these 15 patients with 52 MDS patients who were solely
      given the best supportive care (BSC) before allo-HSCT (BSC group). Although
      patients in the AZA group were older with higher International Prognostic Scoring
      System (IPSS) scores compared to patients in the BSC group, no significant
      differences were found between the two groups in overall survival (OS), disease
      free survival (DFS), cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) or non-relapse
      mortality. However, in patients with a higher IPSS score (Int-2/High), pre
      transplant AZA may provide better OS and DFS and lower CIR. Acute graft-versus
      host disease rates were similar between the two groups. These results should be
      reassuring to patients with high-risk MDS receiving AZA before allo-HSCT.

PMID- 25837849
TI  - Active transporters as enzymes: an energetic framework applied to major
      facilitator superfamily and ABC importer systems.
AB  - Active membrane transporters are dynamic molecular machines that catalyse
      transport across a membrane by coupling solute movement to a source of energy
      such as ATP or a secondary ion gradient. A central question for many active
      transporters concerns the mechanism by which transport is coupled to a source of
      energy. The transport process and associated energetic coupling involve
      conformational changes in the transporter. For efficient transport, the
      conformational changes must be tightly regulated and they must link energy use to
      movement of the substrate across the membrane. The present review discusses
      active transport using the well-established energetic framework for enzyme
      mediated catalysis. In particular, membrane transport systems can be viewed as
      ensembles consisting of low-energy and high-energy conformations. The transport
      process involves binding interactions that selectively stabilize the higher
      energy conformations, and in this way promote conformational changes in the
      system that are coupled to decreases in free energy and substrate translocation.
      The major facilitator superfamily of secondary active transporters is used to
      illustrate these ideas, which are then be expanded to primary active transport
      mediated by ABC (ATP-binding cassette) import systems, with a focus on the well
      studied maltose transporter. 

PMID- 25837850
TI  - Metallophosphoesterases: structural fidelity with functional promiscuity.
AB  - Calcineurin-like metallophosphoesterases (MPEs) form a large superfamily of
      binuclear metal-ion-centre-containing enzymes that hydrolyse phosphomono-,
      phosphodi- or phosphotri-esters in a metal-dependent manner. The MPE domain is
      found in Mre11/SbcD DNA-repair enzymes, mammalian phosphoprotein phosphatases,
      acid sphingomyelinases, purple acid phosphatases, nucleotidases and bacterial
      cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases. Despite this functional diversity, MPEs
      show a remarkably similar structural fold and active-site architecture. In the
      present review, we summarize the available structural, biochemical and functional
      information on these proteins. We also describe how diversification and
      specialization of the core MPE fold in various MPEs is achieved by amino acid
      substitution in their active sites, metal ions and regulatory effects of
      accessory domains. Finally, we discuss emerging roles of these proteins as non
      catalytic protein-interaction scaffolds. Thus we view the MPE superfamily as a
      set of proteins with a highly conserved structural core that allows embellishment
      to result in dramatic and niche-specific diversification of function. 

PMID- 25837851
TI  - Induction of hyaluronan production by oncogenic KSHV and the contribution to
      viral pathogenesis in AIDS patients.
AB  - Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiologic agent for Kaposi's
      sarcoma (KS) and primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), malignancies arising primarily
      in immunocompromised patients particularly AIDS-patients, which still lack
      effective therapy. Hyaluronan (HA) is a large glucuronic acid and has been found
      closely related to multiple functions in cancer cells, although its role in viral
      oncogenesis remains largely unknown. Here we provide first evidence that KSHV de
      novo infection induces HA production from primary endothelial cells through
      upregulation of HA synthase gene 1 (Has1) and a multifunctional glycoprotein,
      CD147. Further data demonstrate that KSHV-induced HA production requires viral
      latent protein, LANA (in particular functional domain A) and MAPK/ERK signaling
      activities. In functions, HA production is necessary for KSHV/LANA-induced
      primary endothelial cell invasion, a hallmark feature for KS development. For
      clinical relevance, our data indicate that the KSHV+ group has higher levels of
      HA and Has1 activities in its plasma than the KSHV- group of cohort HIV-infected
      patients. Together, our findings provide innovative insights into the mechanisms
      of oncogenic virus activation of HA production and its role in virus-associated
      malignancy pathogenesis, which may help to develop novel therapeutic strategies
      by targeting HA and related signaling. 

PMID- 25837852
TI  - A non-human primate model for investigating drug-induced risk of orthostatic
      hypotension and sympathetic dysfunction: Preclinical correlate to a clinical
      test.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Drug induced orthostatic hypotension (OH) is an important clinical
      concern and can be an unexpected hurdle during drug development. OH is defined as
      an abnormal decrease in blood pressure (BP) triggered by a rapid postural change.
      The sympathetic nervous system is critical for controlling normal cardiovascular
      function and compensatory responses to changes in posture. Thus, OH can also
      serve as a surrogate indicator of sympathetic dysfunction. However, preclinical
      conscious models for investigating risk of OH and/or sympathetic dysfunction are
      lacking. Herein, we describe a conscious nonhuman primate (NHP) model which
      mimics the widely used clinical tilt table test for OH. METHODS: Male, Cynomolgus
      NHPs (n = 7-8) implanted with radio-telemetry transmitters were placed in
      modified tilt chairs in a supine position. Subsequently, a 90 degrees  head up
      tilt was performed for 3 min followed by return to the supine position. BP and
      heart rate were continuously monitored. Test compounds were administered either
      intravenously or via oral gavage in a crossover design, with blood samples
      collected at the end of the each tilt to assess total drug concentrations.
      RESULTS: Tilt responses were assessed following treatment with positive control
      compounds that cause sympathetic dysfunction; hexamethonium (ganglionic blocker)
      and prazosin (alpha-1 adrenergic receptor antagonist). Both compounds induced
      marked OH as evidenced by robust and sustained BP reduction in response to a head
      up tilt (decrease of 25-35 mmHg for hexamethonium, decrease of 21-44 mmHg for
      prazosin). OH incidence rates increased in a dose-dependent manner. OH incidences
      following treatment with minoxidil (vasodilator) were markedly lower to those
      observed with hexamethonium and prazosin indicating the role of sympathetic
      dysfunction in causing OH. DISCUSSION: These data demonstrate that the NHP tilt
      test is a valuable model for investigating OH risk. This model fills an important
      preclinical gap for assessing such a safety concern and can be applied to
      programs where a sympathetic deficit and/or OH are anticipated or clinically
      observed.

PMID- 25837853
TI  - Assessment of the Effect of Methotrexate Therapy on Bone Metabolism in Patients
      with Rheumatoid Arthritis.
AB  - Proinflammatory cytokines and growth factors, which regulate mutual interactions
      between immune system cells and bone tissue cells, play a major role in the
      formation of bone changes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of the work was
      to assess serum concentration of osteoprotegerin (OPG), RANKL, Dkk-1 and
      sclerostin in RA patients compared to a control group and to analyze changes of
      these concentrations during methotrexate (MTX) therapy. Patients enrolled in the
      study were 30 women of Caucasian origin aged 30-74 years with RA. Patients with
      active form of the disease were administered recommended doses of MTX for at
      least 6 months. The study group was divided into subgroup I-patients with
      improvement; and subgroup II-patients with no improvement. The control group
      consisted of 12 healthy women in the age of 41-73. Before MTX therapy, RA
      patients had higher levels of RANKL (644.97 +/- 477.13 vs. 255.19 +/- 130.26
      pmol/l), lower values of OPG/RANKL (0.01 +/- 0.0101 vs. 0.02 +/- 0.0078) and
      higher levels of Dkk-1 protein (1821.32 +/- 1060.28 vs. 548.52 +/- 36.35 pg/ml)
      compared to the control group. In the analyzed group of patients (all patients
      receiving MTX regardless of responder non responder status) after 6 months of
      therapy, a statistically significant increase in the ratio of OPG/RANKL was found
      (0.0118 +/- 0.0102 vs. 0.0141 +/- 0.0118; p = 0.02). The index value of OPG/RANKL
      differed significantly depending on the resultant effect of treatment (0.01702 +/
      0.01274 in the subgroup of improvement vs. 0.00675 +/- 0.00289 in the subgroup
      without improvement). The difference in the mean concentrations of Dkk-1 before
      and after treatment with MTX between subgroups I and II was statistically
      significant (p = 0.002). In subgroup I, mean concentration of Dkk-1 decreased
      after 6 months of treatment with MTX (2054.72 +/- 1004.74 vs. 1831.70 +/- 851.70
      pg/ml); while in subgroup II, the mean concentration of Dkk-1 increased (1214.48
      +/- 738.32 vs. 2275.01 +/- 1385.23 pg/ml). There were no statistically
      significant changes in the mean concentrations of sclerostin before and after
      treatment with MTX (in whole group treatment with MTX, in subgroup I, and in
      subgroup II). The results confirm the presence of disorders of bone metabolism in
      patients with RA. Treatment with MTX affects the value of the ratio of OPG/RANKL
      and concentration of Dkk-1.

PMID- 25837854
TI  - Puberty suppression and executive functioning: An fMRI-study in adolescents with
      gender dysphoria.
AB  - Adolescents with gender dysphoria (GD) may be treated with gonadotropin releasing
      hormone analogs (GnRHa) to suppress puberty and, thus, the development of
      (unwanted) secondary sex characteristics. Since adolescence marks an important
      period for the development of executive functioning (EF), we determined whether
      the performance on the Tower of London task (ToL), a commonly used EF task, was
      altered in adolescents with GD when treated with GnRHa. Furthermore, since GD has
      been proposed to result from an atypical sexual differentiation of the brain, we
      determined whether untreated adolescents with GD showed sex-atypical brain
      activations during ToL performance. We found no significant effect of GnRHa on
      ToL performance scores (reaction times and accuracy) when comparing GnRHa treated
      male-to-females (suppressed MFs, n=8) with untreated MFs (n=10) or when comparing
      GnRHa treated female-to-males (suppressed FMs, n=12) with untreated FMs (n=10).
      However, the suppressed MFs had significantly lower accuracy scores than the
      control groups and the untreated FMs. Region-of-interest (ROI) analyses showed
      significantly greater activation in control boys (n=21) than control girls (n=24)
      during high task load ToL items in the bilateral precuneus and a trend (p<0.1)
      for greater activation in the right DLPFC. In contrast, untreated adolescents
      with GD did not show significant sex differences in task load-related activation
      and had intermediate activation levels compared to the two control groups. GnRHa
      treated adolescents with GD showed sex differences in neural activation similar
      to their natal sex control groups. Furthermore, activation in the other ROIs
      (left DLPFC and bilateral RLPFC) was also significantly greater in GnRHa treated
      MFs compared to GnRHa treated FMs. These findings suggest that (1) GnRHa
      treatment had no effect on ToL performance in adolescents with GD, and (2)
      pubertal hormones may induce sex-atypical brain activations during EF in
      adolescents with GD. 

PMID- 25837855
TI  - Evidence for catalytic intermediates involved in generating the chromopyrrolic
      acid scaffold of rebeccamycin by RebO and RebD.
AB  - We provide the first experimental evidence for intermediates being involved in
      catalysis by RebD in generating the chromopyrrolic acid (CPA) scaffold of
      rebeccamycin. In the presence of its substrates (indole pyruvate imine - IPAI -
      and H2O2 both produced by the flavoprotein oxidase RebO that oxidizes
      tryptophan), RebD reacts as a peroxidase forming two IPAI radicals that recombine
      as a C-C bond in the CPA. When catalase is included to remove H2O2, CPA can still
      be formed because the IPAI rapidly reduces RebD, which reacts with O2, utilizing
      oxidase-peroxidase chemistry to produce CPA. Reduced RebD can also react with
      H2O2 forming Cpd II directly, which can oxidize IPAI. Stopped-flow
      spectrophotometric studies demonstrated that during the reaction of RebO and RebD
      with Trp and oxygen, a species with a red-shifted Soret band at 424.5 nm
      appeared. This species can react with either guaiacol or ABTS to form ferric
      RebD, suggesting that it is Cpd II of RebD involved in the formation of CPA. In
      summary, the studies reveal new and unusual aspects peroxidase and peroxygenase
      chemistry used by RebD in catalyzing carbon-carbon oxidative coupling reactions
      that are involved in biosynthesis of indolocarbazoles.

PMID- 25837857
TI  - Predictive molecular biomarkers to guide clinical decision making in kidney
      cancer: current progress and future challenges.
AB  - Although the past decade has seen a surfeit of new targeted therapies for renal
      cell carcinoma (RCC), no predictive molecular biomarker is currently used in
      routine clinical practice to guide personalized therapy as a companion
      diagnostic. Many putative biomarkers have been suggested, but none have undergone
      rigorous validation. There have been considerable advances in the biological
      understanding of RCC in recent years, with the development of accompanying
      molecular diagnostics that with additional validation, may be helpful for routine
      clinical decision making. In this review, we summarize the current understanding
      of predictive biomarkers in RCC management and also highlight upcoming
      developments of interest in biomarker research for personalizing RCC diagnostics
      and therapeutics. 

PMID- 25837858
TI  - Visible-light-promoted conversion of alkyl benzyl ether to alkyl ester or alcohol
      via O-alpha-sp(3) C-H cleavage.
AB  - A mild and high-yielding visible-light-promoted conversion of alkyl benzyl ethers
      to the alkyl esters or alkyl alcohols was developed. Mechanistic studies provided
      evidence for a radical chain reaction involving the homolytic cleavage of O-alpha
      sp(3) C-H bonds in the substrate as one of the propagation steps. We propose that
      alpha-bromoethers are key intermediates in the transformation. 

PMID- 25837856
TI  - Purine biosynthetic enzyme ATase2 is involved in the regulation of early
      chloroplast development and chloroplast gene expression in Arabidopsis.
AB  - To investigate the molecular mechanism of chloroplast biogenesis and development,
      we characterized an Arabidopsis mutant (dg169, delayed greening 169) which showed
      growth retardation and delayed greening phenotype in leaves. Newly emerged
      chlorotic leaves recovered gradually with leaf development in the mutant, and the
      mature leaves showed similar phenotype to those of wild-typewild-type plants.
      Compared with wild-type, the chloroplasts were oval-shaped and smaller and the
      thylakoid membranes were less abundant in yellow section of young leaves of
      dg169. In addition, the functions of photosystem II (PSII) and photosystem I
      (PSI) were also impaired. Furthermore, the amount of core subunits of PSII and
      PSI, as well as PSII and PSI complexes reduced in yellow section of young leaves
      of dg169. Map-based positional cloning identified that phenotype of dg169 was
      attributed to a point mutation of ATase2 which converts the conserved Ile-155
      residue to Asn. ATase2 catalyzes the first step of de novo purine biosynthesis.
      This mutation resulted in impaired purine synthesis and a significant decrease in
      ATP, ADP, GTP and GDP contents. The analysis of ATase2-GFP protein fusion showed
      that ATase2 was localized to nucleoid of chloroplasts. Our results further
      demonstrated that the levels of PEP-dependent transcripts in yellow section of
      young leaves of dg169 were decreased while NEP-dependent and both PEP- and NEP
      dependent transcripts and chloroplast DNA replications were increased. The
      results in this study suggest that ATase2 plays an essential role in early
      chloroplast development through maintaining PEP function. 

PMID- 25837861
TI  - Low-fat diet and exercise are more important.

PMID- 25837859
TI  - Total ankle replacement.
AB  - BACKGROUND: About 1% of adults suffer from painful osteoarthritis of the ankle.
      The current literature contains no information on the percentage of such patients
      who derive long-term relief of symptoms from conservative treatment. Advanced
      ankle osteoarthritis can be treated with non-joint-preserving measures, such as
      total ankle replacement and ankle fusion. METHODS: This review is based on
      selected relevant publications, guidelines from Germany and abroad, and the
      authors' personal experience. RESULTS: Before surgery is considered, conservative
      measures such as physiotherapy and orthopedic aids should be used to the fullest
      possible extent. No randomized trials have yet been published comparing total
      ankle replacement with ankle fusion. Total ankle replacement with newer types of
      prosthesis yields good to very good intermediate-term and long-term results, with
      mean success rates of up to 90% at 10 years (range, 68-100%). Independent risk
      factors for the failure of ankle replacement are age over 70 years (odds ratio
      [OR] 3.84), primary osteoarthritis (OR 7.19), post-traumatic osteoarthritis (OR
      6.2), and type of prosthesis (e.g., single hydroxyapatite coating: OR 15.04). The
      average range of motion of the replaced ankle joint is 25 degrees  to 30 degrees
      , with values as high as 60 degrees . CONCLUSION: Total ankle replacement is a
      good treatment option for complete, end-stage ankle arthritis. It can restore
      joint function and make the patient mobile with little or no pain. There are,
      however, many contraindications to be taken into account. There is a need for
      further studies of the biomechanics of arthritic and replaced ankle joints and
      for long-term follow-up studies of total ankle replacement.

PMID- 25837860
TI  - Prevalence trends in lifestyle-related risk factors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The regional prevalence of risk factors can vary over time. The Study
      of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) addresses prevalence trends for common risk factors
      in a region in northeast Germany. METHODS: A longitudinal study was carried out
      from 1997 to 2001 (SHIP-0, with 4308 subjects), and a second, independent random
      sample of the population in the same region was studied from 2008 to 2012 (SHIP
      Trend, with 4420 subjects). All data were standardized with post-stratification
      weighting derived from the adult population of the state of Mecklenburg-West
      Pomerania. RESULTS: SHIP reveals a marked decline of mean alcohol consumption in
      the adult population, from 5.57 g/day (95% confidence interval, 5.51-5.63) to
      3.12 g/day (95% CI 3.09-3.15). The percentage of active smokers among men
      declined from 38.6% (95% CI 36.0-41.2) to 34.3% (95% CI 32.1-36.6).
      Simultaneously, however, there was a rightward shift of the BMI distribution,
      with a marked increase in the prevalence of obesity, from 24.7% to 32.0%. There
      was a corresponding increase in the prevalence of diabetes, from 9.1% to 13.8%.
      Compared to eleven years ago, the amount of exercise taken during free time has
      risen among the elderly, but fallen among young women. CONCLUSION: Tobacco and
      alcohol consumption have declined over the past decade, although this study may
      have overestimated these trends through a combination of selection bias and
      reporting bias. Meanwhile, the northeast German population now has a worse
      metabolic risk profile, as indicated by the increased prevalence of obesity and
      diabetes. Society as a whole must take measures to combat this trend.

PMID- 25837862
TI  - Low-fat diet and exercise are more important. In reply.

PMID- 25837863
TI  - Further specification required.

PMID- 25837864
TI  - Further specification required. In reply.

PMID- 25837865
TI  - Undercounting of large trucks in federal and state crash databases: Extent of
      problem and how to improve accuracy of truck classifications.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Prior research suggested that single-unit trucks are undercounted when
      using vehicle body codes in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). This
      study explored the extent of the misclassification and undercounting problem for
      crashes in FARS and state crash databases. METHODS: Truck misclassifications for
      fatal crashes were explored by comparing the Trucks Involved in Fatal Accidents
      (TIFA) database with FARS. TIFA used vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and
      survey information to classify large trucks. This study used VINs to improve the
      accuracy of large truck classifications in state crash databases from 5 states
      (Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Utah). RESULTS: The vehicle body
      type codes resulted in a 19% undercount of single-unit trucks in FARS and a 23%
      undercount of single-unit trucks in state databases. Tractor-trailers were
      misclassified less often. Misclassifications occurred most frequently among
      single-unit trucks in the weight classes of 10,001-14,000 pounds. CONCLUSIONS:
      The amount of misclassification of large trucks is large enough to potentially
      affect federal and state decisions on traffic safety. Using information from VINs
      results in more complete and accurate counts of large trucks involved in crashes.
      The National Transportation Safety Board recommended actions to improve federal
      and state crash data.

PMID- 25837866
TI  - Burn injury associated with home oxygen use in patients with chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To quantify the risk of burn injury associated with home oxygen use
      and to examine the risk factors associated with the development of this injury.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: We used a nested case-control and a retrospective cohort
      design to study enrollment and claims data from a national sample of Medicare
      beneficiaries 66 years and older with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease (COPD) from January 1, 2001, through December 31, 2010. The
      primary outcome was burn injury in patients with COPD prescribed home oxygen.
      RESULTS: In the nested case-control method, patients with burn injury were twice
      (odds ratio, 2.43; 95% CI, 1.57-3.78) as likely to be prescribed oxygen in the
      preceding 90 days compared with those without burn injury. In the retrospective
      cohort study, the absolute risk of burn injury in patients prescribed oxygen
      therapy was 2.98 per 1000 patients compared with 1.69 per 1000 patients not
      prescribed oxygen during a 22-month period. The excess risk of a burn injury
      associated with oxygen was 0.704 per 1000 patients per year, and the number
      needed to harm was 1421. In multivariable analysis, factors associated with burn
      injury included male sex, low socioeconomic status, oxygen therapy use, and the
      presence of 3 or more comorbidities. CONCLUSION: The benefits of oxygen therapy
      in patients with COPD outweigh the modest risk of burn injury associated with
      home oxygen use. However, with the increasing number of patients being prescribed
      oxygen, health care professionals must educate and counsel patients regarding the
      potential risk of burn injury.

PMID- 25837868
TI  - The p53 network as therapeutic target in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine
      neoplasms.
AB  - Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) are heterogeneous and
      especially the midgut tumors currently lack effective therapy options. Actionable
      driver mutations as therapeutic targets are rare. Subtype specific data
      concerning regulatory mechanisms or epigenetic aberrations are necessary for
      novel clinical trials. Although the p53 protein itself is rarely mutated in GEP
      NENs, epigenetic and regulatory aberrations interfere with the p53 network
      activity and might function as s target for novel therapeutic approaches. In this
      review we analyze the current knowledge about the p53 network in GEP-NENs and
      discuss three possible strategies that include recovering p53 function, enforcing
      apoptosis by genotoxic stress induction and restoring silenced gene function,
      based on in vitro, in vivo and clinical data.

PMID- 25837867
TI  - Processing deficits for familiar and novel faces in patients with left posterior
      fusiform lesions.
AB  - Pure alexia (PA) arises from damage to the left posterior fusiform gyrus (pFG)
      and the striking reading disorder that defines this condition has meant that such
      patients are often cited as evidence for the specialisation of this region to
      processing of written words. There is, however, an alternative view that suggests
      this region is devoted to processing of high acuity foveal input, which is
      particularly salient for complex visual stimuli like letter strings. Previous
      reports have highlighted disrupted processing of non-linguistic visual stimuli
      after damage to the left pFG, both for familiar and unfamiliar objects and also
      for novel faces. This study explored the nature of face processing deficits in
      patients with left pFG damage. Identification of famous faces was found to be
      compromised in both expressive and receptive tasks. Discrimination of novel faces
      was also impaired, particularly for those that varied in terms of second-order
      spacing information, and this deficit was most apparent for the patients with the
      more severe reading deficits. Interestingly, discrimination of faces that varied
      in terms of feature identity was considerably better in these patients and it was
      performance in this condition that was related to the size of the length effects
      shown in reading. This finding complements functional imaging studies showing
      left pFG activation for faces varying only in spacing and frontal activation for
      faces varying only on features. These results suggest that the sequential part
      based processing strategy that promotes the length effect in the reading of these
      patients also allows them to discriminate between faces on the basis of feature
      identity, but processing of second-order configural information is most
      compromised due to their left pFG lesion. This study supports a view in which the
      left pFG is specialised for processing of high acuity foveal visual information
      that supports processing of both words and faces. 

PMID- 25837869
TI  - Ultrasound-Enhanced Subcritical CO2 Extraction of Lutein from Chlorella
      pyrenoidosa.
AB  - Lutein is an important pigment of Chlorella pyrenoidosa with many beneficial
      functions in human health. The main purpose of this study was to extract lutein
      from C. pyrenoidosa using ultrasound-enhanced subcritical CO2 extraction (USCCE).
      Effects of operating conditions on the extraction, including extraction
      pretreatment, temperature, pressure, time, CO2 flow rate, and ultrasonic power,
      were investigated, and an orthogonal experiment was designed to study the effects
      of extraction pressure, temperature, cosolvent amount, and time on the extraction
      yields. The USCCE method was compared with other extraction methods in terms of
      the yields of lutein and the microstructure of C. pyrenoidosa powder by scanning
      electron microscopy. A maximal extraction yield of 124.01 mg lutein/100 g crude
      material was achieved under optimal conditions of extraction temperature at 27 
      degrees C, extraction pressure at 21 MPa, cosolvent amount at 1.5 mL/g ethanol,
      and ultrasound power at 1000 W. Compared to other methods, USCCE could
      significantly increase the lutein extraction yield at lower extraction
      temperature and pressure. Furthermore, the kinetic models of USCCE and
      subcritical CO2 extraction (SCCE) of lutein from C. pyrenoidosa were set as E =
      130.64 * (1 - e(-0.6599t)) and E = 101.82 * (1 - e(-0.5683t)), respectively. The
      differences of parameters in the kinetic models indicate that ultrasound was able
      to enhance the extraction process of SCCE. 

PMID- 25837870
TI  - Structures of human DNA polymerases nu and theta expose their end game.
AB  - Although the two B-family human DNA polymerases, pol delta and pol epsilon, are
      responsible for the bulk of nuclear genome replication, at least 14 additional
      polymerases have roles in nuclear DNA repair and replication. In this issue,
      newly reported crystal structures of two specialized A-family polymerases, pol
      delta and pol epsilon, expose these enzymes' strategies for handling aberrant DNA
      ends.

PMID- 25837871
TI  - Methylation gets into rhythm with NAD(+)-SIRT1.
AB  - Circadian regulation of epigenetic chromatin marks drives daily transcriptional
      oscillation of thousands of genes and is intimately linked to cellular metabolism
      and bioenergetics. New work links circadian fluctuations in the activity of the
      SIRT1 deacetylase, a sensor of the cellular energy state, to histone-methylation
      changes and the circadian expression of clock-controlled genes.

PMID- 25837872
TI  - How to open a proton pore-more than S4?
AB  - Pioneering studies in voltage-gated potassium channels have described movement of
      the voltage-sensing domain (VSD) S4 helix across the membrane electric field in
      molecular detail, but much less is known regarding opening of the intrinsic
      proton pore within VSDs of voltage-dependent proton channels. By systematically
      probing local kinematics, a new study reveals that movements in helix S1
      correlate with pore opening and are distinct from voltage-sensing movements of
      the charged S4 segment.

PMID- 25837873
TI  - Micro-terminator: 'Hasta la vista, lncRNA!'.
AB  - Transcriptional termination is an important yet incompletely understood aspect of
      gene expression. Proudfoot, Jopling and colleagues now identify a new
      Microprocessor-mediated mechanism of transcriptional termination, which acts
      specifically on long noncoding transcripts that serve as microRNA precursors.

PMID- 25837877
TI  - In vivo evaluation of an implantable magnetic suspending left ventricular assist
      device.
AB  - PURPOSE: The CH-VAD is an implantable, fully magnetically suspended ventricular
      assist device developed by the China Heart Biomedical Corporation (Suzhou, China)
      for full cardiac support. This study was performed to evaluate the reliability,
      hemocompatibility and end-organ effects of CH-VAD in a 35-day animal model trial.
      METHODS: The pump was implanted in 6 sheep. The pump inflow was inserted into the
      left ventricle and the outflow graft was anastomosed to the descending aorta.
      Data on pump function and the health condition of the animals, including
      hematologic and biochemical tests, were collected during the study period. When
      each study was determined to termination, the sheep were humanely euthanized and
      the end organs were examined macroscopically and histopathologically. Hemolysis
      was evaluated based on the amount of free hemoglobin in the plasma. RESULTS:
      Except for one device that stopped operation on postoperative day 25 because of
      thrombus formation, the devices functioned normally until the scheduled
      termination. Gross examination of the pump interiors, inflow and outflow, and of
      the arterial anastomosis sites showed no significant abnormalities. Hematologic
      and biochemical test results were within normal limits during the study period.
      Macroscopic and histopathologic examinations of the explanted organs revealed no
      evidence of ischemia or infarction associated with the device implantation,
      except for small foci of infarction in the kidneys of two sheep. The free
      hemoglobin level in plasma peaked at 9.5 mg/dl on postoperative day 5.
      CONCLUSIONS: The CH-VAD system demonstrated promising reliability and blood
      handling characteristics without obvious damage to end organs during a 35-day
      implantation in sheep.

PMID- 25837878
TI  - Design and evaluation of an intelligent artificial anal sphincter system powered
      by an adaptive transcutaneous energy transfer system.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to optimize an intelligent artificial anal
      sphincter system (AASS) II for patients with severe fecal incontinence. METHODS:
      Redesigning and integrating a pressure sensor into the sphincter prosthesis
      allows us to reduce the sensor volume and makes it suitable for a chronic,
      ambulatory application. Furthermore, a close-loop frequency control method was
      designed for the transcutaneous energy transfer system. Finally, a longer working
      time of the implanted device was obtained by the low-power design of the hardware
      and software. The new model was implanted in 2 dogs and studied for periods of up
      to 5 weeks. RESULTS: The output voltage induced on the load of 30 Omega, for a
      variation range in k of 0.12 ~ 0.42, was maintained at approximately 6.8 V with a
      frequency control range of the 270 ~ 320 kHz. The minimum and maximum output
      voltages of the pressure sensor were found to be 1.7 V and 2.34 V, respectively,
      which corresponded to a pressure range of 90 ~ 120 kPa with maximum change rate
      of approximately 3.7% caused by the temperature variations. Moreover, compared
      with AASS I, the low-power design resulting in 94% reduction in power
      consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy of the device in achieving continence and
      sensing the need to defecate was assessed in an animal model. The technical
      concept and the design of the AASS II turned out to be capable of fulfilling the
      medical requirements.

PMID- 25837879
TI  - Effectiveness of different irrigation procedures for removal of dentin debris
      from a simulated internal resorption cavity.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare the efficiency of different final
      irrigation techniques to remove artificially placed dentinal debris from a
      simulated internal root resorption (IRR) cavity. METHODS: Seventy teeth were
      prepared using the ProTaper system. The roots were then split longitudinally into
      two halves, in each of which standardized IRR cavities were prepared. Five teeth
      were set aside to serve as negative control group. Each cavity of the remaining
      65 teeth was filled with dentin debris mixed with 2.5% NaOCl. Another 5 teeth
      (positive control) were not subjected to the debris removal procedure. Sixty
      teeth were randomly divided into four experimental groups (n = 15), according to
      the final irrigation technique used: conventional syringe irrigation (CSI), the
      Self-Adjusting File (SAF), passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI), and the
      EndoActivator (EA). Ten milliliters of 2.5% NaOCl was used during the debris
      removal procedure. The root halves were disassembled, and the amount of remaining
      debris was evaluated under a stereomicroscope at 30* magnification. RESULTS: SAF
      and PUI removed debris significantly better than CSI and EA (P<.05). CSI was the
      least effective in debris removal (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: None of the irrigation
      techniques used was able to completely remove debris from simulated IRR cavities.

PMID- 25837880
TI  - Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation after liver transplantation in a patient with
      hepatopulmonary syndrome and an atrial septal defect.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a rare complication of liver
      cirrhosis that may result in refractory hypoxemia even after liver
      transplantation. ECMO has been rarely used after liver transplantation or in
      patients with HPS. METHODS: We present a patient with HPS who underwent liver
      transplantation and developed refractory hypoxemia requiring postoperative ECMO
      support at our institution. During our review of literature we found nine reports
      of ECMO use for cardiorespiratory failure after liver transplant in the past.
      RESULTS: Our patient had persistent intrapulmonary shunting and developed severe
      respiratory failure after liver transplant. Additionally, the patient was found
      to have an atrial septal defect (ASD) and required percutaneous closure while
      receiving ECMO support. Literature review suggests that survival among these
      patients who were supported with ECMO after liver transplant was 50% and
      catastrophic bleeding complications were described in only one report.
      CONCLUSIONS: With careful selection of post-liver transplant patients and
      judicious management of anticoagulation, ECMO can be safely instituted in this
      cohort.

PMID- 25837881
TI  - Akt signaling is associated with the berberine-induced apoptosis of human gastric
      cancer cells.
AB  - Despite extensive studies on the antitumor properties of berberine, a small
      molecule derived from Coptidis rhizoma (Huanglian in Chinese) and many other
      plants, the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, we found that
      berberine-induced cell apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells with the increase
      of the expression level of cleaved poly ADP-ribose polymerase and caspase-3, and
      the impairment of mitochondrial membrane potential (Deltapsim) in berberine
      treated gastric cancer cells. In our further studies, the results demonstrated
      that Akt-related mitochondrial pathway may partly involve in the berberine
      induced apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells. Moreover, berberine inhibited
      the Akt/mTOR/p70S6/S6 pathway in berberine-treated BGC-823 cells. Meanwhile,
      berberine significantly inhibited the activation of Akt and suppressed tumor
      growth in xenograft nude mice injected with human gastric cancer cells. Thus, our
      findings reveal that the underlying mechanism that Akt signaling may contribute
      to berberine-induced cell apoptosis in gastric cancer cells and might represent
      an important molecular basis for berberine to act as an anticancer agent. 

PMID- 25837883
TI  - High-flux graphene oxide nanofiltration membrane intercalated by carbon
      nanotubes.
AB  - A sort of novel high-flux nanofiltration membrane was fabricated by synergistic
      assembling of graphene and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), in which
      graphene played the role of molecular sieving and MWNTs expanded the interlayer
      space between neighbored graphene sheets. The MWNT-intercalated graphene
      nanofiltration membrane (G-CNTm) showed a water flux up to 11.3 L m(-2) h(-1)
      bar(-1), more than 2 times that of the neat graphene nanofiltration membrane
      (GNm), while keeping high dye rejection (>99% for Direct Yellow and >96% Methyl
      Orange). The G-CNTm also showed good rejection ratio for salt ions (i.e., 83.5%
      for Na2SO4, 51.4% for NaCl). We also explored the antifouling performance of G
      CNTm and GNm with bovine serum albumin (BSA), sodium alginate (SA) and humic acid
      (HA). Both G-CNTm and GNm possessed excellent antifouling performance for SA and
      HA but inferior for BSA because of the strong interaction between protein and
      graphene sheets. 

PMID- 25837882
TI  - Combination chemotherapy with bevacizumab and S-1 for elderly patients with
      metastatic colorectal cancer (BASIC trial).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chemotherapeutic regimens for elderly patients with metastatic
      colorectal cancer (mCRC), such as bevacizumab combined with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)
      and leucovorin, often exclude oxaliplatin and irinotecan owing to the risk of
      toxicity. However, treatment with infusional 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin
      requires percutaneous port-catheter placement and other precautions, causing
      unnecessary stress for patients as well as healthcare workers. METHODS: We
      conducted a phase II study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab
      plus S-1 in elderly patients with previously untreated mCRC. Bevacizumab was
      given intravenously every two weeks, and S-1 was administered orally on days 1-28
      of a 42-day cycle. The primary end-point was progression-free survival (PFS). The
      secondary end-points were time to treatment failure, response rate (RR), overall
      survival (OS), treatment completion status and safety. RESULTS: From October 2007
      through March 2010, 56 patients were enroled. The median PFS was 9.9months, the
      median OS was 25.0months, and the RR was 57%. The main adverse events of grade 3
      or higher were hypertension (11%), diarrhoea (9%) and neutropenia (7%).
      CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that combination chemotherapy with S-1 and
      bevacizumab can be administered safely and continuously on an outpatient basis
      and is therapeutically effective in elderly patients with mCRC.

PMID- 25837884
TI  - Correction: Heteroplasmy in the mitochondrial genomes of human lice and ticks
      revealed by high throughput sequencing.
AB  - [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0073329.]. 

PMID- 25837885
TI  - Congenital neurocristic tumor presenting as an isolated calvarial defect in an
      infant: case report.
AB  - In infants, the presence of a cranial defect may be due to a variety of
      traumatic, inflammatory, neoplastic, and congenital abnormalities.
      Differentiation between these possible etiologies is facilitated by clinical
      presentation, patient history, and physical examination. Congenital cutaneous
      neural crest-derived lesions are unlikely to be considered in a patient
      presenting with an asymptomatic cranial defect without overlying mass or skin
      pigmentation. The authors present an unusual case of a 2-month-old infant with an
      asymptomatic calvarial defect with normal overlying skin. Pathology of the
      excised tissue showed features consistent with a congenital neurocristic tumor: a
      pigmented, neural crest-derived hamartomatous tumor that typically presents as a
      melanotic skin lesion. 

PMID- 25837886
TI  - Encephaloduroarteriosynangiosis and encephalomyoarteriosynangiosis for treatment
      of moyamoya syndrome in pediatric patients with sickle cell disease.
AB  - OBJECT Pediatric patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and moyamoya syndrome
      (MMS) are at significant risk for cerebrovascular accidents despite chronic
      transfusion therapy. Encephaloduroarteriosynangiosis (EDAS) and
      encephalomyoarteriosynangiosis (EMAS) are additional therapeutic options for
      these patients. To date, the incidence of complications after and efficacy of
      EDAS and EMAS in stroke prevention in this population have been described in
      several institutional case series reports, but no randomized prospective trials
      have been reported. METHODS The authors retrospectively reviewed the cases of all
      pediatric patients at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a history of
      homozygous hemoglobin S (HbS) and sickle cell/beta-thalassemia (SB0 thalassemia)
      and on chronic transfusion therapy, including 14 patients with MMS who underwent
      EDAS or EMAS. RESULTS Sixty-two patients with SCD and on chronic transfusion
      therapy were identified. After exclusion of patients on chronic transfusion
      therapy for indications other than stroke prevention, 48 patients (77.4%)
      remained. Of those patients, 14 (29.1%) underwent EDAS or EMAS. Nine (18.8%) and
      25 (52.1%) patients were on chronic transfusion therapy for primary or secondary
      stroke prevention, respectively, but did not undergo EDAS or EMAS. The 14
      patients with SCD and radiological evidence of MMS and on chronic transfusion
      therapy for primary or secondary stroke prevention underwent 21 EDAS or EMAS
      procedures for progressive vascular disease (92.9% of patients), stroke (71.4%),
      and/or seizure (7.1%). The mean (+/- SD) time from initiation of chronic
      transfusion therapy to EDAS or EMAS was 76.8 +/- 58.8 months. Complications
      included 1 perioperative stroke, 1 symptomatic subdural hygroma, 1 postoperative
      seizure, and 1 case of intraoperative cerebral edema that required subsequent
      cranioplasty. Before EDAS or EMAS, the stroke rate was calculated to be 1 stroke
      per 7.8 patient-years. One additional stroke occurred during the follow-up period
      (mean follow-up time 33.7 +/- 19.6 months), resulting in a post-EDAS/EMAS stroke
      rate of 1 stroke per 39.3 patient-years, a 5-fold reduction compared with that in
      the pre-EDAS/EMAS period. The patients' mean pre-EDAS/EMAS HbS level of 29.5% +/-
      6.4% was comparable to the mean post-EDAS/EMAS HbS level of 25.5% +/- 6.1% (p =
      0.104). CONCLUSIONS The results of this retrospective case series in a large
      cohort of pediatric patients with SCD and MMS suggest that EDAS/EMAS provides a
      stroke-prevention benefit with an acceptably low morbidity rate. Given the
      combined experience with EDAS and EMAS for this indication at this and other
      institutions, a prospective clinical trial to assess their efficacy compared with
      that of chronic transfusion therapy alone is warranted. 

PMID- 25837887
TI  - Ventriculoperitoneal shunt perforations of the gastrointestinal tract.
AB  - OBJECT The purposes of this study were to evaluate the frequency with which
      children presented with ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt perforations of the
      gastrointestinal (GI) tract, to determine the type of shunts that caused the
      perforations, and to compare the stiffness of perforating catheters with the
      stiffness of catheters from other manufacturers. METHODS Medical records were
      reviewed of 197 children who were admitted with VP shunt malfunction. Catheter
      stiffness was evaluated by measuring relative resistance to cross-sectional
      compression, resistance to column buckling, and elasticity in longitudinal
      bending. Catheter frictional force was measured per unit length. RESULTS Six
      children were identified whose VP shunts had perforated the GI tract; 2 shunts
      subsequently protruded through the anal orifice, 1 protruded through the oral
      cavity, and 3 presented with subcutaneous abscesses that tracked upward from the
      intestine to the chest. All perforating shunts were Chhabra shunts. Catheter
      stiffness and resistance to bending were greatest with a Medtronic shunt
      catheter, intermediate with a Codman catheter, and least with a Chhabra catheter.
      Frictional force was greatest with a Chhabra catheter and least with a Medtronic
      catheter. CONCLUSIONS The frequency of perforations by Chhabra shunts appears to
      be higher than the frequency associated with other shunts. The increased
      frequency does not correlate with their stiffness but may reflect their greater
      frictional forces. 

PMID- 25837888
TI  - Syrinx location and size according to etiology: identification of Chiari
      associated syrinx.
AB  - OBJECT Syrinx size and location within the spinal cord may differ based on
      etiology or associated conditions of the brain and spine. These differences have
      not been clearly defined. METHODS All patients with a syrinx were identified from
      14,118 patients undergoing brain or cervical spine imaging at a single
      institution over an 11-year interval. Syrinx width, length, and location in the
      spinal cord were recorded. Patients were grouped according to associated brain
      and spine conditions including Chiari malformation Type I (CM-I), secondary CM (2
      degrees CM), Chiari malformation Type 0 (CM-0), tethered cord, other closed
      dysraphism, and spinal tumors. Syringes not associated with any known brain or
      spinal cord condition were considered idiopathic. Syrinx characteristics were
      compared between groups. RESULTS A total of 271 patients with a syrinx were
      identified. The most common associated condition was CM-I (occurring in 117
      patients [43.2%]), followed by spinal dysraphism (20 [7.4%]), tumor (15 [5.5%]),
      and tethered cord (13 [4.8%]). Eighty-three patients (30.6%) did not have any
      associated condition of the brain or spinal cord and their syringes were
      considered idiopathic. Syringes in patients with CM-I were wide (7.8 +/- 3.9 mm)
      compared with idiopathic syringes (3.9 +/- 1.0, p < 0.0001) and those associated
      with tethered cord (4.2 +/- 0.9, p < 0.01). When considering CM-I-associated and
      idiopathic syringes, the authors found that CM-I-associated syringes were more
      likely to have their cranial extent in the cervical spine (88%), compared with
      idiopathic syringes (43%; p < 0.0001). The combination of syrinx width greater
      than 5 mm and cranial extent in the cervical spine had 99% specificity (95% CI
      0.92-0.99) for CM-I-associated syrinx. CONCLUSIONS Syrinx morphology differs
      according to syrinx etiology. The combination of width greater than 5 mm and
      cranial extent in the cervical spine is highly specific for CM-I-associated
      syringes. This may have relevance when determining the clinical significance of
      syringes in patients with low cerebellar tonsil position. 

PMID- 25837889
TI  - Sleep-disordered breathing in patients with myelomeningocele.
AB  - OBJECT A paucity of literature examines sleep apnea in patients with
      myelomeningocele, Chiari malformation Type II (CM-II), and related hydrocephalus.
      Even less is known about the effect of hydrocephalus treatment or CM-II
      decompression on sleep hygiene. This study is an exploratory analysis of sleep
      disordered breathing in patients with myelomeningocele and the effects of
      neurosurgical treatments, in particular CM-II decompression and hydrocephalus
      management, on sleep organization. METHODS The authors performed a retrospective
      review of all patients seen in their multidisciplinary spina bifida clinic
      (approximately 435 patients with myelomeningocele) to evaluate polysomnographs
      obtained between March 1999 and July 2013. They analyzed symptoms prompting
      evaluation, results, and recommended interventions by using descriptive
      statistics. They also conducted a subset analysis of 9 children who had undergone
      polysomnography both before and after neurosurgical intervention. RESULTS Fifty
      two patients had polysomnographs available for review. Sleep apnea was diagnosed
      in 81% of these patients. The most common presenting symptom was "breathing
      difficulties" (18 cases [43%]). Mild sleep apnea was present in 26 cases (50%),
      moderate in 10 (19%), and severe in 6 (12%). Among the 42 patients with abnormal
      sleep architecture, 30 had predominantly obstructive apneas and 12 had
      predominantly central apneas. The most common pulmonology-recommended
      intervention was adjustment of peripheral oxygen supplementation (24 cases
      [57%]), followed by initiation of peripheral oxygen (10 cases [24%]). In a subset
      analysis of 9 patients who had sleep studies before and after neurosurgical
      intervention, there was a trend toward a decrease in the mean number of
      respiratory events (from 34.8 to 15.9, p = 0.098), obstructive events (from 14.7
      to 13.9, p = 0.85), and central events (from 20.1 to 2.25, p = 0.15) and in the
      apnea-hypopnea index (from 5.05 to 2.03, p = 0.038, not significant when
      corrected for multiple measures). CONCLUSIONS A large proportion of patients with
      myelomeningocele who had undergone polysomnography showed evidence of disordered
      sleep on an initial study. Furthermore, 31% of patients had moderate or severe
      obstructive sleep apnea. Myelomeningocele patients with an abnormal sleep
      structure who had undergone nonoperative treatment with peripheral oxygen
      supplementation showed improvement in the apnea-hypopnea index. Results in this
      study suggested that polysomnography in patients with myelomeningocele may
      present an opportunity to detect and classify sleep apnea, identify low-risk
      interventions, and prevent future implications of sleep-disordered breathing. 

PMID- 25837890
TI  - Down syndrome and moyamoya: clinical presentation and surgical management.
AB  - OBJECT Moyamoya can cause cerebral ischemia and stroke in Down syndrome (DS)
      patients. In this study, the authors defined a surgically treated population of
      patients with DS and moyamoya and compared their clinical presentation, response
      to surgical treatment, and long-term prognosis with those of the general
      population of patients with moyamoya but without DS. METHODS This study was a
      retrospective review of a consecutive operative series of moyamoya patients with
      DS treated at Boston Children's Hospital from 1985 through 2012. RESULTS Thirty
      two patients, average age 9.7 years (range 1.8-29.3 years), underwent surgery for
      moyamoya in association with DS. The majority presented with ischemic symptoms
      (87% stroke, 42% transient ischemic attacks). Twenty-four patients (75%) had
      congenital heart disease. Nineteen patients (59%) had bilateral moyamoya on
      presentation, and 13 presented with unilateral disease, of which 2 progressed to
      surgery on the opposite side at a later date. Patients were followed for a median
      of 7.5 years (1-20.2 years) after surgery, with no patients lost to follow-up.
      Follow-up arteriography demonstrated Matsushima Grade A collaterals in 29 of 39
      (74%) hemispheres, Grade B in 5 (13%), and Grade C in 5 (13%). Complications
      included postoperative strokes in 2 patients, which occurred within 48 hours of
      surgery in both; one of these patients had arm weakness and the other confusion
      (both had recovered completely at follow-up). Seizures occurred in 5 patients
      perioperatively, including one who had a new seizure disorder related to
      hypocalcemia. CONCLUSIONS Moyamoya disease is a cause of stroke in patients with
      DS. Both the incidence of preoperative stroke (87% vs 67%) and the average age at
      diagnosis for children under age 21 (8.4 vs 6.5 years) were greater in patients
      with DS and moyamoya than in the general moyamoya surgical population, suggesting
      a possible delay in reaching a correct diagnosis of the cause of cerebral
      ischemia in the DS patient population. Pial synangiosis provided long-term
      protection from stroke in all patients treated. 

PMID- 25837891
TI  - Ag@SiO2-entrapped hydrogel microarray: a new platform for a metal-enhanced
      fluorescence-based protein assay.
AB  - We developed a novel protein-based bioassay platform utilizing metal-enhanced
      fluorescence (MEF), which is a hydrogel microarray entrapping silica-coated
      silver nanoparticles (Ag@SiO2). As a model system, different concentrations of
      glucose were detected using a fluorescence method by sequential bienzymatic
      reaction of hydrogel-entrapped glucose oxidase (GOX) and peroxidase (POD) inside
      a hydrogel microarray. Microarrays based on poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG) hydrogels
      were prepared by photopatterning a solution containing PEG diacrylate (PEG-DA),
      photoinitiator, enzymes, and Ag@SiO2. The resulting hydrogel microarrays were
      able to entrap both enzymes and Ag@SiO2 without leaching and deactivation
      problems. The presence of Ag@SiO2 within the hydrogel microarray enhanced the
      fluorescence signal, and the extent of the enhancement was dependent on the
      thickness of silica shells and the amount of Ag@SiO2. Optimal MEF effects were
      achieved when the thickness of the silica shell was 17.5 nm, and 0.5 mg mL(-1) of
      Ag@SiO2 was incorporated into the assay systems. Compared with the standard
      hydrogel microarray-based assay performed without Ag@SiO2, more than a 4-fold
      fluorescence enhancement was observed in a glucose concentration range between
      10(-3) mM and 10.0 mM using hydrogel microarray entrapping Ag@SiO2, which led to
      significant improvements in the sensitivity and the limit of detection (LOD). The
      hydrogel microarray system presented in this study could be successfully combined
      with a microfluidic device as an initial step to create an MEF-based micro-total
      analysis-system (MU-TAS). 

PMID- 25837892
TI  - A 'simple anterior fish excluder' (SAFE) for mitigating penaeid-trawl bycatch.
AB  - Various plastic strips and sheets (termed 'simple anterior fish excluders'-SAFEs)
      were positioned across the openings of penaeid trawls in attempts at reducing the
      unwanted bycatches of small teleosts. Initially, three SAFEs (a single wire
      without, and with small and large plastic panels) were compared against a control
      (no SAFE) on paired beam trawls. All SAFEs maintained targeted Metapenaeus
      macleayi catches, while the largest plastic SAFE significantly reduced total
      bycatch by 51% and the numbers of Pomatomus saltatrix, Mugil cephalus and
      Herklotsichthys castelnaui by up to 58%. A redesigned SAFE ('continuous plastic')
      was subsequently tested (against a control) on paired otter trawls, significantly
      reducing total bycatch by 28% and P. saltatrix and H. castelnaui by up to 42%.
      The continuous-plastic SAFE also significantly reduced M. macleayi catches by
      ~7%, but this was explained by ~5% less wing-end spread, and could be simply
      negated through otter-board refinement. Further work is required to refine the
      tested SAFEs, and to quantify species-specific escape mechanisms. Nevertheless,
      the SAFE concept might represent an effective approach for improving penaeid
      trawl selectivity. 

PMID- 25837896
TI  - Neuro-oncology for the masses.

PMID- 25837893
TI  - Variation in susceptibility to Wheat dwarf virus among wild and domesticated
      wheat.
AB  - We investigated the variation in plant response in host-pathogen interactions
      between wild (Aegilops spp., Triticum spp.) and domesticated wheat (Triticum
      spp.) and Wheat dwarf virus (WDV). The distribution of WDV and its wild host
      species overlaps in Western Asia in the Fertile Crescent, suggesting a
      coevolutionary relationship. Bread wheat originates from a natural hybridization
      between wild emmer wheat (carrying the A and B genomes) and the wild D genome
      donor Aegilops tauschii, followed by polyploidization and domestication. We
      studied whether the strong selection during these evolutionary processes, leading
      to genetic bottlenecks, may have resulted in a loss of resistance in domesticated
      wheat. In addition, we investigated whether putative fluctuations in intensity of
      selection imposed on the host-pathogen interactions have resulted in a variation
      in susceptibility to WDV. To test our hypotheses we evaluated eighteen wild and
      domesticated wheat taxa, directly or indirectly involved in wheat evolution, for
      traits associated with WDV disease such as leaf chlorosis, different growth
      traits and WDV content. The plants were exposed to viruliferous leafhoppers
      (Psammotettix alienus) in a greenhouse trial and evaluated at two time points. We
      found three different plant response patterns: i) continuous reduction in growth
      over time, ii) weak response at an early stage of plant development but a much
      stronger response at a later stage, and iii) remission of symptoms over time.
      Variation in susceptibility may be explained by differences in the intensity of
      natural selection, shaping the coevolutionary interaction between WDV and the
      wild relatives. However, genetic bottlenecks during wheat evolution have not had
      a strong impact on WDV resistance. Further, this study indicates that the
      variation in susceptibility may be associated with the genome type and that the
      ancestor Ae. tauschii may be useful as genetic resource for the improvement of
      WDV resistance in wheat. 

PMID- 25837897
TI  - Epidemiology and diagnosis of brain tumors.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Brain tumors consist of a collection of neoplasms arising from
      within the brain or from systemic tumors that have metastasized to the brain.
      This article focuses on the most recent findings with regard to epidemiology,
      clinical presentation, neuroimaging evaluation, and diagnosis of brain tumors.
      RECENT FINDINGS: Patients with brain tumors may present for care with a variety
      of signs and symptoms. The most frequent clinical presentations include seizure,
      headache, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction. Currently, diagnosis and treatment
      response is largely evaluated by using MRI. However, molecular imaging may
      ultimately be better suited to measuring early response by quantifying cellular
      metabolism, proliferation, and apoptosis, activities altered in treatment.
      Contemporary neuropathology continues to play a key role in the multidisciplinary
      management of patients with brain tumors. Genetic and environmental risk factors
      for brain tumors remain largely unclear. SUMMARY: Brain tumors represent a
      diverse spectrum of highly morbid cancers arising from different cells both from
      within the brain and from systemic tumors that have metastasized to the brain.
      The clinical manifestations of intracranial tumors are usually referable to the
      anatomic area of the brain involved or adjacent structures. The initial diagnosis
      of intracranial tumors is most efficiently made by imaging, generally MRI,
      although other techniques are being explored. The clinical manifestations,
      neuroimaging evaluation, and diagnosis of brain tumors are varied and dependent
      on the specific manner in which a patient presents for care. To date, specific
      causes of brain tumors remain elusive.

PMID- 25837898
TI  - Medical management of patients with brain tumors.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review provides management recommendations for medical
      and neurologic problems in patients with brain tumors, including vasogenic edema,
      infections, seizures, prophylaxis and treatment of venous thromboembolism, drug
      interactions, cognitive and emotional problems, palliative symptom management,
      and long-term sequelae of brain tumors and their therapy. RECENT FINDINGS: Non
      enzyme-inducing antiepileptic drugs are the preferred category of seizure
      medication for patients with brain tumors, and levetiracetam is emerging as the
      drug of choice. Select groups of patients, such as those with cortically based
      hemorrhagic melanoma metastases, may benefit from prophylactic antiepileptic drug
      use. Antiangiogenic agents can reduce the steroid requirement of patients with
      vasogenic edema. Patients with brain tumors remain at risk for infections from
      the perioperative period through many months after treatment, and steroids may
      mask signs of infection. Few studies have been done on management of common
      cognitive issues such as short-term memory deficits and fatigue, but memantine
      may help delay cognitive deficits in patients receiving whole-brain radiation
      therapy. Palliative care conversations should begin early in the course of
      treatment. SUMMARY: Meticulous medical management begins at diagnosis of brain
      tumors and continues through the active treatment course and into either
      palliative care strategies or management of long-term sequelae of treatment.
      During the active treatment phase, problems such as vasogenic edema, seizures,
      and venous thromboembolism predominate, whereas late complications include the
      continuing risk of infections; sequelae of radiation such as vascular disease,
      cavernous angiomas, and cognitive decline; and secondary tumors. Attention to
      symptom palliation is an important part of the neurologist's role throughout the
      course of a brain tumor patient's illness.

PMID- 25837899
TI  - High-grade gliomas.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article reviews the standard treatment of patients with
      high-grade glioma primary brain tumors and discusses promising new therapeutic
      advances. RECENT FINDINGS: While surgery and radiation remain critical components
      of the management of patients with high-grade gliomas, chemotherapy has recently
      been proven to improve the overall survival of patients with glioblastomas and
      anaplastic oligodendrogliomas. Molecular markers are complementing clinical
      prognostic factors and, in some cases, are able to guide treatment decisions.
      Despite aggressive treatment, high-grade gliomas eventually progress, emphasizing
      the importance of continued development of novel therapies for the treatment of
      this deadly disease. SUMMARY: The care of patients with high-grade gliomas is
      challenging, but the experience is highly rewarding. Rapidly developing
      technology allows for the use of molecular data for improved classification of
      high-grade gliomas and is beginning to improve our understanding of the
      pathogenesis and drivers of this disease. Collaboration among investigators will
      be critical to effectively validate prognostic biomarkers and identify tumors
      that might benefit from specific therapies.

PMID- 25837900
TI  - Low-grade gliomas.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Low-grade gliomas represent one of the most vexing management
      issues for neuro-oncologists. The relatively long survival compared to other
      gliomas makes consideration of treatment toxicity, and thus timing of potentially
      damaging interventions such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, crucial.
      Moreover, the rarity of these tumors makes clinical trials to ascertain optimal
      care challenging. RECENT FINDINGS: The discovery that most low-grade gliomas
      harbor isocitrate dehydrogenase mutations that confer a favorable prognosis has
      improved diagnosis and risk stratification of these tumors. Although level 1
      evidence is still lacking, increasing data support the concept of maximal safe
      tumor debulking as a first step in tumor management. Preliminary results from a
      large randomized trial suggest chemotherapy is of comparable effectiveness to
      radiation therapy. Most important, the final results of a phase 3 trial comparing
      radiation with or without procarbazine, CCNU (lomustine), and vincristine (PCV)
      chemotherapy indicate a large survival advantage to combined radiation and
      chemotherapy. SUMMARY: While the combination of radiation and PCV provides the
      best proven overall survival with low-grade gliomas, important questions remain.
      These include whether the better-tolerated temozolomide is as effective as PCV
      and whether the use of initial chemotherapy as a strategy to defer the potential
      delayed cognitive toxicity associated with radiation will yield equivalent
      survival results with a favorable toxicity profile.

PMID- 25837901
TI  - Primary CNS lymphoma and neurologic complications of hematologic malignancies.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article provides a practical clinical approach to
      diagnose primary CNS lymphoma and recognize neurologic complications of lymphomas
      and leukemias. This includes current diagnostic and treatment recommendations for
      primary CNS lymphoma and complications related to hematologic malignancies.
      RECENT FINDINGS: Primary CNS lymphoma is an uncommon, aggressive non-Hodgkin
      lymphoma confined to the CNS in the absence of systemic disease. Diagnosis can be
      made by brain biopsy, CSF analysis, or vitreous fluid analysis. Primary CNS
      lymphoma is typically diffuse large B cell in histology. Evaluation of extent of
      disease should be performed before initiation of therapy. Initial induction
      treatment includes high-dose methotrexate-based chemotherapy. Several studies
      have demonstrated improved outcome using consolidative whole-brain radiation
      therapy or high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation.
      Neurologic complications can result from direct or indirect effects of leukemia
      and lymphoma or may be treatment-induced. SUMMARY: Early diagnosis and treatment
      of patients with primary CNS lymphoma is critical to maintaining neurologic and
      cognitive function and preserving quality of life. It is important to recognize
      neurologic complications from leukemia and lymphoma to avoid delays in
      instituting appropriate treatment.

PMID- 25837902
TI  - Pediatric brain tumors.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Pediatric brain tumors differ from those arising in adulthood.
      This article discusses the presentation, location, histology, new molecular
      understanding, therapy, and outcome of brain tumors in children. RECENT FINDINGS:
      Improved biological understanding of pediatric brain tumors is resulting in new
      molecular-based classification and the development of rationally designed
      therapeutics. SUMMARY: The presentation of a pediatric brain tumor is dependent
      on the type of tumor, its location in the nervous system, and the age of the
      child. Diagnostic workup varies depending on the location of the tumor and the
      tumor's propensity to disseminate in the nervous system. Survival has improved
      for pediatric brain tumors, particularly medulloblastoma, as a result of improved
      surgical techniques and rational use of postoperative radiation and chemotherapy.
      For medulloblastoma, recent studies have sought to maintain or improve survival
      while decreasing neurologic sequelae, particularly from radiation in young
      children. For other childhood brain tumor types, improvements in outcome are not
      as clear-cut. New molecular insights will likely alter classification, risk
      stratification, and therapy in the near future.

PMID- 25837903
TI  - Benign brain tumors and tumors associated with phakomatoses.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article reviews the clinical features, diagnostic
      criteria, molecular genetics, and management of sporadic meningiomas and
      vestibular schwannomas and tumors associated with the major neurocutaneous
      disorders. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent advances in cancer genomics are now allowing
      sequencing of the genome of these tumors to identify oncogenic drivers and
      possible therapeutic targets. SUMMARY: Sporadic meningiomas and schwannomas, and
      tumors occurring as part of a neurocutaneous syndrome, have been the subjects of
      strong biological and therapeutic interest in the past few years; new and
      exciting therapies are either under investigation or will be in the upcoming
      years. This article takes an in-depth look at sporadic meningiomas and
      schwannomas, followed by a review of the phakomatoses and their associated
      tumors.

PMID- 25837904
TI  - Nervous system metastases from systemic cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Metastatic complications affecting the nervous system,
      including brain metastases, leptomeningeal metastases, dural metastases,
      metastatic epidural spinal cord compression, intramedullary spinal cord
      metastases, and neoplastic plexopathy, are associated with significant morbidity
      and poor prognoses. Early recognition and management are vital to minimizing
      neurologic decline and maintaining quality of life. RECENT FINDINGS: Several
      recent randomized clinical trials in patients with brain metastases emphasize the
      importance of quality of life. Results from the European Organisation for
      Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 22952-26001 study suggest that adjuvant
      whole-brain radiation therapy after surgery or radiosurgery in patients with
      limited brain metastases may negatively impact some aspects of health-related
      quality of life, even if the negative effects are only transitory. In a separate
      study, Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0614, memantine delayed cognitive
      decline in patients undergoing whole-brain radiation therapy for brain
      metastases. SUMMARY: This article summarizes the main clinical features of cancer
      metastases affecting the nervous system and highlights recent updates in
      treatment and symptomatic management.

PMID- 25837905
TI  - Neurologic complications of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Nervous system injury from cancer therapeutics is second only
      to myelosuppression as the most common toxicity caused by chemotherapy and
      radiation therapy. RECENT FINDINGS: Neurologic complications can be seen
      throughout the course of cancer diagnosis and treatment; some toxicities may not
      develop for years or even decades after completion of treatment, making diagnosis
      challenging. However, early recognition is critical as modification of
      therapeutic regimens can diminish long-term consequences of nervous system injury
      and improve a patient's quality of life. This article addresses the most common
      neurologic complications seen as a consequence of chemotherapy and radiation
      therapy in patients with systemic cancer. These common toxicities are likely to
      be seen with increasing frequency as patients with systemic cancer are living
      longer and receiving multiple courses of antineoplastic regimens, some of which
      are lifelong. SUMMARY: Neurotoxicity from cancer therapeutics is common, and
      early recognition is critical to proper diagnosis and intervention.

PMID- 25837906
TI  - Paraneoplastic disorders.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Paraneoplastic disorders are autoimmune diseases associated
      with risks for specific cancers and marked by specific autoantibodies. They cause
      diverse clinical syndromes of the central and peripheral nervous systems. RECENT
      FINDINGS: In the peripheral nervous system, autoimmunity to synaptic or axonal
      proteins has long been recognized to associate with specific cancers. In these
      disorders, typified by myasthenia gravis, the antibodies are directly toxic, and
      recovery with immunotherapy is the rule. In contrast, the classic paraneoplastic
      syndromes involve a higher risk of cancer, autoantibodies to intracellular
      proteins (eg, Hu proteins), T-cell-dependent disease mechanisms targeting the CNS
      or peripheral nervous system, and a poor response to treatment. Following the
      discovery of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antibodies, a new and expanding
      group of disorders involving autoantibodies to CNS synaptic and neuronal membrane
      proteins and a favorable response to immunotherapy emerged. A final group of
      disorders involves antibodies to intracellular synaptic proteins, such as
      glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65), and it is unclear whether these diseases
      involve antibody or T-cell mechanisms. SUMMARY: Neurologists should recognize the
      clinical syndromes associated with paraneoplastic disorders, utilize autoantibody
      and other testing to confirm the diagnosis, understand the pathologic basis of
      the diseases, and promptly give appropriate therapies.

PMID- 25837907
TI  - When religious beliefs prohibit a surgical patient's acceptance of blood
      transfusion.
AB  - A 49-year-old man who was a Jehovah's Witness presented with intractable epilepsy
      due to a brain tumor. The neurologist wanted to refer him for tumor resection but
      was concerned about requesting surgery for someone who would not accept blood
      products. The neurologist must balance his obligation of beneficence and
      nonmaleficence with respect for the patient's autonomous decision not to receive
      blood products.Good communication between patient and doctor is crucial to allow
      patients to make informed decisions about a choice to refuse transfusion, and
      doctors must accept the patient's autonomy, even when it conflicts with the moral
      imperative to provide treatment if it is available. 

PMID- 25837909
TI  - Coding for neuro-oncology.

PMID- 25837908
TI  - Practical considerations in opioid use for brain neoplasm.
AB  - Neurologists are often on the front lines of diagnosis for primary and metastatic
      brain tumors. Patients with brain tumors typically have multiple comorbidities
      and pain generators beyond headache, necessitating opioid therapy. Opioid-based
      pain relief and safety in the medically ill patient are complex. While using the
      lowest-potency opioid with adjunct medications is always prudent, patients with
      brain tumors frequently require dose escalation. Opioid selection and use is
      based on the patient's respiratory and cardiac function as well as drug clearance
      capability. Specific opioid combinations, employing long-acting and short-acting
      drugs, have greater efficacy in specific patient profiles and make adverse drug
      reactions, toxicity, abuse, and diversion less likely. 

PMID- 25837913
TI  - Patient management problem.

PMID- 25837914
TI  - Patient management problem-preferred responses.

PMID- 25837916
TI  - Place and process in conservation planning for climate change: a reply to Keppel
      and Wardell-Johnson.

PMID- 25837917
TI  - Adaptive virulence evolution: the good old fitness-based approach.
AB  - Infectious diseases could be expected to evolve towards complete avirulence to
      their hosts if given enough time. However, this is not the case. Often, virulence
      is maintained because it is linked to adaptive advantages to the parasite, a
      situation that is often associated with the hypothesis known as the transmission
      virulence trade-off hypothesis. Here, we argue that this hypothesis has three
      limitations, which are related to how virulence is defined, the possibility of
      multiple trade-offs, and the difficulty of testing the hypothesis empirically. By
      adopting a fitness-based approach, where the relation between virulence and the
      fitness of the parasite throughout its life cycle is directly assessed, it is
      possible to address these limitations and to determine directly whether virulence
      is adaptive. 

PMID- 25837918
TI  - Feedbacks and landscape-level vegetation dynamics.
AB  - Alternative stable-state theory (ASS) is widely accepted as explaining landscape
      level vegetation dynamics, such as switches between forest and grassland. This
      theory argues that webs of feedbacks stabilise vegetation composition and
      structure, and that abrupt state shifts can occur if stabilising feedbacks are
      weakened. However, it is difficult to identify stabilising feedback loops and the
      disturbance thresholds beyond which state changes occur. Here, we argue that
      doing this requires a synthetic approach blending observation, experimentation,
      simulation, conceptual models, and narratives. Using forest boundaries and large
      mammal extinctions, we illustrate how a multifaceted research program can advance
      understanding of feedback-driven ecosystem change. Our integrative approach has
      applicability to other complex macroecological systems controlled by numerous
      feedbacks where controlled experimentation is impossible. 

PMID- 25837919
TI  - Involvement of TRPM2 in a wide range of inflammatory and neuropathic pain mouse
      models.
AB  - Recent evidence suggests a role of transient receptor potential melastatin 2
      (TRPM2) in immune and inflammatory responses. We previously reported that TRPM2
      deficiency attenuated inflammatory and neuropathic pain in some pain mouse
      models, including formalin- or carrageenan-induced inflammatory pain, and
      peripheral nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain models, while it had no effect
      on the basal mechanical and thermal nociceptive sensitivities. In this study, we
      further explored the involvement of TRPM2 in various pain models using TRPM2
      knockout mice. There were no differences in the chemonociceptive behaviors evoked
      by intraplantar injection of capsaicin or hydrogen peroxide between wildtype and
      TRPM2-knockout mice, while acetic acid-induced writhing behavior was
      significantly attenuated in TRPM2-knockout mice. In the postoperative incisional
      pain model, no difference in mechanical allodynia was observed between the two
      genotypes. By contrast, mechanical allodynia in the monosodium iodoacetate
      induced osteoarthritis pain model and the experimental autoimmune
      encephalomyelitis model were significantly attenuated in TRPM2-knockout mice.
      Furthermore, mechanical allodynia in paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy and
      streptozotocin-induced painful diabetic neuropathy models were significantly
      attenuated in TRPM2-knockout mice. Taken together, these results suggest that
      TRPM2 plays roles in a wide range of pathological pain models based on peripheral
      and central neuroinflammation, rather than physiological nociceptive pain. 

PMID- 25837920
TI  - Effect of oleoylethanolamide on diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver in rats.
AB  - Oleoylethanolamine (OEA), an endogenous high-affinity agonist of peroxisome
      proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPAR-alpha), has revealed the
      pharmacological properties in the treatment of obesity, atherosclerosis and other
      diseases through the modulation of lipid metabolism. To assess whether OEA can
      also regulate non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) caused by fat
      accumulation, we administrated OEA or fenofibrate in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats fed
      with a high fat diet (HFD). After 6 or 17 weeks treatment, OEA (5 mg/kg/day,
      i.p.) relieved the development of NAFLD compared with control groups by
      regulating the levels of plasma TG, TC, ALT and AST and liver inflammatory
      cytokines. Gene expression analysis of liver tissue and plasma from the animal
      models showed that OEA and fenofibrate both promoted the lipid beta-oxidation by
      activating PPAR-alpha. Detailed research revealed that OEA inhibited the mRNA
      expression of lipogenesis in a PPAR-alpha-independant manner, while fenofibrate
      expressed an opposite effection. In summary, our research results suggested that
      as a potential lead compound, OEA could improve HFD-induced NAFLD with higher
      efficacy and safety than fenofibrate. 

PMID- 25837921
TI  - The effects of Zanthoxylum bungeanum extract on lipid metabolism induced by
      sterols.
AB  - Variant pharmacological activities of Zanthoxylum bungeanum were determined
      before. The aim of this study was to assess whether Z. bungeanum could regulate
      lipid metabolism. The cholesterol overloading HepG2 cells induced by sterols were
      used as in vitro model to study lipid-lowering activities of the n-butanol (BuOH)
      fraction isolated from Z. bungeanum (ZBBu). Male apolipoprotein E knockout (apoE
      KO) mice with high fat diet were used as in vivo model. We firstly demonstrated
      ZBBu had effects on reversed lipid accumulation, decreased apoB and enhanced
      apoA1 secretion. It increased the amount of low density lipoprotein receptor
      (LDLR) protein, also significantly inhibited the expression of SREBP-1 and SREBP
      2's target molecule (hydroxy methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, HMGCR), which
      might be active in stimulation of RCT. And the expression of genes involved in
      RCT, such as CYP27A1, LXR-alpha, ABCG1, was promoted by ZBBu. Furthermore, ZBBu
      could reduce serum TC, TG levels in apoE-KO mice. Our study indicated that ZBBu
      could regulate the lipid metabolism through increasing the amount of low density
      lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and inducing the expression of genes involved in RCT.

PMID- 25837922
TI  - Sitagliptin alleviated myocardial remodeling of the left ventricle and improved
      cardiac diastolic dysfunction in diabetic rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibitor, has a
      biological role in improving the serum levels of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1).
      Hence, we sought to determine the effect of sitagliptin on myocardial
      inflammation, collagen metabolism, lipid content and myocardial apoptosis in
      diabetic rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The type 2 diabetic rat model was induced
      by low-dose streptozotocin and a high-fat diet. Characteristics of diabetic rats
      were evaluated by electrocardiography, echocardiography and blood analysis.
      Cardiac inflammation, fibrosis, cardiomyocyte density, lipid accumulation, and
      receptor-interacting protein kinase 3 (RIP3) level, related to apoptosis, were
      detected by histopathologic analysis, RT-PCR and western blot analysis to
      evaluate the effects of sitagliptin on myocardial remodeling of the left
      ventricle. RESULTS: Diabetic rats showed myocardial hypertrophy or apoptosis,
      inflammation, lipid accumulation, myocardial fibrosis, elevated collagen content,
      RIP3 overexpression, and left-ventricular dysfunction. Sitagliptin could reverse
      the overexpression of RIP3 and alleviate cellular apoptosis in myocardial
      tissues. It could significantly improve left-ventricular systolic pressure and
      +dp/dt max, reduce the E/E' ratio, left ventricular end diastolic pressure, 
      dp/dt max and Tau in diabetic rats. CONCLUSIONS: Sitagliptin might have a
      myocardial protective effect by inhibiting apoptosis, inflammation, lipid
      accumulation and myocardial fibrosis in diabetic rats, for a potential role in
      improving left-ventricular function in diabetes.

PMID- 25837923
TI  - Involvement of stimulation of alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the
      suppressive effect of tropisetron on dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis in
      mice.
AB  - Ulcerative colitis (UC) involves chronic inflammation of the large intestine.
      Several agents are used to treat UC, but adverse side effects are remaining
      problems. We examined the effect of tropisetron as a new type of drug for UC
      using a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced model of colitis in mice. We
      developed a DSS-induced model of colitis and calculated the Disease Activity
      Index and colon length. We measured myeloperoxidase activity and determined the
      protein level and mRNA level of cytokines in the colon. DSS-induced colitis was
      ameliorated by administration of tropisetron and PNU282987. Pre-administration of
      methyllycaconitine diminished the suppressive effect of tropisetron upon DSS
      induced colitis. These findings suggested that alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine
      receptors (alpha7 nAChRs) were related to the suppressive effect of tropisetron
      on DSS-induced colitis. Additionally, stimulation of alpha7 nAChRs decreased the
      colon level of interleukin-6 and interferon-gamma upon DSS administration.
      Furthermore, stimulation of alpha7 nAChRs decreased macrophage infiltration, with
      expression of alpha7 nAChR increased by DSS administration. These results suggest
      that the underlying mechanism of this suppressive effect on DSS-induced colitis
      is via stimulation of alpha7 nAChRs and involves suppression of expression of pro
      inflammatory cytokines. Tropisetron could be a new type of therapeutic agent for
      UC. 

PMID- 25837924
TI  - Nicorandil prevents sirolimus-induced production of reactive oxygen species,
      endothelial dysfunction, and thrombus formation.
AB  - Sirolimus (SRL) is widely used to prevent restenosis after percutaneous coronary
      intervention. However, its beneficial effect is hampered by complications of
      thrombosis. Several studies imply that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a
      critical role in endothelial dysfunction and thrombus formation. The present
      study investigated the protective effect of nicorandil (NIC), an anti-angina
      agent, on SRL-associated thrombosis. In human coronary artery endothelial cells
      (HCAECs), SRL stimulated ROS production, which was prevented by co-treatment with
      NIC. The preventive effect of NIC on ROS was abolished by 5-hydroxydecanoate but
      not by 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one. NIC also inhibited SRL
      induced up-regulation of NADPH oxidase subunit p22(phox) mRNA. Co-treatment with
      NIC and SRL significantly up-regulated superoxide dismutase 2. NIC treatment
      significantly improved SRL-induced decrease in viability of HCAECs. The
      functional relevance of the preventive effects of NIC on SRL-induced ROS
      production and impairment of endothelial viability was investigated in a mouse
      model of thrombosis. Pretreatment with NIC inhibited the SRL-induced acceleration
      of FeCl3-initiated thrombus formation and ROS production in the testicular
      arteries of mice. In conclusion, NIC prevented SRL-induced thrombus formation,
      presumably due to the reduction of ROS and to endothelial protection. The
      therapeutic efficacy of NIC could represent an additional option in the
      prevention of SRL-related thrombosis. 

PMID- 25837925
TI  - Daily oral intake of theanine prevents the decline of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine
      incorporation in hippocampal dentate gyrus with concomitant alleviation of
      behavioral abnormalities in adult mice with severe traumatic stress.
AB  - Posttraumatic stress disorder is a long-lasting psychiatric disease with the
      consequence of hippocampal atrophy in humans exposed to severe fatal stress. We
      demonstrated a positive correlation between the transient decline of 5-bromo-2'
      deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) and long
      lasting behavioral abnormalities in mice with traumatic stress. Here, we
      investigated pharmacological properties of theanine on the declined BrdU
      incorporation and abnormal behaviors in mice with traumatic stress. Prior daily
      oral administration of theanine at 50-500 mg/kg for 5 days significantly
      prevented the decline of BrdU incorporation, while theanine significantly
      prevented the decline in the DG even when administered for 5 days after stress.
      Consecutive daily administration of theanine significantly inhibited the
      prolonged immobility in mice with stress in forced swimming test seen 14 days
      later. Although traumatic stress significantly increased spontaneous locomotor
      activity over 30 min even when determined 14 days later, the increased total
      locomotion was significantly ameliorated following the administration of theanine
      at 50 mg/kg for 14 days after stress. These results suggest that theanine
      alleviates behavioral abnormalities together with prevention of the transient
      decline of BrdU incorporation in the hippocampal DG in adult mice with severe
      traumatic stress. 

PMID- 25837926
TI  - GFAP antibodies show protective effect on oxidatively stressed neuroretinal cells
      via interaction with ERP57.
AB  - The pathogenesis of glaucoma, a common neurodegenerative disease, involves an
      immunologic component. Changes in the natural autoantibody profile of glaucoma
      patients were detected, showing not only up-regulated but also down-regulated
      immunoreactivities. In recent studies we were able to demonstrate that the
      antibody changes have a large influence on protein profiles of neuroretinal
      cells. Furthermore we could demonstrate neuroprotective potential of one of the
      down-regulated antibodies (gamma-synuclein antibody). Anti-GFAP antibody is
      another antibody found down-regulated in glaucoma patients. Since GFAP expression
      is intensified in glaucomatous retina, the aim of this study was to detect the
      effect of GFAP antibodies on neuroretinal cells. This is realized with a
      viability-test as well as proteomic analysis of cells incubated with GFAP
      antibodies. Furthermore, possible interaction partners of the GFAP antibody in
      neuroretinal cells were identified by western blot, mass spectrometry and
      indirect immunofluorescence staining. We found that the GFAP antibody is able to
      protect cells from oxidative stress, which is due to changed protein expressions
      of the actin cytoskeleton. Furthermore we detected a cross-reaction of the
      antibody to endoplasmic reticulum resident protein 57 on the cell membrane, which
      seems to lead to a changed signaling in the cells triggering the protective
      effects. 

PMID- 25837927
TI  - DJ-1-dependent protective activity of DJ-1-binding compound no. 23 against
      neuronal cell death in MPTP-treated mouse model of Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Parkinson's disease (PD) is caused by dopaminergic cell death in the substantia
      nigra, leading to a reduced level of dopamine in the striatum. Oxidative stress
      is one of the causes of PD. Since symptomatic PD therapies are used,
      identification of compounds or proteins that inhibit oxidative stress-induced
      neuronal cell death is necessary. DJ-1 is a causative gene product of familial PD
      and plays a role in anti-oxidative stress reaction. We have identified various DJ
      1-binding compounds, including compound-23, that restored neuronal cell death and
      locomotion defects observed in neurotoxin-induced PD models. In this study, wild
      type and DJ-1-knockout mice were injected intraperitoneally with 1 mg/kg of
      compound-23 and then with 30 mg/kg of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6
      tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) at 1 h after injection. Five days after administration,
      the effects of compound-23 on MPTP-induced locomotion deficits, on dopaminergic
      cell death and on brain dopamine levels were analyzed by rotor rod tests, by
      staining cells with an anti-TH antibody and by an HPLC, respectively. The results
      showed that compound-23 inhibited MPTP-induced reduction of retention time on the
      rotor rod bar, neuronal cell death in the substantia nigra and striatum and
      dopamine content in wild-type mice but not in DJ-1-knockout mice, indicating a DJ
      1-dependent effect of compound-23. 

PMID- 25837928
TI  - Shear stress-induced Ca(2+) elevation is mediated by autocrine-acting glutamate
      in osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells.
AB  - Mechanical loading is an important regulatory factor in bone homeostasis.
      Neurotransmitters, such as glutamate and ATP, are known to be released from
      osteoblasts, but their roles have been less studied. In this study, we
      investigated the role of transmitter release in mechanotransduction. To identify
      from where transmitters were released, focal fluid flow was applied to a single
      cell of MC3T3-E1, mouse calvaria-derived osteoblastic cell line, by using a glass
      micropipette. Intracellular Ca(2+) elevation induced by the focal shear stress
      was eliminated by either GdCl3, a mechanosensing channel inhibitor, or removal of
      extracellular Ca(2+). On the other hand, the focal shear stress-induced Ca(2+)
      elevation was also significantly suppressed by inositol triphosphate receptor
      antagonist or vesicular release inhibitors. These results suggest that not only
      mechanosensitive channel-mediated Ca(2+) influx but also some autocrine
      transmitters are involved in mechanotransduction. Additionally, glutamate
      receptor antagonists, but not ATP receptor antagonist, suppressed most of the
      focal shear stress-induced Ca(2+) elevation. Therefore, it is suggested that
      glutamate is released from osteoblasts following the activation of
      mechanosensitive Ca(2+) channels and acts in an autocrine manner. The glutamate
      release may have a significant role in the initial event of mechanotransduction
      in bone tissue. 

PMID- 25837929
TI  - Ribonucleotide reductase is an effective target to overcome gemcitabine
      resistance in gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer cells with dual resistant
      factors.
AB  - Gemcitabine is widely used for pancreatic, lung, and bladder cancer. However,
      drug resistance against gemcitabine is a large obstacle to effective
      chemotherapy. Nucleoside transporters, nucleoside and nucleotide metabolic
      enzymes, and efflux transporters have been reported to be involved in gemcitabine
      resistance. Although most of the resistant factors are supposed to be related to
      each other, it is unclear how one factor can affect the other one. In this study,
      we established gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer cell lines. Gemcitabine
      resistance in these cells is caused by two major processes: a decrease in
      gemcitabine uptake and overexpression of ribonucleotide reductase large subunit
      (RRM1). Knockdown of RRM1, but not the overexpression of concentrative nucleoside
      transporter 1 (CNT1), could completely overcome the gemcitabine resistance. RRM1
      knockdown in gemcitabine-resistant cells could increase the intracellular
      accumulation of gemcitabine by increasing the nucleoside transporter expression.
      Furthermore, a synergistic effect was observed between hydroxyurea, a
      ribonucleotide reductase (RR) inhibitor, and gemcitabine on the gemcitabine
      resistant cells. Here we indicate that RR is one of the most promising targets to
      overcome gemcitabine resistance in gemcitabine-resistant cells with dual
      resistant factors. 

PMID- 25837930
TI  - Blonanserin extensively occupies rat dopamine D3 receptors at antipsychotic dose
      range.
AB  - Antagonism of the dopamine D3 receptor has been hypothesized to be beneficial for
      schizophrenia cognitive deficits, negative symptoms and extrapyramidal symptoms.
      However, recent animal and human studies have shown that most antipsychotics do
      not occupy D3 receptors in vivo, despite their considerable binding affinity for
      this receptor in vitro. In the present study, we investigated the D3 receptor
      binding of blonanserin, a dopamine D2/D3 and serotonin 5-HT2A receptors
      antagonist, in vitro and in vivo. Blonanserin showed the most potent binding
      affinity for human D3 receptors among the tested atypical antipsychotics
      (risperidone, olanzapine and aripiprazole). Our GTPgammaS-binding assay
      demonstrated that blonanserin acts as a potent full antagonist for human D3
      receptors. All test-drugs exhibited antipsychotic-like efficacy in
      methamphetamine-induced hyperactivity in rats. Treatment with blonanserin at its
      effective dose blocked the binding of [(3)H]-(+)-PHNO, a D2/D3 receptor
      radiotracer, both in the D2 receptor-rich region (striatum) and the D3 receptor
      rich region (cerebellum lobes 9 and 10). On the other hand, the occupancies of
      other test-drugs for D3 receptors were relatively low. In conclusion, we have
      shown that blonanserin, but not other tested antipsychotics, extensively occupies
      D3 receptors in vivo in rats. 

PMID- 25837931
TI  - Anti-tumor effect of alpha-pinene on human hepatoma cell lines through inducing
      G2/M cell cycle arrest.
AB  - Pine needle oil from crude extract of pine needles has been used as an anti
      cancer agent in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The alpha-pinene is a natural
      compound isolated from pine needle oil which has been shown anti-cancer activity.
      In previous study, we found that pine needle oil exhibited significant inhibitory
      effect on hepatoma carcinoma BEL-7402 cells. In this study, we investigate the
      inhibition of alpha-pinene on hepatoma carcinoma BEL-7402 cells in vitro and in
      vivo and further explore the mechanism. The results show that liver cancer cell
      growth was inhibited obviously with inhibitory rate of 79.3% in vitro and 69.1%
      in vivo, Chk1 and Chk2 levels were upregulated, CyclinB, CDC25 and CDK1 levels
      were downregulated. 

PMID- 25837932
TI  - Evaluation of edaravone against radiation-induced oral mucositis in mice.
AB  - Oral mucositis induced by radiotherapy for cancers of the head and neck reduce
      the quality of life of patients. However, effective therapeutic agents are
      lacking. Symptomatic treatment involves local anesthesia and analgesia. We
      focused on the antioxidant effects of edaravone (3-methyl-1-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-5
      one; Radicut((r))). Oral mucositis was induced on the tongue tips of mice using a
      single dose of X-rays (20 Gy). To evaluate the protective effect of edaravone (30
      and 300 mg/kg), administration was carried out 30 min before irradiation.
      Survival, oral mucositis score, myeloperoxidase activity, and levels of 2
      Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances were measured, and all were improved
      compared with those of control mice. A significant difference was not found in
      terms of survival due to edaravone. Histopathologic findings also highlighted the
      beneficial features of edaravone. Edaravone reduced the production of reactive
      oxygen species. These findings suggest that the protective effect of edaravone
      against radiation-induced oral mucositis is through an antioxidant effect. 

PMID- 25837933
TI  - Contraction of gut smooth muscle cells assessed by fluorescence imaging.
AB  - Here we discuss the development of a novel cell imaging system for the evaluation
      of smooth muscle cell (SMC) contraction. SMCs were isolated from the circular and
      longitudinal muscular layers of mouse small intestine by enzymatic digestion.
      SMCs were stimulated by test agents, thereafter fixed in acrolein. Actin in fixed
      SMCs was stained with phalloidin and cell length was determined by measuring
      diameter at the large end of phalloidin-stained strings within the cells. The
      contractile response was taken as the decrease in the average length of a
      population of stimulated-SMCs. Various mediators and chemically identified
      compounds of daikenchuto (DKT), pharmaceutical-grade traditional Japanese
      prokinetics, were examined. Verification of the integrity of SMC morphology by
      phalloidin and DAPI staining and semi-automatic measurement of cell length using
      an imaging analyzer was a reliable method by which to quantify the contractile
      response. Serotonin, substance P, prostaglandin E2 and histamine induced SMC
      contraction in concentration-dependent manner. Two components of DKT, hydroxy
      alpha-sanshool and hydroxy-beta-sanshool, induced contraction of SMCs. We
      established a novel cell imaging technique to evaluate SMC contractility. This
      method may facilitate investigation into SMC activity and its role in
      gastrointestinal motility, and may assist in the discovery of new prokinetic
      agents. 

PMID- 25837934
TI  - Antipsychotic profiles of TASP0443294, a novel and orally active positive
      allosteric modulator of metabotropic glutamate 2 receptor.
AB  - Glutamatergic dysfunction has been implicated in psychiatric disorders such as
      schizophrenia. The stimulation of metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) 2 receptor has
      been shown to be effective in a number of animal models of schizophrenia. In this
      study, we investigated the antipsychotic profiles of (2S)-5-methyl-2-{[4-(1,1,1
      trifluoro-2-methylpropan-2-yl)phenoxy]methyl}-2,3-dihydroimidazo[2,1
      b][1,3]oxazole-6-carboxamide (TASP0443294), a newly synthesized positive
      allosteric modulator of the mGlu2 receptor. TASP0443294 potentiated the response
      of human mGlu2 and rat mGlu2 receptors to glutamate with EC50 values of 277 and
      149 nM, respectively, without affecting the glutamate response of human mGlu3
      receptor. TASP0443294 was distributed in the brain and cerebrospinal fluid after
      peroral administration in rats. The peroral administration of TASP0443294
      inhibited methamphetamine-induced hyperlocomotion in rats, which was attenuated
      by an mGlu2/3 receptor antagonist, and improved social memory impairment induced
      by 5R,10S-(+)-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cyclohepten-5,10-imine
      hydrogen maleate (MK-801) in rats. Furthermore, TASP0443294 reduced the ketamine
      induced basal gamma hyperactivity in the prefrontal cortex and suppressed rapid
      eye movement (REM) sleep in rats. These findings indicate that TASP0443294 is an
      mGlu2 receptor positive allosteric modulator with antipsychotic activity, and
      that the suppression of aberrant gamma oscillations and REM sleep could be
      considered as neurophysiological biomarkers for TASP0443294. 

PMID- 25837935
TI  - Novel 5-HT5A receptor antagonists ameliorate scopolamine-induced working memory
      deficit in mice and reference memory impairment in aged rats.
AB  - Despite the human 5-HT5A receptor being cloned in 1994, the biological function
      of this receptor has not been extensively characterized due to a lack of specific
      ligands. We recently reported that the selective 5-HT5A receptor antagonist
      ASP5736 ameliorated cognitive impairment in several animal models of
      schizophrenia. Given that areas of the brain with high levels of 5-HT5A receptor
      expression, such as the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, have important functions
      in cognition and memory, we evaluated the chemically diverse, potent and brain
      penetrating 5-HT5A receptor antagonists ASP5736, AS2030680, and AS2674723 in
      rodent models of cognitive dysfunction associated with dementia. Each of these
      compounds exhibited a high affinity for recombinant 5-HT5A receptors that was
      comparable to that of the non-selective ligand of this receptor, lysergic acid
      diethylamide (LSD). Although each compound had a low affinity for other
      receptors, 5-HT5A was the only receptor for which all three compounds had a high
      affinity. Each of the three compounds ameliorated scopolamine-induced working
      memory deficit in mice and improved reference memory impairment in aged rats at
      similar doses. Further, ASP5736 decreased the binding of LSD to 5-HT5A receptors
      in the olfactory bulb of rats in a dose-dependent manner and occupied 15%-50% of
      brain 5-HT5A receptors at behaviorally effective doses. These results indicate
      that the 5-HT5A receptor is involved in learning and memory and that treatment
      with 5-HT5A receptor antagonists might be broadly effective for cognitive
      impairment associated with not only schizophrenia but also dementia. 

PMID- 25837936
TI  - A protective role of Nox1/NADPH oxidase in a mouse model with hypoxia-induced
      bradycardia.
AB  - Although it has been reported that endotoxin-induced expression of Nox1 in the
      heart contributes to apoptosis in cardiomyocytes, functional role of Nox1 at the
      physiological expression level has not been elucidated. The aim of this study was
      to clarify the role of Nox1 under a hypoxic condition using wild-type (WT,
      Nox1(+/Y)) and Nox1-deficient (Nox1(-/Y)) mice. ECG recordings from anesthetized
      mice revealed that Nox1(-/Y) mice were more sensitive to hypoxia, resulting in
      bradycardia, compared to WT mice. Atrial and ventricular electrocardiograms
      recorded from Langendorff-perfused hearts revealed that hypoxic perfusion more
      rapidly decreased heart rate in Nox1(-/Y) hearts compared with WT hearts. Sinus
      node recovery times measured under a hypoxic condition were prolonged more
      markedly in the Nox1(-/Y) hearts. Sinoatrial node dysfunction of Nox1(-/Y) hearts
      during hypoxia was ameriolated by the pre-treatment with the Ca(2+) channel
      blocker nifedipine or the K(+) channel opener pinacidil. Spontaneous action
      potentials were recorded from enzymatically-isolated sinoatrial node (SAN) cells
      under a hypoxic condition. There was no significant difference in the elapsed
      times from the commencement of hypoxia to asystole between WT and Nox1(-/Y) SAN
      cells. These findings suggest that Nox1 may have a protective effect against
      hypoxia-induced SAN dysfunction. 

PMID- 25837937
TI  - Analgesic effect of GT-0198, a structurally novel glycine transporter 2
      inhibitor, in a mouse model of neuropathic pain.
AB  - This study was conducted to identify the characteristic pharmacological features
      of GT-0198 that is phenoxymethylbenzamide derivatives. GT-0198 inhibited the
      function of glycine transporter 2 (GlyT2) in human GlyT2-expressing HEK293 cells
      and did not bind various major transporters or receptors of neurotransmitters in
      a competitive manner. Thus, GT-0198 is considered to be a comparatively selective
      GlyT2 inhibitor. Intravenous, oral, and intrathecal injections of GT-0198
      decreased the pain-related response in a model of neuropathic pain with partial
      sciatic nerve ligation. This result suggests that GT-0198 has an analgesic
      effect. The analgesic effect of GT-0198 was abolished by the intrathecal
      injection of strychnine, a glycine receptor antagonist. Therefore, GT-0198 is
      considered to exhibit its analgesic effect via the activation of a glycine
      receptor by glycine following presynaptic GlyT2 inhibition in the spinal cord. In
      summary, GT-0198 is a structurally novel GlyT2 inhibitor bearing a
      phenoxymethylbenzamide moiety with in vivo efficacy in behavioral models of
      neuropathic pain. 

PMID- 25837938
TI  - Disruption of running activity rhythm following restricted feeding in female
      mice: Preventive effects of antidepressants.
AB  - Biological rhythms are critical in the etiology of mood disorders; therefore,
      effective mood disorder treatments should address rhythm disturbances. Among the
      variables synchronized with the light-dark cycle, spontaneous activity in rodents
      is useful for investigating circadian rhythms. However, previous studies have
      focused only on the increase of wheel-running activity under restricted feeding
      conditions, while little information is available on circadian rhythm of running
      activity. In this study, chronometrical analysis was used to assess whether
      circadian rhythms during wheel-running are altered by restricted feeding and
      affected by antidepressant drugs. Wheel revolutions were automatically recorded
      and analyzed using cosinor-rhythmometry in 8-week old ICR albino mice. When
      feeding was restricted to 1 h per day (21:00-22:00), wheel-running rhythms were
      reliably disrupted. Female mice exhibited marked alterations in the pattern and
      extent of wheel-running beginning on day 1. Subchronic treatment with imipramine
      or paroxetine, as well as tandospirone and (-)-DOI, prevented wheel-running
      rhythm disruption. Thus, altering the circadian activity rhythms of female mice
      on a 1-h feeding schedule may be useful for investigating disturbances in
      biological rhythms. 

PMID- 25837939
TI  - Association between the rs1465040 single-nucleotide polymorphism close to the
      transient receptor potential subfamily C member 3 (TRPC3) gene and postoperative
      analgesic requirements.
AB  - An association between postoperative analgesic requirements in subjects who
      underwent orthognathic surgery and the rs1465040 single-nucleotide polymorphism
      close to the transient receptor potential subfamily C member 3 (TRPC3) gene was
      suggested by our previous genome-wide association study. To verify this
      association, we analyzed the association between the rs1465040 SNP and analgesic
      requirements, including opioid requirements, after open abdominal surgery. The
      association between the rs1465040 SNP and postoperative analgesic requirements
      was confirmed in the open abdominal surgery group (P = 0.036), suggesting that
      the TRPC3 SNP may contribute to predicting postoperative analgesic requirements. 

PMID- 25837940
TI  - Involvement of neuronal nitric oxide synthase in N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced
      retinal degeneration in mice.
AB  - N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) is widely used to study the mechanism of retinal
      degenerative diseases (RDs) because of its selectivity of photoreceptor cell
      death. Many reports suggest that excessive nitric oxide (NO) plays a crucial role
      in neuronal cell death. We hypothesized that nitric oxide synthase (NOS)/NO are
      involved in photoreceptor cell death by MNU. We found that the levels of NO
      increased after MNU treatment. Furthermore, we demonstrated that neuronal NOS
      specific inhibitor attenuated photoreceptor cell death by MNU in mice. We believe
      that our findings might be a new target for the treatment of RDs. 

PMID- 25837941
TI  - OV services: Information for farmers on new TB testing arrangements.

PMID- 25837942
TI  - Wales premovement TB testing reminder.

PMID- 25837943
TI  - RCVS knowledge: Toolkits to support evidence-based practice.

PMID- 25837944
TI  - Wildlife: Beavers back in the wild in England.

PMID- 25837945
TI  - National Equine Forum: Taking up the reins on equine issues.
AB  - Gill Harris reports from this year's National Equine Forum, where one of the main
      themes was the horse industry and government. The forum, held in London on March
      5, was attended by more than 200 people with a connection to the equestrian
      industry. Lord de Mauley, parliamentary undersecretary of state for natural
      environment and science at Defra, set the course of the proceedings.

PMID- 25837946
TI  - Veterinary medicines: product update.
AB  - The following information has been produced for Veterinary Record by the
      Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) to provide an update for veterinary
      surgeons on recent changes to marketing authorisations for veterinary medicines
      in the UK and on other relevant issues. 

PMID- 25837947
TI  - One Health: a doctor's perspective.
AB  - One Health has been gaining traction over recent years, particularly among
      veterinarians and veterinary scientists, but the medical sector appears to be
      less engaged. Here, Josef Jarhult, a doctor practising in Sweden, who is also a
      proponent of One Health, suggests some reasons why medics have yet to embrace the
      idea and how this could be overcome. 

PMID- 25837948
TI  - BestBETs for Vets: a way to improve the odds of delivering high-quality care.

PMID- 25837951
TI  - TB testing.

PMID- 25837952
TI  - 24/7 practices.

PMID- 25837953
TI  - TB testing.

PMID- 25837962
TI  - Learning in the third dimension.
AB  - Sharon Boyd, Eoghan Clarkson and Brian Mather explain how the Royal (Dick) School
      of Veterinary Studies is using the latest 3D modelling techniques to help
      students develop their clinical skills. 

PMID- 25837963
TI  - Ten-minute chat.
AB  - Having achieved his clinical goals, Aiz Baig did an MBA. He is currently senior
      product marketing manager with Eickemeyer Veterinary Equipment, helping vets and
      nurses improve clinical outcomes. 

PMID- 25837964
TI  - Reactive oxygen species and gastric cancer risk: a large nested case-control
      study in Japan.

PMID- 25837965
TI  - The global impact of non-communicable diseases on macro-economic productivity: a
      systematic review.
AB  - Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have large economic impact at multiple levels.
      To systematically review the literature investigating the economic impact of NCDs
      [including coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM),
      cancer (lung, colon, cervical and breast), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
      (COPD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD)] on macro-economic productivity.
      Systematic search, up to November 6th 2014, of medical databases (Medline, Embase
      and Google Scholar) without language restrictions. To identify additional
      publications, we searched the reference lists of retrieved studies and contacted
      authors in the field. Randomized controlled trials, cohort, case-control, cross
      sectional, ecological studies and modelling studies carried out in adults (>18
      years old) were included. Two independent reviewers performed all abstract and
      full text selection. Disagreements were resolved through consensus or consulting
      a third reviewer. Two independent reviewers extracted data using a predesigned
      data collection form. Main outcome measure was the impact of the selected NCDs on
      productivity, measured in DALYs, productivity costs, and labor market
      participation, including unemployment, return to work and sick leave. From 4542
      references, 126 studies met the inclusion criteria, many of which focused on the
      impact of more than one NCD on productivity. Breast cancer was the most common (n
      = 45), followed by stroke (n = 31), COPD (n = 24), colon cancer (n = 24), DM (n =
      22), lung cancer (n = 16), CVD (n = 15), cervical cancer (n = 7) and CKD (n = 2).
      Four studies were from the WHO African Region, 52 from the European Region, 53
      from the Region of the Americas and 16 from the Western Pacific Region, one from
      the Eastern Mediterranean Region and none from South East Asia. We found large
      regional differences in DALYs attributable to NCDs but especially for cervical
      and lung cancer. Productivity losses in the USA ranged from 88 million US dollars
      (USD) for COPD to 20.9 billion USD for colon cancer. CHD costs the Australian
      economy 13.2 billion USD per year. People with DM, COPD and survivors of breast
      and especially lung cancer are at a higher risk of reduced labor market
      participation. Overall NCDs generate a large impact on macro-economic
      productivity in most WHO regions irrespective of continent and income. The
      absolute global impact in terms of dollars and DALYs remains an elusive challenge
      due to the wide heterogeneity in the included studies as well as limited
      information from low- and middle-income countries. 

PMID- 25837966
TI  - Secular trends and educational differences in the incidence of type 2 diabetes in
      Finland, 1972-2007.
AB  - Type 2 diabetes prevalence is rising globally, and varies by socio-economic
      position. Amongst other factors, rising prevalence may reflect increasing
      incidence. Worldwide, few studies have examined population-level longitudinal
      trends in incident type 2 diabetes, and reports on secular trends in diabetes
      incidence by socio-economic measures such as educational attainment are lacking.
      Finland has a long-standing, comprehensive disease surveillance infrastructure.
      Using data collected over four decades from serial FINRISK surveys, the National
      Drug Reimbursement Register and the National Causes of Death Register, we
      examined secular trends in type 2 diabetes incidence in Finland from the 1970s to
      2007. The diabetes status of 38,689 FINRISK participants aged 30-59 years at
      baseline assessment and without diagnosed diabetes at the time was followed for
      10 years. Among men, incidence of diagnosed, pharmacologically managed type 2
      diabetes increased over time. Compared with men surveyed in the 1970s, diabetes
      incidence was higher among men in the 1980s (adjusted HR 1.44, 95% CI 1.13-1.84)
      and 1990s (adjusted HR 1.72, 1.32-2.24). Body mass index explained some, but not
      all of this variation. Increases occurred predominantly among men with low
      (adjusted HR 1980s: 2.07, 95% CI 1.28-3.35; adjusted HR 1990s: 2.12, 95% CI 1.28
      3.53) and middle (adjusted HR 1980s: 1.30, 95% CI 0.85-1.99; adjusted HR 1990s:
      1.65, 95% CI 1.05-2.60) educational attainment. No secular changes were apparent
      among women. This rising diabetes incidence among men over recent decades has
      occurred despite Finland's sustained health promotion efforts. Renewed public
      health campaigns are urgently required. In addition to population-level
      initiatives, lower educational strata should be specifically targeted.

PMID- 25837967
TI  - Duodenal perforation following esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) with cautery and
      epinephrine injection for peptic ulcer disease: An interesting case of
      nonoperative management in the medical intensive care unit (MICU).
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The utilization of esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) and related
      procedures continues to rise. Due to this increase in utilization is an
      inevitable rise in serious complications such as hemorrhage and perforation. One
      understudied and dreaded complication of EGD causing significant morbidity and
      mortality is duodenal perforation. PRESENTATION OF CASE: We present the case of a
      63-year-old male who presented to our institution's emergency room with
      dyspepsia, melanic stools, tachycardia, and hypotension. Initial laboratory
      evaluation was significant for severe anemia, lactic acidosis, and acute kidney
      injury, while CT scan of the abdomen pelvis did not suggest retroperitoneal
      hematoma or bowel perforation. An emergent EGD was performed which showed
      multiple bleeding duodenal ulcers that were cauterized and injected with
      epinephrine. Post-procedure the patient developed worsening abdominal pain,
      distension, diaphoresis, and tachypnea, requiring emergent intubation. A CT scan
      of the abdomen and pelvis with oral contrast confirmed pneumoperitoneum and
      duodenal perforation. DISCUSSION: Due to the patient's hemodynamic instability
      and multiple comorbidities, he was treated non-operatively with strict bowel rest
      and intravenous antibiotics. The patient ultimately had a 19-day hospital course
      complicated by renal failure requiring hemodialysis and an ischemic limb
      necessitating above knee amputation. CONCLUSION: This case describes an
      unsuccessful attempt at nonoperative management of duodenal perforation following
      EGD.

PMID- 25837968
TI  - Correction to "constructing quaternary stereogenic centers using tertiary
      organocuprates and tertiary radicals. total synthesis of trans-clerodane natural
      products".

PMID- 25837969
TI  - Measuring the outcome of biomedical research: a systematic literature review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is an increasing need to evaluate the production and impact of
      medical research produced by institutions. Many indicators exist, yet we do not
      have enough information about their relevance. The objective of this systematic
      review was (1) to identify all the indicators that could be used to measure the
      output and outcome of medical research carried out in institutions and (2) enlist
      their methodology, use, positive and negative points. METHODOLOGY: We have
      searched 3 databases (Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science) using the following
      keywords: [Research outcome* OR research output* OR bibliometric* OR
      scientometric* OR scientific production] AND [indicator* OR index* OR evaluation
      OR metrics]. We included articles presenting, discussing or evaluating indicators
      measuring the scientific production of an institution. The search was conducted
      by two independent authors using a standardised data extraction form. For each
      indicator we extracted its definition, calculation, its rationale and its
      positive and negative points. In order to reduce bias, data extraction and
      analysis was performed by two independent authors. FINDINGS: We included 76
      articles. A total of 57 indicators were identified. We have classified those
      indicators into 6 categories: 9 indicators of research activity, 24 indicators of
      scientific production and impact, 5 indicators of collaboration, 7 indicators of
      industrial production, 4 indicators of dissemination, 8 indicators of health
      service impact. The most widely discussed and described is the h-index with 31
      articles discussing it. DISCUSSION: The majority of indicators found are
      bibliometric indicators of scientific production and impact. Several indicators
      have been developed to improve the h-index. This indicator has also inspired the
      creation of two indicators to measure industrial production and collaboration.
      Several articles propose indicators measuring research impact without detailing a
      methodology for calculating them. Many bibliometric indicators identified have
      been created but have not been used or further discussed.

PMID- 25837971
TI  - Primary bladder lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell type: Case report and literature
      review of 26 cases.
AB  - Primary lymphoma of the urinary bladder is exceedingly rare, representing 0.2% of
      all extranodal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Although Matsuno et al. and others state
      the most common type is mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, 20% of
      all the primary lymphomas of the urinary bladder are considered to be high grade
      neoplasms; the majority being diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). This is a
      case report of a 48-year-old man that presented with hematuria, frequency,
      nocturia, and flank pain that was found to have high grade DLBCL. Twenty-six
      other cases of both low and high grade primary bladder lymphomas were selected in
      order to provide a thorough comparison of different treatment modalities. Of the
      cases reviewed, bladder lymphoma was more common in females (2:1). The average
      age at diagnosis was 63.9 years old (low grade: 68.7 years old, high grade: 58.8
      years old). The most common low-grade neoplasm was MALT lymphoma (85.7%). For the
      low-grade malignancies, the most successful treatments were simple therapies (2
      transurethral resection of a bladder tumour [TURBT], 1 antibiotics), solitary
      chemotherapy, and combination TURBT/chemo; all 3 of which achieved 100% clinical
      remission (CR) in the cases reviewed. The most common high grade neoplasm was
      DLBCL (76.9%). The most successful therapies used to treat high grade lesions
      were solitary chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, duanorubacin, vincristine,
      prednisolone [CHOP] or ritoximab, CHOP [R-CHOP]) and combination therapies (2
      radiation/CHOP, 2 surgery/CHOP). In the agreement with the current literature,
      this review has shown that simple therapies (TURBT) are equally as effective as
      aggressive treatments (chemotherapy, radiation) and should therefore be used as
      first line treatment in low grade tumors. For high grade malignancies,
      chemotherapy (R-CHOP or CHOP) alone or combination therapy (CHOP/surgery or
      CHOP/radiation) is recommended. 

PMID- 25837970
TI  - Prediction of Juvenile-Onset Myopia.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Myopia (nearsightedness) has its onset in childhood and affects about
      one-third of adults in the United States. Along with its high prevalence, myopia
      is expensive to correct and is associated with ocular diseases that include
      glaucoma and retinal detachment. OBJECTIVE: To determine the best set of
      predictors for myopia onset in school-aged children. DESIGN, SETTING, AND
      PARTICIPANTS: The Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Ethnicity and
      Refractive Error (CLEERE) Study was an observational cohort study of ocular
      development and myopia onset conducted at 5 clinical sites from September 1,
      1989, through May 22, 2010. Data were collected from 4512 ethnically diverse,
      nonmyopic school-aged children from grades 1 through 8 (baseline grades 1 through
      6) (ages 6 through 13 years [baseline, 6 through 11 years]). MAIN OUTCOMES AND
      MEASURES: We evaluated 13 candidate risk factors for their ability to predict the
      onset of myopia. Myopia onset was defined as -0.75 diopters or more of myopia in
      each principal meridian in the right eye as measured by cycloplegic
      autorefraction at any visit after baseline until grade 8 (age 13 years). We
      evaluated risk factors using odds ratios from discrete time survival analysis,
      the area under the curve, and cross validation. RESULTS: A total of 414 children
      became myopic from grades 2 through 8 (ages 7 through 13 years). Of the 13
      factors evaluated, 10 were associated with the risk for myopia onset (P < .05).
      Of these 10 factors, 8 retained their association in multivariate models:
      spherical equivalent refractive error at baseline, parental myopia, axial length,
      corneal power, crystalline lens power, ratio of accommodative convergence to
      accommodation (AC/A ratio), horizontal/vertical astigmatism magnitude, and visual
      activity. A less hyperopic/more myopic baseline refractive error was consistently
      associated with risk of myopia onset in multivariate models (odds ratios from
      0.02 to 0.13, P < .001), while near work, time outdoors, and having myopic
      parents were not. Spherical equivalent refractive error was the single best
      predictive factor that performed as well as all 8 factors together, with an area
      under the curve (C statistic) ranging from 0.87 to 0.93 (95% CI, 0.79-0.99).
      CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Future myopia can be predicted in a nonmyopic child
      using a simple, single measure of refractive error. Future trials for prevention
      of myopia should target the child with low hyperopia as the child at risk.

PMID- 25837973
TI  - The effects of neuropeptide urocortin 2 on the spontaneous discharge and
      glutamatergic neurotransmission of striatum neurons.
AB  - The primary cause of the neurodegenerative process that underlies Parkinson's
      disease (PD) is still unknown. Different mechanisms probably contribute to
      triggering neuronal death in the nigro-striatum pathway. The neuropeptide
      urocortin 2 (UCN2) plays an important role in the regulation of striatum (STR)
      neurons projection. We investigated the effects of UCN2 on spontaneous discharge
      and glutamatergic responses in STR for a better understanding of the pathogenesis
      of PD. The experiment used microiontophoresis method to observe the effects of
      UCN2 on STR neurons' firing rates in vivo. Corticotrophin releasing factor
      receptor 2 (CRF-R2) selective inhibitor, astressin-2B (AST-2B), was administered
      simultaneously with UCN2 to investigate the effects of UCN2 on CRF-R2. Moreover,
      we further explored the effects of UCN2 on glutamatergic responses in STR
      neurons. We found that UCN2 could significantly inhibit the firing rate of 84% of
      the tested STR neurons, and its inhibitory effect followed a concentration
      dependent manner. During the microiontophoresis of GLU, the excitatory firing of
      glutamatergic neurons could be attenuated by the addition of UCN2, but enhanced
      by the application of AST-2B. The results suggest that UCN2 could regulate the
      effects of STR neurotransmitters (GLU) via CRF-R2 and may thereby contribute to
      the improvement of PD. 

PMID- 25837974
TI  - Factors effective on survival after radical prostatectomy: To what extent is pre
      operative biopsy Gleason scoring is confident in predicting the prognosis?
AB  - In the present study, the effect of different grades on independent survival from
      the biochemical relapse was investigated through comparison of the histological
      grades of the biopsy and prostatectomy materials in patients undergoing radical
      prostatectomy (RP). A total of 152 patients undergoing RP following biopsy were
      retrospectively investigated in an attempt to reveal the effect of discordance
      between needle biopsy Gleason score and RP Gleason score on prostate specific
      antigen relapse-free survival. Accordingly, while 58.3% (14/24) survival was seen
      in the patients in Group 1 (high-graded) with Gleason score 7, 93.7% (15/16)
      survival has been seen in the patients in Group 2 (low-graded) and Group 3 (same
      Gleason scores) with Gleason score 7. The difference in-between has been
      statically found significant (P < 0.001). Similarly, while a 10% (1/10) survival
      is seen in the patients in Group 1 with Gleason score 8 and above, 75% (3/4)
      survival has been observed in the patients in Group 2 and 3 with Gleason score 8
      and above. Also in this comparison, the difference in-between has been statically
      found significant (P = 0.041). Eventually, different grading, particularly
      determination of Gleason score higher than the RP specimen biopsy also bring
      about bad pathologic parameters and shortened survival periods. 

PMID- 25837972
TI  - Vegetative hyphal fusion and subsequent nuclear behavior in Epichloe grass
      endophytes.
AB  - Epichloe species (including the former genus Neotyphodium) are fungal symbionts
      of many agronomically important forage grasses, and provide their grass hosts
      with protection from a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses. Epichloe
      species include many interspecific hybrids with allodiploid-like genomes, which
      may provide the potential for combined traits or recombination to generate new
      traits. Though circumstantial evidence suggests that such interspecific hybrids
      might have arisen from nuclear fusion events following vegetative hyphal fusion
      between different Epichloe strains, this hypothesis has not been addressed
      empirically. Here, we investigated vegetative hyphal fusion and subsequent
      nuclear behavior in Epichloe species. A majority of Epichloe strains, especially
      those having a sexual stage, underwent self vegetative hyphal fusion. Vegetative
      fusion also occurred between two hyphae from different Epichloe strains. Though
      Epichloe spp. are uninucleate fungi, hyphal fusion resulted in two nuclei stably
      sharing the same cytoplasm, which might ultimately lead to nuclear fusion. In
      addition, protoplast fusion experiments gave rise to uninucleate putative
      hybrids, which apparently had two markers, one from each parent within the same
      nucleus. These results are consistent with the notion that interspecific hybrids
      arise from vegetative hyphal fusion. However, we also discuss additional factors,
      such as post-hybridization selection, that may be important to explain the
      recognized prevalence of hybrids in Epichloe species. 

PMID- 25837975
TI  - Purification and characterization of a bacteriocin from an oenological strain of
      Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris.
AB  - Malolactic fermentation (MLF), which improves organoleptic properties and
      biologic stability of some wines, may cause wine spoilage if uncontrolled.
      Bacteriocins were reported as efficient preservatives to control MLF through
      their bactericidal effect on malolactic bacteria. Leuconostoc mesenteroides
      subsp. cremoris W3 isolated from wine produces an inhibitory substance that is
      bactericidal against malolactic bacteria in model wine medium. Treatment of the
      culture supernatant of strain W3 with proteases eliminated the inhibitory
      activity, which proved that it is a true bacteriocin and we tentatively termed it
      mesentericin W3. The bacteriocin inhibited the growth of food-borne pathogenic
      bacteria such as Enterococcus faecalis, Listeria monocytogenes, and malolactic
      bacteria. It was active over a wide pH range and stable to organic solvents and
      heat. Mesentericin W3 was purified to homogeneity by a pH-mediated cell
      adsorption-desorption method, cation exchange, hydrophobic interaction, and
      reverse-phase chromatography. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of
      flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectroscopy (MS) and partial amino acid sequence
      analysis revealed that mesentericin W3 was identical to mesentericin Y105. 

PMID- 25837976
TI  - Recent trends for drug lag in clinical development of oncology drugs in Japan:
      does the oncology drug lag still exist in Japan?
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study exhaustively and historically investigated the status of
      drug lag for oncology drugs approved in Japan. METHODS: We comprehensively
      investigated oncology drugs approved in Japan between April 2001 and July 2014,
      using publicly available information. We also examined changes in the status of
      drug lag between Japan and the United States, as well as factors influencing drug
      lag. RESULTS: This study included 120 applications for approval of oncology drugs
      in Japan. The median difference over a 13-year period in the approval date
      between the United States and Japan was 875 days (29.2 months). This figure
      peaked in 2002, and showed a tendency to decline gradually each year thereafter.
      In 2014, the median approval lag was 281 days (9.4 months). Multiple regression
      analysis identified the following potential factors that reduce drug lag:
      "Japan's participation in global clinical trials"; "bridging strategies";
      "designation of priority review in Japan"; and "molecularly targeted drugs".
      CONCLUSIONS: From 2001 to 2014, molecularly targeted drugs emerged as the
      predominant oncology drug, and the method of development has changed from full
      development in Japan or bridging strategy to global simultaneous development by
      Japan's taking part in global clinical trials. In line with these changes, the
      drug lag between the United States and Japan has significantly reduced to less
      than 1 year.

PMID- 25837977
TI  - Radiation-induced alterations of osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation of
      human mesenchymal stem cells.
AB  - While human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), either in the bone marrow or in
      tumour microenvironment could be targeted by radiotherapy, their response is
      poorly understood. The oxic effects on radiosensitivity, cell cycle progression
      are largely unknown, and the radiation effects on hMSCs differentiation
      capacities remained unexplored. Here we analysed hMSCs viability and cell cycle
      progression in 21% O2 and 3% O2 conditions after medical X-rays irradiation.
      Differentiation towards osteogenesis and chondrogenesis after irradiation was
      evaluated through an analysis of differentiation specific genes. Finally, a 3D
      culture model in hypoxia was used to evaluate chondrogenesis in conditions
      mimicking the natural hMSCs microenvironment. The hMSCs radiosensitivity was not
      affected by O2 tension. A decreased number of cells in S phase and an increase in
      G2/M were observed in both O2 tensions after 16 hours but hMSCs released from the
      G2/M arrest and proliferated at day 7. Osteogenesis was increased after
      irradiation with an enhancement of mRNA expression of specific osteogenic genes
      (alkaline phosphatase, osteopontin). Osteoblastic differentiation was altered
      since matrix deposition was impaired with a decreased expression of collagen I,
      probably through an increase of its degradation by MMP-3. After induction in
      monolayers, chondrogenesis was altered after irradiation with an increase in
      COL1A1 and a decrease in both SOX9 and ACAN mRNA expression. After induction in a
      3D culture in hypoxia, chondrogenesis was altered after irradiation with a
      decrease in COL2A1, ACAN and SOX9 mRNA amounts associated with a RUNX2 increase.
      Together with collagens I and II proteins decrease, associated to a MMP-13
      expression increase, these data show a radiation-induced impairment of
      chondrogenesis. Finally, a radiation-induced impairment of both osteogenesis and
      chondrogenesis was characterised by a matrix composition alteration, through
      inhibition of synthesis and/or increased degradation. Alteration of osteogenesis
      and chondrogenesis in hMSCs could potentially explain bone/joints defects
      observed after radiotherapy. 

PMID- 25837978
TI  - Promising perceptions, divergent practices and barriers to integrated malaria
      prevention in Wakiso district, Uganda: a mixed methods study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization recommends use of multiple approaches
      to control malaria. The integrated approach to malaria prevention advocates the
      use of several malaria prevention methods in a holistic manner. This study
      assessed perceptions and practices on integrated malaria prevention in Wakiso
      district, Uganda. METHODS: A clustered cross-sectional survey was conducted among
      727 households from 29 villages using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
      Assessment was done on awareness of various malaria prevention methods, potential
      for use of the methods in a holistic manner, and reasons for dislike of certain
      methods. Households were classified as using integrated malaria prevention if
      they used at least two methods. Logistic regression was used to test for factors
      associated with the use of integrated malaria prevention while adjusting for
      clustering within villages. RESULTS: Participants knew of the various malaria
      prevention methods in the integrated approach including use of insecticide
      treated nets (97.5%), removing mosquito breeding sites (89.1%), clearing
      overgrown vegetation near houses (97.9%), and closing windows and doors early in
      the evenings (96.4%). If trained, most participants (68.6%) would use all the
      suggested malaria prevention methods of the integrated approach. Among those who
      would not use all methods, the main reasons given were there being too many
      (70.2%) and cost (32.0%). Only 33.0% households were using the integrated
      approach to prevent malaria. Use of integrated malaria prevention by households
      was associated with reading newspapers (AOR 0.34; 95% CI 0.22 -0.53) and
      ownership of a motorcycle/car (AOR 1.75; 95% CI 1.03 - 2.98). CONCLUSION:
      Although knowledge of malaria prevention methods was high and perceptions on the
      integrated approach promising, practices on integrated malaria prevention was
      relatively low. The use of the integrated approach can be improved by promoting
      use of multiple malaria prevention methods through various communication channels
      such as mass media.

PMID- 25837979
TI  - Hybrid spreading mechanisms and T cell activation shape the dynamics of HIV-1
      infection.
AB  - HIV-1 can disseminate between susceptible cells by two mechanisms: cell-free
      infection following fluid-phase diffusion of virions and by highly-efficient
      direct cell-to-cell transmission at immune cell contacts. The contribution of
      this hybrid spreading mechanism, which is also a characteristic of some important
      computer worm outbreaks, to HIV-1 progression in vivo remains unknown. Here we
      present a new mathematical model that explicitly incorporates the ability of HIV
      1 to use hybrid spreading mechanisms and evaluate the consequences for HIV-1
      pathogenenesis. The model captures the major phases of the HIV-1 infection course
      of a cohort of treatment naive patients and also accurately predicts the results
      of the Short Pulse Anti-Retroviral Therapy at Seroconversion (SPARTAC) trial.
      Using this model we find that hybrid spreading is critical to seed and establish
      infection, and that cell-to-cell spread and increased CD4+ T cell activation are
      important for HIV-1 progression. Notably, the model predicts that cell-to-cell
      spread becomes increasingly effective as infection progresses and thus may
      present a considerable treatment barrier. Deriving predictions of various
      treatments' influence on HIV-1 progression highlights the importance of earlier
      intervention and suggests that treatments effectively targeting cell-to-cell HIV
      1 spread can delay progression to AIDS. This study suggests that hybrid spreading
      is a fundamental feature of HIV infection, and provides the mathematical
      framework incorporating this feature with which to evaluate future therapeutic
      strategies. 

PMID- 25837980
TI  - Biocompatibility of cardiopulmonary bypass circuit with new polymer Senko E
      Ternal CoatingTM.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the biocompatibility of a new
      Senko E-Ternal coating (SEC) for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) circuits with the
      well-established poly-2-methoxyethyl acrylate (PMEA) coating. METHODS: Forty
      patients undergoing aortic valve replacement were randomly assigned to either an
      SEC-coated group (n = 20) or a PMEA-coated group (n = 20). Clinical data and the
      following markers were analyzed: platelet count, platelet factor (PF) 4,
      fibrinogen, fibrinogen degradation products (FDPs), antithrombin III (AT III),
      thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT), plasminogen, complement hemolytic activity
      (CH50), complement 3 (C3) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Blood samples were obtained
      at five time points in both groups. RESULTS: CPB time, aortic cross-clamp time
      and blood loss and transfusion were similar in both groups. There were no
      significant differences between the groups in terms of platelet count, PF4 and
      all coagulation and fibrinolytic parameters (FDP, AT III, TAT, and plasminogen)
      at any time points. Inflammatory markers (CH50, C3 and IL-6) were also similar in
      both groups at all time points. CONCLUSIONS: The SEC-coated circuit demonstrated
      equivalent biocompatibility to the PMEA-coated circuit. SEC-coated circuits are,
      therefore, favorably comparable to PMEA-coated circuits for clinical use in CPB.

PMID- 25837981
TI  - An arterio-venous bridge for gradual weaning from adult veno-arterial
      extracorporeal life support.
AB  - PURPOSE: Weaning from extracorporeal life support (ELS) is particularly
      challenging when cardiac recovery is slow, largely incomplete and hard to
      predict. Therefore, we describe an individualized gradual weaning strategy using
      an arterio-venous (AV) bridge incorporated into the circuit to facilitate
      weaning. METHODS: Thirty adult patients weaned from veno-arterial ELS using an AV
      bridge were retrospectively analyzed. Serial echocardiography and hemodynamic
      monitoring were used to assess cardiac recovery and load responsiveness. Upon
      early signs of myocardial recovery, an AV bridge with an Hoffman clamp was added
      to the circuit and weaning was initiated. Support flow was reduced stepwise by 10
      15% every 2 to 8 hours while the circuit flow was maintained at 3.5-4.5 L/min.
      RESULTS: The AV bridge facilitated gradual weaning in all 30 patients (median
      age: 66 [53-71] years; 21 males) over a median period of 25 [8-32] hours, with a
      median support duration of 96 [31-181] hours. During weaning, the median left
      ventricular ejection fraction was 25% [15-32] and the median velocity time
      integral of the aortic valve was 16 cm [10-23]. Through the weaning period, the
      mean arterial blood pressure was maintained at 70 mmHg and the activated partial
      thromboplastin time was 60 +/- 10 seconds without additional systemic
      heparinization. Neither macroscopic thrombus formation in the ELS circuit during
      and after weaning nor clinically relevant thromboembolism was observed.
      CONCLUSION: Incorporation of an AV bridge for weaning from veno-arterial ELS is
      safe and feasible to gradually wean patients with functional cardiac recovery
      without compromising the circuit integrity.

PMID- 25837982
TI  - Versatile, simple-to-use microfluidic cell-culturing chip for long-term, high
      resolution, time-lapse imaging.
AB  - Optical long-term observation of individual cells, combined with modern data
      analysis tools, allows for a detailed study of cell-to-cell variability,
      heredity, and differentiation. We developed a microfluidic device featuring
      facile cell loading, simple and robust operation, and which is amenable to high
      resolution life-cell imaging. Different cell strains can be grown in parallel in
      the device under constant or changing media perfusion without cross-talk between
      the cell ensembles. The culturing chamber has been optimized for use with
      nonadherent cells, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and enables controlled
      colony growth over multiple generations under aerobic or anaerobic conditions.
      Small changes in the layout will make the device also useable with bacteria or
      mammalian cells. The platform can be readily set up in every laboratory with
      minimal additional requirements and can be operated without technology training. 

PMID- 25837983
TI  - Stability of chitosan-a challenge for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.
AB  - Chitosan-one of the natural multifunctional polymers-due to its unique and
      versatile biological properties is regarded as a useful compound in medical and
      pharmaceutical technology. Recently, considerable research effort has been made
      in order to develop safe and efficient chitosan products. However, the problem of
      poor stability of chitosan-based systems restricts its practical applicability;
      thus, it has become a great challenge to establish sufficient shelf-life for
      chitosan formulations. Improved stability can be assessed by controlling the
      environmental factors, manipulating processing conditions (e.g., temperature),
      introducing a proper stabilizing compound, developing chitosan blends with
      another polymer, or modifying the chitosan structure using chemical or ionic
      agents. This review covers the influence of internal, environmental, and
      processing factors on the long-term stability of chitosan products. The aim of
      this paper is also to highlight the latest developments which enable the
      physicochemical properties of chitosan-based applications to be preserved upon
      storage. 

PMID- 25837984
TI  - Recent advances in exopolysaccharides from Paenibacillus spp.: production,
      isolation, structure, and bioactivities.
AB  - This review provides a comprehensive summary of the most recent developments of
      various aspects (i.e., production, purification, structure, and bioactivity) of
      the exopolysaccharides (EPSs) from Paenibacillus spp. For the production, in
      particular, squid pen waste was first utilized successfully to produce a high
      yield of inexpensive EPSs from Paenibacillus sp. TKU023 and P. macerans TKU029.
      In addition, this technology for EPS production is prevailing because it is more
      environmentally friendly. The Paenibacillus spp. EPSs reported from various
      references constitute a structurally diverse class of biological macromolecules
      with different applications in the broad fields of pharmacy, cosmetics and
      bioremediation. The EPS produced by P. macerans TKU029 can increase in vivo skin
      hydration and may be a new source of natural moisturizers with potential value in
      cosmetics. However, the relationships between the structures and activities of
      these EPSs in many studies are not well established. The contents and data in
      this review will serve as useful references for further investigation,
      production, structure and application of Paenibacillus spp. EPSs in various
      fields. 

PMID- 25837985
TI  - Dietary docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid influence liver
      triacylglycerol and insulin resistance in rats fed a high-fructose diet.
AB  - This study aimed to examine the benefits of different amounts of omega-3 (n-3)
      polyunsaturated fatty acids from fish oil (FO) on lipid metabolism, insulin
      resistance and gene expression in rats fed a high-fructose diet. Male Wistar rats
      were separated into two groups: Control (C, n = 6) and Fructose (Fr, n = 32), the
      latter receiving a diet containing 63% by weight fructose for 60 days. After this
      period, 24 animals from Fr group were allocated to three groups: FrFO2 (n = 8)
      receiving 63% fructose and 2% FO plus 5% soybean oil; FrFO5 (n = 8) receiving 63%
      fructose and 5% FO plus 2% soybean oil; and FrFO7 (n = 8) receiving 63% fructose
      and 7% FO. Animals were fed these diets for 30 days. Fructose led to an increase
      in liver weight, hepatic and serum triacylglycerol, serum alanine
      aminotransferase and HOMA1-IR index. These alterations were reversed by 5% and 7%
      FO. FO had a dose-dependent effect on expression of genes related to hepatic beta
      oxidation (increased) and hepatic lipogenesis (decreased). The group receiving
      the highest FO amount had increased markers of oxidative stress. It is concluded
      that n-3 fatty acids may be able to reverse the adverse metabolic effects induced
      by a high fructose diet. 

PMID- 25837986
TI  - Rapid-maxillary-expansion induced rhinological effects: a retrospective
      multicenter study.
AB  - Conventional dental-borne rapid maxillary expansion (RME) leads to a widening of
      the airways, followed by improved nasal breathing. Although combined skeletal
      dental appliances are nowadays being inserted increasingly often and provide a
      force at the center of resistance in the nasomaxillary complex, no study exists
      so far that shows whether this treatment may improve the expansionary effect on
      the airways. In this study, low-dose computed tomography (CT) images from 31
      patients (average age 14.63 +/- 0.38 years) were examined retrospectively. Both
      records (T0 = before expansion and T1 = immediately after maximum expansion) were
      taken in a time interval of 25 days to avoid growth influence. Five patients were
      treated with Hyrax RME, 6 patients with Hybrid RME, and 20 patients with acrylic
      cap RME. The total airway volume increased highly significantly (mean +7272.6
      mm(3); P < 0.001, power = 0.998), representing an average airway expansion of
      +11.54 % (2.35 %/mm activation). While the nasopharynx and oropharynx showed
      highly significant expansion (P < 0.000, power = 0.999), the airway at the
      laryngopharynx did not change significantly (P > 0.779, power = 0.05). Although
      the patients were significantly older in the Hybrid RME group (P = 0.006), the
      positive rhinological effects were comparable within all groups of different
      appliances (P > 0.316). Hybrid RME may, therefore, be an advisable procedure in
      patients with nasomaxillary impairment and pronounced patient's age.

PMID- 25837987
TI  - The treatment of snoring by radiofrequency-assisted uvulopalatoplasty and results
      after one-session protocol: a prospective, longitudinal, non-randomized study.
AB  - Snoring is usually caused by the vibration of walls of the soft palate at the
      pharyngeal level. Its worldwide prevalence is estimated to range between 2 and
      85% depending on age, gender or population group. The aim of this study is to
      determine the degree of improvement that can be subjectively evident in patients
      treated by snoring with radiofrequency-assisted uvulopalatoplasty based on a one
      session protocol. This is a prospective, longitudinal, non-randomized study.
      Patients of both sexes, aged 18 years, who attended to the ENT consultation in a
      tertiary hospital with snoring during the period of July 2012-July 2013 were
      included. Age, body mass index, Epworth sleepiness scale were calculated. The
      volume of snoring of each subject was assessed using a visual analog scale. A
      total of 27 patients were included in the study; the average age of the sample
      was 49 years (+/-8.7; min 36/max 74); of these 22 (81.5%) were male and 5 (18.5%)
      females. The average BMI was 27.07 +/- 2.5 (min 23.15/max 29.39) before the test
      and after 1 year was 26.75 +/- 2.32 (min 23.11/max 29.56) with no statistically
      significant differences in BMI before and after surgery (p = 0.407). Preoperative
      snoring intensity was 8.10 +/- 0.93 according to VAS. We found a statistically
      significant difference in the post-operative intensity at 3 months of 3.93 +/-
      0.88 (p <= 0.05) at 6 months of 4.41 +/- 1.08 (p <= 0.05), and after 1 year 4.90
      +/- 0.77 (p <= 0.05). The average rate of ESS was significantly higher
      preoperatively than post-operative, being 8.76 +/- 3.1 preoperative and 6.93 +/-
      1.68 post-operative (p <= 0.05). We conclude that the use of radiofrequency in
      simple snorers with an apnea/hypopnea index <15 events per hour and a BMI < 30
      kg/m(2) in whom clinically proven that the source of snoring is the soft palate,
      can be treated by one-session protocol, being possible to obtain an improvement
      of snoring up to 70% of cases by a short follow-up period.

PMID- 25837988
TI  - Re: 'Protective Effect of Focal Adhesion Kinase against Skeletal Muscle
      Reperfusion Injury after Acute Limb Ischemia'.

PMID- 25837989
TI  - Ledipasvir/Sofosbuvir: a review of its use in chronic hepatitis C.
AB  - The single-tablet regimen of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5A inhibitor
      ledipasvir and the HCV NS5B polymerase inhibitor sofosbuvir
      (ledipasvir/sofosbuvir; Harvoni((r))) was recently approved in the US and the EU.
      The phase III ION trials included treatment-naive (ION-1 and -3) or treatment
      experienced (ION-2) patients with chronic HCV genotype 1 infection (~20 % of
      patients in ION-1 and -2 had cirrhosis, whereas no patient in ION-3 had
      cirrhosis). A sustained virological response 12 weeks' post-treatment (SVR12) was
      seen in 99 % of treatment-naive patients receiving ledipasvir/sofosbuvir for 12
      weeks in ION-1, with no additional benefit conferred by the addition of ribavirin
      or extending the treatment duration to 24 weeks. Moreover, in ION-3, an 8-week
      regimen achieved an SVR12 rate of 94 % overall and 97 % in the subgroup of
      patients with a baseline HCV RNA level of <6 million IU/mL. SVR12 rates of 94 and
      99 % were seen in treatment-experienced patients who received
      ledipasvir/sofosbuvir for 12 and 24 weeks in ION-2. Data also support the use of
      ledipasvir/sofosbuvir in chronic HCV genotype 4 infection, in HCV and HIV co
      infection and, in combination with ribavirin, in patients with chronic HCV
      genotype 1 or 4 infection who have decompensated cirrhosis or are liver
      transplant recipients and in chronic HCV genotype 3 infection. Oral
      ledipasvir/sofosbuvir was generally well tolerated. In conclusion,
      ledipasvir/sofosbuvir is an important new single-tablet regimen that represents a
      significant advance in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.

PMID- 25837990
TI  - Panobinostat: first global approval.
AB  - Novartis has developed oral and intravenous formulations of panobinostat
      (Farydak((r))), a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, for the treatment of
      cancer. HDACs have important roles in maintaining chromatin structure and in
      regulating gene expression, including that of tumour suppressor genes, and thus
      represent valid targets in the search for cancer therapeutics. Oral panobinostat
      is approved in the US, as combination therapy with bortezomib and dexamethasone
      in patients with recurrent multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior
      treatment regimens, including bortezomib and an immunomodulatory agent.
      Regulatory submissions have been made for the use of combination therapy with
      panobinostat in patients with recurrent multiple myeloma in the EU and Japan.
      Panobinostat is in various stages of clinical development worldwide for a range
      of haematological and solid tumours. This article summarizes the milestones in
      the development of panobinostat leading to this first approval for multiple
      myeloma. 

PMID- 25837991
TI  - Is Direct Antiglobulin Test Crucial in the Evaluation of Neonatal
      Hyperbilirubinemia?

PMID- 25837993
TI  - Transport of Free Fatty Acids from Plasma to the Endothelium of Cardiac Muscle: A
      Theoretical Study.
AB  - Fatty acids are transported in a multistep process from the plasma to the
      mitochondria, where they are oxidized in order to meet energy requirements of the
      myocardium. Some of those steps, mainly the crossing of the involved cells'
      membranes are far from being understood. Here, by means of mathematical modeling
      we address the problem of the fatty acid transport from the microvascular
      compartment to the endothelium. Values of parameters that are incorporated in the
      model are deduced from relevant experimental work. Concentration profiles are
      established as solutions of diffusion-reaction equations both numerically and
      using an analytical asymptotic approximation. The analytical solution accurately
      determines the fatty acid flux for any set of parameter values in contrast to off
      the-shelf numerical solvers that fail under quite a few circumstances due to the
      stiffness of the differential equation system. Sensitivity analysis indicates
      that in spite of few uncertain parameter values, most of our conclusions are
      expected to be valid throughout the physiological range of operation. We find
      that in order to have an adequate fatty acid uptake rate it is essential for the
      luminal endothelial membrane to have very fast fatty acid transporters and/or
      specific sites that interact with the albumin-fatty acids complex. 

PMID- 25837992
TI  - Next-generation sequencing reveals the biological significance of the N(2),3
      ethenoguanine lesion in vivo.
AB  - Etheno DNA adducts are a prevalent type of DNA damage caused by vinyl chloride
      (VC) exposure and oxidative stress. Etheno adducts are mutagenic and may
      contribute to the initiation of several pathologies; thus, elucidating the
      pathways by which they induce cellular transformation is critical. Although
      N(2),3-ethenoguanine (N(2),3-epsilonG) is the most abundant etheno adduct, its
      biological consequences have not been well characterized in cells due to its
      labile glycosidic bond. Here, a stabilized 2'-fluoro-2'-deoxyribose analog of
      N(2),3-epsilonG was used to quantify directly its genotoxicity and mutagenicity.
      A multiplex method involving next-generation sequencing enabled a large-scale in
      vivo analysis, in which both N(2),3-epsilonG and its isomer 1,N(2)-ethenoguanine
      (1,N(2)-epsilonG) were evaluated in various repair and replication backgrounds.
      We found that N(2),3-epsilonG potently induces G to A transitions, the same
      mutation previously observed in VC-associated tumors. By contrast, 1,N(2)
      epsilonG induces various substitutions and frameshifts. We also found that N(2),3
      epsilonG is the only etheno lesion that cannot be repaired by AlkB, which
      partially explains its persistence. Both epsilonG lesions are strong replication
      blocks and DinB, a translesion polymerase, facilitates the mutagenic bypass of
      both lesions. Collectively, our results indicate that N(2),3-epsilonG is a
      biologically important lesion and may have a functional role in VC-induced or
      inflammation-driven carcinogenesis. 

PMID- 25837994
TI  - A Commensal Strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis Overexpresses Membrane Proteins
      Associated with Pathogenesis When Grown in Biofilms.
AB  - Staphylococcus epidermidis has emerged as one of the major nosocomial pathogens
      associated with infections of implanted medical devices. The most important
      factor in the pathogenesis of these infections is the formation of bacterial
      biofilms. Bacteria grown in biofilms are more resistant to antibiotics and to the
      immune defence system than planktonic bacteria. In these infections, the
      antimicrobial therapy usually fails and the removal of the biofilm-coated
      implanted device is the only effective solution. In this study, three proteomic
      approaches were performed to investigate membrane proteins associated to biofilm
      formation: (i) sample fractionation by gel electrophoresis, followed by isotopic
      labelling and LC-MS/MS analysis, (ii) in-solution sample preparation, followed by
      isotopic labelling and LC-MS/MS analysis and (iii) in-solution sample preparation
      and label-free LC-MS/MS analysis. We found that the commensal strain S.
      epidermidis CECT 231 grown in biofilms expressed higher levels of five membrane
      and membrane-associated proteins involved in pathogenesis: accumulation
      associated protein, staphylococcal secretory antigen, signal transduction protein
      TRAP, ribonuclease Y and phenol soluble modulin beta 1 when compared with
      bacteria grown under planktonic conditions. These results indicate that a
      commensal strain can acquire a pathogenic phenotype depending on the mode of
      growth. 

PMID- 25837995
TI  - Erratum to: Management of Bone Disease in Gaucher Disease Type 1: Clinical
      Practice.

PMID- 25837996
TI  - The adverse effects of diabetes on osteoarthritis: update on clinical evidence
      and molecular mechanisms.
AB  - Projected increases in the prevalence of both diabetes mellitus (DM) and
      osteoarthritis (OA) ensure their common co-existence. In an era of increasing
      attention to personalized medicine, understanding the influence of common
      comorbidities such as DM should result in improved care of patients with OA. In
      this narrative review, we summarize the literature addressing the interactions
      between DM and OA spanning the years from 1962 to 2014. We separated studies
      depending on whether they investigated clinical populations, animal models, or
      cells and tissues. The clinical literature addressing the influence of DM on OA
      and its therapeutic outcomes suggests that DM may augment the development and
      severity of OA and that DM increases risks associated with joint replacement
      surgery. The few high quality studies using animal models also support an adverse
      effect of DM on OA. We review strengths and weaknesses of the common rodent
      models of DM. The heterogeneous literature derived from studies of articular
      cells and tissues also supports the existence of biochemical and biomechanical
      changes in articular tissues in DM, and begins to characterize molecular
      mechanisms activated in diabetic-like environs which may contribute to OA.
      Increasing evidence from the clinic and the laboratory supports an adverse effect
      of DM on the development, severity, and therapeutic outcomes for OA. To
      understand the mechanisms through which DM contributes to OA, further studies are
      clearly necessary. Future studies of DM-influenced mechanisms may shed light on
      general mechanisms of OA pathogenesis and result in more specific and effective
      therapies for all OA patients. 

PMID- 25837997
TI  - Regulation of intestinal IgA responses.
AB  - The intestine harbors enormous numbers of commensal bacteria and is under
      frequent attack from food-borne pathogens and toxins. A properly regulated immune
      response is critical for homeostatic maintenance of commensals and for protection
      against infection and toxins in the intestine. Immunoglobulin A (IgA) isotype
      antibodies function specifically in mucosal sites such as the intestines to help
      maintain intestinal health by binding to and regulating commensal microbiota,
      pathogens and toxins. IgA antibodies are produced by intestinal IgA antibody
      secreting plasma cells generated in gut-associated lymphoid tissues from naive B
      cells in response to stimulations of the intestinal bacteria and components.
      Research on generation, migration, and maintenance of IgA-secreting cells is
      important in our effort to understand the biology of IgA responses and to help
      better design vaccines against intestinal infections. 

PMID- 25837998
TI  - The development and function of thymic B cells.
AB  - Thymic B cells are a unique population of B lymphocytes that reside at the
      cortico-medullary junction of the thymus, an organ that is specialized for the
      development and selection of T cells. These B cells are distinct from peripheral
      B cells both in terms of their origin and phenotype. Multiple lines of evidence
      suggest that they develop within the thymus from B lineage-committed progenitors
      and are not recirculating peripheral B cells. Furthermore, thymic B cells have a
      highly activated phenotype. Because of their location in the thymic medulla, they
      have been thought to play a role in T cell negative selection. Thymic B cells are
      capable of inducing negative selection in a number of model antigen systems,
      including viral super antigen, peptides from immunoglobulin, and cognate self
      antigen presented by B cell receptor-mediated uptake. These findings establish
      thymic B cells as a novel and important population to study; however, much work
      remains to be done to understand how all of these unique aspects of thymic B cell
      biology inform their function. 

PMID- 25838000
TI  - Low self-esteem and positive beliefs about smoking: a destructive combination for
      male college students.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Men exhibit higher rates of smoking relative to women (CDC, 2014).
      Given the associated health and socio-economic consequences, it would be valuable
      to explore the psychological factors underlying this variance. We contend that
      positive beliefs about smoking influence this difference, and that self-esteem
      moderates these beliefs. METHOD: As part of a multi-institutional collaborative
      study funded by the American Legacy Foundation, 445 participants who reported
      being either steady or occasional smokers completed a series of questionnaires
      assessing their beliefs and behaviors involving smoking as well as several
      dispositional variables. Moderated mediation was used to test for conditional
      indirect effects. RESULTS: The total, indirect, and direct effects of gender were
      significant for individuals with lower, but not higher self-esteem. Males with
      lower self-esteem exhibited more positive beliefs and smoking behavior than
      females with lower self-esteem. No differences between males and females with
      higher self-esteem were observed. CONCLUSION: The gender gap in smoking behavior
      appears to occur primarily among individuals with lower self-esteem. It is a
      particularly detrimental risk factor for males, as it is related to higher
      positive views about smoking and increased tobacco consumption. These results
      highlight the importance of developing multifaceted gender specific belief-based
      preventative interventions to address smoking related behaviors.

PMID- 25837999
TI  - The mechanism of ageing: primary role of transposable elements in genome
      disintegration.
AB  - Understanding the molecular basis of ageing remains a fundamental problem in
      biology. In multicellular organisms, while the soma undergoes a progressive
      deterioration over the lifespan, the germ line is essentially immortal as it
      interconnects the subsequent generations. Genomic instability in somatic cells
      increases with age, and accumulating evidence indicates that the disintegration
      of somatic genomes is accompanied by the mobilisation of transposable elements
      (TEs) that, when mobilised, can be mutagenic by disrupting coding or regulatory
      sequences. In contrast, TEs are effectively silenced in the germ line by the Piwi
      piRNA system. Here, we propose that TE repression transmits the persistent
      proliferation capacity and the non-ageing phenotype (e.g., preservation of
      genomic integrity) of the germ line. The Piwi-piRNA pathway also operates in
      tumorous cells and in somatic cells of certain organisms, including hydras, which
      likewise exhibit immortality. However, in somatic cells lacking the Piwi-piRNA
      pathway, gradual chromatin decondensation increasingly allows the mobilisation of
      TEs as the organism ages. This can explain why the mortality rate rises
      exponentially throughout the adult life in most animal species, including humans.

PMID- 25838001
TI  - Attentional bias and treatment adherence in substitute-prescribed opiate users.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Attentional bias (AB) is implicated in the development and
      maintenance of substance dependence and in treatment outcome. We assessed the
      effects of attentional bias modification (ABM), and the relationship between AB
      and treatment adherence in opiate dependent patients. METHOD: An independent
      groups design was used to compare 23 opiate dependent patients with 21 healthy
      controls. Participants completed an AB task before either a control or an ABM
      task designed to train attention away from substance-related stimuli. Pre- and
      post-ABM AB and craving were assessed to determine any changes. Relationships
      between treatment adherence ('using on top' of prescribed opiates or not) and AB,
      craving and psychopathology were also examined. RESULTS: There was no baseline
      difference in AB between patients and controls, and no significant effect of ABM
      on AB or substance craving. However, treatment adherent patients who did not use
      illicit opiates on top of their prescribed opiates had statistically
      significantly greater AB away from substance-related stimuli than both
      participants using on top and controls, and reported significantly lower levels
      of craving than non-treatment adherent patients. CONCLUSION: Whilst we did not
      find any significant effects of ABM on AB or craving, patients who were treatment
      adherent differed from both those who were not and from controls in their
      attentional functioning and substance craving. These findings are the first to
      suggest that AB may be a within-treatment factor predictive of adherence to
      pharmacological treatment and potentially of recovery in opiate users.

PMID- 25838002
TI  - Toward understanding the role of the neuron-specific BAF chromatin remodeling
      complex in memory formation.
AB  - The long-term storage of memory requires the finely tuned coordination of
      intracellular signaling with the transcriptional, translational and epigenetic
      regulations of gene expression. Among the epigenetic mechanisms, however, we know
      relatively little about the involvement of chromatin remodeling-dependent control
      of gene expression in cognitive brain functions, compared with our knowledge of
      other such mechanisms (for example, histone modifications and DNA methylation). A
      few recent studies have implicated the Brm/Brg-associated factor (BAF) chromatin
      remodeling complex, a mammalian homolog of the yeast Swi/Snf complex, in neuronal
      structural/functional plasticity and memory formation. The BAF complex was
      previously known to have a critical role in neurodevelopment, but these recent
      findings indicate that it also contributes to both cognitive functions in the
      adult brain and human mental disorders characterized by intellectual disability.
      In this review, we provide a brief overview of the BAF complexes, introduce
      recent research findings that link their functions to memory formation, and
      speculate on the yet-unknown molecular mechanisms that may be relevant to these
      processes. 

PMID- 25838003
TI  - MyD88-BLT2-dependent cascade contributes to LPS-induced interleukin-6 production
      in mouse macrophage.
AB  - Endotoxic responses to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) are triggered by Toll
      like receptor 4 (TLR4) and involve the production of inflammatory mediators,
      including interleukin-6 (IL-6), by macrophages. The detailed mechanism of IL-6
      production by macrophages in response to LPS has remained unclear, however. We
      now show that LPS induces IL-6 synthesis in mouse peritoneal macrophages via the
      leukotriene B4 receptor BLT2. Our results suggest that TLR4-MyD88 signaling
      functions upstream of BLT2 and that the generation of reactive oxygen species
      (ROS) by NADPH oxidase 1 (Nox1) and consequent activation of the transcription
      factor nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB function downstream of BLT2 in this response.
      These results suggest that a TLR4-MyD88-BLT2-Nox1-ROS-NF-kappaB pathway
      contributes to the synthesis of IL-6 in LPS-stimulated mouse macrophages. 

PMID- 25838004
TI  - Education for global oral health: progress in improving awareness and defining
      competencies.

PMID- 25838005
TI  - A competency matrix for global oral health.
AB  - The Lancet Commission on Education of Health Professionals for the 21(st) Century
      calls for enhancing health education for the needs and challenges of the 21st
      century to improve health status globally. To complement the Lancet report, this
      article makes recommendations for including core global health competencies in
      the education of health care professionals and specific groups of the public who
      are relevant to oral health in a global context in order to tackle the burden of
      oral diseases. Experts from various professional backgrounds developed global
      oral health competencies for four target groups: Group 1 was defined as dental
      students, residents/trainee specialists (or equivalent), and dentists; Group 2
      was community health workers, dental hygienists, and dental therapists (or the
      equivalent); Group 3 was health professionals such as physicians, physician
      assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists; and Group 4 was non
      health professionals in the public arena such as parents, teachers, decision
      makers, key opinion leaders, and health and consumer advocates. Key competencies
      for members of each of the four target groups are presented in a matrix. The
      suggested competency matrix shows that many other health professions and groups
      in society have potentially crucial roles in the prevention, control, and
      management of oral diseases globally. Workforce models including a wider range of
      professionals working together as a team will be needed to tackle the burden of
      oral diseases in an integrated way in the broader context of non-communicable
      diseases. Further discussion and research should be conducted to validate or
      improve the competencies proposed here with regard to their relevance,
      appropriateness, and completeness. 

PMID- 25838006
TI  - Impact of the NBDE grading change on postgraduate admissions processes.
AB  - The aim of this study was to assess the effect of discontinuing the reporting of
      National Board Dental Examination (NBDE) Part I numerical scores on postgraduate
      program directors' admissions selection processes. This cross-sectional survey
      based study collected information about two admissions cycles (2012-13 and 2013
      14) from directors of American Dental Education Association Postdoctoral
      Application Support Service (ADEA PASS(SM)) programs in all postdoctoral training
      disciplines; the response rate was 54.5%. According to the 2012-13 cycle results,
      these program directors rated an NBDE Part I score the third most important part
      of an application, behind grade point average (GPA) and class rank (ranked first
      and second, respectively). In the 2013-14 cycle, in the absence of an NBDE Part I
      score, almost all other parts of the application increased in importance for the
      responding directors, but the relative rank of factors remained almost unchanged.
      Significantly, 71% of the directors reported that it was now more difficult to
      select interview candidates, and 76% said they wanted some form of national,
      numerically scored exam. No significant change was noted between the two years in
      the number of applications or interviews offered per resident position, although
      the standard deviation of the number of interviews offered increased in both
      pediatric dentistry and postdoctoral general dentistry. 

PMID- 25838007
TI  - Factors influencing dental students' specialty choice: a survey of ten graduating
      classes at one institution.
AB  - The aim of this study was to survey ten graduating classes at Harvard School of
      Dental Medicine regarding students' specialty choice and factors influencing that
      choice. Students were surveyed once in 2008 (for the Classes of 2007-11) and
      again in 2013 (for the Classes of 2012-16). A prior article reported results
      regarding students' interest in and experiences with prosthodontics; this article
      presents results regarding their interest in all dental specialties and factors
      influencing those interests. Of a total 176 students in the Classes of 2012-16,
      143 responded to the survey, for a response rate of 81%, compared to a 95%
      response rate (167 of total 176 students) for the Classes of 2007-11. The results
      showed that orthodontics was the most popular specialty choice, followed by oral
      and maxillofacial surgery. From the 2008 to the 2013 survey groups, there was an
      increase in the percentages of students planning to pursue oral and maxillofacial
      surgery, pediatric dentistry, and postdoctoral general dentistry. The educational
      debt these students expected to accrue by graduation also increased. The largest
      percentage of students chose "enjoyment of providing the specialty service" as
      the factor most influencing their specialty choice. "Prior dental school
      experience" and "faculty influence" were greater influences for students pursuing
      specialties than those pursuing postdoctoral general dentistry. Increased
      interest in particular disciplines may be driven by high debt burdens students
      face upon graduation. Factors related to mentoring especially influenced students
      pursuing specialties, demonstrating the importance of student experiences outside
      direct patient care for exposure to the work of specialists beyond the scope of
      predoctoral training. This finding suggests that dental schools should increase
      mentoring efforts to help students make career decisions based not on financial
      burden but rather on personal interest in the specialty, which is likely to have
      a more satisfying result for them in the long run. 

PMID- 25838008
TI  - Tobacco dependence education in U.S. Dental assisting programs' curricula.
AB  - The aim of this study was to assess the level of tobacco dependence education
      (TDE) in the curricula of U.S. dental assisting programs and to compare the
      findings to those from a similar assessment of dental hygiene curricula. In the
      2012-13 academic year, a 51-item survey was sent to directors of all 298
      accredited dental assisting programs. Assessed were curricular TDE content, time
      spent on each topic, expected levels of clinical competence, and resources used.
      Of the 298 potential participants, 89 programs returned completed surveys, for a
      response rate of 30%. Of the 13 TDE-related content areas, those most often
      covered were oral disease related to tobacco use (100%) and general diseases
      related to tobacco use (93%); those least often covered were stages of (behavior)
      change (29%), how to develop a comprehensive tobacco intervention program in a
      private office setting (23%), and strategies for community-based tobacco control
      (22%). Responding program directors indicated the following levels of tobacco
      cessation intervention at which students should demonstrate competence: brief,
      44%; moderate, 55%; intensive, 8%. Less than half of the reporting programs
      conducted a formal assessment of clinical competence in any TDE-related skills;
      however, skills in assessing patient tobacco use and associating head and neck
      findings to tobacco use were formally or informally assessed by 74% and 61%,
      respectively. Compared to dental hygiene programs, TDE appeared to play a smaller
      role in the curricula of dental assisting programs, and dental assisting programs
      were less likely to formally assess clinical competence in TDE. 

PMID- 25838009
TI  - Patient satisfaction surveys in dental school clinics: a review and comparison.
AB  - Health care is becoming more patient-centered and, as a result, patients'
      experiences of care and assessment of satisfaction are taken more seriously.
      Patient satisfaction influences treatment cooperation, and better cooperation
      leads to healthier patients in the long term. This generalization clearly applies
      in the dental school clinic setting. Furthermore, dental school clinics'
      administrators and clinicians should know about the dimensions of their patient
      satisfaction in order to provide the highest quality of care. The aim of this
      study was to review studies published between 1980 and March 2014 to identify the
      dimensions used to measure patients' satisfaction when they receive services in
      dental school clinics. The PubMed database was used to access published studies
      using patient satisfaction surveys in dental school clinics, and the dimensions
      used in these surveys were then categorized. Through several stages of searching
      in PubMed, the authors selected 41 articles from a total of 730; after further
      critical appraisal, nine articles were retained. Five dimensions included in
      patient surveys were identified: quality, interaction, access, environment, and
      cost. Determining the dimensions used in patient satisfaction surveys in dental
      school clinics can assist academic dental institutions in providing the highest
      quality of care. 

PMID- 25838010
TI  - Are more endodontic consultations needed in dental school clinic settings? A
      study of treatment decisions at one school.
AB  - With no previous studies of the occurrence of interdisciplinary consultations for
      tooth extraction in a dental school clinic setting, the aim of this cross
      sectional descriptive investigation was to measure and compare the consultation
      process that occurred among departments at one U.S. dental school for making
      treatment decisions on tooth extraction. A comprehensive computerized retrieval
      (Crystal Reports) was used to identify and gather data from patient records from
      July 1, 2007, to July 1, 2011. Treatment plans and progress notes were analyzed
      to determine why each tooth had been extracted and which department had
      recommended the extraction. Results showed that the clinical departments involved
      in treatment planning decisions were the DMD dental student clinic, Department of
      Periodontics, and Department of Endodontics. The narrative records of 227
      patients who had 516 teeth extracted were examined. About three-fourths (73.26%)
      of the extracted teeth were extracted based on the recommendation of only one
      department. Of these extracted teeth, 22.0% (n=114) were previously
      endodontically treated, and only four were recommended for endodontic
      consultation prior to extraction. The study found that most extractions were
      performed without specialty consultations and that the Department of Endodontics
      was consulted the least of all departments. To foster interdisciplinary
      collaboration in dental school clinics and help students develop expertise in
      such collaborations, more specialty consultations are needed for teeth that are
      treatment planned for extraction in order to preclude needless extraction of
      potentially salvageable teeth. Doing so will provide benefits for both patient
      care and students' education. 

PMID- 25838011
TI  - An "XL" endodontics intervention for dental students required to repeat the
      course: changing frustration to improved grades and attitudes.
AB  - Given the psychological and financial costs involved with failing a clinical
      course, especially in developing countries, an alternative educational method was
      tested with students who had to repeat the year-long endodontic course at the
      University of Chile Faculty of Dentistry. The objectives of the intervention were
      to deepen theoretical knowledge and practical experiences, as well as to
      reinforce personal confidence in an endodontic clinical setting for students who
      failed the regular endodontic course. The aim of this study was to evaluate the
      success of this new model of educational intervention. In the study, 28 students
      who had failed the endodontic course repeated it with an alternative teaching
      method. The students attended patients immediately following practical competence
      exams, and they had access to simulated models that used rotary instruments and
      access cavities and had emergency care practice. Feedback sessions were held
      after each clinical session. Final grades were compared with those of other
      students who repeated the course without the intervention from 2007 to 2009. A
      survey was administered to understand the causes of initial failure and their
      opinions of the intervention. Students who participated in the alternative course
      did significantly better than their counterparts from previous years who did not
      receive the intervention (5.7+/-0.3 vs. 5.4+/-0.2; p<0.05). Their overall
      perception of the intervention was positive, and the main cause for previous
      course failure was personal insecurity and slow clinical care performance (54.2%
      of the students). The intervention course not only improved grades but also
      generated interest in endodontics, a contrasting perspective to the frustration
      students usually express after repeating the course. The results of this study
      support the introduction of similar interventions in endodontics and perhaps
      other courses. 

PMID- 25838012
TI  - Dental students' perceived preparedness to treat patients in clinic after a fixed
      prosthodontics course: survey results of a case study.
AB  - Previous research regarding dental students has found modest predictive value in
      preclinical didactic course grades in predicting clinical performance, but
      systematic assessment of students' feedback on their perceived preparedness has
      received little attention as a preclinical assessment methodology. The aim of
      this study was to assess the perceptions of the dental students at one U.S.
      academic dental institution regarding their preparedness for clinical performance
      following the preclinical fixed prosthodontics course. Third- and fourth-year
      dental students participated in a survey about their perceived preparedness to
      diagnose and treat patients with fixed prosthodontics needs in the school's
      dental clinics. The respondents (79 out of 161 students, for a response rate of
      49%) rated each item on a five-point Likert scale. Responses about which
      preclinical procedures of the course prepared students the least and the best
      were consistent for the third- and fourth-year students. Less than 60% of all
      responding students felt prepared for planning complex cases and performing
      laboratory-related procedures. The findings of this study indicate that
      improvement is required in teaching students about laboratory procedures and
      problem-solving to adequately prepare them for clinical treatment of patients
      with fixed prosthodontics needs. 

PMID- 25838013
TI  - Effects of team-based learning on fixed prosthodontic education in a Japanese
      School of Dentistry.
AB  - The aims of this study were to evaluate the quality of team-based learning (TBL)
      in prosthodontics education for fourth-year dental students at Tokushima
      University School of Dentistry and to compare this teaching method with
      traditional lecture-based delivery. Participants in the study were 36 students
      (22 males and 14 females) who attended the TBL-style fixed prosthodontics course.
      Ten 60-minute classes were held. The first three were traditional lecture-style
      classes and were followed by one class introducing the TBL style. The remaining
      six classes constituted the TBL-format fixed prosthodontics course. The
      effectiveness of TBL was evaluated through student questionnaires at the end of
      each class and the results of the term-end examination. The questionnaire
      revealed high student approval for TBL-style learning, and active group
      discussion among students during TBL was a key factor in these ratings. In the
      results of the term-end examination, there were significantly higher scores on
      the questions that covered TBL-taught material than those covering traditional
      lecture-taught topics. The results of this study suggest that TBL-style lecture
      was more effective than traditional-style lecture for teaching fixed
      prosthodontics and that TBL was a more efficient mode of delivering dental
      education than traditional lecture-based teaching. 

PMID- 25838014
TI  - Health professions ethics rubric: validation of reliability in an
      interprofessional health ethics course.
AB  - The aim of this study was to validate a health professions ethics rubric by an
      interprofessional team. The rubric was used by two pharmacy and two dental
      faculty members to score ethics cases submitted by 16 teams comprised of 80
      pharmacy and 50 dental students. A debriefing session for each case was moderated
      by a non-rater faculty member to arrive at a consensus score for the cases.
      Interrater reliability was calculated for the four raters and the debriefing
      scores as well as the four raters without the debriefing scores. The overall
      interrater correlations were in the range of 0.790 to 0.906 for the four raters.
      Issues ranged from 0.320 to 0.758. Principles ranged from 0.610 to 0.838. Options
      ranged from 0.655 to 0.843. Analysis ranged from 0.667 to 0.918. Solution ranged
      from 0.739 to 0.886. With the inclusion of the consensus scores, the interrater
      correlations were even higher. The best correlations were for the overall score
      and solution components of the rubric. With further edits in the rubric and
      enhanced training by faculty raters and changes in the ethics learning session,
      the revised rubric could be evaluated again for grading. Further training for
      faculty using the rubric for grading student cases should enhance its
      reliability. Demonstrating to students the ethical decision making process using
      the rubric should enhance the validation process. 

PMID- 25838015
TI  - Considerations for use of dental photography and electronic media in dental
      education and clinical practice.
AB  - Photography and electronic media are indispensable tools for dental education and
      clinical practice. Although previous research has focused on privacy issues and
      general strategies to protect patient privacy when sharing clinical photographs
      for educational purposes, there are no published recommendations for developing a
      functional, privacy-compliant institutional framework for the capture, storage,
      transfer, and use of clinical photographs and other electronic media. The aims of
      this study were to research patient rights relating to electronic media and
      propose a framework for the use of patient media in education and clinical care.
      After a review of the relevant literature and consultation with the University of
      Washington's director of privacy and compliance and assistant attorney general,
      the researchers developed a privacy-compliant framework to ensure appropriate
      capture, storage, transfer, and use of clinical photography and electronic media.
      A four-part framework was created to guide the use of patient media that reflects
      considerations of patient autonomy and privacy, informed consent, capture and
      storage of media, and its transfer, use, and display. The best practices proposed
      for capture, storage, transfer, and use of clinical photographs and electronic
      media adhere to the health care code of ethics (based on patient autonomy,
      nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and veracity), which is most effectively
      upheld by a practical framework designed to protect patients and limit
      institutional liability. Educators have the opportunity and duty to convey these
      principles to students who will become the next generation of dentists,
      researchers, and educators. 

PMID- 25838016
TI  - Development of a mobile device optimized cross platform-compatible oral pathology
      and radiology spaced repetition system for dental education.
AB  - Combining active recall testing with spaced repetition increases memory
      retention. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare students' perception
      and utilization of an electronic spaced repetition oral pathology-radiology
      system in dental hygiene education and predoctoral dental education. The study
      employed an open-source suite of applications to create electronic "flashcards"
      that can be individually adjusted for frequency of repetition, depending on a
      user's assessment of difficulty. Accessible across multiple platforms (iOS,
      Android, Linux, OSX, Windows) as well as via any web-based browser, this
      framework was used to develop an oral radiology-oral pathology database of case
      based questions. This system was introduced in two courses: sophomore oral
      pathology for dental students and sophomore radiology for dental hygiene
      students. Students were provided free software and/or mobile tablet devices as
      well as a database of 300 electronic question cards. Study participants were
      surveyed on frequency and extent of use. Perception-based surveys were used to
      evaluate their attitudes towards this technology. Of the eligible students, 12 of
      22 (54.5%) dental hygiene and 49 of 107 (45.8%) dental students responded to the
      surveys. Adoption rates and student feedback were compared between the two
      groups. Among the respondents, acceptance of this technology with respect to
      educational usefulness was similar for the dental and dental hygiene students
      (median=5 on a five-point scale; dental hygiene interquartile range (IQR)=0;
      dental IQR=1). Only a minority of the survey respondents (25% dental, 33% dental
      hygiene) took advantage of one of the main benefits of this technology: automated
      spaced repetition. 

PMID- 25838018
TI  - Improvement of fecal incontinence and quality of life by electrical stimulation
      and biofeedback for patients with low rectal cancer after intersphincteric
      resection.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and benefits of pelvic rehabilitation programs
      in terms of functional outcomes and quality of life for patients with fecal
      incontinence and defecation disorders after rectal cancer surgery. DESIGN:
      Prospective, observational study. SETTING: University hospital physiotherapy
      clinics. PARTICIPANTS: Patients (N=32) who experienced fecal incontinence after
      sphincter-saving surgery with the intersphincteric resection (ISR) technique and
      could follow and cooperate with the treatment schedule were included in the
      present study. INTERVENTIONS: Pelvic rehabilitation programs included electrical
      stimulation (ES) and biofeedback (BF). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Functional results,
      Wexner score, and anorectal manometry were used to assess the clinical outcomes
      of rehabilitation treatment. RESULTS: Maximum squeeze pressure improved after
      rehabilitation training (P=.014). There were no statistical differences in
      resting pressure, resting muscle electromyography, and maximum squeeze
      electromyography (P=.061, P=.76, and P=.99, respectively). The mean stool
      frequency was 18.8 per 24 hours before the pelvic intervention program and 7.8
      per 24 hours after ES and BF training (P<.001). Of the 32 patients, 27 required
      antidiarrheal medications before treatment, and after completion of the training,
      only 9 patients still needed antidiarrheal medications (P<.001). Significant
      improvements were observed in the Wexner score (17.74 vs 12.93; P<.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that ES and BF are effective in the treatment of fecal
      incontinence, leading to improvement of quality of life for patients with low
      rectal cancer after ISR.

PMID- 25838019
TI  - Evaluating Siebens Domain Management Model for inpatient rehabilitation to
      increase functional independence and discharge rate to home in geriatric
      patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the Siebens Domain Management Model (SDMM) for geriatric
      inpatient rehabilitation (IR) to increase functional independence and
      dispositions to home. DESIGN: Before and after study. SETTING: IR facility.
      PARTICIPANTS: During 2010 (preintervention), 429 patients aged >=75 years who
      were on average admitted to IR 8.2 days postacute care, and during 2012
      (postintervention), 524 patients aged >=75 years who were on average admitted to
      IR 5.5 days postacute care. Case-mix group (CMG) comorbidity tier severity,
      preadmission living setting, and living support were similar in both groups.
      INTERVENTION: The SDMM involving weekly adjustments of IR care focused on
      potential barriers to discharge home. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: FIM efficiency,
      length of stay (LOS), and disposition rates to community/home, acute care, and
      long-term care (LTC) to compare pre-/postintervention facility data and
      comparison of facility to national CMG-adjusted data from the Uniform Data System
      for Medical Rehabilitation for both years (2010/2012). RESULTS: Pre
      /postintervention group admission FIM scores were similar (t=2.96, P<.003), but
      the preintervention group had on average 2.6 days greater LOS during IR and
      greater time to onset of IR (8.2 vs 5.5d) from acute care. Preintervention FIM
      efficiency was 2.1, whereas postintervention FIM efficiency was 2.76, a
      significant difference (t=4.1, P<.0001). There were significantly more discharges
      to the community in the postintervention group (74.4%) than the preintervention
      group (58.5%, chi(2)=26.2, P<.0001). There were significantly fewer patients
      discharged to LTC in the postintervention group (chi(2)=30.47, P<.0001). The
      preintervention group did not significantly differ from the 2010 national data,
      but the postintervention group significantly differed from the 2012 national data
      for both greater FIM efficiency (t=-5.5, P<.0001) and greater discharge to
      community (chi(2)=34, P<.0001). LOS decreased by 2.6 days in the postintervention
      group compared with the preintervention group, whereas LOS decreased by only 0.6
      days nationally from 2010 to 2012, a significant difference with postintervention
      LOS lower than the national data (t=31.1, P<.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Use of the SDMM
      during IR in geriatric patients is associated with increased functional
      independence and discharges to home/community and reduced institutionalization.

PMID- 25838020
TI  - Bone density in premenopausal women and men under 50 years of age with cerebral
      palsy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine bone mineral density (BMD) z scores in adults with
      cerebral palsy (CP), an understudied population. DESIGN: Cross-sectional.
      SETTING: Medical facility. PARTICIPANTS: Adults (N=48; mean age, 34.3+/-5.8y;
      range, 25-46y) with CP. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: BMD
      z scores at the lumbar spine and hip using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry,
      Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), body mass index (BMI), and
      ambulatory status. RESULTS: Mean BMD z scores were -1.40 for the lumbar spine, 
      1.36 for the total hip, and -1.02 for the femoral neck. The z scores were
      significantly lower for the nonambulatory group at all 3 sites (P<.05).
      Significant differences were found among GMFCS levels for the lumbar spine and
      total hip z scores (P<.05). For the lumbar spine, the mean z scores for level V
      (the lowest mobility level) were significantly lower than the mean for levels
      I/II (P=.001), III (P=.002), and IV (P=.013). For the total hip, the mean z
      scores for level V were significantly lower than the mean for levels I/II
      (P=.045). A significant positive relationship between the z scores and age was
      found for the lumbar spine (Spearman rho=.40, P=.005). Significant positive
      relationships between BMI and z scores were found for all sites (P<.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes to the sparse literature about bone health in
      adults with CP. In contrast with pediatric data, z scores did not decrease as a
      function of age in this adult cohort. This information is important for
      clinicians considering treatment options for this population.

PMID- 25838021
TI  - Air quality, stroke, and coronary events: results of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall
      Study from the Ruhr Region.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that air pollution is associated with
      cardiopulmonary mortality, but there has been less research of the possible
      effect of air pollution on stroke and non-fatal coronary events. The Heinz
      Nixdorf Recall (HNR) study addressed the question of the effect of long-term air
      pollution on stroke and coronary events. Ambient acoustic noise was also
      considered as a risk factor. METHODS: The HNR study, initiated in 2000, is a
      prospective, population-based cohort study in the Ruhr region of Germany. Long
      term exposure to fine-particle dust (PM10, PM2.5 and PM(2.5abs) [carbon black
      content]) and traffic noise at the subjects' home addresses were determined using
      land-use regression and dispersion models, respectively. Strokes and coronary
      events were ascertained from patient records by an independent end-point
      committee on the basis of predefined study criteria. The adjusted hazard ratio
      (HR) was calculated using Cox regression analysis for an increase in
      concentration from the 5th to the 95th percentile for each exposure. RESULTS:
      Data from 4433 subjects were evaluated. The incidence of stroke was 2.03 per 1000
      person-years (PY), and that of coronary events was 3.87 per 1000 PY. The highest
      hazard ratios for stroke were seen for PM10 (HR 2.61, 95% confidence interval
      [CI] 1.13-6.00) and PM2.5 (HR 3.20, 95% CI 1.26-8.09). The highest hazard ratios
      for coronary events were found for PM10 (HR 1.07, 95% CI 0.56-2.04) and for
      PM(2.5abs) (HR 1.37, 95% CI 0.80-2.36). CONCLUSION: Long-term exposure to fine
      particle dust is associated with a higher risk of stroke, regardless of the
      subject's exposure to noise at his or her home address. The results for coronary
      events are less clear, but still suggest increased risk.

PMID- 25838022
TI  - Lyme carditis--diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There are 60,000 to 100,000 new cases of borreliosis in Germany each
      year. This infectious disease most commonly affects the skin, joints, and nervous
      system. Lyme carditis is a rare manifestation with potentially lethal
      complications. METHODS: This review is based on selected publications on the
      clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme carditis, and on the
      authors' scientific and clinical experience. RESULTS: Lyme carditis is seen in 4%
      to 10% of all patients with Lyme borreliosis. Whenever the clinical suspicion of
      Lyme carditis arises, an ECG is mandatory for the detection or exclusion of an
      atrioventricular conduction block. Patients with a PQ interval longer than 300 ms
      need continuous ECG monitoring. 90% of patients with Lyme carditis develop
      cardiac conduction abnormalities, and 60% develop signs of perimyocarditis.
      Borrelia serology (ELISA) may still be negative in the early phase of the
      condition, but is always positive in later phases. Cardiac MRI can be used to
      confirm the diagnosis and to monitor the patient's subsequent course. The
      treatment of choice is with antibiotics, preferably ceftriaxone. The cardiac
      conduction disturbances are usually reversible, and the implantation of a
      permanent pacemaker is only exceptionally necessary. There is no clear evidence
      at present for an association between borreliosis and the later development of a
      dilated cardiomyopathy. When Lyme carditis is treated according to the current
      guidelines, its prognosis is highly favorable. CONCLUSION: Lyme carditis is among
      the rarer manifestations of Lyme borreliosis but must nevertheless be considered
      prominently in differential diagnosis because of the potentially severe cardiac
      arrhythmias that it can cause.

PMID- 25838023
TI  - Unethical approach.

PMID- 25838024
TI  - Questionable pooling of data.

PMID- 25838025
TI  - In reply.

PMID- 25838026
TI  - Years of life lost.

PMID- 25838027
TI  - Global burden of disease study is of oncological interest.

PMID- 25838028
TI  - In reply.

PMID- 25838030
TI  - An interview with Manuel Salto-Tellez on diagnostic pathology: the future is
      morphomolecular.
AB  - Interview with Professor Manuel Salto-Tellez by Claire Raison, Commissioning
      Editor Professor Manuel Salto-Tellez of Queen's University, Belfast, Northern
      Ireland is an expert histopathologist and molecular diagnostician. Professor
      Salto-Tellez is a lead investigator at the Northern Ireland Molecular Pathology
      Laboratory and also serves as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Expert
      Review of Molecular Diagnostics. In this interview, he proposes directions for
      the future of molecular pathology and molecular diagnostics, integrating all
      aspects of pathology toward a common goal. 

PMID- 25838031
TI  - Association between overactive bladder and peri-menopause syndrome: a cross
      sectional study of female physicians in China.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the detailed association between overactive bladder (OAB)
      and peri-menopause syndrome (PMpS) in Chinese female physicians of peri
      menopausal age. METHODS: Data for this study were collected by administering
      questionnaires eliciting general information (peri-menopausal symptoms and OAB
      status) to middle-aged female physicians, from the directly affiliated three
      hospitals of Peking University in China. We used the overactive bladder symptom
      score (OABSS) to verify the symptoms of OAB and the modified Kupperman menopausal
      index (KMI) to assess PMpS. RESULTS: Three hundred fifty-one questionnaires were
      finally evaluated. The average age was 47.1 +/- 5.4 years. Overall, 7.4% of
      respondents had OAB and 22.6% had PMpS. There was a significant positive
      correlation between the severity of OAB and prevalence of OAB and PMpS. The
      prevalence of OAB in women with PMpS (KMI > 15) was significantly increased
      (18.99 vs. 4.44%; P = 0.000). The average OABSS in women with PMpS was 2.67 +/-
      2.15, compared with 1.46 +/- 1.50 in women without PMpS. The average KMI score in
      women with OAB was 16.04 +/- 10.1, compared with 9.50 +/- 8.13 in women without
      OAB (P = 0.000). Multivariate logistic regression analysis results showed that
      only BMI and PMpS were independent risk factors for OAB. CONCLUSIONS: In China,
      female physicians with menopausal symptoms tend to have a higher prevalence of
      OAB and more severe symptoms of OAB.

PMID- 25838032
TI  - Revisiting the tethered ureteral stents in children: a novel modification.
AB  - PURPOSE: To propose a simple noninvasive method for ureteral stent retrieval
      using an extraction string sutured to the skin in children. METHODS: A
      retrospective chart review was performed to gather relevant data from December
      2005 to February 2013. After the surgeries, if indicated, a tethered double-J
      stent was placed in the ureter. A 5-0 non-absorbable Prolene stitch was used as
      an extraction string passing through the urethra and was sutured to subcoronal
      skin in boys or inner surface of labia majora in girls. For stent removal, a
      small amount of 2 % lidocaine jelly was pushed into the urethra 5 min before the
      procedure. The string was then pulled by continuous and gentle force until the
      entire stent was out. The suture was then cut to release the stent. No sedation
      or anesthesia was needed. RESULTS: A total of 378 double-J stents with extraction
      strings were inserted for a total of 325 patients (61.2 % male). Of the 53
      patients with bilateral ureteral stents, one male patient (1.88 %) experienced
      early stent protrusion from urethral meatus. Two of 272 patients (0.73 %) with
      unilateral ureteral stent (one male and one female) encountered the same problem.
      All other stents were extracted successfully using the extraction string without
      any complications. No upward stent migration or suture site reaction was
      encountered. CONCLUSION: This method is a safe, easy-to-use, feasible and
      noninvasive alternative for cystoscopic stent removal with high success rate and
      minimal complications. This can lead to considerable saving in time and costs for
      patients, families and healthcare system.

PMID- 25838033
TI  - The comparison of GLUT-4 and nNOS expression in diabetic and non-diabetic
      patients with BPH/LUTS.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare glucose transporter-4 (GLUT-4) and
      neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) expression in diabetic and non-diabetic
      patients who underwent TUR-P or transvesical prostatectomy with the diagnosis of
      BPH. METHODS: Thirty diabetic patients with an average age of 58 and 30 non
      diabetic patients with that of 56 were included in the study. T-PSA, IPSS, Q max
      value and prostate volume were compared between the two groups. The stromal and
      glandular staining scores of GLUT-4 and nNOS expression were compared. Student's
      t test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: There
      was no statistically significant difference in terms of age, IPSS, Qmax and PSA.
      Patients with diabetes had larger prostate volumes (p = 0.02). Mean GLUT-4
      glandular total scores in diabetic and non-diabetic patients were 3.36 +/- 1.21
      and 2.1 +/- 1.39, respectively, whereas stromal total scores were 3.63 +/- 1.12
      and 2.46 +/- 1.33, and they were both statistically significant (p = 0.028 and p
      = 0.032, respectively). Glandular total nNOS scores in diabetic and non-diabetic
      patients were 4.53 +/- 1.0 and 2.80 +/- 1.12, while stromal total scores were
      1.76 +/- 1,0 and 2.30 +/- 1.08 and they were found to be statistically
      significant (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.037, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: GLUT-4
      expression was found higher in prostatic tissue of the patients with diabetes
      mellitus. The expression value of nNOS was higher in the glandular area in
      diabetic patients, while stromal area expression score was higher in non-diabetic
      patients. Although our findings indicate important results, carefully designed
      further studies are needed to better comprehend the role of GLUT-4 and NOS
      pathways in BPH/LUTS pathophysiology.

PMID- 25838034
TI  - Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Response in Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis: The
      Possible Role of Physical Exercise.
AB  - Sedentary lifestyle coupled with excessive consumption of high caloric food has
      been related to the epidemic increase of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which
      can progress from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH),
      fibrosis, cirrhosis and, eventually, may culminate in hepatocellular carcinoma.
      Although the precise mechanisms underlying the progression of NASH are not
      completely understood, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) dysfunction seems to play a key
      role in the process. Hepatic ER stress has been associated to hepatic steatosis,
      insulin resistance, inflammation, oxidative stress and hepatocyte death,
      contributing to liver dysfunction. Physical exercise seems to be the most
      effective preventive and therapeutic non-pharmacological strategy to mitigate
      several features related to NASH, possibly targeting most of the referred
      mechanisms associated with the pathophysiology of ER-related NASH. Nevertheless,
      little is known about the impact of physical exercise on NASH-related ER stress.
      In this review, we will discuss the ER stress associated to NASH conditions and
      highlight the possible benefits of physical exercise in the attenuation and/or
      reversion of NASH-related ER stress. 

PMID- 25838035
TI  - A review of potential metabolic etiologies of the observed association between
      red meat consumption and development of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
AB  - Epidemiological studies suggest that red and processed meat consumption is
      related to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. However, it is not clearly
      understood which components of red and processed meat contribute to this
      increased risk. This review examines potential mechanisms addressing the role of
      saturated fatty acid, sodium, advanced glycation end products (AGEs),
      nitrates/nitrites, heme iron, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), branched amino acids
      (BCAAs) and endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDCs) in the development of type 2
      diabetes based on data from published clinical trials and animal models. TMAO
      which is derived from dietary carnitine and choline by the action of bacterial
      enzymes followed by oxidation in the liver may be a strong candidate molecule
      mediating the risk of type 2 diabetes. BCAAs may induce insulin resistance via
      the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) and ribosomal protein S6
      kinase beta 1 (S6k1)-associated pathways. The increased risk associated with
      processed meat compared with red meat suggests that there are interactions
      between the saturated fat, salt, and nitrates in processed meat and iron, AGEs
      and TMAO. Intervention studies are required to clarify potential mechanisms and
      explore interactions among components, in order to make firm recommendations on
      red and processed meat consumption. 

PMID- 25838037
TI  - Language Control in Bilinguals: Monitoring and Response Selection.
AB  - Language control refers to the cognitive mechanism that allows bilinguals to
      correctly speak in one language avoiding interference from the nontarget
      language. Bilinguals achieve this feat by engaging brain areas closely related to
      cognitive control. However, 2 questions still await resolution: whether this
      network is differently engaged when controlling nonlinguistic representations,
      and whether this network is differently engaged when control is exerted upon a
      restricted set of lexical representations that were previously used (i.e., local
      control) as opposed to control of the entire language system (i.e., global
      control). In the present event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging
      study, we investigated these 2 questions by employing linguistic and
      nonlinguistic blocked switching tasks in the same bilingual participants. We
      first report that the left prefrontal cortex is driven similarly for control of
      linguistic and nonlinguistic representations, suggesting its domain-general role
      in the implementation of response selection. Second, we propose that language
      control in bilinguals is hierarchically organized with the dorsal anterior
      cingulate cortex/presupplementary motor area acting as the supervisory
      attentional system, recruited for increased monitoring demands such as local
      control in the second language. On the other hand, prefrontal, inferior parietal
      areas and the caudate would act as the response selection system, tailored for
      language selection for both local and global control.

PMID- 25838036
TI  - Changes in Search Path Complexity and Length During Learning of a Virtual Water
      Maze: Age Differences and Differential Associations with Hippocampal Subfield
      Volumes.
AB  - Impairment of hippocampus-dependent cognitive processes has been proposed to
      underlie age-related deficits in navigation. Animal studies suggest a
      differential role of hippocampal subfields in various aspects of navigation, but
      that hypothesis has not been tested in humans. In this study, we examined the
      association between volume of hippocampal subfields and age differences in
      virtual spatial navigation. In a sample of 65 healthy adults (age 19-75 years),
      advanced age was associated with a slower rate of improvement operationalized as
      shortening of the search path over 25 learning trials on a virtual Morris water
      maze task. The deficits were partially explained by greater complexity of older
      adults' search paths. Larger subiculum and entorhinal cortex volumes were
      associated with a faster decrease in search path complexity, which in turn
      explained faster shortening of search distance. Larger Cornu Ammonis (CA)1-2
      volume was associated with faster distance shortening, but not in path complexity
      reduction. Age differences in regional volumes collectively accounted for 23% of
      the age-related variance in navigation learning. Independent of subfield volumes,
      advanced age was associated with poorer performance across all trials, even after
      reaching the asymptote. Thus, subiculum and CA1-2 volumes were associated with
      speed of acquisition, but not magnitude of gains in virtual maze navigation.

PMID- 25838038
TI  - Beyond Columnar Organization: Cell Type- and Target Layer-Specific Principles of
      Horizontal Axon Projection Patterns in Rat Vibrissal Cortex.
AB  - Vertical thalamocortical afferents give rise to the elementary functional units
      of sensory cortex, cortical columns. Principles that underlie communication
      between columns remain however unknown. Here we unravel these by reconstructing
      in vivo-labeled neurons from all excitatory cell types in the vibrissal part of
      rat primary somatosensory cortex (vS1). Integrating the morphologies into an
      exact 3D model of vS1 revealed that the majority of intracortical (IC) axons
      project far beyond the borders of the principal column. We defined the
      corresponding innervation volume as the IC-unit. Deconstructing this structural
      cortical unit into its cell type-specific components, we found asymmetric
      projections that innervate columns of either the same whisker row or arc, and
      which subdivide vS1 into 2 orthogonal [supra-]granular and infragranular strata.
      We show that such organization could be most effective for encoding multi whisker
      inputs. Communication between columns is thus organized by multiple highly
      specific horizontal projection patterns, rendering IC-units as the primary
      structural entities for processing complex sensory stimuli. 

PMID- 25838039
TI  - Characteristics of lipid extraction from Chlorella sp. cultivated in outdoor
      raceway ponds with mixture of ethyl acetate and ethanol for biodiesel production.
AB  - In this work, neutral lipids (NLs) extraction capacity and selectivity of six
      solvents were firstly compared. In addition, an eco-friendly solvent combination
      of ethyl acetate and ethanol (EA/E) was proposed and tested for lipid extraction
      from Chlorella sp. cultivated in outdoor raceway ponds and effect of extraction
      variables on lipid yield were intensively studied. Results indicated that lipid
      extraction yield was increased with solvent to biomass ratio but did not vary
      significantly when the value exceeded 20:1. Lipid yield was found to be strongly
      dependent on extraction temperature and time. Finally, fatty acid profiles of
      lipid were determined and results indicated that the major components were
      octadecanoic acid, palmitic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid, demonstrating
      that the lipid extracted from the Chlorella sp. cultivated in outdoor raceway
      ponds by EA/E was suitable feedstock for biodiesel production. 

PMID- 25838040
TI  - Anaerobic digestion performance of vinegar residue in continuously stirred tank
      reactor.
AB  - Anaerobic digestion (AD) of vinegar residue was investigated in continuously
      stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The influence of organic loading rate (OLR) and
      effluent recirculation on AD performance of vinegar residue was tested. Five
      OLRs, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 g(vs) L(-1) d(-1), were used. The highest
      volumetric methane productivity of 581.88 mL L(-1) was achieved at OLR of 2.5
      g(vs) L(-1) d(-1). Effluent reflux ratio was set as 50%, the results showed that
      effluent recirculation could effectively neutralize the acidity of vinegar
      residue, raise the pH of the feedstock, and enhance the buffering capacity of the
      AD system. Anaerobic digestion of vinegar residue could be a promising way not
      only for converting this waste into gas energy but also alleviating environmental
      pollution which might be useful for future industrial application.

PMID- 25838041
TI  - Two Japanese Patients With SMA Type 1 Suggest that Axonal-SMN May Not Modify the
      Disease Severity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Spinal muscular atrophy is caused by survival motor neuron gene SMN1
      mutations. SMN1 produces a full-length SMN1 protein isoform encoded by exons 1-7,
      and an axonal-SMN protein isoform encoded by exons 1-3 and intron 3. The axonal
      SMN protein is expressed only in the embryonic period and plays a significant
      role in axonal growth. However, there has been no report on contribution of
      axonal-SMN to spinal muscular atrophy severity until now. PATIENTS: Two Japanese
      boys with spinal muscular atrophy type 1 in our study presented with generalized
      muscle weakness and respiratory insufficiency soon after birth and required an
      artificial ventilator from early infancy. Patient 1 was compound heterozygous for
      two SMN1 mutations, whole-gene deletion, and an intragenic mutation
      (c.819_820insT). He retained one copy of SMN1 producing the N-terminal part of
      SMN1 including axonal-SMN. On the other hand, patient 2 was homozygous for SMN1
      deletion. Both of them showed the same copy number of spinal muscular atrophy
      modifying genes, NAIP and SMN2. These findings suggested that the C-terminal
      domain of full-length SMN1 determined the severity, irrespective of presence or
      absence of axonal-SMN expression. CONCLUSION: In patient 1, the C-terminal domain
      of full-length SMN1 determined spinal muscular atrophy severity, rather than the
      axonal-SMN, one copy of which could be present and intact. The presence or
      absence of axonal-SMN may not impact disease severity in spinal muscular atrophy
      type 1 patients.

PMID- 25838042
TI  - Narcolepsy in children: a diagnostic and management approach.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To provide a diagnostic and management approach for narcolepsy in
      children. METHODS: Narcolepsy is a chronic disabling disorder characterized by
      excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hypnogogic and/or hypnopompic
      hallucinations, and sleep paralysis. All four features are present in only half
      of the cases. Excessive daytime sleepiness is the essential feature of narcolepsy
      at any age and is usually the first symptom to manifest. A combination of
      excessive daytime sleepiness and definite cataplexy is considered pathognomonic
      of narcolepsy syndrome. RESULTS: New treatment options have become available over
      the past few years. Early diagnosis and management can significantly improve the
      quality of life of patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy. CONCLUSION: This
      review summarizes the pathophysiology, clinical features, and management options
      for children with narcolepsy.

PMID- 25838043
TI  - Amplitude-integrated EEG in newborns with critical congenital heart disease
      predicts preoperative brain magnetic resonance imaging findings.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The study aims are to evaluate cerebral background patterns using
      amplitude-integrated electroencephalography in newborns with critical congenital
      heart disease, determine if amplitude-integrated electroencephalography is
      predictive of preoperative brain injury, and assess the incidence of preoperative
      seizures. We hypothesize that amplitude-integrated electroencephalography will
      show abnormal background patterns in the early preoperative period in infants
      with congenital heart disease that have preoperative brain injury on magnetic
      resonance imaging. METHODS: Twenty-four newborns with congenital heart disease
      requiring surgery at younger than 30 days of age were prospectively enrolled
      within the first 3 days of age at a tertiary care pediatric hospital. Infants had
      amplitude-integrated electroencephalography for 24 hours beginning close to birth
      and preoperative brain magnetic resonance imaging. The amplitude-integrated
      electroencephalographies were read to determine if the background pattern was
      normal, mildly abnormal, or severely abnormal. The presence of seizures and sleep
      wake cycling were noted. The preoperative brain magnetic resonance imaging scans
      were used for brain injury and brain atrophy assessment. RESULTS: Fifteen of 24
      infants had abnormal amplitude-integrated electroencephalography at 0.71 (0-2)
      (mean [range]) days of age. In five infants, the background pattern was severely
      abnormal. (burst suppression and/or continuous low voltage). Of the 15 infants
      with abnormal amplitude-integrated electroencephalography, 9 (60%) had brain
      injury. One infant with brain injury had a seizure on amplitude-integrated
      electroencephalography. A severely abnormal background pattern on amplitude
      integrated electroencephalography was associated with brain atrophy (P = 0.03)
      and absent sleep-wake cycling (P = 0.022). CONCLUSION: Background cerebral
      activity is abnormal on amplitude-integrated electroencephalography following
      birth in newborns with congenital heart disease who have findings of brain injury
      and/or brain atrophy on preoperative brain magnetic resonance imaging.

PMID- 25838044
TI  - ROP and ATRP Fabricated Dual Targeted Redox Sensitive Polymersomes Based on
      pPEGMA-PCL-ss-PCL-pPEGMA Triblock Copolymers for Breast Cancer Therapeutics.
AB  - To minimize cardiotoxicity and to increase the bioavailability of doxorubicin,
      polymersomes based on redox sensitive amphiphilic triblock copolymer
      poly(polyethylene glycol methacrylate)-poly(caprolactone)-s-s-poly(caprolactone)
      poly(polyethylene glycol methacrylate) (pPEGMA-PCL-ss-PCL-pPEGMA) with disulfide
      linkage were designed and developed. The polymers were synthesized by ring
      opening polymerization (ROP) of epsilon-caprolactone followed by atom transfer
      radical polymerization (ATRP) of PEGMA. The triblock copolymers demonstrated
      various types of nanoparticle morphologies by varying hydrophobic/hydrophilic
      content of polymer blocks, with PEGMA content of ~18% in the triblock copolymer
      leading to the formation of polymersomes in the size range ~150 nm. High
      doxorubicin loading content of ~21% was achieved in the polymersomes. Disulfide
      linkages were incorporated in the polymeric backbone to facilitate degradation of
      the nanoparticles by the intracellular tripeptide glutathione (GSH), leading to
      intracellular drug release. Release studies showed ~59% drug release in pH 5.5 in
      the presence of 10 mM GSH, whereas only ~19% was released in pH 7.4. In cellular
      uptake studies, dual targeted polymersomes showed ~22-fold increase in cellular
      uptake efficiency in breast cancer cell lines (BT474 and MCF-7) as compared to
      nontargeted polymersomes with higher apoptosis rates. In vivo studies on
      Ehrlich's ascites tumor (EAT) bearing Swiss albino mouse model showed ~85% tumor
      regression as compared to free doxorubicin (~42%) without any significant
      cardiotoxicity associated with doxorubicin. The results indicate enhanced
      antitumor efficacy of the redox sensitive biocompatible nanosystem and shows
      promise as a potential drug nanocarrier in cancer therapeutics. 

PMID- 25838045
TI  - From "right to die"...to "code comfort".
AB  - In 1983, Nancy Cruzan was in a persistent vegetative state from a motor vehicle
      accident. This led to a landmark "right to die" case and the evolution of
      important documents outlining one's final wishes. Do Not Resuscitate orders
      became the standard. New wrinkles in the "end of life" debate include "death with
      dignity" initiatives and "code comfort" actions. 

PMID- 25838047
TI  - Surgical rehospitalization of the medicare fee-for-service patient: a state-level
      analysis exploring 30-day readmission factors.
AB  - PURPOSE OF STUDY: Surgical readmissions are a concern to the integrity of the
      Medicare Trust Fund and gaining attention from policymakers concerned about
      solvency. This study explores factors associated with variation in surgical
      readmission rates across the states and provides implications for Medicare Case
      Management. PRIMARY PRACTICE SETTING(S): Acute inpatient hospital settings.
      METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLE: Fifty state-level data and multivariate regression
      analysis are used. The dependent variable Surgical Discharge 30-day Readmission
      Rate is based on the Medicare Fee-For-Service beneficiary population with
      Medicare Part A and B insurance coverage and age 65 years or older,
      rehospitalized subsequent to an inpatient surgical procedure, occurring within 30
      days of their last discharge. RESULTS: Our 2 key explanatory variables-emergency
      room visit rate and total days of care-are each positively associated with 30-day
      surgical readmission rate. Age group 65-69 years, native language, physician
      density, and health care expenditures per capita also influence surgical
      readmission rate across the states. IMPLICATIONS FOR CASE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE:
      Surgical readmission has an association with many different categories of
      variables-demographic, clinical process, hospital capacity, and patient need.
      This strongly suggests that Medicare case managers consider the wide range of
      elements contributing to surgical readmission and take a multifactorial approach
      to reducing the rehospitalization rate.

PMID- 25838049
TI  - Assessing the whole person: case managers take a holistic approach to physical
      and mental health.
AB  - PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: Given the prevalence of mental health issues, particularly
      depressive disorders, in the U.S. population, professional case managers should
      increase their sensitivity to and awareness of mental illnesses, as well as their
      impact on physical health. Throughout the case management process, case managers
      frequently observe behaviors and symptoms such as those associated with
      depressive disorders. Case managers need to have, at a minimum, a working
      knowledge of mental and behavioral health issues and be familiar with basic
      screening tools. This will enable them to become more attuned to symptoms and
      behaviors that indicate that the individual should be further assessed and
      diagnosed by a physician. PRIMARY PRACTICE SETTING: Across the case management
      spectrum, including acute care, accountable care organizations, patient-centered
      medical homes, physician practices, clinics, occupational health clinics,
      workers' compensation, and other settings in which case managers work with
      individuals (clients who receive case management services) and their
      families/support systems. FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS: With more than one quarter of the
      U.S. population affected by a depressive disorder, professional case managers who
      practice holistically bring together the mental and physical aspects of health.
      This is particularly important in a health care system and among payer sources
      that continue to divide the two. Case managers elevate their practice by
      demonstrating a greater understanding of the interconnectedness of mental and
      physical health and can positively influence the transdisciplinary care team to
      take a person-centered approach to address all health issues, in pursuit of the
      individual's health goals. IMPLICATIONS FOR CASE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE:
      Professional case managers must increase their understanding of mental health,
      becoming more aware of "red flags" that may necessitate a further evaluation and
      assessment by a mental health professional. They should also hone their
      communication skills, particularly the use of motivational interviewing
      techniques, to encourage individuals to discuss their feelings, worries, fears,
      and anxiety, as well as any potential symptoms of depression, which may range
      from mild to severe. Without judgment or bias, the case manager, as the advocate,
      can provide the information, support, or other services needed to address mental
      health issues, to support and further the individual's health goals.

PMID- 25838050
TI  - Case managers: a key to reducing readmissions.

PMID- 25838051
TI  - Advocacy: the key to dignified end of life.

PMID- 25838052
TI  - The "whole-person" approach: understanding the connection between physical and
      mental health.

PMID- 25838053
TI  - Hospital case management: a new view from the C-suite.

PMID- 25838054
TI  - Meningioma dissemination and growth: a role for microRNAs.

PMID- 25838055
TI  - Possible role for interleukins as biomarkers for mortality and recurrence in oral
      cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Salivary and serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8
      (IL-8) have previously been studied in oral cancer with conflicting results.
      METHODS: We designed a controlled study to assess the correlation between
      pretreatment salivary and serum levels of IL-6 and IL-8, and all-cause survival
      and cancer recurrence in oral cancer patients. RESULTS: Fifty-two oral cancer
      patients and 52 healthy control cases were selected. In univariate analysis,
      salivary IL-6 and IL-8 seemed to be more expressed in cases (p<0.001 and p =
      0.010, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that higher pretreatment
      saliva IL-6 levels were significantly associated with better survival (hazard
      ratio [HR] = 8.62; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.21-62.50; p = 0.031).
      CONCLUSIONS: To date, this is the largest prospective controlled study that has
      analyzed the pretreatment salivary and serum levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in oral
      cancer patients, suggesting salivary IL-6 as a possible prognostic biomarker. But
      further validation in a larger sample is still necessary.

PMID- 25838056
TI  - Palladium-catalyzed picolinamide-directed coupling of C(sp(2))-H and C(sp(2))-H:
      a straightforward approach to quinolinone and pyridone scaffolds.
AB  - An unprecedented palladium-catalyzed picolinamide-directed coupling of C(sp(2))-H
      and C(sp(2))-H has been developed with exclusive formation of the six-membered
      ring heterocyclics - quinolinone and pyridone. The method employs cyclic
      hypervalent iodine as oxidant and features good functional-group tolerance.
      Another advantage of this reaction is that sequential C-H/C-H and C-H/N-H
      coupling could be achieved. 

PMID- 25838057
TI  - [Acute Retinal Pigment Epitheliitis: spectral-domain optical coherence tomography
      findings].
AB  - PURPOSE: Through a case presentation of Acute Retinal Pigment Epitheliitis (ARPE)
      we highlight the role of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in
      the management of this rare entity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 29-year-old woman
      presented for reduced visual acuity in the right eye occurring one week after a
      viral episode. Fundus examination showed zones of macular hyperpigmentation
      surrounded by yellowish hypopigmented haloes. Fluorescein angiography noted early
      hyperfluorescence of the hypopigmented lesions. ICG angiography revealed central
      hyperfluorescence surrounded by a hypofluorescent halo. SD-OCT showed a linear
      disruption between the photoreceptor inner/outer segments (IS/OS) and an
      accumulation of material in the photoreceptor outer segments and retinal pigment
      epithelium (RPE). Spontaneous normalization of visual acuity was noted after 10
      weeks. SD-OCT revealed restored and continuous inner segment and outer segment
      layers and some persistent deposits in the photoreceptor layer. RESULTS: SD-OCT
      findings suggest that the initial lesion in ARPE is located at the junction
      between the photoreceptor outer segments and the apical side of the RPE cells. It
      would correspond to an accumulation of photoreceptor outer segment debris
      secondary to RPE dysfunction, which can occur as a post-viral reaction.
      CONCLUSION: SD-OCT provides very specific information about the topography of
      retinal lesions during ARPE, allowing a better understanding of its pathogenesis.

PMID- 25838059
TI  - Looking back and moving forward.

PMID- 25838058
TI  - [Epidemiologic and etiological characteristics of congenital cataract: study of
      59 cases over 10 years].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to analyze the epidemiology and maternal,
      prenatal and perinatal risk factors for congenital cataracts. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of all consecutive cases of
      congenital cataracts diagnosed and managed at hopital Nord Marseille, France. We
      describe demographic, personal, maternal and familial characteristics of these
      patients. RESULTS: We identified 59 children with congenital cataract. The group
      consists of 31 girls (53%) and 28 boys (47%). Cataract was bilateral in 71% of
      cases and unilateral in 29% of cases. This group is first divided according to
      etiological forms. Idiopathic cataract accounts for 63% of patients. Genetic and
      infectious cataract accounts for 34% and 3%, respectively. According to the
      clinical presentation, congenital cataract was an isolated finding in 51% of
      cases. It was associated with ocular abnormalities in 27% of cases and with
      systemic abnormalities in 22% of cases. The diagnosis was made upon routine
      screening in 41% of cases. Leucoria and strabismus led to the diagnosis in 24%
      and 19%, respectively. The average age of diagnosis was 19.7 months. CONCLUSION:
      Congenital cataract is a relatively rare condition. The description of a series
      of 59 cases is important as well as the comparison of our results to large
      epidemiological data previously published. The elucidation of novel risk factors
      requires consideration at a national or even global scale.

PMID- 25838060
TI  - A spatial pattern analysis of the halophytic species distribution in an arid
      coastal environment.
AB  - Obtaining information about the spatial distribution of desert plants is
      considered as a serious challenge for ecologists and environmental modeling due
      to the required intensive field work and infrastructures in harsh and remote arid
      environments. A new method was applied for assessing the spatial distribution of
      the halophytic species (HS) in an arid coastal environment. This method was based
      on the object-based image analysis for a high-resolution Google Earth satellite
      image. The integration of the image processing techniques and field work provided
      accurate information about the spatial distribution of HS. The extracted objects
      were based on assumptions that explained the plant-pixel relationship. Three
      different types of digital image processing techniques were implemented and
      validated to obtain an accurate HS spatial distribution. A total of 2703
      individuals of the HS community were found in the case study, and approximately
      82% were located above an elevation of 2 m. The micro-topography exhibited a
      significant negative relationship with pH and EC (r = -0.79 and -0.81,
      respectively, p < 0.001). The spatial structure was modeled using stochastic
      point processes, in particular a hybrid family of Gibbs processes. A new model is
      proposed that uses a hard-core structure at very short distances, together with a
      cluster structure in short-to-medium distances and a Poisson structure for larger
      distances. This model was found to fit the data perfectly well.

PMID- 25838061
TI  - Determination of dual parameter auto-sampling trigger thresholds for pollutant
      load monitoring in various land uses.
AB  - Environmental pollutants are health hazards and are typically transported during
      runoff events. Monitoring the loadings of these pollutants with auto-samplers
      require precise trigger thresholds to effectively account for total maximum daily
      loads (TMDLs) entering natural water bodies. Traditionally, auto-samplers are
      triggered by delaying the start of sampling until pollutant wave is present
      during rainfall event. The rainfall-related triggers are typically limited to
      small watersheds, where lag and travel times are consistent and predictable.
      However, in large and more complex watersheds, flow or stage is typically used
      either by a set threshold on change in instantaneous flow rate or water level.
      Generally, trigger thresholds are difficult to establish due to seasonal
      fluctuations in stream flow and variations in rainfall. This study investigated
      dual parameter trigger based on instantaneous change and variance from a moving
      average for flow and stage. Nineteen auto-samplers, installed within six
      watersheds of varying land uses in City of Kissimmee, FL, were evaluated over 3
      year period. The results suggested that using 20- to 30-min moving average of 5
      min sampling interval for both parameters was sufficient to detect pollutant
      waves with minimal false triggers. Also, change from average flow rate (?Qave)
      and a percent change from average stage (?Have%) were found to the preferred
      parameters. The ?Have% values ranging from -0.012 to 0.20% and ?Qave ranging from
      0.014 to 0.850 m(3)/s were found to give effective results for all stations in
      the study area. It was also observed that these trigger thresholds varied with
      land use, stream flow condition, and auto-sampler locations within the watershed.

PMID- 25838062
TI  - Trace element distribution in the snow cover from an urban area in central
      Poland.
AB  - This work presents the first results from winter field campaigns focusing on
      trace metals and metalloid chemistry in the snow cover from an urbanized region
      in central Poland. Samples were collected between January and March 2013 and
      trace element concentrations were determined using GF-AAS. A large inter-seasonal
      variability depending on anthropogenic emission, depositional processes, and
      meteorological conditions was observed. The highest concentration (in MUg L(-1))
      was reported for Pb (34.90), followed by Ni (31.37), Zn (31.00), Cu (13.71), Cr
      (2.36), As (1.58), and Cd (0.25). In addition, several major anthropogenic
      sources were identified based on principal component analysis (PCA), among which
      the most significant was the activity of industry and coal combustion for
      residential heating. It was stated that elevated concentrations of some trace
      metals in snow samples were associated with frequent occurrence of south and
      southeast advection of highly polluted air masses toward the sampling site,
      suggesting a large impact of regional urban/industrial pollution plumes. 

PMID- 25838063
TI  - Extensive Chaetoceros curvisetus bloom in relation to water quality in Port Blair
      Bay, Andaman Islands.
AB  - Blooming of diatom species Chaetoceros curvisetus (Cleve, 1889) was observed in
      Junglighat Bay and Haddo Harbour of Port Blair Bay of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
      during June 2010. Physico-chemical parameters, nutrient concentrations and
      phytoplankton composition data collected from five stations during 2010 were
      classified as bloom area (BA) and non-bloom area (NBA) and compared. Elevated
      values of dissolved oxygen were recorded in the BA, and it significantly varied
      (p < 0.01) from NBA. Among the nutrient parameters studied, nitrate concentration
      indicated significant variation in BA and NBA (p < 0.01). Phosphate and ammonia
      concentrations reduced to below detection level (BDL) in the BA and NBA,
      indicating its utilization. In Junglighat Bay, the C. curvisetus species
      constituted 93.4 and 69.2% composition of total phytoplankton population during
      day 1 and day 2, respectively. The bloom forming stations separated out from the
      non-bloom forming station in non-parametric multidimensional scaling (nMDS)
      ordinations; cluster analysis powered by SIMPROF test also grouped the stations
      as BA and NBA.

PMID- 25838064
TI  - The genetic differentiation of Colocasia esculenta growing in gold mining areas
      with arsenic contamination.
AB  - Arsenic is a heavy metal found in contaminated gold mining areas and which can
      affect plant and animal species. This study aims to determine the concentration
      of As in the aquatic plant Colocasia esculenta as well as this plant's genetic
      variability. Sediment and C. esculenta samples were collected from three studied
      sites at the edge of a stream around a gold mine. The arsenic concentrations in
      sediment and C. esculenta samples were analyzed using induction coupled plasma
      mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Genetic differentiations were studied by random
      amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) with dendrogram construction and analysis of
      genetic similarity (S). The results showed that the arsenic concentrations in
      sediment and C. esculenta samples ranged from 4.547 +/- 0.318 to 229.964 +/-
      0.978 and 0.108 +/- 0.046 to 0.406 +/- 0.174 mg kg(-1), respectively. To compare
      the samples studied to the reference site, RAPD fingerprints from 26 primers
      successfully produced 2301 total bands used for dendrogram construction and S
      value analysis. The dendrogram construction separates C. esculenta into four
      clusters corresponding to their sampling sites. The S values of the studied
      sample sites compared to the reference site are 0.676-0.779, 0.739-0.791, and
      0.743-0.783 for sites 1, 2, and 3, respectively, whereas the values of the
      individuals within each site are as high as 0.980. These results suggest that As
      accumulation in aquatic plant species should be of concern because of the
      potential effects of As on aquatic plants as well as humans. 

PMID- 25838065
TI  - Characterization of newly revealed sequences in the infectious myonecrosis virus
      genome in Litopenaeus vannamei.
AB  - Infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV) causes significant economic losses in farmed
      shrimp, where associated mortality in ponds can reach 70 %. To explore
      host/pathogen interactions, a next-generation sequencing approach using lymphoid
      organ tissue from IMNV-infected Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp was conducted.
      Preliminary sequence assembly of just the virus showed that there were at least
      an additional 639 bp at the 5' terminus and 23 nt at the 3' terminus as compared
      with the original description of the IMNV genome (7561 nt). Northern blot and
      reverse transcription-PCR analysis confirmed the presence of novel sequence at
      both ends of the genome. Using 5' RACE, an additional 4 nt were discovered; 3'
      RACE confirmed the presence of 22 bp rather than 23 bp of sequence. Based on
      these data, the IMNV genome is 8226 bp in length. dsRNA was used to trigger RNA
      interference (RNAi) and suppress expression of the newly revealed genome sections
      at the 5' end of the IMNV genome in IMNV-infected L. vannamei. An RNAi trigger
      targeting a 376 bp length of the 5' UTR did not improve survival of infected
      shrimp. In contrast, an RNAi trigger targeting a 381 bp sequence in ORF1 improved
      survival to 82.2 % as compared with 2.2 % survival in positive control animals.
      These studies revealed the importance of the new genome sections to produce high
      titre infection, and associated disease and mortality, in infected shrimp.

PMID- 25838066
TI  - Incidence, Progression, and Associated Risk Factors of Medium Drusen in Age
      Related Macular Degeneration: Findings From the 15-Year Follow-up of an
      Australian Cohort.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: The natural course and prognosis of medium drusen and risk factors
      associated with the incidence and progression of this lesion type in age-related
      macular degeneration (AMD) are not well understood. OBJECTIVE: To assess the 15
      year incidence and progression of medium drusen and associated risk factors.
      DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Population-based cohort in the Blue Mountains
      region, west of Sydney, Australia. Included in the study were 3654 participants
      49 years or older who attended baseline examinations of the Blue Mountains Eye
      Study (1992-1994), and 75.8%, 76.7%, and 56.1% of survivors who attended the 5
      year, 10-year, and 15-year follow-up examinations, respectively. MAIN OUTCOMES
      AND MEASURES: Color retinal fundus photographs were obtained at each examination.
      The incidence and progression of medium drusen (maximum diameter, 63 to <125 um)
      were assessed using Kaplan-Meier product-limit survival methods, controlling for
      competing risk of death. Factors associated with a 15-year incidence of medium
      drusen were assessed using discrete logistic regression models after adjusting
      for age, sex, smoking status, serum lipid levels, systemic and dietary factors,
      and CFH rs1061170 and ARMS2 rs10490924 polymorphisms. Associations between lesion
      characteristics and the progression to late AMD were assessed using generalized
      estimating equation models and eye-specific data. RESULTS: Among 1317
      participants at risk, the 15-year cumulative incidence of medium drusen was 13.9%
      (n = 281). Increasing age (per decade older) (odds ratio [OR], 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2
      1.8) and the presence of at least 3 risk alleles of the CFH rs1061170 or ARMS2
      rs10490924 genes (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.1-4.1) were associated with a higher
      incidence. There was no association between past smoking (OR, 0.8; 95% CI, 0.6
      1.1) or current smoking (OR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.4-1.1) and the development of medium
      drusen. The progression rate to late AMD in eyes with both medium drusen and
      retinal pigmentary abnormalities was 4-fold higher than that in eyes with medium
      drusen alone. Larger total area and central location of medium drusen were
      associated with a greater likelihood of the progression to worse stages of AMD.
      CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Older age and the presence of CFH and ARMS2 risk
      alleles are 2 main risk factors associated with the development of medium drusen.
      The copresence of medium drusen plus retinal pigment epithelium abnormalities
      signals a greater risk of the progression to late AMD than the presence of medium
      drusen alone.

PMID- 25838067
TI  - New insights into Lyme disease.
AB  - Lyme borreliosis is transmitted through the bite of a tick that is infected by
      the bacterial spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. Clinical manifestation of the
      disease can lead to heart conditions, neurological disorders, and inflammatory
      disorders. Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many human
      diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms of oxidative
      stress and intracellular communication in Lyme borreliosis patients.
      Mitochondrial superoxide and cytosolic ionized calcium was measured in peripheral
      blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of Lyme borreliosis patients and healthy
      controls. Mitochondrial superoxide levels were significantly higher (p<0.0001) in
      Lyme borreliosis patients (n=32) as compared to healthy controls (n=30).
      Significantly low (p<0.0001) levels of cytosolic ionized calcium were also
      observed in Lyme borreliosis patients (n=11) when compared to healthy controls
      (n=11). These results indicate that there is an imbalance of reactive oxygen
      species and cytosolic calcium in Lyme borreliosis patients. The results further
      suggest that oxidative stress and interrupted intracellular communication may
      ultimately contribute to a condition of mitochondrial dysfunction in the immune
      cells of Lyme borreliosis patients. 

PMID- 25838068
TI  - Artemisia tilesii Ledeb hairy roots establishment using Agrobacterium rhizogenes
      mediated transformation.
AB  - An efficient and rapid protocol for the establishment of Artemisia tilesii
      "hairy" root culture is reported. Leaf explants of aseptically growing plants
      were cocultured with Agrobacterium rhizogenes A4 wild strain or A. rhizogenes
      carrying the plasmids with nptII and ifn-alpha2b genes. Root formation on the
      explants started in 5-6 days after their cocultivation with bacterial suspension.
      Prolongation of explant cultivation time on the medium without cefotaxime led to
      stimulation of root growth. The effects of sucrose concentration as well as of
      the levels of synthetic indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and native growth regulator
      Emistim on the stimulation of A. tilesii "hairy" root growth were studied.
      Maximum stimulating effect both for the control and for transgenic roots was
      observed in case of root cultivation on the media supplemented with IBA-up to
      7.95- and 9.1-fold biomass increase, respectively. Cultivation on the medium with
      10 MUl/L Emistime has also led to the control roots growth stimulation (up to
      2.75-fold). Emistime at 5 MUl/L concentration led to 5.46-fold mass increase in
      only one "hairy" root line. Higher sucrose content (40 g/L) stimulated growth of
      two hairy root lines but had no effect on growth of the control roots. 

PMID- 25838069
TI  - Pomegranate extract attenuates unilateral ureteral obstruction-induced renal
      damage by reducing oxidative stress.
AB  - AIMS: Ureteral obstruction may cause permanent kidney damage at late period. We
      know that the pomegranate extract (PE) play a strong role on removal of free
      oxygen radicals and prevention of oxidative stress. In the current study study,
      we evaluated the effect of PE on kidney damage after unilateral ureteral
      obstruction (UUO). SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A total of 32 rats were divided into four
      groups. Group 1 was a control, Group 2 was a sham, Group 3 was rats with UUO and
      Group 4 was rats with UUO that were given PE (oral 100 MUL/day). After 14 days,
      rats were killed and their kidneys were taken and blood analysis was performed.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Tubular necrosis, mononuclear cell infiltration, and
      interstitial fibrosis scoring were determined histopathologically in a part of
      kidneys; nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA), and reduced glutathione (GSH)
      levels were determined in the other part of kidneys. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED:
      Statistical analyses were performed by the Chi-square test and one-way analysis
      of variance. RESULTS: There was no difference significantly for urea-creatinine
      levels between groups. Pathologically, there was serious tubular necrosis,
      mononuclear cell infiltration and fibrosis in Group 3, and there was
      significantly decreasing for tubular necrosis, mononuclear cell infiltration and
      fibrosis in Group 4 (P < 0.005). Furthermore, there was significantly increasing
      for NO and MDA levels; decreasing for GSH levels in Group 3 compared the other
      groups (P < 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: We think that the PE prevents kidney damage by
      decreasing oxidative stress in kidney.

PMID- 25838070
TI  - Enzymatic transesterification of waste vegetable oil to produce biodiesel.
AB  - An experimental study on enzymatic transesterification was performed to produce
      biodiesel from waste vegetable oils. Lipase from Pseudomonas cepacia was
      covalently immobilized on a epoxy-acrylic resin support. The immobilized enzyme
      exhibited high catalytic specific surface and allowed an easy recovery,
      regeneration and reutilisation of biocatalyst. Waste vegetable oils - such as
      frying oils, considered not competitive with food applications and wastes to be
      treated - were used as a source of glycerides. Ethanol was used as a short chain
      alcohol and was added in three steps with the aim to reduce its inhibitory effect
      on lipase activity. The effect of biocatalyst/substrate feed mass ratios and the
      waste oil quality have been investigated in order to estimate the process
      performances. Biocatalyst recovery and reuse have been also studied with the aim
      to verify the stability of the biocatalyst for its application in industrial
      scale. 

PMID- 25838071
TI  - Enhancement of lipid production and fatty acid profiling in Chlamydomonas
      reinhardtii, CC1010 for biodiesel production.
AB  - Lipid from microalgae is one of the putative oil resources to facilitate the
      biodiesel production during this era of energy dissipation and environmental
      pollution. In this study, the key parameters such as biomass productivity, lipid
      productivity and lipid content were evaluated at the early stationary phase of
      Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, CC1010 cultivated in nutrient starved (nitrogen,
      phosphorous), glucose (0.05%, 0.1%, 0.15% and 0.2%) and vitamin B12
      supplementation (0.001%, 0.002% and 0.003%) in Tris-Acetate-Phosphate (TAP)
      medium. The lipid content in nitrogen starved media was 61% which is 2.34 folds
      higher than nutrient sufficient TAP medium. Glucose supplementation has lead to
      proportional increase in biomass productivity with the increasing concentration
      of glucose whereas vitamin B12 supplementations had not shown any influence in
      lipid and biomass production. Further, fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiling
      of C. reinhardtii, CC 1010 has revealed more than 80% of total SFA (saturated
      fatty acid) and MUFA (mono unsaturated fatty acid) content. Quality checking
      parameters of biodiesel like cetane number, saponification value, iodine number
      and degree of unsaturation were analyzed and the biodiesel fuel properties were
      found to be appropriate as per the international standards, EN 14214 and ASTM
      D6751. Conclusively, among all the treatments, nitrogen starvation with 0.1%
      glucose supplementation had yielded high lipid content in C. reinhardtii, CC
      1010. 

PMID- 25838072
TI  - Effects of dihydrotestosterone on rat dermal papilla cells in vitro.
AB  - Androgenetic alopecia involves the action of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) on dermal
      papilla cells (DPCs) that line the base of the hair follicle. However, the
      mechanism of DHT action is not completely understood. The effects of DHT on DPCs,
      regulatory cells that function in follicle growth and the hair cycle, were
      examined in immortalized cells derived from rat vibrissa follicles. DHT did not
      affect the proliferation of immortalized DPCs. However, flow cytometry analysis
      revealed that DHT increased cell-cycle arrest in these cells, which was
      accompanied by an increase in the p27(kip1) level and by decreases in cyclin E,
      cyclin D1, and cyclin-dependent kinase 2 levels. DHT treatment resulted in the
      phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of Smad2/3, a mediator of the
      transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) signaling pathway, which leads to the
      catagen phase of the hair cycle. DHT also induced the phosphorylation and nuclear
      translocation of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27). Moreover, DHT decreased the
      levels of total and nuclear beta-catenin, an important regulator of hair growth
      and proliferation, while lithium chloride, a glycogen synthase kinase-3beta
      inhibitor, attenuated the DHT-induced downregulation of the beta-catenin level.
      On the other hand, DHT increased the phosphorylation of mammalian target of
      rapamycin (mTOR), a regulator of proliferation, in immortalized DPCs. These
      results illustrate that DHT could shorten the duration of the hair growth cycle
      by initiating cell-cycle arrest, downregulating the beta-catenin level, and
      upregulating the TGF-beta/Smad and HSP27 level, whereas activation of mTOR by DHT
      could attenuate the inhibition of hair growth cycle in immortalized DPCs.

PMID- 25838073
TI  - Inhaled ozone (O3)-induces changes in serum metabolomic and liver transcriptomic
      profiles in rats.
AB  - Air pollution has been linked to increased incidence of diabetes. Recently, we
      showed that ozone (O3) induces glucose intolerance, and increases serum leptin
      and epinephrine in Brown Norway rats. In this study, we hypothesized that O3
      exposure will cause systemic changes in metabolic homeostasis and that serum
      metabolomic and liver transcriptomic profiling will provide mechanistic insights.
      In the first experiment, male Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats were exposed to filtered
      air (FA) or O3 at 0.25, 0.50, or 1.0ppm, 6h/day for two days to establish
      concentration-related effects on glucose tolerance and lung injury. In a second
      experiment, rats were exposed to FA or 1.0ppm O3, 6h/day for either one or two
      consecutive days, and systemic metabolic responses were determined immediately
      after or 18h post-exposure. O3 increased serum glucose and leptin on day 1.
      Glucose intolerance persisted through two days of exposure but reversed 18h-post
      second exposure. O3 increased circulating metabolites of glycolysis, long-chain
      free fatty acids, branched-chain amino acids and cholesterol, while 1,5
      anhydroglucitol, bile acids and metabolites of TCA cycle were decreased,
      indicating impaired glycemic control, proteolysis and lipolysis. Liver gene
      expression increased for markers of glycolysis, TCA cycle and gluconeogenesis,
      and decreased for markers of steroid and fat biosynthesis. Genes involved in
      apoptosis and mitochondrial function were also impacted by O3. In conclusion,
      short-term O3 exposure induces global metabolic derangement involving glucose,
      lipid, and amino acid metabolism, typical of a stress-response. It remains to be
      examined if these alterations contribute to insulin resistance upon chronic
      exposure. 

PMID- 25838075
TI  - Factors Influencing Production of Fusaristatin A in Fusarium graminearum.
AB  - Fusarium graminearum is a ubiquitous plant pathogen, which is able to produce
      several bioactive secondary metabolites. Recently, the cyclic lipopeptide
      fusaristatin A was isolated from this species and the biosynthetic gene cluster
      identified. Fusaristatin A consists of a C24 reduced polyketide and the three
      amino acids dehydroalanine, beta-aminoisobutyric acid and glutamine and is
      biosynthesized by a collaboration of a polyketide synthase and a nonribosomal
      peptide synthetase. To gain insight into the environmental factors, which
      controls the production of fusaristatin A, we cultivated F. graminearum under
      various conditions. We developed an LC-MS/MS method to quantify fusaristatin A in
      F. graminearum extracts. The results showed that yeast extract sucrose (YES)
      medium was the best medium for fusaristatin A production and that the optimal pH
      was 7.5 and temperature 25-30  degrees C. Furthermore, production of fusaristatin
      A was more than four times higher in stationary cultures than in agitated
      cultures when F. graminearum was grown in liquid YES medium. The results also
      showed that fusaristatin A was only present in the mycelium and not in the
      liquid, which suggests that fusaristatin A is stored intracellulally and not
      exported to the extracellular environment. 

PMID- 25838074
TI  - Cognitive decline is associated with risk aversion and temporal discounting in
      older adults without dementia.
AB  - Risk aversion and temporal discounting are preferences that are strongly linked
      to sub-optimal financial and health decision making ability. Prior studies have
      shown they differ by age and cognitive ability, but it remains unclear whether
      differences are due to age-related cognitive decline or lower cognitive abilities
      over the life span. We tested the hypothesis that cognitive decline is associated
      with higher risk aversion and temporal discounting in 455 older persons without
      dementia from the Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal cohort study of aging
      in Chicago. All underwent repeated annual cognitive evaluations using a detailed
      battery including 19 tests. Risk aversion was measured using standard behavioral
      economics questions: participants were asked to choose between a certain monetary
      payment versus a gamble in which they could gain more or nothing; potential
      gamble gains varied across questions. Temporal discounting: participants were
      asked to choose between an immediate, smaller payment and a delayed, larger one;
      two sets of questions addressed small and large stakes based on payment amount.
      Regression analyses were used to examine whether prior rate of cognitive decline
      predicted level of risk aversion and temporal discounting, controlling for age,
      sex, and education. Over an average of 5.5 (SD=2.9) years, cognition declined at
      an average of 0.016 units per year (SD=0.03). More rapid cognitive decline
      predicted higher levels of risk aversion (p=0.002) and temporal discounting
      (small stakes: p=0.01, high stakes: p=0.006). Further, associations between
      cognitive decline and risk aversion (p=0.015) and large stakes temporal
      discounting (p=0.026) persisted in analyses restricted to persons without any
      cognitive impairment (i.e., no dementia or mild cognitive impairment); the
      association of cognitive decline and small stakes temporal discounting was no
      longer statistically significant (p=0.078). These findings are consistent with
      the hypothesis that subtle age-related changes in cognition can detrimentally
      affect individual preferences that are critical for maintaining health and well
      being. 

PMID- 25838076
TI  - For early-stage oral tongue cancer, depth of invasion and worst pattern of
      invasion are the strongest pathological predictors for locoregional recurrence
      and mortality.
AB  - Despite early diagnosis and treatment, almost 20% of patients with early-stage
      (cT1-cT2N0) oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) still die of their
      disease. The prognosis of OTSCC patients is influenced by several demographic,
      clinical, and histopathologic factors. The aim of this multicenter international
      study was to find which of the factors age, gender, stage, grade, lymphocytic
      host response, perineural invasion, worst pattern of invasion, or depth of
      invasion has the strongest prognostic power in early-stage OTSCC. Patient data of
      479 patients with early-stage (cT1-2N0) OTSCC in Finland, Brazil, and the USA
      were retrieved and analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Our
      results indicate that depth of invasion (DOI) and worst pattern of invasion
      (WPOI) are the strongest pathological predictors for locoregional recurrence,
      with a hazard ratio (HR) for 4 mm DOI of 1.67 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07
      2.60) and HR for WPOI of 1.46 (95% CI 0.95-2.25). In addition, mortality from
      early OTSCC was also predicted by DOI (HR 2.44, 95% CI 1.34-4.47) and by WPOI (HR
      2.34, 95% CI 1.26-4.32). We suggest that clinically early-stage oral tongue
      carcinomas 4 mm or deeper, or with a growth pattern of small cell islands or
      satellites, should be considered as high-risk tumors which require multimodality
      treatment.

PMID- 25838077
TI  - Pattern of recurrent disease in major salivary gland adenocystic carcinoma.
AB  - This study aims to evaluate the long-term outcome of major salivary gland
      adenocystic carcinoma (ACC). This is a retrospective review of 54 cases of ACC
      during a 35-year period from 1974 to 2009 at the Helsinki University Central
      Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. Medical records and histological samples were
      reviewed. All patients had a minimum follow-up time of 5 years or until death.
      Most of the tumours occurred in the parotid gland (n = 30, 56%) followed by
      submandibular gland (n = 22, 41%) and sublingual gland (n = 2, 4%). Fifty-two
      patients (96%) were treated with curative intent. All of these patients except
      one were primarily treated with surgery, and 29 patients (54%) also received
      postoperative radiotherapy for their primary tumour. Two patients (4%) received
      palliative radiotherapy. For those treated with curative intent, 32 patients
      (62%) had disease recurrence. Twenty-four patients (75%) had their first disease
      recurrence within 5 years and eight patients (25%) later than 5 years. The
      difference in the length of recurrence-free time interval (<5 vs. >5 years) had a
      significant impact on 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival
      (DSS). The OS, DSS and disease-free survival (DFS) across stages I-IV varied
      between 46-100, 50-100 and 46-100%, respectively. Age over 45 years, T stage, and
      presence of neck metastases had a significant negative prognostic effect. More
      than half of the patients had recurrent disease. An extended follow-up for these
      patients seems feasible as most of the distant metastases were detected within a
      10-year period.

PMID- 25838078
TI  - Next-generation sequencing is highly sensitive for the detection of beta-catenin
      mutations in desmoid-type fibromatoses.
AB  - Desmoid-type fibromatoses are locally aggressive and frequently recurrent
      tumours, and an accurate diagnosis is essential for patient management. The
      majority of sporadic lesions harbour beta-catenin (CTNNB1) mutations. We used
      next-generation sequencing to detect CTNNB1 mutations and to compare the
      sensitivity and specificity of next-generation sequencing with currently employed
      mutation detection techniques: mutation-specific restriction enzyme digestion and
      polymerase chain reaction amplification. DNA was extracted from formalin-fixed
      paraffin-embedded needle biopsy or resection tissue sections from 144 patients
      with sporadic desmoid-type fibromatoses, four patients with syndrome-related
      desmoid-type fibromatoses and 11 morphological mimics. Two primer pairs were
      designed for CTNNB1 mutation hotspots. Using >=10 ng of DNA, libraries were
      generated by Fluidigm and sequenced on the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine.
      Next-generation sequencing had a sensitivity of 92.36 % (133/144, 95 % CIs: 86.74
      to 96.12 %) and a specificity of 100 % for the detection of CTNNB1 mutations in
      desmoid-type fibromatoses-like spindle cell lesions. All mutations detected by
      mutation-specific restriction enzyme digestion were identified by next-generation
      sequencing. Next-generation sequencing identified additional mutations in 11
      tumours that were not detected by mutation-specific restriction enzyme digestion,
      two of which have not been previously described. Next-generation sequencing is
      highly sensitive for the detection of CTNNB1 mutations. This multiplex assay has
      the advantage of detecting additional mutations compared to those detected by
      mutation-specific restriction enzyme digestion (sensitivity 82.41 %). The
      technology requires minimal DNA and is time- and cost-efficient.

PMID- 25838079
TI  - Multifocal cytokeratin expression in pleural and abdominal malignant solitary
      fibrous tumors: an unusual diagnostic pitfall.

PMID- 25838080
TI  - Sclerosing adenosis as a predictor of breast cancer bilaterality and
      multicentricity.
AB  - Breast cancer is occasionally complicated by sclerosing adenosis (SA). Although
      both lesions usually originate in the terminal duct lobular unit, their
      pathogenetic relationship has not yet been elucidated. The present study analyzed
      63 breast cancer patients with SA (involving a total of 75 breasts) to clarify if
      coexisting SA increased the frequency of multicentric breast cancer or not. Using
      the topographical classification proposed in our previous study, breast cancers
      with SA were classified into the following three types: type A (n = 22), cancer
      area was completely surrounded by the SA; type B (n = 26), cancer area partially
      overlapped the SA; and type C (n = 27), cancer area was located separate from the
      SA. Breast cancers with SA had a significant (P < 0.001) increase in frequency of
      harboring bilateral and multicentric cancers [17 of 63 (27%) and 15 of 63 (24%),
      respectively] when compared to breast cancer patients without SA, regardless of
      topographical type. Breast cancers with SA were less invasive (P < 0.001), of
      lower histological grade (P = 0.034), and had similar frequency of estrogen
      receptor-positive (P = 0.21) and HER2-positive (P = 0.74) tumors. In conclusion,
      contralateral and ipsilateral multicentric breast cancers occurred at a higher
      frequency in those with SA. Our data suggest that SA is, in addition to lobular
      neoplasia, a predictor of multicentric breast cancers.

PMID- 25838081
TI  - Toll-like receptor 9 expression in the natural history of Barrett mucosa.
AB  - Increased expression of TLR9 in esophageal adenocarcinoma and squamous cell
      carcinoma correlates with poor prognosis. We have explored the expression and
      suspected that TLR9 activation might contribute to pathogenesis in esophageal
      columnar metaplasia-dysplasia-neoplasia sequence, and hence, we have studied the
      usefulness of TLR9 as a marker for dysplasia. We have determined the expression
      of TLR9 in specimens with normal esophagus (n = 89), gastric (n = 71), or
      intestinal metaplasia (n = 56) without dysplasia, and low-grade (n = 51) or high
      grade dysplasia (n = 40), and esophageal adenocarcinoma (n = 88). We observed
      linearly increasing TLR9 expression in specimens to be associated with change
      from normal epithelium to columnar metaplasia and further to dysplasia. ROC curve
      analysis showed clinically irrelevant sensitivity of 71% and specificity of 67%
      for TLR9 intensity in detection of low-grade dysplasia. Membrane-associated TLR9
      expression detected by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence was
      predominantly associated with foveolar-type dysplasia as detected by HE staining
      (p = 0.015). TLR9 is expressed in Barrett's esophagus, and dissolution of TLR9
      staining increases from nondysplastic epithelium to dysplastic. TLR9 may serve as
      a new way of recognizing the histopathological origin of dysplasia (adenomatous
      vs foveolar) with observed subcellular pattern of TLR9.

PMID- 25838082
TI  - Preferences and Stated Adherence for Antibiotic Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis
      Pseudomonas Infections.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to quantify preferences and stated adherence for
      inhaled antibiotic treatments in cystic fibrosis (CF). METHODS: Adult CF patients
      and parents of pediatric patients in the US who were members of the Cystic
      Fibrosis Foundation and who had Pseudomonas aeruginosa at least twice a year
      completed an online, discrete-choice experiment survey (response rate 4.4 %).
      Respondents answered five treatment-choice questions evaluating pairs of
      hypothetical CF treatment profiles. Stated-adherence questions followed two
      randomly selected treatment-choice questions. Data were analyzed using random
      parameters logit (RPL). For a combination of attribute levels, the utility is
      estimated by summing the relevant attribute-level parameter estimates. For the
      stated-adherence questions, we tabulated the changes in the percentages of
      respondents who would be 95 % adherent for various changes in inhaled antibiotic
      medication administration features. RESULTS: The final sample was 271 adult
      patients and 209 parents. Switching from a 30-min nebulizer twice daily to a 10
      min dry powder inhaler (DPI) twice daily was 6.3 times more important for
      patients and 2.0 times more important for parents than an improvement in dry
      cough side effect from moderate to mild. Stated adherence for respondents was 20
      30 % greater for DPIs versus nebulizers. CONCLUSIONS: Lower frequency of
      administration, shorter administration times for a given device, and milder dry
      cough appear to improve stated adherence to antibiotic treatment of CF lung
      infections.

PMID- 25838083
TI  - Appraisal of the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (amendment) act,
      2014.

PMID- 25838084
TI  - Diagnostic method in psychiatry: Changing times.

PMID- 25838085
TI  - Regulation of upper airway inflammation facilitates comfortable breathing.

PMID- 25838087
TI  - Association and management of eosinophilic inflammation in upper and lower
      airways.
AB  - This review discussed the contribution of eosinophilic upper airway inflammation
      includes allergic rhinitis (AR) and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) to the
      pathophysiology and course of asthma, the representative counterpart in the lower
      airway. The presence of concomitant AR can affect the severity of asthma in
      patients who have both diseases; however, it is still debatable whether the
      presence of asthma affects the severity of AR. Hypersensitivity, obstruction
      and/or inflammation in the lower airway can be detected in patients with AR
      without awareness or diagnosis of asthma, and AR is known as a risk factor for
      the new onset of wheeze and asthma both in children and adults. Allergen
      immunotherapy, pharmacotherapy and surgery for AR can contribute to asthma
      control; however, a clear preventive effect on the new onset of asthma has been
      demonstrated only for immunotherapy. Pathological similarities such as epithelial
      shedding are also seen between asthma and CRS, especially eosinophilic CRS.
      Abnormal sinus findings on computed tomography are seen in the majority of
      asthmatic patients, and asthmatic patients with CRS show a significant impairment
      in Quality of Life (QOL) and pulmonary function as compared to those without CRS.
      Conversely, lower airway inflammation and dysfunction are seen in non-asthmatic
      patients with CRS. Treatments for CRS that include pharmacotherapy such as anti
      leukotrienes, surgery, and aspirin desensitization show a beneficial effect on
      concomitant asthma. Acting as a gatekeeper of the united airways, the control of
      inflammation in the nose is crucial for improvement of the QOL of patients with
      co-existing AR/CRS and asthma. 

PMID- 25838086
TI  - Immunopathology of chronic rhinosinusitis.
AB  - Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a heterogeneous disease characterized by local
      inflammation of the upper airways and sinuses which persists for at least 12
      weeks. CRS can be divided into two phenotypes dependent on the presence of nasal
      polyps (NPs); CRS with NPs (CRSwNP) and CRS without NPs (CRSsNP). Immunological
      patterns in the two diseases are known to be different. Inflammation in CRSsNP is
      rarely investigated and limited studies show that CRSsNP is characterized by type
      1 inflammation. Inflammation in CRSwNP is well investigated and CRSwNP in Western
      countries shows type 2 inflammation and eosinophilia in NPs. In contrast, mixed
      inflammatory patterns are found in CRSwNP in Asia and the ratio of eosinophilic
      NPs and non-eosinophilic NPs is almost 50:50 in these countries. Inflammation in
      eosinophilic NPs is mainly controlled by type 2 cytokines, IL-5 and IL-13, which
      can be produced from several immune cells including Th2 cells, mast cells and
      group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) that are all elevated in eosinophilic NPs.
      IL-5 strongly induces eosinophilia. IL-13 activates macrophages, B cells and
      epithelial cells to induce recruitment of eosinophils and Th2 cells, IgE mediated
      reactions and remodeling. Epithelial derived cytokines, TSLP, IL-33 and IL-1 can
      directly and indirectly control type 2 cytokine production from these cells in
      eosinophilic NPs. Recent clinical trials showed the beneficial effect on
      eosinophilic NPs and/or asthma by monoclonal antibodies against IL-5, IL-4Ralpha,
      IgE and TSLP suggesting that they can be therapeutic targets for eosinophilic
      CRSwNP. 

PMID- 25838088
TI  - Usefulness of modified Pulmonary Index Score (mPIS) as a quantitative tool for
      the evaluation of severe acute exacerbation in asthmatic children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute exacerbation of asthma is divided qualitatively into mild,
      moderate, and severe attacks and respiratory failure. This system is, however,
      not suitable for estimating small changes in respiratory condition with time and
      for determining the efficacy of treatments, because it has a qualitative, but not
      quantitative nature. METHODS: To evaluate the usefulness of quantitative
      estimation of asthma exacerbation, modified Pulmonary Index Score (mPIS) values
      were measured in 87 asthmatic children (mean age, 5.0 +/- 0.4 years) during
      hospitalization. mPIS was calculated by adding the sum of scores for 6 items
      (scores of 0-3 were given for each item). These consisted of heart rate,
      respiratory rate, accessory muscle use, inspiratory-to-expiratory flow ratio,
      degree of wheezing, and oxygen saturation in room air. Measurements were made at
      visits and at hospitalization and were then made twice a day until discharge.
      RESULTS: mPIS values were highly correlated among raters. mPIS values at visits
      were 9.1 +/- 0.1 and 12.6 +/- 0.4 in subjects with moderate and severe attacks,
      respectively (p < 0.001). mPIS values of subjects requiring continuous inhalation
      therapy (CIT) with isoproterenol in addition to systemic steroids were
      significantly higher than the values of those without CIT (12.0 +/- 0.5 and 9.3
      +/- 0.2, respectively, p < 0.001). A score of 10 was suggested to be the optimal
      cutoff for distinguishing between subjects requiring and not requiring CIT, from
      the perspectives of both sensitivity and specificity. mPIS at hospitalization
      correlated well with the period until discharge, suggesting that this score was a
      useful predictor for the clinical course after hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: mPIS
      could be a useful tool for several aspects during acute asthma attacks, including
      the determination of a treatment plan, and prediction of the period of
      hospitalization in admitted patients, although prospective studies would be
      required to establish our hypothesis.

PMID- 25838089
TI  - Effect of inhaled corticosteroids on bronchial asthma in Japanese athletes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Asthma has a higher prevalence in athlete populations such as Olympic
      athletes than in the general population. Correct diagnosis and management of
      asthma in athletes is important for symptom control and avoidance of doping
      accusations. However, few reports are available on asthma treatment in the
      athlete population in clinical practice. In this study, we focused on the
      clinical efficacy of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) for asthma in a Japanese
      athlete population. METHODS: The study subjects included athletes who visited the
      Niigata Institute for Health and Sports Medicine, Niigata, Japan for athletic
      tests and who were diagnosed with asthma on the basis of respiratory symptoms and
      positive results in a bronchodilator or bronchial provocation test such as
      exercise, hypertonic saline, or methacholine provocation. The athletes received
      ICS alone for at least 3 months, and the clinical background, sports type, and
      treatment efficacy were analyzed. RESULTS: The study population comprised 80
      athletes (59 men and 21 women) with a median age of 16.0 years. Regarding sports
      type, 28 athletes engaged in winter sports (35%), 22 in endurance sports (27.5%),
      and 25 in indoor sports (31.3%). Although ICS is the primary treatment in athlete
      asthma, 16.3% of the athletes showed an unsatisfactory response to treatment
      according to the Global Evaluation of Treatment Effectiveness (GETE). These
      subjects were characterized by a decreased response to methacholine and lower
      values for FEV1/FVC and type 2 helper T cell (Th2)-associated biomarkers relative
      to responsive athletes. In multivariate analysis, FEV1/FVC and the logarithm to
      the base 10 of the IgE level were independently associated with the ICS response.
      CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that ICS is effective for asthma in most
      athletes. However, certain asthmatic athletes are less responsive to ICS than
      expected. The pathogenesis in these subjects may differ from that of conventional
      asthma characterized by chronic allergic airway inflammation.

PMID- 25838090
TI  - The impact of co-existing seasonal allergic rhinitis caused by Japanese Cedar
      Pollinosis (SAR-JCP) upon asthma control status.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis Caused by Japanese Cedar Pollinosis (SAR
      JCP) is a most common allergic rhinitis, affecting about 40% in Japan, but the
      influence from SAR-JCP upon asthma is controversial. The purpose of this study is
      to investigate the effect of coexistence of SAR-JCP upon control status of asthma
      using SACRA (Self-Assessment of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Questionnaire).
      METHODS: The design was prospective, single-center, observational study.
      Asthmatic patients were classified into 3 groups, patients without rhinitis,
      those with perennial rhinitis or those with SAR-JCP from the results of SACRA.
      The control status of asthma were evaluated by Visual Analog Scale (VAS) in SACRA
      and Asthma Control Test (ACT) score. They were evaluated twice, from September to
      January (nonpollen-season) and February to April (pollen-season) and compared.
      RESULTS: 451 patients were enrolled and 325 cases (72%) were diagnosed as having
      comorbidity of rhinitis, among which 173 with only perennial rhinitis, while 152
      with SAR-JCP. There was no significant difference in asthma control level
      measured by VAS and ACT score among 3 groups during nonpollen-season. The asthma
      control level measured by VAS (1.91-2.95) and ACT score (22.7-21.6) got worse
      during pollen-season among patients with SAR-JCP, even though 84% received
      treatment for rhinitis. Although it differed according to criteria, asthma
      control during pollen-season was impaired in 18-38% asthmatic patients with SAR
      JCP. CONCLUSION: It is possible to minimize the influence of AR on asthma control
      by obtaining an accurate diagnosis and providing sufficient treatment for
      rhinitis.

PMID- 25838092
TI  - Safety and efficacy of a new regimen of short-term oral immunotherapy with Cry j
      1-galactomannan conjugate for Japanese cedar pollinosis: a prospective,
      randomized, open-label study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Short-term oral immunotherapy (OIT) using the Cry j1-galactomannan
      conjugate for Japanese cedar pollinosis may be effective and relatively safe.
      However, a treatment regimen has not been established. In the present study, we
      examined a new OIT regimen with a build-up phase and extended the maintenance
      phase of OIT to the peak period of the pollen season to enhance the therapeutic
      effect and safety of OIT. METHODS: A prospective, randomized, open-label trial
      was conducted over a period of 4 months. Participants were randomly divided into
      two groups. The OIT group comprised 23 subjects. The build-up phase was initiated
      1 month before the expected pollen season. The maintenance phase was continued
      for 51 days during the peak pollen season. The control group comprised 24
      subjects. The symptoms and medication score, levels of allergen-specific serum
      antibodies throughout the pollen season, and adverse effects with OIT were
      evaluated. RESULTS: Participants receiving OIT showed significant improvements in
      total symptom scores, medication score, and total symptom-medication scores
      throughout the pollen season compared with the control group. The levels of
      allergen-specific serum IgG4 were significantly increased in the OIT group but
      not in the control group throughout the cedar pollen season. Importantly, no
      severe adverse effects were observed with OIT. CONCLUSIONS: The new regimen of
      short-term OIT using the Cry j1-galactomannan conjugate for Japanese cedar
      pollinosis is effective, relatively safe and induces immune tolerance. Thus, OIT
      using allergen-galactomannan conjugates may provide a rapid, effective, and thus
      convenient immunotherapy for pollinosis instead of SLIT or SCIT.

PMID- 25838091
TI  - A workshop with practical training for anaphylaxis management improves the self
      efficacy of school personnel.
AB  - BACKGROUND: School personnel are required to guarantee a secure school
      environment for children suffering from severe food allergies. We organized a
      workshop for school personnel to learn the appropriate management of anaphylaxis
      that included practical training with an adrenaline auto-injector (AAI). The
      objective of this study was to evaluate the workshop in terms of the improvement
      of self-efficacy (SE) of participants to deal with anaphylaxis. METHODS: All 93
      school nurses, 73 schoolteachers and 110 childcare workers participating in the
      study completed a questionnaire before and after the workshop. The SE of the
      participants was evaluated using an original 15-item questionnaire. RESULTS:
      Before the workshop, the SE of school nurses was the highest among the profession
      groups, and being involved with children prescribed an AAI was a common factor
      associated with a high SE. After the workshop, the SE increased in all groups,
      but most apparently in school nurses and those involved with children prescribed
      an AAI. The presence of an emergency plan was positively associated with the SE
      of schoolteachers only after the workshop, even though no such association
      existed beforehand. CONCLUSIONS: Practical instruction of school nurses and
      school personnel involved with children prescribed an AAI resulted in dramatic
      improvement of the SE. These people are expected to play a central role in the
      development of an anaphylaxis management plan in their schools.

PMID- 25838093
TI  - Leukotriene E4 induces MUC5AC release from human airway epithelial NCI-H292
      cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hypersecretion of mucin in the airway epithelium is an important
      feature of allergic airway diseases. Of the 3 cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs;
      LTC4 LTD4 and LTE4), only LTE4 is sufficiently stable to be detectable in
      extracellular fluids. However, LTE4 has received little attention because it
      binds poorly to the CysLT1 and CysLT2 receptors; therefore, little is known about
      the effects of LTE4 on mucous secretion. Recently, studies have focused on the
      P2Y12 receptor as a potential receptor for LTE4, because this receptor is
      required for LTE4-mediated pulmonary inflammation. In our previous study, we
      confirmed the expression of P2Y12 receptor in human airway epithelial cells. To
      clarify the roles of LTE4 in airway epithelial cells, we investigated mucus
      secretion by LTE4 in vitro. METHODS: Confluent NCI-H292 cells were stimulated
      with LTE4 (0.01-1 MUM) for 24 h. The release and production of MUC5AC protein, a
      gel-forming mucin, were evaluated with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
      RESULTS: Western blot analysis revealed that NCI-H292 cells expressed P2Y12
      receptor protein. LTE4 significantly induced the release of MUC5AC mucin in a
      dose-dependent manner. Th2 cytokines such as IL-4 (10 ng/mL) and IL-13 (10 ng/mL)
      accelerated the LTE4-induced release of MUC5AC protein. MRS2935, a P2Y12 receptor
      antagonist, partially inhibited the LTE4-induced release of MUC5AC protein in the
      airway. In contrast, MK571, a CysLT1 receptor antagonist, did not affect the
      release of MUC5AC protein elicited by LTE4. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest
      that LTE4 may play some important roles in allergic mucus secretion partially via
      activation of P2Y12 receptor.

PMID- 25838094
TI  - Phenotype of asthma related with high serum periostin levels.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Asthma is a heterogeneous disease composed of various phenotypes.
      Periostin, a molecule inducible with interleukin (IL)-4 or IL-13 in bronchial
      epithelial cells, is a biomarker of "TH2-high" asthma. The objective of this
      study is to examine whether the serum periostin concentrations are correlated
      with the severity, specific phenotype(s), or comorbidity of asthma. METHODS:
      Serum concentrations of periostin were measured in 190 Japanese asthmatic
      patients and 11 healthy controls. The protocol was registered under UMIN
      000002980 in the clinical trial registry. RESULTS: The serum concentrations of
      periostin were significantly higher (P = 0.014) in asthmatics [70.0 (54.0-93.5)
      ng/ml] than in healthy subjects [57.0 (39.0-63.0) ng/ml], though we found no
      correlation between serum periostin concentrations and treatment steps required
      to control asthma. To characterize "high-periostin" phenotype(s), the patients
      with asthma were divided among tertiles based on the serum concentrations of
      periostin. The high-periostin group was older at onset of asthma (P = 0.04), had
      a higher prevalence of aspirin intolerance (P = 0.04) or concomitant nasal
      disorders (P = 0.03-0.001), higher peripheral eosinophil counts (P < 0.001), and
      lower pulmonary function (P = 0.02-0.07). The serum concentrations of periostin
      were particularly high in asthmatic patients complicated by chronic
      rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps and olfactory dysfunction. In contrast, neither
      atopic status, control status of asthma, nor quality of life were related with
      the "high-periostin" phenotype. CONCLUSION: Elevated periostin concentrations in
      serum were correlated with a specific phenotype of eosinophilic asthma, late
      onset and often complicated by obstructive pulmonary dysfunction and nasal
      disorders.

PMID- 25838095
TI  - Japanese Society of Allergology task force report on standardization of house
      dust mite allergen vaccines - secondary publication.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In the 1990s, the Japanese Society of Allergology (JSA) standardized
      Japanese cedar pollen allergen vaccines. In the present study, the task force for
      house dust mite (HDM) allergen standardization of the Committee for Allergens and
      Immunotherapy of JSA reports the standardization of HDM allergen vaccines in
      Japan. METHODS: In vivo allergenic potency was determined by intradermal testing
      of 51 Japanese adults with positive serum specific IgE to HDM allergens. In vitro
      total IgE binding potency was analyzed by competition ELISA using a pooled serum,
      with sera obtained from 10 allergic patients. The amounts of HDM group 1 (Der 1)
      and group 2 major allergens in eight HDM allergen extracts were measured by
      sandwich ELISAs. Correlation between the in vitro total IgE binding potency and
      major allergen levels was analyzed. RESULTS: We selected a JSA reference HDM
      extract and determined its in vivo allergenic potency. The in vitro total IgE
      binding potency significantly correlated with Der 1 content, group 2 allergen
      content, and their combined amount, indicating that measurement of major allergen
      contents can be used as a surrogate in vitro assay. CONCLUSIONS: The task force
      determined the in vivo allergenic potency (100,000 JAU/ml) and Der 1 content
      (38.5 MUg/ml) of the JSA reference HDM extract, selected the measurement of Der 1
      content as the surrogate in vitro assay, and decided that manufacturers can label
      a HDM allergen extract as having a titer of 100,000 JAU/ml if it contains 22.2
      66.7 MUg/ml of Der 1.

PMID- 25838096
TI  - Primary sclerosing cholangitis in common variable immune deficiency.

PMID- 25838097
TI  - Familial kiwi fruit allergy: a case report.

PMID- 25838098
TI  - Oral immunotherapy initiation for multi-nut allergy: a case report.

PMID- 25838099
TI  - Two cases of allergic contact dermatitis due to skin-whitening cosmetics.

PMID- 25838100
TI  - Synergistic suppression of Poly(I:C)-induced CCL3 by a corticosteroid and a long
      acting beta2 agonist in nasal epithelial cells.

PMID- 25838101
TI  - Antihistaminic drug olopatadine downmodulates T cell chemotaxis toward CCL17 in
      patients with atopic dermatitis.

PMID- 25838102
TI  - Fatal anaphylaxis to wheat after gluten-free diet in an adolescent with celiac
      disease.

PMID- 25838103
TI  - Prevalences of specific IgE to wheat gliadin components in patients with wheat
      dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis.

PMID- 25838104
TI  - Periostin in the bronchial lavage fluid of asthma patients.

PMID- 25838105
TI  - A case of contact urticaria inducing anaphylaxis due to liliaceae vegetables in a
      hand eczema patient.

PMID- 25838106
TI  - Combined cholinergic urticaria and cold-induced cholinergic urticaria with
      acquired idiopathic generalized anhidrosis.

PMID- 25838107
TI  - Structure and Organization of the Engraulidae Family U2 snRNA: An Evolutionary
      Model Gene?
AB  - The U2 snRNA multigene family has been analyzed in four species of the
      Engraulidae family--Engraulis encrasicolus, Engraulis mordax, Engraulis ringens,
      and Engraulis japonicas--with the object of understanding more about the
      structure of this multigene family in these pelagic species and studying their
      phylogenetic relationships. The results showed that the cluster of this gene
      family in the Engraulis genus is formed by the U2-U5 snRNA with highly conserved
      sequences of mini- and micro-satellites, such as (CTGT)n, embedded downstream of
      the transcription unit; findings indicate that this gene family evolved following
      the concerted model. The phylogenetic analysis of the non-transcribed spacer of
      cluster U2-U5 snDNA in the 4 species showed that the sequences of the species E.
      encrasicolus and E. japonicus are closely related; these two are genetically
      close to E. mordax and slightly more distant from E. ringens. The data obtained
      by molecular analysis of U2-U5 snDNA and their secondary structure, with the
      presence of the micro-satellite (CTGT)n and mini-satellites, show clearly that
      the species E. encrasicolus and E. japonicus are closely related and would be
      older than E. mordax and E. ringens.

PMID- 25838108
TI  - Effects of codon usage on gene expression: empirical studies on Drosophila.
AB  - For most amino acids, more than one codon can be used. Many hypotheses have been
      put forward to account for patterns of uneven use of synonymous codons (codon
      usage bias) that most often have been indirectly tested primarily by analyses of
      patterns. Direct experimental tests of effects of synonymous codon usage are
      available for unicellular organisms, however empirical data addressing this
      problem in multicellular eukaryotes are sparse. We have developed a flexible
      transfecting plasmid that allows us to empirically test the effects of different
      codons on transcription and translation and present data from Drosophila. We
      could detect no significant effects of codon usage on transcription. With regard
      to translation, optimal codons (most used) produce higher levels of protein
      expression compared to non-optimal codons if the effect of difference in
      thermodynamic stability of secondary structure of the 5' mRNA ribosome-binding
      site is controlled for. These results are consistent with what has been found in
      bacteria and thus expand the generality of these principles to multicellular
      eukaryotes. 

PMID- 25838109
TI  - Autistic-like traits in adult patients with mood disorders and schizophrenia.
AB  - Autism spectrum disorder often co-occurs with other psychiatric disorders.
      Although a high prevalence of autistic-like traits/symptoms has been identified
      in the pediatric psychiatric population of normal intelligence, there are no
      reports from adult psychiatric population. This study examined whether there is a
      greater prevalence of autistic-like traits/symptoms in patients with adult-onset
      psychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder,
      or schizophrenia, and whether such an association is independent of symptom
      severity. The subjects were 290 adults of normal intelligence between 25 and 59
      years of age (MDD, n=125; bipolar disorder, n=56; schizophrenia, n=44; healthy
      controls, n=65). Autistic-like traits/symptoms were measured using the Social
      Responsiveness Scale for Adults. Symptom severity was measured using the Positive
      and Negative Symptoms Scale, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and/or the
      Young Mania Rating Scale. Almost half of the clinical subjects, except those with
      remitted MDD, exhibited autistic-like traits/symptoms at levels typical for sub
      threshold or threshold autism spectrum disorder. Furthermore, the proportion of
      psychiatric patients that demonstrated high autistic-like traits/symptoms was
      significantly greater than that of healthy controls, and not different between
      that of remitted or unremitted subjects with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.
      On the other hand, remitted subjects with MDD did not differ from healthy
      controls with regard to the prevalence or degree of high autistic-like
      traits/symptoms. A substantial proportion of adults with bipolar disorder and
      schizophrenia showed high autistic-like traits/symptoms independent of symptom
      severity, suggesting a shared pathophysiology among autism spectrum disorder and
      these psychiatric disorders. Conversely, autistic-like traits among subjects with
      MDD were associated with the depressive symptom severity. These findings suggest
      the importance of evaluating autistic-like traits/symptoms underlying adult-onset
      psychiatric disorders for the best-suited treatment. Further studies with a
      prospective design and larger samples are needed. 

PMID- 25838110
TI  - Survival kinetics of starving bacteria is biphasic and density-dependent.
AB  - In the lifecycle of microorganisms, prolonged starvation is prevalent and
      sustaining life during starvation periods is a vital task. In the literature, it
      is commonly assumed that survival kinetics of starving microbes follows
      exponential decay. This assumption, however, has not been rigorously tested.
      Currently, it is not clear under what circumstances this assumption is true.
      Also, it is not known when such survival kinetics deviates from exponential decay
      and if it deviates, what underlying mechanisms for the deviation are. Here, to
      address these issues, we quantitatively characterized dynamics of survival and
      death of starving E. coli cells. The results show that the assumption--starving
      cells die exponentially--is true only at high cell density. At low density,
      starving cells persevere for extended periods of time, before dying rapidly
      exponentially. Detailed analyses show intriguing quantitative characteristics of
      the density-dependent and biphasic survival kinetics, including that the period
      of the perseverance is inversely proportional to cell density. These
      characteristics further lead us to identification of key underlying processes
      relevant for the perseverance of starving cells. Then, using mathematical
      modeling, we show how these processes contribute to the density-dependent and
      biphasic survival kinetics observed. Importantly, our model reveals a thrifty
      strategy employed by bacteria, by which upon sensing impending depletion of a
      substrate, the limiting substrate is conserved and utilized later during
      starvation to delay cell death. These findings advance quantitative understanding
      of survival of microbes in oligotrophic environments and facilitate quantitative
      analysis and prediction of microbial dynamics in nature. Furthermore, they prompt
      revision of previous models used to analyze and predict population dynamics of
      microbes.

PMID- 25838111
TI  - The clinical profile of children with ADHD that require OROS-methylphenidate
      combined with shorter-acting formulations.
AB  - Long-acting methylphenidate (MPH) formulations, including OROS-MPH, were found to
      be effective in alleviating ADHD symptoms throughout the day. However, sustained
      stimulant activity may lead to prolonged suppression of appetite and insomnia. In
      this study, we characterized the clinical profile of children and adolescents for
      whom a once-daily lower dose of OROS-MPH combined with a shorter-acting agent was
      more tolerable than single higher OROS-MPH dose. In our cohort of 128 children
      treated with OROS-MPH, 47 (36.7 %) better tolerated a lower dose of OROS-MPH
      combined with short-acting MPH formulations (Group I). Nevertheless, for the
      majority (81 patients-63.3 %), a standard single moderate dose of OROS-MPH was
      sufficient (Group II). The mean daily doses of MPH were: 0.83 +/- 0.21 mg/kg for
      Group I and 1.06 +/- 0.29 mg/kg for Group II. There were no significant
      differences in the prevalence of learning disorders, tic disorders, epilepsy and
      conduct disorders between these two groups. However, anxiety and marginally
      depression were more prevalent in Group I (46.8 and 9.7 %) than in Group II (27.2
      and 1.2 %). Patients in Group I were also more tending to receive psychotherapy
      than patients in Group II. 

PMID- 25838112
TI  - Cardiovascular pharmacogenomics; state of current knowledge and implementation in
      practice.
AB  - Pharmacogenomics (PGx) is the science that examines how an individual's genetic
      make-up affects the safety and efficacy of therapeutic drugs. PGx of response to
      cardiovascular (CV) medications is of the most successfully translated branches
      of PGx into the clinical workout. However, the clinical implementation of PGx of
      CV drugs is yet far beyond the growth of our understanding of the role of
      genetics in drug therapy. A considerable amount of efforts have been devoted by
      the regulatory agents like the food and drug administration (FDA) as well as the
      expert-based networks such as the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation
      Consortium (CPIC) to overcome the existing barriers. This has been done, at least
      in part, for some of the most widely prescribed CV drugs, including clopidogrel,
      warfarin and simvastatin for which the PGx knowledge have been satisfactorily
      robust to provoke the CPIC to issue the guidelines for these drugs and the FDA to
      update the drugs' labeling, both strongly recommended the use of genotype-guided
      dosing for these medications, provided that the genetic data are available. For
      other drugs, however, studies have produced contradictory results and further
      large and well-designed clinical trials are required to expand and confirm the
      clinical utility of their PGx data. This review paper presents the current state
      of knowledge in the field of PGx of CV medications and describes the facilities
      assisting to the translation of PGx data into the clinical practice. Afterward,
      the existing body of PGx literature of the most-commonly used CV medications is
      comprehensively discussed. 

PMID- 25838113
TI  - Popularity, similarity, and the network extraversion bias.
AB  - Using the emergent friendship network of an incoming cohort of students in an
      M.B.A. program, we examined the role of extraversion in shaping social networks.
      Extraversion has two important implications for the emergence of network ties: a
      popularity effect, in which extraverts accumulate more friends than introverts
      do, and a homophily effect, in which the more similar are two people's levels of
      extraversion, the more likely they are to become friends. These effects result in
      a systematic network extraversion bias, in which people's social networks will
      tend to be overpopulated with extraverts and underpopulated with introverts.
      Moreover, the most extraverted people have the greatest network extraversion
      bias, and the most introverted people have the least network extraversion bias.
      Our finding that social networks were systematically misrepresentative of the
      broader social environment raises questions about whether there is a societal
      bias toward believing other people are more extraverted than they actually are
      and whether introverts are better socially calibrated than extraverts. 

PMID- 25838114
TI  - AAV2 X increases AAV6 rep/cap-driven rAAV production.
AB  - We have recently identified a new gene, involved in DNA replication, at the far
      3' end of the adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) genome. The AAV type 6 (AAV6)
      genome has a disrupted X open reading frame (ORF) whose two halves, when
      combined, have full-length homology and comparable size to AAV2 X. Hypothesizing
      that AAV6 X is inactive, we assessed if AAV2 X augments recombinant (r)AAV2 DNA
      replication and virion production, but with rep and cap trans-functions of AAV6.
      Using AAV2 X expressing HEK293 cell lines we show AAV2 X significantly boosts
      rAAV DNA replication/virion production, driven by AAV6 rep/cap as it does the
      AAV2 rep/cap system. Protein BLAST search for homology between AAV2 X and various
      AAV Rep78 proteins suggests that X might be AAV8 Rep78-derived and have some of
      its activities. These data suggest that AAV2 X, and the corresponding X genes of
      other AAV types/clades, warrant further study. 

PMID- 25838116
TI  - Confined gold nanoparticles enhance the detection of small molecules in label
      free impedance aptasensors.
AB  - A controlled architecture of nanoelectrodes, of a similar size to small molecule
      binding aptamers, is synthesized inside nanoporous alumina. Gold nanoparticles
      with a controlled size (about 2 nm) are electrogenerated in the alumina cavities,
      showing a fast electron transfer process toward ferrocyanide. These uncapped
      nanoparticles are easily modified with a thiol-containing aptamer for label-free
      detection of adenosine monophosphate by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
      Our results show that the use of a limited electrical conducting surface inside
      an insulating environment can be very sensitive to conformational changes,
      introducing a new approach to the detection of small molecules, exemplified here
      by the direct and selective detection of adenosine monophosphate at the nanomolar
      scale. 

PMID- 25838115
TI  - Evaluation of non-reciprocal heterologous immunity between unrelated viruses.
AB  - Heterologous immunity refers to the phenomenon whereby a history of an immune
      response against one pathogen can provide a level of immunity to a second
      unrelated pathogen. Previous investigations have shown that heterologous immunity
      is not necessarily reciprocal, such as in the case of vaccinia virus (VACV).
      Replication of VACV is reduced in mice immune to a variety of pathogens, while
      VACV fails to induce immunity to several of the same pathogens, including
      lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). Here we examine the lack of
      reciprocity of heterologous immunity between VACV and LCMV and find that they
      induce qualitatively different memory CD8 T cells. However, depending on the
      repertoire of an individual host, VACV can provide protection against LCMV simply
      by experimentally amplifying the quantity of T cells cross-reactive with the two
      viruses. Thus, one cause for lack of reciprocity is differences in the
      frequencies of cross-reactive T cells in immune hosts. 

PMID- 25838117
TI  - Functional inactivation of hypocretin 1 receptors in the medial prefrontal cortex
      affects the pyramidal neuron activity and gamma oscillations: An in vivo multiple
      channel single-unit recording study.
AB  - The hypocretin signaling is thought to play a critical role in maintaining
      wakefulness via stimulating the subcortical arousal pathways. Although the
      cortical areas, including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), receive dense
      hypocretinergic fibers and express its receptors, it remains unclear whether the
      hypocretins can directly regulate the neural activity of the mPFC in vivo. In the
      present study, using multiple-channel single-unit recording study, we found that
      infusion of the SB-334867, a blocker for the Hcrtr1, beside the recording sites
      within the mPFC substantially exerted an inhibitory effect on the putative
      pyramidal neuron (PPN) activity in naturally behaving rats. In addition,
      functional blockade of the Hcrtr1 also selectively reduced the power of the gamma
      oscillations. The PPN activity and the power of the neural oscillations were not
      affected after microinjection of the TCS-OX2-29, a blocker for the Hcrtr2, within
      the mPFC. Together, these data indicate that endogenous hypocretins acting on the
      Hcrtr1 are required for the normal neural activity in the mPFC in vivo, and thus
      might directly contribute cortical arousal and mPFC-dependent cognitive
      processes. 

PMID- 25838118
TI  - Respiratory deficits in a rat model of Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by loss of
      the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway. In addition to deficits in voluntary
      movement, PD involves a disturbance of breathing regulation. However, the cause
      and nature of this disturbance are not well understood. Here, we investigated
      breathing at rest and in response to hypercapnia (7% CO2) or hypoxia (8% O2), as
      well as neuroanatomical changes in brainstem regions essential for breathing, in
      a 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) rat model of PD. Bilateral injections of 6-OHDA
      (24MUg/MUl) into the striatum decreased tyrosine hydroxylase (TH(+))-neurons in
      the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc), transcription factor phox2b-expressing
      neurons in the retrotrapezoid nucleus and neurokinin-1 receptors in the ventral
      respiratory column. In 6-OHDA-lesioned rats, respiratory rate was reduced at
      rest, leading to a reduction in minute ventilation. These animals also showed a
      reduction in the tachypneic response to hypercapnia, but not to hypoxia
      challenge. These results suggest that the degeneration of TH(+) neurons in the
      SNpc leads to impairment of breathing at rest and in hypercapnic conditions. Our
      data indicate that respiratory deficits in a 6-OHDA rat model of PD are related
      to downregulation of neural systems involved in respiratory rhythm generation.
      The present study suggests a new avenue to better understand the respiratory
      deficits observed in chronic stages of PD. 

PMID- 25838120
TI  - Household smoking restrictions among urban residents in China: individual and
      regional influences.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The present study examines individual and regional influences on
      household smoking restrictions (HSR) in China. METHODS: Participants were 16,866
      urban residents, who were identified through a multistage survey sampling process
      conducted in 21 Chinese cities. The data collection instrument was a self
      administered questionnaire. The sample was characterized in terms of the
      prevalence of complete HSRs. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to
      examine individual and environmental influences on HSR. RESULTS: Almost 22 % of
      respondents reported HSR. Both individual and regional-level restrictions on
      smoking in the workplace were associated with HSR. There was a negative
      association between individual household income and HSR, and positive
      associations between HSR awareness of secondhand smoking (SHS), and smoking in
      smoke-free public places, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed
      individual and regional influences on HSR in China. Findings underscore that
      efforts to restrict smoking in Chinese households should emphasize environmental
      smoking restrictions, while simultaneously raising public awareness of the perils
      of SHS. This information should be considered in designing interventions to
      sustain and promote the adoption of HSR in Chinese and other populations.

PMID- 25838119
TI  - Minocycline enhances hippocampal memory, neuroplasticity and synapse-associated
      proteins in aged C57 BL/6 mice.
AB  - Previous studies have suggested that minocycline can attenuate cognitive deficits
      in animal models of conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and cerebral ischemia
      through inhibiting microglia associated anti-inflammatory actions. However the
      pathway that minocycline targets to enhance cognitive performance is not fully
      defined. Here we examined the effects of minocycline on learning and memory in
      aged (22-month-old) C57 BL/6 mice. We treated one group of mice with minocycline
      (30 mg/kg/day), and another group of mice with donepezil (2 mg/kg/day) as a
      positive control. The Morris water maze and passive avoidance tests were used to
      evaluate the effects of minocycline on learning and memory deficits. We also used
      high-frequency stimulation-induced long-term potentiation and Golgi-Cox staining
      to assess the effect of minocycline on synaptic plasticity and synaptogenesis.
      The effects of minocycline on synapse-associated signaling proteins were
      determined by western blot. We found that minocycline ameliorates cognitive
      deficits, enhances neuroplasticity, activates brain-derived neurotrophic factor-
      extracellular signal-regulated kinases signaling and increases expression of Arc,
      EGR1 and PSD-95 in the CA1 and dentate gyrus regions of the hippocampus in aged
      mice. The effects of minocycline in aged mice were similar to those of donepezil.
      Our results suggest that minocycline could improve learning and memory through
      enhancing synaptic plasticity and synaptogenesis, modulating the expression of
      synapse-associated signaling proteins, which provide a rationale for exploring
      the viability of using minocycline treatment in cognitive deficits.

PMID- 25838121
TI  - Evaluating HIV prevention strategies for populations in key affected groups: the
      example of Cabo Verde.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We used an individual-based model to evaluate the effects of
      hypothetical prevention interventions on HIV incidence trajectories in a
      concentrated, mixed epidemic setting from 2011 to 2021, and using Cabo Verde as
      an example. METHODS: Simulations were conducted to evaluate the extent to which
      early HIV treatment and optimization of care, HIV testing, condom distribution,
      and substance abuse treatment could eliminate new infections (i.e., reduce
      incidence to less than 10 cases per 10,000 person-years) among non-drug users,
      female sex workers (FSW), and people who use drugs (PWUD). RESULTS: Scaling up
      all four interventions resulted in the largest decreases in HIV, with estimates
      ranging from 1.4 (95 % CI 1.36-1.44) per 10,000 person-years among non-drug users
      to 8.2 (95 % CI 7.8-8.6) per 10,000 person-years among PWUD in 2021. Intervention
      scenarios prioritizing FWS and PWUD also resulted in HIV incidence estimates at
      or below 10 per 10,000 person-years by 2021 for all population sub-groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that scaling up multiple interventions among
      entire population is necessary to achieve elimination. However, prioritizing key
      populations with this combination prevention strategy may also result in a
      substantial decrease in total incidence.

PMID- 25838122
TI  - 5-HT3 receptors as important mediators of nausea and vomiting due to
      chemotherapy.
AB  - Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is associated with a significant
      deterioration in quality of life. The emetogenicity of the chemotherapeutic
      agents, repeated chemotherapy cycles, and patient risk factors significantly
      influence CINV. The use of a combination of a 5-hydroxytryptamine-3 (5-HT3)
      receptor antagonist, dexamethasone, and a neurokinin-1 (NK-1) receptor antagonist
      has significantly improved the control of acute and delayed emesis in single-day
      chemotherapy. The first generation 5-HT3 receptor antagonists have been very
      effective in the control of chemotherapy induced emesis in the first 24 h
      postchemotherapy (acute emesis), but have not been as effective against delayed
      emesis (24-120 h postchemotherapy). Palonosetron, a second generation 5-HT3
      receptor antagonist with a different half-life, a different binding capacity, and
      a different mechanism of action than the first generation 5-HT3 receptor
      antagonists appears to be the most effective agent in its class. Despite the
      control of emesis, nausea has not been well controlled by current agents.
      Olanzapine, a FDA approved antipsychotic that blocks multiple neurotransmitters:
      dopamine at D1, D2, D3, D4 brain receptors, serotonin at 5-HT2a, 5-HT2c, 5-HT3, 5
      HT6 receptors, catecholamines at alpha1 adrenergic receptors, acetylcholine at
      muscarinic receptors, and histamine at H1 receptors, has emerged in recent trials
      as an effective preventative agent for chemotherapy-induced emesis and nausea, as
      well as a very effective agent for the treatment of breakthrough emesis and
      nausea. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Membrane channels and
      transporters in cancers.

PMID- 25838123
TI  - Membrane targeting of the yeast exocyst complex.
AB  - The exocytosis is a process of fusion of secretory vesicles with plasma membrane,
      which plays a prominent role in many crucial cellular processes, e.g. secretion
      of neurotransmitters, cytokinesis or yeast budding. Prior to the SNARE-mediated
      fusion, the initial contact of secretory vesicle with the target membrane is
      mediated by an evolutionary conserved vesicle tethering protein complex, the
      exocyst. In all eukaryotic cells, the exocyst is composed of eight subunits -
      Sec5, Sec6, Sec8, Sec10, Sec15, Exo84 and two membrane-targeting landmark
      subunits Sec3 and Exo70, which have been described to directly interact with
      phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-bisphosphate (PIP2) of the plasma membrane. In this
      work, we utilized coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to elucidate
      structural details of the interaction of yeast Sec3p and Exo70p with lipid
      bilayers containing PIP2. We found that PIP2 is coordinated by the positively
      charged pocket of N-terminal part of Sec3p, which folds into unique Pleckstrin
      homology domain. Conversely, Exo70p interacts with the lipid bilayer by several
      binding sites distributed along the structure of this exocyst subunit. Moreover,
      we observed that the interaction of Exo70p with the membrane causes clustering of
      PIP2 in the adjacent leaflet. We further revealed that PIP2 is required for the
      correct positioning of small GTPase Rho1p, a direct Sec3p interactor, prior to
      the formation of the functional Rho1p-exocyst-membrane assembly. Our results show
      the critical importance of the plasma membrane pool of PIP2 for the exocyst
      function and suggest that specific interaction with acidic phospholipids
      represents an ancestral mechanism for the exocyst regulation. 

PMID- 25838124
TI  - TRP channels interaction with lipids and its implications in disease.
AB  - Transient receptor potential (TRP) proteins are a family of ion channels central
      for sensory signaling. These receptors and, in particular, those involved in
      thermal sensing are also involved in pain signaling. Noteworthy, thermosensory
      receptors are polymodal ion channels that respond to both physical and chemical
      stimuli, thus integrating different environmental clues. In addition, their
      activity is modulated by algesic agents and lipidergic substances that are
      primarily released in pathological states. Lipids and lipid-like molecules have
      been found that can directly activate some thermosensory channels or modulate
      their activity by either potentiating or inhibiting it. To date, more than 50
      endogenous lipids that can regulate TRP channel activity in sensory neurons have
      been described, thus representing the majority of known endogenous TRP channel
      modulators. Lipid modulators of TRP channels comprise lipids from a variety of
      metabolic pathways, including metabolites of the cyclooxygenase, lipoxygenase and
      cytochrome-P450 pathways, phospholipids and lysophospholipids. Therefore, TRP
      channels are able to integrate and interpret incoming signals from the different
      metabolic lipid pathways. Taken together, the large number of lipids that can
      activate, sensitize or inhibit neuronal TRP-channels highlights the pivotal role
      of these molecules in sensory biology as well as in pain transduction and
      perception. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Lipid-protein
      interactions. Guest Editors: Amitabha Chattopadhyay and Jean-Marie Ruysschaert. 

PMID- 25838125
TI  - Protecting Gram-negative bacterial cell envelopes from human lysozyme:
      Interactions with Ivy inhibitor proteins from Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas
      aeruginosa.
AB  - Lysozymes play an important role in host defense by degrading peptidoglycan in
      the cell envelopes of pathogenic bacteria. Several Gram-negative bacteria can
      evade this mechanism by producing periplasmic proteins that inhibit the enzymatic
      activity of lysozyme. The Escherichia coli inhibitor of vertebrate lysozyme, Ivyc
      and its Pseudomonas aeruginosa homolog, Ivyp1 have been shown to be potent
      inhibitors of hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL). Since human lysozyme (HL) plays an
      important role in the innate immune response, we have examined the binding of HL
      to Ivyc and Ivyp1. Our results show that Ivyp1 is a weaker inhibitor of HL than
      Ivyc even though they inhibit HEWL with similar potency. Calorimetry experiments
      confirm that Ivyp1 interacts more weakly with HL than HEWL. Analytical
      ultracentrifugation studies revealed that Ivyp1 in solution is a monomer and
      forms a 30kDa heterodimer with both HL and HEWL, while Ivyc is a homodimer that
      forms a tetramer with both enzymes. The interaction of Ivyp1 with HL was further
      characterized by NMR chemical shift perturbation experiments. In addition to the
      characteristic His-containing Ivy inhibitory loop that binds into the active site
      of lysozyme, an extended loop (P2) between the final two beta-strands also
      participates in forming protein-protein interactions. The P2 loop is not
      conserved in Ivyc and it constitutes a flexible region in Ivyp1 that becomes more
      rigid in the complex with HL. We conclude that differences in the electrostatic
      interactions at the binding interface between Ivy inhibitors and distinct
      lysozymes determine the strength of this interaction. This article is part of a
      Special Issue entitled: Bacterial Resistance to Antimicrobial Peptides. 

PMID- 25838126
TI  - Benchmarking the stability of human detergent-solubilised voltage-gated sodium
      channels for structural studies using eel as a reference.
AB  - With the ultimate goal of detailed structural analysis of mammalian and
      particularly human voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs), we have investigated
      the relative stability of human and rat VGSCs and compared them with electric eel
      VGSC. We found that NaV1.3 from rat was the most stable after detergent
      solubilisation. The order of stability was
      rNaV1.3>hNaV1.2>hNaV1.1>hNaV1.6>hNaV1.3>hNaV1.4. However, a comparison with the
      VGSC from Electrophorus electricus, which is most similar to NaV1.4, shows that
      the eel VGSC is considerably more stable in detergent than the human VGSCs
      examined. We conclude that current methods of structural analysis, such as single
      particle electron cryomicroscopy (cryoEM), may be most usefully targeted to eel
      VGSC or rNaV1.3, but that structural analysis on the full spectrum of VGSCs, by
      methods that require greater stability such as crystallisation and X-ray
      crystallography, will require further stabilisation of the channel. 

PMID- 25838127
TI  - The E2P-like state induced by magnesium fluoride complexes in the Na,K-ATPase.
      Kinetics of formation and interaction with Rb(+).
AB  - The first X-ray crystal structures of the Na,K-ATPase were obtained in the
      presence of magnesium and fluoride as E2(K2)Mg-MgF4, an E2?Pi-like state capable
      to occlude K(+) (or Rb(+)). This work presents a functional characterization of
      the crystallized form of the enzyme and proposes a model to explain the
      interaction between magnesium, fluoride and Rb(+) with the Na,K-ATPase. We
      studied the effect of magnesium and magnesium fluoride complexes on the E1-E2
      conformational transition and the kinetics of Rb(+) exchange between the medium
      and the E2(Rb2)Mg-MgF4 state. Our results show that both in the absence and in
      the presence of Rb(+), simultaneous addition of magnesium and fluoride stabilizes
      the Na,K-ATPase in an E2 conformation, presumably the E2Mg-MgF4 complex, that is
      unable to shift to E1 upon addition of Na(+). The time course of conformational
      change suggests the action of fluoride and magnesium at different steps of the
      E2Mg-MgF4 formation. Increasing concentrations of fluoride revert along a sigmoid
      curve the drop in the level of occluded Rb(+) caused by Mg(2+). Na(+)-induced
      release of Rb(+) from E2(Rb2)Mg-MgF4 occurs at the same rate as from E2(Rb2) but
      is insensitive to ADP. The rate of Rb(+) occlusion into the E2Mg-MgF4 state is 5
      8 times lower than that described for the E2Mg-vanadate complex. Since the E2Mg
      MgF4 and E2Mg-vanadate complexes represent different intermediates in the E2-P
      >E2 dephosphorylation sequence, the variation in occlusion rate could provide a
      tool to discriminate between these intermediates. 

PMID- 25838128
TI  - Cis and trans RET signaling control the survival and central projection growth of
      rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors.
AB  - RET can be activated in cis or trans by its co-receptors and ligands in vitro,
      but the physiological roles of trans signaling are unclear. Rapidly adapting (RA)
      mechanoreceptors in dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) express Ret and the co-receptor
      Gfralpha2 and depend on Ret for survival and central projection growth. Here, we
      show that Ret and Gfralpha2 null mice display comparable early central projection
      deficits, but Gfralpha2 null RA mechanoreceptors recover later. Loss of
      Gfralpha1, the co-receptor implicated in activating RET in trans, causes no
      significant central projection or cell survival deficit, but Gfralpha1;Gfralpha2
      double nulls phenocopy Ret nulls. Finally, we demonstrate that GFRalpha1 produced
      by neighboring DRG neurons activates RET in RA mechanoreceptors. Taken together,
      our results suggest that trans and cis RET signaling could function in the same
      developmental process and that the availability of both forms of activation
      likely enhances but not diversifies outcomes of RET signaling. 

PMID- 25838129
TI  - Systematic imaging reveals features and changing localization of mRNAs in
      Drosophila development.
AB  - mRNA localization is critical for eukaryotic cells and affects numerous
      transcripts, yet how cells regulate distribution of many mRNAs to their
      subcellular destinations is still unknown. We combined transcriptomics and
      systematic imaging to determine the tissue-specific expression and subcellular
      distribution of 5862 mRNAs during Drosophila oogenesis. mRNA localization is
      widespread in the ovary and detectable in all of its cell types-the somatic
      epithelial, the nurse cells, and the oocyte. Genes defined by a common RNA
      localization share distinct gene features and differ in expression level, 3'UTR
      length and sequence conservation from unlocalized mRNAs. Comparison of mRNA
      localizations in different contexts revealed that localization of individual
      mRNAs changes over time in the oocyte and between ovarian and embryonic cell
      types. This genome scale image-based resource (Dresden Ovary Table, DOT,
      http://tomancak-srv1.mpi-cbg.de/DOT/main.html) enables the transition from
      mechanistic dissection of singular mRNA localization events towards global
      understanding of how mRNAs transcribed in the nucleus distribute in cells.

PMID- 25838130
TI  - Switching immune signals on and off.

PMID- 25838131
TI  - Spreading good news.

PMID- 25838133
TI  - Burden of Clostridium difficile infection on hospital readmissions and its
      potential impact under the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Both Clostridium [corrected] difficile infection (CDI) rates in
      hospitals and interest in reducing 30-day readmission rates have increased
      dramatically in the United States. The objective of this study was to
      characterize the burden of CDI on 30-day hospital readmissions at a tertiary care
      health-system. METHODS: A patient discharge database was used to identify
      patients with a CDI diagnosis (ICD-9 code 008.45) during their stay in 2012.
      Patients were classified as index admissions (CDI discharges) or 30-day
      readmissions (CDI readmissions). Readmission rates, length of stay (LOS), and
      time to readmission were assessed among CDI readmissions. RESULTS: Among
      discharges from the health system (n = 51,353), 615 were diagnosed with CDI (1%).
      Thirty-day readmissions were more common among CDI discharges (30.1%) than non
      CDI discharges (14.4%). Average LOS for CDI readmissions was 5-6 days longer than
      non-CDI readmissions. Time to readmission was shorter among CDI discharges
      diagnosed on admission than CDI discharges diagnosed later during their hospital
      stay (median, 7 days). CONCLUSION: Reductions in hospital-onset CDI and
      readmission of patients with an index CDI can provide tremendous cost savings to
      hospitals. This calls for better infection control and antibiotic stewardship
      measures toward CDI management in the hospital and as patients transition to the
      next level of care.

PMID- 25838134
TI  - Influence of antimicrobial consumption on gram-negative bacteria in inpatients
      receiving antimicrobial resistance therapy from 2008-2013 at a tertiary hospital
      in Shanghai, China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Irrational use of antimicrobial agents is a major cause of increased
      antimicrobial resistance. Effective antibiotic stewardship strategies nationwide
      or in local health care settings are necessary to reduce antibiotic use and
      bacteria resistance. METHODS: We evaluated the effectiveness of China's
      antimicrobial stewardship policy on antimicrobial use and applied time-series
      analysis methodology to determine the temporal relationship between antibiotic
      use and gram-negative bacteria resistance at Changhai Hospital from 2008-2013.
      Isolates investigated included Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae,
      Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. RESULTS: Consumption of 7
      restricted-use antibiotics was dramatically reduced. Resistance to ceftazidime in
      P aeruginosa and A baumannii and resistance to ciprofloxacin in P aeruginosa
      significantly decreased. By using cross-correlation analysis, associations
      between ciprofloxacin resistance in P aeruginosa and fluoroquinolones consumption
      (r = 0.48; lag = 0; P = .02), ceftazidime resistance in P aeruginosa and third
      generation cephalosporins consumption (r = 0.54; lag = -1; P = .01) were
      identified. No substantial association between other pairs was found.
      CONCLUSIONS: Enhanced nationwide antimicrobial stewardship campaigns launched in
      2011 have made great achievements in regard to antibiotic use but have had
      limited effects on the reversal of gram-negative bacteria resistance in health
      care settings. Sound infection prevention and control programs to reduce the
      transmission of resistant pathogens for hospitals in China are urgently needed.

PMID- 25838135
TI  - A case of postoperative breast infection by Mycobacterium fortuitum associated
      with the hospital water supply.
AB  - This report describes the first known laboratory-confirmed case of Mycobacterium
      fortuitum breast infection related to the hospital water supply. The source of
      the M fortuitum infection was identified by repetitive extragenic palindromic
      sequence-based polymerase chain reaction genotyping. In addition, we discuss
      appropriate infection control measures to minimize patient exposure to waterborne
      pathogens, in particular, in the context of nontuberculous mycobacteria, which is
      difficult to eradicate from the water supply network. 

PMID- 25838136
TI  - Natural antimicrobials subtilosin and lauramide arginine ethyl ester synergize
      with conventional antibiotics clindamycin and metronidazole against biofilms of
      Gardnerella vaginalis but not against biofilms of healthy vaginal lactobacilli.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of clindamycin and
      metronidazole to synergize with natural antimicrobials against biofilms of
      bacterial vaginosis (BV)-associated Gardnerella vaginalis. Minimum bactericidal
      concentrations for biofilm cells (MBCs-B) were determined for each antimicrobial.
      The MBCs-B of lauramide arginine ethyl ester (LAE), subtilosin, clindamycin and
      metronidazole were 50, 69.5, 20 and 500 MUg mL(-1), respectively. A checkerboard
      assay and isobologram were used to analyze the type of interactions between these
      antimicrobials. The combination of metronidazole with natural antimicrobials did
      not inhibit planktonic lactobacilli. Clindamycin with either LAE or with
      subtilosin was inhibitory for planktonic but not for biofilm-associated
      lactobacilli. All tested antimicrobial combinations were inhibitory for BV
      associated Mobiluncus curtisii and Peptostreptococcus anaerobius. LAE and
      subtilosin synergized with clindamycin and metronidazole against biofilms of G.
      vaginalis but not biofilm-associated vaginal lactobacilli. The biofilms of BV
      associated pathogens can be controlled by synergistically acting combinations of
      conventional antibiotics and natural antimicrobials which will help better
      management of current antibiotics, especially considering robust bacterial
      resistance. Our findings create a foundation for a new strategy in the effective
      control of vaginal infections. 

PMID- 25838137
TI  - Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy in the UK and Elsewhere.
AB  - The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene was
      identified in 1989. This opened the door for the development of cystic fibrosis
      (CF) gene therapy, which has been actively pursued for the last 20 years.
      Although 26 clinical trials involving approximately 450 patients have been
      carried out, the vast majority of these trials were short and included small
      numbers of patients; they were not designed to assess clinical benefit, but to
      establish safety and proof-of-concept for gene transfer using molecular end
      points such as the detection of recombinant mRNA or correction of the ion
      transport defect. The only currently published trial designed and powered to
      assess clinical efficacy (defined as improvement in lung function) administered
      AAV2-CFTR to the lungs of patients with CF. The U.K. Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy
      Consortium completed, in the autumn of 2014, the first nonviral gene therapy
      trial designed to answer whether repeated nonviral gene transfer (12 doses over
      12 months) can lead to clinical benefit. The demonstration that the molecular
      defect in CFTR can be corrected with small-molecule drugs, and the success of
      gene therapy in other monogenic diseases, is boosting interest in CF gene
      therapy. Developments are discussed here. 

PMID- 25838138
TI  - Oncolytic measles virus efficacy in murine xenograft models of atypical teratoid
      rhabdoid tumors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) is a rare, highly malignant
      pediatric tumor of the central nervous system that is usually refractory to
      available treatments. The aggressive growth, propensity to disseminate along the
      neuroaxis, and young age at diagnosis contribute to the poor prognosis. Previous
      studies have demonstrated the efficacy of using oncolytic measles virus (MV)
      against localized and disseminated models of medulloblastoma. The purpose of this
      study was to evaluate the oncolytic potential of MV in experimental models of
      AT/RT. METHODS: Following confirmation of susceptibility to MV infection and
      killing of AT/RT cells in vitro, nude mice were injected with BT-12 and BT-16
      AT/RT cells stereotactically into the caudate nucleus (primary tumor model) or
      lateral ventricle (disseminated tumor model). Recombinant MV was administered
      either intratumorally or intravenously. Survival was determined for treated and
      control animals. Necropsy was performed on animals showing signs of progressive
      disease. RESULTS: All cell lines exhibited significant killing when infected with
      MV, all formed syncytia with infection, and all generated infectious virus after
      infection. Orthotopic xenografts displayed cells with rhabdoid-like cellular
      morphology, were negative for INI1 expression, and showed dissemination within
      the intracranial and spinal subarachnoid spaces. Intratumoral injection of live
      MV significantly prolonged the survival of animals with intracranial and
      metastatic tumors. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that AT/RT is susceptible
      to MV killing and suggest that the virus may have a role in treating this tumor
      in the clinical setting.

PMID- 25838139
TI  - Survival, hypothalamic obesity, and neuropsychological/psychosocial status after
      childhood-onset craniopharyngioma: newly reported long-term outcomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QoL) and long-term prognosis are frequently, and
      often severely, impaired in craniopharyngioma (CP) patients. Knowledge of risk
      factors for long-term outcome is important for optimization of treatment.
      METHODS: Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), body mass
      index (BMI), neuropsychological status (EORTCQLQ-C30, MFI-20), and psychosocial
      status were analyzed in 261 patients with childhood-onset CP diagnosed before
      2000 and longitudinally observed in HIT-Endo. RESULTS: Twenty-year OS was lower
      (P = .006) in CP with hypothalamic involvement (HI) (n = 132; 0.84 +/- 0.04) when
      compared with CP without HI (n = 82; 0.95 +/- 0.04). OS was not related to degree
      of resection, sex, age at diagnosis, or year of diagnosis (before/after 1990).
      PFS (n = 168; 0.58 +/- 0.05) was lower in younger patients (<5 y at diagnosis) (n
      = 30; 0.39 +/- 0.10) compared with patients aged 5-10 years (n = 66; 0.52 +/-
      0.08) and older than 10 years (n = 72; 0.77 +/- 0.06) at diagnosis. PFS was not
      associated with HI, degree of resection, or sex. HI led to severe weight gain
      during the first 8-12 years of follow-up (median BMI increase: +4.59SD) compared
      with no HI (median increase: +1.20SD) (P = .00). During >12 years of follow-up,
      patients with HI presented no further increase in BMI. QoL in CP patients with HI
      was impaired by obesity, physical fatigue, reduced motivation, dyspnea, diarrhea,
      and nonoptimal psychosocial development. CONCLUSIONS: OS and QoL are impaired by
      HI in long-term survivors of CP. HI is associated with severe obesity, which
      plateaus after 12 years. OS/PFS are not related to degree of resection, but gross
      total resection should be avoided in cases of HI to prevent further hypothalamic
      damage, which exacerbates sequelae.

PMID- 25838141
TI  - Xanthones from the roots of Maclura cochinchinensis var. gerontogea and their
      retinoic acid receptor-alpha agonistic activity.
AB  - A new xanthone (1) and a new naturally occurring xanthone (2) were isolated from
      the roots of Maclura cochinchinensis (Lour.) Corner var. gerontogea (Sieb. et
      Zucc.) Ohashi together with 10 known xanthones (3-12). Their structures were
      established by spectroscopic analyses including 1D and 2D NMR. Their retinoic
      acid receptor-alpha agonistic activity was evaluated using a luciferase reporter
      assay. Compound 2, gerontoxanthone A (3), gerontoxanthone B (4), and
      cudraxanthone I (11) showed moderate concentration-dependent activity.
      Furthermore, these four xanthones synergistically increased transcriptional
      activity in this assay in the presence of bexarotene, an RXR agonist. 

PMID- 25838142
TI  - Strigolactam: New potent strigolactone analogues for the germination of Orobanche
      cumana.
AB  - Very recently, strigolactones have been conclusively identified as phytohormones.
      The progresses achieved in this field are culminating in the identification of
      the molecular receptors involved in the signal transduction mechanism. The exact
      mechanism of the mode of action of strigolactones still remains to be fully
      elucidated and we were interested to gain some insight into the mechanism of
      action of strigolactones by selectively modifying the reactivity of the lactone C
      ring. Therefore, we report here the synthesis of strigolactams 1 and 16 and their
      surprisingly good activity on the germination of Orobanche cumana parasitic weed
      seeds. 

PMID- 25838140
TI  - Dietary chromium supplementation for targeted treatment of diabetes patients with
      comorbid depression and binge eating.
AB  - Dietary chromium supplementation for the treatment of diabetes remains
      controversial. The prevailing view that chromium supplementation for glucose
      regulation is unjustified has been based upon prior studies showing mixed, modest
      sized effects in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Based on chromium's
      potential to improve insulin, dopamine, and serotonin function, we hypothesize
      that chromium has a greater glucoregulatory effect in individuals who have
      concurrent disturbances in dopamine and serotonin function--that is, complex
      patients with comorbid diabetes, depression, and binge eating. We propose, as
      suggested by the collective data to date, the need to go beyond the "one size
      fits all" approach to chromium supplementation and put forth a series of
      experiments designed to link physiological and neurobehavioral processes in the
      chromium response phenotype.

PMID- 25838143
TI  - Synthesis and structure-activity relationship studies of novel [6,6,5] tricyclic
      oxazolidinone derivatives as potential antibacterial agents.
AB  - In our previous Letter, we reported the discovery of a novel benzoxazinyl
      oxazolidinone antibacterial candidate 2. In order to identify a potential backup
      compound, extensive modifications on the B/C ring and C3 side chain were
      undertaken. A series of novel [6,6,5] tricyclic analogues were synthesized and
      their in vitro antibacterial activities were tested against a panel of
      susceptible and resistant Gram-positive pathogens. Among of them, benzothiazinyl
      oxazolidinones with acetamide or thioamide as C3 side chains exhibited moderate
      to good antibacterial activity, such as compounds 54, 58, 59 and 63. In vitro
      liver microsomal stability was further evaluated and the results manifested that
      compounds 54 and 58 were both metabolically stable in rat and human liver
      microsomes. Additionally, insights gained from this investigation should provide
      directions for the further research of new oxazolidinone antibiotics. 

PMID- 25838144
TI  - Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel HIV-1 protease inhibitors using
      tertiary amine as P2-ligands.
AB  - A series of tertiary amine derivatives exhibiting potent HIV-1 protease
      inhibiting properties were identified. These novel inhibitors were designed based
      on the structure of Darunavir with modification on the P2 and P2' position. This
      effort led to discovery of 35e and 38e, which exhibited excellent HIV-1 protease
      inhibition with IC50 values of 15 nM and 64 nM, respectively.

PMID- 25838145
TI  - One-pot catalyst free synthesis of novel kojic acid tagged 2-aryl/alkyl
      substituted-4H-chromenes and evaluation of their antimicrobial and anti-biofilm
      activities.
AB  - A number of 3-hydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)-2-(2-phenyl-4H-chromen-4-yl)-4H-pyran-4
      ones (3) have been synthesized in a one pot catalyst free reaction of 2-hydroxy
      chalcone (1) with kojic acid (2) in toluene at reflux temperature and evaluated
      for antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activities. Compounds 3a, 3e, 3f, 3l showed
      potent antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus MLS-16 MTCC 2940,
      Bacillus subtilis MTCC 121 and Escherichia coli MTCC 739, whereas 3b and 3k
      exhibited excellent activity against Bacillus subtilis MTCC 121 and Escherichia
      coli MTCC 739, while 3g showed promising activity against Bacillus subtilis MTCC
      121 and Escherichia coli MTCC 739. On the other hand, compounds 3a, 3b and 3l
      showed very good anti-biofilm activity and 3g showed moderate activity against
      Bacillus subtilis MTCC 121. Whereas, compounds 3a and 3f showed moderate activity
      against Escherichia coli MTCC 739, while compounds 3a, 3b, 3k and 3l displayed
      similar activity against Staphylococcus aureus MLS-16 MTCC 2940. 

PMID- 25838146
TI  - Synthesis and potent inhibitory activities of carboxybenzyl-substituted 8-(3-(R)
      aminopiperidin-1-yl)-7-(2-chloro/cyanobenzyl)-3-methyl-3,7-dihydro-purine-2,6
      diones as dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibitors.
AB  - Fourteen 3-methyl-3,7-dihydro-purine-2,6-dione derivatives 1-14 bearing
      carboxybenzyl and 2-chloro/cyanobenzyl groups at the N-1 and N-7 positions,
      respectively, were synthesized as dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibitors.
      These compounds were characterized on the basis of NMR ((1)H and (13)C) and ESI
      MS data. In vitro bioassay indicates that most of these compounds showed moderate
      to good inhibitory activities against DPP-IV. Among them, compound 13 (IC50=36
      nM) exhibited comparable activity with a positive control, Sitagliptin (IC50=16
      nM). In addition, the structure-activity relationship of these compounds is also
      briefly discussed.

PMID- 25838147
TI  - Substituted pyrrolidin-2-ones: Centrally acting orexin receptor antagonists
      promoting sleep. Part 2.
AB  - Starting from advanced pyrrolidin-2-one lead compounds, this novel series of
      small-molecule orexin receptor antagonists was further optimized by fine-tuning
      of the C-3 substitution at the gamma-lactam ring. We discuss our design to align
      in vitro potency with metabolic stability and improved
      physicochemical/pharmacokinetic properties while avoiding P-glycoprotein-mediated
      efflux. These investigations led to the identification of the orally active 3
      hydroxypyrrolidin-2-one 46, a potent and selective orexin-2 receptor antagonist,
      that achieved good brain exposure and promoted physiological sleep in rats. 

PMID- 25838148
TI  - Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics and Hot Electron Extraction in Tetrapod-Shaped CdSe
      Nanocrystals.
AB  - The ultrafast carrier dynamics and hot electron extraction in tetrapod-shaped
      CdSe nanocrystals was studied by femtosecond transient absorption (TA)
      spectroscopy. The carriers relaxation process from the higher electronic states
      (CB2, CB3(2), and CB4) to the lowest electronic state (CB1) was demonstrated to
      have a time constant of 1.04 ps, resulting from the spatial electron transfer
      from arms to a core. The lowest electronic state in the central core exhibited a
      long decay time of 5.07 ns in agreement with the reported theoretical
      calculation. The state filling mechanism and Coulomb blockade effect in the CdSe
      tetrapod were clearly observed in the pump-fluence-dependent transient absorption
      spectra. Hot electrons were transferred from arm states into the electron
      acceptor molecules before relaxation into core states. 

PMID- 25838149
TI  - Diagnostic and prognostic value of serum cystatin C in critically ill children
      with acute kidney injury.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the value of serum cystatin C for detection of
      acute kidney injury and pediatric Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss, End-Stage Renal
      Disease categories in critically ill children and to investigate whether serum
      cystatin C was associated with outcome. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study.
      SETTING: PICU of a tertiary-care university hospital. PATIENTS: A heterogeneous
      population of critically ill children. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN
      RESULTS: Blood and 24-hour urine samples were collected daily over the first 2
      days after PICU admission for measurement of serum cystatin C, serum creatinine,
      and creatinine clearance. Acute kidney injury was classified by pediatric Risk,
      Injury, Failure, Loss, End-Stage Renal Disease criteria. One hundred twenty-two
      children were prospectively enrolled; 40 (32.8%) developed acute kidney injury.
      Serum cystatin C was higher in patients with acute kidney injury compared with
      those who did not develop acute kidney injury at PICU admission (median, 0.90
      mg/L vs 0.51 mg/L) and on the first (1.12 mg/L vs 0.57 mg/L) and second PICU days
      (1.15 mg/L vs 0.58 mg/L). Serum creatinine was higher in acute kidney injury
      group only on the first (0.50 mg/dL vs 0.40 mg/dL) and second PICU days (0.60
      mg/dL vs 0.40 mg/dL). Serum cystatin C was increasingly higher according to acute
      kidney injury severity (Failure > Injury > Risk). Area under the receiver
      operating characteristic curve of cystatin C for acute kidney injury detection
      was 0.89. Serum cystatin C greater than 0.70 mg/L was associated with longer
      length of PICU stay (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.64) and prolonged duration of
      mechanical ventilation (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.82). CONCLUSIONS: Cystatin C is
      an early and accurate biomarker for acute kidney injury and pediatric Risk,
      Injury, Failure, Loss, End-Stage Renal Disease categories, and it is associated
      with adverse clinical outcomes in a heterogeneous population of critically ill
      children.

PMID- 25838150
TI  - Diagnostic Errors in a PICU: Insights From the Morbidity and Mortality
      Conference.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To describe diagnostic errors identified among patients discussed at
      a PICU morbidity and mortality conference in terms of Goldman classification,
      medical category, severity, preventability, contributing factors, and occurrence
      in the diagnostic process. DESIGN: Retrospective record review of morbidity and
      mortality conference agendas, patient charts, and autopsy reports. SETTING:
      Single tertiary referral PICU in Baltimore, MD. PATIENTS: Ninety-six patients
      discussed at the PICU morbidity and mortality conference from November 2011 to
      December 2012. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Eighty-nine of
      96 patients (93%) discussed at the PICU morbidity and mortality conference had at
      least one identified safety event. A total of 377 safety events were identified.
      Twenty patients (21%) had identified misdiagnoses, comprising 5.3% of all safety
      events. Out of 20 total diagnostic errors identified, 35% were discovered at
      autopsy while 55% were reported primarily through the morbidity and mortality
      conference. Almost all diagnostic errors (95%) could have had an impact on
      patient survival or safety. Forty percent of errors did not cause actual patient
      harm, but 25% were severe enough to have potentially contributed to death (40% no
      harm vs 35% some harm vs 25% possibly contributed to death). Half of the
      diagnostic errors (50%) were rated as preventable. There were slightly more
      system-related factors (40%) solely contributing to diagnostic errors compared
      with cognitive factors (20%); however, 35% had both system and cognitive factors
      playing a role. Most errors involved vascular (35%) followed by neurologic (30%)
      events. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic errors in the PICU are not uncommon and
      potentially cause patient harm. Most appear to be preventable by targeting both
      cognitive- and system-related contributing factors. Prospective studies are
      needed to further determine how and why diagnostic errors occur in the PICU and
      what interventions would likely be effective for prevention.

PMID- 25838151
TI  - Headache disorders foreword.

PMID- 25838152
TI  - Exploring the Impact of Habitat Size on Phylogeographic Patterning in the
      Overberg Velvet Worm Peripatopsis overbergiensis (Onychophora: Peripatopsidae).
AB  - Evolutionary relationships in the velvet worm species, Peripatopsis
      overbergiensis, were examined in 3 forest areas in the Overberg region of South
      Africa to explore the impact of historical habitat fragmentation on the
      population genetic structure of the species. We collected 84 P. overbergiensis
      specimens from Grootvadersbosch, Koppie Alleen, and Marloth Nature Reserves and
      sequenced all these specimens for the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) locus,
      whereas a subset of 13 specimens were also sequenced for the 18S rRNA locus.
      Phylogenetic analyses of the 20 unique COI haplotypes revealed 4 genetically
      distinct clades, a result that is corroborated by the haplotype network. A
      hierarchical analysis of genetic variation was performed on the COI haplotype
      data within the 2 large forested areas, Grootvadersbosch and Marloth Nature
      Reserves, and across all 3 of the sample localities. These results revealed low
      haplotypic and nucleotide diversity within the largest Grootvadersbosch Nature
      Reserve forest and high haplotypic and nucleotide diversity within the fragmented
      Marloth Nature Reserve forest, whereas Koppie Alleen had the lowest haplotypic
      and nucleotide diversity. Across all 3 main localities statistically significant
      F ST values were found, together with the absence of shared haplotypes indicating
      the absence of maternal gene flow. Divergence time estimations based on the 20
      COI haplotypes calculated in BEAST suggest a Pleistocene/Holocene divergence
      between the 4 clades as a result of habitat fragmentation and the aridification
      of the region. Our results indicate that conservation efforts should also
      prioritize linked, smaller fragmented habitats together with continuous habitats
      to maximize the genetic diversity of saproxylic fauna. 

PMID- 25838153
TI  - Effects of crossovers between homeologs on inheritance and population genomics in
      polyploid-derived salmonid fishes.
AB  - A whole genome duplication occurred in the ancestor of all salmonid fishes some
      50-100 million years ago. Early inheritance studies with allozymes indicated that
      loci in the salmonid genome are inherited disomically in females. However, some
      pairs of duplicated loci showed patterns of inheritance in males indicating
      pairing and recombination between homeologous chromosomes. Nearly 20% of loci in
      the salmonid genome are duplicated and share the same alleles (isoloci),
      apparently due to homeologous recombination. Half-tetrad analysis revealed that
      isoloci tend to be telomeric. These results suggested that residual tetrasomic
      inheritance of isoloci results from homeologous recombination near chromosome
      ends and that continued disomic inheritance resulted from homologous pairing of
      centromeric regions. Many current genetic maps of salmonids are based on single
      nucleotide polymorphisms and microsatellites that are no longer duplicated.
      Therefore, long sections of chromosomes on these maps are poorly represented,
      especially telomeric regions. In addition, preferential multivalent pairing of
      homeologs from the same species in F1 hybrids results in an excess of nonparental
      gametes (so-called pseudolinkage). We consider how not including duplicated loci
      has affected our understanding of population and evolutionary genetics of
      salmonids, and we discuss how incorporating these loci will benefit our
      understanding of population genomics. 

PMID- 25838154
TI  - Progressive unilateral nasal congestion, facial pain, and vision change in an
      immunocompetent patient.

PMID- 25838155
TI  - Complementary and integrative therapies for lower urinary tract diseases.
AB  - Consumer use of integrative health care is growing, but evidence-based research
      on its efficacy is limited. Research of veterinary lower urinary tract diseases
      could be translated to human medicine because veterinary patients are valuable
      translational models for human urinary tract infection and urolithiasis. An
      overview of complementary therapies for lower urinary tract disease includes
      cranberry supplements, mannose, oral probiotics, acupuncture, methionine, herbs,
      or herbal preparations. Therapies evaluated in dogs and cats, in vitro canine
      cells, and other relevant species, in vivo and in vitro, are presented for their
      potential use as integrative therapies for veterinary patients and/or
      translational research.

PMID- 25838156
TI  - The Effect of Exertion on Joint Kinematics and Kinetics During Running Using a
      Waveform Analysis Approach.
AB  - About half of all runners sustain a running-related injury every year. Exertion
      may contribute to risk of injury by altering joint mechanics. The purpose of this
      study was to examine the effects of exertion on runners' joint mechanics using
      principal component analysis (PCA). Three-dimensional motion analysis of the
      lower extremity was performed on 16 healthy female runners before and after their
      typical training run. PCA was used to determine exertion-related changes in joint
      mechanics at the ankle, knee, and hip. Statistical significance for repeated
      measures MANOVA of the retained principal components at each joint and plane of
      motion was at P < .05. Exercise effects were identified at the ankle (greater
      rate of eversion [PC2: P = .027], and decreased plantar flexion moment [overall:
      P = .044] and external rotation moment [PC3: P = .003]), knee (increased
      adduction [overall: P = .044] and internal rotation [PC3: P = .034], and
      decreased abduction moment [overall: P = .045]), and hip (increased internal
      rotation [PC1: P = .013] and range of mid- to late-stance rotation [PC2: P =
      .009], and decreased internal rotation moment [PC1: P = .001]). The observed
      changes in running mechanics reflect a gait profile that is often linked to
      running injury. The effects of more strenuous activity may result in mechanics
      that present an even greater risk for injury. 

PMID- 25838157
TI  - Pathogenesis of Streptococcus infantarius subspecies coli Isolated from Sea
      Otters with Infective Endocarditis.
AB  - The Gram positive bacterial coccus Streptococcus infantarius subspecies coli is
      increasingly linked with development of fatal vegetative infective endocarditis
      and septicemia in humans, sea otters (Enhydra lutris) and other animals. However,
      the pathogenesis of these infections is poorly understood. Using S. infantarius
      subsp. coli strains isolated from sea otters with infective endocarditis, this
      study evaluated adherence and invasion of epithelial and endothelial cells,
      adherence to extracellular matrix components, and macrophage survival.
      Significant adherence to endothelial-derived cells was observed for 62% of
      isolates, 24% adhered to epithelial cell lines, and 95% invaded one or both cell
      types in vitro. The importance of the hyaluronic acid capsule in host cell
      adherence and invasion was also evaluated. Capsule removal significantly reduced
      epithelial adherence and invasion for most S. infantarius subsp. coli isolates,
      suggesting that the capsule facilitates attachment to and invasion of epithelium.
      Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay testing revealed that all isolates adhered
      significantly to the extracellular matrix components collagen IV, fibronectin,
      laminin and hyaluronic acid. Finally, significant bacterial survival following
      phagocytosis by macrophages was apparent for 81% of isolates at one or more time
      points. Taken collectively these findings indicate that S. infantarius subsp.
      coli has multiple pathogenic properties that may be important to host
      colonization, invasion and disease. 

PMID- 25838158
TI  - Bridging tumor genomics to patient outcomes through an integrated patient-derived
      xenograft platform.
AB  - New approaches to optimization of cancer drug development in the laboratory and
      the clinic will be required to fully achieve the goal of individualized,
      precision cancer therapy. Improved preclinical models that more closely reflect
      the now recognized genomic complexity of human cancers are needed. Here we
      describe a collaborative research project that integrates core resources of The
      Jackson Laboratory Basic Science Cancer Center with genomics and clinical
      research facilities at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center to establish a
      clinically and genomically annotated patient-derived xenograft (PDX) platform
      designed to enhance new drug development and strategies for targeted therapies.
      Advanced stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was selected for initial
      studies because of emergence of a number of "druggable" molecular targets, and
      recent recognition of substantial inter- and intrapatient tumor heterogeneity.
      Additionally, clonal evolution after targeted therapy interventions make this
      tumor type ideal for investigation of this platform. Using the immunodeficient
      NOD scid gamma mouse, > 200 NSCLC tumor biopsies have been xenotransplanted.
      During the annotation process, patient tumors and subsequent PDXs are compared at
      multiple levels, including histomorphology, clinically applicable molecular
      biomarkers, global gene expression patterns, gene copy number variations, and
      DNA/chromosomal alterations. NSCLC PDXs are grouped into panels of interest
      according to oncogene subtype and/or histologic subtype. Multiregimen drug
      testing, paired with next-generation sequencing before and after therapy and
      timed tumor pharmacodynamics enables determination of efficacy, signaling pathway
      alterations, and mechanisms of sensitivity-resistance in individual models. This
      approach should facilitate derivation of new therapeutic strategies and the
      transition to individualized therapy. 

PMID- 25838160
TI  - Visible-light initiated oxidative cyclization of phenyl propiolates with sulfinic
      acids to coumarin derivatives under metal-free conditions.
AB  - A visible-light initiated oxidative cyclization of phenyl propiolates with
      sulfinic acids has been developed. The arylsulfonylation of alkynes was performed
      at room temperature under metal-free conditions to generate coumarin derivatives
      with wide functional group tolerance, good yields and high regioselectivity. 

PMID- 25838159
TI  - Risk factors for endometrial cancer among women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation: a
      case control study.
AB  - BRCA mutation carriers may use tamoxifen for breast cancer prevention or
      treatment. Hormone replacement therapy is often prescribed after surgical
      menopause and oral contraceptives are recommended for ovarian cancer prevention.
      The objective of this study was to assess the impact of these medications and
      other risk factors on endometrial cancer risk in BRCA carriers. Women with a
      BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation were identified from a registry of mutation carriers.
      Cases were 83 women who had a diagnosis of endometrial cancer. Controls were 1027
      matched women who did not develop endometrial cancer and who had an intact
      uterus. All women completed a baseline questionnaire, which included questions
      about ages at menarche and menopause, oral contraceptive use, hormone replacement
      therapy use, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, breast cancer history and tamoxifen use.
      We estimated the odds ratio associated with each risk factor in a multivariate
      analysis. No differences were found between cases and controls in terms of age at
      menarche, BMI, smoking, or oral contraceptive use. In a multivariate analysis,
      for women taking estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy, the odds ratio was
      0.23 (95% CI 0.03-1.78, p = 0.16), and for women taking progesterone-only hormone
      replacement therapy the odds ratio was 6.91 (95% CI 0.99-98.1, p = 0.05). The
      adjusted odds ratio for endometrial cancer associated with a history of tamoxifen
      use was 3.50 (95% CI 1.51-8.10, p = 0.003). The observed increased risk of
      endometrial cancer associated with progesterone-only therapy merits further
      study.

PMID- 25838161
TI  - Midfoot reconstruction with serratus anterior-rib osteomuscular free flap
      following oncological resection of synovial sarcoma.
AB  - During recent decades, the concept of surgical treatment of malignant bone and
      soft tissue sarcomas has evolved, with the aim of preserving limb function. In
      this paper we report a case of metatarsal reconstruction by means of serratus and
      rib free flap after excision of a synovial sarcoma located in the dorsal aspect
      of the midfoot. Five years after the operation, the patient was free from
      recurrence and recovered full foot function. Amputation has been widely used in
      the past and this procedure still remains a valuable option when limb salvage is
      not possible. Nevertheless, in selected cases, reconstruction by means of
      composite free flaps may be successfully used for limb preservation in the
      treatment of malignant foot tumors after surgical excision. 

PMID- 25838162
TI  - Transfer of skills on LapSim virtual reality laparoscopic simulator into the
      operating room in urology.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Assessing the predictive validity of the LapSim simulator within a
      urology residency program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve urology residents at
      McGill University were enrolled in the study between June 2008 and December 2011.
      The residents had weekly training on the LapSim that consisted of 3 tasks
      (cutting, clip-applying, and lifting and grasping). They underwent monthly
      assessment of their LapSim performance using total time, tissue damage and path
      length among other parameters as surrogates for their economy of movement and
      respect for tissue. The last residents' LapSim performance was compared with
      their first performance of radical nephrectomy on anesthetized porcine models in
      their 4(th) year of training. Two independent urologic surgeons rated the
      resident performance on the porcine models, and kappa test with standardized
      weight function was used to assess for inter-observer bias. Nonparametric
      spearman correlation test was used to compare each rater's cumulative score with
      the cumulative score obtained on the porcine models in order to test the
      predictive validity of the LapSim simulator. RESULTS: The kappa results
      demonstrated acceptable agreement between the two observers among all domains of
      the rating scale of performance except for confidence of movement and efficiency.
      In addition, poor predictive validity of the LapSim simulator was demonstrated.
      CONCLUSIONS: Predictive validity was not demonstrated for the LapSim simulator in
      the context of a urology residency training program.

PMID- 25838163
TI  - Vulvar and vaginal reconstruction using the "angel wing" perforator-based island
      flap.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Vulvar and vaginal reconstruction can be challenging for the
      reconstructive surgeon. The reconstructive goal is to provide wound healing,
      adequate function, and acceptable appearance. In the present study, we introduce
      a new design called the "angel wing" flap, which is a modification of a
      transposition flap and is based on the perforator concept for vulvar and vaginal
      reconstruction. METHODS: From January 2002 to December 2013, 23 women underwent
      reconstruction of vulvar and vaginal defects. Causative factors were vulvar
      cancer in 14 patients, extramammary Paget's disease in 2, vulvar dysplasia in 5,
      and combined vulvar and vaginal cancer in 2 patients. RESULTS: A total of 41
      flaps were applied. All patients underwent surgical reconstruction in a single
      step using the "angel wing" flap. Flap size ranged from 4*7 to 13*6cm(2) and the
      operative duration for reconstructive surgery ranged from 30 to 100min. All the
      flaps survived with good coverage of the defect. Mean follow-up time after the
      procedure was 16.1months (range, 6-30months). CONCLUSION: In this article, we
      introduce a simple and easy reconstructive procedure of the "angel wing" flap.
      For restoring function, as well as for esthetic purposes, the flap was designed
      in accordance with the defect since the natural contour of the vulva and vagina
      is three-dimensional.

PMID- 25838166
TI  - Determination of Sudan Residues in Sausage by Matrix Solid-Phase Dispersion and
      High-Performance Liquid Chromatography.
AB  - A method based on matrix solid-phase dispersion and high-performance liquid
      chromatography was applied to the determination of four Sudan red residues in
      sausage. The proposed method required only 0.5 g sample. The neutral alumina was
      used as the dispersant sorbent while n-hexane containing 10% (v/v) acetone was
      used as the eluting solvent. The recoveries in samples ranged from 76.4 to 111.0%
      and relative standard deviations were <10.2% with different spiked levels of 0.05
      1.50 mg kg(-1). Detection and quantification limits were 5-19 and 18-39 MUg kg(
      1), respectively, with linear calibration curves extending up to 2.50 mg g(-1).
      The results demonstrate that the method can be successfully applied with
      acceptable recoveries to a broad range of target analytes within a diverse range
      of sausage. 

PMID- 25838165
TI  - Adults' responsiveness to children's facial expressions.
AB  - We investigated the effect of young children's (hereafter children's) facial
      expressions on adult responsiveness. In Study 1, 131 undergraduate students from
      a midsized university in the midwestern United States rated children's images and
      videos with smiling, crying, or neutral expressions on cuteness, likelihood to
      adopt, and participants' experienced distress. Looking times at images and videos
      along with perception of cuteness, likelihood to adopt, and experienced distress
      using 10-point Likert scales were measured. Videos of smiling children were rated
      as cuter and more likely to be adopted and were viewed for longer times compared
      with videos of crying children, which evoked more distress. In Study 2, we
      recorded responses from 101 of the same participants in an online survey
      measuring gender role identity, empathy, and perspective taking. Higher levels of
      femininity (as measured by Bem's Sex Role Inventory) predicted higher "likely to
      adopt" ratings for crying images. These findings indicate that adult perception
      of children and motivation to nurture are affected by both children's facial
      expressions and adult characteristics and build on existing literature to
      demonstrate that children may use expressions to manipulate the motivations of
      even non-kin adults to direct attention toward and perhaps nurture young
      children.

PMID- 25838164
TI  - Patterns and utility of routine surveillance in high grade endometrial cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate surveillance methods and their utility in detecting
      recurrence of disease in a high grade endometrial cancer population. METHODS: We
      performed a multi-institutional retrospective chart review of women diagnosed
      with high grade endometrial cancer between the years 2000 and 2011. Surveillance
      data was abstracted and analyzed. Surveillance method leading to detection of
      recurrence was identified and compared by stage of disease and site of
      recurrence. RESULTS: Two hundred and fifty-four patients met the criteria for
      inclusion. Vaginal cytology was performed in the majority of early stage
      patients, but was utilized less in advanced stage patients. CA-125 and CT imaging
      were used more frequently in advanced stage patients compared to early stage.
      Thirty-six percent of patients experienced a recurrence and the majority of
      initial recurrences (76%) had a distant component. Modalities that detected
      cancer recurrences were: symptoms (56%), physical exam (18%), surveillance CT
      (15%), CA-125 (10%), and vaginal cytology (1%). All local recurrences were
      detected by symptoms or physical exam findings. While the majority of loco
      regional and distant recurrences (68%) were detected by symptoms or physical
      exam, 28% were detected by surveillance CT scan or CA 125. One loco-regional
      recurrence was identified by vaginal cytology but no recurrences with a distant
      component detected by this modality. CONCLUSIONS: Symptoms and physical
      examination identify the majority of high grade endometrial cancer recurrences,
      while vaginal cytology is the least likely surveillance modality to identify a
      recurrence. The role of CT and CA-125 surveillance outside of a clinical trial
      needs to be further reviewed.

PMID- 25838167
TI  - Determination of Curcuminoids in Curcuma longa Linn. by UPLC/Q-TOF-MS: An
      Application in Turmeric Cultivation.
AB  - Cucuma longa Linn. (Fam-Zingiberaceae) is a valued medicinal plant contains
      curcuminoids (curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin) as major
      bioactive constituents. Previously reported analytical methods for analysis of
      curcuminoids were found to suffer from low resolution, lower sensitivity and
      longer analytical times. In this study, a rapid, sensitive, selective high
      throughput ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
      (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS) method was developed and validated for the quantification of
      curcuminoids with an aim to reduce analysis time and enhance efficiency. UPLC/Q
      TOF-MS analysis showed large variation (1.408-5.027% w/w) of curcuminoids among
      different samples with respect to their occurrence of metabolite and their
      concentration. The results showed that Erode (south province) contains highest
      quantity of curcuminoids and concluded to be the superior varieties. The results
      obtained here could be valuable for devising strategies for cultivating this
      medicinal plant. 

PMID- 25838169
TI  - Nanoporous materials as new engineered catalysts for the synthesis of green
      fuels.
AB  - This review summarizes the importance of nanoporous materials and their
      fascinating structural properties with respect to the catalytic and
      photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to methane, toward achieving a sustainable energy
      supply. The importance of catalysis as a bridge step for advanced energy systems
      and the associated environmental issues are stressed. A deep understanding of the
      fundamentals of these nanoporous solids is necessary to improve the design and
      efficiency of CO2 methanation. The role of the support dominates the design in
      terms of developing an efficient methanation catalyst, specifically with respect
      to ensuring enhanced metal dispersion and a long catalyst lifetime. Nanoporous
      materials provide the best supports for Ni, Ru, Rh, Co, Fe particles because they
      can prevent sintering and deactivation through coking, which otherwise blocks the
      metal surface as carbon accumulates. This review concludes with the major
      challenges facing the CO2 methanation by nanoporous materials for fuel
      applications. 

PMID- 25838168
TI  - Signature of positive selection of PTK6 gene in East Asian populations: a cross
      talk for Helicobacter pylori invasion and gastric cancer endemicity.
AB  - Analysis of natural selection events is an attractive strategy for identification
      of functional variants shaped by gene-environmental interactions and human
      adaptation. Here, we identified PTK6, a Src-related tyrosine kinase gene,
      underlying positive selection in East Asian populations. Interestingly, PTK6
      variant showed significant correlation with gastric cancer incidences which was
      the highest in East Asian populations. The high prevalence of gastric cancer in
      East Asians was also believed to be strongly affected by Helicobacter pylori
      infection and dietary habit. Therefore, we speculated a competitive interaction
      of cancer-associated molecules for activation/reduction, where PTK6 likely plays
      a role through CagA-driven signaling pathway after H. pylori infection. This
      hypothesis was also supported by our gene expression analysis and the dating of
      the selective event which was estimated to be ~16,500 years ago, much later than
      H. pylori invasion in human 50,000 years ago. Establishment of cross talk between
      PTK6 and CagA by functional studies may further elucidate the underlying biology
      of H. pylori-mediated gastric cancer. 

PMID- 25838170
TI  - Nitric oxide donors and selective carbonic anhydrase inhibitors: a dual
      pharmacological approach for the treatment of glaucoma, cancer and osteoporosis.
AB  - Due to the recognized biological role of nitric oxide (NO) donating derivatives
      and of selective inhibitors of specific human carbonic anhydrase isoforms (CA, EC
      4.2.1.1), promising compounds having an aromatic/heterocyclic primary sulfonamide
      and functionalized with NO-releasing moieties have been designed. These
      bifunctional agents have been tested in vitro and in vivo to assess their dual
      pharmacological activity. According to the encouraging results they could be
      proposed for the treatment of angle-open glaucoma, cancer regression and
      osteoporosis, in which both NO and CA activities are involved. 

PMID- 25838171
TI  - Chemical compositions and antioxidant activities of polysaccharides from the
      sporophores and cultured products of Armillaria mellea.
AB  - Armillaria mellea is a traditional Chinese medicinal and edible mushroom. Many
      cultured products of A. mellea have been used to develop commercial medicines in
      recent years. The chemical composition and activities of the major bioactive
      chemical components-polysaccharides-may be different because of differences in
      the raw materials used. Four polysaccharides (SP, CMP, CFBP and CFMP) were
      obtained from wild sporophores and cultured products (including mycelia,
      fermentation broth and fermentation mixture) of A. mellea. Their yields,
      carbohydrate contents, monosaccharide compositions, FT-IR spectra, NMR
      spectroscopy and antioxidant activities were investigated. All of the
      polysaccharides were composed of xylose, glucose and galactose without protein.
      Glucose was the dominant monosaccharide in SP, CMP and CFMP, whereas galactose
      was the dominant monosaccharide in CFBP. SP and CMP showed higher scavenging
      DPPH* and ABTS*+ activities and reducing power among four polysaccharides. The
      carbohydrate content and corresponding glucose percentage were positive
      influences on the antioxidant activities, whereas the corresponding xylose and
      galactose percentage were negative influences. A. mellea polysaccharides are
      potential natural antioxidants. Polysaccharides from cultured products,
      especially mycelia, are good substitutes for SP and are also potential sources
      for both dietary supplements and food industries. 

PMID- 25838172
TI  - Isolation and characterization of phenolic compounds and anthocyanins from Murta
      (Ugni molinae Turcz.) fruits. Assessment of antioxidant and antibacterial
      activity.
AB  - Berry fruit consumption has become important in the promotion of human health,
      mainly due to their phenolic compounds, which have been associated with
      protection against different pathologies, as well as antimicrobial and other
      biological activities. Consequently, there has been a growing interest in
      identifying natural antioxidants and antimicrobials from these plants. This study
      aimed to characterize the phenolic chemical composition and anthocyanin profile
      of murta (Ugni molinae Turcz.) fruit, and to evaluate the antioxidant and
      antimicrobial activity of its extracts (ethanolic and methanolic). LC/MS of the
      ethanolic extracts showed the presence of three major compounds: caffeic acid 3
      glu, quercetin-3-glu and quercetin, while in the methanolic acid extract they
      were cyanidin-3-glucoside, pelargonidin-3-arabinose and delphinidin-3-glucoside.
      The antioxidant activity of ethanolic extracts (DPPH. and ORAC assays) was higher
      than that of methanol acid extracts or purified anthocynins. Furthermore, the
      methanol acid extract showed an inhibitory activity against the bacteria E. coli
      and S. typhi similar to that of standard antibiotics. The results suggest that
      the antioxidant activity of the ethanolic extract is regulated by the high
      content of phenolic compounds and the fruit's characteristic color is due to the
      content of pelargonidin-3-arabinose and delphinidin-3-glucoside. The obtained
      results demonstrated the appreciable antioxidant and antibacterial activities,
      providing opportunities to explore murta extracts as biopreservatives. 

PMID- 25838173
TI  - Strophalloside induces apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells through the mitochondrion
      dependent caspase-3 pathway.
AB  - Cardenolides with special chemical structures have been considered as effective
      anti-cancer drugs in clinic trials. Strophalloside is a cardenolide we recently
      isolated from Antiaris toxicaria obtained from Hainan, China. The aim of this
      study was to investigate the possible anticancer effects induced by
      strophalloside and the underlying molecular mechanism. Gastric carcinoma SGC-7901
      cells were treated with strophalloside at various concentrations for different
      times, and resulting cell viability was determined by the MTT assay, and the
      motility and invasion of tumor cells were assessed by the Transwell chamber
      assay. Apoptosis were measured by Annexin V-FITC/PI and Hoechst staining. The
      changes of mitochondrial transmembrane potential were examined by a JC-1 kit. The
      expressions of pro-apoptotic protein cytochrome c, caspase-3 and caspase-9 were
      detected by western blotting analysis. The results showed that strophalloside was
      capable of reducing cell viability, inhibiting cell growth, and suppressing cell
      migration and invasion in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Mitochondrial
      membrane potential declined and the concentration of cytochrome c increased in
      cytoplasm and caspase-3 and caspase-9 were cleaved into activated states,
      suggesting that cytochrome c was released from the mitochondrion to cytoplasm and
      finally activated the caspase-dependent apoptosis pathway. Our results indicate
      that strophalloside is a potential anticancer drug. 

PMID- 25838174
TI  - Congenital cranial dysinnervation disorder in a boy with congenital mirror
      movements.
AB  - "Mirror movements" are an axonal guidance disorder that consists of involuntary
      contralateral movements that mimic unilateral intentional ones, typically
      involving the fingers of the hand. They can be isolated or associated with
      conditions such as Klippel-Feil syndrome, Kallmann syndrome, or congenital
      hemiplegia. Isolated congenital mirror movements are sometimes caused by
      autosomal dominant mutation in the genes DCC or RAD51. At least 4 previously
      reported cases had strabismus, 3 with Moebius syndrome and 1 with Duane
      retraction syndrome. We report the case of a boy with an unusual incomitant
      strabismus consistent with orbital dysinnervation and suggest that for some
      patients with congenital mirror movements the neurological miswiring extends to
      the orbit, causing congenital cranial dysinnervation disorder. 

PMID- 25838175
TI  - Superior oblique palsy: a complication of endoscopic sinus surgery.
AB  - A 34-year-old woman with chronic sinusitis and nasal polyps was treated with
      bilateral pansinusotomy. Postoperatively, she had a unilateral superior oblique
      paresis. We suspect that superior oblique damage occurred without involvement of
      the medial rectus because of inadvertent entry of the endoscopic probe through
      the superior lamina into the left orbit. 

PMID- 25838176
TI  - Correction: aquatic eddy correlation: quantifying the artificial flux caused by
      stirring-sensitive O2 sensors.

PMID- 25838177
TI  - Risk of exposure to ticks (Ixodidae) and the prevalence of tick-borne
      encephalitis virus (TBEV) in ticks in Southern Poland.
AB  - The article presents the results of the first study on seasonal activity of ticks
      and prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in nymphs from the
      Silesian Province (Southern Poland). Previous studies on the prevalence of TBEV
      in ticks in Poland have been conducted mostly in northern and eastern regions,
      but none in the Silesian Province itself. The aims of this study were to analyse
      the seasonal variation in tick populations and compare TBEV prevalence in nymphs
      from different geographical locations in the Silesia. A total of 5160 questing
      Ixodes ricinus ticks were collected by the flagging method from 23 localities in
      southern Poland in 2010. Micro-climatic parameters (air temperature and humidity)
      were measured in order to estimate their influence on tick population. The
      highest tick activity was recorded in spring and was positively correlated with
      relative air humidity (RH). TBEV in the Silesian Province was analysed in 1750
      nymphs and an overall prevalence was 0.11% (2 pools out of 175 analysed). The
      results of this study show that TBEV pool prevalence in nymphs is low in
      accordance with the low number of TBE cases reported within the region. 

PMID- 25838178
TI  - Anaplasma phagocytophilum in questing Ixodes ricinus ticks from Romania.
AB  - Granulocytic anaplasmosis is a common vector-borne disease of humans and animals
      with natural transmission cycle that involves tick vectors, among which Ixodes
      ricinus is the most important. The present paper reports the prevalence and
      geographical distribution of A. phagocytophilum in 10,438 questing Ixodes ricinus
      ticks collected at 113 locations from 40 counties of Romania. The unfed ticks
      were examined for the presence of A. phagocytophilum by PCR targeting a portion
      of ankA gene. The overall prevalence of infection was 3.42%, with local
      prevalences ranging between 0.29% and 22.45%, with an average prevalence of 5.39%
      in the infected localities. The infection with A. phagocytophilum was detected in
      72 out of 113 localities and in 34 out of 40 counties. The highest prevalence was
      recorded in females followed by males and nymphs. The results and the
      distribution model have shown a large distribution of A. phagocytophilum,
      covering Romania's entire territory. This study is the first large scale survey
      of the presence of A. phagocytophilum in questing I. ricinus ticks from Romania. 

PMID- 25838179
TI  - [Challenges in geriatric rehabilitation: the development of an integrated care
      pathway].
AB  - Coordination and continuity of care within geriatric rehabilitation is
      challenging. To tackle these challenges, an integrated care pathway within
      geriatric rehabilitation care (hospital, geriatric rehabilitation and follow-up
      care in the home situation) has been developed. The aim of this article is to
      expound the process of developing the integrated care pathway, and to describe
      and discuss the results of this process (which is the integrated care pathway).
      Developing the integrated care pathway was done by the guidance of the first four
      steps of the theoretical framework for implementation of change from Grol and
      Wensing: (1) development of a specific proposal for change in practice; (2)
      analysis of current care practice; (3) analysis of the target group and setting;
      and (4) development and selection of interventions/strategies for change. The
      organizations involved in geriatric rehabilitation argued that the integrated
      care pathway should focus on improving the process of care, including transfer of
      patients, handovers and communication between care organizations. Current
      practice, barriers and incentives for change were analyzed through literature
      research, expert consultation, and interviews with the involved caregivers and by
      establishing working groups of health care professionals, patients and informal
      caregivers. This resulted in valuable proposals for improvement of the care
      process, which were gathered and combined in the integrated care pathway. The
      integrated care pathway entails agreements on (a) the triage process in the
      hospital; (b) active engagement of patients and informal caregivers in the care
      process; (c) timely and high quality handovers; and (d) improved communication
      between caregivers.

PMID- 25838180
TI  - A comparison of standard PCNL and staged retrograde FURS in pelvis stones over 2
      cm in diameter: a prospective randomized study.
AB  - The aim of the study was to compare percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) and
      staged retrograde flexible ureteroscopy (FURS) methods used in the treatment of
      kidney stones of 2 cm or more in diameter. The study comprised a total of 60
      patients with a diagnosis of kidney pelvic stones more than 2 cm in diameter, for
      whom surgery was planned between January 2013 and January 2014. The patients were
      randomly allocated to two groups as staged retrograde FURS (Group A) and PCNL
      (Group B). Comparison of the groups was made with respect to operating time,
      number of procedures, total treatment time, length of hospital stay, stone-free
      rates and complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification. In Group
      A, the total operating time of multiple sessions was 114.46 min. In Group B, a
      single session of PCNL was applied to all patients and the mean operating time
      was 86.8 min (p = 0.014). Mean total treatment time was 2.01 weeks in Group A and
      1 week in Group B (p < 0.01). The mean total hospitalization time was 3.66 days
      in Group A and 3.13 days in Group B (p = 0.037). At the end of the sessions,
      clinically insignificant residual fragments were observed in ten patients of
      Group A and one patient of Group B (p = 0.03). No statistically significant
      difference was determined between the groups in terms of stone-free rates or
      complications. Although current technology with FURS is effective on large kidney
      stones, it has no superiority to PCNL due to the need for multiple sessions and
      long treatment time.

PMID- 25838182
TI  - Angiogenic potential of early and late outgrowth endothelial progenitor cells is
      dependent on the time of emergence.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent studies have suggested that late-outgrowth endothelial
      progenitor cells (EPCs) derived from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells
      (hPBMNCs) might have higher angiogenic potential than classically-defined early
      outgrowth EPCs (EOCs). However, it still remains unclear which of "so-called" EPC
      subpopulations defined in a variety of ways has the highest angiogenic potential.
      METHODS AND RESULTS: We classified hPBMNC-derived EPC subpopulations by the time
      of their emergence in culture. EOCs were defined as attached cells on culture
      days 3-7. Late-outgrowth EPCs, defined as the cell forming colonies with
      cobblestone appearance since day 10, were further classified as follows:
      "moderate"-outgrowth EPCs (MOCs) emerging on days 10-16, "late"-outgrowth EPCs
      (LOCs) on days 17-23, and "very late"-outgrowth EPCs (VOCs) on days 24-30. Flow
      cytometry analyses showed the clear differences of hematopoietic/endothelial
      markers between EOC (CD31(+)VE-cadherin(-)CD34(-)CD14(+)CD45(+)) and LOC
      (CD31(+)VE-cadherin(+)CD34(+)CD14(-)CD45(-)). We found that LOCs had the highest
      proliferation and tube formation capabilities in vitro along with the highest
      expression of angiogenic genes including KDR and eNOS. To investigate the in vivo
      therapeutic efficacies, each EPC subpopulation was intravenously transplanted
      into immunocompromised mice (total 4 * 10(5) cells) after unilateral hindlimb
      ischemia surgery. The LOC-treated mice exhibited significantly-enhanced blood
      flow recovery (flow ratios of ischemic/non-ischemic leg: 0.99+/-0.02 [LOC group]
      versus 0.67 +/- 0.07 to 0.78 +/- 0.09 [other groups]; P < 0.05) and augmented
      capillary collateral formation in ischemic leg, which were attributable to their
      direct engraftment into host angiogenic vessels (approximately 10%) and paracrine
      effects. CONCLUSION: hPBMNC-derived late-outgrowth EPCs emerging on culture days
      17-23 are superior to other EPC subpopulations with regard to therapeutic
      angiogenic potential.

PMID- 25838181
TI  - The Lowe syndrome protein OCRL1 is required for endocytosis in the zebrafish
      pronephric tubule.
AB  - Lowe syndrome and Dent-2 disease are caused by mutation of the inositol 5
      phosphatase OCRL1. Despite our increased understanding of the cellular functions
      of OCRL1, the underlying basis for the renal tubulopathy seen in both human
      disorders, of which a hallmark is low molecular weight proteinuria, is currently
      unknown. Here, we show that deficiency in OCRL1 causes a defect in endocytosis in
      the zebrafish pronephric tubule, a model for the mammalian renal tubule. This
      coincides with a reduction in levels of the scavenger receptor megalin and its
      accumulation in endocytic compartments, consistent with reduced recycling within
      the endocytic pathway. We also observe reduced numbers of early endocytic
      compartments and enlarged vacuolar endosomes in the sub-apical region of
      pronephric cells. Cell polarity within the pronephric tubule is unaffected in
      mutant embryos. The OCRL1-deficient embryos exhibit a mild ciliogenesis defect,
      but this cannot account for the observed impairment of endocytosis. Catalytic
      activity of OCRL1 is required for renal tubular endocytosis and the endocytic
      defect can be rescued by suppression of PIP5K. These results indicate for the
      first time that OCRL1 is required for endocytic trafficking in vivo, and strongly
      support the hypothesis that endocytic defects are responsible for the renal
      tubulopathy in Lowe syndrome and Dent-2 disease. Moreover, our results reveal
      PIP5K as a potential therapeutic target for Lowe syndrome and Dent-2 disease. 

PMID- 25838183
TI  - Weighing the risks: Thrombotic and bleeding events in adults with atrial
      arrhythmias and congenital heart disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Atrial arrhythmias are associated to thromboembolism and
      anticoagulant treatment is installed according to risk profile. This study aimed
      to assess the rate of thrombotic events and major bleedings in adults with
      congenital heart disease (CHD) and atrial arrhythmias, as well as to determine
      the predictive value of specific clinical features and two risk scores for
      thromboembolism and bleeding. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this retrospective study, a
      total of 229 adult CHD patients with atrial arrhythmias, were included. Incidence
      and risk factors of thromboembolism were assessed in patients without a
      mechanical valve (n = 191), whereas bleeding incidence and risk factors were
      studied in patients receiving vitamin K antagonists (n = 164). In 13 patients
      without a mechanical valve thrombotic events occurred, the first thrombotic event
      rate per year being 1.4%. A total of 29 patients on vitamin K antagonists
      suffered from major bleedings, at an annual first event rate of 4.4%. CHA2DS2
      VASc score and HAS-BLED score predicted thromboembolic and bleeding risk best in
      a dichotomized form. At a cut-off of >= 2 for high risk the rate of thrombotic
      events was 3.0% per year compared to 0.7% for a score of <2 (HR 3.7; 95%-CI 1.2
      11.5; p = 0.021). A major bleeding rate of 10.8% per year was found in patients
      on vitamin K antagonists for HAS-BLED >= 2 as opposed to 3.5% with a score of <2
      (HR 2.6; 95%-CI: 1.1-6.6; 0.017). CONCLUSION: In adult CHD patients, thrombotic
      events and major bleedings are important complications of atrial arrhythmias and
      anticoagulant treatment. Assessment of thromboembolic and bleeding risk in this
      patients group can be performed with dichotomized CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS-BLED
      scores respectively.

PMID- 25838184
TI  - Response to the letter by Vincenzo Sucato et al.: Was there thrombus or not? What
      about PCI?

PMID- 25838186
TI  - High-quality t2-weighted 4-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging for radiation
      therapy applications.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to improve triggering efficiency of the
      prospective respiratory amplitude-triggered 4-dimensional magnetic resonance
      imaging (4DMRI) method and to develop a 4DMRI imaging protocol that could offer
      T2 weighting for better tumor visualization, good spatial coverage and spatial
      resolution, and respiratory motion sampling within a reasonable amount of time
      for radiation therapy applications. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The respiratory state
      splitting (RSS) and multi-shot acquisition (MSA) methods were analytically
      compared and validated in a simulation study by using the respiratory signals
      from 10 healthy human subjects. The RSS method was more effective in improving
      triggering efficiency. It was implemented in prospective respiratory amplitude
      triggered 4DMRI. 4DMRI image datasets were acquired from 5 healthy human
      subjects. Liver motion was estimated using the acquired 4DMRI image datasets.
      RESULTS: The simulation study showed the RSS method was more effective for
      improving triggering efficiency than the MSA method. The average reductions in
      4DMRI acquisition times were 36% and 10% for the RSS and MSA methods,
      respectively. The human subject study showed that T2-weighted 4DMRI with 10
      respiratory states, 60 slices at a spatial resolution of 1.5 * 1.5 * 3.0 mm(3)
      could be acquired in 9 to 18 minutes, depending on the individual's breath
      pattern. Based on the acquired 4DMRI image datasets, the ranges of peak-to-peak
      liver displacements among 5 human subjects were 9.0 to 12.9 mm, 2.5 to 3.9 mm,
      and 0.5 to 2.3 mm in superior-inferior, anterior-posterior, and left-right
      directions, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that with the RSS method,
      it was feasible to acquire high-quality T2-weighted 4DMRI within a reasonable
      amount of time for radiation therapy applications.

PMID- 25838187
TI  - Relationship Between Radiation Therapy Dose and Outcome in Patients Treated With
      Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation Therapy and Surgery for Stage IIIA Non-Small Cell Lung
      Cancer: A Population-Based, Comparative Effectiveness Analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare, using the National Cancer Database, survival, pathologic,
      and surgical outcomes in patients with stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer
      treated with differential doses of neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy, with the
      aim to discern whether radiation dose escalation was associated with a
      comparative effectiveness benefit and/or toxicity risk. METHODS AND MATERIALS:
      Patients in the National Cancer Database with stage IIIA non-small cell lung
      cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy and surgery between 1998
      and 2005 were analyzed. Dose strata were divided between 36 to 45 Gy (low-dose
      radiation therapy, LD-RT), 45 to 54 Gy (inclusive, standard-dose, SD-RT), and 54
      to 74 Gy (high-dose, HD-RT). Outcomes included overall survival, residual nodal
      disease, positive surgical margin status, hospital length of stay, and adverse
      surgical outcomes (30-day mortality or readmission). RESULTS: The cohort
      consisted of 1041 patients: 233 (22%) LD-RT, 584 (56%) SD-RT, and 230 (22%) HD
      RT. The median, 3-year, and 5-year overall survival outcomes were 34.9 months,
      48%, and 37%, respectively. On univariable analysis, patients treated with SD-RT
      experienced prolonged overall survival (median 38.3 vs 31.8 vs 29.0 months for SD
      RT, LD-RT, and HD-RT, respectively, P=.0089), which was confirmed on
      multivariable analysis (hazard ratios 0.77 and 0.81 vs LD and HD, respectively).
      Residual nodal disease was seen less often after HD-RT (25.5% vs 31.8% and 37.5%
      for HD-RT, LD-RT, and SD-RT, respectively, P=.0038). Patients treated with SD-RT
      had fewer prolonged hospital stays. There were no differences in positive
      surgical margin status or adverse surgical outcomes between the cohorts.
      CONCLUSIONS: Neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy between 45 and 54 Gy was
      associated with superior survival in comparison with doses above and below this
      threshold. Although this conclusion is limited by selection bias, clear
      candidates for trimodality therapy do not seem to achieve additional benefit with
      dose escalation.

PMID- 25838189
TI  - Foreign body sensation in the throat.

PMID- 25838185
TI  - National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Project on Criteria for
      Clinical Trials in Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease: V. The 2014 Ancillary
      Therapy and Supportive Care Working Group Report.
AB  - The 2006 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus paper presented
      recommendations by the Ancillary Therapy and Supportive Care Working Group to
      support clinical research trials in chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).
      Topics covered in that inaugural effort included the prevention and management of
      infections and common complications of chronic GVHD, as well as recommendations
      for patient education and appropriate follow-up. Given the new literature that
      has emerged during the past 8 years, we made further organ-specific refinements
      to these guidelines. Minimum frequencies are suggested for monitoring key
      parameters relevant to chronic GVHD during systemic immunosuppressive therapy
      and, thereafter, referral to existing late effects consensus guidelines is
      advised. Using the framework of the prior consensus, the 2014 NIH recommendations
      are organized by organ or other relevant systems and graded according to the
      strength and quality of supporting evidence. 

PMID- 25838188
TI  - Differences Between Colon Cancer Primaries and Metastases Using a Molecular Assay
      for Tumor Radiation Sensitivity Suggest Implications for Potential
      Oligometastatic SBRT Patient Selection.
AB  - PURPOSE: We previously developed a multigene expression model of tumor radiation
      sensitivity index (RSI) with clinical validation in multiple independent cohorts
      (breast, rectal, esophageal, and head and neck patients). The purpose of this
      study was to assess differences between RSI scores in primary colon cancer and
      metastases. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Patients were identified from our
      institutional review board-approved prospective observational protocol. A total
      of 704 metastatic and 1362 primary lesions were obtained from a de-identified
      metadata pool. RSI was calculated using the previously published rank-based
      algorithm. An independent cohort of 29 lung or liver colon metastases treated
      with 60 Gy in 5 fractions stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was used for
      validation. RESULTS: The most common sites of metastases included liver (n=374;
      53%), lung (n=116; 17%), and lymph nodes (n=40; 6%). Sixty percent of metastatic
      tumors, compared with 54% of primaries, were in the RSI radiation-resistant peak,
      suggesting metastatic tumors may be slightly more radiation resistant than
      primaries (P=.01). In contrast, when we analyzed metastases based on anatomical
      site, we uncovered large differences in RSI. The median RSIs for metastases in
      descending order of radiation resistance were ovary (0.48), abdomen (0.47), liver
      (0.43), brain (0.42), lung (0.32), and lymph nodes (0.31) (P<.0001). These
      findings were confirmed when the analysis was restricted to lesions from the same
      patient (n=139). In our independent cohort of treated lung and liver metastases,
      lung metastases had an improved local control rate compared to that in patients
      with liver metastases (2-year local control rate of 100% vs 73.0%, respectively;
      P=.026). CONCLUSIONS: Assessment of radiation sensitivity between primary and
      metastatic tissues of colon cancer histology revealed significant differences
      based on anatomical location of metastases. These initial results warrant
      validation in a larger clinical cohort.

PMID- 25838190
TI  - Hazard perception test for pedestrians.
AB  - RESEARCH GOAL: This research was aimed to construct and develop a unique system
      for training of pedestrians - children, adults and older persons - to cross
      streets safely and especially to detect successfully on-road hazards as
      pedestrians. For this purpose, an interactive computerized program has been
      inspired by the format of the popular HPT (hazard perception test) for drivers.
      METHODS: The HPTP (hazard perception test for pedestrians) includes 10 pairs of
      video clips that were filmed in various locations but had a similar hazardous
      element. The clips presented potentially dangerous crossing scenarios such as a
      vehicle merging from the right side of the road from the perspective of the
      pedestrian who is trying to cross the street. The participants were asked to
      press the spacebar key every time they identified an approaching hazard. The
      participants were instructed to use the arrow keys for moving the viewing panel
      to the left or to the right in order to enlarge the field of view accordingly.
      Totally, 359 participants took part. Adults, children, and elders were assigned
      to two practice groups and three control groups in a 3 (age groups)*5
      (experimental groups) design. One practice group underwent pretest, practice,
      discussion and posttest, the second experimental group through pretest, practice
      and posttest, one control group that underwent posttest only, the second control
      group underwent pretest, discussion and posttest and the third control group
      underwent both pretest and posttest. FINDINGS: The most important finding was
      that children and adults who underwent practice received higher scores in the
      posttest compared to the pretest. Also, children who underwent practice increased
      their use of the arrow keys in the posttest compared to the pretest. Across
      conditions men scored higher than women on the HPTP, and used the keys more
      often. Age differences were found, with adults scoring being the highest,
      followed by children and the older persons.

PMID- 25838192
TI  - Occupant injury and fatality in general aviation aircraft for which dynamic crash
      testing is certification-mandated.
AB  - Towards further improving general aviation aircraft crashworthiness, multi-axis
      dynamic tests have been required for aircraft certification (14CFR23.562) since
      1985. The objective of this study was to determine if occupants in aircraft
      certified to these higher crashworthiness standards show a mitigated fraction of
      fatal accidents and/or injury severity. The NTSB aviation database was queried
      for accidents occurring between 2002 and 2012 involving aircraft certified to, or
      immune from, dynamic crash testing and manufactured after 1999. Only operations
      conducted under 14CFR Part 91 were considered. Statistical analysis employed
      proportion tests and logistic regression. Off-airport landings are associated
      with high decelerative forces; however for off-airport landings, the fraction of
      fatal accidents for aircraft subject to, or exempt from, dynamic crash testing
      was similar (0.53 and 0.60, respectively). Unexpectedly, for on-airport landings
      a higher fraction of fatalities was evident for aircraft whose certification
      mandated dynamic crash testing. Improved crashworthiness standards would be
      expected to translate into a reduced severity of accident injuries. For all
      accidents, as well as for those deemed survivable, the fraction of minor and
      serious injuries was reduced for occupants in aircraft certified to the higher
      crashworthiness standards. Surprisingly, the fraction of occupants fatally
      injured was not decreased for aircraft subject to dynamic crash tests. To shed
      light on this unexpected finding flight history, airman demographics and post
      impact fires for aircraft for which dynamic crash testing is mandatory or exempt
      was examined. For the former cohort the median distance of the accident flight
      was nearly 44% higher. Aircraft subject to dynamic crash testing were also
      involved in a greater fraction (0.25 versus 0.12, respectively) of post-impact
      fires. Our data suggest that while the more stringent crashworthiness standards
      have mitigated minor and serious injuries, surprisingly the fraction of occupants
      fatally injured is unaltered. The unchanged fraction of fatal injuries may
      reflect partly (a) fatigue associated with longer flight distances and (b) a
      greater proportion of post-impact fires. 

PMID- 25838191
TI  - Examining the relative effectiveness of different message framing strategies for
      child passenger safety: recommendations for increased comprehension and
      compliance.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Age-appropriate child restraints and rear seating dramatically reduce
      injury in vehicle crashes. Yet parents and caregivers struggle to comply with
      child passenger safety (CPS) recommendations, and frequently make mistakes when
      choosing and installing restraints. The purpose of this research was to evaluate
      various methods of framing CPS recommendations, and to examine the relative
      effectiveness on parents' knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions related
      to best practices and proper use of child restraints. Emphasis framing is a
      persuasion technique that involves placing focus on specific aspects of the
      content in order to encourage or discourage certain interpretations of the
      content. METHOD: A 5 (flyer group) X 2 (time) randomized experiment was conducted
      in which 300 parent participants answered a pre-survey, viewed one of four flyer
      versions or a no-education control version, and completed a post-survey. Surveys
      measured CPS knowledge, attitudes, perceptions of efficacy and risk, and
      behavioral intentions. The four flyers compared in this study all communicated
      the same CPS recommendations, but several versions were tested which each
      employed a different emphasis frame: (1) recommendations organized by the natural
      progression of seat types; (2) recommendations which focused on avoiding
      premature graduation; (3) recommendations which explained the risk-reduction
      rationale behind the information given; or (4) recommendations which were
      organized by age. In a fifth no-education (control) condition, participants
      viewed marketing materials. RESULTS: Analyses of covariance and pairwise
      comparisons indicated the risk-reduction rationale flyer outperformed other
      flyers for many subscales, and significantly differed from no-education control
      for the most subscales, including restraint selection, back seat knowledge, rear
      facing knowledge and attitudes, total efficacy, overall attitudes, and stated
      intentions. CONCLUSIONS: This research provides insight for increasing caregiver
      understanding and compliance with CPS information. Recommendations for the field
      include communicating the rationale behind the information given, using behavior
      based directives in headers, avoiding age-based headers, and incorporating back
      seat positioning directives throughout.

PMID- 25838193
TI  - Implicit attitudes and road safety behaviors. The helmet-use case.
AB  - We studied the role of implicit attitudes on road safety behaviors. We also
      explored the methodological benefits of using implicit measures to complement
      conventional self-reporting instruments. The results suggest that: (a) implicit
      attitudes are capable of predicting observed differences in the use of protective
      devices (helmet use); (b) implicit attitudes correlate with the emotional
      component of the explicit attitudes (e.g., perception of comfort-discomfort), but
      appear to be independent of the more cognitive components (e.g., perceived
      benefits); (c) the emotional component of the explicit attitudes appears to be
      the major predictor of behavior; and (d) implicit measures seem to be more robust
      against social desirability biases, while explicit measure are more sensitive to
      such bias. We conclude that indirect and automatic measures serve as an important
      complement to conventional direct measures (self-reports) because they provide
      information on psychological processes that are qualitatively different
      (implicit) and can also be more robust when it comes to response bias. 

PMID- 25838194
TI  - Sintering of ultrathin gold nanowires for transparent electronics.
AB  - Ultrathin gold nanowires (AuNWs) with diameters below 2 nm and high aspect ratios
      are considered to be a promising base material for transparent electrodes. To
      achieve the conductivity expected for this system, oleylamine must be removed.
      Herein we present the first study on the conductivity, optical transmission,
      stability, and structure of AuNW networks before and after sintering with
      different techniques. Freshly prepared layers consisting of densely packed AuNW
      bundles were insulating and unstable, decomposing into gold spheres after a few
      days. Plasma treatments increased the conductivity and stability, coarsened the
      structure, and left the optical transmission virtually unchanged. Optimal
      conditions reduced sheet resistances to 50 Omega/sq. 

PMID- 25838195
TI  - Acute experimental hip muscle pain alters single-leg squat balance in healthy
      young adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Clinical musculoskeletal pain commonly accompanies hip pathology and
      can impact balance performance. Due to the cross-sectional designs of previous
      studies, and the multifactorial nature of musculoskeletal pain conditions, it is
      difficult to determine whether pain is a driver of balance impairments in this
      population. This study explored the effects of experimentally induced hip muscle
      pain on static and dynamic balance. METHODS: Twelve healthy adults (4 women,
      mean[SD]: 27.1[3] years) performed three balance tasks on each leg, separately:
      single-leg standing (eyes closed), single-leg squat (eyes open), forward step
      (eyes open); before and after hypertonic saline injection (1ml, 5% NaCl) into the
      right gluteus medius. Range, standard deviation (SD), and velocity of the centre
      of pressure (CoP) in medio-lateral (ML) and anterior-posterior (AP) directions
      were considered. RESULTS: During the single-leg squat task, experimental hip pain
      was associated with significantly reduced ML range (-4[13]%, P=0.028), AP range (
      14[21]%, P=0.005), APSD (-15[28]%, P=0.009), and AP velocity (-6[13]%, P=0.032),
      relative to the control condition, in both legs. No effect of pain was observed
      during single-leg standing and forward stepping. Significant between-leg
      differences in ML velocity were observed during the forward stepping task
      (P=0.034). DISCUSSION: Pain is a potentially modifiable patient-reported outcome
      in individuals with hip problems. This study demonstrates that acute hip muscle
      pain alone, without interference of musculoskeletal pathology, does not lead to
      the same impairments in balance as exhibited in clinical populations with hip
      pathologies. This is the first step in understanding how and why balance is
      altered in painful hip pathologies.

PMID- 25838196
TI  - Bioconversion of H2/CO 2 by acetogen enriched cultures for acetate and ethanol
      production: the impact of pH.
AB  - Syngas fermentation into ethanol and other bioproducts by mixed cultures is
      considered a promising biotechnology. Effects of pH on product generation and
      microbial community during H2/CO2 utilization by acetogen enrichment cultures
      were investigated in this work. The maximum acetate concentration reached 95.41
      mmol L(-1) at pH 7, which was 71.7, 21.8 and 50.9% higher than at pH 5, 9 and 11,
      respectively. The maximum ethanol concentration at pH 7 was 45.7, 50, 72% higher
      than that at pH 5, 9 and 11, respectively. The CO dehydrogenase (CODH) gene copy
      number was highest at pH 7, indicating that metabolically active acetogens
      reached their highest level at pH 7. The CODH gene copy number at pH 9 was lower
      than at pH 7, but higher than at pH 5 and 11. Correspondingly, the enrichment
      cultures at pH 7 had the highest species richness and diversity, while those at
      pH 9 had the second highest diversity, and those at pH 5 and 11 had the lowest
      diversity. The shift in microbial community structure and the different active
      acetogen contents resulting from different pHs were responsible for the
      differences in acetate and ethanol production.

PMID- 25838197
TI  - Nitrate levels modulate the abundance of Paracoccus sp. in a biofilm community.
AB  - Conditions required to enhance a particular species efficient in degradative
      capabilities is very useful in wastewater treatment processes. Paracoccus sp. is
      known to efficiently reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) due to the branched
      denitrification pathway. Individual-based simulations showed that the relative
      fitness of Paracoccus sp. to Pseudomonas sp. increased significantly with nitrate
      levels above 5 mM. Spatial structure of the biofilm showed substantially less
      nitrite levels in the areas of Paracoccus sp. dominance. The simulation was
      validated in a laboratory reactor harboring biofilm community by fluorescent in
      situ hybridization, which showed that increasing nitrate levels enhanced the
      abundance of Paracoccus sp. Different levels of NOx did not display any
      significant effect on biofilm formation of Paracoccus sp., unlike several other
      bacteria. This study shows that the attribute of Paracoccus sp. to tolerate and
      efficiently reduce NOx is conferring a fitness payoff to the organism at high
      concentrations of nitrate in a multispecies biofilm community.

PMID- 25838198
TI  - Experience with vertebral artery origin stenting and ostium dilatation: results
      of treatment and clinical outcomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The vertebral artery (VA) ostium (VAO) is a common stenosis site.
      Most patients with VAO stenosis refractory to medical treatment are treated
      endovascularly using stenting. To optimally cover the ostial plaque, which
      frequently extends into the adjacent subclavian artery, part of the stent must
      overhang in the subclavian artery. This configuration makes subsequent VA access
      very challenging in cases of in-stent or distal vertebrobasilar pathology; it
      also obstructs the distal subclavian artery. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether
      angioplasty at the ostium with a dual balloon (Flash Ostial) specially designed
      to allow the subclavian end of the stent to flare might circumvent these problems
      and, most importantly, provide optimal plaque coverage around the vertebral
      ostium. METHODS: Between June 2012 and July 2014, 11 patients with symptomatic
      VAO stenosis refractory to best medical therapy were treated with stenting and
      dual balloon Flash angioplasty. Demographics, results, and outcomes were
      reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 12 VAO stenting-dual balloon angioplasty procedures
      were performed (mean stenosis, 83.6%; range, 78-90%). Nine patients had mild-to
      moderate (40-60%) contralateral VAO stenosis. The initial average modified Rankin
      Scale (mRS) score was 1.25. In all cases, immediate postangioplasty angiography
      showed excellent stent apposition against the VA and around the ostium in the
      subclavian artery. No permanent perioperative complications or deaths occurred.
      At a mean follow-up of 10.8 months (range 2-24), all patients had symptom
      resolution and no evidence of symptomatic restenosis on neuroimaging/Doppler
      studies; the average mRS score was 0.66. Three patients continued to have
      previously diagnosed mid-cervical VA stenosis; one of them had postprocedure
      dissection and an asymptomatic in-stent stenosis at 8 months. CONCLUSIONS: Safety
      and feasibility were demonstrated using the Ostial Flash system for VAO stenting
      and angioplasty. No permanent perioperative complications were seen.

PMID- 25838199
TI  - Onyx embolization in distal dissecting posterior inferior cerebellar artery
      aneurysms.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dissecting aneurysms located along the distal segments of the
      posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) are extremely rare, accounting for
      only 0.5-0.7% of all intracranial aneurysms. Treatment of these aneurysms is
      challenging, both surgically and endovascularly. We present our preliminary
      experience and clinical data utilizing Onyx as an embolization agent in the
      treatment of these lesions with proximal parent artery preservation. METHODS: 7
      consecutive ruptured peripheral PICA aneurysms, in 7 patients, were treated with
      superselective Onyx embolization at our institutions. According to the anatomical
      classification of Lister et al, these aneurysms were located in the lateral
      medullary segment (n=1), tonsillomedullary segment (n=1), and the
      telovelotonsillary segment (n=5) of the PICA. Technical feasibility, procedure
      related complications, angiographic results, follow-up diagnostic imaging, and
      clinical outcome were evaluated. RESULTS: In all cases, endovascular treatment
      was successful, with complete occlusion of the aneurysm with proximal parent
      artery preservation at the final postprocedural angiogram. Procedure related
      complications were not observed. One patient with a poor clinical condition at
      admission died during the initial hospital stay due to extensive subarachnoid and
      intraventricular hemorrhage. No rebleeding or recanalization was noted during
      follow-up. Two patients had a residual moderate to severe disability at follow
      up. Favorable outcomes, with no or mild disability, were observed in four of the
      surviving patients. CONCLUSIONS: Angiographic, diagnostic imaging, and clinical
      results of our small series indicate that Onyx embolization of dissecting distal
      PICA aneurysms with parent artery preservation is an effective option with
      acceptable morbidity and mortality rate, in those cases in which surgical
      clipping or endovascular coiling of the aneurysmal sac is not suitable.

PMID- 25838200
TI  - LeftyA sensitive cytosolic pH regulation and glycolytic flux in Ishikawa human
      endometrial cancer cells.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: LeftyA, a powerful regulator of stemness, embryonic differentiation,
      and reprogramming of cancer cells, counteracts cell proliferation and tumor
      growth. Key properties of tumor cells include enhanced glycolytic flux, which is
      highly sensitive to cytosolic pH and thus requires export of H(+) and lactate.
      H(+) extrusion is in part accomplished by Na(+)/H(+) exchangers, such as NHE1. An
      effect of LeftyA on transport processes has, however, never been reported. The
      present study thus explored whether LeftyA modifies regulation of cytosolic pH
      (pHi) in Ishikawa cells, a well differentiated endometrial carcinoma cell model.
      METHODS: NHE1 transcript levels were determined by qRT-PCR, NHE1 protein
      abundance quantified by Western blotting, pHi estimated utilizing (2',7'-bis-(2
      carboxyethyl)-5-(and-6)-carboxyfluorescein [BCECF] fluorescence, Na(+)/H(+)
      exchanger activity from Na(+) dependent realkalinization after an ammonium pulse,
      and lactate concentration in the supernatant utilizing an enzymatic assay and
      subsequent colorimetry. RESULTS: A 2 h treatment with LeftyA (8 ng/ml)
      significantly decreased NHE1 transcript levels (by 99.6%), NHE1 protein abundance
      (by 71%), Na(+)/H(+) exchanger activity (by 55%), pHi (from 7.22 +/- 0.02 to 7.05
      +/- 0.02), and lactate release (by 41%). CONCLUSIONS: LeftyA markedly down
      regulates NHE1 expression, Na(+)/H(+) exchanger activity, pHi, and lactate
      release in Ishikawa cells. Those effects presumably contribute to cellular
      reprogramming and growth inhibition.

PMID- 25838201
TI  - Sevoflurane pretreatment attenuates TNF-alpha-induced human endothelial cell
      dysfunction through activating eNOS/NO pathway.
AB  - Endothelial dysfunction induced by oxidative stress and inflammation plays a
      critical role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. The anesthetic
      sevoflurane confers cytoprotective effects through its anti-inflammatory
      properties in various pathologies such as systemic inflammatory response syndrome
      and ischemic-reperfusion injury but mechanism is unclear. We hypothesized that
      sevoflurane can protect against tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha-induced
      endothelial dysfunction through promoting the production of endothelium-dependent
      nitric oxide (NO). Primary cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells
      (HUVECs) were pretreated with different concentrations (0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 minimum
      alveolar concentration, MAC) of sevoflurane for 30 min before TNF-alpha (10
      ng/mL) stimulation for 4 h. Sevoflurane pretreatment significantly reduced TNF
      alpha-induced VCAM-1, ICAM-1, IkappaBalpha, and NF-kappaB activation, and blocked
      leukocytes adhesion to HUVECs. Meanwhile, sevoflurane (1.5 and 2.5 MAC)
      significantly induced endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) phosphorylation
      and enhanced NO levels both intracellularly and in the cell culture medium. All
      these cytoprotective effects of sevoflurane were abrogated by NG-nitro-l-arginine
      methyl ester (l-NAME), a non-specific nitric oxide synthase inhibitor.
      Collectively, these data indicate that sevoflurane protects against TNF-alpha 
      induced vascular endothelium dysfunction through activation of eNOS/NO pathway
      and inhibition of NF-kappaB.

PMID- 25838202
TI  - Monoacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1 is regulated by peroxisome proliferator
      activated receptor gamma in human hepatocytes and increases lipid accumulation.
AB  - Monoacylglycerol O-acyltransferase (MGAT) is an enzyme that is involved in
      triglyceride synthesis by catalyzing the formation of diacylglycerol from
      monoacylglycerol and fatty acyl CoAs. Recently, we reported that MGAT1 has a
      critical role in hepatic TG accumulation and that its suppression ameliorates
      hepatic steatosis in a mouse model. However, the function of MGAT enzymes in
      hepatic lipid accumulation has not been investigated in humans. Unlike in
      rodents, MGAT3 as well as MGAT1 and MGAT2 are present in humans. In this study,
      we evaluated the differences between MGAT subtypes and their association with
      peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma), a regulator of
      mouse MGAT1 expression. In human primary hepatocytes, basal expression of MGAT1
      was lower than that of MGAT2 or MGAT3, but was strongly induced by PPARgamma
      overexpression. A luciferase assay as well as an electromobility shift assay
      revealed that human MGAT1 promoter activity is driven by PPARgamma by direct
      binding to at least two regions of the promoter in 293T and HepG2 cells.
      Moreover, siRNA-mediated suppression of MGAT1 expression significantly attenuated
      lipid accumulation by PPARgamma overexpression in HepG2 cells, as evidenced by
      oil-red-O staining. These results suggest that human MGAT1 has an important role
      in fatty liver formation as a target gene of PPARgamma, and blocking MGAT1
      activity could be an efficient therapeutic way to reduce nonalcoholic fatty liver
      diseases in humans. 

PMID- 25838203
TI  - cCMP and cUMP occur in vivo.
AB  - Mammalian cells contain the cyclic pyrimidine nucleotides cCMP and cUMP. It is
      unknown whether these tentative new second messenger molecules occur in vivo. We
      used high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry
      to quantitate nucleoside 3',5'-cyclic monophosphates. cCMP was detected in all
      organs studied, most notably pancreas, spleen and the female reproductive system.
      cUMP was not detected in organs, probably due to the intrinsically low
      sensitivity of mass spectrometry to detect this molecule and organ matrix
      effects. Intratracheal infection of mice with recombinant Pseudomonas aeruginosa
      harboring the nucleotidyl cyclase toxin ExoY massively increased cUMP in lung.
      The identity of cCMP and cUMP in organs was confirmed by high performance liquid
      chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry. cUMP also appeared in
      serum, urine and faeces following infection. Taken together, this report
      unequivocally shows for the first time that cCMP and cUMP occur in vivo.

PMID- 25838204
TI  - 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 preserves intestinal epithelial barrier function from
      TNF-alpha induced injury via suppression of NF-kB p65 mediated MLCK-P-MLC
      signaling pathway.
AB  - Substantial studies have demonstrated the protective effect of 1,25
      Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) on intestinal barrier function, but the
      mechanisms are not fully illustrated. In this study, the effect of 1,25(OH)2D3 on
      TNF-alpha induced barrier dysfunction was further investigated in Caco-2 cell
      monolayers. The barrier function of Caco-2 monolayers was evaluated by measuring
      trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) and FITC-Dextran 40,000 Da (FD-40)
      trans-membrane flux. ZO-1 and Occludin were chosen as markers of the localization
      of tight junction (TJ) proteins for immunofluorescence. The expression of MLCK
      and phosphorylation level of myosin light chain (MLC) were measured by
      immunoblotting. The activation of NF-kB p65 was analyzed by EMSA and
      immunofluorescence. The results suggest that 1,25(OH)2D3 preserves intestinal
      epithelial barrier function from TNF-alpha induced injury via suppression of NF
      kB p65 mediated activation of MLCK-P-MLC signaling pathway.

PMID- 25838205
TI  - Abundance and genetic damage of barn swallows from Fukushima.
AB  - A number of studies have assessed or modeled the distribution of the
      radionuclides released by the accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power
      Plant (FDNPP). Few studies however have investigated its consequences for the
      local biota. We tested whether exposure of barn swallow (Hirundo rustica)
      nestlings to low dose ionizing radiation increased genetic damage to their
      peripheral erythrocytes. We estimated external radiation exposure by using
      thermoluminescent dosimeters, and by measuring radioactivity of the nest
      material. We then assessed DNA damage by means of the neutral comet assay. In
      addition, we conducted standard point-count censuses of barn swallows across
      environmental radiation levels, and estimated their abundance and local age
      ratio. Radioactivity of nest samples was in the range 479-143,349 Bq kg(-1),
      while external exposure varied between 0.15 and 4.9 mGy. Exposure to radioactive
      contamination did not correlate with higher genetic damage in nestlings. However,
      at higher levels of radioactive contamination the number of barn swallows
      declined and the fraction of juveniles decreased, indicating lower survival and
      lower reproduction and/or fledging rate. Thus, genetic damage to nestlings does
      not explain the decline of barn swallows in contaminated areas, and a proximate
      mechanism for the demographic effects documented here remains to be clarified.

PMID- 25838206
TI  - Cognitive Performance: A Cross-Sectional Study on Serum Vitamin D and Its
      Interplay With Glucose Homeostasis in Dutch Older Adults.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: First, the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D)
      and cognitive performance was examined. Second, we assessed whether there was
      evidence for an interplay between 25(OH)D and glucose homeostasis in the
      association with cognitive performance. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS:
      Associations were studied using cross-sectional data of 776 (3 domains) up to
      2722 (1 domain) Dutch community-dwelling older adults, aged 65 years or older.
      MEASUREMENTS: Serum 25(OH)D, plasma glucose, and insulin concentrations were
      obtained. Cognitive performance was assessed with an extensive cognitive test
      battery. Prevalence ratios (PRs) were calculated to quantify the association
      between 25(OH)D and cognition; poor performance was defined as the worst 10% of
      the distribution of the cognitive scores. RESULTS: The overall median MMSE score
      was 29 (IQR 28-30). Higher serum 25(OH)D was associated with better attention and
      working memory, PR 0.50 (95% CI 0.29-0.84) for the third serum 25(OH)D tertile,
      indicating a 50% lower probability of being a poor performer than participants in
      the lowest tertile. Beneficial trends were shown for 25(OH)D with executive
      function and episodic memory. Serum 25(OH)D was not associated with plasma
      glucose or insulin. Plasma insulin only modified the association between serum
      25(OH)D and executive function (P for interaction: .001), suggesting that the
      improvement in executive function with high 25(OH)D concentrations is stronger in
      participants with high plasma insulin concentrations compared with those with low
      plasma insulin concentrations. CONCLUSION: Higher 25(OH)D concentrations
      significantly associated with better attention and working memory performance.
      This study does not demonstrate an interplay between serum 25(OH)D and glucose
      homeostasis in the association with cognitive performance.

PMID- 25838207
TI  - Paddling Force Profiles at Different Stroke Rates in Elite Sprint Kayaking.
AB  - In sprint kayaking the role that paddling technique plays in optimizing paddle
      forces and resultant kayak kinematics is still unclear. The aim of this study was
      to analyze the magnitude and shape of the paddle force-time curve at different
      stroke rates, and their implications for kayak performance. Ten elite kayak
      paddlers (5 males and 5 females) were analyzed while performing 2000-m on-water
      trials, at 4 different paces (60, 80, and 100 strokes per minute, and race pace).
      The paddle and kayak were instrumented with strain gauges and accelerometers,
      respectively. For both sexes, the force-time curves were characterized at
      training pace by having a bell shape and at race pace by a first small peak,
      followed by a small decrease in force and then followed by a main plateau. The
      force profile, represented by the mean force/peak force ratio, became more
      rectangular with increasing stroke rate (F[3,40] = 7.87, P < .01). To obtain a
      rectangular shape to maximize performance, kayak paddlers should seek a stronger
      water phase with a rapid increase in force immediately after blade entry, and a
      quick exit before the force dropping far below the maximum force. This pattern
      should be sought when training at race pace and in competition. 

PMID- 25838208
TI  - Association of self-perceived body image with body mass index and type 2 diabetes
      The ADDITION-PRO study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Weight loss is important for prevention of type 2 diabetes and an
      accurate self-perceived body image can promote weight reduction. We evaluated the
      association of self-perceived body image with body mass index (BMI) and type 2
      diabetes. METHODS: Data from the Danish ADDITION-PRO cohort study (2009-2011)
      were used. A total of 2082 men and women attended a health examination including
      assessment of BMI, waist circumference, the Stunkard scale of self-perceived
      obesity and an oral glucose tolerance test for assessment of diabetes risk.
      RESULTS: Mean (SD) age was 66.2 (6.9) years and 24% were obese (BMI >=30kg/m(2)).
      However, only 7% of obese men and 11% of obese women perceived themselves as
      obese. Among obese women, for a given level of BMI and waist circumference, one
      unit higher self-perceived body image was associated with 52% (95% CI: 14-73)
      lower risk of having type 2 diabetes and 45% (95% CI: 12-65) lower risk of having
      pre-diabetes. Overweight, but not obese, men had a 35% (95% CI: 36-56) lower risk
      of type 2 diabetes per unit increase in body image. CONCLUSIONS: Obese
      individuals seem to underestimate their body shape. However, having a realistic
      body image (higher self-perceived obesity) is independently associated with lower
      diabetes risk. Self-perceived body image might serve as a valuable tool for type
      2 diabetes risk assessment.

PMID- 25838209
TI  - Clinical features and outcomes of nontransitional cell carcinomas of the urinary
      bladder: Analysis of 125 cases.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aim was to evaluate pathologic diagnosis, treatment and prognosis
      of 125 patients with nontransitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 3590 patients with bladder tumors operated in
      our clinic between September 1998 and May 2013 were retrospectively evaluated. A
      total of 125 patients (107 men and 18 women) with nontransitional cell bladder
      cancer, confirmed by histopathology, were included in this study. The patients'
      characteristics, including age, gender, smoking history, tumor size, and
      localization, histological types, pathological tumor stages, treatment
      modalities, and survival rates were all recorded. RESULTS: Of these tumors, 47
      (37.6%) were adenocarcinoma (AC), 42 (33.6%) were squamous cell carcinoma (SCC),
      23 (18.4%) were undifferentiated carcinoma (UC), 13 (10.4%) were other types of
      bladder carcinoma. Sixty-three (50.4%) patients had undergone radical cystectomy
      and pelvic lymphadenectomy +/- adjuvant treatment (chemotherapy
      [CT]/radiotherapy) and 52 (41.6%) patients received radiotherapy +/- CT. The
      median survival time of patients with AC and SCC were significantly higher than
      patients with UC (AC vs UC, P = 0.001; SCC vs UC, P = 0.000; AC vs. SCC, P =
      0.219). Median survival time was significantly higher in radical cystectomy +/-
      adjuvant treatment group (P < 0.05) in all histological types. CONCLUSION:
      Prognosis of urinary bladder tumors was directly related to histological type and
      stage of the tumor. CT or radiotherapy has limited response rates. Early radical
      cystectomy should be performed to improve prognosis.

PMID- 25838210
TI  - Distribution and Photochemistry of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Baotou
      Section of the Yellow River During Winter.
AB  - In this study, ice and water samples were collected from seven sites along the
      Baotou section of the Yellow River during winter 2013. Total polycyclic aromatic
      hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations in the ice and in the water under the ice ranged
      from 21.3 to 59.4 ng L(-1), and from 38.3 to 222.4 ng L(-1), respectively. The
      average concentration in water under the ice was approximately 2.5 times greater
      than the average concentration in the ice phase. Four-ring PAHs dominated and
      accounted for 68.2 and 76.0 % of the total PAHs in ice and water, respectively.
      PAH concentrations were highest at sampling site S2 and were also relatively high
      at sites S4 and S5. PAH sources in ice and in water under the ice were similar.
      Three components were selected to represent the coal-combustion sources of PAHs.
      Because it was the main pollutant, and its concentrations were the highest, we
      examined the photodegradation behavior of fluoranthene and investigated the
      effects of light-sensitive materials (H2O2, acetone, and sediment) on
      fluoranthene photodegradation in the ice phase. Results showed that low H2O2
      concentrations promoted photoconversion in the initial stage of the reaction and
      that degradation rates decreased later in the reaction. Likewise, high H2O2
      concentrations promoted photoconversion. As acetone concentrations increased, the
      rates of fluoranthene-degradation decreased. Sediments may also have decreased
      the degradation rate of fluoranthene. 

PMID- 25838211
TI  - Application of CRISPRi for prokaryotic metabolic engineering involving multiple
      genes, a case study: Controllable P(3HB-co-4HB) biosynthesis.
AB  - Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats interference (CRISPRi)
      is used to edit eukaryotic genomes. Here, we show that CRISPRi can also be used
      for fine-tuning prokaryotic gene expression while simultaneously regulating
      multiple essential gene expression with less labor and time consumption. As a
      case study, CRISPRi was used to control polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biosynthesis
      pathway flux and to adjust PHA composition. A pathway was constructed in
      Escherichia coli for the production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4
      hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB-co-4HB)] from glucose. The native gene sad encoding E.
      coli succinate semi-aldehyde dehydrogenase was expressed under the control of
      CRISPRi using five specially designed single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) for regulating
      carbon flux to 4-hydroxybutyrate (4HB) biosynthesis. The system allowed formation
      of P(3HB-co-4HB) consisting of 1-9mol% 4HB. Additionally, succinate, generated by
      succinyl-coA synthetase and succinate dehydrogenase (respectively encoded by
      genes sucC, sucD and sdhA, sdhB) was channeled preferentially to the 4HB
      precursor by using selected sgRNAs such as sucC2, sucD2, sdhB2 and sdhA1 via
      CRISPRi. The resulting 4HB content in P(3HB-co-4HB) was found to range from 1.4
      to 18.4mol% depending on the expression levels of down-regulated genes. The
      results show that CRISPRi is a feasible method to simultaneously manipulate
      multiple genes in E. coli. 

PMID- 25838213
TI  - Cardiovascular outcomes of intravenous iron in perspective of clinical trials and
      the use of different iron preparations.

PMID- 25838212
TI  - A new tool for the risk stratification of patients undergoing primary
      percutaneous coronary intervention with ST-segment elevation myocardial
      infarction: Bio-Clinical SYNTAX score.

PMID- 25838215
TI  - Correlation of atrial fibrillation cycle length and fractionation is associated
      with atrial fibrillation free survival.
AB  - AIMS: Fractionation of electrograms in atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated
      with structural and electrical remodeling. We hypothesized that fractionation can
      also be associated with the AF cycle length (AFCL). This study was aimed at
      calculating the mean AFCL to fractionation correlation coefficient (mAFCC) and
      assessing its association with AF free survival after pulmonary vein isolation
      (PVI). METHODS: In twenty-eight patients, 15-second electrograms during AF were
      recorded with a twenty-polar catheter at the left and right atrial appendages.
      The AFCL was determined manually and the number of activations per second was
      automatically calculated into a fractionation score. The correlation between AFCL
      and fractionation was assessed with the mAFCC. RESULTS: Mean age was 53 +/- 8
      years and 86% had paroxysmal AF. 64% of patients were AF free after a median
      follow-up of 5.5 years. Baseline characteristics, mean AFCL and fractionation
      score were not associated with AF free survival after PVI. The mAFCC assessed at
      the left atrial appendage predicted long-term AF free survival (area under the
      curve: 0.871. P=0.002), but the mAFCC recorded at the right atrial appendage did
      not (0.690, P=0.131). CONCLUSION: The mean AFCL mAFCC recorded at the left atrial
      appendage was a significant predictor of long-term AF free survival. Although not
      a significant predictor of AF free survival, there was a significant association
      between mAFCC recorded at the right atrial appendage and AF free survival.

PMID- 25838214
TI  - Transient QRS amplitude attenuation is associated with clinical recovery in
      patients with takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Low voltage QRS complexes (LQRSV) and amplitude
      attenuation of QRS voltage (AAQRS) have been described in takotsubo (TC)
      patients, and postulated as valuable pre-angiographic markers. The aim of this
      observational study is to evaluate potential diagnostic and prognostic features
      of QRS amplitude in TC and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients. METHODS: Fifty
      eight patients with TC were matched with 58 patients with ACS according to age,
      gender, and presence or absence of ST elevation at hospital admission. A 12-lead
      ECG was recorded within 12h after symptoms onset, the day after coronary
      angiography (CA) and before hospital discharge. When available, ECGs prior and
      subsequent to the acute event were also collected. RESULTS: QRS amplitude showed
      a time related trend, with a first phase characterized by an initial decrease in
      amplitude in both groups and a second phase, with a progressive recovery of QRS
      amplitude in TC patients up to pre-event levels, while QRS amplitude in ACS
      patients remained substantially unchanged from admission onwards. Rise in AAQRS
      during hospitalization showed a positive linear association with systolic
      function recovery and both troponin I and CK-MB decrease (all p<0.01) in TC
      patients. A 20% increase of mean AAQRS from admission is able to predict LVEF
      recovery and troponin I and CK-MB normalization in TC patients with good
      sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSIONS: LQRSV and AAQRS are not reliable in
      differentiating ACS from TC. However, QRS amplitude attenuation in TC is
      transient, and is linearly associated with systolic function recovery and cardiac
      biomarkers normalization.

PMID- 25838216
TI  - Impaired clopidogrel antiplatelet effects and age: Young patients at risk.

PMID- 25838217
TI  - Height, weight and body mass index in adults with congenital heart disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: High BMI is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and, in
      contrast, low BMI is associated with worse prognosis in heart failure. The
      knowledge on BMI and the distribution in different BMI-classes in adults with
      congenital heart disease (CHD) are limited. METHODS AND RESULTS: Data on 2424
      adult patients was extracted from the Swedish Registry on Congenital Heart
      Disease and compared to a reference population (n=4605). The prevalence of
      overweight/obesity (BMI >= 25) was lower in men with variants of the Fontan
      procedure, pulmonary atresia (PA)/double outlet right ventricle (DORV) and aortic
      valve disease (AVD) (Fontan 22.0% and PA/DORV 15.1% vs. 43.0%, p=0.048 and
      p<0.001) (AVD 37.5% vs. 49.3%, p<0.001). Overt obesity (BMI >= 30) was only more
      common in women with AVD (12.8% vs. 9.0%, p=0.005). Underweight (BMI<18.5) was
      generally more common in men with CHD (complex lesions 4.9% vs. 0.9%, p<0.001 and
      simple lesions 3.2% vs. 0.6%, <0.001). Men with complex lesions were shorter than
      controls in contrast to females that in general did not differ from controls.
      CONCLUSION: Higher prevalence of underweight in men with CHD combined with a
      lower prevalence of overweight/obesity in men with some complex lesions indicates
      that men with CHD in general has lower BMI compared to controls. In women, only
      limited differences between those with CHD and the controls were found. The
      complexity of the CHD had larger impact on height in men. The cause of these
      gender differences as well as possible significance for prognosis is unknown.

PMID- 25838218
TI  - Multimodality imaging of myocardial revascularization using cardiac shock wave
      therapy.

PMID- 25838219
TI  - Intraprocedural thrombotic event during coronary intervention depends on CYP2C19
      genotype and is a predictor of future clinical event.

PMID- 25838220
TI  - A rare localization for non-pulmonary vein trigger of atrial fibrillation:
      persistent left superior vena cava.

PMID- 25838221
TI  - Letter regarding Choudhary et al. "Improving the diagnosis of LV non-compaction
      with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging".

PMID- 25838222
TI  - Drug-coated balloon angioplasty: An intriguing alternative for the treatment of
      coronary chronic total occlusions.

PMID- 25838223
TI  - Advantages of renin inhibition in a patient with reninoma.

PMID- 25838224
TI  - Anti-toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) therapy diminishes cardiac remodeling regardless
      of changes in blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR).

PMID- 25838225
TI  - Sex differences of troponin test performance in chest pain patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Current guidelines recommend troponin as the preferred biomarker to
      diagnose acute myocardial infarction (AMI) irrespective of the patient's sex.
      Recent reports have shown that sex-specific cut-offs should be considered but
      studies investigating sex-differences in the diagnostic accuracy of cardiac
      troponins are sparse. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether the diagnostic performance
      of cardiac troponin at admission (cTn) under routine conditions is influenced by
      patient's sex. METHODS: Between 15th of February 2009 and 15th of February 2010,
      women (n=1648) and men (n=2305) who presented to the emergency department with
      chest pain (n=3954) were enrolled. The diagnostic performance of the routine,
      contemporary sensitive cTn assays (TnI; Stratus(r) CS, Siemens and TnT; Roche
      Diagnostics) at baseline for the diagnosis of non-ST-elevation myocardial
      infarction (NSTEMI) was analyzed. RESULTS: NSTEMI was diagnosed in 7.3% (n=287)
      of all patients. Men were more likely to be diagnosed with NSTEMI (8.8%; n=202)
      as compared to women (5.2%; n=85; p<0.001). Sensitivity was 56.1% (95% CI: 44.7
      67.0%) in women and 70.1% (95% CI: 63.1-76.4%) in men. Specificity was 96.8% (95%
      CI: 95.6-97.7%) in women and 94.5% (95% CI: 93.3-95.6%) in men. This resulted in
      a lower positive predictive value (PPV) for women (53.5%; 95% CI: 42.4-64.3) as
      compared to men (60.8%; 95% CI: 54.1-67.2) and a slightly higher negative
      predictive value (NPV) for women: 97.1% (95% CI: 96.0-97.9) vs. 96.3% (95% CI:
      95.2-97.2) in men. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study underline that the
      performance of cTn for the diagnosis of NSTEMI depends on a patient's sex, with a
      lower sensitivity and NPV in women. The definition and implementation of sex
      specific cut-off values for cTn into clinical routine seems to be highly
      recommendable.

PMID- 25838226
TI  - Impressive progression of coronary artery disease assessed by serial
      multimodality imaging in a 40 year-old patient with Behcet's disease.

PMID- 25838227
TI  - Defining normality in a European multinational cohort: Critical factors
      influencing the 99th percentile upper reference limit for high sensitivity
      cardiac troponin I.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To establish and critically evaluate the 99th percentile upper
      reference limit (URL) for high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) in a
      large healthy European cohort using different selection criteria. METHODS: 1368
      presumably healthy individuals from 9 countries were evaluated with surrogate
      biomarkers for diabetes (glycated hemoglobin [HbA1c] < 48 mmol/mol), myocardial
      (B-type natriuretic peptide [BNP] < 35 pg/mL) and renal dysfunction (estimated
      glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] >60 mL/min/1.73 m(2)), and dyslipidemia to
      refine the healthy cohort. The 99th percentile URLs were independently determined
      by the non-parametric and robust methods. RESULTS: The use of biomarker selection
      criteria resulted in a decrease of the 99th percentile URL for hs-cTnI from 23.7
      to 14.1 ng/L and from 11.2 to 7.1 ng/L, when using the non-parametric percentile
      and robust methods, respectively; a further reduction after exclusion of
      individuals with dyslipidemia was noted. Male gender, BNP, HbA1c and smoking
      status were independently associated with hs-cTnI concentration in the presumably
      healthy population, while the impact of age, present in the univariate analysis,
      decreased after adjustments for gender and surrogate biomarkers. The BNP-based
      inclusion criterion had the most pronounced effect on the 99th percentile URL,
      excluding 21% of the study participants and decreasing its value to 11.0 (7.1)
      ng/L according to the non-parametric (robust) method. Gender, but not age
      specific, differences at 99th percentile URL have been identified. CONCLUSION:
      The selection of a reference population has a critical impact on the 99th
      percentile value for hs-cTnI. A uniform protocol for the selection of the healthy
      reference population is needed.

PMID- 25838228
TI  - Tips and tricks to implant a MitraClip in a patient with previous surgical
      closure of atrial septal defect.

PMID- 25838229
TI  - Bland and broken hearted: A case of hyponatremia induced Tako-tsubo
      cardiomyopathy.

PMID- 25838230
TI  - Novel insights into an "old" phenomenon: the no reflow.
AB  - Coronary artery diseases and particularly acute myocardial infarction are the
      leading causes of mortality and morbidity in western countries. Despite the
      achievements of the last decades with the advent of double antiplatelet therapy,
      new antithrombotics and reperfusion strategies (either pharmacological or
      mechanical), many patients still have adverse cardiovascular events after ST
      segment elevation acute myocardial infarction; at least some of these adverse
      events are related to the no reflow phenomenon that occurs after primary
      percutaneous coronary intervention. In our review we will discuss the various
      aspects of this phenomenon. 

PMID- 25838231
TI  - Double device left atrial appendage closure with the WATCHMANTM.

PMID- 25838232
TI  - Association of aging with glomerular filtration changes in cardiac rehabilitation
      participants with chronic kidney disease.

PMID- 25838234
TI  - Response to letter by Cheuk-Kit Wong et al.: The deserved values of leads avL and
      avR in inferior STEMIs should be given!

PMID- 25838233
TI  - Impact of renal function on changes of plaque characteristics in non-intervened
      coronary segments after rosuvastatin treatment in patients with angina pectoris
      and hypertension.

PMID- 25838235
TI  - Laryngeal preservation in ENT oncology. Retrospective series of 246 patients
      managed in the Caen University Hospital and Francois Baclesse Cancer Care Center
      between 1998 and 2008.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A 10-year retrospective study investigated factors for survival and
      laryngeal preservation in advanced laryngeal, hypopharyngeal or epilaryngeal
      neoplasia. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Two hundred and forty-six patients with advanced
      cancer of the larynx (17.48%), hypopharynx (48.78%) or epilarynx (33.74%)
      undergoing primary organ-sparing treatment were included from 1998 to 2008.
      Treatment comprised chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy for 92.68% of
      patients, isolated radiation therapy for 1.6% and concomitant or sequential
      radiation-chemotherapy for 5.7%. General health status, history and tumor status
      were recorded. Factors influencing survival were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier
      estimator, log-rank test and Cox models. RESULTS: Median overall survival of the
      population was 2.3 years and median laryngeal preservation 0.99 years in male
      patients and 2 years in female patients. Survival correlated significantly with
      body mass index (BMI; P=0.0004), WHO performance status (P=0.0064), alcohol
      consumption (P=0.0004) and cessation (P<0.0001) and also T stage (P=0.0038),
      initial laryngeal mobility (P=0.0002) and post-chemotherapy assessment
      (P<0.0001). Survival with functional larynx correlated with baseline BMI at first
      consultation (P=0.016), baseline WHO grade (P=0.0005), laryngeal mobility
      (P<0.0001), T staging (P=0.0009), and T and/or N chemotherapy response to a
      classical organ preservation protocol (P<0.0001). CONCLUSION: Over and above
      established criteria, the present study highlighted the importance of general
      health and nutritional status during treatment.

PMID- 25838236
TI  - Overexpression and characterization of a Ca(2+) activated thermostable beta
      glucosidase with high ginsenoside Rb1 to ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3 bioconversion
      productivity.
AB  - The thermostable beta-glucosidase gene from Thermotoga petrophila DSM 13995 was
      cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The activity of the recombinant
      beta-glucosidase was 21 U/mL in the LB medium. Recombinant beta-glucosidase was
      purified, and its molecular weight was approximately 81 kDa. The optimal activity
      was at pH 5.0 and 90  degrees C, and the thermostability of the enzyme was
      improved by Ca(2+). The beta-glucosidase had high selectivity for cleaving the
      outer and inner glucopyranosyl moieties at the C-20 carbon of ginsenoside Rb1,
      which produced the pharmacologically active minor ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3. In a
      reaction at 90  degrees C and pH 5.0, 10 g/L of ginsenoside Rb1 was transformed
      into 6.93 g/L of Rg3 within 90 min, with a corresponding molar conversion of
      97.9%, and Rg3 productivity of 4620 mg/L/h. This study is the first report of a
      GH3-family enzyme that used Ca(2+) to improve its thermostability, and it is the
      first report on the high substrate concentration bioconversion of ginsenoside Rb1
      to ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3 by using thermostable beta-glucosidase under high
      temperature.

PMID- 25838238
TI  - Erratum to: Engineered Serratia marcescens for efficient (3R)-acetoin and (2R,3R)
      2,3-butanediol production.

PMID- 25838237
TI  - Growth retardation of Escherichia coli by artificial increase of intracellular
      ATP.
AB  - Overexpression of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK) was reported to cause
      the harboring of higher intracellular ATP concentration in Escherichia coli,
      accompanied with a slower growth rate. For systematic determination of the
      relationship between the artificial increase of ATP and growth retardation, PCKWT
      enzyme was directly evolved in vitro and further overexpressed. The evolved PCK67
      showed a 60% greater catalytic efficiency than that of PCKWT. Consequently, the
      PCK67-overexpressing E. coli showed the highest ATP concentration at the log
      phase of 1.45 MUmol/gcell, with the slowest growth rate of 0.66 h(-1), while the
      PCKWT-overexpressing cells displayed 1.00 MUmol/gcell ATP concentration with the
      growth rate of 0.84 h(-1) and the control had 0.28 MUmol/gcell with 1.03 h(-1).
      To find a plausible reason, PCK-overexpressing cells in a steady state during
      chemostat growth were applied to monitor intracellular reactive oxygen species
      (ROS). Higher amount of intracellular ROS were observed as the ATP levels
      increased. To confirm the hypothesis of slower growth rate without perturbation
      of the carbon flux by PCK-overexpression, phototrophic Gloeobacter rhodopsin (GR)
      was expressed. The GR-expressing strain under illumination harbored 81% more ATP
      concentration along with 82% higher ROS, with a 54% slower maximum growth rate
      than the control, while both the GR-expressing strain under dark and
      dicarboxylate transporter (a control membrane protein)-expressing strain showed a
      lower ATP and increased ROS, and slower growth rate. Regardless of carbon flux
      changes, the artificial ATP increase was related to the ROS increase and it was
      reciprocally correlated to the maximum growth rate. To verify that the
      accumulated intracellular ROS were responsible for the growth retardation,
      glutathione was added to the medium to reduce the ROS. As a result, the growth
      retardation was restored by the addition of 0.1 mM glutathione. Anaerobic culture
      even enabled the artificial ATP-increased E. coli to grow faster than control.
      Collectively, it was concluded that artificial ATP increases inhibit the growth
      of E. coli due to the overproduction of ROS.

PMID- 25838239
TI  - [Attributable risk of co-morbid substance use disorder in poor observance to
      pharmacological treatment and the occurrence of relapse in schizophrenia].
AB  - BACKGROUND: There are numerous risk factors involved in poor (incomplete)
      compliance to pharmacological treatment, and the associated relapse risk, for
      patients with schizophrenia. Comorbid substance use disorders are considered as
      among the most important ones, although how much their presence increase the risk
      of poorer observance (and higher risk of relapse) has not been yet assessed. This
      measure would be important, especially if the published literature on the topic
      provides sufficient material to perform a meta-analysis and to assess different
      potential biases such as those related to time (new studies are easier to publish
      when positive) or sample size (small samples might drive the global positive
      conclusion). METHOD: A PubMed((r)) search was made, screening the following terms
      between 1996 and august 2014 "Addiction AND (Observance OR Adherence) AND
      schizophrenia AND (French OR English [Language])" and "(Substance Abuse OR
      substance dependance) AND Outcome AND schizophrenia AND (French OR English
      [Language])". Studies were included if they describe two patients groups
      (schizophrenia with and without present substance use disorder) and assess the
      studied outcome. MetaWin((r)) version 2 was used for the meta-analysis, while
      publication time bias relied on non-parametric correlation and the one linked to
      sample size was assessed through normal quantile plots. An attributable risk was
      also computered, on the basis of the odds-ratio derived from the meta-analysis
      and the prevalence of the analyzed trait (associated substance use disorder).
      RESULTS: Eight studies could be included in the meta-analysis, showing that the
      presence of a substance use disorder significantly increases the risk of poor
      observance to pharmacological treatment (OR=2.18 [1.84-2.58]), no significant
      bias being detected, either linked to time (rho=0.287, P=0.490) or sample size
      (Kendall's Tau=-0.286, P=0.322). The related attributable risk is 18.50%. Only
      three studies could be used for the meta-analysis of the risk of relapse
      associated with the presence of substance use disorders. The corresponding odds
      ratio is 1.52 [1.19-1.94], and the attributable risk is 31.20%, but the search
      for biases could not be performed because of the small number of studies.
      CONCLUSIONS: These results shed light on the importance of comorbid substance use
      disorder to explain the poor observance frequently observed in patients with
      schizophrenia. Indeed, having an associated substance use disorder double the
      risk of poor compliance to pharmacological treatment, this comorbidity explaining
      a fifth of all factors involved. Although the number of available studies does
      not allow definite conclusions, the meta-analysis of prospective studies focusing
      this time of the risk of relapse requiring hospitalization is also in favor of a
      significant role of associated substance use disorder. These results argue in
      favor of developing specific strategies to better treat patients with dual
      diagnoses, i.e. schizophrenia and substance use disorder.

PMID- 25838240
TI  - Different evolutionary processes in shaping the genetic composition of Dendrobium
      nobile in southwest China.
AB  - Knowledge of population genetic structure and intrapopulation genetic variation
      is important for understanding population dynamics and evolutionary processes.
      Dendrobium nobile is an endangered traditional Chinese tonic medicine. In order
      to analyze the population differentiation and genetic diversity in D. nobile and
      propose proper conservation measurements, we genotyped 102 individual plants from
      7 natural populations distributed across southwest China at 9 microsatellite
      loci. Seven pairs of genomic SSR primers were newly designed, and two pairs were
      chosen from the EST-SSRs. According to the results, the genetic process of D.
      nobile on Hainan Island and the Chinese mainland might be affected by different
      evolutionary processes, the genetic drift caused by founder effect has played an
      important role in shaping the genetic constitution of the Island population. The
      population of D. nobile in Hainan Island was highly differentiated and displayed
      low levels of genetic diversity. For the conservation management plans of D.
      nobile, we propose that individuals in Hainan Island with rare alleles need to be
      conserved with top priority, and those individuals with rare alleles and the most
      common alleles also should be concerned. The seven new microsatellite loci may be
      informative for further evaluation and conservation of the genetic diversity of
      D. nobile. 

PMID- 25838242
TI  - The GluN2B subunit of N-methy-D-asparate receptor regulates the radial migration
      of cortical neurons in vivo.
AB  - The formation of layered structure of the mammalian neocortex requires a fine
      organized migration of post-mitotic neurons during early development. However,
      whether the radial migration is regulated by NMDA receptor and specific subunits
      remains contradictory and unknown. Here, we reported that in the developing rat
      cortex, migration of presumptive layer II/III neurons to their deserved
      destination was regulated by NMDA receptors with GluN2B but not GluN2A subunit.
      Using in utero electroporation of small interference RNA (siRNA) of distinct NMDA
      receptor subunits, we found that knockdown GluN1 and GluN2B subunits dramatically
      delayed the neuronal migration to proper layer II/III, while improperly stayed at
      lower layers or even the germinal regions, without changing the cell fate. In
      contrast, knockdown of GluN2A subunit did not impair the neuronal migration.
      Additionally, the ecotopic neurons by GluN2B RNAi developed to well dendritic
      differentiation, while the ones by GluN1 RNAi still kept morphology of migrating
      neurons. Therefore, GluN2B subunit of NMDA receptor plays an essential role in
      regulating proper neuronal migration and cortical lamination. 

PMID- 25838243
TI  - Input-based structure-specific proficiency predicts the neural mechanism of adult
      L2 syntactic processing.
AB  - This study used Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to explore the role of input
      based structure-specific proficiency in L2 syntactic processing, using English
      subject-verb agreement structures as the stimuli. A pre-test/trainings/post-test
      paradigm of experimental and control groups was employed, and Chinese speakers
      who learned English as a second language (L2) participated in the experiment. At
      pre-test, no ERP component related to the subject-verb agreement structures
      violations was observed in either group. At training session, the experimental
      group learned the subject-verb agreement structures, while the control group
      learned other syntactic structures. After two continuously intensive input
      trainings, at post-test, a significant P600 component related to the subject-verb
      agreement structures violations was elicited in the experimental group, but not
      in the control group. These findings suggest that input training improves
      structure-specific proficiency, which is reflected in the neural mechanism of L2
      syntactic processing. 

PMID- 25838241
TI  - The tetrapartite synapse: Extracellular matrix remodeling contributes to
      corticoaccumbens plasticity underlying drug addiction.
AB  - Synaptic plasticity has long been known to involve three key elements of
      neuropil, the presynapse, the postsynapse and adjacent glia. Here we review the
      role of the extracellular matrix in synaptic plasticity as a necessary component
      forming the tetrapartite synapse. We describe the role of matrix
      metalloproteinases as enzymes sculpting extracellular proteins and thereby
      creating an extracellular signaling domain required for synaptic plasticity.
      Specifically we focus on the role of the tetrapartite synapse in mediating the
      effects of addictive drugs at cortico-striatal synapses, and conclude that the
      extracellular signaling domain and its regulation by matrix metalloproteinases is
      critical for developing and expressing drug seeking behaviors.

PMID- 25838244
TI  - Reversible structural transformation and enhanced performance of PEDOT:PSS-based
      hybrid solar cells driven by light intensity.
AB  - Hybrid solar cells made of poly(3,4
      ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) ( PEDOT: PSS) and appropriate
      amounts of a cosolvent and a fluorosurfactant on planar n-type silicon substrates
      showed a photoconversion efficiency (PCE) of above 13%. These cells also
      exhibited stable, reproducible, and high external quantum efficiency (EQE) that
      was not sensitive to light-bias intensity (LBI). In contrast, solar cells made of
      pristine PEDOT: PSS showed low PCE and high EQE only under certain measurement
      conditions. The EQE was found to degrade with increasing LBI. Here we report that
      the LBI-sensitive variation of EQE of the low-PCE cells is related to a
      reversible structural transformation from a quinoid to a benzoid structure of
      PEDOT.

PMID- 25838245
TI  - Sex Differences During an Overhead Squat Assessment.
AB  - A disparity exists between the rates of male and female lower extremity injuries.
      One factor that may contribute to this disparity is high-risk biomechanical
      patterns that are commonly displayed by females. It is unknown what biomechanical
      differences exist between males and females during an overhead squat. This study
      compared lower extremity biomechanics during an overhead squat and ranges of
      motion between males and females. An electromagnetic motion tracking system
      interfaced with a force platform was used to quantify peak lower extremity
      kinematics and kinetics during the descent phase of each squat. Range of motion
      measurements were assessed with a standard goniometer. Differences between male
      and female kinematics, kinetics, and ranges of motion were identified with t
      tests. Males displayed greater peak knee valgus angle, peak hip flexion angle,
      peak vertical ground reaction forces, and peak hip extension moments. Males also
      displayed less active ankle dorsiflexion with the knee extended and hip internal
      and external rotation than females. No other differences were observed. The
      biomechanical differences between males and females during the overhead squat may
      result from differences in lower extremity ranges of motion. Therefore, sex
      specific injury prevention programs should be developed to improve biomechanics
      and ranges of motion. 

PMID- 25838246
TI  - On the Link between Cognitive Diagnostic Models and Knowledge Space Theory.
AB  - The present work explores the connections between cognitive diagnostic models
      (CDM) and knowledge space theory (KST) and shows that these two quite distinct
      approaches overlap. It is proved that in fact the Multiple Strategy DINA
      (Deterministic Input Noisy AND-gate) model and the CBLIM, a competence-based
      extension of the basic local independence model (BLIM), are equivalent. To
      demonstrate the benefits that arise from integrating the two theoretical
      perspectives, it is shown that a fairly complete picture on the identifiability
      of these models emerges by combining results from both camps. The impact of the
      results is illustrated by an empirical example, and topics for further research
      are pointed out. 

PMID- 25838247
TI  - The Reduced RUM as a Logit Model: Parameterization and Constraints.
AB  - Cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) for educational assessment are constrained
      latent class models. Examinees are assigned to classes of intellectual
      proficiency defined in terms of cognitive skills called attributes, which an
      examinee may or may not have mastered. The Reduced Reparameterized Unified Model
      (Reduced RUM) has received considerable attention among psychometricians. Markov
      Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) or Expectation Maximization (EM) are typically used for
      estimating the Reduced RUM. Commercial implementations of the EM algorithm are
      available in the latent class analysis (LCA) routines of Latent GOLD and Mplus,
      for example. Fitting the Reduced RUM with an LCA routine requires that it be
      reparameterized as a logit model, with constraints imposed on the parameters. For
      models involving two attributes, these have been worked out. However, for models
      involving more than two attributes, the parameterization and the constraints are
      nontrivial and currently unknown. In this article, the general parameterization
      of the Reduced RUM as a logit model involving any number of attributes and the
      associated parameter constraints are derived. As a practical illustration, the
      LCA routine in Mplus is used for fitting the Reduced RUM to two synthetic data
      sets and to a real-world data set; for comparison, the results obtained by using
      the MCMC implementation in OpenBUGS are also provided.

PMID- 25838248
TI  - Axillary nodal metastases in Italian early breast cancer patients with positive
      sentinel lymph node: can axillary node dissection be avoided by using predictive
      nomograms?
AB  - AIMS AND BACKGROUND: Clinical guidelines recommend axillary lymph node dissection
      (ALND) in cases of metastatic sentinel lymph node (SNL) in patients with
      clinically node-negative early breast cancer. However, a relevant number of ALND
      could be avoided in a subset of patients in whom the risk of non-SNL metastases
      is low. In order to define this population, several authors have proposed
      mathematical models, which have been validated in many studies. These studies
      reached different conclusions regarding which model demonstrated the best
      statistical discrimination power, mainly due to differences in clinical and
      pathologic variables used, and particularly differences in the number of
      dissected SLNs. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed clinically node-negative
      patients who underwent ALND in our surgical ward after the diagnosis of breast
      cancer metastases on SLN biopsy from January 2000 to December 2012. The
      predictive accuracy of the widely used nomograms to predict the risk of
      additional nodal disease in our patients with SLN breast cancer metastases was
      measured by receiver operating characteristic curve. We then attempted to develop
      a new nomogram by analyzing the dataset. RESULTS: A total of 105 patients were
      included in this study, with ratio of metastatic lymph node/removed lymph node of
      about 0.89; we found axillary nodal metastases on ALND in only 31 patients
      (29.5%). Applied to our dataset, Mayo nomogram showed the best area under the
      receiving operator characteristic curve (0.74) followed by our model (0.71).
      Instead, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering model showed poor discrimination, as did
      Tenon (0.56). CONCLUSIONS: Based on our data, we cannot recommend the clinical
      use of validated predictive nomograms in order to avoid ALND. We suggest setting
      up a multicenter Italian study to build a model specific to our setting and based
      on larger series.

PMID- 25838249
TI  - A combined smoking cessation intervention within a lung cancer screening trial: a
      pilot observational study.
AB  - AIMS AND BACKGROUND: The time of lung cancer screening may provide the ideal
      setting to discuss and initiate a smoking cessation plan that includes
      pharmacologic aids. No studies to date have fully investigated the potential
      effectiveness of such combined approach. METHODS: We prospectively evaluated the
      biochemically verified 1-year continuous abstinence rate from smoking of 187
      persistent smokers enrolled within the Multicentric Italian Lung Detection Trial
      (MILD), who received a pharmacologic aid to quit smoking with varenicline along
      with behavioral counseling. The propensity of study subjects to succeed in
      smoking cessation was also monitored. RESULTS: At 12 months, the continuous
      abstinence rate from smoking was achieved in 37 out of 187 patients (19.8%), with
      a propensity to succeed in smoking cessation for the assisted attempt equal to
      1.43, as compared to an unassisted MILD patient. At the end of the third month of
      therapy, 48.7% of subjects showed a continuous abstinence rate, while only 33.7%
      of patients were abstinent from smoking at 6 months. At baseline, the subgroup of
      MILD participants who were originally allocated to lung tomography showed higher
      smoking intensity than those allocated to no screening. CONCLUSIONS: A combined
      smoking cessation intervention can be implemented with satisfactory results
      within a lung cancer screening program; this preliminary observation needs to be
      replicated in a prospective investigation. Clinicians should consider that lung
      cancer screening may be falsely reassuring for persistent smokers; therefore it
      should always be coupled with a smoking cessation program.

PMID- 25838250
TI  - Expression of CBY and methylation of CBY at promoter region in human laryngeal
      squamous cell carcinoma.
AB  - AIMS AND BACKGROUND: Chibby (CBY), a beta-catenin binding partner, inhibits
      Wnt/beta-catenin-mediated transcriptional activation by competing with Tcf/Lef
      factors for beta-catenin binding and promoting the export of beta-catenin from
      nucleus to cytoplasm. The regulatory effect of CBY in this signaling pathway
      suggests its biological importance as a potential tumor suppressor gene. The
      purposes of this study were to determine whether the expression of CBY was
      downregulated in human laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) samples, the CpG
      sites of CBY at the promoter region were methylated in these tumor samples, and
      reduced expression of CBY was induced by methylation of CBY promoters. METHODS:
      CBY expression was investigated by quantitative real-time PCR and
      immunohistochemistry in samples from 36 LSCC patients. The methylation status of
      the CBY promoter was detected by methylation-specific PCR. RESULTS: Compared with
      normal laryngeal mucosa, the expression of CBY was downregulated in LSCC samples.
      The reduced CBY expression rate was 58.33% (21/36) at the mRNA and 66.67% (24/36)
      at the protein level. The promoters of CBY were methylated in 12/36 tumor
      samples, partially methylated in 5, and unmethylated in 19 samples. The
      methylation rate including incomplete methylation was 47.22% (17/36) in tumor
      samples, while no methylation was detected in normal laryngeal squamous
      epithelium. Compared with the unmethylated group, the expression of CBY was
      significantly different in the methylated group (p<0.05) but similar in the
      partially methylated group (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that CBY
      expression was downregulated in LSCC, which may be partially caused by
      methylation of CBY promoters.

PMID- 25838251
TI  - Novel blood-based microRNA biomarkers for diagnosis of pancreatic cancer: a meta
      analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recently, several studies have shown that blood-based microRNAs in
      patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) could be aberrantly expressed. The purpose
      of this meta-analysis was to evaluate blood-based microRNAs as novel biomarkers
      for diagnosis of PC. METHODS: Eligible studies which had evaluated the diagnostic
      performance of blood-based microRNAs and had been published from February 2004 to
      February 2014 were retrieved. The quality of the studies was evaluated with the
      QUADAS-2 tool. The performance characteristics were pooled using random-effects
      models. Statistical analysis was performed with STATA and Meta-Disc1.4 software.
      RESULTS: The global meta-analysis included 12 studies from 8 articles, which
      contained 1,060 blood-based samples of PC patients and 935 blood-based samples of
      non-PC patients. Summary results suggested pooled sensitivity of 0.87 (95%
      confidence interval [95% CI], 0.85-0.89), specificity 0.92 (95% CI, 0.90-0.94),
      positive likelihood ratio 11.18 (95% CI, 5.57-22.46), negative likelihood ratio
      0.16 (95% CI, 0.11-0.23), diagnostic odds ratio 88.98 (95% CI, 39.85-198.69) and
      the area under the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve 0.96.
      CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis demonstrated blood-based microRNA expression
      profiles with the potential to discriminate PC patients from non-PC patients,
      which have moderate diagnostic accuracy. However, further validation studies are
      needed for their clinical significance in the diagnosis of PC to be established.

PMID- 25838252
TI  - Novel 10-fraction breast irradiation in prone and supine position: technical,
      dosimetric and clinical evaluation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate retrospectively the planned
      dose distribution and acute toxicity of adjuvant hypofractionated whole breast
      radiotherapy (RT) delivered in the prone vs. supine position. METHODS: Twenty
      four patients were enrolled; 12 underwent adjuvant RT with a supine setup and 12
      with a prone setup. We included patients according to breast volume (>=500 mL),
      disease stage (<=pT2/pN1), and clinical/biological features. Patients received a
      regimen of 35 Gy in 10 fractions for 2.5 weeks, and a concomitant boost of 3/4 Gy
      in 1 fraction/week. Target coverage was assessed by volume, V90, V95, V100, V103
      and V105. Heart, LADCA and ipsilateral lung doses were evaluated according to
      volume, maximum dose, mean dose, V14, V10 and V5. We evaluated acute skin
      toxicity during RT, at the end of treatment, and after 1 month according to RTOG
      scales. RESULTS: Radiobiological equivalence was warranted with satisfactory BED
      values: considering alpha/beta = 4 for breast cancer, the 10-fraction schedule
      equaled 74 or 77 Gy depending on the boost dose (3 Gy vs. 4 Gy, respectively).
      Toxicity was low and similar for supine and prone treatments. Dose sparing was
      significant in the ipsilateral lung in the prone position (median Dmax: 28.7 Gy
      vs. 38.4 Gy; median Dmean: 0.8 Gy vs. 6.3 Gy; median V14: 0.6% vs. 13.5%; median
      V5: 0 vs. 19.3%, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This novel 10-fraction schedule is
      feasible and well tolerated; the prone position allows better saving of OARs,
      with a statistically significant value for the ipsilateral lung.

PMID- 25838253
TI  - Concomitant trimodality therapy of re-irradiation, chemotherapy and regional
      hyperthermia for a pretreated inoperable sarcoma recurrence.
AB  - We hereby present a case of pre-treated unresectable sarcoma recurrence of the
      trunk which showed an excellent response to concomitant tri-modal therapy,
      consisting of re-irradiation, chemotherapy and regional hyperthermia even with a
      strong compromised re-irradiation dose. No significant toxicity of the combined
      therapy and fast achievement of the pain and neurological symptoms relief are
      reported. The case shows that concurrent tri-modality treatment can be considered
      as a therapeutic option for the management of pre-treated unresectable recurrence
      even in there-irradiation setting.

PMID- 25838254
TI  - Tivantinib, a new option for second-line treatment of advanced hepatocellular
      carcinoma? The experience of Italian centers.
AB  - In the last decades the management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has
      undergone significant changes following the introduction of novel therapies such
      as sorafenib, which have improved patient survival. Nevertheless, HCC is still
      the third most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The evidence-based
      therapy for advanced HCC that is unsuitable for locoregional treatment is limited
      to sorafenib, with no second-line option available. This article focuses on the
      development of the MET inhibitor tivantinib in HCC as a promising treatment
      option for patients who failed sorafenib. A randomized, placebo-controlled phase
      II study showed activity of tivantinib in patients with high MET expression.
      Based on these results, the METIV-HCC phase III study in second-line treatment
      for MET-high patients was initiated to demonstrate the survival advantage of
      tivantinib compared to placebo. 

PMID- 25838255
TI  - Modulation depth enhancement of ESEEM experiments using pulse trains.
AB  - We present a new way to increase the modulation amplitude of electron spin echo
      envelope modulation (ESEEM) experiments that are based on electron spin
      coherence. The method uses a train of N refocusing pi-pulses where each one of
      them redistributes the electron spin coherence among allowed and forbidden EPR
      transitions. This in turn leads to a significant enhancement of the ESEEM effect,
      depending on the strength of the hyperfine interaction and the number of applied
      pulses, N. We derive analytical expressions for a general two-dimensional (2D)
      scheme which is based on the refocused primary echo and we explore the expected
      modulation enhancement of various correlation peaks as a function of k
      (modulation depth parameter) and N. In addition, we inspect two different one
      dimensional (1D) versions of the method, namely the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill
      (CPMG) sequence occurring for t1=t2, and an extension of the primary echo
      sequence occurring for t2=0. Our study shows that these methods are particularly
      useful for detecting weak hyperfine couplings of magnetic nuclei having small gn
      factors and low natural abundances like (13)C and (29)Si. The theoretically
      predicted features are confirmed by experiments in disordered spin systems. 

PMID- 25838256
TI  - Low involvement of preexisting associations makes retrieval-induced forgetting
      long lasting.
AB  - Research has shown that selective retrieval of episodic memories usually leads to
      forgetting of related memories that compete for retrieval [a phenomenon known as
      retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF)]. However, there are conflicting data
      regarding the duration of this incidental kind of forgetting. While some studies
      have found that this forgetting effect disappears within 24 h after selective
      retrieval, others suggest that it may last for as long as at least a week. In two
      experiments, we explored whether discrepancies in the durability of RIF may be
      due to variations in the type of relationships (preexisting vs. novel) that are
      present between items associated with a given cue. We explored this issue by
      manipulating the degree of involvement of preexisting/novel associations among
      competing items as well as the delay between retrieval practice and test
      (immediate in Experiment 1 and 24-h delay test in Experiment 2). The results
      suggest that forgetting lasts longer when the degree of preexisting associations
      among targets and competitors is low.

PMID- 25838257
TI  - Familiarity and preference for pitch probability profiles.
AB  - We investigated familiarity and preference judgments of participants toward a
      novel musical system. We exposed participants to tone sequences generated from a
      novel pitch probability profile. Afterward, we either asked participants to
      identify more familiar or we asked participants to identify preferred tone
      sequences in a two-alternative forced-choice task. The task paired a tone
      sequence generated from the pitch probability profile they had been exposed to
      and a tone sequence generated from another pitch probability profile at three
      levels of distinctiveness. We found that participants identified tone sequences
      as more familiar if they were generated from the same pitch probability profile
      which they had been exposed to. However, participants did not prefer these tone
      sequences. We interpret this relationship between familiarity and preference to
      be consistent with an inverted U-shaped relationship between knowledge and
      affect. The fact that participants identified tone sequences as even more
      familiar if they were generated from the more distinctive (caricatured) version
      of the pitch probability profile which they had been exposed to suggests that the
      statistical learning of the pitch probability profile is involved in gaining of
      musical knowledge. 

PMID- 25838258
TI  - Injectable and Biodegradable pH-Responsive Hydrogels for Localized and Sustained
      Treatment of Human Fibrosarcoma.
AB  - Injectable hydrogels are an important class of biomaterials, and they have been
      widely used for controlled drug release. This study evaluated an injectable
      hydrogel formed in situ system by the reaction of a polyethylene glycol
      derivative with alpha,beta-polyaspartylhydrazide for local cancer chemotherapy.
      This pH-responsive hydrogel was used to realize a sol-gel phase transition, where
      the gel remained a free-flowing fluid before injection but spontaneously changed
      into a semisolid hydrogel just after administration. As indicated by scanning
      electron microscopy images, the hydrogel exhibited a porous three-dimensional
      microstructure. The prepared hydrogel was biocompatible and biodegradable and
      could be utilized as a pH-responsive vector for drug delivery. The therapeutic
      effect of the hydrogel loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) after intratumoral
      administration in mice with human fibrosarcoma was evaluated. The inhibition of
      tumor growth was more obvious in the group treated by the DOX-loaded hydrogel,
      compared to that treated with the free DOX solution. Hence, this hydrogel with
      good syringeability and high biodegradability, which focuses on local
      chemotherapy, may enhance the therapeutic effect on human fibrosarcoma. 

PMID- 25838259
TI  - The Effect of Thigh Marker Placement on Knee Valgus Angles in Vertical Drop Jumps
      and Sidestep Cutting.
AB  - Knee valgus angles measured in sidestep cutting and vertical drop jumps are key
      variables in research on anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury causation. These
      variables are also used to quantify knee neuromuscular control and ACL injury
      risk. The aims of the current study were to (1) quantify the differences in the
      calculated knee valgus angles between 6 different thigh marker clusters, (2)
      investigate the trial ranking based on their knee valgus angles, and (3)
      investigate the influence of marker clusters on the cross-talk effect. Elite
      female handball and football players (n = 41) performed sidestep cutting and
      vertical drop jumping motions. We found systematic differences up to almost 15
      degrees  of peak valgus between the marker sets in the drop jump test. The
      Spearman's rank correlation coefficient varied from .505 to .974 among the 6
      marker sets. In addition, the cross-talk effect varied considerably between the
      marker clusters. The results of the current study indicate that the choice of
      thigh marker cluster can have a substantial impact on the magnitude of knee
      valgus angle, as well as the trial ranking. A standardized thigh marker cluster,
      including nonanatomical landmark, is needed to minimize the variation of the
      measurement. 

PMID- 25838260
TI  - Domestic use of bleach and infections in children: a multicentre cross-sectional
      study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To report the effects of bleach use at home on the frequency of
      infections in 9102 school-age children participating in the HITEA project.
      METHODS: Parents of pupils aged 6-12 years from schools in Barcelona province
      (Spain), Utrecht province (the Netherlands) and Eastern and Central Finland were
      administered a questionnaire including questions on the frequency of infections
      (influenza, tonsillitis, sinusitis, otitis, bronchitis and pneumonia) in the past
      12 months and bleach use at home. We developed multivariable mixed-effects
      multilogistic regression models to obtain relative risk ratios (RRR) and their
      95% CI per country, and combined the RRR using random-effects meta-analyses.
      RESULTS: Bleach use was common in Spain (72%, n=1945) and uncommon in Finland
      (7%, n=279). Overall, the prevalence of infections (recurrent or once) was higher
      among children of bleach users. Significant combined associations were shown for
      influenza only once (RRR=1.20, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.38), recurrent tonsillitis
      (RRR=1.35, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.71) and any infection (RRR=1.18, 95% CI 1.01 to
      1.38). CONCLUSIONS: Passive exposure to cleaning bleach in the home may have
      adverse effects on school-age children's health by increasing the risk of
      respiratory and other infections. The high frequency of use of disinfecting
      irritant cleaning products may be of public health concern, also when exposure
      occurs during childhood.

PMID- 25838261
TI  - An Fe/N co-doped graphitic carbon bulb for high-performance oxygen reduction
      reaction.
AB  - An Fe/N co-doped graphitic carbon bulb is synthesized by Prussian blue with a
      pyrolysis temperature as low as 550  degrees C. Fe facilitates the formation of a
      graphitic structure, while low temperature guarantees high level of nitrogen. The
      product shows excellent oxygen reduction reaction catalytic activity in both
      alkaline and acid electrolytes. 

PMID- 25838262
TI  - Key Factors Influencing Implementation of Falls Prevention Exercise Programs in
      the Community.
AB  - The study aim was to evaluate the implementation of group- and home-based
      exercise falls prevention programs delivered through community health agencies to
      community-dwelling older people. Interviews with program staff were guided by the
      Diffusion of Innovations theory. Highly consistent themes emerged for the two
      types of programs. Both had high overall compatibility, high relative advantage,
      good observability and high inherent trialability--all factors known to
      strengthen implementation. The level of complexity and low financial
      compatibility emerged as the strongest potential inhibitors to program
      implementation in the context examined. The two main factors contributing to
      complexity were the need to challenge balance safely across a broad range of
      capability, and practical considerations associated with program delivery. A
      range of strategies to provide more technical support for exercise program
      leaders to tailor balance challenge for exercise program leaders may enhance
      implementation of falls prevention exercise programs.

PMID- 25838263
TI  - A FRET-ICT dual-quenching fluorescent probe with large off-on response for H2S:
      synthesis, spectra and bioimaging.
AB  - A FRET-ICT dual-quenching probe with large off-on fluorescent response upon H2S
      treatment is reported. The probe can be used for bioimaging of endogenous H2S in
      living cells. 

PMID- 25838264
TI  - Analysis of Erythrocyte Invasion Mechanisms of Plasmodium falciparum Clinical
      Isolates Across 3 Malaria-Endemic Areas in Ghana.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Plasmodium falciparum invades human erythrocytes by using an array of
      ligands that interact with several receptors, including sialic acid (SA),
      complement receptor 1 (CR1), and basigin. We hypothesized that in malaria-endemic
      areas, parasites vary invasion pathways under immune pressure. Therefore,
      invasion mechanisms of clinical isolates collected from 3 zones of Ghana with
      different levels of endemicity (from lowest to highest, Accra, Navrongo, and
      Kintampo) were compared using standardized methods. METHODS: Blood samples were
      collected from children aged 2-14 years in whom malaria was diagnosed, and
      erythrocyte invasion phenotypes were determined using the enzymes neuraminidase,
      chymotrypsin, and trypsin, which differentially cleave receptors from the
      erythrocyte surface. In addition, antibodies against CR1 and basigin were used to
      determine the contributions of these receptors to invasion. Gene expression
      levels of P. falciparum invasion ligands were also examined. RESULTS: The
      parasites generally expressed SA-independent invasion phenotypes across the
      malaria-endemic areas, with parasites from Kintampo showing the highest invasion
      rates in neuraminidase-treated erythrocytes. CR1 was a major mediator of SA
      independent invasion, while basigin was essential for both SA-dependent and SA
      independent invasion mechanisms. Furthermore, expression of the basigin ligand
      PfRh5 was the best predictor of donor parasitemia. CONCLUSIONS: Erythrocyte
      invasion phenotypes expressed by P. falciparum are influenced by endemicity
      levels, and the PfRh5-basigin pathway is a potential vaccine target.

PMID- 25838265
TI  - CCL20 Displays Antimicrobial Activity Against Cryptosporidium parvum, but Its
      Expression Is Reduced During Infection in the Intestine of Neonatal Mice.
AB  - CCL20 is a chemokine with antimicrobial activity. We investigated its expression
      and role during neonatal cryptosporidiosis, a worldwide protozoan enteric disease
      leading to severe diarrhea. Surprisingly, during infection by Cryptosporidium
      parvum, CCL20 production by the intestine of neonatal mice is reduced by a
      mechanism independent both of the enteric flora and of interferon gamma, a key
      cytokine for the resolution of this infection. However, oral administration of
      recombinant CCL20 to neonatal mice significantly reduced the parasite load by a
      mechanism that was independent of immune cell recruitment and occurred instead by
      direct cytolytic activity on free stages of the parasite. MiR21 functionally
      targets CCL20 and is upregulated during the infection, thus contributing to the
      downregulation of the chemokine. Our findings demonstrate for the first time the
      direct antiparasitic activity of CCL20 against an enteric protozoan and its
      downregulation during C. parvum infection, which is detrimental to parasite
      clearance. 

PMID- 25838266
TI  - High-Affinity H7 Head and Stalk Domain-Specific Antibody Responses to an
      Inactivated Influenza H7N7 Vaccine After Priming With Live Attenuated Influenza
      Vaccine.
AB  - Recent studies have shown that live attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIVs)
      expressing avian influenza virus hemagglutinins (HAs) prime for strong protective
      antibody responses to an inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) containing the HA.
      To better understand this priming effect, we compared H7 HA head and stalk domain
      specific B-cell responses in H7N7 LAIV-primed subjects and non-H7-primed controls
      after a single dose of H7N7 IIV. As previously reported, H7N7 LAIV-primed
      subjects but not control subjects generated strong hemagglutination-inhibiting
      and neutralizing antibody responses to the H7N7 IIV. Here, we found that the
      quantity, epitope diversity, and affinity of H7 head-specific antibodies
      increased rapidly in only H7N7 LAIV-primed subjects after receipt of the IIV.
      However, all cohorts generated a vigorous, high-affinity, stalk-specific antibody
      response. Consistent increases in circulating memory B-cell frequencies after
      receipt of the IIV reflected the specificity of high-affinity antibody
      production. Our findings emphasize the value of LAIVs as a vehicle for
      prepandemic vaccination. 

PMID- 25838267
TI  - Differences in Homing Potentials of Streptococcus pneumoniae-Specific
      Plasmablasts in Pneumococcal Pneumonia and After Pneumococcal Polysaccharide and
      Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccinations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mucosal immune mechanisms in the upper and lower respiratory tracts
      may serve a critical role in preventing pneumonia due to Streptococcus
      pneumoniae. Streptococcus pneumoniae-specific plasmablasts presumably originating
      in the lower respiratory tract have recently been found in the circulation in
      patients with pneumonia. The localization of an immune response can be evaluated
      by exploring homing receptors on such plasmablasts, yet no data have thus far
      described homing receptors in pneumonia. METHODS: The expression of alpha4beta7,
      L-selectin, and cutaneous lymphocyte antigen (CLA) on S. pneumoniae-specific
      plasmablasts was examined in patients with pneumonia (n = 16) and healthy
      volunteers given pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV; n = 14) or
      pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV; n = 11). RESULTS: In patients with
      pneumonia, the proportion of S. pneumoniae-specific plasmablasts expressing L
      selectin was high, the proportion expressing alpha4beta7 was moderate, and the
      proportion expressing CLA was low. The homing receptor alpha4beta7 was expressed
      more frequently in the pneumonia group than in the PPV (P = .000) and PCV (P =
      .029) groups, L-selectin was expressed more frequently in the PPV group than in
      the PCV group (P = .014); and CLA was expressed more frequently in the pneumonia
      group than in the PPV group (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: The homing receptor profile
      in patients with pneumonia was unique yet it was closer to that in PCV recipients
      than in PPV recipients. These data suggest greater mucosal localization for
      immune response in natural infection, which is clinically interesting, especially
      considering the shortcomings of vaccines in protecting against noninvasive
      pneumonia.

PMID- 25838268
TI  - CTLA4 Immunoglobulin but Not Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Therapy Promotes
      Staphylococcal Septic Arthritis in Mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The development of biologics has greatly increased the quality of
      life and the life expectancy of many patients with rheumatoid arthritis. However,
      a large number of these patients have an increased risk of developing serious
      infections. The aim of this study was to examine differential effects of anti
      tumor necrosis factor (TNF) treatment and CTLA4 immunoglobulin (Ig) treatment on
      both immunological response and host defense in a murine model of septic
      arthritis. METHODS: Abatacept (CTLA4-Ig), etanercept (anti-TNF), or phosphate
      buffered saline were given to NMRI mice intravenously inoculated with
      Staphylococcus aureus. The clinical course of septic arthritis and
      histopathological and radiological changes of joints were compared among the
      groups. RESULTS: Mice receiving CTLA4-Ig treatment had more-severe septic
      arthritis, compared with controls and mice receiving anti-TNF treatment. Anti-TNF
      treatment led to more-severe weight loss and kidney abscesses, as well as a
      higher bacterial burden in the kidneys. Mice receiving CTLA4-Ig therapy had lower
      serum levels of interleukin 4, whereas mice receiving anti-TNF therapy had higher
      levels of TNF-alpha. Both iNOS and arginase-1 expression were reduced in
      peritoneal macrophages from mice receiving CTLA4-Ig, compared with expression in
      the anti-TNF group. CONCLUSIONS: CTLA4-Ig therapy significantly increased the
      susceptibility to S. aureus septic arthritis in mice, whereas anti-TNF therapy
      deteriorated host bacterial clearance, resulting in more-severe weight loss and
      kidney abscesses.

PMID- 25838269
TI  - Ebola Virus GP Gene Polyadenylation Versus RNA Editing.
AB  - Synthesis of Ebola virus (EBOV) surface glycoprotein (GP) is dependent on
      transcriptional RNA editing. Northern blot analysis of EBOV-infected cells using
      GP-gene-specific probes reveals that, in addition to full-length GP messenger
      RNAs (mRNAs), a shorter RNA is also synthesized, representing >40% of the total
      amount of GP mRNA. Sequence analysis demonstrates that this RNA is a truncated
      version of the full-length GP mRNA that is polyadenylated at the editing site and
      thus lacks a stop codon. An absence of detectable levels of protein synthesis in
      cellulo is consistent with the existence of tight regulation of the translation
      of such mRNA. However, nonstop GP mRNA was shown to be only slightly less stable
      than the same mRNA containing a stop codon, against the general belief in nonstop
      decay mechanisms aimed at detecting and destroying mRNAs lacking a stop codon. In
      conclusion, we demonstrate that the editing site indeed serves as a cryptic
      transcription termination/polyadenylation site, which rarely also functions to
      edit GP mRNA for expression of surface GP. This new data suggest that the
      downregulation of surface GP expression is even more dramatic than previously
      thought, reinforcing the importance of the GP gene editing site for EBOV
      replication and pathogenicity. 

PMID- 25838270
TI  - Lack of Marburg Virus Transmission From Experimentally Infected to Susceptible In
      Contact Egyptian Fruit Bats.
AB  - Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) were inoculated subcutaneously (n =
      22) with Marburg virus (MARV). No deaths, overt signs of morbidity, or gross
      lesions was identified, but microscopic pathological changes were seen in the
      liver of infected bats. The virus was detected in 15 different tissues and plasma
      but only sporadically in mucosal swab samples, urine, and fecal samples. Neither
      seroconversion nor viremia could be demonstrated in any of the in-contact
      susceptible bats (n = 14) up to 42 days after exposure to infected bats. In bats
      rechallenged (n = 4) on day 48 after infection, there was no viremia, and the
      virus could not be isolated from any of the tissues tested. This study confirmed
      that infection profiles are consistent with MARV replication in a reservoir host
      but failed to demonstrate MARV transmission through direct physical contact or
      indirectly via air. Bats develop strong protective immunity after infection with
      MARV. 

PMID- 25838272
TI  - Science literacy and beyond.

PMID- 25838271
TI  - Taoist Tai Chi(r) and Memory Intervention for Individuals with Mild Cognitive
      Impairment.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: It was hypothesized that a combined Taoist Tai Chi (TTC) and a memory
      intervention program (MIP) would be superior to a MIP alone in improving everyday
      memory behaviors in individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). A
      secondary hypothesis was that TTC would improve cognition, self-reported health
      status, gait, and balance. METHOD: A total of 48 individuals were randomly
      assigned to take part in MIP + TTC or MIP alone. The TTC intervention consisted
      of twenty 90 min sessions. Outcome measures were given at baseline, and after 10
      and 22 weeks. RESULTS: Both groups significantly increased their memory strategy
      knowledge and use, ratings of physical health, processing speed, everyday memory,
      and visual attention. No preferential benefit was found for individuals in the
      MIP + TTC group on cognition, gait, or balance measures. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to
      expectations, TTC exercise did not specifically improve cognition or physical
      mobility. Explanations for null findings are explored.

PMID- 25838273
TI  - Financial literacy: Do people know the ABCs of finance?
AB  - Increasingly, individuals are in charge of their own financial security and are
      confronted with ever more complex financial instruments. However, there is
      evidence that many individuals are not well-equipped to make sound saving
      decisions. This article looks at financial literacy, which is defined as the
      ability to process economic information and make informed decisions about
      financial planning, wealth accumulation, debt, and pensions. Failure to plan for
      retirement, lack of participation in the stock market, and poor borrowing
      behavior can all be linked to ignorance of basic financial concepts. Financial
      literacy impacts financial decision making, with implications that apply to
      individuals, communities, countries, and society as a whole. Given the lack of
      financial literacy among the population, it may be important to remedy it by
      adding financial literacy to the school curriculum. 

PMID- 25838274
TI  - Does literacy improve finance?
AB  - When economists ask questions about basic financial principles, most ordinary
      people answer incorrectly. Economic experts call this condition "financial
      illiteracy," which suggests that poor financial outcomes are due to a personal
      deficit of reading-related skills. The analogy to reading is compelling because
      it suggests that we can teach our way out of population-wide financial failure.
      In this comment, we explain why the idea of literacy appeals to policy makers in
      the advanced industrial nations. But we also show that the narrow skill set laid
      out by economists does not satisfy the politically inclusive definition of
      literacy that literacy studies fought for. We identify several channels through
      which people engage with ideas about finance and demonstrate that not all forms
      of literacy will lead people to the educational content prescribed by academic
      economists. We argue that truly financial literate people can defy the demands of
      financial theory and financial institutions. 

PMID- 25838275
TI  - Recurrent pregnancy loss: drop the heparin needles....

PMID- 25838276
TI  - Endogenous miR-29a regulates HSC function in mammals.

PMID- 25838277
TI  - Platelet biogenesis wears silkworm cocoons.

PMID- 25838278
TI  - Ironing out the role of Toll-like receptors.

PMID- 25838279
TI  - Ibrutinib and idelalisib synergistically target BCR-controlled adhesion in MCL
      and CLL: a rationale for combination therapy.

PMID- 25838280
TI  - CALR-mutated essential thrombocythemia evolving to chronic myeloid leukemia with
      coexistent CALR mutation and BCR-ABL translocation.

PMID- 25838281
TI  - Bridging to transplant with azacitidine in juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia: a
      retrospective analysis of the EWOG-MDS study group.

PMID- 25838282
TI  - Unusual cause of acute abdomen in a child--torsion of greater omentum: report of
      two cases.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Torsion of the omentum is twisting along its long axis and a rare
      cause of acute abdomen. Depending on associated conditions, it is classified as
      primary and secondary. It may mimic different pathologies presenting as acute
      abdomen, most common of them being acute appendicitis. Current choice for
      management of omental torsion is laparoscopic surgery. CASE PRESENTATION: We
      present two cases of omental torsion of two boys who presented with abdominal
      pain, nausea and vomiting and underwent emergency laparoscopy. CONCLUSION:
      Omental torsion is very rare, and its diagnosis is usually made only after
      surgery. At laparoscopy, omental torsion is suspected when the appendix is normal
      and the symptoms and findings of torsion are present. Laparoscopy is a safe and
      effective approach for the diagnosis and management of omental torsion, with the
      advantages of reduced postoperative pain and hospital stay.

PMID- 25838285
TI  - Enhancing Adoption of a Home-Based Exercise Program for Mild Balance Dysfunction:
      A Qualitative Study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim was to identify barriers and opportunities facing community
      health physiotherapists in delivering a home-based balance exercise program to
      address mild balance dysfunction and, secondly, to understand the perspectives of
      older people in adopting this program. METHOD: Focus groups, written surveys, and
      data recording sheets were used with nine older people and five physiotherapists.
      Focus groups were audio taped, transcribed, and coded independently by two
      researchers. RESULTS: Thematic content analysis was undertaken. Emerging themes
      were: engaging in preventive health (various benefits, enhancing independence);
      adoption of strategies (acceptable design and implementation feasibility);
      exercising in context (convenience, practicality, and safety); and broader
      implementation issues (program design, proactive health messages, and a solid
      evidence base). CONCLUSION: The views of older people and physiotherapists were
      sought to understand the adoption of a previously successful home-based program
      for mild balance dysfunction. Understanding the unique context and circumstances
      for individuals and organizations will enhance adoption.

PMID- 25838284
TI  - PLZF expression maps the early stages of ILC1 lineage development.
AB  - Among the variety of tissue-resident NK-like populations recently distinguished
      from recirculating classical NK (cNK) cells, liver innate lymphoid cells (ILC)
      type 1 (ILC1s) have been shown to represent a distinct lineage that originates
      from a novel promyelocytic leukaemia zinc finger (PLZF)-expressing ILC precursor
      (ILCP) strictly committed to the ILC1, ILC2, and ILC3 lineages. Here, using PLZF
      reporter mice and cell transfer assays, we studied the developmental progression
      of ILC1s and demonstrated substantial overlap with stages previously ascribed to
      the cNK lineage, including pre-pro-NK, pre-NK precursor (pre-NKP), refined NKP
      (rNKP), and immature NK (iNK). Although they originated from different
      precursors, the ILC1 and cNK lineages followed a parallel progression at early
      stages and diverged later at the iNK stage, with a striking predominance of ILC1s
      over cNKs early in ontogeny. Although a limited set of ILC1 genes depended on
      PLZF for expression, characteristically including Il7r, most of these genes were
      also differentially expressed between ILC1s and cNKs, indicating that PLZF
      together with other, yet to be defined, factors contribute to the divergence
      between these lineages. 

PMID- 25838283
TI  - Toward major evolutionary transitions theory 2.0.
AB  - The impressive body of work on the major evolutionary transitions in the last 20
      y calls for a reconstruction of the theory although a 2D account (evolution of
      informational systems and transitions in individuality) remains. Significant
      advances include the concept of fraternal and egalitarian transitions (lower
      level units like and unlike, respectively). Multilevel selection, first without,
      then with, the collectives in focus is an important explanatory mechanism.
      Transitions are decomposed into phases of origin, maintenance, and transformation
      (i.e., further evolution) of the higher level units, which helps reduce the
      number of transitions in the revised list by two so that it is less top-heavy.
      After the transition, units show strong cooperation and very limited realized
      conflict. The origins of cells, the emergence of the genetic code and
      translation, the evolution of the eukaryotic cell, multicellularity, and the
      origin of human groups with language are reconsidered in some detail in the light
      of new data and considerations. Arguments are given why sex is not in the revised
      list as a separate transition. Some of the transitions can be recursive (e.g.,
      plastids, multicellularity) or limited (transitions that share the usual features
      of major transitions without a massive phylogenetic impact, such as the micro-
      and macronuclei in ciliates). During transitions, new units of reproduction
      emerge, and establishment of such units requires high fidelity of reproduction
      (as opposed to mere replication). 

PMID- 25838286
TI  - Persistent and transient Helicobacter pylori infections in early childhood.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori, the main cause of peptic ulcer disease and
      gastric cancer in adult populations, is generally acquired during the first years
      of life. Infection can be persistent or transient and bacterial and host factors
      determining persistence are largely unknown and may prove relevant for future
      disease. METHODS: Two cohorts of healthy Chilean infants (313 total) were
      evaluated every 3 months for 18-57 months to determine pathogen- and host-factors
      associated with persistent and transient infection. RESULTS: One-third had at
      least one positive stool ELISA by age 3, with 20% overall persistence. Persistent
      infections were acquired at an earlier age, associated with more household
      members, decreased duration of breastfeeding, and nonsecretor status compared to
      transient infections. The cagA positive strains were more common in persistent
      stools, and nearly 60% of fully characterized persistent stool samples amplified
      cagA/vacAs1m1. Persistent children were more likely to elicit a serologic immune
      response, and both infection groups had differential gene expression profiles,
      including genes associated with cancer suppression when compared to healthy
      controls. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that persistent H. pylori
      infections acquired early in life are associated with specific host and/or strain
      profiles possibly associated with future disease occurrence.

PMID- 25838287
TI  - Evaluation of fingerstick cryptococcal antigen lateral flow assay in HIV-infected
      persons: a diagnostic accuracy study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cryptococcus neoformans is the most common cause of adult meningitis
      in sub-Saharan Africa. The cryptococcal antigen (CRAG) lateral flow assay (LFA)
      has simplified diagnosis as a point-of-care test approved for serum or
      cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We evaluated the accuracy of the CRAG LFA using
      fingerstick whole blood compared with serum/plasma and CSF for diagnosing
      meningitis. METHODS: From August 2013 to August 2014, CRAG LFA (IMMY, Norman,
      Oklahoma) tests were performed on fingerstick whole blood, plasma/serum, and CSF
      in 207 HIV-infected adults with suspected meningitis in Kampala, Uganda. Venous
      blood was also collected and centrifuged to obtain serum and/or plasma. CSF was
      tested after lumbar puncture. RESULTS: Of 207 participants, 149 (72%) had
      fingerstick CRAG-positive results. There was 100% agreement between fingerstick
      whole blood and serum/plasma. Of the 149 fingerstick CRAG-positive participants,
      138 (93%) had evidence of cryptococcal meningitis with a positive CSF CRAG.
      Eleven participants (5%) had isolated cryptococcal antigenemia with a negative
      CSF CRAG and culture, of whom 8 had CSF abnormalities (n = 3 lymphocytic
      pleocytosis, n = 5 elevated protein, n = 4 increased opening pressure). No
      persons with cryptococcal meningitis had negative fingersticks. CONCLUSIONS: The
      100% agreement between whole blood, serum, and plasma CRAG LFA results
      demonstrates that fingerstick CRAG is a reliable bedside diagnostic test. Using
      point-of-care CRAG testing simplifies screening large numbers of patients and
      enables physicians to prioritize on whom to measure CSF opening pressure using
      manometers.

PMID- 25838288
TI  - Treatment Failure in HIV-Infected Children on Second-line Protease Inhibitor
      Based Antiretroviral Therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children failing second
      line antiretroviral therapy (ART) have no access to third-line antiretroviral
      drugs in many resource-limited settings. It is important to identify risk factors
      for second-line regimen failure. METHODS: HIV-infected children initiating
      protease inhibitor (PI)-containing second-line ART within the Program for HIV
      Prevention and Treatment observational cohort study in Thailand between 2002 and
      2010 were included. Treatment failure was defined as confirmed HIV type 1 RNA
      load >400 copies/mL after at least 6 months on second-line regimen or death.
      Adherence was assessed by drug plasma levels and patient self-report. Cox
      proportional hazards regression analyses were used to identify risk factors for
      failure. RESULTS: A total of 111 children started a PI-based second-line regimen,
      including 59 girls (53%). Median first-line ART duration was 1.9 years
      (interquartile range [IQR], 1.4-3.3 years), and median age at second-line
      initiation was 10.7 years (IQR, 6.3-13.4 years). Fifty-four children (49%)
      experienced virologic failure, and 2 (2%) died. The risk of treatment failure 24
      months after second-line initiation was 41%. In multivariate analyses, failure
      was independently associated with exposure to first-line ART for >2 years
      (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.8; P = .03), age >13 years (aHR, 2.9; P < .001),
      body mass index-for-age z score < -2 standard deviations at second-line
      initiation (aHR, 2.8; P = .03), and undetectable drug levels within 6 months
      following second-line initiation (aHR, 4.5; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Children with
      longer exposure to first-line ART, entry to adolescence, underweight, and/or
      undetectable drug levels were at higher risk of failing second-line ART and thus
      should be closely monitored.

PMID- 25838289
TI  - Dynamic Visual Display of Treatment Response in HIV-Infected Adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Using a dynamic visual display, we examine the changes in human
      immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) plasma viral load and CD4 cell count for 5
      years after antiretroviral therapy initiation in a large cohort of patients with
      HIV. METHODS: Patients at a Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated
      Clinical Systems site who initiated combination antiretroviral therapy between 1
      January 2000 and 31 December 2012 were followed for 5 years for HIV-1 plasma
      viral load, CD4 cell count, and mortality. The joint distribution of CD4 cell
      count and viral load over time was depicted in an animated display using a
      bivariate kernel smoother. RESULTS: Within days of therapy initiation, many
      patients had a suppressed viral load and their median CD4 cell count had
      increased. However, the median CD4 cell count remained below normal levels
      throughout follow-up period and the proportion of patients with high viral load
      occasionally increased, even years after therapy initiation. CONCLUSIONS: The
      dramatic changes in viral load and CD4 cell count after therapy initiation
      highlight the overwhelming effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy in the modern
      era. However, this work also emphasizes the need for pharmaceutical or behavioral
      interventions to prevent virologic failure and to stimulate complete recovery of
      normal CD4 cell count.

PMID- 25838290
TI  - Differential B-cell memory around the 11-month booster in children vaccinated
      with a 10- or 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Both the 10- and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV10 and
      PCV13) induce immunological memory against Streptococcus pneumoniae infections
      caused by vaccine serotypes. In addition to comparing serum antibody levels, we
      investigated frequencies of serotype-specific plasma cells (PCs) and memory B
      cells (Bmems) as potential predictors of long-term immunity around the booster
      vaccination at 11 months of age. METHODS: Infants were immunized with PCV10 or
      PCV13 at 2, 3, 4, and 11 months of age. Blood was collected before the 11-month
      booster or 7-9 days afterward. Serotype-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels
      were determined in serum samples by multiplex immunoassay. Circulating specific
      PCs and Bmems against shared serotypes 1, 6B, 7F, and 19F and against PCV13
      serotypes 6A and 19A were measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by
      enzyme-linked immunospot assay. RESULTS: No major differences in IgG levels and
      PC frequencies between groups were found for the 4 shared serotypes. Notably,
      PCV13 vaccination resulted in higher frequencies of Bmems than PCV10 vaccination,
      both before and after the booster dose, for all 4 shared serotypes except for
      serotype 1 postbooster. For PCV13-specific serotypes 6A and 19A, the IgG levels
      and frequencies of PCs and Bmems were higher in the PCV13 group, pre- and
      postbooster, except for PC frequencies prebooster. CONCLUSIONS: Both PCVs are
      immunogenic and induce measurable IgG, PC, and Bmem booster responses at 11
      months. Compared to PCV10, vaccination with PCV13 was associated with overall
      similar IgG levels and PC frequencies but with higher Bmem frequencies before and
      after the 11-month booster. The clinical implications of these results need
      further follow-up. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: NTR3069.

PMID- 25838292
TI  - A new prognostic index for overall survival in malignant pleural mesothelioma:
      the rPHS (regimen, PS, histology or stage) index.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Existing prognostic indices for malignant pleural mesothelioma do not
      incorporate the recent advances in oncology care. The purpose of this study was
      to provide a prognostic index for overall survival in malignant pleural
      mesothelioma patients treated with chemotherapy with pemetrexed or best
      supportive care in the recent clinical setting. METHODS: A retrospective cohort
      study was performed in two hospitals in Japan (2007-13). The primary outcome was
      overall survival. The Cox proportional hazards model was used for multivariable
      analyses to identify prognostic factors. A final model was chosen based on both
      clinical and statistical significance. RESULTS: A total of 283 patients
      (chemotherapy: n = 228, best supportive care: n = 55) were enrolled in the study.
      On multivariate analysis, regimen including platinum plus pemetrexed, a
      performance status >0, non-epithelial histological type and Stage IV disease
      predicted poor overall survival in chemotherapy patients. As hazard ratios of
      individual risk factors were approximately similar, a prognostic index for
      overall survival was constructed by counting the risk factors. Median overall
      survival in chemotherapy patients decreased by each one-point increase in this
      count: 1030 days for zero; 658 days for one; 373 days for two; 327 days for
      three; 125 days for four. Internal validation using the bootstrapping technique
      showed robustness of the model (c-index, 0.677; 95% confidence interval, 0.624
      0.729). Further, the discrimination was consistent in best supportive care
      patients (c-index, 0.799; 95% confidence interval, 0.725-0.874). CONCLUSIONS:
      This novel index can provide clinicians and malignant pleural mesothelioma
      patients with a better framework for discussing prognosis at the time of
      diagnosis.

PMID- 25838294
TI  - Participation of Korean families at high risk for hereditary breast and ovarian
      cancer in BRCA1/2 genetic testing.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to determine the rate of participation in
      genetic testing, to determine the reasons for non-participation and to identify
      the factors affecting participation in BRCA genetic testing for high-risk
      patients. METHODS: This study was performed through a retrospective review of 804
      individuals who underwent genetic counseling for BRCA1/2 gene mutations at Seoul
      National University Bundang Hospital between July 2003 and September 2012.
      RESULTS: In total, 728 (90.5%) individuals underwent BRCA1/2 mutation screening
      after the initial genetic counseling; 88.2% of 647 probands and 100% of 157
      family members were screened. In multivariate analysis, family history of breast
      cancer and younger age were independent variables affecting participation in
      genetic testing. Of the 132 people who initially declined genetic testing, 58
      (43.9%) postponed the decision, 30 (22.7%) needed time to discuss the issue with
      family members, 22 (16.7%) did not want to know if they had a BRCA1/2 mutation,
      and 22 (16.7%) declined the test because of financial problems. When analyzing
      refusal of testing according to the time period before and after the
      implementation of national health insurance coverage for BRCA1/2 genetic testing,
      the critical reason given for refusal was different. After insurance coverage,
      refusal for financial reason was decreased from 61.1 to 9.6%. CONCLUSIONS: A
      family history of breast cancer and a younger age were important factors
      associated with participation in genetic testing. National health insurance
      decreased the proportion of individuals who did not participate in testing owing
      to a financial reason. In genetic counseling, we have to understand these issues
      and consider several factors that may influence an individual's decision to be
      tested.

PMID- 25838295
TI  - Functional diversity of the superfamily of K+ transporters to meet various
      requirements.
AB  - The superfamily of K+ transporters unites proteins from plants, fungi, bacteria,
      and archaea that translocate K+ and/or Na+ across membranes. These proteins are
      key components in osmotic regulation, pH homeostasis, and resistance to high
      salinity and dryness. The members of the superfamily are closely related to K+
      channels such as KcsA but also show several striking differences that are
      attributed to their altered functions. This review highlights these functional
      differences, focusing on the bacterial superfamily members KtrB, TrkH, and KdpA.
      The functional variations within the family and comparison to MPM-type K+
      channels are discussed in light of the recently solved structures of the Ktr and
      Trk systems. 

PMID- 25838293
TI  - Perioperative chemotherapy with ifosfamide and doxorubicin for high-grade soft
      tissue sarcomas in the extremities (JCOG0304).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The efficacy of perioperative chemotherapy for soft tissue sarcomas is
      controversial and only a few prospective studies of pre-operative chemotherapy
      for soft tissue sarcomas in the extremities have been reported. We therefore
      carried out Phase II study of perioperative chemotherapy for patients with soft
      tissue sarcomas in the extremities. METHODS: Patients with Stage III non-round
      cell soft tissue sarcomas in the extremities were eligible. The patients were
      treated with pre-operative chemotherapy consisting doxorubicin 60 mg/m(2) and
      ifosfamide 10 g/m(2) for three courses. After the tumor resection, two additional
      courses of the same regimen were carried out. RESULTS: A total of 72 patients
      were enrolled and 70 patients were eligible. The median age of the patients was
      49 years. The major pathological subtypes were synovial sarcoma in 20 and
      undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma in 17 patients. The protocol treatments were
      completed in 74% of the eligible cases. The 2 and 5-year progression-free
      survival rates were 75.7% (95% CI, 63.9-84.1%) and 63.8% (95% CI, 51.3-73.9%),
      respectively. The 5-year overall survival was 82.6% (95% CI, 71.3-89.7%). There
      was no treatment-related death. Grade 3 or 4 hematological toxicities (leukopenia
      and neutropenia) were observed in most of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: Although the
      toxicities of the regimen were significant, pre-operative chemotherapy followed
      by post-operative chemotherapy using doxorubicin and high-dose ifosfamide was
      feasible. The outcome of the trial for the patients with high-grade soft tissue
      sarcomas in the extremities was favorable, and this regimen is promising for
      further investigation. This trial was registered at the UMIN Clinical Trials
      Registry (www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/) as C000000096.

PMID- 25838296
TI  - Preclinical development of a C6-ceramide NanoLiposome, a novel sphingolipid
      therapeutic.
AB  - Despite the therapeutic potential of sphingolipids, the ability to develop this
      class of compounds as active pharmaceutical ingredients has been hampered by
      issues of solubility and delivery. Beyond these technical hurdles, significant
      challenges in completing the necessary preclinical studies to support regulatory
      review are necessary for commercialization. This review seeks to identify the
      obstacles and potential solutions in the translation of a novel liposomal
      technology from the academic bench to investigational new drug (IND) stage by
      discussing the preclinical development of the Ceramide NanoLiposome (CNL), which
      is currently being developed as an anticancer drug for the initial indication of
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). 

PMID- 25838297
TI  - Hybrid rotors in F1F(o) ATP synthases: subunit composition, distribution, and
      physiological significance.
AB  - The c ring of the Na+ F1F(o) ATP synthase from the anaerobic acetogenic bacterium
      Acetobacterium woodii is encoded by three different genes: atpE1, atpE2 and
      atpE3. Subunit c1 is similar to typical V-type c subunits and has four
      transmembrane helices with one ion binding site. Subunit c2 and c3 are identical
      at the amino acid level and are typical F-type c subunits with one ion binding
      site in two transmembrane helices. All three constitute a hybrid F(o)V(o) c ring,
      the first found in nature. To analyze whether other species may have similar
      hybrid rotors, we searched every genome sequence publicly available as of 23
      February 2015 for F1F(o) ATPase operons that have more than one gene encoding the
      c subunit. This revealed no other species that has three different c subunit
      encoding genes but twelve species that encode one F(o)- and one V(o)-type c
      subunit in one operon. Their c subunits have the conserved binding motif for Na+.
      The organisms are all anaerobic. The advantage of hybrid c rings for the
      organisms in their environments is discussed.

PMID- 25838291
TI  - In utero exposure to zidovudine and heart anomalies in the ANRS French perinatal
      cohort and the nested PRIMEVA randomized trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Antiretroviral (ARV) regimens during pregnancy are highly effective
      in preventing mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
      Congenital heart defects (CHDs) and anomalies in cardiac function have been
      reported in zidovudine (ZDV)-exposed uninfected children. We explored these
      associations in a large observational cohort and a randomized clinical trial.
      METHODS: Since 1986, the French Perinatal Cohort prospectively enrolled all HIV
      infected women in 90 centers and collected follow-up on their children through 2
      years of age. All CHDs were reviewed by a specialist blinded to exposures.
      Additionally, in a randomized trial (PRIMEVA ANRS 135) of 2 ARV regimens during
      pregnancy, 1 of which was without nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors,
      infants had a specific follow-up including echocardiography at 1 month and 12
      months. RESULTS: Among 12 888 children included, ZDV exposure in the first
      trimester was significantly associated with CHD (1.5% vs 0.7%; adjusted odds
      ratio, 2.2 [95% confidence interval, 1.3-3.7]; P < .001). This association was
      significant for ventricular septal defects (1.1% vs 0.6%; P = .001) and other
      CHDs (0.31% vs 0.11%; P = .02). In the randomized trial, among 50 infants, girls
      (but not boys) exposed in utero to ZDV/lamivudine/ritonavir-boosted lopinavir
      (LPV/r) had a higher left ventricular shortening fraction at 1 month (40% vs 36%;
      P = .008), and an increased posterior wall thickness at 1 year (5.4 mm vs 4.4 mm;
      P = .01) than the LPV/r group. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms a specific
      association between in utero exposure to ZDV and CHDs, and a long-lasting
      postnatal myocardial remodeling in girls. A potential common mechanism, including
      the involvement of mitochondrial dysfunction, must be explored, and long-term
      consequences on cardiac function warrant specific attention. CLINICAL TRIALS
      REGISTRATION: NCT00424814.

PMID- 25838298
TI  - Sex workers, condoms, and mobility among men in Uzbekistan: implications for HIV
      transmission.
AB  - Uzbekistan has one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the world. In this
      study, men who reported mobility were compared to non-mobile men in regard to
      paying for sex and condom use during paid sex. The sample included 2333 men
      between the ages of 15 and 59 in Uzbekistan. Generalised linear models were used
      to assess the relationship between mobility, paid sex, and condom use while
      adjusting for possible confounders. Of the total sample, 103 (4.4%) reported
      engaging in paid sex and 43 (42%) reported using condoms while engaging in paid
      sex. Mobile men were found to have more than three times the odds of paid sex
      than non-mobile men (OR: 3.209; 95% CI: 2.481, 4.150; p < 0.001). Mobile men were
      not significantly different from non-mobile men in terms of condom use; however,
      unmarried men were found to have six times the odds of not using a condom when
      compared to married men during paid sex (OR: 6.411; 95% CI: 2.502, 16.425; p =
      0.004). Only one of the men who reported paid sex also reported using a condom
      with their spouses at last intercourse. The findings contribute to understanding
      mobility and HIV risk, and have important implications for HIV prevention
      interventions.

PMID- 25838299
TI  - [Epilepsy and high frequency oscillation].

PMID- 25838300
TI  - [Endoscopic endonasal extended transsphenoidal approach for parasellar tumors].

PMID- 25838301
TI  - [Clinical feathers and treatment of peroneal nerve entrapment neuropathy].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Peroneal nerve entrapment neuropathy (PEN) is generally known as a
      drop foot with sensory disturbance. However, some patients experience numbness
      and pain in the affected area without severe paresis due to PEN. We report the
      clinical features and our surgical results of PEN cases. METHODS: We encountered
      17 cases of PEN. The patients were 7 females and 10 males and their ages ranged
      from 30 to 78 years(average 56.1 years). In these cases, conservative therapy was
      unsuccessful;therefore, we performed surgical treatment for PEN. RESULTS: Among
      the 17 cases, 4 were of bilateral and 13 were of unilateral PEN. There was no
      severe paresis, as in drop foot;however, mild paresis (4/5, manual muscle test,
      MMT) was noted in 15 cases. In all cases, intermittent claudication presented,
      which ranged from 10 to 800 m (average 150 m). In 13 cases, radiological
      abnormality of the lumbar region was noted and 8 cases had a history of lumbar
      surgery (they had failed back surgery syndrome). In all the cases, we performed
      neurolysis of the peroneal nerve under local anesthesia;there was no surgical
      complication. After the surgery, symptoms improved, and the numerical rating of
      the lower limb improved from 8.6/10 to 0.8/10. Intermittent claudication also
      improved in all of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: We successfully treated 17 cases of
      PEN, which had lower limb pain without severe paresis, as in drop foot. Our
      results indicate that PEN should be recognized as a cause of intermittent
      claudication. Neurolysis for PEN under local anesthesia is less invasive and is
      useful for the treatment of lower limb pain.

PMID- 25838302
TI  - [Shunt passer clamp: a new device to prevent rotation of CSF-shunt passer].
AB  - Cerebrospinal fluid shunting is a surgical treatment alternative for
      hydrocephalus. In general, ventriculoperitoneal (VP) and lumboperitoneal (LP)
      shunts have been widely practiced as standard procedures. However, these
      procedures are difficult because the shunt passer often rotates unintentionally.
      Therefore, we developed a simple device that prevents shunt passer rotation and
      termed it a "shunt passer-clamp"(SP-C). This device consists of two parts: the
      first part is the body with a hole through which the passer goes and a "female"
      screw perpendicular to the hole. The second part is a "male" screw set to the
      body. The surgeon can attach the SP-C to the shunt passer without the requirement
      for remodeling. We employed a SP-C for 14 consecutive shunt surgeries and
      received favorable feedback from the surgeons. Handling was considered "easy" in
      all cases. The surgical duration was significantly shorter than that if the SP-C
      was not employed. We conclude that our specially designed SP-C is relatively
      effective.

PMID- 25838303
TI  - [A significant increase in intraoperative flash visual evoked potential amplitude
      during craniopharyngioma surgery-case report].
AB  - The flash visual evoked potential (VEP) is a useful diagnostic modality for
      visual preservation during surgery. Decreased VEP amplitude is recognized to
      indicate visual deterioration;however, whether intraoperative VEP can detect
      visual improvement remains unclear. We describe a craniopharyngioma case with a
      significant increase in VEP amplitude during surgery. A 67-year-old woman
      presented with progressive gait disturbance and impaired consciousness. Head
      magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a sellar-suprasellar tumor compressing
      the optic chiasm upward with significant ventricular dilation. Her Glasgow Coma
      Scale was E3V3M5. Visual fields and acuity could not be examined because of
      impaired consciousness, and she could not see/recognize objects on a table.
      Preoperative VEP showed reproducible waveforms. Tumor removal by the extended
      transsphenoidal approach was performed with VEP monitoring. Increased VEP
      amplitude was observed after dural incision and persisted until the surgery
      ended. Postoperative VEP waveforms were also reproducible, but visual
      fields/acuity could not be examined because of cognitive dysfunction. Useful
      visual function was restored, and she became independent in daily life. The
      histological diagnosis was craniopharyngioma. The patient underwent ventriculo
      peritoneal shunting for hydrocephalus 16 days after tumor removal. The
      postoperative course was uneventful and she was transferred to another hospital
      for rehabilitation. Intraoperative VEP may indicate visual improvement during
      surgery, which is a useful objective assessment for visual function in patients
      with impaired consciousness and cognitive dysfunction.

PMID- 25838304
TI  - [Stent-assisted embolization for ruptured vertebral artery dissection involving
      the origin of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery:a case report of staged
      strategy].
AB  - We report a ruptured vertebral artery dissection (VAD) involving the origin of
      the posterior inferior cerebellar artery(PICA)treated by a staged strategy with
      stent-assisted coil embolization. A 52-year-old woman was admitted with a
      ruptured right VAD involving the origin of the developed PICA. Endovascular
      internal trapping of the enlarged distal VAD was performed (Stage 1). After 1
      month, following confirmation of platelet inhabitation (Stage 2) an Enterprise
      stent (Cordis Neurovascular, Miami Lakes, FL) placement from the PICA to the
      proximal VA with coil embolization for proximal VAD was performed under dual
      antiplatelet therapy. The dissected VA segment was occluded by coil embolization
      and the PICA was preserved. Advantages of this staged treatment are the avoidance
      of ischemic/hemorrhagic complications due to antithrombotic therapy when stent
      placement to the PICA is planned during the acute stage of SAH and confirmation
      of platelet inhabitation before stent placement in second treatment. VAD can be
      occluded, and this challenging endovascular treatment can be a therapeutic option
      for a ruptured VAD.

PMID- 25838305
TI  - [A case of atherothrombotic embolization developing with slowly progressive
      symptoms and requiring differential diagnosis from metastatic tumor recurrence].
AB  - We report a case of atherothrombotic embolization that developed with slowly
      progressive symptoms and required differential diagnosis from metastatic tumor
      recurrence. A 64-year-old man with a history of lung cancer and metastatic brain
      tumor was carefully followed at our outpatient department for tumor recurrence.
      Five years after surgery for brain metastasis and whole brain radiation therapy,
      he had no recurrence and systemic disease was well controlled. At a routine
      follow up in October 2013, he complained of slight right arm dysesthesia. Follow
      up brain magnetic resonance (MR) imaging revealed no lesion. Two months later, he
      developed right hemiparesthesia and gait disturbance. Spinal MR imaging was
      unremarkable. However, at a routine follow up in January 2014, multiple
      enhancements were detected near the resection cavity and regions delineating the
      sulci. At first, this was diagnosed as tumor recurrence. However, 3 days later,
      additional MR imaging detected new multiple small infarctions after worsening
      right hemiparesis and dysarthria. With the diagnosis of embolic stroke, we
      searched for an embolic source. Cardiogenic embolization and carotid bifurcation
      stenosis studies were negative, but severe stenosis and thrombosis were detected
      near the left common carotid artery origin. This site was in the field of
      radiation the patient received as treatment for primary lung cancer.

PMID- 25838306
TI  - [Two cases of cerebral infarction due to focal irradiation for glioma in adults].
AB  - Radiation-induced vasculopathy is a complication of radiation therapy. Most
      reports regarding post-irradiation ischemic stroke with intracranial tumors are
      restricted to pediatric cases. Here we report two adult cases of delayed brain
      infarction due to anterior and middle cerebral artery stenosis or occlusion
      seemingly caused by focal radiation therapy for malignant glioma. Although
      radiation-induced ischemic stroke in adults is relatively uncommon, it is
      possible that the morbidity rate of radiation-induced stroke in malignant glioma
      patients will increase with prolonged survival due to advances in therapy.
      Therefore, regular evaluation of intracranial vasculature following radiation
      therapy is necessary. 

PMID- 25838307
TI  - [Rapid spontaneous resolution of acute epidural hematoma in an infant:a case
      report].
AB  - Resolution of acute epidural hematoma (AEDH) usually takes several weeks. The
      authors present an infantile case of AEDH that rapidly decreased within a day and
      review the literature. A 7-month-old boy fell from a height of approximately one
      meter and sustained a head injury. On presentation, a skull fracture in the right
      temporoparietal region was found and a small AEDH was observed on computed
      tomography (CT) 1 hr after the injury. He was transferred to our institute
      because of growing AEDH, shown by CT images taken 3 hr after the injury. We
      decided to treat him conservatively as he did not exhibit any neurological
      deficits on admission. CT images 24hr after the injury showed significant
      reduction of the AEDH. There was also an increase in the subcutaneous hematoma.
      Follow-up CT images did not show enlargement of the AEDH. The patient was
      discharged with no neurological deficits 3 days after admission. Rapid resolution
      of the AEDH might have been due to transmigration of the hematoma into the
      epicranial layer through the fracture gap.

PMID- 25838308
TI  - [Required knowledge for stroke specialists (9) asymptomatic cerebrovascular
      diseases].

PMID- 25838309
TI  - Correction.

PMID- 25838310
TI  - Response to: 'Does MOVES move the needle?' by Dr Meyer.

PMID- 25838311
TI  - Short-term intravenous sodium nitrite infusion improves cardiac and pulmonary
      hemodynamics in heart failure patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nitrite exhibits hypoxia-dependent vasodilator properties,
      selectively dilating capacitance vessels in healthy subjects. Unlike organic
      nitrates, it seems not to be subject to the development of tolerance. Currently,
      therapeutic options for decompensated heart failure (HF) are limited. We
      hypothesized that by preferentially dilating systemic capacitance and pulmonary
      resistance vessels although only marginally dilating resistance vessels, sodium
      nitrite (NaNO2) infusion would increase cardiac output but reduce systemic
      arterial blood pressure only modestly. We therefore undertook a first-in-human HF
      proof of concept/safety study, evaluating the hemodynamic effects of short-term
      NaNO2 infusion. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty-five patients with severe chronic HF
      were recruited. Eight received short-term (5 minutes) intravenous NaNO2 at 10
      MUg/kg/min and 17 received 50 MUg/kg/min with measurement of cardiac
      hemodynamics. During infusion of 50 MUg/kg/min, left ventricular stroke volume
      increased (from 43.22+/-21.5 to 51.84+/-23.6 mL; P=0.003), with marked falls in
      pulmonary vascular resistance (by 29%; P=0.03) and right atrial pressure (by 40%;
      P=0.007), but with only modest falls in mean arterial blood pressure (by 4 mm Hg;
      P=0.004). The increase in stroke volume correlated with the increase in estimated
      trans-septal gradient (=pulmonary capillary wedge pressure-right atrial pressure;
      r=0.67; P=0.003), suggesting relief of diastolic ventricular interaction as a
      contributory mechanism. Directionally similar effects were observed for the above
      hemodynamic parameters with 10 MUg/kg/min; this was significant only for stroke
      volume, not for other parameters. CONCLUSIONS: This first-in-human HF
      efficacy/safety study demonstrates an attractive profile during short-term
      systemic NaNO2 infusion that may be beneficial in decompensated HF and warrants
      further evaluation with longer infusion regimens.

PMID- 25838313
TI  - Naturally occurring deletions/insertions in HBV core promoter tend to decrease in
      hepatitis B e antigen-positive chronic hepatitis B patients during antiviral
      therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mutations in HBV core promoter (CP) are suggested to affect viral
      replication and disease progression. We investigated CP deletion/insertion
      mutations (Del/Ins) in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B
      (CHB) patients before and during antiviral treatment. METHODS: Direct and clone
      sequencings were used for detection of CP Del/Ins in 12 patients. The dynamic
      changes of CP Del/Ins were tracked in these cases until week 48 of treatment. The
      effects of Del/Ins on CP activities and hepatitis B X protein (HBx) were analysed
      using luciferase assay and sequence comparison, respectively. Furthermore, 292
      untreated HBeAg-positive CHB cases were also analysed. RESULTS: Twelve cases with
      multi-peak PCR direct sequencing electropherograms at baseline were confirmed to
      have CP Del/Ins by clone sequencing, with detection rates varying from 14.8% to
      93.3% of clones analysed. Follow-up studies showed the detection rates of CP
      Del/Ins in patients decreased from 100% (12/12) at baseline to 16.7% (2/12) at
      week 48 of treatment (P<0.001), in parallel with a decline in HBV DNA, hepatitis
      B surface antigen (HBsAg), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate
      transaminase (AST) levels along with an increase in HBeAg loss. Luciferase assay
      results showed distinct promoter activities among Del/Ins-harbouring CP
      sequences. Importantly, 71.8% (148/206) of Del/Ins sequences potentially resulted
      in HBx carboxy-terminal truncations. CP Del/Ins mutations were also found in
      27.4% (80/292) of untreated cases. CONCLUSIONS: Naturally occurring complex of CP
      Del/Ins mutants existed in untreated HBeAg-positive CHB patients. These mutations
      would affect HBV transcription activities and integrity of HBx, which might
      correlate with disease progression. Their prevalence decreases on antiviral
      therapy in parallel with the decline in HBV DNA, HBsAg and ALT and AST levels.

PMID- 25838314
TI  - Induction of tissue- and stressor-specific kinomic responses in chickens exposed
      to hot and cold stresses.
AB  - Defining cellular responses at the level of global cellular kinase (kinome)
      activity is a powerful approach to deciphering complex biology and identifying
      biomarkers. Here we report on the development of a chicken-specific peptide array
      and its application to characterizing kinome responses within the breast
      (pectoralis major) and thigh (iliotibialis) muscles of poultry subject to
      temperature stress to mimic conditions experienced by birds during commercial
      transport. Breast and thigh muscles exhibited unique kinome profiles,
      highlighting the distinct nature of these tissues. Against these distinct
      backgrounds, tissue- and temperature-specific kinome responses were observed. In
      breast, both cold and hot stresses activated calcium-dependent metabolic
      adaptations. Also within breast, but specific to cold stress, was the activation
      of ErbB signaling as well as dynamic patterns of phosphorylation of AMPK, a key
      regulatory enzyme of metabolism. In thigh, cold stress induced responses
      suggestive of the occurrence of tissue damage, including activation of innate
      immune signaling pathways and tissue repair pathways (TGF-beta). In contrast,
      heat stress in thigh activated pathways associated with protein and fat
      metabolism through adipocytokine and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)
      signaling. Defining the responses of these tissues to these stresses through
      conventional markers of pH, glycolytic potential, and meat quality offered a
      similar conclusion of the tissue- and stressor-specific responses, validating the
      kinome results. Collectively, the results of this study highlight the unique
      cellular responses of breast and thigh tissues to heat and cold stresses and may
      offer insight into the unique susceptibilities, as well as functional
      consequences, of these tissues to thermal stress. 

PMID- 25838315
TI  - Effects of outdoor access days on growth performance, carcass yield, meat
      quality, and lymphoid organ index of a local chicken breed.
AB  - An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of outdoor access days on
      growth performance, carcass yield, meat quality, and lymphoid organ index of a
      local chicken breed. In total, 864 twenty one-day-old male Suqin yellow chickens,
      with similar body weight (536+/-36g), were selected and raised in indoor floor
      pens that measured 1.42*1.42 m (2 m2, 18 birds/m2) in conventional poultry
      research houses (36 birds per pen). Two hundred and sixteen birds were allowed
      outdoor access treatments at 21, 28, 35, and 42 d of age, respectively (access to
      outdoor for 35, 28, 21, and 14 days, respectively). Each treatment was
      represented by 6 replicates (pens) containing 36 birds (216 birds per treatment).
      In the outdoor access treatment, the birds had an outdoor free-range paddock that
      measured 3*8 m (24 m2, 1.5 birds/m2). The body weight of birds at 56 d of age
      increased linearly with increasing outdoor access days (P<0.001), but there was
      no effect of the outdoor access days on the body weight at 42 d of age (P=0.161).
      The daily weight gain, daily feed intake, and feed per gain from 21 to 42 d of
      age were unaffected by outdoor access days (P=0.401, P=0.463, P=0.223,
      respectively). However, the daily weight gain and daily feed intake from 42 to 56
      and from 21 to 56 d of age increased linearly with increasing outdoor access days
      (P=0.002, P<0.001; P=0.001, P=0.004; respectively), while the feed per gain
      tended to decrease linearly from 21 to 56 d of age (P=0.060). The mortality from
      21 to 56 d of age was unaffected by outdoor access days (P=0.261). At 56 d of
      age, the breast yield increased linearly with increasing outdoor access days
      (P<0.001), while the foot yield decreased linearly (P=0.016). The light (L*) and
      red (b*) values of leg meat color increased linearly with increasing outdoor
      access days (P=0.032, P=0.013, respectively). The spleen: the body weight ratio
      showed a decreasing and then increasing quadratic response to increasing outdoor
      access days (P=0.047). The litter moisture content at 42 and 56 d of age
      increased linearly with increasing outdoor access days (P<0.001, P=0.013,
      respectively). The findings of this study suggest that increasing outdoor access
      days advantageously affects the body weight, daily weight gain, feed per gain and
      breast yield as well as the light (L*) and red (b*) values of leg meat color,
      while decreasing foot yield.

PMID- 25838316
TI  - Patients with biopsy-proven nephrosclerosis and moderately impaired renal
      function have a higher risk for cardiovascular disease: 15 years' experience in a
      single, kidney disease center.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nephrosclerosis progresses slowly to end-stage renal disease (ESRD)
      in only a small percentage of patients. However, because hypertension and
      nephrosclerosis are normally found simultaneously, nephrosclerosis is a risk
      factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). In turn, the onset of CVD may progress
      to further renal impairment. AIM: To evaluate clinical outcomes and the
      association between nephrosclerosis and CVD in the long term. DESIGN: Prospective
      study METHODS: We prospectively assessed 35 patients (male/female: 19/16) with
      nephrosclerosis aged >30 years at disease onset, attending the Kidney Disease
      Center, Saitama Medical University, in a single teaching hospital center between
      1995 and 2014. Nephrosclerosis was diagnosed in accordance with the criteria
      outlined in the World Health Organization (WHO) monograph of renal diseases. All
      patients were followed by means of registries for 10 years to record subsequent
      events, if any. OUTCOMES: The primary study outcome was correlating the
      occurrence of CVD, defined as a composite of cardiovascular deaths, nonfatal and
      fatal myocardial infarction, and stroke, with the development of ESRD or death.
      RESULTS: The mean age of patients at the time of biopsy was 54.8 +/- 12.7 years
      (range 33-72 years). Of these patients, seven were affected by nonfatal CVD and
      two died due to CVD. Only one patient developed ESRD during the follow-up period.
      Using Kaplan-Meier analysis, risk factors for the primary study outcome were
      estimated to include an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60
      ml/min/1.73 m(2), systolic blood pressure > 130 mmHg and proteinuria > 1 g/g
      creatinine. Univariate analysis was used for the assessment of the relative risk
      for the primary study endpoint of several covariates: age, systolic blood
      pressure, eGFR and proteinuria at time of renal biopsy. eGFR was found to be the
      strongest factor determining an event-free period [relative risk (RR) =1.931, p =
      0.014]. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with nephrosclerosis are at high risk of CVD when
      they have moderately advanced renal impairment.

PMID- 25838312
TI  - Cytosolic phospholipase A2: physiological function and role in disease.
AB  - The group IV phospholipase A2 (PLA2) family is comprised of six intracellular
      enzymes (GIVA, -B, -C, -D, -E, and -F) commonly referred to as cytosolic PLA2
      (cPLA2)alpha, -beta, -gamma, -delta, -epsilon, and -zeta. They contain a Ser-Asp
      catalytic dyad and all except cPLA2gamma have a C2 domain, but differences in
      their catalytic activities and subcellular localization suggest unique regulation
      and function. With the exception of cPLA2alpha, the focus of this review, little
      is known about the in vivo function of group IV enzymes. cPLA2alpha catalyzes the
      hydrolysis of phospholipids to arachidonic acid and lysophospholipids that are
      precursors of numerous bioactive lipids. The regulation of cPLA2alpha is complex,
      involving transcriptional and posttranslational processes, particularly increases
      in calcium and phosphorylation. cPLA2alpha is a highly conserved widely expressed
      enzyme that promotes lipid mediator production in human and rodent cells from a
      variety of tissues. The diverse bioactive lipids produced as a result of
      cPLA2alpha activation regulate normal physiological processes and disease
      pathogenesis in many organ systems, as shown using cPLA2alpha KO mice. However,
      humans recently identified with cPLA2alpha deficiency exhibit more pronounced
      effects on health than observed in mice lacking cPLA2alpha, indicating that much
      remains to be learned about this interesting enzyme. 

PMID- 25838317
TI  - Characterization of depression among patients at urban primary healthcare centers
      in Oman.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and predictors of
      depression among Oman adult population attending primary healthcare clinics
      (PHCs) in Muscat Governorate in 2011. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was
      conducted on 2005 participants attending 27 different PHCs in Muscat Governorate
      during 2011. A Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), together with a socio
      demographic and relevant clinical data questionnaire was administered. RESULTS:
      Of the 2005 participants, 61.8% were women and 42.1% were of 25-50 age group. Of
      the total, 44.4% were employed, of whom 51% were government employees. The
      prevalence of depression among them was 8.1%. The adjusted odds ratios generated
      by logistic regression models indicated that depression was significantly
      associated with age greater than 50 years old (OR = 2.23; 95% CI 1.07, 4.22; P =
      0.04), female (OR = 1.34; 95% CI 1.12, 3.82; P = 0.03), married (OR = 1.91; 95%
      CI 1.11, 3.30; P = 0.02), graduated or attended higher education (OR = 1.40; 95%
      CI 1.03, 2.66; P = 0.04), working in the private sector if employed (OR = 1.72;
      95% CI 1.08, 2.75; P = 0.02), and having chronic illness such as diabetes
      mellitus, hypertension, asthma, heart, thyroid, and renal diseases (OR = 1.82;
      95% CI 1.03, 3.51; P = 0.01). CONCLUSION: The rate of depression appears to be in
      the lower range compared to rate reported from elsewhere. Some socio-cultural
      factors that may contribute to the present findings are discussed.

PMID- 25838318
TI  - Self-image profile in children and adolescents with attention deficit/
      hyperactivity disorder and the quality of life in their parents.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We explored the impact of clinical response to treatment for Attention
      Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents on the
      subsequent changes in their self-image profile, the quality of life of their
      parents, and its effect on socio-demographic variables. METHOD: Conners Rating
      Scales for Parents (CPRS-R) and for Teachers (CTRS-R) completed at the time of
      entry to the service were repeated to measure clinical response to treatment; the
      Self-image Profiles for Children (SIP-C) and Adolescents (SIP-A), the World
      Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQoL) questionnaire and postcode data were
      used to evaluate other domains. RESULTS: Data was collected for 53 boys (84%) and
      10 girls (16%) with current mean age 11.5 years. Four-fifths (51/63) received
      pharmacological treatment and all parents were offered group parent training
      program. The only subscale in CPRS-R to show significance was the ADHD Index. The
      CTRS-R demonstrated statistically significant improvement (p < 0.01) in most
      subscales. On the Self-image Profile, children reported themselves as more Kind
      (p < 0.012), more Helpful (p < 0.038) and less Bossy (p < 0.047). Comparison of
      pre- and post-treatment scores on QoL revealed no significant changes; however,
      correlations of QoL responses against CPRS post-treatment revealed significant
      negative relationships in a number of instances. Parents living in less deprived
      areas felt their lives were more meaningful and less likely felt negatively about
      themselves (p = 0.04, N = 26, rho = 0.405). CONCLUSION: Clinical improvement in
      ADHD symptoms was positively correlated with some improvement in the Self-image
      Profile of children and adolescents, but its impact on the QoL in parents was
      limited.

PMID- 25838319
TI  - Atypical neuroleptic malignant syndrome in patients treated with aripiprazole and
      clozapine: a case-series study and short review.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) requires emergency treatment and
      can be fatal. Combined aripiprazole and clozapine therapy is rarely used in
      clinical settings, and NMS related this combination still lacks evaluation.
      Herein, we present two cases of atypical NMS treated with aripiprazole and
      clozapine. METHODS: Case 1 was a schizophrenic male with a history of NMS under
      treatment with aripiprazole 20 mg. He was hospitalized and maintained with
      aripiprazole 5 mg and clozapine 225 mg. On the 25th day, atypical NMS occurred
      with rigidity, elevated creatine kinase, and stupor, which subsided with
      supportive therapy. He was discharged under treatment with aripiprazole 15 mg and
      fluoxetine 60 mg. Case 2 was a female with schizoaffective disorder without a
      history of NMS. She was hospitalized and maintained with clozapine 50 mg and
      aripirazole 30 mg. On the 11th day, atypical NMS occurred with mild fever,
      delirium, and rigidity, which subsided under supportive therapy. RESULTS AND
      CONCLUSIONS: Our cases highlight the atypical features of NMS in patients being
      treated with combined ari-piprazole and clozapine. Consciousness change, modest
      elevation of creatine kinase, and leukocytosis were the most consistent findings;
      hyperthermia accounts for only some of the cases. This is a reminder of the
      importance of earlier detection of the soft signs and atypical features of NMS
      under this combined treatment.

PMID- 25838321
TI  - Differences Between Patients that Made an Impulsive or Premeditated Suicide
      Attempt in a Mexican Population.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We performed a study to identify differences between patients with
      impulsive suicide attempt and those with premeditated suicide attempt in a
      Mexican population. METHOD: We studied 144 patients who recently attempted
      suicide. Impulsive and premeditated suicide attempts were evaluated with the
      Suicide Intent Scale. These data were divided according to the type of attempt.
      Subsequently, the characteristics between the two groups were compared. RESULTS:
      The rate of patients that made an impulsive attempt was 61.8% and only 9.7% of
      the patients carried out a premeditated suicide attempt. More years of
      schooling/education and less severity of the attempt were observed in patients
      that carried out an impulsive suicide attempt (p < 0.001). Alcohol consumption
      (0.003) and use of cannabis (0.002) were present in patients who premeditated a
      suicide attempt. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that there are clinical
      differences among the individuals who carried out an impulsive suicide attempt
      from those who premeditated an attempt in a Mexican population. As a result, when
      planning interventions and prevention efforts it may be helpful to consider these
      clinical differences and demographic characteristics.

PMID- 25838320
TI  - Social and clinical descriptors of antipsychotic prescription.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify descriptors of Antipsychotic (AP) prescription, focusing
      on second generation antipsychotics (SGAs), polypharmacy, and long-acting
      injections (LAIs). METHODS: Outpatients of the Bologna-Community-Mental-Health
      Centres with at least one AP prescription were selected. Patients'
      characteristics, service utilization, and AP prescriptions were collected from
      administrative databases. Prescriptions were grouped by class (SGA vs. First
      Generation Antipsychotics), drug combination (polypharmacy vs. monotherapy), and
      preparation (LAIs vs. regular administration). Multi-variate analyses were
      performed to identify prescription descriptors among socio-demographic and
      clinical variables. RESULTS: Among 6,074 patients and 41,121 AP prescriptions,
      SGAs were used in 70.7% of subjects, AP polypharmacy in 25.3%, and LAIs in 17.5%.
      SGAs were prescribed more often for young, Italian patients, with higher
      education, voluntary hospitalization, and high number of visits. Descriptors of
      AP polypharmacy were: high number of visits and hospitalization, length of
      treatment, non-urban residency, male gender, unemployment. Characteristics
      associated to LAI prescription were: long duration of treatment, high number of
      visits, compulsory admissions, non-Italian nationality, male gender, age > 34,
      low education, unmarried status. CONCLUSIONS: Besides illness severity, this
      study identified different socio-demographic descriptors of AP choices, raising
      concerns on the equity of treatments. Efforts should be directed to investigate
      appropriateness of AP treatments especially in social disadvantaged populations.

PMID- 25838322
TI  - BDNF promoter methylation associated with suicidal ideation in patients with
      breast cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been considered a risk
      factor for suicidality. BDNF secretion is influenced by epigenetic (DNA
      methylation) and genetic (val66met polymorphism) profiles. We aimed to
      investigate the independent effects of BDNF promoter methylation status on
      suicidal ideation as well as the effects of its interaction with the val66met
      polymorphism in patients with breast cancer. METHODS: A total of279 patients with
      breast cancer were evaluated 1 week after breast surgery, and 244 (87%) were
      followed up 1 year later. Suicidal ideation was identified using the item
      addressing suicidal thoughts on the Beck Depression Inventory. The independent
      effects of BDNF methylation status on suicidal ideation at two points was
      investigated using multivariable logistic regression models. The two-way
      interactive effects of BDNF methylation status and the val66met polymorphism on
      suicidal ideation were also estimated using the same models. RESULTS: Increased
      BDNF methylation was significantly associated with suicidal ideation and
      depression 1 year after breast surgery, and this association was independent of
      potential covariates, including previous depression, current depressive symptoms,
      and BDNF genotype. No significant methylation-genotype interactions were found.
      CONCLUSIONS: The BDNF hypothesis and the epigenetic origin of suicidality in
      patients with breast cancer were supported. BDNF gene methylation status may be a
      biological marker for suicidality in patients with breast cancer.

PMID- 25838323
TI  - A guide to introducing and integrating reflective practices in medical education.
AB  - It is a significant challenge for any medical education program to provide
      adequate training in medical knowledge. It can be just as daunting to include
      appropriate opportunity to learn about and manage the emotional impact of illness
      experiences, the healing process, and provider-patient relationships. While there
      may be only a few basic changes to the core of medical knowledge, advances in
      medical practice regularly have an impact on the nature of patient care. Life
      long learning is essential to maintain one's competence. However, everything
      doctors and other medical professionals learn about relationships with patients
      during their training is relevant for the rest of their career. One primary
      source of this learning are reflective practices. However, there is no guide or
      description of or comparison among the distinguishing characteristics of
      reflective processes. In addition, there are no criteria for the selection or
      integration of reflective processes in medical training or beyond. This article
      proposes understanding reflection as a complex, three-level process and
      identifies dimensions which differentiate a variety of reflective process
      activities. The discussion includes considerations for selecting which activities
      might be usefully incorporated in education curricula, and identifies conditions
      of medical training cultures that will support successful integration. 

PMID- 25838324
TI  - Seeing double: sertraline and diplopia: a case report.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the first case of sertraline-induced diplopia. METHOD:
      Medline and PubMed data search using the words sertraline, Zoloft, diplopia,
      double vision. A case summary of a patient who developed diplopia from
      sertraline. RESULT: This case describes a 34-year-old man who developed diplopia
      after treatment with sertraline. The diplopia resolved after discontinuation of
      sertraline and redeveloped upon rechallenge. CONCLUSION: Although incidences of
      diplopia caused by citalopram, another SSRI, have been described, to the best of
      our knowledge, this is the first reported case of sertraline-induced diplopia.
      More studies are needed to describe the full mechanism of action of sertraline
      induced diplopia.

PMID- 25838325
TI  - Effects of a native parasitic plant on an exotic invader decrease with increasing
      host age.
AB  - Understanding changes in the interactions between parasitic plants and their
      hosts in relation to ontogenetic changes in the hosts is crucial for successful
      use of parasitic plants as biological controls. We investigated growth,
      photosynthesis and chemical defences in different-aged Bidens pilosa plants in
      response to infection by Cuscuta australis. We were particularly interested in
      whether plant responses to parasite infection change with changes in the host
      plant age. Compared with the non-infected B. pilosa, parasite infection reduced
      total host biomass and net photosynthetic rates, but these deleterious effects
      decreased with increasing host age. Parasite infection reduced the concentrations
      of total phenolics, total flavonoids and saponins in the younger B. pilosa but
      not in the older B. pilosa. Compared with the relatively older and larger plants,
      younger and smaller plants suffered from more severe damage and are likely less
      to recover from the infection, suggesting that C. australis is only a viable
      biocontrol agent for younger B. pilosa plants. 

PMID- 25838326
TI  - Antibody-mediated rejection in cardiac transplantation: emerging knowledge in
      diagnosis and management: a scientific statement from the American Heart
      Association.

PMID- 25838327
TI  - Anguish, Yearning, and Identity: Toward a Better Understanding of the Pregnant
      Hispanic Woman's Prenatal Care Experience.
AB  - The purpose of this phenomenological study was to seek a better understanding of
      needs and access issues among pregnant, low-income Hispanic women. Hispanic women
      who attended a community prenatal education program participated in follow-up
      focus groups to explore their experiences regarding prenatal education, pregnancy
      resources, access to, and satisfaction with, the care available to them. Focus
      groups were facilitated by a leader, bilingual in English and Spanish, with
      knowledge of the Hispanic culture. Sessions were audiotaped, then translated into
      English for transcription. Data were analyzed according to guidelines by Colaizzi
      and three themes emerged: pregnant Hispanic women experienced a sense of anguish
      (la angustia) from questions and unknowns rampant during pregnancy, leading to a
      yearning (el anhelo) to learn and understand more, but with a desire to do so
      without sacrificing native identity (la identidad). Implications of these themes
      for improving prenatal care for this population are explored.

PMID- 25838328
TI  - Hot carriers in graphene.

PMID- 25838329
TI  - Weighing in on the body knowledge questionnaire: initial development and pilot
      testing.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to develop and pilot test the Body
      Knowledge Questionnaire (BKQ), an instrument that measures weight management
      integration, and to determine its reliability and validity. METHODS: The 27 items
      of the BKQ were developed through review of the literature on integration and
      weight management/obesity. The resulting BKQ was pilot tested with 4 groups of
      individuals with and without type 2 diabetes. Exploratory factor analysis was
      used to assess the construct validity of the BKQ, and discriminant function
      analysis and logistic regression were used to establish criterion-related
      validity. Scale reliability analysis was used to determine the internal
      consistency of the BKQ and its subscales. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis
      yielded a 2-factor solution, with factor loadings that were fair to excellent
      (.45-.81). Discriminant function analysis determined that the BKQ subscales could
      accurately predict the classification of participants into normal- and obese
      weight groups. Results of the logistic regression showed that the BKQ could
      reliably distinguish between normal- and obese-weight participants. Internal
      consistency of the overall BKQ was .87, .89, and .73 for the subscales, Food
      Centricity and Psychosomatic Awareness. CONCLUSIONS: This research provided
      preliminary evidence of the validity (content, construct, and criterion) and
      reliability (internal consistency) of the BKQ. With additional psychometric
      testing, the BKQ instrument has great potential for use in weight management
      practice areas, such as diabetes education, dietetics, nursing, and psychology,
      for use in individual or group weight management programs and program evaluation;
      or in the development of novel weight management interventions.

PMID- 25838330
TI  - Primary Mixed Adenoneuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Gallbladder in a 55-Year-Old
      Female Patient: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.
AB  - Mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinomas (MANECs) of the biliary tract are rare
      tumors, and to date only a few cases arising in the gallbladder have been
      reported. Their histogenesis is a matter of debate, since the biliary tract
      normally lacks neuroendocrine cells. However, the immunohistochemical
      identification of nonneoplastic neuroendocrine cells in both biliary
      adenocarcinomas and intestinal metaplasia has been documented. Here we report a
      case of a 55-year-old female patient presenting with right upper quadrant pain,
      cholelithiasis, and a gallbladder mass identified after cholecystectomy. The
      histopathologic examination showed a MANEC, composed of an intestinal-type
      adenocarcinoma and a large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma, arising in a background
      of enteric metaplasia with extensive high-grade dysplasia. Moreover, we report
      the presence of focal pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia-like epithelial
      lesions, which has not been described for these tumors yet. The histopathologic
      features of this case provide further support for the theory that MANECs arise
      following a metaplasia-dysplasia-carcinoma pathway. 

PMID- 25838331
TI  - Characterization of Fibromuscular Pseudocapsule in Renal Cell Carcinoma.
AB  - Pseudocapsule in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has been described but little is
      known about its prevalence and extent. Pseudocapsule was analyzed in 105 RCCs (44
      clear cell, 44 chromophobe, 17 papillary). Pseudocapsule was graded as follows:
      grade 1, thickness comparable to adjacent muscular arteries; grade 2, thickness
      more than twice the diameter of adjacent muscular arteries; grade 3, grade 2
      findings with vasculopathy. Tumor size, tumor regression, and International
      Society of Urologic Pathology (ISUP) nucleolar grade were recorded. Cases with
      grade 3 pseudocapsule were stained with elastic silver stain, Alcian blue, smooth
      muscle actin, and CD31. More clear cell RCCs had pseudocapsule (89%, 39/44) than
      chromophobe (30%, 13/44) and papillary (35%, 6/17). Average tumor size with
      pseudocapsule was 3.9 cm; average tumor size without pseudocapsule was 3.8 cm (P
      = .77). Grade 2 pseudocapsule was common in clear cell RCC (56%, 22/39).
      Chromophobe and papillary RCC had grade 1 pseudocapsule in 77% (10/13) and 83%
      (5/6) of cases. Grade 3 pseudocapsule was only seen in clear cell RCC (10%,
      4/39). No correlation was noted between degenerative tumor changes, tumor size,
      ISUP nucleolar grade, and presence and grade of pseudocapsule. Smooth muscle
      actin and CD31 showed abundant smooth muscle component and rich vasculature
      within the pseudocapsule. Arterial elastic membrane disruption and/or
      fibrointimal mucin deposits were present in grade 3 pseudocapsule. Thus,
      pseudocapsule is rather characteristic and more prominent in clear cell, less
      frequent in chromophobe, and rare in papillary RCC. Its presence may be evaluated
      radiologically or in biopsy specimens with scant tumor fragments. 

PMID- 25838332
TI  - Optimal management of allergic rhinitis.
AB  - Allergic rhinitis (AR), the most common chronic disease in childhood is often
      ignored, misdiagnosed and/or mistreated. Undertreated AR impairs quality of life,
      exacerbates asthma and is a major factor in asthma development. It can involve
      the nose itself, as well as the organs connected with the nose manifesting a
      variety of symptoms. Evidence-based guidelines for AR therapy improve disease
      control. Recently, paediatric AR guidelines have been published by the European
      Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and are available online, as are a
      patient care pathway for children with AR and asthma from the Royal College of
      Paediatrics and Child Health. Management involves diagnosis, followed by
      avoidance of relevant allergens, with additional pharmacotherapy needed for most
      sufferers. This ranges, according to severity, from saline sprays, through non
      sedating antihistamines, oral or topical, with minimally bioavailable intranasal
      corticosteroids for moderate/severe disease, possibly plus additional
      antihistamine or antileukotriene. The concept of rhinitis control is emerging,
      but there is no universally accepted definition. Where pharmacotherapy fails,
      allergen-specific immunotherapy, which is uniquely able to alter long-term
      disease outcomes, should be considered. The subcutaneous form (subcutaneous
      immunotherapy) in children has been underused because of concerns regarding
      safety and acceptability of injections. Sublingual immunotherapy is both
      efficacious and safe for grass pollen allergy. Further studies on other allergens
      in children are needed. Patient, carer and practitioner education into AR and its
      treatment are a vital part of management. 

PMID- 25838334
TI  - Radiofrequency ablation changes the quality of life of children with
      supraventricular tachycardias.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has rapidly become the first-line
      therapy for children with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). Recently, more
      attention has been given to the measurement of health-related quality of life
      (QoL) in children. The primary aim of this study was to determine if there is a
      change in the QoL in children with SVT pre and post RFA procedure using the
      Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) cardiac inventory. In addition, the
      study discusses the impact of age, gender and variety of SVT mechanisms on the
      QoL. DESIGN, SETTING AND PATIENTS: All consecutive children with SVT referred for
      RFA at Mansoura University Children's Hospital were enrolled in this study. The
      PedsQL cardiac module questionnaire was given to the children/parents to be
      filled out before and 1 month following RFA procedure. Evaluated areas were
      physical, emotional, social, school and psychosocial function. The paired t test
      was used to test the difference between pre-time and post-time points for the
      study groups. Demographic and clinical data were collected. RESULTS: The study
      sample consisted of 38 patients who underwent a successful ablation. The mean age
      of the patients at the time of RFA procedure was 12.4+/-5.3 years. There was a
      statistically significant improvement in all measured areas 1 month post
      successful RFA as compared with pre ablation. Post ablation, the greatest score
      improvement was in physical functioning. Older children (>12 years) showed the
      greatest benefit, but gender and type of SVT did not influence outcome.
      CONCLUSIONS: RFA therapy is useful in improving QoL and perceptions in children
      with recurrent SVT.

PMID- 25838333
TI  - The role of infant appetite in extended formula feeding.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Parental decision-making around extended formula feeding (12 months+)
      has not been explored previously. This study tested the hypotheses that extended
      formula milk use (i) is associated with poorer appetite and (ii) supplements
      lower food intake. METHODS: Appetite was assessed with the Child Eating Behaviour
      Questionnaire (CEBQ) in 3854 twin children aged 16 months. Diet was assessed from
      3-day diaries in 2714 children at 21 months. Parents reported their children's
      weight at 24 months. Associations between formula feeding and (1) appetite, (2)
      energy intake and (3) weight were examined. 35 mothers were interviewed when the
      children were 7 years old to explore retrospectively their reasons for extended
      formula feeding. RESULTS: Formula consumers (13% of the sample) scored
      significantly differently than non-formula consumers on five of the six CEBQ
      subscales, indicating lower appetite avidity: 'food responsiveness' (2.02 vs
      2.22, respectively),'enjoyment of food' (3.99 vs 4.20), 'satiety responsiveness'
      (2.89 vs 2.65), 'slowness in eating' (2.63 vs 2.46) and 'food fussiness' (2.34 vs
      2.14). Formula consumers had a significantly lower percentage of daily energy
      intake from food (70% vs 74%); however, total daily energy intake did not differ
      significantly from non-consumers (4315 vs 4373 kJ). At interview, mothers
      reported supplementing their child's diet with formula because of 'picky eating'
      and concerns about inadequate food intake. CONCLUSIONS: High formula milk intake
      is associated with picky-eating behaviours, but seems to act as a substitute for
      rather than a supplement to solid food. Prospective and intervention studies are
      needed to determine whether extended formula feeding has an enduring impact on
      weight trajectories, eating behaviours or health.

PMID- 25838335
TI  - Individuals Poststroke Do Not Perceive Their Spatiotemporal Gait Asymmetries as
      Abnormal.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Following stroke, spatiotemporal gait asymmetries persist into the
      chronic phases, despite the neuromuscular capacity to produce symmetric walking
      patterns. This persistence of gait asymmetry may be due to deficits in
      perception, as the newly established asymmetric gait pattern is perceived as
      normal. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of usual
      overground gait asymmetry on the ability to consciously and unconsciously
      perceive the presence of gait asymmetry in people poststroke. DESIGN: An
      observational study was conducted. METHODS: Thirty people poststroke walked
      overground and on a split-belt treadmill with the belts moving at different
      speeds (0%-70% difference) to impose varied step length and stance time
      asymmetries. Conscious awareness and subconscious detection of imposed gait
      patterns were determined for each participant, and the asymmetry magnitudes at
      those points were compared with overground gait. RESULTS: For both spatial and
      temporal asymmetry variables, the asymmetry magnitude at the threshold of
      awareness was significantly greater than the asymmetry present at the threshold
      of detection or during overground gait. Participants appeared to identify belt
      speed differences using the type of gait asymmetry they typically exhibited (ie,
      step length or stance time asymmetries during overground gait). LIMITATIONS: Very
      few individuals with severe spatiotemporal asymmetry were tested, and
      participants were instructed to identify asymmetric belt speeds rather than
      interlimb movements. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that asymmetry magnitudes need
      to exceed usual overground levels to reach conscious awareness. Therefore, it is
      proposed that the spatiotemporal asymmetry that is specific to each participant
      may need to be augmented beyond what he or she usually has during walking in
      order to promote awareness of asymmetric gait patterns for long-term correction
      and learning.

PMID- 25838336
TI  - Discordance Between Distance Ambulated as Part of Usual Care and Functional
      Exercise Capacity in Survivors of Critical Illness Upon Intensive Care Discharge:
      Observational Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: People who have had a prolonged admission to an intensive care unit
      (ICU) commonly have profound debilitation and weakness. For the delivery of
      effective exercise training, an accurate assessment of exercise capacity is
      essential. OBJECTIVE: The study objectives were to investigate how much ground
      based walking is undertaken by inpatients recovering from critical illness within
      1 week of discharge from an ICU and to evaluate the feasibility and safety of the
      Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) for this population. DESIGN: This was an
      observational study. METHODS: Within 1 week of discharge from the ICU, functional
      exercise capacity was measured with the 6MWT. The maximum distance ambulated on
      the ward in a single session as part of usual clinical management was extracted
      from the medical notes. The distance achieved during the 6MWT and the maximum
      distance ambulated on the ward were compared. RESULTS: The participants (N=23)
      were survivors of a critical illness; their mean age was 57 years (SD=11). The
      median length of ICU stay was 11 days (interquartile range [IQR]=7). The mean 6
      minute walk distance (6MWD) was 179 m (SD=101), and the maximum distance
      ambulated on the ward was 30 m (IQR=65). There was a moderate association between
      the distance participants ambulated on the ward and the 6MWD (r=.54). The maximum
      distance ambulated on the ward, expressed as a percentage of the 6MWD, was 29%
      (IQR=34%). Five participants (22%) experienced oxygen desaturation (oxygen
      saturation of <85%) and recovered within 1 minute of resting. LIMITATIONS: The
      maximum distance ambulated on the ward was estimated with premeasured distances.
      CONCLUSIONS: Most participants ambulated at a low percentage of their measured
      exercise capacity. The 6MWT appears to be a safe and useful test for inpatients
      recently discharged from the ICU.

PMID- 25838337
TI  - Influence of Physical Therapists' Kinesiophobic Beliefs on Lifting Capacity in
      Healthy Adults.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Physical therapists' recommendations to patients to avoid daily
      physical activity can be influenced by the therapists' kinesiophobic beliefs.
      Little is known about the amount of influence of a physical therapist's
      kinesiophobic beliefs on a patient's actual lifting capacity during a lifting
      test. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the influence of
      physical therapists' kinesiophobic beliefs on lifting capacity in healthy people.
      DESIGN: A blinded, cluster-randomized cross-sectional study was performed.
      METHODS: The participants (n=256; 105 male, 151 female) were physical therapist
      students who performed a lifting capacity test. Examiners (n=24) were selected
      from second-year physical therapist students. Participants in group A (n=124)
      were tested in the presence of an examiner with high scores on the Tampa Scale of
      Kinesiophobia for health care providers (TSK-HC), and those in group B (n=132)
      were tested in the presence of an examiner with low scores on the TSK-HC. Mixed
      model analyses were performed on lifting capacity to test for possible
      (interacting) effects. RESULTS: Mean lifting capacity was 32.1 kg (SD=13.6) in
      group A and 39.6 kg (SD=16.4) in group B. Mixed-model analyses revealed that
      after controlling for sex, body weight, self-efficacy, and the interaction
      between the examiners' and participants' kinesiophobic beliefs, the influence of
      examiners' kinesiophobic beliefs significantly reduced lifting capacity by 14.4
      kg in participants with kinesiophobic beliefs and 8.0 kg in those without
      kinesiophobic beliefs. LIMITATIONS: Generalizability to physical therapists and
      patients with pain should be studied. CONCLUSIONS: Physical therapists'
      kinesiophobic beliefs negatively influence lifting capacity of healthy adults.
      During everyday clinical practice, physical therapists should be aware of the
      influence of their kinesiophobic beliefs on patients' functional ability.

PMID- 25838338
TI  - Predictors of vocational status in schizophrenia patients--Results from the
      Polish nationwide survey.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Steady employment constitutes one of most important aspects of
      functional recovery in schizophrenia. Therefore, there is a need for
      understanding clinical and demographic factors predicting vocational status in
      schizophrenia. METHODS: Clinical and demographic data of 1,010 schizophrenia
      patients were gathered from public outpatient clinics. We compared patients who
      maintained employment between the diagnosis time point and the day of assessment,
      with the patients who were employed in the diagnosis time point but were
      unemployed on the day of assessment with respect to clinical and demographic
      variables. RESULTS: Lower educational attainment, lower-income region of
      residence, medical comorbidities (obesity, diabetes and hypertension), first
      hospitalization at inpatient unit in comparison with the day hospital, higher
      total number of hospitalizations and the number of inpatient hospitalizations
      were found to serve as predictors of unemployment throughout the course of
      schizophrenia. After application of Bonferroni correction and logistic binary
      regression analysis, lower educational attainment, higher number of inpatient
      hospitalizations and obesity predicted unemployment. CONCLUSION: Education,
      obesity and the number of inpatient hospitalizations seem to predict vocational
      outcome in schizophrenia. This study warrants further investigation of medical
      comorbidities in schizophrenia in terms of social consequences in order to
      indicate the direction of this relationship.

PMID- 25838339
TI  - A longitudinal study of the health and wellbeing of culturally and linguistically
      diverse caregivers of people with psychosis in Australia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite Australia being an ethnically diverse country, there are
      limited longitudinal studies of the health and wellbeing of culturally and
      linguistically diverse (CALD) carers of people with psychosis. An Australian
      population-based survey found that 22.7% of carers of people with mental
      disorders were born overseas. AIMS: This study aimed to explore the demographic
      profile, social connectedness, psychological health, quality of life, grief and
      caregiving consequences of CALD carers of people with psychosis over 12 months.
      METHOD: This longitudinal study utilised a prevalence survey design and recruited
      52 CALD carers who were born in 24 countries outside Australia. A series of
      validated instruments were administered to assess carer health and wellbeing.
      RESULTS: Descriptive and inferential analysis of the results suggested that CALD
      carers experienced social isolation (34.7%), psychological distress (28.9%),
      moderate grief and caregiving consequences and poorer quality of life than the
      general population. Younger CALD carers and spouse carers experienced greater
      negative caregiving consequences than other kinship or friend carers. There were
      no significant changes in these outcomes over the 12-month period of the study.
      CONCLUSION: Ethnic-sensitive interventions are needed to better support CALD
      carers experiencing negative caregiving consequences, especially younger carers
      or spouses, within the current level of service provision.

PMID- 25838340
TI  - Response to "Clarification on Rotation Rates of Textured Breast Implants".

PMID- 25838341
TI  - T-shaped excision of the orbicularis oris muscle: an innovative technique for
      upper lip lift procedures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The lips are a prominent part of the face and they age along with the
      face. Microsurgery for upper lip lifts is becoming popular because of its
      association with minimal trauma and rapid recovery. OBJECTIVES: The authors
      introduced an innovative method of lifting the upper lip. METHODS: From January
      2009 to March 2013, a cohort of 30 women underwent an upper lip lift surgical
      procedure. Patients received local anesthesia for a regional block of the
      infraorbital nerve. A T-shaped orbicularis oris and a strip of skin were excised.
      The superior edge of the orbicularis oris muscle was sutured to the base of the
      nose, and the incision was closed with a continuous intradermal suture.
      Postoperative follow-up time ranged from 1 to 5 years. RESULTS: At the time of
      follow-up, the incisional scar was not visible on the patient. The nasolabial
      angle was 96.20 degrees  +/- 1.86 degrees  before operation and 88.23 degrees  +/
      2.58 degrees  after operation. The difference was statistically significant (P =
      0.000 and P < 0.001). The upper lip angle was 65.56 degrees  +/- 8.60 degrees 
      before operation and 51.90 degrees  +/- 3.93 degrees  after operation. The
      difference was statistically significant (P = 0.000) and P < 0.001). After
      operation, the upper lip appeared to be clearly thickened. CONCLUSIONS: This
      innovative surgical technique is a simple and effective way to lift the upper
      lip.

PMID- 25838342
TI  - Treatment options for relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.
AB  - Over the last few decades, significant improvement in outcomes has been observed
      for myeloma patients, mainly as a result of the use of currently available
      approved antimyeloma agents, along with combining autologous stem cell
      transplantation in the treatment of myeloma. With more targeted agents in
      development, the treatment of a myeloma patient at relapse has become complicated
      and, as a consequence, results in vast heterogeneity in treatment patterns.
      Although a consensus on the timing of initiation of treatment, the choice of
      agents to be used, and the role of transplant is less clear, we describe an
      evidence-based approach and the factors to consider upon relapse. We describe
      additional newer agents and targets that are under development, with the goal of
      achievement of durable remissions for myeloma patients. 

PMID- 25838343
TI  - Pathogenesis beyond the cancer clone(s) in multiple myeloma.
AB  - Over the past 4 decades, basic research has provided crucial information
      regarding the cellular and molecular biology of cancer. In particular, the
      relevance of cancer microenvironment (including both cellular and noncellular
      elements) and the concept of clonal evolution and heterogeneity have emerged as
      important in cancer pathogenesis, immunologic escape, and resistance to therapy.
      Multiple myeloma (MM), a cancer of terminally differentiated plasma cells, is
      emblematic of the impact of cancer microenvironment and the role of clonal
      evolution. Although genetic and epigenetic aberrations occur in MM and evolve
      over time under the pressure of exogenous stimuli, they are also largely present
      in premalignant plasma cell dyscrasia such as monoclonal gammopathy of
      undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM),
      suggesting that genetic mutations alone are necessary, but not sufficient, for
      myeloma transformation. The role of bone marrow microenvironment in mediating
      survival, proliferation, and resistance to therapy in myeloma is well
      established; and although an appealing speculation, its role in fostering the
      evolution of MGUS or SMM into MM is yet to be proven. In this review, we discuss
      MM pathogenesis with a particular emphasis on the role of bone marrow
      microenvironment. 

PMID- 25838344
TI  - Smoldering multiple myeloma.
AB  - Smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) is an asymptomatic clonal plasma cell disorder.
      SMM is distinguished from monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance by a
      much higher risk of progression to multiple myeloma (MM). There have been major
      advances in the diagnosis, prognosis, and management of SMM in the last few
      years. These include a revised disease definition, identification of several new
      prognostic factors, a classification based on underlying cytogenetic changes, and
      new treatment options. Importantly, a subset of patients previously considered
      SMM is now reclassified as MM on the basis of biomarkers identifying patients
      with an >=80% risk of progression within 2 years. SMM has assumed greater
      significance on the basis of recent trials showing that early therapy can be
      potentially beneficial to patients. As a result, there is a need to accurately
      diagnose and risk-stratify patients with SMM, including routine incorporation of
      modern imaging and laboratory techniques. In this review, we outline current
      concepts in diagnosis and risk stratification of SMM, and provide specific
      recommendations on the management of SMM. 

PMID- 25838345
TI  - Frontline therapy of multiple myeloma.
AB  - In the past decade, one of the major advances in the management of patients with
      symptomatic newly diagnosed multiple myeloma has been the introduction of novel
      agents, thalidomide, bortezomib, and lenalidomide, as part of frontline treatment
      in both transplant and nontransplant candidates. These drugs have markedly
      improved the rate of complete remission, and time to progression, progression
      free survival, and overall survival have significantly increased. This article
      focuses on more recent frontline therapeutic approaches both in older patients,
      not eligible for high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation
      (ASCT), and in younger patients eligible for early ASCT. 

PMID- 25838347
TI  - Introduction to a series of reviews on multiple myeloma.

PMID- 25838346
TI  - New criteria for response assessment: role of minimal residual disease in
      multiple myeloma.
AB  - Assessment of minimal residual disease (MRD) is becoming standard diagnostic care
      for potentially curable neoplasms such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In
      multiple myeloma (MM), the majority of patients will inevitably relapse despite
      achievement of progressively higher complete remission (CR) rates. Novel
      treatment protocols with inclusion of antibodies and small molecules might well
      be able to further increase remission rates and potentially also cure rates.
      Therefore, MRD diagnostics becomes essential to assess treatment effectiveness.
      This review summarizes reports from the past 2 decades, which demonstrate that
      persistent MRD by multiparameter flow cytometry, polymerase chain reaction, next
      generation sequencing, and positron emission tomography/computed tomography,
      predicts significantly inferior survival among CR patients. We describe the
      specific features of currently available techniques for MRD monitoring and
      outline the arguments favoring new criteria for response assessment that
      incorporate MRD levels. Extensive data indicate that MRD information can
      potentially be used as biomarker to evaluate the efficacy of different treatment
      strategies, help on treatment decisions, and act as surrogate for overall
      survival. The time has come to address within clinical trials the exact role of
      baseline risk factors and MRD monitoring for tailored therapy in MM, which
      implies systematic usage of highly sensitive, cost-effective, readily available,
      and standardized MRD techniques. 

PMID- 25838348
TI  - FlnA binding to PACSIN2 F-BAR domain regulates membrane tubulation in
      megakaryocytes and platelets.
AB  - Bin-Amphiphysin-Rvs (BAR) and Fes-CIP4 homology BAR (F-BAR) proteins generate
      tubular membrane invaginations reminiscent of the megakaryocyte (MK) demarcation
      membrane system (DMS), which provides membranes necessary for future platelets.
      The F-BAR protein PACSIN2 is one of the most abundant BAR/F-BAR proteins in
      platelets and the only one reported to interact with the cytoskeletal and
      scaffold protein filamin A (FlnA), an essential regulator of platelet formation
      and function. The FlnA-PACSIN2 interaction was therefore investigated in MKs and
      platelets. PACSIN2 associated with FlnA in human platelets. The interaction
      required FlnA immunoglobulin-like repeat 20 and the tip of PACSIN2 F-BAR domain
      and enhanced PACSIN2 F-BAR domain membrane tubulation in vitro. Most human and
      wild-type mouse platelets had 1 to 2 distinct PACSIN2 foci associated with cell
      membrane GPIbalpha, whereas Flna-null platelets had 0 to 4 or more foci.
      Endogenous PACSIN2 and transfected enhanced green fluorescent protein-PACSIN2
      were concentrated in midstage wild-type mouse MKs in a well-defined invagination
      of the plasma membrane reminiscent of the initiating DMS and dispersed in the
      absence of FlnA binding. The DMS appeared less well defined, and platelet
      territories were not readily visualized in Flna-null MKs. We conclude that the
      FlnA-PACSIN2 interaction regulates membrane tubulation in MKs and platelets and
      likely contributes to DMS formation. 

PMID- 25838349
TI  - Endothelial cells suppress monocyte activation through secretion of extracellular
      vesicles containing antiinflammatory microRNAs.
AB  - The blood contains high concentrations of circulating extracellular vesicles
      (EVs), and their levels and contents are altered in several disease states,
      including cardiovascular disease. However, the function of circulating EVs,
      especially the microRNAs (miRNAs) that they contain, are poorly understood. We
      sought to determine the effect of secreted vesicles produced by quiescent
      endothelial cells (ECs) on monocyte inflammatory responses and to assess whether
      transfer of microRNAs occurs between these cells. We observed that monocytic
      cells cocultured (but not in contact) with ECs were refractory to inflammatory
      activation. Further characterization revealed that endothelium-derived EVs (EC
      EVs) suppressed monocyte activation by enhancing immunomodulatory responses and
      diminishing proinflammatory responses. EVs isolated from mouse plasma also
      suppressed monocyte activation. Importantly, injection of EC-EVs in vivo
      repressed monocyte/macrophage activation, confirming our in vitro findings. We
      found that several antiinflammatory microRNAs were elevated in EC-EV-treated
      monocytes. In particular, miR-10a was transferred to monocytic cells from EC-EVs
      and could repress inflammatory signaling through the targeting of several
      components of the NF-kappaB pathway, including IRAK4. Our findings reveal that
      ECs secrete EVs that can modulate monocyte activation and suggest that altered EV
      secretion and/or microRNA content may affect vascular inflammation in the setting
      of cardiovascular disease. 

PMID- 25838350
TI  - Ebf1 heterozygosity results in increased DNA damage in pro-B cells and their
      synergistic transformation by Pax5 haploinsufficiency.
AB  - Early B-cell factor 1 (Ebf1) is a transcription factor with documented dose
      dependent functions in normal and malignant B-lymphocyte development. To
      understand more about the roles of Ebf1 in malignant transformation, we
      investigated the impact of reduced functional Ebf1 dosage on mouse B-cell
      progenitors. Gene expression analysis suggested that Ebf1 was involved in the
      regulation of genes important for DNA repair and cell survival. Investigation of
      the DNA damage in steady state, as well as after induction of DNA damage by UV
      light, confirmed that pro-B cells lacking 1 functional allele of Ebf1 display
      signs of increased DNA damage. This correlated to reduced expression of DNA
      repair genes including Rad51, and chromatin immunoprecipitation data suggested
      that Rad51 is a direct target for Ebf1. Although reduced dosage of Ebf1 did not
      significantly increase tumor formation in mice, a dramatic increase in the
      frequency of pro-B cell leukemia was observed in mice with combined heterozygous
      mutations in the Ebf1 and Pax5 genes, revealing a synergistic effect of combined
      dose reduction of these proteins. Our data suggest that Ebf1 controls DNA repair
      in a dose-dependent manner providing a possible explanation to the frequent
      involvement of EBF1 gene loss in human leukemia. 

PMID- 25838351
TI  - Selinexor is effective in acquired resistance to ibrutinib and synergizes with
      ibrutinib in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
AB  - Despite the therapeutic efficacy of ibrutinib in chronic lymphocytic leukemia
      (CLL), complete responses are infrequent, and acquired resistance to Bruton
      agammaglobulinemia tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibition is being observed in an
      increasing number of patients. Combination regimens that increase frequency of
      complete remissions, accelerate time to remission, and overcome single agent
      resistance are of considerable interest. We previously showed that the XPO1
      inhibitor selinexor is proapoptotic in CLL cells and disrupts B-cell receptor
      signaling via BTK depletion. Herein we show the combination of selinexor and
      ibrutinib elicits a synergistic cytotoxic effect in primary CLL cells and
      increases overall survival compared with ibrutinib alone in a mouse model of CLL.
      Selinexor is effective in cells isolated from patients with prolonged
      lymphocytosis following ibrutinib therapy. Finally, selinexor is effective in
      ibrutinib-refractory mice and in a cell line harboring the BTK C481S mutation.
      This is the first report describing the combined activity of ibrutinib and
      selinexor in CLL, which represents a new treatment paradigm and warrants further
      evaluation in clinical trials of CLL patients including those with acquired
      ibrutinib resistance. 

PMID- 25838352
TI  - In vivo delivery of functional Flightless I siRNA using layer-by-layer polymer
      surface modification.
AB  - Gene silencing using small interfering RNA has been proposed as a therapy for
      cancer, viral infections and other diseases. This study aimed to investigate
      whether layer-by-layer polymer surface modification could deliver small
      interfering RNA to decrease fibrotic processes associated with medical device
      implantation. Anti-green fluorescent protein labelled small interfering RNA was
      applied to tissue culture plates and polyurethane using a layer-by-layer
      technique with small interfering RNA and poly-L-lysine. In vitro studies showed
      that the level of down-regulation of green fluorescent protein was directly
      related to the number of coatings applied. This layer-by-layer coating technique
      was then used to generate Rhodamine-Flii small interfering RNA-coated implants
      for in vivo studies of small interfering RNA delivery via subcutaneous
      implantation in mice. After two days, Rh-positive cells were observed on the
      implants' surface indicating cellular uptake of the Rhodamine-Flii small
      interfering RNA. Decreased Flii gene expression was observed in tissue
      surrounding the Rhodamine-Flii small interfering RNA coated implants for up to
      seven days post implantation, returning to baseline by day 21. Genes downstream
      from Flii, including TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta3, showed significantly altered
      expression confirming a functional effect of the Rhodamine-Flii small interfering
      RNA on gene expression. This research demonstrates proof-of-principle that small
      interfering RNA can be delivered via layer-by-layer coatings on biomaterials and
      thereby can alter the fibrotic process.

PMID- 25838353
TI  - Codelivery of paclitaxel and small interfering RNA by octadecyl quaternized
      carboxymethyl chitosan-modified cationic liposome for combined cancer therapy.
AB  - Conventional therapeutic approaches for cancer are limited by cancer cell
      resistance, which has impeded their clinical applications. The main goal of this
      work was to investigate the combined antitumor effect of paclitaxel with small
      interfering RNA modified by cationic liposome formed from modified octadecyl
      quaternized carboxymethyl chitosan. The cationic liposome was composed of 3beta
      [N-(N', N'-dimethylaminoethane)-carbamoyl]-cholesterol,
      dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine, and octadecyl quaternized carboxymethyl
      chitosan. The cationic liposome properties were characterized by Fourier
      transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering and zeta potential
      measurements, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and gel
      retardation assay. The cationic liposome exhibited good properties, such as a
      small particle size, a narrow particle size distribution, a good spherical shape,
      a smooth surface, and a good binding ability with small interfering RNA. Most
      importantly, when combined with paclitaxel and small interfering RNA, the
      composite cationic liposome induced a great enhancement in the antitumor
      activity, which showed a significantly higher in vitro cytotoxicity in Bcap-37
      cells than liposomal paclitaxel or small interfering RNA alone. In conclusion,
      the results indicate that cationic liposome could be further developed as a
      codelivery system for chemotherapy drugs and therapeutic small interfering RNAs. 

PMID- 25838354
TI  - Risk of developing diabetes increases with time spent watching TV, study shows.

PMID- 25838355
TI  - A community for disaster science.

PMID- 25838357
TI  - Reproductive medicine. Eggs' power plants energize new IVF debate.

PMID- 25838358
TI  - Toxicology. A child-killing toxin emerges from shadows.

PMID- 25838359
TI  - Marine science. 'The Blob' invades Pacific, flummoxing climate experts.

PMID- 25838360
TI  - Scientific publishing. Hoax-detecting software spots fake papers.

PMID- 25838361
TI  - Infectious diseases. As Ebola wanes, trials jockey for patients.

PMID- 25838362
TI  - Deepwater Horizon: after the oil.

PMID- 25838363
TI  - Critics question plans to spray dispersant in future deep spills.

PMID- 25838365
TI  - Geology. Defining the epoch we live in.

PMID- 25838366
TI  - Tribology. Tracking antiwear film formation.

PMID- 25838367
TI  - Gene expression. MicroRNAs silence the noisy genome.

PMID- 25838368
TI  - Psychology. Infants explore the unexpected.

PMID- 25838369
TI  - Astronomy. How young stars grow and become focused.

PMID- 25838370
TI  - Immunology. MULT1plying cancer immunity.

PMID- 25838371
TI  - Vaccine testing. Ebola and beyond.

PMID- 25838372
TI  - Cancer immunology and immunotherapy. Realizing the promise. Introduction.

PMID- 25838373
TI  - The future of immune checkpoint therapy.
AB  - Immune checkpoint therapy, which targets regulatory pathways in T cells to
      enhance antitumor immune responses, has led to important clinical advances and
      provided a new weapon against cancer. This therapy has elicited durable clinical
      responses and, in a fraction of patients, long-term remissions where patients
      exhibit no clinical signs of cancer for many years. The way forward for this
      class of novel agents lies in our ability to understand human immune responses in
      the tumor microenvironment. This will provide valuable information regarding the
      dynamic nature of the immune response and regulation of additional pathways that
      will need to be targeted through combination therapies to provide survival
      benefit for greater numbers of patients. 

PMID- 25838374
TI  - Adoptive cell transfer as personalized immunotherapy for human cancer.
AB  - Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) is a highly personalized cancer therapy that involves
      administration to the cancer-bearing host of immune cells with direct anticancer
      activity. ACT using naturally occurring tumor-reactive lymphocytes has mediated
      durable, complete regressions in patients with melanoma, probably by targeting
      somatic mutations exclusive to each cancer. These results have expanded the reach
      of ACT to the treatment of common epithelial cancers. In addition, the ability to
      genetically engineer lymphocytes to express conventional T cell receptors or
      chimeric antigen receptors has further extended the successful application of ACT
      for cancer treatment. 

PMID- 25838375
TI  - Neoantigens in cancer immunotherapy.
AB  - The clinical relevance of T cells in the control of a diverse set of human
      cancers is now beyond doubt. However, the nature of the antigens that allow the
      immune system to distinguish cancer cells from noncancer cells has long remained
      obscure. Recent technological innovations have made it possible to dissect the
      immune response to patient-specific neoantigens that arise as a consequence of
      tumor-specific mutations, and emerging data suggest that recognition of such
      neoantigens is a major factor in the activity of clinical immunotherapies. These
      observations indicate that neoantigen load may form a biomarker in cancer
      immunotherapy and provide an incentive for the development of novel therapeutic
      approaches that selectively enhance T cell reactivity against this class of
      antigens. 

PMID- 25838376
TI  - T cell exclusion, immune privilege, and the tumor microenvironment.
AB  - Effective immunotherapy promotes the killing of cancer cells by cytotoxic T
      cells. This requires not only that cancer-specific T cells be generated, but also
      that these T cells physically contact cancer cells. The coexistence in some
      patients of cancer cells and T cells that recognize them indicates that tumors
      may exhibit the phenomenon of immune privilege, in which immunogenic tissue is
      protected from immune attack. Here, we review the evidence that stromal cells of
      the tumor microenvironment mediate this restriction by excluding T cells from the
      vicinity of cancer cells. Overcoming this T cell checkpoint may thus enable
      optimal immunotherapy. 

PMID- 25838378
TI  - Cognitive development. Observing the unexpected enhances infants' learning and
      exploration.
AB  - Given the overwhelming quantity of information available from the environment,
      how do young learners know what to learn about and what to ignore? We found that
      11-month-old infants (N = 110) used violations of prior expectations as special
      opportunities for learning. The infants were shown events that violated
      expectations about object behavior or events that were nearly identical but did
      not violate expectations. The sight of an object that violated expectations
      enhanced learning and promoted information-seeking behaviors; specifically,
      infants learned more effectively about objects that committed violations,
      explored those objects more, and engaged in hypothesis-testing behaviors that
      reflected the particular kind of violation seen. Thus, early in life, expectancy
      violations offer a wedge into the problem of what to learn. 

PMID- 25838377
TI  - Cancer and the microbiota.
AB  - A host's microbiota may increase, diminish, or have no effect at all on cancer
      susceptibility. Assigning causal roles in cancer to specific microbes and
      microbiotas, unraveling host-microbiota interactions with environmental factors
      in carcinogenesis, and exploiting such knowledge for cancer diagnosis and
      treatment are areas of intensive interest. This Review considers how microbes and
      the microbiota may amplify or mitigate carcinogenesis, responsiveness to cancer
      therapeutics, and cancer-associated complications. 

PMID- 25838379
TI  - Ribosome. The structure of the human mitochondrial ribosome.
AB  - The highly divergent ribosomes of human mitochondria (mitoribosomes) synthesize
      13 essential proteins of oxidative phosphorylation complexes. We have determined
      the structure of the intact mitoribosome to 3.5 angstrom resolution by means of
      single-particle electron cryogenic microscopy. It reveals 80 extensively
      interconnected proteins, 36 of which are specific to mitochondria, and three
      ribosomal RNA molecules. The head domain of the small subunit, particularly the
      messenger (mRNA) channel, is highly remodeled. Many intersubunit bridges are
      specific to the mitoribosome, which adopts conformations involving ratcheting or
      rolling of the small subunit that are distinct from those seen in bacteria or
      eukaryotes. An intrinsic guanosine triphosphatase mediates a contact between the
      head and central protuberance. The structure provides a reference for analysis of
      mutations that cause severe pathologies and for future drug design. 

PMID- 25838380
TI  - Molecular physics. Production of trilobite Rydberg molecule dimers with kilo
      Debye permanent electric dipole moments.
AB  - Permanent electric dipole moments are important for understanding symmetry
      breaking in molecular physics, control of chemical reactions, and realization of
      strongly correlated many-body quantum systems. However, large molecular permanent
      electric dipole moments are challenging to realize experimentally. We report the
      observation of ultralong-range Rydberg molecules with bond lengths of ~100
      nanometers and kilo-Debye permanent electric dipole moments that form when an
      ultracold ground-state cesium (Cs) atom becomes bound within the electronic cloud
      of an extended Cs electronic orbit. The electronic character of this hybrid class
      of "trilobite" molecules is dominated by degenerate Rydberg manifolds, making
      them difficult to produce by conventional photoassociation. We used detailed
      coupled-channel calculations to reproduce their properties quantitatively. Our
      findings may lead to progress in ultracold chemistry and strongly correlated many
      body physics. 

PMID- 25838381
TI  - Frustrated magnetism. Large thermal Hall conductivity of neutral spin excitations
      in a frustrated quantum magnet.
AB  - In frustrated quantum magnets, long-range magnetic order fails to develop despite
      a large exchange coupling between the spins. In contrast to the magnons in
      conventional magnets, their spin excitations are poorly understood. Here, we show
      that the thermal Hall conductivity kappa(xy) provides a powerful probe of spin
      excitations in the "quantum spin ice" pyrochlore Tb2Ti2O7. The thermal Hall
      response is large, even though the material is transparent. The Hall response
      arises from spin excitations with specific characteristics that distinguish them
      from magnons. At low temperature (<1 kelvin), the thermal conductivity resembles
      that of a dirty metal. Using the Hall angle, we construct a phase diagram showing
      how the excitations are suppressed by a magnetic field.

PMID- 25838382
TI  - Thermoelectrics. Dense dislocation arrays embedded in grain boundaries for high
      performance bulk thermoelectrics.
AB  - The widespread use of thermoelectric technology is constrained by a relatively
      low conversion efficiency of the bulk alloys, which is evaluated in terms of a
      dimensionless figure of merit (zT). The zT of bulk alloys can be improved by
      reducing lattice thermal conductivity through grain boundary and point-defect
      scattering, which target low- and high-frequency phonons. Dense dislocation
      arrays formed at low-energy grain boundaries by liquid-phase compaction in
      Bi(0.5)Sb(1.5)Te3 (bismuth antimony telluride) effectively scatter midfrequency
      phonons, leading to a substantially lower lattice thermal conductivity. Full
      spectrum phonon scattering with minimal charge-carrier scattering dramatically
      improved the zT to 1.86 +/- 0.15 at 320 kelvin (K). Further, a thermoelectric
      cooler confirmed the performance with a maximum temperature difference of 81 K,
      which is much higher than current commercial Peltier cooling devices.

PMID- 25838383
TI  - Stellar physics. Observing the onset of outflow collimation in a massive
      protostar.
AB  - The current paradigm of star formation through accretion disks, and
      magnetohydrodynamically driven gas ejections, predicts the development of
      collimated outflows, rather than expansion without any preferential direction. We
      present radio continuum observations of the massive protostar W75N(B)-VLA 2,
      showing that it is a thermal, collimated ionized wind and that it has evolved in
      18 years from a compact source into an elongated one. This is consistent with the
      evolution of the associated expanding water-vapor maser shell, which changed from
      a nearly circular morphology, tracing an almost isotropic outflow, to an
      elliptical one outlining collimated motions. We model this behavior in terms of
      an episodic, short-lived, originally isotropic ionized wind whose morphology
      evolves as it moves within a toroidal density stratification. 

PMID- 25838384
TI  - Plant biology. Suppression of endogenous gene silencing by bidirectional
      cytoplasmic RNA decay in Arabidopsis.
AB  - Plant immunity against foreign gene invasion takes advantage of
      posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS). How plants elaborately avert
      inappropriate PTGS of endogenous coding genes remains unclear. We demonstrate in
      Arabidopsis that both 5'-3' and 3'-5' cytoplasmic RNA decay pathways act as
      repressors of transgene and endogenous PTGS. Disruption of bidirectional
      cytoplasmic RNA decay leads to pleiotropic developmental defects and drastic
      transcriptomic alterations, which are substantially rescued by PTGS mutants. Upon
      dysfunction of bidirectional RNA decay, a large number of 21- to 22-nucleotide
      endogenous small interfering RNAs are produced from coding transcripts, including
      multiple microRNA targets, which could interfere with their cognate gene
      expression and functions. This study highlights the risk of unwanted PTGS and
      identifies cytoplasmic RNA decay pathways as safeguards of plant transcriptome
      and development. 

PMID- 25838385
TI  - Gene expression. MicroRNA control of protein expression noise.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) repress the expression of many genes in metazoans by
      accelerating messenger RNA degradation and inhibiting translation, thereby
      reducing the level of protein. However, miRNAs only slightly reduce the mean
      expression of most targeted proteins, leading to speculation about their role in
      the variability, or noise, of protein expression. We used mathematical modeling
      and single-cell reporter assays to show that miRNAs, in conjunction with
      increased transcription, decrease protein expression noise for lowly expressed
      genes but increase noise for highly expressed genes. Genes that are regulated by
      multiple miRNAs show more-pronounced noise reduction. We estimate that hundreds
      of (lowly expressed) genes in mouse embryonic stem cells have reduced noise due
      to substantial miRNA regulation. Our findings suggest that miRNAs confer
      precision to protein expression and thus offer plausible explanations for the
      commonly observed combinatorial targeting of endogenous genes by multiple miRNAs,
      as well as the preferential targeting of lowly expressed genes. 

PMID- 25838387
TI  - A career is like a love affair.

PMID- 25838386
TI  - Epigenetics. Restricted epigenetic inheritance of H3K9 methylation.
AB  - Posttranslational histone modifications are believed to allow the epigenetic
      transmission of distinct chromatin states, independently of associated DNA
      sequences. Histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) methylation is essential for
      heterochromatin formation; however, a demonstration of its epigenetic
      heritability is lacking. Fission yeast has a single H3K9 methyltransferase, Clr4,
      that directs all H3K9 methylation and heterochromatin. Using releasable tethered
      Clr4 reveals that an active process rapidly erases H3K9 methylation from
      tethering sites in wild-type cells. However, inactivation of the putative histone
      demethylase Epe1 allows H3K9 methylation and silent chromatin maintenance at the
      tethering site through many mitotic divisions, and transgenerationally through
      meiosis, after release of tethered Clr4. Thus, H3K9 methylation is a heritable
      epigenetic mark whose transmission is usually countered by its active removal,
      which prevents the unauthorized inheritance of heterochromatin. 

PMID- 25838388
TI  - MRI RF array decoupling method with magnetic wall distributed filters.
AB  - Multi-channel radio-frequency (RF) transmit coil arrays have been developed to
      mitigate many of the RF challenges associated with ultra-high field ( >= 7T)
      magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These arrays can be used for parallel RF
      transmission to produce spatially tailored RF excitation over the field of view.
      However, the realization of such arrays remains a challenge due to significant
      reactive interaction between the array coils, i.e., mutual coupling. In this
      paper, a novel bandstop filter ("magnetic wall") is used in an MRI RF transmit
      array to decouple individual coils. The proposed decoupling method is inspired by
      periodic resonator designs commonly used in frequency selective surfaces and is
      used as a distributed RF filter to suppress the transmission of RF energy between
      coils in an array. The decoupling of the magnetic wall (MW) is analyzed in terms
      of equivalent circuits that include terms for both magnetic and electric coupling
      for an arbitrary number of MW resonant conductors. Both frequency-and time-domain
      full-wave simulations were performed to analyze a specific MW structure. The
      performance of the proposed method is experimentally validated for both first
      order coupling and higher-order coupling with a three-coil 7T array setup.
      Analysis and measurements confirm that the rejection band of the MW can be tuned
      to provide high isolation in the presence of cross coupling between RF array
      coils. 

PMID- 25838389
TI  - Maternal blood test is more effective than standard screening for Down's
      syndrome, study shows.

PMID- 25838390
TI  - Targeting PI3K/mTOR Signaling Displays Potent Antitumor Efficacy against
      Nonfunctioning Pituitary Adenomas.
AB  - PURPOSE: Novel therapeutic approaches are needed to improve the postoperative
      management of residual nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA), given their high
      relapse rate. Here, we evaluated the antitumor efficacy of the dual PI3K/mTOR
      inhibitor NVP-BEZ235 in the only available model of spontaneous NFPAs (MENX
      rats). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Organotypic cultures of rat primary NFPAs were
      incubated with NVP-BEZ235 and assessed for cell viability, proliferation,
      apoptosis, and PI3K/mTOR inhibition. NVP-BEZ235, or placebo, was administered to
      MENX rats and tumor response was monitored noninvasively by diffusion weighted
      magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI). Following treatment, tumor tissues were
      investigated for cell proliferation, apoptosis, and PI3K/mTOR inhibition. Genes
      mediating the cytotoxic activity of NVP-BEZ235 were identified by gene-expression
      profiling. Among them, Defb1, encoding beta-defensin 1, was further studied for
      its role in pituitary cells and in human pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (NET)
      cells. RESULTS: NVP-BEZ235 showed antiproliferative and pro-cell death activities
      against NFPAs both in vitro and in vivo, and the response to the drug correlated
      with inhibition of the PI3K pathway. DW-MRI identified early functional changes
      (decreased cellularity) in the adenomas before their size was affected and
      emerged as a useful modality to assess therapy response. The cytotoxic effect of
      PI3K/mTOR blockade in NFPA was mediated by several genes, including Defb1. NVP
      BEZ235 treatment induced Defb1 expression in NFPAs in vitro and in vivo, and in
      pancreatic NET cells. High Defb1 levels sensitized NET cells to PI3K/mTOR
      inhibition. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide rationale for clinical
      investigation of PI3K/mTOR inhibition in NFPAs and identify novel effectors of
      PI3K-mediated neuroendocrine cell survival.

PMID- 25838391
TI  - Primary and Acquired Resistance of Colorectal Cancer to Anti-EGFR Monoclonal
      Antibody Can Be Overcome by Combined Treatment of Regorafenib with Cetuximab.
AB  - PURPOSE: In colorectal cancer, the activation of the intracellular RAS-RAF and
      PIK3CA-AKT pathways has been implicated in the resistance to anti-EGFR mAbs. We
      have investigated the role of regorafenib, an oral multikinase inhibitor, in
      combination with cetuximab, an anti-EGFR mAb, to overcome anti-EGFR resistance.
      EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We have tested, in vitro and in vivo, the effects of
      regorafenib in a panel of human colorectal cancer cell lines with a KRAS mutation
      (SW480, SW620, HCT116, LOVO, and HCT15) or with a BRAF mutation (HT29), as models
      of intrinsic resistance to cetuximab treatment, and in two human colorectal
      cancer cell lines (GEO and SW48) that are cetuximab-sensitive, as well as in
      their derived cells with acquired resistance to cetuximab (GEO-CR and SW48-CR).
      RESULTS: Treatment with regorafenib determined a dose-dependent growth inhibition
      in all colorectal cancer cell lines. The combined treatment with cetuximab and
      regorafenib induced synergistic antiproliferative and apoptotic effects in
      cetuximab-resistant cell lines by blocking MAPK and AKT pathways. Nude mice were
      injected s.c. with HCT116, HCT15, GEO-CR, and SW48-CR cells. The combined
      treatment caused significant tumor growth inhibition. Synergistic antitumor
      activity of regorafenib plus cetuximab was also observed in an orthotopic
      colorectal cancer model of HCT116 cells. In particular, the combined treatment
      induced a significant tumor growth inhibition in the primary tumor site (cecum)
      and completely prevented metastasis formation. CONCLUSIONS: The combined
      treatment with cetuximab and regorafenib could be a strategy to overcome
      resistance to anti-EGFR therapies in metastatic colorectal cancer patients.

PMID- 25838392
TI  - CMVpp65 Vaccine Enhances the Antitumor Efficacy of Adoptively Transferred CD19
      Redirected CMV-Specific T Cells.
AB  - PURPOSE: T cells engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) recognizing
      CD19 can induce complete remission of B-cell malignancies in clinical trials;
      however, in some disease settings, CAR therapy confers only modest clinical
      benefit due to attenuated persistence of CAR T cells. The purpose of this study
      was to enhance persistence and augment the antitumor activity of adoptively
      transferred CD19CAR T cells by restimulating CAR(+) T cells through an endogenous
      cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific T-cell receptor. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: CMV-specific
      T cells from CMV seropositive healthy donors were selected after stimulation with
      pp65 protein and transduced with clinical-grade lentivirus expressing the
      CD19R:CD28:zeta/EGFRt CAR. The resultant bispecific T cells, targeting CMV and
      CD19, were expanded via CD19 CAR-mediated signals using CD19-expressing cells.
      RESULTS: The bispecific T cells proliferated vigorously after engagement with
      either endogenous CMVpp65 T-cell receptors or engineered CD19 CARs, exhibiting
      specific cytolytic activity and IFNgamma secretion. Upon adoptive transfer into
      immunodeficient mice bearing human lymphomas, the bispecific T cells exhibited
      proliferative response and enhanced antitumor activity following CMVpp65 peptide
      vaccine administration. CONCLUSIONS: We have redirected CMV-specific T cells to
      recognize and lyse tumor cells via CD19CARs, while maintaining their ability to
      proliferate in response to CMV antigen stimulation. These results illustrate the
      clinical applications of CMV vaccine to augment the antitumor activity of
      adoptively transferred CD19CAR T cells in patients with B-cell malignancies.

PMID- 25838393
TI  - Molecular Pathways: Targeting Cellular Energy Metabolism in Cancer via Inhibition
      of SLC2A1 and LDHA.
AB  - Reprogramming of cellular energy metabolism is widely accepted to be one of the
      main hallmarks of cancer. The aberrant expression pattern of key regulators in
      the glycolysis pathway in cancer cells corroborates with the hypothesis that most
      cancer cells utilize aerobic glycolysis as their main ATP production method
      instead of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Overexpression of SLC2A1 and
      LDHA, both important regulators of the glycolysis pathway, was detected in the
      premalignant lesions and tumors of lung cancer patients, suggesting the
      involvement of these proteins in early carcinogenesis and tumor progression in
      cancer. Preclinical studies demonstrated that inhibiting SLC2A1 or LDHA led to
      diminished tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. SLC2A1 and LDHA inhibitors, when
      administered in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents, showed
      synergistic antitumor effects by resensitizing chemoresistant cancer cells to the
      chemotherapies. These results indicate that disrupting SLC2A1, LDHA, or other
      regulators in cancer cell energetics is a very promising approach for new
      targeted therapies.

PMID- 25838394
TI  - Intratumoral Heterogeneity: From Diversity Comes Resistance.
AB  - Tumors consist of a heterogeneous mixture of functionally distinct cancer cells.
      These functional differences can be caused by varying levels of receptor
      activity, differentiation, and distinct metabolic and epigenetic states.
      Intratumoral heterogeneity can lead to interdependence among different
      subpopulations of cells for sustained tumor growth. In addition, subpopulations
      can vary widely in their responses to therapeutic agents. As such, it is believed
      that intratumoral heterogeneity may underlie incomplete treatment responses,
      acquired and innate resistance, and disease relapse observed in the clinic in
      response to conventional chemotherapy and targeted agents.

PMID- 25838395
TI  - Eribulin mesylate: mechanism of action of a unique microtubule-targeting agent.
AB  - Eribulin mesylate (eribulin), an analogue of the marine natural product
      halichondrin B, is a microtubule-depolymerizing drug that has utility in the
      treatment of patients with breast cancer. Clinical trial results have
      demonstrated that eribulin treatment provides a survival advantage to patients
      with metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer previously treated with an
      anthracycline and a taxane. Furthermore, a pooled analysis of two pivotal phase
      III trials has demonstrated that eribulin also improves overall survival in
      several patient subgroups, including in women with HER2-negative disease and
      triple-negative breast cancer. This review covers the preclinical research that
      led to the clinical testing and approval of eribulin, as well as subsequent
      research that was prompted by distinct and unexpected effects of eribulin in the
      clinic. Initial studies with halichondrin B demonstrated unique effects on
      tubulin binding that resulted in distinct microtubule-dependent events and
      antitumor actions. Consistent with the actions of the natural product, eribulin
      has potent microtubule-depolymerizing activities and properties that distinguish
      it from other microtubule-targeting agents. Here, we review new results that
      further differentiate the effects of eribulin from other agents on peripheral
      nerves, angiogenesis, vascular remodeling, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal
      transition. Together, these data highlight the distinct properties of eribulin
      and begin to delineate the mechanisms behind the increased survival benefit
      provided by eribulin for patients.

PMID- 25838396
TI  - Molecular Pathways: Leveraging the BCL-2 Interactome to Kill Cancer Cells-
      Mitochondrial Outer Membrane Permeabilization and Beyond.
AB  - The inhibition of apoptosis enables the survival and proliferation of tumors and
      contributes to resistance to conventional chemotherapy agents and is therefore a
      very promising avenue for the development of new agents that will enhance current
      cancer therapies. The BCL-2 family proteins orchestrate apoptosis at the
      mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum and are involved in other processes such
      as autophagy and unfolded protein response (UPR) that lead to different types of
      cell death. Over the past decade, significant efforts have been made to restore
      apoptosis using small molecules that modulate the activity of BCL-2 family
      proteins. The small molecule ABT-199, which antagonizes the activity of BCL-2, is
      currently the furthest in clinical trials and shows promising activity in many
      lymphoid malignancies as a single agent and in combination with conventional
      chemotherapy agents. Here, we discuss strategies to improve the specificity of
      pharmacologically modulating various antiapoptotic BCL-2 family proteins, review
      additional BCL-2 family protein interactions that can be exploited for the
      improvement of conventional anticancer therapies, and highlight important points
      of consideration for assessing the activity of small-molecule BCL-2 family
      protein modulators.

PMID- 25838397
TI  - Upregulation of Periostin and Reactive Stroma Is Associated with Primary
      Chemoresistance and Predicts Clinical Outcomes in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer.
AB  - PURPOSE: Up to one third of ovarian cancer patients are intrinsically resistant
      to platinum-based treatment. However, predictive and therapeutic strategies are
      lacking due to a poor understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms. This
      study aimed to identify key molecular characteristics that are associated with
      primary chemoresistance in epithelial ovarian cancers. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Gene
      expression profiling was performed on a discovery set of 85 ovarian tumors with
      clinically well-defined response to chemotherapies as well as on an independent
      validation dataset containing 138 ovarian patients from the chemotreatment arm of
      the ICON7 trial. RESULTS: We identified a distinct "reactive stroma" gene
      signature that is specifically associated with primary chemoresistant tumors and
      was further upregulated in posttreatment recurrent tumors. Immunohistochemistry
      (IHC) and RNA in situ hybridization (RNA ISH) analyses on three of the highest
      ranked signature genes (POSTN, LOX, and FAP) confirmed that modulation of the
      reactive stroma signature genes within the peritumoral stromal compartments was
      specifically associated with the clinical chemoresistance. Consistent with these
      findings, chemosensitive ovarian cells grown in the presence of recombinant POSTN
      promoted resistance to carboplatin and paclitaxel treatment in vitro. Finally, we
      validated the reactive stroma signature in an independent dataset and
      demonstrated that a high POSTN expression level predicts shorter progression-free
      survival following first-line chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight
      the important interplay between cancer and the tumor microenvironment in ovarian
      cancer biology and treatment. The identified reactive stromal components in this
      study provide a molecular basis to the further development of novel diagnostic
      and therapeutic strategies for overcoming chemoresistance in ovarian cancer.

PMID- 25838398
TI  - Pulmonary vein isolation for persistent atrial fibrillation. Long-term results.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pulmonary vein isolation has been employed to eliminate paroxysmal
      atrial fibrillation. However, the long-term outcome in terms of long-standing
      persistent atrial fibrillation is unclear. METHODS: One hundred patients with
      rheumatic mitral valve disease and long-standing (>1 year) persistent atrial
      fibrillation were operated on between July 1998 and June 2007. Mitral valve
      surgery and surgical isolation (cut-and-sew) of the pulmonary veins were
      performed in all cases. Transthoracic echocardiography and 24-h Holter monitoring
      were obtained after 3 and 6 months and yearly thereafter. RESULTS: Early and late
      follow-up was 99% and 92% complete, respectively. The endpoint was freedom from
      atrial fibrillation. There was one (1%) hospital death. Atrial fibrillation was
      present in 39%, 47%, 63% and 68% of patients at 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, and 5
      years after surgery, respectively. The odds ratios for recurrence of atrial
      fibrillation postoperatively were 1.41 (95% confidence interval 1.14-1.74), 2.17
      (95% confidence interval 1.63-2.90), and 3.62 (95% confidence interval 2.44-5.38)
      at 1 week, 3 years, and 5 years, respectively. Actuarial freedom from atrial
      fibrillation was 35% at 3 years, and 30% at 5 years. A direct relationship was
      observed between preoperative left atrial size >6 cm and atrial fibrillation
      recurrence at 5 years (p < 0.05 odds ratio = 2.5, 95% confidence interval 1.15 -
      5.4). CONCLUSIONS: No beneficial effects of simple pulmonary vein isolation for
      long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation concomitant with rheumatic mitral
      valve disease were observed. Atrial fibrillation cannot be fully treated using
      only pulmonary vein isolation.

PMID- 25838399
TI  - Doctors demand apology for UK diplomat's involvement in Pakistan tobacco meeting.

PMID- 25838400
TI  - BMA agrees to support legislation to abolish purchaser-provider split.

PMID- 25838401
TI  - Experimental drug that injured UK volunteers resumes in human trials.

PMID- 25838402
TI  - Clinical relevance of CYP3A5 genotype on maraviroc exposures.

PMID- 25838403
TI  - Response to "clinical relevance of CYP3A5 genotype on maraviroc exposures".

PMID- 25838404
TI  - Correction to: "hepatic uptake of atorvastatin: influence of variability in
      transporter expression on uptake clearance and drug-drug interactions".

PMID- 25838410
TI  - Teenagers with back pain.

PMID- 25838411
TI  - Sick day rules in kidney disease.

PMID- 25838412
TI  - Antiphospholipid syndrome.

PMID- 25838413
TI  - The impact of calcium assay change on a local adjusted calcium equation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Deriving and validating local adjusted calcium equations is important
      for ensuring appropriate calcium status classification. We investigated the
      impact on our local adjusted calcium equation of a change in calcium method by
      the manufacturer from cresolphthalein complexone to NM-BAPTA. METHODS: Calcium
      and albumin results from general practice requests were extracted from the
      Laboratory Information Management system for a three-month period. Results for
      which there was evidence of disturbance in calcium homeostasis were excluded
      leaving 13,482 sets of results for analysis. The adjusted calcium equation was
      derived following least squares regression analysis of total calcium on albumin
      and normalized to the mean calcium concentration of the data-set. The revised
      equation (NM-BAPTA calcium method) was compared with the previous equation
      (cresolphthalein complexone calcium method). RESULTS: The switch in calcium assay
      resulted in a small change in the adjusted calcium equation but was not
      considered to be clinically significant. The calcium reference interval differed
      from that proposed by Pathology Harmony in the UK. CONCLUSIONS: Local adjusted
      calcium equations should be re-assessed following changes in the calcium method.
      A locally derived reference interval may differ from the consensus harmonized
      reference interval.

PMID- 25838414
TI  - Simple quantitation for potential serum disease biomarker peptides, primarily
      identified by a peptidomics approach in the serum with hypertensive disorders of
      pregnancy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We previously reported peptide candidates of disease biomarkers for
      pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome using a novel peptidomic analytical
      method, BLOTCHIP(r)-MS. The aim of this study was to establish a sandwich enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay system for quantitation of such peptides and to
      validate their usefulness as disease biomarkers of pregnancy-induced hypertension
      syndrome including gestational hypertension/pre-eclampsia. METHODS: We focused on
      three peptide fragments, kininogen-1439-456 (PDA039), kininogen-1438-456 (PDA044)
      and cysteinyl alpha2-HS-glycoprotein341-367 (PDA071). Using polyclonal antibodies
      specific for each peptide, suitable conditions for the sandwich enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay system were investigated. The quantitative enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay values were confirmed by quantitative matrix assisted laser
      desorption/ionization time-of-flight MS analyses. Using the established enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay systems, serum samples from gestational
      hypertension/pre-eclampsia patients and paired serum samples from healthy
      pregnant females were analysed. RESULTS: The optimum sandwich enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay conditions for PDA039/044 quantitation were developed.
      Quantitation of PDA071 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay failed, presumably
      due to issues with polyclonal antibody specificity for the native peptide. Bland
      Altman plots showed a satisfactory correlation between the serum PDA039/044
      concentration by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and that by quantitative MS
      analysis. Although the PDA044 concentration showed no significant change during
      pregnancy, including gestational hypertension/pre-eclampsia patients, the serum
      PDA039 concentration was significantly increased (P < 0.0001) in the patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: The simple quantitation technology for PDA039 by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay was established for the first time. PDA039 confirmed its
      clinical utility as a disease biomarker for gestational hypertension/pre
      eclampsia by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay system using clinical samples.
      The information provided from the present study would be a new valuable addition
      in the field of gestational hypertension/pre-eclampsia research.

PMID- 25838415
TI  - Highly sensitive reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography assay for
      the detection of Tamm-Horsfall protein in human urine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tamm-Horsfall protein (also known as uromodulin) is the most abundant
      urinary protein in healthy individuals. Since initially characterized by Tamm and
      Horsfall, the amount of urinary excretion and structural mutations of Tamm
      Horsfall protein is associated with kidney diseases. However, currently available
      assays for Tamm-Horsfall protein, which are mainly enzyme-linked immunosorbent
      assay-based, suffer from poor reproducibility and might give false negative
      results. METHODS: We developed a novel, quantitative assay for Tamm-Horsfall
      protein using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. A
      precipitation pretreatment avoided urine matrix interference and excessive sample
      dilution. High-performance liquid chromatography optimization based on polarity
      allowed excellent separation of Tamm-Horsfall protein from other major urine
      components. RESULTS: Our method exhibited high precision (based on the relative
      standard deviations of intraday [<=2.77%] and interday [<=5.35%] repetitions).
      The Tamm-Horsfall protein recovery rate was 100.0-104.2%. The mean Tamm-Horsfall
      protein concentration in 25 healthy individuals was 31.6 +/- 18.8 mg/g
      creatinine. There was a strong correlation between data obtained by high
      performance liquid chromatography and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (r =
      0.906), but enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay values tended to be lower than high
      performance liquid chromatography values at low Tamm-Horsfall protein
      concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: The high sensitivity and reproducibility of our Tamm
      Horsfall protein assay will reduce the number of false negative results of the
      sample compared with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Moreover, our method is
      superior to other high-performance liquid chromatography methods, and a simple
      protocol will facilitate further research on the physiological role of Tamm
      Horsfall protein.

PMID- 25838416
TI  - Ronald J. Konopka.

PMID- 25838417
TI  - Phase response of the Arabidopsis thaliana circadian clock to light pulses of
      different wavelengths.
AB  - Light is known as one of the most powerful environmental time cues for the
      circadian system. The quality of light is characterized by its intensity and
      wavelength. We examined how the phase response of Arabidopsis thaliana depends on
      the wavelength of the stimulus light and the type of light perturbation. Using
      transgenic A. thaliana expressing a luciferase gene, we monitored the rhythm of
      the bioluminescence signal. We stimulated the plants under constant red light
      using 3 light perturbation treatments: (1) increasing the red light intensity,
      (2) turning on a blue light while turning off the red light, and (3) turning on a
      blue light while keeping the red light on. To examine the phase response
      properties, we generated a phase transition curve (PTC), which plots the phase
      after the perturbation as a function of the phase before the perturbation. To
      evaluate the effect of the 3 light perturbation treatments, we simulated PTCs
      using a mathematical model of the plant circadian clock and fitted the simulated
      PTCs to the experimentally measured PTCs. Among the 3 treatments, perturbation
      (3) provided the strongest stimulus. The results indicate that the color of the
      stimulus light and the type of pulse administration affect the phase response in
      a complex manner. Moreover, the results suggest the involvement of interaction
      between red and blue light signaling pathways in resetting of the plant circadian
      clock. 

PMID- 25838418
TI  - Twilight dominates over moonlight in adjusting Drosophila's activity pattern.
AB  - Light is the most important zeitgeber for the synchronization of the Drosophila
      melanogaster circadian clock. In nature, there is twilight, and the nights are
      rarely completely dark, a fact that is usually disregarded in lab experiments.
      Recent studies showed contrary effects of simulated twilight and moonlight on fly
      locomotor activity, with twilight shifting morning and evening activity into the
      day and moonlight shifting it into the night. A currently unanswered question is,
      what may happen to locomotor activity when flies are exposed to more natural
      conditions in which both moonlight and twilight are simulated? Our data
      demonstrate that flies are able to integrate twilight and moonlight. However,
      twilight seems to dominate over moonlight as both, morning and evening activity
      peaks, take place at dawn or at dusk, respectively, and not during the night.
      Furthermore, nocturnal activity decreases in the presence of twilight. The
      compound eyes are essential for this behavior, and by investigating different
      photoreceptor mutants, we unraveled the importance of photoreceptor cells 7 and 8
      for wild-type phases of the activity peaks. To adjust nocturnal activity levels
      to a wild-type manner, all photoreceptor cells work together in a complex way,
      with rhodopsin 6 having a prominent role. 

PMID- 25838419
TI  - At-sea trial of 24-h-based submarine watchstanding schedules with high and low
      correlated color temperature light sources.
AB  - United States Navy submariners have historically lived with circadian disruption
      while at sea due to 18-h-based watchschedules. Previous research demonstrated
      that circadian entrainment improved with 24-h-based watchschedules. Twenty-nine
      male crew members participated in the study, which took place on an actual
      submarine patrol. The crew were exposed, first, to experimental high correlated
      color temperature (CCT = 13,500 K) fluorescent light sources and then to standard
      issue fluorescent light sources (CCT = 4100 K). A variety of outcome measures
      were employed to determine if higher levels of circadian-effective light during
      on-watch times would further promote behavioral alignment to 24-h-based
      watchschedules. The high CCT light source produced significantly higher circadian
      light exposures than the low CCT light source, which was associated with
      significantly greater 24-h behavioral alignment with work schedules using phasor
      analysis, greater levels of sleep efficiency measured with wrist actigraphy,
      lower levels of subjective sleepiness measured with the Karolinska Sleepiness
      Scale, and higher nighttime melatonin concentrations measured by morning urinary
      6-sulfatoxymelatonin/creatinine ratios. Unlike these diverse outcome measures,
      performance scores were significantly worse under the high CCT light source than
      under the low CCT light source, due to practice effects. As hypothesized, with
      the exception of the performance scores, all of the data converge to suggest that
      high CCT light sources, combined with 24-h watchschedules, promote better
      behavioral alignment with work schedules and greater sleep quality on submarines.
      Since the order and the type of light sources were confounded in this field
      study, the results should only be considered as consistent with our theoretical
      understanding of how regular, 24-h light-dark exposures combined with high
      circadian light exposures can promote greater behavioral alignment with work
      schedules and with sleep. 

PMID- 25838420
TI  - GPs in England must report certain patient harms under new rules.

PMID- 25838421
TI  - High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) Phospholipid Content and Cholesterol Efflux
      Capacity Are Reduced in Patients With Very High HDL Cholesterol and Coronary
      Disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) are
      strongly inversely associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), and high HDL-C
      is generally associated with reduced risk of CAD. Extremely high HDL-C with CAD
      is an unusual phenotype, and we hypothesized that the HDL in such individuals may
      have an altered composition and reduced function when compared with controls with
      similarly high HDL-C and no CAD. APPROACH AND RESULTS: Fifty-five subjects with
      very high HDL-C (mean, 86 mg/dL) and onset of CAD at the age of ~ 60 years with
      no known risk factors for CAD (cases) were identified through systematic
      recruitment. A total of 120 control subjects without CAD, matched for race, sex,
      and HDL-C level (controls), were identified. In all subjects, HDL composition was
      analyzed and HDL cholesterol efflux capacity was assessed. HDL phospholipid
      composition was significantly lower in cases (92 +/- 37 mg/dL) than in controls
      (109 +/- 43 mg/dL; P=0.0095). HDL cholesterol efflux capacity was significantly
      lower in cases (1.96 +/- 0.39) than in controls (2.11 +/- 0.43; P=0.04).
      CONCLUSIONS: In people with very high HDL-C, reduced HDL phospholipid content and
      cholesterol efflux capacity are associated with the paradoxical development of
      CAD.

PMID- 25838422
TI  - Loss of interleukin-21 receptor activation in hypoxic endothelial cells impairs
      perfusion recovery after hindlimb ischemia.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Surgical hindlimb ischemia (HLI) in mice has become a valuable
      preclinical model to study peripheral arterial disease. We previously identified
      that the different phenotypic outcomes after HLI across inbred mouse strains is
      related to a region on the short arm of mouse chromosome 7. The gene coding the
      interleukin-21 receptor (IL-21R) lies at the peak of association in this region.
      APPROACH AND RESULTS: With quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, we
      found that a mouse strain with a greater ability to upregulate IL-21R after HLI
      had better perfusion recovery than a strain with no upregulation after HLI.
      Immunofluorescent staining of ischemic hindlimb tissue showed IL-21R expression
      on endothelial cells (ECs) from C57BL/6 mice. An EC-enriched fraction isolated
      from ischemic hindlimb muscle showed higher Il-21R levels than an EC-enriched
      fraction from nonischemic limbs. In vitro, human umbilical vein ECs showed
      elevated IL-21R expression after hypoxia and serum starvation. Under these
      conditions, IL-21 treatment increased cell viability, decreased cell apoptosis,
      and augmented tube formation. In vivo, either knockout Il21r or blocking IL-21
      signaling by treating with IL-21R-Fc (fusion protein that blocks IL-21 binding to
      its receptor) in C57BL/6 mice resulted in less perfusion recovery after HLI. Both
      in vitro and in vivo modulation of the IL-21/IL-21R axis under hypoxic conditions
      resulted in increased signal transducer and activator of transcription 3
      phosphorylation and a subsequent increase in the B-cell lymphoma leukemia-2/BCL-2
      associated X protein ratio. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that IL-21R
      upregulation and ligand activation in hypoxic ECs may help perfusion recovery by
      limiting/preventing apoptosis and favoring cell survival and angiogenesis through
      the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 pathway.

PMID- 25838423
TI  - Longitudinal association of carotid plaque presence and intima-media thickness
      with depressive symptoms in the elderly: the three-city study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate prospectively whether subclinical vascular disease is
      associated with future depressive symptoms in the elderly. APPROACH AND RESULTS:
      A multicenter cohort of community-dwelling individuals aged 65 to 85 years was
      examined for carotid plaque presence and common carotid artery intima-media
      thickness at baseline and followed up after 2, 4, 7, and 10 years. At baseline
      and follow-up examinations, depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center
      for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). High level of depressive
      symptoms was defined as a CES-D score >16 in men and >22 in women. Among 4125
      participants (58% women) at baseline, men more frequently showed carotid plaque
      presence and had higher mean common carotid artery intima-media thickness than
      women. After adjustment for major cardiovascular risk factors, carotid plaque
      presence was associated with a higher CES-D score at the 10-year follow-up in men
      (+1.46; 95% confidence interval, 0.71-2.20; P<0.001), but not in women. When
      restricting analyses to individuals without cardiovascular disease at baseline,
      carotid plaque presence increased the likelihood of high level of depressive
      symptoms at follow-up examinations in men (odds ratio, 1.47; 95% confidence
      interval, 1.06-2.05; P=0.022), but not in women. One SD increase in log
      transformed common carotid artery intima-media thickness was associated with a
      higher CES-D score at the 10-year follow-up in women (+0.55; 95% confidence
      interval, 0.16-0.95; P=0.006) and men (+0.40; 95% confidence interval, 0.02-0.78;
      P=0.037). Common carotid artery intima-media thickness did not increase the
      likelihood of high level of depressive symptoms at follow-up in both sexes.
      CONCLUSIONS: Subclinical vascular disease is associated with the progression of
      depressive symptoms in elderly men and women and the occurrence of high level of
      depressive symptoms in elderly men.

PMID- 25838424
TI  - Endothelial epigenetics in biomechanical stress: disturbed flow-mediated
      epigenomic plasticity in vivo and in vitro.
AB  - Arterial endothelial phenotype is regulated by local hemodynamic forces that are
      linked to regional susceptibility to atherogenesis. A complex hierarchy of
      transcriptional, translational, and post-translational mechanisms is greatly
      influenced by the characteristics of local arterial shear stress environments. We
      discuss the emerging role of localized disturbed blood flow on epigenetic
      mechanisms of endothelial responses to biomechanical stress, including
      transcriptional regulation by proximal promoter DNA methylation, and post
      transcriptional and translational regulation of gene and protein expression by
      chromatin remodeling and noncoding RNA-based mechanisms. Dynamic responses to
      flow characteristics in vivo and in vitro include site-specific differentially
      methylated regions of swine and mouse endothelial methylomes, histone marks
      regulating chromatin conformation, microRNAs, and long noncoding RNAs. Flow
      mediated epigenomic responses intersect with cis and trans factor regulation to
      maintain endothelial function in a shear-stressed environment and may contribute
      to localized endothelial dysfunctions that promote atherosusceptibility. 

PMID- 25838426
TI  - Cellular Cholesterol Accumulation Facilitates Ubiquitination and Lysosomal
      Degradation of Cell Surface-Resident ABCA1.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: By excreting cellular cholesterol to apolipoprotein A-I, ATP-binding
      cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) mediates the biogenesis of high-density
      lipoprotein in hepatocytes and prevents foam cell formation from macrophages. We
      recently showed that cell surface-resident ABCA1 (csABCA1) undergoes
      ubiquitination and later lysosomal degradation through the endosomal sorting
      complex required for transport system. Herein, we investigated the relevance of
      this degradation pathway to the turnover of csABCA1 in hypercholesterolemia.
      APPROACH AND RESULTS: Immunoprecipitation and cell surface-biotinylation studies
      with HepG2 cells and mouse peritoneal macrophages showed that the ubiquitination
      level and degradation of csABCA1 were facilitated by treatment with a liver X
      receptor (LXR) agonist and acetylated low-density lipoprotein. The effects of an
      LXR agonist and acetylated low-density lipoprotein on the degradation of csABCA1
      were repressed completely by treatment with bafilomycin, an inhibitor of
      lysosomal degradation, and by depletion of tumor susceptibility gene 101, a major
      component of endosomal sorting complex required for transport-I. RNAi analysis
      indicated that LXRbeta inhibited the accelerated lysosomal degradation of csABCA1
      by the LXR agonist, regardless of its transcriptional activity. Cell surface
      coimmunoprecipitation with COS1 cells expressing extracellularly hemagglutinin
      tagged ABCA1 showed that LXRbeta interacted with csABCA1 and inhibited the
      ubiquitination of csABCA1. Immunoprecipitates with anti-ABCA1 antibodies from the
      liver plasma membranes showed less LXRbeta and a higher ubiquitination level of
      ABCA1 in high-fat diet-fed mice than in normal chow-fed mice. CONCLUSIONS: Under
      conditions of high cellular cholesterol content, csABCA1 became susceptible to
      ubiquitination by dissociation of LXRbeta from csABCA1, which facilitated the
      lysosomal degradation of csABCA1 through the endosomal sorting complex required
      for transport system.

PMID- 25838425
TI  - Myocardial Infarction-Associated SNP at 6p24 Interferes With MEF2 Binding and
      Associates With PHACTR1 Expression Levels in Human Coronary Arteries.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Coronary artery disease (CAD), including myocardial infarction (MI),
      is the main cause of death in the world. Genome-wide association studies have
      identified dozens of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with
      CAD/MI. One of the most robust CAD/MI genetic associations is with intronic SNPs
      in the gene PHACTR1 on chromosome 6p24. How these PHACTR1 SNPs influence CAD/MI
      risk, and whether PHACTR1 itself is the causal gene at the locus, is currently
      unknown. APPROACH AND RESULTS: Using genetic fine-mapping and DNA resequencing
      experiments, we prioritized an intronic SNP (rs9349379) in PHACTR1 as causal
      variant. We showed that this variant is an expression quantitative trait locus
      for PHACTR1 expression in human coronary arteries. Experiments in endothelial
      cell extracts confirmed that alleles at rs9349379 are differentially bound by the
      transcription factors myocyte enhancer factor-2. We engineered a deletion of this
      myocyte enhancer factor-2-binding site using CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing
      methodology. Heterozygous endothelial cells carrying this deletion express 35%
      less PHACTR1. Finally, we found no evidence that PHACTR1 expression levels are
      induced when stimulating human endothelial cells with vascular endothelial growth
      factor, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, or shear stress. CONCLUSIONS: Our results
      establish a link between intronic SNPs in PHACTR1, myocyte enhancer factor-2
      binding, and transcriptional functions at the locus, PHACTR1 expression levels in
      coronary arteries and CAD/MI risk. Because PHACTR1 SNPs are not associated with
      the traditional risk factors for CAD/MI (eg, blood lipids or pressure, diabetes
      mellitus), our results suggest that PHACTR1 may influence CAD/MI risk through as
      yet unknown mechanisms in the vascular endothelium.

PMID- 25838427
TI  - Lean and Obese Coronary Perivascular Adipose Tissue Impairs Vasodilation via
      Differential Inhibition of Vascular Smooth Muscle K+ Channels.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The effects of coronary perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) on
      vasomotor tone are influenced by an obese phenotype and are distinct from other
      adipose tissue depots. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the
      effects of lean and obese coronary PVAT on end-effector mechanisms of coronary
      vasodilation and to identify potential factors involved. APPROACH AND RESULTS:
      Hematoxylin and eosin staining revealed similarities in coronary perivascular
      adipocyte size between lean and obese Ossabaw swine. Isometric tension studies of
      isolated coronary arteries from Ossabaw swine revealed that factors derived from
      lean and obese coronary PVAT attenuated vasodilation to adenosine. Lean coronary
      PVAT inhibited K(Ca) and KV7, but not KATP channel-mediated dilation in lean
      arteries. In the absence of PVAT, vasodilation to K(Ca) and KV7 channel
      activation was impaired in obese arteries relative to lean arteries. Obese PVAT
      had no effect on K(Ca) or KV7 channel-mediated dilation in obese arteries. In
      contrast, obese PVAT inhibited KATP channel-mediated dilation in both lean and
      obese arteries. The differential effects of obese versus lean PVAT were not
      associated with changes in either coronary KV7 or K(ATP) channel expression.
      Incubation with calpastatin attenuated coronary vasodilation to adenosine in lean
      but not in obese arteries. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that lean and
      obese coronary PVAT attenuates vasodilation via inhibitory effects on vascular
      smooth muscle K(+) channels and that alterations in specific factors such as
      calpastatin are capable of contributing to the initiation or progression of
      smooth muscle dysfunction in obesity.

PMID- 25838428
TI  - Liver X receptor activation promotes polyunsaturated fatty acid synthesis in
      macrophages: relevance in the context of atherosclerosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Liver X receptors (LXRs) modulate cholesterol and fatty acid
      homeostasis as well as inflammation. This study aims to decipher the role of LXRs
      in the regulation of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) synthesis in macrophages
      in the context of atherosclerosis. APPROACH AND RESULTS: Transcriptomic analysis
      in human monocytes and macrophages was used to identify putative LXR target genes
      among enzymes involved in PUFA biosynthesis. In parallel, the consequences of LXR
      activation or LXR invalidation on PUFA synthesis and distribution were
      determined. Finally, we investigated the impact of LXR activation on PUFA
      metabolism in vivo in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice. mRNA levels of acyl-CoA
      synthase long-chain family member 3, fatty acid desaturases 1 and 2, and fatty
      acid elongase 5 were significantly increased in human macrophages after LXR
      agonist treatment, involving both direct and sterol responsive element binding
      protein-1-dependent mechanisms. Subsequently, pharmacological LXR agonist
      increased long chain PUFA synthesis and enhanced arachidonic acid content in the
      phospholipids of human macrophages. Increased fatty acid desaturases 1 and 2 and
      acyl-CoA synthase long-chain family member 3 mRNA levels as well as increased
      arachidonic acid to linoleic acid and docosahexaenoic acid to eicosapentaenoic
      acid ratios were also found in atheroma plaque and peritoneal foam cells from LXR
      agonist-treated mice. By contrast, murine LXR-deficient macrophages displayed
      reduced expression of fatty acid elongase 5, acyl-CoA synthase long-chain family
      member 3 and fatty acid desaturases 1, as well as decreased cellular levels of
      docosahexaenoic acid and arachidonic acid. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that
      LXR activation triggers PUFA synthesis in macrophages, which results in
      significant alterations in the macrophage lipid composition. Moreover, we
      demonstrate here that LXR agonist treatment modulates PUFA metabolism in
      atherosclerotic arteries.

PMID- 25838429
TI  - Nonclassical patrolling monocyte function in the vasculature.
AB  - Nonclassical patrolling monocytes are characterized by their unique ability to
      actively patrol the vascular endothelium under homeostatic and inflammatory
      conditions. Patrolling monocyte subsets (CX3CR1(high)Ly6C(-) in mouse and
      CX3CR1(high)CD14(dim)CD16(+) in humans) are distinct from the classical monocyte
      subsets (CCR2(high)Ly6C(+) in mouse and CCR2(high)CD14(+)CD16(-) in humans) and
      exhibit unique functions in the vasculature and inflammatory disease. Patrolling
      monocytes function in several disease settings to remove damaged cells and debris
      from the vasculature and have been associated with wound healing and the
      resolution of inflammation in damaged tissues. This review highlights the unique
      functions of these patrolling monocytes in the vasculature and during
      inflammation. 

PMID- 25838430
TI  - Identification of Pathogenic Cardiac CD11c+ Macrophages in Nod1-Mediated Acute
      Coronary Arteritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Nod1 is an intracellular pattern recognition receptor for bacterial
      peptidoglycan fragments. We previously reported that a synthetic Nod1 ligand,
      FK565, induced acute coronary arteritis in mice similar to that of Kawasaki
      disease. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this characteristic
      inflammation have remained elusive. APPROACH AND RESULTS: We found that
      CD11c(+)MHC class II(+) cells accumulated in the heart of FK565-treated mice
      before arteritis development. Morphological features and gene expression
      signatures of the cardiac CD11c(+)MHC class II(+) cells suggested that this
      population is closely related to macrophages, and thus, we designated them
      cardiac CD11c(+) macrophages. Nod1 in nonhematopoietic cells, rather than
      hematopoietic cells, was required for the increase of cardiac CD11c(+)
      macrophages and arteritis development. Among nonhematopoietic cells, cardiac
      endothelial cells produced a large amount of chemokines in response to FK565.
      Endothelial cell-specific blockade of Nod1 signaling suppressed FK565-induced
      expression of these chemokines, accumulation of cardiac CD11c(+) macrophages, and
      subsequent coronary arteritis development. We also found that CCR2(+)Ly6C(hi)
      inflammatory monocytes in peripheral blood supplied precursors of cardiac
      CD11c(+) macrophages. CCR2-deficient mice or pertussis toxin-treated mice
      exhibited decreased numbers of cardiac CD11c(+) macrophages and reduced
      arteritis. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that Ly6C(hi) monocytes are
      recruited to FK565-activated endothelial cells to generate cardiac CD11c(+)
      macrophages, which play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of acute coronary
      arteritis.

PMID- 25838431
TI  - Noninvasive molecular ultrasound monitoring of vessel healing after intravascular
      surgical procedures in a preclinical setup.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Cardiovascular interventions induce damage to the vessel wall making
      antithrombotic therapy inevitable until complete endothelial recovery. Without a
      method to accurately determine the endothelial status, many patients undergo
      prolonged anticoagulation therapy, denying them any invasive medical procedures,
      such as surgical operations and dental interventions. Therefore, we aim to
      introduce molecular ultrasound imaging of the vascular cell adhesion molecule
      (VCAM)-1 using targeted poly-n-butylcyanoacrylate microbubbles (MB(VCAM-1)) as an
      easy accessible method to monitor accurately the reendothelialization of vessels.
      APPROACH AND RESULTS: ApoE(-/-) mice were fed with an atherogenic diet for 1 and
      12 weeks and subsequently, endothelial denudation was performed in the carotid
      arteries using a guidewire. Molecular ultrasound imaging was performed at
      different time points after denudation (1, 3, 7, and 14 days). An increased
      MB(VCAM-1) binding after 1 day, a peak after 3 days, and a decrease after 7 days
      was found. After 12 weeks of diet, MB(VCAM-1) binding also peaked after 3 days
      but remained high until 7 days, indicating a delay in endothelial recovery. Two
      photon laser scanning microscopy imaging of double fluorescence staining
      confirmed the exposure of VCAM-1 on the superficial layer after arterial injury
      only during the healing phase. After complete reendothelialization, VCAM-1
      expression persisted in the subendothelial layer but was not reachable for the
      MBV(CAM-1) anymore. CONCLUSION: Molecular ultrasound imaging with MB(VCAM-1) is
      promising to assess vascular damage and to monitor endothelial recovery after
      arterial interventions. Thus, it may become an important diagnostic tool
      supporting the development of adequate therapeutic strategies to personalize
      anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory therapy after cardiovascular intervention.

PMID- 25838432
TI  - Current state and novel approaches of antiplatelet therapy.
AB  - An unresolved problem with clinical use of antiplatelet therapy is that a
      significant number of individuals either still get thrombosis or run the risk of
      life-threatening bleeding. Antiplatelet drugs are widely used clinically, either
      chronically for people at risk of athero/thrombotic disease or to prevent
      thrombus formation during surgery. However, a subpopulation may be resistant to
      standard doses, while the platelet targets of these drugs are also critical for
      the normal hemostatic function of platelets. In this review, we will briefly
      examine current antiplatelet therapy and existing targets while focusing on new
      potential approaches for antiplatelet therapy and improved monitoring of effects
      on platelet reactivity in individuals, ultimately to improve antithrombosis with
      minimal bleeding. Primary platelet adhesion-signaling receptors, glycoprotein
      (GP)Ib-IX-V and GPVI, that bind von Willebrand factor/collagen and other
      prothrombotic factors are not targeted by drugs in clinical use, but they are of
      particular interest because of their key role in thrombus formation at
      pathological shear. 

PMID- 25838433
TI  - The management of acute testicular pain in children and adolescents.

PMID- 25838434
TI  - A Combination of Screening and Computational Approaches for the Identification of
      Novel Compounds That Decrease Mast Cell Degranulation.
AB  - High-content screening of compound libraries poses various challenges in the
      early steps in drug discovery such as gaining insights into the mode of action of
      the selected compounds. Here, we addressed these challenges by integrating two
      biological screens through bioinformatics and computational analysis. We screened
      a small-molecule library enriched in amphiphilic compounds in a degranulation
      assay in rat basophilic leukemia 2H3 (RBL-2H3) cells. The same library was
      rescreened in a high-content image-based endocytosis assay in HeLa cells. This
      assay was previously applied to a genome-wide RNAi screen that produced
      quantitative multiparametric phenotypic profiles for genes that directly or
      indirectly affect endocytosis. By correlating the endocytic profiles of the
      compounds with the genome-wide siRNA profiles, we identified candidate pathways
      that may be inhibited by the compounds. Among these, we focused on the Akt
      pathway and validated its inhibition in HeLa and RBL-2H3 cells. We further showed
      that the compounds inhibited the translocation of the Akt-PH domain to the plasma
      membrane. The approach performed here can be used to integrate chemical and
      functional genomics screens for investigating the mechanism of action of
      compounds. 

PMID- 25838435
TI  - Atrial flutter: more than just one of a kind.
AB  - Since its first description about one century ago, our understanding of atrial
      flutter (AFL) circuits has considerably evolved. One AFL circuit can have
      variable electrocardiographic (ECG) manifestations depending on the presence of
      pre-existing atrial lesions, or impaired atrial substrate. Conversely, different
      (right sided or even left sided) atrial circuits including different mechanisms
      (macroreentrant, microreentrant, or focal) can present with a very similar
      surface ECG manifestation. The development of efficient high-resolution
      electroanatomical mapping systems has improved our knowledge about AFL
      mechanisms, as well as facilitated their curative treatment with radiofrequency
      catheter ablation. This article will review ECG features for typical and atypical
      flutters, and emphasize the limitations for circuit location from the surface
      ECG. 

PMID- 25838437
TI  - Duration of dual antiplatelet therapy after coronary artery stenting: where is
      the sweet spot between ischaemia and bleeding?

PMID- 25838436
TI  - The kidney in heart failure: an update.
AB  - Heart and kidney are closely related in the clinical syndrome of heart failure
      (HF). It is now sufficiently clear that renal dysfunction occurs frequently in
      all phenotypes of HF, and when present, it is associated with higher mortality
      and morbidity. While the pathophysiology is multifactorial, the most important
      factors are a reduced renal perfusion and venous congestion. Recent interest has
      focused on worsening renal function (WRF), a situation strongly related to
      mortality, but seemingly only when HF status deteriorates. Unfortunately, to date
      clinicians are unable to identify specifically those patients with a grim
      prognosis following WRF. Although much has been learned on cardiorenal
      interaction in HF, still more questions have been left unanswered. The coming
      decade should provide us with more dedicated epidemiologic, mechanistic, and
      controlled trials in HF patients with reduced renal function. An updated
      classification of the cardiorenal syndrome that incorporates recent evidence and
      points towards areas of interest and uncertainties, and areas where progress is
      needed could facilitate this process. Ultimately, this should lead to preventive
      and treatment strategies that can preserve renal function and associated outcome
      in patients with HF. 

PMID- 25838438
TI  - Under-the-counter acquired acute coronary syndrome: Methaemoglobinaemia.
AB  - A 73-year-old male suffers a type-2 inferior myocardial infarction and is found
      unconscious, hypotensive and centrally cyanotic. His arterial blood gas analysis
      shows a chocolate-brown discoloration, with pO2 45.1 kPa, HbO2 48.9%, MetHb 51%,
      BE -9 and a lactate of 3.7 mmol/l. Administration of 200 mg of methylene blue
      intravenously, normalizes the patient's abnormalities. His life-threatening
      acquired methaemoglobinaemia appears secondary to under-the-counter viagra.

PMID- 25838439
TI  - Uncontrolled daily pulmonary oedema due to severe mitral regurgitation emergently
      and effectively corrected by Mitraclip(r) implantation.
AB  - MitraClip(r) is usually implanted in stable patients. We report the case of a
      patient having a severe, refractory and daily pulmonary oedema, related to a
      severe restrictive mitral regurgitation secondary to a primitive dilated
      cardiomyopathy. A Mitraclip(r) was emergently implanted, with a dramatic long
      term clinical success. The critical unstable status of a patient should not
      prevent any Mitraclip(r) implantation.

PMID- 25838442
TI  - Regulating laboratory-developed tests: devil will be in details.

PMID- 25838441
TI  - Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy tackles blood cancers.

PMID- 25838443
TI  - Lung cancer screening poised to expand.

PMID- 25838445
TI  - New tool improves doctor-patient communication.

PMID- 25838447
TI  - Caring for Children With Tuberous Sclerosis Complex: What Is the Physical and
      Mental Health Impact on Caregivers?
AB  - Disease burden associated with tuberous sclerosis complex, a genetic disorder
      characterized by benign tumor growth including lesions in multiple organs, puts
      tremendous demands on families. This analysis examines the physical and mental
      health burden of tuberous sclerosis complex caregivers in the United States. An
      institutional review board-approved web-based survey of tuberous sclerosis
      complex caregivers collected information; descriptive analyses were conducted on
      age-based subgroups. A total of 275 caregivers of tuberous sclerosis complex
      patients responded. Mean patient age <= 18 years was 6.9 (+/-4.4) and 42.3 (+/
      18.2) for patients >18 years of age. Caregivers reported multiple tuberous
      sclerosis complex manifestations and high health care utilization for patients.
      Caregivers spending more time on doctor visits or researching tuberous sclerosis
      complex had lower physical and mental health-related quality of life scores and
      more depressive symptoms. Tuberous sclerosis complex caregivers had significantly
      lower physical and mental health-related quality of life scores and more
      depressive symptomatology compared to US healthy adult population norms.

PMID- 25838449
TI  - BRCA2-branching out too?

PMID- 25838450
TI  - Uterine cervical cancer volumetry using T2- and diffusion-weighted MR images in
      patients treated by primary surgery and neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tumor volumetry with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is very common;
      however, the accuracy of such measures remains unclear, especially after
      treatment. PURPOSE: To determine the accuracy of preoperative volume measurements
      of uterine cervical carcinomas resected with and without neoadjuvant chemotherapy
      (NAC) on T2-weighted (T2W) and diffusion-weighted (DWI) MRI. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: Twenty-nine consecutive patients with surgically confirmed uterine
      cervical carcinoma were included in this study. MRI scans were performed before
      preoperative treatment in 17 patients and after two courses of NAC in 12
      patients. In all patients, T2W images and DWI were obtained to measure the tumor
      diameters. The maximum diameter of the surgical specimens was macroscopically
      measured. The correlation coefficients between the measured tumor size using T2W
      imaging and DWI and the size measured on the surgical specimens were calculated
      for all specimens. RESULTS: The correlation coefficient of the three-dimensional
      (3D) tumor volume measurement using T2W imaging and DWI was 0.97 in the primary
      surgery group and was 0.96 in the NAC group. The 3D tumor volume measurement
      using MRI and the measurement of the actual surgical specimen was 0.55 for T2WI
      and 0.48 for DWI in the primary surgery group and 0.88 for T2WI and 0.95 for DWI
      in the NAC group. CONCLUSION: T2WI and DWI can provide accurate 3D tumor volume
      measurements of uterine cervical carcinomas in patients with and without
      preoperative chemotherapy, suggesting that tumor volumetry using 3 T MRI after
      uterus-preserving treatment is feasible.

PMID- 25838451
TI  - Prevalence of C7 level anomalies at the C7 level: an important landmark for
      cervical nerve ultrasonography.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recently, various examination and intervention techniques using
      cervical nerve ultrasonography have been developed. The specific shapes of the C7
      transverse process and vertebral artery in front of the C7 transverse process
      have become landmarks. PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence of anomalies and
      anomalous vertebral artery entrances at the C7 transverse process. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: The records of patients who underwent plain or contrast-enhanced neck or
      cervical spine computed tomography (CT) were reviewed. The examinations were
      scored for the anomalous presence of anterior tubercles or cervical ribs as well
      as vertebral artery entrances in the C7 transverse process. The prevalence of
      anomalies was compared based on patient sex and age. RESULTS: Evaluating the
      examinations from 2067 patients (1046 men; 1021 women), 1% of patients exhibited
      an anomalous presence of anterior tubercles, and 0.3% of patients displayed
      cervical ribs at the C7 transverse process. The prevalence of anomalies process
      was significantly higher in men aged less than 40 years than in older men (P <
      0.001), whereas the prevalence was not higher in women aged less than 40 years
      than in older women. The prevalence of vertebral artery entry into the C7
      transverse foramen was 0.6%. CONCLUSION: Although an anomalous vertebral artery
      entry into the C7 transverse foramen was rare, the prevalence of an anomaly at
      the C7 transverse process was higher in men aged less than 40 years. Therefore,
      we recommend performing CT in younger men before cervical nerve ultrasonographic
      intervention to avoid misinterpretations at the cervical level.

PMID- 25838448
TI  - A rare truncating BRCA2 variant and genetic susceptibility to upper aerodigestive
      tract cancer.
AB  - Deleterious BRCA2 genetic variants markedly increase risk of developing breast
      cancer. A rare truncating BRCA2 genetic variant, rs11571833 (K3326X), has been
      associated with a 2.5-fold risk of lung squamous cell carcinoma but only a modest
      26% increase in breast cancer risk. We analyzed the association between BRCA2 SNP
      rs11571833 and upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) cancer risk with multivariable
      unconditional logistic regression adjusted by sex and combinations of study and
      country for 5942 UADT squamous cell carcinoma case patients and 8086 control
      patients from nine different studies. All statistical tests were two-sided.
      rs11571833 was associated with UADT cancers (odds ratio = 2.53, 95% confidence
      interval = 1.89 to 3.38, P = 3x10(-10)) and was present in European, Latin
      American, and Indian populations but extremely rare in Japanese populations. The
      association appeared more apparent in smokers (current or former) compared with
      never smokers (P het = .026). A robust association between a truncating BRCA2
      variant and UADT cancer risk suggests that treatment strategies orientated
      towards BRCA2 mutations may warrant further investigation in UADT tumors. 

PMID- 25838452
TI  - Chest CT at a dose below 0.3 mSv: impact of iterative reconstruction on image
      quality and lung analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In chest computed tomography (CT), iterative reconstruction (IR)
      algorithms maintain diagnostic image quality (IQ) while significantly reducing
      the dose. PURPOSE: To evaluate the impact of IR on IQ of chest CT at effective
      doses below 0.3 mSv. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty chest CT scans performed at
      effective dose below 0.3 mSv (CT1) were reconstructed varying three parameters:
      filtered back-projection and IR iDose(4) algorithms; 512 * 512 and 768 * 768
      matrices; and sharp and soft kernels, thus generating eight series per patient.
      The qualitative evaluation of the IQ was performed by ranking series from 1 to 8
      (8 corresponding to the highest rank) which was subsequently compared to
      quantitative assessment of IQ by using an appropriated merit formula. Intra- and
      inter-reader IQ ranking reliability was also evaluated using Cohen's kappa.
      Analysis of lung findings was finally compared between the best CT1 series and
      the reference CT (CT0). RESULTS: The best series in terms of qualitative and
      quantitative IQ was obtained using IR, 512(2) matrix and soft kernel. The best
      CT1 series detected nodules greater than 4 mm with an almost perfect match with
      CT0. CONCLUSION: Chest CT performed at effective doses below 0.3 mSv may be used
      to confidently diagnose lesions greater than 4 mm using iDose(4), soft kernel and
      512 * 512 matrix.

PMID- 25838453
TI  - Evaluation of uterine peristalsis using cine MRI on the coronal plane in
      comparison with the sagittal plane.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Uterine peristalsis is supposed to be closely related to the early
      stages of reproduction. Sperms are preferentially transported from the uterine
      cervix to the side of the tube with the dominant follicle. However, with respect
      to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), uterine peristalsis has only been evaluated
      at the sagittal plane of cine MRI. PURPOSE: To evaluate and compare uterine
      peristalsis both on sagittal and coronal planes using cine MRI. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: Internal ethics committee approval was obtained, and subjects provided
      informed written consent. Thirty-one women underwent MRI scans in the
      periovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle. Cine MR images obtained by fast
      advanced spin echo sequence at 3-T field strength magnet (Toshiba Medical
      Systems) were visually evaluated by two independent radiologists. The frequency
      and the direction of peristalsis, and the presence of outer myometrium conduction
      of signal intensities (OMC), were evaluated. The laterality of the dominant
      follicle was determined on axial images and compared with the peristaltic
      direction in fundus. RESULTS: The subjects in which peristaltic directions were
      more clearly recognized were significantly frequent in coronal planes than in
      sagittal planes (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the
      peristaltic frequency between the sagittal and the coronal plane. However, the
      OMC was more recognized in the coronal plane than in the sagittal plane (P <
      0.05). Peristaltic waves conducted toward the possible ovulation side were
      observed in only three of the 10 subjects. CONCLUSION: OMC of uterine peristalsis
      was better demonstrated in the coronal plane compared to the sagittal plane.

PMID- 25838455
TI  - Gisbert R, Schenkman M. Physical therapist interventions for Parkinson disease.
      Phys Ther. 2015;95:299-305.

PMID- 25838454
TI  - "Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do".

PMID- 25838456
TI  - Biventricular repair for common atrioventricular canal defect with parachute left
      atrioventricular valve.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Parachute left atrioventricular (AV) valve can complicate repair of
      common atrioventricular canal (CAVC), and single-ventricle palliation is
      sometimes preferred. The goal of this study is to review our single institutional
      experience in biventricular repair in this patient group. METHODS: The
      demographic, procedural and outcome data were obtained for all children who
      underwent biventricular repair for complete CAVC with parachute [single left
      ventricular (LV) papillary muscle] or forme fruste parachute left AV valve
      (closely spaced LV papillary muscles) from 2001 to 2012. Primary outcomes were
      survival, freedom from left AV valve stenosis (defined as an inflow gradient >=7
      mmHg and post-capillary pulmonary hypertension) and freedom from left AV valve
      replacement. RESULTS: A total of 24 patients were included (21 parachutes, 3
      forme frustes). There was 1 early death (4.2%). At discharge, no patient had more
      than-mild regurgitation and 1 had stenosis. During a median follow-up of 3.7
      years (IQR 4 months to 5 years), there were 2 late deaths (8.3%), 6 patients
      (25%) presented significant left AV valve stenosis and 2 patients (8.3%) required
      valve replacement. Freedom from stenosis was 95 +/- 4.9% at 1 year, 83.1 +/- 8.9%
      at 3 years, 64.7 +/- 13.5% at 5 years and 51.7 +/- 15.8% at 10 years. Complete
      cleft closure was not associated with a significantly different freedom from left
      AV valve reoperation (log-rank test, P = 0.89) or significant stenosis (P =
      0.47). CONCLUSION: Biventricular repair in parachute left AV valve and CAVC is
      feasible with acceptable mortality and freedom from stenosis. The burden of
      reoperation remains significant in this patient group.

PMID- 25838457
TI  - Reply to Phan and Yan.

PMID- 25838458
TI  - Ten-year outcomes of Fontan conversion in Australia and New Zealand demonstrate
      the superiority of a strategy of early conversion.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the benefits of a strategy of early Fontan conversion.
      METHODS: Using the Australia and New Zealand Fontan Registry, retrospective
      analysis of their long-term follow-up data was performed. RESULTS: Between 1990
      and 2014, a total of 39 patients underwent surgical conversion in 6 centres at a
      median age of 23.8 years (IQR: 19.3-28.2), 18.7 +/- 5.0 years post-Fontan. One
      centre tended to perform conversion earlier: interval since first documented
      arrhythmia 2.9 +/- 4.0 vs 4.0 +/- 4.2 years, average NYHA Class 2 +/- 0.4 vs 3 +/
      0.9 (P = 0.008), mean number of preop anti-arrhythmics 1 +/- 0.4 vs 2 +/- 0.6 (P
      = 0.05). Two patients underwent conversion to an extracardiac conduit only, while
      36 had concomitant right atrial cryoablation, of which 16 also had pacemaker
      implantation. Nine patients suffered major cardiac-related complications (7 low
      output syndrome, 3 ECMO, 3 acute renal failure, one stroke) (2/17 from the early
      conversion centre and 7/22 of the others; P = 0.14). Four patients died in
      hospital (10.3%) and 4 late after a median of 0.9 years [95% confidence interval
      (CI): 0.5-1] after conversion. An additional 2 patients needed transplantation at
      1 and 8.8 years after conversion, respectively. The 10-year freedom from heart
      transplantation was 86% (95% CI: 51-97%). Outcomes from the centre with an early
      conversion strategy were significantly better: 8-year freedom from death or heart
      transplantation was 86% (95% CI: 53-96) vs 51% (95% CI: 22-74; log-rank P =
      0.007). Eight additional patients required pacemaker implantation and 5 had
      arrhythmia recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Fontan conversion is associated with lasting
      survival outcomes up to 10 years after conversion. A strategy of surgical
      conversion at earlier stage of failure may be associated with better survival
      free from transplantation.

PMID- 25838459
TI  - Minimally invasive Cox-maze procedure, beating-heart epicardial ablation, hybrid
      procedure and catheter ablation: a call for comparative evidence.

PMID- 25838460
TI  - Perivenous application of cyanoacrylate tissue sealants reduces intimal and
      medial thickening of the vein graft and inflammatory responses in a rabbit model
      of carotid artery bypass grafting.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Effective therapies to prevent vein graft failure after coronary
      artery bypass grafting (CABG) are still lacking. alpha-Cyanoacrylate (alpha-CA,
      99% n-octyl-alpha-cyanoacrylate + n-butyl-alpha-cyanoacrylate) has been
      increasingly used as a tissue sealant for wound closure because of its
      bacteriostatic, biodegradable and haemostatic properties. As a strong tissue
      adhesive, alpha-CA might prevent an arterial circulation-induced mechanical
      stretch on vein graft to attenuate intimal hyperplasia. Here, we investigated the
      effects of perivenous application of alpha-CA on the vein graft in a rabbit model
      of carotid artery bypass grafting. METHODS: Healthy New Zealand white rabbits
      were randomized into no graft, graft or graft + alpha-CA group (n = 10 per
      group). Rabbit carotid artery was bypassed with the jugular vein. alpha-CA
      sealants were sprayed on the entire jugular graft including both anastomotic
      sites after completion of anastomoses. Blood flow parameters and histological
      characteristics of the vein grafts including vessel wall thickness, number of
      medial elastic lamina and proliferation index were evaluated 4 weeks after the
      surgery. The mRNA or protein levels of proinflammatory factors, chemokine (C-C
      motif) ligand-2 (CCL-2) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) were
      measured 4 weeks after the operation by quantitative reverse transcription
      polymerase chain reaction or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Compared
      with the untreated vein grafts at Week 4 after the operation, the alpha-CA spray
      significantly improved graft flow (39.4 +/- 1.5 vs 27.8 +/- 2.9 ml/min, P <
      0.01), attenuated intimal and medial thickening (116.3 +/- 1.0 vs 159.7 +/- 0.9
      MUm, P < 0.01), reduced anti-proliferating cell nuclear antigen proliferation
      index of the vein grafts (15.0 +/- 0.4 vs 23.6 +/- 0.4%, P < 0.01), decreased the
      mRNA levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 and CCL-2, and reduced the serum
      levels of TNF-alpha (92.9 +/- 1.7 vs 102.7 +/- 1.8 pg/ml, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION:
      Perivenous application of alpha-CA sealants exerts short-term beneficial effects
      on the vein graft and reduces inflammatory responses in a rabbit model of carotid
      artery bypass grafting. Long-term effects of alpha-CA on vein graft remodelling
      and the clinical significance of alpha-CA in CABG remain to be determined in
      future studies.

PMID- 25838461
TI  - Three-dimensional Imaging Reveals New Compartments and Structural Adaptations in
      Odontoblasts.
AB  - In organized tissues, the precise geometry and the overall shape are critical for
      the specialized functions that the cells carry out. Odontoblasts are major matrix
      producing cells of the tooth and have also been suggested to participate in
      sensory transmission. However, refined morphologic data on these important cells
      are limited, which hampers the analysis and understanding of their cellular
      functions. We took advantage of fluorescent color-coding genetic tracing to
      visualize and reconstruct in 3 dimensions single odontoblasts, pulp cells, and
      their assemblages. Our results show distinct structural features and compartments
      of odontoblasts at different stages of maturation, with regard to overall
      cellular shape, formation of the main process, orientation, and matrix
      deposition. We demonstrate previously unanticipated contacts between the
      processes of pulp cells and odontoblasts. All reported data are related to mouse
      incisor tooth. We also show that odontoblasts express TRPM5 and Piezo2 ion
      channels. Piezo2 is expressed ubiquitously, while TRPM5 is asymmetrically
      distributed with distinct localization to regions proximal to and within
      odontoblast processes. 

PMID- 25838462
TI  - Estrogen receptor mutations found in breast cancer metastases integrated with the
      molecular pharmacology of selective ER modulators.
AB  - The consistent reports of mutations at Asp538 and Tyr537 in helix 12 of the
      ligand-binding domain (LBD) of estrogen receptors (ERs) from antihormone
      resistant breast cancer metastases constitute an important advance. The mutant
      amino acids interact with an anchor amino acid, Asp351, to close the LBD, thereby
      creating a ligand-free constitutively activated ER. Amino acids Asp 538, Tyr 537,
      and Asp 351 are known to play a role in either the turnover of ER, the
      antiestrogenic activity of the ER complex, or the estrogen-like actions of
      selective ER modulators. A unifying mechanism of action for these amino acids to
      enhance ER gene activation and growth response is presented. There is a range of
      mutations described in metastases vs low to zero in primary disease, so the new
      knowledge is of clinical relevance, thereby confirming an additional mechanism of
      acquired resistance to antihormone therapy through cell population selection
      pressure and enrichment during treatment. Circulating tumor cells containing ER
      mutations can be cultured ex vivo, and tumor tissues can be grown as patient
      derived xenografts to add a new dimension for testing drug susceptibility for
      future drug discovery. 

PMID- 25838463
TI  - do_x3dna: a tool to analyze structural fluctuations of dsDNA or dsRNA from
      molecular dynamics simulations.
AB  - The do_x3dna package has been developed to analyze the structural fluctuations of
      DNA or RNA during molecular dynamics simulations. It extends the capability of
      the 3DNA package to GROMACS MD trajectories and includes new methods to calculate
      the global-helical axis of DNA and bending fluctuations during simulations. The
      package also includes a Python module dnaMD to perform and visualize statistical
      analyses of complex data obtained from the trajectories.

PMID- 25838464
TI  - Using neighborhood cohesiveness to infer interactions between protein domains.
AB  - MOTIVATION: In recent years, large-scale studies have been undertaken to
      describe, at least partially, protein-protein interaction maps, or interactomes,
      for a number of relevant organisms, including human. However, current
      interactomes provide a somehow limited picture of the molecular details involving
      protein interactions, mostly because essential experimental information,
      especially structural data, is lacking. Indeed, the gap between structural and
      interactomics information is enlarging and thus, for most interactions, key
      experimental information is missing. We elaborate on the observation that many
      interactions between proteins involve a pair of their constituent domains and,
      thus, the knowledge of how protein domains interact adds very significant
      information to any interactomic analysis. RESULTS: In this work, we describe a
      novel use of the neighborhood cohesiveness property to infer interactions between
      protein domains given a protein interaction network. We have shown that some
      clustering coefficients can be extended to measure a degree of cohesiveness
      between two sets of nodes within a network. Specifically, we used the meet/min
      coefficient to measure the proportion of interacting nodes between two sets of
      nodes and the fraction of common neighbors. This approach extends previous works
      where homolog coefficients were first defined around network nodes and later
      around edges. The proposed approach substantially increases both the number of
      predicted domain-domain interactions as well as its accuracy as compared with
      current methods.

PMID- 25838465
TI  - SPARSE: quadratic time simultaneous alignment and folding of RNAs without
      sequence-based heuristics.
AB  - MOTIVATION: RNA-Seq experiments have revealed a multitude of novel ncRNAs. The
      gold standard for their analysis based on simultaneous alignment and folding
      suffers from extreme time complexity of [Formula: see text]. Subsequently,
      numerous faster 'Sankoff-style' approaches have been suggested. Commonly, the
      performance of such methods relies on sequence-based heuristics that restrict the
      search space to optimal or near-optimal sequence alignments; however, the
      accuracy of sequence-based methods breaks down for RNAs with sequence identities
      below 60%. Alignment approaches like LocARNA that do not require sequence-based
      heuristics, have been limited to high complexity ([Formula: see text] quartic
      time). RESULTS: Breaking this barrier, we introduce the novel Sankoff-style
      algorithm 'sparsified prediction and alignment of RNAs based on their structure
      ensembles (SPARSE)', which runs in quadratic time without sequence-based
      heuristics. To achieve this low complexity, on par with sequence alignment
      algorithms, SPARSE features strong sparsification based on structural properties
      of the RNA ensembles. Following PMcomp, SPARSE gains further speed-up from
      lightweight energy computation. Although all existing lightweight Sankoff-style
      methods restrict Sankoff's original model by disallowing loop deletions and
      insertions, SPARSE transfers the Sankoff algorithm to the lightweight energy
      model completely for the first time. Compared with LocARNA, SPARSE achieves
      similar alignment and better folding quality in significantly less time (speedup:
      3.7). At similar run-time, it aligns low sequence identity instances
      substantially more accurate than RAF, which uses sequence-based heuristics.

PMID- 25838466
TI  - What to expect when you're evaluating healthcare improvement: a concordat
      approach to managing collaboration and uncomfortable realities.
AB  - Evaluation of improvement initiatives in healthcare is essential to establishing
      whether interventions are effective and to understanding how and why they work in
      order to enable replication. Although valuable, evaluation is often complicated
      by tensions and friction between evaluators, implementers and other stakeholders.
      Drawing on the literature, we suggest that these tensions can arise from a lack
      of shared understanding of the goals of the evaluation; confusion about roles,
      relationships and responsibilities; data burdens; issues of data flows and
      confidentiality; the discomforts of being studied and the impact of disappointing
      or otherwise unwelcome results. We present a possible approach to managing these
      tensions involving the co-production and use of a concordat. We describe how we
      developed a concordat in the context of an evaluation of a complex patient safety
      improvement programme known as Safer Clinical Systems Phase 2. The concordat
      development process involved partners (evaluators, designers, funders and others)
      working together at the outset of the project to agree a set of principles to
      guide the conduct of the evaluation. We suggest that while the concordat is a
      useful resource for resolving conflicts that arise during evaluation, the process
      of producing it is perhaps even more important, helping to make explicit unspoken
      assumptions, clarify roles and responsibilities, build trust and establish open
      dialogue and shared understanding. The concordat we developed established some
      core principles that may be of value for others involved in evaluation to
      consider. But rather than seeing our document as a ready-made solution, there is
      a need for recognition of the value of the process of co-producing a locally
      agreed concordat in enabling partners in the evaluation to work together
      effectively. 

PMID- 25838467
TI  - Integrating the Illness Beliefs Model in clinical practice: a Family Systems
      Nursing knowledge utilization model.
AB  - To promote the integration of Family Systems Nursing (FSN) in clinical practice,
      we need to better understand how nurses overcome the challenges of FSN knowledge
      utilization. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted with 32 practicing
      female nurses from hospital and community settings who had received FSN
      intervention training and skill development based on the Illness Beliefs Model
      and the Calgary Family Assessment and Intervention Models. The participants were
      interviewed about how they utilized FSN knowledge in their nursing practice. From
      the data analysis, a FSN Knowledge Utilization Model emerged that involves three
      major components: (a) nurses' beliefs in FSN and in their FSN skills, (b) nurses'
      knowledge utilization strategies to address the challenges of FSN practice, and
      (c) FSN positive outcomes. The FSN Knowledge Utilization Model describes a
      circular, incremental, and iterative process used by nurses to integrate FSN in
      daily nursing practice. Findings point to a need for re-evaluation of educational
      and management strategies in clinical settings for advancing the practice of FSN.

PMID- 25838470
TI  - Complete Genome Sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum Strain B21, a Bacteriocin
      Producing Strain Isolated from Vietnamese Fermented Sausage Nem Chua.
AB  - Lactobacillus plantarum strain B21 was isolated from Vietnamese sausage (nem
      chua) and demonstrated broad antimicrobial activity due to the production of
      bacteriocins. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of this strain
      (3,284,260 bp). 

PMID- 25838468
TI  - High Parathyroid Hormone Level and Osteoporosis Predict Progression of Coronary
      Artery Calcification in Patients on Dialysis.
AB  - Coronary artery calcifications (CACs) are observed in most patients with CKD on
      dialysis (CKD-5D). CACs frequently progress and are associated with increased
      risk for cardiovascular events, the major cause of death in these patients. A
      link between bone and vascular calcification has been shown. This prospective
      study was designed to identify noninvasive tests for predicting CAC progression,
      including measurements of bone mineral density (BMD) and novel bone markers in
      adult patients with CKD-5D. At baseline and after 1 year, patients underwent
      routine blood tests and measurement of CAC, BMD, and novel serum bone markers. A
      total of 213 patients received baseline measurements, of whom about 80% had
      measurable CAC and almost 50% had CAC Agatston scores>400, conferring high risk
      for cardiovascular events. Independent positive predictors of baseline CAC
      included coronary artery disease, diabetes, dialysis vintage, fibroblast growth
      factor-23 concentration, and age, whereas BMD of the spine measured by
      quantitative computed tomography was an inverse predictor. Hypertension, HDL
      level, and smoking were not baseline predictors in these patients. Three quarters
      of 122 patients completing the study had CAC increases at 1 year. Independent
      risk factors for CAC progression were age, baseline total or whole parathyroid
      hormone level greater than nine times the normal value, and osteoporosis by t
      scores. Our results confirm a role for bone in CKD-associated CAC prevalence and
      progression. 

PMID- 25838469
TI  - Temporal Heterogeneity Metrics in Apoptosis Induced by Anticancer Drugs.
AB  - The apoptotic process is highly heterogeneous and asynchronous. A long-standing
      question is how many parameters define the time and reversibility of the
      apoptotic response at a single-cell level. We characterized at the single-cell
      and population levels the time sequence of apoptotic events in response to anti
      cancer drugs using extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic stimuli. We show that the
      temporal sequence of major apoptotic events is the same in response to all anti
      cancer drugs studied: the apoptotic volume decrease and Na+ influx occur rapidly
      and are tightly coordinated with mitochondrial outer membrane depolarization
      (MOMP), mitochondrial inner membrane depolarization and a decrease in the
      production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Phosphatidylserine externalization
      usually starts after MOMP and precedes caspase 3/7 activation. Activation of
      caspases 3/7 is a slow process that always starts after MOMP, with significant
      delay. Cell-to-cell variability of the MOMP onset is described by Gaussian
      distribution, whereas the gamma-distribution model describes cellular variability
      in the duration of MOMP-to-caspase activation stages. Cells from the pre-MOMP
      stage to the after-caspase 3/7 activation stage coexist for many hours. We
      demonstrated by FACS that cells in the pre-MOMP stage can recover after apoptotic
      stimuli, rarely recover after MOMP but before caspase 3/7 activation, and are
      unable to recover after caspase 3/7 activation. We propose a double-stroke model
      for apoptosis execution.

PMID- 25838471
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Neurospora crassa Strain FGSC 73.
AB  - We report the elucidation of the complete genome of the Neurospora crassa (Shear
      and Dodge) strain FGSC 73, a mat-a, trp-3 mutant strain. The genome sequence
      around the idiotypic mating type locus represents the only publicly available
      sequence for a mat-a strain. 40.42 Megabases are assembled into 358 scaffolds
      carrying 11,978 gene models. 

PMID- 25838472
TI  - Complete Genome Sequence of a Novel Mutation of Seoul Virus Isolated from Suncus
      murinus in the Fujian Province of China.
AB  - Suncus murinus has been identified as the host for Seoul virus (SEOV). Here, we
      report the complete genome sequence of SEOV strain Fj372/2013, which was isolated
      from the lung tissue of Suncus murinus in the Fujian Province of China. A
      mutation A38C was observed in an open reading fragment of the middle segment. 

PMID- 25838473
TI  - Complete Genome Sequence of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis Strain CECT
      7210, a Probiotic Strain Active against Rotavirus Infections.
AB  - Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis CECT 7210 is a probiotic strain able to
      inhibit rotavirus in vitro and protect against viral infection in both cell
      cultures and mice. Here, we report its complete genome sequence, as deciphered by
      PacBio single-molecule real-time (SMRT) technology. An analysis of the sequence
      may provide insights into its functional activity. 

PMID- 25838474
TI  - High-Quality Draft Genome Sequence of Actinobacterium Kibdelosporangium sp. MJ126
      NF4, Producer of Type II Polyketide Azicemicins, Using Illumina and PacBio
      Technologies.
AB  - Here, we report the high-quality draft genome sequence of actinobacterium
      Kibdelosporangium sp. MJ126-NF4, producer of the type II polyketide azicemicins,
      obtained using Illumina and PacBio sequencing technologies. The 11.75-Mbp genome
      contains >11,000 genes and 22 polyketide and nonribosomal peptide natural product
      gene clusters. 

PMID- 25838475
TI  - Genome Sequence of Fungal Species No.11243, Which Produces the Antifungal
      Antibiotic FR901469.
AB  - Fungal species No.11243 was originally isolated from a decayed leaf sample
      collected in Kyoto, Japan. It produces FR901469, a 1,3-beta-glucan synthase
      inhibitor. The genome sequence of No.11243 was determined and annotated to obtain
      useful information for improving productivity of the effective antifungal agent
      FR901469. 

PMID- 25838476
TI  - Complete genome sequence of a tomato mottle mosaic virus isolate from the United
      States.
AB  - Tomato mottle mosaic virus was recently reported from the United States following
      its original description from Mexico as a novel Tobamovirus species. We present
      the first complete genome sequence of a tomato mottle mosaic virus isolate from
      the United States. 

PMID- 25838477
TI  - A Distinct Group II Alphabaculovirus Isolated from a Peridroma Species.
AB  - The genome sequence of an alphabaculovirus isolated from a Peridroma species
      indicated that it is a novel member of a group II lineage most closely related to
      alphabaculoviruses from Spodoptera exigua and Agrotis segetum. It contains a
      genome of 151,110 nucleotides (nt), with a G+C content of 53.3%. 

PMID- 25838478
TI  - Novel H5 Clade 2.3.4.4 Reassortant (H5N1) Virus from a Green-Winged Teal in
      Washington, USA.
AB  - Eurasian (EA)-origin H5N8 clade 2.3.4.4 avian influenza viruses were first
      detected in North America during December 2014. Subsequent reassortment with
      North American (AM) low-pathogenic wild-bird-origin avian influenza has generated
      at least two reassortants, including an EA/AM H5N1 from an apparently healthy
      wild green-winged teal, suggesting continued ongoing reassortment. 

PMID- 25838479
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Clostridium botulinum Strain 277-00 Type B2.
AB  - We report the draft genome sequence of Clostridium botulinum strain 277-00, which
      encodes a botulinum neurotoxin B2 associated with a ha gene locus. Strain 277-00
      was isolated from a cheese responsible for an outbreak of botulism in Iran in
      1997. This strain is closed to the bivalent B2/FA strain IBCA10-7060. 

PMID- 25838480
TI  - Draft Whole-Genome Sequences of 14 Vibrio parahaemolyticus Clinical Isolates with
      an Ambiguous K Serogroup.
AB  - Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a bacterial pathogen responsible for mild to severe
      gastroenteritis, wound infections, and septicemia resulting from the ingestion or
      handling of raw or undercooked contaminated seafood. Here, we report the draft
      whole-genome sequences and annotations of 14 Canadian V. parahaemolyticus
      clinical isolates that were serologically identified as K group II using
      polyvalent antisera but were not specifically K serogrouped using monovalent
      antisera. 

PMID- 25838481
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Ochrobactrum anthropi Strain ML7 Isolated from Soil
      Samples in Vinhphuc Province, Vietnam.
AB  - Ochrobactrum species are widespread in the environment and can colonize a wide
      variety of habitats. Here, we describe the sequencing of a new environmental
      isolate of Ochrobactrum anthropi isolated from northern Vietnam. 

PMID- 25838482
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Pseudomonas toyotomiensis KF710, a Polychlorinated
      Biphenyl-Degrading Bacterium Isolated from Biphenyl-Contaminated Soil.
AB  - Pseudomonas toyotomiensis KF710 utilizes biphenyl and degrades polychlorinated
      biphenyls (PCBs). Here, we report the genome sequence of the KF710 strain,
      consisting of 5,596,721 bp with 5,155 coding sequences. The biphenyl catabolic
      genes were almost identical to those of Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707, one
      of the most well-characterized biphenyl-utilizing strains. 

PMID- 25838483
TI  - Genome Sequence of the Butyrate-Producing Anaerobic Bacterium Anaerostipes hadrus
      PEL 85.
AB  - Anaerostipes hadrus PEL 85, which was isolated from human feces, is a Gram
      positive rod-shaped bacterium. The species may play an important role in gut
      health, as it was previously reported to produce butyric acid. Here, we present
      the genome assembly of PEL 85, a novel strain of A. hadrus. 

PMID- 25838484
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Strain E24377A,
      Obtained from a Tribal Drinking Water Source in India.
AB  - Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a major cause of diarrheal disease in
      humans and animals. Its dissemination can occur through water sources
      contaminated by it. Here, we report for the first time the draft genome sequence
      of ETEC strain E24377A, obtained from a tribal drinking water source in India. 

PMID- 25838485
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Bioactive-Compound-Producing Cyanobacterium Tolypothrix
      campylonemoides Strain VB511288.
AB  - We report here the draft genome sequence of Tolypothrix campylonemoides VB511288,
      isolated from building facades in Santiniketan, India. The members of this genus
      produce several compounds of commercial importance. The draft assembly is
      10,627,177 bases in 135 scaffolds, and it contains 7,886 protein-coding genes,
      994 pseudogenes, 18 rRNA genes, and 76 tRNA genes. 

PMID- 25838486
TI  - Deciphering the Genome Sequences of the Hydrophobic Cyanobacterium Scytonema
      tolypothrichoides VB-61278.
AB  - Scytonema tolypothrichoides VB-61278, a terrestrial cyanobacterium, can be
      exploited to produce commercially important products. Here, we report for the
      first time a 10-Mb draft genome assembly of S. tolypothrichoides VB-61278, with
      214 scaffolds and 7,148 putative protein-coding genes. 

PMID- 25838487
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Aneurinibacillus migulanus Strain Nagano.
AB  - Aneurinibacillus migulanus is characterized by inhibition of growth of a range of
      plant-pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Here, we report the high-quality draft
      genome sequences of A. migulanus Nagano. 

PMID- 25838488
TI  - Genome Sequence of Magnetospirillum magnetotacticum Strain MS-1.
AB  - Here, we report the genome sequence of Magnetospirillum magnetotacticum strain MS
      1, which consists of of 36 contigs and 4,136 protein-coding genes. 

PMID- 25838489
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Aneurinibacillus migulanus NCTC 7096.
AB  - Aneurinibacillus migulanus has biocontrol activities against fungal, fungus-like,
      and bacterial plant pathogens with different levels of efficacy depending on the
      target pathogens. Here, we report the high-quality draft genome sequence of A.
      migulanus NCTC 7096. 

PMID- 25838490
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Empedobacter (Formerly Wautersiella) falsenii comb. nov.
      Wf282, a Strain Isolated from a Cervical Neck Abscess.
AB  - Empedobacter (formerly Wautersiella) falsenii comb. nov. strain Wf282 was
      isolated from a cervical neck abscess sample from an 18-year-old female patient.
      The isolate was resistant to many antibiotics, including meropenem and colistin.
      The total DNA from the multidrug-resistant E. falsenii comb. nov. Wf282 clinical
      isolate was sequenced. 

PMID- 25838491
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Clostridium botulinum B2 450 Strain from Wound Botulism
      in a Drug User in Italy.
AB  - Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Clostridium botulinum B2 450,
      responsible for the first reported case of wound botulism in a drug user in
      Italy. 

PMID- 25838492
TI  - Genome Sequence of Kosakonia radicincitans Strain YD4, a Plant Growth-Promoting
      Rhizobacterium Isolated from Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis St. Hill.).
AB  - Kosakonia radicincitans strain YD4 is a rhizospheric isolate from yerba mate
      (Ilex paraguariensis St. Hill.) with plant growth-promoting effects on this crop.
      Genes involved in different plant growth-promoting activities are present in this
      genome, suggesting its potential as a bioinoculant for yerba mate. 

PMID- 25838493
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Pseudomonas sp. nov. H2.
AB  - We report the draft genome sequence of Pseudomonas sp. nov. H2, isolated from
      creek sediment in Moscow, ID, USA. The strain is most closely related to
      Pseudomonas putida. However, it has a slightly smaller genome that appears to
      have been impacted by horizontal gene transfer and poorly maintains IncP-1
      plasmids. 

PMID- 25838494
TI  - Genome Sequence of Bacillus mycoides B38V, a Growth-Promoting Bacterium of
      Sunflower.
AB  - Bacillus mycoides B38V is a bacterium isolated from the sunflower rhizosphere
      that is able to promote plant growth and N uptake. The genome of the isolate has
      approximately 5.80 Mb and presents sequence codifiers for plant growth-promoting
      characteristics, such as nitrate reduction and ammonification and iron
      siderophore uptake. 

PMID- 25838495
TI  - Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequence of the Keratinolytic Bacterium Lysobacter sp. A03,
      Isolated from the Antarctic Environment.
AB  - Lysobacter sp. strain A03 is a protease-producing bacterium isolated from
      decomposing-penguin feathers collected in the Antarctic environment. This strain
      has the ability to degrade keratin at low temperatures. The A03 genome sequence
      provides the possibility of finding new genes with biotechnological potential to
      better understand its cold-adaptation mechanism and survival in cold
      environments. 

PMID- 25838496
TI  - Genome of Pseudomonas sp. FeS53a, a Putative Plant Growth-Promoting Bacterium
      Associated with Rice Grown in Iron-Stressed Soils.
AB  - Pseudomonas sp. FeS53a was isolated from the roots of rice plants cultivated in
      one area with a well-established history of iron toxicity. The FeS53a genome
      sequence provides the genetic basis for understanding its lifestyle and survival
      in association with rice in conditions of iron toxicity. 

PMID- 25838497
TI  - Genome of Rhizobium sp. UR51a, Isolated from Rice Cropped in Southern Brazilian
      Fields.
AB  - Rhizobium sp. UR51a is a Gram-negative bacterium isolated from roots of rice
      plants, and it presents plant growth-promoting abilities. The nutrient uptake in
      rice plants inoculated with UR51a was satisfactory. The genome of strain UR51a is
      composed of 5,233,443-bp and harbors 5,079 coding sequences. 

PMID- 25838498
TI  - Genome Sequence of the Mycorrhiza Helper Bacterium Streptomyces sp. Strain AcH
      505.
AB  - A draft genome sequence of Streptomyces sp. strain AcH 505 is presented here. The
      genome encodes 22 secondary metabolite gene clusters and a large arsenal of
      secreted proteins, and their comparative and functional analyses will help to
      advance our knowledge of symbiotic interactions and fungal and plant biomass
      degradation. 

PMID- 25838499
TI  - Draft Genome Sequence of Streptomyces sp. Strain 150FB, a Mushroom Mycoparasite
      Antagonist.
AB  - Streptomyces sp. strain 150FB, isolated from the cap surface of a bolete
      mushroom, inhibits the growth of the mycoparasitic Sepedonium species. Functional
      annotation of the strain 150FB draft genome identified 22 putative secondary
      metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters and genes encoding secreted proteins, which
      may contribute to the inhibition of the mycoparasite. 

PMID- 25838500
TI  - The crystal structure of DR6 in complex with the amyloid precursor protein
      provides insight into death receptor activation.
AB  - The amyloid precursor protein (APP) has garnered considerable attention due to
      its genetic links to Alzheimer's disease. Death receptor 6 (DR6) was recently
      shown to bind APP via the protein extracellular regions, stimulate axonal
      pruning, and inhibit synapse formation. Here, we report the crystal structure of
      the DR6 ectodomain in complex with the E2 domain of APP and show that it supports
      a model for APP-induced dimerization and activation of cell surface DR6. 

PMID- 25838501
TI  - Do cognitive interventions improve general cognition in dementia? A meta-analysis
      and meta-regression.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To review the efficacy of cognitive interventions on improving
      general cognition in dementia. METHOD: Online literature databases and trial
      registers, previous systematic reviews and leading journals were searched for
      relevant randomised controlled trials. A systematic review, random-effects meta
      analyses and meta-regression were conducted. Cognitive interventions were
      categorised as: cognitive stimulation (CS), involving a range of social and
      cognitive activities to stimulate multiple cognitive domains; cognitive training
      (CT), involving repeated practice of standardised tasks targeting a specific
      cognitive function; cognitive rehabilitation (CR), which takes a person-centred
      approach to target impaired function; or mixed  CT and stimulation (MCTS).
      Separate analyses were conducted for general cognitive outcome measures and for
      studies using 'active' (designed to control for non-specific therapeutic effects)
      and non-active (minimal or no intervention) control groups. RESULTS: 33 studies
      were included. Significant positive effect sizes (Hedges' g) were found for CS
      with the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) (g=0.51, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.66;
      p<0.001) compared to non-active controls and (g=0.35, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.64;
      p=0.019) compared to active controls. Significant benefit was also seen with the
      Alzheimer's disease Assessment Scale-Cognition (ADAS-Cog) (g=-0.26, 95% CI -0.445
      to -0.08; p=0.005). There was no evidence that CT or MCTS produced significant
      improvements on general cognition outcomes and not enough CR studies for meta
      analysis. The lowest accepted minimum clinically important difference was reached
      in 11/17 CS studies for the MMSE, but only 2/9 studies for the ADAS-Cog.
      Additionally, 95% prediction intervals suggested that although statistically
      significant, CS may not lead to benefits on the ADAS-Cog in all clinical
      settings. CONCLUSIONS: CS improves scores on MMSE and ADAS-Cog in dementia, but
      benefits on the ADAS-Cog are generally not clinically significant and
      difficulties with blinding of patients and use of adequate placebo controls make
      comparison with the results of dementia drug treatments problematic.

PMID- 25838503
TI  - Hospital costs of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients treated in intensive
      care; a single centre evaluation using the national tariff-based system.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: There is a scarcity of literature reporting hospital costs for
      treating out of hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) survivors, especially within the
      UK. This is essential for assessment of cost-effectiveness of interventions
      necessary to allow just allocation of resources within the National Health
      Service. We set out primarily to calculate costs stratified against hospital
      survival and neurological outcomes. Secondarily, we estimated cost effectiveness
      based on estimates of survival and utility from previous studies to calculate
      costs per quality adjusted life year (QALY). SETTING: We performed a single
      centre (London) retrospective review of in-hospital costs of patients admitted to
      the intensive care unit (ICU) following return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC)
      after OOHCA over 18 months from January 2011 (following widespread introduction
      of targeted temperature management and primary percutaneous intervention).
      PARTICIPANTS: Of 69 successive patients admitted over an 18-month period,
      survival and cerebral performance category (CPC) outcomes were obtained from
      review of databases and clinical notes. The Trust finance department supplied ICU
      and hospital costs using the Payment by Results UK system. RESULTS: Of those
      patients with ROSC admitted to ICU, survival to hospital discharge (any CPC) was
      33/69 (48%) with 26/33 survivors in CPC 1-2 at hospital discharge. Cost per
      survivor to hospital discharge (including total cost of survivors and non
      survivors) was L50,000, cost per CPC 1-2 survivor was L65,000. Cost and length of
      stay of CPC 1-2 patients was considerably lower than CPC 3-4 patients. The
      majority of the costs (69%) related to intensive care. Estimated cost per CPC 1-2
      survivor per QALY was L16,000. CONCLUSIONS: The costs of in-hospital patient care
      for ICU admissions following ROSC after OOHCA are considerable but within a
      reasonable threshold when assessed from a QALY perspective.

PMID- 25838502
TI  - Psychotropic drug use in adolescents born with an orofacial cleft: a population
      based study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Being born with an orofacial cleft (OFC) can, due to an incomplete
      closure of the lip and/or palate, convey a deviant speech and/or deviant facial
      aesthetics, which may in turn increase the risk for poor psychological health
      later in life. Previous investigations have been based on small samples and self
      reports, not distinguishing between the three different types of OFC: cleft lip
      (CL), CL and palate (CLP) and cleft palate only (CPO). We present a large
      population-based study, considering psychotropic drug use as a proxy for poor
      psychological health and distinguishing between three different types of OFC.
      DESIGN AND METHODS: Using the Swedish Medical Birth Register, and linking to it
      the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register, the National Mortality Register, the
      Emigration Register and the National Inpatient Register, we identified all
      singletons born to native mothers in Sweden between 1987 and 1993, alive and
      residing in Sweden at the end of an 18-year follow-up period (N=626 109). We
      compared psychotropic drug use among individuals with and without OFC during the
      individuals' adolescence (2005-2008) by multiple logistic regressions, using ORs
      with 95% CIs. RESULTS: When adjusted for potential confounders, having a CL
      (OR=1.63, 95% CI 1.08 to 2.46) or a CPO (OR=1.54, 95% CI 1.18 to 2.01) increased
      the risk of psychotropic drug use. Results were not significant regarding
      adolescents who had a CLP (OR=1.21, 95% CI 0.81 to 1.80). CONCLUSIONS: Being born
      with a CL or a CPO increases the risk for psychotropic drug use in adolescence,
      but not for adolescents born with a CLP. Our findings suggest that, since the
      three OFC types are associated with different long-term risks of poor
      psychological health, the three groups should be studied separately concerning
      long-term psychosocial consequences.

PMID- 25838504
TI  - Lack of weight recording in patients being administered narrow therapeutic index
      antibiotics: a prospective cross-sectional study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Patient weight is a key measure for safe medication management and
      monitoring of patients. Here we report the recording of patient's body weight on
      admission in three hospitals in West London and its relationship with the
      prescription of antibiotic drugs where it is essential to have the body weight of
      the patient. METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted in three
      teaching hospitals in West London. Data were collected during March 2011
      September 2011 and July 2012-August 2012, from adult admissions units, medical
      and surgical wards. Data from each ward were collected on a single day to provide
      a point prevalence data on weight recording. Patient medication charts, nursing
      and medical notes were reviewed for evidence of weight and height recording
      together with all the medication prescribed for the patients. An observational
      study collecting data on the weight recording process was conducted on two
      randomly selected wards to add context to the data. RESULTS: Data were collected
      on 1012 patients. Weight was not recorded for 46% (474) of patients. Eighty-nine
      patients were prescribed a narrow therapeutic antibiotic, in 39% (35/89) of these
      weight was not recorded for the patient. Intravenous vancomycin was the most
      commonly prescribed antibiotic requiring therapeutic monitoring. In total 61
      patients were receiving intravenous vancomycin and of these 44% (27/61) did not
      have their weight recorded. In the observational study, the most frequently
      identified barrier to weight not being recorded was interruptions to the
      admission process. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the clinical importance of body weight
      measurement it is poorly recorded in hospitalised patients, due to interruptions
      to the workflow and heavy staff workloads. In antibiotics a correct, recent
      patient weight is required for accurate dosing and to keep drugs within the
      narrow therapeutic index, to ensure efficacy of prescribing and reduce toxicity.

PMID- 25838506
TI  - Risk factors for emergency presentation with lung and colorectal cancers: a
      systematic review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify patient and practitioner factors that influence cancer
      diagnosis via emergency presentation (EP). DESIGN: Systematic review. DATA
      SOURCES: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, EBM Reviews, Science and Social Sciences
      Citation Indexes, Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science and Conference
      Proceedings Citation Index-Social Science and Humanities. Searches were
      undertaken from 1996 to 2014. No language restrictions were applied. STUDY
      SELECTION: Studies of any design assessing factors associated with diagnosis of
      colorectal or lung cancer via EP, or describing an intervention to impact on EP,
      were included. Studies involving previously diagnosed cancer patients, assessing
      only referral pathway effectiveness, outcomes related to diagnosis or post-EP
      management were excluded. The population was individual or groups of adult
      patients or primary care practitioners. Two authors independently screened
      studies for inclusion. RESULTS: 22 studies with over 200,000 EPs were included,
      most providing strong evidence. Five were graded 'insufficient', primarily due to
      missing information rather than methodological weakness. Older patient age was
      associated with EP for lung and colorectal cancers (OR 1.11-11.03 and 1.19-5.85,
      respectively). Women were more at risk of EP for lung but not colorectal cancer.
      Higher deprivation increased the likelihood of lung cancer EP, but evidence for
      colorectal was less conclusive. Being unmarried (or divorced/widowed) increased
      the likelihood of EP for colorectal cancer, which was also associated with pain,
      obstruction and weight loss. Lack of a regular source of primary care, and lower
      primary care use were positively associated with EP. Only three studies
      considered practitioner factors, two involving diagnostic tests. No conclusive
      evidence was found. CONCLUSIONS: Patient-related factors, such as age, gender and
      deprivation, increase the likelihood of cancer being diagnosed as the result of
      an EP, while cancer symptoms and patterns of healthcare utilisation are also
      relevant. Further work is needed to understand the context in which risk factors
      for EP exist and influence help-seeking.

PMID- 25838505
TI  - Impact of cardiovascular risk factors and medication use on the efficacy of
      remote ischaemic conditioning: post hoc subgroup analysis of a randomised
      controlled trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Remote ischaemic conditioning (RIC) promotes cardioprotection in
      patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) for ST
      elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The effect of RIC may be modified by
      cardiovascular risk factors and their medications. We examined whether
      cardiovascular risk factors, lipid and glucose levels, and medication use
      influenced the efficacy of RIC in patients with STEMI treated with pPCI. DESIGN:
      Post hoc subgroup analysis of a single-centre randomised controlled trial.
      PARTICIPANTS: A total of 139 patients with STEMI, randomised during ambulance
      transport to hospital for pPCI with (n=71) or without (n=68) RIC, met the trial
      criteria and achieved data for a myocardial salvage index (MSI). INTERVENTIONS:
      RIC was administered through intermittent arm ischaemia with four cycles of 5 min
      inflation and 5 min deflation of a blood pressure cuff. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES:
      MSI, estimated by single-photon emission CT. We evaluated the efficacy of RIC on
      the MSI in patient subgroups of cardiovascular risk factors, lipid and glucose
      levels, and medication use. RESULTS: We found no significant difference in the
      efficacy of RIC in subgroups of cardiovascular risk factors, lipid and glucose
      levels, and medication use. However, point estimates indicated a reduced effect
      of RIC among smokers (median difference in MSI between RIC and control groups: 
      0.02 (95% CI -0.32 to 0.28) in smokers vs 0.25 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.42) in non
      smokers, p value for interaction=0.13) and an increased effect of RIC in statin
      users (median difference in MSI between RIC and control groups: 0.34 (95% CI 0.03
      to 0.65) in statin users vs 0.09 (95% CI -0.11 to 0.29) in non-statin users, p
      value for interaction=0.19). CONCLUSIONS: RIC as an adjunct to pPCI seems to
      improve MSI in our trial population of patients with STEMI regardless of most
      cardiovascular risk factors and their medications. Our post hoc finding on a
      limited sample size calls for further investigation in large-scale multicentre
      trials. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT00435266.

PMID- 25838507
TI  - Acupuncture for benign prostatic hyperplasia: a systematic review protocol.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a non-malignant enlargement
      of the prostate commonly encountered in older men. BPH has been treated with
      acupuncture inside and outside China, but its effects are uncertain. This review
      aims to assess the efficacy and safety of acupuncture therapy for BPH. METHODS
      AND ANALYSIS: Seven databases will be searched from their inception: the Cochrane
      Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE,
      EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure,
      the VIP Database and Wanfang Database. Randomised controlled clinical trials
      using acupuncture to treat BPH will be included. Outcome measures included
      urological symptom scores, urodynamic measures and quality-of-life scales.
      Adverse events will be assessed and reported for safety evaluation. Study
      selection and data extraction will be performed by two independent reviewers.
      Quality assessment (assessment of risk of bias) and data synthesis will be
      implemented using Review Manager (RevMan) software (V.5.2.3). ETHICS AND
      DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval is not necessary because this systematic review
      will not include specific patient data. Updates will be conducted if there is
      enough new evidence that may cause any change in review conclusions. TRIAL
      REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42014013645.

PMID- 25838508
TI  - Trading quality for relevance: non-health decision-makers' use of evidence on the
      social determinants of health.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Local government services and policies affect health determinants
      across many sectors such as planning, transportation, housing and leisure.
      Researchers and policymakers have argued that decisions affecting wider
      determinants of health, well-being and inequalities should be informed by
      evidence. This study explores how information and evidence are defined, assessed
      and utilised by local professionals situated beyond the health sector, but whose
      decisions potentially affect health: in this case, practitioners working in
      design, planning and maintenance of the built environment. DESIGN: A qualitative
      study using three focus groups. A thematic analysis was undertaken. SETTING: The
      focus groups were held in UK localities and involved local practitioners working
      in two UK regions, as well as in Brazil, USA and Canada. PARTICIPANTS: UK and
      international practitioners working in the design and management of the built
      environment at a local government level. RESULTS: Participants described a range
      of data and information that constitutes evidence, of which academic research is
      only one part. Built environment decision-makers value empirical evidence, but
      also emphasise the legitimacy and relevance of less empirical ways of thinking
      through narratives that associate their work to art and philosophy. Participants
      prioritised evidence on the acceptability, deliverability and sustainability of
      interventions over evidence of longer term outcomes (including many health
      outcomes). Participants generally privileged local information, including
      personal experiences and local data, but were less willing to accept evidence
      from contexts perceived to be different from their own. CONCLUSIONS: Local-level
      built environment practitioners utilise evidence to make decisions, but their
      view of 'best evidence' appears to prioritise local relevance over academic
      rigour. Academics can facilitate evidence-informed local decisions affecting
      social determinants of health by working with relevant practitioners to improve
      the quality of local data and evaluations, and by advancing approaches to improve
      the external validity of academic research.

PMID- 25838509
TI  - Industrial hygiene, occupational safety and respiratory symptoms in the Pakistani
      cotton industry.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: In the cotton industry of Pakistan, 15 million people are employed
      and exposed to cotton dust, toxic chemicals, noise and physical hazards. The aim
      of this study was to determine the prevalence of health symptoms, particularly
      respiratory symptoms, and to measure cotton dust and endotoxin levels in
      different textile factories of Faisalabad, Pakistan. METHODS: A cross-sectional
      investigation was performed in a representative sample of 47 cotton factories in
      the Faisalabad region in Punjab, Pakistan. Respiratory symptoms of 800 workers
      were documented by questionnaire. Occupational safety in the factories was
      assessed by a trained expert following a checklist, and dust and endotoxin levels
      in different work areas were measured. RESULTS: Prevalence of respiratory disease
      symptoms (fever, shortness of breath, chest tightness and cough) was generally
      high and highest in the weaving section of the cotton industry (20-40% depending
      on symptoms). This section also displayed the poorest occupational safety ratings
      and the highest levels of inhalable cotton dust (mean+/-SD 4.6+/-2.5 vs 0.95+/
      0.65 mg/m(3) in compact units). In contrast, endotoxin levels were highest in the
      spinning section (median 1521 EU/m(3)), where high humidity is maintained.
      CONCLUSIONS: There are still poor working conditions in the cotton industry in
      Pakistan where workers are exposed to different occupational hazards. More health
      symptoms were reported from small weaving factories (power looms). There is a
      dire need for improvements in occupational health and safety in this industrial
      sector with particular focus on power looms.

PMID- 25838510
TI  - The association between obesity and severe disability among adults aged 50 or
      over in nine high-income, middle-income and low-income countries: a cross
      sectional study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The association between obesity and disability may differ between high
      income and low-income/middle-income countries but there are no studies comparing
      this association between these settings. The aim of the study was to assess this
      association in nine countries using nationally-representative data from the
      Collaborative Research on Ageing in Europe (COURAGE) study and the WHO's Study on
      global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE). DESIGN: Population-based cross-sectional
      study SETTING: The survey was conducted in China, Finland, Ghana, India, Mexico,
      Poland, Russia, South Africa and Spain between 2007 and 2012. PARTICIPANTS: 42
      116 individuals 50 years and older. The institutionalised and those with limited
      cognition were excluded. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Disability was defined as
      severe or extreme difficulty in conducting at least one of six types of basic
      activities of daily living (ADL). RESULTS: The mean body mass index (BMI) ranged
      from 20.4 kg/m(2) in India to 30.7 kg/m(2) in South Africa. Compared to normal
      BMI (18.5-24.9 kg/m(2)), BMI>=35 kg/m(2) was associated with significantly higher
      odds for ADL disability in Finland (OR 4.64), Poland (OR 2.77), South Africa (OR
      2.19) and Spain (OR 2.42). Interaction analysis showed that obese individuals in
      high-income countries were more likely to have ADL limitations than those in low
      income or middle-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: The higher odds for disability
      among obese individuals in high-income countries may imply longer life lived with
      disability due to factors such as the decline in cardiovascular disease
      mortality. In South Africa, this may have been due to the exceptionally high
      prevalence of class III obesity. These findings underscore the importance of
      obesity prevention to reduce the disability burden among older adults.

PMID- 25838511
TI  - EXPERTS 1-experiences of long-term life-limiting conditions among patients and
      carers: protocol for a qualitative meta-synthesis and conceptual modelling study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Increasing numbers of the population are living with long-term life
      limiting conditions with a significant proportion characterised by
      multimorbidity. Patients with these conditions often experience high volumes of
      clinical interaction involving them, their caregivers and healthcare providers in
      complex patterns of organising, coordinating, negotiating and managing care. A
      better understanding of the sources of experienced complexity and multimorbidity,
      from the patient perspective is paramount to improve capacity and manage workload
      to promote improved experience of illness, more effective healthcare utilisation
      and improved healthcare outcomes. To better understand the sources of complexity
      we will undertake an evidence synthesis of qualitative studies of patient and
      informal carer experiences of three common long-term life-limiting conditions. We
      will investigate what is known about these diseases at different stages in
      disease progression, treatment regimens and places of care. METHOD AND ANALYSIS:
      We will include qualitative studies of patients' and carers' (aged >18) accounts
      of their experiences of healthcare provision in a range of settings and
      healthcare systems. We will conduct an extensive electronic database search of
      publications in English between 2000 and 2014. Results and discussions sections
      of the papers will be regarded as formal data using the constant comparison
      method of qualitative analysis. From the meta-synthesis results, we will build a
      conceptual model of mechanisms and processes that shape patients' journeys
      towards end of life to suggest where in the patient journey new interventions to
      improve patient and carer experience can be developed and delivered. The study is
      being conducted between 1 December 2014 and 31 December 2015. ETHICS AND
      DISSEMINATION: No human subjects or personal data are involved and no ethical
      issues are anticipated. An important element of dissemination is informing user
      communities about the practical implications of the work through workshops,
      meetings and social media. Scientific results will be published in peer reviewed
      journals and disseminated through conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:
      PROSPERO CRD42014014547.

PMID- 25838512
TI  - Antibodies to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein in idiopathic optic neuritis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the differences of clinical features, cerebrospinal
      fluid (CSF), MRI findings and response to steroid therapies between patients with
      optic neuritis (ON) who have myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibodies
      and those who have seronegative ON. SETTING: We recruited participants in the
      department of neurology and ophthalmology in our hospital in Japan. METHODS: We
      retrospectively evaluated the clinical features and response to steroid therapies
      of patients with ON. Sera from patients were tested for antibodies to MOG and
      aquaporin-4 (AQP4) with a cell-based assay. PARTICIPANTS: Between April 2009 and
      March 2014, we enrolled serial 57 patients with ON (27 males, 30 females; age
      range 16-84 years) who ophthalmologists had diagnosed as having or suspected to
      have ON with acute visual impairment and declined critical flicker frequency,
      abnormal findings of brain MRI, optical coherence tomography and fluorescein
      fundus angiography at their onset or recurrence. We excluded those patients who
      fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of neuromyelitis optica (NMO)/NMO spectrum
      disorders (NMOSD), MS McDonald's criteria, and so on. Finally we defined 29
      patients with idiopathic ON (14 males, 15 females, age range 16-84 years).
      RESULTS: 27.6% (8/29) were positive for MOG antibodies and 3.4% (1/29) were
      positive for AQP4. Among the eight patients with MOG antibodies, five had optic
      pain (p=0.001) and three had prodromal infection (p=0.179). Three of the eight
      MOG-positive patients showed significantly high CSF levels of myelin basic
      protein (p=0.021) and none were positive for oligoclonal band in CSF. On MRIs,
      seven MOG-positive patients showed high signal intensity on optic nerve, three
      had a cerebral lesion and one had a spinal cord lesion. Seven of the eight MOG
      positive patients had a good response to steroid therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Although
      not proving primary pathogenicity of anti-MOG antibodies, the present results
      indicate that the measurement of MOG antibodies is useful in diagnosing and
      treating ON.

PMID- 25838513
TI  - Efficacy and safety of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist liraglutide
      added to insulin therapy in poorly regulated patients with type 1 diabetes--a
      protocol for a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study: the Lira-1
      study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Intensive insulin therapy is recommended for the treatment of type
      1 diabetes (T1D). Hypoglycaemia and weight gain are the common side effects of
      insulin treatment and may reduce compliance. In patients with insulin-treated
      type 2 diabetes, the addition of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP
      1RA) therapy has proven effective in reducing weight gain and insulin dose. The
      present publication describes a protocol for a study evaluating the efficacy and
      safety of adding a GLP-1RA to insulin treatment in overweight patients with T1D
      in a randomised, double-blinded, controlled design. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: In
      total, 100 patients with type 1 diabetes, poor glycaemic control (glycated
      haemoglobin (HbA1c) >8%) and overweight (body mass index >25 kg/m(2)) will be
      randomised to either liraglutide 1.8 mg once daily or placebo as an add-on to
      intensive insulin therapy in this investigator initiated, double-blinded, placebo
      controlled parallel study. The primary end point is glycaemic control as measured
      by changes in HbA1c. Secondary end points include changes in the insulin dose,
      hypoglyacemic events, body weight, lean body mass, fat mass, food preferences and
      adverse events. Glycaemic excursions, postprandial glucagon levels and gastric
      emptying rate during a standardised liquid meal test will also be studied. ETHICS
      AND DISSEMINATION: The study is approved by the Danish Medicines Authority, the
      Regional Scientific-Ethical Committee of the Capital Region of Denmark and the
      Data Protection Agency. The study will be carried out under the surveillance and
      guidance of the good clinical practice (GCP) unit at Copenhagen University
      Hospital Bispebjerg in accordance with the ICH-GCP guidelines and the Helsinki
      Declaration. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01612468.

PMID- 25838514
TI  - Multiple therapeutic effects of progranulin on experimental acute ischaemic
      stroke.
AB  - In the central nervous system, progranulin, a glycoprotein growth factor, plays a
      crucial role in maintaining physiological functions, and progranulin gene
      mutations cause TAR DNA-binding protein-43-positive frontotemporal lobar
      degeneration. Although several studies have reported that progranulin plays a
      protective role against ischaemic brain injury, little is known about temporal
      changes in the expression level, cellular localization, and glycosylation status
      of progranulin after acute focal cerebral ischaemia. In addition, the precise
      mechanisms by which progranulin exerts protective effects on ischaemic brain
      injury remains unknown. Furthermore, the therapeutic potential of progranulin
      against acute focal cerebral ischaemia, including combination treatment with
      tissue plasminogen activator, remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we
      aimed to determine temporal changes in the expression and localization of
      progranulin after ischaemia as well as the therapeutic effects of progranulin on
      ischaemic brain injury using in vitro and in vivo models. First, we demonstrated
      a dynamic change in progranulin expression in ischaemic Sprague-Dawley rats,
      including increased levels of progranulin expression in microglia within the
      ischaemic core, and increased levels of progranulin expression in viable neurons
      as well as induction of progranulin expression in endothelial cells within the
      ischaemic penumbra. We also demonstrated that the fully glycosylated mature
      secretory isoform of progranulin (~88 kDa) decreased, whereas the glycosylated
      immature isoform of progranulin (58-68 kDa) markedly increased at 24 h and 72 h
      after reperfusion. In vitro experiments using primary cells from C57BL/6 mice
      revealed that the glycosylated immature isoform was secreted only from the
      microglia. Second, we demonstrated that progranulin could protect against acute
      focal cerebral ischaemia by a variety of mechanisms including attenuation of
      blood-brain barrier disruption, neuroinflammation suppression, and
      neuroprotection. We found that progranulin could regulate vascular permeability
      via vascular endothelial growth factor, suppress neuroinflammation after
      ischaemia via anti-inflammatory interleukin 10 in the microglia, and render
      neuroprotection in part by inhibition of cytoplasmic redistribution of TAR DNA
      binding protein-43 as demonstrated in progranulin knockout mice (C57BL/6
      background). Finally, we demonstrated the therapeutic potential of progranulin
      against acute focal cerebral ischaemia using a rat autologous thrombo-embolic
      model with delayed tissue plasminogen activator treatment. Intravenously
      administered recombinant progranulin reduced cerebral infarct and oedema,
      suppressed haemorrhagic transformation, and improved motor outcomes (P = 0.007,
      0.038, 0.007 and 0.004, respectively). In conclusion, progranulin may be a novel
      therapeutic target that provides vascular protection, anti-neuroinflammation, and
      neuroprotection related in part to vascular endothelial growth factor,
      interleukin 10, and TAR DNA-binding protein-43, respectively. 

PMID- 25838515
TI  - Reflectance Photoplethysmography as Noninvasive Monitoring of Tissue Blood
      Perfusion.
AB  - In the last decades, photoplethysmography (PPG) has been used as a noninvasive
      technique for monitoring arterial oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry (PO),
      whereas near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been employed for monitoring tissue
      blood perfusion. While NIRS offers more parameters to evaluate oxygen delivery
      and consumption in deep tissues, PO only assesses the state of oxygen delivery.
      For a broader assessment of blood perfusion, this paper explores the utilization
      of dual-wavelength PPG by using the pulsatile (ac) and continuous (dc) PPG for
      the estimation of arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) by conventional PO.
      Additionally, the Beer-Lambert law is applied to the dc components only for the
      estimation of changes in deoxyhemoglobin (HHb), oxyhemoglobin (HbO2), and total
      hemoglobin (tHb) as in NIRS. The system was evaluated on the forearm of 21
      healthy volunteers during induction of venous occlusion (VO) and total occlusion
      (TO). A reflectance PPG probe and NIRS sensor were applied above the
      brachioradialis, PO sensors were applied on the fingers, and all the signals were
      acquired simultaneously. While NIRS and forearm SpO2 indicated VO, SpO2 from the
      finger did not exhibit any significant drop from baseline. During TO, all the
      indexes indicated the change in blood perfusion. HHb, HbO2, and tHb changes
      estimated by PPG presented high correlation with the same parameters obtained by
      NIRS during VO (r(2) = 0.960, r(2) = 0.821, and r(2) = 0.974, respectively) and
      during TO (r(2) = 0.988, r(2) = 0.940, and r(2) = 0.938, respectively). The
      system demonstrated the ability to extract valuable information from PPG signals
      for a broader assessment of tissue blood perfusion.

PMID- 25838516
TI  - Workspace Shape and Characteristics for Human Two- and Three-Fingered Precision
      Manipulation.
AB  - GOAL: To study precision manipulation, which involves repositioning an object in
      the fingertips and is used in everyday tasks such as writing and key insertion,
      and also for domain-specific tasks such as small scalpel cuts, using tweezers,
      and hand soldering. METHODS: In this study, the range of positions (workspace)
      through which 19 participants manipulated a 3.3-4.1 cm-diameter object are
      measured with a magnetic tracker. Each participant performed two conditions: a
      two-finger thumb-index finger condition and a three-finger thumb-index-middle
      finger condition. RESULTS: The observed workspaces, normalized to a 17.5 cm hand
      length, are small compared to free-finger trajectories; for the two-finger
      trials, 68% of points are within 1.05 cm of the centroid and 95% are within 2.31
      cm, while the three-finger case shows a narrower distribution, with 68% of points
      within 0.94 cm of the centroid and 95% of points within 2.19 cm. The longest axis
      is a long thin arc in the proximal-palmar plane. Analysis of fingertip workspaces
      shows that the index fingertip workspace volume is the most linear predictor of
      object workspace (R(2) = 0.98). CONCLUSION: Precision manipulation workspace size
      and shape is shown, along with how the fingers are used during the manipulation.
      SIGNIFICANCE: The results have many applications, including normative data for
      rehabilitation, guidelines for ergonomic device design, and benchmarking
      prosthetic and robotic hands.

PMID- 25838517
TI  - Localized Energy-Based Normalization of Medical Images: Application to Chest
      Radiography.
AB  - Automated quantitative analysis systems for medical images often lack the
      capability to successfully process images from multiple sources. Normalization of
      such images prior to further analysis is a possible solution to this limitation.
      This work presents a general method to normalize medical images and thoroughly
      investigates its effectiveness for chest radiography (CXR). The method starts
      with an energy decomposition of the image in different bands. Next, each band's
      localized energy is scaled to a reference value and the image is reconstructed.
      We investigate iterative and local application of this technique. The
      normalization is applied iteratively to the lung fields on six datasets from
      different sources, each comprising 50 normal CXRs and 50 abnormal CXRs. The
      method is evaluated in three supervised computer-aided detection tasks related to
      CXR analysis and compared to two reference normalization methods. In the first
      task, automatic lung segmentation, the average Jaccard overlap significantly
      increased from 0.72+/-0.30 and 0.87+/-0.11 for both reference methods to with
      normalization. The second experiment was aimed at segmentation of the clavicles.
      The reference methods had an average Jaccard index of 0.57+/-0.26 and 0.53+/
      0.26; with normalization this significantly increased to . The third experiment
      was detection of tuberculosis related abnormalities in the lung fields. The
      average area under the Receiver Operating Curve increased significantly from
      0.72+/-0.14 and 0.79+/-0.06 using the reference methods to with normalization. We
      conclude that the normalization can be successfully applied in chest radiography
      and makes supervised systems more generally applicable to data from different
      sources. 

PMID- 25838518
TI  - Estimating diffusion propagator and its moments using directional radial basis
      functions.
AB  - The ensemble average diffusion propagator (EAP) obtained from diffusion MRI
      (dMRI) data captures important structural properties of the underlying tissue. As
      such, it is imperative to derive an accurate estimate of the EAP from the
      acquired diffusion data. In this work, we propose a novel method for estimating
      the EAP by representing the diffusion signal as a linear combination of
      directional radial basis functions scattered in q-space. In particular, we focus
      on a special case of anisotropic Gaussian basis functions and derive analytical
      expressions for the diffusion orientation distribution function (ODF), the return
      to-origin probability (RTOP), and mean-squared-displacement (MSD). A significant
      advantage of the proposed method is that the second and the fourth order moment
      tensors of the EAP can be computed explicitly. This allows for computing several
      novel scalar indices (from the moment tensors) such as mean-fourth-order
      displacement (MFD) and generalized kurtosis (GK)-which is a generalization of the
      mean kurtosis measure used in diffusion kurtosis imaging. Additionally, we also
      propose novel scalar indices computed from the signal in q-space, called the q
      space mean-squared-displacement (QMSD) and the q-space mean-fourth-order
      displacement (QMFD), which are sensitive to short diffusion time scales. We
      validate our method extensively on data obtained from a physical phantom with
      known crossing angle as well as on in-vivo human brain data. Our experiments
      demonstrate the robustness of our method for different combinations of b-values
      and number of gradient directions. 

PMID- 25838519
TI  - Supervised dictionary learning for inferring concurrent brain networks.
AB  - Task-based fMRI (tfMRI) has been widely used to explore functional brain networks
      via predefined stimulus paradigm in the fMRI scan. Traditionally, the general
      linear model (GLM) has been a dominant approach to detect task-evoked networks.
      However, GLM focuses on task-evoked or event-evoked brain responses and possibly
      ignores the intrinsic brain functions. In comparison, dictionary learning and
      sparse coding methods have attracted much attention recently, and these methods
      have shown the promise of automatically and systematically decomposing fMRI
      signals into meaningful task-evoked and intrinsic concurrent networks.
      Nevertheless, two notable limitations of current data-driven dictionary learning
      method are that the prior knowledge of task paradigm is not sufficiently utilized
      and that the establishment of correspondences among dictionary atoms in different
      brains have been challenging. In this paper, we propose a novel supervised
      dictionary learning and sparse coding method for inferring functional networks
      from tfMRI data, which takes both of the advantages of model-driven method and
      data-driven method. The basic idea is to fix the task stimulus curves as
      predefined model-driven dictionary atoms and only optimize the other portion of
      data-driven dictionary atoms. Application of this novel methodology on the
      publicly available human connectome project (HCP) tfMRI datasets has achieved
      promising results. 

PMID- 25838520
TI  - Full-space local topology extraction for cross-modal retrieval.
AB  - With the ever increasing availability of various kinds of multimedia data, cross
      modal retrieval, which enables information retrieval from various types of data
      given various types of query, has become a research hotspot. Hashing-based
      techniques have been developed to solve this problem, however, most previous
      works cannot capture the shared underlying structure of real-world multimodal
      data, which degrades their retrieval performances. In this paper, we propose a
      novel hashing method based on the extraction of the common manifold structure
      shared among different feature spaces. To faithfully represent the common
      structure, two kinds of local topology information are exploited in our method.
      Local angles are incorporated within the extraction of local topology of each
      feature space, which is then used to learn a common intermediate subspace. After
      heterogeneous features being embedded into this subspace, local similarities are
      exploited to extract the local topology between different feature spaces, and
      learn compact Hamming embeddings to facilitate cross-modal retrieval. The
      proposed method is referred to as full-space local topology extraction for
      hashing. Extensive comparisons with other state-of-the-art methods on three
      benchmark multimedia data sets demonstrate the superiority of our proposed method
      in terms of retrieval recall and search accuracy.

PMID- 25838521
TI  - Robust 2D principal component analysis: a structured sparsity regularized
      approach.
AB  - Principal component analysis (PCA) is widely used to extract features and reduce
      dimensionality in various computer vision and image/video processing tasks.
      Conventional approaches either lack robustness to outliers and corrupted data or
      are designed for one-dimensional signals. To address this problem, we propose a
      robust PCA model for two-dimensional images incorporating structured sparse
      priors, referred to as structured sparse 2D-PCA. This robust model considers the
      prior of structured and grouped pixel values in two dimensions. As the proposed
      formulation is jointly nonconvex and nonsmooth, which is difficult to tackle by
      joint optimization, we develop a two-stage alternating minimization approach to
      solve the problem. This approach iteratively learns the projection matrices by
      bidirectional decomposition and utilizes the proximal method to obtain the
      structured sparse outliers. By considering the structured sparsity prior, the
      proposed model becomes less sensitive to noisy data and outliers in two
      dimensions. Moreover, the computational cost indicates that the robust two
      dimensional model is capable of processing quarter common intermediate format
      video in real time, as well as handling large-size images and videos, which is
      often intractable with other robust PCA approaches that involve image-to-vector
      conversion. Experimental results on robust face reconstruction, video background
      subtraction data set, and real-world videos show the effectiveness of the
      proposed model compared with conventional 2D-PCA and other robust PCA algorithms.

PMID- 25838522
TI  - An approach toward fast gradient-based image segmentation.
AB  - In this paper, we present and investigate an approach to fast multilabel color
      image segmentation using convex optimization techniques. The presented model is
      in some ways related to the well-known Mumford-Shah model, but deviates in
      certain important aspects. The optimization problem has been designed with two
      goals in mind. The objective function should represent fundamental concepts of
      image segmentation, such as incorporation of weighted curve length and variation
      of intensity in the segmented regions, while allowing transformation into a
      convex concave saddle point problem that is computationally inexpensive to solve.
      This paper introduces such a model, the nontrivial transformation of this model
      into a convex-concave saddle point problem, and the numerical treatment of the
      problem. We evaluate our approach by applying our algorithm to various images and
      show that our results are competitive in terms of quality at unprecedentedly low
      computation times. Our algorithm allows high-quality segmentation of megapixel
      images in a few seconds and achieves interactive performance for low resolution
      images.

PMID- 25838523
TI  - Background subtraction based on low-rank and structured sparse decomposition.
AB  - Low rank and sparse representation based methods, which make few specific
      assumptions about the background, have recently attracted wide attention in
      background modeling. With these methods, moving objects in the scene are modeled
      as pixel-wised sparse outliers. However, in many practical scenarios, the
      distributions of these moving parts are not truly pixel-wised sparse but
      structurally sparse. Meanwhile a robust analysis mechanism is required to handle
      background regions or foreground movements with varying scales. Based on these
      two observations, we first introduce a class of structured sparsity-inducing
      norms to model moving objects in videos. In our approach, we regard the observed
      sequence as being constituted of two terms, a low-rank matrix (background) and a
      structured sparse outlier matrix (foreground). Next, in virtue of adaptive
      parameters for dynamic videos, we propose a saliency measurement to dynamically
      estimate the support of the foreground. Experiments on challenging well known
      data sets demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art
      methods and works effectively on a wide range of complex videos. 

PMID- 25838524
TI  - High-Density Electromyography and Motor Skill Learning for Robust Long-Term
      Control of a 7-DoF Robot Arm.
AB  - Myoelectric control offers a direct interface between human intent and various
      robotic applications through recorded muscle activity. Traditional control
      schemes realize this interface through direct mapping or pattern recognition
      techniques. The former approach provides reliable control at the expense of
      functionality, while the latter increases functionality at the expense of long
      term reliability. An alternative approach, using concepts of motor learning,
      provides session-independent simultaneous control, but previously relied on
      consistent electrode placement over biomechanically independent muscles. This
      paper extends the functionality and practicality of the motor learning-based
      approach, using high-density electrode grids and muscle synergy-inspired
      decomposition to generate control inputs with reduced constraints on electrode
      placement. The method is demonstrated via real-time simultaneous and proportional
      control of a 4-DoF myoelectric interface over multiple days. Subjects showed
      learning trends consistent with typical motor skill learning without requiring
      any retraining or recalibration between sessions. Moreover, they adjusted to
      physical constraints of a robot arm after learning the control in a constraint
      free virtual interface, demonstrating robust control as they performed precision
      tasks. The results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed man-machine interface
      as a viable alternative to conventional control schemes for myoelectric
      interfaces designed for long-term use. 

PMID- 25838525
TI  - A Model-Based Pharmacokinetics Characterization Method of Engineered
      Nanoparticles for Pilot Studies.
AB  - Recent developments on engineered multifunctional nanomaterials have opened new
      perspectives in oncology. But assessment of both quality and safety in
      nanomedicine requires new methods for their biological characterization. This
      paper proposes a new model-based approach for the pre-characterization of
      multifunctional nanomaterials pharmacokinetics in small scale in vivo studies.
      Two multifunctional nanoparticules, with and without active targeting, designed
      for photodynamic therapy guided by magnetic resonance imaging are used to
      exemplify the presented method. It allows to the experimenter to rapidly test and
      select the most relevant PK model structure planned to be used in the subsequent
      explanatory studies. We also show that the model parameters estimated from the in
      vivo responses provide relevant preliminary information about the tumor uptake,
      the elimination rate and the residual storage. For some parameters, the accuracy
      of the estimates is accurate enough to compare and draw significant pre
      conclusions. A third advantage of this approach is the possibility to optimally
      refine the in vivo protocol for the subsequent explanatory and confirmatory
      studies complying with the 3Rs (reduction, refinement, replacement) ethical
      recommendations. More precisely, we show that the identified model may be used to
      select the appropriate duration of the MR imaging sessions planned for the
      subsequent studies. The proposed methodology integrates MRI image processing,
      continuous-time system identification algorithms and statistical analysis.
      Except, the choice of the model parameters to be compared and interpreted, most
      of the processing procedure may be automated to speed up the PK characterization
      process at an early stage of experimentation.

PMID- 25838526
TI  - A Battery-Less, Implantable Neuro-Electronic Interface for Studying the
      Mechanisms of Deep Brain Stimulation in Rat Models.
AB  - Although deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been a promising alternative for
      treating several neural disorders, the mechanisms underlying the DBS remain not
      fully understood. As rat models provide the advantage of recording and
      stimulating different disease-related regions simultaneously, this paper proposes
      a battery-less, implantable neuro-electronic interface suitable for studying DBS
      mechanisms with a freely-moving rat. The neuro-electronic interface mainly
      consists of a microsystem able to interact with eight different brain regions bi
      directionally and simultaneously. To minimize the size of the implant, the
      microsystem receives power and transmits data through a single coil. In addition,
      particular attention is paid to the capability of recording neural activities
      right after each stimulation, so as to acquire information on how stimulations
      modulate neural activities. The microsystem has been fabricated with the standard
      0.18 MUm CMOS technology. The chip area is 7.74 mm (2) , and the microsystem is
      able to operate with a single supply voltage of 1 V. The wireless interface
      allows a maximum power of 10 mW to be transmitted together with either uplink or
      downlink data at a rate of 2 Mbps or 100 kbps, respectively. The input referred
      noise of recording amplifiers is 1.16 MUVrms, and the stimulation voltage is
      tunable from 1.5 V to 4.5 V with 5-bit resolution. After the electrical
      functionality of the microsystem is tested, the capability of the microsystem to
      interface with rat brain is further examined and compared with conventional
      instruments. All experimental results are presented and discussed in this paper. 

PMID- 25838527
TI  - Self-powered monitoring of repeated head impacts using time-dilation energy
      measurement circuit.
AB  - Due to the current epidemic levels of sport-related concussions (SRC) in the
      U.S., there is a pressing need for technologies that can facilitate long-term and
      continuous monitoring of head impacts. Existing helmet-sensor technology is
      inconsistent, inaccurate, and is not economically or logistically practical for
      large-scale human studies. In this paper, we present the design of a miniature,
      battery-less, self-powered sensor that can be embedded inside sport helmets and
      can continuously monitor and store different spatial and temporal statistics of
      the helmet impacts. At the core of the proposed sensor is a novel time-dilation
      circuit that allows measurement of a wide-range of impact energies. In this paper
      an array of linear piezo-floating-gate (PFG) injectors has been used for self
      powered sensing and storage of linear and rotational head-impact statistics. The
      stored statistics are then retrieved using a plug-and-play reader and has been
      used for offline data analysis. We report simulation and measurement results
      validating the functionality of the time-dilation circuit for different levels of
      impact energies. Also, using prototypes of linear PFG integrated circuits
      fabricated in a 0.5 MUm CMOS process, we demonstrate the functionality of the
      proposed helmet-sensors using controlled drop tests. 

PMID- 25838529
TI  - Hierarchical Theme and Topic Modeling.
AB  - Considering the hierarchical data groupings in text corpus, e.g., words,
      sentences, and documents, we conduct the structural learning and infer the latent
      themes and topics for sentences and words from a collection of documents,
      respectively. The relation between themes and topics under different data
      groupings is explored through an unsupervised procedure without limiting the
      number of clusters. A tree stick-breaking process is presented to draw theme
      proportions for different sentences. We build a hierarchical theme and topic
      model, which flexibly represents the heterogeneous documents using Bayesian
      nonparametrics. Thematic sentences and topical words are extracted. In the
      experiments, the proposed method is evaluated to be effective to build semantic
      tree structure for sentences and the corresponding words. The superiority of
      using tree model for selection of expressive sentences for document summarization
      is illustrated. 

PMID- 25838528
TI  - An EMG-Controlled Robotic Hand Exoskeleton for Bilateral Rehabilitation.
AB  - This paper presents a novel electromyography (EMG)-driven hand exoskeleton for
      bilateral rehabilitation of grasping in stroke. The developed hand exoskeleton
      was designed with two distinctive features: (a) kinematics with intrinsic
      adaptability to patient's hand size, and (b) free-palm and free-fingertip design,
      preserving the residual sensory perceptual capability of touch during assistance
      in grasping of real objects. In the envisaged bilateral training strategy, the
      patient's non paretic hand acted as guidance for the paretic hand in grasping
      tasks. Grasping force exerted by the non paretic hand was estimated in real-time
      from EMG signals, and then replicated as robotic assistance for the paretic hand
      by means of the hand-exoskeleton. Estimation of the grasping force through EMG
      allowed to perform rehabilitation exercises with any, non sensorized, graspable
      objects. This paper presents the system design, development, and experimental
      evaluation. Experiments were performed within a group of six healthy subjects and
      two chronic stroke patients, executing robotic-assisted grasping tasks. Results
      related to performance in estimation and modulation of the robotic assistance,
      and to the outcomes of the pilot rehabilitation sessions with stroke patients,
      positively support validity of the proposed approach for application in stroke
      rehabilitation. 

PMID- 25838530
TI  - Arrhythmia discrimination using a smart phone.
AB  - We hypothesize that our smartphone-based arrhythmia discrimination algorithm with
      data acquisition approach reliably differentiates between normal sinus rhythm
      (NSR), atrial fibrillation (AF), premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and
      premature atrial contraction (PACs) in a diverse group of patients having these
      common arrhythmias. We combine root mean square of successive RR differences and
      Shannon entropy with Poincare plot (or turning point ratio method) and pulse rise
      and fall times to increase the sensitivity of AF discrimination and add new
      capabilities of PVC and PAC identification. To investigate the capability of the
      smartphone-based algorithm for arrhythmia discrimination, 99 subjects, including
      88 study participants with AF at baseline and in NSR after electrical
      cardioversion, as well as seven participants with PACs and four with PVCs were
      recruited. Using a smartphone, we collected 2-min pulsatile time series from each
      recruited subject. This clinical application results show that the proposed
      method detects NSR with specificity of 0.9886, and discriminates PVCs and PACs
      from AF with sensitivities of 0.9684 and 0.9783, respectively. 

PMID- 25838531
TI  - Personalization of Energy Expenditure Estimation in Free Living Using Topic
      Models.
AB  - We introduce an approach to personalize energy expenditure (EE) estimates in free
      living. First, we use topic models to discover activity composites from
      recognized activity primitives and stay regions in daily living data.
      Subsequently, we determine activity composites that are relevant to contextualize
      heart rate (HR). Activity composites were ranked and analyzed to optimize the
      correlation to HR normalization parameters. Finally, individual-specific HR
      normalization parameters were used to normalize HR. Normalized HR was then
      included in activity-specific regression models to estimate EE. Our HR
      normalization minimizes the effect of individual fitness differences from
      entering in EE regression models. By estimating HR normalization parameters in
      free living, our approach avoids dedicated individual calibration or laboratory
      tests. In a combined free-living and laboratory study dataset, including 34
      healthy volunteers, we show that HR normalization in 14-day free-living data
      improves accuracy compared to no normalization and normalization based on
      activity primitives only ( 29.4% and 19.8 % error reduction against lab
      reference). Based on acceleration and HR, both recorded from a necklace, and GPS
      acquired from a smartphone, EE estimation error was reduced by 10.7 % in a leave
      one-participant-out analysis. 

PMID- 25838532
TI  - Experimental Path Loss Models for In-Body Communications Within 2.36-2.5 GHz.
AB  - Biomedical implantable sensors transmitting a variety of physiological signals
      have been proven very useful in the management of chronic diseases. Currently,
      the vast majority of these in-body wireless sensors communicate in frequencies
      below 1 GHz. Although the radio propagation losses through biological tissues may
      be lower in such frequencies, e.g., the medical implant communication services
      band of 402 to 405 MHz, the maximal channel bandwidths allowed therein constrain
      the implantable devices to low data rate transmissions. Novel and more
      sophisticated wireless in-body sensors and actuators may require higher data rate
      communication interfaces. Therefore, the radio spectrum above 1 GHz for the use
      of wearable medical sensing applications should be considered for in-body
      applications too. Wider channel bandwidths and smaller antenna sizes may be
      obtained in frequency bands above 1 GHz at the expense of larger propagation
      losses. Therefore, in this paper, we present a phantom-based radio propagation
      study for the frequency bands of 2360 to 2400 MHz, which has been set aside for
      wearable body area network nodes, and the industrial, scientific, medical band of
      2400 to 2483.5 MHz. Three different channel scenarios were considered for the
      propagation measurements: in-body to in-body, in-body to on-body, and in-body to
      off-body. We provide for the first time path loss formulas for all these cases. 

PMID- 25838533
TI  - From the Symbolic Analysis of Virtual Faces to a Smiles Machine.
AB  - In this paper, we present an application of symbolic data processing for the
      design of virtual character's smiling facial expressions. A collected database of
      virtual character's smiles directly created by users has been explored using
      symbolic data analysis methods. An unsupervised analysis has enabled us to
      identify the morphological and dynamic characteristics of different types of
      smiles as well as of combinations of smiles. Based on the symbolic data analysis,
      to generate different smiling faces, we have developed procedures to
      automatically reconstitute smiling virtual faces from a point in a
      multidimensional space corresponding to a principal component analysis plane. 

PMID- 25838534
TI  - Fast Image-Based Obstacle Detection From Unmanned Surface Vehicles.
AB  - Obstacle detection plays an important role in unmanned surface vehicles (USVs).
      The USVs operate in a highly diverse environments in which an obstacle may be a
      floating piece of wood, a scuba diver, a pier, or a part of a shoreline, which
      presents a significant challenge to continuous detection from images taken on
      board. This paper addresses the problem of online detection by constrained,
      unsupervised segmentation. To this end, a new graphical model is proposed that
      affords a fast and continuous obstacle image-map estimation from a single video
      stream captured on board a USV. The model accounts for the semantic structure of
      marine environment as observed from USV by imposing weak structural constraints.
      A Markov random field framework is adopted and a highly efficient algorithm for
      simultaneous optimization of model parameters and segmentation mask estimation is
      derived. Our approach does not require computationally intensive extraction of
      texture features and comfortably runs in real time. The algorithm is tested on a
      new, challenging, dataset for segmentation, and obstacle detection in marine
      environments, which is the largest annotated dataset of its kind. Results on this
      dataset show that our model outperforms the related approaches, while requiring a
      fraction of computational effort. 

PMID- 25838535
TI  - Possibility Distribution-Based Approach for MAGDM With Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic
      Information.
AB  - In group decision making (GDM) with qualitative settings, experts may require
      several possible linguistic values rather than a single term to express their
      preferences. A hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set has recently been developed to
      manage this situation. In line with this development, in this paper, we present a
      new framework model to address multiple attribute GDM with hesitant fuzzy
      linguistic information. First, the concept of a possibility distribution is
      defined. Based on the possibility distributions, some aggregation operators such
      as the hesitant fuzzy linguistic weighted average operator and the hesitant fuzzy
      linguistic ordered weighted average operator are proposed. A consensus measure is
      then defined and a consensus reaching process is given which uses different
      identification and direction rules compared with the existing methods. A
      selection process is also described to rank the alternatives. Both processes are
      necessary to support stakeholders when making rational decisions. Finally, two
      simulated examples are given to verify the practicability of the proposed
      approach. 

PMID- 25838536
TI  - Principal Component 2-D Long Short-Term Memory for Font Recognition on Single
      Chinese Characters.
AB  - Chinese character font recognition (CCFR) has received increasing attention as
      the intelligent applications based on optical character recognition becomes
      popular. However, traditional CCFR systems do not handle noisy data effectively.
      By analyzing in detail the basic strokes of Chinese characters, we propose that
      font recognition on a single Chinese character is a sequence classification
      problem, which can be effectively solved by recurrent neural networks. For robust
      CCFR, we integrate a principal component convolution layer with the 2-D long
      short-term memory (2DLSTM) and develop principal component 2DLSTM (PC-2DLSTM)
      algorithm. PC-2DLSTM considers two aspects: 1) the principal component layer
      convolution operation helps remove the noise and get a rational and complete font
      information and 2) simultaneously, 2DLSTM deals with the long-range contextual
      processing along scan directions that can contribute to capture the contrast
      between character trajectory and background. Experiments using the frequently
      used CCFR dataset suggest the effectiveness of PC-2DLSTM compared with other
      state-of-the-art font recognition methods. 

PMID- 25838537
TI  - Learning to Anticipate Flexible Choices in Multiple Criteria Decision-Making
      Under Uncertainty.
AB  - In several applications, a solution must be selected from a set of tradeoff
      alternatives for operating in dynamic and noisy environments. In this paper, such
      multicriteria decision process is handled by anticipating flexible options
      predicted to improve the decision maker future freedom of action. A methodology
      is then proposed for predicting tradeoff sets of maximal hypervolume, where a
      multiobjective metaheuristic was augmented with a Kalman filter and a dynamical
      Dirichlet model for tracking and predicting flexible solutions. The method
      identified decisions that were shown to improve the future hypervolume of
      tradeoff investment portfolio sets for out-of-sample stock data, when compared to
      a myopic strategy. Anticipating flexible portfolios was a superior strategy for
      smoother changing artificial and real-world scenarios, when compared to always
      implementing the decision of median risk and to randomly selecting a portfolio
      from the evolved anticipatory stochastic Pareto frontier, whereas the median
      choice strategy performed better for abruptly changing markets. Correlations
      between the portfolio compositions and future hypervolume were also observed. 

PMID- 25838538
TI  - Autophagy: research topic, painting, poem, dance...: The combination of art and
      information can enhance the enjoyment and effectiveness of learning.

PMID- 25838539
TI  - CARMing down the SINEs of anarchy: two paths to freedom from paraspeckle
      detention.
AB  - A subset of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that contain inverted Alu elements in their 3'
      untranslated region are inefficiently exported to the cytoplasm and retained in
      subnuclear bodies called paraspeckles. The arginine methyltransferase CARM1
      (coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1) promotes the nuclear export
      of these mRNAs by methylating the paraspeckle component p54(nrb), which reduces
      the binding of p54(nrb) to the inverted Alu elements, and down-regulating
      synthesis of another paraspeckle component, the long noncoding RNA NEAT1, which
      inhibits paraspeckle formation.

PMID- 25838540
TI  - Increased Rrm2 gene dosage reduces fragile site breakage and prolongs survival of
      ATR mutant mice.
AB  - In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, absence of the checkpoint kinase Mec1 (ATR) is
      viable upon mutations that increase the activity of the ribonucleotide reductase
      (RNR) complex. Whether this pathway is conserved in mammals remains unknown. Here
      we show that cells from mice carrying extra alleles of the RNR regulatory subunit
      RRM2 (Rrm2(TG)) present supraphysiological RNR activity and reduced chromosomal
      breakage at fragile sites. Moreover, increased Rrm2 gene dosage significantly
      extends the life span of ATR mutant mice. Our study reveals the first genetic
      condition in mammals that reduces fragile site expression and alleviates the
      severity of a progeroid disease by increasing RNR activity.

PMID- 25838541
TI  - Trimethylation of Lys36 on H3 restricts gene expression change during aging and
      impacts life span.
AB  - Functional data indicate that specific histone modification enzymes can be key to
      longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans, but the molecular basis of how chromatin
      structure modulates longevity is not well understood. In this study, we profiled
      the genome-wide pattern of trimethylation of Lys36 on histone 3 (H3K36me3) in the
      somatic cells of young and old Caenorhabditis elegans. We revealed a new role of
      H3K36me3 in maintaining gene expression stability through aging with important
      consequences on longevity. We found that genes with dramatic expression change
      during aging are marked with low or even undetectable levels of H3K36me3 in their
      gene bodies irrespective of their corresponding mRNA abundance. Interestingly, 3'
      untranslated region (UTR) length strongly correlates with H3K36me3 levels and age
      dependent mRNA expression stability. A similar negative correlation between
      H3K36me3 marking and mRNA expression change during aging was also observed in
      Drosophila melanogaster, suggesting a conserved mechanism for H3K36me3 in
      suppressing age-dependent mRNA expression change. Importantly, inactivation of
      the methyltransferase met-1 resulted in a decrease in global H3K36me3 marks, an
      increase in mRNA expression change with age, and a shortened life span,
      suggesting a causative role of the H3K36me3 marking in modulating age-dependent
      gene expression stability and longevity.

PMID- 25838542
TI  - miR-182 integrates apoptosis, growth, and differentiation programs in
      glioblastoma.
AB  - Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a lethal, therapy-resistant brain cancer
      consisting of numerous tumor cell subpopulations, including stem-like glioma
      initiating cells (GICs), which contribute to tumor recurrence following initial
      response to therapy. Here, we identified miR-182 as a regulator of apoptosis,
      growth, and differentiation programs whose expression level is correlated with
      GBM patient survival. Repression of Bcl2-like12 (Bcl2L12), c-Met, and hypoxia
      inducible factor 2alpha (HIF2A) is of central importance to miR-182 anti-tumor
      activity, as it results in enhanced therapy susceptibility, decreased GIC sphere
      size, expansion, and stemness in vitro. To evaluate the tumor-suppressive
      function of miR-182 in vivo, we synthesized miR-182-based spherical nucleic acids
      (182-SNAs); i.e., gold nanoparticles covalently functionalized with mature miR
      182 duplexes. Intravenously administered 182-SNAs penetrated the blood
      brain/blood-tumor barriers (BBB/BTB) in orthotopic GBM xenografts and selectively
      disseminated throughout extravascular glioma parenchyma, causing reduced tumor
      burden and increased animal survival. Our results indicate that harnessing the
      anti-tumor activities of miR-182 via safe and robust delivery of 182-SNAs
      represents a novel strategy for therapeutic intervention in GBM.

PMID- 25838543
TI  - Essential roles for the splicing regulator nSR100/SRRM4 during nervous system
      development.
AB  - Alternative splicing (AS) generates vast transcriptomic complexity in the
      vertebrate nervous system. However, the extent to which trans-acting splicing
      regulators and their target AS regulatory networks contribute to nervous system
      development is not well understood. To address these questions, we generated mice
      lacking the vertebrate- and neural-specific Ser/Arg repeat-related protein of 100
      kDa (nSR100/SRRM4). Loss of nSR100 impairs development of the central and
      peripheral nervous systems in part by disrupting neurite outgrowth, cortical
      layering in the forebrain, and axon guidance in the corpus callosum. Accompanying
      these developmental defects are widespread changes in AS that primarily result in
      shifts to nonneural patterns for different classes of splicing events. The main
      component of the altered AS program comprises 3- to 27-nucleotide (nt) neural
      microexons, an emerging class of highly conserved AS events associated with the
      regulation of protein interaction networks in developing neurons and neurological
      disorders. Remarkably, inclusion of a 6-nt, nSR100-activated microexon in Unc13b
      transcripts is sufficient to rescue a neuritogenesis defect in nSR100 mutant
      primary neurons. These results thus reveal critical in vivo neurodevelopmental
      functions of nSR100 and further link these functions to a conserved program of
      neuronal microexon splicing.

PMID- 25838544
TI  - A conserved intronic U1 snRNP-binding sequence promotes trans-splicing in
      Drosophila.
AB  - Unlike typical cis-splicing, trans-splicing joins exons from two separate
      transcripts to produce chimeric mRNA and has been detected in most eukaryotes.
      Trans-splicing in trypanosomes and nematodes has been characterized as a spliced
      leader RNA-facilitated reaction; in contrast, its mechanism in higher eukaryotes
      remains unclear. Here we investigate mod(mdg4), a classic trans-spliced gene in
      Drosophila, and report that two critical RNA sequences in the middle of the last
      5' intron, TSA and TSB, promote trans-splicing of mod(mdg4). In TSA, a 13
      nucleotide (nt) core motif is conserved across Drosophila species and is
      essential and sufficient for trans-splicing, which binds U1 small nuclear RNP
      (snRNP) through strong base-pairing with U1 snRNA. In TSB, a conserved secondary
      structure acts as an enhancer. Deletions of TSA and TSB using the CRISPR/Cas9
      system result in developmental defects in flies. Although it is not clear how the
      5' intron finds the 3' introns, compensatory changes in U1 snRNA rescue trans
      splicing of TSA mutants, demonstrating that U1 recruitment is critical to promote
      trans-splicing in vivo. Furthermore, TSA core-like motifs are found in many other
      trans-spliced Drosophila genes, including lola. These findings represent a novel
      mechanism of trans-splicing, in which RNA motifs in the 5' intron are sufficient
      to bring separate transcripts into close proximity to promote trans-splicing.

PMID- 25838545
TI  - In vivo biochemical analyses reveal distinct roles of beta-importins and eEF1A in
      tRNA subcellular traffic.
AB  - Bidirectional tRNA movement between the nucleus and the cytoplasm serves multiple
      biological functions. To gain a biochemical understanding of the mechanisms for
      tRNA subcellular dynamics, we developed in vivo beta-importin complex
      coimmunoprecipitation (co-IP) assays using budding yeast. Our studies provide the
      first in vivo biochemical evidence that two beta-importin family members, Los1
      (exportin-t) and Msn5 (exportin-5), serve overlapping but distinct roles in tRNA
      nuclear export. Los1 assembles complexes with RanGTP and tRNA. Both intron
      containing pre-tRNAs and spliced tRNAs, regardless of whether they are
      aminoacylated, assemble into Los1-RanGTP complexes, documenting that Los1
      participates in both primary nuclear export and re-export of tRNAs to the
      cytoplasm. In contrast, beta-importin Msn5 preferentially assembles with RanGTP
      and spliced, aminoacylated tRNAs, documenting its role in tRNA nuclear re-export.
      Tef1/2 (the yeast form of translation elongation factor 1alpha [eEF1A]) aids the
      specificity of Msn5 for aminoacylated tRNAs to form a quaternary complex
      consisting of Msn5, RanGTP, aminoacylated tRNA, and Tef1/2. Assembly and/or
      stability of this quaternary complex requires Tef1/2, thereby facilitating
      efficient re-export of aminoacylated tRNAs to the cytoplasm.

PMID- 25838546
TI  - The Relationship Between Urinary Total Polyphenols and the Frailty Phenotype in a
      Community-Dwelling Older Population: The InCHIANTI Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Frailty, an age-related state of increased vulnerability, is
      associated with a higher risk of multiple adverse events. Studies have suggested
      that the quality of dietary intake may affect the development of frailty. We
      hypothesized that frailty in older subjects would be associated with dietary
      total polyphenols (DTP) intake and its biomarker, urinary total polyphenols
      (UTP). METHODS: The Invecchiare in Chianti (InCHIANTI) Study is a prospective
      cohort study set in the Chianti area (Italy). We used data at baseline from 811
      participants aged 65 years and older. UTP was determined using the Folin
      Ciocalteu assay after solid-phase extraction. DTP was estimated using a validated
      Food Frequency Questionnaire and our own polyphenol database. The frailty,
      prefrailty, and nonfrailty states were defined according to the Fried and
      colleagues' criteria. Multinomial logistic regressions adjusted for potential
      confounders were used to assess the relationship between polyphenols and frailty.
      RESULTS: Both DTP and UTP concentrations progressively decrease from nonfrail to
      frail participants. Participants in the highest UTP tertile compared to those in
      the lowest tertile were significantly less likely to be both frail (odds ratio
      [OR] = 0.36 [0.14-0.88], p = .025) and prefrail (OR = 0.64 [0.42-0.98], p =
      .038). Exhaustion and slowness were the only individual frailty criteria
      significantly associated with UTP tertiles. No significant association was
      observed between frailty and DTP, after adjustment for covariates. CONCLUSIONS:
      High concentrations of UTP were associated with lower prevalence of frailty and
      prefrailty in an older community-dwelling population. A polyphenol-rich diet may
      protect against frailty in older persons. Our findings should be confirmed in
      longitudinal studies.

PMID- 25838548
TI  - Factors that Impact on Interrater Reliability of the Mouse Clinical Frailty
      Index.

PMID- 25838547
TI  - Greater Skeletal Muscle Fat Infiltration Is Associated With Higher All-Cause and
      Cardiovascular Mortality in Older Men.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Skeletal muscle fat infiltration (myosteatosis) increases with aging,
      and has been associated with poor metabolic and musculoskeletal health,
      independent of overall adiposity. Studies examining the relationship of
      myosteatosis and mortality among older individuals recruited without regard to
      their health status are sparse. METHODS: We evaluated the association of
      peripheral computed tomography measured calf myosteatosis (intermuscular fat and
      muscle density as a measure of intramuscular fat) with mortality in 1,063
      community-dwelling older men. Cox proportional hazards models were used to
      estimate the risk of mortality independent of potential confounders. RESULTS:
      During a mean follow-up of 7.2 years, 317 participants died. After adjustment for
      potential covariates and additional adjustment for whole body fat, lower skeletal
      muscle density was associated with increased all-cause mortality and
      cardiovascular disease mortality (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] per
      standard deviation lower skeletal muscle density: 1.24 [1.09-1.41] and 1.46 [1.15
      1.86], respectively), and to some extent with noncardiovascular disease mortality
      (1.18 [1.0-1.38], p = .053). After adjusting for trunk fat in a separate
      multivariable model, the association between skeletal muscle density and all
      cause and cardiovascular disease mortality remained significant (both p < .01),
      while its association with noncardiovascular disease mortality became of
      borderline significance (p = .085). No other measures of adiposity, including
      calf intermuscular fat, were associated with mortality. CONCLUSION: Our study
      reveals an independent association between skeletal muscle density and mortality
      in a community-based sample of older, predominantly Caucasian men. Further
      studies are needed to establish if this association is independent of other
      ectopic fat depots, and to identify the biological mechanisms underlying this
      relationship.

PMID- 25838549
TI  - Limited resection of pancreatic cancer in high-risk patients can result in a
      second primary.

PMID- 25838551
TI  - Australian rural, remote and urban community nurses' health promotion role and
      function.
AB  - Community nurses have often been 'touted' as potential major contributors to
      health promotion. Critical literature, however, often states that this has not
      been the case. Furthermore, most studies examining nurses' role and function have
      occurred mainly in hospital settings. This is a sequential mixed-methods study of
      two groups of community nurses from a Sydney urban area (n = 100) and from rural
      and remote areas (n = 49) within New South Wales, Australia. A piloted
      questionnaire survey was developed based on the five action areas of the Ottawa
      Charter for Health Promotion. Following this, 10 qualitative interviews were
      conducted for both groups, plus a focus group to support or refute survey
      results. Findings showed that rural and remote nurses had more positive attitudes
      towards health promotion and its clinical implementation. Survey and interview
      data confirmed that urban community nurses had a narrower focus on caring for
      individuals rather than groups, agreeing that time constraints impacted on their
      limited health promotion role. There was agreement about lack of resources
      (material and people) to update health promotion knowledge and skills. Rural and
      remote nurses were more likely to have limited educational opportunities. All
      nurses undertook more development of personal skills (DPS, health education) than
      any other action area. The findings highlight the need for more education and
      resources for community nurses to assist their understanding of health promotion
      concepts. It is hoped that community nurse leaders will collectively become more
      effective health promoters and contribute to healthy reform in primary health
      care sectors. 

PMID- 25838550
TI  - Batf-dependent Th17 cells critically regulate IL-23 driven colitis-associated
      colon cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: IBDs have an increased risk for development of colorectal cancer
      (CRC). Here, we aimed at the characterisation of the functional role of Th17
      associated transcription factors in sporadic and colitis-associated colon cancer
      in vivo. DESIGN: We used mice deficient or transgenic for the activating protein
      1 family member basic leucine zipper transcription factor ATF-like (Batf) to
      evaluate the role of Th17 cells during sporadic and inflammation-induced colon
      carcinogenesis. We also studied the expression of Batf and RORgammat in patients
      with IBD and CRC. RESULTS: Batf but not retinoic acid-related orphan receptor
      gammat(RORgammat) expression was significantly increased together with
      interleukin (IL) 23 expression in UC but not in Crohn's disease (CD) tissue
      samples. In CRC also Batf but not RORgammat expression was increased and its
      expression correlated with the IL-23 and IL-23 receptor (IL-23R) expression.
      Finally, Batf but not RORgammat was coexpressed with IL-17a, IL-23R and IL-6
      within CRC-infiltrating CD4(+) T cells. Functional studies in mice revealed that
      Batf-dependent T cells are crucial regulators of sporadic and inflammation
      induced CRC. Colitis-associated Batf(-/-) tumours lacked IL-17a(+)IL-23R(+)IL
      6(+)CD4(+) T cells, hence displaying characteristics reminiscent of human CRC
      infiltrating CD4(+) T cells. Strikingly, Batf(-/-) tumours contained low IL-23
      but high IL-17a expression levels. Tumour formation and intratumoral IL-23
      expression could be restored by administration of Hyper-IL-6 consisting of IL-6
      and soluble IL-6 receptor. CONCLUSIONS: Batf-dependent IL-23R(+)IL-6(+)CD4(+)
      Th17 cells critically control IL-23 driven colitis-associated tumour formation
      and the progression of sporadic colon tumours. Batf-dependent IL-23R(+) T cells
      represent a potential future therapeutic target limiting CRC progression.

PMID- 25838552
TI  - Sun protection during snow sports: an analysis of behavior and psychosocial
      determinants.
AB  - This study investigated sun protective behavior during snow sports and its
      psychosocial determinants. A longitudinal study was conducted among 418 Dutch
      adults who planned to go on a ski holiday. Participants were asked to fill in a
      questionnaire before and after their ski trip. In the baseline questionnaire
      several psychosocial factors were measured (i.e. knowledge, risk perception,
      worry, attitude, social influence, self-efficacy and intention). At follow-up,
      sunscreen use and frequency of sunburns were measured. The results showed that,
      despite their generally high intention, a substantial part of the respondents
      (40%) did not use sunscreen adequately during their ski holiday. Furthermore, one
      fourth of the respondents reported at least one sunburn during their ski holiday.
      Men and younger respondents used sunscreen less frequently and were sunburnt more
      often. Sunscreen use was predicted by a positive attitude, high self-efficacy
      levels, high intention, high knowledge and high perceived risk. The background
      and psychosocial variables explained 32% of the total variance of sunscreen use.
      Suggestions for future research and interventions are discussed. 

PMID- 25838553
TI  - The Association Between Dialysis Facility Quality and Facility Characteristics,
      Neighborhood Demographics, and Region.
AB  - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated the End-Stage Renal
      Disease Quality Incentive Program in 2012. For each dialysis facility, an overall
      quality performance score is determined based on various quality measures. This
      article studies the association between the overall dialysis facility quality and
      facility characteristics, neighborhood demographics, and region. Data from the
      CMS Payment Year 2014 Dialysis Compare File were used, and were linked to 2010 US
      Census data (n = 4086). Multiple linear regression was used to examine the
      association between dialysis facility quality and facility characteristics,
      neighborhood demographics, and region. The analysis demonstrates that dialysis
      facility quality varies significantly by facility profit status, chain
      membership, and facility size. Dialysis facilities in neighborhoods with a higher
      proportion of African Americans have significantly lower quality. Regional
      differences in quality exist.

PMID- 25838554
TI  - Why it's time to recognise Indigenous peoples in the Constitution.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This article provides an overview of why it is proposed that the
      Australian Constitution be changed to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait
      Islander peoples. It then establishes what changes are needed to the
      Constitution. CONCLUSION: The Australian Constitution fails to recognise
      Indigenous peoples, and still enables discrimination against them. This provides
      a sound case for changing the document.

PMID- 25838555
TI  - Defragmenting paediatric anorexia nervosa: the Flinders Medical Centre Paediatric
      Eating Disorder Program.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the establishment and the main characteristics of the
      Flinders Medical Centre Paediatric Eating Disorder Program. CONCLUSION: While the
      programme is still in its infancy, it is hoped that our model of care can provide
      a sustainable, long term contribution to the management of paediatric eating
      disorders.

PMID- 25838558
TI  - What's all the buzz about change management?
AB  - Change management is more important than ever in healthcare. It is an essential
      part of the management tool box and to downplay its importance is to risk serious
      challenges, including failure, in implementing and even more importantly,
      sustaining change. All too often, change management is something that is handed
      off to a special department or even contracted out, without due consideration of
      the need to develop the knowledge and skills in and across the organization. Some
      basics for successful change management are identified and discussed.

PMID- 25838557
TI  - Nuclear changes in oral mucosa of alcoholics and crack cocaine users.
AB  - The effects of drugs of abuse on oral mucosa are only partly understood. The aims
      of the present study were to: (1) evaluate the frequency of nuclear changes in
      normal-appearing oral mucosa of alcoholics and crack cocaine users and (2) assess
      their association with cell proliferation rate. Oral smears were obtained from
      the border of the tongue and floor of the mouth of 26 crack cocaine users (24
      males and 2 females), 29 alcoholics (17 males and 12 females), and 35 controls
      (17 males and 18 females). Histological slides were submitted to Feulgen staining
      to assess the frequency of micronuclei (MN), binucleated cells (BN), broken eggs
      (BE), and karyorrhexis (KR). A significant increase in the frequency of MN was
      observed in cells exfoliated from the tongue of crack cocaine users (p = 0.01),
      and alcoholics showed a higher frequency of KR in cells obtained from the floor
      of the mouth (p = 0.01). Our findings suggest that the use of crack cocaine
      induces clastogenic effects, whereas alcoholism is associated with higher degrees
      of keratinization in the floor of the mouth. 

PMID- 25838559
TI  - New structures for challenges in healthcare management.
AB  - Government initiatives aimed at improving the healthcare available to Canadians
      pose a significant challenge to leaders responsible for developing and
      implementing strategies to translate these initiatives into reality. This article
      presents a new approach to management structures and processes designed to
      address this challenge. The approach includes new senior leadership skills
      focusing on collaboration and influence, functional rather than hierarchical
      teams, and clarity in team mandates and team empowerment to facilitate
      achievement of expectations.

PMID- 25838560
TI  - Caring: Everybody's business.
AB  - As structures become more fluid and less constrained by traditional boundaries,
      the time is ripe to welcome the blurring lines between government, business, and
      social purpose organizations. No matter where you sit on the spectrum,
      organizations must learn from each other, remain grounded in their strengths, and
      work collectively to make the fabric of our communities richer and stronger. It
      is here we can realize the ideals of universality and caring at the highest
      level.

PMID- 25838561
TI  - A message from the guest editor.

PMID- 25838562
TI  - A Message from the Editor-in-Chief.

PMID- 25838563
TI  - Mentoring in healthcare: A rehabilitation hospital's launch of an innovative
      program for emerging leaders.
AB  - With enterprise-wide interest by physicians, management, staff, and volunteers in
      developing future leaders across their organization, this article describes
      efforts to design, implement, and evaluate an inaugural, 1-year formal mentoring
      program for the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, Alberta Health Services.
      Evaluation surveys were analyzed highlighting critical success factors
      incorporating a broad, diverse mentee/mentor applicant process, well-defined
      mentee/mentor selection/matching criteria, and use of a formal program to support
      knowledge acquisition through projects, learning sessions, and presentations.

PMID- 25838564
TI  - Le mentorat dans le milieu de la sante: un hopital de readaptation lance un
      programme novateur pour les leaders emergents.
AB  - Les medecins, la direction, le personnel et les benevoles des entreprises veulent
      former de futurs leaders au sein de leur organisation. Le present article decrit
      les efforts pour concevoir, mettre en oeuvre et evaluer un programme de mentorat
      d'un an utilise pour la premiere fois par le Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital des
      Alberta Health Services. Des sondages d'evaluation ont ete analyses pour faire
      ressortir les facteurs de succes decisifs, qui integraient un vaste processus de
      candidatures diversifie de mentores et de mentors, des criteres bien definis de
      selection ou de jumelage de mentores et de mentors et un programme visant a
      soutenir l'acquisition du savoir par des projets, des seances d'apprentissage et
      des presentations.

PMID- 25838565
TI  - Contemplating case mix: A primer on case mix classification and management.
AB  - Case mix classifications are the frameworks that underlie many healthcare funding
      schemes, including the so-called activity-based funding. Now more than ever,
      Canadian healthcare administrators are evaluating case mix-based funding and
      deciphering how they will influence their organization. Case mix is a topic
      fraught with technical jargon and largely relegated to government agencies or
      private industries. This article provides an abridged review of case mix
      classification as well as its implications for management in healthcare.

PMID- 25838566
TI  - Complex health conditions and mental health training: How prepared is the
      frontline service provider?
AB  - How prepared are frontline service providers for dealing with mental illness in
      patients with multiple, complex health conditions? The aims of this study were
      two-fold, to gain insight into the kinds of training and education desired by
      frontline service providers in a healthcare setting and to compile a list of key
      questions for health service managers and education leaders to address based on
      our findings. Over 100 care providers responded to a survey. Over half of the
      respondents indicated no mental health training, and the majority desired
      increased training and support. Suggested approaches ranged from regular
      workshops (eg, case presentations) to systems-level strategies (eg, partnering
      with mental health organizations). This study provides a critical first look into
      what frontline service providers identify as being essential to their skill set
      in working with a complex population and raises important questions for
      healthcare managers and educators to consider in addressing this gap.

PMID- 25838567
TI  - Impact of nurse practitioners in primary healthcare fee-for-service practice
      settings.
AB  - The Nurse Practitioner (NP) role possesses a high value to Fee-For-Service (FFS)
      practices in the primary healthcare system. A case study evaluation of the NP
      roles in three FFS clinics showed positive impacts on patient satisfaction and
      physician experience. Physicians' FFS expenditures increased 12% after the NP
      implementation. Although NP services could provide cost savings to the acute care
      system, financial sustainability of the NP role in FFS practice remains a
      challenge.

PMID- 25838568
TI  - Governance standards: A roadmap for increasing safety at care transitions.
AB  - Reducing the rate of adverse events and preventable harm associated with
      healthcare delivery is a policy priority across healthcare systems
      internationally. Care transitions or handovers in clinical care introduce risk to
      patients that can lead to adverse events. Building on the literature showing the
      impact of governing boards on the quality and safety of healthcare services, this
      study builds a predictive model between governance and safety at care
      transitions. Analysis was based on 490 Canadian healthcare organizations across
      six sectors of care. Organizational compliance with the Accreditation Canada
      Governance Standards was shown to be a predictor of organizational performance
      with the Medication Reconciliation Required Organizational Practice. Results
      indicate that among a comprehensive set of governance standards, a set of 11
      central governance elements predict organizational medication reconciliation
      practice. Implications for healthcare leaders are discussed including the role of
      organizational leadership in medication reconciliation practices. The importance
      of a governance process cycle that encompasses board prioritization of desired
      goals, monitoring of performance regularly, and communicating results with
      stakeholders is shown.

PMID- 25838569
TI  - Hospital stay on acute care units for non-acute reasons: Effects of patient pre
      hospitalization and admission factors.
AB  - This study identifies patient risk factors present prior to an acute
      hospitalization that are associated with occupying acute care beds for non-acute
      reasons on the 30th day of a hospitalization. Data from 952 adult patients were
      obtained, among which 333 (35%) were evaluated as non-acute on their 30th day.
      Inability to move in and out of the bed, cognitive impairment, receiving home or
      community healthcare services prior to hospitalization, unavailable family
      resources, a secondary diagnosis within the mental and behavioural category, and
      age >=75 years were found to increase the risk of occupying acute care beds for
      non-acute reasons, while patients with a feeding tube were less likely to be non
      acute at day 30.

PMID- 25838570
TI  - Ethics, rhetoric, and expectations: Responsibilities and obligations of
      healthcare systems.

PMID- 25838571
TI  - L'ethique, la rhetorique et les attentes: les responsabilites et les obligations
      des systemes de sante.

PMID- 25838572
TI  - A Message from the Editor-in-Chief.

PMID- 25838573
TI  - Redressing the inequities in Canadian pharmacare.
AB  - Canadian healthcare is not universal. Nowhere is this lack of universality more
      evident than in the payment for drugs in Canada. Canadians without the financial
      wherewithal cannot access orphan drugs for rare diseases and take-at-home oral
      cancer drugs and many other pharmaceuticals. In addition to the physical and
      emotional tolls experienced, patients and survivors and their families and
      caregivers bear the brunt of an ever-growing financial burden. This article
      outlines how this happened and what to do about it.

PMID- 25838574
TI  - Corriger les inegalites du regime d'assurance medicaments canadien.
AB  - Le systeme de sante canadien n'est pas universel. Le paiement des medicaments au
      Canada en est le parfait exemple. Les Canadiens qui n'en ont pas les moyens
      financiers n'ont pas acces aux medicaments orphelins pour soigner des maladies
      rares, a la chimiotherapie orale a domicile ni a de nombreux autres produits
      pharmaceutiques. Outre les repercussions physiques et affectives qu'ils
      subissent, les patients, les survivants, leur famille et les soignants doivent
      porter un fardeau financier de plus en plus lourd. Le present article expose les
      origines de cette situation et les mesures necessaires pour la corriger.

PMID- 25838575
TI  - The journey to include patient and family voices.
AB  - Traditionally, the roles of patients and their families in healthcare have been
      passive. Despite claims of patient centredness, care design and decision-making
      often reflects the provider's perspective. Within Island Health, we knew that the
      challenges we faced were common to many healthcare organizations. We recognized
      that we would not be successful in changing to a patient-centred culture unless
      we had organizational support at the executive level for a patient and family
      experience strategy.

PMID- 25838576
TI  - Using the project management office to connect the dots between projects and
      strategy.
AB  - Project management is recognized as an essential skill required for healthcare
      leadership and as a result, Project Management Offices (PMOs) in healthcare
      organizations have become commonplace. When PMOs are well suited and fit to their
      organization, they are being valued for their ability to support appropriate
      trade-offs between investments, capacity, and quality. This article provides an
      overview of healthcare PMOs and advocates for elevating the role of the
      healthcare PMO from a monitoring and reporting function to a leader and the
      engine for strategic change within an organization.

PMID- 25838577
TI  - Improving transitions between acute mental health and residential care.
AB  - Care transitions pose safety risks especially for hospitalized seniors with
      complex medical and mental health conditions. A partnership project improved
      acceptance and supported successful transitions by redesigning at the following
      three levels: (1) organization-program to facility agreement outlining
      accountabilities; (2) unit-adjusting the environment, education, and team
      processes; and (3) individual care-a transition checklist, a person-centred care
      plan, and customized transition supports to assist clients, family, and receiving
      staff.

PMID- 25838578
TI  - Evidence-informed healthcare through integration of health research.
AB  - A foundational element of modern healthcare is an evidence-based practice.
      However, the conduct of research to generate evidence and the subsequent
      application of research findings are viewed by many Canadian healthcare
      organizations as separate from healthcare delivery. This mindset impedes
      effective translation of knowledge into practice. In this article, underlying
      issues that enable this disintegrated model to persist are described, and
      strategies to help healthcare organizations achieve integration of research are
      summarized.

PMID- 25838579
TI  - Public health partnerships: Does the evidence justify the enthusiasm?
AB  - Partnerships are commonly identified as a foundational public health strategy.
      However, despite the prevalence and enthusiasm for partnerships, there are few
      published evaluations of public health partnerships in the Canadian context, and
      international literature reports that most partnerships have little to no effect
      on health outcomes. The contradicting enthusiasm and evidence create a
      challenging scenario for Canadian public health leaders and practitioners who are
      encouraged to both engage in partnerships and implement evidence-informed
      practices.

PMID- 25838580
TI  - Hardwiring improvement to achieve exceptional outcomes: Staff as leaders driving
      performance.
AB  - This article will discuss the experiences of two organizations who have driven
      process improvement through frontline ownership using the National Health
      Services' Releasing Time to Care (RTC) program. Through the implementation of
      RTC, frontline staff learn how to gather information from colleagues,
      stakeholders, and literature to design potential improvements.

PMID- 25838581
TI  - Ethically justified decisions.
AB  - Good Decisions is a framework that assists healthcare leaders to make ethically
      justified system-level decisions. This article describes some of the features
      that make a decision ethically justified and discusses the experience of its use
      in one Canadian health authority. The framework sees the membership and
      relationships of the decision team, the quality of analysis, the breadth of
      consultation, and the implementation of and follow up on decisions, as all
      impacting a decision's ethical justification.

PMID- 25838582
TI  - Des decisions justifiees sur le plan ethique.
AB  - Good Decisions est un cadre qui aide les leaders en sante a prendre des decisions
      systemiques justifiees sur le plan ethique. Le present article decrit quelques
      unes des caracteristiques qui rendent une decision justifiee sur le plan ethique
      et expose l'experience de son utilisation dans une regie regionale de la sante
      canadienne. Le cadre tient compte des membres et des relations de l'equipe de
      decision, de la qualite de l'analyse, de l'etendue de la consultation ainsi que
      de l'adoption et du suivi des decisions, qui ont tous des effets sur la
      justification ethique d'une decision.

PMID- 25838583
TI  - Non-Spherical Particles for Targeted Drug Delivery.
AB  - Nano- and microparticles loaded with various bioimaging contrast agents or
      therapeutic molecules have been increasingly used for the diagnosis and treatment
      of diseases and tissue defects. These particles, often a filled or hollow sphere,
      can extend the lifetime of encapsulated biomedical modalities in circulation and
      in target tissue. However, there is a great need to improve the drug loading and
      targeting efficiency of these particles. Recently, several simulation and in
      vitro experimental studies reported that particle shape plays a pivotal role in
      the targeted delivery of molecules. To better understand these findings and
      subsequently expedite the use of particles in biomedical applications, this
      review paper summarizes the methods to prepare non-spherical nano- and micro
      scaled particles. In addition, this review covers studies reporting the effects
      of particle shape on the loading, delivery and release of encapsulated bioactive
      cargos. Finally, it discusses future directions to further improve the properties
      of non-spherical particles.

PMID- 25838584
TI  - The challenges and excitement of liver transplantation.

PMID- 25838585
TI  - Acute liver failure in pregnancy: Challenges and management.
AB  - Acute liver failure (ALF) in pregnancy negatively affects both maternal and
      foetal outcome. The spectrum of liver disease in pregnancy may range from mild
      asymptomatic transaminitis to fatal and irreversible deterioration in liver
      functions leading to significant morbidity and even mortality. In this
      comprehensive review, we searched articles published as review articles, clinical
      trials, and case series in the Medline from 1970 to 2012. The overall outcome of
      ALF in pregnancy depends on the aetiology, timely diagnosis, prompt management,
      and early referral to a centre equipped in managing medical or obstetric
      complication. The foetal outcome is affected by the stage of pregnancy in which
      the mother has a deterioration of the liver function, with a worst prognosis
      associated with first or second-trimester liver failure. When ALF complicates
      pregnancy, liver transplantation is the one of the viable options. Management
      protocols need to be individualised for each case keeping in mind the risk versus
      benefit to both the mother and the foetus. 

PMID- 25838586
TI  - Comparative evaluation of the effects of propofol and sevoflurane on cognitive
      function and memory in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy: A
      randomised prospective study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: General anaesthesia (GA) may cause post-operative impairment
      of cognition and memory. This is of importance where time to discharge after
      anaesthesia is short as after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. This study was
      conducted to compare the effects of propofol and sevoflurane on cognitive
      function in the post-operative period. METHODS: After approval of the Ethical
      Committee, 80 female patients posted for laparoscopic cholecystectomy to be
      performed under GA were randomly divided into two groups. Propofol was used in
      Group P and sevoflurane in Group S. Data analysis was done with California verbal
      learning test (CVLT), digit span test (DST), Rivermead behavioural memory test
      (RBMT), mini mental state examination (MMSE) score, and semantic memory tests.
      Aldrete recovery scoring system and visual analogue scale for pain were assessed
      post-operatively. The level of statistical significance was set at P < 0.05.
      RESULTS: There was no significant difference in demographic and haemodynamic
      data. Cognition and explicit memory were affected more in the propofol group in
      the immediate post-operative period. With majority of tests, such as semantic
      memory test, MMSE score, DST and RBMT, the difference was insignificant at 2 and
      4 h post-operatively. But CVLT values were found to be statistically significant
      between groups even at 4 h. CONCLUSION: Propofol was associated with significant
      impact on cognitive functions in comparison to sevoflurane in the immediate post
      operative period. Sevoflurane anaesthesia might be a better option in day care
      surgeries.

PMID- 25838587
TI  - The haemodynamic effects of the perioperative terlipressin infusion in living
      donor liver transplantation: A randomised controlled study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Liver disease is usually accompanied with a decline in
      systemic vascular resistance (SVR). We decided to assess effects of the peri
      operative terlipressin infusion on liver donor liver transplantation recipients
      with respect to haemodynamics and renal parameters. METHODS: After Ethical
      Committee approval for this prospective randomised controlled study, 50
      recipients were enrolled and allotted to control (n = 25) or terlipressin group
      (n = 25) with simple randomisation method. Terlipressin was infused at 1.0
      MUg/kg/h and later titrated 1.0-4.0 MUg/kg/h to maintain mean arterial pressure
      (MAP) >65 mmHg and SVR index <2600 dyne.s/cm5(/) m2 till day 4. Nor-epinephrine
      was used as appropriate. Haemodynamic and transoesophageal Doppler parameters
      (intraoperative), renal function, peak portal vein blood flow velocity (PPV),
      hepatic artery resistive index (HARI), urine output (UOP), liver enzymes,
      catecholamine support were compared intra-operatively and 4 days post
      operatively. Desflurane administration was guided with entropy. RESULTS:
      Terlipressin maintained better MAP and SVR (P < 0.01) during reperfusion versus
      controls (66.5 +/- 16.08 vs. 47.7 +/- 4.7 mmHg and 687.7 +/- 189.7 vs. 425.0 +/-
      26.0 dyn.s/cm(5)), respectively. Nor epinephrine was used in 5 out of 25 versus
      20 in controls. Urea, creatinine and UOP were significantly better with
      terlipressin. PPV was reduced with terlipressin post-reperfusion versus controls
      (44.8 +/- 5.2 vs. 53.8 +/- 3.9 ml/s, respectively, P < 0.01) without affecting
      HARI (0.63 +/- 0.06 vs. 0.64 +/- 0.05, respectively, P > 0.05) and was sustained
      post-operatively. CONCLUSION: Terlipressin improved SVR and MAP with less need
      for catecholamines particularly post-reperfusion. Terlipressin reduced PPV
      without hepatic artery vasoconstriction and improved post-operative UOP.

PMID- 25838588
TI  - Comparison of neostigmine induced reversal of vecuronium in normal weight,
      overweight and obese female patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Obese patients are more vulnerable to residual neuromuscular
      block (NMB) and its associated complications in the post-operative period. This
      study was carried out to compare neostigmine induced reversal of vecuronium in
      normal weight, overweight and obese female patients, objectively using
      neuromuscular (NM) monitoring. METHODS: Twenty female patients each belonging to
      normal weight, overweight and obese, based on body mass index, requiring general
      anaesthesia were recruited for this prospective cross sectional study. NMB was
      induced with vecuronium (0.1 mg/kg) dose based on patient's real body weight
      (RBW) and monitored using acceleromyographic train of four (TOF). All patients
      received neostigmine 40 MUg/kg and glycopyrrolate 10 MUg/kg at 25% of spontaneous
      recovery of first twitch height (T1) of TOF (DUR 25%) and were allowed to recover
      to TOF ratio of 0.9. Statistical analysis was done using analysis of variance
      test. RESULTS: Recovery of TOF ratio to 0.5 was comparable in all three groups.
      Recovery of TOF ratio to 0.7 was delayed in obese (9.82 +/- 3.21 min) compared
      with normal weight group (7.50 +/- 2.52 min). Recovery of TOF to 0.9 was
      significantly delayed in both overweight (12.18 +/- 4.29 min) and obese patients
      (13.78 +/- 4.30 min). DUR 25% was significantly longer in overweight (mean,
      standard deviation [range]; 30.10 [19-40 min]) and obese (28.8 [12-45 min])
      compared with normal weight patients (22.75 [16-30 min]). CONCLUSION: In
      overweight and obese patients, when vecuronium induction dose is based on RBW,
      neostigmine induced recovery of NMB is delayed in late phases (TOF 0.7-0.9),
      which may result in vulnerability for associated complications of incomplete
      recovery. Ensuring safe recovery thus requires objective NM monitoring.

PMID- 25838589
TI  - Interscalene brachial plexus block for shoulder arthroscopic surgery: Prospective
      randomised controlled study of effects of 0.5% ropivacaine and 0.5% ropivacaine
      with dexamethasone.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Various adjuvants have been used to prolong the duration of
      local anaesthetic action after peripheral and regional nerve blocks. We evaluated
      the effect of dexamethasone on the duration of pain relief in shoulder
      arthroscopic surgeries performed under interscalene brachial plexus using
      ropivacaine as local anaesthetic. METHODS: After Ethical Committee approval and
      informed consent from patients we performed a prospective, randomised,
      comparative study on patients scheduled for arthroscopic shoulder surgery under
      interscalene block (ISB). Patients in ropivacaine group (Group R) received 30 ml
      of 0.5% ropivacaine plus 2 ml normal saline (n = 50) and dexamethasone
      ropivacaine (Group RD) received 0.5% ropivacaine 30 ml plus 8 mg dexamethasone (4
      mg/ml) (n = 50). Duration of analgesia, onset of sensory and motor block, success
      and failure of block, and complications were recorded and compared. Computer
      software SPSS version-16 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA) was used for
      statistical analysis. Chi-square test and Student's t-test were used and P < 0.05
      was considered as significant. RESULTS: The mean duration of analgesia in Group
      RD was 1103.72 +/- 296.027 min and in Group R it was 551.54 +/- 166.92 min (P =
      0.0001). Onset of sensory block in Group RD was 12.24 +/- 1.88 min and in Group R
      was 13.48 +/- 1.81 min (P = 0.5170). Onset of motor block in Group RD was 16.24
      +/- 2.04 min and in Group R was 17.76 +/- 2.21 min (P = 0.2244). Onset of
      surgical anaesthesia in Group RD was19.46 +/- 1.86 min and in Group R was 20.84
      +/- 1.71 min (P = 0.0859). CONCLUSION: Dexamethasone significantly prolonged
      duration of analgesia of ropivacaine during ISB used for arthroscopic surgeries
      of shoulder. Dexamethasone when mixed with ropivacaine had no effect on the onset
      of sensory and motor effects of ISB with ropivacaine.

PMID- 25838590
TI  - Intrathecal dexmedetomidine as adjuvant for spinal anaesthesia for perianal
      ambulatory surgeries: A randomised double-blind controlled study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: The newer trend in regional anaesthesia for ambulatory
      anorectal surgeries advocate use of lower dose of local anaesthetic, providing
      segmental block with adjuvants such as opioids and alpha2 agonists to prolong
      analgesia. The current study investigated effects of addition of 5 MUg of
      dexmedetomidine to 6 mg of hyperbaric bupivacaine on duration of analgesia,
      sensory and motor block characteristics for perianal ambulatory surgeries.
      METHODS: This study is a prospective randomised controlled double blind study.
      Forty adult patients between 18 and 55 years of age were divided into 2 groups.
      Group D received intrathecal 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine 6 mg (1.2 ml) with
      injection dexmedetomidine 5 MUg in 0.5 ml of normal saline and Group N received
      intrathecal 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine 6 mg (1.2 ml) with 0.5 ml of normal
      saline. The parameters assessed were time to regression of sensory blockade,
      motor blockade, ambulation, time to void, first administration of analgesic.
      Statistical analysis was done using appropriate tests. RESULTS: Time for
      regression of sensory level and time for first administration of analgesic were
      prolonged in Group D (430.05 +/- 89.13 min, 459.8 +/- 100.9 min, respectively) in
      comparison to Group N (301.10 +/- 94.86 min, 321.85 +/- 95.08 min, respectively).
      However, the duration of motor blockade, time to ambulation, and time to void
      were also significantly prolonged in Group D (323.05 +/- 54.58 min, 329.55 +/-
      54.06 min, 422.30 +/- 87.59 min) than in Group N (220.10 +/- 63.61 min, 221.60 +/
      63.84 min, 328.45 +/- 113.38 min). CONCLUSION: Intrathecal dexmedetomidine 5 MUg
      added to intrathecal bupivacaine 6 mg as adjuvant may not be suitable for
      ambulatory perianal surgeries due to prolongation of motor blockade.

PMID- 25838591
TI  - Anaesthetic concerns during adrenalectomy for Cushing's syndrome with known
      hyperhomocysteinemia.
AB  - Maintenance of homeostasis during anaesthesia in the patient with two major
      metabolic disorders whose systemic effects either compliment or contradict each
      other is a challenge to the anaesthesiologist. A 25-year-old male patient with
      Cushing's syndrome and known hyperhomocysteinemia was scheduled for open
      adrenalectomy. Both these disorders compound the hypercoagulable state and differ
      in glucose metabolism. In addition, obesity, difficult airway, electrolyte and
      metabolic derangements that accompany Cushing's syndrome warrant special
      attention. He was on anticoagulant therapy and inferior vena cava filter
      following an episode of pulmonary thromboembolism with deep vein thrombosis.
      Perioperative hydrocortisone was administered. Thoracic epidural catheter was
      placed at T10-T11 interspace, standard general anaesthesia was administered
      without nitrous oxide. Patient was extubated following an uneventful procedure
      and discharged home on 10(th) post-operative day. Understanding the anaesthetic
      implications and the pathophysiological interactions of multiple metabolic
      disorders with a potential for multisystem involvement is key to the successful
      management of these patients. 

PMID- 25838592
TI  - Emergency anaesthetic management of penetrating thoracic trauma: Combining skill
      with fortuity.

PMID- 25838593
TI  - Anaesthetic considerations for tracheal resection in oncological thyroid
      surgeries.

PMID- 25838594
TI  - Survey of supraglottic airway devices usage in anaesthetic practice in South
      Indian State.

PMID- 25838595
TI  - A tryst with a dysmorphic parturient with congenital syphilis.

PMID- 25838596
TI  - Anaesthetic management of a case of adrenal and extra-adrenal phaeochromocytoma
      for preoperative embolisation.

PMID- 25838597
TI  - Myasthenia gravis: A challenge.

PMID- 25838598
TI  - Delayed recovery of consciousness after elbow arthroscopy.

PMID- 25838599
TI  - An add-on advantage of isoflurane graphical monitoring: Detection of
      intraoperative bronchospasm.

PMID- 25838600
TI  - Acute onset of intracranial subdural haematoma 2 days after spinal anaesthesia.

PMID- 25838601
TI  - Big cuff: Big problem.

PMID- 25838602
TI  - Erratum: Anaesthetic considerations in an infant with Beckwith-Weidemann syndrome
      and hepatoblastoma for partial hepatectomy: Erratum.
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. 121 in vol. 59, PMID: 25788746.]. 

PMID- 25838603
TI  - Killing Range: Explaining Lethality Variance within a Terrorist Organization.
AB  - This paper presents an analysis of the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (PIRA)
      brigade level behavior during the Northern Ireland Conflict (1970-1998) and
      identifies the organizational factors that impact a brigade's lethality as
      measured via terrorist attacks. Key independent variables include levels of
      technical expertise, cadre age, counter-terrorism policies experienced, brigade
      size, and IED components and delivery methods. We find that technical expertise
      within a brigade allows for careful IED usage, which significantly minimizes
      civilian casualties (a specific strategic goal of PIRA) while increasing the
      ability to kill more high value targets with IEDs. Lethal counter-terrorism
      events also significantly affect a brigade's likelihood of killing both civilians
      and high-value targets but in different ways. Killing PIRA members significantly
      decreases IED fatalities but also significantly decreases the possibility of zero
      civilian IED-related deaths in a given year. Killing innocent Catholics in a
      Brigade's county significantly increases total and civilian IED fatalities.
      Together the results suggest the necessity to analyze dynamic situational
      variables that impact terrorist group behavior at the sub-unit level.

PMID- 25838604
TI  - Gene-Environment Interplay: Where We Are, Where We Are Going.
AB  - The idea that both genetic and environmental influences contribute to behavioral
      outcomes is widely accepted. However, the practice of examining candidate Gene *
      Environment interaction (cGxE) is controversial. In this article, we summarize
      some of the key issues involved in cGxE research and provide recommendations for
      work in this area. Highlighted challenges include the selection of the gene, the
      development of the cGxE hypothesis, and the coding of the genotype. To address
      these challenges and gain confidence in cGxE findings, we recommend using
      empirical data to select and code genes/variants, using theory to develop cGxE
      hypotheses and a rigorous and transparent approach to hypothesis testing. Family
      researchers have much to offer to the study of Gene * Environment research in
      view of their process-oriented theories that are grounded in decades of nuanced
      measurement of the environment; implementing these best practices will help
      deliver on that promise.

PMID- 25838605
TI  - Diels-Alder reactions of five-membered heterocycles containing one heteroatom.
AB  - Diels-Alder reactions of five-membered heterocycles containing one heteroatom
      with an N-arylmaleimide were studied. Cycloaddition of 2,5-dimethylfuran (4) with
      2-(4-methylphenyl)maleimide (3) in toluene at 60  degrees C gave bicyclic adduct
      5. Cycloadditions of 3 with 2,5-dimethylthiophene (11) and 1,2,5-trimethylpyrrole
      (14) were also studied. Interestingly, the bicyclic compound 5 cleanly
      rearranged, with loss of water, when treated with p-toluenesulfonic acid in
      toluene at 80  degrees C to give 4,7-dimethyl-2-p-tolylisoindoline-1,3-dione (6).

PMID- 25838607
TI  - Should the next South African census be register-based?

PMID- 25838608
TI  - Maternal mortality and morbidity in the United States of America.

PMID- 25838609
TI  - E-procurement in support of universal health coverage.

PMID- 25838610
TI  - New UN envoy joins campaign to end TB.

PMID- 25838611
TI  - Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis and antiretroviral therapy: an observational cohort
      study in China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess if cotrimoxazole prophylaxis administered early during
      antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces mortality in Chinese adults who are infected
      with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). METHODS: We did a retrospective
      observational cohort study using data from the Chinese national free
      antiretroviral database. Patients older than 14 years who started ART between 1
      January 2010 and 31 December 2012 and had baseline CD4+ T-lymphocyte (CD4+ cell)
      count less than 200 cells/uL were followed until death, loss to follow-up or 31
      December 2013. Hazard ratios (HRs) for several variables were calculated using
      multivariate analyses. FINDINGS: The analysis involved 23 816 HIV-infected
      patients, 2706 of whom died during the follow-up. Mortality in patients who did
      and did not start cotrimoxazole during the first 6 months of ART was 5.3 and 7.0
      per 100 person-years, respectively. Cotrimoxazole was associated with a 37%
      reduction in mortality (hazard ratio, HR: 0.63; 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.56
      0.70). Cotrimoxazole in addition to ART reduced mortality significantly over
      follow-up lasting 6 months (HR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.59-0.73), 12 months (HR: 0.58;
      95% CI: 0.49-0.70), 18 months (HR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.38-0.63) and 24 months (HR:
      0.66; 95% CI: 0.48-0.90). The mortality reduction was evident in patients with
      baseline CD4+ cell counts less than 50 cells/uL (HR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.54-0.67), 50
      99 cells/uL (HR: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.56-0.78) and 100-199 cells/uL (HR: 0.78; 95% CI:
      0.62-0.98). CONCLUSION: Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis started early during ART
      reduced mortality and should be offered to HIV-infected patients in low- and
      middle-income countries.

PMID- 25838612
TI  - Legislation coverage for child injury prevention in China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the extent to which effective interventions to prevent
      unintentional child injury are reflected in the laws and regulations of China.
      METHODS: We focused on the six common causes of fatal child injuries - drowning,
      road traffic injury, falls, poisoning, burns and suffocation. We investigated 27
      interventions recommended by the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Health
      Organization or the European Child Safety Alliance. We searched China National
      Knowledge Infrastructure and Lawyee for Chinese legislations using keywords and
      synonyms for the 27 interventions. We reviewed the identified legislations for
      statements specifying the responsible implementation department. FINDINGS: Seven
      national laws, nine regulations of the State Council and 46 departmental
      regulations were found to relate to at least one of the interventions. Although
      seven of the 27 internationally recommended interventions were covered by Chinese
      laws, 10 were not covered by any current Chinese law or regulation. None of the
      interventions against drowning and falls that we investigated was covered by
      national laws. The implementation responsibilities for effective interventions
      were either not specified or were assigned to multiple governmental departments
      in 11 or 20 legislative documents, respectively. CONCLUSION: In Chinese laws and
      regulations, interventions proven to prevent major causes of unintentional child
      injuries are underrepresented and the associated implementation responsibilities
      are often poorly defined. China should include all such interventions in laws and
      regulations, and assign implementation responsibility for each to a single
      department of the national government.

PMID- 25838614
TI  - Congener specific polychlorinated biphenyl metabolism by human intestinal microbe
      Clostridium species: Comparison with human liver cell line-HepG2.
AB  - Polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), which adversely affect human fetal and infant
      development, are endocrine disrupter and cause neurological disorders. They may
      also be carcinogenic. It is not known whether these effects are due to whole PCBs
      or to its metabolites, produced by the human gastrointestinal system primarily
      the liver and/or by intestinal microbes such as Clostridium sp. The available
      data show that Clostridium perfringens, the most prominent species of Clostridium
      occurs in the human gut. C. beijerinckii is a special type of Clostridium present
      in the gut of autistic children with late onset autism. Since mixed cultures are
      better PCB metabolizers than single cultures, mixed cultures of Clostridium were
      used in this work. The first step in PCB degradation is the removal of the
      chlorine atoms and then the breaking open of the phenyl ring leading to the final
      degradation product: CO2. In this study, GC-MS analyses were done to examine the
      effect of Clostridium sp. on PCB-153 and PCB-77 and the metabolites obtained with
      Clostridium sp. therein. In this paper, we report that the unlike human liver
      cells which cannot produce any PCB metabolites. Mixed Clostridium spp. can
      degrade these PCBs. Clostridium spp. and were able to dechlorinate PCB 153
      (hexachlorobiphenyl) to pentachlorobiphenyl and PCB 77 (tetrachlorobiphenyl) to
      trichlorobiphenyl. Despite considerable absorption of PCB 153 (40%) and PCB 77
      (50%) in 30 minutes and 1.5 hours respectively by human liver (HepG2) cells, they
      can not dechlorinate PCBs. It has been observed that slight differences in
      chemical structures of PCBs such as coplanar (PCB-77) vs. non-coplanar (PCB-153)
      has significant metabolic effects.

PMID- 25838613
TI  - The burden of child maltreatment in China: a systematic review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To estimate the health and economic burdens of child maltreatment in
      China. METHODS: We did a systematic review for studies on child maltreatment in
      China using PubMed, Embase, PsycInfo, CINAHL-EBSCO, ERIC and the Chinese National
      Knowledge Infrastructure databases. We did meta-analyses of studies that met
      inclusion criteria to estimate the prevalence of child neglect and child
      physical, emotional and sexual abuse. We used data from the 2010 global burden of
      disease estimates to calculate disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) lost as a
      result of child maltreatment. FINDINGS: From 68 studies we estimated that 26.6%
      of children under 18 years of age have suffered physical abuse, 19.6% emotional
      abuse, 8.7% sexual abuse and 26.0% neglect. We estimate that emotional abuse in
      childhood accounts for 26.3% of the DALYs lost because of mental disorders and
      18.0% of those lost because of self-harm. Physical abuse in childhood accounts
      for 12.2% of DALYs lost because of depression, 17.0% of those lost to anxiety,
      20.7% of those lost to problem drinking, 18.8% of those lost to illicit drug use
      and 18.3% of those lost to self-harm. The consequences of physical abuse of
      children costs China an estimated 0.84% of its gross domestic product - i.e. 50
      billion United States dollars - in 2010. The corresponding losses attributable to
      emotional and sexual abuse in childhood were 0.47% and 0.39% of the gross
      domestic product, respectively. CONCLUSION: In China, child maltreatment is
      common and associated with large economic losses because many maltreated children
      suffer substantial psychological distress and might adopt behaviours that
      increase their risk of chronic disease.

PMID- 25838615
TI  - Air Quality in Lanzhou, a Major Industrial City in China: Characteristics of Air
      Pollution and Review of Existing Evidence from Air Pollution and Health Studies.
AB  - Air pollution contributes substantially to global health burdens; however, less
      is known about pollution patterns in China and whether they differ from those
      elsewhere. We evaluated temporal and spatial heterogeneity of air pollution in
      Lanzhou, an urban Chinese city (April 2009-December 2012), and conducted a
      systematic review of literature on air pollution and health in Lanzhou. Average
      levels were 141.5, 42.3, and 47.2 ug/m3 for particulate matter with an
      aerodynamic diameter <=10 um (PM10), NO2, and SO2, respectively. Findings suggest
      some seasonality, particularly for SO2, with higher concentrations during colder
      months relative to warmer months, although a longer time frame of data is needed
      to evaluate seasonality fully. Correlation coefficients generally declined with
      distance between monitors, while coefficients of divergence increased with
      distance. However, these trends were not statistically significant. PM10 levels
      exceeded Chinese and other health-based standards and guidelines. The review
      identified 13 studies on outdoor air pollution and health. Although limited, the
      studies indicate that air pollution is associated with increased risk of health
      outcomes in Lanzhou. These studies and the high air pollution levels suggest
      potentially serious health consequences. Findings can provide guidance to future
      epidemiological studies, monitor placement programs, and air quality policies.

PMID- 25838616
TI  - Parent-Child Interactions During the Initial Weeks Following Brain Injury in
      Young Children.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To understand how traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects parent-child
      interactions acutely following injury. PARTICIPANTS: Young children hospitalized
      for TBI (n = 80) and orthopedic injuries (OI; n = 113). METHOD: Raters coded
      videotaped interactions during free play and structured tasks for parental
      warmth/responsiveness and negativity and child warmth, behavior regulation, and
      cooperation. Raters also counted parental directives, critical/restricting
      statements, and scaffolds. RESULTS: Parents of children with TBI exhibited less
      warm responsiveness and made more directive statements during a structured task
      than parents in the OI group. Children with TBI displayed less behavior
      regulation than children with OI. Parental warm responsiveness was more strongly
      related to child cooperativeness in the OI group than in the TBI group. Child
      behavior also mediated group differences in parental responsiveness and
      directiveness. TBI accounted for as much variance in parental behaviors as or
      more than did sociodemographic factors. CONCLUSION: TBI-related changes in child
      behavior may negatively influence parent-child interactions and disrupt the
      reciprocity between parent and child.

PMID- 25838617
TI  - Relationship of risk assessment to placement characteristics in a statewide child
      welfare population.
AB  - Risk assessments allow child and youth services to identify children who are at
      risk for maltreatment (e.g., abuse, neglect) and help determine the
      restrictiveness of placements or need for services among youth entering a child
      welfare system. Despite the use of instruments by many agencies within the U.S.
      to determine the appropriate placements for youth, research has shown that
      placement decisions are often influenced by factors such as gender, age, and
      severity of social-emotional and behavior problems. This study examined ratings
      of risk across multiple domains using a structured assessment tool used by
      caseworkers in the Rhode Island child welfare system. The relationship between
      ratings of risk and placement restrictiveness was also examined. Risk levels
      varied across placement settings. Multivariate analyses revealed that lower
      caseworker ratings of parent risk and higher ratings of youth risk were
      associated with more restrictive placements for youth. Implications for the child
      welfare system are discussed.

PMID- 25838618
TI  - Resistin, visfatin, adiponectin, and leptin: risk of breast cancer in pre- and
      postmenopausal saudi females and their possible diagnostic and predictive
      implications as novel biomarkers.
AB  - The mechanisms of obesity-induced breast carcinogenesis are not clear. One
      hypothesis is that high levels of adipokines could promote breast cancer (BC)
      development. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation of
      resistin, visfatin, adiponectin, and leptin with BC risk in pre- and
      postmenopausal females. A total of 82 BC newly diagnosed and histologically
      confirmed patients and 68 age and BMI matched healthy controls were enrolled.
      Both groups were subdivided into post- and premenopausal subgroups. Resistin,
      visfatin, adiponectin, and leptin were measured by ELISA. There were
      significantly higher levels of leptin, resistin, and visfatin in postmenopausal
      BC patients than their respective controls. Only in postmenopausal subgroups,
      leptin, resistin, and visfatin levels were positively correlated with TNM
      staging, tumor size, lymph node (LN) metastasis, and histological grading. In
      postmenopausal females, multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that
      adiponectin, leptin, visfatin, and resistin were risk factors for BC. Our results
      suggested that serum resistin, leptin, adiponectin, and visfatin levels as risk
      factors for postmenopausal BC may provide a potential link with
      clinicopathological features and are promising to be novel biomarkers for
      postmenopausal BC. 

PMID- 25838619
TI  - The effect of depression on serum VEGF level in Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Growing evidence suggests that angiogenesis might represent a new
      pathogenic mechanism involved in the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
      Among angiogenic cytokines, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in
      AD patients have been evaluated, but the results are controversial among studies.
      We investigated serum levels of VEGF in AD patients with depression, AD patients
      without depression, and the controls, respectively. The aim of this study is to
      elucidate the relationship between VEGF, depression, and cognitive impairment in
      AD. METHODS: The CDR (Clinical Dementia Rating), MMSE-KC (the Mini-Mental Status
      Examination-Korean version), and SGDS-K (the Korean version of the Geriatric
      Depression Scale-Short Form) were measured in the subjects. Serum VEGF levels
      were measured in 24 AD patients with depression, 25 AD patients without
      depression, and 26 controls, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit.
      RESULTS: Serum VEGF levels in AD patients with depression were significantly
      higher than AD patients without depression or the control. A correlation was
      observed between VEGF and scores on SGDS-K, but no correlation was detected
      between VEGF and MMSE-KC scores. CONCLUSION: Serum VEGF levels in AD patients
      with depression were higher than those without depression. Depression might be
      associated with changes in serum levels of VEGF in AD patients.

PMID- 25838620
TI  - MHC class I chain-related gene a diversity in patients with cutaneous malignant
      melanoma from southeastern Spain.
AB  - A limited number of studies have been performed so far on the polymorphism in the
      transmembrane region (exon 5) of the major histocompatibility complex class I
      chain-related gene A (MICA) in patients with melanoma. However, the influence of
      MICA polymorphism in extracellular domains (exons 2, 3, and 4) has not been
      investigated on melanoma disease. This study aims to characterize the influence
      of extracellular MICA polymorphism, and its previously described linkage
      disequilibrium with HLA-B locus, on patients with cutaneous melanoma from
      southeastern Spain. For this purpose, MICA and HLA-B genotyping was performed in
      233 patients and 200 ethnically matched controls by luminex technology. Patients
      were classified according to the presence of methionine or valine at codon 129 of
      MICA gene. We found a high frequency of MICA(*)009 in melanoma patients compared
      with controls (P = 0.002, Pc = 0.03). Our results also showed an association
      between MICA(*)009 and HLA-B(*)51 alleles in both patients and controls. This
      association was stronger in patients than controls (P = 0.015). However, a
      multivariate logistic regression model showed that neither MICA(*)009 nor the
      combination MICA(*)009/HLA-B(*)51 was associated with melanoma susceptibility. No
      relationship was observed between MICA-129 dimorphism and melanoma nor when MICA
      polymorphism was evaluated according to clinical findings at diagnosis. 

PMID- 25838621
TI  - Uncomplicated malaria in children: The place of rapid diagnostic test.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Malaria has remained a major cause of morbidity and mortality among
      the under-five children in Nigeria. Prompt and accurate diagnosis of malaria is
      necessary in controlling this high burden and preventing unnecessary use of anti
      malarial drugs. Malaria rapid diagnostic test (MRDT) offers the hope of achieving
      this goal. However, the performance of these kits among the most vulnerable age
      group to malaria is inadequate. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional
      study, 433 out-patients, aged <5 years with fever or history of fever were
      enrolled. Each candidate was tested for malaria parasitaemia using ACON; malaria
      pf. Thick and thin films were also prepared from the same finger prick blood for
      each candidate. RESULT: Malaria rapid diagnostic test had sensitivity of 8.3%,
      specificity of 100%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 100% and negative
      predictive value (NPV) of 74%. The sensitivity of MRDT increased with increasing
      age. This effect of age on sensitivity was statistically significant (P = 0.007).
      Similarly parasite density had significant effect on the sensitivity of MRDT (P =
      <0.001). CONCLUSION: Histidine-rich protein-2 based MRDT is not a reliable mean
      of diagnosing malaria in the under-five age children with acute uncomplicated
      malaria.

PMID- 25838622
TI  - Knowledge of heart disease risk factors among workers in a Nigerian University: A
      call for concern.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular disease is the commonest cause of mortality
      worldwide. Many risk factors predate the development of cardiovascular diseases.
      Adequate knowledge of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases is the first step
      towards effective preventive strategies to combat the cardiovascular diseases
      burden in any population. This study aims to determine the knowledge of workers
      in a Nigerian University on risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 206 academic and non-academic staff of
      Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria using the Heart
      Disease Fact Questionnaire (HDFQ). Demographic data were taken. The lipid profile
      and random blood sugar were taken. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 17.0.
      RESULTS: The mean age of the study participants was 45.3 +/- 7.9 years. There
      were 96 males (46.6%). The mean HDFQ score was 48.6%. Only 41 (19.9%) of
      participants were assessed to have good knowledge of heart disease risk factors.
      Majority, 101 (49.0%) had poor knowledge while 64 (31.2%) had fair knowledge of
      heart disease risk factors. There was no significant difference between
      prevalence of CV risk factors between those with good or fair or low level of
      knowledge. Most participants did not have a good level of knowledge about risk
      factors, prevention, treatment and association with diabetes as it relates to
      heart diseases. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of heart disease risk factors is low among
      University workers in Nigeria. Effective education on heart disease risk factors
      and appropriate preventive strategies are indeed important to reduce
      cardiovascular disease burden in Nigerian University communities.

PMID- 25838623
TI  - Maternal perspectives on gestational weight gain: Critical information on
      developing weight control interventions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Our aim was to demonstrate what women reported being counselled about
      weight gain in pregnancy, their perceptions of inappropriate gestational weight
      gain (GWG), and plans for weight gain in pregnancy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A
      cross-sectional survey of perceptions of prenatal attendees about inappropriate
      GWG was conducted at the prenatal clinic of a referral tertiary health facility
      in south western, Nigeria, between January 1, 2013 and June 30, 2013. Primary
      outcomes were the perceptions of women about risks involved with inappropriate
      weight gain and the proportion of women who self-reported being counselled at all
      on GWG, and had the right knowledge of risk(s) involved with inappropriate weight
      gain during pregnancy. RESULTS: Of the 348 women who completed the survey,
      approximately four-fifths (82.8%) reported GWG being discussed at all by health
      care provider. Fewer women (29.3%) believed there were maternal risks with excess
      weight gain compared to inadequate weight gain (34.8%). With respect to
      perception of risks of inappropriate weight gain to infants, 23.65 and 18.4%,
      respectively, believed there were infant risks with excess and inadequate GWG.
      Overweight women [OR 0.39 (95% CI 0.16-0.98)] and those who received GWG
      information from more than one type of health care provider [OR 4.71 (95% CI 1.64
      13.78)] had significant increased rate of correct knowledge of risks involved
      with inappropriate GWG. CONCLUSION: The lack of awareness of risks involved with
      inappropriate GWG by over half of respondents underscores the need for
      improvement in educational intervention on GWG in our environment.

PMID- 25838624
TI  - Knowledge and attitudes towards obesity among primary school children in Dar es
      Salaam, Tanzania.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity has increased over the past two decades. Child
      obesity is likely to persist through adulthood and increases the risk of non
      communicable diseases (NCDs) later in life. This study assessed knowledge and
      attitudes towards obesity among primary school children in Dar es Salaam,
      Tanzania. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in
      randomly selected primary schools in Dar es Salaam. A structured questionnaire
      was used to assess the knowledge and attitudes. Anthropometric and blood pressure
      measurements were taken using standard procedures. RESULTS: A total of 446
      children were included in the analysis. The mean age of the participants was 11.1
      +/- 2.0 years. The mean body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and
      diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were 16.6 +/- 4.0 kg/m(2), 103.9 +/- 10.3 mmHg and
      65.6 +/- 8.2 mmHg, respectively. Prevalence of obesity (defined as BMI >95(th)
      percentile for age and sex) was 5.2%. Half of the children (51.1%) had heard
      about obesity from teachers at school (20%), radio (19.4%) and books/newspaper
      (17.3%). Less than half (45.4%) had knowledge about the risk factors for
      childhood obesity and correctly defined obesity (44.6%). However, a good number
      of the children (72.1%) were aware that they can be affected by obesity. Majority
      of them had negative attitude towards obesity and various factors leading to or
      resulting from childhood obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge about childhood obesity
      among primary school children is moderate and have negative attitude towards
      obesity. Integrating educational programs early in primary schools may be an
      effective strategy to impact knowledge about obesity and other non-communicable
      diseases early in childhood.

PMID- 25838625
TI  - Profile and retrospective analysis of the use of preventive strategies in
      patients with cervical cancer in South-South Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the commonest malignancy of the female genital
      tract in developing countries, with a global burden of 530,000 new cases
      annually. This study aims to review the current situation of this important
      malignancy and to assess the previous use of preventive measures in patients with
      cervical cancer at the Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Port Harcourt,
      Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective review of all cases of
      cervical cancer managed at the UPTH, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, between 1 January
      2008 and 31 December, 2012. RESULTS: The prevalence of cervical cancer was 3.53%
      of all gynaecological admissions. The peak age of incidence was 50-59 years,
      accounting for 40% of the study population. Women with high parity contributed to
      93.3% of the study population. Early coitarche was observed in 78.7% and a
      history of multiple sexual partners in 65.3%. Vaginal bleeding was the commonest
      clinical feature seen in all the women studied, followed by pelvic pain in 84% of
      cases. Advanced-stage cervical cancer was seen in 93.4%. None of the women
      studied had been previously vaccinated against human papilloma virus (HPV), and
      only 1.3% had had any form of screening methods for early detection of cervical
      cancer. CONCLUSION: Cervical cancer remains an important cancer in our
      environment, and late presentation with advance disease is still the norm despite
      advances in screening and preventive modalities. The reason for this is
      buttressed on the finding that despite the availability of these preventive
      strategies, women in the South-South of Nigeria did not partake of these
      measures. There is an urgent need to develop programmes to re-sensitise women on
      the need for screening and vaccination to reduce cancer-associated morbidity and
      mortality in Port Harcourt, South-South Nigeria.

PMID- 25838626
TI  - Malnutrition in acutely ill children at the paediatric emergency unit in a
      tertiary hospital in Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In many developing countries, malnutrition remains an important cause
      of morbidity and mortality particularly in under-five children. The factors
      responsible for malnutrition could be immediate, underlying or basic, acting
      either alone or together. It has been shown that children who are malnourished
      have poorer outcomes from other illnesses than well-nourished children. It is
      important therefore to periodically describe the extent and pattern of childhood
      malnutrition so that effective preventive measures can be put in place.
      OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence and pattern of malnutrition in children
      presenting with acute illnesses at the Jos University Teaching Hospital. PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study in children aged 6 to 59 months
      seen at the paediatric emergency unit from April to October 2012. The subjects
      were recruited consecutively. Each child had both clinical assessment and
      appropriate laboratory evaluations done alongside anthropometric measurements.
      The nutritional/dietary and socio-demographic histories were also obtained.
      RESULTS: Of the 379 children, 224 (59.1%) were males and 155 (40.9%) females. The
      median age was 17 months, range (6-57). Wasting (WFH z-scores <=-3 to <-1SD) was
      evident in one hundred children, giving an overall prevalence of 26.9%. Severe
      wasting (WFH z-score <-3), was present in 22 (5.9%) children indicating the
      prevalence of marasmus, whereas only two children (0.53%) had oedematous
      malnutrition (kwashiorkor). Stunting or chronic malnutrition, (HFA z-scores <=-3
      to <-1SD) was present in 67 children (18.0%). Seventeen (4.6%) were severely
      stunted (HFA z-score <-3). CONCLUSIONS: Wasting was the most common form of
      malnutrition in the study.

PMID- 25838627
TI  - Prevalence and predictors for domestic violence among pregnant women in a rural
      community Northwest, Nigeria.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Domestic violence (DV) against women constitutes a violation of human
      rights. This study aimed at determining the prevalence and predictors for DV
      among pregnant women in a rural community northwest Nigeria. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study which utilised an interviewer
      administered semi-structured pretested questionnaire. This assessed the type of
      DV experienced, the perpetrators and the trigger factor. Logistic regression
      analysis was used to assess the relative effect of determinants, adjusting for
      other predictor variables. The dependent variable was the occurrence of DV
      classified as Yes or No and the covariates included variables that were
      significantly associated with DV. RESULTS: Of the 314 respondents, 108 (34.3%)
      had experienced at least one form of DV and the types observed are: Verbal
      violence 79(68.5%); psychological violence72 (66.7%) and physical violence
      55(50.9%). The perpetrators were the current husband in 40 (37.0%); co-wives in
      33 (30.6%) and in-laws in 25 (23.1%). Of the cases, domestic issues were the
      trigger factor in 69 (63.9%) of cases and 54 (50%) of, the incidence was never
      reported. Ethnicity and type of marriage were significantly associated with
      occurrence of DV ( P <= 0.05) and both remained predictors for DV after
      controlling for confounders [Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.20 and 95% C.I = 1.42
      11.9; AOR = 4.2 and 95% C.I = 1.36-3.57, respectively]. CONCLUSION: The
      prevalence of DV in pregnancy is high with women of Hausa/Fulani ethnicity and
      those in polygamous relationships at a higher risk. Effort should be made to
      screen pregnant women for DV during antenatal care.

PMID- 25838628
TI  - Screening for diabetes mellitus in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary
      disease in tertiary care hospital in India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes mellitus
      (DM) are common and under diagnosed medical conditions in India. Prevalence of
      these chronic diseases are high both in rural and urban areas. However, exact
      prevalence of DM in Indian COPD patients in unclear. Co-morbid conditions like DM
      have great impact on the outcome of COPD in the form of severity, exacerbations,
      morbidity and mortality. Hence the present study objective was to screen COPD
      patients for DM. RESULTS: A total of 1662 patients with COPD (Males = 1264,
      Female = 398) with mean age 58 +/- 9.6 were screened for DM. Patients with known
      history of DM were 353 (21.24%) and were enrolled as Known DM cases. Remaining
      1309 (78.76%) patients whose DM status was unclear were screened by random blood
      sugar (RBS). One-hundred and seventy-one subjects had RBS > 110 mg/dl. About 73
      (4.39%) subjects had fasting blood sugar (FBS) > 126 mg/dl. They were considered
      as Newly Diagnosed DM cases. Total number of DM cases in the study including new
      and known was 426 (25.63%). Number of patients with deranged FBS (FBS between 110
      mg/dl to126 mg/dl) was 84 (5.05%). Among the DM patients with COPD 168 (10.11%)
      had poor glycemic control with HbA1c > 8. Prevalence of DM in present study was
      25.63%. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of DM in COPD patients in the present study is
      25.63% when actively screened in tertiary care hospital. It is feasible and
      imperative to screen all COPD patients for DM in all health care facilities
      routinely.

PMID- 25838629
TI  - Clinicopathological features of gastric carcinoma in Ibadan, Nigeria, 2000-2011.
AB  - AIM: The most recent study on the clinicopathological features of gastric
      carcinoma from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, was done in 2000.
      The aim of this study is to update the knowledge on the clinicopathological
      features of gastric carcinoma diagnosed in the Pathology Department of the UCH
      Ibadan between 2000 and 2011. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a 12-year
      retrospective review of clinical and demographic data and the histopathological
      features of gastric cancers diagnosed at the Pathology Department of the UCH. The
      chi square test, Fisher's exact test, and the t-independent test were used as
      applicable in the statistical analyses. RESULTS: A total of 117 cases of gastric
      carcinoma were histologically diagnosed at the Pathology Department of UCH,
      Ibadan in this period giving a relative ratio frequency of 1.38% for all cancers.
      It represented 18.4% of all gastrointestinal tract malignancies diagnosed in the
      same period. There was a male preponderance with male:female ratio of 1.72:1; the
      middle-aged and elderly made up about 76.1% of cases. The disease was clinically
      and histologically advanced in 92.8% of cases. Gastric tumours were predominantly
      antral/ pyloric in 80% of cases and exophytic in 62.3% of cases. The intestinal
      histotype constituted 47.0% cases although a rise in the diffuse histological
      type was observed. CONCLUSION: There is a decline in the relative ratio frequency
      of gastric carcinoma in Ibadan; and a fall in the rate of the intestinal type of
      gastric carcinoma relative to the diffuse type when compared to previous studies
      from our centre.

PMID- 25838630
TI  - Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation in the intensive care unit: An experience from a
      tertiary hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is one the most commonly
      performed procedures in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, success rate of
      CPR vary widely from 3.1% to 16.5%. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a
      retrospective study of all cardiac arrests prompting CPR in our ICU for a period
      of 12 months. Data retrieved from ICU records included patients demographic
      characteristics, diagnosis at admission, length of ICU stay, time and day of
      cardiac arrest, cardiac rhythm, duration of CPR and outcome of CPR. RESULTS: A
      total of 156 CPRs were performed within the study period with 8.3% success rate.
      Male: female ratio was 1.2:1. Indications for ICU admission, length of stay in
      ICU, time and day of cardiac and duration of CPR were found to be determinants of
      outcome. CONCLUSIONS: There is an urgent need to constitute a cardiac arrest team
      (CAT) which will be available at all times for improved successful outcome after
      cardiac arrest in our ICU.

PMID- 25838631
TI  - Knowledge regarding Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever among private dental practitioners in
      Tricity, India: A cross-sectional questionnaire study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ebola viral fever, a highly contagious haemorrhagic disease has today
      become a major public health concern in the developing countries worldwide. AIM:
      The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge among dental practitioners
      regarding Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever (Ebola HF) in Tricity, (Chandigarh, Panchkula
      and Mohali). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 500 private dental practitioners
      were randomly approached to participate in this cross-sectional survey. A self
      structured, closed ended questionnaire was administered to each participant to
      record demographic and professional characteristics followed by their knowledge
      regarding Ebola HF. Knowledge section included questions related to
      communicability; symptomatology and diagnostics; at-risk individuals; prevention
      and treatment; and, virus characteristics of Ebola HF. RESULTS: The results were
      expressed in percentages. Multivariable linear regression analysis was carried
      out to assess the association of participants's demographic and professional
      characteristics with the knowledge scores. Statistically significant difference
      was seen when mean knowledge scores were compared based on the locality and
      qualification of the participants (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Dental practitioners
      from urban areas with higher qualification had better knowledge yet there were
      notable deficiencies regarding the virus characteristics, diagnostics,
      elimination and treatment.

PMID- 25838632
TI  - Effect of coconut oil in plaque related gingivitis - A preliminary report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oil pulling or oil swishing therapy is a traditional procedure in
      which the practitioners rinse or swish oil in their mouth. It is supposed to cure
      oral and systemic diseases but the evidence is minimal. Oil pulling with sesame
      oil and sunflower oil was found to reduce plaque related gingivitis. Coconut oil
      is an easily available edible oil. It is unique because it contains predominantly
      medium chain fatty acids of which 45-50 percent is lauric acid. Lauric acid has
      proven anti inflammatory and antimicrobial effects. No studies have been done on
      the benefits of oil pulling using coconut oil to date. So a pilot study was
      planned to assess the effect of coconut oil pulling on plaque induced gingivitis.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of coconut
      oil pulling/oil swishing on plaque formation and plaque induced gingivitis. A
      prospective interventional study was carried out. 60 age matched adolescent boys
      and girls in the age-group of 16-18 years with plaque induced gingivitis were
      included in the study and oil pulling was included in their oral hygiene routine.
      The study period was 30 days. Plaque and gingival indices of the subjects were
      assessed at baseline days 1,7,15 and 30. The data was analyzed using paired t
      test. RESULTS: A statistically significant decrease in the plaque and gingival
      indices was noticed from day 7 and the scores continued to decrease during the
      period of study. CONCLUSION: Oil pulling using coconut oil could be an effective
      adjuvant procedure in decreasing plaque formation and plaque induced gingivitis.

PMID- 25838633
TI  - Basic life support knowledge and skills of Iranian general dental practitioners
      to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: When cardiopulmonary arrest occurs, the dentist's ability to perform
      cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is the most important factor to minimize
      morbidity and mortality. This study assessed the basic life support (BLS)
      knowledge and performance of general dental practitioners in Hamadan, Iran.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: The participants in the study were 80 Iranian general
      dental practitioners who were chosen randomly. Their CPR knowledge was evaluated
      by verbal questions and their CPR skills were determined by CPR execution on a
      special manikin. Nearly 39% (n = 31) of dentists answered none of the questions
      and only 2.50% (n = 2) answered all of the questions correctly. Thirty six
      dentists had been participated CPR course after graduation. RESULT: There was a
      significant difference between dentists who participated in CPR training course
      and those that did not participate (P value = 0.000). Only 3.75% (n = 3) were
      able to perform CPR properly. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the amount of
      CPR knowledge and skills were low in participated Iranian general dental
      practitioners. However, CPR training courses after graduation increased the
      amount of knowledge significantly, thus, retraining CPR courses is necessary for
      dentists.

PMID- 25838634
TI  - Desmoplastic fibroma of the ulna bone.
AB  - A fibroma is a benign tumour composed of fibrous connective tissue and they can
      grow in all organs. They can be classified based on consistency into hard or soft
      fibroma, based on histological characteristics into desmoplastic, chondromyxoid,
      ossifying, non-ossifying fibroma. They can also be classified based on tissue of
      origin or location in the body, it can also be classified into superficial or
      deep fibroma. This is a report of a 15-year-old Nigerian boy with a recurrent
      left ulnar tumour which was rapidly growing and has been excised three times.
      Preoperative investigations, i.e., plain radiograph, full blood count and fine
      needle aspiration cytology were done. Patient could not afford CT scan which was
      requested for. First excision was in 2009. Recurred within 1 year and had a
      repeat excision in 2011. He had a second recurrence 9 months after and had to
      have another excision. The last tumour excision left only the part of the left
      ulna that forms the proximal radioulnar joint and elbow joint. Patient has been
      followed up after the last excision for 18 months with no recurrence. 

PMID- 25838635
TI  - Report of nine cases of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever From Iran.
AB  - Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is an often fatal viral infection
      described in about 30 countries around the world. It is transmitted to humans by
      the bite of an infected tick and by direct contact with blood or tissue from
      infected humans and livestock. In the following, we report nine cases of CCHF
      disease. This paper reported nine human CCHF cases, two in Tabas and Bandar Abbas
      and seven in Yazd. They were 21-, 33-, 28-, 29-, 61, 34, 35, 36 and 52 year-old
      men. The first, second and third patients were butchers and other patients were
      farmers. CCHF should be investigated in the patients with fever, bleeding and low
      platelet counts. 

PMID- 25838637
TI  - Fruit Carts: A Domain and Corpus for Research in Dialogue Systems and
      Psycholinguistics.
AB  - We describe a novel domain, Fruit Carts, aimed at eliciting human language
      production for the twin purposes of (a) dialogue system research and development
      and (b) psycholinguistic research. Fruit Carts contains five tasks: choosing a
      cart, placing it on a map, painting the cart, rotating the cart, and filling the
      cart with fruit. Fruit Carts has been used for research in psycholinguistics and
      in dialogue systems. Based on these experiences, we discuss how well the Fruit
      Carts domain meets four desired features: unscripted, context-constrained,
      controllable difficulty, and separability into semi-independent subdialogues. We
      describe the domain in sufficient detail to allow others to replicate it;
      researchers interested in using the corpora themselves are encouraged to contact
      the authors directly.

PMID- 25838636
TI  - LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE SHAPES PROCESSING OF PITCH RELEVANT INFORMATION IN THE HUMAN
      BRAINSTEM AND AUDITORY CORTEX: ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE.
AB  - Pitch is a robust perceptual attribute that plays an important role in speech,
      language, and music. As such, it provides an analytic window to evaluate how
      neural activity relevant to pitch undergo transformation from early sensory to
      later cognitive stages of processing in a well coordinated hierarchical network
      that is subject to experience-dependent plasticity. We review recent evidence of
      language experience-dependent effects in pitch processing based on comparisons of
      native vs. nonnative speakers of a tonal language from electrophysiological
      recordings in the auditory brainstem and auditory cortex. We present evidence
      that shows enhanced representation of linguistically-relevant pitch dimensions or
      features at both the brainstem and cortical levels with a stimulus-dependent
      preferential activation of the right hemisphere in native speakers of a tone
      language. We argue that neural representation of pitch-relevant information in
      the brainstem and early sensory level processing in the auditory cortex is shaped
      by the perceptual salience of domain-specific features. While both stages of
      processing are shaped by language experience, neural representations are
      transformed and fundamentally different at each biological level of abstraction.
      The representation of pitch relevant information in the brainstem is more fine
      grained spectrotemporally as it reflects sustained neural phase-locking to pitch
      relevant periodicities contained in the stimulus. In contrast, the cortical pitch
      relevant neural activity reflects primarily a series of transient temporal neural
      events synchronized to certain temporal attributes of the pitch contour. We argue
      that experience-dependent enhancement of pitch representation for Chinese
      listeners most likely reflects an interaction between higher-level cognitive
      processes and early sensory-level processing to improve representations of
      behaviorally-relevant features that contribute optimally to perception. It is our
      view that long-term experience shapes this adaptive process wherein the top-down
      connections provide selective gating of inputs to both cortical and subcortical
      structures to enhance neural responses to specific behaviorally-relevant
      attributes of the stimulus. A theoretical framework for a neural network is
      proposed involving coordination between local, feedforward, and feedback
      components that can account for experience-dependent enhancement of pitch
      representations at multiple levels of the auditory pathway. The ability to record
      brainstem and cortical pitch relevant responses concurrently may provide a new
      window to evaluate the online interplay between feedback, feedforward, and local
      intrinsic components in the hierarchical processing of pitch relevant
      information.

PMID- 25838638
TI  - Investigations into Transition Metal Catalyzed Arene Trifluoromethylation
      Reactions.
AB  - Trifluoromethyl-substituted arenes and heteroarenes are widely prevalent in
      pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. As a result, the development of practical
      methods for the formation of aryl-CF3 bonds has become an active field of
      research. Over the past five years, transition metal catalyzed cross-coupling
      between aryl-X (X = halide, organometallic, or H) and various "CF3" reagents has
      emerged as a particularly exciting approach for generating aryl-CF3 bonds.
      Despite many recent advances in this area, current methods generally suffer from
      limitations such as poor generality, harsh reaction conditions, the requirement
      for stoichiometric quantities of metals, and/or the use of costly CF3 sources.
      This Account describes our recent efforts to address some of these challenges by:
      (1) developing aryl trifluoromethylation reactions involving high oxidation state
      Pd intermediates, (2) exploiting AgCF3 for C-H trifluoromethylation, and (3)
      achieving Cu-catalyzed trifluoromethylation with photogenerated CF3*.

PMID- 25838640
TI  - Comment on "5-azacytidine promotes an inhibitory T-cell phenotype and impairs
      immune mediated antileukemic activity".

PMID- 25838641
TI  - Chronic kidney disease in disadvantaged populations.

PMID- 25838643
TI  - Maternal, fetal and renal outcomes of pregnancy-associated acute kidney injury
      requiring dialysis.
AB  - Pregnancy-associated acute kidney injury (PAKI) is encountered frequently in
      developing countries. We evaluated the maternal, fetal and renal outcomes in
      women with PAKI who needed at least one session of dialysis. Of the total of 98
      cases (mean age 28.85 +/- 5.13 years; mean parity 2.65 +/- 1.28) of PAKI, the
      most common cause of PAKI was postabortal sepsis. Eighteen patients died; those
      with oligoanuria, sepsis and central nervous system (CNS) involvement were at
      greater risk of mortality. The relative risk (RR) of neonatal mortality was lower
      after with full-term delivery (RR: 0.17, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.03-0.96,
      P = 0.02) compared to preterm delivery. Of the 80 surviving patients, 60 (75%)
      patients achieved complete recovery of renal function at the end of 3 months; and
      of the remaining 14 had presumed (n = 4) or, biopsy-proven (n = 10) acute patchy
      cortical necrosis. The RR of non-recovery of renal function was high (RR: 24.7,
      95% CI: 3.4- 179.5) in patients who did not recover at 6 weeks. Of the 14
      patients with cortical necrosis, 3 (21.42%) became independent of dialysis at 6
      months. PAKI patients should be watched for dialysis independency for 6 months. 

PMID- 25838642
TI  - Hepatocyte nuclear factor-1beta: A regulator of kidney development and
      cystogenesis.
AB  - The understanding of the genomics of the renal tissue has gathered a considerable
      interest and is making rapid progress. The molecular mechanisms as well as the
      precise function of the associated molecular components toward renal
      pathophysiology have recently been realized. For the cystic kidney disease, the
      regulation of gene expression affecting epithelial cells proliferation, apoptosis
      as well as process of differentiation/de-differentiation represent key molecular
      targets. For the cystic disorders, molecular targets have been identified, which
      besides lending heterogeneity to cysts may also provide tools to unravel their
      functional importance to understand the renal tissue homeostasis. This review
      focuses on providing comprehensive information about the transcriptional
      regulatory role of hepatocyte nuclear factor-1beta, a homeoprotein, as well as
      its interacting partners in renal tissue development and pathophysiology. 

PMID- 25838639
TI  - Pivotal roles of GM-CSF in autoimmunity and inflammation.
AB  - Granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is a hematopoietic
      growth factor, which stimulates the proliferation of granulocytes and macrophages
      from bone marrow precursor cells. In autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, Th17
      cells have been considered as strong inducers of tissue inflammation. However,
      recent evidence indicates that GM-CSF has prominent proinflammatory functions and
      that this growth factor (not IL-17) is critical for the pathogenicity of CD4(+) T
      cells. Therefore, the mechanism of GM-CSF-producing CD4(+) T cell differentiation
      and the role of GM-CSF in the development of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases
      are gaining increasing attention. This review summarizes the latest knowledge of
      GM-CSF and its relationship with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The
      potential therapies targeting GM-CSF as well as their possible side effects have
      also been addressed in this review. 

PMID- 25838644
TI  - Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in renal allografts: Is it possible to
      diagnose the etiology?
AB  - Recurrence of FSGS in renal allo grafts is a major cause of graft loss. In this
      context, we tried to diagnose and classify FSGS in renal allografts. Indications
      for biopsy included graft dysfunction and/or proteinuria. Three hundred and sixty
      three graft biopsies were studied over a period of 2 years. We classified FSGS
      into recurrent FSGS, new-onset primary FSGS and FSGS secondary to chronic humoral
      rejection, calcineurin inhibitor toxicity, and nephron loss and hyperfiltration
      injury. Twenty-four cases were diagnosed as FSGS, constituting 6.6%. Secondary
      FSGS was the most common FSGS in grafts in our study. Incidence of recurrent FSGS
      may not be accurate as pretransplant biopsy is available in very few cases. 

PMID- 25838645
TI  - Acute kidney injury in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection.
AB  - Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an important cause of hospitalization and morbidity
      in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients. However, the data on AKI
      in such patients is limited. The aim of the present study was to analyze the
      incidence, causes and outcome of AKI in HIV-positive patients from our
      antiretroviral therapy centre. All HIV-positive patients were evaluated for
      evidence of clinical AKI. AKI was noted in 138/3540 (3.9%) patients. Of 138 AKI
      patients, 96 (69.6%) had acquired immuno deficiency syndrome and 42 (30.4%) were
      HIV seropositive. Majority of AKI patients belonged to AKI network (AKIN) Stage
      II (42%) or III (48.5%) at presentation. Prerenal, intrinsic and postrenal AKI
      were noted in 53.6%, 44.2% and 2.2% of cases, respectively. Hypovolemia (44.2%)
      and sepsis (14.5%) contributed to AKI in vast majority of cases. AKI was
      multifactorial (volume depletion, sepsis and drugs) in 39% of patients. Acute
      tubular necrosis (ATN) was the most common intrinsic lesion. Acute interstitial
      nephritis and diffuse endocapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis were noted
      in five and two cases, respectively. In-hospital mortality was 24.64%. Lower CD4
      count, decreased serum albumin level and Stage 4 WHO disease were associated with
      higher mortality. At 3 months or more follow-up complete recovery of renal
      function, chronic kidney disease Stage 3-5 and progression to end stage renal
      disease were noted in 58.69%, 14.5% and 2.2% of cases, respectively. Thus,
      prerenal factors and ischemic ATN were the most common cause of AKI in HIV
      infected patients. Recovery of renal function was seen in 59% of cases, but AKI
      had high in-hospital mortality. 

PMID- 25838646
TI  - Single dose rasburicase in the management of tumor lysis syndrome in childhood
      acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A case series.
AB  - Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) occurs in malignancies with high proliferative
      potential and tumor burden, such as lymphomas and leukemias. TLS syndrome is an
      oncologic emergency, requiring prompt intervention. The metabolic derangements
      cause acute kidney failure and may lead to cardiac arrhythmias, seizures, and
      death. With the advent of rasburicase, a recombinant urate oxidase, there has
      been a decline in the TLS-mediated renal failure and the need for dialysis. The
      recommended regimen and doses pose a heavy financial burden for patients in
      developing countries like India. With data and studies proving a similar efficacy
      for the reduced dose and lesser number of rasburicase, we report here a case
      series of seven children with acute leukemias, whose TLS was managed by a single
      dose of rasburicase. A retrospective analysis of case records of seven children
      with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and TLS, admitted to our Pediatric Oncology
      Unit of our Hospital between the period 2011 and 2013, was done. All our patients
      responded to a single dose, indicating that in appropriately monitored patients,
      single dose followed by as-needed dosing can be cost-saving. 

PMID- 25838647
TI  - Prevalence and dynamics of cytomegalovirus infection among patients undergoing
      chronic hemodialysis.
AB  - Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is an important pathogen in immunocompromised individuals.
      The aim of this study was to analyze prevalence and dynamics of CMV infection
      among patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis. From 2010 to 2012, a total of 162
      patients and 160 control subjects were tested for the presence of CMV IgM and IgG
      antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. IgM/IgG reactive samples were
      further evaluated for IgG avidity to confirm or rule out recent primary CMV
      infection. The overall IgG seropositivity was higher in hemodialysis patients
      compared to controls (90.7% vs. 81.9%; crude odds ratio [OR] =2.02, 95%
      confidence interval [CI] =1.05-3.89; OR adjusted for age and gender = 2.18, 95%
      CI = 1.05-4.55). CMV IgG antibody titers were similar in both groups. There was
      no difference in CMV prevalence between males (87.9%) and females (96.3%).
      According to age, a progressive increase in seropositivity was observed in both
      hemodialysis patients and the control group. Three hemodialysis patients (1.9%)
      developed recurrent CMV infection (positive IgM with high avidity IgG
      antibodies). In one patient (2.9%), seroconversion was documented during the
      second year of the follow-up period indicating primary infection. In contrast, in
      the control group, recent primary CMV infection (positive IgM with low/borderline
      IgG avidity) was demonstrated in three subjects (1.9%), whereas one (0.6%)
      developed recurrent infection. On multivariate logistic regression, hemodialysis
      and older age were significant predictors for CMV seropositivity. 

PMID- 25838648
TI  - Collapsing glomerulopathy following anabolic steroid use in a 16-year-old boy
      with IgA nephropathy.
AB  - Collapsing glomerulopathy (CG) is a proliferative podocytopathy, increasingly
      recognized in a variety of disease conditions. We report a case of CG in a 16
      year-old boy with IgA nephropathy (IgAN) who presented with acute kidney injury,
      marked proteinuria and hypertension following a short period of anabolic steroid
      use. Although CG has been associated with long-term anabolic steroid use among
      body builders, there is no data on the effect of anabolic steroid use in persons
      with underlying renal disease like IgAN. We postulate that development of CG in
      our patient could be temporally linked to intake of body-building steroids along
      with a predisposing background renal disease of IgAN. 

PMID- 25838649
TI  - Hypokalemic paralysis due to thyrotoxicosis accompanied by Gitelman's syndrome.
AB  - A 35-year-old male patient was admitted with fatigue and muscle weakness. He had
      been on methimazole due to thyrotoxicosis for 2 weeks. Laboratory tests showed
      overt hyperthyroidism and hypokalemia. Potassium replacement was started with an
      initial diagnosis of thyrotoxic hypokalemic periodic paralysis. Later on, despite
      the euthyroid condition and potassium chloride treatment, hypokalemia persisted.
      Further investigations revealed hyperreninemic hyperaldosteronism. The patient
      was considered to have Gitelman's syndrome (GS) and all genetic analysis was
      done. A c. 1145C>T, p. Thr382Met homozygote missense mutation located on solute
      carrier family 12, member gene 3, exon 9 was detected and GS was confirmed. 

PMID- 25838650
TI  - Heavy and Light chain amyloidosois presenting as complete heart block: A rare
      presentation of a rare disease.
AB  - Amyloidosis is an uncommon disease characterized by deposition of proteinaceous
      material in the extracellular matrix, which results from abnormal protein
      folding. Even though more than 25 precursor proteins are identified, majority of
      systemic amyloidosis results from deposition of abnormal immunoglobulin (Ig)
      light chains. In heavy chain amyloidosis (AH), deposits are derived from both
      heavy chain alone, whereas in heavy and light chain amyloidosis (AHL), the
      deposits are derived from Ig heavy chains and light chains. Both AH and AHL are
      extremely rare diseases. Here, we report an unusual presentation of IgG (lambda)
      AHL amyloidosis in the background of multiple myeloma, where the initial clinical
      presentation was complete heart block, which preceded the definitive diagnosis by
      18 months. 

PMID- 25838651
TI  - Successful salvage of thrombosed arterio-venous fistula with thrombolytic therapy
      using tissue plasminogen activator.
AB  - A functioning vascular access is crucial to the wellbeing of patients on
      hemodialysis. Thrombosis is the most common complication of arteriovenous fistula
      (AVF) resulting in late fistula failure; Its treatment is difficult, and results
      are often suboptimal. Interventional treatment of AVF thrombosis may not be
      available all the time, and timely application of an available noninterventional
      treatment may salvage the fistula. We report the successful treatment of AVF
      thrombosis using local thrombolytic therapy using tissue plasminogen activator in
      a patient, for the first time in India. 

PMID- 25838653
TI  - Severe peritonitis caused by Citrobacter freundii and successful treatment with
      double antibiotic coverage.
AB  - Serratia, Pseudomonas/Providencia, indole-positive
      Proteus/Acinetobacter/Morganella, Citrobacter, Enterobacter and Hafnia group of
      organisms cause peritoneal dialysis (PD)-related peritonitis with high morbidity
      and mortality. Peritonitis caused by Citrobacter freundii is uncommon, and it may
      lead to catheter removal despite antimicrobial treatment. We describe a case of
      PD-related peritonitis caused by C. freundii, which was successfully treated with
      double antibiotic coverage. 

PMID- 25838652
TI  - Immunoglobulin G4-related tubulointerstitial nephritis associated with
      interstitial pulmonary disease: Report of a case with review of literature.
AB  - Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an emerging clinicopathological
      entity. Renal involvement is dominated by tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN) with
      IgG4-positive plasma cells and fibrosis. IgG4-RD commonly affects middle-aged to
      elderly men with accompanying extra-renal lesions such as sialadenitis,
      lymphadenopathy, or type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis, all of which respond
      favorably to corticosteroid therapy. The disease burden of IgG4-related kidney
      disease (IgG4-RKD) in India remains largely underestimated. We report a case of
      IgG4-RKD manifesting as TIN associated with interstitial pulmonary disease,
      illustrating typical clinico-pathologic, serologic, immuno-histochemical, and
      ultrastructural features of this condition. In view of potential amelioration of
      renal dysfunction with appropriate therapy, the need for awareness of this
      condition and early diagnosis is highlighted. 

PMID- 25838654
TI  - Light chain proximal tubulopathy with cast nephropathy in a case of multiple
      myeloma.
AB  - The renal diseases most frequently associated with myeloma include cast
      nephropathy (CN), amyloidosis and monoclonal immunoglobulin deposition disease.
      Light chain proximal tubulopathy (LCPT) is reported less frequently. Majority of
      the cases with kappa-restriction present with Fanconi syndrome (FS) and show
      crystals in proximal tubular epithelial cytoplasm. In contrast, those with lambda
      restriction are infrequently associated with FS and show cytoplasmic vacuolations
      in proximal tubular epithelial cytoplasm. Combination of morphologies in kidney
      affected by plasma cell dyscrasias is rare and co-existence of LCPT and CN is one
      of the rarest. We report a case of multiple myeloma having this rare combination
      of morphologies. 

PMID- 25838655
TI  - Obstructive uropathy: Is it always urolithiasis?

PMID- 25838656
TI  - Expanding the living renal donor pool by using a horseshoe kidney.

PMID- 25838657
TI  - Tubercular constrictive pericarditis after renal transplantation.

PMID- 25838658
TI  - Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio in aute renal failure.

PMID- 25838659
TI  - Membranous nephropathy associated with the use of levodopa-carbidopa combination.

PMID- 25838660
TI  - Frontal sinus fracture: a case report.
AB  - In today's world high velocity trauma is not uncommon and most of the road
      traffic accidents involve trauma to head and neck region. For purposes of initial
      evaluation, Injury to the frontal bone should be regarded as head injuries. The
      majority of these patients are victims of automobile accidents or fall from
      height with multiple injuries requiring a multispecialty team approach and
      complete evaluation. The standard trauma protocol must be followed with emphasis
      on ensuring an adequate airway, breathing, circulation, central nervous system
      status, and cervical-spine. Any other life-threatening injuries take precedence
      over the sinus fracture. Management of a case of frontal sinus fracture with loss
      of anterior table is presented. 

PMID- 25838661
TI  - Marsupialization of dentigerous cyst: report of a case.
AB  - Dentigerous cyst is a common pathologic entity associated with an impacted tooth.
      The standard treatment for this lesion is enucleation and extraction of the
      involved tooth. Marsupialization of dentigerous cyst has also been advocated,
      once in many cases it can maintain the impacted tooth in its cavity and promotes
      its eruption. This report describes a case of a 13-year-old girl with a large
      dentigerous cyst associated with mandibular right second molar. The cyst was
      marsupialized and the patient was checked weekly. Two months after the surgical
      procedure the impacted tooth was completely erupted without orthodontic traction
      and therapy. 

PMID- 25838662
TI  - Nasolabial cyst: clinical presentation and differential diagnosis.
AB  - Nasolabial cyst also known as Klestadt's cyst is relatively rare soft tissue
      lesion of nasal alar region. It is nonodontogenic in origin and characterized by
      its extra osseous location. This paper documents clinical presentation,
      differential diagnosis and surgical management of nasolabial cyst in 25 years old
      woman. 

PMID- 25838663
TI  - Nevoid Basal cell carcinoma syndrome: a case report and review.
AB  - Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome, a rare autosomal dominant disorder,
      comprises of a number of abnormalities such as multiple nevoid basal cell
      carcinomas, skeletal abnormalities and multiple keratocystic odontogenic tumors.
      Diagnosis may be difficult because of the variability of expressivity and
      different ages of onset for different traits of this disorder. The dental
      clinician may be the first to encounter and identify this syndrome, when the
      multiple cysts like radiolucencies are discovered on panoramic view. This article
      reports a case of Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome and provides an overview
      on diagnosis and management. 

PMID- 25838664
TI  - Bradycardia during temporomandibular joint gap arthroplasty.

PMID- 25838665
TI  - Traumatic internal maxillary artery pseudoaneurysm with a malunited mandibular
      fracture.
AB  - Post-traumatic external carotid artery pseudoaneurysms are very uncommonly
      encountered in clinical practice. We present the case of a young man who
      developed pseudoaneurysm 5 weeks after a maxillofacial injury treated elsewhere. 

PMID- 25838666
TI  - Octreotide for conservative management of intractable high output post operative
      chylous fistula: a case report.
AB  - A case of high output post neck dissection chylous fistula is presented, which
      was successfully managed conservatively with octreotide; a long acting
      somatostatin analogue. Routine measures had failed, and secondary complications
      precluded thoracoscopic ligation. We discuss the spectrum of problems associated
      with chylous fistula and review the rationale behind the use of octreotide. 

PMID- 25838667
TI  - Orofacial space infection due to faulty prosthesis.
AB  - Orofacial space infections are commonly treated by oral and maxillofacial
      surgeons, even in the post antibiotic era. Pre existing systemic conditions such
      as diabetes mellitus makes a person more vulnerable to space infection. A
      prosthesis which is poorly designed often jeopardises the oral health and makes a
      person susceptible to ulcers of mucosa, which can result in necrosis of mucosa.
      The sequel of such ulcerations and necrosis would be life threatening Orofacial
      space infections in medically compromised patients. Here we present a case report
      of 64 year old diabetic patient presenting with Orofacial space infection as a
      sequel to necrosis of mucosa caused due to physical and chemical injury by a
      faulty prosthesis fabricated by a quack practicing dentistry. Submandibular,
      sublingual and pterygomandibular space were involved leading to trismus and
      swelling. On forceful mouth opening after extraoral mandibular nerve block,
      denudation of mucosa was seen distal and lingual to mandibular right second
      premolar with pus discharge. Radiographic examination revealed no abnormal
      findings in teeth or bone. The spaces were explored from the opening created by
      denuded mucosa. Infection control and diabetic control was achieved with
      antibiotics and oral hypoglycaemic drugs. Patient responded well for the
      treatment and recovered uneventfully. 

PMID- 25838668
TI  - Goldenhar Syndrome with Tessier's 7 Cleft: Report of a Case.
AB  - Goldenhar syndrome, a variant of hemifacial microsomia, is a well-known
      developmental anomaly of maxillofacial skeleton that is apparent at birth. The
      first and second branchial arch involvement during early embryonic development
      results in a wide spectrum of anomalies that may include macrostomia and lateral
      facial clefts. Though clefts of the orofacial region are among the most common
      congenital facial defects, the occurrence of lateral facial clefts (Tessier 7
      cleft) in conditions such as the Goldenhar syndrome, is very rare (<5%). The
      lateral facial cleft, which results because of improper development of the
      perioral muscles of the face, gives an appearance of macrostomia giving rise to
      potential psychological, aesthetic and feeding problems. This clinical report
      describes the closure of a Tessier 7 cleft and the use of distraction
      osteogenesis to treat mandibular asymmetry in an 11-year-old female patient with
      Goldenhar's syndrome. 

PMID- 25838669
TI  - Osteonecrosis of maxilla secondary to bisphosphonate therapy: a case report.
AB  - Bisphosphonate chemotherapy is commonly used in the treatment of bone diseases
      such as osteoporosis, Paget disease, and multiple myeloma and to limit bone pain
      and hypercalcemia associated with malignant metastatic bone lesions. The
      introduction of bisphosphonate therapy has improved the quality of life in a vast
      majority of patients. However, since 2003 a growing number of reports have
      described necrotic bone lesions (bisphosphonate-associated Osteonecrosis of the
      jaw [BR-ONJ]) a bone lesion affecting maxillofacial bones in patients who have
      received high dosage chemotherapy with intravenous bisphosphonate therapy
      especially when the patient undergoes subsequent dental procedures. Sequential
      removal of sequestra as required seems to be the current conservative approach,
      but if large-volume debridement becomes necessary, removal of the bone sequestrum
      with minimal epithelial manipulation associated with topical and systemic
      antibiotics seem to be the treatment modality of choice. In our case, surgical
      salvage was performed successfully for BR-ONJ. Our experience indicates that with
      appropriate technique, primary surgical treatment may offer benefit to selected
      patients with BR-ONJ. 

PMID- 25838670
TI  - Clear cell odontogenic carcinoma-a rare case report.
AB  - Clear cell odontogenic carcinoma (CCOC) is a rare odontogenic tumour with female
      predilection occurring in the anterior region of the mandible with peak age
      incidence of 5th and 7th decade of life. Here we report a case occurred in the
      posterior mandible of a 42 year old male patient which highlights the
      clinicopathologic features of CCOC that were confirmed by histopathologic
      examination. We add up yet another case of CCOC to the published literature. 

PMID- 25838671
TI  - Myofibroma-a rare entity with unique clinical presentation.
AB  - Myofibroma and myofibromatosis is a well-recognized spindle cell neoplasm that
      occurs predominantly in infants and young children. They have been described
      under different names since 1951. These lesions are a benign fibroblast and
      myofibroblast proliferation containing a biphasic presentation of spindle shaped
      cells surrounding a central zone of less differentiated cells focally arranged in
      a hemangiopericytoma like pattern. Classically these lesions are described in
      children younger than two, with 2/3rd present at birth and rarely in adults.
      Controversy exists as to an autosomal dominant or recessive inheritance or to a
      sporadic occurrence. Presented here is a unique case of myofibroma involving the
      mandible in a 11 year-old male patient. Clinically it mimicked more like a
      beningn tumor and not exhibiting any of its classical signs. The diagnosis could
      be established only after complete excision of the lesion and histopathological
      examination. There was no recurrence after a follow up period of 4 months. 

PMID- 25838672
TI  - Juvenile ossifying fibroma of the maxilla: a case report.
AB  - Ossifying fibroma is a benign neoplasm of the bone, usually involving the
      posterior tooth bearing area of the mandible, predominantly seen in females in
      2nd-4th decade of life with 5:1 prediliction. Fibro-osseous lesions other than FD
      seem to arise from the periodontal membrane. These lesions are usually
      asymptomatic, well defined clinically and radiologically amenable for
      enucleation. Fibro-osseous lesions of the jaws, including Juvenile Ossifying
      Fibroma (JOF), pose diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties due to their
      clinical, radiological and histological variability. Ossifying fibromas which
      appear as fast growing mass between 5 and 15 years of age, radiologically well
      bordered, and consistent with ossifying fibroma histologically, are referred as
      juvenile (aggressive) ossifying fibroma. We report a case of JOF of left side of
      the maxilla in an 11 year old girl which is an uncommon site of occurrence. 

PMID- 25838673
TI  - Hypoglossal schwannoma of parapharyngeal space: an unusual case report.
AB  - Schwannomas are benign tumor of the schwann cells. These are common in eighth,
      tenth cranial nerves and parasympathetic chain. Hypoglossal schwannomas are rare.
      Among the hypoglossal schwannomas the intracranial and dumb-bell shaped
      schwannomas are frequent but extra cranial hypoglossal schwannomas are rare. We
      describe a parapharyngeal hypoglossal schwannoma in a 25 years female presenting
      as slow growing mass in right side of the neck. 

PMID- 25838674
TI  - Neonatal osteomyelitis with pathologic fracture of mandible following MRSA
      septicemia: management and three year follow up.
AB  - Neonatal septicemia caused by resistant bacteria in intensive care units can be
      not only life threatening, but may also cause long lasting sequelae. A case of a
      2 month old male child with osteomyelitis with pathological fracture of the
      mandible following methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus septicemia is
      presented. Surgical management, successful outcome and its long term effect on
      the growth of mandible and dentition is illustrated. 

PMID- 25838675
TI  - Orbital fracture in a professional diver: issues and management.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We present a case report of a professional diver who sustained a
      fracture of the left orbital medial wall as well as floor exceeding 50% with
      orbital fat herniation blocking the maxillary sinus ostium. This may result in a
      closed cavity within the maxillary sinus that could potentially result in
      barotraumas during future diving. The aim of his surgery consists of repairing
      the orbital fracture and to aerating the sinus at the same sitting. METHOD: A
      transconjunctival approach was used combined with endoscopic sinus surgery
      approach to the maxillary sinus. The orbital floor fracture was repaired with a
      titanium plate. A wide middle meatal antrostomy was performed. A size eight
      Foley's catheter was inserted into the maxillary sinus and the balloon inflated
      to elevate and support the displaced inferior orbital floor bone fragment. The
      balloon was left in situ for 4 weeks to support the mobile inferior orbital
      fragment till adequate bone healing and stability. RESULTS: Patient recovered
      well. At 3 months post-operatively, the maxillary antrostomy remained patent, and
      a hyperbaric oxygen challenge test was performed with success. A repeat orbital
      CT scan 1 day after hyperbaric challenge showed no signs of air leakage, and the
      bony inferior orbital floor fracture has healed completely with the titanium
      plate in situ. CONCLUSION: This is the first case report of repair of orbital
      floor fracture with simultaneous aeration of the maxillary sinus in a
      professional diver using a combined approach. The patient was able to resume his
      occupation as a professional diver following surgery.

PMID- 25838676
TI  - Peripheral ossifying fibroma on edentulous mandibular alveolar mucosa.
AB  - Peripheral ossifying fibroma (POF) is a reactive gingival overgrowth occurring
      frequently in the maxillary anterior region of teenagers and young adults. The
      pink to red growth may be firm to hard in consistency depending on the amount of
      bone it contains and may become ulcerated as its size increases. POF is commonly
      associated with poor oral hygiene and early periodontal disease with majority of
      cases showing no marked underlying bone involvement radiographically. We report
      an unusual case of a large POF overlying the edentulous mandibular alveolar ridge
      along with histopathological correlations. This case could be one of the first to
      demonstrate that there may be a variant of POF affecting edentulous mandibular
      mucosa that has not been previously recognized. 

PMID- 25838677
TI  - Maxillary osteosarcoma masquerading as chondromyxoid fibroma: report of a case.
AB  - Osteosarcomas are highly malignant bone tumours. Its appearance in craniofacial
      bones is a rare entity and accounts for only 1% of all head and neck
      malignancies. We present an uncommon case report of a 42 year old male patient
      with osteosarcoma of left maxilla, which was successfully excised under general
      anesthesia. The patient reported to us with a history of pain, swelling, pus
      discharge and tooth extraction, which led to the differential diagnosis of
      suppurative osteomyelitis, dentoalveolar abscess, benign odontogenic tumour, an
      infected cyst etc. Histopathological examination of incisional biopsy was
      reported as chondromyxoid fibroma which is a rare benign tumour. However the
      excisional biopsy specimen was reported as osteosarcoma of maxilla. The clinical
      presentation, diagnostic challenges and its therapeutic approach are addressed.
      This case serves to emphasize the need to recognize osteosarcoma when it presents
      in unexpected locations, especially because of its rarity. 

PMID- 25838678
TI  - Combined orthodontic and surgical therapy for a deeply impacted third molar
      related with a dentigerous cyst.
AB  - The dentigerous cysts are the common cause that inhibits the eruption of the
      teeth. Large dentigerous cysts can cause pathological fractures in mandible.
      Temporary or permanent inferior alveolar and lingual nerve damage can occur
      associated with deeply impacted third molar surgery. We treated the dentigerous
      cyst arised from deeply impacted mandibular third molar with orthodontic
      extraction combined with the marsupialization therapy. This orthodontic-surgical
      procedure reduced the risk of nerve damage and pathological fracture of the
      mandible. 

PMID- 25838679
TI  - Unusual foreign body in mid face.
AB  - Cases of foreign bodies in the antrum and nasal cavity are reported in the
      literature but the size and location of foreign body in this case made it unique
      and challenging. A large exploded fragment was successfully removed through
      Lefort I osteotomy approach. Foreign bodies in maxilla and antrum can be removed
      by different approaches: Caldwell-Luc operation, nasal and antral endoscopic
      surgery. The foreign body was lying horizontally in posterior maxilla occupying
      both the maxillary sinuses and nasal cavity. The foreign body was so big in size
      that the nasal endoscopic approach and Caldwell-Luc operation might be inadequate
      for its retrieval. 

PMID- 25838680
TI  - Penetrating injury of face by a large machine bolt-a rare case report.
AB  - Foreign bodies are often encountered by oral and maxillofacial surgeons and may
      present a diagnostic challenge, due to many factors such as nature of foreign
      body material, the size of the object, difficult access and a close anatomical
      relationship of the foreign body to vital structures. There are foreign bodies
      like glass pieces, plastic materials, wooden pieces are not seen in routine
      radiographs and often misdiagnosed. To reduce the chances of complications
      presence of foreign body in the patients head and neck region must be thoroughly
      investigated by the surgeon. Penetrating injuries by blunt object is rare finding
      in maxillofacial region. Here we present an unusual case of penetrating injury by
      a large machine bolt (15.0 cm) in a 7 year old child, embedded on left side of
      face. 

PMID- 25838681
TI  - Chordoma arising from cranial base extending to oropharynx: an unusual
      presentation.
AB  - Chordoma is a relatively rare tumor of the skull base thought to originate from
      embryonic remnants of the notochord. Chordomas arising from the skull base/clivus
      are typically locally aggressive with lytic bone destruction. When chordomas
      occur in an extraosseous location, they may mimic other lesions of the
      nasopharynx and oropharynx. We present a case of primarily extraosseous chordoma
      involving the oropharynx in an effort to improve the preoperative diagnosis of
      this rare tumor among the dental fraternity. In addition, we review regional
      notochordal embryology to explain this variant tumor location. 

PMID- 25838682
TI  - Bilateral Tessier's 7 Cleft with Maxillary Duplication.
AB  - Tessier's 7 cleft or lateral facial cleft are unusual lesions that result from
      failure of the embryonic mandibular and maxillary process of the first branchial
      arch to fuse properly and form the corners of the mouth. It may be seen alone or
      in combination with other anomalies, accompanied by varying degrees of severity.
      We report an extremely rare case of bilateral Tessier's 7 cleft along with
      maxillary duplication, macrostomia, bilateral posterior maxillary cleft, and
      mandibular retrusion in an 18-year-old male patient. 

PMID- 25838683
TI  - Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo after nonotologic surgery: case series.
AB  - Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is one of the most common types of vertigo
      caused by peripheral vestibular dysfunction. Although head trauma, migraine, long
      term bed rest, Meniere disease, viral labyrinthitis, and upper respiratory tract
      infections are believed to be predisposing factors, most cases of benign
      paroxysmal positional vertigo are idiopathic. Ear surgery is another cause, but
      after non-otologic surgery, attacks of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo are
      rare. We describe three cases of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo attacks
      after non-otologic surgery (one patient after a nasal septoplasty and two
      patients after dental endodontic treatment) and discuss the pathophysiological
      mechanism of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo seen after non-otologic
      surgery, its diagnosis and treatment. 

PMID- 25838684
TI  - Oversized submandibular gland sialolith: a report of two cases.
AB  - Sialolithiasis is a very common reason in causing obstructive salivary gland
      disease. Its incidence in males is more than females and children. They usually
      occur in submandibular ducts or gland and are 1 mm to less than 1 cm and rarely
      more than 1 cm. If they are more than 15 mm then, are termed as sialoliths of
      unusual size or giant sialoliths. The literatures have reports of up to 3.5 to 7
      cm stones and are rare. The management includes removal of stone and re
      channelizing the secretions in a functional gland or excision of gland in
      atrophied glands along with stone. 

PMID- 25838685
TI  - Ipsilateral maxillo-mandibular ossifying fibroma.
AB  - Ossifying fibroma is a benign fibro-osseous lesion which occurs at various
      locations in maxillofacial region. A synchronous presentation of this lesion in
      both, the maxilla and the mandible is a rare occurrence. The present article
      reports a case of ossifying fibroma in a 45-year-old woman who manifested lesions
      in the right maxilla and mandible. The clinico-radiologic and histopathologic
      modalities of diagnosing this entity are evaluated and discussed. 

PMID- 25838686
TI  - Chondrosarcoma of the maxilla extending to the pterygomandibular space: a case
      report and review of the literature.
AB  - Chondrosarcomas are rare tumors of which approximately 10 % are found in the
      maxillofacial region. They range from a well-differentiated growth resembling a
      benign cartilage tumor to a high-grade malignancy with aggressive local behaviour
      and the potential to metastasize. We report a case of high-grade chondrosarcoma
      of the maxilla extending to the pterygomandibular space which was treated with
      radical surgical excision without neck dissection and postoperative radiotherapy.
      The diagnosis was a conventional type of chondrosarcoma, Grade III. The
      postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient has had no recurrence in the
      15-year follow-up period. 

PMID- 25838687
TI  - Mantle cell lymphoma of the oral cavity with multiple foci: a case report and
      review of the literature.
AB  - Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) are often present outside the lymph nodes. Although
      primary extranodal NHLs form a substantial part of all NHLs, reports on oral
      primary extra nodal NHLs are rare. Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare B-cell
      neoplasm that has only recently been defined as a distinct entity. MCL of the
      oral cavity is an uncommon diagnosis. Most oral MCLs occur in an elderly male
      population and have a possible predilection for the palate. The microscopic
      diagnosis can be challenging, given its similar appearance to other small cell
      lymphomas, requiring a comprehensive immunohistochemical panel for the accurate
      diagnosis. Like MCL occurring in other sites in the body, the prognosis and
      outcome of oral MCL appears to be poor. 

PMID- 25838688
TI  - Schwannoma in infratemporal fossa in a young patient: a case report.

PMID- 25838689
TI  - Gnathic desmoplastic fibroma mimicking a dentigerous cyst: a case report.
AB  - Desmoplastic fibroma (DF) is a rare, well-differentiated fibrous tumor, which is
      slow in growth but has an aggressive potential. In its clinical and radiographic
      presentation it mimics many unusual pathologies of the jaws. This case report
      presents a DF in the mandible, which in its clinical presentation and
      radiographic appearance mimicked a dentigerous cyst highlighting the importance
      of detailed histopathological examination in the diagnosis of jaw pathologies. 

PMID- 25838690
TI  - Dentigerous cyst associated with mandibular 2nd molar: an unusual entity.
AB  - Dentigerous cysts are generally associated with the crowns of impacted or
      unerupted permanent teeth and are more common in males, in the second and third
      decades of life. Most dentigerous cysts are mainly developmental in origin but
      may not be similar for all cases. The purpose of this paper is to present a case
      of dentigerous cyst with unusual presentation in a 7 year old girl and discuss
      the variation in etiology, presentation of such a cyst and in its management. 

PMID- 25838691
TI  - Dental Procedures: Is it a Risk Factor for Injectable Dermal Fillers?
AB  - Dental procedures done in the vicinity of dermal fillers may result in
      complications of the dermal fillers such as infections which may mimic a dental
      infection. These infections of dermal fillers must be differentiated from facial
      cellulitis or from dental infection as treatment for infection from dermal
      fillers may be prolonged with repeated use of antibiotics, incision and drainage
      or removal of the filler material itself. Dental surgeons need to be aware of
      this potential risk in order to recognize and manage it appropriately. 

PMID- 25838692
TI  - Von recklinghausens disease: a series of four cases with variable expression.
AB  - Though neurofibromatosis type I (NFI) is a fairly common condition, it has a
      variable expressivity and penetrance. Here we present a series of cases with
      striking differences in the presentation especially in the oral cavity. NFI, also
      known as von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis, is an autosomal dominantly
      inherited neurogenetic disorder affecting 1:3000 newborn (Bongiorno et al., Oral
      Dis 12:125-129, 2006). About 50 % of NFI patients have no family history of the
      disease. There is no prevalence for gender or race in NFI. Expressivity in NFI is
      tremendously variable, but subtle phenotypic patterns may exist within subgroups
      of affected patients. Furthermore, 50 % of cases are sporadic and arise from germ
      cell mutation (Bongiorno et al., Oral Dis 12:125-129, 2006). The precise
      constellation of findings in any one individual is extremely variable, both
      within a family and between different families (Batsakis, Tumors of the head and
      neck: clinical and pathological considerations, 2nd edn. Williams and Wilkins,
      Baltimore, pp 313-333, 1979). Only 4-7 % of patients affected by
      neurofibromatosis exhibit oral manifestations (Guneri et al., Turk J Pediatr
      48(2):155-158, 2006). 

PMID- 25838693
TI  - Cavernous sinus thrombophlebitis (sans thrombosis) secondary to odontogenic
      fascial space infection: an uncommon complication with unusual presentation.
AB  - We discuss an unusual presentation of non-thrombotic cavernous sinus involvement
      in a patient who was treated for odontogenic fascial space infection arising from
      a maxillary molar. The highlights were ipsilateral abducens sparing,
      contralateral abducens involvement and lack of significant orbital congestion.
      The patient recovered with conservative treatment. 

PMID- 25838694
TI  - Acute Haemorrhagic Oedema of Infancy (AHOI): A Case Report.
AB  - Acute haemorrhagic oedema of infancy (AHOI) is a benign variant of
      leukocytoclastic vasculitis which occurs in children up to 2 years of age. It is
      considered by some to be a variant of Henoch-Schonlein purpura with its hallmark
      of prominent facial swelling, purpuric rash without visceral involvement, in an
      otherwise well child. This condition is well recognised in the paediatric and
      dermatology literature but despite its impressive facial features, often
      mimicking more serious pathology like orbital cellulitis, to our knowledge AHOI
      has not been published in the Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery literature. We present
      a case of AHOI to raise awareness of this condition in maxillofacial surgery to
      avoid it being mis- or over-diagnosed. 

PMID- 25838695
TI  - An unusual case of a recurrent seborrheic/epidermal inclusion cyst of the
      maxillofacial region.
AB  - A Seborrheic or epidermal inclusion cyst is basically an epidermoid cyst
      resulting from the traumatic implantation of epidermal elements into the dermis
      with their subsequent cystic transformation. A case of an epidermal inclusion
      cyst of the chin region is described in a 72 year old male, whose features were
      rather unusual, in that it presented as a fixed, indurated, inflamed, and
      extremely painful swelling associated with two draining extraoral sinuses,
      mimicking a submental space infection. The cyst was particularly persistent and
      recurred within a month of its excision and had to be re-excised along with the
      overlying epithelium. 

PMID- 25838696
TI  - Ludwig's Angina in Pregnancy Necessitating Pre Mature Delivery.
AB  - Ludwig's angina is a potentially life threatening disease that can arise from
      odontogenic infections if they are not attended well in advance. Its incidence in
      pregnancy is rare, but has been reported. Pregnancy is associated with complex
      physiological changes in the body which can make small dental infections assume
      grave proportions if not treated appropriately. This article presents a case of a
      24 year old, 32 week pregnant lady who reported with swelling around the jaws and
      neck, difficulty in breathing and swallowing since 2 days. She had to be taken up
      for pre-term delivery to avoid damage to foetus. Subsequently she underwent
      multiple debridement of the cellulitis affecting the deep neck spaces and
      superior mediastinum. Surgical debridement and intravenous antibiotics along with
      adequate hydration improved the health of the patient before she was discharged. 

PMID- 25838697
TI  - Tuberculous osteomyelitis of the mandible.
AB  - Although tuberculosis can affect any part of the body involving both soft and
      hard structures with variable measures; such an occurrence in the cranio-facial
      bones is relatively rare. Once affecting a bone it is rare for a mycobacterial
      infection to get directed towards the skin and present as multiple draining
      sinuses. We report a case of tubercular osteomyelitis of the left body of the
      mandible in a 19 year old male patient who came to us with complains of
      persisting pus discharge from multiple sinuses on his face (lateral border of
      mandible and submandibular region) because of its rarity and clinical interest.
      One should always have a suspicion of mycobacterial infection in the back of mind
      when dealing with chronic maxillofacial infections not responding to the usual
      antibiotic course and local debridement. 

PMID- 25838698
TI  - Management of pseudoaneurysm of internal maxillary artery resulting from trauma.
AB  - Pseudoaneurysm of internal maxillary artery following trauma is a rare clinical
      entity. A rapidly growing swelling in the facial region following fracture of the
      mandibular subcondylar region is an indication of a developing aneurysm. A case
      of pseudoaneurysm of the internal maxillary artery following condylar fracture of
      mandible is reported. The case was treated successfully by surgery. 

PMID- 25838699
TI  - Multiple Pathology in a Single Lesion: AOT Associated with Dentigerous Cyst.
AB  - Odontogenic cysts and tumors are quite common occurrences in jaw bones, although
      both of them occurring together are rare. The epithelial lining of odontogenic
      cyst has a potential to transform into neoplastic conditions like squamous cell
      carcinoma and mucoepidermoid carcinoma, and odontogenic tumors like ameloblastoma
      and adenomatoid odontogenic tumor. However, the frequency of such cases being
      encountered is very less. Here, we report a case of adenomatoid odontogenic tumor
      (AOT) associated with a dentigerous cyst around the crown of an unerupted lateral
      incisor (follicular variant), in a 14-year-old boy. We also attempt to unravel
      its mechanism of cytodifferentiation and tumor progression. The origin and nature
      of such kind of lesions (i.e., independent development of multiple pathologies as
      a single lesion in a single location, single pathology giving rise to another
      pathology or a distinct entity/new variant) cannot be explained with certainty at
      this point of time. The molecular mechanism of tumor development needs to be
      further elucidated in order to conclude that a different entity called 'hybrid'
      AOT exists. 

PMID- 25838700
TI  - Schwannoma located in the upper gingival mucosa: case report and literature
      review.
AB  - The Schwannoma is a benign tumor that originates from Schwann cells of peripheral
      motor and sensory nerves. It presents as a solitary, slow growing, smooth
      surfaced and asymptomatic firm mass. The pre-operative diagnosis is often
      difficult, and in majority of cases it can only be made during the surgery and
      the definitive diagnosis obtained by histological study when cells test positive
      for S-100 protein. In this report, a case of a 20-year-old female patient with a
      Schwannoma located in the upper gingival mucosa is discussed. The patient was
      referred to the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery with chief complaint
      of enlargement of the upper gingival mucosa at the level of upper right premolar.
      Clinical findings showed characteristics of connective tissue tumor including
      epulis; however, histologic and immunohistochemical studies revealed it to be a
      Schwannoma. There has been no sign of recurrence 1 year and 8 months after
      surgery. 

PMID- 25838701
TI  - Treatment of atrophic mandibular fractures with the pencilboneplate: report of 2
      cases.
AB  - The incidence of fractures of the atrophic edentulous mandible is still low, even
      with the increasing life expectancy. The reduced blood supply of the sclerotic
      bone, the diminished contact area between bone fragments and the patient's
      systemic condition makes the treatment of those fractures a challenge for any
      professional. Treatment of atrophic mandibular fractures by means of miniplate
      osteosynthesis has not been the preferred method of fixation by many authors.
      Yet, many surgeons have applied this type of fixation for the atrophied jaw
      sections. This paper reports 2 cases of fractured atrophic mandibles treated with
      the pencilboneplate, a monocortical 2.0 mm titanium, 8 or 10-hole hardware with
      reinforcement on its middle portion, highlighting important considerations of its
      use. The pencilboneplate appears to be a valuable option for the treatment of
      atrophic mandibular fractures, especially by an intra-oral approach, and warrants
      further biomechanical and clinical studies. 

PMID- 25838702
TI  - Recurrent Mandibular Dislocation in Geriatric Patients: Treatment and Prevention
      by a Simple and Non-invasive Technique.
AB  - Dislocation is defined as the complete loss of articular relationship between the
      articular fossa of the temporal bone and the condyle-disk complex. Most common
      aetiology of dislocation is wide mouth opening, trauma and use of certain drugs.
      It is classified as acute, chronic and recurrent. Chronic recurrent dislocation
      of mandible is a distressing condition especially for geriatric patients. Various
      non-surgical methods of reduction include Hippocratic method, Awang's gag reflex
      method, wrist-pivot technique, combined ipsilateral staggering technique,
      recumbent approach, intermaxillary fixation, injection of a sclerosing solution,
      autologus blood transfusion and botulinum toxin. In geriatric population, the
      ridges become atrophic with time and use of any method of reduction which exerts
      force on mandible increases chances of fracture of mandible. Awang's gag reflex
      method is a non invasive technique which helps in treatment of chronic recurrent
      dislocation in geriatric patients. Along with this technique the use of a
      cervical collar has been reported in this article, which not only acts as a
      restrainer but also is helpful for cervical spondylosis, a common condition
      encountered in geriatric population. 

PMID- 25838703
TI  - CT Scan as an Essential Tool in Diagnosis of Non-radiopaque Sialoliths.
AB  - Sialolithiasis is the second most common disease of the salivary glands and the
      main cause of salivary gland obstruction. Diagnosis of calculi/sialoliths can be
      made by means of an elaborate history, precise clinical examination and
      radiographic support. But all sialoliths do not present with predictable signs
      and symptoms and radiographic appearance. Sialoliths have a variety of
      manifestations and they may or may not be radiopaque. Non-radiopaque sialoliths
      are difficult to diagnose radiographically. Although newer techniques like CBCT,
      CT virtual sialandoscopy and established techniques like sialography,
      xeroradiography can be useful in selected cases. A regular CT scan is an
      excellent tool in the diagnosis of a non-radiopaque sialolith and associated
      salivary gland changes. CT scan should be considered as an important tool of
      imaging for diagnosis, treatment planning and follow-up of all cases of
      sialoliths and associated pathologies of the salivary gland. 

PMID- 25838704
TI  - Salvage of venous congestion using medicinal leeches for traumatic nasal flap.
AB  - Medicinal leeches are extremely useful and safe in the salvage of venous outflow
      compromised tissue, particularly in digit replants and various forms of flaps.
      Although it is unusual for a partial soft tissue avulsion of the face to require
      medicinal leech therapy, situations may occur in which there is adequate arterial
      inflow but inadequate venous outflow. In such cases, medicinal leeches may play a
      very important role in salvaging the soft tissue segment. We report a case of a
      34-year-old gentleman who showed signs of venous congestion following primary
      management for a traumatic nasal flap. Successful salvage of venous congestion
      was done using medicinal leech therapy, once daily, for 5 days. His recovery
      deemed satisfactory and uncomplicated. Medicinal leeches are well-known in the
      treatment of venous congestion or complete venous outflow obstruction in larger
      pedicled flaps and microvascular transfers. In trauma, it is well established
      that medicinal leeches are invaluable in treating venous congestion in digit
      replants and replantation of totally avulsed external ear segments. A limited
      number of other reports have demonstrated the use of medicinal leeches for
      salvage of other partially avulsed facial structures. Medicinal leeches have a
      significant role in the management of traumatic and microvascular flaps, the oral
      and maxillofacial surgeon should weigh the benefits of such treatment before
      instituting other expensive or complex treatment modalities. 

PMID- 25838705
TI  - Transoral removal of peripheral osteoma at sigmoid notch of the mandible.
AB  - Osteoma is a benign osteogenic slow-growing tumor. Though mandible is involved
      more often than the maxilla only one other case of osteoma sigmoid notch has been
      mentioned in the English literature till date. Cosmesis and function are the main
      reasons that dictate the removal of the osteomas, so we preferred to use an intra
      oral approach to better prevent the scar and achieve good patient acceptance. 

PMID- 25838706
TI  - Sagittal osteotomy for the removal of deeply impacted mandibular molars: a
      presentation of series of cases.
AB  - Sagittal osteotomy was primarily described as a treatment for prognathism and
      retrognathia. It has been rarely reported as an option for the removal of deeply
      impacted tooth. The principal indication of this approach is when the tooth is
      deeply impacted on the mandibular ramus or body and it presents intimate
      relationship between its root and inferior alveolar neurovascular bundles. In
      this article the author related three rare cases of lower third molar included.
      Because of the unusual deeply position of these, the SRRO surgery technique was
      realized to remove them. Sagittal split ramus osteotomy (SSRO) is technically
      safe and allows the removal of teeth in situations of deeply impacted mandibular
      ramus, angle or body with minimal trauma in a short time. 

PMID- 25838707
TI  - Conservative Management of Chronic TMJ Dislocation: An Old Technique Revived.
AB  - A temporomadibular joint (TMJ) dislocation is a condition in which the mandibular
      condyle is displaced from its articulations and requires manipulation by another
      individual to return to its normal position. TMJ dislocation is subdivided into
      acute, chronic recurrent or chronic persistent dislocations. Conservative
      (closed) or surgical (open) manipulation may be required to reduce the dislocated
      condyle. We present two cases of bilateral chronic protracted TMJ dislocation
      since 2 months. Following several unsuccessful attempts of manual reduction the
      patients were managed conservatively by placing posterior acrylic bite blocks and
      application of elastic traction which reduced the dislocated condyles
      satisfactorily in 2-3 weeks time. Every case of prolonged dislocation has its own
      unique features. Conservative approaches should be attempted initially, more
      radical treatment being used after these have failed. 

PMID- 25838708
TI  - Reconstructive dilemma after blindness.
AB  - Blindness associated with mid-facial fractures is rare. Here we present a case of
      panfacial fracture associated with loss of vision of right eye. The
      reconstruction of left orbital region posed a challenge, as post surgical vision
      loss can be a remote complication. Through this case report we highlight our
      dilemma and describe the different philosophies adopted by other specialties in
      management. 

PMID- 25838709
TI  - Aggressive nodular fascitis of the mandible in a child: a rare case report.
AB  - Nodular fascitis is a benign, reactive, fiboproliferative lesion that is thought
      to represent an over exuberant reaction to injury or inflammation. Its
      histological picture is very similar to fibro sarcoma. An accurate diagnosis is
      imperative to avoid unnecessary aggressive treatment. It occurs most commonly in
      upper extremities, and rarely in the maxillofacial region. We present a case of
      aggressive intraosseous nodular fascitis of the mandible involving the vital
      structures in the neck in a 10 year old boy. 

PMID- 25838710
TI  - Metastasis in the gingiva from colon adenocarcinoma.
AB  - A case of gingival metastatic tumor from a colon adenocarcinoma is reported. The
      patient had been diagnosed with colon carcinoma and underwent a colectomy with D2
      dissection, followed by chemotherapy. Nine months after the initial treatment,
      she noticed a periodontal gingival swelling at the site of her right lower second
      premolar and was referred to our clinic. The clinical diagnosis was an epulis
      granulomatosa or pyogenic granuloma. A metastatic adenocarcinoma in the gingiva
      from colon carcinoma was identified after the histopathological examination.
      Although rare, oral metastatic tumors should be included in the differential
      diagnosis, particularly if the patient has a prior history of malignancies. 

PMID- 25838711
TI  - Malignant fibrous histiocytoma: an uncommon sarcoma with pathological fracture of
      mandible.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tumors composed of cells differentiating as both fibroblasts and
      histiocytes have been designated fibrous histiocytomas. Only a small percentage
      of these lesions behave in a malignant fashion, they are called malignant fibrous
      histiocytoma (MFH).The occurrence of MFH in membranous bones including the
      mandible is quite unusual. Involvement of the mandible accounts for only 3 % of
      all MFH bone lesions. Recent literature revealed only a few (30) cases of MFH
      involving the mandible but not a single case of MFH associated with pathological
      fracture of the mandible, probably the first such kind of case to support
      antecedent trauma as an initial proliferative response for its occurence. CASE
      REPORT: A rare case of MFH involving the mandible and submandibular glands with
      pathological fracture in a 14-year-old boy is presented with special emphasis on
      the poor prognosis even after prompt therapy, its controversial histogenesis,
      high malignant potential, high recurrence rate and tendency to metastasise. The
      patient was regularly followed up for 11 months post-operatively, during which
      patient complained of pain in the operated region after 8 to 9 months. Though
      there was no clinically obvious abnormality seen, the young boy died after 11
      months. The clinical, surgical, radiographic and pathological features of this
      lesion are discussed. DISCUSSION: Malignant fibrous histiocytoma, the most
      frequent soft tissue sarcoma of adulthood, was first described as a new malignant
      tumour by O'Brian and Stout in the 1960s and the details of the histopathological
      features of MFH were first described by Kempson and Kyriakos. Despite the
      frequency of diagnosis, MFH has remained an enigma as no true cell of origin has
      ever been identified. Treatment consists of surgical excision and in some cases
      chemotherapy and radiation. Early and complete surgical removal using wide or
      radical resection is indicated because of the aggressive nature of the tumor. The
      combination of infrequent occurrence, varied pathologic features, uncertain
      histogenesis, numerous subtypes and the many potential sites of presentation
      makes these tumors a challenge for the diagnostician, surgeon and oncologist.
      Close follow-up after treatment is important, as local recurrence is common and
      early metastasis to the lungs is also frequent, which are the reasons for high
      mortality rate in MFH.

PMID- 25838712
TI  - Partial avulsion of the right ear treated with a pocket technique: a case report
      and review of the literature.
AB  - Avulsive injuries to the ear are not common and are variable in presentation.
      This article describes a case of subtotal auricular avulsion treated utilizing a
      pocket. Other techniques used for these types of injuries are reviewed. 

PMID- 25838713
TI  - A rare case of extraskeletal mesenchymal chondrosarcoma with dedifferentiation
      arising from the buccal space in a young male.
AB  - Extraskeletal mesenchymal chondrosarcoma (EMCS) is a rare and aggressive
      pathological variant of chondrosarcoma arising from soft tissues of mainly the
      extremities, meninges/dura, trunk, and orbits. EMCS comprises only 2 % of all
      soft tissue sarcomas and only 6 % of them arise from soft tissue in the head and
      neck region. It usually affects in the second and third decade of life and is
      common in women. It runs a very rapid clinical course with distant metastases and
      has poor prognosis and survival rates. Histologically it has a dimorphic
      presentation of small round mesenchymal cells interspersed with foci of
      cartilaginous differentiation. Radiographically it appears as a soft tissue
      lobulated mass with various patterns of calcification. This is the first case of
      primary and recurrent EMCS originating in the buccal space with unusual features
      of dedifferentiation. The diagnostic challenges in this case were the
      inconclusive FNAC results, lack of radiographic evidence of characteristic
      calcifications and presence of areas of myxoid material and dedifferentiation on
      histopathology. The clinical, cytological, histological, immunohistochemical,
      radiographic, PET-CT findings and management with review of literature is
      presented. The diagnostic and management pitfalls of this extremely rare tumor
      are also discussed. 

PMID- 25838714
TI  - Maxillo-Mandibular Cemento-ossifying Fibroma: A Rare Case Report.
AB  - Cemento-ossifying fibroma (COF) is a benign fibro osseous lesion of the jaws
      which has been described as a demarcated or rarely encapsulated neoplasm
      consisting of fibrous tissue and varying amounts of mineralized material
      resembling bone and/or cementum (Dinkar et al. in IJDA 2(4):45-47, 2010).
      Majority of lesions occur in the mandible and only few cases of COFs of the
      maxillary sinus and bilateral COFs of the mandible have been reported in
      literature (Dinkar et al. in IJDA 2(4):45-47, 2010; Tamiolakis et al. in Acta
      Stomatol Croat 39(3):319-321, 2005; Hamner et al. in Oral Surg Oral Med Oral
      Pathol 26(4):579-587, 1968; Gunaseelan et al. in Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol
      Endod 104:e21-e25, 2007). These lesions have a very low recurrence rate (Ertug et
      al. in Quintessence Int 35(10):808-810, 2004) and are generally treated by
      enucleation. In this paper we present a rare case of COF occurring in both the
      maxilla and mandible of the same patient. Only one such case (Takeda and Fujioka
      in Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 16(3):368-371, 1987) has been reported in
      literature so far. 

PMID- 25838715
TI  - The recycling of autoclaved autografts in mandibular reconstruction: case report
      and review of literature.
AB  - Removal of pathological lesions from the mandible can leave a disfiguring
      appearance in addition to compromising the function of speech and mastication. It
      therefore becomes imperative to replace the lost part with bone grafts.
      Autogenous bone grafts-vascularised and non-vascularised, have been in vogue for
      the same. The probability of using the same resected bone after removal of all
      pathology has been done for a long time with mixed results in terms of uptake and
      viability. This paper presents a case of the use of autoclaved resected bone
      being used for reconstructing the mandible. 

PMID- 25838716
TI  - Non-traumatic Occulomotor Nerve Palsy: A Rare Case Report and Discussion on
      Etiopathogenesis.
AB  - The ghost of the past has emerged as the horror of today. The fear of
      weakness/loss of eyesight following extraction is a common thinking amongst the
      orthodox people of Indian subcontinent. Occulomotor nerve paralysis following
      dental extraction is a rare complication. Although these ophthalmic complications
      in routine practice are rare, some time they do occur and pose difficulty to
      explain. Occulomotor nerve palsy is amongst the rare reported cases of ocular
      complication. Here we report a case of spontaneous recovery of occulomotor nerve
      palsy in an elderly diabetic patient and brief discussion on its
      etiopathogenesis. 

PMID- 25838717
TI  - Preface BPS Presidential Addresses.

PMID- 25838718
TI  - Setting up private practice in psychiatry.
AB  - Setting up a private practice in Mumbai is an onerous task. The present paper
      looks at the difficulties face by young psychiatrists when starting a private
      practice in psychiatry. It suggests certain guidelines to be followed to ensure
      the development of a successful practice. It also suggests methods to gain
      popularity among patients and society along with the ethics to be followed,
      knowledge base to be garnered, and the role of using multiple therapies and
      versatility in private practice. 

PMID- 25838719
TI  - Indian womanhood: some psychological concepts.
AB  - Indian womanhood today is at crossroads. The present paper discusses the status
      of Indian womanhood and its psychological underpinnings. It discusses how Indian
      women have suffered at the hands of their families and society leaving no path
      but to succumb to psychiatric illness. The role of mental health professionals
      and family members in supporting and promoting growth and development of the
      Indian woman is outlined. 

PMID- 25838720
TI  - Looking back at the years 1970-1984: a personal view.
AB  - This is a psychiatrist's journey through teaching, research and making friends of
      professional colleagues. It also chronicles the research done in the Department
      of Psychiatry at KEM Hospital, Mumbai, India and the important influences over
      the author's life. 

PMID- 25838721
TI  - Child: A Learning Model and a Bi-directional Phenomenon.
AB  - Forty-five years of work with children has enriched my knowledge. Child
      development and psychology has made basic concepts of general psychology and
      abnormal psychology clearer. 'Meanings' have become more meaningful. It has made
      me a better professional; large number of communication and teaching skill has
      been the end result of such a long association with diverse groups of children
      who needed special care. Apart from professional skills as a clinician and as a
      teacher, it has made me a better person and a better parent. I have been
      fortunate to work with a large number and different groups of children who were
      in some way very special. Some were classified under various disabilities or
      diagnosed under different categories. I also had the privilege of working with
      different institutions, e.g., child guidance clinics run by a paediatrics
      department and a psychiatry department of a general hospital and a teaching
      hospital. Years of association with College of Special Work and Institute of
      Social Science have made me understand the very important facet of sociocultural
      influence on the development of human behaviour. I was further fortunate to work
      with children in closed and open institutions, residential care units and day
      care units, institutions where court committed children were observed, treated,
      trained and cared for, destitute children and delinquent children in remand
      homes, rescue homes and custodial care homes. I was fortunate to be part of the
      group which dealt with children who were in conflict with the law, belonging to
      diverse categories like street children, working children, child sex workers and
      sexually abused children. This paper is a reflection on experience gained over
      the decades. 

PMID- 25838722
TI  - Psychiatry in Mumbai: What can be done to Expand Services?
AB  - Mumbai and its suburbs constitute a huge population. There are limited services
      here in the field of psychiatry, mainly located in major hospitals and teaching
      centres. There is a need to decentralize services. Psychiatrists themselves have
      limited resources to plan out community-based services, or set up centres, which
      would cater to all the requirements of the local population. Hence, it is
      necessary that a group like the Bombay Psychiatric Society make collective
      efforts to urge government and municipal authorities to create such facilities at
      different centres in the city and suburbs. 

PMID- 25838723
TI  - Postgraduate training in psychiatry in India with focus on mumbai.
AB  - The present article traces the formation of the Indian Psychiatric Society and
      the progress of post-graduate training in psychiatry in India in general and
      Mumbai in particular. It covers the standard of psychiatric education, the goals
      and recommendations for improvisation of residency programmes, and the future of
      post-graduate psychiatric training. 

PMID- 25838724
TI  - Psychiatric thoughts in ancient India.
AB  - A review of the literature regarding psychiatric thoughts in ancient India is
      attempted. Besides interesting reading, many of the concepts are still relevant
      and can be used in day-to-day practice especially towards healthy and happy
      living. Certain concepts are surprisingly contemporary and valid today. They can
      be used in psychotherapy and counselling and for promoting mental health.
      However, the description and classification of mental illness is not in tune with
      modern psychiatry. 

PMID- 25838725
TI  - Jaina religion and psychiatry.
AB  - Jaina religion has existed for thousands of years. Lord Mahavir was the last of
      the 24 Tirthankaras, 23 having preceded him. The principals of Jaina religion
      teach us: (1) Self-control, which includes: (a) Control over physiological
      instinct of hunger and sex; (b) control over desires; (c) control over emotions;
      (2) meditation; (3) introspection; (4) concentration; and (5) healthy
      interpersonal relationship. The principles of Jaina Religion can contribute to
      Positive Mental Health. 

PMID- 25838726
TI  - Doctor-patient relationship in psychiatry.
AB  - The paper discusses the issue of doctor-patient relationship in view of a
      changing world with special emphasis on mental health professionals. It takes
      into account transference and counter-transference issues in doctor-patient
      relationships. It deals with issues pertaining to consent and liabilities,
      confidentiality and patient protection. Role of a psychiatrist as a leader in the
      art of communication is touched upon. In the end issues about professional fees
      and ethics too is dealt with. 

PMID- 25838727
TI  - Elderly mental health: needs.
AB  - This paper highlights the mental health needs of the elderly. It tackles the
      issues of their institutionalisation and community care. Rapid urbanisation in
      Indian society throws up special problems in elderly care. There is great
      evidence of a raise in morbidity, mortality, hospitalisation and loss of
      functional status related to common mental disorders in the elderly patients.
      Overlap of depression and anxiety is very common with up to almost half of the
      elderly patients reporting significant depressive and anxiety symptoms. Also,
      depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in late life. Growth in the
      elderly population means a direct increase in age related diseases such as
      dementia and poor mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, suicide and
      serious constraints on the quality of life among elderly individuals. The need to
      identify new and unmet problem areas and develop efficient therapeutic outcomes
      for this special population is stressed. 

PMID- 25838728
TI  - In India, psychiatry has come a long way.
AB  - This Presidential Address of the Bombay Psychiatry Society covers the state of
      psychiatry in India in 1997. It posits that with the advent of newer brain
      imaging technologies in India such as computerised tomography, magnetic resonance
      imaging, single photon emission computerised tomography and brain electrical
      activity mapping, an era of evidence-based psychiatry in India has arrived. The
      Address cautions against the dehumanising potential of excessive reliance on
      technology. The need for a greater emphasis on psychiatry during undergraduate
      medical education is discussed along with the need to destigmatise psychiatric
      disorders. Finally, the need to encourage quality research in psychiatric
      disorders is stressed. 

PMID- 25838729
TI  - Psychiatry and law: past, present and future.
AB  - It is important that every citizen knows the law of the state. Psychiatry and law
      both deal with human behaviour. This paper attempts to highlight the interplay
      between these two by discussing about various legislations like The Family Courts
      Act 1984, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985, Juvenile Justice
      Act 1986, Consumer Protection Act 1986, Persons with Disability Act 1995, The
      Maintenance and Welfare of Senior Citizens Act 2007. 

PMID- 25838730
TI  - Support system for mental health professionals.
AB  - This paper talks of support systems for mental health professionals wherein the
      Bombay Psychiatric Society (BPS) should devote some meetings exclusively to
      problems pertaining to the profession, e.g., long and odd working hours leading
      to potentially hazardous practice schedules, unhealthy competitive attitudes and
      culture. A crash course in self-defence against potentially psychotic patients
      and drug addicts is advocated as also awareness of the potential hazards in
      dealing with the litigious paranoid patients, erotomaniacs and some of the
      difficult hysterical patients. Potential medicolegal problems arise in treating
      an uncooperative patient without his knowledge and consent on an outpatient
      department basis, admitting such an uncooperative patient to a nursing home or a
      hospital, administering electroconvulsive therapies, maintaining detailed
      clinical records of patients, and legal issues involving smaller psychiatric
      private nursing homes. This paper stresses on the use of Yoga as a recognised
      psycho-physiological therapy. Furthermore, it suggests on the need for BPS, as a
      professional body, to have a cell to guide and help aspiring young professionals
      in setting up private practice. It points out the need to evolve some concrete
      programmes that in the long run should help alleviate stresses and strains and
      promote positive comprehensive health amongst mental health professionals. 

PMID- 25838731
TI  - Modern Parenthood through the Eyes of a Psychiatrist.
AB  - Child Psychiatry has always described disorders of childhood. Parents form an
      important dimension of Child Psychiatry since they present the child's behaviour
      before the therapist. Modern life is full of increasing competition among
      children, thereby increasing stress among children as well as parents. Modern
      parents are overly aware, concerned and anxious about their children's future. As
      a result children get under the pressure of comparison, competition, ambition and
      goal-setting. All this typically results in the vicious cycle of parental
      pressures, miscommunication, generation gap etc. No textbook gives clear-cut
      guidelines about practical aspects of parenting, which is more an art than a
      science. Dealing with parents in therapy has to take into consideration their
      psychological make-up and the way it relates with the child. For professionals it
      is important to empathise with the parents in therapy and at times to share their
      own experiences of parenting. 

PMID- 25838732
TI  - Invest in family.
AB  - The family is an integral part of one's life. It is very essential that every
      individual employed or unemployed invests time therein. The family is a source of
      support and growth for an individual, and the lack of family support or
      loneliness may be a causative factor in the genesis of psychiatric disorders,
      especially depression. In India, family plays a paramount role when it comes to
      mental health of the individual. Tips on how one should invest time in one's
      family along with the role of a family in one's personal and social structure are
      discussed. 

PMID- 25838733
TI  - Crime and psychiatry.
AB  - Psychiatry and crime are linked in certain ways. On one hand, we have criminal
      offenders with serious psychopathology; and on the other hand, we have
      psychiatric patients who may commit criminal offences during the influence of a
      psychiatric disorder. The psychiatrist in practice has to come in contact with
      the criminal justice system at some point of time in his career. Forensic
      psychiatry under whose realm these issues reside is a branch yet underdeveloped
      in India. The present paper reviews the inter-relationship between crime and
      psychiatry and the factors involved therein. 

PMID- 25838734
TI  - Mind: explore the space inside.
AB  - When caught in the dilemma of career choice, a critical conversation helped the
      writer crystallize the decision to plunge into the field of mental health. The
      decision just not only kindled interest in psychiatry but passion to study the
      science of the mind despite the fact that in earlier times psychiatry mainly
      catered to patients with chronic schizophrenia and uncontrolled bipolar disorder.
      Weathering the curious glances of colleagues the writer pursued to explore the
      field of the science of the mind. Not restricting himself to classical trends in
      private practice, he explored every opportunity to reach out to the common man
      through writing articles in popular newspapers and also ran a TV Show to respond
      to people's queries on mental health. He further ventured into training and
      development of young MBA aspirants and trained himself into an international
      coach and facilitator. The science of Behavioural Economics beckons him now. 

PMID- 25838735
TI  - The role of a Psychiatric Society: Aligning our aims to needs of the community.
AB  - Psychiatric Societies and Associations have variegated roles and functions. They
      provide their members an academic resource and a place for social networking.
      They also have responsibilities to the profession and to the community they
      serve. The nature of work they conduct should be aligned to the needs of all
      stakeholders. Only when there is such harmonious working will the community
      respect the fraternity and the Association. We, therefore, need to respond to the
      need of the hour, which in the current time is prevention of suicide in children
      and adolescents and facilitation of continuing professional development for our
      members. 

PMID- 25838736
TI  - Role of sports in the development of an individual and role of psychology in
      sports.
AB  - Sports helps an individual much more than in the physical aspects alone. It
      builds character, teaches and develops strategic thinking, analytical thinking,
      leadership skills, goal setting and risk taking, just to name a few. 

PMID- 25838737
TI  - Mumbai psychiatry: current obstacles.
AB  - Mumbai, like any other Metro city, has its own share of contentious issues
      influencing psychiatric management. These could be old ongoing issues like myths
      about medications, electroconvulsive therapy and counselling, or newer ones like
      our stand on homosexuality and crime related to psychosocial factors. A range of
      these issues is considered in this paper along with some possible solutions.
      Getting due credit and status for psychiatry as a medical branch is also a
      challenge we need to address. 

PMID- 25838738
TI  - Changing Medical Students' Attitudes to Psychiatry through Newer Teaching
      Techniques.
AB  - The significance of mental health in the entire health scenario has increased.
      However, the representation of psychiatry in the current MBBS curriculum for
      undergraduate students in India still remains much less than desirable. Further,
      stigmatising attitudes lessen these future doctors' ability to detect and manage
      patients with psychological problems despite adequate knowledge about psychiatry.
      Students believe that psychiatrically ill patients are unpredictable and can be
      dangerous to others. Some feel that psychiatry is unscientific, imprecise and
      treatment is not effective. Traditional teaching methods are directed more
      towards imparting knowledge than changing the attitudes of students. Newer
      teaching and assessment techniques should be used to bring about attitudinal
      changes and develop interest among medical students. Case based and problem based
      learning, small group teaching, simulated patients, using movies,
      multidisciplinary seminars, integrated teaching, attitude questionnaires,
      objective structured clinical examinations etc., could be introduced in the
      curriculum to achieve this objective. 

PMID- 25838739
TI  - Blueprint for an Indian nobel laureate in psychiatry.
AB  - There are a number of spoofs and light-hearted writings in blogs, journalistic
      pieces and book form (even from former Nobel Laureates), which attempt at
      'understanding' the secret of getting a Nobel. This is not one of them. It is
      more pedantic without necessarily being dry. It first analyses the meaning of the
      concept, 'the greatest benefit of mankind', which is the crux of the Nobel Will
      and the overarching requirement for a Nobel in Medicine. Further discussion in
      the paper is divided into 5 parts: (1)General qualities for a Nobel: The need to
      be really bright is a given; what is necessary is to be sufficiently crazy about
      a research topic to make it an obsession; be ready to forgo many creature
      comforts for long stretches of time; and after all this, be ready to accept that
      the Nobel may never happen, yet continue to do a type of research solely because
      it is intrinsically worth doing.(2)Nobel in Physiology or Medicine: Here, the key
      is to do fundamental/basic research to answer persistent, nagging, unanswered
      questions of medicine which others neglect because they are discomforting. Or,
      find treatments that change the whole manner a disease has been hitherto
      treated.(3)Nobel in Psychiatry: There are many Nobels waiting to be won,
      provided: (a) The branch becomes more precise; (b) Science, quantitative study
      and biology remain its bedrock; and (c) There is an almost obsessive
      preoccupation with unravelling the mysteries of the brain. One has to choose
      wisely where to put in efforts, e.g., fields like fundamental research into the
      causes of psychiatric disorders, especially schizophrenia, depression, bipolar
      disorders. Or their definitive treatments. Or, work at the cellular or molecular
      level of the neuron and brain; or, the glandular or genetic level of the systems
      connected with psychiatric disorders; or, in brain radio imaging. If other, or
      allied, fields are chosen, to work with finding quantitative data and attempt to
      pinpoint their precise biological correlates.(4)Indian Nobel in Medicine: There
      is first the need to give up the colonial mindset that everything trend-setting
      in science comes only from the West. As also, for Departmental Heads, to protect
      and nurture those with research excellence rather than the mediocre and the
      sycophants. For governments, to set up an autonomous Research Excellence Council
      to expressly and exclusively cater to promoting research excellence, with a
      sizeable fund to put this into practice.All these four points are summarised as
      four rules.(5)Indian Nobel in psychiatry: Practical suggestions are presented in
      the form of an 11 Point Action Plan based on 1-4 above. 

PMID- 25838740
TI  - Template for MSM Submissions.

PMID- 25838741
TI  - From the Editor's desk.

PMID- 25838742
TI  - Fertility preservation in female cancer patients: An overview.
AB  - Fertility preservation is becoming increasingly important to improve the quality
      of life in cancer survivors. Despite guidelines suggesting that discussion of
      fertility preservation should be done prior to starting cancer therapies, there
      is a lack of implementation in this area. A number of techniques are available
      for fertility preservation, and they can be used individually or together in the
      same patient to maximize efficiency. Oocyte and embryo cryopreservation are now
      established techniques but have their limitations. Ovarian tissue
      cryopreservation though considered experimental at present, has a wider clinical
      application and the advantage of keeping the fertility window open for a longer
      time. Both chemotherapy and radiotherapy have a major impact on reproductive
      potential and fertility preservation procedures should be carried out prior to
      these treatments. The need for fertility preservation has to be weighed against
      morbidity and mortality associated with cancer. There is thus a need for a
      multidisciplinary collaboration between oncologists and reproductive specialists
      to improve awareness and availability. 

PMID- 25838743
TI  - Revisiting ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome: Towards OHSS free clinic.
AB  - A rapid development and application of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs)
      and ovulation-induction drugs may lead to ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome
      (OHSS). Young age, low body mass index (BMI), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS),
      previous OHSS, high follicle count, and elevated serum estradiol (E2) are the
      certain factors that predispose women to OHSS. Many strategies have been used to
      reduce or avoid OHSS. Use of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) increases ovarian
      vascular permeability and is responsible for activating the vascular endothelial
      growth factors (VEGF) pathway and thus the entire cascade, leading to symptomatic
      OHSS. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists are used as a replacement
      for hCG for final oocyte maturation in antagonist cycles. Reducing or eliminating
      the use of hCG and use of GnRH agonist triggered GnRH antagonist cycles and
      cryopreservation of oocytes or embryos is the most promising approach in making
      OHSS free clinic a reality. 

PMID- 25838744
TI  - Application of gel-based proteomic technique in female reproductive
      investigations.
AB  - Recently, gel-based proteomics has been increasingly applied to investigate
      proteins involved in female reproductive tract in healthy and disease states. Gel
      based proteomics coupled by mass spectrometry (MS) facilitate the identification
      of new proteins playing roles in cellular and molecular interactions underlying
      female reproductive biology and it is a useful method to identify novel
      biomarkers of diseases by studying thousands of proteins simultaneously involved
      in female reproductive tract in healthy state compared to disease state. This
      review will discuss the best studies areas contributed to female reproductive
      biology in which gel-based proteomics coupled by MS has been applied to generate
      proteome of female reproductive tract in a healthy state. 

PMID- 25838745
TI  - Different gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist doses for the final oocyte
      maturation in high-responder patients undergoing in vitro fertilization/intra
      cytoplasmic sperm injection.
AB  - CONTEXT: Efficacy of gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists (GnRH-a) for
      ovulation in high-responders. AIMS: The aim of the current study is to compare
      the impact of different GnRH-a doses for the final oocyte maturation on cycle
      outcomes and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) rates in high-responder
      patients undergoing ovarian stimulation. SETTINGS AND DESIGNS: Electronic medical
      records of a private in vitro fertilization center, a retrospective analysis.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 77 high-responder cases were detected receiving
      GnRH-a. Group I consisted of 38 patients who received 1 mg of agonist and Group
      II consisted of 39 patients who received 2 mg of agonist. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS:
      In order to compare groups, Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Pearson's Chi
      square test or Fisher's exact test were used where appropriate. A P < 0.05 was
      considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: Number of retrieved oocytes
      (17.5 vs. 15.0, P = 0.510), implantation rates (46% vs. 55.1%, P = 0.419) and
      clinical pregnancy rates (42.1% vs. 38.5%, P = 0.744) were similar among groups.
      There were no mild or severe OHSS cases detected in Group I. Only 1 mild OHSS
      case was detected in Group II. CONCLUSION: A volume of 1 or 2 mg leuprolide
      acetate yields similar outcomes when used for the final oocyte maturation in high
      responder patients.

PMID- 25838746
TI  - Prognostic factors associated with clinical pregnancy in in vitro fertilization
      using pituitary down-regulation with depot and daily low-dose luteal phase
      gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists: A single center's experience.
AB  - AIM: To review the experience on depot-dose, and daily low-dose gonadotropin
      releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) long protocols and identify prognostic factors.
      SETTING AND DESIGN: A chart review was conducted on 2106 depot and 1299 daily low
      dose cycles at a university hospital. METHODS: Clinical parameters were
      summarized, and prognostic factors of clinical pregnancy for each protocol were
      identified by logistic regressions. Missing data were imputed using multiple
      imputations (MI) and the regression models were rerun after MI. RESULTS: Clinical
      pregnancy rate was 57.5% and 46.9% in the depot and daily low-dose groups,
      respectively. Logistic regressions with MI identified age (odds ratio [OR]: 0.95,
      95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.92-0.98), serum progesterone (OR: 0.62, 95% CI:
      0.45-0.84) and endometrial thickness (OR: 1.06, 95% CI: 1.02-1.12) on human
      chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) day, number of oocytes retrieved (OR: 1.04, 95% CI:
      1.01-1.06), fertilization rate (OR: 2.66, 95% CI: 1.46-4.87) and ratio of good
      quality D3 embryos (OR: 4.31, 95% CI: 2.79-6.67) as prognostic factors in the
      depot group. Age (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.92-0.98), endometrial thickness on hCG day
      (OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.03-1.15), ratio of good quality D3 embryos (OR: 2.56, 95%
      CI: 1.59-4.13) and the number of cryopreserved embryos (OR: 1.07, 95% CI: 1.003
      1.15) are prognostic for the daily low-dose protocol. Some regression
      coefficients that are significant under model-wise deletion become nonsignificant
      after MI. CONCLUSIONS: Age, embryo quality and endometrial thickness on hCG day
      are important prognostic factors for both 1.0/1.3 mg depot and 0.05/0.1 mg daily
      low-dose luteal phase GnRHa long protocols. MI is a valuable tool to gauge and
      address bias caused by missing data in reproductive medicine.

PMID- 25838747
TI  - Variability between the follicular steroid hormone levels in different follicles
      of the same patient and between patients.
AB  - CONTEXT: There is disagreement as to whether the concentration of a substance in
      follicular fluid is related to the quality of the follicle as a possible
      reflection of the oocyte quality or whether this concentration is related to the
      clinical characteristics of the patient. AIM: To establish the variability of
      steroid hormone levels in follicular fluids from different follicles of the same
      patient and between patients. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Prospective cohort study.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 31 patients who underwent intracytoplasmic sperm
      injection it was performed an ultrasound guided aspiration of follicular fluid of
      the first two mature follicles from each ovary. Chemiluminescent microparticle
      immunoassays were performed to determine the levels of estradiol, progesterone,
      testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS:
      Unconditional mixed model. RESULTS: Variation in estradiol levels between
      follicles in the same patient was approximately twice the variation between
      subjects (P = 0.05). In the case of progesterone, the intra-subject variation was
      similar to the inter-subject variation (P = 0.006). The testosterone levels had a
      slightly smaller intra-subject variation than inter-subject variation (P =
      0.002), and the intra-subject variation in DHEA-S levels was approximately one
      fifth of the inter-subject variation (P = 0.0003). CONCLUSIONS: The variations in
      the levels of follicular progesterone and testosterone were similar between
      patients and between a given patient's follicles; however, the estradiol levels
      variability was higher among different follicles. The amount of follicular
      estradiol may be considered a selection tool between the follicles of a given
      patient.

PMID- 25838748
TI  - Should men with idiopathic obstructive azoospermia be screened for genitourinary
      tuberculosis?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Infertility may be the sole manifestation of genitourinary
      tuberculosis (TB) and men with idiopathic obstructive azoospermia are often
      screened for TB using semen polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. We assessed the
      benefits of such screening. DESIGN: Totally, 100 infertile men with idiopathic
      obstructive azoospermia were screened with a kit-based PCR for semen TB.
      Confirmatory tests for TB were performed in PCR positive men before administering
      anti-tubercular therapy (ATT) for 6 months. Semen analysis was repeated to assess
      benefits of treatment. RESULTS: Seven subjects (7%) had positive semen PCR for
      TB. Four of them had other clinical evidence of TB (history and physical signs)
      and were administered ATT. None had any improvement in semen parameters. No
      subject had any other laboratory evidence of TB and no other subject (96%) was
      administered ATT. CONCLUSIONS: Screening for TB using semen PCR did not identify
      any men who would have been missed on clinical evaluation and is thus not
      indicated in men with idiopathic obstructive azoospermia.

PMID- 25838749
TI  - Comparison of depression, anxiety, stress, and related factors among women and
      men with human immunodeficiency virus infection.
AB  - AIMS: To compare depression, anxiety, stress, and related factors among women and
      men with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: In
      this cross-sectional survey conducted between November and September 2013, 200
      participants with HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) attending
      Consultation Centers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants with HIV/AIDS were
      interviewed using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales questionnaire (DASS21
      ). RESULTS: There were significant associations between marital status of women
      and the level of depression (P < 0.05). However, the mean depression and anxiety
      in women are greater than men (P < 0.05), and the mean stress in men is greater
      than women (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: HIV infection is related with psychiatric
      disorders. According to the results, women are more vulnerable to depression and
      anxiety and they need more care. Management of these psychiatric disorders is
      very important and requires innovative comprehensive approaches.

PMID- 25838750
TI  - Lymphangiocele: A very rare cause of primary infertility.
AB  - There are limited causes of surgically treatable male infertility. Lymphangiocele
      of scrotum is a very rare condition particularly in adult life. Lymphangiocele
      causing infertility is further rare and not reported in English literature so
      far. We report an extremely rare case of lymphangiocele in a 29 years male
      presenting with male infertility that improved after surgery. 

PMID- 25838751
TI  - Monochorionic triamniotic triplets following conventional in vitro fertilization
      and blastocyst transfer.
AB  - Multiple pregnancy in in vitro fertilization (IVF) is on the decline with a
      reduction in number of embryos transferred. But the risk of monozygotic splitting
      persists. The risk of monozygotic twinning in women undergoing IVF is reported to
      be twice that of natural conception, and monochorionic triplets are even rarer at
      100 times more than natural conception. We report a case of monochorionic
      triamniotic (MCTA) triplets following conventional IVF and blastocyst transfer
      without zona manipulation. This report highlights the possibility of zygotic
      splitting in IVF in young couples with no family history, in centers with good
      experience with blastocyst transfer. MCTA triplets carry a high risk of perinatal
      mortality and morbidity and need multidisciplinary care. Prevention and
      prediction of zygotic splitting ought to be realized with better reporting and
      identification of possible risk factors. 

PMID- 25838752
TI  - The Effect of Ankle-Foot Orthoses on Balance Impairment: Single-Case Study.
AB  - Instability and balance impairment is common in patients with diabetic sensory
      neuropathy placing them at a higher risk of falling when performing more
      challenging daily tasks. The report describes the results of a dynamic balance
      tests of a subject with neuropathy due to the long-standing diabetes. The
      Computerized Dynamic Posturography was performed with and without ankle-foot
      orthoses (AFOs). The apparatus provided six test conditions designed to
      systematically manipulate vestibular, somatosensory, or visual information. With
      no orthoses the patient had falls performing most of the tests. Bilateral
      orthoses improved his balance: a derived composite balance score increased four
      times. In view of these findings, AFOs, in addition to correcting the patient's
      foot placement during locomotion, could also be expected to improve the
      maintenance of balance during quiet stance or dynamic perturbation.

PMID- 25838753
TI  - Preconception counseling and care in the setting of HIV: clinical characteristics
      and comorbidities.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of HIV
      infected individuals and HIV-affected couples who were referred for preconception
      counseling (PCC) at a large urban US-based HIV clinic. METHODS: Electronic
      medical records were reviewed for HIV-infected individuals and HIV-affected
      couples. Medical, reproductive, surgical, psychosocial, and family history data
      were abstracted. Univariate analyses were done. RESULTS: There were 8 single HIV
      infected women and 100 HIV-affected couples who underwent PCC. HIV-infected women
      were older (mean age 35 years versus 32 years, P = 0.06), were more likely to
      smoke (23% versus 0%, P < 0.01), and had more medical comorbidities (57% versus
      33%, P = 0.04) than HIV-uninfected women. The majority of couples were
      serodiscordant (77%), and of these couples, 32% had a detectable plasma viral
      load and 33% report inconsistent condom use. CONCLUSIONS: HIV-infected women have
      a number of medical and psychosocial issues, including those related to HIV that
      may increase the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and HIV perinatal and sexual
      transmission. PCC is an important intervention to optimize maternal management to
      improve perinatal outcomes and minimize transmission risks.

PMID- 25838754
TI  - Effects of Parkinson's Disease on Fundamental Frequency Variability in Running
      Speech.
AB  - In Parkinson's Disease (PD), qualitative speech changes such as decreased
      variation in pitch and loudness are common, but quantitative vocal changes are
      not well documented. The variability of fundamental frequency (F0) in 32
      individuals (23 male) with PD both ON and OFF levodopa medication was compared
      with 32 age-matched healthy controls (23 male). Participants read a single
      paragraph and estimates of fundamental frequency (F0) variability were determined
      for the entire reading passage as well as for the first and last sentences of the
      passage separately. F0 variability was significantly increased in controls
      relative to both PD groups and PD patients showed significantly higher F0
      variability while ON medication relative to OFF. No significant effect of group
      was seen in the change in F0 variability from the beginning to the end of the
      reading passage. Female speakers were found to have higher F0 variability than
      males. F0 variability was both significantly reduced in PD relative to controls
      and significantly increased in patients with PD during use of dopaminergic
      medications. F0 variability changes over the course of reading a paragraph may
      not be indicative of PD but rather dependent on non-disease factors such as the
      linguistic characteristics of the text.

PMID- 25838755
TI  - A Brief Scale to Measure Problematic Sexually Explicit Media Consumption:
      Psychometric Properties of the Compulsive Pornography Consumption (CPC) Scale
      among Men who have Sex with Men.
AB  - Although the phenomenon of hypersexuality has been described in the literature,
      and scales of compulsive sexual behavior have been published, the existing
      measures do not assess compulsive sexually explicit media (SEM) consumption. This
      study tested the psychometric properties of a new scale, the Compulsive
      Pornography Consumption (CPC). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses
      results showed good psychometric performance of a five item two factor
      preoccupation-compulsivity solution. As hypothesized, the scale correlates
      positively with compulsive sexual behavior, internalized homonegativity, and
      negatively with sexual self-esteem. The scale will enable researchers to
      investigate the etiologic factors of compulsive SEM use, and enable clinicians to
      assess problematic consumption.

PMID- 25838756
TI  - Late-Stage Fluorination: From Fundamentals to Application.
AB  - In this brief account, we review work from our lab with a focus on late-stage
      introduction of fluorine and fluorinated functional groups into small molecules.
      We attempt to highlight practical developments, which we believe may have
      potential for industrial applications, and critically reflect on developments
      that may not yet meet the bar for practical use.

PMID- 25838757
TI  - Surgical templates for dental implant positioning; current knowledge and clinical
      perspectives.
AB  - Dental implants have been used in a variety of different forms for many years.
      Since the mid-20(th) century, there has been an increase in interest in the
      implant process for the replacement of missing teeth. Branemark was one of the
      initial pioneers who applied scientifically based research techniques to develop
      an endosseous implant that forms an immobile connection with bone. The need for a
      dental implant to completely address multiple physical and biological factors
      imposes tremendous constraints on the surgical and handling protocol. Metallic
      dental implants have been successfully used for decades, but they have serious
      shortcomings related to their bony union and the fact that their mechanical
      properties do not match those of bone. However, anatomic limitation and
      restorative demands encourage the surgeon to gain precision in planning and
      surgical positioning of dental implants. Ideal placement of the implant
      facilitates the establishment of favorable forces on the implants and the
      prosthetic component as well as ensures an aesthetic outcome. Therefore, it is
      advisable to establish a logical continuity between the planned restoration and
      the surgical phases, it is essential to use a transfer device that for sure
      increases the predictability of success. The surgical guide template is
      fabricated by a dental technician after the presurgical restorative appointments
      that primarily include determination of occlusal scheme and implant angulations.
      Here, authors genuinely attempted to review the evolution and clinical
      applicability of surgical templates used in the placement of dental implants. 

PMID- 25838758
TI  - Spectrum of diseases and diagnostic values of ultrasound in adult patients with
      nontraumatic acute abdomen in a nigerian tertiary health facility.
AB  - AIM AND OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the spectrum of
      disease on abdominal ultrasound (US) and the diagnostic efficacy of US in adult
      patients with nontraumatic acute abdomen at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching
      Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population
      included consecutive 150 adult patients aged 15 years and above presenting with
      nontraumatic acute abdomen via the adult emergency unit or as inpatients referred
      to the Radiology Department of OAUTHC, Ile-Ife for abdominal US. MINDRAY D.C-6
      real-time US scanner with 3.5, 5.0, and 7.5 MHz probes and Doppler facilities
      were used to assess the intra-abdominal organs and the findings were compared
      with the clinical and surgical findings in those cases that were operated.
      RESULTS: The common spectrum of diseases encountered on US in this study included
      appendicitis (66 [44%]), ectopic pregnancy (34 [22%]), intestinal obstruction (13
      [8.7%]) while the least finding was renal abscess 1 (0.7%). The correlation of US
      findings with surgical findings in this study showed sensitivity, specificity,
      and kappa agreement for appendicitis of 83.3%, 100.0%, and 0.808; ectopic
      pregnancy of 100.0%, 97.8%, and 0.958; acute cholecystitis of 100.0%, 100.0%, and
      1.0. However, perforated viscus showed the least sensitivity (60.0%), specificity
      (99.2%), and kappa agreement 0.654. All the disease entities showed good kappa
      agreement beyond chance, and they were all statistically significant (P < 0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: This study has shown a relatively high sensitivity, specificity and
      diagnostic accuracy of US in cases of nontraumatic acute abdomen in a careful
      hand. We, therefore, recommended that these advantages of US should be
      capitalized upon in settings where other advanced diagnostic modalities are not
      available.

PMID- 25838759
TI  - Broomstick Injuries to the Eye; an Emerging Cause of Blindness among Children in
      Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ocular trauma among children is responsible for a high incidence of
      uni-ocular blindness. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the pattern of presentation and
      complications from broomstick eye injury at University of Benin Teaching Hospital
      (UBTH), Benin City with a view to proffering solutions on ways to reduce this
      trend. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The hospital records of all consecutive patients
      who suffered ocular trauma from broomstick injury and presented at the eye clinic
      of the UBTH between 2003 and 2014 were evaluated. Information retrieved from the
      case records included social demographic characteristics, interval between the
      occurrence of injury and presentation, mechanism of injury, activity at time of
      injury, examination findings, treatments and complications. Data were analyzed
      using SPSS, IBM, Chicago, USA. RESULTS: A total of 20 eyes in 20 patients were
      seen. They were all children <14 years old. The mean age was 7.10 +/- 4.03
      (standard deviation) years. The male: female ratio was 3:1. Twelve children (60%)
      sustained trauma from broomstick shot as a missile with a rubber band and/or
      catapult sling by other children and siblings while at play. Ten children (50%)
      presented within 24 h of occurrence of the injury. Nineteen (95%, n = 19) of the
      children were blind at presentation in the affected eye with visual acuity
      ranging from count finger to no light perception. Ninety percent (90%) of the
      cases were open globe injuries. Only 10% (n = 2) were closed (lamellar) injuries.
      Most of the patients had multiple complications such as corneal laceration (80%),
      traumatic cataract (40%), endophthalmitis/panophthalmitis (55%) and orbital
      cellulitis (15%). CONCLUSION: Ocular trauma from broomstick results in
      devastating, penetrating eye injury with loss of vision. Young male children are
      vulnerable as targets of dangerous game-play. Primary prevention is important by
      sensitization of caregivers and children of the risks. There is a need for
      effective supervision of children when at play.

PMID- 25838760
TI  - Abdominal injuries in university of port harcourt teaching hospital.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Abdominal injury is relatively common in both civilian and military
      casualties and remains a major source of morbidity and mortality. The mechanism
      of injury may be blunt or penetrating. Some would require operative intervention,
      whereas others may be managed conservatively. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to determine
      the pattern and outcome of management of abdominal injuries in the University of
      Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a
      prospective study of all patients with abdominal injuries seen and managed in
      UPTH over a 4-year period (from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2012). Relevant
      data were recorded and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences
      version 16. RESULTS: Forty-five patients were seen during the study period. There
      were 40 males (88.9%) and five females (11.1%) making a male to female ratio of
      8:1. Their ages ranged from 15 to 45 years with a mean of 27.8 +/- 1.6 years and
      21 to 30 years was the most commonly affected age group. The mechanism of injury
      was penetrating in 33 patients (73.3%) and blunt in 12 patients (26.7%). Thirty
      four patients (75.6%) had an exploratory laparotomy after resuscitation, while 11
      (24.4%) were managed conservatively. Small bowel was the most commonly injured
      organ following penetrating injury, seen in 14 patients (42.4%) while spleen was
      the most common in blunt injuries, seen in five patients (41.7%). The most common
      postoperative complication was surgical site infection, seen in four patients
      (8.9%). Two patients died giving a mortality rate of 4.4%. CONCLUSION: Gunshot to
      the abdomen is the most common cause of abdominal injury in UPTH. Serious
      campaign and legislation against militant and criminal activities would help to
      reduce the incidence.

PMID- 25838761
TI  - Reduction Mammoplasty in a Developing Country: A 10-year Review (2001-2010) at
      the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu.
AB  - CONTEXT: Large breast is a major problem because of associated symptomatology and
      aesthetic concerns. Reduction mammoplasty (RM) resolves the symptom and at the
      same time improves the aesthetic appearance of the breast, hence improving self
      esteem and social integration. AIMS: To describe the pattern of RM in a hospital
      in the developing world and its impact on postgraduate surgical training.
      SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A retrospective review of all the RMs done in the National
      Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu (a major plastic surgery training center in Nigeria)
      over a ten-year period (2001-2010), in the developing country of Nigeria.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: All RMs done in the hospital were reviewed after retrieving
      their records from operation register and medical records department. Fifteen
      (15) cases were retrieved and analyzed. DATA ANALYSIS: Data was analyzed with
      Microsoft excel 2007. RESULTS: Average age of female patients who had RM was 26.5
      years and 83.3% were single. The most common complaint was abnormally large
      breast (macromastia). Inferior pedicle technique was commonly used. CONCLUSIONS:
      The results of RM are remarkable as it impact positively on the quality of life
      of the patients. However, the level of awareness about the availability of this
      service is still low in the region as shown by few cases done over the period of
      review and this impacts negatively on the training. The need for public awareness
      cannot be overemphasized.

PMID- 25838762
TI  - Intra-Operative Airway Management in Patients with Maxillofacial Trauma having
      Reduction and Immobilization of Facial Fractures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite advancements in airway management, treatment of fractures in
      the maxillofacial region under general anesthesia remains a unique anesthetic
      challenge. We reviewed the pattern of airway management in patients with
      maxillofacial fractures and assessed those challenges associated with the
      different airway management techniques employed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The
      anesthetic chart, theatre and maxillofacial operations records of patients who
      had reduction and immobilization of various maxillofacial fractures over a 2-year
      period were reviewed. Information obtained included the patient demographics,
      mechanisms of injury, types of fractures and details about airway management.
      Statistical Package for Social Sciences, SPSS version 17.0 was utilized for all
      data analysis. RESULTS: Fifty-one patients were recruited during the 2-year study
      period. Mask ventilation was easy in 80-90% of the patients, 80% had Mallampati
      three or four, while 4 (7.8%) had laryngoscopy grading of 4. There was no
      statistically significant difference between the fracture groups in terms of the
      laryngoscopy grading (P = 0.153) but there was statistical significant difference
      in the technique of airway management (P = 0.0001). Nasal intubation following
      direct laryngoscopy was employed in 64.7% of the patients, fiber-optic guided
      nasal intubation was utilized in only 7.8%. None of the patients had tracheostomy
      either before or during operative management. CONCLUSION: Laryngoscopic grading
      and not adequacy of mouth opening predicted difficult intubation in this group of
      patients in the immediate preoperative period. Despite the distortions in the
      anatomy of the upper airway that may result from maxillofacial fractures, nasal
      intubation following direct laryngoscopy may be possible in many patients with
      maxillofacial fractures.

PMID- 25838763
TI  - Basal cell adenoma-clinicopathological, immunohistochemical analysis and surgical
      considerations of a rare salivary gland tumor with review of literature.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Basal cell adenoma (BCA) of the salivary glands is a rare benign
      salivary gland tumour. Differentiation of BCA from varied entities involving
      maxillofacial area is mandatory. AIM: To analyze the clinicopathological,
      histopathologic features, immunohistochemcal analysis and surgical considerations
      of this rare entity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 12 cases of BCA
      from archives of department reported over the period of 13 years. All the
      pertaining clinicopathologic features such as incidence, age, sex and site of
      lesions were assessed. Tissue sections were stained by using panel of
      immunohistochemical markers, i.e. Pan CK, CK 5/6 and S100, Calponin, p63, CD 117
      and smooth muscle actin. RESULTS: BCA was observed in 26-52 years age group (mean
      age, 38.75 years) with female propensity of 7:5 male to female ratio. It is seen
      more commonly in parotid gland, followed by upper lip, buccal mucosa and palate.
      Solid type is the most common histopathologic type followed by tubular,
      membranous and trabecular. Only one case of membranous type of BCA showed
      recurrence. Pan CK, CK 5/6 showed strong immunoreactivity, calponin showed
      moderate staining, p63 and Ki-67 mild staining, whereas CD 117 and SMA showed
      negative immunostaining. CONCLUSION: Vigilant comprehensive analysis of all the
      pertaining clinicopathologic and histopathologic features and immunohistochemical
      analysis are required for differentiating from other lesions with basaloid
      differentiation having varying prognosis.

PMID- 25838764
TI  - Laparoscopy may have a role in the drainage of liver abscess: Early experience at
      Owerri, Nigeria.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Image-guided percutaneous drainage with antimicrobial agents is the
      standard modality of treatment of liver abscess. Open surgical drainage, and
      lately laparoscopic drainage becomes useful in selected patients. Nigeria is
      awakening late to the laparoscopic surgery revolution. Public health institutions
      have started making enormous investments in minimal access surgery, which can
      augment deficient diagnostic capacities. OBJECTIVE: To describe the outcomes of
      the patients who underwent laparoscopic liver abscess drainage at the Federal
      Medical Centre, Owerri. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the
      laparoscopic liver abscess drainage procedures done between the period September
      2007 and December 2012 was done. RESULTS: A total of eight patients in the study
      period were worked up for abscess surgical drainage based on ultrasound (seven
      cases) and computed tomography (one case) supported localized collection in the
      liver. Intraoperatively, one patient was noticed to have nodules on the liver
      that was later confirmed as hepatocellular carcinoma. Operating time ranged from
      37 to 126 min. There was no conversion to open surgery. On the follow-up, one
      patient had residual abscess of 45 mm diameter size, after 6 weeks, and in whose
      aspirate acid-fast bacilli were identified. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic drainage
      should be considered in the management of liver abscess.

PMID- 25838765
TI  - Patterns, severity, and management of maxillofacial injuries in a suburban South
      Western Nigeria tertiary center.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Trauma remains a leading cause of maxillofacial injury globally.
      Changing etiological factors and patterns of maxillofacial injury continue to be
      reported and are largely modulated by socio-geographic and environmental factors.
      It is important to have an in-depth understanding of the pattern and etiology in
      a particular region before effective preventive measures can be developed. AIM:
      The aim was to evaluate the patterns, etiological factors, and management of
      maxillofacial injuries in Ogun state, Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A
      prospective descriptive cohort study of all consecutive patients that presented
      with maxillofacial injuries at our center between January and December 2013.
      Information about demographic data, types of maxillofacial and associated injury,
      etiology of injury, treatment received and complications were collected and
      analyzed. RESULTS: Seventy patients presented with maxillofacial injury during
      the study period with a male to female ratio of 4:1. The age range was 9 months
      to 60 years with a mean of 30.11 +/- standard deviation 14.97 years. Majority of
      the facial fractures were due to motorcycle related crashes. There were 57.1%
      mandibular fractures and 55.7% middle third fractures. Closed reduction with
      maxillo-mandibular fixation was the major method of treatment of facial
      fractures. Postoperative complications were observed in 11.4% of patients.
      CONCLUSION: Road traffic crashes (RTCs) remain the leading etiological factor of
      maxillofacial injuries in our center. Enforcement of stricter traffic regulations
      and possibly replacement of motorcycles with tricycles for commercial
      transportation may help to reduce the incidence of RTCs.

PMID- 25838766
TI  - Diathermy versus Scalpel Incision in a Heterogeneous Cohort of General Surgery
      Patients in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The anecdotal fear of using cautery for surgical incisions is still
      common in surgical practice despite recent evidences. The aim of this study is to
      compare the results of electrocautery and the scalpel in skin incisions.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a prospective randomized double blind study
      conducted in the Department of Surgery, of a teaching hospital in Ibadan.
      Patients were randomized to have either scalpel or electrocautery incisions. The
      duration used in making the skin incision; the incisional blood loss and the
      ensuing length and depth of the wound were noted. Postoperative pain; duration of
      wound healing and the occurrence of surgical site infection were also noted.
      RESULTS: There were 197 patients consisting of the scalpel group (n = 98) and the
      electrocautery group (n = 99). The ages ranged from 16 to 73 years. The
      demography, case distribution and body mass index were similar in both groups.
      The mode of presentation was predominantly elective. The incision time was
      shorter in the electrocautery group (P < 0.001). The blood loss was less with the
      diathermy compared to the scalpel (6.53 +/- 3.84 ml vs. 18.16 +/- 7.36 ml, P <
      0.001). The cumulative numerical rating scale score for pain was 12.65 (standard
      deviation [SD] 8.06) and 17.12 (SD 9.49) in the diathermy and scalpel groups
      respectively (P < 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in
      wound infection and wound closure (epithelialization time) (P = 0.206).
      CONCLUSION: The use of electrocautery in making skin incision is associated with
      reduced incision time, incisional blood loss, and postoperative pain.

PMID- 25838767
TI  - The use of nontreated mosquito-net mesh cloth for a tension free inguinal hernia
      repair: our experience.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The prohibitive costs and scarcity of the imported prosthetic mesh
      for hernioplasty, has prevented its widespread use in most developing countries.
      We then set out to ascertain the outcome, complications (undue pain, wound
      infection, recurrence, and mesh extrusion) and cost implications in the use of a
      nontreated mosquito-net for inguinal hernioplasty. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A
      prospective study of all consecutive adult patients with uncomplicated inguinal
      hernia who were admitted for open herniorrhaphy between January 2012 and
      December, 2013 at the Federal Medical Centre, Ido - Ekiti, South West, Nigeria. A
      sheet of the nontreated mosquito-net mesh 10 cm Chi 8 cm, autoclaved, a day prior
      to surgery was used for each patient's hernia repair. The operation sites were
      exposed and examined 3(rd) and 6(th) postoperative days. Findings were documented
      for analysis. RESULT: A total of 130 adult patients were recruited for this study
      of which 115 of the patients were males and 15 were females. Forty-four (41.53%)
      had inguinal hernia and 76 (58.46%) of them had inguinoscrotal hernia. They all
      had successful repair and were followed-up for complications for a period of 6
      weeks to 6 months at the surgical out-patient department. CONCLUSION: Locally
      sourced and autoclaved mosquito-net mesh is an effective alternative for
      hernioplasty especially in situations where commercial mesh is not readily
      available or affordable.

PMID- 25838769
TI  - Groin exploration for the nonpalpable testes: a single center experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Management of non-palpable testes in Nigeria can be difficult due to
      late presentation and poor resources. Surgical exploration is often required for
      diagnosis and treatment. AIM: This study reviews the management outcome of
      clinically non-palpable testeis in a tertiary center in Nigeria. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Ten years retrospective review of all clinically non-palpable testes in
      children aged 2-15years managed at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching
      Hospitals Complex Ile-Ife Nigeria. RESULTS: Thirty two children with 44
      testicular units were managed. The right side was involved in 12 (37.5%); left in
      8 (25.0%) and bilateral in 12 (37.5%) patients. Pre-operative ultrasound was done
      in 12 patients with localization in just 4 patients (33.3% success rate). At
      groin exploration, 34 (77.32%) testicular units were located in the inguinal
      canal. Eight patients with 10 The remaining 10 (22.7%) testicular units required
      additional mini-laparotomy for which six (13.6%) and 4 (9.1%) testicular units
      respectively were either in the retroperitoneum or not found. Of the testes in
      the groin, twenty two (64.7%) testicular units were normal while 12 (35.3%) were
      atrophic. Four of the retroperitoneal testes were normal while 2 were atrophic.
      Eight (22.5%) testicular units among the inguinal group had multi-staged
      orchidopexy; while 2 each of the retroperitoneal group had orchidectomy, one
      stage orchidopexy, two staged Fowler Stephens (F-S) procedure or lost to follow
      up after first stage of F-S procedure. Mean follow up period was 2 months. 2
      testicular units each had retracted or vanished respectively during follow up.
      CONCLUSION: Groin exploration still offers a viable approach Surgical exploration
      is still useful in to the management of non-palpable testes in low resource
      environment despite the lack of laparoscopy.

PMID- 25838768
TI  - A 5-year Review of Darning Technique of Inguinal Hernia Repair.
AB  - CONTEXT: The Darning technique of inguinal hernia repair is a tissue-based
      technique with documented low recurrence rate in some parts of the world. Though
      practiced in our setting, little is documented on its outcome. AIMS: The aim was
      to review the outcome of Darning technique of inguinal hernia repair in our
      setting. STUDY DESIGN: A descriptive retrospective study. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      Clinical records of all patients who had inguinal hernia repair using the Darning
      technique between January 2007 and December 2011 in our institution were
      obtained. Details of sociodemographic data, intraoperative findings and
      postoperative complications were reviewed. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: simple
      frequencies, proportions and cross-tabulations. RESULTS: A total of 132 patients
      whose ages ranged from 15 to 84 years (mean = 49.4 years) with a male: female
      ratio of 12:1 were studied. Majority of the hernias were right sided (68.9%),
      mostly indirect (81.8%). The procedures were for emergencies in 17 (12.9%) cases
      whereas the rest (87.1%) were done electively. Most procedures, 110 (83.3%) were
      performed under local anesthesia. Surgical site infection was the most common
      complication occurring in six patients (4.5%), while four patients (3%) had
      chronic groin pain. At a mean follow-up period of 15 months there were two
      recurrences (1.5%) both occurring in patients with bilateral hernias (P = 0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: The Darning technique of inguinal hernia repair is a safe and
      effective method for inguinal hernia repair in our setting.

PMID- 25838770
TI  - Muscular variations during axillary dissection: a clinical study in fifty
      patients.
AB  - AIM: The present study was conducted to detect the musculature variations during
      axillary dissection for breast cancer surgery. METHODS: The anatomy of axilla
      regarding muscular variations was studied in 50 patients who had an axillary
      dissection for the staging and treatment of invasive primary breast cancer over
      one year. RESULTS: In a period of one year, two patients (4%) with axillary arch
      and one patient (2%) with absent pectoralis major and minor muscles among fifty
      patients undergoing axillary surgery for breast cancer were identified.
      CONCLUSIONS: Axillary arch when present should always be identified and formally
      divided to allow adequate exposure of axillary contents, in order to achieve a
      complete lymphatic dissection. Complete absence of pectoralis major and minor
      muscles precludes the insertion of breast implants and worsens the prognosis of
      breast cancer.

PMID- 25838771
TI  - Bullhorn hernia: a rare traumatic abdominal wall hernia.
AB  - Traumatic abdominal wall hernia (TAWH) is rare despite the high prevalence of
      blunt abdominal trauma. Bullhorn hernia occurs as a result of a direct blow to
      the abdominal wall by the horn of a bull, which disrupts the muscles and fascia
      and leads to hernia formation. We report a rare case of bullhorn TAWH in a 70
      year-old patient who presented with swelling at the left lumbar region. The
      patient was managed by immediate surgical intervention. A surgeon must have high
      index of suspicion for the diagnosis of this condition as missed hernias in this
      setting pose a high risk of strangulation and gangrene. 

PMID- 25838772
TI  - Basal cell ameloblastoma: a rare histological variant of an uncommon tumor.
AB  - Ameloblastomas are an inscrutable group of oral tumors. Basal cell ameloblastoma
      is a rare variant of ameloblastoma with very few cases reported until date. The
      tumor is composed of more primitive cells and has less conspicuous peripheral
      palisading. It shows remarkable similarity to basal cell carcinoma, basal cell
      adenoma and intra-osseous adenoid cystic carcinoma. This report describes the
      case of a 27-year-old male with an ameloblastoma in the right posterior mandible.
      Orthopantomography computed tomography and finally histopathological examination
      directed us toward the confirmatory diagnosis of basal cell variant of
      ameloblastoma. Considering the rarity of the lesion and histological paradox
      regarding its diagnosis, we report here an interesting and rare case of basal
      cell ameloblastoma of the mandible with emphasis on differential diagnosis from
      other entities with basaloid differentiation having varying prognosis. After
      surgery, long-term follow-up at regular intervals is recommended as no sufficient
      statistical information regarding the behavior of this tumor is available. 

PMID- 25838773
TI  - Retrograde Jejuno-gastric Intussusception.
AB  - Retrograde jejuno-gastric intussusception is a rare complication following
      gastric surgery. We present a case of retrograde jejuno-gastric intussusception
      in a 42-year-old female who presented with upper abdominal pain, vomiting and
      swelling in left hypochondruim. Intussusception was suspected on ultrasound of
      the abdomen and later confirmed with computed tomography scan. At laparotomy,
      efferent loop was intussuscepting into stomach. This was reduced and fixed to the
      abdominal wall and transverse mesocolon. It should be suspected in a patient with
      the previous history of gastric surgery as it is a rare complication. Early
      diagnosis and management can prevent further complications like bowel gangrene
      and its associated morbidity and mortality. 

PMID- 25838775
TI  - To promote vaccination, physicians need to provide booster shots of information.

PMID- 25838774
TI  - Ensuring First Nations children's access to equitable services through Jordan's
      Principle: The time to act is now.

PMID- 25838776
TI  - Point-of-care ultrasound: An emerging technology in Canadian paediatrics.

PMID- 25838777
TI  - Case 1: A two-year-old boy with fever and widespread vesicular lesions.

PMID- 25838778
TI  - Case 2: Severe headache and paroxysmal seizures in a 14-year-old boy with cyclic
      vomiting syndrome.

PMID- 25838779
TI  - Demographic characteristics and needs of the Canadian urban adolescent mother and
      her child.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There is a paucity of Canadian-based literature on urban adolescent
      mothers and their children. To inform clinical assessment and interventions and
      to mitigate the risks that adolescent mothers and their children face, it is
      essential to understand the characteristics of this high-risk population.
      METHODS: A retrospective review of 116 adolescent mothers attending an urban
      academic hospital-based outpatient clinic in Canada from 2005 to 2009 was
      conducted. The following information was collected: demographic characteristics,
      maternal maltreatment history, substance use, postpartum depression symptoms, and
      child socioemotional and developmental functioning. RESULTS: The mean maternal
      age was 16.1 years and the mean education level was grade 9. Ninety-nine percent
      of adolescent mothers were single, 47% had a history of child welfare involvement
      and 18% had previous involvement with the judicial system. More than one-half of
      participants reported a history of both maltreatment and substance abuse, and 20%
      of adolescent mothers scored in the clinical range for postpartum depression. A
      substantial proportion of children scored in the clinical range for behavioural
      problems, regulatory difficulties and suspected developmental delays. CONCLUSION:
      The present study serves to illustrate the high-risk nature of urban adolescent
      mothers. These observations can be used to improve clinical practice for health
      care providers in community and hospital-based settings working with this
      population.

PMID- 25838780
TI  - An innovative on-call system for paediatric residency programs: The alternate
      night float.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Night-float systems, in which residents work consecutive nights, have
      been increasingly adopted in paediatric programs, but may be detrimental to
      residents' sleep and mood. OBJECTIVE: To describe the self-reported impact of a
      novel system consisting of two consecutive weeks of 16 h overnight shifts every
      second day that was piloted at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario
      (Ottawa, Ontario). METHODS: A survey of 28 senior paediatric residents examined
      their experience with the alternate night-float system in three domains (patient
      care, resident professional development and well-being) and their comparison of
      the system with the traditional overnight on-call system. RESULTS: Twenty-six of
      28 residents responded. Nearly all (96%) felt familiar with important details of
      inpatients and that handover was effective (92%). Results were mixed for
      professional development, with concerns about the quality of supervisors'
      feedback and perceived difficulty in attending daytime teaching. All residents
      believed that the night-float system provided a better learning experience
      compared with the traditional system. Less than 35% considered fatigue to be a
      notable problem, although 20% increased use of sleep aids or stimulants beyond
      their typical use. Ninety-six percent believed their workload was appropriate.
      All residents felt equally or less fatigued under the night-float system compared
      with the traditional system. Ninety-six percent recommended that the night-float
      model continue as the on-call system. CONCLUSIONS: This novel night-float system
      is an alternative method of providing paediatric inpatient night coverage because
      it meets duty hour regulations and has strong resident approval. Studies to
      examine its impact on residents and patient care in comparison with other systems
      are warranted.

PMID- 25838781
TI  - Epidemiology and clinical management of tuberculosis in children in Canada.
AB  - Although often regarded as a foreign disease, latent tuberculosis or tuberculosis
      disease will be encountered in many clinical situations by the Canadian child
      health practitioner. There are key differences between tuberculosis in children
      and adults. In the present article, the changing epidemiology of tuberculosis in
      children in Canada and around the world, the pathogenesis of infection,
      diagnostic tests, and clinical management of childhood latent tuberculosis and
      tuberculosis disease are reviewed. 

PMID- 25838782
TI  - Food insecurity and hunger: A review of the effects on children's health and
      behaviour.
AB  - Food insecurity and hunger are significant problems in Canada, with millions of
      Canadians experiencing some level of food insecurity. The purpose of the present
      article is to review what is currently known about the effects of food insecurity
      and hunger on children. Longitudinal studies in Canada indicate that hunger is
      related to poor health outcomes, including a higher risk of depression and
      suicidal ideation in adolescents, and chronic conditions, particularly asthma. In
      addition, nutrient deficiencies, such as iron deficiency, are known to impair
      learning and cause decreased productivity in school-age children, and maternal
      depressive disorders. School-based nutrition programs and innovations, such as
      subsidized food (apples, cheese, soy nuts, carrots and broccoli), are an
      essential immediate need, but long-term solutions lie in adequate incomes for
      families. 

PMID- 25838783
TI  - Liquid detergent packets: Small, brightly coloured, convenient and hazardous!

PMID- 25838784
TI  - Preventing ophthalmia neonatorum.
AB  - The use of silver nitrate as prophylaxis for neonatal ophthalmia was instituted
      in the late 1800s to prevent the devastating effects of neonatal ocular infection
      with Neisseria gonorrhoeae. At that time - during the preantibiotic era - many
      countries made such prophylaxis mandatory by law. Today, neonatal gonococcal
      ophthalmia is rare in Canada, but ocular prophylaxis for this condition remains
      mandatory in some provinces/ territories. Silver nitrate drops are no longer
      available and erythromycin, the only ophthalmic antibiotic eye ointment currently
      available for use in newborns, is of questionable efficacy. Ocular prophylaxis is
      not effective in preventing chlamydial conjunctivitis. Applying medication to the
      eyes of newborns may result in mild eye irritation and has been perceived by some
      parents as interfering with mother-infant bonding. Physicians caring for newborns
      should advocate for rescinding mandatory ocular prophylaxis laws. More effective
      means of preventing ophthalmia neonatorum include screening all pregnant women
      for gonorrhea and chlamydia infection, and treatment and follow-up of those found
      to be infected. Mothers who were not screened should be tested at delivery.
      Infants of mothers with untreated gonococcal infection at delivery should receive
      ceftriaxone. Infants exposed to chlamydia at delivery should be followed closely
      for signs of infection. 

PMID- 25838785
TI  - E-cigarettes: Are we renormalizing public smoking? Reversing five decades of
      tobacco control and revitalizing nicotine dependency in children and youth in
      Canada.
AB  - An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) is a battery attached to a chamber
      containing liquid that may (or may not) contain nicotine. The battery heats the
      liquid and converts it into a vapour, which is inhaled, mimicking tobacco
      smoking. The e-cigarette does not rely on tobacco as a source of nicotine but,
      rather, vaporizes a liquid for inhalation. E-liquids are often flavoured and may
      contain nicotine in various concentrations, although actual amounts are seldom
      accurately reflected in container labelling. The deleterious effects of nicotine
      on paediatric health are well established. The use of e-cigarettes in the
      paediatric age group is on the rise in Canada, as are associated nicotine
      poisonings. E-devices generate substantial amounts of fine particulate matter,
      toxins and heavy metals at levels that can exceed those observed for conventional
      cigarettes. Children and youth are particularly susceptible to these atomized
      products. Action must be taken before these devices become a more established
      public health hazard. Policies to denormalize tobacco smoking in society and
      historic reductions in tobacco consumption may be undermined by this new
      'gateway' product to nicotine dependency. 

PMID- 25838786
TI  - Time needed to achieve changes in oxygen concentration at the T-Piece
      resuscitator during respiratory support in preterm infants in the delivery room.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To measure the time needed to achieve changes in fraction of inspired
      oxygen concentration (FiO2) from the oxygen blender to the facemask during
      simulated neonatal resuscitation. METHOD: Two oxygen analyzers were placed at
      each end of the T-Piece. During simulated ventilation, the duration to achieve
      the set oxygen concentration at the facemask was measured. This was repeated at
      different gas flow rates (5 L/min, 8 L/min or 10 L/min) and different FiO2
      changes (0.21 to 1.0 to 0.21, with stepwise increases and decreases in 0.05, 0.1
      and 0.2 increments). RESULTS: A total of 1134 measurements (378 measurements for
      each flow) were recorded. Overall, the mean (+/- SD) time required to achieve
      FiO2 changes at 5 L/min, 8 L/min and 10 L/min was 36+/-15 s, 31+/-14 s and 28+/
      14 s, respectively. CONCLUSION: There was a lag time of approximately 30 s to
      achieve the FiO2 at the facemask. This delay needs to be considered when making
      serial adjustments to FiO2 during neonatal resuscitation.

PMID- 25838787
TI  - Polar Effects Control the Gas-phase Reactivity of Charged para-Benzyne Analogs.
AB  - The gas-phase reactivity of charged para-benzynes is entirely unexplored as they
      and/or their precursors tend to undergo ring-opening upon their generation. We
      report here a gas-phase reactivity study of two such benzynes, the 2,5
      didehydropyridinium and 5,8-didehydroisoquinolinium cations, generated in a
      modified dual-linear quadrupole ion trap (DLQIT) mass spectrometer. Both
      biradicals were found to form diagnostic products with organic molecules,
      indicating the presence of two radical sites. As opposed to earlier predictions
      that the singlet-triplet (S-T) splitting controls the radical reactivity of such
      species, the 2,5-didehydropyridinium cation reacts much faster in spite of its
      larger S-T splitting. Calculated vertical electron affinities of the radical
      sites of the para-benzynes, a parameter related to the polarity of the transition
      states of their reactions, appears to be the most important reactivity
      controlling factor.

PMID- 25838789
TI  - SoftKiller, a particle-level pileup removal method.
AB  - Existing widely used pileup removal approaches correct the momenta of individual
      jets. In this article we introduce an event-level, particle-based pileup
      correction procedure, SoftKiller. It removes the softest particles in an event,
      up to a transverse momentum threshold that is determined dynamically on an event
      by-event basis. In simulations, this simple procedure appears to be reasonably
      robust and brings superior jet resolution performance compared to existing jet
      based approaches. It is also nearly two orders of magnitude faster than methods
      based on jet areas.

PMID- 25838788
TI  - An IMS-IMS threshold method for semi-quantitative determination of activation
      barriers: Interconversion of proline cis<->trans forms in triply protonated
      bradykinin.
AB  - Collisional activation of selected conformations by multidimensional ion mobility
      spectrometry (IMS-IMS), combined with mass spectrometry (MS), is described as a
      method to determine semi-quantitative activation energies for interconversion of
      different structures of the nonapeptide bradykinin (BK, Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe-Ser
      Pro-Phe-Arg). This analysis is based on a calibration involving collision-induced
      dissociation measurements of ions with known dissociation energies (i.e.,
      "thermometer" ions) such as leucine enkephalin, BK, and amino acid-metal cation
      systems. The energetic barriers between six conformations of [BK+3H]3+ range from
      0.23 +/-0.01 to 0.55 +/-0.03 eV. Prior results indicate that the major peaks in
      the IMS distributions correspond to specific combinations of cis and trans
      configurations of the three proline residues in the peptide sequence. The
      analysis allows us to directly assess pathways for specific transitions. The
      combination of structural assignments, experimentally determined barrier heights,
      onset of the quasi-equilibrium region, and dissociation threshold are used to
      derive a semi-quantitative potential energy surface for main features of
      [BK+3H]3+.

PMID- 25838790
TI  - Two-loop QCD corrections to the MSSM Higgs masses beyond the effective-potential
      approximation.
AB  - We compute the two-loop QCD corrections to the neutral Higgs-boson masses in the
      Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, including the effect of non-vanishing
      external momenta in the self-energies. We obtain corrections of [Formula: see
      text] and [Formula: see text], i.e., all two-loop corrections that involve the
      strong gauge coupling when the only non-vanishing Yukawa coupling is the top one.
      We adopt either the [Formula: see text] renormalization scheme or a mixed on
      shell (OS)-[Formula: see text] scheme where the top/stop parameters are
      renormalized on-shell. We compare our results with those of earlier calculations,
      pointing out an inconsistency in a recent result obtained in the mixed OS
      [Formula: see text] scheme. The numerical impact of the new corrections on the
      prediction for the lightest-scalar mass is moderate, but already comparable to
      the accuracy of the Higgs-mass measurement at the Large Hadron Collider.

PMID- 25838795
TI  - Exploring CP violation in the MSSM.
AB  - We explore the prospects for observing CP violation in the minimal supersymmetric
      extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) with six CP-violating parameters, three
      gaugino mass phases and three phases in trilinear soft supersymmetry-breaking
      parameters, using the CPsuperH code combined with a geometric approach to
      maximise CP-violating observables subject to the experimental upper bounds on
      electric dipole moments. We also implement CP-conserving constraints from Higgs
      physics, flavour physics and the upper limits on the cosmological dark matter
      density and spin-independent scattering. We study possible values of observables
      within the constrained MSSM (CMSSM), the non-universal Higgs model (NUHM), the
      CPX scenario and a variant of the phenomenological MSSM (pMSSM). We find values
      of the CP-violating asymmetry [Formula: see text] in [Formula: see text] decay
      that may be as large as 3 %, so future measurements of [Formula: see text] may
      provide independent information about CP violation in the MSSM. We find that CP
      violating MSSM contributions to the [Formula: see text] meson mass mixing term
      [Formula: see text] are in general below the present upper limit, which is
      dominated by theoretical uncertainties. If these could be reduced, [Formula: see
      text] could also provide an interesting and complementary constraint on the six
      CP-violating MSSM phases, enabling them all to be determined experimentally, in
      principle. We also find that CP violation in the [Formula: see text] and
      [Formula: see text] couplings can be quite large, and so may offer interesting
      prospects for future [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see
      text] and [Formula: see text] colliders.

PMID- 25838798
TI  - Propagators and topology.
AB  - Two popular perspectives on the non-perturbative domain of Yang-Mills theories
      are either in terms of the gluons themselves or in terms of collective gluonic
      excitations, i.e. topological excitations. If both views are correct, then they
      are only two different representations of the same underlying physics. One
      possibility to investigate this connection is by the determination of gluon
      correlation functions in topological background fields, as created by the
      smearing of lattice configurations. This is performed here for the minimal Landau
      gauge gluon propagator, ghost propagator, and running coupling, both in momentum
      and position space for SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. The results show that the salient
      low-momentum features of the propagators are qualitatively retained under
      smearing at sufficiently small momenta, in agreement with an equivalence of both
      perspectives. However, the mid-momentum behavior is significantly affected. These
      results are also relevant for the construction of truncations in functional
      methods, as they provide hints on necessary properties to be retained in
      truncations.

PMID- 25838799
TI  - Passive ankle movement increases cerebral blood oxygenation in the elderly: an
      experimental study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ankle exercise has been proven to be an effective intervention to
      increase venous velocity. However, the efficacy of ankle exercise for improving
      cerebral circulation has not been determined. We hypothesized that ankle exercise
      in the supine position would be able to increase oxyhemoglobin levels measured at
      the forehead. METHODS: Seventeen community-dwelling elderly women participated in
      this study. We recorded blood pressure, heart rate (HR), and oxyhemoglobin
      (OxyHb) levels from the participants in the supine position. Participants
      repeated ankle plantar flexion and dorsiflexion movements for 1 min. Two types of
      exercise were used: active movement and passive movement. We used two-way
      analysis of variance to assess the differences in mean arterial blood pressure
      (MAP), HR, and OxyHb between different exercises (active and passive) and times
      (before and after exercise). RESULTS: The HR and MAP increased during active
      exercise but not during passive exercise. On the other hand, the levels of OxyHb
      measured at the forehead were elevated during both active and passive exercises.
      This increase lasted at least 1 min after exercise. There was no significant
      difference between active and passive exercise with regard to OxyHb; however, a
      significant difference was observed between before and after exercise (p < 0.05,
      eta(2) G = 0.153). CONCLUSIONS: The physiological response of OxyHb to ankle
      exercise was different from that of the other cardiovascular functions. Both
      active and passive ankle exercises were able to increase cerebral blood
      oxygenation, whereas the other cardiovascular functions did not respond to
      passive exercise.

PMID- 25838801
TI  - Teaching science writing in an introductory lab course.
AB  - One challenge that many neuroscience instructors face is how to teach students to
      communicate within the field. The goal of this project was to improve students'
      scientific writing in an introductory psychology laboratory course that serves as
      a feeder course into the neuroscience curriculum. This course included a
      scaffolded approach - breaking assignments into different sections that build
      upon each other to allow for more direction and feedback on each section.
      Students were also provided with examples of scientific writing, given direction
      on finding and reading journal articles, and were taught how to effectively peer
      review a paper. Research papers were assessed before (Year 1) and after (Year 2)
      this scaffolded approach was instituted. The assessment included measures of
      "Genre Knowledge" for each section of a research paper (abstract, introduction,
      method, results, discussion) as well as measures of "Writing Elements" (grammar,
      formatting, clarity, transitions, building to the hypothesis, using evidence).
      The results indicated that there was an improvement for Genre Knowledge scores
      when comparing Year 1 to Year 2. However, there was no systematic improvement in
      Writing Elements. This suggests that this teaching technique was most effective
      in improving students' ability to write within the scientific genre. The
      logistics of implementing such an approach are discussed. 

PMID- 25838800
TI  - Physiology of Mechanotransduction: How Do Muscle and Bone "Talk" to One Another?
AB  - The complexity of cell interactions with their microenvironment and their ability
      to communicate at the autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine levels has gradually
      but significantly evolved in the last three decades. The musculoskeletal system
      has been historically recognized to be governed by a relationship of proximity
      and function, chiefly dictated by mechanical forces and the work of gravity
      itself. In this review article, we first provide a historical overview of the
      biomechanical theory of bone- muscle interactions. Next, we expand to detail the
      significant evolution in our understanding of the function of bones and muscles
      as secretory organs. Then, we review and discuss new evidence in support of a
      biochemical interaction between these two tissues. We then propose that these two
      models of interaction are complementary and intertwined providing for a new
      frontier for the investigation of how bone-muscle cross talk could be fully
      explored for the targeting of new therapies for musculoskeletal diseases,
      particularly the twin conditions of aging, osteoporosis and sarcopenia. In the
      last section, we explore the bone-muscle cross talk in the context of their
      interactions with other tissues and the global impact of these multi-tissue
      interactions on chronic diseases.

PMID- 25838802
TI  - Active learning in a neuroethics course positively impacts moral judgment
      development in undergraduates.
AB  - The growing neuroscientific understanding of the biological basis of behaviors
      has profound social and ethical implications. To address the need for public
      awareness of the consequences of these advances, we developed an undergraduate
      neuroethics course, Neuroscience and Society, at the University of Minnesota.
      Course evolution, objectives, content, and impact are described here. To engage
      all students and facilitate undergraduate ethics education, this course employed
      daily reading, writing, and student discussion, case analysis, and team
      presentations with goals of fostering development of moral reasoning and judgment
      and introducing application of bioethical frameworks to topics raised by
      neuroscience. Pre- and post-course Defining Issues Test (DIT) scores and student
      end-of-course reflections demonstrated that course objectives for student
      application of bioethical frameworks to neuroethical issues were met. The active
      learning, student-centered pedagogical approaches used to achieve these goals
      serve as a model for how to effectively teach neuroethics at the undergraduate
      level. 

PMID- 25838803
TI  - Dark adaptation and purkinje shift: a laboratory exercise in perceptual
      neuroscience.
AB  - The systematic measurement of luminance thresholds during dark adaptation usually
      requires advanced optical equipment not available in most undergraduate classes.
      Here we describe an easy, inexpensive alternative that uses a printed grayscale
      to measure visual thresholds. Adaptation curves found with this method are
      comparable to those found with the technologically advanced tools in the standard
      literature and even show the shift from cone to rod vision at around 4-8 minutes.
      The exercise can furthermore be easily combined with a demonstration of the
      Purkinje shift (the different spectral sensitivity of the rod and cone systems)
      and of multi-sensory integration across vision, touch and proprioception. The lab
      allows students to collect, graph and analyze both qualitative and quantitative
      data. Student ratings of the activity are highly positive, even when compared to
      other visual neuroscience labs. The activity provides an effective and accessible
      tool for teaching several important neuroscience concepts, including retinal
      circuitry, spectral sensitivity, and multi-sensory integration. 

PMID- 25838804
TI  - Brain literate: making neuroscience accessible to a wider audience of
      undergraduates.
AB  - The ability to critically evaluate neuroscientific findings is a skill that is
      rapidly becoming important in non-science professions. As neuroscience research
      is increasingly being used in law, business, education, and politics, it becomes
      imperative to educate future leaders in all areas of society about the brain.
      Undergraduate general education courses are an ideal way to expose students to
      issues of critical importance, but non-science students may avoid taking a
      neuroscience course because of the perception that neuroscience is more
      challenging than other science courses. A recently developed general education
      cluster course at UCLA aims to make neuroscience more palatable to undergraduates
      by pairing neuroscientific concepts with philosophy and history, and by building
      a learning community that supports the development of core academic skills and
      intellectual growth over the course of a year. This study examined the extent to
      which the course was successful in delivering neuroscience education to a broader
      undergraduate community. The results indicate that a majority of students in the
      course mastered the basics of the discipline regardless of their major.
      Furthermore, 77% of the non-life science majors (approximately two-thirds of
      students in the course) indicated that they would not have taken an undergraduate
      neuroscience course if this one was not offered. The findings also demonstrate
      that the course helped students develop core academic skills and improved their
      ability to think critically about current events in neuroscience. Faculty
      reported that teaching the course was highly rewarding and did not require an
      inordinate amount of time. 

PMID- 25838805
TI  - A classic improved: minor tweaks yield major benefits in crayfish slow-flexor
      preparations.
AB  - Action potentials and the postsynaptic potentials they evoke fill the pages of
      neuroscience textbooks, but students have relatively few opportunities to record
      these phenomena on their own. However, the act of making such recordings can be
      key events in a student's scientific education. The crayfish abdominal slow
      flexor muscle system is a well-established platform for recording spikes and
      PSPs. It enables students to see nerves and the muscles they innervate, record
      spontaneous spikes from several motor axons in these nerves as well as PSPs in
      their postsynaptic muscle fibers, and interpret these recordings quantitatively.
      Here we describe an improved method for preparing the slow-flexor system for
      recording that employs transmitted illumination through the stereo microscope's
      conventional substage lighting. Oblique transmitted lighting allows students to
      see the nerve and muscles fibers in each segment clearly and position recording
      electrodes accurately under visual control. Because students can see the nerves,
      muscles, and recording electrodes, broken electrode tips are relatively uncommon
      and the first successful recordings come more quickly. Many kinds of neurons in
      the CNS have the same pattern of multineuronal, multiterminal innervation that
      occurs on these muscle fibers. To visualize these innervation patterns on these
      fibers, we describe an immunohistochemical protocol that labels the GABAergic
      inhibitory motor axon and all the synaptic vesicles in the synaptic terminals on
      these muscle fibers. Dual-color images reveal extensive branching of the axons
      and fields of presynaptic terminals, only some of which are double-labeled for
      GABA. 

PMID- 25838806
TI  - Mad dogs, vampires, and zombie ants: a multidisciplinary approach to teaching
      neuroscience, behavior, and microbiology.
AB  - Viruses, parasites, and some bacteria use host organisms to complete their
      lifecycle. These infectious agents are able to hijack host processes to replicate
      and transmit to the next host. While we tend to think of infections as just
      making us sick, they are also capable of changing host behavior. In fact, many
      infectious agents are able to mediate host behavior in ways that can enhance
      transmission of the disease. In this course we explore the process of host
      behavior mediation by infectious agents, combining aspects of multiple fields
      including neurobiology, animal behavior, infectious disease microbiology, and
      epidemiology. The goals for this course are: 1) To explore the neurological and
      behavioral effects of infectious organisms on their hosts, in particular pathogen
      mediation of host behavior to the benefit of the pathogen, 2) to introduce
      students to primary literature in a multidisciplinary field, and 3) when
      applicable, to address cultural/historical/mythological perspectives that might
      alter societal norms and pressures and influence the impact of the biological
      processes of behavior modification by infections. 

PMID- 25838808
TI  - Exercises in Anatomy, Connectivity, and Morphology using Neuromorpho.org and the
      Allen Brain Atlas.
AB  - Laboratory instruction of neuroscience is often limited by the lack of physical
      resources and supplies (e.g., brains specimens, dissection kits, physiological
      equipment). Online databases can serve as supplements to material labs by
      providing professionally collected images of brain specimens and their underlying
      cellular populations with resolution and quality that is extremely difficult to
      access for strictly pedagogical purposes. We describe a method using two online
      databases, the Neuromorpho.org and the Allen Brain Atlas (ABA), that freely
      provide access to data from working brain scientists that can be modified for
      laboratory instruction/exercises. Neuromorpho.org is the first neuronal
      morphology database that provides qualitative and quantitative data from
      reconstructed cells analyzed in published scientific reports. The Neuromorpho.org
      database contains cross species and multiple neuronal phenotype datasets which
      allows for comparative examinations. The ABA provides modules that allow students
      to study the anatomy of the rodent brain, as well as observe the different
      cellular phenotypes that exist using histochemical labeling. Using these tools in
      conjunction, advanced students can ask questions about qualitative and
      quantitative neuronal morphology, then examine the distribution of the same cell
      types across the entire brain to gain a full appreciation of the magnitude of the
      brain's complexity. 

PMID- 25838807
TI  - Undergraduate Neuropharmacology: A Model for Delivering College-Level
      Neuroscience to High School Students in situ.
AB  - Our university course for non-majors (Biology 100) on the neurobiology of drug
      addiction was recently retooled for delivery at high schools around the state of
      Washington in order to engage younger students in the study of psychoactive
      drugs. Many of these students are earning both high school and university credits
      (dual-enrollment). This paper outlines the course design principles we used to
      ensure that high school students are earning valid college credits. We present an
      analysis of learning gains experienced by both university and high school
      students as measured by before and after course knowledge surveys. We also
      describe how assessment strategies used for on-campus students have been
      transferred to our high school partner teachers and how generous interchange and
      observation ensure that the high school students are engaging deeply in their
      study of neuroscience. Indeed, many have had a transformative experience that
      inspires them to contemplate the field of neuroscience as they transition into
      university study. 

PMID- 25838809
TI  - A changing tide: what the new 'foundations of behavior' section of the 2015
      medical college admissions test(r) might mean for undergraduate neuroscience
      programs.
AB  - Each year over 50,000 college students and alumni take the Medical College
      Admissions Test(r) (MCAT) and apply for admissions to medical school. After an
      extensive review process, the MCAT has undergone a major revision in form and
      content in order to better reflect the competencies medical students will need to
      be successful in their training and practice. Starting in April 2015, for the
      first time since the test's inception, the MCAT will include social and
      behavioral sciences content. The new section of the MCAT exam titled "The
      Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations of Behavior" will test pre
      health competencies that combine content knowledge with scientific inquiry and
      reasoning skills. Anticipating growing interest in curriculum related to the new
      competency based content on the exam, the AAMC (Association of American Medical
      Colleges) established the Pre-health Collection within MedEdPORTAL's
      iCollaborative, a free repository of teaching resources. This online space gives
      faculty members the opportunity to share access to instructional resources in
      order to prepare or revise courses to include pre-health competencies. As a
      result of the increased content related to mind-body connections, undergraduate
      pre-medical students will be more likely to enroll in neuroscience courses to
      learn these competencies, or declare neuroscience majors, as the typical
      neuroscience major course requirements now meet most of the suggested pre
      requisite competencies for medical school. 

PMID- 25838810
TI  - There are so many I want to thank: Inviting the neuroscience classroom into
      Hollywood(.).

PMID- 25838811
TI  - Enhanced Conformational Sampling Using Replica Exchange with  Collective-Variable
      Tempering.
AB  - The computational study of conformational transitions in RNA and proteins with
      atomistic molecular dynamics often requires suitable enhanced sampling
      techniques. We here introduce a novel method where concurrent metadynamics are
      integrated in a Hamiltonian replica-exchange scheme. The ladder of replicas is
      built with different strengths of the bias potential exploiting the tunability of
      well-tempered metadynamics. Using this method, free-energy barriers of individual
      collective variables are significantly reduced compared with simple force-field
      scaling. The introduced methodology is flexible and allows adaptive bias
      potentials to be self-consistently constructed for a large number of simple
      collective variables, such as distances and dihedral angles. The method is tested
      on alanine dipeptide and applied to the difficult problem of conformational
      sampling in a tetranucleotide.

PMID- 25838812
TI  - HER-2 assessment in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded breast cancer tissue by well
      based reverse phase protein array.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) expression level
      is a critical element for determining the prognosis and management of breast
      cancer. HER-2 targeted therapy in breast cancer depends on the reliable
      assessment of HER-2 expression status but current standard methods are lacking a
      rigorous quantitative assay. To address this challenge, we developed an
      assessment of HER-2 expression method by well-based reverse phase protein array
      (RPPA). RESULTS: Well-based RPPA is based on a robust protein isolation
      methodology paired with a novel electrochemiluminescence detection system. HER-2
      value of well-based RPPA significantly correlated with dot blotting results (R(2)
      = 0.939). By well-based RPPA, we successfully detected HER-2 expression in 76
      human breast formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples. We observed 93.4%
      (71/76) concordance between well-based RPPA and current HER-2 immunohistochemical
      assessment guideline. When the cutoff level of HER-2 value was set to 0.689 (HER
      2/GAPDH) on the basis of receiver-operating characteristic curve, the area under
      the curve was 0.975 (95% CI, 0.941-1.000). Sensitivity and specificity of well
      based RPPA was 92.1% and 94.7%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: HER-2 value by well
      based RPPA was correlated with the current HER-2 status guideline, suggesting
      that this normalized HER-2 assessment may offer advantages over unnormalized
      current immunohistochemical assessment methods.

PMID- 25838813
TI  - Differentiation of mucinous from non-mucinous pancreatic cyst fluid using dual
      stained, 1 dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cysts are being increasingly identified in patients.
      Mucinous cysts have malignant potential whereas non-mucinous cysts do not.
      Distinguishing potentially malignant cysts from harmless ones by the
      characterization of cyst fluid contents remains a difficult problem. This study
      was undertaken to determine whether cyst fluid mucin glycoprotein analysis could
      differentiate mucinous from non-mucinous pancreatic cysts. METHODS: Cyst fluid
      from 28 patients who underwent resection of a pancreatic cyst was used for the
      study. In each case the type of cyst was histologically identified. One
      dimensional SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (1D-SDS PAGE) was performed on
      cyst fluid samples. For the detection of the separated proteins, we employed a
      novel dual staining technique. The gel was first stained with periodic acid
      Schiff (PAS), a mucin histochemical stain followed by a secondary protein
      staining with Simply Blue Safestain (Invitrogen). RESULTS: Visual scoring (based
      on the presence of mucins) gave a sensitivity of 95%, a specificity of 100%, a
      positive predictive value of 100%, and a negative predictive value of 88% for
      prediction of mucinous histology. CONCLUSIONS: One dimensional SDS polyacrylamide
      gel electrophoresis of pancreatic cyst fluid, followed by mucin (PAS) and protein
      (Simply Blue Safestain) staining, provides a means of concentrating and
      visualizing mucins, which allows the accurate differentiation of mucinous from
      non-mucinous histology in pancreatic cysts.

PMID- 25838814
TI  - An integrated quantification method to increase the precision, robustness, and
      resolution of protein measurement in human plasma samples.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Current quantification methods for mass spectrometry (MS)-based
      proteomics either do not provide sufficient control of variability or are
      difficult to implement for routine clinical testing. RESULTS: We present here an
      integrated quantification (InteQuan) method that better controls pre-analytical
      and analytical variability than the popular quantification method using stable
      isotope-labeled standard peptides (SISQuan). We quantified 16 lung cancer
      biomarker candidates in human plasma samples in three assessment studies, using
      immunoaffinity depletion coupled with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) MS.
      InteQuan outperformed SISQuan in precision in all three studies and tolerated a
      two-fold difference in sample loading. The three studies lasted over six months
      and encountered major changes in experimental settings. Nevertheless, plasma
      proteins in low ng/ml to low MUg/ml concentrations were measured with a median
      technical coefficient of variation (CV) of 11.9% using InteQuan. The
      corresponding median CV using SISQuan was 15.3% after linear fitting.
      Furthermore, InteQuan surpassed SISQuan in measuring biological difference among
      clinical samples and in distinguishing benign versus cancer plasma samples.
      CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that InteQuan is a simple yet robust quantification
      method for MS-based quantitative proteomics, especially for applications in
      biomarker research and in routine clinical testing.

PMID- 25838816
TI  - Acoustic CR Neuromodulation Therapy for Subjective Tonal Tinnitus: A Review of
      Clinical Outcomes in an Independent Audiology Practice Setting.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the quantitative treatment outcomes of patients undergoing
      acoustic coordinated reset (CR) neuromodulation at a single independent audiology
      practice over a 22- to 26-week period as part of an open label, non-randomized,
      non-controlled observational study. METHODS: Sixty-six patients with subjective
      tonal tinnitus were treated with acoustic CR neuromodulation with a retrospective
      review of patient records being performed in order to identify changes of visual
      analog scale (VAS, n = 66) and in the score of the tinnitus handicap
      questionnaire (THQ, n = 51). Patients had their tinnitus severity recorded prior
      to the initiation of therapy using the tinnitus handicap inventory in order to
      categorize patients into slight up to catastrophic impact categories. THQ and VAS
      for tinnitus loudness/annoyance were obtained at the patient's initial visit, at
      10-14 and 22-26 weeks. RESULTS: Visual analog scale scores were significantly
      improved, demonstrating a 25.8% mean reduction in tinnitus loudness and a 32%
      mean reduction in tinnitus annoyance with a clinically significant reduction in
      percept loudness and annoyance being recorded in 59.1 and 72.7% of the patient
      group. THQ scores were significantly improved by 19.4% after 22-26 weeks of
      therapy compared to baseline. CONCLUSION: Acoustic CR neuromodulation therapy
      appears to be a practical and promising treatment for subjective tonal tinnitus.
      However, due to the lack of a control group it is difficult to reach an absolute
      conclusion regarding to what extent the observed effects are related directly to
      the acoustic CR neuromodulation therapy. Also, as the observed patient group was
      made up of paying clients it is unknown as to whether this could have caused any
      additional placebo like effects to influence the final results.

PMID- 25838815
TI  - Proteomic analysis of human follicular fluid from fertile women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Follicular fluid is a unique biological fluid in which the critical
      events of oocyte and follicular maturation and somatic cell-germ cell
      communication occur. Because of the intimate proximity of follicular fluid to the
      maturing oocyte, this fluid provides a unique window into the processes occurring
      during follicular maturation. A thorough identification of the specific
      components within follicular fluid may provide a better understanding of
      intrafollicular signaling, as well as reveal potential biomarkers of oocyte
      health for women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment. In this study, we
      used high and low pH HPLC peptide separations followed by mass spectrometry to
      perform a comprehensive proteomic analysis of human follicular fluid from healthy
      ovum donors. Next, using samples from a second set of patients, an isobaric mass
      tagging strategy for quantitative analysis was used to identify proteins with
      altered abundances after hCG treatment. RESULTS: A total of 742 follicular fluid
      proteins were identified in healthy ovum donors, including 413 that have not been
      previously reported. The proteins belong to diverse functional groups including
      insulin growth factor and insulin growth factor binding protein families, growth
      factor and related proteins, receptor signaling, defense/immunity, anti-apoptotic
      proteins, matrix metalloprotease related proteins, and complement activity. In a
      quantitative analysis, follicular fluid samples from age-matched women undergoing
      in vitro fertilization oocyte retrieval were compared and 17 follicular fluid
      proteins were found at significantly altered levels (p < 0.05) between pre-hCG
      and post-hCG samples. These proteins belong to a variety of functional processes,
      including protease inhibition, inflammation, and cell adhesion. CONCLUSIONS: This
      database of FF proteins significantly extends the known protein components
      present during the peri-ovulatory period and provides a useful basis for future
      studies comparing follicular fluid proteomes in various fertility, disease, and
      environmental exposure conditions. We identified 17 differentially expressed
      proteins after hCG treatment and together these data showed the feasibility for
      defining biomarkers that illuminate how the ovarian follicle microenvironment is
      altered in various infertility-related conditions.

PMID- 25838817
TI  - A robust computational technique for model order reduction of two-time-scale
      discrete systems via genetic algorithms.
AB  - A robust computational technique for model order reduction (MOR) of multi-time
      scale discrete systems (single input single output (SISO) and multi-input
      multioutput (MIMO)) is presented in this paper. This work is motivated by the
      singular perturbation of multi-time-scale systems where some specific dynamics
      may not have significant influence on the overall system behavior. The new
      approach is proposed using genetic algorithms (GA) with the advantage of
      obtaining a reduced order model, maintaining the exact dominant dynamics in the
      reduced order, and minimizing the steady state error. The reduction process is
      performed by obtaining an upper triangular transformed matrix of the system state
      matrix defined in state space representation along with the elements of B, C, and
      D matrices. The GA computational procedure is based on maximizing the fitness
      function corresponding to the response deviation between the full and reduced
      order models. The proposed computational intelligence MOR method is compared to
      recently published work on MOR techniques where simulation results show the
      potential and advantages of the new approach. 

PMID- 25838818
TI  - Fuzzy emotional semantic analysis and automated annotation of scene images.
AB  - With the advances in electronic and imaging techniques, the production of digital
      images has rapidly increased, and the extraction and automated annotation of
      emotional semantics implied by images have become issues that must be urgently
      addressed. To better simulate human subjectivity and ambiguity for understanding
      scene images, the current study proposes an emotional semantic annotation method
      for scene images based on fuzzy set theory. A fuzzy membership degree was
      calculated to describe the emotional degree of a scene image and was implemented
      using the Adaboost algorithm and a back-propagation (BP) neural network. The
      automated annotation method was trained and tested using scene images from the
      SUN Database. The annotation results were then compared with those based on
      artificial annotation. Our method showed an annotation accuracy rate of 91.2% for
      basic emotional values and 82.4% after extended emotional values were added,
      which correspond to increases of 5.5% and 8.9%, respectively, compared with the
      results from using a single BP neural network algorithm. Furthermore, the
      retrieval accuracy rate based on our method reached approximately 89%. This study
      attempts to lay a solid foundation for the automated emotional semantic
      annotation of more types of images and therefore is of practical significance. 

PMID- 25838819
TI  - Ginger and its constituents: role in prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal
      cancer.
AB  - Gastrointestinal (GI) cancer, a cancer of different organs of the digestive
      system, is one of the most common cancers around the world. The incidence and
      death rate of some of these cancers are very high. Although a large variety of
      chemotherapeutic agents have been introduced since the last few decades to combat
      GI cancer, most of them are very expensive and have side effects. Therefore, the
      compounds derived from natural sources, which are considered to be safe and cost
      effective, are needed. Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is one of the most widely
      used natural products consumed as a spice and medicine for treating nausea,
      dysentery, heartburn, flatulence, diarrhea, loss of appetite, infections, cough,
      and bronchitis. Experimental studies showed that ginger and its active components
      including 6-gingerol and 6-shogaol exert anticancer activities against GI cancer.
      The anticancer activity of ginger is attributed to its ability to modulate
      several signaling molecules like NF-kappaB, STAT3, MAPK, PI3K, ERK1/2, Akt, TNF
      alpha, COX-2, cyclin D1, cdk, MMP-9, survivin, cIAP-1, XIAP, Bcl-2, caspases, and
      other cell growth regulatory proteins. In this review, the evidences for the
      chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic potential of ginger extract and its active
      components using in vitro, animal models, and patients have been described. 

PMID- 25838820
TI  - The genetic predisposition and its impact on the diabetes mellitus development in
      patients with alcoholic chronic pancreatitis.
AB  - The most common cause of chronic pancreatitis (CP) is alcohol abuse. The aim of
      the present study was to identify patients with genetic predisposition to CP
      abusing alcohol. The question posed was whether CP manifests at a younger age and
      diabetes mellitus develops earlier in individuals with genetic predisposition.
      The study encompassed 79 patients with alcoholic chronic pancreatitis (ACP) and
      control group (100 persons). The following mutations were determined: R122H and
      N29I of PRSS1 and N34S of SPINK1 as well as E366K and E288V of SERPINA 1. No
      R122H and N291 mutations were observed in the group of ACP patients and in
      controls. Moreover, there was no E288V mutation. In 79 ACP patients, six SPINK 1
      (N34S/wt) mutations were observed. In the control group, one heterozygous SPINK
      1N34S gene mutation was found (P = 0.0238). Two PiZ mutations were identified in
      patients with ACP and one analogical mutation in controls. Amongst patients with
      ACP as well as SPINK1 and PiZ mutations, the onset of disease was observed
      earlier and developed earlier. The prevalence of SPINK1 mutation is higher in
      patients with ACP than in healthy populations. This mutation together with the
      effects of alcohol accelerates the development of ACP and of diabetes mellitus. 

PMID- 25838821
TI  - Somatostatin analogs in the medical management of occult bleeding of the lower
      digestive tract.
AB  - The management of occult bleeding from the lower digestive tract can be very
      challenging. In cases of identified angiodysplasia, the first line management
      options can be limited by a number of clinical or anatomical factors and an
      alternative approach might be required, including the use of medications.
      Somatostatin analogs have been considered as an effective and well-tolerated
      alternative management option in a number of cases where the endoscopic
      therapeutic approach is not practical or is unsuccessful, in patients with
      coagulopathies or who need concomitant anticoagulation or antiplatelet treatment.
      Despite the lack of double-blinded randomized placebo-control trials and despite
      the limitations of the available evidence in the literature, including small
      sample size, variable dosing, and administration routes, there is a consistent
      agreement in the literature that somatostatin analogs are a safe, well-tolerated,
      and effective therapeutic option for managing refractory or occult bleeding from
      the lower digestive tract, with particular reference to patients with
      angiodysplasia, where endoscopic or surgical management is either not feasible or
      unsuccessful and other pharmacological options are not preferred. 

PMID- 25838822
TI  - Landscape ecology and epidemiology of malaria associated with rubber plantations
      in Thailand: integrated approaches to malaria ecotoping.
AB  - The agricultural land use changes that are human-induced changes in agroforestry
      ecosystems and in physical environmental conditions contribute substantially to
      the potential risks for malaria transmission in receptive areas. Due to the
      pattern and extent of land use change, the risks or negatively ecosystemic
      outcomes are the results of the dynamics of malaria transmission, the
      susceptibility of human populations, and the geographical distribution of malaria
      vectors. This review focused basically on what are the potential effects of
      agricultural land use change as a result of the expansion of rubber plantations
      in Thailand and how significant the ecotopes of malaria-associated rubber
      plantations (MRP) are. More profoundly, this review synthesized the novel
      concepts and perspectives on applied landscape ecology and epidemiology of
      malaria, as well as approaches to determine the degree to which an MRP ecotope as
      fundamental landscape scale can establish malaria infection pocket(s). Malaria
      ecotoping encompasses the integrated approaches and tools applied to or used in
      modeling malaria transmission. The scalability of MRP ecotope depends upon its
      unique landscape structure as it is geographically associated with the
      infestation or reinfestation of Anopheles vectors, along with the attributes that
      are epidemiologically linked with the infections. The MRP ecotope can be depicted
      as the hotspot such that malaria transmission is modeled upon the MRP factors
      underlying human settlements and movement activities, health behaviors, land
      use/land cover change, malaria vector population dynamics, and agrienvironmental
      and climatic conditions. The systemic and uniform approaches to malaria ecotoping
      underpin the stratification of the potential risks for malaria transmission by
      making use of remotely sensed satellite imagery or landscape aerial photography
      using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), global positioning systems (GPS), and
      geographical information systems (GIS). 

PMID- 25838823
TI  - Incidental adrenal enlargement: an overview from a retrospective study in a
      chinese population.
AB  - Aim. To investigate incidental adrenal enlargement clinical characteristics and
      functional status and analyze functional lesion risk factors. Materials and
      Methods. This retrospective study included 578 patients with adrenal imaging
      features showing enlargement. Incidental adrenal enlargement cases (78) were
      considered eligible. Demographics, functional diagnosis, adrenal imaging
      features, and concomitant diseases were analyzed. Results. The number of adrenal
      enlargements and proportion of incidental adrenal enlargement increased each
      year. Mean patient age was 50.32 years. Thirty-nine cases had unilateral
      enlargement on the left side and 3 on the right side; 36 had bilateral
      enlargement. Routine medical checkup was found to have the greatest chance
      (43.59%) of revealing clinical onsets leading to discovery. Biochemical and
      functional evaluation revealed 54 (69.23%) cases of nonfunctional lesions, 12
      (15.38%) of subclinical Cushing syndrome, 6 (7.69%) of primary
      hyperaldosteronism, 1 (1.28%) of metastasis, and 5 (6.41%) of unknown functional
      status. Nodular adrenal enlargement (OR, 7.306; 95% CI, 1.727-28.667; P = 0.006)
      was a risk factor for functional lesions. Age and lesion location were not
      significant factors. Conclusion. Incidental adrenal enlargement is a frequent
      radiographic finding and is accompanied by diverse clinical factors that require
      proper evaluation and management. Nodular adrenal enlargement was a risk factor. 

PMID- 25838824
TI  - Recent developments in sweat analysis and its applications.
AB  - Currently, the clinical use of sweat as biofluid is limited. The collection of
      sweat and its analysis for determining ethanol, drugs, ions, and metals have been
      encompassed in this review article to assess the merits of sweat compared to
      other biofluids, for example, blood or urine. Moreover, sweat comprises various
      biomarkers of different diseases including cystic fibrosis and diabetes.
      Additionally, the normalization of sampled volume of sweat is also necessary for
      getting efficient and useful results. 

PMID- 25838825
TI  - Stability-indicating HPLC determination of gemcitabine in pharmaceutical
      formulations.
AB  - A simple, sensitive, inexpensive, and rapid stability indicating high performance
      liquid chromatographic method has been developed for determination of gemcitabine
      in injectable dosage forms using theophylline as internal standard.
      Chromatographic separation was achieved on a Phenomenex Luna C-18 column (250 mm
      * 4.6 mm; 5MU) with a mobile phase consisting of 90% water and 10% acetonitrile
      (pH 7.00 +/- 0.05). The signals of gemcitabine and theophylline were recorded at
      275 nm. Calibration curves were linear in the concentration range of 0.5-50
      MUg/mL. The correlation coefficient was 0.999 or higher. The limit of detection
      and limit of quantitation were 0.1498 and 0.4541 MUg/mL, respectively. The inter-
      and intraday precision were less than 2%. Accuracy of the method ranged from
      100.2% to 100.4%. Stability studies indicate that the drug was stable to sunlight
      and UV light. The drug gives 6 different hydrolytic products under alkaline
      stress and 3 in acidic condition. Aqueous and oxidative stress conditions also
      degrade the drug. Degradation was higher in the alkaline condition compared to
      other stress conditions. The robustness of the methods was evaluated using design
      of experiments. Validation reveals that the proposed method is specific,
      accurate, precise, reliable, robust, reproducible, and suitable for the
      quantitative analysis. 

PMID- 25838826
TI  - In vitro evaluation of bioactivity of chemically deposited hydroxyapatite on
      polyether ether ketone.
AB  - Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is considered the best alternative material for
      titanium for spinal fusion cage implants due to its low elasticity modulus and
      radiolucent property. The main problem of PEEK is its bioinert properties.
      Coating with hydroxyapatite (HA) showed very good improvement in bioactivity of
      the PEEK implants. However the existing methods for deposition of HA have some
      disadvantages and damage the PEEK substrate. In our previous study a new method
      for deposition of HA on PEEK was presented. In this study cell proliferation of
      mesenchymal stem cell and apatite formation in simulated body fluid (SBF) tests
      were conducted to probe the effect of this new method in improvement of the
      bioactivity of PEEK. The mesenchymal stem cell proliferation result showed better
      cells proliferation on the treated layer in comparison with untreated PEEK. The
      apatite formation results showed the growth of the HA on the treated PEEK but
      there was not any sight of the growth of HA on the untreated PEEK even after 2
      weeks. The results showed the new method of the HA deposition improved the
      bioactivity of the treated PEEK in comparison with the bare PEEK. 

PMID- 25838827
TI  - Primary meningococcal polyarthritis in an adult woman.
AB  - Primary joint infection caused by the Gram-negative bacteria Neisseria
      meningitidis is rare. Normally, joint involvement comes secondary to meningitis
      or severe sepsis caused by this agent. When primary arthritis is seen,
      monoarthritis is the most common presentation. A meningococcal polyarthritis is
      described in less than 10 case reports according to current literature. This case
      report aims to briefly review this rare clinical event in an adult woman with no
      previous history of rheumatological disease. Early diagnosis of polyarthritis
      caused by meningococcal bacteria usually present a good prognosis when properly
      treated. 

PMID- 25838828
TI  - Intravenous administration of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells induces
      a switch from classical to atypical symptoms in experimental autoimmune
      encephalomyelitis.
AB  - Potent immunosuppressive and regenerative properties of mesenchymal stem cells
      (MSCs) position them as a novel therapy for autoimmune diseases. This research
      examines the therapeutic effect of MSCs administration at different disease
      stages in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Classical and atypical
      scores of EAE, associated with Th1 and Th17 response, respectively, and also Treg
      lymphocytes, were evaluated. MSCs administration at the onset (EAE+MSConset)
      induced an important amelioration of the clinical signs and less lasting effect
      at the peak of EAE (EAE+MSCpeak). No effect was observed when MSCs were applied
      after EAE stabilization (EAE+MSClate). Surprisingly, EAE atypical signs were
      detected in EAE+MSCpeak and EAE+MSClate mice. However, no correlation was found
      in Th17/Th1 ratio. Interestingly, regardless of time administration, MSCs
      significantly reduced IL-6 and also T-bet, RORgammaT, and Foxp3 mRNA levels in
      brain samples of EAE mice. The downregulation of IL-6 could restore the well
      functioning of the blood-brain barrier of EAE mice, correlated with a decreased
      number of brain infiltrating leukocytes. These results suggest that the
      inflammatory status is important to be considered for administering MSCs in
      autoimmune pathologies, leading to a further research to clarify the effect of
      MSCs for multiple sclerosis. 

PMID- 25838829
TI  - A prospective study of tuberculosis drug susceptibility in sabah, malaysia, and
      an algorithm for management of isoniazid resistance.
AB  - Introduction. The burden of tuberculosis is high in eastern Malaysia, and rates
      of Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug resistance are poorly defined. Our objectives
      were to determine M. tuberculosis susceptibility and document management after
      receipt of susceptibility results. Methods. Prospective study of adult
      outpatients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in Sabah, Malaysia.
      Additionally, hospital clinicians accessed the reference laboratory for clinical
      purposes during the study. Results. 176 outpatients were enrolled; 173 provided
      sputum samples. Mycobacterial culture yielded M. tuberculosis in 159 (91.9%) and
      nontuberculous Mycobacterium (NTM) in three (1.7%). Among outpatients there were
      no instances of multidrug resistant M. tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Seven people (4.5%)
      had isoniazid resistance (INH-R); all were switched to an appropriate second-line
      regimen for varying durations (4.5-9 months). Median delay to commencement of the
      second-line regimen was 13 weeks. Among 15 inpatients with suspected TB, 2 had
      multidrug resistant TB (one extensively drug resistant), 2 had INH-R, and 4 had
      NTM. Conclusions. Current community rates of MDR-TB in Sabah are low. However,
      INH-resistance poses challenges, and NTM is an important differential diagnosis
      in this setting, where smear microscopy is the usual diagnostic modality. To
      address INH-R management issues in our setting, we propose an algorithm for the
      treatment of isoniazid-resistant PTB. 

PMID- 25838830
TI  - Sequencing and Phylogenetic Study of Partial NS3 Gene of Iranian GB Virus
      C/Hepatitis G Virus (HGV) Originated From Hemodialysis Patients in Tehran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hepatitis viruses are one of the most important concerns in the
      patients on hemodialysis who are at high risk for blood-borne infections. GB
      virus C (GBV-C)/hepatitis G virus (HGV) is positive-stranded RNA virus with
      global distribution, which codes structural and nonstructural proteins (such as
      NS3). OBJECTIVES: Review on literature about Iranian HGV isolates showed that
      there was no report on sequencing and phylogenetic characteristics of NS3 gene
      and therefore, this study attempted to answers these challenges. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Briefly, steps followed were as follows: preparation of nucleic acids
      from three Iranian hemodialysis HGV-positive samples and RNA extraction; reverse
      transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) for amplification of NS3 gene and gel electrophoresis;
      sequencing and analyzing sequencing data; NCBI Registering; blasting and
      alignment of sequences; and finally constructing the phylogenetic tree. RESULTS:
      Nucleotide BLAST results emphasized that most similar sequences to Ir NS3
      sequences were those from Europe (Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom) and the
      United states and IR sequences were located with five leaves in a branch. In
      addition, homology of Ir sequences showed96.4% (between IR1 and IR2), 94.9%
      identity (between IR1 and IR3), and 96.5% identity (between IR2 and
      IR3).Furthermore, highly variation and significance differences in NS3 between
      GBC isolates from geographical regions and some little changes in IR sequences
      were seen. Finally, phylogenetic tree revealed that NS3 genotype of Iranian
      isolates was probably similar to European countries and USA. CONCLUSIONS:
      Overall, results of present study were consistent with the data reported earlier
      base on 5' NTR in Iranian isolates and revealed genotype IR2 is major genotype in
      Iranian HGV-positive patient. It means there are higher similarities between
      Iranian and Europe-USA in HGV NS3 gene.

PMID- 25838831
TI  - The safety of herbal medicine: from prejudice to evidence.

PMID- 25838832
TI  - Antiviral activity of a zymolytic grain based extract on human immunodeficiency
      virus type 1 in vitro.
AB  - Increasing evidence shows that grains may play a role in disease prevention
      beyond the simple provision of energy and nutrients. It has been reported that
      some components contained in grains exert their functional effects on viral and
      bacterial infections and protect against various cancers. However, until now,
      hardly any intervention studies have investigated the effects of grains or grain
      based extracts on the inhibition of HIV-1 infection. In this study, the antiviral
      function of a zymolytic grain based extract (ZGE) was detected in vitro and in
      rats, and the antiviral mechanism was investigated. Results showed that ZGE had
      an inhibition effect on HIV-1 infection in vitro with low cytotoxic effects. The
      study of the mechanism demonstrated that this functional food possibly acted on
      the viral surface structure protein gp120 which is responsible for cell binding,
      as well as on the postattachment stage of the virus. The sera of model rats
      administrated with this food by gavage presented anti-infection abilities against
      HIV-1 in vitro during a serum concentration associated period of time. These
      findings provide valuable insights into the application of ZGE on the control of
      viral load, which may contribute to future anti-HIV treatment with less adverse
      effects. 

PMID- 25838833
TI  - Traditional Herbal Formula Banhasasim-tang Exerts Anti-Inflammatory Effects in
      RAW 264.7 Macrophages and HaCaT Keratinocytes.
AB  - Banhasasim-tang (BHSST) is a Korean traditional herbal formula comprising eight
      medicinal herbs. The aim of the present study was to investigate the anti
      inflammatory effect of BHSST using macrophage and keratinocyte cell lines. First,
      we evaluated the effects of BHSST on inflammatory mediator and cytokine
      production in lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. BHSST
      markedly inhibited the production of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2),
      and interleukin- (IL-) 6. BHSST significantly suppressed the protein expression
      of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and phosphorylated nuclear factor-kappa B (NF
      kappaB) p65 in RAW 264.7 cells. Second, we examined whether BHSST influences the
      production of chemokines and STAT1 phosphorylation in tumor necrosis factor
      alpha/interferon-gamma TI-stimulated HaCaT keratinocytes. BHSST significantly
      suppressed the production of RANTES/CCL5, TARC/CCL17, MDC/CCL22, and IL-8 in TI
      stimulated HaCaT cells. BHSST also suppressed TI-induced phosphorylation of STAT1
      in HaCaT cells. These results suggest that BHSST may be useful as an anti
      inflammatory agent, especially for inflammatory skin diseases. 

PMID- 25838834
TI  - Cytologic diagnosis of adrenal oncocytic pheochromocytoma in a lung cancer
      patient: Report of a case and review of the literature.
AB  - Adrenal oncocytic pheochromocytoma is an extremely rare type of pheochromocytoma.
      To the best of our knowledge, we present the first cytological diagnosis of this
      variant via fine-needle aspiration in an 81-year-old male patient who was found
      to have an adrenal mass while undergoing workup of the recently diagnosed lung
      adenocarcinoma. We describe the cytomorphologic findings in our case and provide
      a review of the reported cases of adrenal oncocytic pheochromocytoma - all of
      which appear to be benign, nonfunctional, occur in adults, and have similar
      morphologic features. The pathologist should be aware of this uncommon diagnostic
      entity and its potential diagnostic pitfalls. 

PMID- 25838835
TI  - Detection of pAkt protein in imprint cytology of invasive breast cancer:
      Correlation with HER2/neu, hormone receptors, and other clinicopathological
      variables.
AB  - PURPOSE: Akt is a serine/threonine protein kinase and has emerged as a crucial
      regulator of widely divergent cellular processes, including apoptosis,
      proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism. Activation of Akt/protein kinase
      B has been positively associated with human epidermal growth-factor receptor 2
      (HER2)/neu overexpression in breast carcinoma and a worse outcome among endocrine
      treated patients. The Akt signaling pathway currently attracts considerable
      attention as a new target for effective therapeutic strategies. We therefore
      investigated the relationship between activation of Akt and clinicopathologic
      variables including hormone receptor and HER2/neu status. METHODS: Archival tumor
      tissues from 100 patients with invasive breast carcinoma were analyzed by
      immunocytochemistry. This study describes the results of immunocytochemical pAkt
      expression in breast carcinoma imprints, prepared from cut surfaces of freshly
      removed tumors. Both nuclear and cytoplasmic expressions were evaluated for pAkt.
      RESULTS: Nuclear and cytoplasmic positive scores of 72% (72/100) and 42%
      (42/100), respectively, were found. Coexistence of nuclear and cytoplasmic
      staining was observed in 32 cases (32/100). Nuclear positive staining correlated
      with HER2/neu overexpression (P = 0.043) and was significantly associated with
      positive involvement of axillary lymph nodes (P = 0.013). No correlation was
      found between cytoplasmic pAkt rate and clinicopathological parameters, estrogen
      receptor, progesterone receptor or HER2/neu expression. CONCLUSIONS: pAkt
      expression can be evaluated in cytological material and may add valuable
      information to current prognostic models for breast cancer. pAkt overexpression
      appears to be linked with potentially aggressive tumor phenotype in invasive
      breast carcinoma.

PMID- 25838836
TI  - A novel hybrid dimension reduction technique for undersized high dimensional gene
      expression data sets using information complexity criterion for cancer
      classification.
AB  - Gene expression data typically are large, complex, and highly noisy. Their
      dimension is high with several thousand genes (i.e., features) but with only a
      limited number of observations (i.e., samples). Although the classical principal
      component analysis (PCA) method is widely used as a first standard step in
      dimension reduction and in supervised and unsupervised classification, it suffers
      from several shortcomings in the case of data sets involving undersized samples,
      since the sample covariance matrix degenerates and becomes singular. In this
      paper we address these limitations within the context of probabilistic PCA (PPCA)
      by introducing and developing a new and novel approach using maximum entropy
      covariance matrix and its hybridized smoothed covariance estimators. To reduce
      the dimensionality of the data and to choose the number of probabilistic PCs
      (PPCs) to be retained, we further introduce and develop celebrated Akaike's
      information criterion (AIC), consistent Akaike's information criterion (CAIC),
      and the information theoretic measure of complexity (ICOMP) criterion of
      Bozdogan. Six publicly available undersized benchmark data sets were analyzed to
      show the utility, flexibility, and versatility of our approach with hybridized
      smoothed covariance matrix estimators, which do not degenerate to perform the
      PPCA to reduce the dimension and to carry out supervised classification of cancer
      groups in high dimensions. 

PMID- 25838837
TI  - Predictive models of tumour response to treatment using functional imaging
      techniques.

PMID- 25838838
TI  - Automatic segmentation of colon in 3D CT images and removal of opacified fluid
      using cascade feed forward neural network.
AB  - PURPOSE: Colon segmentation is an essential step in the development of computer
      aided diagnosis systems based on computed tomography (CT) images. The requirement
      for the detection of the polyps which lie on the walls of the colon is much
      needed in the field of medical imaging for diagnosis of colorectal cancer.
      METHODS: The proposed work is focused on designing an efficient automatic colon
      segmentation algorithm from abdominal slices consisting of colons, partial volume
      effect, bowels, and lungs. The challenge lies in determining the exact colon
      enhanced with partial volume effect of the slice. In this work, adaptive
      thresholding technique is proposed for the segmentation of air packets, machine
      learning based cascade feed forward neural network enhanced with boundary
      detection algorithms are used which differentiate the segments of the lung and
      the fluids which are sediment at the side wall of colon and by rejecting bowels
      based on the slice difference removal method. The proposed neural network method
      is trained with Bayesian regulation algorithm to determine the partial volume
      effect. RESULTS: Experiment was conducted on CT database images which results in
      98% accuracy and minimal error rate. CONCLUSIONS: The main contribution of this
      work is the exploitation of neural network algorithm for removal of opacified
      fluid to attain desired colon segmentation result.

PMID- 25838839
TI  - Sorting signed permutations by short operations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: During evolution, global mutations may alter the order and the
      orientation of the genes in a genome. Such mutations are referred to as
      rearrangement events, or simply operations. In unichromosomal genomes, the most
      common operations are reversals, which are responsible for reversing the order
      and orientation of a sequence of genes, and transpositions, which are responsible
      for switching the location of two contiguous portions of a genome. The problem of
      computing the minimum sequence of operations that transforms one genome into
      another - which is equivalent to the problem of sorting a permutation into the
      identity permutation - is a well-studied problem that finds application in
      comparative genomics. There are a number of works concerning this problem in the
      literature, but they generally do not take into account the length of the
      operations (i.e. the number of genes affected by the operations). Since it has
      been observed that short operations are prevalent in the evolution of some
      species, algorithms that efficiently solve this problem in the special case of
      short operations are of interest. RESULTS: In this paper, we investigate the
      problem of sorting a signed permutation by short operations. More precisely, we
      study four flavors of this problem: (i) the problem of sorting a signed
      permutation by reversals of length at most 2; (ii) the problem of sorting a
      signed permutation by reversals of length at most 3; (iii) the problem of sorting
      a signed permutation by reversals and transpositions of length at most 2; and
      (iv) the problem of sorting a signed permutation by reversals and transpositions
      of length at most 3. We present polynomial-time solutions for problems (i) and
      (iii), a 5-approximation for problem (ii), and a 3-approximation for problem
      (iv). Moreover, we show that the expected approximation ratio of the 5
      approximation algorithm is not greater than 3 for random signed permutations with
      more than 12 elements. Finally, we present experimental results that show that
      the approximation ratios of the approximation algorithms cannot be smaller than
      3. In particular, this means that the approximation ratio of the 3-approximation
      algorithm is tight.

PMID- 25838841
TI  - Assessment of mental distress among prison inmates in Ghana's correctional
      system: a cross-sectional study using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Applying global estimates of the prevalence of mental disorders
      suggests that about 2.4 million Ghanaians have some form of psychiatric distress.
      Despite the facts that relatively little community-based treatment is available
      (only 18 psychiatrists are known to actively practice in Ghana), and that mental
      disorders are more concentrated among the incarcerated, there is no known
      research on mental disorders in Ghana prisons, and no forensic mental health
      services available to those who suffer from them. This study sought to determine
      the rate of mental distress among prisoners in Ghana. METHODS: This cross
      sectional research used the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale to estimate the
      rates and severity of non-specific psychological distress among a stratified
      probability sample of 89 male and 11 female prisoners in one of the oldest
      correctional facilities in the country. Fisher's exact test was used to determine
      the rates of psychological distress within the study population. RESULTS:
      According to the Kessler Scale, more than half of all respondents had moderate to
      severe mental distress in the four weeks preceding their interviews. Nearly 70%
      of inmates with only a primary education had moderate to severe mental distress.
      Though this was higher than the rates among inmates with more education, it
      exceeded the rates for those with no education. CONCLUSIONS: The high rate of
      moderate to severe mental distress among the inmates in this exploratory study
      should serve as baseline for further studies into mental disorders among the
      incarcerated persons in Ghana. Future research should use larger samples, include
      more prison facilities, and incorporate tools that can identify specific mental
      disorders.

PMID- 25838840
TI  - MagiCMicroRna: a web implementation of AgiMicroRna using shiny.
AB  - BACKGROUND: MicroRNA expression can be quantified using sequencing techniques or
      commercial microRNA-expression arrays. Recently, the AgiMicroRna R-package was
      published that enabled systematic preprocessing and statistical analysis for
      Agilent microRNA arrays. Here we describe MagiCMicroRna, which is a user-friendly
      web interface for this package, together with a new filtering approach. RESULTS:
      We used MagiCMicroRna to normalize and filter an Agilent miRNA microarray dataset
      of cancerous and normal tissues from 14 different patients. With the standard
      filtering procedure, 250 out of 817 microRNAs remained, whereas the new group
      specific filtering approach resulted in broader datasets for further analysis in
      most groups (>279 microRNAs remaining). CONCLUSIONS: The user-friendly web
      interface of MagiCMicroRna enables researchers to normalize and filter Agilent
      microarrays by the click of one button. Furthermore, MagiCMicroRna provides
      flexibility in choosing the filtering method. The new group-specific filtering
      approach lead to an increased number and additional tissue-specific microRNAs
      remaining for subsequent analysis compared to the standard procedure. The
      MagiCMicroRna web interface and source code can be downloaded from
      https://bitbucket.org/mutgx/magicmicrorna.git.

PMID- 25838842
TI  - Differences in early and late stages of information processing between slow
      versus fast participants.
AB  - The human brain is a system consisting of various interconnected neural networks,
      with functional specialization coexisting with functional integration occurring
      both; temporally and spatially at many levels. The current study ranked and
      compared fast and slow participants in processing information by assessing
      latency and amplitude of early and late Event-Related Potential (ERP) components,
      including P200, N200, Premotor Potential (PMP) and P300. In addition, the
      Reaction Time (RT) of participants was compared and related to the respective ERP
      components. For this purpose, twenty right-handed and healthy individuals were
      subjected to a classical ERP "Oddball" paradigm. Principal Component Analysis
      (PCA) and Discriminant Function analyses (DFA) used PRE components and the
      Reaction Time (RT) to classify individuals. Our results indicate that latencies
      of P200 (O2 electrode), N200 (O2), PMP (C3) and P300 (Pz) components are
      significantly reduced in the group of fast responding participants. In addition,
      the P200 amplitude is significantly increased in the group of fast responding
      participants. Based on these findings, we suggest that the ERP is able to detect
      even minimal impairments, in the processing of somatosensory information and
      cognitive and motor stages. Hence, the study of ERP might also be capable of
      assessing sensorimotor dysfunctions in healthy old-aged people and in
      neuropsychiatric patients (suffering from dementia, Parkinson's disease, and
      other neurological disorders). 

PMID- 25838844
TI  - Familial intragenic duplication of ANKRD11 underlying three patients of KBG
      syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: KBG syndrome, a rare autosomal disorder characterised by distinctive
      craniofacial and skeletal features and developmental delay, is caused by
      haploinsufficiency of the ANKRD11 gene. RESULTS: Here we describe two siblings
      with multiple symptoms characteristic of KBG and their mother with a milder
      phenotype. In the siblings, array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array
      CGH) identified an intragenic microduplication affecting ANKRD11 that was absent
      from the parents' array CGH profiles. Microsatellite analysis revealed the
      maternal origin of the rearrangement and interphase fluorescent in situ
      hybridization (i-FISH) experiments identified the rearrangement in low-level
      mosaicism in the mother. Molecular characterisation of the duplication allele
      demonstrated the presence of two mutant ANKRD11 transcripts containing a
      premature stop codon and predicting a truncated non-functional protein.
      CONCLUSIONS: Similarly to deletions and point mutations, this novel pathogenetic
      rearrangement causes haploinsufficiency of ANKRD11, resulting in KBG syndrome.

PMID- 25838843
TI  - Changes in the theta band coherence during motor task after hand immobilization.
AB  - Many different factors can temporarily or permanently impair movement and impairs
      cortical organization, e.g. hand immobilization. Such changes have been widely
      studied using electroencephalography. Within this context, we have investigated
      the immobilization effects through the theta band coherence analysis, in order to
      find out whether the immobilization period causes any changes in the inter and
      intra-hemispheric coherence within the cerebral cortex, as well as to observe
      whether the theta band provides any information about the neural mechanisms
      involved during the motor act. We analyzed the cortical changes that occurred
      after 48 hours of hand immobilization. The theta band coherence was study through
      electroencephalography in 30 healthy subjects, divided into two groups (control
      and experimental). Within both groups, the subjects executed a task involving
      flexion and extension of the index finger, before and after 48 hours. The
      experimental group, however, was actually submitted to hand immobilization. We
      were able to observe an increase in the coupling within the experimental group in
      the frontal, parietal and temporal regions, and a decrease in the motor area. In
      order to execute manual tasks after some time of movement restriction, greater
      coherence is present in areas related to attention, movement preparation and
      sensorimotor integration processes. These results may contribute to a detailed
      assessment of involved neurophysiological mechanism in motor act execution. 

PMID- 25838845
TI  - The first case of 38,XX (SRY-positive) disorder of sex development in a cat.
AB  - BACKGROUND: SRY-positive XX testicular disorder of sex development (DSD) caused
      by X;Y translocations was not yet reported in domestic animals. In humans it is
      rarely diagnosed and a majority of clinical features resemble those which are
      typical for Klinefelter syndrome (KS). Here we describe the first case of SRY
      positive XX DSD in a tortoiseshell cat with a rudimentary penis and a lack of
      scrotum. RESULTS: Molecular analysis showed the presence of two Y-linked genes
      (SRY and ZFY) and a normal sequence of the SRY gene. Application of classical
      cytogenetic techniques revealed two X chromosomes (38,XX), but further FISH
      studies with the use of the whole X chromosome painting probe and BAC probes
      specific to the Yp chromosome facilitated identification of Xp;Yp translocation.
      The SRY gene was localised at a distal position of Xp. The karyotype of the
      studied case was described as: 38,XX.ish der(X)t(X;Y)(p22;p12)(SRY+). Moreover,
      the X inactivation status assessed by a sequential R-banding and FISH with the
      SRY-specific probe showed a random inactivation of the derivative X(SRY)
      chromosome. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that among DSD tortoiseshell cats,
      apart from XXY trisomy and XX/XY chimerism, also SRY-positive XX cases may occur.
      It is hypothesized that the extremely rare occurrence of this abnormality in
      domestic animals, when compared with humans, may be associated with a different
      organisation of the Yp arm in these species.

PMID- 25838846
TI  - Principles of Chemical Bonding and Band Gap Engineering in Hybrid Organic
      Inorganic Halide Perovskites.
AB  - The performance of solar cells based on hybrid halide perovskites has seen an
      unparalleled rate of progress, while our understanding of the underlying physical
      chemistry of these materials trails behind. Superficially, CH3NH3PbI3 is similar
      to other thin-film photovoltaic materials: a semiconductor with an optical band
      gap in the optimal region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Microscopically, the
      material is more unconventional. Progress in our understanding of the local and
      long-range chemical bonding of hybrid perovskites is discussed here, drawing from
      a series of computational studies involving electronic structure, molecular
      dynamics, and Monte Carlo simulation techniques. The orientational freedom of the
      dipolar methylammonium ion gives rise to temperature-dependent dielectric
      screening and the possibility for the formation of polar (ferroelectric) domains.
      The ability to independently substitute on the A, B, and X lattice sites provides
      the means to tune the optoelectronic properties. Finally, ten critical challenges
      and opportunities for physical chemists are highlighted.

PMID- 25838848
TI  - [Tracheobronchial foreign bodies in adults].

PMID- 25838849
TI  - [Evaluation and analysis of insomnia in chronic hemodialysis].

PMID- 25838847
TI  - Detailed Characterization of a Nanosecond-Lived Excited State: X-ray and
      Theoretical Investigation of the Quintet State in Photoexcited [Fe(terpy)2]2.
AB  - Theoretical predictions show that depending on the populations of the Fe 3d xy ,
      3d xz , and 3d yz orbitals two possible quintet states can exist for the high
      spin state of the photoswitchable model system [Fe(terpy)2]2+. The differences in
      the structure and molecular properties of these 5B2 and 5E quintets are very
      small and pose a substantial challenge for experiments to resolve them. Yet for a
      better understanding of the physics of this system, which can lead to the design
      of novel molecules with enhanced photoswitching performance, it is vital to
      determine which high-spin state is reached in the transitions that follow the
      light excitation. The quintet state can be prepared with a short laser pulse and
      can be studied with cutting-edge time-resolved X-ray techniques. Here we report
      on the application of an extended set of X-ray spectroscopy and scattering
      techniques applied to investigate the quintet state of [Fe(terpy)2]2+ 80 ps after
      light excitation. High-quality X-ray absorption, nonresonant emission, and
      resonant emission spectra as well as X-ray diffuse scattering data clearly
      reflect the formation of the high-spin state of the [Fe(terpy)2]2+ molecule;
      moreover, extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy resolves the Fe
      ligand bond-length variations with unprecedented bond-length accuracy in time
      resolved experiments. With ab initio calculations we determine why, in contrast
      to most related systems, one configurational mode is insufficient for the
      description of the low-spin (LS)-high-spin (HS) transition. We identify the
      electronic structure origin of the differences between the two possible quintet
      modes, and finally, we unambiguously identify the formed quintet state as 5E, in
      agreement with our theoretical expectations.

PMID- 25838850
TI  - [Vascular leiomyoma of the forearm: presentation of a case report and review of
      literature].

PMID- 25838851
TI  - [Very rare association: femoral shaft fracture associated with ipsilateral Hoffa
      fracture].

PMID- 25838852
TI  - [Factors associated with tuberculosis in children at the University Hospital
      Centre Mother-Child Tsaralalana, Antananarivo: a case-control study].

PMID- 25838853
TI  - [A palmoplantar pustulosis].

PMID- 25838854
TI  - [Circumscribed aplasia cutis congenita of the scalp in a Rwandan child: about an
      observation].

PMID- 25838855
TI  - Challenges in the management of the child with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in a
      resource poor setting:a case report.
AB  - Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a progressive genetic disease with no cure at
      present. Children suffering from this disease eventually become wheelchair bound
      and die in their late teens. Paediatricians caring for the child with Duchenne
      Muscular Dystrophy in resource poor settings face a lot challenges. These
      challenges include: poverty, inadequate multidisciplinary care, emotional burn
      out of parents and lack of facilities for dystrophin assay or genetic testing. 

PMID- 25838856
TI  - Unilateral multifocal choroidal ischemia revealing a giant cell arteritis: a case
      report.

PMID- 25838857
TI  - Appointment keeping for medical review among patients with selected chronic
      diseases in an urban area of Uganda.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Proper management of chronic diseases is important for prevention
      of disease complications and yet some patients miss appointments for medical
      review thereby missing the opportunity for proper monitoring of their disease
      conditions. There is limited information on missed appointments among chronic
      disease patients in resource limited settings. This study aimed to determine the
      prevalence of missed appointments for medical review and associated factors among
      chronic disease patients in an urban area of Uganda. METHODS: Patients or
      caregivers of children with chronic diseases were identified as they bought
      medicines from a community pharmacy. They were visited at home to access their
      medical documents and those whose chronic disease status was ascertained were
      enrolled. The data was collected using: questionnaires, review of medical
      documents, and in-depth interviews with chronic disease patients. RESULTS: The
      prevalence of missed appointments was 42% (95%CI = 35-49%). The factors
      associated with missed appointments were: monthly income <=30US Dollars (OR =
      2.56, CI = 1.25-5.26), affording less than half of prescribed drugs (OR = 3.92,
      CI = 1.64-9.40), not experiencing adverse events (OR = 2.66, CI = 1.26-5.61), not
      sure if treatment helps (OR = 2.84, CI = 1.047.77), not having a medicines
      administration schedule (OR = 6.77, CI = 2.11-21.68), and increasing number of
      drugs (OR = 0.72, CI = 0.53-0.98). CONCLUSION: Patients missed appointments
      mainly due to: financial and health system barriers, conflicting commitments with
      appointments, and perceptions of the disease condition. Patients should be
      supported with accessible and affordable health services.

PMID- 25838858
TI  - [Rare cause of intestinal obstruction: intestinal cystic pneumatosis].

PMID- 25838791
TI  - Measurement of electroweak production of two jets in association with a Z boson
      in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text].
AB  - The purely electroweak (EW) cross section for the production of two jets in
      association with a Z boson, in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text],
      is measured using data recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC,
      corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7[Formula: see text]. The
      electroweak cross section for the [Formula: see text] final state (with [Formula:
      see text] or [Formula: see text] and j representing the quarks produced in the
      hard interaction) in the kinematic region defined by [Formula: see text][Formula:
      see text], [Formula: see text][Formula: see text], transverse momentum [Formula:
      see text][Formula: see text], and pseudorapidity [Formula: see text], is found to
      be [Formula: see text], in agreement with the standard model prediction. The
      associated jet activity of the selected events is studied, in particular in a
      signal-enriched region of phase space, and the measurements are found to be in
      agreement with QCD predictions.

PMID- 25838859
TI  - An assessment of discriminatory power of office blood pressure measurements in
      predicting optimal ambulatory blood pressure control in people with type 2
      diabetes.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Ambulatory blood pressure (BP) measurements (ABPM) predict health
      outcomes better than office BP, and are recommended for assessing BP control,
      particularly in high-risk patients. We assessed the performance of office BP in
      predicting optimal ambulatory BP control in sub-Saharan Africans with type 2
      diabetes (T2DM). METHODS: Participants were a random sample of 51 T2DM patients
      (25 men) drug-treated for hypertension, receiving care in a referral diabetes
      clinic in Yaounde, Cameroon. A quality control group included 46 non-diabetic
      individuals with hypertension. Targets for BP control were systolic (and
      diastolic) BP. RESULTS: Mean age of diabetic participants was 60 years (standard
      deviation: 10) and median duration of diabetes was 6 years (min-max: 0-29).
      Correlation coefficients between each office-based variable and the 24-h ABPM
      equivalent (diabetic vs. non-diabetic participants) were 0.571 and 0.601 for
      systolic (SBP), 0.520 and 0.539 for diastolic (DBP), 0.631 and 0.549 for pulse
      pressure (PP), and 0.522 and 0.583 for mean arterial pressure (MAP). The c
      statistic for the prediction of optimal ambulatory control from office-BP in
      diabetic participants was 0.717 for SBP, 0.494 for DBP, 0.712 for PP, 0.582 for
      MAP, and 0.721 for either SBP + DBP or PP + MAP. Equivalents in diabetes-free
      participants were 0.805, 0.763, 0.695, 0.801 and 0.813. CONCLUSION: Office DBP
      was ineffective in discriminating optimal ambulatory BP control in diabetic
      patients, and did not improve predictions based on office SBP alone. Targeting
      ABPM to those T2DM patients who are already at optimal office-based SBP would
      likely be more cost effective in this setting.

PMID- 25838860
TI  - [Bladder carcinoma complicated with iris metastasis].

PMID- 25838861
TI  - [Kid Syndrome or Keratitis Ichthyosis-Deafness-syndrome: report of a case].

PMID- 25838864
TI  - [Pneumomediastinum complicating eclampsia: report of a case].

PMID- 25838863
TI  - [Ovarian tumors in postmenopausal women: report of 100 cases and review of the
      literature].

PMID- 25838865
TI  - Multiple paraneoplastic syndromes revealing non-small cell lung carcinoma.
AB  - A broad spectrum of paraneoplastic dermatoses is associated with lung cancer. We
      report herein a 56-year-old man who presented an association of erythroderma,
      acquired ichthyosis, palmo-plantar keratoderma, hypereosinophilia and hyper IgE.
      In light of these clinical and biological assessments an underlying malignancy
      had been suspected. A thoracic, abdominal and pelvic computed tomography showed a
      left hilar mass. The patient underwent a left pneumonectomy and the histological
      study had confirmed a non-small cell lung cancer. Recognition of cutaneous
      paraneoplastic syndromes is important since it leads to prompt diagnosis of an
      underlying malignancy and consequently a better management and prognosis of the
      disease. 

PMID- 25838866
TI  - Dexmedetomidine attenuates oxidative stress induced lung alveolar epithelial cell
      apoptosis in vitro.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in the lung injuries of
      critical ill patients. This study investigates the protection conferred by alpha
      2 adrenoceptor agonist dexmedetomidine (Dex) from lung alveolar epithelial cell
      injury induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and the underlying mechanisms.
      METHODS: The lung alveolar epithelial cell line, A549, was cultured and then
      treated with 500 MUM H2O2 with or without Dex (1 nM) or Dex in combination with
      atipamezole (10 nM), an antagonist of alpha 2 receptors. Their effect on
      mitochondrial membrane potential (Deltapsi m), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and
      the cell cycle was assessed by flow cytometry. Cleaved-caspases 3 and 9, BAX, Bcl
      2, phospho-mTOR (p-mTOR), ERK1/2, and E-cadherin expression were also determined
      with immunocytochemistry. RESULTS: Upregulation of cleaved-caspases 3 and 9 and
      BAX and downregulation of Bcl-2, p-mTOR, and E-cadherin were found following H2O2
      treatment, and all of these were reversed by Dex. Dex also prevented the ROS
      generation, cytochrome C release, and cell cycle arrest induced by H2O2. The
      effects of Dex were partially reversed by atipamezole. CONCLUSION: Our study
      demonstrated that Dex protected lung alveolar epithelial cells from apoptotic
      injury, cell cycle arrest, and loss of cell adhesion induced by H2O2 through
      enhancing the cell survival and proliferation.

PMID- 25838862
TI  - Cancer survival in Malawi: a retrospective cohort study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide with
      the burden in sub-Saharan Africa projected to double by year 2030 from 715,000
      new cases and 542,000 deaths in 2008. However, cancer survival data to inform
      interventions for early detection, diagnosis and treatment are lacking. METHODS:
      Cancer survival analysis was conducted on 842 cancer patients registered and
      followed-up from 2006 to 2013 at NdiMoyo Palliative Care Centre in Salima
      District, central Malawi. Cancer survival was measured from the time of
      diagnosis. RESULTS: In both sexes, the common types of cancer were; Kaposi's
      sarcoma (KS) (48.0%), cervical cancer (21.1%), cancer of oesophagus (14.8%),
      liver cancer (3.1%) and breast cancer (2.5%). In Males; KS, cancer of the
      oesophagus, cancer of the liver, bone cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were the
      commonest accounting for 67.4%, 19.4%, 3.9%, 1.0% and 1.0% respectively. In
      females; cancer of the cervix, KS, cancer of the oesophagus, cancer of the breast
      and cancer of the liver were the top five cancers accounting for 41.6%, 29.2%,
      10.3%, 4.9% and 2.3% respectively. Of the 830 cancer patients with complete 5
      year follow-up data, the overall median survival time was 9 months. Absolute
      survival rates at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years or more were 31.8%, 18.0%, 12.5%, 7.8%
      and 6.0% respectively. The survival rates for top five cancers at 1, 2, 3, and 4
      years or more were; KS (n= 397): 47.1%, 30.2%, 21.4% and 13.1%; cancer of the
      cervix (n = 174): 31.0%, 10.3%, 5.2% and 2.9%; cancer of the oesophagus (n =
      124): 4.0%, 2.4%, 1.6% and 1.6%; liver cancer (n = 26): 19.2%, 3.8%, 3.8% and
      3.8% and breast cancer (n = 21): 9.5%, 0%, 0%, 0% respectively. The risk of death
      was high in females than males, in those aged 50 years or more than in those aged
      less than 50 (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that cancer survival
      from the time of diagnosis in Malawi was poor with median survival time of about
      9 months and only 6% of patients survived for 5 years or more. Improvement of
      early detection, diagnostic capability, access to treatment and palliative care
      services could improve cancer survival.

PMID- 25838867
TI  - Poststroke depression as a factor adversely affecting the level of oxidative
      damage to plasma proteins during a brain stroke.
AB  - Poststroke depression, the second most serious psychosomatic complication after
      brain stroke, leads to delay of the rehabilitation process and is associated with
      an increased disability and cognitive impairment along with increase in term
      mortality. Research into the biochemical changes in depression is still
      insufficiently described. The aim of our study was therefore to evaluate the
      possible association between plasma protein oxidative/nitrative damages and the
      development of poststroke depression. We evaluated oxidative/nitrative
      modifications of specific proteins by measurement of 3-nitrotyrosine and carbonyl
      groups levels using ELISA test. Additionally, we checked differences in proteins
      thiol groups by spectrophotometric assay based on reaction between DTNB and
      thiols. We also evaluated catalase activity in erythrocytes measured as ability
      to decompose H2O2. Correlation analysis was performed using Spearman's rank. We
      observed significant (P < 0.001) differences in all oxidative/nitrative stress
      parameters in brain stroke patients compared to healthy group. Our research shows
      that oxidative damage of proteins is correlated with the degree of poststroke
      depression, while nitrative changes do not show any relationship. We demonstrate
      a positive correlation between the concentration of carbonyl groups and the
      Geriatric Depression Scale and a negative correlation between the degree of
      depression and the concentration of -SH groups or catalase activity. 

PMID- 25838869
TI  - Potential therapeutic role of L-carnitine in skeletal muscle oxidative stress and
      atrophy conditions.
AB  - The targeting of nutraceutical treatment to skeletal muscle damage is an emerging
      area of research, driven by the need for new therapies for a range of muscle
      associated diseases. L-Carnitine (CARN) is an essential nutrient and plays a key
      role in mitochondrial beta-oxidation and in the ubiquitin-proteasome system
      regulation. As a dietary supplement to improve athletic performance, CARN has
      been studied for its potential to enhance beta-oxidation. However, CARN effects
      on myogenesis, mitochondrial activity, and hypertrophy process are not completely
      elucidated. This in vitro study aims to investigate CARN role on skeletal muscle
      remodeling, differentiation process, and myotubes formation. We analyzed muscle
      differentiation and morphological features in C2C12 myoblasts exposed to 5 mM
      CARN. Our results showed that CARN was able to accelerate C2C12 myotubes
      formation and induce morphological changes, characterizing the start of
      hypertrophy process. In addition, CARN improved AKT activation and downstream
      cellular signaling pathways involved in skeletal muscle atrophy process
      prevention. Also, CARN positively regulated the pathways involved in oxidative
      stress defense. In this work, we provide an interesting novel mechanism of the
      potential therapeutic use of CARN to treat pathological conditions characterized
      by skeletal muscle morphological and functional impairment, oxidative stress
      production, and atrophy process in aging. 

PMID- 25838871
TI  - Reply.

PMID- 25838868
TI  - Oxidative stress and immune system in vitiligo and thyroid diseases.
AB  - Vitiligo is an acquired dermatological disease frequently associated with
      autoimmune thyroid disorders. Several theories have been proposed so far to
      unravel the complex vitiligo pathogenesis. Currently, the autocytotoxic and the
      autoimmune theories are the most accredited hypothesis, since they are sustained
      by several important clinical and experimental evidences. A growing body of
      evidences shows that autoimmunity and oxidative stress strictly interact to
      finally determine melanocyte loss. In this scenario, associated thyroid
      autoimmunity might play an active and important role in triggering and
      maintaining the depigmentation process of vitiligo. 

PMID- 25838870
TI  - Dietary nitrate is a modifier of vascular gene expression in old male mice.
AB  - Aging leads to a number of disadvantageous changes in the cardiovascular system.
      Deterioration of vascular homoeostasis with increase in oxidative stress, chronic
      low-grade inflammation, and impaired nitric oxide bioavailability results in
      endothelial dysfunction, increased vascular stiffness, and compromised arterial
      ventricular interactions. A chronic dietary supplementation with the
      micronutrient nitrate has been demonstrated to improve vascular function. Healthy
      dietary patterns may regulate gene expression profiles. However, the mechanisms
      are incompletely understood. The changes that occur at the gene expression level
      and transcriptional profile following a nutritional modification with nitrate
      have not been elucidated. To determine the changes of the vascular transcriptome,
      we conducted gene expression microarray experiments on aortas of old mice, which
      were treated with dietary nitrate. Our results highlight differentially expressed
      genes overrepresented in gene ontology categories. Molecular interaction and
      reaction pathways involved in the calcium-signaling pathway and the
      detoxification system were identified. Our results provide novel insight to an
      altered gene-expression profile in old mice following nitrate supplementation.
      This supports the general notion of nutritional approaches to modulate age
      related changes of vascular functions and its detrimental consequences. 

PMID- 25838872
TI  - Morphological study of chordae tendinae in human cadaveric hearts.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The chordae tendinae (CT) are strong, fibrous connections between the
      valve leaflets and the papillary muscles. Dysfunction of the papillary muscles
      and chordae is frequent. Mitral valve replacement with preservation of CT and
      papillary muscles may preserve postoperative left ventricular function better
      than conventional mitral valve replacement in patients with chronic mitral
      regurgitation. METHODS: The study was carried out on 116 human cadaveric hearts.
      The heart was opened through the atrioventricular valve to view the constituents
      of the complex. Origin, attachments, insertions, distribution, branching pattern
      and gross structure of CT were observed and studied in detail. RESULTS: In the
      present study more than 21 terminologies of CT were defined by classifying it
      into six different types. Classification is done according to the origin,
      attachments, insertion, distribution, branching pattern and gross structure.
      Terminologies defined are as follows. Apical pillar chordae, Basal pillar
      chordae, True chordae, False chordae, Interpillar chordae, Pillar wall chordae,
      Cusp chordae, Cleft chordae, Commissural chordae, First order chordae, Second
      order chordae, Free zone chordae, Marginal chordae, Rough zone chordae, Straight
      chordae, Branched-fan shaped chordae, Spiral chordae, Irregular-web chordae,
      Tendinous chordae, Muscular chordae, Membranous chordae. Basal pillar chordae are
      found in 9.48%. Mean number of chordae taking origin from apical half of a single
      papillary muscle or single head of papillary muscle was 9.09 with the range of 3
      18. Mean number of the marginal chordae attached to a single cusp was 22.63
      ranging from 11 to 35. Strut chordae showed interesting insertion with broad
      aponeurosis in 38.79% and large muscular flaps in 13.79%. Chordae muscularis were
      found in 14% and membranous chordae were found in 6%. CONCLUSIONS: This knowledge
      may prove useful for cardiologists and cardiac surgeons.

PMID- 25838873
TI  - Assessment of noninvasive risk markers of subclinical atherosclerosis in
      premenopausal women with previous history of gestational diabetes mellitus.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is state of carbohydrate
      intolerance detected first time during pregnancy. GDM represents a significant
      risk factor for the development of CVD in women. The degree to which women with
      histories of gestational diabetes are at risk for cardiovascular disease, beyond
      their predisposition to future diabetes, is still unclear. The aim of our study
      was to assess the presence of surrogate markers of subclinical atherosclerosis
      which can be present in them even without developing type 2 diabetes. SUBJECTS
      AND METHODS: In this descriptive cross-sectional hospital based study, 50
      patients 20-45 yrs of age, premenopausal, at least 1 yr past her most recent
      pregnancy, and not more than 5 yr past her index pregnancy with GDM. These
      patients and controls who did not have GDM were assessed for carotid intima media
      thickness,endothelial dysfunction, epicardial fat thickness and other
      cardiovascular risk factors. RESULTS: Women with pGDM were found to have
      unfavourable cardiovascular risk parameters. They also demonstrated more frequent
      occurrence of metabolic syndrome(64% vs 10%) than control subjects. Individual
      components of MS increased with increasing BMI in both the groups. As far as
      markers of subclinical atherosclerosis were concerned women with pGDM had
      significantly higher CIMT, FMD and epicardial fat thickness than control group.
      CONCLUSION: Women with pGDM, even before development of diabetes have significant
      differences in CVD risk factors when compared to those who do not have such
      history. Postpartum screening for glucose intolerance and efforts to minimize
      modifiable cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension, viscerall
      adiposity, and dyslipidemia should be the most effective measures for lowering of
      cardiovascular risk.

PMID- 25838874
TI  - Superdominant right coronary artery with double posterior descending artery.
AB  - Coronary artery anomalies are rare entities. All angiographers and cardiac
      surgeons need to be familiar with these anatomic variants for proper surgical
      revasularisation in the presence of coronary artery disease. We report here an
      interesting case of superdominant right coronary artery with double posterior
      descending artery. 

PMID- 25838875
TI  - Rituximab induced left bundle branch block.
AB  - Rituximab (a monoclonal antibody directed against CD 20) therapy can be acutely
      complicated by infusion reactions and cardiac arrhythmia on rare occasions. We
      report the first case of a new onset left bundle branch block (LBBB) after
      rituximab therapy for Wegener's vasculitis. 

PMID- 25838876
TI  - Acute Myocardial Infarction in a Young Lady due to Vitamin B12 Deficiency Induced
      Hyperhomocysteinemia.
AB  - Hyper-homocysteinemia is a risk factor for coronary artery disease in young
      patients. A 32 years old female without any conventional risk factors except
      obesity presented with acute anterior wall myocardial infarction (MI). Her
      echocardiography showed anterior wall hypokinesia with moderate left ventricular
      dysfunction. Angiography showed tight stenosis of the proximal left anterior
      descending (LAD) and borderline lesion in left circumflex coronary artery (LCX).
      She underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to LAD with good result.
      Her blood tests showed low vitamin B12, folate and serum iron levels and elevated
      serum homocysteine level. She was given folic acid and vitamin B12 and her
      homocysteine levels normalized. This case demonstrates that hyperhomocysteinemia
      caused by nutritional deficiency of vitamin co factors may lead to MI.
      Hyperhomocysteinemia should be considered in the evalauation of young people with
      MI, especially those without conventional risk factors. 

PMID- 25838877
TI  - Atypical early Aspergillus endocarditis post prosthetic mitral valve repair: a
      case report.
AB  - A 64-year-old female operated 1 month previous for mitral valve repair presented
      with acute respiratory distress and dyspnea. Echocardiography showed large
      echogenic valvular mass measuring 2.3 * 1.3 cm with severe mitral regurgitation
      and dehiscence of the mitral ring posteriorly. The mass was attached
      subvalvularly to the ventricular septal-free wall and eroding through it, which
      required complete aggressive dissection of the infected tissues. Diagnosis was
      confirmed after resection of the valve by multiple negative blood cultures and
      positive valvular tissue for Aspergillus fumigatus endocarditis. She was treated
      with high dose of voriconazole for 3 months. Her postoperative period was
      complicated by acute-on-chronic renal failure. She responded very well to the
      management. 

PMID- 25838878
TI  - Saphenous Vein Graft Perforation During Percutaneous Coronary Intervention - A
      Nightmare to be Avoided.
AB  - Percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) of saphenous vein grafts (SVGs) is
      challenging and is associated with adverse short- and long-term clinical outcome
      as compared to native coronary arteries. SVG perforation is rare but catastrophic
      and needs immediate attention. Various factors predisposing for SVG perforation
      are old degenerated graft, ulcerated plaque, severe fibrotic, or calcified lesion
      necessitating high pressure balloon or stent inflation, use of intravascular
      ultrasound (IVUS) or other atheroablative devices. Management includes prolonged
      balloon occlusion, reversal of anticoagulation, use of covered stent, and
      emergency pericadiocentesis if required. 

PMID- 25838879
TI  - Iatrogenic left main coronary artery stenosis following aortic and mitral valve
      replacement.
AB  - Iatrogenic coronary artery disease following prosthetic valve implantation is a
      rare complication. This may result from mechanical injury in the intraoperative
      period. The use of balloon tip perfusion catheter presumably provides the initial
      insult with local vessel wall hypoxia. Once the diagnosis of coronary ostial
      stenosis is established, the procedure of choice is coronary artery bypass
      surgery. We report a case of a young lady who underwent aortic and mitral valves
      replacement for infective endocarditis. She was then diagnosed with ostial left
      main stem coronary stenosis after presenting with atypical symptoms. The patient
      eventually underwent coronary artery bypass surgery. 

PMID- 25838880
TI  - Transesophageal echocardiographic images of atrial septal defect device closure.

PMID- 25838882
TI  - History of medicine timeline.

PMID- 25838881
TI  - The Physician's Little Black Bag.

PMID- 25838883
TI  - Enantioselective Synthesis of D-alpha-Amino Amides from Aliphatic Aldehydes.
AB  - Peptides consisting of D-amino amides are highly represented among both
      biologically active natural products and non-natural small molecules used in
      therapeutic development. Chemical synthesis of D-amino amides most often involves
      approaches based on enzymatic resolution or fractional recrystallization of their
      diastereomeric amine salts, techniques that produce an equal amount of the L
      amino acid. Enantioselective synthesis, however, promises selective and general
      access to a specific alpha-amino amide, and may enable efficient peptide
      synthesis regardless of the availability of the corresponding alpha-amino acid.
      This report describes the use of a cinchona alkaloid-catalyzed aza-Henry reaction
      using bromonitromethane, and the integration of its product with Umpolung Amide
      Synthesis. The result is a straightforward 3-step protocol beginning from
      aliphatic aldehydes that provides homologated peptides bearing an aliphatic side
      chain at the resulting D-alpha-amino amide.

PMID- 25838884
TI  - Operational evaluation of the earlobe arterialized blood collector in critically
      ill patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The new Earlobe Arterialized Blood Collector (EABC(r)) is a minimally
      invasive prototype system able to perform capillary blood collection from the
      earlobe (EL) with minimal training and risk. This system could improve medical
      emergency management in extreme environments. Consequently, a prospective
      validation study was designed to evaluate operational performance of the EABC(r)
      in a cohort of critically ill patients. METHODS: Arterialized capillary blood was
      sampled from the EL of 55 invasively ventilated patients using the EABC(r)
      following a validated procedure. Operational characteristics such as the number
      of cuts and cartridges required, sampling failure/success ratio, bleeding
      complications, storage requirements and other auxiliary aspects were recorded.
      Result turnaround laboratory times (TAT) were compared with published references.
      RESULTS: Blood collection was as easily performed on one earlobe as the other.
      Twenty-six minutes (mean 25.8; SD = 3.8) were required to obtain results, 15 min
      for patient preparation (mean 15.3; SD = 2.6) + 11 min for sampling and analysis
      (mean 11.4; SD = 2.1), which is similar to published hospital reference
      laboratory TAT. The average number of cartridges required was 1.3 (1-3; mode = 1)
      with the mean number of cut attempts being 1.2 (1-4; mode = 1).
      Problems/difficulties occurred in 59% of cases but were mainly attributed to
      patient's demographic characteristics, with only 10% attributable to the
      collector (superficial cut, blood leak, collector misalignment and obstructed
      vision). Haemostasis was quickly achieved with minimum complications. Storage of
      the complete sampling kit required a 300 * 300 * 300 mm box. Two 9-V batteries
      were used during the 2-year study period. CONCLUSIONS: The new EABC(r) system
      concept is safe, fast and easy to use. Observed problems/difficulties are easily
      amendable with certain design modifications. Definitive versions of the prototype
      have the potential for significant benefits for isolated and extreme environments
      in medicine.

PMID- 25838885
TI  - SmileFinder: a resampling-based approach to evaluate signatures of selection from
      genome-wide sets of matching allele frequency data in two or more diploid
      populations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adaptive alleles may rise in frequency as a consequence of positive
      selection, creating a pattern of decreased variation in the neighboring loci,
      known as a selective sweep. When the region containing this pattern is compared
      to another population with no history of selection, a rise in variance of allele
      frequencies between populations is observed. One challenge presented by large
      genome-wide datasets is the ability to differentiate between patterns that are
      remnants of natural selection from those expected to arise at random and/or as a
      consequence of selectively neutral demographic forces acting in the population.
      FINDINGS: SmileFinder is a simple program that looks for diversity and divergence
      patterns consistent with selection sweeps by evaluating allele frequencies in
      windows, including neighboring loci from two or more populations of a diploid
      species against the genome-wide neutral expectation. The program calculates the
      mean of heterozygosity and FST in a set of sliding windows of incrementally
      increasing sizes, and then builds a resampled distribution (the baseline) of
      random multi-locus sets matched to the sizes of sliding windows, using an
      unrestricted sampling. Percentiles of the values in the sliding windows are
      derived from the superimposed resampled distribution. The resampling can easily
      be scaled from 1 K to 100 M; the higher the number, the more precise the
      percentiles ascribed to the extreme observed values. CONCLUSIONS: The output from
      SmileFinder can be used to plot percentile values to look for population
      diversity and divergence patterns that may suggest past actions of positive
      selection along chromosome maps, and to compare lists of suspected candidate
      genes under random gene sets to test for the overrepresentation of these patterns
      among gene categories. Both applications of the algorithm have already been used
      in published studies. Here we present a publicly available, open source program
      that will serve as a useful tool for preliminary scans of selection using
      worldwide databases of human genetic variation, as well as population datasets
      for many non-human species, from which such data is rapidly emerging with the
      advent of new genotyping and sequencing technologies.

PMID- 25838886
TI  - Molecular characterization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
      nasal colonization and infection isolates in a Veterans Affairs hospital.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nasal colonization with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
      (MRSA) is associated with increased infection risk, yet colonization and
      infection isolates are rarely compared within the same study. The objectives of
      this study were to compare colonization and infection isolates from a Veterans
      Administration hospital in Iowa, and to determine the prevalence of livestock
      associated MRSA (LA-MRSA) colonization and infection in a state with high
      livestock density. METHODS: All patients with available MRSA isolates collected
      through routine nasal screening (73%; n = 397) and from infections (27%; n = 148)
      between December 2010 and August 2012 were included and tested for spa type and
      presence of PVL and mecA genes. Clinical isolates were tested for antibiotic
      resistance patterns. Paired colonization and infection isolates were compared for
      genetic and phenotypic congruity. RESULTS: The most common spa types were t002
      (and other CC5-associated strains; 65%) and t008 (and other CC8-associated
      strains; 20%). No classic LA-MRSA spa types were identified. CC5-associated
      strains were less likely to be associated with infections (22%; 77/353) compared
      with CC8-associated strains (49%; 53/109). MRSA colonization was more common
      among patients with infections (71%) compared with the general screening
      population (7%). In most cases (82%; 28/34), paired colonization and infection
      isolates were genetically and phenotypically indistinguishable. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      data demonstrate a direct link between antecedent nasal colonization and
      subsequent MRSA infection. Further, our data indicate variability in colonization
      and infection efficiency among MRSA genotypes, which points to the need to define
      the molecular determinants underlying emergence of S. aureus strains in the
      community and nosocomial setting.

PMID- 25838887
TI  - The physicochemical properties of microwave-assisted encapsulated anthocyanins
      from Ipomoea batatas as affected by different wall materials.
AB  - This study focuses on the impact of different wall materials on the
      physicochemical properties of microwave-assisted encapsulated anthocyanins from
      Ipomoea batatas. Using the powder characterization technique, purple sweet potato
      anthocyanin (PSPAs) powders were analysed for moisture content, water activity,
      dissolution time, hygroscopicity, color and morphology. PSPAs were produced using
      different wall materials: maltodextrin (MD), gum arabic (GA) and a combination of
      gum arabic and maltodextrin (GA + MD) at a 1:1 ratio. Each of the wall materials
      was homogenized to the core material at a core/wall material ratio of 5 and were
      microencapsulated by microwave-assisted drying at 1100 W. Results indicated that
      encapsulated powder with the GA and MD combination presented better quality of
      powder with the lowest value of moisture content and water activity. With respect
      to morphology, the microcapsule encapsulated with GA + MD showed several dents in
      coating surrounding its core material, whereas other encapsulated powders showed
      small or slight dents entrapped onto the bioactive compound. Colorimetric
      analysis showed changes in values of L, a*, b*, hue and chroma in the
      reconstituted powder compared to the initial powder. 

PMID- 25838888
TI  - Physiochemical and antioxidant properties of roselle-mango juice blends; effects
      of packaging material, storage temperature and time.
AB  - A study was conducted to determine the effects of packaging materials,
      seasonality, storage temperature and time on physiochemical and antioxidant
      properties of roselle-mango juice blends. Roselle extract (20%, 40%, 60%, and
      80%) was mixed with mango juice and stored in glass and plastic bottles at 4
      degrees C and 28 degrees C. Total soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity,
      reducing sugar, color, vitamin C, total monomeric anthocyanins, total phenols,
      and antioxidant activity (FRAP) were evaluated in freshly prepared juice, and
      after, 2, 4, and 6 months of storage. The results showed that total soluble
      solids, reducing sugars, and pH increased with storage times under different
      storage time, irrespective of packaging materials. The acidity, color, total
      monomeric anthocyanin, vitamin C, total phenols, and antioxidant activity
      decreased during storage irrespective of storage temperature and packaging
      material. Loss of anthocyanins, total phenols, and vitamin C content were higher
      in blends stored at 28 degrees C than 4 degrees C. 

PMID- 25838889
TI  - The use of nutrient-optimizing/cost-minimizing software to develop ready-to-use
      therapeutic foods for malnourished pregnant women in Mali.
AB  - Malnutrition affects people of all ages in many countries in the developing
      world. One treatment for malnutrition is the intervention involving ready-to-use
      therapeutic foods (RUTFs). This study developed RUTFs for pregnant women in Mali
      using formulation computer software and largely local, plant-based ingredients.
      Mali has the world's second highest birth rate and infant mortality rate.
      Nutrient profiles of possible ingredients and their prices from 2004 to 2009 were
      entered into the software. Computer-selected ingredients included peanuts,
      cowpeas, and millet as well as rice or barley koji (sources of alpha-amylase and
      ingredients). Components of the six selected formulations were milled, hydrolyzed
      with koji alpha-amylase, and heated at 121 degrees C for 15 min. The contents of
      protein, fat, ash, fiber, carbohydrates, amino acid, and energy of dehydrated
      products were determined and compared with software-predicted values. Actual and
      predicted values were comparable: the protein content was 1.45-2.04% higher, and
      ash content was 0.60-0.89% higher than the predicted values, while the fat
      content was 0.18-0.88% lower, the lysine content was 0.17-0.25% lower, and fiber
      content was 0.16% lower to 2.06% higher than the predicted values. The difference
      in actual and predicted energy levels were 14.8-22.2%. The amount of RUTF needed
      to meet the requirement of most limiting nutrients, lysine and energy, ranged
      from 2620 to 3002 g. The costs for producing the RUTFs were substantially lower
      than importing commercial RUTFs even with increased ingredient prices in Mali
      from 2004 to 2009. 

PMID- 25838890
TI  - Pig feeds rich in rapeseed products and organic selenium increased omega-3 fatty
      acids and selenium in pork meat and backfat.
AB  - The concentration of omega-3 fatty acids and selenium (Se) is generally too low
      in the Western diet. But as the nutrient composition of pork meat and adipose
      tissue is influenced by the feed given to the animals, the product can be changed
      to support nutrient demands. Half (297/594) the pigs were given a feed
      concentrate based on low-glucosinolate rapeseed products (RS), while the other
      half was fed a traditional concentrate (Contr): The RS feed had an omega-6/omega
      3 ratio of 3.6:1, and the Contr feed had a ratio of 8.9:1, and both feeds were
      supplemented with 0.4 mg Se/kg (organic Se: inorganic Se, 1:1). There was a small
      difference in growth rate, but no differences in feed conversion ratio, lean meat
      percentage, carcass value, and margin per pig for the two groups. There were no
      differences in meat quality between the two groups, but there were differences in
      technological fat quality. The RS pigs contained about 2 times more alpha
      linolenic acid in the backfat and 41% more in the meat (M. longissimus dorsi)
      compared to the controls. The concentration of EPA, DPA, and DHA were 42% and 20%
      higher in backfat and meat of the RS pigs compared to the control pigs
      respectively. The ratio between omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids were 4.7 in the meat
      and 4.0 in the backfat in the RS pigs, and the corresponding values were 6.6 and
      8.0 in the control pigs. The selenium content was 0.3 mg/kg meat in both groups.
      The study showed that a portion of the present pig meat (175 g) provided the
      daily recommended intake of Se for men and women and about 1/6 of proposed
      reference intake of omega-3 LCPUFA (250 mg/day) to reduce the risk of CVD thereby
      providing a meat that is somewhat healthier for the consumer. 

PMID- 25838891
TI  - Passion fruit juice with different sweeteners: sensory profile by descriptive
      analysis and acceptance.
AB  - This study evaluated the effect of different sweeteners on the sensory profile,
      acceptance, and drivers of preference of passion fruit juice samples sweetened
      with sucrose, aspartame, sucralose, stevia, cyclamate/saccharin blend 2:1, and
      neotame. Sensory profiling was performed by 12 trained assessors using
      quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA). Acceptance tests (appearance, aroma,
      flavor, texture and overall impression) were performed with 124 consumers of
      tropical fruit juice. Samples with sucrose, aspartame and sucralose showed
      similar sensory profile (P < 0.05), without bitter taste, bitter aftertaste, and
      metallic taste, and samples with sucrose and sucralose did not differ from each
      other for the attribute sweet aftertaste. Passion fruit flavor affected
      positively and sweet aftertaste affected negatively the acceptance of the
      samples. Samples sweetened with aspartame, sucralose, and sucrose presented
      higher acceptance scores for the attributes flavor, texture, and overall
      impression, with no significant (P < 0.05) differences between them. Aspartame
      and sucralose can be good substitutes for sucrose in passion fruit juice. 

PMID- 25838892
TI  - Effect of storage and cooking on the fatty acid profile of omega-3 enriched eggs
      and pork meat marketed in Belgium.
AB  - The fatty acids (FA) profile was determined in n-3 enriched (ColumbusTM) Belgian
      eggs and pork in order to evaluate to what extent the n-3 fatty acids, which are
      very sensitive to oxidation, are resistant to storage or cooking. In standard
      eggs or pork, no change of the fatty acid profile was observed after storage or
      cooking without culinary fat, as well as in ColumbusTM eggs and pork after
      storage. Some cooking processes (eggs in custard and meat in oven) induced a
      slight significant loss of n-3 fatty acids in ColumbusTM eggs or pork (11.1% in
      fat from eggs cooked in custard vs. 15.3% in raw ColumbusTM eggs and 11.0% in fat
      from oven cooked meat vs. 11.6% in raw ColumbusTM meat). As expected, when
      ColumbusTM pork is cooked with culinary fat, its fatty acid profile is modified
      according to the nature of the fat used. 

PMID- 25838893
TI  - Fish peptone development using enzymatic hydrolysis of silver carp by-products as
      a nitrogen source in Staphylococcus aureus media.
AB  - Fish peptone was produced using enzymatic hydrolysis of silver carp filleting by
      products by alcalase and trypsin. Also, the efficiency of the hydrolysates as a
      nitrogen source in Staphylococcus aureus medium was compared with commercial TSB.
      The results indicated that the protein hydrolysate from alcalase and trypsin had
      high protein content (92.92%, 91.53 respectively), and degree of hydrolysis
      (4.94%, 4.6% respectively).The results showed that silver carp filleting waste
      can be an efficient source for fish peptone production as a nitrogen source for
      S. aureus medium. However, the type of the used proteolytic enzyme considerably
      affected the performance of the resulting peptone despite the same DH. Fish
      peptone produced by alcalese performed significantly (P < 0.05) better than
      commercial TSB as a media for the bacteria while the performance of the trypsin
      peptone was not as good as the commercial medium. 

PMID- 25838894
TI  - Analyzing the antibacterial effects of food ingredients: model experiments with
      allicin and garlic extracts on biofilm formation and viability of Staphylococcus
      epidermidis.
AB  - To demonstrate different effects of garlic extracts and their main antibiotic
      substance allicin, as a template for investigations on the antibacterial activity
      of food ingredients. Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 12228 and the isogenic
      biofilm-forming strain ATCC 35984 were used to compare the activity of allicin
      against planktonic bacteria and bacterial biofilms. The minimal inhibitory
      concentration (MIC) and the minimum biofilm inhibitory concentration (MBIC) for
      pure allicin were identical and reached at a concentration of 12.5 MUg/mL. MBICs
      for standardized garlic extracts were significantly lower, with 1.56 and 0.78
      MUg/mL allicin for garlic water and ethanol extract, respectively. Biofilm
      density was impaired significantly at a concentration of 0.78 MUg/mL allicin.
      Viability staining followed by confocal laser scanning microscopy showed,
      however, a 100% bactericidal effect on biofilm-embedded bacteria at a
      concentration of 3.13 MUg/mL allicin. qRT-PCR analysis provided no convincing
      evidence for specific effects of allicin on biofilm-associated genes. Extracts of
      fresh garlic are more potent inhibitors of Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms
      than pure allicin, but allicin exerts a unique bactericidal effect on biofilm
      embedded bacteria. The current experimental protocol has proven to be a valid
      approach to characterize the antimicrobial activity of traditional food
      ingredients. 

PMID- 25838896
TI  - Amino acid fortified diets for weanling pigs replacing fish meal and whey protein
      concentrate: Effects on growth, immune status, and gut health.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Limited availability of fish meal and whey protein concentrate
      increases overall feed costs. Availability of increased number of supplemental
      amino acids including Lys, Met, Thr, Trp, Val, and Ile allows replacing expensive
      protein supplements to reduce feed costs. This study was to evaluate the effect
      of replacing fish meal and/or whey protein concentrate in nursery diets with 6
      supplemental amino acids on growth performance and gut health of post-weaning
      pigs. Treatments were 1) FM-WPC: diet with fish meal (FM) and whey protein
      concentrate (WPC); 2) FM-AA: diet with FM and crystalline amino acids (L-Lys, L
      Thr, L-Trp, DL-Met, L-Val, and L-Ile); 3) WPC-AA: diet with WPC and crystalline
      amino acid; and 4) AA: diet with crystalline amino acid. RESULTS: Pigs in FM-AA,
      WPC-AA, and AA had greater (P < 0.05) ADG and gain:feed than pigs in FM-WPC
      during wk 1 (phase 1). Plasma insulin concentration of pigs in AA tended to be
      greater (P = 0.064) than that of FM-WPC at the end of wk 1(phase 1). Plasma
      concentrations of IgG in AA was lower (P < 0.05) compared with WPC-AA and FW, and
      FM-AA had lower (P < 0.05) IgG concentration than WPC-AA at the end of wk 1
      (phase 1). Concentration of acetate in cecum digesta in FM-AA tended to be
      greater (P = 0.054) than that of FM-WPC and WPC-AA. Concentration of isovalerate
      in cecum digesta of pigs in FM-AA was greater (P < 0.05) than that of FW and WPC
      AA. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that use of 6 supplemental amino acids can
      replace fish meal and/or whey protein concentrate without adverse effects on
      growth performance, immune status, and gut health of pigs at d 21 to 49 of age.
      Positive response with the use of 6 supplemental amino acids in growth during the
      first week of post-weaning may due to increased plasma insulin potentially
      improving uptake of nutrients for protein synthesis and energy utilization. The
      replacement of fish meal and/or whey protein concentrate with 6 supplemental
      amino acids could decrease the crude protein level in nursery diets, and
      potentially lead to substantial cost savings in expensive nursery diets.

PMID- 25838897
TI  - Impact of source tissue and ex vivo expansion on the characterization of goat
      mesenchymal stem cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is considerable interest in using goats as models for
      genetically engineering dairy animals and also for using stem cells as
      therapeutics for bone and cartilage repair. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have
      been isolated and characterized from various species, but are poorly
      characterized in goats. RESULTS: Goat MSCs isolated from bone marrow (BM-MSCs)
      and adipose tissue (ASCs) have the ability to undergo osteogenic, adipogenic and
      chondrogenic differentiation. Cytochemical staining and gene expression analysis
      show that ASCs have a greater capacity for adipogenic differentiation compared to
      BM-MSCs and fibroblasts. Different methods of inducing adipogenesis also affect
      the extent and profile of adipogenic differentiation in MSCs. Goat fibroblasts
      were not capable of osteogenesis, hence distinguishing them from the MSCs. Goat
      MSCs and fibroblasts express CD90, CD105, CD73 but not CD45, and exhibit
      cytoplasmic localization of OCT4 protein. Goat MSCs can be stably transfected by
      Nucleofection, but, as evidenced by colony-forming efficiency (CFE), yield
      significantly different levels of progenitor cells that are robust enough to
      proliferate into colonies of integrants following G418 selection. BM-MSCs
      expanded over increasing passages in vitro maintained karyotypic stability up to
      20 passages in culture, exhibited an increase in adipogenic differentiation and
      CFE, but showed altered morphology and amenability to genetic modification by
      selection. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide characterization information on goat
      MSCs, and show that there can be significant differences between MSCs isolated
      from different tissues and from within the same tissue. Fibroblasts do not
      exhibit trilineage differentiation potential at the same capacity as MSCs, making
      it a more reliable method for distinguishing MSCs from fibroblasts, compared to
      cell surface marker expression.

PMID- 25838899
TI  - Fermented liquid feed for pigs: an ancient technique for the future.
AB  - Fermented liquid feed is feed that has been mixed with water at a ratio ranging
      from 1:1.5 to 1:4. By mixing with water, lactic acid bacteria and yeasts
      naturally occurring in the feed proliferate and produce lactic acid, acetic acid
      and ethanol which reduces the pH of the mixture. This reduction in pH inhibits
      pathogenic organisms from developing in the feed. In addition, when this low pH
      mixture is fed, it reduces the pH in the stomach of pigs and prevents the
      proliferation of pathogens such as coliforms and Salmonella in the
      gastrointestinal tract. For piglets, the use of fermented liquid feed offers the
      possibility of simultaneously providing feed and water, which may facilitate an
      easier transition from sow's milk to solid feed. Secondly, offering properly
      produced fermented liquid feed may strengthen the role of the stomach as the
      first line of defense against possible pathogenic infections by lowering the pH
      in the gastrointestinal tract thereby helping to exclude enteropathogens.
      Finally, feeding fermented liquid feed to pigs has been shown to improve the
      performance of suckling pigs, weaner pigs and growing-finishing pigs. In this
      review, current knowledge about the use of fermented liquid feed in pig diets
      will be discussed. This will include a discussion of the desirable properties of
      fermented liquid feed and factors affecting fermentation. In addition, advantages
      and disadvantages of fermented liquid feed will be discussed including its
      effects on gastrointestinal health, intestinal pH and the types of bacteria found
      in the gastrointestinal tract as well as the effects of fermented liquid feeds on
      pig performance. 

PMID- 25838900
TI  - A case of myositis of the deltoid muscle of the upper arm developing 1 week after
      influenza vaccination: case report.
AB  - We report a case of an elderly man who developed myositis of the deltoid muscle 8
      days after influenza vaccination. Adverse reactions to influenza vaccine are
      generally immediate reactions. However, delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions,
      although rare, can occur after routine influenza vaccination. 

PMID- 25838898
TI  - Current strategies for reproductive management of gilts and sows in North
      America.
AB  - Many advances in genetic selection, nutrition, housing and disease control have
      been incorporated into modern pork production since the 1950s resulting in highly
      prolific females and practices and technologies, which significantly increased
      efficiency of reproduction in the breeding herd. The objective of this manuscript
      is to review the literature and current industry practices employed for
      reproductive management. In particular the authors focus on assisted reproduction
      technologies and their application for enhanced productivity. Modern maternal
      line genotypes have lower appetites and exceptional lean growth potential
      compared to females of 20 yr ago. Thus, nutrient requirements and management
      techniques and technologies, which affect gilt development and sow longevity,
      require continuous updating. Failure to detect estrus accurately has the greatest
      impact on farrowing rate and litter size. Yet, even accurate estrus detection
      will not compensate for the variability in the interval between onset of estrus
      and actual time of ovulation. However, administration of GnRH analogs in weaned
      sows and in gilts after withdrawal of altrenogest do overcome this variability
      and thereby synchronize ovulation, which makes fixed-time AI practical. Seasonal
      infertility, mediated by temperature and photoperiod, is a persistent problem.
      Training workers in the art of stockmanship is of increasing importance as
      consumers become more interested in humane animal care. Altrenogest, is used to
      synchronize the estrous cycle of gilts, to prolong gestation for 2-3 d to
      synchronize farrowing and to postpone post-weaning estrus. P.G. 600(r) is used
      for induction of estrus in pre-pubertal gilts and as a treatment to overcome
      seasonal anestrous. Sperm cell numbers/dose of semen is significantly less for
      post cervical AI than for cervical AI. Real-time ultrasonography is used to
      determine pregnancy during wk 3-5. PGF2alpha effectively induces farrowing when
      administered within two d of normal gestation length. Ovulation synchronization,
      single fixed-time AI and induced parturition may lead to farrowing
      synchronization, which facilitates supervision and reduces stillbirths and piglet
      mortality. Attendance and assistance at farrowing is important especially to
      ensure adequate colostrum consumption by piglets immediately after birth. New
      performance terminologies are presented. 

PMID- 25838901
TI  - A case of granulomatosis with polyangiitis preceded by subacute thyroiditis.
AB  - Granulomatosis with polyangiitis can be a complication of thyroid disease, not
      only autoimmune disease but also subacute thyroiditis. 

PMID- 25838902
TI  - Neonatal acute megakaryoblastic leukemia mimicking congenital neuroblastoma.
AB  - We describe a neonate with abdominal distension, massive hepatomegaly, and high
      serum neuron-specific enolase level suggestive of congenital neuroblastoma. The
      patient died of pulmonary hemorrhage after therapy. Autopsy revealed that the
      tumor cells in the liver indicated acute megakaryocytic leukemia with the RBM15
      MKL1 fusion gene. 

PMID- 25838904
TI  - A rare cause of ascites: pseudomyxoma peritonei and a review of the literature.
AB  - Pseudomyxoma peritonei is rare. The rarity is highlighted by the lack of
      published evidence regarding management. The latest treatments have altered the
      prognosis of a once incurable disease. This report serves to both raise awareness
      and critically appraise the literature regarding the latest management. 

PMID- 25838903
TI  - Primary rectal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma associated with ulcerative colitis:
      a case report.
AB  - We need to be aware of primary intestinal lymphoproliferative disease (PILD)
      associated with ulcerative colitis (UC). We should carefully monitor UC patients,
      particularly patients who meet the following conditions; a previous Epstein-Barr
      virus infection, treatment duration ?4 years, male, and age ?50 years. 

PMID- 25838905
TI  - Goodpasture's disease following extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy: a case
      report & literature review.
AB  - Shock wave lithotripsy may unmask epitopes within the glomerular basement
      membrane, leading to the formation of anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM)
      antibodies and clinical disease in susceptible individuals. Although rare, our
      case highlights the need for vigilant monitoring of renal function following
      extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. This may allow for early recognition,
      treatment and improved outcome of anti-GBM disease. 

PMID- 25838906
TI  - A case of CLL that was successfully treated resulted in the immediate development
      of AML from a coexistent myeloid line that had been suppressed.
AB  - An 83 year-old Caucasian male presented to the emergency room with confusion and
      lethargy. A complete blood count revealed lymphocytosis, anemia, and
      thrombocytopenia. A bone marrow examination revealed chronic lymphocytic leukemia
      (CLL), along with a small population of abnormal immature myeloid cells.
      Chemotherapy for CLL was started. After one cycle, repeat bone marrow examination
      revealed normalization of the lymphocyte count and a proliferation of the
      previously noted myeloid population, consistent with acute myeloid leukemia
      (AML). This report presents the microscopic, immunophenotypic, and cytogenetic
      evidence to document the development of AML after one cycle of chemotherapy for
      CLL. 

PMID- 25838907
TI  - Upper extremity deep vein thrombosis: a complication of an indwelling
      peripherally inserted central venous catheter.
AB  - We report a case of peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC)
      associated deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Ultrasound images and video of subclavian
      thrombus are presented. PICC line-associated DVT, particularly in cancer patients
      is not uncommon. Point-of-care Emergency Department ultrasound can readily
      diagnose this complication and device removal is not always necessary. 

PMID- 25838908
TI  - Placenta accreta: adherent placenta due to Asherman syndrome.
AB  - It is important to be aware of the risk of abnormally invasive placenta in
      patients with a history of Asherman syndrome and uterine scarring. A prenatal
      diagnosis by ultrasonography is useful when planning of mode of delivery. 

PMID- 25838909
TI  - A difficult diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma due to immune thrombocytopenia.
AB  - We report a rare clinical presentation of childhood Hodgkin lymphoma with immune
      thrombocytopenia. Diagnostic biopsy of the abdominal mass was performed after
      administration of intravenous immunoglobulins, steroids, and platelet
      transfusion. Concomitant thrombocytopenia complicated the whole diagnosis work up
      and the initial management of neoplasia. 

PMID- 25838911
TI  - Pediatric ovarian torsion: an uncommon clinical entity.
AB  - Pediatric ovarian torsion is an infrequent diagnosis and it often mimics acute
      appendicitis. Most cases are due to underlying ovarian pathology and if left
      untreated, ovarian torsion may eventually cause peritonitis. Emergency
      exploratory laparoscopy represents a valuable diagnostic and therapeutic tool in
      suspected ovarian torsion. 

PMID- 25838910
TI  - Fulminant onset of acute leukemia from normal hematopoiesis within 3 months of
      follow up for multiple myeloma treated with total therapy protocols.
AB  - Assiduous surveillance for genetic aberrations is necessary in patients on
      cytotoxic therapies to detect therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (t-MN). Current
      modalities include metaphase cytogenetics and FISH. Since t-MN may develop
      abruptly in cytogenetically normal patients, a discussion exploring additional
      methods such as SNP-array and targeted-deep-sequencing to detect subchromosomal
      abnormalities is needed. 

PMID- 25838912
TI  - Disseminated histoplasmosis associated with acquired hemophagocytic
      lymphohistiocytosis.
AB  - Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a potentially life-threatening
      clinical syndrome caused by uncontrolled activation of lymphocytes and
      histiocytes resulting in high levels of cytokines. Acquired HLH occurs in
      autoimmune, inflammatory, infectious, and immunosuppressive disorders. Prompt
      identification and treatment of an underlying triggering cause improves clinical
      outcome. 

PMID- 25838913
TI  - A unique complication of SEMS.
AB  - Intraperitoneal stent migration should also be considered in any individual with
      no clinical success post stent insertion. 

PMID- 25838914
TI  - Fournier gangrene.
AB  - Fournier gangrene is a rapidly progressive necrotizing infection of the perineal
      and genital fascia, often polymicrobial. Severity is increased in older patients,
      diabetics and the immunocompromised. As in this case, the disease can have an
      indolent onset. Early recognition and aggressive treatment is important. 

PMID- 25838916
TI  - Comparison in decision-making between bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and
      healthy women: influence of mood status and pathological eating concerns.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Decision-making is reported to be impaired in anorexia nervosa (AN)
      and bulimia nervosa (BN), but the influence of mood status, pathophysiological
      eating, and weight concerns on the performance of decision-making ability between
      AN and BN is still unclear. The aims of this study were to investigate
      differential impairments in the decision-making process between AN, BN, and
      healthy controls (HC), and secondly, to explore the role of mood status, such as
      anxiety, depression, pathological eating, and weight concerns, in decision-making
      ability. METHODS: Patients suffering from AN (n = 22), BN (n = 36) and age
      matched HC (n = 51) were assessed for their decision-making abilities using the
      Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Self-reported questionnaires including the Eating
      Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), the Bulimia Investigatory Test,
      Edinburgh (BITE), the Eating Disorders Inventory, the Maudsley Obsessive
      Compulsive Inventory measuring obsessive-compulsive traits, the Hospital Anxiety
      and Depression Scale, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale were used to assess
      pathological eating concerns and attitude to feelings. RESULTS: Significant
      differences in IGT performance were observed between BN and HC. Significant
      negative correlation was found between IGT performance and the BITE symptom
      subscale in AN. In BN, there was a negative correlation between the EDE-Q weight
      concerns subscale and IGT performance. It was also found that increased anxiety,
      depression, and eating/weight concerns predicted poorer decision-making.
      CONCLUSION: Different patterns of association between pathological eating
      concerns/behaviors and performances in decision-making ability were found between
      AN, BN, and HC. Anxiety, depressive mood status, and eating/weight concerns were
      related to decision-making ability.

PMID- 25838918
TI  - Tuberculosis deaths: are we measuring accurately?
AB  - Death among tuberculosis patients is one of the major reasons for non-attainment
      of 85% treatment success target set by World Health Organization. In this short
      paper, we evaluated whether the overall mortality rate in pulmonary tuberculosis
      is being affected by other comorbid conditions. All new smear positive pulmonary
      tuberculosis patients (N =336), who started their treatment at the chest clinic
      of the Penang General Hospital, between March 2010 and February 2011, were
      followed-up until December 2011. Tuberculosis treatment outcomes were reported
      according to six treatment outcome categories recommended by World Health
      Organization. The outcome category 'died' was defined as 'a patient who died due
      to tuberculosis or other cause during tuberculosis treatment'. Our findings
      showed that out of 336 smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients, 59 (17.6%)
      died during treatment (mortality rate = 1.003 cases per 1000 person-days of
      follow-up). Among the deceased patients, the mean age was 55.8 years (SD =16.17)
      and 49 were male. According to the mortality review forms, 29 deaths were
      tuberculosis-related, while the remaining 30 patients died due to reasons other
      than tuberculosis. Cerebrovascular accident (n =7), septicaemia shock (n =4) and
      acute coronary syndrome (n =4) were the most common non-tuberculosis related
      reasons for mortality in the patients. If the 30 patients, for whom tuberculosis
      was incidental to death, are excluded from the final cohort, the proportion of
      patients in the 'died' outcome category could be reduced to 9.5%. The treatment
      outcome criterion (i.e., died) set by World Health Organization has limitations.
      Therefore, it requires improvement for more objective evaluation of the
      performance of the National Tuberculosis Program. 

PMID- 25838917
TI  - Adherence to treatment guidelines for uncomplicated malaria at two public health
      facilities in Nigeria; Implications for the 'test and treat' policy of malaria
      case management.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Adherence to treatment guidelines for uncomplicated malaria is
      critical to the success of malaria case management. Poor adherence has
      implications for increased malaria burden, in view of the risk of widespread
      parasite resistance and treatment failures. This study analyzed the diagnostic
      and prescription pattern for uncomplicated malaria at two public health
      facilities, south east Nigeria, to assess the current state of compliance to
      policy guidelines on the use of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT).
      METHODS: Retrospective audit of patients' records, treated for uncomplicated
      malaria, between the months of January and March 2013, was undertaken at two
      public health facilities. Demographics, diagnostic information, medication and
      cost data were extracted. Questionnaires were distributed to providers to assess
      their malaria treatment intent. Data from the facilities were analyzed and
      compared for similarities and systematic differences, and conformity to malaria
      treatment policy, in terms of laboratory diagnosis, use of ACT, co-medication and
      cost of medication. RESULTS: A total of 2,171 records of patients who had been
      treated for uncomplicated malaria were analyzed. Of these, 1066 (49%) were sent
      for laboratory confirmation of malaria using mostly microscopy, out of which 480
      (45%) tested positive. 51% (1105) of the prescriptions was on the basis of
      presumptive treatment. 58% of slide negative results received antimalarial drugs.
      93% of patients received ACT, with artemether-lumefantrin, AL (50.5%) as the most
      prescribed antimalarial drug. Monotherapy accounted for 7% of prescriptions,
      comprising mostly sulphadoxine + pyrimethamine, SP (46.5%) and monotherapy
      artemisinin, AS (29.2%). 97% of the prescriptions received at least one co
      medication. Antibiotics were prescribed to 50% of patients. Overall, median cost
      of medication was N1160.00 (US$7.48 (US$0.19 - 267.87) per case, higher in
      tertiary than the secondary facility. There were significant variations in
      treatment practices between the two facilities. CONCLUSION: Evidence suggests
      good compliance to policy on the use of ACT as first line treatment for
      uncomplicated malaria. However, there exists significant scope for improved
      diagnosis and rational drug use, to enhance accuracy of treatment, reduced
      wastages and risks of adverse drug reactions, in line with the goals of 'test and
      treat' policy of malaria case management.

PMID- 25838919
TI  - Pharmaceutical supply chain risk assessment in Iran using analytic hierarchy
      process (AHP) and simple additive weighting (SAW) methods.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Pharmaceutical supply chain is a significant component of the health
      system in supplying medicines, particularly in countries where main drugs are
      provided by local pharmaceutical companies. No previous studies exist assessing
      risks and disruptions in pharmaceutical companies while assessing the
      pharmaceutical supply chain. Any risks affecting the pharmaceutical companies
      could disrupt supply medicines and health system efficiency. The goal of this
      study was the risk assessment in pharmaceutical industry in Iran considering
      process's priority, hazard and probability of risks. METHODS: The study was
      carried out in 4 phases; risk identification through literature review, risk
      identification in Iranian pharmaceutical companies through interview with
      experts, risk analysis through a questionnaire and consultation with experts
      using group analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and rating scale (RS) and
      risk evaluation of simple additive weighting (SAW) method. RESULTS: In total, 86
      main risks were identified in the pharmaceutical supply chain with perspective of
      pharmaceutical companies classified in 11 classes. The majority of risks
      described in this study were related to the financial and economic category. Also
      financial management was found to be the most important factor for consideration.
      CONCLUSION: Although pharmaceutical industry and supply chain were affected by
      current political conditions in Iran during the study time, but half of total
      risks in the pharmaceutical supply chain were found to be internal risks which
      could be fixed by companies, internally. Likewise, political status and related
      risks forced companies to focus more on financial and supply management resulting
      in less attention to quality management.

PMID- 25838921
TI  - Use of unripe plantain (Musa paradisiaca) in the management of diabetes and
      hepatic dysfunction in streptozotocin induced diabetes in rats.
AB  - AIM: This study aims to investigate the effect of unripe plantain (Musa
      paradisiaca) on markers of hepatic dysfunction in streptozotocin induced diabetic
      rats. METHODS: Blood glucose; relative liver weight (RLW); relative kidney weight
      (RKW); relative heart weight (RHW); relative pancreatic weight (RPW); serum and
      hepatic serum aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), and
      alkaline phosphatase (ALP); serum amylase, lipase, total, and conjugated
      bilirubin; and chemical analysis of the test feed were determined using standard
      techniques. RESULTS: The diabetic rats had significant alteration (P < 0.05) of
      blood glucose; RLW; RKW; RPW; serum and hepatic AST, ALT, and ALP; serum total
      and conjugated bilirubin; and serum lipase activities compared with nondiabetic
      while these parameters were significantly improved (P < 0.05) in the rats fed
      unripe plantain. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the RHW of
      the rats in the three groups, as well as significant decreases (P < 0.05) in the
      amylase levels of the diabetic rats compared with the nondiabetic, but there was
      nonsignificant increase (P > 0.05) in the amylase levels of the rats fed unripe
      plantain compared with the nondiabetic rats. The test and standard rat feeds
      contained considerable amount of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, phenols, and
      crude fiber. CONCLUSION: Amelioration of acute pancreatitis by unripe plantain
      could play a key role in its management of diabetes and related complications.

PMID- 25838920
TI  - PIK3CA rs7640662 (C/G) single nucleotide polymorphism lacks association with
      breast cancer cases in Persians.
AB  - Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) is a group of enzymes involved in cellular
      growth, proliferation, differentiation, cell motility, intracellular trafficking,
      and survival that play very important roles in developing breast cancer. PIK3CA
      is a gene that encodes alpha catalytic subunit of this enzyme. A common
      polymorphism of PIK3CA, rs7640662 (C/G), was analyzed, and its association to
      breast cancer cases was determined. In this study, DNA was extracted from
      peripheral blood samples of 278 women suffering from breast cancer and 128
      healthy women. Tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system polymerase
      chain reaction (T-ARMS-PCR) method was performed to genotype rs7640662. P values
      and ODD ratios were measured using SPSS. P value less than 0.05 and ODD ratios
      more than 1 were considered as significant. All ODD ratios were less than 1, and
      P values were more than 0.05 showing that rs7640662 (C/G) and breast cancer are
      not significantly associated. However, the genotypes observed in the Persian
      population, as an ancient population living in the Middle East, was significantly
      different from the genotypes reported by HapMap for Asian populations. As a
      conclusion, rs7640662 was not associated with the risk of breast cancer in a
      Persian population; however, it was observed that heterozygote (GC) is the most
      common genotypes in both case and control samples. 

PMID- 25838922
TI  - Impact of scaling and root planing on clinical periodontal status and glycemic
      levels in prediabetic patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim was to assess the effect of scaling and root planing (SRP) on
      clinical periodontal parameters and glycemic levels in prediabetic patients.
      METHODS: Fifty prediabetic patients with periodontal disease were included.
      Demographic data (age, gender, education status, duration of prediabetes, type of
      treatment adopted for prediabetes management, and oral hygiene maintenance
      protocols) were recorded using a questionnaire. Patients were randomly divided
      into two groups (25 patients/group). In Group 1, SRP alone was performed, in
      Group 2, SRP + oral doxycycline (100 mg) administration. In both groups, fasting
      blood glucose (FBG) levels and periodontal parameters (plaque index [PI],
      bleeding on probing [BOP], and probing depth [PD]) were assessed at baseline and
      after 6 months. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way analysis of
      variance. RESULTS: Age, gender, and duration and treatment of prediabetes were
      comparable among patients in Groups 1 and 2. PI, BOP, and PD significantly
      reduced in both groups than baseline values. Reduction in periodontal parameters
      among Groups 1 and 2 were comparable. There was no significant reduction in FBG
      levels among patients in Groups 1 and 2 after 6 months of SRP. CONCLUSION: SRP
      was effective in reducing periodontal inflammation in prediabetic patients. FBG
      levels did not show any significant difference after SRP in both groups.

PMID- 25838924
TI  - Huge ascending aortic aneurysm with an intraluminal thrombus in an embolic event
      free patient.
AB  - We present a case of an 87-year-old male patient with a huge ascending aortic
      aneurysm, filled by a huge thrombus most probably due to previous dissection.
      This finding was detected by two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography and
      contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) angiography scan. The patient refused
      surgical treatment and was medically treated. Despite the huge and mobile
      intraluminal thrombus, the patient remained embolic event-free up to 6 years
      later, and this makes the case unique. 

PMID- 25838923
TI  - Embolization of traumatic and non-traumatic peripheral vascular lesions with
      Onyx.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of our study is to verify the feasibility and the efficacy of
      Onyx as embolization agent in the treatment of traumatic and non-traumatic
      peripheral vascular lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the period between
      September 2006 and March 2012, we treated with Onyx 26 patients (14 males/12
      females; age range, 18-85 years old; mean age, 65 years old), 11 of which with
      traumatic peripheral vascular lesions and 15 with non-traumatic vascular lesions
      (9 neoplastic hemorrhagic lesions, 3 arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and 3
      aneurysms). Follow-up controls were performed with clinical examination and by
      multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) imaging 1, 6, and 12 months after the
      procedure. RESULTS: All peripheral vascular lesions were embolized with Onyx; 3
      patients with aneurysms were treated with Onyx associated with endovascular
      coils. Four elective and 22 emergency embolization procedures were performed. In
      all patients, we obtained cessation of bleeding and the complete and permanent
      embolization of all vascular lesions. CONCLUSIONS: Onyx is an effective and safe
      embolization agent for peripheral vascular lesions.

PMID- 25838925
TI  - Textiloma formation post endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm.
AB  - We report a case of an 80-year-old man, who underwent an endovascular repair of
      an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Surgical access was obtained from both common
      femoral arteries, and the procedure was uneventful. One month computed tomography
      (CT) follow-up was without findings. Two months after endovascular aortic
      aneurysm repair (EVAR), the patient complained of claudication on the left side
      associated with persistent pain, rigid swelling on the left groin area, and
      occasional febrile episodes within the last month. Ultrasonography showed fluid
      collection, and needle aspiration gained pus. It was thought to be local
      postsurgical infection, and the patient got antibiotics, but he did worse. One
      month later, computed tomography revealed focal left common femoral artery (CFA)
      stenosis, edematous appearance of subcutaneous soft tissue in the left groin
      area, and anterior displacement of the ipsilateral CFA in relation to the right
      side. Surgical exploration of the region revealed retained, uncapsuled, and
      partially destroyed surgical gauze, lying just behind the left CFA, which was
      removed. 

PMID- 25838926
TI  - Multiple simultaneous venous and arterial thromboses in a patient with factor V
      Leiden disorder: Detection by multislice computed tomography.
AB  - Arterial thrombosis is extremely rare in patients with factor V Leiden (FVL)
      mutation. Recent advances in multislice computed tomography (MSCT) technology
      facilitated diagnosis of thromboembolic events accurately without delay. We
      report a patient with FVL mutation and acute bilateral lower extremity deep
      venous thromboses, pulmonary thromboembolism, and acute left anterior descending
      artery thrombosis, all diagnosed by MSCT. MSCT has been utilized for prompt
      diagnosis of the concomitant thrombotic pathologies simultaneously. 

PMID- 25838927
TI  - A gallbladder with the "hidden cystic duct": A brief overview of various surgical
      techniques of the Calot's triangle dissection.
AB  - We present a case of a middle-aged female who attended for a routine laparoscopic
      cholecystectomy as a day case surgery. At operation, she was found to have a
      distended gallbladder with an unusually prominent distal portion. This has made
      the dissection of the Calot's triangle challenging. As a result, the "critical
      view of safety" technique was applied. This allowed for the clear Calot's
      triangle visualization and identification of the cystic duct and artery. This
      case highlights that the knowledge of various ways of the cystic duct dissection
      is essential to every surgeon. Furthermore, this helps to adjust the dissection
      approach on an individual case bases ensuring avoidance of the common bile duct
      injuries. 

PMID- 25838929
TI  - Health knowledge, attitude and practice among Iranian pilgrims.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Iran has the highest number of Umrah pilgrims among Islamic
      countries. Health care plays a major role in fulfilling the Umrah rites.
      Pilgrims' health situation depends on their health knowledge, attitude, and
      practice (KAP). OBJECTIVES: In this study, we aimed to determine the health KAP
      among Iranian Umrah pilgrims. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional
      study, 157 Iranian Umrah pilgrims were randomly selected in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
      in June 2011. Data were collected using a questionnaire. The questionnaire
      consisted of demographic information (sex, age, degree of education, and resource
      of health knowledge), health knowledge (5 questions), health attitude (5
      questions) and health practice (10 questions). RESULTS: Level of knowledge were
      very low in 12.1%, low in 25.2%, average in 38.1%, good in 20.4% and very good in
      4.2% of respondents. Mean and standard deviation of attitude score was 18.58 +/-
      2.20 out of 25 (ranged between 13.00 and 25.00). The pilgrims were given 74.2 %
      out of total score. The Mean and standard deviation of practice score was 8.19 +/
      1.32 out of 10 (ranged between 3 and 10). Although the old and low educated
      pilgrims had little knowledge of health tips, they had a good health attitude and
      practice. CONCLUSIONS: Educational strategy to improve knowledge regarding health
      related problems and to develop health practices among pilgrims is needed.

PMID- 25838928
TI  - Pregnancy experiences of first-time fathers in iran: a qualitative interview
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fatherhood, similarly to motherhood, is an important role and
      responsibility. For accepting this role, one needs to be well-prepared. Awareness
      of father's experiences of pregnancy can help us to develop plans for the
      promotion of the role of fatherhood. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to
      explore how first time fathers describe their experiences of pregnancy. PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: The data in this qualitative study were collected by individual open
      ended interviews in five public health prenatal care clinics in Tehran, Iran,
      during 2010 - 2011. Participants were 26 Iranian and Moslem first-time fathers
      living in Tehran, whose partner was in the 32th to 40th week of her normal
      pregnancy. Qualitative content text analysis was used for analyzing interviews.
      RESULTS: Through analysis of fathers' experiences of their wives' pregnancy, four
      categories, as well as associated subcategories, emerged. The categories include:
      "Emotional responses to pregnancy, Feeling of change, Accepting the reality and
      satisfaction, Developing identity as a father." These categories describe the
      phenomenon of "Transition to fatherhood". CONCLUSIONS: Transition to fatherhood
      extends beyond only moderate mental and social changes, and may be influenced by
      cultural background and beliefs. Therefore, caregivers should be aware of
      fathers' changes and needs during pregnancy, and support them while taking into
      consideration their culture and beliefs.

PMID- 25838930
TI  - Clinical determinants of left ventricular ejection fraction deterioration in
      patients suffered from complete left bundle branch block.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recently, the deleterious effects of left bundle branch block (LBBB)
      on left ventricular systolic function have been taken into consideration.
      OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to identify underlying factors that predict
      left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) deterioration in patients suffered from
      complete LBBB. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a retrospective case-control study, the
      data of 220 consecutive patients diagnosed with LBBB on their electrocardiograms
      were assessed. They were referred to Isfahan Heart Center in Isfahan Province,
      Iran in 2013. LVEF deterioration was defined as a decrease in LVEF at least 10%
      between the baseline and follow-up echocardiography study. Thus, achieving the
      LVEF values <= 40% in patients with an initial EF of > 50% was considered LVEF
      deterioration. RESULTS: Among 220 patients, 40% of LBBB patients suffered LVEF
      deterioration within 3 months of initial assessment. The group with LVEF
      deterioration had higher male to female ratio, had higher NYHA score, and
      suffered more from systolic hypertension than another group. Those with coronary
      artery disease (CAD) had also significantly lower LVEF than non-CAD ones. Adverse
      associations were revealed between systolic blood pressure and LVEF measurement
      (r = -0.193, P = 0.006) as well as between NYHA score and LVEF (r = -0.215, P =
      0.002). A multivariable logistic regression model showed that among baseline
      variables, male gender (OR = 3.218, P < 0.001), history of systolic hypertension
      (OR = 2.012, P = 0.029), higher NYHA score (OR = 1.623, P = 0.005), and the
      presence of coronary artery disease (OR = 2.475, P = 0.028) could effectively
      predict LVEF deterioration in patients with LBBB. CONCLUSIONS: Male gender,
      history of hypertension, high NYHA score, and the presence of CAD predict LVEF
      deterioration in patients with LBBB.

PMID- 25838931
TI  - How does a group of Iranian youth conceptualize their risky sexual experiences?
AB  - BACKGROUND: There are restrictions as well as lawful and religious prohibition
      for sexual relationships in Iranian society. OBJECTIVES: This study explores the
      varied experiential reality of Iranian youth and their risky sexual experiences.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data collection is based on semi-structured interviews with
      30 single young men and women. Observation of interactions of youth in different
      settings has been another source of information. Interviews were microscopically
      content analyzed. RESULTS: The accounts of risky sexual experiences included
      gendered behavioral, cultural, and cognitive factors. In the re-contextualizing
      process, these accounts were categorized by two main themes: "gendered sexual
      script" and "cultural scenarios of interpersonal interactions". The notion of
      "male power" was evident in the responses provided by the participants. Women
      seldom asked for condom use due to limited knowledge about STIs-HIV/AIDS and
      unpleasant experiences with condoms. Men had limited knowledge about various
      sexual modes of HIV and STIs transmission and did not use condoms consistently
      because they had not seen themselves at risk of STIs or HIV as well as their
      belief about the decrease of sexual pleasure. CONCLUSIONS: Rising youth
      awareness, creating a positive attitude, and appropriate knowledge about safe sex
      practices are seminal. It is also vital to ensure access to gender specific
      sexual and reproductive health services for youths, empower women, and strengthen
      their sexual assertiveness as well as the elimination of all forms of gender
      based inequalities.

PMID- 25838932
TI  - Effect of Cinnamomum zeylanicumon on Spermatogenesis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In modern countries today, herbal medicines are known to help in the
      treatment of various diseases, as rich sources of antioxidants and minerals.
      OBJECTIVES: To study the effect of Cinnamomum zeylanicum (C. zeylanicum) on
      spermatogenesis in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this experimental study,
      Wistar male rats (n = 20) were divided into two groups, a control group (n = 10)
      and a Cinnamomum zeylanicum group (n = 10). The subjects in the cinnamon group
      received 75 mg/kg/day cinnamon by gavage for 28 days, while the controls received
      an equal volume of distilled water daily. Animals were kept in standardized
      conditions. On day 28, a 5 mL blood sample from each rat was taken from tail area
      to measure testosterone, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione
      peroxidase (GPX), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Testes were collected and
      were then prepared for sperm analysis by the WHO method. RESULTS: Sperm quality
      parameters, total serum testosterone, SOD, CAT, and GPX levels were significantly
      increased in the cinnamon group in comparison to controls (P < 0.05). Also, rats
      in the cinnamon group showed a significant decrease in the level of plasma MDA (P
      < 0.05) in comparison to controls. There were no significant differences between
      the groups in testis weight (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The administration of 75
      mg/kg/day cinnamon significantly increased the sperm population, motility and
      viability, which supports the theory that in mammalians, cinnamon has a
      beneficial effect on spermatogenesis.

PMID- 25838796
TI  - Search for dark matter in events with heavy quarks and missing transverse
      momentum in [Formula: see text] collisions with the ATLAS detector.
AB  - This article reports on a search for dark matter pair production in association
      with bottom or top quarks in [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text]
      collisions collected at [Formula: see text] TeV by the ATLAS detector at the LHC.
      Events with large missing transverse momentum are selected when produced in
      association with high-momentum jets of which one or more are identified as jets
      containing [Formula: see text]-quarks. Final states with top quarks are selected
      by requiring a high jet multiplicity and in some cases a single lepton. The data
      are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectations and limits are
      set on the mass scale of effective field theories that describe scalar and tensor
      interactions between dark matter and Standard Model particles. Limits on the dark
      matter-nucleon cross-section for spin-independent and spin-dependent interactions
      are also provided. These limits are particularly strong for low-mass dark matter.
      Using a simplified model, constraints are set on the mass of dark matter and of a
      coloured mediator suitable to explain a possible signal of annihilating dark
      matter.

PMID- 25838933
TI  - Validity and reliability of the hausa version of multidimensional scale of
      perceived social support index.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Social support has been identified as one of the key factors for
      enhancing the quality of life after stroke. However, a scientific tool that is
      valid for evaluating social support among stroke survivors in Nigeria has not
      been developed so far. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to examine the
      psychometric properties of the Hausa translated versions of the Multidimensional
      Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and to validate it for future use in
      clinical research in Nigeria. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study
      was conducted on a sample of 140 adult stroke survivors attending rehabilitation
      services at stroke referral centers in Kano, Nigeria. The psychometric analysis
      of the Hausa-MSPSS involved face, content, criterion and construct validity
      tests, as well as internal and test-retest reliability. Confirmatory factor
      analysis was performed to assess validity of the three-factor (Family, Friends
      and Significant others) model for the Hausa-MSPSS. RESULTS: Based on expert
      panel, clinicians' review and patients' feedback, the 12 item Hausa-MSPSS had
      sufficient face, content and criterion validity. In reliability analysis, the
      Cronbach's alpha was 0.781. In test-retest reliability analysis, the minimum
      kappa value was 0.673. In Confirmatory factor analysis, the three-factor model
      was not acceptable. An alternative two-factor model with Family and Friends, as
      the two domain was found to be acceptable (Chi-square/df < 3, TLI, CFI > 0.9,
      RMSEA < 0.08). The average variances extracted for the two constructs were 0.5
      and 0.7, respectively. The R-squared value between the two constructs was 0.397.
      Cross validity tested using 1000 bootstrap resamples gave satisfactory results (P
      = 0.079). CONCLUSIONS: The 11 item Hausa-MSPSS index is valid for the assessment
      of perceived social support among stroke survivors in Nigeria.

PMID- 25838794
TI  - Measurements of the [Formula: see text] production cross sections in association
      with jets with the ATLAS detector.
AB  - This paper presents cross sections for the production of a [Formula: see text]
      boson in association with jets, measured in proton-proton collisions at [Formula:
      see text] with the ATLAS experiment at the large hadron collider. With an
      integrated luminosity of [Formula: see text], this data set allows for an
      exploration of a large kinematic range, including jet production up to a
      transverse momentum of [Formula: see text] and multiplicities up to seven
      associated jets. The production cross sections for [Formula: see text] bosons are
      measured in both the electron and muon decay channels. Differential cross
      sections for many observables are also presented including measurements of the
      jet observables such as the rapidities and the transverse momenta as well as
      measurements of event observables such as the scalar sums of the transverse
      momenta of the jets. The measurements are compared to numerous QCD predictions
      including next-to-leading-order perturbative calculations, resummation
      calculations and Monte Carlo generators.

PMID- 25838793
TI  - Search for invisible particles produced in association with single-top-quarks in
      proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text] with the ATLAS detector.
AB  - A search for the production of single-top-quarks in association with missing
      energy is performed in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of
      [Formula: see text] with the ATLAS experiment at the large hadron collider using
      data collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of [Formula:
      see text] fb[Formula: see text]. In this search, the [Formula: see text] boson
      from the top quark is required to decay into an electron or a muon and a
      neutrino. No deviation from the standard model prediction is observed, and upper
      limits are set on the production cross-section for resonant and non-resonant
      production of an invisible exotic state in association with a right-handed top
      quark. In the case of resonant production, for a spin-[Formula: see text]
      resonance with a mass of [Formula: see text] GeV, an effective coupling strength
      above [Formula: see text] is excluded at 95[Formula: see text] confidence level
      for the top quark and an invisible spin-[Formula: see text] state with mass
      between [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] GeV. In the case of non
      resonant production, an effective coupling strength above [Formula: see text] is
      excluded at 95[Formula: see text] confidence level for the top quark and an
      invisible spin-[Formula: see text] state with mass between [Formula: see text]
      and [Formula: see text] GeV.

PMID- 25838934
TI  - Primary intraosseous hydatid cyst of femur.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Echinococcosis is a parasitic and zoonotic disease of animals and
      humans. The cause is Echinococcus granulosus and occasionally, Echinococcus
      multilocularis. Hydatid cysts are mostly seen in the liver and lungs, although
      almost all organs and systemscan be involvement. Hydatid cysts seen with bone
      involvement comprise approximately 3% of all hydatid cysts. Even if a long period
      of survey is possible, it is still difficult to eradicate the disease and effect
      a cure. CASE PRESENTATION: In this study, an evaluation was made of a patient
      referred at Yozgat State Hospital Orthopedics and Traumatology Polyclinic with
      complaints of pain in her left thigh close to the knee. After examinations of
      plain radiographs, computerized tomography, magnetic resonance images, and blood
      parameters, a diagnosis was made of left femoral intramedullary hydatid cyst from
      excised intraoperative material. Throughout a 6-month follow-up period, there was
      no recurrence and functional results were good. CONCLUSIONS: Based on this report
      (of a patient presented with an intramedullary cyst in the long bones), the
      primary bone hydatid cyst disease should be kept in mind and be investigated in
      the differential diagnosis.

PMID- 25838935
TI  - Lessons learnt from the model of instructional system for training community
      health workers in rural health houses of iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Many experts believe that the "health houses" of Iran have had major
      effects in increasing health status of Iranian rural community. One of the
      factors, which was critical to this success is the employment of young women and
      men from rural communities who serve as multipurpose health workers. They
      participate in a two-year task-oriented training course. OBJECTIVES: The purpose
      of this article was to describe the model of training behvarzes as the community
      health workers who deliver health services to the health houses of Iran. This
      description included the specific method of recruiting these CHWs, strategies and
      methods of their training which is different from general academic education.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive study design was utilized for this analysis
      in six areas. These areas have been selected according to the expert opinions and
      experiences of the Center for Health Networks Management. RESULTS: The results
      showed the specific method of student selection and clear objectives and
      standards of training related to the health needs of the community. Recruitment
      of native human resources, the relationship between training and performance are
      the characteristics, which have been made this system more efficient and
      responsive to the health system needs. CONCLUSIONS: Development of the job and
      task analysis to ensure providing the right training needs, applying more
      evidences through different studies for reforms, more decentralized equipped
      system with decision-making tools have been proposed for development.

PMID- 25838936
TI  - Mothers' satisfaction with two systems of providing care to their hospitalized
      children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the paramount importance of the patient's satisfaction, there
      are limited data on mothers' satisfaction with the nursing care provided to their
      children in Iranian clinical settings. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate
      mothers' satisfaction with two systems of providing care to their hospitalized
      children. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This research was a two-group quasi-experimental
      study. Primarily, the basics of the case method and the functional care delivery
      systems were educated to the practicing nurses of the study setting. Each system
      was implemented independently. After the implementation of each system, 200
      mothers whose children were hospitalized in the pediatric care ward of Shahid
      Beheshti Hospital, Kashan, Iran, were invited to respond to the 28 -item
      Pediatric Family Satisfaction Questionnaire. Study data were analyzed by SPSS v.
      16.0. RESULTS: Results were indicative of mothers' satisfaction with medical care
      delivered by case method as 13.2 +/- 5.2 and by functional method as 13.17 +/-
      5.56. Also, no significant difference was seen between two groups (P = 0.4).
      Mothers' satisfaction with nursing care delivered by case method was 17.7 +/-
      4.43 and by functional method was 13.33 +/- 5.69 and there was a significant
      difference between two groups (P = 0.004). Mothers' satisfaction with
      accommodations by case method was 16.78 +/- 4.07 and by functional method was
      17.9 +/- 6.67 with a significant difference between two groups (P = 0.06).
      CONCLUSIONS: Improving the quality of care is associated with higher patient's
      satisfaction. Accordingly, developing and implementing programs for improving
      nurses' communication and clinical skills can improve both care quality and
      patient outcomes.

PMID- 25838940
TI  - Advances in retinal therapeutics.

PMID- 25838938
TI  - A comparative study of three speckle reducing methods for intima-media thickness
      ultrasound images.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ultrasonic evaluation of intima-media thickness (IMT) is an early
      marker of assessing the development of atherosclerosis and determining
      cardiovascular risk. To attain the best possible diagnosis, it is essential that
      medical images be clear, sharp and without noise and artifacts. OBJECTIVES:
      Comparison of speckle reducing anisotropic diffusion (SRAD), discrete (DTD) and
      continuum topological derivative (CTD) on B-mode ultrasound images of common
      carotid and brachial arteries throughout the cardiac cycle. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      In a cross-sectional design, an examination was performed on forty-two human
      subjects with a mean age of 44 +/- 6 years from April 2013 to June 2013. This
      study was approved by the ethics committees of Kashan University of Medical
      Sciences and Beheshti Hospital. An ultrasonic examination of common carotid and
      brachial arteries of forty-two human subjects was performed. The program was
      designed in MATLAB software to extract consecutive B-mode images and apply region
      of interest (ROI) on the IMT of the common carotid and brachial arteries. Then,
      three different noise reduction filters with the Canny edge detection were used
      in ROI separately. Finally, the program measured the image quality metrics.
      RESULTS: According to values of eleven different image quality metrics (mentioned
      in the main text), there was a significant difference between CTD, DTD and SRAD
      filters with the Canny edge detection status in the common carotid and brachial
      arteries throughout the cardiac cycle (all P values < 0.001). For example, peak
      signal to noise ratios (PSNR) using CTD, DTD and SRAD filters were 95.43 +/-
      0.64, 88.86 +/- 0.82 and 73.02 +/- 0.20 in common carotid and 96.39 +/- 1.25,
      92.58 +/- 0.11 and 88.27 +/- 0.63 in brachial arteries, respectively (both P
      values < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: By measuring image quality metrics, this study
      showed that DTD and CTD filters with the Canny edge detection respectively, are
      better than SRAD filter with the Canny detection for speckle suppression and
      details preservation in both arteries in the ultrasound images.

PMID- 25838944
TI  - Anti-Oppressive Practice and Reflexive Lifeworld-Led Approaches to Care: A
      Framework for Teaching Nurses about Social Justice.
AB  - This paper was initially written for a European Academy of Caring Science
      workshop and aimed to provide clarity and direction about Caring Science by
      offering some ideas emerging from the philosophy, themes, and projects of EACS.
      An underpinning concept for the work of the Academy is the lifeworld. The focus
      of the workshop was to explore the lifeworld of the patient, student, and carer.
      The intention was to promote discussion around the need to provide alternative
      ways to conceptualise caring relevant knowledge, naming phenomena and practices
      central to caring sciences, and the educational curriculum and its adequacy for
      caring science. This paper seeks to identify concepts and approaches to
      understanding oppression, power, and justice which enable nurses to challenge the
      structures in health care environments which discriminate or disempower clients.
      Anti-oppressive practice theory and reflexive lifeworld-led approaches to care
      enable nurses to be critical of their practice. A framework for teaching social
      justice in health care is offered to augment teaching students to challenge
      oppressive practice and to assist nurses to reflect and develop conceptual models
      to guide practices which are central to promoting caring interactions. 

PMID- 25838939
TI  - Lifestyle of the employees working in hamadan public sectors: application of the
      trans-theoretical model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A healthy lifestyle is a valuable source to reduce the prevalence of
      health problems, and promoteehealth. OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to
      evaluate the lifestyle and obesity status of Hamadan public employees and their
      status based on the trans-theoretical model (TTM). PATIENTS AND METHODS: This
      analytical cross-sectional study was performed in 2014 on 1200 public employees
      in Hamadan city, Iran selected through proportional stratified random sampling.
      Data collection was performed using a three-section questionnaire including
      demographic characteristics, The FANTASTIC lifestyle questionnaire, and the five
      part algorithm. Data were analyzed by SPSS-20 using linear regression, Chi
      square, Fisher exact test, and ANOVA. RESULTS: The mean age of the employees was
      38.12 +/- 8.04 years. Most of the employees (61.7%) had favorable lifestyle.
      About half of the employees were at the preparation stage of TTM. Most of the
      employees were in a poor condition regarding the physical activity and healthy
      eating habits. In most of the evaluated items, females got higher scores than
      males. The associations between lifestyle and age, gender, work experience,
      income satisfaction, and marital status were significant. Moreover, the
      associations between obesity and work experience, marital status, number of
      offspring, and gender were significant (P < 0. 05). Significant predicting
      variables of obesity were age and work experience; they explained 31.2% variance
      of obesity (adjusted R(2) = 0.312, R(2) change = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Planning
      health education interventions for employees through effective approaches seems
      necessary.

PMID- 25838946
TI  - Methylphenidate Efficacy: Immediate versus Extended Release at Short Term in
      Mexican Children with ADHD Assessed by Conners Scale and EEG.
AB  - Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects 5-6% of school aged
      children worldwide. Pharmacological therapy is considered the first-line
      treatment and methylphenidate (MPH) is considered the first-choice medication.
      There are two formulations: immediate release (IR) MPH and long-acting (or
      extended release) formulation (MPH-ER). In this work, we measure the efficacy of
      treatment for both presentations in one month with Conners' scales and
      electroencephalography (EEG). Results. for IR group, in parents and teachers
      Conners test, all items showed significant differences, towards improvement,
      except for teachers in perfectionism and emotional instability. For ER group in
      parent's Conners test, the items in which there were no significant differences
      are psychosomatic and emotional instability. For teachers, there were no
      significant differences in: hyperactivity and perfectionism. Comparing the
      Conners questionnaires (parents versus teachers) we find significant differences
      before and after treatment in hyperactivity, perfectionism, psychosomatics, DSM
      IV hyperactive-impulsive, and DSM-IV total. In the EEG the Wilcoxon test showed a
      significant difference (P < 0.0001). As we can see, both presentations are
      suitable for managing the ADHD and have the same effect on the symptomatology and
      in the EEG. 

PMID- 25838937
TI  - Comparative study of radiographic and laboratory findings between Beta
      thalassemia major and Beta thalassemia intermedia patients with and without
      treatment by hydroxyurea.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In patients with thalassemia, chronic anemia causes bone marrow
      expansion and consequently skeletal manifestation in spine, skull, face and rib
      bones. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to compare chest radiographic findings and facial
      bone deformity in patients with thalassemia major (TM) and intermedia. PATIENTS
      AND METHODS: In this cross sectional study, 86 consecutive thalassemia patients
      referring to the Thalassemia clinic in Shiraz, Southern Iran were evaluated
      during 2012. Patients were divided into three groups including TM and thalassemia
      intermedia (TI) with and without taking hydroxyurea (HU). Findings ofchest
      radiography (trabeculation, rib widening and paraspinal masses) as well as facial
      bone deformity were evaluated by an expert radiologist. Besides, laboratory
      findings were measured regarding hemoglobin, ferritin, NRBC and platelet count.
      RESULTS: All radiologic findings were significantly higher in patients with TI
      compared to TM (P< 0.05). In patients with TI, only trabeculation was observed
      with a higher frequency in patients with HU compared to those without HU (68% vs.
      27.3%, P= 0.008). In the regression model, from all variables evaluated, only
      NRBC showed a significant correlation with trabeculation (Exp B = 1.014, CI:
      1.004-1.025, P = 0.008) and age showed a significant correlation with
      paravertebral mass (Exp B = 1.147, CI: 1.03-1.27, P = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS: In
      patients with TM, bone widening, trabeculation, paraspinal masses and facial bone
      deformity were lower than patients with TI, whichcan be related to effectiveness
      of therapy with blood transfusion irrespective of its adverse effects in TM
      patients.

PMID- 25838942
TI  - Attenuating Photostress and Glare Disability in Pseudophakic Patients through the
      Addition of a Short-Wave Absorbing Filter.
AB  - To evaluate the effects of filtering short wavelength light on visual performance
      under intense light conditions among pseudophakic patients previously implanted
      with a clear intraocular lens (IOL). This was a patient-masked, randomized
      crossover study conducted at 6 clinical sites in the United States between
      September 2013 and January 2014. One hundred fifty-four bilaterally pseudophakic
      patients were recruited. Photostress recovery time and glare disability
      thresholds were measured with clip-on blue-light-filtering and placebo (clear; no
      blue-light filtration) glasses worn over patients' habitual correction.
      Photostress recovery time was quantified as the time necessary to regain sight of
      a grating target after intense light exposure. Glare disability threshold was
      assessed as the intensity of a white-light annulus necessary to obscure a central
      target. The order of filter used and test eye were randomized across patients.
      Photostress recovery time and glare disability thresholds were significantly
      improved (both P < 0.0001) when patients used blue-light-filtering glasses
      compared with clear, nonfiltering glasses. Compared with a nonfiltering placebo,
      adding a clip-on blue-absorbing filter to the glasses of pseudophakic patients
      implanted with clear IOLs significantly increased their ability to cope with
      glare and to recover normal viewing after an intensive photostress. This result
      implies that IOL designs with blue-light-filtering characteristics may be
      beneficial under intense light conditions. 

PMID- 25838947
TI  - Modulation of Adipocytokines Production and Serum NEFA Level by Metformin,
      Glimepiride, and Sitagliptin in HFD/STZ Diabetic Rats.
AB  - Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a group of metabolic disorders characterized
      by hyperglycemia owing to insulin resistance and/or insulin deficiency. Current
      theories of T2DM pathophysiology include a decline in beta-cells function, a
      defect in insulin signaling pathways, and a dysregulation of secretory function
      of adipocytes. This study aimed to investigate the effect of different
      antidiabetic drugs on serum levels of certain adipocytokines and nonesterified
      fatty acids (NEFA) in high-fat diet (HFD)/streptozotocin- (STZ-) induced diabetic
      rats. All treatments significantly decreased serum NEFA level. Metformin and
      sitagliptin increased serum adiponectin level, whereas they decreased serum
      leptin level. Glimepiride showed significant decline in serum levels of both
      adiponectin and leptin. All treatments remarkably ameliorated insulin resistance,
      suggested by an improvement of glycemic control, a significant reduction in
      homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and a correction in
      lipid profile. Modulation of adipocytokines production (i.e., increased serum
      adiponectin and decreased serum leptin) may also underlie the improvement of
      insulin resistance and could be a possible mechanism for the beneficial
      cardiovascular effects of metformin and sitagliptin. 

PMID- 25838945
TI  - Emergence: complexity pedagogy in action.
AB  - Many educators are looking for new ways to engage students and each other in
      order to enrich curriculum and the teaching-learning process. We describe an
      example of how we enacted teaching-learning approaches through the insights of
      complexity thinking, an approach that supports the emergence of new possibilities
      for teaching-learning in the classroom and online. Our story begins with an
      occasion to meet with 10 nursing colleagues in a three-hour workshop using four
      activities that engaged learning about complexity thinking and pedagogy. Guiding
      concepts for the collaborative workshop were nonlinearity, distributed decision
      making, divergent thinking, self-organization, emergence, and creative
      exploration. The workshop approach considered critical questions to spark our
      collective inquiry. We asked, "What is emergent learning?" and "How do we, as
      educators and learners, engage a community so that new learning surfaces?" We
      integrated the arts, creative play, and perturbations within a complexity
      approach. 

PMID- 25838953
TI  - The Hidden Cost of Untreated Paragangliomas of the Head and Neck: Systemic
      Reactive (AA) Amyloidosis.
AB  - We report a case of a 51-year-old man who was diagnosed with systemic reactive
      (AA) amyloidosis in association with untreated glomus jugulare and glomus
      caroticum tumors. He refused radiotherapy and renal replacement therapy.
      Paragangliomas, although rare, should be considered one of the tumors that can
      result in AA amyloidosis. 

PMID- 25838957
TI  - Synthetic cannabis-induced mania.
AB  - Synthetic cannabinoids (SC), cannabinoid 1 and cannabinoid 2 receptors agonists,
      are the psychoactive substances. SC was originally produced to treat medical
      conditions. Compared to other narcotics, SC is easier to obtain, cheap, and
      highly potent and has a long half-life. In addition, routine analysis does not
      detect SC, which has led to widespread use. A case is presented that manic
      episode was developed with the use of SC. Hospitalization and admission to
      psychiatric units depending on SC use have been observed mostly with psychosis.
      Although SC-induced affective symptoms were mentioned in the literature, mania
      has not been reported before. We aimed to discuss the psychiatric conditions
      induced by widespread use of SC via our case. 

PMID- 25838955
TI  - Dealing with Pheochromocytoma during the First Trimester of Pregnancy.
AB  - Purpose. Pheochromocytoma in association with pregnancy is a very rare, without
      specific symptoms, life-threatening condition, increasing both maternal and fetal
      mortality up to 50%. The present paper illustrates the case of a pregnant woman,
      diagnosed with pheochromocytoma, aiming to demonstrate and discuss the
      difficulties that arouse during the diagnosis and the problems concerning the
      treatment. Patient. A 34-year-old woman, in the 9th week of pregnancy, complained
      for headache, sweating, and a feeling of heavy weight on the right renal area. A
      tumor of 10 cm diameter at the site of the right adrenal was found. Twenty-four
      hour urine catecholamine and VMA excretion levels were well raised. Results.
      Multidisciplinary approach treated the patient conservatively. Surgical resection
      of the tumor was performed after the 14th week of pregnancy at the completion of
      organogenesis. Neither postoperative complications occurred nor hypertension
      relapse was recorded. The fetus was delivered without complications at the 36th
      week. Conclusions. There are no consensus and guidelines for treating
      pheochromocytoma during pregnancy, especially when it is diagnosed in the first
      trimester. The week of pregnancy and a multidisciplinary approach will determine
      whether the pregnancy should be continued or not, as well as the time and the
      approach of surgical treatment. 

PMID- 25838948
TI  - Conservative treatment of a large facial midroot perforation.
AB  - Aim. To report on the endodontic and periodontal management of a root and
      alveolar process perforation in a maxillary front tooth. Summary. Perforation
      during access cavity preparation is an infrequent complication during endodontic
      therapy, leading to potential periodontal tissue breakdown. The case described
      the two-stage management of a massive facial root perforation requiring a
      connective tissue graft to correct a mucosal fenestration persisting after
      orthograde repair of the root defect with MTA. 

PMID- 25838943
TI  - Obesity and metabolic phenotypes (metabolically healthy and unhealthy variants)
      are significantly associated with prevalence of elevated C-reactive protein and
      hepatic steatosis in a large healthy Brazilian population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Among the obese, the so-called metabolically healthy obese (MHO)
      phenotype is thought to confer a lower CVD risk as compared to obesity with
      typical associated metabolic changes. The present study aims to determine the
      relationship of different subtypes of obesity with inflammatory-cardiometabolic
      abnormalities. METHODS: We evaluated 5,519 healthy, Brazilian subjects (43 +/- 10
      years, 78% males), free of known cardiovascular disease. Those with <2 metabolic
      risk factors (MRF) were considered metabolically healthy, and those with BMI >=
      25 kg/m(2) and/or waist circumference meeting NCEP criteria for metabolic
      syndrome as overweight/obese (OW). High sensitivity C reactive protein (hsCRP)
      was measured to assess underlying inflammation and hepatic steatosis (HS) was
      determined via abdominal ultrasound. RESULTS: Overall, 40% of OW individuals were
      metabolically healthy, and 12% normal-weight had >=2 MRF. The prevalence of
      elevated CRP (>=3 mg/dL) and HS in MHO versus normal weight metabolically healthy
      group was 22% versus 12%, and 40% versus 8% respectively (P < 0.001). Both MHO
      individuals and metabolically unhealthy normal weight (MUNW) phenotypes were
      associated with elevated hsCRP and HS. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that MHO
      and MUNW phenotypes may not be benign and physicians should strive to treat
      individuals in these subgroups to reverse these conditions.

PMID- 25838954
TI  - Palliative care for a mentally incompetent end stage renal failure patient: why
      is it important?
AB  - People with intellectual disabilities are among the most disadvantaged groups in
      society. Here we report a mentally incompetent end stage renal failure (ESRF)
      patient with frequent emergency visits who made a significant improvement in
      symptoms control and reduction in casualty visits after introduction of renal
      palliative care service. Multidisciplinary approach would be useful in this case.

PMID- 25838958
TI  - Amisulpride augmentation for clozapine-refractory positive symptoms: additional
      benefit in reducing hypersialorrhea.
AB  - One-third to half of patients taking clozapine suffer from refractory symptoms
      despite adequate treatment. Among other adverse effects, clozapine-induced
      hypersalivation (CIH) occurs in approximately half of all patients. This is a
      case of a 30-year-old male with refractory schizophrenia; in this patient, the
      remission of residual positive symptoms, as well as the reduction of CIH, was
      achieved by treatment with clozapine augmented with amisulpride. 

PMID- 25838951
TI  - Thyroid storm precipitated by duodenal ulcer perforation.
AB  - Thyroid storm is a rare and life-threatening complication of thyrotoxicosis that
      requires prompt treatment. Thyroid storm is also known to be associated with
      precipitating events. The simultaneous treatment of thyroid storm and its
      precipitant, when they are recognized, in a patient is recommended; otherwise
      such disorders, including thyroid storm, can exacerbate each other. Here we
      report the case of a thyroid storm patient (a 55-year-old Japanese male)
      complicated with a perforated duodenal ulcer. The patient was successfully
      treated with intensive treatment for thyroid storm and a prompt operation.
      Although it is believed that peptic ulcer rarely coexists with hyperthyroidism,
      among patients with thyroid storm, perforation of a peptic ulcer has been
      reported as one of the causes of fatal outcome. We determined that surgical
      intervention was required in this patient, reported despite ongoing severe
      thyrotoxicosis, and reported herein a successful outcome. 

PMID- 25838952
TI  - Virus-associated hemophagocytic syndrome in renal transplant recipients: report
      of 2 cases from a single center.
AB  - Virus-associated hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) is a potentially fatal
      complication of immunosuppression for transplantation. However, it presents with
      heterogeneous clinical symptoms (fever, disturbed consciousness, and
      hepatosplenomegaly) and laboratory findings (pancytopenia, elevated hepatic
      enzyme levels, abnormal coagulation, and hyperferritinemia), impeding diagnosis.
      Case 1: A 39-year-old female developed fever 4 years after ABO-incompatible
      living-related renal transplantation. Laboratory findings revealed
      thrombocytopenia, elevated hepatic enzymes, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA
      seropositivity, and hyperferritinemia. EBV-associated HPS was confirmed by bone
      marrow aspiration. Steroid pulse therapy and etoposide were ineffective.
      Disseminated intravascular coagulation resulted in multiple organ failure, and
      the patient died 32 days after disease onset. Case 2: A 67-year-old male was
      admitted with rotavirus enteritis a month after living-unrelated renal
      transplantation. He developed sudden-onset high fever, disturbance of
      consciousness, and tachypnea 8 days after admission. Laboratory findings revealed
      elevated hepatic enzyme levels, hyperkalemia, and hyperferritinemia. Emergency
      continuous hemodiafiltration ameliorated the fever, and steroid pulse therapy
      improved abnormal laboratory values. Varicella-zoster virus meningitis was
      confirmed by spinal tap. Acyclovir improved consciousness, and he was discharged
      87 days after admission. Fatal virus-associated HPS may develop in organ
      transplant patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy. Pathognomonic
      hyperferritinemia is useful for differential diagnosis. 

PMID- 25838956
TI  - Complication with removal of a lumbar spinal locking plate.
AB  - Introduction. The use of locking plate technology for anterior lumbar spinal
      fusion has increased stability of the vertebral fusion mass over traditional
      nonconstrained screw and plate systems. This case report outlines a complication
      due to the use of this construct. Case. A patient with a history of L2 corpectomy
      and anterior spinal fusion presented with discitis at the L4/5 level and
      underwent an anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) supplemented with a locking
      plate placed anterolaterally for stability. Fifteen months after the ALIF
      procedure, he returned with a hardware infection. He underwent debridement of the
      infection site and removal of hardware. Results. Once hardware was exposed,
      removal of the locking plate screws was only successful in one out of four screws
      using a reverse thread screw removal device. Three of the reverse thread screw
      removal devices broke in attempt to remove the subsequent screws. A metal cutting
      drill was then used to break hoop stresses associated with the locking device and
      the plate was removed. Conclusion. Anterior locking plates add significant
      stability to an anterior spinal fusion mass. However, removal of this hardware
      can be complicated by the inherent properties of the design with significant risk
      of major vascular injury. 

PMID- 25838950
TI  - Posttraumatic displacement management: lateral luxation and alveolar bone
      fracture in young permanent teeth with 5 years of follow-up.
AB  - Dental trauma is an important public health problem due to high prevalence and
      associated limitations. The external impact accounting for trauma may result in
      different injury types to teeth and supporting structures. This paper describes a
      clinical case of tooth trauma in an 8-year-old patient exhibiting the
      displacement of three permanent teeth with open root apexes. Although the
      traumatic impact resulted in two injury types to teeth and supporting tissues
      (lateral luxation and alveolar bone fracture), the therapeutic approach was the
      same in both situations. The bone and teeth were repositioned by digital
      pressure, stabilized by semirigid splint, and followed up at every week. After
      six weeks, the splint was removed. At that moment, the clinical and radiographic
      findings indicated normal soft/hard tissues and absence of pulp/periodontal
      pathologies. At the fifth year of follow-up, the treatment success of the case
      was confirmed, although it has been observed that all lower incisors exhibited
      pulp obliteration as a consequence of the dental trauma. 

PMID- 25838960
TI  - An unusual long-term survey of a patient with widespread malignant urachal tumor,
      not given chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
AB  - The urachus establishes a connection between the dome of the bladder and the
      umbilicus throughout fetal life. If the urachus does not close completely,
      malignancy is a potential complication. The primary treatment for malignant
      urachal tumor is surgical excision. A 61-year-old male patient diagnosed with
      urachal carcinoma had undergone partial cystectomy 25 years previously. Twenty
      years later, local recurrence was treated with another partial cystectomy without
      umbilical remnant excision. Recurrence at the umbilical site was excised 2 years
      later, but intraperitoneal invasion had occurred, and the patient underwent a
      total colectomy at that time. Local disease and disseminated metastases in the
      thorax and intra- and extraperitoneal areas were noted upon admission to our
      hospital. Urachal carcinomas are usually aggressive tumors, and surgical
      treatment should include partial or radical cystectomy and excision of the
      urachus and umbilicus, to prevent local recurrence and distant metastasis. 

PMID- 25838941
TI  - The role of eye movement driven attention in functional strabismic amblyopia.
AB  - Strabismic amblyopia "blunt vision" is a developmental anomaly that affects
      binocular vision and results in lowered visual acuity. Strabismus is a term for a
      misalignment of the visual axes and is usually characterized by impaired ability
      of the strabismic eye to take up fixation. Such impaired fixation is usually a
      function of the temporally and spatially impaired binocular eye movements that
      normally underlie binocular shifts in visual attention. In this review, we
      discuss how abnormal eye movement function in children with misaligned eyes
      influences the development of normal binocular visual attention and results in
      deficits in visual function such as depth perception. We also discuss how eye
      movement function deficits in adult amblyopia patients can also lead to other
      abnormalities in visual perception. Finally, we examine how the nonamblyopic eye
      of an amblyope is also affected in strabismic amblyopia. 

PMID- 25838959
TI  - Primary pulmonary malignant fibrous histiocytoma.
AB  - Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) is one of the most common adult soft tissue
      sarcomas. MFH is very aggressive and is most often found in the extremities and
      the retroperitoneum, but it can manifest at other sites. Though the lungs are the
      most common sites of metastasis, they rarely present there as a primary tumor.
      Our report describes a rare case of a primary MFH tumor in the lung. Careful
      diagnostic procedure should be followed to ensure the tumor does not have
      extrapulmonary origins. Though MFH is highly invasive and deadly, surgical
      excision of the tumor has been shown to be successful. 

PMID- 25838949
TI  - Severe gingival enlargement with coexisting erosive lichen planus in severe
      chronic periodontitis patient.
AB  - Plaque induced gingival enlargement is most commonly seen and when encountered
      simultaneously with erosive lichen planus poses a challenge to the treating
      dentist. Prognosis of one condition may influence the prognosis of another
      condition. The presented case highlights the significance of proper diagnosis and
      the management of simultaneously occurring gingival lesions. A 49-year-old
      hypertensive female presented with painful enlarged bleeding and suppurating gums
      with burning sensation on eating food along with long-term usage of
      antihypertensive drug amlodipine known for its gingival enlargement effect. All
      these multiple factors led to diagnostic dilemma. Effective management of the
      gingival enlargement was done by using electrocautery to rehabilitate the
      functions and esthetics of the patient. Gingival condition was also complicated
      by the presence of coexisting lichen planus which was predominantly erosive for
      which topical corticosteroid, antifungal, and antimicrobial agents were
      prescribed. Eight-month follow-up did not show recurrence of gingival
      enlargement. Electrocautery is an effective tool for the gingivectomy in severe
      inflammatory type of gingival enlargement because of rapid postoperative
      hemostasis. For the management of erosive lichen planus, long-term use of topical
      corticosteroids is an effective approach. Maintenance of oral hygiene and regular
      follow-ups are essential for these conditions. 

PMID- 25838792
TI  - Search for resonant diboson production in the [Formula: see text] final state in
      [Formula: see text] collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV with the ATLAS
      detector.
AB  - This paper reports on a search for narrow resonances in diboson production in the
      [Formula: see text] final state using [Formula: see text] collision data
      corresponding to an integrated luminosity of [Formula: see text] fb[Formula: see
      text] collected at [Formula: see text] TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large
      Hadron Collider. No significant excess of data events over the Standard Model
      expectation is observed. Upper limits at the 95 % confidence level are set on the
      production cross section times branching ratio for Kaluza-Klein gravitons
      predicted by the Randall-Sundrum model and for Extended Gauge Model [Formula: see
      text] bosons. These results lead to the exclusion of mass values below 740 and
      1590 GeV for the graviton and [Formula: see text] boson respectively.

PMID- 25838961
TI  - Monoarticular hip involvement in pseudogout.
AB  - Pseudogout is the acutest form of arthritis in the elderly. Although clinical
      manifestations vary widely, polyarticular involvement is typical mimicking
      osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. Monoarticular involvement is relatively
      rare and is generally provoked by another medical condition. There are reported
      cases of hip involvement by pseudogout in monoarticular form. However, all of the
      cases were presented as septic arthritis. In this report, we present a case of
      monoarticular hip involvement mimicking soft tissue abscess. We confirmed the
      pseudogout diagnosis after ultrasonographic evaluation of the involved hip joint
      and pathological and biochemical analysis of synovial fluid analysis. Diagnosis
      is important to avoid unnecessary medical and surgical treatment in cases of the
      bizarre involvement of hip in pseudogout. 

PMID- 25838962
TI  - Orbital Pseudotumor: Uncommon Initial Presentation of IgG4-Related Disease.
AB  - IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) encompasses a group of fibroinflammatory
      conditions recognized in recent times. The main clinical features include
      variable degrees of tissue fibrosis, tumorlike expansions, perivascular
      lymphocytic infiltration rich in IgG4-positive plasma cells, and elevated serum
      IgG4. A case has been reported of an elderly patient with an unexplained
      unilateral exophthalmia; biopsy was performed and revealed lymphocytic
      infiltration, suggesting IgG4-RD. High serum levels of IgG4, in association with
      a good response to steroid therapy and to the exclusion of other diagnoses,
      confirmed the hypothesis of orbital pseudotumor by IgG4-RD. 

PMID- 25838966
TI  - Telecytopathology facilitates the use of rapid on-site evaluation in endoscopic
      ultraound fine needle aspiration of the pancreas to improve patient outcomes.

PMID- 25838965
TI  - 2014 American Telemedicine Association clinical guidelines for telepathology:
      Another important step in support of increased adoption of telepathology for
      patient care.

PMID- 25838964
TI  - Enterovesical fistula caused by a toothpick.
AB  - We present a case of enterovesical fistula caused by an accidental ingestion of a
      foreign body. A 23-year-old man presented to our hospital with pneumaturia,
      fecaluria, and abdominal pain but no recent possible causes of enterovesical
      fistula at anamnesis. Cystoscopy, cystography, and also colonoscopy were not able
      to detect the fistulous tract. Computer tomography (CT) revealed a fistula
      between bladder and bowels caused by a toothpick accidentally swallowed 2 years
      earlier. We tried to remove the foreign body endoscopically by cystoscopy and
      colonoscopy but with no success. The failure of endoscopic procedures required a
      surgical treatment. The patient underwent laparoscopic segmental resection of the
      sigmoid colon to remove the fistulous tract and the foreign body. The cystography
      revealed no external leakage of contrast from the bladder with complete
      resolution of the problem. 

PMID- 25838967
TI  - Automated discrimination of lower and higher grade gliomas based on
      histopathological image analysis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Histopathological images have rich structural information, are
      multi-channel in nature and contain meaningful pathological information at
      various scales. Sophisticated image analysis tools that can automatically extract
      discriminative information from the histopathology image slides for diagnosis
      remain an area of significant research activity. In this work, we focus on
      automated brain cancer grading, specifically glioma grading. Grading of a glioma
      is a highly important problem in pathology and is largely done manually by
      medical experts based on an examination of pathology slides (images). To
      complement the efforts of clinicians engaged in brain cancer diagnosis, we
      develop novel image processing algorithms and systems to automatically grade
      glioma tumor into two categories: Low-grade glioma (LGG) and high-grade glioma
      (HGG) which represent a more advanced stage of the disease. RESULTS: We propose
      novel image processing algorithms based on spatial domain analysis for glioma
      tumor grading that will complement the clinical interpretation of the tissue. The
      image processing techniques are developed in close collaboration with medical
      experts to mimic the visual cues that a clinician looks for in judging of the
      grade of the disease. Specifically, two algorithmic techniques are developed: (1)
      A cell segmentation and cell-count profile creation for identification of
      Pseudopalisading Necrosis, and (2) a customized operation of spatial and
      morphological filters to accurately identify microvascular proliferation (MVP).
      In both techniques, a hierarchical decision is made via a decision tree
      mechanism. If either Pseudopalisading Necrosis or MVP is found present in any
      part of the histopathology slide, the whole slide is identified as HGG, which is
      consistent with World Health Organization guidelines. Experimental results on the
      Cancer Genome Atlas database are presented in the form of: (1) Successful
      detection rates of pseudopalisading necrosis and MVP regions, (2) overall
      classification accuracy into LGG and HGG categories, and (3) receiver operating
      characteristic curves which can facilitate a desirable trade-off between HGG
      detection and false-alarm rates. CONCLUSION: The proposed method demonstrates
      fairly high accuracy and compares favorably against best-known alternatives such
      as the state-of-the-art WND-CHARM feature set provided by NIH combined with
      powerful support vector machine classifier. Our results reveal that the proposed
      method can be beneficial to a clinician in effectively separating histopathology
      slides into LGG and HGG categories, particularly where the analysis of a large
      number of slides is needed. Our work also reveals that MVP regions are much
      harder to detect than Pseudopalisading Necrosis and increasing accuracy of
      automated image processing for MVP detection emerges as a significant future
      research direction.

PMID- 25838963
TI  - Small Bowel Obstruction Mimicking Acute ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction.
AB  - We present a case of a 42-year-old female who presented to our institution with a
      small bowel obstruction and had emergent surgical decompression. Thirteen days
      postoperatively, the patient became tachycardic and had worsening epigastric
      pain. Electrocardiogram showed significant ST-segment elevations in leads II,
      III, aVF, and V3-V6, suggesting the possibility of acute inferolateral myocardial
      infarction. Subsequent workup revealed the cause of the ST-elevations to be due
      to recurrent small bowel obstruction. Although intra-abdominal causes of ST
      elevation have been reported, our case may be the first to be associated with
      small bowel obstruction. 

PMID- 25838968
TI  - Default settings of computerized physician order entry system order sets drive
      ordering habits.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems are quickly
      becoming ubiquitous, and groups of orders ("order sets") to allow for easy order
      input are a common feature. This provides a streamlined mechanism to view,
      modify, and place groups of related orders. This often serves as an electronic
      equivalent of a specialty requisition. A characteristic, of these order sets is
      that specific orders can be predetermined to be "preselected" or "defaulted-on"
      whenever the order set is used while others are "optional" or "defaulted-off"
      (though there is typically the option is to "deselect" defaulted-on tests in a
      given situation). While it seems intuitive that the defaults in an order set are
      often accepted, additional study is required to understand the impact of these
      "default" settings in an order set on ordering habits. This study set out to
      quantify the effect of changing the default settings of an order set. METHODS:
      For quality improvement purposes, order sets dealing with transfusions were
      recently reviewed and modified to improve monitoring of outcome. Initially, the
      order for posttransfusion hematocrits and platelet count had the default setting
      changed from "optional" to "preselected." The default settings for platelet count
      was later changed back to "optional," allowing for a natural experiment to study
      the effect of the default selections of an order set on clinician ordering
      habits. RESULTS: Posttransfusion hematocrit values were ordered for 8.3% of red
      cell transfusions when the default order set selection was "off" and for 57.4% of
      transfusions when the default selection was "preselected" (P < 0.0001).
      Posttransfusion platelet counts were ordered for 7.0% of platelet transfusions
      when the initial default order set selection was "optional," increased to 59.4%
      when the default was changed to "preselected" (P < 0.0001), and then decreased to
      7.5% when the default selection was returned to "optional." The posttransfusion
      platelet count rates during the two "optional" periods: 7.0% versus 7.5% - were
      not statistically different (P = 0.620). DISCUSSION: Default settings in CPOE
      order sets can significantly influence physician selection of laboratory tests.
      Careful consideration by all stakeholders, including clinicians and pathologists,
      should be obtained when establishing default settings in order sets.

PMID- 25838969
TI  - Imaging file management to support international telepathology.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Telepathology practice across international borders has become
      increasingly popular. Our telepathology consultation service with a laboratory in
      China was hampered by latency issues when viewing whole slide images. OBJECTIVE:
      The aim was to explore data transfer solutions to improve the viewing experience
      of digital consult cases. METHODS: Whole slide image files residing on a server
      in China were transferred to our data center in the USA using an open source
      product (Fast Data Transfer). A faster more automated commercial high speed file
      transfer software solution (Aspera) was also tested. RESULTS: Transferring files
      with the open source product provided transfer speeds of 2-3 Mbps, but suffered
      from intermittent dropped connections. Employing commercial software permitted
      more reliable transmission of digital files with 75-100 Mbps transfer speeds.
      CONCLUSIONS: Successful global telepathology requires dedicated image management.
      Transfer of files to local servers by employing high speed data transfer tools
      helped overcome network latency issues, improved the overall turn-around time of
      digital consultations, and enhanced the viewing experience for end-user digital
      consultants.

PMID- 25838970
TI  - Enantioselective Cascade Cyclization/Protodemetalation of Polyenes with N3Pt2+
      Catalysts.
AB  - The combination of the N-based pincer ligand PyBOX with Pt2+ leads to new
      catalysts for the enantioselective cycloisomerization of dienyl- and trienyl-ols.
      The mechanistic combination of electrophilic cyclization followed by rapid
      protodemetalation is surprising and leads to a powerful construct for developing
      new reactions.

PMID- 25838971
TI  - Mechanistic and Kinetic Studies of the Direct Alkylation of Benzylic Amines: A
      Formal C(sp3)-H Activation Proceeds Actually via a C(sp2)-H Activation Pathway.
AB  - Mechanistic investigations of a Rh(I)-catalyzed direct C-H alkylation of benzylic
      amines with alkenes, formally an C(sp3)-H activation, reveal this reaction to
      proceed via imine intermediates and, hence, via C(sp2)-H activation. The reaction
      shows a primary kinetic isotope effect of 4.3 at the benzylic C-H position
      together with a reversible H-D exchange at the same position, which indicates
      that there are at least two distinct steps in which the corresponding C-H bonds
      are broken. The imine intermediates are shown to be converted to the final
      product under the reaction conditions, and a time course analysis of the
      alkylated imine intermediate shows that it is formed before the final amine
      product in the course of the reaction.

PMID- 25838972
TI  - A Cohort Historical Analysis of the Relationship between Thyroid Hormone Malady
      and Alpha-Human Herpesvirus Activation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A number of physiological factors have been suggested to participate
      in the alpha- Human Herpesvirus (alphaHHV) reactivation, such as hormonal
      aberration. Thyroid hormone (TH) was shown to play a suppressive role in Herpes
      Simplex Virus Type-1 (HSV-1) gene expression and replication in cell culture and
      animal models. We hypothesize that reactivation of alphaHHV in humans may be due
      to, at least in part, by TH status. METHODS: Prior to implementing a full-scale
      population-based prospective inquiry into this hypothesis, a pilot study using a
      medical claims data base and a case-controlled, retrospective cohort
      investigation was conducted to develop a hypothetical link between TH
      complication and alphaHHV reactivation. Using diagnostic codes for treating
      thyroid disorders and alphaHHV infections as proxies for biologic/clinic
      outcomes, we queried a large, comprehensive hospital data base to construct two
      patient cohorts: Cohort 1 was comprised of patients receiving TH diagnoses over a
      twelve-year period, and Cohort 2 was composed of patients not receiving TH
      diagnoses during this period. Diagnoses of alphaHHV were recorded for each cohort
      and the difference in the frequency was examined for statistical significance.
      Demographic analyses such as age, gender, etc were also performed. RESULTS: Using
      2*2 contingency table analyses and Statistical Analysis Software (SAS), an Odds
      Ratio (OR) of 2.83 was observed for the total population of 21 years old and
      above with a chi-square of 61.55 and p < 0.001, confirming that a severe
      significant difference was found between these two cohorts. This result suggested
      that patients with alphaHHV diagnosis have higher chances to have TH disorders.
      Additional investigation revealed that female were at higher/significant
      probability to have both TH and alphaHHV diagnosis, indicating a link of alphaHHV
      reactivation to a complex hormonal profile difference between genders. Our
      observation indicated that female patients of 21 years of age and above exhibited
      a very high incidence (OR of 3.40, p < 0.001) compared to the male groups (OR of
      1.91, p < 0.05), indicating the possibility that hormonal alteration in females
      maybe transient but robust and can lead to alphaHHV reactivation more often than
      the males. CONCLUSION: These results indicated that TH dysfunction may have
      implication in alphaHHV pathogenesis and females exhibited much higher
      probability to suffer alphaHHV reactivation due to TH disruption. Although the
      results from this pilot study have limitations and require additional controlled
      clinical examination such as more detailed patient records, lab data, therapeutic
      outcome, etc, it provides a tool to assess the effects of hormone imbalance on
      virus reactivation by retrospective analyses using existing large scale data
      base.

PMID- 25838973
TI  - CDKN1A and FANCD2 are potential oncotargets in Burkitt lymphoma and multiple
      myeloma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Comparative genetic and biological studies on malignant tumor
      counterparts in human beings and laboratory mice may be powerful gene discovery
      tools for blood cancers, including neoplasms of mature B-lymphocytes and plasma
      cells such as Burkitt lymphoma (BL) and multiple myeloma (MM). METHODS: We used
      EMSA to detect constitutive NF-kappaB/STAT3 activity in BL- and MM-like neoplasms
      that spontaneously developed in single-transgenic IL6 (interleukin-6) or MYC (c
      Myc) mice, or in double-transgenic IL6MYC mice. qPCR measurements and analysis of
      clinical BL and MM datasets were employed to validate candidate NF-kappaB/STAT3
      target genes. RESULTS: qPCR demonstrated that IL6- and/or MYC-dependent neoplasms
      in mice invariably contain elevated mRNA levels of the NF-kappaB target genes,
      Cdkn1a and Fancd2. Clinical studies on human CDKN1A, which encodes the cell cycle
      inhibitor and tumor suppressor p21, revealed that high p21 message predicts poor
      therapy response and survival in BL patients. Similarly, up-regulation of FANCD2,
      which encodes a key member of the Fanconi anemia and breast cancer pathway of DNA
      repair, was associated with poor outcome of patients with MM, particularly those
      with high-risk disease. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that CDKN1A and FANCD2
      are potential oncotargets in BL and MM, respectively. Additionally, the IL-6-
      and/or MYC-driven mouse models of human BL and MM used in this study may lend
      themselves to the biological validation of CDKN1A and FANCD2 as molecular targets
      for new approaches to cancer therapy and prevention.

PMID- 25838974
TI  - M cell-derived vesicles suggest a unique pathway for trans-epithelial antigen
      delivery.
AB  - M cells are a subset of mucosal epithelial cells with specialized capability to
      transport antigens across the mucosal barrier, but there is limited information
      on antigen transfer in the subepithelial zone due to the challenges in tracking
      microparticles and antigens that are transcytosed by this unique cell. Using
      transgenic reporter mice expressing dsRed in the cytoplasm of M cells and EGFP in
      myeloid cells, we observed that the M cell basolateral pocket hosts a close
      interaction between B lymphocytes and dendritic cells. Interestingly, we
      identified a population of previously undescribed M cell-derived vesicles (MCM)
      that are constitutively shed into the subepithelial space and readily taken up by
      CX3CR1(+)CD11b(+) CD11c(+) dendritic cells. These MCM are characterized by their
      cytoplasmic dsRed confirming their origin from the M cell cytoplasm. MCM showed
      preferential colocalization in dendritic cells with transcytosed bacteria but not
      transcytosed polystyrene beads, indicating a selective sorting of cargo fate in
      the subepithelial zone. The size and number of MCM were found to be upregulated
      by bacterial transcytosis and soluble toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) agonist,
      further pointing to dynamic regulation of this mechanism. These results suggest
      that MCM provide a unique function by delivering to dendritic cells, various
      materials such as M cell-derived proteins, effector proteins, toxins, and
      particles found in the M cell cytoplasm during infection or surveillance. 

PMID- 25838975
TI  - The angiopoietin-Tie2 signaling axis in the vascular leakage of systemic
      inflammation.
AB  - The ability of small blood vessels to undergo rapid, reversible morphological
      changes is essential for the adaptive response to tissue injury or local
      infection. A canonical feature of this response is transient hyperpermeability.
      However, when leakiness is profound or persistent, adverse consequences accrue to
      the host, including organ dysfunction and shock. A growing body of literature
      identifies the Tie2 receptor, a transmembrane tyrosine kinase highly enriched in
      the endothelium, as an important regulator of vascular barrier function in health
      and in disease. The principal ligands of Tie2, Angiopoietins 1 and 2, exert
      opposite effects on this receptor in the context of inflammation. This review
      will focus on recent studies that have illuminated novel aspects of the
      exquisitely controlled Tie2 signaling axis while proposing unanswered questions
      and future directions for this field of study. 

PMID- 25838977
TI  - The human knee: A window on the microvasculature.
AB  - In synovial joints, the lining cells do not have tight junctions with their
      neighboring cells and they have no underlying basement membrane. Therefore, the
      synovial fluid within the articular cavity is continuous with the interstitial
      fluid of the synovial intima. These features, combined with ready access to the
      space via arthrocentesis, permit quantitative studies of microvascular function
      in the knees of unanesthetized, volunteer, human subjects both with and without
      chronic arthritis. This brief article reviews the principal findings of such work
      over ~40 years at the University of Washington. Examined variables include
      bidirectional fenestral diffusion of small solutes, effective blood flow,
      lymphatic drainage, and endothelial pore size and permeability. The latter work
      introduced a new method using gel filtration chromatography of paired synovial
      fluid (SF) and serum (S) to obtain essentially continuous SF/S ratios over a
      range of radii between 1 and 12 nanometers. 

PMID- 25838976
TI  - Epithelial adhesion molecules and the regulation of intestinal homeostasis during
      neutrophil transepithelial migration.
AB  - Epithelial adhesion molecules play essential roles in regulating cellular
      function and maintaining mucosal tissue homeostasis. Some form epithelial
      junctional complexes to provide structural support for epithelial monolayers and
      act as a selectively permeable barrier separating luminal contents from the
      surrounding tissue. Others serve as docking structures for invading viruses and
      bacteria, while also regulating the immune response. They can either obstruct or
      serve as footholds for the immune cells recruited to mucosal surfaces. Currently,
      it is well appreciated that adhesion molecules collectively serve as
      environmental cue sensors and trigger signaling events to regulate epithelial
      function through their association with the cell cytoskeleton and various
      intracellular adapter proteins. Immune cells, particularly neutrophils (PMN)
      during transepithelial migration (TEM), can modulate adhesion molecule
      expression, conformation, and distribution, significantly impacting epithelial
      function and tissue homeostasis. This review discusses the roles of key
      intestinal epithelial adhesion molecules in regulating PMN trafficking and
      outlines the potential consequences on epithelial function. 

PMID- 25838978
TI  - Metabolic regulation of intestinal epithelial barrier during inflammation.
AB  - The gastrointestinal mucosa has proven to be an interesting tissue for which to
      investigate disease-related metabolism. In this review, we outline some evidence
      that implicates metabolic signaling as important features of barrier in the
      healthy and disease. Studies from cultured cell systems, animal models and human
      patients have revealed that metabolites generated within the inflammatory
      microenvironment are central to barrier regulation. These studies have revealed a
      prominent role for hypoxia and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) at key steps in
      adenine nucleotide metabolism and within the creatine kinase pathway. Results
      from animal models of intestinal inflammation have demonstrated an almost
      uniformly beneficial influence of HIF stabilization on disease outcomes and
      barrier function. Studies underway to elucidate the contribution of immune
      responses will provide additional insight into how metabolic changes contribute
      to the complexity of the gastrointestinal tract and how such information might be
      harnessed for therapeutic benefit. 

PMID- 25838979
TI  - Bacterial protein AvrA stabilizes intestinal epithelial tight junctions via
      blockage of the C-Jun N-terminal kinase pathway.
AB  - The Salmonella type III secretory system secretes virulence proteins, called
      effectors. Effectors are responsible for the alteration of tight junctions (TJ)
      and epithelial functions in intestinal infection and inflammation. In a previous
      study, we have demonstrated that a bacterial effector AvrA plays a role in
      stabilizing TJs and balancing the opposing action of other bacterial effectors.
      However, the molecular mechanisms by which AvrA-modulates TJ protein expression
      remain unknown. AvrA possesses acetyltransferase activity toward specific mitogen
      activated protein kinase kinases (MAPKKs) and potently inhibits the c-Jun N
      terminal kinase (JNK) pathway in inflammation. Inhibition of the JNK pathway is
      known to inhibit the TJ protein disassemble. Therefore, we hypothesize that AvrA
      stabilizes intestinal epithelial TJs via c-Jun and JNK pathway blockage. Using
      both in vitro and in vivo models, we showed that AvrA targets the c-Jun and JNK
      pathway that in turn stabilizes TJ protein ZO-1. Inhibition of JNK abolished the
      effect of AvrA on ZO-1. We further determined that AvrA suppressed the
      transcription factor activator protein-1, which was regulated by activated JNK.
      Moreover, we identified the functional domain of AvrA that directly regulated TJs
      using a series of AvrA mutants. The role of AvrA represents a highly refined
      bacterial strategy that helps the bacteria survive in the host and dampens the
      inflammatory response of the host. Our findings have uncovered a novel role of
      the bacterial protein AvrA in suppressing the inflammatory response of the host
      through JNK-regulated blockage of epithelial cell barrier function. 

PMID- 25838981
TI  - Epidermal tight junctions in health and disease.
AB  - The skin, the largest organ of the body, is an essential barrier that under
      homeostatic conditions efficiently protects and/or minimizes damage from both
      environmental (e.g. microorganisms, physical trauma, ultraviolet radiation) and
      endogenous (e.g., cancers, inflammation) factors. This formidable barrier
      function resides mainly in the epidermis, a dynamic, highly-stratified
      epithelium. The epidermis has 2 major barrier structures: stratum corneum, the
      outmost layer and tight junctions, intercellular junctions that seal adjacent
      keratinocytes in the stratum granulosum, found below the stratum corneum. In
      recent years there have been significant advances in our understanding of tight
      junction function, composition and regulation. Herein we review what is known
      about tight junctions in healthy skin and keratinocyte culture systems and
      highlight the dynamic crosstalk observed between tight junctions and the
      cutaneous immune system. Finally we discuss the preliminary observations
      suggesting that tight junction function or protein expression may be relevant for
      the pathogenesis of a number of common cutaneous inflammatory and neoplastic
      conditions. 

PMID- 25838980
TI  - Cytoskeletal mechanisms regulating vascular endothelial barrier function in
      response to acute lung injury.
AB  - Endothelial cells (EC) form a semi-permeable barrier between the interior space
      of blood vessels and the underlying tissues. In acute lung injury (ALI) the EC
      barrier is weakened leading to increased vascular permeability. It is widely
      accepted that EC barrier integrity is critically dependent upon intact
      cytoskeletal structure and cell junctions. Edemagenic agonists, like thrombin or
      endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS), induced cytoskeletal rearrangement, and EC
      contractile responses leading to disruption of intercellular contacts and EC
      permeability increase. The highly clinically-relevant cytoskeletal mechanisms of
      EC barrier dysfunction are currently under intense investigation and will be
      described and discussed in the current review. 

PMID- 25838982
TI  - Claudin-2 as a mediator of leaky gut barrier during intestinal inflammation.
AB  - The epithelial tight junction determines the paracellular water and ion movement
      in the intestine and also prevents uptake of larger molecules, including
      antigens, in an uncontrolled manner. Claudin-2, one of the 27 mammalian claudins
      regulating that barrier function, forms a paracellular channel for small cations
      and water. It is typically expressed in leaky epithelia like proximal nephron and
      small intestine and provides a major pathway for the paracellular transport of
      sodium, potassium, and fluid. In intestinal inflammation (Crohn's disease,
      ulcerative colitis), immune-mediated diseases (celiac disease), and infections
      (HIV enteropathy), claudin-2 is upregulated in small and large intestine and
      contributes to diarrhea via a leak flux mechanism. In parallel to that
      upregulation, other epithelial and tight junctional features are altered and the
      luminal uptake of antigenic macromolecules is enhanced, for which claudin-2 may
      be partially responsible through induction of tight junction strand
      discontinuities. 

PMID- 25838797
TI  - Performance of the ATLAS muon trigger in pp collisions at [Formula: see text]
      TeV.
AB  - The performance of the ATLAS muon trigger system is evaluated with proton-proton
      collision data collected in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass
      energy of 8 TeV. It is primarily evaluated using events containing a pair of
      muons from the decay of [Formula: see text] bosons. The efficiency of the single
      muon trigger is measured for muons with transverse momentum [Formula: see text]
      GeV, with a statistical uncertainty of less than 0.01 % and a systematic
      uncertainty of 0.6 %. The [Formula: see text] range for efficiency determination
      is extended by using muons from decays of [Formula: see text] mesons, [Formula:
      see text] bosons, and top quarks. The muon trigger shows highly uniform and
      stable performance. The performance is compared to the prediction of a detailed
      simulation.

PMID- 25838984
TI  - NF-kappaB inhibitors impair lung epithelial tight junctions in the absence of
      inflammation.
AB  - NF-kappaB (p50/p65) is the best characterized transcription factor known to
      regulate cell responses to inflammation. However, NF-kappaB is also
      constitutively expressed. We used inhibitors of the classical NF-kappaB signaling
      pathway to determine whether this transcription factor has a role in regulating
      alveolar epithelial tight junctions. Primary rat type II alveolar epithelial
      cells were isolated and cultured on Transwell permeable supports coated with
      collagen for 5 d to generate a model type I cell monolayer. Treatment of alveolar
      epithelial monolayers overnight with one of 2 different IkappaB kinase inhibitors
      (BAY 11-7082 or BMS-345541) resulted in a dose-dependent decrease in TER at
      concentrations that did not affect cell viability. In response to BMS-345541
      treatment there was an increase in total claudin-4 and claudin-5 along with a
      decrease in claudin-18, as determined by immunoblot. However, there was little
      effect on the total amount of cell-associated claudin-7, occludin, junctional
      adhesion molecule A (JAM-A), zonula occludens (ZO)-1 or ZO-2. Moreover, treatment
      with BMS-345541 resulted in altered tight junction morphology as assessed by
      immunofluorescence microscopy. Cells treated with BMS-345541 had an increase in
      claudin-18 containing projections emanating from tight junctions ("spikes") that
      were less prominent in control cells. There also were several areas of cell-cell
      contact which lacked ZO-1 and ZO-2 localization as well as rearrangements to the
      actin cytoskeleton in response to BMS-345541. Consistent with an anti
      inflammatory effect, BMS-345541 antagonized the deleterious effects of
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on alveolar epithelial barrier function. However, BMS
      345541 also inhibited the ability of GM-CSF to increase alveolar epithelial TER.
      These data suggest a dual role for NF-kappaB in regulating alveolar barrier
      function and that constitutive NF-kappaB function is required for the integrity
      of alveolar epithelial tight junctions.

PMID- 25838983
TI  - Blood cells and endothelial barrier function.
AB  - The barrier properties of endothelial cells are critical for the maintenance of
      water and protein balance between the intravascular and extravascular
      compartments. An impairment of endothelial barrier function has been implicated
      in the genesis and/or progression of a variety of pathological conditions,
      including pulmonary edema, ischemic stroke, neurodegenerative disorders,
      angioedema, sepsis and cancer. The altered barrier function in these conditions
      is often linked to the release of soluble mediators from resident cells (e.g.,
      mast cells, macrophages) and/or recruited blood cells. The interaction of the
      mediators with receptors expressed on the surface of endothelial cells diminishes
      barrier function either by altering the expression of adhesive proteins in the
      inter-endothelial junctions, by altering the organization of the cytoskeleton, or
      both. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), proteolytic enzymes (e.g., matrix
      metalloproteinase, elastase), oncostatin M, and VEGF are part of a long list of
      mediators that have been implicated in endothelial barrier failure. In this
      review, we address the role of blood borne cells, including, neutrophils,
      lymphocytes, monocytes, and platelets, in the regulation of endothelial barrier
      function in health and disease. Attention is also devoted to new targets for
      therapeutic intervention in disease states with morbidity and mortality related
      to endothelial barrier dysfunction. 

PMID- 25838988
TI  - Estimating Vertex Measures in Social Networks by Sampling Completions of RDS
      Trees.
AB  - This paper presents a new method for obtaining network properties from incomplete
      data sets. Problems associated with missing data represent well-known stumbling
      blocks in Social Network Analysis. The method of "estimating connectivity from
      spanning tree completions" (ECSTC) is specifically designed to address situations
      where only spanning tree(s) of a network are known, such as those obtained
      through respondent driven sampling (RDS). Using repeated random completions
      derived from degree information, this method forgoes the usual step of trying to
      obtain final edge or vertex rosters, and instead aims to estimate network-centric
      properties of vertices probabilistically from the spanning trees themselves. In
      this paper, we discuss the problem of missing data and describe the protocols of
      our completion method, and finally the results of an experiment where ECSTC was
      used to estimate graph dependent vertex properties from spanning trees sampled
      from a graph whose characteristics were known ahead of time. The results show
      that ECSTC methods hold more promise for obtaining network-centric properties of
      individuals from a limited set of data than researchers may have previously
      assumed. Such an approach represents a break with past strategies of working with
      missing data which have mainly sought means to complete the graph, rather than
      ECSTC's approach, which is to estimate network properties themselves without
      deciding on the final edge set.

PMID- 25838986
TI  - IL-9 regulates intestinal barrier function in experimental T cell-mediated
      colitis.
AB  - As previous studies suggested that IL-9 may control intestinal barrier function,
      we tested the role of IL-9 in experimental T cell-mediated colitis induced by the
      hapten reagent 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS). The deficiency of IL-9
      suppressed TNBS-induced colitis and led to lower numbers of PU.1 expressing T
      cells in the lamia propria, suggesting a regulatory role for Th9 cells in the
      experimental TNBS colitis model. Since IL-9 is known to functionally alter
      intestinal barrier function in colonic inflammation, we assessed the expression
      of tight junction molecules in intestinal epithelial cells of TNBS-inflamed mice.
      Therefore we made real-time PCR analyses for tight junction molecules in the
      inflamed colon from wild-type and IL-9 KO mice, immunofluorescent stainings and
      investigated the expression of junctional proteins directly in intestinal
      epithelial cells of TNBS-inflamed mice by Western blot studies. The results
      demonstrated that sealing proteins like occludin were up regulated in the colon
      of inflamed IL-9 KO mice. In contrast, the tight junction protein Claudin1 showed
      lower expression levels when IL-9 is absent. Surprisingly, the pore-forming
      molecule Claudin2 revealed equal expression in TNBS-treated wild-type and IL-9
      deficient animals. These results illustrate the pleiotropic functions of IL-9 in
      changing intestinal permeability in experimental colitis. Thus, modulation of IL
      9 function emerges as a new approach for regulating barrier function in
      intestinal inflammation. 

PMID- 25838989
TI  - Early Life Metabolism of Bisphenol A: A Systematic Review of the Literature.
AB  - When a comprehensive report on BPA was published in 2008, few data were available
      to assess the extent to which known poor glucuronidation capacity impacts BPA
      internal dose in infants and young children. In this paper, evidence that has
      emerged since the 2008 report is summarized, including: 1) human biomarker
      studies in children aged 0-5 years; 2) animal studies of neonatal toxicokinetics;
      and 3) physically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models. To address limitations in
      these studies, we recommend more human biomonitoring studies in children aged 0-5
      years in which unmetabolized (free) BPA and BPA metabolites are separately
      quantified and detailed quality-control data are reported, investigation of
      metabolic differences between humans and animal species used for the study of BPA
      metabolism, and enzyme ontogeny studies, which along with biomonitoring studies
      would reduce uncertainty in PBPK models of early-life BPA metabolism.

PMID- 25838987
TI  - Control of vascular permeability by adhesion molecules.
AB  - Vascular permeability is a vital function of the circulatory system that is
      regulated in large part by the limited flux of solutes, water, and cells through
      the endothelial cell layer. One major pathway through this barrier is via the
      inter-endothelial junction, which is driven by the regulation of cadherin-based
      adhesions. The endothelium also forms attachments with surrounding proteins and
      cells via 2 classes of adhesion molecules, the integrins and IgCAMs. Integrins
      and IgCAMs propagate activation of multiple downstream signals that potentially
      impact cadherin adhesion. Here we discuss the known contributions of integrin and
      IgCAM signaling to the regulation of cadherin adhesion stability, endothelial
      barrier function, and vascular permeability. Emphasis is placed on known and
      prospective crosstalk signaling mechanisms between integrins, the IgCAMs- ICAM-1
      and PECAM-1, and inter-endothelial cadherin adhesions, as potential strategic
      signaling nodes for multipartite regulation of cadherin adhesion. 

PMID- 25838985
TI  - Roles and regulation of the mucus barrier in the gut.
AB  - The gastrointestinal tract is coated by a thick layer of mucus that forms the
      front line of innate host defense. Mucus consists of high molecular weight
      glycoproteins called mucins that are synthesized and secreted by goblet cells and
      functions primarily to lubricate the epithelium and protect it from damage by
      noxious substances. Recent studies have also suggested the involvement of goblet
      cells and mucins in complex immune functions such as antigen presentation and
      tolerance. Under normal physiological conditions, goblet cells continually
      produce mucins to replenish and maintain the mucus barrier; however, goblet cell
      function can be disrupted by various factors that can affect the integrity of the
      mucus barrier. Some of these factors such as microbes, microbial toxins and
      cytokines can stimulate or inhibit mucin production and secretion, alter the
      chemical composition of mucins or degrade the mucus layer. This can lead to a
      compromised mucus barrier and subsequently to various pathological conditions
      like chronic inflammatory diseases. Insight into how these factors modulate the
      mucus barrier in the gut is necessary in order to develop strategies to combat
      these disorders. 

PMID- 25838990
TI  - Joint GWAS Analysis: Comparing similar GWAS at different genomic resolutions
      identifies novel pathway associations with six complex diseases.
AB  - We show here that combining two existing genome wide association studies (GWAS)
      yields additional biologically relevant information, beyond that obtained by
      either GWAS separately. We propose Joint GWAS Analysis, a method that compares a
      pair of GWAS for similarity among the top SNP associations, top genes identified,
      gene functional clusters, and top biological pathways. We show that Joint GWAS
      Analysis identifies additional enriched biological pathways that would be missed
      by traditional Single-GWAS analysis. Furthermore, we examine the similarities of
      six complex genetic disorders at the SNP-level, gene-level, gene-cluster-level,
      and pathway-level. We make concrete hypotheses regarding novel pathway
      associations for several complex disorders considered, based on the results of
      Joint GWAS Analysis. Together, these results demonstrate that common complex
      disorders share substantially more genomic architecture than has been previously
      realized and that the meta-analysis of GWAS needs not be limited to GWAS of the
      same phenotype to be informative.

PMID- 25838991
TI  - Development of floating chitosan-xanthan beads for oral controlled release of
      glipizide.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of the present work was to develop controlled release,
      floating and mucoadhesive beads of glipizide by using the polyionic complexation
      technique. Plasma half-life of glipizide being 2-4 h was selected for development
      of controlled release dosage form. METHODS: Formulation batches were designed by
      employing chitosan as cationic and xanthan gum as anionic polymers. In vitro drug
      release was evaluated for the period of 24 h in phosphate buffer pH 7.4. RESULTS:
      Sustained release of drug was observed in all formulation batches with % drug
      release ranging from 87.50% to 100.67%, no significant effect on the drug release
      was observed after varying chitosan to xanthan gum ratio. Encapsulation
      efficiency was found to be in the range of 79.48 +/- 1.10-94.48 +/- 1.52. In
      vitro bioadhesion studies showed that beads had satisfactory bioadhesive strength
      ranging from 67.11% +/- 1.73% to 93.12% +/- 1.56%. Buoyancy studies revealed that
      beads possess comparable floating capacity in the gastric fluids. Swelling
      kinetics was carried in pH 1.2 and 7.4 buffers. Significant difference (P < 0.05)
      in swelling kinetics was observed. Drug to polymer interaction was analyzed by
      Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry
      studies. Scanning electron microscopy studies revealed that formed beads were
      discrete with rough and wrinkled surfaces. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, beads were
      successfully formed by employing chitosan and xanthan gum and showed to possess
      sustained release effect. Beads also showed pH dependent swelling kinetics, this
      property can also be applied for the drugs which are susceptible to the acidic
      environment in the stomach, and comparable bioadhesive and floating properties
      were also observed.

PMID- 25838992
TI  - Design and development and evaluation of candesartan cilexetil liquid filling
      formulations.
AB  - Most of the currently available drugs are having poor water solubility and suffer
      from low oral bioavailability. One of the most promising approaches to deliver
      such insoluble drugs is by dissolving it in lipids, liquids or semi-solids to
      formulate new products.[1] Candesartan meets the requirement of high potency but
      it is poorly absorbed when administered as tablets. Therefore the prodrug
      Candesartan cilexitil is developed.[2] Two piece hard gelatin liquid filling
      capsules are one of the most logical approaches when choosing the best dosage
      form to deliver these new liquid formulations.[1] Liquid filled formulations were
      prepared by employing different cosolvents and surfactants. The formulation
      containing SLS-2%, PVP- 17.5%, PEG-15%, and PG-53% exhibited desire solubility,
      rheological property and found to be stable in hard gelatin capsules. 

PMID- 25838993
TI  - Effect of the moist-heat sterilization on fabricated nanoscale solid lipid
      particles containing rasagiline mesylate.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nanoscale solid lipid particles of rasagiline mesylate (RM) were
      fabricated by microemulsion technique. The nanoscale particle must be sterile for
      intravenous administration, and several approaches are available for
      sterilization. However, the selection of sterilization technique for the
      fabricated RM loaded nanoscale solid lipid particles mainly depends on the nature
      of the drug that needs to be encapsulated and release pattern of the polymer.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: We have preferred moist heat sterilization, as it is the
      most convenient and the composition of the carrier and incorporated drug should
      remain unchanged and the incorporated drug should not leak out of the drug
      carrier. The physical and chemical stability of RM loaded nanoscale solid lipid
      particles investigated during sterilization and to determine the average mean
      particle size, polydispersity index, zeta potential (ZP), transmission electron
      microscopy (TEM), entrapment efficiency (EE), and drug content after autoclaving.
      RESULT: There were no significant changes in the average mean particle size,
      polydispersity index, ZP, TEM, EE, and drug content of RM loaded nanoscale solid
      lipid particles after autoclaving (121 degrees C for 20 min [15 lbs]).
      CONCLUSION: These observations suggest that the moist heat sterilization by
      autoclaving is the most suitable method for nanoscale solid lipid formulations.

PMID- 25838994
TI  - Formulation and characterization of sustained release dosage form of moisture
      sensitive drug.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to prepare sustained release tablet of
      moisture sensitive drug like Ranitidine Hydrochloride for treatment of
      gastroesophageal reflux disease along with the improvement of moisture stability
      to get better therapeutic efficacy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pan coating technique
      was used for coating of the tablet. Film coating was done using Eudragit RLPO and
      Eugragit EPO as coating polymer. 3(2) full factorial design was applied for
      optimization purpose, and 9 runs were conducted. In that Eudragit RLPO and
      Eudragit EPO taken as an independent variables and moisture gain and Cummulative
      Drug Release (CDR) were taken as dependent variables. Drug and excipient
      compatibility was done using differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier
      transform infrared spectroscopy study. The tablet was evaluated for
      precompression parameter and all postcompression parameter. Stability study was
      carried out at room temperature (30 degrees C +/- 2 degrees C/65% +/- 5% relative
      humidity). Final formulation was compared with marketed formulation RANTEC 300.
      RESULT: Tablets were passing out all precompression parameter along with
      postcompression parameter. Stability study shows that the parameter such as
      hardness, friability, and dissolution are in the range. Hence, there is no
      significant change shown after stability study. Our final formulation was
      compared with marketed formulation RANTEC 300 and result demonstrates that our
      final formulation have less moisture gain and give release up to 12 h.
      CONCLUSION: The result of present study demonstrates that final formulation has
      less moisture gain and getting desired CDR for sustained release of drug. On the
      basis of all study, it was concluded that the tablet was coated by combination of
      Eudragit RLPO 10% and Eudragit EPO 10% give better result. This formation
      provided promising approach for the drug release up to 12 h for moisture
      sensitive drug like ranitidine hydrochloride.

PMID- 25838995
TI  - Formulation of rizatriptan benzoate fast dissolving buccal films by emulsion
      evaporation technique.
AB  - AIM: The present study deals with the formulation of fast dissolving films of
      Rizatriptan benzoate that is used for the treatment of Migraine. The concept of
      fast-dissolving drug delivery emerged from the desire to provide patient with
      more conventional means of taking their medication. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the
      present research work, various trials were carried out using film forming agents
      such as maltodextrin, gum karaya and xanthan gum to prepare an ideal film.
      Emulsion evaporation method was used for the preparation of films. The prepared
      films were evaluated for weight uniformity, drug content, film thickness, folding
      endurance, dispersion test and curling. The in vitro dissolution studies were
      carried out using simulated salivary fluid (pH 6.8 phosphate buffer). RESULTS:
      About 97% of the drug was found to be released from the film within 10 min that
      is a desirable character for fast absorption. The drug excipient interaction
      studies carried out by differential scanning calorimetry analysis and Fourier
      transform infrared studies revealed that there were no major interactions between
      the drugs and excipients used for the preparation of films. CONCLUSION: Fast
      dissolving films of Rizatriptan benzoate prepared by emulsion evaporation
      technique were found to be suitable for eliciting better therapeutic effect in
      the treatment of migraine.

PMID- 25838996
TI  - Chronomodulated drug delivery system of urapidil for the treatment of
      hypertension.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Hypertension is a disease which shows circadian rhythm in the
      pattern of two peaks, one in the evening at about 7pm and other in the early
      morning between 4 am to 8 am. Conventional therapies are incapable to target
      those time points when actually the symptoms get worsened. To achieve drug
      release at two time points, chronomodulated delivery system may offer greater
      benefits. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The chronomodulated system comprised of dual
      approach; immediate release granules (IRG) and pulsatile release mini-tablets
      (PRM) filled in the hard gelatin capsule. The mini-tablets were coated using
      Eudragit S-100 which provided the lag time. To achieve the desired release,
      various parameters like coating duration and coat thickness were studied. The
      immediate release granules were evaluated for micromeritical properties and drug
      release, while mini-tablets were evaluated for various parameters such as
      hardness, thickness, friability, weight variation, drug content, and
      disintegration time and in-vitro drug release. Compatibility of drug-excipient
      was checked by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Differential scanning
      calorimetry studies and pellets morphology was done by Scanning electron
      microscopy studies. RESULTS: The in-vitro release profile suggested that
      immediate release granules gives drug release within 20 min at the time of
      evening attack while the programmed pulsatile release was achieved from coated
      mini-tablets after a lag time of 9hrs, which was consistent with the demand of
      drug during early morning hour attack. Pellets found to be spherical in shape
      with smooth surface. Moreover compatibility studies illustrated no deleterious
      reaction between drug and polymers used in the study. CONCLUSIONS: The dual
      approach of developed chronomodulated formulation found to be satisfactory in the
      treatment of hypertension.

PMID- 25838997
TI  - Solubility enhancement studies on lurasidone hydrochloride using mixed
      hydrotropy.
AB  - Low aqueous solubility is a major problem faced during formulation development of
      new drug molecules. Lurasidone HCl (LRD) is an antipsychotic agent specially used
      in the treatments of schizophrenia and is a good example of the problems
      associated with low aqueous solubility. Lurasidone is practically insoluble in
      water, has poor bioavailability and slow onset of action and therefore cannot be
      given in emergency clinical situations like schizophrenia. Hence, purpose of this
      research was to provide a fast dissolving oral dosage form of Lurasidone. This
      dosage form can provide quick onset of action by using the concept of mixed
      hydrotropy. Initially, solubility of LRD was determined individually in
      nicotinamide, sodium citrate, urea and sodium benzoate at concentration of 10,
      20, 30 and 40% w/v solutions using purified water as a solvent. Highest
      solubility was obtained in 40% sodium benzoate solution. In order to decrease the
      individual hydrotrope concentration mixed hydrotropic agents were used. Highest
      solubility was obtained in 15:20:5 ratio of Nicotinamide + sodium benzoate +
      sodium citrate. This optimized combination was utilized in the preparation of
      solid dispersions by using distilled water as a solvent. Solid dispersions were
      evaluated for X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier
      transform infrared to show no drug-hydrotropes interaction has occurred. This
      solid dispersion was compressed to form fast dissolving tablets. Dissolution
      studies of prepared tablets were done using USP Type II apparatus. The batch L3
      tablets show 88% cumulative drug release within 14 min and in vitro dispersion
      time was 32 min. It was concluded that the concept of mixed hydrotropic solid
      dispersion is novel, safe and cost-effective technique for enhancing the
      bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs. The miraculous enhancement in
      solubility and bioavailability of Lurasidone is clear indication of the potential
      of mixed hydrotropy to be used in future for other poorly water-soluble drugs in
      which low bioavailability is a major concern. 

PMID- 25838998
TI  - Clinical use of Insulin Degludec: Practical Experience and Pragmatic Suggestions.
AB  - Insulin degludec (IDeg) is an ultralong acting basal insulin. IDeg has unique
      pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties which allow once a daily dosage,
      at any time of the day. Its use is associated with a significantly lower risk of
      hypoglycemia. This review discusses the pragmatic use of IDeg, based on available
      evidence. A complete search of all nine original research papers (BEGIN(r)
      clinical trial program) pertaining to IDeg, listed in PubMed, was made to prepare
      this article. 

PMID- 25838999
TI  - Statin Intolerance Because of Myalgia, Myositis, Myopathy, or Myonecrosis Can in
      Most Cases be Safely Resolved by Vitamin D Supplementation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Low serum vitamin D can cause myalgia, myositis, myopathy, and
      myonecrosis. Statin-induced myalgia is a major and common cause of statin
      intolerance. Low serum vitamin D and statins, additively or synergistically,
      cause myalgia, myositis, myopathy, and/or myonecrosis. Statin-induced myalgia in
      vitamin D deficient patients can often be resolved by vitamin D supplementation,
      normalizing serum vitamin D levels. AIMS: In 74 men and 72 women (age 59 +/- 14
      years) intolerant to >=2 statins because of myalgia, myositis, myopathy, or
      myonecrosis and found to have low (<32 ng/mL) serum vitamin D, we prospectively
      assessed whether vitamin D supplementation (vitamin D2: 50,000-100,000
      units/week) to normalize serum vitamin D would allow successful rechallenge
      therapy with statins. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Follow-up evaluation on vitamin D
      supplementation was done on 134 patients at 6 months (median 5.3), 103 patients
      at 12 months (median 12.2), and 82 patients at 24 months (median 24). RESULTS:
      Median entry serum vitamin D (22 ng/mL, 23 ng/mL, and 23 ng/mL) rose at 6 months,
      12 months, and 24 months follow-up to 53 ng/mL, 53 ng/mL, and 55 ng/mL,
      respectively, (P < .0001 for all) on vitamin D therapy (50,000-100,000
      units/week). On vitamin D supplementation, serum vitamin D normalized at 6
      months, 12 months, and 24 months follow-up in 90%, 86%, and 91% of the patients,
      respectively. On rechallenge with statins while on vitamin D supplementation,
      median low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC) fell from the study entry (167
      mg/dL, 164 mg/dL, and 158 mg/dL) to 90 mg/dL, 91 mg/dL, and 84 mg/dL,
      respectively, (P < .0001 for all). On follow-up at median 6 months, 12 months,
      and 24 months on statins and vitamin D, 88%, 91%, and 95% of the previously
      statin-intolerant patients, respectively, were free of myalgia, myositis,
      myopathy, and/or myonecrosis. CONCLUSIONS: Statin intolerance because of myalgia,
      myositis, myopathy, or myonecrosis associated with low serum vitamin D can be
      safely resolved by vitamin D supplementation (50,000-100,000 units /week) in most
      cases (88-95%).

PMID- 25839000
TI  - Nicotine Dependence, Physical Activity, and Sedentary Behavior among Adult
      Smokers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Research has previously demonstrated an inverse association between
      smoking status and physical activity; however, few studies have examined the
      association between nicotine dependence and physical activity or sedentary
      behavior. AIM: This study examined the association between nicotine dependence
      and accelerometer-determined physical activity and sedentary behavior. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Data from the 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination
      Survey (NHANES) were used. A total of 851 adult (>=20 years) smokers wore an
      accelerometer for >=4 days and completed the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine
      Dependence scale. Regression models were used to examine the association between
      nicotine dependence and physical activity/sedentary behavior. RESULTS: After
      adjusting for age, gender, race-ethnicity, poverty level, hypertension,
      emphysema, bronchitis, body mass index (BMI), cotinine, and accelerometer wear
      time, smokers 50 + years of age with greater nicotine dependence engaged in more
      sedentary behavior (beta = 11.4, P = 0.02) and less light-intensity physical
      activity (beta = -9.6, P = 0.03) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
      (MVPA; beta = -0.14, P = 0.003) than their less nicotine dependent counterparts.
      CONCLUSION: Older adults who are more nicotine dependent engage in less physical
      activity (both MVPA and light-intensity) and more sedentary behavior than their
      less nicotine dependent counterparts.

PMID- 25839001
TI  - Antidepressant-like activity of flunarizine in modified tail suspension test in
      rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Flunarizine, a Ca(2+) channel blocker, crosses blood brain barrier
      (BBB), antagonizes calcium influx and interferes with neurotransmitter system.
      Flunarizine 20 mg/kg exhibited significant antidepressant activity in our
      previous study using forced swim test (FST) in mice, which was contradictory to
      the findings of other authors. Hence, the present study was designed to
      strengthen the results of our previous study, using the modified tail suspension
      test (TST) in rats. AIM: Aim of this study was to evaluate the antidepressant
      activity of flunarizine versus standard antidepressant drug fluoxetine in
      modified TST in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study approved by Institutional
      Animal Ethics Committee was conducted using 24 adult albino rats (n = 6 in each
      group). Antidepressant effect of normal saline (0.1 ml/100 g), fluoxetine (10
      mg/kg, intraperitoneally (ip)), and flunarizine (2 and 10 mg/kg, ip) was
      evaluated by using modified TST in rats. Thirty minutes after administration of
      all test drugs the duration of immobility was recorded for a period of 5 min in
      all rats by using modified TST. The data was analyzed by Student's t-test and one
      way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and P < 0.05 was considered significant.
      RESULTS: Mean duration of immobility was significantly reduced in fluoxetine and
      flunarizine (10 mg/kg, ip) group as compared to the normal saline, that is,
      160.33, 175.17, and 226.83 s, respectively (P < 0.05). Decrease in immobility
      with flunarizine (10 mg/kg, ip) was statistically significant compared with
      normal saline, but was not found to be significant when compared to fluoxetine (P
      > 0.05). Also, currently used human dose of flunarizine when extrapolated to rats
      (i. e., 2 mg/kg, ip) failed to show significant antidepressant effect in modified
      TST in rats. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicate antidepressant
      like activity of flunarizine.

PMID- 25839002
TI  - Factors associated with the uptake of cervical cancer screening among women in
      portland, Jamaica.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women
      worldwide and is the leading cause of deaths in developing countries. Despite the
      strong evidence that cervical cancer screening results in decreased mortality
      from this disease, the uptake for cervical screening among Jamaican women remains
      low. AIMS: This study was carried out to identify factors associated with
      Jamaican women's decisions to screen for cervical cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Cross-sectional descriptive study of 403 women aged 19 years and older from
      Portland, Jamaica. An interviewer-administered questionnaire assessed the women's
      cervical cancer screening history, as well as their knowledge, attitudes, and
      practices regarding the disease and screening. RESULTS: Of the 403 women
      interviewed, 66% had a Papanicolaou (Pap) smear and only 16% had a Pap test
      within the past year. Significant predicators of uptake of screening were being
      married, age, parity, discussing cancer with health provider, perception of
      consequences of not having a Pap smear, and knowing a person with cervical
      cancer. Women who did not know where to go for a Pap smear were 85% less likely
      to have been screened (prevalence odds ratio (POR): 0.15, 95% confidence interval
      (CI): 0.04, 0.52). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed suboptimal uptake of cervical
      cancer screening among Jamaican women. Multipronged approaches are needed to
      address barriers to screening, as well as identify and support conditions that
      encourage women's use of reproductive health services, thereby reducing incidence
      and mortality rates from cervical cancer.

PMID- 25839003
TI  - Left ventricular aneurysm and ventricular tachycardia as initial presentation of
      cardiac sarcoidosis.
AB  - CONTEXT: Cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) is a rare, potentially fatal disease. It has a
      wide range of clinical presentations that range from asymptomatic
      electrocardiogram changes to sudden cardiac death. Ventricular aneurysms and
      ventricular tachycardia are seen late in the disease, and are rarely the
      presenting manifestation of the disease. Diagnosis of CS is challenging and often
      missed or delayed. CASE REPORT: We report a 35-year-old patient who presented
      with sustained ventricular tachycardia and ST-elevation on electrocardiogram.
      Cardiac catheterization showed normal coronaries and left ventricular aneurysm.
      Subsequent 2D-echocardiography showed an infiltrative disease pattern. Cardiac
      MRI was done and showed late gadolinium enhancement in the septum, apex and
      lateral wall. The patient was diagnosed with cardiac sarcoidosis and treated with
      immune suppression and antiarrhythmic agent. In addition underwent AICD
      implantation. CONCLUSION: Our case highlights the importance of suspecting
      cardiac sarcoidosis in young patients presenting with electrocardiogram changes,
      and present an atypical presentation of this disease.

PMID- 25839004
TI  - Thyrotoxic periodic paralysis in long standing graves' disease: an unusual
      presentation with normokalemia.
AB  - CONTEXT: Thyrotoxic periodic paralysis (TPP) is a potentially life-threatening
      complication of hyperthyroidism that is underdiagnosed and frequently missed. It
      is relatively common in Asian men with Graves' disease. TPP attacks are
      frequently associated with hypokalemia. CASE REPORT: Here we report a non-Asian
      female patient with Graves' disease, who presented with flaccid paralysis
      associated with an episode of subacute thyroiditis (SAT). Interestingly, she was
      found to have low normal potassium levels in the serum during the initial attack
      despite which she continues to require low dose potassium supplementation to
      prevent recurrent TPP attacks. Unique features in our patient include her gender,
      ethnicity, time lag between initial diagnosis of Graves' disease, and the
      development of TPP and borderline low potassium levels, with the continuous need
      for prophylactic potassium supplementation. CONCLUSION: It is important to be
      aware of this complication of hyperthyroidism that has a dramatic yet variable
      presentation, but is readily amenable to therapy.

PMID- 25839005
TI  - Rhabdomyolysis secondary to influenza a infection: a case report and review of
      the literature.
AB  - CONTEXT: Rhabdomyolysis is a serious clinical syndrome that results from damage
      to skeletal muscles. Common causes include drugs, crush injuries, seizures, heat,
      exertion, and infection. Viral infections, particularly Influenza A, have been
      recognized as a cause of rhabdomyolysis. CASE REPORT: Our report describes a 58
      year-old male who presented with viral pneumonia secondary to Influenza A virus
      infection. His hospital course was complicated by acute renal failure secondary
      to rhabdomyolysis, which was attributed to an overwhelming viremia. We discuss
      the differential diagnosis of rhabdomyolysis and review the literature for cases
      of Influenza A-related rhabdomyolysis. We also discuss the proposed mechanisms
      for the condition. CONCLUSION: The scope of clinical manifestations of Influenza
      A infection extends beyond pulmonary syndromes. Rhabdomyolysis is being
      increasingly recognized as a complication of Influenza A infection with
      considerable morbidity and mortality.

PMID- 25839006
TI  - Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal dominant
      disorder, which affects various internal organs and has a tendency for bleeding.
      It has a classic triad of mucocutaneous telangiectasias, recurrent hemorrhages
      and positive familial history of first-degree relative. Epistaxis or
      gastrointestinal telangiectasia can be fatal in a small number of cases. CASE
      REPORT: A 44-year-old woman came with complaints of recurrent episodes of
      hematemesis and epistaxis. Patient had a family history of similar complaints.
      Patient underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), which revealed telangiectasia
      in the stomach. Imaging of the abdomen showed features suggestive of
      arteriovenous shunting. CONCLUSION: HHT can remain undiagnosed for a long time,
      and is rarely being reported in the literature with management needing a
      multidisciplinary approach with early inputs from a gastroenterologist.

PMID- 25839007
TI  - Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy under Epidural Anesthesia: A Feasibility Study.

PMID- 25839008
TI  - The changing face of acute myeloid leukemia therapeutics in the elderly
      population.

PMID- 25839009
TI  - What is the way forward for unresectable oral cavity cancers among Indian
      patients?

PMID- 25839010
TI  - Role of low dose cytarabine in elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia: An
      experience.
AB  - PURPOSE: To highlight the acceptable results seen after use of low dose
      cytarabine in elderly patients of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with
      comorbidities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a prospective study carried on 30
      newly diagnosed patients of AML over 60 years of age who were unfit for standard
      treatment regimens. We did not use azacytidine and decitabine in our patients
      because these therapeutic modalities being extremely costly and our patient
      affordability being poor. After taking patient consent and institutional ethical
      clearance these patients were treated with 20 mg/m(2) cytarabine subcutaneously
      in two divided doses 12 h apart for 4 days every week for 4 weeks which
      constituted a cycle before disease, re-assessment was done. A repeat cycle was
      administered where ever needed and after attainment of remission, we continued
      low dose cytarabine for 2 days/week as maintenance after complete or partial
      response was documented. RESULTS: In our study, we found that around 20% of
      patients achieved complete remission and 30% partial remission. The remission
      rates were definitely influenced by counts at presentation, performance at
      presentation, comorbidities, underlying myelodysplastic syndrome and baseline
      cytogenetics. CONCLUSION: Low dose cytarabine is effective treatment option for
      elderly patients with AML when standard treatment options are not warranted.

PMID- 25839011
TI  - Open-label observational study to assess the efficacy and safety of aprepitant
      for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting prophylaxis in Indian patients
      receiving chemotherapy with highly emetogenic chemotherapy/moderately emetogenic
      chemotherapy regimens.
AB  - CONTEXT: Currently, there is limited data on the prevention of chemotherapy
      induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in Indian population with aprepitant
      containing regimens. AIMS: The aim was to assess the Efficacy and Safety of
      Aprepitant for the prevention of nausea and vomiting associated with highly
      emetogenic chemotherapy/moderately emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC/MEC) regimens.
      SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Investigator initiated, multicentric, open-label,
      prospective, noncomparative, observational trial. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Triple
      drug regimen with aprepitant, palonosetron, and dexamethasaone administration was
      assessed for the prevention of CINV during acute, delayed, and the overall phase
      (OP) for HEC/MEC Regimens. The primary endpoint was complete response (CR; no
      emesis and no use of rescue medication) and the key secondary endpoint was the
      complete control (CC; no emesis, no rescue medication and no more than mild
      nausea) during the OP. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Perprotocol efficacy was
      analyzed for the first cycle with results represented in terms of CR/CC rates
      using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Seventy-five patients were included in the
      study with median age of 49.7 years and 89.7% being females. The CR rate (OP) for
      patients administered HEC or MEC regimens during the first cycle were 92% and
      90.9%, respectively. Similarly, the CC rates (OP) were 75% and 90% for these
      regimens, respectively. 7 (9.2%) patients reported adverse drug reactions that
      were mild and transient with no reports of any serious adverse events.
      CONCLUSIONS: Use of aprepitant containing regimen for patients receiving HEC/MEC
      regimen resulted in significantly high CR and CC response rates, which further
      consolidate its potential role to improve patient quality of life and compliance
      to disease management.

PMID- 25839012
TI  - Simultaneous integrated boost with intensity modulated radiation therapy in brain
      oligometastases: A feasible technique for developing countries.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: To analyze the pattern of brain metastasis (BM), and to use
      intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for target dose escalation in cases
      with <=3 metastatic lesions (oligometastases). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-two
      consecutive cases of BM treated during September 2009 to August 2012 were
      analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: The study comprised 13 males (40.62%) and 19
      females (59.37%). Thirteen (40%) patients presented with disseminated
      intracranial metastases, while 19 (60%) had <=3 foci. In 25 cases (78%), the
      primary was located either in the breast (14 cases) or lung (11 cases). The 13
      patients with disseminated intracranial metastases received whole brain radiation
      therapy to a dose of 30 Gy/10-12 daily fractions (Group A) while the 19 cases
      with <=3 lesions received an additional dose of 6-10 Gy to gross lesions using a
      simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) with IMRT thus receiving a total dose of 36
      40 Gy/12-15 fractions (Group B). Overall survival (OS) for the breast primary was
      6.3 and lung primary was 5.3 months, respectively. The mean OS for breast cases
      in Group B was higher (9.5 months) as compared to Group A cases (1.9 months) and
      was statistically significant (P = 0.0056). Similarly, primary lung cancer cases
      in Group B showed a mean OS of 8.75 months versus 2.6 months for Group A cases (P
      = 0.213). CONCLUSIONS: IMRT is a safe and effective technique in cases with
      oligometastases for dose escalation in the form of SIB.

PMID- 25839013
TI  - Impact of changing trends of treatment on outcome of cerebral gliosarcoma: A
      tertiary care centre experience.
AB  - AIM: To assess clinicopathological features and outcomes in patients of primary
      gliosarcoma with changing trends of treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical
      records were reviewed and data collected on primary gliosarcoma over a 5-year
      period (2009-2013) from the departmental case files. RESULTS: A total 27 patients
      were included in this study. The median age of presentation was 54 years. There
      was a slight male preponderance, with male to female ratio of 1.25:1. The most
      common location of the tumor was temporal lobe (44.4%). Gross total resection was
      possible in 19 cases, near total excision was done in five cases, and only
      partial excision with decompression in three cases. Of the 27 patients, 80.8%
      patients received post-operative radical external beam radiotherapy of 60
      Gy/30#/6 weeks. Concurrent and adjuvant temozolomide was used in 42.3% cases,
      depending on affordability and tolerance. Median overall survival was 9 months.
      On subgroup analysis, median overall survival in the radiotherapy plus
      temozolomide group was 10 months as compared to 9 months in the radiotherapy
      alone group; however, this was not statistically significant.(P = 0.244).
      CONCLUSION: Treating Gliosarcoma is a major therapeutic challenge for a clinician
      because of its poor prognosis, aggressive clinical behavior, rarity, and limited
      clinical experience. With surgery and concurrent chemoradiation, we were able to
      achieve a median overall survival of 9 months. Addition of temozolomide has shown
      a better trend in survival though it is not statistically significant.

PMID- 25839014
TI  - Addition of magnetic resonance imaging to computed tomography-based three
      dimensional conformal radiotherapy planning for postoperative treatment of
      astrocytomas: Changes in tumor volume and isocenter shift.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Postoperative radiotherapy is the current gold standard treatment
      in astrocytomas. Computed tomography (CT)-based radiotherapy planning leads to
      either missing of the tumor volume or underdosing. The aim of this prospective
      study was to study the changes in tumor volume on addition of magnetic resonance
      imaging (MRI) to CT-based three-dimensional radiotherapy treatment planning of
      astrocytomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-five consecutive patients of
      astrocytoma (WHO grades I-IV) for postoperative three-dimensional conformal
      radiotherapy were included in this prospective study. Postoperative tumor volumes
      were contoured on CT-based images and recontoured on CT-MRI images after
      automated MRI co-registration on treatment planning system Eclipse 8.9.15 as per
      ICRU-50 report. Tumor volumes were compared with each other. RESULT: The MRI
      based mean and median tumor volume was 24.24 cc +/- 13.489 and 18.72 cc (range
      5.6-46.48 cc), respectively, while for CT it was 19.4 cc +/- 11.218 and 16.24 cc
      (range: 5.1-38.72 cc), respectively. The mean and median isocenter shift between
      CT and MRI was 4.05 mm and 4.39 mm (range 0.92-6.32 mm), respectively. There is a
      linear relationship between MRI and CT volume with a good correlation coefficient
      of R (2) = 0.989, and MRI-based tumor volume was 1.208 times as compared to CT
      volume. Statistical analysis using paired sample t-test for the difference in CT
      and MRI tumor volume was highly significant (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Addition of
      MRI to the CT-based three-dimensional radiation treatment planning reduces the
      chances of geographical miss or tumor under dosing. Thus, MRI should be an
      integral part of three-dimensional planning of astrocytomas.

PMID- 25839015
TI  - Cancer related fatigue: A ubiquitous problem yet so under reported, under
      recognized and under treated.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cancer related fatigue (CRF) is a problem that is highly under
      reported, under recognized and thus, under treated. About 80% of patients
      receiving chemotherapy/radiotherapy experience CRF, making it the most common
      side effect of cancer treatment. Functional assessment of chronic illness therapy
      fatigue (FACIT-F) version-4 is a 13 item questionnaire that has been used to
      measure the level of fatigue of cancer patients during their daily activities
      over the past 7 days. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 92 patients of age 18 years and
      above attending the oncology Out Patient Department (OPD) of a regional cancer
      center were recruited in this study and were given FACIT-F questionnaire. The
      relevant sociodemographic parameters were obtained from the medical records of
      the patients. The internal consistency of the 13 items was measured using the
      Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: The Cronbach alpha coefficient for FACIT-F scale in
      our study was found to be 0.74. Kendall's coefficient of concordance was
      estimated to be 0.080. The correlation between Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group
      (ECOG) performance status and mean score of FACIT-F was studied, Pearson
      correlation coefficient was estimated to be 0.271 (P = 0.009). CONCLUSIONS: FACIT
      F is a brief, simple, easy to administer and patient friendly tool to measure the
      fatigue in last 7 days. CRF should be given adequate attention from the beginning
      of the treatment to improve the quality of life of cancer patients.

PMID- 25839016
TI  - Denominators: An attempt to adjust for cancer incidence and mortality rates and
      its role in cancer registries.
AB  - Cancer is an important public health burden in India and around the Globe.
      Incident cases of cancer are reported continuously, and trends in incidence rates
      vary among five yearly age group. In India National census is carried out after
      every 10 years since 1951, the latest census is carried out in 2011. As Incident
      cases of cancer are reported continuously for 5 year age group and estimation of
      rates and trends for a given year of interest fall in-between two census period
      population estimation of five yearly age group, which serves as Denominator sense
      importance. Denominator serves as the most essential part of any cancer registry
      program as it used for calculation of various rates for five yearly age group
      such as age-standardized rate, crude rate, truncated rate, cumulative risk etc.,
      Calculated by different registries and Individual Researchers, Government
      organizations, etc. Currently most of the registries used individual exponential
      growth rate and differential distribution method to estimate the growth rate.
      However, it is found that the calculated rates and risk be suffering from bias
      most of the time since some method over and underestimate the growth rate while
      some does not able to maintain consistency. Here, an attempt is made to adjust
      the world standard population with two census period to estimate the five yearly
      age group for a given year of interest of a geographical region falls in-between
      two census period. It is also shown here that how the proposed model "age
      adjusted population growth model" maintain the overall growth as in exponential
      growth model and difference distribution method also maintains the estimated
      growth rate is as found in difference distribution method. Further, it is tried
      to highlight the points how these method overcomes the problems compared with
      other methods that are currently used by registries. 

PMID- 25839017
TI  - Immunohistochemical detection of axillary lymph node micrometastases in node
      negative breast cancer patients using cytokeratin and epithelial membrane
      antigen.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The study was conducted to detect occult metastases in
      lymph node negative breast cancer patients using cytokeratin (CK) and epithelial
      membrane antigen (EMA) immunohistochemistry (IHC) and correlate this with primary
      tumor size and grade. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 32 cases including 12
      prospective and 20 retrospective cases of axillary lymph node negative breast
      cancer were studied. CK and EMA IHC were performed to detect micrometastases.
      RESULTS: Axillary lymph node metastases were detected in 18.75% of previously
      node negative cases using CK and EMA IHC. CK was found to be more sensitive for
      detection of metastases compared to EMA. A highly significant correlation was
      observed between tumor grade and axillary lymph node metastases detected by CK
      and EMA. However, no significant correlation was found between tumor size and
      axillary lymph node metastases detected by IHC. CONCLUSION: In the present study,
      there was an increase of 18.75% in the occult metastases detection rate using CK
      and EMA. To conclude, IHC detection of occult metastases should be done using CK
      in all axillary node negative cases, especially in T1 and T2 stage tumors.

PMID- 25839018
TI  - Cytological grading of breast carcinoma on fine needle aspirates and its relation
      with histological grading.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Grading of breast carcinoma on fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC)
      is beneficial for selecting patients for neoadjuvant chemotherapy. AIMS: To grade
      the breast carcinoma on FNAC using Robinson grading system and to assess the
      concordance of cytological grading (CG) with histological grading (HG) using
      Elston-Ellis modification of Scarff-Bloom-Richardson grading system. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: The study was conducted for 1-year, comprising of 50 female patients
      attending outpatient departments (OPD) as well as admitted in various surgical
      wards of a teaching hospital, diagnosed as breast carcinoma. FNAC smears were
      stained with May-Grunwald-Giemsa and Papanicolaou (Pap) stains and CG was done
      using Robinson system on Pap stained smears. The results were compared with HG
      system after resection of tumors. RESULTS: Of 50 cases, 14 (28%) cases were
      graded as grade I, 24 (48%) grade II, and 12 (24%) grade III by CG, whereas 9
      (18%), 28 (56%) and 13 (26%) cases were graded as grade I, II and III by HG. The
      result showed overall 72% concordance of CG with HG, with grade II and grade III
      showing highest degree of concordance (83.33%), which is comparable to previous
      studies. Kappa measurement showed a higher degree of agreement in high-grade
      tumors compared with low-grade tumors (0.73 in grade III, 0.53 in grade II and
      0.39 in grade I). CONCLUSION: Cytological grading is comparable to HG in majority
      of cases. Because neoadjuvant chemotherapy is becoming increasingly popular as
      primary treatment modality of breast cancer, CG could be a useful parameter in
      selecting the mode of therapy and predicting tumor behavior.

PMID- 25839019
TI  - Role of FNAC in Hepatic lesions: Risk of track metastases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Liver is one of the most common site of metastases in patients with
      malignancy and the evaluation of space occupying lesions (SOL) of liver in
      patients with malignancy is important. Its important to differentiate benign from
      malignant to take necessary decisions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We have performed a
      retrospective analysis of liver SOLs for which fine needle aspiration cytology
      (FNAC) was done in the year 2011. Risks and benefits associated with FNAC were
      evaluated. RESULTS: We analyzed 755 patients who underwent FNAC of which 524
      patients had secondary metastases to liver, 148 patients had primary
      hepatocellular carcinoma, 14 cases were benign neoplasms and 53 were
      nonneoplastic conditions. Histological correlation with FNAC was available in 112
      patients. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative
      predictive value, and accuracy were 93%, 90.9%, 98.9%, 58.8%, and 92.8%,
      respectively. Though there were no incidence of bleeding, two patients developed
      track metastases following FNAC. One was a case of Hepatocellular carcinoma and
      the other a case of metastatic breast cancer. CONCLUSION: FNAC was very much
      useful in our setup where most of the patients could not afford for Computer
      tomography (CT) scan and was useful in counseling them especially in patients
      with advanced malignancy where no active cancer directed therapy is required.

PMID- 25839020
TI  - Novel formulation of cytarabine and daunorubicin: A new hope in AML treatment.
AB  - Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treatment has always been a challenge to the
      treating physician. Continuous efforts are being made to improve treatment
      outcomes in AML. CPX-351 is a pharmacologic advancement in this direction. It is
      a liposomal fixed drug combination of cytarabine and daunorubicin. Early studies
      indicate that it will play a big role in AML treatment. This is a short review
      about this drug. 

PMID- 25839021
TI  - Giant solitary trichoepithelioma.
AB  - Adnexal tumors like giant solitary trichoepitheliomas are uncommon to most of us
      to permit a ready familiarity with them. Information regarding the genesis,
      clinical profile, behavior, and management options for this tumor is limited.
      There are 18 cases reported in the world literature till date. This review
      attempts to provide insight to this rare tumor. Our search included indexed
      literature from Pubmed, Directory of Open Access Journals, Health Inter Network
      Access to Research Initiative and Google databases in addition to standard
      dermatology texts. Giant solitary trichoepithelioma is a rare trichogenic tumor
      with potential for local recurrence. It has predilection for the older age, but
      may present at any age including at birth. It has close resemblance to basal cell
      carcinoma and other skin adnexal tumors - clinically, cytologically, and
      histologically. CD10, CD 34, PHLDA1 but not p75NTR are useful adjunct markers.
      Surgical excision is the standard treatment. Recurrence and possible
      transformation into BCC cautions follow up at regular intervals. 

PMID- 25839022
TI  - Laparoscopic management of sigmoidorectal intussusception caused by sigmoid
      carcinoma.

PMID- 25839023
TI  - Subcutaneous implantation of metastatic carcinoma: An unpredicted event following
      endoscopic parathroidectomy for adenoma.

PMID- 25839024
TI  - Unusual etiology of secondary thyrotoxicosis and its presentation.

PMID- 25839025
TI  - A retrospective analysis of occupational exposure to pesticides as a possible
      risk factor for non-melanoma skin cancers.

PMID- 25839027
TI  - Epidemiological research on cancers by cancer registries: A view point.

PMID- 25839026
TI  - Spontaneous rupture of renal cell carcinoma: A series of three cases.

PMID- 25839028
TI  - Oncocytic adenoma of thyroid with papillary architecture: A diagnostic dilemma.

PMID- 25839029
TI  - Gastric and colonic metastasis from cancer cervix: An unusual progression with an
      uncommon cause of mortality.

PMID- 25839030
TI  - A novel role of centrin in flagellar motility: stabilizing an inner-arm dynein
      motor in the flagellar axoneme.
AB  - Centrin is an evolutionarily conserved EF-hand calcium-binding protein found in
      the centriole of animals and the basal body of flagellated organisms. It was
      originally discovered in the flagellated unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas
      reinhardtii, where it associates with flagellum-associated structures and
      regulates basal body duplication and flagellar motility. Centrin constitutes a
      light chain of three inner-arm dynein complexes in the flagellar axoneme in
      Chlamydomonas, and presumably regulates the activity of the inner-arm dynein for
      flagellar motility. In the ciliated organism Tetrahymena, centrin also associates
      with the inner-arm dynein and appears to regulate the microtubule sliding
      velocity of the inner-arm dynein. Using Trypanosoma brucei as the model organism,
      we discovered that centrin maintains the stability of an inner-arm dynein in the
      flagellar axoneme [Wei et al., (2014) Nat. Commun 5: 4060]. T. brucei expresses
      five centrins, three of which, TbCentrin1, 2, and 4, associate with the flagellar
      basal body, but no centrin was found to regulate cell motility. We found that
      TbCentrin3 associates tightly with the flagellum and that RNAi of TbCentrin3
      compromised cell motility. Biochemical approaches further showed that TbCentrin3
      interacts with TbIAD5-1, an inner-arm dynein in the flagellar axoneme. Knockdown
      of TbIAD5-1 also caused defective cell motility. Strikingly, depletion of
      TbCentrin3 or depletion of TbIAD5-1 resulted in disassembly of the complex from
      the axoneme and subsequent degradation of the complex in the cytosol. Our
      findings identified a novel role of TbCentrin3 in cell motility by stabilizing
      TbIAD5-1 in the axoneme, which likely is well conserved in other flagellated and
      ciliated organisms, such as Chlamydomonas and Tetrahymena where centrin is also
      known to associate with inner-arm dyneins.

PMID- 25839031
TI  - Improving the thermostability and optimal temperature of a lipase from the
      hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus by covalent immobilization.
AB  - A recombinant thermostable lipase (Pf2001Delta60) from the hyperthermophilic
      Archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus (PFUL) was immobilized by hydrophobic interaction on
      octyl-agarose (octyl PFUL) and by covalent bond on aldehyde activated-agarose in
      the presence of DTT at pH = 7.0 (one-point covalent attachment) (glyoxyl-DTT
      PFUL) and on glyoxyl-agarose at pH 10.2 (multipoint covalent attachment) (glyoxyl
      PFUL). The enzyme's properties, such as optimal temperature and pH,
      thermostability, and selectivity, were improved by covalent immobilization. The
      highest enzyme stability at 70 degrees C for 48 h incubation was achieved for
      glyoxyl PFUL (around 82% of residual activity), whereas glyoxyl-DTT PFUL
      maintained around 69% activity, followed by octyl PFUL (27% remaining activity).
      Immobilization on glyoxyl-agarose improved the optimal temperature to 90 degrees
      C, while the optimal temperature of octyl PFUL was 70 degrees C. Also, very
      significant changes in activity with different substrates were found. In general,
      the covalent bond derivatives were more active than octyl PFUL. The E value also
      depended substantially on the derivative and the conditions used. It was observed
      that the reaction of glyoxyl-DTT PFUL using methyl mandelate as a substrate at pH
      7 presented the best results for enantioselectivity (E = 22) and enantiomeric
      excess (ee (%) = 91). 

PMID- 25839032
TI  - Wu-tou decoction inhibits chronic inflammatory pain in mice: participation of
      TRPV1 and TRPA1 ion channels.
AB  - Wu-tou decoction (WTD) is a classic traditional Chinese medicine formula and has
      been used effectively to treat joint diseases clinically. Previous reports
      indicated that WTD possesses anti-inflammatory activity; however, its actions on
      pain have not been clarified. Here, we investigated the antinociceptive activity
      of WTD in CFA-induced mice, and its possible mechanism of the action associated
      with transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels was also explored. Our
      results showed that 1.58, 3.15, and 6.30 g/kg WTD significantly attenuated
      mechanical, cold, and heat hypersensitivities. Moreover, WTD effectively
      inhibited spontaneous nociceptive responses to intraplantar injections of
      capsaicin and cinnamaldehyde, respectively. WTD also effectively suppressed
      jumping and wet-dog-shake behaviors to intraperitoneal injection of icilin.
      Additionally, WTD significantly reduced protein expression of TRPV1 and TRPA1 in
      dorsal root ganglia and skins of injured paw. Collectively, our data demonstrate
      firstly that WTD exerts antinociceptive activity in inflammatory conditions by
      attenuating mechanical, cold, and heat hypersensitivities. This antinociceptive
      effect may result in part from inhibiting the activities of TRPV1, TRPA1, and
      TRPM8, and the suppression of TRPV1 and TRPA1 protein by WTD was also highly
      effective. These findings suggest that WTD might be an attractive and suitable
      therapeutic agent for the management of chronic inflammatory pain. 

PMID- 25839033
TI  - Impact on human health of microorganisms present in fermented dairy products: an
      overview.
AB  - Fermented dairy products provide nutrients in our diet, some of which are
      produced by the action of microorganisms during fermentation. These products can
      be populated by a diverse microbiota that impacts the organoleptic and
      physicochemical characteristics foods as well as human health. Acidification is
      carried out by starter lactic acid bacteria (LAB) whereas other LAB, moulds, and
      yeasts become dominant during ripening and contribute to the development of aroma
      and texture in dairy products. Probiotics are generally part of the nonstarter
      microbiota, and their use has been extended in recent years. Fermented dairy
      products can contain beneficial compounds, which are produced by the metabolic
      activity of their microbiota (vitamins, conjugated linoleic acid, bioactive
      peptides, and gamma-aminobutyric acid, among others). Some microorganisms can
      also release toxic compounds, the most notorious being biogenic amines and
      aflatoxins. Though generally considered safe, fermented dairy products can be
      contaminated by pathogens. If proliferation occurs during manufacture or storage,
      they can cause sporadic cases or outbreaks of disease. This paper provides an
      overview on the current state of different aspects of the research on
      microorganisms present in dairy products in the light of their positive or
      negative impact on human health. 

PMID- 25839034
TI  - The interplay between synaptic activity and neuroligin function in the CNS.
AB  - Neuroligins (NLs) are postsynaptic transmembrane cell-adhesion proteins that play
      a key role in the regulation of excitatory and inhibitory synapses. Previous in
      vitro and in vivo studies have suggested that NLs contribute to synapse formation
      and synaptic transmission. Consistent with their localization, NL1 and NL3
      selectively affect excitatory synapses, whereas NL2 specifically affects
      inhibitory synapses. Deletions or mutations in NL genes have been found in
      patients with autism spectrum disorders or mental retardations, and mice
      harboring the reported NL deletions or mutations exhibit autism-related behaviors
      and synapse dysfunction. Conversely, synaptic activity can regulate the
      phosphorylation, expression, and cleavage of NLs, which, in turn, can influence
      synaptic activity. Thus, in clinical research, identifying the relationship
      between NLs and synapse function is critical. In this review, we primarily
      discuss how NLs and synaptic activity influence each other. 

PMID- 25839035
TI  - Assessment of the body composition and parameters of the cardiovascular risk in
      juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
AB  - The study was aimed to evaluate cardiovascular risk parameters, body mass index
      (BMI) centiles for sex and age, and body fat percentage using the electric
      bioimpedance method in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). 30
      children with JIA participated in the study. A control group included 20
      children. Patients were well matched for the age and sex. The body mass and body
      fat percentage were determined using the segmental body composition analyser; the
      BMI centiles were determined. All patients had the following parameters
      determined: lipid profile, hsCRP, homocysteine, and IL-6. The intima media
      thickness (IMT) was measured. Patients with JIA had significantly lower body
      weight, BMI, and the BMI centile compared to the control group. The IL-6 levels
      were significantly higher in patients with JIA compared to the control group.
      There were no differences between two groups with regard to the lipid profile, %
      content of the fat tissue, homocysteine levels, hsCRP, and IMT. Further studies
      are necessary to search for reasons for lower BMI and BMI centile in children
      with JIA and to attempt to answer the question of whether lower BMI increases the
      cardiovascular risk in these patients, similarly as in patients with rheumatoid
      arthritis (RA). 

PMID- 25839036
TI  - Investigation of the vitamin D receptor polymorphisms in acromegaly patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The genetic structural alterations in the majority of somatotroph
      adenomas are not clarified and the search for novel candidate genes is still a
      challenge. We aimed to investigate possible associations between vitamin D
      receptor (VDR) polymorphisms and acromegaly. DESIGN, PATIENTS, AND METHODS: 52
      acromegaly patients (mean age 45.7 +/- 1.9 years) and 83 controls (mean age 43.1
      +/- 2.6 years) were recruited to the study. VDR polymorphism was determined by
      polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism methods.
      RESULTS: The distribution of VDR genotypes showed a significant difference in the
      frequencies of VDR FokI genotypes between patients and controls (P = 0.034). VDR
      FokI ff genotype was significantly decreased in acromegaly patients (P = 0.035)
      and carriers of FokI Ff genotype had a 1.5-fold increased risk for acromegaly
      (OR: 1.5, 95% CI: 1.07-2.1; P = 0.020). IGF1 levels after treatment were
      significantly higher in patients carrying the Ff genotype compared to carrying ff
      genotype (P = 0.0049). 25(OH)D3 levels were significantly lower in acromegaly
      patients (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that VDR FokI genotypes
      might affect the development of acromegaly and VDR polymorphisms may play a role
      in the course of acromegaly as a consequence of altering hormonal status.

PMID- 25839037
TI  - Dexamethasone enhanced functional recovery after sciatic nerve crush injury in
      rats.
AB  - Dexamethasone is currently used for the treatment of peripheral nerve injury, but
      its mechanisms of action are not completely understood. Inflammation/immune
      response at the site of nerve lesion is known to be an essential trigger of the
      pathological changes that have a critical impact on nerve repair and
      regeneration. In this study, we observed the effects of various doses of
      dexamethasone on the functional recovery after sciatic nerve crush injury in a
      rat model. Motor functional recovery was monitored by walking track analysis and
      gastrocnemius muscle mass ratio. The myelinated axon number was counted by
      morphometric analysis. Rats administered dexamethasone by local intramuscular
      injection had a higher nerve function index value, increased gastrocnemius muscle
      mass ratio, reduced Wallerian degeneration severity, and enhanced regenerated
      myelinated nerve fibers. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed for CD3
      expression, which is a marker for T-cell activation, and infiltration in the
      sciatic nerve. Dexamethasone-injected rats had fewer CD3-positive cells compared
      to controls. Furthermore, we found increased expression of GAP-43, which is a
      factor associated with development and plasticity of the nervous system, in rat
      nerves receiving dexamethasone. These results provide strong evidence that
      dexamethasone enhances sciatic nerve regeneration and function recovery in a rat
      model of sciatic nerve injury through immunosuppressive and potential
      neurotrophic effects. 

PMID- 25839038
TI  - Cooperative regulation of substrate stiffness and extracellular matrix proteins
      in skin wound healing of axolotls.
AB  - Urodele amphibians (Ambystoma mexicanum), unique among vertebrates, can
      regenerate appendages and other body parts entirely and functionally through a
      scar-free healing process. The wound epithelium covering the amputated or damaged
      site forms early and is essential for initiating the subsequent regenerative
      steps. However, the molecular mechanism through which the wound reepithelializes
      during regeneration remains unclear. In this study, we developed an in vitro
      culture system that mimics an in vivo wound healing process; the biomechanical
      properties in the system were precisely defined and manipulated. Skin explants
      that were cultured on 2 to 50 kPa collagen-coated substrates rapidly
      reepithelialized within 10 to 15 h; however, in harder (1 GPa) and other
      extracellular matrices (tenascin-, fibronectin-, and laminin-coated
      environments), the wound epithelium moved slowly. Furthermore, the
      reepithelialization rate of skin explants from metamorphic axolotls cultured on a
      polystyrene plate (1 GPa) increased substantially. These findings afford new
      insights and can facilitate investigating wound epithelium formation during early
      regeneration using biochemical and mechanical techniques. 

PMID- 25839039
TI  - Cognitive-motor interference in multiple sclerosis: a systematic review of
      evidence, correlates, and consequences.
AB  - Individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) regularly exhibit deficits in motor and
      cognitive function. Recent evidence suggests that these impairments are
      compounded when motor and cognitive task are performed simultaneously such as
      walking while talking. The changes incurred during simultaneous performance of
      motor and cognitive tasks are a result of cognitive-motor interference (CMI) and
      operationalized as dual task costs (DTC). Recently in MS, research has been
      conducted to understand and analyze the impact of CMI. The purpose of this paper
      was to review the current literature related to the evidence, correlates, and
      consequences of CMI in MS. Relevant literature was collected from the results of
      a PubMed search for terms including "Cognitive-motor interference" or "Cognitive
      motor interaction" or "Dual task" and "multiple sclerosis." Overall, 20 papers
      were included for review which focused on CMI during balance and walking tasks.
      The finding that there is a lack of evidence pertaining to changes in the
      cognitive domain as well as to the specific consequences of CMI in MS was noted.
      Future work should aim to fill these gaps and ultimately investigate the
      usefulness of targeted interventions in reducing the deleterious effects of CMI
      in individuals with MS. 

PMID- 25839040
TI  - Folated synperonic-cholesteryl hemisuccinate polymeric micelles for the targeted
      delivery of docetaxel in melanoma.
AB  - The objective of this study was the synthesis of folic acid- (FA-) targeted
      polymeric micelles of Synperonic PE/F 127-cholesteryl hemisuccinate (PF127-Chol)
      for specific delivery of docetaxel (DTX). Targeted or nontargeted micelles loaded
      with DTX were prepared via dialysis method. The effects of processing variables
      on the physicochemical properties of targeted micelles were evaluated using a
      full factorial design. After the optimization of the polymer/drug ratio, the
      organic solvent type used for the preparation of the micelles, and the
      temperature of dialyzing medium, the in vitro cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of
      the optimized micelles were studied on B16F10 melanoma cells by flow cytometry
      and fluorescent microscopy. The anticancer efficacy of DTX-loaded FA-PF127-Chol
      was evaluated in mice bearing melanoma tumor. Optimized targeted micelles had the
      particle size of 171.3 nm, zeta potential of -7.8 mV, PDI of 0.325, and a high
      encapsulation efficiency that released the drug within 144 h. The MTT assay
      indicated that targeted micelles carrying DTX were significantly more cytotoxic,
      had higher cellular uptake, and reduced the tumor volume significantly more than
      the nontargeted micelles and the free drug. FA-PF127-Chol could be, therefore, a
      promising biomaterial for tumors overexpressing folate receptors. 

PMID- 25839042
TI  - Conventional and unconventional use of lasers in skin disorders.

PMID- 25839041
TI  - Synthesis and characterization of biodegradable polyurethane for hypopharyngeal
      tissue engineering.
AB  - Biodegradable crosslinked polyurethane (cPU) was synthesized using polyethylene
      glycol (PEG), L-lactide (L-LA), and hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI), with iron
      acetylacetonate (Fe(acac)3) as the catalyst and PEG as the extender. Chemical
      components of the obtained polymers were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, (1)H
      NMR spectra, and Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC). The thermodynamic
      properties, mechanical behaviors, surface hydrophilicity, degradability, and
      cytotoxicity were tested via differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), tensile
      tests, contact angle measurements, and cell culture. The results show that the
      synthesized cPU possessed good flexibility with quite low glass transition
      temperature (T g , -22 degrees C) and good wettability. Water uptake measured as
      high as 229.7 +/- 18.7%. These properties make cPU a good candidate material for
      engineering soft tissues such as the hypopharynx. In vitro and in vivo tests
      showed that cPU has the ability to support the growth of human hypopharyngeal
      fibroblasts and angiogenesis was observed around cPU after it was implanted
      subcutaneously in SD rats. 

PMID- 25839044
TI  - Biomedical insights of human genetic diversity in complex diseases.

PMID- 25839043
TI  - Shengmai injection improved doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy by alleviating
      myocardial endoplasmic reticulum stress and caspase-12 dependent apoptosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Apoptosis plays vital roles in the progression of doxorubicin-induced
      cardiomyopathy (DOX-CM). Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) could induce
      specific apoptosis by caspase-12 dependent pathway. Shengmai Injection (SMI), a
      famous Traditional Chinese Medicine, could alleviate the heart damage via
      inhibiting myocardial apoptosis. However, it is unknown whether SMI can alleviate
      ER stress and its specific apoptosis in the setting of DOX-CM. OBJECTIVE: To
      explore the effects of SMI on heart function, myocardial ER stress, and apoptosis
      of DOX-CM rats. METHODS: Rats with DOX-CM were treated by SMI. Heart function was
      assessed by echocardiography and brain natriuretic peptide. Myocardial apoptosis
      was detected by TUNEL assay. ER stress was assessed by detecting the expressions
      of GRP78 and caspase-12. RESULTS: At the end of eight-week, compared to control,
      significant heart dysfunction happened in DOX group. The ratio of apoptotic
      cardiomyocytes and the expressions of GRP78 and caspase-12 increased
      significantly (P < 0.05). Compared to DOX group, the apoptotic ratio and the
      expressions of GRP78 and caspase-12 significantly decreased in DOX + SMI group (P
      < 0.05), accompanied with improved heart function. CONCLUSION: SMI could
      alleviate myocardial ER stress and caspase-12 dependent apoptosis, which
      subsequently helped to improve the heart function of rats with DOX-CM.

PMID- 25839045
TI  - Vaccines and therapies for biodefence agents.

PMID- 25839046
TI  - Inducing gene expression by targeting promoter sequences using small activating
      RNAs.
AB  - Vector-based systems comprised of exogenous nucleic acid sequences remain the
      standard for ectopic expression of a particular gene. Such systems offer robust
      overexpression, but have inherent drawbacks such as the tedious process of
      construction, excluding sequences (e.g. introns and untranslated regions)
      important for gene function and potential insertional mutagenesis of host genome
      associated with the use of viral vectors. We and others have recently reported
      that short double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) can induce endogenous gene expression by
      targeting promoter sequences in a phenomenon referred to as RNA activation (RNAa)
      and such dsRNAs are termed small activating RNAs (saRNAs). To date, RNAa has been
      successfully utilized to induce the expression of different genes such as tumor
      suppressor genes. Here, we describe a detailed protocol for target selection and
      dsRNA design with associated experiments to facilitate RNAa in cultured cells.
      This technique may be applied to selectively activate endogenous gene expression
      for studying gene function, interrogating molecular pathways and reprogramming
      cell fate.

PMID- 25839048
TI  - Effect of Threading Dislocations on the Quality Factor of InGaN/GaN Microdisk
      Cavities.
AB  - In spite of the theoretical advantages associated with nitride microcavities, the
      quality factors of devices with embedded indium gallium nitride (InGaN) or
      gallium nitride (GaN) optical emitters still remain low. In this work we identify
      threading dislocations (TDs) as a major limitation to the fabrication of high
      quality factor devices in the nitrides. We report on the use of
      cathodoluminescence (CL) to identify individual TD positions within microdisk
      lasers containing either InGaN quantum wells or quantum dots. Using CL to
      accurately count the number, and map the position, of dislocations within several
      individual cavities, we have found a clear correlation between the density of
      defects in the high-field region of a microdisk and its corresponding quality
      factor (Q). We discuss possible mechanisms associated with defects, photon
      scattering, and absorption, which could be responsible for degraded device
      performance.

PMID- 25839047
TI  - Oncolytic Poxviruses.
AB  - Current standard treatments of cancer can prolong survival of many cancer
      patients but usually do not effectively cure the disease. Oncolytic virotherapy
      is an emerging therapeutic for the treatment of cancer that exploits replication
      competent viruses to selectively infect and destroy cancerous cells while sparing
      normal cells and tissues. Clinical and/or preclinical studies on oncolytic
      viruses have revealed that the candidate viruses being tested in trials are
      remarkably safe and offer potential for treating many classes of currently
      incurable cancers. Among these candidates are vaccinia and myxoma viruses, which
      belong to the family Poxviridae and possess promising oncolytic features. This
      article describes poxviruses that are being developed for oncolytic virotherapy
      and summarizes the outcomes of both clinical and preclinical studies.
      Additionally, studies demonstrating superior efficacy when poxvirus oncolytic
      virotherapy is combined with conventional therapies are described.

PMID- 25839049
TI  - Excitonic AND Logic Gates on DNA Brick Nanobreadboards.
AB  - A promising application of DNA self-assembly is the fabrication of chromophore
      based excitonic devices. DNA brick assembly is a compelling method for creating
      programmable nanobreadboards on which chromophores may be rapidly and easily
      repositioned to prototype new excitonic devices, optimize device operation, and
      induce reversible switching. Using DNA nanobreadboards, we have demonstrated each
      of these functions through the construction and operation of two different
      excitonic AND logic gates. The modularity and high chromophore density achievable
      via this brick-based approach provide a viable path toward developing information
      processing and storage systems.

PMID- 25839050
TI  - Does Marijuana Use Contribute to Intimate Partner Aggression? A Brief Review and
      Directions for Future Research.
AB  - Marijuana users are more likely to perpetrate intimate partner aggression (IPA)
      than non-users, yet the mechanism responsible for this association is unknown.
      Recent studies considering the association between episodes of marijuana use and
      episodes of IPA have failed to find evidence consistent with an acute effect of
      marijuana. Research gaps are highlighted and a heuristic model of marijuana's
      potential effects on IPA is presented. Research priorities include consideration
      of mediating mechanisms, moderating variables at the individual and couple level,
      and examination of acute effects of marijuana using daily report and EMA designs.

PMID- 25839051
TI  - Association study between novel CYP26 polymorphisms and the risk of betel quid
      related malignant oral disorders.
AB  - BQ chewing may produce significant amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS),
      resulting in oral mucosa damage, and ROS may be metabolized by CYP26 families.
      Because the CYP26 polymorphisms associated with malignant oral disorders are not
      well known, we conducted an association study on the associations between the
      single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of CYP26 families and the risks of
      malignant oral disorders. BQ chewers with the CYP26A1 rs4411227 C/C+C/G genotype
      and C allele showed an increased risk of oral and pharyngeal cancer (adjusted
      odds ratio (aOR) = 2.30 and 1.93, respectively). The CYP26B1 rs3768647 G allele
      may be associated with oral and pharyngeal cancer (aOR = 3.12) and OPMDs (aOR =
      2.23). Subjects with the rs9309462 CT genotype and C allele had an increased risk
      of oral and pharyngeal cancer (aOR = 9.24 and 8.86, respectively) and OPMDs (aOR
      = 8.17 and 7.87, respectively). The analysis of joint effects between the CYP26A1
      rs4411227 and CYP26B1 rs3768647/rs9309462 polymorphisms revealed statistical
      significance (aOR = 29.91 and 10.03, respectively). Additionally, we observed a
      significant mRNA expression of CY26A1 and CYP26B1 in cancerous tissues compared
      with adjacent noncancerous tissues. Our findings suggest that novel CYP26
      polymorphisms are associated with an increased risk of malignant oral disorders,
      particularly among BQ chewers. 

PMID- 25839052
TI  - Impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on pediatric tympanostomy tube insertion
      in partial immunized population.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate
      vaccine on tube insertions in a partial immunized pediatric population. STUDY
      DESIGN: Retrospective ecological study. METHODS: This study used Taiwan National
      Health Insurance Research Database for the period 2000-2009. Every child under 17
      years old who received tubes during this 10-year period was identified and
      analyzed. The tube insertion rates in different age groups and the risk to
      receive tubes in different birth cohorts before and after the release of the
      vaccine in 2005 were compared. RESULTS: The tube insertion rates for children
      under 17 years of age ranged from 21.6 to 31.9 for 100,000 persons/year. The tube
      insertion rate of children under 2 years old decreased significantly after 2005
      in period effect analysis (beta = -0.074, P < 0.05, and the negative beta value
      means a downward trend) and increased in children 2 to 9 years old throughout the
      study period (positive beta values which mean upward trends, P < 0.05). The rate
      of tube insertion was lower in 2004-2005 and 2006-2007 birth cohorts than that of
      2002-2003 birth cohort (RR = 0.90 and 0.21, 95% CI 0.83-0.97 and 0.19-0.23,
      resp.). CONCLUSION: The seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine may reduce
      the risk of tube insertion for children of later birth cohorts. The vaccine may
      have the protective effect on tube insertions in a partial immunized pediatric
      population.

PMID- 25839053
TI  - Evaluation of Cinnamomum osmophloeum Kanehira extracts on tyrosinase suppressor,
      wound repair promoter, and antioxidant.
AB  - Cinnamomum osmophloeum Kanehira belongs to the Lauraceae family of Taiwan's
      endemic plants. In this study, C. osmophloeum Kanehira extract has shown
      inhibition of tyrosinase activity on B16-F10 cellular system first. Whether
      extracts inhibited mushroom tyrosinase activity was tested, and a considerable
      inhibition of mushroom tyrosinase activity by in vitro assays was presented.
      Animal experiments of C. osmophloeum Kanehira were carried out by observing
      animal wound repair, and the extracts had greater wound healing power than the
      vehicle control group (petroleum jelly with 8% DMSO, w/v). In addition, the
      antioxidant capacity of C. osmophloeum Kanehira extracts in vitro was evaluated.
      We measured C. osmophloeum Kanehira extract's free radical scavenging capability,
      metal chelating, and reduction power, such as biochemical activity analysis. The
      results showed that a high concentration of C. osmophloeum Kanehira extract had a
      significant scavenging capability of free radical, a minor effect of chelating
      ability, and moderate reducing power. Further exploration of the possible
      physiological mechanisms and the ingredient components of skincare product for
      skin-whitening, wound repair, or antioxidative agents are to be done. 

PMID- 25839054
TI  - Indoxyl sulfate-induced oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and impaired
      biogenesis are partly protected by vitamin C and N-acetylcysteine.
AB  - Indoxyl sulfate (IS) contributes to oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction
      in chronic kidney disease patients. However, the role of mitochondria in IS
      induced oxidative stress is not very clear. In this study, we examined whether
      mitochondria play a pivotal role in modulating the effects of antioxidants during
      IS treatment. In the context of human umbilical vein endothelial cells, we found
      that IS had a dose-dependent antiproliferative effect. In addition, we used flow
      cytometry to demonstrate that the level of reactive oxygen species increased in a
      dose-dependent manner after treatment with IS. High doses of IS also corresponded
      to increased mitochondrial depolarization and decreased mitochondrial DNA copy
      number and mitochondrial mass. However, these effects could be reversed by the
      addition of antioxidants, namely, vitamin C and N-acetylcysteine. Thus, our
      results suggest that IS-induced oxidative stress and antiproliferative effect can
      be attributed to mitochondrial dysfunction and impaired biogenesis and that these
      processes can be protected by treatment with antioxidants. 

PMID- 25839055
TI  - Measuring psychological trauma in the workplace: psychometric properties of the
      Italian version of the psychological injury risk indicator-a cross-sectional
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt the Psychological
      Injury Risk Indicator (PIRI) and to validate its psychometric properties.
      METHODS: Workers from 24 small companies were invited to self-complete the PIRI
      before undergoing their routine medical examination at the workplace. All
      participants (841 out of 845, 99.6%) were also asked to report occupational
      injuries and episodes of violence that had occurred at the workplace in the
      previous 12 months and were given the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) to
      complete. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 4-factor structure,
      "sleep problems," "recovery failure," "posttraumatic stress symptoms," and
      "chronic fatigue," which were the same subscales observed in the original
      version. The internal consistency was excellent (alpha = 0.932). ROC curve
      analysis revealed that the PIRI was much more efficient than GHQ12 in diagnosing
      workers who had suffered trauma (workplace violence or injury) in the previous
      year, as it revealed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.679 (95% CI: 0.625-0.734)
      for the PIRI, while for the GHQ12 the AUC was 0.551 (not significant).
      CONCLUSIONS: This study, performed on a large population of workers, provides
      evidence of the validity of the Italian version of the PIRI.

PMID- 25839056
TI  - Discovery of specific inhibitors for intestinal E. coli  beta-glucuronidase
      through in silico virtual screening.
AB  - Glucuronidation is a major metabolism process of detoxification for carcinogens,
      4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridy)-1-butanone (NNK) and 1,2-dimethylhydrazine
      (DMH), of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, intestinal E. coli   beta
      glucuronidase (ebetaG) has been considered pivotal to colorectal carcinogenesis.
      Specific inhibition of ebetaG may prevent reactivating the glucuronide-carcinogen
      and protect the intestine from ROS-mediated carcinogenesis. In order to develop
      specific ebetaG inhibitors, we found that 59 candidate compounds obtained from
      the initial virtual screening had high inhibition specificity against ebetaG but
      not human betaG. In particular, we found that compounds 7145 and 4041 with
      naphthalenylidene-benzenesulfonamide (NYBS) are highly effective and selective to
      inhibit ebetaG activity. Compound 4041  (IC50 = 2.8 MUM) shows a higher
      inhibiting ability than compound 7145  (IC50 = 31.6 MUM) against ebetaG.
      Furthermore, the molecular docking analysis indicates that compound 4041 has two
      hydrophobic contacts to residues L361 and I363 in the bacterial loop, but 7145
      has one contact to L361. Only compound 4041 can bind to key residue (E413) at
      active site of ebetaG via hydrogen-bonding interactions. These novel NYBS-based
      ebetaG specific inhibitors may provide as novel candidate compounds, which
      specifically inhibit ebetaG to reduce ebetaG-based carcinogenesis and intestinal
      injury. 

PMID- 25839058
TI  - Role of Cellular Magnesium in Human Diseases.
AB  - Magnesium is required for many of the major organs to function and plays a
      crucial role in human and mammalian physiology. Magnesium is essential for the
      structure of bones and teeth, acts as a cofactor for more than 300 enzymes in the
      body, including binding to ATP for kinase reactions, and affects permeability of
      excitable membranes and neuromuscular transmission. Despite these essential
      roles, much is still unknown about magnesium physiology and homeostasis.
      Currently, nutritionists believe that the general population intakes insufficient
      magnesium daily through the diet. The effects of magnesium deficiency are, for
      the most part undetected, and simple, widespread assessments of magnesium intake
      remain unavailable for humans. Many of the patients admitted to hospitals or
      medical care facilities are unaware of their low magnesium levels. Moreover,
      because magnesium is predominantly an intracellular cation (>99%), serum
      magnesium levels remain a poor predictor of tissue magnesium content and
      availability. This review will discuss the effects of magnesium deficiency in
      various pathologies affecting the human population. The underlying causes for
      magnesium depletion in major physiological systems will be examined along with
      the involved signaling pathways and the main roles of magnesium homeostasis.
      Where possible (e.g. alcoholism), the implications of administering supplemental
      magnesium will be discussed. Ultimately, this review will advocate for the
      necessity of identifying easy and reproducible methods to assess serum and
      cellular magnesium levels and to identify magnesium deficiency in order to
      alleviate related pathological conditions.

PMID- 25839057
TI  - Myosin-binding protein C corrects an intrinsic inhomogeneity in cardiac
      excitation-contraction coupling.
AB  - The beating heart exhibits remarkable contractile fidelity over a lifetime, which
      reflects the tight coupling of electrical, chemical, and mechanical elements
      within the sarcomere, the elementary contractile unit. On a beat-to-beat basis,
      calcium is released from the ends of the sarcomere and must diffuse toward the
      sarcomere center to fully activate the myosin- and actin-based contractile
      proteins. The resultant spatial and temporal gradient in free calcium across the
      sarcomere should lead to nonuniform and inefficient activation of contraction. We
      show that myosin-binding protein C (MyBP-C), through its positioning on the
      myosin thick filaments, corrects this nonuniformity in calcium activation by
      exquisitely sensitizing the contractile apparatus to calcium in a manner that
      precisely counterbalances the calcium gradient. Thus, the presence and correct
      localization of MyBP-C within the sarcomere is critically important for normal
      cardiac function, and any disturbance of MyBP-C localization or function will
      contribute to the consequent cardiac pathologies.

PMID- 25839059
TI  - Use of atropine-diphenoxylate compared with hyoscyamine to decrease rates of
      irinotecan-related cholinergic syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cholinergic syndrome is a well established acute adverse reaction
      associated with irinotecan. Cholinergic side effects can be ameliorated or
      prevented with anticholinergic agents. To date, no formal studies have compared
      atropine-diphenoxylate and hyoscyamine as premedications for prophylaxis of the
      cholinergic syndrome with irinotecan infusion. OBJECTIVES: To compare the
      incidence of cholinergic syndrome with irinotecan using atropine-diphenoxylate or
      hyoscyamine as premedication. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, single
      center, nonrandomized, cohort study of adult patients treated with atropine
      diphenoxylate or hyoscyamine as premedication before receiving irinotecan. For
      all irinotecan infusions, intravenous atropine was administered for patients
      experiencing any cholinergic reaction. RESULTS: A total of 532 irinotecan cycles
      (354 cycles for atropine-diphenoxylate group; 178 cycles for hyoscyamine group)
      were analyzed in 80 patients. Overall incidence of cholinergic syndrome did not
      differ between atropine-diphenoxylate (8.2%) and hyoscyamine (9.0%) groups (P =
      .76). The incidence of cholinergic syndrome after the Lrst cycle of irinotecan
      was similar between the 2 arms, atropine-diphenoxylate (14.6%) and hyoscyamine
      (10.7%), with P = .74. The most common cholinergic symptoms documented were
      abdominal pain or cramping, and diarrhea. LIMITATIONS: This study was subjected
      to vulnerabilities to bias and random error because of its observational
      retrospective design and small number of participants. CONCLUSIONS: Lack of
      difference in the incidence of cholinergic syndrome observed in irinotecan
      treated patients suggests atropinediphenoxylate and hyoscyamine may both be
      effective prophylactic options. The findings support the need for a larger,
      randomized study to assess and compare these agents with other potential
      premedications such as scopolamine and atropine in prevention of irinotecan
      related cholinergic syndrome.

PMID- 25839060
TI  - Rectal cancer management in elderly patients: experience of a single Portuguese
      institution.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The incidence of rectal cancer increases with age, and older patients
      are more likely to have other chronic conditions that can affect outcome and
      tolerability of treatment. OBJECTIVE: The incidence of rectal cancer increases
      with age, and older patients are more likely to have other chronic conditions
      that can affect outcome and tolerability of treatment. METHODS: 59 patients aged
      75 years and older with stage II-III rectal cancer who were treated during a 3
      year period were included in the study. Comorbidities were assessed using the
      Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and the patients were divided into 2 groups
      based on their CCI scores: Fit (score of 0-1 points) and Vulnerable (score of
      greater than or = 2). Primary endpoint was survival at 1 and 3 years. RESULTS:
      The sample included 43 patients (72.9%) in the Fit group and 16 patients (27.1%)
      in the Vulnerable group. The most common comorbidities were myocardial
      infarction, diabetes, and chronic lung disease. One-year survival the same
      between the groups (P = .330), but 3-year survival was lower in the Vulnerable
      group patients (83.7% vs 56.3%, respectively; P = .040). The rates of neoadjuvant
      chemo- and radiotherapy use and low anterior resection performance were the same
      between the groups. Colostomy closure was achieved more frequently in the Fit
      group compared with the Vulnerable group (83.3% vs 55.6%; P = .083). There was no
      difference in mean disease-free survival, grade 3-4 toxicity, and dose reduction
      between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Comorbidity assessment should always be included
      in standard oncological management of elderly patients. Fit patients can be
      managed with standard treatment and may bene|t from a conventional, more
      aggressive approach in their therapy.

PMID- 25839061
TI  - Impact of a telehealth intervention on quality of life and symptom distress in
      patients with head and neck cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer commonly
      experience signi?cant changes in quality of life (QoL) and levels of symptom
      distress. It is not known if a telehealth intervention would mitigate these
      changes. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of a telehealth intervention on QoL
      and symptom burden in patients undergoing initial treatment for head and neck
      cancers. METHODS: A randomized clinical trial comparing the impact on QoL and
      symptom distress of telehealth intervention and standard care was conducted with
      80 patients (45 treatment, 35 control) who had been diagnosed with head or neck
      cancer and were receiving 1 or more treatment modalities. Treatment group
      participants responded daily to symptom management algorithms using a simple
      telehealth messaging device. QoL was evaluated by the Functional Assessment of
      Cancer Therapy-Head and Neck Scale (FACTHN) and symptom burden by the Memorial
      Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS). Control group participants completed assessments
      while they received routine care. RESULTS: In the posttreatment phase, the
      telehealth participants had signi?cantly better scores than the controls for
      physical well-being (20.6 vs 17.0, P = .02) and trial outcome index (59.9 vs.
      50.2, P = .04) on the FACT-HN, and total scores on the MSAS (0.9 vs. 1.2, P =
      .04). LIMITATIONS: The moderate sample size of 80 patients limits the power to
      measure more subtle impacts of the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Using telehealth to
      provide support to patients with head and neck cancer during the acute phase of
      treatment improved some aspects of posttreatment QoL and symptom burden.

PMID- 25839062
TI  - Beneficial effects of animal-assisted visits on quality of life during multimodal
      radiation-chemotherapy regimens.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Animal-assisted visits (AAVs) are commonplace in cancer centers, but
      there is little evidence of their usefulness. OBJECTIVE: To test the efficacy of
      AAVs in improving the quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer
      receiving combined chemotherapy-radiation therapy. METHODS: 42 patients consented
      to daily AAVs during the time they received therapy for head and neck cancer. The
      Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General Scale (FACT-G) was administered
      at baseline, week 3, and week 7 (at the end of therapy), and the Satisfaction
      With The AAV Intervention instrument, an 18-item scale adapted from the Pet
      Attitude Scale. RESULTS: 37 patients completed at least baseline and 1 follow-up
      assessment for a single group analysis of change over time. Means for Fact-G
      subscales showed significant declines in Physical Well-Being (PWB, P < .001) and
      Functional Well-Being (FWB, P = .003). In contrast, Social Well-Being increased
      (SWB, P = .03). Controlling for declines in PWB at each time point, increases in
      Emotional Well-Being (EWB) were also significant (P = .004). LIMITATIONS:
      Scheduling and patient preference prevented conducting a randomized trial.
      CONCLUSION: FACT-G analysis showed significant increase in SWB and EWB despite
      high symptom burden and clinically evident and expected declines in PWB and FWB.
      Mean scores for satisfaction related to psychological symptoms, liking
      animals/pets, and contact with animals were consistently higher than neutral
      score or Unsure (all, P < .001). Satisfaction related to physical symptoms was
      not significantly different from neutral. Though self-selected for an affinity to
      pets, patients endorsed a high level of satisfaction, which supports the
      usefulness of this intervention.

PMID- 25839063
TI  - Radiation exposure from diagnostic procedures in patients with newly diagnosed
      breast cancer.
AB  - Radiation exposure is associated with an increased risk of secondary cancers.
      Knowing the approximate radiation exposure from diagnostic procedures in the ?rst
      year after a breast cancer diagnosis could help educate patients and allow
      physicians to monitor them more closely for potential risks. 

PMID- 25839065
TI  - Pore collapse and regrowth in silicon electrodes for rechargeable batteries.
AB  - Structure and composition of an 11 nm thick amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film
      anode, capped with 4 nm of alumina are measured, in operando, by neutron
      reflectivity (NR) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in a lithium half
      cell. NR data are analyzed to quantify the a-Si thickness and composition at
      various states of charge over six cycles. The a-Si anode expands and contracts
      upon lithiation and delithiation, respectively, while maintaining its integrity
      and low interfacial roughness (<=1.6 nm) throughout the cycling. The apparently
      non-linear expansion of the a-Si layer volume versus lithium content agrees with
      previous thin-film a-Si anode studies. However, a proposed pore collapse and
      regrowth (PCRG) mechanism establishes that the solid domains in the porous LixSi
      film expand linearly with Li content at 8.48 cm(3) mol(-1) Li, similar to
      crystalline Si. In the PCRG model, porosity is first consumed by expansion of
      solid domains upon lithiation, after which the film as a whole expands. Porosity
      is reestablished at 5-28% upon delithiation. Data show that the alumina
      protective layer on the a-Si film functions as an effective artificial solid
      electrolyte interphase (SEI), maintaining its structural integrity, low
      interfacial roughness, and relatively small transport resistance. No additional
      spontaneously-formed SEI is observed in this study. 

PMID- 25839064
TI  - Tetrapeptide unfolding dynamics followed by core-level spectroscopy: a first
      principles approach.
AB  - In this work we demonstrate that core level analysis is a powerful tool for
      disentangling the dynamics of a model polypeptide undergoing conformational
      changes in solution and disulphide bond formation. In particular, we present
      computer simulations within both initial and final state approximations of 1s
      sulphur core level shifts (S1s CLS) of the CYFC (cysteine-phenylalanine-tyrosine
      cysteine) tetrapeptide for different folding configurations. Using increasing
      levels of accuracy, from Hartree-Fock and density functional theory to
      configuration interaction via a multiscale algorithm capable of reducing
      drastically the computational cost of electronic structure calculations, we find
      that distinct peptide arrangements present S1s CLS sizeably different (in excess
      of 0.5 eV) with respect to the reference disulfide bridge state. This approach,
      leading to experimentally detectable signals, may represent an alternative to
      other established spectroscopic techniques. 

PMID- 25839066
TI  - Coalescence of water films on carbon-based substrates: the role of the
      interfacial properties and anisotropic surface topography.
AB  - Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are carried out to study the coalescence of
      identical adjacent and nonadjacent water films on graphene (G), vertically or
      horizontally stacked carbon nanotube arrays (VCNTA and HCNTA respectively). We
      highlight the key importance of carbon-based substrates in the growth of the
      liquid bridge connecting the two water films. This simulation provides reliable
      evidence to confirm a linear increase of the liquid bridge height, which is
      sensitive to the surface properties and the geometric structure. In the case of
      nonadjacent water films, the meniscus liquid bridge occurs solely on the VCNTA,
      which is attributed to the spreading of water films driven by the capillary
      force. Our results provide an available method to tune the coalescence of
      adjacent or nonadjacent films with alteration of topographically patterned
      surfaces, which has important implications in the design of condensation, ink-jet
      printing and drop manipulation on a substrate. 

PMID- 25839067
TI  - Controlled decoration of the surface with macromolecules: polymerization on a
      self-assembled monolayer (SAM).
AB  - Polymer functionalized surfaces are important components of various sensors,
      solar cells and molecular electronic devices. In this context, the use of self
      assembled monolayer (SAM) formation and subsequent reactions on the surface have
      attracted a lot of interest due to its stability, reliability and excellent
      control over orientation of functional groups. The chemical reactions to be
      employed on a SAM must ensure an effective functional group conversion while the
      reaction conditions must be mild enough to retain the structural integrity. This
      synthetic constraint has no universal solution; specific strategies such as
      "graft from", "graft to", "graft through" or "direct" immobilization approaches
      are employed depending on the nature of the substrate, polymer and its area of
      applications. We have reviewed current developments in the methodology of
      immobilization of a polymer in the first part of the article. Special emphasis
      has been given to the merits and demerits of certain methods. Another issue
      concerns the utility - demonstrated or perceived - of conjugated or non
      conjugated macromolecules anchored on a functionally decorated SAM in the areas
      of material science and biotechnology. In the last part of the review article, we
      looked at the collective research efforts towards SAM-based polymer devices and
      identified major pointers of progress (236 references). 

PMID- 25839069
TI  - Mechanical properties of amyloid-like fibrils defined by secondary structures.
AB  - Amyloid and amyloid-like fibrils represent a generic class of highly ordered
      nanostructures that are implicated in some of the most fatal neurodegenerative
      diseases. On the other hand, amyloids, by possessing outstanding mechanical
      robustness, have also been successfully employed as functional biomaterials. For
      these reasons, physical and chemical factors driving fibril self-assembly and
      morphology are extensively studied - among these parameters, the secondary
      structures and the pH have been revealed to be crucial, since a variation in pH
      changes the fibril morphology and net chirality during protein aggregation. It is
      important to quantify the mechanical properties of these fibrils in order to help
      the design of effective strategies for treating diseases related to the presence
      of amyloid fibrils. In this work, we show that by changing pH the mechanical
      properties of amyloid-like fibrils vary as well. In particular, we reveal that
      these mechanical properties are strongly related to the content of secondary
      structures. We analysed and estimated the Young's modulus (E) by comparing the
      persistence length (Lp) - measured from the observation of TEM images by using
      statistical mechanics arguments - with the mechanical information provided by
      peak force quantitative nanomechanical property mapping (PF-QNM). The secondary
      structure content and the chirality are investigated by means of synchrotron
      radiation circular dichroism (SR-CD). Results arising from this study could be
      fruitfully used as a protocol to investigate other medical or engineering
      relevant peptide fibrils. 

PMID- 25839070
TI  - Peri-tunnel bone loss: does it affect early tendon graft to bone tunnel healing
      after ACL reconstruction?
AB  - PURPOSE: The clinical relevance and mechanisms of local bone loss early post
      anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction remain unclear. The early spatial
      and temporal changes of peri-tunnel bone, its molecular mechanisms and its
      relationships with graft-bone tunnel healing were investigated in a 12-week-old
      rat model. METHODS: At various times, the reconstructed ACL complex was harvested
      for vivaCT imaging, biomechanical test, histology and immunohistochemical
      staining of CD68+ cells (a monocyte-macrophage lineage marker), MMP1 and MMP13.
      RESULTS: The peri-tunnel bone resorbed simultaneously with improvement of graft
      bone tunnel healing. There were 30.1 +/- 17.4, 46.8 +/- 10.5 and 81.5 +/- 12.3 %
      loss of peri-tunnel BMD as well as 43.2 +/- 21.7, 78.7 +/- 8.5 and 92.4 +/- 17.7
      % loss of peri-tunnel bone volume/total volume (BV/TV) at week 6 at the distal
      femur, epiphysis and metaphysis of tibia, respectively. MMP1, MMP13 and CD68+
      cells were expressed at the graft-bone tunnel interface and peri-tunnel bone and
      increased with time post-reconstruction at the tibia. The ultimate load and
      stiffness of the healing complex positively correlated with tibial tunnel bone
      formation and negatively correlated with tibial peri-tunnel bone. Tunnel BV/TV at
      the tibial metaphysis and epiphysis showed the highest correlation with ultimate
      load (rho = 0.591; p = 0.001) and stiffness (rho = 0.427; p = 0.026) of the
      complex, respectively. CONCLUSION: There was time-dependent loss of peri-tunnel
      bone early post-reconstruction, with the greatest loss occurring at the tibial
      metaphysis. This was consistent with high expression of MMP1, MMP13 and CD68+
      cells at the graft-bone tunnel interface and the peri-tunnel region. The
      significant loss of peri-tunnel bone, though not critically affecting early
      tunnel healing, suggested the need to protect the knee joint early post
      reconstruction.

PMID- 25839068
TI  - Systems biology of the microvasculature.
AB  - The vascular network carries blood throughout the body, delivering oxygen to
      tissues and providing a pathway for communication between distant organs. The
      network is hierarchical and structured, but also dynamic, especially at the
      smaller scales. Remodeling of the microvasculature occurs in response to local
      changes in oxygen, gene expression, cell-cell communication, and chemical and
      mechanical stimuli from the microenvironment. These local changes occur as a
      result of physiological processes such as growth and exercise, as well as acute
      and chronic diseases including stroke, cancer, and diabetes, and pharmacological
      intervention. While the vasculature is an important therapeutic target in many
      diseases, drugs designed to inhibit vascular growth have achieved only limited
      success, and no drug has yet been approved to promote therapeutic vascular
      remodeling. This highlights the challenges involved in identifying appropriate
      therapeutic targets in a system as complex as the vasculature. Systems biology
      approaches provide a means to bridge current understanding of the vascular
      system, from detailed signaling dynamics measured in vitro and pre-clinical
      animal models of vascular disease, to a more complete picture of vascular
      regulation in vivo. This will translate to an improved ability to identify multi
      component biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of therapy that are
      easy to measure in vivo, as well as better drug targets for specific disease
      states. In this review, we summarize systems biology approaches that have
      advanced our understanding of vascular function and dysfunction in vivo, with a
      focus on computational modeling. 

PMID- 25839071
TI  - Arthroscopic partial anterior synovectomy of the knee on patients with
      haemophilia.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study assessed the results of two-portal knee arthroscopic
      synovectomy in terms of bleeding recurrence, knee function, quality of life
      (QOL), and radiographic staging in a prospective case series of patients with
      haemophilia. METHODS: Nine knees from eight patients (median age 16.1 years;
      range 9.6-25 years) with haemophilia and recurrent knee haemarthrosis were
      prospectively evaluated. Yearly recurrence of bleeding was evaluated once a year
      for 5 years postoperatively. Range of motion (ROM) and radiographic staging, as
      well as results of the short form (SF)-36 and subjective knee form of the
      International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) and Western Ontario and
      McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) questionnaires, were evaluated
      before surgery and at the end of follow-up. RESULTS: Mean bleeding recurrence was
      significantly reduced during the 5-year follow-up period. Questionnaire results
      showed significant improvements (IKDC P = 0.015, WOMAC P = 0.011, and SF-36 P =
      0.023), whereas ROM was not significantly affected. Arthropathy progressed from
      Arnold-Hilgartner radiographic stage III to stage IV (P = 0.0082). CONCLUSIONS:
      Two-portal knee arthroscopic synovectomy was effective at reducing bleeding
      recurrence and improving knee function and QOL in patients with haemophilia, but
      did not interrupt the progression of radiographic changes.

PMID- 25839072
TI  - Reliability of the imaging software in the preoperative planning of the open
      wedge high tibial osteotomy.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to verify a recently developed picture
      archiving and communications system-photoshop method by comparing reliabilities
      between real-size paper template and the PACS-photoshop methods in preoperative
      planning of open-wedge high tibial osteotomy. METHODS: A prospective case series
      was conducted, including patients with medial osteoarthritis undergoing open
      wedge high tibial osteotomy. In the preoperative planning, the picture-archiving
      and communications system-photoshop method and real-size paper template method
      were used simultaneously in all patients. Preoperative hip-knee-ankle angle,
      height, and angle of the osteotomy were evaluated. The reliability of this newly
      devised method was evaluated, and the consistency between the two methods was
      also evaluated using intra-class correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Using the
      picture-archiving and communications system-photoshop method, the mean correction
      angle and height of osteotomy gap of rater-1 were 11.7 degrees  +/- 3.6 degrees 
      and 10.7 +/- 3.6 mm, respectively. The mean correction angle and height of
      osteotomy gap of rater-2 were 12.0 +/- 2.6 and 10.8 +/- 3.6, respectively. The
      inter- and intra-rater reliabilities of the correction angle were 0.956 ~ 0.979
      and 0.980 ~ 0.992, respectively. The inter- and intra-rater reliabilities of the
      height of the osteotomy gap were 0.968 ~ 0.985 and 0.971 ~ 0.994, respectively (p
      < 0.001). Using the real-size paper template method, the correction angle and
      height of the osteotomy gap were 11.5 degrees  +/- 3.4 degrees  and 10.9 +/- 3.8
      mm, respectively. Using the picture-archiving and communications system-photoshop
      method, mean values of the correction angle and height of the osteotomy gap were
      11.9 degrees  +/- 3.6 degrees  and 10.8 +/- 3.6 mm, respectively. Consistency
      between the two methods by comparing the means of the correction angle and the
      height of the osteotomy gap were 0.985 and 0.985, respectively (p < 0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: Use of the picture-archiving and communications system-photoshop
      method enables direct measurement of the height of the osteotomy gap with high
      reliability.

PMID- 25839073
TI  - Reconstruction of distal biceps tendon ruptures with a cortical button.
AB  - PURPOSE: Reconstruction of the ruptured distal biceps tendon is best done with a
      cortical button technique according to recent biomechanical studies. However,
      clinical outcome studies that evaluate the cortical button reconstruction
      technique are scarce. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of a
      cortical button reconstruction technique in patients with a traumatic distal
      biceps tendon rupture. METHODS: Twenty-two patients with 24 traumatic distal
      biceps tendon ruptures underwent surgical treatment. Reconstructions were done
      using the Endobutton or Toggle Loc. Postoperative evaluation consisted of ROM,
      strength, stability, neurological status and standard radiographs in AP view and
      lateral direction. The Mayo Elbow Performance Index (MEPI) and quick Disabilities
      of Arm, Shoulder and Hand (qDASH) questionnaires were also obtained. RESULTS: At
      a median follow-up of 22 months, the mean strength for flexion was 100 % (SD
      21.3) and for supination 97 % (SD 7.8), compared to the contralateral side. There
      were complications in 8 patients (36 %), and heterotopic ossifications were seen
      on radiographs in 23 % of patients. Heterotopic ossifications were symptomatic in
      one patient. CONCLUSIONS: The results after distal biceps tendon refixation with
      a cortical button were good according to ROM, MEPI and qDASH scores and strength.
      However, this procedure was accompanied with complications; in particular, the
      formation of heterotopic ossifications was frequently seen, though clinically
      relevant in only one patient.

PMID- 25839075
TI  - [Reflections on the audit Czech surgical departments].

PMID- 25839074
TI  - Dengue fever in returning travellers.

PMID- 25839076
TI  - Authorship: Dynamic duos.

PMID- 25839077
TI  - [The discussion of sections Czech Surgical Society].

PMID- 25839078
TI  - DSM-5 SUD diagnoses: changes, reactions, remaining open questions.

PMID- 25839079
TI  - Expression of RXR, EcR, E75 and VtG mRNA levels in the hepatopancreas and ovary
      of the freshwater edible crab, Oziothelphusa senex senex (Fabricius, 1798) during
      different vitellogenic stages.
AB  - The objective of the present study was to investigate the expression profile of
      retinoid X receptor (RXR), ecdysone receptor (EcR) and ecdysone inducible gene
      (E75) in the hepatopancreas and ovary of Oziothelphusa senex senex during
      different vitellogenic stages. RXR, EcR and E75 complementary DNAs (cDNAs) were
      isolated from the ovaries, while vitellogenin (VtG) cDNA was isolated from the
      hepatopancreas of vitellogenic female crab. Deduced amino acid sequence of the
      messenger RNAs (mRNAs) of RXR, EcR and E75 showed more than 80% identity with
      their respective mRNAs of other brachyurans. VtG mRNA was not detected in the
      ovary throughout vitellogenic stages. RXR and EcR were significantly increased in
      the ovaries during vitellogenic stage I. The levels of EcR, E75 and VtG in the
      hepatopancreas elevated significantly during vitellogenic stages I and II,
      whereas the levels of RXR elevated only in vitellogenic stage I. During
      vitellogenic stage III, the levels of RXR, EcR and VtG in the hepatopancreas were
      significantly decreased. Immunoprecipitation analysis revealed the presence of
      VtG in the haemolymph, hepatopancreas and ovary extracts from the females but
      absent in haemolymph and hepatopancreas extract of males. It can be inferred that
      RXR, EcR and E75 are involved in the regulation of synthesis of VtG in
      hepatopancreas, whereas in ovary, it is hypothesized that they play an important
      role in the uptake of VtG from the haemolymph, probably by regulating the levels
      of vitellogenin receptor. These are the first data showing an association between
      the expression levels of RXR, EcR and E75 and vitellogenesis and provide an
      alternative molecular intervention mechanism to the traditional eyestalk ablation
      to induce vitellogenesis and ovarian maturation in crustaceans.

PMID- 25839080
TI  - Non-target effects of clothianidin on monarch butterflies.
AB  - Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) frequently consume milkweed in and near
      agroecosystems and consequently may be exposed to pesticides like neonicotinoids.
      We conducted a dose response study to determine lethal and sublethal doses of
      clothianidin using a 36-h exposure scenario. We then quantified clothianidin
      levels found in milkweed leaves adjacent to maize fields. Toxicity assays
      revealed LC10, LC50, and LC90 values of 7.72, 15.63, and 30.70 ppb, respectively.
      Sublethal effects (larval size) were observed at 1 ppb. Contaminated milkweed
      plants had an average of 1.14+/-0.10 ppb clothianidin, with a maximum of 4 ppb in
      a single plant. This research suggests that clothianidin could function as a
      stressor to monarch populations.

PMID- 25839081
TI  - New biomarkers for drug-induced liver injury: are they really better? What do
      they diagnose?

PMID- 25839082
TI  - Maximizing the reactivity of phenolic and aminic radical-trapping antioxidants:
      just add nitrogen!
AB  - Hydrocarbon autoxidation, the archetype free radical chain reaction, challenges
      the longevity of both living organisms and petroleum-derived products. The most
      important strategy in slowing this process is via the intervention of radical
      trapping antioxidants (RTAs), which are abundant in nature and included as
      additives to almost every petroleum-derived product as well as several other
      commercial products. Accordingly, a longstanding objective of many academic and
      industrial scientists has been the design and development of novel RTAs that can
      outperform natural and industrial standards, such as alpha-tocopherol, the most
      biologically active form of vitamin E, and dialkylated diphenylamines,
      respectively. Some time ago we recognized that attempts to maximize the
      reactivity of phenolic RTAs had largely failed because substitution of the
      phenolic ring with electron-donating groups to weaken the O-H bond and accelerate
      the rate of H atom transfer to radicals leads to compounds that are unstable in
      air. We surmised that incorporating nitrogen into the phenolic ring would render
      them more stable to one-electron oxidation, enabling their substitution with
      strong electron-donating groups. Guided by computational chemistry, we
      demonstrated that replacing the phenyl ring in very electron-rich phenols with
      either 3-pyridyl or 5-pyrimidyl rings leads to phenolic-like RTAs with good air
      stability and great reactivity. In fact, rate constants determined for the
      reactions of some compounds with peroxyl radicals were almost 2 orders of
      magnitude greater than those for alpha-tocopherol and implied that the reactions
      proceeded without an enthalpic barrier. Following extensive thermochemical and
      kinetic characterization, we took our studies of these compounds to more
      physiologically relevant media, such as lipid bilayers and human low density
      lipoproteins, where the heterocyclic analogues of vitamin E shone, displaying
      unparalleled abilities to inhibit lipid peroxidation and prompting their current
      investigation in animal models of degenerative disease. Moreover, we carried out
      studies of these compounds in several industrially relevant contexts and in
      particular demonstrated that they could be used synergistically with less
      reactive, less expensive, phenolic RTAs. More recently, our attention has turned
      to the application of these ideas to maximizing the reactivity of diarylamine
      RTAs that are common in additives to petroleum-derived products, such as
      lubricating oils, transmission and hydraulic fluids, and rubber. In doing so, we
      have developed the most reactive diarylamines ever reported. The 3-pyridyl- and 5
      pyrimidyl-containing diarylamines are easily accessed using Pd- and/or Cu
      catalyzed cross-coupling reactions, and display an ideal compromise between
      reactivity and stability. The most reactive compounds are characterized by rate
      constants for reactions with peroxyl radicals that are independent of
      temperature, implying that-as for the most reactive heterocyclic phenols-these
      reactions proceed without an enthalpic barrier. Unprecedented reactivity was also
      observed when hydrocarbon autoxidations were carried out at elevated
      temperatures, real-world conditions where diarylamines are uniquely effective
      because of a catalytic RTA activity that makes use of the hydrocarbon substrate
      as a sacrificial reductant. Our studies to date suggest that heterocyclic
      diarylamines have real potential to increase the longevity of petroleum-derived
      products in a variety of applications where diphenylamines are currently used. 

PMID- 25839083
TI  - Reduced plasma-induced damage to near-surface nitrogen-vacancy centers in
      diamond.
AB  - Understanding plasma etch damage on near-surface nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in
      diamond is essential for preserving NV emission in photonic structures and
      magnetometry systems. We have developed a methodology to compare the optical
      properties of ensemble NV centers initially 70 nm from the surface brought closer
      to the surface through etching with O2 plasmas in three different reactors. We
      employ a conventional reactive ion etcher, a barrel etcher, and a downstream
      etcher. We find that, irrespective of the etcher used, NV luminescence dims
      steadily as NVs are brought closer to the surface due to optical and surface
      effects. When NVs are less than 40 nm from the surface, differences in damage
      from the three different plasma processes affect the NV emission intensity in
      different ways. Diamond that is etched using the conventional etching method
      shows a greatly reduced NV luminescence, whereas NVs 15 nm from the surface still
      survive when the diamond is etched in the downstream reactor. As a result,
      downstream etching provides a possible alternative method for low damage etching
      of diamond for preservation of near surface NV properties. 

PMID- 25839084
TI  - A facile peroxo-precursor synthesis method and structure evolution of large
      specific surface area mesoporous BaSnO3.
AB  - In this paper, we propose a facile and efficient strategy for synthesizing
      mesoporous BaSnO3 with a surface area as large as 67 m(2)/g using a peroxo
      precursor decomposition procedure. As far as we know, this is the largest surface
      area reported in literature for BaSnO3 materials and may have a potential to
      greatly promote the technological applications of this kind of functional
      material in the area of chemical sensors, NOx storage, and dye-sensitized solar
      cells. The structure evolution of the mesoporous BaSnO3 from the precursor was
      followed using a series of techniques. Infrared analysis indicates large amount
      of protons and peroxo ligands are contained in the peroxo-precursor. Although the
      crystal structure of the precursor appears cubic according to the analysis of X
      ray diffraction data, Raman and Mossbauer spectroscopy results show that the Sn
      atom is offset from the center of [SnO6] octahedron. After calcination at
      different temperatures, the precursor gradually transforms into BaSnO3 by release
      of water and oxygen, and the distortion degree of [SnO6] octahedral decreases.
      However, a number of oxygen vacancies are generated in the calcined samples,
      which are further confirmed by the physical property measurement system, and they
      would lower the local symmetry to some content. The concentration of the oxygen
      vacancies reduces simultaneously as the calcination temperature increases, and
      their contributions to the total heat capacity of the sample are calculated based
      on theoretical analysis of heat capacity data in the temperature region below 10
      K. 

PMID- 25839085
TI  - Large scale anomalous patterns of muscovite mica discovered by atomic force
      microscopy.
AB  - Muscovite mica is a widely used substrate because of its flatness. The large
      scale anomalous patterns of muscovite have been discovered by atomic force
      microscopy (AFM). These patterns distribute around the defects of the muscovite
      surface. By using different imaging modes and analyzing functions of AFM, these
      extraordinary patterns are thoroughly characterized, and it was revealed that
      some selected regularly aligned patterns mimic 2-D orthorhombic crystal systems
      surrounding the regular structure. However, such patterned nanostructures have no
      effects on the template-assisted self-assembly (or epitaxial growth) of a disease
      related peptide GAV-9. 

PMID- 25839086
TI  - Dual Mechanism Conceptual Model for Cr Isotope Fractionation during Reduction by
      Zerovalent Iron under Saturated Flow Conditions.
AB  - Chromium isotope analysis is rapidly becoming a valuable complementary tool for
      tracking Cr(VI) treatment in groundwater. Evaluation of various treatment
      materials has demonstrated that the degree of isotope fractionation is a function
      of the reaction mechanism, where reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) induces the
      largest fractionation. However, it has also been observed that uniform flow
      conditions can contribute complexity to isotope measurements. Here, laboratory
      batch and column experiments were conducted to assess Cr isotope fractionation
      during Cr(VI) reduction by zerovalent iron under both static and saturated flow
      conditions. Isotope measurements were accompanied by traditional aqueous
      geochemical measurements (pH, Eh, concentrations) and solid-phase analysis by
      scanning electron microscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Increasing
      delta(53)Cr values were associated with decreasing Cr(VI) concentrations, which
      indicates reduction; solid-phase analysis showed an accumulation of Cr(III) on
      the iron. Reactive transport modeling implemented a dual mechanism approach to
      simulate the fractionation observed in the experiments. The faster heterogeneous
      reaction pathway was associated with minimal fractionation (epsilon=-0.20/00),
      while the slower homogeneous pathway exhibited a greater degree of fractionation
      (epsilon=-0.90/00 for the batch experiment, and epsilon=-1.50/00 for the column
      experiment).

PMID- 25839087
TI  - Space reconstruction by primary visual cortex activity: a parallel, non
      computational mechanism of object representation.
AB  - The current view posits that objects, despite changes in appearance, are uniquely
      encoded by 'expert' cells. This view is untenable. First, even if cell ensemble
      responses are invariant and unique, we are consciously aware of all of the
      objects' details. Second, in addition to detail preservation, data show that the
      current hypothesis fails to account for uniqueness and invariance. I present an
      alternative view whereby objects' representation and recognition are based on
      parallel representation of space by primary visual cortex (V1) responses.
      Information necessary for invariance and other attributes is handled in series by
      other cortical areas through integration, interpolation, and hierarchical
      convergence. The parallel and serial mechanisms combine to enable our flexible
      space perception. Only in this alternative view is conscious perception
      consistent with the underlying architecture. 

PMID- 25839088
TI  - Association of Physical Fitness With Fibromyalgia Severity in Women: The al
      Andalus Project.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the association between physical fitness and fibromyalgia
      (FM) severity in women with FM as well as to assess whether different fitness
      components present an independent relation with FM severity. DESIGN: Population
      based cross-sectional study. SETTING: University facilities and FM associations.
      PARTICIPANTS: Women with FM (N=444). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: FM severity was assessed with the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact
      Questionnaire (FIQR). Aerobic fitness (6-min walk test), muscle strength
      (handgrip, chair stand, and arm curl tests), flexibility (chair sit and reach and
      back scratch tests), and motor agility (8 foot Up and Go test) were measured with
      the Senior Fitness Test battery and digital dynamometry. A standardized composite
      score (hereafter "global fitness profile") was calculated and divided into
      quintiles. RESULTS: Overall, physical fitness was significantly associated with
      the FIQR total and subscale scores, regardless of the fitness test used (all
      P<.05). The 6-minute walk and back-scratch tests were independently associated
      with the FIQR total score (R(2)=.88; both P<.005). The group with the highest
      global fitness profile had 16% lower FM severity than did the group with the
      lowest global fitness profile (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that
      higher physical fitness is consistently associated with lower FM severity in
      women with FM. Aerobic fitness and flexibility present independent associations
      with FM severity. However, the FIQR variability explained by these fitness tests
      was rather low (<10%), and further research on the potential disagreement between
      performance-based physical fitness and different self-reported outcomes in women
      with FM is warranted.

PMID- 25839089
TI  - Immediate Effects of Therapeutic Ultrasound on Quadriceps Spinal Reflex
      Excitability in Patients With Knee Injury.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of nonthermal therapeutic ultrasound on
      quadriceps spinal reflex excitability in patients with knee joint injury. DESIGN:
      Double-blind, randomized controlled laboratory study with a pretest posttest
      design. SETTING: University laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Recreationally active
      volunteers with a self-reported history of diagnosed intra-articular knee joint
      injury and documented quadriceps dysfunction (N=30). INTERVENTIONS: A nonthermal
      ultrasound, or sham, treatment was applied to the anteromedial knee. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Hoffmann reflex measurements were recorded at baseline, immediately
      postintervention, and 20 minutes post-intervention. The peak Hoffmann reflex
      amplitude was normalized by the peak motor response (H/M ratio) measured from the
      vastus medialis using surface electromyography as an estimate of quadriceps
      motorneuron pool excitability. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was used
      for comparisons. RESULTS: A significant group-by-time interaction was observed
      for mean (P=.016) and change (P=.044) in H/M ratio. The ultrasound group
      demonstrated significantly higher mean (P=.015) and change (P=.028) in H/M ratio
      20 minutes postintervention than did the sham ultrasound group. CONCLUSIONS:
      Quadriceps motoneuron pool excitability was facilitated 20 minutes after a
      nonthermal therapeutic ultrasound treatment, and not a sham treatment. These data
      provide supporting evidence of the contribution of peripheral receptors in
      modulation of the arthrogenic response in patients with persistent quadriceps
      dysfunction. Future research in this area should attempt to identify optimal
      treatment parameters and translate them to clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25839090
TI  - Development of a new family of chiral auxiliaries.
AB  - A new family of chiral auxiliaries designed on a conformationally restricted
      version of (-)-8-phenylmenthol has been developed. Both enantiomers are available
      from an inexpensive synthesis conducted on multigram scale. A first application
      has showed comparable diastereoselectivity between the novel auxiliary and (-)-8
      phenylmenthol. 

PMID- 25839091
TI  - IGFBP-3/transferrin/transferrin receptor 1 complexes as principal mediators of
      IGFBP-3 delivery to colon cells in non-cancer and cancer tissues.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this work was to study the involvement of IGFBP-3/Tf
      complexes in the pathology of colorectal carcinoma (CRC), quantify them,
      investigate their relation to iron concentration and binding to transferrin
      receptor (TfR) in colon tissue (non-cancer and cancer), and to assess the
      priority of this pathway for internalization of IGFBP-3. METHODS: The presence of
      IGFBP-3/Tf complexes was analyzed in sera from healthy persons and patients with
      CRC, and in colon tissue by immunoblotting. Complexes were immunoprecipitated,
      quantified by immunoassay and structurally characterized by immunoblotting,
      lectin blotting and mass spectrometry. Complexes which interacted with colon
      cells were immunoprecipitated with anti-TfR1 antibody and studied. Colon tissue
      slides were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: The concentration
      of IGFBP-3/Tf complexes was three times lower in patients with CRC. They were
      increasingly carbonylated, sialylated, contained more Galbeta4GlcNAc units,
      expressed altered charge density and increased affinity for metal ions.
      Immunoprecipitation experiments revealed more TfR1 on membranes than in cytosol
      of colon cells, also more in cancer than non-cancer tissue. TfR1 on membranes
      were less occupied with IGFBP-3/Tf complexes than in cytosol. Immunofluorescent
      staining indicated a remarkable degree of co-localization of IGFBP-3 and TfR1,
      evenly distributed in non-cancer tissue and both evenly and cell surface
      concentrated in cancer tissue. CONCLUSIONS: Increased expression of TfR1 on colon
      cell membranes in patients with CRC compensates for the reduced extracellular
      availability of IGFBP-3/Tf and TfR1 is the principal binding partner of
      extracellular IGFBP-3. IGFBP-3/Tf complexes in patients with CRC exhibit
      increased affinity for iron ions.

PMID- 25839093
TI  - Distribution of the cytoskeletal protein, Nestin, in acute leukemia.
AB  - Nestin is a neuroepithelial stem cell marker that is expressed in some types of
      tumor cells. Recent reports suggest that Nestin may be closely related to
      malignant cell proliferation and migration. Acute leukemia (AL) is characterized
      by a lack of differentiation, which results in uncontrolled proliferation in the
      bone marrow and accumulation of immature cells. The expression and function of
      Nestin in AL is unclear. We investigated Nestin immunohistochemical patterns of
      87 patients that included 47 cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 40 cases
      of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and 20 patients in complete remission (CR)
      from AML or ALL. We also investigated the clinico-pathological features of 87
      cases of AL and their CR and overall survival (OS). Nestin was expressed in
      leukemic blasts and mature granulocytic cells in most cases (39/47) of AML.
      Conversely, Nestin was expressed in mature granulocytic cells in fewer cases
      (6/40) of ALL, but not in blasts. Nestin expression appeared in leukemic blasts
      of AML, but not ALL. Nestin expression in AML blast cells was not associated with
      CR or OS. We provide evidence that Nestin is expressed in AL and might be a
      useful immunohistochemical marker for identifying AML and ALL. 

PMID- 25839092
TI  - Temporal and spatial rearrangements of a repetitive element array on C57BL/6J
      mouse genome.
AB  - Repetitive elements (REs) make up the vast majority of the mammalian genomes. We
      identified species-specific genomic libraries of RE arrays. The non-random
      configurations of RE arrays suggest their functions. We tested whether RE arrays
      undergo age- and tissue/cell-specific rearrangements. An RE array of C57BL/6J
      mice, containing tandem repeats of a mosaic of transposable REs, was selected to
      examine rearrangements in different ages and tissues. There were marked changes
      in the array configuration in the genomes of the skin and brain in all mice of
      six weeks and older, whereas the heart and liver had alterations at 29weeks. The
      temporal variations were confirmed by identifying putative rearrangement
      junctions. Temporal and spatial rearrangements of certain RE arrays may
      contribute to the acquired characteristics of the genome information system. 

PMID- 25839094
TI  - The control of short-term feed intake by metabolic oxidation in late-pregnant and
      early lactating dairy cows exposed to high ambient temperatures.
AB  - The objective of the present study was to integrate the dynamics of feed intake
      and metabolic oxidation in late pregnant and early lactating Holstein cows under
      heat stress conditions. On day 21 before parturition and again on day 20 after
      parturition, seven Holstein cows were kept for 7days at thermoneutral (TN)
      conditions (15 degrees C; temperature-humidity-index (THI)=60) followed by a 7day
      heat stress (HS) period at 28 degrees C (THI=76). On the last day of each
      temperature condition, gas exchange, feed intake and water intake were recorded
      every 6min in a respiration chamber. Pre- and post-partum cows responded to HS by
      decreasing feed intake. The reduction in feed intake in pre-partum cows was
      achieved through decreased meal size, meal duration, eating rate and daily eating
      time with no change in meal frequency, while post-partum cows kept under HS
      conditions showed variable responses in feeding behavior. In both pre- and post
      partum cows exposed to heat stress, daily and resting metabolic heat production
      decreased while the periprandial respiratory quotient (RQ) increased. The
      prolonged time between meal and the postprandial minimum in fat oxidation and the
      postprandial RQ maximum, respectively, revealed that HS as compared to TN early
      lactating cows have slower postprandial fat oxidation, longer feed digestion, and
      thereby showing a shift from fat to glucose utilization. 

PMID- 25839095
TI  - Cocaine exposure alters dopaminergic modulation of prefronto-accumbens
      transmission.
AB  - In the nucleus accumbens (NAc), dopamine transmission modulates glutamatergic
      input from the prefrontal cortex (PFC). This neuromodulatory action of dopamine
      can be disrupted by repeated exposure to psychostimulants such as cocaine.
      However, it is unclear whether this modulation depends on the precise timing of
      transmission at the same medium spiny neurons (MSNs) and if so, then whether this
      timing related modulation is also influenced by cocaine experience. Here,
      combining cocaine self-administration and in vivo extracellular recordings in
      anesthetized rats, we show that dopamine efflux in the NAc evoked by electrically
      stimulating the ventral tegmental area (VTA) exerted timing-dependent regulation
      of the excitatory accumbens response to stimulation of the medial prefrontal
      cortex (mPFC), and also that this modulation was blunted following prolonged
      abstinence from cocaine self-administration. These data indicate that
      dopaminergic timing-dependent dysregulation of mPFC-NAc glutamatergic
      transmission is implicated in cocaine addiction and might contribute to
      vulnerability to drug relapse after prolonged abstinence. 

PMID- 25839096
TI  - Diverse development and higher sensitivity of the circadian clocks to changes in
      maternal-feeding regime in a rat model of cardio-metabolic disease.
AB  - Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) develop cardiovascular and metabolic
      pathology in adulthood when their circadian system exhibits significant
      aberrances compared with healthy control rats. This study was aimed to elucidate
      how the SHR circadian system develops during ontogenesis and to assess its
      sensitivity to changes in maternal-feeding regime. Analysis of ontogenesis of
      clock gene expression rhythms in the suprachiasmatic nuclei, liver and colon
      revealed significant differences in SHR compared with Wistar rats. In the
      suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus (SCN) and liver, the development of a
      high-amplitude expression rhythm selectively for Bmal1 was delayed compared with
      Wistar rat. The atypical development of the SHR circadian clocks during postnatal
      ontogenesis might arise from differences in maternal behavior between SHR and
      Wistar rats that were detected soon after delivery. It may also arise from higher
      sensitivity of the circadian clocks in the SHR SCN, liver and colon to maternal
      behavior related to changes in the feeding regime because in contrast to Wistar
      rat, the SHR SCN and peripheral clocks during the prenatal period and the hepatic
      clock during the early postnatal period were phase shifted due to exposure of
      mothers to a restricted feeding regime. The maternal restricted feeding regime
      shifted the clocks despite the fact that the mothers were maintained under the
      light/dark cycle. Our findings of the diverse development and higher sensitivity
      of the developing circadian system of SHR to maternal cues might result from
      previously demonstrated differences in the SHR circadian genotype and may
      potentially contribute to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, which the animal
      model spontaneously develops. 

PMID- 25839097
TI  - Hippocampus: From memory to epilepsy, and back....

PMID- 25839101
TI  - A plain view of poor health in a land of plenty.
AB  - This article provides a clear description of U.S. health spending that is on a
      steep upward trajectory, and U.S. health outcomes on a downward trajectory, as
      compared to other nations. The article is written to inform social workers and
      other health professionals, who observe the poor health of their clients in a
      high-resource nation, while the nation banters about health care reform. This
      report presents international and national health resource and outcome
      comparisons, with implications for sustainable support for U.S population health
      and national capabilities. 

PMID- 25839102
TI  - Delocalized hole domains in Guanine-rich DNA oligonucleotides.
AB  - Differential pulse voltammetries of guanine-rich single- and double-stranded
      oligonucleotides containing up to six consecutive guanines are reported. The
      observed progressive lowering of the first voltammetric peak potential as the
      number of adjacent guanines increases unambiguously points toward the
      establishment of delocalized hole domains; the hole stabilization energy is ca.
      0.1 eV per GG step, significantly lower than that observed for AA steps. 

PMID- 25839098
TI  - Systems Pharmacology Links GPCRs with Retinal Degenerative Disorders.
AB  - In most biological systems, second messengers and their key regulatory and
      effector proteins form links between multiple cellular signaling pathways. Such
      signaling nodes can integrate the deleterious effects of genetic aberrations,
      environmental stressors, or both in complex diseases, leading to cell death by
      various mechanisms. Here we present a systems (network) pharmacology approach
      that, together with transcriptomics analyses, was used to identify different G
      protein-coupled receptors that experimentally protected against cellular stress
      and death caused by linked signaling mechanisms. We describe the application of
      this concept to degenerative and diabetic retinopathies in appropriate mouse
      models as an example. Systems pharmacology also provides an attractive framework
      for devising strategies to combat complex diseases by using (repurposing) US Food
      and Drug Administration-approved pharmacological agents. 

PMID- 25839103
TI  - HIV specific responses induced in nonhuman primates with ANRS HIV-Lipo-5 vaccine
      combined with rMVA-HIV prime or boost immunizations.
AB  - We evaluated the immunogenicity of a prime/boost vaccine strategy combining 5
      lipopeptides (HIV-Lipo-5) and a recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (rMVA
      HIV) in cynomolgus macaques. Both of these vaccine components deliver HIV LAI
      Gag, Pol, and Nef antigens. Systemic and local safety was excellent in all
      groups. Immunization with HIV-Lipo-5 alone induced significant serum anti-HIV
      antibody titers which were not modified by rMVA-HIV immunization. However,
      induction of T-cell responses, as measured by IFNgamma and IL-2 producing cells
      upon short-term stimulation with HIV peptide pools, required combined
      immunization with rMVA-HIV. Responses were preferentially observed against Gag
      antigen. Interestingly, HIV-Lipo-5 efficiently primed HIV induced T-cell
      responses upon the injection of rMVA-HIV, which may help to reduce the required
      number of vector injections. Our results provide a rationale for the use of a
      strategy involving HIV-Lipo-5 priming followed by rMVA-HIV booster immunization
      as a prophylactic or therapeutic vaccine approach against HIV infection and AIDS.

PMID- 25839105
TI  - Varicella in Europe-A review of the epidemiology and experience with vaccination.
AB  - There is no consensus as regards the European varicella immunisation policy; some
      countries have introduced varicella vaccination in their routine childhood
      immunisation programs whereas others have decided against or are debating. With
      the aim of providing an overview of the epidemiology of varicella in Europe and
      addressing the different strategies and the experiences so far, we performed a
      review of epidemiological studies done in Europe from 2004 to 2014. Varicella is
      mainly a disease of childhood, but sero-epidemiological studies show regional
      differences in the proportion of susceptible adults. Hospitalisation due to
      varicella is not common, but complications and hospitalisation mainly affect
      previously healthy children, which underlines the importance of not dismissing
      varicella as a disease of little importance. The experience with universal
      vaccination in Europe shows that vaccination leads to a rapid reduction of
      disease incidence. Vaccine effectiveness is high and a protective herd effect is
      obtained. Experience with vaccination in Europe has not been long enough, though,
      to draw conclusions on benefits and drawbacks with vaccination as well as the
      capacity for national programs in Europe to maintain a sufficiently high coverage
      to prevent a change in age group distribution to older children and young adults
      or on the impact that varicella immunisation may have on the epidemiology of
      shingles. 

PMID- 25839104
TI  - Induction of CD8(+) T cell responses and protective efficacy following
      microneedle-mediated delivery of a live adenovirus-vectored malaria vaccine.
AB  - There is an urgent need for improvements in vaccine delivery technologies. This
      is particularly pertinent for vaccination programmes within regions of limited
      resources, such as those required for adequate provision for disposal of used
      needles. Microneedles are micron-sized structures that penetrate the stratum
      corneum of the skin, creating temporary conduits for the needle-free delivery of
      drugs or vaccines. Here, we aimed to investigate immunity induced by the
      recombinant simian adenovirus-vectored vaccine ChAd63.ME-TRAP; currently
      undergoing clinical assessment as a candidate malaria vaccine, when delivered
      percutaneously by silicon microneedle arrays. In mice, we demonstrate that
      microneedle-mediated delivery of ChAd63.ME-TRAP induced similar numbers of
      transgene-specific CD8(+) T cells compared to intradermal (ID) administration
      with needle-and-syringe, following a single immunisation and after a ChAd63/MVA
      heterologous prime-boost schedule. When mice immunised with ChAd63/MVA were
      challenged with live Plasmodium berghei sporozoites, microneedle-mediated
      ChAd63.ME-TRAP priming demonstrated equivalent protective efficacy as did ID
      immunisation. Furthermore, responses following ChAd63/MVA immunisation correlated
      with a specific design parameter of the array used ('total array volume'). The
      level of transgene expression at the immunisation site and skin-draining lymph
      node (dLN) was also linked to total array volume. These findings have
      implications for defining silicon microneedle array design for use with live,
      vectored vaccines. 

PMID- 25839106
TI  - Integrating -Omics: Systems Biology as Explored Through C. elegans Research.
AB  - -Omics data have become indispensable to systems biology, which aims to describe
      the full complexity of functional cells, tissues, organs and organisms.
      Generating vast amounts of data via such methods, researchers have invested in
      ways of handling and interpreting these. From the large volumes of -omics data
      that have been gathered over the years, it is clear that the information derived
      from one -ome is usually far from complete. Now, individual techniques and
      methods for integration are maturing to the point that researchers can focus on
      network-based integration rather than simply interpreting single -ome studies.
      This review evaluates the application of integrated -omics approaches with a
      focus on Caenorhabditis elegans studies, intending to direct researchers in this
      field to useful databases and inspiring examples. 

PMID- 25839107
TI  - A potential compensatory role for endogenous striatal tyrosine hydroxylase
      positive neurons in a nonhuman primate model of Parkinson's disease.
AB  - The possibility of enhancing endogenous brain repair following neurological
      disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), is of considerable recent interest.
      One such mechanism may exist in the striatum as an upregulated population of
      tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-immunoreactive neurons that appear after 1-methyl-4
      phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetra-hydropyridine (MPTP) lesions in nonhuman primates as well as
      in humans with PD. An intriguing possibility is that these endogenous neurons
      reflect a compensatory mechanism to mitigate the loss of striatal DA due to
      progressive destruction of the nigrostriatal pathway. The possibility of
      enhancing the number and function of this population is attractive; however, it
      is crucial to gain further information about these cells in order to comprehend
      more fully their possible therapeutic potential. The current research was
      designed to investigate the fate of this endogenous population in African green
      monkeys rendered parkinsonian by MPTP lesions. Specifically, we assessed changes
      in the numbers of striatal neurons expressing TH at differing stages of the toxin
      induced behavioral disability and discovered a close relationship with symptom
      severity and striatal DA neuron numbers. Increased numbers of striatal TH
      positive neurons were associated with MPTP treatment that produced parkinsonian
      symptoms compared to numbers of these neurons in MPTP-treated asymptomatic
      animals and untreated controls. Expression of striatal DA neurons peaked at the
      manifestation of symptoms in mild/moderate animals and remained stable in animals
      that were severely parkinsonian. Furthermore, in severely debilitated animals
      that improved after fetal dopaminergic grafts, we discovered a return to control
      levels of the endogenous population. Taken together, our results further support
      the concept that this population of DA neurons responds to variations in striatal
      DA tone and may serve as a compensatory mechanism to restore striatal DA levels
      in the context of significant depletion. Artificially manipulating this
      endogenous population could prove beneficial for PD treatment, especially for
      individuals in early disease stages. 

PMID- 25839108
TI  - Mutations of SCN4A gene cause different diseases: 2 case reports and literature
      review.
AB  - SCN4A encodes the Nav1.4 channel and mutations in SCN4A lead to different ionic
      channelopathies. In this study, one sporadic individual of periodic paralysis,
      one paramyotonia family and 200 normal healthy controls are enrolled. Genomic DNA
      was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes, followed by polymerase chain
      reaction and DNA sequencing of candidate genes, including SCN4A and CACNA1S. As a
      result, heterozygous mutations c.2024G>A (R675Q) and c.1333G>A (V445M) of gene
      SCN4A were identified in the hypokalemic periodic paralysis patient and the
      paramyotonia congenita family respectively. Both mutations were not detected in
      healthy controls. Compared with reported cases, patients with mutation R675Q
      usually do not present hypokalemic periodic paralysis but hyperkalemic or
      normokalemic periodic paralysis. The mutation V445M was first reported in Chinese
      patients with nondystrophic myotonias. In addition, we carried out literature
      review by summarizing clinical features of the 2 mutations and establish the
      genotype-phenotype correlations to provide guidance for diagnosis. 

PMID- 25839109
TI  - Multimodal processing of emotional information in 9-month-old infants I:
      emotional faces and voices.
AB  - Making sense of emotions manifesting in human voice is an important social skill
      which is influenced by emotions in other modalities, such as that of the
      corresponding face. Although processing emotional information from voices and
      faces simultaneously has been studied in adults, little is known about the neural
      mechanisms underlying the development of this ability in infancy. Here we
      investigated multimodal processing of fearful and happy face/voice pairs using
      event-related potential (ERP) measures in a group of 84 9-month-olds. Infants
      were presented with emotional vocalisations (fearful/happy) preceded by the same
      or a different facial expression (fearful/happy). The ERP data revealed that the
      processing of emotional information appearing in human voice was modulated by the
      emotional expression appearing on the corresponding face: Infants responded with
      larger auditory ERPs after fearful compared to happy facial primes. This finding
      suggests that infants dedicate more processing capacities to potentially
      threatening than to non-threatening stimuli. 

PMID- 25839110
TI  - Multimodal processing of emotional information in 9-month-old infants II:
      prenatal exposure to maternal anxiety.
AB  - The ability to read emotional expressions from human face and voice is an
      important skill in our day-to-day interactions with others. How this ability
      develops may be influenced by atypical experiences early in life. Here, we
      investigated multimodal processing of fearful and happy face/voice pairs in 9
      month-olds prenatally exposed to maternal anxiety, using event-related potentials
      (ERPs). Infants were presented with emotional vocalisations (happy/fearful)
      preceded by emotional facial expressions (happy/fearful). The results revealed
      larger P350 amplitudes in response to fearful vocalisations when infants had been
      exposed to higher levels of anxiety, regardless of the type of visual prime,
      which may indicate increased attention to fearful vocalisations. A trend for a
      positive association between P150 amplitudes and maternal anxiety scores during
      pregnancy may suggest these infants are more easily aroused by and extract
      features more thoroughly from fearful vocalisations as well. These findings are
      compatible with the hypothesis that prenatal exposure to maternal anxiety is
      related to more extensive processing of fear-related stimuli. 

PMID- 25839111
TI  - Early repolarization patterns associated with increased arrhythmic risk are
      common in young non-Caucasian Australian males and not influenced by athletic
      status.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Early repolarization (ER) with a horizontal ST segment (ST-h) and
      high-amplitude J waves in the inferior leads is associated with an increased risk
      of cardiac arrhythmic death. The effect of ethnicity and athletic status on this
      increased-risk ER pattern has not been established. Aboriginal Australian/Torres
      Strait Islander and Pacific Islander/Maori (non-Caucasian [non-C]) subjects are
      well represented in Australian sport; however, the patterns and prevalence of ER
      in these populations are unknown. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to
      assess the prevalence and effect of athletic activity on ER patterns in young non
      C and Caucasian (C) subjects. METHODS: Twelve-lead ECGs of 726 male athletes
      (23.8% non-C) and 170 male controls (45.9% non-C) aged 16-40 years were analyzed
      for the presence of ER, defined as J-point elevation (J wave, QRS slur, or
      discrete ST elevation) >=0.1 mV in >=2 inferior (II, III, aVF) or lateral (I,
      aVL,V4-V6) leads. ST morphology was coded as horizontal (ST-h) or ascending (ST
      a). "Increased-risk ER" was defined as inferior ER with ST-h and J waves >2 mV.
      RESULTS: Regardless of athletic status, ER and increased-risk ER were more
      prevalent in non-C than in C subjects (53.8% vs 32% and 7.6% vs 1.2%,
      respectively, P <.0001). Whereas lower heart rate, larger QRS voltage, and
      shorter QRS duration were predictors of ER, non-C ethnicity was the only
      independent predictor of increased-risk ER (odds ratio 17.621, 95% confidence
      interval 4.98-62.346, P < .0001). CONCLUSION: ER patterns associated with
      increased arrhythmic risk are more common in young non-C than C subjects and were
      not influenced by athletic status. The long-term clinical significance of ER in
      these populations is yet to be determined.

PMID- 25839112
TI  - Letter to the Editor--Extraction of nonfunctional leads at the time of device
      upgrade: Still unproven benefit compared to abandoning leads.

PMID- 25839113
TI  - Wearable cardioverter-defibrillator for prevention of sudden cardiac death after
      infected implantable cardioverter-defibrillator removal: A cost-effectiveness
      evaluation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prevention of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) after removal of an
      infected implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is a challenging clinical
      dilemma. The cost-effectiveness of the wearable cardioverter-defibrillator (WCD)
      in this setting remains uncertain. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to
      compare the cost-effectiveness of the WCD with discharge home, discharge to a
      skilled nursing facility, or inpatient monitoring for the prevention of SCA after
      infected ICD removal. METHODS: A decision model was developed to compare the cost
      effectiveness of use of the WCD to several different strategies for patients who
      undergo ICD removal. One-way and 2-way sensitivity analyses were performed to
      account for uncertainties. RESULTS: In the base-case analysis, the incremental
      cost-effectiveness of the WCD strategy was $20,300 per life-year (LY) or $26,436
      per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) compared to discharge home without a WCD.
      Discharge to a skilled nursing facility and in-hospital monitoring resulted in
      higher costs and worse clinical outcomes. The incremental cost-effectiveness
      ratio was as low as $15,392/QALY if the WCD successfully terminated 95% of SCA
      events and exceeded the $50,000/QALY willingness-to-pay threshold if the efficacy
      was <69%.The WCD strategy remained cost-effective, assuming 5.6% 2-month SCA
      risk, as long as the time to reimplantation was at least 2 weeks. CONCLUSION: The
      WCD likely is cost-effective in protecting patients against SCA after infected
      ICD removal while waiting for ICD reimplantation compared to keeping patients in
      the hospital or discharging them home or to a skilled nursing facility.

PMID- 25839114
TI  - Overcoming reporting challenges: How to display, summarize, and model late
      reintervention outcomes, follow-up, and vital status information after surgery
      for atrial fibrillation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Postsurgical late reinterventions for atrial fibrillation (AF)
      include cardioversions (CV) or catheter ablations (CA). Commonly used methods for
      reporting and modeling the frequency and timing of CA or CV have well-known
      shortcomings. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to present intuitive and
      robust methods to visualize, summarize, and model late reinterventions
      type/timing and vital status simultaneously. METHODS: We present (1) the SMART
      plot (Summary of Mortality And Outcomes Reported Over Time); (2) the
      reintervention mean cumulative function (MCF); and (3) the proportional means
      model and the proportional rates model. We illustrate these methods in 3 groups:
      patients age <=60 years, 60-75 years (reference), and >75 years who underwent
      surgical AF ablation. RESULTS: Patients age >75 years had a significantly lower
      MCF of CVs (hazard ratio [HR] 0.50, P <.001). MCF for CAs was not significantly
      lower for patients age >75 years (HR 0.57, P = .13). For combined reinterventions
      (CV or CA), the age group >75 years had a significantly lower MCF (HR 0.51, P
      <.001). There were no significant differences in late CV or CA reintervention
      patterns for patients age <=60 years. CONCLUSION: The methods presented provide a
      comprehensive framework for displaying, summarizing, and modeling repeated late
      reinterventions after surgical AF ablation. Other areas of application are
      described, further emphasizing the potential for immediate use.

PMID- 25839116
TI  - Cytotoxicity of medicinal plants of the West-Canadian Gwich'in Native Americans
      towards sensitive and multidrug-resistant cancer cells.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Traditional medicine of the Native Americans has
      a long tradition of medicinal plants, which also influenced modern oncology. For
      instance, podophyllotoxin the active ingredient of Podophyllum peltatum L.
      (Berberidaceae) used by Native Americans to treat warts led to the development of
      etoposide and teniposide. In the present investigation, we studied 10 medicinal
      plants used by the Gwich'in First Nation of West-Canada, which have been used
      against diverse diseases including cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sensitive and
      multidrug-resistant (MDR) tumor cell lines expressing various ATP-binding
      cassette (ABC) transporters (P-glycoprotein/ABCB1/MDR1, MRP1/ABCC1, or
      BCRP/ABCG2) have been used. Cytotoxicity was determined by the resazurin assay.
      RESULTS: Arctium minus Bernh. (Asteraceae). Lysichiton americanus Hulten & St.
      John (Araceae), and Maianthemum dilatatum (Alph.Wood) A.Nelson &
      J.F.Macbr.(Asparagaceae) were cytotoxic with IC50 values ranging from 2.40 to
      86.35 ug/mL. The MDR cell lines did not exert cross-resistance to these extracts.
      CONCLUSION: As these medicinal plants of the West-Canadian Gwich'in First Nation
      were not involved in classical drug resistance mechanisms and might therefore be
      valuable to bypass anticancer drug resistance in refractory tumors.

PMID- 25839115
TI  - In vitro and in vivo anti-inflammatory activity of Phyllanthus acidus methanolic
      extract.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Phyllanthus acidus (L.) Skeels (Phyllanthaceae)
      has traditionally been used to treat gastric trouble, rheumatism, bronchitis,
      asthma, respiratory disorders, and hepatitis. Despite this widespread use, the
      pharmacological activities of this plant and their molecular mechanisms are
      poorly understood. Therefore, we evaluated the immunopharmacological activities
      of the methanolic extract of the aerial parts of this plant (Pa-ME) and validated
      its pharmacological targets. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)
      treated macrophages, an HCl/EtOH-induced gastritis model, and an acetic acid
      injected capillary permeability mouse model were employed to evaluate the anti
      inflammatory activity of Pa-ME. Potentially active anti-inflammatory components
      of this extract were identified by HPLC. The molecular mechanisms of the anti
      inflammatory activity were studied by kinase assays, reporter gene assays,
      immunoprecipitation analysis, and overexpression of target enzymes. RESULTS: Pa
      ME suppressed the production of nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and
      prevented morphological changes in LPS-treated RAW264.7 cells. Moreover, both
      HCl/EtOH-induced gastric damage and acetic acid-triggered vascular permeability
      were restored by orally administered Pa-ME. Furthermore, this extract
      downregulated the expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase
      (COX)-2 and reduced the nuclear levels of NF-kappaB. Signalling events upstream
      of NF-kappaB translocation, such as phosphorylation of Src and Syk and formation
      of Src/Syk signalling complexes, were also inhibited by Pa-ME. The enzymatic
      activities of Src and Syk were also suppressed by Pa-ME. Moreover, Src-induced
      and Syk-induced luciferase activity and p85/Akt phosphorylation were also
      inhibited by Pa-ME. Of the identified flavonoids, kaempferol and quercetin were
      revealed as partially active anti-inflammatory components in Pa-ME. CONCLUSION:
      Pa-ME exerts anti-inflammatory activity in vitro and in vivo by suppressing Src,
      Syk, and their downstream transcription factor, NF-kappaB.

PMID- 25839117
TI  - Modulatory effect of Senecio brasiliensis (Spreng) Less. in a murine model of
      inflammation induced by carrageenan into the pleural cavity.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Senecio brasiliensis (Spreng) Less (S.
      brasiliensis), known as "Flor-das-almas", "Margaridinha" or "Maria mole", is used
      in folk medicine as an anti-inflammatory and to treat gastric ulcers and stomach
      pain. While the Senecio genus has been widely studied for its pharmacological
      activities to support its use in traditional medicine, few studies focus on the
      anti-inflammatory activities of the species. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the
      anti-inflammatory activities of S. brasiliensis, a specie native to Brazil, using
      a murine model of pleurisy induced by carrageenan. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The
      flowers of S. brasiliensis were air-dried for 3 days and subjected to ethanol
      (96%) extraction for 7 days to obtain the crude extract (CE). The CE was
      subjected to acid-base extraction to obtain the alkaloid fraction (AF). The
      hexane (HEX), dichloromethane (DCM) and ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fractions were
      obtained by extracting from CE with different solvents. The alkaloids senecionine
      (Sen), integerrimine (Int) and senecionine N-oxide were obtained from AF by
      chromatographic fractionation and a mixture of 1,4-, 3,4-, 3,5- and 4,5
      dicaffeoylquinic acids (DCQs) were obtained from the EtOAc fraction. The isolated
      alkaloids were identified through spectroscopic analysis of IR, NMR and LC-MS
      coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), and the
      dicaffeoylquinic acids through the hierarchical key method. Swiss mice were used
      in the in vivo experiments. We evaluated the effect of the CE, its derived
      fractions (AF, HEX, DCM and EtOAc), and the isolated compounds (Sen, Int, N-oxide
      senecionine, and DCQs) on: leukocyte migration, exudate concentrations,
      myeloperoxidase (MPO) and adenosine-deaminase (ADA) activities, and tumor
      necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta) and interleukin
      17A levels in the fluid leakage from the pleural cavity using a mouse model of
      pleurisy induced by carrageenan. The effects of the isolated compounds, Sen, Int,
      N-oxide senecionine and DCQs, were also analyzed for their ability to inhibit p65
      phosphorylation (p-p65) in the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) pathway in the
      lung tissue. MPO and ADA were analyzed by colorimetric assays, and the cytokines
      and protein p65 levels were determined using an enzyme immunoassay (EIA).
      RESULTS: The CE, its EtOAc and AF fractions, and its isolated compounds (Sen, Int
      and DCQs), significantly reduced leukocyte migration (P < 0.05), MPO and ADA
      activities (P < 0.01), and TNF-alpha (P < 0.05), and IL-17A levels (P < 0.01).
      The CE, the EtOAc and AF fractions, and the DCQs also decreased IL-1beta levels
      (P < 0.01). The isolated compounds, Sen, Int and the DCQs, inhibited p65
      phosphorylation (NF-kappaB) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that
      S. brasiliensis has important anti-inflammatory properties that are capable of
      inhibiting activated leukocytes by decreasing neutrophil migration. This effect
      may be attributed to the inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the
      reduction of the NF-kappaB pathway. The compounds Sen, Int, and DCQs may be
      responsible for the anti-inflammatory actions of S. brasiliensis.

PMID- 25839118
TI  - Effects of the aqueous extract of Pimpinella anisum L. seeds on exploratory
      activity and emotional behavior in rats using the open field and elevated plus
      maze tests.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Pimpinella anisum L. is considered one of the
      first plants used for medicinal purposes. Pharmacological actions of the plant on
      the central nervous system have been proven but previous analyses have focused on
      anticonvulsant and neuroprotective actions. In traditional medicine worldwide,
      the use of Pimpinella is commonly recommended as a tranquilizer, although no
      scientific information supporting this use is available. Therefore, it was
      decided to investigate the central actions of the plant to observe behavioral
      responses, with an emphasis on the emotional component. AIM OF STUDY: To
      investigate the effects of the aqueous extract of Pimpinella seeds on exploratory
      activity and emotional behavior in rats using the open field and elevated plus
      maze tests. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seeds of Pimpinella were extracted with
      distilled water, concentrated and freeze-dried yielding the aqueous extract(AE).
      Rats were divided into four groups: control(water 5 mL/kg, p.o.) and AE 0.5, 1.0
      and 2.0 g/kg, p.o. Individual observations were performed in an open field and
      the parameters locomotor activity, rearing, grooming and defecation were
      recorded. In elevated plus maze test, rats were divided into four groups:
      control(water 5 mL/kg, p.o.) and AE 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 g/kg, p.o. The parameters
      arm entries, total time spent in open and closed arms; and total number of
      arrivals at the end of an open or closed arm were recorded for each rat. RESULTS:
      Among the parameters assessed with the open field test, only rearing was reduced
      in the AE 0.5 g/kg group. When AE 1.0 g/kg was administered, only the initiation
      of exploratory activity was delayed, without impairing the animals' general
      activity. The highest dose of AE (2.0 g/kg) induced a reduction in the animals'
      habituation during the open field test within the same session, as evidenced by
      the maintenance of high levels of peripheral locomotion and rearing throughout
      the test. On the elevated plus maze test, no alterations were observed in the
      responses of the animals relative to controls for all doses tested. CONCLUSION:
      These results failed to support anxiety-related central action of the aqueous
      extract of Pimpinella seeds, invalidating popular beliefs regarding a
      tranquilizing effect. However, a habituation-related central action of the
      extract was demonstrated, suggesting action of bioactive compounds on central
      learning-related areas. The characterization of effects that may interfere with
      cognitive processes reinforces caution regarding indiscriminate consumption of
      the plant, especially in individuals with deficits, such as Alzheimer's Disease
      patients.

PMID- 25839119
TI  - Glycosmis pentaphylla (Retz.) DC arrests cell cycle and induces apoptosis via
      caspase-3/7 activation in breast cancer cells.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Glycosmis pentaphylla (Retz.) DC belonging to the
      family Rutaceae has been traditionally used for the treatment of rheumatism,
      anaemia, jaundice, skin diseases, bronchitis etc. The plant is traditionally
      considered as anti-cancer medicine and used by the healers of Bangladesh to treat
      all types of cancers. Perhaps the key to many of its medicinal applications is
      its inherent anti-inflammatory property. AIM OF THE STUDY: The present study is
      aimed at evaluating the effect of various fractions of G. pentaphylla (Retz.) DC
      leaves on the cell cycle and apoptosis of breast cancer cells viz. MCF-7 and MDA
      MB-231. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Various extracts and fractions of the leaves of G.
      pentaphylla (Retz.) DC were studied for their cytotoxicity with the help of
      Sulforhodamine B assay, in MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 and Vero cell lines. The most active
      fractions were studied for their effect on the cell cycle of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231
      cells. Apoptotic studies were done using Hoechst staining, DNA fragmentation,
      Annexin V staining and caspase-3/7 activation assay in breast cancer cells. HPLC
      and HPTLC profiling of the active fractions were done. RESULTS: HPTLC and HPLC
      profiling revealed the presence of lupeol, chrysin, quercetin, beta-sitosterol
      and kaempferol as components in active fractions. Lupeol and chrysin are being
      reported in this plant for the first time. The studies showed that the selected
      fractions possess cell cycle inhibitory and apoptosis inducing effect on both MCF
      7 and MDA-MB-231 cells. Apoptotic effect of the fractions on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231
      cells may be through the mitochondrial pathway by the activation of caspase-3/7.

PMID- 25839120
TI  - An overview of thin film nitinol endovascular devices.
AB  - Thin film nitinol has unique mechanical properties (e.g., superelasticity),
      excellent biocompatibility, and ultra-smooth surface, as well as shape memory
      behavior. All these features along with its low-profile physical dimension (i.e.,
      a few micrometers thick) make this material an ideal candidate in developing low
      profile medical devices (e.g., endovascular devices). Thin film nitinol-based
      devices can be collapsed and inserted in remarkably smaller diameter catheters
      for a wide range of catheter-based procedures; therefore, it can be easily
      delivered through highly tortuous or narrow vascular system. A high-quality thin
      film nitinol can be fabricated by vacuum sputter deposition technique.
      Micromachining techniques were used to create micro patterns on the thin film
      nitinol to provide fenestrations for nutrition and oxygen transport and to
      increase the device's flexibility for the devices used as thin film nitinol
      covered stent. In addition, a new surface treatment method has been developed for
      improving the hemocompatibility of thin film nitinol when it is used as a graft
      material in endovascular devices. Both in vitro and in vivo test data
      demonstrated a superior hemocompatibility of the thin film nitinol when compared
      with commercially available endovascular graft materials such as ePTFE or Dacron
      polyester. Promising features like these have motivated the development of thin
      film nitinol as a novel biomaterial for creating endovascular devices such as
      stent grafts, neurovascular flow diverters, and heart valves. This review focuses
      on thin film nitinol fabrication processes, mechanical and biological properties
      of the material, as well as current and potential thin film nitinol medical
      applications. 

PMID- 25839121
TI  - Multidimensional characterisation of biomechanical structures by combining Atomic
      Force Microscopy and Focused Ion Beam: A study of the rat whisker.
AB  - Understanding the heterogeneity of biological structures, particularly at the
      micro/nano scale can offer insights valuable for multidisciplinary research in
      tissue engineering and biomimicry designs. Here we propose to combine
      nanocharacterisation tools, particularly Focused Ion Beam (FIB) and Atomic Force
      Microscopy (AFM) for three dimensional mapping of mechanical modulus and chemical
      signatures. The prototype platform is applied to image and investigate the
      fundamental mechanics of the rat face whiskers, a high-acuity sensor used to gain
      detailed information about the world. Grazing angle FIB milling was first applied
      to expose the interior cross section of the rat whisker sample, followed by a
      "lift-out" method to retrieve and position the target sample for further
      analyses. AFM force spectroscopy measurements revealed a non-uniform pattern of
      elastic modulus across the cross section, with a range from 0.8GPa to 13.5GPa.
      The highest elastic modulus was found at the outer cuticle region of the whisker,
      and values gradually decreased towards the interior cortex and medulla regions.
      Elemental mapping with EDS confirmed that the interior of the rat whisker is
      dominated by C, O, N, S, Cl and K, with a significant change of elemental
      distribution close to the exterior cuticle region. Based on these data, a novel
      comprehensive three dimensional (3D) elastic modulus model was constructed, and
      stress distributions under realistic conditions were investigated with Finite
      Element Analysis (FEA). The simulations could well account for the passive
      whisker deflections, with calculated resonant frequency as well as force
      deflection for the whiskers being in good agreement with reported experimental
      data. Limitations and further applications are discussed for the proposed FIB/AFM
      approach, which holds good promise as a unique platform to gain insights on
      various heterogeneous biomaterials and biomechanical systems.

PMID- 25839122
TI  - Surface charge tunability as a powerful strategy to control electrostatic
      interaction for high efficiency silencing, using tailored oligopeptide-modified
      poly(beta-amino ester)s (PBAEs).
AB  - Here we present an extended family of pBAEs that incorporate terminal
      oligopeptide moieties synthesized from both positive and negative amino acids.
      Polymer formulations of mixtures of negative and positive oligopeptide-modified
      pBAEs are capable of condensing siRNA into discrete nanoparticles. We have
      demonstrated that efficient delivery of nucleic acids in a cell-type dependent
      manner can be achieved by careful control of the pBAE formulation. In addition,
      our approach of adding differently charged oligopeptides to the termini of
      poly(beta-amino ester)s is of great interest for the design of tailored complexes
      having specific features, such as tuneable zeta potential. We anticipate that
      this surface charge tunability may be a powerful strategy to control unwanted
      electrostatic interactions, while preserving high silencing efficiency and
      reduced toxicity.

PMID- 25839123
TI  - Surface tailoring for selective endothelialization and platelet inhibition via a
      combination of SI-ATRP and click chemistry using Cys-Ala-Gly-peptide.
AB  - Surface tailoring is an attractive approach to enhancing selective
      endothelialization, which is a prerequisite for current vascular prosthesis
      applications. Here, we modified polycarbonate urethane (PCU) surface with both
      poly(ethylene glycol) and Cys-Ala-Gly-peptide (CAG) for the purpose of creating a
      hydrophilic surface with targeting adhesion of endothelial cells (ECs). In the
      first step, PCU-film surface was grafted with poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate
      (PEGMA) to covalently tether hydrophilic polymer brushes via surface initiated
      atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP), followed by grafting of an active
      monomer pentafluorophenyl methacrylate (PFMA) by a second ATRP. The
      postpolymerization modification of the terminal reactive groups with allyl amine
      molecules created pendant allyl groups, which were subsequently functionalized
      with cysteine terminated CAG-peptide via photo-initiated thiol-ene click
      chemistry. The functionalized surfaces were characterized by water contact angle
      and XPS analysis. The growth and proliferation of human ECs or human umbilical
      arterial smooth muscle cells on the functionalized surfaces were investigated for
      1, 3 and 7 day/s. The results indicated that these peptide functionalized
      surfaces exhibited enhanced EC adhesion, growth and proliferation. Furthermore,
      they suppressed platelet adhesion in contact with platelet-rich plasma for 2h.
      Therefore, these surfaces with EC targeting ligand could be an effective anti
      thrombogenic platform for vascular tissue engineering application.

PMID- 25839124
TI  - Cytocompatible in situ forming chitosan/hyaluronan hydrogels via a metal-free
      click chemistry for soft tissue engineering.
AB  - Injectable hydrogels are important cell scaffolding materials for tissue
      engineering and regenerative medicine. Here, we report a new class of
      biocompatible and biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogels derived from chitosan
      and hyaluronan via a metal-free click chemistry, without the addition of copper
      catalyst. For the metal-free click reaction, chitosan and hyaluronan were
      modified with oxanorbornadiene (OB) and 11-azido-3,6,9-trioxaundecan-1-amine
      (AA), respectively. The gelation is attributed to the triazole ring formation
      between OB and azido groups of polysaccharide derivatives. The molecular
      structures were verified by FT-IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis, giving
      substitution degrees of 58% and 47% for chitosan-OB and hyaluronan-AA,
      respectively. The in vitro gelation, morphologies, equilibrium swelling,
      compressive modulus and degradation of the composite hydrogels were examined. The
      potential of the metal-free hydrogel as a cell scaffold was demonstrated by
      encapsulation of human adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) within the gel matrix in
      vitro. Cell culture showed that this metal-free hydrogel could support survival
      and proliferation of ASCs. A preliminary in vivo study demonstrated the
      usefulness of the hydrogel as an injectable scaffold for adipose tissue
      engineering. These characteristics provide a potential opportunity to use the
      metal-free click chemistry in preparation of biocompatible hydrogels for soft
      tissue engineering applications.

PMID- 25839125
TI  - Targeting and liposomal drug delivery to CD40L expressing T cells for treatment
      of autoimmune diseases.
AB  - CD40L is considered as an important target for the treatment of autoimmune
      diseases. There have been many efforts devoted to the development of antibodies
      and other molecules to disrupt CD40/CD40L interaction for therapeutic benefits.
      In this study, we designed a CD40L specific peptide ligand - A25 based on CD40L
      crystal structure and molecular docking studies. Its binding affinity and
      specificity to CD40L were confirmed by Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)
      measurements. The peptide A25 was then conjugated on the surface of liposomes and
      shown to be able to mediate specific liposomal drug delivery to CD40L+ cells.
      Loaded with the cytostatic drug methotrexate (MTX), the A25 modified liposome
      could significantly reduce the CD40L+ cell ratios in the experimental autoimmune
      encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice, resulting in great improvement in clinical scores.
      Since CD40L+ cells are involved in the pathological development of many auto
      immune diseases, A25 conjugated drug targeting systems may be useful for
      developing therapies that are more efficacies and with less side effects. 

PMID- 25839126
TI  - Efficient peptide recovery from secreted recombinant MHC-I molecules expressed
      via mRNA transfection.
AB  - Most current methods for identifying peptides that are bound to a distinct MHC-I
      product in a given cell sample utilize detergent solubilization of membrane
      proteins followed by immunoaffinity purification. Since detergent traces and cell
      debris hamper subsequent peptide analysis, exceedingly large cell samples are
      often required. To avoid the use of detergents, truncated MHC-I heavy chains have
      recently been expressed by stable DNA transfection or retroviral transduction,
      resulting in the secretion of soluble MHC-I complexes to the growth medium. The
      electroporation of in vitro-transcribed mRNA achieves remarkable efficacy and
      uniformity of gene expression in numerous cell types, exhibiting exceedingly fast
      kinetics. We reasoned that mRNA transfection offers a simple, fast and widely
      applicable alternative to current gene delivery protocols for expressing secreted
      MHC-I products in cells of interest. To test this assumption we used mRNA to
      express soluble derivatives of HLA-A2 in the human AF10 B cell myeloma and 624mel
      melanoma and H-2K(d) in the mouse SP2/0 B cell myeloma. The level of MHC-I
      complexes secreted by these cells peaked within less than 24h post-transfection
      and they could be affinity-purified directly from the culture medium in
      considerably greater yields when compared to nonionic detergent lysates on a cell
      to-cell basis. Mass-spectrometry analysis of eluted peptides revealed larger
      pools in the secreted material than in lysates with substantial overlap in
      composition. Our results introduce mRNA transfection as a powerful tool for
      determining the cell's MHC-I peptidome, which can be potentially applied to a
      broad range of cell types. 

PMID- 25839128
TI  - Characterization and clinical relevance of circulating CD4+CD28- T cells in
      Graves' disease.
AB  - During autoimmune disease the fraction of CD4+CD28- T cells in the peripheral
      blood of has been found to be elevated. In the present study, peripheral blood
      was collected from 61 patients with Graves' disease (GD) and 30 healthy control
      participants. Serum concentrations of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free
      triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyrotropin receptor
      autoantibody (TRAb) were measured and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC)
      surface expression of CD4 and CD28 molecules was detected by flow cytometry.
      CD4+CD28- cells were sorted from six patients undergoing subtotal thyroidectomy
      and cultured ex vivo. The influence of TSH pretreated thyroid follicular cells on
      CD4+CD28- cell proliferation was evaluated using the agonist CD40 mAb 5C11, the
      blocking CD40L mAb 4F1 or B7-1 mAb 4E5 in 3H-TdR assays. Our data showed that the
      fraction of CD4+CD28- T cells was higher in GD patients than healthy donors
      (10.21%+/-8.56% vs. 2.33%+/-1.94%; P<0.001), and further elevated in 24 of 61
      patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) (7.00+/-6.57% vs. 15.21+/-8.96%;
      P<0.001). A higher proportion of CD4+CD28- cells was detected in patients with
      degree II or III goiter than those with degree I goiter (11.53+/-9.18% vs. 6.11+/
      3.97%; P<0.05 and 14.50+/-10.41% vs. 6.11+/-3.97%; P<0.01). The percentage of
      CD4+CD28- T cells correlated positively with serum levels of FT3 (r=0.354,
      P<0.01) and TRAb (r=0.304, P<0.05), but did not correlate with serum FT4 or TSH.
      Ex vivo, 5C11 enhanced proliferation of CD4+CD28+ cells (P<0.05), but did not
      influence the proliferation of CD4+CD28- cells. 4F1 inhibited the proliferation
      of both CD4+CD28+ (P<0.05) and CD4+CD28- (P<0.01) cells, and 4E5 inhibited
      proliferation of CD4+CD28+ cells (P<0.05). The elevation in circulating CD4+CD28-
      cells in GD patients correlates with disease severity and maybe plays an
      important role in the pathogenesis of GD.

PMID- 25839127
TI  - Anti-diabetic actions of carbon monoxide-releasing molecule (CORM)-A1:
      Immunomodulation and regeneration of islet beta cells.
AB  - We have recently shown that carbon monoxide releasing molecule (CORM)-A1 prevents
      type 1 diabetes induced in C57BL/6 mice with multiple low doses of streptozotocin
      (MLDS) by shifting the Th1/Th17/M1 balance towards a Th2/M2 response. In the
      present work we tested the hypothesis that CORM-A1 might influence regulatory arm
      of the immune response, as well as beta cell regeneration. CORM-A1 (2 mg/kg/day)
      was administered for 10 days to mice induced with MLDS and/or depleted of low
      dose cyclophosphamide (CY)-sensitive FoxP3+ T regulatory (Treg) cells. Besides
      monitoring hyperglycaemia, ex vivo analysis of spleen, pancreatic lymph nodes
      (PLN) and pancreas was performed at the end of treatment. In CORM-A1-treated MLDS
      induced mice the improvement of hyperglycaemia was observed only without
      depletion of CY-sensitive FoxP3+ Treg cells. This was accompanied by decreased
      levels of interleukin (IL)-12, IL-2 and early activation marker CD25 in the
      spleen and PLN and increased transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta, resulting in
      reduced lymphocyte proliferation in both organs. In parallel, decreased
      transcript levels of IL-2, but increased mRNA expression of TGF-beta, accompanied
      with up-regulation of Ki-67 protein expression was observed within pancreas.
      Together, the data suggested that besides the immunomodulatory potential, CORM-A1
      probably induces beta cell regeneration.

PMID- 25839129
TI  - Characteristic Features of the Interictal EEG Background in 2 Patients With
      Malignant Migrating Partial Epilepsy in Infancy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To describe chronological electrographic features of the interictal EEG
      background observed in two patients with malignant migrating partial epilepsy in
      infancy from neonatal to early infantile period. METHODS: EEGs of two patients
      who fulfilled diagnostic criteria for malignant migrating partial epilepsy in
      infancy were acquired over the period of 6 months to monitor treatment efficacy
      and characterize seizures and other paroxysmal events. RESULTS: Both patients
      followed a similar sequential pattern. A distinctive evolution from a dysmature
      term neonatal EEG pattern to an asynchronous suppression burst pattern was
      observed before the interictal background becoming continuous. CONCLUSIONS:
      Physicians providing care to infants with intractable epilepsy and burst
      suppression EEG pattern should be alert to the possibility of malignant migrating
      partial epilepsy in infancy. An earlier diagnosis of malignant migrating partial
      epilepsy in infancy would help to guide diagnostic workup including genetic
      testing.

PMID- 25839130
TI  - Effects of ropivacaine, bupivacaine and sufentanil in colon and pancreatic cancer
      cells in vitro.
AB  - The perioperative period is supposed to be a vulnerable period for cancer
      progression. Results of clinical studies indicate that the use of regional
      anesthesia can influence and improve oncological outcome of cancer patients.
      Uncontrolled cell proliferation and resistance to apoptotic cell death are
      important characteristics of solid tumors. The aim of this study was to
      investigate the effects of the clinically used local anesthetics ropivacaine or
      bupivacaine and the opioid analgesic sufentanil on cell proliferation, cell cycle
      distribution and apoptosis of colon (HT 29 and SW 480) and pancreatic (PaTu 8988t
      and PANC 1) cancer cell lines in vitro. Cell proliferation was measured by Cell
      Proliferation ELISA BrdU Assay. Apoptosis was analyzed by annexin V staining and
      cell cycle distribution was detected by flow cytometry. Ropivacaine, bupivacaine
      and sufentanil did not change apoptosis rate and cell cycle distribution in
      clinically concentration. Only high concentrations of ropivacaine or bupivacaine
      revealed antiproliferative potency. Protective effects of epidural anesthesia
      observed in clinical studies seem not to be based on direct effects of these
      drugs on cancer cells. 

PMID- 25839134
TI  - Stress-Strain Measurements in Vitrified Arteries Permeated With Synthetic Ice
      Modulators.
AB  - This study measures the Young's modulus in vitrified blood vessels below the
      glass transition temperature in conditions relevant to cryogenic storage and
      focuses on the cryoprotective agents (CPAs) cocktail DP6 mixed with synthetic ice
      modulators (SIMs). Small steplike strain changes were observed during the loading
      without affecting the bulk behavior, suggesting microfracture occurrences
      resembling previous observation on microfracture formation under compression in
      crystallized blood vessels. Young's modulus was measured to be 0.92-3.01 GPa,
      with no clear indication of SIM dependency on the Young's modulus. Instead, the
      range of values is attributed to variations between specimens of the same
      species.

PMID- 25839135
TI  - Novel substrate specificities of two lacto-N-biosidases towards beta-linked
      galacto-N-biose-containing oligosaccharides of globo H, Gb5, and GA1.
AB  - We describe the novel substrate specificities of two independently evolved lacto
      N-biosidases (LnbX and LnbB) towards the sugar chains of globo- and ganglio
      series glycosphingolipids. LnbX, a non-classified member of the glycoside
      hydrolase family, isolated from Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum, was shown
      to liberate galacto-N-biose (GNB: Galbeta1-3GalNAc) and 2'-fucosyl GNB (a type-4
      trisaccharide) from Gb5 pentasaccharide and globo H hexasaccharide, respectively.
      LnbB, a member of the glycoside hydrolase family 20 isolated from Bifidobacterium
      bifidum, was shown to release GNB from Gb5 and GA1 oligosaccharides. This is the
      first report describing enzymatic release of beta-linked GNB from natural
      substrates. These unique activities may play a role in modulating the microbial
      composition in the gut ecosystem, and may serve as new tools for elucidating the
      functions of sugar chains of glycosphingolipids. 

PMID- 25839136
TI  - Synthesis, conformational study, glycosidase inhibitory activity and molecular
      docking studies of dihydroxylated 4- and 5-amino-iminosugars.
AB  - An efficient methodology for the synthesis of new amino iminosugars 6a, 7a and 8,
      starting from D-glucose, is reported. The conformational study using (1)H NMR
      data showed that the amino iminosugar 6a exists in the (2)C5 while; the 7a and 8
      exist in the (5)C2 conformation. The inhibition activities with different
      glycosidases showed that 6a and 7a are poor glycosidase inhibitors. However,
      amino iminosugar 8 showed selective inhibition against the beta-galactosidase
      (IC50 = 43 MUM, Ki = 153 MUM). These results are substantiated by the molecular
      docking studies.

PMID- 25839137
TI  - Biomarkers in volunteers exposed to mobile phone radiation.
AB  - For some time it has been investigated whether low-intensity non-thermal
      microwave radiation from mobile phones adversely affects the mammalian blood
      brain barrier (BBB). All such studies except one have been either in vitro or
      experimental animal studies. The one carried out on humans showed a statistically
      significant increase in serum transthyretin (TTR) 60 min after finishing of a 30
      min microwave exposure session. The aim of the present study was to follow up on
      the finding of the previous one using a better study design. Using biomarkers
      analyzed in blood serum before and after the exposure this single blinded
      randomized counterbalanced study, including 24 healthy subjects aged 18-30 years
      that all underwent three exposure conditions (SAR(10G)=2 W/kg, SAR(10G)=0.2 W/kg,
      sham), tested whether microwaves from an 890-MHz phone-like signal give acute
      effects on the integrity of brain-shielding barriers. Over time, statistically
      significant variations were found for two of the three biomarkers (TTR; beta
      trace protein); however, no such difference was found between the different
      exposure conditions nor was there any interaction between exposure condition and
      time of blood sampling. In conclusion this study failed to show any acute
      clinically or statistically significant effect of short term microwave exposure
      on the serum levels of S100beta, TTR and beta-trace protein with a follow up
      limited to two hours. The study was hampered by the fact that all study persons
      were regular wireless phone users and thus not naive as to microwave exposure.

PMID- 25839147
TI  - Sensorimotor event-related desynchronization represents the excitability of human
      spinal motoneurons.
AB  - Amplitudes of mu and beta (7-26Hz) oscillations measured by
      electroencephalography over the sensorimotor areas are suppressed during motor
      imagery as well as during voluntary movements. This phenomenon is referred to as
      event-related desynchronization (ERD) and is known to reflect motor cortical
      excitability. The increased motor cortical excitability associated with ERD
      during hand motor imagery would induce a descending cortical volley to spinal
      motoneurons, resulting in facilitation of spinal motoneuronal excitability.
      Therefore, in the present study, we tested the association of ERD during motor
      imagery with the excitability of spinal motoneurons in 15 healthy participants.
      Spinal excitability was tested using the F-wave recorded from the right abductor
      pollicis brevis muscle. The F-wave results from antidromic activation of spinal
      motoneurons and is induced by peripheral nerve stimulation. Participants
      performed 5s of motor imagery of right thumb abduction following 7s of rest. The
      right median nerve was stimulated at wrist level when the ERD magnitude of the
      contralateral hand sensorimotor area exceeded predetermined thresholds during
      motor imagery. The results showed ERD magnitude during hand motor imagery was
      associated with an increase in F-wave persistence, but not with the response
      average of F-wave amplitude or F-wave latency. These findings suggest that the
      ERD magnitude may be a biomarker representing increases in the excitability of
      both cortical and spinal levels. 

PMID- 25839146
TI  - Cochlear ablation effects on amino acid levels in the chinchilla cochlear
      nucleus.
AB  - Inner ear damage can lead to hearing disorders, including tinnitus, hyperacusis,
      and hearing loss. We measured the effects of severe inner ear damage, produced by
      cochlear ablation, on the levels and distributions of amino acids in the first
      brain center of the auditory system, the cochlear nucleus. Measurements were also
      made for its projection pathways and the superior olivary nuclei. Cochlear
      ablation produces complete degeneration of the auditory nerve, which provides a
      baseline for interpreting the effects of partial damage to the inner ear, such as
      that from ototoxic drugs or intense sound. Amino acids play a critical role in
      neural function, including neurotransmission, neuromodulation, cellular
      metabolism, and protein construction. They include major neurotransmitters of the
      brain - glutamate, glycine, and gamma-aminobutyrate (GABA) - as well as others
      closely related to their metabolism and/or functions - aspartate, glutamine, and
      taurine. Since the effects of inner ear damage develop over time, we measured the
      changes in amino acid levels at various survival times after cochlear ablation.
      Glutamate and aspartate levels decreased by 2weeks in the ipsilateral ventral
      cochlear nucleus and deep layer of the dorsal cochlear nucleus, with the largest
      decreases in the posteroventral cochlear nucleus (PVCN): 66% for glutamate and
      63% for aspartate. Aspartate levels also decreased in the lateral part of the
      ipsilateral trapezoid body, by as much as 50%, suggesting a transneuronal effect.
      GABA and glycine levels showed some bilateral decreases, especially in the PVCN.
      These results may represent the state of amino acid metabolism in the cochlear
      nucleus of humans after removal of eighth nerve tumors, which may adversely
      result in destruction of the auditory nerve. Measurement of chemical changes
      following inner ear damage may increase understanding of the pathogenesis of
      hearing impairments and enable improvements in their diagnosis and treatment. 

PMID- 25839148
TI  - Juxtapositions between the somatostatinergic and growth hormone-releasing hormone
      (GHRH) neurons in the human hypothalamus.
AB  - Somatostatin is a 14-28 amino acid peptide that is located not only in the
      gastrointestinal system but also in multiple sites of the human brain. The
      inhibitory effect of somatostatin on the growth hormone (GH) secretion of the
      pituitary gland is a well-established phenomenon. There is a general consensus
      that somatostatin is released into the hypophysial portal blood and modulates GH
      secretion by hormonal action. In the present study, we explored the possibility
      that in addition to the hormonal route, somatostatin may also influence GH
      secretion via influencing the growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) secretion
      by direct contacts that may be functional synapses. Since the verification of
      these putative synapses by electron microscopy is virtually impossible in humans
      due to the long post mortem time, in order to reveal the putative
      somatostatinergic-GHRH juxtapositions, light microscopic double-label
      immunohistochemistry was utilized. By examining the slides with high
      magnification, we observed that the vast majority of the GHRH perikarya received
      contacting somatostatinergic axonal varicosities in the arcuate nucleus. In
      contrast, GHRH axonal varicosities rarely contacted somatostatinergic perikarya.
      The morphology and the abundance of somatostatin to GHRH juxtapositions indicate
      that these associations are functional synapses, and they represent, at least
      partially, the morphological substrate of the somatostatin-influenced GHRH
      secretion. Thus, in addition to influencing the GH secretion directly via the
      hypophysial portal system, somatostatin may also modulate GH release from the
      anterior pituitary by regulating the hypothalamic GHRH secretion via direct
      contacts. The rare GHRH to somatostatin juxtapositions indicate that the negative
      feedback effect of GH targets the somatostatinergic system directly and not via
      the GHRH system. 

PMID- 25839149
TI  - The antidepressant fluoxetine protects the hippocampus from brain damage in
      experimental pneumococcal meningitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: High mortality and morbidity rates are observed in patients with
      bacterial meningitis (BM) and urge for new adjuvant treatments in addition to
      standard antibiotic therapies. In BM the hippocampal dentate gyrus is injured by
      apoptosis while in cortical areas ischemic necrosis occurs. Experimental
      therapies aimed at reducing the inflammatory response and brain damage have
      successfully been evaluated in animal models of BM. Fluoxetine (FLX) is an anti
      depressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and was
      previously shown to be neuroprotective in vitro and in vivo. We therefore
      assessed the neuroprotective effect of FLX in experimental pneumococcal
      meningitis. METHODS: Infant rats were infected intracisternally with live
      Streptococcus pneumoniae. Intraperitoneal treatment with FLX (10mgkg(-1)d(-1)) or
      an equal volume of NaCl was initiated 15min later. 18, 27, and 42h after
      infection, the animals were clinically (weight, clinical score, mortality)
      evaluated and subject to a cisternal puncture and inflammatory parameters (i.e.,
      cyto-/chemokines, myeloperoxidase activity, matrix metalloproteinase
      concentrations) were measured in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples. At 42h after
      infection, animals were sacrificed and the brains collected for
      histomorphometrical analysis of brain damage. RESULTS: A significant lower number
      of animals treated with FLX showed relevant hippocampal apoptosis when compared
      to littermates (9/19 animals vs 18/23, P=0.038). A trend for less damage in
      cortical areas was observed in FLX-treated animals compared to controls (13/19 vs
      13/23, P=ns). Clinical and inflammatory parameters were not affected by FLX
      treatment. CONCLUSION: A significant neuroprotective effect of FLX on the
      hippocampus was observed in acute pneumococcal meningitis in infant rats.

PMID- 25839150
TI  - Electrophysiological characterization of activation state-dependent Ca(v)2
      channel antagonist TROX-1 in spinal nerve injured rats.
AB  - Prialt, a synthetic version of Ca(v)2.2 antagonist omega-conotoxin MVIIA derived
      from Conus magus, is the first clinically approved voltage-gated calcium channel
      blocker for refractory chronic pain. However, due to the narrow therapeutic
      window and considerable side effects associated with systemic dosing, Prialt is
      only administered intrathecally. N-triazole oxindole (TROX-1) is a novel use
      dependent and activation state-selective small-molecule inhibitor of Ca(v)2.1,
      2.2 and 2.3 calcium channels designed to overcome the limitations of Prialt. We
      have examined the neurophysiological and behavioral effects of blocking calcium
      channels with TROX-1. In vitro, TROX-1, in contrast to state-independent
      antagonist Prialt, preferentially inhibits Ca(v)2.2 currents in rat dorsal root
      ganglia (DRG) neurons under depolarized conditions. In vivo electrophysiology was
      performed to record from deep dorsal horn lamina V/VI wide dynamic range neurons
      in non-sentient spinal nerve-ligated (SNL) and sham-operated rats. In SNL rats,
      spinal neurons exhibited reduced responses to innocuous and noxious punctate
      mechanical stimulation of the receptive field following subcutaneous
      administration of TROX-1, an effect that was absent in sham-operated animals. No
      effect was observed on neuronal responses evoked by dynamic brushing, heat or
      cold stimulation in SNL or sham rats. The wind-up response of spinal neurons
      following repeated electrical stimulation of the receptive field was also
      unaffected. Spinally applied TROX-1 dose dependently inhibited mechanically
      evoked neuronal responses in SNL but not sham-operated rats, consistent with
      behavioral observations. This study confirms the pathological state-dependent
      actions of TROX-1 through a likely spinal mechanism and reveals a modality
      selective change in calcium channel function following nerve injury.

PMID- 25839152
TI  - Echocardiography and three-dimensional printing: sound ideas to touch a heart.

PMID- 25839151
TI  - Poisonous birds: A timely review.
AB  - Until very recently, toxicity was not considered a trait observed in birds, but
      works published in the last two decades started to shed light on this subject.
      Poisonous birds are rare (or little studied), and comprise Pitohui and Ifrita
      birds from Papua New Guinea, the European quail, the Spoor-winged goose, the
      Hoopees, the North American Ruffed grouse, the Bronzewings, and the Red warbler.
      A hundred more species are considered unpalatable or malodorous to humans and
      other animals. The present review intends to present the current understanding of
      bird toxicity, possibly pointing to an ignored research field. Whenever possible,
      biochemical characteristics of these poisons and their effects on humans and
      other animals are discussed, along with historical aspects of poison discovery
      and evolutionary hypothesis regarding their function. 

PMID- 25839153
TI  - Comments on the assessment of biventricular function in children after tetralogy
      of fallot repair.

PMID- 25839154
TI  - Echocardiography educational products for all generations.

PMID- 25839155
TI  - ASE 2015: Boston is wicked awesome!

PMID- 25839156
TI  - Cardiac ultrasound and extracorporeal life support: the two go together.

PMID- 25839157
TI  - An investigation of the dosimetric and kinetic properties of sand using ESR and
      TL techniques.
AB  - In this research, the general dosimetric and kinetic properties of sand from a
      beach in southern Turkey were investigated using electron spin resonance (ESR)
      and thermoluminescence (TL) techniques. The ESR dose response curve presents
      linear behaviour in the dose range of 250-1000 Gy followed by sublinear behaviour
      in the dose range of 2-8 kGy. Kinetic behaviors and activation energy of the free
      radical were also calculated using the data obtained from annealing studies
      performed at four different temperatures (220, 240, 260 and 280 degrees C). The
      activation energy value was calculated as 1.47 eV. The long-term fading of the
      ESR signal at room temperature turned out to be best described by a second-order
      kinetic decay function. The presence of measurable ESR signal intensity even
      after a storage period of 90 days was considered as providing an opportunity in
      the dose estimation of irradiated sand sample. Although the TL glow curve of the
      natural (unirradiated) sand sample only has a single broad peak at 317 degrees C,
      the glow curve of the irradiated sample has four glow peaks located at ~115
      degrees C, ~156 degrees C, ~231 degrees C and ~308 degrees C and their intensity
      tends to be increased with absorbed dose.Tmax-Tstop and glow curve fitting
      results showed that presence of at least five peaks located at ~116 degrees C,
      149 degrees C, 228 degrees C, 306 degrees C and 360 degrees C. This result
      suggests that the apparently single glow peak D may consist of two or more
      overlapping glow peaks. According to the thermal fading of the sand sample at
      room temperature, the TL signal intensities (23 degrees C and 308 degrees C) were
      found to be quite large after 30 days of storage this allows a more accurate
      measurement of the glow peak intensity. The additive dose method, variable
      heating rate method (VHRM), Tmax-Tstop and glow curve fitting method were used to
      number of peaks, dosimetric properties and kinetic parameters. This study shows
      that ESR and TL techniques could be successfully used to investigate the kinetics
      and dosimetric properties of sand sample. Furthermore, the results in this study
      plus the previous work done by the authors suggest that sand could, by using the
      ESR and TL techniques, be a suitable material for alternative dose measurement.

PMID- 25839158
TI  - A mutation in the NADH-dehydrogenase subunit 2 suppresses fibroblast aging.
AB  - Mutations of mitochondrial (mt)DNA cause a variety of human diseases and are
      implicated in premature aging syndromes. Here we investigated a single nucleotide
      exchange (leucine to methionine) at position nt4738 in the mitochondrial NADH
      dehydrogenase subunit 2 (Nd2) gene of the respiratory chain. Primary fibroblasts
      derived from the conplastic mouse strain C57BL/6J-mtALR/LTJ with mutant enzyme,
      possessed high enzyme activity and ATP production and low ROS production.
      Furthermore, Nd2-mutant fibroblasts expressed lower senescence markers.
      Transcriptome analysis revealed that the members of the p38MAPK pathway were
      significantly downregulated in Nd2-mutant mice. In agreement, inhibition of
      p38MAPK with SB203580 enhanced proliferation and reduced cytokine secretion in
      fibroblasts. In Nd2-mutant mouse skin, the amount of Ki67-positive cells was
      significantly higher than in control skin. The higher amount of Ki67-positive
      cells and the thicker epidermis in Nd2-mutant mice strongly supported the in
      vitro data. In conclusion, Nd2 is a mitochondrial gene, involved in age-related
      signaling pathways. 

PMID- 25839159
TI  - Translation initiation complex eIF4F is a therapeutic target for dual mTOR kinase
      inhibitors in non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
AB  - Deregulated mRNA translation has been implicated in disease development and in
      part is controlled by a eukaryotic initiation complex eIF4F (composed of eIF4E,
      eIF4G and eIF4A). We demonstrate here that the cap bound fraction from lymphoma
      cells was enriched with eIF4G and eIF4E indicating that lymphoma cells exist in
      an activated translational state. Moreover, 77% (110/142) of diffuse large B cell
      lymphoma tumors expressed eIF4E and this was associated with an inferior event
      free survival. Over-expression of wild-type eIF4E (eIF4E(WT)) but not cap-mutant
      eIF4E (eIF4E(cap mutant)) increased the activation of the eIF4F complex.
      Treatment with the active-site dual mTOR inhibitor CC214-1 reduced the level of
      the eIF4F complex by decreasing the cap bound fraction of eIF4G and increasing
      the levels of 4E-BP1. CC214-1 inhibited both the cap dependent and global protein
      translation. CC214-1 inhibited c-Myc, and cyclin D3 translation by decreasing
      polysomal fractions from lymphoma cells. Inhibition of eIF4E with shRNA further
      decreased the CC214-1 induced inhibition of the eIF4F complex, c-Myc, cyclin D3
      translation, and colony formation. These studies demonstrate that the eIF4F
      complex is deregulated in aggressive lymphoma and that dual mTOR therapy has
      therapeutic potential in these patients.

PMID- 25839160
TI  - Hydroxycarboxylic acid receptors are essential for breast cancer cells to control
      their lipid/fatty acid metabolism.
AB  - Cancer cells exhibit characteristic changes in their metabolism with efforts
      being made to address them therapeutically. However, targeting metabolic enzymes
      as such is a major challenge due to their essentiality for normal proliferating
      cells. The most successful pharmaceutical targets are G protein-coupled receptors
      (GPCRs), with more than 40% of all currently available drugs acting through
      them.We show that, a family of metabolite-sensing GPCRs, the Hydroxycarboxylic
      acid receptor family (HCAs), is crucial for breast cancer cells to control their
      metabolism and proliferation.We found HCA1 and HCA3 mRNA expression were
      significantly increased in breast cancer patient samples and detectable in
      primary human breast cancer patient cells. Furthermore, siRNA mediated knock-down
      of HCA3 induced considerable breast cancer cell death as did knock-down of HCA1,
      although to a lesser extent. Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry based
      analyses of breast cancer cell medium revealed a role for HCA3 in controlling
      intracellular lipid/fatty acid metabolism. The presence of etomoxir or
      perhexiline, both inhibitors of fatty acid beta-oxidation rescues breast cancer
      cells with knocked-down HCA3 from cell death.Our data encourages the development
      of drugs acting on cancer-specific metabolite-sensing GPCRs as novel anti
      proliferative agents for cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25839161
TI  - Interleukin-21 sustains inflammatory signals that contribute to sporadic colon
      tumorigenesis.
AB  - Interleukin (IL)-21 triggers inflammatory signals that contribute to the growth
      of neoplastic cells in mouse models of colitis-associated colorectal cancer
      (CRC). Because most CRCs are sporadic and arise in the absence of overt
      inflammation we have investigated the role of IL-21 in these tumors in mouse and
      man. IL-21 was highly expressed in human sporadic CRC and produced mostly by IFN
      gamma-expressing T-bet/RORgammat double-positive CD3+CD8- cells. Stimulation of
      human CRC cell lines with IL-21 did not directly activate the oncogenic
      transcription factors STAT3 and NF-kB and did not affect CRC cell proliferation
      and survival. In contrast, IL-21 modulated the production of protumorigenic
      factors by human tumor infiltrating T cells. IL-21 was upregulated in the
      neoplastic areas, as compared with non-tumor mucosa, of Apc(min/+) mice, and
      genetic ablation of IL-21 in such mice resulted in a marked decrease of both
      tumor incidence and size. IL-21 deficiency was associated with reduced STAT3/NF
      kB activation in both immune cells and neoplastic cells, diminished synthesis of
      protumorigenic cytokines (that is, IL-17A, IL-22, TNF-alpha and IL-6),
      downregulation of COX-2/PGE2 pathway and decreased angiogenesis in the lesions of
      Apc(min/+) mice. Altogether, data suggest that IL-21 promotes a protumorigenic
      inflammatory circuit that ultimately sustains the development of sporadic CRC.

PMID- 25839162
TI  - TMEM16A overexpression contributes to tumor invasion and poor prognosis of human
      gastric cancer through TGF-beta signaling.
AB  - TMEM16A is a newly identified calcium activated chloride channel, and has been
      reported to be overexpressed by various solid malignant cancers to promote
      proliferation and invasion, yet little is known about its role in gastric
      cancer(GC). Therefore, we investigated the role of TMEM16A in GC and its clinical
      significance by a retrospective analysis of 367 GC patients, and in vitro study
      was performed for validation and underlying molecular mechanism.TMEM16A was
      significantly upregulated and amplified in GC tissues, and its overexpression was
      positively correlated with disease stage, negatively with patient survival and
      identified as an independent prognostic factor for patient outcome. A negative
      correlation between TMEM16A and E-cadherin was found in 367 GC specimens. TMEM16A
      silencing significantly decreased calcium activated chloride currents, impaired
      TGF-beta secretion, reduced E-cadherin expression, and inhibited the migration
      and invasion without affecting proliferation of GC cells (AGS and BGC-823).
      Supplement of TGF-beta reverted the effects of TMEM16A silencing on E-cadherin
      expression, cell migration and invasion.In conclusion, TMEM16A promotes invasion
      and metastasis in GC, and might be a novel prognostic biomarker and potential
      therapeutic target in the treatment of GC. 

PMID- 25839163
TI  - The hypoxia-related microRNA miR-199a-3p displays tumor suppressor functions in
      ovarian carcinoma.
AB  - During the dissemination of ovarian cancer cells, the cells float in the
      peritoneal cavity without access to a vascular supply and so are exposed to
      hypoxic conditions, which may cause the ovarian cancer cells to acquire a more
      aggressive and malignant phenotype. In this study, we screened microRNAs (miRNAs)
      to identify those that displayed altered expression patterns under hypoxic
      conditions and then analyzed their functional roles in ovarian cancer
      progression. miRNA PCR arrays performed on cells from 2 ovarian cancer cell lines
      (CaOV3 and RMUG-S) revealed miR-199a-3p as one of the miRNAs that are
      downregulated under hypoxia. In silico analyses indicated that MET is one of the
      target genes for miR-199a-3p; subsequently, miR-199a-3p expression was found to
      be inversely correlated with c-Met expression in ovarian cancer. Transfection of
      precursor miR-199a-3p into ovarian cancer cells reduced c-Met expression and
      inhibited the phosphorylation of c-Met, extracellular signal-regulated kinase,
      and AKT; in addition, proliferation, adhesion, and invasiveness were inhibited.
      Moreover, overexpression of miR-199a-3p in cancer cells significantly suppressed
      peritoneal dissemination in a xenograft model. In summary, the hypoxia-related
      microRNA miR-199a-3p drastically inhibits ovarian cancer progression through the
      downregulation of c-Met expression. Therefore, miR-199a-3p is a potential target
      for treating ovarian cancer dissemination. 

PMID- 25839164
TI  - A novel role for drebrin in regulating progranulin bioactivity in bladder cancer.
AB  - We recently established a critical role for the growth factor progranulin in
      bladder cancer insofar as progranulin promotes urothelial cancer cell motility
      and contributes, as an autocrine growth factor, to the transformed phenotype by
      modulating invasion and anchorage-independent growth. In addition, progranulin
      expression is upregulated in invasive bladder cancer tissues compared to normal
      controls. However, the molecular mechanisms of progranulin action in bladder
      cancer have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we searched for novel
      progranulin-interacting proteins using pull-down assays with recombinant
      progranulin and proteomics. We discovered that drebrin, an F-actin binding
      protein, bound progranulin in urothelial cancer cells. We characterized drebrin
      function in urothelial cancer cell lines and showed that drebrin is critical for
      progranulin-dependent activation of the Akt and MAPK pathways and modulates
      motility, invasion and anchorage-independent growth. In addition, drebrin
      regulates tumor formation in vivo and its expression is upregulated in bladder
      cancer tissues compared to normal tissue controls. Our data are translationally
      relevant as indicate that drebrin exerts an essential functional role in the
      regulation of progranulin action and may constitute a novel target for
      therapeutic intervention in bladder tumors. In addition, drebrin may serve as
      novel biomarker for bladder cancer. 

PMID- 25839166
TI  - Evolution for exogenous octanoic acid tolerance improves carboxylic acid
      production and membrane integrity.
AB  - Carboxylic acids are an attractive biorenewable chemical, but as with many
      biorenewables, their toxicity to microbial biocatalysts limits their fermentative
      production. While it is generally accepted that membrane damage is the main
      mechanism of fatty acid toxicity, previous metabolic engineering efforts that
      increased membrane integrity did not enable increased carboxylic acid production.
      Here we used an evolutionary approach to improve tolerance to exogenous octanoic
      acid, with the goal of learning design strategies from this evolved strain. This
      evolution of an Escherichia coli MG1655 derivative at neutral pH in minimal media
      produced a strain with increased tolerance not only to octanoic acid, but also to
      hexanoic acid, decanoic acid, n-butanol and isobutanol. This evolved strain also
      produced carboxylic acids at a 5-fold higher titer than its parent strain when
      expressing the Anaerococcus tetradius thioesterase. While it has been previously
      suggested that intracellular acidification may contribute to carboxylic acid
      toxicity, we saw no evidence that the evolved strain has increased resistance to
      this acidification. Characterization of the evolved strain membrane showed that
      it had significantly altered membrane polarization (fluidity), integrity
      (leakage) and composition relative to its parent. The changes in membrane
      composition included a significant increase in average lipid length in a variety
      of growth conditions, including 30 degrees C, 42 degrees C, carboxylic acid
      challenge and ethanol challenge. The evolved strain has a more dynamic membrane
      composition, showing both a larger number of significant changes and larger fold
      changes in the relative abundance of membrane lipids. These results highlight the
      importance of the cell membrane in increasing microbial tolerance and production
      of biorenewable fuels and chemicals. 

PMID- 25839165
TI  - Down-regulation of ARNT promotes cancer metastasis by activating the
      fibronectin/integrin beta1/FAK axis.
AB  - The aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) is broadly involved in
      regulating tumorigenesis by inducing genes that are involved in tumor growth and
      angiogenesis. Tumorigenesis usually involves normoxic conditions. However, the
      role of ARNT in tumor metastasis during normoxia remains unclear. Here, we
      demonstrate that ARNT protein levels were decreased in late-stage human
      colorectal cancer using immunohistochemical analysis. Down-regulation of ARNT
      protein promoted cancer cell migration and invasion, which was mediated by
      activation of the fibronectin/integrin beta1/FAK signaling axis. In addition, the
      enhancement of migration and invasion in ANRT knockdown cells was blocked when
      ARNT was restored in the cells. In xenografts in severe combined immunodeficiency
      mice, tumor growth was significantly inhibited in the ARNT-knockdown condition.
      However, the tail-vein injection animal model revealed that the depletion of ARNT
      induced metastatic lung colonies was further enhanced when ARNT expression was
      recovered post-injection. Interestingly, chemotherapeutic drugs inhibited ARNT
      expression and promoted the invasion of residual tumor cells. These results
      suggest that ARNT may play a positive role during tumor growth (either in early
      stage tumor growth or in organ metastases), but plays a negative role in tumor
      migration and invasion. Therefore, the efficiency of ARNT-targeted therapy during
      different cancer stages should be carefully evaluated. 

PMID- 25839167
TI  - Global exponential periodicity and stability of discrete-time complex-valued
      recurrent neural networks with time-delays.
AB  - In recent years, complex-valued recurrent neural networks have been developed and
      analysed in-depth in view of that they have good modelling performance for some
      applications involving complex-valued elements. In implementing continuous-time
      dynamical systems for simulation or computational purposes, it is quite necessary
      to utilize a discrete-time model which is an analogue of the continuous-time
      system. In this paper, we analyse a discrete-time complex-valued recurrent neural
      network model and obtain the sufficient conditions on its global exponential
      periodicity and exponential stability. Simulation results of several numerical
      examples are delineated to illustrate the theoretical results and an application
      on associative memory is also given. 

PMID- 25839168
TI  - A new delay-independent condition for global robust stability of neural networks
      with time delays.
AB  - This paper studies the problem of robust stability of dynamical neural networks
      with discrete time delays under the assumptions that the network parameters of
      the neural system are uncertain and norm-bounded, and the activation functions
      are slope-bounded. By employing the results of Lyapunov stability theory and
      matrix theory, new sufficient conditions for the existence, uniqueness and global
      asymptotic stability of the equilibrium point for delayed neural networks are
      presented. The results reported in this paper can be easily tested by checking
      some special properties of symmetric matrices associated with the parameter
      uncertainties of neural networks. We also present a numerical example to show the
      effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results. 

PMID- 25839170
TI  - Reply: Evidence-Based Medicine: Unilateral Cleft Lip and Nose Repair.

PMID- 25839169
TI  - Small circular single stranded DNA viral genomes in unexplained cases of human
      encephalitis, diarrhea, and in untreated sewage.
AB  - Viruses with small circular ssDNA genomes encoding a replication initiator
      protein can infect a wide range of eukaryotic organisms ranging from mammals to
      fungi. The genomes of two such viruses, a cyclovirus (CyCV-SL) and
      gemycircularvirus (GemyCV-SL) were detected by deep sequencing of the
      cerebrospinal fluids of Sri Lankan patients with unexplained encephalitis. One
      and three out of 201 CSF samples (1.5%) from unexplained encephalitis patients
      tested by PCR were CyCV-SL and GemyCV-SL DNA positive respectively. Nucleotide
      similarity searches of pre-existing metagenomics datasets revealed closely
      related genomes in feces from unexplained cases of diarrhea from Nicaragua and
      Brazil and in untreated sewage from Nepal. Whether the tropism of the cyclovirus
      and gemycircularvirus reported here include humans or other cellular sources in
      or on the human body remains to be determined. 

PMID- 25839172
TI  - Laser Resurfacing at the Time of Rhytidectomy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Laser resurfacing with simultaneous rhytidectomy has been used to
      augment aesthetic results and decrease overall patient recuperative time, yet
      presents a potential dual insult to the microvasculature supply of facial skin
      flaps. This study describes the authors' experience with rhytidectomy and
      simultaneous laser resurfacing. METHODS: Between May of 1999 and January of 2013,
      85 face lifts with concomitant erbium laser resurfacing were reviewed
      retrospectively. Seven procedures were excluded for incomplete charting. Patient
      demographics, treatment zone, concomitant procedures, and secondary/tertiary face
      lifts were analyzed for associations with postoperative complications
      attributable to laser resurfacing. RESULTS: No complications were reported in the
      perioral resurfacing group. There was one instance of delayed wound healing and
      prolonged erythema in the full face group, and one instance of moderate
      hyperpigmentation in the central face group. No instances of hypopigmentation or
      flap necrosis attributable to laser resurfacing were noted. The overall
      complication rate was 3.8 percent. There was a statistically significant
      difference when comparing the number of complications between the facial laser
      resurfacing zones (p = 0.037). When analyzing zone of laser resurfacing as an
      independent risk factor for complications, no significant association was
      derived, but full face zone resurfacing approached statistical significance (p =
      0.063). CONCLUSIONS: Although a significant difference in the number of
      complications between treatment groups existed, the authors were not able to
      definitively attribute this solely to the extent of laser resurfacing.
      Simultaneous laser resurfacing and rhytidectomy can be performed safely in select
      patients using ablative mode only over the undermined flap. CLINICAL
      QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, IV.

PMID- 25839173
TI  - Donor-Site Hernia Repair in Abdominal Flap Breast Reconstruction: A Population
      Based Cohort Study of 7929 Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The authors investigated hernia repair rates following pedicled
      transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (TRAM), free TRAM, and deep inferior
      epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap breast reconstruction in English National
      Health Service hospitals. METHODS: Women diagnosed with breast cancer who
      underwent pedicled TRAM, free TRAM, or DIEP flap breast reconstruction procedures
      in English National Health Service hospitals between April of 2006 and March of
      2012 were identified using the Hospital Episode Statistics database. Women who
      underwent mastectomy without reconstruction acted as controls, and hernia repair
      rates were calculated for all four groups. Multiple Cox regression was performed
      to estimate the relative risk of hernia repair among the reconstruction groups,
      adjusted for age, obesity, previous abdominal surgery, reconstruction year, and
      bilateral flap harvest. RESULTS: Between 2006 and 2012, 7929 women had a DIEP or
      TRAM flap breast reconstruction. The overall hernia repair rate within 3 years
      was 2.45 percent after abdominal flap breast reconstruction, and 0.28 percent
      among the 15,679 women who had mastectomy only. Mean time to hernia repair
      following an abdominal flap harvest was 17.7 months. Compared with DIEP flaps,
      free and pedicled TRAM flap procedures were associated with adjusted hazard
      ratios of 1.81 (95 percent CI, 1.24 to 2.64) and 2.89 (95 percent CI, 1.91 to
      4.37), respectively. The only independent risk factor for hernia repair was age
      older than 60 years (p = 0.039). CONCLUSIONS: Abdominally based autologous breast
      reconstruction carries a small risk of subsequent donor-site hernia repair. The
      rates herein can be used to inform patients and to assess quality of care across
      service providers. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.

PMID- 25839174
TI  - Evidence-Based Medicine: Unilateral Cleft Lip and Nose Repair.

PMID- 25839175
TI  - The protective role of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate in thrombin-induced
      neuronal cell apoptosis and JNK-MAPK activation.
AB  - (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the major polyphenolic component of green
      tea, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and provides
      neuroprotection against central nervous system diseases. Yet, it is not known
      whether EGCG may be neuroprotective against intracerebral hemorrhage. In this
      study, we used a simplified in-vitro model of thrombin neurotoxicity to test
      whether EGCG provides neuroprotection against thrombin-associated toxicity.
      Exposure of primary cortical neurons to thrombin (100 U/ml) caused dose-dependent
      and time-dependent cytotoxicity. Cell Counting Kit 8 and lactate dehydrogenase
      were used to monitor cell viability after exposure of neurons to thrombin or EGCG
      and after EGCG pretreatment. Flow cytometric analysis and western blotting
      demonstrated that thrombin-induced neuron degeneration occurs through apoptosis.
      A concentration of 25 MUM EGCG significantly abolished thrombin-induced toxicity
      and prevented apoptosis by suppressing c-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK)
      phosphorylation, and the JNK inhibitor SP600125 reduced thrombin-induced caspase
      3 activation and apoptosis. These data suggest that EGCG may have protective
      effects against thrombin-induced neuroapoptosis by inhibiting the activation of
      JNK, leading to caspase 3 cleavage. EGCG is a novel candidate neuroprotective
      agent against intracerebral hemorrhage-induced neurotoxicity.

PMID- 25839176
TI  - Requirement of AMPK activation for neuronal metabolic-enhancing effects of
      antidepressant paroxetine.
AB  - Reduced glucose metabolism has been implicated as a pathophysiology of depressive
      disorder. Normalization of such impaired neurometabolism has been related to the
      therapeutic actions of antidepressant medication. However, the molecular
      mechanism underlying the neurometabolic actions of antidepressants has not been
      fully understood. Given that AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a master
      switch for energy homeostasis, we aimed to determine whether selective serotonin
      reuptake inhibitor paroxetine enhances energy metabolism by activating AMPK in
      neuroblastoma cells. We found that paroxetine dose dependently increased
      mitochondrial biogenesis, which involves the AMPK-peroxisome proliferator
      activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1alpha pathway. In addition, paroxetine
      induced AMPK activation increases glucose uptake and ATP production. These
      neurometabolic effects of paroxetine were suppressed by cotreatment with compound
      C (CC), an AMPK inhibitor. These findings suggest a possibility that modulation
      of the AMPK pathway might be a previously unrecognized mechanism underlying the
      neurometabolic action of antidepressants. Further study is warranted to examine
      the region-specific and time-specific effects of AMPK modulation by
      antidepressants on mood-related behaviors.

PMID- 25839177
TI  - Noradrenaline concentrations in the hypothalamus of anoestrus ewes following the
      ram-induced luteinizing hormone release.
AB  - Sheep are seasonal breeders, but exposure of anoestrus ewes to rams results in a
      rapid increase in luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion, eventually leading to surge
      in LH. Although LH secretion is known to be under the control of many
      neurotransmitters, noradrenaline (NA) is of particular importance for the LH
      surge in induced ovulators, although little is known about its role in LH
      secretion induced by males in spontaneous ovulators. To address this question,
      anoestrus ewes fitted with guide-tubes in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) or the
      ventromedial hypothalamus were subjected to microdialysis and blood sampling
      every 15 min for an hour before and 2 h after exposure to rams, and the
      concentrations of LH, monoamine and amino acid transmitters were measured. In
      ewes implanted in the posterior MPOA that responded to the ram by an increase in
      LH pulses, NA concentrations changed after exposure to the ram (P<0.018) and were
      higher at 15 (P<0.054) and 45 min (P<0.03) after male introduction than before.
      By contrast, no change in NA could be detected in ewes implanted in the same
      region, but not responding to the ram, or in those showing increased LH
      pulsatility, but implanted in the anterior MPOA or in the ventromedial
      hypothalamus. No changes were observed in other neurotransmitters or when the
      ewes were exposed to male odour alone. These results suggest that NA release in
      the posterior MPOA is selectively involved in the triggering of LH secretion by
      rams in anoestrus ewes.

PMID- 25839178
TI  - Transport of three veterinary antimicrobials from feedlot pens via simulated
      rainfall runoff.
AB  - Veterinary antimicrobials are introduced to wider environments by manure
      application to agricultural fields or through leaching or runoff from manure
      storage areas (feedlots, stockpiles, windrows, lagoons). Detected in manure,
      manure-treated soils, and surface and ground water near intensive cattle feeding
      operations, there is a concern that environmental contamination by these
      chemicals may promote the development of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria.
      Surface runoff and leaching appear to be major transport pathways by which
      veterinary antimicrobials eventually contaminate surface and ground water,
      respectively. A study was conducted to investigate the transport of three
      veterinary antimicrobials (chlortetracycline, sulfamethazine, tylosin), commonly
      used in beef cattle production, in simulated rainfall runoff from feedlot pens.
      Mean concentrations of veterinary antimicrobials were 1.4 to 3.5 times higher in
      surface material from bedding vs. non-bedding pen areas. Runoff rates and
      volumetric runoff coefficients were similar across all treatments but both were
      significantly higher from non-bedding (0.53Lmin(-1); 0.27) than bedding areas
      (0.40Lmin(-1); 0.19). In keeping with concentrations in pen surface material,
      mean concentrations of veterinary antimicrobials were 1.4 to 2.5 times higher in
      runoff generated from bedding vs. non-bedding pen areas. Water solubility and
      sorption coefficient of antimicrobials played a role in their transport in
      runoff. Estimated amounts of chlortetracycline, sulfamethazine, and tylosin that
      could potentially be transported to the feedlot catch basin during a one in 100
      year precipitation event were 1.3 to 3.6ghead(-1), 1.9ghead(-1), and 0.2ghead(
      1), respectively. This study demonstrates the magnitude of veterinary
      antimicrobial transport in feedlot pen runoff and supports the necessity of catch
      basins for runoff containment within feedlots. 

PMID- 25839179
TI  - Active moss biomonitoring for extensive screening of urban air pollution:
      Magnetic and chemical analyses.
AB  - In this study, active magnetic biomonitoring of moss for particulate air
      pollution and an assessment of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
      (PAHs) were performed for the entire metropolitan area of Belgrade. Two mosses,
      Sphagnum girgensohnii (a species of the most recommended biomonitoring moss
      genus) and Hypnum cupressiforme (a common moss in the study area), were used.
      During the summer of 2013, moss bags were exposed at 153 sampling sites, forming
      a dense network of sites. A type II regression model was applied to test the
      interchangeable use of the two moss species. Significantly higher levels of all
      measured pollutants were recorded by S. girgensohnii in comparison with H.
      cupressiforme. Based on the results, the mosses could not be interchangeably used
      in urban areas, except for the biomonitoring of Cu. Nevertheless, according to
      the relative accumulation factors obtained for both moss species, similar city
      zones related to high, moderate and low levels of air pollution were
      distinguished. Moreover, new pollution hotspots, omitted by regulatory
      monitoring, were identified. The results demonstrate that moss magnetic analysis
      represents an effective first step for obtaining an overview of particulate air
      pollution before more expensive chemical analyses. Active moss biomonitoring
      could be applied as a pragmatic approach for optimizing the representativeness of
      regulatory monitoring networks. 

PMID- 25839180
TI  - A Perioperative Evaluation of Respiratory Mechanics Using the Forced Oscillation
      Technique.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The forced oscillation technique is a new approach for assessing
      perioperative respiratory function. METHODS: This study enrolled 40 patients
      undergoing general anesthesia: 20 for >=2 hours and 20 for <2 hours. Respiratory
      parameters were measured the day before and after surgery using forced
      oscillation during normal tidal breathing. RESULTS: Respiratory resistance at 5
      Hz (P = 0.029 with the Student t test with unequal variances and P = 0.033 with
      analysis of covariance) changed significantly in the patients who underwent
      procedures for which they were anesthetized for >2 hours. CONCLUSIONS: The forced
      oscillation technique is a clinical tool that can be used to assess the effects
      of perioperative ventilation strategies on respiratory mechanics.

PMID- 25839181
TI  - Prior Podcast Experience Moderates Improvement in Electroencephalography
      Evaluation After Educational Podcast Module.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is continued interest in using technology to enhance medical
      education and the variables that may affect its success. METHODS: Anesthesiology
      residents and fourth-year medical students participated in an
      electroencephalography (EEG) educational video podcast module. A 25-item
      evaluation tool was administered before any EEG education was provided
      (baseline), and the podcast was then viewed. Another 25-item evaluation tool was
      administered after podcast viewing (after podcast). Ten EEG interpretations were
      completed with a neurophysiologist with an additional 25-item evaluation tool
      administered after the interpretations (after 10 EEG interpretations).
      Participants were surveyed concerning technology and podcasting experience before
      the educational module and their responses to the podcast educational model.
      Multiple analyses were performed (1) to evaluate differences in improvement in
      EEG evaluation scores between the podcast module and the standard didactics
      (control group); and (2) to evaluate potential moderation by technology and the
      podcast experience on the change in mean EEG evaluation scores from after the
      podcast module to after 10 EEG interpretations. RESULTS: A total of 21
      anesthesiology residents and 12 fourth-year medical students participated. Scores
      on the 25-item evaluation tool increased with each evaluation time (P <= 0.001).
      Moderation analyses revealed that individuals with more podcast experience (>=4
      previous podcasts) had greater increases in scores after a podcast and 10 EEG
      interpretations compared with individuals with less experience (<=3 previous
      podcasts) (P = 0.027). Furthermore, compared with a control group with similar
      baseline characteristics that received only standard didactics without a podcast,
      those in the podcast group had greater increases in mean EEG evaluation scores
      between baseline and after 10 EEG interpretations. CONCLUSIONS: In reviewing the
      improvement in EEG evaluation after a podcast education module, those with more
      podcast experience achieved greater gains in EEG evaluation scores. For EEG
      education, those receiving the podcast education module showed greater increases
      in scores compared with those receiving didactic teaching without podcasting, as
      measured by change in a mean EEG evaluation scores.

PMID- 25839183
TI  - Toxicity of two imidazolium ionic liquids, [bmim][BF4] and [omim][BF4], to
      standard aquatic test organisms: Role of acetone in the induced toxicity.
AB  - The main goal of this study was to investigate the toxicity of the imidazolium
      based ionic liquids (ILs), [bmim][BF4] (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium
      tetrafluoroborate) and [omim][BF4] (1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium
      tetrafluoroborate), in battery of standard aquatic toxicity test organisms.
      Specifically, exposure of the algae Scenedesmus rubescens, crustaceans
      Thamnocephalus platyurus and Artemia franciscana, rotifers Brachionus
      calyciflorus and Brachionus plicatilis and bivalve Mytilus galloprovincialis to
      different concentrations of [bmim][BF4], [omim][BF4] and/or a binary mixture of
      [bmim][BF4]-[omim][BF4] (1:1) with or without acetone (carrier solvent), revealed
      that solvent can differentially mediate ILs' toxic profile. Acetone's ability to
      differentially affect ILs' cation's alkyl chain length, as well as the hydrolysis
      of [BF4(-)] anions was evident. Given that the toxic potency of the tested ILs
      seemed to be equal or even higher (in some cases) than those of conventional
      organic solvents, the present study revealed that the characterization of
      imidazolium-based ILs as "green solvents" should not be generalized, at least in
      case of their natural occurrence in mixtures with organic solvents, such as
      acetone. 

PMID- 25839182
TI  - Mechanistic Modeling of the Effects of Acidosis on Thrombin Generation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acidosis, a frequent complication of trauma and complex surgery,
      results from tissue hypoperfusion and IV resuscitation with acidic fluids. While
      acidosis is known to inhibit the function of distinct enzymatic reactions, its
      cumulative effect on the blood coagulation system is not fully understood. Here,
      we use computational modeling to test the hypothesis that acidosis delays and
      reduces the amount of thrombin generation in human blood plasma. Moreover, we
      investigate the sensitivity of different thrombin generation parameters to
      acidosis, both at the individual and population level. METHODS: We used a kinetic
      model to simulate and analyze the generation of thrombin and thrombin
      antithrombin complexes (TAT), which were the end points of this study. Large
      groups of temporal thrombin and TAT trajectories were simulated and used to
      calculate quantitative parameters, such as clotting time (CT), thrombin peak
      time, maximum slope of the thrombin curve, thrombin peak height, area under the
      thrombin trajectory (AUC), and prothrombin time. The resulting samples of
      parameter values at different pH levels were compared to assess the acidosis
      induced effects. To investigate intersubject variability, we parameterized the
      computational model using the data on clotting factor composition for 472
      subjects from the Leiden Thrombophilia Study. To compare acidosis-induced
      relative parameter changes in individual ("virtual") subjects, we estimated the
      probabilities of relative change patterns by counting the pattern occurrences in
      our virtual subjects. Distribution overlaps for thrombin generation parameters at
      distinct pH levels were quantified using the Bhattacharyya coefficient. RESULTS:
      Acidosis in the range of pH 6.9 to 7.3 progressively increased CT, thrombin peak
      time, AUC, and prothrombin time, while decreasing maximum slope of the thrombin
      curve and thrombin peak height (P < 10). Acidosis delayed the onset and decreased
      the amount of TAT generation (P < 10). As a measure of intrasubject variability,
      maximum slope of the thrombin curve and CT displayed the largest and second
      largest acidosis-induced relative changes, and AUC displayed the smallest
      relative changes among all thrombin generation parameters in our virtual subject
      group (1-sided 95% lower confidence limit on the fraction of subjects displaying
      the patterns, 0.99). As a measure of intersubject variability, the overlaps
      between the maximum slope of the thrombin curve distributions at acidotic pH
      levels with the maximum slope of the thrombin curve distribution at physiological
      pH level systematically exceeded analogous distribution overlaps for CT, thrombin
      peak time, and prothrombin time. CONCLUSIONS: Acidosis affected all quantitative
      parameters of thrombin and TAT generation. While maximum slope of the thrombin
      curve showed the highest sensitivity to acidosis at the individual-subject level,
      it may be outperformed by CT, thrombin peak time, and prothrombin time as an
      indicator of acidosis at the subject-group level.

PMID- 25839184
TI  - Trichoderma inoculation augments grain amino acids and mineral nutrients by
      modulating arsenic speciation and accumulation in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.).
AB  - Trichoderma reesei is an industrially important fungi which also imparts stress
      tolerance and plant growth promotion in various crops. Arsenic (As) contamination
      of field soils is one of the challenging problems in agriculture, posing
      potential threats for both human health and the environment. Plants in
      association with microbes are a liable method to improve metal tolerance and
      enhance crop productivity. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), is an important grain
      legume providing cheap source of protein in semi-arid regions including As
      affected areas. In this study we report the role of T. reesei NBRI 0716 (NBRI
      0716) in supporting chickpea growth and improving soil quality in As simulated
      conditions. NBRI 0716 modulated the As speciation and its availability to improve
      grain yield and quality (amino acids and mineral content) in chickpea (C.
      arietinum L.) plants grown in As spiked soil (100 mg As kg(-1) soil). Arsenic
      accumulation and speciation results indicate that arsenate [As(V)] was the
      dominant species in chickpea seeds and rhizosphere soil. The Trichoderma reduced
      total grain inorganic As (Asi) by 66% and enhanced dimethylarsonic acid (DMA) and
      monomethylarsinic acid (MMA) content of seed and rhizosphere soil. The results
      indicate a probable role of NBRI 0716 in As methylation as the possible mechanism
      for maneuvering As stress in chickpea. Analysis of functional diversity using
      carbon source utilization (Biolog) showed significant difference in diversity and
      evenness indices among the soil microbial rhizosphere communities. Microbial
      diversity loss caused by As were prevented in the presence of Trichoderma NBRI
      0716.

PMID- 25839185
TI  - Development and evaluation of dexamethasone nanomicelles with potential for
      treating posterior uveitis after topical application.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aims at the development and preliminary evaluation of
      dexamethasone nanomicelles for treating posterior uveitis. Nanomicelles were
      formulated using polyoxyl 40 stearate (P40S) and polysorbate 80 (P80), which are
      approved by the FDA for ocular use. METHODS: Dexamethasone nanomicelles were
      prepared and characterized for critical micellar concentration, solubility of
      dexamethasone, particle size, surface charge, morphology, in vitro drug release,
      clarity, stability, filtration efficiency, and sterility. Ocular tolerance and
      the tissue drug distribution of dexamethasone were assessed in rabbits after
      single and multiple topical administration. RESULTS: Dexamethasone nanomicelles
      (0.1% w/v) were successfully developed and characterized with an optimized
      composition of P40S/P80=7/3 by weight. The mean diameter of blank and drug-loaded
      nanomicelles was 13.3+/-0.4 and 14.5+/-0.4 nm, respectively. Transmission
      electron microscopy images revealed the spherical structure of nanomicelles.
      Nanomicelles were found to be stable with respect to clarity, size and drug
      content at 4 degrees C and 25 degrees C for up to 6 months. No irritation or
      redness was observed in the treated eyes as compared with the untreated control
      rabbit eyes. Therapeutic concentrations of dexamethasone were observed in the
      retina and choroid after single and multiple topical application in rabbits.
      CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the nanomicelles of P40S and P80 could efficiently
      solubilize 0.1% dexamethasone in their cores. The results also indicate that
      mixed nanomicelles could be utilized as a potential delivery system for
      delivering dexamethasone to treat the back of the eye diseases such as posterior
      uveitis after topical application.

PMID- 25839187
TI  - Vodka vs. Fortified Wine in Russia: Retrospective View.

PMID- 25839188
TI  - Out of the Water: Origin and Diversification of the LBD Gene Family.
AB  - LBD (lateral organ boundaries domain) genes are essential to the developmental
      programs of many fundamental plant organs and function in some of the basic
      metabolic pathways of plants. However, our historical perspective on the roles of
      LBD genes during plant evolution has, heretofore, been fragmentary. Here, we show
      that the LBD gene family underwent an initial radiation that established five
      gene lineages in the ancestral genome of most charophyte algae and land plants.
      By inference, the LBD gene family originated after the emergence of the green
      plants (Viridiplantae), but prior to the diversification of most extant
      streptophytes. After this initial radiation, we find limited instances of gene
      family diversification in land plants until successive rounds of expansion in the
      ancestors of seed plants and flowering plants. The most dynamic phases of LBD
      gene evolution, therefore, trace to the aquatic ancestors of embryophytes
      followed by relatively recent lineage-specific expansions on land.

PMID- 25839189
TI  - Proof of concept studies exploring the safety and functional activity of human
      parthenogenetic-derived neural stem cells for the treatment of Parkinson's
      disease.
AB  - Recent studies indicate that human pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-based therapies
      hold great promise in Parkinson's disease (PD). Clinical studies have shown that
      grafted fetal neural tissue can achieve considerable biochemical and clinical
      improvements in PD. However, the source of fetal tissue grafts is limited and
      ethically controversial. Human parthenogenetic stem cells offer a good
      alternative because they are derived from unfertilized oocytes without destroying
      viable human embryos and can be used to generate an unlimited supply of neural
      stem cells for transplantation. Here we evaluate for the first time the safety
      and engraftment of human parthenogenetic stem cell-derived neural stem cells
      (hpNSCs) in two animal models: 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-lesioned rodents and 1
      methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-treated nonhuman primates
      (NHPs). In both rodents and nonhuman primates, we observed successful engraftment
      and higher dopamine levels in hpNSC-transplanted animals compared to vehicle
      control animals, without any adverse events. These results indicate that hpNSCs
      are safe, well tolerated, and could potentially be a source for cell-based
      therapies in PD. 

PMID- 25839190
TI  - Obesity-Associated Inflammatory Cytokines and Prostaglandin E2 Stimulate Glucose
      Transporter mRNA Expression and Glucose Uptake in Primary Human Adipose Stromal
      Cells.
AB  - Obesity is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation. This occurs largely as
      a result of the infiltration of immune cells within the obese adipose, which
      produce a number of inflammatory factors, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL
      1beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha), and prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)).
      These factors have previously been shown to affect insulin-mediated glucose
      uptake in differentiated adipocytes. However, the insulin-independent effect of
      inflammation on adipocyte precursors, the adipose stromal cells, has not been
      explored. This study therefore aimed to examine the effect of obesity-associated
      inflammatory factors on the expression of insulin-independent glucose
      transporters (GLUT1 and GLUT3) and on the uptake of glucose within adipose
      stromal cells. Primary human subcutaneous adipose stromal cells were isolated
      from abdominoplasty, and the effect of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1beta,
      and TNFalpha) and PGE(2) on GLUT mRNA expression and glucose transport was
      assessed using real-time polymerase chain reaction and radiolabeled deoxyglucose
      uptake assays, respectively. Results demonstrate that all four inflammatory
      mediators caused a dose-dependent increase in GLUT1 mRNA expression and glucose
      uptake. GLUT3 mRNA expression was also upregulated by IL-6 (0.5 ng/mL), TNFalpha
      (0.1 and 10 ng/mL), and PGE(2) (0.1 MUM). Overall, these results demonstrate that
      obesity-associated inflammation increases insulin-independent glucose transporter
      expression and glucose uptake in undifferentiated adipose stromal cells.

PMID- 25839191
TI  - Aerobic Oxidation of Cyclohexane on Catalysts Based on Twinned and Single-Crystal
      Au75Pd25 Bimetallic Nanocrystals.
AB  - Bimetallic Au75Pd25 nanocrystals with shapes of icosahedron and octahedron were
      synthesized by adding different amounts of iodide ions, and were employed as
      catalysts for solvent-free aerobic oxidation of cyclohexane. Although both
      icosahedrons and octahedrons were bounded by {111} facets, the turnover frequency
      number of Au75Pd25 icosahedrons reached 15,106 h(-1), almost three times as high
      as that of Au75Pd25 octahedrons. The conversion of cyclohexane reached 28.1%
      after 48 h using Au75Pd25 icosahedrons, with the selectivity of 84.3% to
      cyclohexanone. Density functional theory calculations along with X-ray
      photoelectron spectroscopy examinations reveal that the excellent catalytic
      performance of AuPd icosahedrons could be ascribed to twin-induced strain and
      highly negative charge density of Au atoms on the surface.

PMID- 25839192
TI  - Fluorescence signaling of hydrogen sulfide in broad pH range using a copper
      complex based on BINOL-benzimidazole ligands.
AB  - A weakly fluorescent complex derived from a binaphthol-benzimidazole ligand was
      designed and synthesized for hydrogen sulfide at different pH conditions. It was
      demonstrated that the probe showed the same reactivity to various hydrogen
      sulfide species in a broad range of pH values to generate highly fluorescent
      product through a displacement reaction mechanism, whereas the product's
      fluorescence spectrum exhibited a hypsochromic shift of ~73 nm (2393 cm(-1)) as
      pH increased from neutral to basic, which can be used for distinguishing the
      various species of hydrogen sulfide. This turn-on fluorescence probe was highly
      selective and sensitive to hydrogen sulfide with a detection limit of 0.11 MUM.
      It was then applied for evaluating the total content of sulfide (including
      hydrogen sulfide, hydrosulfide, and sulfide) as well as for the visual detection
      of gaseous H2S in air using a simple test paper strip. 

PMID- 25839193
TI  - Dynamics of rhenium photocatalysts revealed through ultrafast multidimensional
      spectroscopy.
AB  - Rhenium catalysts have shown promise to promote carbon neutrality by reducing a
      prominent greenhouse gas, CO2, to CO and other starting materials. Much research
      has focused on identifying intermediates in the photocatalysis mechanism as well
      as time scales of relevant ultrafast processes. Recent studies have implemented
      multidimensional spectroscopies to characterize the catalyst's ultrafast dynamics
      as it undergoes the many steps of its photocycle. Two-dimensional infrared (2D
      IR) spectroscopy is a powerful method to obtain molecular structure information
      while extracting time scales of dynamical processes with ultrafast resolution.
      Many observables result from 2D-IR experiments including vibrational lifetimes,
      intramolecular redistribution time scales, and, unique to 2D-IR, spectral
      diffusion, which is highly sensitive to solute-solvent interactions and motional
      dynamics. Spectral diffusion, a measure of how long a vibrational mode takes to
      sample its frequency space due to multiple solvent configurations, has various
      contributing factors. Properties of the solvent, the solute's structural
      flexibility, and electronic properties, as well as interactions between the
      solvent and solute, complicate identifying the origin of the spectral diffusion.
      With carefully chosen experiments, however, the source of the spectral diffusion
      can be unveiled. Within the context of a considerable body of previous work, here
      we discuss the spectral diffusion of several rhenium catalysts at multiple stages
      in the catalysis. These studies were performed in multiple polar liquids to aid
      in discovering the contributions of the solvent. We also performed electronic
      ground state 2D-IR and electronic excited state transient-2D-IR experiments to
      observe how spectral diffusion changes upon electronic excitation. Our results
      indicate that with the original Lehn catalyst in THF, relative to the ground
      state, the spectral diffusion slows by a factor of 3 in the equilibrated triplet
      metal-to-ligand charge transfer state. We attribute this slowdown to a decrease
      in dielectric friction as well as an increase in molecular flexibility. It is
      possible to partially simulate the charge transfer by altering the electron
      density moderately by adding electron donating or withdrawing substituents
      symmetrically to the bipyridine ligand. We find that unlike the significant
      electronic structure change induced by MLCT, such small substituent effects do
      not influence the spectral diffusion. A solvent study in THF, DMSO, and CH3CN
      found there to be an explicit solvent dependence that we can correlate to the
      solvent donicity, which is a measure of its nucleophilicity. Future studies
      focused on the solvent effects on spectral diffusion in the crucial
      photoinitiated state can illuminate the role the solvent plays in the catalysis. 

PMID- 25839194
TI  - Hollow V2O5 Nanoassemblies for High-Performance Room-Temperature Hydrogen
      Sensors.
AB  - Nanostructured oxides with characteristic morphologies are essential building
      blocks for high-performance gas-sensing devices. We describe the high-yield
      fabrication of a series of functionalized V2O5 nanoassemblies through a facile
      polyol approach with specific varieties of polyvinylpyrrolidone. The synthesized
      V2O5 nanoassemblies consisting of tiny one-dimensional nanoblocks with the
      absence of any extrinsic catalysts exhibit distinct hemispherical or spherical
      hollow morphologies and operate as room-temperature hydrogen sensors with
      remarkable sensitivities and responses. 

PMID- 25839195
TI  - Immunoexpression of tenascin as a predictor of the malignancy potential of oral
      leukoplakia associated with a tobacco habit.
AB  - Oral leukoplakia is a morphological alteration of tissue that is an early
      indicator for malignancy. Tenascin (TN) is a large hexameric extracellular matrix
      (ECM) protein with anti-adhesive properties that fosters cell migration during
      development, wound healing and tissue remodeling; it is present in small amounts
      in adult tissues. Overexpression of TN in a pathological condition may be either
      a cause or a consequence of the disease. We evaluated the efficacy of TN for
      early prediction of tobacco-associated oral cancers. We studied retrospectively
      95 cases of oral leukoplakia, including mild, moderate and severe cases, using
      immunohistochemistry for TN. We evaluated the intensity, area and pattern of TN
      expression. Greater intensity and area of TN expression was observed in mild and
      severe dysplasia than in moderate dysplasia. Most cases showed a reticular
      pattern of expression, especially in mild and moderate dysplasia; a fibrillar
      pattern was more evident in severe dysplasia. We also observed homogeneous
      expression pattern in some cases. TN is a marker for dysplastic changes in
      epithelium and its expression may be helpful for predicting the malignancy
      potential of tobacco-associated oral leukoplakia. 

PMID- 25839196
TI  - Saving lives by building bridges between user needs and clean cooking technology.

PMID- 25839197
TI  - Behavior change communication: a key ingredient for advancing clean cooking.

PMID- 25839198
TI  - Quantitative stove use and ventilation guidance for behavior change strategies.
AB  - Achieving World Health Organization air quality targets and aspirational fuel
      savings targets through clean cooking solutions will require high usage rates of
      high-performing products and low usage rates of traditional stoves. Catalyzing
      this shift is challenging as fuel and stove use practices associated with new
      technologies generally differ from those used with traditional technologies.
      Accompanying this shift with ventilation improvements can help further reduce
      exposure to emissions of health damaging pollutants. Behavior change strategies
      will be central to these efforts to move users to new technologies and minimize
      exposure to emissions. In this article, the authors show how behavior change can
      be linked to quantitative guidance on stove usage, household ventilation rates,
      and performance. The guidance provided here can help behavior change efforts in
      the household energy sector set and achieve quantitative goals for usage and
      ventilation rates. 

PMID- 25839199
TI  - Advocate program for healthy traditional houses, Ume Kbubu, in a Timor community:
      preserving traditional behavior and promoting improved health outcomes.
AB  - Families in the Timor society of Indonesia have customarily used traditional
      houses, called Ume Kbubu, for confinement practices of a newborn baby and the
      mother during the first 40 days after birth. The practice, known as Sei (smoke)
      tradition, involves retaining heat, which is believed to foster healing, inside
      the house by continuously burning a wood burning stove. Exacerbated by inadequate
      ventilation in the traditional house, this practice results in poor indoor air
      quality and negatively affects the health of the mother and baby. Preliminary
      findings from a baseline study conducted in 2009 identified high levels of indoor
      air pollution in Ume Kbubu where mothers practiced the Sei tradition. Many
      respondents expressed that they suffered from respiratory health problems during
      the practice. On the basis of those results, a follow-up study was conducted in
      2011 to develop and test a communication-focused behavior change intervention
      that would foster conversion of traditional houses into healthy Ume Kbubu and
      promote changes to traditional practices for better health outcomes. The study
      suggests that redesigning an Ume Kbubu house could promote better air quality
      inside the house and involving the community in the health intervention program
      led to positive changes in the Sei practice (i.e., decreasing the Sei period's
      length from 40 days to 4 days on average and attempting to reduce household air
      pollution). The study resulted in several recommendations in relation to
      sustained transformation to improve health behaviors. 

PMID- 25839200
TI  - Understanding consumer preference and willingness to pay for improved cookstoves
      in Bangladesh.
AB  - The USAID/WASHplus project conducted a comprehensive assessment to understand
      consumer needs and preferences as they relate to increasing the uptake and
      consistent, exclusive, and correct use of improved cookstoves (ICSs) in
      Bangladesh. The assessment included household ICS trials, fuel and stove use
      monitoring, and consumers' perceived value of and willingness to pay for ICSs.
      Results showed that cooks appreciated and liked the ICS, but that no models met
      consumer needs sufficiently to replace traditional stoves. Initially, many
      preferred ICSs over traditional stoves, but this preference decreased over the 3
      week trial period. Complaints and suggestions for improvement fell into two
      general categories: those that can be addressed through fairly simple
      modifications to the stove design, and those more appropriately addressed through
      point-of-purchase consumer education and follow-up from service agents or health
      outreach workers. Most households using the ICS realized fuel use reductions,
      although these were lower than expected, partly because of continued parallel
      traditional stove use. When given the option to purchase the stoves at market
      value, only one of 105 households did so; however, a separate assessment showed
      that 80% of participants (12 of 15 households) preferred to keep the stove rather
      than receive a cash buyout at market value. This indicates that users value the
      ICS when acquisition barriers are removed and highlights the need for better
      financing options. 

PMID- 25839201
TI  - Piloting improved cookstoves in India.
AB  - Despite the potential of improved cookstoves to reduce the adverse environmental
      and health impacts of solid fuel use, their adoption and use remains low. Social
      marketing-with its focus on the marketing mix of promotion, product, price, and
      place-offers a useful way to understand household behaviors and design campaigns
      to change biomass fuel use. We report on a series of pilots across 3 Indian
      states that use different combinations of the marketing mix. We find sales
      varying from 0% to 60%. Behavior change promotion that combined door-to-door
      personalized demonstrations with information pamphlets was effective. When given
      a choice amongst products, households strongly preferred an electric stove over
      improved biomass-burning options. Among different stove attributes, reduced
      cooking time was considered most valuable by those adopting a new stove.
      Households clearly identified price as a significant barrier to adoption, while
      provision of discounts (e.g., rebates given if households used the stove) or
      payments in installments were related to higher purchase. Place-based factors
      such as remoteness and nongovernmental organization operations significantly
      affected the ability to supply and convince households to buy and use improved
      cookstoves. Collectively, these pilots point to the importance of continued and
      extensive testing of messages, pricing models, and different stove types before
      scale-up. Thus, we caution that a one-size-fits-all approach will not boost
      improved cookstove adoption. 

PMID- 25839202
TI  - Use of behavior change techniques in clean cooking interventions: a review of the
      evidence and scorecard of effectiveness.
AB  - Despite decades of effort, around 2.8 billion people still rely on solid fuels to
      meet domestic energy needs. There is robust evidence this causes premature death
      and chronic disease, as well as wider economic, social, and environmental
      problems. Behavior change interventions are effective to reduce exposure to harm
      such as household air pollution, including those using health communications
      approaches. This article reports the findings of a project that reviewed the
      effectiveness of behavior change approaches in cleaner cooking interventions in
      resource-poor settings. The authors synthesized evidence of the use of behavior
      change techniques, along the cleaner cooking value chain, to bring positive
      health, economic, and environmental impacts. Forty-eight articles met the
      inclusion criteria, which documented 55 interventions carried out in 20
      countries. The groupings of behavior change techniques most frequently used were
      shaping knowledge (n = 47), rewards and threats (n = 35), social support (n =
      35), and comparisons (n = 16). A scorecard of behavior change effectiveness was
      developed to analyze a selection of case study interventions. Behavior change
      techniques have been used effectively as part of multilevel programs. Cooking
      demonstrations, the right product, and understanding of the barriers and benefits
      along the value chain have all played a role. Often absent are theories and
      models of behavior change adapted to the target audience and local context.
      Robust research methods are needed to track and evaluate behavior change and
      impact, not just technology disseminated. Behavior change approaches could then
      play a more prominent role as the "special sauce" in cleaner cooking
      interventions in resource poor settings. 

PMID- 25839203
TI  - Does peer use influence adoption of efficient cookstoves? Evidence from a
      randomized controlled trial in Uganda.
AB  - The authors examined the effect of peer usage on consumer demand for efficient
      cookstoves with a randomized controlled trial in rural Uganda. The authors tested
      whether the neighbors of buyers who ordered and received a stove are more likely
      to purchase an efficient cookstove than the neighbors of buyers who ordered but
      have not yet received a stove. The authors found that neighbors of buyers who
      have experience with the stove are not detectably more likely to purchase a stove
      than neighbors of buyers who have not yet received their stove. The authors found
      evidence of peer effects in opinions about efficient cookstoves. Knowing that a
      prominent member of the community has the efficient stove predicts 17-22
      percentage points higher odds of strongly favoring the stove. However, this more
      favorable opinion seemingly has no effect on purchase decisions. 

PMID- 25839204
TI  - Agency-based empowerment training enhances sales capacity of female energy
      entrepreneurs in Kenya.
AB  - Globally, women's involvement in clean cooking value chains has been minimal.
      This is partly because of the multiple challenges faced by women that impede
      their capacity to effectively engage in the energy sector. To better discern
      gender-specific differences in involvement in the energy sector, the authors
      conducted a randomized trial in Kenya to compare sales performance of newly
      trained male and female improved cookstove entrepreneurs and to test the effects
      of an agency-based empowerment training on business activity. A total of 257
      entrepreneurs completed either a 4-day entrepreneurial training (control) or a 4
      day empowerment training (intervention) and were followed for nearly 8 months
      documenting business activity and sales. The empowerment training led to more
      than doubling of sales for both genders. In addition, participants in the
      intervention group were significantly more likely to demonstrate business
      commitment over time and nearly three times more likely to be higher sellers
      (relative risk = 2.7, 95% CI [1.4, 5.4]), controlling for gender and rural/urban
      locale. Women outsold men by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 and were more likely to
      continue to pursue leads despite limited sales. Nonactive participants (those
      selling 1 improved cookstove or less) were a larger percentage of the control
      group (72%) than the intervention group (50%), and more men were nonactive
      participants (65% of men) compared with women (56% of women).These data show that
      women can serve as active improved cookstove entrepreneurs in both urban and
      rural settings and that targeted agency-based empowerment training can
      significantly increase women's capacity to engage effectively within the improved
      cookstove value chain. 

PMID- 25839205
TI  - Factors influencing the acquisition and correct and consistent use of the top-lit
      updraft cookstove in Uganda.
AB  - This study looked at the effects of select behavior change interventions on the
      purchase and the correct and consistent use of a locally fabricated top-lit
      updraft (TLUD) stove in Uganda. Behavior change interventions included training
      of community sales agents and village health team volunteers on household air
      pollution and correct use, referral of interested community members to sales
      agents, community cooking demonstrations, information flyers, and direct sales of
      TLUDs and processed wood. Qualitative and quantitative research methods shaped
      interventions and were used to understand attitudes and practices related to TLUD
      stove acquisition and use. Results showed that TLUDs were appreciated because
      they use wood efficiently, cook quickly, reduce smoke, and produce charcoal.
      However, the substantial purchase price barrier, combined with the cost of
      processed wood, effectively eliminated the cost savings from its significant fuel
      efficiency. This made it difficult for the TLUD to be a meaningful part of most
      households' cooking practices. 

PMID- 25839206
TI  - The role of mixed methods in improved cookstove research.
AB  - The challenge of promoting access to clean and efficient household energy for
      cooking and heating is a critical issue facing low- and middle-income countries
      today. Along with clean fuels, improved cookstoves (ICSs) continue to play an
      important part in efforts to reduce the 4 million annual premature deaths
      attributed to household air pollution. Although a range of ICSs are available,
      there is little empirical evidence on appropriate behavior change approaches to
      inform adoption and sustained used at scale. Specifically, evaluations using
      either quantitative or qualitative methods provide an incomplete picture of the
      challenges in facilitating ICS adoption. This article examines how studies that
      use the strengths of both these approaches can offer important insights into
      behavior change in relation to ICS uptake and scale-up. Epistemological
      approaches, study design frameworks, methods of data collection, analytical
      approaches, and issues of validity and reliability in the context of mixed
      methods ICS research are examined, and the article presents an example study
      design from an evaluation study in Kenya incorporating a nested approach and a
      convergent case oriented design. The authors discuss the benefits and
      methodological challenges of mixed-methods approaches in the context of
      researching behavior change and ICS use recognizing that such methods represent
      relatively uncharted territory. The authors propose that more published examples
      are needed to provide frameworks for other researchers seeking to apply mixed
      methods in this context and suggest a comprehensive research agenda is required
      that incorporates integrated mixed-methods approaches, to provide best evidence
      for future scale-up. 

PMID- 25839207
TI  - Integrating behavior change theory and measures into health-based cookstove
      interventions: a proposed epidemiologic research agenda.

PMID- 25839208
TI  - Validation of an innovative method, based on tilt sensing, for the assessment of
      activity and body position.
AB  - Since there is less movement during sleep than during wake, the recording of body
      movements by actigraphy has been used to indirectly evaluate the sleep-wake
      cycle. In general, most actigraphic devices are placed on the wrist and their
      measures are based on acceleration detection. Here, we propose an alternative way
      of measuring actigraphy at the level of the arm for joint evaluation of activity
      and body position. This method analyzes the tilt of three axes, scoring activity
      as the cumulative change of degrees per minute with respect to the previous
      sampling, and measuring arm tilt for the body position inference. In this study,
      subjects (N = 13) went about their daily routine for 7 days, kept daily sleep
      logs, wore three ambulatory monitoring devices and collected sequential saliva
      samples during evenings for the measurement of dim light melatonin onset (DLMO).
      These devices measured motor activity (arm activity, AA) and body position (P)
      using the tilt sensing of the arm, with acceleration (wrist acceleration, WA) and
      skin temperature at wrist level (WT). Cosinor, Fourier and non-parametric
      rhythmic analyses were performed for the different variables, and the results
      were compared by the ANOVA test. Linear correlations were also performed between
      actimetry methods (AA and WA) and WT. The AA and WA suitability for circadian
      phase prediction and for evaluating the sleep-wake cycle was assessed by
      comparison with the DLMO and sleep logs, respectively. All correlations between
      rhythmic parameters obtained from AA and WA were highly significant. Only
      parameters related to activity levels, such as mesor, RA (relative amplitude),
      VL5 and VM10 (value for the 5 and 10 consecutive hours of minimum and maximum
      activity, respectively) showed significant differences between AA and WA records.
      However, when a correlation analysis was performed on the phase markers
      acrophase, mid-time for the 10 consecutive hours of highest (M10) and mid-time
      for the five consecutive hours of lowest activity (L5) with DLMO, all of them
      showed a significant correlation for AA (R = 0.607, p = 0.028; R = 0.582, p =
      0.037; R = 0.620, p = 0.031, respectively), while for WA, only acrophase did (R =
      0.621, p = 0.031). Regarding sleep detection, WA showed higher specificity than
      AA (0.95 +/- 0.01 versus 0.86 +/- 0.02), while the agreement rate and sensitivity
      were higher for AA (0.76 +/- 0.02 versus 0.66 +/- 0.02 and 0.71 +/- 0.03 versus
      0.53 +/- 0.03, respectively). Cohen's kappa coefficient also presented the
      highest values for AA (0.49 +/- 0.04) and AP (0.64 +/- 0.04), followed by WT
      (0.45 +/- 0.06) and WA (0.37 +/- 0.04). The findings demonstrate that this
      alternative actigraphy method (AA), based on tilt sensing of the arm, can be used
      to reliably evaluate the activity and sleep-wake rhythm, since it presents a
      higher agreement rate and sensitivity for detecting sleep, at the same time
      allows the detection of body position and improves circadian phase assessment
      compared to the classical actigraphic method based on wrist acceleration. 

PMID- 25839209
TI  - Integrating tunable anion exchange with reverse osmosis for enhanced recovery
      during inland brackish water desalination.
AB  - For inland brackish water desalination by reverse osmosis or RO, concentrate or
      reject disposal poses a major challenge. However, enhanced recovery and
      consequent reduction in the reject volume using RO processes is limited by the
      solubility of ions present in the feedwater. One of the most common and stubborn
      precipitate formed during desalination is calcium sulfate. Reducing or
      eliminating the presence of sulfate would allow the process to operate at higher
      recoveries without threat to membrane scaling. In this research, this goal is
      accomplished by using an appropriate mixture of self-regenerating anion exchange
      resins that selectively remove and replace sulfate by chloride prior to the RO
      unit. Most importantly, the mixed bed of anion exchange resins is self
      regenerated with the reject brine from the RO process, thus requiring no addition
      of external chemicals. The current work demonstrates the reversibility of the
      hybrid ion exchange and RO (HIX-RO) process with 80% recovery for a brackish
      water composition representative of groundwater in San Joaquin Valley in
      California containing approximately 5200 mg/L of total dissolved solids or TDS.
      Consequently, the reject volume can be reduced by 50% without the threat of
      sulfate scaling and use of antiscaling chemicals can be eliminated altogether. By
      appropriately designing or tuning the mixed bed of anion exchange resins, the
      process can be extended to nearly any composition of brackish water for enhanced
      recovery and consequent reduction in the reject volume. 

PMID- 25839210
TI  - Dissociation of equimolar mixtures of aqueous carboxylic acids in ionic liquids:
      role of specific interactions.
AB  - Hammett acidity function observes the effect of protonation/deprotonation on the
      optical density/absorbance of spectrophotometric indicator. In this work, the
      Hammett acidity, H0, of equimolar mixtures of aqueous HCOOH, CH3COOH, and
      CH3CH2COOH was measured in 1-methylimidazolium-, 1-methylpyrrolidinium-, and 1
      methylpiperidinium-based protic ionic liquids (PILs) and 1-butyl-3
      methylimidazolium-based aprotic ionic liquid (AIL) with formate (HCOO(-)) anion.
      Higher H0 values were observed for the equimolar mixtures of aqueous carboxylic
      acids in protic ionic liquids compared with those of the aprotic ionic liquid
      because of the involvement of the stronger specific interactions between the
      conjugate acid of ionic liquid and conjugate base of carboxylic acids as
      suggested by the hard-soft acid base (HSAB) theory. The different H0 values for
      the equimolar mixtures of aqueous carboxylic acids in protic and aprotic ionic
      liquids were noted to depend on the activation energy of proton transfer
      (Ea,H(+)). The higher activation energy of proton transfer was obtained in AIL,
      indicating lower ability to form specific interactions with solute than that of
      PILs. Thermodynamic parameters determined by the "indicator overlapping method"
      further confirmed the involvement of the secondary interactions in the
      dissociation of carboxylic acids. On the basis of the thermodynamic parameter
      values, the potential of different ionic liquids in the dissociation of
      carboxylic acids was observed to depend on the hydrogen bond donor acidity
      (alpha) and hydrogen bond acceptor basicity (beta), characteristics of specific
      interactions. 

PMID- 25839211
TI  - The discovery of a novel route to highly substituted alpha-tropolones enables
      expedient entry to the core of the gukulenins.
AB  - A simple and general method for the synthesis of highly substituted alpha
      tropolone ethers that allows rapid access to the bis(tropolone) core of the
      antiproliferative metabolites (-)-gukulenins A and F (3, 4) is described. The
      reaction proceeds by thermolytic opening of gem-dibromobicyclo[4.1.0]heptane
      intermediates, which are readily accessed from simple starting materials.
      Mechanistic studies suggest the reaction proceeds via an autocatalytic process
      mediated by methyl hypobromite. This synthetic sequence allows access to a broad
      array of highly substituted alpha-tropolones. 

PMID- 25839212
TI  - Addition to chabazite: stable cation-exchanger in hyper alkaline concrete pore
      water.

PMID- 25839213
TI  - Effects of diet quality on vulnerability to mild subchronic social defeat stress
      in mice.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) mouse model is a potentially
      useful system for understanding stress responses to social environments. We
      previously developed a mouse model of subchronic and mild social defeat stress
      (sCSDS) that exhibits increased body weight gain and food intake following
      polydipsia-like features. sCSDS mice also show avoidance behavior in a social
      interaction test. In this study, we examined the effects of diet quality on
      susceptibility to sCSDS by feeding these mice semi- and non-purified diets.
      METHODS: Male C57BL/6J (B6; n = 82) mice were exposed to sCSDS using male ICR
      mice. The B6 mice were divided into four test groups: semi-purified pellet diet +
      sCSDS, non-purified pellet diet + sCSDS, semi-purified diet + control (no sCSDS),
      and non-purified diet + control. RESULTS: Although increased body weight, and
      food and water intake following sCSDS exposure were consistently observed in the
      groups that were fed semi- and non-purified diets, social avoidance behavior was
      influenced by food type (i.e., sCSDS mice fed semi-purified diet showed the
      greatest social avoidance behavior). In addition, the rates of stress
      susceptibility were estimated at 73.9 and 34.8% in sCSDS mice fed semi-purified
      and non-purified diets, respectively (P < 0.05). For comparison, the susceptible
      like phenotype rates were estimated at 12.5 and 8.3% in healthy control mice fed
      semi-purified and non-purified diets, respectively. DISCUSSION: These results
      suggest that diet quality affects the vulnerability of mice to social defeat
      stress.

PMID- 25839214
TI  - The Impact of Social Support and Attachment Style on Quality of Life and
      Readiness to Change in a Sample of Individuals Receiving Medication-Assisted
      Treatment for Opioid Dependence.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A basic principle within the addictions treatment field is that
      social support is a vital ingredient in the recovery process. This study examines
      the nature of social support in a sample of opioid-dependent men and women who
      are currently being treated in a medication-assisted treatment program
      (methadone). This research examines the types of social support behaviors that
      the opioid-dependent individuals consider helpful and explores whether attachment
      style (i.e., secure, ambivalent, or anxious attachment) was a determining factor
      in whether social support was perceived as helpful. The dependent variables
      included readiness to change addictive behaviors and abstinence from other mood
      altering drugs. METHODS: Participants (N = 159) completed a demographic
      questionnaire, the Significant Others Scale, the Experiences in Close
      Relationships Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
      Assessment, the Readiness to Change Scale, and an Attachment Style Questionnaire.
      The demographic questionnaire included subjective ratings of self-improvement.
      RESULTS: Social support predicted perceived improvement in all of the areas
      examined (e.g., health, family/social relationships) and abstinence; however,
      attachment style did not predict improvement or with readiness to change.
      CONCLUSIONS: Social support is an important factor in one's recovery from
      substance use disorders. Yet attachment style (i.e., anxious, avoidant, or
      secure) did not predict abstinence or overall improvement in functioning.

PMID- 25839215
TI  - Letter from the editor.

PMID- 25839217
TI  - Biodegradable polymeric microsphere-based vaccines and their applications in
      infectious diseases.
AB  - Vaccination, which provides effective, safe infectious disease protection, is
      among the most important recent public health and immunological achievements.
      However, infectious disease remains the leading cause of death in developing
      countries because several vaccines require repeated administrations and children
      are often incompletely immunized. Microsphere-based systems, providing controlled
      release delivery, can obviate the need for repeat immunizations. Here, we review
      the function of sustained and pulsatile release of biodegradable polymeric
      microspheres in parenteral and mucosal single-dose vaccine administration. We
      also review the active-targeting function of polymeric particles. With their
      shield and co-delivery functions, polymeric particles are applied to develop
      single-dose and mucosally administered vaccines as well as to improve subunit
      vaccines. Because polymeric particles are easily surface-modified, they have been
      recently used in vaccine development for cancers and many infectious diseases
      without effective vaccines (e.g., human immunodeficiency virus infection). These
      polymeric particle functions yield important vaccine carriers and multiple
      benefits.

PMID- 25839218
TI  - Letter to the editor: Fatal varicella due to the vaccine-strain varicella-zoster
      virus.

PMID- 25839219
TI  - Successful therapy with bevacizumab in a case of hereditary hemorrhagic
      telangiectasia.
AB  - Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), genetic disorder manifested by
      uncontrolled multisystem angiogenesis with epistaxis, gastrointestinal bleeding,
      iron-deficiency anaemia, and arteriovenous malformations (AVM) is often related
      with increased levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Bevacizumab,
      a VEGF inhibitor, reduces epistaxis, telangiectasias, and iron-deficiency
      anaemia. A case of a female patient with HHT and chronic gastrointestinal
      bleeding is presented. The patient required iron supplementation and multiple
      blood transfusions. Bevacizumab brought marked symptomatic improvement and
      allowed for transfusion-independence. It is intended to apply for approval of the
      indications for bevacizumab administration in HHT as the 'orphan drug'. 

PMID- 25839220
TI  - Type I interferon related genes are common genes on the early stage after
      vaccination by meta-analysis of microarray data.
AB  - The objective of this study was to find common immune mechanism across different
      kinds of vaccines. A meta-analysis of microarray datasets was performed using
      publicly available microarray Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and Array Express
      data sets of vaccination records. Seven studies (out of 35) were selected for
      this meta-analysis. A total of 447 chips (145 pre-vaccination and 302 post
      vaccination) were included. Significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) program
      was used for screening differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Functional pathway
      enrichment for the DEGs was conducted in DAVID Gene Ontology (GO) database.
      Twenty DEGs were identified, of which 10 up-regulated genes involved immune
      response. Six of which were type I interferon (IFN) related genes, including
      LY6E, MX1, OAS3, IFI44L, IFI6 and IFITM3. Ten down-regulated genes mainly
      mediated negative regulation of cell proliferation and cell motion. Results of a
      subgroup analysis showed that although the kinds of genes varied widely between
      days 3 and 7 post vaccination, the pathways between them are basically the same,
      such as immune response and response to viruses, etc. For an independent
      verification of these 6 type I IFN related genes, peripheral blood mononuclear
      cells (PBMCs) were collected at baseline and day 3 after the vaccination from 8
      Enterovirus 71(EV71) vaccinees and were assayed by RT-PCR. Results showed that
      the 6 DEGs were also upregulated in EV71 vaccinees. In summary, meta-analysis
      methods were used to explore the immune mechanism of vaccines and results
      indicated that the type I IFN related genes and corresponding pathways were
      common in early immune responses for different kinds of vaccines.

PMID- 25839221
TI  - A multi-head intradermal electroporation device allows for tailored and increased
      dose DNA vaccine delivery to the skin.
AB  - The identification of an effective and tolerable delivery method is a necessity
      for the success of DNA vaccines in the clinic. This article describes the
      development and validation of a multi-headed intradermal electroporation device
      which would be applicable for delivering multiple DNA vaccine plasmids
      simultaneously but spatially separated. Reporter gene plasmids expressing green
      and red fluorescent proteins were used to demonstrate the impact of spatial
      separation on DNA delivery to increase the number of transfected cells and avoid
      interference through visible expression patterns. To investigate the impact of
      plasmid interference on immunogenicity, a disease target was investigated where
      issues with multi-valent vaccines had been previously described. DNA-based
      Hantaan and Puumala virus vaccines were delivered separately or as a combination
      and the effect of multi-valence was determined by appropriate assays. While a
      negative impact was observed for both antigenic vaccines when delivered together,
      these effects were mitigated when the vaccine was delivered using the multi-head
      device. We also demonstrate how the multi-head device facilitates higher dose
      delivery to the skin resulting in improved immune responses. This new multi-head
      platform device is an efficient, tolerable and non-invasive method to deliver
      multiple plasmid DNA constructs simultaneously allowing the tailoring of delivery
      sites for combination vaccines. Additionally, this device would allow the
      delivery of multi-plasmid vaccine formulations without risk of impacted immune
      responses through interference. Such a low-cost, easy to use device platform for
      the delivery of multi-agent DNA vaccines would have direct applications by the
      military and healthcare sectors for mass vaccination purposes.

PMID- 25839222
TI  - In silico design of a DNA-based HIV-1 multi-epitope vaccine for Chinese
      populations.
AB  - The development of an HIV-1 vaccine that is capable of inducing effective and
      broadly cross-reactive humoral and cellular immune responses remains a
      challenging task because of the extensive diversity of HIV-1, the difference of
      virus subtypes (clades) in different geographical regions, and the polymorphism
      of human leukocyte antigens (HLA). We performed an in silico design of 3 DNA
      vaccines, designated pJW4303-MEG1, pJW4303-MEG2 and pJW4303-MEG3, encoding multi
      epitopes that are highly conserved within the HIV-1 subtypes most prevalent in
      China and can be recognized through HLA alleles dominant in China. The pJW4303
      MEG1-encoded protein consisted of one Th epitope in Env, and one, 2, and 6
      epitopes in Pol, Env, and Gag proteins, respectively, with a GGGS linker sequence
      between epitopes. The pJW4303-MEG2-encoded protein contained similar epitopes in
      a different order, but with the same linker as pJW4303-MEG1. The pJW4303-MEG3
      encoded protein contained the same epitopes in the same order as that of pJW4303
      MEG2, but with a different linker sequence (AAY). To evaluate immunogenicity,
      mice were immunized intramuscularly with these DNA vaccines. Both pJW4303-MEG1
      and pJW4303-MEG2 vaccines induced equally potent humoral and cellular immune
      responses in the vaccinated mice, while pJW4303-MEG3 did not induce immune
      responses. These results indicate that both epitope and linker sequences are
      important in designing effective epitope-based vaccines against HIV-1 and other
      viruses.

PMID- 25839224
TI  - Conformational stability and intramolecular hydrogen bonding in 1,2-ethanediol
      and 1,4-butanediol.
AB  - The gas-phase infrared spectra of 1,2-ED and 1,4-BD have been recorded at three
      different temperatures using a multipass gas cell of 6 m optical path length. DFT
      calculation has also been carried out using 6-311++G** and aug-cc-pVDZ basis sets
      to look for the existence of intramolecular hydrogen bonding in them from the red
      shift and infrared absorption intensity enhancement of the bonded O-H band
      compared to that of the free O-H band. Equilibrium population analysis with 10
      conformers of 1,2-ED and 1,4-BD at experimental temperatures were carried out for
      the reconstruction of the observed vibrational spectra at that temperature using
      standard statistical relationships. The most abundant conformer at experimental
      temperatures was identified. In 1,2-ED a red shift of 45 cm(-1) in the
      intramolecularly interacting O-H stretching vibrational band position and no
      significant intensity enhancement compared to that of the free O-H have been
      observed. On the contrary, in one of the hydrogen-bonded conformers of 1,4-BD, a
      124 cm(-1) red shift in the O-H stretching frequency and a 8.5 times intensity
      enhancement for the "bonded" O-H compared to that of the "free" O-H is seen. On
      the basis of this comparative study, we have concluded that strong intramolecular
      hydrogen bonding exists in 1,4-BD. But there appears to be weak intramolecular
      hydrogen bonding in 1,2-ED at temperatures of 303, 313, and 323 K in the gas
      phase. We have found that most stable hydrogen-bonded conformers of 1,4-BD are
      less populated than some of the non-hydrogen-bonded conformers. Even for the 1,4
      BD, the relative population of the g'GG'Gt conformer, which has a strong
      intramolecular hydrogen bond, is less than what is predicted. Perhaps the
      intramolecular hydrogen bond plays a less significant role in the relative
      stability of the various conformers than what has been predicted from
      calculations and prevails in the literature. 

PMID- 25839223
TI  - Quantitative proteomics using ultralow flow capillary electrophoresis-mass
      spectrometry.
AB  - In this work, we evaluate the incorporation of an ultralow flow interface for
      coupling capillary electrophoresis (CE) and mass spectrometry (MS), in
      combination with reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)
      fractionation as an alternate workflow for quantitative proteomics. Proteins,
      extracted from a SILAC (stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture)
      labeled and an unlabeled yeast strain were mixed and digested enzymatically in
      solution. The resulting peptides were fractionated using RP-HPLC and analyzed by
      CE-MS yielding a total of 28 538 quantified peptides that correspond to 3 272
      quantified proteins. CE-MS analysis was performed using a neutral capillary
      coating, providing the highest separation efficiency at ultralow flow conditions
      (<10 nL/min). Moreover, we were able to demonstrate that CE-MS is a powerful
      method for the identification of low-abundance modified peptides within the same
      sample. Without any further enrichment strategies, we succeeded in quantifying 1
      371 phosphopeptides present in the CE-MS data set and found 49 phosphopeptides to
      be differentially regulated in the two yeast strains. Including acetylation,
      phosphorylation, deamidation, and oxidized forms, a total of 8 106 modified
      peptides could be identified in addition to 33 854 unique peptide sequences
      found. The work presented here shows the first quantitative proteomics approach
      that combines SILAC labeling with CE-MS analysis. 

PMID- 25839225
TI  - Wide-scale quantitative phosphoproteomic analysis reveals that cold treatment of
      T cells closely mimics soluble antibody stimulation.
AB  - The activation of T lymphocytes through antigen-mediated T cell receptor (TCR)
      clustering is vital in regulating the adaptive immune response. Although T cell
      receptor signaling has been extensively studied, the fundamental mechanisms for
      signal initiation are not fully understood. Reduced temperatures have initiated
      some of the hallmarks of TCR signaling, such as increased phosphorylation and
      activation on ERK and calcium release from the endoplasmic reticulum, as well as
      coalesced the T cell membrane microdomains. The precise mechanism of the TCR
      signaling initiation due to temperature change remains obscure. One critical
      question is whether the signaling initiated by the cold treatment of T cells
      differs from the signaling initiated by the cross-linking of the T cell receptor.
      To address this uncertainty, we performed a wide-scale, quantitative mass
      spectrometry-based phosphoproteomic analysis on T cells stimulated either by
      temperature shifts or through the cross-linking of the TCR. Careful statistical
      comparisons between the two stimulations revealed a striking level of identity
      among the subset of 339 sites that changed significantly with both stimulations.
      This study demonstrates for the first time, in unprecedented detail, that T cell
      cold treatment was sufficient to initiate signaling patterns that were nearly
      identical to those of soluble antibody stimulation, shedding new light on the
      mechanism of activation of these critically important immune cells. 

PMID- 25839226
TI  - Effects of heating temperature and duration by gold nanorod mediated plasmonic
      photothermal therapy on copolymer accumulation in tumor tissue.
AB  - Previously, water-soluble N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA) copolymers
      have been used with gold nanorod (GNR) mediated plasmonic photothermal therapy
      (PPTT) to induce hyperthermia (43  degrees C for 10 min) and have been shown to
      improve delivery of hydrophobic drugs to treat cancer. However, it was unknown
      how altering the heating parameters (temperature and duration) of PPTT would
      affect HPMA copolymer accumulation and retention. This study aimed to investigate
      how changes in heating parameters, or thermal dose, would change polymer
      accumulation profiles with PPTT. It was observed that temperatures of either 40,
      43, 46, or 49  degrees C at durations of 10 or 30 min had significant effects on
      HPMA copolymer accumulation. Mild temperatures led to transient enhancement in
      accumulation, but more severe temperatures led to tissue and vascular damage,
      creating slowed dynamics of inflow and outflow of the polymers from the tumor
      tissue. 

PMID- 25839227
TI  - "We Haven't Got a Prayer" (Or Much of Anything Else for That Matter).

PMID- 25839228
TI  - Roles of kinins in the nervous system.
AB  - The kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) is an endogenous pathway involved in many
      biological processes. Although primarily related to blood pressure control and
      inflammation, its activation goes beyond these effects. Neurogenesis and
      neuroprotection might be stimulated by bradykinin being of great interest for
      clinical applications following brain injury. This peptide is also an important
      player in spinal cord injury pathophysiology and recovery, in which bradykinin
      receptor blockers represent substantial therapeutic potential. Here, we highlight
      the participation of kinin receptors and especially bradykinin in mediating
      ischemia pathophysiology in the central and peripheral nervous systems. Moreover,
      we explore the recent advances on mechanistic and therapeutic targets for
      biological, pathological, and neural repair processes involving kinins. 

PMID- 25839229
TI  - Interferon-gamma Decreases Nuclear Localization of Pdx-1 and Triggers beta-Cell
      Dysfunction in Chronic Pancreatitis.
AB  - Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) is shown to play a major role in beta-cell
      dysfunction in chronic pancreatitis (CP). However, the underlying mechanisms are
      to be elucidated. The present study was conducted to determine the role of IFN
      gamma subverting insulin gene expression in CP. Pancreatic tissues from control
      (n=15) and CP patients (n=30) were analyzed for nuclear localization of
      pancreatic and duodenal homeobox transcription factor (Pdx-1) after ascertaining
      their diabetic status. By immunofluorescence and western blot analysis, the
      influence of IFN-gamma, anti-inflammatory cytokine (interleukin-10), and anti-IFN
      gamma agent epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) on nuclear localization of Pdx-1was
      examined in the islets isolated from resected normal pancreatic tissue. Nuclear
      localization of Pdx-1 was 20.25+/-2.19 in the islets of diabetic CP patients and
      31.44+/-2.09 in nondiabetic CP patients as compared with controls (60.45+/-5.11)
      and the corresponding distribution of Pdx-1 protein in the nuclear compartment
      was also decreased. Exposure of normal islets to IFN-gamma revealed decreased
      nuclear localization of Pdx-1. Pretreatment with polyphenolic compound EGCG
      restored the nuclear localization of Pdx-1. These results suggest that IFN-gamma
      induced beta-cell dysfunction is mediated through decreased nuclear localization
      of Pdx-1. 

PMID- 25839230
TI  - Influence of magnetic domain walls and magnetic field on the thermal conductivity
      of magnetic nanowires.
AB  - We investigated the influence of magnetic domain walls and magnetic fields on the
      thermal conductivity of suspended magnetic nanowires. The thermal conductivity of
      the nanowires was obtained using steady-state Joule heating to measure the change
      in resistance caused by spontaneous heating. The results showed that the thermal
      conductivity coefficients of straight and wavy magnetic nanowires decreased with
      an increase in the magnetic domain wall number, implying that the scattering
      between magnons and domain walls hindered the heat transport process. In
      addition, we proved that the magnetic field considerably reduced the thermal
      conductivity of a magnetic nanowire. The influence of magnetic domain walls and
      magnetic fields on the thermal conductivity of polycrystalline magnetic nanowires
      can be attributed to the scattering of long-wavelength spin waves mediated by
      intergrain exchange coupling. 

PMID- 25839231
TI  - Thrombospondin-1 (TSP1)-producing B cells restore antigen (Ag)-specific immune
      tolerance in an allergic environment.
AB  - Restoration of the antigen (Ag)-specific immune tolerance in an allergic
      environment is refractory. B cells are involved in immune regulation. Whether B
      cells facilitate the generation of Ag-specific immune tolerance in an allergic
      environment requires further investigation. This paper aims to elucidate the
      mechanism by which B cells restore the Ag-specific immune tolerance in an
      allergic environment. In this study, a B cell-deficient mouse model was created
      by injecting an anti-CD20 antibody. The frequency of tolerogenic dendritic cell
      (TolDC) was assessed by flow cytometry. The levels of cytokines were determined
      by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The expression of thrombospondin-1 (TSP1)
      was assessed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR, Western blotting, and methylation
      specific PCR. The results showed that B cells were required in the generation of
      the TGF-beta-producing TolDCs in mice. B cell-derived TSP1 converted the latent
      TGF-beta to the active TGF-beta in DCs, which generated TGF-beta-producing
      TolDCs. Exposure to IL-13 inhibited the expression of TSP1 in B cells by
      enhancing the TSP1 gene DNA methylation. Treating food allergy mice with Ag
      specific immunotherapy and IL-13 antagonists restored the generation of TolDCs
      and enhanced the effect of specific immunotherapy. In conclusion, B cells play a
      critical role in the restoration of specific immune tolerance in an allergic
      environment. Blocking IL-13 in an allergic environment facilitated the generation
      of TolDCs and enhanced the therapeutic effect of immunotherapy. 

PMID- 25839232
TI  - Expression of Non-acetylatable H2A.Z in Myoblast Cells Blocks Myoblast
      Differentiation through Disruption of MyoD Expression.
AB  - H2A.Z is a histone H2A variant that is essential for viability in Tetrahymena and
      Drosophila and also during embryonic development of mice. Although implicated in
      diverse cellular processes, including transcriptional regulation, chromosome
      segregation, and heterochromatin formation, its essential function in cells
      remains unknown. Cellular differentiation is part of the developmental process of
      multicellular organisms. To elucidate the roles of H2A.Z and H2A.Z acetylation in
      cellular differentiation, we examined the effects of expressing wild type (WT) or
      a non-acetylatable form of H2A.Z in the growth and differentiation of the
      myoblast C2C12 cell line. Ectopic expression of wild type or mutant H2A.Z
      resulted in distinct phenotypes in the differentiation of the C2C12 cells and the
      formation of myotubes. Most strikingly, expression of the H2A.Z non-acetylatable
      mutant (H2A.Z-Ac-mut) resulted in a complete block of myoblast differentiation.
      We determined that this phenotype is caused by a loss of MyoD expression in the
      Ac-mut-expressing cells prior to and after induction of differentiation.
      Moreover, chromatin accessibility assays showed that the promoter region of MyoD
      is less accessible in the differentiation-defective cells. Altogether, these new
      findings show that expression of the Ac-mut form of H2A.Z resulted in a dominant
      phenotype that blocked differentiation due to chromatin changes at the MyoD
      promoter. 

PMID- 25839233
TI  - Defining a two-pronged structural model for PB1 (Phox/Bem1p) domain interaction
      in plant auxin responses.
AB  - Phox/Bem1p (PB1) domains are universal structural modules that use surfaces of
      different charge for protein-protein association. In plants, PB1-mediated
      interactions of auxin response factors (ARF) and auxin/indole 3-acetic acid
      inducible proteins regulate transcriptional events modulated by the phytohormone
      auxin. Here we investigate the thermodynamic and structural basis for Arabidopsis
      thaliana ARF7 PB1 domain self-interaction. Isothermal titration calorimetry and
      NMR experiments indicate that key residues on both the basic and acidic faces of
      the PB1 domain contribute to and organize coordinately to stabilize protein
      protein interactions. Calorimetric analysis of ARF7PB1 site-directed mutants
      defines a two-pronged electrostatic interaction. The canonical PB1 interaction
      between a lysine and a cluster of acidic residues provides one prong with an
      arginine and a second cluster of acidic residues defining the other prong.
      Evolutionary conservation of this core recognition feature and other co-varying
      interface sequences allows for versatile PB1-mediated interactions in auxin
      signaling. 

PMID- 25839234
TI  - Basophil-associated OX40 ligand participates in the initiation of Th2 responses
      during airway inflammation.
AB  - Asthma is characterized by increased airway submucosal infiltration of T helper
      (Th) cells and myeloid cells that co-conspire to sustain a chronic inflammation.
      While recent studies have demonstrated that the myeloid basophils promote Th2
      cells in response to various types of allergens, the underlying mechanisms are
      poorly understood. Here, we found for the first time that in a mouse model of
      allergic asthma basophils highly expressed OX40 ligand (OX40L) after activation.
      Interestingly, blockade of OX40-OX40L interaction suppressed basophils-primed Th2
      cell differentiation in vitro and ameliorated ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic
      eosinophilic inflammation mediated by Th2 activation. In accordance, the adoptive
      transfer of basophils derived from mediastinal lymph nodes (MLN) of OVA-immunized
      mice triggered a robust Th2 response and eosinophilic inflammation in wild-type
      mice but largely muted in OX40(-/-) mice and mice receiving OX40L-blocked
      basophils. Taken together, our results reveal a critical role of OX40L presented
      by the activated basophils to initiate Th2 responses in an allergic asthma model,
      implicating OX40-OX40L signaling as a potential therapeutic target in the
      treatment of allergic airway inflammation. 

PMID- 25839236
TI  - Reactivity of Cys4 zinc finger domains with gold(III) complexes: insights into
      the formation of "gold fingers".
AB  - Gold(I) complexes such as auranofin or aurothiomalate have been used as
      therapeutic agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis for several decades.
      Several gold(I) and gold(III) complexes have also shown in vitro anticancer
      properties against human cancer cell lines, including cell lines resistant to
      cisplatin. Because of the thiophilicity of gold, cysteine-containing proteins
      appear as likely targets for gold complexes. Among them, zinc finger proteins
      have attracted attention and, recently, gold(I) and gold(III) complexes have been
      shown to inhibit poly(adenosine diphosphate ribose)polymerase-1 (PARP-1), which
      is an essential protein involved in DNA repair and in cancer resistance to
      chemotherapies. In this Article, we characterize the reactivity of the gold(III)
      complex [Au(III)(terpy)Cl]Cl2 (Auterpy) with a model of Zn(Cys)4 "zinc ribbon"
      zinc finger by a combination of absorption spectroscopy, circular dichroism, mass
      spectrometry, high-performance liquid chromatography analysis, and X-ray
      absorption spectroscopy. We show that the Zn(Cys)4 site of Zn.LZR is rapidly
      oxidized by Auterpy to form a disulfide bond. The Zn(2+) ion is released, and the
      two remaining cysteines coordinate the Au(+) ion that is produced during the
      redox reaction. Subsequent oxidation of these cysteines can take place in
      conditions of excess gold(III) complex. In the presence of excess free thiols
      mimicking the presence of glutathione in cells, mixing of the zinc finger model
      and gold(III) complex yields a different product: complex (Au(I))2.LZR with two
      Au(+) ions bound to cysteines is formed. Thus, on the basis of detailed
      speciation and kinetic measurements, we demonstrate herein that the destruction
      of Zn(Cys)4 zinc fingers by gold(III) complexes to achieve the formation of "gold
      fingers" is worth consideration, either directly or mediated by reducing agents. 

PMID- 25839235
TI  - Expression of Ceramide Synthase 6 Transcriptionally Activates Acid Ceramidase in
      a c-Jun N-terminal Kinase (JNK)-dependent Manner.
AB  - A family of six ceramide synthases with distinct but overlapping substrate
      specificities is responsible for generation of ceramides with acyl chains ranging
      from ~14-26 carbons. Ceramide synthase 6 (CerS6) preferentially generates C14-
      and C16-ceramides, and we have previously shown that down-regulation of this
      enzyme decreases apoptotic susceptibility. In this study, we further evaluated
      how increased CerS6 expression impacts sphingolipid composition and metabolism.
      Overexpression of CerS6 in HT29 colon cancer cells resulted in increased
      apoptotic susceptibility and preferential generation of C16-ceramide, which
      occurred at the expense of very long chain, saturated ceramides. These changes
      were also reflected in sphingomyelin composition. HT-CerS6 cells had increased
      intracellular levels of sphingosine, which is generated by ceramidases upon
      hydrolysis of ceramide. qRT-PCR analysis revealed that only expression of acid
      ceramidase (ASAH1) was increased. The increase in acid ceramidase was confirmed
      by expression and activity analyses. Pharmacological inhibition of JNK (SP600125)
      or curcumin reduced transcriptional up-regulation of acid ceramidase. Using an
      acid ceramidase promoter driven luciferase reporter plasmid, we demonstrated that
      CerS1 has no effect on transcriptional activation of acid ceramidase and that
      CerS2 slightly but significantly decreased the luciferase signal. Similar to
      CerS6, overexpression of CerS3-5 resulted in an ~2-fold increase in luciferase
      reporter gene activity. Exogenous ceramide failed to induce reporter activity,
      while a CerS inhibitor and a catalytically inactive mutant of CerS6 failed to
      reduce it. Taken together, these results suggest that increased expression of
      CerS6 can mediate transcriptional activation of acid ceramidase in a JNK
      dependent manner that is independent of CerS6 activity. 

PMID- 25839237
TI  - Optically Tunable Chiral Plasmonic Guest-Host Cellulose Films Weaved with Long
      range Ordered Silver Nanowires.
AB  - Plasmonic materials with large chiroptical activity at visible wavelength have
      attracted considerable attention due to their potential applications in
      metamaterials. Here we demonstrate a novel guest-host chiral nematic liquid
      crystal film composed of bulk self-co-assembly of the dispersed plasmonic silver
      nanowires (AgNWs) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). The AgNWs-CNCs composite
      films show strong plasmonic optical activities, that are dependent on the chiral
      photonic properties of the CNCs host medium and orientation of the guest AgNWs.
      Tunable chiral distribution of the aligned anisotropic AgNWs with long-range
      order is obtained through the CNCs liquid crystal mediated realignment. The
      chiral plasmonic optical activity of the AgNWs-CNCs composite films can be tuned
      by changing the interparticle electrostatic repulsion between the CNCs nanorods
      and AgNWs. We also observe an electromagnetic energy transfer phenomena among the
      plasmonic bands of AgNWs, due to the modulation of the photonic band gap of the
      CNCs host matrix. This facile approach for fabricating chiral macrostructured
      plasmonic materials with optically tunable property is of interest for a variety
      of advanced optics applications. 

PMID- 25839238
TI  - Possible salivary and serum biomarkers for oral lichen planus.
AB  - There are few reports concerning the potential for clinical application of
      oxidative stress (OS) and collagen degradation markers in oral lichen planus
      (OLP) patients. We investigated the possibility of using some disease-related
      biomarkers in saliva and serum of OLP patients. Our study included 30 patients
      with OLP and 30 controls. We evaluated serum and salivary OS biomarkers including
      8-OHdG, MDA, uric acid, TAC and GPx. We also investigated collagen degradation
      markers such as CTX I and MMP-8. We found significantly increased salivary levels
      of MMP-8 and CTX I in the OLP group compared to controls and significant
      differences between the OLP and control groups in serum and saliva for 8-OHdG,
      MDA (significantly increased), uric acid, TAC and GPx (significantly reduced).
      Currently there are no criteria for evaluating which OLP patients have a greater
      risk of malignant transformation. In addition to clinical surveillance, the serum
      and salivary biomarkers that we evaluated may be useful biomarkers for monitoring
      OLP patients in the future. 

PMID- 25839239
TI  - Membrane-based osmotic heat engine with organic solvent for enhanced power
      generation from low-grade heat.
AB  - We present a hybrid osmotic heat engine (OHE) system that uses draw solutions
      with an organic solvent for enhanced thermal separation efficiency. The hybrid
      OHE system produces sustainable energy by combining pressure-retarded osmosis
      (PRO) as a power generation stage and membrane distillation (MD) utilizing low
      grade heat as a separation stage. While previous OHE systems employed aqueous
      electrolyte draw solutions, using methanol as a solvent is advantageous because
      methanol is highly volatile and has a lower heat capacity and enthalpy of
      vaporization than water. Hence, the thermal separation efficiency of a draw
      solution with methanol would be higher than that of an aqueous draw solution. In
      this study, we evaluated the performance of LiCl-methanol as a potential draw
      solution for a PRO-MD hybrid OHE system. The membrane transport properties as
      well as performance with LiCl-methanol draw solution were evaluated using thin
      film composite (TFC) PRO membranes and compared to the results obtained with a
      LiCl-water draw solution. Experimental PRO methanol flux and maximum projected
      power density of 47.1 L m(-2) h(-1) and 72.1 W m(-2), respectively, were achieved
      with a 3 M LiCl-methanol draw solution. The overall efficiency of the hybrid OHE
      system was modeled by coupling the mass and energy flows between the thermal
      separation (MD) and power generation (PRO) stages under conditions with and
      without heat recovery. The modeling results demonstrate higher OHE energy
      efficiency with the LiCl-methanol draw solution compared to that with the LiCl
      water draw solution under practical operating conditions (i.e., heat
      recovery<90%). We discuss the implications of the results for converting low
      grade heat to power.

PMID- 25839240
TI  - Pursuit-and-Evasion Reaction-Diffusion Waves in Microreactors with Tailored
      Geometry.
AB  - Out-of-equilibrium chemical systems may self-organize into structures displaying
      spatiotemporal order, such as traveling waves and Turing patterns. Because of its
      predictable chemistry, DNA has recently appeared as an interesting candidate to
      engineer these spatiotemporal structures. However, in addition to the intrinsic
      chemical parameters, initial and boundary conditions have a major impact on the
      final structure. Here we take advantage of microfluidics to design controlled
      reactors and investigate pursuit-and-evasion chemical waves generated by a DNA
      based reaction network with Predator-Prey dynamics. We first propose two
      complementary microfabrication strategies to either control the initial condition
      or the two-dimensional geometry of the reactor where the waves develop. We
      subsequently use them to investigate the effect of curvature in wave propagation.
      We finally show that DNA-based waves can compute the optimal path within a maze.
      We thus suggest that coupling configurable microfluidics to programmable DNA
      based dissipative reaction networks is a powerful route to investigate
      spatiotemporal order formation in chemistry. 

PMID- 25839241
TI  - Sadness.

PMID- 25839242
TI  - Gender based violence and women's health-the global view.

PMID- 25839243
TI  - A rare case of neonatal cryptococcal meningitis in an HIV-unexposed 2-day-old
      infant: the youngest to date?
AB  - Cryptococcal meningitis is uncommon in children, particularly in infants. A 2-day
      old boy was admitted with signs suggestive of meningitis. Lumbar puncture
      confirmed meningitis and cryptococcal infection (cryptococcal antigen and Indian
      ink stain-positive). His mother was HIV-negative. This is thought to be the
      youngest case of cryptococcal meningitis to be reported. Cryptococcal infection
      should be considered in children of all ages with meningitis where there is
      possible immunodeficiency or failure to respond to initial treatment with
      antibiotics.

PMID- 25839244
TI  - Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition in 2D spin-orbit-coupled Fulde
      Ferrell superfluids.
AB  - The experimental observation of traditional Zeeman-field induced Fulde-Ferrell
      Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) superfluids has been hindered by various challenges, in
      particular, the requirement of low dimensional systems. In 2D, finite temperature
      phase fluctuations lead to an extremely small Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless
      (BKT) transition temperature for FFLO superfluids, raising serious concerns
      regarding their experimental observability. Recently, it was shown that FFLO
      superfluids can be realized using a Rashba spin-orbit coupled Fermi gas subject
      to Zeeman fields, which may also support topological excitations such as Majorana
      fermions in 2D. Here we address the finite temperature BKT transition issue in
      this system, which may exhibit gapped, gapless, topological, and gapless
      topological FF phases. We find a large BKT transition temperature due to large
      effective superfluid densities, making it possible to observe 2D FF superfluids
      at finite temperature. In addition, we show that gapless FF superfluids can be
      stable due to their positive superfluid densities. These findings pave the way
      for the experimental observation of 2D gapped and gapless FF superfluids and
      their associated topological excitations at finite temperature. 

PMID- 25839245
TI  - Finite-temperature free fermions and the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation at finite
      time.
AB  - We consider the system of N one-dimensional free fermions confined by a harmonic
      well V(x)=momega(2)x(2)/2 at finite inverse temperature beta=1/T. The average
      density of fermions rho(N)(x,T) at position x is derived. For N?1 and
      beta~O(1/N), rho(N)(x,T) is given by a scaling function interpolating between a
      Gaussian at high temperature, for beta?1/N, and the Wigner semicircle law at low
      temperature, for beta?N(-1). In the latter regime, we unveil a scaling limit, for
      betahomega=bN(-1/3), where the fluctuations close to the edge of the support, at
      x~+/-?[2hN/(momega)], are described by a limiting kernel K(b)(ff)(s,s') that
      depends continuously on b and is a generalization of the Airy kernel, found in
      the Gaussian unitary ensemble of random matrices. Remarkably, exactly the same
      kernel K(b)(ff)(s,s') arises in the exact solution of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang
      equation in 1+1 dimensions at finite time t, with the correspondence t=b(3).

PMID- 25839246
TI  - Spin-imbalanced quasi-two-dimensional Fermi gases.
AB  - We measure the density profiles for a Fermi gas of (6)Li containing N(1) spin-up
      atoms and N(2) spin-down atoms, confined in a quasi-two-dimensional geometry. The
      spatial profiles are measured as a function of spin imbalance N(2)/N(1) and
      interaction strength, which is controlled by means of a collisional (Feshbach)
      resonance. The measured cloud radii and central densities are in disagreement
      with mean-field Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory for a true two-dimensional
      system. We find that the data for normal-fluid mixtures are reasonably well fit
      by a simple two-dimensional polaron model of the free energy. Not predicted by
      the model is a phase transition to a spin-balanced central core, which is
      observed above a critical value of N(2)/N(1). Our observations provide important
      benchmarks for predictions of the phase structure of quasi-two-dimensional Fermi
      gases.

PMID- 25839247
TI  - Microwave experiments simulating quantum search and directed transport in
      artificial graphene.
AB  - A series of quantum search algorithms have been proposed recently providing an
      algebraic speedup compared to classical search algorithms from N to ?N, where N
      is the number of items in the search space. In particular, devising searches on
      regular lattices has become popular in extending Grover's original algorithm to
      spatial searching. Working in a tight-binding setup, it could be demonstrated,
      theoretically, that a search is possible in the physically relevant dimensions 2
      and 3 if the lattice spectrum possesses Dirac points. We present here a proof of
      principle experiment implementing wave search algorithms and directed wave
      transport in a graphene lattice arrangement. The idea is based on bringing
      localized search states into resonance with an extended lattice state in an
      energy region of low spectral density-namely, at or near the Dirac point. The
      experiment is implemented using classical waves in a microwave setup containing
      weakly coupled dielectric resonators placed in a honeycomb arrangement, i.e.,
      artificial graphene. Furthermore, we investigate the scaling behavior
      experimentally using linear chains.

PMID- 25839248
TI  - Heralded quantum gates with integrated error detection in optical cavities.
AB  - We propose and analyze heralded quantum gates between qubits in optical cavities.
      They employ an auxiliary qubit to report if a successful gate occurred. In this
      manner, the errors, which would have corrupted a deterministic gate, are
      converted into a nonunity probability of success: once successful, the gate has a
      much higher fidelity than a similar deterministic gate. Specifically, we describe
      that a heralded, near-deterministic controlled phase gate (CZ gate) with the
      conditional error arbitrarily close to zero and the success probability that
      approaches unity as the cooperativity of the system, C, becomes large.
      Furthermore, we describe an extension to near-deterministic N-qubit Toffoli gate
      with a favorable error scaling. These gates can be directly employed in quantum
      repeater networks to facilitate near-ideal entanglement swapping, thus greatly
      speeding up the entanglement distribution. 

PMID- 25839249
TI  - Connectivity is a poor indicator of fast quantum search.
AB  - A randomly walking quantum particle evolving by Schrodinger's equation searches
      on d-dimensional cubic lattices in O(?N) time when d>=5, and with progressively
      slower runtime as d decreases. This suggests that graph connectivity (including
      vertex, edge, algebraic, and normalized algebraic connectivities) is an indicator
      of fast quantum search, a belief supported by fast quantum search on complete
      graphs, strongly regular graphs, and hypercubes, all of which are highly
      connected. In this Letter, we show this intuition to be false by giving two
      examples of graphs for which the opposite holds true: one with low connectivity
      but fast search, and one with high connectivity but slow search. The second
      example is a novel two-stage quantum walk algorithm in which the walking rate
      must be adjusted to yield high search probability.

PMID- 25839250
TI  - Entanglement-based machine learning on a quantum computer.
AB  - Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, learns from previous
      experience to optimize performance, which is ubiquitous in various fields such as
      computer sciences, financial analysis, robotics, and bioinformatics. A challenge
      is that machine learning with the rapidly growing "big data" could become
      intractable for classical computers. Recently, quantum machine learning
      algorithms [Lloyd, Mohseni, and Rebentrost, arXiv.1307.0411] were proposed which
      could offer an exponential speedup over classical algorithms. Here, we report the
      first experimental entanglement-based classification of two-, four-, and eight
      dimensional vectors to different clusters using a small-scale photonic quantum
      computer, which are then used to implement supervised and unsupervised machine
      learning. The results demonstrate the working principle of using quantum
      computers to manipulate and classify high-dimensional vectors, the core
      mathematical routine in machine learning. The method can, in principle, be scaled
      to larger numbers of qubits, and may provide a new route to accelerate machine
      learning. 

PMID- 25839251
TI  - Information transmission without energy exchange.
AB  - We show that it is possible to use a massless field in the vacuum to communicate
      in such a way that the signal travels arbitrarily slower than the speed of light
      and such that no energy is transmitted from the sender to the receiver. Instead,
      the receiver has to supply a signal-dependent amount of work to switch his
      detector on and off. This type of communication is related to Casimir-like
      interactions, and it is made possible by dimension-and curvature-dependent
      subtleties of Huygens' principle. 

PMID- 25839252
TI  - Entanglement-enhanced sensing in a lossy and noisy environment.
AB  - Nonclassical states are essential for optics-based quantum information
      processing, but their fragility limits their utility for practical scenarios in
      which loss and noise inevitably degrade, if not destroy, nonclassicality.
      Exploiting nonclassical states in quantum metrology yields sensitivity advantages
      over all classical schemes delivering the same energy per measurement interval to
      the sample being probed. These enhancements, almost without exception, are
      severely diminished by quantum decoherence. Here, we experimentally demonstrate
      an entanglement-enhanced sensing system that is resilient to quantum decoherence.
      We employ entanglement to realize a 20% signal-to-noise ratio improvement over
      the optimum classical scheme in an entanglement-breaking environment plagued by
      14 dB of loss and a noise background 75 dB stronger than the returned probe
      light. Our result suggests that advantageous quantum-sensing technology could be
      developed for practical situations. 

PMID- 25839253
TI  - Exact mapping of the stochastic field theory for Manna sandpiles to interfaces in
      random media.
AB  - We show that the stochastic field theory for directed percolation in the presence
      of an additional conservation law [the conserved directed-percolation (C-DP)
      class] can be mapped exactly to the continuum theory for the depinning of an
      elastic interface in short-range correlated quenched disorder. Along one line of
      the parameters commonly studied, this mapping leads to the simplest overdamped
      dynamics. Away from this line, an additional memory term arises in the interface
      dynamics; we argue that this does not change the universality class. Since C-DP
      is believed to describe the Manna class of self-organized criticality, this shows
      that Manna stochastic sandpiles and disordered elastic interfaces (i.e., the
      quenched Edwards-Wilkinson model) share the same universal large-scale behavior. 

PMID- 25839254
TI  - Hyperuniformity of critical absorbing states.
AB  - The properties of the absorbing states of nonequilibrium models belonging to the
      conserved directed percolation universality class are studied. We find that, at
      the critical point, the absorbing states are hyperuniform, exhibiting anomalously
      small density fluctuations. The exponent characterizing the fluctuations is
      measured numerically, a scaling relation to other known exponents is suggested,
      and a new correlation length relating to this ordering is proposed. These results
      may have relevance to photonic band-gap materials. 

PMID- 25839255
TI  - Radiation from a collapsing object is manifestly unitary.
AB  - The process of gravitational collapse excites the fields propagating in the
      background geometry and gives rise to thermal radiation. We demonstrate by
      explicit calculations that the density matrix corresponding to such radiation
      actually describes a pure state. While Hawking's leading order density matrix
      contains only the diagonal terms, we calculate the off-diagonal correlation
      terms. These correlations start very small, but then grow in time. The cumulative
      effect is that the correlations become comparable to the leading order terms and
      significantly modify the density matrix. While the trace of the Hawking's density
      matrix squared goes from unity to zero during the evolution, the trace of the
      total density matrix squared remains unity at all times and all frequencies. This
      implies that the process of radiation from a collapsing object is unitary. 

PMID- 25839257
TI  - String theory of the Regge intercept.
AB  - Using the Polchinski-Strominger effective string theory in the covariant gauge,
      we compute the mass of a rotating string in D dimensions with large angular
      momenta J, in one or two planes, in fixed ratio, up to and including first
      subleading order in the large J expansion. This constitutes a first-principles
      calculation of the value for the order-J(0) contribution to the mass squared of a
      meson on the leading Regge trajectory in planar QCD with bosonic quarks. For open
      strings with Neumann boundary conditions, and for closed strings in D>=5, the
      order-J(0) term in the mass squared is exactly calculated by the semiclassical
      approximation. This term in the expansion is universal and independent of the
      details of the theory, assuming only D-dimensional Poincare invariance and the
      absence of other infinite-range excitations on the string world volume, beyond
      the Nambu-Goldstone bosons.

PMID- 25839258
TI  - Entanglement entropy in Galilean conformal field theories and flat holography.
AB  - We present the analytical calculation of entanglement entropy for a class of two
      dimensional field theories governed by the symmetries of the Galilean conformal
      algebra, thus providing a rare example of such an exact computation. These field
      theories are the putative holographic duals to theories of gravity in three
      dimensional asymptotically flat spacetimes. We provide a check of our field
      theory answers by an analysis of geodesics. We also exploit the Chern-Simons
      formulation of three-dimensional gravity and adapt recent proposals of
      calculating entanglement entropy by Wilson lines in this context to find an
      independent confirmation of our results from holography. 

PMID- 25839259
TI  - Entanglement entropy of electromagnetic edge modes.
AB  - The vacuum entanglement entropy of Maxwell theory, when evaluated by standard
      methods, contains an unexpected term with no known statistical interpretation. We
      resolve this two-decades old puzzle by showing that this term is the entanglement
      entropy of edge modes: classical solutions determined by the electric field
      normal to the entangling surface. We explain how the heat kernel regularization
      applied to this term leads to the negative divergent expression found by Kabat.
      This calculation also resolves a recent puzzle concerning the logarithmic
      divergences of gauge fields in 3+1 dimensions. 

PMID- 25839260
TI  - Enhanced Higgs boson to tau(+)tau(-) search with deep learning.
AB  - The Higgs boson is thought to provide the interaction that imparts mass to the
      fundamental fermions, but while measurements at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
      are consistent with this hypothesis, current analysis techniques lack the
      statistical power to cross the traditional 5sigma significance barrier without
      more data. Deep learning techniques have the potential to increase the
      statistical power of this analysis by automatically learning complex, high-level
      data representations. In this work, deep neural networks are used to detect the
      decay of the Higgs boson to a pair of tau leptons. A Bayesian optimization
      algorithm is used to tune the network architecture and training algorithm
      hyperparameters, resulting in a deep network of eight nonlinear processing layers
      that improves upon the performance of shallow classifiers even without the use of
      features specifically engineered by physicists for this application. The
      improvement in discovery significance is equivalent to an increase in the
      accumulated data set of 25%. 

PMID- 25839256
TI  - First direct limits on lightly ionizing particles with electric charge less than
      e/6.
AB  - While the standard model of particle physics does not include free particles with
      fractional charge, experimental searches have not ruled out their existence. We
      report results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment that
      give the first direct-detection limits for cosmogenically produced relativistic
      particles with electric charge lower than e/6. A search for tracks in the six
      stacked detectors of each of two of the CDMS II towers finds no candidates,
      thereby excluding new parameter space for particles with electric charges between
      e/6 and e/200. 

PMID- 25839261
TI  - Chiral symmetry breaking in QCD with two light flavors.
AB  - A distinctive feature of the presence of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in
      QCD is the condensation of low modes of the Dirac operator near the origin. The
      rate of condensation must be equal to the slope of M(pi)(2)F(pi)(2)/2 with
      respect to the quark mass m in the chiral limit, where M(pi) and F(pi) are the
      mass and the decay constant of the Nambu-Goldstone bosons. We compute the
      spectral density of the (Hermitian) Dirac operator, the quark mass, the
      pseudoscalar meson mass, and decay constant by numerical simulations of lattice
      QCD with two light degenerate Wilson quarks. We use lattices generated by the
      Coordinated Lattice Simulation (CLS) group at three values of the lattice spacing
      in the range 0.05-0.08 fm, and for several quark masses corresponding to
      pseudoscalar mesons masses down to 190 MeV. Thanks to this coverage of parameters
      space, we can extrapolate all quantities to the chiral and continuum limits with
      confidence. The results show that the low quark modes do condense in the
      continuum as expected by the Banks-Casher mechanism, and the rate of condensation
      agrees with the Gell-Mann-Oakes-Renner relation. For the renormalization-group
      invariant ratios we obtain [Sigma(RGI)](1/3)/F=2.77(2)(4) and
      Lambda(MS)/F=3.6(2), which correspond to [Sigma(MS)(2  GeV)](1/3)=263(3)(4)  MeV
      and F=85.8(7)(20)  MeV if F(K) is used to set the scale by supplementing the
      theory with a quenched strange quark.

PMID- 25839262
TI  - Elliptic flow and nuclear modification factor in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion
      collisions within a partonic transport model.
AB  - The quark gluon plasma produced in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions
      exhibits remarkable features. It behaves like a nearly perfect liquid with a
      small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio and leads to the quenching of
      highly energetic particles. We show that both effects can be understood for the
      first time within one common framework. Employing the parton cascade Boltzmann
      approach to multiparton scatterings, the microscopic interactions and the space
      time evolution of the quark gluon plasma are calculated by solving the
      relativistic Boltzmann equation. Based on cross sections obtained from
      perturbative QCD with explicitly taking the running coupling into account, we
      calculate the nuclear modification factor and elliptic flow in ultrarelativistic
      heavy-ion collisions. With only one single parameter associated with coherence
      effects of medium-induced gluon radiation, the experimental data of both
      observables can be understood on a microscopic level. Furthermore, we show that
      perturbative QCD interactions with a running coupling lead to a sufficiently
      small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio of the quark gluon plasma, which
      provides a microscopic explanation for the observations stated by hydrodynamic
      calculations. 

PMID- 25839264
TI  - Identification of a previously unobserved dissociative ionization pathway in time
      resolved photospectroscopy of the deuterium molecule.
AB  - A femtosecond vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) pulse with high spectral resolution (<200 
      meV) is selected from the laser-driven high order harmonics. This ultrafast VUV
      pulse is synchronized with an infrared (IR) laser pulse to study dissociative
      ionization in deuterium molecules. At a VUV photon energy of 16.95 eV, a
      previously unobserved bond-breaking pathway is found in which the dissociation
      direction does not follow the IR polarization. We interpret it as corresponding
      to molecules predissociating into two separated atoms, one of which is
      photoionized by the following IR pulse. A time resolved study allows us to
      determine the lifetime of the intermediate predissociation process to be about 1
      ps. Additionally, the dissociative ionization pathways show high sensitivity to
      the VUV photon energy. As the VUV photon energy is blueshifted to 17.45 eV, the
      more familiar bond-softening channel is opened to compete with the newly
      discovered pathway. The interpretation of different pathways is supported by the
      energy sharing between the electron and nuclei. 

PMID- 25839265
TI  - Coherent excitation transfer in a spin chain of three Rydberg atoms.
AB  - We study coherent excitation hopping in a spin chain realized using highly
      excited individually addressable Rydberg atoms. The dynamics are fully described
      in terms of an XY spin Hamiltonian with a long range resonant dipole-dipole
      coupling that scales as the inverse third power of the lattice spacing,
      C(3)/R(3). The experimental data demonstrate the importance of next neighbor
      interactions which are manifest as revivals in the excitation dynamics. The
      results suggest that arrays of Rydberg atoms are ideally suited to large scale,
      high-fidelity quantum simulation of spin dynamics.

PMID- 25839263
TI  - Measurements of double-polarized compton scattering asymmetries and extraction of
      the proton spin polarizabilities.
AB  - The spin polarizabilities of the nucleon describe how the spin of the nucleon
      responds to an incident polarized photon. The most model-independent way to
      extract the nucleon spin polarizabilities is through polarized Compton
      scattering. Double-polarized Compton scattering asymmetries on the proton were
      measured in the Delta(1232) region using circularly polarized incident photons
      and a transversely polarized proton target at the Mainz Microtron. Fits to
      asymmetry data were performed using a dispersion model calculation and a baryon
      chiral perturbation theory calculation, and a separation of all four proton spin
      polarizabilities in the multipole basis was achieved. The analysis based on a
      dispersion model calculation yields gamma(E1E1)=-3.5+/-1.2, gamma(M1M1)=3.16+/
      0.85, gamma(E1M2)=-0.7+/-1.2, and gamma(M1E2)=1.99+/-0.29, in units of 10(-4) 
      fm(4).

PMID- 25839266
TI  - Sensitivity of ultracold atoms to quantized flux in a superconducting ring.
AB  - We report on the magnetic trapping of an ultracold ensemble of (87)Rb atoms close
      to a superconducting ring prepared in different states of quantized magnetic
      flux. The niobium ring of 10  MUm radius is prepared in a flux state n Phi(0),
      where Phi(0)=h/2e is the flux quantum and n varying between +/-6. An atomic cloud
      of 250 nK temperature is positioned with a harmonic magnetic trapping potential
      at ~18  MUm distance below the ring. The inhomogeneous magnetic field of the
      supercurrent in the ring contributes to the magnetic trapping potential of the
      cloud. The induced deformation of the magnetic trap impacts the shape of the
      cloud, the number of trapped atoms, as well as the center-of-mass oscillation
      frequency of Bose-Einstein condensates. When the field applied during cooldown of
      the chip is varied, the change of these properties shows discrete steps that
      quantitatively match flux quantization.

PMID- 25839267
TI  - Proposal for an optomechanical microwave sensor at the subphoton level.
AB  - Because of their low energy content, microwave signals at the single-photon level
      are extremely challenging to measure. Guided by recent progress in single-photon
      optomechanics and hybrid optomechanical systems, we propose a multimode
      optomechanical transducer that can detect intensities significantly below the
      single-photon level via adiabatic transfer of the microwave signal to the optical
      frequency domain where the measurement is then performed. The influence of
      intrinsic quantum and thermal fluctuations is also discussed. 

PMID- 25839268
TI  - Master-slave locking of optomechanical oscillators over a long distance.
AB  - Frequency locking and other phenomena emerging from nonlinear interactions
      between mechanical oscillators are of scientific and technological importance.
      However, existing schemes to observe such behavior are not scalable over
      distance. We demonstrate a scheme to couple two independent mechanical
      oscillators, separated in frequency by 80 kHz and situated far from each other
      (3.2 km), via light. Using light as the coupling medium enables this scheme to
      have low loss and be extended over long distances. This scheme is reversible and
      can be generalized for arbitrary network configurations. 

PMID- 25839269
TI  - Nearly deterministic bell measurement for multiphoton qubits and its application
      to quantum information processing.
AB  - We propose a Bell-measurement scheme by employing a logical qubit in Greenberger
      Horne-Zeilinger entanglement with an arbitrary number of photons. Remarkably, the
      success probability of the Bell measurement as well as teleportation of the
      Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger entanglement can be made arbitrarily high using only
      linear optics elements and photon on-off measurements as the number of photons
      increases. Our scheme outperforms previous proposals using single-photon qubits
      when comparing the success probabilities in terms of the average photon usages.
      It has another important advantage for experimental feasibility in that it does
      not require photon-number-resolving measurements. Our proposal provides an
      alternative candidate for all-optical quantum information processing. 

PMID- 25839270
TI  - Multipartite entangled spatial modes of ultracold atoms generated and controlled
      by quantum measurement.
AB  - We show that the effect of measurement backaction results in the generation of
      multiple many-body spatial modes of ultracold atoms trapped in an optical
      lattice, when scattered light is detected. The multipartite mode entanglement
      properties and their nontrivial spatial overlap can be varied by tuning the
      optical geometry in a single setup. This can be used to engineer quantum states
      and dynamics of matter fields. We provide examples of multimode generalizations
      of parametric down-conversion, Dicke, and other states; investigate the
      entanglement properties of such states; and show how they can be transformed into
      a class of generalized squeezed states. Furthermore, we propose how these modes
      can be used to detect and measure entanglement in quantum gases. 

PMID- 25839271
TI  - Adiabatic soliton laser.
AB  - The key to generating stable optical pulses is mastery of nonlinear light
      dynamics in laser resonators. Modern techniques to control the buildup of laser
      pulses are based on nonlinear science and include classical solitons, dissipative
      solitons, parabolic pulses (similaritons) and various modifications and blending
      of these methods. Fiber lasers offer remarkable opportunities to apply one
      dimensional nonlinear science models for the design and optimization of very
      practical laser systems. Here, we propose a new concept of a laser based on the
      adiabatic amplification of a soliton pulse in the cavity-the adiabatic soliton
      laser. The adiabatic change of the soliton parameters during evolution in the
      resonator relaxes the restriction on the pulse energy inherent in traditional
      soliton lasers. Theoretical analysis is confirmed by extensive numerical
      modeling. 

PMID- 25839272
TI  - Isotropically polarized speckle patterns.
AB  - The polarization of the light scattered by an optically dense and random solution
      of dielectric nanoparticles shows peculiar properties when the scatterers exhibit
      strong electric and magnetic polarizabilities. While the distribution of the
      scattering intensity in these systems shows the typical irregular speckle
      patterns, the helicity of the incident light can be fully conserved when the
      electric and magnetic polarizabilities of the scatterers are equal. We show that
      the multiple scattering of helical beams by a random dispersion of "dual" dipolar
      nanospheres leads to a speckle pattern exhibiting a perfect isotropic constant
      polarization, a situation that could be useful in coherent control of light as
      well as in lasing in random media. 

PMID- 25839273
TI  - Topological acoustics.
AB  - The manipulation of acoustic wave propagation in fluids has numerous
      applications, including some in everyday life. Acoustic technologies frequently
      develop in tandem with optics, using shared concepts such as waveguiding and
      metamedia. It is thus noteworthy that an entirely novel class of electromagnetic
      waves, known as "topological edge states," has recently been demonstrated. These
      are inspired by the electronic edge states occurring in topological insulators,
      and possess a striking and technologically promising property: the ability to
      travel in a single direction along a surface without backscattering, regardless
      of the existence of defects or disorder. Here, we develop an analogous theory of
      topological fluid acoustics, and propose a scheme for realizing topological edge
      states in an acoustic structure containing circulating fluids. The phenomenon of
      disorder-free one-way sound propagation, which does not occur in ordinary
      acoustic devices, may have novel applications for acoustic isolators, modulators,
      and transducers. 

PMID- 25839274
TI  - Thermal boundary layer equation for turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection.
AB  - We report a new thermal boundary layer equation for turbulent Rayleigh-Benard
      convection for Prandtl number Pr>1 that takes into account the effect of
      turbulent fluctuations. These fluctuations are neglected in existing equations,
      which are based on steady-state and laminar assumptions. Using this new equation,
      we derive analytically the mean temperature profiles in two limits: (a) Pr?1 and
      (b) Pr?1. These two theoretical predictions are in excellent agreement with the
      results of our direct numerical simulations for Pr=4.38 (water) and Pr=2547.9
      (glycerol), respectively. 

PMID- 25839275
TI  - Experimental verification of overlimiting current by surface conduction and
      electro-osmotic flow in microchannels.
AB  - Direct evidence is provided for the transition from surface conduction (SC) to
      electro-osmotic flow (EOF) above a critical channel depth (d) of a nanofluidic
      device. The dependence of the overlimiting conductance (OLC) on d is consistent
      with theoretical predictions, scaling as d(-1) for SC and d(4/5) for EOF with a
      minimum around d=8  MUm. The propagation of transient deionization shocks is also
      visualized, revealing complex patterns of EOF vortices and unstable convection
      with increasing d. This unified picture of surface-driven OLC can guide further
      advances in electrokinetic theory, as well as engineering applications of ion
      concentration polarization in microfluidics and porous media.

PMID- 25839276
TI  - Equilibrium electroconvective instability.
AB  - Since its prediction 15 years ago, hydrodynamic instability in concentration
      polarization at a charge-selective interface has been attributed to
      nonequilibrium electro-osmosis related to the extended space charge which
      develops at the limiting current. This attribution had a double basis. On the one
      hand, it has been recognized that neither equilibrium electro-osmosis nor bulk
      electroconvection can yield instability for a perfectly charge-selective solid.
      On the other hand, it has been shown that nonequilibrium electro-osmosis can. The
      first theoretical studies in which electro-osmotic instability was predicted and
      analyzed employed the assumption of perfect charge selectivity for the sake of
      simplicity and so did the subsequent studies of various time-dependent and
      nonlinear features of electro-osmotic instability. In this Letter, we show that
      relaxing the assumption of perfect charge selectivity (tantamount to fixing the
      electrochemical potential of counterions in the solid) allows for the equilibrium
      electroconvective instability. In addition, we suggest a simple experimental test
      for determining the true, either equilibrium or nonequilibrium, origin of
      instability in concentration polarization. 

PMID- 25839277
TI  - Nodal analysis of nonlinear behavior of the instability at a fluid interface.
AB  - In interface instabilities, deformations first grow exponentially, then enter a
      nonlinear regime affecting amplitude and symmetry. Most extant studies have
      focused on amplitude alone. Here, we study a 2D Rayleigh-Taylor instability for
      an initial sinusoidal deformation, analyzing its amplitude and asymmetry over
      time. For the latter, we define a metric based on the zero crossings of the
      interface. We develop a weakly nonlinear model and compare it to experimental
      data. It shows that our asymmetry metric complements the amplitude for an
      improved description of the instabilities' nonlinear phases. 

PMID- 25839278
TI  - Resolving the paradox of oceanic large-scale balance and small-scale mixing.
AB  - A puzzle of oceanic dynamics is the contrast between the observed geostrophic
      balance, involving gravity, pressure gradient, and Coriolis forces, and the
      necessary turbulent transport: in the former case, energy flows to large scales,
      leading to spectral condensation, whereas in the latter, it is transferred to
      small scales, where dissipation prevails. The known bidirectional constant-flux
      energy cascade maintaining both geostrophic balance and mixing tends towards flux
      equilibration as turbulence strengthens, contradicting models and recent
      observations which find a dominant large-scale flux. Analyzing a large ensemble
      of high-resolution direct numerical simulations of the Boussinesq equations in
      the presence of rotation and no salinity, we show that the ratio of the dual
      energy flux to large and to small scales agrees with observations, and we predict
      that it scales with the inverse of the Froude and Rossby numbers when
      stratification is (realistically) stronger than rotation. Furthermore, we show
      that the kinetic and potential energies separately undergo a bidirectional
      transfer to larger and smaller scales. Altogether, this allows for small-scale
      mixing which drives the global oceanic circulation and will thus potentially lead
      to more accurate modeling of climate dynamics. 

PMID- 25839279
TI  - Collapse of surface nanobubbles.
AB  - Surface attached nanobubbles populate surfaces submerged in water. These
      nanobubbles have a much larger contact angle and longer lifetime than predicted
      by classical theory. Moreover, it is difficult to distinguish them from
      hydrophobic droplets, e.g., polymeric contamination, using standard atomic force
      microscopy. Here, we report fast dynamics of a three phase contact line moving
      over surface nanobubbles, polymeric droplets, and hydrophobic particles. The
      dynamics is distinct: across polymeric droplets the contact line quickly jumps
      and hydrophobic particles pin the contact line, while surface nanobubbles rapidly
      shrink once merging with the contact line, suggesting a method to differentiate
      nanoscopic gaseous, liquid, and solid structures. Although the collapse process
      of surface nanobubbles occurs within a few milliseconds, we show that it is
      dominated by microscopic dynamics rather than bulk hydrodynamics. 

PMID- 25839280
TI  - Multiple transitions in rotating turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection.
AB  - Sometimes it is thought that sharp transitions between potentially different
      turbulent states should be washed out by the prevailing intense fluctuations and
      short coherence lengths and times. Contrary to this expectation, we found a
      sequence of such transitions in turbulent rotating Rayleigh-Benard convection as
      the rotation rate was increased. This phenomenon was observed in cylindrical
      samples with aspect ratios (diameter/height) Gamma=1.00 and 0.50. It became most
      prominent at very large Rayleigh numbers up to 2*10(12), where the fluctuations
      are extremely vigorous, and was manifested most clearly for Gamma=1.00. It was
      found in the heat transport as well as in the temperature gradient near the
      sample center. We conjecture that the transitions are between different large
      scale structures which involve changes of symmetry and thus cannot be gradual [L.
      Landau, Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 7, 19 (1937); L. D. Landau, Phys. Z. Sowjetunion 11,
      26 (1937); L. D. Landau, in Collected Papers of L. D. Landau, (Oxford University
      Press, Oxford, 1965), pp. 193-216].

PMID- 25839281
TI  - Demonstration of nonlinear-energy-spread compensation in relativistic electron
      bunches with corrugated structures.
AB  - High quality electron beams with flat distributions in both energy and current
      are critical for many accelerator-based scientific facilities such as free
      electron lasers and MeV ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopes. In this
      Letter, we report on using corrugated structures to compensate for the beam
      nonlinear energy chirp imprinted by the curvature of the radio-frequency field,
      leading to a significant reduction in beam energy spread. By using a pair of
      corrugated structures with orthogonal orientations, we show that the quadrupole
      wakefields, which, otherwise, increase beam emittance, can be effectively
      canceled. This work also extends the applications of corrugated structures to the
      low beam charge (a few pC) and low beam energy (a few MeV) regime and may have a
      strong impact in many accelerator-based facilities. 

PMID- 25839282
TI  - Terahertz acoustics in hot dense laser plasmas.
AB  - We present a hitherto unobserved facet of hydrodynamics, namely the generation of
      an ultrahigh frequency acoustic disturbance in the terahertz frequency range,
      whose origins are purely hydrodynamic in nature. The disturbance is caused by
      differential flow velocities down a density gradient in a plasma created by a 30
      fs, 800 nm high-intensity laser (~5*10(16)  W/cm(2)). The picosecond scale
      observations enable us to capture these high frequency oscillations (1.9+/-0.6 
      THz) which are generated as a consequence of the rapid heating of the medium by
      the laser. Adoption of two complementary techniques, namely pump-probe
      reflectometry and pump-probe Doppler spectrometry provides unambiguous
      identification of this terahertz acoustic disturbance. Hydrodynamic simulations
      well reproduce the observations, offering insight into this process.

PMID- 25839283
TI  - Effective critical electric field for runaway-electron generation.
AB  - In this Letter we investigate factors that influence the effective critical
      electric field for runaway-electron generation in plasmas. We present numerical
      solutions of the kinetic equation and discuss the implications for the threshold
      electric field. We show that the effective electric field necessary for
      significant runaway-electron formation often is higher than previously calculated
      due to both (1) extremely strong dependence of primary generation on temperature
      and (2) synchrotron radiation losses. We also address the effective critical
      field in the context of a transition from runaway growth to decay. We find
      agreement with recent experiments, but show that the observation of an elevated
      effective critical field can mainly be attributed to changes in the momentum
      space distribution of runaways, and only to a lesser extent to a de facto change
      in the critical field. 

PMID- 25839284
TI  - Generalized magnetofluid connections in relativistic magnetohydrodynamics.
AB  - The concept of magnetic connections is extended to nonideal relativistic
      magnetohydrodynamical plasmas. Adopting a general set of equations for
      relativistic magnetohydrodynamics including thermal-inertial, thermal
      electromotive, Hall, and current-inertia effects, we derive a new covariant
      connection equation showing the existence of generalized magnetofluid connections
      that are preserved during the dissipationless plasma dynamics. These connections
      are intimately linked to a general antisymmetric tensor that unifies the
      electromagnetic and fluid fields, allowing the extension of the magnetic
      connection notion to a much broader concept. 

PMID- 25839285
TI  - Observing chiral superfluid order by matter-wave interference.
AB  - The breaking of time-reversal symmetry via the spontaneous formation of chiral
      order is ubiquitous in nature. Here, we present an unambiguous demonstration of
      this phenomenon for atoms Bose-Einstein condensed in the second Bloch band of an
      optical lattice. As a key tool, we use a matter-wave interference technique,
      which lets us directly observe the phase properties of the superfluid order
      parameter and allows us to reconstruct the spatial geometry of certain low-energy
      excitations, associated with the formation of domains of different chirality. Our
      work marks a new era of optical lattices where orbital degrees of freedom play an
      essential role for the formation of exotic quantum matter, similarly as in
      electronic systems. 

PMID- 25839286
TI  - Polaronic atom-trimer continuity in three-component Fermi gases.
AB  - Recently it has been proposed that three-component Fermi gases may exhibit a new
      type of crossover physics in which an unpaired Fermi sea of atoms smoothly
      evolves into that of trimers in addition to the ordinary BCS-BEC crossover of
      condensed pairs. Here we study its corresponding polaron problem in which a
      single impurity atom of one component interacts with condensed pairs of the other
      two components with equal populations. By developing a variational approach in
      the vicinity of a narrow Feshbach resonance, we show that the impurity atom
      smoothly changes its character from atom to trimer with increasing the attraction
      and eventually there is a sharp transition to dimer. The emergent polaronic atom
      trimer continuity can be probed in ultracold atoms experiments by measuring the
      impurity spectral function. Our novel crossover wave function properly
      incorporating the polaronic atom-trimer continuity will provide a useful basis to
      further investigate the phase diagram of three-component Fermi gases in more
      general situations. 

PMID- 25839287
TI  - Element-specific X-ray phase tomography of 3D structures at the nanoscale.
AB  - Recent advances in fabrication techniques to create mesoscopic 3D structures have
      led to significant developments in a variety of fields including biology,
      photonics, and magnetism. Further progress in these areas benefits from their
      full quantitative and structural characterization. We present resonant
      ptychographic tomography, combining quantitative hard x-ray phase imaging and
      resonant elastic scattering to achieve ab initio element-specific 3D
      characterization of a cobalt-coated artificial buckyball polymer scaffold at the
      nanoscale. By performing ptychographic x-ray tomography at and far from the Co K
      edge, we are able to locate and quantify the Co layer in our sample to a 3D
      spatial resolution of 25 nm. With a quantitative determination of the electron
      density we can determine that the Co layer is oxidized, which is confirmed with
      microfluorescence experiments. 

PMID- 25839288
TI  - Breaking of symmetry in graphene growth on metal substrates.
AB  - In graphene growth, island symmetry can become lower than the intrinsic
      symmetries of both graphene and the substrate. First-principles calculations and
      Monte Carlo modeling explain the shapes observed in our experiments and earlier
      studies for various metal surface symmetries. For equilibrium shape, edge energy
      variations deltaE manifest in distorted hexagons with different ground-state edge
      structures. In growth or nucleation, energy variation enters exponentially as
      ~e(deltaE/k(B)T), strongly amplifying the symmetry breaking, up to completely
      changing the shapes to triangular, ribbonlike, or rhombic.

PMID- 25839289
TI  - Hydrogen-induced rupture of strained Si?O bonds in amorphous silicon dioxide.
AB  - Using ab initio modeling we demonstrate that H atoms can break strained Si?O
      bonds in continuous amorphous silicon dioxide (a-SiO(2)) networks, resulting in a
      new defect consisting of a threefold-coordinated Si atom with an unpaired
      electron facing a hydroxyl group, adding to the density of dangling bond defects,
      such as E' centers. The energy barriers to form this defect from interstitial H
      atoms range between 0.5 and 1.3 eV. This discovery of unexpected reactivity of
      atomic hydrogen may have significant implications for our understanding of
      processes in silica glass and nanoscaled silica, e.g., in porous low-permittivity
      insulators, and strained variants of a-SiO(2).

PMID- 25839290
TI  - Fragmentation of fractal random structures.
AB  - We analyze the fragmentation behavior of random clusters on the lattice under a
      process where bonds between neighboring sites are successively broken. Modeling
      such structures by configurations of a generalized Potts or random-cluster model
      allows us to discuss a wide range of systems with fractal properties including
      trees as well as dense clusters. We present exact results for the densities of
      fragmenting edges and the distribution of fragment sizes for critical clusters in
      two dimensions. Dynamical fragmentation with a size cutoff leads to broad
      distributions of fragment sizes. The resulting power laws are shown to encode
      characteristic fingerprints of the fragmented objects. 

PMID- 25839291
TI  - Emergent rhombus tilings from molecular interactions with M-fold rotational
      symmetry.
AB  - We show that model molecules with particular rotational symmetries can self
      assemble into network structures equivalent to rhombus tilings. This assembly
      happens in an emergent way, in the sense that molecules spontaneously select
      irregular fourfold local coordination from a larger set of possible local binding
      geometries. The existence of such networks can be rationalized by simple
      geometrical arguments, but the same arguments do not guarantee a network's
      spontaneous self-assembly. This class of structures must in certain regimes of
      parameter space be able to reconfigure into networks equivalent to triangular
      tilings. 

PMID- 25839292
TI  - Significant reduction of lattice thermal conductivity by the electron-phonon
      interaction in silicon with high carrier concentrations: a first-principles
      study.
AB  - The electron-phonon interaction is well known to create major resistance to
      electron transport in metals and semiconductors, whereas fewer studies are
      directed to its effect on phonon transport, especially in semiconductors. We
      calculate the phonon lifetimes due to scattering with electrons (or holes),
      combine them with the intrinsic lifetimes due to the anharmonic phonon-phonon
      interaction, all from first principles, and evaluate the effect of the electron
      phonon interaction on the lattice thermal conductivity of silicon. Unexpectedly,
      we find a significant reduction of the lattice thermal conductivity at room
      temperature as the carrier concentration goes above 10(19)  cm(-3) (the reduction
      reaches up to 45% in p-type silicon at around 10(21)  cm(-3)), a range of great
      technological relevance to thermoelectric materials.

PMID- 25839293
TI  - Nature of long-range order in stripe-forming systems with long-range repulsive
      interactions.
AB  - We study two dimensional stripe forming systems with competing repulsive
      interactions decaying as r(-alpha). We derive an effective Hamiltonian with a
      short-range part and a generalized dipolar interaction which depends on the
      exponent alpha. An approximate map of this model to a known XY model with dipolar
      interactions allows us to conclude that, for alpha<2 long-range orientational
      order of stripes can exist in two dimensions, and establish the universality
      class of the models. When alpha>=2 no long-range order is possible, but a phase
      transition in the Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class is still present. These
      two different critical scenarios should be observed in experimentally relevant
      two dimensional systems like electronic liquids (alpha=1) and dipolar magnetic
      films (alpha=3). Results from Langevin simulations of Coulomb and dipolar systems
      give support to the theoretical results.

PMID- 25839294
TI  - Modifying the interlayer interaction in layered materials with an intense IR
      laser.
AB  - We propose a transient interlayer compression in two-dimensional compound
      materials by using an intense IR laser resonant with the out-of-plane optical
      phonon mode (A(2u) mode). As a test case, we studied bilayer hexagonal boron
      nitride (h-BN), which is one of the compound layered materials. Excited state
      molecular dynamics calculations using time-dependent density functional theory
      show an 11.3% transient interlayer contraction of h-BN due to an interlayer
      dipole-dipole attraction of the laser-pumped A(2u) mode. These results are
      applicable to other layered compound materials. Such layered materials are a good
      material for nanospace chemistry, e.g., intercalating molecules and acting with
      them, and IR irradiation to contract the interlayer distance could provide a new
      route for chemical reactions under pressure. The duration of the contraction is
      at least 1 ps in the current simulation, which is observable by high-speed
      electron-beam diffraction measurements.

PMID- 25839295
TI  - Polariton Z topological insulator.
AB  - We demonstrate that honeycomb arrays of microcavity pillars behave as an optical
      frequency two-dimensional photonic topological insulator. We show that the
      interplay between the photonic spin-orbit coupling natively present in this
      system and the Zeeman splitting of exciton polaritons in external magnetic fields
      leads to the opening of a nontrivial gap characterized by a C=+/-2 set of band
      Chern numbers and to the formation of topologically protected one-way edge
      states. 

PMID- 25839296
TI  - Effects of low-energy excitations on spectral properties at higher binding
      energy: the metal-insulator transition of VO(2).
AB  - The effects of electron interaction on spectral properties can be understood in
      terms of coupling between excitations. In transition-metal oxides, the spectral
      function close to the Fermi level and low-energy excitations between d states
      have attracted particular attention. In this work we focus on photoemission
      spectra of vanadium dioxide over a wide (10 eV) range of binding energies. We
      show that there are clear signatures of the metal-insulator transition over the
      whole range due to a cross coupling of the delocalized s and p states with low
      energy excitations between the localized d states. This coupling can be
      understood by advanced calculations based on many-body perturbation theory in the
      GW approximation. We also advocate the fact that tuning the photon energy up to
      the hard-x-ray range can help to distinguish fingerprints of correlation from
      pure band-structure effects.

PMID- 25839297
TI  - Exciton versus free carrier photogeneration in organometal trihalide perovskites
      probed by broadband ultrafast polarization memory dynamics.
AB  - We studied the ultrafast transient response of photoexcitations in two hybrid
      organic-inorganic perovskite films used for high efficiency photovoltaic cells,
      namely, CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3) and CH(3)NH(3)PbI(1.1)Br(1.9) using polarized broadband
      pump-probe spectroscopy in the spectral range of 0.3-2.7 eV with 300 fs time
      resolution. For CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3) with above-gap excitation we found both
      photogenerated carriers and excitons, but only carriers are photogenerated with
      below-gap excitation. In contrast, mainly excitons are photogenerated in
      CH(3)NH(3)PbI(1.1)Br(1.9). Surprisingly, we also discovered in CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3),
      but not in CH(3)NH(3)PbI(1.1)Br(1.9), transient photoinduced polarization memory
      for both excitons and photocarriers, which is also reflected in the steady state
      photoluminescence. From the polarization memory dynamics we obtained the excitons
      diffusion constant in CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3), D~0.01  cm(2) s(-1).

PMID- 25839298
TI  - Real-space calculation of the conductivity tensor for disordered topological
      matter.
AB  - We describe an efficient numerical approach to calculate the longitudinal and
      transverse Kubo conductivities of large systems using Bastin's formulation. We
      expand the Green's functions in terms of Chebyshev polynomials and compute the
      conductivity tensor for any temperature and chemical potential in a single step.
      To illustrate the power and generality of the approach, we calculate the
      conductivity tensor for the quantum Hall effect in disordered graphene and
      analyze the effect of the disorder in a Chern insulator in Haldane's model on a
      honeycomb lattice. 

PMID- 25839299
TI  - Topological Kondo effect in transport through a superconducting wire with
      multiple Majorana end states.
AB  - We investigate a system of multiple Majorana states at the end of a topological
      superconducting wire coupled to a normal lead. For a minimum of three Majorana
      fermions at the interface, we find nontrivial renormalization physics. Interface
      tunneling processes can be classified in terms of spin-1/2 and spin-3/2
      irreducible representations of the SU(2) group. We show that the renormalization
      of the tunneling amplitudes belonging to different representations is completely
      different in that one type is suppressed, whereas the other is enhanced,
      depending on the sign of the Kondo-type interaction coupling. This results in
      distinct temperature dependencies of the tunneling current through the interface
      and different spin polarizations of this current. 

PMID- 25839300
TI  - Coherent terahertz control of vertical transport in semiconductor
      heterostructures.
AB  - Coherent-control protocols are introduced to selectively transport electrons,
      excitons, or pure two-particle correlations through semiconductor interfaces. The
      scheme is tested in a double-quantum-well structure where a sequence of terahertz
      pulses is applied to induce the vertical excitation transfer between the wells.
      Using a microscopic theory, it is shown that efficient and highly selective
      transfer can be realized even in the presence of the unavoidable scattering and
      dephasing processes. 

PMID- 25839301
TI  - Topological spinon semimetals and gapless boundary states in three dimensions.
AB  - Recently, there has been much effort in understanding topological phases of
      matter with gapless bulk excitations, which are characterized by topological
      invariants and protected intrinsic boundary states. Here we show that topological
      semimetals of Majorana fermions arise in exactly solvable Kitaev spin models on a
      series of three-dimensional lattices. The ground states of these models are
      quantum spin liquids with gapless nodal spectra of bulk Majorana fermion
      excitations. It is shown that these phases are topologically stable as long as
      certain discrete symmetries are protected. The corresponding topological indices
      and the gapless boundary states are explicitly computed to support these results.
      In contrast to previous studies of noninteracting systems, the phases discussed
      in this work are novel examples of gapless topological phases in interacting spin
      systems. 

PMID- 25839302
TI  - Pressure induced superconductivity on the border of magnetic order in MnP.
AB  - We report the discovery of superconductivity on the border of long-range magnetic
      order in the itinerant-electron helimagnet MnP via the application of high
      pressure. Superconductivity with T(sc)~1  K emerges and exists merely near the
      critical pressure P(c)~8  GPa, where the long-range magnetic order just vanishes.
      The present finding makes MnP the first Mn-based superconductor. The close
      proximity of superconductivity to a magnetic instability suggests an
      unconventional pairing mechanism. Moreover, the detailed analysis of the normal
      state transport properties evidenced non-Fermi-liquid behavior and the dramatic
      enhancement of the quasiparticle effective mass near P(c) associated with the
      magnetic quantum fluctuations.

PMID- 25839303
TI  - Detection of an unconventional superconducting phase in the vicinity of the
      strong first-order magnetic transition in CrAs using (75)As-nuclear quadrupole
      resonance.
AB  - Pressure-induced superconductivity was recently discovered in the binary
      helimagnet CrAs. We report the results of measurements of nuclear quadrupole
      resonance for CrAs under pressure. In the vicinity of the critical pressure P(c)
      between the helimagnetic (HM) and paramagnetic (PM) phases, a phase separation is
      observed. The large internal field remaining in the phase-separated HM state
      indicates that the HM phase disappears through a strong first-order transition.
      This indicates the absence of a quantum critical point in CrAs; however, the
      nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T(1) reveals that substantial magnetic
      fluctuations are present in the PM state. The absence of a coherence effect in
      1/T(1) in the superconducting state provides evidence that CrAs is the first Cr
      based unconventional superconductor.

PMID- 25839304
TI  - Linear magnetoresistance caused by mobility fluctuations in n-doped Cd(3)As(2).
AB  - Cd(3)As(2) is a candidate three-dimensional Dirac semimetal which has exceedingly
      high mobility and nonsaturating linear magnetoresistance that may be relevant for
      future practical applications. We report magnetotransport and tunnel diode
      oscillation measurements on Cd(3)As(2), in magnetic fields up to 65 T and
      temperatures between 1.5 and 300 K. We find that the nonsaturating linear
      magnetoresistance persists up to 65 T and it is likely caused by disorder
      effects, as it scales with the high mobility rather than directly linked to Fermi
      surface changes even when approaching the quantum limit. From the observed
      quantum oscillations, we determine the bulk three-dimensional Fermi surface
      having signatures of Dirac behavior with a nontrivial Berry phase shift, very
      light effective quasiparticle masses, and clear deviations from the band
      structure predictions. In very high fields we also detect signatures of large
      Zeeman spin splitting (g~16).

PMID- 25839305
TI  - Spin crossover in ferropericlase from first-principles molecular dynamics.
AB  - Ferropericlase, (Mg,Fe)O, is the second-most abundant mineral of Earth's lower
      mantle. With increasing pressure, the Fe ions in the material begin to collapse
      from a magnetic to nonmagnetic spin state. We present a finite-temperature first
      principles phase diagram of this spin crossover, finding a broad pressure range
      with coexisting magnetic and nonmagnetic ions due to favorable enthalpy of mixing
      of the two. Furthermore, we find the electrical conductivity of the mineral to
      reach semimetallic values inside Earth. 

PMID- 25839306
TI  - Many-body localization in imperfectly isolated quantum systems.
AB  - We use numerical exact diagonalization to analyze which aspects of the many-body
      localization phenomenon survive in an imperfectly isolated setting, when the
      system of interest is weakly coupled to a thermalizing environment. We show that
      widely used diagnostics (such as many-body level statistics and expectation
      values in exact eigenstates) cease to show signatures of many-body localization
      above a critical coupling that is exponentially small in the size of the
      environment. However, we also identify alternative diagnostics for many-body
      localization, in the spectral functions of local operators. Diagnostics include a
      discrete spectrum and a hierarchy of energy gaps, including a universal gap at
      zero frequency. These alternative diagnostics are shown to be robust, and
      continue to show signatures of many-body localization as long as the coupling to
      the bath is weaker than the characteristic energy scales in the system. We also
      examine how these signatures disappear when the coupling to the environment
      becomes larger than the characteristic energy scales of the system. 

PMID- 25839307
TI  - Evidence for room temperature electric polarization in RMn(2)O(5) multiferroics.
AB  - It is established that the multiferroics RMn(2)O(5) crystallize in the
      centrosymmetric Pbam space group and that the magnetically induced electric
      polarization appearing at low temperature is accompanied by a symmetry breaking.
      However, both our present x-ray study-performed on compounds with R=Pr,Nd,Gd,Tb,
      and Dy-and first-principles calculations unambiguously rule out this picture.
      Based on structural refinements, geometry optimization, and physical arguments,
      we demonstrate in this Letter that the actual space group is likely to be Pm.
      This turns out to be of crucial importance for RMn(2)O(5) multiferroics since Pm
      is not centrosymmetric. Ferroelectricity is thus already present at room
      temperature, and its enhancement at low temperature is a spin-enhanced process.
      This result is also supported by direct observation of optical second harmonic
      generation. This fundamental result calls into question the actual theoretical
      approaches that describe the magnetoelectric coupling in this multiferroic
      family.

PMID- 25839308
TI  - Submillisecond hyperpolarization of nuclear spins in silicon.
AB  - In this Letter, we devise a fast and effective nuclear spin hyperpolarization
      scheme, which is, in principle, magnetic field independent. We use this scheme to
      experimentally demonstrate polarizations of up to 66% for phosphorus donor
      nuclear spins in bulk silicon, which are created within less than 100  MUs in a
      magnetic field of 0.35 T at a temperature of 5 K. The polarization scheme is
      based on a spin-dependent recombination process via weakly coupled spin pairs,
      for which the recombination time constant strongly depends on the relative
      orientation of the two spins. We further use this scheme to measure the nuclear
      spin relaxation time and find a value of ~100  ms under illumination, in good
      agreement with the value calculated for nuclear spin flips induced by repeated
      ionization and deionization processes. 

PMID- 25839309
TI  - Magnetic origin of giant magnetoelectricity in doped Y-type hexaferrite
      Ba(0.5)Sr(1.5)Zn(2)(Fe(1-x)Al(x))(12)O(22).
AB  - We investigated site-specific magnetic behaviors of multiferroic
      Ba(0.5)Sr(1.5)Zn(2)(Fe(1-x)Al(x))(12)O(22) using Fe L(2,3)-edge x-ray magnetic
      circular dichroism. The Al dopants mostly replace the Fe(3+) ions at octahedral
      (O(h)) sites, which contribute unquenched angular momenta through off-centering
      displacements. This replacement greatly reduces the magnetic anisotropy energy to
      change the magnetic order from a helical to a heliconical type with enhanced
      magnetoelectric susceptibility (alpha(ME)). The tetrahedral (T(d)) Fe sites
      exhibit magnetic hysteresis distinguishable from that of the O(h) sites,
      especially at low magnetic fields. These results provide essential clues for the
      heliconical order with a giant alpha(ME) and multibit memory effects in the Al
      doped Y-type hexaferrite.

PMID- 25839310
TI  - Forming a cube from a sphere with tetratic order.
AB  - Composed of square particles, the tetratic phase is characterized by a fourfold
      symmetry with quasi-long-range orientational order but no translational order. We
      construct the elastic free energy for tetratics and find a closed form solution
      for +/-1/4 disclinations in planar geometry. Applying the same covariant
      formalism to a sphere, we show analytically that within the one elastic constant
      approximation eight +1/4 disclinations favor positions defining the vertices of a
      cube. The interplay between defect-defect interactions and bending energy results
      in a flattening of the sphere towards superspheroids with the symmetry of a cube.

PMID- 25839311
TI  - Optical tracking of anomalous diffusion kinetics in polymer microspheres.
AB  - In this Letter we propose the use of whispering gallery mode resonance tracking
      as a label-free optical means to monitor diffusion kinetics in glassy polymer
      microspheres. Approximate solutions to the governing diffusion equations are
      derived for the case of slow relaxation and small Stefan number. Transduction of
      physical changes in the polymer, including formation of a rubbery layer,
      swelling, and dissolution, into detectable resonance shifts are described using a
      perturbative approach. Concrete examples of poly(methyl methacrylate) and
      polystyrene spheres in water are considered. 

PMID- 25839312
TI  - Highly nonlinear wave propagation in elastic woodpile periodic structures.
AB  - In the present work, we experimentally implement, numerically compute with, and
      theoretically analyze a configuration in the form of a single column woodpile
      periodic structure. Our main finding is that a Hertzian, locally resonant,
      woodpile lattice offers a test bed for the formation of genuinely traveling waves
      composed of a strongly localized solitary wave on top of a small amplitude
      oscillatory tail. This type of wave, called a nanopteron, is not only motivated
      theoretically and numerically, but is also visualized experimentally by means of
      a laser Doppler vibrometer. This system can also be useful for manipulating
      stress waves at will, for example, to achieve strong attenuation and modulation
      of high-amplitude impacts without relying on damping in the system. 

PMID- 25839313
TI  - Perceptrons with Hebbian learning based on wave ensembles in spatially patterned
      potentials.
AB  - A general scheme to realize a perceptron for hardware neural networks is
      presented, where multiple interconnections are achieved by a superposition of
      Schrodinger waves. Spatially patterned potentials process information by coupling
      different points of reciprocal space. The necessary potential shape is obtained
      from the Hebbian learning rule, either through exact calculation or construction
      from a superposition of known optical inputs. This allows implementation in a
      wide range of compact optical systems, including (1) any nonlinear optical
      system, (2) optical systems patterned by optical lithography, and (3) exciton
      polariton systems with phonon or nuclear spin interactions. 

PMID- 25839314
TI  - Electrohydrodynamics near hydrophobic surfaces.
AB  - We show that an electro-osmotic flow near the slippery hydrophobic surface
      depends strongly on the mobility of surface charges, which are balanced by
      counterions of the electrostatic diffuse layer. For a hydrophobic surface with
      immobile charges, the fluid transport is considerably amplified by the existence
      of a hydrodynamic slippage. In contrast, near the hydrophobic surface with mobile
      adsorbed charges, it is also controlled by an additional electric force, which
      increases the shear stress at the slipping interface. To account for this, we
      formulate electrohydrodynamic boundary conditions at the slipping interface,
      which should be applied to quantify electro-osmotic flows instead of hydrodynamic
      boundary conditions. Our theoretical predictions are fully supported by
      dissipative particle dynamics simulations with explicit charges. These results
      lead to a new interpretation of zeta potential of hydrophobic surfaces. 

PMID- 25839315
TI  - Confinement effects of ion tracks in ultrathin polymer films.
AB  - We show direct experimental evidence that radiation effects produced by single
      MeV heavy ions on a polymer surface are weakened when the length of the ion track
      in the material is confined into layers of a few tens of nanometers. Deviation
      from the bulk (thick film) behavior of ion-induced craters starts at a critical
      thickness as large as ~40  nm, due to suppression of long-range additive effects
      of excited atoms along the track. Good agreement was found between the
      experimental results, molecular dynamic simulations, and an analytical model. 

PMID- 25839316
TI  - Refraction of scroll-wave filaments at the boundary between two reaction
      diffusion media.
AB  - We explore the shape and the dynamics of scroll-wave filaments in excitable media
      with an abruptly changing diffusion tensor, important for cardiac applications.
      We show that, similar to a beam of light, the filament refracts at the boundary
      separating domains with different diffusion. We derive the laws of filament
      refraction and test their validity in computational experiments. We discovered
      that at small angles to the interface, the filament can become unstable and
      develop oscillations. The nature of the observed instabilities, as well as
      overall theoretical and experimental significance of the findings, is discussed. 

PMID- 25839317
TI  - Comment on "How the result of a single coin toss can turn out to be 100 heads".

PMID- 25839318
TI  - Ferrie and Combes reply.

PMID- 25839319
TI  - Total anatomical laparoscopic liver resection of segment 4 (S4), extended S4, and
      subsegments S4a and S4b for hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: When a tumor is located in segment 4 (S4), it is preferable to
      perform only limited resection of S4, even in laparoscopic surgery. Here we
      describe anatomical laparoscopic S4, subdivision of S4 (S4a and S4b), and
      extended S4 segmentectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), using the
      Glissonian pedicle transection method for each, and evaluate the feasibility of
      laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) for tumors located in S4. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: Among 417 patients who underwent LLR for malignant tumors between March
      2003 and February 2014, we performed retrospective analysis of the clinical and
      perioperative outcomes of 10 patients who underwent anatomical liver resection
      for tumors located in the S4 area of the liver. RESULTS: Total laparoscopic
      anatomic liver resection (S4, extended S4, and S4a and S4b segmentectomies) were
      performed in 10 patients. There was no open conversion or postoperative
      mortality. The mean operation time was 316.5 minutes (range, 175-460 minutes),
      and mean estimated blood loss was 592 mL (range, 100-1600 mL). An intraoperative
      transfusion was necessary in 2 (20%) of the 10 patients. All patients had
      negative resection margins. Three patients (30%) had postoperative complications
      (intraabdominal fluid collection). The mean postoperative hospital stay was 7.7
      days (range, 3-13 days). The median follow-up period was 18 months. Intrahepatic
      recurrence occurred in 2 (20%) of the 10 patients, which was managed by
      radiofrequency ablation with transarterial chemoembolization in 1 patient and by
      transarterial chemoembolization alone in the other patient. CONCLUSIONS: Total
      laparoscopic anatomical S4, extended S4, or S4a or S4b segmentectomy is a
      feasible procedure for HCC. The Glissonian pedicle transection method is an
      effective technique for rapid and safe control and subdivision of the S4 pedicle
      that facilitates anatomical laparoscopic S4, extended S4, and S4a and S4b
      segmentectomy.

PMID- 25839320
TI  - Membrane surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for sensitive detection of molecular
      behavior of lipid assemblies.
AB  - The dynamic properties of phospholipid (PL) membranes (phase state and phase
      transition) play crucial roles in biological systems. However, highly sensitive,
      direct analytical methods that shed light on the nature of lipids and their
      assemblies have not been developed to date. Here, we describe the analysis of PL
      modified Au nanoparticles (Au@PL) using membrane surface-enhanced Raman
      spectroscopy (MSERS) and report the properties of the self-assembled PL membranes
      on the Au nanoparticle. The Raman intensity per PL concentration increased by 50
      170 times with Au@PL, as compared to large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) at the
      same PL concentration. The phase state and phase transition temperature of the PL
      membrane of Au@PL were investigated by analyzing the Raman peak ratio (R =
      I2882/I2930). The enhancement at 714 cm(-1) (EF(714)) varied with the hydrocarbon
      chain length of the PLs and the assembled degree of Au@PLs. In calculation, the
      EF(714),assembled was estimated to be 111-142 when the distance between AuNPs was
      7.0-7.5 nm, which was correlated to the speculative enhancement factor,
      suggesting that the assembly of the Au@PLs contributed to the MSERS. 

PMID- 25839321
TI  - Analysis of the Constraint Joint Loading in the Thumb During Pipetting.
AB  - Dynamic loading on articular joints is essential for the evaluation of the risk
      of the articulation degeneration associated with occupational activities. In the
      current study, we analyzed the dynamic constraint loading for the thumb during
      pipetting. The constraint loading is considered as the loading that has to be
      carried by the connective tissues of the joints (i.e., the cartilage layer and
      the ligaments) to maintain the kinematic constraints of the system. The joint
      loadings are solved using a classic free-body approach, using the external
      loading and muscle forces, which were obtained in an inverse dynamic approach
      combined with an optimization procedure in anybody. The constraint forces in the
      thumb joint obtained in the current study are compared with those obtained in the
      pinch and grasp tests in a previous study (Cooney and Chao, 1977, "Biomechanical
      Analysis of Static Forces in the Thumb During Hand Function," J. Bone Joint Surg.
      Am., 59(1), pp. 27-36). The maximal compression force during pipetting is
      approximately 83% and 60% greater than those obtained in the tip pinch and key
      pinch, respectively, while substantially smaller than that obtained during
      grasping. The maximal lateral shear force is approximately six times, 32 times,
      and 90% greater than those obtained in the tip pinch, key pinch, and grasp,
      respectively. The maximal dorsal shear force during pipetting is approximately
      3.2 and 1.4 times greater than those obtained in the tip pinch and key pinch,
      respectively, while substantially smaller than that obtained during grasping. Our
      analysis indicated that the thumb joints are subjected to repetitive, intensive
      loading during pipetting, compared to other daily activities. 

PMID- 25839322
TI  - Conformational Analysis and Electronic Interactions of Some 4'-Substituted-2
      ethylthio-phenylacetates.
AB  - The conformational analysis of various 4'-substituted-2-ethylthio-phenylacetate
      compounds bearing the substituents NO2 (1), Cl (2), H (3), Me (4), and OMe (5)
      was performed using infrared (IR) spectroscopic analysis of the carbonyl
      stretching band (nuCO) supported by B3LYP/6-31G(d,p), NBO, QTAIM, and SM5.42R
      calculations for compounds 1, 3, and 5. The IR spectra in n-hexane indicate the
      presence of three components, whose intensities decrease upon increasing
      frequency. In solvents with high permittivity, while the low intensity component
      at higher frequency disappears, the relative intensity of the component at the
      intermediate frequency changes with respect to the lower frequency component with
      differing trends for the various derivatives. It can be observed that the
      intensity does not vary for compounds 1 and 2, which bear an electron-withdrawing
      substituent at 4', while it increases in intensity for compounds 3-5. The
      computational results predict the presence of three gauche conformers, defined by
      the orientation of the C-S bond with respect to the carbonyl group, whose
      intensities and nuCO frequencies are in agreement with the experimental results.
      In solvents with increasing permittivity, the SM5.42R solvation model results
      reproduce the experimental trend observed for the two components in the low
      frequency region, while it overestimates the amount of the higher frequency
      conformer. NBO analysis suggests that all the conformers are stabilized to the
      same extent in the gauche conformation via sigmaC-S -> pi*CO and piCO -> sigma*C
      S orbital interactions. The different stability can be attributed to the
      geometrical arrangement of the C(O)-CH2-S-CH2-CH3 moiety, which assumes a six
      membered chair-like geometry in the g1 conformer, a six-membered twisted-chair
      like geometry in the g2 conformer, and a seven-membered chair-like ring in the g3
      conformer. Quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) indicates that the ring
      geometries were formed and stabilized from short contacts between the oppositely
      charged carbonyl oxygen and the methylene/methyl hydrogen atoms, which interact
      through unusual intramolecular electrostatic hydrogen bonding that satisfies the
      Popelier criteria. 

PMID- 25839323
TI  - Probing the extracellular access channel of the Na,K-ATPase.
AB  - When the Na,K-ATPase pumps at each turnover two K(+) ions into the cytoplasm,
      this translocation consists of several reaction steps. First, the ions diffuse
      consecutively from the extracellular phase through an access pathway to the
      binding sites where they are coordinated. In the next step, the enzyme is
      dephosphorylated and the ions are occluded inside the membrane domain. The
      subsequent transition to the E1 conformation produces a deocclusion of the
      binding sites to the cytoplasmic side of the membrane and allows in the last
      steps ion dissociation and diffusion to the aqueous phase. The interaction and
      competition of K(+) with various quaternary organic ammonium ions have been used
      to gain insight into the molecular mechanism of the ion binding process from the
      extracellular side in the P-E2 conformation of the enzyme. Using the
      electrochromic styryl dye RH421, evidence has been obtained that the access
      pathway consists of a wide and water-filled funnel-like part that is accessible
      also for bulky cations such as the benzyltriethylammonium ion, and a narrow part
      that permits passage only of small cations such as K(+) and NH4(+) in a distinct
      electrogenic way. Benzyltriethylammonium ions inhibit K(+) binding in a
      competitive manner that can be explained by a stopper-like function at the
      interface between the wide and narrow parts of the access pathway. In contrast to
      other quaternary organic ammonium ions, benzyltriethylammonium ions show a
      specific binding to the ion pump in a position inside the access pathway where it
      blocks effectively the access to the binding sites.

PMID- 25839325
TI  - Synthesis of the spirastrellolide A, B/C spiroketal: enabling solutions for
      problematic Au(I)-catalyzed spiroketalizations.
AB  - A synthesis of the spirastrellolide A, B/C-ring monounsaturated spiroketal is
      reported. The key step relies on a Au-catalyzed spiroketalization of a propargyl
      triol employing an acetonide as a regioselectivity regulator. Through observation
      and analysis, a set of conditions has been developed that facilitates the use of
      a mixture of diastereomeric substrates, obviating the need to control the
      stereochemistry of the propargyl stereocenter and enabling a convenient
      retrosynthetic disconnection. The key reaction proceeds in 80% yield in 1 min at
      ambient temperature with the Me3PAuCl/AgOTf catalyst system. These conditions
      should be widely applicable for new synthetic endeavors as they appear to
      overcome all issues with the Au-catalyzed spiroketalization. 

PMID- 25839324
TI  - The expression of P2X7 receptors in EPCs and their potential role in the
      targeting of EPCs to brain gliomas.
AB  - In order to use endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) as a therapeutic and imaging
      probe to overcome antiangiogenic resistance for gliomas, how to enhance
      proliferation and targeting ability of transplanted EPCs is a high priority.
      Here, we confirmed, for the first time, the expression of P2X7 receptors in rat
      spleen-derived EPCs. Activation of P2X7 receptors in EPCs by BzATP promoted cells
      proliferation and migration, rather than apoptosis. In vivo, the homing of
      transplanted EPCs after long-term suppression of P2X7 receptors by persistent BBG
      stimulation was evaluated by MRI, immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry.
      Compared to the group without BBG treatment, less transplanted EPCs homed to
      gliomas in the group with BBG treatment, especially integrated into the vessels
      containing tumor-derived endothelial cells in gliomas. Moreover, western blot
      showed that CXCL1 expression was downregulated in gliomas with BBG treatment,
      which meant P2X7 receptors suppression inhibited the homing of EPCs to gliomas
      through down-regulation of CXCLl expression. Further, effects of P2X7 receptors
      on C6 glioma cells or gliomas were evaluated at the same dose of BzATP or BBG
      used in EPCs experiments in vitro and in vivo. MTT assay and MRI revealed that
      P2X7 receptors exerted no significant promoting effect on C6 glioma cells
      proliferation, gliomas growth and angiogenesis. Taken together, our findings
      imply the possibility of promoting proliferation and targeting ability of
      transplanted EPCs to brain gliomas in vivo through P2X7 receptors, which may
      provide new perspectives on application of EPCs as a therapeutic and imaging
      probe to overcome antiangiogenic resistance for gliomas. 

PMID- 25839326
TI  - Jean Lindenmann: from viral interference to interferon and beyond (1924-2015).

PMID- 25839327
TI  - Functional loss of semaphorin 3C and/or semaphorin 3D and their epistatic
      interaction with ret are critical to Hirschsprung disease liability.
AB  - Innervation of the gut is segmentally lost in Hirschsprung disease (HSCR), a
      consequence of cell-autonomous and non-autonomous defects in enteric neuronal
      cell differentiation, proliferation, migration, or survival. Rare, high
      penetrance coding variants and common, low-penetrance non-coding variants in 13
      genes are known to underlie HSCR risk, with the most frequent variants in the ret
      proto-oncogene (RET). We used a genome-wide association (220 trios) and
      replication (429 trios) study to reveal a second non-coding variant distal to RET
      and a non-coding allele on chromosome 7 within the class 3 Semaphorin gene
      cluster. Analysis in Ret wild-type and Ret-null mice demonstrates specific
      expression of Sema3a, Sema3c, and Sema3d in the enteric nervous system (ENS). In
      zebrafish embryos, sema3 knockdowns show reduction of migratory ENS precursors
      with complete ablation under conjoint ret loss of function. Seven candidate
      receptors of Sema3 proteins are also expressed within the mouse ENS and their
      expression is also lost in the ENS of Ret-null embryos. Sequencing of SEMA3A,
      SEMA3C, and SEMA3D in 254 HSCR-affected subjects followed by in silico protein
      structure modeling and functional analyses identified five disease-associated
      alleles with loss-of-function defects in semaphorin dimerization and binding to
      their cognate neuropilin and plexin receptors. Thus, semaphorin 3C/3D signaling
      is an evolutionarily conserved regulator of ENS development whose dys-regulation
      is a cause of enteric aganglionosis. 

PMID- 25839330
TI  - Identification of the sigma70-Dependent Promoter Controlling Expression of the
      ansPAB Operon of the Nitrogen-Fixing Bacterium Rhizobium etli.
AB  - The aim of the present work was to examine the putative promoter region of the
      operon ansPAB and to determine the general elements required for the regulation
      of transcriptional activity. The transcriptional start site of the ansPAB
      promoter was determined by using highresolution S1-nuclease mapping. Sequence
      analysis of this region showed -10 and -35 elements, which were consistent with
      consensus sequences for R. etli promoters that are recognized by the major form
      of RNA polymerase containing the sigma(70) transcription factor. Mutation studies
      affecting several regions located upstream of the transcriptional start site
      confirmed the importance of these elements on transcriptional expression.

PMID- 25839329
TI  - De novo mutations in SIK1 cause a spectrum of developmental epilepsies.
AB  - Developmental epilepsies are age-dependent seizure disorders for which genetic
      causes have been increasingly identified. Here we report six unrelated
      individuals with mutations in salt-inducible kinase 1 (SIK1) in a series of 101
      persons with early myoclonic encephalopathy, Ohtahara syndrome, and infantile
      spasms. Individuals with SIK1 mutations had short survival in cases with neonatal
      epilepsy onset, and an autism plus developmental syndrome after infantile spasms
      in others. All six mutations occurred outside the kinase domain of SIK1 and each
      of the mutants displayed autophosphorylation and kinase activity toward HDAC5.
      Three mutations generated truncated forms of SIK1 that were resistant to
      degradation and also showed changes in sub-cellular localization compared to wild
      type SIK1. We also report the human neuropathologic examination of SIK1-related
      developmental epilepsy, with normal neuronal morphology and lamination but
      abnormal SIK1 protein cellular localization. Therefore, these results expand the
      genetic etiologies of developmental epilepsies by demonstrating SIK1 mutations as
      a cause of severe developmental epilepsy. 

PMID- 25839331
TI  - Evaluation of Glucose Dehydrogenase and Pyrroloquinoline Quinine (pqq)
      Mutagenesis that Renders Functional Inadequacies in Host Plants.
AB  - The rhizospheric zone abutting plant roots usually clutches a wealth of microbes.
      In the recent past, enormous genetic resources have been excavated with potential
      applications in host plant interaction and ancillary aspects. Two Pseudomonas
      strains were isolated and identified through 16S rRNA and rpoD sequence analyses
      as P. fluorescens QAU67 and P. putida QAU90. Initial biochemical characterization
      and their root-colonizing traits indicated their potential role in plant growth
      promotion. Such aerobic systems, involved in gluconic acid production and
      phosphate solubilization, essentially require the pyrroloquinoline quinine (PQQ)-
      dependent glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) in the genome. The PCR screening and
      amplification of GDH and PQQ and subsequent induction of mutagenesis
      characterized their possible role as antioxidants as well as in growth promotion,
      as probed in vitro in lettuce and in vivo in rice, bean, and tomato plants. The
      results showed significant differences (p < or = 0.05) in parameters of plant
      height, fresh weight, and dry weight, etc., deciphering a clear and in fact
      complementary role of GDH and PQQ in plant growth promotion. Our study not only
      provides direct evidence of the in vivo role of GDH and PQQ in host plants but
      also reveals their functional inadequacy in the event of mutation at either of
      these loci. 

PMID- 25839328
TI  - Genomic analyses reveal mutational signatures and frequently altered genes in
      esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
AB  - Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common cancers
      worldwide and the fourth most lethal cancer in China. However, although genomic
      studies have identified some mutations associated with ESCC, we know little of
      the mutational processes responsible. To identify genome-wide mutational
      signatures, we performed either whole-genome sequencing (WGS) or whole-exome
      sequencing (WES) on 104 ESCC individuals and combined our data with those of 88
      previously reported samples. An APOBEC-mediated mutational signature in 47% of
      192 tumors suggests that APOBEC-catalyzed deamination provides a source of DNA
      damage in ESCC. Moreover, PIK3CA hotspot mutations (c.1624G>A [p.Glu542Lys] and
      c.1633G>A [p.Glu545Lys]) were enriched in APOBEC-signature tumors, and no smoking
      associated signature was observed in ESCC. In the samples analyzed by WGS, we
      identified focal (<100 kb) amplifications of CBX4 and CBX8. In our combined
      cohort, we identified frequent inactivating mutations in AJUBA, ZNF750, and PTCH1
      and the chromatin-remodeling genes CREBBP and BAP1, in addition to known
      mutations. Functional analyses suggest roles for several genes (CBX4, CBX8,
      AJUBA, and ZNF750) in ESCC. Notably, high activity of hedgehog signaling and the
      PI3K pathway in approximately 60% of 104 ESCC tumors indicates that therapies
      targeting these pathways might be particularly promising strategies for ESCC.
      Collectively, our data provide comprehensive insights into the mutational
      signatures of ESCC and identify markers for early diagnosis and potential
      therapeutic targets. 

PMID- 25839332
TI  - Gut Microbiota Community and Its Assembly Associated with Age and Diet in Chinese
      Centenarians.
AB  - Increasing evidence suggests that gut microbiota underpin the development of
      health and longevity. However, our understanding of what influences the
      composition of this community of the longevous has not been adequately described.
      Therefore, illumina sequencing analysis was performed on the gut microbiota of
      centenarians (aged 100-108 years; RC) and younger elderlies (aged 85-99 years;
      RE) living in Bama County, Guangxi, China and the elderlies (aged 80-92 years;
      CE) living in Nanning City, Guangxi, China. In addition, their diet was monitored
      using a semiquantitative dietary questionary (FFQ 23). The results revealed the
      abundance of Roseburia and Escherichia was significantly greater, whereas that of
      Lactobacillus, Faecalibacterium, Parabacteroides, Butyricimonas, Coprococcus,
      Megamonas, Mitsuokella, Sutterella, and Akkermansia was significantly less in
      centenarians at the genus level. Both clustering analysis and UniFraq distance
      analysis showed structural segregation with age and diet among the three
      populations. Using partial least square discriminate analysis and redundancy
      analysis, we identified 33 and 34 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) as key OTUs
      that were significantly associated with age and diet, respectively. Age-related
      OTUs were characterized as Ruminococcaceae, Clostridiaceae, and Lachnospiraceae,
      and the former two were increased in the centenarians; diet-related OTUs were
      classified as Bacteroidales, Lachnospiraceae, and Ruminococcaceae. The former two
      were deceased, whereas the later one was increased, in the high-fiber diet. The
      age and high-fiber diet were concomitant with changes in the gut microbiota of
      centenarians, suggesting that age and high-fiber diet can establish a new
      structurally balanced architecture of gut microbiota that may benefit the health
      of centenarians.

PMID- 25839333
TI  - Immune Regulatory Effect of Newly Isolated Lactobacillus delbrueckii from Indian
      Traditional Yogurt.
AB  - Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are microorganisms that are believed to provide health
      benefits. Here, we isolated LAB from Indian fermented foods, such as traditional
      Yogurt and Dosa. LAB from Yogurt most significantly induced TNF-alpha and IL
      1beta production, whereas LAB from Dosa induced mild cytokine production. After
      16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, a Yogurt-borne lactic acid
      bacterium was identified and classified as Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp.
      bulgaricus, and it was renamed L. delbrueckii K552 for the further studies. Our
      data suggest that the newly isolated L. delbrueckii can be used for the treatment
      of immune deficiency disorders.

PMID- 25839334
TI  - Attitudes Toward Telemedicine in Urban, Rural, and Highly Rural Communities.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The rate of telemedicine adoption using interactive video between
      patient and provider has not met expectations. Technology, regulations, and
      physician buy-in are cited reasons, but patient acceptance has not received much
      consideration. We examine attitudes regarding telemedicine to better understand
      the subjective definitions of its acceptability and utility that shape patients'
      willingness to use telemedicine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using the Montana Health
      Matters study (a random, statewide survey [n=3,512]), we use latent class
      analysis to identify groups with similar patterns of attitudes toward
      telemedicine followed by multinomial logistic regression to estimate predictors
      of group membership. RESULTS: Although only 5% are amenable to telemedicine
      regardless of circumstance, 23% would be comfortable if it could be convenient,
      whereas 29% would be situationally amenable but uncomfortable using telemedicine.
      Still, a substantial percentage (43%) is unequivocally averse to telemedicine
      despite the inconvenience of in-person visits. Educational attainment, prior
      Internet use, and rural residence are main predictors that increase the
      likelihood of being in an amenable group. CONCLUSIONS: From the patient's
      perspective, the advantages of reduced travel and convenience are recognized, but
      questions remain about the equivalence to physician visits. Many people are
      averse to telemedicine, indicating a perceived incompatibility with patient
      needs. Only 1.7% of the respondents reported using telemedicine in the previous
      year; about half were veterans. Hence, few have used telemedicine, and key
      innovation adoption criteria-trialability and observability-are low. Increased
      attention to public awareness in the adoption process is needed to increase
      willingness to embrace telemedicine as a convenient way to obtain quality
      healthcare services.

PMID- 25839336
TI  - Solution phase synthesis of indium gallium phosphide alloy nanowires.
AB  - The tunable physical and electronic structure of III-V semiconductor alloys
      renders them uniquely useful for a variety of applications, including biological
      imaging, transistors, and solar energy conversion. However, their fabrication
      typically requires complex gas phase instrumentation or growth from high
      temperature melts, which consequently limits their prospects for widespread
      implementation. Furthermore, the need for lattice matched growth substrates in
      many cases confines the composition of the materials to a narrow range that can
      be epitaxially grown. In this work, we present a solution phase synthesis for
      indium gallium phosphide (In(x)Ga(1-x)P) alloy nanowires, whose indium/gallium
      ratio, and consequently, physical and electronic structure, can be tuned across
      the entire x = 0 to x = 1 composition range. We demonstrate the evolution of
      structural and optical properties of the nanowires, notably the direct to
      indirect band gap transition, as the composition is varied from InP to GaP. Our
      scalable, low-temperature synthesis affords compositional, structural, and
      electronic tunability and can provide a route for realization of broader
      In(x)Ga(1-x)P applications.

PMID- 25839335
TI  - Reductant and sequence effects on the morphology and catalytic activity of
      peptide-capped Au nanoparticles.
AB  - The use of peptides as capping ligands for materials synthesis has been widely
      explored. The ambient conditions of bio-inspired syntheses using molecules such
      as peptides represent an attractive route for controlling the morphology and
      activity of nanomaterials. Although various reductants can be used in such
      syntheses, no comprehensive comparison of the same bio-based ligand with
      different reductants has been reported. In this contribution, peptides AuBP1,
      AuBP2, and Pd4 are used in the synthesis of Au nanoparticles. The reductant
      strength is varied by using three different reducing agents: NaBH4, hydrazine,
      and ascorbic acid. These changes in reductant produce significant morphological
      differences in the final particles. The weakest reductant, ascorbic acid, yields
      large, globular nanoparticles with rough surfaces, whereas the strongest
      reductant, NaBH4, yields small, spherical, smooth nanomaterials. Studies of 4
      nitrophenol reduction using the Au nanoparticles as catalysts reveal a decrease
      in activation energy for the large, globular, rough materials relative to the
      small, spherical, smooth materials. These studies demonstrate that modifying the
      reductant is a simple way to control the activity of peptide-capped
      nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25839337
TI  - Positive symptoms are associated with clinicians' global impression in treatment
      resistant schizophrenia.
AB  - Previous investigations on the relationship between global rating measures and
      symptoms have not considered the additional role of functioning. In this
      naturalistic study, we examined the relationship between symptom domains and
      functioning on Clinical Global Impression scales for severity (CGI-S) and
      improvement (CGI-I) in a sample of patients with schizophrenia assessed to be
      treatment resistant. Participants were patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia
      or schizoaffective disorder who failed 2 prior antipsychotic trials and were
      considered candidates for clozapine. They were assessed on the 18-item Brief
      Psychiatric rating Scale (BPRS), Social Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale
      (SOFAS), and CGI-S at baseline. A subset of patients was followed up at 6 weeks
      after initiation of clozapine and assessed on the CGI-I. The independent effects
      of symptom domains and functioning on the CGI scales were examined via
      multivariate regression models. Brief Psychiatric rating Scale positive factor (P
      < 0.001) and SOFAS (P < 0.001) scores were significant determinants of CGI-S at
      baseline. Multivariate models suggested that relative change measures had a
      better fit for the CGI-I compared to absolute change measures (R = 0.72 vs R =
      0.61, respectively). Improvements in BPRS positive (P < 0.001) and affect (P =
      0.002) factors and SOFAS (P = 0.030) scores were significant determinants of CGI
      I. Ratings of 1 and 2 on the CGI-I corresponded to a mean relative change in the
      BPRS total of 65% and 41%, respectively. Positive symptoms were a key determinant
      of clinicians' impression of severity and improvement in this study. Although
      psychosocial functioning played a large part in determining severity, it was not
      as significant in the assessment of improvement. 

PMID- 25839338
TI  - Effects of Shakuyaku-Kanzo-to on Extrapyramidal Symptoms During Antipsychotic
      Treatment: A Randomized, Open-Label Study.
AB  - Extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) are common adverse effects of antipsychotic
      treatment. This study examined the effects of the traditional Japanese herbal
      medicine (kampo) shakuyaku-kanzo-to on EPS during antipsychotic treatment. Twenty
      two Japanese patients with psychiatric disorders who had developed EPS during
      antipsychotic treatment were randomly allocated to receive either shakuyaku-kanzo
      to (7.5 g/d) or biperiden (3 mg/d) for 2 weeks. Extrapyramidal symptoms were
      evaluated using the Drug-Induced Extrapyramidal Symptom Scale (DIEPSS) and the
      Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale. Plasma levels of the monoamine metabolite
      homovanillic acid and serum prolactin levels were measured to investigate the
      mechanisms of action of shakuyaku-kanzo-to. Twenty of the 22 patients completed
      the study (10 patients in the shakuyaku-kanzo-to group and 10 patients in the
      biperiden group). There was a time effect on the Drug-Induced Extrapyramidal
      Symptom Scale total score (P < 0.01), suggesting that both shakuyaku-kanzo-to and
      biperiden decreased EPS. Notably, there was a time * drug interaction in
      dystonia, suggesting that shakuyaku-kanzo-to had a greater effect on dystonia
      compared with biperiden. No significant changes were observed in plasma
      homovanillic acid or serum prolactin levels after 2 weeks of treatment in either
      group. The effects of shakuyaku-kanzo-to on abnormal muscle tonus and dopamine D2
      receptors may have contributed to improve EPS. These results suggest that
      shakuyaku-kanzo-to may be useful in decreasing EPS, especially dystonia, in
      patients undergoing treatment with antipsychotic agents. 

PMID- 25839339
TI  - Management of cystic or predominantly cystic thyroid nodules: role of simple
      aspiration of internal fluid.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of simple
      aspiration of cystic thyroid nodules by comparing with control groups to exclude
      the occurrence of spontaneous regression by the definition of current guidelines
      of American Thyroid Association. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 217 nodules from 210
      patients with cystic thyroid nodules (cystic portion >50%) were included. Nodules
      were classified into three groups as follows: Group 1, observation only; Group 2,
      fine needle aspiration (FNA) without aspiration of internal fluid; and Group 3,
      FNA after aspiration of internal fluid. Significant nodule size change was
      defined as a difference in the largest diameter of 20%, as seen on the last
      follow-up ultrasound (US) compared to the initial US. RESULTS: Demographic
      characteristics did not show significant differences among the three groups
      except for the patient age (p = 0.039). Mean nodule size significantly decreased
      only in group 3 (p = 0.005). Significant nodule size reductions were observed in
      22.0% (13/59) in group 1, 25.7% (28/109) in group 2, and 40.8% (20/49) in group
      3, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Aspiration of internal fluid should be considered
      as the first-line procedure for both the diagnosis and treatment of cystic or
      predominantly cystic thyroid nodules.

PMID- 25839340
TI  - Magic angle spinning NMR of proteins: high-frequency dynamic nuclear polarization
      and (1)H detection.
AB  - Magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR studies of amyloid and membrane proteins and large
      macromolecular complexes are an important new approach to structural biology.
      However, the applicability of these experiments, which are based on (13)C- and
      (15)N-detected spectra, would be enhanced if the sensitivity were improved. Here
      we discuss two advances that address this problem: high-frequency dynamic nuclear
      polarization (DNP) and (1)H-detected MAS techniques. DNP is a sensitivity
      enhancement technique that transfers the high polarization of exogenous unpaired
      electrons to nuclear spins via microwave irradiation of electron-nuclear
      transitions. DNP boosts NMR signal intensities by factors of 10(2) to 10(3),
      thereby overcoming NMR's inherent low sensitivity. Alternatively, it permits
      structural investigations at the nanomolar scale. In addition, (1)H detection is
      feasible primarily because of the development of MAS rotors that spin at
      frequencies of 40 to 60 kHz or higher and the preparation of extensively (2)H
      labeled proteins. 

PMID- 25839341
TI  - ATP synthase.
AB  - Oxygenic photosynthesis is the principal converter of sunlight into chemical
      energy. Cyanobacteria and plants provide aerobic life with oxygen, food, fuel,
      fibers, and platform chemicals. Four multisubunit membrane proteins are involved:
      photosystem I (PSI), photosystem II (PSII), cytochrome b6f (cyt b6f), and ATP
      synthase (FOF1). ATP synthase is likewise a key enzyme of cell respiration. Over
      three billion years, the basic machinery of oxygenic photosynthesis and
      respiration has been perfected to minimize wasteful reactions. The proton-driven
      ATP synthase is embedded in a proton tight-coupling membrane. It is composed of
      two rotary motors/generators, FO and F1, which do not slip against each other.
      The proton-driven FO and the ATP-synthesizing F1 are coupled via elastic torque
      transmission. Elastic transmission decouples the two motors in kinetic detail but
      keeps them perfectly coupled in thermodynamic equilibrium and (time-averaged)
      under steady turnover. Elastic transmission enables operation with different gear
      ratios in different organisms. 

PMID- 25839342
TI  - Corneal Wavefront Aberrations After Primary and Recurrent Pterygium Surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of primary and recurrent pterygium surgery on
      corneal wavefront aberrations. METHODS: This prospective and interventional study
      included the 47 eyes of 47 patients with primary pterygium (primary group) and 41
      eyes of 41 patients with recurrent pterygium (recurrent group). All patients
      underwent pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft transplantation. Corneal
      wavefront aberrations were measured using Sirius corneal topography and
      aberrometry system (Costruzione Strumenti Oftalmici, Florence, Italy) before
      surgery and at 3 and 12 months after surgery. The main outcome measures were root
      mean square values of total wavefront error (WFE), higher-order aberrations
      (HOAs), coma, trefoil, and spherical aberrations. RESULTS: Corneal wavefront
      aberrations were not significantly different between the primary and recurrent
      groups at baseline (P>0.05). Total WFE, HOA, trefoil, and coma decreased
      significantly in both primary and recurrent groups at postoperative 3 and 12
      months compared with preoperative measurements (P<0.05). The mean spherical
      aberration was not significantly changed at 3 and 12 months compared with
      preoperative measurements (P>0.05). Total WFE, HOA, trefoil, and coma were
      significantly higher in the recurrent group than in the primary group at
      postoperative 3 and 12 months (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Pterygium surgery can
      significantly reduce corneal wavefront aberrations, including total WFE, HOA,
      trefoil, and coma in eyes with primary or recurrent pterygium. However,
      postoperative corneal aberrations were higher in the recurrent group than in the
      primary group.

PMID- 25839343
TI  - One-Year Clinical Outcomes of a Two-Step Surgical Management for Keratoconus
      Topography-Guided Photorefractive Keratectomy/Cross-Linking After Intrastromal
      Corneal Ring Implantation.
AB  - PURPOSE: To present the results of same-day topography-guided photorefractive
      keratectomy (TG-PRK) and corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) after intrastromal
      corneal ring (ISCR) implantation in patients with keratoconus. METHODS: Thirty
      three patients (41 eyes) aged between 19 and 45 years were included in this
      prospective study. All patients underwent a femtosecond laser-enabled (Intralase
      FS; Abbott Medical Optics, Inc.) placement of intracorneal ring segments
      (Kerarings; Mediphacos, Brazil). Uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA),
      corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), and keratometry readings remained stable
      for 6 months. Same-day PRK and CXL was subsequently performed in all patients.
      RESULTS: After 12 months of completion of the procedure, mean UDVA in log of
      minimal angle of resolution was significantly improved (0.74+/-0.54-0.10+/-0.16);
      CDVA did not improve significantly but 85% of eyes maintained or gained multiple
      lines of CDVA; mean refraction spherical equivalent improved (from -3.03+/-1.98
      to -0.04+/-0.99 D), all keratometry readings were significantly reduced, from
      preoperative values, but coma did not vary significantly from preoperative
      values. Central corneal thickness and corneal thickness at the thinnest point
      were significantly (P<0.0001) reduced from 519.76+/-29.33 and 501.87+/-31.50
      preoperatively to 464.71+/-36.79 and 436.55+/-47.42 postoperatively,
      respectively. Safety and efficacy indices were 0.97 and 0.88, respectively. From
      6 months up until more than 1 year of follow-up, further significant improvement
      was observed only for UDVA (P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Same-day combined TG-PRK and
      CXL after ISCR implantation is a safe and effective option for improving visual
      acuity and visual function, and it halts the progression of the keratoconus. The
      improvements recorded after 6 months of follow-up were maintained or improved
      upon 1 year after the procedure.

PMID- 25839344
TI  - Axial Length Measurement: PalmScan Versus IOLMaster.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare axial length measurements taken on the handheld Micro
      Medical Devices (MMD) PalmScan with those taken with the Carl Zeiss Meditec
      IOLMaster. METHODS: Sixty subjects had IOLMaster performed by a single operator
      to measure axial length in both eyes. Subjects then had axial length measurements
      taken by a different single operator with the MMD device. Each operator was
      masked to the other's results. Independent statistical analysis was performed to
      compare results. RESULTS: Sixty subjects had both eyes measured with each device
      for a total of 120 eyes. Subjects were categorized into 1 of 3 groups with 20
      subjects each, 40 eyes in each group. Subjects in group A were wearers of
      overnight corneal reshaping, group B were soft lens wearers, and group C were
      noncontact lens wearers. Overall, the measures of axial length from IOLMaster and
      MMD were highly correlated (correlation = 0.93, P < 0.001, n = 120). Similarly,
      measures within each group between the 2 methods were highly correlated: group A
      (correlation = 0.94, P < 0.0001, n = 40), group B (correlation = 0.90, P <
      0.0001, n = 40), and group C (correlation = 0.98, P < 0.001, n = 40). Results
      were highly correlated between the two devices. Data scatter plots and Bland
      Altman plots were generated, showing that although there was good agreement
      between the methods, the MMD almost always measured the axial length smaller than
      the IOLMaster (median difference = 0.21 mm, mean difference +/- SD = 0.26 +/-
      0.42 mm). CONCLUSIONS: The MMD is a convenient, reliable, and portable device to
      measure axial length. It can be used to monitor axial length in patients over
      time.

PMID- 25839345
TI  - Comparison of Validated Polymerase Chain Reaction and Culture Isolation for the
      Routine Detection of Acanthamoeba From Ocular Samples.
AB  - PURPOSE: Acanthamoeba keratitis should be definitively diagnosed for appropriate
      therapy. Our institution has validated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a
      routine diagnostic test to detect Acanthamoeba DNA from ocular samples. We
      compared PCR with culture isolation for detecting Acanthamoeba from ocular
      samples. METHODS: The microbiology records of patients that had specimens
      submitted (May 2012 to January 2014) for laboratory testing for Acanthamoeba
      keratitis were reviewed for (1) Acanthamoeba culture isolation, (2) Acanthamoeba
      DNA detection by PCR, and (3) non-Acanthamoeba culture results. For Acanthamoeba
      isolation, corneal samples were planted on nonnutrient agar overlaid with
      Enterobacter aerogenes. Validated PCR (May 2012) for Acanthamoeba DNA was
      processed at the Division of Molecular Diagnostics, UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA.
      Additional cultures were obtained for bacteria, fungus, and virus (i.e., herpes
      simplex virus) using standard techniques. RESULTS: Culture isolation and PCR were
      processed on 125 patients with a differential diagnosis of Acanthamoeba
      keratitis. Of these, 104 (83.2%) were culture negative, PCR negative; 14 (11.2%)
      were culture positive, PCR positive; 4 (3.2%) were culture negative, PCR
      positive; and, 3 (2.4%) were culture positive, PCR negative. Culture and PCR were
      statistically equivalent for detecting Acanthamoeba from ocular samples (P=1.0,
      McNemar's test). Nineteen of the culture-negative, PCR-negative corneal samples
      (18.3%) were positive for other pathogens such as bacteria, fungus, and virus.
      CONCLUSIONS: There is no clear advantage of PCR over culture isolation for
      detecting Acanthamoeba in ocular specimens. Other pathogens such as bacteria,
      fungus, and virus must still be considered in severe persistent keratitis.
      Polymerase chain reaction seems to be a complementary test for the clinical
      support of Acanthamoeba keratitis.

PMID- 25839346
TI  - Corneal Biomechanical Properties in Rheumatoid Arthritis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the variations in biomechanical properties of the cornea
      in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. METHODS: A total of 53 RA patients, and 25
      healthy individuals (control group) were enrolled. Rheumatoid arthritis patients
      were classified as in active phase (group 1; n=24) or in remission phase (group
      2; n=29). Corneal biomechanical parameters including corneal hysteresis (CH),
      corneal resistance factor (CRF), corneal compensated intraocular pressure
      (IOPcc), and Goldmann-correlated IOP (IOPg) were measured with the Reichert
      Ocular Response Analyzer. Topographical measurements, including central corneal
      thickness (CCT), anterior chamber depth, iridocorneal angle, and corneal volume
      were measured using a Sirius corneal topographer. RESULTS: The mean CH was 9.43+/
      1.17 mm Hg in group 1, 9.42+/-1.84 mm Hg in group 2, and 10.47+/-1.68 mm Hg in
      the control group (P=0.03). The mean IOPcc was 17.85+/-3.2 mm Hg in group 1,
      17.95+/-3.49 mm Hg in group 2, and 15.36+/-3.11 mm Hg in the control group
      (P=0.008). The CH showed a significant positive correlation with CRF (P=0.000,
      r=0.809) and CCT (P=0.000, r=0.461), and a significant negative correlation with
      IOPcc (P=0.000, r=-0.469). CONCLUSIONS: Decrease in the mean CH measurements
      indicates that ultrastructural changes in the cornea may occur in the active
      phase, and these changes persist in the remission period. In addition, IOPcc is
      significantly affected by the corneal biomechanical properties. In RA patients,
      it is important to control the corneal parameters and IOP measurements against
      the irreversible changes on the optic nerve.

PMID- 25839347
TI  - Vessel Sampling and Blood Flow Velocity Distribution With Vessel Diameter for
      Characterizing the Human Bulbar Conjunctival Microvasculature.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study determined (1) how many vessels (i.e., the vessel sampling)
      are needed to reliably characterize the bulbar conjunctival microvasculature and
      (2) if characteristic information can be obtained from the distribution histogram
      of the blood flow velocity and vessel diameter. METHODS: Functional slitlamp
      biomicroscope was used to image hundreds of venules per subject. The bulbar
      conjunctiva in five healthy human subjects was imaged on six different locations
      in the temporal bulbar conjunctiva. The histograms of the diameter and velocity
      were plotted to examine whether the distribution was normal. Standard errors were
      calculated from the standard deviation and vessel sample size. The ratio of the
      standard error of the mean over the population mean was used to determine the
      sample size cutoff. The velocity was plotted as a function of the vessel diameter
      to display the distribution of the diameter and velocity. RESULTS: The results
      showed that the sampling size was approximately 15 vessels, which generated a
      standard error equivalent to 15% of the population mean from the total vessel
      population. The distributions of the diameter and velocity were not only
      unimodal, but also somewhat positively skewed and not normal. The blood flow
      velocity was related to the vessel diameter (r=0.23, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This
      was the first study to determine the sampling size of the vessels and the
      distribution histogram of the blood flow velocity and vessel diameter, which may
      lead to a better understanding of the human microvascular system of the bulbar
      conjunctiva.

PMID- 25839348
TI  - Prominent Decrease of Tear Meniscus Height With Contact Lens Wear and Efficacy of
      Eye Drop Instillation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the change in tear meniscus height (TMH) before and
      after wearing soft contact lenses (CLs) of different water contents (WCs) and the
      influence of eye drop instillation on TMH during CL wear. METHODS: Tear meniscus
      heights were measured using anterior segment optical coherence tomography in 20
      normal subjects wearing a high-WC CL (WC, 69%) in 1 eye and a low-WC CL (WC, 24%)
      in the other. Tear meniscus height change after eye drop instillation with 3%
      diquafosol ophthalmic solution or saline with CL wear was evaluated at 5, 15, 30,
      and 60 min after instillation. RESULTS: A significant decrease in TMH was
      observed after lens insertions of both CLs. Tear meniscus height was
      significantly decreased with high-WC CL wear compared with that with low-WC CL
      wear. With high-WC CL wear, TMH increased significantly (P<0.001) at 5 min after
      the instillation of 3% diquafosol ophthalmic solution compared with the baseline
      values and then returned to the pre-instillation level. No significant TMH
      changes were found with the instillation of either eye drop (diquafosol or
      saline) with low-WC CL wear. CONCLUSIONS: Tear meniscus height decreased with CL
      wear, especially with high-WC CL wear. Significant increases in TMH were observed
      at 5 min after the instillation of diquafosol ophthalmic solution with high-WC CL
      wear. The increases in TMH after diquafosol instillation tended to be greater
      than those after saline instillation at least for 30 min with both high-WC and
      low-WC CLs.

PMID- 25839349
TI  - Evaluating the influence of perceived pain control on patient satisfaction in a
      hospital setting.
AB  - The authors evaluated whether a patient's perceived pain control influenced the
      relationships between four attributes (nursing, physician, staff, and
      environment) and patient satisfaction. Multiple linear regression analyses were
      conducted to examine overall satisfaction and intention to recommend, controlling
      for race, gender, age, and education. The authors found that no matter the level
      of pain control, nursing was always the most influential attribute in patient
      satisfaction. The influence of the other attributes varied, depending on the
      patients' pain control. Hospital managers may improve patient satisfaction by
      focusing on pain management nursing care. 

PMID- 25839350
TI  - Utility of Head CT Scan for Acute Inpatient Delirium.
AB  - Delirium is a common occurrence in hospitalized patients, especially in the
      geriatric age group. Data was retrospectively reviewed for patients who developed
      delirium during hospitalization. Acute intracranial changes on imaging were noted
      only in four patients (11%) and all had preimaging clinical symptoms and signs,
      which warranted imaging. Imaging should be considered only in the presence of
      head injury, fall, history of anticoagulation, focal neurological signs, fever,
      and raised intracranial pressure. Development of more clear guidelines will
      result in decreased ordering of unnecessary neuroimaging, substantial cost
      savings, and less radiation exposure for patients. 

PMID- 25839351
TI  - The Impact of Patient-to-Patient Interaction in Health Facility Waiting Rooms on
      Their Perception of Health Professionals.
AB  - Patients have to wait in waiting rooms prior to seeing the physician. But there
      are few studies that demonstrate what they are actually doing in the waiting
      room. This exploratory study was designed to investigate the types of discussions
      that patients in the waiting room typically engage in with other patients and how
      the conversations affected their opinion on general reputation of the clinic,
      injections/blocks as treatment procedures, waiting time, time spent with the
      caregiver, overall patient satisfaction, and the pain medication usage policy.
      The study demonstrates that patient interaction in the waiting room has a
      positive effect on patient opinion of the pain clinic and the caregivers. 

PMID- 25839352
TI  - Kinetics of Substrate Biodegradation under the Cumulative Effects of
      Bioavailability and Self-Inhibition.
AB  - Microbial degradation is an important process in many environments controlling
      for instance the cycling of nutrients or the biodegradation of contaminants. At
      high substrate concentrations toxic effects may inhibit the degradation process.
      Bioavailability limitations of a degradable substrate can therefore either
      improve the overall dynamics of degradation by softening the contaminant toxicity
      effects to microorganisms, or slow down the biodegradation by reducing the
      microbial access to the substrate. Many studies on biodegradation kinetics of a
      self-inhibitive substrate have mainly focused on physiological responses of the
      bacteria to substrate concentration levels without considering the substrate
      bioavailability limitations rising from different geophysical and geochemical
      dynamics at pore-scale. In this regard, the role of bioavailability effects on
      the kinetics of self-inhibiting substrates is poorly understood. In this study,
      we theoretically analyze this role and assess the interactions between self
      inhibition and mass transfer-limitations using analytical/numerical solutions,
      and show the findings practical relevance for a simple model scenario. Although
      individually self-inhibition and mass-transfer limitations negatively impact
      biodegradation, their combined effect may enhance biodegradation rates above a
      concentration threshold. To our knowledge, this is the first theoretical study
      describing the cumulative effects of the two mechanisms together. 

PMID- 25839353
TI  - The influence of cholesterol on membrane protein structure, function, and
      dynamics studied by molecular dynamics simulations.
AB  - The plasma membrane, which encapsulates human cells, is composed of a complex
      mixture of lipids and embedded proteins. Emerging knowledge points towards the
      lipids as having a regulating role in protein function. Furthermore, insight from
      protein crystallography has revealed several different types of lipids intimately
      bound to membrane proteins and peptides, hereby possibly pointing to a site of
      action for the observed regulation. Cholesterol is among the lipid membrane
      constituents most often observed to be co-crystallized with membrane proteins,
      and the cholesterol levels in cell membranes have been found to play an essential
      role in health and disease. Remarkably little is known about the mechanism of
      lipid regulation of membrane protein function in health as well as in disease.
      Herein, we review molecular dynamics simulation studies aimed at investigating
      the effect of cholesterol on membrane protein and peptide properties. This
      article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Lipid-protein interactions. 

PMID- 25839354
TI  - Mixing of oxidized and bilayer phospholipids.
AB  - Composition and phase dependence of the mixing of 1,2-Dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3
      phosphocholine (DPPC), and 1,2-Dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC), with
      the oxidized phospholipid, 1-palmitoyl-2-glutaryl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine
      (PGPC) were investigated by characterizing the aggregation states of DPPC/PGPC
      and DOPC/PGPC using a fluorescence quenching assay, dynamic light scattering, and
      time-resolved fluorescence quenching in the temperature range 5-60 degrees C.
      PGPC forms 3.5nm radii micelles of aggregation number 33. In the gel phase, DPPC
      and PGPC fuse to form mixed vesicles for PGPC molar fraction, XPGPC<=0.3 and
      coexisting vesicles and micelles at higher XPGPC. Data suggest that liquid phase
      DPPC at 50 degrees C forms mixed vesicles with segregated or hemi fused DPPC and
      PGPC for XPGPC<=0.3. At 60 degrees C, DPPC and PGPC do not mix, but form
      coexisting vesicles and micelles. DOPC and PGPC do not mix in any proportion in
      the liquid phase. Two dissimilar aggregates of the sizes of vesicles and PGPC
      micelles were observed for all XPGPC for T>=22 degrees C. DOPC-PGPC and DPPC-PGPC
      mixing is non-ideal for XPGPC>0.3 in both gel and fluid phases resulting in
      exclusion of PGPC from the bilayer. Formation of mixed vesicles is favored in the
      gel phase but not in the liquid phase for XPGPC<=0.3. For XPGPC<=0.3, aggregation
      states change progressively from mixed vesicles in the gel phase to component
      segregated mixed vesicles in the liquid phase close to the chain melting
      transition temperature to separated coexisting vesicles and micelles at higher
      temperatures. 

PMID- 25839355
TI  - Phylogenetic conservation of protein-lipid motifs in pentameric ligand-gated ion
      channels.
AB  - Using the crosstalk between the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) and its
      lipid microenvironment as a paradigm, this short overview analyzes the occurrence
      of structural motifs which appear not only to be conserved within the nAChR
      family and contemporary eukaryotic members of the pentameric ligand-gated ion
      channel (pLGIC) superfamily, but also extend to prokaryotic homologues found in
      bacteria. The evolutionarily conserved design is manifested in: 1) the concentric
      three-ring architecture of the transmembrane region, 2) the occurrence in this
      region of distinct lipid consensus motifs in prokaryotic and eukaryotic pLGIC and
      3) the key participation of the outer TM4 ring in conveying the influence of the
      lipid membrane environment to the middle TM1-TM3 ring and this, in turn, to the
      inner TM2 channel-lining ring, which determines the ion selectivity of the
      channel. The preservation of these constant structural-functional features
      throughout such a long phylogenetic span likely points to the successful gain-of
      function conferred by their early acquisition. This article is part of a Special
      Issue entitled: Lipid-protein interactions. 

PMID- 25839356
TI  - Structure-function relationships in histidine-rich antimicrobial peptides from
      Atlantic cod.
AB  - Gad-1 and Gad-2 are antimicrobial peptide (AMP) sequences encoded by paralogous
      genes. They are rich in histidine, which suggests that their activity might be pH
      dependent. We examined their structure-function relationships with a view to
      learning how to improve AMP therapeutic ratios. Activity assays with Gram
      negative bacteria and cancer cell lines demonstrate that Gad-2 is substantially
      more active at slightly acidic pH than it is at neutral pH. By contrast, the
      activity of Gad-1 at lower pH is similar to its activity at pH7. Circular
      dichroism spectra indicate that the greater functional plasticity of Gad-2
      correlates with a greater structural plasticity; Gad-2's percent helicity varies
      dramatically with altered pH and lipid environment. Interestingly, Gad-2's
      highest levels of helicity do not correspond to the conditions where it is most
      active. High resolution solution NMR structures were determined in SDS micelles
      at pH5, conditions that induce an intermediate level of helicity in the peptides.
      Gad-1 is more helical than Gad-2, with both peptides exhibiting the greatest
      helical tendencies in their central region and lowest helicity in their N
      termini. The high resolution structures suggest that maximum activity relies on
      the appropriate balance between an N-terminal region with mixed
      hydrophobic/hydrophilic structure features and an amphipathic central and C
      terminal region. Taken together with previous studies, our results suggest that
      to improve the therapeutic ratio of AMPs, consideration should be given to
      including sequential histidine-pairs, keeping the overall charge of the peptide
      modest, and retaining a degree of structural plasticity and imperfect
      amphipathicity. 

PMID- 25839357
TI  - Challenging AQP4 druggability for NMO-IgG antibody binding using molecular
      dynamics and molecular interaction fields.
AB  - Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a multiple sclerosis-like immunopathology disease
      affecting optic nerves and the spinal cord. Its pathological hallmark is the
      deposition of a typical immunoglobulin, called NMO-IgG, against the water channel
      Aquaporin-4 (AQP4). Preventing NMO-IgG binding would represent a valuable
      molecular strategy for a focused NMO therapy. The recent observation that
      aspartate in position 69 (D69) is determinant for the formation of NMO-IgG
      epitopes prompted us to carry out intensive Molecular Dynamics (MD) studies on a
      number of single-point AQP4 mutants. Here, we report a domino effect originating
      from the point mutation at position 69: we find that the side chain of T62 is
      reoriented far from its expected position leaning on the lumen of the pore. More
      importantly, the strength of the H-bond interaction between L53 and T56, at the
      basis of the loop A, is substantially weakened. These events represent important
      pieces of a clear-cut mechanistic rationale behind the failure of the NMO-IgG
      binding, while the water channel function as well as the propensity to aggregate
      into OAPs remains unaltered. The molecular interaction fields (MIF)-based
      analysis of cavities complemented MD findings indicating a putative binding site
      comprising the same residues determining epitope reorganization. In this respect,
      docking studies unveiled an intriguing perspective to address the future design
      of small drug-like compounds against NMO. In agreement with recent experimental
      observations, the present study is the first computational attempt to elucidate
      NMO-IgG binding at the molecular level, as well as a first effort toward a less
      elusive AQP4 druggability. 

PMID- 25839358
TI  - Osmotic compression of anisotropic proteins: interaction properties and
      associated structures in wheat gliadin dispersions.
AB  - In this Article, we investigated the interaction properties of wheat gliadins,
      properties that are at the basis of their functionality in wheat grain and in
      food matrixes. We established the equation of state of our isolate by osmotic
      compression and characterized the concentration-induced structural transitions,
      from the secondary structure of proteins to the rheological properties. We
      evidenced three thermodynamical regimes corresponding to several structuring
      regimes. First, for Phi < 0.03, gliadins behave as repulsive colloids, with a
      positive second virial coefficient, arising presumably from their surface charge
      density and/or their steric repulsion. No intermolecular interaction was detected
      by FT-IR, suggesting that proteins form a stable dispersion. In the second
      regime, the system becomes more easily compressible, i.e., less repulsive and/or
      more attractive. It is associated with the disappearance of beta-sheet
      intramolecular structures of the proteins in favor of random coils/alpha-helix
      and intermolecular beta-sheet interactions. This coincides with the appearance of
      elasticity and the increase of the apparent viscosity. Finally, in the last
      regime, for Phi > 0.16, FT-IR spectra show that proteins are strongly interacting
      via intermolecular interactions. A correlation peak develops in SAXS, revealing a
      global order in the dispersion. Interestingly, the osmotic pressure applied to
      extract the solvent is higher than expected from a hard-sphere-like protein and
      we highlighted a liquid-like state at very high concentration (>450 g L(-1))
      which is in contrast with most proteins that form gel or glass at such
      concentration. In the discussion, we questioned the existence of supramolecular
      assemblies and the role of the solvation that would lead to this specific
      behavior. 

PMID- 25839360
TI  - [Impulse for prevention].

PMID- 25839359
TI  - Streptococcus oralis cerebral abscess following monkey bite in a 2-month-old
      infant.
AB  - Although cerebral abscesses caused by animal bites have been reported, they are
      extremely rare in infants and have not been described following monkey bite. A 55
      day-old male infant presented with a multi-loculated Streptococcus oralis
      cerebral abscess following a monkey bite on the scalp. There was a clinical
      response to antibiotic therapy and repeated surgical aspiration followed by a
      ventriculoperitoneal shunt. This is the first report of a patient with a brain
      abscess following a monkey bite.

PMID- 25839361
TI  - [Quality analyses of the development of preterm infants: results of the Lower
      Saxonian preterm infant follow-up project and a comparison group of term
      infants].
AB  - Based on perinatal and neonatal quality assurance programmes, a follow-up project
      for the high-risk group of extremely preterm infants, unparalleled in Germany,
      was initiated in the federal state of Lower Saxony in 2004. Here we describe the
      new approach of examining a comparison group of term infants, which, for the
      first time, allows a valid interpretation of the collection of area-wide long
      term outcome data on preterm children. The prospective long-term outcome project
      investigates the medical care situation for children born at less than 28 weeks
      of gestation up to school age. Based on the information obtained about the
      children's development the quality of health care will be optimised. A
      standardised examining concept with established development tests at defined
      follow-up intervals (at the age of 6 months, 2, 5 and 10 years) is used. At the
      age of five years 75 % of the examined premature children exhibited impairments.
      In order to better assess remarkable results, a comparison group of term infants
      (n=305) selected by a matched-pairs method was examined at the age of five using
      an analogous concept in kindergartens in Lower Saxony. The results were compared
      with the first two age cohorts of the follow-up-project (n=226) and quality
      analyses performed. As expected, significant differences have been found in the
      children's motor, cognitive and linguistic development between the preterm and
      term infants examined. This fact draws attention to the importance of early
      support for the majority of extremely premature infants. Feedback on the results
      given to the medical staff involved allows for the implementation of best
      practices and quality improvements. Identifying potential for improvement in
      everyday health care will help to develop specific optimisation measures. 

PMID- 25839362
TI  - [Comparative effectiveness and safety of screening and counselling interventions
      conducted by non-physicians and physicians: a systematic review].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Current forecasts project a future shortage of physicians which might
      compromise the quality of health care if not addressed adequately by health
      policy decisions. One proposed measure is to shift selected tasks and
      responsibilities from physicians to other medical staff, a strategy that has
      proven successful in some areas (e. g., chronic disease management). To date, no
      studies have systematically and objectively assessed whether the application of a
      similar strategy to screening and counselling in preventive medicine compromises
      patients' health outcomes and experiences. METHODS: A systematic search was
      conducted in MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and EMBASE (January 2000 -
      June 2014). We dually reviewed articles and assessed the risk of bias. RESULTS:
      3,315 citations were identified and five relevant articles located. Overall, the
      available evidence indicated that there were no substantial differences in
      benefits and harms of screening (colon cancer screening, sexual transmitted
      diseases, and mammography) and counselling (genetic breast cancer risk) between
      non-physicians and physicians. The quality of evidence, however, is very low for
      most comparisons. Reported statistically significant differences for some
      outcomes need to be viewed cautiously. CONCLUSION: Shifting tasks from physicians
      to other medical staff for screening and counselling could be a viable strategy
      to address the shortage of practicing physicians. Adequate training by a
      physician, however, is a prerequisite for the safe and beneficial screening and
      counselling conducted by non-physicians.

PMID- 25839363
TI  - [Development of patient education materials for the "German Prostate Cancer Trial
      PREFERE"].
AB  - The German prostate cancer study PREFERE (www.prefere.de) started in January
      2014. It is the first randomised controlled and preference-based trial to
      investigate all four options available for the treatment of organ-confined
      prostate cancer. According to the "Interdisciplinary evidence-based S3 guideline
      for the early detection, diagnosis and treatment of the different stages of
      prostate cancer" [1], these options include: radical prostatectomy, external
      radiotherapy, brachytherapy and active surveillance. In the context of PREFERE
      preference-based means that potential study participants who do not agree to
      being randomised into all four treatment arms can maximally refuse two treatment
      arms. This poses a big challenge to the patient education strategy employed and
      the information material it requires. In order to inform patients in the context
      of the PREFERE trial patient education materials (patient leaflet and video) had
      to be designed that provide patients with balanced and guideline-based
      information about the disease and the treatment options available, about the need
      for randomisation and, in particular, about the PREFERE trial and support their
      individual preference finding and shared decision making for participating in the
      trial. An iterative structured approach was used to develop the information
      materials on the basis of a previous literature search. Six focus groups with a
      total of 40 participants from three different self-help groups, affected men that
      do not belong to a self-help group, healthy men as well as experts, the members
      of the steering committee of the PREFERE trial and a focus group consisting of 18
      male and female urologists were involved in the development and testing of both
      the patient information leaflet and the patient video. Both the patient
      information leaflet and the video supporting preference finding and decision
      making for participating in the PREFERE trial were tested for understandability
      and suitability by using a questionnaire and conducting a comprehensive
      discussion. The results of these lay evaluations have been included in the final
      revision. Also, a communication resource for physicians has been created
      comprising all the essential aspects of the PREFERE patient education materials.
      A short course conducted all over Germany will focus on the process of patient
      teaching as well as patient education materials. Whether and to what extent the
      decision for participating in the PREFERE trial has actually been influenced 1)
      by what the treating physicians communicated to the patient and 2) by the patient
      education materials used is one of the subjects of a quality of life survey that
      will be conducted following treatment or - in the case of the active surveillance
      option - after randomisation during the PREFERE trial. 

PMID- 25839365
TI  - [Viewpoint: "Next please" - comments on indication determination in clinical
      medicine].

PMID- 25839364
TI  - [Evidence-based health promotion and prevention in settings: which types of study
      designs are needed?].
AB  - Health promotion and health prevention are cornerstones of public health. In
      Germany, a draft health prevention law was rejected in 2013, partly because it
      almost exclusively focused on measures at the individual level. Many health
      promotion and prevention measures, by contrast, (also) address the societal level
      and the environment, but there are few robust studies on their effectiveness, not
      least because of a lack of resources, the complexity of the measures, or
      randomisation problems. For example, regulations that protect non-smokers from
      smoke are subject to political processes where the majority of decision-makers
      would decline consent for randomisation. In a workshop at the 15(th) Annual
      Meeting of the German Network for Evidence-based Medicine (DNEbM) two case
      studies on controlled before-and-after studies (CBA) and interrupted time series
      (ITS) were developed by the audience as possible alternatives to randomised
      controlled trials for the evaluation of health promotion and health prevention
      programmes. The suggestions made by the audience were compared to the study
      designs chosen in published studies, and the strengths and weaknesses of the
      different study designs were discussed. The wide array of suggestions for
      effectiveness studies illustrated the potential of evidence-based health
      promotion and prevention, but also the specific challenges to be faced. 

PMID- 25839366
TI  - [Improved stoves for reducing cardiovascular and respiratory tract diseases in
      developing countries - which factors enable or prevent implementation?].

PMID- 25839367
TI  - [Comment on the article by Rehfuess, Eva et al. (2014): Enablers and barriers to
      large-scale uptake of improved solid fuel stoves: a systematic review.
      Environmental Health Perspectives. Vol. 122, No. 2. ].

PMID- 25839368
TI  - [Incomplete dental caries restoration: a systematic review and meta-analysis].

PMID- 25839369
TI  - [Comment on the practical relevance of the David Sackett Award 2014 excellent
      work "Incomplete removal of caries: A systematic review and meta-analysis" by
      Falk Schwendicke].

PMID- 25839370
TI  - Short communication: final year students' deficits in physical examination skills
      performance in Germany.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The physical examination of patients is an important diagnostic
      competence, but little is known about the examination skills of final-year
      medical students. AIMS: To investigate physical examination skills of final-year
      medical students. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 40 final-year students
      were asked to perform a detailed physical examination on standardized patients.
      Their performances were video-recorded and rated by independent video assessors.
      RESULTS: Video ratings showed a mean success rate of 40.1 % (SD 8.2). As regards
      accompanying doctor-patient communication, final-year students achieved a mean of
      no more than 36.7 % (SD 8.9) in the appropriate use of the corresponding
      communication items. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed severe deficits among final
      year medical students in performing a detailed physical examination on a
      standardized patient. Thus, physical examination skills training should aim to
      improve these deficits while also paying attention to communicative aspects.

PMID- 25839371
TI  - [jeder-fehler-zaehlt.de: Content of and prospective benefits from a critical
      incident reporting and learning system (CIRS) for primary care].
AB  - Critical incident reporting and learning systems (CIRS) have been recommended as
      an instrument to promote patient safety for a long time. However, both their
      scientific value and their actual impact have been disputed. The nationwide
      German CIRS for primary care has been in operation since September 2004. Incident
      reports are available online, and the question is how to make use of this large
      database to promote patient safety. A descriptive analysis of the content was
      performed, classifying, in particular, types of error and contributing factors.
      Its usage is presented for the period from 2004 to 2013 where a total of 483
      complete reports have been recorded. Their severity ranges from 35.6 % with no
      tangible harm to patients to 14.6 % with important harm (or errors contributing
      to mortality). The majority of them (74.2 %) were process errors, compared to
      25.8 % knowledge/skills errors. The main areas involved were treatment/medication
      (54.2 %) and diagnosis/tests (16.4 %). The results of the analysis of the CIRS
      cannot be used as an epidemiological data source. And yet they will generate
      hypotheses for further research in the field of patient safety. Moreover, they
      will enable practice teams to make themselves familiar with and learn from
      critical incident analysis. In spite of the specific difficulties in ambulatory
      care, CIRS should be promoted in this sector to enable learning. Participation in
      CIRS can be increased by enhanced feedback. 

PMID- 25839372
TI  - [Subgroups in the early benefit assessment of pharmaceuticals: a methodical
      review].
AB  - Benefit assessments according to Sect. 35a of the Social Code Book V are
      frequently divided into subsets of populations. This division of therapeutic
      indications is evident in almost every other of the completed appraisals by the
      Federal Joint Committee (G-BA). The subsets can be deduced from the wording of
      the approved therapeutic indication (subpopulations) or from potential effect
      modification (subgroups). Methodological challenges are illustrated on the basis
      of current scientific knowledge of how to tackle subgroups. Practical assessment
      examples are used to explain the methods implemented by IQWiG and the G-BA and
      reveal major problem areas concerning subgroup analyses, subpopulations as well
      as mismatches between the requirements of early benefit assessment and approval.
      Overall, it appears there is a need for establishing a more comprehensive
      discussion regarding the validity of subgroup analyses and their associated
      limitations. 

PMID- 25839373
TI  - [Medicine and economics - a perspective from Switzerland].

PMID- 25839374
TI  - Carry-over of self-regulation for physical activity to self-regulating eating in
      women with morbid obesity.
AB  - Poor outcomes from behavioral treatments of severe obesity have led to a
      dependence on invasive medical interventions, including surgery for morbidly
      obese individuals. Improved methods to self-regulate eating will be required to
      reduce obesity. The use of self-regulation methods for completing physical
      activity may carry over to increased self-regulation for eating through improved
      feelings of competence (self-efficacy) and mood. The study recruited women
      (Meanage = 43 years) with morbid obesity (MeanBMI = 44 kg/m(2)) to participate in
      26 weeks of cognitive-behavioral support of physical activity paired with either
      nutrition education (n = 51) or cognitive-behavioral nutrition (n = 51) methods.
      Data collected were from 2011 and 2012. Significant improvements in self
      regulation for physical activity, self-regulation for eating, overall mood, and
      self-efficacy for eating, with greater improvement in self-regulation for eating,
      were observed in the cognitive-behavioral nutrition group. Changes in mood and
      self-efficacy for eating significantly mediated the relationship between changes
      in self-regulation for physical activity and self-regulation for eating. When
      subscales of overall mood and self-efficacy were entered into separate regression
      equations as mediators, the only significant mediators were vigor, and
      controlling eating when socially pressured and when increased cues to overeat
      were present. 

PMID- 25839376
TI  - Stability of Cerebral Aneurysms After Stent-Assisted Coil Embolization: A
      Propensity Score-Matched Analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The availability of stents has widened the indications of
      endovascular intervention for cerebral aneurysms. OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the
      effect of stents on radiologic outcomes and to analyze the risk factors for
      aneurysmal recanalization via propensity score matching. METHODS: From the 735
      aneurysms treated with coil embolization with stents (n = 187) and without stents
      (n = 548) between 2009 and 2011, 157 propensity score-matched case pairs were
      selected. The recanalization rates and relevant risk factors were analyzed. The
      mean follow-up interval was 24.1 +/- 11.3 months (range, 6-48 months) and 22.9 +/
      11.4 months (range, 6-56 months) in the stent and nonstent groups, respectively
      (P = .388). RESULTS: The stent group demonstrated lower recanalization rates than
      the nonstent group during both the 6-month (1.9% vs 10.2%, P = .004) and the
      final follow-up periods (8.3% vs 18.5%, P = .005). The multivariate analysis
      identified the following significant factors for recanalization: the use of
      stents (hazard ratio, 0.40; 95% confidence interval, 0.21-0.76, P = .005), larger
      aneurysm size (hazard ratio, 1.21; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-1.31, P < .001),
      and initially incomplete occlusion (hazard ratio, 2.39; 95% confidence interval,
      1.28-4.43, P = .006). The incidence of permanent neurological complication tended
      to be higher in the stent group than in the nonstent group (3.2% vs 0%, P =
      .063). CONCLUSION: In this propensity score-matched analysis, stent implantation
      reduced the overall recanalization of the coiled cerebral aneurysms. However, the
      use of stents should be carefully decided upon.

PMID- 25839377
TI  - Smoking and Intracranial Aneurysm Morphology.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Smoking is a well-known independent risk factor for both aneurysm
      formation and rupture. There is mounting evidence that aneurysm morphology beyond
      size can have a significant role in aneurysm formation and rupture risk by its
      effects on aneurysmal hemodynamics. OBJECTIVE: To study the variation in aneurysm
      morphology between smokers and nonsmokers and delineate how changes in these
      factors might affect aneurysm formation and rupture. METHODS: We generated 3
      dimensional models of aneurysms and their surrounding vasculature by analyzing
      preoperative computed tomography angiograms with Slicer software. We then
      examined the association between smoking status and intrinsic, transitional, and
      extrinsic aspects of aneurysm morphology in both univariate and multivariate
      statistical analyses. RESULTS: From 2005 to 2013, 199 cerebral aneurysms in never
      smokers and current smokers were evaluated/treated at a single institution with
      available computed tomography angiograms (102 in never smokers and 97 in current
      smokers). Multivariate analysis of current smokers vs never smokers demonstrated
      that aneurysms in current smokers were significantly associated with multiple
      aneurysms (odds ratio [OR]: 2.15, P = .03), larger daughter vessel diameters (OR:
      3.13, P = .01), larger size ratio (OR: 1.78, P = .01), and location at the
      basilar apex (OR: 6.26, P = .02). CONCLUSION: The differences in aneurysm
      morphology between smoking and nonsmoking patient populations may elucidate the
      effects of smoking on aneurysm formation and eventual rupture. We identified
      several aspects of aneurysm morphology significantly associated with smoking
      status that may provide the morphological basis for how smoking leads to
      increased aneurysm rupture.

PMID- 25839383
TI  - Update on Urological Management of Spina Bifida from Prenatal Diagnosis to
      Adulthood.
AB  - PURPOSE: We review the current literature regarding urological management of
      spina bifida from prenatal diagnosis to adulthood. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We
      searched MEDLINE((r)), EMBASE((r)) and PubMed((r)) for English articles published
      through December 2014 using search terms "spina bifida," "spinal dysraphism" and
      "bladder." Based on review of titles and abstracts, 437 of 1,869 articles were
      identified as addressing topics related to open spina bifida in pediatric
      patients, or long-term or quality of life outcomes in adults with spina bifida.
      We summarize this literature to inform clinical guidelines and create a framework
      for disease management. RESULTS: The birth prevalence of spina bifida in the
      United States has recently plateaued at approximately 30 per 100,000. With
      improved management more individuals are surviving to adulthood, with an economic
      impact of $319,000 during the lifetime of an individual with spina bifida. Recent
      advances in prenatal surgery have demonstrated that prenatal closure of spina
      bifida is possible. To assess safety and efficacy, the National Institutes of
      Health sponsored Management of Myelomeningocele Study was undertaken, in which
      subjects were randomized to prenatal or postnatal closure. Until the urological
      results of this trial are published, the impact of prenatal intervention on
      future bladder function remains unclear. Controversy continues regarding the
      optimal use and timing of urodynamic studies, and the indications for initiation
      of clean intermittent catheterization and anticholinergics in infants and
      children. Many favor expectant management, while others argue for a more
      proactive approach. Based on the current literature, both approaches appear to
      protect the child from renal injury, although delayed intervention may increase
      rates of bladder augmentation. The current literature regarding this topic is
      difficult to interpret and compare due to heterogeneity of patient populations,
      variable outcome measures and lack of reporting of quality of life outcomes.
      Surgical intervention is indicated for those at risk for renal deterioration
      and/or is considered for children who fail to achieve satisfactory continence
      with medical management. Traditionally surgery concentrates on the bladder and
      bladder neck, and creation of catheterizable channels. For those with a hostile
      bladder, enterocystoplasty remains the gold standard for bladder augmentation,
      although use of bowel for augmentation remains suboptimal due to secondary
      complications, including increased risk of infections, metabolic abnormalities,
      neoplastic transformation and risk of life threatening perforation. Recent
      advances in tissue engineering technology may provide an alternative to
      traditional augmentation. However, recent results from phase II trials using
      current techniques to augment the bladder with engineered bladder tissue are
      disappointing. Catheterizable channels to the bladder and ascending colon further
      facilitate continence measures and promote independent care. While surgical
      reconstruction is clearly successful in improving continence, recent outcome
      studies have questioned the true impact of this type of surgery on quality of
      life. With improved survival transitional care issues, including health related
      independence, sexual health needs and development of a support system, are
      increasingly important. Transitional care remains a significant issue for which
      few public health measures are being quantitatively evaluated. CONCLUSIONS:
      Despite consensus regarding early urological involvement in the care of patients
      with spina bifida, controversy remains regarding optimal management. Major
      reconstructive urological surgeries still have a major role in the management of
      these cases to protect the upper urinary tract and to achieve continence.
      However, future studies are needed to better clarify the true impact on quality
      of life that these interventions have on patients and their families. Transition
      of urological care to adulthood remains a major avenue for improvement in disease
      management.

PMID- 25839382
TI  - Intravesical Liposomal Tacrolimus Protects against Radiation Cystitis Induced by
      3-Beam Targeted Bladder Radiation.
AB  - PURPOSE: We primarily determined whether the small animal radiation research
      platform could create a rat radiation cystitis model via targeted bladder
      irradiation (phase I). The response to treating early phase radiation cystitis in
      rats with transurethral catheter instillation of liposomal tacrolimus was also
      examined (phase II). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In phase I 16 adult female Sprague
      Dawley(r) rats were used. Metabolic urination patterns were analyzed before and
      after exposure to 20, 30 or 40 Gy radiation. In phase II irradiated rats were
      randomly assigned to receive a single instillation of saline or liposomal
      tacrolimus. RESULTS: The 40 Gy radiation dose induced statistically significant
      reductions in the intermicturition interval compared to the lower radiation
      doses. By approximately 20 minutes 40 Gy radiation caused a significant decrease
      in the mean intermicturition interval (p < 0.0001). Histological analysis
      revealed degenerative epithelial changes and urothelial swelling with evidence of
      pseudocarcinomatous epithelial hyperplasia. Therefore, 40 Gy were chosen for the
      phase II efficacy study. There was no measurable change in total voided urine
      volume after irradiation, or after liposomal tacrolimus or saline instillation.
      Liposomal tacrolimus significantly increased the post-irradiation
      intermicturition interval by approximately 30 minutes back to baseline (p <
      0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The radiation cystitis rat model showed a dose dependent
      decrease in the intermicturition interval without inducing short-term skin or
      gastrointestinal damage. This study demonstrates that liposomal tacrolimus may be
      a promising new intravesical therapy for the rare, serious condition of radiation
      cystitis.

PMID- 25839384
TI  - Minilaparoscopic versus standard laparoscopic hysterectomy for uteri >= 16 weeks
      of gestation: surgical outcomes, postoperative quality of life, and cosmesis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Hysterectomy for enlarged uteri is a surgical challenge. Our aim was
      to compare perioperative outcomes, cosmesis, and postoperative quality of life
      following laparoscopic hysterectomy for large uteri using minilaparoscopic 3-mm
      versus conventional laparoscopic 5-mm instruments. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We
      prospectively enrolled women with a uterus between 16 and 20 weeks of gestation
      at the preoperative examination. These patients underwent laparoscopic procedures
      using either 3-mm (minilaparoscopy group) or 5-mm (standard laparoscopy group)
      instruments. Five months after surgery, patients were called back to fill out the
      validated Italian translation of the Short Form 12-item Health Survey. Data about
      the cosmetic outcome of the procedure were also collected, using a Numeric Rating
      Scale (NRS) from 0 to 10. RESULTS: Seventy-eight women were included (27 in the 3
      mm and 51 in the 5-mm groups). Perioperative characteristics were comparable
      between groups. The median uterus weight was 575 (range, 440-1050) g and 550 (400
      1000) g in the 3-mm and 5-mm groups, respectively. No minilaparoscopic procedure
      was converted to standard 5-mm or to an open approach. One (2%) conversion to
      open abdominal surgery was needed in the conventional laparoscopy group. A better
      subjective cosmetic outcome was found in the 3-mm (NRS, 9.7 +/- 0.4) versus the 5
      mm (NRS, 8.9 +/- 1.2) group (P=.01). Postoperative quality of life was comparable
      between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Minilaparoscopic hysterectomy is feasible, even in
      the case of an enlarged-size uterus. Moreover, it is associated with a better
      cosmetic outcome, compared with conventional laparoscopy.

PMID- 25839385
TI  - Adjacent Segment Disease After Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion: Based on Cases
      With a Minimum of 10 Years of Follow-up.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case-controlled study. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the
      incidence of adjacent segment degeneration (ASD) and the associated risk factors
      during a period of at least 10 years after posterior lumbar interbody fusion
      (PLIF). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: ASD is a problematic sequelae after spinal
      fusion surgery. Few long-term follow-up studies have investigated ASD after PLIF;
      thus, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data available for the evaluation of
      postoperative changes associated with ASD are limited. METHOD: One hundred one
      patients were retrospectively enrolled. The minimum follow-up was 10 years after
      surgery. Preoperative and postoperative (2, 5, and 10 yr after surgery)
      Radiographs and MRI images were evaluated. Disc height, vertebral slip, and
      intervertebral angle were examined on radiographical images. Disc degeneration
      and spinal stenosis on MRI images were evaluated. Risk factors for developing
      early-onset radiographical ASD were evaluated using a multivariate logistic
      regression analysis. RESULT: The degenerative changes in disc height, vertebral
      slip, and intervertebral angle on radiographs 10 years after surgery were found
      in 12, 36, and 17 cases, respectively, at the cranial-adjacent level and in 3, 6,
      and 11 cases, respectively, at the caudal-adjacent level. Increased disc
      degeneration and spinal stenosis worsening were observed in 62 and 68 cases,
      respectively, at the cranial-adjacent level and in 25 and 12 cases, respectively,
      at the caudal-adjacent level on MRI 10 years after surgery. Ten patients (9.9%)
      required reoperation, and 80% of revision surgeries were performed more than 5
      years after the initial surgery. High pelvic incidence was a risk factor for
      developing early-onset radiographical ASD. CONCLUSION: The majority of the
      reoperations for ASD were performed more than 5 years after the initial lumbar
      fusion surgery, although the progression of radiographical ASD began in the early
      postoperative period. A high degree of pelvic incidence was a risk factor for
      developing early-onset radiographical ASD. Obtaining appropriate lumbar lordosis
      in PLIF is important for preventing ASD. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.

PMID- 25839386
TI  - Sagittal Thoracic and Lumbar Spine Profiles in Upright Standing and Lying Prone
      Positions Among Healthy Subjects: Influence of Various Biometric Features.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: A prospective study was performed on the assessment of both
      thoracic and lumbar spine sagittal profiles (from C7 to S1). OBJECTIVE: To
      propose a new noninvasive method for measuring the spine curvatures in standing
      and lying prone positions and to analyze their relationship with various
      biometric characteristics. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Modifications of spine
      curvatures (i.e. lordosis or kyphosis) are of importance in the development of
      spinal disorders. Studies have emphasized the development of new devices to
      measure the spine sagittal profiles using a noninvasive and low-cost method. To
      date, it has not been applied for analyzing both lumbar and thoracic alterations
      for various positioning. METHODS: Seventy-five healthy subjects (mean 22.6 +/-
      4.3 yr) were recruited to participate in this study. Thoracic and lumbar sagittal
      profiles were assessed in standing and lying prone positions using a 3D
      digitizer. In addition, several biometric data were collected including maximal
      trunk isometric strength for flexion and extension movement. Statistical analysis
      consisted in data comparisons of spine profiles and a multivariate analysis
      including biometric features, to classify individuals considering low within- and
      high between-variability. RESULT: Kyphosis and lordosis angles decreased
      significantly from standing to lying prone position by an average of 13.4 degrees
      and 16.6 degrees , respectively. Multivariate analysis showed a sample
      clustering of 3 homogenous subgroups. The first group displayed larger lordosis
      and flexibility, and had low data values for height, weight, and strength. The
      second group had lower values than the overall trend of the whole sample, whereas
      the third group had larger score values for the torques, height, weight, waist,
      body mass index, and kyphosis angle but a reduced flexibility. CONCLUSION: The
      present results demonstrate a significant effect of the positioning on both
      thoracic and lumbar spine sagittal profiles and highlight the use of cluster
      analysis to categorize subgroups after biometric characteristics including
      curvature measurement. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: N/A.

PMID- 25839387
TI  - Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: Epidemiology, Genetics, and Pathogenesis.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Review. OBJECTIVE: To formally introduce "degenerative cervical
      myelopathy" (DCM) as the overarching term to describe the various degenerative
      conditions of the cervical spine that cause myelopathy. Herein, the epidemiology,
      pathogenesis, and genetics of conditions falling under this hypernym are
      carefully described. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Nontraumatic, degenerative forms
      of cervical myelopathy represent the commonest cause of spinal cord impairment in
      adults and include cervical spondylotic myelopathy, ossification of the posterior
      longitudinal ligament, ossification of the ligamentum flavum, and degenerative
      disc disease. Unfortunately, there is neither a specific term nor a specific
      diagnostic International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision code to
      describe this collection of clinical entities. This has resulted in the
      inconsistent use of diagnostic terms when referring to patients with myelopathy
      due to degenerative disease of the cervical spine. METHODS: Narrative review.
      RESULTS: The incidence and prevalence of myelopathy due to degeneration of the
      spine are estimated at a minimum of 41 and 605 per million in North America,
      respectively. Incidence of cervical spondylotic myelopathy-related
      hospitalizations has been estimated at 4.04/100,000 person-years, and surgical
      rates seem to be rising. Pathophysiologically, myelopathy results from static
      compression, spinal malalignment leading to altered cord tension and vascular
      supply, and dynamic injury mechanisms. Occupational hazards, including
      transportation of goods by weight bearing on top of the head, and other risk
      factors may accelerate DCM development. Potential genetic factors include those
      related to MMP-2 and collagen IX for degenerative disc disease, and collagen VI
      and XI for ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament. In addition,
      congenital anomalies including spinal stenosis, Down syndrome, and Klippel-Feil
      syndrome may predispose to the development of DCM. CONCLUSION: Although DCMs can
      present as separate diagnostic entities, they are highly interrelated, frequently
      manifest concomitantly, present similarly from a clinical standpoint, and seem to
      be in part a response to compensate and improve stability due to progressive age
      and wear of the cervical spine. The use of the term "degenerative cervical
      myelopathy" is advocated. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 5.

PMID- 25839388
TI  - What Patient Characteristics Could Potentially Affect Patient Satisfaction Scores
      During Spine Clinic?
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Prospective study. OBJECTIVE: Assess which patient factors are
      associated with patient satisfaction scores in the outpatient spine clinic
      setting. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Patient satisfaction has become an important
      component of quality assessments, and thereby pay-for-performance metrics, made
      by government, hospitals, and insurance providers. METHODS: During a 7-month
      period, 200 patients were contacted via phone within 3 weeks of a new patient
      encounter with 1 of 11 spine providers. A standardized patient satisfaction phone
      survey consisting of 25 questions, answered using a 1-10 scale, was then
      administered. Patient demographics, medical/social history, and previous
      treatment were prospectively recorded. Potential associations between these
      patient factors and 3 outcomes of interest were investigated: (1) provider
      satisfaction, (2) overall clinic visit satisfaction, and (3) overall quality of
      care during clinic visit. RESULTS: Younger age, less formal education, and
      smoking were associated with diminished provider satisfaction, overall clinic
      visit satisfaction, and perceived overall quality of care (P <= 0.0001). Male
      patients were significantly less satisfied with their clinic visit compared with
      females (P = 0.029). Those treated under a worker's compensation claim were
      significantly less satisfied with their provider and overall quality of care (P
      <= 0.02). Marital status, working status, mental health history, travel distance,
      pain characteristics, previous treatments, and current narcotic use were not
      significant determinants of patient satisfaction (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: This
      study found that those patients who were younger, with less formal education, and
      active smokers had lower patient satisfaction scores. Because patient
      satisfaction is increasingly being used in assessments of quality of care, it is
      essential that these factors be considered when evaluating a given provider's
      practice. This information is important to providers by helping guide
      individualized patient interactions while in clinic, as well as, the various
      agencies collecting satisfaction scores allowing them to account for potential
      sampling bias. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 1.

PMID- 25839389
TI  - Part 3: Developing Methods of In Vivo MRI Measurement of Spinal Cord Displacement
      in the Thoracolumbar Region of Asymptomatic Subjects With Unilateral and
      Bilateral Straight Leg Raise Tests.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Controlled radiological study. OBJECTIVE: Verify (1) whether conus
      medullaris displacement varies with the range of hip flexion and (2) whether the
      acquired data support the "principle of linear dependence." SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND
      DATA: We have previously quantified normal displacement of the conus with
      unilateral and bilateral straight leg raise (SLR) and have described the
      "principle of linear dependence." However, we have since effected methodological
      advances that have produced data that surpass previous studies. METHODS: Ten
      asymptomatic volunteers were scanned with a 1.5-T magnetic resonance scanner
      using T2-weighted spc 3-dimensional scanning sequences and a device that permits
      greater ranges of SLR. Displacement of the conus medullaris during the unilateral
      and bilateral SLRs was quantified reliably with a randomized procedure. RESULTS:
      Pearson correlations were higher than 0.99 for both intra- and interobserver
      reliability and the observed power was 1 for each tested maneuver. The conus
      displaced caudally in the spinal canal by 3.54 +/- 0.87 mm (MU +/- SD) with
      unilateral (P <= 0.001) and 7.42 +/- 2.09 mm with bilateral SLR (P <= 0.001).
      CONCLUSION: To the authors' knowledge, these are the first data on noninvasive,
      in vivo, normative measurement of spinal cord displacement with the SLR test at
      60 degrees  of hip flexion. Conus medullaris displacement increased with hip
      flexion angle, while maintaining the relationship between magnitude of conus
      displacement and number of nerve roots involved into the movement, supporting the
      "principle of linear dependence." The use of T2-weighted spc 3-dimensional
      sequence allows for better reliability testing, which is important for future
      clinical utility. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 5.

PMID- 25839390
TI  - Experimental integrative muscular movement technique enhances cervical range of
      motion in patients with chronic neck pain: a pilot study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Neck pain presents a tremendous physical and financial burden. This
      study compared the efficacy of the complementary and alternative medical
      treatments of integrative muscular movement technique (IMMT) and Swedish massage
      on neck pain in women of occupation age, the largest demographic group with neck
      pain. METHODS: A total of 38 women were assigned to IMMT (n=28) or Swedish
      massage (n=10) in a blinded manner. Both groups received eight 30-minute
      treatments over 4 weeks. Cervical range of motion (ROM) in flexion, extension,
      sidebending, and rotation was measured before and after treatment. Each patient's
      pain was assessed by using an analogue pain scale of 0-10. RESULTS: Compared with
      the Swedish massage group, patients receiving IMMT experienced a significant
      increase in ROM in cervical flexion (p<0.001), extension (p<0.001), sidebending
      (p<0.05), and rotation (p<0.001). Absolute change in pain for IMMT was -1.75
      units compared with -0.3 units for Swedish massage (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Patients
      receiving the IMMT demonstrated significantly improved cervical ROM in every
      movement measured compared with Swedish massage. Inclusion of the IMMT in a
      treatment regimen for chronic neck pain may lead to decreased pain and increased
      cervical ROM. These positive effects of the IMMT intervention may have a role in
      enhancing functional outcomes in patients with neck pain.

PMID- 25839391
TI  - Complement C3 mediated targeting of liposomes to granulocytic myeloid derived
      suppressor cells.
AB  - In cancer patients, granulocytic myeloid derived suppressor cells (G-MDSCs)
      expand in number, infiltrating tumor and lymphatic tissues where they suppress an
      anti-tumor immune response. We report here the development of a liposomal drug
      delivery system that selectively targets G-MDSCs. The liposomes form a disulfide
      bond with activated complement C3 after intravenous injection and are taken up by
      G-MDSCs, which express the receptor for activated C3. In vitro experiments
      utilizing serum from a C3 knockout mouse demonstrate that G-MDSCs take up these
      liposomes in a C3-dependent manner. After systemic administration to tumor
      bearing mice, liposomes were incorporated by 22% of G-MDSCs in the blood and were
      also present in a percentage of G-MDSCs in the tumor (11%), spleen (22%), liver
      (35%) and lungs (26%). This liposomal system offers a versatile means of targeted
      drug delivery to G-MDSCs and could be an important tool for restoring anti-tumor
      immunity in cancer patients. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: It has been shown that the
      presence of granulocytic myeloid derived suppressor cells (G-MDSCs) in cancer
      patients suppress the tumor immune response of T cells. Many drugs can be used to
      reverse this process. In this article, the authors describe the development of a
      liposomal drug delivery system for targeted drug delivery to G- MDSCs. This
      system may prove to be useful adjunct in immunotherapy in the fight against
      cancers.

PMID- 25839392
TI  - Nanoformulation of antiretroviral drugs enhances their penetration across the
      blood brain barrier in mice.
AB  - Eradication of virus by sanctuary sites is a main goal in HIV management. The
      central nervous system (CNS) is a classic model of sanctuary where viral
      replication occurs despite a complete viral suppression in peripheral blood. In
      recent years, nanotechnologies have provided a great promise in the eradication
      of HIV from the CNS. We hereby demonstrate for the first time that the
      structurally complex antiretroviral drug enfuvirtide (Enf), which normally is
      unable to penetrate the cerebrospinal fluid, is allowed to cross the blood brain
      barrier (BBB) in mice by conjugation with a nanoconstruct. Iron oxide
      nanoparticles coated with an amphiphilic polymer increase Enf translocation
      across the BBB in both in vitro and in vivo models. The mechanism involves the
      uptake of nanoconjugated-Enf in the endothelial cells, the nanocomplex
      dissociation and the release of the peptide, which is eventually excreted by the
      cells in the brain parenchyma. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: Despite the success of
      cocktail therapy of antiretroviral drugs, the complete eradication of HIV remains
      elusive, due to existence of viral sanctuary sites. The authors showed in this
      study that an antiretroviral drug complexed with iron oxide nanoparticles and
      coated with PMA amphiphilic polymer crosses the blood brain barrier. Furthermore,
      there was significant anti-viral activity. The results would aid further drug
      designs to eradicate HIV.

PMID- 25839393
TI  - Cluster analysis of quantitative parametric maps from DCE-MRI: application in
      evaluating heterogeneity of tumor response to antiangiogenic treatment.
AB  - PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to compare a clustering approach to
      conventional analysis methods for assessing changes in pharmacokinetic parameters
      obtained from dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI)
      during antiangiogenic treatment in a breast cancer model. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      BALB/c mice bearing established transplantable her2+ tumors were treated with a
      DNA-based antiangiogenic vaccine or with an empty plasmid (untreated group). DCE
      MRI was carried out by administering a dose of 0.05 mmol/kg of Gadocoletic acid
      trisodium salt, a Gd-based blood pool contrast agent (CA) at 1T. Changes in
      pharmacokinetic estimates (K(trans) and vp) in a nine-day interval were compared
      between treated and untreated groups on a voxel-by-voxel analysis. The tumor
      response to therapy was assessed by a clustering approach and compared with
      conventional summary statistics, with sub-regions analysis and with histogram
      analysis. RESULTS: Both the K(trans) and vp estimates, following blood-pool CA
      injection, showed marked and spatial heterogeneous changes with antiangiogenic
      treatment. Averaged values for the whole tumor region, as well as from the
      rim/core sub-regions analysis were unable to assess the antiangiogenic response.
      Histogram analysis resulted in significant changes only in the vp estimates
      (p<0.05). The proposed clustering approach depicted marked changes in both the
      K(trans) and vp estimates, with significant spatial heterogeneity in vp maps in
      response to treatment (p<0.05), provided that DCE-MRI data are properly clustered
      in three or four sub-regions. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the value of
      cluster analysis applied to pharmacokinetic DCE-MRI parametric maps for assessing
      tumor response to antiangiogenic therapy.

PMID- 25839394
TI  - A rapid approach for quantitative magnetization transfer imaging in thigh muscles
      using the pulsed saturation method.
AB  - Quantitative magnetization transfer (qMT) imaging in skeletal muscle may be
      confounded by intramuscular adipose components, low signal-to-noise ratios
      (SNRs), and voluntary and involuntary motion artifacts. Collectively, these
      issues could create bias and error in parameter fitting. In this study, technical
      considerations related to these factors were systematically investigated, and
      solutions were proposed. First, numerical simulations indicate that the presence
      of an additional fat component significantly underestimates the pool size ratio
      (F). Therefore, fat-signal suppression (or water-selective excitation) is
      recommended for qMT imaging of skeletal muscle. Second, to minimize the effect of
      motion and muscle contraction artifacts in datasets collected with a conventional
      14-point sampling scheme, a rapid two-parameter model was adapted from previous
      studies in the brain and spinal cord. The consecutive pair of sampling points
      with highest accuracy and precision for estimating F was determined with
      numerical simulations. Its performance with respect to SNR and incorrect
      parameter assumptions was systematically evaluated. QMT data fitting was
      performed in healthy control subjects and polymyositis patients, using both the
      two- and five-parameter models. The experimental results were consistent with the
      predictions from the numerical simulations. These data support the use of the two
      parameter modeling approach for qMT imaging of skeletal muscle as a means to
      reduce total imaging time and/or permit additional signal averaging. 

PMID- 25839395
TI  - A new biodegradable and biocompatible gadolinium (III) -polymer for liver
      magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent.
AB  - A new biodegradable and biocompatible gadolinium (III) -copolymer (ACL-A2-DOTA
      Gd) has been developed as a potential liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
      contrast agent. ACL-A2-DOTA-Gd consisted of a poly (aspartic acid-co-leucine)
      unit bound with 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecan-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid
      gadolinium (Gd-DOTA) via the linkage of ethylenediamine. In vitro, the
      biodegradable experiment and cytotoxicity assay showed the biodegradability and
      biocompatibility of this gadolinium-polymer. ACL-A2-DOTA-Gd presented an increase
      in relaxivity of 2.4 times than the clinical Gd-DOTA. In vivo, gadolinium (III)
      copolymer was mainly accumulated in the liver, and it could be excreted via the
      renal and hepatobiliary mechanism. The average enhancement of ACL-A2-DOTA-Gd
      (60.71+/-5.93%, 50-80 min) in liver was 2.62-fold greater than that of Gd-DOTA
      (23.16+/-3.55%, 10-30 min). ACL-A2-DOTA-Gd could be as a potential liver MRI
      contrast agent with a long time-window.

PMID- 25839396
TI  - Attenuation of Cell Death in Injured Cortex After Post-Traumatic Brain Injury
      Moderate Hypothermia: Possible Involvement of Autophagy Pathway.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Multiple mechanisms participated in the cell death after fluid
      percussion traumatic brain injury (TBI). In the present study, we evaluated the
      effect on cell death in the injured cortex after fluid percussion TBI and
      investigated a possible role of autophagy. METHODS: TBI model was induced by a
      fluid percussion TBI device. Moderate hypothermia (32 degrees C) was achieved by
      partial immersion in a water bath (0 degrees C) under general anesthesia for 4
      hours. All rats were killed at 6 or 24 hours after TBI. RESULTS: Cleaved caspase
      3 evaluated with Western blotting and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase
      mediated 2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate-biotin nick end labeling-positive cells
      in injured cortex were significantly increased 6 hours after fluid percussion TBI
      and were further up-regulated 24 hours after TBI, dramatic up-regulation of
      Beclin-1 and protein light chain-3 expression levels was also observed. Further
      up-regulation of biomarkers of autophagy, attenuation of caspase 3 up-regulation
      and reduction of cell death was observed after 4 hours of hypothermia.
      Immunofluorescence analysis for cell localization demonstrated that protein light
      chain-3- and Beclin-1-positive cells included neurons and glial cells in the
      injured cortex after TBI and hypothermic treatment. By ultrastructural
      observation, autolysosomes in injured cortex were significantly increased at 6
      and 24 hours after TBI and were further up-regulated after TBI hypothermic
      treatment. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that hypothermic treatment could
      attenuate TBI-induced cell death in this fluid percussion TBI model, possibly
      through activation of autophagy pathway.

PMID- 25839397
TI  - Delayed Diagnosis of Enhancing Posterior Fossa Tumors Mimicking the Tela
      Choroidea of the Fourth Ventricle.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Posterior fossa brain tumors are common in children. Symptoms
      typically develop when the tumors have reached sufficient size to cause
      compression of adjacent neural structures or cause obstructive hydrocephalus.
      Many tumors in this region originate from the tela choroidea and choroid plexus
      of the fourth ventricle. Enhancement of the fourth ventricular tela choroidea and
      choroid plexus is uncommon in children, and when such enhancement is present, it
      may represent early tumor growth. METHODS: A 5-year-old girl with a history of
      congenital nystagmus, for whom initial work-up was reported as negative,
      presented again several years later with headache, nausea, and vomiting. She was
      found to have a large posterior fossa lesion on repeat neuroimaging that was
      retrospectively seen on the first neuroimaging scan as prominent enhancement in
      the region of the fourth ventricular choroid plexus. The second patient presented
      with congenital nystagmus and a lingual tremor and was found to have a slowly
      growing lesion situated in the fourth ventricle. Initial imaging was read as
      nodularly enhancing tela choroidea, but subsequent scans revealed enlargement of
      the lesion. RESULTS: The first patient underwent gross total resection, and
      neuropathology was consistent with an atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor. The
      patient has done well with postoperative adjuvant therapies. In the second
      patient, resection of the lesion revealed ependymoma; the patient has done well
      after adjuvant radiation therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric patients who have
      enhancing tela choroidea or choroid plexus without an obvious mass lesion of the
      fourth ventricle may harbor early tumors. Surveillance imaging in these patients
      may be warranted given the aggressive nature of certain posterior fossa tumors in
      children. Failure to recognize abnormal enhancement patterns in this region may
      lead to delayed diagnosis.

PMID- 25839398
TI  - Transfusion Frequency of Red Blood Cells, Fresh Frozen Plasma, and Platelets
      During Ruptured Cerebral Aneurysm Surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The use of blood products after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is
      common, but not without controversy. The optimal hemoglobin level in patients
      with SAH is unknown, and data on perioperative need for red blood cell (RBC),
      fresh frozen plasma (FFP), or platelet transfusions are limited. We studied
      perioperative administration of RBCs, FFP, and platelets and the impact of red
      blood cell transfusions (RBCTs) on outcome in patients undergoing surgery for
      ruptured a cerebral arterial aneurysm. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was
      performed of 488 patients with aneurysmal SAH during the years 2006-2009 at
      Helsinki University Central Hospital. Patients who received RBC, FFP, or platelet
      concentrates perioperatively were compared with a cohort of patients from the
      Helsinki database of aneurysmal SAH who did not receive transfusions. A multiple
      regression model was created to identify factors related to transfusion and
      outcome. RESULTS: RBC, FFP, or platelet concentrates were given in 7.6% (37 of
      488), 3.1% (15 of 488), and 1.2% (6 of 488) of patients intraoperatively and in
      3.5% (17 of 486), 1.6% (8 of 488), and 0.9% (4 of 488) of patients
      postoperatively. Of 37 intraoperative RBCTs, 26 were related to intraoperative
      rupture of the aneurysm. Intraoperative RBCTs were associated with lower
      preoperative hemoglobin concentration, higher World Federation of Neurosurgical
      Societies classification, and intraoperative rupture of an aneurysm. In
      multivariate analysis, intraoperative RBCT (odds ratio = 5.13, 95% confidence
      interval = 1.53-17.15), worse World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies
      classification and Fisher grade (odds ratio = 1.97, confidence interval = 1.64
      2.36 and odds ratio = 1.89, confidence interval = 1.23-2.92, respectively), and
      increasing age (odds ratio = 1.07, confidence interval = 1.04-1.10) independently
      increased the risk of poor neurologic outcome at 3 months. CONCLUSIONS:
      Transfusion frequencies of RBCs, FFP, and platelets were relatively low.
      Intraoperative RBCT was strongly related to intraoperative rupture of the
      aneurysm in patients with poor-grade SAH. The observed association between poor
      outcome and RBCT in patients with SAH warrants further study.

PMID- 25839399
TI  - Optimal Timing of Whole-Brain Radiation Therapy Following Craniotomy for Cerebral
      Malignancies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For patients with cerebral metastases that are limited in number,
      surgical resection followed by whole-brain radiation therapy is the standard of
      care. In addition, for high-grade gliomas, maximal surgical resection followed by
      local radiotherapy is considered the optimal treatment. Radiation is known to
      impair wound healing, including healing of surgical incisions. Radiotherapy
      shortly after surgical resection would be expected to minimize the opportunity
      for tumor regrowth or progression. Owing to these competing interests, the
      purpose of this study was to shed light on the optimal timing of radiotherapy
      after surgical resection of brain metastasis or high-grade gliomas. METHODS: A
      review of the literature was conducted on the following topics: radiation and
      wound healing, corticosteroid use and wound healing, radiotherapy for tumor
      control for cerebral metastases and high-grade gliomas, and whole-brain radiation
      therapy or focal radiotherapy after craniotomy with focus on the timing of
      radiotherapy after surgery. RESULTS: In animal models, wound integrity and
      healing was less impaired by radiotherapy administered 1 week after surgery. In
      humans, this timing would be expected to be significantly longer, on the order of
      several weeks. CONCLUSIONS: Given the limited literature, insufficient
      conclusions can be drawn. However, animal data suggest a period of at least 1
      week (but it is likely several weeks in humans) is necessary for reconstitution
      of wound strength before initiation of radiation therapy. A randomized
      prospective study is recommended to understand better the effect of the timing of
      radiation therapy following surgical intervention for brain metastasis or high
      grade gliomas.

PMID- 25839400
TI  - Six Walls of the Cavernous Sinus Identified by Sectioned Images and Three
      Dimensional Models: Anatomic Report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For the diagnosis and surgical treatment of diseases around the
      cavernous sinus (CS), radiologists should achieve complete mastery of the
      sectional anatomy of the CS, and neurosurgeons need to understand the
      stereoscopic orientation of the CS and circumjacent structures. However, despite
      the complicated structure of the CS, the current educational resources for its
      sectional and stereoscopic anatomy are insufficient. Another problem is that the
      definition of CS walls varies for each researcher. The purpose of this study is
      to redefine the walls of the CS and to provide related educational materials.
      METHODS: Previous studies on the shape of the CS were analyzed. Sectioned images
      of a cadaver were prepared at 0.1-mm intervals to be made into three-dimensional
      (3D) models of the CS and neighboring structures. RESULTS: Based on other
      studies, the shape of the CS was redefined as a hexahedron, consisting of 6
      walls, and was illustrated as a schematic figure. Scientific exactitude of the
      hexahedron was proven through matching the points with the actual structures on
      the sectioned images and 3D models that were made in this study. CONCLUSIONS: The
      combination of the hexahedron theory, the sectioned images, and the 3D models in
      this study will enhance the efficiency of studying CS anatomy. The educational
      resources of this study can be obtained free of charge by medical students,
      radiologists, and neurosurgeons requiring knowledge of CS anatomy.

PMID- 25839401
TI  - Risk Factors for Infective Complications with Long-Term Subdural Electrode
      Implantation in Patients with Medically Intractable Partial Epilepsy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate infective complications with intracranial
      electroencephalography (EEG) recording so as to lessen them. METHODS: A database
      of intracranial monitoring cases with subdural electrodes at Kyoto University
      Hospital between May 1992 and March 2012 was retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS:
      This analysis included 46 EEG monitoring sessions. Infective complications
      related to intracranial electrodes occurred in 4 monitoring sessions (8.7%; 3
      male patients). Causative agents were identified as Staphylococcus aureus in 3
      monitoring sessions and Staphylococcus epidermidis in 1 session. In univariate
      analysis, the season of monitoring was identified as the sole significant risk
      factor. More infective complications occurred when monitoring occurred in autumn.
      More infective complications tended to occur in patients who had implantation in
      the right side or discontinuation of intravenously administered prophylactic
      antibiotics, although these factors were not statistically significant. Age, sex,
      duration of monitoring, number of electrodes, and pathologic diagnosis did not
      seem to be associated with an increased risk of infective complications.
      Infective complications had no significant influence on seizure outcome.
      CONCLUSIONS: Invasive EEG monitoring during autumn might be a risk factor in
      terms of infective complications. S aureus was a common pathogen.

PMID- 25839405
TI  - Hepatocyte senescence explains conjugated bilirubinaemia in chronic liver
      failure.

PMID- 25839407
TI  - Reduced mortality due to phlebotomy in moderately iron-loaded HFE
      haemochromatosis? The need for clinical trials.

PMID- 25839406
TI  - Ombitasvir/paritaprevir/r and dasabuvir plus ribavirin in HCV genotype 1-infected
      patients on methadone or buprenorphine.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients with a history of
      injection drug use have low rates of initiation and completion of interferon
      based therapies. This study evaluated efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of a
      12-week all-oral regimen of ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir and
      dasabuvir+ribavirin in HCV genotype 1-infected patients on stable opioid
      replacement therapy. METHODS: This was a phase II, multicenter, open-label,
      single-arm study in treatment-naive or peginterferon/ribavirin treatment
      experienced HCV genotype 1-infected patients on methadone or buprenorphine+/
      naloxone. Patients received 12weeks of co-formulated
      ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir (25mg/150mg/100mg once daily) and dasabuvir
      (250mg twice daily)+weight-based ribavirin. The primary efficacy endpoint was
      sustained virologic response 12 weeks post-treatment. RESULTS: Thirty-eight non
      cirrhotic patients on chronic methadone (n=19) or buprenorphine (n=19) were
      enrolled. A total of 37 patients (97.4%) had a sustained virologic response 12
      weeks post-treatment. No patient had a viral breakthrough or relapse. One patient
      discontinued due to serious adverse events unrelated to study drug
      (cerebrovascular accident and sarcoma). The most frequent adverse events were
      nausea, fatigue, and headache. Eight patients had on-treatment hemoglobin
      concentrations <10g/dl. Pharmacokinetic analyses indicated no clinically
      meaningful impact of methadone or buprenorphine on ombitasvir, paritaprevir,
      ritonavir, dasabuvir, or dasabuvir M1 metabolite exposures. No dose adjustments
      of methadone or buprenorphine were required. CONCLUSIONS: The interferon-free
      regimen of ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir and dasabuvir+ribavirin for 12weeks
      was well tolerated and achieved sustained virologic response in 97.4% of patients
      on opioid substitution therapy in this study. This all-oral regimen may provide
      an effective alternative to interferon-based therapies for HCV-infected patients
      with a history of injection drug use.

PMID- 25839408
TI  - Wip1 knockout inhibits the proliferation and enhances the migration of bone
      marrow mesenchymal stem cells.
AB  - Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a unique population of multipotent adult
      progenitor cells originally found in bone marrow (BM), are extremely useful for
      multifunctional therapeutic approaches. However, the growth arrest and premature
      senescence of MSCs in vitro prevent the in-depth characterization of these cells.
      In addition, the regulatory factors involved in MSCs migration remain largely
      unknown. Given that protein phosphorylation is associated with the processes of
      MSCs proliferation and migration, we focused on wild-type p53-inducible
      phosphatase-1 (Wip1), a well-studied modulator of phosphorylation, in this study.
      Our results showed that Wip1 knockout significantly inhibited MSCs proliferation
      and induced G2-phase cell-cycle arrest by reducing cyclinB1 expression. Compared
      with WT-MSCs, Wip1(-/-) MSCs displayed premature growth arrest after six passages
      in culture. Transwell and scratch assays revealed that Wip1(-/-) MSCs migrate
      more effectively than WT-MSCs. Moreover, the enhanced migratory response of Wip1(
      /-) MSCs may be attributed to increases in the induction of Rac1-GTP activity,
      the pAKT/AKT ratio, the rearrangement of filamentous-actin (f-actin), and
      filopodia formation. Based on these results, we then examined the effect of
      treatment with a PI3K/AKT and Rac1 inhibitor, both of which impaired the
      migratory activity of MSCs. Therefore, we propose that the PI3K/AKT/Rac1
      signaling axis mediates the Wip1 knockout-induced migration of MSCs. Our findings
      indicate that the principal function of Wip1 in MSCs transformation is the
      maintenance of proliferative capacity. Nevertheless, knocking out Wip1 increases
      the migratory capacity of MSCs. This dual effect of Wip1 provides the potential
      for purposeful routing of MSCs. 

PMID- 25839410
TI  - High speed structured illumination microscopy in optically thick samples.
AB  - Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) allows imaging of fluorescently labelled
      biological samples with a spatial resolution improved by a factor of
      approximately two compared to traditional optical microscopy techniques. The cost
      of this resolution improvement is the need to capture a number of raw images of
      the sample to reconstruct a single SIM image, increasing sample light exposure
      and limiting the ability of the technique to capture dynamic processes. In this
      paper we describe image acquisition and reconstruction techniques that allow fast
      super-resolution imaging within optically thick specimens. By exploiting overlaps
      between SIM information passbands we are able to generate optically sectioned,
      super-resolution images from an image sequence acquired in a single focal plane.
      We consider how single plane super-resolution images may be obtained using 2D and
      3D SIM illumination patterns, and compare the resulting images to those obtained
      using conventional 2D SIM reconstruction methods. By combining a single plane
      reconstruction algorithm with hardware for high-speed switching between
      illumination patterns and rapid acquisition of fluorescence images, we
      demonstrate high speed super-resolution imaging inside biological organisms. 

PMID- 25839409
TI  - A novel PI3K inhibitor iMDK suppresses non-small cell lung Cancer cooperatively
      with A MEK inhibitor.
AB  - The PI3K-AKT pathway is expected to be a therapeutic target for non-small cell
      lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment. We previously reported that a novel PI3K inhibitor
      iMDK suppressed NSCLC cells in vitro and in vivo without harming normal cells and
      mice. Unexpectedly, iMDK activated the MAPK pathway, including ERK, in the NSCLC
      cells. Since iMDK did not eradicate such NSCLC cells completely, it is possible
      that the activated MAPK pathway confers resistance to the NSCLC cells against
      cell death induced by iMDK. In the present study, we assessed whether suppressing
      of iMDK-mediated activation of the MAPK pathway would enhance anti-tumorigenic
      activity of iMDK. PD0325901, a MAPK inhibitor, suppressed the MAPK pathway
      induced by iMDK and cooperatively inhibited cell viability and colony formation
      of NSCLC cells by inducing apoptosis in vitro. HUVEC tube formation, representing
      angiogenic processes in vitro, was also cooperatively inhibited by the
      combinatorial treatment of iMDK and PD0325901. The combinatorial treatment of
      iMDK with PD0325901 cooperatively suppressed tumor growth and tumor-associated
      angiogenesis in a lung cancer xenograft model in vivo. Here, we demonstrate a
      novel treatment strategy using iMDK and PD0325901 to eradicate NSCLC. 

PMID- 25839411
TI  - Identification and rapid diagnosis of the pathogen responsible for haemorrhagic
      disease of the gill of Allogynogenetic crucian carp.
AB  - In recent years, an epizootic causing severe mortality among Allogynogenetic
      crucian carp (ACC), designated as haemorrhagic disease of ACC gill, occurred in
      Yancheng city of Jiangsu province of China. Obvious haemorrhage in the gills of
      moribund fish and a mortality rate of 100% were observed when ACCs were
      artificially infected with liver homogenate from diseased fish. A herpes-like
      virus, with enveloped virions ranged from 170 to 220 nm in diameter, could be
      observed in the tissues of challenged ACCs by examination with electron
      microscopy. Specific products representing the polymerase and helicase genes of
      Cyprinid herpesvirus-2 (CyHV-2) could be amplified from the challenged fish,
      suggesting that the haemorrhagic disease of ACC gill was caused by infection with
      CyHV-2. To rapidly diagnose CyHV-2-infected fish, an easy and effective detection
      assay with loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) was established. The
      LAMP assay was more sensitive than conventional PCR and the limit of detection
      was approximately 100 copies of target DNA. With this LAMP assay, CyHV-2 could be
      detected in some asymptomatic ACCs from the epidemic area and in eggs from the
      diseased ACCs, suggesting that CyHV-2 could infect ACCs latently and that the
      virus may be passed onto offspring by vertical transmission.

PMID- 25839412
TI  - Nanomechanical testing technique for millimeter-sized and smaller molecular
      crystals.
AB  - Large crystals are used as a control for the development of a mounting and
      nanoindentation testing technique for millimeter-sized and smaller molecular
      crystals. Indentation techniques causing either only elastic or elastic-plastic
      deformation produce similar results in assessing elastic modulus, however, the
      elastic indents are susceptible to surface angle and roughness effects
      necessitating larger sample sizes for similar confidence bounds. Elastic-plastic
      indentations give the most accurate results and could be used to determine the
      different elastic constants for anisotropic materials by indenting different
      crystal faces, but not by rotating the indenter about its axis and indenting the
      same face in a different location. The hardness of small and large crystals is
      similar, suggesting that defect content probed in this study is similar, and that
      small crystals can be compared directly to larger ones. The Young's modulus and
      hardness of the model test material, griseofulvin, are given for the first time
      to be 11.5GPa and 0.4GPa respectively. 

PMID- 25839413
TI  - Self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems as novel approach for pDNA drug
      delivery.
AB  - It was the aim of this study to investigate a novel strategy for oral gene
      delivery utilizing a self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS). After
      hydrophobic ion pairing a plasmid was incorporated into SNEDDS. The mean droplet
      size of resulting nanoemulsions was determined to be between 45.8 and 47.5 nm. A
      concentration dependent cytotoxicity of the formulations was found on HEK-293
      cells via MTT assay. Degradation studies via DNase I showed that incorporation
      into SNEDDS led to significantly, up to 8-fold prolonged resistant time against
      enzymatic digestion compared to naked pDNA and pDNA-lipid complexes. Transfection
      studies carried out revealed a significantly improved transfection compared to
      naked pDNA. Further, no decrease in transfection efficiency compared to
      transfection using Lipofectin((r)) transfection reagent was observed.

PMID- 25839414
TI  - Curcumin delivery from poly(acrylic acid-co-methyl methacrylate) hollow
      microparticles prevents dopamine-induced toxicity in rat brain synaptosomes.
AB  - The potential of poly(methyl methacrylate-co-acrylic acid) (PMMA-AA) copolymers
      to form hollow particles and their further formulation as curcumin delivery
      system have been explored. The particles were functionalized by crosslinking the
      acrylic acid groups via bis-amide formation with either cystamine (CYS) or 3,3'
      dithiodipropionic acid dihydrazide (DTP) which simultaneously incorporated
      reversibility due to the presence of disulfide bonds within the crosslinker.
      Optical micrographs showed the formation of spherical hollow microparticles with
      a size ranging from 1 to 7 MUm. Curcumin was loaded by incubation of its ethanol
      solution with aqueous dispersions of the cross-linked particles and subsequent
      evaporation of the ethanol. Higher loading was observed in the microparticles
      with higher content of hydrophobic PMMA units indicating its influence upon the
      loading of hydrophobic molecules such as curcumin. The in vitro release studies
      in a phosphate buffer showed no initial burst effect and sustained release of
      curcumin that correlated with the swelling of the particles under these
      conditions. The capacity of encapsulated and free curcumin to protect rat brain
      synaptosomes against dopamine-induced neurotoxicity was examined. The
      encapsulated curcumin showed greater protective effects in rat brain synaptosomes
      as measured by synaptosomal viability and increased intracellular levels of
      glutathione.

PMID- 25839415
TI  - Adenosine conjugated lipidic nanoparticles for enhanced tumor targeting.
AB  - Delivering chemotherapeutics by nanoparticles into tumor is impeded majorly by
      two factors: nonspecific targeting and inefficient penetration. Targeted delivery
      of anti-cancer agents solely to tumor cells introduces a smart strategy because
      it enhances the therapeutic index compared with untargeted drugs. The present
      study was performed to investigate the efficiency of adenosine (ADN) to target
      solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) to over expressing adenosine receptor cell lines
      such as human breast cancer and prostate cancer (MCF-7 and DU-145 cells),
      respectively. SLN were prepared by emulsification and solvent evaporation process
      using docetaxel (DTX) as drug and were characterized by various techniques like
      dynamic light scattering, differential scanning calorimeter and transmission
      electron microscopy. DTX loaded SLNs were surface modified with ADN, an adenosine
      receptors ligand using carbodiimide coupling. Conjugation was confirmed using
      infrared spectroscopy and quantified using phenol-sulfuric acid method.
      Conjugated SLN were shown to have sustained drug release as compared to
      unconjugated nanoparticles and drug suspension. Compared with free DTX and
      unconjugated SLN, ADN conjugated SLN showed significantly higher cytotoxicity of
      loaded DTX, as evidenced by in vitro cell experiments. The IC50 was 0.41 MUg/ml
      for native DTX, 0.30 MUg/ml for unconjugated SLN formulation, and 0.09 MUg/ml for
      ADN conjugated SLN formulation in MCF-7 cell lines. Whereas, in DU-145, there was
      2 fold change in IC50 of ADN-SLN as compared to DTX. IC50 was found to be 0.44
      MUg/ml for free DTX, 0.39 MUg/ml for unconjugated SLN and 0.22 MUg/ml for ADN
      SLN. Annexin assay and cell cycle analysis assay further substantiated the cell
      cytotoxicity. Fluorescent cell uptake and competitive ligand-receptor binding
      assay corroborated the receptor mediated endocytosis pathway indicated role of
      adenosine receptors in internalization of conjugated particles. Pharmacokinetic
      studies of lipidic formulations depicted significant improvement in
      pharmacokinetic parameters than marketed formulation. ADN conjugated SLN proved
      to be an efficient drug delivery vehicle. Hence, ADN can be used as a potential
      ligand to target breast and prostate cancer.

PMID- 25839416
TI  - Ibuprofen-in-cyclodextrin-in-W/O/W emulsion - Improving the initial and long-term
      encapsulation efficiency of a model active ingredient.
AB  - A challenge in formulating water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) emulsions is the
      uncontrolled release of the encapsulated compound prior to application.
      Pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals usually have amphipathic nature, which may
      contribute to leakage of the active ingredient. In the present study,
      cyclodextrins (CyDs) were used to impart a change in the relative polarity and
      size of a model compound (ibuprofen) by the formation of inclusion complexes.
      Various inclusion complexes (2-hydroxypropyl (HP)-beta-CyD-, alpha-CyD- and gamma
      CyD-ibuprofen) were prepared and presented within W/O/W emulsions, and the
      initial and long-term encapsulation efficiency was investigated. HP-beta-CyD
      ibuprofen provided the highest encapsulation of ibuprofen in comparison to a
      W/O/W emulsion with unassociated ibuprofen confined within the inner water phase,
      with a four-fold increase in the encapsulation efficiency. An improved, although
      lower, encapsulation efficiency was obtained for the inclusion complex gamma-CyD
      ibuprofen in comparison to HP-beta-CyD-ibuprofen, whereas alpha-CyD-ibuprofen had
      a similar encapsulation efficiency to that of unassociated ibuprofen. The lower
      encapsulation efficiency of ibuprofen in combination with alpha-CyD and gamma-CyD
      was attributed to a lower association constant for the gamma-CyD-ibuprofen
      inclusion complex and the ability of alpha-CyD to form inclusion complexes with
      fatty acids. For the W/O/W emulsion prepared with HP-beta-CyD-ibuprofen, the
      highest encapsulation of ibuprofen was obtained at hyper- and iso-osmotic
      conditions and by using an excess molar ratio of CyD to ibuprofen. In the last
      part of the study, it was suggested that the chemical modification of the HP-beta
      CyD molecule did not influence the encapsulation of ibuprofen, as a similar
      encapsulation efficiency was obtained for an inclusion complex prepared with mono
      1-glucose-beta-CyD. 

PMID- 25839417
TI  - Continuous twin screw melt granulation of glyceryl behenate: Development of
      controlled release tramadol hydrochloride tablets for improved safety.
AB  - Interest in granulation processes using twin screw extrusion machines is rapidly
      growing. The primary objectives of this study were to develop a continuous
      granulation process for direct production of granules using this technique with
      glyceryl behenate as a binder, evaluate the properties of the resulting granules
      and develop controlled release tablets containing tramadol HCl. In addition, the
      granulation mechanism was probed and the polymorphic form of the lipid and drug
      release rate were evaluated on stability. Granules were prepared using a
      Leistritz NANO16 twin screw extruder operated without a constricting die. The
      solid state of the granules were characterized by differential scanning
      calorimetry and X-ray diffraction. Formulated tablets were studied in 0.1N HCl
      containing 0-40% ethanol to investigate propensity for alcohol induced dose
      dumping. The extrusion barrel temperature profile and feed rate were determined
      to be the primary factors influencing the particle size distribution. Granules
      were formed by a combination immersion/distribution mechanism, did not require
      subsequent milling, and were observed to contain desirable polymorphic forms of
      glyceryl behenate. Drug release from tablets was complete and controlled over 16
      h and the tablets were determined to be resistant to alcohol induced dose
      dumping. The drug release rate from the tablets was found to be stable at 40
      degrees C and 75% relative humidity for the duration of a 3 month study.

PMID- 25839418
TI  - Electrophoretic mobility as a tool to separate immune adjuvant saponins from
      Quillaja saponaria Molina.
AB  - Quillaja saponins are used as adjuvants in animal vaccines but their application
      in human vaccination is still under investigation. Isolation and characterization
      of adjuvant saponins is very tedious. Furthermore, standardization of Quillaja
      saponins is critical pertaining to its application in humans. In this study, a
      convenient method based on agarose gel electrophoresis was developed for the
      separation of Quillaja saponins. Six different commercial Quillaja saponins were
      segregated by size/charge into numerous fractions. Each of the fractions was
      characterized by ESI-TOF-MS spectroscopy and thin layer chromatography. Real-time
      impedance-based monitoring and red blood cell lysis assay were used to evaluate
      cytotoxicity and hemolytic activities respectively. Two specific regions in the
      agarose gel (delimited by specific relative electrophoretic mobility values) were
      identified and characterized by exclusive migration of acylated saponins known to
      possess immune adjuvant properties (0.18-0.58), and cytotoxic and hemolytic
      saponins (0.18-0.94). In vivo experiments in mice with the isolated fractions for
      evaluation of adjuvant activity also correlated with the relative electrophoretic
      mobility. In addition to the separation of specific Quillaja saponins with
      adjuvant effects as a pre-purification step to HPLC, agarose gel electrophoresis
      stands out as a new method for rapid screening, separation and quality control of
      saponins. 

PMID- 25839419
TI  - Kinetically stable propofol emulsions with reduced free drug concentration for
      intravenous delivery.
AB  - PURPOSE: Intravenous injections of propofol emulsions are accompanied by pain
      likely due to the interaction of the dissolved drug with endothelial cells of the
      vasculature. It is commonly hypothesized that reducing the aqueous phase
      concentration of propofol could reduce pain. METHODS: To minimize the propofol
      concentration in the aqueous phase, we developed stable oil-in-water emulsions
      with excipient oil mixtures that have an increased partition coefficient for
      propofol. We then explored the emulsion stability by measuring size distributions
      after extended durations of shelf storage and also after freeze-thaw cycling. The
      effects of oil type, surfactant and salt concentration on emulsion stability were
      also explored. RESULTS: Small chain oils like ethyl butyrate exhibit high drug
      partitioning but poor stability, while larger molecules such as soybean oil
      exhibit lower partitioning but excellent emulsion stability. Emulsions with
      mixtures of soybean oil and ethyl butyrate are stable for longer than a year,
      resistant to freeze-thaw cycling, and reduce aqueous drug concentrations of
      propofol twofold compared to pure soybean oil emulsions. CONCLUSIONS: Oil-in
      water emulsions of propofol formulated with mixtures of ethyl butyrate and
      soybean oil are kinetically stable and significantly reduce the aqueous phase
      drug concentration making them promising candidates for future propofol
      therapies.

PMID- 25839420
TI  - Mutations in XRCC4 cause primary microcephaly, short stature and increased
      genomic instability.
AB  - DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are highly toxic lesions, which, if not properly
      repaired, can give rise to genomic instability. Non-homologous end-joining
      (NHEJ), a well-orchestrated, multistep process involving numerous proteins
      essential for cell viability, represents one major pathway to repair DSBs in
      mammalian cells, and mutations in different NHEJ components have been described
      in microcephalic syndromes associated, e.g. with short stature, facial
      dysmorphism and immune dysfunction. By using whole-exome sequencing, we now
      identified in three affected brothers of a consanguineous Turkish family a
      homozygous mutation, c.482G>A, in the XRCC4 gene encoding a crucial component of
      the NHEJ pathway. Moreover, we found one additional patient of Swiss origin
      carrying the compound heterozygous mutations c.25delG (p.His9Thrfs*8) and
      c.823C>T (p.Arg275*) in XRCC4. The clinical phenotype presented in these patients
      was characterized by severe microcephaly, facial dysmorphism and short stature,
      but they did not show a recognizable immunological phenotype. We showed that the
      XRCC4 c.482G>A mutation, which affects the last nucleotide of exon 4, induces
      defective splicing of XRCC4 pre-mRNA mainly resulting in premature protein
      truncation and most likely loss of XRCC4 function. Moreover, we observed on
      cellular level that XRCC4 deficiency leads to hypersensitivity to DSB-inducing
      agents and defective DSB repair, which results in increased cell death after
      exposure to genotoxic agents. Taken together, our data provide evidence that
      autosomal recessive mutations in XRCC4 induce increased genomic instability and
      cause a NHEJ-related syndrome defined by facial dysmorphism, primary microcephaly
      and short stature. 

PMID- 25839421
TI  - A comparative analysis of vertical and horizontal fixation disparity in sentence
      reading.
AB  - Humans have two, frontally placed eyes and during reading oculomotor and sensory
      processes are needed to combine the two inputs into a unified percept of the
      text. Generally, slight vergence errors, i.e., fixation disparities, occur but do
      not cause double vision since disparate retinal inputs fall into Panum's fusional
      area, that is, a range of disparity wherein sensory fusion of the two retinal
      images is achieved. In this study, we report benchmark data with respect to the
      mean magnitude and range of vertical compared to horizontal fixation disparities
      for natural reading. Our data clearly fit to an elliptical pattern of Panum's
      fusional area that corresponds with theoretical estimates. Furthermore, when we
      examined disparity-driven vergence adjustments during fixations by comparing
      monocular with binocular reading conditions, we found that only horizontal
      fixation disparities increased significantly under conditions of monocular
      stimulation. Also, no significant vertical fine-tuning (vergence adjustment) was
      observed for vergence eye movements during reading fixations. Thus, horizontal
      and vertical fixation disparities and vergence adjustments during reading showed
      quite different characteristics, and this dissociation is directly related to the
      functional role of vergence adjustments: vertical fusion - and vertical vergence 
      subserve the maintenance of a single percept and stereopsis by keeping the eyes
      in register and allowing for horizontal fusional processes to successfully
      operate over a vertically aligned input. A reliable and stable vertical alignment
      is, thus, a pre-requisite over which horizontal fusional responses (and depth
      perception) can work most efficiently - even in a task like reading.

PMID- 25839422
TI  - Locality-constrained Subcluster Representation Ensemble for lung image
      classification.
AB  - In this paper, we propose a new Locality-constrained Subcluster Representation
      Ensemble (LSRE) model, to classify high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT)
      images of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). Medical images normally exhibit
      large intra-class variation and inter-class ambiguity in the feature space.
      Modelling of feature space separation between different classes is thus
      problematic and this affects the classification performance. Our LSRE model
      tackles this issue in an ensemble classification construct. The image set is
      first partitioned into subclusters based on spectral clustering with
      approximation-based affinity matrix. Basis representations of the test image are
      then generated with sparse approximation from the subclusters. These basis
      representations are finally fused with approximation- and distribution-based
      weights to classify the test image. Our experimental results on a large HRCT
      database show good performance improvement over existing popular classifiers. 

PMID- 25839423
TI  - Improving label-free quantitative proteomics strategies by distributing shared
      peptides and stabilizing variance.
AB  - In a previous study, we demonstrated that spectral counts-based label-free
      proteomic quantitation could be improved by distributing peptides shared between
      multiple proteins. Here, we compare four quantitative proteomic approaches,
      namely, the normalized spectral abundance factor (NSAF), the normalized area
      abundance factor (NAAF), normalized parent ion intensity abundance factor (NIAF),
      and the normalized fragment ion intensity abundance factor (NFAF). We demonstrate
      that label-free proteomic quantitation methods based on chromatographic peak area
      (NAAF), parent ion intensity in MS1 (NIAF), and fragment ion intensity (NFAF) are
      also improved when shared peptides are distributed on the basis of peptides
      unique to each isoform. To stabilize the variance inherent to label-free
      proteomic quantitation data sets, we use cyclic-locally weighted scatter plot
      smoothing (LOWESS) and linear regression normalization (LRN). Again, all four
      methods are improved when cyclic-LOWESS and LRN are applied to reduce variation.
      Finally, we demonstrate that absolute quantitative values may be derived from
      label-free parameters such as spectral counts, chromatographic peak area, and ion
      intensity when using spiked-in proteins of known amounts to generate standard
      curves. 

PMID- 25839424
TI  - Root architecture and morphometric analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana grown in
      Cd/Cu/Zn-gradient agar dishes: A new screening technique for studying plant
      response to metals.
AB  - A new screening strategy using Petri dishes with a gradient of distances between
      germinating seeds and a metal-contaminated medium was used for studying
      alterations in root architecture and morphology of Arabidopsis thaliana treated
      with cadmium, copper and zinc at sub-toxic concentrations. Metal concentrations
      in the dishes were determined by anodic stripping voltammetry on digested agar
      samples collected along the gradient, and kriging statistical interpolation
      method was performed. After two weeks, all agar dishes were scanned at high
      resolution and the root systems analyzed. In the presence of all the three
      metals, primary root length did not significantly change compared to controls,
      excepting for zinc applied alone (+45% of controls). In metal-treated seedlings,
      root system total length increased due to the higher number of lateral roots. The
      seedlings closer to the agar sectors including metals showed a marked curvature
      and a higher root branching in comparison to those further away from the metals.
      This behavior, together with an observed increase in root diameter in metal
      treated seedlings could be interpreted as compensatory growth, and a thicker
      roots could act as a barrier to protect root from the metals. We therefore
      propose that the remodeling of the root architecture in response to metals could
      be a pollution 'escaping strategy' aimed at seeking metal-free patches. 

PMID- 25839425
TI  - Autocrine activity of cysteinyl leukotrienes in human vascular endothelial cells:
      Signaling through the CysLT2 receptor.
AB  - We evaluated the autocrine activities of cysteinyl leukotrienes (cysteinyl-LTs)
      in HUVEC and studied the signaling and the pharmacological profile of the CysLT2
      receptor (CysLT2R) expressed by ECs, finally assessing the role of the CysLT2R in
      permeability alterations in a model of isolated brain. Cysteinyl-LTs and their
      precursor LTA4 contracted HUVEC and increased permeability to macromolecules,
      increasing the formation of stress fibers through the phosphorylation of myosin
      light-chain (MLC) following Rho and PKC activation. Accordingly, in an organ
      model of cerebral vasculature with an intact intima, neutrophils challenge leaded
      to significant formation of cysteinyl-LTs and edema. Pretreatment with a
      selective CysLT2R antagonist prevented cytoskeleton rearrangement and HUVEC
      contraction, along with edema formation in the brain preparation, while leaving
      the synthesis of cysteinyl-LTs unaffected. We also demonstrate here that the
      CysLT1R antagonist zafirlukast, pranlukast, pobilukast and iralukast also possess
      CysLT2R antagonistic activity, which could help in reconsidering previous data on
      the role of cysteinyl-LTs in the cardiovascular system. The results obtained are
      further supporting a potential role for CysLT2R in cardiovascular disease. 

PMID- 25839426
TI  - Short Hydrophobic Peptides with Cyclic Constraints Are Potent Glucagon-like
      Peptide-1 Receptor (GLP-1R) Agonists.
AB  - Cyclic constraints are incorporated into an 11-residue analogue of the N-terminus
      of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) to investigate effects of structure on agonist
      activity. Cyclization through linking side chains of residues 2 and 5 or 5 and 9
      produced agonists at nM concentrations in a cAMP assay. 2D NMR and CD spectra
      revealed an N-terminal beta-turn and a C-terminal helix that differentially
      influenced affinity and agonist potency. These structures can inform development
      of small molecule agonists of the GLP-1 receptor to treat type 2 diabetes. 

PMID- 25839427
TI  - Quantification of in vitro mesenchymal stem cell invasion into tumor spheroids
      using selective plane illumination microscopy.
AB  - Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) homing and integration into tumors are under
      evaluation for clinical application. This approach requires the identification of
      conditions for optimal tumor invasion. We describe a tool for the in vitro
      comparison of parameters influencing invasion. Human MSC added to experimental
      tumor spheroids variably migrates toward the center of the structure. To
      determine MSC distribution inside the three-dimensional specimen, spatial
      analysis was performed using selective plane illumination microscopy. A
      standardized method to quantify and compare the invasion potential of variably
      treated MSC into experimental tumor environments allows efficient screening for
      optimizing conditions.

PMID- 25839428
TI  - Cylindrical diffuser axial detection profile is dependent on fiber design.
AB  - The axial emission and detection profiles of 1- and 2-cm cylindrical diffusing
      fibers based on concentration gradients of scatterers were measured. Based on
      these measurements, we describe a method for determination of the scatterer
      concentration gradient within the diffusers. Using a Monte Carlo model
      incorporating these concentrations, detection was simulated and found to agree
      with measurements. The measured and simulated detection profiles for these
      diffusers were found to be drastically different from those previously measured
      in an alternative diffuser design incorporating an end reflector. When using
      cylindrical diffusers as detection fibers, it is, therefore, important to
      understand the design of the fiber and characterize the detection behavior.

PMID- 25839429
TI  - Make them, break them, and catch them: studying rare ubiquitin chains.
AB  - Two studies in this issue, Kristariyanto et al. (2015) and Michel et al. (2015),
      describe innovative ways to produce large quantities of atypical K29 and K33
      ubiquitin chains and report structures and mechanisms of chain-specific
      recognition. 

PMID- 25839431
TI  - Caging the elephant: selective autophagy tackles giant intracellular protein
      crystals.
AB  - In this issue of Molecular Cell, Tsutsui et al. (2015) show that in vivo protein
      crystallization may come in handy not only when solving the structure of a
      protein, but also when studying molecular mechanisms of selective autophagy. 

PMID- 25839430
TI  - gammaHV68 vGAT: a viral pseudoenzyme pimping for PAMPs.
AB  - In this issue, He et al. (2015) show how herpes virus usurps a cellular metabolic
      enzyme to induce RIG-I deamidation and RNA-independent activation, likely to
      better prevent further innate immune responses. 

PMID- 25839432
TI  - Hsp90: breaking the symmetry.
AB  - Hsp90 chaperones receive much attention due to their role in cancer and other
      pathological conditions, and a tremendous effort of many laboratories has
      contributed in the past decades to considerable progress in the understanding of
      their functions. Hsp90 chaperones exist as dimers and, with the help of
      cochaperones, promote the folding of numerous client proteins. Although the
      original view of these interactions suggested that these dimeric complexes were
      symmetrical, it is now clear that many features are asymmetrical. In this review
      we discuss several recent advances that highlight how asymmetric interactions
      with cochaperones as well as asymmetric posttranslational modifications provide
      mechanisms to regulate client interactions and the progression through Hsp90's
      chaperone cycle.

PMID- 25839433
TI  - Adult sigmoidorectal intussusception related to colonic lipoma: A rare case
      report with an atypical presentation.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Adult intussusception is rare. Lipoma is the second most common
      benign tumor of the colon and most common to cause colonic intussusception in
      adults, but rare. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 35-years-old male presented with a
      history of intermittent abdominal pain and bright red rectal bleeding, with
      symptoms waxing and waning for one month. On physical examination, the abdomen
      was distended with tenderness over the periumbilical, suprapubic, and left lower
      quadrant regions with guarding. CT demonstrated colo-colonic intussusception of
      the sigmoid colon with a 2.3cm*2.6cm intra-mural lipoma of the rectosigmoid
      region. The patient underwent an exploratory laparotomy with partial reduction of
      the intussusception, sigmoid colon resection and end colostomy. Histopathology
      confirmed a 2.5cm sub-mucosal lipoma without evidence of malignancy. DISCUSSION:
      Sixty-sixty five percent of cases with intussusception of the large bowel in
      adults are related to a malignant etiology and most cases of sigmoidorectal
      intussusception reported in the literature are secondary to underlying
      malignancy. Colo-colic intussusception is the most common type of intussusception
      in adults. The incidence of lipomas of the large intestine is reported to range
      from 0.035% to 4.4%. Ninety percent of colonic lipomas are submuscosal and are
      mostly located in the right hemicolon. Only 25% of patients with colonic lipoma
      develop symptoms. Colonic lipomas of the rectosigmoid region represent a very
      rare occurrence and subsequent etiology for sigmoidorectal intussusceptions in
      adults. CONCLUSION: Colonic lipoma should be considered in the differential
      diagnosis of adults with intussusception, with reduction and resection leading to
      excellent results.

PMID- 25839434
TI  - Kidney transplantation in a patient with absent right common iliac artery and
      congenital renal abnormalities.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Congenital atresia of the common and external iliac arteries is a
      rare vascular anomaly that may be associated with congenital renal or
      genitourinary malformations. In ESRD patients, its presence may pose potential
      problems during renal transplantation. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a rare case
      of kidney transplantation in a patient with VACTERL syndrome who was found to
      have absent right common and external iliac arteries during pre-operative
      imaging. Vascular supply to the right lower limb is derived from an anomalous
      branch from the left internal iliac artery which takes on a convoluted course
      across the pelvis. Kidney transplantation was performed successfully with
      implantation performed on the left side. DISCUSSION: Isolated cases of congenital
      iliac artery atresia have been described in association with urological
      abnormalities but no clear association has yet been established. However, we feel
      that it may be useful to perform routine angiographic evaluation for ESRD
      patients with congenital genitourinary abnormalities being planned for kidney
      transplantation. While most cases of congenital iliac artery anomalies are
      symptomatic with claudication, some remain asymptomatic with normal physical
      examination findings. There is some evidence in literature suggesting the
      usefulness of routine pre-operative CT in a selective group of patients.
      CONCLUSION: Kidney transplantation in such cases is safe and we recommend routine
      pre-operative imaging of patients known to have congenital genitourniary
      abnormalities. The kidney should be implanted heterotopically to the
      contralateral side of the vascular anomaly and care must be taken to preserve
      vascular supply to the lower limbs.

PMID- 25839435
TI  - Expert tibia nail for subtrochanteric femoral fracture to prevent thermal injury.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Subtrochanteric femoral fractures are relatively uncommon,
      accounting for 7-15% of all hip fractures and treatment of these fractures are
      considered challenge for orthopaedic surgeons. Although several treatment options
      are reported with up to 90% of satisfactory results, the choice of the
      appropriate implant is still a matter of debate. Some authors reported thermal
      injury after reaming for intramedullary nail fixation in patients with narrow
      medullary canal. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 21-year-old female patient was admitted
      to our hospital because of right subtrochanteric femoral fracture. The narrowest
      diameter of medullary canal of her femur was about 7mm but she refused open
      reduction and internal fixation with plate due to large scar formation. We used
      expert tibia nail instead of femoral intramedullary nail to prevent thermal
      injury. DISCUSSION: Subtrochanteric femoral fractures are difficult to treat
      because of their biomechanical and anatomical characteristics. Although several
      implants are reported for the surgical treatment of these fractures,
      intramedullary nails have been advocated due to their biological and
      biomechanical advantages. However, under certain circumstances with associated
      injury or anatomic difference we might consider another treatment options.
      CONCLUSION: Expert tibia nail may be considered one of the treatment options for
      subtrochanteric femoral fracture with narrow medullary canal. We also emphasize
      the importance of preoperative evaluation of the medullary canal size for these
      risky fractures.

PMID- 25839436
TI  - Aromatase inhibitor (anastrozole) affects growth of endometrioma cells in
      culture.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of aromatase inhibitor (anastrozole) on the
      growth and estradiol secretion of endometrioma cells in culture. DESIGN:
      Endometrioma cells are grown in vitro until maximum growth before used in this
      study. This was done in the research laboratory for tissue culture, in an
      academic hospital. INTERVENTIONS: Testosterone at a concentration of 10 MUg/mL
      was added as a substrate for the intracellular aromatase. In addition, aromatase
      inhibitor was added at a concentration of 200 and 300 MUg/mL. The effect on cell
      growth and estradiol secretion is evaluated using Student's t-test. RESULTS: The
      use of testosterone increased estradiol secretion by endometrioma cells in
      culture. The use of aromatase inhibitor significantly inhibited the growth of
      endometrioma cells, and estradiol secretion. CONCLUSION: Aromatase inhibitor
      (anastrozole) may be an effective treatment for endometriosis due to inhibition
      of cellular aromatase.

PMID- 25839437
TI  - Colposcopy training and assessment across the member countries of the European
      Federation for Colposcopy.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Colposcopy training and assessment is not uniform across Europe with
      individual countries determining their own required standards and regulations. In
      light of the significant changes in colposcopic practice that have occurred over
      the past decade and the expansion of the European Federation for Colposcopy (EFC)
      membership, a study was conducted firstly, to assess the current requirements for
      training in each of the member countries and secondly, to review an EFC-approved
      core training curriculum for colposcopy. STUDY DESIGN: A questionnaire survey of
      the EFC representatives from all member countries investigating their country's
      current practices/requirements with regard to training, assessment and
      accreditation for colposcopy. A two-round Delphi consultation with representation
      from the full, associate and three potential member countries was conducted using
      a 5-point Likert scale for scoring opinions. The results were analysed with
      respect to each country's population size and World Bank economic classification.
      RESULTS: For the questionnaire survey, responses were received from 31/34
      countries invited to participate. Training programmes were reported to be in
      place in 21 of the 31 countries but only 17 of the 21 countries had a committee
      overseeing the training programme. An assessment was part of the training
      programme in 20 countries with multiple choice questions and portfolios the most
      common assessment tools. Countries with a population size less than 2 million
      have a statistically significant lower probability of having a structured
      training/assessment programme, 1/5 compared to 20/26 for a populations greater
      than 2 million, p=0.013. For the Delphi study, responses were received from 34/39
      countries invited to participate. Of the 51 competencies previously identified
      only 2 did not receive full support: 'perform bacterial swabs' and 'provide data
      to national body'. There was no significant difference in the responses given by
      member, associate member or potential member countries. CONCLUSIONS: There is
      considerable variation in colposcopy training and assessment across Europe. This
      study has enabled consensus opinion with the EFC on the contents of an EFC core
      curriculum. The revised curriculum has a mandate from the EFC member countries to
      be implemented across Europe as the standard for colposcopic training.

PMID- 25839438
TI  - Identification of anthranilamide derivatives as potential factor Xa inhibitors:
      drug design, synthesis and biological evaluation.
AB  - The coagulation enzyme factor Xa (fXa) plays a crucial role in the blood
      coagulation cascade. In this study, three-dimensional fragment based drug design
      (FBDD) combined with structure-based pharmacophore (SBP) model and structural
      consensus docking were employed to identify novel fXa inhibitors. After a multi
      stage virtual screening (VS) workflow, two hit compounds 3780 and 319 having
      persistent high performance were identified. Then, these two hit compounds and
      several analogs were synthesized and screened for in-vitro inhibition of fXa. The
      experimental data showed that most of the designed compounds displayed
      significant in vitro potency against fXa. Among them, compound 9b displayed the
      greatest in vitro potency against fXa with the IC50 value of 23 nM and excellent
      selectivity versus thrombin (IC50 = 40 MUM). Moreover, the prolongation of the
      prothrombin time (PT) was measured for compound 9b to evaluate its in vitro
      anticoagulant activity. As a result, compound 9b exhibited pronounced
      anticoagulant activity with the 2 * PT value of 8.7 MUM. 

PMID- 25839439
TI  - IL-12 augments antitumor responses to cycled chemotherapy.
AB  - Loss of antitumor response to repeated chemotherapy is a major cause of treatment
      failure in cancer patients. The development of acquired drug resistance is
      thought to come primarily from changes in tumor cells, and not host response to
      the tumor. Our recent study shows that antitumor immunity is activated and
      contributes significantly to the efficacy of chemotherapy. In this study of mouse
      tumor models, we demonstrate that loss of antitumor response during multiple
      cycles of chemotherapy is associated with a lack of immune activation, and not
      intrinsic tumor cell drug resistance. More importantly, we show that adding
      interleukin-12 (IL-12) to cycled chemotherapy maintains and even increases
      antitumor immune response in both immunogenic and nonimmunogenic murine tumors
      and significantly prolongs survival. In some instances, larger tumor burdens that
      relapse following an initial cycle of cyclophosphamide and IL-12 are eradicated
      by subsequent cycles of the same treatment at the same doses. Further analysis
      demonstrates that the initial cycle of the combined therapy increases antitumor
      immunity of the host. In other mice when tumors are not eradicated by the current
      cycle of therapy, it serves as a starting point for the subsequent cycles of
      treatment to generate higher levels of antitumor immunity and greater antitumor
      response. These results show that the status of host antitumor immunity is a
      critical factor affecting antitumor efficacy during repeated administration of
      chemotherapy. Further, IL-12 augments the antitumor immune response under such
      conditions. 

PMID- 25839440
TI  - Efficient nontoxic delivery of PD-L1 and PD-L2 siRNA into dendritic cell vaccines
      using the cationic lipid SAINT-18.
AB  - Dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccination is an appealing strategy to boost graft
      versus-tumor immunity after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT), and
      thereby prevent or counteract tumor recurrence. By exploiting minor
      histocompatibility antigens (MiHA) presented on hematopoietic cells, donor CD8 T
      cell immunity can be selectively targeted to patient's hematological tumor cells
      without the risk of inducing graft-versus-host disease. Previously, we
      demonstrated that silencing RNA (siRNA) of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and
      PD-L2 on DCs markedly augments the expansion and function of MiHA-specific CD8 T
      cells. However, previously applied methods based on electroporation or lipid
      nanoparticles were either incompatible with target antigen mRNA delivery or
      required complex manufacturing compliant to Good Manufacturing Practice. Here, we
      investigated whether transfection using lipoplexes composed of PD-L1 and PD-L2
      siRNAs plus SAINT-18:DOPE (ie, SAINT-RED) is an effective and feasible clinical
      grade method in DC vaccine manufacturing. We observed that a single siRNA/SAINT
      RED transfection resulted in efficient and long-term knockdown of the PD-1
      ligands without affecting DC maturation or viability. Furthermore, we
      demonstrated that SAINT-RED can be heat sterilized without loss of function,
      facilitating its use in aseptic DC vaccine production. Finally, we showed that
      the established transfection method can be combined with target antigen mRNA or
      peptide loading to efficiently stimulate MiHA-specific T-cell expansion and
      cytokine production. Together, these findings indicate that the developed PD-L
      siRNA/SAINT-RED transfection protocol in combination with MiHA mRNA or peptide
      loading can be applied in the generation of clinical-grade DC vaccines to boost
      antitumor immunity after allo-SCT. 

PMID- 25839441
TI  - Precision cancer immunotherapy: optimizing dendritic cell-based strategies to
      induce tumor antigen-specific T-cell responses against individual patient tumors.
AB  - Most dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccines have loaded the DC with defined antigens,
      but loading with autologos tumor-derived antigens would generate DCs that
      activate personalized tumor-specific T-cell responses. We hypothesized that DC
      matured with an optimized combination of reagents and loaded with tumor-derived
      antigens using a clinically feasible electroporation strategy would induce potent
      antitumor immunity. We first studied the effects on DC maturation and antigen
      presentation of the addition of picibanil (OK432) to a combination of zoledronic
      acid, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and prostaglandin E2. Using DC matured with
      the optimized combination, we tested 2 clinically feasible sources of autologous
      antigen for electroloading, total tumor mRNA or total tumor lysate, to determine
      which stimulated more potent antigen-specific T cells in vitro and activated more
      potent antitumor immunity in vivo. The combination of tumor necrosis factor
      alpha/prostaglandin E2/zoledronic acid/OK432 generated DC with high expression of
      maturation markers and antigen-specific T-cell stimulatory function in vitro.
      Mature DC electroloaded with tumor-derived mRNA [mRNA electroporated dendritic
      cell (EPDC)] induced greater expansion of antigen-specific T cells in vitro than
      DC electroloaded with tumor lysate (lysate EPDC). In a therapeutic model of MC38
      carcinoembryonic antigen colon cancer-bearing mice, vaccination with mRNA EPDC
      induced the most efficient anti-carcinoembryonic antigen cellular immune
      response, which significantly suppressed tumor growth. In conclusion, mature DC
      electroloaded with tumor-derived mRNA are a potent cancer vaccine, especially
      useful when specific tumor antigens for vaccination have not been identified,
      allowing autologous tumor, and if unavailable, allogeneic cell lines to be used
      as an unbiased source of antigen. Our data support clinical testing of this
      strategy. 

PMID- 25839443
TI  - Effect of Methanol Addition on the Resistivity and Morphology of PEDOT:PSS Layers
      on Top of Carbon Nanotubes for Use as Flexible Electrodes.
AB  - Overcoating carbon nanotube (CNT) films on flexible poly(ethylene terephthalate)
      (PET) foils with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) ( PEDOT:
      PSS) layers reduces the surface roughness, which is interesting for use in
      organic electronics. Adding methanol to the PEDOT: PSS aqueous solution used for
      spin coating of the PEDOT: PSS layer improves the wetting behavior of the CNT/PET
      surface. Samples with different volume fractions of methanol (0, 33, 50, 67, and
      75 vol %) are compared with respect to the transmission, horizontal, and vertical
      resistivity. With grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering, the film
      morphologies are probed, which is challenging because of the substrate
      flexibility. At 50 vol %, methanol optimum conditions are achieved with the
      resistivity close to that of the bare CNT/PET substrates because of the best
      contact between the PEDOT: PSS film and CNT surface. At lower methanol ratios,
      the PEDOT: PSS films cannot adapt the CNT morphology, and at higher methanol
      ratios, they rupture into domains and no continuous PEDOT: PSS layers are formed.

PMID- 25839442
TI  - Delayed dermatologic hypersensitivity reaction secondary to ipilimumab.
AB  - The treatment of melanoma has long favored the use of immunologic agents.
      Ipilimumab is a monoclonal antibody used to enhance the immune response. This
      therapy is associated with a variety of adverse reactions including skin
      reactions. Although dermatologic toxicities associated with the use of ipilimumab
      are common, delayed hypersensitivity reactions related to the drug have yet to be
      identified. This report is believed to be the first case of a delayed, severe
      dermatologic drug-related reaction secondary to ipilimumab. This case highlights
      the potential for severe toxicity for long periods after administration of
      ipilimumab. 

PMID- 25839444
TI  - Prophylactic lithium alleviates splenectomy-induced cognitive dysfunction
      possibly by inhibiting hippocampal TLR4 activation in aged rats.
AB  - Though the pathogenesis of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) remains
      unclear, evidence is accumulating for a pivotal role of neuroinflammation in the
      disease process. Advanced age and severe surgical trauma are two main risk
      factors for POCD. Lithium, a neuroprotective agent, can alleviate peripheral
      surgery-induced memory impairment in aged rats. The results of in vivo and in
      vitro experiments also showed that toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) was associated
      with the occurrence and development of neuroinflammation and POCD. So we
      hypothesized that inhibition of TLR4 signaling in the hippocampus maybe involved
      in the protective effects of prophylactic lithium on the occurrence of
      inflammation and POCD. In the present study, we incubated BV-2 microglia with
      1MUg/ml lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mimic neuroinflammation in vitro. We found
      that pretreatment with 10mM of lithium or 100nM of TLR4 siRNA could inhibit the
      tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and TLR4 mRNA expression induced by LPS in BV-2
      microglia. Furthermore, combination of prophylactic lithium and TLR4 siRNA even
      decreased their mRNA expression to the baseline levels, which showed that TLR4
      signaling may be vital in protective effects of prophylactic lithium on
      neuroinflammation. So we further undergone the in vivo experiment. Then, we
      firstly demonstrated that prophylactic 2mM/kg of lithium alleviated splenectomy
      induced cognitive impairments, decreased splenectomy-associated systemic,
      central, and hippocampal TNF-alpha and interleukin (IL)-1beta expression and
      reduced the increase of CD11b(+) area in hippocampal CA1 region caused by the
      surgery. Then, we also found that splenectomy merely increased hippocampal TLR2
      and TLR4 mRNA levels in aged rats. At last, we confirmed that prophylactic
      lithium reduced the increased levels of hippocampal TLR4/NF-kappaB induced by
      splenectomy. Taken together, these results demonstrate that TLR4 signaling
      inactivation may contribute to the protective effects of prophylactic lithium on
      the occurrence of POCD by inhibiting systemic inflammation and especially
      neuroinflammation.

PMID- 25839620
TI  - Comparison of Three Isoelectronic Multiple-Well Reaction Systems: OH + CH2O, OH +
      CH2CH2, and OH + CH2NH.
AB  - Methylenimine (CH2NH) has been predicted to be a product of the atmospheric photo
      oxidation of methylamine, but its atmospheric reactions have not been measured.
      In this paper, we report potential energy surfaces (PESs) and rate constants for
      OH + CH2NH and its isoelectronic analogues OH + CH2O and OH + CH2CH2, which are
      more fully understood. The PESs were computed using the BHandHLYP/aug-cc-pVTZ and
      CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ levels of theory. Canonical variational transition state
      theory and Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus and master equation modeling were used
      to calculate temperature- and pressure-dependent rate constants, with particular
      emphasis on the OH + reactant entrance channels and the effects of prereactive
      complexes. The computed results are in reasonable agreement with experimental
      data where they can be compared and also with the results of previous theoretical
      calculations. The results show that to some extent OH radicals both add to the
      carbon center double bond in CH2NH and abstract methylene hydrogen atoms, as in
      the OH + CH2O and OH + CH2CH2 reactions, respectively, but the dominant pathway
      is abstraction of the hydrogen from N-H. The computed rate constants are suitable
      for both atmospheric and combustion modeling. 

PMID- 25839621
TI  - Complete blood cell count risk score as a predictor of in-hospital mortality and
      morbidity among patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

PMID- 25839622
TI  - Can treatment with beta blockers trigger episodes of atrial fibrillation in
      healthy patients?

PMID- 25839623
TI  - Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors improve mortality after aspiration thrombectomy
      in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25839624
TI  - Lack of mitral valve leaflet coaptation in a case of non-compaction
      cardiomyopathy.

PMID- 25839626
TI  - An IVUS image report of coronary spasm induced by biodegradable-polymer drug
      eluting stent.

PMID- 25839625
TI  - The relevance of estrogen/estrogen receptor system on the gender difference in
      cardiovascular risk.
AB  - It has been reported that the incidence of thrombotic events can display a gender
      disparity. In particular, a lower thrombotic risk has been described in female
      gender. The mechanisms underlying this disparity are still poorly understood. Of
      great interest is the hypothesis that hormones, estrogen in particular, could
      play a key role. In fact, the possibility that some hormonal factors could
      protect women from thrombotic events appears well documented in literature. For
      instance, several studies aimed at the analysis of the impact of estrogen and
      estrogen receptors in thrombogenesis claim for the implication of these hormones
      either in megakaryocyte differentiation or, more intriguingly, directly affecting
      platelet integrity and function. In consideration of the absence of the nucleus,
      platelet susceptibility appears quite striking and probably due to the non
      nuclear estrogen receptor function. In this review we briefly summarize our
      knowledge as concerns the role of estrogen and estrogen receptors in determining
      megakaryocyte/platelet functions and thrombogenicity. 

PMID- 25839627
TI  - QT-correction formulae and arrhythmogenic risk in female patients with anorexia
      nervosa.

PMID- 25839628
TI  - Myocarditis is an essential feature rather than an exclusion criterion for
      takotsubo syndrome: Case report.

PMID- 25839629
TI  - Incidence of ventricular arrhythmias during World Cup football 2014 in patients
      with implantable cardioverter defibrillator.

PMID- 25839630
TI  - Progressive aortic dissection following RCA instent angioplasty.

PMID- 25839631
TI  - The impact of a strategy of image-guided left ventricular lead placement during
      cardiac resynchronization therapy on health care utilization.

PMID- 25839633
TI  - Late recovery in peripartum cardiomyopathy.

PMID- 25839632
TI  - Effects of hemolysis on the diagnostic accuracy of cardiac troponin I for the
      diagnosis of myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25839634
TI  - Acute coronary syndrome and scombroid syndrome.

PMID- 25839635
TI  - Cytokine storm after cessation of tocilizumab in a patient with refractory
      Takayasu arteritis.

PMID- 25839636
TI  - Heart murmur and dysrhythmia are associated with accidents leading to poor mental
      health and cognition: Scottish Health Survey, 2013.

PMID- 25839637
TI  - Fractional flow-guided management in patients with acute coronary syndromes: A
      systematic review and meta-analysis.

PMID- 25839638
TI  - Noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation: A novel promising modulator for cardiac
      autonomic nerve system dysfunction.

PMID- 25839639
TI  - Benefit of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy after generator
      replacement in patients with Brugada syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is the only proven
      effective therapeutic strategy for patients with Brugada syndrome (BS). However,
      it is controversial whether the device should be replaced even in patients who
      had never experienced appropriate ICD therapy until the time of generator
      replacement. METHODS AND RESULTS: This was a nationwide, multicenter
      retrospective study that enrolled patients who were diagnosed with BS and had an
      ICD implantation between January 1998 and April 2014. Appropriate ICD therapies
      administered for ventricular tachyarrhythmia were evaluated during follow-up. A
      total of 117 patients (age 43 +/- 12 years, male 115 [98.3%]) were enrolled, and
      the mean follow-up duration was 6.0 +/- 4.1 years. Thirty-seven (31.6%) patients
      had experienced appropriate ICD therapy during follow-up. Of all patients, 46
      underwent replacement of the device. After the first generator replacement, the
      incidence of appropriate ICD therapy remained as high as 65.2% in patients who
      previously experienced appropriate ICD therapy before generator replacement. In
      30 patients who did not experience any cardiac events until the first generator
      change, two (8.7%) had an episode of appropriate ICD therapy afterwards.
      CONCLUSIONS: No episode of ICD therapy before generator replacement could not
      guarantee a safe clinical course. ICD generator replacement should be considered
      even in patients without ICD therapy before.

PMID- 25839640
TI  - Meta-analysis of risk of stroke and thrombo-embolism with rivaroxaban versus
      vitamin K antagonists in ablation and cardioversion of atrial fibrillation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anticoagulation in cardioversion and ablation of atrial fibrillation
      is imperative for reducing thrombo-embolic events. Ample information is available
      about the use of warfarin and vitamin K antagonists (VKA) but few trials examine
      safety and efficacy of rivaroxaban in these procedures. We aim to explore the
      hypothesis that rivaroxaban causes equal thrombo-embolic and bleeding events when
      used in atrial fibrillation patients undergoing ablation or cardioversion
      compared to VKA. METHODS: We searched the online databases as well as conference
      abstracts till December 2014 for studies comparing rivaroxaban with VKA in atrial
      fibrillation patients undergoing catheter ablation or cardioversion. We report
      events as Odds ratio using random effects model except when event rates were less
      than 1% we used Peto Odds Ratio. RESULTS: A total of 8872 atrial fibrillation
      patients in 15 studies undergoing either catheter ablation or cardioversion were
      included in this analysis. There were significantly lower stroke events with
      rivaroxaban compared with VKA (Peto Odds Ratio (POR) 0.33, 95% confidence
      interval (CI) [0.11, 0.95]; P=0.04), and significantly less thrombo-embolic
      events with rivaroxaban compared with VKA (POR 0.46, 95% CI [0.21, 0.97];
      P=0.04). Major and minor bleeding were equal with rivaroxaban versus VKA (Odds
      Ratio (OR) 0.92, 95% CI [0.62, 1.36]; P=0.68) and (OR 0.81,95% CI [0.58, 1.11];
      P=0.19) respectively. CONCLUSION: The use of rivaroxaban in ablation and
      cardioversion of atrial fibrillation may be associated with decreased risk of
      stroke and thromboembolism with equal bleeding risk compared to VKA.

PMID- 25839641
TI  - Impact of prolonged dual antiplatelet therapy after acute myocardial infarction
      on 5-year mortality in the FAST-MI 2005 registry.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We document dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) use from discharge to 4
      years after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and investigate whether prolonged
      DAPT (beyond 1 year) is related to 5-year mortality. METHODS: The French Registry
      of Acute ST-elevation or non-ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction (FAST-MI 2005)
      included 3670 patients with AMI in 223 French centres. We identified predictors
      of DAPT (aspirin+clopidogrel) beyond 1 and 2 years, and relation with all-cause 5
      year mortality. RESULTS: Among 3319 (96%) patients with discharge data, 2432
      (73%) had DAPT, 582 (17%) single antiplatelet therapy (SAPT), and 305 (9%) no
      antiplatelet treatment. DAPT decreased from 75% at 1 year to 29% at 4 years, with
      a corresponding increase in SAPT (p<0.05 for trend). Patients with DAPT were more
      often male, treated with a drug-eluting stent (DES), and without oral
      anticoagulants. Independent predictors at 1 year of prolonged DAPT were age<75
      years, in-hospital bleeding, history of MI, use of DES, discharge use of beta
      blockers or statins and no chronic anticoagulation. Predictors at 2 years were
      age<75 years, male gender, previous MI, diabetes, DES implantation, no chronic
      oral anticoagulation. By multivariate analysis, there was no difference in 5-year
      mortality between those on SAPT vs DAPT at 1 year. DAPT at 2 years was also not
      significantly related to 5-year mortality (Hazard Ratio 1.3, 95% CI [0.9; 1.8],
      p=0.21). CONCLUSION: Prolonged DAPT in selected AMI patients, observed in 47% at
      1 year and 21% at 2 years, had no impact on 5-year mortality. These findings do
      not support the use of DAPT beyond 1 year after an initial ACS.

PMID- 25839642
TI  - Deinstitutionalization of American public hospitals for the mentally ill before
      and after the introduction of antipsychotic medications.
AB  - Deinstitutionalization following the introduction of antipsychotic medications in
      1954 has received much attention as a major narrative in psychiatry. Little
      attention has been given, however, to deinstitutionalization before 1954. Using
      United States census data on discharge and readmission rates of US mental
      hospitals from 1935 to 1964, this article analyzes deinstitutionalization using
      an interrupted time-series model, with particular attention to the statistical
      significance of trends before and after the advent of antipsychotics. Discharge
      rates significantly increased in the period before antipsychotics, indicating
      that deinstitutionalization began before 1954, although readmissions during that
      same period increased at the same rate as discharges. A reasonable inference is
      that patients discharged in the pre-antipsychotic period were unable to live
      independently outside the hospital. After 1954, both discharges and readmissions
      increased significantly, but due to a continuing increase in admissions, no
      significant decrease in mental hospital populations occurred during the seven
      year period after 1954. The decline began in 1961 and coincided with changes in
      federal policy. The fate of mental patients discharged from hospitals during this
      second period of deinstitutionalization is examined. The central conclusions are
      (1) the overall reduction in the population of mental hospitals did not coincide
      with the 1954 introduction of antipsychotic medications, and (2)
      deinstitutionalization before and after drugs has been met with inadequate
      community-based care.

PMID- 25839643
TI  - The psychiatry of light.
AB  - Bright light therapy and the broader realm of chronotherapy remain
      underappreciated and underutilized, despite their empirical support. Efficacy
      extends beyond seasonal affective disorder and includes nonseasonal depression
      and sleep disorders, with emerging evidence for a role in treating attention
      deficit/hyperactivity disorder, delirium, and dementia. A practical overview is
      offered, including key aspects of underlying biology, indications for treatment,
      parameters of treatment, adverse effects, and transformation of our relationship
      to light and darkness in contemporary life. 

PMID- 25839644
TI  - Introduction.

PMID- 25839645
TI  - Summary and epilogue.

PMID- 25839646
TI  - Cyclosporine A prevents ex vivo PCO formation through induction of autophagy
      mediated cell death.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to determine the Cyclosporine A (CsA) dose and
      minimum drug delivery time needed to prevent posterior capsule opacification
      (PCO) in an ex vivo canine model and evaluate the mechanism of CsA-induced cell
      death. Canine lens epithelial cells (LEC) were treated with CsA and changes in
      cell migration, proliferation, and density were monitored over time. CsA-treated
      LEC underwent transmission electron microscopy (TEM), immunofluorescence, and
      immunoblotting in the presence or absence of autophagy inhibitors to evaluate the
      mechanism of cell death. Lens capsules were harvested from canine cadaver eyes
      for an ex vivo model of PCO. Lens capsules were treated with CsA for 1, 2, 3, 4,
      5, 6, or 7 days, and subsequently maintained in culture for a total of 28 days in
      the absence of drug. CsA reduced LEC viability in a dose dependent manner.
      Morphologically, CsA-treated LEC were swollen, had intact nuclei, lacked
      peripheral chromatin condensation, and demonstrated prominent vacuolization; TEM
      revealed autophagosomes. LC3-II protein expression and acridine orange
      fluorescence increased in CsA-treated cells. A small non-significant induction of
      cleaved caspase-3 was observed in CsA-treated LEC. Lens capsules treated with 5,
      6, or 7 days of 10 MUg/mL CsA showed a significant decrease in ex vivo PCO
      formation; 6 days of drug delivery prevented PCO. This study finds that
      morphologic changes, formation of acidic vesicles, and increased expression of
      LC3-II supports the hypothesis that CsA mediates LEC death via autophagy; this is
      a novel finding in the lens. Induction of CsA-induced apoptosis was minimal. Six
      days of intracapsular CsA drug delivery prevented ex vivo PCO formation. 

PMID- 25839647
TI  - Biotransformation and Degradation of the Insensitive Munitions Compound, 3-Nitro
      1,2,4-triazol-5-one, by Soil Bacterial Communities.
AB  - Insensitive munitions (IM) are a new class of explosives that are increasingly
      being adopted by the military. The ability of soil microbial communities to
      degrade IMs is relatively unknown. In this study, microbial communities from a
      wide range of soils were tested in microcosms for their ability to degrade the
      IM, 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO). All seven soil inocula tested were able to
      readily reduce NTO to 3-amino-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (ATO) via 3-hydroxyamino-1,2,4
      triazol-5-one (HTO), under anaerobic conditions with H2 as an electron donor.
      Numerous other electron donors were shown to be suitable for NTO-reducing
      bacteria. The addition of a small amount of yeast extract (10 mg/L) was critical
      to diminish lag times and increased the biotransformation rate of NTO in nearly
      all cases indicating yeast extract provided important nutrients for NTO-reducing
      bacteria. The main biotransformation product, ATO, was degradable only in aerobic
      conditions, as evidenced by a rise in the inorganic nitrogen species nitrite and
      nitrate, indicative of nitrogen-mineralization. NTO was nonbiodegradable in
      aerobic microcosms with all soil inocula. 

PMID- 25839648
TI  - Effect of hierarchy legitimacy on low status group members' attributions for
      ingroup and outgroup failures.
AB  - Previous research has shown that people have a tendency to explain successes and
      failures in ways that favor their ingroups relative to outgroups. However, there
      has been a dearth of research examining whether social-contextual factors such as
      group status and hierarchy legitimacy moderate such intergroup attributions.
      Participants in this study were assigned to a low status group, and perceived
      hierarchy legitimacy was then experimentally manipulated; the extent to which
      ingroup versus outgroup failures were attributed to several causes was measured.
      When low status was considered illegitimate, ingroup failure was attributed to
      external causes (task difficulty, bad luck) more so than outgroup failure.
      Implications and directions for future research examining consequences and
      mediating processes are discussed.

PMID- 25839649
TI  - Isoflurane induced cognitive impairment in aged rats through hippocampal
      calcineurin/NFAT signaling.
AB  - Calcineurin (CaN) over-activation constrains synaptic plasticity and memory
      formation. Upon CaN activation, NFAT imports into the nucleus and guides its
      downstream genes, which also affect neuronal and synaptic function. Aberrant
      CaN/NFAT signaling involves in neurotoxicity and cognitive impairment in
      neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, but its role in postoperative
      cognitive dysfunction (POCD) remains uninvestigated. Inhaled anesthetic
      isoflurane facilitates the development of POCD, and the present study
      investigated the role of CaN/NFAT signaling in isoflurane induced cognitive
      impairment of aged rats, and the therapeutic effects of CaN inhibitor
      cyclosporine A (CsA). The results indicated that hippocampal CaN activity
      increased and peaked at 6 h after isoflurane exposure, and NFAT, especially
      NFATc4, imported into the nucleus following CaN activation. Furthermore,
      phamacological inhibition of CaN by CsA markedly attenuated isoflurane induced
      aberrant CaN/NFATc4 signaling in the hippocampus, and rescued relevant spatial
      learning and memory impairment of aged rats. Overall, the study suggests
      hippocampal CaN/NFAT signaling as the upstream mechanism of isoflurane induced
      cognitive impairment, and provides potential therapeutic target and possible
      treatment methods for POCD. 

PMID- 25839650
TI  - TNF-alpha knockdown alleviates palmitate-induced insulin resistance in C2C12
      skeletal muscle cells.
AB  - Insulin resistance is a cardinal feature of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), which
      accompanied by lipid accumulation and TNF-alpha overexpression in skeletal
      muscle. The role of TNF-alpha in palmitate-induced insulin resistance remained to
      be elucidated. Here, we assessed effects of TNF-alpha knockdown on the components
      of insulin signaling pathway (IRS-1 and Akt) in palmitate-induced insulin
      resistant C2C12 skeletal muscle cells. To reduce TNF-alpha expression, C2C12
      cells were transduced with TNF-alpha-shRNA lentiviral particles. Afterwards, the
      protein expression of TNF-alpha, IRS-1, and Akt, as well as phosphorylation
      levels of IRS-1 and Akt were evaluated by western blot. We also measured insulin
      stimulated glucose uptake in the presence and absence of palmitate. TNF-alpha
      protein expression in C2C12 cells significantly increased by treatment with 0.75
      mM palmitate (P < 0.05). In TNF-alpha knockdown cells, the protein expression
      level of TNF-alpha was significantly decreased by almost 70% (P < 0.01) compared
      with the control cells. Our results also revealed that, in control cells,
      palmitate treatment significantly reduced the insulin-induced phosphorylations of
      IRS-1 (Tyr632) and Akt (Ser473) by 60% and 66% (P < 0.01), respectively.
      Interestingly, these phosphorylations, even in the presence of palmitate, were
      not significantly reduced in TNF-alpha knockdown cells with respect to the
      untreated control cells (P > 0.05). Furthermore, palmitate significantly reduced
      insulin-dependent glucose uptake in control cells, however, it was not able to
      reduce insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in TNF-alpha knockdown cells in
      comparison with the untreated control cells (P < 0.01). These findings indicated
      that TNF-alpha down-regulation maintains insulin sensitivity, even in the
      presence of palmitate, therefore, TNF-alpha inhibition could be a good strategy
      for the treatment of palmitate-induced insulin resistance.

PMID- 25839651
TI  - Crystal structure of CagL from Helicobacter pylori K74 strain.
AB  - Helicobacter pylori (Hp) CagL is a component of the type IV secretion system
      (T4SS) and interacts with integrin in host cells through its flexible RGD domain
      to translocate CagA. Differences in CagL amino acid polymorphisms between Western
      and East-Asian Hps are correlated with clinical outcome. CagL of East-Asian
      clinical Hp isolate K74 (CagL(K74)) contains multiple residue variations upstream
      of RGD motif and has different integrin binding affinities compared to those of
      CagL from Western Hp 26695. Here, we report the crystal structure of CagL(K74).
      The structure displayed a six-helix bundle including two short alpha-helices, and
      the RGD motif was found in the long rigid alpha2 helix flanked by the conserved
      protease-sensitive and RGD-helper sequences, as observed in CagL(26695). However,
      two additional salt bridges were found between the helices compared with the
      CagL(26695) structure, suggesting that the putative flexible region harboring the
      RGD motif may be more stable in this CagL variant. 

PMID- 25839652
TI  - Apoptosis related protein 3 is a lysosomal membrane protein.
AB  - Apoptosis Related Protein 3 (APR3) is an important protein which is involved in
      retinoic acid-induced apoptosis, osteoblast differentiation and cervical squamous
      cell carcinoma progression. Although it was predicted to be a trans-membrane
      protein, its cellular localization is not clear. In this study, we analyzed APR3
      with bioinformatic tools and found that APR3 contains a potential signal peptide,
      a transmembrane region and 3 N-glycosylation sites, all of which are
      characteristics of lysosomal proteins. Western blot with isolated lysosomes
      demonstrated that APR3 was mainly present in lysosomes, specially in the
      lysosomal membrane fraction, but not in endoplasmic reticulum. Concomitantly,
      double immunofluorescence confirmed that APR3 co-localized with lysosomal
      membrane protein, LAMP1, as well as lysosomal specific marker, Lyso-Tracker Red.
      Moreover, we showed that APR3 was highly expressed in the lung, liver, spleen,
      kidney and adipose tissue, but expressed at the low level in the heart, pancreas,
      stomach and intestine. Interestingly, APR3 expression was elevated in multiple
      hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines comparing to normal liver cells.
      Collectively, our results proved that APR3 is a novel lysosomal membrane protein
      and shed light on its possible functions.

PMID- 25839653
TI  - Crystal structure of human POP1 and its distinct structural feature for PYD
      domain.
AB  - Inflammatory caspases, such as caspase-1, which is critical for the innate immune
      response, are activated upon the formation of a molecular complex called the
      inflammasome. The inflammasome is composed of three proteins, the Nod-like
      receptor (NLRP, NLRC or AIM2), apoptosis associated speck-loke protein containing
      a caspase-recruitment domain (ASC), and caspase-1. ASC is an adaptor molecule
      that contains an N-terminal PYD domain and a C-terminal CARD domain for
      interaction with other proteins. Upon activation, the N-terminal PYD of ASC
      homotypically interacts with the PYD domain of the Nod-like receptor, while its C
      terminal CARD homotypically interacts with the CARD domain of caspase-1. PYD only
      protein 1 (POP1) negatively regulates inflammatory response by blocking the
      formation of the inflammasome. POP1 directly binds to ASC via a PYD:PYD
      interaction, thereby preventing ASC recruitment to Nod-like receptor NLRPs. POP1
      mediated regulation of inflammation is of great biological importance. Here, we
      report the crystal structure of human POP1 and speculate about the inhibitory
      mechanism of POP1-mediated inflammasome formation based on the current structure.

PMID- 25839654
TI  - B-cell translocation gene 2 promotes hepatic hepcidin production via induction of
      Yin Yang 1.
AB  - Hepcidin is a peptide hormone secreted in the liver and plays a key role in
      maintaining iron homeostasis. Here, we demonstrate that B-cell translocation gene
      2 (BTG2) is a key player in hepatic hepcidin regulation via induction of Yin Yang
      1 (YY1). Hepatic hepcidin gene expression significantly enhanced by fasting
      states and glucagon exposure led to induction of gluconeogenic gene expression,
      and elevated serum hepcidin production in mice. Notably, overexpression of BTG2
      using adenoviral system (Ad-BTG2) significantly elevated serum hepcidin levels
      via a significant induction of YY1 gene transcription. Immunoprecipitation
      studies demonstrated that BTG2 physically interacted with YY1 and recruited on
      the hepcidin gene promoter. Finally, ablation of hepatic BTG2 gene by gene
      silencing markedly attenuated the elevation of serum hepcidin production along
      with YY1 and hepcidin mRNA expression in fasting state. Likewise, forskolin (FSK)
      stimulated hepcidin promoter activity was dramatically disrupted by endogenous
      BTG2 knockdown. Overall, our current study provides a novel molecular mechanism
      of BTG2-mediated induction of hepcidin gene expression, thereby contributing to a
      better understanding of the hepatic hepcidin production involved in iron
      homeostasis. 

PMID- 25839655
TI  - P2Y purinergic receptor-regulated insulin secretion is mediated by a cAMP/Epac/Kv
      channel pathway.
AB  - Enhancement of insulin secretion is a major therapeutic approach for type 2
      diabetes (T2D). Activation of P2Y purinergic receptor (P2YR) causes potentiation
      of insulin secretion in a glucose-dependent manner, making it a promising
      therapeutic target for T2D. Here we show that activation of P2YR to potentiate
      insulin secretion is mediated by adenylyl cyclase/cyclic AMP (cAMP) and the
      downstream effector, exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac), leading
      to inhibition of voltage-dependent potassium (Kv) channels. P2YR-mediated Kv
      channel inhibition results in prolongation of action potential duration, and in
      turn elevates intracellular Ca(2+) level and insulin secretion. Taken together,
      the data indicate that cAMP/Epac/Kv channel pathway mediates P2YR-regulated
      insulin secretion, which may have important therapeutic implications for T2D. 

PMID- 25839656
TI  - Metabolic signatures of renal cell carcinoma.
AB  - Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is characterized by the constitutive up
      regulation of the hypoxia inducible factor-1. One of its target enzymes, pyruvate
      dehydrogenase (PDH) kinase 1 (PDHK1) showed increased protein expression in tumor
      as compared to patient-matched normal tissues. PDHK1 phosphorylated and inhibited
      PDH whose enzymatic activity was severely diminished, depriving the TCA cycle of
      acetylCoA. We and others have shown a decrease in the protein expressions of all
      respiratory complexes alluding to a compromise in oxidative phosphorylation
      (OXPHOS). On the contrary, we found that key parameters of OXPHOS, namely ATP
      biosynthesis and membrane potential were consistently measurable in mitochondria
      isolated from ccRCC tumor tissues. Interestingly, an endogenous mitochondrial
      membrane potential (MMP) was evident when ADP was added to mitochondria isolated
      from ccRCC but not in normal tissues. In addition, the MMP elicited in the
      presence of ADP by respiratory substrates namely malate/glutamate, succinate,
      alpha-ketoglutarate and isocitrate was invariably higher in ccRCC. Two additional
      hallmarks of ccRCC include a loss of uncoupling protein (UCP)-2 and an increase
      in UCP-3. Based on our data, we proposed that inhibition of UCP3 by ADP could
      contribute to the endogenous MMP observed in ccRCC and other cancer cells. 

PMID- 25839657
TI  - Endogenous ROS levels are increased in replicative senescence in human bone
      marrow mesenchymal stromal cells.
AB  - Cellular senescence is characterized by functional decline induced by cumulative
      damage to DNA, proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. Previous studies have
      reported that replicative senescence is caused by excessive amounts of reactive
      oxygen species (ROS) produced as a result of aerobic energy metabolism. In this
      study, we established human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (hBM-MSCs) in
      replicative senescence after culture over a long term to investigate the
      relationship between ROS levels and stem cell potential and to determine whether
      differentiation potential can be restored by antioxidant treatment. Intracellular
      ROS levels were increased in hBM-MSCs; this was accompanied by a decrease in the
      expression of the antioxidant enzymes catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD)1
      and 2 and of phosphorylated forkhead box O1 (p-FOXO1) as well as an increase in
      the expression of p53 and p16, along with a reduction in differentiation
      potential. When the antioxidant ascorbic acid was used to eliminate excess ROS,
      the levels of antioxidant enzymes (catalase, SOD1 and 2, p-FOXO1, and p53) were
      partly restored. Moreover, differentiation into adipocytes and osteocytes was
      higher in hBM-MSCs treated with ascorbic acid than in the untreated control
      cells. These results suggest that the decline in differentiation potential caused
      by increased endogenous ROS production during in vitro expansion can be reversed
      by treatment with antioxidants such as ascorbic acid.

PMID- 25839658
TI  - Crystal structure of GnsA from Escherichia coli.
AB  - Escherichia Coli GnsA is a regulator of phosphatidylethanolamine synthesis and
      functions as a suppressor of both a secG null mutation and fabA6 mutations. GnsA
      may also be a toxin with the cognate antitoxin YmcE. Here we report the crystal
      structure of GnsA to 1.8 A. GnsA forms a V shaped hairpin structure that is
      tightly associated into a homodimer. Our comprehensive structural study suggests
      that GnsA is structurally similar to an outer membrane protein, suggesting a
      function of protein binding. 

PMID- 25839659
TI  - Na(+)-Ca(2+) exchanger targeting miR-132 prevents apoptosis of cardiomyocytes
      under hypoxic condition by suppressing Ca(2+) overload.
AB  - During ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury of the heart, Ca(2+) overload occurs,
      leading to cardiomyocyte dysfunction and eventual cell death by apoptosis. Since
      preventing Ca(2+) overload during IR injury has been reported to protect
      cardiomyocytes, interrupting Ca(2+) signaling cascades leading to Ca(2+) overload
      may exert protective effect on cardiomyocytes under hypoxic condition. One of the
      key regulators of the intracellular Ca(2+) level during IR injury is Na(+)-Ca(2+)
      exchanger 1 (NCX1), whose down-regulation during IR injury conferred protection
      of heart. In the present study, we examined whether down-regulation of NCX1 using
      exogenous microRNA ameliorates apoptosis of cardiomyocytes under hypoxic
      condition. Here, we identified miR-132 as a novel microRNA targeting the NCX1,
      whose expression increased during hypoxia. Delivery of miR-132 suppressed the
      increase of intracellular Ca(2+) in cardiomyocytes under hypoxia, and the
      expressions of apoptotic molecules, such as Bax, cytochrome C, and caspase 3, and
      the number of apoptotic cells were also decreased by exogenous miR-132 treatment.
      These results suggest the potential of miR-132 as an effective therapeutic agent
      against IR damage to heart by preventing Ca(2+) overload during hypoxic condition
      and warrant further studies to validate its anti-apoptotic effect in vivo. 

PMID- 25839660
TI  - New insights into the posttranslational regulation of human cytosolic thioredoxin
      by S-palmitoylation.
AB  - High level of palmitate is associated with metabolic disorders. We recently
      showed that enhanced level of S-palmitoylated cytosolic thioredoxin (Trx1) in
      mouse liver was new characteristic feature of insulin resistance. However, our
      understanding of the effect of S-palmitoylation on Trx1 is limited, and the
      tissue specificity of Trx1 S-palmitoylation is unclear. Here we show that S
      palmitoylation also occurs at Cys73 of Trx1 in living endothelial cells, and the
      level of S-palmitoylated Trx1 undergoes regulation by insulin signaling. Trx1
      prefers thiol-thioester exchange with palmitoyl-CoA to acetyl-CoA. S
      palmitoylation alters conformation or secondary structure of Trx1, as well as
      decreases the ability of Trx1 to transfer electrons from thioredoxin reductase to
      S-nitrosylated protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B and S-nitroso-glutathione. Our
      results demonstrate that S-palmitoylation is an important post-translational
      modification of human Trx1. 

PMID- 25839661
TI  - Heparinase I-specific disaccharide unit of heparin is a key structure but
      insufficient for exerting anti-prion activity in prion-infected cells.
AB  - Glycosaminoglycans reportedly play important roles in prion formation, but
      because of their structural complexity, the chemical structures affecting prion
      formation have not been fully evaluated. Here, we compared two types of low
      molecular weight heparins and found that heparinase I-sensitive structures
      influenced anti-prion activity in prion-infected cells. Surface plasmon resonance
      analyses showed significant binding of a representative heparinase I substrate
      disaccharide unit, GlcNS6S-IdoA2S, to recombinant prion protein (PrP) fragments,
      such as full-length PrP23-231 and N-terminal domain PrP23-89, but not to PrP89
      230. This binding was competitively inhibited by heparin or pentosan polysulfate,
      but not by Cu(2+). These PrP binding profiles of the disaccharide unit are
      consistent with those previously reported for heparin. However, synthetic
      compounds comprising disaccharide unit alone or its multimers exhibited no anti
      prion activity in prion-infected cells. Consequently, the findings suggest that
      the heparin disaccharide unit that binds to the N-terminal region of PrP is a key
      structure, but it is insufficient for exerting anti-prion activity. 

PMID- 25839662
TI  - Fenofibrate suppressed proliferation and migration of human neuroblastoma cells
      via oxidative stress dependent of TXNIP upregulation.
AB  - There are no appropriate drugs for metastatic neuroblastoma (NB), which is the
      most common extra-cranial solid tumor for childhood. Thioredoxin binding protein
      (TXNIP), the endogenous inhibitor of ROS elimination, has been identified as a
      tumor suppressor in various solid tumors. It reported that fenofibrate exerts
      anti-tumor effects in several human cancer cell lines. However, its detail
      mechanisms remain unclear. The present study assessed the effects of fenofibrate
      on NB cells and investigated TXNIP role in its anti-tumor mechanisms. We used MTT
      assay to detect cells proliferation, starch wound test to investigate cells
      migration, H2DCF-DA to detect intracellular ROS, siRNA to interfere TXNIP and
      peroxisome proliferator-androgen receptor-alpha (PPAR-alpha) expression, western
      blot to determine protein levels, flow cytometry to analyze apoptosis.
      Fenofibrate suppressed proliferation and migration of NB cells, remarkably
      increased intracellular ROS, upregulated TXNIP expression, promoted cell
      apoptosis. Furthermore, inhibition of TXNIP expression attenuated anti-tumor
      effects of fenofibrate, while inhibition of PPAR-alpha had no influences. Our
      results indicated the anti-tumor role of fenofibrate on NB cells by exacerbating
      oxidative stress and inducing apoptosis was dependent on the upregulation of
      TXNIP. 

PMID- 25839663
TI  - Introduction.

PMID- 25839664
TI  - Cancer stem cells: the promise and the potential.
AB  - Despite the advancement of treatment modalities, many cancer patients experience
      tumor recurrence and metastasis at regional or distant sites. Evolving
      understanding of tumor biology has led to the hypothesis that tumors may possess
      a stem cell-like subpopulation known as cancer stem cells (CSCs) that may be
      involved in driving tumor propagation and pathogenesis. Like normal stem cells
      (NSCs), CSCs can be identified by markers such as CD133, CD44, and ALDH. CSCs
      have the ability to self-renew and differentiate into different tumor components
      through stemness pathways, such as Wnt, TGF-beta, STAT, and Hippo-YAP/TAZ, among
      others. In NSCs, stemness pathways are strictly regulated and control many
      important biologic processes, including embryogenesis and intestinal crypt
      cellular regulation. In contrast, stemness pathways in CSCs are significantly
      dysregulated. Combining current drugs with the targeting of these stemness
      pathways may significantly improve patient prognosis. The aim of this supplement
      is to update clinicians on the accumulated evidence characterizing the role of
      CSCs in tumor initiation, heterogeneity, therapy resistance, and recurrence and
      metastasis, and the potential for effectively treating patients. 

PMID- 25839665
TI  - A LCMT1-PME-1 methylation equilibrium controls mitotic spindle size.
AB  - Leucine carboxyl methyltransferase-1 (LCMT1) and protein phosphatase
      methylesterase-1 (PME-1) are essential enzymes that regulate the methylation of
      the protein phosphatase 2A catalytic subunit (PP2AC). LCMT1 and PME-1 have been
      linked to the regulation of cell growth and proliferation, but the underlying
      mechanisms have remained elusive. We show here an important role for an LCMT1-PME
      1 methylation equilibrium in controlling mitotic spindle size. Depletion of LCMT1
      or overexpression of PME-1 led to long spindles. In contrast, depletion of PME-1,
      pharmacological inhibition of PME-1 or overexpression of LCMT1 led to short
      spindles. Furthermore, perturbation of the LCMT1-PME-1 methylation equilibrium
      led to mitotic arrest, spindle assembly checkpoint activation, defective cell
      divisions, induction of apoptosis and reduced cell viability. Thus, we propose
      that the LCMT1-PME-1 methylation equilibrium is critical for regulating mitotic
      spindle size and thereby proper cell division. 

PMID- 25839669
TI  - Outcome of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm repair: impact of aortic
      morphology.

PMID- 25839670
TI  - Exercise and the heart: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
AB  - The benefits of exercise are irrefutable. Individuals engaging in regular
      exercise have a favourable cardiovascular risk profile for coronary artery
      disease and reduce their risk of myocardial infarction by 50%. Exercise promotes
      longevity of life, reduces the risk of some malignancies, retards the onset of
      dementia, and is as considered an antidepressant. Most of these benefits are
      attributable to moderate exercise, whereas athletes perform way beyond the
      recommended levels of physical activity and constantly push back the frontiers of
      human endurance. The cardiovascular adaptation for generating a large and
      sustained increase in cardiac output during prolonged exercise includes a 10-20%
      increase in cardiac dimensions. In rare instances, these physiological increases
      in cardiac size overlap with morphologically mild expressions of the primary
      cardiomyopathies and resolving the diagnostic dilemma can be challenging. Intense
      exercise may infrequently trigger arrhythmogenic sudden cardiac death in an
      athlete harbouring asymptomatic cardiac disease. In parallel with the
      extraordinary athletic milieu of physical performances previously considered
      unachievable, there is emerging data indicating that long-standing vigorous
      exercise may be associated with adverse electrical and structural remodelling in
      otherwise normal hearts. Finally, in the current era of celebrity athletes and
      lucrative sport contracts, several athletes have succumbed to using performance
      enhancing agents for success which are detrimental to cardiac health. This
      article discusses the issues abovementioned, which can be broadly classified as
      the good, bad, and ugly aspects of sports cardiology. 

PMID- 25839672
TI  - Telemedicine Spending by Medicare: A Snapshot from 2012.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Medicare has been one of the principal payers for healthcare services
      delivered via telemedicine to rural beneficiaries since 1997. Early projections
      of the cost of covering telemedicine for Medicare beneficiaries made legislators
      cautious to take on such a large obligation, but subsequent reports showed actual
      expenditures to be far below early estimates. As interest in expanding Medicare's
      coverage for services delivered via telemedicine grows, further examination of
      the extent of telemedicine use within the Medicare program and the costs
      associated with this use is warranted. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medicare claims
      data from 2012 were examined. All valid claims associated with a Current
      Procedural Terminology code and modifier indicative of delivery via telemedicine
      were extracted and linked to the state of origin using carrier codes. Claims were
      summarized by clinical procedure code, medical specialty, and state. Expenditures
      were also calculated on a per member per month basis by state to compare the
      relative penetration of telemedicine among states. RESULTS: Total Medicare
      telemedicine-related expenditures in 2012 were found to be a little over $5
      million, 65.2% of the total allowed telemedicine-related charges of $7.7 million.
      This figure represents an expenditure of approximately $0.09 annually per
      Medicare enrollee, or about three-quarters of a penny per member per month. Wide
      variation was found among states in telemedicine use. Mental health services and
      service providers accounted for nearly 70% of total telemedicine-related
      professional fees, and originating site facility fee claims accounted for only
      28% of the total number of paid claims. CONCLUSIONS: Medicare spending on
      telemedicine is largely for mental health services and represents only a tiny
      fraction of overall Medicare spending. Adoption of telehealth is driven by
      multiple factors beyond need and rurality.

PMID- 25839671
TI  - No clear effect of postoperative radiotherapy on survival of breast cancer
      patients with one to three positive nodes: a population-based study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In published radiotherapy trials, the failure rate in the control arm
      among patients with one to three positive nodes is high compared with that seen
      with modern adjuvant treatments. Therefore, the generalizability of the results
      has been questioned. The aim of the present study was to compare relative
      survival in breast cancer patients between two Swedish regions with screening
      mammography programs and adjuvant treatment guidelines similar with the exception
      of the indication of radiotherapy for patients with one to three positive nodes.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 1989 and 2006, breast cancer patients were managed
      very similarly in the west and southeast regions, except for indication for
      postoperative radiotherapy. In patients with one to three positive nodes,
      postmastectomy radiotherapy was generally given in the southeast region (89% of
      all cases) and generally not given in the west region (15% of all cases). For
      patients with one to three positive nodes who underwent breast-conserving
      surgery, patients in the west region had breast radiotherapy only, while patients
      in the southeast region had both breast and lymph nodes irradiated. RESULTS: The
      10-year relative survival for patients with one to three positive lymph nodes was
      78% in the west region and 77% in the southeast region (P = 0.12). Separate
      analyses depending on type of surgery, as well as number of examined nodes, also
      revealed similar relative survival. CONCLUSION: Locoregional postoperative
      radiotherapy has well-known side-effects, but in this population-based study,
      there was little or no influence of this type of radiotherapy on survival when
      one to three lymph nodes were involved.

PMID- 25839673
TI  - Pakistan and the Millennium Development Goals for Maternal and Child Health:
      progress and the way forward.
AB  - The world has made substantial progress in reducing maternal and child mortality,
      but many countries are projected to fall short of achieving their Millennium
      Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 targets. The major objective of this paper is to
      examine progress in Pakistan in reducing maternal and child mortality and
      malnutrition over the last two decades. Data from recent national and
      international surveys suggest that Pakistan lags behind on all of its MDGs
      related to maternal and child health and, for some indicators especially related
      to nutrition, the situation has worsened from the baseline of 1990. Progress in
      addressing key social determinants such as poverty, female education and
      empowerment has also been slow and unregulated population growth has further
      compromised progress. There is a need to integrate the various different sectors
      and programmes to achieve the desired results effectively and efficiently as many
      of the determinants and influencing factors are outside the health sector.
      Pakistan has to accelerate improvement of access to maternal health services,
      particularly contraception, emergency obstetric care and skilled birth
      attendance; the need to improve maternal and child nutrition cannot be over
      emphasised.

PMID- 25839674
TI  - Expression and purification of the natively disordered and redox sensitive metal
      binding regions of Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein kinase G.
AB  - Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein kinase G (PknG) is secreted into host
      macrophages to block lysosomal degradation. The catalytic domain (~147-405) is C
      terminally flanked by a tetratricopeptide repeat domain (TPRD). The preceding
      rubredoxin-like metal-binding motif (RD, ~74-147) mediates PknG redox regulation.
      The N-terminal ~75 residues were predicted to show no regulatory secondary
      structure (NORS) and harbor the only site (T63) phosphorylated in vivo. Deletions
      or mutations in the NORS or the redox-sensitive RD significantly decrease the
      survival function. Here, we show that the RD appears only to be present in the
      folded, metal-bound state if ZnCl2 is added upon induction of protein expression
      in minimal medium. Since factor Xa cleaves at the end of its recognition site
      (IEGR), a modified expression plasmid for PknG1-147 was obtained by mutating the
      N-terminal thrombin to a factor Xa recognition site. This allows preparing PknG1
      147 with its native N-terminus. We further present a fast approach to generate
      expression plasmids for only the NORS or the RD by site-directed mutagenesis of
      the expression plasmid for His-tagged PknG1-147. An expression plasmid for PknG1
      75 was obtained by introducing a stop codon at position 76 and one for PknG74-174
      by introducing a factor Xa recognition site before position 74. SDS-PAGE analysis
      shows that all fragments are highly expressed in E. coli and can be purified to
      high purity. Thereby, the established preparation protocols pave the route for
      the NMR structural characterization of PknG regulation by its N-terminal regions,
      which is demonstrated by the recorded initial (1)H-(15)N-HSQC spectra. 

PMID- 25839675
TI  - Topographic Characterization of Cu-Ni NPs @ a-C:H Films by AFM and Multifractal
      Analysis.
AB  - In the present work three-dimensional (3-D) surface topography of Cu-Ni
      nanoparticles in hydrogenated amorphous carbon (Cu-Ni NPs @ a-C:H) with constant
      thickness of Cu and three thicknesses of Ni prepared by RF-Plasma Enhanced
      Chemical Vapor Deposition (RF-PECVD) system were investigated. The thin films of
      Cu-Ni NPs @ a-C:H with constant thickness of Cu and three thicknesses of Ni
      deposited by radio frequency (RF)-sputtering and RF-PECVD systems, were
      characterized. To determine the mass thickness and atomic structure of the films,
      the Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) spectra was applied. The
      absorption spectra were applied to study localized surface plasmon resonance
      (LSPR) peaks of Cu-Ni NPs (observed around 608 nm in visible spectra), which is
      widened and shifted to lower wavelengths as the thickness of Ni over layer
      increases, and their changes are also evaluated by the 3-D surface topography.
      These nanostructures were investigated over square areas of 1 MUm * 1 MUm using
      atomic force microscopy (AFM) and multifractal analysis. Topographic
      characterization of surface samples (in amplitude, spatial distribution, and
      pattern of surface characteristics) highlighted 3-D surfaces with multifractal
      features which can be quantitatively estimated by the multifractal measures. The
      3-D surface topography Cu-Ni NPs @ a-C:H with constant thickness of Cu and three
      thicknesses of Ni prepared by RF-PECVD system can be characterized using the
      multifractal geometry in correlation with the surface statistical parameters. 

PMID- 25839676
TI  - A novel approach to determine post mortem interval using neutron radiography.
AB  - One of the most difficult challenges in forensic research is to objectively
      determine the post-mortem interval (PMI). The accuracy of PMI is critical for
      determining the timeline of events surrounding a death. Most PMI techniques rely
      on gross morphological changes of cadavers that are highly sensitive to
      taphonomic factors. Recent studies have demonstrated that even exhumed
      individuals exposed to the same environmental conditions with similar PMIs can
      present different stages of decomposition. After death, tissue undergoes
      sequential changes consisting of organic and inorganic phase variations, as well
      as a gradual reduction of tissue water content. Hydrogen (H) is the primary
      contributor to neutron radiography (NR) contrast in biological specimens because
      (1) it is the most abundant element in biological tissues and (2) its nucleus
      scatters thermal and cold neutrons more strongly than any other atomic nucleus.
      These contrast differences can be advantageous in a forensic context to determine
      small changes in hydrogen concentrations. Neutron radiography of decaying canine
      tissues was performed to evaluate the PMI by measuring the changes in H content.
      In this study, dog cadavers were used as a model for human cadavers. Canine
      tissues and cadavers were exposed to controlled (laboratory settings, at the
      University of Tennessee, College of Veterinary Medicine) and uncontrolled
      (University of Tennessee Anthropology Research Facility) environmental
      conditions, respectively. Neutron radiographs were supplemented with photographs
      and histology data to assess the decompositional stages of cadavers. Results
      demonstrated that the increase in neutron transmission likely corresponded to a
      decrease in hydrogen content in the tissue, which was correlated with the decay
      time of the tissue. Tissues depleted in hydrogen were brighter in the neutron
      transmission radiographs of skeletal muscles, lung, and bone, under controlled
      conditions. Over a period of 10 days, changes in neutron transmission through
      lung and muscle were found to be higher than bone by 8.3%, 7.0%, and 2.0%,
      respectively. Results measured during uncontrolled conditions were more difficult
      to assess and further studies are necessary. In conclusion, neutron radiography
      may be used to detect changes in hydrogen abundance that can be correlated with
      the post-mortem interval. 

PMID- 25839677
TI  - Predicting the origin of soil evidence: High throughput eukaryote sequencing and
      MIR spectroscopy applied to a crime scene scenario.
AB  - Soil can serve as powerful trace evidence in forensic casework, because it is
      highly individualistic and can be characterised using a number of techniques.
      Complex soil matrixes can support a vast number of organisms that can provide a
      site-specific signal for use in forensic soil discrimination. Previous DNA
      fingerprinting techniques rely on variations in fragment length to distinguish
      between soil profiles and focus solely on microbial communities. However, the
      recent development of high throughput sequencing (HTS) has the potential to
      provide a more detailed picture of the soil community by accessing non-culturable
      microorganisms and by identifying specific bacteria, fungi, and plants within
      soil. To demonstrate the application of HTS to forensic soil analysis, 18S
      ribosomal RNA profiles of six forensic mock crime scene samples were compared to
      those collected from seven reference locations across South Australia. Our
      results demonstrate the utility of non-bacterial DNA to discriminate between
      different sites, and were able to link a soil to a particular location. In
      addition, HTS complemented traditional Mid Infrared (MIR) spectroscopy soil
      profiling, but was able to provide statistically stronger discriminatory power at
      a finer scale. Through the design of an experimental case scenario, we highlight
      the considerations and potential limitations of this method in forensic casework.
      We show that HTS analysis of soil eukaryotes was robust to environmental
      variation, e.g. rainfall and temperature, transfer effects, storage effects and
      spatial variation. In addition, this study utilises novel analytical
      methodologies to interpret results for investigative purposes and provides
      prediction statistics to support soil DNA analysis for evidential stages of a
      case. 

PMID- 25839678
TI  - What a validation strategy means for the quantitation of cocaine and heroin?
AB  - A method of separation by gas chromatography with a flame ionisation detector was
      developed for quantifying cocaine and heroin in powders seized by law
      enforcement. The method was validated by studying parameters of calibration,
      trueness, precision based on trueness error (or systematic bias) and random
      error. Total error, which is the combination of these errors, verified its
      adequacy with the objectives fixed by the analyst. Accuracy profile proved to be
      an efficient decision tool for that purpose. Results obtained with weighted
      regression model were analysed and allowed to conclude that the method enables
      quantitation of heroin and cocaine in powders on 2-100% concentration (w/w) range
      with acceptance limits fixed at 10% and a risk at 5%. The possible sources of
      uncertainty were evaluated and measurement of their contribution was integrated.
      The combined standard uncertainty and expanded uncertainty were determined. 

PMID- 25839679
TI  - Toolmark variability and quality depending on the fundamental parameters: Angle
      of attack, toolmark depth and substrate material.
AB  - The traditional way of visual toolmark comparison includes subjective judgments.
      Automated methods using computers are a possibility to render a comparison more
      objective, but they require the statistical properties, like the similarity and
      variability, of toolmarks to be determined quantitatively. Several parameters,
      that play a role during toolmark creation, are statistically analyzed in this
      article. We determined the same toolmark and the different toolmark similarity as
      well as variability of known matching toolmarks created in wax and compared the
      results with the similarity and variability of known non-matching toolmarks. In
      addition we studied the influence of the substrate materials wax and lead and the
      angle of attack on toolmark similarity and variability. Furthermore, we present
      an approach to determine toolmark quality, defined as how well structural details
      are preserved in the toolmark, to assist toolmark examiners in deciding, which
      structural details are reliable in a mark. We studied the influence of the
      substrate material, the angle of attack and the depth of a toolmark on the
      quality. The results show that for known matching toolmarks, the variability is
      very low within a toolmark and between toolmarks in wax, given that the
      parameters angle of attack and depth are held constant. Geometrical details are
      reliably represented down to 10-50MUm and toolmark similarity is clearly higher
      than known non-matching similarities. The comparison of wax and lead shows that
      wax is a good alternative as a substrate material for experimental toolmarks,
      capable of reliably representing structural details down to 10-25MUm. For finer
      details, lead is a better choice but might alter the original state of a tool.
      With increasing angle of attack, toolmark variability increases and toolmark
      quality decreases. Therefore it is advantageous to push the tool instead of
      pulling during toolmark creation for angles of attack above ~45 degrees . The
      quality also decreases with increasing toolmark depth, but only up to ~300MUm.
      Therefore toolmarks should be created as shallow as possible in the substrate
      material. 

PMID- 25839680
TI  - Colorectal neoplasia pathways: state of the art.
AB  - Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a heterogeneous disease and each CRC possesses a
      unique molecular tumor profile. The main pathways of oncogenesis are the
      chromosomal instability, microsatellite instability and serrated neoplasia
      pathway. Sessile serrated adenomas/polyps (SSA/Ps) may be the precursor lesions
      of CRC arising via the serrated neoplasia pathway. This has led to a paradigm
      shift because all SSA/Ps should be detected and resected during colonoscopy. The
      ability to accurately detect and resect only those polyps with a malignant
      potential could result in safer and cost-effective practice. Optimization of the
      endoscopic classification systems is however needed to implement targeted
      prevention methods. 

PMID- 25839681
TI  - Advances in bowel preparation for colonoscopy.
AB  - Precolonoscopy bowel preparation is adequate to identify lesions larger than 5 mm
      about 70% to 75% of the time, but the opportunity for further improvement exists.
      The use of high-quality formulations with established efficacy rates of 90% or
      greater, identification of patients who are at increased risk of an inadequate
      preparation, as well as patient education and motivation to be invested in the
      process further improves the success of cleansing. Endoscopists should strive to
      achieve an adequate bowel preparation in 85% or more of patients. High-quality
      colonoscopy requires high-quality bowel cleansing. 

PMID- 25839682
TI  - Techniques and technologies to maximize mucosal exposure.
AB  - Performing high-quality colonoscopy is one of the important goals of
      gastroenterology practices and requires achieving a high level of bowel
      cleansing, performing good and safe polypectomy, and detecting all polyps present
      in the colon. This article summarizes currently available techniques and
      technologies to maximize mucosal visualization. Several maneuvers can be applied
      during insertion and withdrawal of the colonoscope to optimize mucosal
      visualization and decrease the number of missed polyps. Newly developed
      technologies support the endoscopist in the detection of polyps. Each technique
      is reviewed, with emphasis on the impact on colorectal polyp detection. 

PMID- 25839683
TI  - Water-aided colonoscopy.
AB  - The successful intubation of the cecum during screening or surveillance
      colonoscopy is vital to ensure complete mucosal inspection of the colon on
      withdrawal. Even when performed by an experienced endoscopist, colonoscope
      insertion can sometimes be challenging. Water-aided colonoscopy can be used to
      assist the endoscopist in navigating colons with anatomies that may be
      challenging owing to severe angulation or redundancy. Water-assisted colonoscopy
      involves the infusion of water without air and subsequent suctioning during
      insertion (exchange) or withdrawal (immersion or infusion). This review discusses
      the technique, effectiveness, safety of water-assisted colonoscopy as well as the
      application in sedationless endscopy.

PMID- 25839684
TI  - Electronic imaging to enhance lesion detection at colonoscopy.
AB  - Adenoma removal prevents colorectal cancer (CRC) development. Lower adenoma
      detection rates correlate with increased postcolonoscopy CRC. Chromoendoscopy it
      is not practical for routine use. It was hoped that electronic imaging techniques
      would offer effective alternatives to improve detection; however, meta-analyses
      in average-risk patients indicate no benefit. Narrow band imaging may be of
      benefit for high-risk surveillance. Combining electronic imaging techniques with
      molecular imaging probes may highlight dysplasia at a molecular level. In future
      colonoscopy is likely to rely on sensitive and specific, labeled molecular probes
      detected by electronic endoscopic imaging to enhance detection and reduce miss
      rates for premalignant lesions. 

PMID- 25839686
TI  - Tools for polyp histology prediction.
AB  - Although removal of adenomatous polyps has been shown to decrease the risk of
      colon cancer, distal hyperplastic polyps are thought to not have malignant
      potential. Most polyps detected during colonoscopy are diminutive (<= 5 mm) and
      rarely harbor advanced histology, such as high-grade dysplasia or cancer.
      Therefore, predicting histology in real-time during colonoscopy can potentially
      decrease the enormous expenditure that ensues from universal histopathologic
      evaluation of polyps, and several novel imaging technologies have been developed
      and tested over the past decade for this purpose. Of these different
      technologies, electronic chromoendoscopy seems to strike a fair balance between
      accuracy, feasibility, and cost.

PMID- 25839685
TI  - Chromocolonoscopy.
AB  - Chromoendoscopy techniques improve the visualization of mucosal structures. This
      article reviews and summarizes key studies addressing the impact of
      chromoendoscopy on colonic neoplasia detection and differentiation of neoplastic
      from non-neoplastic polyps in average and high-risk populations, including
      patients with colonic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In this context, there
      are convincing data that chromoendoscopy differentiates neoplastic from non
      neoplastic polyps in average-risk populations with high accuracy. Moreover, dye
      based chromoendoscopy improves neoplasia detection in colonic IBD surveillance. 

PMID- 25839687
TI  - New paradigms in polypectomy: resect and discard, diagnose and disregard.
AB  - Polypectomy at colonoscopy has been shown to reduce the subsequent risk of
      colorectal cancer. With the advent of national screening programs, the number of
      colonoscopies performed has increased worldwide. In addition, the recent drive
      for quality improvement combined with advances in colonoscopic technology has
      resulted in increased numbers of polyps detected, resected, and sent for
      histopathology leading to spiraling costs associated with the procedure. Being
      able to diagnose small polyps in vivo (optical diagnosis) would allow for
      adenomas to be resected and discarded without the need to retrieve them or send
      them for formal histopathology.

PMID- 25839688
TI  - Advanced polypectomy and resection techniques.
AB  - Most colorectal cancer arises from adenomatous polyps. This gradual process may
      be interrupted by screening and treatment using colonoscopy and polypectomy.
      Advances in imaging platforms have led to classification systems that facilitate
      prediction of histologic type and both stratification for and prediction of the
      risk of invasion. Endoscopic treatment should be the standard of care even for
      extensive advanced mucosal neoplasm. Technique selection is influenced by lesion
      features, location, patient factors, and local expertise. Postprocedural
      complications are more common following advanced resection and endoscopists
      should be familiar with risk factors, early detection methods, and management.

PMID- 25839689
TI  - Management of polypectomy complications.
AB  - The 2 most significant complications of colonoscopy with polypectomy are bleeding
      and perforation. Incidence rates for bleeding (0.1%-0.6%) and perforation (0.7%
      0.9%) are generally low. Recognition of pertinent risk factors helps to prevent
      these complications, which can be grouped into patient-related, polyp-related,
      and technique/device-related factors. Endoscopists should be equipped to manage
      bleeding and perforation. Currently available devices and techniques are reviewed
      to achieve hemostasis and close colon perforations. 

PMID- 25839690
TI  - Colonic strictures: dilation and stents.
AB  - Colonic strictures, both benign and malignant, are commonly encountered in
      clinical practice. Benign strictures are most commonly treated by balloon
      dilation and less frequently with stents. Balloon dilation can help forestall or
      obviate surgery in some patients. Colonic strictures of malignant etiology
      generally need to be managed by stents and/or surgery. This article reviews
      endoscopic approaches to the management of colonic strictures. 

PMID- 25839691
TI  - Colonoscopy quality assessment.
AB  - Colonoscopy is the cornerstone of colorectal cancer screening programs. There is
      significant variability in the quality of colonoscopy between endoscopists.
      Colonoscopy quality assessment tracks various metrics to improve the
      effectiveness of colonoscopy, aiming at reducing the incidence and mortality from
      colorectal cancer. Adenoma detection rate is the prime metric, because it is
      associated with the risk of interval cancer. Implementing processes to measure
      and improve the adenoma detection rate is essential to improve the quality of
      colonoscopy. 

PMID- 25839692
TI  - Colon capsule endoscopy.
AB  - Colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) is a minimally invasive technique specifically
      designed to explore the colon without sedation and air insufflation. CCE may
      overcome some of the limitations of colonoscopy. Second-generation CCE (CCE-2)
      was proved accurate in detecting colonic neoplastic lesions when used in average
      risk individuals. The evidence to date supports the use of CCE-2 in cases of
      colonoscopy failure, in patients unwilling to undergo colonoscopy, and when
      colonoscopy is contraindicated. Other potential applications, such as colorectal
      cancer screening or diagnostic surveillance of inflammatory bowel disease,
      require clarification. 

PMID- 25839693
TI  - The big picture: does colonoscopy work?
AB  - Colonoscopy for average-risk colorectal cancer screening has transformed the
      practice of gastrointestinal medicine in the United States. However, although the
      dominant screening strategy, its use is not supported by randomized controlled
      trials. Observational data do support a protective effect of colonoscopy and
      polypectomy on colorectal cancer incidence and mortality, but the level of
      protection in the proximal colon is variable and operator-dependent. Colonoscopy
      by high-level detectors remains highly effective, and ongoing quality improvement
      initiatives should consider regulatory factors that motivate changes in physician
      behavior. 

PMID- 25839694
TI  - Modern colonoscopy continues to evolve and improve.

PMID- 25839695
TI  - Advances in colonoscopy.

PMID- 25839696
TI  - Celebrating 50 years of NPs.

PMID- 25839697
TI  - Prevention of Alzheimer disease: The roles of nutrition and primary care.
AB  - Risk factors for developing Alzheimer disease include hypercholesterolemia,
      hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. Due to lack of effective treatments for
      Alzheimer disease, nutrition and primary prevention becomes important. 

PMID- 25839698
TI  - Grief & depression at the end of life.
AB  - People may experience grief and depression with serious illness at the end of
      life or as a loved one who survives. While grief is a normal reaction to loss,
      complicated grief and depression are not. Accurate diagnosis, treatment, and
      referral are essential clinical tools for practitioners managing this population.

PMID- 25839699
TI  - Detection of EML4-ALK fusion gene in Chinese non-small cell lung cancer by using
      a sensitive quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase PCR technique.
AB  - Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement is present in approximately 5% of
      lung adenocarcinoma. Clinical trials on ALK inhibitor phase I to III have shown
      an interesting disease control rate and acceptable tolerability in ALK
      rearrangement patients. In clinical application, the precise diagnostic strategy
      for identifying ALK rearrangements remains to be determined. In this study, ALK
      rearrangement was screened by using quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase
      polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), direct sequencing, 2 fluorescence in situ
      hybridization (FISH) assays, and immunohistochemistry in 173 lung
      adenocarcinomas. We identified 18 cases (10.4%) with EML4-ALK fusion-positive by
      qRT-PCR, and all were positive for EML4-ALK fusion gene validated by direct
      sequencing. The result was consistent with that of other methods. Furthermore, of
      the 18 EML4-ALK fusion-positive cases, 16 (9.2%) were positive by using EML4-ALK
      fusion probe FISH, and 15 (8.7%) were positive by using ALK break-apart probe
      FISH and immunohistochemistry staining. Of the 18 ALK fusion-positive lung
      adenocarcinomas, 8 cases (44.4%) were histologically diagnosed as subtypes of
      cribriform adenocarcinoma, 7 cases (38.9%) as cribriform adenocarcinoma mixed
      with papillary and/or mucinous pattern, 2 cases (11.1%) as papillary
      adenocarcinoma, and 1 case (5.6%) as mucinous adenocarcinoma. In the present
      study, the ALK rearrangement frequency detected by qRT-PCR in Chinese NSCLC
      patients was higher than that in the western populations. QRT-PCR is a rapid,
      sensitive technology that could be used as a screening tool for identifying EML4
      ALK fusion-positive NSCLC patients who would be sensitive for receiving ALK
      inhibitor therapy. 

PMID- 25839700
TI  - Hybrid Capture 2 is as effective as PCR testing for high-risk human
      papillomavirus in head and neck cancers.
AB  - High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a common cause of oropharyngeal
      squamous cell carcinoma, especially in young male nonsmokers. Accurately
      diagnosing HPV-associated oral cancers is important, because they have a better
      prognosis and may be treated differently than smoking-related oral carcinomas.
      Various methods have been validated to test for high-risk HPV in cervical tissue
      samples, and they are in routine clinical use to detect dysplasia before it
      progresses to invasive disease. Similarly, future screening for HPV-mediated
      oropharyngeal dysplasia may identify patients before it progresses. Our objective
      was to compare 4 of these methods in a retrospective series of 87 oral and
      oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas that had archived fresh-frozen and
      paraffin-embedded tissue for evaluation. Patient age, sex, smoking history, and
      tumor location were also recorded. DNA prepared from fresh-frozen tissue was
      tested for HPV genotypes by multiplex polymerase chain reaction analysis, and
      high-risk HPV screening was carried out using Hybrid Capture 2 and Cervista.
      Histologic sections were immunostained for p16. HPV-positive outcome was defined
      as agreement between at least 2 of the 3 genetic tests and used for chi analysis
      and calculations of diagnostic predictive value. As expected, high-risk HPV
      positive oral cancers were most common in the tonsil and base of the tongue
      (oropharynx) of younger male (55 vs. 65 y) (P=0.0002) nonsmokers (P=0.01). Most
      positive cases were HPV16 (33/36, 92%). Hybrid Capture 2 and Cervista were as
      sensitive as polymerase chain reaction and had fewer false positives than p16
      immunohistochemical staining. 

PMID- 25839701
TI  - Primary mucinous adenocarcinoma of the epididymis: report of a rare case with
      molecular genetic characterization including mutation analysis of the TP53 gene.
AB  - We report a case of primary epididymal mucinous adenocarcinoma in a 60-year-old
      man who presented with a scrotal mass and subsequently developed pulmonary
      metastases. On immunohistochemistry the tumor was positive for villin and CK20
      and negative for CK7, CDX2, and thyroid transcription factor-1. Molecular genetic
      analysis revealed an uncommon mutation; 249: AGG ->ATG in the TP53 gene, which
      has not been previously described in association with a primary epididymal
      adenocarcinoma. Mutational analysis showed KRAS, BRAF, and VHL to be wild-type.
      No microsatellite instability was found. 

PMID- 25839702
TI  - Mechanisms of DNA methyltransferase-inhibitor interactions: Procyanidin B2 shows
      new promise for therapeutic intervention of cancer.
AB  - DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) is a key epigenetic enzyme for pharmacological
      manipulation and is employed in cancer reprogramming. During past few years
      multiple strategies have been implemented to excavate epigenetic compounds
      targeting DNMTs. In light of the emerging concept of chemoinformatics, molecular
      docking and simulation studies have been employed to accelerate the development
      of DNMT inhibitors. Among the DNMT inhibitors known till date, epigallocathechin
      3-gallate (EGCG) was identified to be effective in reducing DNMT activity.
      However, the broad spectrum of EGCG to other diseases and variable target enzymes
      offers some limitations. In view of this, 32 EGCG analogues were screened at S
      Adnosyl-L-homocysteine (SAH) binding pocket of DNMTs and procyanidin B2-3, 3'-di
      O-gallate (procyanidin B2) was obtained as potent inhibitor having medicinally
      relevant chemical space. Further, in vitro analysis demonstrates the efficiency
      of procyanidin B2 in attenuating DNMT activity at IC50 of 6.88+/-0.647 MUM and
      subsequently enhancing the expression of DNMT target genes, E-cadherin, Maspin
      and BRCA1. Moreover, the toxic property of procyanidin B2 towards triple negative
      breast cancer cells to normal cells offers platform for pre-clinical trial and an
      insight to the treatment of cancer.

PMID- 25839704
TI  - Lung Cancer Prognosis in Elderly Solid Organ Transplant Recipients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Treatment-related immunosuppression in organ transplant recipients
      has been linked to increased incidence and risk of progression for several
      malignancies. Using a population-based cancer cohort, we evaluated whether organ
      transplantation was associated with worse prognosis in elderly patients with non
      small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology,
      and End Results Registry linked to Medicare claims, we identified 597 patients
      aged 65 years or older with NSCLC who had received organ transplants (kidney,
      liver, heart, or lung) before cancer diagnosis. These cases were compared to
      114,410 untransplanted NSCLC patients. We compared overall survival (OS) by
      transplant status using Kaplan-Meier methods and Cox regression. To account for
      an increased risk of non-lung cancer death (competing risks) in transplant
      recipients, we used conditional probability function (CPF) analyses. Multiple CPF
      regression was used to evaluate lung cancer prognosis in organ transplant
      recipients while adjusting for confounders. RESULTS: Transplant recipients
      presented with earlier stage lung cancer (P = 0.002) and were more likely to have
      squamous cell carcinoma (P = 0.02). Cox regression analyses showed that having
      received a non-lung organ transplant was associated with poorer OS (P < 0.05),
      whereas lung transplantation was associated with no difference in prognosis.
      After accounting for competing risks of death using CPF regression, no
      differences in cancer-specific survival were noted between non-lung transplant
      recipients and nontransplant patients. CONCLUSIONS: Non-lung solid organ
      transplant recipients who developed NSCLC had worse OS than nontransplant
      recipients due to competing risks of death. Lung cancer-specific survival
      analyses suggest that NSCLC tumor behavior may be similar in these 2 groups.

PMID- 25839705
TI  - C1q Binding Activity of De Novo Donor-specific HLA Antibodies in Renal Transplant
      Recipients With and Without Antibody-mediated Rejection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Complement fixation by donor-specific HLA antibodies (DSA) is a
      primary mechanism for antibody-mediated damage of organ allografts. Using a
      recently developed kit that measures C1q binding to distinguish complement fixing
      and nonfixing antibodies, studies showed that C1q + DSAs have a higher risk of
      rejection and graft loss compared to C1q-DSA. The objective of this study was to
      assess the ability of the C1q-binding assay to identify clinically significant de
      novo DSA in renal transplant recipients and to define the properties of DSA that
      confer C1q binding ability. METHODS: The DSA-positive sera from 34 kidney
      recipients, 19 with biopsy-proven antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) + and 15 who
      were AMR-, were assayed in C1q-binding assays (C1q Screen; One Lambda, Inc.
      Canoga Park, CA). The correlation between C1q-binding activity, presence of AMR,
      DSA mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) values, and immunoglobulin G isotype was
      determined. RESULTS: Fifty-three percent (10/19) of sera from AMR+ patients had
      C1q + DSA, whereas only 13% (2/15) of sera from AMR- patients contained C1q +
      DSA. C1q + DSA exhibited significantly higher MFI values regardless of whether
      they were from AMR+ or AMR- patients (16,118 +/- 6698 vs 6429 +/- 4003; P <
      0.0001). C1q + DSA converted to C1q - when diluted to a comparable MFI level as
      the C1q - DSA from AMR- patients, and some C1q - antibodies converted to C1q +
      when concentrated to MFI levels comparable to those observed for AMR+/C1q + sera.
      CONCLUSIONS: The C1q binding activity by de novo DSA in patients with AMR largely
      reflects differences in antibody strength. The C1q assay does not appear to
      distinguish functionally distinct DSA with clinical significance.

PMID- 25839707
TI  - Variation in Cost and Quality in Kidney Transplantation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bending the cost curve in medical expenses is a high national
      priority. The relationship between cost and kidney allograft failure has not been
      fully investigated in the United States. METHODS: Using Medicare claims from the
      United States Renal Data System, we determined costs for all adults with Medicare
      coverage who underwent kidney transplant January 1, 2007, to June 30, 2009. We
      compared relative cost (observed/expected payment) for year 1 after
      transplantation for all transplant centers, adjusting for recipient, donor, and
      transplant characteristics, region, and local wage index. Using program-specific
      reports from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, we correlated
      relative cost with observed/expected allograft failure between centers, excluding
      small centers. RESULTS: Among 19,603 transplants at 166 centers, mean observed
      cost per patient per center was $65,366 (interquartile range, $55,094-$71,624).
      Mean relative cost was 0.99 (+/- 0.20); mean observed/expected allograft failure
      was 1.03 (+/- 0.46). Overall, there was no correlation between relative cost and
      observed/expected allograft failure (r = 0.096, P = 0.22). Comparing centers with
      higher than expected costs and allograft failure rates (lower performing) and
      centers with lower than expected costs and failure rates (higher-performing)
      showed differences in donor and recipient characteristics. As these
      characteristics were accounted for in the adjusted cost and allograft failure
      models, they are unlikely to explain the differences between higher- and lower
      performing centers. CONCLUSIONS: Further investigations are needed to determine
      specific cost-effective practices of higher- and lower-performing centers to
      reduce costs and incidence of allograft failure.

PMID- 25839706
TI  - Interleukin-10 From Marginal Zone Precursor B-Cell Subset Is Required for
      Costimulatory Blockade-Induced Transplantation Tolerance.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Blocking CD40-CD40L costimulatory signals induces transplantation
      tolerance. Although B-cell depletion prevents alloantibody formation, nonhumoral
      functions of B cells in tolerance have not been well characterized. We
      investigated whether specific subsets of B cell or B cell-derived interleukin
      (IL)-10 contribute to tolerance. METHODS: Wild type C57BL/6, or B cell-specific
      interleukin (IL)-10 (CD19-Cre::IL-10) mice, received vascularized BALB/c cardiac
      allografts. BALB/c donor-specific splenocyte transfusion and anti-CD40L
      monoclonal antibody were used as tolerogen. B cells were depleted with antimouse
      CD20 monoclonal antibody. Various B-cell subsets were purified and characterized
      by flow cytometry, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and adoptive
      transfer. RESULTS: B-cell depletion prevented costimulatory blockade-induced
      allogeneic tolerance. Costimulatory blockade increased IL-10 in marginal zone
      precursor (MZP) B cells, but not other subsets. In particular, costimulatory
      blockade did not change other previously defined regulatory B-cell subsets
      (Breg), including CD5CD1d Breg or expression of TIM1 or TIM4 on these Breg or
      other Breg cell subsets. Costimulatory blockade also induced IL-21R expression in
      MZP B cells, and IL-21R MZP B cells expressed even more IL-10. B-cell depletion
      or IL-10 deficiency in B cells prevented tolerance in a cardiac allograft model,
      resulting in rapid acute cardiac allograft rejection. Adoptive transfer of wild
      type MZP B cells but not other subsets to B cell-specific IL-10 deficient mice
      prevented graft rejection. CONCLUSIONS: CD40 costimulatory blockade induces MZP B
      cell IL-10 which is necessary for tolerance. These observations have implications
      for understanding tolerance induction and how B cell depletion may prevent
      tolerance.

PMID- 25839708
TI  - Detecting the humoral alloimmune response: we need more than serum antibody
      screening.
AB  - Whereas many techniques exist to detect HLA antibodies in the sera of immunized
      individuals, assays to detect and quantify HLA-specific B cells are only just
      emerging. The need for such assays is becoming clear, as in some patients, HLA
      specific memory B cells have been shown to be present in the absence of the
      accompanying serum HLA antibodies. Because HLA-specific B cells in the peripheral
      blood of immunized individuals are present at only a very low frequency, assays
      with high sensitivity are required. In this review, we discuss the currently
      available methods to detect and/or quantify HLA-specific B cells, as well as
      their promises and limitations. We also discuss scenarios in which quantification
      of HLA-specific B cells may be of additional value, besides classical serum HLA
      antibody detection. 

PMID- 25839709
TI  - The Role of Specifically Tailored Communication Training Among Factors
      Influencing Consent for Cornea Donation Requested Via Telephone.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Consent for cornea donation from non-heart-beating donors is often
      requested by means of telephone interviews with relatives of the deceased. The
      purpose of this study was to identify the effect of specifically tailored
      interviewer communications training among other factors related to obtaining
      consent. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of consent requests made by the Aachen
      Cornea Bank was performed. Interviews were conducted via telephone by 26
      ophthalmic residents or fellows in accordance with German and European laws and
      guidelines. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify factors related to
      the consent. Results were expressed as odds ratios (OR), 95% confidence interval
      (95% CI), and Wald P value. RESULTS: In 1694 interviews, the overall consent rate
      was 50.12%. Multivariate analysis identified 4 significant factors associated
      with the donation decision. Completion of a specific communication training
      seminar increased odds of consent by 1.533 (95% CI, 1.250-1.880; P < 0.0001). The
      individual interviewer had an impact on the OR of up to 1.255 (95% CI, 1.113
      1.417; P = 0.0002). The odds for consent were inversely correlated with the
      clinical experience of the interviewer (OR, 0.884; 95% CI, 0.831-0.938; P <
      0.0001). The consulted family member was 0.894 times less likely to grant consent
      for donation with each increase in degree of blood relation (95% CI, 0.849-0.940;
      P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: A telephone interview is effective for obtaining
      consent for cornea donation. The consent decision may be associated with factors
      relating to the interviewer as well as the consulted family member. Specific
      training for cornea bank staff may increase the odds of obtaining consent.

PMID- 25839710
TI  - From Mean Fluorescence Intensity to C1q-Binding: The Saga of Anti-HLA Donor
      specific Antibodies.

PMID- 25839711
TI  - Chemokines in the melanoma metastasis biomarkers portrait.
AB  - Skin tumorigenesis is linked to inflammatory chemokines accumulation that can
      induce cancer-associated immune-suppression. Deregulation of the CXCR4/CXCL12
      axis was reported in melanoma tumorigenesis while also linked to BRAF mutation.
      Some chemokine-receptor patterns can direct the organ-specific metastasis. CXCL10
      can help to prognosticate high-risk patients as it is a chemokine that
      differentiated patients with vs. metastasis free ones. Besides serum/plasma,
      chemokine identification in the cerebrospinal fluid of melanoma patients can
      indicate brain metastasis. Interplay between suppressed and elevated chemokines
      in cerebrospinal fluid can pinpoint an aggressive melanoma brain metastasis.
      Chemokines are gaining rapid momentum in the biomarker discovery domain aiding
      melanoma prognosis and high-risk patients' stratification. 

PMID- 25839712
TI  - Transition-metal-free tandem radical thiocyanooxygenation of olefinic amides: a
      new route to SCN-containing heterocycles.
AB  - A novel transition-metal-free tandem radical thiocyanooxygenation of olefinic
      amides with potassium thiocyanate has been developed under mild conditions. This
      method allows a reliable and practical access to diverse SCN-containing
      heterocycles bearing a wide range of functional groups in good to excellent
      yields. Furthermore, this tandem reaction provides a simple method for the
      construction of C-O and C-S bonds in one step. 

PMID- 25839713
TI  - Menstrual pain and quality of life in women with primary dysmenorrhea: Rationale,
      design, and interventions of a randomized controlled trial of effects of a
      treadmill-based exercise intervention.
AB  - Dysmenorrhea in the absence of pelvic abnormality is termed primary dysmenorrhea
      (PD). The health burden and social and economic costs of PD are high as it is
      reported to be the leading cause of recurrent absenteeism from school or work in
      adolescent girls and young adults. The belief that exercise works for relieving
      symptoms in women with PD is based on anecdotal evidence and non-experimental
      studies. There is very limited evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
      to support the use of exercise to reduce the intensity of menstrual pain. The
      objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of exercise to reduce
      intensity of pain and improve quality of life in women with PD. We describe the
      study design of a single-blind (assessor), prospective, two-arm RCT, and the
      participant characteristics of the 70 women recruited in the age-group 18 to 43
      years. The primary outcome of the study is pain intensity. The secondary outcomes
      of the study are quality of life, functional limitation, sleep, global
      improvement with treatment, and protocol adherence. The outcomes assessments are
      done at first menstrual period (baseline, Week 0), 2nd menstrual period (Week 4)
      and at two additional time points (Week 16 and Week 28) during the trial. The
      results of the study will provide physiotherapists, medical practitioners, and
      researchers as well as the women who have PD with new insights, knowledge, and
      evidence about the use of exercise to manage pain in women with PD.

PMID- 25839714
TI  - Can exploring natural recovery from substance misuse in psychosis assist with
      treatment? A review of current research.
AB  - Substance misuse in people with psychosis presents significant problems, but
      trials of treatments to address it show little sustained advantage over control
      conditions. An examination of mechanisms underpinning unassisted improvements may
      assist in the refinement of comorbidity treatments. This study reviewed existing
      research on natural recovery from substance misuse in people with psychosis. To
      address this issue, a systematic search identified only 7 articles that fulfilled
      the criteria. Their results suggest that people with psychosis report similar
      reasons to change as do non-psychotic groups, although they did not clarify
      whether the relative frequencies or priority orders were the same. Differences
      involved issues relating to the disorder and the functional problems faced by
      this group: receipt of treatment for mental health difficulties, worsening of
      mental health difficulties, and homelessness. The current research on reasons for
      change in people with psychosis is sparse and has significant limitations, and as
      yet it offers little inspiration for new treatments. A more fertile source may
      prove to be a detailed investigation of successful substance control strategies
      that are used in self-management by this group. 

PMID- 25839715
TI  - Do signals of a hand-held TETRA transmitter affect cognitive performance, well
      being, mood or somatic complaints in healthy young men? Results of a randomized
      double-blind cross-over provocation study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: TETRA (terrestrial trunked radio) is a digital radio communication
      standard, which has been implemented in several European countries and is used by
      public executives, transportation services, and by private companies. Studies on
      possible impacts on the users' health considering different exposure conditions
      are missing. OBJECTIVES: To investigate possible acute effects of electromagnetic
      fields (EMF) of two different levels of TETRA hand-held transmitter signals on
      cognitive function and well-being in healthy young males. METHODS: In the present
      double-blind cross-over study possible effects of short-term (2.5h) EMF exposure
      of handset-like signals of TETRA (385 MHz) were studied in 30 healthy male
      participants (mean+/-SD: 25.4+/-2.6 years). Individuals were tested on nine study
      days, on which they were exposed to three different exposure conditions (Sham,
      TETRA 1.5 W/kg and TETRA 6.0 W/kg) in a randomly assigned and balanced order.
      Participants were tested in the afternoon at a fixed timeframe. RESULTS:
      Attention remained unchanged in two out of three tasks. In the working memory
      significant changes were observed in two out of four subtasks. Significant
      results were found in 5 out of 35 tested parameters, four of them led to an
      improvement in performance. Mood, well-being and subjective somatic complaints
      were not affected by TETRA exposure. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present
      study do not indicate a negative impact of a short-term EMF-effect of TETRA on
      cognitive function and well-being in healthy young men.

PMID- 25839717
TI  - Eelco F.M. Wijdicks, MD, PhD.

PMID- 25839718
TI  - The clinical determination of brain death: rational and reliable.

PMID- 25839716
TI  - Genome-wide association study of plasma levels of polychlorinated biphenyls
      disclose an association with the CYP2B6 gene in a population-based sample.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of man-made
      environmental pollutants which accumulate in humans with adverse health effects.
      To date, very little effort has been devoted to the study of the metabolism of
      PCBs on a genome-wide level. OBJECTIVES: Here, we conducted a genome-wide
      association study (GWAS) to identify genomic regions involved in the metabolism
      of PCBs. METHODS: Plasma levels of 16 PCBs ascertained in a cohort of elderly
      individuals from Sweden (n=1016) were measured using gas chromatography-high
      resolution mass spectrophotometry (GC-HRMS). DNA samples were genotyped on the
      Infinium Omni Express bead microarray, and imputed up to reference panels from
      the 1000 Genomes Project. Association testing was performed in a linear
      regression framework under an additive model. RESULTS: Plasma levels of PCB-99
      demonstrated genome-wide significant association with single nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs) mapping to chromosome 19q13.2. The SNP with the strongest
      association was rs8109848 (p=3.7*10(-13)), mapping to an intronic region of
      CYP2B6. Moreover, when all PCBs were conditioned on PCB-99, further signals were
      revealed for PCBs -74, -105 and -118, mapping to the same genomic region. The
      lead SNPs were rs8109848 (p=3.8*10(-12)) for PCB-118, rs4802104 (p=1.4*10(-9))
      for PCB-74 and rs4803413 (p=2.5*10(-9)) for PCB-105, all of which map to CYP2B6.
      CONCLUSIONS: In our study, we found plasma levels of four lower-chlorinated PCBs
      to be significantly associated with the genetic region mapping to the CYP2B6
      locus. These findings show that CYP2B6 is of importance for the metabolism of
      PCBs in humans, and may help to identify individuals who may be susceptible to
      PCB toxicity.

PMID- 25839719
TI  - Brain death guidelines explained.
AB  - Brain death is diagnosed in the minority of patients with acute severe brain
      injury. Guidelines have been developed in many countries in the world and
      physicians usually work through a set of criteria. The clinical evaluation starts
      with determination of futility of any medical or surgical intervention and an
      unmistakable certainty that the underlying diagnosis is correct. The actual
      neurologic evaluation in a patient suspected of being brain dead requires 25
      tests and verifications. Brain death determination demands perfect diagnostic
      accuracy and thus requires skill and expertise. The overriding principle is
      simple: establish cause, exclude confounders, determine futility of
      interventions, examine brainstem reflexes, and test for apnea. In this review,
      the author revisits the American Academy of Neurology guidelines, and examines
      the details behind the guidelines. The 2010 guidelines have eliminated
      unnecessary tests and observation delays, and maintain a principle of simplicity.

PMID- 25839720
TI  - Pediatric brain death determination.
AB  - Clinical guidelines for the determination of brain death in children were first
      published in 1987. These guidelines were revised in 2011 under the auspices of
      the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and
      the Child Neurology Society, and provide the minimum standards that must be
      satisfied before brain death can be declared in infants and children. After
      achieving physiologic stability and exclusion of confounders, two examinations
      including apnea testing separated by an observation period (24 hours for term
      newborns up to 30 days of age, and 12 hours for infants and children from 31 days
      up to 18 years) are required to establish brain death. Apnea testing should
      demonstrate a final arterial PaCO2 20 mm Hg above the baseline and >= 60 mm Hg
      with no respiratory effort during the testing period. Ancillary studies
      (electroencephalogram and radionuclide cerebral blood flow) are not required to
      establish brain death and are not a substitute for the neurologic examination.
      The committee concluded that ancillary studies may be used (1) when components of
      the examination or apnea testing cannot be completed, (2) if uncertainty about
      components of the neurologic examination exists, (3) if a medication effect may
      be present, or (4) to reduce the interexamination observation period. When
      ancillary studies are used, a second clinical examination and apnea test should
      still be performed and components that can be completed must remain consistent
      with brain death. 

PMID- 25839721
TI  - Ancillary testing in brain death.
AB  - Despite worldwide acceptance of the concept of brain death, there is marked
      variability in the use of ancillary testing. In most countries, ancillary tests
      are used primarily when confounding factors interfere with reliable completion of
      a clinical assessment, or physiologic instability precludes performance of an
      apnea test. Alternatively, in some countries, confirmatory ancillary tests are
      routinely required before brain death can be diagnosed. Ancillary tests assess
      brain function (e.g., electroencephalography) or blood flow (e.g., cerebral
      angiography). Evaluation of blood flow is affected less by confounding clinical
      factors and is now preferred in most jurisdictions. With angiographic techniques,
      a significant proportion of patients meeting clinical criteria for brain death
      have some opacification of proximal intracranial arteries. Consequently, the
      sensitivity of angiography is strongly influenced by the particular criteria that
      are used to define intracranial circulatory arrest. Lack of enhancement of the
      great cerebral and internal cerebral veins has the highest sensitivity. Worldwide
      experience with newer tests, such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance
      angiography, is growing. Radionuclide imaging has the advantage of not requiring
      use of potentially nephrotoxic contrast material. Transcranial Doppler
      ultrasonography can be brought to the bedside to demonstrate lack of brain blood
      flow. The specificity of imaging techniques in the detection of intracranial
      circulatory arrest has not been as well studied as their sensitivity. 

PMID- 25839722
TI  - Brain death: the European perspective.
AB  - Some of the seminal steps toward the recognition and definition of brain death
      were European. There is a general consensus on both the medical concept of brain
      death in Europe as well as the minimum fundamental clinical standards that are
      required for its diagnosis-the absence of consciousness, brainstem reflexes, and
      the ability to breathe in the absence of reversible or confounding conditions.
      Two aspects of brain death determination are addressed in this article. The
      authors analyze how brain death is diagnosed across Europe, identifying both the
      similarities and differences that exist between countries (the latter mainly
      concerning ancillary tests, timing, and the number of physicians involved in the
      brain death determination). In addition, they describe the very considerable
      variations in when brain death determinations are made between and within
      individual European countries, and propose that they are due to differences in
      the end-of-life care practices in patients with irreversible brain injuries,
      medical attitudes, and organ donation practices. Although legislation is
      available to standardize the brain death diagnosis process in most individual
      European countries, there are still disparities across Europe as a whole. The
      current variation in practice makes a continental consensus for the definition of
      brain death imperative. 

PMID- 25839723
TI  - Brain death: the United kingdom perspective.
AB  - The United Kingdom (UK) has incorporated a brainstem formulation into its brain
      death criteria since the first guidelines were published in 1976. A clinical
      diagnosis incorporating three sequential but interdependent steps is sufficient
      for the determination of brain death in the UK. There must be no doubt that the
      patient's comatose condition is due to irreversible brain damage of known
      etiology, and potentially reversible causes of coma and apnea, such as drug
      effects, metabolic or endocrine disturbances, or hypothermia, must be excluded. A
      clinical examination of brainstem reflexes and an apnea test is then undertaken.
      Confirmatory tests are not required in the UK, but may be useful to reduce any
      element of uncertainty or minimize the period of observation prior to the
      diagnosis of brainstem death if the preconditions for clinical testing are not
      met, or if a comprehensive neurologic examination is not possible. Brainstem
      death must be diagnosed by two doctors who must be present at each of the two
      sets of clinical tests that are required to determine death. Although death is
      not confirmed until the second test has been completed, the legal time of death
      is when the first test confirms the absence of brainstem reflexes. 

PMID- 25839724
TI  - Brain death: the Asian perspective.
AB  - Asia is the largest and most populous continent in the world with people from
      many diverse ethnic groups, religions and government systems. The authors
      surveyed 14 countries accounting for the majority of Asia's population and found
      that, although the concept of brain death is widely accepted, there is wide
      variability in the criteria for certification. Although most Asian countries have
      adopted the "whole-brain" concept of brain death, most countries with past
      colonial links to the United Kingdom follow the UK "brainstem" concept of brain
      death. Despite this difference, most countries require only neurologic testing of
      irreversible coma and absent brainstem reflexes as criteria for certification of
      brain death. Variability exists in the number of personnel required,
      qualifications of certifying doctors, need for repeat examination, minimum time
      interval between examinations, and requirement for and choice of confirmatory
      tests. 

PMID- 25839725
TI  - Uniformity in brain death criteria.
AB  - Despite well-described international variabilities in brain death practices, de
      facto there already exists a minimum international clinical standard for the
      diagnosis of brain death. This remains rooted in the Harvard criteria and based
      on the characteristics of a permanently nonfunctioning brain. Medicine is
      evolving toward a single unified determination of death based on the cessation of
      brain function subsequent to catastrophic brain injury or circulatory arrest.
      Clarity in lexicon could be established, including movement toward functional
      definitions and away from anatomically based terms such as cardiac and brain
      death that erroneously imply death of the organ. The cessation of clinical
      functions of the brain that will not resume is determined by the absence of
      capacity for consciousness, centrally mediated motor responses, brainstem
      reflexes, and capacity to breathe. A known proximate cause and the absence of
      confounding or reversible conditions must be confirmed. Regional medical, legal,
      cultural, religious, or socioeconomic factors may require testing beyond this
      minimal clinical standard. 

PMID- 25839726
TI  - Families and brain death.
AB  - It is necessary to support the family of a patient with a progressively worsening
      severe acute brain injury, and to do this with the utmost understanding of their
      ultimate hopelessness. Any conversation starts with an explanation of the
      catastrophic nature of the illness, but also with establishing the point of no
      return. When brainstem reflexes are lost and the patient has become apneic,
      family members should be appropriately informed. In contrast to circulatory
      death, the relatives of such a patient do not see a deceased person in the
      traditional sense, and even the neurologic progression may not have been obvious
      to family members. The conversation about brain death with the close relatives is
      therefore different, and is more detailed than a conversation about
      cardiopulmonary death. In this review, a six-phase approach of communication with
      the relatives is proposed. Insightful snippets of personal conversations with
      family members are included. Communicating with family members also necessarily
      involves a discussion on the potential suitability for organ donation. Some
      suggestions on how to approach reluctant family members to accept death of their
      loved one are included. 

PMID- 25839727
TI  - Brain death: legal obligations and the courts.
AB  - Brain death, or death determined by neurologic criteria, has been legally adopted
      in all U.S. states for decades. Despite its long-established history, a lack of
      clear understanding has led to disputes requiring a legal forum for resolution.
      Recently, physicians and hospitals across the country have been impacted by a
      growing number of disputes about brain death. The authors offer clinicians a
      historical perspective on the evolution of brain death as a legal cause of death
      in the United States. They then review the more common legal categories of
      disputes encountered, including representative court cases for each. This
      overview provides physicians with a general legal perspective on brain death so
      they may better appreciate the pertinent issues if and when later confronted. 

PMID- 25839728
TI  - Simulation training in brain death determination.
AB  - Skill in the determination of brain death is traditionally acquired during
      training in an apprenticeship model. Brain death is not frequently determined,
      and thus exposure to the techniques used is marginal. Brain death is therefore
      ideally suited for competency-based education models such as simulation.
      Simulation can ensure that all trainees have direct experience in brain death
      determination irrespective of their specialty, program design, or institutional
      protocol. In this review, the authors discuss the advantages and barriers to
      simulation and how to develop simulation scenarios for instruction in the
      determination of brain death. Future research should focus on validation of brain
      death simulation methods and assessment tools as well as the impact of simulation
      on performance in clinical practice. 

PMID- 25839729
TI  - Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia is related to longer hospitalization in mood
      disordered repetitive suicide attempters.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Our aims were (1) to measure respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a
      high-frequency spectrum component of heart rate variability (HRV) in mood
      disordered suicide attempters and (2) to investigate the relationship of RSA to
      symptoms and length of hospitalization. METHODS: Forty-nine female repetitive
      suicide attempters with depressive disorder or bipolar disorder were recruited in
      a general hospital setting. Manic or psychotic patients were excluded. Resting
      RSA values were calculated from electrocardiogram data, and severity of clinical
      presentation shortly after admission and length of hospital stay were assessed.
      RESULTS: RSA was positively associated with a higher Beck Scale for Suicidal
      Ideation score (r = 0.33 P = 0.019). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed
      a significant correlation between RSA and hospitalization length after adjusting
      other variables (beta coefficient = 3.00; P = 0.030). Patients with a higher
      resting RSA had more prolonged hospitalizations (hospitalization beyond 30 days)
      after controlling for other variables (odds ratio = 5.08, P = 0.017).
      CONCLUSIONS: Interaction between the environment and the autonomic nervous system
      is complex. Further and more comprehensive research is needed.

PMID- 25839731
TI  - The effects of TV unhealthy food brand placement on children. Its separate and
      joint effect with advertising.
AB  - This paper examines the effect of unhealthy food brand placement on children
      across different age groups (9, 12 and 15 year-old children). Results show that
      both brand awareness, and the behavioral disposition (toward junk food and
      McDonald's) increased when children were exposed to this marketing technique (in
      comparison with the control group). In the case of age, older groups (12-15)
      performed better in brand awareness, but scored lower in behavioral disposition
      than the 9-year-old group. Moreover, the joint use of advertising and placement
      (synergy) increased the effect of these communication tactics on children.
      Results are discussed in terms of previous results of the studies providing
      evidence of the influence of promotional tools of junk food on children. 

PMID- 25839732
TI  - Adaptation and validation of the Spanish version of the Clinical Impairment
      Assessment Questionnaire.
AB  - The Clinical Impairment Assessment (CIA) assesses psychosocial impairment
      secondary to an eating disorder. The aim of this study was to create and validate
      a Spanish-language version of the CIA. Using a forward-backward translation
      methodology, we translated the CIA into Spanish and evaluated its psychometric
      characteristics in a clinical sample of 178 ED patients. Cronbach's alpha values,
      confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and correlations between the CIA and the
      Eating Attitudes Test-12 and the Health-Related Quality of Life in ED-short form
      questionnaires evaluated the reliability, construct validity, and convergent
      validity, respectively. Known-groups validity was also studied comparing the CIA
      according to different groups; responsiveness was assessed by means of effect
      sizes. Data revealed a three-factor structure similar to that of the original
      CIA. Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.91 for the total CIA score supported its
      internal consistency and correlations with other instruments demonstrated
      convergent validity. The total CIA score and factor scores also significantly
      discriminated between employment status, evidencing known-groups validity.
      Responsiveness parameters showed moderate changes for patients with restrictive
      eating disorders. These findings suggest that the CIA can be reliably and validly
      used in Spain in a number of different clinical contexts, by researchers and
      clinicians alike. 

PMID- 25839733
TI  - Evolution, the loss of diversity and the role of trade-offs.
AB  - We investigate how the loss of previously evolved diversity in host resistance to
      disease is dependent on the complexity of the underlying evolutionary trade-off.
      Working within the adaptive dynamics framework, using graphical tools (pairwise
      invasion plots, PIPs; trait evolution plots, TEPs) and algebraic analysis we
      consider polynomial trade-offs of increasing degree. Our focus is on the
      evolutionary trajectory of the dimorphic population after it has been attracted
      to an evolutionary branching point. We show that for sufficiently complex trade
      offs (here, polynomials of degree three or higher) the resulting invasion
      boundaries can form closed 'oval' areas of invadability and strategy coexistence.
      If no attracting singular strategies exist within this region, then the
      population is destined to evolve outside of the region of coexistence, resulting
      in the loss of one strain. In particular, the loss of diversity in this model
      always occurs in such a way that the remaining strain is not attracted back to
      the branching point but to an extreme of the trade-off, meaning the diversity is
      lost forever. We also show similar results for a non-polynomial but complex trade
      off, and for a different eco-evolutionary model. Our work further highlights the
      importance of trade-offs to evolutionary behaviour. 

PMID- 25839730
TI  - Differences in Evolution of HIV-1 Subtype C Reverse Transcriptase Between
      Children and Adults Likely Explained by Maturity of Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte
      Responses.
AB  - In this study HIV-1 subtype C-infected adults demonstrated higher purifying
      selection on their viral populations in reverse transcriptase (RT) than infected
      children. This difference is likely explained by more mature cytotoxic T
      lymphocyte responses in adults, which may have implications for the development
      of drug resistance in the RT region. 

PMID- 25839734
TI  - Benzouracil-coumarin-arene conjugates as inhibiting agents for chikungunya virus.
AB  - Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arbovirus that was first recognized in an
      epidemic form in East Africa in 1952-1953. The virus is primarily transmitted
      through mosquitoes and the resulting disease, chikungunya fever, is found in
      nearly 40 countries. Neither an effective vaccine nor a specific antiviral drug
      exists for treatments of chikungunya fever. Thus 22 new conjugated compounds of
      uracil-coumarin-arene were designed and synthesized as potential inhibiting
      agents. Their chemical structures were determined unambiguously by spectroscopic
      methods, including single-crystal X-ray diffraction crystallography. The three
      units in these conjugates were connected by specially designed -SCH2- and -OSO2-
      joints. Five of these new conjugates were found to inhibit CHIKV in Vero cells
      with significant potency (EC50 = 10.2-19.1 MUM) and showed low toxicity (CC50 =
      75.2-178 MUM). The selective index values were 8.8-11.5 for three conjugates. By
      analysis of the data from the anti-viral assays, the structure-activity
      relationship is derived on the basis of the nature of the uracil, the functional
      groups attached to the arene, and the joints between the ring units.

PMID- 25839735
TI  - Music Therapy is Associated With Family Perception of More Spiritual Support and
      Decreased Breathing Problems in Cancer Patients Receiving Hospice Care.
AB  - CONTEXT: Music therapy is a common discretionary service offered within hospice;
      however, there are critical gaps in understanding the effects of music therapy on
      hospice quality indicators, such as family satisfaction with care. OBJECTIVES:
      The purpose of this study was to examine whether music therapy affected family
      perception of patients' symptoms and family satisfaction with hospice care.
      METHODS: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of electronic medical
      records from 10,534 cancer patients cared for between 2006 and 2010 by a large
      national hospice. Logistic regression was used to estimate the effect of music
      therapy using propensity scores to adjust for non-random assignment. RESULTS:
      Overall, those receiving music therapy had higher odds of being female, having
      longer lengths of stay, and receiving more services other than music therapy, and
      lower odds of being married/partnered or receiving home care. Family satisfaction
      data were available for 1495 (14%) and were more likely available if the patient
      received music therapy (16% vs. 12%, P < 0.01). There were no differences in
      patient pain, anxiety, or overall satisfaction with care between those receiving
      music therapy vs. those not. Patients who received music therapy were more likely
      to report discussions about spirituality (odds ratio [OR] = 1.59, P = 0.01), had
      marginally less trouble breathing (OR = 0.77, P = 0.06), and were marginally more
      likely to receive the right amount of spiritual support (OR = 1.59, P = 0.06).
      CONCLUSION: Music therapy was associated with perceptions of meaningful spiritual
      support and less trouble breathing. The results provide preliminary data for a
      prospective trial to optimize music therapy interventions for integration into
      clinical practice.

PMID- 25839736
TI  - Pediatric Small Bowel Crohn Disease: Correlation of US and MR Enterography.
AB  - Small bowel Crohn disease is commonly diagnosed during the pediatric period, and
      recent investigations show that its incidence is increasing in this age group.
      Diagnosis and follow-up of this condition are commonly based on a combination of
      patient history and physical examination, disease activity surveys, laboratory
      assessment, and endoscopy with biopsy, but imaging also plays a central role.
      Ultrasonography (US) is an underutilized well-tolerated imaging modality for
      screening and follow-up of small bowel Crohn disease in children and adolescents.
      US has numerous advantages over computed tomographic (CT) enterography and
      magnetic resonance (MR) enterography, including low cost and no required use of
      oral or intravenous contrast material. US also has the potential to provide
      images with higher spatial resolution than those obtained at CT enterography and
      MR enterography, allows faster examination than does MR enterography, does not
      involve ionizing radiation, and does not require sedation or general anesthesia.
      US accurately depicts small bowel and mesenteric changes related to pediatric
      Crohn disease, and US findings show a high correlation with MR imaging findings
      in this patient population.

PMID- 25839738
TI  - Invited commentary: metrics and value in radiology and the role of the patient.

PMID- 25839737
TI  - Metrics for Radiologists in the Era of Value-based Health Care Delivery.
AB  - Accelerated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, health
      care delivery in the United States is poised to move from a model that rewards
      the volume of services provided to one that rewards the value provided by such
      services. Radiology department operations are currently managed by an array of
      metrics that assess various departmental missions, but many of these metrics do
      not measure value. Regulators and other stakeholders also influence what metrics
      are used to assess medical imaging. Metrics such as the Physician Quality
      Reporting System are increasingly being linked to financial penalties. In
      addition, metrics assessing radiology's contribution to cost or outcomes are
      currently lacking. In fact, radiology is widely viewed as a contributor to health
      care costs without an adequate understanding of its contribution to downstream
      cost savings or improvement in patient outcomes. The new value-based system of
      health care delivery and reimbursement will measure a provider's contribution to
      reducing costs and improving patient outcomes with the intention of making
      reimbursement commensurate with adherence to these metrics. The authors describe
      existing metrics and their application to the practice of radiology, discuss the
      so-called value equation, and suggest possible metrics that will be useful for
      demonstrating the value of radiologists' services to their patients.

PMID- 25839739
TI  - Initial kidney graft resistance index and the long-term cardiovascular mortality
      in transplanted patients: a paired grafts analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular complications remain the most frequent cause of death
      in kidney transplant recipients. We analysed the prognostic value of early
      measured resistance index (RI) in the aspect of long-term cardiovascular
      mortality. In order to eliminate potential donor-related confounders, we analysed
      the mortality of recipients, transplanted with organs procured from the same
      donor, in whom the initial RI values substantially differed. METHODS: Doppler
      sonography was performed in 725 consecutive kidney graft recipients early after
      transplantation. We identified 133 pairs (266 patients) who received their kidney
      grafts from the same donor and their initial RI values differed by >0.1. RESULTS:
      During 109 +/- 37 months of follow-up after transplantation, 84 patients lost
      their graft and 29 died, 14 of them due to cardiovascular causes. Two groups of
      paired patients with higher RI and lower RI did not differ significantly with
      respect to their age, BMI, HLA mismatch and cold ischaemia time. There were more
      patients with diabetes in the higher RI group (14.3 versus 6.8%). Survival
      analysis revealed a higher mortality for cardiovascular (8.3 versus 2.3%, P =
      0.02) and all causes (14.3 versus 7.5%, P = 0.06) among patients with higher
      initial RI values. In the Cox regression model, not including age, a higher RI
      value was a strong predictor of cardiovascular death (HR = 4.88), independent of
      previous cardiovascular episodes (HR = 6.78). Both these variables lost its
      significance as a predictors after inclusion of age in the regression model.
      CONCLUSION: Increased intrarenal resistance index in the early posttransplant
      period may help to identify the recipients with increased cardiovascular risk.

PMID- 25839740
TI  - Disparities in treatment rates of paediatric end-stage renal disease across
      Europe: insights from the ESPN/ERA-EDTA registry.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Considerable disparities exist in the provision of paediatric renal
      replacement therapy (RRT) across Europe. This study aims to determine whether
      these disparities arise from geographical differences in the occurrence of renal
      disease, or whether country-level access-to-care factors may be responsible.
      METHODS: Incidence was defined as the number of new patients aged 0-14 years
      starting RRT per year, between 2007 and 2011, per million children (pmc), and was
      extracted from the ESPN/ERA-EDTA registry database for 35 European countries.
      Country-level indicators on macroeconomics, perinatal care and physical access to
      treatment were collected through an online survey and from the World Bank
      database. The estimated effect is presented per 1SD increase for each indicator.
      RESULTS: The incidence of paediatric RRT in Europe was 5.4 cases pmc. Incidence
      decreased from Western to Eastern Europe (-1.91 pmc/1321 km, P < 0.0001), and
      increased from Southern to Northern Europe (0.93 pmc/838 km, P = 0.002). Regional
      differences in the occurrence of specific renal diseases were marginal. Higher
      RRT treatment rates were found in wealthier countries (2.47 pmc/?10 378 GDP per
      capita, P < 0.0001), among those that tend to spend more on healthcare (1.45
      pmc/1.7% public health expenditure, P < 0.0001), and among countries where
      patients pay less out-of-pocket for healthcare (-1.29 pmc/11.7% out-of-pocket
      health expenditure, P < 0.0001). Country neonatal mortality was inversely related
      with incidence in the youngest patients (ages 0-4, -1.1 pmc/2.1 deaths per 1000
      births, P = 0.10). Countries with a higher incidence had a lower average age at
      RRT start, which was fully explained by country GDP per capita. CONCLUSIONS:
      Inequalities exist in the provision of paediatric RRT throughout Europe, most of
      which are explained by differences in country macroeconomics, which limit the
      provision of treatment particularly in the youngest patients. This poses a
      challenge for healthcare policy makers in their aim to ensure universal and equal
      access to high-quality healthcare services across Europe.

PMID- 25839741
TI  - Phospholipase A2 receptor and sarcoidosis-associated membranous nephropathy.
AB  - Of the glomerulonephritis associated with sarcoidosis, membranous nephropathy
      (MN) is the most prevalent. Coincidence or a causal relationship between these
      two diseases is unclear. Here, we present for the first time a high prevalence of
      PLA2R-related MN among patients with MN associated with active sarcoidosis. Our
      results suggest some causal link between sarcoidosis and PLA2R-related MN.
      Detection of anti-PLA2R antibodies in serum or PLA2R antigen in biopsy should not
      be taken as evidence against a secondary cause, particularly sarcoidosis. This
      important observation can affect treatment decision in these patients. 

PMID- 25839743
TI  - Supramolecular approach to new inkjet printing inks.
AB  - Electronically complementary, low molecular weight polymers that self-assemble
      through tunable pi-pi stacking interactions to form extended supramolecular
      polymer networks have been developed for inkjet printing applications and
      successfully deposited using three different printing techniques. Sequential
      overprinting of the complementary components results in supramolecular network
      formation through complexation of pi-electron rich pyrenyl or perylenyl chain
      ends in one component with pi-electron deficient naphthalene diimide residues in
      a chain-folding polyimide. The complementary pi-pi stacked polymer blends
      generate strongly colored materials as a result of charge-transfer absorption
      bands in the visible spectrum, potentially negating the need for pigments or dyes
      in the ink formulation. Indeed, the final color of the deposited material can be
      tailored by varying the end-groups of the pi-electron rich polymer component.
      Piezoelectric printing techniques were employed in a proof of concept study to
      allow characterization of the materials deposited, and a thermal inkjet printer
      adapted with imaging software enabled in situ analysis of the ink drops as they
      formed and of their physical properties. Finally, continuous inkjet printing
      allowed greater volumes of material to be deposited, on a variety of different
      substrate surfaces, and demonstrated the utility and versatility of this novel
      type of ink for industrial applications. 

PMID- 25839742
TI  - Multigenerational and transgenerational inheritance of drug exposure: The effects
      of alcohol, opiates, cocaine, marijuana, and nicotine.
AB  - Familial inheritance of drug abuse is composed of both genetic and environmental
      factors. Additionally, epigenetic transgenerational inheritance may provide a
      means by which parental drug use can influence several generations of offspring.
      Recent evidence suggests that parental drug exposure produces behavioral,
      biochemical, and neuroanatomical changes in future generations. The focus of this
      review is to discuss these multigenerational and transgenerational phenotypes in
      the offspring of animals exposed to drugs of abuse. Specifically, changes found
      following the administration of alcohol, opioids, cocaine, marijuana, and
      nicotine will be discussed. In addition, epigenetic modifications to the genome
      following administration of these drugs will be detailed as well as their
      potential for transmission to the next generation. 

PMID- 25839744
TI  - A group decision-making tool for the application of membrane technologies in
      different water reuse scenarios.
AB  - A global challenge of increasing concern is diminishing fresh water resources. A
      growing practice in many communities to supplement diminishing fresh water
      availability has been the reuse of water. Novel methods of treating polluted
      waters, such as membrane assisted technologies, have recently been developed and
      successfully implemented in many places. Given the diversity of membrane assisted
      technologies available, the current challenge is how to select a reliable
      alternative among numerous technologies for appropriate water reuse. In this
      research, a fuzzy logic based multi-criteria, group decision making tool has been
      developed. This tool has been employed in the selection of appropriate membrane
      treatment technologies for several non-potable and potable reuse scenarios.
      Robust criteria, covering technical, environmental, economic and socio-cultural
      aspects, were selected, while 10 different membrane assisted technologies were
      assessed in the tool. The results show this approach capable of facilitating
      systematic and rigorous analysis in the comparison and selection of membrane
      assisted technologies for advanced wastewater treatment and reuse. 

PMID- 25839745
TI  - Removal of arsenic from simulation wastewater using nano-iron/oyster shell
      composites.
AB  - In this paper, a nano-iron/oyster shell composite (NI/OS) was firstly prepared by
      an in-situ synthesis method to explore an efficient treatment technology for
      arsenic (As) contaminated wastewater. The micromorphologies and composition of
      the composite were characterized using field emission scanning electron
      microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The effects of the
      preparation parameters, as well as the treatment conditions, on the removal of
      As(III) were also investigated. The characterization results showed that iron
      nanoparticles with a diameter of 60 nm were introduced into the composite by an
      in-situ reduction method. The physicochemical properties of the iron
      nanoparticles, such as diameter and aggregation, were influenced by the iron
      source more than the choice of reductant and temperature in the synthesis
      process, and these properties were closely related to the treatment performance
      of the composite. Under the suitable reaction conditions of a pH value of 6.8, a
      temperature of 20  degrees C, and an initial concentration of As(III) of 1.8
      mg/L, As(III) was almost completely removed from the simulation wastewater. 

PMID- 25839746
TI  - Why is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders so hard to
      revise? Path-dependence and "lock-in" in classification.
AB  - The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
      the D.S.M.-5, was published in May 2013. In the lead up to publication, radical
      changes to the classification were anticipated; there was widespread
      dissatisfaction with the previous edition and it was accepted that a "paradigm
      shift" might be required. In the end, however, and despite huge efforts at
      revision, the published D.S.M.-5 differs far less than originally envisaged from
      its predecessor. This paper considers why it is that revising the D.S.M. has
      become so difficult. The D.S.M. is such an important classification that this
      question is worth asking in its own right. The case of the D.S.M. can also serve
      as a study for considering stasis in classification more broadly; why and how can
      classifications become resistant to change? I suggest that classifications like
      the D.S.M. can be thought of as forming part of the infrastructure of science,
      and have much in common with material infrastructure. In particular, as with
      material technologies, it is possible for "path dependent" development to cause a
      sub-optimal classification to become "locked in" and hard to replace. 

PMID- 25839748
TI  - Photoreactivation of Escherichia coli is impaired at high growth temperatures.
AB  - Photolyase repairs UV-induced lesions in DNA using light energy, which is the
      principle of photoreactivation. Active photolyase contains the two-electron
      reduced flavin cofactor. We observed that photoreactivation of Escherichia coli
      was impaired at growth temperatures ?37 degrees C, and growth in this temperature
      range also resulted in decreased photolyase protein levels in the cells. However,
      the levels of phr transcripts (encoding photolyase) were almost unchanged at the
      various growth temperatures. A lacZ-reporter under transcriptional control of the
      phr promoter showed no temperature-dependent expression. However, a translational
      reporter consisting of the photolyase N-terminal alpha/beta domain-LacZ fusion
      protein exhibited lower beta-galactosidase activity at high growth temperatures
      (37-42 degrees C). These results indicated that the change in photolyase levels
      at different growth temperatures is post-transcriptional in nature. Limited
      proteolysis identified several susceptible cleavage sites in E. coli photolyase.
      In vitro differential scanning calorimetry and activity assays revealed that
      denaturation of active photolyase occurs at temperatures ?37 degrees C, while apo
      photolyase unfolds at temperatures ?25 degrees C. Evidence from temperature-shift
      experiments also implies that active photolyase is protected from thermal
      unfolding and proteolysis in vivo, even at 42 degrees C. These results suggest
      that thermal unfolding and proteolysis of newly synthesized apo-photolyase, but
      not active photolyase, is responsible for the impaired photoreactivation at high
      growth temperatures (37-42 degrees C).

PMID- 25839747
TI  - Air Pollution and Lung Function in Dutch Children: A Comparison of Exposure
      Estimates and Associations Based on Land Use Regression and Dispersion Exposure
      Modeling Approaches.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is limited knowledge about the extent to which estimates of air
      pollution effects on health are affected by the choice for a specific exposure
      model. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the correlation between long-term air
      pollution exposure estimates using two commonly used exposure modeling techniques
      [dispersion and land use regression (LUR) models] and, in addition, to compare
      the estimates of the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and
      lung function in children using these exposure modeling techniques. METHODS: We
      used data of 1,058 participants of a Dutch birth cohort study with measured
      forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and peak
      expiratory flow (PEF) measurements at 8 years of age. For each child, annual
      average outdoor air pollution exposure [nitrogen dioxide (NO2), mass
      concentration of particulate matter with diameters <= 2.5 and <= 10 MUm (PM2.5,
      PM10), and PM2.5 soot] was estimated for the current addresses of the
      participants by a dispersion and a LUR model. Associations between exposures to
      air pollution and lung function parameters were estimated using linear regression
      analysis with confounder adjustment. RESULTS: Correlations between LUR- and
      dispersion-modeled pollution concentrations were high for NO2, PM2.5, and PM2.5
      soot (R = 0.86-0.90) but low for PM10 (R = 0.57). Associations with lung function
      were similar for air pollutant exposures estimated using LUR and dispersion
      modeling, except for associations of PM2.5 with FEV1 and FVC, which were stronger
      but less precise for exposures based on LUR compared with dispersion model.
      CONCLUSIONS: Predictions from LUR and dispersion models correlated very well for
      PM2.5, NO2, and PM2.5 soot but not for PM10. Health effect estimates did not
      depend on the type of model used to estimate exposure in a population of Dutch
      children.

PMID- 25839749
TI  - Characterization of interaction of calf thymus DNA with gefitinib: spectroscopic
      methods and molecular docking.
AB  - The binding interaction of gefitinib with calf thymus DNA (ct-DNA) under the
      simulated physiological pH condition was studied employing UV absorption,
      fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD), viscosity measurement and molecular
      docking methods. The experimental results revealed that gefitinib preferred to
      bind to the minor groove of ct-DNA with the binding constant (Kb) of 1.29 *
      10(4)Lmol(-1) at 298K. Base on the signs and magnitudes of the enthalpy change
      (DeltaH(0)=-60.4 kJ mol(-1)) and entropy change (DeltaS(0)=-124.7 J mol(-1)K(-1))
      in the binding process and the results of molecular docking, it can be concluded
      that the main interaction forces between gefitinib and ct-DNA in the binding
      process were van der Waals force and hydrogen bonding interaction. The results of
      CD experiments revealed that gefitinib did not disturb native B-conformation of
      ct-DNA. And, the significant change in the conformation of gefitinib in gefitinib
      ct-DNA complex was observed from the molecular docking results and the change was
      close relation with the structure of B-DNA fragments, indicating that the
      flexibility of gefitinib molecule also plays an important role in the formation
      of the stable gefitinib-ct-DNA complex.

PMID- 25839750
TI  - Long-term under-masculinization in male rabbits due to maternal stress is
      reversed by prenatal administration of testosterone.
AB  - It is well established that in mammals prenatal exposure to exogenous
      testosterone has a masculinizing effect on female morphology and behavior. Fewer
      studies, however, have been conducted in males on this subject, and the results
      are controversial. In the present study, we investigated the long-term effect of
      administering extra prenatal testosterone (testosterone proprionate; TP) on adult
      male domestic rabbits' morphology and behavior using two different control
      groups, non-treated and vehicle injected mothers. Unexpectedly, administering the
      vehicle alone had a clear under-masculinizing effect on all morphological and
      behavioral measures; lower body mass, smaller anogenital distance and smaller
      chin glands, lower chin-marking activity and greater timidity. Administration of
      TP counteracted this effect in a dose-dependent manner such that animals exposed
      to the highest dose prenatally showed values on the morphological and behavioral
      measures equivalent to but not greater than the non-treated control group. We
      conclude (1) that additional testosterone beyond what male fetuses produce in
      utero does not result in increased masculinization, and thus, that male fetuses
      are less susceptible prenatally to hormonal effects than females, and (2) that
      presumably stress-related effects of administering the vehicle alone resulted in
      under-masculinization, which could be recovered by the prenatal administration of
      TP. These results may partly account for the contradictory findings of previous
      studies, and indicate the importance of including both non-treated and sham-
      (vehicle) treated controls in future experiments. 

PMID- 25839751
TI  - Parasites and personality in periwinkles (Littorina littorea): Infection status
      is associated with mean-level boldness but not repeatability.
AB  - We demonstrate the presence of animal personality in an inter-tidal gastropod,
      Littorina littorea, both in a sample of individuals infected by the trematode
      Cryptocotyle lingua and in an uninfected sample. On average infected individuals
      behaved more cautiously than individuals free of infection, but the parasite did
      not affect repeatability. Although the parasite is not associated with greater
      diversity of behaviour amongst infected individuals, infection might be
      associated with state-dependent personality differences between infected and non
      infected individuals. 

PMID- 25839752
TI  - Evolutionary history and adaptive significance of the polymorphic Pan I in
      migratory and stationary populations of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua).
AB  - The synaptophysin (SYP) family comprises integral membrane proteins involved in
      vesicle-trafficking events, but the physiological function of several members has
      been enigmatic for decades. The presynaptic SYP protein controls neurotransmitter
      release, while SYP-like 2 (SYPL2) contributes to maintain normal Ca(2+)-signaling
      in the skeletal muscles. The polymorphic pantophysin (Pan I) of Atlantic cod
      shows strong genetic divergence between stationary and migratory populations,
      which seem to be adapted to local environmental conditions. We have investigated
      the functional involvement of Pan I in the different ecotypes by analyzing the 1)
      phylogeny, 2) spatio-temporal gene expression, 3) structure-function relationship
      of the Pan I(A) and I(B) protein variants, and 4) linkage to rhodopsin (rho)
      recently proposed to be associated with different light sensitivities in
      Icelandic populations of Atlantic cod. We searched for SYP family genes in
      phylogenetic key species and identified a single syp-related gene in three
      invertebrate chordates, while four members, Syp, Sypl1, Sypl2 and synaptoporin
      (Synpr), were found in tetrapods, Comoran coelacanth and spotted gar. Teleost
      fish were shown to possess duplicated syp, sypl2 and synpr genes of which the
      sypl2b paralog is identical to Pan I. The ubiquitously expressed cod Pan I codes
      for a tetra-spanning membrane protein possessing five amino acid substitutions in
      the first intravesicular loop, but only minor structural differences were shown
      between the allelic variants. Despite sizable genomic distance (>2.5 Mb) between
      Pan I and rho, highly significant linkage disequilibrium was found by genotyping
      shallow and deep water juvenile settlers predominated by the Pan I(A)-rho(A) and
      Pan I(B)-rho(B) haplotypes, respectively. However, the predicted rhodopsin
      protein showed no amino acid changes, while multiple polymorphic sites in the
      upstream region might affect the gene expression and pigment levels in stationary
      and migratory cod. Alternatively, other strongly linked genes might be
      responsible for the sharp settling stratification of juveniles and the different
      vertical behavior patterns of adult Atlantic cod.

PMID- 25839753
TI  - Draft genome sequence of Clostridium sulfidigenes 113A isolated from sub-seafloor
      sediments associated with methane hydrate deposits.
AB  - Clostridium sulfidigenes 113A is a strictly anaerobic, rod shaped, gram positive
      bacterium isolated from sub-seafloor sediments associated with methane hydrates.
      Here, we report the first draft genome of C. sulfidigenes strain 113A, which
      comprises 3,717,420 bp in 96 contigs with the G+C content of 30.1%. A total of
      3148 protein coding sequences were predicted. The genome annotation revealed that
      113A could play an important role in biogeochemical cycles and have potential
      biotechnological applications such as production of organic acids and butanol.

PMID- 25839758
TI  - Breast cancer risk and possible mechanisms of radiation-induced genomic
      instability in the Swedish hemangioma cohort after reanalyzed dosimetry.
AB  - The cohort of 17,200 female Swedish hemangioma patients, who had been exposed to
      ionizing radiation because of skin hemangioma, was analyzed for breast cancer
      incidence with descriptive excess relative risk models and mechanistic models of
      carcinogenesis. The dosimetry system has recently been updated, leading to
      substantially reduced doses for the most highly exposed part of the Stockholm
      cohort. The follow-up includes persons until December 2009 with 877 breast cancer
      cases. All models agree on the risk estimates. The excess relative and excess
      absolute risk at the age of 50 years are 0.48 Gy(-1) (95% CI 0.28; 0.69) and 10.4
      (10(4)PYR Gy)(-1) (95% CI 6.1; 14.4) (95% CI 6.1; 14.4), respectively. These risk
      estimates are about a factor of 2 higher than previous analyses of this cohort as
      a consequence of the re-evaluation of the dosimetry system. Explicit models
      incorporating effects of genomic instability were developed and applied to the
      hemangioma cohort. It was found that a radiation-induced transition towards
      genomic instability was highly significant. The models indicate that the main
      effect of radiation-induced genomic instability is to increase the rate of
      transition of non-initiated cells to initiated cells with a proliferative
      advantage. The magnitude of such an acceleration cannot be inferred from
      epidemiological data alone, but must be complemented by radiobiological
      measurements.

PMID- 25839759
TI  - The effect of low dose ionizing radiation on homeostasis and functional integrity
      in an organotypic human skin model.
AB  - Outside the protection of Earth's atmosphere, astronauts are exposed to low doses
      of high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation. Future NASA plans for deep space
      missions or a permanent settlement on the moon are limited by the health risks
      associated with space radiation exposures. There is a paucity of direct
      epidemiological data for low dose exposures to space radiation-relevant high LET
      ions. Health risk models are used to estimate the risk for such exposures, though
      these models are based on high dose experiments. There is increasing evidence,
      however, that low and high dose exposures result in different signaling events at
      the molecular level, and may involve different response mechanisms. Further,
      despite their low abundance, high LET particles have been identified as the major
      contributor to health risk during manned space flight. The human skin is exposed
      in every external radiation scenario, making it an ideal epithelial tissue model
      in which to study radiation induced effects. Here, we exposed an in vitro three
      dimensional (3-D) human organotypic skin tissue model to low doses of high LET
      oxygen (O), silicon (Si) and iron (Fe) ions. We measured proliferation and
      differentiation profiles in the skin tissue and examined the integrity of the
      skin's barrier function. We discuss the role of secondary particles in changing
      the proportion of cells receiving a radiation dose, emphasizing the possible
      impact on radiation-induced health issues in astronauts. 

PMID- 25839760
TI  - Conservation of CFTR codon frequency through primates suggests synonymous
      mutations could have a functional effect.
AB  - Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and
      digestive system, with a prevalence of about 1:3000 people. Cystic fibrosis is
      caused by mutations in CFTR gene, which lead to a defective function of the
      chloride channel, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR).
      Up-to-date, more than 1900 mutations have been reported in CFTR. However for an
      important proportion of them, their functional effects and the relation to
      disease are still not understood. Many of these mutations are silent (or
      synonymous), namely they do not alter the encoded amino acid. These synonymous
      mutations have been considered as neutral to protein function. However, more
      recent evidence in bacterial and human proteins has put this concept under
      revision. With the aim of understanding possible functional effects of synonymous
      mutations in CFTR, we analyzed human and primates CFTR codon usage and divergence
      patterns. We report the presence of regions enriched in rare and frequent codons.
      This spatial pattern of codon preferences is conserved in primates, but this
      cannot be explained by sequence conservation alone. In sum, the results presented
      herein suggest a functional implication of these regions of the gene that may be
      maintained by purifying selection acting to preserve a particular codon usage
      pattern along the sequence. Overall these results support the idea that several
      synonymous mutations in CFTR may have functional importance, and could be
      involved in the disease. 

PMID- 25839761
TI  - Chronic exposure to morphine decreases the expression of EAAT3 via opioid
      receptors in hippocampal neurons.
AB  - Alterations in glutamate transporter expression are closely related to opiate
      addition behavior, but the role of opioid receptors is unclear. In this study, we
      used primary cultures of hippocampal neurons from neonatal rats to study the
      effects of chronic exposure to morphine on excitatory amino acid transporter 3
      (EAAT3) expression and the roles of u opioid receptor (MOR), delta opioid
      receptor (DOR), and kappa opioid receptor (KOR) in the morphine-dependent
      alterations in EAAT3 expression. The results showed that the EAAT3 protein and
      mRNA expression levels decreased significantly after chronic exposure to morphine
      (10MUmol/L) for 48h, whereas the concentration of extracellular glutamate
      increased. In addition, we found that both the MOR inhibitor CTOP and the DOR
      inhibitor naltrindole could reverse the decreased expression of EAAT3 after
      exposure to morphine, whereas the MOR activator DAMGO and the DOR activator DPDPE
      significantly decreased EAAT3 expression. The KOR inhibitor had no effect on the
      expression of EAAT3, whereas its activator increased EAAT3 expression. These
      results suggest that the down-regulation of morphine-dependent EAAT3 expression
      in primary rat hippocampal cultures may be mediated by MOR and DOR and that KOR
      may not contribute significantly to this effect.

PMID- 25839762
TI  - Neurophysiological correlates of cognitive flexibility and feedback processing in
      violent juvenile offenders.
AB  - The persistence of aggressive criminal behavior is recurrently observed in
      offenders despite being previously advised on the negative consequences of their
      actions. One possible explanation for the continuation of aggressive behaviors
      could be that they are the consequence of either possible deficits in cognitive
      flexibility (set-shifting) or in altered feedback processing. Event-related brain
      potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate both processes in non-psychopathic
      violent juvenile offenders. A modified version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
      (WCST) was used to disentangle the ERP components associated with cognitive set
      switching processes (P3) from feedback processing (Frontal-Related Negativity,
      FRN; P3). The results showed a reduction in the amplitude of the P3 component for
      the presentation of switch informative signals, related to set-switching
      processes, in the offender group. Interestingly, a larger amplitude of the P3
      related to feedback processing as well as the FRN was observed in this
      population, probably indicating increased reliance on external feedback
      processing. At the behavioral level, the offender group presented a larger amount
      of issues with failures in implementing the new sorting rule. This behavioral
      pattern could be related to deficits in the ability to switch to another behavior
      and an altered pattern in processing the feedback information related to the
      precision of their performance. These observations highlight the possible role of
      cognitive set-switching and reward sensibility in the maintenance of harmful
      behaviors in juvenile offenders. 

PMID- 25839763
TI  - The Application of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation Training in Various Non
      neurologic Patient Populations: A Narrative Review.
AB  - In the last 2 decades, neuromuscular electrical stimulation has been used
      increasingly in deconditioned patients with the aim of increasing muscle force.
      Much basic research has been conducted in the area of increasing a muscle's
      fatigue resistance by neuromuscular electrical stimulation but similarly thorough
      research with regard to increasing maximal force is missing. Insufficient
      clinical and basic knowledge exists on the selection of stimulation parameters
      that will optimize muscle hypertrophy and gains in muscle force. For volitional
      training, established stimuli for muscle hypertrophy (which more or less
      parallels maximal muscle force) are muscle tension, metabolic stress, and muscle
      damage. The present review summarizes findings from clinical and basic research
      in terms of muscle mechanical as well as acute and chronic physiologic effects of
      different stimulation protocols, explains the role of the various stimulation
      parameters in determining the effect of NMES training protocols, and gives
      clinical recommendations for the choice of stimulation parameters for different
      patient populations with different training goals, such as increasing muscle
      force, mass, endurance, or energy consumption. We limit this review to non
      neurologic patients, because training goals of neurologic patients are specific
      to their functional deficits. 

PMID- 25839764
TI  - Association between serum uric acid and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in the
      US population.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Studies conducted in Eastern Asia suggest that serum uric
      acid (SUA) level is highly related to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
      However, limited information is available in the USA. Our objective was to
      determine the association between NAFLD and SUA levels in the USA and to
      determine if this is independent of age, sex, and components of metabolic
      syndrome (MetS). METHODS: We analyzed 5370 men and women aged 20-74 years from
      the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) (1988
      1994) in the USA. We calculated the prevalence and odds ratio (OR) of NAFLD and
      elevated liver enzymes by SUA and sex-specific quintiles of SUA, adjusting for
      multiple factors. RESULTS: The prevalence of NAFLD was higher in participants
      with higher SUA levels (10.9%, 9.6%, 15.9%, 21.8% and 33.1%, respectively, from
      the second to the fifth sex-specific quintile of uric acid). After adjustment,
      individuals with hyperuricemia were more likely to have NAFLD (OR: 1.4, 95% CI:
      1.1-1.9). Similarly, the adjusted odds of NAFLD were increasingly higher from the
      second to the fifth quintile of SUA (ORs: 0.8, 1.2, 1.5 and 1.7, respectively; p
      < 0.01) as compared to the lowest quintile. Finally, individuals with
      hyperuricemia were more likely to have elevated liver enzymes (aspartate
      aminotransferase or alanine aminotransferase) (adjusted OR: 1.8, 95% CI: 1.1
      2.7). CONCLUSION: NAFLD and SUA levels were strongly and independently associated
      in this nationally representative sample of men and women after adjustment for
      multiple factors.

PMID- 25839765
TI  - A study of 65 patients with acquired hemophilia A in Taiwan.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Acquired hemophilia A (AHA) is a rare disorder that has not
      been comprehensively reported in the Chinese population. Treatment-related fatal
      sepsis (TRS), other than hemorrhage, is the leading cause of death in patients
      with AHA. However, researchers have not systematically evaluated salient
      parameters, to determine their association with the risk of TRS in this rare
      disorder. This study reports the salient features of AHA in Chinese patients and
      presents possible factors associated with TRS. METHODS: Sixty-five Chinese
      patients with AHA, including 42 men and 23 women, were studied retrospectively.
      RESULTS: The median age was 64 years (range = 18-94 years). The features,
      laboratory findings, and outcomes of various therapies designed to arrest acute
      bleeding and eliminate autoantibodies against the factor VIII coagulant protein
      (VIIIi) were comparable to those previously reported. The complete response (CR)
      rate was 60%, and the median time to CR was 16 weeks. Ten patients (15%) died of
      bleeding related to FVIIIi by the end of the median follow-up period of 115
      months. The estimated 1- and 5-year hemorrhage-related mortality rates were 15%
      and 22%, respectively. The absence of CR to therapy was the only independent
      factor associated with shorter survival. The rate of TRS was 20%, and the use of
      a rituximab-based (Rb) regimen (odds ratio = 8.0, 95% CI, 1.1-68.2) and platelet
      < 1.5 * 10(11)/L at diagnosis (odds ratio = 38.5, 95% CI, 1.3-1107.6) were the
      two significantly independent factors associated with TRS. CONCLUSION: The
      salient features of AHA and treatment outcomes of the patients in this study are
      similar to those of other patients. Two independent factors (the use of a Rb
      regimen and platelet < 1.5 * 10(11)/L) were significantly associated with TRS.

PMID- 25839766
TI  - Attenuating systemic inflammatory markers in simulated high-altitude exposure by
      heat shock protein 70-mediated hypobaric hypoxia preconditioning in rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The primary goal of this study was to test whether high
      altitude exposure (HAE: 0.9% O(2) at 0.47 ATA for 24 hours) was capable of
      increasing the systemic inflammatory markers as well as the toxic organ injury
      indicators in rats, with a secondary goal to test whether preinduction of heat
      shock protein (HSP) 70 by hypobaric hypoxia preconditioning (HHP: 18.3% O(2) at
      0.66 ATA for 5 h/day on 5 days consecutively for 2 weeks) attenuated the proposed
      increased serum levels of both the systemic inflammatory markers and the toxic
      organ injury indicators. METHODS: Rats were assigned to: (1) non-HHP (21% O(2) at
      1.0 ATA)+non-HAE (21% O(2) at 1.0 ATA) group; (2) non-HHP+HAE group; (3) HHP+non
      HAE group; (4) HHP+HAE group; and (5) HHP+HSP70 antibodies (Ab)+HAE group. For
      the HSP70Ab group, a neutralizing HSP70Ab was injected intravenously at 24 hours
      prior to HAE. All the physiological and biochemical parameters were obtained at
      the end of HAE or the equivalent time period of non-HAE. Blood samples were
      obtained for determination of both the systemic inflammatory markers (e.g., serum
      tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1beta, E-selectin, intercellular
      adhesion molecule-1, and liver myeloperoxidase activity) and the toxic organ
      injury indicators (e.g., nitric oxide metabolites, 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid, and
      lactate dehydrogenase). RESULTS: HHP, in addition to inducing overexpression of
      tissue HSP70, significantly attenuated the HAE-induced hypotension, bradycardia,
      hypoxia, acidosis, and increased tissue levels of both the systemic inflammatory
      markers and the toxic organ injury indicators. The beneficial effects of HHP in
      inducing tissue overexpression of HSP70 as well as in preventing the HAE-induced
      increased levels of the systemic inflammatory markers and the toxic organ injury
      indicators could be significantly reduced by HSP70Ab preconditioning. CONCLUSION:
      These results suggest that HHP may downgrade both the systemic inflammatory
      markers and the toxic organ injury indicators in HAE by upregulating tissue
      HSP70.

PMID- 25839767
TI  - Effect of dentin bonding agent diffusing through dentin slices on the reactive
      oxygen species production and apoptosis of pulpal cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Dentin bonding agents (DBAs) are cytotoxic to dental pulp
      cells. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of three DBAs (Optibond Solo
      Plus, Op; Clearfil SE Bond, SE; and Xeno III, Xe) after diffusion through 0.2-mm
      or 0.5-mm dentin slices on reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and apoptosis
      in dental pulp cells. METHODS: The amounts of DBAs diffusing through 0.2-mm or
      0.5-mm dentin slices were quantified using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The
      effects of diffused DBAs on ROS production and viability of dental pulp cells
      were investigated using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick
      end labeling (TUNEL) assay on Days 1 and 2. Flow cytometric analysis and double
      staining of treated dental pulp cells with Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate
      (V-FITC) and propidium iodide (PI) were performed on Day 2. RESULTS: Xe showed
      greatest diffusion through dentin slices after 8-hour period, followed by SE and
      Op. Dental pulp cells produced a lesser amount of ROS, when treated with DBAs
      diffusing through a 0.5-mm dentin slice than through a 0.2-mm dentin slice for
      the same period of time. A small proportion of cells were TUNEL-positive after
      treatment with any of the three diffused DBAs. Annexin V-FITC/PI staining
      identified apoptotic cells; cell survival was higher in those cells treated with
      DBAs diffusing through a 0.5-mm dentin slice than through a 0.2-mm dentin slice.
      CONCLUSION: The three DBAs after diffusion through 0.2- or 0.5-mm dentin slice
      still exhibit cytotoxicity to dental pulp cells. However, the 0.5-mm dentin slice
      is found to be a better barrier than the 0.2-mm dentin slice to protect dental
      pulp cells from DBA-induced cytotoxicity.

PMID- 25839768
TI  - Chemokine MCP1/CCL2 and RANTES/CCL5 gene polymorphisms influence Henoch-Schonlein
      purpura susceptibility and severity.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) is the most common small
      vessel vasculitis in children. It is considered to be an IgA-containing immune
      complex-mediated disease. Chemokines are small secreted proteins that attract
      leukocytes during inflammation. Our aim was to determine the serum levels of
      chemokines and investigate the association of chemokine gene polymorphisms with
      childhood HSP. METHODS: Serum levels of chemokines (interleukin-8/CXCL8, MCP
      1/CCL2, RANTES/CCL5, MIG/CXCL9, and IP-10/CXCL10) were determined using
      cytometric beads arrays. We investigated the association of three single
      nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) MCP1/CCL2 -2518C/T, RANTES/CCL5 -403C/T, and
      RANTES/CCL5 -28C/G with HSP in 85 HSP patients and 136 healthy controls. RESULTS:
      Five serum chemokine levels were significantly elevated in patients with the
      acute stage of HSP compared to the normal controls (p < 0.05). MCP1/CCL2 -2518 TT
      genotype and T allele were associated with the risk for HSP with OR (95% CI) 3.32
      (1.45-7.59) and 1.78 (1.20-2.64), respectively. The RANTES/CCL5 -28 GG genotype
      was associated with a significantly lower percentage of corticosteroid usage and
      lower corticosteroid accumulative dose in HSP patients. RANTES/CCL5 -403 TC and
      TT genotype were significantly associated with renal manifestations with an OR
      (95% CI) of 4.33 (1.44-12.99), adjusted for sex and age and the other two SNP
      genotypes. CONCLUSION: Our results support the fact that chemokines play
      important roles in the pathogenesis of HSP. MCP1/CCL2 gene polymorphisms were
      associated with susceptibility for HSP. RANTES/CCL5 gene polymorphisms may be
      related to disease severity and HSP nephritis.

PMID- 25839769
TI  - B cells and immunoglobulin in ABO-incompatible renal transplant patients
      receiving rituximab and double filtration plasmapheresis.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The effect of rituximab on B cell and immunoglobulin
      production after therapeutic apheresis has not been studied in ABO-incompatible
      renal transplant patients. METHODS: Twenty consecutive ABO-incompatible renal
      transplant patients receiving rituximab induction and double filtration
      plasmapheresis were enrolled; one case was excluded because of repeated
      plasmapheresis and immunoglobulin therapy (Incompatible group). The B cell count
      of the Incompatible group was compared to another group of 18 ABO-compatible
      renal transplant patients who were operated on during the same period (Compatible
      group). In the Incompatible group, the total IgM, IgG, and IgG1-4 subclasses
      after transplantation were compared to those before desensitization. Tacrolimus,
      mycophenolate mofetil, and steroids were used for both groups. RESULTS: The B
      cell count of the Incompatible group was significantly lower than the Compatible
      group post-transplant from Month 1 to Month 11 only. The B cell count of the
      Compatible group also decreased for the first 6 months, suggesting that
      maintenance immunosuppressive agents suppress B cells. Total IgG and IgM levels
      after transplantation were significantly lower than before desensitization during
      the 24-month follow-up period. The post-transplant IgG3 level was significantly
      lower than before desensitization for only 3 months. CONCLUSION: With the aid of
      tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil, rituximab resulted in sustained suppression
      of B cell count and total IgG and IgM. Among the IgG subclasses, IgG3 was less
      sensitive to rituximab.

PMID- 25839770
TI  - Cord blood level of insulin-like growth factor-1 and IGF binding protein-3 in
      monochorionic twins.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and their binding proteins
      (IGFBPs) are known to modulate fetal growth but their role in intrauterine growth
      of monochorionic twins (MCT) has not been studied. METHODS: Cord venous blood was
      collected directly after birth. IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 in the cord venous blood were
      quantified by radioimmunoassay. Birth weights (BWs) were obtained electronically.
      Placentas were examined for chorionicity. RESULTS: Cord blood was collected in 37
      pairs of MCT (15 pairs were males). BWs ranged from 564 to 3240 g, and
      gestational ages (GAs) were between 24 weeks and 39 weeks. There was a
      correlation between BW and cord venous blood IGFBP-3 concentration (r = 0.28, p =
      0.015), but not between BW and cord venous blood IGF-1 level. There was no
      difference in IGF-1 between the heavier twins (30.8 +/- 61.8 ng/mL) and lighter
      twins (33.2 +/- 63.7 ng/mL), but a trend (p = 0.096) of higher IGFBP-3 level was
      demonstrated in heavier twins (3.14 +/- 1.23 MUg/mL) than in lighter twins (2.71
      +/- 1.19 MUg/mL). The IGFBP-3 levels were higher (p = 0.042) in female twins
      (3.20 +/- 1.33 MUg/mL) than in male twins (2.64 +/- 1.04 MUg/mL). The IGF-1 level
      of the heavier twins correlated significantly to their lighter co-twin (r = 0.73,
      p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our data showed that cord venous blood IGF-1 level might
      be controlled mainly by genetic factors. IGFBP-3 might play an important role in
      fetal growth.

PMID- 25839771
TI  - May-Thurner syndrome: correlation between digital subtraction and computed
      tomography venography.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Digital subtraction venography (DSV) and computed tomography
      venography (CTV) are both recommended for diagnosing May-Thurner syndrome. The
      literature contains little information on the correlation between these imaging
      tools. We performed a retrospective case-series study to investigate this
      correlation. METHODS: From August 2009 to August 2010, 42 patients with May
      Thurner syndrome (34 women, 8 men; mean age: 52.8 +/- 13.5 years) received DSV
      followed by CTV. The DSV was used to evaluate the degree of venous reflux, reflux
      start-up time, and flow time. By CTV, the ratio of cross-sectional area and the
      ratio of diameter between the narrowest region to that of the caudal part of the
      left common iliac vein were calculated. The correlation between these variables
      for DSV versus CTV was calculated using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients.
      RESULTS: In DSV evaluation of the extent of reflux, 19.0% of cases were
      classified as Grade 0, 11.9% as Grade I, 28.6% as Grade II, and 40.5% as Grade
      III. The mean +/- standard deviation flow times for these groups were 2.00 +/-
      0.38 seconds, 1.75 +/- 0.29 seconds, 1.67 +/- 0.72 seconds, and 1.81 +/- 0.68
      seconds, the mean time for total patients was 1.76 +/- 0.78 seconds. The reflux
      start-up times for Grades I-III were 2.00 +/- 1.00 seconds, 1.80 +/- 1.23
      seconds, and 1.40 +/- 0.49 seconds, and the mean time was 1.6 +/- 0.8 seconds. In
      CTV, the mean area ratio and diameter ratio were 0.78 +/- 0.22 (range, 0.22-1.27)
      and 0.75 +/- 0.24 (range, 0.33-1.25). The reflux start-up time showed a positive
      correlation with the cross-sectional area ratio (r = 0.518; p = 0.002) and
      diameter ratio (r = 0.413; p = 0.019). CONCLUSION: The cross-sectional area ratio
      and diameter ratio in CTV correlate with the reflux start-up time in DSV. For May
      Thurner syndrome, both CTV and DSV provide essential information for diagnosis
      and evaluation of the disease. The positive correlation between anatomical and
      hemodynamic properties corresponds with the underlying pathophysiology.

PMID- 25839772
TI  - A case of pulmonary metastasis of giant cell tumor of bone presenting as
      pulmonary arteriovenous malformation.
AB  - Although giant-cell tumor (GCT) of the bone was originally classified as a benign
      tumor, metastasis has been reported. The radiographic features usually comprise
      parenchymal solitary or multiple nodules that are round-to-oval nodular opacities
      of homogeneous density in patients with GCT. However, the patient described in
      this case presented with a hypervascular mass with feeding vessels and
      hemothorax, which are common features of pulmonary arteriovenous malformation. To
      the best of our knowledge, cases of pulmonary metastases presenting as a
      pulmonary arteriovenous malformation have not been reported. Here, we report a
      case of giant-cell tumor of the bone that exhibited histologically benign
      pulmonary metastases and mimicked an arteriovenous malformation. 

PMID- 25839773
TI  - BK virus as a potential oncovirus for bladder cancer in a renal transplant
      patient.
AB  - Renal transplant patients have high risk for bladder cancer. The reactivation of
      BK virus is common in renal transplant patients especially in the urinary tract.
      There was some evidence suggesting that the reactivation of BK virus (BKV) in
      renal transplant patients may associate with the development of bladder cancer.
      Here we demonstrated that a patient that had persistent elevated BKV viruria
      (urine BKV DNA concentration more than 10(11) copies/ml) after renal
      transplantation. Then, bladder cancer was found in 13 months after kidney
      transplantation. The urine BKV DNA concentration was detected by real-time PCR
      and the BKV DNA in the bladder tumor was detected by PCR. BKV DNA was found in
      the marginal and central part of the bladder tumor. After removal of the bladder
      cancer, the urine BKV viral load in this patients dropped dramatically to <10(2)
      copies/ml. However, the urine viral load had increased modestly to 10(6)
      copies/ml in 3 months after surgery. Since there is a close correlation between
      the urine BK viral load and the presence of bladder cancer, we suggested that
      there might be a causal relationship between the reactivation of BKV and the
      development of bladder cancer in renal transplant patient. 

PMID- 25839774
TI  - Near-infrared light-responsive composite microneedles for on-demand transdermal
      drug delivery.
AB  - This study presents near-infrared (NIR) light-responsive polymer-nanostructure
      composite microneedles used for on-demand transdermal drug delivery. Silica
      coated lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6@SiO2) nanostructures were incorporated into
      polycaprolactone microneedles, serving as an NIR absorber. When the microneedles
      were irradiated with NIR light, light-to-heat transduction mediated by the
      LaB6@SiO2 nanostructures caused the microneedle melting at 50  degrees C. This
      increased the mobility of the polymer chains, enabling drug release from the
      matrix. Drug release from the microneedles was evaluated for four laser on/off
      cycles. In each cycle, the samples were irradiated until the temperature reached
      50  degrees C for 3 min (laser on); the laser was then turned off for 30 min
      (laser off). The results showed that light-induced phase transition in the
      polymer triggered drug release from the melted microneedles. A stepwise drug
      release behavior was observed after multiple cycles of NIR light exposure. No
      notable drug leakage was found in the off state. This NIR-light-triggerable
      device exhibits excellent reproducibility, low off-state leakage, and noninvasive
      triggerability and, thus, represents an advance in transdermal delivery
      technology. 

PMID- 25839775
TI  - Systematic Review: Sequential Rescue Therapy in Severe Ulcerative Colitis: Do the
      Benefits Outweigh the Risks?
AB  - BACKGROUND: The options for medical management of acute severe steroid-refractory
      ulcerative colitis (UC) are limited. Recent guidelines recommend against use of
      sequential rescue therapy in the setting of failed medical management with
      initial salvage therapy. A systematic review was conducted to assess outcomes of
      sequential rescue therapy with infliximab (IFX) and calcineurin inhibitors like
      cyclosporine (CsA) or tacrolimus (Tac) in patients with steroid-refractory UC.
      METHODS: A literature search identified studies that investigated treatment with
      IFX and CsA or Tac in acute severe UC. Outcomes of interest included short-term
      symptomatic response to treatment, rates of remission, adverse drug reactions,
      serious infections, mortality, and colectomy at 3 and 12 months. RESULTS:
      Overall, ten studies with 314 participants were eligible for inclusion. After
      sequential treatment, patients achieved short-term treatment response in 62.4%
      (95% confidence interval [CI], 57.0%-67.8%) of cases and remission in 38.9% (95%
      CI, 33.5%-44.3%). Colectomy rates were 28.3% (95% CI, 21.7%-34.5%) at 3 months
      and 42.3% (95% CI, 36.0%-48.6%) at 12 months. Adverse events were encountered by
      23.0% (95% CI, 17.7%-28.3%) of patients, including serious infections in 6.7%
      (95% CI, 3.6%-9.8%) and mortality in 1% (95% CI, 0%-2.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The risk
      of sequential therapy in steroid-refractory UC seems lower than initially
      reported. Caution must be exercised however because of very low-quality evidence.
      In contrast to recent guidelines, the current analysis does not support a
      decision for or against use of sequential rescue therapy, which should only be
      performed at specialized referral centers familiar with the use of calcineurin
      inhibition.

PMID- 25839776
TI  - Out-of-pocket Cost Burden in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Cross
      sectional Cohort Analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), consisting of Crohn's
      disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), can result in significant morbidity
      requiring frequent health care utilization. Although it is known that the overall
      financial impact of pediatric IBD is significant, the direct out-of-pocket (OOP)
      cost burden on the parents of children with IBD has not been explored. We
      hypothesized that affected children with a more relapsing disease course and
      families in lower income strata, ineligible for need-based assistance programs,
      disparately absorb ongoing financial stress. METHODS: We completed a cross
      sectional analysis among parents of children with IBD residing in California
      using an online HIPAA-secure Qualtrics survey. Multicenter recruitment occurred
      between December 4, 2013 and September 18, 2014 at the point-of-care from site
      investigators, informational flyers distributed at regional CCFA conferences, and
      social media campaigns equally targeting Northern, Central, and Southern
      California. IBD-, patient-, and family-specific information were collected from
      the parents of pediatric patients with IBD patients younger than 18 years of age
      at time of study, carry a confirmed diagnosis of CD or UC, reside in and receive
      pediatric gastroenterology care in California, and do not have other chronic
      diseases requiring ongoing medical care. RESULTS: We collected 150 unique surveys
      from parents of children with IBD (67 CD; 83 UC). The median patient age was 14
      years for both CD and UC, with an overall 3.7 years (SD 2.8 yr) difference
      between survey completion and time of IBD diagnosis. Annually, 63.6%, 28.6%, and
      5.3% of families had an OOP cost burden >$500, >$1000, and >5000, respectively.
      Approximately one-third (36.0%) of patients had emergency department (ED) visits
      over the past year, with 59.2% of these patients spending >$500 on emergency
      department copays, including 11.1% who spent >$5000. Although 43.3% contributed
      <$500 on procedure and test costs, 20.0% spent >$2000 in the past year. Families
      with household income between $50,000 and $100,000 had a statistically
      significant probability (80.6%) of higher annual OOP costs than families with
      lower income <$50,000 (20.0%; P < 0.0001) or higher income >$100,000 (64.6%; P <
      0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that clinical variables associated with
      uncontrolled IBD states correlated to higher OOP cost burden. Annual OOP costs
      were more likely to be >$500 among patients who had increased spending on
      procedures and tests (odds ratio [OR], 5.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.73
      11.63), prednisone course required over the past year (OR, 3.19; 95% CI, 1.02
      9.92), at least 1 emergency department visit for IBD symptoms (OR, 2.84; 95% CI,
      1.33-6.06), at least 4 or more outpatient primary medical doctor visits for IBD
      symptoms (OR, 2.82; 95% CI, 1.40-5.68), and history of 4 or more lifetime
      hospitalizations for acute IBD care (OR, 2.60; 95% CI, 1.13-5.96). CONCLUSIONS:
      Previously undocumented, a high proportion of pediatric IBD families incur
      substantial OOP cost burden. Patients who are frequently in relapsing and
      uncontrolled IBD states require more acute care services and sustain higher OOP
      cost burden. Lower middle income parents of children with IBD ineligible for need
      based assistance may be particularly at risk for financial stress from OOP costs
      related to ongoing medical care.

PMID- 25839777
TI  - Killing of Escherichia coli by Crohn's Disease Monocyte-derived Macrophages and
      Its Enhancement by Hydroxychloroquine and Vitamin D.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Crohn's disease (CD) is associated with defective innate immunity,
      including impaired neutrophil chemotaxis, and mucosal invasion by bacteria,
      particularly adherent and invasive Escherichia coli that replicate inside
      macrophage phagolysosomes. We compared CD and healthy control (HC) macrophages
      for their abilities to kill E. coli and generate neutrophil chemoattractants and
      also assessed the effects of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and vitamin D on killing of
      phagocytosed E. coli. METHODS: Peripheral blood monocyte-derived macrophages from
      CD and HC were compared for bacterial killing and generation of neutrophil
      chemoattractants in response to CD-derived E. coli. Escherichia coli replication
      was also assessed in the presence and absence of HCQ, alone and with antibiotics,
      and vitamin D. RESULTS: Monocyte-derived macrophages from patients with CD were
      similar to HC in allowing replication of phagocytosed CD-derived E. coli: HM605
      {CD: N = 10, mean fold replication in 3 hr = 1.08 (95% confidence interval [CI],
      0.39-1.78); HC: N = 9, 1.50 (95% CI, 1.02-1.97); P = 0.15} and also in generation
      of neutrophil chemoattractants in response to E. coli (mean fold chemotaxis
      relative to control: CD = 2.55 [95% CI, 2.31-2.80]; HC = 2.65 [95% CI, 2.46
      2.85], P = 0.42). HCQ and 1,25 OH2-vitamin D3 both caused dose-dependent
      inhibition of intramacrophage E. coli replication 3-hour postinfection; HCQ:
      73.9% inhibition (P < 0.001) at 1 MUg/mL, accompanied by raised intraphagosomal
      pH, and 1,25 OH2-vitamin D3: 80.7% inhibition (P < 0.05) at 80 nM. HCQ had
      synergistic effects with doxycycline and ciprofloxacin. CONCLUSIONS: CD and HC
      macrophages perform similarly in allowing replication of phagocytosed E. coli and
      generating neutrophil chemoattractants. Replication of phagocytosed E. coli was
      substantially decreased by HCQ and vitamin D. These warrant further therapeutic
      trials in CD in combination with relevant antibiotics.

PMID- 25839779
TI  - Oxidation and Oxygenation of Carbonyl Ruthenium(II) Azuliporphyrin.
AB  - Chemical oxidation and oxygenation of carbonyl ruthenium(II) azuliporphyrin
      [Ru(TPAP)(CO)] were explored. [Ru(TPAP)(CO)] reacts with dioxygen giving carbonyl
      ruthenium(II) 21-oxyazuliporphyrin [Ru(TPAP-O)(CO)] revealing the activation the
      Ru-C bond inside azuliporphyrin coordination cavity. Solution and X-ray
      structural studies confirmed the tendency of [Ru(TPAP-O)(CO)] to form dimeric
      [Ru(TPAP-O)(CO)]2. The dimer adopts a head-to-tail structure with the azulenolate
      groups forming bridges from one macrocycle to the ruthenium(II) in the adjacent
      unit. One-electron oxidation of [Ru(TPAP)(CO)] gives the first pi-cation radical
      of metallocarbaporphyrinoid-[Ru(TPAP)(CO)](+*)-with extraordinary participation
      of the azulene unit in the spin delocalization. The most characteristic (1)H NMR
      features of the radical are large, sign-alternating isotropic shifts of
      resonances assigned to meso-aryl, azulene, and pyrrolic hydrogen atoms. The spin
      distribution determined by density functional theory confirmed the pi-cation
      radical electronic structure reproducing the diagnostic spectroscopic features
      including pi-delocalization at meso-aryl resonances and very characteristic sign
      alternation of contact shifts for an azulene moiety. 

PMID- 25839778
TI  - Mechanism of anti-inflammatory effect of tricin, a flavonoid isolated from
      Njavara rice bran in LPS induced hPBMCs and carrageenan induced rats.
AB  - Njavara is an indigenous medicinal rice variety traditionally used in Ayurvedic
      system of medicine practiced in Kerala, India. Tricin is a bioflavonoid present
      in significantly higher levels in rice bran of Njavara. Present study attempted
      to identify the molecular target of tricin in TLR mediated signaling pathways by
      using lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced human peripheral blood mononuclear cells
      (hPBMCs) and carrageenan induced paw edema in rats as experimental models. Tricin
      acted upstream in the activation of inflammation cascade by interfering with TLR4
      activation, preferably by blocking the LPS induced activation of TLR4, MYD88 and
      TRIF proteins in hPBMCs. Subsequently, tricin significantly blocked the
      activation of downstream kinases like p38MAPK, JNK1/2 and IRF3. Thus the
      inhibitory effect of tricin on NF-kappaB and IRF3 together confirms the specific
      inhibition of both MYD88 dependent and TRIF dependent pathways. Tricin treatment
      also inhibited the pro-inflammatory effect of LPS by blocking the TLR4 signaling
      mediated activation of cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2), which is confirmed by
      specific inhibition of COX-2. Results demonstrated that in addition to NF-kappaB,
      tricin can prevent the activation of STAT proteins by significantly inhibiting
      the activation of both STAT1 and STAT3 via the down regulation of upstream
      phosphorylating enzymes like JAK1 and JAK2. The protective anti-inflammatory
      effect of tricin was also confirmed by in vivo experiments. Thus, this study
      provides strong evidence that tricin exerts its anti-inflammatory effect via a
      mechanism involving the TLR4/NF-kappaB/STAT signaling cascade.

PMID- 25839780
TI  - Signet ring cell adenocarcinoma and bilateral leptomeningeal involvement of optic
      nerve sheaths.
AB  - Signet ring cell adenocarcinoma has a propensity for leptomeningeal
      carcinomatosis, and although bilateral optic nerve involvement is rare, this may
      occur with or without obvious signs of diffuse leptomeningeal involvement. We
      describe a 41-year-old woman who presented with a brief history of simultaneous
      bilateral visual deterioration and a distended abdomen. Examination revealed
      bilateral no light perception vision and bilateral optic disc edema. Radiologic
      work-up showed large multiple pelvic masses involving the ovaries, multifocal
      boney deposits, and widespread central nervous system carcinomatosis, involving
      the optic nerves and the first, fifth, and eighth cranial nerves. Biopsy of an
      ovarian mass demonstrated islands of signet ring cells. Signet cell
      adenocarcinomatous infiltration of the leptomeningeal space should be considered
      in cases of bilateral simultaneous vision loss with signs suggestive of
      leptomeningeal infiltration of the optic nerve sheath. 

PMID- 25839781
TI  - Isolation a new strain of Kocuria rosea capable of tolerating extreme conditions.
AB  - A new actinobacterial strain was isolated from Ab-e-Siah spring (dark water)
      taken from the Ramsar city in Iran, and subjected to several stress conditions
      investigation. The isolate, named MG2 strain, was Gram-positive, aerobic,
      diplococci or tetrad shaped, non-spore forming and non-motile. Phylogenetic
      analysis of the isolate using 16S rDNA sequence indicated that the organism
      matched best with the genus Kocuria and the highest sequence similarities
      (98.55%) being found with Kocuria rosea. The 16S rDNA sequence determined in this
      study has been deposited in the NCBI database with the accession no. JX534199, K.
      rosea strain MG2. The isolated strain was an alkaliphilic-mesophilic bacterium
      because the optimal growth was observed at pH 9.2 and temperature of 28  degrees
      C under aerobic condition. MG2 was a halotolerant strain and tolerated maximally
      to 15% NaCl concentraion. Viability analysis by flow cytometry indicated that
      this strain had highly resistance to UV-C radiation and moderately resistance to
      desiccation after 28 days. The viability of K. rosea strains MG2 and Deinococcus
      radiodurans R1 were determined D87 and D98 according to D index, respectively, by
      a dose radiation 25 J/cm (Appukuttan et al., 2006). Thus the UV resistance of
      strain MG2 was comparable with representative radiation resistant Deinococcus.
      Also MG2 was grown at 1-4% of H2O2 as an oxidant agent. This research is the
      first study on multiple extreme resistance of Kocuria rosea new strain (MG2)
      isolated in Iran. 

PMID- 25839783
TI  - Recessions, healthy no more?
AB  - Over the 1976-2010 period, total mortality shifted from strongly procyclical to
      being weakly or unrelated to macroeconomic conditions. The association is likely
      to be poorly measured when using short (less than 15 year) analysis periods.
      Deaths from cardiovascular disease and transport accidents continue to be
      procyclical; however, countercyclical patterns have emerged for fatalities from
      cancer mortality and external causes. Among the latter, non-transport accidents,
      particularly accidental poisonings, play an important role. 

PMID- 25839784
TI  - Effectiveness and Safety of Acute Care Telemedicine for Children with Regular and
      Special Healthcare Needs.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the hypothesis that effectiveness and safety of the Health-e
      Access telemedicine model for care of children with special healthcare needs
      (CSHCN) with acute illness equaled those for care of children in regular
      childcare and schools (CRS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We examined healthcare use
      through insurance claims and telemedicine records spanning 5.7 and 7.3 years for
      CSHCN and CRS, respectively. Effectiveness was measured as telemedicine visit
      completion, duplication, and adverse events. Completed visits had diagnosis and
      management decisions made, and treatment implemented, based solely on
      telemedicine. Duplicating visits addressed related problems in-person following
      telemedicine visits within 1 or 3 days. An adverse event was defined as an
      emergency department visit following a telemedicine visit within 3 days for a
      problem probably related. RESULTS: Comparisons addressing these measures included
      483 and 10,008 telemedicine visits by CSHCN and CRS, respectively. Claims files
      captured health services use for varying periods of time among 300 different
      CSHCN and among 1,950 different CRS. Among the 483 telemedicine visits initiated
      for CSHCN over their telemedicine observation period, 9 were not completed. The
      CSHCN completion rate of 98.1% equaled the 97.6% completion observed among CRS.
      Within 3 days, in-person visits duplicated 16.1% of telemedicine visits for both
      CSHCN and CRS. Within 1 day, in-person visits duplicated 5.3% and 8.9% of
      telemedicine visits for CSHCN and CRS, respectively. Adverse events following
      telemedicine visits included 0.3% of telemedicine visits for CSHCN and 0.5% for
      CRS. CONCLUSIONS: Observations support safety and effectiveness of Health-e
      Access telemedicine for both CSHCN and CRS.

PMID- 25839785
TI  - Phthisis bulbi: clinical and pathologic findings in retinoblastoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: Phthisis bulbi represents an ocular end-stage disease characterized by
      shrinkage and disorganization of the eye. We aim at identifying the pathologic
      changes of phthisis bulbi associated with retinoblastoma. DESIGN: Retrospective
      observational case series study. METHODS: 16 enucleated eyes were enrolled
      retrospectively between 2007 and 2012. Pathologic gross and microscopic findings
      were assessed. RESULTS: Cases showed grossly shrunken eyes with a mean volume of
      4.3 cc. Sclera was markedly thickened in the majority of cases with mean of
      2272.8 MU. Choroid showed an average thickness of 1029 MU. Necrosis, dystrophic
      calcification, ossification, gliosis, residual viable tumor was identified in
      many cases. Pathologic high risk factors were seen in three specimens.
      CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that retinoblastoma must be considered in the
      differential diagnosis of phthisis bulbi in the pediatric patients and active
      tumor was present in half of the patients.

PMID- 25839782
TI  - Lithocholic bile acid accumulated in yeast mitochondria orchestrates a
      development of an anti-aging cellular pattern by causing age-related changes in
      cellular proteome.
AB  - We have previously revealed that exogenously added lithocholic bile acid (LCA)
      extends the chronological lifespan of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae,
      accumulates in mitochondria and alters mitochondrial membrane lipidome. Here, we
      use quantitative mass spectrometry to show that LCA alters the age-related
      dynamics of changes in levels of many mitochondrial proteins, as well as numerous
      proteins in cellular locations outside of mitochondria. These proteins belong to
      2 regulons, each modulated by a different mitochondrial dysfunction; we call them
      a partial mitochondrial dysfunction regulon and an oxidative stress regulon. We
      found that proteins constituting these regulons (1) can be divided into several
      "clusters", each of which denotes a distinct type of partial mitochondrial
      dysfunction that elicits a different signaling pathway mediated by a discrete set
      of transcription factors; (2) exhibit 3 different patterns of the age-related
      dynamics of changes in their cellular levels; and (3) are encoded by genes whose
      expression is regulated by the transcription factors Rtg1p/Rtg2p/Rtg3p, Sfp1p,
      Aft1p, Yap1p, Msn2p/Msn4p, Skn7p and Hog1p, each of which is essential for
      longevity extension by LCA. Our findings suggest that LCA-driven changes in
      mitochondrial lipidome alter mitochondrial proteome and functionality, thereby
      enabling mitochondria to operate as signaling organelles that orchestrate an
      establishment of an anti-aging transcriptional program for many longevity
      defining nuclear genes. Based on these findings, we propose a model for how such
      LCA-driven changes early and late in life of chronologically aging yeast cause a
      stepwise development of an anti-aging cellular pattern and its maintenance
      throughout lifespan. 

PMID- 25839786
TI  - Probing the Interfacial Interaction in Layered-Carbon-Stabilized Iron Oxide
      Nanostructures: A Soft X-ray Spectroscopic Study.
AB  - We have stabilized the iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) of various sizes on layered
      carbon materials (Fe-oxide/C) that show excellent catalytic performance. From the
      characterization of X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), X-ray emission
      spectroscopy (XES), scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) and X-ray
      magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy (XMCD), a strong interfacial interaction
      in the Fe-oxide/C hybrids has been observed between the small iron oxide NPs and
      layered carbon in contrast to the weak interaction in the large iron oxide NPs.
      The interfacial interaction between the NPs and layered carbon is found to link
      with the improved catalytic performance. In addition, the Fe L-edge XMCD spectra
      show that the large iron oxide NPs are mainly gamma-Fe2O3 with a strong
      ferromagnetic property, whereas the small iron oxide NPs with strong interfacial
      interaction are mainly alpha-Fe2O3 or amorphous Fe2O3 with a nonmagnetic
      property. The results strongly suggest that the interfacial interaction plays a
      key role for the catalytic performance, and the experimental findings may provide
      guidance toward rational design of high-performance catalysts. 

PMID- 25839787
TI  - Synthesis and in vitro characterization of a novel S-protected thiolated
      alginate.
AB  - The object of this study was to synthesize and characterize a novel S-protected
      thiolated polymer with a high degree of modification. In this regard, an alginate
      cysteine and an alginate-cysteine-2-mercaptonicotinic acid conjugate were
      synthesized. To achieve a high coupling rate of the thiol group bearing ligand
      cysteine to the polymer, the carbohydrate was activated by an oxidative ring
      opening with sodium periodate followed by a reductive amination to bind the
      primary amino group of cysteine to resulting reactive aldehyde groups. The
      obtained thiolated polymer displayed 1561+/-130MUmol thiol groups per gram
      polymer. About one third of these thiol groups were S-protected by the
      implementation of a thiol bearing aromatic protection group via disulfide bond
      formation. Test tablets of both modified polymers showed improved stability
      against oxidation in aqueous environment compared to the unmodified alginate and
      exhibit higher water-uptake capacity. Rheological investigations revealed an
      increased viscosity of the S-protected thiolated polymer whereat the thiolated
      non S-protected polymer showed gelling properties after the addition of hydrogen
      peroxide. The mucoadhesive properties could be improved significantly for both
      derivatives and no alteration in biocompatibility tested on Caco-2 cell monolayer
      employing an MTT assay could be detected after modification. According to these
      results, both new derivatives seem promising for various applications. 

PMID- 25839788
TI  - Electrochemical characterization of gelatinized starch dispersions: voltammetry
      and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy on platinum surface.
AB  - The electrochemical properties of gelatinized starch dispersions (GSD; 5% w/w)
      from different botanical sources were studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and
      electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests over a platinum surface. The
      phenomenological modelling of EIS data using equivalent circuits indicated that
      after gelatinization the electrical resistance was determined mainly by the
      resistance of insoluble material (i.e., ghosts). Sonication of the GSD disrupted
      the ghost microstructure, and produced an increase in electrical conductivity by
      reducing the resistance of the insoluble material. The CV data showed three
      oxidation peaks at potentials where glucose solutions displayed oxidation waves.
      It is postulated that hydrolysis at the bulk and electrocatalyzed oxidation on
      the Pt-surface are reactions involved in the starch transformation. Starches peak
      intensity increased with the amylose content, suggesting that the amylose-rich
      matrix played an important role in the charge transfer in the electrolytic
      system. 

PMID- 25839789
TI  - Physicochemical, digestibility and structural characteristics of starch isolated
      from banana cultivars.
AB  - Banana starches from diverse varieties (Macho, Morado, Valery and Enano Gigante)
      were studied in their physicochemical, structural and digestibility features. X
      ray diffraction indicated that the banana starches present a B-type crystallinity
      pattern, with slight difference in the crystallinity level. Macho and Enano
      Gigante starches showed the highest pasting temperatures (79 and 78 degrees C,
      respectively), whilst Valery and Morado varieties presented a slight breakdown
      and higher setback than the formers. Morado starch presented the highest
      solubility value and Valery starch the lowest one. The swelling pattern of the
      banana starches was in agreement with their pasting profile. All banana starches
      showed a shear-thinning profile. The resistant starch (RS) fraction was the main
      fraction in the uncooked banana starches. Morado variety showed the highest
      amount of slowly digestible starch (SDS) and the lowest RS content reported until
      now in banana starches. Banana starch cooked samples presented an important
      amount of SDS and RS. Molecular weight and gyration radius of the four banana
      starches ranged between 2.88-3.14*10(8)g/mol and 286-302nm, respectively. The
      chain-length distributions of banana amylopectin showed that B1 chains (DP 13-24)
      is the main fraction, and an important amount of long chains (DP>=37) are
      present. The information generated from this study can be useful to determine
      banana varieties for starch isolation with specific functionality. 

PMID- 25839790
TI  - Protective effect of polysaccharides from Opuntia dillenii Haw. fruits on
      streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
AB  - In this study, a novel water-soluble polysaccharide fraction with molecular
      weight of 6479.1kDa was isolated from the fruits of Opuntia dillenii Haw., which
      consisted of rhamnose, xylose, mannose and glucose in the molar ratio of
      14.99:1.14:1.00:6.47. The protective effect of O. dillenii Haw. fruits
      polysaccharide (ODFP) against oxidative damage in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced
      diabetic rats was investigated. The results showed that oral administration of
      ODFP significantly decreased food intake, water intake, urine production, organ
      weights and blood glucose level, and increased body weight in STZ-induced
      diabetic rats. ODFP also significantly increased the activities of SOD, GPx and
      CAT, and decreased malondialdehyde level in serum, liver, kidney, and pancreas in
      STZ-induced diabetic rats. Moreover, histopathological examination showed that
      ODFP could markedly improve the structure integrity of pancreatic islet tissue in
      STZ-induced diabetic rats. These results suggest that ODFP have hypoglycemic and
      antioxidant properties and can protect rats from STZ-induced oxidative damage. 

PMID- 25839791
TI  - Antimicrobial and antioxidant surface modification of cellulose fibers using
      layer-by-layer deposition of chitosan and lignosulfonates.
AB  - To confer cellulose fibers antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, chitosan
      (CS)/lignosulfonates (LS) multilayers were constructed on fibers surfaces through
      layer-by-layer deposition technique. The formation of CS/LS multilayers on
      cellulose fibers surfaces was verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
      and zeta potential measurement. The surface morphologies of CS/LS multilayers on
      fibers surfaces were observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results
      showed that characteristic element (i.e. N and S element) content increased with
      increasing bilayers number, the surface LS content increased linearly as a
      function of bilayers. Zeta potential of modified fibers was inversed after
      deposition of each layer. AFM phase images indicated that the cellulose
      microfibrils on fibers surfaces were gradually covered by granular LS aggregate.
      The antimicrobial testing results demonstrated that CS/LS multilayers modified
      fibers with CS in the outermost layer exhibited higher antimicrobial activity
      against Escherichia coli. The antioxidant testing results showed that antioxidant
      activity of CS/LS multilayers modified fibers was better than that of original
      fibers under the same oxidation conditions. 

PMID- 25839792
TI  - Self-assembly in aqueous solution of amphiphilic graft copolymers from oxidized
      carboxymethylcellulose.
AB  - A series of oxidized carboxymethylcellulose-graft-poly(ethylene glycol)
      dodecylamine (OCMC-g-PEG-DDA) was prepared by using an appositely prepared PEG
      with terminal amino groups and different amounts of DDA. The nanoaggregates
      formed in aqueous solution were characterized by surface tension measurements,
      fluorescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and scanning electron
      microscopies (SEM and TEM). The micelles showed narrow hydrodynamic size
      distributions and diameters varying from 163 to 193nm depending on the ratio of
      DDA to PEG chains. The DDA content in the graft copolymers also affected the core
      shell interfacial compactness. 

PMID- 25839793
TI  - Cellulosic fibers with high aspect ratio from cornhusks via controlled swelling
      and alkaline penetration.
AB  - Cellulosic fibers with high aspect ratio have been firstly obtained from
      cornhusks via controlled swelling in organic solvent and simultaneous
      tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAOH) post treatment within restricted depth.
      Cornhusks, with around 42% cellulose content, are a copious and inexpensive
      source for natural fibers. However, cornhusk fibers at 20tex obtained via small
      molecule alkaline extraction were too coarse for textile applications. Continuous
      NaOH treatment would result in fine fibers but with length of about 0.5-1.5mm,
      too short for textile use. In this research, post treatment using TMAOH and under
      controlled swelling significantly reduced fineness of cornhusk fibers from 21.3+/
      2.88 to 5.72+/-0.21tex. Fiber length was reduced from 105.47+/-10.03 to47.2+/
      27.4mm. The cornhusk fibers had more oriented microstructures and cellulose
      content increased to 84.47%. Besides, cornhusk fibers had similar tenacity,
      longer elongation, and lower modulus compared to cotton and linen, which endowed
      them with durability and flexibility. 

PMID- 25839794
TI  - Methylesterase behaviour is related to polysaccharide organisation in model
      systems mimicking cell walls.
AB  - Pectin gels and pectin-cellulose binary gels were used as cell wall-mimicking
      systems to investigate the diffusion ability of a fungal pectin methylesterase.
      Increasing content of cellulose in the gel appears to result: (i) in longer
      demethylated blocks thus favouring AaPME processivity, and (ii) in accelerated
      enzyme kinetics. To better understand this unexpected behaviour, a method was set
      up to investigate the gel porosity as a function of the cellulose content by
      following the passive diffusion of three pullulans having different hydrodynamic
      volumes. Like the enzyme, the pullulans diffused more efficiently in the gels
      containing the highest proportions of cellulose. Altogether, these results
      suggest that the gel settled differently during formation according to the
      respective proportions of the two polysaccharides. With cellulose present, a
      fraction of pectin would form close interactions with the microfibrils resulting
      in a larger volume accessible to diffusing molecules. This volume would be
      related to the cellulose concentration. 

PMID- 25839795
TI  - Ultrasonic assisted cross-flow ultrafiltration of starch and cellulose
      nanocrystals suspensions: characterization at multi-scales.
AB  - This study investigates for the first time the behaviors of starch and cellulose
      nanocrystals (SNC and CNC) suspensions which are simultaneously subjected to
      pressure, shear flow and ultrasound (US) during cross-flow ultrafiltration. This
      multi-forces process was characterized from macro-scales to nano-scales, with a
      custom designed "SAXS Cross-Flow US-coupled Filtration Cell". In addition,
      rheological behaviors of SNC samples at different concentrations/temperatures
      have been investigated. In both cases (ultrafiltration of SNC and CNC
      suspensions), better performances were observed with US. The in-situ SAXS
      measurements revealed that for SNC suspensions, no structure change occurred at
      the length scales range from 10 to 60nm in this multi-forces process, while CNC
      particles exhibited an ordered arrangement within the concentrated layer during
      the same process. SNC particles accumulated on the membrane surface forming a
      "fragile" concentrated layer which was removed very quickly by subsequent applied
      US. In contrary, the CNC particles accumulation was very severe, the additional
      ultrasonic force led to a disruption but not a totally removal of the CNC
      concentrated layer. 

PMID- 25839796
TI  - Mechanical and barrier properties of guar gum based nano-composite films.
AB  - Guar gum based nano-composite films were prepared using organically modified
      (cloisite 20A) and unmodified (nanofil 116) nanoclays. Effect of nanoclay
      incorporation on mechanical strength, water vapor barrier property, chromatic
      characteristics and opacity of films was evaluated. Nano-composites were
      characterized using X-ray scattering, FTIR and scanning electron microscopy. A
      nanoclay concentration dependent increase in mechanical strength and reduction in
      water vapor transmission rate was observed. Films containing nanofil 116 (2.5%
      w/w guar gum) and closite 20A (10% w/w guar gum) demonstrated a 102% and 41%
      higher tensile strength, respectively, as compared to the control. Lower tensile
      strength of cloisite 20A films as compared to nanofil 116 films was due to its
      incompatibility with guar gum. X-ray scattering analysis revealed that
      interstitial spacing between nanofil 116 and cloisite 20A sheets increased due to
      intercalation by guar gum polymer. This resulted in improved mechanical and
      barrier properties of nano-composites compared to control. 

PMID- 25839797
TI  - Influence of substitution on the rheological properties and gelation of
      hydroxyethyl cellulose solution in NaOH-water solvent.
AB  - The rheological properties of hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) with a low molar
      substitution (MS) dissolved in 8wt% NaOH-water were studied as a function of
      solution temperature, polymer concentration and molar substitution. Special
      attention was paid to gelation kinetics. Similar to cellulose dissolved in alkali
      or ionic liquids, the intrinsic viscosity of HEC decreased with temperature
      increase, indicating a decrease of solvent thermodynamic quality. The gelation
      time of HEC solutions decreased exponentially with temperature but the kinetics
      is much slower than the gelation of microcrystalline cellulose solutions in the
      same solvent. Higher molar substitution leads to slower gelation. The small
      amount of introduced hydroxyethyl groups prevented cellulose aggregation thus
      increasing solution stability. 

PMID- 25839798
TI  - A novel polysaccharide from mycelia of cultured Phellinus linteus displays
      antitumor activity through apoptosis.
AB  - Two novel polysaccharides termed PLPS-1 and PLPS-2 were isolated from mycelia of
      cultured Phellinus linteus by hot water extraction, purified by DEAE-52 cellulose
      and Sephadex G-100 column chromatography, and structurally characterized by FTIR
      and NMR spectroscopy, GC-MS, periodate oxidation/Smith degradation, and
      methylation analysis. The monosaccharide compositions of PLPS-1 (MW 2.5*10(5)Da)
      and PLPS-2 (MW 2.8*10(4)Da) were respectively Glc, Ara, Fuc, Gal, and Xyl in
      molar ratio 21.964:1.336:1.182:1:1, and Glc, Gal, Man, Ara, Fuc, Xyl in molar
      ratio 14.368:2.594:1.956:1.552:1.466:1; i.e., both were heteropolysaccharides.
      The backbone of PLPS-1 consisted primarily of repeating alpha-d-Glc(1->4)-alpha-d
      Glc(1->6) units, while that of PLPS-2 consisted of alpha-(1->3)-d-Glc and alpha
      (1->6)-d-Glc. The side branches were also different in their carbohydrate
      components. In in vitro antitumor assays, PLPS-1 displayed strong anti
      proliferative effect against S-180 sarcoma cells through apoptosis, whereas PLPS
      2 had no such effect. The difference in antitumor activity between the two PLPS
      evidently results from their structural differences. PLPS-1 has potential as a
      novel anticancer agent. 

PMID- 25839799
TI  - Structure characterization of an arabinogalactan from green tea and its anti
      diabetic effect.
AB  - A water-soluble polysaccharide, 7WA, with an average molecular mass of
      7.1*10(4)Da, was isolated from the leaves of green tea. Monosaccharide
      composition analysis indicated that 7WA mainly contained Arabinose and Galactose
      in the molar ratio of 1.0:0.96. By using the methods of methylation analysis,
      partial hydrolysis, and NMR, 7WA was characterized to possess a backbone
      consisting of 1,3- and 1,6-linked galactopyranosyl residues, with branches
      attached to O-3 of 1,6-linked galactose residues, and O-4 and O-6 of 1,3-linked
      galactose residues. The results of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS)
      showed that 7WA significantly augmented insulin secretion at high glucose level
      (25mM), however, such effect was not seen at low glucose level (5mM). The
      mechanism study results indicated 7WA, a type II arabinogalactan from Green Tea,
      enhances GSIS through cAMP-PKA pathway. 

PMID- 25839800
TI  - Oligosaccharide-based block copolymers: metal-free thiol-maleimide click
      conjugation and self-assembly into nanoparticles.
AB  - Amphiphilic oligosaccharide-based block copolymers (OBCPs) are able to self
      assemble either into nanoparticles with biocompatible oligosaccharides corona in
      aqueous solution or in sub-nanopatterned thin-films originating from the high
      incompatibility between the different blocks. For these reasons, these biosourced
      OBCPs are valuable structures for applications in nanomedicine and
      nanoelectronics. Up to now, the synthesis of those OBCPs was obtained through
      grafting-onto method using Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC).
      However, complete removal of metal catalyst residues from the resultant copolymer
      chains is critical and hampers electronic and biomedical applications. In this
      study, we report an efficient and convenient metal-free click chemistry approach
      consisting in coupling thiol-containing oligosaccharide blocks to maleimide
      terminated polystyrenes. Upon self-assembly in water, spherical micelles of
      similar size than those obtained by Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition
      were formed as evidenced using dynamic light scattering and transmission electron
      microscopy techniques. 

PMID- 25839801
TI  - Studies on the sulfation of cellulose alpha-lipoate and ability of the sulfated
      product to stabilize colloidal suspensions of gold nanoparticles.
AB  - A versatile method for the synthesis of cellulose alpha-lipoate with a low degree
      of substitution (DS) has been developed using N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA)/LiCl as
      a solvent and N,N'-carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) as an esterification reagent. The
      cellulose alpha-lipoate with DS of alpha-lipoate groups of 0.26 was converted
      with sulfur trioxide-pyridine complex in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as solvent.
      The sulfation is accompanied by an unexpected partial oxidation of the disulfide
      moiety leading to the formation of the corresponding stereoisomers of S-oxides.
      The resulting mixture of water-soluble cellulose alpha- and beta-lipoate sulfate
      possesses a DS of sulfuric acid half ester groups of 1.78. This cellulose
      alpha/beta-lipoate sulfate derivative can be used as an effective stabilizer and
      solubilizer for the formation of colloidal suspensions of gold nanoparticles
      formed in situ in aqueous solution. 

PMID- 25839802
TI  - Thermal degradation behavior of hypochlorite-oxidized starch nanocrystals under
      different oxidized levels.
AB  - The thermal degradation behavior of hypochlorite-oxidized starch nanocrystals
      (OSNCs) was evaluated in this study. Carbonyl and carboxyl groups in OSNCs
      increased from 0.006 and 0.091mmol/g to 0.033 and 0.129mmol/g, respectively, as
      the active chlorine concentration increased from 1% to 4% (w/w). Compared with
      starch nanocrystals (SNCs), the initial degradation temperature of OSNCs with 4%
      oxidization decreased from 273 degrees C to 253 degrees C. Two degradation
      processes were detected using differential thermal analysis. The activation
      energy of the low-temperature process increased with increasing oxidization level
      because of removal of sulfate esters and reduction of the decomposition products
      of H2O during oxidation. With increasing temperature, the H2O generating from
      decarboxylation and decomposition of the carboxyl groups may catalyze SNCs
      depolymerization, leading to decrease in the activation energy of the high
      temperature process. OSNCs (4% oxidized level) can be used in dry process below
      253 degrees C to avoid degradation. 

PMID- 25839803
TI  - Synthesis of bacterial cellulose using hot water extracted wood sugars.
AB  - Bacterial cellulose (BC), a type of nanopolymer produced by Acetobacter xylinum
      is a nanostructured material with unique properties and wide applicability.
      However, a standard medium used for the cultivation of BC, the Hestrin-Schramm
      medium, is expensive and prevents wide scale extension of BC applications. In
      this research, a relatively low-cost culture media was successfully developed
      from wood hot water extracts for the Acetobacter xylinus 23769 strain. Hot water
      extract (HWE) is a residual material originating from pulp mills and
      lignocellulosic biorefineries and consists of mainly monomeric sugars, organic
      acids and organics. The effects of different pH (5, 6, 7 and 8) and temperatures
      (26, 28 and 30 degrees C) were also examined in this research. There were no
      significant differences in the crystallinity and the recorded Ialpha fraction of
      cellulose produced between Hestrin-Schramm and the HWE medium. The maximum
      production of 0.15g/l of BC was obtained at a pH of 8 and temperature of 28
      degrees C. Glucose and xylose in the HWE were the main nutrient sources utilized
      in all BC cultivations based on high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)
      results. HWE was shown to be a suitable carbon source for BC production, and a
      process was established for BC production from lignocellulosic feedstocks without
      using any modification of the HWE. HWE is an abundant and relatively inexpensive
      forest by-product. Using HWE for BC production could reduce burdens on the
      environment and also, achieve the goal of large scale BC production at low cost
      without using added culture nutrients. 

PMID- 25839804
TI  - Thermally generated radicals as indicators of the starch modification studied by
      EPR spectroscopy: a review.
AB  - The results compiled and discussed in the present review have been published by
      the research group of the Chemistry Faculty, Jagiellonian University or by other
      Authors, as given in References. Relatively stable and short-lived radicals
      generated thermally in starches of various botanic origin were used as indicators
      of the changes in the starch structure and properties occurring upon chemical and
      physical modifications. The number of radicals was determined by electron
      paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Distribution of water and
      accessibility of different zones in the starch granule for reagents were tested
      by using paramagnetic Cu(2+) ions as a probe molecule. Relatively stable radicals
      generated in starch at 300 degrees C revealed protective properties against
      ionizing radiation. Thermally induced short-lived radicals exhibited sensitivity
      to the degree of the starch structure ordering. 

PMID- 25839805
TI  - Characterization and immunomodulatory activity of rice hull polysaccharides.
AB  - Rice hulls (Oryza sativa) are high in carbohydrate content and have been utilized
      as dietary fiber. The immunomodulatory bioactivity of rice hull polysaccharides
      (RHPS) has rarely been reported. This study demonstrated the structural
      characteristics and immunomodulating of RHPS. The RHPS were fractioned using DEAE
      650M column, producing one neutral and 3 acidic polysaccharide fractions. RHPS
      were examined using HPAEC-PAD, HP-SEC, NMR and GC-MS for structural
      characteristics. The results showed that RHPS consisted of arabinose, galactose,
      glucose, mannose, and xylose in ratios of 10:44.8:29.8:9.3:6.1 and comprised (1
      >3)-Gal as backbone, and its average molecular weight was 77kDa. The presence of
      type II arabinogalactan (AGII) was confirmed through LM2-ELISA and Yariv gel
      diffusion showed the RHPS had AGII features. This study examined the
      immunomodulatory effects of orally administering RHPS in vivo. The RHPS increased
      the cytotoxicity of splenic natural killer cells, macrophage phagocytosis, and
      cytokine inductions. This is the first study to demonstrate the structural
      characteristics of an active polysaccharide from rice hulls and its
      immunopharmacological effects in vivo. 

PMID- 25839806
TI  - A polysaccharide from Trametes robiniophila inhibits human osteosarcoma xenograft
      tumor growth in vivo.
AB  - In the present study, we isolated and purified one polysaccharide (TRP) from
      Trametes robiniophila, which had a backbone of 1,3,6- and 1,4-linked
      glucpyranosyl moieties, with 1-linked arabinofuranosyl and galactopyranosyl
      terminal at the O-3 position of 1,3,6-linked glucpyranosyl residues. TRP was
      further evaluated for its antitumor activity against xenografted U-2 OS
      osteosarcoma in BALB/c nude mice together with the possible mechanism of action.
      We found that oral administration of TRP significantly suppressed U-2 OS tumor
      growth in mice via the induction of apoptosis, as evidenced by the increased
      number of TUNEL-positive cells in tumor tissues. Moreover, TRP administration
      increased the levels of the proapoptotic Bax protein and decreased the level of
      the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 protein, thus resulting in a rise of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio.
      Furthermore, the protein expression of caspase-9, caspase-3 and cleaved PARP
      became evident in tumor tissues from mice following TRP treatment, but caspase-8
      keep unchanged. Besides, overexpression of metadherin (MTDH) was attenuated in
      tumor tissues of TRP-fed mice. Taken together, these findings suggest that the
      TRP-induced apoptosis of tumor tissues is through a mitochondria-mediated
      intrinsic apoptotic pathway. 

PMID- 25839807
TI  - Effect of acid hydrolysis on regenerated kenaf core membrane produced using
      aqueous alkaline-urea systems.
AB  - Bleached kenaf core pulps (BKC) were hydrolyzed in H2SO4 (0.5M) at different time
      (0min to 90min) at room temperature. After the hydrolysis process, the viscosity
      average molecular weight (Mn) for BKC sample has reduced from 14.5*10(4) to
      2.55*10(4). The hydrolyzed BKC was then dissolved in NaOH:urea:water and in
      LiOH:urea:water mixed solvent at the ratio of 7:12:81 and 4.6:15:80.4,
      respectively. The increased in hydrolysis time has decreased Mn of cellulose
      leading to easy dissolution process. Higher porosity and transparency with lower
      crystallinity index (CrI) of regenerated membrane produced can be achieved as the
      Mn reduced. The properties of membrane were observed through FESEM, UV-vis
      spectrophotometer and XRD. This study has proven that acid hydrolysis has reduced
      the Mn of cellulose, thus, enhanced the properties of regenerated membrane
      produced with assisted by alkaline/urea system. 

PMID- 25839808
TI  - Encapsulation of vitamin E: effect of physicochemical properties of wall material
      on retention and stability.
AB  - Spray drying technique was used to fabricate Vitamin E loaded nanocapsules using
      Octenyl Succinic Anhydride (OSA) modified starches as emulsifiers and wall
      materials. Several physicochemical properties of modified starches that are
      expected to influence emulsification capacity, retention and storage stability of
      Vitamin E in nanocapsules were investigated. High Degree of Substitution (DS),
      low Molecular Weight (Mw) and low interfacial tension improved emulsification
      properties while Oxygen Permeability (OP) and Water Vapor Permeability (WVP)
      affected the film forming properties. The degradation profile of Vitamin E fitted
      well with the Weibull model. Nanocapsules from OSA modified starches MS-A and MS
      B retained around 50% of Vitamin E after a period of 60 days at 4-35 degrees C.
      Reduced retention and short half-life (35 days) in nanocapsules fabricated using
      MS-C at 35 degrees C were attributed to autoxidation reaction occurred due to
      poor film forming capacity. These results indicated that low molecular weights
      OSA modified starches were effective at forming stable Vitamin E nanocapsules
      that could be used in drug and beverage applications. 

PMID- 25839809
TI  - Effect of crystallinity and plasticizer on mechanical properties and tissue
      integration of starch-based materials from two botanical origins.
AB  - The application of starch-based materials for biomedical purposes has attracted
      significant interest due to their biocompatibility. The physical properties and
      crystal structure of materials based on potato starch (PS) and amylomaize starch
      (AMS) were studied under physiological conditions. PS plasticized with 20%
      glycerol presented the best mechanical properties with an elastic modulus of
      1.6MPa and a weak swelling, remaining stable for 30 days. The in vitro cell
      viability of 3T3 cells after contact with extracts from PS and AMS with 20%
      glycerol is 72% and 80%, respectively. PS presented good tissue integration and
      no significant inflammation or foreign body response after 30 days intra-muscular
      implantation in a rat model, contrary to AMS. It was shown that glycerol
      plasticization favors a fast B-type crystallization of PS materials, enhancing
      their mechanical strength and durability, and making them a good candidate for
      bioresorbable and biocompatible materials for implantable medical devices. 

PMID- 25839810
TI  - In silico properties characterization of water-soluble gamma-cyclodextrin bi
      capped C60 complex: free energy and geometrical insights for stability and
      solubility.
AB  - Cyclodextrin-related host-guest encapsulation is pivotal to modulate the
      solubility of C60, thereby promoting its potential therapeutic applications. Here
      we present a computational study on gamma-cyclodextrin bi-capped C60 complex,
      probing characteristics for all the possible stoichiometry in aqueous solution.
      The potential of mean force (PMF) delineating the association process was
      computed, while the geometrical features of corresponding thermodynamically
      favored stoichiometry are captured by molecular dynamics simulations, which
      provides insightful explanations to previous experimental and computational
      results. PMF partitioning indicates that intermolecular van der Waals dispersion
      forces are essential for molecular recognition and self-assembly, and the
      hydrogen-bonding interactions play a key role in dissolving the complex in water.

PMID- 25839811
TI  - Carbohydrate composition of peach palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth) by-products
      flours.
AB  - The flours obtained from peach palm by-products are rich in dietary fiber (62
      71%) and they can be used as food ingredients. The aim of this work was to
      investigate the carbohydrate composition of the flours processed from the
      residual parts (stem and median sheath) of a hearts-of-palm industry. The flours
      were fractionated, based on their solubility, whose monomeric compounds were
      determined. The fraction containing mostly cellulose (S5) was the most abundant
      (26-28%), followed by the sum of fractions (S2, 53, S4) extracted with alkaline
      solutions (21-22%). The S1 fraction contained the highest percentage of uronic
      acids, which characterizes the presence of pectin. Xylose and arabinose were
      found in high proportion in S2 and S3 fractions. The S4 and S5 fractions, rich in
      glucose, were the main portion of the cell wall material and correspond to the
      insoluble fraction of the dietary fiber. 

PMID- 25839812
TI  - An evaluation system for characterization of polysaccharides from the fruiting
      body of Hericium erinaceus and identification of its commercial product.
AB  - An evaluation system including colorimetric assay with iodine and potassium
      iodide, HPSEC-MALLS-RID analysis, GC-MS analysis, and saccharide mapping based on
      PACE analysis was proposed for the identification and discrimination of
      commercial product of Hericium erinaceus based on the chemical characters of
      polysaccharides in H. erinaceus fruiting body collected from different regions of
      China. The results showed that the molecular weights, the compositional
      monosaccharides and the glycosidic linkages of polysaccharides in H. erinaceus
      collected from different regions of China were similar, respectively. However,
      polysaccharides in the widely consumed product of H. erinaceus in China were
      significantly different from those of H. erinaceus fruiting body. The
      implications from these results were found to be beneficial to improve the
      quality control of polysaccharides from the H. erinaceus fruiting body, and
      suggest that the proposed evaluation system could be used as a routine approach
      for the quality control of polysaccharides in other edible and medicinal
      mushrooms. 

PMID- 25839813
TI  - Purified polysaccharides of Geoffroea spinosa barks have anticoagulant and
      antithrombotic activities devoid of hemorrhagic risks.
AB  - Polysaccharides were extracted from the barks of Geoffroea spinosa, purified
      using anion exchange chromatography and characterized by chemical and methylation
      analysis, complemented by infrared and NMR spectroscopies. These polysaccharides
      were tested for their anticoagulant, antithrombotic and antiplatelet activities
      and also for their effects on bleeding. Unfractionated polysaccharide contains
      low levels of protein and high levels of carbohydrate (including hexuronic acid).
      The purified polysaccharides (fractions FII and FIII) are composed of arabinose
      (Ara), rhamnose (Rha), hexuronic acid, small amounts of galactose, but no sulfate
      ester. They have highly complex structure, which was partially characterized. NMR
      and methylation analysis indicate that the polysaccharides have a core of alpha
      Rhap and branches of 5-linked alpha-Araf. Residues of 4-linked alpha-GalpA are
      also found in the structure. The unfractionated (TPL) and fraction FIII, but not
      fractions FI and FII, prolonged the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT).
      TPL, FII and FIII inhibited the platelet aggregation induced by ADP. More
      significantly, both unfractionated and purified fractions exhibited potent
      antithrombotic effect (31-60%) and the fractions did not modify the bleeding
      tendency. These plant polysaccharides could be alternative source of new
      anticoagulant, antiplatelet and antithrombotic compounds devoid of the
      undesirable risk of hemorrhage. 

PMID- 25839814
TI  - Rheological and kinetic study of the ultrasonic degradation of xanthan gum in
      aqueous solution: effects of pyruvate group.
AB  - The influence of the pyruvate group on the efficiency of ultrasonic degradation
      of xanthan gum in aqueous solution has been studied. Blends of natural and
      pyruvate-free xanthan gums were ultrasonicated at 20 degrees C for up to 30min
      and evaluated for molecular-weight degradation by viscometry. Solutions of pure
      pyruvate-free xanthan exhibited the highest stability to degradation among all
      blend ratios studied. Removing the pyruvate group is believed to enable the
      molecular chains to adopt a more compact conformation, which renders the polymer
      less susceptible to ultrasonication. In addition, the effects of salt on
      ultrasonic degradation efficiency were studied by using 0.1, 10(-2), or 10(-4)M
      of NaCl or Na2SO4 in solution prior to ultrasonication. A degradation kinetics
      model was developed to quantify the degradation behavior. The absence of pyruvate
      groups renders the xanthan gum less sensitive to the influence of salt, and hence
      decreases the ultrasonic degradation efficiency. 

PMID- 25839815
TI  - Electrical, structural, thermal and electrochemical properties of corn starch
      based biopolymer electrolytes.
AB  - Biopolymer electrolytes containing corn starch, lithium hexafluorophosphate
      (LiPF6) and ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate
      (BmImPF6) are prepared by solution casting technique. Temperature dependence
      ionic conductivity studies reveal Vogel-Tamman-Fulcher (VTF) relationship which
      is associated with free volume theory. Ionic liquid-based biopolymer electrolytes
      show lower glass transition temperature (Tg) than ionic liquid-free biopolymer
      electrolyte. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies demonstrate higher amorphous region
      of ionic liquid-added biopolymer electrolytes. In addition, the potential
      stability window of the biopolymer electrolyte becomes wider and stable up to
      2.9V. Conclusively, the fabricated electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) shows
      improved electrochemical performance upon addition of ionic liquid into the
      biopolymer electrolyte. The specific capacitance of EDLC based on ionic liquid
      added polymer electrolyte is relatively higher than that of ionic liquid-free
      polymer electrolyte as depicted in cyclic voltammogram. 

PMID- 25839816
TI  - Production of cationic xylan-METAC copolymer as a flocculant for textile
      industry.
AB  - Xylan is a part of hemicelluloses of woody materials and can be converted to
      value-added products such as flocculants for the textile industry. To assess the
      production of flocculants from hemicelluloses of woody materials, xylan was
      selected as a model and rendered cationic via copolymerization. In this study,
      the copolymerization reaction of xylan and [2-(methacryloyloxy) ethyl]
      trimethylammonium chloride (METAC) was optimized. The optimum parameters were
      3mol/mol METAC/xylose, 3h reaction time, 80 degrees C reaction temperature, pH 7
      and 25g/L xylan concentration. The copolymer was characterized by a charge
      density analyzer, viscometer, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), light
      scattering instrument, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and an
      elemental analyzer. The application of the cationic xylan copolymer as a
      flocculant to decolorize the simulated reactive orange 16 azo-dye wastewater was
      evaluated. The results confirmed that, by having 160mg/L xylan-METAC
      concentration in the dye solution with the concentration of 100mg/L, 97.8% of dye
      could be removed. 

PMID- 25839817
TI  - Effect of modified starch and nanoclay particles on biodegradability and
      mechanical properties of cross-linked poly lactic acid.
AB  - Mechanical properties and biodegradation of cross-linked poly(lactic acid)
      (PLA)/maleated thermoplastic starch (MTPS)/montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposite
      were studied. Crosslinking was carried out by adding di-cumyl peroxide (DCP) in
      the presence of triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC) as coagent. At first, MTPS was
      prepared by grafting maleic anhydride (MA) to thermoplastic starch in internal
      mixer. Experimental design was performed by using Box-Behnken method at three
      variables: MTPS, nanoclay and TAIC at three levels. Results showed that
      increasing TAIC amount substantially increased the gel fraction, enhanced tensile
      strength, and caused a decrease in elongation at break. Biodegradation was
      prevented by increasing TAIC amount in nanocomposite. Increasing MTPS amount
      caused a slight increase in gel fraction and decreased the tensile strength of
      nanocomposite. Also, MTPS could increase the elongation at break of nanocomposite
      and improve the biodegradation. Nanoclay had no effect on the gel fraction, but
      it improved tensile strength. 

PMID- 25839818
TI  - Preparation and characterization of carboxymethyl starch microgel with different
      crosslinking densities.
AB  - Microgels synthesized with different crosslinking densities were characterized by
      Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetry analysis (TGA),
      swelling, and rheological analyses. The lysozyme uptake capacity of these
      microgels was evaluated through the effects of lysozyme concentration, pH, and
      ionic strength. The microgel particle size mostly ranged within 25MUm to 45MUm.
      FT-IR analysis results suggested that sodium trimetaphosphate reacted with the
      hydroxyl groups of carboxymethyl starch (CMS), thereby forming ester linkages.
      TGA data indicated that crosslinking increased the thermal stability of CMS.
      Swelling degree increased with increasing pH before pH 5, and then remained
      almost constant. However, swelling degree decreased with increasing ionic
      strength and crosslinking density. The microgels behaved as viscoelastic solids
      because the storage modulus was higher than the loss modulus over the entire
      frequency range of dispersions with polymer concentrations of 3% (W/W) at 25
      degrees C. The data for the uptake of lysozyme by microgels demonstrated that the
      protein uptake increased with increasing pH and lysozyme concentration, as well
      as with decreasing ionic strength and crosslinking density. The lysozyme
      microgels complex was identified by CLSM, and the distribution of lysozyme in
      microgels with low crosslinking density was rather homogeneous. 

PMID- 25839819
TI  - Inter-laboratory evaluation of SEC-post-column calcofluor for determination of
      the weight-average molar mass of cereal beta-glucan.
AB  - Even though size exclusion chromatography (SEC) with post column addition of
      calcofluor (SEC-calcofluor) has been used for the determination of cereal beta
      glucan molar mass in foods for many years, there is a lack of systematic
      evaluation of the method. To address this issue a set of suitable beta-glucan
      standards were generated by preparative SEC and their molar mass characteristics
      were determined by analytical multi-detection SEC (refractive index (RI), light
      scattering). Each standard was then analysed by SEC-calcofluor at three different
      labs. As a direct comparison, the analyses were repeated with a RI detector. For
      SEC-calcofluor accurate measurements of weight average molar mass (Mw) can be
      made for beta-glucan populations within 10-500*10(3)g/mol. Above this molar mass
      threshold there is an increasing tendency for underestimation of Mw.
      Precipitation of some beta-glucan-calcofluor complexes may have delayed their
      transport into the detector. 

PMID- 25839820
TI  - Structural features of dilute acid, steam exploded, and alkali pretreated mustard
      stalk and their impact on enzymatic hydrolysis.
AB  - To overcome the recalcitrant nature of biomass several pretreatment methodologies
      have been explored to make it amenable to enzymatic hydrolysis. These
      methodologies alter cell wall structure primarily by removing/altering
      hemicelluloses and lignin. In this work, alkali, dilute acid, steam explosion
      pretreatment are systematically studied for mustard stalk. To assess the
      structural variability after pretreatment, chemical analysis, surface area,
      crystallinity index, accessibility of cellulose, FT-IR and thermal analysis are
      conducted. Although the extent of enzymatic hydrolysis varies upon the
      methodologies used, nevertheless, cellulose conversion increases from <10% to 81%
      after pretreatment. Glucose yield at 2 and 72h are well correlated with surface
      area and maximum adsorption capacity. However, no such relationship is observed
      for xylose yield. Mass balance of the process is also studied. Dilute acid
      pretreatment is the best methodology in terms of maximum sugar yield at lower
      enzyme loading. 

PMID- 25839821
TI  - Separation of monodisperse alginate nanoparticles and effect of particle size on
      transport of vitamin E.
AB  - Four batches of oleoyl alginate ester (OAE) nanoparticles with narrow size
      distribution were rapidly separated from the initial batch of nanoparticles by
      means of centrifugation at the relative centrifugal force (RCF) between 270*g and
      6750*g after adjusting the zeta potential. The size of nanoparticles decreased
      with increasing speed of centrifugation, and the polydispersity of nanoparticles
      significantly decreased. As particle size increased the loading capacity also
      increased, while transport across Caco-2 cells and the cellular uptake of
      nanoparticles in jejunum decreased. Endocytosis of nanoparticles around
      50nm/120nm, 420nm and 730nm occur mainly via clathrin-mediated endocytosis,
      caveolae-mediated endocytosis and macropinocytosis respectively. These results
      show that centrifugation could separate nanoparticles with appropriate zeta
      potential into different sizes and the transport and cellular uptake of OAE
      polysaccharide nanoparticles were size dependent. 

PMID- 25839822
TI  - Performance evaluation of pectin as ecofriendly corrosion inhibitor for X60
      pipeline steel in acid medium: experimental and theoretical approaches.
AB  - The corrosion inhibition effect of pectin (a biopolymer) for X60 pipeline steel
      in HCl medium was investigated using weight loss, electrochemical, water contact
      angle measurements, and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The results
      obtained show that pectin acts as a good corrosion inhibitor for X60 steel.
      Inhibition efficiency increased with increase in pectin concentration and
      temperature. Potentiodynamic polarization results reveal that pectin could be
      classified as a mixed-type corrosion inhibitor with predominant control of the
      cathodic reaction. The effective corrosion inhibition potential of pectin could
      be related to the adsorption of pectin molecules at the metal/solution interface
      which is found to accord with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model and a
      protective film formation. Quantum chemical calculations provided insights into
      the active sites and reactivity parameters governing pectin activity as a good
      corrosion inhibitor for X60 steel. 

PMID- 25839823
TI  - Dextrans produced by lactic acid bacteria exhibit antiviral and immunomodulatory
      activity against salmonid viruses.
AB  - Viral infections in the aquaculture of salmonids can lead to high mortality and
      substantial economic losses. Thus, there is industrial interest in new molecules
      active against these viruses. Here we describe the production, purification, and
      the physicochemical and structural characterization of high molecular weight
      dextrans synthesized by Lactobacillus sakei MN1 and Leuconostoc mesenteroides
      RTF10. The purified dextrans, and commercial dextrans with molecular weights
      ranging from 10 to 2000kDa, were assayed in infected BF-2 and EPC fish cell-line
      monolayers for antiviral activity. Only T2000 and dextrans from MN1 and RTF10 had
      significant antiviral activity. This was similar to results obtained against
      infectious pancreatic necrosis virus. However the dextran from MN1 showed ten
      fold higher activity against hematopoietic necrosis virus than T2000. In vivo
      assays using the MN1 polymer confirmed the in vitro results and revealed
      immunomodulatory activity. These results together with the high levels of dextran
      production (2gL(-1)) by Lb. sakei MN1, indicate the compounds potential utility
      as an antiviral agent in aquaculture. 

PMID- 25839824
TI  - Preparation of cross-linked maize (Zea mays L.) starch in different reaction
      media.
AB  - Granular normal maize starch was reacted with sodium trimetaphosphate in
      deionized water ( [Formula: see text] ), aqueous sodium sulfate solution (
      [Formula: see text] ), aqueous ethanol (MSethanol) or aqueous acetone (MSacetone)
      under otherwise identical reaction conditions. Analysis of the resultant starches
      by Rapid Visco Analysis (RVA) showed that the starch was cross-linked to a higher
      degree in aqueous ethanol or aqueous acetone than in water or sodium sulfate
      solution, and with minimal starch leaching. While MSacetone and MSethanol had
      incorporated similar levels of phosphorous, RVA analysis and microscopic analysis
      showed that MSacetone granules were more effectively stabilized by cross-linking
      than MSethanol granules. Cross-linking in aqueous acetone is believed to either
      contain the greater numbers of distarch monophosphate (versus monostarch
      monophosphate), or occur more intensively at the granule outer layers than that
      in aqueous ethanol and, at the same time, to account for the greater granular
      strength of MSethanol than that of MSacetone. 

PMID- 25839825
TI  - Solid acid catalysts pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of macroalgae
      cellulosic residue for the production of bioethanol.
AB  - The aim of this study is to investigate the technical feasibility of converting
      macroalgae cellulosic residue (MCR) into bioethanol. An attempt was made to
      present a novel, environmental friendly and economical pretreatment process that
      enhances enzymatic conversion of MCR to sugars using Dowex (TM) Dr-G8 as
      catalyst. The optimum yield of glucose reached 99.8% under the optimal condition
      for solid acid pretreatment (10%, w/v biomass loading, 4%, w/v catalyst loading,
      30min, 120 degrees C) followed by enzymatic hydrolysis (45FPU/g of cellulase,
      52CBU/g of beta-glucosidase, 50 degrees C, pH 4.8, 30h). The yield of sugar
      obtained was found more superior than conventional pretreatment process using
      H2SO4 and NaOH. Biomass loading for the subsequent simultaneous saccharification
      and fermentation (SSF) of the pretreated MCR was then optimized, giving an
      optimum bioethanol yield of 81.5%. The catalyst was separated and reused for six
      times, with only a slight drop in glucose yield. 

PMID- 25839826
TI  - Modifications of Saccharomyces pastorianus cell wall polysaccharides with brewing
      process.
AB  - The cell wall polysaccharides of brewers spent yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus
      (BSY) and the inoculum yeast (IY) were studied in order to understand the changes
      induced by the brewing process. The hot water and alkali extractions performed
      solubilized mainly mannoproteins, more branched for BSY than those of IY. Also,
      (31)P solid state NMR showed that the BSY mannoproteins were 3 times more
      phosphorylated. By electron microscopy it was observed that the final residues of
      alkali sequential extraction until 4M KOH preserved the yeast three-dimensional
      structure. The final residues, composed mainly by glucans (92%), showed that the
      BSY, when compared with IY, contained higher amount of (1->4)-linked Glc (43% for
      BSY and 16% for IY) and lower (1->3)-linked Glc (17% for BSY and 42% for IY). The
      enzymatic treatment of final residue showed that both BSY and IY had (alpha1->4)
      linked Glc and (beta1->4)-linked Glc, in a 2:1 ratio, showing that S. pastorianus
      increases their cellulose-like linkages with the brewing process. 

PMID- 25839827
TI  - Effect of calcium on solution and conformational characteristics of
      polysaccharide from seeds of Plantago asiatica L.
AB  - Polysaccharide from seeds of Plantago asiatica L. is rich in calcium, which is
      important for keeping viscous and weak gelling properties of the polysaccharide.
      However, few studies reported effect of calcium on solution and conformational
      characteristics of the polysaccharide. In this study, polysaccharide was prepared
      from seeds of P. asiatica L. and named as PLCP. PLCP was treated with EDTA to
      remove calcium ion to get PLCP-E. PLCP and PLCP-E were characterized by Ubbelohde
      capillary viscometer, light scattering and HPSEC with refractive index, light
      scattering and viscometric detectors. The results showed that PLCP had much
      higher intrinsic viscosity, hydrodynamic radius (Rh), radius of gyration (Rg) and
      molecular weight than that of PLCP-E when measured in the same solvent. PLCP and
      PLCP-E were in random coil conformation in aqueous solutions according to light
      scattering and HPSEC measurements. HPSEC data showed PLCP-E had lower intrinsic
      viscosity than that of PLCP with the same molecular weight. Persistence length of
      Lp was 2.5nm for PLCP and 2.3nm for PLCP-E, respectively. In conclusion, PLCP
      exhibited higher intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight, and stiffer
      conformation than that of PLCP-E, which could explain the reason of higher
      viscosity of PLCP. 

PMID- 25839828
TI  - Development of wheat gluten/nanocellulose/titanium dioxide nanocomposites for
      active food packaging.
AB  - Bionanocomposites were developed by casting/evaporation of wheat gluten (WG),
      cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), and TiO2 nanoparticles. The effect of addition of
      different percentages of CNC, and TiO2 on tensile strength (TS), Young's modulus
      and water sensitivity was studied. A significant improvement in the studied
      properties is observed when 7.5% CNC and 0.6% TiO2 is added to WG. WG/CNC
      7.5%/0.6% TiO2 blend suspension was chosen to coat commercial packaging
      unbleached kraft paper sheets via 1, 2 and 3 coating layers. A significant
      enhancement of 56% and 53% in breaking length and burst index, respectively, was
      achieved for 3 layers coated paper. The antimicrobial activity of the coated
      papers, against Saccharomyces cervisiae, Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli
      and Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, was investigated and expressed
      in terms of reduction % of surviving number (CFU) of the tested organisms. More
      than 98.5% reduction in CFU was observed against the organisms compared to TiO2
      free coated paper. 

PMID- 25839829
TI  - The marine bacteria Cobetia marina DSMZ 4741 synthesizes an unexpected K-antigen
      like exopolysaccharide.
AB  - We have studied the exopolysaccharide produced by Cobetia marina DSMZ 4741, a
      marine bacterium isolated from coastal seawater. This strain is able to produce a
      polysaccharide in presence of carbon sources as glucose, mannitol and alginate.
      The maximum production occurs in aerobic condition, during the end of the
      exponential phase. The polymer is a non-viscous, acidic heteropolysaccharide of
      270kDa constituted of a repeating unit of: This kind of chemical structure is
      generally related to K-antigen polysaccharide of pathogenic Escherichia coli
      strains. This is the first time this type of EPS is described from a marine
      bacterium. Moreover the polysaccharide exhibits a pyruvate substitution on its 3
      deoxy-d-manno-oct-2-ulosonic acid (KDO) residue never encountered before. The
      discovery of such an unexpected EPS with high biotechnological potential is a new
      incentive for a better exploration of bioactive marine resources. 

PMID- 25839830
TI  - Colloidal Nanoparticle Interaction Transition during Solvent Evaporation
      Investigated by in-Situ Small-Angle X-ray Scattering.
AB  - In-situ scanning small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) experiments have been
      performed to probe the drying of a single suspended droplet of silica colloids.
      It has been demonstrated that the formation of a nanoparticle shell during drying
      can be confirmed just by measuring the temporal evolution of the spatial
      transmission profile across the drying droplet. The shrinkage of the droplet
      stops once the shell is formed. The temporal dependence of the shell thickness
      and droplet radius has been estimated by quantitative analysis of the
      functionality of the transmission profiles. It is revealed that the position of
      the correlation peak originating from interactions between silica nanoparticles
      evolves linearly during the initial stage of drying and exhibits sigmoidal growth
      behavior in later stages. The interaction between colloidal particles in
      different drying stages has been investigated. We provide experimental
      confirmation of the transition from repulsive interaction to a capillary-driven
      short-range attraction during shell formation. The present work demonstrates that
      in-situ scanning SAXS on a suspended droplet is an invaluable technique for
      monitoring the dynamic self-organization of colloids as it probes the drying of
      complex fluids without the interference of a substrate. 

PMID- 25839832
TI  - Integrated experimental investigation and mathematical modeling of brackish water
      desalination and wastewater treatment in microbial desalination cells.
AB  - Desalination of brackish water can provide freshwater for potable use or non
      potable applications such as agricultural irrigation. Brackish water desalination
      is especially attractive to microbial desalination cells (MDCs) because of its
      low salinity, but this has not been well studied before. Herein, three brackish
      waters prepared according to the compositions of actual brackish water in three
      locations in Israel were examined with domestic wastewater as an electron source
      in a bench-scale MDC. All three brackish waters could be effectively desalinated
      with simultaneous wastewater treatment. The MDC achieved the highest salt removal
      rate of 1.2 g L(-1) d(-1) with an initial salinity of 5.9 g L(-1) and a hydraulic
      retention time (HRT) of 0.8 d. The desalinated brackish water could meet the
      irrigation standard of both salinity (450 mg L(-1) TDS) and the concentrations of
      major ionic species, given a sufficient HRT. The MDC also accomplished nearly 70%
      removal of organic compounds in wastewater with Coulombic efficiency varied
      between 5 and 10%. A previously developed MDC model was improved for brackish
      water desalination, and could well predict salinity variation and the
      concentrations of individual ions. The model also simulated a staged operation
      mode with improved desalination performance. This integrated experiment and
      mathematical modeling approach provides an effective method to understand the key
      factors in brackish water desalination by MDCs towards further system
      development.

PMID- 25839831
TI  - SubspaceEM: A fast maximum-a-posteriori algorithm for cryo-EM single particle
      reconstruction.
AB  - Single particle reconstruction methods based on the maximum-likelihood principle
      and the expectation-maximization (E-M) algorithm are popular because of their
      ability to produce high resolution structures. However, these algorithms are
      computationally very expensive, requiring a network of computational servers. To
      overcome this computational bottleneck, we propose a new mathematical framework
      for accelerating maximum-likelihood reconstructions. The speedup is by orders of
      magnitude and the proposed algorithm produces similar quality reconstructions
      compared to the standard maximum-likelihood formulation. Our approach uses
      subspace approximations of the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) data and
      projection images, greatly reducing the number of image transformations and
      comparisons that are computed. Experiments using simulated and actual cryo-EM
      data show that speedup in overall execution time compared to traditional maximum
      likelihood reconstruction reaches factors of over 300. 

PMID- 25839833
TI  - The specific reactive surface area of granular zero-valent iron in metal
      contaminant removal: Column experiments and modelling.
AB  - A series of dynamic-flow kinetic experiments were conducted to assess the removal
      rates of aqueous Cu(2+) and Zn(2+) ions by zero-valent iron (ZVI), a promising
      material for inclusion in cold-climate remediation applications. The influence of
      experimental parameters on contaminant removal rates, including aqueous flow
      rate, operating temperature, and the concentrations of ZVI, salt and dissolved
      oxygen, was investigated. A mass transport model has been developed that accounts
      (i) aqueous-phase dispersion processes, (ii) film diffusion of contaminant ions
      to the reactive ZVI surface and (iii) the reactive removal mechanism itself.
      Regression to the experimental data indicated that when oxygen is present in the
      solution feed Cu(2+) and Zn(2+) removal processes were limited by film diffusion.
      In de-aerated solutions film diffusion still controls Cu(2+) removal but a first
      order surface reaction provides a better model for Zn(2+) kinetics. Using air as
      the equilibrium feed gas, the reactive proportion of the total surface area for
      contaminant removal was calculated to be 97% and 64% of the active spherically
      assumed geometric area associated with ZVI media for Cu(2+) and Zn(2+),
      respectively. Relative to a gas absorption area, determined in previous studies,
      the reactive proportion is less than 0.41% of the unreacted ZVI total surface
      area. These findings suggest that only part of the iron oxyhydroxide surface is
      reacting during ZVI based metal contaminant removal. 

PMID- 25839834
TI  - Life cycle assessment of urban wastewater systems: Quantifying the relative
      contribution of sewer systems.
AB  - This study aims to propose a holistic, life cycle assessment (LCA) of urban
      wastewater systems (UWS) based on a comprehensive inventory including detailed
      construction and operation of sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants
      (WWTPs). For the first time, the inventory of sewers infrastructure construction
      includes piping materials and aggregates, manholes, connections, civil works and
      road rehabilitation. The operation stage comprises energy consumption in pumping
      stations together with air emissions of methane and hydrogen sulphide, and water
      emissions from sewer leaks. Using a real case study, this LCA aims to quantify
      the contributions of sewer systems to the total environmental impacts of the UWS.
      The results show that the construction of sewer infrastructures has an
      environmental impact (on half of the 18 studied impact categories) larger than
      both the construction and operation of the WWTP. This study highlights the
      importance of including the construction and operation of sewer systems in the
      environmental assessment of centralised versus decentralised options for UWS. 

PMID- 25839835
TI  - Computational treatment of metalloproteins.
AB  - Metalloproteins present a considerable challenge for modeling, especially when
      the starting point is far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Examples include
      formidable problems such as metalloprotein folding and structure prediction upon
      metal addition, removal, or even just replacement; metalloenzyme design, where
      stabilization of a transition state of the catalyzed reaction in the specific
      binding pocket around the metal needs to be achieved; docking to metal-containing
      sites and design of metalloenzyme inhibitors. Even more conservative
      computations, such as elucidations of the mechanisms and energetics of the
      reaction catalyzed by natural metalloenzymes, are often nontrivial. The reason is
      the vast span of time and length scales over which these proteins operate, and
      thus the resultant difficulties in estimating their energies and free energies.
      It is required to perform extensive sampling, properly treat the electronic
      structure of the bound metal or metals, and seamlessly merge the required
      techniques to assess energies and entropies, or their changes, for the entire
      system. Additionally, the machinery needs to be computationally affordable.
      Although a great advancement has been made over the years, including some of the
      seminal works resulting in the 2013 Nobel Prize in chemistry, many aforementioned
      exciting applications remain far from reach. We review the methodology on the
      forefront of the field, including several promising methods developed in our lab
      that bring us closer to the desired modern goals. We further highlight their
      performance by a few examples of applications. 

PMID- 25839836
TI  - Vortex imaging: new information gain from tracking cardiac energy loss.

PMID- 25839837
TI  - Functional studies of transcription factors involved in plant defenses in the
      genomics era.
AB  - Plant transcription factors (TFs) play roles in diverse biological processes
      including defense responses to pathogens. Here, we provide an overview of recent
      studies of plant TFs with regard to defense responses. TFs play roles in plant
      innate immunity by regulating genes related to pathogen-associated molecular
      pattern-triggered immunity, effector-triggered immunity, hormone signaling
      pathways and phytoalexin synthesis. Currently, genome-wide phylogenetic and
      transcriptomic analyses are as important as functional analyses in the study of
      plant TFs. The integration of genomics information with the knowledge obtained
      from functional studies provides new insights into the regulation of plant
      defense mechanisms as well as engineering crops with improved resistance to
      invading pathogens. 

PMID- 25839838
TI  - The V Sign: Tenting of the Globe From a Vascular Malformation.

PMID- 25839839
TI  - Thin-film freeze-drying for lyophilization of vaccines.

PMID- 25839840
TI  - Editorial.

PMID- 25839841
TI  - Microcirculation in the foot is augmented by neuromuscular stimulation via the
      common peroneal nerve in different lower limb postures: a potential treatment for
      leg ulcers.
AB  - AIM: Aim of the study was to examine the effects of the gekoTM device (a portable
      electical nerve stimulator) on microcirculatory flow on the dorsum of the foot,
      and whether this is influenced by lower limb postures and application of a
      plaster cast. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, healthy cohort, open label,
      physiological response study. In 10 healthy volunteers, aged 19 to 24 years,
      laser Doppler fluxmetry measurements were made on the dorsum of the foot in four
      postures: standing (weight bearing and non-weight bearing) and supine lying (with
      the lower limb horizontal and then elevated). Measurements of flux were made both
      at rest and during stimulation with the gekoTM device applied over the common
      peroneal nerve, at 1 Hz for 5 minutes in each posture. Repeat measurement were
      made after the application of a below knee plaster cast. Measures of flux were
      compared to basal levels assumed to be in supine with limb horizontal, with no
      cast and an inactive gekoTM device. RESULTS: The gekoTM device was effective in
      increasing microcirculation on the dorsum of the foot in all four postures (mean
      difference =141%, 95% CI 70%-212%, P=0.001). This effect was more pronounced than
      that of using a plaster alone (Mean increase in flux of 73%, 95% CI 22%-125%,
      P=0.01) or variances due to the hydrostatic effects of different postures (mean
      difference 17-27.6%, P>0.05). There was a 2 to 3 fold increase in flux when
      stimulation was delivered in combination with the plaster cast. CONCLUSION:
      Stimulation using the gekoTM device augments microcirculation in the foot. The
      response is greater in lying and non-weight bearing than weight bearing standing
      but the most striking effect is when stimulation is combined with a plaster cast.
      The gekoTM offers a potential means of promoting conditions favourable for wound
      healing, where treatment using compression may be contraindicated, such as
      arterial/mixed aetiology ulcers.

PMID- 25839842
TI  - New genetic variants of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 detected in Cuba during 2011-2013.
AB  - Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus has evolved continually since its emergence in 2009.
      For influenza virus strains, genetic changes occurring in HA1 domain of the
      hemagglutinin cause the emergence of new variants. The aim of our study is to
      establish genetic associations between 35 A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses circulating in
      Cuba in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons, and A/California/07/2009 strain
      recommended by WHO as the H1N1 component of the influenza vaccine. The
      phylogenetic analysis revealed the circulation of clades 3, 6A, 6B, 6C and 7.
      Mutations were detected in the antigenic site or in the receptor-binding domains
      of HA1 segment, including S174P, S179N, K180Q, S202T, S220T and R222K.
      Substitutions S174P, S179N, K180Q and R222K were detected in Cuban strains for
      the first time.

PMID- 25839866
TI  - International normalized ratio monitoring of vitamin K antagonist therapy:
      comparative performance of point-of-care and laboratory-derived testing.
AB  - The monitoring of warfarin therapy using the international normalized ratio (INR)
      has now moved outside the laboratory's control by use of point-of-care (POC)
      devices. Although this provides patients with the convenience of immediate
      results and clinical assessment, POC-INRs are often performed by nonlaboratory
      staff with little experience in quality control. The Royal College of
      Pathologists of Australasia Quality Assurance Program (RCPAQAP) Haematology has
      devised a POC-INR external quality assessment (EQA) program that is suitable for
      both laboratory and nonlaboratory operators (e.g., nurses) to perform INR testing
      with good accuracy and precision. A comparison of the performance of the POC
      versus the laboratory-derived INR testing over the past 8 years has shown that
      the variation in test results (expressed as coefficient of variation; CV) for
      laboratory INRs increases with more prolonged INR values, whereas CVs for the POC
      INR testing were generally lower, with a reduced dependency on INR values. In our
      program, the CoaguChek XS (Roche, Basel, Switzerland) showed the best performance
      among the POC devices. A comparative assessment with other EQA providers showed
      agreement and disparity with our data in terms of comparative CVs obtained
      between the laboratory and POC-INRs. The growth of the RCPAQAP POC-INR program
      from 29 to 360 in the past 12 years highlights the importance of providing
      suitable EQA for POC-INR staff who are unfamiliar with laboratory practice. This
      helps maintaining consistent results, which have important implications for the
      therapeutic management of patients on vitamin K antagonist therapy. 

PMID- 25839867
TI  - Quality and safety issues of direct oral anticoagulants in the emergency
      department.
AB  - The direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are increasingly used in patients with
      atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism. The decision making of clinicians
      and especially emergency physicians for the appropriate management of patients
      taking DOACs entails a thorough understanding of pharmacologic profile, practical
      guidance on their usage, and management of bleeding and/or thrombotic events. The
      available evidence suggests that the bleeding complications observed in patients
      taking DOACs are less frequent and potentially less severe than those in patients
      taking vitamin K antagonists or heparins. This should be regarded as an advantage
      for emergency physicians, since it would decrease the admission rate of
      anticoagulated patients and probably require a less aggressive treatment in the
      emergency department (ED). The greatest challenge of DOACs is so far represented
      by the lack of clinically usable antidotes, since these (i.e., idarucizumab,
      andexanet alfa, and aripazine) are in different phases of development. A second
      major concern is the current lack of consensus about laboratory monitoring for
      these drugs. Although there is widespread perception that patients on DOACs do
      not require dose adjustment based on laboratory testing, in some selected
      clinical situations, laboratory testing may be taken into consideration in the
      ED. The type of laboratory diagnostics needed for emergency management should
      hence include tests that are promptly available, affordable to all stat
      laboratories, and cost effective. The aim of this article is to provide a
      personal overview on quality and safety issues of DOACs with an ED perspective. 

PMID- 25839868
TI  - Biological and analytical variations of 16 parameters related to coagulation
      screening tests and the activity of coagulation factors.
AB  - To accurately estimate longitudinal changes in individuals, it is important to
      take into consideration the biological variability of the measurement. The few
      studies available on the biological variations of coagulation parameters are
      mostly outdated. We confirmed the published results using modern, fully automated
      methods. Furthermore, we added data for additional coagulation parameters. At
      8:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 4:00 pm on days 1, 3, and 5, venous blood was collected
      from 31 healthy volunteers. A total of 16 parameters related to coagulation
      screening tests as well as the activity of coagulation factors were analyzed;
      these included prothrombin time, fibrinogen (Fbg), activated partial
      thromboplastin time, thrombin time, international normalized ratio, prothrombin
      time activity, activated partial thromboplastin time ratio, fibrin(-ogen)
      degradation products, as well as the activity of factor II, factor V, factor VII,
      factor VIII, factor IX, and factor X. All intraindividual coefficients of
      variation (CVI) values for the parameters of the screening tests (except Fbg)
      were less than 5%. Conversely, the CVI values for the activity of coagulation
      factors were all greater than 5%. In addition, we calculated the reference change
      value to determine whether a significant difference exists between two test
      results from the same individual. 

PMID- 25839869
TI  - Rapid evaluation of fibrinogen levels using the CG02N whole blood coagulation
      analyzer.
AB  - Rapid evaluation of fibrinogen (Fbg) levels is essential for maintaining
      homeostasis in patients with massive bleeding during severe trauma and major
      surgery. This study evaluated the accuracy of fibrinogen levels measured by the
      CG02N whole blood coagulation analyzer (A&T Corporation, Kanagawa, Japan) using
      heparinized blood drawn for blood gas analysis (whole blood-Fbg). A total of 100
      matched pairs of heparinized blood samples and citrated blood samples were
      simultaneously collected from patients in the intensive care unit. Whole blood
      Fbg results were compared with those of citrated plasma (standard-Fbg). The whole
      blood coagulation analyzer measured fibrinogen levels within 2 minutes. Strong
      correlations between standard-Fbg and whole blood-Fbg were observed (rho = 0.91,
      p < 0.001). Error grid analysis showed that 88% of the values were clinically
      acceptable, and 12% were in a range with possible effects on clinical decision
      making; none were in a clinically dangerous range without appropriate treatment.
      Using a fibrinogen cutoff value of 1.5 g/L for standard-Fbg, the area under the
      receiver operating characteristic curve of whole blood-Fbg was 0.980 (95%
      confidence interval 0.951-1.000, p < 0.001). The whole blood coagulation analyzer
      can rapidly measure fibrinogen levels in heparinized blood and could be useful in
      critical care settings where excessive bleeding is a concern. 

PMID- 25839870
TI  - International survey on D-dimer test reporting: a call for standardization.
AB  - D-dimer is the biochemical gold standard for diagnosing a variety of thrombotic
      disorders, but result reporting is heterogeneous in clinical laboratories. A
      specific five-item questionnaire was developed to gain a clear picture of the
      current standardization of D-dimer test results. The questionnaire was opened
      online (December 24, 2014-February 10, 2015) on the platform "Google Drive
      (Google Inc., Mountain View; CA)," and widely disseminated worldwide by
      newsletters and alerts. A total of 409 responses were obtained during the period
      of data capture, the largest of which were from Italy (136; 33%), Australia (55;
      22%), Croatia (29; 7%), Serbia (26; 6%), and the United States (21; 5%). Most
      respondents belonged to laboratories in general hospitals (208; 51%), followed by
      laboratories in university hospitals (104; 26%), and the private sector (94;
      23%). The majority of respondents (i.e., 246; 60%) indicated the use of
      fibrinogen equivalent unit for expressing D-dimer results, with significant
      heterogeneities across countries and health care settings. The highest prevalence
      of laboratories indicated they were using "ng/mL" (139; 34%), followed by "mg/L"
      (136; 33%), and "ug/L" (73; 18%), with significant heterogeneity across countries
      but not among different health care settings. Expectedly, the vast majority of
      laboratories (379; 93%) declared to be using a fixed cutoff rather than an age
      adjusted threshold, with no significant heterogeneity across countries and health
      care settings. The results of this survey attest that at least 28 different
      combinations of measurement units are currently used to report D-dimer results
      worldwide, and this evidence underscores the urgent need for more effective
      international joined efforts aimed to promote a worldwide standardization of D
      dimer results reporting. 

PMID- 25839871
TI  - The influence of herbal medicine on platelet function and coagulation: a
      narrative review.
AB  - Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Platelet
      activation and aggregation play a central role in hemostasis and thrombosis.
      Herbal medicines have been traditionally used in the management of CVD and can
      play a role in modifying CVD progression, particularly in platelet function, and
      have the potential of altering platelet function tests, as well as some
      coagulation parameters. Herbal medicines, such as feverfew, garlic, ginger,
      ginseng, motherwort, St John's wort, and willow bark, were found to reduce
      platelet aggregation. In vitro studies show promise in the reduction of platelet
      aggregation for Andrographis, feverfew, garlic, ginger, Ginkgo, ginseng,
      hawthorn, horse chestnut, and turmeric. In addition, cranberry, danshen, dong
      quai, Ginkgo, ginseng, green tea, and St John's wort were found to have potential
      interactions with warfarin. Furthermore, St John's wort interacted with
      clopidogrel and danshen with aspirin. Therefore, repeat testing of platelet
      function and coagulation studies, particularly for patients on warfarin therapy,
      may be required after exclusion of herbal medicines that could have possibly
      affected initial test results. 

PMID- 25839872
TI  - Complex caring.

PMID- 25839873
TI  - Recognising metastatic spinal cord compression.
AB  - Metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) is a potentially life changing
      oncological emergency. Neurological function and quality of life can be preserved
      if patients receive an early diagnosis and rapid access to acute interventions to
      prevent or reduce nerve damage. Symptoms include developing spinal pain, numbness
      or weakness in arms or legs, or unexplained changes in bladder and bowel
      function. Community nurses are well placed to pick up on the 'red flag' symptoms
      of MSCC and ensure patients access prompt, timely investigations to minimise
      damage. 

PMID- 25839874
TI  - Safe and effective catheterisation for patients in the community.
AB  - Approximately 450 000 people use long-term urinary catheters in the UK. Permanent
      catheters are used by 3% of the community population and occupy an estimated 4%
      of a district nurse's caseload in the UK. Catheterisation is defined as 'drainage
      or aspiration of the bladder or urinary reservoir' and can be intermittent or
      indwelling. Long-term indwelling catheterisation can be transurethral or
      suprapubic via the anterior abdominal wall. This article will discuss the safe
      and effective use of different forms of catheterisation for patients in the
      community setting. 

PMID- 25839875
TI  - Sample evaluation of caseload complexity in a community health-care NHS trust.
AB  - People diagnosed with a multiple long-term conditions and those with profound and
      multiple learning disabilities are the most intensive users of health and social
      care. In addition, around 30% of patients with long-term physical conditions also
      have a mental health problem. The close relationship between mental and physical
      health is reflected in the high frequency with which illnesses of both kinds
      overlap in an age of multi-morbidity. This study demonstrates that those with
      comorbid mental health problems show poorer clinical outcomes, lower quality of
      life and reduced ability to manage physical symptoms effectively. This also
      affects their capacity to engage in treatment and make decisions, which affects
      not only their care and treatment but ultimately their quality of life. The NHS
      Call to Action demanded improvement in the service provided to support the needs
      of people with long-term conditions. The scale of the impact of comorbid mental
      health problems on costs and outcomes suggests that developing services that
      respond more effectively to these needs should be a priority. 

PMID- 25839876
TI  - Patient Online: putting patients in the driving seat of their care.

PMID- 25839877
TI  - Enhancing undergraduate community placements: a critical review of current
      literature.
AB  - In the face of the UK-wide policy shift to increased home care, inspiring and
      enabling the next generation of community nurses is more urgent than ever. The
      quality of the pre-registration practice learning experience is highly
      influential on career choices at the point of qualification. Given that 50% of
      learning by pre-registration students takes place in practice, mentors have a
      crucial role to play in preparing the next generation of nurses to work in the
      community. This article discusses the findings of a systematic and critical
      literature review of pre-registration placements that was funded by the Queen's
      Nursing Institute Scotland. The review found that students' experiences of
      learning in community settings are variable, and perceptions of students and
      mentors are misaligned in terms of what a quality placement should look like.
      Although there is no clear definition of what constitutes a community placement
      and there is some underuse of learning environments in areas such as general
      practice nursing, there are also a number of examples of new and imaginative
      placements. While these innovations provide 'whole experience' placements, they
      are currently lacking robust evaluation, despite their potential usefulness on a
      larger scale. Mentors have the opportunity to provide students with a range of
      learning opportunities that increase preparedness for working in the community,
      allowing final year students in particular greater influence over their learning
      experience. Students undertaking community practice learning, where they have a
      managed level of autonomy, are more likely to feel confident to take on community
      nursing roles. 

PMID- 25839878
TI  - Mental and physical long-term conditions in the UK: spanning the boundaries.
AB  - The dual combination of a physical long-term condition coupled with mental health
      illness can increase the complexities of effective patient care. Greater
      integration of services spanning the health and social care spectrum have the
      potential to reduce fragmentation, enhance communications and ultimately support
      patient care. This short article discusses the reasons for this being a
      worthwhile philosophy and the case for change. 

PMID- 25839879
TI  - Understanding the Code: upholding dignity.
AB  - The Nursing and Midwifery Council, the statutory professional regulator for
      registered district nurses, has introduced a revised code of standards that came
      into effect on 31 March 2015. The Code makes clear that while district nurses can
      interpret the values and principles for use in community settings, the standards
      are not negotiable or discretionary. They must be applied, otherwise the district
      nurse's fitness to practice will be called into question. In the second of a
      series of articles analysing the legal implications of the Code on district nurse
      practice, the author considers the first standard, which requires district nurses
      to treat people as individuals and to uphold their dignity. 

PMID- 25839880
TI  - Recognising hypothyroidism in the community: what can nurses and patients do?
AB  - Aysha Mendes discusses underactive thyroid and dispels commonly held myths that
      it is not serious and cannot be prevented-health professionals can play a vital
      role in the diagnosis, support and treatment of this misunderstood condition. 

PMID- 25839881
TI  - Using complementary therapies in palliative care.

PMID- 25839882
TI  - Dying at the right time.

PMID- 25839883
TI  - Haplotype distribution in the class I sirtuin genes and their associations with
      ultrasound carcass traits in Qinchuan cattle (Bos taurus).
AB  - Class I sirtuin genes including SIRT1, SIRT2 and SIRT3, are members of the
      nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent family of histone deacetylases,
      and play essential roles in senescence, metabolism, and apoptosis. This study was
      conducted to detect potential polymorphisms of the bovine class I sirtuin genes
      and explore their relationships with ultrasound carcass traits in Qinchuan
      cattle. Four non-coding mutations in the 3'UTR (SIRT1: g.25751A > C, SIRT1:
      g.25846A > G, SIRT2: g.19676G > A and SIRT3: g. 25702C > T) and three mutations
      in exons (SIRT2: g.4062C > T; SIRT2: g.4406C > T and SIRT3: g.25557A > G) were
      identified in 468 individuals of Qinchuan cattle. Chi-square tests showed that
      g.25751A > C, g.19676G > A, and g.25702C > T were in Hardy-Weinberg
      disequilibrium (chi(2) < chi0.05(2)). The statistical analyses indicated that six
      SNPs were significantly associated with the ultrasound carcass traits (P < 0.05)
      except g.4062C > T (SIRT2) (P > 0.05). These results indicate that the variations
      in the class I sirtuin genes and their corresponding genotypes may be considered
      as molecular markers for economic traits in cattle breeding.

PMID- 25839884
TI  - Physicochemical properties, fatty acid profile and sensory characteristics of
      sheep and goat meat sausages manufactured with different pork fat levels.
AB  - The effect of three pork backfat levels (0% vs. 10% vs. 30%) on chemical
      composition, fatty acid profile and sensory properties on sheep and goat meat
      sausages was studied. All physicochemical parameters were affected by the
      addition of pork backfat in both types of sausages. Sausages manufactured with
      30% of pork backfat showed the lowest moisture and protein contents and the
      highest total fat content. The lower a(w) values in sausages manufactured with
      higher fat content while in pH happened the reverse situation. The addition of
      pork backfat modified the total fatty acid profile, prompting a significant drop
      in the relative percentages of C14:0, C16:0, C17:0, C17:1, C18:0 and TVA (trans
      vaccenic acid), together with a marked increase in oleic and linoleic acids.
      Finally, in goat sausages, the fat content significantly affected sensory
      parameters: taste, texture and overall acceptability (P<0.05). As expected, all
      physicochemical parameters were affected by the addition of pork backfat in both
      types of sausages.

PMID- 25839885
TI  - Post-mortem oxidative stability of three yak (Bos grunniens) muscles as
      influenced by animal age.
AB  - The influence of animal age and muscle source on the oxidative stability of yak
      steaks was examined. Longissimus thoracis (LT) muscles from yaks of different age
      groups (0.5, 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 years), and three muscle sources of LT, Psoas
      major (PM), and Biceps femoris (BF) from yaks of 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5 years, were
      evaluated for metmyoglobin content, activity of antioxidant enzymes, and
      antioxidant capacity. Oxidative stability was influenced (P<0.05) by muscle
      source and animal age. LT steaks from 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5 year old yaks exhibited
      lower (P<0.05) metmyoglobin content than their PM and BF counterparts.
      Furthermore, LT steaks from 3.5 year old yaks demonstrated lower (P<0.05)
      metmyoglobin content and greater (P<0.05) activities of antioxidant enzymes than
      LT steaks from other age groups. These results indicated the necessity to develop
      muscle- and age-specific processing strategies to improve color and oxidative
      stability of yak meat.

PMID- 25839887
TI  - Acantholysis in Striate Keratoderma as a Clue to the Diagnosis of a Genetic
      Abnormality.

PMID- 25839886
TI  - Panniculitis With Necrotizing Granulomata in a Patient on BRAF Inhibitor
      (Dabrafenib) Therapy for Metastatic Melanoma.
AB  - There have been major developments in targeted therapeutics with the clinical
      development of selective BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi) for patients with metastatic
      BRAF V600E mutant melanoma. Objective response rate of almost 50% has been
      witnessed in BRAFi clinical trials. Frequent side effects range from
      squamoproliferative lesions, including hyperplasia, keratoacanthomas, and
      squamous cell carcinomas to second primary melanomas. We describe a 50-year-old
      Hispanic woman with BRAF V600E mutant metastatic melanoma who was treated with
      surgery, radiation therapy, interleukin-2, and was enrolled on a BRAFi
      (dabrafenib) trial. Two months after initiation, she developed multiple
      erythematous, indurated, tender subcutaneous nodules bilaterally on the anterior
      thighs, posterior arms, and left dorsal forearm without overlying epidermal
      change. Punch biopsy revealed panniculitis with necrotizing granulomata.
      Infectious and other causes for panniculitis were excluded. We believe the
      histology likely represents a reaction to BRAFi therapy based on the temporal
      relationship of its onset to initiation of BRAFi therapy and previously reported
      cases of neutrophilic panniculitis associated with BRAFi therapy. Panniculitis
      has been emerging as an important unusual side effect of BRAFi therapy. Our case
      illustrates a unique presentation of BRAFi-associated panniculitis demonstrating
      necrotizing granulomata. 

PMID- 25839888
TI  - Clinicopathologic spectrum of cutaneous tuberculosis: a retrospective analysis of
      165 Indians.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although cutaneous tuberculosis (CTB) is well described, it is wise
      to periodically revisit the prevailing clinical and epidemiological features, of
      this somewhat uncommon entity in developed nations that is also usually neglected
      in national tuberculosis control programs in countries where tuberculosis is a
      major health problem, to maintain heightened awareness as the HIV pandemic runs
      its course. METHODS: Medical records of 165 cases of CTB, diagnosed from 2007 to
      2010, were studied. The diagnosis in each was made on the basis of well-conceived
      and described criteria. All patients had earlier been immunized with Bacillus
      Calmette-Guerin soon after birth. Patients were evaluated by routine hematology,
      Mantoux test, screening for HIV status in addition to fine-needle aspiration
      cytology, and/or histopathology of the lesion. RESULTS: Of the 165 cases (94
      males and 71 females, male:female ratio of 1.32:1; age range, 1-64), 85 were
      lupus vulgaris, 11 tuberculosis verrucosa cutis (paucibacillary), and 39
      scrofuloderma (multibacillary). The remaining 17 were tuberculids comprising 24
      lichen scrofulosorum, 3 papulonecrotic tuberculid, 2 erythema induratum, and 1
      erythema nodosum, afflicting children and young adults (age range, 0-10; 21-30).
      Fine-needle aspiration cytology was diagnostic in 39 cases, histopathology in
      117, and their combination in 9. Clinicopathologic correlation and response to
      antituberculosis treatment were additional diagnostic adjuncts. CONCLUSIONS: CTB
      has a varied clinical and morphological spectrum. Cytology and histopathology
      play a key role in its diagnosis. An additional adjunct is the clinical response
      to antituberculosis treatment.

PMID- 25839889
TI  - Targeting the adnexal epithelium: an unusual case of syringometaplasia in a
      patient on vemurafenib.
AB  - Cutaneous adverse events (cAEs) are reported in 90% of all patients on selective
      BRAF inhibitors and contribute significantly to patient morbidity. Two weeks
      after initiating vemurafenib for metastatic melanoma, our patient developed a
      pruritic eruption with numerous, 1-2 mm pink hyperkeratotic follicular papules
      over his trunk and upper extremities. A biopsy demonstrated squamous metaplasia
      of the eccrine ducts with irregular hyperplasia of hair follicles sparing the
      interfollicular epidermis. Diffuse adnexal metaplasia is a novel and unusual
      cutaneous response to vemurafenib. The patient was started on acitretin 10 mg
      daily with improvement of the eruption after 4 weeks. We report an unusual cAE of
      vemurafenib selectively targeting the adnexal epithelium with relative sparing of
      the interfollicular epidermis. Interval improvement was noted after 4 weeks of
      acitretin, which is an effective therapeutic option for patients with cAEs
      involving squamous hyperplasia secondary to vemurafenib. Our case illustrates the
      particular sensitivity of the adnexal epithelium for vemurafenib-induced
      dysfunction in proliferation and differentiation, providing the basis for common
      cAEs observed on this medication.

PMID- 25839890
TI  - Idiopathic Hypereosinophilic Syndrome With Cutaneous Manifestations and Flame
      Figures: A Spectrum of Eosinophilic Dermatoses Whose Features Overlap With Wells'
      Syndrome.
AB  - IMPORTANCE: Wells syndrome (WS) (eosinophilic cellulitis) is an uncommon
      eosinophilic dermatitis that has been rarely described in association with, but
      distinct from, hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES). OBSERVATIONS: We report a case
      of an eosinophilic dermatosis with flame figures in association with idiopathic
      HES, manifested by inflammatory myocarditis, asthma, and peripheral blood
      eosinophilia. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The diagnoses of WS and HES, rather than
      being distinct findings, may represent 2 entities on a spectrum of
      hypereosinophilic diseases. The diagnosis of WS should be made with caution and
      should prompt a thorough investigation that includes a work-up for a systemic
      eosinophilic disorder.

PMID- 25839891
TI  - Nevus Lipomatosus Cutaneous Superficialis With Perifollicular Fibromas.
AB  - Nevus lipomatosus cutaneous superficialis (NLCS) is a rare cutaneous hamartoma
      characterized by groups of mature fat cells in the dermis. The authors report a
      case of a dark-skinnned, 6-year-old, Brazilian girl with 1 lesion in the right
      upper chest, extending to the neck, since 1 year of age. The dermatological
      examination consisted of skin-colored and yellowish follicular papules, isolated
      and grouped into a papillomatous plaque. The biopsy revealed ectopic mature
      adipose tissue in the dermis, compatible with NLCS, perifollicular well
      circumscribed fibroblast and collagen proliferation, and decreased elastic fibers
      in the papillary and upper reticular dermis. The finding of perifollicular
      fibrosis in NLCS is not common, having been first described in 2003. The
      perifollicular fibrosis is characteristic of other rare hamartoma, the
      perifollicular fibroma, but is also present in fibrofolliculomas or
      trichodiscomas, angiofibromas, and fibrotic papules on the face of tuberous
      sclerosis and postinflammatory fibrosis. This case is very similar to the first
      described case of NLCS with perifollicular fibrosis, and the authors believe that
      this is the second case of this entity, but they propose to name it NCLS with
      perifollicular fibromas, which better describes the nature of this lesion. 

PMID- 25839892
TI  - Extranodal Marginal Zone Lymphoma-like Presentations of Angioimmunoblastic T-Cell
      Lymphoma: A T-Cell Lymphoma Masquerading as a B-Cell Lymphoproliferative
      Disorder.
AB  - Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) is the second most common type of
      peripheral T-cell lymphoma worldwide, and in some countries, it is the most
      common form. Clinically, AITL usually presents with systemic symptoms, diffuse
      lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, and common laboratory abnormalities such as
      hypergammaglobulinemia. Rashes are seen in 50%-80% of patients. AITL derives from
      follicular T-helper cells (TFH), that express germinal center markers and produce
      hyperactivation of B-cells seen in AITL. Although the histological features of
      AITL in the skin could be similar to pathological findings present in lymph node
      biopsies, herein, we present 2 cases of AITL with histological and
      immunophenotypic features that were somewhat suggestive of extranodal marginal
      zone lymphoma. Caution is urged to exclude the possibility of a systemic T-cell
      lymphoma such as AITL in cutaneous and lymph node B-cell proliferations. 

PMID- 25839893
TI  - "Low-Fat" Pseudoangiomatous Spindle Cell Lipoma: A Rare Variant With Loss of
      13q14 Region.
AB  - Spindle cell and pleomorphic lipoma constitute a spectrum of lipomatous lesions
      with characteristic clinical, morphologic, immunohistochemical, and molecular
      features. Multiple variants have been previously described including vascular,
      fibrous, plexiform, and those with significantly less fat termed "low-fat" and
      "fat-free" by Folpe. Cytogenetically, spindle cell lipomas frequently display
      monoallelic loss of 13q14 region, an abnormality also found in cellular
      angiofibroma and mammary-type myofibroblastoma. Pseudoangiomatous spindle cell
      lipoma, originally described by Fletcher et al in 1994, is a rare variant within
      the spindle cell/pleomorphic lipoma spectrum, with less than 20 published cases.
      It consists of an admixture of spindle cells, "ropey" collagen, variable amounts
      of mature fat, and irregular, branching slit-like vascular spaces. The authors
      present a case of a 1-cm subcutaneous lesion excised from the neck of a 70-year
      old man with classic histologic and immunohistochemical features of "low-fat"
      pseudoangiomatous spindle cell lipoma. Fluorescence in situ hybridization
      demonstrated a loss of 13q14 region, a characteristic presumed cytogenetic
      finding of spindle cell lipoma, which has been previously unconfirmed in this
      variant. 

PMID- 25839894
TI  - Forced swim test: What about females?
AB  - In preclinical studies screening for novel antidepressants, male and female
      animals should be used. However, in a widely used antidepressant test, the forced
      swim test (FST), sex differences between males and females are not consistent.
      These discrepancies may discourage the inclusion of females in FST studies. In
      order to overcome this problem and provide a detailed insight regarding the use
      of female animals in the FST, we designed the following experiment and we
      performed a thorough analysis of the relevant literature. Male and female Wistar
      adult rats were subjected to the FST and sertraline was used as an antidepressant
      in two doses (10 mg/kg and 40 mg/kg, 3 injections in 24 h). Rodents were
      subjected in the two FST sessions during all possible combinations of the estrous
      cycle stages. We found that females exhibited higher levels of immobility than
      males and this sex difference was alleviated following antidepressant treatment.
      Sertraline at both doses enhanced swimming in both sexes, but females appeared
      more responsive to lower sertraline doses regarding immobility levels.
      Surprisingly, the high sertraline dose enhanced climbing particularly in
      proestrous and diestrous. Marked sex differences were also observed in the
      frequency of head swinging, with females exhibiting lower counts than males.
      Conclusively, when screening for new antidepressants, it is recommended to use
      standard FST procedures and if possible to include females in all phases of the
      cycle. Using only one dose of an investigational drug in females in certain
      phases of the cycle could result to false negative results. 

PMID- 25839895
TI  - Agonist and antagonist effects of cytisine in vivo.
AB  - Varenicline, the most successful smoking cessation aid, is a selective partial
      agonists at alpha4beta2* nicotinic receptors. Its efficacy is likely to be shared
      by other drugs with similar receptor action, including cytisine. The present
      study aimed to characterize behavioral effects of cytisine compared with nicotine
      using locomotor activity tests, intracranial self-stimulation of ventral
      tegmental area (discrete-trial threshold current intensity titration procedure),
      drug discrimination (0.6 mg/kg nicotine from vehicle), physical dependence
      (osmotic minipumps delivering 6 mg/kg/day of nicotine) and intravenous nicotine
      self-administration (0.01 mg/kg per infusion) in adult Wistar rats. Cytisine (1-3
      mg/kg) partially substituted for nicotine and at the highest dose tended to
      antagonize nicotine's discriminative stimulus effects. Nicotine (0.05-0.4 mg/kg),
      but not cytisine (0.3-3 mg/kg), lowered ICSS thresholds and cytisine dose
      dependently reversed effects of nicotine. Nicotine (0.15-0.6 mg/kg), but not
      cytisine (0.3-3 mg/kg), stimulated locomotor activity and cytisine (3 mg/kg)
      fully reversed these effects of nicotine. Acute pretreatment with nicotine (0.15
      0.6 mg/kg), but not cytisine (0.3-3 mg/kg), reinstated extinguished nicotine self
      administration. Continuous infusion of nicotine induced physical dependence, as
      indicated by reduced rates of food-reinforced responding induced by a challenge
      dose of mecamylamine. At the highest tested dose (3 mg/kg), cytisine tended to
      reduce response rates irrespective of whether the rats were continuously exposed
      to nicotine or saline. Cytisine behaves like a weak partial agonist, mimicking
      effects of nicotine to a limited degree. Although cytisine reversed several
      effects of nicotine, it seemed to have a reduced potential to produce withdrawal
      signs in nicotine-dependent subjects.

PMID- 25839896
TI  - Investigating ion channel conformational changes using voltage clamp fluorometry.
AB  - Ion channels are membrane proteins whose functions are governed by conformational
      changes. The widespread distribution of ion channels, coupled with their
      involvement in most physiological and pathological processes and their importance
      as therapeutic targets, renders the elucidation of these conformational
      mechanisms highly compelling from a drug discovery perspective. Thanks to recent
      advances in structural biology techniques, we now have high-resolution static
      molecular structures for members of the major ion channel families. However,
      major questions remain to be resolved about the conformational states that ion
      channels adopt during activation, drug modulation and desensitization. Patch
      clamp electrophysiology has long been used to define ion channel conformational
      states based on functional criteria. It achieves this by monitoring
      conformational changes at the channel gate and cannot detect conformational
      changes occurring in regions distant from the gate. Voltage clamp fluorometry
      involves labelling cysteines introduced into domains of interest with
      environmentally sensitive fluorophores and inferring structural rearrangements
      from voltage or ligand-induced fluorescence changes. Ion channel currents are
      monitored simultaneously to verify the conformational status. By defining real
      time conformational changes in domains distant from the gate, this technique
      provides unexpected new insights into ion channel structure and function. This
      review aims to summarise the methodology and highlight recent innovative
      applications of this powerful technique. This article is part of the Special
      Issue entitled 'Fluorescent Tools in Neuropharmacology'. 

PMID- 25839897
TI  - Role of interleukin-1 receptor signaling in the behavioral effects of ethanol and
      benzodiazepines.
AB  - Gene expression studies identified the interleukin-1 receptor type I (IL-1R1) as
      part of a pathway associated with a genetic predisposition to high alcohol
      consumption, and lack of the endogenous IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra)
      strongly reduced ethanol intake in mice. Here, we compared ethanol-mediated
      behaviors in mice lacking Il1rn or Il1r1. Deletion of Il1rn (the gene encoding IL
      1ra) increases sensitivity to the sedative/hypnotic effects of ethanol and
      flurazepam and reduces severity of acute ethanol withdrawal. Conversely, deletion
      of Il1r1 (the gene encoding the IL-1 receptor type I, IL-1R1) reduces sensitivity
      to the sedative effects of ethanol and flurazepam and increases the severity of
      acute ethanol withdrawal. The sedative effects of ketamine and pentobarbital were
      not altered in the knockout (KO) strains. Ethanol intake and preference were not
      changed in mice lacking Il1r1 in three different tests of ethanol consumption.
      Recovery from ethanol-induced motor incoordination was only altered in female
      mice lacking Il1r1. Mice lacking Il1rn (but not Il1r1) showed increased ethanol
      clearance and decreased ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion. The increased
      ethanol- and flurazepam-induced sedation in Il1rn KO mice was decreased by
      administration of IL-1ra (Kineret), and pre-treatment with Kineret also restored
      the severity of acute ethanol withdrawal. Ethanol-induced sedation and withdrawal
      severity were changed in opposite directions in the null mutants, indicating that
      these responses are likely regulated by IL-1R1 signaling, whereas ethanol intake
      and preference do not appear to be solely regulated by this pathway.

PMID- 25839898
TI  - Long-term treatment with L-DOPA or pramipexole affects adult neurogenesis and
      corresponding non-motor behavior in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease.
AB  - Non-motor symptoms such as hyposmia and depression are often observed in
      Parkinson's disease (PD) and can precede the onset of motor symptoms for years.
      The underlying pathological alterations in the brain are not fully understood so
      far. Dysregulation of adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus
      and the olfactory bulb has been recently suggested to be implicated in non-motor
      symptoms of PD. However, there is so far no direct evidence to support the
      relationship of non-motor symptoms and the modulation of adult neurogenesis
      following dopamine depletion and/or dopamine replacement. In this study, we
      investigated the long-term effects of l-DOPA and pramipexole, a dopamine agonist,
      in a mouse model of bilateral intranigral 6-OHDA lesion, in order to assess the
      impact of adult neurogenesis on non-motor behavior. We found that l-DOPA and
      pramipexole can normalize decreased neurogenesis in the hippocampal dentate gyrus
      and the periglomerular layer of the olfactory bulb caused by a 6-OHDA lesion.
      Interestingly, pramipexole showed an antidepressant and anxiolytic effect in the
      forced swim test and social interaction test. However, there was no significant
      change in learning and memory function after dopamine depletion and dopamine
      replacement, respectively.

PMID- 25839899
TI  - The AMPA receptor antagonist NBQX exerts anti-seizure but not antiepileptogenic
      effects in the intrahippocampal kainate mouse model of mesial temporal lobe
      epilepsy.
AB  - The AMPA receptor subtype of glutamate receptors, which mediates fast synaptic
      excitation, is of primary importance in initiating epileptiform discharges, so
      that AMPA receptor antagonists exert anti-seizure activity in diverse animal
      models of partial and generalized seizures. Recently, the first AMPA receptor
      antagonist, perampanel, was approved for use as adjunctive therapy for the
      treatment of resistant partial seizures in patients. Interestingly, the
      competitive AMPA receptor antagonist NBQX has recently been reported to prevent
      development of spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS) in a neonatal seizure model
      in rats, indicating the AMPA antagonists may exert also antiepileptogenic
      effects. This prompted us to evaluate competitive (NBQX) and noncompetitive
      (perampanel) AMPA receptor antagonists in an adult mouse model of mesial temporal
      lobe epilepsy. In this model, SRS develop after status epilepticus (SE) induced
      by intrahippocampal injection of kainate. Focal electrographic seizures in this
      model are resistant to several major antiepileptic drugs. In line with previous
      studies, phenytoin was not capable of blocking such seizures in the present
      experiments, while they were markedly suppressed by NBQX and perampanel. However,
      perampanel was less tolerable than NBQX in epileptic mice, so that only NBQX was
      subsequently tested for antiepileptogenic potential. When mice were treated over
      three days after kainate-induced SE with NBQX (20 mg/kg t.i.d.), no effect on
      development or frequency of seizures was found in comparison to vehicle controls.
      These results suggest that AMPA receptor antagonists, while being effective in
      suppressing resistant focal seizures, are not exerting antiepileptogenic effects
      in an adult mouse model of partial epilepsy.

PMID- 25839900
TI  - Localization and production of peptide endocannabinoids in the rodent CNS and
      adrenal medulla.
AB  - The endocannabinoid system (ECS) comprises the cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2
      and their endogenous arachidonic acid-derived agonists 2-arachidonoyl glycerol
      and anandamide, which play important neuromodulatory roles. Recently, a novel
      class of negative allosteric CB1 receptor peptide ligands, hemopressin-like
      peptides derived from alpha hemoglobin, has been described, with yet unknown
      origin and function in the CNS. Using monoclonal antibodies we now identified the
      localization of RVD-hemopressin (pepcan-12) and N-terminally extended peptide
      endocannabinoids (pepcans) in the CNS and determined their neuronal origin.
      Immunohistochemical analyses in rodents revealed distinctive and specific
      staining in major groups of noradrenergic neurons, including the locus coeruleus
      (LC), A1, A5 and A7 neurons, which appear to be major sites of production/release
      in the CNS. No staining was detected in dopaminergic neurons. Peptidergic axons
      were seen throughout the brain (notably hippocampus and cerebral cortex) and
      spinal cord, indicative of anterograde axonal transport of pepcans. Intriguingly,
      the chromaffin cells in the adrenal medulla were also strongly stained for
      pepcans. We found specific co-expression of pepcans with galanin, both in the LC
      and adrenal gland. Using LC-MS/MS, pepcan-12 was only detected in non-perfused
      brain (~ 40 pmol/g), suggesting that in the CNS it is secreted and present in
      extracellular compartments. In adrenal glands, significantly more pepcan-12 (400
      700 pmol/g) was measured in both non-perfused and perfused tissues. Thus,
      chromaffin cells may be a major production site of pepcan-12 found in blood.
      These data uncover important areas of peptide endocannabinoid occurrence with
      exclusive noradrenergic immunohistochemical staining, opening new doors to
      investigate their potential physiological function in the ECS. This article is
      part of the Special Issue entitled 'Fluorescent Tools in Neuropharmacology'.

PMID- 25839901
TI  - A prototypic modified risk tobacco product exhibits reduced effects on chemotaxis
      and transendothelial migration of monocytes compared with a reference cigarette.
AB  - Monocyte adhesion and migration to the subendothelial space represent critical
      steps in atherogenesis. Here, we investigated whether extracts from the aerosol
      of a prototypic modified risk tobacco product (pMRTP), based on heating rather
      than combusting tobacco, exhibited differential effects on the migratory behavior
      of monocytes compared with that from the reference cigarette, 3R4F. THP-1 cells,
      a monocytic cell line, and human coronary arterial endothelial cells (HCAECs)
      were used to investigate chemotaxis and transendothelial migration (TEM) of
      monocytes in conventional and impedance-based systems. THP-1 cells migrated
      through a monolayer of HCAECs in response to C-X-C motif ligand 12 (CXCL12), a
      chemokine involved in diverse cellular functions including chemotaxis and
      survival of stem cells. Treatment of THP-1 cells with extracts from 3R4F or pMRTP
      induced concentration-dependent increases in cytotoxicity (7-aminoactinomycin D),
      and inflammation (IL-8 and TNF-alpha). CXCL12-mediated chemotaxis and TEM were
      decreased in extract-treated THP-1 cells. Extracts from 3R4F were ~21 times more
      potent than those from pMRTP in all examined endpoints. Extracts from 3R4F and
      pMRTP induced concentration-dependent responses in assays of inflammation,
      cytotoxicity, chemotaxis, and TEM. Furthermore, our findings indicate that
      extracts from a pMRTP are significantly less cytotoxic and induce less
      inflammation than those from the reference cigarette, 3R4F. 

PMID- 25839902
TI  - An exposure and health risk assessment of lead (Pb) in lipstick.
AB  - Lead (Pb) content in lipstick and other consumer products has become an
      increasing concern. In 2010, the United States Food and Drug Administration
      tested 400 lipstick samples and found a maximum Pb concentration of 7.19 ppm. To
      assess the safety of lipstick in adults that chronically apply lipstick as well
      as instances where children might incidentally ingest lipstick products, the
      United States Environmental Protection Agency's (US EPA) Adult Lead Model and
      Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic Model for Lead in Children were used to
      determine the blood Pb concentrations of adults and children ingesting varying
      amounts of lipstick of different Pb concentrations. Modeled blood Pb
      concentrations were compared with oral ingestion guidelines and to the Centers
      for Disease Control and the US EPA's actionable blood Pb levels of 5 and 10
      ug/dL. Background Pb exposure was the primary contributor to estimated blood Pb
      levels (BLLs) in children and adults, and Pb exposure from lipstick did not
      significantly increase estimated BLLs. These results suggest that the safety of
      consumer products and cosmetics should be assessed not only by the presence and
      amounts of hazardous contents, but also in conjunction with an assessment of
      estimated background exposures and comparison to health-based standards. 

PMID- 25839903
TI  - Brown adipose tissue in humans.

PMID- 25839904
TI  - Risk of Neoplasia in Pediatric Patients Receiving Growth Hormone Therapy--A
      Report From the Pediatric Endocrine Society Drug and Therapeutics Committee.
AB  - CONTEXT: GH and IGF-1 have been shown to affect tumor growth in vitro and in some
      animal models. This report summarizes the available evidence on whether GH
      therapy in childhood is associated with an increased risk of neoplasia during
      treatment or after treatment is completed. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A PubMed search
      conducted through February 2014 retrieved original articles written in English
      addressing GH therapy and neoplasia risk. Subsequent searches were done to
      include additional relevant publications. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: In children without
      prior cancer or known risk factors for developing cancer, the clinical evidence
      does not affirm an association between GH therapy during childhood and neoplasia.
      GH therapy has not been reported to increase the risk for neoplasia in this
      population, although most of these data are derived from postmarketing
      surveillance studies lacking rigorous controls. In patients who are at higher
      risk for developing cancer, current evidence is insufficient to conclude whether
      or not GH further increases cancer risk. GH treatment of pediatric cancer
      survivors does not appear to increase the risk of recurrence but may increase
      their risk for subsequent primary neoplasms. CONCLUSIONS: In children without
      known risk factors for malignancy, GH therapy can be safely administered without
      concerns about an increased risk for neoplasia. GH use in children with medical
      diagnoses predisposing them to the development of malignancies should be
      critically analyzed on an individual basis, and if chosen, appropriate
      surveillance for malignancies should be undertaken. GH can be used to treat GH
      deficient childhood cancer survivors who are in remission with the understanding
      that GH therapy may increase their risk for second neoplasms.

PMID- 25839905
TI  - Light-driven, proton-controlled, catalytic aerobic C-H oxidation mediated by a
      Mn(III) porphyrinoid complex.
AB  - The visible light-driven, catalytic aerobic oxidation of benzylic C-H bonds was
      mediated by a Mn(III) corrolazine complex. To achieve catalytic turnovers, a
      strict selective requirement for the addition of protons was established. The
      resting state of the catalyst was unambiguously characterized by X-ray
      diffraction as [Mn(III)(H2O)(TBP8Cz(H))](+), in which a single, remote site on
      the ligand is protonated. If two remote sites are protonated, however, reactivity
      with O2 is shut down. Spectroscopic methods revealed that the related Mn(V)(O)
      complex is also protonated at the same remote site at -60  degrees C, but
      undergoes valence tautomerization upon warming. 

PMID- 25839906
TI  - Inhibiting corticosterone synthesis during fear memory formation exacerbates cued
      fear extinction memory deficits within the single prolonged stress model.
AB  - Using the single prolonged stress (SPS) animal model of post-traumatic stress
      disorder (PTSD), previous studies suggest that enhanced glucocorticoid receptor
      (GR) expression leads to cued fear extinction retention deficits. However, it is
      unknown how the endogenous ligand of GRs, corticosterone (CORT), may contribute
      to extinction retention deficits in the SPS model. Given that CORT synthesis
      during fear learning is critical for fear memory consolidation and SPS enhances
      GR expression, CORT synthesis during fear memory formation could strengthen fear
      memory in SPS rats by enhancing GR activation during fear learning. In turn, this
      could lead to cued fear extinction retention deficits. We tested the hypothesis
      that CORT synthesis during fear learning leads to cued fear extinction retention
      deficits in SPS rats by administering the CORT synthesis inhibitor metyrapone to
      SPS and control rats prior to fear conditioning, and observed the effect this had
      on extinction memory. Inhibiting CORT synthesis during fear memory formation in
      control rats tended to decrease cued freezing, though this effect never reached
      statistical significance. Contrary to our hypothesis, inhibiting CORT synthesis
      during fear memory formation disrupted extinction retention in SPS rats. This
      finding suggests that even though SPS exposure leads to cued fear extinction
      memory deficits, CORT synthesis during fear memory formation enhances extinction
      retention in SPS rats. This suggests that stress-induced CORT synthesis in
      previously stressed rats can be beneficial. 

PMID- 25839907
TI  - The N-terminal acidic residue of the cytosolic helix 8 of an odorant receptor is
      responsible for different response dynamics via G-protein.
AB  - We previously observed highly rapid and robust response of murine olfactory
      receptor S6 (mOR-S6) with chimeric Galpha15_olf, compared to Galpha15. To
      identify residues responsible for this difference in response, mutations of the
      cytosolic helix 8 were analyzed in a heterologous functional expression system.
      The N-terminal hydrophobic core between helix 8 and TM1-2 of mOR-S6 is important
      for activation of both Galpha15_olf and Galpha15. Point mutation of a helix 8 N
      terminal acidic residue eliminated the differences in response dynamics via
      Galpha. This result suggests that an N-terminal acidic residue of helix 8 is
      responsible for rapid response via Galpha15_olf. 

PMID- 25839908
TI  - Nevirapine loaded Poloxamer 407/Pluronic P123 mixed micelles: Optimization of
      formulation and in vitro evaluation.
AB  - An attempt has been made to develop polymeric mixed micelle delivery system using
      Poloxamer 407 and Pluronic P123 for the encapsulation of an antiretroviral drug,
      Nevirapine. The stability of formulated mixed micellar system at different ratios
      (1:2, 1:1 and 2:1) and standard thermodynamic parameters of micellization have
      been determined from the temperature dependence of the critical micelle
      concentration. The process of micellization of Poloxamer 407/Pluronic P 123
      system has been found to be entropy dominant at low temperatures and enthalpy
      driven at high temperatures. The amity of the different components of mixed
      micelles has been explored using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,
      Differential scanning calorimeter and X-ray diffraction studies, which rule out
      the possibility of any interactions between the drug and excipients.
      Micropolarity measurements infer that the drug is solubilized in the inner core
      of mixed micelles. In addition, dialysis method has been employed to determine
      the entrapment efficiency of all the three formulations. The formulation at 1:1
      ratio exhibits high entrapment efficiency along with sustained release of the
      drug. 

PMID- 25839909
TI  - Land use change impacts on air quality and climate.

PMID- 25839910
TI  - Specialist surgery for ovarian cancer in England.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of the 1999 national
      recommendations for ovarian cancer surgery in England to be performed by
      specialist surgeons in specialist centres. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of
      English cancer registry records, Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data for all
      English NHS providers and General Medical Council (GMC) sub-specialty
      accreditation, to consider changes to the annual proportion of ovarian cancer
      (ICD10 C56-C57) patients undergoing major gynaecological surgery in
      gynaecological cancer centres (GCCs) or by specialist gynaecological oncologists
      (GOs). RESULTS: From 2000 to 2009, 2428 consultants were responsible for surgery
      on 30,753 patients. There were significant increases in the proportions of
      patients undergoing surgery at GCCs (43% to 76%, P<0.001), by GMC accredited GOs
      (5% to 36%, P<0.001), and by high ovarian cancer caseload (>=18 cases) surgeons
      (22% to 56%, P<0.001). CONCLUSION: There have been increased centralisation and
      specialisation of surgery for ovarian cancer patients since the NHS Cancer Plan
      (2000) and there has also been improved survival. However, by 2009, many ovarian
      cancer patients were still not receiving specialist surgery; the majority of
      patients were not operated on by GMC accredited gynaecological oncologists and
      there was considerable regional variation. Systems of accreditation should be
      reviewed and trusts should ensure that HES data accurately records clinical
      activity.

PMID- 25839911
TI  - Delay in chemotherapy administration impacts survival in elderly patients with
      epithelial ovarian cancer.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to characterize chemotherapy
      treatment patterns in elderly patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and
      their impact on overall survival (OS). METHODS: We identified patients age
      >=65years with stage II-IV EOC who underwent cytoreduction from 2003 to 2011.
      Relevant clinical variables were extracted and correlated with OS. Statistical
      analyses were performed using logistic regression, Kaplan-Meier methods, and
      multivariable Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS: One hundred and eighty
      four patients were included in the analysis. The average age was 73years with
      American Society of Anesthesiology Physical Status Class 2 or 3. Approximately
      78% underwent primary debulking surgery (PDS). OS for the entire cohort was
      3.3years. One hundred and fifty-seven patients received adjuvant chemotherapy, of
      which 70% received initial platinum-based doublet therapy; 67.5% of patients were
      able to complete the intended six cycles of chemotherapy; of these, 34%
      experienced a dose reduction and 45% experienced one or more dose delays. Any
      dose delay was associated with a decrease in overall survival (p=0.02) and
      remained significant even after controlling for age, stage, and residual disease
      and number of chemotherapy cycles received (p=0.029). CONCLUSIONS: Elderly EOC
      patients frequently required chemotherapy dose reductions and delays in
      chemotherapy administration. Multivariate analysis confirmed that dose delays are
      an independent factor associated with decreased OS.

PMID- 25839912
TI  - Fluoroalkylative aryl migration of conjugated N-arylsulfonylated amides using
      easily accessible sodium di- and monofluoroalkanesulfinates.
AB  - Fluorinated sulfinate salts RfSO2Na (Rf = CF2H, CF2Ph, and CH2F) have been
      prepared via NaBH4-mediated reduction of the corresponding benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl
      sulfones, and their synthetic application as di- and monofluoroalkyl radical
      precursors is demonstrated in the silver-catalyzed cascade fluoroalkylation/aryl
      migration/SO2 extrusion of conjugated N-arylsulfonylated amides. 

PMID- 25839913
TI  - Evaluation of Organizational Readiness in Clinical Settings for Social Supporting
      Evidence-Based Information Seeking Behavior after Introducing IT in a Developing
      Country.
AB  - The health sector of Iran has endeavored to encourage physicians and medical
      students to use research findings in their practice. Remarkable changes have
      occurred, including: holding computer skills courses, digital library workshops
      for physicians and students, and establishing websites in hospitals. The findings
      showed that a small number of the participants completely agreed that they were
      supported by supervisors and colleagues to use evidence-based information
      resources in their clinical decisions. Health care organizations in Iran need
      other organizational facilitators such as social influences, organizational
      support, leadership, strong organizational culture, and climate in order to
      implement evidence-based practice. 

PMID- 25839915
TI  - Correction to Mechanism and functional implications of the heme-induced binding
      promiscuity of IgE.

PMID- 25839914
TI  - Prenatal and Childhood Traffic-Related Pollution Exposure and Childhood Cognition
      in the Project Viva Cohort (Massachusetts, USA).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Influences of prenatal and early-life exposures to air pollution on
      cognition are not well understood. OBJECTIVES: We examined associations of
      gestational and childhood exposure to traffic-related pollution with childhood
      cognition. METHODS: We studied 1,109 mother-child pairs in Project Viva, a
      prospective birth cohort study in eastern Massachusetts (USA). In mid-childhood
      (mean age, 8.0 years), we measured verbal and nonverbal intelligence, visual
      motor abilities, and visual memory. For periods in late pregnancy and childhood,
      we estimated spatially and temporally resolved black carbon (BC) and fine
      particulate matter (PM2.5) exposures, residential proximity to major roadways,
      and near-residence traffic density. We used linear regression models to examine
      associations of exposures with cognitive assessment scores, adjusted for
      potential confounders. RESULTS: Compared with children living >= 200 m from a
      major roadway at birth, those living < 50 m away had lower nonverbal IQ [-7.5
      points; 95% confidence interval (CI): -13.1, -1.9], and somewhat lower verbal IQ
      (-3.8 points; 95% CI: -8.2, 0.6) and visual motor abilities (-5.3 points; 95% CI:
      -11.0, 0.4). Cross-sectional associations of major roadway proximity and
      cognition at mid-childhood were weaker. Prenatal and childhood exposure to
      traffic density and PM2.5 did not appear to be associated with poorer cognitive
      performance. Third-trimester and childhood BC exposures were associated with
      lower verbal IQ in minimally adjusted models; but after adjustment for
      socioeconomic covariates, associations were attenuated or reversed. CONCLUSIONS:
      Residential proximity to major roadways during gestation and early life may
      affect cognitive development. Influences of pollutants and socioeconomic
      conditions on cognition may be difficult to disentangle.

PMID- 25839916
TI  - Impact of specialist neurovascular care in subarachnoid haemorrhage.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The management of neurosurgical disorders has become increasingly
      specialised. The care of patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) has
      generally been part of core neurosurgical practice, provided by general
      neurosurgeons whatever their specialist interest. The aim of this present study
      therefore is to ascertain if, and to what extent care provided by a dedicated
      neurovascular team (compared to care provided by a general neurosurgical team)
      change patient disposition in SAH. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of
      SAH patients, identified from a departmental database of a single neurosurgical
      centre. In 2008, the service was reorganised such that a neurovascular team cared
      for all SAH patients. We compared clinical outcome in people admitted prior to
      this service reorganisation (Period A, 2004-2007) with patients admitted
      afterwards (Period B, 2009-2011). Survival and recovery were assessed according
      to the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS). Multi-factorial logistic regression analysis
      was performed to determine the injury and age adjusted incidence of
      complications, odds of survival at discharge, discharge home, mortality, good
      recovery (GOS 5) and favourable outcome, by dichotomising GOS (GOS 4-5 vs. GOS 1
      3) at 3 months. RESULTS: 1114 patients were included in the study. The mean age
      of patients presenting in Period A (n = 543) was younger [50 years (SD 13.5)]
      than those in Period B (n = 571) [53 years (SD 13)]. Patients admitted in Period
      B were more likely to present as poor grade (World Federation of Neurological
      surgeons (WFNS) grades 4 and 5) compared to Period A (26.5% vs. 21.3%). No
      statistical differences between the groups in the incidence of pre-operative re
      bleeding (3% vs. 5%) or rates of delayed cerebral ischaemia (16.1% vs. 16.1%)
      were observed. After adjustment for age, sex and injury severity, the odds of
      patient time to discharge, discharge home and good recovery (GOS 5) were 27% (p <
      0.001), 45% (p = 0.001) and 93% (p < 0.001) higher respectively in Period B than
      Period A. CONCLUSIONS: The data presented here demonstrates that management of
      SAH by a dedicated neurovascular team improves the potential for patient
      recovery.

PMID- 25839917
TI  - Pseudobulbar palsy due to deep-brain stimulation of the thalamic ventral
      intermediate nuclei.

PMID- 25839918
TI  - Sensory abnormalities and masticatory function after microvascular decompression
      or balloon compression for trigeminal neuralgia compared with carbamazepine and
      healthy controls.
AB  - OBJECT: Idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (iTN) is a neurological condition treated
      with pharmacotherapy or neurosurgery. There is a lack of comparative papers
      regarding the outcomes of neurosurgery in patients with iTN. The objective of
      this study was to investigate sensory thresholds and masticatory function in 78
      patients with iTN who underwent microvascular decompression (MVD) or balloon
      compression (BC), and compare these treatments with carbamazepine and 30
      untreated healthy controls. METHODS: The authors conducted a case-controlled
      longitudinal study. Patients were referred to 1 of 3 groups: MVD, BC, or
      carbamazepine. All patients were evaluated before and after treatment with a
      systematic protocol composed of a clinical orofacial questionnaire, Research
      Diagnostic Criteria for temporomandibular disorders, Helkimo indices, and a
      quantitative sensory-testing protocol (gustative, olfactory, cold, warm, touch,
      vibration, superficial, and deep pain thresholds). RESULTS: Both MVD and BC were
      effective at reducing pain intensity (p = 0.012) and carbamazepine doses (p <
      0.001). Myofascial and articular complaints decreased in both groups (p < 0.001),
      but only the patients in the MVD group showed improvement in Helkimo indices (p <
      0.003). Patients who underwent MVD also showed an increase in sweet (p = 0.014)
      and salty (p = 0.003) thresholds. The sour threshold decreased (p = 0.003) and
      cold and warm thresholds increased (p < 0.001) in patients after MVD and BC, but
      only the patients who underwent BC had an increase in touch threshold (p <
      0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Microvascular decompression and BC resulted in a reduction
      in myofascial and jaw articular complaints, and the impact on masticatory
      function according to Helkimo indices was greater after BC than MVD. MVD resulted
      in more gustative alterations, and both procedures caused impairment in thermal
      thresholds (warm and cold). However, only BC also affected touch perception. The
      sensorial and motor deficits after BC need to be included as targets directly
      associated with the success of the surgery and need to be assessed and relieved
      as goals in the treatment of iTN.

PMID- 25839919
TI  - Study of the biodistribution of fluorescein in glioma-infiltrated mouse brain and
      histopathological correlation of intraoperative findings in high-grade gliomas
      resected under fluorescein fluorescence guidance.
AB  - OBJECT: Intravenous fluorescein sodium has been used during resection of high
      grade gliomas to help the surgeon visualize tumor margins. Several studies have
      reported improved rates of gross-total resection (GTR) using high doses of
      fluorescein sodium under white light. The recent introduction of a fluorescein
      specific camera that allows for high-quality intraoperative imaging and use of
      very low dose fluorescein has drawn new attention to this fluorophore. However,
      the ability of fluorescein to specifically stain glioma cells is not yet well
      understood. METHODS: The authors designed an in vitro model to assess fluorescein
      uptake in normal human astrocytes and U251 malignant glioma cells. An in vivo
      experiment was also subsequently designed to study fluorescein uptake by
      intracranial U87 malignant glioma xenografts in male nonobese diabetic/severe
      combined immunodeficient mice. A genetically induced mouse glioma model was used
      to adjust for the possible confounding effect of an inflammatory response in the
      xenograft model. To assess the intraoperative application of this technology, the
      authors prospectively enrolled 12 patients who underwent fluorescein-guided
      resection of their high-grade gliomas using low-dose intravenous fluorescein and
      a microscope-integrated fluorescence module. Intraoperative fluorescent and
      nonfluorescent specimens at the tumor margins were randomly analyzed for
      histopathological correlation. RESULTS: The in vitro and in vivo models suggest
      that fluorescein demarcation of glioma-invaded brain is the result of
      distribution of fluorescein into the extracellular space, most likely as a result
      of an abnormal blood-brain barrier. Glioblastoma tumor cell-specific uptake of
      fluorescein was not observed, and tumor cells appeared to mostly exclude
      fluorescein. For the 12 patients who underwent resection of their high-grade
      gliomas, the histopathological analysis of the resected specimens at the tumor
      margin confirmed the intraoperative fluorescent findings. Fluorescein
      fluorescence was highly specific (up to 90.9%) while its sensitivity was 82.2%.
      False negatives occurred due to lack of fluorescence in areas of diffuse, low
      density cellular infiltration. Margins of contrast enhancement based on
      intraoperative MRI-guided StealthStation neuronavigation correlated well with
      fluorescent tumor margins. GTR of the contrast-enhancing area as guided by the
      fluorescent signal was achieved in 100% of cases based on postoperative MRI.
      CONCLUSIONS: Fluorescein sodium does not appear to selectively accumulate in
      astrocytoma cells but in extracellular tumor cell-rich locations, suggesting that
      fluorescein is a marker for areas of compromised blood-brain barrier within high
      grade astrocytoma. Fluorescein fluorescence appears to correlate intraoperatively
      with the areas of MR enhancement, thus representing a practical tool to help the
      surgeon achieve GTR of the enhancing tumor regions.

PMID- 25839920
TI  - Impact of body mass index on cerebellar tonsil position in healthy subjects and
      patients with Chiari malformation.
AB  - OBJECT: It is unclear if there is a relationship between Chiari malformation Type
      I (CM-I) and body mass index (BMI). The aim of this study was to identify the
      relationship between BMI and cerebellar tonsil position in a random sample of
      people. METHODS: Cerebellar tonsil position in 2400 subjects from a cohort of
      patients undergoing MRI was measured. Three hundred patients were randomly
      selected from each of 8 age groups (from 0 to 80 years). A subject was then
      excluded if he or she had a posterior fossa mass or previous posterior fossa
      decompression or if height and weight information within 1 year of MRI was not
      recorded in the electronic medical record. RESULTS: There were 1310 subjects
      (54.6%) with BMI records from within 1 year of the measured scan. Of these
      subjects, 534 (40.8%) were male and 776 (59.2%) were female. The average BMI of
      the group was 26.4 kg/m(2), and the average tonsil position was 0.87 mm above the
      level of the foramen magnum. There were 46 subjects (3.5%) with a tonsil position
      >= 5 mm below the level of the foramen magnum. In the group as a whole, there was
      no correlation (R(2) = 0.004) between BMI and cerebellar tonsil position.
      CONCLUSIONS: In this examination of 1310 subjects undergoing MRI for any reason,
      there was no relationship between BMI and the level of the cerebellar tonsils or
      the diagnosis of CM-I on imaging.

PMID- 25839921
TI  - Quantitative analysis of the Kawase versus the modified Dolenc-Kawase approach
      for middle cranial fossa lesions with variable anteroposterior extension.
AB  - OBJECT: The surgical corridor to the upper third of the clivus and ventral
      brainstem is hindered by critical neurovascular structures, such as the cavernous
      sinus, petrous apex, and tentorium. The traditional Kawase approach provides a 10
      * 5-mm fenestration at the petrous apex of the temporal bone between the 5th
      cranial nerve and internal auditory canal. Due to interindividual variability,
      sometimes this area proves to be insufficient as a corridor to the posterior
      cranial fossa. The authors describe a modification to the technique of the
      extradural anterior petrosectomy consisting of additional transcavernous
      exploration and medial mobilization of the cisternal component of the trigeminal
      nerve. This approach is termed the modified Dolenc-Kawase (MDK) approach.
      METHODS: The authors describe a volumetric analysis of temporal bones with 3D
      laser scanning of dry and drilled bones for respective triangles and rhomboid
      areas, and they compare the difference of exposure with traditional versus
      modified approaches on cadaver dissection. Twelve dry temporal bones were laser
      scanned, and mesh-based volumetric analysis was done followed by drilling of the
      Kawase triangle and MDK rhomboid. Five cadaveric heads were drilled on alternate
      sides with both approaches for evaluation of the area exposed, surgical freedom,
      and angle of approach. RESULTS: The MDK approach provides an approximately 1.5
      times larger area and 2.0 times greater volume of bone at the anterior petrous
      apex compared with the Kawase's approach. Cadaver dissection objectified the
      technical feasibility of the MDK approach, providing nearly 1.5-2 times larger
      fenestration with improved view and angulation to the posterior cranial fossa.
      Practical application in 6 patients with different lesions proves clinical
      applicability of the MDK approach. CONCLUSIONS: The larger fenestration at the
      petrous apex achieved with the MDK approach provides greater surgical freedom at
      the Dorello canal, gasserian ganglion, and prepontine area and better
      anteroposterior angulation than the traditional Kawase approach. Additional
      anterior clinoidectomy and transcavernous exposure helps in dealing with basilar
      artery aneurysms.

PMID- 25839922
TI  - Preservation of the nerves to the frontalis muscle during pterional craniotomy.
AB  - OBJECT: There continues to be confusion over how best to preserve the branches of
      the facial nerve to the frontalis muscle when elevating a frontotemporal
      (pterional) scalp flap. The object of this study was to examine the full course
      of the branches of the facial nerve that must be preserved to maintain
      innervation of the frontalis muscle during elevation of a frontotemporal scalp
      flap. METHODS: Dissection was performed to follow the temporal branches of facial
      nerves along their course in 5 adult, cadaveric heads (n = 10 extracranial facial
      nerves). RESULTS: Preserving the nerves to the frontalis muscle requires an
      understanding of the course of the nerves in 3 areas. The first area is on the
      outer surface of the temporalis muscle lateral to the superior temporal line
      (STL) where the interfascial or subfascial approaches are applied, the second is
      in the area medial to the STL where subpericranial dissection is needed, and the
      third is along the STL. Preserving the nerves crossing the STL requires an
      understanding of the complex fascial relationships at this line. It is important
      to preserve the nerves crossing the lateral and medial parts of the exposure, and
      the continuity of the nerves as they pass across the STL. Prior descriptions have
      focused largely on the area superficial to the temporalis muscle lateral to the
      STL. CONCLUSIONS: Using the interfascial-subpericranial flap and the subfascial
      subpericranial flap avoids opening the layer of loose areolar tissue between the
      temporal fascia and galea in the area lateral to the STL and between the galea
      and frontal pericranium in the area medial to the STL. It also preserves the
      continuity of the nerve crossing the STL. This technique allows for the
      preservation of the nerves to the frontalis muscle along their entire trajectory,
      from the uppermost part of the parotid gland to the frontalis muscle.

PMID- 25839923
TI  - The predictive value of magnetic resonance imaging in evaluating intracranial
      arteriovenous malformation obliteration after stereotactic radiosurgery.
AB  - OBJECT: The current gold standard for diagnosing arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
      and assessing its obliteration after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is digital
      subtraction angiography (DSA). Recently, MRI and MR angiography (MRA) have become
      increasingly popular imaging modalities for the follow-up of patients with an AVM
      because of their convenient setup and noninvasiveness. In this study, the authors
      assessed the sensitivity and specificity of MRI/MRA in evaluating AVM nidus
      obliteration as assessed by DSA. METHODS: The authors study a consecutive series
      of 136 patients who underwent SRS between January 2000 and December 2012 and who
      underwent regular clinical examinations, several MRI studies, and at least 1 post
      SRS DSA follow- up evaluation at the University of Virginia. The average follow
      up time was 47.3 months (range 10.1-165.2 months). Two blinded observers were
      enrolled to interpret the results of MRI/MRA compared with those of DSA. The
      sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive
      value for the obliteration of AVM were reported. RESULTS: On the basis of DSA, 73
      patients (53.7%) achieved final angiographic obliteration in a median of 28.8
      months. The sensitivity (the probability of finding obliteration on MRI/MRA among
      those for whom complete obliteration was shown on DSA) was 84.9% for one observer
      (Observer 1) and 76.7% for the other (Observer 2). The specificity was 88.9% and
      95.2%, respectively. The false-negative interpretations were significantly
      related to the presence of draining veins, perinidal edema on T2-weighted images,
      and the interval between the MRI/MRA and DSA studies. CONCLUSIONS: MRI/MRA
      predicted AVM obliteration after SRS in most patients and can be used in their
      follow-up. However, because the specificity of MRI/MRA is not perfect, DSA should
      still be performed to confirm AVM nidus obliteration after SRS.

PMID- 25839924
TI  - Preparedness of neurosurgery graduates for neuroendovascular fellowship: a
      national survey of fellowship programs.
AB  - OBJECT: Endovascular interventions have become an essential part of a
      neurosurgeon's practice. Whether endovascular procedures have been effectively
      integrated into residency curricula, however, remains uncertain. The purpose of
      this study was to assess the preparedness of US neurosurgery graduate trainees
      for neuroendovascular fellowship. METHODS: A multidomain, global assessment
      survey was sent to all directors/faculty of neuroendovascular fellowship programs
      involved in training of US neurosurgery graduates. Surveyees were asked to assess
      trainees as they entered fellowship. RESULTS: The response rate was 78% (25/32).
      Of respondent program directors, 38% reported that new fellows did not know the
      history and imaging of the patient and 50% were unable to formulate an
      appropriate treatment plan. As many as 79% of fellows were unfamiliar with
      endovascular devices and 75% were unfamiliar with angiographic equipment.
      Furthermore, 58% of fellows were unable to perform femoral access, 54% were
      unable to perform femoral closure, 79% were unable to catheterize a major vessel,
      86% were unable to perform a 4-vessel angiogram, and 100% were unable to
      catheterize an aneurysm. Additionally, program directors reported that over 50%
      of fellows could not recognize neurovascular anatomy and 54% could not
      recognize/classify vascular abnormalities. There was an overall agreement that
      fellows demonstrated professionalism and interest in research and had good
      communication/clinical skills. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest
      potential gaps in the training of neurosurgery residents with regard to
      endovascular neurosurgery. In an era of minimally invasive therapies, changes in
      residency curricula may be needed to keep pace with the ever-changing field of
      neurosurgery.

PMID- 25839926
TI  - Endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery in elderly patients with pituitary
      adenomas.
AB  - OBJECT: With the increase in the average life expectancy, medical care of elderly
      patients with symptomatic pituitary adenoma (PA) will continue to grow. Little
      information exists in the literature about the surgical treatment of these
      patients. The aim of this study was to present the results of a single pituitary
      center in the surgical treatment of PAs in patients > 70 years of age. METHODS:
      In this retrospective study, 55 consecutive elderly patients (age >= 70 years)
      with nonfunctioning PAs underwent endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery at the
      General Hospital of Fortaleza, Brazil, between May 2000 and December 2012. The
      clinical and radiological results in this group were compared with 2 groups of
      younger patients: < 60 years (n = 289) and 60-69 years old (n = 30). RESULTS:
      Fifty-five patients >= 70 years of age (average age 72.5 years, range 70-84
      years) underwent endoscopic surgery for treatment of PAs. The mean follow-up
      period was 50 months (range 12-144 months). The most common symptoms were visual
      impairment in 38 (69%) patients, headache in 16 (29%) patients, and complete
      ophthalmoplegia in 6 (10.9%). Elderly patients presented a higher incidence of
      ophthalmoplegia (p = 0.032) and a lower frequency of pituitary apoplexy before
      surgery (p < 0.05). Tumors with cavernous sinus invasion were treated surgically
      less frequently than in younger patients. Although patients with an American
      Society of Anesthesiologists score of 3 were more common in the elderly group (p
      < 0.05), no significant difference regarding surgical time, extent of resection,
      and hospitalization were observed. Elderly patients presented with more
      complications than patients < 60 years (32.7% vs 10%, p < 0.05). Complications
      observed in the elderly group included 5 CSF leaks (9%), 2 permanent diabetes
      insipidus cases (3.6%), 4 postoperative refractory hypertension cases (7.2%), 1
      myocardial ischemia (1.8%), and 1 death (1.8%). Postoperative new anterior
      pituitary deficit was more common in the younger group (< 60 years old: 17.7%)
      than in the elderly (>= 70 years old: 12.7%); however, there was no statistical
      difference. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery for elderly patients
      with PAs may be associated with higher complication rates, especially secondary
      to early transitory complications, when compared with surgery performed in
      younger patients. Although the worst preoperative clinical status might be
      observed in this group, age alone is not associated with a worst final prognosis
      after endoscopic removal of nonfunctioning PAs.

PMID- 25839925
TI  - Utility of dynamic computed tomography angiography in the preoperative evaluation
      of skull base tumors.
AB  - OBJECT: The anatomical complexity of skull base tumors mandates detailed
      preoperative planning for safe resection. In particular, the location of critical
      vascular and bony structures can influence the surgical approach. Traditional
      methods, such as MRI, MR angiography and/or venography (MRA/MRV), CT angiography
      and/or venography (CTA/CTV), and digital subtraction angiography, each have their
      limitations. One alternative that combines the benefits of both detailed anatomy
      compatible with intraoperative image guidance and visualization of the vascular
      flow is the 320-detector row dynamic volume CTA/CTV. The authors investigated
      this technique's impact on the surgical approach used in a series of complex
      intracranial tumors. METHODS: All patients with complex intracranial tumors who
      had undergone preoperative dynamic CTA/CTV as well as MRI in the period from July
      2010 to June 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. Those in whom only routine
      CTA/CTV sequences had been obtained were excluded. Clinical records, including
      imaging studies, operative reports, and hospital course, were reviewed. Ease in
      detecting specific major arterial and venous tributaries using dynamic CTA/CTV
      was graded for each case. Furthermore, 2 skull base neurosurgeons projected a
      desired surgical approach for each tumor based on MRI studies, independent of the
      CTA/CTV sequences. The projected approach was then compared with the ultimately
      chosen surgical approach to determine whether preoperative awareness of
      vasculature patterns altered the actual operative approach. RESULTS: Sixty-four
      patients were eligible for analysis. Dynamic CTA/CTV successfully demonstrated
      circle of Willis arteries, major draining sinuses, and deep internal venous
      drainage in all cases examined. The superior petrosal sinus, vein of Labbe,
      tentorial veins, and middle fossa veins were also identified in a majority of
      cases, which played an important role in preoperative planning. Visualization of
      critical vascular-especially venous-anatomy influenced the surgical approach in
      39% (25 of 64) of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: Dynamic CTA/CTV has been applied to few
      neurosurgical disease pathologies to date. This noninvasive technology offers
      insight into vascular flow patterns as well as 3D anatomical relationships and
      provides thin-cut sequences for intraoperative navigation. The authors propose
      dynamic CTA as an addition to the preoperative planning for complex skull base
      tumors.

PMID- 25839927
TI  - Improvement in venous outflow following superior sagittal sinus decompression
      after a gunshot wound to the head: case report.
AB  - The most commonly described indications for surgical management of closed
      depressed skull fractures are hematoma evacuation and repair of extensive
      cosmetic deformity. Venous sinus injury, which occurs in a subset of depressed
      skull fractures, is not typically listed as an indication for surgical treatment
      due to the potential for major venous hemorrhage associated with surgery near
      these structures. However, if patients exhibit signs and symptoms of intracranial
      hypertension and radiographic findings demonstrate sinus compromise, surgical
      elevation of the depressed skull fragments is indicated. The authors present the
      case of a 25-year-old woman with a depressed skull fracture secondary to a
      gunshot wound with symptomatic compromise in venous outflow of the posterior one
      third of the superior sagittal sinus. The patient was treated with surgical
      decompression via bilateral craniectomy along with intracranial pressure-lowering
      medical therapy and had almost full resolution of her presenting symptoms with
      documented improvement in flow through the superior sagittal sinus. While the use
      of surgical treatment for these types of injuries is highly debated, the authors
      demonstrate here that safe, effective surgical management of these patients is
      possible and that surgical decompression should always be considered in the case
      of symptomatic venous sinus flow obstruction. 

PMID- 25839928
TI  - Letter to the Editor: Predictors of outcome for gunshot wounds.

PMID- 25839929
TI  - Editorial: Qualitative research in brachial plexus injury.

PMID- 25839930
TI  - Medical treatment decision making after total avulsion brachial plexus injury: a
      qualitative study.
AB  - OBJECT: Complete avulsion traumatic brachial plexus injuries (BPIs) can be
      treated using nerve and musculoskeletal reconstruction procedures. However, these
      interventions are most viable within certain timeframes, and even then they
      cannot restore all lost function. Little is known about how patients make
      decisions regarding surgical treatment or what impediments they face during the
      decision-making process. Using qualitative methodology, the authors aimed to
      describe how and why patients elect to pursue or forego surgical reconstruction,
      identify the barriers precluding adequate information transfer, and determine
      whether these patients are satisfied with their treatment choices over time.
      METHODS: Twelve patients with total avulsion BPIs were interviewed according to a
      semi-structured guide. The interview transcripts were qualitatively analyzed
      using the systematic inductive techniques of grounded theory to identify key
      themes related to the decision-making process and long-term satisfaction with
      decisions. RESULTS: Four decision factors emerged from our analysis: desire to
      restore function, perceived value of functional gains, weighing the risks and
      costs of surgery, and having concomitant injuries. Lack of insurance coverage (4
      patients), delayed diagnosis (3 patients), and insufficient information regarding
      treatment (4 patients) prevented patients from making informed decisions and
      accessing care. Three individuals, all of whom had decided against
      reconstruction, had regrets about their treatment choices. CONCLUSIONS: Patients
      with panplexus avulsion injuries are missing opportunities for reconstruction and
      often not considering the long-term outcomes of surgery. As more Americans gain
      health insurance coverage, it is very likely that the number of patients able to
      pursue reconstruction will increase. The authors recommend implementing clinical
      pathways to help patients meet critical points in care within the ideal timeframe
      and using a patient- and family-centered care approach combined with patient
      decision aids to foster shared decision making, increase access to information,
      and improve patient satisfaction with decisions. These measures could greatly
      benefit patients with BPI while reducing costs, improving efficiency, and
      generating better outcomes.

PMID- 25839931
TI  - Predictors of sinonasal quality of life and nasal morbidity after fully
      endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery.
AB  - OBJECT: Despite the increasing application of endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery
      for pituitary lesions, the prognostic factors that are associated with sinonasal
      quality of life (QOL) and nasal morbidity are not well understood. The authors
      examine the predictors of sinonasal QOL and nasal morbidity in patients
      undergoing fully endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery. METHODS: An exploratory post
      hoc analysis was conducted of patients who underwent endoscopic pituitary surgery
      and were enrolled in a prospective multicenter QOL study. End points of the study
      included patient-reported sinonasal QOL and objective nasal endoscopy findings.
      Multivariate models were developed to determine the patient and surgical factors
      that correlated with QOL at 2 weeks through 6 months after surgery. RESULTS: This
      study is a retrospective review of a subgroup of patients studied in the clinical
      trial "Rhinological Outcomes in Endonasal Pituitary Surgery" (clinical trial no.
      NCT01504399, clinicaltrials.gov ). Data from 100 patients who underwent fully
      endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery were included. Predictors of a lower
      postoperative sinonasal QOL at 2 weeks were use of nasal splints (p = 0.039) and
      female sex at the trend level (p = 0.061); at 3 months, predictors of lower QOL
      were the presence of sinusitis (p = 0.025), advancing age (p = 0.044), and use of
      absorbable nasal packing (p = 0.014). Health status (multidimensional QOL) was
      also predictive at 2 weeks (p = 0.001) and 3 months (p < 0.001) and was the only
      significant predictor of sinonasal QOL at 6 months (p < 0.001). A Kaplan-Meier
      analysis was performed to study time to resolution of nasal crusting,
      mucopurulence, and synechia as observed during nasal endoscopy after surgery. The
      mean time (+/- SEM) to absence of nasal crusting was 16.3 +/- 2.1 weeks,
      mucopurulence was 6.2 +/- 1.1 weeks, and synechia was 4.4 +/- 0.5 weeks. Use of
      absorbable nasal packing was associated with more severe mucopurulence.
      CONCLUSIONS: Sinonasal QOL following endoscopic pituitary surgery reaches a nadir
      at 2 weeks and recovers by 3 months postoperatively. Use of absorbable packing
      and nasal splints, while used in a minority of patients, negatively correlates
      with early sinonasal QOL. Sinonasal QOL and overall health status are well
      correlated in the postoperative period, suggesting the important influence of
      sinonasal QOL on the patient experience.

PMID- 25839932
TI  - Editorial: Turning fluorescence into black and white.

PMID- 25839933
TI  - CTNND2 deletion and intellectual disability.
AB  - Neurodevelopmental disorders are a group of diseases characterized by either
      structural or functional alterations. The clinical spectrum can vary from
      isolated intellectual disability to more complex syndromes. Molecular karyotyping
      can explain 14%-18% of cases due to the presence of large pathogenic CNVs.
      Moreover, small CNVs involving single genes might result in a monogenic disease.
      In this article we report two cases of intragenic CTNND2 deletion, detected by
      molecular karyotyping, in patients with isolated intellectual disability. 

PMID- 25839934
TI  - dsRNA interference on expression of a RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene of Bombyx
      mori cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus.
AB  - Bombyx mori cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus (BmCPV) is one of the major viral
      pathogens in silkworm. Its infection often results in significant losses to
      sericulture. Studies have demonstrated that RNAi is one of the important anti
      viral mechanisms in organisms. In this study, three dsRNAs targeting the RNA
      dependent RNA polymerase (RDRP) gene of BmCPV were designed and synthesized with
      2'-F modification to explore their interference effects on BmCPV replication in
      silkworm larvae. The results showed that injecting dsRNA in the dosage of 4-6 ng
      per mg body weight into the 5th instar larvae can interfere with the BmCPV-RDRP
      expression by 93% after virus infection and by 99.9% before virus infection. In
      addition, the expression of two viral structural protein genes (genome RNA
      segments 1 and 5) was also decreased with the decrease of RDRP expression,
      suggesting that RNAi interference of BmCPV-RDRP expression could affect viral
      replication. The study provides an effective method for investigating virus
      replication as well as the virus-host interactions in the silkworm larvae using
      dsRNA.

PMID- 25839935
TI  - CYP2C8 rs17110453 and EPHX2 rs751141 two-locus interaction increases
      susceptibility to ischemic stroke.
AB  - AIMS: Ischemic stroke (IS) is a multifactorial disease caused by a combination of
      environmental risk factors and genetic susceptibilities. However, few studies
      have assessed the effects of gene-gene interactions among cytochrome P450 (CYP)
      pathway genes on the risk of stroke. The present study investigated the
      association of seven variants of six CYP pathway genes with IS in a Chinese
      population. MAIN METHODS: A total of 396 patients with IS and 378 controls were
      genotyped for seven variants from six CYP pathway genes, including CYP2J2
      rs10889160, CYP2C8 rs17110453, CYP2C8 rs1934980, CYP2C9 rs1799853, CYP2C9
      rs1057910, and CYP3A5 rs776746, as well as epoxide hydrolase 2 (EPHX2) rs751141,
      using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass
      spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) methods. Gene-gene interactions were analyzed using
      generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction (GMDR) methods. KEY FINDINGS:
      Single-gene variant analysis showed no significant differences in the genotype
      distributions of the seven variants between IS patients and healthy volunteers.
      However, GMDR analysis showed a significant gene-gene interaction between
      rs17110453 and rs751141, with scores of 10 and 9 for the cross-validation
      consistency and sign test, respectively (P=0.0167). A 1.86-fold increased risk
      for IS was detected in individuals carrying the genotypes of rs17110453CC and
      rs751141GG (adjusted for age, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus; 95% CI: 1.216
      2.896, P=0.005). SIGNIFICANCE: The CYP2C8 rs17110453 and EPHX2 rs751141 two-locus
      interaction confers a significantly higher risk for IS. The combinational
      analysis used in this study may be helpful in the elucidation of genetic risk
      factors for common and complex diseases such as IS.

PMID- 25839936
TI  - Diabetes susceptibility in Mayas: Evidence for the involvement of polymorphisms
      in HHEX, HNF4alpha, KCNJ11, PPARgamma, CDKN2A/2B, SLC30A8, CDC123/CAMK1D, TCF7L2,
      ABCA1 and SLC16A11 genes.
AB  - Association of type 2 diabetes (T2D) with common variants in HHEX, HNF4alpha,
      KCNJ11, PPARgamma, CDKN2A/2B, SLC30A8, CDC123/CAMK1D, TCF7L2, ABCA1 and SLC16A11
      genes have been reported, mainly in populations of European and Asian ancestry
      and to a lesser extent in Latin Americans. Thus, we aimed to investigate the
      contribution of rs1111875 (HHEX), rs1800961 (HNF4alpha), rs5219 (KCNJ11),
      rs1801282 (PPARgamma), rs10811661 (CDKN2A/2B), rs13266634 (SLC30A8), rs12779790
      (CDC123/CAMK1D), rs7903146 (TCF7L2), rs9282541 (ABCA1) and rs13342692 (SLC16A11)
      polymorphisms in the genetic background of Maya population to associate their
      susceptibility to develop T2D. This is one of the first studies designed
      specifically to investigate the inherited component of T2D in the indigenous
      population of Mexico. SNPs were genotyped by allelic discrimination method in 575
      unrelated Maya individuals. Two SNPs rs10811661 and rs928254 were significantly
      associated with T2D after adjusting for BMI; rs10811661 in a recessive and
      rs9282541 in a dominant model. Additionally, we found phenotypical alterations
      associated with genetic variants: HDL to rs9282541 and insulin to rs13342692. In
      conclusion, these findings support an association of genetic polymorphisms to
      develop T2D in Maya population.

PMID- 25839937
TI  - Next generation sequencing to identify novel genetic variants causative of
      autosomal dominant familial hypercholesterolemia associated with increased risk
      of coronary heart disease.
AB  - Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant inherited disease
      characterized by elevated plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). It
      is an autosomal dominant disease, caused by variants in Ldlr, ApoB or Pcsk9,
      which results in high levels of LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) leading to early coronary
      heart disease. Sequencing whole genome for screening variants for FH are not
      suitable due to high cost. Hence, in this study we performed targeted customized
      sequencing of FH 12 genes (Ldlr, ApoB, Pcsk9, Abca1, Apoa2, Apoc3, Apon2, Arh,
      Ldlrap1, Apoc2, ApoE, and Lpl) that have been implicated in the homozygous
      phenotype of a proband pedigree to identify candidate variants by NGS Ion torrent
      PGM. Only three genes (Ldlr, ApoB, and Pcsk9) were found to be highly associated
      with FH based on the variant rate. The results showed that seven deleterious
      variants in Ldlr, ApoB, and Pcsk9 genes were pathological and were clinically
      significant based on predictions identified by SIFT and PolyPhen. Targeted
      customized sequencing is an efficient technique for screening variants among
      targeted FH genes. Final validation of seven deleterious variants conducted by
      capillary resulted to only one novel variant in Ldlr gene that was found in exon
      14 (c.2026delG, p. Gly676fs). The variant found in Ldlr gene was a novel
      heterozygous variant derived from a male in the proband.

PMID- 25839938
TI  - Novel de novo nonsense mutation of the PHEX gene (p.Lys50Ter) in a Chinese
      patient with hypophosphatemic rickets.
AB  - X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets (XLHR), the most common form of inherited
      rickets, is a dominant disorder characterized by hypophosphatemia, abnormal bone
      mineralization, and short stature. Mutations in the PHEX gene are major causes of
      XLHR. Herein, we clinically characterized four unrelated families with
      hypophosphatemia, bone abnormalities, short stature, and dentin malformation.
      Mutational analysis of the PHEX gene using Sanger sequencing revealed three
      recurrent mutations (c.2197T>C, c.1646G>C, and c.2198G>A) and a de novo nonsense
      mutation (c.148A>T). The novel mutation was not found in any of the unaffected
      family members or in the 100 healthy controls and was predicted to produce a
      truncated protein (p.K50X), a truncated form of the PHEX protein caused by
      nonsense mutations has been frequently detected in XLHR individuals. Thus, our
      work indicated that the c.148A>T (p.K50X) mutation was the likely pathogenic
      mutation in individual III-2 in family 2, and that PHEX gene mutations were
      responsible for XLHR in these Chinese families. These findings expand the
      mutation spectrum of PHEX and may help us to understand the molecular basis of
      XLHR in order to facilitate genetic counseling. 

PMID- 25839939
TI  - Genetic association of IL-6, TNF-alpha and SDF-1 polymorphisms with serum
      cytokine levels in diabetic foot ulcer.
AB  - The IL-6 -174G/C (rs1800795), TNF-alpha -308G/A (rs1800629) and -238G/A
      (rs361525) and SDF-1 801G/A (rs1801157) are well characterized SNPs which have
      previously been linked to various diabetic complications. However, the
      involvement of these SNPs in DFU remains poorly studied. In the present study we
      looked at the association of these SNPs with DFU (disease phenotype) and
      correlated it with the serum levels of cytokines (intermediate phenotype) along
      with other clinical risk factors of DFU (adiponectin, leptin and hsCRP).
      Genotyping was carried out in Normal glucose tolerance ((NGT)/Control=106), T2DM
      without DFU (T2DM=139), T2DM with neuropathy (DFU-DN=191) and T2DM with PVD (DFU
      PVD=79) subjects by PCR-RFLP and the serum cytokine levels were determined by
      ELISA. IL-6 -176 "C" allele conferred significant protection against T2DM but not
      against DFU. TNF-alpha -308 "A" allele (but not -238 SNP) conferred significant
      susceptibility towards both T2DM and DFU-DN. The SDF-1 "A" allele conferred
      significant protection against both DM and DFU-DN but not against DFU-PVD.
      Further, these alleles were shown to influence the serum cytokine/chemokine
      levels under diabetic conditions. Thus SNPs in cytokine/chemokine genes serve as
      valuable biomarkers for DFU.

PMID- 25839940
TI  - Genetic polymorphism of MTHFR C677T and premature coronary artery disease
      susceptibility: A meta-analysis.
AB  - The association between 5, 10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T
      gene polymorphism and premature coronary artery disease (PCAD) is controversial.
      To explore a more precise estimation of the association, a meta-analysis was
      conducted in the present study. The relevant studies were identified by searching
      PubMed, EMBASE, the Web of Science, Cochrane Collaboration Database, Chinese
      National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database and China Biological Medicine
      up to November, 2014. The meta-analysis was performed by STATA 11. 21 studies
      with a total of 6912 subjects, including 2972 PCAD patients and 3940 controls.
      The pooled analysis showed that MTHFR C677T gene polymorphism was probably
      associated with PCAD (CT vs. CC: OR=1.13, 95% CI=1.01-1.27; dominant model:
      OR=1.16, 95% CI=1.04-1.29; recessive model: OR=1.19, 95% CI=1.00-1.40; allele
      analysis: OR=1.17, 95% CI=1.01-1.34). Subgroup analysis by plasma homocysteine
      concentration showed a significant association in the homocysteine >15MUmol/L
      subgroup (CT vs. CC: OR=1.44, 95% CI=1.10-1.88; TT vs. CC: OR=2.51, 95% CI=1.12
      5.63; dominant model: OR=1.51, 95% CI=1.16-1.96; recessive model: OR=2.33, 95%
      CI=1.05-5.20; allele analysis: OR=1.48, 95% CI=1.18-1.87). Subgroup analysis by
      continent displayed a significant association among the Asian population (CT vs.
      CC: OR=1.51, 95% CI=1.23-1.86; TT vs. CC: OR=2.81, 95% CI=1.87-4.23; dominant
      model: OR=1.65, 95% CI=1.35-2.01; recessive model: OR=2.22, 95% CI=1.53-3.21;
      allele analysis: OR=1.61, 95% CI=1.37-1.89). The statistical stability and
      reliability was demonstrated by sensitivity analysis and publication bias
      outcomes. In conclusion, the meta-analysis suggests that MTHFR C677T gene
      polymorphism may be associated with PCAD.

PMID- 25839941
TI  - Class III beta-tubulin in normal and cancer tissues.
AB  - Microtubules are polymeric structures composed of tubulin subunits. Each subunit
      consists of a heterodimer of alpha- and beta-tubulin. At least seven beta-tubulin
      isotypes, or classes, have been identified in human cells, and constitutive
      isotype expression appears to be tissue specific. Class III beta-tubulin (betaIII
      tubulin) expression is normally confined to testes and tissues derived from
      neural cristae. However, its expression can be induced in other tissues, both
      normal and neoplastic, subjected to a toxic microenvironment characterized by
      hypoxia and poor nutrient supply. In this review, we will summarize the
      mechanisms underlying betaIII-tubulin constitutive and induced expression. We
      will also illustrate its capacity to serve as a biomarker of neural commitment in
      normal tissues and as a pure prognostic biomarker in cancer patients. 

PMID- 25839942
TI  - Idiopathic membranous nephropathy in children in China.
AB  - Idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN), which was the result from non-SLE, non
      hepatitis B or C virus infection, is relatively rare in children. We collected
      584 pediatric cases of renal biopsy specimens in children hospitalized in Xijing
      Hospital from Jan 2008 to Dec 2013. We found that IgA nephropathy (27.9%) and
      Henoch-Schonlein purpura (26.4%) are the most common etiology of pediatric kidney
      disease, followed by minimal change disease (10.4%). Surprisingly, the prevalence
      of IMN is very high (7.5%) in pediatric patients. Moreover, the prevalence of IMN
      is quickly increasing from 4.4% in 2009 to 9.1% in 2013. 

PMID- 25839943
TI  - Impact of manufactured TiO2 nanoparticles on planktonic and sessile bacterial
      communities.
AB  - In the present study, we conducted a 2 week microcosm experiment with a natural
      freshwater bacterial community to assess the effects of titanium dioxide
      nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) at various concentrations (0, 1, 10 and 100 mg/L) on
      planktonic and sessile bacteria under dark conditions. Results showed an increase
      of planktonic bacterial abundance at the highest TiO2-NP concentration,
      concomitant with a decrease from that of sessile bacteria. Bacterial assemblages
      were most affected by the 100 mg/L TiO2-NP exposure and overall diversity was
      found to be lower for planktonic bacteria and higher for sessile bacteria at this
      concentration. In both compartments, a 100 mg/L TiO2-NPs exposure induced a
      decrease in the ratio between the Betaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. For
      planktonic communities, a decrease of Comamonadaceae was observed concomitant
      with an increase of Oxalobacteraceae and Cytophagaceae (especially Emticicia).
      For sessile communities, results showed a strong decrease of Betaproteobacteria
      and particularly of Comamonadaceae. 

PMID- 25839944
TI  - Spectroscopic and computational studies of cobalamin species with variable lower
      axial ligation: implications for the mechanism of Co-C bond activation by class I
      cobalamin-dependent isomerases.
AB  - 5'-deoxyadenosylcobalamin (coenzyme B12, AdoCbl) serves as the cofactor for
      several enzymes that play important roles in fermentation and catabolism. All of
      these enzymes initiate catalysis by promoting homolytic cleavage of the
      cofactor's Co-C bond in response to substrate binding to their active sites.
      Despite considerable research efforts, the role of the lower axial ligand in
      facilitating Co-C bond homolysis remains incompletely understood. In the present
      study, we characterized several derivatives of AdoCbl and its one-electron
      reduced form, Co(II)Cbl, by using electronic absorption and magnetic circular
      dichroism spectroscopies. To complement our experimental data, we performed
      computations on these species, as well as additional Co(II)Cbl analogues. The
      geometries of all species investigated were optimized using a quantum
      mechanics/molecular mechanics method, and the optimized geometries were used to
      compute absorption spectra with time-dependent density functional theory.
      Collectively, our results indicate that a reduction in the basicity of the lower
      axial ligand causes changes to the cofactor's electronic structure in the Co(II)
      state that replicate the effects seen upon binding of Co(II)Cbl to Class I
      isomerases, which replace the lower axial dimethylbenzimidazole ligand of AdoCbl
      with a protein-derived histidine (His) residue. Such a reduction of the basicity
      of the His ligand in the enzyme active site may be achieved through proton uptake
      by the catalytic triad of conserved residues, DXHXGXK, during Co-C bond
      homolysis. 

PMID- 25839945
TI  - The leaderful nurse.

PMID- 25839946
TI  - Evaluating an accelerated nursing program: a dashboard for diversity.
AB  - Diversity is a topic of increasing attention in higher education and the nursing
      workforce. Experts have called for a nursing workforce that mirrors the
      population it serves. Students in nursing programs in the United States do not
      reflect our country's diverse population; therefore, much work is needed before
      that goal can be reached. Diversity cannot be successfully achieved in nursing
      education without inclusion and attention to quality. The Inclusive Excellence
      framework can be used by nurse educators to promote inclusion, diversity, and
      excellence. In this framework, excellence and diversity are linked in an
      intentional metric-driven process. Accelerated programs offer a possible venue to
      promote diversity, and one accelerated program is examined using a set of metrics
      and a dashboard approach commonly used in business settings. Several
      recommendations were made for future assessment, interventions, and monitoring.
      Nurse educators are called to examine and adopt a diversity dashboard in all
      nursing programs. 

PMID- 25839947
TI  - Advancing diversity through inclusive excellence in nursing education.
AB  - Nurse leaders call for a more diverse nursing workforce, but too few address the
      concept of inclusion as a recruitment and retention strategy or as part of
      improving the academic learning milieu. This article addresses organizational
      considerations of diversity and inclusion as part of the agenda established by
      the Association of American Colleges and Universities for inclusive excellence,
      building on the idea that academic environments only become excellent when an
      inclusive climate is reached. Six organizational strategies to inclusion are
      presented from the authors' experiences, some structural and others behavioral:
      admissions processes, invisibility, absence of community, promotion and tenure,
      exclusion, and tokenism. A call for structural and behavioral adaptions within
      nursing education to advance an inclusive excellence agenda is presented. 

PMID- 25839948
TI  - Beginning with the end in mind: cultivating minority nurse leaders.
AB  - In response to the need for increased racial and ethnic diversity in the nursing
      profession, the Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) established the Making
      a Difference in Nursing II (MADIN II) Program. The aim of the MADIN II Program is
      to improve the diversity of the nursing workforce by expanding nursing education
      opportunities for economically disadvantaged underrepresented minority (URM)
      students to prepare for, enroll in, and graduate from the DUSON's Accelerated
      Bachelors of Science in Nursing program. Adapted from the highly successful
      Meyerhoff Scholarship Program model, the program is to cultivate URM nursing
      graduates with advanced knowledge and leadership skills who can address health
      disparities and positively influence health care issues currently plaguing
      underrepresented populations. The article discusses the MADIN II framework
      consisting of four unique components: recruitment of students, the Summer
      Socialization Nursing Preentry Program, the Continued Connectivity Program, and
      the Succeed to Excellence Program, providing a framework for other academic
      programs interested in cultivating a pipeline of minority nurse leaders. 

PMID- 25839949
TI  - NEXus: evaluation of an innovative educational consortium for doctoral education
      in nursing.
AB  - The purpose of this article is to describe the evaluation of the Nursing
      Education Xchange (NEXus), a national consortium of doctor of philosophy in
      nursing (PhD) and doctor of nursing practice programs, administered by the
      Western Institute of Nursing, which offers courses on-line. An external evaluator
      surveyed and interviewed faculty and staff coordinators, students, and the
      Western Institute of Nursing Board Members about their experiences with NEXus.
      Overall, individuals' perceptions of the NEXus program were positive. Some
      challenges in registering at other universities were addressed. The program
      helped PhD in nursing students complete their programs of study on time.
      Expansion of the program was recommended to offer more opportunities for students
      to take courses with experts in their areas of interest. Challenges and successes
      are discussed to assist others contemplating a consortium approach. 

PMID- 25839950
TI  - Integrating Million Hearts into nursing and interprofessional educational
      curricula and community settings: a key strategy for improving population health
      across the United States.
AB  - Million Hearts is a national initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and
      strokes by 2017 by screening and educating the public on the "ABCS" of
      cardiovascular health. Million Hearts is an innovative platform for educating
      nursing and health sciences students on the importance of population health and
      interprofessional teamwork. The National Interprofessional Education and Practice
      Consortium to Advance Million Hearts was created, and a free on-line educational
      module was developed to help health care professionals and health sciences
      faculty and students learn about the Million Hearts initiative, conduct community
      screenings, and refer people who screen positive to appropriate resources. After
      completion of the module, individuals receive certification as a Million Hearts
      Fellow. More than 2,500 individuals from 80 colleges across the United States
      have accessed the module. More than 20,000 people have been screened. The module
      and screenings have been incorporated into health sciences curricula and
      community activities. Academic institutions and health science professions
      partnering together as part of the National Interprofessional Education and
      Practice Consortium to Advance Million Hearts provide a unique opportunity to
      demonstrate the impact that a unified approach can have on improving population
      health through the use of screening, education, and prevention. 

PMID- 25839951
TI  - A model for increasing appreciation, accessibility and application of research in
      nursing.
AB  - The confidence and engagement of nurses (and midwives) in research are an area
      for continued development. The Research Appreciation, Accessibility, and
      Application Model (RAAAM), developed in 2011, provides a framework for enhancing
      research activities by nurses within the clinical setting. Unlike other models,
      the RAAAM does not assume a preexisting capacity or knowledge of research;
      however, the model incorporates the multiple research activities that comprise a
      research culture. Although it is acknowledged that undertaking a research project
      is not for everyone, using evidence-based knowledge for practice development is
      essential and relates to all clinical staff. The RAAAM model presents four
      domains-research appreciation, research accessibility, research application, and
      research sustainability. Research appreciation is a first step in realizing the
      potential beneficial impact of research in practice. Relating these activities to
      identified key result areas that are drawn from key stakeholders completes the
      loop, ensuring sustainability of research activities and processes. The model
      presented here offers a practical and user-friendly approach for research
      enhancement in nursing using the platform of a clinical and academic partnership.

PMID- 25839952
TI  - Preparedness for clinical: evaluation of the core elements of the Clinical
      Immersion curriculum model.
AB  - The Clinical Immersion Model is an innovative baccalaureate nursing curriculum
      that has demonstrated successful outcomes over the past 10 years. For those
      intending to adopt the model, individual components in isolation may prove
      ineffective. This article describes three core components of the curriculum that
      form the foundation of preparation for the senior-year clinical immersion.
      Detailed student-centered outcomes evaluation of these critical components is
      shared. Results of a mixed-methods evaluation, including surveys and focus
      groups, are presented. Implications of this curricular evaluation and future
      directions are explored. 

PMID- 25839953
TI  - Practical strategies for nursing education program evaluation.
AB  - Self-evaluation is required for institutions of higher learning and the nursing
      programs within them. The literature provides information on evaluation models
      and instruments, and descriptions of how specific nursing education programs are
      evaluated. However, there are few discussions in the nursing education literature
      of the practical aspects of nursing education program evaluation: how to get
      started, how to keep track of data, who to involve in data collection, and how to
      manage challenging criteria. This article discusses the importance of program
      evaluation in the academic setting and provides information on practical ways to
      organize the evaluation process and aggregate data, and strategies for gathering
      data from students, graduates, alumni, and employers of graduates. 

PMID- 25839954
TI  - Using Carl Rogers' person-centered model to explain interpersonal relationships
      at a school of nursing.
AB  - Faculty members are viewed as nurturers within the academic setting and may be
      able to influence students' behaviors through the formation of positive
      interpersonal relationships. Faculty members' attributes that best facilitated
      positive interpersonal relationships according to Carl Rogers' Person-Centered
      Model was studied. Students (n = 192) enrolled in a 3-year undergraduate nursing
      program in urban Jamaica were randomly selected to participate in this
      descriptive cross-sectional study. A 38-item questionnaire on interpersonal
      relationships with nursing faculty and students' perceptions of their teachers
      was utilized to collect data. Factor analysis was used to create factors of
      realness, prizing, and empathetic understanding. Multiple linear regression
      analysis on the interaction of the 3 factors and interpersonal relationship
      scores was performed while controlling for nursing students' study year and age.
      One hundred sixty-five students (mean age: 23.18 +/- 4.51years; 99% female)
      responded. The regression model explained over 46% of the variance. Realness
      (beta = 0.50, P < .001) was the only significant predictor of the interpersonal
      relationship scores assigned by the nursing students. Of the total number of
      respondents, 99 students (60%) reported satisfaction with the interpersonal
      relationships shared with faculty. Nursing students' perception of faculty
      members' realness appeared to be the most significant attribute in fostering
      positive interpersonal relationships. 

PMID- 25839955
TI  - The teaching-learning approach and critical thinking development: a qualitative
      exploration of Taiwanese nursing students.
AB  - Health care professionals are challenged by the complexities of the health care
      environment. This study uses a qualitative approach to explore how teaching
      strategy affects the development of critical thinking (CT) among Taiwanese
      baccalaureate-level nursing students. Data collected from 109 students'
      reflection reports were analyzed using content analysis. Three categories
      generated by the analysis were the teaching-learning strategy, enhancing CT, and
      transiting into a different learning style. The teaching-learning strategy
      consisted of concept mapping, question and answer, and real-life case studies. CT
      was enhanced alternately by self-directed learning, the realization of the gap
      between known and unknown, and connecting the gap between theoretical nursing
      knowledge and clinical practice. The study results emphasize participants'
      perceptions of becoming a critical thinker, turning into an active learner, and
      eventually achieving self-confidence. These learning effects invest the wisdom of
      teaching-learning with a far-reaching significance. 

PMID- 25839956
TI  - The experience of informatics nurses in Taiwan.
AB  - Despite recent progress in information technology, health care institutions are
      constantly confronted with the need to adapt to the resulting new processes of
      information management and use. Facilitating an effective technology
      implementation requires dedication from informatics nurses (INs) to bridge the
      gap between clinical care and technology. The purpose of this study was to
      explore the working experiences of INs, and alternatives to assist the growth and
      development of the specialty. This qualitative study recruited 8 participants,
      and data were collected in 2009 by use of interview guides related to work roles,
      responsibilities, competencies, and challenges. The emerged themes included (a)
      diversified roles and functions, (b) vague job description, (c) no decision
      making authority, (d) indispensable management support, and (e) searching
      resources for work fulfillment. Findings indicate that for organizations where
      nursing informatics development is ongoing, the IN role should be clearly defined
      as a specialist with identified support resources and decision-making authority.
      Nursing informatics interest groups should further develop training and
      certification programs to validate the professional image of the role. Concepts
      of nursing informatics should be included seamlessly throughout the educational
      curricula and informatics competency-based courses designed to strengthen
      student's technology use and data management capabilities. 

PMID- 25839957
TI  - Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 inhibits activation of the beta-catenin
      signaling in melanoma cells.
AB  - The tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP) family, including TIMP-2,
      regulates the activity of multifunctional metalloproteinases in pathogenesis of
      melanoma. The Wnt/beta-catenin pathway is constitutively activated and plays a
      critical role in melanoma progression. However, the relationship between TIMP-2
      expression and beta-catenin activity is still unclear. We hypothesize that TIMP-2
      over expression inhibits the activation of the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway in
      melanoma cells. Protein expression, distribution, and transcriptional activity of
      beta-catenin were assayed in established stable melanoma cell lines: parental
      A2058 expressing, A2058 T2-1 over-expressing (T2-1), and A2058 T2R-7 under
      expressing (T2R-7) TIMP-2. Compared to T2-1 cells at the basal level, T2R-7
      showed significantly lower amount protein and weaker immunofluorescence staining
      of beta-catenin. This regulation is through posttranslational level via
      ubiquitination. Functionally, proliferation and cell growth were lower in T2R-7
      compared to A2058 and T2-1. Lithium treatment was used to mimics activation of
      the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway. In T2R-7 cells under-expressing TIMP2, lithium
      significantly increased total beta-catenin, nuclear beta-catenin, and its
      downstream protein phosphor-c-Myc (S62). Nuclear beta-catenin staining was
      enhanced in T2R-7. Beta-catenin transcriptional activity and cell proliferation
      were also increased significantly. Axins inhibit beta-catenin pathway via GSK-3
      beta. We further found the ratio of p-GSK-3 beta (S9) to beta-catenin and protein
      levels of Axins were significantly lower, whereas downstream Wnt 11 was high in
      T2R-7 treated with lithium. Collectively, the high level of TIMP-2 protein
      inhibits the activation of the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway, thus suppressing
      proliferation. Insights in the molecular mechanisms of TIMP-2 may provide
      promising opportunities for anti-proliferative therapeutic intervention. 

PMID- 25839958
TI  - Antisynthetase Syndrome: two case report and literature review.
AB  - Antissintetase Syndrome (ASS) is characterized by myositis, Raunaud's phenomenon,
      fever, intertitial lung disease, mechanic's hands and arthropathy associated with
      the presence of antibodies against tRNA synthetase, especially anti-Jo-1. This
      article aims to review the literature on ASS and report two cases where the first
      is a patient with polymyositis who developed subluxation on the proximal
      interphalangeal joint of bilateral first right finger after a few years of the
      disease, associated with pulmonary manifestations and positive anti-JO-1. In the
      second case, we present a patient with dermatomyositis, who developed a
      subluxation of the two first fingers, anti-Jo1 positive and chest CT changes, but
      without clinical evidence of pulmonary involvement. These cases reveal the
      importance of performing early diagnosis. The authors describe two cases of this
      rare syndrome, emphasizing the severity of interstitial lung disease and
      arthritis. 

PMID- 25839959
TI  - Parvovirus B19 infection as a cause of acute myositis in an adult.
AB  - Parvovirus B19 infection is often asymptomatic, but clinical expressions may
      include transient aplastic crisis, erythema infectiosum, non-immune hydrops
      fetalis, and chronic red cell aplasia. This virus has also been associated with
      rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune connective tissue diseases; however, we
      could not identify any acute adult myositis case developed after a Parvovirus B19
      infection in the literature. For this reason, we would like to present a rare
      case of acute myositis developed after Parvovirus B19 infection. In patients
      presenting with symptoms of fever, rash on the legs and myositis, viral
      infections such as Parvovirus B19 should be kept in mind. 

PMID- 25839960
TI  - Humanized mice dually challenged with R5 and X4 HIV-1 show preferential R5
      viremia and restricted X4 infection of CCR5(+)CD4(+) T cells.
AB  - CCR5-tropic (R5) immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) strains are highly
      transmissible during the early stage of infection in humans, whereas CXCR4-tropic
      (X4) strains are less transmissible. This study aimed to explore the basis for
      early phase R5 and X4 HIV-1 infection in vivo by using humanized mice dually
      challenged with R5 HIV-1NLAD8-D harboring DsRed and X4 HIV-1(NL-E) harboring
      EGFP. Whereas R5 HIV-1 replicated well, X4 HIV-1 caused only transient viremia
      with variable kinetics; however, this was distinct from the low level but
      persistent viremia observed in mice challenged with X4 HIV-1 alone. Flow
      cytometric analysis of HIV-1-infected cells revealed that X4 HIV-1 infection of
      CCR5(+)CD4(+) T cells was significantly suppressed in the presence of R5 HIV-1.
      X4 HIV-1 was more cytopathic than R5 HIV-1; however, this was not the cause of
      restricted X4 HIV-1 infection because there were no significant differences in
      the mortality rates of CCR5(+) and CCR5(-) cells within the X4 HIV-1-infected
      cell populations. Taken together, these results suggest that restricted infection
      of CCR5(+)CD4(+) T cells by X4 HIV-1 (occurring via a still-to-be-identified
      mechanism) might contribute to the preferential transmission of R5 HIV-1 during
      the early phase of infection.

PMID- 25839961
TI  - Association Between Organization Culture, Health Status, and Presenteeism.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine relationships of organizational
      culture and health behaviors with presenteeism. METHOD: Data of a self-reported
      questionnaire were collected from 816 employees, who joined the study on a
      voluntary basis, in seven enterprises in northern Taiwan. RESULTS: Organizational
      culture and health behaviors were found to be significantly associated with
      presenteeism. After adjusting for confounding factors, the number of health
      complaints seemed to be more suitable than chronic diseases in predicting
      presenteeism. CONCLUSIONS: This study result implied that advantage could be
      taken of organizational culture and employees' health behaviors to reduce
      presenteeism in the workplace.

PMID- 25839962
TI  - Nanopore Analysis of Single-Stranded Binding Protein Interactions with DNA.
AB  - We study the binding of E. coli single-stranded binding protein (SSB) to single
      stranded DNA (ssDNA) using a solid-state nanopore assay. We find that saturated
      nucleoprotein complexes can be distinguished easily from free SSB, ssDNA, or
      double-stranded DNA individually and demonstrate that the high affinity of SSB
      for ssDNA can be exploited to achieve high-fidelity differentiation from duplex
      molecules in a mixture. We then study nucleoprotein filament formation by
      systematically varying the amount of SSB relative to ssDNA. We observe a
      concomitant shift in the mean amplitude of electrical events that is consistent
      with weakly cooperative binding. Finally, we compare circular and linearized
      ssDNA saturated with SSB and use the results to infer structural details of the
      nucleoprotein complex. 

PMID- 25839963
TI  - Cleaning nanoelectrodes with air plasma.
AB  - Unlike macroscopic and micrometer-sized solid electrodes whose surface can be
      reproducibly cleaned by mechanical polishing, cleaning the nanoelectrode surface
      is challenging because of its small size and extreme fragility. Even very gentle
      polishing typically changes the nanoelectrode size and geometry, thus,
      complicating the replication of nanoelectrochemical experiments. In this letter,
      we show the possibility of cleaning nanoelectrode surfaces nondestructively by
      using an air plasma cleaner. The effects of plasma cleaning have been
      investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging, voltammetry, and scanning
      electrochemical microscopy (SECM). A related issue, the removal of an insoluble
      organic film from the nanoelectrode by plasma cleaning, is also discussed. 

PMID- 25839968
TI  - E-mail to Promote Colorectal Cancer Screening Within Social Networks:
      Acceptability and Content.
AB  - Effective techniques to encourage colorectal cancer screening in underscreened
      populations have included social support interventions and e-mail reminders from
      physicians. Personalized e-mail messages to promote colorectal cancer screening
      within social networks could be even more effective but have not been studied.
      The authors interviewed 387 e-mail users, aged 42-73 years in Georgia, Hawaii,
      and Massachusetts. Participants were asked to edit a sample message in which the
      sender shares a recent colonoscopy experience and urges the recipient to discuss
      colorectal cancer screening with a doctor. For those reporting willingness to
      send this message, changes to the message and suggested subject lines were
      recorded. Edited text was analyzed for content and concordance with original
      message. The majority of participants (74.4%) were willing to e-mail a modifiable
      message. Of those willing, 63.5% edited the message. Common edits included
      deletion (17.7%) or modification (17.4%) of a negatively framed sentence on colon
      cancer risks and addition or modification of personalizing words (15.6%). Few
      edits changed the meaning of the message (5.6%), and even fewer introduced
      factual inaccuracies (1.7%). Modifiable e-mail messages offer a way for screened
      individuals to promote colorectal cancer screening to social network members. The
      accuracy and effects of such messages should be further studied. 

PMID- 25839969
TI  - A Janus Kinase in the JAK/STAT signaling pathway from Litopenaeus vannamei is
      involved in antiviral immune response.
AB  - The JAK/STAT signaling pathways are conserved in evolution and mediate diversity
      immune responses to virus infection. In the present study, a Janus kinase
      (designated as LvJAK) gene was cloned and characterized from Litopenaeus
      vannamei. LvJAK contained the characteristic JAK homology domain (JH domain) from
      JH1 to JH7 and showed 19% identity (34% similarity) and 21% identity (35%
      similarity) to Drosophila Hopscotch protein and Human JAK2 protein, respectively.
      The mRNA of LvJAK was highly expressed in hepatopancreas of L. vannamei and its
      expression level was prominently upregulated after the stimulation of Poly (I:C)
      and white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) challenges. There were 10 putative STAT
      binding motifs in the promoter region of LvJAK, and it could be regulated by
      LvJAK self or (and) LvSTAT, suggesting that LvJAK is the JAK/STAT pathway target
      gene and could function as a positive regulator to form a positive feedback loop.
      In addition, the silencing of LvJAK caused higher mortality rate and virus load,
      suggesting that LvJAK could play an important role in defense against WSSV. This
      is the first report about the complete set of JAK/STAT proteins in shrimp and the
      results provide the evidence of the positive feedback loop mediated by JAK
      protein present in the JAK/STAT pathway in invertebrates.

PMID- 25839970
TI  - Particle size and traffic of phagocytes between the turbot peritoneal cavity and
      lymphoid organs.
AB  - New adjuvants based on microparticles are being developed for use in fish
      vaccines. The size of the microparticles may affect the immune response
      generated, as the adjuvant can either be retained at the site of injection or
      transported to lymphoid organs. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the
      maximum size of particles that can be exported out of the cavity, to determine
      the phagocytosis kinetics and to establish the routes whereby particle-containing
      cells move from the peritoneal cavity after injection. Fish were injected
      intraperitoneally with fluorescent cyclodextrins or with fluorescent particles of
      different size (0.1-10 MUm). Phagocytes containing beads of size 4 MUm or larger
      did not reach lymphoid organs, although some were able to cross the peritoneal
      mesothelium. The number of free peritoneal neutrophils and macrophage-like cells
      containing beads peaked at 6 and 24 h respectively, and the numbers then
      decreased quickly, indicating migration of cells to the peritoneum or other body
      areas. Migration of cells containing beads mainly occurs through the visceral
      peritoneum. These cells were found on the latero-ventral surfaces of the
      peritoneal folds that connect the visceral organs. Except for some vascularised
      areas, the surfaces of liver, stomach and intestine were devoid of particle
      containing cells. Some cells containing beads were also found attached to the
      parietal peritoneum, although in lower numbers than in the visceral peritoneum.
      Such cells were also found in high numbers in the spleen and kidney 6 h post
      injection. Because cells containing phagocytosed material quickly become attached
      to the peritoneum or migrate to lymphoid organs, the immune response generated by
      a vaccine or by an inflammatory stimulus should probably be evaluated in attached
      cells as well as in free peritoneal cells.

PMID- 25839971
TI  - Effect of copper nanoparticles and copper sulphate on oxidation stress, cell
      apoptosis and immune responses in the intestines of juvenile Epinephelus
      coioides.
AB  - Copper nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) are widely used in various industrial and
      commercial applications, but little is known about their potential hazard in the
      intestines of marine teleosts. In this study we investigated the effects of Cu
      NPs and soluble Cu in the intestines of juvenile Epinephelus coioides. The fish
      were exposed in triplicate to control, 20 or 100 MUg Cu L(-1) as either copper
      sulphate (CuSO4) or Cu-NPs for 25 days. With an increase in Cu-NPs or CuSO4 dose,
      the concentration of malonaldehyde in the intestines significantly increased,
      whereas the activities of total superoxide dismutase and catalase as well as
      glutathione concentration decreased compared to the control. Statistical analysis
      of an apoptosis index of intestinal cells showed that general dose-dependent
      apoptosis was induced by Cu-NPs or CuSO4, with Cu-NPs inducing the significantly
      higher apoptosis index than CuSOv. Caspase-3 and caspase-9 activities were
      increased with an increase in Cu-NPs or CuSO4 dose, more so in the Cu-NPs than
      CuSO4 treatment. With an increase in Cu-NPs or CuSOv dose, succinate
      dehydrogenase and Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity and cytochrome c concentration in
      mitochondria decreased, accompanied by increased cytochrome c concentration in
      the cytosol. Concentration of heat shock proteins 70 and 90 in the intestines and
      expression of corresponding genes were enhanced with an increase in the Cu-NPs or
      CuSOv dose, but the concentrations and expressions of immunoglobulin M and
      lysozyme decreased (more in the Cu-NPs than CuSO4 treatment) compared to the
      control. Expression of interleukin-1beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha showed a
      dose-dependent increase with the increased Cu-NPs or CuSO4 dose, with the highest
      expression found in the Cu-NPs treatment. In conclusion, Cu-NPs had similar toxic
      effects as CuSOv in the intestines of juvenile E. coioides, but toxicity of Cu
      NPs was more severe than that of CuSO4.

PMID- 25839972
TI  - Shear-Induced Precursor Relaxation-Dependent Growth Dynamics and Lamellar
      Orientation of beta-Crystals in beta-Nucleated Isotactic Polypropylene.
AB  - Although a shear flow field and beta-nucleating agents (beta-NAs) can separately
      induce the formation of beta-crystals in isotactic polypropylene (iPP) in an
      efficient manner, we previously encountered difficulty in obtaining abundant beta
      crystals when these two factors were applied due to the competitive growth of
      alpha- and beta-crystals. In the current study, to induce the formation of a high
      fraction of beta-crystals, a strategy that introduces a relaxation process after
      applying a shear flow field but before cooling to crystallize beta-nucleated iPP
      was proposed. Depending on the relaxation state of the shear-induced oriented
      precursors, abundant beta-crystals with a refined orientation morphology were
      indeed formed. The key to producing these crystals lay in the partially dissolved
      shear-induced oriented precursors as a result of the relaxation process's ability
      to generate beta-crystals by inducing the formation of needlelike beta-NAs.
      Therefore, the content of beta-crystals gradually increased with relaxation time,
      whereas the overall crystallization kinetics progressively decreased. Moreover,
      more time was required for the content of the beta-phase to increase to the
      (maximum) value observed in quiescent crystallization than for the effect of flow
      on crystallization kinetics to be completely eliminated. The c-axis of the
      oriented beta-lamellae was observed to be perpendicular, rather than parallel, to
      the fiber axis of the needlelike beta-NAs, as first evidenced by the unique small
      angle X-ray scattering patterns obtained. The significance of the relaxation
      process was manifested in regulating the content and morphology of oriented beta
      crystals in sheared, beta-nucleated iPP and thus in the structure and property
      manipulation of iPP. 

PMID- 25839973
TI  - MOF-derived magnetic carbonaceous nanocomposite as a heterogeneous catalyst to
      activate oxone for decolorization of Rhodamine B in water.
AB  - Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) represents one of the most interesting and
      versatile materials nowadays. As interests to explore MOFs' functionality and
      potential continue to grow, using MOFs as a platform/template to develop other
      functional materials has received a great attention recently. Among these MOF
      derived materials, MOF-derived carbonaceous materials are particularly attractive
      owing to its simple preparation and dual characteristics from carbon and metals.
      Herein, we propose to prepare a cobalt-based magnetic carbonaceous nanocomposite
      (MCN) by one-step carbonization of the cobalt-containing MOF, ZIF-67. Because of
      cobalt oxide (i.e., Co3O4) in MCN, MCN not only exhibits magnetic controllability
      but also catalytic activity to activate Oxone. To investigate and optimize this
      MCN-activated Oxone process, the decolorization of a cationic dye, Rhodamine B
      (Rh.B) in water is selected as a model reaction. This MCN-activated Oxone process
      was found to be the most effective when the ratio of Oxone/MCN was 5/1. While the
      high temperatures significantly improved the decolorization efficiency, the high
      initial pH was unfavorable for the Rh.B decolorization by this catalytic Oxone
      process. UV irradiation and ultrasonication were both found to enhance this MCN
      activated Oxone process. The recyclability test revealed that MCN can be
      continuously used with constant and effective catalytic activity. These features
      enable MCN to be a promising and interesting catalyst for the wet chemical
      oxidation such as the Oxone oxidation process.

PMID- 25839975
TI  - Response to Letter to the Editor Re: Clinical Outcome Parameters for Necrotizing
      Otitis Externa.

PMID- 25839974
TI  - A case study on quantitative in vitro to in vivo extrapolation for environmental
      esters: Methyl-, propyl- and butylparaben.
AB  - Parabens have been reported as potential endocrine disrupters and are widely used
      in consumer projects including cosmetics, foods and pharmaceuticals. We report on
      the development of a PBPK model for methyl-, propyl-, and butylparaben. The model
      was parameterized through a combination of QSAR for tissue solubility and
      quantitative in vitro to in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) for hydrolysis in portals
      of entry including intestine and skin as well as in the primary site of
      metabolism, the liver. Overall, the model provided very good agreement with
      published time-course data in blood and urine from controlled dosing studies in
      rat and human, and demonstrates the potential value of quantitative IVIVE in
      expanding the use of human biomonitoring data in safety assessment. An in vitro
      based cumulative margin of safety (MOS) was calculated by comparing the effective
      concentrations from an in vitro assay of estrogenicity to the free paraben
      concentrations predicted by the model to be associated with the 95th percentile
      urine concentrations reported in NHANES (2009-2010 collection period). The
      calculated MOS for adult females was 108, whereas the MOS for males was 444. 

PMID- 25839976
TI  - Clinical Characteristics and Management of External Auditory Canal Squamous Cell
      Carcinoma in Post-Irradiated Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical characteristics and management of patients
      with external auditory canal (EAC) squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) that arose after
      they received radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and to compare them
      with primary EAC SCC patients. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective clinical analysis.
      SETTING: Hospital. PATIENTS: Nine irradiated NPC patients who subsequently
      developed secondary EAC SCC and 41 primary EAC SCC patients at a single hospital.
      INTERVENTION: Clinical characteristics and management outcomes of patients were
      reviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical manifestations, regions of tumor
      involvement, the pathological staging, cumulative overall survival rates, Kaplan
      Meier method, log rank test, and Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: The most common
      symptoms of both groups were otorrhea, otalgia, and hearing loss. The region most
      involved in both groups was the EAC. The proportions of early stage (T1,T2)
      tumors in the post-irradiated and primary EAC SCC group were 56 and 22%,
      respectively. The 6-month, 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year cumulative overall survival
      rates of the post-irradiated EAC SCC group were 100, 100, 89, and 89%,
      respectively. The incidence of radionecrosis was higher in the post-irradiation
      EAC SCC group than in the primary EAC SCC group. CONCLUSIONS: Post-irradiation
      EAC SCC has similar symptoms and invades similar regions as primary EAC SCC. The
      proportion of early stage tumors in the post-irradiated EAC SCC group was higher
      than that in the primary EAC SCC group. High incidence of radionecrosis was
      observed after the second course of radiotherapy. Aggressive surgical treatment
      is strongly recommended, but adjuvant radiotherapy for early stage EAC SCC should
      be provided cautiously.

PMID- 25839977
TI  - 3D Printed Pediatric Temporal Bone: A Novel Training Model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Temporal bone dissection is a fundamental element of otologic
      training. Cadaveric temporal bones (CTB) are the gold standard surgical training
      model; however, many institutions do not have ready access to them and their cost
      can be significant: $300 to $500. Furthermore, pediatric cadaveric temporal bones
      are not readily available. Our objective is to develop a pediatric temporal bone
      model. STUDY DESIGN: Temporal bone model. SETTING: Tertiary Children's Hospital.
      SUBJECTS: Pediatric patient model. METHODS: We describe the novel use of a 3D
      printer for the generation of a plaster training model from a pediatric high-
      resolution CT temporal bone scan of a normal pediatric temporal bone. RESULTS:
      Three models were produced and were evaluated. The models utilized multiple
      colors (white for bone, yellow for the facial nerve) and were of high quality.
      Two models were drilled as a proof of concept and found to be an acceptable
      facsimile of the patient's anatomy, rendering all necessary surgical landmarks
      accurately. The only negative comments pertaining to the 3D printed temporal bone
      as a training model were the lack of variation in hardness between cortical and
      cancellous bone, noting a tactile variation from cadaveric temporal bones.
      CONCLUSION: Our novel pediatric 3D temporal bone training model is a viable, low
      cost training option for previously inaccessible pediatric temporal bone
      training. Our hope is that, as 3D printers become commonplace, these models could
      be rapidly reproduced, allowing for trainees to print models of patients before
      performing surgery on the living patient.

PMID- 25839978
TI  - Pros and Cons of Round Window Vibroplasty in Open Cavities: Audiological,
      Surgical, and Quality of Life Outcomes.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the audiological, surgical, quality of life, and quality
      of sound outcomes in adults with open cavities implanted with the Vibrant
      Soundbridge (VSB) implant using round window (RW) vibroplasty approach. STUDY
      DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: Otolaryngology department, tertiary
      referral hospital. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twelve adult patients with conductive or
      mixed hearing loss, all with previous middle ear surgery, underwent RW
      vibroplasty in an open cavity. Compound action potential thresholds were assessed
      during surgery. Surgical complications were recorded. Subjective benefit was
      evaluated using the Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire (NCIQ), Glasgow
      Benefit Inventory (GBI), and Hearing Implant Sound Quality Index (HISQUI29)
      tests. RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 42 months (range 12-76). There was no
      significant change in bone conduction thresholds after surgery. Mean functional
      gain was 34.3 dB and speech discrimination score at 65 dB significantly improved
      from 14 to 83%. Extrusion of the wire link was the main surgical complication in
      four patients. All NCIQ domains improved after surgery. All patients had a
      positive overall GBI score (mean 35.0). Mean HISQUI29 score was 152.8, on average
      the quality of sound being defined as "very good." CONCLUSION: VSB is an
      effective method of hearing restoration for adults with open cavities suffering
      from conductive or mixed hearing loss. Intraoperative electrocochleography may be
      considered of significant help to check the coupling to the inner ear. The high
      rate of extrusion suggests that middle ear obliteration may be considered in
      these patients.

PMID- 25839979
TI  - Electrophysiological Detection of Intracochlear Scalar Changing Perimodiolar
      Cochlear Implant Electrodes: A Blinded Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether a previous established neural response
      telemetry (NRT) ratio corresponds with the scalar position of the CI electrode.
      STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective blinded controlled study. SETTING: Tertiary referral
      center. PATIENTS: The electrophysiological data sets of 85 patients with measured
      intraoperative NRTs were evaluated. All patients were implanted with the same CI
      system. Using a flat panel tomography system, the position of the electrode array
      was confirmed radiologically. INTERVENTIONS: The radiological results were
      blindly compared with the intraoperatively obtained electrophysiological data
      (NRT ratio) and statistically evaluated. In a second step, irregularities between
      the NRT ratios and the radiologically confirmed electrode positions were
      determined and the entire study material was investigated deeper. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Correlation of the NRT ratio with the intracochlear position of the CI
      electrode. RESULTS: By electrophysiological evaluation only, 69 patients were
      detected without a scalar change at first. In 16 patients, a scalar change was
      probable. A significant correlation between the radiological results and the NRT
      ratios was found. Secondly, additional patient characteristics were identified
      which influences the electrode's position. Excluding those patients, the
      selectivity and specificity of the NRT ratio could be increased to a higher
      level. CONCLUSION: Evidenced by a blinded group of patients, we are able to show
      that the electrode array position within the cochlea could be predicted using the
      NRT ratio.

PMID- 25839980
TI  - Correlation of Electrophysiological Properties and Hearing Preservation in
      Cochlear Implant Patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To monitor changes in cochlear function during cochlear implantation
      using electrocochleography (ECoG) and to correlate changes to postoperative
      hearing preservation. METHODS: ECoG responses to acoustic stimuli of 250, 500,
      and 1000 Hz were recorded during cochlear implantation. The recording electrode
      was placed on the promontory and stabilized to fix the position during cochlear
      implantation. Baseline recordings were obtained after completion of the posterior
      tympanotomy. Changes of the ongoing ECoG response at suprathreshold intensities
      were analyzed after full insertion of the cochlear implant electrode array.
      Audiometric tests were conducted before and 4 weeks after surgery and correlated
      with electrophysiological findings. RESULTS: Ninety-five percent (18/19) of
      cochlear implant subjects had measurable ECoG responses. Under unchanged
      conditions, recordings showed a high repeatability without significant
      differences between 2 recordings (p <= 0.01). Ninety-four percent (17/18) of
      subjects showed no relevant changes in ECoG recordings after insertion of the
      cochlear implant electrode array. One subject showed decreases in responses at
      all frequencies indicative of cochlear trauma. This was associated with a
      complete hearing loss 4 weeks after surgery compared with mean presurgical low
      frequency hearing of 78 dB HL. CONCLUSION: Extracochlear ECoG is a reliable tool
      to assess cochlear function during cochlear implantation. Moderate threshold
      shifts could be caused by postoperative mechanisms or minor cochlear trauma.
      Detectable changes in extracochlear ECoG recordings, indicating gross cochlear
      trauma, are probably predictive of complete loss of residual acoustic hearing.

PMID- 25839981
TI  - Normal Values for Cervical Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic Potentials.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the variability of normal values for cervical vestibular
      evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP) testing and to provide guidance regarding
      which parameters should be reported for clinical practice. STUDY DESIGN: Forty
      eight normal subjects with no history of hearing loss or vestibular symptoms
      underwent cVEMP testing. Measurement parameters were tabulated and compared to
      other sets of cVEMP normal values in the literature. The literature was reviewed
      to assess the clinical significance of abnormal cVEMP results. The distributions
      of threshold and symmetry ratios for normal subjects were compared to the
      distributions of 90 patients who underwent cVEMP testing. SETTING: Tertiary
      academic center. RESULTS: Upper limits of 42% symmetry ratio and the range of 65
      to 95 dB HL for threshold were established for our center.The quartile
      coefficients of dispersion were much less than 1.0 for all cVEMP parameters in
      the literature, suggesting that the variability in normal ranges across the
      literature is small. The distributions for threshold and symmetry ratio were
      similar between normal and patient groups. There is a lack of information in the
      literature regarding the impairment of function resulting from various degrees of
      abnormality of VEMP results. CONCLUSIONS: Normal values for cVEMP parameters are
      statistically consistent in the literature. The clinical significance of abnormal
      values has not been validated. For clinical purposes, cVEMP "thresholds" should
      be reported. Reporting of other parameters is optional.

PMID- 25839982
TI  - Otosclerosis Without Stapes Fixation.

PMID- 25839983
TI  - The psychological side of sport.

PMID- 25839984
TI  - Diversity of CRISPR loci and virulence genes in pathogenic Escherichia coli
      isolates from various sources.
AB  - Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains, including those of O157:H7
      and the "big six" serogroups (i.e., O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145) are
      food-borne pathogens that pose a serious health threat to humans. Ruminants,
      especially cattle, are a major reservoir for O157 and non-O157 STEC. In the
      present study, 115 E. coli strains isolated from small and very small beef
      processing plants were screened for virulence genes (stx1, stx2, eae) using a
      multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Thirteen (11.3%) of the 115 isolates
      tested positive for stx1, stx2, or eae genes, but only 4 (3.5%) tested positive
      for either stx1 or stx2. A multiplex PCR reaction targeting eight O-serogroups
      (O26, O45, O103, O111, O113, O121, O145, O157) identified 12 isolates as O26,
      O103, O111, or O145, with E. coli O26 being the most predominant serogroup
      (61.5%). The thirteen isolates were further analyzed using Clustered Regularly
      Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) subtyping. Consistent with
      previous studies, CRISPR alleles from strains of the same serogroup were similar
      in their spacer content and order, regardless of the isolation source. A
      completely different CRISPR allele was observed in one isolate ("7-J") which
      exhibited a different O-serogroup (O78). Our results confirmed previous findings
      that CRISPR loci are conserved among phylogenetically-related strains. In
      addition, 8 E. coli O26 isolates and a collection of 42 E. coli O26 isolates were
      screened for 12 enterohemorrhagic E. coli-specific genes. Seven genes (ECs848
      Hypothetical Protein, ECs2226-Hypothetical Protein, ECs3857-nleB, ECs3858
      Hypothetical Protein, ECs4552-escF, ECs4553-Hypothetical Protein, and ECs4557
      sepL) were found in all 50 isolates. An additional 5 genes (ECs1322-ureA urease
      subunit gamma, ECs1323-ureB urease subunit beta, ECs1326-ureF, ECs1561
      Hypothetical Protein, and ECs1568-Hypothetical Protein) were found to be highly
      prevalent in isolates from human sources, while lower in isolates from beef
      processing plants, cattle, and other sources. This finding indicates the possible
      role of these genes in virulence of human O26 strains. 

PMID- 25839985
TI  - Thermoelectric Transport Properties of Fe-Enriched ZnO with High-Temperature
      Nanostructure Refinement.
AB  - Thermoelectric properties of Fe-doped ZnO materials are investigated and
      correlated with the phase and microstructural evolution. Both a ZnO solid
      solution phase and a ZnFe2O4 spinel phase are observed. Analysis was made of
      temperature measurements of Seebeck coefficients as combined with the law of
      mixture to estimate the Fermi level in the constituent phases, which are further
      correlated with the Fe solute concentration in ZnO lattices and the overall
      electrical conductivity. In addition, the thermoelectric figure of merit is found
      to increase with the actual Fe content in ZnO lattices, due to the reduced
      thermal conductivity by point defect scattering of phonons and enhanced
      electrical transport via electron doping. The maximum achievable power factor of
      Fe-doped ZnO material is found to be similar to that of the ZnO-In2O3 system.
      Another important finding of the present work is the significant nanostructure
      refinement in 18 month old FeO1.5-doped ZnO after high-temperature thermal
      treatment, leading to further reduced thermal conductivity, which is beneficial
      and promising for high-temperature thermoelectric performance. 

PMID- 25839986
TI  - Quality and length of life, money and urethral stricture disease.
AB  - PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article walks through some of the ideas behind patient
      reported outcome measurement and quality of life research against the backdrop of
      urethral stricture disease and conditions of the lower urinary tract more
      generally, why measurement matters at all, future areas for research and
      development and potential opportunities for misuse and manipulation. RECENT
      FINDINGS: It is the authors' opinion that only one published study has
      substantially advanced our understanding of the way men with urethral stricture
      disease manage this condition in the real world, and, in turn, the outcomes those
      men seek when they consent to surgery and its associated risks. There is,
      however, almost certainly greater acceptance now by reconstructive urologists of
      the utility of patient-reported outcome measures in audit; surgical performance
      evaluation; clinical research; and fair, logical and transparent healthcare
      resource allocation at a population level. This is evidenced by the recent
      proliferation of studies incorporating patient-reported outcomes, which appear
      today to be on parity at least with those that surgeons historically gave
      priority to. SUMMARY: The next frontier in urethral stricture disease outcomes
      research is a better understanding of the impact of this condition on men's daily
      lives. That level of insight is likely to be gained through a mixture of
      qualitative and quantitative research methods applied to collaborative research
      ventures with men with the condition who, as those that have the most to gain and
      lose, must be majority stakeholders in this process.

PMID- 25839989
TI  - Ivabradine: A Unique and Intriguing Medication for Treating Cardiovascular
      Disease.
AB  - There has been much research linking elevated resting heart rate to
      cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Based on these findings, a lower resting
      heart rate would be of theoretical benefit in patients with cardiovascular
      disease. From a pathophysiologic perspective, a lower resting heart rate would be
      of particular benefit in patients with ischemic heart disease and/or heart
      failure. Although beta-blockers and nondihydropyridine calcium channel blockers
      are effective at lowering heart rate, they have many other pharmacologic effects
      that may not be desirable in some patients, such as negative inotropy. Ivabradine
      is a drug designed to lower heart rate without any other demonstrable
      pharmacologic effects; in other words, a pure heart rate-lowering drug. It
      functions by blocking the hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide gated
      channels (f-channels) specific for the sinoatrial node and disrupting If ion
      current flow. This effectively prolongs diastolic depolarization and slows firing
      in the sinoatrial node, which lowers heart rate. The effects of ivabradine are
      most pronounced at higher heart rates (use-dependence), which is important in
      minimizing the development of symptomatic bradycardia. Clinical trials have
      demonstrated ivabradine to be an effective antianginal drug both alone and in
      combination with beta-blocker therapy, although it has not been shown to produce
      a demonstrable effect on reducing major adverse cardiovascular events. In
      patients with heart failure, ivabradine has demonstrated many hemodynamic
      benefits, but its effect on clinical outcomes have been mixed and dependent on
      baseline heart rate, ie, the drug may be of benefit with higher baseline heart
      rates, but detrimental with low baseline heart rates. The adverse effects of
      ivabradine are not uncommon, but are rarely severe and include visual
      disturbances, bradycardia, and atrial fibrillation. Although ivabradine is a very
      interesting new agent, its variable benefits in large-scale clinical trials leave
      its exact place in therapy still somewhat nebulous. Unanswered questions include
      which patient populations would benefit most from this drug, and which
      concomitant medications would produce the best clinical outcomes when used with
      ivabradine. 

PMID- 25839988
TI  - Low-temperature plasma treatment induces DNA damage leading to necrotic cell
      death in primary prostate epithelial cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In recent years, the rapidly advancing field of low-temperature
      atmospheric pressure plasmas has shown considerable promise for future
      translational biomedical applications, including cancer therapy, through the
      generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. METHOD: The cytopathic effect
      of low-temperature plasma was first verified in two commonly used prostate cell
      lines: BPH-1 and PC-3 cells. The study was then extended to analyse the effects
      in paired normal and tumour (Gleason grade 7) prostate epithelial cells cultured
      directly from patient tissue. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and staurosporine were
      used as controls throughout. RESULTS: Low-temperature plasma (LTP) exposure
      resulted in high levels of DNA damage, a reduction in cell viability, and colony
      forming ability. H2O2 formed in the culture medium was a likely facilitator of
      these effects. Necrosis and autophagy were recorded in primary cells, whereas
      cell lines exhibited apoptosis and necrosis. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates
      that LTP treatment causes cytotoxic insult in primary prostate cells, leading to
      rapid necrotic cell death. It also highlights the need to study primary cultures
      in order to gain more realistic insight into patient response.

PMID- 25839987
TI  - Frequent MED12 mutations in phyllodes tumours of the breast.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Phyllodes tumours are rare fibroepithelial tumours of the breast,
      that include benign, borderline, and malignant lesions. Although the molecular
      basis of phyllodes tumours largely remains unknown, a recent exome study
      identified MED12 mutations as a sole recurrent genetic alteration in
      fibroadenoma, a common benign fibroepithelial tumour that shares some
      histological features with the phyllodes tumour. METHODS: Forty-six phyllodes
      tumours and 58 fibroadenomas of the breast were analysed for MED12 mutations by
      using Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: MED12 mutations were identified in 37 out of
      the 46 phyllodes tumours (80%). The prevalence of MED12 mutations was similar
      among benign (15/18, 83%), borderline (12/15, 80%), and malignant tumours (10/13,
      77%). MED12 mutations were also identified in 36 of the 58 fibroadenomas (62%).
      The mutations were frequent among intracanalicular-type (24/32, 75%) and complex
      type lesions (4/6, 67%), but were significantly less common among the
      pericanalicular-type lesions (8/20, 40%). A microdissection-based analysis showed
      that MED12 mutations were confined to the stromal components in both phyllodes
      tumours and fibroadenomas. CONCLUSIONS: MED12 mutations were frequent among the
      phyllodes tumours of the breast, regardless of the tumour grade. Phyllodes
      tumours and fibroadenomas share, at least in part, a common genetic background.

PMID- 25839990
TI  - Reverse Remodeling in Systolic Heart Failure.
AB  - Left ventricular (LV) remodeling is the most common term used to describe the
      functional, structural, myocellular, and interstitial changes that occur in
      response to myocardial injury and/or chronic changes in myocardial loading
      conditions. Progression of LV remodeling over time in response to neurohormonal
      activation, increased wall stress, and inflammatory signaling pathways is
      associated with an increased risk of major morbidity and mortality. LV reverse
      remodeling describes the process by which an injured LV with a dilated spherical
      phenotype may return toward a normalization of ventricular structure and
      function, either spontaneously or in response to therapeutic interventions. LV
      reverse remodeling can occur in response to interventions that mitigate the
      source of myocardial injury, or that reduce or eliminate the neurohormonal and/or
      hemodynamic factors that contribute to the progression of the LV remodeling
      process. In this article, we review selected studies that demonstrate the LV
      reverse remodeling process in response to pharmacological, pacemaker device, and
      mechanical circulatory support device interventions. Future therapies targeting
      the physiological, neurohormonal, and/or molecular signaling pathways to effect
      reverse remodeling may further improve clinical outcomes in heart failure
      patients. 

PMID- 25839991
TI  - Usefulness of platelet function tests to predict bleeding with antithrombotic
      medications.
AB  - The pharmacological inhibition of platelets has always been regarded as a double
      edged sword: the challenge of balancing the antithrombotic effect against the
      bleeding risk. Potent antiplatelet agents and novel oral anticoagulants,
      sometimes in combination, are increasingly used in the treatment of
      cardiovascular disease and for thromboprophylaxis in atrial fibrillation.
      Although such treatment has reduced the risk of thrombotic events, the potential
      for major bleeding has increased, and a technique to identify those at increased
      bleeding risk is greatly needed. Platelet function tests (PFTs), most frequently
      VerifyNow and also the vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein -phosphorylation
      assay, have been used to identify low on-treatment platelet reactivity, to
      identify individuals who may be at increased bleeding risk. Such results predict
      nuisance bleeding, but many individuals have low on-treatment platelet reactivity
      and yet do not exhibit major or even minor bleeding. Although PFTs may be useful
      in assessing populations, they do not allow identification of individual patients
      at risk of bleeding on either antiplatelet or novel oral anticoagulant therapy,
      nor do they allow the tailoring of such therapy to optimize the risk:benefit
      ratio. Thrombin plays a cardinal role in both arterial thrombus formation and
      hemostasis, yet most PFTs fail to assess the contribution of thrombin, because
      they employ anticoagulated blood. Techniques such as the calibrated automated
      thrombogram and the point-of-care global thrombosis test, performed on native
      blood, which measure endogenous thrombin potential, seem to show the most promise
      for profiling bleeding risk, as tests that most physiologically assess the
      effects of medications on thrombin. 

PMID- 25839992
TI  - Strain Imaging: From Physiology to Practical Applications in Daily Practice.
AB  - Non-Doppler, 2-dimensional strain imaging is a new echocardiographic technique
      for obtaining strain and strain rate measurements, which serves as a major
      advancement in understanding myocardial deformation. It analyzes motion in
      ultrasound imaging by tracking speckles in 2 dimensions. There are a lot of data
      emerging with multiple applications of strain imaging in the clinical practice of
      echocardiography. As incorporation of strain imaging in daily practice has been
      challenging, we intend to systematically highlight the top 10 applications of
      speckle-tracking echocardiography, which every cardiologist should be aware of:
      chemotherapy cardiotoxicity, left ventricular assessment, cardiac amyloidosis,
      hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, right ventricular dysfunction, valvular
      heart diseases (aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation), cardiac sarcoidosis,
      athlete heart, left atrial assessment, and cardiac dyssynchrony. 

PMID- 25839993
TI  - Epigenetic Regulation in Heart Failure: Part I RNA.
AB  - Epigenetic regulatory mechanisms play key roles in cardiac development,
      differentiation, homeostasis, response to stress and injury and disease. Human
      heart failure epigenetic regulatory mechanisms have not been deciphered to date.
      This 2-part review distills the rapidly evolving research focused on human heart
      failure epigenetic regulatory mechanisms. Part I focuses on epigenetic regulatory
      mechanisms involving RNA, specifically the role of short, intermediate and long
      noncoding RNAs and endogenous competing RNA regulatory networks. Part II focuses
      on the epigenetic regulatory mechanisms involving DNA, including DNA methylation,
      histone modifications, and chromatin conformational changes. Part II concludes
      with 2 examples of well-studied integrated epigenetic regulatory mechanisms, the
      structural and functional roles of the mediator complex in regulating
      transcription, and the epigenetic networked "cross-talk" regulating atrial
      natriuretic peptide and brain natriuretic peptide promoter activation. 

PMID- 25839994
TI  - Regulation of alpha-1 acid glycoprotein synthesis by porcine hepatocytes in
      monolayer culture.
AB  - Alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP, orosomucoid, ORM-1) is a highly glycosylated
      mammalian acute-phase protein, which is synthesized primarily in the liver and
      represents the major serum protein in newborn pigs. Recent data have suggested
      that the pig is unique in that AGP is a negative acute-phase protein in this
      species, and its circulating concentration appears to be associated with growth
      rate. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the regulation of AGP
      synthesis in hepatocytes prepared from suckling piglets and to provide a
      framework to compare its regulation with that of haptoglobin (HP), a positive
      acute-phase protein. Hepatocytes were isolated from preweaned piglets and
      maintained in serum-free monolayer culture for up to 72 h. The influences of
      hormones, cytokines, and redox modifiers on the expression and secretion of AGP
      and HP were determined by relative polymerase chain reaction and by measuring the
      concentration of each protein secreted into culture medium. The messenger RNA
      abundance and/or secretion of AGP protein was enhanced by interleukin (IL)-17a,
      IL-1, and resveratrol and inhibited by tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF),
      oncostatin M, and thyroid hormone (P < 0.05). HP expression and synthesis were
      upregulated by oncostatin M, IL-6, and dexamethasone and downregulated by TNF (P
      < 0.01). The overall messenger RNA expression at 24 h was in agreement with the
      secreted protein patterns confirming that control of these proteins in
      hepatocytes is largely transcriptional. Moreover, these data support the
      consideration that AGP is a negative acute-phase reactant and appears to be
      regulated by cytokines (with the exception of TNF) and hormones primarily in a
      manner opposite to that of the positive acute-phase protein, HP.

PMID- 25839995
TI  - Seasonality of dizziness and vertigo in a tropical region.
AB  - Vertigo and dizziness are among the most common medical complaints in the
      emergency room, and are associated with a considerable personal and health care
      burden. Scarce and conflicting reports indicate those symptoms may present a
      seasonal distribution. This study aimed at investigating the existence of a
      seasonal distribution of vertigo/dizziness in a tropical region, and the
      correlations of these findings with climatic variables. The charts of all
      patients consecutively admitted between 2009 and 2012 in the emergency room of a
      Brazilian general hospital were reviewed. A total of 4920 cases containing these
      terms were sorted from a sample of 276,076 emergency records. Seasonality was
      assessed using Cosinor Analysis. Pearson's correlations were performed between
      the incidence of consultations, considering separately dizziness and vertigo and
      each of the predictor climatic variables of that index month. Significant
      seasonal patterns were observed for dizziness and vertigo in the emergency room.
      Vertigo was more frequent in late winter-spring, negatively correlating to
      humidity (r = -0.374; p = 0.013) and rainfall (r = -0.334; p = 0.020). Dizziness
      peaked on summer months, and positively correlated to average temperatures (r =
      0.520; p < 0.001) and rainfall (r = 0.297; p = 0.040), but negatively to
      atmospheric pressure (r = -0.424; p = 0.003). The different seasonal patterns
      evidenced for dizziness and vertigo indicate possible distinct underlying
      mechanisms of how seasons may influence the occurrence of those symptoms.

PMID- 25839996
TI  - Determining the probiotic potential of cholesterol-reducing Lactobacillus and
      Weissella strains isolated from gherkins (fermented cucumber) and south Indian
      fermented koozh.
AB  - This study sought to evaluate the probiotic potential of lactic acid bacteria
      (LAB) isolated from traditionally fermented south Indian koozh and gherkin
      (cucumber). A total of 51 LAB strains were isolated, among which four were
      identified as Lactobacillus spp. and three as Weissella spp. The strains were
      screened for their probiotic potential. All isolated Lactobacillus and Weissella
      strains were capable of surviving under low pH and bile salt conditions. GI9 and
      FKI21 were able to survive at pH 2.0 and 0.50% bile salt for 3 h without losing
      their viability. All LAB strains exhibited inhibitory activity against tested
      pathogens and were able to deconjugate bile salt. Higher deconjugation was
      observed in the presence of sodium glycocholate (P < 0.05). Strain FKI21 showed
      maximum auto-aggregation (79%) and co-aggregation with Escherichia coli MTCC 1089
      (68%). Exopolysaccharide production of LAB strains ranged from 68.39 to 127.12
      mg/L (P < 0.05). Moreover, GI9 (58.08 MUg/ml) and FKI21 (56.25 MUg/ml) exhibited
      maximum cholesterol reduction with bile salts. 16S rRNA sequencing confirmed GI9
      and FKI21 as Lactobacillus crispatus and Weissella koreensis, respectively. This
      is the first study to report isolation of W. koreensis FKI21 from fermented koozh
      and demonstrates its cholesterol-reducing potential. 

PMID- 25839997
TI  - Development of potentiometric equipment for the identification of altered dry
      cured hams: A preliminary study.
AB  - Microbiological contamination in dry-cured ham can occur in the early stages of
      the process, a large number of microorganisms involved in spoilage can produce
      alterations in the product. These include non-common odours, which are detected
      at the end of the process by a procedure called "cala", consisting of a sharp
      instrument punctured in every ham; this is smelled by an expert taster, who
      classifies hams as good and altered hams. An electronic device would be suitable
      for this process given the large amount of hams. The present research aims to
      develop objective equipment based on the potentiometry technique that identifies
      altered hams. A probe was developed, containing silver, nickel and copper
      electrodes, and was employed to classify altered and unaltered hams prior to
      classification by a tester. The results shown lower Ag and higher Cu potential
      values for altered hams. The differences in potentiometric response reveal a
      classification model, although further studies are required to obtain a reliable
      classification model. 

PMID- 25839998
TI  - Multiple low-affinity interactions support binding of human osteopontin to
      integrin alphaXbeta2.
AB  - Integrin alpha(X)beta(2) (also known as complement receptor 4, p150,95, or
      CD11c/CD18) is expressed in the cell membrane of myeloid leukocytes.
      alpha(X)beta(2) has been reported to bind a large number of structurally
      unrelated ligands, often with a shared molecular character in the presence of
      polyanionic stretches in poorly folded proteins or glucosaminoglycans.
      Nevertheless, it is unclear what chemical sources of polyanionicity enable the
      binding by alpha(X)beta(2). Osteopontin (OPN) is an intrinsically disordered
      protein, which facilitates phagocytosis via the integrin alpha(X)beta(2). Unlike
      for other integrins, neither the RGD nor the SVVYGLR motifs account for this
      binding, and the molecular basis of OPN binding by alpha(X)beta(2) remains
      uncharacterized. Here, we show that the monovalent interactions between the
      ligand-binding domain of alpha(X)beta(2) and OPN, its fragments, or caseins are
      weak, with dissociation constants higher than 10(-5)M but with high apparent
      stoichiometries. From comparison with cell adhesion studies, the discrimination
      between alpha(X)beta(2) ligands and non-ligands appears to rely on these apparent
      stoichiometries in a way, which involves glutamate rather than aspartate side
      chains. Surprisingly, the extensive, negatively charged phosphorylation of OPN is
      not contributing to alpha(X)beta(2) binding. Furthermore, synchrotron radiation
      circular spectroscopy excludes that the phosphorylation affects the general
      folding of OPN. Taken together, our quantitative analyses reveal a mode of ligand
      recognition by integrin alpha(X)beta(2), which seem to differ in principles
      considerably from other OPN receptors.

PMID- 25839999
TI  - The ABC of protein kinase conformations.
AB  - Due to their involvement in human diseases, protein kinases are an important
      therapeutic target class. Conformation is a key concept for understanding how
      functional activity, inhibition and sequence are linked. We assemble and annotate
      the mammalian structural kinome from the Protein Data Bank on the basis of a
      universal residue nomenclature. We identify a torsion angle around the Gly of the
      DFG-motif whose sharp distribution profile corresponds to three eclipsed
      conformations. This allows the definition a small set of clusters whose
      distribution shows a bias for the active conformation. A common rationale links
      the active and inactive state: stabilization of the active conformation, as well
      as inactivation by displacement of helix-alphaC or the DFG-motif is governed by
      the interaction between helix-alphaC and the DFG motif. In particular, the
      conformation of the DFG-motif is tightly correlated with the propensity of helix
      alphaC displacement. Our analysis reveals detailed mechanisms for the
      displacement of helix-alphaC and the DFG and improves our understanding of the
      role of individual residues. By pooling conformations from the whole structural
      kinome, the energetic contributions of sequence and extrinsic factors can be
      estimated in free energy analyses. This article is part of a Special Issue
      entitled: Inhibitors of Protein Kinases. 

PMID- 25840000
TI  - Kinetic isotope effects in the characterization of catalysis by protein tyrosine
      phosphatases.
AB  - Although thermodynamically favorable, the uncatalyzed hydrolysis of phosphate
      monoesters is extraordinarily slow, making phosphatases among the most
      catalytically efficient enzymes known. Protein-tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) are
      ubiquitous in biology, and kinetic isotope effects were one of the key
      mechanistic tools used to discern molecular details of their catalytic mechanism
      and the transition state for phosphoryl transfer. Later, the unique level of
      detail KIEs provided led to deeper questions about the potential role of protein
      motions in PTP catalysis. The recent discovery that such motions are responsible
      for different catalytic rates between PTPs arose from questions originating from
      KIE data showing that the transition states and chemical mechanisms are
      identical, combined with structural data demonstrating superimposable active
      sites. KIEs also reveal perturbations to the transition state as mutations are
      made to residues directly involved in chemistry, and to residues that affect
      protein motions essential for catalysis. This article is part of a Special Issue
      entitled: Enzyme Transition States from Theory and Experiment.

PMID- 25840001
TI  - WITHDRAWN: Lidocaine-prilocaine cream for analgesia during circumcision in
      newborn boys.

PMID- 25840002
TI  - Parenting and social competence in school: The role of preadolescents'
      personality traits.
AB  - In a study of 230 preadolescent students (mean age 11.3 years) from the wider
      area of Athens, Greece, the role of Big Five personality traits (i.e.
      Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and
      Extraversion) in the relation between parenting dimensions (overprotection,
      emotional warmth, rejection, anxious rearing) and social competence in school was
      examined. Multiple sets of regression analyses were performed. Main effects of
      Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience were identified. Limited evidence
      for moderation and some support of gender-specific parenting was found.
      Agreeableness and Extraversion interacted with paternal overprotection, whereas
      Neuroticism interacted with maternal and paternal rejection in predicting social
      competence. Mean differences in gender and educational grade were reported. The
      relationship between environmental effects (such as parenting during early
      adolescence) and social adjustment in school is discussed in terms of the
      plasticity and malleability of the preadolescents' personality characteristics. 

PMID- 25840003
TI  - Development of Methods for Determination of Aflatoxins.
AB  - Aflatoxins can cause damage to the health of humans and animals. Several
      institutions around the world have established regulations to limit the levels of
      aflatoxins in food, and numerous analytical methods have been extensively
      developed for aflatoxin determination. This review covers the currently used
      analytical methods for the determination of aflatoxins in different food
      matrices, which includes sampling and sample preparation, sample pretreatment
      methods including extraction methods and purification methods of aflatoxin
      extracts, separation and determination methods. Validation for analysis of
      aflatoxins and safety considerations and precautions when doing the experiments
      are also discussed. 

PMID- 25840004
TI  - Placebo 'serotonin' increases heart rate variability in recovery from
      psychosocial stress.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate placebo effects on heart rate (HR) and heart rate
      variability (HRV) in recovery from a psychosocial stressor. METHODS: A healthy
      sample underwent two mental arithmetic stress tests in one experimental session.
      After undergoing the baseline test, participants were randomized into control or
      placebo groups. Prior to the second stress test, the placebo group received an
      intranasal dose of 'serotonin' (placebo) with the suggestion that it would
      enhance recovery. HR and HRV were assessed throughout procedures. RESULTS: There
      was an increase in vagally-mediated HRV in the placebo group. The change in HR
      did not differ between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Placebo suggestion can enhance
      autonomic recovery after psychosocial stress. Findings are consistent with the
      notion of top-down mechanisms of placebo effects, but further research would need
      to specifically examine the role of top-down regulatory pathways as possible
      mediators of placebo-induced changes in autonomic function.

PMID- 25840005
TI  - Non-linear model for compression tests on articular cartilage.
AB  - Hydrated soft tissues, such as articular cartilage, are often modeled as biphasic
      systems with individually incompressible solid and fluid phases, and biphasic
      models are employed to fit experimental data in order to determine the mechanical
      and hydraulic properties of the tissues. Two of the most common experimental
      setups are confined and unconfined compression. Analytical solutions exist for
      the unconfined case with the linear, isotropic, homogeneous model of articular
      cartilage, and for the confined case with the non-linear, isotropic, homogeneous
      model. The aim of this contribution is to provide an easily implementable
      numerical tool to determine a solution to the governing differential equations of
      (homogeneous and isotropic) unconfined and (inhomogeneous and isotropic) confined
      compression under large deformations. The large-deformation governing equations
      are reduced to equivalent diffusive equations, which are then solved by means of
      finite difference (FD) methods. The solution strategy proposed here could be used
      to generate benchmark tests for validating complex user-defined material models
      within finite element (FE) implementations, and for determining the tissue's
      mechanical and hydraulic properties from experimental data. 

PMID- 25840007
TI  - The genetics of neuropsychiatric diseases: looking in and beyond the exome.
AB  - Next-generation sequencing, which allows genome-wide detection of rare and de
      novo mutations, is transforming neuropsychiatric disease genetics through
      identifying on an unprecedented scale genes and protein-coding mutations that
      confer risk. Although understanding how regulatory variants influence risk
      remains a challenge, we are likely transitioning into a phase of neuropsychiatric
      disease genetics in which the rate-limiting step may no longer be gene discovery.
      Instead, the future will concentrate more on the biological and clinical
      translation of the torrent of specific risk mutations identified through next
      generation sequencing. Here, we review the recent progress that resulted
      specifically from exome sequencing and emphasize the need for rigorous
      statistical evaluation of the expanding data sets, as well as expanded functional
      analysis of implicated proteins and mutations. Then, we introduce some of the
      expected opportunities and challenges investigators face when moving beyond the
      exome. Finally, we briefly highlight the challenge of deriving translational
      benefit from the progress in genetics. 

PMID- 25840006
TI  - Neurological aspects of human glycosylation disorders.
AB  - This review presents principles of glycosylation, describes the relevant
      glycosylation pathways and their related disorders, and highlights some of the
      neurological aspects and issues that continue to challenge researchers. More than
      100 rare human genetic disorders that result from deficiencies in the different
      glycosylation pathways are known today. Most of these disorders impact the
      central and/or peripheral nervous systems. Patients typically have developmental
      delays/intellectual disabilities, hypotonia, seizures, neuropathy, and metabolic
      abnormalities in multiple organ systems. Among these disorders there is great
      clinical diversity because all cell types differentially glycosylate proteins and
      lipids. The patients have hundreds of misglycosylated products, which afflict a
      myriad of processes, including cell signaling, cell-cell interaction, and cell
      migration. This vast complexity in glycan composition and function, along with
      the limited availability of analytic tools, has impeded the identification of key
      glycosylated molecules that cause pathologies. To date, few critical target
      proteins have been pinpointed. 

PMID- 25840009
TI  - Visual guidance in control of grasping.
AB  - Humans and other primates possess a unique capacity to grasp and manipulate
      objects skillfully, a facility pervasive in everyday life that has undoubtedly
      contributed to the success of our species. When we reach and grasp an object,
      various cortical areas in the parietal and frontal lobes work together
      effortlessly to analyze object shape and position, transform this visual
      information into useful motor commands, and implement these motor representations
      to preshape the hand before contact with the object is made. In recent years, a
      growing number of studies have investigated the neural circuits underlying object
      grasping in both the visual and motor systems of the macaque monkey. The
      accumulated knowledge not only helps researchers understand how object grasping
      is implemented in the primate brain but may also contribute to the development of
      novel neural interfaces and neuroprosthetics. 

PMID- 25840010
TI  - 5'-AMP-activated protein kinase alpha regulates stress granule biogenesis.
AB  - Stress granule (SG) assembly represents a conserved eukaryotic defense strategy
      against various insults. Although essential for the ability to cope with
      deleterious conditions, the signaling pathways controlling SG formation are not
      fully understood. The energy sensor AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is
      critical for the cellular stress response. Human cells produce two AMPK catalytic
      alpha-subunits with not only partially overlapping, but also unique functions.
      Here, we provide direct support for structural and functional links between AMPK
      alpha isoforms and SGs. As such, several stressors promote SG association of AMPK
      alpha2, but not AMPK-alpha1. Multiple lines of evidence link AMPK activity to SG
      biogenesis. First, pharmacological kinase inhibition interfered with SG
      formation. Second, AMPK-alpha knockdown combined with in-depth quantitative SG
      analysis revealed isoform-specific changes of SG characteristics. Third,
      overexpression of mutant alpha-subunits further substantiated that AMPK regulates
      SG parameters. Finally, we identified the SG-nucleating protein G3BP1 as an AMPK
      alpha2 binding partner. This interaction is stimulated by stress and notably
      occurs in SGs. Collectively, our data define the master metabolic regulator AMPK
      as a novel SG constituent that also controls their biogenesis. 

PMID- 25840008
TI  - Neurodegenerative diseases: expanding the prion concept.
AB  - The prion paradigm has emerged as a unifying molecular principle for the
      pathogenesis of many age-related neurodegenerative diseases. This paradigm holds
      that a fundamental cause of specific disorders is the misfolding and seeded
      aggregation of certain proteins. The concept arose from the discovery that
      devastating brain diseases called spongiform encephalopathies are transmissible
      to new hosts by agents consisting solely of a misfolded protein, now known as the
      prion protein. Accordingly, "prion" was defined as a "proteinaceous infectious
      particle." As the concept has expanded to include other diseases, many of which
      are not infectious by any conventional definition, the designation of prions as
      infectious agents has become problematic. We propose to define prions as
      "proteinaceous nucleating particles" to highlight the molecular action of the
      agents, lessen unwarranted apprehension about the transmissibility of
      noninfectious proteopathies, and promote the wider acceptance of this
      revolutionary paradigm by the biomedical community. 

PMID- 25840011
TI  - Selective removal of mitochondria via mitophagy: distinct pathways for different
      mitochondrial stresses.
AB  - The efficient and selective elimination of damaged or excessive mitochondria in
      response to bioenergetic and environmental cues is critical for maintaining a
      healthy and appropriate population of mitochondria. Mitophagy is considered to be
      the central mechanism of mitochondrial quality and quantity control. Atg32, a
      mitophagy receptor in yeast, recruits mitochondria targeted for degradation into
      the isolation membrane via both direct and indirect interactions with Atg8. In
      mammals, different mitophagy effectors, including the mitophagy receptors NIX,
      BNIP3 and FUDNC1 and the PINK1/Parkin pathway, have been identified to
      participate in the selective clearance of mitochondria. One common feature of
      mitophagy receptors is that they harbor an LC3-interacting region (LIR) that
      interacts with LC3, thus promoting the sequestration of mitochondria into the
      isolation membrane. Additionally, both receptor- and Parkin/PINK1-mediated
      mitophagy have been found to be regulated by reversible phosphorylation. Here, we
      review the recent progress in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms
      involved in selective mitophagy at multiple levels. We also discuss different
      mitophagy receptors from an evolutionary perspective and highlight the specific
      functions of and possible cooperation between distinct mechanisms of mitophagy.

PMID- 25840012
TI  - Mild maternal stress disrupts associative learning and increases aggression in
      offspring.
AB  - Maternal stress has been shown to affect behaviour of offspring in a wide range
      of animals, but this evidence has come from studies that exposed gestating
      mothers to acute or severe stressors, such as restraint or exposure to synthetic
      stress hormones. Here we show that exposure of mothers to even a mild stressor
      reduces associative learning and increases aggression in offspring. Female
      guppies were exposed to routine husbandry procedures that produced only a
      minimal, non-significant, elevation of the stress hormone cortisol. In contrast
      to controls, offspring from mothers that experienced this mild stress failed to
      learn to associate a colour cue and food reward, and showed a greater amount of
      inter-individual variation in behaviour compared with control offspring. This
      mild stress also resulted in offspring that were more aggressive towards their
      own mirror image than controls. While it is possible that these results could
      represent the transmission of beneficial maternal characteristics to offspring
      born into unpredictable environments, the potential for mild maternal stress to
      affect offspring performance also has important implications for research into
      the trans-generational effects of stress. 

PMID- 25840013
TI  - Poly(ionic liquids) functionalized polypyrrole/graphene oxide nanosheets for
      electrochemical sensor to detect dopamine in the presence of ascorbic acid.
AB  - Novel poly(ionic liquids) functionalized polypyrrole/graphene oxide nanosheets
      (PILs/PPy/GO) were prepared by the polymerization of 1-vinyl-3-ethylimidazole
      bromide (VEIB) on the surface of N-vinyl imidazolium modified PPy/GO nanosheets.
      Due to the synergistic effects of GO with well-defined lamellar structures,
      conductive PPy and biocompatible PILs, PILs/PPy/GO modified glassy carbon
      electrode (GCE) presented the excellent electrochemical catalytic activity
      towards dopamine (DA) with good stability, high sensitivity and wide linear range
      in the present of ascorbic acid (AA) with high concentration. PILs played an
      essential role for the simultaneous determination of DA and AA in a mixture,
      whose existence effectively improved the transmission mode of electrons and
      resulted in the different electrocatalytic performance towards the oxidation of
      DA and AA. It is indicated that PILs/PPy/GO nanosheets can act as a good steady
      and sensitive electrode material for the development of improved DA sensors. 

PMID- 25840014
TI  - Theophylline detection in serum using a self-assembling RNA aptamer-based gold
      nanoparticle sensor.
AB  - Recently, DNA aptamer-gold nanoparticle (AuNP) conjugates have emerged as novel
      biosensing tools. Although RNA aptamers are more advantageous than DNA aptamers,
      their vulnerable nature during the construction of these conjugates restricts the
      development of RNA aptasensors. In this study, we developed an RNA aptamer-based
      AuNP sensor for the detection of theophylline in serum, combining the high
      binding affinity and selectivity of a theophylline RNA aptamer and the
      fluorescence quenching ability of AuNPs. In order to prevent nuclease degradation
      during the experimental process, the single strand of the theophylline RNA
      aptamer (33-mer) was split at the end loop region into two shorter halves, which
      were able to reassemble to form the theophylline-binding pocket. One fragment was
      linked to a DNA sequence that included a 15 thymine (T15) spacer and a
      polyadenine (polyA, A12) tail. The chimeric RNA/DNA oligonucleotide was attached
      to AuNPs within a few minutes via adsorption of the polyA tail. The other
      fragment was labeled with a fluorophore (Cy3). The two individual fragments self
      assembled in the presence of theophylline. Upon ligand binding, the fragments
      came into close proximity, resulting in fluorescence quenching. This sensor
      exhibited a low detection limit of 0.05 uM, with a linear dynamic range from 0.1
      to 10 uM in serum. Moreover, the sensor did not recognize theophylline-related
      compounds (e.g., caffeine and theobromine), demonstrating its high selectivity.
      This strategy offers new possibilities for the application of RNA aptasensors in
      clinical settings.

PMID- 25840015
TI  - Ultrasensitive homogeneous electrochemical strategy for DNA methyltransferase
      activity assay based on autonomous exonuclease III-assisted isothermal cycling
      signal amplification.
AB  - DNA methylation catalyzed by methyltransferase (MTase) plays an important role in
      many biological processes, including gene transcription, genomic imprinting and
      cellular differentiation. Herein, a simple and novel homogeneous electrochemical
      strategy for ultrasensitive DNA MTase activity assay has been successfully
      developed, which is based on methylation-triggered exonuclease (Exo) III-assisted
      autonomous isothermal cycling signal amplification. A duplex DNA (P1-P2 hybrid)
      containing the methylation-responsive sequence is ingeniously designed. In the
      presence of DNA adenine methylation (Dam) methyltransferase (MTase), P1-P2 hybrid
      is methylated and subsequently recognized and cleaved by Dpn I endonuclease,
      which triggers the Exo III-catalyzed autonomous cycling cleavage processes.
      Therefore, a large amount of methylene blue-labeled mononucleotides are released,
      generating a significantly amplified electrochemical signal toward the Dam MTase
      activity assay. The directly measured detection limit down to 0.004 U/mL is
      obtained, which is one or two orders magnitude lower than that of the approaches
      reported in literature. Since this assay is carried out in homogeneous solution
      phase under isothermal condition and sophisticated probe immobilization processes
      are avoided, it is very simple and easy to implement. Due to its advantages of
      ultrahigh sensitivity, excellent selectivity and simple operation, the as
      proposed strategy has great potential in the applications in DNA methylation
      related clinical practices and biochemical researches.

PMID- 25840016
TI  - Shape-controlled ceria-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites toward high
      sensitive in situ detection of nitric oxide.
AB  - Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signal molecule released by most cancer cells
      under drug stimulation or/and disease development but it is extremely challenging
      to in situ while real-time sensitively detect NO due to its large diffusivity,
      low concentration and fast decay. Herein, shape-controlled reduced graphene oxide
      nanocomposing with ceria (rGO-CeO2) was synthesized via hydrothermal reaction to
      construct a highly sensitive real-time sensing platform for NO detection. The
      crystal shape of CeO2 nanoparticles in rGO-CeO2 composites significantly affects
      the sensing performance of rGO-CeO2, of which the regular hexagonal nanocrystal
      CeO2 achieves the highest sensitivity (1676.06 mA cm(-2) M(-1)), a wide dynamic
      range (18.0 nM to 5.6 uM) and a low detection limit (9.6 nM). This attributes to
      a synergical effect from high catalytic activity of the specifically shaped CeO2
      nanocrystal and good conductivity/high surface area of rGO. This work
      demonstrates a way by rationally compose individual merit components while well
      control the nanostructure for a superior synergistic effect to build a smart
      sensing platform, while offering a great application potential to sensitively
      real-time detect NO released from living cells for diagnosis or/and studies of
      complicated biological processes.

PMID- 25840017
TI  - An exonuclease-assisted amplification electrochemical aptasensor for Hg(2+)
      detection based on hybridization chain reaction.
AB  - In this work, a novel electrochemical aptasensor was developed for Hg(2+)
      detection based on exonuclease-assisted target recycling and hybridization chain
      reaction (HCR) dual signal amplification strategy. The presence of Hg(2+) induced
      the T-rich DNA partly folded into duplex-like structure via the Hg(2+) mediated T
      Hg(2+)-T base pairs, which triggered the activity of exonuclease III (Exo III).
      Exo III selectively digested the double-strand DNA containing multiple T-Hg(2+)-T
      base pairs from its 3'-end, the released Hg(2+) participated analyte recycle.
      With each digestion cycle, a digestion product named as help DNA was obtained,
      which acted as a linkage between the capture DNA and auxiliary DNA. The presence
      of help DNA and two auxiliary DNA collectively facilitated successful HCR process
      and formed long double-stranded DNA. [Ru(NH3)6](3+) was used as redox indicator,
      which electrostatically bound to the double strands and produced an
      electrochemical signal. Exo III-assisted target recycling and HCR dual
      amplification significantly improved the sensitivity for Hg(2+) with a detection
      limit of 0.12 pM (S/N=3). Furthermore, the proposed aptasensor had a promising
      potential for the application of Hg(2+) detection in real aquatic sample
      analysis.

PMID- 25840018
TI  - Enzyme-free and label-free fluorescence aptasensing strategy for highly sensitive
      detection of protein based on target-triggered hybridization chain reaction
      amplification.
AB  - Proteins are of great importance in medical and biological fields. In this paper,
      a novel fluorescent aptasensing strategy for protein assay has been developed
      based on target-triggered hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and graphene oxide
      (GO)-based selective fluorescence quenching. Three DNA probes, a helper DNA probe
      (HP), hairpin probe 1 (H1) and hairpin probe 2 (H2) are ingeniously designed. In
      the presence of the target, the aptamer sequences in HP recognize the target to
      form a target-aptamer complex, which causes the HP conformation change, and then
      triggers the chain-like assembly of H1 and H2 through the hybridization chain
      reaction, generating a long chain of HP leading complex of H1 and H2. At last the
      fluorescence indicator SYBR Green I (SG) binds with the long double strands of
      the HCR product through both intercalation and minor groove binding. When GO was
      added into the solutions after HCR, the free H1, H2 and SG would be closely
      adsorbed onto GO surface via pi-pi stacking. However, the HCR product cannot be
      adsorbed on GO surface, thereby the SG bound to HCR product gives a strong
      fluorescence signal dependent on the concentration of the target. With the use of
      platelet-derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB) as the model analyte, this newly
      designed protocol provides a highly sensitive fluorescence detection of PDGF-BB
      with a limit of detection down to 1.25 pM, and also exhibit good selectivity and
      applicability in complex matrixes. Therefore, the proposed aptasensing strategy
      based on target-triggered hybridization chain reaction amplification should have
      wide applications in the diagnosis of genetic diseases due to its simplicity, low
      cost, and high sensitivity at extremely low target concentrations. 

PMID- 25840019
TI  - DNAzyme switches for molecular computation and signal amplification.
AB  - We have created molecular switches that consist of nucleic-acid cleaving DNAzymes
      which are temporarily inactivated by hybridization with blocking
      oligonucleotides. The unique design of the switches offers significant advantages
      over existing methods. Firstly, the switches are activated by a nucleic acid
      cleaving enzyme which can be made to function only in the presence of a specific
      target analyte. This allows for their use as reporter elements which can be
      easily adapted for use in computational logical operations. Secondly, the
      activation of each switch produces an active nucleic acid-cleaving DNAzyme as an
      output and this allows the switches to be modularly coupled to one another so
      that the output of one switch functions as the input of another. In addition, the
      switches are scalable, so that a single input target can produce more than one
      active DNAzyme output. These features therefore create the means for
      amplification of signal, which confers significant potential for future
      biosensing applications where detection of low quantities of target biomarkers is
      required. 

PMID- 25840020
TI  - Label-free luminescent detection of LMP1 gene deletion using an intermolecular G
      quadruplex-based switch-on probe.
AB  - We have synthesized a series of luminescent iridium(III) complexes and
      investigated their ability to act as luminescent split G-quadruplex probes. After
      screening, the iridium(III) complex 1 [Ir(2-phenylquinoline)2(3,4,7,8-tetramethyl
      1,10-phenanthroline)]PF6 was validated as a highly-selective G-quadruplex probe
      and was utilized to construct a label-free intermolecular G-quadruplex-based
      assay for the selective and sensitive detection of LMP1 gene deletion. This "mix
      and-detect" assay is simple and selective, and could detect down to 10 nM of the
      target gene in aqueous solution with a linear range from 10 to 500 nM. We also
      investigated the performance of our split G-quadruplex-based sensing platform for
      LMP1 gene deletion in the presence of cellular debris, demonstrating the
      robustness of this sensing system in biological samples. Comparative assays were
      also performed using either organic dyes or labeled oligonucleotides as signal
      transducing agents.

PMID- 25840021
TI  - L-Cysteine capped Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots as a room temperature phosphorescence
      sensor for in-vitro binding assay of idarubicin and DNA.
AB  - L-cysteine capped Mn doped ZnS quantum dots/ Idarubicin (IDA) nanohybrids were
      used as novel room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) sensor to detect double
      stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (ds-DNA)/drug interaction. IDA, anthracycline
      derivative anticancer drug, was adsorbed on the surface of the QDs as an electron
      acceptor to quench the RTP emission. The RTP intensity of QDs was quenched
      quickly upon addition of quencher and the reaction reached equilibrium within 2
      min. The quenching mechanism of phosphorescence of Mn-doped ZnS QDs by IDA is a
      combined dynamic and static quenching. The static and dynamic quenching constants
      were found as 1.1*10(5) M(-1) and 8.7*10(4) M(-1), respectively. The addition of
      ds-DNA caused formation of ds-DNA/IDA complex and recovered the RTP signal of Mn
      doped ZnS QDs, which allowed qualitative analysis. Under optimal conditions, RTP
      intensity of QDs/IDA nanohybrids increased linearly with the concentration of ds
      DNA from 1.2 to 6.0 uM. This method is simple, low cost and avoids from
      interferences.

PMID- 25840022
TI  - World Trade Center disaster and sensitization to subsequent life stress: A
      longitudinal study of disaster responders.
AB  - PURPOSE: The current study examined the role of World Trade Center (WTC) disaster
      exposure (hours spent working on the site, dust cloud exposure, and losing
      friend/loved one) in exacerbating the effects of post-disaster life stress on
      posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and overall functioning among WTC
      responders. METHOD: Participants were 18,896 responders (8466 police officers and
      10,430 non-traditional responders) participating in the WTC Health Program who
      completed an initial examination between July, 2002 and April, 2010 and were
      reassessed an average of two years later. RESULTS: Among police responders, there
      was a significant interaction, such that the effect of post-disaster life stress
      on later PTSD symptoms and overall functioning was stronger among police
      responders who had greater WTC disaster exposure (beta's=.029 and .054,
      respectively, for PTSD symptoms and overall functioning). This moderating effect
      was absent in non-traditional responders. Across both groups, post-disaster life
      stress also consistently was related to the dependent variables in a more robust
      manner than WTC exposure. DISCUSSION: The present findings suggest that WTC
      exposure may compound post-disaster life stress, thereby resulting in a more
      chronic course of PTSD symptoms and reduced functioning among police responders.

PMID- 25840023
TI  - Synthesis of 2-(hetero)aryl-5-(trimethylsilylethynyl)oxazoles from
      (hetero)arylacrylic acids.
AB  - A three-step method for the synthesis of 2-(hetero)aryl-5
      (trimethylsilylethynyl)oxazoles is described. Easily accessible
      bis(trimethylsilyl)acetylene and acrylic acid derivatives are used as starting
      materials for the preparation of mono- and disubstituted 5-(trimethylsilyl)pent-1
      en-4-yn-3-ones. Oxidative phthalimidoaziridination of these enynones provides the
      key 2-acyl-1-phthalimidoaziridines that are further utilized in the thermal
      expansion of the three-membered ring to furnish the target functionalizable
      oxazoles. 

PMID- 25840024
TI  - Stressors, Coping Resources, and Depressive Symptoms among Rural American Indian
      Older Adults.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of physical health
      stressors and coping resources with depressive symptoms among American Indian
      older adults age 50 years or older. The study used a convenience sample of 227
      rural American Indian older adults. A hierarchical multiple regression tested
      three sets of predictors on depressive symptoms: (a) sociodemographics, (b)
      physical health stressors (functional disability and chronic medical conditions),
      and (c) coping resources (social support and spirituality). Most participants
      reported little difficulty in performing daily activities (e.g., eating,
      dressing, traveling, and managing money), while presenting over two types of
      chronic medical conditions. Depressive symptoms were predicted by higher scores
      on perceived social support and lower scores on functional disability; women and
      those having no health insurance also had higher levels of depressive symptoms.
      Findings suggest that social work practitioners should engage family and
      community support, advocate for access to adequate health care, and attend to
      women's unique circumstances and needs when working with American Indian older
      adults. 

PMID- 25840025
TI  - Photocatalytic degradation of an azo textile dye (C.I. Reactive Red 195 (3BF)) in
      aqueous solution over copper cobaltite nanocomposite coated on glass by Doctor
      Blade method.
AB  - The degradation of C.I. Reactive Red 195 (3BF) in aqueous solution using copper
      cobaltite nanocomposite coated on glass by Doctor Blade method was studied.
      Structural, optical and morphological properties of nanocomposite coatings were
      characterized by X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD), diffuse reflectance
      spectroscopy (DRS) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The
      nanoparticles exhibit a particle size of 31 nm, showing a good nanoscale
      crystalline morphology. The photocatalytic activity of copper cobaltite
      nanocomposite coated on glass was studied by performing the photocatalytic
      degradation of 3BF at different irradiation time. The effect of irradiation time
      on the degradation of 3BF was studied and the results showed that more than 85%
      of the 3BF was degraded in 45 min of irradiation. The pseudo-first-order kinetic
      models were used and the rate constants were evaluated with pseudo first order
      rate constants of 4.10 * 10(-2) min(-1). The main advantage of the photocatalyst
      coated on glass overcomes the difficulties in separation and recycle of
      photocatalyst suspensions.

PMID- 25840027
TI  - A vibrational spectroscopic study of the phosphate mineral vantasselite
      Al4(PO4)3(OH)3.9H2O.
AB  - We have studied the phosphate mineral vantasselite Al4(PO4)3(OH)3.9H2O using a
      combination of SEM with EDX and Raman and infrared spectroscopy. Qualitative
      chemical analysis shows Al, Fe and P. Raman bands at 1013 and 1027 cm(-1) are
      assigned to the PO4(3-)nu1 symmetric stretching mode. The observation of two
      bands suggests the non-equivalence of the phosphate units in the vantasselite
      structure. Raman bands at 1051, 1076 and 1090 cm(-1) are attributed to the PO4(3
      )nu3 antisymmetric stretching vibration. A comparison is made with the
      spectroscopy of wardite. Strong infrared bands at 1044, 1078, 1092, 1112, 1133,
      1180 and 1210 cm(-1) are attributed to the PO4(3-)nu3 antisymmetric stretching
      mode. Some of these bands may be due to deltaAl2OH deformation modes. Vibrational
      spectroscopy offers a mechanism for the study of the molecular structure of
      vantasselite.

PMID- 25840026
TI  - Rayleigh light scattering detection of three alpha1-adrenoceptor antagonists
      coupled with high performance liquid chromatograph.
AB  - Herein, a Rayleigh light-scattering (RLS) detection method combined with high
      performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) without any post-column probe was
      developed for the separation and determination of three alpha1-adrenoceptor
      antagonists. The quantitative analysis is benefiting from RLS signal enhancement
      upon addition of methanol which induced molecular aggregation to form an
      hydrophobic interface between aggregates and water that produce a sort of
      superficial enhanced scattering effect. A good chromatographic separation among
      the compounds was achieved using a Gemini 5u C18 reversed phase column (250 mm *
      4.6 mm; 4 MUm) with a mobile phase consisting of methanol and ammonium acetate
      formic acid buffer solution (25 mM; pH=3.0) at the flow rate of 0.7 mL min(-1).
      The RLS signal was monitored at lambdaex=lambdaem=354 nm. A limit of detection
      (LOD) of 0.065-0.70 MUg L(-1) was reached and a linear range was found between
      peak height and concentration in the range of 0.75-15 MUg L(-1) for doxazosin
      mesylate (DOX), 0.075-3.0 MUg L(-1) for prazosin hydrochloride (PRH), and 0.25-5
      MUg L(-1) for terazosin hydrochloride (TEH), with linear regression coefficients
      all above 0.999. Recoveries from spiked urine samples were 88.4-99.0% which is
      within acceptable limits. The proposed method is convenient, reliable and
      sensitive which has been used successfully in human urine samples.

PMID- 25840033
TI  - Solutions to the primary care physician shortage.

PMID- 25840032
TI  - The Association of Prenatal Exposure to Perfluorinated Chemicals with Maternal
      Essential and Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids during Pregnancy and the
      Birth Weight of Their Offspring: The Hokkaido Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fatty acids (FAs) are essential for fetal growth. Exposure to
      perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) may disrupt FA homeostasis, but there are no
      epidemiological data regarding associations of PFCs and FA concentrations.
      OBJECTIVES: We estimated associations between perfluorooctane sulfonate
      (PFOS)/perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) concentrations and maternal levels of FAs and
      triglyceride (TG) and birth size of the offspring. METHODS: We analyzed 306
      mother-child pairs in this birth cohort between 2002 and 2005 in Japan. The
      prenatal PFOS and PFOA levels were measured in maternal serum samples by liquid
      chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Maternal blood levels of nine FAs and TG
      were measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and TG E-Test Wako kits,
      respectively. Information on infants' birth size was obtained from participant
      medical records. RESULTS: The median PFOS and PFOA levels were 5.6 and 1.4 ng/mL,
      respectively. In the fully adjusted model, including maternal age, parity, annual
      household income, blood sampling period, alcohol consumption, and smoking during
      pregnancy, PFOS but not PFOA had a negative association with the levels of
      palmitic, palmitoleic, oleic, linoleic, alpha-linolenic, and arachidonic acids (p
      < 0.005) and TG (p-value = 0.016). Female infants weighed 186.6 g less with
      mothers whose PFOS levels were in the fourth quartile compared with the first
      quartile (95% CI: -363.4, -9.8). We observed no significant association between
      maternal levels of PFOS and birth weight of male infants. CONCLUSIONS: Our data
      suggest an inverse association between PFOS exposure and polyunsaturated FA
      levels in pregnant women. We also found a negative association between maternal
      PFOS levels and female birth weight.

PMID- 25840034
TI  - One-hour rule-in and rule-out of acute myocardial infarction using high
      sensitivity cardiac troponin I.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We aimed to prospectively derive and validate a novel 1h-algorithm
      using high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) for early rule-out and rule
      in of acute myocardial infarction. METHODS: We performed a prospective
      multicenter diagnostic study enrolling 1811 patients with suspected acute
      myocardial infarction. The final diagnosis was centrally adjudicated by 2
      independent cardiologists using all available information, including coronary
      angiography, echocardiography, follow-up data, and serial measurements of hs-cTnT
      (but not hs-cTnI). The hs-cTnI 1h-algorithm, incorporating measurements performed
      at baseline and absolute changes within 1 hour, was derived in a randomly
      selected sample of 906 patients (derivation cohort), and then validated in the
      remaining 905 patients (validation cohort). RESULTS: Acute myocardial infarction
      was the final diagnosis in 18% of patients. After applying the hs-cTnI 1h
      algorithm developed in the derivation cohort to the validation cohort, 50.5% of
      patients could be classified as "rule-out," 19% as "rule-in," 30.5% as "observe."
      In the validation cohort, the negative predictive value for acute myocardial
      infarction in the "rule-out" zone was 99.6% (95% confidence interval, 98.4%
      100%), and the positive predictive value for acute myocardial infarction in the
      "rule-in" zone was 73.9% (95% confidence interval, 66.7%-80.2%). Negative
      predictive value of the 1h-algorithm was higher compared with the classical
      dichotomous interpretation of hs-cTnI and to the standard of care combining hs
      cTnI with the electrocardiogram (both P < .001). Positive predictive value also
      was higher compared with the standard of care (P < .001). CONCLUSION: Using a
      simple algorithm incorporating baseline hs-cTnI values and the absolute change
      within the first hour allows safe rule-out as well as accurate rule-in of acute
      myocardial infarction in 70% of patients presenting with suspected acute
      myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25840035
TI  - Tailored, interactive text messages for enhancing weight loss among African
      American adults: the TRIMM randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Helping patients control obesity remains a clinical challenge for
      internists, and African Americans experience obesity rates higher than other
      racial/ethnic groups. PURPOSE: To investigate whether a behavioral theory-based
      mobile health intervention would enhance weight loss when added to standard care
      among overweight/obese African American adults. METHODS: A randomized controlled
      trial of 124 adults recruited from Baltimore-area African American churches.
      Participant follow-up ended March 2013. Participants were randomized to standard
      care (included one-on-one counseling sessions with a dietitian and a physician)
      or standard care plus daily tailored text messages for 6 months. Text messages
      were delivered in phases: preparation, reinforcement of participant-selected diet
      and exercise goals, reflection, goal integration, weight loss methods, and
      maintenance. There were follow-up visits at 3, 6, and 12 months. Primary outcome
      was weight change from baseline to end-intervention at 6 months. Secondary
      outcomes included weight change at 3 months, engagement, and satisfaction with
      the intervention. RESULTS: Sixty-three participants were randomized to the mobile
      health intervention and 61 to standard-care control. Weights were collected in
      window for 45 (36.3%) at 3 months and 51 (41.1%) at 6 months. Mean weight loss at
      3 months was 2.5 kg greater in the intervention group compared with standard care
      (95% confidence interval [CI], -4.3 to -0.6; P < .001), and 3.4 kg greater (95%
      CI, -5.2 to -1.7; P = .001) at 6 months. Degree of engagement with messages was
      correlated with weight loss. CONCLUSIONS: While attrition was high, this study
      supports a tailored, interactive text-message intervention to enhance weight loss
      among obese African-American adults.

PMID- 25840036
TI  - An extraction process to recover vanadium from low-grade vanadium-bearing
      titanomagnetite.
AB  - An extraction process to recover vanadium from low-grade vanadium-bearing
      titanomagnetite was developed. In this study, a mixed solvent system of di(2
      ethylhexyl) phosphate (D2EHPA) and tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) diluted with
      kerosene was used for the selective extraction of vanadium from a hydrochloric
      acid leaching solution that contained low vanadium concentration with high
      concentrations of iron and impurities of Ca, Mg, and Al. In the extraction
      process, the initial solution pH and the phase ratio had considerable functions
      in the extraction of vanadium from the hydrochloric acid leaching solution. Under
      optimal extraction conditions (i.e., 30-40 degrees C for 10min, 1:3 phase ratio
      (O/A), 20% D2EHPA concentration (v/v), and 0-0.8 initial solution pH), 99.4%
      vanadium and only 4.2% iron were extracted by the three-stage counter-current
      extraction process. In the stripping process with H2SO4 as the stripping agent
      and under optimal stripping conditions (i.e., 20% H2SO4 concentration, 5:1 phase
      ratio (O/A), 20min stripping time, and 40 degrees C stripping temperature), 99.6%
      vanadium and only 5.4% iron were stripped by the three-stage counter-current
      stripping process. The stripping solution contained 40.16g/LV2O5,0.691g/L Fe,
      0.007g/L TiO2, 0.006g/L SiO2 and 0.247g/L CaO. A V2O5 product with a purity of
      99.12% V2O5 and only 0.026% Fe was obtained after the oxidation, precipitation,
      and calcination processes. The total vanadium recovered from the hydrochloric
      acid leaching solution was 85.5%. 

PMID- 25840037
TI  - Diagnostic Role of High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin T in Acute Myocardial
      Infarction and Cardiac Noncoronary Artery Disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Currently, the distinction between AMI and cardiac
      noncoronary artery disease (CNCD) remains a challenge in clinical practice. Our
      aim was to evaluate the diagnostic role of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T
      (hs-cTnT) level at presentation and its change within the first hour to
      distinguish AMI from CNCD. METHODS: hs-cTnT was measured at presentation and
      after 1 h in 110 consecutive Chinese patients with symptoms suggestive of AMI
      within 12 h from symptom onset. Receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) analysis
      was used to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of hs-cTnT. RESULTS: Patients with
      AMI had higher presentation values of hs-cTnT and higher absolute changes in the
      first h than patients with CNCD. The diagnostic accuracy of hs-cTnT at
      presentation for the distinction between patients with AMI and CNCD as quantified
      by the area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve (AUC) was 0.88.
      The discriminatory power of Deltahs-cTnT 0-1 h was higher for absolute (AUC,
      0.89; 95% CI, 0.83-0.94) compared to relative (AUC, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.60-0.73)
      changes. Combining presentation values of hs-cTnT at presentation with absolute
      changes in the first h increased the AUC to 0.93 (p < 0.001 for comparison with
      AUC of 0 h hs-cTnT). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our results suggest that the combined
      use of presentation values of hs-cTnT and its absolute change in the first hour
      discriminates well between patients with AMI and CNCD, further confirming the
      role of hs-cTnT as a biomarker for the early diagnosis of AMI.

PMID- 25840038
TI  - Radiculopathy in the setting of lumbar nerve root compression due to an
      extradural intraforaminal lipoma: a report of 3 cases.
AB  - A true adult spinal lipoma is an exceedingly rare cause of lumbar compression
      neuropathy. Only 5 cases of true extradural intraforaminal lipomas have been
      documented in the medical literature. The diagnostic criteria and treatment
      guidelines for this specific lipoma have yet to be established. This report
      features 3 histologically confirmed cases of extradural intraforaminal spinal
      lipomas that recently presented to the authors' practice. In addition, the
      literature was surveyed to include the 5 previously reported cases of true adult
      extradural intraforaminal spinal lipomas. The consistency in presentation,
      response to surgical intervention, and postoperative recovery in these 8 cases
      supports surgical intervention at the time of diagnosis. The authors' findings
      support elevated clinical suspicion, efficient diagnosis based on MRI, and early
      surgical intervention for this rare pathological entity. All cases presented in
      this report were symptomatic and occurred in the absence of other significant
      pathologies such as general spinal epidural lipomatosis, intradural lesions,
      tethering, or severe degenerative stenosis or herniated discs. The clinical,
      neuroradiological, and histological findings characteristic of a true adult
      extradural intraforaminal lipoma are emphasized to differentiate this lesion from
      the more common etiologies for lumbar compression neuropathy. Heightened
      awareness and clinical suspicion for the focal, foraminal spinal lipoma as a
      cause of radiculopathy symptoms will enable more efficient diagnosis and
      treatment. 

PMID- 25840039
TI  - Intranasal delivery of bone marrow stromal cells to spinal cord lesions.
AB  - OBJECT: The intranasal delivery of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) or
      mesenchymal stem cells to the injured brains of rodents has been previously
      reported. In this study, the authors investigated whether BMSCs migrate to spinal
      cord lesions through an intranasal route and whether the administration affected
      functional recovery. METHODS: Forty Sprague-Dawley rats that were subjected to
      spinal cord injuries at the T7-8 level were divided into 5 groups (injured +
      intranasal BMSC-treated group, injured + intrathecal BMSC-treated group, injured
      only group, injured + intranasal vehicle-treated group, and injured + intrathecal
      vehicle-treated group). The Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) scale was used to
      assess hind limb motor functional recovery for 2 or 4 weeks. Intralesionally
      migrated BMSCs were examined histologically and counted at 2 and 4 weeks. To
      evaluate the neuroprotective and trophic effects of BMSCs, the relative volume of
      the lesion cavity was measured at 4 weeks. In addition, nerve growth factor (NGF)
      and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in the CSF were evaluated at
      2 weeks. RESULTS: Intranasally administered BMSCs were confirmed within spinal
      cord sections at both 2 and 4 weeks. The highest number, which was detected in
      the intrathecal BMSC-treated group at 2 weeks, was significantly higher than that
      in all the other groups. The BBB score of the intranasal BMSC-treated group
      showed statistically significant improvements by 1 week compared with the control
      group. However, in the final BBB scores, there was a statistically significant
      difference only between the intrathecal BMSC-treated group and the control group.
      The cavity ratios in the BMSC-treated groups were smaller than those of the
      control groups, but the authors did not find any significant differences in the
      NGF and BDNF levels in the CSF among the treatment and control groups.
      CONCLUSIONS: BMSCs reached the injured spinal cord through the intranasal route
      and contributed to the recovery of hind limb motor function and lesion cavity
      reduction. However, the effects were not as significant as those seen in the
      intrathecal BMSC-treated group.

PMID- 25840040
TI  - Surgical and clinical efficacy of sacroiliac joint fusion: a systematic review of
      the literature.
AB  - OBJECT: The sacroiliac joint (SIJ) and surgical intervention for treating SIJ
      pain or dysfunction has been a topic of much debate in recent years. There has
      been a resurgence in the implication of this joint as the pain generator for many
      patients experiencing low-back pain, and new surgical methods are gaining
      popularity within both the orthopedic and neurosurgical fields. There is no
      universally accepted gold standard for diagnosing or surgically treating SIJ
      pain. The authors systematically reviewed studies on SIJ fusion in the
      neurosurgical and orthopedic literature to investigate whether sufficient
      evidence exists to support its use. METHODS: A literature search was performed
      using MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and OvidSP-Wolters Kluwer Health for all articles
      regarding SIJ fusion published from 2000 to 2014. Original, peer-reviewed,
      prospective or retrospective scientific papers with at least 2 patients were
      included in the study. Exclusion criteria included follow-up shorter than 1-year,
      nonsurgical treatment, inadequate clinical data as determined by 2 independent
      reviewers, non-English manuscripts, and nonhuman subjects. RESULTS: A total of 16
      peer-reviewed journal articles met the inclusion criteria: 5 consecutive case
      series, 8 retrospective studies, and 3 prospective cohort studies. A total of 430
      patients were included, of whom 131 underwent open surgery and 299 underwent
      minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for SIJ fusion. The mean duration of follow-up
      was 60 months for open surgery and 21 months for MIS. SIJ degeneration/arthrosis
      was the most common pathology among patients undergoing surgical intervention
      (present in 257 patients [59.8%]), followed by SIJ dysfunction (79 [18.4%]),
      postpartum instability (31 [7.2%]), posttraumatic (28 [6.5%]), idiopathic (25
      [5.8%]), pathological fractures (6 [1.4%]), and HLA-B27+/rheumatoid arthritis (4
      [0.9%]). Radiographically confirmed fusion rates were 20%-90% for open surgery
      and 13%-100% for MIS. Rates of excellent satisfaction, determined by pain
      reduction, function, and quality of life, ranged from 18% to 100% with a mean of
      54% in open surgical cases. For MIS patients, excellent outcome, judged by
      patients' stated satisfaction with the surgery, ranged from 56% to 100% (mean
      84%). The reoperation rate after open surgery ranged from 0% to 65% (mean 15%).
      Reoperation rate after MIS ranged from 0% to 17% (mean 6%). Major complication
      rates ranged from 5% to 20%, with 1 study that addressed safety reporting a 56%
      adverse event rate. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical intervention for SIJ pain is beneficial
      in a subset of patients. However, with the difficulty in accurate diagnosis and
      evidence for the efficacy of SIJ fusion itself lacking, serious consideration of
      the cause of pain and alternative treatments should be given before performing
      the operation.

PMID- 25840041
TI  - The influence of preoperative spinal sagittal balance on clinical outcomes after
      microendoscopic laminotomy in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis.
AB  - OBJECT: More information about the association between preoperative anterior
      translation of the C-7 plumb line and clinical outcomes after decompression
      surgery in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSS) would help resolve
      problems for patients with sagittal imbalance. The authors evaluated whether
      preoperative sagittal alignment of the spine affects low-back pain and clinical
      outcomes after microendoscopic laminotomy. METHODS: This study was a
      retrospective review of prospectively collected surgical data. The study
      comprised 88 patients with LSS (47 men and 41 women) who ranged in age from 39 to
      86 years (mean age 68.7 years). All patients had undergone microendoscopic
      laminotomy at Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine from May 2008
      through October 2012. The minimum duration of clinical and radiological follow-up
      was 6 months. All patients were evaluated by Japanese Orthopaedic Association
      (JOA) and visual analog scale (VAS) scores for low-back pain, leg pain, and leg
      numbness before and after surgery. The distance between the C-7 plumb line and
      the posterior corner of the sacrum (sagittal vertical axis [SVA]) was measured on
      lateral standing radiographs of the entire spine obtained before surgery.
      Radiological factors and clinical outcomes were compared between patients with a
      preoperative SVA >= 50 mm (forward-bending trunk [F] group) and patients with a
      preoperative SVA < 50 mm (control [C] group). A total of 35 patients were
      allocated to the F group (19 male and 16 female) and 53 to the C group (28 male
      and 25 female). RESULTS: The mean SVA was 81.0 mm for patients in the F group and
      22.0 mm for those in the C group. At final follow-up evaluation, no significant
      differences between the groups were found for the JOA score improvement ratio
      (73.3% vs 77.1%) or the VAS score for leg numbness (23.6 vs 24.0 mm); the VAS
      score for low-back pain was significantly higher for those in the F group (21.1
      mm) than for those in the C group (11.0 mm); and the VAS score for leg pain
      tended to be higher for those in the F group (18.9 +/- 29.1 mm) than for those in
      the C group (9.4 +/- 16.0 mm). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative alignment of the spine
      in the sagittal plane did not affect JOA scores after microendoscopic laminotomy
      in patients with LSS. However, low-back pain was worse for patients with
      preoperative anterior translation of the C-7 plumb line than for those without.

PMID- 25840042
TI  - Unplanned reoperation after lumbopelvic fixation with S-2 alar-iliac screws or
      iliac bolts.
AB  - OBJECT: S-2 alar-iliac (S2AI) screws are an attractive alternative to
      conventional fixation with iliac bolts because they are lower profile, require
      less muscle dissection, and have greater pullout strength. Few studies, however,
      compare outcomes between these techniques. METHODS: The authors conducted a
      retrospective cohort study of consecutive adult patients at a single institution
      from December 2009 to March 2012 who underwent lumbopelvic fixation using S2AI
      screws or iliac bolts. Medical records were reviewed for patients with clinical
      failure, defined as an unplanned reoperation because of instrumentation failure
      and/or wound-related complications. Univariate, multivariate, and survival
      analyses were used to compare patients who required reoperation with those who
      did not. Method of pelvic fixation was the main predictor variable of interest,
      and the authors adjusted for potential confounding risk factors. RESULTS: Of the
      60 patients included, 23 received S2AI screws. Seventeen patients (28%) underwent
      an osteotomy. The mean follow-up was 22 months. A Kaplan-Meier survival model was
      used to evaluate the time to reoperation from the initial placement of
      lumbopelvic instrumentation. The failure-free rate was 96.6% at 6 months, 87.0%
      at 1 year, and 73.5% at 2 years. Reoperation was more common in patients with
      iliac bolts than in those with S2AI screws (13 vs 2; p = 0.031). Univariate
      analysis identified potential risk factors for unplanned reoperation, including
      use of iliac bolts (p = 0.031), absence of L5-S1 interbody graft (p = 0.048),
      previous lumbar fusion (p = 0.034), and pathology other than degenerative disease
      or scoliosis (p = 0.034). After adjusting for other risk factors, multivariate
      analysis revealed that the use of S2AI screws (OR 8.1 [1.5-73.5]; p = 0.030) was
      the only independent predictor for preventing unplanned reoperation. CONCLUSIONS:
      Both S2AI screws and iliac bolts were effective at improving fusion rates at the
      lumbosacral junction. The use of S2AI screws, however, was independently
      associated with fewer unplanned reoperations for wound-related complications and
      instrumentation failures than the use of iliac bolts.

PMID- 25840043
TI  - DREAM: a webserver for the identification of editing sites in mature miRNAs using
      deep sequencing data.
AB  - DREAM: detecting RNA editing associated with microRNAs, is a webserver for the
      identification of mature microRNA editing events using deep sequencing data. Raw
      microRNA sequencing reads can be provided as input, the reads are aligned against
      the genome and custom scripts process the data, search for potential editing
      sites and assess the statistical significance of the findings. The output is a
      text file with the location and the statistical description of all the putative
      editing sites detected.

PMID- 25840044
TI  - Regulatory network inferred using expression data of small sample size:
      application and validation in erythroid system.
AB  - MOTIVATION: Modeling regulatory networks using expression data observed in a
      differentiation process may help identify context-specific interactions. The
      outcome of the current algorithms highly depends on the quality and quantity of a
      single time-course dataset, and the performance may be compromised for datasets
      with a limited number of samples. RESULTS: In this work, we report a multi-layer
      graphical model that is capable of leveraging many publicly available time-course
      datasets, as well as a cell lineage-specific data with small sample size, to
      model regulatory networks specific to a differentiation process. First, a
      collection of network inference methods are used to predict the regulatory
      relationships in individual public datasets. Then, the inferred directional
      relationships are weighted and integrated together by evaluating against the cell
      lineage-specific dataset. To test the accuracy of this algorithm, we collected a
      time-course RNA-Seq dataset during human erythropoiesis to infer regulatory
      relationships specific to this differentiation process. The resulting erythroid
      specific regulatory network reveals novel regulatory relationships activated in
      erythropoiesis, which were further validated by genome-wide TR4 binding studies
      using ChIP-seq. These erythropoiesis-specific regulatory relationships were not
      identifiable by single dataset-based methods or context-independent integrations.
      Analysis of the predicted targets reveals that they are all closely associated
      with hematopoietic lineage differentiation.

PMID- 25840046
TI  - Shell-Thickness Controlled Semiconductor-Metal Transition in Si-SiC Core-Shell
      Nanowires.
AB  - We study Si-SiC core-shell nanowires by means of electronic structure first
      principles calculations. We show that the strain induced by the growth of a
      lattice-mismatched SiC shell can drive a semiconductor-metal transition, which in
      the case of ultrathin Si cores is already observed for shells of more than one
      monolayer. Core-shell nanowires with thicker cores, however, remain
      semiconducting even when four SiC monolayers are grown, paving the way to
      versatile, biocompatible nanowire-based sensors. 

PMID- 25840045
TI  - Three minimal sequences found in Ebola virus genomes and absent from human DNA.
AB  - MOTIVATION: Ebola virus causes high mortality hemorrhagic fevers, with more than
      25 000 cases and 10 000 deaths in the current outbreak. Only experimental
      therapies are available, thus, novel diagnosis tools and druggable targets are
      needed. RESULTS: Analysis of Ebola virus genomes from the current outbreak
      reveals the presence of short DNA sequences that appear nowhere in the human
      genome. We identify the shortest such sequences with lengths between 12 and 14.
      Only three absent sequences of length 12 exist and they consistently appear at
      the same location on two of the Ebola virus proteins, in all Ebola virus genomes,
      but nowhere in the human genome. The alignment-free method used is able to
      identify pathogen-specific signatures for quick and precise action against
      infectious agents, of which the current Ebola virus outbreak provides a
      compelling example.

PMID- 25840047
TI  - The influence of institutional pressures on hospital electronic health record
      presence.
AB  - Electronic health records (EHR) are a promising form of health information
      technology that could help US hospitals improve on their quality of care and
      costs. During the study period explored (2005-2009), high expectations for EHR
      diffused across institutional stakeholders in the healthcare environment, which
      may have pressured hospitals to have EHR capabilities even in the presence of
      weak technical rationale for the technology. Using an extensive set of
      organizational theory-specific predictors, this study explored whether five
      factors - cause, constituents, content, context, and control - that reflect the
      nature of institutional pressures for EHR capabilities motivated hospitals to
      comply with these pressures. Using information from several national data bases,
      an ordered probit regression model was estimated. The resulting predicted
      probabilities of EHR capabilities from the empirical model's estimates were used
      to test the study's five hypotheses, of which three were supported. When the
      underlying cause, dependence on constituents, or influence of control were high
      and potential countervailing forces were low, hospitals were more likely to
      employ strategic responses that were compliant with the institutional pressures
      for EHR capabilities. In light of these pressures, hospitals may have acquiesced,
      by having comprehensive EHR capabilities, or compromised, by having intermediate
      EHR capabilities, in order to maintain legitimacy in their environment. The study
      underscores the importance of our assessment for theory and policy development,
      and provides suggestions for future research. 

PMID- 25840048
TI  - Challenges to successful implementation of HIV and AIDS-related health policies
      in Cartagena, Colombia.
AB  - The Caribbean region presents the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS worldwide after
      sub-Saharan Africa; leading to serious social, economic and health consequences
      at the local scale but also at the regional and global levels. In Colombia, a
      national plan to tackle the epidemic was formulated with little evidence that its
      implementation in the local context is effective. This study focused on Cartagena
      - one of Colombia's largest cities and an international touristic hub - that
      presents one of the highest HIV prevalences in the country, to investigate
      whether the national plan accounts for local specificities and what are the
      barriers to local implementation. Based on the Contextual Interaction Theory
      (CIT), this qualitative research relied upon 27 interviews and 13 life stories of
      local inhabitants and stakeholders, collected in a first fieldwork in 2006-2007.
      A follow-up data collection took place in 2013 with 10 participants: key
      policymakers and implementers, NGO representatives and local inhabitants.
      Barriers identified by the participants included: local population's
      understandings and beliefs on condom use; stigma and discrimination; lack of
      collaboration from the Church, the education sector and local politicians;
      corruption; high staff turnover; frequent changes in leadership; lack of economic
      and human resources; and barriers to health care access. The findings suggest
      that global influences also have an impact on the CIT framework (e.g.
      international organisations as a major financier in HIV prevention). The
      participants put forward several feasible solutions to implementation barriers.
      We discuss how several of the proposed solutions have been applied in other Latin
      American and Caribbean countries and yielded positive results. However, further
      research is needed to find possible ways of overcoming certain barriers
      identified by this study such as corruption, the lack of collaboration of the
      Church and barriers to health care access. 

PMID- 25840049
TI  - Early onset schizophrenia: Gender analysis of genome-wide potential methylation.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Methylation studies show that there are substantial gender
      differences in DNA methylation. On the other hand, in schizophrenia male gender
      is strongly associated with early onset. The primary aims of the current study
      are: 1) to identify CpG SNPs across the genome in schizophrenia patients; and 2)
      to investigate gender differences in potential methylation considering the CpG
      SNPs at locus, gene and chromosome levels. METHODS: In this pilot analysis, we
      have collected detailed clinical information and DNA samples from 16
      schizophrenia patients, allowing us to calculate genome-wide potential
      methylation at genome level in ten males and six females. This cross-sectional
      DNA sample included subjects with a diagnosis of schizophrenia that were
      genotyped using the Illumina Omni 2.5 Quad. We applied a novel genetic
      association strategy, selecting only the CpG SNPs across the genome and analyzed
      under additive model, to detect gender differences. The mapping analysis was
      conducted using a specific bioinformatic tool that we have developed, which
      analyzes only the polymorphic CpG sites genome wide. The bioinformatic tool can
      detect the SNPs that are affecting the polymorphic CpG sites across the genome.
      RESULTS: In the SNP-wise analysis, the top autosomal SNP was rs12619000 with 50%
      potential methylation in males and 95% in females (p=0.000008). In the gene-wise
      analysis, the KCNG3 was significantly associated with higher potential
      methylation in males (p=0.0004). CONCLUSIONS: The overall results show no robust
      association between CpG SNPs and gender however the information of the SNP CpG
      potential methylation can be used for future methylation analysis.

PMID- 25840050
TI  - Squamous cell carcinoma antigen in hepatocellular carcinoma: Ready for the prime
      time?
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of primary liver cancer
      and the third cause of cancer deaths. The leading predisposing condition is
      represented by an underlying viral hepatitis, mainly sustained by hepatitis B and
      C viruses. Since the cumulative risk of developing HCC can be as high as 30-fold
      in patients with infectious cirrhosis, a timely diagnosis is necessary for
      establishing an appropriate treatment in these patients. The armamentarium of
      diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in patients with HCC currently entails alpha
      fetoprotein (AFP) and a limited number of innovative biomarkers, among which
      squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) and its immune complexes are among the
      most widely investigated. The clinical data published so far and reviewed in this
      article seemingly suggest that neither total serum SSCA or its isoform 1 (i.e.,
      SCCA1) may be ready for the prime time for management of patients with HCC. More
      interesting evidence has emerged from studies investigating the serum values of
      SCCA-IgM, since the diagnostic performance of this biomarker was found to be
      frequently superior to that of AFP and, even more importantly, the combination of
      SCCA-IgM and AFP was characterized by a much better sensitivity than either
      biomarker alone, with only a modest decrease of specificity. Larger studies are
      needed before these preliminary findings can be generalized, but the combined use
      of AFP and SCCA-IgM represents an appealing perspective in diagnosis and
      prognostication of HCC. 

PMID- 25840051
TI  - Postnatal management of prenatally diagnosed biliary cystic malformation.
AB  - PURPOSE: Recent advances in ultrasonography have increased prenatal diagnosis of
      biliary atresia (BA) and choledochal cyst (CC). These conditions are not easy to
      distinguish before or just after birth. This study investigated diagnostic and
      therapeutic problems in prenatal diagnosis of BA and CC. METHODS: We
      retrospectively studied clinical characteristics and progression of hepatobiliary
      cysts in 10 patients (4 cases of BA, 6 cases of CC) from the time of diagnosis.
      Chronological changes in cyst size and gallbladder morphology were assessed and
      measured sequentially by ultrasonography. RESULTS: Three cases of BA were type I
      cyst and 1 case was type III-d. All cases of CC were type Ia. Cyst size decreased
      between birth and surgery in BA but increased in CC. The gallbladder appeared
      atrophic in BA. There was no significant difference in gestational age or cyst
      size at prenatal diagnosis, changes in cyst size between birth and surgery, and
      degree of liver fibrosis. CONCLUSIONS: BA should be suspected if cyst size
      decreases before and after birth and the gallbladder atrophies after birth.
      Cholangiography is the only reliable method to differentiate BA from CC. Neonatal
      surgery is indicated for CC with icterus and liver dysfunction.

PMID- 25840052
TI  - Therapeutic step-up strategy for management of hereditary pancreatitis in
      children.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Various different regimes exist for the treatment of
      hereditary pancreatitis in childhood. Here, we propose a therapeutic pathway with
      emphasis on endoscopic and surgical procedures. METHODS: From 2006 to 2013, 12
      patients with a diagnosis of hereditary pancreatitis were prospectively included
      in a therapeutic step-up schema. The treatment outcome was evaluated and
      correlated to aetiological factors and pathoanatomic findings. RESULTS: After
      diagnostic work-up (laboratory data, ultrasound examination, magnetic resonance
      cholangiopancreatography and genetic testing), all 12 patients underwent early
      endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), which was successfully
      performed in ten children. Obstructive pancreatitis was found in eight children,
      and required sphincterotomy, dilation and stenting for 12 months. In two children
      with unsuccessful ERCP, open surgical drainage procedures were performed. After a
      mean follow-up of 32 months all children are free of recurrence of pancreatitis
      without any impairment of everyday activities. CONCLUSIONS: For children with
      hereditary pancreatitis, a therapeutic step plan with early ERCP and open
      surgical drainage procedures in case of impossible or insufficient endoscopic
      treatment prevents recurring pancreatitis and offers a normal quality of life
      without any major complications.

PMID- 25840053
TI  - Favorable outcomes in high-risk congenital pulmonary airway malformations treated
      with multiple courses of maternal betamethasone.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Congenital pulmonary airway malformations (CPAMs) are rare
      congenital lung lesions often diagnosed by prenatal ultrasound. High-risk cases
      can result in hydrops and prenatal or postnatal demise. Antenatal betamethasone
      has resulted in improved survival but it is unclear how to manage patients who do
      not respond to a single course. METHODS: We present a bi-institutional
      retrospective review of patients treated with multiple courses of prenatal
      steroids for high-risk CPAMs between 2007 and 2013. RESULTS: Nine patients met
      inclusion criteria. All but one either had an increased CPAM volume ratio (CVR)
      or number of fluid-containing compartments involved after a single course of
      antenatal betamethasone, prompting additional courses. Four patients stabilized,
      three improved and two progressed after the second course. The two cases with
      disease progression underwent an in utero resection. There were one in utero
      fetal demise and two deaths within the delivery room. Both fetuses that underwent
      a fetal resection died. All but one mother who delivered a viable fetus had
      complications of pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple courses of antenatal
      betamethasone for high-risk fetal CPAMs often result in favorable short-term
      outcomes without the need for open fetal resection. Pregnancy complications are
      common and women within this cohort should be monitored closely.

PMID- 25840054
TI  - Management of laryngomalacia in children with congenital syndrome: the role of
      supraglottoplasty.
AB  - BACKGROUND/IMPORTANCE: Supraglottoplasty is the surgical procedure of choice for
      severe laryngomalacia and has shown to be successful in most cases; however,
      patients with medical comorbidities present a higher rate of failure. To date,
      the best management of laryngomalacia in children with congenital syndrome
      remains unclear. PURPOSE: To study the outcome of supraglottoplasty in children
      with severe laryngomalacia, and to analyze the management and outcome in infants
      with a congenital syndrome. METHODS: Retrospective medical records review from
      January 2003 to October 2012 of all patients who underwent laser
      supraglottoplasty for severe laryngomalacia at the University Children's Hospital
      Zurich, Switzerland. RESULTS: Thirty-one patients were included; median age at
      time of surgery was 3.5 months. Three patients (10%) had a genetically proven
      congenital syndrome with associated neurologic anomalies. Overall success rate
      was 87%. Failures were observed in four (13%) of 31 cases; including all three
      patients presenting a congenital syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: Supraglottoplasty is an
      effective and safe treatment for laryngomalacia in otherwise healthy children.
      Signs of a possible underlying predominant neurologic origin and discrepancy
      between the clinical presentation and the endoscopic findings have to be taken
      into account, as in children with congenital syndrome with neurologic anomalies
      the risk of failure is higher.

PMID- 25840055
TI  - Improved mortality rate for congenital diaphragmatic hernia in the modern era of
      management: 15 year experience in a single institution.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Mortality rates with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH)
      have remained at approximately 30% for the last 2 decades. Therapies targeting
      pulmonary hypertension (PHTN) have not been systematically studied in this
      population, but are increasingly used. We hypothesized that incremental changes
      in treatments for PHTN have improved mortality for CDH infants. METHODS:
      Prospective data from 1998 to 2013 on all liveborn CDH patients treated at our
      institution were retrospectively analyzed. Based on management of PHTN, 4 eras
      were identified for comparison. Logistic and linear regression were used to
      compare characteristics. The primary outcome of death prior to discharge was
      analyzed by multivariable Cox regression modeling. RESULTS: The study included
      192 infants who met inclusion criteria. Length of stay increased, whereas rates
      of primary repair decreased, suggesting a sicker cohort in the most recent eras.
      Analysis of mortality across 4 eras showed no difference. By post-hoc analysis,
      ECMO availability was associated with mortality reduction for eras 3-4 versus 1-2
      (HR=0.27, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Improved survival at our institution may be
      related to recent introduction of ECMO and more aggressive approaches to
      pulmonary hypertension. Further systematic studies of these PHTN therapies in
      this specific population are warranted.

PMID- 25840056
TI  - Mediastinoscopic extended thymectomy for pediatric patients with myasthenia
      gravis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Extended thymectomy is indicated for children with myasthenia gravis
      (MG) when drug-resistance or dependence is seen. We have employed a technique for
      mediastinoscopic extended thymectomy (MET) on children with MG. METHOD: A total
      of 14 children underwent MET at Kanagawa Children's Medical Center between 2005
      and 2013. A mediastinal operation field was made by a V-shaped hook
      infrasternally to extirpate the thymus with adipose tissue around the thymus.
      RESULTS: The operation time and the amount of blood loss were 182+/-44 minutes
      and 34+/-43 ml, respectively. Postoperative complications, in the form of
      transient paralysis of the right recurrent nerve, occurred in 2 patients. The
      median length of postoperative hospital stay was 4.5 days. After MET, 6 patients
      achieved complete remission and 7 patients achieved steroid dose reduction, but
      no improvement was seen in 1 patient. CONCLUSIONS: This procedure offers the
      advantage of good surgical access for dissection around the bilateral phrenic
      nerves in extended total thymectomy, while achieving good cosmetic results.

PMID- 25840057
TI  - Defective upper gastrointestinal function after repair of combined esophageal and
      duodenal atresia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Both esophageal atresia (EA) and duodenal atresia (DA) involve
      deficient anti-reflux barrier, poor esophageal function and eventually,
      duodenogastric reflux. This study aims at examining the upper gastrointestinal
      functional status in a cohort of patients with both EA and DA. METHODS: A
      retrospective survey of patients treated for EA and DA between 1965 and 2012 was
      conducted. Clinical charts, office visits, imaging, upper gastrointestinal
      endoscopy and esophageal pH metry/impedance were used to assess the long-term
      condition of the esophagus, the presence of gastroesophageal reflux disease
      (GERD) and/or the need for fundoplication. RESULTS: Twenty out of 581 patients
      treated for EA had associated DA. Ten/twenty children survived; 1 had primary
      esophageal replacement. With a median follow-up of 9 years, 8/9 had complicated
      outcomes and 5 still suffered digestive ailments: 2 GER; 1 eosinophilic
      esophagitis; 1 nodular gastritis, and 1 wrap herniation. A total of 10 procedures
      were performed: 8 fundoplications, 1 esophagogastric dissociation and 1
      replacement with colon. DISCUSSION: The association of EA with DA involves a poor
      upper digestive function with high risks of GERD and fundoplication failure. The
      lifelong synergistic play of esophageal, gastric and duodenal dysfunctions in
      these patients prompts long-term follow-up, and eventually active treatment.

PMID- 25840058
TI  - A two-center comparative study of gastric pull-up and jejunal interposition for
      long gap esophageal atresia.
AB  - PURPOSE: When restoration of the anatomical continuity in case of long gap
      esophageal atresia (LGEA) is not feasible, esophageal replacement surgery becomes
      mandatory. The aim of this paper is to critically compare the experience of two
      tertiary referral centers in The Netherlands performing either gastric pull-up
      (GPU) or jejunal interposition (JI). METHODS: Retrospective chart review of all
      the patients with LGEA who underwent GPU in the University Medical Center
      Groningen and JI in the University Medical Center Utrecht. Main endpoints were
      short term morbidity, mortality and long term functional outcome (digestive
      functioning and growth). Descriptive analyses conducted using Mann-Whitney U test
      for continuous variables and Fisher's exact test for categorical variables.
      RESULTS: Nine children underwent GPU and 15 JI. Median age (years) at last follow
      up was fourteen (GPU) and eight (JI). One patient died, 10 years after JI. No
      grafts were lost. Perioperative anastomotic complications were reported more
      often after JI (73% vs. 22%, p=0.03). However reintervention rate was the same in
      both groups (33%). Among long term outcomes, functional obstruction was not
      registered after GPU, while it was recorded in 46% after JI (p=0.02). No other
      significant differences were found apart from some tendencies concerning full
      oral nutrition and gastroesophageal reflux (GPU>JI). CONCLUSION: Comparative data
      from this study reveal no mortality but significant morbidity in both groups. No
      graft was lost. Although not statistically different as a result of small patient
      numbers, clinically important differences regarding gastrointestinal system were
      noted. Growth should be monitored closely in both groups.

PMID- 25840059
TI  - Cognitive and behavioral characteristics of children with caustic ingestion.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIM: Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD)
      have risk taking behavior and are more prone to sustaining injury. It is aimed to
      evaluate the cognitive and behavioral characteristics of children with caustic
      ingestion. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ninety two children with a history of
      nonsuicidal caustic ingestion (CI, n=46) and healthy subjects (HS, n=46) admitted
      to pediatric surgery department were enrolled into the study. Patients in groups
      were evaluated for age, sex, number of siblings and educational status of the
      parents. Before filling the questionnaires, the children were undergone flexible
      endoscopy and treated accordingly. Conners Parents Rating Scale-revised long form
      (CPRS-R:L), validated for Turkish Children, was used to evaluate the cognitive
      and behavioral characteristics of children. Parents rate their child's behavior
      with a four-point Likert scale. Subscales of CPRS-R:L including cognitive
      problems/inattention (CG/I), hyperactivity (H), attention deficit hyperactivity
      disorder index (AD/HD-I), Conners' Global Index-discomfort-impulsivity (CGI-DI),
      DSM-IV-symptom subscale-inattention (DSMIV, SS-I), DSM-IV-symptom subscale
      hyperactivity-impulsivity (DSM-IV, SS-HI), DSMIV-symptom subscale-total score
      (DSM-IV SS-T) were used to determine the severity of the AD/HD symptom.
      Demographic features and cognitive/behavioral characteristics of children with
      caustic ingestion were compared with healthy subjects. RESULTS: The median age of
      the patients was 4 (2-14 years) in both CI and HS groups. Female male ratio was
      13:33 in CI and 12:34 in HS. Sixty seven percent of patients were preschool
      children (younger than 5 years of age) in both CI and HS groups. There was no
      difference between groups for number of siblings (p>0.05). Parents of HS group
      had higher educational status than parents in CI (p<0.05). When subscale scores
      of CPRS-R:L compared between CI and HS groups, CI group had higher CGI-DI scores
      than HS (p<0.05). Children younger than five years of age had higher scores of H,
      emotional instability and total CG/I in CI than HS group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION:
      Children with caustic ingestion had impulsiveness behavior when compared to
      healthy children. In addition to impulsivity, hyperactivity can be also assessed
      as a risk factor for caustic ingestion in children younger than 5years of age. We
      suggest that association between AD/HD behavior and risk of sustaining injuries
      was also confirmed for caustic ingestion in children.

PMID- 25840060
TI  - Evaluation of the expression of I-FABP and L-FABP in a necrotizing enterocolitis
      model after the use of Lactobacillus acidophilus.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a severe intestinal
      disease that primarily affects premature babies, leading to high mortality and
      morbidity. Probiotics represent an important alternative prophylaxis for NEC but
      its mechanism of action is poorly understood. Moreover, intestinal and liver-type
      fatty acid-binding proteins (I-FABP and L-FABP) may be utilized because markers
      of intestinal injury, including NEC. We aimed to evaluate the protection induced
      by the Lactobacillus acidophilus on the intestines of newborn rats submitted to
      experimental NEC using I-FABP and L-FABP as biomarkers. METHODS: Sprague-Dawley
      newborn rats were divided into three groups: (1) C (control)-breast-fed; (2) NEC
      subjected to NEC protocol and (3) NECP-NEC+probiotic. Morphometric, intestinal
      lesion, immunohistochemistry and Western blotting analysis were performed.
      Statistical significant differences were considered when p<0.05. RESULTS:
      Intestinal weight was lower in NEC and NECP compared to C (p<0.05). Intestinal
      injury was lower in NECP compared to NEC. Prophylactic probiotic recovered mucosa
      and muscular layers' thickness to C levels (p<0.05). I-FABP and L-FABP
      expressions in NECP showed intermediate values between C and NEC. CONCLUSION: L.
      acidophilus had a protective effect on the development of NEC and FABPs could
      demonstrate the degree of tissular damage of the intestine.

PMID- 25840061
TI  - Long-term physiologic and oncologic outcomes of inferior vena cava thrombosis in
      pediatric malignant abdominal tumors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The long-term physiologic and oncologic outcomes of treatment for
      inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombosis in children with malignant abdominal tumors
      are unclear. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of children with
      malignant IVC tumor thrombosis treated at our institution between January 1996
      and December 2011. Extent of tumor thrombus was classified using the Hinman
      system. Disease stage, management, and oncologic and physiologic outcomes and
      complications were evaluated. RESULTS: We identified 15 patients (median age, 4.7
      years): 12 with Wilms tumor, 2 with hepatoblastoma, and 1 with adrenocortical
      carcinoma. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy changed Hinman levels in 2 (13%) patients.
      IVC thrombus resection was complete in 6 (40%) patients, partial in 7 (47%)
      patients, and not performed in 1 (6.7%) patient. On follow-up imaging, 8 (53%)
      patients' IVCs were patent, 6 (40%) had residual thrombus, and 1 (6.7%) was
      surgically interrupted. Three (20%) patients had perioperative complications, and
      2 (13%) experienced transient effects related to IVC occlusion. CONCLUSIONS:
      Surgical management of tumor thrombus in the vena cava of children with solid
      abdominal tumors is challenging. Evidence on which to base strong treatment
      recommendations is lacking. Few long-term physiologic complications were
      observed.

PMID- 25840062
TI  - Complication risks associated with lower versus upper extremity peripherally
      inserted central venous catheters in neonates with gastroschisis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the complication rates of lower extremity (LE) and upper
      extremity (UE) peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) in neonates with
      gastroschisis. METHODS: In this retrospective comparative study, neonates with
      gastroschisis admitted to a level IIId NICU between 2004 and 2013 were
      identified. Catheter dwell time and complication rates (infiltration, phlebitis,
      occlusion, migration, infection and thrombosis) between the initial UE and LE
      PICCs were compared. RESULTS: Forty (31%) and eighty-nine (69%) neonates with
      gastroschisis had their initial PICCs placed from their LE and UE, respectively.
      Complication rates were significantly higher when PICCs were inserted from LE,
      especially during silo-reduction and within 5 days after abdominal closure (LE:
      20% vs. UE: 3.4%, p<0.01). LE PICCs were 5.0 times more likely to have
      complications than UE PICCs (OR 95% CI: 1.2-21.5) during this time period. In
      particular LE PICCs had significantly higher rates of infiltration (LE: 11.5% vs.
      UE: 1.4%; p=0.025) and phlebitis (LE: 11.5% vs. UE: 0%; p<0.01) in patients who
      underwent silo-reduction. CONCLUSION: LE PICCs are associated with significantly
      increased risks of infiltration and phlebitis in neonates with gastroschisis
      during silo-reduction and within 5 days after abdominal closure.

PMID- 25840064
TI  - Pancreatitis and portal vein thrombosis in children: the chicken or the egg
      causality dilemma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The association of pancreatitis and portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is
      extremely rare in children. We report on 3 cases which suggest that there may be
      a causal relation between the two. METHODS: Clinical characteristics and
      evolution of 3 children with this particular condition were analyzed
      retrospectively. In this group of patients, the strategy consisted in opting for
      early surgical decompression of the portal hypertension, which was followed by a
      favorable outcome, not only in terms of complications related to the portal
      hypertension but also of a contemporaneous spontaneous regression of the
      concurrent pancreatic disease, in absence of any other specific management of the
      latter problem. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Combined PVT and pancreatitis is
      exceptional in children. Although this series is small, it provides insight and
      some evidence that the pancreatic disease might be secondary to the cavernomatous
      transformation of the regional venous system. More interestingly, it suggests
      that the appropriate management strategy should be to rapidly relieve portal
      hypertension after resolution of the acute phase of pancreatitis.

PMID- 25840063
TI  - The degree of spleen stiffness measured on acoustic radiation force impulse
      elastography predicts the severity of portal hypertension in patients with
      biliary atresia after portoenterostomy.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Acoustic radiation focus impulse (ARFI) elastography is a new
      method for assessing the degree of tissue stiffness. We herein evaluated the
      degree of spleen stiffness (SS) using ARFI elastography in patients with biliary
      atresia (BA) after Kasai portoenterostomy (KPE). METHODS: We retrospectively
      collected the liver stiffness (LS) and SS values on ARFI elastography from 43
      patients undergoing KPE between September 2010 and November 2013. We analyzed the
      correlations between these values and variables related to the severity of liver
      dysfunction and portal hypertension (PHT). The data were expressed as the
      standard deviation score (z-score) relative to the previously reported normal
      values for the patient's age. RESULTS: The SS value was significantly associated
      with the spleen diameter and development of collateral vessels, in comparison to
      the LS value. Interestingly, there was a significant correlation between SS value
      and the portal vein (PV) diameter. Thirty patients (69.8%) consequently underwent
      LT; these patients showed higher SS values and smaller PV diameters than the
      patients monitored without LT. CONCLUSIONS: The degree of SS measured on ARFI
      elastography can be used to predict the severity of PHT in BA patients after KPE.

PMID- 25840065
TI  - The risk of volvulus in abdominal wall defects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Congenital abdominal wall defects are associated with abnormal
      intestinal rotation and fixation. A Ladd's procedure is not routinely performed
      in these patients; it is believed intestinal fixation is provided by adhesions
      that develop post-repair of the defects. However, patients with omphalocele may
      not have adequately protective postoperative adhesions because of difference in
      the inflammatory state of the bowel wall and in repair strategy. The aim of this
      study is to describe the occurrence of midgut volvulus in patients with
      gastroschisis or omphalocele. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed
      for all patients managed in a single institution born between 1/1/2000 and
      12/31/2008 with a diagnosis of gastroschisis or omphalocele. Patient charts were
      reviewed through 12/31/2012 for occurrence of midgut volvulus or need for second
      laparotomy. RESULTS: Of the 206 patients identified with abdominal wall defects,
      142 patients (69%) had gastroschisis and 64 patients (31%) had omphalocele.
      Patients' follow up ranged from 4 years to 13 years. The median gestational age
      was 36 weeks (26-41 weeks) and the median birth weight was 2.42 kg (0.8-4.87 kg).
      None of the patients with gastroschisis developed midgut volvulus, however two
      patients (3%) with omphalocele developed midgut volvulus. CONCLUSIONS: No
      patients with gastroschisis developed midgut volvulus. Therefore, the current
      practice of not routinely performing a Ladd's procedure is a safe approach during
      surgical repair of gastroschisis. The two cases of volvulus in patients with
      omphalocele may be related to less bowel fixation. It is necessary to examine
      current practice in regards to the need for assessing the risk of volvulus during
      omphalocele closure and counseling of these patients. This assessment may be
      achieved via routine examination of the width of the small bowel mesenteric base,
      whenever feasible; however, the sample size is relatively small to draw any
      definitive conclusions.

PMID- 25840066
TI  - Proposal of intestinal tissue engineering combined with Bianchi's procedure.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study is to examine the feasibility of the small intestinal
      submucosa (SIS) when the longitudinal staples during Bianchi's procedure are
      replaced with SIS graft. METHODS: The mesentery of the bowel was separated based
      on the bifurcated vessels in five beagles. A 2*7-cm longitudinal half of the
      bowel was excised and the defect was repaired using SIS with similar blood supply
      in Bianchi's operation. Six months later, intestinal motility in the SIS-grafted
      area was recorded. Tissue preparations were obtained from the reorganized area.
      An organ bath technique with electrical field stimulation was applied. Both the
      native small intestine and grafted area were morphologically investigated using
      immunohistochemistry. MAIN RESULTS: All dogs survived and thrived with no
      anastomotic leakage. Isoperistaltic migrating contractility during fasting was
      observed through the grafted segment including the reorganized area. The SIS
      reorganized tissue contracted in response to an acetylcholine agonist and
      electrical field stimulation. The mucosa was covered with normal epithelium.
      Reorganization of neural and smooth muscle cells was observed. CONCLUSIONS: SIS
      has the potential for use as a scaffold that promotes the formation of a physical
      and physiological neointestine. Our present proposal approaches a novel surgical
      treatment in patients with short bowel syndrome.

PMID- 25840067
TI  - Evaluation of a water-soluble contrast agent for the conservative management of
      adhesive small bowel obstruction in pediatric patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The diagnostic and therapeutic benefits of a commercial water
      soluble contrast agent (Gastrografin) in pediatric patients with adhesive small
      bowel obstruction (ASBO) are controversial. The aim of this study was to assess
      the therapeutic value of Gastrografin in the management of ASBO in children after
      unsuccessful conservative treatment. METHODS: Medical records from patients with
      uncomplicated ASBO managed at Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan between
      January 1996 and December 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. All children <=18
      years of age with clinical evidence of ASBO were managed conservative treatment,
      unless there was suspicion of strangulation. Patients who did not improve after
      48 hours of conservative treatment were administered Gastrografin. RESULTS:
      Twenty-four patients with 33 episodes of ASBO were analyzed. Of those, there were
      19 episodes of ASBO that failed to respond to the initial conservative
      management, and 16 (84%) responded well to Gastrografin administration thereby
      abrogating the need for surgical intervention. There were neither complications
      nor mortality that could be attributed to the use of Gastrografin. CONCLUSION:
      This preliminary study suggested that the use of a water-soluble contrast agent
      in ASBO is safe in children and useful for managing ASBO, particularly in
      reducing the need for surgery when conservative treatment fails. However, larger
      prospective studies would be needed to confirm these results.

PMID- 25840068
TI  - A comparison of two quality measurement tools in pediatric surgery--the American
      College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatric
      versus the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Pediatric Quality
      Indicators.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Identifying quality in pediatric surgery can be difficult
      given the low frequency of postoperative complications. We compared postoperative
      events following pediatric surgical procedures at a single institution identified
      by ACS-NSQIP Pediatric (ACS NSQIP-P) methodology and AHRQ Pediatric Quality
      Indicators (AHRQ PDIs), an administrative tool. METHODS: AHRQ PDI algorithms were
      run on inpatient hospital discharge abstracts for 1257 children in the 2010 to
      2013 ACS NSQIP-P at our institution. Four events-pulmonary complications,
      postoperative sepsis, wound dehiscence and bleeding-were matched between ACS
      NSQIP-P and AHRQ PDI. RESULTS: Events were identified by ACS NSQIP-P in 7.9% of
      children and by AHRQ PDI in 8.0%. The four matched events were identified in 5.5%
      and 3.7%, respectively. Specificities of AHRQ PDI ranged from 97% to 100% and
      sensitivities from 0 to 2%. The largest discrepancy was in bleeding, where AHRQ
      PDI captured 1 of the 54 events identified by ACS NSQIP-P. None of the 41
      pulmonary, sepsis, and wound dehiscence events identified by AHRQ PDI were
      clinically relevant according to ACS NSQIP-P. CONCLUSIONS: Adverse events
      following pediatric surgery are infrequent; thus, additional measures of quality
      to supplement postoperative adverse events are needed. AHRQ PDIs are inadequate
      for assessing quality in pediatric surgery.

PMID- 25840069
TI  - Effects of sphingosylphosphorylcholine against oxidative stress and acute lung
      injury induced by pulmonary contusion in rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to evaluate effects of exogenous
      sphingosylphosphorylcholine (SPC) administration on acute lung injury induced by
      pulmonary contusion in rats. METHODS: Eight animals were included in each of the
      following five groups: control, contusion, contusion phosphate-buffered solution
      (PBS), contusion SPC 2, contusion SPC 10. SPC was administered 3 days at a daily
      two different doses of 2 MUm/ml and 10 MUm/ml intraperitoneally. The severity of
      lung injury was determined by the neutrophil activation and histological and
      immunohistochemical changes in the lung. Malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide
      (NO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione
      (GSH) were determined to evaluate the oxidative status in the lung tissue.
      RESULTS: Treatment with 2 MUM SPC inhibited the increase in lung MDA and NO
      levels significantly and also attenuated the depletion of SOD, GPx, and GSH in
      the lung injury induced by pulmonary contusion. These data were supported by
      histopathological findings. The inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) positive
      cells and apoptotic cells in the lung tissue were observed to be reduced with the
      2 MUM SPC treatment. But, the 10 MUM SPC treatment did not provide similar
      effects. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, these findings suggested that 2 MUM SPC can
      attenuate lung damage in pulmonary contusion by prevention of oxidative stress,
      inflammatory process and apoptosis. All these findings suggest that low dose SPC
      may be a promising new therapeutic agent for acute lung injury.

PMID- 25840070
TI  - Utility of admission serum lactate in pediatric trauma.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Serum lactate measurement has a predictive value in adult
      trauma. To date, there has been no prospective analysis of the predictive value
      of admission serum lactate in pediatric trauma. METHODS: Admission serum lactate
      was prospectively measured over a two year period on all children under age 15
      years who met trauma alert criteria at an urban Level 1 trauma center. Elevated
      serum lactate (>2.0 mmol/L) was correlated with Injury Severity Scores (ISS),
      injury types, and hospital outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 277 injured children
      with admission lactate measurements were evaluated. Patients with elevated
      lactate had higher mean ISS than those with normal lactate (12.8 vs. 5.1,
      p<0.01), and increased need for intubation, major procedures and ICU admission.
      Elevated lactate was associated with low specificity (54.4%), moderate
      sensitivity (86.7%) and high negative predictive value (94.5%) for detecting
      injury (ISS>15). Lactate measurements over 4.7 mmol/L were highly specific
      (95.8%) for injury. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated admission venous lactate level is
      associated with injury and outcomes, but lacks adequate sensitivity and
      specificity. Lactate over 4.7 mmol/L is strongly suggestive of severe injury,
      while lactate below 2.0 mmol/L is reassuring for not having injury. Lactates
      between 2.0 and 4.7 mmol/L remain indeterminate in predictive potential for
      injury or outcomes.

PMID- 25840071
TI  - Beyond morbidity and mortality: the social and legal outcomes of non-accidental
      trauma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Abusive head trauma (AHT) is a significant cause of morbidity and
      mortality in the pediatric population. We aimed to assess the social and legal
      outcomes of AHT and determine if the rates of successful prosecution have changed
      over recent years. METHODS: We utilized the trauma database at a single
      institution to identify all cases of AHT during two time periods: 1996-2001 and
      2006-2010 then collected data from the Child Advocacy and Protection Team
      database. We characterized the social and legal outcomes and compared them
      between the two cohorts. RESULTS: A total of 254 patients (120 historic and 134
      modern cohort) were included. Mortality rate was 19.7% and did not differ between
      the two cohorts. Thirty-seven percent of patients were discharged to foster care,
      this rate did not change across the two time periods. Suspected perpetrators pled
      guilty or were found guilty in only 74 cases (29%). However, when a case involved
      a fatality, perpetrators pled or were found guilty more often than in cases of a
      non-fatality (50 vs. 21.5%; p=0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: AHT results in fatality in
      approximately 1 in 5 cases, perpetrators are identified and found guilty in only
      29% of the cases. Trauma surgeons need to be strong advocates for these
      vulnerable patients and actively participate in legal proceedings.

PMID- 25840072
TI  - Incidence and risk factors of burn injuries among infants, Finland 1990-2010.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Our aim was to study the incidence, mechanisms, treatment, and risk
      factors of burn injuries in infants younger than 1 year. METHODS: Data on burn
      injured infants during 1990-2011 in Finland came from the National Hospital
      Discharge Register (NHDR). Information on birth and maternal-related factors came
      from the Finnish Medical Birth Register, and data on fatal injuries from the
      Cause of Death Register of Finland. RESULTS: This study included 1842 children,
      female to male 1:1.5. The annual overall incidence of inhospital and outpatient
      admissions increased during the study period (p<0.05). Major risk factors were
      male gender, parity, and the mother's socioeconomic status and young age. The
      most common causes were scalds and contact burns. Severity of the injury
      increased along with increasing age, and children aged 9-12 months had the
      highest prevalence of surgical treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Burn injury incidence in
      children under 1 year has increased during recent decades in Finland. First-born
      9- to 12-month-old boys of young mothers of low socioeconomic status are at
      higher risk of burn injuries. Preventative work needs strengthening to reduce
      infant burn injuries.

PMID- 25840073
TI  - Management of challenging congenital melanocytic nevi: outcomes study of serial
      excision.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Large congenital melanocytic nevi (CMN) cause significant deformity
      and are at risk for malignant degeneration. Techniques used to remove difficult
      CMN include serial excision, skin grafting, or tissue expansion. Some authors
      prefer skin grafting or tissue expansion if several stages would be required to
      serially resect the CMN. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy
      of serial excision for CMN requiring >=3 procedures. METHODS: Medical records and
      clinical images of patients with CMN treated between 2007 and 2013 were reviewed.
      Inclusion criteria were: (1) lesions that required >=3 serial excisions to remove
      and (2) CMN that could have been treated reasonably with skin grafting or tissue
      expansion. Patient age, gender, location of the lesion, size of the CMN, number
      of serial excisions, and complications were recorded. RESULTS: The study included
      21 patients. Lesions were located on the lower extremity (38.1%), head/neck
      (33.3%), upper extremity (14.3%), or trunk (14.3%). Nevus size was 2.2%+/-1.2%
      total body surface area. The age during the first operation was 4.3 years (range
      3 months to 15 years). The number of excisions was 3.5+/-0.7, spaced 8.2+/-4.3
      months apart. Partial suture line dehiscence occurred after 2/72 operations and
      seroma resulted after 1/72 operations; there were no infections. CONCLUSION:
      Challenging CMN amenable to serial excision can be removed effectively and safely
      using this technique. Children are left with a favorable linear scar, do not have
      donor or recipient site morbidity from skin grafting, and are not subjected to
      potential tissue expander complications and injections required for expansion.

PMID- 25840074
TI  - Development of a locomotor rating scale for testing motor function in sheep.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Research to cure paralysis associated with myelomeningocele
      (MMC) is ongoing using the fetal sheep model of MMC. Despite decades of research
      using this model, no standardized motor function assessment exists. The purpose
      of this study is to develop a sensitive and reliable locomotor scale for
      assessing the functional status of sheep. METHODS: Twenty lambs were used to
      develop and validate the locomotor scale. Lambs (n=15) underwent a surgically
      created MMC defect at gestational age (GA) 75 days, followed by repair with
      various methods at GA 100. One lamb underwent a sham operation (n=1). Normal
      lambs (n=4) served as controls. All lambs were born via spontaneous vaginal
      delivery, and motor function was assessed for 24 hours. A locomotor rating scale
      was developed based on behavioral observations of lambs. Inter-rater reliability
      testing was performed to determine if the scale could be reliably applied by
      different raters. RESULTS: Observations led to the definition of 7 categories of
      locomotor recovery. A scoring system was developed to rank these categories. The
      scale captured a wide variety of neurologic outcomes. Inter-rater reliability
      revealed minimal variability between examiners (average standard deviation +/
      0.431). The average score for all raters was within 1 point of the consensus
      score 100% of the time. CONCLUSIONS: The sheep locomotor rating scale is capable
      of capturing subtle differences in neurologic function with minimal inter-rater
      variability. We propose a standardized rating scale for neurologic outcomes and
      believe this is a critical component for assessing the validity of experimental
      treatments to cure paralysis in MMC.

PMID- 25840075
TI  - Pelvic floor in females with anorectal malformations--findings on perineal
      ultrasonography and aspects of delivery mode.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Advice on the mode of delivery to females born with anorectal
      malformation (ARM) is needed. The primary aim was to evaluate the anatomy of the
      pelvic floor muscles in females with ARM operated with posterior sagittal
      anorectal plasty (PSARP). The second aim was to correlate the extent of muscle
      defects to the bowel symptoms. METHODS: This interventional study with perineal
      4D/3D ultrasonography describes the smooth muscles in the intestinal wall (neo
      IAS), external sphincter, levators and anal canal using a muscle score (0-6
      worst). The bowel symptoms were prospectively registered with Krickenbeck
      criteria score (0-7 worst). RESULTS: Forty females with different subtypes of
      ARM, median age 13 (4-21), were followed up regarding bowel symptoms. Seventeen
      were examined with ultrasonography. Bowel symptoms were similar for those
      examined with ultrasonography and those not, median score 5 and 3 (1-7)
      respectively, (p=0.223, Fisher's exact test). All the females had at least one
      muscular defect. There was no significant correlation between muscle defects and
      bowel symptoms (p=0.094, Spearman's correlation). CONCLUSION: Females with ARM
      have considerable defects in the pelvic floor without any significant correlation
      to bowel symptoms. All women with ARM would benefit from individualized
      predelivery evaluations and caesarian section should be considered.

PMID- 25840076
TI  - Evaluation of transcutaneous electrical posterior tibial nerve stimulation for
      the treatment of fecal and urinary leaks in children: preliminary results.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the effectiveness of posterior tibial nerve stimulation
      (PTNS) for the treatment of fecal and urinary incontinence in children with
      malformations of the bowel or neurological pathologies. INTRODUCTION: Treatment
      of fecal and urinary leaks, in cases of congenital malformations remains a
      challenge. Recent studies in adults have shown the effectiveness of PTNS. METHOD:
      Eight children: 4 with anorectal malformations, 3 with neurological causes (1
      medullary lipoma, 1 Arnold Chiari malformation, 1 sacrococcygeal teratoma) and 1
      with Hirschsprung's disease presenting with serious anal incontinence, despite
      extensive bowel management during at least 2 years, were treated with PTNS. Six
      children had associated urinary leaks. Jorge-Wexner score for defecation and
      Schurch score for urine were used before treatment and after the second and sixth
      months of stimulation. RESULTS: After six months, five patients had no more fecal
      leakage, two patients were improved and one did not respond. Five out of the 6
      patients with urinary leaks were continent at 6 months. CONCLUSION: PTNS is a
      noninvasive technique and painless modality which seems to be effective for the
      treatment of fecal and urinary leaks in children even with congenital digestive
      pathologies or neurological malformations. These results will be confirmed in a
      prospective study.

PMID- 25840077
TI  - One stage operation through modified posterior sagittal approach preserving the
      sphincter intact for anal agenesis with rectovestibular fistula.
AB  - PURPOSE: To describe the surgical technique and outcomes of an one stage
      operation through modified posterior sagittal approach (PSAP) preserving the
      sphincter intact for anal agenesia with rectovestibula fistula. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: 57 patients suffering from anal agenesis with rectovestibular fistula
      were operated by a one-stage operation through a modified PSAP preserving the
      external sphincter intact from 2002 to 2010. The operation was performed in one
      stage through a posterior sagittal approach with three modifications: The
      external sphincter complex was not opened on the posterior side, the dissection
      was carried out outside the rectal pouch, the rectal pouch was not tapered and
      was pulled through the center of the external sphincter identified by muscle
      stimulator. RESULTS: Patients age varied from 3 days to 30 days (mean: 21+/-9
      days). The mean operative time was 57+/-8 min (range, 35-90 min). There were no
      intraoperative complications. There were no intraoperative or postoperative
      deaths. There were no early postoperative complications. Follow up from 40 months
      to 140 was obtained in 52 (91.2%) patients. Constipation has seen in 3 patient,
      46 patients (88.5%) had 1-2 defecations per day, 2 patients (3.85%) had 3-4
      defecations per day, 1 patients (1.9%) had more than 4 defecations, and 3
      patients(5.8%) had one defecation every 2-3 days. Rectal mucosal prolapse
      occurred in 7 patients who required a second operation. CONCLUSION: One stage
      operation through modified PSAP is feasible, is safe and provides good continence
      outcomes for anal agenesis with rectovestibular fistula.

PMID- 25840078
TI  - Correlating surgical and pathological diagnoses in pediatric appendicitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The stratification of appendicitis into simple and complex variants
      has far-reaching implications. While the operative diagnosis made by the surgeon
      dictates clinical management, the pathologic diagnosis often differs and is
      frequently used for coding and reimbursement. The purpose of this study was to
      examine discrepancies between the operative and pathologic diagnoses with
      subsequent correlation to clinical outcomes. METHODS: Patients with acute
      appendicitis from July 2011 to July 2012 were identified. Diagnoses included
      simple (normal, acute, and suppurative) and complex (gangrenous and perforated).
      We evaluated the inter-rater reliability between pathologic and operative
      diagnoses in the five appendicitis categories. Clinical outcomes of deep and
      superficial surgical site infections were evaluated according to the pathologic
      and surgical diagnosis. RESULTS: During the study period, we identified 1166
      patients with acute appendicitis. The surgeon and pathologist agreed on the
      specific diagnosis (acute, suppurative, gangrenous, perforated, normal) in 48% of
      patients (kappa 0.289, 95% CI 0.259-0.324, p=0.001). Agreement on disease
      severity (simple vs. complex) improved to 82%. The operative diagnosis more
      accurately predicted infectious complications than the pathologic diagnoses.
      CONCLUSION: Significant discordance exists between surgical and pathologic
      diagnoses. While the relevance of this discordance to clinical outcomes is still
      not clear, a potential for incorrect hospital coding and subsequent reimbursement
      exists. Future quality improvement projects should focus on standardizing the
      surgical and pathologic diagnoses.

PMID- 25840080
TI  - Surgical approach to intussusception in older children: influence of lead points.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The likelihood of a lead point as the cause of ileocolic
      intussusception increases as children get older. This study looks at whether a
      different management strategy should be employed in older patients. METHODS: 7
      year multi-institutional retrospective study of intussusception in patients aged
      <12 years. RESULTS: Ileocolic intussusception with complete data was found in 153
      patients: 109 0-2 years, 34 3-5 years, and 10 6-12 years, respectively. Bloody
      stools occurred in 42/143 of 0-5 years and 0/10 of 6-12 years, p<0.001. Combined
      hydrostatic and/or surgical reduction was successful in 113/143 0-5 year olds vs
      5/10 6-12 year olds, p<0.001. Enemas were safe but reduced only 1 patient over
      age 5. Resections were required in 29 patients (15 idiopathic, 14 lead points).
      Lead points were found in 4/109 children under 3 years, in 5/34 aged 3-5 years
      and 5/10 aged 6-12 years (p=0.04 vs 3-5 years and p <0.001 vs 0-5 years). Lead
      points consisted of 7 Meckel's diverticula and 7 others. CONCLUSION: Children
      older than 5 years are much more likely to have a pathologic lead point and early
      surgical intervention should be considered. In this study, enema reduction was
      safe but minimally beneficial in this age group.

PMID- 25840079
TI  - Use and accuracy of diagnostic imaging in the evaluation of pediatric
      appendicitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There are safety concerns about the use of radiation-based imaging
      (computed tomography [CT]) to diagnose appendicitis in children. Factors
      associated with CT use remain to be determined. METHODS: For patients <=18 years
      old undergoing appendectomy, we evaluated diagnostic imaging performed, patient
      characteristics, hospital type, and imaging/pathology concordance (2008-2012)
      using data from Washington State's Surgical Care and Outcomes Assessment Program.
      RESULTS: Among 2538 children, 99.7% underwent pre-operative imaging. 52.7% had a
      CT scan as their first study. After adjustment, age >10 years (OR 2.9 (95% CI 2.2
      4.0), Hispanic ethnicity (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.5-1.9), and being obese (OR 1.7, 95%
      CI 1.4-2.1) were associated with CT use first. Evaluation at a non-children's
      hospital was associated with higher odds of CT use (OR 7.9, 95% CI 7.5-8.4).
      Ultrasound concordance with pathology was higher for males (72.3 vs. 66.4%,
      p=.03), in perforated appendicitis (75.9 vs. 67.5%, p=.009), and at children's
      hospitals compared to general adult hospitals (77.3 vs. 62.2%, p<.001). CT use
      has decreased yearly statewide. CONCLUSIONS: Over 50% of children with
      appendicitis had radiation-based imaging. Understanding factors associated with
      CT use should allow for more specific QI interventions to reduce radiation
      exposure. Site of care remains a significant factor in radiation exposure for
      children.

PMID- 25840081
TI  - Early diagnosis of testicular torsion in rats by measuring plasma d-dimer levels:
      comparative study with epididymitis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the differential diagnosis of testicular torsion and acute
      epididymo-orchitis by measuring the acute increase in plasma d-dimer levels in an
      experimental rat model. METHODS: Thirty male Wistar rats were randomly divided
      into 5 groups, 1--sham operated group (acute term; 4 hours), 2--early torsion
      group (acute term; 4 hours), 3--late torsion group (long-term; 72 hours), 4-
      control of epididymitis group (vehicle injected; 0.1 ml physiologic saline
      injected into the left ductus deferens) (long term; 72 hours), 5--epididymitis
      group (0.1 ml Escherichia coli injected into the left ductus deferens), (n=6 for
      each group). RESULTS: Serum d-dimer levels were significantly higher compared
      with the sham operated group with early torsion (p=0.002). This elevation
      remained mildly in the late torsion group compared with the control group
      (p<0.001), but there was no difference between 4 and 72 hours of the testis
      torsions (p=0.794). On the other hand, d-dimer levels were significantly higher
      in the torsion groups compared to the epididymitis group (p=0.042). CONCLUSIONS:
      The present study demonstrated that testicular damage that occurs following
      testicular torsion shows a higher increase in d-dimer levels than epididymitis,
      suggesting that d-dimer level can be used as a diagnostic marker of testicular
      torsion.

PMID- 25840082
TI  - Advantages of tubeless mini-percutaneous nephrolithotomy in the treatment of
      preschool children under 3 years old.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Tubeless mini-percutaneous nephrolithotomy (MPCNL) for
      treating renal calculi was introduced in response to concerns over the use of
      adult nephrolithotomy apparatus in small children. However, it is unclear whether
      tubeless mini-PCNL (MPCNL) is of any benefit in the treatment of children. This
      study therefore aimed to assess the possible benefits of MPCNL, as compared to
      standard PCNL, in preschool children. METHODS: Seventy-eight preschool children
      under 3 years with renal calculi were randomized into two groups (PCNL and
      MPCNL). Operative time, hemoglobin decrease, blood transfusion rate,
      postoperative complications and length of hospital stay in the two groups were
      statistically compared. RESULTS: Recovery time was significantly shorter for
      patients receiving MPCNL than those treated with standard PCNL (4.6 versus 7.7
      days, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Treating preschool children with tubeless
      percutaneous nephrolithotomy has advantages over standard PCNL, including faster
      recovery and shorter hospital stay.

PMID- 25840083
TI  - Quality assessment of economic evaluation studies in pediatric surgery: a
      systematic review.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess economic evaluation studies (EES) in pediatric surgery and to
      identify potential factors associated with high-quality studies. METHODS: A
      systematic review of the literature using PubMed and Cochrane databases was
      conducted to identify EES in pediatric surgery published between 1 June 1993 and
      30 June 2013. Assessment criteria are derived from the Drummond checklist. A high
      quality study was defined as a Drummond score >=7. Logistic regression analysis
      was used to determine factors associated with high quality studies. RESULTS: 119
      studies were included. 43.7% (n=52) of studies were full EES. Cost-effectiveness
      analysis was the most frequent (61.5%) type of full EES. Only 31.6% of studies
      had a Drummond score >=7 and 73% of these were full EES. The factors associated
      with high quality were identification of costs (OR: 14.08; 95% CI: 3.38-100;
      p<0.001), estimation of utility value (OR: 8.13; 95% CI: 2.02-43.47; p=0.005) and
      study funding (OR: 3.50; 95% CI: 1.27-10.10; p=0.02). CONCLUSION: This review
      shows that the number and the quality of EES are low despite the increasing
      number of studies published in recent years. In the current context of budget
      constraints, our results should encourage pediatric surgeons to focus more on
      EES.

PMID- 25840084
TI  - The classification based on intrahepatic portal system for congenital
      portosystemic shunts.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Liver transplantation was previously indicated as a curative
      operation for congenital absence of portal vein. Recent advances in radiological
      interventional techniques can precisely visualize the architecture of the
      intrahepatic portal system (IHPS). Therefore, the therapeutic approach for
      congenital portosystemic shunt (CPS) needs to be reevaluated from a viewpoint of
      radiological appearances. The aim of this study was to propose the IHPS
      classification which could explain the pathophysiological characteristics and
      play a complementary role of a therapeutic approach and management for CPS.
      METHODS: Nineteen patients with CPS were retrospectively reviewed. The median age
      at diagnosis was 6.8 years old. Eighteen of these patients underwent angiography
      with a shunt occlusion test and were classified based of the severity of the
      hypoplasia of IHPS. RESULTS: The eighteen cases who could undergo the shunt
      occlusion test were classified into mild (n=7), moderate (n=6) and severe types
      (n=5) according to the IHPS classification. The IHPS classification correlated
      with the portal venous pressure under shunt occlusion, the histopathological
      findings, postoperative portal venous flow and liver regeneration. Shunt closure
      resulted in dramatic improvement in the laboratory data and subclinical
      encephalopathy. Two patients with the severe type suffered from sepsis associated
      with portal hypertension after treatment, and from the portal flow steal
      phenomenon because of the development of unexpected collateral vessels. The
      patients with the severe type had a high risk of postoperative complications
      after shunt closure in one step, even if the PVP was relatively low during the
      shunt occlusion test. CONCLUSION: The IHPS could be visualized by the shunt
      occlusion test. The IHPS classification reflected the clinicopathological
      features of CPS, and was useful to determine the therapeutic approach and
      management for CPS.

PMID- 25840085
TI  - 46XX cloacal exstrophy patients.

PMID- 25840086
TI  - Open Stomata 1 Kinase is Essential for Yeast Elicitor-Induced Stomatal Closure in
      Arabidopsis.
AB  - We recently demonstrated that yeast elicitor (YEL)-induced stomatal closure
      requires a Ca(2+)-dependent kinase, CPK6. A Ca(2+)-independent kinase, Open
      Stomata 1 (OST1), is involved in stomatal closure induced by various stimuli
      including ABA. In the present study, we investigated the role of OST1 in YEL
      induced stomatal closure in Arabidopsis using a knock-out mutant, ost1-3, and a
      kinase-deficient mutant, ost1-2. YEL did not induce stomatal closure or
      activation of guard cell S-type anion channels in the ost1 mutants unlike in wild
      type plants. However, YEL did not increase OST1 kinase activity in wild-type
      guard cells. The YEL-induced stomatal closure and activation of S-type anion
      channels were also impaired in a gain-of-function mutant of a clade A type 2C
      protein phosphatase (ABA INSENSITIVE 1), abi1-1C. In the ost1 mutants like in the
      wild type, YEL induced H2O2 accumulation, activation of non-selective Ca(2+)
      permeable cation (ICa) channels and transient elevations in cytosolic free Ca(2+)
      concentration ([Ca(2+)]cyt) in guard cells. These results suggest that OST1
      kinase is essential for stomatal closure and activation of S-type anion channels
      induced by YEL and that OST1 is not involved in H2O2 accumulation, ICa channel
      activation or [Ca(2+)]cyt elevations in guard cells induced by YEL. 

PMID- 25840087
TI  - Mutations in Plastidial 5-Aminolevulinic Acid Biosynthesis Genes Suppress a
      Pleiotropic Defect in Shoot Development of a Mitochondrial GABA Shunt Mutant in
      Arabidopsis.
AB  - Plant developmental processes are co-ordinated with the status of cell
      metabolism, not only in mitochondria but also in plastids. In Arabidopsis
      thaliana, succinic semialdehyde (SSA), a GABA shunt metabolite, links the
      specific mitochondrial metabolic pathway to shoot development. To understand the
      mechanism of SSA-mediated development, we isolated a succinic semialdehyde
      dehydrogenase (ssadh) suppressor mutant, affected in its ability to catalyze SSA
      to succinic acid. We found that pleiotropic developmental phenotypes of ssadh are
      suppressed by a mutation in GLUTAMATE-1-SEMIALDEHYDE 2, 1-AMINOMUTASE 2 (GSA2),
      which encodes a plastidial enzyme converting glutatamate-1-semialdehyde to 5
      aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA). In addition, a mutation in either HEMA1 or GSA1, two
      other enzymes for 5-ALA synthesis, also suppressed ssadh fully and partially,
      respectively. Furthermore, exogenous application of 5-ALA and SSA disturbed leaf
      development. These results suggest that metabolism in both mitochondria and
      plastids affect shoot development. 

PMID- 25840088
TI  - Complementation of Seed Maturation Phenotypes by Ectopic Expression of ABSCISIC
      ACID INSENSITIVE3, FUSCA3 and LEAFY COTYLEDON2 in Arabidopsis.
AB  - ABSCISIC ACID INSENSITIVE3 (ABI3), FUSCA3 (FUS3) and LEAFY COTYLEDON2 (LEC2),
      collectively the AFL, are master regulators of seed maturation processes. This
      study examined the role of AFL in the production of seed reserves in Arabidopsis.
      Quantification of seed reserves and cytological observations of afl mutant
      embryos show that protein and lipid but not starch reserves are spatially
      regulated by AFL. Although AFL contribute to a common regulation of reserves,
      ABI3 exerts a quantitatively greater control over storage protein content whereas
      FUS3 controls lipid content to a greater extent. Although ABI3 controls the
      reserve content throughout the embryo, LEC2 and FUS3 regulate reserves in
      distinct embryonic territories. By analyzing the ability of an individual
      ectopically expressed AFL to suppress afl phenotypes genetically, we show that
      conserved domains common to each component of the AFL are sufficient for the
      initiation of storage product synthesis and the establishment of embryo
      morphology. This confirms redundancy among the AFL and indicates a threshold
      necessary for function within the AFL pool. Since no individual AFL was able to
      suppress the tolerance to desiccation, mid- and late-maturation programs were
      uncoupled. 

PMID- 25840089
TI  - Inhibition of peroxisome fission, but not mitochondrial fission, increases yeast
      chronological lifespan.
AB  - Mitochondria are key players in aging and cell death. It has been suggested that
      mitochondrial fragmentation, mediated by the Dnm1/Fis1 organelle fission
      machinery, stimulates aging and cell death. This was based on the observation
      that Saccharomyces cerevisiae Deltadnm1 and Deltafis1 mutants show an enhanced
      lifespan and increased resistance to cell death inducers. However, the Dnm1/Fis1
      fission machinery is also required for peroxisome division. Here we analyzed the
      significance of peroxisome fission in yeast chronological lifespan, using yeast
      strains in which fission of mitochondria was selectively blocked. Our data
      indicate that the lifespan extension caused by deletion of FIS1 is mainly due to
      a defect in peroxisome fission and not caused by a block in mitochondrial
      fragmentation. These observations are underlined by our observation that deletion
      of FIS1 does not lead to lifespan extension in yeast peroxisome deficient mutant
      cells. 

PMID- 25840090
TI  - A global perspective on the epidemiology of pulmonary hypertension.
AB  - The epidemiology of pulmonary hypertension (PH) is not fully determined worldwide
      but is believed to vary in different regions of the world, with differences
      determined by genetic, geographic, environmental, and socioeconomic factors, as
      well as sex-related practices and inequities in access to health care. This
      article reviews the global epidemiology of PH, with emphasis on the prevalence,
      causes, forms, and underlying factors in the developing world. Left ventricular
      heart disease is the most common cause worldwide, but the main contributors in
      developing countries are chronic infectious diseases, hypertensive heart disease,
      cardiomyopathy, and rheumatic heart disease. Despite data suggesting a high
      prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa, the available literature is very limited.
      International registries like the Pan African Pulmonary Hypertension Cohort are
      essential to provide information about the causes, comorbidities, and diagnostic
      classification, therapeutic management, and the natural course of PH worldwide.
      Moreover, there is a need to track diagnostic and management practices and
      challenges to identify the gaps and gradients between different regions of the
      world. The information gained will pinpoint areas for improvement, aiming at
      bridging the current divide between low-income and high-income countries. 

PMID- 25840091
TI  - An evidence-based approach to screening and diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension.
AB  - Pulmonary hypertension (PH) continues to be a devastating disease, with a poor
      prognosis and high mortality rate if not treated early. Unfortunately, most
      patients are still diagnosed late in the course of the disease. Therefore, it is
      crucial to have a low threshold for suspecting PH and to refer patients early to
      specialized centres for diagnostic workup and management. In this article we
      focus on updated evidence-based screening and diagnosis in adults, based on the
      fifth World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension in 2013. The updated hemodynamic
      definition of PH includes a pulmonary vascular resistance > 3 Wood units. A new
      component to the hemodynamic definition of PH has been proposed in left heart
      disease, based on a diastolic pulmonary gradient (diastolic pulmonary arterial
      pressure - mean pulmonary artery wedge pressure), > 7 mm Hg. The term "borderline
      PH" for mean pulmonary artery pressures 21-24 mm Hg is discouraged, with emphasis
      on its significance for careful follow-up in high-risk patients, especially in
      systemic sclerosis. Annual pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) screening with a
      2-step algorithm is recommended in asymptomatic systemic sclerosis patients. An
      updated simplified PH diagnostic algorithm approach is proposed. Genetic testing
      reveals mutations in bone morphogenic protein receptor type II in 70% of familial
      PAH, and is useful for screening asymptomatic family members. Important
      associated conditions that should be considered include thyroid disease, left
      heart disease, toxic causes, lung diseases (including pulmonary thromboembolism),
      hemolytic anemia, and human immunodeficiency virus infection. Biomarkers have
      been identified that correlate with PAH severity and mortality and are useful in
      follow-up. 

PMID- 25840093
TI  - Pathophysiology and clinical relevance of pulmonary remodelling in pulmonary
      hypertension due to left heart diseases.
AB  - Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in left heart disease, classified as group II, is the
      most common form of PH that occurs in approximately 60% of cases of reduced and
      preserved left ventricular ejection fraction. Although relatively much is known
      about hemodynamic stages (passive or reactive) and their consequences on the
      right ventricle (RV) there is no consensus on the best hemodynamic definition of
      group II PH. In addition, the main pathways that lead to lung capillary injury
      and impaired biology of small artery remodelling processes are largely unknown.
      Typical lung manifestations of an increased pulmonary pressure and progressive RV
      pulmonary circulation uncoupling are an abnormal alveolar capillary gas
      diffusion, impaired lung mechanics (restriction), and exercise ventilation
      inefficiency. Of several classes of pulmonary vasodilators currently clinically
      available, oral phosphodiesterase 5 inhibition, because of its strong selectivity
      for targeting the cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathway in the pulmonary
      circulation, is increasingly emerging as an attractive opportunity to reach
      hemodynamic benefits, reverse capillary injury, and RV remodelling, and improve
      functional capacity. Guanylate cyclase stimulators offer an additional intriguing
      opportunity but the lack of selectivity and systemic effects might preclude some
      of the anticipated benefits on the pulmonary circulation. Future trials will
      determine whether new routes of pharmacologic strategy aimed at targeting lung
      structural and vascular remodelling might affect morbidity and mortality in left
      heart disease populations. We believe that this therapeutic goal rather than a
      pure hemodynamic effect might ultimately emerge as an important challenge for the
      clinician. 

PMID- 25840094
TI  - Pulmonary hypertension secondary to heart failure with preserved ejection
      fraction.
AB  - Pulmonary hypertension (PH) secondary to heart failure with preserved ejection
      fraction (HFpEF) is an increasingly recognized cause of PH due to an emerging
      epidemic of HFpEF. The mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of PH in HFpEF are
      not well established, but the presence of PH and right ventricular dysfunction in
      HFpEF is associated with worse prognosis. Currently, it is unclear whether PH is
      just a marker of underlying disease severity or whether it could be a target of
      treatment in HFpEF. Although PH-HFpEF and pulmonary arterial hypertension share
      several clinical characteristics, the evidence supporting the use of pulmonary
      arterial hypertension-specific therapies in PH-HFpEF is limited. Here, we review
      the disease classification, epidemiology, proposed pathophysiology, and
      treatments for PH-HFpEF. Our limited understanding highlights an urgent need for
      more research to elucidate the pathogenesis of PH in HFpEF and to develop novel
      therapies for this challenging syndrome. 

PMID- 25840092
TI  - Right ventricular adaptation and failure in pulmonary arterial hypertension.
AB  - Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is an obstructive pulmonary vasculopathy,
      characterized by excess proliferation, apoptosis resistance, inflammation,
      fibrosis, and vasoconstriction. Although PAH therapies target some of these
      vascular abnormalities (primarily vasoconstriction), most do not directly benefit
      the right ventricle (RV). This is suboptimal because a patient's functional state
      and prognosis are largely determined by the success of the adaptation of the RV
      to the increased afterload. The RV initially hypertrophies but might ultimately
      decompensate, becoming dilated, hypokinetic, and fibrotic. A number of
      pathophysiologic abnormalities have been identified in the PAH RV, including:
      ischemia and hibernation (partially reflecting RV capillary rarefaction),
      autonomic activation (due to G protein receptor kinase 2-mediated downregulation
      and desensitization of beta-adrenergic receptors), mitochondrial-metabolic
      abnormalities (notably increased uncoupled glycolysis and glutaminolysis), and
      fibrosis. Many RV abnormalities are detectable using molecular imaging and might
      serve as biomarkers. Some molecular pathways, such as those regulating
      angiogenesis, metabolism, and mitochondrial dynamics, are similarly deranged in
      the RV and pulmonary vasculature, offering the possibility of therapies that
      treat the RV and pulmonary circulation. An important paradigm in PAH is that the
      RV and pulmonary circulation constitute a unified cardiopulmonary unit. Clinical
      trials of PAH pharmacotherapies should assess both components of the
      cardiopulmonary unit. 

PMID- 25840095
TI  - Multimodality imaging in pulmonary hypertension.
AB  - Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a pathophysiological condition defined as an
      increase in mean pulmonary artery pressure of >= 25 mm Hg at rest. Although right
      heart catheterization remains an essential step in the diagnostic algorithm
      particularly for pulmonary arterial hypertension-noninvasive multimodality
      imaging plays an important role in defining the cause, assessing outcome,
      monitoring the efficacy of specific therapeutic interventions, and detecting the
      preclinical stage of disease. We review the role of multimodality imaging in the
      evaluation of PH-including echocardiography, chest computed tomography,
      cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging, and nuclear imaging-the choice of
      which depends on individual patient-based indications provided by the clinical
      team in accordance with current guidelines, also taking into account
      institutional expertise, patient safety and convenience, and repeatability.
      Recent advances in cardiac imaging (3-dimensional echocardiography and strain
      imaging, tissue characterization, and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission
      tomography) may provide new insights into the pathophysiological characteristics
      of the right heart-pulmonary circulation unit. 

PMID- 25840096
TI  - Current treatment approaches to pulmonary arterial hypertension.
AB  - Because of the complexities of the disease, early recognition and referral of
      patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) to an expert centre is
      critically important. Advances in our understanding of the pathogenesis of PAH
      have translated into novel treatment strategies and pharmacotherapies. A
      supervised rehabilitation program, psychosocial support, and referral to
      palliative care might lead to improvements in exercise capacity and quality of
      life. At present the current medical treatments include prostanoids (parenteral,
      oral, and inhaled), endothelin antagonists, and agents that increase nitric oxide
      bioavailability. Although these agents all cause pulmonary vasodilation, they
      have been shown to improve outcome in patients who do not demonstrate an acute
      vasodilatory response. This suggests that they might also alter the abnormal
      proliferative vasculopathy that characterizes PAH. These agents have variably led
      to improvements in exercise capacity, symptoms, hemodynamics, and markers of
      right ventricular dysfunction. Adopting the principles of a goal-directed
      approach, most practitioners (and guidelines) advocate sequentially adding
      treatments until patients achieve a satisfactory clinical response. Emerging data
      suggest that upfront combination therapy might be superior to monotherapy. For
      patients who fail to achieve a satisfactory clinical response, parenteral
      prostanoids remain the medical treatment of choice. Early referral for evaluation
      of lung transplantation should be considered for patients who continue to
      demonstrate poor prognostic features or who require advanced medical treatments. 

PMID- 25840097
TI  - Novel technologies and devices for monitoring and treating pulmonary arterial
      hypertension.
AB  - Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disease of the pulmonary
      vasculature associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Despite
      significant advances in the past 2 decades with the development of
      pharmacological therapies to target key molecular pathways of PAH, there remains
      an ongoing need for novel technologies and devices for diagnosis, monitoring, and
      treatment to improve PAH outcomes. The advent of sophisticated imaging tools,
      including cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, and
      speckle tracking echocardiography, offer novel opportunities for advanced,
      noninvasive assessment of right ventricular function, the most powerful predictor
      of death in patients with PAH. Noninvasive cardiac output monitors and
      implantable hemodynamic sensors are among the additional promising novel
      technologies that might offer daily access to hemodynamic data to influence
      clinical decision-making and potentially improve outcomes. Percutaneous
      interventional therapeutics might offer a nonpharmacological treatment option in
      select patients with PAH, ranging from the percutaneous creation of right to left
      shunts, pulmonary artery denervation, and right ventricular pacing. Finally,
      mechanical circulatory support with durable ventricular assist devices offers
      hope to one day provide a realistic strategy to treat life-threatening right
      ventricular failure in PAH. Future clinical trials and carefully designed
      prospective observational studies will be needed to evaluate the full potential
      of many of these novel devices and technologies for monitoring and treating PAH. 

PMID- 25840098
TI  - Emerging therapies and future directions in pulmonary arterial hypertension.
AB  - Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a complex obliterative vascular disease.
      It remains deadly despite an explosion of basic research over the past 20 years
      that identified myriads of potential therapeutic targets, few of which have been
      translated into early phase trials. Despite the agreement over the past decade
      that its pathogenesis is based on an antiapoptotic and proproliferative
      environment within the pulmonary arterial wall, and not vasoconstriction, all the
      currently approved therapies were developed and tested in PAH because of their
      vasodilatory properties. Numerous potential therapies identified in preclinical
      research fail to be translated in clinical research. Here we discuss 7 concepts
      that might help address the "translational gap" in PAH. These include: a need to
      approach the "pulmonary arteries-right ventricle unit" comprehensively and
      develop right ventricle-specific therapies for heart failure; the metabolic and
      inflammatory theories of PAH that put many "diverse" abnormalities under 1
      mechanistic roof, allowing the identification of more effective targets and
      biomarkers; the realization that PAH might be a systemic disease with primary
      abnormalities in extrapulmonary tissues including the right ventricle, skeletal
      muscle, immune system, and perhaps bone marrow, shifting our focus toward more
      systemic targets; the realization that many heritable components of PAH have an
      epigenetic basis that can be therapeutically targeted; and novel approaches like
      cell therapy or devices that can potentially improve access to transplanted
      organs. This progress marks the entrance into a new and exciting stage in our
      understanding and ability to fight this mysterious deadly disease. 

PMID- 25840099
TI  - Is exercise good for the right ventricle? Concepts for health and disease.
AB  - There is substantial evidence supporting the prescription of exercise training in
      patients with left-sided heart disease, but data on the effects of exercise are
      far more limited for conditions that primarily affect the right ventricle. There
      is evolving evidence that right ventricular (RV) function is of critical
      importance to circulatory function during exercise. Even in healthy individuals
      with normal pulmonary vascular function, the hemodynamic load on the right
      ventricle increases relatively more during exercise than that of the left
      ventricle, and this disproportionate load is far greater in patients with
      pulmonary hypertension. Exercise-induced increases in pulmonary artery pressures
      can exceed RV contractile reserve (so-called arterioventricular uncoupling),
      resulting in attenuated cardiac output and exercise intolerance. In this review,
      we explore the spectrum of RV reserve-from transient RV dysfunction observed in
      athletes after extreme bouts of intense endurance exercise to RV failure with
      minimal exertion in patients with advanced pulmonary hypertension. Recent
      advances and novel approaches to echocardiographic and cardiac magnetic resonance
      imaging have provided more accurate means of assessing the right ventricle and
      pulmonary circulation during exercise such that quantification of exercise
      reserve may provide a valuable means of assessing prognosis and response to
      therapies. We discuss the potential benefits and risks of exercise training in
      both health and disease while recognizing the need for prospective studies that
      assess the long-term efficacy and safety of exercise interventions in patients
      with pulmonary vascular and RV pathologic conditions. 

PMID- 25840100
TI  - When to refer a patient with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension for
      pulmonary endarterectomy.
AB  - Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is much more frequent than
      previously estimated, potentially occurring with an incidence of several thousand
      cases per year in Canada. Refinements in the surgical technique of pulmonary
      endarterectomy, the development of medical therapy and, more recently, the
      introduction of balloon pulmonary angioplasty have provided an increasing array
      of therapeutic options for this disease. CTEPH is related to the presence of
      chronic thromboembolic disease and the development of a secondary vasculopathy
      that leads to worsening pulmonary hypertension despite adequate anticoagulation,
      emphasizing the importance of early diagnosis and appropriate referral to achieve
      optimal therapeutic results. It is increasingly recognized that patients with
      CTEPH can present with acute on chronic pulmonary emboli. Recognition of the
      underlying chronic disease at the time of the acute presentation is important to
      ensure that these patients are adequately managed and followed with ventilation
      perfusion scan and echocardiogram after their initial diagnosis of acute
      pulmonary emboli. Chronic thromboembolic disease should be suspected in the
      presence of idiopathic and/or recurrent pulmonary emboli, larger perfusion
      defects, longer times between symptom onset and diagnosis, a systolic pulmonary
      artery pressure > 50 mm Hg on echocardiogram and the presence of organized mural
      thrombi, mosaic parenchymal perfusion, and/or arterial web or bands on the
      computed tomography scan. Pulmonary endarterectomy is the treatment of choice for
      CTEPH. The surgery leads to major long-term clinical improvement and is curative
      in a large proportion of patients with resolution of the pulmonary hypertension. 

PMID- 25840103
TI  - When to offer genetic testing for pulmonary arterial hypertension.
AB  - Genetic testing is poised to play a greater role in the diagnosis and management
      of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Physicians who manage PAH should know
      the heritable PAH phenotypes, inheritance patterns, and responsible genes. They
      also should know indications, potential risks and benefits, and the issues
      surrounding genetic counselling and testing for patients with PAH. 

PMID- 25840102
TI  - Right ventricular function and right-heart echocardiographic response to therapy
      predict long-term outcome in patients with pulmonary hypertension.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction in pulmonary hypertension (PH) is
      linked to adverse outcomes, but this response is considered heterogeneous because
      it can be associated with multiple factors. METHODS: RV function of 51 PH
      patients was calculated by averaging peak speckle-tracking longitudinal strain
      from RV free-wall (RV-free), and the cutoff for RV dysfunction was predefined as
      RV-free <= 19%. Right-sided heart remodelling was assessed in terms of RV end
      systolic area (RVESA) and right atrial (RA) area (RA-area). Midterm reverse
      remodelling was defined as a relative decrease in RVESA (DeltaRVESA) and RA-area
      (DeltaRA-area) of at least 15% at 5.7 +/- 4.0 months after introduction of
      pulmonary artery hypertension-specific drugs. Long-term outcome was tracked for
      3.0 +/- 2.0 years. RESULTS: Patients with midterm RV and RA reverse remodelling
      showed more favourable long-term outcomes than those without (P = 0.01, P =
      0.047, respectively). Sequential Cox models showed that a model based on
      hemodynamic parameters (chi(2) = 0.3) was improved by the addition of RV-free
      (chi(2) = 6.4; P = 0.01), and further improved by addition of DeltaRVESA and
      DeltaRA-area (chi(2) = 28.2; P < 0.001). Furthermore, preservation of baseline RV
      function and midterm reverse remodelling in right-sided heart was associated with
      an optimal outcome: a survival rate of 100%. In contrast, absence of midterm
      reverse remodelling in the right-sided heart of patients with impaired baseline
      RV function was associated with significantly worse outcome with a survival rate
      of 33% (P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: RV function and echocardiographic right-heart
      reverse remodelling with therapy improves the prediction of long-term outcomes
      for PH patients over standard hemodynamic indices.

PMID- 25840101
TI  - Advanced imaging tools rather than hemodynamics should be the primary approach
      for diagnosing, following, and managing pulmonary arterial hypertension.
AB  - Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is currently defined based on invasive measurements:
      a resting pulmonary artery pressure >= 25 mm Hg. For pulmonary arterial
      hypertension, a pulmonary arterial wedge pressure <= 15 mm Hg and pulmonary
      vascular resistance > 3 Wood units are also required. Thus, right heart
      catheterization is inevitable at present. However, the diagnosis, follow-up, and
      management of PH by noninvasive techniques is progressing. Significant advances
      have been achieved in the imaging of pulmonary vascular disease and the right
      ventricle. We review the current sensitivities and specificities of noninvasive
      imaging of PH and discuss its role and future potential to replace hemodynamics
      as the primary approach to screening, diagnosing, and following/managing PH. 

PMID- 25840104
TI  - Pulmonary hypertension due to fibrosing mediastinitis treated successfully with
      stenting of pulmonary vein stenoses.
AB  - We describe a patient with fibrosing mediastinitis after childhood histoplasmosis
      who presented with severe pulmonary hypertension secondary to pulmonary vein
      stenoses. Stenting of 2 stenosed pulmonary veins via a transseptal approach
      resulted in an immediate decrease in systolic pulmonary artery pressure from 90
      to 68 mm Hg and improvement in dyspnea and cardiac index, which was sustained at
      6 months. This case highlights the importance of routinely assessing the
      pulmonary veins during workup for pulmonary hypertension. 

PMID- 25840105
TI  - Purification and functional characterization of mucosal IgA from vaccinated and
      SIV-infected rhesus macaques.
AB  - Vaccine-induced mucosal antibodies are often evaluated using small volumes of
      secretory fluids. However, fecal matter containing mucosal IgA is abundant. We
      purified fecal IgA from five SIV-vaccinated and five SIV-infected rhesus macaques
      by sequential affinity chromatography. The purified IgA was dimeric by native
      PAGE, contained secretory component, and was analogous to IgA in colostrum and
      vaginal fluid by western blot. IgA from one infected and four vaccinated animals
      neutralized H9-derived SIV(mac)251 with IC(50)s as low as 1 MUg/mL. Purified IgAs
      inhibited transcytosis and exhibited phagocytic activity, the latter
      significantly correlated with SIV(mac)251 Env-specific IgA in the purified
      samples. Among different affinity resins, peptide M was optimal compared to
      jacalin, anti-monkey IgA and SSL7 for IgA purification, as confirmed using tandem
      peptide M/anti-monkey IgA columns. Fecal IgA provided material sufficient for
      several assays relevant to protective efficacy, and was shown to be
      multifunctional. Our approach is potentially applicable to human clinical
      studies.

PMID- 25840107
TI  - Two homologous carboxylesterase genes from Locusta migratoria with different
      tissue expression patterns and roles in insecticide detoxification.
AB  - Carboxylesterases (CarEs) play a crucial role in detoxification of xenobiotics
      and resistance to insecticides in insects. In this study, two cDNAs of CarE genes
      (LmCesA4 and LmCesA5) were sequenced from the migratory locust, Locusta
      migratoria. The cDNAs of LmCesA4 and LmCesA5 putatively encoded 538 and 470 amino
      acid residues, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequences of the two CarE
      genes showed 45.0% identities, possessed highly conserved catalytic triads (Ser
      Glu-His), and clustered in phylogenetic analysis. These results suggest that they
      are homologous genes. Both CarE genes were expressed throughout the developmental
      stages. However, LmCesA4 was predominately expressed in the midgut (including the
      gastric caeca) and fat bodies, whereas LmCesA5 was mainly expressed in the
      gastric caeca. The in situ hybridization results showed that the transcripts of
      the two genes were localized in apical and basal regions of the columnar cells in
      the gastric caeca. Gene silencing followed by insecticide bioassay increased the
      mortalities of deltamethrin-, malathion-, and carbaryl-treated locusts by 29.5%,
      31.0% and 20.4%, respectively, after the locusts were injected with LmCesA4
      double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). In contrast, the injection of LmCesA5 dsRNA did not
      significantly increase the susceptibility of the locusts to any of these
      insecticides. These results suggest that these genes not only show different
      tissue expression patterns but also play different roles in insecticide
      detoxification. 

PMID- 25840106
TI  - The intestinal microbiome and skeletal fitness: Connecting bugs and bones.
AB  - Recent advances have dramatically increased our understanding of how organ
      systems interact. This has been especially true for immunology and bone biology,
      where the term "osteoimmunology" was coined to capture this relationship. The
      importance of the microbiome to the immune system has also emerged as a driver of
      health and disease. It makes sense therefore to ask the question: how does the
      intestinal microbiome influence bone biology and does dysbiosis promote bone
      disease? Surprisingly, few studies have analyzed this connection. A broader
      interpretation of this question reveals many mechanisms whereby the microbiome
      may affect bone cells. These include effects of the microbiome on immune cells,
      including myeloid progenitors and Th17 cells, as well as steroid hormones, fatty
      acids, serotonin and vitamin D. As mechanistic interactions of the microbiome and
      skeletal system are revealed within and without the immune system, novel
      strategies to optimize skeletal fitness may emerge.

PMID- 25840109
TI  - Exploring cognitive factors in pain persistence behavior: some methodological and
      theoretical considerations-a commentary on a study by Andrews et al.

PMID- 25840108
TI  - A Wnt5a signaling pathway in the pathogenesis of HIV-1 gp120-induced pain.
AB  - Pathological pain is one of the most common neurological complications in
      patients with HIV-1/AIDS. However, the pathogenic process is unclear. Our recent
      studies show that Wnt5a is upregulated in the spinal cord dorsal horn (SDH) of
      the patients with HIV who develop pain and that HIV-1 gp120, a potential causal
      factor of the HIV-associated pain, rapidly upregulates Wnt5a in the mouse SDH.
      Using a mouse model, we show here that a specific Wnt5a antagonist, Box-5,
      attenuated gp120-induced mechanical allodynia. Conversely, a Wnt5a agonist,
      Foxy5, facilitated the allodynia. To elucidate the molecular mechanism by which
      Wnt5a regulates gp120-induced allodynia, we tested the role of the JNK/TNF-alpha
      pathway. We observed that the JNK-specific inhibitor SP600125 blocked either
      gp120- or Foxy5-induced allodynia. Similarly, the TNF-alpha-specific antagonist
      Enbrel also reversed either gp120- or Foxy5-induced allodynia. These data suggest
      that JNK and TNF-alpha mediate the biological effects of Wnt5a in regulating
      gp120-induced allodynia. To investigate the cellular mechanism, we performed
      extracellular single-unit recording from SDH neurons in anesthetized mice. Both
      Box-5 and SP600125 negated gp120-induced potentiation of SDH neuron spiking
      evoked by mechanical stimulation of the hind paw. Furthermore, while Foxy5
      potentiated spike frequency of SDH neurons, either SP600125 or Enbrel blocked the
      potentiation. The data indicate that Wnt5a potentiates the activity of SDH
      neurons through the JNK-TNF-alpha pathway. Collectively, our findings suggest
      that Wnt5a regulates the pathogenesis of gp120-induced pain, likely by
      sensitizing pain-processing SDH neurons through JNK/TNF-alpha signaling. 

PMID- 25840115
TI  - Establishment of a new pain catastrophizing baseline after pediatric major
      surgery?

PMID- 25840116
TI  - Structure of Multiresponsive Brush-Decorated Nanoparticles: A Combined
      Electrokinetic, DLS, and SANS Study.
AB  - Particles consisting of a glassy poly(methyl methacrylate) core (ca. 40 nm in
      radius) decorated with a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) anionic corona are
      synthesized using either methacrylic acid (MA) or acrylic acid (AA) as reactive
      comonomers in the shell. The different reactivity ratios of MA and AA toward N
      isopropylacrylamide originates p(MA-N) and p(N-AA) particles with carboxylate
      charges supposedly located, preferentially, in the close vicinity of the core and
      at the shell periphery, respectively. The corresponding swelling features of
      these nanoparticles are addressed over a broad range of pH values (4 to 7.5),
      NaNO3 concentrations (3 to 200 mM), and temperatures (15 to 45  degrees C) by
      dynamic light scattering (DLS) and small angle neutron scattering (SANS). DLS
      shows that the swelling of the particle shells increases their thickness from ~10
      to 90 nm with decreasing temperature, ionic strength, or increasing pH, with the
      effect being more pronounced for p(N-AA) whose lower critical solution
      temperature is shifted to higher values compared to that of p(MA-N).
      Potentiometric titration and electrokinetic results further reflect the easier
      dissociation of carboxyl groups in p(N-AA) and a marked heterogeneous interfacial
      swelling of the latter with decreasing solution salt content. The DLS response of
      both particles is attributed to the multiresponsive nature of a peripheral dilute
      shell, while SANS only probes the presence of a quasi-solvent-free dense polymer
      layer, condensed on the core surface. The thickness of that layer slightly
      increases from ~6 to 9.5 nm with increasing temperature from 15 to 45  degrees C
      (at 15 mM NaNO3 and pH 5) due to the collapse of the outer dilute shell layer.
      Overall, results evidence a nonideal brush behavior of p(MA-N) and p(N-AA) and
      their microphase segregated shell structure, which supports some of the
      conclusions recently formulated from approximate self-consistent mean-field
      computations. 

PMID- 25840118
TI  - BIL&GIN: A neuroimaging, cognitive, behavioral, and genetic database for the
      study of human brain lateralization.
AB  - We report on a database, named BIL&GIN, designed for investigating the cognitive,
      behavioral, genetic, and brain morphological/functional correlates of hemispheric
      specialization. The database contains records from a sample of 453 adult
      participants enriched in left-handers (45%, N=205) as compared to the general
      population. For each subject, socio-demographic data, hand and eye laterality,
      family handedness, and cognitive abilities in the language, motor, visuo-spatial,
      and numerical domains have been recorded. T1-MRI and DTI data were also acquired,
      as well as resting-state functional MRI. Task-evoked functional MRI was performed
      in a sub-sample of 303 subjects (157 left-handers) using a customized functional
      battery of 16 cognitive tasks exploring the same three cognitive domains.
      Performances at the tasks executed in the magnet as well as post-acquisition
      debriefing were recorded. A saliva sample was obtained from the subjects of this
      sub-sample from which DNA was extracted. The BIL&GIN contains results of imaging
      data processing for each subject, namely maps of tissue (GM, WM, CSF)
      probability, cortical thickness, cortical surface, and diffusion parameters as
      well as regional values of these phenotypes for regions of both AAL and
      FreeSurfer parcellations. For the subjects who underwent FMRI, individual SPM
      contrast maps for each of the 8 runs were also calculated and included in the
      database, as well as corresponding BOLD variations in ROIs of the AAL and AICHA
      atlases, and Wilke's hemispheric functional lateralization index. The BIL&GIN
      data sharing is based on a collaborative model. 

PMID- 25840119
TI  - Phytotoxicity of cobalt ions on the duckweed Lemna minor - Morphology, ion
      uptake, and starch accumulation.
AB  - Cobalt (Co2+) inhibits vegetative growth of Lemna minor gradually from 1 MUM to
      100 MUM. Fronds accumulated up to 21 mg Co2+ g(-1) dry weight at 10 MUM external
      Co2+ indicating hyperaccumulation. Interestingly, accumulation of Co2+ did not
      decrease the iron (Fe) content in fronds, highlighting L. minor as a suitable
      system for studying effects of Co2+ undisturbed by Fe deficiency symptoms unlike
      most other plants. Digital image analysis revealed the size distribution of
      fronds after Co2+ treatment and also a reduction in pigmentation of newly formed
      daughter fronds unlike the mother fronds during the 7-day treatment. Neither
      chlorophyll nor photosystem II fluorescence changed significantly during the
      initial 4d, indicating effective photosynthesis. During the later phase of the 7
      day treatment, however, chlorophyll content and photosynthetic efficiency
      decreased in the Co2+-treated daughter fronds, indicating that Co2+ inhibits the
      biosynthesis of chlorophyll rather than leading to the destruction of pre
      existing pigment molecules. In addition, during the first 4d of Co2+ treatment
      starch accumulated in the fronds and led to the transition of chloroplasts to
      chloro-amyloplasts and amylo-chloroplasts, while starch levels strongly decreased
      thereafter.

PMID- 25840117
TI  - The Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort: A publicly available resource for the
      study of normal and abnormal brain development in youth.
AB  - The Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (PNC) is a large-scale study of child
      development that combines neuroimaging, diverse clinical and cognitive
      phenotypes, and genomics. Data from this rich resource is now publicly available
      through the Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP). Here we focus on the
      data from the PNC that is available through dbGaP and describe how users can
      access this data, which is evolving to be a significant resource for the broader
      neuroscience community for studies of normal and abnormal neurodevelopment. 

PMID- 25840120
TI  - Description of mutual interactions between silicon and phosphorus in Andisols by
      mathematical and mechanistic models.
AB  - The Freundlich model and the Constant Capacitance Model (CCM) were used to
      describe silicon (Si) and phosphorus (P) sorption, both individually and for
      binary P-Si systems, on two Andisols with different chemical properties: Freire
      soil (FS) and Piedras Negras soil (PNS). Silicon sorption kinetics were examined
      through the Elovich equation, revealing that the initial sorption rate was 16
      times greater in PNS. The Freundlich equation provides a good fit to the sorption
      data for both Andisols. When compared with FS, larger Si sorption capacity and
      lower Si affinity for the surface sites were observed in PNS; nevertheless, Si
      sorption decreased in both soils as P sorption increased. Slight reductions in P
      sorption capacity due to the presence of Si were found, whereas there was no
      apparent effect on P bonding intensity. The CCM was able to describe Si
      adsorption, and potentiometric titrations support that Si seems to be
      specifically sorbed mainly onto sites of negative charge. Comparable log KSiint
      values were obtained for both soils, indicating that Si was bound on similar
      sites. Phosphorus sorption was well described by the CCM, and log KPint denoted
      strong interactions of P with the surface sites. For binary systems, log KPint
      did not vary with increasing Si concentration; comparatively, log KSiint scarcely
      decreased with increasing P concentration in PNS, but a 28% reduction was found
      in FS at the highest initial P concentration.

PMID- 25840121
TI  - A new water absorbable mechanical Epidermal skin equivalent: the combination of
      hydrophobic PDMS and hydrophilic PVA hydrogel.
AB  - Research on human skin interactions with healthcare and lifestyle products is a
      topic continuously attracting scientific studies over the past years. It is
      possible to evaluate skin mechanical properties based on human or animal
      experimentation, yet in addition to possible ethical issues, these samples are
      hard to obtain, expensive and give rise to highly variable results. Therefore,
      the design of a skin equivalent is essential. This paper describes the design and
      characterization of a new Epidermal Skin Equivalent (ESE). The material resembles
      the properties of epidermis and is a first approach to mimic the mechanical
      properties of the human skin structure, variable with the length scale. The ESE
      is based on a mixture of Polydimethyl Siloxane (PDMS) and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA)
      hydrogel cross-linked with Glutaraldehyde (GA). It was chemically characterized
      by XPS and FTIR measurements and its cross section was observed by macroscopy and
      cryoSEM. Confocal Microscope analysis on the surface of the ESE showed an
      arithmetic roughness (Ra) between 14-16 MUm and contact angle (CA) values between
      50-60 degrees , both of which are close to the values of in vivo human skins
      reported in the literature. The Equilibrium Water Content (ECW) was around 33.8%
      and Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) confirmed the composition of the ESE
      samples. Moreover, the mechanical performance was determined by indentation tests
      and Dynamo Thermo Mechanical Analysis (DTMA) shear measurements. The indentation
      results were in good agreement with that of the target epidermis reported in the
      literature with an elastic modulus between 0.1-1.5 MPa and it showed dependency
      on the water content. According to the DTMA measurements, the ESE exhibits a
      viscoelastic behavior, with a shear modulus between 1-2.5MPa variable with
      temperature, frequency and the hydration of the samples.

PMID- 25840122
TI  - Functionalization of strongly interacting magnetic nanocubes with
      (thermo)responsive coating and their application in hyperthermia and heat
      triggered drug delivery.
AB  - Herein, we prepare nanohybrids by incorporating iron oxide nanocubes (cubic
      IONPs) within a thermoresponsive polymer shell that can act as drug carriers for
      doxorubicin(doxo). The cubic-shaped nanoparticles employed are at the interface
      between superparamagnetic and ferromagnetic behavior and have an exceptionally
      high specific absorption rate (SAR), but their functionalization is extremely
      challenging compared to bare superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as they
      strongly interact with each other. By conducting the polymer grafting reaction
      using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization in a
      viscous solvent medium, we have here developed a facile approach to decorate the
      nanocubes with stimuli-responsive polymers. When the thermoresponsive shell is
      composed of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-polyethylene glycolmethyl ether
      acrylate), nanohybrids have a phase transition temperature, the lower critical
      solution temperature (LCST), above 37  degrees C in physiological conditions.
      Doxo loaded nanohybrids exhibited a negligible drug release below 37  degrees C
      but showed a consistent release of their cargo on demand by exploiting the
      capability of the nanocubes to generate heat under an alternating magnetic field
      (AMF). Moreover, the drug free nanocarrier does not exhibit cytotoxicity even
      when administered at high concentration of nanocubes (1g/L of iron) and
      internalized at high extent (260 pg of iron per cell). We have also implemented
      the synthesis protocol to decorate the surface of nanocubes with
      poly(vinylpyridine) polymer and thus prepare pH-responsive shell coated
      nanocubes. 

PMID- 25840123
TI  - New biomimetic barrier PermeapadTM for efficient investigation of passive
      permeability of drugs.
AB  - In this work the suitability of a newly invented physical patch comprising a
      biomimetic barrier (named PermeapadTM) for drug permeability tests has been
      investigated. Exemplars of PermeapadTM were adapted to Franz diffusion cells and
      apparent permeability (Papp) of a series of drugs were measured and compared with
      calculated partition coefficients (logPcal) of the investigated drugs as well as
      literature reference values obtained from Parallel Artificial Membrane Permeation
      Assay (PAMPA) and the cellular based method Caco-2. Moreover, tightness of the
      barrier to hydrophilic marker's permeation, resistance of these barriers to
      proton permeation (pH changes) and shelf-life functionality were also
      investigated. Comparison with the published data indicated a good correlation
      between the permeability values measured and partition coefficients (logPcal).
      Moreover, a good correlation between the permeabilities measured with the new
      barrier and well-established in vitro permeability methods (PAMPA and Caco-2
      respectively) was found for both highly absorbed and poorly permeable compounds.
      PermeapadTM also proved to maintain high integrity over time and in different pH
      environments. In conclusion, PermeapadTM as an innovative barrier appears to be a
      promising tool for fast, cost effective and reliable screening of drugs and
      chemical entities' passive permeability. 

PMID- 25840125
TI  - Biomimetic PVPA in vitro model for estimation of the intestinal drug permeability
      using fasted and fed state simulated intestinal fluids.
AB  - A prerequisite for successful oral drug therapy is the drug's ability to cross
      the gastrointestinal barrier. Considering the increasing number of new chemical
      entities in modern drug discovery, reliable and fast in vitro models are required
      for early and efficient prediction of intestinal permeability. To mimic the
      intestinal environment, use of biorelevant media may provide valuable information
      on in vivo drug permeation. The present study aims at improving the novel
      biomimetic phospholipid vesicle-based permeation assay's (PVPAbiomimetic)
      biorelevance by investigating the applicability of the biorelevant media; fasted
      state simulated intestinal fluid (FaSSIF) and fed state simulated intestinal
      fluid (FeSSIF). The FaSSIF and FeSSIF's influence on the permeability of the
      model drugs acyclovir, indomethacin, griseofulvin and nadolol was then assessed.
      The barriers' robustness in terms of storage stability was also evaluated. The
      barriers were found to maintain their integrity in presence of FaSSIF and FeSSIF.
      The model drugs showed changes in permeability in presence of the different
      simulated intestinal fluids that were in agreement with previous reports.
      Moreover, the barrier showed improved storage stability by maintaining its
      integrity for 6months. Altogether, this study moves the PVPAbiomimetic an
      important step towards a better in vitro permeability model for use in drug
      development. 

PMID- 25840124
TI  - Aromatic hydroxylation of salicylic acid and aspirin by human cytochromes P450.
AB  - Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is a well-known and widely-used analgesic. It is
      rapidly deacetylated to salicylic acid, which forms two hippuric acids
      salicyluric acid and gentisuric acid-and two glucuronides. The oxidation of
      aspirin and salicylic acid has been reported with human liver microsomes, but
      data on individual cytochromes P450 involved in oxidation is lacking. In this
      study we monitored oxidation of these compounds by human liver microsomes and
      cytochrome P450 (P450) using UPLC with fluorescence detection. Microsomal
      oxidation of salicylic acid was much faster than aspirin. The two oxidation
      products were 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (gentisic acid, documented by its UV and
      mass spectrum) and 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid. Formation of neither product was
      inhibited by desferrioxamine, suggesting a lack of contribution of oxygen
      radicals under these conditions. Although more liphophilic, aspirin was oxidized
      less efficiently, primarily to the 2,5-dihydroxy product. Recombinant human P450s
      2C8, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, 2E1, and 3A4 all catalyzed the 5-hydroxylation of salicylic
      acid. Inhibitor studies with human liver microsomes indicated that all six of the
      previously mentioned P450s could contribute to both the 5- and 3-hydroxylation of
      salicylic acid and that P450s 2A6 and 2B6 have contributions to 5-hydroxylation.
      Inhibitor studies indicated that the major human P450 involved in both 3- and 5
      hydroxylation of salicylic acid is P450 2E1. 

PMID- 25840126
TI  - Celebrating National Nurses Week 2015.

PMID- 25840127
TI  - Why are we prolonging QT interval monitoring?
AB  - BACKGROUND: At present, monitoring of the QT interval (QTI) is not a standard
      practice in the medical intensive care unit setting, where many drugs that
      prolong the QTI are administered. This literature review looked at the current
      research for evidence-based standards to support QTI monitoring of patients with
      risk factors for QTI prolongation, which can result in life-threatening
      arrhythmias such as torsade de pointes. OBJECTIVE/AIM: The objective of this
      article is to establish the existence of evidence-based standards for monitoring
      of the QTI and to raise awareness in the nursing profession of the need for such
      monitoring among patients who are at high risk for prolonged QTI. METHOD: To
      determine whether published standards for QTI monitoring exist, a search was
      conducted of the bibliographic databases CINAHL, EBSCOhost, Medline, PubMed,
      Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Library for the years 2013 and 2014. Also, a
      survey was conducted to determine whether practice standards for QTI monitoring
      are being implemented at 4 major hospitals in the Memphis area, including a level
      1 trauma center. RESULTS: The database search established the existence of
      published guidelines that support the need for QTI monitoring. Results of the
      hospital survey indicated that direct care nurses were not aware of the need to
      identify high-risk patients, drugs with the potential to prolong QTI that were
      being administered to their patients, or evidence-based standards for QTI
      monitoring. DISCUSSION: Review of the research literature underscored the need
      for QTI monitoring among high-risk patients, that is, those with genetic
      conditions that predispose them to QTI prolongation, those with existing cardiac
      conditions being treated with antiarrhythmic medications, or those who are
      prescribed any new medication classified as high risk on the basis of clinical
      research. This need is especially crucial in intensive care unit settings, where
      many antiarrhythmic medications are administered.

PMID- 25840128
TI  - Proper skin preparation and electrode placement decreases alarms on a telemetry
      unit.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An estimated 85% to 99% of electrocardiographic (ECG) alarms are
      false, leading to alarm fatigue, which is associated with increased risk of death
      among hospitalized patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the
      effect of proper skin preparation and electrode placement on frequency of ECG
      alarms on a telemetry unit. METHOD: A prospective descriptive design was used to
      test the effect of proper skin preparation and ECG electrode placement. Purposive
      sampling of patients (n = 15) admitted to a telemetry hospital in a suburban
      Veterans Affairs Medical Center was used. Alarms were counted for 24 hours after
      admission, electrodes were replaced using proper technique, and alarms were
      counted for 24 hours after electrode change. Bootstrapping was used to double the
      sample size for analysis. RESULTS: Electrocardiographic alarms decreased
      significantly (P < .05) after proper skin preparation and electrode placement
      (95% confidence interval, 1.273-82.327). DISCUSSION: Proper skin preparation and
      ECG electrode placement reduced alarms. Reducing alarm frequency is vital to
      decreasing alarm fatigue and increasing patient safety.

PMID- 25840129
TI  - Conflict management styles among Iranian critical care nursing staff: a cross
      sectional study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Conflict among nurses has been recognized as an extremely important
      issue within health care settings throughout the world. Identifying the conflict
      management style would be a key strategy for conflict management. OBJECTIVE: The
      aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of conflict management styles
      and its related factors among Iranian critical care nursing staff. METHODS: In a
      descriptive cross-sectional study, a total of 149 critical care nurses who worked
      in the critical care units of 4 teaching hospitals in Sari (Iran) were evaluated.
      A 2-part self-reported questionnaire including personal information and Rahim
      Organizational Conflict Inventory II was used for data collection. RESULTS:
      Although Iranian critical care nurses used all 5 conflict management styles to
      manage conflict with their peers, the collaborating style was the most prevalent
      conflict management style used by them, followed by compromising, accommodating,
      avoiding, and competing. Male gender was a predictor for both compromising and
      competing styles, whereas position and shift time were significant predictors for
      compromising and competing styles, respectively. DISCUSSION: Based on the results
      of this study, nurse managers need to take these factors into account in
      designing programs to help nurses constructively manage unavoidable conflicts in
      health care setting.

PMID- 25840130
TI  - A personal reflection: going above and beyond for a patient in his last moments.
AB  - Death is common in the intensive care unit. Some patients are surrounded by
      family; others, with only nurses and physicians by their side. This article
      describes the experience of a critical care nurse caring for a patient in his
      last hours and in the hours after his death. These extraordinary measures left
      her with a sense of peace and pride in being an intensive care unit nurse.

PMID- 25840132
TI  - The process of death imminence awareness by family members of patients in adult
      critical care.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A focus on cost-effective quality end-of-life care remains a high
      priority in adult critical care given an aging population, high prevalence of
      death, and aggressive technologies used to extend or sustain life in this
      setting. METHOD: A Glaserian grounded theory design was used to conduct this
      retrospective study to yield a substantive middle-range theory. The data source
      was semistructured interviews with 14 family members of decedents who died 6 to
      60 months prior to the study. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to
      generate a theory on how family members of patients in adult critical care come
      to realize that their loved one is dying. RESULTS: The Process of Death Imminence
      Awareness by Family Members of Patients in Adult Critical Care middle-range
      theory contained 6 phases: (1) patient's near-death awareness, (2) dying right in
      front of me, (3) turning points in the patient's condition, (4) no longer the
      person I once knew, (5) doing right by them, and (6) time to let go. Patient's
      near-death awareness preceded all other phases, if communicated by the decedent
      with their family. Then, family members iteratively moved through all the other
      key phases in the process until a time to let go became evident. DISCUSSION: This
      substantive middle-range theory will guide nursing education, practice, and
      research aimed at providing quality and cost-effective end-of-life care in adult
      critical care.

PMID- 25840134
TI  - The process of transformation experienced by the patients, their families, and
      nurses during critical illness in the intensive care unit: perspective from a
      phenomenological study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There are no studies in the literature that explore and describe the
      concept of transformation from the perspective of patients, family members, and
      nurses during critical illness in the intensive care unit (ICU). OBJECTIVES: The
      purpose of this article is to explore and describe the concept of transformation
      among patients, their families, and nurses during critical illness in the ICU.
      METHODS: The concept "transformation" is a theme illuminated from a qualitative
      phenomenological study conducted in the ICU in 2010. Fifteen participants were
      interviewed until data saturation was achieved. van Manen's holistic, selective,
      and detailed line-by-line approach was used to analyze the data until themes
      emerged. RESULTS: Processes of transformation related to ICU experience during
      critical illness were noted among the patients, family members, and nurses and
      presented in the following descriptors: (a) patients: a "wake-up call," "the
      longest days of my life," and "thankful to be alive"; (b) family members: "the
      experience made me emotionally empowered," and "the experience strengthened my
      faith"; (c) nurses: "the experience made me grow as a person," "the experience
      made me more enthusiastic for learning," and "realization that good care equals
      family satisfaction thus own personal satisfaction." DISCUSSION: The concept of
      transformation from the perspective of a triad of patients, their families, and
      nurses may be noted in other conditions other than critical illness; thus,
      replicating studies with different populations and settings is needed.

PMID- 25840138
TI  - Embracing technology to strengthen care and enhance human connection.

PMID- 25840137
TI  - Cardiac monitoring: Hospital-wide education and staff competence.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The numbers of patients in acute care hospitals who require cardiac
      monitoring are increasing. Unpredictable fluctuations in patient flow may result
      in shortages of telemetry beds for patients who need this level of care.
      OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to design and implement cardiac monitoring
      education for all medical-surgical nursing staff in a level I trauma center.
      METHODS: This is a descriptive, quantitative performance improvement study. A
      multidisciplinary implementation plan was developed with biomedical engineering
      and physical facilities coordinating structural changes and nursing coordinating
      education and clinical competency. The nursing educational plans included a
      dysrhythmia course and testing, a clinically based competency, and a statistical
      analysis of the dysrhythmia test. The impact of this project was evaluated
      looking at areas transitioned, telemetry beds available, cardiac dysrhythmia
      education workshops, and dysrhythmia test results. RESULTS: The implementation of
      cardiac monitoring was completed over 2 years. Monitored medical-surgical beds
      increased from 132 to 282 beds. The nursing education expanded hospital-wide to
      clinical areas requesting standardization of nursing practice. CONCLUSIONS: In
      addition to expanding the number of monitored beds and decompression of critical
      care beds, benefits included increased level of staff competence, standardization
      of cardiac monitoring practices throughout the facility, and validation of the
      cardiac dysrhythmia test.

PMID- 25840139
TI  - The factor structure of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms among Rwandans
      exposed to the 1994 genocide: A confirmatory factor analytic study using the PCL
      C.
AB  - The factor structure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in Euro
      American populations has been extensively studied, but confirmatory factor
      analytic studies from non-Western societies are lacking. Alternative models of
      DSM-IV symptoms were tested among Rwandan adults (N=465) who experienced trauma
      during the 1994 genocide. A cluster random survey was conducted with interviews
      held in Rwandan households. PTSD was assessed with the Posttraumatic Stress
      Disorder Checklist-Civilian version. Competing models were the DSM-IV, emotional
      numbing, dysphoria, aroused intrusion, and dysphoric arousal models. Results
      showed that the emotional numbing, dysphoria, and dysphoric arousal models had
      almost identical, good fit indices and fit the data significantly better than the
      other models. The emotional numbing and dysphoric arousal models also exhibited
      good construct validity. Results suggest that the latent structure of PTSD
      symptoms in Rwanda are comparable to that found in Euro-American samples, thereby
      lending further support to the cross-cultural validity of the construct. 

PMID- 25840140
TI  - Social problem solving strategies and posttraumatic stress disorder in the
      aftermath of intimate partner violence.
AB  - Social factors are often associated with the development or maintenance of
      posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the aftermath of interpersonal traumas.
      However, social problem solving strategies have received little attention. The
      current study explored the role of social problem solving styles (i.e., rational
      approaches, impulsive/careless strategies, or avoidance strategies) as
      intermediary variables between abuse exposure and PTSD severity among intimate
      partner violence survivors. Avoidance problem solving served as an intermediating
      variable for the relationship between three types of abuse and PTSD severity.
      Rational and impulsive/careless strategies were not associated with abuse
      exposure. These findings extend the current understanding of social problem
      solving among interpersonal trauma survivors and are consistent with more general
      avoidance coping research. Future research might examine whether avoidance
      problem solving tends to evolve in the aftermath of trauma or whether it
      represents a longstanding risk factor for PTSD development. 

PMID- 25840141
TI  - In vivo fluorescence navigation of gastric and upper gastrointestinal tumors by 5
      aminolevulinic acid mediated photodynamic diagnosis with a laser-equipped video
      image endoscope.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) is an imaging technology that is based on
      the fundamental biological features of cancer cells. Five-aminolevulinic acid
      (ALA), a precursor of photosensitizing protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) has been applied.
      In fact, ALA-mediated PDD provides good visualization for certain tumors.
      However, there have been few studies on clinical application of PDD for
      gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. This study was aimed to investigate the
      feasibility of ALA-mediated PDD for navigation of upper GI tumors. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Using a newly developed endoscope equipped with a blue laser light
      excitation, ALA-mediated PDD was conducted in 27 lesions from 23 patients with
      upper GI tumors including 2 Barrett's intramucosal cancers. ALA solution was
      given orally 3h before PDD. All the adenocarcinomas came under clinical stage I,
      and the tumors were resected endoscopic submucosal dissection and/or laparoscopic
      surgery. Red fluorescence signal and intensity was assessed as for
      clinicopathological features of the cases. RESULTS: The laser-based endoscopy
      could detect upper GI tumors as red fluorescent navigation (PDD-positive) in 23
      of the 27 lesions. All but one intestinal typed tumors in histopathology were
      significantly PDD-positive, whereas each signet ring cell carcinoma was PDD
      negative. There was a significant difference in tumor size between the PDD
      positive and -negative tumors. The elevated lesions emitted significantly more
      intense fluorescence. CONCLUSIONS: Fluorescence navigation by ALA-mediated PDD
      provided sufficient detection of upper GI tumors in particular for the intestinal
      typed tumors. Thus, ALA-PDD using the blue laser-equipped endoscope offers a
      promising diagnostic tool.

PMID- 25840142
TI  - Cardiopulmonary resuscitation of pregnant women.

PMID- 25840143
TI  - To ventilate or not to ventilate? That is the question--again.

PMID- 25840144
TI  - Sensitivity of quantitative traits to mutational effects and number of loci.
AB  - When models of quantitative genetic variation are built from population genetic
      first principles, several assumptions are often made. One of the most important
      assumptions is that traits are controlled by many genes of small effect. This
      leads to a prediction of a Gaussian trait distribution in the population, via the
      Central Limit Theorem. Since these biological assumptions are often unknown or
      untrue, we characterized how finite numbers of loci or large mutational effects
      can impact the sampling distribution of a quantitative trait. To do so, we
      developed a neutral coalescent-based framework, allowing us to gain a detailed
      understanding of how number of loci and the underlying mutational model impacts
      the distribution of a quantitative trait. Through both analytical theory and
      simulation we found the normality assumption was highly sensitive to the details
      of the mutational process, with the greatest discrepancies arising when the
      number of loci was small or the mutational kernel was heavy-tailed. In
      particular, skewed mutational effects will produce skewed trait distributions and
      fat-tailed mutational kernels result in multimodal sampling distributions, even
      for traits controlled by a large number of loci. Since selection models and
      robust neutral models may produce qualitatively similar sampling distributions,
      we advise extra caution should be taken when interpreting model-based results for
      poorly understood systems of quantitative traits. 

PMID- 25840145
TI  - Molecular biology of thermosensory transduction in C. elegans.
AB  - As the environmental temperature prominently influences diverse biological
      aspects of the animals, thermosensation and the subsequent information processing
      in the nervous system has attracted much attention in biology. Thermotaxis in the
      nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an ideal behavioral paradigm by which to
      address the molecular mechanism underlying thermosensory transduction. Molecular
      genetic analysis in combination with other physiological and behavioral studies
      revealed that sensation of ambient temperature is mediated mainly by cyclic
      guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signaling in thermosensory neurons. The
      information of the previously perceived temperature is also stored within the
      thermosensory neurons, and the consequence of the comparison between the past and
      the present temperature is conveyed to the downstream interneurons to further
      regulate the motor-circuits that encode the locomotion. 

PMID- 25840146
TI  - Replacement of specific markers for apoptosis and necrosis by nuclear morphology
      for affordable cytometry.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to employ high throughput image
      analysis to detect necrosis and apoptosis. Specific markers were replaced by
      morphological parameters of cells and nuclei. METHOD: Fresh blood was taken from
      a healthy female and given a treatment to induce cell necrosis and apoptosis.
      Afterward, the samples were stained with AnnexinV-FITC, DRAQ5 and DAPI. Slides
      were made and analyzed using the cytometer iCys. Pictures were scanned. The
      analyzed sample consisted of 73 sets of images of DAPI, DRAQ5 and AnnexinV-FITC,
      respectively. For image analysis and subsequent statistical processing, the
      CellProfiler and CellProfilerAnalyst were used. Each sample was analyzed twice.
      The first analysis was conducted using the markers (DAPI, DRAQ5 and Annexin) for
      an unequivocal identification and subsequent count of necrotic, apoptotic and
      live cells (gold standard). Thereafter, a second analysis was performed for the
      nuclear morphology and texture (morphometric analysis). After the machine
      learning process was completed, the software calculated the quantity of cells in
      each of the three groups. A comparison between the result of the gold standard
      and the morphometric analysis was performed using linear regression and a Bland
      Altman test. RESULTS: The linear regression between the two compared analyses was
      r(2)=0.57 for apoptosis, r(2)=0.84 for necrosis and r(2)=0.79 for living cells.
      CONCLUSION: It may be concluded that it is possible to replace specific markers
      against morphology without losing the reproducible high-throughput character of a
      cytometric analysis.

PMID- 25840147
TI  - High throughput multiplex-PCR for direct detection and diagnosis of dermatophyte
      species, Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosis in clinical specimen.
AB  - We have developed and validated a multiplex-PCR method for detection of
      dermatophyte spp., Candida albicans and parapsilosis for routine diagnostics. Our
      m-PCR showed excellent concordance with culture results in 475 clinical samples.
      Through the rapid diagnosis by our m-PCR, clinicians are able to initiate
      adequate antimycotic therapy much earlier. 

PMID- 25840148
TI  - Controlled drug release from cross-linked kappa-carrageenan/hyaluronic acid
      membranes.
AB  - In this work, hydrogel membrane composed of; kappa carrageenan (kappaC) and
      hyaluronic acid (HA) crosslinked with epichlorohydrine is produced. The optimum
      condition has been established based on their water absorption properties.
      Tensile strength (TS) and elongation (E%) for the formed films are evaluated. The
      obtained films were characterized by FTIR, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and
      thermal analysis. All membranes were loaded with l-carnosine as a drug model. The
      swelling properties and kinetics of the release of the model drug from the
      crosslinked hydrogel membrane were monitored in buffer medium at 37 degrees C.
      The equilibrium swelling of films showed fair dependency on the high presence of
      HA in the hydrogel. Moreover, the cumulative release profile increased
      significantly and ranged from 28% to 93%, as HA increases. SEM explored that, the
      porosity increased by increasing HA content; consequently, drug release into the
      pores and channels of the membranes is facilitated. In addition, water uptake %
      increased as well. A slight change in TS occurred by increasing the HA% to
      kappaC, while the highest value of strain for kappaC membrane was 498.38% by
      using 3% HA. The thermal stability of the kappaC/HA was higher than that of HA. 

PMID- 25840149
TI  - Click chemistry modification of natural keratin fibers for sustained shrink
      resist performance.
AB  - This paper introduces a novel chemical treatment for achieving sustained shrink
      resist performance on natural keratin fibers. The new treatment involves the
      controlled reduction of keratin in the cuticle region of the fiber, and the
      application of a water soluble diacrylate, namely glycerol 1,3-diglycerolate
      diacrylate (GDA), on the reduced keratin substrate. The acrylate groups of the
      GDA react with cysteine residues in the reduced keratin through thiol-ene click
      reactions at room temperature, leading to GDA grafting and the formation of GDA
      crosslinks in the keratin structure. The modified substrates were characterized
      by infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and assessed for its
      shrink-resistance and wet burst strength. This chemical modification has shown to
      alter the fiber surface morphology and hydrophilicity, resulting in substantially
      improved shrink-resistance with good fiber strength retention. Possible shrink
      resistance mechanisms were also discussed. 

PMID- 25840150
TI  - Bioconversion of crude glycerol to polyhydroxyalkanoate by Bacillus thuringiensis
      under non-limiting nitrogen conditions.
AB  - Glycerol has emerged as a cheap waste material due to blooming biodiesel
      manufacturing units worldwide. The need is to exploit the crude glycerol (CG) to
      produce useful products such as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). Bacillus
      thuringiensis EGU45 was found to produce 1.5-3.5 gP HA L(-1) from feed containing
      1-10% CG (vv(-1)) and nutrient broth (NB, 125 mL) without any acclimatization. B.
      thuringiensis EGU45 could produce PHA at the rate of 1.54-1.83 g L(-1), from 1%
      CG (vv(-1)) on media having high nitrogen contents: (i) NB, (ii) NB+0.5% NH4Cl
      (wv(-1)), and (iii) peptone+yeast extract+0.5% NH4Cl (wv(-1)). B. thuringiensis
      EGU45 was able to produce co-polymer of P(3HB-co-3HV) with 13.4% 3HV content on
      high N containing feed supplemented with propionic acid. This is the first report
      demonstrating the abilities of B. thuringiensis to convert CG into PHA co-polymer
      under non-limiting N conditions.

PMID- 25840151
TI  - Preparation and characterization of thermoplastic starches and their blends with
      poly(lactic acid).
AB  - Two different thermoplastic starches (TPS), namely maleic anhydride grafted
      starch (MA-g-starch) and epoxidized cardanol grafted starch (Epicard-g-starch),
      were successfully prepared by chemical modification without the addition of any
      plasticizer. The structure and properties were characterized by nuclear magnetic
      resonance (NMR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), hot press testing, scanning electron
      microscopy (SEM) and contact angle meter, respectively. Results from XRD showed
      that the highly crystalline structure of native starch was destroyed after
      modification. Continuous phase was obtained from both of the chemically modified
      starches after hot pressing at 130 degrees C, indicating that they have good
      thermoplasticity. Subsequently, they were melt-blended with PLA. It was found
      that the Epicard-g-starch had a much finer dispersed phase size than MA-g-starch
      in PLA matrix due to its better hydrophobicity. As a result, the mechanical
      properties of PLA/Epicard-g-starch blend were superior to those of PLA/MA-g
      starch blend. 

PMID- 25840152
TI  - Antioxidant studies of chitosan nanoparticles containing naringenin and their
      cytotoxicity effects in lung cancer cells.
AB  - Chitosan based nano carrier systems have been widely explored owing to its
      reliability and simpler synthesis route. In the current study, chitosan (CS)
      encapsulated naringenin (NAR) nanoparticles (CS-NPs/NAR) were synthesized by
      ionic gelation method mediated by tripolyphosphate (TPP) as a cross-linker and
      characterized by DLS, SEM, Zeta potential, FT-IR and EDS analyses. The
      encapsulation efficiency of CS-NPs/NAR was determined by Folin-Ciocalteau (FC)
      and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) techniques. The native CS-NPs
      were found to be sized at 53.2 nm, while an increase in the size to 407.47 nm was
      observed upon loading with NAR. The encapsulation efficiency of CS-NPs/NAR was
      identified to be ~70% by FC method and ~80% by HPLC method, respectively. The
      release of NAR from CS-NPs/NAR in simulated gastric fluid was found to be ~15%
      and remaining 85% of NAR was entrapped in CS-NPs/NAR. Furthermore, the free
      radical scavenging ability of CS-NPs/NAR was studied by Nitrate scavenging, 2, 2
      diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl hydrate and hydroxyl radical scavenging assays. The
      free radical scavenging activity was significantly higher in CS-NPs/NAR. MTT
      based cytotoxic analysis also depicted the non-toxic nature of CS-NPs/NAR towards
      normal fibroblast 3T3 cells, while cytotoxic effects were noticed against A549
      lung cancer cells. Hence, the current investigations showed the superiority of
      chitosan encapsulated NAR over free NAR and suggested an efficient system for
      delivering NAR with antioxidant and anticancer activities.

PMID- 25840153
TI  - Spatial Variation and Land Use Regression Modeling of the Oxidative Potential of
      Fine Particles.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Oxidative potential (OP) has been suggested to be a more health
      relevant metric than particulate matter (PM) mass. Land use regression (LUR)
      models can estimate long-term exposure to air pollution in epidemiological
      studies, but few have been developed for OP. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to characterize
      the spatial contrasts of two OP methods and to develop and evaluate LUR models to
      assess long-term exposure to the OP of PM2.5. METHODS: Three 2-week PM2.5 samples
      were collected at 10 regional background, 12 urban background, and 18 street
      sites spread over the Netherlands/Belgium in 1 year and analyzed for OP using
      electron spin resonance (OP(ESR)) and dithiothreitol (OP(DTT)). LUR models were
      developed using temporally adjusted annual averages and a range of land-use and
      traffic-related GIS variables. RESULTS: Street/urban background site ratio was
      1.2 for OP(DTT) and 1.4 for OP(ESR), whereas regional/urban background ratio was
      0.8 for both. OP(ESR) correlated moderately with OP(DTT) (R2 = 0.35). The LUR
      models included estimated regional background OP, local traffic, and large-scale
      urbanity with explained variance (R2) of 0.60 for OP(DTT) and 0.67 for OP(ESR).
      OP(DTT) and OP(ESR) model predictions were moderately correlated (R2 = 0.44). OP
      model predictions were moderately to highly correlated with predictions from a
      previously published PM2.5 model (R2 = 0.37-0.52), and highly correlated with
      predictions from previously published models of traffic components (R2 > 0.50).
      CONCLUSION: LUR models explained a large fraction of the spatial variation of the
      two OP metrics. The moderate correlations among the predictions of OP(DTT),
      OP(ESR), and PM2.5 models offer the potential to investigate which metric is the
      strongest predictor of health effects. CITATION: Yang A, Wang M, Eeftens M,
      Beelen R, Dons E, Leseman DL, Brunekreef B, Cassee FR, Janssen NA, Hoek G. 2015.
      Spatial variation and land use regression modeling of the oxidative potential of
      fine particles. Environ Health Perspect 123:1187-1192;
      http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408916.

PMID- 25840270
TI  - Synthesis of folic acid functionalized redox-responsive magnetic proteinous
      microcapsules for targeted drug delivery.
AB  - Folic acid (FA) functionalized magnetic bovine serum albumin (BSA) microcapsules
      (FA-MBMCs) were prepared by a facile sonochemical method, in which FA molecule
      was immobilized onto the outer walls of microcapsules as a targeting ligand and
      oleic acid (OA) modifying Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (OA-Fe3O4 MNPs) were
      wrapped into the microcapsules. The obtained FA-MBMCs possessed a nice spherical
      morphology with the mean size of 1.4 MUm. FA-MBMCs also showed an excellent
      magnetic and molecular dual-targeted property. Besides, the reductant-triggered
      diffusion of coumarin 6 suggested superior drug controlled release of FA-MBMCs.

PMID- 25840271
TI  - Disseminated intravascular coagulation in pregnancy: insights in pathophysiology,
      diagnosis and management.
AB  - Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a life-threatening situation that
      can arise from a variety of obstetrical and nonobstetrical causes. Obstetrical
      DIC has been associated with a series of pregnancy complications including the
      following: (1) acute peripartum hemorrhage (uterine atony, cervical and vaginal
      lacerations, and uterine rupture); (2) placental abruption; (3)
      preeclampsia/eclampsia/hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count
      syndrome; (4) retained stillbirth; (5) septic abortion and intrauterine
      infection; (6) amniotic fluid embolism; and (7) acute fatty liver of pregnancy.
      Prompt diagnosis and understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease
      leading to this complication in essential for a favorable outcome. In recent
      years, novel diagnostic scores and treatment modalities along with bedside point
      of-care tests were developed and may assist the clinician in the diagnosis and
      management of DIC. Team work and prompt treatment are essential for the
      successful management of patients with DIC. 

PMID- 25840273
TI  - A slow-release system of bacterial cellulose gel and nanoparticles for
      hydrophobic active ingredients.
AB  - A combination of bacterial cellulose (BC) gel and amphiphilic block copolymer
      nanoparticles was investigated as a drug delivery system (DDS) for hydrophobic
      active ingredients. Poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(caprolactone) (PEO-b-PCL) and
      retinol were used as the block copolymer and hydrophobic active ingredient,
      respectively. The BC gel was capable of incorporating copolymer nanoparticles and
      releasing them in an acetic acid-sodium acetate buffer solution (pH 5.2) at 37 
      degrees C. The percentage of released copolymer reached a maximum value of
      approximately 60% after 6h and remained constant after 24h. The percentage of
      retinol released from the copolymer-containing BC gel reached a maximum value at
      4h. These results show that the combination of BC gel and nanoparticles is a slow
      release system that may be useful in the cosmetic and biomedical fields for skin
      treatment and preparation.

PMID- 25840272
TI  - Novel effects of simvastatin on uterine fibroid tumors: in vitro and patient
      derived xenograft mouse model study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Uterine leiomyomas represent a common gynecologic problem with no
      satisfactory long-term medical treatment. The purpose of this study is to examine
      the effects of simvastatin on uterine leiomyoma, both in vitro and in vivo. STUDY
      DESIGN: This is a laboratory-based experimental study. For in vitro studies, we
      used human and rat leiomyoma cells. For in vivo studies, we used immunodeficient
      mice supplemented with estrogen/progesterone pellets xenografted with human
      leiomyoma tissue explant. RESULTS: For in vitro studies, cells were treated with
      different concentrations of simvastatin for 48 hours. Simvastatin induced dose
      dependent apoptosis in leiomyoma cells as measured by a fluorometric caspase-3
      activity assay, and inhibited proliferation as demonstrated by an (3-[4,5
      dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay (both were
      significant at 5 and 10 MUM). In addition, simvastatin decreased Akt signaling
      pathway phosphorylation as examined using Western blot analysis. For in vivo
      studies, animals were treated for 28 days with simvastatin (20 MUg/gm body
      weight/day) vs vehicle control. The treatment inhibited tumor growth as measured
      weekly using calipers and/ or ultrasound (P < .01). Finally, simvastatin
      decreased expression of the proliferation marker Ki67 in xenograft tumor tissue
      as examined by immunohistochemistry (P = .02). CONCLUSION: Simvastatin can be a
      promising treatment for uterine leiomyoma. Further studies, including
      pharmacokinetic and drug delivery studies, are required.

PMID- 25840274
TI  - In vitro and in vivo evaluation of APRPG-modified angiogenic vessel targeting
      micelles for anticancer therapy.
AB  - The study was aimed to evaluate the antitumor potential of the Ala-Pro-Arg-Pro
      Gly (APRPG)-modified angiogenic vessel targeting drug delivery system using
      paclitaxel (PTX) as a model drug. In this study, an angiogenesis homing peptide
      APRPG was conjugated to the amphipathic copolymer PLGA-PEG and the synthesized
      copolymer APRPG-PEG-PLGA was used to prepare PTX encapsulated micelles (APRPG-PEG
      Mic). The micelles were uniform spherical and exhibited a unimodal particle size
      distribution and a slight negative zeta-potential. The in vitro drug release
      result demonstrated a significant sustained release property of APRPG-PEG-Mic.
      Compared to Taxol((r)) and Cont-PEG-Mic, APRPG-PEG-Mic showed a stronger
      cytotoxicity against two cancerous cell lines. In the cell uptake studies, the
      APRPG-modified micelles enhanced intracellular fluorescent intensity in EA.hy926
      cells. The biodistribution study revealed the accumulation of APRPG-PEG-Mic in
      tumor tissues as a result of passive accumulation and active targeting. In
      comparison with Taxol((r)) and Cont-PEG-Mic, APRPG-PEG-Mic reduced the tumor
      volume more significantly and prolonged the survival time of tumor-bearing mice,
      indicating a higher antitumor efficacy and lower systematic side effects of APRPG
      PEG-Mic. The results indicated that APRPG-modified micelles could be an efficient
      target-delivery method to angiogenic vessels and a highly promising therapeutic
      system in anticancer therapy. 

PMID- 25840275
TI  - Use of ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction to transfect IGF-1 cDNA to
      enhance the regeneration of rat wounded Achilles tendon in vivo.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to determine whether using ultrasound-targeted
      microbubble destruction (UTMD) to transfect rat wounded Achilles tendon with
      insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) cDNA would enhance tissue regeneration.
      Forty rats with injured Achilles tendons were transfected with IGF-1 cDNA and
      divided into: (1) control group, (2) plasmid-only group, (3) plasmid+ultrasound
      group and (4) plasmid+microbubbles+ultrasound group. The IGF-1 cDNA expression of
      the Achilles tendons was evaluated by histological adhesion finding, quantitative
      real-time reverse transcription PCR examination and biomechanical test. The
      adhesion scores in group 4 were lowest at weeks 2 and 8 (P<0.05). The IGF-1
      expression in the Achilles tendons was highest in group 4 at weeks 2 and 8
      (P<0.05). Compared with those of other three groups, the granulation tissues and
      inflammatory-cell infiltration were lighter in group 4 at week 2, and the scars
      on the tendons in group 4 were less evident at week 8. The messenger RNA (mRNA)
      of IGF-1 of group 4 was upregulated at weeks 2 and 8 (P<0.01). Groups 4 and 3
      showed a greater maximum load, stiffness and ultimate stress (P<0.05). Maximum
      load, stiffness and ultimate stress of healing Achilles tendons in group 4 were
      highest at weeks 2 and 8 (P<0.05). 

PMID- 25840276
TI  - Commentary on "Plasma polyunsaturated fatty acids and periodontal recovery in
      Taiwanese with periodontitis: A significant relationship".

PMID- 25840277
TI  - DNA alterations and effects on growth and reproduction in Daphnia magna during
      chronic exposure to gamma radiation over three successive generations.
AB  - This study examined chronic effects of external Cs-137 gamma radiation on Daphnia
      magna exposed over three successive generations (F0, F1 and F2) to
      environmentally relevant dose rates (ranging from 0.007 to 35.4 mGy h(-1)).
      Investigated endpoints included survival, growth, reproduction and DNA
      alterations quantified using random-amplified polymorphic DNA polymerase chain
      reaction (RAPD-PCR). Results demonstrated that radiation effects on survival,
      growth and reproduction increased in severity from generation F0 to generation
      F2. Mortality after 21 days at 35.4 mGy h(-1) increased from 20% in F0 to 30% in
      F2. Growth was affected by a slight reduction in maximum length at 35.4 mGy h(-1)
      in F0 and by reductions of 5 and 13% in growth rate, respectively, at 4.70 and
      35.4 mGy h(-1) in F2. Reproduction was affected by a reduction of 19% in 21 day
      fecundity at 35.4 mGy h(-1) in F0 and by a delay of 1.9 days in brood release as
      low as 0.070 mGy h(-1) in F2. In parallel, DNA alterations became significant at
      decreasing dose rates over the course of F0 (from 4.70 mGy h(-1) at hatching to
      0.007 mGy h(-1) after ~21 days) and from F0 to F2 (0.070 mGy h(-1) at hatching to
      0.007 mGy h(-1) after ~21 days), demonstrating their rapid accumulation in F0
      daphnids and their transmission to offspring generations. Transiently more
      efficient DNA repair leading to some recovery at the organism level was suggested
      in F1, with no effect on survival, a slight reduction of 12% in 21 day-fecundity
      at 35.4 mGy h(-1) and DNA alterations significant at highest dose rates only. The
      study improved our understanding of long term responses to low doses of radiation
      at the molecular and organismic levels in a non-human species for a better
      radioprotection of aquatic ecosystems.

PMID- 25840278
TI  - Prevalence and intensity of pathologies induced by the toxic dinoflagellate,
      Heterocapsa circularisquama, in the Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus
      galloprovincialis.
AB  - The harmful dinoflagellate, Heterocapsa circularisquama, has been causing mass
      mortalities of bivalve molluscs in Japan, at relatively low cell densities.
      Although several studies have been conducted to determine the toxicity
      mechanisms, the specific cause of death is still unclear. In a previous study, in
      our laboratory, it was shown that H. circularisquama (10(3) cells ml(-1)) caused
      extensive cytotoxicity in the gills of short-neck clams, Ruditapes philippinarum.
      In the present study, Mediterranean mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis, were
      exposed to H. circularisquama at four cell densities (5, 50, 500, 10(3) cells ml(
      1)), three temperatures (15, 20, and 25 degrees C), and three exposure durations
      (3, 24, and 48 h), and the pathologies in nine organs (gills, labial palps,
      mantle, hepatopancreas, stomach, intestines, exhalant siphon, adductor muscles,
      and foot) were assessed. Foot, adductor muscles, and exhalent siphons of mussels
      were not affected; however, 16 inflammatory (hemocytic infiltration and
      aggregation, diapedesis, hyperplasia, hypertrophy, edema, melanization, and
      firbrosis) and degenerative (thrombus, thrombosed edema, cilia matting and
      exfoliation, epithelial desquamation, atrophy, and necrosis) pathologies were
      identified in the gills, labial palps, mantle, hepatopancreas, stomach, and
      intestines. The total prevalence and total intensity of pathology in each
      individual mussel, and the prevalence and intensity of pathology in each organ
      increased significantly with increased cell density, exposure duration, and
      temperature. The prevalence of pathology was the highest in gills, followed by
      the prevalence in labial palps, mantle, stomach, and intestines. Pathology was
      least prevalent in the hepatopancreas. The intensity of pathology was the highest
      in the gills, followed by the labial palps and mantle, the stomach and
      intestines, and the hepatopancreas. This detailed quantitative histopathological
      study demonstrates that exposure to H. circularisquama induces a broad cytotoxic
      effect in six vital organs, even at low density (5 cells ml(-1)) and low
      temperature (15 degrees C), but not in muscular organs. Combining cell density,
      time, and duration of exposure, the organ most affected by the harmful alga was
      the gill, followed by the labial palps and mantle, the stomach and intestines,
      and the hepatopancreas. The results of this pathological analysis show that
      exposure to H. ciruclarisquama severely affects the gills, the labial palps, and
      mantle thereby interfering with particle clearance and sorting, cleansing, and
      respiration, but also affects the stomach, intestines, and hepatopancreas,
      altering the digestive processes and possibly detoxification pathways, if mussels
      are able to detoxify the toxins of H. circularisquama. In the most severe cases,
      bivalves would most likely have died as a result of combined severe alterations
      of the vital functions, failure of tissue repair, and moderate to heavy
      hemorrhaging in both the external organs and the digestive organs concomitantly
      with light to moderate alterations in the detoxifying processes.

PMID- 25840279
TI  - Desflurane increased the activity of excitatory amino-acid carrier 1 (EAAC1)
      expressed in Xenopus oocytes.
AB  - Desflurane is a volatile anaesthetic agent with neuroprotective properties.
      Excitatory amino-acid carrier 1 (EAAC1) may be neuroprotective by taking up
      glutamate and cysteine. Therefore, the effects of desflurane on EAAC1 activity
      were investigated in this study. EAAC1 was expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes.
      Two-electrode voltage-clamping technique was used to record membrane currents
      upon exposure to l-glutamate (30 MUM) in the presence or absence of desflurane
      (0.4, 1.0, 2.0, 2.6, or 3.2mM). Currents were also measured in oocytes pre
      exposed to a protein kinase C (PKC) activator (50 nM phorbol-12-myristate-13
      acetate, PMA), PKC inhibitors (1 MUM staurosporine or 50 MUM chelerythrine), or
      phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitors (5 MUM wortmannin or 10 MUM
      LY294002). Desflurane significantly increased EAAC1 activity. The EC50 of
      desflurane for increasing the EAAC1 response was 0.75 mM. A kinetic study showed
      that desflurane significantly increased the Vmax but had no effect on the Km of
      the EAAC1 response for glutamate. Treatment of oocytes with desflurane plus PMA
      significantly increased the transporter currents compared to the control, but did
      not further increase the response compared to either agent alone. Staurosporine
      attenuated desflurane-enhanced transporter currents without decreasing the basal
      activity; chelerythrine did not decrease either. In addition, pretreatment of
      oocytes with two PI3K inhibitors (wortmannin or LY294002) significantly reduced
      desflurane-enhanced EAAC1 activity without decreasing basal activity. Our results
      suggest that desflurane increases EAAC1 activity via PKC or PI3K. This enhanced
      EAAC1 activity may be a mechanism for the neuroprotective effect of desflurane.

PMID- 25840280
TI  - Effects of Icariin on insulin resistance via the activation of AMPK pathway in
      C2C12 mouse muscle cells.
AB  - Insulin resistance in skeletal muscle is a major risk factor for the development
      of type 2 diabetes (T2D). In this study, we investigated the effect of icariin on
      insulin resistance in C2C12 mouse skeletal muscle cells. C2C12 myoblasts were
      differentiated into myotubes for five days, then treated with icariin (50 and
      100uM) or metformin (1mM) in the presence of 100nM insulin for 24h. Adiponectin
      production was measured in culture media by ELISA, and AMP-activated protein
      kinase (AMPK)/insulin signaling pathway activation was assessed by the western
      blot analysis. Icariin significantly increased adiponectin production in C2C12
      myotubes. Moreover, icariin markedly promoted the phosphorylation of AMPK and
      acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). Icariin up-regulated the expression of
      phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and the phosphorylation of insulin receptor
      substrate-1 (IRS-1) in C2C12 myotubes. These results suggest that icariin has
      therapeutic potential for the treatment of T2D via the regulation of insulin
      resistance in skeletal muscle. 

PMID- 25840281
TI  - Epigallocatechin-3-gallate attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced mastitis in rats
      via suppressing MAPK mediated inflammatory responses and oxidative stress.
AB  - Green tea (Camellia sinensis) is an extremely popular beverage worldwide.
      Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is one of the major catechins isolated from
      green tea and contributes to its beneficial therapeutic functions including
      antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. However, the effect of
      EGCG on mastitis is not yet known. This study was to investigate the protective
      potential of EGCG against mastitis in rats. The rat mastitis model was induced by
      injecting lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into the duct of mammary gland. The mammary
      gland was collected after the experimental period. The levels of mammary
      oxidative stress and inflammatory responses were assessed by measuring the local
      activities of antioxidant enzymes and the levels of inflammatory cytokines. The
      mammary expressions of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), nuclear factor
      kappaB-p65 (NFkappaB-p65) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) were
      evaluated by western blot analysis. It was found that EGCG obviously normalized
      LPS-induced low activities of antioxidant enzymes as well as decreased the high
      levels of inflammatory cytokines. Additionally, EGCG inhibited the mammary over
      expression of MAPKs, NFkappaB-p65 and HIF-1alpha. These results indicated that
      EGCG was able to attenuate LPS-induced mastitis in rats by suppressing MAPK
      related oxidative stress and inflammatory responses.

PMID- 25840282
TI  - Rheumatoid arthritis: Biological therapy other than anti-TNF.
AB  - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common autoimmune diseases and is
      characterized by synovitis that causes joint damage. The introduction of biologic
      agents has made it possible to induce remission in many patients and inhibit
      joint damage. Activated T cells in RA patients proliferate and stimulate the
      production of pro-inflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)
      and interleukin 6 that play important roles in RA pathogenesis. The most widely
      used biologic agents indicated for RA inhibit the activity of TNF. However, newly
      developed biologic drugs targeting different pathways are now currently part of
      the therapeutic options to induce remission in patients with RA. The present
      review focuses on biologic agents directed at molecular targets different from
      TNF and addresses the possible advantages of these drugs. 

PMID- 25840283
TI  - Authors' reply.

PMID- 25840284
TI  - Outcome of contemporary acute coronary syndrome complicated by ventricular
      tachyarrhythmias.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the incidence and prognostic implications of ventricular
      tachyarrhythmias (VTAs) complicating acute myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS
      AND RESULTS: We evaluated 7669 MI patients [ST elevation (n = 3573) and non-ST
      elevation acute coronary syndrome (ACS) (n = 4096)] from the Acute Coronary
      Syndrome Israeli Survey for the incidence of VTA. Ventricular tachyarrhythmia
      occurred in 3.8% of patients [2.1% early (<= 48 h) and 1.7% late (>48 h) VTA]. In
      hospital mortality rates were higher for patients with VTA when compared with
      patients with no VTA (P < 0.001). Consistent with these findings, multivariable
      analysis demonstrated that early and late VTAs were associated with increased
      risk of in-hospital death [hazard ratio (HR) = 3.84; 95% confidence interval (CI)
      1.77-6.78, P < 0.001, and HR = 8.23; 95% CI 4.84-13.98, P < 0.001, respectively].
      In contrast, post-discharge outcomes demonstrated that only late VTA was
      independently associated with a significant increased risk of 30-day mortality
      (HR = 5.17; 95% CI 1.54-17.27, P = 0.007) with a trend towards an increased 1
      year mortality risk (HR = 1.69; 95% CI 0.79-3.62, P = 0.17). The long-term risk
      associated with in-hospital VTA was driven by sustained ventricular tachycardia
      (VT) (HR = 3.28; 95% CI 1.92-5.60, P < 0.001) but not ventricular fibrillation
      (HR = 1.27; 95% CI 0.65-2.49, P = 0.47). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that
      in patients with ACS, both early and late VTAs are associated with an increased
      risk of in-hospital mortality. However, only late VTA, mostly sustained VT, is
      associated with long-term adverse outcome.

PMID- 25840285
TI  - Epicardial only mapping and ablation of ventricular tachycardia: a case series.
AB  - AIMS: Ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation for ventricular arrhythmias is a
      validated approach, typically performed endocardially, or combined with an
      epicardial approach if endocardial ablation failed or in case of non-ischaemic
      cardiomyopathy. We report our experience with epicardial only procedure in a
      subset of patients with incessant VT or VT storm. METHODS AND RESULTS: This was a
      single centre retrospective study. Between 2011 and 2014, all patients referred
      for VT ablation were reviewed at CHU Bordeaux. All patients with an epicardial
      only (anterior percutaneous approach) mapping and ablation procedure were
      included. In total, 296 patients underwent a VT ablation and 4 (all male, 70 +/-
      7 years, 27 +/- 11% left ventricular ejection fraction) of them underwent an
      epicardial only procedure: two ischaemic patients had an endocardial left
      ventricular thrombus and incessant VT. One patient post-myocarditis had a failed
      a previous endocardial procedure without local abnormal ventricular activity
      (LAVA). The fourth patient had a dilated cardiomyopathy and a complicated
      epicardial puncture followed by mild continuous bleeding (200 mL) precluding
      anticoagulation associated with left ventricular endocardial access. Local
      abnormal ventricular activity elimination was verified only epicardially in all
      and obtained in two patients and non-inducibility was tested and achieved in the
      two patients without thrombus. No further complications occurred. After a mean
      follow-up of 21 +/- 12 months, one patient (25%) had recurrence of VT and no
      patient death was observed. CONCLUSION: Epicardial only ablation seems feasible
      and effective and useful in a limited subset of patients with incessant VT.
      However, endpoints are more difficult to evaluate and long-term follow-up is
      needed.

PMID- 25840286
TI  - Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators and subsequent cancer risk: a nationwide
      population-based cohort study.
AB  - AIMS: Despite increasing use of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs)
      and reports linking selected bio-implants with cancer, the cancer risk associated
      with implanted ICDs remains unknown. The objective of our study was to examine
      cancer risk among ICD recipients. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a population
      based cohort study using medical registries covering the entire Danish
      population. We identified all first-time ICD recipients during the period of 2000
      11 and determined their subsequent cancer incidence. Standardized incidence
      ratios (SIRs) were computed by comparing observed cancer incidence in the ICD
      cohort with expected cancer incidence based on national incidence rates according
      to age, sex, and year of diagnosis. A total of 6723 ICD recipients were followed
      for up to 12 years (median 2.8 years) and contributed a total of 23 254 person
      years of follow-up. Compared with the general population, ICD recipients had a
      slightly elevated overall risk of cancer [SIR = 1.1 (95% confidence interval
      (CI): 1.0-1.2)]. This was driven by the cancer risk among patients with ischaemic
      heart disease (IHD) [SIR = 1.1 (95% CI: 1.0-1.3)], which, as expected, was
      particularly elevated for tobacco-related cancers [SIR = 1.4 (95% CI: 1.2-1.6)].
      Importantly, ICD recipients without IHD were not at increased cancer risk [SIR =
      1.0 (95% CI: 0.8-1.3)]. CONCLUSION: This nationwide population-based cohort study
      with up to 12-year follow-up did not indicate a causal relation between ICD
      implantation and cancer. However, more follow-up data are needed to entirely rule
      out risks for individual cancer types.

PMID- 25840287
TI  - Comment on the article by Barra et al. entitled 'Implantable cardioverter
      defibrillators in the elderly: rationale and specific age-related
      considerations'.

PMID- 25840288
TI  - Better outcome of ablation for sustained outflow-tract ventricular tachycardia
      when tachycardia is inducible.
AB  - AIMS: In patients presenting with spontaneous sustained ventricular tachycardia
      (VT) from the outflow-tract region without overt structural heart disease
      ablation may target premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) when VT is not
      inducible. We aimed to determine whether inducibility of VT affects ablation
      outcome. METHODS AND RESULTS: Data from 54 patients (31 men; age, 52 +/- 13
      years) without overt structural heart disease who underwent catheter ablation for
      symptomatic sustained VT originating from the right- or left-ventricular outflow
      region, including the great vessels. A single morphology of sustained VT was
      inducible in 18 (33%, SM group) patients, and 11 (20%) had multiple VT
      morphologies (MM group). VT was not inducible in 25 (46%) patients (VTni group).
      After ablation, VT was inducible in none of the SM group and in two (17%)
      patients in the MM group. In the VTni group, ablation targeted PVCs and 12 (48%)
      patients had some remaining PVCs after ablation. During follow-up (21 +/- 19
      months), VT recurred in 46% of VTni group, 40% of MM inducible group, and 6% of
      the SM inducible group (P = 0.004). Analysis of PVC morphology in the VTi group
      further supported the limitations of targeting PVCs in this population.
      CONCLUSION: Absence of inducible VT and multiple VT morphologies are not uncommon
      in patients with documented sustained outflow-tract VT without overt structural
      heart disease. Inducible VT is associated with better outcomes, suggesting that
      attempts to induce VT to guide ablation are important in this population.

PMID- 25840290
TI  - Patients with congenital heart disease: how to determine the eligibility for
      implantation of a subcutaneous implantable defibrillator?

PMID- 25840289
TI  - Comparison between radiofrequency with contact force-sensing and second
      generation cryoballoon for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation catheter ablation: a
      multicentre European evaluation.
AB  - AIMS: Whether pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation
      (PAF) using contact force (CF)-guided radiofrequency (RF) or second-generation
      cryoballoon (CB) present similar efficacy and safety remains uncertain. METHODS
      AND RESULTS: We performed a multicentre study comparing procedural safety and
      arrhythmia recurrence after standardized PVI catheter ablation for PAF using CF
      guided RF ablation (Thermocool((r)) SmartTouchTM, Biosense Webster; or
      TacticathTM, St Jude Medical) (CF group) with second-generation CB ablation
      (Arctic Front AdvanceTM, Medtronic) (CB group). Overall, 376 patients (mean age
      59.8 +/- 10.4 years, 280 males) were enrolled in 4 centres: 198 in CF group and
      178 in CB group. Procedure was shorter for CB group than for CF group (109.6 +/-
      40 vs. 122.5 +/- 40.7 min, P = 0.003), but fluoroscopy duration and X-ray
      exposure were not statistically different (P = 0.1 and P = 0.22, respectively).
      Overall complication rate was similar in both groups: 14 (7.1%) in the CF group
      vs. 13 (7.3%) in the CB group (P = 0.93). However, transient right phrenic nerve
      palsy occurred only in CB group (10 patients, 5.6%; P = 0.001 vs. CF group) and
      severe non-lethal complications (embolic event, tamponade, or oesophageal injury)
      occurred only in CF group (5 patients, 2.5%; P = 0.03 vs. CB group). No
      periprocedural death occurred in either group. Single-procedure freedom from any
      atrial arrhythmias at 18 months post-ablation was comparable in CF group and CB
      group (76 vs. 73.3%, respectively, log rank P = 0.63). CONCLUSION: Pulmonary vein
      isolation using CF-guided RF and second-generation CB leads to comparable single
      procedure arrhythmia-free survival at up to 18 months with similar overall
      complication rate.

PMID- 25840291
TI  - Ectasia risk: a multifactorial conundrum.

PMID- 25840292
TI  - Norman S. Jaffe, MD: the American pioneer.

PMID- 25840293
TI  - Femtodelineation to enhance safety in posterior polar cataracts.
AB  - We describe the technique of femtodelineation for posterior polar cataracts. In
      this technique, the femtosecond laser is used with a cylindrical pattern of lens
      division to create multiple cylinders within the lens, which results in sharply
      demarcated layers. The number, size, and depth of the cylinders can be controlled
      by the surgeon using the live anterior segment optical coherence tomography view.
      The multiple layers act as mechanical cushions that protect each layer as it is
      removed. Because of its sharp demarcation, the last epinuclear layer can be
      easily stripped using a combination of the phaco probe and bimanual
      irrigation/aspiration. This approach eliminates the need for any type of hydro
      procedure in posterior polar cataracts. It reduces posterior capsule rupture
      rates and enhances safety in posterior polar cataract emulsification. FINANCIAL
      DISCLOSURE: Dr. A.R. Vasavada receives research support from Alcon Laboratories,
      Inc. No other author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or
      method mentioned.

PMID- 25840294
TI  - Glued intraocular lens scaffolding for Soemmerring ring removal in aphakia with
      posterior capsule defect.
AB  - We describe using the glued intraocular lens (IOL) scaffolding technique to
      remove Soemmerring ring during secondary IOL implantation in aphakic eyes with
      associated posterior capsule defect following previous pediatric cataract
      surgery. Vitrectomy is performed, and the remnants of the posterior capsule are
      removed from the visual axis. A 3-piece foldable IOL is injected below the
      Soemmerring ring, and glued transscleral haptic fixation of the IOL is performed.
      The Soemmerring ring is dislodged from the periphery with a Sinskey hook and
      brought into the center of the pupil over the surface of the IOL optic, where it
      is emulsified with the phacoemulsification probe. The optic of the preplaced IOL
      acts as a scaffold and prevents dislodgement of Soemmerring ring material into
      the vitreous cavity during emulsification. Placement of a secondary IOL can be
      successfully accomplished in selected patients. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author
      has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840295
TI  - Assessment of intraoperative complications in intumescent cataract surgery using
      2 ophthalmic viscosurgical devices and trypan blue staining.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate intraoperative complications during capsulorhexis and
      phacoemulsification in intumescent white cataracts using 2 ophthalmic
      viscosurgical device (OVD) techniques. SETTING: Ruhr University Eye Clinic,
      Bochum, Germany. DESIGN: Case series. METHODS: Patients with eyes with
      intumescent white cataract were recruited and placed in 2 groups. After capsule
      staining using trypan blue, a central indentation of the anterior lens capsule
      was created in the eyes in Group 1 using a medium-viscosity OVD (Healon 1.0%) and
      in the eyes in Group 2 using both medium-viscosity (1.0%) and high-viscosity
      (2.3%) OVDs. Then a continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis (CCC) was performed. The
      outcomes measured were the horizontal and vertical diameters of the CCC, the
      deviation from the target diameter, and intraoperative complications. RESULTS: In
      Group 1 (21 eyes), deviation from the target CCC diameter occurred in 12 eyes (10
      oversized, 2 undersized), and in Group 2 (20 eyes) deviation occurred in 6 eyes
      (4 oversized, 2 undersized). In Group 1, capsule tears appeared in 2 eyes and in
      1 eye, the procedure had to be converted to extracapsular cataract extraction
      with anterior vitrectomy. In Group 2, there were no capsule tears. CONCLUSION:
      Using 2 different OVDs and placing the high-viscosity OVD centrally led to safe
      indentation of the anterior lens capsule and reduced the risk for CCC enlargement
      and capsule tear during surgery. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author has a financial
      or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840296
TI  - Clinical study of pain sensation during phacoemulsification with and without
      cryoanalgesia.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the analgesic efficacy of 2 types of anesthetic techniques
      topical and topical associated with cryoanalgesia-during cataract surgery.
      SETTING: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto,
      Brazil. DESIGN: Prospective randomized study. METHODS: Patients with symmetrical
      bilateral cataract had phacoemulsification with the use of an intraocular
      irrigation solution at room temperature in 1 eye and a cold (4 degrees C)
      solution in the contralateral eye (Group 2). The pain related to the procedure
      was assessed using a visual analog scale ranging from 0 to 100, with 0
      representing no pain and 100 the worst pain. In addition, endothelial cell loss,
      the change in corneal thickness, and visual acuity were evaluated 30 days +/- 2
      (SD) after each surgery. The surgery duration, total irrigation volume,
      phacoemulsification time, and ultrasound power used were analyzed. RESULTS: The
      study enrolled 25 patients (50 eyes). There was no statistically significant
      difference in the mean pain score between Group 1 (26.0 +/- 3.7) and Group 2
      (21.3 +/- 3.6) (P = .2016, paired t test). No significant difference was found in
      the mean corneal endothelial cell loss (Group 1: 10.0% +/- 0.4%; Group 2: 9.9% +/
      0.3%; P = .7576), corneal thickness increase (Group 1: 1.5 +/- 1.0 MUm; Group 2:
      1.4 +/- 0.9 MUm; P = .9340), or visual acuity gain (Group 1: 0.54 +/- 0.06
      logMAR; Group 2: 0.55 +/- 0.09 logMAR; P = .8208). CONCLUSION: There is no
      difference in the intensity of pain during phacoemulsification with the use of
      topical anesthesia or topical anesthesia associated with cryoanalgesia. FINANCIAL
      DISCLOSURE: No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or
      method mentioned.

PMID- 25840298
TI  - Comparison of 2 femtosecond lasers for flap creation in myopic laser in situ
      keratomileusis: one-year results.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) outcomes between 2
      femtosecond lasers for flap creation in the treatment of myopia up to 1 year.
      SETTING: University eye clinic. DESIGN: Prospective randomized eye-to-eye study.
      METHODS: Consecutive myopic patients were treated with wavefront-guided LASIK.
      One eye had a flap created by the Intralase FS 60 kHz femtosecond laser, and the
      fellow eye was treated with the Intralase iFS 150 kHz femtosecond laser. Eyes
      were randomized according to ocular dominance. Evaluations included measurement
      of uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), corrected distance visual acuity,
      contrast sensitivity and wavefront aberrometry. RESULTS: The study enrolled 122
      eyes of 61 patients. The mean preoperative spherical equivalent refraction was 
      4.62 diopters (D) +/- 2.32 (SD) and -4.66 +/- 2.30 D in the 150 kHz group and 60
      kHz group, respectively. Patients preferred the 150 kHz laser to the 60 kHz laser
      intraoperatively (52.5% versus 26.2%) (P = .005). One week postoperatively, UDVA
      was 20/16 or better in 85.2% in the 150 kHz group and 70.5% in the 60 kHz group;
      the difference was statistically significant (P < .05). At 12 months, there were
      no significant differences in refractive outcomes or higher-order aberrations
      between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: Flap creation with the 150 kHz system and the
      60 kHz system resulted in excellent LASIK outcomes. Intraoperatively, patients
      preferred the 150 kHz system, which yielded better UDVA in the early
      postoperative period. There were no significant differences at 1 year between the
      2 laser systems. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: Proprietary or commercial disclosures are
      listed after the references.

PMID- 25840297
TI  - Comparison of 1-day versus 1-hour application of topical neomycin/polymyxin-B
      before cataract surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare the efficacy of 2 prophylaxis regimens before cataract
      surgery using topical antibiotics (1 hour before surgery versus the day before),
      both with povidone-iodine, with regard to reducing the preoperative conjunctival
      bacterial load. SETTING: Tertiary ophthalmic referral center, Munich, Germany.
      DESIGN: Prospective comparative case series. METHODS: Eyes were treated with
      topical antibiotics and their conjunctival sac flush irrigated using 10 mL of
      povidone-iodine 1.0%. All eyes were randomized to receive either 4 applications
      of topical 3500 IU/mL neomycin sulfate/6000 IU/mL polymyxin-B sulfate within 1
      hour preoperatively (Group 1) or on the day before surgery (Group 2).
      Conjunctival specimens were obtained at 4 timepoints: T0C untreated fellow eye
      (control), T0 surgery eye (after antibiotic prophylaxis but before povidone
      iodine irrigation), T1 after povidone-iodine, and T2 at the conclusion of
      surgery. All specimens were inoculated onto blood and chocolate-blood agar and
      into thioglycollate broth. RESULTS: One hundred thirty-three eyes of 133
      consecutive patients were included (Group 1, 64 eyes; Group 2, 69 eyes). The
      antibiotic regimens were equally effective in reducing the aerobic and
      microaerophilic conjunctival flora (Group 1, P=.028; Group 2, P=.000), but had no
      significant effect on anaerobic bacteria (Group 1, P=.201; Group 2, P=.117).
      Flush irrigation of the conjunctival sac using 10.0 mL povidone-iodine 1.0%
      significantly decreased the conjunctival bacterial load in both groups.
      CONCLUSION: Topical neomycin/polymyxin-B was equally effective in reducing the
      conjunctival bacterial load whether given 1 day or 1 hour before surgery. The
      greatest effect was achieved by irrigating the conjunctival sac using povidone
      iodine. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author has a financial or proprietary interest
      in any material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840299
TI  - Analgesic effect of preoperative topical nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs on
      postoperative pain after laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the effect of preoperative topical nonsteroidal
      antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on postoperative pain after laser-assisted
      subepithelial keratectomy (LASEK) and to investigate their mechanism. SETTING:
      Severance Eye Hospital and Saeyan Eye Clinic, Seoul, South Korea. DESIGN:
      Prospective randomized clinical trial. METHODS: Participants in 2 related studies
      were assessed. Study 1 comprised patients scheduled for bilateral LASEK (Group 1)
      who were randomized to receive an NSAID in 1 eye and a placebo in the fellow eye
      30, 20, and 10 minutes before LASEK. Postoperative pain, glare, tearing, and
      irritation were assessed using a visual analog scale. Study 2 comprised healthy
      subjects (Group 2) who were randomly divided into subgroups. The participants in
      these subgroups were randomized to receive ketorolac tromethamine 0.5% in 1 eye
      and placebo (ofloxacin 0.3%) in the fellow eye (Group 2A), proparacaine
      hydrochloride 0.5% in 1 eye and placebo in the fellow eye (Group 2B), or
      ketorolac tromethamine 0.5% in 1 eye and placebo in the fellow eye, followed 10
      minutes later by 1 drop of proparacaine hydrochloride 0.5% in both eyes (Group
      2C). In all 3 groups, corneal sensitivity was measured after 1, 2, and 6 hours.
      RESULTS: The mean postoperative pain score in the NSAID-pretreated eye was
      statistically significantly lower than in the placebo-pretreated eye 6, 12, and
      24 hours postoperatively (P < .05). The mean corneal sensitivity was
      statistically significantly lower in the NSAID-treated eye than in the placebo
      treated eye at 1 and 2 hours in Groups 2A and 2C (P < .05). CONCLUSION:
      Preoperative administration of topical NSAIDs before LASEK effectively reduces
      postoperative pain. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author has a financial or
      proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840300
TI  - Neutralization method for detecting the incidence of color perception changes
      after cataract surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate and compare the incidence of cyanopsia using the
      neutralization method in eyes in which clear or yellow intraocular lenses (IOLs)
      were implanted. SETTING: Miyata Eye Clinic, Hiroshima, Japan. DESIGN:
      Retrospective comparative study. METHODS: Patients who had cataract surgery with
      the implantation of a monofocal IOL were enrolled in the study. Group 1 had
      implantation of a clear IOL (Acrysof SA60AT, Sensar AR40e, N4-18B). Group 2 had
      implantation of a yellow IOL (AF-1 YA60BB, AN-6). A control group comprised
      healthy patients. The detection and degree of cyanopsia were evaluated using
      white gradation cards (1 white [W] and 5 white gradation cards with increasing
      intensity of yellow tint [Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, and Y5]) (neutralization method).
      RESULTS: The study comprised 57 patients in Group 1, 96 in Group 2, and 41 in the
      control group. All patients in the control group selected the W, Y1, or Y2 cards
      as white. Cyanopsia was then defined as the perception of Y3, Y4, and Y5 as
      white. One month postoperatively, cyanopsia occurred significantly more
      frequently in Group 1 than in Group 2 (14.5% versus 4.9%) (P = .049). There was
      no significant difference at 3 months (9.1% versus 5.2%) (P > .05). In Group 1,
      cyanopsia was more frequent in eyes with monocular IOL implantation than in eyes
      with binocular IOL implantation (22.2% versus 2.7%; P = .035). CONCLUSION: The
      incidence of cyanopsia evaluated with the neutralization method was higher with
      clear IOLs than with yellow IOLs. In monocular implantation, yellow IOLs are
      recommended to avoid cyanopsia. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: The author has no financial
      or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840301
TI  - Measurement and use of postoperative anterior chamber depth of fellow eye in
      refractive outcomes.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare refractive outcomes using fellow-eye postoperative anterior
      chamber depth (ACD) in intraocular lens (IOL) power calculations with outcomes
      obtained without fellow-eye data and to assess postoperative ACD stability.
      SETTING: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. DESIGN: Consecutive
      case series. METHODS: The main outcome measures were the optimized median
      absolute error (MedAE) and ACD at postoperative day 1 and postoperative month 1
      measured by optical biometry. A program using the Olsen IOL power formula
      predicted the postoperative ACD and refractive outcomes and calculated
      theoretical refractive outcomes of inputting fellow-eye ACD at postoperative day
      1 and postoperative month 1. Theoretical results were subtracted from the
      observed manifest refraction and then optimized. Calculations were repeated for
      the other eye. RESULTS: In 102 paired eyes, the MedAE was 0.32 diopter (D)
      (interquartile range, 25% to 75%; range 0.12 to 0.54 D) for Olsen (without fellow
      eye data), 0.33 D (range 0.20 to 0.57 D) using fellow-eye postoperative day 1
      ACD, and 0.28 D (range 0.13 to 0.51 D) using fellow-eye postoperative month 1
      ACD, with a significant difference between the latter 2 MedAE values (P < .0005).
      In eyes with an Olsen absolute error greater than 0.50 D, use of either ACD in
      the fellow eye resulted in a smaller MedAE (P <= .01). The ACD shallowed by a
      mean of 148 MUm +/- 13 (SD). CONCLUSIONS: Use of the fellow-eye postoperative
      month 1 ACD predicted refractive outcomes better than postoperative day 1 ACD. In
      eyes with a larger Olsen absolute error, use of either postoperative ACD from the
      fellow eye would have yielded better results. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author has
      a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840302
TI  - Influence of corneal asphericity on the refractive outcome of intraocular lens
      implantation in cataract surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the possible influence of anterior corneal surface
      asphericity on the refractive outcomes in eyes having intraocular lens (IOL)
      implantation after cataract surgery. SETTING: Fondazione G.B. Bietti IRCCS, Rome,
      Italy. DESIGN: Retrospective comparative case series. METHODS: Intraocular lens
      power was calculated using the Haigis, Hoffer Q, Holladay 1, and SRK/T formulas.
      Asphericity (Q-value) was measured at 8.0 mm with a Placido-disk corneal
      topographer (Keratron), a rotating Scheimpflug camera (Pentacam), and a rotating
      Scheimpflug camera combined with Placido-disk corneal topography (Sirius). The
      relationship between the error in refraction prediction (ie, difference between
      expected refraction and refraction measured 1 month after surgery) and the Q
      value was assessed by linear regression. RESULTS: The same IOL model (Acrysof
      SA60AT) was implanted in 115 eyes of 115 consecutive patients. Regression
      analysis showed a statistically significant relationship between the error in
      refraction prediction and the Q-value with all formulas and all devices. In all
      cases, a more negative Q-value (prolate cornea) was associated with a myopic
      outcome, whereas a more positive Q-value (oblate cornea) was associated with a
      hyperopic outcome. The highest coefficient of determination was detected between
      the Hoffer Q formula and the Placido-disk corneal topographer (R(2) = 0.2630),
      for which the error in refraction prediction (y) was related to the Q-value (x)
      according to the formula y = -0.2641 + 1.4589 * x. CONCLUSION: Corneal
      asphericity influences the refractive outcomes of IOL implantation and should be
      taken into consideration when using third-generation IOL power formulas.
      FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: Dr. Hoffer receives book royalties from Slack, Inc.,
      Thorofare, New Jersey, and formula royalties from all manufacturers using the
      Hoffer Q formula. No other author has a financial or proprietary interest in any
      material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840304
TI  - Prevalence of cataract after collagen copolymer phakic intraocular lens
      implantation for myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the prevalence of cataract after Implantable Collamer Lens
      phakic intraocular lens (pIOL) implantation with different models at different
      ages and for different refractive powers. SETTING: Fernandez-Vega
      Ophthalmological Institute, Oviedo, Spain. DESIGN: Retrospective nonrandomized
      clinical study. METHODS: The pIOL (models V4, V4b, or V4c) was implanted in all
      cases. RESULTS: The study included 3420 eyes (1898 patients). The mean patient
      age at surgery was 31.2 years +/- 6.4 (SD) (range 18 to 50 years) and the mean
      spherical refractive error, -7.27 +/- 5.24 diopters (D) (range -26.5 to 12.5 D).
      Twenty-one eyes (0.61%) of 15 patients had pIOL explantation (all model V4)
      because cataract developed. The mean age of the patients who had explantation was
      39.43 +/- 4.57 years; 7 were younger than 40 years, and 8 were 40 years or older.
      The mean spherical equivalent was -10.1 +/- 5.41 D; 3 eyes had a pIOL power less
      than -10.50 D, 4 eyes between -10.50 D and -13.50 D, and 14 higher than -13.50 D.
      The mean time between pIOL implantation and cataract surgery was 4.2 +/- 1.8
      years. No eye with implantation of the latest models (V4b and V4c) developed
      cataract. The mean vault distance in eyes that developed cataracts was 103 +/- 69
      MUm. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of cataract was low after pIOL implantation at
      the 6-year follow-up. The rate of cataract was higher in older patients and in
      those with high refractive errors. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author has a
      financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840303
TI  - Vector analysis of astigmatism correction after toric intraocular lens
      implantation.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine astigmatic changes by vector analysis and postoperative
      refractive and visual outcomes after implantation of the monofocal aspheric
      bitoric AT Torbi 709M toric intraocular lens (IOL). SETTING: Three centers in
      Salzburg, Austria, and Alicante and San Sebastian, Spain. DESIGN: Prospective
      interventional case series. METHODS: Preoperative and postoperative visual
      acuity, subjective and objective refractions, and corneal radii using a
      topographer were examined in all patients. All patients had postoperative
      examinations within the first week and at 6 to 12 weeks. Astigmatic changes were
      evaluated using the Alpins vector method based on 3 fundamental vectors as
      follows: target induced astigmatism (TIA), surgically induced astigmatism (SIA),
      and difference vector. The various relationships between these 3 vectors were
      calculated, providing an extensive description of the astigmatic correction
      achieved. RESULTS: Eighty-eight eyes (71 patients) were included.
      Postoperatively, refractive cylinder was reduced significantly (P < .001),
      concurrent with visual improvement. The mean magnitude of the SIA vector (2.54
      diopters [D] +/- 1.21 [SD]) was slightly higher than the mean magnitude of the
      TIA vector (2.37 +/- 1.15 D) at the last follow-up. The mean difference vector
      was 0.46 +/- 0.46 D, the mean magnitude of error was 0.16 +/- 0.46 D, and the
      mean correction index was 1.09 +/- 0.21, all indicating minimal overcorrection at
      3 months that remained stable during the follow-up. CONCLUSION: Implantation of
      the toric IOL was safe and effective for the treatment of eyes with cataract in
      combination with preexisting regular corneal astigmatism over a short-term follow
      up. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author has a financial or proprietary interest in
      any material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840305
TI  - Repeatability of topographic and aberrometric measurements at different
      accommodative states using a combined topographer and open-view aberrometer.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the repeatability of corneal first-surface aberrations and
      aberrometric measurements of a combined aberrometer-topographer (iTrace Visual
      Function Analyzer) for 5 accommodative stimuli. SETTING: Department of
      Ophthalmology, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany. DESIGN: Prospective case
      series. METHODS: Eyes of young adults with low to moderate myopia or hyperopia
      were examined in 2 measurement series comprising 3 corneal topography
      measurements and wavefront measurements focusing on targets at 5 distances (0.4,
      0.5, 0.6, 1.0, and 4.0 m). Repeatability was analyzed using the standard
      deviation (SD) within 6 measurements and the coefficient of repeatability (CoR)
      by Bland-Altman analysis of the means of the 2 measurement series. RESULTS: Fifty
      eyes (50 subjects) were evaluated. The lowest calculated mean SD/CoR measurements
      using the aberrometer function at 5 target distances were 0.07 MUm/0.14 MUm for
      total ocular aberrations root mean square (RMS), 0.07 MUm/0.16 MUm for lower
      order aberrations (LOAs) RMS, 0.03 MUm/0.66 MUm for higher-order aberrations
      (HOAs) RMS, 0.10 diopter (D)/0.22 D for sphere, 0.08 D/0.13 D for cylinder, and
      0.09 D/0.21 D for the spherical equivalent (SE). Repeatability of the total RMS,
      LOAs RMS, sphere, and SE measurements improved with increasing target distance (P
      < .01 for aberrometric values; P < .03 for refractive values). Measurement
      reproducibility using the corneal topographer showed mean SDs/CoRs of 0.19
      MUm/0.41 MUm for total RMS, 0.19 MUm/0.39 MUm for LOAs RMS, and 0.08 MUm/0.23 MUm
      for HOAs RMS. CONCLUSION: The aberrometer showed satisfactory results for
      measurement repeatability at all target distances and declining repeatability
      with increasing accommodation effort. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author has a
      financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840306
TI  - Corneal epithelial thickness mapping using Fourier-domain optical coherence
      tomography for detection of form fruste keratoconus.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine whether optical coherence tomography (OCT) epithelial
      mapping can improve the detection of form fruste keratoconus. SETTING: French
      National Eye Hospital, Paris 6 Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris, France.
      DESIGN: Retrospective comparative study. METHODS: Eyes with normal corneas, form
      fruste keratoconus, moderate keratoconus, or severe keratoconus were assessed
      using Fourier-domain OCT (RTVue 5.5), scanning-slit corneal topography (Orbscan
      IIz), and rotating Scheimpflug camera (Pentacam Comprehensive Eye Scanner).
      Several parameters provided by the software or derived from elevation maps, OCT
      pachymetric maps, and OCT epithelium parameters were evaluated and compared
      between the 4 groups. RESULTS: The study involved 145 eyes. There were no
      significant differences in the keratometry (K) value, inferior-superior value,
      keratoconus index, central K index, and topographic keratoconus classification
      indices between the form fruste keratoconus group and the control group (P >
      .05). Form fruste keratoconic corneas had less epithelial thickness in the
      thinnest corneal zone than normal corneas, and greater epithelial thickness in
      the thinnest corneal zone than keratoconic corneas (P < .005). The epithelial
      thickness in the thinnest corneal zone in form fruste corneas was located
      inferiorly (P < .005) and corresponded with the zone of minimum epithelial
      thickness and maximum posterior elevation (P < .005). The receiver operating
      characteristic curve analysis showed good overall predictive accuracy of the
      epithelial thickness in the thinnest corneal zone, with a 52 MUm threshold value
      for discriminating form fruste keratoconic corneas from normal corneas.
      CONCLUSIONS: The epithelial thickness in the thinnest corneal zone and its
      location provided by the OCT epithelial mapping might be useful for the early
      diagnosis of form fruste keratoconus. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author has a
      financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840307
TI  - Femtosecond laser-assisted pediatric cataract surgery: Bochum formula.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess capsulotomy enlargement after femtosecond laser treatment in
      pediatric cataract surgery and to assess the possible relationship to the
      patient's age. SETTING: Ruhr University Eye Hospital, Bochum, Germany. DESIGN:
      Prospective case series. METHODS: Anterior and posterior laser capsulotomies were
      performed in cases of pediatric cataract. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r)
      was used to evaluate the relationship between the programmed capsulotomy diameter
      and the achieved capsulotomy diameter. Linear bivalent regression analysis was
      used to describe the extent to which the capsulotomy enlargement factor was age
      dependent. RESULTS: Twenty-two eyes of 18 children were included in the trial.
      The mean age was 9.2 years +/- 6.08 (SD) (range 0.17 to 18.0 years). The
      enlargement factors of the capsulotomies showed a highly significant negative
      correlation with patient age (r = -0.863; P < .001). In particular, younger
      children had a distinct deviation from the target diameter. Using linear bivalent
      regression analysis, an age-depending correction formula was developed.
      CONCLUSION: The Bochum formula for pediatric laser capsulotomies helped minimize
      the age-dependent deviation from the targeted diameter. Anterior and posterior
      laser capsulotomies in children were safe to perform. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No
      author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method
      mentioned.

PMID- 25840308
TI  - Reshaping procedures for the surgical management of corneal ectasia.
AB  - Corneal ectasia is a progressive, degenerative, and noninflammatory thinning
      disorder of the cornea. Recently developed corneal reshaping techniques have
      expanded the treatment armamentarium available to the corneal specialist by
      offering effective nontransplant options. This review summarizes the current
      evidence base for corneal collagen crosslinking, topography-guided
      photorefractive keratectomy, and intrastromal corneal ring segment implantation
      for the treatment of corneal ectasia by analyzing the data published between the
      years 2000 and 2014. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author has a financial or
      proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

PMID- 25840309
TI  - Explanted multifocal intraocular lenses.
AB  - We report 2 cases in which single-piece multifocal acrylic intraocular lenses
      (IOLs) were explanted because of complications related to the presence of
      glistenings in the bulk of the IOL optic. In both cases, the patients complained
      about blurry or hazy vision. In vivo slitlamp examinations prior to IOL
      explantation confirmed the presence of severe glistenings in the IOL optic in 1
      case and moderate glistenings in the second case. In the first case, the symptoms
      resolved and both corrected and uncorrected distance visual acuities improved by
      4 lines following IOL exchange with a monofocal IOL. In the second case, the
      visual symptoms persisted with a hard contact lens. Symptoms resolved following
      an exchange with a monofocal IOL that was free of glistenings. These findings
      indicate that straylight caused by IOLs with glistenings may be clinically
      significant in cases in which multifocal IOLs are implanted and patients require
      optimized retinal sensitivity. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: Mr. van der Mooren, Ms.
      Langeslag, and Dr. Piers are employees of Abbott Medical Optics, Inc. Drs.
      Steinert and Tyson are consultants to Abbott Medical Optics Inc.

PMID- 25840310
TI  - Clinical usefulness of best-fit toric ellipsoid reference body in ectatic and
      crosslinked corneas.

PMID- 25840311
TI  - Primary reverse optic capture with implantation of capsular tension ring to
      prevent pseudophakic negative dysphotopsia.

PMID- 25840312
TI  - Predisposing factors for intraocular lens dislocation treated by pars plana
      vitrectomy: Involvement of atopic dermatitis.

PMID- 25840313
TI  - Corneal surgical problem: April consultation #1.

PMID- 25840314
TI  - April consultation #2.

PMID- 25840315
TI  - April consultation #3.

PMID- 25840316
TI  - April consultation #4.

PMID- 25840317
TI  - April consultation #5.

PMID- 25840318
TI  - April consultation #6.

PMID- 25840319
TI  - Refractive lenticule extraction.

PMID- 25840320
TI  - Prophylaxis of bacterial pseudophakic endophthalmitis: myth of cross-reactivity
      between penicillin and cefuroxime.

PMID- 25840321
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25465213.

PMID- 25840322
TI  - Pseudophakic endophthalmitis and the validity of different prophylactic regimens.

PMID- 25840323
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25532634.

PMID- 25840324
TI  - Incidence of postoperative endophthalmitis with the use of povidone-iodine.

PMID- 25840325
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25532634.

PMID- 25840326
TI  - Prevalence of glaucoma and cataract morphology in congenital rubella syndrome.

PMID- 25840327
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25465688.

PMID- 25840328
TI  - Femtosecond laser-assisted capsulorhexis: anterior capsule tags and tears.

PMID- 25840329
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25466483.

PMID- 25840330
TI  - The Mediating Role of Acceptance in Multidisciplinary Cognitive-Behavioral
      Therapy for Chronic Pain.
AB  - Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most frequently delivered psychological
      intervention for adults with chronic pain. The treatment yields modest effect
      sizes, and the mechanisms of action remain understudied and unclear. Efforts are
      needed to identify treatment mediators that could be used to refine CBT and
      improve outcomes. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether pain
      related acceptance, from the psychological flexibility model, mediates changes in
      outcome over time in a CBT-based treatment program. This includes comparing how
      this variable relates to 3 other variables posited as potential mediators in
      standard CBT: life control, affective distress, and social support. Participants
      attended a 5-week outpatient multidisciplinary program with self-report data
      collected at assessment, posttreatment, and 12-month follow-up. Multilevel
      structural equation modeling was used to test for mediation in relation to 3
      outcomes: pain interference, pain intensity, and depression. Results indicate
      that effect sizes for the treatment were within the ranges reported in the CBT
      for pain literature. Pain-related acceptance was not related to pain intensity,
      which is in line with past empirical evidence and the treatment objectives in
      acceptance and commitment therapy. Otherwise, pain-related acceptance was the
      strongest mediator across the different indices of outcome. Accumulated results
      like these suggest that acceptance of pain may be a general mechanism by which
      CBT-based treatments achieve improvements in functioning. More specific targeting
      of pain-related acceptance in treatment may lead to further improvements in
      outcome. PERSPECTIVE: Potential mediators of outcome in a CBT-based treatment for
      adult chronic pain were investigated using multilevel structural equation
      modeling. The results highlight the role of pain-related acceptance as an
      important treatment process even when not explicitly targeted during treatment.
      These data may help clinicians and researchers better understand processes of
      change and improve the choice and development of treatment methods.

PMID- 25840331
TI  - Brain alterations and neurocognitive dysfunction in patients with complex
      regional pain syndrome.
AB  - Few studies have examined the involvement of specific subregions of the
      prefrontal cortex in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). We analyzed cortical
      thickness to identify morphologic differences in local brain structures between
      patients with CRPS and healthy control subjects (HCs). Furthermore, we evaluated
      the correlation between cortical thickness and neurocognitive function. Cortical
      thickness was measured in 25 patients with CRPS and 25 HCs using the FreeSurfer
      method. Pain severity and psychiatric symptoms were assessed using the Short Form
      McGill Pain Questionnaire and the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories,
      respectively. Neurocognitive function was assessed via the Wisconsin Card Sorting
      Test and the stop-signal task. The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left
      ventromedial prefrontal cortex were significantly thinner in CRPS patients than
      in HCs. CRPS patients made more perseveration errors on the Wisconsin Card
      Sorting Test and had longer stop-signal task reaction times than HCs. Although
      the Beck Depression Inventory and the Beck Anxiety Inventory differ significantly
      between the groups, they were not correlated with cortical thickness. Our study
      suggests that the pathophysiology of CRPS may be related to reduced cortical
      thickness in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the ventromedial prefrontal
      cortex. The structural alterations in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may explain
      executive dysfunction and disinhibited pain perception in CRPS. PERSPECTIVE: The
      present study reports decreased cortical thickness in the prefrontal cortex and
      neurocognitive dysfunctions in patients with CRPS. These findings may contribute
      to the understanding of pain-related impairments in cognitive function and could
      help explain the symptoms or progression of CRPS.

PMID- 25840332
TI  - What's in an Outgroup? The Impact of Outgroup Choice on the Phylogenetic Position
      of Thalattosuchia (Crocodylomorpha) and the Origin of Crocodyliformes.
AB  - Outgroup sampling is a central issue in phylogenetic analysis. However, good
      justification is rarely given for outgroup selection in published analyses.
      Recent advances in our understanding of archosaur phylogeny suggest that many
      previous studies of crocodylomorph and crocodyliform relationships have rooted
      trees on outgroup taxa that are only very distantly related to the ingroup (e.g.,
      Gracilisuchus stipanicicorum), or might actually belong within the ingroup.
      Thalattosuchia, a group of Mesozoic marine crocodylomorphs, has a controversial
      phylogenetic position--they are recovered as either the sister group to
      Crocodyliformes, in a basal position within Crocodyliformes, or nested high in
      the crocodyliform tree. Thalattosuchians lack several crocodyliform apomorphies,
      but share several character states with derived long-snouted forms with a similar
      ecological habit, suggesting their derived position may be the result of
      convergent evolution. Several of these "shared" characters may result from
      ambiguously worded character state definitions--structures that are superficially
      similar but anatomically different in detail are identically coded. A new
      analysis of crocodylomorphs with increased outgroup sampling recovers
      Thalattosuchia as the sister group to Crocodyliformes, distantly related to long
      snouted crocodyliforms. I also demonstrate that expanding the outgroup sampling
      of previously published matrices results in the recovery of thalattosuchians as
      sister to Crocodyliformes. The exclusion of thalattosuchians from Crocodyliformes
      has numerous implications for large-scale evolutionary trends within the group,
      including extensive convergence in the evolution of the secondary palate
      characteristic of the group. These results demonstrate the importance of careful
      outgroup sampling and character construction, and their profound effect on the
      position of labile clades.

PMID- 25840334
TI  - Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Using Reduced-Intensity Conditioning Is
      Successful in Children with Hematologic Cytopenias of Genetic Origin.
AB  - Genetically derived hematologic cytopenias are a rare heterogeneous group of
      disorders. Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is curative but
      offset by organ toxicities from the preparative regimen, graft rejection, graft
      versus-host disease (GVHD), or mortality. Because of these possibilities,
      consideration of HCT can be delayed, especially in the unrelated donor setting.
      We report a prospective multicenter trial of reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC)
      with alemtuzumab, fludarabine, and melphalan and HCT in 11 children with marrow
      failure of genetic origin (excluding Fanconi anemia) using the best available
      donor source (82% from unrelated donors). The median age at transplantation was
      23 months (range, 2 months to 14 years). The median times to neutrophil (>500 *
      10(6)/L) and platelet (>50 * 10(9)/L) engraftment were 13 (range, 12 to 24) and
      30 (range, 7 to 55) days, respectively. The day +100 probability of grade II to
      IV acute GVHD and the 1-year probability of limited and extensive GVHD were 9%
      and 27%, respectively. The probability of 5-year overall and event-free survival
      was 82%; 9 patients were alive with normal blood counts at last follow-up and all
      were successfully off systemic immunosuppression. In patients with genetically
      derived severe hematologic cytopenias, allogeneic HCT with this RIC regimen was
      successful in achieving a cure. This experience supports consideration of HCT
      early in such patients even in the absence of suitable related donors. 

PMID- 25840335
TI  - The Sequence of Cyclophosphamide and Myeloablative Total Body Irradiation in
      Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Patients with Acute Leukemia.
AB  - Limited clinical data are available to assess whether the sequencing of
      cyclophosphamide (Cy) and total body irradiation (TBI) changes outcomes. We
      evaluated the sequence in 1769 (CyTBI, n = 948; TBICy, n = 821) recipients of
      related or unrelated hematopoietic cell transplantation who received TBI (1200 to
      1500 cGY) for acute leukemia from 2003 to 2010. The 2 cohorts were comparable for
      median age, performance score, type of leukemia, first complete remission,
      Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, HLA-matched
      siblings, stem cell source, antithymocyte globulin use, TBI dose, and type of
      graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis. The sequence of TBI did not
      significantly affect transplantation-related mortality (24% versus 23% at 3
      years, P = .67; relative risk, 1.01; P = .91), leukemia relapse (27% versus 29%
      at 3 years, P = .34; relative risk, .89, P = .18), leukemia-free survival (49%
      versus 48% at 3 years, P = .27; relative risk, .93; P = .29), chronic GVHD (45%
      versus 47% at 1 year, P = .39; relative risk, .9; P = .11), or overall survival
      (53% versus 52% at 3 years, P = .62; relative risk, .96; P = .57) for CyTBI and
      TBICy, respectively. Corresponding cumulative incidences of sinusoidal
      obstruction syndrome were 4% and 6% at 100 days (P = .08), respectively. This
      study demonstrates that the sequence of Cy and TBI does not impact
      transplantation outcomes and complications in patients with acute leukemia
      undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation with myeloablative conditioning. 

PMID- 25840336
TI  - Hematologic Recovery after Pretransplant Chemotherapy Does Not Influence Survival
      after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
      Patients.
AB  - Pretransplant remission status in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is 1
      of the most important factors determining their outcomes after allogeneic
      hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). Most patients are in complete
      remission with full hematologic recovery (CR) before undergoing allo-HCT.
      However, some patients achieve CR without recovery of platelet count (CRp) or a
      morphologic leukemia-free state (MLFS), defined as meeting all CR criteria
      without recovery of both neutrophil and platelet counts. Currently, there is a
      paucity of data regarding transplant outcomes in AML patients achieving MLFS
      after chemotherapy. To address this question, we evaluated transplant outcomes in
      270 AML patients who received 6/6 HLA-matched sibling or 10/10 HLA-matched
      unrelated donor transplantation at a single institution between 2006 and 2013. Of
      our 270 patients, 206 were in CR, 45 were in CRp, and 19 were in MLFS before allo
      HCT. Patients in CR, CRp, or MLFS had similar 3-year overall survival rates (49%,
      46%, and 47%, respectively; P = .88) and 3-year event-free survival rates (45%,
      36%, and 40%, respectively; P = .53). However, the cumulative incidence of
      nonrelapse mortality was significantly higher in patients in MLFS compared with
      those in CR (58% versus 22%, P = .0004), whereas the cumulative incidence of
      relapse in patients in MLFS was significantly lower compared with those in CR
      (11% versus 36%, P = .03). Our results suggest that survival outcomes in AML
      patients are not influenced by degree of hematologic recovery before allo-HCT.

PMID- 25840337
TI  - National Survey of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Center Personnel,
      Infrastructure, and Models of Care Delivery.
AB  - Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is a complex procedure that requires
      availability of adequate infrastructure, personnel, and resources at
      transplantation centers. We conducted a national survey of transplantation
      centers in the United States to obtain data on their personnel, infrastructure,
      and care delivery models. A 42-item web-based survey was administered to medical
      directors of transplantation centers in the United States that reported any
      allogeneic HCT to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant
      Research in 2011. The response rate for the survey was 79% for adult programs (85
      of 108 centers) and 82% for pediatric programs (54 of 66 centers). For describing
      results, we categorized centers into groups with similar volumes based on 2010
      total HCT activity (adult centers, 9 categories; pediatric centers, 6
      categories). We observed considerable variation in available resources,
      infrastructure, personnel, and care delivery models among adult and pediatric
      transplantation centers. Characteristics varied substantially among centers with
      comparable transplantation volumes. Transplantation centers may find these data
      helpful in assessing their present capacity and use them to evaluate potential
      resource needs for personnel, infrastructure, and care delivery and in planning
      for growth. 

PMID- 25840338
TI  - Age and Modified European LeukemiaNet Classification to Predict Transplant
      Outcomes: An Integrated Approach for Acute Myelogenous Leukemia Patients
      Undergoing Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation.
AB  - We evaluated the prognostic significance of a modified European LeukemiaNet (ELN)
      classification for patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) undergoing
      hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) while in first complete remission
      (CR1). We analyzed 464 AML patients with matched related (n = 211, 45.5%),
      matched unrelated (n = 176, 37.9%), and mismatched donors (n = 77, 16.6%).
      Patients were classified into 4 modified ELN risk groups (favorable, intermediate
      I, intermediate-II, and adverse) separately for 354 patients age < 60 years and
      110 patients age >= 60 years. In this modified version of ELN classification,
      patients with normal cytogenetic were classified by FLT3-ITD mutational status:
      favorable risk if FLT3-ITDwild and intermediate-I if FLT3-ITDmut. The best
      outcomes occurred in the ELN favorable and intermediate-II groups in younger AML
      patients and in the favorable and intermediate-I groups in older AML patients.
      Older AML patients had worse transplant outcomes within each modified ELN risk
      group except intermediate-I when compared with younger patients; leukemia-free
      survival at 3 years was 67.8% versus 49.8% in favorable, 53.4% versus 50.7% in
      intermediate-I, 65.7% versus 20.2% in intermediate-II, and 44.6% versus 23.8% in
      adverse group younger and older patients, respectively. Among lesion-specific
      abnormalities, del5q/-5 and abnl(17p) had the worse transplant outcomes, with 3
      year leukemia-free survival rates of 18.4% and 20% in younger CR1 patients. In
      conclusion, the modified ELN prognostic classification developed for chemotherapy
      outcomes also identifies prognostic groups for HSCT, which is useful for a
      selection of patients for post-transplant strategies to improve outcomes.

PMID- 25840339
TI  - Epidemiology, management, and outcome of invasive fungal disease in patients
      undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in China: a multicenter
      prospective observational study.
AB  - The China Assessment of Antifungal Therapy in Hematological Disease study, the
      first large-scale observational study of invasive fungal disease (IFD) in China,
      enrolled 1401 patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)
      (75.2% allogeneic and 24.8% autologous) at 31 hospitals across China. The overall
      incidence of proven or probable IFD was 7.7% (108 of 1401); another 266 cases
      (19.0%) were possible IFD. After allogeneic or autologous HSCT, the incidence of
      proven/probable IFD was 8.9% (94 of 1053) and 4.0% (14 of 348), respectively.
      Some cases (14 of 108) developed during conditioning before transplantation. The
      cumulative incidence of proven/probable IFD increased steeply in the first month
      after transplantation and after 6 months, the incidence was significantly higher
      in allogeneic than it was in autologous transplant recipients (9.2% versus 3.5%;
      P = .001) and when stem cells were derived from cord blood or bone marrow and
      peripheral blood (P = .02 versus other sources). Independent risk factors for
      proven/probable IFD in allogeneic HSCT were diabetes, HLA-matched unrelated
      donor, prolonged severe neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count > 500/mm(3) for
      >14 days), and immunosuppressants (odds ratio, 2.0 to 3.4 for all). Antifungal
      prophylaxis was independently protective (P = .01). Previous IFD and prolonged
      severe neutropenia were significant independent risk factors among autologous
      transplantation patients (P < .01, P = .04, respectively). In total, 1175 (83.9%)
      patients received antifungal prophylaxis (91.6% triazoles) and 514 (36.7%) were
      treated in the hospital with therapeutic antifungals (89.1% triazoles; median 27
      days). Empirical, pre-emptive, and targeted antifungals were used in 82.3%,
      13.6%, and 4.1% of cases, respectively. Overall mortality (13.4%; 188 deaths) was
      markedly higher in patients with proven (5 of 16; 31.3%), probable (20 of 92;
      21.7%), or possible (61 of 266; 22.9%) IFD; allogeneic (171 of 1053; 16.2%)
      rather than autologous (17 of 348; 4.9%) HSCT and was significantly higher in
      patients receiving pre-emptive (18.6%) rather than empirical (6.1%) or targeted
      (9.5%) antifungal therapy (P = .002). Improvements in the selection and timing of
      prophylactic antifungals would be welcome. Health care providers should remain
      alert to the increased risk of IFD and associated mortality in allogeneic HSCT
      recipients and the ongoing risk of IFD even after discharge from the hospital. 

PMID- 25840340
TI  - Human exposure to toxic metals via contaminated dust: Bio-accumulation trends and
      their potential risk estimation.
AB  - We assessed the levels of potentially toxic trace metals, Zinc (Zn), Lead (Pb),
      Manganese (Mn), Copper (Cu), Nickel (Ni), Chromium (Cr), Cobalt (Co), and Cadmium
      (Cd), in dust, hair, nail and serum, sampled in rural, urban and industrial areas
      of Punjab, Pakistan. Trace metals occurrence in all samples, in descending order,
      was: Zn, Pb, Mn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Co, Cd. The samples from the urban areas showed
      significantly higher concentration of toxic trace metals (Zn, Ni, Cr, Co, Mn, and
      Cd) than those from industrial (which conversely had higher levels of Pb and Cu),
      and than samples from rural areas. Bioaccumulation patterns showed that dust
      exposure is one of the major routes into human body for Cd, Pb, Co, Mn and Cr,
      while the burden of Zn, Cu, and Ni can be more linked to dietary sources. The
      concentrations of trace metals in the samples from Punjab were comparable and/or
      higher than those reported worldwide. In many cases, the levels of Zn, Cr, Pb, Ni
      and Cd in hair and nail were beyond the ATSDR threshold guideline values that may
      cause some serious health effects. Hazard Index (HI) calculated for trace metal
      concentrations in the human population of Punjab points particularly to health
      risks from Cd (for children in urban and industrial areas) and from Pb (for all
      sub-groups). 

PMID- 25840341
TI  - Sublethal effects of imidacloprid on interactions in a tritrophic system of non
      target species.
AB  - Imidacloprid is one of the most used insecticides worldwide, but is highly toxic
      to non-target arthropods. Effects of sublethal imidacloprid intoxication can
      potentially propagate in food webs, yet little is known about the impact on non
      target populations and communities. We investigated short-term sublethal toxicity
      of imidacloprid in a tritrophic model system of wild strawberry Fragaria vesca,
      wood cricket Nemobius sylvestris and nursery web spider Pisaura mirabilis.
      Strawberries were treated two times with 0mg (control), 1mg (low rate) and 10mg
      (high rate) of Confidor(r) WG 70 and crickets were allowed to feed on them. In
      four lab experiments, we quantified the impact of imidacloprid on leaf damage,
      growth, behaviour and survival of crickets. The high imidacloprid rate reduced
      feeding, mass gain, thorax growth and mobility in crickets compared to the
      control, while mortality was similarly low in all treatments. The low rate
      reduced mass gain only. Cricket survival of spider predation was higher in the
      low rate treatment than in the control. Overall, herbivory and predation were
      reduced at sublethal imidacloprid rates in a non-target organism, three-level
      food chain, which demonstrates possible propagation of sublethal effects through
      trophic interactions. 

PMID- 25840342
TI  - Completion of a worldwide reference panel of samples for an ancestry informative
      Indel assay.
AB  - The use of ancestry informative markers (AIMs) in forensic analysis is of
      considerable utility since ancestry inference can progress an investigation when
      no identification has been made of DNA from the crime-scene. Short-amplicon
      markers, including insertion deletion polymorphisms, are particularly useful in
      forensic analysis due to their mutational stability, capacity to amplify degraded
      samples and straightforward amplification technique. In this study we report the
      completion of H952 HGDP-CEPH panel genotyping with a set of 46 AIM-Indels. The
      study adds Central South Asian and Middle Eastern population data, allowing a
      comparison of patterns of variation in Eurasia for these markers, in order to
      enhance their use in forensic analyses, particularly when combined with sets of
      ancestry informative SNPs. Ancestry analysis using principal component analysis
      and Bayesian methods indicates that a proportion of classification error occurs
      with European-Middle East population comparisons, but the 46 AIM-Indels have the
      capability to differentiate six major population groups when European-Central
      South Asian comparisons are made. These findings have relevance for forensic
      ancestry analyses in countries where South Asians form much of the demographic
      profile, including the UK, USA and South Africa. A novel third allele detected in
      MID-548 was characterized - despite a low frequency in the HGDP-CEPH panel
      samples, it appears confined to Central South Asian populations, increasing the
      ability to differentiate this population group. The H952 data set was implemented
      in a new open access SPSmart frequency browser - forInDel: Forensic Indel
      browser. 

PMID- 25840343
TI  - Plant aldo-keto reductases (AKRs) as multi-tasking soldiers involved in diverse
      plant metabolic processes and stress defense: A structure-function update.
AB  - The aldo-keto reductase (AKR) superfamily comprises of a large number of
      primarily monomeric protein members, which reduce a broad spectrum of substrates
      ranging from simple sugars to potentially toxic aldehydes. Plant AKRs can be
      broadly categorized into four important functional groups, which highlight their
      roles in diverse plant metabolic reactions including reactive aldehyde
      detoxification, biosynthesis of osmolytes, secondary metabolism and membrane
      transport. Further, multiple overlapping functional aspects of plant AKRs
      including biotic and abiotic stress defense, production of commercially important
      secondary metabolites, iron acquisition from soil, plant-microbe interactions
      etc. are discussed as subcategories within respective major groups. Owing to the
      broad substrate specificity and multiple stress tolerance of the well
      characterized AKR4C9 from Arabidopsis thaliana, protein sequences of all the
      homologues of AKR4C9 (A9-like proteins) from forty different plant species
      (Phytozome database) were analyzed. The analysis revealed that all A9-like
      proteins possess strictly conserved key catalytic residues (D-47, Y-52 and K-81)
      and belong to the pfam00248 and cl00470 AKR superfamilies. Based on structural
      homology of the three flexible loops of AKR4C9 (Loop A, B and C) responsible for
      broad substrate specificity, A9-like proteins found in Brassica rapa, Phaseolus
      vulgaris, Cucumis sativus, Populus trichocarpa and Solanum lycopersicum were
      predicted to have a similar range of substrate specificity. Thus, plant AKRs can
      be considered as potential breeding targets for developing stress tolerant
      varieties in the future. The present review provides a consolidated update on the
      current research status of plant AKRs with an emphasis on important functional
      aspects as well as their potential future prospects and an insight into the
      overall structure-function relationships of A9-like proteins. 

PMID- 25840344
TI  - In vitro 3-D model based on extending time of culture for studying chronological
      epidermis aging.
AB  - Skin aging is a complex phenomenon in which several mechanisms operate
      simultaneously. Among them, intrinsic aging is a time-dependent process, which
      leads to gradual skin changes affecting its structure and function such as
      thinning down of both epidermal and dermal compartments and a flattening and
      fragility of the dermo-epidermal junction. Today, several approaches have been
      proposed for the generation of aged skin in vitro, including skin explants from
      aged donors and three-dimensional skin equivalent treated by aging-inducing
      chemical compounds or engineered with human cells isolated from aged donors. The
      aim of this study was to develop and validate a new in vitro model of aging based
      on skin equivalent demonstrating the same phenotypic changes that were observed
      in chronological aging. By using prolonged culture as a proxy for cellular aging,
      we extended to 120 days the culture time of a skin equivalent model based on
      collagen-glycosaminoglycan-chitosan porous polymer and engineered with human skin
      cells from photo-protected sites of young donors. Morphological,
      immunohistological and ultrastructural analysis at different time points of the
      culture allowed characterizing the phenotypic changes observed in our model in
      comparison to samples of non photo-exposed normal human skin from different ages.
      We firstly confirmed that long-term cultured skin equivalents are still
      morphologically consistent and functionally active even after 120 days of
      culture. However, similar to in vivo chronological skin aging a significant
      decrease of the epidermis thickness as well as the number of keratinocyte
      expressing proliferation marker Ki67 are observed in extended culture time skin
      equivalent. Epidermal differentiation markers loricrin, filaggrin, involucrin and
      transglutaminase, also strongly decreased. Ultrastructural analysis of basement
      membrane showed typical features of aged skin such as duplication of lamina densa
      and alterations of hemidesmosomes. Moreover, the expression of hyaluronan and its
      surface receptor CD44 drastically decreased as observed during chronological skin
      aging. Finally, we found that the level of p16INK4A expression significantly
      increased supporting cellular senescence process associated to our model. To
      conclude, the major morphological and ultrastructural epidermal modifications
      observed in both our extended culture skin equivalent model and skin biopsies
      from old donors validate the relevance of our model for studying chronological
      aging, understanding and elucidating age-related modifications of basic skin
      biological processes. In addition, our model provides a unique tool for
      identifying new targeted molecules intended at improving the appearance of aging
      skin.

PMID- 25840346
TI  - Is this your (paediatric patient's) brain on (anaesthetic) drugs?: The search for
      a potential neurological phenotype of anaesthesia-related neurotoxicity in
      humans.

PMID- 25840345
TI  - Deletion of ADAMTS5 does not affect aggrecan or versican degradation but promotes
      glucose uptake and proteoglycan synthesis in murine adipose derived stromal
      cells.
AB  - ADAMTS5 (TS5), a member of the aggrecanase clade (TS1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 15) of ADAMTS
      proteases, has been considered largely responsible for the proteolysis of the
      hyalectans, aggrecan (Acan) and versican (Vcan), in vivo. However, we have
      reported that ts5-knockout (KO) mice show joint protection after injury due to
      inhibition of synovial scarring and enhanced Acan deposition. Also, KO mice have
      an impaired wound healing phenotype in skin and tendons which is associated with
      Acan/Vcan-rich deposits at the wound sites. Moreover, the Acan and Vcan deposited
      was aggrecanase-cleaved, even in the absence of TS5. In this study, we have used
      adipose-derived stromal cell (ADSC) and epiphyseal chondrocyte cultures from wild
      type and KO mice to further study the role of TS5 in Acan and Vcan turnover. We
      have confirmed with both cell types that the aggrecanase-mediated degradation of
      these hyalectans is not due to TS5, but an aggrecanase which primarily cleaves
      them before they are secreted. We also provide data which suggests that TS5
      protein functions to suppress glucose uptake in ADSCs and thereby inhibits the
      synthesis, and promotes the intracellular degradation of Acan and Vcan by an
      ADAMTS other than TS5. We propose that this apparently non-proteolytic role of
      TS5 explains its anti-chondrogenic and pro-fibrotic effects in murine models of
      wound repair. A possible role for TS5 in an endocytotic process, involving
      competitive interactions between TS5, LRP1 and GLUT4 is discussed. 

PMID- 25840347
TI  - Bispectral index aware or minimum alveolar concentration aware?: Alerting
      thresholds for prevention of awareness.

PMID- 25840349
TI  - MYB Transcription Factors as Regulators of Phenylpropanoid Metabolism in Plants.
AB  - Phenylpropanoid-derived compounds represent a diverse family of secondary
      metabolites that originate from phenylalanine. These compounds have roles in
      plant growth and development, and in defense against biotic and abiotic stress.
      Many of these compounds are also beneficial to human health and welfare. V-myb
      myeloblastosis viral oncogene homolog (MYB) proteins belong to a large family of
      transcription factors and are key regulators of the synthesis of phenylpropanoid
      derived compounds. This review summarizes the current understanding of MYB
      proteins and their roles in the regulation of phenylpropanoid metabolism in
      plants. 

PMID- 25840350
TI  - The Cedar Project: Residential transience and HIV vulnerability among young
      Aboriginal people who use drugs.
AB  - Aboriginal homelessness is considered to be a result of historic dispossession of
      traditional territories and forced displacement from community structures. Using
      data collected from 2005-2010 from the Cedar Project, a cohort of young
      Aboriginal people who use drugs in two Canadian cities, we examined how
      residential transience shapes HIV vulnerability. At baseline, 48 of 260
      participants (18.5%) reported sleeping in six or more places ('highly transient')
      in the past six months. Generalized linear mixed models identified associations
      between high transience and sex and drug related HIV vulnerabilities. Transience
      was independently associated with sex work (AOR:3.52, 95%CI:2.06, 6.05); sexual
      assault (AOR:2.48, 95%CI:1.26, 4.86); injection drug use (AOR:4.54, 95%CI:2.71,
      7.61); daily cocaine injection (AOR:2.16, 95%CI:1.26, 3.72); and public injection
      (AOR:2.87, 95%CI:1.65, 5.00). After stratification, transience and sexual
      vulnerability remained significantly associated among women but not men. Ensuring
      that young Aboriginal people have access to safe spaces to live, work, and inject
      must include policies addressing residential transience as well as the absence of
      a roof and walls. 

PMID- 25840351
TI  - Changes in the perceived neighborhood environment in relation to changes in
      physical activity: A longitudinal study from childhood into adolescence.
AB  - The aim was to investigate how physical activity and the perceived neighborhood
      environment in children change when they enter adolescence. Also the relation
      between changes in the perceived environment and changes in children's physical
      activity was investigated. In total, 321 children and one of their parents filled
      out a physical activity questionnaire and the NEWS-Y at two time points (last
      grade of elementary school and 2 years later). Children also wore an activity
      monitor. Changes in children's physical activity were dependent on the physical
      activity domain. Only less than half of children's perceived neighborhood factors
      changed and about half of the parental perceived neighborhood factors changed.
      Most of these factors changed towards higher activity friendliness. Changes in
      the perceived environment were only limitedly related to changes in children's
      physical activity. 

PMID- 25840352
TI  - Is local alcohol outlet density related to alcohol-related morbidity and
      mortality in Scottish cities?
AB  - Alcohol consumption may be influenced by the local alcohol retailing environment.
      This study is the first to examine neighbourhood alcohol outlet availability (on-
      and off-sales outlets) and alcohol-related health outcomes in Scotland. Alcohol
      related hospitalisations and deaths were significantly higher in neighbourhoods
      with higher outlet densities, and off-sales outlets were more important than on
      sales outlets. The relationships held for most age groups, including those under
      the legal minimum drinking age, although were not significant for the youngest
      legal drinkers (18-25 years). Alcohol-related deaths and hospitalisations were
      higher in more income-deprived neighbourhoods, and the gradient in deaths (but
      not hospitalisations) was marginally larger in neighbourhoods with higher off
      sales outlet densities. Efforts to reduce alcohol-related harm should consider
      the potentially important role of the alcohol retail environment. 

PMID- 25840353
TI  - The role of neighborhoods in shaping perceived norms: An exploration of
      neighborhood disorder and norms among injection drug users in Baltimore, MD.
AB  - A large literature suggests that social norms contribute to HIV and substance use
      related behaviors. Less attention has been given to neighborhood factors that may
      contribute to the development of norms about risky behaviors. We examined the
      cross-sectional associations between perceptions of one's neighborhood and norms
      of perceived prevalence of, and peer support for sex exchange and risky injection
      behaviors. The sample consisted of 719 people who reported injecting heroin and
      cocaine and did not move in the past 6 months in Baltimore, MD. Living in a
      neighborhood with disorder was associated with believing that others exchanged
      sex, practiced risky injection behaviors (descriptive norms) and approved of
      risky injection behavior (injunctive norms). 

PMID- 25840355
TI  - Micellization parameters (number average, aggregation number and critical
      micellar concentration) of bile salt 3 and 7 ethylidene derivatives: Role of the
      steroidal skeleton II.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bile salts are steroidal biosurfactants. Micellar systems of bile
      salts are not only important for solubilization of cholesterol, but they also
      interact with certain drugs thus changing their bioavailability. METHODS: The
      number-average aggregation numbers (n-) are determined using the Moroi-Matsuoka
      Sugioka thermodynamic method. Critical micellar concentrations were determined by
      spectrofluorometric method using pyren and by surface tension measurements.
      RESULTS: Micelles of ethylidene derivatives possess the following values for n-:
      7-Eth-D (n-=11 (50 mM)-n-=14.8 (100 mM)); 12-Ox-7-Eth-L (n-~8.8, without
      concentration dependence) and 7,12-diOx-3-Eth-Ch (n-~2.9, without concentration
      dependence). In the planes n--ln k and ln CMC-ln k derivative 7-Eth-D is outlier
      in respect to hydrophobic linear congeneric groups. CONCLUSION: Gibbs energy of
      formation for 7-Eth-D anion micelles in addition to the Gibbs energy of
      hydrophobic interactions consists excess Gibbs energy (GE) from hydrogen bond
      formation between building blocks of micelles. Gibbs energy of formation for 7,12
      diOx-3-Eth-Ch and 12-Ox-7-Eth-L anion micelle is determined by the Gibbs energy
      of hydrophobic interactions. Relative increase in hydrophobicity and aggregation
      number for ethylidene derivatives is larger when ethylidene group is introduced
      from the C7 lateral side of steroidal skeleton then it is when ethylidene group
      is on C3 carbon. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: Position of outlier towards hydrophobic
      congeneric groups from n--ln k and ln CMC-ln k planes indicates the existence of
      excess Gibbs energy (GE) which is not of hydrophobic nature (formation of
      hydrogen bonds). For the bile salt micelles to have GE (formation of secondary
      micelles) it is necessary that steroidal skeleton possesses C3-alpha-(e)-OH and
      C12-alpha-(a)-OH groups.

PMID- 25840356
TI  - NiO nanoparticles induce apoptosis through repressing SIRT1 in human bronchial
      epithelial cells.
AB  - With application of nano-sized nickel-containing particles (Nano-Ni) expanding,
      the health concerns about their adverse effects on the pulmonary system are
      increasing. However, the mechanisms for the pulmonary toxicity of these materials
      remain unclear. In the present study, we focused on the impacts of NiO
      nanoparticles (NiONPs) on sirtuin1 (SIRT1), a NAD-dependent deacetylase, and
      investigated whether SIRT1 was involved in NiONPs-induced apoptosis. Although the
      NiONPs tended to agglomerate in fluid medium, they still entered into the human
      bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) and released Ni(2+) inside the cells. NiONPs
      at doses of 5, 10, and 20MUg/cm(2) inhibited the cell viability. NiONPs' produced
      cytotoxicity was demonstrated through an apoptotic process, indicated by
      increased numbers of Annexin V positive cells and caspase-3 activation. The
      expression of SIRT1 was markedly down-regulated by the NiONPs, accompanied by the
      hyperacetylation of p53 (tumor protein 53) and overexpression of Bax (Bcl-2
      associated X protein). However, overexpression of SIRT1 through resveratrol
      treatment or transfection clearly attenuated the NiONPs-induced apoptosis and
      activation of p53 and Bax. Our results suggest that the repression of SIRT1 may
      underlie the NiONPs-induced apoptosis via p53 hyperacetylation and subsequent Bax
      activation. Because SIRT1 participates in multiple biologic processes by
      deacetylation of dozens of substrates, this knowledge of the impact of NiONPs on
      SIRT1 may lead to an improved understanding of the toxic mechanisms of Nano-Ni
      and provide a molecular target to antagonize Nano-Ni toxicity. 

PMID- 25840357
TI  - Hemispheric asymmetry in the influence of language on visual perception.
AB  - Many studies have shown that language can affect visual perception; however, our
      understanding of the neural basis of linguistic influence is inadequate. This can
      be investigated by examining the hemispheric asymmetry of linguistic influence.
      The left and right hemispheres are dominant in close and distant semantic
      processing, respectively. In this study, we investigated whether the hemispheric
      asymmetry of semantic processing led to hemispheric asymmetry for concept priming
      on the detection of objects degraded by continuous flash suppression. We combined
      a priming paradigm with the divided visual field paradigm and used continuous
      flash suppression, which renders objects invisible. The results indicated that
      the hemispheric asymmetry of semantic processing led to a right lateralization in
      the influence of more abstract concepts on visual perception. The lateralization
      of brain connectomes may be the underlying neural basis of this effect. 

PMID- 25840358
TI  - The influence of vertical motor responses on explicit and incidental processing
      of power words.
AB  - There is increasing evidence demonstrating that power judgment is affected by
      vertical information. Such interaction between vertical space and power (i.e.,
      response facilitation under space-power congruent conditions) is generally
      elicited in paradigms that require participants to explicitly evaluate the power
      of the presented words. The current research explored the possibility that
      explicit evaluative processing is not a prerequisite for the emergence of this
      effect. Here we compared the influence of vertical information on a standard
      explicit power evaluation task with influence on a task that linked power with
      stimuli in a more incidental manner, requiring participants to report whether the
      words represented people or animals or the font of the words. The results
      revealed that although the effect is more modest, the interaction between
      responses and power is also evident in an incidental task. Furthermore, we also
      found that explicit semantic processing is a prerequisite to ensure such an
      effect. 

PMID- 25840354
TI  - Therapeutic potential of alpha-crystallin.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The findings that alpha-crystallins are multi-functional proteins
      with diverse biological functions have generated considerable interest in
      understanding their role in health and disease. Recent studies have shown that
      chaperone peptides of alpha-crystallin could be delivered into cultured cells and
      in experimental animals with beneficial effects against protein aggregation,
      oxidation, inflammation and apoptosis. SCOPE OF REVIEW: In this review, we will
      summarize the latest developments on the therapeutic potential of alpha
      crystallins and their functional peptides. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: alpha-Crystallins
      and their functional peptides have shown significant favorable effects against
      several diseases. Their targeted delivery to tissues would be of great
      therapeutic benefit. However, alpha-crystallins can also function as disease
      causing proteins. These seemingly contradictory functions must be carefully
      considered prior to their therapeutic use. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: alphaA and
      alphaB-Crystallin are members of the small heat shock protein family. These
      proteins exhibit molecular chaperone and anti-apoptotic activities. The core
      crystallin domain within these proteins is largely responsible for these
      prosperities. Recent studies have identified peptides within the crystallin
      domain of both alpha- and alphaB-crystallins with remarkable chaperone and anti
      apoptotic activities. Administration of alpha-crystallin or their functional
      peptides has shown substantial inhibition of pathologies in several diseases.
      However, alpha-crystallins have been shown to promote disease-causing pathways.
      These two sides of the proteins are discussed in this review. This article is
      part of a Special Issue entitled Crystallin Biochemistry in Health and Disease.

PMID- 25840359
TI  - An illustrated heuristic prototype facilitates scientific inventive problem
      solving: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study.
AB  - Many scientific inventions (SI) throughout history were inspired by heuristic
      prototypes (HPs). For instance, an event or piece of knowledge similar to
      displaced water from a tub inspired Archimedes' principle. However, the neural
      mechanisms underlying this insightful problem solving are not very clear. Thus,
      the present study explored the neural correlates used to solve SI problems
      facilitated by HPs. Each HP had two versions: a literal description with an
      illustration (LDI) and a literal description with no illustration (LDNI). Thirty
      two participants were divided randomly into these two groups. Blood oxygenation
      level-dependent fMRI contrasts between LDI and LDNI groups were measured. Greater
      activity in the right middle occipital gyrus (RMOG, BA19), right precentral gyrus
      (RPCG, BA4), and left middle frontal gyrus (LMFG, BA46) were found within the LDI
      group as compared to the LDNI group. We discuss these results in terms cognitive
      functions within these regions related to problem solving and memory retrieval. 

PMID- 25840360
TI  - Influencing the occurrence of mind wandering while reading.
AB  - The current concerns hypothesis suggests that directing attention towards
      unfulfilled plans of the individual prior to a task would result in more off-task
      thoughts (or mind wandering). In this experiment, participants were asked to read
      a scientific text and self-report instances of mind wandering by indicating when
      they were experiencing task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) or task-related
      interferences (TRIs). Prior to reading, participants in the individual plans
      experimental condition were asked to reflect upon their short-term plans by
      making a "to do" list while participants in a control condition were asked to
      make a list of the components of an automobile. In support of the current
      concerns hypothesis, directing attention towards the short-term plans resulted in
      significantly more TUTs, but not TRIs. Furthermore, participants in the
      individual plans condition had significantly lower scores on an assessment of
      reading comprehension, and this relationship was mediated by the frequency of
      TUTs. 

PMID- 25840361
TI  - Influence of reaction conditions on the composition of liquid products from two
      stage catalytic hydrothermal processing of lignin.
AB  - The influence of reaction conditions on the composition of liquid products during
      two-stage hydrothermal conversion of alkali lignin has been investigated in a
      batch reactor. Reactions were carried out in the presence of formic acid (FA) and
      Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. The two different sets of reaction conditions involved
      alternative reaction times of 1h and 5h at 265 degrees C and 350 degrees C,
      respectively. These provided different contributions to reaction severity, which
      affected the compositions of liquid products. Yields of liquid products reached
      up to 40wt% (on lignin feed basis) in the presence of FA under the less severe
      reaction condition. With 5h reaction time at 350 degrees C, alkylphenols,
      alkylguaiacols and hydrocarbons were the dominant liquid products. However, with
      5h reaction time at 265 degrees C, phenol and methanol became dominant. The two
      stage hydrothermal process led to improved lignin conversion, with the potential
      to manipulate the liquid product range. 

PMID- 25840362
TI  - Tensor decomposition of EEG signals: a brief review.
AB  - Electroencephalography (EEG) is one fundamental tool for functional brain
      imaging. EEG signals tend to be represented by a vector or a matrix to facilitate
      data processing and analysis with generally understood methodologies like time
      series analysis, spectral analysis and matrix decomposition. Indeed, EEG signals
      are often naturally born with more than two modes of time and space, and they can
      be denoted by a multi-way array called as tensor. This review summarizes the
      current progress of tensor decomposition of EEG signals with three aspects. The
      first is about the existing modes and tensors of EEG signals. Second, two
      fundamental tensor decomposition models, canonical polyadic decomposition (CPD,
      it is also called parallel factor analysis-PARAFAC) and Tucker decomposition, are
      introduced and compared. Moreover, the applications of the two models for EEG
      signals are addressed. Particularly, the determination of the number of
      components for each mode is discussed. Finally, the N-way partial least square
      and higher-order partial least square are described for a potential trend to
      process and analyze brain signals of two modalities simultaneously.

PMID- 25840363
TI  - Laser system refinements to reduce variability in infarct size in the rat
      photothrombotic stroke model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The rat photothrombotic stroke model can induce brain infarcts with
      reasonable biological variability. Nevertheless, we observed unexplained high
      inter-individual variability despite using a rigorous protocol. Of the three
      major determinants of infarct volume, photosensitive dye concentration and
      illumination period were strictly controlled, whereas undetected fluctuation in
      laser power output was suspected to account for the variability. NEW METHOD: The
      frequently utilized Diode Pumped Solid State (DPSS) lasers emitting 532 nm
      (green) light can exhibit fluctuations in output power due to temperature and
      input power alterations. The polarization properties of the Nd:YAG and Nd:YVO4
      crystals commonly used in these lasers are another potential source of
      fluctuation, since one means of controlling output power uses a polarizer with a
      variable transmission axis. Thus, the properties of DPSS lasers and the
      relationship between power output and infarct size were explored. RESULTS: DPSS
      laser beam intensity showed considerable variation. Either a polarizer or a
      variable neutral density filter allowed adjustment of a polarized laser beam to
      the desired intensity. When the beam was unpolarized, the experimenter was
      restricted to using a variable neutral density filter. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING
      METHOD(S): Our refined approach includes continuous monitoring of DPSS laser
      intensity via beam sampling using a pellicle beamsplitter and photodiode sensor.
      This guarantees the desired beam intensity at the targeted brain area during
      stroke induction, with the intensity controlled either through a polarizer or
      variable neutral density filter. CONCLUSIONS: Continuous monitoring and control
      of laser beam intensity is critical for ensuring consistent infarct size.

PMID- 25840364
TI  - Use of radiolabeled antagonist assays for assessing agonism at D2 and D3 dopamine
      receptors: comparison with functional GTPgammaS assays.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cell-based drug screening assays are essential tools for drug
      discovery and development targeting G protein-coupled receptors, which include
      dopamine D3 receptors. D3 is notorious for its poor coupling to G protein in most
      heterologous cell lines, and therefore D3 agonist-stimulated binding of
      [(35)S]GTPgammaS to G protein cannot be observed in many "non-functional" D3
      expressing cell lines. NEW METHOD: The present work explores the use of an
      alternate method for assessing agonist activity, consisting of measuring the
      difference in agonist competition between [(3)H]spiperone bound to low-affinity
      states of the receptor and that with radioligand bound to high-affinity states
      (GTP shift assay). COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHOD: The current study describes
      the determination of GTP shifts in [(3)H]spiperone binding assays for the
      assessment of agonists' potencies (at D2 and D3) and efficacies (at D3). Compared
      with GTPgamma(35)S binding assays, the new method removes the cumbersome need of
      functional D3 cell lines and limited project duration due to short half-life of
      isotope (35)S. CONCLUSION: The new method allows the estimation of potency (D2
      and D3) and efficacy (D3) at the level of receptor and G protein activation in a
      simple fashion from shifts in monophasic-inhibition curves. Moreover, it does not
      require [(35)S]GTPgammaS binding assays with functional D3 cells. This method
      will have wide applicability for D3-selective agonist screening. It may also be
      useful for other GPCRs circumventing the need for functional assays and offering
      the ability to detect agonist activity regardless of the particular signaling
      pathway.

PMID- 25840366
TI  - Immunosensor for trace penicillin G detection in milk based on supported bilayer
      lipid membrane modified with gold nanoparticles.
AB  - In this work, we developed an immunosensor for electrochemical detection of
      penicillin G at trace level. The biosensor was fabricated by immobilizing anti
      penicillin G in a supported bilayer lipid membrane (s-BLM) modified with gold
      nanoparticles, and the modified electrodes were characterized by the scanning
      electron microscope (SEM), cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance
      spectroscopy. The biosensor was able to detect penicillin G with a linear
      correlation ranging from 3.34*10(-3)ng/L to 3.34*10(3)ng/L and a detection limit
      of 2.7*10(-4)ng/L, much lower than the maximum residue limit (MRL) of penicillin
      G in milk (4ppb, equal to 4*10(3)ng/L) set out by the European Union. The mean
      coefficient variation (CV) of the intra-assays and the inter-assays were 5.4% and
      7.7%, respectively. In addition, the concentration of penicillin G in milk
      samples determined by this biosensor was in good agreement with that determined
      by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay. 

PMID- 25840367
TI  - Study of the immunogenicity of hepatitis B surface antigen synthesized in
      transgenic potato plants with increased biosafety.
AB  - Oral immunogenicity of the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) synthesized in the
      tubers of marker-free potato plants has been demonstrated. Experiments were
      performed in the two groups of outbred NMRI mice. At the beginning of
      investigations, the mice of experimental group were fed the tubers of transgenic
      potato synthesizing the HBsAg three times. The mice of control group were fed
      nontransgenic potato. Intraperitoneal injection of the commercial vaccine against
      hepatitis B (0.5MUg/mouse) was made on day 71 of the experiment. Enzyme-linked
      immunoassay (ELISA) of the serum of immunized animals showed an increase in the
      level of HBsAg antibodies significantly above the protective value, which was
      maintained for 1 year after the immunization. In 1 year, the experimental group
      of mice underwent additional oral immunization with HBsAg-containing potato
      tubers. As a result, the level of antibodies against the HBsAg increased and
      remained at a high protective level for several months. The findings show the
      possibility of using transgenic plants as a substance for obtaining a safe edible
      vaccine against hepatitis B. 

PMID- 25840365
TI  - Validation of a method to assess ADHD-related impulsivity in animal models.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Response inhibition capacity (RIC), the ability to withhold
      instrumentally reinforced responses, is compromised in ADHD. Most standard
      methods for assessing RIC in rodents potentially confound motivational, motor,
      learning, and inhibitory processes, lack sensitivity to pharmacological
      treatment, and have unknown reliability. NEW METHOD: The fixed minimum interval
      (FMI) schedule of reinforcement and its associated analytical techniques are
      designed to dissociate inhibitory processes from incentive-motivational and
      timing processes. This study is aimed at validating the FMI as a method for
      assessing RIC in animal models. FMI performance was compared across different
      withholding requirements (0.5, 3, 6 and 21s), deprivation levels, reinforcement
      rates, and reinforcer magnitudes. RESULTS AND COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS:
      Motivational manipulations differentially affected estimates of incentive
      motivation but not the FMI-derived index of RIC, theta. Changes in the
      withholding requirement influenced timed IRTs in a manner consistent with extant
      timing theories. Individual estimates of RIC were resilient to prolonged changes
      in motivation but not to changes in FMI schedule. Results indicate that the FMI
      schedule is not vulnerable to the same limitations associated with existing
      methods for assessing RIC. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the use of the FMI
      schedule and associated analytic techniques as tools for assessing RIC in animal
      models.

PMID- 25840368
TI  - Amitotic chromosome loss predicts distinct patterns of senescence and non
      senescence in ciliates.
AB  - Over time and repeated asexual divisions, many ciliate species display the
      characteristics of senescence, reduced fecundity and increased mortality. Their
      only path to recovery is sexual conjugation or autogamy. While more traditional
      models of cellular aging have been proposed, one of the most accepted
      explanations relies on the faulty mechanism by which ciliates duplicate their
      somatic nucleus, a process referred to as amitosis. Amitosis involves the random
      segregation of chromosomes with no consideration for homology. Over subsequent
      divisions, chromosome copy numbers will fluctuate until an entire chromosome is
      lost, resulting in death. Via simulations of this process, we find that
      senescence and death via chromosome loss is not the only possible result of
      amitosis. Random chromosome loss is less damaging to populations than previously
      thought, and strict adherence to the model predicts that Paramecium tetraurelia
      would not senesce. A combination of the reciprocal nature of amitosis and lethal
      selection against low-copy number chromosomes is responsible for this startling
      prediction. Additionally, our results provide an alternate explanation to recent
      evidence for selection on chromosome copy number in Tetrahymena thermophila and
      peculiar patterns of senescence in Tetrahymena pyriformis. 

PMID- 25840371
TI  - Diffraction contrast imaging using virtual apertures.
AB  - Two methods on how to obtain the full diffraction information from a sample
      region and the associated reconstruction of images or diffraction patterns using
      virtual apertures are demonstrated. In a STEM-based approach, diffraction
      patterns are recorded for each beam position using a small probe convergence
      angle. Similarly, a tilt series of TEM dark-field images is acquired. The
      resulting datasets allow the reconstruction of either electron diffraction
      patterns, or bright-, dark- or annular dark-field images using virtual apertures.
      The experimental procedures of both methods are presented in the paper and are
      applied to a precipitation strengthened and creep deformed ferritic alloy with a
      complex microstructure. The reconstructed virtual images are compared with
      conventional TEM images. The major advantage is that arbitrarily shaped virtual
      apertures generated with image processing software can be designed without facing
      any physical limitations. In addition, any virtual detector that is specifically
      designed according to the underlying crystal structure can be created to optimize
      image contrast. 

PMID- 25840372
TI  - A complete comparison of simulated electron diffraction patterns using different
      parameterizations of the electron scattering factors.
AB  - The steadily improving experimental possibilities in instrumental resolution as
      in sensitivity and quantization of the data recording put increasingly higher
      demands on the precision of the scattering factors, which are the key ingredients
      for electron diffraction or high-resolution imaging simulation. In the present
      study, we will systematically investigate the accuracy of fitting of the main
      parameterizations of the electron scattering factor for the calculation of
      electron diffraction intensities. It is shown that the main parameterizations of
      the electron scattering factor are consistent to calculate electron diffraction
      intensities for thin specimens and low angle scattering. Parameterizations of the
      electron scattering factor with the correct asymptotic behavior (Lobato and Dyck
      [5], Kirkland [4], and Weickenmeier and Kohl [2]) produce similar results for
      both the undisplaced lattice model and the frozen phonon model, except for
      certain thicknesses and reflections. 

PMID- 25840370
TI  - The cis conformation of proline leads to weaker binding of a p53 peptide to MDM2
      compared to trans.
AB  - The cis and trans conformations of the Xaa-Pro (Xaa: any amino acid) peptide bond
      are thermodynamically stable while other peptide bonds strongly prefer trans. The
      effect of proline cis-trans isomerization on protein binding has not been
      thoroughly investigated. In this study, computer simulations were used to
      calculate the absolute binding affinity for a p53 peptide (residues 17-29) to
      MDM2 for both cis and trans isomers of the p53 proline in position 27. Results
      show that the cis isomer of p53(17-29) binds more weakly to MDM2 than the trans
      isomer, and that this is primarily due to the difference in the free energy cost
      associated with the loss of conformational entropy of p53(17-29) when it binds to
      MDM2. The population of cis p53(17-29) was estimated to be 0.8% of the total
      population in the bound state. The stronger binding of trans p53(17-29) to MDM2
      compared to cis may leave a minimal level of p53 available to respond to cellular
      stress. This study demonstrates that it is feasible to estimate the absolute
      binding affinity for an intrinsically disordered protein fragment binding to an
      ordered protein that are in good agreement with experimental results. 

PMID- 25840373
TI  - Frequency-place map for electrical stimulation in cochlear implants: Change over
      time.
AB  - The relationship between the place of electrical stimulation from a cochlear
      implant and the corresponding perceived pitch remains uncertain. Previous studies
      have estimated what the pitch corresponding to a particular location should be.
      However, perceptual verification is difficult because a subject needs both a
      cochlear implant and sufficient residual hearing to reliably compare electric and
      acoustic pitches. Additional complications can arise from the possibility that
      the pitch corresponding to an electrode may change as the auditory system adapts
      to a sound processor. In the following experiment, five subjects with normal or
      near-to-normal hearing in one ear and a cochlear implant with a long electrode
      array in the other ear were studied. Pitch matches were made between single
      electrode pulse trains and acoustic tones before activation of the speech
      processor to gain an estimate of the pitch provided by electrical stimulation at
      a given insertion angle without the influence of exposure to a sound processor.
      The pitch matches were repeated after 1, 3, 6, and 12 months of experience with
      the sound processor to evaluate the effect of adaptation over time. Pre
      activation pitch matches were lower than would be estimated by a spiral ganglion
      pitch map. Deviations were largest for stimulation below 240 degrees  degrees and
      smallest above 480 degrees . With experience, pitch matches shifted towards the
      frequency-to-electrode allocation. However, no statistically significant pitch
      shifts were observed over time. The likely explanation for the lack of pitch
      change is that the frequency-to-electrode allocations for the long electrode
      arrays were already similar to the pre-activation pitch matches. Minimal place
      pitch shifts over time suggest a minimal amount of perceptual remapping needed
      for the integration of electric and acoustic stimuli, which may contribute to
      shorter times to asymptotic performance. 

PMID- 25840374
TI  - 40 years and counting.

PMID- 25840375
TI  - Response to "fostering early breast cancer detection: faith community nurses
      reaching at-risk populations".

PMID- 25840377
TI  - What matters to the patient is what really matters: ?quality in oncology nursing.
AB  - Reflecting on the 40th anniversary of the Oncology Nursing Society led me to
      recall my own 30-plus years in nursing and how, as a new graduate nurse, almost
      all oncology care was delivered in the inpatient setting. In my first few years
      of practice, I mixed my patients' chemotherapy in a medicine room without a
      ventilated hood and administered those medications without personal protective
      equipment or the independent RN double checks that have become standard to safe
      practice today. Through advances in science, tools are now in place to test and
      make changes, measure impact, and sustain improvements over time. Through
      advancements in nursing science and oncology research, the ability to treat and
      cure many cancers and to manage the symptoms and side effects of treatment has
      improved. Those improvements extend survival; enhance quality of life; and keep
      patients, staff, and practice environments safer than ever before. In addition,
      the human side of care has advanced with respect to the quality of interactions
      with patients and families. Some call this the art of nursing. I call it the
      essence of our practice. Increasingly, nurses are able to name specific
      interventions, measure impact, and document outcomes of this so-called art. It is
      to this human side of our practice that I dedicate this column.?. 

PMID- 25840376
TI  - Cancer-related fatigue: scientific progress has been made in 40 years.
AB  - Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a distressing, persistent symptom that is
      experienced by survivors during and after treatment. Unsurprisingly, many early
      CRF studies were conducted by nurses. These studies included a look at patients
      receiving localized radiation treatment (Haylock & Hart, 1979); an exploration of
      fatigue as a conceptual approach to a clinical problem (Aistars, 1987); the
      development of a nursing theory focused on fatigue mechanisms (Piper, Lindsey, &
      Dodd, 1987); an examination of fatigue mechanisms (St Pierre, Kasper, & Lindsey,
      1992), as well as of fatigue in advanced cancer (Bruera & MacDonald, 1988) and in
      non-small cell lung cancer (Sarna, 1993); and a description of fatigue and
      potential nursing interventions (Nail & King, 1987). Winningham et al. (1994)
      wrote a state-of-the-science article about fatigue in the cancer experience for
      the Oncology Nursing Forum, and Mock et al. (1997) was one of the first to
      conduct an exercise study regarding the effects of exercise on fatigue, physical
      functioning, and emotional distress during radiation therapy for breast cancer.
      Nurse scholars from the 1970s-2000s were pivotal in advancing the science of
      fatigue in various cancers and have provided a scientific foundation for those
      four decades. ?. 

PMID- 25840378
TI  - Success is not final: onward to the future ?of evidence-based practice.
AB  - The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) is celebrating its 40th anniversary, so it
      seems only fitting that this column focuses on how evidence-based practice (EBP)
      has evolved for oncology nurses and ONS during the past 40 years. EBP has been
      around for a very long time. In the famous Notes on Nursing published in 1860,
      Florence Nightingale noted that, "The most important practical lesson that can be
      given to nurses is to teach them what to observe-how to observe-what symptoms can
      indicate improvement-what the reverse-which are important-which are of none" (p.
      5). This quote seems pertinent given that a large part of what oncology nurses do
      is related to the management of symptoms, either from cancer or its treatment
      (e.g., chemotherapy, radiation). In addition, during the past 10-15 years, nurses
      have been immersed in providing symptom management interventions that are based
      on evidence, not just in hearsay or ritual. ?. 

PMID- 25840379
TI  - The evolution of the electronic health record.
AB  - Medical record documentation of patient data has evolved during the past several
      years. Early patient medical records included brief, written case history reports
      maintained for teaching purposes. One such document obtained is a text from Egypt
      of 48 case reports that includes injuries, fractures, wounds, dislocations, and
      tumors that date back to 1600 BC. This document was written on papyrus text and
      acquired by Edwin Smith, an Egyptologist, in 1862 (Atta, 1999; Gillum, 2013).
      Case reports served as the patient record for many years, used only
      intermittently by physicians. By the 1880s, concerns regarding medical records as
      legal documents for insurance and malpractice cases encouraged administrators of
      hospitals to supervise record content (Gillum, 2013). By 1898, the patient record
      came to the bedside, moving from retrospective documentation to cases reported in
      actual time. Medical records resembled more of the present-day record with family
      history, patient habits, previous illnesses, present illness, physical
      examination, admission urine, blood analysis, progress notes, discharge
      diagnosis, and instructions (Gillum, 2013). ?. 

PMID- 25840380
TI  - Learning from disaster: ?patient safety and the role of oncology nurses.
AB  - When the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) was almost exactly half its present age,
      in November 1994, a Boston Globe health columnist named Betsy Lehman was admitted
      to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, to receive an
      investigational regimen for breast cancer. Her treatment ended in disaster. In
      one of the most notorious patient safety failures of modern times, Lehman was
      given severe overdoses of cyclophosphamide during a four-day period. On each of
      those four days, nurses, physicians, and pharmacists at Dana-Farber failed to
      notice that Lehman was receiving doses four times greater than the intended
      amount (Aspden, Wolcott, Bootman, & Cronenwett, 2007). Lehman died of
      cyclophosphamide toxicity on December 3, 1994.?. 

PMID- 25840381
TI  - A culture of avoidance: voices from inside ethically difficult clinical
      situations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Healthcare providers experience many ethical challenges while caring
      for and making treatment decisions with patients and their families. OBJECTIVES:
      The purpose of this ethnographic study was to examine the challenges and
      circumstances that surround ethically difficult situations in oncology practice.
      METHODS: The authors conducted six focus groups with 30 oncology nurses in the
      United States and interviewed 12 key informants, such as clinical ethicists,
      oncologists, and nurse administrators. FINDINGS: The authors found that many
      healthcare providers remain silent about ethical concerns until a precipitating
      crisis occurs and ethical questions can no longer be avoided. Patients, families,
      nurses, and physicians tended to delay or defer conversations about prognosis and
      end-of-life treatment options. Individual, interactional, and system-level
      factors perpetuated the culture of avoidance. These included the intellectual and
      emotional toll of addressing ethics, differences in moral perspectives, fear of
      harming relationships, lack of continuity in care, emphasis on efficiency, and
      lack of shared decision making. This information is critical for any proactive
      and system-level effort aimed at mitigating ethical conflicts and their frequent
      companions-moral distress and burnout.

PMID- 25840382
TI  - Selection of optimal tobacco cessation medication treatment in patients with
      cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tobacco use is responsible for almost half a million deaths per year
      in the United States, and it accounts for one-third of all cancer deaths. Limited
      data concerning tobacco treatment among patients with cancer are available. In
      addition, these patients often have complicated medical histories and are taking
      multiple medications. No clear, published procedures exist to help the healthcare
      provider select the proper medication for tobacco cessation in that context.
      OBJECTIVES: This article describes the screening process established within the
      Tobacco Treatment Program (TTP) at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer
      Center to minimize the risk of prescribing a contraindicated tobacco cessation
      medication to patients with cancer. The screening process developed and used by
      the TTP is presented as a viable model for selecting appropriate tobacco
      cessation medications for patients with cancer. METHODS: The electronic medical
      record of each patient who uses tobacco is carefully reviewed once he or she is
      scheduled for a consultation. A summary is produced with a standardized template
      and used later as a template for the medical provider evaluation. Precautions are
      put in place with consideration of the characteristics of each of the tobacco
      cessation medications (e.g., mechanism of action, route of administration,
      interactions with other medications, possible side effects, contraindications).
      Since 2006, the TTP has had more than 4,000 new patients and more than 39,000
      follow-up visits. FINDINGS: Because each patient with cancer has unique medical,
      psychological, and social circumstances, the process of selecting the optimal
      tobacco cessation medication needs to be individualized. Oncology healthcare
      providers should follow some form of screening to tailor a medication plan to
      each patient.

PMID- 25840383
TI  - When do I get my brain back? Breast cancer survivors' experiences of cognitive
      problems.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Many survivors report troubling cognitive problems that can persist
      long after active treatment and seriously affect their quality of life,
      particularly in terms of employment. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to
      explore survivors' perceptions of their cognitive functioning. METHODS: Ten
      female breast cancer survivors receiving treatment in a community oncology
      setting participated in interviews or a focus group. FINDINGS: Six major themes
      were derived from the analysis.

PMID- 25840384
TI  - An integrative review of subjective and objective measures of sleep disturbances
      in breast cancer survivors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sleep disturbances are recognized as a side effect of cancer
      treatment, affecting physiological and psychological functioning. Sleep
      disturbances can persist through treatment and survivorship, and are increasingly
      prevalent among breast cancer survivors (BCSs). OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this
      review is to summarize current research on subjective and objective measures of
      sleep disturbances, the association between subjective and objective measures,
      and interventions used to manage sleep disturbances among BCSs after the
      completion of treatment. METHODS: Articles published from 2003-2013 were
      retrieved using PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect. Key search terms
      included breast cancer, sleep actigraphy, and sleep disturbances. Articles
      assessing sleep subjectively and objectively in the post-treatment period were
      included. FINDINGS: Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria.

PMID- 25840385
TI  - Promoting adherence to skin care practices among patients receiving radiation
      therapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The effects of radiation on the skin are particularly troublesome for
      patients and can result in impaired quality of life and an inability to perform
      activities of daily living. Skin care during radiation therapy is needed to
      prevent and treat radiation dermatitis. Patient adherence to prescribed skin care
      protocols is paramount to an optimal outcome but not always monitored closely.
      OBJECTIVES: The focus of this study was to optimize patient adherence to the
      Oncology Nursing Society's Putting Evidence Into Practice recommendations for
      skin care during radiation therapy. METHODS: A multidimensional approach was used
      to enhance adherence to the skin care protocol. Outcomes measured included
      adherence, patient satisfaction, and skin condition. FINDINGS: Five interacting
      dimensions affect adherence.

PMID- 25840386
TI  - Awareness of symptoms and risk factors of ovarian cancer in a population of women
      and healthcare providers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Awareness of ovarian cancer among women and healthcare providers is
      understudied. An early awareness of ovarian cancer may lead to early detection
      and treatment of ovarian cancer. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to
      determine the level of that awareness among a sample of women and providers.
      METHODS: Written surveys were developed by the authors based on available
      literature and were administered to women (n = 857) and healthcare providers (n =
      188) attending or volunteering at a community health fair. Chi-square tests for
      independence and z tests were used for analysis. FINDINGS: Healthcare providers
      were significantly more likely to identify the symptoms and risk factors for
      ovarian cancer. Forty percent of women reported being at least slightly familiar
      with the symptoms of ovarian cancer. Women who were familiar with symptoms were
      significantly more likely to identify symptoms and risk factors correctly and to
      report symptoms immediately to a provider. Identification of symptoms among
      healthcare providers ranged from 59%-93%. Identification of ovarian cancer
      symptoms and risk factors is poor among women, and knowledge deficits are present
      in providers. Increasing familiarity and awareness could lead to improvements in
      early diagnosis.

PMID- 25840387
TI  - Addressing physical activity needs of survivors by developing a community-based
      exercise program: LIVESTRONG(r) at the YMCA.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although methods of cancer detection and treatment have improved, the
      side effects of treatment can cause profound debilitation that may linger years
      after treatment ends. Exercise during and after cancer treatment is safe, and it
      minimizes many of the deleterious physical and emotional side effects. With this
      evidence in mind, the LIVESTRONG Foundation and the YMCA of the USA collaborated
      to develop a community-based physical activity program for survivors,
      LIVESTRONG(r) at the YMCA. OBJECTIVES: This article provides in-depth information
      about the development of the LIVESTRONG at the YMCA program and its subsequent
      spread to meet the physical activity needs of survivors across the country.
      METHODS: Participating YMCAs engage in regular data collection efforts to track
      progress on organizational change and program delivery. These efforts include a
      staff evaluation survey, functional assessment of participants, patient-reported
      health status assessment, and patient program evaluation. FINDINGS: From the time
      of its development, the LIVESTRONG at the YMCA program has served more than
      29,000 survivors and trained more than 2,200 LIVESTRONG at the YMCA instructors.
      A national survey of more than 1,600 program participants demonstrates positive
      outcomes on health and well-being, as well as intent to continue exercising after
      the program's end.

PMID- 25840388
TI  - Misattributed paternity in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: the role of
      the healthcare provider.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With emerging technologies and genetic advancements in the field of
      oncology, ethical controversies and questions on how to approach them will
      continue to grow. Advancements in the field of hematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation have led to increased testing of transplantation recipients'
      children and parents as potential donors related to an increase in the use of
      haploidentical transplantations. This testing opens the door for an increased
      incidence of misattributed paternity findings. OBJECTIVES: This article attempts
      to address the ethical conflicts and provide potential solutions to assist in the
      transition from individual-focused care to family-focused care. METHODS: The
      principlist approach was used. FINDINGS: Healthcare providers should be educated
      on methods of incidental finding disclosure and how to provide adequate support
      for those individuals.

PMID- 25840389
TI  - Oncology nursing essentials: then and now.
AB  - Forty years ago, in 1975, if you were a practicing clinical oncology nurse, you
      may have been working in an inpatient setting, acting as a primary care nurse
      during your 8- to 10-hour shift, and caring for patients with lymphoma or
      leukemia who were receiving multiple-day infusion treatment. These patients, most
      of whom were receiving a variation of standard chemotherapy regimens, were
      treated as inpatients because they were or would be very sick, based on their
      reaction to chemotherapy and their need for urgent symptom management. ?. 

PMID- 25840390
TI  - Roles played by advanced practitioners in oncology: ?present status and future
      outlook.
AB  - The 40th anniversary of the Oncology Nursing Society is the perfect time to
      reflect on the role that advanced practitioners in oncology (APOs) play in the
      care of patients with cancer. APOs have become an important part of cancer care.
      This group of professionals practicing in various settings includes physician
      assistants (PAs), clinical nurse specialists (CNSs), and nurse practitioners
      (NPs). Areas of practice include inpatient and outpatient settings, emergency
      departments, surgical centers, and community health clinics (Leonard & Grossman,
      2015), as well as academia and pharmaceutical companies. In practice, APOs
      typically assume a wide range of roles that can involve direct patient care,
      education (of patients and in a professional capacity), administration,
      consulting, and research. APOs often take on more than one of these roles. ?. 

PMID- 25840392
TI  - Acupuncture for menopausal hot flashes.

PMID- 25840391
TI  - Celebrating ONS's 40th anniversary and its commitment ?to cultural competency,
      diversity, and inclusiveness.
AB  - Today, we all have been taught that cultural competence is a valuable tool in
      providing patient-centered care. However, this concept was not considered a
      standard of oncology nursing practice when the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS)
      began. It was not regarded as a critical component of patient safety,
      satisfaction, or quality care. In fact, in the 1970s, the importance of providing
      culturally competent care was virtually nonexistent in our nation's government
      policies, regulatory standards, academic curriculum, or professional practice. ?.

PMID- 25840393
TI  - The obituary and the oncology nurse.

PMID- 25840394
TI  - Level of adherence to an extravasation protocol over 10 years in a tertiary care
      hospital.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Extravasation of chemotherapy is an undesirable complication related
      to the administration of antineoplastic therapy. Establishing the real incidence
      is difficult. Because of the importance of a quick intervention after an
      extravasation, every hospital should have an extravasation protocol. OBJECTIVES:
      The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of observance of an
      extravasation protocol by nursing staff and to determine extravasation incidence.
      METHODS: This descriptive, longitudinal, retrospective study was set in a
      tertiary-level hospital. The researchers reviewed 117 extravasation notification
      forms received by the pharmacy department during a 10-year period. Nursing
      actuation, particularly observance of the extravasation protocol, was analyzed.
      FINDINGS: Protocol adherence was 89%. Twelve deviations from the protocol in the
      application of recommended measures were detected. An antidote was used in 41
      patients, and temperature measures were applied in 14 cases. Ninety-nine patients
      had at least one episode of reported follow-up. No cases of necrosis or skin
      ulcers were described, except by one patient, who developed a delayed skin ulcer
      to vinorelbine. Drugs most frequently reported were etoposide, carboplatin, and
      paclitaxel. Nursing staff should be continuously trained in extravasation
      protocol because a rapid actuation can prevent skin lesions.

PMID- 25840395
TI  - Nursing management of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer
      undergoing radium-223 dichloride treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Radium-223 dichloride, or radium-223, is a first-in-class alpha
      emitter that selectively targets bone metastases with high-energy, short-range
      alpha particles and is approved for the treatment of patients with castration
      resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), symptomatic bone metastases, and no known
      visceral metastatic disease. Nurses are essential in educating patients about
      radium-223. OBJECTIVES: This article provides oncology nurses with information
      from the randomized phase III Alpharadin in Symptomatic Prostate Cancer
      (ALSYMPCA) trial, as well as important handling, administration, and safety
      details unique to radium-223. METHODS: Data from the ALSYMPCA trial and related
      published information on radium-223 were reviewed. FINDINGS: Radium-223 is the
      only alpha-emitting radiopharmaceutical that has been shown to improve overall
      survival in patients with CRPC, as demonstrated in the ALSYMPCA trial. In
      addition, radium-223 delays time to first symptomatic skeletal event, and it is
      well tolerated with a low incidence of myelosuppression and gastrointestinal
      adverse events. Delivered on an outpatient basis, radium-223 requires universal
      precautions for handling and administration. Because of the potential for
      additive myelosuppression, the concomitant use of radium-223 with chemotherapy,
      other systemic radioisotopes, or hemibody external radiation therapy is not
      recommended.

PMID- 25840396
TI  - Equivalence of temperature measurement methods in the adult hematology/oncology
      population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neutropenic patients often become febrile and require frequent
      temperature monitoring. Monitoring core body temperature is considered the gold
      standard for accuracy. Taking oral temperature is the recommended noninvasive
      practice when core body temperature cannot be obtained; however, neutropenic
      patients often, for various reasons, are unable to tolerate an oral probe.
      OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this article is to determine the equivalence of
      temperatures taken via temporal artery, axillary, and oral methods, and to
      determine the best alternative to the oral method in the adult
      hematology/oncology population. METHODS: A repeated measures equivalence design
      was used. A convenience sample of 40 data sets (N = 33 inpatients) was tested on
      a hematology/oncology inpatient unit in a National Cancer Institute-designated
      comprehensive cancer center in the southeastern United States. A Latin squares
      design was employed with three possible sequences of measurement. Demographic
      data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and equivalence was tested using
      the two one-sided tests method. Acceptance criterion for difference between
      methods was set at 0.2 degrees F from the oral method. FINDINGS: The temporal
      method is a potential noninvasive alternative to the oral method for the adult
      hematology/oncology population.

PMID- 25840397
TI  - Authentic caring occasions for patients in hairy cell leukemia clinical trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rare diseases present challenges for patients, healthcare providers,
      and researchers. Rare disease communities exist for collaboration, dissemination
      of information, and to promote support for all community members. Patients with a
      rare disease desire to be supported through a rare disease community. Hairy cell
      leukemia (HCL) is a rare adult B-cell lymphocytic cancer that currently has no
      cure. OBJECTIVES: Patients with relapsed or refractory HCL may need to consider
      participation in a clinical trial. The research nurse can initiate a planned
      caring occasion based on Watson's Theory of Human Caring. The purpose of the
      planned caring occasion for patients with HCL in clinical trials is to establish
      authentic intentional caring encounters between the research nurse and patients
      and meaningful caring encounters between patients. OBSERVATIONS: Relapsed or
      refractory patients enrolled in an HCL clinical trial identify the trial as a
      microcommunity and the research nurse as an advocate and liaison. Patients seek
      support, empowerment, and the opportunity to connect with other patients with
      HCL. The planned caring occasion has the potential to provide a healing
      environment and facilitate shared experiences of living with HCL. The potential
      outcome for patients is strengthened holistic wellness.

PMID- 25840398
TI  - Trans-splicing group I intron targeting hepatitis C virus IRES mediates cell
      death upon viral infection in Huh7.5 cells.
AB  - The HCV-IRES sequence is vital for both protein translation and genome
      replication and serves as a potential target for anti-HCV therapy. We constructed
      a series of anti-HCV group I introns (alphaHCV-GrpIs) to attack conserved target
      sites within the HCV IRES. These alphaHCV-GrpIs were designed to mediate a trans
      splicing reaction that replaces the viral RNA genome downstream of the 5' splice
      site with a 3' exon that encodes an apoptosis-inducing gene. Pro-active forms of
      the apoptosis inducing genes BID, Caspase 3, Caspase 8, or tBax were modified by
      incorporation of the HCV NS5A/5B cleavage sequence in place of their respective
      endogenous cleavage sites to ensure that only HCV infected cells would undergo
      apoptosis following splicing and expression. Huh7.5 cells transfected with each
      intron were challenged at MOI 0.1 with HCV-Jc1FLAG2 which expresses a Gaussia
      Luciferase (GLuc) marker. Virus-containing supernatants were then assayed for
      GLuc expression as a measure of viral replication inhibition. Cellular extracts
      were analyzed for the presence of correct splice products by RT-PCR and DNA
      sequencing. We also measured levels of Caspase 3 activity as a means of
      quantifying apoptotic cell death. Each of these alphaHCV-GrpI introns was able to
      correctly splice their 3' apoptotic exons onto the virus RNA genome at the
      targeted Uracil, and resulted in greater than 80% suppression of the GLuc marker.
      A more pronounced suppression effect was observed with TCID50 virus titrations,
      which demonstrated that these alphaHCV-GrpIs were able to suppress viral
      replication by more than 2 logs, or greater than 99%. Robust activation of the
      apoptotic factor within the challenged cells was evidenced by a significant
      increase of Caspase 3 activity upon viral infection compared to non-challenged
      cells. This novel genetic intervention tool may prove beneficial in certain HCV
      subjects.

PMID- 25840399
TI  - Spine surgery and malpractice liability in the United States.
AB  - BACKGROUND CONTEXT: The correlation of negative outcomes with aggressiveness of
      malpractice liability has been questioned in the literature. PURPOSE: The aim of
      this study was to investigate the association of malpractice liability with
      unfavorable outcomes and hospitalization charges in spine surgery. STUDY
      DESIGN/SETTING: This was a retrospective cohort study. PATIENT SAMPLE: The sample
      included a total of 709,951 patients undergoing spine surgery who were registered
      in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from 2005 to 2010. OUTCOME
      MEASURES: The outcome measures were state-level mortality, length of stay (LOS),
      and hospitalization charges after spinal surgery. METHODS: We performed a
      retrospective cohort study involving patients who underwent spine surgery from
      2005 to 2010 and were registered in NIS. We used data from the National
      Practitioner Data Bank from 2005 to 2010 to create measures of volume and size of
      malpractice claim payments. Their association of the latter with the outcome
      measures was investigated. RESULTS: During the study period, there were 707,951
      patients (mean age, 54.4 years, with 49.7% females) who underwent spine surgery
      and were registered in NIS. In a multivariable regression model, higher number of
      claims per 100 physicians in a state was associated with increased
      hospitalization charges (beta=0.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.13-0.14) and
      LOS (beta=0.041; 95% CI, 0.036-0.047). On the contrary, there was no association
      with mortality (odds ratio [OR], 0.99; 95% CI, 0.87-1.12). Larger magnitude of
      awarded claims was associated with increased hospitalization charges (beta=0.08;
      95% CI, 0.075-0.09) and LOS (beta=0.02; 95% CI, 0.016-0.031). On the contrary,
      there was no association with mortality (OR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.82-1.11).
      CONCLUSIONS: In the present national study, aggressive malpractice environment
      was not correlated with mortality but was associated with higher hospitalization
      charges after spine surgery. Further research is needed to identify ways to
      regulate the malpractice system to address these disparities.

PMID- 25840400
TI  - Hemodynamic effects of standard versus larger-capacity intraaortic balloon
      counterpulsation pumps.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Several recent trials have examined the clinical utility of
      intraaortic balloon counterpulsation pumps (IABPs) in cardiogenic shock and acute
      coronary syndromes. More recently, a larger-capacity 50 cc IABP was introduced
      into practice. No data comparing the hemodynamic effects of the 40 cc vs 50 cc
      IABP exist. Our aim was to explore the hemodynamic effects of the 50 cc IABP in
      real-world clinical practice. METHODS: Demographic, hemodynamic, and laboratory
      data were retrospectively examined in 26 consecutive subjects treated with a 50
      cc IABP and compared with 26 patients receiving a 40 cc IABP between 2012 and
      2013. IABP tracings were analyzed within 24 hours of implantation in all
      patients. Pulmonary artery catheter data were available before and after IABP
      implantation in 20 subjects. RESULTS: Baseline demographics, including body
      surface area, were similar between groups. Compared with the 40 cc IABP group, 50
      cc IABP recipients showed higher augmented diastolic blood pressure, greater
      systolic unloading, and a larger reduction in pulmonary capillary occlusion
      pressure (PCOP). Percent diastolic augmentation was higher among 50 cc IABP
      recipients. Only 58% of subjects achieved <10 mm Hg of systolic unloading in the
      40 cc group compared with 27% in the 50 cc group. For both the 40 cc and 50 cc
      IABPs, the magnitude of systolic unloading correlated inversely with PCOP and
      directly with the magnitude of diastolic augmentation. CONCLUSION: In real-world
      practice, greater systolic unloading and diastolic augmentation were observed
      among 50 cc vs 40 cc IABP recipients. Future trials evaluating the clinical
      utility of the 50 cc IABP are required.

PMID- 25840401
TI  - Differential hemodynamic profile of high-capacity intraaortic balloon pumps: new
      promise for an antiquated technology?

PMID- 25840402
TI  - First optical coherence tomography follow-up of coronary bifurcation lesions
      treated by drug-eluting balloons.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A strategy of percutaneous bifurcation intervention with provisional
      bare-metal stent (BMS) implantation followed by drug-eluting balloon (DEB)
      treatment represents a valuable opportunity in patients not compliant with long
      duration dual-antiplatelet therapy. We used optical coherence tomography (OCT) to
      assess coronary bifurcation lesions treated by BMS and DEB, and secondarily, to
      better explore the association between stent geometry and tissue coverage.
      METHODS: Twelve patients underwent frequency-domain OCT 6 months after undergoing
      percutaneous bifurcation intervention with BMS implantation followed by kissing
      DEB. The same type of BMS was correspondingly implanted in silicone bifurcation
      models and scanned by microcomputed tomography. RESULTS: Overall, a total 2914
      struts were analyzed, revealing 0.6% malapposed struts and 3.1% uncovered struts,
      with neointimal thickness of covered struts measured at 0.19 +/- 0.13 mm.
      Findings were homogeneous among patients with the exception of one outlier who
      presented a significant distortion of the stent geometry, suggesting proximal
      cell rewiring prior to kissing DEB, as supported by the microcomputed tomography
      model. This pattern was not present in the other cases, which showed struts
      optimally apposed and nicely scaffolding the side-branch ostium. CONCLUSION: This
      is the first study describing the effects of DEB in percutaneous bifurcation
      interventions according to OCT parameters. The results show that a strategy of
      kissing DEB following BMS is associated with low neointimal thickness and high
      rate of covered stent struts. Moreover, these results appear to be dependent on
      the quality of bifurcation intervention, with distal cell rewiring more favorable
      than proximal cell rewiring.

PMID- 25840403
TI  - Comparison of fluoro and cine coronary angiography: balancing acceptable outcomes
      with a reduction in radiation dose.
AB  - Use of last fluoro hold (LFH) mode in fluoroscopy, which enables the last live
      image to be saved and displayed, could reduce radiation during percutaneous
      coronary intervention when compared with cine mode. No previous study compared
      coronary angiography radiation doses and image quality between LFH and
      conventional cine mode techniques. METHODS: We compared cumulative dose-area
      product (DAP), cumulative air kerma, fluoroscopy time, contrast use,
      interobserver variability of visual assessment between LFH angiography, and
      conventional cine angiography techniques. Forty-six patients were prospectively
      enrolled into the LFH group and 82 patients into the cine angiography group
      according to operator decision. RESULTS: Mean cumulative DAP was higher in the
      cine group vs the LFH group (50058.98 +/- 53542.71 mGy*cm2 vs 11349.2 +/- 8796.46
      mGy*cm2; P<.001). Mean fluoroscopy times were higher in the cine group vs the LFH
      group (3.87 +/- 5.08 minutes vs 1.66 +/- 1.51 minutes; P<.01). Mean contrast use
      was higher in the cine group vs the LFH group (112.07 +/- 43.79 cc vs 88.15 +/-
      23.84 cc; P<.001). Mean value of Crombach's alpha was not statistically different
      between visual estimates of three operators between cine and LFH angiography
      groups (0.66680 +/- 0.19309 vs 0.54193 +/- 0.31046; P=.20). CONCLUSION: Radiation
      doses, contrast use, and fluoroscopy times are lower in fluoroscopic LFH
      angiography vs cine angiography. Interclass variability of visual stenosis
      estimation between three operators was not different between cine and LFH groups.
      Fluoroscopic LFH images conventionally have inferior diagnostic quality when
      compared with cine coronary angiography, but with new angiographic systems with
      improved LFH image quality, these images may be adequate for diagnostic coronary
      angiography.

PMID- 25840404
TI  - The association between the extent of coronary artery disease and major bleeding
      events after percutaneous coronary intervention: from the ACUITY trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate the relation between the extent of coronary
      artery disease (CAD) and bleeding risk in patients undergoing percutaneous
      coronary intervention (PCI) for non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome
      (NSTEACS). BACKGROUND: Patients with severe CAD undergoing PCI for NSTEACS are at
      high risk for recurrent adverse events. Hemorrhagic events after PCI are
      associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Despite sharing many
      common risk factors, the relationship between the extent of CAD and bleeding
      after PCI remains understudied. METHODS: The SYNTAX score (SS) was used to
      quantify the extent and severity of CAD. We stratified 2627 patients from the
      ACUITY PCI cohort into SS groups based on score tertiles from the ACUITY trial
      (<7, 7-12, and >12). Thirty-day major bleeding rates were determined for each
      group. RESULTS: When stratified by ACUITY tertiles, 30-day major bleeding rates
      were significantly greater in the highest SS tertile (>12) than in the
      intermediate and lowest tertiles (P<.01). By multivariable analysis, the SS (by
      augmentation of 1 point) remained independently associated with 30-day major
      bleeding (hazard ratio = 1.03; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.04; P<.01).
      CONCLUSION: The results of this large-scale study suggest that in addition to its
      previously described association with adverse ischemic events, the extent of CAD,
      as assessed by the SS, was independently associated with major bleeding after PCI
      for NSTEACS.

PMID- 25840405
TI  - Clinical outcomes of patients with critical limb ischemia who undergo routine
      coronary angiography and subsequent percutaneous coronary intervention.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is associated with a high risk of
      cardiovascular ischemic events. We assessed the strategy of routine coronary
      angiography and subsequent coronary revascularization, if clinically indicated,
      in patients with CLI who underwent percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA).
      METHODS: Of a total 286 consecutive CLI patients treated by PTA, 252 patients who
      underwent coronary angiography before or after PTA were enrolled. Coronary artery
      disease (CAD) was defined as angiographic stenosis >=50% and significant CAD as
      >=70% stenosis. RESULTS: Of the 252 patients with CLI who underwent coronary
      angiography, a total of 167 patients (66.3%) had CAD and 85 patients (33.7%) did
      not have CAD. Patients in the CAD group were older, had a higher prevalence of
      diabetes and cerebrovascular disease, and had a lower mean ejection fraction. In
      the CAD group, of the 145 patients with significant CAD, percutaneous coronary
      intervention (PCI) was performed in 114 patients (78.6%). At 1 year, the CAD and
      non-CAD groups had no statistically significant differences in mortality (7.1% vs
      4.7%; P=.45), myocardial infarction (1.1% vs 0%; P=.31), and PCI (4.7% vs 1.1%;
      P=.31). These outcomes were similar after the adjustment of baseline confounders.
      At 1 year, the CAD and non-CAD groups had similar rates of repeat PTA (16.7% vs
      17.6%; P=.86), target lesion revascularization (13.7% vs 14.1%; P=.94), and
      amputation (19.1% vs 16.4%; P=.60). CONCLUSION: A strategy of routine coronary
      angiography and coronary revascularization may be a reasonable treatment option
      for these patients who have high risk for severe CAD. A randomized trial is
      needed to determine if this is the preferred strategy for CLI patients.

PMID- 25840406
TI  - Forearm arterial anatomy and flow characteristics: a prospective observational
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Morphometric data on Caucasian radial and ulnar arteries are limited,
      with no data on flow interdependence in the forearm arterial circuit. METHODS: A
      total of 250 upper extremities in 125 patients were evaluated. Ultrasonography
      was performed and radial and ulnar artery lumen diameters were measured. Ulnar
      artery (UA) was compressed at the level of the wrist, and flow parameters in
      radial artery (RA) were recorded using duplex Doppler ultrasound. RESULTS: Radial
      and ulnar artery diameters were comparable at the level of the distal forearm (RA
      = 2.03 +/- 0.28 mm, UA = 2.07 +/- 0.27 mm; P=.14). There was no significant
      difference in radial or ulnar artery diameter between the dominant upper
      extremity and the non-dominant upper extremity. Upon compression of the ulnar
      artery, radial artery velocity-time integral (VTI) increased from 8.4 +/- 3.8 cm
      to 12.8 +/- 5.5 cm, which was statistically significant (P<.001). There was a
      significant inverse correlation between radial artery diameter and the magnitude
      of increase in radial VTI observed with UA compression (r2 = 0.106; P<.001).
      CONCLUSION: RA diameter at the level of the distal forearm is comparable to UA.
      RA-VTI and likely flow significantly increase by compression of the UA. The
      smaller the radial artery, the larger the increase in radial artery flow with
      ulnar compression.

PMID- 25840407
TI  - The clinical implications of balloon rupture during cardiovascular interventions.
AB  - Balloon rupture is an infrequent complication of cardiac catheterization that can
      lead to vessel injury. We report 6 cases that highlight the potential
      consequences of balloon rupture, including perforation, dissection, balloon
      entrapment, and distal embolization, and discuss prevention and treatment
      strategies. 

PMID- 25840408
TI  - Transcatheter closure of five atrial septal communications in the presence of
      severe pulmonary arterial hypertension and severe left ventricular non
      compliance.
AB  - Closure of congenital atrial communications in the presence of either severe
      pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) with pulmonary-to-systemic (right-to-left)
      shunting, or severe left ventricular (LV) non-compliance with left-to-right
      shunting is often considered prohibitive. Thus, the recognition of durable
      reversibility of these physiologic conditions is crucial. We describe a
      hemodynamic conundrum in a patient with five septal communications in whom the
      coexistence of unmasked bidirectional physiologic shunting, severe PAH, and
      worsening left-sided overload dissuaded initial closure. We report our strategy
      for hemodynamic evaluation and successful closure of all defects. 

PMID- 25840409
TI  - Rotational atherectomy in the era of cost containment.

PMID- 25840411
TI  - Occurrence, profiles, and ecological risks of polybrominated diphenyl ethers
      (PBDEs) in river sediments of Shanghai, China.
AB  - Fifty-two PBDE congeners in river sediments from Shanghai were analyzed in the
      present study. The concentrations of Sigma51PBDEs (defined as the sum of 51 BDE
      congeners except BDE209) and BDE209 ranged from 0.231 to 119 ng g(-1) and from nd
      to 189 ng g(-1), respectively. The most abundant BDE congeners in surface
      sediments were BDE118, 207, 208, 99, 49, 75, 47, 71 and 209, with median values
      of 1.67, 1.81, 1.83, 1.87, 1.98, 2.52, 2.73, 4.62 and 45.7 ng g(-1) dw,
      respectively. The concentrations of Sigma52PBDEs were significantly correlated
      with total organic carbon (TOC) content in sediments (p < 0.05). Weak
      correlations between all PBDE homologues and TOC (r < 0.32) suggest that TOC had
      a little influence on sediment PBDE transport and distribution patterns in river
      sediments of Shanghai. Correspondence analysis (CA) showed that PBDEs in
      sediments in the studied area originated from commercial BDE formulations,
      combustion emission sources, and debromination of highly brominated PBDEs by
      aerobic/anaerobic microbes or sunlight. Risk assessment based on risk quotients
      (RQ) showed that PBDEs in all river sediments collected from Shanghai posed a
      high potential ecological risk (RQ > 1) to the sediment dwelling organisms, and
      pentaBDE, decaBDE and tetraBDE were the major ecological risk drivers.

PMID- 25840412
TI  - High-level Gpr56 expression is dispensable for the maintenance and function of
      hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in mice.
AB  - Blood formation by hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is regulated by a still
      incompletely defined network of general and HSC-specific regulators. In this
      study, we analyzed the role of G-protein coupled receptor 56 (Gpr56) as a
      candidate HSC regulator based on its differential expression in quiescent
      relative to proliferating HSCs and its common targeting by core HSC regulators.
      Detailed expression analysis revealed that Gpr56 is abundantly expressed by HSPCs
      during definitive hematopoiesis in the embryo and in the adult bone marrow, but
      its levels are reduced substantially as HSPCs differentiate. However, despite
      enriched expression in HSPCs, Gpr56-deficiency did not impair HSPC maintenance or
      function during steady-state or myeloablative stress-induced hematopoiesis. Gpr56
      deficient HSCs also responded normally to physiological and pharmacological
      mobilization signals, despite the reported role of this GPCR as a regulator of
      cell adhesion and migration in neuronal cells. Moreover, Gpr56-deficient bone
      marrow engrafted with equivalent efficiency as wild-type HSCs in primary
      recipients; however, their reconstituting ability was reduced when subjected to
      serial transplantation. These data indicate that although GPR56 is abundantly and
      selectively expressed by primitive HSPCs, its high level expression is largely
      dispensable for steady-state and regenerative hematopoiesis. 

PMID- 25840413
TI  - Development of a protein marker panel for characterization of human induced
      pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) using global quantitative proteome analysis.
AB  - The emergence of new methods for reprogramming of adult somatic cells into
      induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) led to the development of new approaches in
      drug discovery and regenerative medicine. Investigation of the molecular
      mechanisms underlying the self-renewal, expansion and differentiation of human
      iPSC (hiPSC) should lead to improvements in the manufacture of safe and reliable
      cell therapy products. The goal of our study was qualitative and quantitative
      proteomic characterizations of hiPSC by means of electrospray ionization (ESI)
      MS(e) and MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry (MS). Proteomes of hiPSCs of different
      somatic origins: fibroblasts and peripheral blood CD34(+) cells, reprogrammed by
      the same technique, were compared with the original somatic cells and hESC.
      Quantitative proteomic comparison revealed approximately 220 proteins commonly up
      regulated in all three pluripotent stem cell lines compared to the primary cells.
      Expression of 21 proteins previously reported as pluripotency markers was up
      regulated in both hiPSCs (8 were confirmed by Western blot). A number of novel
      candidate marker proteins with the highest fold-change difference between
      hiPSCs/hESC and somatic cells discovered by MS were confirmed by Western blot. A
      panel of 22 candidate marker proteins of hiPSC was developed and expression of
      these proteins was confirmed in 8 additional hiPSC lines. 

PMID- 25840414
TI  - Multiple layers of chimerism in a single-stranded DNA virus discovered by deep
      sequencing.
AB  - Viruses with single-stranded (ss) DNA genomes infect hosts in all three domains
      of life and include many medically, ecologically, and economically important
      pathogens. Recently, a new group of ssDNA viruses with chimeric genomes has been
      discovered through viral metagenomics. These chimeric viruses combine capsid
      protein genes and replicative protein genes that, respectively, appear to have
      been inherited from viruses with positive-strand RNA genomes, such as
      tombusviruses, and ssDNA genomes, such as circoviruses, nanoviruses or
      geminiviruses. Here, we describe the genome sequence of a new representative of
      this virus group and reveal an additional layer of chimerism among ssDNA viruses.
      We show that not only do these viruses encompass genes for capsid proteins and
      replicative proteins that have distinct evolutionary histories, but also the
      replicative genes themselves are chimeras of functional domains inherited from
      viruses of different families. Our results underscore the importance of
      horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of ssDNA viruses and the role of
      genetic recombination in the emergence of novel virus groups. 

PMID- 25840415
TI  - Recent positive selection has acted on genes encoding proteins with more
      interactions within the whole human interactome.
AB  - Genes vary in their likelihood to undergo adaptive evolution. The genomic factors
      that determine adaptability, however, remain poorly understood. Genes function in
      the context of molecular networks, with some occupying more important positions
      than others and thus being likely to be under stronger selective pressures.
      However, how positive selection distributes across the different parts of
      molecular networks is still not fully understood. Here, we inferred positive
      selection using comparative genomics and population genetics approaches through
      the comparison of 10 mammalian and 270 human genomes, respectively. In agreement
      with previous results, we found that genes with lower network centralities are
      more likely to evolve under positive selection (as inferred from divergence
      data). Surprisingly, polymorphism data yield results in the opposite direction
      than divergence data: Genes with higher centralities are more likely to have been
      targeted by recent positive selection during recent human evolution. Our results
      indicate that the relationship between centrality and the impact of adaptive
      evolution highly depends on the mode of positive selection and/or the
      evolutionary time-scale. 

PMID- 25840416
TI  - Plastid genome-based phylogeny pinpointed the origin of the green-colored plastid
      in the dinoflagellate Lepidodinium chlorophorum.
AB  - Unlike many other photosynthetic dinoflagellates, whose plastids contain a
      characteristic carotenoid peridinin, members of the genus Lepidodinium are the
      only known dinoflagellate species possessing green alga-derived plastids.
      However, the precise origin of Lepidodinium plastids has hitherto remained
      uncertain. In this study, we completely sequenced the plastid genome of
      Lepidodinium chlorophorum NIES-1868. Our phylogenetic analyses of 52 plastid
      encoded proteins unite L. chlorophorum exclusively with a pedinophyte,
      Pedinomonas minor, indicating that the green-colored plastids in Lepidodinium
      spp. were derived from an endosymbiotic pedinophyte or a green alga closely
      related to pedinophytes. Our genome comparison incorporating the origin of the
      Lepidodinium plastids strongly suggests that the endosymbiont plastid genome
      acquired by the ancestral Lepidodinium species has lost genes encoding proteins
      involved in metabolism and biosynthesis, protein/metabolite transport, and
      plastid division during the endosymbiosis. We further discuss the commonalities
      and idiosyncrasies in genome evolution between the L. chlorophorum plastid and
      other plastids acquired through endosymbiosis of eukaryotic photoautotrophs. 

PMID- 25840417
TI  - Novel cross talk between IGF-IR and DDR1 regulates IGF-IR trafficking, signaling
      and biological responses.
AB  - The insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR), plays a key role in
      regulating mammalian development and growth, and is frequently deregulated in
      cancer contributing to tumor initiation and progression. Discoidin domain
      receptor 1 (DDR1), a collagen receptor tyrosine-kinase, is as well frequently
      overexpressed in cancer and implicated in cancer progression. Thus, we
      investigated whether a functional cross-talk between the IGF-IR and DDR1 exists
      and plays any role in cancer progression.Using human breast cancer cells we found
      that DDR1 constitutively associated with the IGF-IR. However, this interaction
      was enhanced by IGF-I stimulation, which promoted rapid DDR1 tyrosine
      phosphorylation and co-internalization with the IGF-IR. Significantly, DDR1 was
      critical for IGF-IR endocytosis and trafficking into early endosomes, IGF-IR
      protein expression and IGF-I intracellular signaling and biological effects,
      including cell proliferation, migration and colony formation. These biological
      responses were inhibited by DDR1 silencing and enhanced by DDR1
      overexpression.Experiments in mouse fibroblasts co-transfected with the human IGF
      IR and DDR1 gave similar results and indicated that, in the absence of IGF-IR,
      collagen-dependent phosphorylation of DDR1 is impaired.These results demonstrate
      a critical role of DDR1 in the regulation of IGF-IR action, and identify DDR1 as
      a novel important target for breast cancers that overexpress IGF-IR.

PMID- 25840418
TI  - NGF-induced TrkA/CD44 association is involved in tumor aggressiveness and
      resistance to lestaurtinib.
AB  - There is accumulating evidence that TrkA and its ligand Nerve Growth Factor (NGF)
      are involved in cancer development. Staurosporine derivatives such as K252a and
      lestaurtinib have been developed to block TrkA kinase signaling, but no clinical
      trial has fully demonstrated their therapeutic efficacy. Therapeutic failures are
      likely due to the existence of intrinsic signaling pathways in cancer cells that
      impede or bypass the effects of TrkA tyrosine kinase inhibitors. To verify this
      hypothesis, we combined different approaches including mass spectrometry
      proteomics, co-immunoprecipitation and proximity ligation assays. We found that
      NGF treatment induced CD44 binding to TrkA at the plasma membrane and subsequent
      activation of the p115RhoGEF/RhoA/ROCK1 pathway to stimulate breast cancer cell
      invasion. The NGF-induced CD44 signaling was independent of TrkA kinase activity.
      Moreover, both TrkA tyrosine kinase inhibition with lestaurtinib and CD44
      silencing with siRNA inhibited cell growth in vitro as well as tumor development
      in mouse xenograft model; combined treatment significantly enhanced the
      antineoplastic effects of either treatment alone. Altogether, our results
      demonstrate that NGF-induced tyrosine kinase independent TrkA signaling through
      CD44 was sufficient to maintain tumor aggressiveness. Our findings provide an
      alternative mechanism of cancer resistance to lestaurtinib and indicate that dual
      inhibition of CD44 and TrkA tyrosine kinase activity may represent a novel
      therapeutic strategy. 

PMID- 25840419
TI  - MiR-195 suppresses non-small cell lung cancer by targeting CHEK1.
AB  - MiR-195 suppresses tumor growth and is associated with better survival outcomes
      in several malignancies including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Our
      previous study showed high miR-195 plasma levels associated with favorable
      overall survival of non-smoking women with lung adenocarcinoma. To further
      elucidate role of miR-195 in NSCLC, we conducted in vitro experiment as well as
      clinical studies in a cohort of 299 NSCLC samples. We demonstrated that miR-195
      expression was lower in tumor tissues and was associated with poor survival
      outcome. Overexpression of miR-195 suppressed tumor cell growth, migration and
      invasion. We discovered that CHEK1 was a direct target of miR-195, which
      decreased CHEK1 expression in lung cancer cells. High expression of CHEK1 in lung
      tumors was associated with poor overall survival. Our results suggest that miR
      195 suppresses NSCLC and predicts lung cancer prognosis. 

PMID- 25840420
TI  - Polymorphism in one-carbon metabolism pathway affects survival of gastric cancer
      patients: Large and comprehensive study.
AB  - Although it has been shown that polymorphisms in one-carbon metabolism (OCM)
      pathway are associated with gastric cancer (GC), their interactions and
      contributions for patients' survival are elusive. In this study, we investigated
      the effects of polymorphisms and their interactions on the survival of GC
      patients, including genes of Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR 677C > T,
      1298A > C), Methionine synthase reductase (MTRR 66A > G), Methionine synthase
      (MTR 2756A > G), and Thymidylate synthase (TS 3'-UTR ins6 > del6, 5'-UTR 2R >
      3R). We recruited 919 GC patients from 1998 to 2006. The Kaplan-Meier plots, Cox
      regression analyses and the log-rank tests were carried out in this study. MTHFR
      1298CC genotype showed protective effect (HR = 0.444, 95% CI = 0.210-0.940). MTRR
      66 GA + GG genotypes decreased the risk of death (HR = 0.793, 95% CI = 0.651
      0.967) in general, and in subgroups with more pronounced diffuse type, greater
      depth of invasion (T2/T3/T4), higher level lymph node metastasis (N1/N2/N3),
      advanced TNM stages (II/III level) and 5-Fu treatment. However, the improved
      survival disappeared when GC patients simultaneously had MTR 2756 GA + GG
      genotypes (HR = 1.063, 95% CI = 0.750-1.507). Although MTRR 66GA genotype was not
      associated with the survival of GC patients, patients with simultaneous MTRR 66GA
      and MTR 2756AA genotypes exhibited significant risk reduction of death (HR =
      0.773, 95% CI = 0.609-0.981). MTHFR 1298 CA + CC combined with TS 5-UTR 2R3R +
      3R3R genotypes (HR = 0.536, 95% CI = 0.315-0.913) also increased patient survival
      rates. Our results suggest that the MTRR 66A > G and MTHFR 1298A > C
      polymorphisms may be useful prognostic biomarkers for GC patients. 

PMID- 25840421
TI  - Dual targeting of microtubule and topoisomerase II by alpha-carboline derivative
      YCH337 for tumor proliferation and growth inhibition.
AB  - Both microtubule and topoisomerase II (Top2) are important anticancer targets and
      their respective inhibitors are widely used in combination for cancer therapy.
      However, some combinations could be mutually antagonistic and drug resistance
      further limits their therapeutic efficacy. Here we report YCH337, a novel alpha
      carboline derivative that targets both microtubule and Top2, eliciting tumor
      proliferation and growth inhibition and overcoming drug resistance. YCH337
      inhibited microtubule polymerization by binding to the colchicine site and
      subsequently led to mitotic arrest. It also suppressed Top2 and caused DNA double
      strand breaks. It disrupted microtubule more potently than Top2. YCH337 induced
      reversible mitotic arrest at low concentrations but persistent DNA damage. YCH337
      caused intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis and decreased MCL-1, cIAP1 and XIAP
      proteins. In this aspect, YCH337 behaved differently from the combination of
      vincristine and etoposide. YCH337 inhibited proliferation of tumor cells with an
      averaged IC50 of 0.3 MUM. It significantly suppressed the growth of HT-29
      xenografts in nude mice too. Importantly, YCH337 nearly equally killed different
      mechanism-mediated resistant tumor cells and corresponding parent cells. Together
      with the novelty of its chemical structure, YCH337 could serve as a promising
      lead for drug development and a prototype for a dual microtubule/Top2 targeting
      strategy for cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25840422
TI  - The Attentional Fields of Visual Search in Simultanagnosia and Healthy
      Individuals: How Object and Space Attention Interact.
AB  - Simultanagnosia is a deficit in which patients are unable to perceive multiple
      objects simultaneously. To date, it remains disputed whether this deficit results
      from disrupted object or space perception. We asked both healthy participants as
      well as a patient with simultanagnosia to perform different visual search tasks
      of variable difficulty. We also modulated the number of objects (target and
      distracters) presented. For healthy participants, we found that each visual
      search task was performed with a specific "attentional field" depending on the
      difficulty of visual object processing but not on the number of objects falling
      within this "working space." This was demonstrated by measuring the cost in
      reaction times using different gaze-contingent visible window sizes. We found
      that bilateral damage to the superior parietal lobule impairs the spatial
      integration of separable features (within-object processing), shrinking the
      attentional field in which a target can be detected, but causing no deficit in
      processing multiple objects per se. 

PMID- 25840423
TI  - Intracortical Posterior Cingulate Myelin Content Relates to Error Processing:
      Results from T1- and T2-Weighted MRI Myelin Mapping and Electrophysiology in
      Healthy Adults.
AB  - Myelin content of the cerebral cortex likely impacts cognitive functioning, but
      this notion has scarcely been investigated in vivo in humans. Here we tested for
      a relationship between intracortical myelin and a direct measure of neural
      activity in the form of the electrophysiological response error-related
      negativity (ERN). Using magnetic resonance imaging, myelin mapping was performed
      in 81 healthy adults aged 40-60 years by means of a T1- and T2-weighted (T1w/T2w)
      signal intensity ratio approach. Error trials on a version of the Eriksen flanker
      task triggered the ERN, a negative deflection of the event-related potential
      reflecting performance monitoring. Compelling evidence from neuroimaging, lesion,
      and source localization studies indicates that the ERN stems from the cingulate
      cortex. Vertex-wise analyses across the cingulate demonstrated that increased
      amplitude of the ERN was related to higher levels of intracortical myelin in the
      left posterior cingulate cortex. The association was independent of general
      ability level and subjacent white matter myelin. The results fit the notion that
      degree of myelin within the posterior cingulate cortex as measured by T1w/T2w
      signal intensity plays a role in error processing and cognitive control through
      the relationship with neural activity as measured by ERN amplitude, potentially
      by facilitating local neural synchronization.

PMID- 25840424
TI  - Dynamics of Ionic Shifts in Cortical Spreading Depression.
AB  - Cortical spreading depression is a slowly propagating wave of near-complete
      depolarization of brain cells followed by temporary suppression of neuronal
      activity. Accumulating evidence indicates that cortical spreading depression
      underlies the migraine aura and that similar waves promote tissue damage in
      stroke, trauma, and hemorrhage. Cortical spreading depression is characterized by
      neuronal swelling, profound elevation of extracellular potassium and glutamate,
      multiphasic blood flow changes, and drop in tissue oxygen tension. The slow speed
      of the cortical spreading depression wave implies that it is mediated by
      diffusion of a chemical substance, yet the identity of this substance and the
      pathway it follows are unknown. Intercellular spread between gap junction-coupled
      neurons or glial cells and interstitial diffusion of K(+) or glutamate have been
      proposed. Here we use extracellular direct current potential recordings, K(+)
      sensitive microelectrodes, and 2-photon imaging with ultrasensitive Ca(2+) and
      glutamate fluorescent probes to elucidate the spatiotemporal dynamics of ionic
      shifts associated with the propagation of cortical spreading depression in the
      visual cortex of adult living mice. Our data argue against intercellular spread
      of Ca(2+) carrying the cortical spreading depression wavefront and are in favor
      of interstitial K(+) diffusion, rather than glutamate diffusion, as the leading
      event in cortical spreading depression. 

PMID- 25840427
TI  - On the coffee theory of disease.

PMID- 25840426
TI  - Hospital costs during the first 5 years of life for multiples compared with
      singletons born after IVF or ICSI.
AB  - STUDY QUESTION: Do in vitro fertilization (IVF) multiples generate higher
      hospital costs than IVF singletons, from birth up to age 5? SUMMARY ANSWER:
      Hospital costs from birth up to age 5 were significantly higher among IVF/ICSI
      multiple children compared with IVF/ICSI singletons; however, when excluding the
      costs incurred during the birth admission period, hospital costs of multiples and
      singletons were comparable. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Concern has risen over the
      long-term outcome of children born after IVF. The increased incidence of multiple
      births in IVF as a result of double-embryo transfer predisposes children to a
      poorer neonatal outcome such as preterm birth and low birthweight. As a
      consequence, IVF multiples require more medical care. Costs and consequences of
      poorer neonatal outcomes in multiples may also exist later in life. STUDY DESIGN,
      SIZE, DURATION: All 5497 children born from IVF in 2003-2005, whose parents
      received IVF or ICSI treatment in one of five participating Dutch IVF centers,
      served as a basis for a retrospective cohort study. Based on gestational age,
      birthweight, Apgar and congenital malformation, children were assigned to one of
      three risk strata (low-, moderate- or high-risk). PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS,
      SETTING, METHODS: To enhance the efficiency of the data collection, 816 multiples
      and 584 singletons were selected for 5-year follow-up based on stratified (risk)
      sampling. Parental informed consent was received of 322 multiples and 293
      singletons. Individual-level hospital resource use data (hospitalization,
      outpatient visits and medical procedures) were retrieved from hospital
      information systems and patient charts for 302 multiples and 278 singletons. MAIN
      RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: The risk of hospitalization (OR 4.9, 95% CI 3.3
      7.0), outpatient visits (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.8-3.6) and medical procedures (OR 1.7,
      95% CI 1.2-2.2) was higher for multiples compared with singletons. The average
      hospital costs amounted to ?10 018 and ?2093 during the birth admission period (P
      < 0.001), ?1131 and ?696 after the birth admission period to the first birthday
      (not significant (n.s.)) and ?1084 and ?938 from the second to the fifth life
      year (n.s.) for multiples and singletons, respectively. Hospital costs from birth
      up to age 5 were 3.3-fold higher for multiples compared with singletons (P <
      0.001). Among multiples and singletons, respectively, 90.8 and 76.2% of the total
      hospital costs were caused by hospital admission days and 8.9 and 25.2% of the
      total hospital costs during the first 5 years of life occurred after the first
      year of life. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: Resource use and costs outside
      the hospital were not included in the analysis. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE
      FINDINGS: This study confirms the increased use of healthcare resources by
      IVF/ICSI multiples compared with IVF/ICSI singletons. Single-embryo transfer may
      result in substantial savings, particularly in the birth admission period. These
      savings need to be compared with the extra costs of additional embryo transfers
      needed to achieve a successful pregnancy. Besides costs, health outcomes of
      children born after single-embryo transfer should be compared with those born
      after double-embryo transfer. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS: This study was
      supported by a research grant (grant number 80-82310-98-09094) from the
      Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw). There are
      no conflicts of interest in connection with this article. TRIAL REGISTRATION
      NUMBER: Not applicable.

PMID- 25840425
TI  - Cognitive Correlates of Basal Forebrain Atrophy and Associated Cortical
      Hypometabolism in Mild Cognitive Impairment.
AB  - Degeneration of basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic nuclei is associated with
      cognitive decline, and this effect is believed to be mediated by neuronal
      dysfunction in the denervated cortical areas. MRI-based measurements of BF
      atrophy are increasingly being used as in vivo surrogate markers for cholinergic
      degeneration, but the functional implications of reductions in BF volume are not
      well understood. We used high-resolution MRI, fluorodeoxyglucose-positron
      emission tomography (PET), and neuropsychological test data of 132 subjects with
      mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 177 cognitively normal controls to determine
      associations between BF atrophy, cortical hypometabolism, and cognitive deficits.
      BF atrophy in MCI correlated with both impaired memory function and attentional
      control deficits, whereas hippocampus volume was more specifically associated
      with memory deficits. BF atrophy was also associated with widespread cortical
      hypometabolism, and path analytic models indicated that hypometabolism in domain
      specific cortical networks mediated the association between BF volume and
      cognitive dysfunction. The presence of cortical amyloid pathology, as assessed
      using AV45-PET, did not significantly interact with the observed associations.
      These data underline the potential of multimodal imaging markers to study
      structure-function-cognition relationships in the living human brain and provide
      important in vivo evidence for an involvement of the human BF in cortical
      activity and cognitive function.

PMID- 25840428
TI  - Insulin action in women with polycystic ovary syndrome and its relation to
      gestational diabetes.
AB  - STUDY QUESTION: How does insulin action change during pregnancy in women with
      polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) who develop gestational diabetes (GDM) compared
      with women with PCOS who do not? SUMMARY ANSWER: Women with PCOS who develop GDM
      already show disturbed insulin action early in pregnancy. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY:
      Pregnant women with PCOS are at increased risk of developing GDM compared with
      women without PCOS. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: This study represents a post
      hoc analysis of a subgroup of pregnant women with PCOS participating in a
      multicentre prospective cohort study. A total of 72 women were included.
      PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Women with PCOS and a wish to conceive
      were included before conception and followed during pregnancy. Insulin, glucose,
      homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), sex hormone-binding
      globulin (SHBG) and testosterone were analysed at three different time points in
      women who developed GDM and women who did not. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF
      CHANCE: Seventy-two pregnant women with PCOS were included of which 22 (31%)
      women developed GDM. Both insulin levels and HOMA-IR were significantly higher at
      each sampling point in women with PCOS who developed GDM. SHBG levels were
      significantly lower before conception and in the second trimester compared with
      women who did not develop GDM. Testosterone concentrations were significantly
      lower before conception in women who developed GDM. After adjusting for BMI,
      waist circumference and waist/hip ratio, the differences in insulin, HOMA-IR,
      SHBG and testosterone levels remained largely the same. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR
      CAUTION: Selection bias cannot be excluded since only women from one centre with
      a complete blood sampling set were included in this study. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF
      THE FINDINGS: The knowledge that women with PCOS who develop GDM already have a
      disturbed insulin action early in pregnancy is likely to be useful in considering
      the pathophysiology processes underlying this disorder in this specific group of
      women. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS: This study was funded by the Child
      Health research programme of the University Medical Centre Utrecht. M.A.d.W.,
      A.J.G., S.M.V.-V., A.F. and M.P.H.K. have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
      M.J.C.E. has received grant support from the following companies (in alphabetic
      order): Illumina and MSD. B.C.J.M.F. has received fees and grant support from the
      following companies (in alphabetic order): Ferring, Ova-Science, PregLem SA,
      Roche and Watson Laboratories. The authors declare complete independence from
      funders. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Clinicaltrials.gov, number NCT00821379.

PMID- 25840429
TI  - Sublingual versus vaginal misoprostol for cervical dilatation 1 or 3 h prior to
      surgical abortion: a double-blinded RCT.
AB  - STUDY QUESTION: Can sublingual administration of misoprostol 1 h prior to vacuum
      aspiration be more effective than vaginal administration and as effective as
      either route three 3 h prior to surgery? SUMMARY ANSWER: Sublingually
      administered misoprostol is superior to vaginally administered misoprostol when
      given 1 h pre operatively, and it is as effective as after a three 3 h priming
      interval with either route of administration. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Misoprostol
      reduces complications and morbidity when used for cervical priming prior to
      surgical dilatation and vacuum aspiration in first trimester pregnancy. Despite
      the widespread use and extensive studies, the optimal route of administration of
      misoprostol before surgical abortion remains to be defined. The optimal priming
      interval after vaginal and sublingual administration of 400 mcg misoprostol has
      been reported to be 3 h. A longer interval will not improve dilatation but will
      increase the risk for bleeding and expulsion of the uterine contents before
      surgical evacuation. The pharmacokinetic properties of misoprostol indicate that
      sublingual compared with vaginal administration of misoprostol may result in a
      more rapid cervical priming effect. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: Women were
      randomized to four treatment groups and received 400 mcg misoprostol
      sublingually, or vaginally, 1 or 3 h prior to surgery. The study was a double
      blinded RCT with regard to route of misoprostol administration but not the timing
      interval. The primary outcome was baseline cervical dilatation after misoprostol
      priming. The study was conducted between June 2007 and March 2014 and 184 women
      aged 18 years or older were recruited. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS:
      Women were recruited among nulliparous women undergoing elective surgical first
      trimester abortion. Exclusion criteria were any contraindication for misoprostol,
      untreated genital infection, previous history of surgery to the cervix, or
      abnormal pregnancy. Gestational age was established by endovaginal ultrasound
      examination. The trial was conducted in a university hospital outpatient clinic.
      The allocated medication (misoprostol and placebo) was self-administered 1 h or 3
      h prior to surgery. All women received 2 tablets of 200 mcg misoprostol and 2
      identical looking placebo tablets. Prophylactic pain medication, 100 mg oral
      diclofenac, was administered at the time of misoprostol. Side effects were
      recorded immediately before surgery and women were asked which administration
      route of administration they found most convenient and which they would have
      preferred. The exact priming time (from misoprostol administration to initiation
      of dilatation) and signs of bleeding prior to dilatation were recorded. Vacuum
      aspiration was performed under general anaesthesia according to clinical routine.
      Dilatation was performed using tapered Pratt-dilatators and the resistance of the
      cervix was assessed objectively using a tonometer. All surgery was performed by
      two investigators, experienced in using the tonometer. The cumulative force
      required to dilate the cervix was calculated by adding the peak force needed for
      each dilatator up to 9.7 mm. The time needed for surgery including cervical
      dilatation and vacuum aspiration, was recorded. Intra-operative blood loss was
      measured and any surgical complications noted. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF
      CHANCE: Six women were excluded retrospectively from the analysis. Multivariate
      analysis of the primary outcome baseline dilatation showed a significant
      influence on route of administration (P = 0.034, 95% confidence interval (CI) 
      2.202, -0.086) as well as the interaction variable between route of
      administration and total priming time (P = 0.042, 95% CI 0.00, 0.016), with the
      vaginal route becoming more effective with longer priming time. These factors
      also had a significant influence on the peak force (administration route P =
      0.042, 95% CI 0.221, 12.427, interaction P = 0.049, 95% CI -0.089, 0.000) and
      cumulative force (administration route P = 0.023, 95% CI 3.142, 40.877,
      interaction P = 0.026, 95% CI -0.293, -0.019) used for dilatation. The total
      priming time had a significant influence on bleeding before surgery, with more
      women bleeding the longer the total priming time (P = 0.003, 95% CI 2.203,
      49.706). For abdominal pain before surgery there was a significant influence of
      administration route (P = < 0.001 95% CI 0.028, 0.235) and the interaction
      variable between administration route and priming time (P = 0.003, 95% CI 2.005,
      30.757) with more women in the sublingual group experiencing abdominal pain the
      longer the priming time. The groups did not differ regarding duration of surgery,
      amount of bleeding and rate of side effects, such as nausea and shivering. Women
      in our study preferred vaginal treatment, as they disliked the taste of the
      misoprostol tablets. Vaginal treatment was also perceived as quicker to
      administer (P = 0.0001). LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: The cervical tissue
      has viscoelastic properties, i.e. tissue resistance to mechanical dilatation
      depends also on the rate at which dilatation is performed. The ideal measurement
      of dilatation force should therefore also record the rate and time of dilatation.
      To ensure comparability, only nulliparous women without prior cervical surgery
      were recruited. In addition, time of dilatation was recorded and did not differ
      between the groups, and it is therefore assumed that dilatation took place at
      approximately the same rate. A limitation is that the study was conducted over a
      long time period because there was only one tonometer, decreasing numbers of
      surgical abortions and the fact that the main author was on a rotation schedule.
      In addition, the study was not powered to detect differences in side effects.
      WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF FINDINGS: Priming with misoprostol is recommended prior to
      surgical abortion. The priming interval of misoprostol may be reduced to 1 h
      after sublingual administration but not after vaginal administration. The results
      of the present study will increase choice and flexibility in cervical priming.
      STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS: The Swedish research council (521-2009-2605),
      Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (1404/08), Stockholm County
      Council and Karolinska Institutet (ALF 2009-2012). All authors declare that they
      have no conflicts of interest. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: www.clincaltrials.gov,
      NCT 01933360.

PMID- 25840430
TI  - A Multifunctional Mutagenesis System for Analysis of Gene Function in Zebrafish.
AB  - Since the sequencing of the human reference genome, many human disease-related
      genes have been discovered. However, understanding the functions of all the genes
      in the genome remains a challenge. The biological activities of these genes are
      usually investigated in model organisms such as mice and zebrafish. Large-scale
      mutagenesis screens to generate disruptive mutations are useful for identifying
      and understanding the activities of genes. Here, we report a multifunctional
      mutagenesis system in zebrafish using the maize Ds transposon. Integration of the
      Ds transposable element containing an mCherry reporter for protein trap events
      and an EGFP reporter for enhancer trap events produced a collection of transgenic
      lines marking distinct cell and tissue types, and mutagenized genes in the
      zebrafish genome by trapping and prematurely terminating endogenous protein
      coding sequences. We obtained 642 zebrafish lines with dynamic reporter gene
      expression. The characterized fish lines with specific expression patterns will
      be made available through the European Zebrafish Resource Center (EZRC), and a
      database of reporter expression is available online
      (http://fishtrap.warwick.ac.uk/). Our approach complements other efforts using
      zebrafish to facilitate functional genomic studies in this model of human
      development and disease. 

PMID- 25840431
TI  - Novel Genes Critical for Hypoxic Preconditioning in Zebrafish Are Regulators of
      Insulin and Glucose Metabolism.
AB  - Severe hypoxia is a common cause of major brain, heart, and kidney injury in
      adults, children, and newborns. However, mild hypoxia can be protective against
      later, more severe hypoxia exposure via "hypoxic preconditioning," a phenomenon
      that is not yet fully understood. Accordingly, we have established and optimized
      an embryonic zebrafish model to study hypoxic preconditioning. Using a functional
      genomic approach, we used this zebrafish model to identify and validate five
      novel hypoxia-protective genes, including irs2, crtc3, and camk2g2, which have
      been previously implicated in metabolic regulation. These results extend our
      understanding of the mechanisms of hypoxic preconditioning and affirm the
      discovery potential of this novel vertebrate hypoxic stress model. 

PMID- 25840433
TI  - Simultaneous Determination of 10 Adulterants in Antihypertensive Functional Foods
      Using Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes-Dispersive Solid-Phase Extraction Coupled
      with High Performance Liquid Chromatography.
AB  - Consumption of functional foods based on extracts from selected herbs to
      alleviate hypertension is an increasingly common practice in China. Adulteration
      of these foods with pharmaceuticals can significantly impact a consumer's health.
      To control the quality of the functional foods effectively, a method for the
      simultaneous determination of 10 common adulterants including chlortalidone,
      hydrochlorothiazide, indapamide, metoprolol, nifedipine, nimodipine,
      nitrendipine, reserpine, triamterene and valsartan in antihypertensive functional
      foods was developed. The target chemicals in samples were ultrasonically
      extracted with acetonitrile, and then cleaned-up with multi-walled carbon
      natotubes-dispersive solid-phase extraction. Finally, the analytes were separated
      with a C18 column using binary mobile phases consisting of acetonitrile and 0.03
      mol/L KH2PO4 solutions (pH 3.0). The flow rate of the mobile phase was 0.80
      mL/min, and the column temperature was 35 degrees C. The detection wavelength was
      set at 220 nm. The limits of detection and quantification of the method ranged
      from 0.014 to 0.053 and 0.047 to 0.178 MUg/mL, respectively. The recoveries of
      the method were in the range of 80.1-98.1% with relative standard deviations
      <9.53%. The method was successfully applied to the determination of the target
      chemicals in real samples and simulated samples, and respirine was detected in
      one tonic wine sample with a concentration of 56.8 +/- 1.2 mg/L. 

PMID- 25840432
TI  - The Drosophila melanogaster Mutants apblot and apXasta Affect an Essential
      apterous Wing Enhancer.
AB  - The selector gene apterous (ap) plays a key role during the development of the
      Drosophila melanogaster wing because it governs the establishment of the dorsal
      ventral (D-V) compartment boundary. The D-V compartment boundary is known to
      serve as an important signaling center that is essential for the growth of the
      wing. The role of Ap and its downstream effectors have been studied extensively.
      However, very little is known about the transcriptional regulation of ap during
      wing disc development. In this study, we present a first characterization of an
      essential wing-specific ap enhancer. First, we defined an 874-bp fragment about
      10 kb upstream of the ap transcription start that faithfully recapitulates the
      expression pattern of ap in the wing imaginal disc. Analysis of deletions in the
      ap locus covering this element demonstrated that it is essential for proper
      regulation of ap and formation of the wing. Moreover, we showed that the
      mutations ap(blot) and ap(Xasta) directly affect the integrity of this enhancer,
      leading to characteristic wing phenotypes. Furthermore, we engineered an in situ
      rescue system at the endogenous ap gene locus, allowing us to investigate the
      role of enhancer fragments in their native environment. Using this system, we
      were able to demonstrate that the essential wing enhancer alone is not sufficient
      for normal wing development. The in situ rescue system will allow us to
      characterize the ap regulatory sequences in great detail at the endogenous locus.

PMID- 25840434
TI  - Structure and function of the tricuspid and bicuspid regurgitant aortic valve: an
      echocardiographic study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The emerging new treatment options for aortic valve disease call for
      more sophisticated diagnostics. We aimed to describe the echocardiographic
      pathophysiology and characteristics of the purely regurgitant aortic valve in
      detail. METHODS: Twenty-nine men, with chronic aortic regurgitation without
      concomitant heart disease referred for aortic valve intervention, underwent 2D
      transoesophageal echocardiographic (TEE) examination prior to surgery according
      to a previously published matrix. Measurements of the aortic valve apparatus in
      long and short axis view were made in systole and diastole and analysed off-line.
      The aortic valves were grouped as tricuspid (TAV) or bicuspid (BAV), and
      classified by regurgitation mechanism. RESULTS: Twenty-four examinations were
      eligible for analysis of which 13 presented TAV and 11 BAV. The regurgitation
      mechanism was classified as dilatation of the aorta in 6 cases, as prolapse in 11
      cases and as poor cusp tissue quality or quantity in 7 cases. The ventriculo
      aortic junction (VAJ) and valve opening were closely related (TAV r = 0.5, BAV r
      = 0.73) but no correlation was found between the VAJ and the maximal sinus
      diameter (maxSiD) or the sinotubular junction (STJ). However, the STJ and maxSiD
      were significantly related (TAV vs BAV: systole r = 0.9, r = 0.8; diastole r =
      0.9, r = 0.7), forming an entity. The conjoined BAV cusps were shorter than the
      anterior cusps when closed (P = 0.002); the inter-commissural distances of the
      cusps in the BAV group were significantly different (P = 0.001 resp. 0.03) in
      both systole and diastole. CONCLUSIONS: The VAJ was independent of other aortic
      dimensions and should thereby be considered as a separate entity with influence
      on valve opening. The detailed 2D TEE measurements of this study add further
      important information to our knowledge about the function and echocardiographic
      anatomy of the pathological aortic valve and root either as a stand-alone
      examination or as a benchmark and complement to 3D echocardiography. This may
      have an impact on decisions regarding repairability of the native aortic valve.

PMID- 25840435
TI  - Effectiveness of alcohol media literacy programmes: a systematic literature
      review.
AB  - Alcohol media literacy is an emerging field that aims to address the link between
      exposure to alcohol advertising and subsequent expectancies and behaviours for
      children and adolescents. The design, rigour and results of alcohol media
      literacy programmes vary considerably, resulting in a number of unanswered
      questions about effectiveness. To provide insight into some of these questions, a
      systematic literature review of alcohol media literacy studies was conducted. The
      review was guided by the following research question: What considerations are
      needed to develop an effective school-based alcohol media literacy programme? On
      the basis of a critical synthesis of 10 interventions (published in the period
      1997 to May 2014), our findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the
      descriptive, methodological and outcome characteristics of this small body of
      significant research. The review provides considerations for future alcohol media
      literacy programmes, including the need for an interactive pedagogical approach
      within the naturalistic school setting, implementation fidelity and a holistic
      approach to programme evaluation, a means for maintaining relevance,
      consideration of gender differences, relevance for an international audience and
      use of follow-up and longitudinal data. 

PMID- 25840436
TI  - Does an evidence-based healthy relationships program for 9th graders show similar
      effects for 7th and 8th graders? Results from 57 schools randomized to
      intervention.
AB  - Integrating social and emotional learning (SEL) programming throughout curricula
      to support the development of healthy behaviors and prevent violence is critical
      for a comprehensive approach to school health. This study used a post-test
      comparison design to evaluate a healthy relationships program for eighth grade
      students that applies a SEL approach. The program was adapted from the Fourth R,
      an evidence-based program for ninth graders, but matches the curriculum and
      developmental context for eighth graders. Surveys were collected post
      intervention from 1012 students within 57 schools randomized to intervention or
      control conditions. Multivariate multilevel analysis accounted for the nested
      nature of students within schools. There were significant group differences on
      three of four outcomes following intervention, including improved knowledge about
      violence, critical thinking around the impact of violence, and identification of
      more successful coping strategies. There was no group difference on general
      acceptance of violence. Overall, students learned relevant information and
      strategies and were able to apply that knowledge to demonstrate critical
      thinking, suggesting that adapting an evidence-based approach for use with
      younger students provided similar benefits. These findings build a case for 2
      years of consecutive evidence-based healthy relationships programming in grades 8
      and 9, consistent with best practice guidelines. 

PMID- 25840437
TI  - Lack of IL-17 signaling decreases liver fibrosis in murine schistosomiasis
      japonica.
AB  - Accumulating evidence has identified the profibrogenic properties of IL-17A in
      organ fibrosis. However, the role of IL-17A signal in liver fibrosis induced by
      Schistosoma japonicum infection remains unclear. In this study, we investigated
      liver fibrosis in wild-type (WT) and IL-17RA(-/-) mice upon S. japonicum
      infection. Hepatic IL-17A, IL-17C, IL-17E (IL-25), IL-17F, IL-17RA, IL-17RB and
      IL-17RC transcript levels were determined by RT-PCR. IL-17A(+) cells were
      analyzed by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy among granuloma cells.
      Immunostaining of IL-17R was performed on liver sections. Collagen deposition was
      assessed by Van Gieson's staining. IL-17A, IL-17C, IL-17E, IL-17F, IL-17RA and IL
      17RC mRNA levels were dramatically increased in fibrotic livers. Among granuloma
      cells, CD3(+) and CD3(-) lymphocytes, neutrophils and macrophages were found to
      express IL-17A. Compared to WT, IL-17RA(-/-) mice displayed attenuated
      granulomatous inflammation, liver fibrosis, improved liver function and high
      survival. Meanwhile, alpha-smooth muscle actin staining and the expression of
      fibrogenic genes (transforming growth factor beta, IL-13 and collagen-I) as well
      as IL-17A-induced proinflammatory mediators (IL-1beta, IL-6, tumor necrosis
      factor alpha, CXCL1 and CXCL2) and proteinases (MMP3 and TIMP1) involved in
      fibrosis were markedly reduced in IL-17RA(-/-) mice. In addition, Th2 cytokines
      IL-4 and IL-17E (IL-25) were also decreased in IL-17RA(-/-) mice. These results
      indicated that IL-17A signal contributes to the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis in
      murine schistosomiasis. This effect was induced possibly by activating hepatic
      stellate cells and stimulating the release of proinflammatory cytokines and
      chemokines. Furthermore, the Th2 response was also enhanced by IL-17A signals.
      Our data demonstrate that IL-17A may serve as a promising target for antifibrotic
      therapy. 

PMID- 25840438
TI  - Enterococcus faecalis lipoteichoic acid suppresses Aggregatibacter
      actinomycetemcomitans lipopolysaccharide-induced IL-8 expression in human
      periodontal ligament cells.
AB  - Periodontitis is caused by multi-bacterial infection and Aggregatibacter
      actinomycetemcomitans and Enterococcus faecalis are closely associated with
      inflammatory periodontal diseases. Although lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of A.
      actinomycetemcomitans (Aa.LPS) and lipoteichoic acid of E. faecalis (Ef.LTA) are
      considered to be major virulence factors evoking inflammatory responses, their
      combinatorial effect on the induction of chemokines has not been investigated. In
      this study, we investigated the interaction between Aa.LPS and Ef.LTA on IL-8
      expression in human periodontal ligament (PDL) cells. Aa.LPS, but not Ef.LTA,
      substantially induced IL-8 expression at the protein and mRNA levels.
      Interestingly, Ef.LTA suppressed Aa.LPS-induced IL-8 expression without affecting
      the binding of Aa.LPS to Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4. Ef.LTA reduced Aa.LPS
      induced phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases, including ERK, JNK
      and p38 kinase. Furthermore, Ef.LTA inhibited the Aa.LPS-induced transcriptional
      activities of the activating protein 1, CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein and
      nuclear factor-kappa B transcription factors, all of which are known to regulate
      IL-8 gene expression. Ef.LTA augmented the expression of IL-1 receptor-associated
      kinase-M (IRAK-M), a negative regulator of TLR intracellular signaling pathways,
      in the presence of Aa.LPS at both the mRNA and protein levels. Small interfering
      RNA silencing IRAK-M reversed the attenuation of Aa.LPS-induced IL-8 expression
      by Ef.LTA. Collectively, these results suggest that Ef.LTA down-regulates Aa.LPS
      induced IL-8 expression in human PDL cells through up-regulation of the negative
      regulator IRAK-M. 

PMID- 25840439
TI  - Validation of a high-power, time-resolved, near-infrared spectroscopy system for
      measurement of superficial and deep muscle deoxygenation during exercise.
AB  - Near-infrared assessment of skeletal muscle is restricted to superficial tissues
      due to power limitations of spectroscopic systems. We reasoned that understanding
      of muscle deoxygenation may be improved by simultaneously interrogating deeper
      tissues. To achieve this, we modified a high-power (~8 mW), time-resolved, near
      infrared spectroscopy system to increase depth penetration. Precision was first
      validated using a homogenous optical phantom over a range of inter-optode
      spacings (OS). Coefficients of variation from 10 measurements were minimal (0.5
      1.9%) for absorption (MUa), reduced scattering, simulated total hemoglobin, and
      simulated O2 saturation. Second, a dual-layer phantom was constructed to assess
      depth sensitivity, and the thickness of the superficial layer was varied. With a
      superficial layer thickness of 1, 2, 3, and 4 cm (MUa = 0.149 cm(-1)), the
      proportional contribution of the deep layer (MUa = 0.250 cm(-1)) to total MUa was
      80.1, 26.9, 3.7, and 0.0%, respectively (at 6-cm OS), validating penetration to
      ~3 cm. Implementation of an additional superficial phantom to simulate adipose
      tissue further reduced depth sensitivity. Finally, superficial and deep muscle
      spectroscopy was performed in six participants during heavy-intensity cycle
      exercise. Compared with the superficial rectus femoris, peak deoxygenation of the
      deep rectus femoris (including the superficial intermedius in some) was not
      significantly different (deoxyhemoglobin and deoxymyoglobin concentration: 81.3
      +/- 20.8 vs. 78.3 +/- 13.6 MUM, P > 0.05), but deoxygenation kinetics were
      significantly slower (mean response time: 37 +/- 10 vs. 65 +/- 9 s, P <= 0.05).
      These data validate a high-power, time-resolved, near-infrared spectroscopy
      system with large OS for measuring the deoxygenation of deep tissues and reveal
      temporal and spatial disparities in muscle deoxygenation responses to exercise. 

PMID- 25840440
TI  - Analysis of codeine positivity in urine of pain management patients.
AB  - The opioids codeine and morphine have legitimate uses in managing chronic pain
      conditions, but they are frequently abused. Patients prescribed opioids submit
      urine samples for medication compliance monitoring, and the interpretation of the
      results is complex. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the percentage of
      codeine- and morphine-positive urine drug tests that result from morphine use
      only, with the positive codeine result arising from low levels of codeine present
      in pharmaceutical formulations of morphine. This study included 80 urine samples
      which tested positive for codeine and morphine after pre-analytical hydrolysis
      and analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Quantitative results were
      correlated with patient prescription information and immunoassay results to
      classify patients into one of four categories: heroin users (50%), codeine users
      (34%), codeine and morphine users (5%), and morphine users (11%). The percentage
      of codeine-positive resulting from morphine use was higher than previous
      estimates. Urine from patients prescribed morphine only was found to contain
      codeine at <1% of the morphine concentration, a ratio that was also observed in
      patients who used heroin. Careful analysis of urine drug testing results,
      including assessing the ratio of codeine to morphine (C/M), can help providers
      determine if patients are compliant with their pain management regimens. 

PMID- 25840441
TI  - Pathogenic Role of Human Herpesvirus 6B Infection in Mesial Temporal Lobe
      Epilepsy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) is the causative agent for exanthem
      subitum. HHV-6B was associated with mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS), leading to
      mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). In this study, we sought to elucidate the
      pathogenic role of HHV-6B in patients with MTLE. METHODS: Seventy-five
      intractable MTLE patients, including 52 MTS patients and 23 non-MTS patients,
      were enrolled in this study. Resected hippocampus, amygdala, and mixed samples of
      amygdala and uncus samples were examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction
      (PCR) and reverse-transcriptase PCR to detect viral DNA and messenger RNA (mRNA),
      respectively. Host gene expressions, including neural markers, were measured
      using the TaqMan Gene Expression Assay. RESULTS: Detection of HHV-6 DNA was
      higher in MTS patients than non-MTS patients (median/interquartile range: 19.1/0
      89.2 vs 0.0/0.0-0.0 copies/ug DNA; P = .004). HHV-6B viral DNA was determined in
      12/27 HHV-6 DNA-positive samples, and no HHV-6B mRNA were detected in all
      samples. In MTS patients, expression of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (P = .029)
      and glial fibrillary acidic protein (P = .043) were significantly higher in the
      amygdala samples with HHV-6 DNA than those without viral DNA. CONCLUSIONS: This
      study suggests that HHV-6B may play an important role in the pathogenesis of MTS
      via modification of host gene expression.

PMID- 25840442
TI  - Human Herpesvirus 6 as a Viral Trigger in Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

PMID- 25840444
TI  - Docetaxel for platinum-refractory advanced thymic carcinoma.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Thymic carcinoma is a rare mediastinal neoplasm. While platinum-based
      chemotherapy has been reported to be effective for advanced thymic carcinoma in a
      first-line setting, little information is available regarding the benefits of
      salvage chemotherapy for platinum-refractory thymic carcinoma. This study
      assessed the efficacy and safety profiles of docetaxel monotherapy for platinum
      refractory thymic carcinoma. METHODS: A total of 13 thymic carcinoma patients
      treated with docetaxel monotherapy in a second- or later-line setting between
      January 2003 and April 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. The median age was 61
      years (range, 41-75 years). RESULTS: The overall response rate and disease
      control rate were 31% [95% confidence interval (CI), 6-56%] and 77% (95% CI, 54
      100%), respectively. The median progression-free survival and overall survival
      after docetaxel monotherapy were 5.5 months (95% CI, 2.3-6.5 months) and 24.0
      months (95% CI, 9.4-31.2 months), respectively. The most common Grade >=3
      toxicity was neutropenia (62%). No incidents of febrile neutropenia and no
      treatment-related deaths were recorded. CONCLUSIONS: This retrospective analysis
      demonstrated that docetaxel was active against platinum-refractory thymic
      carcinoma with acceptable toxicities. Docetaxel monotherapy might be a promising
      therapeutic option for patients with platinum-refractory thymic carcinoma.

PMID- 25840443
TI  - Comparative Analysis of Host Cell Entry of Ebola Virus From Sierra Leone, 2014,
      and Zaire, 1976.
AB  - The ongoing Ebola virus (EBOV) disease (EVD) epidemic in Western Africa is the
      largest EVD outbreak recorded to date and requires the rapid development and
      deployment of antiviral measures. The viral glycoprotein (GP) facilitates host
      cell entry and, jointly with cellular interaction partners, constitutes a
      potential target for antiviral intervention. However, it is unknown whether the
      GPs of the currently and previously circulating EBOVs use the same mechanisms for
      cellular entry and are thus susceptible to inhibition by the same antivirals and
      cellular defenses. Here, we show that the GPs of the EBOVs circulating in 1976
      and 2014 transduce the same spectrum of target cells, use the same cellular
      factors for host cell entry, and are comparably susceptible to blockade by
      antiviral interferon-induced transmembrane proteins and neutralizing antibody
      KZ52. Thus, the viruses responsible for the ongoing EVD epidemic should be fully
      susceptible to established antiviral strategies targeting GP and cellular entry
      factors. 

PMID- 25840445
TI  - Topical Review: Eosinophilic Esophagitis in Children: Implications for Health
      Related Quality of Life and Potential Avenues for Future Research.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To characterize the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of children
      with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) as well as generate novel hypotheses for
      future research in this pediatric population. METHOD: A literature review was
      completed using PubMed and the keywords below. RESULTS: Research has shown that
      for children with EoE and their parents, symptom experiences and recommended
      treatments can have a negative impact on HRQoL. However, studies have yet to
      adequately address mechanisms that may help explain why this is. Areas of
      interest include sleep quality and disturbances, the experience of pain, and the
      presence of internalizing symptoms, all of which have the potential to uniquely
      and synergistically impact HRQoL. CONCLUSION: With greater understanding of the
      associations among sleep, pain, internalizing symptoms, and HRQoL in children
      with EoE may come enhanced therapies that substantially improve the quality of
      their health care.

PMID- 25840446
TI  - Childhood Cancer in Context: Sociodemographic Factors, Stress, and Psychological
      Distress Among Mothers and Children.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between sociodemographic factors (single
      parenthood, family income, education level, race), stress, and psychological
      distress among pediatric cancer patients and their mothers. METHODS: Participants
      completed measures assessing sociodemographic variables, depressive symptoms,
      posttraumatic stress symptoms, general stress, and cancer-related stress within
      the first year of the child's (ages 5-17 years) cancer diagnosis or relapse.
      Mothers (N = 318) provided self-reports and parent report of their children;
      children aged 10-17 years (N = 151) completed self-reports. RESULTS: Each
      sociodemographic variable demonstrated unique associations with mothers' and
      children's stress and distress in bivariate analyses. A cumulative
      sociodemographic risk measure was positively correlated with all stress and
      distress variables. In regression analyses predicting mothers' and children's
      distress, independent and cumulative sociodemographic measures were no longer
      significant when accounting for levels of stress. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight
      the need to consider the ecological context of pediatric cancer, particularly the
      impact of sociodemographic disadvantage on stress and distress in this
      population.

PMID- 25840447
TI  - Distinct Influences of Anxiety and Pain Catastrophizing on Functional Outcomes in
      Children and Adolescents With Chronic Pain.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Examine whether anxiety and pain catastrophizing are distinct
      constructs in relation to functional outcomes in pediatric chronic pain, and
      whether they differentially predict functional outcomes based on age. METHODS: In
      all, 725 youth (191 children, 534 adolescents) with chronic pain completed
      measures of pain characteristics, anxiety, pain catastrophizing, functional
      disability, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Structural equation
      modeling was used to examine interrelationships. RESULTS: Anxiety and pain
      catastrophizing were distinct. For both children and adolescents, pain
      catastrophizing predicted pain, functional disability, and HRQOL, and was a
      stronger predictor of pain intensity. For children, anxiety predicted HRQOL, and
      pain catastrophizing was a stronger predictor of functional disability. For
      adolescents, anxiety predicted functional disability and HRQOL, and anxiety was a
      stronger predictor of HRQOL. CONCLUSIONS: There were age-related differences
      regarding whether anxiety or pain catastrophizing more strongly predicted
      specific functional outcomes. Assessment and intervention efforts should
      emphasize both anxiety and pain catastrophizing.

PMID- 25840448
TI  - Measuring Health-Related Quality of Life With the Parental Opinions of Pediatric
      Constipation Questionnaire.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to develop a caregiver-completed
      constipation condition-specific health-related quality of life (HRQL) instrument.
      METHODS: 410 caregivers of children aged 2-18 years completed the Parental
      Opinions of Pediatric Constipation (POOPC), the PedsQL Generic Core Scales, PedQL
      Family Impact Module, Pediatric Symptom Checklist, the Functional Disability
      Inventory, the Pediatric Inventory for Parents, and a demographic questionnaire.
      Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to assess the
      psychometric properties of the POOPC. RESULTS: Analyses yielded four factors
      called Parental Burden/Distress, Family Conflict, Difficulties with the Medical
      Team, and Worry about Social Impact that reflect problems in HRQL secondary to
      constipation and soiling, which were generally more strongly correlated with
      similar measures relative to a general measure of youth's psychosocial
      functioning. CONCLUSION: The POOPC is a psychometrically sound measure, which may
      be useful to clinicians and researchers identifying domains of treatment needs
      for children and their families.

PMID- 25840450
TI  - Teaching versus enforcing game rules in preschoolers' peer interactions.
AB  - Children use normative language in two key contexts: when teaching others and
      when enforcing social norms. We presented pairs of 3- and 5-year-old peers
      (N=192) with a sorting game in two experimental conditions (in addition to a
      third baseline condition). In the teaching condition, one child was
      knowledgeable, whereas the other child was ignorant and so in need of
      instruction. In the enforcement condition, children learned conflicting rules so
      that each child was making mistakes from the other's point of view. When teaching
      rules to an ignorant partner, both age groups used generic normative language
      ("Bunnies go here"). When enforcing rules on a rule-breaking partner, 3-year-olds
      used normative utterances that were not generic and aimed at correcting
      individual behavior ("No, this goes there"), whereas 5-year-olds again used
      generic normative language, perhaps because they discerned that instruction was
      needed in this case as well. Young children normatively correct peers differently
      depending on their assessment of what their wayward partners need to bring them
      back into line.

PMID- 25840449
TI  - Ionizing radiation induces immediate protein acetylation changes in human cardiac
      microvascular endothelial cells.
AB  - Reversible lysine acetylation is a highly regulated post-translational protein
      modification that is known to regulate several signaling pathways. However,
      little is known about the radiation-induced changes in the acetylome. In this
      study, we analyzed the acute post-translational acetylation changes in primary
      human cardiac microvascular endothelial cells 4 h after a gamma radiation dose of
      2 Gy. The acetylated peptides were enriched using anti-acetyl conjugated agarose
      beads. A total of 54 proteins were found to be altered in their acetylation
      status, 23 of which were deacetylated and 31 acetylated. Pathway analyses showed
      three protein categories particularly affected by radiation-induced changes in
      the acetylation status: the proteins involved in the translation process, the
      proteins of stress response, and mitochondrial proteins. The activation of the
      canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling pathways affecting actin cytoskeleton
      signaling and cell cycle progression was predicted. The protein expression levels
      of two nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent deacetylases, sirtuin 1
      and sirtuin 3, were significantly but transiently upregulated 4 but not 24 h
      after irradiation. The status of the p53 protein, a target of sirtuin 1, was
      found to be rapidly stabilized by acetylation after radiation exposure. These
      findings indicate that post-translational modification of proteins by acetylation
      and deacetylation is essentially affecting the radiation response of the
      endothelium. 

PMID- 25840451
TI  - [Breast cancer classification is evolving].
AB  - Diagnostic strategy of breast cancer has changed enormously during the last
      thirty years. To classical obligatory morphological data on the macroscopical and
      microscopical levels are now added imunocytochemistry, which is capable of
      detecting therapeutic targets such hormonal receptors and HER2 (Human Epidermal
      growth factor Receptor2), and molecular biology, which yields the molecular
      profile of tumors and their multigenic properties. By leaning on up-to-date
      classifications (TNM system and UICC grades), the pathologist is able to evaluate
      not only diagnostic but also pronostic criteria, leading to personalized and
      predictive treatments. 

PMID- 25840452
TI  - [Circadian clock and non-visual functions: the role of light in humans].
AB  - Hormonal secretion, cognitive performance, motor activity, metabolic processes,
      the sleep wake cycle and, most recently shown, cell division and ADN repair show
      a 24 h rhythmicity that is driven by the circadian timing system (the biological
      clock). Their appropriate activity over the 24 h requires appropriate entrainment
      of the circadian clock, which is achieved through the synchronizing effects of
      ocular light exposure. The activation of melanopsin-expressing ganglion cells in
      the retina depends on timing, quality, intensity, and history of light exposure.
      Inappropriate lighting leads to inappropriate synchronization of the clock, and
      activation of non-visual functions (mood, wakefulness, cognition, etc.). In turn,
      a deficit of circadian entrainment to the 24 h is responsible for alterations of
      a large number of functions, and leads to altered sleep, wake, mood,
      neurobehavioral processes and cell division, but also to pathologies. The crucial
      role of the circadian clock and the nature of the non-visual functions activated
      by light give rise to the concept that light is a biological need fundamental to
      health. Without an appropriate light hygiene, the clock receives an odd tempo,
      and it is cacophony! 

PMID- 25840453
TI  - [Circadian clocks and energy metabolism in rodents].
AB  - Circadian rhythmicity is an important component of physiological processes which
      provides them with a 24-hour temporal organization and adjustment to cyclical
      changes in the environment. Circadian rhythms are controlled by a network of
      endogenous clocks, comprising the main clock in the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the
      hypothalamus and many secondary clocks in the brain and peripheral tissues. All
      aspects of energy metabolism, from food intake to intracellular signaling
      pathways, are strongly influenced by circadian rhythmicity. In turn, meal timing
      is an efficient synchronizer (time-giver) to set the phase of the peripheral
      clocks, while the suprachiasmatic clock is synchronized by ambient light. In
      certain nutritional conditions (i.e., low- or high-calory diets), metabolic
      factors remaining to be identified modulate the functioning of the
      suprachiasmatic clock. Animal models of obesity and diabetes show circadian
      alterations. Conversely, when circadian rhythmicity is disturbed, either due to
      genetically defective circadian clocks, or to circadian desynchronization
      (chronic light exposure or repeated meals at odd times of the cycle), lipid and
      glucose metabolism is deregulated. The metabolic impact of circadian
      desynchronization justifies the development of preventive or therapeutic
      strategies that could rely, among others, on dietary interventions combining
      timed meals and specific composition. 

PMID- 25840454
TI  - [Clock and molecular genetics in Drosophila].
AB  - Most living organisms possess a circadian clock (24 h period) which allows them
      to adapt to environmental conditions. Numerous studies in Drosophila allowed to
      discover various key clock genes, such as period and timeless. The powerful tools
      of drosophila genetics have shown that the molecular clock relies on negative
      feedback loops that generate oscillations of the clock genes mRNA. A delay
      between the accumulation of mRNAs and proteins is required for the feedback loop.
      It is generated by post-translational modifications as phosphorylations and
      ubiquitinations, which control protein stability and determine the period of
      their oscillations. Clock cells are present in brain as well as in multiple
      peripheric tissues where they run autonomously. The synchronisation of clock
      cells by light relies on cryptochrome in both brain and peripheral tissues. In
      the brain, synchronisation also involves the eye photoreceptors. The clock that
      drives sleep-wake rhythms is controlled by different groups of neurons in the
      brain. Each group has a distinct function in the generation of the behavioral
      rhythm and this function is modulated by environmental conditions. 

PMID- 25840455
TI  - [Is the biological clock central to the aging process? Studies in a non-human
      primate].
AB  - The ability of organisms to adapt to their environment during aging is altered.
      Age-related disorders in Human include disturbances of biological rhythms,
      especially sleep-wake rhythms alterations, and perturbations of body temperature
      and hormone secretion. The alteration of biological rhythms with age leads to
      major health consequences, particularly due to the alteration of sleep-wake
      rhythms that causes a strong alteration of the general condition. The study of
      these changes is therefore a major health issue and requires the use of
      appropriate animal models such as the grey mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), a
      small Madagascar primate with very pronounced biological rhythms. 

PMID- 25840456
TI  - [Connecting isolated congenital asplenia to the ribosome].
AB  - Isolated congenital asplenia is characterized by the absence of a spleen at birth
      without any other developmental defect. Isolated congenital asplenia is a rare
      and life-threatening disease that predisposes patients to severe bacterial
      infections. The first and main genetic etiology of isolated congenital asplenia
      was discovered in 2013. Mutations in the gene RPSA, which encodes ribosomal
      protein SA, cause more than half of the cases of isolated congenital asplenia.
      These disease-causing mutations lead to haploinsufficiency of RPSA.
      Haploinsufficiency of genes encoding other ribosomal proteins have been reported
      to cause other developmental defects in humans, and in model organisms like the
      fly or the mouse. About half of the patients with Diamond-Blackfan anemia, which
      is a well-characterized ribosomopathy, present developmental defects such as
      craniofacial defects, cardiac defects or thumb abnormalities. The mechanism of
      pathogenesis linking mutations in ribosomal proteins, which are highly and
      ubiquitously expressed, to specific developmental defects remains to be
      elucidated. One hypothesis is that the ribosome, and ribosomal proteins in
      particular, regulate the expression of specific genes during development. 

PMID- 25840457
TI  - [TRAF4, a multifaceted protein involved in carcinoma progression].
AB  - Eukaryotic epithelial cells form a sheet of contiguous cells, called epithelium,
      by means of the establishment of well-developed junctional complexes. These
      junctional complexes ensure the cell cohesion in the tissue and separate the
      plasma membrane into an apical and a basolateral compartment. This apicobasal
      polarity, which is crucial for both the architecture and the function of
      epithelia, is mainly maintained by tight junctions (TJS). Indeed, TJS weakening
      or loss disrupts the integrity of the epithelium, a process participating to the
      formation and progression of carcinomas. It has recently been shown that TRAF4, a
      protein dynamically localized in TJS and commonly overexpressed in carcinomas,
      plays a variety of functions in tumor progression. Here, we review recent data
      implicating TRAF4 in carcinogenesis. First, the conserved TRAF proteins family
      will be presented, and then the molecular mechanism addressing TRAF4 to TJS which
      involves lipid binding by the TRAF domain will be described. The various roles of
      TRAF4 in carcinogenesis will be discussed. Finally, we will highlight the ability
      of all TRAF proteins to bind lipids and discuss its potential functional
      relevance. 

PMID- 25840458
TI  - [How does the apicomplexan parasite Theileria control host cell identity?].
AB  - Infectious agents, like bacteria or virus, are responsible for a large number of
      pathologies in mammals. Microbes have developed mechanisms for interacting with
      host cell pathways and hijacking cellular machinery to change the phenotypic
      state. In this review, we focus on an interesting apicomplexan parasite called
      Theileria. Infection by the tick-transmitted T. annulata parasite causes Tropical
      Theileriosis in North Africa and Asia, and the related T. parva parasite causes
      East Coast Fever in Sub-Saharan Africa. This parasite is the only eukaryote known
      to induce the transformation of its mammalian host cells. Indeed, T. annulata and
      T. parva infect bovine leukocytes leading to transforming phenotypes, which
      partially mirror human lymphoma pathologies. Theileria infection causes
      hyperproliferation, invasiveness and escape from apoptosis, presumably through
      the manipulation of host cellular pathways. Several host-signaling mechanisms
      have been implicated. Here we describe the mechanisms involved in parasite
      induced transformation phenotypes. 

PMID- 25840459
TI  - Development of a Diastereoselective Phosphorylation of a Complex Nucleoside via
      Dynamic Kinetic Resolution.
AB  - The development of a diastereoselective nucleoside phosphorylation is described,
      which produces a single isomer of a complex nucleoside monophosphate pro-drug. A
      stable phosphoramidic acid derivative is coupled to the nucleoside, in a process
      mediated by HATU and quinine, to deliver the coupled product in high chemical
      yield and good diastereoselectivity. This unusual process was shown to proceed
      through a dynamic kinetic resolution of a 1:1 mixture of activated phosphonate
      ester diastereoisomers. The optimized conditions afforded the product with a
      combined [S,S(P)] and [S,R(P)] in-process yield of 89% and a ~7:1 [S,S(P):S,R(P)]
      diastereomeric ratio. Isolation of the major isomer was facilitated by single
      crystallization from anisole, where the product was obtained in 57% isolated
      yield, excellent purity (>95%), and a high diastereomeric ratio (>50:1). 

PMID- 25840460
TI  - A Heterogeneous Renal Mass and Arm Pain in a 38-Year-old African American Female.

PMID- 25840461
TI  - Which tyrosine-kinase inhibitor to use first in chronic phase chronic myelogenous
      leukemia?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a clonal myeloproliferative
      disorder distinctly characterized by the presence of the Philadelphia chromosome,
      which results from a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22
      [t(9;22)]. The resulting translocation leads to the development of the BCR-ABL1
      oncogene, a constitutively active fusion protein, which leads to uncontrolled
      cell proliferation and reduced apoptosis and has a clear association with driving
      the malignant activity of CML cells. AREAS COVERED: Given that the BCR-ABL1
      oncogene is a known key cause of CML, it has led to the development of numerous
      small molecule tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs), which target the specific
      oncogene mutation in CML. Presently, there are three FDA-approved TKI agents,
      imatinib, dasatinib and nilotinib, for the treatment of frontline CML. Herein, we
      review the frontline options for the management of patients with CML and how to
      best choose these agents. EXPERT OPINION: Imatinib, dasatinib and nilotinib are
      all effective at yielding hematological, molecular and cytogenetic responses in
      patients with newly diagnosed CML. Frontline therapy may depend on physician
      experience, patient age and ability to tolerate therapy, and with the lack of
      data comparing all three agents alongside each other, imatinib, dasatinib, or
      nilotinib may all be suitable frontline choices.

PMID- 25840462
TI  - Amyloid biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - Aggregation of amyloid-beta (Abeta) into oligomers, fibrils, and plaques is
      central in the molecular pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and is the
      main focus of AD drug development. Biomarkers to monitor Abeta metabolism and
      aggregation directly in patients are important for further detailed study of the
      involvement of Abeta in disease pathogenesis and to monitor the biochemical
      effect of drugs targeting Abeta in clinical trials. Furthermore, if anti-Abeta
      disease-modifying drugs prove to be effective clinically, amyloid biomarkers will
      be of special value in the clinic to identify patients with brain amyloid
      deposition at risk for progression to AD dementia, to enable initiation of
      treatment before neurodegeneration is too severe, and to monitor drug effects on
      Abeta metabolism or pathology to guide dosage. Two types of amyloid biomarker
      have been developed: Abeta-binding ligands for use in positron emission
      tomography (PET) and assays to measure Abeta42 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In
      this review, we present the rationales behind these biomarkers and compare their
      ability to measure Abeta plaque load in the brain. We also review possible
      shortcomings and the need of standardization of both biomarkers, as well as their
      implementation in the clinic. 

PMID- 25840463
TI  - [Heptopulmonary syndrome].
AB  - Hepatopulmonary syndrome is characterized by the presence of liver disease,
      pulmonary vascular dilatations, and arterial hypoxemia. It is usually associated
      with cirrhosis of any origin, but has been described in other liver diseases,
      both acute and chronic, and not always associated with portal hypertension. The
      gold standard method to detect pulmonary vascular dilations is contrast
      enhancement echocardiography with saline and is essential for the diagnosis of
      hepatopulmonary syndrome. These dilatations reflect changes in the pulmonary
      microvasculature (vasodilatation, intravascular monocyte accumulation, and
      angiogenesis) and induce a ventilation/perfusion mismatch, or even true
      intrapulmonary shunts, which eventually trigger hypoxemia. This syndrome worsens
      patients' prognosis and impairs their quality of life and may lead to the need
      for liver transplantation, which is the only effective and definitive treatment.
      In this article, we review the etiological, pathophysiological, clinical and
      therapeutic features of this syndrome. 

PMID- 25840464
TI  - [Development, implementation, and analysis of a "collaborative decision-making
      for reasonable care" document in pediatric palliative care].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In France, a legal framework and guidelines state that decisions to
      limit treatments (DLT) require a collaborative decision meeting and a
      transcription of decisions in the patient's file. The do-not-attempt
      resuscitation order involves the same decision-making process for children in
      palliative care. To fulfill the law's requirements and encourage communication
      within the teams, the Resource Team in Pediatric Palliative Care in Aquitaine
      created a document shared by all children's hospital units, tracing the decision
      making process. This study analyzed the decision-making process, quality of
      information transmission, and most particularly the relevance of this new
      "collaborative decision-making for reasonable care" card. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      Retrospective study evaluating the implementation of a traceable document
      relating the DLT process. All the data sheets collected between January and
      December 2013 were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 58 data sheets were completed
      between January and December 2013. We chose to collect the most relevant data to
      evaluate the relevance of the items to be completed and the transmission of the
      document, to draw up the patients' profile, and the contents of discussions with
      families. Of the 58 children for whom DLT was discussed, 41 data sheets were
      drawn up in the pediatric intensive care unit, seven in the oncology and
      hematology unit, five in the neonatology unit, four in the neurology unit, and
      one in the pneumology unit. For 30 children, one sheet was created, for 11
      children, two sheets and for two children, three sheets were filled out. Thirty
      nine decisions were made for withholding lifesaving treatment, 11 withdrawing
      treatment, and for five children, no limitation was set. Nine children survived
      after DLT. Of the 58 data sheets, only 31 discussions with families were related
      to the content of the data sheet. Of the 14 children transferred out of the unit
      with a completed data sheet, it was transmitted to the new unit for 11 children
      (79%). DISCUSSION: The number of data sheets collected in 1 year shows the value
      of this document. The participation of several pediatric specialities' referents
      in its creation, then its progressive presentation in the children's hospital
      units, were essential steps in introducing and establishing its use. Items
      describing the situation, management proposals, and adaptation of the children's
      supportive care were completed in the majority of cases. They correspond to a
      clinical description, the object of the discussion, and the daily caregiver's
      practices, respectively. On the other hand, discussions with families were
      related to the card's contents in only 53% of the cases. This can be explained by
      the time required to complete the DLT process. It is difficult for referring
      doctors to systematically, faithfully, and objectively transcribe discussions
      with parents. Although this process has been used for a long time in intensive
      care units, this document made possible an indispensable formalisation in the
      decision-making process. In other pediatric specialities, the sheet allowed
      introducing the palliative approach and was a starter and a tool for reflection
      on the do-not-attempt-resuscitation order, thus suggesting the need for
      anticipation in these situations. CONCLUSION: With the implementation of this new
      document, the DLT, data transmission, and continuity of care conditions were
      improved in the children's hospital units. Sharing this sheet with all
      professionals in charge of these children would support homogeneity and quality
      of management and care for children and their parents.

PMID- 25840465
TI  - [Lemierre syndrome revealed by torticollis].
AB  - Classical Lemierre syndrome is a rare and severe disease with thrombosis of the
      internal jugular vein and metastatic infections. We report on a case of Lemierre
      like syndrome secondary to mastoiditis, with a favorable outcome, in a healthy
      infant presenting with torticollis. Early diagnosis and treatment with
      antibiotics are necessary to decrease mortality. 

PMID- 25840466
TI  - [Ethics in pediatric emergencies: Care access, communication, and
      confidentiality].
AB  - Children suffer most from today's increasing precariousness. In France, access to
      care is available for all children through various structures and existing
      measures. The support for foreign children is overseen by specific legislation
      often unfamiliar to caregivers. Pediatric emergencies, their location,
      organization, actors, and patient flow are a particular environment that is not
      always suitable to communication and may lead to situations of abuse.
      Communication should not be forgotten because of the urgency of the situation.
      The place of the child in the dialogue is often forgotten. Considering the
      triangular relationship, listening to the child and involving the parents in care
      are the basis for a good therapeutic alliance. Privacy and medical
      confidentiality in pediatric emergencies are governed by law. However, changes in
      treatments and medical practices along with the variety of actors involved imply
      both individual and collective limitations, to the detriment of medical
      confidentiality. 

PMID- 25840467
TI  - Rumination: Cognitive consequences of training to inhibit the negative.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To explore cognitive factors in ruminative thinking,
      we assessed the effect of a single-session of inhibition training on subsequent
      biases in attention and interpretation. METHODS: We randomly assigned
      participants to either inhibit or attend to negative stimuli. Inhibition was
      assessed by using assessment trials embedded throughout the training, and
      interpretation bias was assessed following the training. RESULTS: Trait
      rumination moderated training effects on both measures. Low ruminators in the
      inhibition-training condition maintained their level of inhibition of negative
      stimuli, but those in the attention-training condition showed a non-significant
      trend for decreased inhibition. Participants also showed a transfer-congruent
      tendency in interpretation bias, with reduced bias by those trained to inhibit
      negative stimuli, compared to those trained to attend to negative stimuli. In
      contrast, high ruminators in the inhibition training condition showed a training
      incongruent decrease in inhibition of negative stimuli, but no change in
      inhibition when trained to attend to negative stimuli. No effects of the training
      on interpretation bias were observed among high ruminators. Finally, the training
      did not affect subsequent measures of mood or state rumination, even when trait
      rumination scores were taken into account. LIMITATIONS: This study used a single
      session of inhibition training rather than a multi-session training, and this may
      explain the null effects among high ruminators. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight
      the critical role that trait rumination plays in moderating the effect of
      inhibition training. Our results suggest that inhibition training may provide an
      effective technique to change inhibition bias and later interpretation bias.

PMID- 25840468
TI  - [Cerebral venous thrombosis after spinal anesthesia: case report].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a rare, but serious
      complication after spinal anesthesia. It is often related to the presence of
      predisposing factors, such as pregnancy, puerperium, oral contraceptive use, and
      malignancies. Headache is the most common symptom. We describe a case of a
      patient who underwent spinal anesthesia who had postoperative headache
      complicated with CVT. CASE REPORT: Male patient, 30 years old, ASA 1, who
      underwent uneventful arthroscopic knee surgery under spinal anesthesia. Forty
      eight hours after the procedure, the patient showed frontal, orthostatic headache
      that improved when positioned supine. Diagnosis of sinusitis was made in the
      general emergency room, and he received symptomatic medication. In subsequent
      days, the headache worsened with holocranial location and with little improvement
      in the supine position. The patient presented with left hemiplegia followed by
      tonic-clonic seizures. He underwent magnetic resonance venography; diagnosed with
      CVT. Analysis of procoagulant factors identified the presence of lupus
      anticoagulant antibody. The patient received anticonvulsants and anticoagulants
      and was discharged eight days without sequelae. DISCUSSION: Any patient
      presenting with postural headache after spinal anesthesia, which intensifies
      after a plateau, loses its orthostatic characteristic or become too long, should
      undergo imaging tests to rule out more serious complications, such as CVT. The
      loss of cerebrospinal fluid leads to dilation and venous stasis that, coupled
      with the traction caused by the upright position, can lead to TVC in some
      patients with prothrombotic conditions.

PMID- 25840469
TI  - Genetic and pathological characteristics of Cryptococcus gattii and Cryptococcus
      neoformans var. neoformans from meningoencephalitis in autochthonous goats and
      mouflons, Sardinia, Italy.
AB  - In this study, we examined in Sardinia the brain of 555 autochthonous sheep, 50
      goats, and 4 mouflons which were found affected by neurological signs. We found 6
      goats and one mouflon with meningoencephalitis caused by Cryptococcus sp. There
      was no evidence of cryptococcal infections in any of the examined sheep. MLST
      genotyping on Cryptococcus sp. isolates identified Cryptococcus gatti genotype
      AFLP4/VGI and Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans genotype AFLP2/VNIV.
      Phylogenetically, all Cryptococcus gattii isolates fell within the autochthonous
      animal, human and environmental Mediterranean isolate cluster, forming a distinct
      branch along with environmental strains from Alicante, in the southern
      Mediterranean coast of Spain. 

PMID- 25840470
TI  - Genomic characterisation of the feline sarcoid-associated papillomavirus and
      proposed classification as Bos taurus papillomavirus type 14.
AB  - Feline sarcoids are rare mesenchymal neoplasms of domestic and exotic cats.
      Previous studies have consistently detected short DNA sequences from a
      papillomavirus (PV), designated feline sarcoid-associated papillomavirus
      (FeSarPV), in these neoplasms. The FeSarPV sequence has never been detected in
      any non-sarcoid sample from cats but has been amplified from the skin of cattle
      suggesting that feline sarcoids are caused by cross-species infection by a bovine
      papillomavirus (BPV). The aim of the present study was to determine the genome of
      the PV that contains the FeSarPV sequence. Using the circular nature of PV DNA,
      four specifically designed 'outward facing' primers were used to amplify two
      approximately 4,000 bp DNA segments from a feline sarcoid. The two PCR products
      were sequenced using next generation sequencing and the full genome of the PV,
      consisting 7,966 bp, was assembled and analysed. Phylogenetic analysis revealed
      the PV was closely related to the species 4 delta BPVs-1, -2, and -13, but
      distantly related to any carnivoran PV genus. These results are consistent with
      feline sarcoids being caused by a BPV type and we propose a classification of BPV
      14 for this novel PV. Initial analysis suggests that, like other delta BPVs, the
      BPV-14 E5 protein could cause mesenchymal proliferation by binding to the
      platelet derived growth factor beta receptor. Interestingly BPV-14 has not been
      detected in any equine sarcoid suggesting that BPV-14 has a host range that is
      limited to bovids and felids.

PMID- 25840471
TI  - Mast cells promote malaria infection?
AB  - PURPOSE: Malaria remains the most deadly human parasitic disease, mostly because
      of the mosquito-born protozoan parasite Plasmodium falciparum with ~627,000
      deaths reported in 2012. Unfortunately, there is resistance to most drugs, and
      successful vaccines are still not developed. The role of the immune system is
      critical but poorly understood. METHODS: One specific publication that reported a
      new way through which the immune system may promote malaria pathogenesis is
      discussed. FINDINGS: Kenyan children with mild and severe malaria had increased
      plasma levels of the Flt3 ligand, a soluble cytokine released from the surface of
      mast cells (MCs). A positive correlation was found between disease severity and
      frequencies of circulating BDCA3(+) dendritic cells. These human equivalents of
      the rodent CD8(+) T cells migrate to tissues with a heavy parasite load and cause
      damage primarily through cytolysis. IMPLICATIONS: Malaria parasites may promote
      malaria pathogenesis by triggering MCs, which expand a unique class of dendritic
      cells with the subsequent activation of pathogenic CD8(+) T cells. However, MCs
      may have additional regulatory functions. Selective inhibition of MC activation
      may serve as an adjuvant treatment.

PMID- 25840472
TI  - Ultrastructural study of spermatogenesis and sperm in the African medicinal leech
      Hirudo troctina Johnson, 1816 (Annelida, Hirudinida).
AB  - This paper presents the process of spermatogenesis in the leech Hirudo troctina
      Johnson, 1816 using light, fluorescent and transmission electron microscopy. At
      the onset of spermatogenesis in testes, the pear-shaped spermatogonia divide
      mitotically without full cytokinesis and as a result isogenic groups are formed
      (clusters, clones) with 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 spermatogonia and, finally, 256
      primary spermatocytes occur. The final meiotic divisions of spermatocytes give
      rise to clones with 1024 spermatids. There are hundreds of developing germ-line
      clones in each testis. In each clone, the male germ cells divide in full
      synchrony and they are in the same phase of spermatogenesis. During complex
      spermiogenesis each spermatid becomes a filiform spermatozoon with a helicoid
      nucleus, which is characterized by the presence of a long acrosome with two
      regions - anterior and posterior, which are followed by a helicoid nucleus, a
      midpiece with only one mitochondrion and a long flagellum. Our results were
      compared to those on other clitellate annelids that have been studied to date,
      especially to sperm formation in Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1785. Only minor
      differences were found in the length and the diameter of different organelles and
      the number of spermatids in germ-line clones. 

PMID- 25840473
TI  - The hidden biology of sponges and ctenophores.
AB  - Animal evolution is often presented as a march toward complexity, with different
      living animal groups each representing grades of organization that arose through
      the progressive acquisition of complex traits. There are now many reasons to
      reject this classical hypothesis. Not only is it incompatible with recent
      phylogenetic analyses, but it is also an artifact of 'hidden biology', that is,
      blind spots to complex traits in non-model species. A new hypothesis of animal
      evolution, where many complex traits have been repeatedly gained and lost, is
      emerging. As we discuss here, key details of this new model hinge on a better
      understanding of the Porifera and Ctenophora, which have each been hypothesized
      to be sister to all other animals, but are poorly studied and often
      misrepresented. 

PMID- 25840475
TI  - Spin resolved bandstructure imaging with a high resolution momentum microscope.
AB  - We present a spin resolving "momentum microscope" for the high resolution imaging
      of the momentum distribution of photoelectrons. Measurements of the band
      structure of a Au(111) single crystal surface demonstrate an energy resolution of
      DeltaE=12 meV and a momentum resolution of Deltak?=0.0049 A(-1), measured at the
      line-width of the spin-orbit split Shockley surface state. The relative accuracy
      of the k? measurement in the order of 10(-4) A(-1) reveals a deviation from the
      ideal two-dimensional free electron gas model of the Shockley surface state,
      manifested in a threefold radial symmetry. Spin resolution in the full momentum
      image is obtained by an imaging spin-filter based on low-energy electron
      diffraction at a Au passivated Ir(100) single crystal. Using working points at
      10.5 eV and 11.5 eV scattering energy with a completely reversed asymmetry of +/
      60% we demonstrate the efficient mapping of the spin texture of the Au(111)
      surface state.

PMID- 25840474
TI  - Magnetic resonance imaging-measured bone marrow adipose tissue area is inversely
      related to cortical bone area in children and adolescents aged 5-18 years.
AB  - Previous studies have shown an inverse correlation between bone marrow adipose
      tissue and bone mineral density in cancellous bone; however, such relationships
      in cortical bone are less studied, especially in children. A total of 185 healthy
      children and adolescents (76 females and 109 males, aged 5-18 years) were
      included in this study. Right femoral bone marrow adipose tissue area (BMA),
      right femoral cortical bone area (CBA), subcutaneous adipose tissue, visceral
      adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle were accessed by whole-body magnetic
      resonance imaging. In regression analysis with CBA as the dependent variable and
      BMA as the independent variable, BMA negatively contributed to CBA after
      adjusting for weight and total body fat or subcutaneous adipose tissue, visceral
      adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle (beta = -0.201 to -0.272, p < 0.001). These
      results suggest an inverse relationship between BMA and CBA in children and
      adolescents after adjustment of body weight or body composition. The data support
      the hypothesis that a competitive relationship exists between bone and marrow fat
      in cortical bone and is consistent with a similar finding in cancellous bone in
      previous studies. Future research is needed to clarify the role of marrow fat in
      childhood fractures that are related to cortical bone quality. 

PMID- 25840476
TI  - Differentiation of Breast Lesions by Use of HyperSPACE: Hyper-Spectral Analysis
      for Characterization in Echography.
AB  - Early diagnosis represents the cornerstone in breast cancer control. Ultrasound
      is still a valid tool because of its low invasiveness, reduced costs and reduced
      risk of harm, but better exploitation of its potential is necessary to extract
      information on tissue features. The proposed method, HyperSPACE (hyper-spectral
      analysis for characterization in echography), which processes the ultrasonic
      radiofrequency signal in an N-dimension spectral hyperspace to define several
      characteristic parameters of the tissue under investigation, was used with the
      aim of differentiating two types of breast lesion: infiltrating ductal carcinoma
      and fibroadenoma. The analyzed data set consisted of 2000 radiofrequency frames
      related to 200 sections of pathologic breast nodules: 104 infiltrating ductal
      carcinomas and 96 fibroadenomas. The algorithm was trained on single
      radiofrequency frames related to 50 sections (26 carcinomas, 24 fibroadenomas) to
      recognize the two pathologies considered, and all the radiofrequency frames
      related to the other 150 sections were classified, yielding a sensitivity of
      92.2%, specificity of 93%, positive predictive value of 93.2% and negative
      predictive value of 91%. The results were compared with those of RULES
      (radiofrequency ultrasonic local estimators), a processing method set developed
      by our group and used by other researchers in clinical and laboratory
      environments. 

PMID- 25840477
TI  - Comparing Carotid and Brachial Artery Stiffness: A First Step Toward Mechanical
      Mapping of the Arterial Tree.
AB  - Arterial stiffness is a predictor of cardiovascular mortality. It increases with
      age and is accelerated by hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors. In
      addition to the disease state, arterial stiffness increases from the proximal to
      the distal arterial compartments. Concurrent assessment of various vessels from
      the same subjects is unavailable in the literature. The aim of this work was to
      quantify an intrinsic mechanical feature, namely, wall stiffness, of the common
      carotid artery (CCA) and brachial artery (BA). CCAs and BAs of healthy
      adolescents were investigated. Cine loops of CCA and BA B-mode data were
      digitally recorded at the same clinical examination, and arterial elastic moduli
      were estimated off-line with our proprietary non-invasive Imaging-based BioMarker
      (ImBioMark) algorithm. The 11 study subjects were 14.4 +/- 1.2 years old, with
      normal body habitus and blood pressures 112.3 +/- 10.6/63.6 +/- 5.7 mm Hg. BAs
      had a higher elastic modulus than CCAs (arterial elastic moduli: 129.73 +/- 25.67
      kPa vs. 49.55 +/- 14.75 kPa, p < 0.001). There was a positive correlation between
      the BA and CCA (slope = 0.36, intercept = 111.62 kPa, R(2) = 0.045). This article
      documents, for the first time, a correlation between the CCA and BA of the same
      subject, under the same conditions. We previously reported preliminary data for
      the aorta and documented the effect of aging on the CCA; we now intend to study
      the femoral artery as well and include age stratification to pursue our
      investigations. The results reported here can be seen as the first step toward
      mechanical mapping of the arterial tree. 

PMID- 25840478
TI  - Utility and cost analysis of radiographs taken 2 weeks following plate fixation
      of distal radius fractures.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the utility of radiographs taken 2 weeks following plate
      fixation of distal radius fractures. METHODS: A retrospective review of patients
      requiring operative fixation of distal radius fractures was performed with the
      objective of determining the utility of a 2-week postoperative radiograph in
      patient management. RESULTS: Three out of 268 (1%) patients had loss of fixation
      noted radiographically at the 2-week visit that resulted in a reoperation. There
      was no statistically significant difference in radial inclination, radial height,
      or volar tilt measured at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, or final follow-up. The average cost
      of a series of wrist radiographs was $85 with no additional radiology reading
      fees. CONCLUSIONS: Routine 2-week postoperative radiographs of operatively
      treated distal radius fractures rarely resulted in a change in patient
      management; however, they may have added unnecessary cost to the patient and
      health care system. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Economic and decision
      analysis IV.

PMID- 25840479
TI  - Two versus 3 lag screws for fixation of long oblique proximal phalanx fractures
      of the fingers: a cadaver study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare 2- versus 3-screw fixation for oblique fractures of the
      proximal phalanx in a cadaver model that simulates active finger motion. METHODS:
      We experimentally cut the proximal phalanges of the index, middle, and ring
      fingers of 9 cadaveric hands. Five fingers were assigned to a control group with
      no fixation, and 22 were fixed with either 2 or 3 lag screws. One digit was
      excluded because of iatrogenic fracture during preparation. The fingers were
      fitted with a differential variable reluctance transducer that measured maximum
      interfragment displacement while the fingers were subjected to 2,000 full flexion
      and extension cycles to simulate a 6-week active motion protocol. RESULTS:
      Analysis of variance revealed a significant difference between the control group
      and both the 2- and the 3-screw group. The 2- and 3-screw group average
      displacements were not significantly different. Both of these groups were
      equivalent with a power of 90%. CONCLUSIONS: Biomechanical stability during
      simulated active motion protocol did not differ in simulated proximal phalanx
      fractures treated with 2 lag screws or 3. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Fracture fixation
      using 2 screws may be more cost and time effective and, therefore, more
      attractive to the surgeon, even when 3 screws can be placed. Furthermore,
      surgeons may consider using 2 screws rather than resorting to plate fixation when
      3-screw fixation is not possible for these types of fractures.

PMID- 25840480
TI  - Randomized comparison of volar locking plates and intramedullary nails for
      unstable distal radius fractures.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare minimally invasive intramedullary nails (IMN) and volar
      locking plates (VLP) for the treatment of unstable distal radius fractures by
      evaluating postoperative subjective, radiographic, and functional outcomes. The
      hypothesis was that IMN patients would have less pain and required less pain
      medication in the early postoperative period and returned to work earlier than
      VLP patients. METHODS: Sixty patients with closed, displaced, unstable, extra
      articular, metaphyseal fractures of the distal radius were randomized to receive
      a VLP or an IMN for internal fixation. Functional outcomes (Quick Disabilities of
      the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand, Michigan Hand Questionnaire), radiographic
      measurements (ulnar variance, radial height, inclination, and volar tilt), and
      range of motion were assessed until final follow-up at 2 years after surgery.
      Narcotic pain medication use was documented for 5 weeks following surgery.
      RESULTS: There were 2 groups of 30 patients with IMN (mean age, 55 +/- 14 y) or
      VLP (mean age, 55 +/- 16 y) with similar demographics and comorbidities. Patients
      with IMN regained extension earlier but had similar range of motion to patients
      with VLP at final follow-up. There was similar improvement in Michigan Hand
      Questionnaire, Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand, and strength
      between groups. Five weeks after surgery, fewer IMN patients required narcotic
      pain medication (13%) than VLP patients (33%). Radiographic outcomes were similar
      at final follow-up. There were 3 failures with IMN versus 1 failure with VLP. All
      10 employed patients with IMN returned to previous work compared with 10 of the
      12 employed patients with VLP. Time to return to work was similar for both
      groups. CONCLUSIONS: In a cohort of similar patients, IMN and VLP provided
      comparable improvement in functional and radiographic outcomes. Patients with IMN
      required less narcotic pain medication after surgery than VLP patients. TYPE OF
      STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic II.

PMID- 25840481
TI  - The Nevada Rural Ozone Initiative (NVROI): Insights to understanding air
      pollution in complex terrain.
AB  - The Nevada Rural Ozone Initiative (NVROI) was established to better understand O3
      concentrations in the Western United States (US). The major working hypothesis
      for development of the sampling network was that the sources of O3 to Nevada are
      regional and global. Within the framework of this overarching hypothesis, we
      specifically address two conceptual meteorological hypotheses: (1) The high
      elevation, complex terrain, and deep convective mixing that characterize Nevada,
      make this state ideally located to intercept polluted parcels of air transported
      into the US from the free troposphere; and (2) site specific terrain features
      will influence O3 concentrations observed at surface sites. Here, the impact of
      complex terrain and site location on observations are discussed. Data collected
      in Nevada at 6 sites (1385 to 2082 m above sea level (asl)) are compared with
      that collected at high elevation sites in Yosemite National Park and the White
      Mountains, California. Average daily maximum 1-hour concentrations of O3 during
      the first year of the NVROI ranged from 58 to 69 ppbv (spring), 53 to 62 ppbv
      (summer), 44 to 49 ppbv (fall), and 37 to 45 ppbv (winter). These were similar to
      those measured at 3 sites in Yosemite National Park (2022 to 3031 m asl), and at
      4 sites in the White Mountains (1237 to 4342 m asl) (58 to 67 ppbv (summer) and
      47 to 58 ppbv (fall)). Results show, that in complex terrain, collection of data
      should occur at high and low elevation sites to capture surface impacts, and site
      location with respect to topography should be considered. Additionally,
      concentrations measured are above the threshold reported for causing a reduction
      in growth and visible injury for plants (40 ppbv), and sustained exposure at high
      elevation locations in the Western USA may be detrimental for ecosystems.

PMID- 25840482
TI  - Quantifying faecal indicator organism hydrological transfer pathways and phases
      in agricultural catchments.
AB  - Faecal indicator organisms (FIOs) can impact on water quality and pose a health
      and environmental risk. The transfer of FIOs, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli),
      from land to water is driven by hydrological connectivity and may follow the same
      flowpaths as nutrients, from agricultural and human sources. This study
      investigated E. coli transfer in two catchment areas with high source and
      transport pressures. These pressures were: organic phosphorus (P) loading; human
      settlement; conduits and fissures in a grassland karst area; and clay rich and
      impermeable soils in a mixed arable area. The occurrence of E. coli and its
      transport pathways, along with the pathways of nutrients, were studied using a
      combination of targeted FIO sampling, during different hydrological phases and
      events, and high resolution nutrient analysis. The quick flow component in both
      catchments was found to be a more potent vector for E. coli, and was coincident
      with the total P flowpaths using a P Loadograph Recession Analysis (LRA). The
      karst grassland catchment was found to be a transport limited system and the
      mixed arable catchment a source limited system. Hence, despite the grassland
      catchment being a potentially higher FIO source, the E. coli loads leaving the
      catchment were low compared to the mixed arable catchment. E. coli load whole
      event comparisons also indicated that the grassland karst transfers tended to be
      much lower on falling phases of runoff, while the arable catchment, over
      greywacke and mudstone geology, showed little change between the phases.
      Furthermore, the arable catchment showed asymptotic decline of sustained E. coli
      loads towards low flows, which may be indicative of chronic point sources. These
      results indicate the dominance of transport mechanisms over source mechanisms for
      mass E. coli loads and also chronic loads during low flow. These will be
      important considerations for risk assessment and mitigation. 

PMID- 25840483
TI  - Association of longitudinal fractional exhaled nitric oxide measurements with
      asthma control in atopic children.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether longitudinal measurements of FeNO are
      informative for future loss of asthma control in children with atopic asthma.
      METHODS: One hundred seventy-eight patients aged 8-16 years with atopic asthma
      were enrolled. FeNO and lung functions were serially monitored 10 times or more
      over 2 years when subjects were not receiving controller medications. After
      completion of monitoring, 1-year observation on the occurrence of loss of asthma
      control was performed and associations of loss of asthma control with spirometric
      and FeNO measurements were analyzed. RESULTS: Loss of asthma control occurred
      during observation periods in 110 (76%) of 145 patients who completed the study.
      Of all monitored parameters including airway reactivity, the highest FeNO of
      serial measurements (H-FeNO) (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 1.21; 95% CI, 1.08-1.36)
      and the rate of FeNO levels higher than 21 ppb (R21FeNO) (aOR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01
      1.11) were the only independent predictors of upcoming control loss in the
      multiple logistic regression analysis. In receiver-operator characteristic curve
      analysis, H-FeNO > 37 ppb and R21FeNO > 20% demonstrated 91% and 88% sensitivity
      for a future loss of asthma control at the cost of low specificity (60% and 65%,
      respectively). In contrast, H-FeNO > 47 ppb and R21FeNO > 41% gave 96% and 88%
      specificity, but these sacrificed sensitivity to 70% and 72%, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that both amount and frequency of a FeNO increase
      during longitudinal monitoring are helpful in predicting asthma control status.

PMID- 25840484
TI  - Low interleukin (IL)-18 levels in sputum supernatants of patients with severe
      refractory asthma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Severe refractory asthma (SRA) is characterized by persistent asthma
      symptoms, amplified airway inflammation despite treatment with high dose inhaled
      steroids and increased airway bacterial colonization. Interleukin (IL)-18 is a
      pleiotropic pro-inflammatory cytokine that modulates airway inflammation.
      Furthermore, as a product of the inflammasome, IL-18 is involved in host defence
      against viral and bacterial stimuli by modulating the immune response. OBJECTIVE:
      To determine IL-18 levels in sputum supernatants of patients with asthma and to
      investigate whether underlying severity affects its levels. Furthermore, possible
      associations with atopy and mediators and cells involved in the inflammatory
      process of the airways were examined. METHODS: Forty-five patients with mild
      intermittent asthma (21 smokers) and 18 patients with SRA in stable state were
      studied. All subjects underwent lung function tests, skin prick tests, and sputum
      induction for cell count identification. IL-18 and ECP levels were measured in
      sputum supernatants. Furthermore, sputum samples were examined for the commonest
      respiratory pathogens and viruses by real time polymerase chain reaction (RT
      PCR). RESULTS: Patients with SRA had significantly lower IL-18 levels in sputum
      supernatants compared to mild asthmatics (p < 0.001). Twelve out of eighteen
      patients with SRA were colonized by viruses and/or bacterial pathogens. IL-18
      levels correlated with the percentage of macrophages (r = 0.635, p = 0.026) and
      inversely correlated with the percentage of neutrophils in sputum (r = -0.715, p
      = 0.009). No correlations were found between IL-18, ECP and the percentage of
      eosinophils in the sputum of SRA. CONCLUSIONS: In SRA IL-18 is possibly involved
      in chronic airway inflammation through an eosinophil independent pathway. The
      decreased levels of IL-18 in SRA support the hypothesis of deregulated
      inflammasome activation, justifying the susceptibility of these patients for
      bacterial colonization or infection.

PMID- 25840485
TI  - The relationship between trauma center volume and in-hospital outcomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Increases in hospital volume are positively associated with improved
      surgical outcomes. However, in the trauma setting, studies have reported
      conflicting findings in regard to volume's effect on in-hospital mortality. This
      study investigates whether complications, failure-to-rescue (FTR), and mortality
      are influenced by trauma centers' average annual volume. METHODS: We performed a
      retrospective cohort study that analyzed patient records included in the National
      Trauma Data Bank from years 2008-2010. We calculated risk-adjusted complication,
      FTR, and mortality rates for centers treating different volumes of patients. We
      also performed multilevel logistic regression modeling to examine the probability
      that patients treated at trauma centers with higher annual volumes would
      experience complication, FTR, and mortality while controlling for injury
      severity, type of injury, mechanism of trauma, age, gender, race, number of
      comorbidities, head injury, hypotension, and hospital clustering. Hospital
      characteristics including designation level, academic status, nonprofit status,
      safety-net status, and region were incorporated into the model. RESULTS: Risk
      adjusted complication, FTR, and mortality rates differed significantly across
      hospital volume quintiles. Regression analyses indicated that higher hospital
      volumes were significantly associated with a decreased likelihood of mortality
      for individual patient but not for complication or FTR. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings
      suggest that higher trauma center volume is associated with improved mortality
      outcomes. However, the relationship between volume and FTR is more complex.
      Future research should address the question of determining optimal volume levels
      that lead to high provider experience, efficient resource usage, and low
      unintended consequences or outcomes.

PMID- 25840486
TI  - Evaluation and comparison of the effect of hypothermia and ozone on ischemia
      reperfusion injury of skeletal muscle in rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tourniquet-induced ischemia-reperfusion, which affects local and
      distant organs, is very common in orthopedic surgery. Hypothermia is used in
      traumatic tissue during ischemic period commonly. Ozone (O3) has been recommended
      as a novel therapeutic agent in various medical conditions. The objective of the
      study was to evaluate and compare the effect of hypothermia (H) and O3 on
      ischemia-reperfusion injury of skeletal muscle in rats by measuring oxidative
      parameters and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) levels. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Eighteen rats (Wistar albino) were separated into five groups randomly
      (sham, IR, IR + H, IR + O3, IR + H + O3; n = 6). The lower right extremity of all
      rats was subjected to 2 h of ischemia and 22 h of reperfusion clamping the common
      iliac artery and using the rubber-band technique at the level of the lesser
      trochanter under general anesthesia. Two hours of hypothermia were applied during
      the first 2 h of reperfusion in two groups. O3 was applied in two groups. All
      rats were sacrificed after the IR period with high dose of anesthesia. The
      tibialis anterior muscle and blood were saved. Levels of superoxide dismutase,
      glutathione peroxidase, MDA, NOx, and interleukin-1beta were measured in the
      muscle. Creatinine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase,
      urea, creatinine, and electrolytes were measured in serum. Immunohistochemical
      iNOS staining was performed on muscle samples. RESULTS: The levels of MDA, NOx,
      and interleukin-1beta in muscle were raised in the IR group compared with those
      in the sham group. The same parameters were lower in the groups of IR + H, IR +
      O3, and IR + H + O3 compared with those in the IR group. Superoxide dismutase and
      glutathione peroxidase activities in muscle were lower in the IR group compared
      with those in the sham group; however, same parameters were higher in the groups
      of IR + H, IR + O3, and IR + H + O3 compared with those in the IR group. Score
      and intensity of iNOS staining in skeletal muscle in the IR group was increased
      compared with that in the sham group and decreased in the groups of IR + H, IR +
      O3, and IR + H + O3 compared with that in the IR group. Levels of creatinine
      kinase, aspartate aminotransferase, and K in the three treatment groups decreased
      compared with those in the IR group. CONCLUSIONS: These findings showed that
      hypothermia, which has more affect, and O3 decreased the tourniquet-induced IR
      injury in the rat's muscle-skeletal system by reducing the levels of oxidative
      and nitrosative stress parameters and enhancing antioxidant enzymes. Hypothermia
      and O3 had no synergistic effect. Hypothermic reperfusion and O3 preconditioning
      might be beneficial in skeletal muscle IR injury-associated tourniquet.

PMID- 25840487
TI  - Comparing surgical infections in National Surgical Quality Improvement Project
      and an Institutional Database.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgical quality improvement requires accurate tracking and
      benchmarking of postoperative adverse events. We track surgical site infections
      (SSIs) with two systems; our in-house surgical secondary events (SSE) database
      and the National Surgical Quality Improvement Project (NSQIP). The SSE database,
      a modification of the Clavien-Dindo classification, categorizes SSIs by their
      anatomic site, whereas NSQIP categorizes by their level. Our aim was to directly
      compare these different definitions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: NSQIP and the SSE
      database entries for all surgeries performed in 2011 and 2012 were compared. To
      match NSQIP definitions, and while blinded to NSQIP results, entries in the SSE
      database were categorized as either incisional (superficial or deep) or organ
      space infections. These categorizations were compared with NSQIP records;
      agreement was assessed with Cohen kappa. RESULTS: The 5028 patients in our cohort
      had a 6.5% SSI in the SSE database and a 4% rate in NSQIP, with an overall
      agreement of 95% (kappa = 0.48, P < 0.0001). The rates of categorized infections
      were similarly well matched; incisional rates of 4.1% and 2.7% for the SSE
      database and NSQIP and organ space rates of 2.6% and 1.5%. Overall agreements
      were 96% (kappa = 0.36, P < 0.0001) and 98% (kappa = 0.55, P < 0.0001),
      respectively. Over 80% of cases recorded by the SSE database but not NSQIP did
      not meet NSQIP criteria. CONCLUSIONS: The SSE database is an accurate, real-time
      record of postoperative SSIs. Institutional databases that capture all surgical
      cases can be used in conjunction with NSQIP with excellent concordance.

PMID- 25840488
TI  - Design of vessel ligation simulator for deliberate practice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgical residents develop technical skills at variable rates, often
      based on random chance of cases encountered. One such skill is tying secure knots
      without exerting excessive force. This study describes the design of a simulator
      using a force sensor to measure instantaneous forces exerted on a blood vessel
      analog during vessel ligation and the development of expert-derived performance
      goals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Vessel ligations were performed on Silastic tubing
      at an offset from a Vernier Force Sensor. Nine experts (surgical faculty and
      senior residents) and 10 novices (junior residents) were recruited to each
      perform 10 vessel ligations (two square knots each) with two-handed and one
      handed techniques. Internal consistency for the series of vessel ligations was
      tested with Cronbach alpha. Maximum forces exerted by novices and experts were
      compared using Student t-test. RESULTS: Internal consistency across the 10
      ligations on the simulator was excellent (Cronbach alpha = 0.91). The expert
      group on average exerted a significantly lower maximum force when compared with
      novices while performing two-handed (0.76 +/- 0.39 N versus 1.12 +/- 0.49 N, P <
      0.01) and one-handed (0.84 +/- 0.32 N versus 1.36 +/- 0.44 N, P < 0.01) vessel
      ligations. CONCLUSIONS: Although the expert group performed vessel ligations with
      significantly lower peak force than the novice group, there were novices who
      performed at the expert level. This is consistent with the conceptual framework
      of milestones and suggests that the skill of gentle knot-tying can be measured
      and develops at different chronologic levels of training in different
      individuals. This simulator can be used as part of a deliberate practice
      curriculum with instantaneous visual feedback.

PMID- 25840489
TI  - Intestinal alkaline phosphatase to treat necrotizing enterocolitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) activity is decreased in
      necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), and IAP supplementation prevents NEC
      development. It is not known if IAP given after NEC onset can reverse the course
      of the disease. We hypothesized that enteral IAP given after NEC induction would
      not reverse intestinal injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: NEC was induced in Sprague
      Dawley pups by delivery preterm followed by formula feedings with
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and hypoxia exposure and continued up to 4 d. IAP was
      added to feeds on day 2 until being sacrificed on day 4. NEC severity was scored
      based on hematoxylin and eosin-stained terminal ileum sections, and AP activity
      was measured using a colorimetric assay. IAP and interleukin-6 expression were
      measured using real time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: NEC pups' alkaline
      phosphatase (AP) activity was decreased to 0.18 U/mg compared with controls of
      0.57 U/mg (P < 0.01). Discontinuation of LPS and hypoxia after 2 d increased AP
      activity to 0.36 U/mg (P < 0.01). IAP supplementation in matched groups did not
      impact total AP activity or expression. Discontinuing LPS and hypoxia after NEC
      onset improved intestinal injury scores to 1.14 compared with continued
      stressors, score 2.25 (P < 0.01). IAP supplementation decreased interleukin-6
      expression two-fold (P < 0.05), though did not reverse NEC intestinal damage (P =
      0.5). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first work to demonstrate that removing the source
      of NEC improves intestinal damage and increases AP activity. When used as a
      rescue treatment, IAP decreased intestinal inflammation though did not impact
      injury making it likely that IAP is best used preventatively to those neonates at
      risk.

PMID- 25840490
TI  - Targeted approaches to childhood cancer: progress in drug discovery and
      development.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Cancer is a leading cause of death in childhood. Encouraging
      progress has been made in the treatment of childhood malignancies, but there is
      an unmet need for new drugs to improve survival and reduce treatment-associated
      toxicities. Drug development in paediatric oncology has specific requirements
      with regard to the patient population and the regulatory background and presents
      several unique challenges that need addressing. AREAS COVERED: This review
      discusses the current framework of paediatric oncology drug development and some
      of the specific challenges in pre-clinical and clinical research. The authors
      discuss the recent developments in the targeting of various signalling pathways.
      These pathways represent a selection of targets that have been identified by pre
      clinical and clinical investigators to be highly relevant in paediatric
      malignancies. EXPERT OPINION: The development of targeted agents in paediatric
      oncology must be driven by knowledge of tumour biology. Predictive and
      pharmacodynamic biomarkers should be incorporated within paediatric early
      clinical trials wherever possible. Faster dose-escalation, limited numbers of
      cohorts and novel adaptive designs can help to make paediatric early clinical
      trials more efficient. Close collaboration between academic/clinical researchers,
      the pharmaceutical industry, regulatory bodies and parent groups are crucial in
      overcoming the challenges associated with paediatric oncology drug development.

PMID- 25840491
TI  - Flexor tendon injuries in children: Rehabilitative options and confounding
      factors.
AB  - Research pertaining to the rehabilitation of children with flexor tendon injuries
      is less prevalent than that in the adult population, and most authors agree that
      immobilization protocols comprise a safe and efficacious choice. This article
      presents suggested protocols and correlated literature regarding the outcomes of
      immobilization, early passive motion, and early active motion in the pediatric
      population. Confounding factors which influence rehabilitative choices, both
      personal and environmental, are also presented. 

PMID- 25840492
TI  - Upper extremity function: What's posture got to do with it?
AB  - This perspective paper reviews the linkage between developing postural control
      and upper extremity function. We suggest updated principles for guiding clinical
      practice, based on current views from motor learning, motor development, and
      motor control research. Using three clinical examples, we illustrate principles
      focusing on the use of variability, the importance of errors in learning
      movement, task specific exploration and practice, and the critical timing
      necessary to build skill of the upper extremity in a variety of postures. These
      principles differ from historic approaches in therapeutic exercise, which treated
      posture as a separate system and a precursor for extremity skill building. We
      maintain that current movement science supports the tight interaction of posture
      and upper extremity function through developmental time and in real time, such
      that one system cannot be considered separate from the other. Specific
      suggestions for clinical practice flow from the guiding principles outlined in
      this paper. 

PMID- 25840494
TI  - Common medial elbow injuries in the adolescent athlete.
AB  - Recently there has been increased year-round sports participation among children
      and adolescents with limited to no rest periods. This has led to increases in
      pediatric repetitive stress injuries, once considered a rarity. Whether in the
      throwing athlete or in the athlete that experiences repetitive axial loading;
      increased medial tension and overload syndromes can lead to stress reactions and
      fractures. This occurs in the developing athlete due to the bone being weaker
      than the surrounding tendons and ligaments. The medial elbow is a high stress
      area and is susceptible to many conditions including apophysitis , avulsion
      fractures and ulnar collateral ligament disruption. Valgus stress can cause
      injury to the medial elbow which can lead to increased lateral compression,
      Panner's disease and osteochondral lesions of the capitellum and olecranon. The
      purpose of this manuscript is to review common elbow disorders in the adolescent
      population, outline management and highlight important features of
      rehabilitation. 

PMID- 25840493
TI  - Clinical assessment of the infant and child following perinatal brachial plexus
      injury.
AB  - STUDY DESIGN: Literature review. INTRODUCTION: After perinatal brachial plexus
      injury (PBPI), clinicians play an important role in injury classification as well
      as the assessment of recovery and secondary conditions. Early assessment guides
      the initial plan of care and influences follow-up and long-term outcome. PURPOSE:
      To review methods used to assess, classify and monitor the extent and influence
      of PBPI with an emphasis on guidelines for clinicians. METHODS: We use The
      International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) model
      to provide a guide to assessment after PBPI for rehabilitation clinicians.
      DISCUSSION: With information gained from targeted assessments, clinicians can
      design interventions to increase the opportunities infants and children have for
      optimal recovery and to attain skills that allow participation in areas of
      interest.

PMID- 25840495
TI  - NOD1 and NOD2 control the invasiveness of trophoblast cells via the MAPK/p38
      signaling pathway in human first-trimester pregnancy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Nucleotide binding and oligomerization leucine-rich repeats (NLR)
      are recognized as members of pattern-recognition receptors that play important
      roles in host innate immune defenses. In this study, we have investigated the
      expression and regulation of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domains 1 and 2
      (NOD1 and NOD2) on the invasiveness of primary human trophoblasts during the
      first trimester of pregnancy. METHODS: The expression of NOD1 and NOD2 by human
      first rimester villi from recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) patients and
      normal pregnancy was analyzed by immunochemistry, western blot and real-time RT
      PCR, respectively. The effects of ligands on the regulation of their receptors
      and invasiveness of trophoblasts were examined. The ELISA was used to measure the
      secretion of matrix matallopeptidase-9 (MMP9) and matrix matallopeptidase-2
      (MMP2) by trophoblasts. We also investigated the signaling pathways involved in
      invasion of trophoblasts. RESULTS: The higher NOD1 and NOD2 were observed in
      villi from patients who experienced RSA compared with those who experienced a
      normal pregnancy. The ligands can up-regulate the expression of their receptors.
      After activation, NOD1 and NOD2 inhibited the invasion of trophoblast cells by
      decreasing MMP9 but not MMP2. After the activation of NOD1 and NOD2, the mitogen
      activated protein kinase (MAPK)/p38 pathway was activated time dependently.
      Blocking this pathway with a specific inhibitor (SB203580) attenuated NOD1-and
      NOD2-regulated trophoblast invasions. DISCUSSION: These results suggest that
      abnormal elevated NOD1 and NOD2 expression in villi relate to pregnancy outcomes.
      Further, activation of NOD1 and NOD2 could have a bearing on our understanding of
      the invasive ability of trophoblasts.

PMID- 25840496
TI  - [Is smoking a chronic disease? No].

PMID- 25840497
TI  - Different postprandial lipid metabolism and insulin resistance between non
      diabetic patients with and without coronary artery disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Postprandial hyperlipidemia and hyperinsulinemia have been thought to
      play an important role in the development of atherosclerosis. Diabetes mellitus
      (DM) has an impact on lipid metabolism, however, little is known about the
      relationship between the postprandial lipid and glucose metabolism in
      normoglycemic patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: To compare
      the postprandial lipid and glucose metabolism in normoglycemic patients with and
      without CAD, a total of 36 normoglycemic patients: 19 patients with stable CAD
      (CAD group, age 60.2+/-11.3 years) and 17 patients without CAD (Non-CAD group,
      age 60.4+/-9.6 years) were loaded with a high-fat and high-glucose test meal, and
      the changes in serum level of the lipid and glucose parameters were monitored
      before and 0, 2, 4, and 6h later. RESULTS: In the Non-CAD group, postprandial
      serum levels of triglycerides (TG) and remnant-like particle cholesterol
      increased significantly and reached peak levels at the 4th hour and decreased
      significantly at the 6th hour of observation, whereas those levels in CAD group
      kept rising during 6h of observation. Although there was no significant
      difference in the area under the curves (AUCs) for the postprandial plasma
      glucose levels between CAD and Non-CAD group, the AUCs for the postprandial
      plasma insulin and C-peptide levels were significantly higher in the CAD group
      than in the Non-CAD group. The AUCs for postprandial TG levels showed good
      correlation with those for postprandial plasma insulin and C-peptide levels
      (insulin: r=0.455, p<0.005; C-peptide: r=0.462, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These
      findings suggest that postprandial hyperlipidemia and hyperinsulinemia may have a
      close relationship in CAD patients without DM and might play an important role in
      the development of atherosclerosis even before the onset of diabetes.

PMID- 25840498
TI  - Contemplating the etiology of chronic urticaria and the implications of current
      guidelines.

PMID- 25840499
TI  - Factors associated with high short-acting beta2-agonist use in urban children
      with asthma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: One goal of guideline-based asthma therapy is minimal use of short
      acting beta2 agonist (SABA) medications. Inner-city children with asthma are
      known to have high SABA use. OBJECTIVE: To examine factors associated with high
      SABA use in inner-city children with asthma. METHODS: One hundred inner-city
      children with persistent asthma were enrolled into a randomized controlled trial
      of an emergency department (ED) and home intervention. All children underwent
      serologic allergen specific IgE and salivary cotinine testing at the ED
      enrollment visit. Pharmacy records for the past 12 months were obtained. Number
      of SABA fills during the past 12 months was categorized into low- to moderate- vs
      high-use groups. SABA groups were compared by the number of symptom days and
      nights, allergen sensitization, and exposures. Regression models were used to
      predict high SABA use. RESULTS: Mean number of SABA fills over 12 months was
      3.12. Unadjusted bivariate analysis showed that high SABA users were more than 5
      times more likely to have an asthma hospitalization, almost 3 times more likely
      to have an asthma intensive care unit admission, and more than 3 times more
      likely to have prior specialty asthma care or positive cockroach sensitization
      than low to moderate SABA users. In the final regression model, for every
      additional inhaled corticosteroid fill, a child was 1.4 times more likely and a
      child with positive cockroach sensitization was almost 7 times more likely to
      have high SABA use when controlling for prior intensive care unit admission,
      receipt of specialty care, child age, and income. CONCLUSION: Providers should
      closely monitor SABA and controller medication use, allergen sensitization, and
      exposures in children with persistent asthma. TRIAL REGISTRATION:
      ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT01981564.

PMID- 25840500
TI  - The role of arbuscular mycorrhizas in reducing soil nutrient loss.
AB  - Substantial amounts of nutrients are lost from soils via leaching and as gaseous
      emissions. These losses can be environmentally damaging and expensive in terms of
      lost agricultural production. Plants have evolved many traits to optimize
      nutrient acquisition, including the formation of arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM),
      associations of plant roots with fungi that acquire soil nutrients. There is
      emerging evidence that AM have the ability to reduce nutrient loss from soils by
      enlarging the nutrient interception zone and preventing nutrient loss after rain
      induced leaching events. Until recently, this important ecosystem service of AM
      had been largely overlooked. Here we review the role of AM in reducing nutrient
      loss and conclude that this role cannot be ignored if we are to increase global
      food production in an environmentally sustainable manner. 

PMID- 25840501
TI  - Cost analysis of in-home telerehabilitation for post-knee arthroplasty.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rehabilitation provided through home visits is part of the continuum
      of care after discharge from hospital following total knee arthroplasty (TKA). As
      demands for rehabilitation at home are growing and becoming more difficult to
      meet, in-home telerehabilitation has been proposed as an alternate service
      delivery method. However, there is a need for robust data concerning both the
      effectiveness and the cost of dispensing in-home telerehabilitation. OBJECTIVE:
      The objective of this study was to document, analyze, and compare real costs of
      two service delivery methods: in-home telerehabilitation and conventional home
      visits. METHODS: The economic analysis was conducted as part of a multicenter
      randomized controlled trial (RCT) on telerehabilitation for TKA, and involved
      data from 197 patients, post-TKA. Twice a week for 8 weeks, participants received
      supervised physiotherapy via two delivery methods, depending on their study group
      allocation: in-home telerehabilitation (TELE) and home-visit rehabilitation
      (VISIT). Patients were recruited from eight hospitals in the province of Quebec,
      Canada. The TELE group intervention was delivered by videoconferencing over high
      speed Internet. The VISIT group received the same intervention at home. Costs
      related to the delivery of the two services (TELE and VISIT) were calculated.
      Student's t tests were used to compare costs per treatment between the two
      groups. To take distance into account, the two treatment groups were compared
      within distance strata using two-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs). RESULTS: The
      mean cost of a single session was Can $93.08 for the VISIT group (SD $35.70) and
      $80.99 for the TELE group (SD $26.60). When comparing both groups, real total
      cost analysis showed a cost differential in favor of the TELE group (TELE minus
      VISIT: -$263, 95% CI -$382 to -$143). However, when the patient's home was
      located less than 30 km round-trip from the health care center, the difference in
      costs between TELE and VISIT treatments was not significant (P=.25, .26, and .11
      for the <10, 10-19, and 20-29 km strata, respectively). The cost of TELE
      treatments was lower than VISIT treatments when the distance was 30 km or more
      (30-49 km: $81<$103, P=.002; >=50 km: $90<$152, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: To our
      knowledge, this is the first study of the actual costs of in-home
      telerehabilitation covering all subcosts of telerehabilitation and distance
      between the health care center and the patient's home. The cost for a single
      session of in-home telerehabilitation compared to conventional home-visit
      rehabilitation was lower or about the same, depending on the distance between the
      patient's home and health care center. Under the controlled conditions of an RCT,
      a favorable cost differential was observed when the patient was more than 30 km
      from the provider. Stakeholders and program planners can use these data to guide
      decisions regarding introducing telerehabilitation as a new service in their
      clinic. TRIAL REGISTRATION: International Standard Registered Clinical Study
      Number (ISRCTN): 66285945; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN66285945 (Archived by
      WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6WlT2nuX4).

PMID- 25840502
TI  - A new technique of totally laparoscopic resection with natural orifice specimen
      extraction (NOSE) for large rectal adenoma.
AB  - There is no consensus about the best technique to use for the surgical treatment
      for large rectal adenomas. The advent of laparoscopic surgery has led to the
      development of several new methods for the treatment of gastrointestinal tumors.
      This study was designed to introduce an innovative technique of totally
      laparoscopic resection with natural orifice specimen extraction (NOSE) for large
      rectal adenomas and to assess the feasibility and safety of the technique.
      Between February 2011 and January 2014, we performed totally laparoscopic
      resection with NOSE on 18 patients with a large rectal adenoma. This new
      technique was successful in all 18 patients. The average size of the adenoma was
      4.2 cm. Mean operation time was 108.4 min, and mean intraoperative blood loss was
      36.6 ml. The mean time to passing of the first flatus was 2.3 days, and the mean
      postoperative hospital stay was 7.2 days. Only one patient needed analgesics
      after the operation. All patients were able to walk within the first 2 days.
      There were no cases of morbidity and recurrence. Totally laparoscopic resection
      with NOSE appears to be suitable for selected patients with a large adenoma
      located in mid- or low rectum.

PMID- 25840503
TI  - Effect of moderate- versus high-intensity exercise on vascular function,
      biomarkers and quality of life in heart transplant recipients: A randomized,
      crossover trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Growing evidence in long-term treatment of heart transplant (HTx)
      recipients indicates effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on
      several parameters, including oxygen uptake, vascular function and psychological
      distress. In this study we compare the effect of HIIT vs continued moderate
      training (CON) on vascular function, biomarkers and health-related quality of
      life (HRQoL) in HTx recipients. METHODS: A randomized, controlled crossover trial
      of stable HTx recipients >12 months after transplantation was done on patients
      with 12 weeks of HIIT or 12 weeks of CON, followed by a 5-month washout and
      crossover. Outcomes included endothelial function, arterial stiffness,
      biomarkers, HRQoL and markers of anxiety and depression. RESULTS: Sixteen HTx
      recipients (mean age 52 years, 75% male) completed the study. HIIT increased
      VO(2peak) more than CON (between-group difference, p < 0.001). The physical
      component score of the 36-item Short Form (SF-36) was increased significantly in
      HIIT patients (p = 0.02) and borderline increased in CON patients (p = 0.07),
      whereas there was no significant effect of exercise on the mental component.
      Depression score decreased significantly in HIIT patients (p = 0.04) with no
      change in CON patients (p = 0.75), whereas anxiety score decreased significantly
      in both HIIT (p < 0.01) and CON (p < 0.05) patients. There were no between-group
      differences in any of the measures (all p > 0.05). Arterial stiffness and
      biomarkers were not changed, nor did endothelial function change after HIIT (p =
      0.08) or CON (p = 0.68). CONCLUSIONS: HIIT and CON are both well tolerated and
      induce similar improvements in physical components of HRQoL and in markers of
      anxiety. Effects of either training modality on vascular function and biomarkers
      could not be confirmed.

PMID- 25840504
TI  - Gene expression profiling to study racial differences after heart
      transplantation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The basis for increased mortality after heart transplantation in
      African Americans and other non-Caucasian racial groups is poorly defined. We
      hypothesized that increased risk of adverse events is driven by biologic factors.
      To test this hypothesis in the Invasive Monitoring Attenuation through Gene
      Expression (IMAGE) study, we determined whether the event rate of the primary
      outcome of acute rejection, graft dysfunction, death, or retransplantation varied
      by race as a function of calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) levels and gene expression
      profile (GEP) scores. METHODS: We determined the event rate of the primary
      outcome, comparing racial groups, stratified by time after transplant. Logistic
      regression was used to compute the relative risk across racial groups, and linear
      modeling was used to measure the dependence of CNI levels and GEP score on race.
      RESULTS: In 580 patients monitored for a median of 19 months, the incidence of
      the primary end point was 18.3% in African Americans, 22.2% in other non
      Caucasians, and 8.5% in Caucasians (p < 0.001). There were small but significant
      correlations of race and tacrolimus trough levels to the GEP score. Tacrolimus
      levels were similar among the races. Of patients receiving tacrolimus, other non
      Caucasians had higher GEP scores than the other racial groups. African American
      recipients demonstrated a unique decrease in expression of the FLT3 gene in
      response to higher tacrolimus levels. CONCLUSIONS: African Americans and other
      non-Caucasian heart transplant recipients were 2.5-times to 3-times more likely
      than Caucasians to experience outcome events in the Invasive Monitoring
      Attenuation through Gene Expression study. The increased risk of adverse outcomes
      may be partly due to the biology of the alloimmune response, which is less
      effectively inhibited at similar tacrolimus levels in minority racial groups.

PMID- 25840505
TI  - Management of children with dilated cardiomyopathy in The Netherlands:
      Implications of a low early transplantation rate.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The policy for listing and transplant for children with dilated
      cardiomyopathy (DCM) in The Netherlands has been conservative because of low
      donor availability. The effects of this policy on outcome are reported. METHODS:
      This was a multicenter, nationwide study performed in 148 children with DCM. The
      primary outcome was death or heart transplant. RESULTS: Overall, 43 patients
      (29%) died or were transplanted. Within 1 year of diagnosis, 21 patients died,
      and only 4 underwent transplantation (3 on mechanical circulatory support). The 1
      year survival was 85% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 79-91), and 5-year survival
      was 84% (95% CI = 78-90). Transplantation-free survival at 1 year was 82% (95% CI
      = 75-88) and at 5 years was 72% (95% CI = 64-80). Within 1 year of diagnosis,
      with death as the main end-point (21 of 25, 84%), intensive care unit admission
      (hazard ratio = 2.6, p = 0.05) and mechanical circulatory support (hazard ratio =
      3.2, p = 0.03) were risk factors (multivariable Cox analysis); inotropic support
      was longer in patients reaching an end-point. At >1 year after diagnosis, with
      transplantation as the main end-point (15 of 18, 83%), age >6 years (hazard ratio
      = 6.1, p = 0.02) was a risk factor. There were 56 (38%) children who recovered,
      50% within 1 year of diagnosis. Recovery was associated with younger age; was
      similar in patients with myocarditis (43%) and idiopathic disease (41%); and was
      similar in patients initially admitted to the intensive care unit, admitted to
      the ward, or treated as outpatients. CONCLUSIONS: The transplantation rate in our
      cohort in the first year was low, with 1-year and 5-year survival rates similar
      to other cohorts. Our results suggest that a conservative approach to list
      children for transplantation early after presentation may be justifiable except
      for patients with prolonged intensive care unit or mechanical circulatory
      support.

PMID- 25840506
TI  - Circulating microRNA as a biomarker for recovery in pediatric dilated
      cardiomyopathy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short regulatory RNAs that control gene
      expression through interacting with the 3'UTR of target messenger RNAs. The
      purpose of this study was to determine if circulating miRNAs are useful
      biomarkers of outcome in children with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). METHODS: An
      array for 754 miRNAs and real time polymerase chain reaction confirmation of
      select miRNAs were performed. Serum from 55 children <18 years old with DCM was
      analyzed. Samples were drawn from all patients with DCM when undergoing heart
      transplant evaluation and/or at the time of transplantation. Patients with DCM
      were categorized based on when their blood was drawn (Pre-Transplant or
      Transplant) and outcome (Transplant/died or Recovered). RESULTS: Two miRNAs were
      significantly up-regulated (hsa-miR-155 and hsa-miR-636) and 2 miRNAs were down
      regulated (hsa-miR-646 and hsa-miR-639) in patients with DCM who were
      transplanted or died compared with patients with DCM who recovered their
      ventricular function. Receiver operator curves, performed for differences in any
      1 of these 4 differentially regulated miRNAs in patients who were transplanted or
      died compared with patients who recovered, resulted in an area under the receiver
      operating characteristic curve of 0.875 for the Pre-Transplant blood draw time
      point and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.93 for
      the day of Transplant time point. CONCLUSIONS: We identified specific miRNAs that
      are differentially regulated between children with DCM who need a transplant
      compared with children with DCM who recover. A unique biomarker signature of
      miRNAs that are specific to children with DCM who have the potential to recover
      would be valuable in risk stratification of this challenging patient population.

PMID- 25840507
TI  - Design of a novel prosthetic socket: assessment of the thermal performance.
AB  - Prosthetic liners and sockets insulate the residual limb, causing excessive
      sweating and concomitant skin maceration. When coupled with atypical loading
      conditions, further dermatologic problems can arise. This can significantly
      reduce the quality of life of an amputee patient. Improving the design of the
      prosthetic socket has been proposed as a means of reestablishing a normal thermal
      environment around the residual limb. In this study, a prosthetic socket was
      modified by incorporating a helical cooling channel within the socket wall using
      additive manufacturing techniques. Two sockets were modeled: a control socket,
      and a modified socket containing a 0.48 cm diameter cooling channel. Computer
      simulations and bench-top testing were used to assess the design's ability to
      create a greater temperature differential across the socket wall. A greater
      temperature drop across the socket wall suggested that the socket could provide
      cooling benefits to the residual limb by allowing for heat to be drawn away from
      the limb. The temperature difference across the socket wall was calculated for
      both sockets in each aspect of the study. Both socket type (p=0.002) and location
      on the socket (p=0.014) were statistically significant factors affecting the
      temperature difference between inner and outer socket walls. Compared with the
      control socket, the modified socket containing a helical cooling channel
      exhibited greater temperature differences across its wall of 11.1  degrees C and
      6.4  degrees C in the computer simulations and bench-top testing, respectively.
      This finding suggested that socket modifications, such as the cooling channel
      presented, could provide a beneficial cooling effect to an amputee patient's
      residual limb.

PMID- 25840508
TI  - A novel resting form of the trinuclear copper center in the double mutant of a
      multicopper oxidase, CueO, Cys500Ser/Glu506Ala.
AB  - A multicopper oxidase, CueO was doubly mutated at its type I copper ligand,
      Cys500 and an acidic amino acid residue located in the proton transfer pathway,
      Glu506, to Ser and Ala, respectively. Cys500Ser/Glu506Ala was mainly in a novel
      resting form to afford the absorption band at ca. 400 nm and an EPR signal with a
      highly anisotropic character derived from type III copper. However,
      Cys500Ser/Glu506Ala gave the same reaction intermediate (peroxide intermediate)
      as that from Cys500Ser and Cys500Ser/Glu506Gln.

PMID- 25840509
TI  - Editorial overview: Folding and binding: Old concepts, new ideas, novel insights.

PMID- 25840510
TI  - Cribriform adenocarcinoma of the minor salivary glands arising in the epiglottis-
      a previously undocumented occurrence.
AB  - A 39-year-old female was referred to her local Ear, Nose, and Throat department
      with tonsillar hypertrophy. During intubation for a tonsillectomy, a mass was
      also noted on the epiglottis. Histopathologic examination showed this mass to be
      a cribriform adenocarcinoma of the minor salivary glands (CAMSG). As far as the
      authors are aware, a CAMSG has never been documented in the larynx. 

PMID- 25840511
TI  - Salivary gland lesions: recent advances and evolving concepts.
AB  - Recently, there have been significant developments in our understanding of
      salivary gland pathology, and new entities, such as mammary analogue secretory
      carcinoma, have been described. Attempts are being made to identify effective
      therapeutic agents for salivary duct carcinomas by using molecular diagnostic
      techniques. Concepts such as high-grade transformation have been described, which
      not only influence macroscopic and microscopic evaluation of a specimen but,
      given the high incidence of metastases and morbidity, also carry significant
      treatment implications. Specific chromosomal translocations, which can be
      detected by fluorescent in situ hybridization, can augment diagnostic accuracy
      and carry prognostic implications. The landscape of benign salivary gland lesions
      is changing with better understanding of chronic sclerosing sialadenitis related
      to IgG4. This multiorgan inflammatory condition may primarily present as a
      salivary gland lesion and clinically and radiologically mimic a salivary gland
      malignancy. Histology and immunohistochemistry play a critical role in its
      accurate diagnosis. The purpose of this article is to review these changes, with
      an emphasis on their effect on patient management. Given their diagnostic,
      prognostic, and therapeutic implications, it is critical that surgeons,
      oncologists, pathologists, and those involved in caring for patients with
      salivary gland tumors are aware of these changes while considering management
      options. 

PMID- 25840512
TI  - Fracture of mandibular condyle-to open or not to open: an attempt to settle the
      controversy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the outcome of the open method versus the closed method of
      treatment for mandibular condylar fracture. STUDY DESIGN: Fifty patients with
      fractures of the mandibular condylar processes were evaluated. All fractures were
      displaced, with a degree of deviation between the condylar fragment and the
      ascending ramus of 10 to 45 degrees (mediolaterally). The patients were randomly
      divided into two groups, with group 1 receiving open reduction internal fixation
      and group 2 receiving closed reduction. The follow-up was done over the period of
      6 months. RESULTS: Statistically significant improvement was seen in group 1
      compared with group 2 in terms of anatomic reduction of the condyle, shortening
      of the ascending ramus, occlusal status, and deviation on mouth opening.
      CONCLUSIONS: A statistically significant difference was seen in the patients
      treated with the open method, with improved temporomandibular joint functions and
      fewer short- and long-term complications compared with those treated with the
      closed method.

PMID- 25840513
TI  - Oral aspects in celiac disease children: clinical and dental enamel chemical
      evaluation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the oral manifestations of
      celiac disease (CD), the chemical composition of dental enamel, and the
      occurrence of CD in children with dental enamel defects (DEDs). STUDY DESIGN: In
      the study, 52 children with CD and 52 controls were examined for DEDs, recurrent
      aphthous stomatitis (RAS), dental caries experience, and salivary parameters. In
      addition, 10 exfoliated primary enamel molars from each group were analyzed by
      energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.
      Fifty children with DEDs were submitted to CD diagnosis. RESULTS: Among the
      children with CD, a higher prevalence of DEDs (P = .00001) and RAS (P = .0052),
      lower caries experience (P = .0024), and reduction of salivary flow (P = .0060)
      were observed. Dental enamel from the children with CD demonstrated a lower
      calcium-to-phosphorus ratio (P = .0136), but no difference in the carbonate-to
      phosphate ratio (P = .5862) was observed. In the multivariate analysis, CD was a
      protective factor for caries (OR = 0.74) and a risk factor for RAS (OR3.23).
      CONCLUSIONS: The children with CD presented with more RAS, DEDs, reduction of
      salivary flow, and chemical alterations in the enamel.

PMID- 25840514
TI  - Direct immunofluorescence testing results in cases of premalignant and malignant
      oral lesions.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Oral premalignant and malignant lesions may mimic oral lichen planus
      (OLP) clinically and microscopically. OLP often shows basement membrane
      fibrinogen positivity on direct immunofluorescence testing (DIF). This study
      examined fibrinogen positivity in oral premalignant lesions and squamous cell
      carcinoma. STUDY DESIGN: The University of Florida Oral Pathology Biopsy Service
      records were searched for the years 2003 to 2013 for oral premalignant lesions
      and squamous cell carcinoma with concurrent DIF testing. Demographic, clinical,
      and DIF or histologic information was collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Sixty
      eight fibrinogen positive lesions were identified within a total of 164 cases.
      Low-grade dysplasia and premalignant verrucous lesions made up the majority of
      the fibrinogen positive lesions (combined n = 43; 63.2%), and the most common
      locations in positive cases were the buccal mucosa, tongue, and gingiva. A
      lichenoid distribution of the inflammatory infiltrate significantly predicted
      fibrinogen positivity (P < .0005). CONCLUSIONS: Fibrinogen positivity may be seen
      in premalignant and malignant oral lesions increasing the risk of misdiagnosis.

PMID- 25840515
TI  - [Use of French version of Ureteral Stent Symptom Questionnaire for tolerance
      evaluation of ureteral double J-stent].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the quality of life of the holders of a ureteral double J
      stent (US) using the USSQ questionnaire (Ureteral Stent Symptom Questionnaire),
      validated in French in 2010. METHODS: Between January 2009 and December 2011, 249
      patients underwent flexible ureteroscopy for urolithiais in our service. Among
      them, 160 received a US in perioperative, and they were sent self-questionnaire
      USSQ-FR retrospectively. The questionnaire includes 38 questions, concerning the
      perioperative period with US, and 4 weeks after its removal, grouped into 6
      sections: urinary symptoms, pain, general health, professional resounding, sexual
      resounding, and other problems. A subgroup analysis was performed, comparing US
      used in emergency and planned US, active patients or retired, male or female.
      Statistical analysis used the Chi(2) test for paired data, the Fisher exact test
      and the Kruskal Wallis test. RESULTS: Of the 157 questionnaires sent (two
      patients who died, one mentally retarded), we obtained 80 responses. Quality of
      life appears to be significantly altered in all areas explored by the
      questionnaire. Urinary symptoms: 26.9 versus 19.9 score (P<0.0001), pain: 16.1
      versus 10.7 (P=0.003), general health: 13.9 versus 9.1 (P<0.0001), professional
      practice: 6.1 versus 3.6 (P=0.0002), female: 3.3 versus 1.8 (P=0.001). There was
      no significant difference if the US was placed in emergency or programmatically,
      if patients were professionally active or retired. In addition, women had a
      significantly impaired quality of life compared to men for urinary symptoms,
      general health and professional practice. CONCLUSION: US are responsible for a
      significant impairment of quality of life for patients. The validated, self
      administered, USSQ-FR questionnaire is a reliable tool for this evaluation. LEVEL
      OF EVIDENCE: 5.

PMID- 25840516
TI  - Congenital disorders of glycosylation: a concise chart of glycocalyx dysfunction.
AB  - Glycosylation is a ubiquitous modification of lipids and proteins. Despite the
      essential contribution of glycoconjugates to the viability of all living
      organisms, diseases of glycosylation in humans have only been identified over the
      past few decades. The recent development of next-generation DNA sequencing
      techniques has accelerated the pace of discovery of novel glycosylation defects.
      The description of multiple mutations across glycosylation pathways not only
      revealed tremendous diversity in functional impairments, but also pointed to
      phenotypic similarities, emphasizing the interconnected flow of substrates
      underlying glycan assembly. The current list of 100 known glycosylation disorders
      provides an overview of the significance of glycosylation in human development
      and physiology. 

PMID- 25840517
TI  - Stress Factors Contributing to Depression Among Latino Migrant Farmworkers in
      Nebraska.
AB  - Migrant farmworkers represent a structurally vulnerable population coming to
      rural communities to work, but often are economically disadvantaged and socially
      isolated. Based on survey data from 200 migrant farmworkers in rural Nebraska in
      2013, this study seeks to identify and categorize major stressors that have
      contributed to depression among farmworkers. Over 30% of respondents were
      identified to have high stress levels as indicated by the Migrant Farmworker
      Stress Inventory (MFWSI). The MFWSI was categorized into eight domains: economics
      and logistics; acculturation and social isolation; relationship with partner;
      health; entertainment; concerns for children; and substance use by others. Nearly
      half (45.8%) of respondents were depressed. Correlations between the principal
      component scores of the eight stressor domains and the cumulative depression
      score were significant for the domains: (1) economics and logistics and (2)
      health (r = 0.22, p < 0.01). Findings highlight the importance of improving
      economic and living conditions as well as addressing social and cultural needs by
      creating more welcoming receiving communities.

PMID- 25840518
TI  - Probability distributions for multimeric systems.
AB  - We propose a fast and accurate method of obtaining the equilibrium mono-modal
      joint probability distributions for multimeric systems. The method necessitates
      only two assumptions: the copy number of all species of molecule may be treated
      as continuous; and, the probability density functions (pdf) are well-approximated
      by multivariate skew normal distributions (MSND). Starting from the master
      equation, we convert the problem into a set of equations for the statistical
      moments which are then expressed in terms of the parameters intrinsic to the
      MSND. Using an optimization package on Mathematica, we minimize a Euclidian
      distance function comprising of a sum of the squared difference between the left
      and the right hand sides of these equations. Comparison of results obtained via
      our method with those rendered by the Gillespie algorithm demonstrates our method
      to be highly accurate as well as efficient. 

PMID- 25840519
TI  - Slow-fast stochastic diffusion dynamics and quasi-stationarity for diploid
      populations with varying size.
AB  - We are interested in the long-time behavior of a diploid population with sexual
      reproduction and randomly varying population size, characterized by its genotype
      composition at one bi-allelic locus. The population is modeled by a 3-dimensional
      birth-and-death process with competition, weak cooperation and Mendelian
      reproduction. This stochastic process is indexed by a scaling parameter K that
      goes to infinity, following a large population assumption. When the individual
      birth and natural death rates are of order K, the sequence of stochastic
      processes indexed by K converges toward a new slow-fast dynamics with variable
      population size. We indeed prove the convergence toward 0 of a fast variable
      giving the deviation of the population from quasi Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium,
      while the sequence of slow variables giving the respective numbers of occurrences
      of each allele converges toward a 2-dimensional diffusion process that reaches
      (0,0) almost surely in finite time. The population size and the proportion of a
      given allele converge toward a Wright-Fisher diffusion with stochastically
      varying population size and diploid selection. We insist on differences between
      haploid and diploid populations due to population size stochastic variability.
      Using a non trivial change of variables, we study the absorption of this
      diffusion and its long time behavior conditioned on non-extinction. In particular
      we prove that this diffusion starting from any non-trivial state and conditioned
      on not hitting (0,0) admits a unique quasi-stationary distribution. We give
      numerical approximations of this quasi-stationary behavior in three biologically
      relevant cases: neutrality, overdominance, and separate niches.

PMID- 25840520
TI  - Feasibility of high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy for acute respiratory
      failure in patients with hematologic malignancies: A retrospective single-center
      study.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study investigated the feasibility of high-flow nasal cannula
      (HFNC) oxygen therapy for acute respiratory failure in adult patients with
      hematologic malignancies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We identified 45 acute
      respiratory failure patients with hematologic malignancies who received HFNC
      therapy between March 2012 and June 2014 at Seoul St Mary's Hospital. Their
      medical records were reviewed retrospectively to identify useful prognostic
      factors for successful treatment. RESULTS: Of the 45 patients, 15 (33.3%)
      successfully recovered, and 30 were changed to invasive ventilation due to failed
      HFNC treatment. The etiologies of acute respiratory failure were bacterial
      pneumonia (57.8%), Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (17.8%), pulmonary edema
      (8.9%), and bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (8.9%). The overall
      mortality rate was 62.2%. The HFNC treatment success rate was significantly
      different between the survivors and nonsurvivors. To evaluate risk factors for
      HFNC treatment failure, differences between the HFNC treatment success and
      failure groups were compared. There were no significant differences in the
      severity of underlying medical conditions. The percentage of bacterial pneumonia
      was significantly higher in the HFNC treatment failure group compared with the
      success group (73.3% vs 26.7%; P = .004). CONCLUSIONS: High-flow nasal cannula
      offers an interesting alternative to invasive ventilation in acute respiratory
      failure patients with hematologic malignancies. However, attention must be paid
      to the appropriate choice of HFNC settings such as oxygen flow.

PMID- 25840521
TI  - Progress Monitoring in an Integrated Health Care System: Tracking Behavioral
      Health Vital Signs.
AB  - Progress monitoring implementation in an integrated health care system is a
      complex process that must address factors such as measurement, technology,
      delivery system care processes, patient needs and provider requirements. This
      article will describe how one organization faced these challenges by identifying
      the key decision points (choice of measure, process for completing rating scale,
      interface with electronic medical record and clinician engagement) critical to
      implementation. Qualitative and quantitative data will be presented describing
      customer and stakeholder satisfaction with the mental health progress monitoring
      tool (MHPMT) as well as organizational performance with key measurement targets. 

PMID- 25840522
TI  - Swiss ball enhances lumbar multifidus activity in chronic low back pain: A letter
      to the editor.

PMID- 25840524
TI  - Simplified technique for making a straight subciliary incision.

PMID- 25840523
TI  - Modified auricular cartilage sling for paralytic ectropion.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the outcomes of a modified auricular cartilage sling for
      paralytic ectropion. METHODS: We treated 17 eyelids of 17 patients (average 67
      years old) with an auricular cartilage sling between 2004 and 2012. All patients
      had paralytic ectropion with lower eyelid ptosis. Cartilage was harvested via an
      incision just inside the anterior rim of the helix. Skin incisions were made at
      the subciliary, medial and lateral canthal regions. The auricular cartilage graft
      was sutured to the medial canthal tendon medially, lateral orbital rim laterally,
      inferior tarsus superiorly, and lower eyelid retractors inferiorly. Average
      follow-up period was 40 months (range 16-60 months). RESULTS: The median L-MRD
      (mm) was improved from 8.4 preoperatively (interquartile range 7.5-8.9) to 5.2
      postoperatively (4.8-5.3). The median lagophthalmos (mm) was improved from 5.8
      preoperatively (4.7-7.0) to 2.2 postoperatively (1.6-2.6). 16 patients had
      corneal exposure preoperatively and this resolved completely in 12 patients. All
      patients experienced good anatomical and functional results with relief of their
      preoperative pain/discomfort symptoms without complications. No patients required
      reoperation and none experienced infection, exposure of the cartilage graft, or
      recurrence of lower eyelid malpositions. Postoperatively, all lower eyelids moved
      downward with down-gaze. The auricular scar left no significant cosmetic
      deformity. CONCLUSIONS: The modified auricular cartilage sling with 4 point
      fixation for paralytic ectropion appears to maintain normal eyelid mobility with
      down-gaze and avoids the problem of lower eyelid fixation.

PMID- 25840525
TI  - A randomized 'N-of-1' single blinded clinical trial of barbed dermal sutures vs.
      smooth sutures in elective plastic surgery shows differences in scar appearance
      two-years post-operatively.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Barbed sutures have unidirectional circumferential shallow barbs,
      which distribute tension throughout the wound and close wound securely without
      the need to tie knots. OBJECTIVES: We compare two different methods of wound
      closure in elective plastic surgical cases: barbed 3/0 V-LocTM180 suture and
      smooth 3/0 MaxonTM sutures, both polyglyconate monofilament synthetic absorbable
      sutures. We assessed the aesthetic long-term results with a minimum two year
      follow up. METHODS: This is a prospective, randomized controlled study with
      internal control. A single surgeon performed all cases. Patients who underwent
      elective operations that involved long wound closure were enrolled in the study.
      Each patient acted as their own internal control with half their wound being
      sutured with 3/0 V-LocTM180 barbed suture and the other half with smooth 3/0
      MaxonTM deep dermal sutures and then a subcuticular skin closure. In both groups,
      the superficial fascial system was closed with 1 Vicryl interrupted sutures on
      both sides. Long-term cosmesis was evaluated using the modified Hollander
      cosmesis score by review of standardized postoperative photographs by 9 blinded
      plastic surgeons and specialist registrars. RESULTS: The study reports on 33
      female patients. The time taken for wound closure was significantly reduced using
      the barbed suture (p < 0.001). There was no difference in the complication ratio
      in either group. Two-year aesthetic outcome was significantly superior when using
      the barbed suture (p = 0.0075). CONCLUSION: Barbed sutures closure of long wounds
      is faster and produces a better long-term aesthetic outcome than smooth sutures.

PMID- 25840526
TI  - Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Infants.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine different clinical presentations of vitamin B12
      deficiency in infants. METHODS: Infants at the age of 1-20 mo admitted to infancy
      clinic of authors' hospital between January 2011-2013 with various clinical
      presentations due to vitamin B12 deficiency were included in the study. Hospital
      records of all the patients were evaluated by means of history, physical,
      laboratory, imaging examinations and treatment. The diagnosis was based on a
      nutritional history of mothers and infants, clinical findings, hematological
      evaluation, and low level of serum vitamin B12. RESULTS: A total of 20 patients
      with a mean age of 6.65 +/- 4.5 mo were included in the study. The weight and
      height were below the third percentile in four patients. The most common symptoms
      of the patients were; infections in 30 %, pallor in 25 %, hypotonia and neuro
      developmental delay in 25 %, refusal to solid food or to suck in 20 %, failure to
      thrive in 15 %, fatigue in 10 %. Twenty-five percent of patients had neurologic
      signs and symptoms. Anemia was found in 16/20 (80 %) patients. Three (15 %)
      patients had leukopenia, 7 (35 %) had neutropenia, 2 (10 %) patients had
      thrombocytopenia. All of the mothers had vitamin B12 deficiency. All of the
      patients were fed with breast milk. Cyanocobalamin was administered to all the
      patients and mothers. After the treatment, clinical and laboratory findings of
      all the patients improved. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin B12 deficiency should be
      considered in the differential diagnosis of some hematological, neurological, and
      gastrointestinal disturbances of infants.

PMID- 25840527
TI  - Local pain during transcranial magnetic stimulation induced by ferromagnetic
      pigments in commonly used cosmetics.

PMID- 25840528
TI  - Effects of age and task difficulty on ERP responses to novel sounds presented
      during a speech-perception-in-noise test.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Event-related potentials (ERPs) to task-irrelevant novel sounds have
      been shown to increase in amplitude with increasing task difficulty and might
      therefore reflect listening effort. Here we investigated whether this effect is
      similar in two groups of younger and older listeners with normal hearing.
      METHODS: Novel sounds were presented during a speech-perception-in noise test and
      task difficulty was adjusted decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) relative
      to the individual 50% correct speech recognition SNR (easy +10 dB, medium +2dB,
      hard 0 dB). RESULTS: Amplitudes of the Novelty P3 and a late positive potential
      (LPP) were significantly larger in younger compared to older participants.
      Novelty P3 amplitude increased with increasing task difficulty in both age
      groups, but the effect was more robust in younger listeners. By contrast, LPP
      amplitude increases were observed only in older listeners. CONCLUSIONS: Novelty
      P3 and LPP were found to be differently affected by task difficulty in the two
      age groups indicating sustained and more effortful processing under challenging
      listening conditions in older listeners. SIGNIFICANCE: These results confirmed
      the potential use of novel sounds during an auditory task as an indirect measure
      of listening effort in younger and older listeners, but the different focus on
      Novelty P3 and LPP should be taken into account.

PMID- 25840529
TI  - Value of Cardiac Troponin and sPESI in Treatment of Pulmonary Thromboembolism at
      Outpatient Setting.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Currently, guidelines do not recommend any standard approach for
      treatment of pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) at outpatient setting. We
      investigated the efficacy and safety of a 90-day anticoagulant treatment of
      outpatients diagnosed with PTE who had negative troponin levels and low-risk
      simplified pulmonary embolism severity index (sPESI) at presentation. METHODS:
      This prospective cohort study included a total of 206 patients with objectively
      confirmed acute symptomatic PTE. Any troponin negative (cTn-) and low sPESI
      patients (as classified Group-1) were treated in outpatient setting. The primary
      endpoint was all-cause mortality during the first 90 days, and the secondary
      endpoint included non-fatal symptomatic recurrent PTE or non-fatal major
      bleeding. Presence of cancer was excluded from sPESI score. RESULTS: Fifty-two of
      206 patients were eligible for had Group-1, and 31 were treated at outpatients
      settings. The 90-day all-cause mortality rate was 3.2 % among patients who
      received outpatient treatment. Otherwise cTn+ and high-risk sPESI 90-day
      mortality rate was 43.7 %. No difference was found in terms of secondary
      endpoints between the patients who received outpatient treatment and those who
      received inpatient treatment in Group-1 (p = NS). In our study, cancer was
      present in 16 (51.6 %) of the 31 outpatients. CONCLUSION: We observed that
      patients with acute PTE, low-risk sPESI, and negative troponin levels can be
      safely treated in the outpatient settings. Also the presence of cancer alone does
      not necessitate hospitalization.

PMID- 25840530
TI  - Management of 1- to 2-cm Carcinoid Tumors of the Appendix: Using the National
      Cancer Data Base to Address Controversies in General Surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The management of 1- to 2-cm appendiceal carcinoid tumors remains
      controversial. Here we use the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) to compare long
      term outcomes for patients treated via resection of the primary tumor alone vs
      right hemicolectomy (RHC). STUDY DESIGN: The 1998 to 2011 NCDB User File was
      queried to identify patients with 1- to 2-cm appendiceal carcinoids. Patients
      were stratified by surgical technique: resection of the primary tumor alone vs
      RHC with regional lymphadenectomy. Multivariable logistic regression was used to
      compare short-term outcomes. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method
      with comparisons based on the log-rank test. RESULTS: A total of 916 patients
      were identified, including 42% managed with primary resection and 58% with RHC.
      Patients who underwent RHC had slightly larger tumors and higher-stage tumors;
      otherwise, there were no baseline differences between groups. The rates of
      positive margins were similar (5.5% vs 4.5%; p = 0.60). Among all patients, 1-
      and 5-year survival were 98.1% and 88.7% vs 96.7% and 87.4% (p = 0.52) for those
      managed via primary resection vs RHC, respectively. Among patients with
      moderate/high-grade/anaplastic carcinoids, 1- and 5-year survival were 93.3% and
      72.0% vs 92.3% and 71.9%, respectively (p = 0.78). After adjustment with Cox
      proportional hazards modeling, we confirmed that there was no survival benefit
      for patients undergoing RHC (hazard ratio = 1.14; p = 0.72). CONCLUSIONS: For 1-
      to 2-cm appendiceal carcinoids, formal resection of the right colon does not
      appear to improve survival, even for higher-grade tumors. Our findings suggest
      that resection of the primary tumor alone is adequate for all carcinoids <2 cm.

PMID- 25840531
TI  - Laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy should not be routine for resection of
      periampullary tumors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy (LPD) is a difficult procedure
      that has become increasingly popular. Nevertheless, comparative data on outcomes
      remain limited. Our aim was to compare the outcomes of LPD and open
      pancreaticoduodenectomy (OPD). STUDY DESIGN: Between April 2011 and April 2014,
      46 LPD were performed and compared with 46 OPD, which theoretically can be done
      by the laparoscopic approach. Patients were also matched for demographic data,
      associated comorbidities, and underlying disease. Patient demographics and
      perioperative and postoperative outcomes were studied from our single center
      prospective database. RESULTS: Lower BMI (23 vs 27 kg/m(2), p < 0.001) and a soft
      pancreas (57% vs 47%, p = 0.38) were observed in patients with LPD, but there
      were no differences in associated comorbidities or underlying disease. Surgery
      lasted longer in the LPD group (342 vs 264 minutes, p < 0.001). One death
      occurred in the LPD group (2.1% vs 0%, p = 0.28) and severe morbidity was higher
      (28% vs 20%, p = 0.32) in LPD due to grade C pancreatic fistula (PF) (24% vs 6%,
      p = 0.007), bleeding (24% vs 7%, p = 0.02), and revision surgery (24% vs 11%, p =
      0.09). Pathologic examination for malignant diseases did not identify any
      differences between the LPD and OPD as far as size (2.51 vs 2.82 cm, p = 0.27),
      number of harvested (20 vs 23, p = 0.62) or invaded (2.4 vs 2, p = 0.22) lymph
      nodes, or R0 resection (80% vs 80%; p = 1). Hospital stays were similar (25 vs 23
      days, p = 0.59). There was no difference in outcomes between approaches in
      patients at a lower risk of PF. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that LPD is
      associated with higher morbidity, mainly due to more severe PF. Laparoscopic
      pancreaticoduodenectomy should be considered only in the subgroup of patients
      with a low risk of PF.

PMID- 25840532
TI  - Feasibility and impact of an evidence-based program for gastric bypass surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Health care in the United States is expensive and quality is
      variable. The aim of this study was to investigate whether our integrated health
      system, composed of academic hospitals, a practice plan, and a managed care
      payer, could reliably implement an evidence-based program for gastric bypass
      surgery. A secondary aim was to evaluate the impact of the program on clinical
      outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: A standardized program for delivery of clinical best
      practice elements for patients undergoing initial open or laparoscopic Roux-en-Y
      gastric bypass was implemented in 2008. Best-practice elements were embedded into
      the workflow. The best-practice elements were refined after reviewing failures
      observed during the early implementation period. The study period was divided
      into 3 groups: group alpha = year preceding program implementation (control),
      group beta = first year of implementation (unreliable), and group Omega = 2nd to
      4th years of implementation (reliable). Outcomes data were collected for all
      patients who had undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass between May 2008 and April
      2012 and were compared with a control group from the preceding year using
      multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Two thousand and sixty-one
      patients were studied, with no significant demographic differences between study
      groups. Best-practice elements delivery was 40% in group beta, but was >90% for
      group Omega (p < 0.001). Length of stay for group alpha was 3.5 days and improved
      to 2.2 days (p < 0.001) for group Omega. Complications and readmission rates
      improved considerably with reliable delivery of best-practice elements.
      CONCLUSIONS: Standardization of evidence-based care delivery for Roux-en-Y
      gastric bypass was feasible and reliable delivery of this pathway improved
      clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25840533
TI  - A decade of excellent outcomes after surgical intervention in 538 patients with
      thoracic outlet syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Our aim was to evaluate the outcomes of patients who underwent first
      rib resection (FRR) for all 3 forms of thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) during a
      period of 10 years. STUDY DESIGN: Patients treated with FRR from August 2003
      through July 2013 were retrospectively reviewed using a prospectively maintained
      database. RESULTS: Five hundred and thirty-eight patients underwent 594 FRRs for
      indications of neurogenic (n = 308 [52%]), venous (n = 261 [44%]), and arterial
      (n = 25 [4%]) TOS. Fifty-six (9.4%) patients had bilateral FRR. Fifty-two (8.8%)
      patients had cervical ribs. Three hundred and ninety-eight (67%) FRRs were
      performed on female patients, with a mean age of 33 years (range 10 to 71 years).
      Three hundred and forty (57%) were right-sided procedures. Seventy-five children
      (aged 18 years or younger) underwent FRRs; 25 during the first 5 years and 50
      during the second 5 years. When comparing the second 5-year period with the first
      5-year period, more patients had venous TOS (48% vs 37%; p < 0.02); fewer
      patients had neurogenic TOS (48% vs 58%; p < 0.05), and improved or fully
      resolved symptoms increased from 93% to 96%. Complications included 2 vein
      injuries, 2 hemothoraces, 4 hematomas, 138 pneumothoraces (23%), and 8 (1.3%)
      wound infections. Mean length of stay was 1 day. CONCLUSIONS: Excellent results
      were seen in this surgical series of neurogenic, venous, and arterial TOS due to
      appropriate selection of neurogenic patients, use of a standard protocol for
      venous patients, and expedient intervention in arterial patients. There is an
      increasing role for surgical intervention in children.

PMID- 25840534
TI  - Quality of Care Delivered Before vs After a Quality-Improvement Intervention for
      Acute Geriatric Trauma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Older trauma-injury patients had improved recovery after we
      implemented routine geriatric consultation for patients aged 65 years and older
      admitted to the trauma service of a Level I academic trauma center. The
      intervention aimed to improve quality of geriatric care. However, the specific
      care processes that improved are unknown. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a
      prospective observation comparing medical care after (December 2007 to November
      2009) vs before (December 2006 to November 2007) implementation of the geriatric
      consult-based intervention. To measure quality of care (QOC), we used 33
      previously validated care-process quality indicators (QIs) from the Assessing the
      Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE) study, measured by review of medical records
      for 76 geriatric consult (GC) vs 71 control group patients. As prespecified
      subgroup analyses, we aggregated QIs by type: geriatric (eg, delirium screening)
      vs nongeriatric condition-based care (eg, thrombosis prophylaxis) and compared QI
      scores by type of care. Last, we aggregated QI scores into overall, geriatric,
      and nongeriatric QOC scores for each patient (number of QIs passed/number of QIs
      eligible), and compared patient-level QOC for the GC vs control group, adjusting
      for age, sex, ethnicity, comorbidity, and injury severity. RESULTS: Sixty-three
      percent of the GC patients vs 11% of the control group patients received a
      geriatric consultation. We evaluated 2,505 QIs overall (1,664 geriatric type and
      841 nongeriatric QIs). In general, fewer geriatric-type QIs were passed than
      nongeriatric QIs (71% vs 81%; p < 0.001). We provided better overall QOC to the
      GC (77%) than control group patients (73%; p < 0.05). However, the difference was
      not statistically significant after multivariable adjustment (p = 0.08). We
      improved geriatric QOC for the GC (74%) compared with the control group (68%; p <
      0.01), a difference that was significant after multivariable adjustment (p =
      0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Geriatricians and surgeons can collaboratively improve
      geriatric QOC for older trauma patients.

PMID- 25840535
TI  - Sealing pancreaticojejunostomy in combination with duct parenchyma to mucosa
      seromuscular one-layer anastomosis: a novel technique to prevent pancreatic
      fistula after pancreaticoduodenectomy.

PMID- 25840536
TI  - Impact of National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Centers on ovarian
      cancer treatment and survival.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The regional impact of care at a National Cancer Institute
      Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCI-CCC) on adherence to National Comprehensive
      Cancer Network (NCCN) ovarian cancer treatment guidelines and survival is
      unclear. STUDY DESIGN: We performed a retrospective population-based study of
      consecutive patients diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer between January 1,
      1996 and December 31, 2006 in southern California. Patients were stratified
      according to care at an NCI-CCC (n = 5), non-NCI high-volume hospital (>= 10
      cases/year, HVH, n = 29), or low-volume hospital (<10 cases/year, LVH, n = 158).
      Multivariable logistic regression and Cox-proportional hazards models were used
      to examine the effect of NCI-CCC status on treatment guideline adherence and
      ovarian cancer-specific survival. RESULTS: A total of 9,933 patients were
      identified (stage I, 22.8%; stage II, 7.9%; stage III, 45.1%; stage IV, 24.2%),
      and 8.1% of patients were treated at NCI-CCCs. Overall, 35.7% of patients
      received NCCN guideline adherent care, and NCI-CCC status (odds ratio [OR] 1.00)
      was an independent predictor of adherence to treatment guidelines compared with
      HVHs (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.99) and LVHs (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.67). The
      median ovarian cancer-specific survivals according to hospital type were: NCI-CCC
      77.9 (95% CI 61.4 to 92.9) months, HVH 51.9 (95% CI 49.2 to 55.7) months, and LVH
      43.4 (95% CI 39.9 to 47.2) months (p < 0.0001). National Cancer Institute
      Comprehensive Cancer Center status (hazard ratio [HR] 1.00) was a statistically
      significant and independent predictor of improved survival compared with HVH (HR
      1.18, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.33) and LVH (HR 1.30, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.47). CONCLUSIONS:
      National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center status is an independent
      predictor of adherence to ovarian cancer treatment guidelines and improved
      ovarian cancer-specific survival. These data validate NCI-CCC status as a
      structural health care characteristic correlated with superior ovarian cancer
      quality measure performance. Increased access to NCI-CCCs through regional
      concentration of care may be a mechanism to improve clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25840537
TI  - Pre-trauma center red blood cell transfusion is associated with improved early
      outcomes in air medical trauma patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hemorrhage is the leading cause of survivable death in trauma and
      resuscitation strategies including early RBC transfusion have reduced this. Pre
      trauma center (PTC) RBC transfusion is growing and preliminary evidence suggests
      improved outcomes. The study objective was to evaluate the association of PTC RBC
      transfusion with outcomes in air medical trauma patients. STUDY DESIGN: We
      conducted a retrospective cohort study of trauma patients transported by
      helicopter to a Level I trauma center from 2007 to 2012. Patients receiving PTC
      RBC transfusion were matched to control patients (receiving no PTC RBC
      transfusion during transport) in a 1:2 ratio using a propensity score based on
      prehospital variables. Conditional logistic regression and mixed-effects linear
      regression were used to determine the association of PTC RBC transfusion with
      outcomes. Subgroup analysis was performed for scene transport patients. RESULTS:
      Two-hundred and forty treatment patients were matched to 480 control patients
      receiving no PTC RBC transfusion. Pre-trauma center RBC transfusion was
      associated with increased odds of 24-hour survival (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =
      4.92; 95% CI, 1.51-16.04; p = 0.01), lower odds of shock (AOR = 0.28; 95% CI,
      0.09-0.85; p = 0.03), and lower 24-hour RBC requirement (Coefficient -3.6 RBC
      units; 95% CI, -7.0 to -0.2; p = 0.04). Among matched scene patients, PTC RBC was
      also associated with increased odds of 24-hour survival (AOR = 6.31; 95% CI, 1.88
      21.14; p < 0.01), lower odds of shock (AOR = 0.24; 95% CI, 0.07-0.80; p = 0.02),
      and lower 24-hour RBC requirement (Coefficient -4.5 RBC units; 95% CI, -8.3 to 
      0.7; p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Pre-trauma center RBC was associated with an
      increased probability of 24-hour survival, decreased risk of shock, and lower 24
      hour RBC requirement. Pre-trauma center RBC appears beneficial in severely
      injured air medical trauma patients and prospective study is warranted as PTC RBC
      transfusion becomes more readily available.

PMID- 25840539
TI  - Trans-thoracic minimally invasive liver resection guided by augmented reality.

PMID- 25840538
TI  - Plasma is the physiologic buffer of tissue plasminogen activator-mediated
      fibrinolysis: rationale for plasma-first resuscitation after life-threatening
      hemorrhage.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prehospital resuscitation with crystalloid exacerbates fibrinolysis,
      which is associated with high mortality. We hypothesized that plasma compared
      with crystalloid resuscitation prevents hyperfibrinolysis in a tissue plasminogen
      activator (tPA)-rich environment via preservation of proteins essential for
      regulation of fibrinolysis. STUDY DESIGN: Healthy individuals donated blood,
      which was assayed using a native (nonactivated) thrombelastography (TEG). Whole
      blood was mixed with normal saline (NS) or platelet poor plasma (PPP) at
      progressive dilutions. Tissue plasminogen activator was added to promote a
      fibrinolytic environment. In a separate experiment, PPP was run through a 100 kDa
      filter and liquid remaining on top of the filter (TFP) and below the filter (BFP)
      was obtained. Whole blood was diluted by 50% with TFP, BFP, and NS and assayed
      with a tPA TEG challenge. The TFP and BFP were assayed for protein concentration
      and protein composition. RESULTS: Normal saline and PPP dilution of whole blood
      without tPA did not affect clot lysis at 30 minutes (LY30) (NS Spearman's rho
      0.300, p = 0.186 and PPP 0.294, p = 0.288). When tPA was added, NS dilution of
      whole blood increased LY30 in a percentage-dependent manner (0.844, p < 0.001),
      but did not significantly increase with PPP dilution (0.270, p = 0.202). The
      difference in LY30 from whole blood to diluted whole blood with PPP (mean change,
      -1.05, 95% CI, -9.42 to 7.33) was similar with TFP (1.23, 95% CI, -5.20 to 7.66,
      p = 0.992). However, both BFP (37.65, 95% CI 24.47 to 50.82, p = 0.001) and NS
      (47.36, 95% CI 34.3 to 60.45, p < 0.001) showed large increases in fibrinolysis
      compared with PPP. CONCLUSIONS: Crystalloid and plasma dilution of whole blood
      does not increase fibrinolysis. However, NS dilution of whole blood increases
      susceptibility to tPA-mediated fibrinolysis. Plasma resuscitation, simulated by
      plasma dilution of whole blood, attenuates increased susceptibility to tPA
      mediated fibrinolysis. The benefits of plasma resuscitation are mediated through
      preservation of plasma proteins.

PMID- 25840540
TI  - Hospital Resource Use with Donation after Cardiac Death Allografts in Liver
      Transplantation: A Matched Controlled Analysis from 2007 to 2011.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although donation after cardiac death (DCD) liver allografts have
      been used to expand the donor pool, concerns exist regarding primary nonfunction
      and biliary complications. Our aim was to compare resource use and outcomes of
      DCD allografts with donation after brain death (DBD) liver allografts. STUDY
      DESIGN: Using a linkage between the University HealthSystem Consortium and
      Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients databases, we identified 11,856
      patients who underwent deceased donor liver transplantation (LT) from 2007 to
      2011. Patients were divided into 2 cohorts based on type of allograft (DCD vs
      DBD). Matched pair analysis (n = 613 in each group) was used to compare outcomes
      of the 2 donor types. RESULTS: Donation after cardiac death allografts comprised
      5.2% (n = 613) of all LTs in the studied cohort; DCD allograft recipients were
      healthier and had lower median Model of End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score (17
      vs 19; p < 0.0001). Post LT, there was no significant difference in length of
      stay, perioperative mortality, and discharge to home rates. However, DCD
      allografts were associated with higher direct cost ($110,414 vs $99,543; p <
      0.0001) and 30-day readmission rates (46.4% vs 37.1%; p < 0.0001). Matched
      analysis revealed that DCD allografts were associated with higher direct cost,
      readmission rates, and inferior graft survival. CONCLUSIONS: While confirming the
      previous reports of inferior graft survival associated with DCD allografts, this
      is the first national report to show increased financial and resource use
      associated with DCD compared with DBD allografts in a matched recipient cohort.

PMID- 25840542
TI  - Single purse-string duct to mucosa pancreaticogastrostomy: a safe, easy, and
      useful technique after pancreaticoduodenectomy.

PMID- 25840541
TI  - GNAS and KRAS Mutations Define Separate Progression Pathways in Intraductal
      Papillary Mucinous Neoplasm-Associated Carcinoma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN) are being
      increasingly recognized as important precursors to pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
      Elucidation of the genetic changes underlying IPMN carcinogenesis may improve the
      diagnosis and management of IPMN. We sought to determine whether different
      histologic subtypes of IPMN would exhibit different frequencies of specific
      genetic mutations. STUDY DESIGN: Patients with resected IPMN-associated invasive
      carcinoma (IPMN-INV) between 1997 and 2012 were reviewed. Areas of carcinoma,
      high-grade dysplasia, and low-grade dysplasia were micro-dissected from each
      pathologic specimen. Targeted, massively parallel sequencing was then performed
      on a panel of 275 genes (including KRAS, GNAS, and RNF43). RESULTS: Thirty-eight
      patients with resected IPMN-INV and sufficient tissue for micro-dissection were
      identified. Median follow-up was 2.6 years. Mutations in GNAS were more prevalent
      in colloid-type IPMN-INV than tubular-type IPMN-INV (89% vs 32% respectively; p =
      0.0003). Conversely, KRAS mutations were more prevalent in tubular-type than
      colloid-type IPMN-INV (89% vs 52%, respectively; p = 0.01). For noninvasive IPMN
      subtypes, GNAS mutations were more prevalent in intestinal (74%) compared with
      pancreatobiliary (31%) and gastric (50%) subtypes (p = 0.02). The presence of
      these mutations did not vary according to the degree of dysplasia (GNAS: invasive
      61%, high-grade 59%, low-grade 53%; KRAS: invasive 71%, high-grade 62%, low-grade
      74%), suggesting that mutations in these genes occur early in IPMN
      carcinogenesis. CONCLUSIONS: Colloid carcinoma associated with IPMN and its
      intestinal-type preinvasive precursor are associated with high frequencies of
      GNAS mutations. The mutation profile of tubular carcinoma resembles that of
      conventional pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Preoperative determination of mutational
      status may assist with clinical treatment decisions.

PMID- 25840543
TI  - RETRACTED: How does high-concentration supplemental perioperative oxygen
      influence surgical outcomes after thyroid surgery? A prospective, randomized,
      double-blind, controlled, monocentric trial.
AB  - This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal
      (https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal).This
      article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. An independent
      statistical analysis based on the summary data tables and statistical results
      reported in the article confirmed that the statistical results are incorrect and
      the data do not support the conclusions of the article.

PMID- 25840544
TI  - Venous Thromboembolism after Breast Reconstruction in Patients Undergoing Breast
      Surgery: An American College of Surgeons NSQIP Analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Given the grave consequences of venous thromboembolic (VTE) events,
      we examined the impact of breast reconstruction on VTE incidence in patients
      undergoing breast operations and, secondarily, assess the risk factors associated
      with VTE. STUDY DESIGN: Patients undergoing breast operations were identified in
      the 2007 to 2011 American College of Surgeons NSQIP database. The patients were
      divided into the following treatment categories: lumpectomy, mastectomy,
      mastectomy with reconstruction, and reconstruction. Missing data were imputed and
      propensity score weighting was used to balance confounders in each group. Venous
      thromboembolism incidence was compared across the groups and risk factors for VTE
      were analyzed using stepwise multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: Overall,
      68,285 patients were identified. The global incidence of VTE was 0.27%. The
      incidence of VTE was highest in the reconstruction and mastectomy with
      reconstruction groups (0.41% and 0.52% compared with 0.13% in the lumpectomy and
      0.29% in the mastectomy groups; p < 0.0001). Independent risk factors for VTE
      included operation in the 30 days preceding breast surgery (0.56% vs 0.26% for
      none; p = 0.002), higher BMI (p < 0.0001), increased operative time (p < 0.0001),
      increased length of hospital stay (p < 0.0001), and oddly, nonsmoking status
      (0.29% vs 0.14% for smokers; p = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: Breast reconstruction,
      higher BMI, increased operative time, operation within 30 days preceding breast
      surgery, and nonsmoking status are independent risk factors for VTE. The
      association of lower VTE rates with smoking is counterintuitive and might
      represent more aggressive VTE prophylaxis in this patient population. Additional
      investigation is warranted to understand this relationship.

PMID- 25840545
TI  - Assessing the Quality of Graduate Surgical Training Programs: Perception vs
      Reality.

PMID- 25840546
TI  - Nipple-sparing mastectomy: an alternative technique for large ptotic breasts.

PMID- 25840547
TI  - Fistulojejunostomy for refractory post-traumatic biliary fistula in an austere
      environment: an unusual, time-honored procedure.

PMID- 25840548
TI  - Superior mesenteric artery-first approach in radical antegrade modular
      pancreatosplenectomy for borderline resectable pancreatic cancer: a technique to
      obtain negative tangential margins.

PMID- 25840549
TI  - Oncocytic-type intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms: a unique malignant
      pancreatic tumor with good long-term prognosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The different epithelial phenotypes of intraductal papillary mucinous
      neoplasms (IPMNs) are predictors of tumor biology and post-surgical outcomes.
      Oncocytic-type IPMN (O-IPMN) seems to have a unique natural history, but not much
      information is available because of its rarity. We sought to describe the
      characteristics of a cohort of patients resected for O-IPMNs, focusing on their
      long-term outcomes after surgery. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a retrospective
      review of the demographics, clinical presentation, pathology, and survival of a
      cohort of patients resected for IPMN between 1990 and 2013, comparing O-IPMN with
      other IPMN subtypes. RESULTS: Eighteen of 400 patients (4.5%) who underwent
      resection for IPMN had the oncocytic subtype. Compared with other IPMN patients,
      those with O-IPMNs were more likely to be male (72% vs 45%; p = 0.02) and to have
      main pancreatic duct involvement (72% vs 42%; p = 0.01). Oncocytic IPMNs occurred
      in asymptomatic individuals in 67% of cases. They had either invasive carcinoma
      (61%) or high-grade dysplasia (39%), and the proportions in other epithelial
      subtypes were 19% and 21%, respectively (p < 0.001). After resection, the 10-year
      recurrence rate for O-IPMNs was 46%. Recurrences occurred up to 11 years after
      the initial resection and a completion total pancreatectomy was performed in 4
      patients. At a median follow-up of 7 years, no patients with O-IPMN had died from
      the disease. CONCLUSIONS: Oncocytic IPMN is a unique tumor subtype that occurs
      mostly in the main pancreatic duct and is malignant. Recurrences after resection
      are not uncommon and can occur more than 10 years after the initial resection.
      Reoperations for recurrent O-IPMN are often feasible and have excellent results
      in terms of survival.

PMID- 25840551
TI  - Erratum to: Liver stiffness measurement by acoustic radiation force impulse is
      useful in predicting the presence of esophageal varices or high-risk esophageal
      varices among patients with HCV-related cirrhosis.

PMID- 25840550
TI  - Leukocyte telomere length and left ventricular function after acute ST-elevation
      myocardial infarction: data from the glycometabolic intervention as adjunct to
      primary coronary intervention in ST elevation myocardial infarction (GIPS-III)
      trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Telomere length has been associated with coronary artery disease and
      heart failure. We studied whether leukocyte telomere length is associated with
      left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) after ST-elevation myocardial
      infarction (STEMI). METHODS AND RESULTS: Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) was
      determined using the monochrome multiplex quantitative PCR method in 353 patients
      participating in the glycometabolic intervention as adjunct to primary
      percutaneous coronary intervention in STEMI III trial. LVEF was assessed by
      magnetic resonance imaging. The mean age of patients was 58.9 +/- 11.6 years, 75
      % were male. In age- and gender-adjusted models, LTL at baseline was
      significantly associated with age (beta +/- standard error; -0.33 +/- 0.01; P <
      0.01), gender (0.15 +/- 0.03; P < 0.01), TIMI flow pre-PCI (0.05 +/- 0.03; P <
      0.01), TIMI flow post-PCI (0.03 +/- 0.04; P < 0.01), myocardial blush grade (
      0.05 +/- 0.07; P < 0.01), serum glucose levels (-0.11 +/- 0.01; P = 0.03), and
      total leukocyte count (-0.11 +/- 0.01; P = 0.04). At 4 months after STEMI, LVEF
      was well preserved (54.1 +/- 8.4 %) and was not associated with baseline LTL (P =
      0.95). Baseline LTL was associated with n-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide
      (NT-proBNP) at 4 months (-0.14 +/- 0.01; P = 0.02), albeit not independent for
      age and gender. CONCLUSION: Our study does not support a role for LTL as a causal
      factor related to left ventricular ejection fraction after STEMI.

PMID- 25840552
TI  - Understanding Adolescent Nonresponsiveness to Text Messages: Lessons from the
      DepoText Trial.
AB  - Urban adolescents face economic, social, and behavioral challenges in adhering to
      long-term contraceptive use. Use of text messaging reminders has the potential to
      increase adherence to family planning appointments and to educate patients about
      safe sexual health practices; however, nonresponsiveness to messages is difficult
      to interpret and may jeopardize programmatic success. We aimed to understand why
      adolescent girls enrolled in a randomized, controlled pilot trial (DepoText)
      designed to increase attendance at family planning visits were periodically
      nonresponsive to text messages through conducting structured interviews with
      participants whose text reply rates were less than 100 % during the trial period.
      Qualitative and quantitative data were collected and classified using descriptive
      data analysis. Reasons for nonresponsiveness, barriers to continuous cell phone
      coverage, cell phone plan characteristics, and attitudes toward the DepoText
      program were the primary endpoints of interest. Most participants (78%)
      attributed instances of nonresponsiveness to being away from the phone or due to
      a personal conflict such as school or work. Service interruption due to bill
      nonpayment (44%), phone loss (28%), and cell phone number change (28%) were
      significant barriers to continuous coverage during the trial period, and many
      respondents indicated that the downturn in the economy made it more difficult to
      maintain their cell phone plan. Almost a third reported having to choose between
      cell phone and other payments, but the vast majority (88%) considered their cell
      phone a "need" rather than a "want." Participants universally expressed
      satisfaction with the text messaging program and reported feeling more connected
      to the clinic (96%) through the messages serving as reminders (64%),
      encouragement to assume personal responsibility for their health care (12%), and
      enhanced personal connection with the clinic staff (4%). Our study suggests that
      a text messaging program can be used in an urban clinical setting to communicate
      with adolescent girls about family planning services. While economic barriers to
      continuous cell phone coverage do exist, adolescents indicate that the text
      message reminder system can be a valuable tool for enhancing clinic connectedness
      and promoting autonomy in care-seeking behavior.

PMID- 25840553
TI  - Tuberculosis DALY-Gap: Spatial and Quantitative Comparison of Disease Burden
      Across Urban Slum and Non-slum Census Tracts.
AB  - To quantitatively assess disease burden due to tuberculosis between populations
      residing in and outside of urban informal settlements in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
      we compared disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), or "DALY-gap." Using the 2010
      Brazilian census definition of informal settlements as aglomerados subnormais
      (AGSN), we allocated tuberculosis (TB) DALYs to AGSN vs non-AGSN census tracts
      based on geocoded addresses of TB cases reported to the Brazilian Information
      System for Notifiable Diseases in 2005 and 2010. DALYs were calculated based on
      the 2010 Global Burden of Disease methodology. DALY-gap was calculated as the
      difference between age-adjusted DALYs/100,000 population between AGSN and non
      AGSN. Total TB DALY in Rio in 2010 was 16,731 (266 DALYs/100,000). DALYs were
      higher in AGSN census tracts (306 vs 236 DALYs/100,000), yielding a DALY-gap of
      70 DALYs/100,000. Attributable DALY fraction for living in an AGSN was 25.4%.
      DALY-gap was highest for males 40-59 years of age (501 DALYs/100,000) and in
      census tracts with <60% electricity (12,327 DALYs/100,000). DALY-gap comparison
      revealed spatial and quantitative differences in TB burden between slum vs non
      slum census tracts that were not apparent using traditional measures of incidence
      and mortality. This metric could be applied to compare TB burden or burden for
      other diseases in mega-cities with large informal settlements for more targeted
      resource allocation and evaluation of intervention programs.

PMID- 25840554
TI  - Sepsis in standard care: patients' characteristics, effectiveness of
      antimicrobial therapy and patient outcome--a cohort study.
AB  - PURPOSE: Fast diagnosis and initiation of appropriate antibiotic therapy is
      pivotal for the survival of sepsis patients. However, most studies on suspected
      sepsis patients are conducted in the intensive care unit or in the emergency room
      setting, neglecting the standard care setting. This study evaluated sepsis risk
      factors, microbiological accurateness of the initial empiric antimicrobial
      therapy and its effect on hospital mortality in standard care patients. METHODS:
      In this prospective observational cohort study, patients with clinically
      suspected sepsis meeting two or more SIRS criteria were screened on standard care
      wards. After hospital discharge, occurrence of an infection was assessed
      according to standardized criteria, and empirical antibiotic therapy was
      evaluated using antibiograms of recognized pathogens by expert review. RESULTS:
      Of the 2384 screened patients, 298 fulfilled two or more SIRS criteria. Among
      these were 28.2 % SIRS patients without infection, 46.3 % non-bacteremic/fungemic
      sepsis patients and 25.5 % bacteremic/fungemic sepsis patients. Occurrence of a
      malignant disease and chills were associated with a higher risk of patients
      having bacteremic/fungemic sepsis, whereas other described risk factors remained
      insignificant. In total, 91.1 % of suspected sepsis patients received empirical
      antimicrobial therapy, but 41.1 % of bacteremic sepsis patients received
      inappropriate therapy. Non-surviving bacteremic sepsis patients received a higher
      proportion of inappropriate therapy than those who survived (p = 0.022).
      CONCLUSIONS: A significant proportion of bacteremic sepsis patients receive
      inappropriate empiric antimicrobial therapy. Our results indicate that rapid
      availability of microbiological results is vital, since inappropriate
      antimicrobial therapy tended to increase the hospital mortality of sepsis
      patients.

PMID- 25840556
TI  - Light-concentrating plasmonic Au superstructures with significantly visible-light
      enhanced catalytic performance.
AB  - Noble metals are well-known for their surface plasmon resonance effect that
      enables strong light absorption typically in the visible regions for gold and
      silver. However, unlike semiconductors, noble metals are commonly considered
      incapable of catalyzing reactions via photogenerated electron-hole pairs due to
      their continuous energy band structures. So far, photonically activated catalytic
      system based on pure noble metal nanostructures has seldom been reported. Here,
      we report the development of three different novel plasmonic Au superstructures
      comprised of Au nanoparticles, multiple-twinned nanoparticles and nanoworms
      assembling on the surfaces of SiO2 nanospheres respectively via a well-designed
      synthetic strategy. It is found that these novel Au superstructures show enhanced
      broadband visible-light absorption due to the plasmon resonance coupling within
      the superstructures, and thus can effectively focus the energy of photon fluxes
      to generate much more excited hot electrons and holes for promoting catalytic
      reactions. Accordingly, these Au superstructures exhibit significantly visible
      light-enhanced catalytic efficiency (up to ~264% enhancement) for the commercial
      reaction of p-nitrophenol reduction. 

PMID- 25840555
TI  - Effect of Early Use of Covered Self-Expandable Endoscopic Stent on the Treatment
      of Postoperative Stapler Line Leaks.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Postoperative leaks are a dreaded complication after bariatric
      surgery (BS). Its treatment is based on nutritional support and sepsis control by
      antibiotics, collections drainage and/or prosthesis, and/or surgery. OBJECTIVES:
      The aim of this study is to report our experience with coated self-expandable
      endoscopic stents (SEES) for leaks treatment. SETTING: This study was performed
      in a University Hospital, (censored). METHODS: We performed a retrospective
      analysis of our BS database from January 2007 to December 2013. All patients with
      leak after BS treated with SEES were included. RESULTS: We identified 29
      patients; 17 (59%) were women, with median age of 37 (19-65) years, and
      preoperative body mass index of 40 (28.7-56-6) kg/m(2). Nineteen (65.5%) patients
      had a sleeve gastrectomy and 10 (34.5%) a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. All patients
      had a leak in the stapler line. Median time from surgery to leak diagnosis was 7
      (1-51) days, and SEES were installed 8 (0-104) days after diagnosis. Twenty-one
      (72%) patients also had abdominal exploration. Median length of SEES use was 60
      (1-299) days. Patients who had SEES as primary treatment (with or without
      simultaneous reoperation) had a shorter leak closure time (50 [6-112] vs 109 [60
      352] days; p = 0.008). Twenty-eight (96.5%) patients successfully achieved leak
      closure with SEES. There were 16 migrations in 10 (34%) patients, 1 (3%) stent
      fracture, 1 opening of the blind end of alimentary limb (3%), and 5 patients
      (17%) required a second stent due to leak persistence. CONCLUSIONS: SEES is a
      feasible, safe, and effective management of post BS leaks, although patients may
      also require prosthesis revision and abdominal exploration. Primary SEES
      placement is associated with a shorter leak resolution time.

PMID- 25840557
TI  - Explaining variation across grantees in breast and cervical cancer screening
      proportions in the NBCCEDP.
AB  - PURPOSE: There is substantial variation across the National Breast and Cervical
      Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) grantees in terms of the proportion of
      the eligible population served by the grantees each year (hereafter referred to
      as the screening proportion). In this paper, we assess program- and state-level
      factors to better understand the reason for this variation in breast and cervical
      cancer screening proportions across the NBCCEDP grantees. METHODS: We constructed
      a longitudinal data set, consisting of data from NBCCEDP grantees for each of the
      three study years (program-years 2006-2007, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010). We
      performed multivariate analysis to explain the variation in breast and cervical
      cancer screening proportions across the grantees. The program-level factors
      studied were the total federal funds received, average cost of screening women by
      grantee, and the overall organizational structure. The state-level variables
      included were urban versus rural mix, access to care, and the size of the
      eligible population. RESULTS: Of the 48 grantees included in the study, those
      that serve larger populations, as measured by the size of the population and the
      percentage of women eligible for services, had lower screening proportions.
      Higher average cost of service delivery was also associated with lower screening
      proportions. In addition, grantees whose populations were more concentrated in
      urban areas had lower screening proportions. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the average
      cost of screening, the overall size of the population eligible, and the
      concentration of population in urban areas all had a negative relationship to the
      proportion of eligible women screened by NBCCEDP grantees.

PMID- 25840558
TI  - Trends in initial management of prostate cancer in New Hampshire.
AB  - PURPOSE: Prostate cancer management strategies are evolving with increased
      understanding of the disease. Specifically, there is emerging evidence that "low
      risk" cancer is best treated with observation, while localized "high-risk" cancer
      requires aggressive curative therapy. In this study, we evaluated trends in
      management of prostate cancer in New Hampshire to determine adherence to evidence
      based practice. METHODS: From the New Hampshire State Cancer Registry, cases of
      clinically localized prostate cancer diagnosed in 2004-2011 were identified and
      classified according to D'Amico criteria. Initial treatment modality was recorded
      as surgery, radiation therapy, expectant management, or hormone therapy. Temporal
      trends were assessed by Chi-square for trend. RESULTS: Of 6,203 clinically
      localized prostate cancers meeting inclusion criteria, 34, 30, and 28% were low-,
      intermediate-, and high-risk disease, respectively. For low-risk disease, use of
      expectant management (17-42%, p < 0.001) and surgery (29-39%, p < 0.001)
      increased, while use of radiation therapy decreased (49-19 %, p < 0.001). For
      intermediate-risk disease, use of surgery increased (24-50%, p < 0.001), while
      radiation decreased (58-34%, p < 0.001). Hormonal therapy alone was rarely used
      for low- and intermediate-risk disease. For high-risk patients, surgery increased
      (38-47%, p = 0.003) and radiation decreased (41-38%, p = 0.026), while hormonal
      therapy and expectant management remained stable. DISCUSSION: There are
      encouraging trends in the management of clinically localized prostate cancer in
      New Hampshire, including less aggressive treatment of low-risk cancer and
      increasing surgical treatment of high-risk disease.

PMID- 25840559
TI  - Association analysis of genes involved in maize (Zea mays L.) root development
      with seedling and agronomic traits under contrasting nitrogen levels.
AB  - A better understanding of the genetic control of root development might allow one
      to develop lines with root systems with the potential to adapt to soils with
      limited nutrient availability. For this purpose, an association study (AS) panel
      consisting of 74 diverse set of inbred maize lines were screened for seedling
      root traits and adult plant root traits under two contrasting nitrogen (N) levels
      (low and high N). Allele re-sequencing of RTCL, RTH3, RUM1, and RUL1 genes
      related to root development was carried out for AS panel lines. Association
      analysis was carried out between individual polymorphisms, and both seedling and
      adult plant traits, while controlling for spurious associations due to population
      structure and kinship relations. Based on the SNPs identified in RTCL, RTH3,
      RUM1, and RUL1, lines within the AS panel were grouped into 16, 9, 22, and 7
      haplotypes, respectively. Association analysis revealed several polymorphisms
      within root genes putatively associated with the variability in seedling root and
      adult plant traits development under contrasting N levels. The highest number of
      significantly associated SNPs with seedling root traits were found in RTCL (19
      SNPs) followed by RUM1 (4 SNPs) and in case of RTH3 and RUL1, two and three SNPs,
      respectively, were significantly associated with root traits. RTCL and RTH3 were
      also found to be associated with grain yield. Thus considerable allelic diversity
      is present within the candidate genes studied and can be utilized to develop
      functional markers that allow identification of maize lines with improved root
      architecture and yield under N stress conditions. 

PMID- 25840560
TI  - Readmission After Pancreaticoduodenectomy: The Influence of the Volume Effect
      Beyond Mortality.
AB  - BACKGROUND: As increased focus is placed on quality of care in surgery,
      readmission is an increasingly important metric by which hospital and surgeon
      quality is measured. For complex pancreatic surgery, we hypothesized that
      increased pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) volume may mitigate readmission rates.
      METHODS: The University Healthsystems Consortium database was queried for all
      patients (n = 9805) undergoing PD from 2009 to 2011. Hospitals were stratified
      into quintiles based on number of cases performed annually. Univariate and
      multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors
      associated with 30-day readmission. RESULTS: The 30-day readmission rate for
      patients undergoing PD was 19.1 %. Stratified by volume, hospitals performing the
      highest two quintiles of PDs annually (>=56 cases) had a significantly lower
      unadjusted readmission rate than those hospitals performing the lowest quintile
      (n <= 23 cases; 16.7 and 18.0 % vs. 20.9 %, p < 0.05). On univariate analysis,
      readmitted patients tended to have higher severity of illness (p < 0.01) and
      longer index admission (10 vs. 9 days, p < 0.01). Age and insurance status had no
      significant association with readmission. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that
      higher severity of illness (odds ratio [OR] 1.36, 95 % confidence interval [CI]
      1.04-1.77, p = 0.02), discharge to rehab (OR 1.41, 95 % CI 1.19-1.66, p < 0.001),
      and surgery at the lowest volume hospitals (OR 1.28, 95 % CI 1.08-1.51, p =
      0.004) were factors independently associated with readmission. CONCLUSIONS: Lower
      hospital volume is a significant risk factor for readmission after PD. To
      minimize the excess resource utilization that accompanies readmission, patients
      undergoing complex oncologic pancreatic surgery should be directed to hospitals
      most experienced in caring for this patient population.

PMID- 25840561
TI  - Decreased Survival Rates of Older-Aged Patients with Melanoma: Biological
      Differences or Undertreatment?

PMID- 25840562
TI  - Respiratory Motion, Anterior Heart Displacement and Heart Dosimetry: Comparison
      Between Prone (Pr) and Supine (Su) Whole Breast Irradiation.
AB  - To analyze respiratory motion of surgical clips, chest wall (CW) and the anterior
      displacement of the heart and its impact on heart dosimetry between prone (Pr)
      and supine (Su) positions during whole breast radiotherapy after breast
      conserving surgery. Sixteen patients underwent 4D-CT for radiotherapy planning in
      Pr and Su positions. Maximum inhale and maximum exhale phases were analyzed. Mean
      3D vectorial displacements +/- standard deviations (SD) of the surgical clips
      were measured. Volumetric changes of the CW were recorded and compared. Cardiac
      displacement was assessed by a volume between the inner surface of CW and the
      myocardium of the heart (CW/H-V). For left-sided cases, comparative dosimetry was
      performed in each position simulating no- (Pr-noC, Su-noC) versus daily
      correction protocols (Pr-C, Su-C). The movements of 81 surgical clips were
      analyzed. Prone positioning significantly reduced both the mean 3D vectorial
      displacements (1.1 +/- 0.6 (Pr) vs. 2.0 +/- 0.9 mm (Su), p < 0.01) and their
      variability (0.3 +/- 0.2 vs. 0.5 +/- 0.3 mm, p = 0.01). Respiration-induced
      volumetric changes of CW were also significantly lower in Pr (2.3 +/- 4.9 vs. 9.6
      +/- 7.1 cm(3), p < 0.01). The CW/H-V was significantly smaller in Pr than in Su
      (39.9 +/- 14.6 vs. 64.3 +/- 28.2 cm(3), p < 0.01). Besides identical target
      coverage heart, left-anterior-descending coronary artery (LADCA) and ipsilateral
      lung dose parameters were lowered with Pr-C compared to Pr-noC, Su-C and Su-noC.
      Prone position significantly reduced respiration-related surgical clip movements,
      their variability as well as CW movements. Significant anterior heart
      displacement was observed in Pr. Prone position with daily online correction
      could maximize the heart and LADCA protection.

PMID- 25840564
TI  - Measuring the solid-phase fractionation of lead in urban and rural soils using a
      combination of geochemical survey data and chemical extractions.
AB  - The study used 276 urban soils and 447 rural soils collected from in and around
      the UK town of Northampton and focussed on the fractionation of Pb. The Pb
      fractionation obtained from total element data was compared to the fractionation
      of Pb in a subset of 10 urban soils obtained using a sequential extraction
      method. The fractionation of the Pb from the total element data and from the
      sequential extractions was estimated using a self-modelling mixture resolution
      statistical model. The bioaccessibility of Pb in a subset of 50 of the urban
      soils, as measured using the unified BARGE method, was shown to be quantitatively
      linked with Pb fractionation from both the total element and the sequential
      extraction data. Three intrinsic soil components from the regional total element
      data model and one physico-chemical component from the sequential extraction data
      model were identified as the sources of bioaccessible Pb. The source of
      bioaccessible Pb in both rural and urban soils was tentatively identified as a
      fine-grained pyromorphite mineral. 

PMID- 25840563
TI  - [Puumala hantavirus infection in Isere: Geographic extension of this zoonosis in
      France].

PMID- 25840565
TI  - Chemical composition of groundwater and relative mortality for cardiovascular
      diseases in the Slovak Republic.
AB  - The study deals with the analysis of relationship between chemical composition of
      the groundwater/drinking water and the data on relative mortality for
      cardiovascular diseases (ReI) in the Slovak Republic. Primary data consist of the
      Slovak national database of groundwater analyses (20,339 chemical analyses, 34
      chemical elements/compounds) and data on ReI collected for the 10-year period
      (1994-2003). The chemical and health data were unified in the same form and
      expressed as the mean values for each of 2883 municipalities within the Slovak
      Republic for further analysis. Artificial neural network was used as mathematic
      method for model data analysis. The most significant chemical elements having
      influence on ReI were identified together with their limit values (maximal
      acceptable, minimal necessary and optimal). Based on the results of calculations,
      made through the neural networks, the following ten chemical elements/parameters
      in the groundwater were defined as the most significant for ReI: Ca + Mg (mmol l(
      1)), Ca, Mg, TDS, Cl, HCO3, SO4, NO3, SiO2 and PO4. The obtained results document
      the highest relationship between ReI and the groundwater contents of Ca + Mg
      (mmol l(-1)), Ca and Mg. Following limit values were set for the most significant
      groundwater chemicals/parameters: Ca + Mg 4.4-7.6 mmol l(-1), Ca > 89.4 mg l(-1)
      and Mg 42-78.1 mg l(-1). At these concentration ranges, the relative mortality
      for cardiovascular diseases in the Slovak Republic reaches the lowest levels.
      These limit values are about twice higher in comparison with the current Slovak
      valid guideline values for the drinking water.

PMID- 25840566
TI  - Mismatch discrimination in fluorescent in situ hybridization using different
      types of nucleic acids.
AB  - In the past few years, several researchers have focused their attention on
      nucleic acid mimics due to the increasing necessity of developing a more robust
      recognition of DNA or RNA sequences. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is
      an example of a method where the use of these novel nucleic acid monomers might
      be crucial to the success of the analysis. To achieve the expected accuracy in
      detection, FISH probes should have high binding affinity towards their
      complementary strands and discriminate effectively the noncomplementary strands.
      In this study, we investigate the effect of different chemical modifications in
      fluorescent probes on their ability to successfully detect the complementary
      target and discriminate the mismatched base pairs by FISH. To our knowledge, this
      paper presents the first study where this analysis is performed with different
      types of FISH probes directly in biological targets, Helicobacter pylori and
      Helicobacter acinonychis. This is also the first study where unlocked nucleic
      acids (UNA) were used as chemistry modification in oligonucleotides for FISH
      methodologies. The effectiveness in detecting the specific target and in mismatch
      discrimination appears to be improved using locked nucleic acids (LNA)/2'-O
      methyl RNA (2'OMe) or peptide nucleic acid (PNA) in comparison to LNA/DNA,
      LNA/UNA, or DNA probes. Further, the use of LNA modifications together with 2'OMe
      monomers allowed the use of shorter fluorescent probes and increased the range of
      hybridization temperatures at which FISH would work.

PMID- 25840567
TI  - High glucose microenvironments inhibit the proliferation and migration of bone
      mesenchymal stem cells by activating GSK3beta.
AB  - Diabetes mellitus involves metabolic changes that can impair bone repair. Bone
      mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) play an important role in bone regeneration.
      However, the bone regeneration ability of BMSCs is inhibited in high glucose
      microenvironments. It can be speculated that this effect is due to changes in
      BMSCs' proliferation and migration ability, because the recruitment of factors
      with an adequate number of MSCs and the microenvironment around the site of bone
      injury are required for effective bone repair. Recent genetic evidence has shown
      that the Cyclin D1 and the CXC receptor 4 (CXCR-4) play important roles in the
      proliferation and migration of BMSCs. In this study we determined the specific
      role of glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (GSK3beta) in the proliferation and
      migration of BMSCs in high glucose microenvironments. The proliferation and
      migration ability of BMSCs were suppressed under high glucose conditions. We
      showed that high glucose activates GSK3beta but suppresses CXCR-4, beta-catenin,
      LEF-1, and cyclin D1. Inhibition of GSK3beta by LiCl led to increased levels of
      beta-catenin, LEF-1, cyclin D1, and CXCR-4 expression. Our data indicate that
      GSK3beta plays an important role in regulating the proliferation and migration of
      BMSCs by inhibiting cyclin D1 and CXCR-4 under high glucose conditions. 

PMID- 25840569
TI  - A simple graphical quantitative analysis of ultrasonography images to decide when
      to perform fine needle aspiration biopsy in diagnosing malignancy in solid
      thyroid nodules? A two centres prospective study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Since the prevalence of thyroid nodules is high and ultrasonography
      (USG)-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) as a diagnostic means cannot be
      performed in all cases, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility and applicability of
      simple graphical analysis of USG two-dimensional images, to identify patients
      with suspicious thyroid nodules who would benefit from FNAB. SUBJECTS AND
      METHODS: We studied prospectively 211 consecutive patients with thyroid nodules:
      122 from the University Clinical Centre (UCC) of Maribor and 89 from the
      University Medical Centre (UMC) of Ljubljana who underwent USGguided FNAB from
      January 2011 to October 2013. The cytology report was categorized as benign or
      suspicious/malignant. Blind to cytology reports, we later performed graphical
      analysis of USG images using ImageJ (version 1.48r) which is a public domain Java
      image processing and analysis programme. We compared the average gray value and
      standard deviation (SD) of the gray values used to generate the mean gray within
      the selection, with cytology reports. RESULTS: According to cytology reports, 24
      thyroid nodules were suspicious/malignant (14/10) and 187 benign. Graphical
      analysis of USG images performed with ImageJ demonstrated significantly higher
      values of SD of the gray values used to generate the mean gray value in
      suspicious/malignant thyroid nodules as compared to unsuspicious nodules in both
      UCC Maribor and in UMC Ljubljana (P<0.001 and P=0.002, respectively). A higher
      value of the SD of gray value used to generate the mean gray value meant
      variation or dispersion from the average value and was correlated by the presence
      of micro-calcifications. By applying a cut-off level of the quotient between the
      SD value of an examined thyroid nodule and the SD value of normal/reference
      thyroid tissue of 1.20, we found that 21/24 nodules were classified as true
      positive and 114/187 as true negative. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that our
      graphical quantitative analysis of USG images had a negative predictive value of
      more than 90% and was able to suggest which thyroid nodules were potentially
      malignant and needed further investigation.

PMID- 25840568
TI  - O-GlcNAc modification is essential for the regulation of autophagy in Drosophila
      melanogaster.
AB  - O-GlcNAcylation is a dynamic post-translational modification that takes place on
      ser/thr residues of nucleocytoplasmic proteins. O-GlcNAcylation regulates almost
      all cellular events as a nutrient sensor, a transcriptional and translational
      regulator, and a disease-related factor. Although the role of O-GlcNAcylation in
      insulin signaling and metabolism are well established, the relationship between O
      GlcNAcylation and autophagy is largely unknown. Here, we manipulated O
      GlcNAcylation in Drosophila and found that it regulates autophagy through
      Akt/dFOXO signaling. We demonstrate that O-GlcNAcylation and the levels of O
      GlcNAc transferase (OGT) are increased during starvation. Furthermore, Atg
      proteins and autolysosomes are increased in OGT-reduced flies without fasting.
      Atg proteins and autophagosomes are reduced in OGT-overexpressing flies. Our
      results suggest that not only autophagy gene expression but also autophagic
      structures are regulated by OGT through Akt and dFOXO. These data imply that O
      GlcNAcylation is important in modulating autophagy as well as insulin signaling
      in Drosophila. 

PMID- 25840570
TI  - Diagnosis of high-risk patients with multivessel coronary artery disease by
      combined cardiac gated SPET imaging and coronary calcium score.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The added value of coronary artery calcium (CAC) to SPET for
      identification of multivessel CAD has not been studied yet. The aim of this
      original study was to investigate CAC as an adjunct to gated single photon
      emission tomography (GSPET) in the detection of multivessel coronary artery
      disease (CAD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study group consisted of 164
      prospectively recruited patients without known CAD-123 (75%) men and 60 (37%)
      women, having diabetes type II, renal insufficiency, left ventricular dilatation
      and other cardiac problems (arrhythmia, necessity of pharmacological stress test,
      etc.). The mean age of these patients was 61+/-12 years (range 34-85 years). All
      these patients underwent GSPET imaging, CAC score measurement, and coronary
      angiography. The percentage of ischaemic myocardium, stress and rest left
      ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and transient ischaemic dilation (TID)
      ratio were measured. RESULTS: Patients with multivessel CAD had more frequently
      reversible defects in multiple territories, severe ischaemia >=10% of the left
      ventricle, stress worsening of the LVEF >=5%, TID ratio >=1.17, and CAC score
      >1000. In the detection of multivessel CAD, the sensitivity of combined
      assessment of perfusion, function, and CAC (i.e., multiple and/or >=10%
      ischaemia, and/or worsening of the LVEF >=5%, and/or TID ratio >=1.17, and/or CAC
      score >1000) was significantly higher than the sensitivity of perfusion alone or
      perfusion and function alone (81% vs. 55% and 65%, respectively, P<0.05).
      Sensitivity of only CAC was low (41%). CONCLUSION: Sensitivity of combined
      assessment of myocardial perfusion, function, and CAC was significantly higher
      than sensitivity of perfusion alone or perfusion and function alone, suggesting
      better identification of high-risk patients with CAD.

PMID- 25840571
TI  - Can (18)F-FDG PET/CT scan change treatment planning and be prognostic in
      recurrent colorectal carcinoma? A prospective and follow-up study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To prospectively study whether in patients with resected primary
      colorectal cancer fluorine- 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission
      tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) examination could diagnose the
      stage, specify treatment procedure and be prognostic. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This
      prospective study included 75 patients with resected primary colorectal
      adenocarcinoma referred for (18)F-FDG PET/CT to the National PET Center, at the
      Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, from January 2010 to May 2013. Findings of
      (18)F-FDG PET/CT were compared to findings of subsequent histopathological
      examinations or with results of clinical and imaging follow-up. Patients were
      followed after PET/CT examination for a mean follow-up time of 16.7+/-5.9 months.
      RESULTS: In the detection of recurrent disease (18)F-FDG PET/CT showed overall
      sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of 96.6%, 82.4%, 94.9%, 87.5% and
      93.3%, respectively. In the detection of stages I and II sensitivity, specificity
      and accuracy of (18)F-FDG PET/CT were: 88%, 96.6% and 94.7%, respectively, and in
      the detection of stages III and IV sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were
      94.9%, 87.5% and 93.3%, respectively. These findings prevented or changed
      intended surgical treatment in 12/32 cases. Univariate and multivariate Cox
      proportional regression analyses revealed that metastatic recurrence (stages III
      and IV) was the only and independent prognostic factor of disease progression
      during follow-up (P=0.012 and P=0.023, respectively). Although, survival seemed
      better in patients with local recurrence compared to metastatic recurrent
      disease, this difference did not reach significance (Log-rank test; P=0.324). In
      addition, progression-free survival time was significantly longer in patients in
      whom (18)F-FDG PET/CT scan led to treatment changes (Log-rank test; P=0.037).
      CONCLUSION: (18)F-FDG PET/CT was sensitive and accurate for the detection and
      staging of local and metastatic recurrent colorectal carcinoma, with higher
      specificity in the detection of local recurrences. The (18)F-FDG PET/CT scan
      induced treatment changes in 30/75 patients, including 12/32 patients in which
      surgical treatment was previously planned, and progression free survival time was
      significantly longer in these patients.

PMID- 25840572
TI  - Clinical issues regarding misclassification by Dixon based PET/MR attenuation
      correction.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The Dixon sequence is acquired for attenuation correction (AC) of
      positron emission tomography (PET) data in integrated PET/magnetic resonance
      (MR). However it sometimes misclassifies soft tissue and fat in MU-map. In the
      present study, we investigated factors related to this misclassification and
      their clinical impacts. SUBJECT AND METHODS: Forty-eight oncological patients (19
      males and 29 females, mean age: 59+/-11 years old) underwent a single fluorine-18
      fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) injection/dualimaging protocol on PET/computed
      tomography (CT) and subsequently PET/MR. Patients were assigned to either of two
      groups; group A with a misclassification in at least one bed position or group B
      with a correctly classified MU-map. We compared body mass index (BMI), lean body
      mass, fasting duration, volume of hydration and age between group A and group B.
      In addition, we analyzed the impact of PET quantification using standard uptake
      ratio (SUR) defined as uptake in volume of interest/uptake in thigh muscle. The
      Dixon-AC SUR was compared with CT-AC SUR in misclassified bed positions and
      correctly classified bed positions. All patients were scanned in four bed
      positions by PET/MR. Ten patients were assigned to group A; six showed
      misclassification in a bed position (5 in head and 1 in abdomen), three patients
      in 3 bed positions (head-thorax-abdomen), and one patient in partial bed position
      in neck. RESULTS: Misclassification was observed in 21% of 48 patients. Group A
      and group B showed no statistically significant differences in BMI, lean body
      mass, fasting duration or age, however the volume of hydration in group A (245mL)
      was smaller than in group B (452.6mL) (P=0.027). In group A, we analyzed Dixon-AC
      SUR/CT-AC SUR ratios in 16 misclassified and 24 correctly classified regions, and
      ratios in these regions were significant different 0.80 and 0.93, respectively
      (P=0.046). CONCLUSION: Because no corrective method has been devised after a
      scan, we recommend that Dixon images with MU-maps should be checked before
      interpreting PET/MR images and emphasize the importance of hydration, pre
      examination. Misclassification errors do not change the presence of (18)F-FDG
      uptake but can have significant impacts on PET quantification in affected bed
      positions.

PMID- 25840573
TI  - Fluorine-18-fluoroethylcholine PET/CT in the detection of prostate cancer: a
      South African experience.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Imaging with fluorine-18-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission
      tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) has, until recently provided
      disappointing results with low sensitivity ranging from 31%-64% in patients with
      well-differentiated prostate cancer (PC) at all prostatic specific antigen (PSA)
      levels while fluorine-18-fluoroethylcholine ((18)F-FECh) PET/CT showed about 85%
      sensitivity in restaging patients after relapse. We present our experience of the
      sensitivity of (18)F-FECh PET/CT in the early stages of PC. SUBJECT AND METHODS:
      Fifty patients were prospectively recruited and imaged, of which 40 fulfilled all
      inclusion criteria. Our patients had an average age of 65.5 years. Fifteen
      patients were referred for initial staging, with the remaining 25 referred for
      restaging and all patients had histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma. Patients
      were imaged by (18)F-FECh PET/CT. Findings were evaluated qualitatively and
      quantitatively and compared to the results of histology, PSA, Gleason score and
      bone scintigraphy. The prostate SUVmax was also used. RESULTS: Thirty-one
      patients demonstrated abnormal pelvic- and or extra- pelvic findings on (18)F
      FECh PET/CT, which was consistent with malignant or metastatic involvement. The
      prostate SUVmax could not be used to predict the presence or absence of
      metastatic disease. CONCLUSION: Findings of this paper suggest that (18)F-FECh
      PET/CT in 30/40 cases (estimated as 75%) was helpful in the initial staging,
      restaging and lymph node detection of patients with PC. The SUVmax was not
      helpful. We diagnosed more PC cases in our African-American patients as compared
      to the Caucasian patients.

PMID- 25840574
TI  - A probabilistic assessment of the diagnosis of paraganglioma/pheochromocytoma
      based on clinical criteria and biochemical/imaging findings.
AB  - Paragangliomas (PGL) and pheochromocytomas (P) are rare neural-crest-derived
      neoplasms. Very recently guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of PGL/P have been
      presented by the US Endocrine Society. In the following overview we assessed the
      implementation of these guidelines with probabilistic reasoning (calculating with
      Fagan nomograms the post-test probability of PGL/P for a given pre-test
      probability). CONCLUSION: Biochemical evaluation of PGL/P showed excellent
      diagnostic characteristics with post-test probabilities that are very different
      from the pre-test probabilities, thus a positive biochemical test is usually
      indicative of disease whereas a negative one usually rules out disease. The post
      test probabilities of anatomical and functional imaging modalities (i.e. in
      nuclear medicine) were different from the pre-test probabilities but to a lesser
      degree than the biochemical tests; furthermore in biochemically-proven PGL/P a
      negative imaging modality is not useful, while a positive one may indicate only
      one of multiple foci of metastatic/extra-adrenal disease. Thus, regarding imaging
      modalities, they should be combined in order to get the most of their
      characteristics for the localization of PGL/P.

PMID- 25840575
TI  - Correlative bone imaging in a case of Schnitzler's syndrome and brief review of
      the literature.
AB  - Schnitzler's syndrome is a rare disease characterized by a monoclonal IgM (or
      IgG) paraprotein, a nonpruritic urticarial skin rash, and 2 (or 3) of the
      following: recurrent fever, objective signs of abnormal bone remodeling, elevated
      CRP level or leukocytosis, and a neutrophilic infiltrate on skin biopsy. It
      responds well to treatment with the interleukine-1-inhibitor anakinra. We report
      the bone scintigraphy and MRI findings in a 45 years old man with this syndrome
      and compare them with data from the literature. CONCLUSION: None of the imaging
      findings are specific, but they lead to a differential diagnosis including
      infiltrative diseases (e.g. systemic mastocytosis or Erdheim-Chester disease) and
      dysplastic diseases (e.g. melorheostosis, Camurati-Engelmann disease or van
      Buchem disease). The bone scintigraphy pattern may be very suggestive of the
      correct diagnosis and of bone involvement in this syndrome.

PMID- 25840576
TI  - Gastric Schwannoma mimicking malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumor and
      misdiagnosed by (18)F-FDG PET/CT.
AB  - Gastric Schwannoma is a rare benign mesenchymal tumor that accounts for only 0.2%
      of all gastric tumors. The current study presents a case of gastric Schwannoma
      misdiagnosed as malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) by
      esophagogastroduodenoscopy, endoscopic ultrasonography, and contrast-enhanced or
      not enhanced and (18)F-FDG PET/CT imaging. 

PMID- 25840577
TI  - Antiplatelet and Statin Use in US Patients With Coronary Artery Disease
      Categorized by Race/Ethnicity and Gender, 2003 to 2012.
AB  - Antiplatelets and statins are efficacious for preventing future cardiovascular
      events in patients with coronary heart disease. Disparity in cardiovascular
      outcomes exists by race/ethnicity and gender; however, few studies have explored
      potential disparities in long-term antiplatelet and statin use by race/ethnicity
      and gender. We conducted a repeated cross-sectional analysis using the nationally
      representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from 2003 to 2012. The sample
      consisted of 14,334 men and women >29 years with coronary heart disease. We
      identified antiplatelet and statin use, medical conditions, and sociodemographic
      characteristics. Rates of use did not change for statins or the combination of
      statins and antiplatelets from 2003 to 2012 but decreased for antiplatelets (p =
      0.015). Of the total sample, 70.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 69.7 to 72.1)
      reported use of antiplatelets, 52.5% (95% CI 51.1 to 53.8) reported statin use,
      and 43.1% (95% CI 41.8 to 44.4) reported the combination. Use of antiplatelets
      and statins were associated with one another (odds ratio 3.22; 95% CI 2.87 to
      3.62). From 2009 to 2012, black and Hispanic men along with all race/ethnicities
      of women were less likely to report use of statins, antiplatelets, and the
      combination of the 2 compared with white men, even after controlling for
      sociodemographics. Changing the definition of a medication use, inclusion of
      cardiovascular risk factors, or the inclusion of warfarin in the antiplatelet
      category did not substantially change the results. Future practice and policy
      goals should focus on increasing the number of high-risk patients on appropriate
      preventative medications while focusing particular attention on decreasing the
      identified disparity. 

PMID- 25840578
TI  - Prevalence and outcomes of patients receiving implantable cardioverter
      defibrillators for primary prevention not based on guidelines.
AB  - Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation outside practice
      guidelines remains contentious, particularly during the mandated waiting periods
      in patients with recent cardiac events. We assessed the prevalence and outcomes
      of non-guideline-based (NGB) ICD implantations in a tertiary academic medical
      center, with a specific focus on adjudication of arrhythmia events. All patients
      who underwent initial primary prevention ICD implantation at our institution from
      2004 to 2012 were categorized as having received guideline-based (GB) or NGB
      implants and were retrospectively assessed for first episode of appropriate ICD
      therapy and total mortality. Of 807 patients, 137 (17.0%) received NGB implants.
      During a median follow-up of 2.9 years, patients with NGB implants had similar
      times to first appropriate ICD therapy (median time to event 1.94 vs 2.17 years
      in patients with GB implants, p = 0.20). After multivariable analysis, patients
      with NGB implants remained at higher risk for death (hazard ratio 1.54, 95%
      confidence interval 1.1 to 2.2, p = 0.03) but not appropriate ICD therapy (hazard
      ratio 0.83, 95% confidence interval 0.5 to 1.3, p = 0.51). Furthermore, only 1 of
      125 patients who underwent implant within the 40-day waiting period after
      myocardial infarction or 3-month waiting period after revascularization or
      cardiomyopathy diagnosis received an appropriate therapy within this period. In
      conclusion, few patients received NGB ICD implants in our academic medical
      center. Although these patients have similar long-term risk of receiving
      appropriate ICD therapy compared with patients with GB implants, this risk is
      very low during the waiting periods mandated by clinical practice guidelines.
      These results suggest that there is little need to rush into implanting ICDs
      during these waiting periods. 

PMID- 25840579
TI  - Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials Comparing Multivessel Versus
      Culprit-Only Revascularization for Patients With ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial
      Infarction and Multivessel Disease Undergoing Primary Percutaneous Coronary
      Intervention.
AB  - Current guidelines recommend against revascularization of the noninfarct artery
      during the index percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in hemodynamically
      stable patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). This was
      based largely on observational studies with few data coming from randomized
      controlled trials (RCTs). Recently, several small-to-moderate sized RCTs have
      provided data, suggesting that a multivessel revascularization approach may be
      appropriate. We performed a meta-analysis of RCTs comparing multivessel
      percutaneous coronary intervention (MV PCI) versus culprit vessel-only
      revascularization (COR) during primary PCI in patients with STEMI and multivessel
      coronary disease (MVCD). We searched Medline, PubMed, and Scopus databases for
      RCTs comparing MV PCI versus COR in patients with STEMI and MVCD. The incidence
      of all-cause death, cardiac death, recurrent myocardial infarction, and
      revascularization during follow-up were extracted. Four RCTs fit our primary
      selection criteria. Among these, 566 patients underwent MV PCI (either at the
      time of the primary PCI or as a staged procedure) and 478 patients underwent COR.
      During long-term follow-up (range 1 to 2.5 years), combined data indicated a
      significant reduction in all-cause mortality (relative risk [RR] 0.57, 95%
      confidence interval [CI] 0.36 to 0.92, p = 0.02) and in cardiac death (RR 0.38,
      95% CI 0.20 to 0.73, p = 0.004) with MV PCI. In addition, there was a
      significantly lower risk of recurrent myocardial infarction (RR 0.41, 95% CI 0.23
      to 0.75; p = 0.004) and future revascularization (RR 0.37, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.52; p
      <0.00001). In conclusion, from the RCT data, MV PCI appears to improve outcomes
      in patients with STEMI and MVCD. 

PMID- 25840580
TI  - Carperitide and atrial fibrillation after coronary bypass grafting: the Nihon
      University working group study of low-dose HANP infusion therapy during cardiac
      surgery trial for postoperative atrial fibrillation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Occurrence of atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery is associated
      with long-term mortality. We investigated whether infusion of human atrial
      natriuretic peptide (carperitide) could prevent postoperative atrial
      fibrillation. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 668 patients who underwent isolated
      coronary artery bypass grafting were randomized to receive infusion of
      carperitide or physiological saline from the initiation of cardiopulmonary
      bypass. Patients were monitored continuously for 1 week after surgery to detect
      atrial fibrillation. The risk factors were investigated by Cox proportional
      hazard model. Postoperative atrial fibrillation occurred in 41 of 335 patients
      (12.2%) from the carperitide group versus 110 of 333 patients (32.7%) from the
      placebo group (P<0.0001). Postoperative levels of angiotensin-II, aldosterone,
      creatine kinase MB isoenzyme, human heart fatty acid-binding protein, and brain
      natriuretic peptide were all significantly lower in the carperitide group. The
      risk factors for postoperative atrial fibrillation by the Cox proportional hazard
      model were an age >=70 years, emergency surgery, preoperative aldosterone level
      >150 ng/mL, preoperative nonuse of angiotensin receptor antagonists, preoperative
      use of calcium antagonists, postoperative nonuse of beta-blockers, postoperative
      nonuse of aldosterone blockers, and nonuse of carperitide. CONCLUSIONS: 
      Perioperative carperitide infusion reduced the occurrence of postoperative atrial
      fibrillation. Accordingly, carperitide could be a useful option for preventing
      postoperative atrial fibrillation. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: -URL:
      http://www.umin.ac.jp. Unique Identifier: UMIN000003958.

PMID- 25840581
TI  - Associations of Alterations in Pulsatile Arterial Load With Left Ventricular
      Longitudinal Strain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Increased arterial stiffness leads to increased pulsatile load on the
      heart. We investigated associations of components of pulsatile load with a
      measure of left ventricular (LV) systolic function-global longitudinal strain
      (GLS), in a community-based cohort ascertained based on family history of
      hypertension. METHODS: Arterial tonometry and echocardiography with speckle
      tracking were performed in 520 adults with normal LV ejection fraction (EF) (age
      67+/-9 years, 70% hypertensive) to quantify measures of pulsatile load
      (characteristic aortic impedance (Zc), total arterial compliance (TAC), and
      augmentation index (AI)) and GLS. The associations of log-Zc, log-TAC, and AI
      with GLS were assessed using sex-specific z-scores for each measure of arterial
      load. RESULTS: In univariable analyses, higher Zc was associated with worse GLS
      (less negative) and higher TAC and AI were associated with better GLS (all P <
      0.001). In a multivariable model including age, sex, heart rate (HR), LVEF, mean
      arterial load (systemic vascular resistance), and measures of pulsatile load, Zc
      remained associated with GLS (beta = 0.28, P < 0.001), while the associations of
      TAC and AI were no longer significant (P > 0.5). Additional adjustment for
      cardiovascular risk factors and history of coronary heart disease and stroke did
      not attenuate the association of Zc with GLS; Zc, sex, HR, LVEF remained
      associated with GLS after stepwise elimination (all P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS:
      Greater proximal aortic stiffness, as manifested by a higher Zc, is independently
      associated with worse LV longitudinal function.

PMID- 25840582
TI  - Oral Infections, Metabolic Inflammation, Genetics, and Cardiometabolic Diseases.
AB  - Although several epidemiologic studies reported plausible and potentially causal
      associations between oral infections and cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs),
      controversy still lingers. This might be due to unrecognized confounding from
      metabolic inflammation and genetics, both of which alter the immune responses of
      the host. Low-grade inflammation termed metainflammation is the hallmark of
      obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and CMDs. According to the common
      soil theory, the continuum of obesity to CMDs is the same pathology at different
      time points, and early metainflammations, such as hyperglycemia and obesity,
      display many adverse cardiometabolic characteristics. Consequently, adipose
      tissue is now considered a dynamic endocrine organ that expresses many
      proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha, IL-6, plasminogen activator
      inhibitor 1, and IL-1beta. In metainflammation, IL-1beta and reactive oxygen
      species are generated, and IL-1beta is a pivotal molecule in the pathogenesis of
      CMDs. Note that the same cytokines expressed in metainflammation are also
      reported in oral infections. In metabolic inflammation and oral infections, the
      innate immune system is activated through pattern recognition receptors-which
      include transmembrane receptors such as toll-like receptors (TLRs), cytosolic
      receptors such as nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptors, and
      multiprotein complexes called inflammasome. In general, TLR-2s are presumed to
      recognize lipoteichoic acid of Gram-positive microbes-and TLR-4s,
      lipopolysaccharide of Gram-negative microbes-while nucleotide-binding
      oligomerization domain-like receptors detect both Gram-positive and Gram-negative
      peptidoglycans on the bacterial cell walls. However, a high-fat diet activates
      TLR-2s, and obesity activates TLR-4s and induces spontaneous increases in serum
      lipopolysaccharide levels (metabolic endotoxemia). Moreover, genetics controls
      lipid-related transcriptome and the differentiation of monocyte and macrophages.
      Additionally, genetics influences CMDs, and this creates a confounding
      relationship among oral infections, metainflammation, and genetics. Therefore,
      future studies must elucidate whether oral infections can increase the risk of
      CMDs independent of the aforementioned confounding factors. 

PMID- 25840583
TI  - CD30 Downregulation, MMAE Resistance, and MDR1 Upregulation Are All Associated
      with Resistance to Brentuximab Vedotin.
AB  - Brentuximab vedotin (BV) is an antibody-drug conjugate that specifically delivers
      the potent cytotoxic drug monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) to CD30-positive cells.
      BV is FDA approved for treatment of relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma and
      anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL); however, many patients do not achieve
      complete remission and develop BV-resistant disease. We selected for BV-resistant
      Hodgkin lymphoma (L428) and ALCL (Karpas-299) cell lines using either constant
      (ALCL) or pulsatile (Hodgkin lymphoma) exposure to BV. We confirmed drug
      resistance by MTS assay and analyzed CD30 expression in resistant cells by flow
      cytometry, qRT-PCR, and Western blotting. We also measured drug exporter
      expression, MMAE resistance, and intracellular MMAE concentrations in BV
      resistant cells. In addition, tissue biopsy samples from 10 Hodgkin lymphoma and
      5 ALCL patients who had relapsed or progressed after BV treatment were analyzed
      by immunohistocytochemistry for CD30 expression. The resistant ALCL cell line,
      but not the Hodgkin lymphoma cell line, demonstrated downregulated CD30
      expression compared with the parental cell line. In contrast, the Hodgkin
      lymphoma cell line, but not the ALCL cell line, exhibited MMAE resistance and
      increased expression of the MDR1 drug exporter compared with the parental line.
      For both Hodgkin lymphoma and ALCL, samples from patients relapsed/resistant on
      BV persistently expressed CD30 by immunohistocytochemistry. One Hodgkin lymphoma
      patient sample expressed MDR1 by immunohistocytochemistry. Although loss of CD30
      expression is a possible mode of BV resistance in ALCL in vitro models, this has
      not been confirmed in patients. MMAE resistance and MDR1 expression are possible
      modes of BV resistance for Hodgkin lymphoma both in vitro and in patients.

PMID- 25840584
TI  - Inhibition of Homologous Recombination and Promotion of Mutagenic Repair of DNA
      Double-Strand Breaks Underpins Arabinoside-Nucleoside Analogue
      Radiosensitization.
AB  - In concurrent chemoradiotherapy, drugs are used to sensitize tumors to ionizing
      radiation. Although a spectrum of indications for simultaneous treatment with
      drugs and radiation has been defined, the molecular mechanisms underpinning tumor
      radiosensitization remain incompletely characterized for several such
      combinations. Here, we investigate the mechanisms of radiosensitization by the
      arabinoside nucleoside analogue 9-beta-D-arabinofuranosyladenine (araA) placing
      particular emphasis on the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSB), and compare
      the results to those obtained with fludarabine (F-araA) and cytarabine (araC).
      Postirradiation treatment with araA strongly sensitizes cells to ionizing
      radiation, but leaves unchanged DSB repair by NHEJ in logarithmically growing
      cells, in sorted G1 or G2 phase populations, as well as in cells in the plateau
      phase of growth. Notably, araA strongly inhibits DSB repair by homologous
      recombination (HRR), as assessed by scoring ionizing radiation-induced RAD51
      foci, and in functional assays using integrated reporter constructs. Cells
      compromised in HRR by RNAi-mediated transient knockdown of RAD51 show markedly
      reduced radiosensitization after treatment with araA. Remarkably, mutagenic DSB
      repair compensates for HRR inhibition in araA-treated cells. Compared with araA,
      F-araA and araC are only modestly radiosensitizing under the conditions examined.
      We propose that the radiosensitizing potential of nucleoside analogues is linked
      to their ability to inhibit HRR and concomitantly promote the error-prone
      processing of DSBs. Our observations pave the way to treatment strategies
      harnessing the selective inhibitory potential of nucleoside analogues and the
      development of novel compounds specifically utilizing HRR inhibition as a means
      of tumor cell radiosensitization.

PMID- 25840585
TI  - Effect of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri on white spot lesion
      development in orthodontic patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effect of
      daily intake of lozenges containing probiotic bacteria on white spot lesion (WSL)
      formation as well as on salivary lactobacilli (LB) and mutans streptococci (MS)
      counts, in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances.
      MATERIALS/METHODS: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study design with
      two parallel arms was employed. Patients (n = 85, mean age 15.9 years) with
      maxillary braces on at least eight anterior teeth and a remaining treatment
      period of 7-24 months were finally enrolled and randomly allocated to a test or
      placebo group. Subjects in the test group were instructed to take one probiotic
      lozenge containing two strains of Lactobacillus reuteri once daily. An identical
      lozenge without active bacteria was used in the placebo group. Dental plaque,
      WSL, and salivary MS and LB levels were recorded at baseline and immediately
      after debonding. RESULTS: The groups were balanced at baseline. The mean duration
      of the intervention was 17 months and the total dropout rate was 10 per cent.
      There were no differences in the incidence of WSL between the groups at
      debonding. The patients had generally a neglected oral hygiene, both at baseline
      and at the follow-up. The levels of salivary LB were significantly reduced in
      both groups (P < 0.05) at the time of debonding compared with baseline, while no
      alterations of the MS counts were unveiled. LIMITATIONS: WSL were scored from
      photos that may not fully mirror the clinical situation. Chair-side tests
      estimate the counts of selected bacteria in saliva and do not reflect the entire
      microbiota. The invention was implemented approximately 6 months after the onset
      of the fixed appliances and some lesions may have been present at bonding.
      CONCLUSIONS/CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Daily intake of probiotic lozenges did not
      seem to affect the development of WSL during orthodontic treatment with fixed
      appliances.

PMID- 25840586
TI  - Meta-analysis and systematic review of the number of non-syndromic congenitally
      missing permanent teeth per affected individual and its influencing factors.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Dental aplasia (or hypodontia) is a frequent and
      challenging anomaly and thus of interest to many dental fields. Although the
      number of missing teeth (NMT) in each person is a major clinical determinant of
      treatment need, there is no meta-analysis on this subject. Therefore, we aimed to
      investigate the relevant literature, including epidemiological studies and
      research on dental/orthodontic patients. METHODS: Among 50 reports, the effects
      of ethnicities, regions, sample sizes/types, subjects' minimum ages, journals'
      scientific credit, publication year, and gender composition of samples on the
      number of missing permanent teeth (except the third molars) per person were
      statistically analysed (alpha = 0.05, 0.025, 0.01). LIMITATIONS: The inclusion of
      small studies and second-hand information might reduce the reliability.
      Nevertheless, these strategies increased the meta-sample size and favoured the
      generalisability. Moreover, data weighting was carried out to account for the
      effect of study sizes/precisions. RESULTS: The NMT per affected person was 1.675
      [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.621-1.728], 1.987 (95% CI = 1.949-2.024), and
      1.893 (95% CI = 1.864-1.923), in randomly selected subjects, dental/orthodontic
      patients, and both groups combined, respectively. The effects of ethnicities (P >
      0.9), continents (P > 0.3), and time (adjusting for the population type, P = 0.7)
      were not significant. Dental/orthodontic patients exhibited a significantly
      greater NMT compared to randomly selected subjects (P < 0.012). Larger samples (P
      = 0.000) and enrolling younger individuals (P = 0.000) might inflate the observed
      NMT per person. CONCLUSIONS: Time, ethnic backgrounds, and continents seem
      unlikely influencing factors. Subjects younger than 13 years should be excluded.
      Larger samples should be investigated by more observers.

PMID- 25840588
TI  - Correction for Moller, Mitochondrial metabolism is regulated by thioredoxin.

PMID- 25840589
TI  - Correction for Paytan et al., Methane transport from the active layer to lakes in
      the Arctic using Toolik Lake, Alaska, as a case study.

PMID- 25840587
TI  - Shape variation and covariation of upper and lower dental arches of an
      orthodontic population.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to quantify the patterns of shape variability and
      the extent and patterns of shape covariation between the upper and lower dental
      arch in an orthodontic population. METHODS: Dental casts of 133 white subjects
      (61 males, 72 females; ages 10.6-26.6) were scanned and digitized in three
      dimensions. Landmarks were placed on the incisal margins and on the cusps of
      canines, premolars, and molars. Geometric morphometric methods were applied
      (Procrustes superimposition and principal component analysis). Sexual dimorphism
      and allometry were evaluated with permutation tests and age-size and age-shape
      correlations were computed. Two-block partial least squares analysis was used to
      assess covariation of shape. RESULTS: The first four principal components
      represented shape patterns that are often encountered and recognized in clinical
      practice, accounting for 6-31 per cent of total variance. No shape sexual
      dimorphism was found, nevertheless, there was statistically significant size
      difference between males and females. Allometry was statistically significant,
      but low (upper: R(2) = 0.0528, P < 0.000, lower: R (2) = 0.0587, P < 0.000). Age
      and shape were weakly correlated (upper: R(2) = 0.0370, P = 0.0001, lower: R (2)
      = 0.0587, P = 0.0046). Upper and lower arches covaried significantly (RV
      coefficient: 33 per cent). The main pattern of covariation between the dental
      arches was arch width (80 per cent of total covariance); the second component
      related the maxillary canine vertical position to the mandibular canine
      labiolingual position (11 per cent of total covariance). LIMITATIONS: Results may
      not be applicable to the general population. Age range was wide and age-related
      findings are limited by the cross-sectional design. Aetiology of malocclusion was
      also not considered. CONCLUSIONS: Covariation patterns showed that the dental
      arches were integrated in width and depth. Integration in the vertical dimension
      was weak, mainly restricted to maxillary canine position.

PMID- 25840590
TI  - Telomere dysfunction causes alveolar stem cell failure.
AB  - Telomere syndromes have their most common manifestation in lung disease that is
      recognized as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema. In both conditions,
      there is loss of alveolar integrity, but the underlying mechanisms are not known.
      We tested the capacity of alveolar epithelial and stromal cells from mice with
      short telomeres to support alveolar organoid colony formation and found that type
      2 alveolar epithelial cells (AEC2s), the stem cell-containing population, were
      limiting. When telomere dysfunction was induced in adult AEC2s by conditional
      deletion of the shelterin component telomeric repeat-binding factor 2, cells
      survived but remained dormant and showed all the hallmarks of cellular
      senescence. Telomere dysfunction in AEC2s triggered an immune response, and this
      was associated with AEC2-derived up-regulation of cytokine signaling pathways
      that are known to provoke inflammation in the lung. Mice uniformly died after
      challenge with bleomycin, underscoring an essential role for telomere function in
      AEC2s for alveolar repair. Our data show that alveoloar progenitor senescence is
      sufficient to recapitulate the regenerative defects, inflammatory responses, and
      susceptibility to injury that are characteristic of telomere-mediated lung
      disease. They suggest alveolar stem cell failure is a driver of telomere-mediated
      lung disease and that efforts to reverse it may be clinically beneficial. 

PMID- 25840592
TI  - The application of engineered liver tissues for novel drug discovery.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Drug-induced liver injury remains a major cause of drug attrition.
      Furthermore, novel drugs are being developed for treating liver diseases.
      However, differences between animals and humans in liver pathways necessitate the
      use of human-relevant liver models to complement live animal testing during
      preclinical drug development. Microfabrication tools and synthetic biomaterials
      now allow for the creation of tissue subunits that display more physiologically
      relevant and long-term liver functions than possible with declining monolayers.
      AREAS COVERED: The authors discuss acellular enzyme platforms, two-dimensional
      micropatterned co-cultures, three-dimensional spheroidal cultures, microfluidic
      perfusion, liver slices and humanized rodent models. They also present the use of
      cell lines, primary liver cells and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived human
      hepatocyte-like cells in the creation of cell-based models and discuss in silico
      approaches that allow integration and modeling of the datasets from these models.
      Finally, the authors describe the application of liver models for the discovery
      of novel therapeutics for liver diseases. EXPERT OPINION: Engineered liver models
      with varying levels of in vivo-like complexities provide investigators with the
      opportunity to develop assays with sufficient complexity and required throughput.
      Control over cell-cell interactions and co-culture with stromal cells in both two
      dimension and three dimension are critical for enabling stable liver models. The
      validation of liver models with diverse sets of compounds for different
      applications, coupled with an analysis of cost:benefit ratio, is important for
      model adoption for routine screening. Ultimately, engineered liver models could
      significantly reduce drug development costs and enable the development of more
      efficacious and safer therapeutics for liver diseases.

PMID- 25840591
TI  - The potential of technology-based psychological interventions for anorexia and
      bulimia nervosa: a systematic review and recommendations for future research.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown an unmet need in the treatment of eating
      disorders. In the last decade, interest in technology-based interventions (TBIs)
      (including computer- and Internet-based interventions [CBIs] or mobile
      interventions) for providing evidence-based therapies to individuals with
      different mental disorders has increased. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review was
      to systematically evaluate the potential of TBIs in the field of eating
      disorders, namely for anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), for both
      prevention and treatment, and also for carers of eating disorder patients.
      METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted using Medline and PsycINFO.
      Bibliographies of retrieved articles were also reviewed without date or study
      type restrictions. RESULTS: Forty studies resulting in 45 publications reporting
      outcomes fulfilled the inclusion criteria: 22 randomized controlled trials, 2
      controlled studies, and 16 uncontrolled studies. In total, 3646 patients were
      included. Overall, the studies provided evidence for the efficacy of guided CBIs,
      especially for BN patients and for compliant patients. Furthermore,
      videoconferencing also appeared to be a promising approach. Evaluation results of
      Internet-based prevention of eating disorders and Internet-based programs for
      carers of eating disorder patients were also encouraging. Finally, there was
      preliminary evidence for the efficacy of mobile interventions. CONCLUSIONS: TBIs
      may be an additional way of delivering evidence-based treatments to eating
      disorder patients and their use is likely to increase in the near future. TBIs
      may also be considered for the prevention of eating disorders and to support
      carers of eating disorder patients. Areas of future research and important issues
      such as guidance, therapeutic alliance, and dissemination are discussed.

PMID- 25840593
TI  - Are big potassium-type Ca(2+)-activated potassium channels a viable target for
      the treatment of epilepsy?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: BK (big potassium) channels are Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels
      widely expressed in mammalian cells. They are extensively distributed in the CNS,
      the most abundant level being found in brain areas largely involved in epilepsy,
      namely cortex, hippocampus, piriform cortex, and other limbic structures. BK
      channels control action potential shape/duration, thereby regulating membrane
      excitability and Ca(2+) signaling. AREAS COVERED: The potassium channel
      superfamily represents a rich source of potential targets for therapeutic
      intervention in epilepsy. Some studies have identified alterations in BK channel
      function, therefore, supporting the development of drugs acting on these channels
      for epilepsy treatment. EXPERT OPINION: The actual sketch is intriguing and
      controversial, since mechanisms altering the physiological role of BK channels
      leading to either a loss- or gain-of-function have both been linked to seizure
      onset. Not many studies have been performed to unravel the efficacy of drugs
      acting on these channels as potential antiepileptics; however, paradoxically,
      efficacy has been demonstrated for both BK channel openers and blockers.
      Furthermore, their potential usefulness in preventing epileptogenesis has not
      been investigated at all. Substantial data on risks and benefits of modulating
      these channels are urgently needed to draw a definitive conclusion on whether BK
      channels are a viable future target for the treatment of epilepsy.

PMID- 25840594
TI  - Identifying sequential substrate binding at the single-molecule level by enzyme
      mechanical stabilization.
AB  - Enzyme-substrate binding is a dynamic process intimately coupled to protein
      structural changes, which in turn changes the unfolding energy landscape. By the
      use of single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS), we characterize the open-to
      closed conformational transition experienced by the hyperthermophilic adenine
      diphosphate (ADP)-dependent glucokinase from Thermococcus litoralis triggered by
      the sequential binding of substrates. In the absence of substrates, the
      mechanical unfolding of TlGK shows an intermediate 1, which is stabilized in the
      presence of Mg.ADP(-), the first substrate to bind to the enzyme. However, in the
      presence of this substrate, an additional unfolding event is observed,
      intermediate 1*. Finally, in the presence of both substrates, the unfolding force
      of intermediates 1 and 1* increases as a consequence of the domain closure. These
      results show that SMFS can be used as a powerful experimental tool to investigate
      binding mechanisms of different enzymes with more than one ligand, expanding the
      repertoire of protocols traditionally used in enzymology. 

PMID- 25840595
TI  - Socio-cultural and service delivery dimensions of maternal mortality in rural
      central India: a qualitative exploration using a human rights lens.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the avoidable nature of maternal mortality, unacceptably high
      numbers of maternal deaths occur in developing countries. Considering its
      preventability, maternal mortality is being increasingly recognised as a human
      rights issue. Integration of a human rights perspective in maternal health
      programmes could contribute positively in eliminating avertable maternal deaths.
      This study was conducted to explore socio-cultural and service delivery-related
      dimensions of maternal deaths in rural central India using a human rights lens.
      DESIGN: Social autopsies were conducted for 22 maternal deaths during 2011 in
      Khargone district in central India. The data were analysed using thematic
      analysis. The factors associated with maternal deaths were classified by using
      the 'three delays' framework and were examined by using a human rights lens.
      RESULTS: All 22 women tried to access medical assistance, but various factors
      delayed their access to appropriate care. The underestimation of the severity of
      complications by family members, gender inequity, and perceptions of low-quality
      delivery services delayed decisions to seek care. Transportation problems and
      care seeking at multiple facilities delayed reaching appropriate health
      facilities. Negligence by health staff and unavailability of blood and emergency
      obstetric care services delayed receiving adequate care after reaching a health
      facility. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlighted various socio-cultural and service
      delivery-related factors which are violating women's human rights and resulting
      in maternal deaths in rural central India. This study highlights that, despite
      the health system's conscious effort to improve maternal health, normative
      elements of a human rights approach to maternal health (i.e. availability,
      accessibility, acceptability, and quality of maternal health services) were not
      upheld. The data and analysis suggest that the deceased women and their relatives
      were unable to claim their entitlements and that the duty bearers were not
      successful in meeting their obligations. Based on the findings of our study, we
      conclude that to prevent maternal deaths, further concentrated efforts are
      required for better community education, women's empowerment, and health systems
      strengthening to provide appropriate and timely services, including emergency
      obstetric care, with good quality.

PMID- 25840596
TI  - Developing a healthy web-based cookbook for pediatric cancer patients and
      survivors: rationale and methods.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Obesity has been a growing problem among children and adolescents in
      the United States for a number of decades. Childhood cancer survivors (CCS) are
      more susceptible to the downstream health consequences of obesity such as
      cardiovascular disease, endocrine issues, and risk of cancer recurrence due to
      late effects of treatment and suboptimal dietary and physical activity habits.
      OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to document the development of a Web
      based cookbook of healthy recipes and nutrition resources to help enable
      pediatric cancer patients and survivors to lead healthier lifestyles. METHODS:
      The Web-based cookbook, named "@TheTable", was created by a committee of
      researchers, a registered dietitian, patients and family members, a hospital
      chef, and community advisors and donors. Recipes were collected from several
      sources including recipe contests and social media. We incorporated advice from
      current patients, parents, and CCS. RESULTS: Over 400 recipes, searchable by
      several categories and with accompanying nutritional information, are currently
      available on the website. In addition to healthy recipes, social media
      functionality and cooking videos are integrated into the website. The website
      also features nutrition information resources including nutrition and cooking tip
      sheets available on several subjects. CONCLUSIONS: The "@TheTable" website is a
      unique resource for promoting healthy lifestyles spanning pediatric oncology
      prevention, treatment, and survivorship. Through evaluations of the website's
      current and future use, as well as incorporation into interventions designed to
      promote energy balance, we will continue to adapt and build this unique resource
      to serve cancer patients, survivors, and the general public.

PMID- 25840597
TI  - Subcutaneous versus intravenous bortezomib in two different induction therapies
      for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma: an interim analysis from the prospective
      GMMG-MM5 trial.
AB  - We investigated the impact of subcutaneous versus intravenous bortezomib in the
      MM5 trial of the German-Speaking Myeloma Multicenter Group which compared
      bortezomib, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone with bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, and
      dexamethasone induction therapy in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. Based on
      data from relapsed myeloma, the route of administration for bortezomib was
      changed from intravenous to subcutaneous after 314 of 604 patients had been
      enrolled. We analyzed 598 patients who received at least one dose of trial
      medication. Adverse events were reported more frequently in patients treated with
      intravenous bortezomib (intravenous=65%; subcutaneous=56%, P=0.02). Rates of
      grade 2 or more peripheral neuropathy were higher in patients treated with
      intravenous bortezomib during the third cycle (intravenous=8%; subcutaneous=2%,
      P=0.001). Overall response rates were similar in patients treated intravenously
      or subcutaneously. The presence of International Staging System stage III
      disease, renal impairment or adverse cytogenetic abnormalities did not have a
      negative impact on overall response rates in either group. To our knowledge this
      is the largest study to present data comparing subcutaneous with intravenous
      bortezomib in newly diagnosed myeloma. We show better tolerance and similar
      overall response rates for subcutaneous compared to intravenous bortezomib. The
      clinical trial is registered at eudract.ema.europa.eu as n. 2010-019173-16. 

PMID- 25840598
TI  - Sequential combination of gemcitabine, vinorelbine, pegylated liposomal
      doxorubicin and brentuximab as a bridge regimen to transplant in relapsed or
      refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.

PMID- 25840599
TI  - Prolonged sirolimus administration after allogeneic hematopoietic cell
      transplantation is associated with decreased risk for moderate-severe chronic
      graft-versus-host disease.
AB  - Effective pharmacological strategies employed in allogeneic hematopoietic cell
      transplantation should prevent serious chronic graft-versus-host disease and
      facilitate donor-recipient immune tolerance. Based on demonstrated pro
      tolerogenic activity, sirolimus (rapamycin) is an agent with promise to achieve
      these goals. In a long-term follow-up analysis of a randomized phase II trial
      comparing sirolimus/tacrolimus versus methotrexate/tacrolimus for graft-versus
      host disease prevention in matched sibling or unrelated donor transplant, we
      examined the impact of prolonged sirolimus administration (>= 1 year post
      transplant). Median follow-up time for surviving patients at time of this
      analysis was 41 months (range 27-60) for sirolimus/tacrolimus and 49 months
      (range 29-63) for methotrexate/tacrolimus. Sirolimus/tacrolimus patients had
      significantly lower National Institutes of Health Consensus moderate-severe
      chronic graft-versus-host disease (34% vs. 65%; P=0.004) and late acute graft
      versus-host disease (20% vs. 43%; P=0.04). While sirolimus/tacrolimus patients
      had lower prednisone exposure and earlier discontinuation of tacrolimus (median
      time to tacrolimus discontinuation 368 days vs. 821 days; P=0.002), there was no
      significant difference in complete immune suppression discontinuation (60-month
      estimate: 43% vs. 31%; P=0.78). Prolonged sirolimus administration represents a
      viable approach to mitigate risk for moderate-severe chronic and late acute graft
      versus-host disease. Further study of determinants of successful immune
      suppression discontinuation is needed. 

PMID- 25840600
TI  - Impact of maintenance therapy on subsequent treatment in patients with newly
      diagnosed multiple myeloma: use of "progression-free survival 2" as a clinical
      trial end-point.

PMID- 25840601
TI  - Tetraspanin CD9 participates in dysmegakaryopoiesis and stromal interactions in
      primary myelofibrosis.
AB  - Primary myelofibrosis is characterized by clonal myeloproliferation,
      dysmegakaryopoiesis, extramedullary hematopoiesis associated with myelofibrosis
      and altered stroma in the bone marrow and spleen. The expression of CD9, a
      tetraspanin known to participate in megakaryopoiesis, platelet formation, cell
      migration and interaction with stroma, is deregulated in patients with primary
      myelofibrosis and is correlated with stage of myelofibrosis. We investigated
      whether CD9 participates in the dysmegakaryopoiesis observed in patients and
      whether it is involved in the altered interplay between megakaryocytes and
      stromal cells. We found that CD9 expression was modulated during megakaryocyte
      differentiation in primary myelofibrosis and that cell surface CD9 engagement by
      antibody ligation improved the dysmegakaryopoiesis by restoring the balance of
      MAPK and PI3K signaling. When co-cultured on bone marrow mesenchymal stromal
      cells from patients, megakaryocytes from patients with primary myelofibrosis
      displayed modified behaviors in terms of adhesion, cell survival and
      proliferation as compared to megakaryocytes from healthy donors. These
      modifications were reversed after antibody ligation of cell surface CD9,
      suggesting the participation of CD9 in the abnormal interplay between primary
      myelofibrosis megakaryocytes and stroma. Furthermore, silencing of CD9 reduced
      CXCL12 and CXCR4 expression in primary myelofibrosis megakaryocytes as well as
      their CXCL12-dependent migration. Collectively, our results indicate that CD9
      plays a role in the dysmegakaryopoiesis that occurs in primary myelofibrosis and
      affects interactions between megakaryocytes and bone marrow stromal cells. These
      results strengthen the "bad seed in bad soil" hypothesis that we have previously
      proposed, in which alterations of reciprocal interactions between hematopoietic
      and stromal cells participate in the pathogenesis of primary myelofibrosis. 

PMID- 25840603
TI  - What does it take to be a successful pediatric surgeon-scientist?
AB  - BACKGROUND: The factors that contribute to success as a pediatric surgeon
      scientist are not well defined. The purpose of this study is to define a group of
      NIH-funded pediatric surgeons, assess their academic productivity, and elucidate
      factors that have contributed to their success. METHODS: Pediatric surgeons were
      queried in the NIH report database to determine NIH funding awarded. Academic
      productivity was then assessed. An online survey was then targeted to NIH-funded
      pediatric surgeons. RESULTS: Since 1988, 83 pediatric surgeon-investigators have
      received major NIH funding. Currently, there are 37 pediatric surgeons with 43
      NIH-sponsored awards. The mean h-index of this group of pediatric surgeons was 18
      +/- 1.1, mean number of publications (since 2001) was 21 +/- 2.1, and both
      increase commensurate with academic rank. In response to the survey, 81% engaged
      in research during their surgical residency, and 48% were mentored by a pediatric
      surgeon-scientist. More than 60% of respondents had significant protected time
      and financial support. Factors felt to be most significant for academic success
      included mentorship, perseverance, and protected time. CONCLUSIONS: Mentorship,
      perseverance, institutional commitment to protected research time, and financial
      support are considered to be important to facilitate the successes of pediatric
      surgeon-scientists. These results will be useful to aspiring pediatric surgeon
      scientists and departments wishing to develop a robust research program.

PMID- 25840602
TI  - Targeting the Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated-null phenotype in chronic lymphocytic
      leukemia with pro-oxidants.
AB  - Inactivation of the Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated gene in chronic lymphocytic
      leukemia results in resistance to p53-dependent apoptosis and inferior responses
      to treatment with DNA damaging agents. Hence, p53-independent strategies are
      required to target Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated-deficient chronic lymphocytic
      leukemia. As Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated has been implicated in redox
      homeostasis, we investigated the effect of the Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated-null
      chronic lymphocytic leukemia genotype on cellular responses to oxidative stress
      with a view to therapeutic targeting. We found that in comparison to Ataxia
      Telangiectasia Mutated-wild type chronic lymphocytic leukemia, pro-oxidant
      treatment of Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated-null cells led to reduced binding of
      NF-E2 p45-related factor-2 to antioxidant response elements and thus decreased
      expression of target genes. Furthermore, Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated-null
      chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells contained lower levels of antioxidants and
      elevated mitochondrial reactive oxygen species. Consequently, Ataxia
      Telangiectasia Mutated-null chronic lymphocytic leukemia, but not tumors with 11q
      deletion or TP53 mutations, exhibited differentially increased sensitivity to pro
      oxidants both in vitro and in vivo. We found that cell death was mediated by a
      p53- and caspase-independent mechanism associated with apoptosis inducing factor
      activity. Together, these data suggest that defective redox-homeostasis
      represents an attractive therapeutic target for Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated
      null chronic lymphocytic leukemia. 

PMID- 25840604
TI  - Management of spontaneous pneumomediastinum in children.
AB  - PURPOSE: We characterize the outcomes of pediatric spontaneous pneumomediastinum
      in the largest series to date and propose a management pathway. METHODS: All
      patients at our institution with ICD-9 code 518.1 confirmed to have isolated
      radiographic findings of spontaneous pneumomediastinum between January 2003 and
      February 2014 were retrospectively reviewed for admission, intensive care unit
      (ICU) stay, complications, and outcome. RESULTS: We identified 96 children with
      99 episodes, median age 14.1 years (IQR: 8.7-16.4). Primary symptoms were chest
      pain, cough, and dyspnea. Most were hospitalized (n=91, 91.9%), with 20 (20.2%)
      admitted to ICU. Median lengths of stay (LOS) were 1 day (IQR: 1-2) for non-ICU
      admissions and 3 days (IQR: 2-3) for ICU admissions. The surgical service
      discharged non-ICU patients 0.94 days earlier than medical services (95% CI 0.38
      1.50, p=0.0014). Asthma affected neither LOS nor ICU admission rates. Follow-up
      imaging, when obtained (n=81, 81.8%), did not alter management. Recurrences
      occurred in three asthmatics, all after one year. Each was rehospitalized and
      discharged uneventfully. No patient developed pneumomediastinum-related
      complications (e.g., pneumothorax, pneumopericardium, or mediastinitis).
      CONCLUSION: Spontaneous pneumomediastinum without associated comorbidities can be
      managed with expectant outpatient observation without further imaging. Children
      with asthma should be treated independent of spontaneous pneumomediastinum.

PMID- 25840605
TI  - Designing drugs that combat kidney damage.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Kidney disease remains one of the last worldwide frontiers in the
      field of non-communicable human disease. From 1990 to 2013, chronic kidney
      disease (CKD) was the top non-communicable cause of death with a greatest
      increase in global years of life lost while mortality of acute kidney injury
      (AKI) still hovers around 50%. This reflects the paucity (for CKD) or lack of
      (for AKI) therapeutic approaches beyond replacing renal function. Understanding
      what the barriers are and what potential pathways may facilitate the design of
      new drugs to combat kidney disease is a key public health priority. AREAS
      COVERED: The authors discuss the hurdles and opportunities for future drug
      development for kidney disease in light of experience accumulated with drugs that
      made it to clinical trials. EXPERT OPINION: Inflammation, cell death and fibrosis
      are key therapeutic targets to combat kidney damage. While the specific targeting
      of drugs to kidney cells would be desirable, the technology is only working at
      the preclinical stage and with mixed success. Nanomedicines hold promise in this
      respect. Most drugs undergoing clinical trials for kidney disease have been
      repurposed from other indications. Currently, the chemokine receptor inhibitor
      CCX140 holds promise for CKD and the p53 inhibitor QPI-1002 for AKI.

PMID- 25840606
TI  - Controlling differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells using combinatorial
      graphene hybrid-pattern arrays.
AB  - Control of stem cell fate by modulating biophysical cues (e.g., micropatterns,
      nanopatterns, elasticity and porosity of the substrates) has emerged as an
      attractive approach in stem cell-based research. Here, we report a method for
      fabricating combinatorial patterns of graphene oxide (GO) to effectively control
      the differentiation of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hADMSCs). In
      particular, GO line patterns were highly effective for modulating the morphology
      of hADMSCs, resulting in enhanced differentiation of hADMSCs into osteoblasts.
      Moreover, by generating GO grid patterns, we demonstrate the highly efficient
      conversion of mesodermal stem cells to ectodermal neuronal cells (conversion
      efficiency = 30%), due to the ability of the grid patterns to mimic
      interconnected/elongated neuronal networks. This work provides an early
      demonstration of developing combinatorial graphene hybrid-pattern arrays for the
      control of stem cell differentiation, which can potentially lead to more
      effective stem cell-based treatment of incurable diseases/disorders. 

PMID- 25840607
TI  - A pilot study of a new method of cognitive stimulation using abacus arithmetic in
      healthy and cognitively impaired elderly subjects.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study explores the applicability of a cognitive stimulation
      method based on abacus arithmetic in elderly people with and without cognitive
      impairment. METHODS: This observational and prospective pilot study was performed
      in 2 hospitals. The study assessed the applicability of a programme of arithmetic
      training developed for use in the elderly population. The primary endpoint was an
      evaluation of the stimulation programme, in terms of usability, satisfaction, and
      participation, in healthy elderly controls and elderly patients with mild
      cognitive impairment or Alzheimer disease. Secondary endpoints were family
      satisfaction, caregiver burden, and the behaviour and cognition of patients.
      RESULTS: Usability, satisfaction, and degree of participation were high. The Mini
      Mental State Examination showed significant changes (23.1+/-4.8 before the
      intervention vs 24.9+/-4.2 afterwards, P=.002); there were no changes on the
      Trail Making Test parts A and B, Yesavage Geriatric Depression scale, and Zarit
      caregiver burden scale. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that cognitive
      stimulation with abacus arithmetic may be used in elderly people with and without
      cognitive impairment. Further studies will be needed to evaluate the efficacy of
      this kind of programmes.

PMID- 25840608
TI  - Magnitude of negative impact of preoperative heart failure on mortality during
      aortic valve replacement in the medicare population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In patients with severe aortic stenosis, the development of heart
      failure (HF) prior to aortic valve replacement (AVR) is associated with worse
      prognosis. We sought to quantify the effect of progressive HF on mortality during
      AVR in the Medicare population over a 10-year period. METHODS: Medicare
      beneficiaries 65 or greater years of age who underwent primary isolated AVR from
      2000 through 2009 were included (n = 114,135). Logistic regression and Cox
      proportional hazards were used to model adjusted operative mortality (OM) and
      long-term survival, according to the presence of preoperative HF and its duration
      (<= 3 vs > 3 months). RESULTS: The incidence of preoperative comorbidities was
      high, and it was higher in patients with preoperative HF, compared with those
      without. Preoperative HF dramatically increased adjusted OM, odds ratio (OR) 1.57
      (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.48 to 1.67). Preoperative HF greater than 3
      months conferred a significant increase in adjusted OM compared with HF 3 months
      or less, OR 1.43 (95% CI, 1.32 to 1.55). Similarly, preoperative HF increased the
      likelihood of long-term mortality by 50%, hazard ratio (HR) 1.48 (95% CI, 1.45 to
      1.51). Long-term mortality was higher for patients with longer duration of
      preoperative HF as compared with those without preoperative HF, HR 1.81 (95% CI,
      1.75 to 1.87) and compared with patients with HF 3 months or less, HR 1.26 (95%
      CI, 1.23 to 1.30). CONCLUSIONS: The magnitude of the negative impact of
      preoperative HF on operative mortality and long-term survival of elderly patients
      undergoing primary isolated AVR is significant with 50% increased likelihood of
      adverse outcome. Duration of preoperative HF is also significantly related to
      mortality. These data support AVR in the elderly prior to the development of HF.

PMID- 25840609
TI  - Involved Node, Site, Field and Residual Volume Radiotherapy for Lymphoma: A
      Comparison of Organ at Risk Dosimetry and Second Malignancy Risks.
AB  - AIMS: Recent radiotherapy guidelines for lymphoma have included involved site
      radiotherapy (ISRT), involved node radiotherapy (INRT) and irradiation of
      residual volume after full-course chemotherapy. In the absence of late toxicity
      data, we aim to compare organ at risk (OAR) dose-metrics and calculated second
      malignancy risks. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifteen consecutive patients who had
      received mediastinal radiotherapy were included. Four radiotherapy plans were
      generated for each patient using a parallel pair photon technique: (i) involved
      field radiotherapy (IFRT), (ii) ISRT, (iii) INRT, (iv) residual post-chemotherapy
      volume. The radiotherapy dose was 30 Gy in 15 fractions. The OARs evaluated were:
      breasts, lungs, thyroid, heart, oesophagus. Relative and absolute second
      malignancy rates were estimated using the concept of organ equivalent dose.
      Significance was defined as P < 0.005. RESULTS: Compared with ISRT, IFRT
      significantly increased doses to lung, thyroid, heart and oesophagus, whereas
      INRT and residual volume techniques significantly reduced doses to all OARs. The
      relative risks of second cancers were significantly higher with IFRT compared
      with ISRT for lung, breast and thyroid; INRT and residual volume resulted in
      significantly lower relative risks compared with ISRT for lung, breast and
      thyroid. The median excess absolute risks of second cancers were consistently
      lowest for the residual technique and highest for IFRT in terms of thyroid, lung
      and breast cancers. The risk of oesophageal cancer was similar for all four
      techniques. Overall, the absolute risk of second cancers was very similar for
      ISRT and INRT. CONCLUSIONS: Decreasing treatment volumes from IFRT to ISRT, INRT
      or residual volume reduces radiation exposure to OARs. Second malignancy
      modelling suggests that this reduction in treatment volumes will lead to a
      reduction in absolute excess second malignancy. Little difference was observed in
      second malignancy risks between ISRT and INRT, supporting the use of ISRT in the
      absence of a pre-chemotherapy positron emission tomography scan in the
      radiotherapy treatment position.

PMID- 25840610
TI  - Generation of a Nkx2.2(Cre) knock-in mouse line: Analysis of cell lineages in the
      central nervous system.
AB  - A Nkx2.2(cre) knock-in mutant mouse line was generated that on the appropriate
      reporter strain enables cell fate analysis of the Nkx2.2 cell lineage in the
      central nervous system and elsewhere. We here demonstrate that Nkx2.2 lineage
      marked cells reside in the ventral p3 region along the entire length of the CNS
      and also in pancreas of mouse embryos. Nkx2.2(+) progenitor cells develop into V3
      interneurons in spinal cord and generate the branchio-visceral motor nuclei of
      cranial nerves in hindbrain. Nkx2.2(+) cells in hindbrain also form serotonergic
      neurons and oligodendrocytes during later developmental stages. In mouse mutants
      lacking Nkx2.2 protein the neuronal progenitor cells in spinal cord are
      transformed to the distinct fate of somatic motor neurons including their axonal
      projections that exit the CNS ventrally and no longer cross the midline at the
      commissure. These data identify Nkx2.2 as key regulator to determine neuronal
      subtypes in the p3 domain of the central nervous system. 

PMID- 25840611
TI  - Genotypic characterization of initial acquisition of Streptococcus mutans in
      American Indian children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Severe-early childhood caries (S-ECC) is one of the most common
      infectious diseases in children and is prevalent in lower socio-economic
      populations. American Indian children suffer from the highest levels of S-ECC in
      the United States. Members of the mutans streptococci, Streptococcus mutans, in
      particular, are key etiologic agents in the development of caries. Children
      typically acquire S. mutans from their mothers and early acquisition is often
      associated with higher levels of tooth decay. METHODS: We have conducted a 5-year
      birth cohort study with a Northern Plains Tribe to determine the temporality and
      fidelity of S. mutans transmission from mother to child in addition to the
      genotypic diversity of S. mutans in this community. Plaque samples were collected
      from 239 mother/child dyads at regular intervals from birth to 36 months and S.
      mutans were isolated and genotyped by arbitrarily primed-polymerase chain
      reaction (AP-PCR). RESULTS: Here we present preliminary findings from a subset of
      the cohort. The focus for this paper is on initial acquisition events in the
      children. We identified 17 unique genotypes in 711 S. mutans isolates in our
      subset of 40 children, 40 mothers and 14 primary caregivers. Twelve of these
      genotypes were identified in more than one individual. S. mutans colonization
      occurred by 16 months in 57.5% of the children and early colonization was
      associated with higher decayed, missing and filled surface (DMFS) scores
      (p=0.0007). Children colonized by S. mutans shared a common genotype with their
      mothers 47.8% of the time. While multiple genotypes were common in adults, only
      10% of children harbored multiple genotypes. CONCLUSION: These children acquire
      S. mutans at an earlier age than the originally described 'window of infectivity'
      and often, but not exclusively, from their mothers. Early acquisition is
      associated with both the caries status of the children and the mothers.

PMID- 25840613
TI  - Comments on "Human health risk assessment of pharmaceuticals and personal care
      products in plant tissue due to biosolids and manure amendments, and wastewater
      irrigation".

PMID- 25840612
TI  - Outer membrane vesicles - offensive weapons or good Samaritans?
AB  - Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) from Gram-negative bacteria were first considered
      as artifacts and were followed with disbelief and bad reputation. Later, their
      existence was accepted and they became characterized as bacterial bombs,
      virulence bullets, and even decoys. Today, we know that OMVs also can be involved
      in cell-cell signaling/communication and be mediators of immune regulation and
      cause disease protection. Furthermore, OMVs represent a distinct bacterial
      secretion pathway selecting and protecting their cargo, and they can even be good
      Samaritans providing nutrients to the gut microbiota maintaining commensal
      homeostasis beneficial to the host. The versatility in functions of these
      nanostructures is remarkable and includes both defense and offense. The broad
      spectrum of usability does not stop with that, as it now seems that OMVs can be
      used as vaccines and adjuvants or vehicles engineered for drug treatment of
      emerging and new diseases not only caused by bacteria but also by virus. They may
      even represent new ways of selective drug treatment. 

PMID- 25840614
TI  - Exogenous melatonin does not improve the freezability of Blanca Andaluza goat
      semen over exposure to two months of short days.
AB  - This paper compares the effects of exposure to exogenous melatonin (MEL), short
      days (SD, 8h of light) and long days (LD, 16 h of light), on reproductive
      activity, sperm motility and other reproductive variables, in Blanca Andaluza
      bucks. Fourteen males were spilt into two groups of seven animals (G1 and G2).
      They were subjected to five alternations of 2 months of LD followed by 2 months
      of SD or MEL before the experimental period of three consecutive intervals of:
      (1) 2 months of SD (G1, N=7) or MEL (G2, N=7); (2) 2 months of LD (G1+G2, N=14);
      and (3) 2 months of SD (G2, N=7) or MEL (G1, N=7). Plasma testosterone
      concentration, live weight, testicular weight and fresh semen quality were
      determined weekly. Semen was also cooled and frozen-thawed every fortnight, and
      the same quality variables measured as for fresh sperm. When the bucks were under
      LD treatment, the testosterone concentration was lower than when under MEL or SD
      treatment (P<0.01); values for the semen concentration and total number of sperm
      per ejaculate were also higher (P<0.001). No differences were observed between
      the MEL and SD treatments in terms of fresh, cooled or frozen-thawed sperm
      quality. Only some quality variables on fresh semen were improved by MEL and SD
      treatment (P<0.05). In conclusion the results of the present experiment showed
      that MEL improved the fresh semen motility variables, but this did not improve
      the motility of frozen-thawed sperm over that recorded for either SD or LD
      treatment.

PMID- 25840615
TI  - Severe vaso-occlusive chorioretinopathy in a patient with catastrophic
      antiphospholipid antibody syndrome secondary to systemic lupus erythematosus.

PMID- 25840616
TI  - [Laffer-Ascher syndrome: a case report].

PMID- 25840617
TI  - Tolerability of intracameral cefuroxime during cataract surgery in case of
      penicillin allergy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Since the results of the ESCRS study in 2007 and then the AFSSAPS
      recommendations of 2011, postoperative endophthalmitis prophylaxis in cataract
      surgery has evolved toward intracameral cefuroxime. Penicillin allergy is
      frequent and is not considered as a contra-indication to cefuroxime injection,
      but cross-reactions do exist. The goal of this study was to assess the
      tolerability of intracameral cefuroxime in patients with a penicillin allergy.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this monocentric open prospective study, adult patients
      undergoing cataract surgery and declaring themselves penicillin-allergic were
      included. A subcutaneous test of cefuroxime was performed preoperatively. If
      negative, patients received the intracameral injection of cefuroxime at the
      conclusion of the surgical procedure. The primary assessment criteria, evaluated
      on the day after the surgery, was the occurrence of allergic reactions. RESULTS:
      Forty-eight eyes of 40 patients, 72 +/- 8 years old, were included. Forty-three
      skin tests were performed: 1 was positive and one was unreliable. Thirty-six
      patients were examined in our center the day after the surgery: 2 presented a
      conjunctival allergic reaction. No severe anaphylactic reaction was reported.
      DISCUSSION: Of our patients, 95.3% declaring a penicillin allergy had a negative
      pre-operative cefuroxime test. According to literature, 80 to 90% of presumed
      penicillin allergic patients would not actually be allergic to cefuroxime. In our
      population, we reported 2 benign conjunctival cross-reactions. CONCLUSION:
      Intracameral cefuroxime injection during cataract surgery seems well-tolerated in
      penicillin-allergic patients with a negative preoperative skin test.

PMID- 25840618
TI  - [Management of a choroidal neovascular membrane with aflibercept in a patient
      with a rare, autosomal dominant late-onset retinal degeneration: case report].

PMID- 25840619
TI  - The National Centre for Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO): Status and
      perspectives.
AB  - The National Centre for Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO, sited in Pavia, Italy)
      completed at the end of 2013 the clinical trial phase achieving the CE label from
      the notified body of the Italian Health Ministry and obtained the authorisation
      to treat patients within the national health system. Nowadays more than 400
      patients completed the treatments, two thirds of them with carbon ions, and
      recently started the treatment of pathologies located within moving organs. For
      the first time in the world carbon ions delivered with active scanning, coupled
      with breathing synchronisation and rescanning modalities have been applied to
      treat patients affected by tumours of the liver and by pancreatic cancers. The
      path to reach the final CE label required a wide-ranging experimental activity
      that went through dosimetry measurements of the hadron beams, in-vitro and in
      vivo radiobiology essays and treatments of 150 patients, all enrolled in one of
      the 23 clinical trials approved by the Ethical Committee of CNAO and then
      authorized by the Italian Ministry of Health. The results of the trials were very
      positive in terms of safety and reliability of the procedures. The follow-up
      period is still short, but preliminary good results are observed in particular in
      terms of limited toxicity, that on the whole is less than expected. The paper
      gives a status report on the experimental phase that completed the CE
      certification process and then outlines the ongoing activities with also
      indications on the future trends and the most interesting R&D programmes pursued
      at CNAO. 

PMID- 25840620
TI  - A Monte Carlo software bench for simulation of spectral k-edge CT imaging:
      Initial results.
AB  - PURPOSE: Spectral Computed Tomography (SCT) systems equipped with photon counting
      detectors (PCD) are clinically desired, since such systems provide not only
      additional diagnostic information but also radiation dose reductions by a factor
      of two or more. The current unavailability of clinical PCDs makes a simulation of
      such systems necessary. METHODS: In this paper, we present a Monte Carlo-based
      simulation of a SCT equipped with a PCD. The aim of this development is to
      facilitate research on potential clinical applications. Our MC simulator takes
      into account scattering interactions within the scanned object and has the
      ability to simulate scans with and without scatter and a wide variety of imaging
      parameters. To demonstrate the usefulness of such a MC simulator for development
      of SCT applications, a phantom with contrast targets covering a wide range of
      clinically significant iodine concentrations is simulated. With those simulations
      the impact of scatter and exposure on image quality and material decomposition
      results is investigated. RESULTS: Our results illustrate that scatter radiation
      plays a significant role in visual as well as quantitative results. Scatter
      radiation can reduce the accuracy of contrast agent concentration by up to 15%.
      CONCLUSIONS: We present a reliable and robust software bench for simulation of
      SCTs equipped with PCDs.

PMID- 25840621
TI  - Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of an Eimeria vaccine candidate based on
      Eimeria tenella immune mapped protein 1 and chicken CD40 ligand.
AB  - The CD40 ligand (CD40L) has shown potential as a powerful immunological adjuvant
      in various studies. Here, the efficacy of a chimeric subunit vaccine, consisting
      of Eimeria tenella immune mapped protein 1 (EtIMP1) and chicken CD40L, was
      evaluated against E. tenella infection. The recombinant EtIMP1-CD40L was purified
      from E. coli over-expressing this protein. Chickens were vaccinated with EtIMP1
      CD40L without adjuvant or EtIMP1 with Freund's adjuvant. Immunization of chickens
      with EtIMP1-CD40L fusion protein resulted in stronger IFN-gamma secretion and IgA
      response than that with only recombinant EtIMP1 with Freund's adjuvant. The
      clinical effect (cecal lesions, body weights gain, and oocysts shedding) of the
      EtIMP1-CD40L without adjuvant was also better than that of the EtIMP1 with
      adjuvant, as evidenced by the difference between the two groups in the oocyst
      output of E. tenella-challenged chickens. The results suggest that the EtIMP1
      CD40L fusion protein can be used as an effective immunogen in the development of
      subunit vaccines against Eimeria infection. 

PMID- 25840622
TI  - The influence of childbirth experiences on women's postpartum traumatic stress
      symptoms: A comparison between Israeli Jewish and Arab women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: childbirth is a positive experience for most women yet some women
      express distress after birth. Traumatic experience can sometimes cause post
      traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in relation to childbirth. Prevalence of
      traumatic birth experience and PTSD after childbirth differs between cultures.
      OBJECTIVES: to examine the subjective recall of childbirth experiences and PTSD
      symptoms of Israeli Jewish and Arab women; to examine comparatively the
      prevalence of PTSD symptoms six to eight weeks after childbirth and to establish
      the factors that predict PTSD symptoms. METHODS: a prospective study was
      conducted in a region characterised by wide variations in ethnocultural groups.
      The study was comprised of two time points: Time 1 (T1) interviews were conducted
      at the bedside of the women in the maternity ward of each hospital 24-48 hours
      after childbirth. Time 2 (T2), all 171 women participating in T1 were interviewed
      by phone six to eight weeks after childbirth. FINDINGS: 34 women (19.9%) reported
      their labour as traumatic 24-48 hours after birth (T1), and six to eight weeks
      later (T2) 67 women (39.2%) assessed their experience as traumatic. More Arab
      women (69.6%) than Jewish women (56.5%) had a positive memory of childbirth, but
      this difference only approached statistical significance (p=.09). Results showed
      rather low frequencies of PTSD symptoms, and no ethnic difference. PTSD symptoms
      were significantly and positively predicted by subjective recollection of
      childbirth experience (Time 2). PTSD symptoms were higher for women who did not
      have a vaginal birth, and more women with PTSD symptoms were not breast feeding.
      CONCLUSIONS: we found more similarities than differences between Arab and Jewish
      women's experience of their births and no differences between them on the
      prevalence of PTSD symptoms after birth. The results suggest that non-vaginal
      birth (instrumental or caesarean section) and negative recollection of the
      childbirth experience are important factors related to the development of PTSD
      symptoms after birth, and that women with PTSD symptoms are less likely to breast
      feed.

PMID- 25840623
TI  - Lower urinary tract symptoms in men: refocus on your patients.

PMID- 25840624
TI  - Pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus presenting with coronary arteritis: A case
      series and review of the literature.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Pediatric-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (pSLE) is typically more
      aggressive in presentation than adult-onset lupus. Presenting manifestations of
      lupus in children and adults involve similar organ systems, with renal and
      neuropsychiatric involvement more common in pSLE. Cardiac manifestations are
      similar in the 2 groups, with pericarditis accounting for the majority of cardiac
      lupus at presentation. There are no reports to our knowledge of coronary
      arteritis as a presenting feature of pSLE. METHODS: This is a retrospective case
      series describing 4 pediatric lupus patients who presented with prominent
      coronary artery dilatation and a review of the literature regarding coronary
      artery involvement in lupus. RESULTS: Coronary arteritis appears to be a more
      common feature of pSLE than previously thought. Based on our experience, coronary
      artery changes tend to resolve once the SLE is treated. CONCLUSIONS: Early
      recognition of this disease manifestation may guide therapy and result in
      improved long-term cardiovascular outcomes.

PMID- 25840625
TI  - [Clinical and biological features of patients with essential thrombocythaemia
      according to their mutational status JAK2 or CALR: Single-center study of 40
      patients and review of the literature].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Somatic mutations in the calreticulin gene (CALR) were recently
      described in essential thrombocythemia (ET) and primary myelofibrosis with non
      mutated JAK2 or MPL. The aim of this single-center study was to compare the
      clinical and biological features of ET patients according to their mutational
      status. METHODS: We included 40 patients with ET followed in hematology
      consultation. The JAK2 V617F mutation was assessed by quantitative PCR. For the
      detection of CALR mutations, we performed a PCR amplification of CALR exon 9
      followed by direct sequencing. RESULTS: Among 40 study patients, 23 (57.5%)
      harbored V617F JAK2, 12 of the 17 patients without JAK2 mutation harbored CALR,
      no patient expressed MPL mutation and 5 were negative for all three mutations.
      Five types of mutations were identified with predominance of 52bp deletion and
      5bp insertion (7/12 and 2/12 respectively). The incidence of thrombotic events at
      diagnosis was significantly higher in JAK2 mutated patients (P<0.05).
      Biologically, patients with CALR mutation had significantly higher platelet count
      (P<0.01) and significantly lower hemoglobin level (P<0.05) than those with V617F
      JAK2 mutation. CONCLUSION: JAK2 and CALR mutation screening in ET has a
      diagnostic value. Each mutation displays a distinct phenotype with uncertain
      impact on long-term outcome.

PMID- 25840626
TI  - Anaphylaxis, asthma and supplementary medicines, looking from West to East.

PMID- 25840627
TI  - Effects of inactivated influenza vaccine on respiratory illnesses and asthma
      related events in children with mild persistent asthma in Asia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute asthmatic exacerbation and readmission may be associated with
      severe influenza infection and asthmatic children are a priority group for
      influenza vaccination. To date, our study is the first to evaluate the outcome of
      the influenza vaccine in asthmatic Asian children. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the
      outcomes of inactivated influenza vaccine in children with mild persistent asthma
      METHODS: A cross sectional non-randomized study was performed on 93 mild
      persistent asthmatic children who attended the Pediatric Allergy clinic between
      June 2012 in Chiang Rai Hospital and August 2013. Forty eight patients were
      immunized with 2 doses of inactivated influenza vaccine at one month interval.
      Respiratory illnesses and asthma-related events were compared between the
      immunized and the un-immunized groups. RESULTS: The two study groups had similar
      demographic and clinical characteristic except with regards to eczema, including
      asthma controllers and skin prick testing results. One year after the vaccine was
      administered, the immunized group had significantly reduced acute respiratory
      tract illnesses, asthma exacerbations, ER visits, bronchodilator usage and
      systemic steroid administrations. Hospitalizations (p < 0.001) and their duration
      (p < 0.034) were also reduced in the immunized group. CONCLUSIONS: Immunization
      of inactivated influenza vaccine in children with mild persistent asthma
      decreased respiratory illnesses and asthma-related events.

PMID- 25840628
TI  - What clinical factors are associated with biphasic anaphylaxis in Thai adult
      patients?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anaphylaxis is an emergency condition and may be fatal. Approximately
      20% of patients with anaphylaxis may develop recurrent episodes of anaphylaxis
      within 72 hours or biphasic anaphylaxis. The severity of biphasic anaphylaxis can
      be either more or less severe than the first episode. Knowledge of factors
      associated with biphasic anaphylaxis in particular in Asian populations is still
      limited. OBJECTIVES: To study predictors for biphasic anaphylaxis in Thai
      patients at the Emergency Department (ED). METHODS: All consecutive patients
      diagnosed as anaphylaxis at the ED, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University,
      Bangkok were enrolled. The study was prospectively conducted from January to
      December 2011. Patients were divided into two groups; uniphasic and biphasic
      anaphylaxis. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors
      associated with biphasic anaphylaxis. RESULTS: During the study period, there
      were 63 patients diagnosed with anaphylaxis at the ED. Of those, 16 patients were
      excluded due to or treatment of anaphylaxis, concomitant medications or pre
      hospital treatment. In total, there were 47 patients remaining in the study,
      including 10 patients with biphasic anaphylaxis (21.28%). The clinical
      characteristics of the uniphasic and biphasic anaphylaxis groups were comparable.
      In multivariate logistic regression analyses, only respiratory rate and abdominal
      pain were significantly associated with biphasic anaphylaxis. The adjusted ORs
      (95% CI) of both factors were 0.653 (0.457, 0.932) and 15.429 (1.395, 170.690),
      respectively. CONCLUSION: Reduced respiratory rate and the presence of abdominal
      pain were two significant factors associated with biphasic anaphylaxis.

PMID- 25840629
TI  - Survey of asthma management in Thailand - the asthma insight and management
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous Thai surveys of asthma care have shown suboptimal management
      and poor control. Since then several editions of the Thailand National Asthma
      Guidelines have been distributed to help improve asthma control. A new survey was
      undertaken to see if any improvement in care had occurred. It examined patients'
      insights, attitudes and perceptions about their asthma and its treatment.
      METHODS: Asthma patients (>12 years) were randomly selected and participated in
      face-to-face interviews. Patients answered 53 questions exploring general health,
      diagnosis, symptoms, exacerbations, patient burden, disease management, treatment
      and attitudes. The Global Initiative for Asthma guidelines were used to assess
      asthma control. RESULTS: Data were obtained from 400 asthma patients from 8,177
      screened households. This showed that 36% had had exacerbations in the previous
      year, 17% had been hospitalized and 35% had had an unscheduled emergency visit to
      hospital or a doctor's office or clinic. Work or school was missed by 44% due to
      asthma while a similar number had had an asthma episode that made them feel their
      life was in danger. Only 8% had good asthma control. Patients had low
      expectations with respect to asthma treatment and their understanding of how to
      use therapies was poor. Forty-four percent of participants reported day-time
      symptoms and about one-third (34%) of adults and adolescents in the survey
      reported night-time symptoms at least once a week in the previous 4 weeks. Asthma
      patients in Thailand rated their average productivity when asthma was at its
      worst at 48%, on a scale of 0 to 100%, which equates to a 36% decline in
      productivity. Rescue medication during the previous four weeks had been used by
      44% of asthma patients while 54% had used a controller medication. Pill
      controller medication is the most used form among those reporting controller
      medication use (67%), whereas 57% reported taking an inhaler. Oral steroids had
      been used in the previous 12 months by 40% of patients with the average number
      for 3 day or longer at 24 times, while the median was about 4 times. CONCLUSIONS:
      Asthma had a profound impact on patients' wellbeing, despite the availability of
      effective treatments and evidence-based management guidelines. A large proportion
      of asthma patients overestimate their asthma control and have inappropriate
      concepts about asthma treatment. Gaining better insight into patient's attitudes
      about self-care is critical to improve asthma management.

PMID- 25840630
TI  - Evaluation of asthma control by inhaled corticosteroids in general practice in
      Thailand.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) is the main treatment of asthma but the
      clinical data of its efficacy is limited. This study aimed to evaluate the
      therapeutic efficacy of ICS alone or combined with controllers other than LABA
      for persistent asthma in Thailand. METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved
      1,206 patients with persistent asthma and was conducted at 38 hospitals across
      Thailand between May and November, 2009. Patients were enrolled if they were >12
      years old, had persistent asthma, receiving ICS with/without controllers other
      than long-acting beta2-agonists (LABA) for at least 3 months, and smoked <10
      packs-year. RESULTS: Of 1,206 patients, 78.4% were females, age 49.4 +/- 13.8
      years old, 89.3% were nonsmokers, the median duration of illness was 11 years,
      the median duration of ICS treatment was 20.4 months, and the mean dose of ICS
      was 738 +/- 258 microgram per day. The top three medications prescribed in
      combination to ICS were short-acting beta2- agonist inhalers, theophylline, and
      short-acting beta2- agonist tablets. The mean Asthma Control Test (ACT) score was
      19.2 +/- 4.4. The percentage of successful asthma control (ACT >= 20) was 53.5%
      (95% CI: 50.7 to 56.3). The rate per patient per year of emergency room visits
      and all urgent health care visits were 0.98 and 1.28. CONCLUSIONS: In clinical
      practice, patients using ICS alone or combined with theophylline or short-acting
      b2 agonists had a low percentage of asthma control and a high number of urgent
      care visits. ICS either alone or combined with theophylline or short-acting b2
      agonists is not sufficient.

PMID- 25840631
TI  - Immunomodulatory properties of Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein (THP) and uromodulin.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein (THP) and uromodulin are the most abundant
      glycoproteins in non-pregnant women's/men's and pregnant women's urine,
      respectively. However, the bioactivities of these glycoproteins are still
      unclear. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the immunomodulatory properties of THP and
      uromodulin on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) METHODS: THP and
      uromodulin isolated with diatomaceous earth filtration were subjected to several
      bioassays, such as MTS viability assay, immunophenotyping and cytokine analysis.
      RESULTS: MTS viability assay and immunophenotyping analysis showed that
      uromodulin has greater inhibitory activities in suppressing PBMC viability and
      the percentage of CD4+ T helper cells and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, compared to
      that of THP. In cytokine analysis, THP tended to induce pro-inflammatory
      cytokines such as IL-1beta, TNF and Th1 cytokine IFN-gamma; while uromodulin only
      induced IL-1beta and suppressed both Th1 cytokine IFN-gamma and Th2 cytokine IL
      10. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that uromodulin has greater
      immunosuppressive activities and lower inductive property in relation to
      activation of immune cells, which provides a more tolerant environment for the
      developing fetus.

PMID- 25840632
TI  - Effect of diethylcarbamazine citrate and omega-3 fatty acids on trimellitic
      anhydride-induced rat skin allergy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) is the drug most widely used in the
      treatment of lymphatic filariasis. Omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3 FAs) are
      essential polyunsaturated fatty acids and commonly found in marine oils. Both
      have been applied in treatment of inflammatory diseases but anti-allergic effects
      should be investigated. OBJECTIVE: The present study was performed to test the
      effect of both DEC and omega -3 FAs on Trimellitic anhydride (TMA) - induced rat
      skin allergy. METHODS: In vivo experiment was executed in white albino rats using
      100 and 600 mg/ Kg body weight of DEC and omega-3 FAs, respectively in treatment.
      Ear thickness of sensitized rats to TMA was monitored after challenge. Blood
      eosinophilia was determined using differential leukocyte count while the
      appearance of mast cells, eosinophils and collagen fibers in skin tissue were
      investigated using specific stains. Colorimetric assay of NO was performed in
      homogenized ears, while expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was
      detected using immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Ear thickness showed a significant
      (p < 0.05) reduction in both of DEC and omega-3 FAs treated groups. Blood
      eosinophilia and skin eosinophils were significantly (p < 0.001) decreased by DEC
      and ?-3 FAs, while the decrease of skin mast cells was only significant (p <
      0.01) when omega-3 FAs applied. The expression of iNOS and intensity of stained
      collagen fibers were decreased obviously by omega-3 FAs but less by DEC
      treatment. Histopathological observations were more normal in omega-3 FAs than
      DEC treated groups. CONCLUSION: omega-3 FAs was more potent antiallergic
      substance against TMA-induced dermatitis than DEC.

PMID- 25840633
TI  - Zingiber cassumunar ROXb. and its active constituent inhibit MMP-9 direct
      activation by house dust mite allergens and MMP-9 expression in PMA-stimulated
      human airway epithelial cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: House dust mite (HDM) induced matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 plays
      a role in asthma. Zingiber cassumunar Roxb. (Phlai in Thai) has been used in folk
      medicine for asthma treatment. OBJECTIVE: We investigated effects of Phlai and
      its constituent (E)-4-(3',4'-dimethoxyphenyl)but-3-en-1-ol (compound D) on the
      cleavage of pro- MMP-9 by HDM. The effects of these compounds on phorbol 12
      myristate 13-acetate (PMA)- induced MMP-9 gene and protein expression in airway
      epithelial cells (NCI-H292) were also investigated. METHODS: Pro-MMP-9 was
      directly activated in vitro with HDM in the presence or absence of the ethanolic
      extracts of Phlai or compound D for 1 hour. The amount of activated MMP-9 was
      determined using gelatin zymography. To study the cellular response of Phlai, NCI
      H292 cells were pretreated with crude Phlai extracts or compound D for 2 hours,
      and then the cells were stimulated with PMA for 48 hours. The mRNA RT-PCR and
      Western blotting, respectively. MMP-9 activity was determined by gelatin
      zymography. RESULTS: Crude Phlai extracts (0.25 - 2.0 mg/ml) and compound D (0.5 
      4.0 mg/ml) inhibited pro- MMP-9 cleavage by HDM. Furthermore, crude Phlai
      extracts (100 mg/ml) and compound D, at concentrations of 50 and 100 mg/ml,
      attenuated the PMA-induced MMP-9 gene and expression in NCI-H292 cells. These
      compound also suppressed MMP-9 release from PMA-induced NCI-H292 cells.
      CONCLUSION: The crude ethanolic extract of Z. cassumunar and its active
      constituent compound D inhibited the cleavage of pro-MMP-9 by HDM. They also
      inhibited PMA-induced MMP-9 gene and protein synthesis in human airway epithelial
      cells.

PMID- 25840634
TI  - In vitro cytokine changes after pediatric liver transplantation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic liver disease have been shown to have impaired
      immune statuses. Liver transplantation (LT) is the standard treatment for end
      stage liver disease patients and immunosuppressive drugs are commonly used to
      prevent graft rejection. There is an increasing evidence of de novo food
      allergies post LT. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the cytokine response of peripheral
      blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of pediatric LT recipients before and six months
      after transplantation. METHOD: PBMCs collected before and six months after LT
      were stimulated with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), beta-lactoglobulin (BLG),
      tacrolimus (Tac), dexamethasone (Dex), and a combination of BLG and Dex (B+D),
      BLG and Tac (B+T), BLG and Tac plus Dex (B+T+D). Culture supernatants were
      measured for IL-5, IFN-gamma and IL-10. Blood for liver function tests, complete
      blood counts, total IgE and specific IgE (sIgE) to cow's milk were recorded.
      RESULTS: A total of five pediatric LT recipients were enrolled in the study.
      There were no food allergy cases. Total IgE and sIgE to cow's milk decreased
      significantly after LT. After transplantation, there was a significant increase
      in IL-5, IFN-gamma and IL-10 in culture supernatants of PHA-stimulated PBMCs.
      Among different stimulations in post transplantation's PBMCs, the level of IL-5
      significantly increased in B+D was suppressed with the combination of B+T+D. The
      level of IL-10 significantly increased in all conditions containing BLG both
      before and after transplantation. CONCLUSION: There was an improvement of the in
      vitro-cytokine responses after liver transplantations. Immunosuppressive drugs
      used in post transplantation had an effect on the cytokine responses.

PMID- 25840635
TI  - Plasma adipokine levels in Thais.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess three plasma adipokines that might act as biomarkers useful
      in determining persons exposed to asbestos. METHOD: Sixty subjects were included
      in the study, 30 male workers from factories manufacturing cement products using
      chrysotile asbestos, and 30 volunteer controls comprising 15 men and 15 women.
      Fasting venous blood specimens were submitted for blood chemistry examination and
      analysis of plasma levels of three adipokines, i.e. adipsin, adiponectin and
      resistin. RESULTS: (1) Compared with non-obese subjects, the adiponectin levels
      were lower in obese subjects, resistin levels were higher, and hemoglobin
      concentrations were lower. (2) Adipsin levels in the workers were significantly
      higher than in the controls (p < 0.005), and this difference was not related to
      body fat. (3) There were no statistically significant differences in adiponectin,
      resistin, and adipsin levels between the male and female controls. (4)
      Adiponectin in the male controls was significantly higher than that in the male
      workers (p <0.05). (5) Female controls had significantly higher percentages of
      body fat (p < 0.0005) and resistin (p < 0.02) levels than male controls and male
      workers. (6) A significant negative correlation existed between resistin and
      hemoglobin levels levels (r= -0.336, p < 0.01). (7) Overall adipsin levels among
      male workers were significantly higher than among control subjects (p < 0.005);
      the six workers in whom asbestos bodies (AB) were detected did not have
      significantly higher levels of adipsin than those of workers without AB having
      been detected. CONCLUSIONS: Although the findings apparently showed higher
      adipsin levels in the workers, its value as a biomarker for asbestos exposure
      requires confirmation from studies on a larger group of subjects.

PMID- 25840636
TI  - Jackfruit anaphylaxis in a latex allergic patient.
AB  - Several fruits have been reported to crossreact with latex antigen in latex
      allergy patients but little is known regarding tropical fruits in particular.
      Here we report the case of a 34-year old nurse who developed anaphylaxis
      following the ingestion of dried jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus). The
      patient had a history of chronic eczema on both hands resulting from a regular
      wear of latex gloves. She and her family also had a history of atopy (allergic
      rhinitis and/or atopic dermatitis). The results of skin prick tests were positive
      for jackfruit, latex glove, kiwi and papaya, but the test was negative for
      banana. While we are reporting the first case of jackfruit anaphylaxis, further
      research needs to be conducted to identify the mechanisms underlying it. In
      particular, in-vitro studies need to be designed to understand if the anaphylaxis
      we describe is due to a cross reactivity between latex and jackfruit or a
      coincidence of allergy to these 2 antigens. 

PMID- 25840637
TI  - A longitudinal study of the Friedreich Ataxia Impact Scale.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Quality of life in Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) has been explored using
      various generic health status measurement tools, most commonly the Short Form
      Health Survey Version 2 (SF-36v2). The tool did not address many specific issues
      related to disease impact in people with FRDA. The Friedreich Ataxia Impact Scale
      (FAIS) was developed to examine clinically relevant areas in FRDA. The aims of
      the current study were to assess the relationship between the FAIS and clinical
      characteristics of FRDA, as well as to determine the responsiveness of the FAIS
      to change over one and two years. METHODS: One hundred and four individuals with
      FRDA, homozygous for the GAA expansion in intron 1 of FXN, completed the FAIS at
      baseline. Seventy individuals completed the FAIS again 12 months later and 49
      completed the FAIS at 24 months. Clinical parameters and neurologic scales
      (Friedreich Ataxia Rating Scale (FARS)) were also recorded. RESULTS: The total
      FARS score, onset age and disease duration correlated significantly with FAIS
      subscales measuring symptoms and physical functioning. The physical and mental
      summary measures of the SF-36 V2 also correlated well with the FAIS subscales.
      Speech was the only subscale that demonstrated significant change over one and
      two years. CONCLUSIONS: The FAIS provides valuable insight into the perspective
      of individuals with FRDA on their health status, and is an important measure of
      morbidity. It has, however, limited responsiveness to change and its use in
      intervention studies is questionable.

PMID- 25840638
TI  - NaCl-elicited, vacuolar Ca(2+) release facilitates prolonged cytosolic Ca(2+)
      signaling in the salt response of Populus euphratica cells.
AB  - High environmental salt elicits an increase in cytosolic Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)]cyt) in
      plants, which is generated by extracellular Ca(2+) influx and Ca(2+) release from
      intracellular stores, such as vacuole and endoplasmic reticulum. This study aimed
      to determine the physiological mechanisms underlying Ca(2+) release from vacuoles
      and its role in ionic homeostasis in Populus euphratica. In vivo Ca(2+) imaging
      showed that NaCl treatment induced a rapid elevation in [Ca(2+)]cyt, which was
      accompanied by a subsequent release of vacuolar Ca(2+). In cell cultures, NaCl
      altered intracellular Ca(2+) mobilization was abolished by antagonists of
      inositol (1, 4, 5) trisphosphate (IP3) and cyclic adenosine diphosphate ribose
      (cADPR) signaling pathways, but not by slow vacuolar (SV) channel blockers.
      Furthermore, the NaCl-induced vacuolar Ca(2+) release was dependent on
      extracellular ATP, extracellular Ca(2+) influx, H2O2, and NO. In vitro Ca(2+)
      flux recordings confirmed that IP3, cADPR, and Ca(2+) induced substantial Ca(2+)
      efflux from intact vacuoles, but this vacuolar Ca(2+) flux did not directly
      respond to ATP, H2O2, or NO. Moreover, the IP3/cADPR-mediated vacuolar Ca(2+)
      release enhanced the expression of salt-responsive genes that regulated a wide
      range of cellular processes required for ion homeostasis, including cytosolic
      K(+) maintenance, Na(+) and Cl(-) exclusion across the plasma membrane, and
      Na(+)/H(+) and Cl(-)/H(+) exchanges across the vacuolar membrane.

PMID- 25840639
TI  - Pressure Overload Creates Right Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction in a Mouse
      Model: Assessment by Echocardiography.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Noninvasive diagnostic tools for right ventricular (RV) dysfunction
      measurements are increasingly being used, although their association with the
      pathologic mechanisms of dysfunction is poorly understood. Although
      investigations have focused mainly on RV systolic function, RV diastolic function
      remains mostly neglected. The aim of this study was to test which
      echocardiographic parameters best reflect RV diastolic function in mice. METHODS:
      Pulmonary artery banding (PAB) was used to induce RV pressure overload in mice.
      Transthoracic echocardiography and invasive hemodynamic measurements were
      performed after 3 weeks in PAB and sham-operated mice. Subsequently, the hearts
      were investigated by histology and analyzed for gene expression. RESULTS: PAB
      induced pressure overload (RV systolic pressure PAB 52.6 +/- 11.8 mm Hg vs sham
      27.0 +/- 2.7 mm Hg) resulted in RV hypertrophy and remodeling, as reflected by
      increased Fulton index (PAB 0.37 +/- 0.05 vs sham 0.25 +/- 0.02, P = .001).
      Masson's trichrome staining revealed increased interstitial fibrosis (PAB 12.25
      +/- 3.12% vs sham 3.97 +/- 1.58%, P = .002). This was associated with significant
      systolic RV dysfunction as demonstrated by reduced contractility index and
      diastolic dysfunction as demonstrated by end-diastolic pressure (PAB 2.66 +/-
      0.83 mm Hg vs sham 1.49 +/- 0.50 mm Hg, P < .001) and tau (PAB 40.0 +/- 16.1 msec
      vs sham 13.0 +/- 3.5 msec, P < .001). Messenger ribonucleic acid expression of
      beta-myosin heavy chain, atrial and brain natriuretic peptides, collagen family
      members was elevated, and the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase was
      decreased. Echocardiography revealed significant increases in RV free wall
      thickness and isovolumic relaxation time and a decrease in left ventricular
      eccentricity index, E', and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion.
      Isovolumic relaxation time and E' were significantly correlated with end
      diastolic pressure (rs = 0.511 and -0.451) and tau (rs = 0.739 and -0.445,
      respectively). Moreover, E' was negatively correlated with the degree of RV
      fibrosis (rs = -0.717). CONCLUSIONS: Within 3 weeks, PAB causes pressure overload
      induced RV hypertrophy and remodeling with compensated systolic and diastolic
      dysfunction in mice. RV free wall thickness, tricuspid annular plane systolic
      excursion, E', E/E' ratio, and isovolumic relaxation time appear to be the most
      reliable echocardiographic parameters for the assessment of RV dysfunction.

PMID- 25840640
TI  - Usefulness of Speckle-Tracking Imaging for Right Ventricular Assessment after
      Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Magnetic Resonance Imaging/Echocardiographic
      Comparison within the Relation between Aldosterone and Cardiac Remodeling after
      Myocardial Infarction Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction after acute myocardial infarction
      (AMI) is frequent and associated with poor prognosis. The complex anatomy of the
      right ventricle makes its echocardiographic assessment challenging.
      Quantification of RV deformation by speckle-tracking echocardiography is a widely
      available and reproducible technique that readily provides an integrated analysis
      of all segments of the right ventricle. The aim of this study was to investigate
      the accuracy of conventional echocardiographic parameters and speckle-tracking
      echocardiographic strain parameters in assessing RV function after AMI, in
      comparison with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR). METHODS: A total of 135
      patients admitted for AMI (73 anterior, 62 inferior) were prospectively studied.
      Right ventricular function was assessed by echocardiography and CMR within 2 to 4
      days of hospital admission. Right ventricular dysfunction was defined as CMR RV
      ejection fraction < 50%. Right ventricular global peak longitudinal systolic
      strain (GLPSS) was calculated by averaging the strain values of the septal,
      lateral, and inferior walls. RESULTS: Right ventricular dysfunction was
      documented in 20 patients. Right ventricular GLPSS was the best echographic
      correlate of CMR RV ejection fraction (r = -0.459, P < .0001) and possessed good
      diagnostic value for RV dysfunction (area under the receiver operating
      characteristic curve [AUROC], 0.724; 95% CI, 0.590-0.857), which was comparable
      with that of RV fractional area change (AUROC, 0.756; 95% CI, 0.647-0.866). In
      patients with inferior myocardial infarctions, the AUROCs for RV GLPSS (0.822)
      and inferolateral strain (0.877) were greater than that observed for RV
      fractional area change (0.760) Other conventional echocardiographic parameters
      performed poorly (all AUROCs < 0.700). CONCLUSIONS: After AMI, RV GLPSS is the
      best correlate of CMR RV ejection fraction. In patients with inferior AMIs, RV
      GLPSS displays even higher diagnostic value than conventional echocardiographic
      parameters.

PMID- 25840641
TI  - IL-9 induces IL-8 production via STIM1 activation and ERK phosphorylation in
      epidermal keratinocytes: A plausible mechanism of IL-9R in atopic dermatitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: IL-9 and its receptor play important roles in the pathogenesis of
      asthma. Its role in atopic dermatitis (AD) was examined in just a few studies,
      including nucleotide polymorphisms, increased transcriptional levels of IL-9 and
      IL-9R in diseased skin, and an association of blood IL-9 levels with clinical
      severity. OBJECTIVE: Little was known about the pathophysiological regulation of
      IL-9/IL-9R in AD skin. We asked whether IL-9R was expressed in epidermal
      keratinocytes; if so, what the functional outcome, cytokine production, and
      signaling pathway of IL-9/IL-9R in keratinocytes are. METHODS: We measured and
      compared the expression of IL-9R in skin from AD patients and controls by
      immunofluorescence. We also performed in vitro studies on the IL-9-treated
      primary keratinocytes, including flow cytometry for IL-9R expressions, Western
      blotting for mTOR, S6K, ERK, p38, and STAT3 activations, ELISA for cytokine
      levels, and immunofluorescence for STIM1. RESULTS: We found that IL-9R was indeed
      expressed in keratinocytes but not in fibroblasts. Its expression in
      keratinocytes was enhanced by IL-4 but not by TGF-beta1. IL-9 induced a moderate
      production of IL-8 but not CXCL16, CCL22, TSLP, nor IL-33. IL-9 induced formation
      of STIM1-puncta. IL-9 induced ERK phosphorylation both dose- and time
      dependently, but not mTOR, S6K, p38, or STAT3. Pretreatment with U0126 (ERK
      inhibitor) but not rapamycin (mTOR inhibitor) abrogated the IL-9-mediated IL-8
      production. Blockage of STIM1 with BTP2 or SKF96265 abrogated ERK phosphorylation
      and IL-8 production induced by IL-9. CONCLUSION: This study represents the first
      to show the regulation of the IL-9-STIM1-ERK-IL-8 axis in keratinocyte, and how
      the axis might play an important role in the pathophysiology of AD.

PMID- 25840642
TI  - Prognostic value of troponin I and NT-proBNP concentrations in patients after in
      hospital cardiac arrest.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Cardiac arrest (CA) is a complex event with a dismal survival rate.
      The aim of this study was to determine whether N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic
      peptide (NT-proBNP) levels measured on admission and serial cardiac troponin I
      determination in patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) are predictive
      of 30-day mortality. METHODS: Out of 9877 patients hospitalized in the cardiac
      intensive care unit during the study, we enrolled consecutive patients
      experiencing cardiac arrest within 12 hours of admission. Baseline
      characteristics, information about circumstances of CA and cardiopulmonary
      resuscitation, and initial biochemical parameters were retrospectively collected.
      RESULTS: A total of 106 patients (61 male, age 71.4+/-12.6 years) were enrolled.
      Thirty-four (32.1%) had a history of myocardial infarction, and 13 (12.3%) a
      history of stroke. Total 30-day mortality was 60.4%. Deceased patients were older
      (73.7+/-11.9 vs. 67.8+/-13.0 years; p=0.01) and had lower systolic (89.4+/-37.0
      vs. 115.0+/-24.0 mmHg; p=0.0001) and diastolic (53.6+/-24.8 vs. 66.1+/-15.0 mmHg;
      p=0.008) blood pressure on admission. Shockable initial rhythm was more often
      noted in the survivor group (54.8% vs. 28.1%; p=0.01). Deceased patients had
      higher median NT-proBNP levels (9590.0 [25-75% interquartile range (IQR), 5640.0
      26450.0] vs. 3190.0 [25-75% IQR, 973.8-5362.5] pg/ml; p=0.02) on admission. There
      were no differences in the first two troponin I measurements, but values were
      higher on the third measurement in non-survivors (98.2 [25-75% IQR, 76.4-175.8]
      vs. 18.7 [25-75% IQR, 5.2-50.6]; p=0.009). CONCLUSIONS: The survival rate of
      patients after in-hospital CA is poor. Deceased patients have higher NT-proBNP
      levels on admission, along with higher troponin I concentrations on the third
      measurement. Those biomarkers are useful in predicting 30-day mortality in IHCA
      patients.

PMID- 25840643
TI  - Noninvasive anatomical and functional assessment of coronary artery disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: In suspected coronary artery disease (CAD), invasive
      coronary angiography (ICA) is traditionally the diagnostic tool of choice.
      However, patients often have no significant disease. Moreover, assessment of
      fractional flow reserve (FFR) has been shown to have prognostic implications.
      Recently, coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) and cardiac magnetic
      resonance (CMR) myocardial perfusion imaging (CMR-Perf) have gained increasing
      attention through their accurate anatomical and functional assessment,
      respectively. We studied the added value of integrating these tests (CT+CMRint)
      in the diagnosis of CAD, with FFR as the reference standard. METHODS: We included
      101 patients consecutively referred for outpatient assessment of CAD who
      underwent CTA and CMR-Perf prior to ICA with FFR assessment. Lesions were
      considered positive by CT+CMRint only if positive in the two tests alone. The
      mean follow-up was 2.9+/-0.6 years. RESULTS: All patients completed the study
      protocol without adverse effects. Forty-four patients had CAD by FFR. CTA had
      excellent sensitivity and negative predictive value (100%) but, as expected, its
      specificity and positive predictive value were lower (61% and 67%, respectively).
      Diagnostic accuracy by FFR was 78% for CTA, 88% for CMR-Perf and 92% for
      CT+CMRint. Regarding diagnostic accuracy, CT+CMRint showed statistically
      significant superiority (AUC=0.917, 95% CI 0.845-0.963) compared with CTA
      (AUC=0.807, 95% CI 0.716-0.879, p=0.0057) or CMR-Perf (AUC=0.882, 95% CI 0.802
      0.938, p=0.0398) alone. Regarding prediction of revascularization, the integrated
      protocol maintained its superior performance. CONCLUSIONS: CT+CMRint showed
      superior diagnostic accuracy and could thus lead to a considerable reduction in
      invasive procedures for CAD diagnosis, with less risk and greater patient
      comfort.

PMID- 25840644
TI  - Comparison between diabetic and non-diabetic patients after successful
      percutaneous coronary intervention for chronic total occlusions in the drug
      eluting stent era.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Diabetes mellitus and chronic total occlusions are associated with
      unfavorable outcome after percutaneous coronary intervention. We sought to assess
      the clinical and angiographic outcomes of diabetic and non-diabetic patients who
      underwent successful percutaneous revascularization of chronic total occlusions
      with drug-eluting stents. METHODS: Baseline clinical and angiographic
      characteristics, procedural details, nine-month angiographic follow-up and
      clinical events at 12 months were compared between 75 diabetic and 132 non
      diabetic patients included in a clinical trial that randomized successful
      recanalization of chronic total occlusions to receive sirolimus- or everolimus
      eluting stents. RESULTS: In both diabetic and non-diabetic groups there was a
      favorable non-significantly different angiographic result at nine months, with
      low in-stent late loss (0.14+/-0.60 mm vs. 0.25+/-0.68 mm, p=0.305) and rates of
      binary restenosis (4.0% vs. 10.6%, p=0.180) and reocclusion (0.0% vs. 2.3%,
      p=0.334). During follow-up similar survival from death (97.3+/-1.9% vs. 99.2+/
      0.8%, log-rank p=0.273), acute myocardial infarction (100.0+/-0.0% vs. 97.7+/
      1.3%, log-rank p=0.192), target vessel revascularization (88.7+/-3.8% vs. 88.2+/
      2.9%, log-rank p=0.899) and stent thrombosis (100.0+/-0.0% vs. 97.7+/-1.3%, log
      rank p=0.192) was observed. Furthermore, the presence of more diffuse peripheral
      and coronary artery disease and higher frequency of calcified lesions in diabetic
      patients did not lead to significant differences in the approach (20.0% vs. 25.0%
      radial approach, p=0.413), strategy (6.7% vs. 3.8% retrograde strategy, p=0.353),
      total stent length (48.1+/-24.6 mm vs. 49.2+/-23.9 mm, p=0758) or contrast volume
      (261.3+/-116.4 ml vs. 297.4+/-135.9 ml, p=0.109) required for revascularization.
      CONCLUSIONS: In the drug-eluting stent era, diabetic and non-diabetic patients
      have comparable favorable clinical and angiographic outcomes after successful
      percutaneous revascularization of chronic total occlusions.

PMID- 25840645
TI  - Anatomical and functional assessment of coronary artery disease: The search for
      the perfect protocol.

PMID- 25840646
TI  - Late device embolization in a persistent mitral paravalvular leak.
AB  - An 83-year-old man with severe organic mitral regurgitation underwent mitral
      valve surgery with implantation of a biologic prosthesis. Four months later he
      presented with hemolytic anemia and heart failure due to severe paravalvular
      regurgitation. Since the patient refused surgery, the paravalvular leak was
      closed percutaneously using two Amplatzer devices, with angiographic and clinical
      success. Two months after the intervention he developed heart failure again and
      embolization of one of the devices was documented, with significant worsening of
      paravalvular regurgitation. A redo percutaneous closure was attempted but
      although initially promising, was ultimately unsuccessful as heart failure
      symptoms and hemolytic anemia persisted. Surgical correction was the final
      solution for this case. This is the second case of late device embolization
      reported in the literature and highlights the importance of careful long-term
      follow-up of such patients, as late complications, although rare, may occur. 

PMID- 25840647
TI  - Transient apical dyskinesia with a pacemaker: Electrocardiographic features.
AB  - Transient apical dyskinesia syndromes present features similar to acute coronary
      syndromes, but with normal coronary arteries and rapid complete resolution of
      wall motion alterations. We report the case of a 73-year-old woman who was
      admitted to hospital because of typical chest pain at rest after her brother's
      death. She had had a pacemaker implanted in 2001. Troponin levels were elevated
      and apical hypokinesia was shown by ventriculography and echocardiography, with
      normal coronary arteries. Evolving ECG alterations were observed in spite of the
      continued pacing rhythm. All these alterations were fully resolved after
      discharge. This case shows that, even in the presence of a pacemaker, evolving
      ECG alterations can be observed in Takotsubo syndrome. 

PMID- 25840649
TI  - Critical particle sizes for the engulfment of nanoparticles by membranes and
      vesicles with bilayer asymmetry.
AB  - The adhesion and engulfment of nanoparticles by biomembranes is essential for
      many processes such as biomedical imaging, drug delivery, nanotoxicity, and viral
      infection. Many studies have shown that both surface chemistry, which determines
      the adhesive strength of the membrane-particle interactions, and particle size
      represent key parameters for these processes. Here, we show that the asymmetry
      between the two leaflets of a bilayer membrane provides another key parameter for
      the engulfment of nanoparticles. The asymmetric membrane prefers to curve in a
      certain manner as quantitatively described by its spontaneous curvature. We
      derive two general relationships between particle size, adhesive strength, and
      spontaneous curvature that determine the instabilities of (i) the nonadhering or
      free state and (ii) the completely engulfed state of the particle. For model
      membranes such as lipid or polymer bilayers with a uniform composition, the two
      relationships lead to two critical particle sizes that determine four distinct
      engulfment regimes, both for the endocytic and for the exocytic engulfment
      process. For strong adhesion, the critical particle sizes are on the order of 10
      nm, while they are on the order of 1000 nm for weak or ultraweak adhesion. Our
      theoretical results are therefore accessible to both experimental studies and
      computer simulations of model membranes. In order to address the more complex
      process of receptor-mediated endocytosis, we take the adhesion-induced
      segregation of membrane components into account and consider bound and unbound
      membrane segments that differ in their spontaneous curvatures. To model protein
      coats as formed during clathrin-dependent endocytosis, we focus on the case in
      which the bound membrane segments have a large spontaneous curvature compared to
      the unbound ones. We derive explicit expressions for the engulfment rate and the
      uptake of nanoparticles, which both depend on the particle size in a nonmonotonic
      manner, and provide a quantitative fit to experimental data for clathrin
      dependent endocytosis of gold nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25840648
TI  - The Polycystic Ovary Morphology-Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Spectrum.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common cause of chronic
      hyperandrogenic anovulation. Two-thirds of PCOS patients have functionally
      typical PCOS, with typical functional ovarian hyperandrogenism manifest as 17
      hydroxyprogesterone hyper-responsiveness to gonadotropin stimulation. Most, but
      not all, of the remainder have atypical functional ovarian hyperandrogenism. Many
      asymptomatic volunteers with polycystic ovary morphology (PCOM) have similar
      abnormalities. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper is to review the
      relationship of biochemical ovarian function to the clinical spectrum observed in
      PCOS and in normal volunteers with PCOM. FINDINGS: Adolescents and adults with
      PCOS are similar clinically and biochemically. Ninety-five percent of
      functionally typical PCOS have classic PCOS, ie, hyperandrogenic anovulation with
      PCOM. In addition to having more severe hyperandrogenism and a greater prevalence
      of PCOM than other PCOS, they have a significantly greater prevalence of glucose
      intolerance although insulin resistance is similarly reduced. Half of normal
      variant PCOM have PCOS-related steroidogenic dysfunction, which suggests a PCOS
      carrier state. CONCLUSIONS: There is a spectrum of ovarian androgenic dysfunction
      that ranges from subclinical hyperandrogenemia in some normal-variant PCOM to
      severe ovarian hyperandrogenism in most classic PCOS. A minority of mild PCOS
      cases do not fall on this spectrum of ovarian androgenic dysfunction, but rather
      seem to have obesity as the basis of their hyperandrogenism, or, less often,
      isolated adrenal androgenic dysfunction. Half of normal-variant PCOM also do not
      fall on the PCOS spectrum, and some of these seem to have excessive
      folliculogenesis as a variant that may confer mild prolongation of the
      reproductive lifespan. Improved understanding of PCOM in young women is needed.

PMID- 25840650
TI  - Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in gynaecological cancers - Implications for staging.
AB  - The management of advanced gynaecological cancers remains a therapeutic
      challenge. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been used to reduce tumour size, thus
      facilitating subsequent local treatment in the form of surgery or radiation. For
      advanced epithelial ovarian cancer, data from several non-randomized and one
      randomized studies indicate that neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval
      debulking surgery is a reasonable approach in patients deemed inoperable. Such an
      approach results in optimum debulking (no visible tumour) in approximately 40% of
      the patients with reduced operative morbidity. Overall and progression free
      survival is comparable to the group treated with primary debulking surgery
      followed by chemotherapy. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery is
      associated with improved survival for women with stage IB2-IIA cervix cancer.
      There is a resurgence of interest for using short-course neoadjuvant chemotherapy
      prior to concurrent chemo-radiation. Currently, this is being tested in
      randomized trials. 

PMID- 25840651
TI  - The evolution of face processing networks.
AB  - Recent studies in marmosets, macaques, and humans have begun to show
      commonalities and differences in the evolution of face processing networks.
      Despite differences in brain size and gyrification across species, myelination
      and motion may be key anatomical and functional features contributing to the
      surprising similarity of face networks across species. 

PMID- 25840652
TI  - The evolution of cognition in natural populations.
AB  - Individual differences in cognitive abilities have been described in a range of
      species, but do they impact survival or reproduction? Several recent studies
      report links between putative cognitive and reproductive traits in avian systems.
      Whether or when selection should occur in the wild is becoming an exciting avenue
      of research. 

PMID- 25840653
TI  - Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor of the Kidney: A Case Report.

PMID- 25840654
TI  - Comparison of diagnostic accuracy of plain film radiographs between original film
      and smartphone capture: a pilot study.
AB  - The use of mobile devices for medical image capture has become increasingly
      popular given the widespread use of smartphone cameras. Prior studies have
      generally compared mobile phone capture images to digitized images. However, many
      underserved and rural areas without picture archiving and communication systems
      (PACS) still depend greatly on the use of film radiographs. Additionally, there
      is a scarcity of specialty-trained or formally licensed radiologists in many of
      these regions. Subsequently, there is great potential for the use of smartphone
      capture of plain radiograph films which would allow for increased access to
      economical and efficient consultation from board-certified radiologists abroad.
      The present study addresses the ability to diagnose a subset of radiographic
      findings identified on both the original film radiograph and the captured camera
      phone image. 

PMID- 25840655
TI  - Treatment of Hypertension in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease: A Scientific
      Statement from the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology,
      and American Society of Hypertension.

PMID- 25840656
TI  - New approaches for improving outcomes in breast cancer in Europe.
AB  - Considerable progress has been made in breast cancer treatment in Europe over the
      past three decades, yet survival rates for metastatic disease remain poor,
      underlining the need for further advances. While the use of predictive biomarkers
      for response to systemic therapy could improve drug development efficiency,
      progress in identifying such markers has been slow. The currently inadequate
      classification of breast cancer subtypes is a further challenge. Improved
      understanding of the molecular pathology of the disease has led to the
      identification of new targets for drug treatment, and evolving classifications
      should reflect these developments. Further ongoing challenges include
      difficulties in finding optimal combinations and sequences of systemic therapies,
      circumventing multidrug resistance and intra-tumor heterogeneity, problems
      associated with fragmentation in clinical trials and translational research
      efforts. Adoption of some of the strategies identified in this article may lead
      to further improvements in outcomes for patients with the disease. 

PMID- 25840657
TI  - [Elderly patients and radiotherapy: A short review].
AB  - The ageing of French population imposes to radiotherapists the challenge to treat
      older patients and to adjust their treatment. Unthinkable 30 years ago, radiation
      therapy concerns nowadays patients aged more than 90 years old. Oncogeriatric
      scales have been improved those last years without necessarily making sure that
      the right treatment is given to the right patient: if oncogeriatric scales use
      influences the final therapeutic decision, it does not define new target volumes,
      new doses, or new fractionation protocols. Except for some organs, there is not,
      for the moment, any consensus concerning geriatric population adapted treatments.
      This makes any therapeutic decision difficult. The present review has for
      objective to realise a report of the studies about favorable and unfavorable
      effects of radiation therapy amongst aged (>70 years old) or very aged (>90years
      old) population.

PMID- 25840658
TI  - A derivatization strategy for the detection and identification of volatile
      trialkylphosphites using liquid chromatography-online solid phase extraction and
      offline nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
AB  - We demonstrate herein the application of selective derivatization method that
      converts volatile and labile trialkylphosphites (TAPs) into virtually non
      volatile, thermally stable, and UV absorbing derivatives. After simple sample
      preparation, purification/enrichment of the derivatives was achieved by using
      high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to on-line post column
      solid phase extraction (SPE) system. These derivatives were subjected to
      (31)P{(1)H} NMR and 1D-selTOCSY experiments. Conclusive identification was
      achieved on the basis of their HPLC retention time and NMR spectral signatures (
      [Formula: see text] , (n)JH-H, and (3)JP-H). This method was tested for the
      unambiguous identification of a mixture containing low concentrations (~10MUgmL(
      1)) of trimethylphosphite (TMP), triethylphosphite (TEP), triisopropylphosphite
      (TIP), and tributylphosphite (TBP) along with a high concentration of irrelevant
      background chemicals. It offered a high dynamic range and good detection limit
      and recovery (>75%) without the need for special NMR probe heads or exotic NMR
      experiments. 

PMID- 25840659
TI  - Determination of high-intensity sweeteners in river water and wastewater by solid
      phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
AB  - High-intensity sweeteners have been suggested as potential organic contaminants
      due to their widespread use in food, drugs and sanitary products. As a
      consequence, they are introduced into the environment by different pathways,
      affecting aquatic life. In this study, a method based on solid-phase extraction
      (SPE) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) has been
      developed and validated for the determination of eight sweeteners (saccharin,
      cyclamate, aspartame, acesulfame, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, sucralose,
      stevioside and glycyrrhizic acid) in river water and wastewater. To get the
      maximum recoveries in SPE, several commercial sorbents were tested and Oasis HLB
      gave the best results, with recoveries higher than 41% for all of the compounds
      in the different matrices. Method limits of detection were in the range of 0.001
      0.04MUg/L in river water and 0.01-0.5MUg/L in influent and effluent wastewater.
      Method reproducibility between days (n=5) was below 15% for all compounds. The
      method was applied to the determination of sweeteners in various river waters and
      wastewaters in Catalonia. Cyclamate, aspartame, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone,
      acesulfame and sucralose were found in river water, with the two last compounds
      being present at the highest values (1.62MUg/L for acesulfame and 3.57MUg/L for
      sucralose). In influent and effluent wastewater, all of the compounds were found
      at concentration levels ranging from 0.05 to 155MUg/L except for stevioside and
      neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, which were not detected. 

PMID- 25840660
TI  - Fabrication of aluminum terephthalate metal-organic framework incorporated
      polymer monolith for the microextraction of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
      in water and urine samples.
AB  - Polymer monolith microextraction (PMME) based on capillary monolithic column is
      an effective and useful technique to preconcentrate trace analytes from
      environmental and biological samples. Here, we report the fabrication of a novel
      aluminum terephthalate metal-organic framework (MIL-53(Al)) incorporated
      capillary monolithic column via in situ polymerization for the PMME of non
      steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (ketoprofen, fenbufen and ibuprofen)
      in water and urine samples. The fabricated MIL-53(Al) incorporated monolith was
      characterized by X-ray powder diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy,
      Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, and nitrogen adsorption experiment. The
      MIL-53(Al) incorporated monolith gave larger surface area than the neat polymer
      monolith. A 2-cm long MIL-53(Al) incorporated capillary monolith was applied for
      PMME coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of
      the NSAIDs. Potential factors affecting the PMME were studied in detail. Under
      the optimized conditions, the developed method gave the enhancement factors of 46
      51, the linear range of 0.40-200MUgL(-1), the detection limits (S/N=3) of 0.12
      0.24MUgL(-1), and the quantification limits (S/N=10) of 0.40-0.85MUgL(-1). The
      recoveries for spiked NSAIDs (20MUgL(-1)) in water and urine samples were in the
      range of 77.3-104%. Besides, the MIL-53(Al) incorporated monolith was stable
      enough for 120 extraction cycles without significant loss of extraction
      efficiency. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of
      NSAIDs in water and urine samples. 

PMID- 25840661
TI  - Quantitation of various indolinyl caged glutamates as their o-phthalaldehyde
      derivatives by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem
      spectroscopic detections: derivatization, stoichiometry and stability studies.
AB  - Quantification, stability and unique spectroscopic properties of indolinyl-caged
      glutamates (ICGs), with the o-phthalaldehyde-3-mercaptopropionic acid (OPA-MPA)
      reagent, were described, at first. As new principle to the field, reactivity and
      stoichiometry of variously substituted OPA-MPA derivatized ICGs, such as 4
      methoxy-7-nitroindolinyl-(MNI-Glu), 4-methoxy-5,7-dinitroindolinyl-(DNI-Glu), 2
      dimethylamino-propoxy and dimethylamino-isobutoxy alternatives (2DMA-1PO-DNI-Glu,
      1DMA-2P-DNI-Glu and 3DMA-1iBU-DNI-Glu), was demonstrated. Derivatives' stability
      was determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) applying
      simultaneous photodiode array (DAD) and fluorescence (Fl) detections, while their
      structural identity was confirmed by HPLC-time of flight mass spectrometry (HPLC
      TOF-MS). The SH-additive of the reagents was also varied. ICGs react
      unequivocally, with one OPA-SH-group molecule, in the molar ratios of ([OPA-SH
      additive]/[ICG]=1/1, resulting in species with the characteristic isoindole
      spectral property (EEx/EEm=337/454nm; lambdamax=337nm). ICGs' isoindole
      derivatives, due to their sandwich structure, are manifesting the pi-pi-stacking
      phenomenon: they fail to show fluorescence. ICGs' stability decreased in the
      order of MNI-Glu, 2DMA-1PO/1DMA-2PO, 3DMA-1iBU and DNI-Glu, correspondingly,
      resulting in increasing order of free glutamic acid (GA), as their decomposition
      product. GA and ICGs were determined as their OPA/MPA derivatives while uncaged
      species (MNI, DNI and its substituted alternatives) in their initial forms. The
      practical utility of the method was confirmed analyzing ICGs and their
      decomposition products, simultaneously. Quantifications' reliability and
      reproducibility were characterized with the relative standard deviation
      percentages of responses (RSDs%): for GA 0.41-12 RSD% for ICGs 0.057-7.0 RSD%
      were obtained. Stability properties of variously substituted, recently introduced
      ICGs, prepared in laboratories of Institute of Experimental Medicine, were
      defined. 

PMID- 25840662
TI  - Facile modification of multi-walled carbon nanotubes-polymeric ionic liquids
      coated solid-phase microextraction fibers by on-fiber anion exchange.
AB  - In situ anion exchange has been proved to be an efficient method for facile
      modification of polymeric ionic liquids (PILs)-based stationary phases. In this
      work, an on-fiber anion exchange process was utilized to tune the extraction
      performance of a multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-poly(1-vinyl-3
      octylimidazolium bromide) (poly(VOIm(+)Br(-)))-coated solid-phase microextraction
      (SPME) fiber. MWCNTs were first coated onto the stainless steel wire through a
      layer-by-layer fabrication method and then the PILs were coated onto the MWCNTs
      physically. Anion of the MWCNTs-poly(VOIm(+)Br(-)) fiber was changed into
      bis(triflroromethanesulfonyl)imide (NTf2(-)) and 2-naphthalene-sulfonate (NapSO3(
      )) by on-fiber anion exchange. Coupled to gas chromatography, the MWCNTs
      poly(VOIm(+)Br(-)) fiber showed acceptable extraction efficiency for hydrophilic
      and hydrogen-bonding-donating alcohols, with limits of detection (LODs) in the
      range of 0.005-0.05MUgmL(-1); after the anion exchange with NTf2(-), the obtained
      MWCNTs-poly(VOIm(+)NTf2(-)) fiber brought wide linear ranges for hydrophobic n
      alkanes with correlation coefficient (R) ranging from 0.994 to 0.997; aromatic
      property of the fiber was enhanced by aromatic NapSO3(-) anions to get sufficient
      extraction capacity for phthalate esters and halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons.
      The MWCNTs-poly(VOIm(+)NapSO3(-)) fiber was finally applied to determine several
      halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons in groundwater of industrial park. 

PMID- 25840663
TI  - The high-performance liquid chromatography/multistage electrospray mass
      spectrometric investigation and extraction optimization of beech (Fagus sylvatica
      L.) bark polyphenols.
AB  - The aim of the present work was the high-performance liquid chromatographic
      separation and multistage mass spectrometric characterization of the polyphenolic
      compounds of beech bark, as well as the extraction optimization of the identified
      compounds. Beech is a common and widely used material in the wood industry, yet
      its bark is regarded as a by-product. Using appropriate extraction methods these
      compounds could be extracted and utilized in the future. Different extraction
      methods (stirring, sonication, microwave assisted extraction) using different
      solvents (water, methanol:water 80:20 v/v, ethanol:water 80:20 v/v) and
      time/temperature schedules have been compared basing on total phenol contents
      (Folin-Ciocalteu) and MRM peak areas of the identified compounds to investigate
      optimum extraction efficiency. Altogether 37 compounds, including (+)-catechin, (
      )-epicatechin, quercetin-O-hexoside, taxifolin-O-hexosides (3), taxifolin-O
      pentosides (4), B-type (6) and C-type (6) procyanidins, syringic acid- and
      coumaric acid-di-O-glycosides, coniferyl alcohol- and sinapyl alcohol-glycosides,
      as well as other unknown compounds with defined [M-H](-) m/z values and MS/MS
      spectra have been tentatively identified. The choice of the method, solvent
      system and time/temperature parameters favors the extraction of different types
      of compounds. Pure water can extract compounds as efficiently as mixtures
      containing organic solvents under high-pressure and high temperature conditions.
      This supports the implementation of green extraction methods in the future.
      Extraction times that are too long and high temperatures can result in the
      decrease of the concentrations. Future investigations will focus on the
      evaluation of the antioxidant capacity and utilization possibilities of the
      prepared extracts. 

PMID- 25840664
TI  - Effect of bore fluid composition on microstructure and performance of a
      microporous hollow fibre membrane as a cation-exchange substrate.
AB  - Micro-capillary film (MCF) membranes are effective platforms for bioseparations
      and viable alternatives to established packed bed and membrane substrates at the
      analytical and preparative chromatography scales. Single hollow fibre (HF) MCF
      membranes with varied microstructures were produced in order to evaluate the
      effect of the bore fluid composition used during hollow fibre extrusion on their
      structure and performance as cation-exchange adsorbers. Hollow fibres were
      fabricated from ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) copolymer through solution
      extrusion followed by nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) using bore
      fluids of differing composition (100wt.% N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), 100wt.%
      glycerol, 100wt.% water). All HFs displayed highly microporous and mesoporous
      microstructures, with distinct regions of pore size <1MUm, 5-15MUm and up to
      50MUm in diameter, depending upon proximity to the bore fluid. Scanning electron
      microscopy (SEM) revealed skins of pore size <1MUm at the inner surface of HFs
      produced with water and glycerol, while NMP bore fluid resulted in a skinless
      inner HF surface. The HFs were modified for chromatography by functionalising the
      polymer surface hydroxyl groups with sulphonic acid (SP) groups to produce cation
      exchange adsorbers. The maximum binding capacities of the HFs were determined by
      frontal analysis using lysozyme solutions (0.05-100mgml(-1)) for a flow rate of
      1.0mlmin(-1). The NMP-HF-SP module displayed the largest maximum lysozyme binding
      capacity of all the fibres produced (40.3mg lysozyme/ml adsorbent volume), a
      nearly 2-fold increase over the glycerol and 10-fold increase over the water
      variants at the same sample flow rate. The importance of NMP as a bore fluid to
      hollow fibre membrane performance as a result of inner surface porosity was
      established with a view to applying this parameter for the optimisation of multi
      capillary MCF performance in future studies. 

PMID- 25840665
TI  - Using electronic monitoring devices to measure inhaler adherence: a practical
      guide for clinicians.
AB  - Use of electronic monitoring devices (EMDs) for inhalers is growing rapidly
      because of their ability to provide objective and detailed adherence data to
      support clinical decision making. There is increasing potential for the use of
      EMDs in clinical settings, especially as cost-effectiveness is realized and
      device costs reduce. However, it is important for clinicians to know about the
      attributes of different EMDs so that they can select the right device for their
      patients and understand the factors that affect the reliability and accuracy of
      the data EMDs record. This article gives information on where to obtain EMDs,
      describes device specifications, and highlights useful features for the clinician
      and the patient, including user feedback data. We discuss the benefits and
      potential drawbacks of data collected by EMDs and provide device users with a set
      of tools to optimize the use of EMDs in clinical settings, such as advice on how
      to carry out brief EMD checks to ensure data quality and device reliability. New
      EMDs on the market require pretesting before use by patients. We provide
      information on how to carry out EMD pretesting in the clinic and patients' homes,
      which can be carried out by health professionals or in collaboration with
      researchers or manufacturers. Strategies for interpreting and managing common
      device malfunctions are also discussed. 

PMID- 25840666
TI  - Triticum monococcum in patients with celiac disease: a phase II open study on
      safety of prolonged daily administration.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: To assess safety of prolonged daily administration of
      Triticum monococcum (Tm) using clinical, serological and histological criteria.
      Tm is an ancient wheat suitable for production of palatable baked goods that
      contains gluten devoid of strongly immunostimulatory epitopes and potentially
      safe for celiac disease (CD) patients as suggested by in vitro and ex vivo
      studies. METHODS: Protocol involved 60-day administration of 100 g/day Tm water
      biscuits to CD patients in remission on gluten-free diet. Symptoms
      Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale questionnaire (GSRS) and CD-related
      serology were assessed at time (T) 0, T30 and T60 days, and duodenal biopsy was
      obtained at T0 and T60. RESULTS: Eight patients (F/M: 6/2, median age 26) were
      enrolled. One patient was excluded at T0 because of positive serology, and two
      patients dropped out because of symptoms recurrence. In the five patients
      completing the study, there was no difference in GSRS score at T0 to T60. All
      patients had Marsh II lesion at T0, four had Marsh III and one had recurrence of
      dermatitis herpetiformis at T60. CD-related antibodies converted from negative to
      positive at T60 in three patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that Tm is toxic
      for CD patients as judged on histological and serological criteria, but it was
      well tolerated by the majority of patients, suggesting that Tm is not a safe
      cereal for celiacs, but that it may be of value for patients with gluten
      sensitivity or for prevention of CD.

PMID- 25840668
TI  - Response to letter commenting on "Outcome of localised blastemal-type Wilms
      tumour patients treated according to intensified treatment in the SIOP WT 2001
      protocol, a report of the SIOP Renal Tumour Study Group (SIOP-RTSG)".

PMID- 25840667
TI  - Adaptive response activated by dietary cis9, trans11 conjugated linoleic acid
      prevents distinct signs of gliadin-induced enteropathy in mice.
AB  - PURPOSE: The beneficial effects of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) mixture (cis9,
      trans11, c9; trans10, cis12, t10) against gliadin-induced toxicity in HLA-DQ8
      transgenic mice (DQ8) have been associated with improved duodenal cytoprotective
      mechanisms [nuclear factor-E2-related factor-2, Nrf2; acylpeptide hydrolase
      (APEH)/proteasome]. The present study was aimed at investigating the ability of
      individual CLA isomers to improve the efficacy of these defensive mechanisms and
      to protect against duodenal injury caused by the combined administration of
      gliadin and indomethacin (GI). METHODS: Gluten-mediated enteropathy was induced
      in DQ8 mice by three intra-gastric administration of gliadin (20 mg kg(-1)/bw)
      and indomethacin (15 mg L(-1)) in drinking water for 10 days (GI). C9 or t10 CLA
      (520 mg kg(-1)/bw/day) were orally administered for 2 weeks. Pro-oxidant and
      toxic effects associated with GI treatment, anti-oxidant/detoxifying ability of
      c9 or t10-CLA and the protective effect induced by c9 pre-treatment (c9 + GI)
      were evaluated in DQ8 mice duodenum by combining enzymatic, immunoblotting,
      histological evaluation and quantitative real-time PCR assays. RESULTS: GI
      treatment produces the time-dependent decline of the considered detoxifying
      mechanisms thus leading to pro-apoptotic and pro-oxidant effects. APEH/proteasome
      pathway was not markedly affected by individual CLA isomers, but duodenal redox
      status and activity/mRNA levels of Nrf2-activated enzymes were significantly
      improved by c9 administration. c9 pre-treatment protects against GI-mediated
      accumulation of oxidative stress markers, and histological examination reveals
      the increase of goblet cells number in mouse duodenum but induces only a partial
      recovery of APEH/proteasome activity. CONCLUSIONS: The activation of and adaptive
      response by low doses of c9 supplementation prevents distinct signs of gliadin
      induced enteropathy in DQ8 mice.

PMID- 25840669
TI  - The power of phase II end-points for different possible mechanisms of action of
      an experimental treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The high failure rate in phase III oncology trials is partly because
      the signal obtained from phase II trials is often weak. Several papers have
      considered the appropriateness of various phase II end-points for individual
      trials, but there has not been a systematic comparison using simulated data to
      determine which end-point should be used in which situation. METHODS: In this
      paper we carry out simulation studies to compare the power of several Response
      Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (RECIST) response-based end-points for one
      arm and two-arm trials, together with progression-free survival (PFS) and testing
      the tumour-shrinkage directly for two-arm trials. We consider six scenarios: (1)
      short-term cytotoxic therapy; (2) continuous cytotoxic therapy; (3+4) cytostatic
      therapy; (5+6) delayed tumour-shrinkage effect (seen in some immunotherapies). We
      also consider measurement error in the assessment of tumour size. RESULTS:
      Measurement error affects the type-I error rate and power of single-arm trials,
      and the power of two-arm trials. Generally no single end-point performed well in
      all scenarios. Best observed response rate, PFS and directly testing the tumour
      shrinkages performed best for a number of scenarios. PFS performed very poorly
      when the effect of the treatment was short-lived. In scenario 6, where the delay
      in effect was long, no end-point performed well. CONCLUSIONS: A clinician setting
      up a phase II trial should consider the likely mechanism of action the drug will
      have and choose an end-point that provides high power for that scenario. Testing
      the difference in tumour-shrinkage is often powerful. Alternative end-points are
      required for therapies with a long delayed effect.

PMID- 25840671
TI  - Morphological Decomposition in Japanese De-adjectival Nominals: Masked and Overt
      Priming Evidence.
AB  - Whether morpheme-based processing extends to relatively unproductive derived
      words remains a matter of debate. Although whole-word storage and access has been
      proposed for some derived words, such as Japanese de-adjectival nominals with the
      unproductive (-mi) suffix (e.g., Hagiwara et al. in Language 75:739-763, 1999),
      Clahsen and Ikemoto (Ment Lex 7:147-182, 2012) found masked priming from de
      adjectival nominals with productive (-sa) and unproductive (-mi) suffixes to
      their adjectivally-inflected base morpheme. Using masked and unmasked priming, we
      examine whether adjectivally-inflected base morpheme primes facilitate the
      processing of Japanese de-adjectival nominal targets with a productive or
      unproductive affix, including an orthographic-overlap condition and semantic
      relatedness measure that Clahsen and Ikemoto (2012) did not include. Our results
      replicate and extend Clahsen and Ikemoto (2012), revealing significant,
      statistically-equivalent morphological priming effects for -sa and -mi affixed
      targets, independent of orthographic and semantic relatednesss, suggesting that
      the processing of derived words with the unproductive -mi affix makes recourse to
      morpheme-level representations. 

PMID- 25840670
TI  - Predictors of long-term diabetes remission after metabolic surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND DATA: Bariatric/metabolic surgery has been proposed for the treatment
      of inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in obese patients.
      However, prediction on successful long-term remission of T2DM after metabolic
      surgery has not been clearly studied. Our objectives were to evaluate rates of
      long-term remission of T2DM after metabolic surgery and determine the independent
      predictors of remission. METHODS: Outcomes of 157 patients who underwent
      metabolic surgery between 2006 and 2009 and who had complete 5-year follow-up
      data were assessed. Prolonged complete remission was defined as glycated
      hemoglobin (HbA1c) less than 6 % without diabetes medication up to 5 years.
      Predictors of prolonged remission studies included patient characteristics such
      as glucose level, HbA1c, body weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, total
      cholesterol, LDL, triglyceride, uric acid, AST, alanine transaminase (ALT),
      albumin, insulin, C-peptide, iron, calcium, complete blood cell count, the ABCD
      score (a multidimensional grading system composed of age, body mass index (BMI),
      C-peptide levels, and duration of T2DM), and postoperative weight loss. RESULTS:
      At 5 years after surgery, the weight loss was 27.1 % and the mean BMI decreased
      from 39.8 to 28.8 kg/m(2). The mean HbA1c decreased from 8.3 to 6.0 %. A
      significant number of patients had improvement in their glycemic control,
      including 97 (71.3 %) patients who had complete remission (HbA1c < 6.0 %), 27
      (19.9 %) partial remission (HbA1c < 6.5 %), and 12 (8.8 %) improved condition
      (HbA1c < 7 %). In univariate analysis, patients with prolonged T2DM remission
      after surgery were younger and heavier; had a wider waist, higher C-peptide,
      shorter duration of T2DM, higher liver enzyme, higher insulin resistance, higher
      C-peptide level, and higher white blood cell count; were taking smaller insulin
      dosage; had higher ABCD score; and had greater weight loss than those without
      remission. Multivariate logistical regression analyses showed that the ABCD score
      and weight loss were the only predictors of remission after metabolic surgery.
      CONCLUSIONS: Metabolic surgery is a treatment option for patients with obesity
      and T2DM. Baseline ABCD score and weight loss have a major influence on outcome.

PMID- 25840672
TI  - Cognitive and behavioral symptoms in Parkinson's disease patients with the G2019S
      and R1441G mutations of the LRRK2 gene.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the cognitive and psychiatric status of patients with
      Parkinson's disease related to the G2019S and the R1441G mutations of the LRRK2
      gene (LRRK2-PD) and idiopathic Parkinson's disease (iPD) patients. METHODS: We
      examined cognition and psychiatric symptoms in 27 patients with LRRK2-PD (12
      G2019S and 15 R1441G) and 27 iPD patients. RESULTS: The groups were similar in
      age, education, disease duration, levodopa equivalent daily dose, and Unified
      Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) II-IV; however, the LRRK2-PD showed less
      impairment on UPDRS-I (2.0 +/- 1.7 vs. 4.2 +/- 2.8, p = 0.003). The LRRK2-PD
      presented less frequent subjective cognitive complaints (18.5% vs. 63.0%, p =
      0.002), and mild cognitive impairment or dementia (25.9% vs. 59.2%, p = 0.027).
      They also showed less impairment on scales for general cognition (Mattis dementia
      rating scale 131.2 +/- 10.9 vs. 119 +/- 24.0, p = 0.022), episodic verbal memory
      (Rey's auditory verbal learning test, immediate recall 39.2 +/- 9.5 vs. 27.6 +/-
      12.8 p < 0.001, delayed recall 7.2 +/- 3.7 vs. 4.7 +/- 4.0 p = 0.022), and the
      Neuropsychiatric Inventory (9.7 +/- 9.2 vs. 20.5 +/- 14.3, p = 0.004, significant
      differences for apathy and hallucinations). The LRRK2-PD subjects were less
      frequently treated with antipsychotic medication (0% vs. 25.9%, p = 0.010). There
      were no significant differences between G2019S and R1441G mutation carriers.
      CONCLUSIONS: Mutations of the LRRK2 gene might cause PD associated with less
      cognitive and neuropsychiatric impairment as compared to iPD.

PMID- 25840673
TI  - Limited correlations between clinician-based and patient-based measures of
      essential tremor severity.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: We investigated the relation between changes in clinician-based and
      patient-based measures of tremor severity, within the Fahn-Tolosa-Marin Tremor
      Rating Scale (TRS) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) in essential tremor patients.
      METHODS: Thirty-seven patients were assessed twice: on- and off-medication.
      Clinician-based, objective TRS assessments, consisting of part A
      (postures/movements) and part B (tremor-inducing tasks) were conducted by a
      blinded assessor using video-tapes. Patients completed TRS part C (limitations in
      activities of daily life) and indicated subjective tremor severity using VAS.
      RESULTS: Patients' total TRS and VAS scores improved on-medication (both p <
      0.001). Mean improvement was 6.3 (sd 5.4) points on the total TRS and 2.3 (sd
      2.3) points on the VAS score. Within the TRS, we found moderate correlations
      between changes in clinician-based TRS-B and patient-based TRS-C scores (rho =
      0.387, p = 0.011), but not between changes in clinician-based TRS-A and TRS-C
      scores (rho = 0.128, p = 0.232). Moreover, changes in subjective VAS scores
      correlated with changes in total TRS (rho = 0.422, p = 0.007), changes in TRS-C
      scores (rho = 0.367, p = 0.015) and, more weakly, with changes in TRS-B scores
      (rho = 0.281, p = 0.049), but again: not with changes in TRS-A scores (rho = 
      0.008, p = 0.482). DISCUSSION: We found no correlation between changes in
      clinician-based TRS-A, and patient-based measures TRS-C or VAS scores, and a weak
      correlation between clinician-based TRS-B and VAS scores. The limited
      correlations between changes in clinician-based and patient-based measures of
      tremor severity suggest that the different scales measure different aspects of
      tremor severity and support the additional use of subjective patient-based
      assessments in clinical practice and clinical trials.

PMID- 25840674
TI  - Vascular responses of the extremities to transdermal application of vasoactive
      agents in Caucasian and African descent individuals.
AB  - PURPOSE: Individuals of African descent (AFD) are more susceptible to non
      freezing cold injury than Caucasians (CAU) which may be due, in part, to
      differences in the control of skin blood flow. We investigated the skin blood
      flow responses to transdermal application of vasoactive agents. METHODS: Twenty
      four young males (12 CAU and 12 AFD) undertook three tests in which iontophoresis
      was used to apply acetylcholine (ACh 1 w/v %), sodium nitroprusside (SNP 0.01 w/v
      %) and noradrenaline (NA 0.5 mM) to the skin. The skin sites tested were: volar
      forearm, non-glabrous finger and toe, and glabrous finger (pad) and toe (pad).
      RESULTS: In response to SNP on the forearm, AFD had less vasodilatation for a
      given current application than CAU (P = 0.027-0.004). ACh evoked less
      vasodilatation in AFD for a given application current in the non-glabrous finger
      and toe compared with CAU (P = 0.043-0.014) with a lower maximum vasodilatation
      in the non-glabrous finger (median [interquartile], AFD n = 11, 41[234] %, CAU n
      = 12, 351[451] %, P = 0.011) and non-glabrous toe (median [interquartile], AFD n
      = 9, 116[318] %, CAU n = 12, 484[720] %, P = 0.018). ACh and SNP did not elicit
      vasodilatation in the glabrous skin sites of either group. There were no ethnic
      differences in response to NA. CONCLUSION: AFD have an attenuated endothelium
      dependent vasodilatation in non-glabrous sites of the fingers and toes compared
      with CAU. This may contribute to lower skin temperature following cold exposure
      and the increased risk of cold injuries experienced by AFD.

PMID- 25840675
TI  - Fault ride-through enhancement using an enhanced field oriented control technique
      for converters of grid connected DFIG and STATCOM for different types of faults.
AB  - With increase in electric power demand, transmission lines were forced to operate
      close to its full load and due to the drastic change in weather conditions,
      thermal limit is increasing and the system is operating with less security
      margin. To meet the increased power demand, a doubly fed induction generator
      (DFIG) based wind generation system is a better alternative. For improving power
      flow capability and increasing security STATCOM can be adopted. As per modern
      grid rules, DFIG needs to operate without losing synchronism called low voltage
      ride through (LVRT) during severe grid faults. Hence, an enhanced field oriented
      control technique (EFOC) was adopted in Rotor Side Converter of DFIG converter to
      improve power flow transfer and to improve dynamic and transient stability. A
      STATCOM is coordinated to the system for obtaining much better stability and
      enhanced operation during grid fault. For the EFOC technique, rotor flux
      reference changes its value from synchronous speed to zero during fault for
      injecting current at the rotor slip frequency. In this process DC-Offset
      component of flux is controlled, decomposition during symmetric and asymmetric
      faults. The offset decomposition of flux will be oscillatory in a conventional
      field oriented control, whereas in EFOC it was aimed to damp quickly. This paper
      mitigates voltage and limits surge currents to enhance the operation of DFIG
      during symmetrical and asymmetrical faults. The system performance with different
      types of faults like single line to ground, double line to ground and triple line
      to ground was applied and compared without and with a STATCOM occurring at the
      point of common coupling with fault resistance of a very small value at
      0.001Omega. 

PMID- 25840676
TI  - Suspension force control of bearingless permanent magnet slice motor based on
      flux linkage identification.
AB  - The control accuracy and dynamic performance of suspension force are confined in
      the traditional bearingless permanent magnet slice motor (BPMSM) control
      strategies because the suspension force control is indirectly achieved by
      adopting a closed loop of displacement only. Besides, the phase information in
      suspension force control relies on accurate measurement of rotor position, making
      the control system more complex. In this paper, a new suspension force control
      strategy with displacement and radial suspension force double closed loops is
      proposed, the flux linkage of motor windings is identified based on voltage
      current model and the flexibility of motor control can be improved greatly.
      Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed suspension force
      control strategy is effective to realize the stable operation of the BPMSM. 

PMID- 25840677
TI  - Depressive Symptoms, Cardiac Anxiety, and Fear of Body Sensations in Patients
      with Non-Cardiac Chest Pain, and Their Relation to Healthcare-Seeking Behavior: A
      Cross-Sectional Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients with non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) suffer from recurrent
      chest pain and make substantial use of healthcare resources. OBJECTIVE: To
      explore the prevalence of depressive symptoms, cardiac anxiety, and fear of body
      sensations in patients discharged with a NCCP diagnosis; and to describe how
      depressive symptoms, cardiac anxiety, and fear of body sensations are related to
      each other and to healthcare-seeking behavior. METHODS: Cross-sectional design.
      Data were collected between late October 2013 and early January 2014 in 552
      patients with NCCP from four hospitals in southeast Sweden, using the Patient
      Health Questionnaire-9, Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire, and Body Sensations
      Questionnaire. RESULTS: About 26 % (n = 141) of the study participants reported
      at least moderate depressive symptoms, 42 % (n = 229) reported at least moderate
      cardiac anxiety, and 62 % (n = 337) reported some degree of fear of body
      sensations. We found strong positive relationships between depressive symptoms
      and cardiac anxiety (r s = 0.49; P < 0.01), depressive symptoms and fear of body
      sensations (r s = 0.50; P < 0.01), and cardiac anxiety and fear of body
      sensations (r s = 0.56; P < 0.01). About 60 % of the participants sought care
      because of chest pain once, 26 % two or three times, and the rest more than three
      times. In a multivariable regression analysis, and after adjustment for
      multimorbidity, cardiac anxiety was the only variable independently associated
      with healthcare-seeking behavior. CONCLUSION: Patients with NCCP and many
      healthcare consultations had high levels of depressive symptoms and cardiac
      anxiety, and moderate levels of fear of body sensations. Cardiac anxiety had the
      strongest relationship with healthcare-seeking behavior and may therefore be an
      important target for intervention to alleviate suffering and to reduce healthcare
      use and costs.

PMID- 25840678
TI  - Missed nursing care and predicting factors in the Italian medical care setting.
AB  - Missed nursing care (MNC), such as nursing care omitted or delayed, has not been
      measured in the Italian context where several cost containment interventions
      affect the care offered in medical units. The aim of the study is to identify the
      amount, type, and reasons for MNC in the Italian medical care setting and to
      explore the factors that affect the occurrence of MNC. A 3-month longitudinal
      survey was carried out followed by a cross-sectional study design in 12 north
      eastern acute medical units. A total of 314 nursing staff members were involved.
      Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify the predictors of MNC.
      Patient ambulation (91.4 %), turning the patient every 2 h (74.2 %), and right
      timing in administering medications (64.6 %) were the most perceived MNC. Among
      the most frequent reasons were the unexpected rise in patient volume or critical
      conditions (95.2 %), inadequate numbers of staff (94.9 %), and large numbers of
      admissions/discharges (93.3 %). The R (2) 33.2 % of the variance in MNC were
      explained by a full-time position (OR 4.743, 95 % CI 1.146-19.629), communication
      tensions between Registered Nurses and Nurses' Aides (OR 1.601, 95 % CI 1.020
      2.515), the amount of experience in medical unit (OR 1.564, 95 % CI 1.021-2.397),
      and the amount of daily care offered by Nurses' Aides (1.039, 95 % CI 1.011
      1.067). A substantial amount of basic and clinically relevant nursing
      interventions was perceived to be missed, and this may lead to an increase in
      negative outcomes for patients admitted to a medical unit. Appropriate standards
      of nursing care should be adopted urgently in medical units aiming to protect
      frail patients.

PMID- 25840679
TI  - Pros and cons of new oral anticoagulants in the treatment of venous
      thromboembolism in patients with cancer.
AB  - Patients with cancer account for 20 % of cases of venous thromboembolism (VTE).
      Cancer patients are at increased risk for VTE during the entire course of their
      disease, also in absence of traditional VTE risk factors. Furthermore, patients
      with VTE and cancer have an estimated risk of bleeding of 15-20 % per year while
      on anticoagulant treatment. For these reasons, treatment of acute VTE in patients
      with cancer remains a clinical challenge. In clinical studies, which included
      about 27,000 patients, new oral anticoagulants (NOACs) have been shown to be as
      effective and safe as conventional anticoagulation (heparin given with and
      followed by vitamin K antagonists) for the treatment of VTE. In these studies,
      1227 patients with active cancer were enrolled. Preliminary results of subgroup
      analyses and meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials suggest that NOACs could
      represent an alternative to conventional anticoagulation in patients with active
      cancer. Further "ad hoc" studies evaluating the clinical benefit of treatment
      with NOACs in patients with VTE and cancer are needed.

PMID- 25840680
TI  - Mycobacterium tuberculosis effectors interfering host apoptosis signaling.
AB  - Tuberculosis remains a serious human public health concern. The coevolution
      between its pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis and human host complicated the
      way to prevent and cure TB. Apoptosis plays subtle role in this interaction. The
      pathogen endeavors to manipulate the apoptosis via diverse effectors targeting
      key signaling nodes. In this paper, we summarized the effectors pathogen used to
      subvert the apoptosis, such as LpqH, ESAT-6/CFP-10, LAMs. The interplay between
      different forms of cell deaths, such as apoptosis, autophagy, necrosis, is also
      discussed with a focus on the modes of action of effectors, and implications for
      better TB control. 

PMID- 25840681
TI  - Functional Exposed Amino Acids of BauA as Potential Immunogen Against
      Acinetobacter baumannii.
AB  - Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii is recognized to be among the most
      difficult antimicrobial-resistant gram negative bacilli to control and treat. One
      of the major challenges that the pathogenic bacteria face in their host is the
      scarcity of freely available iron. To survive under such conditions, bacteria
      express new proteins on their outer membrane and also secrete iron chelators
      called siderophores. Antibodies directed against these proteins associated with
      iron uptake exert a bacteriostatic or bactericidal effect against A. baumanii in
      vitro, by blocking siderophore mediated iron uptake pathways. Attempts should be
      made to discover peptides that could mimic protein epitopes and possess the same
      immunogenicity as the whole protein. Subsequently, theoretical methods for
      epitope prediction have been developed leading to synthesis of such peptides that
      are important for development of immunodiagnostic tests and vaccines. The present
      study was designed to in silico resolving the major obstacles in the control or
      in prevention of the diseases caused by A. baumannii. We exploited bioinformatic
      tools to better understand and characterize the Baumannii acinetobactin
      utilization structure of A. baumannii and select appropriate regions as effective
      B cell epitopes. In conclusion, amino acids 26-191 of cork domain and 321-635 of
      part of the barrel domain including L4-L9, were selected as vaccine candidates.
      These two regions contain functional exposed amino acids with higher score of B
      cell epitopes properties. Majority of amino acids are hydrophilic, flexible,
      accessible, and favorable for B cells from secondary structure point of view. 

PMID- 25840682
TI  - T follicular helper cells have distinct modes of migration and molecular
      signatures in naive and memory immune responses.
AB  - B helper follicular T (Tfh) cells are critical for long-term humoral immunity.
      However, it remains unclear how these cells are recruited and contribute to
      secondary immune responses. Here we show that primary Tfh cells segregate into
      follicular mantle (FM) and germinal center (GC) subpopulations that display
      distinct gene expression signatures. Restriction of the primary Tfh cell
      subpopulation in the GC was mediated by downregulation of chemotactic receptor
      EBI2. Following collapse of the GC, memory T cells persisted in the outer
      follicle where they scanned CD169(+) subcapsular sinus macrophages. Reactivation
      and intrafollicular expansion of these follicular memory T cells in the
      subcapsular region was followed by their extrafollicular dissemination via the
      lymphatic flow. These data suggest that Tfh cells integrate their antigen
      experience history to focus T cell help within the GC during primary responses
      but act rapidly to provide systemic T cell help after re-exposure to the antigen.

PMID- 25840684
TI  - Erratum to: Parent Training in Autism Spectrum Disorder: What's in a Name?

PMID- 25840683
TI  - Clinical Evaluation of PET Image Quality as a Function of Acquisition Time in a
      New TOF-PET/MRI Compared to TOF-PET/CT--Initial Results.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare only the performance of the PET
      component between a TOF-PET/CT (henceforth noted as PET/CT) scanner and an
      integrated TOF-PET/MRI (henceforth noted as PET/MRI) scanner concerning image
      quality parameters and quantification in terms of standardized uptake value (SUV)
      as a function of acquisition time (a surrogate of dose). The CT and MR image
      quality were not assessed, and that is beyond the scope of this study.
      PROCEDURES: Five brain and five whole-body patients were included in the study.
      The PET/CT scan was used as a reference and the PET/MRI acquisition time was
      consecutively adjusted, taking into account the decay between the scans in order
      to expose both systems to the same amount of the emitted signal. The acquisition
      times were then retrospectively reduced to assess the performance of the PET/MRI
      for lower count rates. Image quality, image sharpness, artifacts, and noise were
      evaluated. SUV measurements were taken in the liver and in the white matter to
      compare quantification. RESULTS: Quantitative evaluation showed strong
      correlation between PET/CT and PET/MRI brain SUVs. Liver correlation was good,
      however, with lower uptake estimation in PET/MRI, partially justified by bio
      redistribution. The clinical evaluation showed that PET/MRI offers higher image
      quality and sharpness with lower levels of noise and artifacts compared to PET/CT
      with reduced acquisition times for whole-body scans while for brain scans there
      is no significant difference. CONCLUSION: The TOF-PET/MRI showed higher image
      quality compared to TOF-PET/CT as tested with reduced imaging times. However,
      this result accounts mainly for body imaging, while no significant differences
      were found in brain imaging.

PMID- 25840685
TI  - A systematic review of the cost-effectiveness of non-surgical obesity
      interventions in men.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Increasing obesity related health conditions have a substantial
      burden on population health and healthcare spending. Obesity may have a sex
      specific impact on disease development, men and women may respond differently to
      interventions, and there may be sex-specific differences to the cost
      effectiveness of interventions to address obesity. There is no clear indication
      of cost-effective treatments for men. METHODS: This systematic review summarises
      the literature reporting the cost-effectiveness of non-surgical weight-management
      interventions for men. Studies were quality assessed against a checklist for
      appraising decision modelling studies. RESULTS: Although none of the included
      studies explicitly set out to determine the cost-effectiveness of treatment for
      men, seven studies reported results for subgroups of men. Interventions were
      grouped into lifestyle interventions (five studies) and Orlistat (two studies).
      The retrieved studies showed promising evidence of cost-effectiveness, especially
      when interventions were targeted at high-risk groups, such as those with impaired
      glucose tolerance. There appears to be some sex-specific elements to cost
      effectiveness, however, there were no clear trends or indications of what may be
      contributing to this. CONCLUSION: The economic evidence was highly uncertain, and
      limited by variable methodological quality of the included studies. It was
      therefore not possible to draw strong conclusions on cost-effectiveness. Future
      studies are required to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of interventions
      specifically targeted towards weight loss for men.

PMID- 25840686
TI  - Protective roles of N-benzylcinnamide on cortex and hippocampus of aged rat
      brains.
AB  - Brain aging has been associated with oxidative stress leading to inflammation and
      apoptosis. The protective effects and underlying mechanisms of N-benzylcinnamide
      (PT-3), purified from Piper submultinerve, on brains of 90-week-old Wistar rats
      were investigated following daily intraperitoneal injection with 1.5 mg of PT
      3/kg of body weight for 15 days. PT-3 treatment improved spatial learning and
      memory of aged rats and caused significant changes in brain frontal cortex,
      hippocampus, and temporal cortex in parameters associated with oxidative stress
      (decreased reactive oxygen species production and iNOS and nNOS levels),
      inflammation (reduced levels of IL-1beta and IL-6), apoptosis (reduced levels of
      Bax and activated caspase-3, and elevated level of Bcl-2), and signaling pathways
      related to inflammation and apoptosis (decreased amounts of phospho-JNK and -p38,
      increased phospho-Akt level and no change in phospho-ERK1/2 content) compared to
      controls. PT-3 treatment also inhibited aged rat brain AChE activity. These
      results suggest that PT-3 with its intrinsic antioxidant and AChE inhibitory
      properties has therapeutic potential in ameliorating, in part, age-associated
      damages to the brain.

PMID- 25840687
TI  - Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying sex- and maturation-related variation in
      pheromone responses in honey bees (Apis mellifera).
AB  - In the honey bee (Apis mellifera), social organization is primarily mediated by
      pheromones. Queen-produced 9-oxo-2-decenoic acid (9-ODA) functions as both a
      social and sex pheromone, eliciting attraction in both female workers and male
      drones, but also affecting other critical aspects of worker physiology and
      behavior. These effects are also maturation related, as younger workers and
      sexually mature drones are most receptive to 9-ODA. While changes in the
      peripheral nervous system drive sex-related differences in sensitivity to 9-ODA,
      the mechanisms driving maturation-related shifts in receptivity to 9-ODA remain
      unknown. Here, we investigate the hypothesis that changes at the peripheral
      nervous system may be mediating plastic responses to 9-ODA by characterizing
      expression levels of AmOR11 (the olfactory receptor tuned to 9-ODA) and
      electrophysiological responses to 9-ODA. We find that receptor expression
      correlates significantly with behavioral receptivity to 9-ODA, with nurses and
      sexually mature drones exhibiting higher levels of expression than foragers and
      immature drones, respectively. Electrophysiological responses to 9-ODA were not
      found to correlate with behavioral receptivity or receptor expression, however.
      Thus, while receptor expression at the periphery exhibits a level of plasticity
      that correlates with behavior, the mechanisms driving maturation-dependent
      responsiveness to 9-ODA appear to function primarily in the central nervous
      system. 

PMID- 25840688
TI  - Genetic dissimilarity between primary colorectal carcinomas and their lymph node
      metastases: ploidy, p53, bcl-2, and c-myc expression--a pilot study.
AB  - The current paradigm of metastasis proposes that rare cells within primary tumors
      acquire metastatic capability via sequential mutations, suggesting that
      metastases are genetically dissimilar from their primary tumors. This study
      investigated the changes in the level of expression of a well-defined panel of
      cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis markers between the primary
      colorectal cancer (CRC) and the corresponding synchronous lymph node (LN)
      metastasis from the same patients. DNA flow cytometry and immunostaining of p53,
      bcl-2, and c-myc were carried out on 36 cases of CRC radical resection specimens
      with their corresponding LN metastases. There was very low probability that the
      histological patterns of primary tumors and LN metastases are independent (p <
      0.001). Metastatic tumors were significantly more diffusely positive for p53 than
      the primary tumors (p < 0.001). Conversely, primary tumors were significantly
      more diffusely positive for c-myc than metastatic tumors (p = 0.011). No
      significant difference was found between the LNs and the primary tumors in bcl-2
      positivity (p = 0.538) and DNA aneuploidy (p = 0.35), with a tendency towards
      negative bcl-2 and less aneuploidy in LN metastases than primary tumors. In
      conclusion, LN metastatic colorectal carcinomas have a tendency of being less
      differentiated, with a higher incidence of diffuse p53 staining, lower incidence
      of bcl-2 staining, and less aneuploidy in comparison to their primary
      counterparts suggesting a more aggressive biological behavior, which could
      indicate the necessity for more aggressive adjuvant therapy.

PMID- 25840689
TI  - Role of pancreatic stellate cells and periostin in pancreatic cancer progression.
AB  - Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive and one of the five most
      lethal malignancies characterized by prominent desmoplastic reaction.
      Accumulating evidences indicate that tumor desmoplasia plays a pivotal role in
      PDAC progression, and it has been largely ignored until recent times. It has now
      been unequivocally shown that pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) are the principal
      effector cells responsible for stroma production. Periostin, also known as
      osteoblast-specific factor 2, is a secretory protein and originally identified as
      an osteoblast-specific factor that expressed in periosteum. Periostin is
      exclusively produced by activated PSCs, and periostin overexpression presents in
      various malignant tumors and closely relates with disease progression. In
      addition, periostin has been suggested to stimulate pancreatic cancer cells
      proliferation and enhance their resistance to serum starvation and hypoxia.
      Therefore, the interplay between cancer cells and stromal cells plays a vital
      role in PDAC development. However, the function of periostin in pancreatic cancer
      development is controversial. This review summarizes existing knowledge about the
      role of PSCs in cancer stroma production, the interaction between PSCs and
      pancreatic cancer cells, tumor angiogenesis, and hypoxic microenvironment, with
      particular focus on the expression and function as well as signaling pathways of
      periostin in PDAC cells and PSCs. 

PMID- 25840691
TI  - Using platelet-rich plasma to treat jumper's knees: Exploring the effect of a
      second closely-timed infiltration.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Some clinical series have evaluated the effect of platelet-rich
      plasma (PRP) in the treatment of proximal patellar tendinopathy. Although it is
      possible that a single infiltrative administration may prove to be an effective
      treatment for this indication, most of the existing studies evaluated the effects
      of two or three successive infiltrations. The aim of this study was to evaluate
      whether two infiltrations of PRP proves more effective than a single treatment.
      DESIGN: Prospective, randomized and comparative study of level 2. METHODS: Twenty
      patients suffering from chronic proximal patellar tendinopathy were enrolled into
      the study and split into two randomized groups (one or two infiltrations of PRP,
      respectively). The 3-month follow-up evaluation consisted of VAS, IKDC and VISA-P
      scores, along with algometer, isokinetic and ultrasounds evaluations. After 1
      year, subjects were contacted to define their functional evolution. RESULTS: The
      concentration of the PRP used for each infiltration was similar in both groups,
      and contained no red or white cells. Results revealed no difference in treatment
      efficacy between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: The comparison between one or two
      infiltrations of PRP did not reveal any difference between the two groups at
      short to mid term. A second closely-timed infiltration of PRP to treat proximal
      patellar tendinopathies is not necessary to improve the efficacy of this
      treatment in the short term.

PMID- 25840690
TI  - miR-30 overexpression promotes glioma stem cells by regulating Jak/STAT3
      signaling pathway.
AB  - Malignant glioma is the most common intracranial tumor with poor prognosis. It is
      well believed that glioma stem cells (GSCs) are responsible for the initiation
      and progression of glioma. Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of
      transcription (Jak/STAT3) pathway plays a key role in the functions of GSCs.
      However, the regulatory mechanism of Jak/STAT3 pathway has not been completely
      elucidated. This study employed multidisciplinary approaches to investigate the
      upstream regulators of Jak/STAT3 signaling in GSCs. miR-30 was found to be
      overexpressed in the GSCs derived from U-87 MG and primary glioma cells, compared
      with non-stem-cell-like glioma cells and normal cells. Downregulation of miR-30
      was able to suppress Jak/STAT3 pathway and reduce the tumorigenecity of GSCs. miR
      30 decreased the expression of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3)
      expression by targeting 3'UTR of its mRNA. The silencing of SOCS3 abolished the
      effect of miR-30 downregulation on GSCs. Collectively, there is a regulatory
      pathway consisting of miR-30, SOCS3, and Jak/STAT3 in GSCs, and targeting this
      pathway may be a promising strategy to treat glioma.

PMID- 25840692
TI  - Adjuvant immunotherapy for cancer: the next step.

PMID- 25840694
TI  - New guidelines for hypertension control in cardiac patients - lower may not be
      better.

PMID- 25840693
TI  - Adjuvant ipilimumab versus placebo after complete resection of high-risk stage
      III melanoma (EORTC 18071): a randomised, double-blind, phase 3 trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ipilimumab is an approved treatment for patients with advanced
      melanoma. We aimed to assess ipilimumab as adjuvant therapy for patients with
      completely resected stage III melanoma at high risk of recurrence. METHODS: We
      did a double-blind, phase 3 trial in patients with stage III cutaneous melanoma
      (excluding lymph node metastasis <=1 mm or in-transit metastasis) with adequate
      resection of lymph nodes (ie, the primary cutaneous melanoma must have been
      completely excised with adequate surgical margins) who had not received previous
      systemic therapy for melanoma from 91 hospitals located in 19 countries. Patients
      were randomly assigned (1:1), centrally by an interactive voice response system,
      to receive intravenous infusions of 10 mg/kg ipilimumab or placebo every 3 weeks
      for four doses, then every 3 months for up to 3 years. Using a minimisation
      technique, randomisation was stratified by disease stage and geographical region.
      The primary endpoint was recurrence-free survival, assessed by an independent
      review committee, and analysed by intention to treat. Enrollment is complete but
      the study is ongoing for follow-up for analysis of secondary endpoints. This
      trial is registered with EudraCT, number 2007-001974-10, and ClinicalTrials.gov,
      number NCT00636168. FINDINGS: Between July 10, 2008, and Aug 1, 2011, 951
      patients were randomly assigned to ipilimumab (n=475) or placebo (n=476), all of
      whom were included in the intention-to-treat analyses. At a median follow-up of
      2.74 years (IQR 2.28-3.22), there were 528 recurrence-free survival events (234
      in the ipilimumab group vs 294 in the placebo group). Median recurrence-free
      survival was 26.1 months (95% CI 19.3-39.3) in the ipilimumab group versus 17.1
      months (95% CI 13.4-21.6) in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0.75; 95% CI 0.64
      0.90; p=0.0013); 3-year recurrence-free survival was 46.5% (95% CI 41.5-51.3) in
      the ipilimumab group versus 34.8% (30.1-39.5) in the placebo group. The most
      common grade 3-4 immune-related adverse events in the ipilimumab group were
      gastrointestinal (75 [16%] vs four [<1%] in the placebo group), hepatic (50 [11%]
      vs one [<1%]), and endocrine (40 [8%] vs none). Adverse events led to
      discontinuation of treatment in 245 (52%) of 471 patients who started ipilimumab
      (182 [39%] during the initial treatment period of four doses). Five patients (1%)
      died due to drug-related adverse events. Five (1%) participants died because of
      drug-related adverse events in the ipilimumab group; three patients died because
      of colitis (two with gastrointestinal perforation), one patient because of
      myocarditis, and one patient because of multiorgan failure with Guillain-Barre
      syndrome. INTERPRETATION: Adjuvant ipilimumab significantly improved recurrence
      free survival for patients with completely resected high-risk stage III melanoma.
      The adverse event profile was consistent with that observed in advanced melanoma,
      but at higher incidences in particular for endocrinopathies. The risk-benefit
      ratio of adjuvant ipilimumab at this dose and schedule requires additional
      assessment based on distant metastasis-free survival and overall survival
      endpoints to define its definitive value. FUNDING: Bristol-Myers Squibb.

PMID- 25840695
TI  - Treatment of hypertension in patients with coronary artery disease: A scientific
      statement from the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology,
      and American Society of Hypertension.

PMID- 25840696
TI  - Can species traits predict the susceptibility of riverine fish to water resource
      development? An Australian case study.
AB  - Water resource developments alter riverine environments by disrupting
      longitudinal connectivity, transforming lotic habitats, and modifying in-stream
      hydraulic conditions. Effective management of anthropogenic disturbances
      therefore requires an understanding of the range of potential ecosystem effects
      and the inherent traits symptomatic of elevated vulnerability to disturbance.
      Using 42 riverine fish native to South Eastern Australia as a case study, we
      quantified six morphological, behavioral, and life-history traits to classify
      species into groups reflecting potential differences in their response to
      ecosystem changes as a result of water resource development. Classification
      analysis identified five strategies based on fish life-history dispersal
      requirements, climbing potential, and habitat preference. These strategies in
      turn highlight the potential species at risk from the separate impacts of water
      resource development and inform management decisions to mitigate those risks.
      Swimming ability did not contribute to distinguishing species into functional
      groups, likely due to methodological inconsistencies in quantifying swimming
      performance that may ultimately hinder the ability of fish passage facilities to
      function within the physical capabilities of species at risk of habitat
      fragmentation. This study improves our ability to predict the performance of
      groups of species at risk from the multiple environmental changes imposed by
      humans and goes beyond broad-scale dispersal requirements as a predictor of
      individual species response. 

PMID- 25840697
TI  - Vegetation in Bangalore's Slums: Composition, Species Distribution, Density,
      Diversity, and History.
AB  - There is widespread acknowledgement of the need for biodiversity and greening to
      be part of urban sustainability efforts. Yet we know little about greenery in the
      context of urban poverty, particularly in slums, which constitute a significant
      challenge for inclusive development in many rapidly growing cities. We assessed
      the composition, density, diversity, and species distribution of vegetation in 44
      slums of Bangalore, India, comparing these to published studies on vegetation
      diversity in other land-use categories. Most trees were native to the region, as
      compared to other land-use categories such as parks and streets which are
      dominated by introduced species. Of the most frequently encountered tree species,
      Moringa oleifera and Cocos nucifera are important for food, while Ficus religiosa
      plays a critical cultural and religious role. Tree density and diversity were
      much lower in slums compared to richer residential neighborhoods. There are also
      differences in species preferences, with most plant (herb, shrub and vines)
      species in slums having economic, food, medicinal, or cultural use, while the
      species planted in richer residential areas are largely ornamental. Historic
      development has had an impact on species distribution, with older slums having
      larger sized tree species, while recent slums were dominated by smaller sized
      tree species with greater economic and food use. Extensive focus on planting
      trees and plant species with utility value is required in these congested
      neighborhoods, to provide livelihood support. 

PMID- 25840698
TI  - The role and value of conservation agency research.
AB  - Governments charge their conservation agencies to safeguard biodiversity through
      protected areas and threat mitigation. Increasingly, conservation management and
      policy need to be supported by rigorous evidence provided by science. As such,
      institutional arrangements should consider and enable effective scientific
      research and information dissemination. What role can in-house agency research
      play in responding to this challenge? We examined the research capabilities of
      three conservation agencies from Australia, South Africa, and United States.
      Seven indicators were used to characterize the reliability and relevance of
      agency research. We found similarities among agencies in their patterns of peer
      reviewed publication, cultures of research collaboration, and tendencies to align
      research with organizational objectives. Among the many and diverse activities
      that constitute the role of a contemporary agency researcher, we emphasize two
      key research dimensions: reliability, achieved through peer-reviewed research
      output, and relevance, achieved through active stakeholder engagement. Amid
      increasingly challenging realities for conservation of ecosystems, agency science
      functions are vital to providing the evidence base required for effective
      management and policy development. 

PMID- 25840699
TI  - Using Flow-Ecology Relationships to Evaluate Ecosystem Service Trade-Offs and
      Complementarities in the Nation's Largest River Swamp.
AB  - Large river systems are inextricably linked with social systems; consequently,
      management decisions must be made within a given ecological, social, and
      political framework that often defies objective, technical resolution.
      Understanding flow-ecology relationships in rivers is necessary to assess
      potential impacts of management decisions, but translating complex flow-ecology
      relationships into stakeholder-relevant information remains a struggle. The
      concept of ecosystem services provides a bridge between flow-ecology
      relationships and stakeholder-relevant data. Flow-ecology relationships were used
      to explore complementary and trade-off relationships among 12 ecosystem services
      and related variables in the Atchafalaya River Basin, Louisiana. Results from
      Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration were reduced to four management-relevant
      hydrologic variables using principal components analysis. Multiple regression was
      used to determine flow-ecology relationships and Pearson correlation
      coefficients, along with regression results, were used to determine complementary
      and trade-off relationships among ecosystem services and related variables that
      were induced by flow. Seven ecosystem service variables had significant flow
      ecology relationships for at least one hydrologic variable (R (2) = 0.19-0.64).
      River transportation and blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) landings exhibited a
      complementary relationship mediated by flow; whereas transportation and crawfish
      landings, crawfish landings and crappie (Pomoxis spp.) abundance, and blue crab
      landings and blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) abundance exhibited trade-off
      relationships. Other trade-off and complementary relationships among ecosystem
      services and related variables, however, were not related to flow. These results
      give insight into potential conflicts among stakeholders, can reduce the
      dimensions of management decisions, and provide initial hypotheses for
      experimental flow modifications. 

PMID- 25840700
TI  - The effects of recreation experience, environmental attitude, and biospheric
      value on the environmentally responsible behavior of nature-based tourists.
AB  - The scientific understanding of the recreation experience and the environmentally
      responsible behavior of nature-based tourists is limited. This study examines the
      relationship among the recreation experience, environmental attitude, biospheric
      value, and the general and site-specific environmentally responsible behavior of
      nature-based tourists in Taomi, Liuqiu Island, and Aowanda and Najenshan in
      Taiwan. A total of 1342 usable questionnaires were collected for this study. The
      empirical results indicate that the recreation experience influences biospheric
      value and environmental attitude; subsequently, it then indirectly influences the
      general and site-specific environmentally responsible behavior of nature-based
      tourists. Our theoretical behavioral model elucidates previously proposed but
      unexamined behavioral models among nature-based tourists, and it offers a
      theoretical framework for researchers, decision makers, managers, and tourists in
      the field of nature-based tourism. We conclude that when an individual
      participates in nature-based tourism as described here, these recreation
      experiences strengthen their environmental attitude and biospheric value, and
      consequently increase their engagement in both general and site-specific
      environmentally responsible behaviors. 

PMID- 25840701
TI  - A case of pseudoseizures precipitated by anticonvulsant toxicity.
AB  - We report a case of induction of pseudoseizures by anticonvulsant toxicity in a
      patient with underlying seizure disorder, hence supporting the argument of an
      organic subtype of pseudoseizure. 

PMID- 25840702
TI  - An unusual case of bilateral vestibulopathy, chronic subjective dizziness and
      spondyloarthropathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Vertigo and dizziness are two common symptoms seen in everyday
      practice. However, in some cases, making a diagnosis can be challenging. This
      case report shows the relevance of a careful psychiatric history, which led to
      the diagnosis of chronic subjective dizziness associated with bilateral
      peripheral vestibulopathy. METHODS: A case of a 33-year-old lady with multiple
      episodes of vertigo attack after a minor head injury is reported. RESULTS: A
      comprehensive audiometric and vestibular evaluation reviewed bilateral peripheral
      vestibulopathy. The frequency of the vertigo attacks decreased after treatment
      with betahisdine, but the patient still experienced chronic dizziness.
      Interestingly, when she developed spondyloarthropathy (SpA) 2 years later, both
      the vertigo and dizziness disappeared. When the patient went into clinical
      remission for SpA, she once again felt the vertigo and dizziness. The symptoms
      were initially thought to be part of the autoimmune disease. However, a course of
      oral prednisolone was ineffective. She was later diagnosed with agoraphobia
      without panic attack and chronic subjective dizziness, and was successfully
      treated with a course of benzodiazepine. CONCLUSION: The case presented
      demonstrates the importance of a biopsychosocial approach to patient management
      as vertigo and dizziness are often accompanied by psychological problems that
      must not be overlooked.

PMID- 25840703
TI  - Reversibility of trapped air on chest computed tomography in cystic fibrosis
      patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate changes in trapped air volume and distribution over time
      and compare computed tomography (CT) with pulmonary function tests for
      determining trapped air. METHODS: Thirty children contributed two CTs and
      pulmonary function tests over 2 years. Localized changes in trapped air on CT
      were assessed using image analysis software, by deforming the CT at timepoint 2
      to match timepoint 1, and measuring the volume of stable (TAstable), disappeared
      (TAdisappeared) and new (TAnew) trapped air as a proportion of total lung volume.
      We used the difference between total lung capacity measured by plethysmography
      and helium dilution, residual volume to total lung capacity ratio, forced
      expiratory flow at 75% of vital capacity, and maximum mid-expiratory flow as
      pulmonary function test markers of trapped air. Statistical analysis included
      Wilcoxon's signed rank test and Spearman correlation coefficients. RESULTS:
      Median (range) age at baseline was 11.9 (5-17) years. Median (range) of trapped
      air was 9.5 (2-33)% at timepoint 1 and 9.0 (0-25)% at timepoint 2 (p=0.49).
      Median (range) TAstable, TAdisappeared and TAnew were respectively 3.0 (0-12)%,
      5.0 (1-22)% and 7.0 (0-20)%. Trapped air on CT correlated statistically
      significantly with all pulmonary function measures (p<0.01), other than residual
      volume to total lung capacity ratio (p=0.37). CONCLUSION: Trapped air on CT did
      not significantly progress over 2 years, may have a substantial stable component,
      and is significantly correlated with pulmonary function markers.

PMID- 25840704
TI  - Erratum to: Synthesis and crystal structure of new heterocyles derived from
      saccharin and uracil carrying 1,2,4-oxadiazolylmethyl group.

PMID- 25840705
TI  - Synthetic Strategies in Molecular Imprinting.
AB  - This chapter introduces the basic principle and the synthetic aspects of
      molecular imprinting. First, the use of a molecular template to guide the
      location of functional groups inside molecularly imprinted cavities is explained.
      Three different mechanisms that ensure a molecular template associates with
      functional monomers or the imprinted polymers, that is, through reversible
      covalent, noncovalent, and sacrificial covalent bonds, are then described. The
      main focus is put on noncovalent molecular imprinting using free radical
      polymerization. The merits of using classical radical polymerization and more
      sophisticated, controlled radical polymerization are analyzed. After these
      synthetic chemistry aspects, the chapter continues to discuss the different
      polymerization processes that can be used to prepare well-defined polymer
      monoliths, microspheres, and nanoparticles. New top-down processing techniques
      that produce micro- and nanopatterns of imprinted polymers are also reviewed. The
      chapter finishes with a brief introduction to using imprinted polymers as
      building blocks to construct new functional materials and devices, which we
      consider as one important direction for further development.

PMID- 25840706
TI  - [Recommendations for respiratory support in the newborn (iii). Surfactant and
      nitric oxide].
AB  - The recommendations included in this document will be part a series of updated
      reviews of the literature on respiratory support in the newborn infant. These
      recommendations are structured into twelve modules, and in this work module 7 is
      presented. Each module is the result of a consensus process including all members
      of the Surfactant and Respiratory Group of the Spanish Society of Neonatology.
      They represent a summary of the published papers on each specific topic, and of
      the clinical experience of each one of the members of the group. 

PMID- 25840707
TI  - [Cytomegalovirus screening in less than 1500 g premature newborns. National
      Congenital Cytomegalovirus Disease Registry Scientific committee].

PMID- 25840708
TI  - [Use of sugars and sweeteners in children's diets. Recommendations of the
      Nutrition Committee of the Spanish Paediatric Association].
AB  - The term "sweetener" refers to a food additive that imparts a sweet flavour and
      usually provides no or very low energy. It is used to sweeten foods, medicines
      and food supplements with no nutritional purposes. For years, no-calorie
      sweeteners have been used as substitutes for all or part of the sugar content in
      foods and beverages. In recent decades its consumption has risen to prevent tooth
      decay, or as an aid in weight control, obesity and diabetes and, in general, to
      achieve an optimal energy balance. However, consumption of sugary or sweetened
      food and soft drinks is high, making this situation of special interest in
      calorie intake and in the poor behavioural pattern of eating habits in children.
      In addition, questions remain among consumers about the risks to health
      associated with their use, whether they are artificial or natural. The
      "artificial sweeteners" are the group of greatest interest in research in order
      to demonstrate their safety and to provide firm data on their possible
      therapeutic effects. The aim of the present document is to increase information
      for paediatricians on the characteristics of different sweeteners, and to advise
      on the choice of sweeteners, based on their properties. 

PMID- 25840709
TI  - Is your cough getting better?

PMID- 25840710
TI  - Mold allergens in respiratory allergy: from structure to therapy.
AB  - Allergic reactions to fungi were described 300 years ago, but the importance of
      allergy to fungi has been underestimated for a long time. Allergens from fungi
      mainly cause respiratory and skin symptoms in sensitized patients. In this
      review, we will focus on fungi and fungal allergens involved in respiratory forms
      of allergy, such as allergic rhinitis and asthma. Fungi can act as indoor and
      outdoor respiratory allergen sources, and depending on climate conditions, the
      rates of sensitization in individuals attending allergy clinics range from 5% to
      20%. Due to the poor quality of natural fungal allergen extracts, diagnosis of
      fungal allergy is hampered, and allergen-specific immunotherapy is rarely given.
      Several factors are responsible for the poor quality of natural fungal extracts,
      among which the influence of culture conditions on allergen contents. However,
      molecular cloning techniques have allowed us to isolate DNAs coding for fungal
      allergens and to produce a continuously growing panel of recombinant allergens
      for the diagnosis of fungal allergy. Moreover, technologies are now available for
      the preparation of recombinant and synthetic fungal allergen derivatives which
      can be used to develop safe vaccines for the treatment of fungal allergy. 

PMID- 25840711
TI  - Interactions between innate immunity genes and early-life risk factors in
      allergic rhinitis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a common chronic disease. Many factors could
      affect the development of AR. We investigated early-life factors, such as
      delivery mode, feeding method, and use of antibiotics during infancy, which could
      affect the development of AR. In addition, how interactions between these factors
      and innate gene polymorphisms influence the development of AR was investigated.
      METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 1,828 children aged 9-12 years was conducted.
      Three early-life factors and AR were assessed by a questionnaire. Skin prick
      tests were done. Polymorphisms of TLR4 (rs1927911) and CD14 (rs2569190) were
      genotyped. RESULTS: Use of antibiotics during infancy increased the risk of AR
      (aOR [95% CI] 1.511 [1.222-2.037]) and atopic AR (aOR [95% CI], 1.565 [1.078
      2.272]). There were synergistic interactions between caesarean delivery, formula
      feeding, and use of antibiotics in the rate of atopic AR (aOR [95% CI], 3.038
      [1.256-7.347]). Additional analyses revealed that the risk for the development of
      AR or atopic AR subjects with the TLR4 CC genotype were highest when all the 3
      early-life factors were present (aOR [95% CI], 5.127 [1.265-20.780] for AR; 6.078
      [1.499-24.649] for atopic AR). In addition, the risk for the development of AR or
      atopic AR in subjects with the CD14 TT genotype were highest when all the 3 early
      life factors were present (aOR [95% CI], 5.960 [1.421-15.002] for AR; 6.714
      [1.440-31.312] for atopic AR). CONCLUSIONS: Delivery mode, feeding method, and
      use of antibiotics during infancy appeared to have synergistic interactions in
      the development of AR. Gene-environment interactions between polymorphism of
      innate genes and early- life risk factors might affect the development of AR.

PMID- 25840712
TI  - Detection and investigation of temporal clusters of congenital anomaly in Europe:
      seven years of experience of the EUROCAT surveillance system.
AB  - Detection and investigation of congenital anomaly clusters is one part of
      surveillance to detect new or changing teratogenic exposures in the population.
      The EUROCAT (European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies) cluster monitoring
      system and results are described here. Monitoring was conducted annually from
      2007 to 2013 for 18 registries covering an annual birth population up to 0.5
      million births. For each registry and 72 anomaly subgroups, the scan "moving
      window" technique was used to detect clusters in time occurring within the last 2
      years based on estimated date of conception. Registries conducted preliminary
      investigations using a standardised protocol to determine whether there was cause
      for concern, and expert review was used at key points. 165 clusters were
      detected, a rate of 3.4% of all 4823 cluster tests performed over 7 years, more
      than expected by chance. Preliminary investigations of 126 new clusters confirmed
      that 35% were an unusual aggregation of cases, while 56% were explained by data
      quality or diagnostic issues, and 9% were not investigated. For confirmed
      clusters, the registries' course of action was continuing monitoring. Three
      confirmed clusters continued to grow in size for a limited period in subsequent
      monitoring. This system is best suited to early detection of exposures which are
      sudden, widespread and/or highly teratogenic, and was reassuring in demonstrating
      an absence of a sustained exposure of this type. Such proactive monitoring can be
      run efficiently without overwhelming the surveillance system with false
      positives, and serves an additional purpose of data quality control.

PMID- 25840713
TI  - An examination of motor unit number index in adults with cerebral palsy.
AB  - Spinal motor neuron loss may be a factor contributing to weakness in central
      disorders. The aim of this study was to assess whether motor unit numbers are
      reduced in the hand musculature of adults with cerebral palsy (CP) using the
      motor unit number index (MUNIX) technique. In this prospective, case-control
      study, 10 adults with CP were matched with healthy controls. MUNIX was computed
      using area and power of voluntary surface hypothenar electromyographic (EMG)
      signals and the compound muscle action potential (CMAP) recorded with ulnar nerve
      stimulation. The motor unit size index (MUSIX) was calculated based on maximum
      CMAP amplitude and MUNIX value. Gross Motor Function Classification Scale (GMFCS)
      and Manual Abilities Classification Scale (MACS) levels were rated for CP
      subjects. MUNIX was significantly lower for CP participants (Mean 167.8 vs.
      214.4, p=.022). MUNIX values did not correlate with GMFCS or MACS. MUSIX values
      were higher, though not significantly, for CP subjects (p=.11). MUSIX increased
      with increasing MACS levels (r(2)=.4017, p=.049). Thus, motor unit numbers in
      ulnar hand muscles may be decreased with CP. MUSIX values are associated with
      greater hand impairment. Therefore, peripheral motor unit loss as a component of
      the weakness found with CP deserves further evaluation. 

PMID- 25840714
TI  - Hospital infection control units: staffing, costs, and priorities.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This article describes infection prevention and control
      professionals' (ICPs') staffing levels, patient outcomes, and costs associated
      with the provision of infection prevention and control services in Australian
      hospitals. A secondary objective was to determine the priorities for infection
      control units. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used. Infection
      control units in Australian public and private hospitals completed a Web-based
      anonymous survey. Data collected included details about the respondent; hospital
      demographics; details and services of the infection control unit; and a
      description of infection prevention and control-related outputs, patient
      outcomes, and infection control priorities. RESULTS: Forty-nine surveys were
      undertaken, accounting for 152 Australian hospitals. The mean number of ICPs was
      0.66 per 100 overnight beds (95% confidence interval, 0.55-0.77). Privately
      funded hospitals have significantly fewer ICPs per 100 overnight beds compared
      with publicly funded hospitals (P < .01). Staffing costs for nursing staff in
      infection control units in this study totaled $16,364,392 (mean, $380,566).
      Infection control units managing smaller hospitals (<270 beds) identified the
      need for increased access to infectious diseases or microbiology support.
      CONCLUSION: This study provides valuable information to support future decisions
      by funders, hospital administrators, and ICPs on service delivery models for
      infection prevention and control. Further, it is the first to provide estimates
      of the resourcing and cost of staffing infection control in hospitals at a
      national level.

PMID- 25840715
TI  - Catheter-associated urinary tract infection: Role of the setting of catheter
      insertion.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aimed to describe the epidemiology of catheter-associated
      urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) in patients admitted to a surgical ward in
      Central Italy and to analyze the associated risk factors. METHODS: An active
      surveillance program for CAUTI was carried out in patients catheterized for at
      least 48 hours. Place of catheter insertion (operating room, hospital ward,
      cystoscopy room, emergency care unit), indication for catheterization and its
      duration, among other risk factors were monitored until discharge. Antibiotic
      resistance profiles of isolates were analyzed. RESULTS: There were 641
      catheterized patients monitored for CAUTI onset. Of these, 40 (6.2%) developed a
      CAUTI (rates were 15.1/1,000 catheter days, 95% confidence interval [CI], 11.9
      22.6; 8.7/1,000 patient days, 95% CI, 6.9-13.1). Patients with CAUTI were older
      (P < .05) and their durations of hospitalization and catheterization were both
      longer compared with those who were not affected (P < .05). Catheterization >4
      days (odds ratio [OR] = 8.21; 95% CI, 3.79-17.73; P < .05) and place of catheter
      insertion different from the operating room (OR = 7.9; 95% CI, 2.83-22.08; P <
      .05, for catheters placed in the ward) were associated with CAUTI. Among the
      micro-organisms isolated in CAUTIs, the most common were Pseudomonas aeruginosa
      (41.5%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (19.5%), and Escherichia coli (12.2%); 82.5% of
      them were resistant to different classes of antibiotics. CONCLUSION: These
      results highlight the role played by the setting of catheter insertion in CAUTIs
      onset, therefore reflecting the importance of hand hygiene and proper aseptic
      insertion techniques as crucial determinants in CAUTIs prevention.

PMID- 25840716
TI  - A computer-based automated reminder increases the percentage of urinary catheters
      justified by an order and increases urinary catheter discontinuation orders.
AB  - Use of an automated reminder for an order to continue or to discontinue a urinary
      catheter resulted in a significant increase in the percentage of urinary
      catheters justified by an order and the percentage of urinary catheter
      discontinuation orders increased. This is an essential first step toward reducing
      inappropriate urinary catheter use. 

PMID- 25840717
TI  - An electronic surveillance tool for catheter-associated urinary tract infection
      in intensive care units.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Traditional methods of surveillance of catheter-associated urinary
      tract infections (CAUTIs) are error-prone and resource-intensive. To resolve
      these issues, we developed a highly sensitive electronic surveillance tool.
      OBJECTIVE: To develop an electronic surveillance tool for CAUTIs and assess its
      performance. METHODS: The study was conducted at a 947-bed tertiary care center.
      Patients included adults aged >=18 years admitted to an intensive care unit
      between January 10 and June 30, 2012, with an indwelling urinary catheter during
      their admission. We identified CAUTIs using 4 methods: traditional surveillance
      (TS) (ie, manual chart review by ICPs), an electronic surveillance (ES) tool,
      augmented electronic surveillance (AES) (ie, ES with chart review on a subset of
      cases), and reference standard (RS) (ie, a subset of CAUTIs originally
      ascertained by TS or ES, confirmed by review). We assessed performance
      characteristics to RS for reviewed cases. RESULTS: We identified 417 candidate
      CAUTIs in 308 patients; 175 (42.0%) of these candidate CAUTIs were selected for
      review, yielding 32 confirmed CAUTIs in 22 patients (RS). Compared with RS, the
      sensitivities of TS, ES, and AES were 43.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 26.4%
      62.3%), 100.0% (95% CI, 89.1%-100.0%), and 100.0% (95% CI, 89.1%-100.0%).
      Specificities were 82.5% (95% CI, 75.3%-88.4%), 2.8% (95% CI, 0.8%-7.0%), and
      100.0% (95% CI, 97.5%-100.0%). CONCLUSIONS: Electronic CAUTI surveillance offers
      a streamlined approach to improve reliability and resource burden of
      surveillance.

PMID- 25840718
TI  - Repeated carotid endarterectomy versus carotid artery stenting for patients with
      carotid restenosis after carotid endarterectomy: Systematic review and meta
      analysis.
AB  - PURPOSE: Carotid restenosis (CRS) after carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is an issue
      that cannot be ignored. This study was undertaken to compare the outcomes of
      repeated CEA (redo CEA) and carotid artery stenting (CAS) for CRS after CEA.
      METHODS: We performed a systematic analysis using the search terms "CEA
      restenosis," "carotid restenosis," or "CEA recurrent stenosis" in the MEDLINE,
      EMBASE, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases. After applying the inclusion
      criteria, all available data were summarized to evaluate the effects of redo CEA
      and CAS for patients with CRS after prior CEA. RESULTS: Fifty articles (9
      comparative studies and 41 noncomparative studies) involving 4,399 patients were
      included. No differences were observed in the 30-day perioperative mortality,
      stroke and transient ischemic attack rates in the comparative studies (P > .05)
      and the noncomparative studies (P > .05). Patients undergoing redo CEA suffered
      more cranial nerve injuries (CNIs) than those undergoing CAS (P < .05), but most
      of these cases recovered within 3 months. Patients treated with redo CEA
      exhibited similar myocardial infarction (MI) rates to those treated with CAS in
      the comparative studies (P = .53), but the rate was higher in the noncomparative
      studies (P < .01). However, a nonsignificant difference was noted in freedom from
      stroke at 36 months in the comparative studies (P = .47) and at 12 months in the
      noncomparative studies (P = .89). The risk of restenosis was greater in the CAS
      patients than in the redo CEA patients (P < .05 for comparative and
      noncomparative studies). CONCLUSION: Both redo CEA and CAS are safe and feasible
      for CRS after CEA. Although the incidences of CNI and MI were increased in the
      redo CEA group, most of the CNI cases were reversible. Patients treated with CAS
      were more likely to develop restenosis than those treated with redo CEA over long
      term follow-up.

PMID- 25840719
TI  - Undergraduate nursing students' attitudes toward mental health nursing.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to describe undergraduate nursing
      students' attitudes toward mental health nursing and how these attitudes
      influenced their professional career choices in mental health nursing. DESIGN: A
      descriptive, online survey was utilized to examine students' perceptions of
      mental health nursing. A total of 229 junior and senior nursing students were
      recruited from eight nursing colleges in Midwestern United States to participate
      in this survey. RESULTS: Students of different ages, genders, ethnicities, and
      nursing programs did not report significantly different perceptions of: (a)
      knowledge of mental illness; (b) negative stereotypes; (c) interest in mental
      health nursing as a future career; and (d), and beliefs that psychiatric nurses
      provide a valuable contribution to consumers and the community. Negative
      stereotypes were significantly different between students who had mental health
      nursing preparation either in class (p=0.0147) or in clinical practice (p=0.0018)
      and students who had not. There were significant differences in anxiety about
      mental illness between students who had classes on mental health nursing
      (p=.0005), clinical experience (p=0.0035), and work experience in the mental
      health field (p=0.0012). Significant differences in an interest in a future
      career in mental health nursing emerged between students with and without prior
      mental health experience and between students with and without an interest in an
      externship program with p-values of 0.0012 and <0.0001, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: The more exposure that students have to mental health nursing
      through clinical experiences, theory classes, and previous work in the field, the
      more prepared they feel about caring for persons with mental health issues.

PMID- 25840720
TI  - Clinical features and hematopoietic stem cell transplantations for CD40 ligand
      deficiency in Japan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The long-term outcome of X-linked hyper-IgM syndrome (XHIM) caused by
      mutations in CD40LG is poor, and the only curative treatment is hematopoietic
      stem cell transplantation (HSCT). OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the clinical
      features and factors affecting outcomes in patients with XHIM. METHODS: We
      enrolled and retrospectively analyzed data from 56 Japanese patients with XHIM,
      including 29 patients who received HSCT. RESULTS: The long-term survival rate was
      poor in those not undergoing HSCT (overall survival rate at 40 years of age,
      28.2%). The overall survival rate of patients undergoing HSCT (n = 29) was
      significantly higher than that of those not undergoing HSCT (n = 27, P = .0231).
      Moreover, event-free and disease-free survival rates were significantly greater
      in patients 5 years old or younger at the time of transplantation (n = 14) than
      in older patients (n = 15). CONCLUSION: On the basis of these results, we
      concluded that HSCT improved the outcomes of patients with XHIM and that an age
      of 5 years or younger was optimal for the timing of HSCT because persistent
      infections and severe organ damage were frequently observed in patients older
      than 6 years.

PMID- 25840721
TI  - Rhinovirus-induced bronchiolitis: Lack of association between virus genomic load
      and short-term outcomes.

PMID- 25840723
TI  - Chronic rhinosinusitis is rare but bothersome in adolescents from a Swedish
      population-based cohort.

PMID- 25840722
TI  - RNA sequencing atopic dermatitis transcriptome profiling provides insights into
      novel disease mechanisms with potential therapeutic implications.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Genomic profiling of lesional and nonlesional skin of patients with
      atopic dermatitis (AD) using microarrays has led to increased understanding of AD
      and identification of novel therapeutic targets. However, the limitations of
      microarrays might decrease detection of AD genes. These limitations might be
      lessened with next-generation RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). OBJECTIVE: We sought to
      define the lesional AD transcriptome using RNA-seq and compare it using
      microarrays performed on the same cohort. METHODS: RNA-seq and microarrays were
      performed to identify differentially expressed genes (criteria: fold change, >=
      2.0; false discovery rate <= 0.05) in lesional versus nonlesional skin from 18
      patients with moderate-to-severe AD, with real-time PCR (RT-PCR) and
      immunohistochemistry used for validation. RESULTS: Both platforms showed robust
      disease transcriptomes and correlated well with RT-PCR. The common AD
      transcriptome identified by using both techniques contained 217 genes, including
      inflammatory (S100A8/A9/A12, CXCL1, and 2'-5'-oligoadenylate synthetase-like
      [OASL]) and barrier (MKi67, keratin 16 [K16], and claudin 8 [CLDN8]) AD-related
      genes. Although fold change estimates determined by using RNA-seq showed somewhat
      better agreement with RT-PCR (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.57 and 0.70
      for microarrays and RNA-seq vs RT-PCR, respectively), bias was not eliminated.
      Among genes uniquely identified by using RNA-seq were triggering receptor
      expressed on myeloid cells 1 (TREM-1) signaling (eg, CCL2, CCL3, and single
      immunoglobulin domain IL1R1 related [SIGIRR]) and IL-36 isoform genes. TREM-1 is
      a surface receptor implicated in innate and adaptive immunity that amplifies
      infection-related inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of a
      lesional AD phenotype using RNA-seq and the first direct comparison between
      platforms in this disease. Both platforms robustly characterize the AD
      transcriptome. Through RNA-seq, we unraveled novel disease pathology, including
      increased expression of the novel TREM-1 pathway and the IL-36 cytokine in
      patients with AD.

PMID- 25840724
TI  - Oncostatin M promotes mucosal epithelial barrier dysfunction, and its expression
      is increased in patients with eosinophilic mucosal disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Epithelial barrier dysfunction is thought to play a role in many
      mucosal diseases, including asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), and
      eosinophilic esophagitis. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to
      investigate the role of oncostatin M (OSM) in epithelial barrier dysfunction in
      human mucosal disease. METHODS: OSM expression was measured in tissue extracts,
      nasal secretions, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. The effects of OSM
      stimulation on barrier function of normal human bronchial epithelial cells and
      nasal epithelial cells cultured at the air-liquid interface were assessed by
      using transepithelial electrical resistance and fluorescein isothiocyanate
      dextran flux. Dual-color immunofluorescence was used to evaluate the integrity of
      tight junction structures in cultured epithelial cells. RESULTS: Analysis of
      samples from patients with CRS showed that OSM mRNA and protein levels were
      highly increased in nasal polyps compared with those seen in control uncinate
      tissue (P < .05). OSM levels were also increased in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid
      of allergic asthmatic patients after segmental allergen challenge and in
      esophageal biopsy specimens from patients with eosinophilic esophagitis. OSM
      stimulation of air-liquid interface cultures resulted in reduced barrier
      function, as measured by decreased transepithelial electrical resistance and
      increased fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran flux (P < .05). Alterations in
      barrier function by OSM were reversible, and the viability of epithelial cells
      was unaffected. OSM levels in lysates of nasal polyps and uncinate tissue
      positively correlated with levels of alpha2-macroglobulin, a marker of epithelial
      leak, in localized nasal secretions (r = 0.4855, P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: These
      results suggest that OSM might play a role in epithelial barrier dysfunction in
      patients with CRS and other mucosal diseases.

PMID- 25840725
TI  - Systematic neonatal screening for severe combined immunodeficiency and severe T
      cell lymphopenia: Analysis of cost-effectiveness based on French real field data.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The inclusion of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) in a Europe
      wide screening program is currently debated. OBJECTIVE: In making a case for
      inclusion in the French newborn screening program, we explored the costs incurred
      and potentially saved by early management of SCID. METHODS: For test costs, a
      microcosting study documented the resources used in a laboratory piloting a
      newborn screening test on Guthrie cards using the T-cell receptor excision circle
      quantification method. For treatment costs, patients with SCID admitted to the
      national reference center for primary immunodeficiency in France between 2006 and
      2010 were included. Costs of admission were estimated from actual national
      production costs. We estimated the costs for patients who underwent early versus
      delayed hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT; age, <=3 vs. >3 months,
      respectively). RESULTS: The unit cost of the test varied between ?4.69 and ?6.79
      for 33,800 samples per year, depending on equipment use and saturation. Of the 30
      patients included, 27 underwent HSCT after age 3 months. At 1 year after HSCT, 10
      of these had died, and all 3 patients undergoing early transplantation survived.
      The medical costs for HSCT after 3 months were ?195,776 (interquartile range,
      ?165,884-?257,160) versus ?86,179 (range, ?59,014-?272,577) when performed before
      3 months of age. In patients undergoing late transplantation, active infection
      contributed to high cost and poor outcome. CONCLUSION: Early detection of SCID
      could reduce the cost of treatment by ?50,000-100,000 per case. Assuming a ?5
      unit cost per test, the incidence required to break even is 1:20,000; however, if
      the survival advantage of HSCT before 3 months is confirmed, universal screening
      is likely to be cost-effective.

PMID- 25840726
TI  - A scientist during wartime: Richard Goldschmidt's internment in the U.S.A. during
      the First World War.

PMID- 25840727
TI  - Efficacy and safety of the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor linagliptin in
      black/African American patients with type 2 diabetes: Pooled analysis from eight
      Phase III trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in black/African Americans from
      North and South America is high; yet data evaluating antidiabetic agents in this
      population is scarce. To address this gap, we pooled data from the clinical
      development program for linagliptin. METHODS: A retrospective pooled analysis of
      eight completed randomized, placebo-controlled Phase III trials of linagliptin
      identified 336 patients with type 2 diabetes who self-identified their ethnicity
      as black or African American. Participants received linagliptin (n = 173, 5
      mg/day) or placebo (n = 163) as monotherapy, or as add-on to other antidiabetic
      agents, including insulin. The primary end point was the change in glycated
      hemoglobin (HbA1c) from baseline to week 18 or 24. RESULTS: The placebo-adjusted
      mean change (95% confidence interval [CI]) in HbA1c from baseline was -0.69% (
      0.92 to -0.46; p < 0.0001) at week 18 (eight trials), and -0.64% (-0.90 to -0.39;
      p < 0.0001) at week 24 (six trials). The placebo-adjusted mean change (95% CI) in
      fasting plasma glucose from baseline was -11.7 mg/dL (-23.1 to -0.3; p = 0.0446)
      at week 18 and -14.7 mg/dL (-25.7 to -3.8; p = 0.0087) at week 24. Incidence of
      investigator-defined hypoglycemia was similar between the two groups
      (linagliptin, 12.1%; placebo, 11.7%). Overall, the safety profile of linagliptin
      in this patient group was comparable to that of placebo, with comparable
      incidence of adverse events; linagliptin was weight-neutral in this patient
      population. CONCLUSION: Linagliptin provided clinically significant improvements
      in glycemic control without increased risk of hypoglycemia and without weight
      gain, representing a useful type 2 diabetes therapy option for the black/African
      American population.

PMID- 25840728
TI  - Comparative proteomic analysis of gamma-aminobutyric acid responses in hypoxia
      treated and untreated melon roots.
AB  - Hypoxia is one of the main environmental stresses that accounts for decreasing
      crop yield. To further investigate the mechanisms whereby exogenous GABA
      alleviates hypoxia injury to melon seedlings, a comparative proteomic analysis
      was performed using roots subjected to normal aeration and hypoxia conditions
      with or without GABA (5mM). The results indicated that protein spots on gels
      after hypoxia and hypoxia+GABA treatment were significantly changed. Three
      "matched sets" were analyzed from four treatments, and 13 protein spots with
      large significant differences in expression were identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF mass
      spectrometry. Exogenous GABA treatment enhanced the expression of protein in
      cytosolic phosphoglycerate kinase 1, exaA2 gene product, dnaJ and myb-like DNA
      binding domain-containing proteins, as well as elongation factor-1 alpha and
      hypothetical proteins in hypoxia-induced roots. However, the hypoxia+GABA treated
      roots had a significantly lower expression of proteins including malate
      dehydrogenase, nucleoside diphosphate kinase, disease resistance-like protein,
      disulfide isomerase, actin, ferrodoxin NADP oxidoreductase, glutathione
      transferase, netting associated peroxidase. This paper describes the effect of
      GABA on melon plants under hypoxia-induced stress using proteomics, and supports
      the alleviating function of GABA in melon plants grown under hypoxic conditions. 

PMID- 25840729
TI  - Squamous cell carcinoma with aggressive subclinical extension: 5-year
      retrospective review of diagnostic predictors.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Squamous cell carcinoma with aggressive subclinical extension (SCC
      ASE) is a tumor whose extensive spread becomes revealed during surgery or
      pathologic review, particularly during Mohs micrographic surgery. Limited
      clinical awareness of these lesions may result in unanticipated longer surgical
      times and larger postoperative defects. SCC-ASE-associated clinical risk factors
      are not well studied. OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate the incidence of and risk
      factors associated with SCC-ASE. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis
      of SCC treated with Mohs micrographic surgery between 2007 and 2012 at a single
      academic surgical center. SCC-ASE was defined as a lesion requiring at least 3
      Mohs stages with a final surgical margin of >=1 cm. RESULTS: Of 954 cases
      studied, 31% were SCC-ASE. In multivariable analysis, sex (P = .001), history of
      previous nonmelanoma skin cancer (P < .001), Fitzpatrick skin types II and III (P
      = .004 and <.001, respectively), immunosuppression related to solid organ
      transplant (P < .001), and cigarette use (P < .001) were significant predictors
      of SCC-ASE. LIMITATIONS: Single academic center selection bias, not-controlled
      for sun exposure differences, no information on medication regimens of solid
      organ transplant patients, and a small sample size are all limitations of our
      study. CONCLUSION: Easily attainable demographic factors, especially
      immunosuppressed status and cigarette use, can help predict the occurrence of SCC
      ASE and thereby optimize surgical planning and patient preparedness.

PMID- 25840730
TI  - Risk of lymphoma in patients with atopic dermatitis and the role of topical
      treatment: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is controversy regarding a potential increased risk of lymphoma
      in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). OBJECTIVE: To assess the risk of
      lymphoma and the role of topical treatments in patients with AD. METHODS: A
      systematic literature search and a separate meta-analysis were performed on case
      control and cohort studies. RESULTS: Of the 3979 articles retrieved, 24
      references met the inclusion criteria. In cohort studies, the risk of lymphoma
      was slightly increased, with a relative risk (RR) of 1.43 (95% confidence
      interval [CI], 1.12-1.81). In case control studies, no significant increased risk
      of lymphoma was found, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.18 (95% CI, 0.94-1.47).
      Severity of AD was a significant risk factor. Highly potent topical steroids were
      associated with an increased risk of lymphoma. For topical calcineurin inhibitors
      (TCIs), a significant association between tacrolimus and mostly skin lymphoma was
      found in 1 study. LIMITATIONS: Confusion between severe AD and cutaneous T-cell
      lymphoma may account for part of the increased risk of lymphoma in patients with
      AD. CONCLUSION: This systematic literature review shows a slightly increased risk
      of lymphoma in patients with AD. Severity of AD appears to be a significant risk
      factor. The role of topical steroids and TCIs is unlikely to be significant.

PMID- 25840731
TI  - Umbilical and periumbilical dermatoses.
AB  - The umbilicus may be the site of congenital and acquired malformations and may
      harbor clinical clues to the diagnosis of potentially fatal inherited disorders,
      primary skin conditions, and a variety of infectious diseases. Both benign and
      malignant tumors may involve the umbilicus, and some are unique to this site.
      Finally, cutaneous signs localized to this anatomic location may be found in
      diverse systemic diseases. 

PMID- 25840732
TI  - [Nomadic plastic surgery: 1 NGO, 10 years, 30 missions].
AB  - This publication presents the results of 10 years of nomadic plastic surgery
      missions by a small French non-governmental organization: Interplast
      France/surgery without borders (www.Interplast-France.net). This NGO is
      specialized in reconstructive surgery in challenging conditions and works in
      developing countries. We present a view of 10 years of missions carried out
      between 2003 and 2013. This experience covers a uniform period both by the
      objectives proposed and the regularity of missions observed. This work shows the
      way surgical missions take place and the methodology used. We carried out 30
      missions. We made more than 4000 consultations and we operated 1500 patients.
      Interventions are divided into one quarter cleft, one quarter tumors, one quarter
      burn injuries and one quarter of various diseases such as noma and Buruli ulcer.
      We show some adaptations such as autonomy during missions, the adjustment
      guidance in relation to this new environment and the integration of local
      traditions in our therapeutic action. We offer practical notions on the surgical
      procedures and some reflections on the societal level. This work aims primarily
      to pay tribute to all the invisible actors in this long chain of humanity, and
      thanks to the simple intervention of men, a patient can have the same medical
      treatment whether he is in an industrial country or in some isolated place on
      this earth.

PMID- 25840733
TI  - The rise and fall of the world's first fat tax.
AB  - In 2011, Denmark introduced the world's first tax on saturated fat, but only 15
      months later the fat tax was abolished. The aim of this article is to investigate
      the political processes surrounding the implementation and rapid abolition of the
      fat tax. Our findings suggest that industry and trade associations were heavily
      involved in the political process of formulating the fat tax. Industry
      representatives used certain tactics to oppose the fat tax: threatening lawsuits,
      predicting welfare losses, casting doubt on evidence, diverting focus and
      requesting postponement. After the fat tax was implemented, the food industry
      continued their opposition through intensified lobbyism and juridical actions at
      EU level. However, other factors seem to have contributed to the fall of the fat
      tax. The tax received criticism for being poorly designed and gradually lost
      popularity among health professionals, politicians and the public. In the end,
      the fat tax was abolished for financial reasons. This study demonstrates how
      politicians considered the fat tax as a funding source rather than a public
      health initiative, which resulted in significant shortcomings. Furthermore, we
      demonstrate that the massive influence by industry stakeholders was not balanced
      with inputs from public health professionals, who should assume a more proactive
      role in policy-making. 

PMID- 25840734
TI  - Modified Mostardi approach with ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene tape for
      total hip arthroplasty provides a good rate of union of osteotomized fragments.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A lateral approach is common in total hip arthroplasty because of the
      good exposure it provides and its low complication rates. However, a drawback of
      the procedure is that the abductor mechanism is damaged when the tendinous
      insertion of the abductor muscle is split. Here, we describe a wafer technique
      using ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene tape for promising reattachment of
      the abductor mechanism. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 120 consecutive
      primary total hip arthroplasties performed using a modified Mostardi approach,
      which involved reattaching the trochanter using either a braided polyester suture
      (polyester suture group, n = 60) or ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene tape
      (UHMWPE tape group, n = 60). The osteotomized fragment was reattached by inducing
      bone-to-bone contact using 3-mm-wide tapes that were precisely tied with a double
      loop sliding knot in conjunction with a cable gun tensioner. The abductor
      strength and radiographic union rate were postoperatively assessed at 4 weeks and
      6 months, respectively. RESULTS: A statistically significant lower incidence of
      nonunion and cutout was observed in the UHMWPE group (0 and 5.0 %, respectively)
      compared to the polyester suture group (8.3 and 15 %, respectively). No
      differences in abductor strength either preoperatively or at 4 weeks
      postoperatively were observed between the groups. In radiographically healed
      patients, abductor strength at 4 weeks post-surgery exceeded preoperative
      strength. The recovery rate of hip abductor strength was 109.9 +/- 34.3 % in
      union patients and 92.9 +/- 23.3 % in nonunion patients, which was statistically
      significant. The mean Japanese Orthopedic Association hip scores improved from
      48.6 to 86.8 in union patients and from 50.3 to 85.9 in nonunion patients at 1
      year postoperatively; however, this difference was not significant. CONCLUSIONS:
      The modified Mostardi approach using ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene
      tape can promote successful union of the osteotomized fragment.

PMID- 25840735
TI  - Reverse logistics network for municipal solid waste management: The inclusion of
      waste pickers as a Brazilian legal requirement.
AB  - This study proposes a reverse logistics network involved in the management of
      municipal solid waste (MSW) to solve the challenge of economically managing these
      wastes considering the recent legal requirements of the Brazilian Waste
      Management Policy. The feasibility of the allocation of MSW material recovery
      facilities (MRF) as intermediate points between the generators of these wastes
      and the options for reuse and disposal was evaluated, as well as the
      participation of associations and cooperatives of waste pickers. This network was
      mathematically modelled and validated through a scenario analysis of the
      municipality of Sao Mateus, which makes the location model more complete and
      applicable in practice. The mathematical model allows the determination of the
      number of facilities required for the reverse logistics network, their location,
      capacities, and product flows between these facilities. The fixed costs of
      installation and operation of the proposed MRF were balanced with the reduction
      of transport costs, allowing the inclusion of waste pickers to the reverse
      logistics network. The main contribution of this study lies in the proposition of
      a reverse logistics network for MSW simultaneously involving legal,
      environmental, economic and social criteria, which is a very complex goal. This
      study can guide practices in other countries that have realities similar to those
      in Brazil of accelerated urbanisation without adequate planning for solid waste
      management, added to the strong presence of waste pickers that, through the
      characteristic of social vulnerability, must be included in the system. In
      addition to the theoretical contribution to the reverse logistics network
      problem, this study aids in decision-making for public managers who have limited
      technical and administrative capacities for the management of solid wastes. 

PMID- 25840736
TI  - Converting the organic fraction of solid waste from the city of Abu Dhabi to
      valuable products via dark fermentation--Economic and energy assessment.
AB  - Landfilling the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) leads to
      greenhouse gas emissions and loss of valuable resources. Sustainable and cost
      efficient solutions need to be developed to solve this problem. This study
      evaluates the feasibility of using dark fermentation (DF) to convert the OFMSW to
      volatile fatty acids (VFAs), fertilizer and H2. The VFAs in the DF effluent can
      be used directly as substrate for subsequent bioprocesses or purified from the
      effluent for industrial use. DF of the OFMSW in Abu Dhabi will be economically
      sustainable once VFA purification can be accomplished on large scale for less
      than 15USD/m(3)(effluent). With a VFA minimum selling price of 330 USD/tCOD, DF
      provides a competitive carbon source to sugar. Furthermore, DF is likely to use
      less energy than conventional processes that produce VFAs, fertilizer and H2.
      This makes DF of OFMSW a promising waste treatment technology and biorefinery
      platform.

PMID- 25840737
TI  - Co-digestion of pig slaughterhouse waste with sewage sludge.
AB  - Slaughterhouse wastes (SHW) are potentially very attractive substrates for biogas
      production. However, mono-digestion of these wastes creates great technological
      problems associated with the inhibitory effects of ammonia and fatty acids on
      methanogens as well as with the foaming in the digesters. In the following study,
      the co-digestion of slaughterhouse wastes with sewage sludge (SS) was undertaken.
      Batch and semi-continuous experiments were performed at 35 degrees C with
      municipal sewage sludge and pig SHW composed of meat tissue, intestines, bristles
      and post-flotation sludge. In batch assays, meat tissue and intestinal wastes
      gave the highest methane productions of 976 and 826 dm(3)/kg VS, respectively,
      whereas the methane yield from the sludge was only 370 dm(3)/kg VS. The co
      digestion of sewage sludge with 50% SHW (weight basis) provided the methane yield
      exceeding 600 dm(3)/kg VS, which was more than twice as high as the methane
      production from sewage sludge alone. However, when the loading rate exceeded 4 kg
      VS/m(3) d, a slight inhibition of methanogenesis was observed, without affecting
      the digester stability. The experiments showed that the co-digestion of sewage
      sludge with large amount of slaughterhouse wastes is feasible, and the enhanced
      methane production does not affect the digester stability.

PMID- 25840738
TI  - [Should beta blockers remain as first-line therapy in the treatment of patients
      with atrial fibrillation and heart failure?].

PMID- 25840739
TI  - [Mortality among the sulphonylureas].

PMID- 25840740
TI  - Lithium might be associated with better decision-making performance in euthymic
      bipolar patients.
AB  - Bipolar disorder is associated with impaired decision-making. Little is known
      about how treatment, especially lithium, influences decision-making abilities in
      bipolar patients when euthymic. We aimed at testing for an association between
      lithium medication and decision-making performance in remitted bipolar patients.
      Decision-making was measured using the Iowa Gambling Task in 3 groups of
      subjects: 34 and 56 euthymic outpatients with bipolar disorder, treated with
      lithium (monotherapy and lithium combined with anticonvulsant or antipsychotic)
      and without lithium (anticonvulsant, antipsychotic and combination treatment),
      respectively, and 152 matched healthy controls. Performance was compared between
      the 3 groups. In the 90 euthymic patients, the relationship between different
      sociodemographic and clinical variables and decision-making was assessed by
      stepwise multivariate regression analysis. Euthymic patients with lithium
      (p=0.007) and healthy controls (p=0.001) selected significantly more cards from
      the safe decks than euthymic patients without lithium, with no significant
      difference between euthymic patients with lithium and healthy controls (p=0.9).
      In the 90 euthymic patients, the stepwise linear multivariate regression revealed
      that decision-making was significantly predicted (p<0.001) by lithium dose, level
      of education and no family history of bipolar disorder (all p<=0.01). Because
      medication was not randomized, it was not possible to discriminate the effect of
      different medications. Lithium medication might be associated with better
      decision-making in remitted bipolar patients. A randomized trial is required to
      test for the hypothesis that lithium, but not other mood stabilizers, may
      specifically improve decision-making abilities in bipolar disorder. 

PMID- 25840742
TI  - Dopaminergic modulation of the trade-off between probability and time in economic
      decision-making.
AB  - Studies on animals and humans have demonstrated the importance of dopamine in
      modulating decision-making processes. In this work, we have tested dopaminergic
      modulation of economic decision-making and its neural correlates by administering
      either placebo or metoclopramide, a dopamine D2-receptor antagonist, to healthy
      subjects, during a functional MRI study. The decision-making task combined
      probability and time delay with a fixed monetary reward. For individual
      behavioral characterization, we used the Probability Time Trade-off (PTT)
      economic model, which integrates the traditional trade-offs of reward magnitude
      time and reward magnitude-probability into a single measurement, thereby
      quantifying the subjective value of a delayed and probabilistic outcome. A
      regression analysis between BOLD signal and the PTT model index permitted to
      identify the neural substrate encoding the subjective reward-value. Behaviorally,
      medication reduced the rate of temporal discounting over probability, reflected
      in medicated subjects being more prone to postpone the reward in order to
      increase the outcome probability. In addition, medicated subjects showed less
      activity during the task in the postcentral gyrus as well as frontomedian areas,
      whereas there were no differences in the ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex
      (VMOFC) between groups when coding the subjective value. The present study
      demonstrates by means of behavior and imaging that dopamine modulation alters the
      probability-time trade-off in human economic decision-making. 

PMID- 25840741
TI  - BDNF-TRKB signaling system of the dorsal periaqueductal gray matter is implicated
      in the panicolytic-like effect of antidepressant drugs.
AB  - A wealth of evidence implicates the BDNF-TRKB system in the therapeutic effects
      of antidepressant drugs (ADs) on mood disorders. However, little is known about
      the involvement of this system in the panicolytic property also exerted by these
      compounds. In the present study we evaluated the participation of the BDNF-TRKB
      system of the dorsal periaqueductal gray matter (DPAG), a core structure involved
      in the pathophysiology of panic disorder, in AD-induced panicolytic-like effects
      in rats. The results showed that short- (3 days) or long-term (21 days) systemic
      treatment with the tricyclic ADs imipramine, clomipramine or desipramine
      increased BDNF levels in the DPAG. Only longterm treatment with the selective
      serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine was able to increase BDNF levels in this
      structure. After 21-day treatment, fluoxetine and the three tricyclic ADs used
      also increased BDNF concentration in the hippocampus, a key area implicated in
      their mood-related actions. Neither in the DPAG nor hippocampus did long-term
      treatment with the standard anxiolytics diazepam, clonazepam or buspirone affect
      BDNF levels. Imipramine, both after short and long-term administration, and
      fluoxetine under the latter regimen, raised the levels of phosphorylated TRKB in
      the DPAG. Short-term treatment with imipramine or BDNF microinjection inhibited
      escape expression in rats exposed to the elevated T maze, considered as a
      panicolytic-like effect. This anti-escape effect was attenuated by the intra-DPAG
      administration of the TRK receptor antagonist k252a. Altogether, our data
      suggests that facilitation of the BDNF-TRKB system in the DPAG is implicated in
      the panicolytic effect of ADs. 

PMID- 25840744
TI  - Evaluation of the toxicology, pharmacokinetics, and local tolerance of
      recombinant factor IX Fc fusion protein in animals.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Recombinant factor IX Fc fusion protein (rFIXFc) is a recombinant
      coagulation factor composed of a single molecule of recombinant factor IX (rFIX)
      covalently fused to the Fc domain of human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) with no
      intervening sequence. An extensive nonclinical program was performed to support
      the clinical development of rFIXFc for treatment of people with hemophilia B.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Repeat-dose toxicology studies of rFIXFc were performed in
      2 relevant species: Sprague Dawley rats (4-week study) and cynomolgus monkeys (5-
      and 27-week studies). Assessments included in-life observations,
      electrocardiograms (monkeys only), laboratory evaluations (including hematology
      and blood chemistry), postmortem analyses, local tolerance, and pharmacokinetics
      (PK). Allometric scaling was performed with PK data from multiple species,
      including humans. Local tolerance (single-dose study) and thrombogenic potential
      (Wessler stasis model) of rFIXFc were tested in New Zealand White rabbits.
      RESULTS: There were no significant local or systemic toxicity findings in the
      repeat-dose studies. Allometric scaling data suggested that animal rFIXFc PK
      results are predictive of human PK parameters. There were no findings from the
      local tolerance study in rabbits; thrombogenic activity was less than that
      elicited by rFIX and a prothrombin complex concentrate, and similar to vehicle
      control. CONCLUSIONS: rFIXFc was well tolerated in toxicology studies and
      demonstrated a low thrombogenic potential. These results are consistent with
      phase 1/2a and phase 3 clinical studies of rFIXFc in people with hemophilia B.

PMID- 25840743
TI  - Thalidomide and multiple myeloma serum synergistically induce a hemostatic
      imbalance in endothelial cells in vitro.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Thalidomide (Thal) treatment of patients with multiple myeloma (MM)
      is associated with vascular thrombosis, but the underlying mechanism is unknown.
      OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the hypothesis that Thal, dexamethasone (Dex) and MM
      serum perturb the hemostatic balance on human umbilical vein endothelial cells
      (HUVECs). METHODS: Drugs with or without the serum of MM patients or healthy
      controls were incubated with HUVECs. Analyses of phosphatidylserine (PS), tissue
      factor (TF), endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) and thrombomodulin (TM) were
      performed using flow cytometry. The production of thrombin and activated protein
      C (APC) were measured by chromogenic assay. The roles of IL-6 and TNFalpha in
      regulating these indicators were also investigated. RESULTS: We found that Thal
      or Dex alone could not increase TF and PS expression in HUVECs. However, when
      pretreated with MM serum, their expression was significantly increased by either
      Thal or Dex. Concurrent changes were also detected in thrombin generation. In
      contrast, Thal and Dex had a direct inhibitory effect on the expression of EPCR
      and TM, and this inhibitory effect was especially significant when MM serum was
      added. The generation of APC paralleled the expression of EPCR and TM. All of the
      above outcomes were reversed to a variable extent by anti-IL-6R and anti-TNFalpha
      antibodies. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest Thal may act as a procoagulant by
      altering the balance between procoagulant and anticoagulant proteins on the
      surface of HUVECs, thereby contributing to thrombogenesis. MM serum plays a
      synergistic role in this process.

PMID- 25840745
TI  - Stabilizing effect of biochar on soil extracellular enzymes after a denaturing
      stress.
AB  - Stabilizing extracellular enzymes may maintain enzymatic activity while
      protecting enzymes from proteolysis and denaturation. A study determined whether
      a fast pyrolysis hardwood biochar (CQuestTM) would reduce evaporative losses,
      subsequently stabilizing soil extracellular enzymes and prohibiting potential
      enzymatic activity loss following a denaturing stress (microwaving). Soil was
      incubated in the presence of biochar (0%, 1%, 2%, 5%, or 10% by wt.) for 36 days
      and then exposed to microwave energies (0, 400, 800, 1600, or 3200 J g(-1) soil).
      Soil enzymes (beta-glucosidase, beta-d-cellobiosidase, N-acetyl-beta
      glucosaminidase, phosphatase, leucine aminopeptidase, beta-xylosidase) were
      analyzed by fluorescence-based assays. Biochar amendment reduced leucine
      aminopeptidase and beta-xylosidase potential activity after the incubation period
      and prior to stress exposure. The 10% biochar rate reduced soil water loss at the
      lowest stress level (400 J microwave energy g(-1) soil). Enzyme stabilization was
      demonstrated for beta-xylosidase; intermediate biochar application rates
      prevented a complete loss of this enzyme's potential activity after soil was
      exposed to 400 (1% biochar treatment) or 1600 (5% biochar treatment) J microwave
      energy g(-1) soil. Remaining enzyme potential activities were not affected by
      biochar, and activities decreased with increasing stress levels. We concluded
      that biochar has the potential to reduce evaporative soil water losses and
      stabilize certain extracellular enzymes where activity is maintained after a
      denaturing stress; this effect was biochar rate and enzyme dependent. While
      biochar may reduce the potential activity of certain soil extracellular enzymes,
      this phenomenon was not universal as the majority of enzymes assayed in this
      study were unaffected by exposure to biochar.

PMID- 25840746
TI  - Waist-to-hip ratio as an indicator of atherosclerosis among women at risk.

PMID- 25840747
TI  - Discrepancies between bone marrow histopathology and clinical phenotype in BCR
      ABL1-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms associated with splanchnic vein
      thrombosis.
AB  - We examined a consecutive series of 29 patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms
      (MPNs) associated with splanchnic vein thrombosis (SVT) in order to evaluate
      their bone marrow morphology and identify possible associations between
      histological findings and clinical features. Eleven patients showed the
      morphological features of polycythemia vera (PV), 11 of primary myelofibrosis
      (PMF) and six of essential thrombocythemia (ET). Molecular analyses identified
      the JAK2 V617F mutation in 27 patients; one of the JAK2-negative patients carried
      the MPL W515K mutation, the other was "triple-negative" (no JAK2, MPL or CALR
      mutation). On the basis of the WHO classification, three patients were classified
      as having PV, 11 as having PMF, and two as having ET; the remaining 13 cases fell
      into the MPN-unclassifiable category as there were discrepancies between their
      morphological and clinical features. In conclusion, our findings suggest that
      bone marrow histology should always be considered a key component of the
      diagnostic algorithm in patients with SVT, but that it is not enough to
      distinguish the different entities. This is particularly important because
      diagnoses of PV, PMF or ET have very different prognoses and obviously imply
      different therapies. It is therefore necessary to adopt a comprehensive approach
      that considers morphological, clinical and molecular data. 

PMID- 25840748
TI  - High expression of PI3K core complex genes is associated with poor prognosis in
      chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
AB  - Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemia among adults in
      the Western world. Autophagy is a highly conserved process in eukaryotic cells.
      In CLL autophagy is involved in mediating the effect of chemotherapy but the role
      of autophagy in CLL pathogenesis remains unknown. In the present study, we used
      real-time RT-PCR to analyze expression of the PIK3C3, PIK3R4, and BECN1 genes.
      These genes encode the components of the PI3K core complex, which is central to
      initiation of autophagy. A consecutive series of 149 well-characterized CLL cases
      from Region of Southern Denmark were included in the study. All three genes were
      observed to be independent markers of prognosis in CLL with high expression being
      associated with more aggressive disease. With this clear association with outcome
      in CLL, these genes thereby represent promising candidates for future functional
      studies on the role of autophagy in CLL, and they may further represent targets
      of treatment. 

PMID- 25840749
TI  - Early emerging nicotine dependence symptoms in adolescence predict daily smoking
      in young adulthood.
AB  - PURPOSE: The present study evaluated the predictive validity of individual early
      emerging nicotine dependence symptoms in adolescence on smoking behavior in young
      adulthood. METHODS: A total of 492 adolescents who, at baseline, had not smoked
      more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and 123 adolescents who smoked more
      than 100 cigarettes lifetime, and who participated in the 6-year follow-up
      assessment were included in the present analyses. Predictive validity of 10
      nicotine dependence items administered at baseline was evaluated at the 6 year
      follow-up when the sample had entered young adulthood (mean age=21.6). RESULTS:
      Among adolescents who had smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes, experiencing higher
      levels of overall nicotine dependence as well as individual symptoms at baseline
      longitudinally predicted an increase in risk for daily smoking in young
      adulthood, after controlling for baseline smoking and other tobacco use. For
      adolescents who had smoked more than 100 cigarettes at baseline, level of
      nicotine dependence and individual symptom endorsement did not predict smoking
      behavior in young adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: These findings add to accumulating
      evidence that early emerging dependence symptoms reported at low levels of
      smoking exposure signal a greater propensity for continued smoking behavior.
      Screening for these early emerging symptoms among novice adolescent smokers
      represents an important and unused tool in tobacco control efforts aimed at
      preventing the development of chronic smoking patterns.

PMID- 25840751
TI  - Natalizumab in spinal multiple sclerosis in a daily clinical setting.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the influence of natalizumab (NTZ) treatment
      on multiple sclerosis course in patients with and without spinal involvement.
      METHODS: Annualized relapse rate (ARR), disability progression and occurrence of
      new brain and spinal T2 lesions (N2TL) in 68 spinal (S-P) versus 68 non-spinal
      matched patients (NS-P) were retrospectively collected and compared between
      before (2 years) and after NTZ treatment using multivariate regression models.
      RESULTS: Mean duration of NTZ treatment was 31.3 +/- 16.3 months in S-P and 32.1
      +/- 15.1 months in N-SP (p = 0.56). The mean ARR after NTZ treatment was
      similarly reduced in both S-P (0.07 +/- 0.19) and N-SP (0.07 +/- 0.16) (p < 0.001
      for both). Disability progression after NTZ start was similarly low in S-P and NS
      P. However, when compared to before NTZ start, disability progression was
      significantly reduced in S-P (p = 0.017), but not in NS-P (p = 0.68). This was
      largely mediated by a higher disability progression before NTZ start in S-P than
      N-SP. The risk of developing N2TL during NTZ was not different between S-P and NS
      P (p = 0.10). CONCLUSIONS: NTZ similarly reduced the occurrence of relapses and
      NT2L in S-P and NS-P, whereas the effect on disability progression was
      particularly evident in the presence of spinal involvement. NTZ appears to be a
      treatment of high efficacy in both S-P and NS-P.

PMID- 25840750
TI  - Denial in methamphetamine users: Associations with cognition and functional
      connectivity in brain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite harmful consequences of drug addiction, it is common for
      individuals with substance use disorders to deny having problems with drugs.
      Emerging evidence suggests that some drug users lack insight into their behavior
      due to neurocognitive dysfunction, but little research has examined potential
      neurocognitive contributions to denial. METHODS: This study explored the
      relationship between denial, cognitive performance and functional connectivity in
      brain. The participants were 58 non-treatment-seeking, methamphetamine-dependent
      participants who completed the URICA precontemplation scale, a self-report
      measure of denial of drug problems warranting change, as well as a cognitive test
      battery. A subset of participants (N = 21) had functional MRI scans assessing
      resting-state functional connectivity. Given literature indicating roles of the
      rostral anterior cingulate (rACC), anterior insula and precuneus in self
      awareness, relationships between denial and resting-state connectivity were
      tested using seeds placed in these regions. RESULTS: The results revealed a
      negative relationship between denial and an overall cognitive battery score (p =
      0.001), the effect being driven particularly by performance on tests of memory
      and executive function. Denial was negatively associated with strength of
      connectivity between the rACC and regions of the frontal lobe (precentral gyri,
      left ventromedial prefrontal cortex, left orbitofrontal cortex), limbic system
      (left amygdala, left hippocampus and left parahippocampal gyrus), occipital lobes
      and cerebellum; and between the precuneus and the midbrain and cerebellum.
      Anterior insula connectivity was unrelated to denial. CONCLUSIONS: These findings
      suggest that denial by methamphetamine users is linked with a cognitive and
      neural phenotype that may impede the development of insight into their behavior.

PMID- 25840752
TI  - Average effect estimates remain similar as evidence evolves from single trials to
      high-quality bodies of evidence: a meta-epidemiologic study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective of our study was to use a diverse sample of medical
      interventions to assess empirically whether first trials rendered substantially
      different treatment effect estimates than reliable, high-quality bodies of
      evidence. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We used a meta-epidemiologic study design
      using 100 randomly selected bodies of evidence from Cochrane reports that had
      been graded as high quality of evidence. To determine the concordance of effect
      estimates between first and subsequent trials, we applied both quantitative and
      qualitative approaches. For quantitative assessment, we used Lin's concordance
      correlation and calculated z-scores; to determine the magnitude of differences of
      treatment effects, we calculated standardized mean differences (SMDs) and ratios
      of relative risks. We determined qualitative concordance based on a two-tiered
      approach incorporating changes in statistical significance and magnitude of
      effect. RESULTS: First trials both overestimated and underestimated the true
      treatment effects in no discernible pattern. Nevertheless, depending on the
      definition of concordance, effect estimates of first trials were concordant with
      pooled subsequent studies in at least 33% but up to 50% of comparisons. The
      pooled magnitude of change as bodies of evidence advanced from single trials to
      high-quality bodies of evidence was 0.16 SMD [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.12,
      0.21]. In 80% of comparisons, the difference in effect estimates was smaller than
      0.5 SMDs. In first trials with large treatment effects (>0.5 SMD), however,
      estimates of effect substantially changed as new evidence accrued (mean change
      0.68 SMD; 95% CI: 0.50, 0.86). CONCLUSION: Results of first trials often change,
      but the magnitude of change, on average, is small. Exceptions are first trials
      that present large treatment effects, which often dissipate as new evidence
      accrues.

PMID- 25840753
TI  - Porcine aortic surgical model to study isolated intraspinal collateralization.

PMID- 25840754
TI  - Investigation of hemodynamics in an in vitro system simulating left ventricular
      support through the right subclavian artery using 4-dimensional flow magnetic
      resonance imaging.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Left ventricular assist devices are an important treatment option for
      patients with heart failure alter the hemodynamics in the heart and great
      vessels. Because in vivo magnetic resonance studies of patients with ventricular
      assist devices are not possible, in vitro models represent an important tool to
      investigate flow alterations caused by these systems. By using an in vitro
      magnetic resonance-compatible model that mimics physiologic conditions as close
      as possible, this work investigated the flow characteristics using 4-dimensional
      flow-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging of a left ventricular assist device
      with outflow via the right subclavian artery as commonly used in cardiothoracic
      surgery in the recent past. METHODS: An in vitro model was developed consisting
      of an aorta with its supra-aortic branches connected to a left ventricular assist
      device simulating the pulsatile flow of the native failing heart. A second left
      ventricular assist device supplied the aorta with continuous flow via the right
      subclavian artery. Four-dimensional flow-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging was
      performed for different flow rates of the left ventricular assist device
      simulating the native heart and the left ventricular assist device providing the
      continuous flow. Flow characteristics were qualitatively and quantitatively
      evaluated in the entire vessel system. RESULTS: Flow characteristics inside the
      aorta and its upper branching vessels revealed that the right subclavian artery
      and the right carotid artery were solely supported by the continuous-flow left
      ventricular assist device for all flow rates. The flow rates in the brain
      supplying arteries are only marginally affected by different operating
      conditions. The qualitative analysis revealed only minor effects on the flow
      characteristics, such as weakly pronounced vortex flow caused by the retrograde
      flow via the brachiocephalic artery. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that,
      despite the massive alterations in natural hemodynamics due to the retrograde
      flow via the right subclavian and brachiocephalic arteries, there are no drastic
      consequences on the flow in the brain-feeding arteries and the flow
      characteristics in the ascending and descending aortas. It may be beneficial to
      adjust the operating condition of the left ventricular assist device to the
      residual function of the failing heart.

PMID- 25840755
TI  - Graft flow assessment using a transit time flow meter in fractional flow reserve
      guided coronary artery bypass surgery.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship between preoperative severity of coronary
      stenosis occurring with fractional flow reserve (FFR), and the intraoperative
      bypass graft flow pattern. METHODS: In all, 72 patients were enrolled in this
      retrospective study. The FFR value of the left anterior descending artery was
      evaluated, and data on "in situ" bypass grafting from the internal thoracic
      artery to the left anterior descending artery were assessed. Patients were
      divided into 3 groups according to preoperative FFR values (Group S: FFR < 0.70;
      group M: 0.70 <= FFR < 0.75; and group N: FFR >= 0.75). RESULTS: In groups S, M,
      and N, respectively, mean graft flow was 24.7 +/- 10.6 mL/minute, 19.2 +/- 14.0
      mL/minute, and 16.0 +/- 9.7 mL mL/minute; pulsatility index was 2.35 +/- 0.6,
      3.02 +/- 1.1, and 5.51 +/- 8.20; and number of patients with systolic reverse
      flow was 3 (6.8%), 5 (35.7%), and 4 (28.6%). Significant differences were
      observed in graft flow (P = .009), pulsatility index (P = .038), and proportion
      of systolic reverse flow (P = .023) among the 3 groups. In all patients, graft
      patency was confirmed with intraoperative fluorescence imaging; postoperative
      graft patency was confirmed with multislice computed tomography or coronary
      angiography in 69 patients (follow-up interval: 213 days). Early graft failure
      occurred in 1 patient. CONCLUSIONS: As coronary stenosis severity increased,
      graft flow increased, pulsatility index decreased, and proportion of patients
      with systolic reverse flow increased. In mild coronary artery stenosis, the
      chance of flow competition between the native coronary artery and the bypass
      graft increased.

PMID- 25840757
TI  - Discussion.

PMID- 25840756
TI  - Importance of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 and ribonucleotide
      reductase M1 as prognostic biomarkers in malignant pleural mesothelioma treated
      with platinum-based induction chemotherapy followed by surgery.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Survival and response to platinum-based induction chemotherapy are
      heterogeneous among patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. The aim of the
      present study was to assess the prognostic role of DNA repair markers, such as
      excision repair cross-complementation group 1 and ribonucleotide reductase M1, in
      multimodally treated patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. METHODS: Tumor
      tissue of a malignant pleural mesothelioma cohort (n = 107) treated with
      platinum/gemcitabine (n = 46) or platinum/pemetrexed (n = 61) induction
      chemotherapy followed by extrapleural pneumonectomy was assembled on a tissue
      microarray. Immunohistochemical expression of excision repair cross
      complementation group 1 (nuclear) and ribonucleotide reductase M1 (nuclear and
      cytoplasmic) was assessed for its prognostic impact (association with overall
      survival or freedom from recurrence). RESULTS: Patients with high nuclear
      ribonucleotide reductase M1 expression before chemotherapy showed significantly
      longer freedom from recurrence (P = .03). When specifically analyzed in the
      subgroup of patients receiving platinum/gemcitabine followed by extrapleural
      pneumonectomy, high nuclear ribonucleotide reductase M1 was associated with
      prolonged freedom from recurrence (P = .03) and overall survival (P = .02). Low
      excision repair cross-complementation group 1 expression in prechemotherapy tumor
      tissues was associated with significantly longer freedom from recurrence (P =
      .04). Nuclear ribonucleotide reductase M1 and excision repair cross
      complementation group 1 were independent prognosticators of freedom from
      recurrence in addition to pT stage in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: In the
      present study, nuclear ribonucleotide reductase M1 and excision repair cross
      complementation group 1 expression were identified as independent prognosticators
      for freedom from recurrence of malignant pleural mesothelioma in patients
      undergoing induction chemotherapy followed by extrapleural pneumonectomy.

PMID- 25840758
TI  - Another link between aortopathy and congenital anomaly?

PMID- 25840759
TI  - Ankle Fractures and Modality of Hospital Transport at a Single Level 1 Trauma
      Center: Does Transport by Helicopter or Ground Ambulance Influence the Incidence
      of Complications?
AB  - In an era of concern over the rising cost of health care, cost-effectiveness of
      auxiliary services merits careful evaluation. We compared costs and benefits of
      Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) with Ground Emergency Medical Service
      (GEMS) in patients with an isolated ankle fracture. A medical record review was
      conducted for patients with an isolated ankle fracture who had been transported
      to a level 1 trauma center by either HEMS or GEMS from January 1, 2000 to
      December 31, 2010. We abstracted demographic data, fracture grade, complications,
      and transportation mode. Transportation costs were obtained by examining medical
      center financial records. A total of 303 patients was included in the analysis.
      Of 87 (28.71%) HEMS patients, 53 (60.92%) had sustained closed injuries and 34
      (39.08%) had open injuries. Of the 216 (71.29%) GEMS patients, 156 (72.22%) had
      closed injuries and 60 (27.78%) had open injuries. No significant difference was
      seen between the groups regarding the percentage of patients with open fractures
      or the grade of the open fracture (p = .07). No significant difference in the
      rate of complications was found between the 2 groups (p = 18). The mean baseline
      cost to transport a patient via HEMS was $10,220 + a $108/mile surcharge, whereas
      the mean transport cost using GEMS was $976 per patient + $16/mile. Because the
      HEMS mode of emergency transport did not significantly improve patient outcomes,
      health systems should reconsider the use of HEMS for patients with isolated ankle
      fractures. 

PMID- 25840760
TI  - Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations Between Anemia and Frailty in Older
      Australian Men: The Concord Health and Aging in Men Project.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anemia and frailty are both common in older people and are associated
      with adverse health outcomes. There have been some cross-sectional studies of
      anemia and frailty but no longitudinal studies. The objectives of this study were
      to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between anemia and
      frailty in older Australian men. METHODS: A total of 1666 men aged 70 years and
      older from the Concord Health and Aging in Men Project were assessed at baseline
      (2005-2007), 1314 men came for the 2-year follow-up between 2007 and 2009, and of
      those, 917 men returned for the 5-year follow-up between 2012 and 2013. The main
      outcome measurement was frailty, assessed using the Cardiovascular Health Study
      method. Anemia was defined as a hemoglobin levels <13.0 g/dL. Covariates included
      age, income, body mass index, measures of health, estimated glomerular filtration
      rate, and inflammatory markers (white cell count and albumin). RESULTS: The
      prevalence of anemia was 14.6% at baseline, 16.2% at 2-year follow-up, and 19.4%
      at 5-year follow-up. Prevalence of frailty was 9.1% at baseline and 9.7 % at both
      2- and 5-year follow-up. Among men aged 70-74 at baseline, prevalence of frailty
      was 4.5%, but at 5-year follow-up the prevalence was 9.0%. There were significant
      cross-sectional associations between anemia and frailty in unadjusted [odds
      ratio, [OR 5.03 (95% confidence interval, CI 3.50, 7.25, P < .0001)] and in fully
      adjusted analysis [OR 2.90 (95% CI 1.87, 4.51, P < .0001)]. Generalized
      estimating equations time-lag models were used to examine the longitudinal
      associations between repeated measurements of hemoglobin and frailty. There were
      significant associations between measurements of anemia and frailty in unadjusted
      [OR 2.51 (95% CI 1.58, 4.00, P < .0001] and in fully adjusted analysis (OR 1.80,
      95% CI 1.14, 2.85, P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: Anemia was associated with frailty in
      both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, and anemia precedes frailty in
      men who were nonfrail at baseline. Low hemoglobin levels among patients may alert
      clinicians to the increased risk of frailty.

PMID- 25840761
TI  - Clinical burden, quality of care, organizational context: different lenses to
      optimize care for older people.

PMID- 25840762
TI  - Focus on multiple system atrophy. Introduction.

PMID- 25840763
TI  - Spatial dynamics of TRAIL death receptors in cancer cells.
AB  - TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) selectively induces apoptosis in
      cancer cells without harming most normal cells. Currently, multiple clinical
      trials are underway to evaluate the antitumor activity of recombinant human TRAIL
      (rhTRAIL) and agonistic antibodies that target death receptors (DRs) 4 or 5. It
      is encouraging that these products have shown a tolerated safety profile in early
      phase studies. However, their therapeutic potential is likely limited by the
      emergence of tumor drug resistance phenomena. Increasing evidence indicates that
      TRAIL DRs are deficient on the plasma membrane of some cancer cells despite their
      total protein expression. Notably, the lack of surface DR4/DR5 is sufficient to
      render cancers resistant to TRAIL-induced apoptosis, regardless of the status of
      other apoptosis signaling components. The current review highlights recent
      findings on the dynamic expression of TRAIL death receptors, including the
      regulatory roles of endocytosis, autophagy, and Ras GTPase-mediated signaling
      events. This information could aid in the identification of novel predictive
      biomarkers of tumor response as well as the development of combinational drugs to
      overcome or bypass tumor drug resistance to TRAIL receptor-targeted therapies.

PMID- 25840764
TI  - [Clinical recommendations for sport practice in diabetic patients (RECORD Guide).
      Diabetes Mellitus Working Group of the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and
      Nutrition (SEEN)].
AB  - Sporting activity is becoming a common practice in patients with diabetes
      mellitus (DM). This situation requires both a preliminary medical assessment and
      a wide range of changes in treatment which have scarcely been addressed in
      medical literature. OBJECTIVE: To prepare a clinical guideline on the medical
      approach to patients with diabetes who practice sport regularly. METHODS: An
      expert panel from the Diabetes Mellitus Working Group of the Spanish Society of
      Endocrinology and Nutrition (SEEN) reviewed the most relevant literature in each
      of the sections. Based both on this review and on data from the experience of a
      number of athletes with DM, a number of recommendations were agreed within each
      section. Finally, the Working Group and representatives of the SEEN jointly
      discussed all these recommendations. CONCLUSION: The guideline provides
      recommendations ranging from medical assessment before patients with DM start to
      practice sport to actions during and after physical activity. Recommendations are
      also given on aspects such as the impact of sport on blood glucose control,
      training schemes, or special risk situations.

PMID- 25840765
TI  - Fate, activity, and impact of ingested bacteria within the human gut microbiota.
AB  - The human gut contains a highly diverse microbial community that is essentially
      an open ecosystem, despite being deeply embedded within the human body. Food
      associated fermentative bacteria, including probiotics, are major sources of
      ingested bacteria that may temporarily complement resident microbial communities,
      thus forming part of our transient microbiome. Here, we review data on the fate
      and activity of ingested bacteria and, in particular, lactobacilli and
      bifidobacteria in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and their impact on the
      composition and metabolism of the gut microbiome with a focus on data from
      clinical studies. In addition, we discuss the mechanisms involved and the
      potential impact on the host's health. 

PMID- 25840767
TI  - Nebulized fentanyl vs intravenous morphine for ED patients with acute abdominal
      pain: a randomized double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Patients with acute abdominal pain commonly present to emergency
      departments. The safe and effective relief of discomfort is a concern to patients
      and physicians. Intravenous opioids are the traditional method used to provide
      pain relief in this setting, but intravenous access is time consuming and not
      always achievable. Alternative methods of pain control may therefore be necessary
      for the acute management of painful conditions without adding to the overall
      physical or psychological discomfort. The purpose of this study was to evaluate
      the feasibility of nebulized fentanyl (NF) in the alleviation of acute and
      undifferentiated abdominal pain. We also sought to compare NF with intravenous
      morphine (IVM) and to assess patient and provider satisfaction with NF. Nebulized
      fentanyl (2 MUg/kg) was compared to IVM (0.1 mg/kg) at 10, 20, 30, and 40
      minutes; and patient and physician satisfaction was recorded. The NF group
      experienced more rapid pain relief and more sustained and clinically significant
      pain relief over the 40-minute study interval. There were no adverse effects
      noted in the NF group. Both patient and physician satisfaction scores were higher
      in the NF group. Fentanyl citrate at a dose of 2 MUg/kg through a breath-actuated
      nebulizer appears to be a feasible and safe alternative to IVM (0.1 mg/kg) in the
      treatment of acute abdominal pain.

PMID- 25840766
TI  - The changing face of asthma and its relation with microbes.
AB  - During the past 50 years, the prevalence of asthma has increased and this has
      coincided with our changing relation with microorganisms. Asthma is a complex
      disease associated with local tissue inflammation of the airway that is
      determined by environmental, immunological, and host genetic factors. In a
      subgroup of sufferers, respiratory infections are associated with the development
      of chronic disease and more frequent inflammatory exacerbations. Recent studies
      suggest that these infections are polymicrobial in nature. Furthermore, there is
      increasing evidence that the recently discovered asthma airway microbiota may
      play a critical role in pathophysiological processes associated with the disease.
      Here, we discuss the current data regarding a possible role for infection in
      chronic asthma with a particular focus on the role bacteria may play. We discuss
      recent advances that are beginning to elucidate the complex relations between the
      microbiota and the immune response in asthma patients. We also highlight the
      clinical implications of these recent findings in regards to the development of
      novel therapeutic strategies. 

PMID- 25840768
TI  - Myocarditis mimicking acute coronary syndrome: the role of cardiac magnetic
      resonance imaging and immunoglobulin therapy.

PMID- 25840769
TI  - Better brave than big.

PMID- 25840770
TI  - Incidence, risk factors, and treatment outcome of symptomatic osteonecrosis in
      Taiwanese children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a retrospective cohort
      study of 245 patients in a single institution.
AB  - Osteonecrosis (ON) is a potentially disabling complication encountered in
      children who receive chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
      Considering the possible effect of ethnic difference on the clinical features of
      symptomatic ON in pediatric ALL, we retrospectively evaluated 245 children with
      ALL who were treated at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, between 2002 and
      2011. Six (2.4 %) patients developed symptomatic ON in a total of 17 sites during
      the follow-up period. Diagnosis of ON was confirmed by X-ray in seven, magnetic
      resonance imaging in two, and bone scan in three patients. The estimated
      cumulative incidence of symptomatic ON in newly diagnosed ALL was 3.4 % at 8
      years. Four patients received ON-directed surgical interventions, including total
      hip replacement in three and arthroplasty in one. The incidence of ON was
      significantly higher among girls (P = 0.03), patients >10 years old (P = 2.2 *
      10(-4)), and patients who had received more intensive chemotherapy regimen (P =
      0.02). These results indicate that the incidence and risk factors in our
      institute were similar to those observed in Western countries. Future studies
      surveying the impact on the quality of life of childhood ALL survivors in Taiwan
      are warranted.

PMID- 25840771
TI  - The IgE-dependent pathway in allergic transfusion reactions: involvement of donor
      blood allergens other than plasma proteins.
AB  - On transfusion, several plasma proteins can cause anaphylaxis in patients
      deficient in the corresponding plasma proteins. However, little is known about
      other allergens, which are encountered much more infrequently. Although it has
      been speculated that an allergen-independent pathway underlying allergic
      transfusion reactions (ATRs) is elicited by biological response modifiers
      accumulated in blood components during storage, the exact mechanisms remain
      unresolved. Furthermore, it is difficult even to determine whether ATRs are
      induced via allergen-dependent or allergen-independent pathways. To distinguish
      these two pathways in ATR cases, we established a basophil activation test, in
      which the basophil-activating ability of supernatants of residual transfused
      blood of ATR cases to whole blood basophils was assessed in the presence or
      absence of dasatinib, an inhibitor of IgE-mediated basophil activation. Three of
      37 supernatants from the platelet concentrates with ATRs activated panel blood
      basophils in the absence, but not in the presence, of dasatinib. The basophil
      activation was inhibited by treatment of anti-fish collagen I MoAb in one case,
      suggesting that the involvement of fish allergens may have been present in donor
      plasma. We concluded that unknown non-plasma proteins, some of which had epitopes
      similar to fish antigens, in blood component may be involved in ATRs via an
      allergen/IgE-dependent pathway. 

PMID- 25840772
TI  - High body mass index did not result in poor outcome in Taiwanese children with
      acute myeloid leukemia: a single-institution experience.
AB  - Overweight/obese patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are reported as
      experiencing inferior outcomes and greater numbers of treatment-related
      complications. We retrospectively studied 58 children with newly diagnosed AML
      who received chemotherapy at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital between January 2003
      and December 2011. Patients enrolled were considered overweight if body mass
      index (BMI) was >=85th percentile. Fifteen of 58 (25.9 %) patients were judged
      overweight by this criterion. Patients diagnosed in the last third of this period
      (2009-2011) had a higher average BMI (P = 0.06). The rates of documented
      infection in overweight patients and non-overweight patients were not
      significantly different (53.3 vs. 62.8 %). The 5-year event-free survival (EFS)
      of overweight patients was superior to that of non-overweight patients (78.8 vs.
      55.4 %). Patients (n = 11) who received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
      (HSCT) in first remission (CR1) had a significantly higher 5-year EFS (87.5 vs.
      55.2 %, P = 0.04). Among 47 children who did not receive HSCT in CR1, 10 (21.3 %)
      were overweight. The 5-year EFS of overweight patients was consistently superior
      to that for non-overweight patients (70.0 vs. 51.2 %). In conclusion,
      overweight/obese children with AML did not experience poor outcomes in the
      present study.

PMID- 25840773
TI  - Dickkopf-3 protects against cardiac dysfunction and ventricular remodelling
      following myocardial infarction.
AB  - Dickkopf-3 (DKK3) is a secreted glycoprotein of the Dickkopf family (DKK1-4) that
      modulates Wnt signalling. DKK3 has been reported to regulate cell development,
      proliferation, apoptosis, and immune response. However, the functional role of
      DKK3 in cardiac remodelling after myocardial infarction (MI) has not yet been
      elucidated. This study aimed to explore the functional significance of DKK3 in
      the regulation of post-MI remodelling and its underlying mechanisms. MI was
      induced by surgical left anterior descending coronary artery ligation in
      transgenic mice expressing cardiac-specific DKK3 and DKK3 knockout (KO) mice as
      well as their non-transgenic and DKK3(+/+) littermates. Our results demonstrated
      that after MI, mice with DKK3 deficiency had increased mortality, greater infarct
      size, and exacerbated left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. Significantly, at 1 week
      post-MI, the hearts of DKK3-KO mice exhibited increased apoptosis, inflammation,
      and LV remodelling compared with the hearts of their DKK3(+/+) littermates.
      Conversely, DKK3 overexpression led to the opposite phenotype after infarction.
      Similar results were observed in cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes exposed to
      hypoxia in vitro. Mechanistically, DKK3 promotes cardioprotection by interrupting
      the ASK1-JNK/p38 signalling cascades. In conclusion, our results indicate that
      DKK3 protects against the development of MI-induced cardiac remodelling via
      negative regulation of the ASK1-JNK/p38 signalling pathway. Thus, our study
      suggests that DKK3 may represent a potential therapeutic target for the treatment
      of heart failure after MI.

PMID- 25840774
TI  - MCP-1-induced protein attenuates post-infarct cardiac remodeling and dysfunction
      through mitigating NF-kappaB activation and suppressing inflammation-associated
      microRNA expression.
AB  - MCP-1-induced protein (MCPIP, also known as ZC3H12A) has recently been uncovered
      to act as a negative regulator of inflammation. Expression of MCPIP was elevated
      in the ventricular myocardium of patients with ischemic heart failure. However,
      the role of MCPIP in the development of post-infarct cardiac inflammation and
      remodeling is unknown. The objective of the present study was to investigate
      whether MCPIP exerts an inhibitory effect on the cardiac inflammatory response
      and adverse remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI). Mice with cardiomyocyte
      specific expression of MCPIP and their wild-type littermates (FVB/N) were
      subjected to permanent ligation of left coronary artery. The levels of MCPIP were
      significantly increased in the ischemic myocardium and sustained for 4 weeks
      after MI. Acute infarct size was comparable between groups. However, constitutive
      overexpression of MCPIP in the murine heart resulted in improved survival rate,
      decreased cardiac hypertrophy, less of fibrosis and scar formation, and better
      cardiac performance at 28 days after MI, along with a markedly reduced monocytic
      cell infiltration, less cytokine expression, decreased caspase-3/7 activities and
      apoptotic cell death compared to the wild-type hearts. Cardiomyocyte-specific
      expression of MCPIP also attenuated activation of cardiac NF-kappaB signaling and
      expression of inflammation-associated microRNAs (miR-126, -146a, -155, and -199a)
      when compared with the post-infarct wild-type hearts. In vitro, MCPIP expression
      suppressed hypoxia-induced NF-kappaB-luciferase activity in cardiomyocytes. In
      conclusion, MCPIP expression in the ischemic myocardium protects against adverse
      cardiac remodeling and dysfunction following MI by modulation of local myocardial
      inflammation, possibly through mitigating NF-kappaB signaling and suppressing
      inflammation-associated microRNA expression.

PMID- 25840775
TI  - Modeling full-scale osmotic membrane bioreactor systems with high sludge
      retention and low salt concentration factor for wastewater reclamation.
AB  - A full-scale model was developed to find optimal design parameters for osmotic
      membrane bioreactor (OMBR) and reverse osmosis (RO) hybrid system for wastewater
      reclamation. The model simulates salt accumulation, draw solution dilution and
      water flux in OMBR with sludge concentrator for high retention and low salt
      concentration factor. The full-scale OMBR simulation results reveal that flat
      sheet module with spacers exhibits slightly higher flux than hollow-fiber;
      forward osmosis (FO) membrane with high water permeability, low salt
      permeability, and low resistance to salt diffusion shows high water flux; an
      optimal water recovery around 50% ensures high flux and no adverse effect on
      microbial activity; and FO membrane cost decreases and RO energy consumption and
      product water concentration increases at higher DS flow rates and concentrations.
      The simulated FO water flux and RO energy consumption ranges from 3.03 to
      13.76LMH and 0.35 to 1.39kWh/m(3), respectively. 

PMID- 25840776
TI  - [Current situation and perspectives of proton therapy].
AB  - Proton beam therapy is indicated as a treatment for some rare tumours and
      paediatric tumours because the technique allows a good local control with minimal
      toxicity; the growing number of centres that use proton beam therapy is
      associated with an increase of dosimetric and clinical data for other malignant
      tumours as well. This paper reviews potential indications of proton beam therapy.
      A systematic review on Medline was performed with the following keywords proton
      beam therapy, cancer, heavy particle, charged particle. No phase III trial has
      been published using proton beam therapy in comparison with the best photon
      therapy, but numerous retrospective and dosimetric studies have revealed an
      advantage of proton beam therapy compared to photons, above all in tumours next
      to parallel organs at risk (thoracic and abdominal tumours). This could be
      accompanied with a better safety profile and/or a better tumoural control;
      numerous phase 0, I, II, III and IV studies are ongoing to examine these
      hypotheses in more common cancers. Use of proton beam therapy is growing for
      common cancers within clinical trials but some indications could be applied
      sooner since in silico analysis showed major advantages with this technique. 

PMID- 25840778
TI  - Using the StarT Back Tool: Does timing of stratification matter - In response to
      Peter Kent and Alice Kongsted.

PMID- 25840777
TI  - Peer Group Similarity in Perceptions of Pubertal Timing.
AB  - Self-report measures of perceived pubertal timing correspond only weakly with
      clinical measures of "objective" physical development. Peer and school contexts
      shape adolescents' self-perceptions of pubertal timing. The current study
      examined associations between perceived pubertal timing and the pubertal timing
      reported by nominated friends and schoolmates. Participants included 2817
      adolescents (Mage = 16.6; 49 % female; 16 % Black; 20 % Hispanic) from the
      National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Three measures of pubertal
      timing were included: age-standardized ratings of body changes, comparisons of
      development relative to peers (relative timing), and, in females, age at
      menarche. It was hypothesized that relative timing, which explicitly asks
      adolescents to compare themselves to their peers, would be related to the age
      standardized pubertal timing of nominated friends and schoolmates. Surprisingly,
      there were no associations between relative timing and age-standardized pubertal
      timing reported by peers, suggesting that pubertal self-perceptions do not
      fluctuate in response to the average level of development in a friend group.
      Instead, males were similar to nominated friends and schoolmates in age
      standardized ratings of body changes, and females were similar to nominated
      friends in relative timing, controlling for race, ethnicity, and age. Different
      self-report measures of pubertal timing index different underlying constructs,
      and the social processes that influence adolescents' perceptions of pubertal
      maturation may differ between genders.

PMID- 25840779
TI  - Cost-Effectiveness of Decision Support Strategies in Acute Bronchitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A recent clinical trial suggests that printed (PDS) and computer
      decision support (CDS) interventions are safe and effective in reducing
      antibiotic use in acute bronchitis relative to usual care (UC). OBJECTIVE: Our
      aim was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of decision support interventions in
      reducing antibiotic use in acute bronchitis. DESIGN: We conducted a clinical
      trial-based cost-effectiveness analysis comparing UC, PDS and CDS for management
      of acute bronchitis. We assumed a societal perspective, 5-year program duration
      and 30-day time horizon. PATIENTS: The U.S. population aged 13-64 years
      presenting with acute bronchitis in the ambulatory setting. INTERVENTIONS:
      Printed and computer decision support interventions relative to usual care. MAIN
      MEASURES: Cost per antibiotic prescription safely avoided. KEY RESULTS: In the
      base case, PDS dominated UC and CDS, with lesser total costs (PDS: $2,574, UC:
      $2,768, CDS: $2,805) and fewer antibiotic prescriptions (PDS: 3.79, UC: 4.60,
      CDS: 3.95) per patient over 5 years. In one-way sensitivity analyses, PDS
      dominated UC across all parameter values, except when antibiotics reduced work
      loss by >= 1.9 days or the probability of hospitalization within 30 days was >=
      0.9 % in PDS (base case: 0.2 %) or <= 0.4 % in UC (base case: 1.0 %). The
      dominance of PDS over CDS was sensitive both to probability of hospitalization
      and plausible variation in the adjusted odds of antibiotic use in both
      strategies. CONCLUSIONS: A PDS strategy to reduce antibiotic use in acute
      bronchitis is less costly and more effective than both UC and CDS strategies,
      although results were sensitive to variation in probability of hospitalization
      and the adjusted odds of antibiotic use. This simple, low-cost, safe, and
      effective intervention would be an economically reasonable component of a multi
      component approach to address antibiotic overuse in acute bronchitis.

PMID- 25840780
TI  - Using the Knowledge Base of Health Services Research to Redefine Health Care
      Systems.
AB  - This Perspective discusses 12 key facts derived from 50 years of health services
      research and argues that this knowledge base can stimulate innovative thinking
      about how to make health care systems safer, more efficient, more cost effective,
      and more patient centered, even as they respond to the needs of diverse
      communities.

PMID- 25840781
TI  - Comparison of anterior approach versus posterior approach for the treatment of
      multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical outcomes,
      complications, and surgical trauma between anterior and posterior approaches for
      the treatment of multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). STUDY DESIGN:
      Systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials or non
      randomized controlled trials published up to November 2014 that compared the
      clinical effectiveness of anterior and posterior surgical approaches for the
      treatment of multilevel CSM were acquired by a comprehensive search in four
      electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Controlled Trial Register and
      MEDLINE). Exclusion criteria were non-controlled studies, combined anterior and
      posterior surgery and cervical myelopathy caused by ossification of the posterior
      longitudinal ligament. The main end points included: recovery rate; Japanese
      Orthopedic Association (JOA) score; complication rate; reoperation rate; blood
      loss; operation time and length of stay. RESULTS: A total of ten studies were
      included in the meta-analysis; none of which were randomized controlled trials.
      All of the selected studies were of high quality as indicated by the Newcastle
      Ottawa scale. In six studies involving 467 patients, there was no significant
      difference in the preoperative JOA score between the anterior surgery group and
      the posterior group [P > 0.05, WMD -0.00 (-0.50, 0.50)]. In four studies
      involving 268 patients, the postoperative JOA score was significantly higher in
      the anterior surgery group compared with the posterior surgery group [P < 0.05,
      WMD 0.79 (0.16, 1.42)]. In five studies involving 420 patients, there was no
      statistically significant difference in recovery rate between the anterior and
      posterior surgery groups [P > 0.05, WMD 2.73 (-8.69, 14.15)]. In nine studies
      involving 804 patients, the postoperative complication rate was significantly
      higher in the anterior surgery group compared with the posterior surgery group [P
      = 0.009, OR 1.65 (1.13, 2.39)]. In five studies involving 294 patients, the
      reoperation rate was significantly higher in the anterior surgery group compared
      with the posterior surgery group [P = 0.0001, OR 8.67 (2.85, 26.34)]. In the four
      studies involving 252 patients, the intraoperative blood loss and operation time
      was significantly higher in the anterior surgery group compared with the
      posterior surgery group [P < 0.05, WMD -40.25 (-76.96, -3.53) and P < 0.00001,
      WMD 61.3 (52.33, 70.28)]. In the three studies involving 192 patients, the length
      of stay was significantly lower in the anterior surgery group compared with the
      posterior surgery group [P < 0.00001, WMD -1.07 (-2.23, -1.17)]. CONCLUSIONS: In
      summary, our meta-analysis suggested that a definitive conclusion could not be
      reached regarding which surgical approach is more effective for the treatment of
      multilevel CSM. Although anterior approach was associated with better
      postoperative neural function than posterior approach in the treatment of
      multilevel CSM, there was no apparent difference in the neural function recovery
      rate between the two approaches. Higher rates of surgery-related complication and
      reoperation should be taken into consideration when anterior approach is used for
      patients with multilevel CSM.

PMID- 25840782
TI  - Surgery and survival outcomes of 30 patients with neurological deficit due to
      clear cell renal cell carcinoma spinal metastases.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to provide some useful insights into the
      clinical and imaging presentations, treatment and prognostic factors in patients
      with neurological deficit caused by clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC)
      spinal metastases for the sake of designing individualized therapeutic plans for
      such patients. METHODS: A total of 30 patients with neurological deficit due to
      CCRCC spinal metastases who received surgery in our department were identified
      during an 8-year period from 2003 to 2012 and used for discussion of treatment
      options for CCRCC spinal metastases on the basis of literature review and our own
      experience. RESULTS: Univariate analysis showed that age (<=45 years/>45 years),
      visceral metastasis, Tomita score (3-5/6-8), Tokuhashi score (4-9/10-12) and
      radiotherapy were suggested as the potential prognostic factors. However, the
      multivariate Cox regression model showed that only Tokuhashi score was an
      independent prognostic factor. CONCLUSIONS: Tokuhashi score 10 or more is a
      favorable prognostic factor of CCRCC spinal metastasis.

PMID- 25840783
TI  - Implications of different patterns of "double-layer sign" in cervical
      ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament.
AB  - PURPOSE: To make a preliminary classification of double-layer sign according to
      the morphological characteristics of the ossified and central hypodense mass and
      clarify implications of different patterns of "double-layer sign". METHODS: The
      268 patients of cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament
      (OPLL) who underwent anterior corpectomy were retrospectively analyzed from
      January 2009 to January 2014. All these patients were performed cervical plain X
      rays, CT and MRI. The double-layer sign was observed on axial bone window of CT
      images. According to the morphological characteristics of the ossified and
      central hypodense mass, this sign was classified into three types: type A was
      crescent shape, type B was short-straight shape and type C was long-straight
      shape. Type A was named when the central hypodense mass traced an arc and the
      OPLL is much more extensive than the dural ossification (DO). It belonged to type
      B when the central hypodense mass traced a short-straight line, less than or
      equal to half of the base width of the vertebrae. The OPLL may be extensive or
      equal to the DO. Type C was defined when it was more than half of the base width,
      presenting with a long-straight line and DO is much more extensive than OPLL.
      Intraoperative findings including dural mater ossification and adhesion,
      postoperative CSF leakage and outcome were all studied. Two spinal surgeons with
      rich experiences read the CT images according to this classification method and
      verified its consistency. RESULTS: Ninety-two patients were found in association
      with DO during the anterior decompression procedure, meanwhile the double-layer
      sign could be seen on axial bone window of CT imaging. In these 92 patients,
      there were 51 patients presenting with type A, and the ossified mass was
      completely resected with ossified dura mater reserved. Only two patients
      presented with dural defect and postoperative CSF leakage. Thirty-five patients
      was classified as type B, of which six accompanied by CSF leakage. All the other
      six patients of type C presented with CSF leakage after operation. There was a
      significant correlation between the occurence of CSF leakage and pattern of
      double-layer sign, but not gender, age, duration of symptoms, extent of OPLL and
      occupying rate. The Kappa value between the two surgeons was 0.82, showing a good
      consistency of the method. CONCLUSIONS: OPLL patients with double-layer sign of
      type C is almost inevitably followed by CSF leakage after anterior decompression.
      For type A and B, occurrence of CSF leakage is not as high as we thought before.
      Pattern of double-layer sign should be a considered factor when anterior or
      posterior approach is chosen.

PMID- 25840785
TI  - Meningioma of the external auditory canal.

PMID- 25840784
TI  - Predictors of clinical outcome following lumbar disc surgery: the value of
      historical, physical examination, and muscle function variables.
AB  - PURPOSE: Explore the relationships between preoperative findings and clinical
      outcome following lumbar disc surgery, and investigate the prognostic value of
      physical examination findings after accounting for information acquired from the
      clinical history. METHODS: We recruited 55 adult patients scheduled for first
      time, single-level lumbar discectomy. Participants underwent a standardized
      preoperative evaluation including real-time ultrasound imaging assessment of
      lumbar multifidus function, and an 8-week postoperative rehabilitation programme.
      Clinical outcome was defined by change in disability, and leg and low back pain
      (LBP) intensity at 10 weeks. Linear regression models were used to identify
      univariate and multivariate predictors of outcome. RESULTS: Univariate predictors
      of better outcome varied depending on the outcome measure. Clinical history
      predictors included a greater proportion of leg pain to LBP, pain medication use,
      greater time to surgery, and no history of previous physical or injection
      therapy. Physical examination predictors were a positive straight or cross
      straight leg raise test, diminished lower extremity strength, sensation or
      reflexes, and the presence of postural abnormality or pain peripheralization.
      Preoperative pain peripheralization remained a significant predictor of improved
      disability (p = 0.04) and LBP (p = 0.02) after accounting for information from
      the clinical history. Preoperative lumbar multifidus function was not associated
      with clinical outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Information gleaned from the clinical history
      and physical examination helps to identify patients more likely to succeed with
      lumbar disc surgery. While this study helps to inform clinical practice,
      additional research confirming these results is required prior to confident
      clinical implementation.

PMID- 25840786
TI  - Effects of Tongue Strength Training and Detraining on Tongue Pressures in Healthy
      Adults.
AB  - This study examined the effect of tongue strengthening training and long-term
      detraining on tongue tip pressure, tongue base pressure, and tongue pressure
      during effortful swallowing. Ten young healthy volunteers (21-35 years) were
      participated in this study. Participants received 8-week tongue strengthening
      exercise 3 days a week with each session lasting 30 min. Measurement of tongue
      pressure and tongue strengthening exercise were administrated using Iowa Oral
      Performance Instrument (IOPI). Training intensity was applied at 60 and 80% of
      maximal tongue pressure for the first week and the remainder, respectively.
      Following completion of 8-week training, 28 weeks of detraining period was
      continued. Training increased tongue tip pressure, tongue base pressure, and
      tongue pressure during effortful swallowing above pre-training values (p < 0.05).
      After 28-week detraining, all tongue variables were significantly lower than
      after 8-week training (p < 0.05) but remained significantly higher than pre
      training levels (p < 0.05). These findings demonstrate that high-intensity tongue
      strengthening exercise can improve tongue pressures. However, training effects
      were diminished gradually during detraining period. Thus, maintenance programs
      after strengthening exercise would be required for prolonging training effects.

PMID- 25840787
TI  - Reliability for Identification of a Select Set of Temporal and Physiologic
      Features of Infant Swallows.
AB  - There is little reported evidence regarding the reliability of temporal and
      physiologic features of infant swallowing from videofluoroscopic swallowing
      studies (VFSS). The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine a
      reliable set of temporal and physiologic features from infant swallowing that can
      be measured from analysis of VFSS. Temporal and physiologic features for testing
      were determined from review of previously reported features of infant VFSS in the
      literature. Two novel analysts underwent three training sessions to learn and
      practice visual recognition of the proposed features. The two analysts then
      assessed 25 swallows from 10 total subjects' VFSS. To establish inter- and intra
      rater reliability, calculation of Pearson's r was used for features that met
      criteria for parametric analysis and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was
      used for the non-continuous features. Percent agreement was used to report on the
      reliability of the dichotomous features due to insufficient variability for
      Spearman's rho analyses. Fifteen of the 16 tested features were found to have
      acceptable inter- and intra-rater reliability measures, with each analyst
      achieving a correlation of 0.75 or higher. This project identifies 15 variables
      that can be reliably measured from infant VFSS. This information can be used to
      assist with determination of normal versus abnormal swallow features and in
      developing and testing therapeutic strategies for infants with dysphagia. 

PMID- 25840788
TI  - Effects of Strengthening Exercises on Swallowing Musculature and Function in
      Senior Healthy Subjects: a Prospective Effectiveness and Feasibility Study.
AB  - Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients may develop dysphagia due to muscle atrophy
      and fibrosis following chemoradiotherapy. Strengthening of the swallowing muscles
      through therapeutic exercise is potentially effective for improving swallowing
      function. We hypothesize that a customized Swallow Exercise Aid (SEA), developed
      for isometric and isokinetic strengthening exercises (against resistance), can
      help to functionally strengthen the suprahyoid musculature, which in turn can
      improve swallowing function. An effectiveness/feasibility study was carried out
      with ten senior healthy volunteers, who performed exercises 3 times per day for 6
      weeks. Exercises included chin tuck against resistance (CTAR), jaw opening
      against resistance (JOAR), and effortful swallow exercises with the SEA.
      Multidimensional assessment consisted of measurements of maximum chin tuck and
      jaw opening strength, maximum tongue strength/endurance, suprahyoid muscle
      volume, hyoid bone displacement, swallowing transport times, occurrence of
      laryngeal penetration/aspiration and/or contrast residue, maximum mouth opening,
      feasibility/compliance (questionnaires), and subjective swallowing complaints
      (SWAL-QOL). After 6-weeks exercise, mean chin tuck strength, jaw opening
      strength, anterior tongue strength, suprahyoid muscle volume, and maximum mouth
      opening significantly increased (p < .05). Feasibility and compliance (median 86
      %, range 48-100 %) of the SEA exercises were good. This prospective
      effectiveness/feasibility study on the effects of CTAR/JOAR isometric and
      isokinetic strengthening exercises on swallowing musculature and function shows
      that senior healthy subjects are able to significantly increase swallowing muscle
      strength and volume after a 6-week training period. These positive results
      warrant further investigation of effectiveness and feasibility of these SEA
      exercises in HNC patients with dysphagia.

PMID- 25840789
TI  - Distal femoral fractures: The need to review the standard of care.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hip fracture care has evolved, largely due to standardisation of
      practice, measurement of outcomes and the introduction of the Best Practice
      Tariff, leading to the sustained improvements documented by the National Hip
      Fracture Database (NHFD). The treatment of distal femoral fractures in this
      population has not had the same emphasis. This study defines the epidemiology,
      current practice and outcomes of distal femoral fractures in four English
      centres. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 105 patients aged 50 years or greater with a
      distal femoral fracture, presenting to four UK major trauma centres between
      October 2010 and September 2011 were identified. Data was collected using an
      adapted NHFD data collection tool via retrospective case note and radiograph
      review. Local ethics approval was obtained. RESULTS: Mean age was 77 years (range
      50-99), with 86% female. 95% of injuries were sustained from a low energy
      mechanism, and 72% were classified as either 33-A1 or 33-C1. The mean Parker
      mobility score and Barthel Independence Index were 5.37 (0-9) and 75.5 (0-100)
      respectively. Operative management was performed in 84%, and 86% had their
      surgery within 36 h. Three quarters were fixed with a peri-articuar locking
      plate. There was no consensus on post operative rehabilitation, but no excess of
      complications in the centres where weight bearing as tolerated was the standard.
      45% were seen by an orthogeriatrician during their admission. Mean length of stay
      was 29 days. Mortality at 30 days, 6 months, and 1 year was 7%, 16% and 18%
      respectively. DISCUSSION: This study demonstrates that the distal femoral and hip
      fracture populations are similar, and highlights the current disparity in their
      management. The metrics and standards of care currently applied to hip fractures
      should be applied to the treatment of distal femoral fractures. Optimal operative
      treatment and rehabilitation remains unclear, and is in need of further research.

PMID- 25840790
TI  - Accuracy of targeted wire guided tube thoracostomy in comparison to classical
      surgical chest tube placement - A clinical study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chest tube malfunction, after the tube thoracostomy, is often the
      result of an inappropriate chest tube tip position. The aim of this study was to
      analyse the precision of chest tube placement using the targeted wire guide
      technique (TWG technique) with curve dilator and to compare it to the classical
      surgical technique (CS technique). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this clinical study
      80 patients with an indication for thoracic drainage, due to pneumothorax or
      pleural effusion were included. Experimental group contained 39 patients whose
      chest tube was placed using the TWG technique. The control group contained 41
      patients whose chest tube was placed using the CS technique. RESULTS: The
      comparison of the outcomes of the two techniques applied suggests that the TWG
      technique was significantly more successful in achieving adequate (precise) chest
      tube placement, irrespective of patient diagnosis (TWG vs. CS in all patients,
      78.4% vs. 36.6%, p<0.001). In the pleural effusion group, TWG and CS had success
      rates of 78.2% and 37.5% (p=0.005), respectively, while in pneumothorax group,
      TWG and CS had success rates of 78.6% and 35.3% (p=0.029), respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: Using a curved dilator and the TWG technique for the thoracic
      drainage procedure we found statistically significant advantage to the TWG
      technique in comparison to the CS technique (78% vs. 37%) regarding precise chest
      tube placement within the pleural cavity. Introducing the materials and technique
      used in this clinical trial into clinical practice may improve the quality of
      thoracic drainage, including residual volume of air and/or fluid, poor
      functioning of the chest tube, and, as a consequence of both, prolonged
      hospitalisation.

PMID- 25840791
TI  - Wnt signaling regulation of stem-like properties in human lung adenocarcinoma
      cell lines.
AB  - The refractory pulmonary adenocarcinoma is characterized by its metastasis and
      resistance to cytotoxic agents. While the underlying molecular mechanism is
      unclear, the property of chemoresistance may mainly lie in the presence of highly
      resistant cancer stem cells. We examined the function of Wnt/beta-catenin
      signaling in maintaining cancer stem cells (CSCs) in lung adenocarcinoma.
      Lentivirus-mediated knockdown of beta-catenin expression accelerated cell cycle.
      Subsequently, beta-catenin knockdown PC9 cells improve the sensitivity to
      chemotherapy. Further focusing on Wnt signal by administrating PP and EGFR-TKIs
      as Wnt antagonists can decrease metastasis and induce apoptosis. Collectively,
      these results indicate that Wnt signaling pathway plays an essential role in
      maintaining highly resistant CSCs, regulation of cell cycle, metastasis and
      apoptosis in lung adenocarcinoma.

PMID- 25840792
TI  - CCR5 blockage by maraviroc induces cytotoxic and apoptotic effects in colorectal
      cancer cells.
AB  - Alterations in the expression of C-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5 or CD195)
      have been correlated with disease progression in different cancers. Recently, a
      few investigations have reported the blockage of this receptor by an antagonist
      (maraviroc) and its antineoplastic effects on tumor cell growth. However, little
      is known about the mechanistic reasons behind these antineoplastic effects of
      CCR5 blockage by maraviroc. In this study, we blocked the CCR5 receptor by
      maraviroc in SW480 and SW620 colorectal cancer cells to study the resulting
      changes in biological properties and related pathways. This blockage induced
      significantly reduced proliferation and a profound arrest in G1 phase of the cell
      cycle. Concomitantly, maraviroc caused significant signs of apoptosis at
      morphological level. Significant modulation of multiple apoptosis-relevant genes
      was also noticed at mRNA levels. In addition, we found remarkable increases in
      cleaved caspases at protein level. These modulations led us to propose a
      signaling pathway for the observed apoptotic effects. In conclusion, blocking the
      CCR5 by maraviroc induces significant cytotoxic and apoptotic effects in
      colorectal cancer cells. Thus, maraviroc can be considered a model compound,
      which may foster the development of further CCR5 antagonists to be used for the
      treatment of colorectal cancer.

PMID- 25840793
TI  - Does segmental body composition differ in women with Prader-Willi syndrome
      compared to women with essential obesity?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Subjects with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) have a higher fat mass and
      a lower fat-free mass compared to subjects with essential obesity. However, few
      data are presently available on the segmental body composition (BC) of PWS
      subjects. AIM: To evaluate whether women with PWS and women with essential
      obesity, matched for age and percent body fat, differ in segmental fat
      distribution and surrogate markers of cardiometabolic disease (CMD). SUBJECTS AND
      METHODS: 35 women with PWS and 50 women with essential obesity were matched for
      age and percent body fat using coarsened exact matching. BC was measured by dual
      energy X-ray absorptiometry. Oral glucose tolerance testing and measurements of
      cholesterol, triglycerides, C-reactive protein, and blood pressure were
      performed. Comparisons between PWS and obese women were performed using
      generalized linear models. RESULTS: Trunk fat was lower in PWS than in obese
      women on both absolute [-7.3 (95% confidence interval -9.4 to -5.2) kg] and
      relative [-4.1 (-6.9 to -1.4)% of body fat] grounds. PWS and obese women had
      similar surrogate markers of CMD, with the exception of HDL-cholesterol, which
      was higher in PWS women. CONCLUSION: Trunk fat is lower in obese women with PWS
      than in those with essential obesity. Surrogate markers of CMD are, however,
      mostly similar in the two groups.

PMID- 25840794
TI  - Pregnancy outcome in women treated with methimazole or propylthiouracil during
      pregnancy.
AB  - PURPOSE: Control of thyroid function in hyperthyroid women during pregnancy is
      based on antithyroid drugs (ATD) [propylthiouracil (PTU) and methimazole (MMI)].
      While a teratogenic effect has been suggested for MMI and, more recently, for
      PTU, a clear demonstration is still lacking. Aim of this study was to assess the
      safety of ATD during pregnancy. METHODS: A total of 379 pregnancies were
      retrospectively recruited in eight Italian Departments of Endocrinology and
      divided in five groups: (1) MMI-treated and euthyroid throughout pregnancy (n =
      89); (2) MMI-treated and hyperthyroid on at least two occasions (n = 35); (3) PTU
      treated women and euthyroid throughout pregnancy (n = 32); (4) PTU-treated women
      and hyperthyroid on at least two occasions (n = 20); and (5) non-ATD-treated (n =
      203). Data on maternal thyroid function, miscarriages, type of delivery, neonatal
      weight, length and TSH, perinatal complications and congenital malformation were
      analyzed. RESULTS: The gestational age at delivery, the rate of vaginal delivery,
      neonatal weight, length and neonatal TSH did not significantly differ among
      groups. In all groups, the rates of spontaneous miscarriage and of major
      congenital malformations were not higher than in the general population. No
      newborns were born with a phenotype similar to those described in the "MMI
      embryopathy". CONCLUSIONS: While a clear demonstration of a teratogenic effect of
      MMI is currently lacking, it seems reasonable to follow the current guidelines
      and advice for PTU treatment in hyperthyroid women during the first trimester of
      pregnancy. Further, large and prospective worldwide studies will be needed to
      fully clarify the issue of ATD safety during pregnancy.

PMID- 25840796
TI  - Identification of novel class of falcipain-2 inhibitors as potential antimalarial
      agents.
AB  - Falcipain-2 is a papain family cysteine protease and an emerging antimalarial
      drug target. A pseudo-tripeptide scaffold I was designed using in silico
      screening tools and the three dimensional structures of falcipain-2, falcipain-3,
      and papain. This scaffold was investigated at four positions, T1, T2, T3, and
      T3', with various targeted substitutions to understand the structure-activity
      relationships. Inhibitor synthesis was accomplished by first obtaining the
      appropriate dipeptide precursors with common structural components. The
      pyrrolidine moiety introduced interesting rotamers in a number of synthesized
      molecules, which was confirmed using high-temperature (1)H NMR spectroscopy.
      Among the synthesized compounds, 61, 62, and 66 inhibited falcipain-2 activity
      with inhibition constants (Ki) of 1.8 +/- 1.1, 0.2 +/- 0.1 and 7.0 +/- 2.3 MUM,
      respectively. A group of molecules with a pyrrolidine moiety at the T2 position
      (68, 70, 71, 72, and 73) also potently inhibited falcipain-2 activity (Ki=0.4 +/-
      0.1, 2.5 +/- 0.5, 3.3 +/- 1.1, 7.5 +/- 1.9, and 4.6 +/- 0.7 MUM, respectively).
      Overall, compound 74 exhibited potent anti-parasitic activity (IC50=0.9 +/- 0.1
      MUM), corresponding with its inhibitory activity against falcipain-2, with a Ki
      of 1.1 +/- 0.1 MUM. Compounds 62 and 67 inhibited the growth of the drug
      resistant parasite Dd2 with better efficacy, and compound 74 exhibited a 7- to 12
      fold higher potency against Dd2 and MCamp isolates, than the laboratory strain
      (3D7). These data suggest that this novel series of compounds should be further
      investigated as potential antimalarial agents.

PMID- 25840795
TI  - Synthesis, crystal structures, and urease inhibition of an acetohydroxamate
      coordinated oxovanadium(V) complex derived from N'-(3-bromo-2-hydroxybenzylidene)
      4-methoxybenzohydrazide.
AB  - A new benzohydrazone compound N'-(3-bromo-2-hydroxybenzylidene)-4
      methoxybenzohydrazide (H2L) was prepared. Reaction of H2L and acetohydroxamic
      acid (HAHA) with VO(acac)2 in methanol gave the complex [VOL(AHA)]. Both H2L and
      the oxovanadium complex were characterized by elemental analysis, IR, UV-vis and
      (1)H NMR spectra, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. H2L was also
      characterized by high-resolution mass spectrum. Thermal analysis of the
      oxovanadium complex was carried out. The benzohydrazone ligand, in its dianionic
      form, coordinates to V atom through the phenolate oxygen, imino nitrogen and
      enolate oxygen. The acetohydroxamic acid coordinates to V atom through the
      carbonyl oxygen and deprotonated hydroxyl oxygen. The V atom is in octahedral
      coordination. H2L, HAHA and the oxovanadium complex were tested for their urease
      inhibitory activities. The percent inhibition at concentration of 100 MUmol.L(-1)
      on Helicobacter pylori urease is 78% for the oxovanadium complex. The IC50 value
      for the complex is 36.5 MUmol.L(-1). Molecular docking study was performed to
      study the inhibition.

PMID- 25840797
TI  - Reversible chemical dimerizer-induced recovery of PIP2 levels moves clathrin to
      the plasma membrane.
AB  - Chemical dimerizers are powerful non-invasive tools for bringing molecules
      together inside intact cells. We recently introduced a rapidly reversible
      chemical dimerizer system which enables transient translocation of enzymes to and
      from the plasma membrane (PM). Here we have applied this system to transiently
      activate phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) breakdown at the PM via
      translocation of phosphoinositide 5-phosphatase (5Ptase). We found that the PIP2
      sensor phospholipase C-delta PH domain (PLCdelta-PH) is released from the PM upon
      addition of the reversible chemical dimerizer rCD1. By outcompeting rCD1, rapid
      release of the 5Ptase from the PM is followed by PIP2 recovery. This permits the
      observation of the PIP2-dependent clathrin assembly at the PM. 

PMID- 25840798
TI  - Design of a selenylsulfide-bridged EGFR dimerization arm mimic.
AB  - The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) dimerization arm is a key feature
      that stabilizes dimerization of the extracellular receptor, thereby mediating
      activation of the tyrosine kinase domain. Peptides mimicking this beta-loop
      feature can disrupt dimer formation and kinase activation, yet these peptides
      lack structural constraints or contain redox sensitive disulfide bonds which may
      limit their stability in physiological environments. Selenylsulfide bonds are a
      promising alternative to disulfide bonds as they maintain much of the same
      structural and chemical behavior, yet they are inherently less prone to
      reduction. Herein, we describe the synthesis, stability and activity of
      selenylsulfide-bridged dimerization arm mimics. The synthesis was accomplished
      using an Fmoc-based strategy along with C-terminal labeling for improved overall
      yield. This selenylsulfide-bridged peptide displayed both proteolytic stability
      and structural stability even under reducing conditions, demonstrating the
      potential application of the selenylsulfide bond to generate redox stable beta
      loop peptides for disruption of protein-protein interactions.

PMID- 25840799
TI  - Female Condom Use and Adoption Among Men and Women in a General Low-Income Urban
      U.S. Population.
AB  - HIV prevention is increasingly focused on antiretroviral treatment of infected or
      uninfected persons. However, barrier methods like male condoms (MC) and female
      condoms (FC) remain necessary to achieve broad reductions in HIV and other
      sexually transmitted infections (STI). Evidence grows suggesting that removal of
      basic obstacles could result in greater FC use and reduced unprotected sex in the
      general population. We conducted four annual cross-sectional surveys (2009-2012)
      of urban residents (N = 1614) in low-income neighborhoods of a northeastern U.S.
      city where prevalence of HIV and other STIs is high. Findings indicate slow FC
      uptake but also heterosexual men's willingness to use them. Factors associated
      with men's and women's FC use included positive FC attitudes, network exposure,
      and peer influences and norms. These results suggest that men can be supporters
      of FC, and reinforce the need for targeted efforts to increase FC use in both men
      and women for HIV/STI prevention. 

PMID- 25840800
TI  - Minimally invasive mitral valve surgery through right mini-thoracotomy:
      recommendations for good exposure, stable cardiopulmonary bypass, and secure
      myocardial protection.
AB  - An apparent advantage of minimally invasive mitral surgery through right mini
      thoracotomy is cosmetic appearance. Possible advantages of this procedure are a
      shorter ventilation time, shorter hospital stay, and less blood transfusion. With
      regard to hard endpoints, such as operative mortality, freedom from reoperation,
      or cardiac death, this method is reportedly equivalent, but not superior, to the
      standard median sternotomy technique. However, perfusion-related complications
      (e.g., stroke, vascular damage, and limb ischemia) tend to occur more frequently
      in minimally invasive technique than with the standard technique. In addition,
      valve repair through a small thoracotomy is technically demanding. Therefore,
      screening out patients who are not appropriate for performing minimally invasive
      surgery is the first step. Vascular disease and inadequate anatomy can be
      evaluated with contrast-enhanced computed tomography. Peripheral cannulation
      should be carefully performed, using transesophageal echocardiography guidance.
      Preoperative detailed planning of the valve repair process is desirable because
      every step is time-consuming in minimally invasive surgery. Three-dimensional
      echocardiography is a powerful tool for this purpose. For satisfactory exposure
      and detailed observation of the valve, a special left atrial retractor and high
      definition endoscope are useful. Valve repair can be performed in minimally
      invasive surgery as long as cardiopulmonary bypass is stable and bloodless
      exposure of the valve is obtained. 

PMID- 25840801
TI  - Midterm Re-interventions and Survival After Endovascular Versus Open Repair for
      Ruptured Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the midterm re-intervention and survival rates after EVAR
      and OR for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (RAAA). METHODS: Observational
      cohort study including all consecutive RAAA patients between 2004 and 2011 in 10
      hospitals in the Amsterdam ambulance region. The primary end point was re
      interventions within 5 years of the primary intervention. The secondary end point
      was death. The outcomes were estimated by survival analyses, compared using the
      logrank test, and subsequently adjusted for possible confounders using Cox
      proportional hazard models. Re-interventions were estimated in all patients and
      in patients who survived their hospital stay. RESULTS: Of 467 patients with a
      RAAA, 73 were treated by EVAR and 394 by OR. Five years after the primary
      intervention, the rates of freedom from re-intervention were 55% for EVAR (26/73,
      95% CI: 41-69%) and 60% for OR (130/394, 95% CI: 55-66%) (p = .96). After
      adjustment for age, sex, comorbidity, and pre-operative hemodynamic stability,
      the risk of re-intervention was similar (HR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.65-1.55). The
      survival rates were 36% for EVAR (45/73, 95% CI: 24-47%) and 38% for OR (235/394,
      95% CI: 33-43%) (p = .83). In 297 patients who survived their hospital stay, the
      rates of freedom from re-intervention were 66% for EVAR (15/54, 95% CI: 52-81%)
      and 90% for OR (20/243, 95% CI: 86-95%) (p < .01). After adjustment for age and
      sex, the risk of re-intervention was higher after EVAR (HR 0.27, 95% CI: 0.14
      0.52). CONCLUSIONS: Five years after the primary intervention, endovascular and
      open repair for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm resulted in similar re
      intervention and survival rates. However, in patients who survived their hospital
      stay the re-intervention rate was higher for EVAR than for OR.

PMID- 25840802
TI  - Blood Warming and Hemolysis: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis.
AB  - The use of fluid warmers during blood transfusion is recommended to avoid
      inducing hypothermia and its harmful effects. Fluid warmers offered by
      manufacturers can reach temperatures of 43 degrees C. However, the
      recommendations of national regulatory organizations do not clearly indicate the
      maximum heating temperature in relation to the risk of hemolysis. To fill this
      gap, we conducted a systematic review of the literature with meta-analysis. To
      match clinical practice, this review was limited to fluid warmers that used
      contact heating; thus, studies that used radiofrequency or microwave heating were
      excluded. Twenty-four observational studies were included, 17 of which were the
      subject of a meta-analysis. A preliminary descriptive analysis indicated that
      multiple factors can influence the level of hemolysis during blood heating with a
      liquid warmer, including blood age, anticoagulant type, duration of exposure to
      heat, stirring the blood during heating, and various elements of the circuit
      through which blood flows (eg, type of infusion pump with pressure and flow, type
      of microfilter, and type of tubing). Moreover, the duration between sampling and
      hemolysis assay was a source of heterogeneity among studies, as were the initial
      free hemoglobin levels in the various experiments. In general, the increase
      generated by each of these factors other than temperature appears to have been
      limited except for blood age, which is an important parameter of hemolysis, the
      length of exposure to heat, and, in some studies, the type of infusion pump used.
      Regarding the meta-analysis, at temperatures at or less than 43 degrees C and
      even up to 45-46 degrees C, it appears that blood heating is safe and causes
      hemolysis only in clinically negligible proportions. 

PMID- 25840803
TI  - TREM-1 Mediates Inflammatory Injury and Cardiac Remodeling Following Myocardial
      Infarction.
AB  - RATIONALE: Optimal outcome after myocardial infarction (MI) depends on a
      coordinated healing response in which both debris removal and repair of the
      myocardial extracellular matrix play a major role. However, adverse remodeling
      and excessive inflammation can promote heart failure, positioning leucocytes as
      central protagonists and potential therapeutic targets in tissue repair and wound
      healing after MI. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we examined the role of triggering
      receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1(TREM-1) in orchestrating the inflammatory
      response that follows MI. TREM-1, expressed by neutrophils and mature monocytes,
      is an amplifier of the innate immune response. METHODS AND RESULTS: After
      infarction, TREM-1 expression is upregulated in ischemic myocardium in mice and
      humans. Trem-1 genetic invalidation or pharmacological inhibition using a
      synthetic peptide (LR12) dampens myocardial inflammation, limits neutrophils
      recruitment and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 production, thus reducing
      classical monocytes mobilization to the heart. It also improves left ventricular
      function and survival in mice (n=20-22 per group). During both permanent and
      transient myocardial ischemia, Trem-1 blockade also ameliorates cardiac function
      and limits ventricular remodeling as assessed by fluorodeoxyglucose-positron
      emission tomographic imaging and conductance catheter studies (n=9-18 per group).
      The soluble form of TREM-1 (sTREM-1), a marker of TREM-1 activation, is
      detectable in the plasma of patients having an acute MI (n=1015), and its
      concentration is an independent predictor of death. CONCLUSIONS: These data
      suggest that TREM-1 could constitute a new therapeutic target during acute MI.

PMID- 25840804
TI  - Circulating Lp-PLA2 activity correlates with oxidative stress and cytokines in
      overweight/obese postmenopausal women not using hormone replacement therapy.
AB  - Controversy remains regarding whether there is an association between circulating
      lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), cytokines, and oxidative
      stress in healthy postmenopausal women. We investigated the influence of age on
      Lp-PLA2 activity in postmenopausal women not using hormone therapy and the
      relationship of Lp-PLA2 enzyme activity to serum cytokine levels and oxidative
      stress indices. Normal weight (n = 1284) and overweight/obese (n = 707)
      postmenopausal women not using hormone therapy were categorized into five age
      groups: 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, and 70-89 years. Overweight-obese women
      showed higher plasma Lp-PLA2 activity, urinary 8-epi-prostaglandin F2alpha (8-epi
      PGF2alpha), serum interleukin (IL)-6, and smaller LDL particles than normal
      weight women after adjusting for age, years postmenopause, smoking, drinking,
      blood pressure, glucose, insulin, lipid profiles, BMI, and waist circumference.
      Overweight/obese women 70-89 years old showed higher Lp-PLA2 activity than those
      aged 50-54 years, whereas no significant difference in Lp-PLA2 activity existed
      across normal-weight female age groups. Overweight/obese women aged >= 65 years
      showed higher Lp-PLA2, oxidized LDL (ox-LDL), IL-6, and 8-epi-PGF2alpha than age
      matched normal-weight controls. Overweight/obese women aged >= 70 years had
      higher ox-LDL levels than those aged 50-59, and overweight/obese women aged 65-89
      showed higher IL-6 and 8-epi-PGF2alpha. There were strong positive correlations
      between Lp-PLA2 and ox-LDL (r = 0.385, P < 0.001), Lp-PLA2 and IL-6 (r = 0.293, P
      < 0.001), and ox-LDL and IL-6 (r = 0.303, P < 0.001) in overweight/obese women;
      however, these relationships were weak in normal-weight women. These results
      suggest that aging and obesity-related oxidative and inflammatory mediators are
      associated with Lp-PLA2 activity in overweight/obese postmenopausal women not
      using hormone therapy.

PMID- 25840805
TI  - Local Injection of Lenti-BDNF at the Lesion Site Promotes M2 Macrophage
      Polarization and Inhibits Inflammatory Response After Spinal Cord Injury in Mice.
AB  - There is much evidence to suggest that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
      is a prominent candidate in promoting neuroprotection, axonal regeneration, and
      synaptic plasticity following spinal cord injury (SCI). Although some evidence
      indicates that BDNF has potent anti-oxidative effects and may be involved in the
      regulation of the immune response, the effects of BDNF in the inflammatory
      response during the course of secondary damage after SCI is still unclear. The
      present study was designed to investigate the effects of BDNF with a special
      focus on their effect on macrophage polarization after SCI. Adult C57 mice
      underwent T10 spinal cord clip compression injury and received lenti-BDNF vector
      injections at the epicenter of the lesion site. Four days later, total BDNF
      levels were greatly increased in animals that received lenti-BDNF injections.
      Confocal imaging showed that more than 80 % of the lenti-virus infected cells
      were CD11b-positive macrophages. In addition, the expression of arginase-1 and
      CD206 (associated with M2 macrophage phenotype) significantly increased in the
      animals that received lenti-BDNF injections compared with those that received
      lenti-EGFP injections. On the contrary, the expression of CD16/32 and inducible
      nitric oxide synthase (M1 phenotype marker) was down-regulated as demonstrated
      using flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, the production of
      interleukin 1beta and tumor necrosis factor alpha was significantly reduced
      whereas the levels of interleukin 10 and interleukin 13 were elevated in subjects
      that received lenti-BDNF vector injections. The time course of functional
      recovery revealed that gradual recovery was observed in the subacute phase in
      lenti-BDNF group, little improvement was observed in lenti-EGFP group. At the
      axonal level, significant retraction of the CST axons were observed in lenti-EGFP
      injected animals relative to lenti-BDNF group by biotinylated dextran amine
      tracing. In addition, compared to lenti-BDNF group markedly demyelination was
      observed in the lenti-EGFP group using luxol fast blue staining. In conclusion,
      we found that BDNF could promote the shift of M1 to M2 phenotype and ameliorate
      the inflammatory microenvironment. Furthermore, the roles of BDNF in immunity
      modulation may enhance neuroprotective effects and partially contribute to the
      locomotor functional recovery after SCI. 

PMID- 25840806
TI  - The time is now: revisiting the case for the 3-year radiology residency.

PMID- 25840807
TI  - Timing of menarche related to carotid artery intima-media thickness in black and
      white young adult women: the Bogalusa Heart Study.
AB  - PURPOSE: The early onset of menarche is related to the adulthood risk of
      cardiovascular (CV) disease. This study examines the relation of early onset of
      menarche to carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT), which is a surrogate
      marker of CV disease, among asymptomatic young adult women in a black-white
      community. METHODS: A cohort of 461 women (31% black, 69% white) aged 24 to 43
      years (mean of 35.6 years) were participants in the Bogalusa Heart Study. The age
      at menarche was retrospectively collected. In addition to CV risk factor variable
      measurements B-mode ultrasound images of the far walls of carotid artery segments
      were obtained. The multivariate linear regression model along with mediating
      effect by Sobel test was applied to analyze menarcheal age effect on carotid
      artery IMT, adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: Waist to height ratio was
      significantly greater (P = .01) in early menarcheal age (<11 years) versus
      menarcheal age (>=11 years) in both black and white women. Homeostasis model
      assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was significantly greater (P = .01) in
      early menarcheal age (<11 years) versus menarcheal age (>=11 years) in white
      women and also similar direction in black women. Internal carotid artery IMT was
      the same in early menarcheal age (<11 years) versus menarcheal age (>=11 years)
      in white women but higher (P = .02) in black women. Given as previously mentioned
      these different associations, the mediation analysis by race was performed. The
      effect of early menarcheal age (<11 years) versus menarcheal age (>=11 years) was
      mediated by waist to height ratio and HOMA-IR in white women after adjusting for
      parental education and age. The mediating effect of waist to height ratio (Sobel
      test = -2.26 and P = .02) and HOMA-IR (Sobel test = -1.85 and P = .06) on
      internal carotid artery IMT was noted in white women. The direct effect of early
      menarcheal age (<11 years) versus menarcheal age (>=11 years) on internal carotid
      artery IMT (beta = -0.150, P = .01) was observed in black women. CONCLUSIONS: The
      observed deleterious effect of early onset of menarche on carotid artery IMT in
      asymptomatic black and white younger adult women has biological, social, and
      public health implications.

PMID- 25840808
TI  - Antiatherogenic and antitumoral properties of Opuntia cladodes: inhibition of low
      density lipoprotein oxidation by vascular cells, and protection against the
      cytotoxicity of lipid oxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal in a colorectal cancer
      cellular model.
AB  - Opuntia species have been used for thousands of years as a folk medicine in the
      treatment of diseases. However, the components and protective mechanisms are
      still unclear. We make the hypothesis that Opuntia species may protect the
      development of oxidative stress-associated diseases, such as atherosclerosis or
      colon cancer, via their antioxidant properties. We investigated the protective
      effect of Opuntia cladode powder against the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein
      (LDL) evoked by vascular endothelial cells, an important risk factor for
      atherosclerosis development, and the toxicity of 4-hydroxynonenal (a major lipid
      peroxidation product) on normal (Apc +/+) and preneoplastic (Apc min/+)
      immortalized epithelial colon cells. Various Opuntia species classified according
      to their degree of domestication, from the wildest (Opuntia streptacantha,
      Opuntia hyptiacantha, Opuntia megacantha), medium (Opuntia albicarpa), to the
      most domesticated (Opuntia ficus-indica) were tested. Cladode powders prepared
      from these Opuntia species significantly inhibited LDL oxidation induced by
      incubation with murine endothelial cells and the subsequent foam cell formation
      of RAW 264.7 murine macrophages and cytotoxicity on murine endothelial cells.
      Moreover, Opuntia cladode powder blocked the promotion of colon cancer
      development on an in vitro model of colonocytes. It may be noted that the
      phenolic acid and flavonoids content, the antioxidant capacity, and the
      protective effect were relatively similar in all the cladode powders from wild
      (O. streptacantha) and domesticated Opuntia. Altogether, these data confirm the
      therapeutic potential of Opuntia cladodes in diseases associated with oxidative
      stress. 

PMID- 25840809
TI  - MicroRNA208 family in cardiovascular diseases: therapeutic implication and
      potential biomarker.
AB  - Cardiovascular disease remains to be a severe and yet unsolved health problem
      that has become a leading threat to human health. It is urgent to explore early
      diagnostic biomarker and innovative therapeutic strategy to prevent the
      progression of cardiovascular diseases. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are conserved
      endogenous, non-coding small RNAs that are essential modulators of gene
      expression by inhibiting translation or promoting degradation of messenger RNAs
      (mRNAs). A large range of functions has been attributed to miRNAs, such as cell
      proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and invasion. So far, miRNAs have
      shown characteristic changes in expression during the process of cardiovascular
      disease that may act as potential biomarkers. A series of studies have clearly
      discovered that the miR-208 family is closely associated with the development of
      cardiac diseases, such as myocardial hypertrophy, cardiac fibrosis, myocardial
      infarction, arrhythmia, and heart failure. In this review, we will highlight
      novel insights into miR-208 family functions and discuss it as potential
      biomarker and therapeutic target in cardiovascular diseases. 

PMID- 25840810
TI  - Photocross-Linked Peptide-Protein Complexes Analysis: A Comparative Study of CID
      and ETD Fragmentation Modes.
AB  - Protein-protein interactions are among the keys to organizing cellular processes
      in space and time. One of the only direct ways to identify such interactions in
      their cellular environment is to covalently bond the interacting partners to fix
      the interaction. Photocross-linking in living cells is thus a very promising
      technique. The feasibility of in cellulo photocross-linking reactions has been
      shown and mass spectrometry is a tool of choice to analyze photocross-linked
      proteins. However, the interpretation of the MS and MS/MS spectra of photocross
      linked peptides remains one of the most important bottlenecks of the method and
      still limits its potential for large-scale applications (interactomics).
      Fundamental studies are still necessary to understand and characterize the
      fragmentation behavior of photocross-linked peptides. Here, we report the
      successful identification of the interaction sites in a well-characterized model
      of in vitro interaction between a protein and a peptide. We describe in detail
      the fragmentation pattern of these photocross-linked species in order to identify
      trends that could be generalized. In particular, we compare CID and ETD
      fragmentation modes (and HCD in a lesser extent), demonstrating the
      complementarity of both methods and the advantage of ETD for the analysis of
      photocross-linked species. The information should help further development of
      dedicated software to properly score MS/MS spectra of photocross-linked species. 

PMID- 25840811
TI  - Glycopeptide Site Heterogeneity and Structural Diversity Determined by Combined
      Lectin Affinity Chromatography/IMS/CID/MS Techniques.
AB  - Glycopeptides from a tryptic digest of chicken ovomucoid were enriched using a
      simplified lectin affinity chromatography (LAC) platform, and characterized by
      high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS) as well as ion mobility spectrometry (IMS)
      MS. The LAC platform effectively enriched the glycoproteome, from which a total
      of 117 glycopeptides containing 27 glycan forms were identified for this protein.
      IMS-MS analysis revealed a high degree of glycopeptide site heterogeneity.
      Comparison of the IMS distributions of the glycopeptides from different charge
      states reveals that higher charge states allow more structures to be resolved.
      Presumably the repulsive interactions between charged sites lead to more open
      configurations, which are more readily separated compared with the more compact,
      lower charge state forms of the same groups of species. Combining IMS with
      collision induced dissociation (CID) made it possible to determine the presence
      of isomeric glycans and to reconstruct their IMS profiles. This study illustrates
      a workflow involving hybrid techniques for determining glycopeptide site
      heterogeneity and evaluating structural diversity of glycans and glycopeptides.

PMID- 25840812
TI  - Influence of Desorption Conditions on Analyte Sensitivity and Internal Energy in
      Discrete Tissue or Whole Body Imaging by IR-MALDESI.
AB  - Analyte signal in a laser desorption/postionization scheme such as infrared
      matrix-assisted laser desorption electrospray ionization (IR-MALDESI) is strongly
      coupled to the degree of overlap between the desorbed plume of neutral material
      from a sample and an orthogonal electrospray. In this work, we systematically
      examine the effect of desorption conditions on IR-MALDESI response to
      pharmaceutical drugs and endogenous lipids in biological tissue using a design of
      experiments approach. Optimized desorption conditions have then been used to
      conduct an untargeted lipidomic analysis of whole body sagittal sections of
      neonate mouse. IR-MALDESI response to a wide range of lipid classes has been
      demonstrated, with enhanced lipid coverage received by varying the laser
      wavelength used for mass spectrometry imaging (MSI). Targeted MS(2) imaging
      (MS(2)I) of an analyte, cocaine, deposited beneath whole body sections allowed
      determination of tissue-specific ion response factors, and CID fragments of
      cocaine were monitored to comment on wavelength-dependent internal energy
      deposition based on the "survival yield" method. 

PMID- 25840813
TI  - Imaging MALDI MS of Dosed Brain Tissues Utilizing an Alternative Analyte Pre
      extraction Approach.
AB  - Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) imaging mass spectrometry has
      been adopted in the pharmaceutical industry as a useful tool to detect xenobiotic
      distribution within tissues. A unique sample preparation approach for MALDI
      imaging has been described here for the extraction and detection of cobimetinib
      and clozapine, which were previously undetectable in mouse and rat brain using a
      single matrix application step. Employing a combination of a buffer wash and a
      cyclohexane pre-extraction step prior to standard matrix application, the
      xenobiotics were successfully extracted and detected with an 8 to 20-fold gain in
      sensitivity. This alternative approach for sample preparation could serve as an
      advantageous option when encountering difficult to detect analytes. 

PMID- 25840815
TI  - Patient radiation dose reduction using an X-ray imaging noise reduction
      technology for cardiac angiography and intervention.
AB  - Coronary angiography and intervention can expose patients to high radiation dose.
      This retrospective study quantifies the patient dose reduction due to the
      introduction of a novel X-ray imaging noise reduction technology using advanced
      real-time image noise reduction algorithms and optimized acquisition chain for
      fluoroscopy and exposure in interventional cardiology. Patient, procedure and
      radiation dose data were retrospectively collected in the period August 2012
      August 2013 for 883 patients treated with the image noise reduction technology
      (referred as "new system"). The same data were collected for 1083 patients in the
      period April 2011-July 2012 with a system using state-of-the-art image processing
      and reference acquisition chain (referred as "reference system"). Procedures were
      divided into diagnostic (CAG) and intervention (PCI). Acquisition parameters such
      as fluoroscopy time, volume of contrast medium, number of exposure images and
      number of stored fluoroscopy images were collected to classify procedure
      complexity. The procedural dose reduction was investigated separately for three
      main cardiologists. The new system provides significant dose reduction compared
      to the reference system. Median DAP values decreased for all procedures (p <
      0.0001) from 172.7 to 59.4 Gy cm(2), for CAG from 155.1 to 52.0 Gy cm(2) and for
      PCI from 229.0 to 85.8 Gy cm(2) with reduction quantified at 66, 66 and 63 %,
      respectively. Based on median values, the dose reduction for all procedures was
      68, 60 and 67 % for cardiologists 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The X-ray imaging
      technology combining advanced real-time image noise reduction algorithms and
      anatomy-specific optimized fluoroscopy and cine acquisition chain provides 66 %
      patient dose reduction in interventional cardiology. 

PMID- 25840816
TI  - Safety and efficacy of single-agent bendamustine after failure of brentuximab
      vedotin in patients with relapsed or refractory hodgkin's lymphoma: experience
      with 27 patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The optimal treatment of patients with heavily pretreated Hodgkin's
      lymphoma is controversial. Brentuximab vedotin is an active single agent in this
      context. Also, bendamustine can be regarded as a safe and effective alternative
      for patients with relapse after autologous transplantation and as an interesting
      cytoreductive strategy before allogeneic transplantation. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      An observational, multicenter, retrospective study is reported of single-agent
      bendamustine in 27 heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory
      Hodgkin's lymphoma, who had all received brentuximab vedotin as their last
      treatment and who showed disease progression, refractory disease, or early
      relapse. The primary study endpoint was the objective response rate, and the
      secondary endpoint was the safety of the bendamustine regimen. RESULTS: The
      overall response rate was 55.5%, with 10 of 27 patients (37.0%) obtaining a
      complete response. In comparison, the overall response rate previously observed
      with brentuximab vedotin in the same subset of patients was much lower (18.5%).
      Among the 10 patients with a complete response after bendamustine, only 1 had had
      a complete response to brentuximab, with 2 having a partial response and 7 stable
      or progressive disease. With a median duration of response of 8 months, all these
      patients had maintained a continuous response at the last follow-up examination.
      The treatment was well tolerated, with rather infrequent adverse events and
      transient and manageable toxicities. CONCLUSION: Albeit with the limits of an
      observational retrospective study, these data indicate that bendamustine shows
      its efficacy in patients already treated with brentuximab vedotin, regardless of
      their previously obtained response and without any significant toxicity.

PMID- 25840817
TI  - A systematic review of randomised controlled trials examining the effectiveness
      of breast and cervical cancer screening interventions for ethnic minority women.
AB  - PURPOSE: To examine the effect that breast and/or cervical cancer screening
      programmes for ethnic minority women have on their knowledge of and beliefs about
      breast or cervical cancer and screening, and on their screening intentions and
      uptake rates. Recommendations are also made for the format and content of such
      programmes, based on existing evidence. METHODS: A comprehensive literature
      search was carried out both manually and by means of five electronic databases.
      The findings are summarised and synthesised in narrative fashion. RESULTS: The
      ten RCTs included here were conducted among ethnic minority women in the United
      States or Canada, where breast or cervical cancer screening programmes have led
      to improvements in screening intentions, knowledge of cervical cancer and pap
      test uptake. The Breast Cancer Screening Belief Scale and self-reporting were the
      methods commonly used to measure outcomes. The shared characteristics of both
      countries' programmes were that they were theory- and language-based, the
      instruction took place in a community setting, the materials were culturally
      relevant, the content highlighted key messages about breast or cervical cancer
      and screening measures, and there were multiple intervention strategies.
      CONCLUSION: Breast or cervical cancer screening programmes in Western countries
      have demonstrated improvements in knowledge of the disease, screening intentions
      and pap test uptake, although evidence on the effectiveness of the interventions
      has been limited. The common characteristics of programmes are identified, but a
      comprehensive model is still needed to link these characteristics with other
      factors and mediators influencing outcomes.

PMID- 25840819
TI  - Achalasia: A to Z.

PMID- 25840818
TI  - Prognostic communication in cancer: A critical interpretive synthesis of the
      literature.
AB  - PURPOSE: For patients with cancer, providing appropriate information about
      prognosis or chances of recurrent disease remains a difficult area of practice.
      Much research has suggested that patients want to be given all available
      information, although the realities of attempting to do this are complex and may
      be perceived by some as uncaring. A review of recent literature was undertaken to
      explore the process of disclosure, patient experience and preferences for
      information regarding prognosis or risk of recurrence. METHODS: A systematic
      approach was taken to searching electronic databases for relevant literature from
      2004 to June 2014. Primary research from a range of methodological approaches was
      included and critical interpretive synthesis was employed to explore themes and
      identify gaps in the evidence. RESULTS: Twenty papers were identified as
      appropriate. They were diverse in objectives and patient groups. Themes
      identified included: the nature of prognostic information, patient need for
      prognostic information, patient need to maintain hope, balancing hope and
      realism, patient factors, disease factors and clinician factors. A thematic
      framework was developed. CONCLUSIONS: Patients often struggle to fully understand
      complex prognostic information. They value help in making sense of this
      information and generally want information that supports hope. Working with
      patients to understand and manage the uncertainty of their situation may be
      particularly valuable. Further research is needed to fully understand the process
      of prognostic information giving and what information patients want regarding
      recurrence risk. Research should be aimed at identifying strategies helpful to
      patients in managing uncertainty inherent in their situation.

PMID- 25840821
TI  - International Association of Trauma and Surgical Intensive Care Symposium:
      Penetrating Trauma. Update on Penetrating Trauma.

PMID- 25840820
TI  - Preoperative Imaging Features are Associated with Surgical Complications
      Following Carotid Body Tumor Resection.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgical resection remains the treatment of choice for carotid body
      tumors (CBTs). Although perioperative complications such as carotid artery injury
      and neurological deficits occur infrequently, they can be devastating. The aim of
      this study was to evaluate whether clinical factors or preoperative imaging
      findings can accurately predict perioperative complications. METHODS: Twenty CBTs
      were resected from 19 patients. Preoperative computed tomography (CT) and
      magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the neck were used to measure the degree of
      circumferential involvement of the CBT to the internal carotid artery (ICA),
      carotid artery narrowing, tumor length, tumor volume, and the distance from the
      tip of the C2 dens to the superior aspect of the CBT (dens-CBT). Operative
      reports and Shamblin classification (I-III) of each tumor were independently
      reviewed. Preoperative imaging features were compared to perioperative cranial
      nerve injury (CNI), rates of carotid artery injury, and major carotid artery
      repairs, as well as Shamblin classifications>=II. RESULTS: CNI was associated
      with a high-lying CBT (dens-CBT=1.8 vs. 2.9 cm, p<0.01). All four patients with
      CNI had a dens-CBT of <3 cm. Neither tumor length and tumor volume nor the
      involvement of the ICA (>=180 degrees  as measured by CT or MRI) was associated
      with CNI, carotid artery injury, major carotid artery repair, or Shamblin II or
      III classification. No carotid artery narrowing was observed in any of the cases.
      CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative measurement of the dens-CBT is helpful in identifying
      CBTs at risk for CNI after surgical resection.

PMID- 25840822
TI  - Unusual spinal tuberculosis in an Avar Age skeleton (Csongrad-Felgyo, Urmos
      tanya, Hungary): A morphological and biomolecular study.
AB  - The paleopathological analysis of a well-preserved young adult female skeleton
      from the AD 7-8th century (Avar Age) in Hungary revealed multiple lytic lesions
      in all of the thoracic and lumbar vertebral bodies. The lesions were
      characterized by smooth marginal zones and space-occupying mass appearance. The
      considerable loss of spongy bone in the thoracolumbar vertebrae resulted in
      angular deformity and fusion, characteristic of the healing stage of TB.
      Osteolytic lesions were also observed on the vertebral processes, ribs and
      sternum. On the endocranial surface, abnormal blood vessel impressions were
      revealed, indicating some kind of meningitis. The X-ray and CT analysis of the
      affected bones detected abnormal structures and cystic zones of destruction. The
      lesions were however not always bordered by areas of increased density, which is
      typical in cystic TB. Vertebral remains were also subjected to biomolecular
      analysis in two different laboratories, which attested the presence of
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) DNA and supported the paleopathological
      diagnosis of TB. Spoligotyping analysis confirmed the presence of MTBC DNA and
      more specifically an infection caused by bacteria belonging to the M.
      tuberculosis lineage. This case study provides new data for the paleoepidemiology
      of TB in this geographical area and historical period, and draws attention to the
      great variability of TB lesions in the human skeleton.

PMID- 25840823
TI  - Construction of a multicolor GeneScan analytical system to detect clonal
      rearrangements of immunoglobulin and T cell receptor genes in canine lymphoid
      tumors.
AB  - Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification to detect immunoglobulin heavy
      chain (IgH) and T cell receptor gamma-chain (TCRgamma) gene rearrangements has
      recently become widely used as part of the diagnostic strategy for lymphoid
      tumors in dogs. In this study, we constructed a multicolor GeneScan analytical
      system to improve the sensitivity and resolution of the clonality analysis of
      antigen receptor gene rearrangements in dogs. We used 7 reactions per sample,
      with 2 PCR conditions, to amplify IgH/TCRgamma and control genes. By using
      multicolor-labeled primers, these 7 PCR products could be combined into 3 tubes
      before capillary electrophoresis. Clonal rearrangement of the IgH/TCRgamma genes
      was detected in 93.3% of dogs with multicentric lymphoma and 84.6% of dogs with
      gastrointestinal lymphoma. Detection sensitivity of the clonally expanded cells
      in the background of normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells was 1-10%. The
      multicolor GeneScan analytical system developed here may prove to be helpful for
      the diagnosis of lymphoid tumors in dogs. 

PMID- 25840824
TI  - Effect of monochloramine treatment on the microbial ecology of Legionella and
      associated bacterial populations in a hospital hot water system.
AB  - Opportunistic pathogens, including Legionella spp. and non-tuberculous
      mycobacteria, can thrive in building hot water systems despite municipal and
      traditional on-site chlorine disinfection. Monochloramine is a relatively new
      approach to on-site disinfection, but the microbiological impact of on-site
      chloramine use has not been well studied. We hypothesized that comparison of the
      microbial ecology associated with monochloramine treatment versus no on-site
      treatment would yield highly dissimilar bacterial communities. Hot water samples
      were collected monthly from 7 locations for three months from two buildings in a
      Pennsylvania hospital complex supplied with common municipal water: (1) a
      hospital administrative building (no on-site treatment) and (2) an adjacent acute
      care hospital treated on-site with monochloramine to control Legionella spp.
      Water samples were subjected to DNA extraction, rRNA PCR, and 454 pyrosequencing.
      Stark differences in the microbiome of the chloraminated water and the control
      were observed. Bacteria in the treated samples were primarily Sphingomonadales
      and Limnohabitans, whereas Flexibacter and Planctomycetaceae predominated in
      untreated control samples. Serendipitously, one sampling month coincided with
      dysfunction of the on-site disinfection system that resulted in a Legionella
      bloom detected by sequencing and culture. This study also demonstrates the
      potential utility of high-throughput DNA sequencing to monitor microbial ecology
      in water systems. 

PMID- 25840825
TI  - Moderate DNA damage promotes metabolic flux into PPP via PKM2 Y-105
      phosphorylation: a feature that favours cancer cells.
AB  - Pyruvate kinase M2, an important metabolic enzyme, promotes aerobic glycolysis
      (Warburg effect) to facilitate cancer cell proliferation. Unravelling the status
      of this important glycolytic pathway enzyme under sub-lethal doses of etoposide,
      a commonly used anti-proliferative genotoxic drug to induce mild/moderate DNA
      damage in HeLa cells as a model system and discern its effect on: PKM2
      expression, phosphorylation, dimer: tetramer ratio, activity and associated
      effects, was pertinent. Protein expression and phosphorylation of PKM2 from HeLa
      cells was estimated using Western blotting. Same protein lysate was also used to
      estimate total pyruvate kinase activity and the total dimer: tetramer content
      evaluated using glycerol gradient ultra-centrifugation. Intracellular PEP was
      estimated manually using standard curve; while NADPH was assessed by NADPH
      estimation kit. Unpaired t test and two-way-ANOVA was used for statistical
      analysis. A relative decrease in PKM2 expression and a subsequent dose and time
      dependent increase in Y105-phosphorylation were observed. A concomitant increase
      in PKM2 dimer content and Y105-phosphorylation responsible for reduced PKM2
      activity promoted PEP accumulation and NADPH production, representing increased
      metabolic flux into PPP, a feature that favours cancer cells. It was apparent
      that the sub-lethal doses of etoposide induced inadequate damage to DNA in cancer
      cells in culture promoted pro-survival conditions due to Y105-phosphorylation of
      PKM2, its stable dimerization and inactivation, a unique association not known
      earlier, indicating what might happen in tumour revivals or recurrences. 

PMID- 25840826
TI  - Pre-operative Predictive Factors of Post-operative Pain in Patients With Hip or
      Knee Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze pre-surgical predictive factors of post-surgical pain in
      patients undergoing hip or knee arthoplasty. METHODS: A systematic literature
      review was performed. We defined a sensitive strategy on Medline, Embase and
      Cochrane Library up to May 2013. The inclusion criteria were: patients
      undertaking knee and/or hip arthroplasty, adults with moderate or severe pain
      (>=4 on a Visual Analog Scale) in whom predictive factors of post-surgical pain
      were evaluated before surgery. Systematic reviews, meta-analyses, controlled
      trials and observational studies were selected. We excluded animals and basic
      science articles, reviews of prosthesis, prosthesis due to fractures, patients
      with rheumatic diseases or studies with mixed population in which disaggregated
      data was not possible to obtain. RESULTS: A total 37 articles of moderate quality
      were selected. The articles included representative patients undergoing a knee or
      hip arthroplasty in our country; most of them were aged 60 years or above, with
      osteoarthritis, and with a high rate of obesity and comorbidities. We found great
      variability regarding the type of studies and predictive factors. There was a
      strong association between post-surgical pain and the following pre-surgical
      factors: female gender, low socio-economic status, higher pain, comorbidities,
      low back pain, poor functional status, and psychological factors (depression,
      anxiety or catastrophic pain). CONCLUSIONS: There are pre-surgical factors that
      might influence post-surgical pain in patients undergoing a knee or hip
      arthroplasty. Therefore, they should be taken into account when considering an
      arthroplasty.

PMID- 25840827
TI  - Exercise outcomes in prevalent users of stimulant medications.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To compare users of stimulant medications with matched nonusers on
      exercise outcomes during a maximal treadmill exercise test. METHODS: A cross
      sectional study of a community-based cohort comparing propensity-score-matched
      stimulant medication users (n = 245) and nonusers (n = 735) who underwent a
      maximal treadmill exercise test in the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study cohort
      from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2013. Main Outcomes were peak systolic blood
      pressure (SBP), average rise in SBP, peak heart rate (HR), and estimated VO2max
      during exercise. A linear mixed model analysis was used to evaluate the effect of
      stimulant exposure on each of the exercise outcomes. In a sensitivity analysis,
      users were compared against nonusers for risk of chronotropic incompetence.
      Analyses were adjusted for relevant covariates and multiple testing. RESULTS:
      Peak HR during exercise was significantly lower in stimulant medication users
      (least square mean estimate 170.2 beats/minute) compared to nonusers (174.4
      beats/minute; p < 0.0001). Moreover, stimulant medication users had an increased
      risk of chronotropic incompetence compared to nonusers (adjusted odds ratio 3.28,
      95% confidence interval 1.70 to 6.34, p = 0.0008). No significant differences
      were observed in the outcomes of peak SBP, average SBP rise, and estimated VO2max
      between matched groups. CONCLUSIONS: Stimulant medication use was associated with
      a significant decrease in peak HR and an increased risk of chronotropic
      incompetence. Further investigation is required to understand the clinical
      significance of chronotropic incompetence in stimulant medication users. Concerns
      that stimulant medication use may increase peak SBP and average SBP during
      exercise were not supported by this study.

PMID- 25840828
TI  - Multiple epigenetic factors predict the attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder
      among the Chinese Han children.
AB  - Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common
      psychiatric disorders of childhood. Despite its prevalence, the critical factors
      involved in its development remain to be identified. It was recently suggested
      that epigenetic mechanisms probably contribute to the etiology of ADHD. The
      present study was designed to examine the associations of epigenetic markers with
      ADHD among Chinese Han children, aiming to establish the prediction model for
      this syndrome from the epigenetic perspective. We conducted a pair-matching case
      control study, and the ADHD children were systematically evaluated via structured
      diagnostic interviews, including caregiver interviews, based on the Diagnostic
      and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, revised criteria (DSM-IV
      R). The expression levels of risk genes DAT1, DRD4, DRD5, as well as their
      promoter methylation, were determined respectively, followed by the expression
      profiles of histone-modifying genes p300, MYST4, HDAC1, MeCP2. The multivariate
      logistic regressions were performed to establish ADHD prediction models. All of
      the seven genes tested were identified as risk factors for ADHD. The methylation
      of one critical CpG site located upstream of DRD4 was shown to affect its
      transcription, suggesting a role in ADHD's development. Aberrant DNA methylation
      and histone acetylation were indicated in ADHD patients. In addition, a
      prediction model was established using the combination of p300, MYST4 and HDAC1,
      with the accuracy of 0.9338. This is, to our knowledge, the first study to
      clearly demonstrate the associations between epigenetic markers and ADHD,
      shedding light on the preliminary diagnosis and etiological studies of this
      widespread disorder. 

PMID- 25840829
TI  - Long-term healthcare cost reduction with Intensive Short-term Dynamic
      Psychotherapy in a tertiary psychiatric service.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether a mixed population of patients treated with
      Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) would exhibit reduced
      healthcare costs in long-term follow-up. METHODS: A quasi-experimental design was
      employed in which data on pre- and post-treatment healthcare cost were compared
      for all ISTDP cases treated in a tertiary care service over a nine year period.
      Observed cost changes were compared with those of a control group of patients
      referred but never treated. Physician and hospital costs were compared to
      treatment cost estimates and normal population cost figures. RESULTS: 1082
      patients were included; 890 treated cases for a broad range of somatic and
      psychiatric disorders and 192 controls. The treatment averaged 7.3 sessions and
      measures of symptoms and interpersonal problems significantly improved. The
      average cost reduction per treated case was $12,628 over 3 follow-up years: this
      compared favorably with the estimated treatment cost of $708 per patient.
      Significant differences were seen between groups for follow-up hospital costs.
      CONCLUSIONS: ISTDP in this setting appears to facilitate reductions in healthcare
      costs, supporting the notion that brief dynamic psychotherapy provided in a
      tertiary setting can be beneficial to health care systems overall.
      CLINICALTRIALS. GOV IDENTIFIER NUMBER: NCT01924715.

PMID- 25840830
TI  - miR-21-mediated decreased neutrophil apoptosis is a determinant of impaired
      coronary collateral growth in metabolic syndrome.
AB  - Coronary collateral growth (CCG) is impaired in metabolic syndrome. microRNA-21
      (miR-21) is a proproliferative and antiapoptotic miR, which we showed to be
      elevated in metabolic syndrome. Here we investigate whether impaired CCG in
      metabolic syndrome involved miR-21-mediated aberrant apoptosis. Normal Sprague
      Dawley (SD) and metabolic syndrome [J. C. Russel (JCR)] rats underwent transient,
      repetitive coronary artery occlusion [repetitive ischemia (RI)]. Antiapoptotic
      Bcl-2, phospho-Bad, and Bcl-2/Bax dimers were increased on days 6 and 9 RI, and
      proapoptotic Bax and Bax/Bax dimers and cytochrome-c release concurrently
      decreased in JCR versus SD rats. Active caspases were decreased in JCR versus SD
      rats (~50%). Neutrophils increased transiently on day 3 RI in the collateral
      dependent zone of SD rats but remained elevated in JCR rats, paralleling miR-21
      expression. miR-21 downregulation by anti-miR-21 induced neutrophil apoptosis and
      decreased Bcl-2 and Bcl-2/Bax dimers (~75%) while increasing Bax/Bax dimers,
      cytochrome-c release, and caspase activation (~70, 400, and 400%). Anti-miR-21
      also improved CCG in JCR rats (~60%). Preventing neutrophil infiltration with
      blocking antibodies resulted in equivalent CCG recovery, confirming a major role
      for deregulated neutrophil apoptosis in CCG impairment. Neutrophil and miR-21
      dependent CCG inhibition was in significant part mediated by increased oxidative
      stress. We conclude that neutrophil apoptosis is integral to normal CCG and that
      inappropriate prolonged miR-21-mediated survival of neutrophils plays a major
      role in impaired CCG, in part via oxidative stress generation.

PMID- 25840831
TI  - Aortic perivascular adipose-derived interleukin-6 contributes to arterial
      stiffness in low-density lipoprotein receptor deficient mice.
AB  - We tested the hypothesis that aortic perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) from
      young low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient (LDLr(-/-)) mice promotes aortic
      stiffness and remodeling, which would be mediated by greater PVAT-derived IL-6
      secretion. Arterial stiffness was assessed by aortic pulse wave velocity and with
      ex vivo intrinsic mechanical properties testing in young (4-6 mo old) wild-type
      (WT) and LDLr(-/-) chow-fed mice. Compared with WT mice, LDLr(-/-) mice had
      increased aortic pulse wave velocity (407 +/- 18 vs. 353 +/- 13 cm/s) and
      intrinsic mechanical stiffness (5,308 +/- 623 vs. 3,355 +/- 330 kPa) that was
      associated with greater aortic protein expression of collagen type I and advanced
      glycation end products (all P < 0.05 vs. WT mice). Aortic segments from LDLr(-/-)
      compared with WT mice cultured in the presence of PVAT had greater intrinsic
      mechanical stiffness (6,092 +/- 480 vs. 3,710 +/- 316 kPa), and this was reversed
      in LDLr(-/-) mouse arteries cultured without PVAT (3,473 +/- 577 kPa, both P <
      0.05). Collagen type I and advanced glycation end products were increased in
      LDLr(-/-) mouse arteries cultured with PVAT (P < 0.05 vs. WT mouse arteries),
      which was attenuated when arteries were cultured in the absence of PVAT (P <
      0.05). PVAT from LDLr(-/-) mice secreted larger amounts of IL-6 (3.4 +/- 0.1 vs.
      2.3 +/- 0.7 ng/ml, P < 0.05), and IL-6 neutralizing antibody decreased intrinsic
      mechanical stiffness in LDLr(-/-) aortic segments cultured with PVAT (P < 0.05).
      Collectively, these data provide evidence for a role of PVAT-derived IL-6 in the
      pathogenesis of aortic stiffness and remodeling in chow-fed LDLr(-/-) mice. 

PMID- 25840832
TI  - Improved Specificity of Gene Electrotransfer to Skin Using pDNA Under the Control
      of Collagen Tissue-Specific Promoter.
AB  - In order to ensure safe, efficient and controlled gene delivery to skin, the
      improvement of delivery methods together with proper design of DNA is required.
      Non-viral delivery methods, such as gene electrotransfer, and the design of
      tissue-specific promoters are promising tools to ensure the safety of gene
      delivery to the skin. In the scope of our study, we evaluated a novel skin
      specific plasmid DNA with collagen (COL) promoter, delivered to skin cells and
      skin tissue by gene electrotransfer. In vitro, we determined the specificity of
      the COL promoter in fibroblast cells. The specific expression under the control
      of COL promoter was obtained for the reporter gene DsRed as well as for
      therapeutic gene encoding cytokine IL-12. In vivo, the plasmid with COL promoter
      encoding the reporter gene DsRed was efficiently transfected to mouse skin. It
      resulted in the notable and controlled manner, however, in lower and shorter
      expression, compared to that obtained with ubiquitous promoter. The concentration
      of the IL-12 in the skin after the in vivo transfection of plasmid with COL
      promoter was in the same range as after the treatment in control conditions
      (injection of distilled water followed by the application of electric pulses).
      Furthermore, this gene delivery was local, restricted to the skin, without any
      evident systemic shedding of IL-12. Such specific targeting of skin cells,
      observed with tissue-specific COL promoter, would improve the effectiveness and
      safety of cutaneous gene therapies and DNA vaccines. 

PMID- 25840833
TI  - Gene Electrotransfer of Canine Interleukin 12 into Canine Melanoma Cell Lines.
AB  - A gene electrotransfer (GET) of interleukin 12 (IL-12) had already given good
      results when treating tumors in human and veterinary clinical trials. So far,
      plasmids used in veterinary clinical studies encoded a human or a feline IL-12
      and an ampicillin resistance gene, which is not recommended by the regulatory
      agencies to be used in clinical trials. Therefore, the aim of the current study
      was to construct the plasmid encoding a canine IL-12 with kanamycin antibiotic
      resistance gene that could be used in veterinary clinical oncology. The
      validation of the newly constructed plasmid was carried out on canine malignant
      melanoma cells, which have not been used in GET studies so far, and on human
      malignant melanoma cells. Canine and human malignant melanoma cell lines were
      transfected with plasmid encoding enhanced green fluorescence protein at
      different pulse parameter conditions to determine the transfection efficiency and
      cell survival. The IL-12 expression of the most suitable conditions for GET of
      the plasmid encoding canine IL-12 was determined at mRNA level by the qRT-PCR and
      at protein level with the ELISpot assay. The obtained results showed that the
      newly constructed plasmid encoding canine IL-12 had similar or even higher
      expression capacity than the plasmid encoding human IL-12. Therefore, it
      represents a promising therapeutic plasmid for further IL-12 gene therapy in
      clinical studies for spontaneous canine tumors. Additionally, it also meets the
      main regulatory agencies' (FDA and EMA) criteria. 

PMID- 25840834
TI  - Space: The Final Frontier for IR.
AB  - A manned mission to Mars requires advanced on-board medical capabilities to
      address medical incidents that may arise during long-duration interplanetary
      spaceflight. As this role does not exactly match that of any single specialty,
      the ideal choice of physician is not immediately obvious. In this work, we review
      the considerable challenges of providing medical care in the austere conditions
      of interplanetary space travel and explain why an interventional radiologist may
      be well-equipped to deliver diagnostic and therapeutic care within these severely
      constrained conditions. 

PMID- 25840835
TI  - Percutaneous Cryoablation of Clinical T2 (> 7 cm) Renal Masses: Technical
      Considerations, Complications, and Short-Term Outcomes.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the technical success, safety, and preliminary clinical
      outcome of percutaneous cryoablation of large (> 7 cm) renal masses. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Twelve patients underwent percutaneous cryoablation for treatment of
      renal tumors measuring greater than 7 cm (clinical stage II, T2aN0M0) between
      2004 and 2013. Median patient age was 75 years (range, 46-84 y), median Charlson
      comorbidity index was 5 (range, 4-9), and median maximal tumor diameter was 8.4
      cm (range, 7.2-9.7 cm). Seven of the 12 patients underwent superselective
      intraarterial tumor embolization before cryoablation. Technical success,
      procedural complications, renal function, and oncologic and survival outcomes
      were evaluated for each patient. RESULTS: All cryoablation procedures were
      technically successful in a single treatment session, with no mortalities at 30
      days. Two patients (17%) experienced major complications related to
      postprocedural hemorrhage. Median change in estimated glomerular filtration rate
      within 7 days following cryoablation treatment was 11 mL/min (range, 7-14
      mL/min). One patient with baseline stage IV chronic kidney disease and a major
      bleeding complication required temporary dialysis in the periprocedural period.
      In 11 patients (92%) who had follow-up beyond 3 months after the procedure (mean,
      19 mo; range, 4-49 mo), recurrence-free survival and overall survival rates at 2
      years were 100% and 91%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous cryoablation of
      large (> 7 cm) renal masses was technically successful, with effective
      preliminary clinical outcomes. However, major complications are more common with
      cryoablation of stage T2 tumors than is typically encountered with treatment of
      smaller stage T1 tumors.

PMID- 25840836
TI  - Radiofrequency ablation for neuroendocrine liver metastases: a systematic review.
AB  - To determine the efficacy of radiofrequency (RF) ablation in neuroendocrine tumor
      (NET) liver metastases. A systematic review was performed following Preferred
      Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Eight
      studies were included (N = 301). Twenty-six percent of RF ablation procedures
      were percutaneous (n = 156), with the remainder conducted at surgery. Forty-eight
      percent of patients had a concomitant liver resection. Fifty-four percent of
      patients presented with symptoms, with 92% reporting symptom improvement
      following RF ablation (alone or in combination with surgery). The median duration
      of symptom improvement was 14-27 months. However, recurrence was common (63%
      87%). RF ablation can provide symptomatic relief in NET liver metastases alone or
      in combination with surgery. 

PMID- 25840837
TI  - Age-related microstructural differences quantified using myelin water imaging and
      advanced diffusion MRI.
AB  - Age-related microstructural differences have been detected using diffusion tensor
      imaging (DTI). Although DTI is sensitive to the effects of aging, it is not
      specific to any underlying biological mechanism, including demyelination.
      Combining multiexponential T2 relaxation (MET2) and multishell diffusion MRI
      (dMRI) techniques may elucidate such processes. Multishell dMRI and MET2 data
      were acquired from 59 healthy participants aged 17-70 years. Whole-brain and
      regional age-associated correlations of measures related to multiple dMRI models
      (DTI, diffusion kurtosis imaging [DKI], neurite orientation dispersion and
      density imaging [NODDI]) and myelin-sensitive MET2 metrics were assessed. DTI and
      NODDI revealed widespread increases in isotropic diffusivity with increasing age.
      In frontal white matter, fractional anisotropy linearly decreased with age,
      paralleled by increased "neurite" dispersion and no difference in myelin water
      fraction. DKI measures and neurite density correlated well with myelin water
      fraction and intracellular and extracellular water fraction. DTI estimates remain
      among the most sensitive markers for age-related alterations in white matter.
      NODDI, DKI, and MET2 indicate that the initial decrease in frontal fractional
      anisotropy may be due to increased axonal dispersion rather than demyelination.

PMID- 25840838
TI  - Early life lipid profile and metabolic programming in very young children.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Lipid derangements during early postnatal life may induce
      stable epigenetic changes and alter metabolic programming. We investigated
      associations between serum lipid profiles in very young children and DNA
      methylation of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) and leptin (LEP). Secondly,
      we explored if the maternal serum lipid profile modifies DNA methylation in the
      child. METHODS AND RESULTS: In 120 healthy children at 17 months of age, DNA
      methylation of TNFalpha and LEP was measured in DNA derived from whole blood.
      Linear mixed models were used to calculate exposure-specific differences and
      associations. Total cholesterol in children was associated with decreased
      methylation of TNFalpha (-5.8%, p = 0.036), and HDL-cholesterol was associated
      with decreased methylation of both TNFalpha (-6.9%, p = 0.013) and LEP (-3.4%, p
      = 0.021). Additional adjustment for gestational age at birth, birth weight, sex,
      breastfeeding and educational level attenuated the effects, TNFalpha (-6.1%, p =
      0.058) and LEP (-3.1%, p = 0.041). In mothers, HDL-cholesterol only was
      associated with decreased methylation of TNFalpha in the child (-8.7%, p =
      0.001). CONCLUSION: Our data support the developmental origin of health and
      disease hypothesis by showing that total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol levels
      in very young children are associated with epigenetic metabolic programming,
      which may affect their vulnerability for developing cardiovascular diseases in
      later life.

PMID- 25840839
TI  - Femtosecond laser will be the standard method for cataract extraction ten years
      from now.
AB  - The femtosecond laser is a new and developing technology for cataract surgery.
      This technology is approved for the capulotomy, primary incisions, astigmatic
      incisions, and lens fragmentation. The femtosecond laser has the potential to
      offer significant advantages over current phacoemulification and will be the
      standard method of cataract extraction in ten years. 

PMID- 25840840
TI  - Systematic review of the impact of HbA1c on outcomes following surgery in
      patients with diabetes mellitus.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Diabetes is a significant risk factor for surgical
      complications and also increases the prevalence of comorbidities, thereby
      increasing surgical risk. The aim of this systematic review was to establish the
      relationship between long-term preoperative glycemic control as measured by HbA1c
      and postoperative complications. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted to
      source articles published between 1980 and 2014 pertinent to the review. Full
      text articles were included if they met the pre-determined criteria as determined
      by two reviewers. Studies reporting the impact of preoperative HbA1c levels on
      postoperative outcomes in all disciplines of surgery were included. RESULTS:
      Twenty studies, including a total of 19,514 patients with diabetes mellitus from
      a range of surgical specialties, were suitable for inclusion. Preoperative
      glycemic control did not have a bearing on 30-day mortality. There were no
      significant differences in the incidence of stroke, venous thromboembolic
      disease, hospital readmission and ITU length of stay based on glycemic control.
      The majority of studies suggested no link between preoperative HbA1c levels and
      acute kidney injury or need for postoperative dialysis, dysrhythmia, infection
      not related to the surgical site and total hospital length of stay. The
      literature was highly variable with regards to myocardial events, surgical site
      infection and reoperation rates. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated preoperative HbA1c was not
      definitively associated with increased postoperative morbidity or mortality in
      patients with diabetes mellitus. The studies included in this review were
      relatively heterogeneous, predominantly retrospective, and often contained small
      patient numbers, suggesting that good quality evidence is necessary.

PMID- 25840841
TI  - Natural influence of season on follicular, luteal, and endocrinological turnover
      in Indian crossbred cows.
AB  - The study was aimed at investigating the effect of seasonal changes on follicular
      and luteal dynamics in vivo in normally cycling crossbred cows during summer and
      winter months of the year. Six healthy regularly cycling Jersey crossbred
      nonlactating pluriparous cows were used for the study. Follicular and luteal
      developmental pattern was studied every other day throughout the estrous cycle by
      scanning the ovaries during two periods of a year viz., hot season (April to
      June; n = 16) and cold season (December to February; n = 12). Plasma progesterone
      (P4) concentrations were measured on Days 0 (estrus), 6, and 12 of the estrous
      cycle. Among the 12 cycles studied during the cold season, 11 (91.7%) had three
      waves and one had two waves. Of 16 cycles studied during the hot season, eight
      (50%) had two waves, four (25%) had three waves, and the remaining four cycles
      had single (n = 2) and four waves (n = 2). High P4 concentrations during the
      midcycle would have suppressed the dominant follicle of the second follicular
      wave and induced the emergence of the third wave during the cold season. The
      first follicular wave (wave I) of the cycle emerged much earlier (Day 0.5 +/-
      0.3) during the cold season than that in the hot season (Day 1.7 +/- 0.4). The
      ovulatory wave emerged significantly earlier during the hot season (Day 11.5 +/-
      1.3) than in the cold season (Day 14.8 +/- 0.4), and hence, the growth phase of
      ovulatory follicle significantly increased during the former season (11.0 +/- 1.4
      days) than the latter (5.8 +/- 0.2 days). The ovulatory follicle attained a
      significantly larger diameter (12.8 +/- 0.8 mm) to express the estrus during the
      hot season when compared to the cold season (11.3 +/- 0.4 mm), which might be
      indicative of alterations in steroidogenic activity within the follicular
      microenvironment. During the midphase of the cycle, a period critical for
      embryonic sustenance, the P4 level was significantly reduced in the hot months
      indicating suppression of luteal activity during hot period of the year. Thus, it
      could be concluded that increased incidence of two follicular waves associated
      with a prolonged growth phase of the ovulatory follicle, and altered luteal
      endocrine activity during the hot season might be associated with decreased
      fertility in crossbred cattle.

PMID- 25840842
TI  - Measurement of visceral fat on preoperative computed tomography predicts
      complications after sigmoid colectomy for diverticular disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Visceral and subcutaneous abdominal fat parameters have been
      associated with worse surgical outcomes in colorectal cancer but have not been
      investigated in diverticulitis. METHODS: Volumetric fat parameters were measured
      on preoperative computed tomography scans from 211 diverticulitis patients.
      Primary outcome was a serious postoperative complication (Clavien-Dindo grades 2
      4). Variables including age, disease duration, American Society of Anesthesiology
      score, ostomy, immunosuppression, body mass index, and volumetric fat parameters
      were examined. SPSS was used for statistics. RESULTS: The serious postoperative
      complication rate was 12.7%. On univariate analysis, several factors including
      older age (P = .0001), ostomy creation (P = .02), higher visceral fat (VF, P =
      .01), emergent surgery (P = .05), and higher American Society of Anesthesiology
      score (P = .05) were associated with complications. On multivariate regression
      analysis, only VF was independently associated with complications. CONCLUSIONS:
      Diverticulitis patients with high VF are more likely to develop complications
      after sigmoidectomy. VF measurement may potentially be used as a tool to assist
      in surgical decision making and prediction of outcomes.

PMID- 25840843
TI  - Effect of in ovo injection of threonine on Mucin2 gene expression and digestive
      enzyme activity in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica).
AB  - A total of 540 Japanese quail eggs were assigned to 9 treatments of 4 replicates
      to investigate the effect of in ovo injection of threonine (THR) on mucin2 (MUC2)
      mRNA expression and digestive enzyme activity. Treatments were (non-injected)
      eggs and those in ovo injected with saline (0.05 or 0.1 ml) with or without THR
      (5 mg/ml) in two sites (in or under the air sac). On hatch day, 0.05 ml in ovo
      injected (under the air sac: TUAS) hatchlings were divided into three groups
      based on NRC recommendations for THR, while all 0.1 ml in ovo injected chicks
      were removed due to low hatchability. The remaining treatments received the NRC
      recommended diet until day 10 post-hatch. Treatments had no effect on protease
      and amylase activities, while TUAS increased MUC2 gene expression. In conclusion,
      the in ovo injection of THR increased MUC2 gene expression but had no effect on
      enzyme activity. 

PMID- 25840844
TI  - A generic methodology for the optimisation of sewer systems using stochastic
      programming and self-optimizing control.
AB  - The design of sewer system control is a complex task given the large size of the
      sewer networks, the transient dynamics of the water flow and the stochastic
      nature of rainfall. This contribution presents a generic methodology for the
      design of a self-optimising controller in sewer systems. Such controller is aimed
      at keeping the system close to the optimal performance, thanks to an optimal
      selection of controlled variables. The definition of an optimal performance was
      carried out by a two-stage optimisation (stochastic and deterministic) to take
      into account both the overflow during the current rain event as well as the
      expected overflow given the probability of a future rain event. The methodology
      is successfully applied to design an optimising control strategy for a
      subcatchment area in Copenhagen. The results are promising and expected to
      contribute to the advance of the operation and control problem of sewer systems. 

PMID- 25840845
TI  - Global emergency medicine journal club: a social media discussion about the Age
      Adjusted D-Dimer Cutoff Levels To Rule Out Pulmonary Embolism trial.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVE: Annals of Emergency Medicine collaborated with an educational
      Web site, Academic Life in Emergency Medicine (ALiEM), to host an online
      discussion session featuring the 2014 Journal of the American Medical Association
      publication on the Age-Adjusted D-Dimer Cutoff Levels to Rule Out Pulmonary
      Embolism (ADJUST-PE) trial by Righini et al. The objective is to describe a 14
      day (August 25 to September 7, 2014) worldwide academic dialogue among clinicians
      in regard to 4 preselected questions about the age-adjusted D-dimer cutoff to
      detect pulmonary embolism. METHODS: Five online facilitators hosted the
      multimodal discussion on the ALiEM Web site, Twitter, and Google Hangout.
      Comments across the social media platforms were curated for this report, as
      framed by the 4 preselected questions, and engagement was tracked through various
      Web analytic tools. RESULTS: Blog and Twitter comments, as well as video expert
      commentary involving the ADJUST-PE trial, are summarized. The dialogue resulted
      in 1,169 page views from 391 cities in 52 countries on the ALiEM Web site,
      502,485 Twitter impressions, and 159 views of the video interview with experts. A
      postdiscussion summary on the Journal Jam podcast resulted in 3,962 downloads in
      its first week of publication during September 16 to 23, 2014. CONCLUSION: Common
      themes that arose in the multimodal discussions included the heterogeneity of
      practices, D-dimer assays, provider knowledge about these assays, and prevalence
      rates in different areas of the world. This educational approach using social
      media technologies demonstrates a free, asynchronous means to engage a worldwide
      audience in scholarly discourse.

PMID- 25840846
TI  - Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Blogs and Podcasts: Establishing an
      International Consensus on Quality.
AB  - STUDY OBJECTIVE: This study identified the most important quality indicators for
      online educational resources such as blogs and podcasts. METHODS: A modified
      Delphi process that included 2 iterative surveys was used to build expert
      consensus on a previously defined list of 151 quality indicators divided into 3
      themes: credibility, content, and design. Aggregate social media indicators were
      used to identify an expert population of editors from a defined list of emergency
      medicine and critical care blogs and podcasts. Survey 1 consisted of the quality
      indicators and a 7-point Likert scale. The mean score for each quality indicator
      was included in survey 2, which asked participants whether to "include" or "not
      include" each quality indicator. The cut point for consensus was defined at
      greater than 70% "include." RESULTS: Eighty-three percent (20/24) of bloggers and
      90.9% (20/22) of podcasters completed survey 1 and 90% (18/20) of bloggers and
      podcasters completed survey 2. The 70% inclusion criteria were met by 44 and 80
      quality indicators for bloggers and podcasters, respectively. Post hoc, a 90%
      cutoff was used to identify a list of 14 and 26 quality indicators for bloggers
      and podcasters, respectively. CONCLUSION: The relative importance of quality
      indicators for emergency medicine blogs and podcasts was determined. This will be
      helpful for resource producers trying to improve their blogs or podcasts and for
      learners, educators, and academic leaders assessing their quality. These results
      will inform broader validation studies and attempts to develop user-friendly
      assessment instruments for these resources.

PMID- 25840847
TI  - Brain motion and volume transmission: Keeping the interstice flowing.
AB  - Human brain undergoes two different kinds of movements: subtle pulsatile ones
      associated with the cardiac cycle and others of a greater magnitude related to
      breathing activity. These motions constitute a pumping force for the circulation
      of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Moreover, brain motion (BM) plays a fundamental
      role as a driving force for the interstitial and CSF flow of tracers. We
      hypothesize that BM is more than a mere consequence of cardiac and respiratory
      activities; that it would be part of a fundamental physiological mechanism by
      propelling the interstitial flow of messengers, a mechanism also known as 'non
      synaptic transmission' or 'volume transmission' (VT). Intracranial hypertension
      (ICH), a frequent complication of severe head trauma, is related to brain
      stiffness. Under this circumstance, not only brain perfusion could be at risk,
      but BM could be engaged as well. Decompressive craniectomy, presently indicated
      to reduce ICH refractory to medical treatment, could play a role in helping BM
      and VT. Once brain swelling is overcome, the closure of the cranial bone defect
      would ensure the recovery of the spatial and temporal patterns of BM. We discuss
      evidence supportive of the necessary role of a minimal and sequential BM for an
      adequate VT. 

PMID- 25840849
TI  - Disseminated histoplasmosis caused by Histoplasma capsulatum var. duboisii in a
      non-HIV patient in Burkina Faso: Case report.
AB  - Histoplasmosis is a fungal infection due to Histoplasma capsulatum. The African
      form of this mycosis, caused by Histoplasma capsulatum var. duboisii, remains
      rare. We report a case of disseminated African histoplasmosis with skin, lymph
      nodes, bones and viscera localizations. The 22-year-old patient was HIV
      seronegative and was considered immunocompetent. The presence of Histoplasma
      capsulatum var duboisii in ulcerations and a nodule pus aspiration was confirmed
      by direct microscopic examination and by culture. The medical treatment was based
      on fluconazole. Even though a regression of the symptoms was observed, the
      patient died. In disseminated African histoplasmosis, an early laboratory
      diagnosis must be carried out for accurate treatment. 

PMID- 25840850
TI  - A multiplex PCR method for detection of Aspergillus spp. and Mycobacterium
      tuberculosis in BAL specimens.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was the detection of Aspergillus species and
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis together in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) using of
      multiplex PCR. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this study, from September 2012 until
      June 2013, 100 bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens were collected from
      patients suspected of tuberculosis (TB). After the direct and culture test,
      multiplex PCR were utilized in order to diagnose Aspergillus species and M.
      tuberculosis. Phenol-chloroform manual method was used in order to extract DNA
      from these microorganisms. Aspergillus specific primers, M. tuberculosis designed
      primers and beta actin primers were used for multiplex PCR. RESULTS: In this
      study, by multiplex PCR method, Aspergillus species were identified in 12 samples
      (12%), positive samples in direct and culture test were respectively 11% and 10%.
      Sensitivity and specificity of this method in comparison to direct test were
      respectively 100% and 98.8%, also sensitivity and specificity of this method in
      comparison to culture test were respectively 100% and 97.7%. In this assay, M.
      tuberculosis was identified in 8 samples (8%). Mycobacterium-positive samples in
      molecular method, direct and culture test were respectively 6%, 5% and 7%.
      Sensitivity and specificity of PCR method in comparison to direct test were 80%
      and 97.8% also sensitivity and specificity of this method in comparison to
      culture test was 71.4% and 98.9%. CONCLUSION: In the present study, multiplex PCR
      method had higher sensitivity than direct and culture test in order to identify
      and detect Aspergillus, also this method had lower sensitivity for identification
      of M. tuberculosis, suggesting that the method of DNA extraction was not
      suitable.

PMID- 25840848
TI  - Telomere length variation: A potential new telomere biomarker for lung cancer
      risk.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: In this report the associations between telomere length variation
      (TLV), mean telomere length in blood lymphocytes and lung cancer risk were
      examined. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study design is case-control. Cases (N=191)
      were patients newly diagnosed with histologically confirmed non-small cell lung
      cancer. Controls (N=207) were healthy individuals recruited from the same
      counties as cases and matched to cases on age and gender. Telomere fluorescent in
      situ hybridization was used to measure telomere features using short-term
      cultured blood lymphocytes. Logistic regression was used to estimate the strength
      of association between telomere features and lung cancer risk. RESULTS: Telomere
      length variation across all chromosomal ends was significantly associated with
      lung cancer risk; adjusted odds ratios 4.67 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.46
      14.9] and 0.46 (95% CI: 0.25-0.84) for younger (age<=60) and older (age>60)
      individuals, respectively. TLV and mean telomere length jointly affected lung
      cancer risk: when comparing individuals with short telomere length and high TLV
      to those with long telomere length and low TLV, adjusted odd ratios were 8.21
      (95% CI: 1.71-39.5) and 0.33 (95% CI: 0.15-0.72) for younger and older
      individuals, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: TLV in blood lymphocytes is significantly
      associated with lung cancer risk and the associations were modulated by age. TLV
      in combination with mean telomere length might be useful in identifying high risk
      population for lung cancer computerized tomography screening.

PMID- 25840851
TI  - When you can't see the wood for the trees. Mucor circinelloides: A rare case of
      primary cutaneous zygomycosis.
AB  - A patient with refractory diffuse lymphoma treated for pulmonary invasive
      aspergillosis developed a concomitant primary cutaneous mucormycosis. The
      mucormycete was identified by sequencing as Mucor circinelloides. This case
      confirms the importance of a rapid pathogen diagnosis in immunocompromised
      patients and the usefulness of molecular methods for identification of rare
      fungal species. 

PMID- 25840852
TI  - The prevalence of umbilical and epigastric hernia repair: a nationwide
      epidemiologic study.
AB  - PURPOSE: Umbilical and epigastric hernia repair are common surgical procedures;
      however, the nationwide gender and age-specific prevalence of these repairs is
      unknown, and this knowledge could form the basis for new studies. METHODS: A
      nationwide register-based study covering all people living in Denmark on December
      31st, 2010 was performed. Within this population all umbilical and epigastric
      hernia repairs from January 1st, 2006 to December 31st, 2010 were identified
      using data from the Danish National Hospital Register, and 5-year prevalence
      estimates were calculated. RESULTS: The study population covered 5,639,885
      persons (49 % males). A total of 10,107 patients (68 % males) were operated for
      an umbilical hernia and 2412 patients (55 % males) were operated for an
      epigastric hernia. The age-specific 5-year prevalence differed for both hernia
      types. The highest 5-year prevalence of umbilical hernia repairs was seen in
      males aged 60-70 years with a 5-year prevalence of 0.53 % (95 % CI 0.51-0.56 %)
      and the highest age-specific 5-year prevalence of epigastric hernia repair was
      seen in 40-50 year females with a 5-year prevalence of 0.086 % (95 % CI 0.077
      0.095 %). CONCLUSION: The gender and age-specific 5-year prevalence of umbilical
      and epigastric hernia repair differed in a nationwide population.

PMID- 25840853
TI  - Cell salvage for vaginal delivery - is it time we considered it?

PMID- 25840854
TI  - Desultory propriospinal myoclonus after epidural analgesia in a healthy
      parturient.

PMID- 25840855
TI  - Obstetric anaesthesia 2015: torquay.

PMID- 25840856
TI  - Coagulopathy and placental abruption: changing management with ROTEM-guided
      fibrinogen concentrate therapy.

PMID- 25840858
TI  - Clinical application of platelet-rich fibrin as the sole grafting material in
      maxillary sinus augmentation.

PMID- 25840857
TI  - The 100-genomes strains, an S. cerevisiae resource that illuminates its natural
      phenotypic and genotypic variation and emergence as an opportunistic pathogen.
AB  - Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a well-established model for species as diverse as
      humans and pathogenic fungi, is more recently a model for population and
      quantitative genetics. S. cerevisiae is found in multiple environments-one of
      which is the human body-as an opportunistic pathogen. To aid in the understanding
      of the S. cerevisiae population and quantitative genetics, as well as its
      emergence as an opportunistic pathogen, we sequenced, de novo assembled, and
      extensively manually edited and annotated the genomes of 93 S. cerevisiae strains
      from multiple geographic and environmental origins, including many clinical
      origin strains. These 93 S. cerevisiae strains, the genomes of which are near
      reference quality, together with seven previously sequenced strains, constitute a
      novel genetic resource, the "100-genomes" strains. Our sequencing coverage, high
      quality assemblies, and annotation provide unprecedented opportunities for
      detailed interrogation of complex genomic loci, examples of which we demonstrate.
      We found most phenotypic variation to be quantitative and identified population,
      genotype, and phenotype associations. Importantly, we identified clinical origin
      associations. For example, we found that an introgressed PDR5 was present
      exclusively in clinical origin mosaic group strains; that the mosaic group was
      significantly enriched for clinical origin strains; and that clinical origin
      strains were much more copper resistant, suggesting that copper resistance
      contributes to fitness in the human host. The 100-genomes strains are a novel,
      multipurpose resource to advance the study of S. cerevisiae population genetics,
      quantitative genetics, and the emergence of an opportunistic pathogen.

PMID- 25840859
TI  - A geometric morphometric analysis of hominin lower molars: Evolutionary
      implications and overview of postcanine dental variation.
AB  - Lower molars have been extensively studied in the context of hominin evolution
      using classic and geometric morphometric analyses, 2D and 3D approaches,
      evaluations of the external (outer enamel surface) and internal anatomy (dentine,
      pulp chamber, and radicular canals), and studies of the crown and root variation.
      In this study, we present a 2D geometric morphometric analysis of the crown
      anatomy of lower first, second, and third molars of a broad sample of hominins,
      including Pliocene and Lower, Middle, and Upper Pleistocene species coming from
      Africa, Asia, and Europe. We show that shape variability increases from first to
      second and third molars. While first molars tend to retain a relatively stable 5
      cusped conformation throughout the hominin fossil record, second and third molars
      show marked distal reductions in later Homo species. This trend to distal
      reduction is similar to that observed in previous studies of premolars and upper
      second and third molars, and points to a correlated reduction of distal areas
      across the whole postcanine dentition. Results on lower molar variation, as well
      as on other postcanine teeth, show certain trends in European Pleistocene
      populations from the Atapuerca sites. Middle Pleistocene hominins from Sima de
      los Huesos show Neanderthal affinities and strong dental reduction, especially in
      the most distal molars. The degree of dental reduction in this population is
      stronger than that observed in classic Neanderthals. Homo antecessor hominins
      from Gran Dolina-TD6 have primitive lower teeth that contrast with their more
      derived upper teeth. The evolutionary implications of these dental affinities are
      discussed in light of recent paleogenetic studies. 

PMID- 25840860
TI  - Minimally invasive corticotomy in orthodontics: a new technique using a CAD/CAM
      surgical template.
AB  - Accelerating orthodontic tooth movement is a topical issue. Despite the different
      techniques described in the literature, the corticotomy is the only effective and
      safe means of accelerating orthodontic tooth movement. Although effective, the
      corticotomy presents significant postoperative discomfort. The aggressive nature
      of these particular methods, related to the elevation of mucoperiosteal flaps and
      to the length of the surgery, has resulted in reluctance to proceed with this
      technique among both patients and the dental community. To overcome the
      disadvantages of the corticotomy, this technical note describes an innovative,
      minimally invasive, flapless procedure combining piezoelectric surgical cortical
      micro-incisions with the use of a 3D Printed CAD/CAM surgical guide. 

PMID- 25840861
TI  - In vitro biomechanical comparison of six different fixation methods following 5
      mm sagittal split advancement osteotomies.
AB  - The sagittal split ramus osteotomy (SSRO) is a surgical technique used widely to
      treat many congenital and acquired mandibular discrepancies. Stabilization of the
      osteotomy site and the potential for skeletal relapse after the procedure are
      still major problems. The aim of this study was to compare the mechanical
      stability of six methods of rigid fixation in SSRO using a biomechanical test
      model. Sixty polyurethane replicas of human hemimandibles were divided into six
      groups. In group I, the osteotomies were fixed with two four-hole titanium
      miniplates; in group II, with one four-hole miniplate; in group III, with one
      four-hole miniplate+a bicortical screw; in group IV, with a grid miniplate; in
      group V, with a four-hole locking miniplate; and in group VI, with a six-hole
      miniplate. A linear load in the premolar region was applied to the hemimandibles.
      The resistance forces (N) needed to displace the distal segment by 1, 3, and 5mm
      were recorded and the data transmitted from the load cell to a computer. One-way
      analysis of variance with Tukey's post hoc test was performed to compare the
      means between groups. For the three displacement conditions, there was a strong
      tendency for the 2.0-mm plate+screw and the grid plate to have higher values. 

PMID- 25840862
TI  - Epidemiological and statistical considerations for interpreting and communicating
      oncology clinical trials.
AB  - The use of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in veterinary oncological research
      and practice is increasing as is the number of relevant scientific publications.
      While clear guidelines exist for the reporting of RCTs, a thorough understanding
      of statistical and epidemiological concepts is required in order to accurately
      interpret and then impart the results of such trials, and to make balanced
      decisions regarding the uptake of published findings. This review presents the
      most important epidemiological and statistical considerations that are needed in
      order to interpret and communicate with confidence the results of oncology
      clinical trials.

PMID- 25840863
TI  - Genetics of bovine abomasal displacement.
AB  - Displacement of the abomasum (DA) is a common inherited condition in Holstein
      cows. This article reviews the genetics of DA including risk factors, genetic
      parameters and molecular genetic results. Breeds other than Holsteins affected by
      DA include Guernseys, Jerseys, Brown Swiss, Ayrshires and Simmental-Red
      Holsteins. In most DA cases, left displacements of the abomasum (LDA) are seen.
      Lactation incidence rates are higher for DA in first lactation Holsteins compared
      to later lactations. For Holstein cows, heritability estimates for DA are between
      0.03 and 0.53. Genetic correlation estimates among DA and milk production traits
      range from positive to negative. Genome-wide significant genomic regions
      associated with LDA are located on bovine chromosomes (BTA) 1, 3, 11, 20 and 23.
      Motilin-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms on BTA23 exhibit a functional
      relationship with LDA. Pathways for deposition of calcium, insulin-dependent
      diabetes mellitus and synaptic transmission are significantly related to LDA in
      Holsteins. Deciphering the DA-associated genomic regions and genes may be an
      important step in the quest to understand the underlying disease-causing
      mechanisms and in unravelling mutations with a causal relationship to DA.

PMID- 25840864
TI  - [Facilitators and barriers for older people to take part in fall prevention
      programs: A review of literature].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Falling is the leading cause of accidental death after 65. Fall
      prevention programs are effective, but they involve few seniors. This article
      reviewed the literature on facilitators and barriers to participate in such
      programs. METHODS: A literature review was conducted to identify documents in
      English, German and French published between 1990 and May 2012. Medline database,
      PsychInfo, Psychological and behavioral sciences and Francis were systematically
      searched, as were the bibliographies and some journals of public health,
      gerontology and social sciences. Of 462 documents found, 19 were selected and
      analyzed. RESULTS: Of the 19 articles selected, 12 were on qualitative studies
      and 7 on literature reviews. Among the barriers to participation in falls
      prevention programs, documents highlighted the perception of fall as an
      inevitable event, the inadequate timing of prevention intervention and material
      difficulties. Conversely, being referred to prevention intervention by a
      professional, being convinced by the social benefits of interventions and the
      adequacy of interventions to the needs of beneficiaries were factors facilitating
      the participation and compliance of the elderly. CONCLUSION: This literature
      review identified three major issues to consider when implementing sustainable
      and acceptable fall prevention programs: choice of the referring agent, and
      social representations of falling.

PMID- 25840865
TI  - Attitudes towards euthanasia among Greek intensive care unit physicians and
      nurses.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the attitudes of Greek intensive care unit (ICU)
      medical and nursing staff towards euthanasia. BACKGROUND: ICU physicians and
      nurses deal with end-of-life dilemmas on a daily basis. Therefore, the
      exploration of their stances on euthanasia is worthwhile. METHODS: This was a
      descriptive quantitative study conducted in three ICUs in Athens. The convenience
      sample included 39 physicians and 107 nurses. RESULTS: Of respondents, 52%
      defined euthanasia inaccurately, as withholding or withdrawal of treatment, while
      15% ranked limitation of life-support among the several forms of euthanasia,
      together with active shortening of the dying process and physician - assisted
      suicide. Only one third of participants defined euthanasia correctly. While 59%
      of doctors and 64% of nurses support the legalization of active euthanasia, just
      28% and 26% of them, respectively, agree with it ethically. CONCLUSIONS:
      Confusion prevails among Greek ICU physicians and nurses regarding the definition
      of euthanasia. The majority of staff disagrees with active euthanasia, but
      upholds its legalization.

PMID- 25840866
TI  - Spatial and seasonal characteristics of dissolved heavy metals in the east and
      west Guangdong coastal waters, South China.
AB  - Heavy metal concentrations and physicochemical parameters in seawater were
      measured in Guangdong coastal waters, South China. Results showed that the
      concentrations and distribution of heavy metals varied spatially and seasonally.
      Generally, heavy metal concentrations in the east regions were higher than in the
      west. Concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cd and Cr in wet seasons were generally higher
      than in dry seasons owing to the seasonal differences of the river discharge,
      rainfall and seawater intrusion. Principal component (PC) analysis showed that
      PC1, PC2 and PC3 in the east were correlated to Pb+Cr+Zn+Cd, As+Cd and Cu,
      respectively, and they were correlated to Pb+Cr, Zn+Cu+Cd and As+Cu,
      respectively, in the west. That was maybe due to the differences of local heavy
      metal sources. The anthropogenic activities contributed more to the main sources
      of heavy metals, and contamination factors indicated that Zn and Pb pollution was
      serious in study area. 

PMID- 25840867
TI  - Distributions and sources of volatile chlorocarbons and bromocarbons in the
      Yellow Sea and East China Sea.
AB  - Six volatile halogenated organic compounds (VHOC), namely, chloroform, carbon
      tetrachloride, trichloroethylene, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane, and
      bromoform, were studied in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from April to May,
      2009. The spatial variability of these VHOC was influenced by various factors,
      including anthropogenic inputs, biogenic production and complicated hydrographic
      features such as Changjiang Diluted Water, Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass, and
      Kuroshio Current. Diurnal study results showed that factors such as solar
      irradiation, biological activity, and tide affected the abundance of these VHOC.
      Correlation analyses revealed that bromodichloromethane was positively correlated
      with chlorophyll a in surface seawater. Principal component analysis suggested
      that chlorinated compounds like carbon tetrachloride originated from
      anthropogenic sources whereas brominated compounds such as bromodichloromethane
      originated from biogenic sources. Sources of other chlorinated and brominated
      compounds may not be governed by biological processes in the marine environment. 

PMID- 25840868
TI  - Trophic implications and faunal resilience following one-off and successive
      disturbances to an Amphibolis griffithii seagrass system.
AB  - Disturbances in seagrass systems often lead to considerable loss of seagrass
      fauna. We examined the capacity for seagrass fauna, across multiple trophic
      levels, to recover from disturbances, using empirical and modelling techniques.
      Model outputs, using Ecosim with Ecopath (EwE), were consistent with the results
      of field investigations, highlighting the models robustness. Modelled outcomes
      suggest second and third order consumers are likely to be negatively effected by
      disturbances in the seagrass canopy. Particularly piscivores, which once
      disturbed, appear unlikely to recover following severe declines in primary
      productivity. EwE also revealed the complex interaction between the duration and
      intensity of disturbances on seagrass fauna, which may differentially affect
      higher order consumers. Further, modelling predicted a variable capacity of
      higher order consumers to recover from successive disturbances, suggesting taxa
      with comparatively fast reproductive cycles and short generation terms would be
      more resilient than taxa with comparatively long generation terms and slow
      reproductive cycles. 

PMID- 25840870
TI  - Relative bioavailability and toxicity of fuel oils leaking from World War II
      shipwrecks.
AB  - The Norwegian Authorities have classified 30 WWII shipwrecks to have a
      considerable potential for pollution to the environment, based on the location
      and condition of the wreck and the types and amount of fuel. Oil thus far has
      been removed from eight of these shipwrecks. The water accommodated fractions of
      oils from two British wrecks and two German wrecks have been studied with special
      emphasis on chemistry and biological effects (algae growth (Skeletonema costatum)
      and copepod mortality (Calanus finmarchicus)). Chemical analyses were also
      performed on three additional German wreck oils. The results from these studies
      show that the coal based oils from German WWII shipwrecks have higher toxicity to
      marine organisms than the mineral oils from the British shipwrecks. The potential
      for higher impact on the marine environment of coal based oils has resulted in an
      altering of the priority list for oil recovery from WWII wrecks by the
      authorities. 

PMID- 25840869
TI  - A predictive model for microbial counts on beaches where intertidal sand is the
      primary source.
AB  - Human health protection at recreational beaches requires accurate and timely
      information on microbiological conditions to issue advisories. The objective of
      this study was to develop a new numerical mass balance model for enterococci
      levels on nonpoint source beaches. The significant advantage of this model is its
      easy implementation, and it provides a detailed description of the cross-shore
      distribution of enterococci that is useful for beach management purposes. The
      performance of the balance model was evaluated by comparing predicted exceedances
      of a beach advisory threshold value to field data, and to a traditional
      regression model. Both the balance model and regression equation predicted
      approximately 70% the advisories correctly at the knee depth and over 90% at the
      waist depth. The balance model has the advantage over the regression equation in
      its ability to simulate spatiotemporal variations of microbial levels, and it is
      recommended for making more informed management decisions. 

PMID- 25840871
TI  - The nutrient, total petroleum hydrocarbon and heavy metal contents in the
      seawater of Bohai Bay, China: Temporal-spatial variations, sources, pollution
      statuses, and ecological risks.
AB  - Seawater samples collected between 2007 and 2012 were determined the
      concentrations of nutrient (DIN and DIP), total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), and
      six different heavy metals (As, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd and Hg). The DIN, DIP, TPH, Pb,
      and Cd concentrations decreased from 2007 to 2009 or 2010 and increased after
      2010. However, the Hg and Cu concentrations increased from 2007 to 2012. In
      contrast, the As and Zn gradually decreased during the study period. All of the
      pollutant concentrations gradually decreased from the shoreline to the offshore
      sites. PCA result showed that urban and port areas, agriculture, and atmospheric
      deposition were the main sources of pollutants in the bay. Although most of the
      pollutants were present at concentrations bellow the highest seawater quality
      standards in China, eutrophication was a risk in Bohai Bay. In addition, DIN was
      the main pollutant and was responsible for the eutrophication risk in Bohai Bay. 

PMID- 25840872
TI  - Preoperative Mapping in Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty Using Computed
      Tomography Scans Is Associated with Radiation Exposure and Carries High Cost.
AB  - Robotic-assisted knee arthroplasty with some systems requires the use of computed
      tomography (CT) scans. The associated radiation dose has not been studied. The
      effective dose (ED, mSv) of radiation was calculated for 236 preoperative CT
      scans used for planning of robotic assisted surgery. The mean ED was 4.8+/-3.0
      mSv. There was a 3-fold difference in ED between institutions. One or more
      additional CT scans were obtained in 25% of patients, amounting to a cumulative
      ED per patient up to 103 mSv. Preoperative CT is a disadvantage of some robotic
      assisted knee arthroplasty systems due to additional cost and radiation exposure.
      Newer image-free robotic technologies are an alternative to CT-dependent surgery
      if accuracy and safety are not compromised.

PMID- 25840874
TI  - Diagnostic delay in Crohn's disease is associated with increased rate of
      abdominal surgery: A retrospective study in Chinese patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diagnostic delay of Crohn's disease presents a challenge, and may
      increase the abdominal surgery rate. There have been no reports regarding
      diagnostic delay in Chinese patients. AIMS: We aimed to evaluate the impact of
      diagnostic delay on outcomes of Chinese Crohn's disease patients, and identify
      potential risk factors for the delay. METHODS: Altogether, 343 Crohn's disease
      patients from our hospital were retrospectively included. We assessed the effects
      of diagnostic delay on the outcomes, and identified the underlying risk factors.
      RESULTS: Diagnostic interval was defined as the interval between the first
      symptoms and the diagnosis of Crohn's disease. Diagnostic delay was defined
      according to the time interval in which the 76th to 100th percentiles of patients
      were diagnosed. The rates of subsequent surgery for diagnostic-delay and non
      diagnostic-delay patients were 84.7% and 62.4%, respectively (odds ratio=1.108,
      P<0.0001). We found statistical differences between the two groups regarding age
      >40 years at diagnosis (35.3% versus 18.2%, P=0.004), basic educational level
      (48.2% versus 30.6%, P=0.005), and no family history of Crohn's disease (0 versus
      1.6%, P=0.045). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic delay of Crohn's disease was
      significantly associated with increased rates of intestinal surgery. Risk factors
      for diagnostic delay were age >40 years at diagnosis, basic educational level,
      and no family history of Crohn's disease.

PMID- 25840873
TI  - Comparative metabolic profiling reveals the key role of amino acids metabolism in
      the rapamycin overproduction by Streptomyces hygroscopicus.
AB  - Rapamycin is an important natural macrolide antibiotic with antifungal,
      immunosuppressive and anticancer activity produced by Streptomyces hygroscopicus.
      In this study, a mutant strain obtained by ultraviolet mutagenesis displayed
      higher rapamycin production capacity compared to the wild-type S. hygroscopicus
      ATCC 29253. To gain insights into the mechanism of rapamycin overproduction,
      comparative metabolic profiling between the wild-type and mutant strain was
      performed. A total of 86 metabolites were identified by gas chromatography-mass
      spectrometry. Pattern recognition methods, including principal component
      analysis, partial least squares and partial least squares discriminant analysis,
      were employed to determine the key biomarkers. The results showed that 22
      potential biomarkers were closely associated with the increase of rapamycin
      production and the tremendous metabolic difference was observed between the two
      strains. Furthermore, metabolic pathway analysis revealed that amino acids
      metabolism played an important role in the synthesis of rapamycin, especially
      lysine, valine, tryptophan, isoleucine, glutamate, arginine and ornithine. The
      inadequate supply of amino acids, or namely "nitrogen starvation" occurred in the
      mutant strain. Subsequently, the exogenous addition of amino acids into the
      fermentation medium of the mutant strain confirmed the above conclusion, and
      rapamycin production of the mutant strain increased to 426.7 mg/L after adding
      lysine, approximately 5.8-fold of that in the wild-type strain. Finally, the
      results of real-time PCR and enzyme activity assays demonstrated that
      dihydrodipicolinate synthase involved with lysine metabolism played vital role in
      the biosynthesis of rapamycin. These findings will provide a theoretical basis
      for further improving production of rapamycin.

PMID- 25840875
TI  - Target Controlled Infusion for non-anaesthesiologist propofol sedation during
      gastrointestinal endoscopy: The first double blind randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Target Controlled Infusion is a sophisticated tool for providing
      optimal sedation regimen avoiding under or oversedation in gastrointestinal
      endoscopy. AIMS: To compare standard moderate sedation vs. non-anaesthesiologist
      administered propofol sedation during gastrointestinal endoscopy. METHODS:
      Randomized controlled trial of 70 consecutive colonoscopies and 70 consecutive
      esophagogastroduodenoscopies (EGD). Standard group (n=70), received fentanyl (1
      MUg/kg)+midazolam (0.03-0.04 mg/kg) or midazolam only; propofol group (n=70),
      received fentanyl (1 MUg/kg)+propofol Target Controlled Infusion (1.2-1.6 MUg/ml)
      or propofol Target Controlled Infusion only. Discharge time, endoscopist
      satisfaction and patient satisfaction were recorded in all endoscopies. RESULTS:
      Colonoscopy: discharge time was significantly shorter in the propofol than the
      standard group (1.1 +/- 0.3 vs. 5 +/- 10.2 min, respectively; P=0.03).
      Endoscopist satisfaction was significantly higher (98.3 +/- 11.4/100 vs. 87.2+/
      12/100; P=0.001); patient satisfaction was significantly higher (95 +/- 9.3/100
      vs. 85.5 +/- 14.4/100; P=0.002) in the propofol compared to the standard group.
      EGD: discharge time was not significantly different in the propofol and standard
      groups (1.1 +/- 0.7 vs. 3.9 +/- 9.2 min, respectively; P=0.146). Endoscopist
      satisfaction was significantly higher (92.7 +/- 14.3/100 vs. 82.8 +/- 21.2/100;
      P=0.03); patient satisfaction was significantly higher (93.8 +/- 18.2/100 vs.
      76.5 +/- 25.2/100; P=0.003). In the propofol group 94.3% of patients vs. 71.4% of
      patients in standard group asked to receive the same sedation in the future
      (P=0.021). CONCLUSION: Target Controlled Infusion is a promising method for non
      anaesthesiologist-administered propofol sedation.

PMID- 25840876
TI  - Secondary sclerosing cholangitis in patients with drug-induced liver injury.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Secondary sclerosing cholangitis has clinical features similar to
      primary sclerosing cholangitis but originates from a known pathological entity.
      Secondary sclerosing cholangitis has not been investigated in patients with drug
      induced liver injury. METHODS: Overall 102 patients diagnosed with drug-induced
      liver injury were identified and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography
      images of 25 patients were reviewed. RESULTS: Ten patients (all females) out of
      102 had confirmed features of secondary sclerosing cholangitis on biliary
      imaging. Overall 70% of patients with sclerosing cholangitis had jaundice vs. 25%
      without sclerosing cholangitis (p<0.01). All sclerosing cholangitis patients had
      cholestatic/mixed type of liver injury and compared with patients with
      cholestatic/mixed liver injury without confirmed abnormal MRCP (n=52), they also
      had more frequently jaundice, 70% vs. 23% (p=0.0065), higher peak alkaline
      phosphatase 551 (352-716) vs. 329 (202-543) (p=0.055) and longer time to
      resolution of liver injury 152 days (123-353) vs. 62 days (36-91) than patients
      without confirmed sclerosing cholangitis (p<0.0009). CONCLUSIONS: Our results
      indicate that drugs can lead to bile duct injury visualized on imaging. This
      should be a part of the differential diagnoses of secondary sclerosing
      cholangitis. These patients were more likely to present with jaundice and longer
      recovery of liver injury than other patients with cholestatic/mixed type of drug
      induced liver injury.

PMID- 25840877
TI  - Extreme volume expansion of a vestibular schwannoma due to intratumoral
      hemorrhage after gamma knife radiosurgery.
AB  - A 48-year-old man with right hemi-facial palsy and cerebellar ataxia was referred
      to our hospital. Three years and 10 months earlier he had undergone gamma knife
      radiosurgery (GKRS) at the referring hospital for an 18 mm right vestibular
      schwannoma. Slight tumor enlargement had been observed on MRI performed at the
      referring hospital 3 years after the GKRS. On close follow-up after another 6
      months an MRI showed an obvious enlargement of the tumor. An MRI on admission
      revealed an iso-intense mass lesion measuring 36 mm in maximum diameter at the
      right cerebellopontine angle. A two stage surgery was conducted using a
      retrosigmoid approach because bleeding from the tumor wall was difficult to
      control intraoperatively during the first operation. At the second operation, the
      majority of the tumor capsule had converted to necrotic tissue. A large hematoma
      cavity was present inside the tumor capsule which explained the rapid increase in
      size over a short period of time. Near total removal was achieved.
      Histopathological examination revealed massive intratumoral hemorrhage within a
      typical vestibular schwannoma with no malignancy. The complication of
      intratumoral hemorrhage is very rare and the utility of stereotactic radiation
      surgery/therapy, including GKRS, for vestibular schwannoma is well known.
      However, we must emphasize that careful follow-up is still required, even after
      several years.

PMID- 25840878
TI  - Clinical outcome and complications of gamma knife radiosurgery for intracranial
      arteriovenous malformations.
AB  - We sought to evaluate the outcome of intracranial arteriovenous malformation
      (AVM) treated with gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) (Elekta, Stockholm, Sweden) as
      a primary treatment as well as an adjunct therapy. GKRS has emerged as an
      important treatment option for intracranial AVM. However, the long term outcome
      of GKRS on AVM is not well understood. We performed a retrospective review of 85
      patients with AVM from 2000-2012 who received GKRS. Out of 85 patients, 13 had
      undergone prior embolization. The study population was monitored clinically and
      radiographically after GKRS treatment. Outcome following GKRS for intracranial
      AVM showed significant variations in nidus obliteration (obliteration in 67 [79%]
      patients and increase of nidus size on MRI in 18 [21%] patients). The median time
      to nidus obliteration was 31 months. Overall two (2.3%) patients had intracranial
      bleeding and the annual bleeding risk was 1.6% after GKRS. Predictive factors for
      obliteration of the nidus in patients with AVM were low AVM score, Spetzler
      Martin grade I-III and female sex. Seventeen (20%) and one (1.17%) patients
      underwent repeat GKRS and resection, respectively, after initial GKRS, due to
      increased size of the nidus and GKRS related cyst formation. Thus, GKRS offers a
      high obliteration rate of AVM, low risk of intracranial bleeding and neurological
      morbidity, both as primary modality and as an adjunctive treatment. Therefore,
      GKRS is an effective treatment option for new patients with AVM as well as an
      adjuvant therapy in patients with recurrent AVM. 

PMID- 25840879
TI  - A predictive coding framework for rapid neural dynamics during sentence-level
      language comprehension.
AB  - There is a growing literature investigating the relationship between oscillatory
      neural dynamics measured using electroencephalography (EEG) and/or
      magnetoencephalography (MEG), and sentence-level language comprehension. Recent
      proposals have suggested a strong link between predictive coding accounts of the
      hierarchical flow of information in the brain, and oscillatory neural dynamics in
      the beta and gamma frequency ranges. We propose that findings relating beta and
      gamma oscillations to sentence-level language comprehension might be unified
      under such a predictive coding account. Our suggestion is that oscillatory
      activity in the beta frequency range may reflect both the active maintenance of
      the current network configuration responsible for representing the sentence-level
      meaning under construction, and the top-down propagation of predictions to
      hierarchically lower processing levels based on that representation. In addition,
      we suggest that oscillatory activity in the low and middle gamma range reflect
      the matching of top-down predictions with bottom-up linguistic input, while
      evoked high gamma might reflect the propagation of bottom-up prediction errors to
      higher levels of the processing hierarchy. We also discuss some of the
      implications of this predictive coding framework, and we outline ideas for how
      these might be tested experimentally. 

PMID- 25840880
TI  - Adolescent Electronic Cigarette Use: Associations With Conventional Cigarette and
      Hookah Smoking.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The emerging trends and rapid growth of electronic cigarettes (e
      cigarettes) among adolescents are being monitored closely. The trends are
      critical as policy to prevent uptake among adolescents is considered. The purpose
      of this study is to describe the prevalence of e-cigarette use and potential
      correlates for use. Associations between e-cigarettes, cigarettes, and hookah are
      assessed. METHODS: This study used data from the 2013 Florida Youth Tobacco
      Survey. Prevalence estimates were calculated in 2014 and differences were
      determined based on CIs. Adjusted logistic regression models were used to
      identify correlates of e-cigarette use among participants based on demographic
      and other tobacco products used. RESULTS: There were no sex differences in middle
      school, whereas male high school students reported higher use than their female
      counterparts. Cigarette smoking and hookah use were significantly associated with
      ever and current e-cigarette use among both middle and high school students.
      CONCLUSIONS: Although e-cigarettes are being assessed as a potential replacement
      product for traditional tobacco, evidence from this study indicates the
      possibility of multiple product use among adolescents. E-cigarettes are not only
      associated with traditional cigarettes, but also with hookahs, a similar emerging
      product that offer tobacco flavors that may appeal to adolescents. Notably, many
      e-cigarette users also reported no cigarette or hookah use.

PMID- 25840881
TI  - A vascular lesion mimicking a primitive brain tumour in a patient examined by
      (18)F-choline PET/CT and MRI.

PMID- 25840882
TI  - Classification and Epidemiology of Mammary Tumours in Pet Rabbits (Oryctolagus
      cuniculus).
AB  - Mammary tumours are common in pet rabbits; however, published studies are
      predominantly derived from laboratory and meat rabbits. This study reports basic
      data on type and location of 119 separate tumours from 109 pet rabbits. The
      animals were aged 2-14 years (mean 5.5 years) and all 90 rabbits of known gender
      were female. Cranial and caudal mammary glands were affected equally. The
      majority of lesions (n = 105) were classified as carcinomas with 32 tubular, 16
      papillary, 12 tubulopapillary, 11 solid, nine adenosquamous, nine comedo type,
      five complex, four ductal, three cribriform, three anaplastic and one spindle 
      cell carcinoma. Twelve percent of the lesions were benign, with eight intraductal
      papillary adenomas, three simple tubular adenomas and one complex adenoma. One
      non-neoplastic lesion was found in the form of cystic duct ectasia. 

PMID- 25840883
TI  - A Bioequivalence Approach for Generic Narrow Therapeutic Index Drugs: Evaluation
      of the Reference-Scaled Approach and Variability Comparison Criterion.
AB  - Various health communities have expressed concerns regarding whether average
      bioequivalence (BE) limits (80.00-125.00%) for the 90% confidence interval of the
      test-to-reference geometric mean ratio are sufficient to ensure therapeutic
      equivalence between a generic narrow therapeutic index (NTI) drug and its
      reference listed drug (RLD). Simulations were conducted to investigate the impact
      of different BE approaches for NTI drugs on study power, including (1) direct
      tightening of average BE limits and (2) a scaled average BE approach where BE
      limits are tightened based on the RLD's within-subject variability. Addition of a
      variability comparison (using a one-tailed F test) increased the difficulty for
      generic NTIs more variable than their corresponding RLDs to demonstrate
      bioequivalence. Based on these results, the authors evaluate the fully
      replicated, 2-sequence, 2-treatment, 4-period crossover study design for NTI
      drugs where the test product demonstrates BE based on a scaled average
      bioequivalence criterion and a within-subject variability comparison criterion. 

PMID- 25840884
TI  - Advancing Product Quality: a Summary of the Inaugural FDA/PQRI Conference.
AB  - On September 16 and 17, 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Product
      Quality Research Institute (PQRI) inaugurated their Conference on Evolving
      Product Quality. The Conference is conceived as an annual forum in which
      scientists from regulatory agencies, industry, and academia may exchange
      viewpoints and work together to advance pharmaceutical quality. This Conference
      Summary Report highlights key topics of this conference, including (1) risk-based
      approaches to pharmaceutical development, manufacturing, regulatory assessment,
      and post-approval changes; (2) FDA-proposed quality metrics for products,
      facilities, and quality management systems; (3) performance-based quality
      assessment and clinically relevant specifications; (4) recent developments and
      implementation of continuous manufacturing processes, question-based review, and
      European Medicines Agency (EMA)-FDA pilot for Quality-by-Design (QbD)
      applications; and (5) breakthrough therapies, biosimilars, and international
      harmonization, focusing on ICH M7 and Q3D guidelines. The second FDA/PQRI
      conference on advancing product quality is planned for October 5-7, 2015. 

PMID- 25840886
TI  - Discovery of 1,3-dihydro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole 2,2-dioxide analogs as new RORC
      modulators.
AB  - Structure-based and pharmacophore-based virtual screening in combination with
      combinatorial chemistry and X-ray crystallography led to the discovery of a new
      class of benzothiadiazole dioxide analogs with functional activity as RORC
      inverse agonists. The early RORC SAR compound 14 exhibited RORC inhibition in a
      cell based reporter gene assay of 5.7 MUM and bound to RORC with an affinity of
      1.6 MUM in a fluorescence polarization assay displacing a ligand binding site
      probe. Crystallography confirmed the binding mode of the compound in the ligand
      binding domain displaying the engagement of a novel sub pocket close to Ser404.
      Subsequent optimization yielded compounds with enhanced RORC inverse agonist
      activity. The most active compound 19 showed an IC50 of 440 nM in a human PBMC
      assay.

PMID- 25840885
TI  - Multidrug Resistance Proteins (MRPs) and Cancer Therapy.
AB  - The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are members of a protein superfamily
      that are known to translocate various substrates across membranes, including
      metabolic products, lipids and sterols, and xenobiotic drugs. Multidrug
      resistance proteins (MRPs) belong to the subfamily C in the ABC transporter
      superfamily. MRPs have been implicated in mediating multidrug resistance by
      actively extruding chemotherapeutic substrates. Moreover, some MRPs are known to
      be essential in physiological excretory or regulatory pathways. The importance of
      MRPs in cancer therapy is also implied by their clinical insights. Modulating the
      function of MRPs to re-sensitize chemotherapeutic agents in cancer therapy shows
      great promise in cancer therapy; thus, multiple MRP inhibitors have been
      developed recently. This review article summarizes the structure, distribution,
      and physiological as well as pharmacological function of MRP1-MRP9 in cancer
      chemotherapy. Several novel modulators targeting MRPs in cancer therapy are also
      discussed. 

PMID- 25840887
TI  - Fracture reduction with positive medial cortical support: a key element in
      stability reconstruction for the unstable pertrochanteric hip fractures.
AB  - PURPOSE: To introduce the concept of fracture reduction with positive medial
      cortical support and its clinical and radiological correlation in geriatric
      unstable pertrochanteric fractures. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 127
      patients (32 men and 95 women, with mean age 78.7 years) with AO/OTA 31A2.2 and
      2.3 hip fractures treated with cephalomedullary nail (PFNA-II or Gamma-3) between
      July 2010 and June 2013 was performed. They were classified into three groups
      according the grade of medial cortical support in postoperative fracture
      reduction (positive, neutral, and negative). The positive cortex support was
      defined that the medial cortex of the head-neck fragment displaced and located a
      little bit superomedially to the medial cortex of the shaft. If the neck cortex
      is located laterally to the shaft, it is negative with no cortical buttress, and
      if the two cortices contact smoothly, it is in neutral position. The demographic
      baseline, postoperative radiographic femoral neck-shaft angle and neck length,
      rehabilitation progress and functional recovery scores of each group were
      recorded and compared. RESULTS: There were 89 cases (70 %) in positive, 26 in
      neutral, and 12 in negative support. No statistical differences were found
      between the three groups among patient age, sex ratio, prefracture score of
      activity of daily living, walking ability score, ASA physical risk score, number
      of medical comorbidities, osteoporosis Singh index, fracture reduction quality
      (Garden alignments), and the position of lag screw or helical blade in femoral
      head (TAD). In follow-up, patients in positive medial cortical support reduction
      group had the least loss in neck-shaft angle and neck length, and got ground
      walking much earlier than negative reduction group, with good functional outcomes
      and less hip-thigh pain presence. CONCLUSION: Fracture reduction with nonanatomic
      positive medial cortical support allows limited sliding of the head-neck fragment
      to contact with the femur shaft and achieve secondary stability, providing a good
      mechanical environment for fracture healing.

PMID- 25840888
TI  - Effect of microRNA-203 on tumor growth in human hypopharyngeal squamous cell
      carcinoma.
AB  - MicroRNAs (MiRNAs) have been recognized to regulate cancer initiation and
      progression in carcinogenesis as either oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, but
      their role in hypopharyngeal cancer development is not clearly defined. To
      determine whether miRNA-203 can promote tumor growth in human hypopharyngeal
      squamous cell carcinoma, we conducted experiments on the functional study of
      miRNA-203 and identification of miRNA-203 regulated target genes in
      hypopharyngeal cancer cells. We found that cell proliferation and cell colony
      forming increased more in the miRNA-203 up-regulated cancer cells than in the
      negative control cancer cells. Up-regulation of miRNA-203 accelerated cell cycle
      progression in hypopharyngeal cancer cells. TP63 and B3GNT5 mRNAs were identified
      and validated as targets of miRNA-203. However, transwell assay and wound scratch
      assay showed that miRNA-203 did not involve in invasion and metastasis in
      hypopharyngeal cancer cells. According to the results, we conclude that miRNA-203
      can promote tumor growth in human hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. These
      results provide the convincing evidence for the first time that up-regulation of
      miRNA-203 contributes to the malignancy of hypopharyngeal squamous cell
      carcinoma, possibly through down-regulating TP63 and B3GNT5.

PMID- 25840889
TI  - Antibody responses of Chlamydophila pneumoniae pneumonia: Why is the diagnosis of
      C. pneumoniae pneumonia difficult?
AB  - The ELNAS Plate Chlamydophila pneumoniae commercial test kit for the detection of
      anti-C. pneumoniae-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM), IgA and IgG antibodies has
      become available in Japan recently. To determine the optimum serum collection
      point for the ELNAS plate in the diagnosis of C. pneumoniae pneumonia, we
      analyzed the kinetics of the antibody response in patients with laboratory
      confirmed C. pneumoniae pneumonia. We enrolled five C. pneumoniae pneumonia cases
      and collected sera from patients for several months. The kinetics of the IgM and
      IgG antibody responses were similar among the five patients. Significant
      increases in IgM and IgG antibody titer between paired sera were observed in all
      patients. IgM antibodies appeared approximately 2-3 weeks after the onset of
      illness, reached a peak after 4-5 weeks, and were generally undetectable after 3
      5 months. IgG antibodies developed slowly for the first 30 days and reached a
      plateau approximately 3-4 months after the onset of illness. The kinetics of IgA
      antibody responses were different among the five patients, and significant
      increases in IgA antibody titer between paired sera were observed in only two
      patients. Although the sample size was small, the best serum collection time
      seemed to be approximately 3-6 weeks after onset of illness when using a single
      serum sample for the detection of IgM antibodies. Paired sera samples should be
      obtained at least 4 weeks apart. IgA antibody analysis using ELNAS may not be a
      useful marker for acute C. pneumoniae pneumonia. 

PMID- 25840891
TI  - The influence of resin cements on the final color of ceramic veneers.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of three brands of resin cement on the final
      color of ceramic veneers. METHODS: 50 disk-shaped ceramic specimens (IPS e.Max,
      0.6mm*8.0mm diameter) and disk-shaped composite resin background specimens
      (4.0mm*8.0mm diameter) were prepared and divided into 10 groups (n=5). These
      paired specimens were bonded using ten shades of resin cement (Variolink Veneer,
      shades LV-3, LV-2, MV, HV+2, HV+3; Panavia F, shades light and brown; and RelyXTM
      Veneer, shades WO, TR, A3). A spectrophotometer (VITA Easyshade) was used to
      measure the color parameters (CIE L*a*b* values) of the paired disks before and
      after cementation. The color differences (DeltaE values) after cementation were
      calculated and statistically analyzed by the One-way ANOVA (at the significant
      level p<0.05). RESULTS: The color parameters of the ceramic disks were measured
      in terms of the increase in L* value, and the decrease in Cab(*) value after
      bonding with the resin cement. The DeltaE values of ceramic disks after
      cementation ranged from 1.38 to 7.16. The DeltaE values were more than 3.3 when
      the ceramic disks were cemented with resin cements in shade HV+3 (4.90) and shade
      WO (7.16). One-way ANOVA of DeltaE values revealed significant differences in the
      resin cement shades. CONCLUSIONS: Resin cements can affect the final color of
      ceramic veneer restorations, and the extent of this effect varies according to
      the resin cement shades.

PMID- 25840890
TI  - Building a bridge to recovery: the pathophysiology of LVAD-induced reverse
      modeling in heart failure.
AB  - Heart failure mainly caused by ischemic or dilated cardiomyopathy is a life
      threatening disorder worldwide. The previous work in cardiac surgery has led to
      many excellent surgical techniques for treating cardiac diseases, and these
      procedures are now able to prolong the human lifespan. However, surgical
      treatment for end-stage heart failure has been under-explored, although left
      ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation and heart transplantation are
      options to treat the condition. LVAD can provide powerful circulatory support for
      end-stage heart failure patients and improve the survival and quality of life
      after implantation compared with the existing medical counterparts. Moreover,
      LVADs play a crucial role in the "bridge to transplantation", "bridge to
      recovery" and recently have served as "destination therapy". The structural and
      molecular changes that improve the cardiac function after LVAD implantation are
      called "reverse remodeling", which means that patients who have received a LVAD
      can be weaned from the LVAD with restoration of their cardiac function. This
      strategy is a desirable alternative to heart transplantation in terms of both the
      patient quality of life and due to the organ shortage. The mechanism of this
      bridge to recovery is interesting, and is different from other treatments for
      heart failure. Bridge to recovery therapy is one of the options in regenerative
      therapy which only a surgeon can provide. In this review, we pathophysiologically
      analyze the reverse remodeling phenomenon induced by LVAD and comment about the
      clinical evidence with regard to its impact on the bridge to recovery. 

PMID- 25840892
TI  - Laparoscopic adhesiolysis for acute small bowel obstruction: systematic review
      and pooled analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adhesional small bowel obstruction (SBO) occurs in 14-17% of patients
      within 2 years of open colorectal or general surgery. The aim of this pooled
      analysis is to compare the safety and efficacy of laparoscopic versus open
      treatment of SBO. METHODS: An electronic search of Embase, Medline, Web of
      Science, and Cochrane databases was performed. Weighted mean differences (WMDs)
      were calculated for the effect size of laparoscopic surgery on continuous
      variables, and pooled odds ratios (PORs) were calculated for discrete variables.
      RESULTS: There were eleven non-randomized comparative studies included this
      review. Laparoscopic surgery was associated with a significant reduction in
      mortality (POR = 0.31; 95% CI 0.16-0.61; P = 0.0008), overall morbidity (POR =
      0.34; 95 % CI 0.27-0.78; P < 0.0001), pneumonia (POR = 0.31; 95% CI 0.20-0.49; P
      < 0.0001), wound infection (POR = 0.29; 95% CI 0.12-0.70; P = 0.005), and length
      of hospital stay (WMD = -7.11; 95 % CI -8.47 to -5.75; P < 0.0001). The rates of
      bowel injury and reoperation were not significantly different between the two
      groups. Operative time was significantly longer in the laparoscopic group (WMD =
      72.31; 95% CI 60.96-83.67; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic surgery for
      treatment of adhesional SBO improves clinical outcomes and can be performed
      safely in selected cases with similar rates of bowel injury and reoperation to
      open surgery. Large scale randomized controlled trials are needed to validate the
      findings of this pooled analysis of non-randomized data.

PMID- 25840893
TI  - Natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES): emerging trends and
      specifications for a virtual simulator.
AB  - INTRODUCTION AND STUDY AIM: A virtual translumenal endoscopic surgical trainer
      (VTEST) is being developed to accelerate the development of natural orifice
      translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) procedures and devices in a safe and risk
      free environment. For a rapidly developing field such as NOTES, a needs analysis
      must be conducted regularly to discover emerging research trends and areas of
      potential high impact for a virtual simulator. This paper presents a survey-based
      study which follows a similar study conducted by this group in 2011
      (Sankaranarayanan et al. in Surg Endosc 27:1607-1616, 2013). METHODS: A 32-point
      questionnaire was distributed at the 2012 Natural Orifice Surgery Consortium for
      Assessment and Research annual meeting. These data were subsequently augmented by
      an identical online survey, targeted at the members of the American Society for
      Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the Society of American Gastrointestinal and
      Endoscopic Surgeons, and analyzed. RESULTS: Twenty-eight NOTES experts
      participated in the 2012 study. Cholecystectomy (CE) procedure remained the most
      commonly performed NOTES technique, with 18 positive responses (64%). In contrast
      to 2011, the popularity of the NOTES appendectomy (AE) was significantly lower,
      with only 2 (7%) instances (CE vs. AE, p < 0.001), while the number of peroral
      endoscopic myotomy (POEM, PE) cases had increased significantly, with 11 (39%)
      positive responses, respectively (PE vs. AE, p = 0.013). Strong preference toward
      hybrid rather than pure NOTES techniques (82 vs. 11%, p < 0.001) was also
      expressed. Other responses were similar to those in the 2011 study, with the
      VTESTTM utility in developing and testing new techniques and instruments ranked
      particularly high. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, a decision was
      made to focus exclusively on the transvaginal hybrid NOTES cholecystectomy
      procedure, including both rigid and flexible scope techniques. The importance of
      developing a virtual NOTES simulator was reaffirmed, with POEM identified as a
      promising candidate for future simulator development.

PMID- 25840894
TI  - Two-stage optical system for colorectal polyp assessments.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Macroscopic real-time evaluations of the histopathology and
      degree of invasion of colorectal polyps help to select the most suitable
      endoscopic treatment method. Dual-focus (DF) narrow-band imaging (NBI) is a new
      imaging enhancement system that uses digital and optical methods to enhance the
      view of blood vessels on mucosal surfaces. However, the superiority of this
      technique over standard imaging techniques has not been previously reported. The
      aim of this study was to determine whether the two-stage optical systems in a new
      generation of endoscopes will increase the diagnostic accuracy of colorectal
      polyp recognition. METHODS: The study included 270 patients, and 386 colorectal
      polyps were diagnosed and removed. The polyps were assessed with white light and
      NBI using one- and two-stage optical systems, respectively. After being
      classified according to the Kudo pit pattern schemes, the polyps were removed and
      histopathologically verified. RESULTS: Regarding non-neoplastic lesions (Kudo I
      and II), no difference was observed in the recognition of polyps when using the
      NBI-DF function. We observed improved accuracy in the preliminary diagnoses of
      Kudo IIIL lesions (from 87.16 to 90.09%, p < 0.05) and Kudo IIIS lesions (from
      87.29 to 92.79%, p < 0.01). NBI-DF also increased the accuracy of preliminary
      diagnoses of Kudo IV lesions (from 88.24 to 94.12%, p < 0.01). The Kudo V pit
      patterns were also more distinct with NBI-DF imaging, increasing the diagnostic
      accuracy from 91.67 to 100%. CONCLUSIONS: Using a two-stage optical system with
      electronic colorization of the mucosa increased diagnostic accuracy for
      differentiating colorectal polyps with neoplastic potential.

PMID- 25840895
TI  - The new robotic TELELAP ALF-X in gynecological surgery: single-center experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of the new robotic TELELAP ALF
      X platform in a heterogeneous series of gynecological procedures. METHODS:
      Between September 2013 and May 2014, 146 patients were enrolled in this Phase II
      study trial. Patients with presumed benign or borderline adnexal disease, and
      benign and early stage malignant uterine disease were prospectively included.
      RESULTS: Median age was 52 years (range 19-79 years), and median BMI was 23.7
      (range 17.3-34.0 kg/m(2)). Sixty-two patients (32.5%) underwent mono/bilateral
      salpingo-oophorectomy or cyst removal (Group A), four patients (2.7%) myomectomy
      (Group B), 46 patients (31.5%) total hysterectomy (Group C), and 34 (23.3%)
      endometrial cancer staging (Group D). Median docking time was 7 min (range 3-36).
      Median OT was 35 min (range 17-145) in the Group A, 40 min (range 10-50) in the
      Group B, 133 min (range 58-320) in the Group C, and 160 min (range 69-290) in the
      Group D. Reduction in OT over the study period for hysterectomy (p < 0.001) and
      adnexal surgery (p < 0.002) was observed. We registered two laparoscopic
      conversion (3.2%) in the Group A and two (4.3 %) in the Group C. In the Group D,
      we showed one (2.9%) laparoscopic and two (5.8%) laparotomic conversions. One
      patient (2.17%) in the Group C was readmitted in the early postoperative period
      for severe vaginal bleeding. CONCLUSIONS: We report the first series of a novel
      robotic approach for the treatment of various gynecological conditions. When
      performed by experienced minimally invasive surgeons, TELELAP ALF-X is feasible
      and safe. Further studies are mandatory to define the benefits, advantages, and
      costs of this new robotic approach with respect to others minimally invasive
      approaches.

PMID- 25840896
TI  - Three-dimensional versus two-dimensional vision in laparoscopy: a systematic
      review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic surgery is widely used, and results in accelerated
      patient recovery time and hospital stay were compared with laparotomy. However,
      laparoscopic surgery is more challenging compared with open surgery, in part
      because surgeons must operate in a three-dimensional (3D) space through a two
      dimensional (2D) projection on a monitor, which results in loss of depth
      perception. To counter this problem, 3D imaging for laparoscopy was developed. A
      systematic review of the literature was performed to assess the effect of 3D
      laparoscopy. METHODS: A systematic search of the literature was conducted to
      identify randomized controlled trials that compared 3D with 2D laparoscopy. The
      search was accomplished in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines using the
      PubMed, EMBASE, and The Cochrane Library electronic databases. No language or
      year of publication restrictions was applied. Data extracted were cohort size and
      characteristics, skill trained or operation performed, instrument used, outcome
      measures, and conclusions. Two independent authors performed the search and data
      extraction. RESULTS: Three hundred and forty articles were screened for
      eligibility, and 31 RCTs were included in the review. Three trials were carried
      out in a clinical setting, and 28 trials used a simulated setting. Time was used
      as an outcome measure in all of the trials, and number of errors was used in 19
      out of 31 trials. Twenty-two out of 31 trials (71%) showed a reduction in
      performance time, and 12 out of 19 (63%) showed a significant reduction in error
      when using 3D compared to 2D. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, 3D laparoscopy appears to
      improve speed and reduce the number of performance errors when compared to 2D
      laparoscopy. Most studies to date assessed 3D laparoscopy in simulated settings,
      and the impact of 3D laparoscopy on clinical outcomes has yet to be examined.

PMID- 25840897
TI  - Nonradiation ERCP with endoscopic biliary sphincterotomy plus papillary balloon
      dilation for the treatment of choledocholithiasis during pregnancy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is currently
      the treatment of choice for symptomatic choledocholithiasis in pregnant patients.
      We aimed to present our experience with pregnant patients who underwent
      nonradiation ERCP and to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a new technique.
      METHODS: A retrospective analysis of nonradiation ERCP in 22 pregnant patients
      with symptomatic choledocholithiasis between January 2002 and December 2013 was
      performed. The bile aspiration technique with wire-guided sphincterotome was used
      to confirm selective biliary cannulation. Transpapillary pancreatic septotomy was
      performed in cases with difficult biliary cannulation (n = 3). After endoscopic
      biliary sphincterotomy, endoscopic papillary balloon dilation was performed with
      a 6- or 8-mm dilation balloon in all patients to reduce the risk of recurrent
      cholangitis because of residual or additional stones. Stones were extracted by
      balloon sweeping after dilation. All patients were followed for 6 months after
      the ERCP procedure. RESULTS: Biliary cannulation was achieved in all patients.
      Endoscopic papillary balloon dilation was performed with a 6-mm balloon in 17
      patients and an 8-mm balloon in five patients. The stones were extracted in 18 of
      the 22 patients by balloon sweeping, but no stones were extracted in the
      remaining four patients. There were two cases of mild post-ERCP pancreatitis. All
      patients delivered at term, and none experienced recurrence of
      choledocholithiasis and/or cholangitis during the 6-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS:
      Endoscopic biliary sphincterotomy plus endoscopic papillary balloon dilation in
      nonradiation ERCP is a safe and effective treatment method for symptomatic
      choledocholithiasis during pregnancy.

PMID- 25840898
TI  - A nurse-led case management program on home exercise training for hemodialysis
      patients: A randomized controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients on maintenance hemodialysis suffer from diminished physical
      health. Directly supervised exercise programs have been shown to be effective at
      improving physical function and optimizing well-being. However, nurses seldom
      include an exercise intervention in the care plan for hemodialysis patients.
      OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a 12-week
      nurse-led case management program on home exercise training for hemodialysis
      patients. DESIGN: The study was a randomized, two-parallel group trial. SETTINGS:
      Hemodialysis units in two tertiary hospitals in Nanjing, mainland China.
      PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and thirteen adult patients who have been in stable
      condition while on dialysis treatment for more than 3 months were recruited and
      randomly assigned to either the study group (n=57) or the control group (n=56).
      METHODS: Both groups underwent a brief weekly in-center exercise training session
      before their dialysis sessions for the first 6 weeks. The study group received
      additional nurse case management weekly for the first 6 weeks and biweekly for
      the following 6 weeks. The intervention was to facilitate patients in performing
      regular exercise at home. Outcome measures, including gait speed, 10-repetition
      sit-to-stand performance, and quality of life were collected at baseline, and at
      6 and 12 weeks into the program. RESULTS: The results revealed that patients in
      the study group demonstrated greater increases in normal gait speed
      [F(1,111)=4.42, p=0.038] than the control group. For the study group, a mean
      increase of 12.02 (+/-3.03)centimeters/second from baseline to week 12 was found.
      With regard to the fast gait speed, there was a marginally significant between
      group effect [F(1,111)=3.93, p=0.050]. The study group showed a mean improvement
      of 11.08 (+/-3.32)cm/s, from baseline to week 12. Patients from both groups
      showed improvements in their 10-repetition sit-to-stand performance. The between
      group differences approached significance [F(1,111)=3.92, p=0.050], with the
      study group showed greater improvement than the control group. The time taken by
      the patients in the study group to complete the 10-STS test increased by 5.75 (+/
      3.88)s from baseline to week 12. Significant improvements in quality of life
      across three time points were found only in the study group. CONCLUSIONS: Home
      exercise using a nurse-led case management approach is practical and effective in
      improving the physical function and self-perceived health of stable hemodialysis
      patients.

PMID- 25840899
TI  - Language barriers and patient safety risks in hospital care. A mixed methods
      study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: A language barrier has been shown to be a threat for quality of
      hospital care. International studies highlighted a lack of adequate noticing,
      reporting, and bridging of a language barrier. However, studies on the link
      between language proficiency and patient safety are scarce, especially in Europe.
      The present study investigates patient safety risks due to language barriers
      during hospitalization, and the way language barriers are detected, reported, and
      bridged in Dutch hospital care. METHODS: We combined quantitative and qualitative
      methods in a sample of 576 ethnic minority patients who were hospitalized on 30
      wards within four urban hospitals. The nursing and medical records of 17 hospital
      admissions of patients with language barriers were qualitatively analyzed, and
      complemented by 12 in-depth interviews with care providers and patients and/or
      their relatives to identify patient safety risks during hospitalization. The
      medical records of all 576 patients were screened for language barrier reports.
      The results were compared to patients' self-reported Dutch language proficiency.
      The policies of wards regarding bridging language barriers were compared with the
      reported use of interpreters in the medical records. RESULTS: Situations in
      hospital care where a language barrier threatened patient safety included daily
      nursing tasks (i.e. medication administration, pain management, fluid balance
      management) and patient-physician interaction concerning diagnosis, risk
      communication and acute situations. In 30% of the patients that reported a low
      Dutch proficiency, no language barrier was documented in the patient record.
      Relatives of patients often functioned as interpreter for them and professional
      interpreters were hardly used. DISCUSSION: The present study showed a wide
      variety of risky situations in hospital care for patients with language barriers.
      These risks can be reduced by adequately bridging the language barrier, which, in
      the first place, demands adequate detecting and reporting of a language barrier.
      This is currently not sufficiently done in most Dutch hospitals. Moreover, new
      solutions to bridge language barriers are needed for situations such as routine
      safety checks performed by nurses, in which a professional or even informal
      interpreter is not feasible.

PMID- 25840900
TI  - Computing Expected Value of Partial Sample Information from Probabilistic
      Sensitivity Analysis Using Linear Regression Metamodeling.
AB  - Decision makers often desire both guidance on the most cost-effective
      interventions given current knowledge and also the value of collecting additional
      information to improve the decisions made (i.e., from value of information [VOI]
      analysis). Unfortunately, VOI analysis remains underused due to the conceptual,
      mathematical, and computational challenges of implementing Bayesian decision
      theoretic approaches in models of sufficient complexity for real-world decision
      making. In this study, we propose a novel practical approach for conducting VOI
      analysis using a combination of probabilistic sensitivity analysis, linear
      regression metamodeling, and unit normal loss integral function--a parametric
      approach to VOI analysis. We adopt a linear approximation and leverage a
      fundamental assumption of VOI analysis, which requires that all sources of prior
      uncertainties be accurately specified. We provide examples of the approach and
      show that the assumptions we make do not induce substantial bias but greatly
      reduce the computational time needed to perform VOI analysis. Our approach avoids
      the need to analytically solve or approximate joint Bayesian updating, requires
      only one set of probabilistic sensitivity analysis simulations, and can be
      applied in models with correlated input parameters.

PMID- 25840901
TI  - Mapping between 6 Multiattribute Utility Instruments.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cost-utility analyses commonly employ a multiattribute utility (MAU)
      instrument to estimate the health state utilities, which are needed to calculate
      quality-adjusted life years. Different MAU instruments predict significantly
      different utilities, which makes comparison of results from different evaluation
      studies problematical. AIM: This article presents mapping functions
      ("crosswalks") from 6 MAU instruments (EQ-5D-5L, SF-6D, Health Utilities Index 3
      [HUI 3], 15D, Quality of Well-Being [QWB], and Assessment of Quality of Life 8D
      [AQoL-8D]) to each of the other 5 instruments in the study: a total of 30 mapping
      functions. METHODS: Data were obtained from a multi-instrument comparison survey
      of the public and patients in 7 disease areas conducted in 6 countries
      (Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway, United Kingdom, and United States). The 8022
      respondents were administered each of the 6 study instruments. Mapping equations
      between each instrument pair were estimated using 4 econometric techniques:
      ordinary least squares, generalized linear model, censored least absolute
      deviations, and, for the first time, a robust MM-estimator. RESULTS: Goodness-of
      fit indicators for each of the results are within the range of published studies.
      Transformations reduced discrepancies between predicted utilities. Incremental
      utilities, which determine the value of quality-related health benefits, are
      almost perfectly aligned at the sample means. CONCLUSION: Transformations
      presented here align the measurement scales of MAU instruments. Their use will
      increase confidence in the comparability of evaluation studies, which have
      employed different MAU instruments.

PMID- 25840902
TI  - Predicting the EQ-5D-3L Preference Index from the SF-12 Health Survey in a
      National US Sample: A Finite Mixture Approach.
AB  - BACKGROUND: . When data on preferences are not available, analysts rely on
      condition-specific or generic measures of health status like the SF-12 for
      predicting or mapping preferences. Such prediction is challenging because of the
      characteristics of preference data, which are bounded, have multiple modes, and
      have a large proportion of observations clustered at values of 1. METHODS: . We
      developed a finite mixture model for cross-sectional data that maps the SF-12 to
      the EQ-5D-3L preference index. Our model characterizes the observed EQ-5D-3L
      index as a mixture of 3 distributions: a degenerate distribution with mass at
      values indicating perfect health and 2 censored (Tobit) normal distributions.
      Using estimation and validation samples derived from the Medical Expenditure
      Panel Survey 2000 dataset, we compared the prediction performance of these
      mixture models to that of 2 previously proposed methods: ordinary least squares
      regression (OLS) and two-part models. RESULTS: . Finite mixture models in which
      predictions are based on classification outperform two-part models and OLS
      regression based on mean absolute error, with substantial improvement for samples
      with fewer respondents in good health. The potential for misclassification is
      reflected on larger root mean square errors. Moreover, mixture models
      underperform around the center of the observed distribution. CONCLUSIONS: .
      Finite mixtures offer a flexible modeling approach that can take into account
      idiosyncratic characteristics of the distribution of preferences. The use of
      mixture models allows researchers to obtain estimates of health utilities when
      only summary scores from the SF-12 and a limited number of demographic
      characteristics are available. Mixture models are particularly useful when the
      target sample does not have a large proportion of individuals in good health.

PMID- 25840903
TI  - Value of Information: We've Got Speed, What More Do We Need?

PMID- 25840904
TI  - A Randomized Trial Examining Three Strategies for Supporting Health Insurance
      Decisions among the Uninsured.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Affordable Care Act allows uninsured individuals to select health
      insurance from numerous private plans, a challenging decision-making process.
      This study examined the effectiveness of strategies to support health insurance
      decisions among the uninsured. METHODS: Participants (N = 343) from urban,
      suburban, and rural areas were randomized to 1 of 3 conditions: 1) a plain
      language table; 2) a visual condition where participants chose what information
      to view and in what order; and 3) a narrative condition. We administered measures
      assessing knowledge (true/false responses about key features of health
      insurance), confidence in choices (uncertainty subscale of the Decisional
      Conflict Scale), satisfaction (items from the Health Information National Trends
      Survey), preferences for insurance features (measured on a Likert scale from not
      at all important to very important), and plan choice. RESULTS: Although we did
      not find significant differences in knowledge, confidence in choice, or
      satisfaction across condition, participants across conditions made value
      consistent choices, selecting plans that aligned with their preferences for key
      insurance features. In addition, those with adequate health literacy skills as
      measured by the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine-Short Form (REALM
      SF) had higher knowledge overall ([Formula: see text] = 6.1 v. 4.8, P < 0.001)
      and preferred the plain language table to the visual (P = 0.04) and visual to
      narrative (P = 0.0002) conditions, while those with inadequate health literacy
      skills showed no preference for study condition. A similar pattern was seen for
      those with higher subjective numeracy skills and higher versus lower education
      with regard to health insurance knowledge. Individuals with higher income felt
      less confident in their choices ([Formula: see text] = 28.7 v. 10.0, where higher
      numbers indicate less confidence/more uncertainty; P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Those
      developing materials about the health insurance marketplace to support health
      insurance decisions might consider starting with plain language tables,
      presenting health insurance terminology in context, and organizing information
      according to ways the uninsured might use and value insurance features.
      Individuals with limited health literacy and numeracy skills and those with lower
      education face unique challenges selecting health insurance and weighing
      tradeoffs between cost and coverage.

PMID- 25840905
TI  - Immobilization of Bioactive Protein A from Staphylococcus aureus (SpA) on the
      Surface of Bacillus subtilis Spores.
AB  - Protein A from Staphylococcus aureus (SpA) is a 40-60 kDa cell-wall component,
      composed of five homologous immunoglobulin (Ig)-binding domains folded into a
      three-helix bundle. Each of these five domains is able to bind Igs from many
      different mammalian species. Recombinant SpA is widely used as a component of
      diagnostic kits for the detection and purification of IgGs from serum or other
      biological fluids. In this study, purified SpA was adsorbed and covalently linked
      to Bacillus subtilis spores. Spores are extremely stable cell forms and are
      considered as an attractive platform to display heterologous proteins. A sample
      containing about 36 MUg of SpA was covalently immobilized on the surface of 4 *
      10(10) spores. Spore-bound SpA retained its IgG-binding activity, even after
      seven consecutive binding and washing steps, suggesting that it can be recycled
      and utilized several times. FACS analysis revealed that spores with covalently
      attached SpA had significantly improved fluorescence intensities when compared to
      those of spores with adsorbed SpA, suggesting that the covalent approach is more
      efficient than sole adsorption regarding protein attachment to the spore surface.

PMID- 25840906
TI  - NMR studies of membrane proteins.

PMID- 25840907
TI  - Survey of expert opinions and related recommendations regarding bridging therapy
      using hypomethylating agents followed by allogeneic transplantation for high-risk
      MDS.
AB  - According to current guidelines on therapeutic strategies for myelodysplastic
      syndrome (MDS), cytoreductive therapies before allogeneic stem cell
      transplantation (SCT) are not widely recommended for patients with high-risk MDS
      or refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB) who are eligible for allogeneic
      SCT because of controversial evidence on the role of such therapies. Yet, while
      treatment with hypomethylating agents (HMAs) has a critical limitation in
      eradicating MDS clones, the use of HMA treatment as a bridge to allogeneic SCT
      has become a focus with the hope of improving the SCT outcome based on the chance
      of achieving complete remission or reducing the blast percentage safely and
      effectively before allogeneic SCT. However, a consensus needs to be established
      on the use of HMAs as a bridging therapy for high-risk MDS or RAEB. Thus, the
      Korean AML/MDS working party group surveyed 34 Korean MDS experts on their
      bridging therapies for high-risk MDS. Accordingly, this paper presents the survey
      questionnaire and resulting data, along with a summary of the consensus and
      related recommendations regarding strategies using HMA treatment and allogeneic
      SCT based on reported studies and the current survey results. 

PMID- 25840908
TI  - New Ceratocystis species from Eucalyptus and Cunninghamia in South China.
AB  - During routine surveys for possible fungal pathogens in the rapidly expanding
      plantations of Eucalyptus and Cunninghamia lanceolata in China, numerous isolates
      of unknown species in the genus Ceratocystis (Microascales) were obtained from
      tree wounds. In this study we identified the Ceratocystis isolates from
      Eucalyptus and Cunninghamia in the GuangDong, GuangXi, FuJian and HaiNan
      Provinces of South China based on morphology and through comparisons of DNA
      sequence data for the ITS, partial beta-tubulin and TEF-1alpha gene regions.
      Morphological and DNA sequence comparisons revealed two previously unknown
      species residing in the Indo-Pacific Clade. These are described here as
      Ceratocystis cercfabiensis sp. nov. and Ceratocystis collisensis sp. nov.
      Isolates of Ceratocystis cercfabiensis showed intragenomic variation in their ITS
      sequences and four strains were selected for cloning of the ITS gene region.
      Twelve ITS haplotypes were obtained from 17 clones selected for sequencing,
      differing in up to seven base positions and representing two separate
      phylogenetic groups. This is the first evidence of multiple ITS types in isolates
      of Ceratocystis residing in the Indo-Pacific Clade. Caution should thus be
      exercised when using the ITS gene region as a barcoding marker for Ceratocystis
      species in this clade. This study also represents the first record of a species
      of Ceratocystis from Cunninghamia. 

PMID- 25840909
TI  - Bone transport through an induced membrane in the management of tibial bone
      defects resulting from chronic osteomyelitis.
AB  - Wide resection of infected bone improves the odds of achieving remission of
      infection in patients with chronic osteomyelitis. Aggressive debridement is
      followed by the creation of large bone defects. The use of antibiotic-impregnated
      PMMA spacers, as a customized dead space management tool, has grown in
      popularity. In addition to certain biological advantages, the spacer offers a
      therapeutic benefit by serving as a vehicle for delivery of local adjuvant
      antibiotics. In this study, we investigate the efficacy of physician-directed
      antibiotic-impregnated PMMA spacers in achieving remission of chronic tibial
      osteomyelitis. This retrospective case series involves eight patients with
      chronic osteomyelitis of the tibial diaphysis managed with bone transport through
      an induced membrane using circular external fixation. All patients were treated
      according to a standardized treatment protocol. A review of the anatomical nature
      of the disease, the physiological status of the host and the outcome of treatment
      in terms of remission of infection, time to union and the complications that
      occurred was carried out. Seven patients, with a mean bone defect of 7 cm (range
      5-8 cm), were included in the study. At a mean follow-up of 28 months (range 18
      45 months), clinical eradication of osteomyelitis was achieved in all patients
      without the need for further reoperation. The mean total external fixation time
      was 77 weeks (range 52-104 weeks), which equated to a mean external fixation
      index of 81 days/cm (range 45-107). Failure of the skeletal reconstruction
      occurred in one patient who was not prepared to continue with further
      reconstructive surgery and requested amputation. Four major and four minor
      complications occurred. The temporary insertion of antibiotic-impregnated PMMA
      appears to be a useful dead space management technique in the treatment of post
      infective tibial bone defects. Although the technique does not appear to offer an
      advantage in terms of the external fixation index, it may serve as a useful
      adjunct in order to achieve resolution of infection. 

PMID- 25840910
TI  - Hypothermia Evidence, Afterdrop, and Guidelines.

PMID- 25840911
TI  - Macrophage epoxygenase determines a profibrotic transcriptome signature.
AB  - Epoxygenases belong to the cytochrome P450 family. They generate
      epoxyeicosatrienoic acids, which are known to have anti-inflammatory effects, but
      little is known about their role in macrophage function. By high-throughput
      sequencing of RNA in primary macrophages derived from rodents and humans, we
      establish the relative expression of epoxygenases in these cells. Zinc-finger
      nuclease-mediated targeted gene deletion of the major rat macrophage epoxygenase
      Cyp2j4 (ortholog of human CYP2J2) resulted in reduced epoxyeicosatrienoic acid
      synthesis. Cyp2j4(-/-) macrophages have relatively increased peroxisome
      proliferator-activated receptor-gamma levels and show a profibrotic
      transcriptome, displaying overexpression of a specific subset of genes (260
      transcripts) primarily involved in extracellular matrix, with fibronectin being
      the most abundantly expressed transcript. Fibronectin expression is under the
      control of epoxygenase activity in human and rat primary macrophages. In keeping
      with the in vitro findings, Cyp2j4(-/-) rats show upregulation of type I collagen
      following unilateral ureter obstruction of the kidney, and quantitative
      proteomics analysis (liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry) showed
      increased renal type I collagen and fibronectin protein abundance resulting from
      experimentally induced crescentic glomerulonephritis in these rats. Taken
      together, these results identify the rat epoxygenase Cyp2j4 as a determinant of a
      profibrotic macrophage transcriptome that could have implications in various
      inflammatory conditions, depending on macrophage function. 

PMID- 25840912
TI  - In Vivo Suppression of Heat Shock Protein (HSP)27 and HSP70 Accelerates DMBA
      Induced Skin Carcinogenesis by Inducing Antigenic Unresponsiveness to the
      Initiating Carcinogenic Chemical.
AB  - Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are constitutively expressed in murine skin. HSP27 is
      present in the epidermis, and HSP70 can be found in both the epidermis and
      dermis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of these proteins
      in cutaneous chemical carcinogenesis and to determine whether their effects on
      cell-mediated immune function were a contributing factor. In vivo inhibition of
      HSP27 and HSP70 produced a reduction in the T cell-mediated immune response to
      7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) and benzo(a)pyrene in C3H/HeN mice and
      resulted in a state of Ag-specific tolerance. When mice were pretreated with anti
      HSP27 and anti-HSP70 Abs in vivo prior to subjecting them to a standard two-stage
      DMBA/12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate cutaneous carcinogenesis protocol, the
      percentage of mice with tumors was much greater (p < 0.05) in anti-HSP27- and
      HSP70-pretreated animals compared with mice pretreated with control Ab. Similar
      results were obtained when the data were evaluated as the cumulative number of
      tumors per group. Mice pretreated with HSP27 and HSP70 Abs developed more H-ras
      mutations and fewer DMBA-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. These findings
      indicate that in mice HSP27 and HSP70 play a key role in the induction of cell
      mediated immunity to carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Bolstering the
      immune response to carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons may be an effective
      method for prevention of the tumors that they produce. 

PMID- 25840913
TI  - mTORC2 Deficiency in Myeloid Dendritic Cells Enhances Their Allogeneic Th1 and
      Th17 Stimulatory Ability after TLR4 Ligation In Vitro and In Vivo.
AB  - The mammalian/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a key integrative kinase
      that functions in two independent complexes, mTOR complex (mTORC) 1 and mTORC2.
      In contrast to the well-defined role of mTORC1 in dendritic cells (DC), little is
      known about the function of mTORC2. In this study, to our knowledge, we
      demonstrate for the first time an enhanced ability of mTORC2-deficient myeloid DC
      to stimulate and polarize allogeneic T cells. We show that activated bone marrow
      derived DC from conditional Rictor(-/-) mice exhibit lower coinhibitory B7-H1
      molecule expression independently of the stimulus and enhanced IL-6, TNF-alpha,
      IL-12p70, and IL-23 production following TLR4 ligation. Accordingly, TLR4
      activated Rictor(-/-) DC display augmented allogeneic T cell stimulatory ability,
      expanding IFN-gamma(+) and IL-17(+), but not IL-10(+) or CD4(+)Foxp3(+)
      regulatory T cells in vitro. A similar DC profile was obtained by stimulating
      Dectin-1 (C-type lectin family member) on Rictor(-/-) DC. Using novel CD11c
      specific Rictor(-/-) mice, we confirm the alloreactive Th1 and Th17 cell
      polarizing ability of endogenous mTORC2-deficient DC after TLR4 ligation in vivo.
      Furthermore, we demonstrate that proinflammatory cytokines produced by Rictor(-/
      ) DC after LPS stimulation are key in promoting Th1/Th17 responses. These data
      establish that mTORC2 activity restrains conventional DC proinflammatory capacity
      and their ability to polarize T cells following TLR and non-TLR stimulation. Our
      findings provide new insight into the role of mTORC2 in regulating DC function
      and may have implications for emerging therapeutic strategies that target mTOR in
      cancer, infectious diseases, and transplantation. 

PMID- 25840914
TI  - Herpes simplex virus type 2-infected dendritic cells produce TNF-alpha, which
      enhances CCR5 expression and stimulates HIV production from adjacent infected
      cells.
AB  - Prior HSV-2 infection enhances the acquisition of HIV-1 >3-fold. In genital
      herpes lesions, the superficial layers of stratified squamous epithelium are
      disrupted, allowing easier access of HIV-1 to Langerhans cells (LC) in the
      epidermis and perhaps even dendritic cells (DCs) in the outer dermis, as well as
      to lesion infiltrating activated T lymphocytes and macrophages. Therefore, we
      examined the effects of coinfection with HIV-1 and HSV-2 on monocyte-derived DCs
      (MDDC). With simultaneous coinfection, HSV-2 significantly stimulated HIV-1 DNA
      production 5-fold compared with HIV-1 infection alone. Because <1% of cells were
      dually infected, this was a field effect. Virus-stripped supernatants from HSV-2
      infected MDDCs were shown to enhance HIV-1 infection, as measured by HIV-1-DNA
      and p24 Ag in MDDCs. Furthermore these supernatants markedly stimulated CCR5
      expression on both MDDCs and LCs. TNF-alpha was by far the most prominent
      cytokine in the supernatant and also within HSV-2-infected MDDCs. HSV-2 infection
      of isolated immature epidermal LCs, but not keratinocytes, also produced TNF
      alpha (and low levels of IFN-beta). Neutralizing Ab to TNF-alpha and its
      receptor, TNF-R1, on MDDCs markedly inhibited the CCR5-stimulating effect of the
      supernatant. Therefore, these results suggest that HSV-2 infection of DCs in the
      skin during primary or recurrent genital herpes may enhance HIV-1 infection of
      adjacent DCs, thus contributing to acquisition of HIV-1 through herpetic lesions.

PMID- 25840915
TI  - Pattern recognition receptor-initiated innate antiviral responses in mouse
      epididymal epithelial cells.
AB  - Viral infections of the epididymis may impair male fertility and spread sexually
      transmitted pathogens. The innate antiviral immune responses in the epididymis
      have yet to be intensively investigated. This study found that mouse epididymal
      epithelial cells (EECs) constitutively express several viral sensors, including
      TLR3, retinoic acid-inducible gene I, and DNA-dependent activator of IFN
      regulatory factors. Other DNA sensors, including p204 and cGMP-AMP synthase, can
      be induced by transfection of synthetic HSV genomic DNA (HSV60). TLR3 and
      retinoic acid-inducible gene I in EECs can be activated by their common agonist,
      polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid [poly(I:C)]. The signaling pathway of DNA sensors
      can be initiated by HSV60. Both poly(I:C) and HSV60 induced the expression of
      type 1 IFNs and various antiviral proteins, including IFN-stimulated gene 15,
      2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase, and myxovirus resistance 1. Poly(I:C), but not
      HSV60, also dramatically induced the expression of major proinflammatory
      cytokines, including TNF-alpha and MCP-1, in EECs. In vivo assay confirmed that
      the local injection of poly(I:C) or HSV60 induced the innate antiviral responses
      in EECs. This study provided novel insights into the mechanisms underlying the
      innate antiviral responses in the mouse epididymis. 

PMID- 25840916
TI  - Screening of promising chemotherapeutic candidates from plants against human
      adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (IV): phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids from
      Tylophora tanakae leaves.
AB  - Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) is a malignancy of mature peripheral T
      lymphocytes caused by human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). There are
      an estimated 5 million to 20 million HTLV-1-infected individuals worldwide; their
      lifetime risk of developing ATL is 3-5 %, and high HTLV-1 proviral loads have
      been shown to be an independent risk factor. Although conventional
      chemotherapeutic regimens used against other malignant lymphomas have been
      administered to ATL patients, the prognosis is often poor. In previous studies,
      we screened 459 extracts from 344 plants to isolate components exhibiting
      antiproliferative activity against HTLV-1-infected T-cell lines (MT-1 and MT-2).
      In our continuing search for potential anti-HTLV-1 natural products, 15 extracts
      of Asclepiadaceae plants were further tested against MT-1 and MT-2 cells. The
      MeOH extract of aerial parts of Tylophora tanakae showed antiproliferative
      activity. Activity-guided fractionation resulted in the isolation of 6
      phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids (including a new compound), and we examined
      their antiproliferative activity against MT-1 and MT-2 cells. The EC50 value of
      some of the alkaloids was in the low nanomolar range, comparable to that of the
      clinically used antineoplastic drug doxorubicin. Structure-activity relationship
      analyses suggested that a 14beta-hydroxy moiety is essential for activity against
      HTLV-1-infected T cells. In contrast, the presence of a 2-methoxy moiety, a 7
      methoxy moiety, or an N-oxide moiety appears to reduce the potency of the
      antiproliferative activity against HTLV-1-infected T cells. 

PMID- 25840917
TI  - Sinomenine and magnoflorine, major constituents of Sinomeni caulis et rhizoma,
      show potent protective effects against membrane damage induced by
      lysophosphatidylcholine in rat erythrocytes.
AB  - The effects of the water extract of Sinomeni Caulis et Rhizoma (SCR-WE) and its
      major constituents, sinomenine (SIN) and magnoflorine (MAG), on moderate
      hemolysis induced by lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) were investigated in rat
      erythrocytes and compared with the anti-hemolytic effects of lidocaine (LID) and
      propranolol (PRO) as reference drugs. LPC caused hemolysis at concentrations
      above the critical micelle concentration (CMC), and the concentration of LPC
      producing moderate hemolysis (60 %) was approximately 10 MUM. SCR-WE at 1 ng/mL
      100 MUg/mL significantly inhibited the hemolysis induced by LPC. SIN and MAG
      attenuated LPC-induced hemolysis in a concentration-dependent manner from very
      low to high concentrations (1 nM-100 MUM and 10 nM-100 MUM, respectively). In
      contrast, the inhibiting effects of LID and PRO on LPC-induced hemolysis were
      observed at higher concentrations (1-100 MUM) but not at lower concentrations (1
      100 nM). Neither SIN nor MAG affected micelle formation of LPC, nor, at
      concentrations of 1 nM-1 MUM, did they attenuate the hemolysis induced by osmotic
      imbalance (hypotonic hemolysis). Similarly, SCR-WE also did not modify micelle
      formation or hypotonic hemolysis, except at the highest concentration. These
      results suggest that SIN and MAG potently protect the erythrocyte membrane from
      LPC-induced damage and contribute to the beneficial action of SCR-WE. The
      protective effects of SIN and MAG are mediated by some mechanism other than
      prevention of micelle formation or protection of the erythrocyte membrane against
      osmotic imbalance. 

PMID- 25840918
TI  - The Inappropriate Prescription of Oral Proton Pump Inhibitors in the Hospital
      Setting: A Prospective Cross-Sectional Study.
AB  - Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are used to treat upper gastrointestinal tract
      disorders. Their efficacy and perceived safety have led to widespread
      prescription. This is not without effect, in terms of adverse events and resource
      utilization. AIM: To prospectively assess oral PPI prescription in hospitalized
      patients. METHODS: PPI prescription in consecutive hospitalized patients was
      assessed. Indication and dose were assessed by patient interview and medical
      record review. Comparisons with current published prescribing guidelines were
      made. RESULTS: Four hundred and forty-seven patients were included. 57.5 % were
      prescribed PPIs. 26.8 % prescriptions were for inappropriate or unclear
      indications. 68.4 % were on higher doses than guidelines recommended, of which
      41.6 % could have undergone dose reduction, and 26.5 % discontinued. In a
      multivariate analysis, age, gender, and length of stay had no association with
      PPI prescription. Although aspirin use was appropriately associated with PPI
      prescription (RR: 1.8, 95 % CI 1.127-3.69; p < 0.05), the PPI was often given at
      higher than recommended doses (p < 0.001). This may reflect older age and
      multiple risk factors in this subset. Surgical patients commenced more PPIs and
      at higher dosages (p < 0.001). Omeprazole and lansoprazole were most often
      inappropriately prescribed (p < 0.01, p < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION:
      Inappropriate PPI therapy is still a problem in hospitals, though it appears to
      be at a lower level compared with previous studies. Awareness of evidence-based
      guidelines and targeted medicine reconciliation strategies are essential for cost
      effective and safe use of these medications.

PMID- 25840919
TI  - Vitamin D Deficiency Adds an Element of Risk to Insulin Resistance in Colorectal
      Neoplasms.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Both insulin resistance (IR) and vitamin D deficiency (VitDdef) have
      been suggested as risk factors for colorectal neoplasms (CRNs). However, the
      associations between the two with regard to CRNs are unclear. AIMS: To determine
      whether IR is a risk factor for CRNs and whether VitDdef confers an additive risk
      of CRNs. METHODS: Colonoscopy-naive asymptomatic women undergoing a routine
      health screening program were analyzed. IR was defined as homeostatic model
      assessment of IR >3 and VitDdef set as <20 ng/mL. Multivariable logistic
      regression was performed between women with and without CRNs, matched for age and
      body mass index, to investigate associations with CRNs in IR, VitDdef, and
      VitDdef combined with IR. RESULTS: We analyzed 216 women with CRNs and 216
      without CRNs. A significant association was found between IR and CRNs (OR 1.838,
      95 % CI 1.029-3.285, P = 0.040) but not with VitDdef. IR conferred a higher risk
      in advanced CRNs (OR 3.244, 95 % CI 1.588-6.631, P = 0.001) than CRNs. When
      VitDdef was combined with IR, risks of both CRNs and advanced CRNs increased (OR
      2.131, 95 % CI 1.077-4.216, P = 0.030 and OR 4.438, 95 % CI 2.058-9.571, P <
      0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: IR increases the risk of CRNs, and a
      combination of IR and VitDdef further increases this risk. As both VitDdef and IR
      are modifiable risk factors, such associations may have important clinical
      implications in the prevention of CRNs.

PMID- 25840921
TI  - Systemic Analysis of Predictive Biomarkers for Recurrence in Colorectal Cancer
      Patients Treated with Curative Surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Preoperative serum systemic inflammatory response (SIR) in patients
      with colorectal cancer (CRC) has been reported to be a predictive biomarker of
      early recurrence. The molecular status of CRC, including microsatellite
      instability (MSI), BRAF and KRAS mutations, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes
      (TILs), has also been associated with recurrence in CRC patients treated with
      curative surgery. AIM: We investigated the impacts of SIR status, TILs, and MSI
      on recurrence in curative CRC patients. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we
      enrolled 157 patients with stage I-III CRC undergoing curative surgery, for whom
      preoperative neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR),
      and C-reactive protein (CRP) data were available as indicators of SIR status.
      Molecular status was evaluated by counting TILs as the numbers of intratumoral
      Foxp3- and CD8-positive T cells by immunohistochemistry. MSI status was
      determined using five mononucleotide repeat microsatellite markers. RESULTS:
      Kaplan-Meier analysis of SIR indicators revealed that higher CRP, NLR, and PLR
      were associated with significantly poorer disease-free survival (DFS). Low levels
      of infiltrating CD8-positive T cells in CRC tissue was a significant predictor of
      poor DFS. Multivariate analysis showed that few infiltrating CD8-positive T cells
      and high serum CRP levels were independent predictive factors for recurrence.
      Furthermore, the combination of high CRP and few infiltrating CD8-positive T
      cells increased the predictive accuracy in these patients. CONCLUSIONS: The
      results of this study suggest that both CRP levels in preoperative serum and CD8
      T cells in CRC tissue are useful biomarkers for predicting early relapse in CRC
      patients treated with curative surgery.

PMID- 25840922
TI  - Obstructive Sleep Apnea Is Associated with Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis and
      Advanced Liver Histology.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and obstructive
      sleep apnea (OSA) are growing in prevalence in the USA. Existing data on the
      relationship between OSA and NAFLD are conflicting and limited by the use of
      various histologic definitions of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Using a
      robust definition of NASH in a large, well-characterized cohort, we sought to
      evaluate whether OSA was associated with NASH and advanced fibrosis. METHODS: Two
      hundred and thirteen subjects undergoing weight loss surgery were queried for OSA
      and then underwent liver biopsy. NASH was defined, as recommended by the American
      Association for the Study of Liver Disease, by the presence of all of the
      following: >5 % macrovesicular steatosis, lobular inflammation, and hepatocyte
      ballooning. NAFLD activity score (NAS) was also determined for each subject.
      RESULTS: Subjects with OSA had significantly higher alanine and aspartate
      aminotransferase levels than subjects without OSA (ALT 54.1 vs. 37.7 U/L, P =
      0.0007; AST 31.7 vs. 20.5 U/L, P = 0.0007). OSA was associated with the presence
      of NASH, and this remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, race, and
      diabetes mellitus (P = 0.03 OR 2.01; 95 %, 1.05-3.87). Steatosis grade, lobular
      inflammation grade, NAS score, and fibrosis stage were all significantly
      associated with the presence of OSA and remained so after adjustment.
      CONCLUSIONS: OSA is associated with elevated aminotransferase levels, the
      presence of NASH, and advanced NASH histology. Further studies are needed to
      evaluate the impact of OSA treatment on NASH.

PMID- 25840923
TI  - Foods provoking and alleviating symptoms in gastroparesis: patient experiences.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nutritional counseling for gastroparesis focuses on reduction of meal
      size, fiber, and fat to control symptoms. The tolerance of gastroparesis patients
      for particular foods is largely anecdotal. The aim of this study was to identify
      and characterize foods provoking or alleviating gastroparesis symptoms. METHODS:
      Gastroparesis patients completed: (1) Demographic Questionnaire; (2) Patient
      Assessment of Upper GI Symptoms; (3) Food Toleration and Aversion survey asking
      patients about experiences when eating certain foods utilizing a scale from -3
      (greatly worsening symptoms) to +3 (greatly improving symptoms). Descriptive
      qualities (acidic, fatty, spicy, roughage-based, bitter, salty, bland, and sweet)
      were assigned to foods. RESULTS: Forty-five gastroparesis patients participated
      (39 idiopathic gastroparesis). Foods worsening symptoms included: orange juice,
      fried chicken, cabbage, oranges, sausage, pizza, peppers, onions, tomato juice,
      lettuce, coffee, salsa, broccoli, bacon, and roast beef. Saltine crackers, jello,
      and graham crackers moderately improved symptoms. Twelve additional foods were
      tolerated by patients (not provoking symptoms): ginger ale, gluten-free foods,
      tea, sweet potatoes, pretzels, white fish, clear soup, salmon, potatoes, white
      rice, popsicles, and applesauce. Foods provoking symptoms were generally fatty,
      acidic, spicy, and roughage-based. The foods shown to be tolerable were generally
      bland, sweet, salty, and starchy. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified specific
      foods that worsen as well as foods that may help alleviate symptoms of
      gastroparesis. Foods that provoked symptoms differed in quality from foods that
      alleviated symptoms or were tolerable. The results of this study illustrate
      specific examples of foods that aggravate or improve symptoms and provide
      suggestions for a gastroparesis diet.

PMID- 25840920
TI  - Molecular Alterations of Colorectal Cancer with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
AB  - Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an important etiologic factor in the
      development of colorectal cancer (CRC). The risk of CRC begins to increase 8 or
      10 years after the diagnosis of IBD. This type of cancer is called colitis
      associated CRC (CA-CRC). The molecular pathogenesis of inflammatory epithelium
      might play a critical role in the development of CA-CRC. Genetic alterations
      detected in CA-CRC such as genetic mutations, microsatellite instability, and DNA
      hypermethylation are also recognized in sporadic CRC; however, there are
      differences in the timing and frequency of molecular events between CA-CRC and
      sporadic CRC. Interaction between gene-environmental factors, including
      inflammation, lifestyle, psychological stress, and prior appendectomy, might be
      associated with the etiopathology of IBD. The mucosal inflammatory mediators,
      such as oxidant stress, free radicals, and chemokines, may cause the genetic
      alterations. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of CA-CRC might be important
      to develop clinical efficacies for patients with IBD. This review discusses the
      molecular characteristics of CA-CRC, especially ulcerative colitis-associated
      CRC, including clinical features, signaling pathways, and interactions between
      genetic alterations and environment involved in inflammatory carcinogenesis. 

PMID- 25840924
TI  - Recurrent abdominal pain in a patient with Down syndrome.

PMID- 25840926
TI  - Removal of an embedded, migrated plastic biliary stent with the use of
      cholangioscopy.

PMID- 25840925
TI  - Determination and establishment of discriminating concentrations of malathion,
      coumaphos, fenvalerate and fipronil for monitoring acaricide resistance in ticks
      infesting animals.
AB  - Discriminating concentrations (DCs) of malathion, coumaphos, fenvalerate and
      fipronil were determined to monitor acaricide resistance in field conditions. The
      LC99 values with 95% confidence interval for malathion, coumaphos, fenvalerate
      and fipronil were 5126.8 (5011.5-5240.7), 131.0 (120.4-142.5), 2257.5 (2198.1
      2318.4) and 6.2 (5.87-6.55), respectively. The narrow confidence intervals in
      LC50 and LC99 of adult immersion test (AIT) and larval packet test (LPT)
      affirming the homogeneity of IVRI-I line. Variation in LPT based LC50 and LC99
      values of malathion (55.9ppm) and coumpahos (28.4ppm) compared to those obtained
      in AIT indicating that larvae were more susceptible to these chemicals. The DCs
      for malathion, coumaphos, fenvalerate and fipronil against adults were determined
      as 10253.6, 262.0, 4515.0 and 12.4ppm while against larvae the values were 111.8,
      56.8, 4014.0 and 9.6ppm, respectively. The working efficiency of DCs was
      successfully tested in field tick isolates. Establishment of country specific DCs
      of commonly used insecticides for monitoring of resistance in field ticks is
      emphasized for establishing tick control strategies. 

PMID- 25840927
TI  - Double-balloon enteroscopy in Crohn's disease: findings and impact on management
      in a multicenter retrospective study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) is effective in visualizing the
      small bowel to perform biopsy sampling and interventions. Few studies have
      evaluated the utility of DBE in patients with known or suspected Crohn's disease
      (CD). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of DBE in the diagnosis and impact on
      patient management in known and suspected CD and to compare capsule endoscopy
      (CE) with DBE findings. DESIGN: Retrospective study from August 2004 to August
      2009 of DBE procedures. SETTING: Five academic, tertiary U.S. centers. PATIENTS:
      Patients with known or suspected CD. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Diagnostic yield,
      impact on patient management, and comparison of DBE to CE findings in patients
      with known and suspected CD. RESULTS: We analyzed 98 DBE procedures performed in
      81 patients (38 with known CD and 43 with suspected CD). For patients with CD,
      common indications were abdominal pain and bleeding/anemia. The diagnostic yield
      was 87% (33/38 patients). The impact on subsequent management decisions was 82%
      (31/38). Common indications for DBE in patients with suspected CD were abnormal
      CE or other imaging. The diagnostic yield was 79% (34/43 patients). The impact on
      subsequent management decisions was 77% (33/43). In 17% of patients (14/81), DBE
      failed to reach the target lesion. There was 1 perforation, 3 strictures dilated,
      and 1 of 2 retained capsules recovered. When CE was followed by DBE, 46% of
      lesions were confirmed on DBE. LIMITATIONS: Retrospective analysis, imperfect
      criterion standard. CONCLUSIONS: DBE is an effective technique for assessment of
      the small bowel in known and suspected CD and affects management. Failure to
      reach target areas with DBE is not uncommon, and perforations can occur. There is
      poor correlation between CE and DBE.

PMID- 25840928
TI  - Investigating endoscopic features of sessile serrated adenomas/polyps by using
      narrow-band imaging with optical magnification.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A sessile serrated adenoma/polyp (SSA/P) is a common type of
      colorectal polyp that possesses malignant potential. Although narrow-band imaging
      (NBI) can easily differentiate neoplastic lesions from hyperplastic polyps (HPs),
      SSA/Ps can be a challenge to distinguish from HPs. OBJECTIVE: To investigate
      specific endoscopic features of SSA/Ps by using NBI with optical magnification.
      DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: Single high-volume referral center.
      PATIENTS: A total of 289 patients with histopathologically proven SSA/Ps or HPs
      obtained from colonoscopic polypectomy. INTERVENTION: Endoscopic images obtained
      by using NBI with optical magnification of 242 lesions (124 HPs, 118 SSA/Ps)
      removed between January 2010 and December 2012 were independently evaluated by 2
      experienced endoscopists. Three external experienced endoscopists systematically
      validated the diagnostic accuracies by using 40 lesions (21 HPs and 19 SSA/Ps)
      removed between January and March 2013. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Specific
      endoscopic features of SSA/Ps by using 5 potential characteristics: dilated and
      branching vessels (DBVs), irregular dark spots, a regular network pattern, a
      disorganized network pattern, and a dense pattern. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis
      demonstrated that DBV had a 2.3-fold odds ratio (95% confidence interval, 0.96
      5.69) among SSA/Ps compared with HPs (sensitivity, 56%; specificity, 75%;
      accuracy, 65%). Interobserver and intraobserver agreement indicated almost
      perfect agreement for DBVs in both the evaluation and validation studies. When
      DBVs, proximal location, and tumor size (>=10 mm) were combined, the positive
      predictive value was 92% and the area under the curve was 0.783 in the receiver
      operating characteristics by using the validation group. LIMITATIONS:
      Retrospective study. CONCLUSIONS: The current study suggests that a DBV is a
      potentially unique endoscopic feature of a colorectal SSA/P.

PMID- 25840929
TI  - Gestational weight gain and perinatal outcomes of subgroups of Asian-American
      women, Texas, 2009.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Asian-American subgroups are heterogeneous, but few studies had
      addressed differences on gestational weight gain (GWG) and perinatal outcomes
      related to GWG among this growing and diverse population. The purposes of this
      study were to examine whether Asian-American women are at higher risk of
      inadequate or excessive GWG and adverse perinatal outcomes than non-Hispanic
      White (NH-White) women, and to compare those risks among Asian-American
      subgroups. METHODS: This retrospective study included all singleton births to NH
      Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnam, and NH-White women
      documented in 2009 Texas birth certificate data (N = 150,674). Data were analyzed
      using the chi(2) test, t test, multinomial logistic regression, and binary
      logistic regression. Chinese women were the reference group in the comparisons
      among Asian subgroups. FINDINGS: Asian women had a higher risk of inadequate GWG
      and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) than NH-White women. No difference in the
      odds of excessive GWG was found among Asian subgroups, although Japanese women
      had the highest risk of inadequate GWG. After adjusting for confounders, Korean
      women had the lowest risk of GDM (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.49), whereas
      Filipino women and Asian Indian had the highest risks of gestational hypertension
      (AOR, 2.01 and 1.61), cesarean birth (AOR, 1.44 and 1.39), and low birth weight
      (AOR, 1.94 and 2.51) compared with Chinese women. CONCLUSIONS: These results
      support the heterogeneity of GWG and perinatal outcomes among Asian-American
      subgroups. The risks of adverse perinatal outcomes should be carefully evaluated
      separately among Asian-American subpopulations.

PMID- 25840930
TI  - The Impact of Neighborhood Environment, Social Support, and Avoidance Coping on
      Depressive Symptoms of Pregnant African-American Women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although depressive symptoms during pregnancy have been related to
      negative maternal and child health outcomes such as preterm birth, low birth
      weight infants, postpartum depression, and maladaptive mother-infant
      interactions, studies on the impact of neighborhood environment on depressive
      symptoms in pregnant women are limited. Pregnant women residing in disadvantaged
      neighborhoods reported higher levels of depressive symptoms and lower levels of
      social support. No researchers have examined the relationship between
      neighborhood environment and avoidance coping in pregnant women. Guided by the
      Ecological model and Lazarus and Folkman's transactional model of stress and
      coping, we examined whether social support and avoidance coping mediated
      associations between the neighborhood environment and depressive symptoms in
      pregnant African-American women. METHODS: Pregnant African-American women (n =
      95) from a medical center in Chicago completed the instruments twice during
      pregnancy between 15 and 25 weeks and between 25 and 37 weeks. The self
      administered instruments measured perceived neighborhood environment, social
      support, avoidance coping, and depressive symptoms using items from existing
      scales. Objective measures of the neighborhood environment were derived using
      geographic information systems. FINDINGS: Perceived neighborhood environment,
      social support, avoidance coping, and depressive symptoms were correlated
      significantly in the expected directions. Objective physical disorder and crime
      were negatively related to social support. Social support at time 1 (20 +/- 2.6
      weeks) mediated associations between the perceived neighborhood environment at
      time 1 and depressive symptoms at time 2 (29 +/- 2.7 weeks). An increase in
      avoidance coping between times 1 and 2 also mediated the effects of perceived
      neighborhood environment at time 1 on depressive symptoms at time 2. CONCLUSION:
      Pregnant African-American women's negative perceptions of their neighborhoods in
      the second trimester were related to higher levels of depressive symptoms in the
      third trimester. If these results are replicable in prospective studies with
      larger sample sizes, intervention strategies could be implemented at the
      individual level to support pregnant women in their ability to cope with adverse
      neighborhood conditions and ultimately improve their mental health.

PMID- 25840931
TI  - Cervical Cancer Screening and Sexual Risky Behaviors among a Population of
      Hispanic Origin.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of cervical cancer screening through
      Papanicolaou (Pap) test utilization and its association with sexual behaviors
      among a population-based sample of Hispanic women in Puerto Rico (PR). METHODS:
      This study was a secondary data analysis of the database of a cross-sectional
      study of HPV infection in PR (2010-2013; n = 554 women). Pap test utilization
      (past 3 years) was self-reported and sexual risky behavior was defined as an
      index that considered the following sexual behaviors: early age of sexual debut
      (<=16 years), 11 or more lifetime sexual partners, and 2 or more sexual partners
      in the last year. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the
      magnitude of the association between sexual risk behavior and Pap test
      utilization, after adjusting for socioeconomic and lifestyles characteristics.
      RESULTS: The overall prevalence of Pap test utilization was 78.0%. Pap test
      screening varied with sexual behavior, with women with none or one risky sexual
      behavior having higher odds of Pap test utilization in the past 3 years (odds
      ratio [OR], 1.74; 95% CI, 1.03-2.93) compared with those with two or three risky
      sexual behaviors. This difference remained marginally significant (p < .10) after
      adjusting for age, educational attainment, smoking status and STI history (OR,
      1.72; 95% CI, 0.96-3.08). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of cervical cancer
      screening in this population (78%) is still below Healthy People 2020
      recommendations (93%). Also, women with risky sexual behaviors are less likely to
      have been screened. Efforts to promote cervical screening programs should focus
      on these high-risk women as a method for cervical cancer prevention and control.

PMID- 25840932
TI  - Introduction to Special Issue: At the Precipice of Quality Health Care: The Role
      of the Toxicologist in Enhancing Patient and Medication Safety : At the Precipice
      of Quality Health Care: The Role of the Toxicologist in Enhancing Patient and
      Medication Safety. Venue: 2014 North American Congress of Clinical Toxicology.
      ACMT Pre-Meeting Symposium, New Orleans, LA.

PMID- 25840933
TI  - The Institute for Safe Medication Practices and Poison Control Centers:
      Collaborating to Prevent Medication Errors and Unintentional Poisonings.
AB  - This article provides an overview on the Institute for Safe Medication Practices
      (ISMP), the only independent nonprofit organization in the USA devoted to the
      prevention of medication errors. ISMP developed the national Medication Errors
      Reporting Program (MERP) and investigates and analyzes errors in order to
      formulate recommendations to prevent further occurrences. ISMP works closely with
      the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), drug manufacturers, professional
      organizations, and others to promote changes in package design, practice
      standards, and healthcare practitioner and consumer education. By collaborating
      with ISMP to share and disseminate information, Poison Control centers, emergency
      departments, and toxicologists can help decrease unintentional and accidental
      poisonings. 

PMID- 25840934
TI  - Mania as a presenting clinical feature of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

PMID- 25840936
TI  - Enhanced and Updated American Heart Association Heart-Check Front-of-Package
      Symbol: Efforts to Help Consumers Identify Healthier Food Choices.

PMID- 25840935
TI  - Survey on the management of anorectal malformations (ARM) in European pediatric
      surgical centers of excellence.
AB  - PURPOSE: Various management strategies for anorectal malformations (ARM) have
      been proposed. The aim of this study was to assess the current management in
      centers of excellence in Europe. METHODS: An online survey on the pre- and post
      operative concepts, surgical techniques, and the management of complications was
      sent to the representative experts of 28 selected European centers of pediatric
      surgery with special expertise in the treatment of ARM. RESULTS: The survey was
      completed by 25 experts from 14 countries. To assess the level of the rectal
      pouch in newborns 60% of participants perform a prone cross-table X-ray and 52%
      ultrasound. If an ostomy is required, 84% create divided Pena stomas. Primary
      repair in the newborn period is performed in females with rectoperineal (92%),
      rectovestibular (60%), and no fistula (32%), and in males with rectoperineal
      (92%), rectourinary (17%) and no fistula (38%). For 68 % of surgeons, the PSARP
      is the preferred surgical approach for "low" malformations. Laparoscopically
      assisted pull-throughs are routinely performed by 48% of experts for ARM with
      bladderneck and 28% for rectoprostatic fistula. 88% perform postoperative
      dilations. CONCLUSIONS: The management of ARM in Europe is very heterogeneous.
      High-quality clinical studies are needed to provide scientific evidence for the
      optimal treatment strategies.

PMID- 25840937
TI  - Dietary Research to Reduce Children's Oral Health Disparities: An Exploratory
      Cross-Sectional Analysis of Socioeconomic Status, Food Insecurity, and Fast-Food
      Consumption.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Tooth decay is the most common childhood disease and it
      disproportionately affects low-income children. The dietary risk factors
      associated with socioeconomic status (SES), such as food insecurity and fast-food
      consumption, are poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: To better understand how upstream
      social factors are related to dietary behaviors by testing the hypothesis that
      food insecurity mediates the SES-fast-food consumption relationship. DESIGN: A 36
      item survey was administered to caregivers of children younger than age 18 years
      (n=212). The predictor variable was SES, measured by whether the child was
      insured by Medicaid (no/yes). Food insecurity, the potential dietary mediator,
      was measured using the six-item US Department of Agriculture Household Food
      Security Survey (food secure/food insecure without hunger/food insecure with
      hunger). The outcome variable was whether the household reported eating at a fast
      food restaurant >=2 times a week (no/yes). We used logistic structural equation
      and mediation models to test our hypothesis. RESULTS: About 63% of children were
      classified as low SES. Thirty percent of caregivers reported food insecurity
      (with or without hunger) and 18.6% of households consumed fast food >=2 times per
      week. Lower SES was significantly associated with food insecurity (odds ratio
      [OR] 3.03, 95% CI 1.51 to 6.04; P=0.002), but SES was not related to fast-food
      consumption (OR 1.94, 95% CI 0.86 to 4.36; P=0.11). Food insecurity was not
      associated with fast-food consumption (OR 1.76, 95% CI 0.86 to 3.62; P=0.12). The
      mediation analyses suggest food insecurity does not mediate the relationship
      between SES and fast-food consumption. However, there are important potential
      differences in fast-food consumption by SES and food insecurity status.
      CONCLUSIONS: Future dietary research focusing on tooth decay prevention in
      vulnerable children may need to account for the differential effects of SES on
      food insecurity and dietary behaviors like fast-food consumption. Studies are
      needed to further elucidate the mechanisms linking SES, dietary behaviors, and
      tooth decay in children.

PMID- 25840938
TI  - At-risk and underserved: a proposed role for nutrition in the adult trajectory of
      autism.

PMID- 25840939
TI  - A Prospective Study of the Physiological and Neurobehavioral Effects of Ramadan
      Fasting in Preteen and Teenage Boys.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intermittent fasting during the month of Ramadan, although not
      obligatory, is commonly practiced by Muslim children. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to
      describe the effects of Ramadan fasting on various physiological and
      neurobehavioral measures in preteen and teenaged boys. DESIGN: We conduced a
      prospective cohort study during Ramadan, observed from August 9 to September 11,
      2010. PARTICIPANTS: Eighteen healthy Muslim boys (mean age+/-standard deviation
      12.6+/-1.5 years) were recruited and assessed before, during (1st and 4th weeks),
      and after Ramadan. Subjects were classified as preteens (aged 9 to 12 years) or
      teens (aged 13 to 15 years). INTERVENTION: On each clinic visit, participants
      completed a match-to-sample test, a spatial planning and working memory task, and
      a working memory capacity test using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test
      Automated Battery. Participants were also assessed for their sleep patterns,
      daily energy expenditure, and dietary intake. Body composition was determined
      using a dual-energy x-ray scan. Complete blood count, lipid profile analysis, and
      iron indices were conducted. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We measured morphologic,
      metabolic, and neurobehavioral parameters. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: A linear mixed
      model was used to assess changes in outcome measures. Post hoc pairwise
      comparisons were performed as necessary with Bonferroni adjustment. RESULTS:
      Within 1 week of fasting, there was a drop in body fat only in preteens
      (P=0.001). Reported fat (P=0.004) and protein intake (P=0.037) was higher during
      Ramadan, but energy expenditure did not change. By the end of Ramadan, there was
      a significant reduction in hemoglobin (mean+/-standard error -0.48+/-0.4 mmol/L)
      and serum iron (-25.7+/-31.8 MUg/dL [-4.6+/-5.7 MUmol/L]) levels. During week 4,
      total sleep duration decreased by 1.8 hours. At week 4, performance on the
      spatial planning and working memory task and working memory capacity test
      increased significantly (P=0.002), while match-to-sample test performance
      declined in preteens only (P=0.045). CONCLUSIONS: Ramadan fasting was associated
      with significant changes in body composition, dietary intake, and sleep patterns.
      Reductions in attention and iron indices were observed in preteens only.

PMID- 25840940
TI  - Cord blood is the optimal graft source for the treatment of pediatric patients
      with lysosomal storage diseases: clinical outcomes and future directions.
AB  - Initially used as an alternative hematopoietic stem cell source for patients
      without a human leukocyte antigen-matched bone marrow or peripheral blood stem
      cell donor, unrelated cord blood (UCB) is now the preferred donor source when
      hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is used to treat patients with
      lysosomal storage disorders (LSD). Without transplantation, these patients have
      serious progressive multi-system deterioration and premature death. UCB
      transplantation favorably alters the natural history of these diseases and
      prolongs survival. It primarily works through cellular enzyme replacement by
      healthy engrafted donor cells providing a continuous endogenous supply of enzyme
      throughout the body and, thorough engraftment of donor-derived microgial cells,
      in the central nervous system. HSCT in LSD, the majority performed in patients
      with mucopolysaccharidoses and leukodystrophies, is associated with remarkably
      high rates of engraftment and survival. Importantly, recipients of UCB, as
      compared with other donor sources, more often achieve full-donor chimerism and
      normalization of enzyme levels, which has been associated with superior long-term
      clinical prognosis. Additionally, UCB units are readily available, reducing time
      to transplantation and thereby providing access to transplant at young ages,
      another highly important predictor for long-term neuro-developmental function.
      For these reasons, UCB grafts are nowadays considered to be the optimal graft
      source for HSCT in patients with LSD. 

PMID- 25840941
TI  - Aberrant pancreatic ductal organisation: a case report.
AB  - Anomalous pancreatic ductal system has always enthralled the anatomists,
      surgeons, gastroenterologists and radiologists alike. With the growing use of
      MRCP, ERCP and endoscopic and surgical procedures, the knowledge of anatomical
      aberrations of pancreaticobiliary tract becomes extremely important. Moreover,
      the anomalous pancreatic duct morphology may be responsible for atypical
      gastrointestinal complains. We report an exceptionally rare case of two accessory
      ventral pancreatic ducts opening separately into the common bile duct proximal to
      the hepato pancreatic ampulla. Concomitant occurrence of an ectopic major
      duodenal papilla, 3.8 cm distal to the pyloric end of stomach was also seen.
      Moreover, the accessory pancreatic duct and the minor duodenal papilla were
      absent. Clinical implications and embryological description of these rare
      anomalies are discussed. Awareness of such rare morphological variants can go a
      long way in assisting effective patient management. 

PMID- 25840942
TI  - The Hypoglycemic Risk of Glyburide (Glibenclamide) Compared with Modified-Release
      Gliclazide.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The risk for hypoglycemia when taking glyburide compared with
      modified-release gliclazide remains to be established in older adults in routine
      care. We investigated the risk of a hospital encounter with hypoglycemia
      following a new prescription for glyburide compared with modified-release
      gliclazide. METHODS: In 2 population-based matched retrospective cohort studies
      in Ontario, Canada, between 2002 and 2011, we examined older adults who were
      newly prescribed glyburide or gliclazide as monotherapy or in the presence of
      metformin. Our primary outcome was a hospital encounter with hypoglycemia
      assessed within 90 days. RESULTS: The baseline characteristics between matched
      groups were similar. Initiating glyburide vs. gliclazide as monotherapy was
      associated with a higher risk for a hospital encounter with hypoglycemia (69
      patients of 4374 taking glyburide [1.58%] vs. 8 patients of 4374 taking
      gliclazide [0.18%], absolute risk increase 1.40% [95% CI 1.01% to 1.79%], number
      needed to harm 71 [55 to 99], odds ratio 8.63 [95% CI 4.15 to 17.93], p<0.0001).
      Similar findings were noted when glyburide vs. gliclazide was initiated in the
      presence of metformin (110 patients of 8038 taking glyburide [1.37%] vs. 19
      patients of 8038 taking gliclazide [0.24%], absolute risk increase 1.13% [95% CI
      0.86% to 1.40%], number needed to harm 77 [71 to 116], odds ratio 6.06 [95% CI
      3.68 to 9.97], p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Glyburide was associated with a higher
      risk for hypoglycemia than modified-release gliclazide. The results of our
      studies may help to convince healthcare professionals who use glyburide to
      consider modified-release gliclazide as a safer alternative.

PMID- 25840943
TI  - The combination of DPP-4 inhibitors versus sulfonylureas with metformin after
      failure of first-line treatment in the risk for major cardiovascular events and
      death.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the combination of dipeptidyl-peptidase 4 (DPP-4)
      inhibitors vs. sulfonylureas with metformin after failure of first-line treatment
      is associated with a decreased risk for major adverse cardiovascular events
      (myocardial infarction and stroke) and for all-cause mortality. METHOD: Using the
      UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, a cohort of patients newly treated with
      metformin or sulfonylurea monotherapy between January 1, 1988, and December 31,
      2011, was identified and was followed until December 31, 2012. Hazard ratios
      (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox proportional
      hazards models to compare the DPP-4 inhibitor-metformin combination to the
      sulfonylurea-metformin combination so as to study the risk for a composite
      endpoint consisting of myocardial infarction, stroke and all-cause mortality. The
      models were adjusted for high-dimensional propensity score deciles. RESULTS: The
      cohort consisted of 11,807 patients that included 2286 on a DPP-4 inhibitor
      metformin combination and 9521 on a sulfonylurea-metformin combination. The crude
      incidence rates (95% CIs) of the composite endpoint were 1.2% (0.8% to 1.7%) and
      2.2% (1.9% to 2.5%) per year for the DPP-4 inhibitor-metformin and sulfonylurea
      metformin combinations, respectively. In the high-dimensional propensity score
      adjusted model, the use of the DPP-4 inhibitor-metformin combination was
      associated with a 38% decreased risk for the composite endpoint (adjusted HR:
      0.62; 95% CI 0.40 to 0.98), compared with the sulfonylurea-metformin combination.
      CONCLUSIONS: The use of a DPP-4 inhibitor combination with metformin, compared
      with a sulfonylurea-metformin combination, was associated with decreased risks
      for major cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality.

PMID- 25840944
TI  - Monitoring blood glucose control: what does the future hold?

PMID- 25840945
TI  - School performance and wellbeing of children with CI in different communicative
      educational environments.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the long term effects of CI on auditory,
      language, educational and social-emotional development of deaf children in
      different educational-communicative settings. METHODS: The outcomes of 58
      children with profound hearing loss and normal non-verbal cognition, after 60
      months of CI use have been analyzed. At testing the children were enrolled in
      three different educational settings; in mainstream education, where spoken
      language is used or in hard-of-hearing education where sign supported spoken
      language is used and in bilingual deaf education, with Sign Language of the
      Netherlands and Sign Supported Dutch. Children were assessed on auditory speech
      perception, receptive language, educational attainment and wellbeing. RESULTS:
      Auditory speech perception of children with CI in mainstream education enable
      them to acquire language and educational levels that are comparable to those of
      their normal hearing peers. Although the children in mainstream and hard-of
      hearing settings show similar speech perception abilities, language development
      in children in hard-of-hearing settings lags significantly behind. Speech
      perception, language and educational attainments of children in deaf education
      remained extremely poor. Furthermore more children in mainstream and hard-of
      hearing environments are resilient than in deaf educational settings. Regression
      analyses showed an important influence of educational setting. CONCLUSIONS:
      Children with CI who are placed in early intervention environments that
      facilitate auditory development are able to achieve good auditory speech
      perception, language and educational levels on the long term. Most parents of
      these children report no social-emotional concerns.

PMID- 25840946
TI  - Unilateral common cavity deformity: Recurrent meningitis due to insufficient
      newborn hearing screening.
AB  - Insufficient newborn hearing screening may leave the other ear with undetected
      hearing loss. Subsequently, the missed pathology behind the impairment may have
      potential risk for severe infections. We describe a case of recurrent
      Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis in an infant with unilateral common cavity
      deformity. The diagnosis of the deaf left ear was delayed due to insufficient
      newborn hearing screening and not until the second meningitis the pathology
      behind the deafness was confirmed. Subtotal petrosectomy was performed
      unsuccessfully and resulted in another meningitis. We highlight the importance of
      proper newborn hearing screening and surgical technique to treat cochlear
      malformations. 

PMID- 25840947
TI  - Recent applications of microchip electrophoresis to biomedical analysis.
AB  - Many separation methods have been developed for biomedical analysis, including
      chromatographic (e.g. high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas
      chromatography (GC)) and electrophoretic methods (e.g. gel electrophoresis and
      capillary electrophoresis (CE)). Among these techniques, CE provides advantages
      in terms of high separation efficiency, simplicity, low sample and solvent volume
      consumption, short analysis time and applicability to a wide range of
      biomedically important substances. Microchip electrophoresis (ME) is a
      miniaturized platform of CE and is now considered as a simpler and more
      convenient alternative, which has demonstrated potential in analytical chemistry.
      High-throughput, cost-effective and portable analysis systems can be developed
      using ME. The current review describes different separation modes and detectors
      that have been employed in ME to analyze various classes of biomedical analytes
      (e.g. pharmaceuticals and related substances, nucleic acids, amino acids,
      peptides, proteins, antibodies and antigens, carbohydrates, cells, cell
      components and lysates). Recent applications (during 2010-2014) in these areas
      are presented in tables and some significant findings are highlighted. 

PMID- 25840948
TI  - Anti-angiogenic Effects of Bumetanide Revealed by DCE-MRI with a Biodegradable
      Macromolecular Contrast Agent in a Colon Cancer Model.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the antiangiogenic effect of bumetanide with dynamic contrast
      enhanced (DCE)-MRI and a biodegradable macromolecular MRI contrast agent.
      METHODS: A new polydisulfide containing macrocyclic gadolinium (Gd(III))
      chelates, poly([(Gd-DOTA)-DETA]-co-DTBP) (GODP), was synthesized as a safe
      biodegradable macromolecular MRI contrast agent for DCE-MRI. Nude mice bearing
      flank HT29 colon cancer xenografts were then treated daily with either bumetanide
      or saline for a total of 3 weeks. DCE-MRI was performed before and after the
      treatment weekly. The DCE-MRI data were analyzed using the adiabiatic
      approximation to the tissue homogeneity (AATH) model to assess the change of
      tumor vascularity in response to the treatment. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and
      western blot were performed to study tumor angiogenic biomarkers and hypoxia.
      RESULTS: DCE-MRI with GODP revealed that bumetanide reduced vascular permeability
      and plasma volume fraction by a significantly greater extent than the saline
      control therapy after 3 weeks of therapy. These changes were verified by the
      significant decline of CD31 and VEGF expression in the bumetanide treatment
      group. Despite a significant regression in vascularity, the tumors remained
      highly proliferative. Overexpression of the transcription factor HIF-1alpha in
      response to elevated hypoxia is thought to be the driving force behind the
      uninterrupted tumor expansion. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the
      effectiveness of DCE-MRI with GODP in detecting vascular changes following the
      administration of bumetanide. Bumetanide has the potential to curtail growth of
      the tumor vasculature and can be employed in future therapeutic strategies.

PMID- 25840950
TI  - Somatization among ethnic minorities and immigrants: Why does it matter to
      Consultation Liaison Psychiatry?

PMID- 25840949
TI  - Design and Development of Bioceramic Based Functionalized PLGA Nanoparticles of
      Risedronate for Bone Targeting: In-vitro Characterization and Pharmacodynamic
      Evaluation.
AB  - PURPOSE: Bioceramic(Hydroxyapatite) based Poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)
      and polyethylene glycol (PEG) nanoparticles of Risedronate was prepared by
      dialysis method for bone-targeting. METHODS: Risedronate, a targeting moiety that
      has a strong affinity for bone, was conjugated to PLGA via carbodiimide
      chemistry. Mono-methoxy PEG(mPEG)-PLGA block polymers were synthesized and used
      to impart surface hydrophilicity to nanoparticles to avoid its uptake by
      reticuloendothelial system (RES). The structure of prepared di block copolymers
      were characterized by FT-IR and NMR spectrometry. Risedronate was adsorbed on the
      surface of hydroxyapatite (RIS-HA) and it was conjugated with different ratios of
      mPEG-PLGA. The formation of surface-modified PLGA nanoparticle prepared with
      various ratios of risedronate as well as hydroxyapatite and mPEG was confirmed by
      (1)H NMR and FT-IR spectrometry. RESULTS: Size and % entrapment of the prepared
      nanoparticle was found to be 79.3 +/- 2.3 nm and 93 +/- 3.1%. Transmission
      electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that mPEG-PLGA-RIS-HA nanoparticles possess
      smooth and uniform surface. Pharmacodynamic study was performed on Dexamethasone
      (DEX) induced osteoporotic model. The effect of various formulations (mPEG-PLGA
      RIS, mPEG-PLGA-RIS-HA and RISOFOS tablet) on bone was studied by Volume bone
      density (VBD) and by histopathological evaluation. Interestingly mPEG-PLGA-RIS
      HA, showed a significant enhancement in bone micro-architecture when compared
      with other formulations. CONCLUSIONS: The results strongly implicated that mPEG
      PLGA-RIS-HA has a therapeutic benefits over risedronate sodium monotherapy for
      the treatment of osteoporosis in a rat model.

PMID- 25840951
TI  - Psychological and interactional characteristics of patients with somatoform
      disorders: Validation of the Somatic Symptoms Experiences Questionnaire (SSEQ) in
      a clinical psychosomatic population.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The new DSM-5 Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD) emphasizes the importance
      of psychological processes related to somatic symptoms in patients with
      somatoform disorders. To address this, the Somatic Symptoms Experiences
      Questionnaire (SSEQ), the first self-report scale that assesses a broad range of
      psychological and interactional characteristics relevant to patients with a
      somatoform disorder or SSD, was developed. This prospective study was conducted
      to validate the SSEQ. METHODS: The 15-item SSEQ was administered along with a
      battery of self-report questionnaires to psychosomatic inpatients. Patients were
      assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV to confirm a
      somatoform, depressive, or anxiety disorder. Confirmatory factor analyses, tests
      of internal consistency and tests of validity were performed. RESULTS: Patients
      (n=262) with a mean age of 43.4 years, 60.3% women, were included in the
      analyses. The previously observed four-factor model was replicated and internal
      consistency was good (Cronbach's alpha=.90). Patients with a somatoform disorder
      had significantly higher scores on the SSEQ (t=4.24, p<.001) than patients with a
      depressive/anxiety disorder. Construct validity was shown by high correlations
      with other instruments measuring related constructs. Hierarchical multiple
      regression analyses showed that the questionnaire predicted health-related
      quality of life. Sensitivity to change was shown by significantly higher effect
      sizes of the SSEQ change scores for improved patients than for patients without
      improvement. CONCLUSION: The SSEQ appears to be a reliable, valid, and efficient
      instrument to assess a broad range of psychological and interactional features
      related to the experience of somatic symptoms.

PMID- 25840952
TI  - Left Ventricular Geometry on Transthoracic Echocardiogram and Prognosis after
      Lacunar Stroke: The SPS3 Trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The spectrum, prevalence, and prognostic implications of abnormal
      left ventricular geometry (LVG) in patients with lacunar stroke are unknown. We
      examined the spectrum of LVG and its relationship with vascular risk factors and
      outcomes after lacunar stroke. METHODS: LVG was determined with transthoracic
      echocardiography for 1961 patients with magnetic resonance imaging-verified
      recent lacunar stroke participating in the Secondary Prevention of Small
      Subcortical Strokes trial. Multivariable logistic regression and Cox proportional
      hazards models were used to identify characteristics independently associated
      with LVG and to estimate risk from abnormal LVG for recurrent stroke and death.
      RESULTS: Abnormal LVG was present in 77%. Hispanic (odds ratio [OR], 1.4; 95%
      confidence interval, 1.1-1.8) or black (OR, 2.0; 1.3-2.9) race-ethnicity,
      diabetes (OR, 1.3; 1.0-1.7), hypertension, impaired renal function (OR, 1.8; 1.2
      2.5), intracranial stenosis (OR, 1.5; 1.1-2.1), and abnormal left ventricular
      function (OR, 2.0; 1.4-3.0) were independently associated with abnormal LVG.
      Subjects with abnormal LVG also more frequently had advanced manifestations of
      small-vessel disease specifically previous subcortical infarcts and white matter
      hyperintensities. After adjusting for assigned treatments, clinical risk factors,
      and advanced manifestations of small-vessel disease, subjects with abnormal LVG
      remained at increased risk of stroke recurrence (hazard ratio, 1.5; confidence
      interval, 1.0-2.4). There was no interaction between LVG and assigned
      antiplatelet or blood pressure target. Abnormal LVG was not associated with
      mortality. CONCLUSIONS: LVG consistent with chronic hypertensive changes was
      highly prevalent and correlated with neuroradiologic manifestations of small
      vessel disease in lacunar stroke patients. These results support the constructs
      that both cerebral small-vessel disease and LVG represent end-organ consequences
      of chronic hypertension.

PMID- 25840953
TI  - Effect of CREST Findings on Carotid Revascularization Practice in the United
      States.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We sought to measure the impact of the Carotid Revascularization
      Endarterectomy versus Stenting Trial (CREST) findings on clinical practice by
      studying trends in carotid artery stenting (CAS) and carotid endarterectomy (CEA)
      utilization before and after publication of CREST in a large US multihospital
      database. METHODS: The Premier Perspective Database was used to identify
      inpatient CEA and CAS procedures performed from January 2006 to March 2013.
      Patients were subclassified by age (<70/>=70 years) and presentation
      (symptomatic/asymptomatic). CEA and CAS volumes were compared before and after
      the publication of CREST (July 2010) using an interrupted time series model.
      RESULTS: A total of 121,157 CEA and 18,503 CAS procedures performed at 445
      medical centers were identified. There was no significant change observed in the
      overall number of CEA procedures performed after CREST publication relative to
      the pre-existing trend (P = .08); however, there was a significant increase in
      the overall number of CAS procedures performed (delta of 40 cases, P = .0179) in
      patients aged younger than 70 years (delta of 24 cases, P = .0008), 70 years or
      older (delta of 25 cases, P = .0047), and asymptomatic patients (delta of 39
      cases, P = .0159). The overall percentage of CEA procedures performed in relation
      to all revascularization procedures was significantly lower after CREST
      publication overall (delta, -1.5%; P = .041) for patients aged younger than 70
      years (delta, -2.4%; P < .0001) and asymptomatic patients (delta, -1.5%; P =
      .035). CONCLUSIONS: In this large sample of US hospitals, performance of CAS
      significantly increased after the publication of the CREST study.

PMID- 25840954
TI  - Varicella-zoster vasculitis presenting with cerebellar hemorrhage.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Varicella zoster virus (VZV) is known as one of the rare, but
      important, causes of both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Most previously
      reported VZV-related hemorrhagic stroke and cerebral vasculitis are associated
      with anterior circulation because VZV spreads from trigeminal ganglia to the
      anterior circulation of Willis. The present study presents a patient with
      cerebellar hemorrhage, who was diagnosed with VZV encephalitis and vasculitis of
      the posterior inferior cerebellar artery. CASE REPORT: A 75-year-old man with
      stupor was admitted to our hospital. Computed tomography revealed right
      intracerebellar hemorrhage, and magnetic resonance imaging revealed multiple high
      intense signals throughout the brainstem and temporal lobe on fluid attenuation
      inversion recovery, suggestive of encephalitis. Cerebral angiography revealed
      stenosis of left posterior inferior cerebellar artery. Based on cerebrospinal
      fluid analysis, including anti-VZV IgG antibody and VZV DNA polymerase chain
      reaction, the patient was diagnosed with VZV encephalitis, vasculitis, and
      cerebellar hemorrhage. CONCLUSIONS: Both cerebral vasculitis and hemorrhagic
      stroke due to VZV can occur in the vertebrobasilar system. VZV may enter the
      central nervous system not only from trigeminal ganglia but also from other
      pathways. We should be aware that a VZV infection could cause cerebral vasculitis
      and hemorrhagic stroke in the vertebrobasilar system and in anterior circulation.

PMID- 25840955
TI  - [Apnea test in brain death. Is it safe to perform with CPAP using conventional
      respirators?].

PMID- 25840956
TI  - Partitioning of Aromatic Constituents into Water from Jet Fuels.
AB  - A comprehensive study of the most commonly used jet fuels (i.e., Jet A-1 and JP
      8) was performed to properly assess potential contamination of the subsurface
      environment from a leaking underground storage tank occurred in an airport. The
      objectives of this study were to evaluate the concentration ranges of the major
      components in the water-soluble fraction of jet fuels and to estimate the jet
      fuel-water partition coefficients (K fw) for target compounds using partitioning
      experiments and a polyparameter linear free-energy relationship (PP-LFER)
      approach. The average molecular weight of Jet A-1 and JP-8 was estimated to be
      161 and 147 g/mole, respectively. The density of Jet A-1 and JP-8 was measured to
      be 786 and 780 g/L, respectively. The distribution of nonpolar target compounds
      between the fuel and water phases was described using a two-phase liquid-liquid
      equilibrium model. Models were derived using Raoult's law convention for the
      activity coefficients and the liquid solubility. The observed inverse, log-log
      linear dependence of the K fw values on the aqueous solubility were well
      predicted by assuming jet fuel to be an ideal solvent mixture. The experimental
      partition coefficients were generally well reproduced by PP-LFER. 

PMID- 25840957
TI  - Reply To: Citation Distortions in the Literature on the Serotonin-Transporter
      Linked Polymorphic Region and Amygdala Activation.

PMID- 25840958
TI  - A comparison of the potential health risk of aluminum and heavy metals in tea
      leaves and tea infusion of commercially available green tea in Jiangxi, China.
AB  - Heavy metals and Al in tea products are of increasing concern. In this study,
      contents of Al, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Pb in commercially available green tea
      and its infusions were measured by ICP-MS and ICP-AES. Both target hazard
      quotient (THQ) and hazard index (HI) were employed to assess the potential health
      risk of studied metals in tea leaves and infusions to drinkers. Results showed
      that the average contents of Al, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Pb in tea leaves were
      487.57, 0.055, 0.29, 1.63, 17.04, 7.71, and 0.92 mg/kg, respectively. Except for
      Cu, metal contents were within their maximum limits (1, 5, 30, and 5 mg/kg for
      Cd, Cr, Cu, and Pb, respectively) of current standards for tea products.
      Concentrations of metals in tea infusions were all below their maximum limits
      (0.2, 0.005, 0.05, 1.0, 0.02, and 0.01 mg/L for Al, Cd, Cr(VI), Cu, Ni, and Pb,
      respectively) for drinking water, and decreased with the increase of infusion
      times. Pb, Cd, Cu, and Al mainly remained in tea leaves. The THQ from 2.33 * 10(
      5) to 1.47 * 10(-1) and HI from1.41 * 10(-2) to 3.45 * 10(-1) values in tea
      infusions were all less than 1, suggesting that consumption of tea infusions
      would not cause significant health risks for consumers. More attention should be
      paid to monitor Co content in green tea. Both THQ and HI values decreased with
      the increase of infusion times. Results of this study suggest that tea drinkers
      should discard the first tea infusion and drink the following infusions. 

PMID- 25840959
TI  - Lectin microarray technology identifies specific lectins related to lymph node
      metastasis of advanced gastric cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although various molecular profiling technologies have the potential
      to predict specific tumor phenotypes, the comprehensive profiling of lectin-bound
      glycans in human cancer tissues has not yet been achieved. METHODS: We examined
      242 advanced gastric cancer (AGC) patients without or with lymph node metastasis
      N0 (n = 62) or N+ (n = 180)-by lectin microarray, and identified the specific
      lectins highly associated with AGC phenotypes. RESULTS: In seven gastric cancer
      cell lines, in contrast to expressed-in-cancer lectins, not-expressed-in-cancer
      (NEC) lectins were tentatively designated by lectin microarray. Binding signals
      of the specific lectins were robustly reduced in AGC patients with N+ status as
      compared with those with N0 status. The receiver operating characteristic curve
      determined the optimal cutoff value to differentiate N0 status from N+ status,
      and subsequent profiling of NEC lectins identified Vicia villosa agglutinin (VVA)
      association with the significant other lectins involved in lymph node metastasis.
      VVA reaction was clearly found on cancer cells, suggesting that it may result
      from carcinoma-stroma interaction in primary AGC, because VVA is an NEC lectin.
      Most intriguingly, VVA reaction was remarkably attenuated in the tumor cells of
      the metastatic lymph nodes, even if it was recognized in primary AGC. In AGC,
      histological type was strongly associated with soybean agglutinin and Bauhinia
      purpurea lectin, whereas p53 mutation was the best correlated with Griffonia
      simplicifolia lectin II. CONCLUSIONS: Lectin microarrays can be used to very
      accurately quantify the reaction of glycans with tumor tissues, and such profiles
      may represent the specific phenotypes, including N+ status, histological type, or
      p53 mutation of AGC.

PMID- 25840960
TI  - Molecular cloning and immune responsive expression of LGP2 gene, a pivotal member
      of the RLR gene family from Muscovy duck Cairina moschata.
AB  - Laboratory of genetics and physiology 2 (LGP2) is an important intracellular
      receptor that recognizes viral RNAs in innate immunity. In this study, a novel
      LGP2 cDNA was identified from the spleen of a Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata).
      The deduced amino acid sequence of Muscovy duck LGP2 (MDLGP2) consisted of 675
      amino acid residues. The peptide contained two main structure domains: six
      important motifs, including a DExD/H box for RNA helicase activity in the RNA
      helicase region located at the N-terminal region, and two Zn2+-binding regions
      with an RNA-binding loop in the C-terminus regulatory domain (CTD). The MdLGP2
      mRNA was ubiquitously expressed in the tested tissues, with high expression
      levels in glandular stomach, colon, ileum, crop, and caecum tissues, and low
      expression levels in the brain, skin, and heart. The mRNA expression of MdLGP2
      was significantly upregulated in the brain, spleen, and lungs of ducks in the
      early stages of postinfection with H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus
      (HPAIV). These results suggested that MdLGP2 was involved in the early stages of
      antiviral innate immune response in ducks after infection with H5N1 HPAIV.
      However, whether it plays a positive or negative regulatory role in the host
      antiviral response requires further investigation.

PMID- 25840961
TI  - Temporal expression and DNA hypomethylation profile of CD30 in Marek's disease
      virus-infected chicken spleens.
AB  - Marek's disease (MD) is a viral neoplastic disease of chickens caused by Marek's
      disease virus (MDV), which is serious threat to worldwide poultry industry. Our
      previous studies showed that the CD30 gene was hypomethylated in MD lymphoma. In
      this study, we further analyzed differential expression patterns and methylation
      levels of the CD30 gene between MDV-infected and noninfected spleens at 4, 7, 14,
      21, and 28 d postinfection (dpi). The results showed that the expression of CD30
      in MDV-infected spleens was significantly lower than that in noninfected spleens
      at 4 dpi. The expression of CD30 did not present significant difference between
      MDV-infected and noninfected spleens at 7 and 14 dpi. However, an increased
      expression of CD30 was presented in MDV-infected spleens at both 21 and 28 dpi.
      Simultaneously, CD30 showed a lower DNA methylation level in MDV-infected spleens
      at 14, 21, and 28 dpi. The results indicated that CD30 gene was involved in the
      whole process of MD tumorigenesis and upregulated expression of CD30 in MDV
      infected spleens might be attributed to the hypomethylation of promoter of CD30
      gene. 

PMID- 25840962
TI  - Characterization of Clostridium perfringens isolates obtained from 2010 to 2012
      from chickens with necrotic enteritis in Korea.
AB  - Clostridium perfringens produces diverse virulent toxins that cause necrotic
      enteritis in poultry, resulting in a great negative impact on the poultry
      industry. To study the characteristics of C. perfringens in chickens, we isolated
      88 strains from chickens (1 strain per flock) with necrotic enteritis. The
      isolated bacterial strains were screened for toxin type and antimicrobial
      susceptibility. Necropsy of 17 chickens that died from necrotic enteritis
      revealed that their intestines were dilated with inflammatory exudates and
      characterized by mucosal necrosis. All the isolated strains were identified as
      toxin type A using multiplex PCR for toxin typing. We found that the rate of netB
      positive strains isolated from dead chickens was significantly higher (8 of 17)
      than the rate among healthy chickens (2 of 50). We performed antimicrobial
      susceptibility test with 20 selected antimicrobial agents using the disk
      diffusion test and found that 30 tested strains were completely resistant to 5
      antibiotics and partially resistant to 6 antibiotics whereas all the strains were
      susceptible to 9 antimicrobial agents. Using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis
      analysis, the 17 strains were divided into 13 genetic clusters showing high
      genetic diversity. In conclusion, C. perfringens strains isolated from Korean
      poultry showed a high resistance to antimicrobial drugs and high genetic
      diversity, suggesting that continuous monitoring is essential to prevent
      outbreaks of necrotic enteritis in chickens. 

PMID- 25840964
TI  - Class 1 and class 2 integrons in avian pathogenic Escherichia coli from poultry
      in Italy.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of class 1 and 2
      integrons in avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) from poultry in northern
      Italy. Strains were tested for phenotypic resistance to aminoglycosides and
      sulphonamides, and the association between the presence of integrons and the
      resistance to these antimicrobials was evaluated. A total of 299 isolates (158
      from turkeys, 110 from broilers, and 31 from layer hens) were collected from 200
      industrial farms. Antimicrobial susceptibility test by the disk diffusion method
      was performed in accordance with the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute
      (CLSI) guidelines. All strains were screened for the presence of class 1 and 2
      integrons by PCR and sequencing. About 55% of APEC contained integrons (class 1,
      49.8%; class 2, 10.4%). Different variants of the aadA (5 variants) and the dfrA
      (4 variants) genes, encoding for streptomycin and trimethoprim resistance
      respectively, were detected in integron-positive isolates. Less common gene
      cassettes, such as sat, estX, and orfF, were also identified. Fifteen and 4 gene
      cassette arrays were found among class 1 and 2 integrons, respectively. High
      levels of resistance were observed for triple sulphonamides (79.3%), streptomycin
      (67.2%), and sulfamethoxazole combined with trimethoprim (62.2%), whereas
      resistance against gentamycin (16.7%), kanamycin (14.7%), and apramycin 3.0%) was
      low. Integron positivity was significantly higher in isolates phenotypically
      resistant to aminoglycosides (63.6% vs. 37.8%, P<0.001) and sulfonamides (64.1%
      vs. 21.1%, P<0.001) than in susceptible ones. Integron-borne aminoglycoside and
      sulfonamide resistance in APEC represents a concern for the poultry industry in
      Italy, since they are among the most commonly used antimicrobials in poultry
      therapy.

PMID- 25840963
TI  - Prevalence and effects of mycotoxins on poultry health and performance, and
      recent development in mycotoxin counteracting strategies.
AB  - Extensive research over the last couple of decades has made it obvious that
      mycotoxins are commonly prevalent in majority of feed ingredients. A worldwide
      mycotoxin survey in 2013 revealed 81% of around 3,000 grain and feed samples
      analyzed had at least 1 mycotoxin, which was higher than the 10-year average
      (from 2004 to 2013) of 76% in a total of 25,944 samples. The considerable
      increase in the number of positive samples in 2013 may be due to the improvements
      in detection methods and their sensitivity. The recently developed liquid
      chromatography coupled to (tandem) mass spectrometry allows the inclusion of a
      high number of analytes and is the most selective, sensitive, and accurate of all
      the mycotoxin analytical methods. Mycotoxins can affect the animals either
      individually or additively in the presence of more than 1 mycotoxin, and may
      affect various organs such as gastrointestinal tract, liver, and immune system,
      essentially resulting in reduced productivity of the birds and mortality in
      extreme cases. While the use of mycotoxin binding agents has been a commonly used
      counteracting strategy, considering the great diversity in the chemical
      structures of mycotoxins, it is very obvious that there is no single method that
      can be used to deactivate mycotoxins in feed. Therefore, different strategies
      have to be combined in order to specifically target individual mycotoxins without
      impacting the quality of feed. Enzymatic or microbial detoxification, referred to
      as "biotransformation" or "biodetoxification," utilizes microorganisms or
      purified enzymes thereof to catabolize the entire mycotoxin or transform or
      cleave it to less or non-toxic compounds. However, the awareness on the
      prevalence of mycotoxins, available modern techniques to analyze them, the
      effects of mycotoxicoses, and the recent developments in the ways to safely
      eliminate the mycotoxins from the feed are very minimal among the producers. This
      symposium review paper comprehensively discusses the above mentioned aspects. 

PMID- 25840965
TI  - Inclusion levels of sweet potato root meal in the diet of broilers I. Effect on
      performance, organ weights, and carcass quality.
AB  - The amount of corn available for animal and poultry feed has been unpredictable
      in recent years due to the increased use of corn for ethanol production. As a
      consequence, there has been an increase in the price of feed, chicken, and
      chicken products. Researchers are exploring alternative feed sources to
      substitute for corn in poultry ration. This study evaluated the performance and
      carcass quality of broilers fed diets containing sweet potato root meal (SPRM).
      After a complete nutrient analysis of the SPRM, diets were formulated where 0,
      10, 20, and 30% of corn was substituted with SPRM. The study utilized 360 1-d-old
      Cornish X Rock male broiler chickens randomly assigned to one of 4 treatments;
      0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% SPRM. Body weights and feed intake (FI) were monitored
      weekly for 7 wk. Birds were slaughtered on d 50 and FI, BW gain, ADG, ADFI,
      abdominal fat, dressing percentage, and organ weights measured. White (breast)
      and dark (leg and thigh) meat were evaluated for nutrient content (protein,
      moisture, fat, and ash). Results showed birds fed 20% SPRM had lower (P<0.03)
      final BW, BW gain and ADG than those fed the 30% SPRM diet. There were no
      differences in FI and ADFI among treatments. Feed conversion ratio was lowest
      (P<0.02) in birds fed 10, 20, and 30% SPRM than the control. There were no
      differences in dressing percentage among treatments. Abdominal fat was highest
      (P<0.05) in birds fed 30% SPRM. Organ weights were similar across treatments
      except for gizzard which weighed highest (P<0.05) in the control. For white meat;
      moisture, protein, fat, and ash were similar across treatments. For dark meat,
      moisture (P<0.004) and fat (P<0.03) were highest in the control, while protein
      and ash were similar among treatments. Birds fed the SPRM diets compared well
      with those fed the control for both performance and nutrient content of meat.

PMID- 25840966
TI  - Nutritional effects of egg shell membrane supplements on chicken performance and
      immunity.
AB  - Eggshell membranes (ESM) contain a variety of proteins and peptides which help in
      the development of embryo and provide protection to it. Many of the peptides and
      proteins associated with ESM have antimicrobial, immune-modulatory, and adjuvant
      properties. We hypothesized that the membrane byproducts from egg, provided as
      posthatch nutritional supplements to chickens, may improve their performance and
      immunity. To explore its effect, we fed 3 groups of broiler chicks with feed
      containing 0, 0.2, and 0.4% ESM from d 1 posthatch through 14 d and regular feed
      thereafter. The birds were individually weighed at the onset of the study and at
      weekly intervals until the termination at third wk when they were bled and
      euthanized. The relative weights of liver, spleen, bursa, and heart, hematology
      profiles, and clinical chemistry variables including serum IgM, IgG, and
      corticosterone concentrations were measured. The chickens in the ESM treated
      groups showed a statistically significant increase in BW with no impact on
      relative organ weights. Compared with controls, the WBC and lymphocyte percentage
      increased in chickens fed 0.4% ESM whereas the monocyte percentage decreased at
      both levels of ESM. Except for the serum protein which increased in ESM fed birds
      no other metabolic clinical chemistry variables showed any significant change.
      Both IgM and IgG(Y) levels were elevated and corticosterone levels reduced in
      chickens fed ESM supplemented diets. Our results suggest that ESM supplements
      during the early phases of growth may improve immunity and stress variables, and
      enhance their growth performance without any detrimental effect on other
      physiological parameters. 

PMID- 25840967
TI  - Bacterial enteritis in ostrich (Struthio Camelus) chicks in the Western Cape
      Province, South Africa.
AB  - Ostrich (Struthio camelus) chicks less than 3 mo age are observed to experience a
      high mortality rate that is often associated with enteritis. This study was
      undertaken to investigate the infectious bacteria implicated in ostrich chick
      enteritis. Postmortems were performed on 122 ostrich chicks aged from 1 d to 3 mo
      and intestinal samples were subjected to bacterial culture. Bacterial isolates
      were typed by PCR and serotyping. Escherichia coli (E. coli; 49%) was the most
      frequently isolated from the samples followed by Clostridium perfringens (C.
      perfringens; 20%), Enterococcus spp. (16%), and Salmonella spp. (7%). Of the E.
      coli, 39% were categorized as enteropathogenic E. coli, 4% enterotoxigenic E.
      coli, and no enterohaemorrhagic E. coli were found. The majority (93%) of C.
      perfringens was Type A and only 7% was Type E. C. perfringens Types B through D
      were not present. The netB gene that encodes NetB toxin was identified from 16%
      of the C. perfringens isolated. All the C. perfringens Type E harbored the netB
      gene and just 10% of the C. perfringens Type A had this gene. Three Salmonella
      serotypes were identified: Salmonella Muenchen (S. Muenchen; 80%), S. Hayindongo
      (13%), and S. Othmarschen (7%). The indication is that the cause of enteritis in
      ostrich chicks is bacterial-involving: enteropathogenic E. coli and
      enterotoxigenic E. coli; C. perfringens Types A and E (with the possible
      influence of netB gene); and S. Muenchen, S. Hayindongo, and S. Othmarschen. 

PMID- 25840968
TI  - Sialyltransferases with enhanced legionaminic acid transferase activity for the
      preparation of analogs of sialoglycoconjugates.
AB  - Legionaminic acids (Leg) are bacterial analogs of neuraminic acid, with the same
      stereochemistry but different substituents at C5, C7 and C9. Hence they may be
      incorporated into useful analogs of sialoglycoconjugates, and we previously
      reported two sialyltransferases that could utilize cytidine monophosphate (CMP)
      Leg5Ac7Ac for preparation of Leg glycoconjugates, which were resistant to
      sialidases [Watson DC, Leclerc S, Wakarchuk WW, Young NM. 2011. Enzymatic
      synthesis and properties of glycoconjugates with legionaminic acid as a
      replacement for neuraminic acid. Glycobiology. 21:99-108.]. These were the
      porcine ST3Gal1 and Pasteurella multocida sialyltransferases. We now report two
      additional sialyltransferases with superior Leg-transferase properties to the
      previous two. These are (i) a truncated form of a Photobacterium alpha2,6
      sialyltransferase with an Ala-Met mutation in its active site, and (ii) an
      alpha2,3-sialyltransferase from Neisseria meningitidis MC58 with a higher
      transferase activity than the P. multocida enzyme, with either CMP-Neu5Ac or CMP
      Leg5Ac7Ac as the donor. These enzymes will enable the production of useful
      Leg5Ac7Ac glycoconjugate derivatives with either alpha2,6 or alpha2,3 linkages
      and unique biological properties. 

PMID- 25840969
TI  - A Novel Anti-CD22 Anthracycline-Based Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) That
      Overcomes Resistance to Auristatin-Based ADCs.
AB  - PURPOSE: We are interested in identifying mechanisms of resistance to the current
      generation of antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) and developing ADCs that can
      overcome this resistance. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Pinatuzumab vedotin (anti-CD22-vc
      MMAE) and polatuzumab vedotin (anti-CD79b-vc-MMAE) are ADCs that contain the
      microtubule inhibitor monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) attached to the antibody by
      the protease-cleavable linker maleimidocaproyl-valine-citrulline-p
      aminobenzoyloxycarbonyl (MC-vc-PAB). Early clinical trial data suggest that these
      ADCs have promising efficacy for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL);
      however, some patients do not respond or become resistant to the ADCs.
      Anthracyclines are very effective in NHL, but ADCs containing the anthracycline
      doxorubicin were not clinically efficacious probably due to the low drug potency
      and inadequate linker technology. The anthracycline analogue PNU-159682 is
      thousands of times more cytotoxic than doxorubicin, so we used it to develop a
      new class of ADCs. We used the same MC-vc-PAB linker and antibody in pinatuzumab
      vedotin but replaced the MMAE with a derivative of PNU-159682 to make anti-CD22
      NMS249 and tested it for in vivo efficacy in xenograft tumors resistant to MMAE
      based ADCs. RESULTS: We derived cell lines from in vivo xenograft tumors that
      were made resistant to anti-CD22-vc-MMAE and anti-CD79b-vc-MMAE. We identified P
      gp (ABCB1/MDR1) as the major driver of resistance to the vc-MMAE-based
      conjugates. Anti-CD22-NMS249 was at least as effective as anti-CD22-vc-MMAE in
      xenograft models of the parental cell lines and maintained its efficacy in the
      resistant cell lines. CONCLUSIONS: These studies provide proof of concept for an
      anthracycline-based ADC that could be used to treat B-cell malignancies that are
      resistant to vc-MMAE conjugates.

PMID- 25840970
TI  - Global Transcriptional Changes Following Statin Treatment in Breast Cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Statins purportedly exert antitumoral effects, but the underlying
      mechanisms are currently not fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to
      explore potential statin-induced effects on global gene expression profiles in
      primary breast cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: This window-of-opportunity phase II
      trial enrolled 50 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients prescribed atorvastatin
      (80 mg/day) for 2 weeks presurgically. Pre- and posttreatment tumor samples were
      analyzed using Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM) to identify
      differentially expressed genes. Similarly, SAM and gene ontology analyses were
      applied to gene expression data derived from atorvastatin-treated breast cancer
      cell lines (MCF7, BT474, SKBR3, and MDAMB231) comparing treated and untreated
      cells. The Systematic Motif Analysis Retrieval Tool (SMART) was used to identify
      enriched transcription factor-binding sites. Literature Vector Analysis (LitVAn)
      identified gene module functionality, and pathway analysis was performed using
      GeneGo Pathways Software (MetaCore; https://portal.genego.com/). RESULTS:
      Comparative analysis of gene expression profiles in paired clinical samples
      revealed 407 significantly differentially expressed genes (FDR = 0); 32
      upregulated and 375 downregulated genes. Restricted filtration (fold change
      >=1.49) resulted in 21 upregulated and 46 downregulated genes. Significantly
      upregulated genes included DUSP1, RHOB1, GADD45B, and RGS1. Pooled results from
      gene ontology, LitVAn and SMART analyses identified statin-induced effects on the
      apoptotic and MAPK pathways among others. Comparative analyses of gene expression
      profiles in breast cancer cell lines showed significant upregulation of the
      mevalonate and proapoptotic pathways following atorvastatin treatment.
      CONCLUSIONS: We report potential statin-induced changes in global tumor gene
      expression profiles, indicating MAPK pathway inhibition and proapoptotic events.

PMID- 25840971
TI  - Biological Activities of RUNX1 Mutants Predict Secondary Acute Leukemia
      Transformation from Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia and Myelodysplastic
      Syndromes.
AB  - PURPOSE: Transcription factor RUNX1 is essential for normal hematopoiesis. High
      mutation frequencies of RUNX1 gene in chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) and
      myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) have been described, whereas the biologic
      significances of the mutations were not investigated. Here, we aimed to correlate
      the biologic activities of the RUNX1 mutants with the clinical outcomes of
      patients. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We examined the mutational status of RUNX1 in 143
      MDS and 84 CMML patients. Then, we studied the DNA and CBFbeta binding abilities
      of all the RUNX1 mutants identified by using electrophoretic mobility shift assay
      and co-immunoprecipitation assay, and also determined their activities on target
      C-FMS gene induction by Western blotting and luciferase reporter assay. Using
      luciferase reporter assay, the relative biologic activities of each RUNX1 mutant
      could be quantified and correlated with the patient outcomes by statistical
      analyses. RESULTS: We observed that most RUNX1 mutants had reduced abilities in
      DNA binding, CBFbeta heterodimerization, and C-FMS gene induction. The relative
      biologic activities of RUNX1 mutants were grouped into high- and low-activity
      mutations. Correlation of the activities of RUNX1 mutants with the clinical
      outcomes revealed that patients harboring lower activities of RUNX1 mutants had a
      higher risk and shorter time to secondary acute myeloid leukemia transformation
      in MDS and CMML. In multivariate analysis, low RUNX1 activity remained an
      independent predictor for secondary acute myeloid leukemia-free survival in MDS
      patients. CONCLUSIONS: The biologic activity rather than the mutational status of
      RUNX1 might be an indicator in predicting outcome of patients with MDS and CMML.

PMID- 25840972
TI  - Phase I Trial of the Pan-PI3K Inhibitor Pilaralisib (SAR245408/XL147) in Patients
      with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) or Relapsed/Refractory Lymphoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: This phase I expansion-cohort study evaluated the safety,
      pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and preliminary efficacy of the pan-PI3K
      inhibitor pilaralisib (SAR245408/XL147) in patients with chronic lymphocytic
      leukemia (CLL) or relapsed or refractory lymphoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients
      were treated with the maximum tolerated dose of pilaralisib previously determined
      in patients with solid tumors (600 mg capsules once daily). Adverse events (AE)
      and response were evaluated. Plasma pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic effects
      on cytokines and chemokines were also assessed. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients
      were included in the study: 10 with CLL and 15 with lymphoma. The most frequent
      AEs of any grade were diarrhea (92.0%), pyrexia (52.0%), and fatigue (44.0%). The
      most frequent grade >=3 AEs were neutropenia (32.0%), diarrhea (20.0%), and
      anemia (16.0%). Pilaralisib exposure on cycle 1 day 28 was similar to exposure in
      patients with solid tumors. In patients with CLL, pilaralisib significantly
      reduced plasma levels of several cytokines and chemokines involved in B-cell
      trafficking. Five patients (50.0%) with CLL and 3 patients (20.0%) with lymphoma
      had a partial response. Six patients (60.0%) with CLL had nodal shrinkage >=50%.
      Overall, 14 patients (56.0%; 7 patients with CLL and 7 patients with lymphoma)
      had progression-free survival >=6 months. CONCLUSIONS: Pilaralisib demonstrated
      an acceptable safety profile in patients with CLL and lymphoma, generally
      consistent with findings in patients with solid tumors. Single-agent pilaralisib
      showed preliminary clinical activity in patients with CLL and lymphoma,
      supporting further development.

PMID- 25840973
TI  - Claudin-4 SPECT Imaging Allows Detection of Aplastic Lesions in a Mouse Model of
      Breast Cancer.
AB  - The expression of claudin-4, a protein involved in tight junction complexes, is
      widely dysregulated in epithelial malignancies. Claudin-4 is overexpressed in
      several premalignant precursor lesions, including those of cancers of the breast,
      pancreas, and prostate, and is associated with poor survival. A noncytotoxic C
      terminal fragment of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (cCPE) is a natural
      ligand for claudin-4. Here, we demonstrate whole-body quantitative SPECT imaging
      of preneoplastic breast cancer tissue using (111)In-labeled cCPE. METHODS:
      cCPE.GST or GST (GST is glutathione S-transferase) was conjugated to the metal
      ion chelator benzyl-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid to allow (111)In
      radiolabeling. The affinity of radiolabeled cCPE.GST for claudin-4 was confirmed
      using claudin-4-expressing MDA-MB-468 and SQ20b cells, compared with claudin-4
      negative HT1080 cells. In vivo SPECT imaging was performed using athymic mice
      bearing MDA-MB-468 or HT1080 xenografts and using genetically modified BALB/neuT
      mice, which spontaneously develop claudin-4-expressing breast cancer lesions.
      RESULTS: The uptake of (111)In-cCPE.GST in claudin-4-positive MDA-MB-468
      xenograft tumors in athymic mice was significantly higher than in (111)In-GST or
      claudin-4-negative HT1080 tumors (6.72 +/- 0.18 vs. 3.88 +/- 1.00 vs. 2.36 +/-
      1.25 percentage injected dose per gram [%ID/g]; P < 0.0001). No other significant
      differences were observed in any of the examined organs. BALB/neuT mice,
      expressing rat neuT under mmtv promotor control, spontaneously developed tumorous
      lesions within their mammary fat pads over the course of 130 d. Overt mammary
      tumors were claudin-4-positive, and (111)In-cCPE.GST uptake was 3.2 +/- 0.70
      %ID/g, significantly higher than (111)In-GST (1.00 +/- 0.60 %ID/g; P < 0.05).
      Mammary fat pads in mice aged 80 d bore claudin-4-positive aplastic lesions and
      accumulated (111)In-cCPE.GST (3.17 +/- 0.51 %ID/g) but not (111)In-GST (0.99 +/-
      0.39 %ID/g; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Taken together, (111)In-cCPE.GST targets
      claudin-4 expression in frank tumors and preneoplastic tissue, and cCPE imaging
      may be used as an early detection tool for breast, prostate, and pancreatic
      cancer.

PMID- 25840975
TI  - 99mTc-NTP 15-5 Imaging for Cartilage Involvement in Experimental Rheumatoid
      Arthritis: Comparison with Routinely Used Molecular Imaging Methods and
      Sensitivity to Chronic Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Drug Treatment.
AB  - This study determined, using the intraarticular complete Freund adjuvant
      arthritis mice model, whether the radiotracer (99m)Tc-N-(triethylammonium)-3
      propyl-[15]ane-N5 ((99m)Tc-NTP 15-5) targeting proteoglycans has a
      pathophysiologic validity for in vivo imaging of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and
      its response to chronic nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. METHODS: We
      investigated the time course of cartilage remodeling by (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5
      scintigraphy, bone damages by (99m)Tc-hydroxymethylene diphosphonate imaging,
      inflammation by (18)F-FDG PET, and joint proteoglycan content and pain behavior
      in animals, without and with meloxicam treatment. Paw circumference, thermal pain
      behavior, and histology as well as proteoglycan content of the whole joint were
      determined. RESULTS: (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 showed specific tracer accumulation within
      RA joints, with a significant increase in scintigraphic ratio observed in RA
      versus shams from day 3 to day 28. (18)F-FDG evidenced uptake in RA joints from
      day 15 to day 29. Animals treated with meloxicam (5 mg/kg) exhibited a dose
      dependent decrease in both (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 and (18)F-FDG uptake ratios versus
      saline-treated animals. (99m)Tc-hydroxymethylene diphosphonate bone scans were
      only positive at day 14 in RA versus shams, with a significant effect of
      meloxicam. An increase in proteoglycans of RA joint and thermal pain behavior
      were observed and were dose-dependently reduced by meloxicam. CONCLUSION: These
      experimental results bring data in favor of the (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 radiotracer for
      assessing, in vivo, cartilage remodeling in RA that could be used to monitor
      therapy.

PMID- 25840974
TI  - Cerenkov Luminescence Imaging for Radiation Dose Calculation of a 90Y-Labeled
      Gastrin-Releasing Peptide Receptor Antagonist.
AB  - (90)Y has been used to label various new therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals.
      However, measuring the radiation dose delivered by (90)Y is challenging because
      of the absence of suitable gamma emissions and its low abundance of positron
      emissions. For the treatment of prostate cancer, radiolabeled gastrin-releasing
      peptide receptor (GRPr) antagonists have yielded promising results in mouse
      models. In this study, we evaluated whether Cerenkov luminescence imaging (CLI)
      could be used to determine radiation doses of a (90)Y-labeled GRPr antagonist in
      nude mice. METHODS: Mice bearing subcutaneous prostate cancer xenografts were
      injected with 0.74-18.5 MBq of the (90)Y-labeled GRPr antagonist DOTA-AR and
      underwent in vivo and ex vivo CLI at 1-48 h after injection. After imaging,
      animals were sacrificed, their tumors and organs were harvested, and the activity
      concentration was measured by liquid scintillation counting. In a second set of
      experiments, Cerenkov photon counts for tumor and kidney on in vivo CLI were
      converted to activity concentrations using conversion factors determined from the
      first set of experiments. RESULTS: (90)Y-DOTA-AR concentration in the 3 tumor
      models ranged from 0.5% to 4.8% of the injected activity per gram at 1 h after
      injection and decreased to 0.05%-0.15 injected activity per gram by 48 h after
      injection. A positive correlation was found between tumor activity concentrations
      and in vivo CLI signal (r(2) = 0.94). A similar correlation was found for the
      renal activity concentration and in vivo Cerenkov luminescence (r(2) = 0.98).
      Other organs were not distinctly visualized on the in vivo images, but ex vivo
      CLI was also correlated with the radioactivity concentration (r(2) = 0.35-0.94).
      Using the time-activity curves from the second experiment, we calculated
      radiation doses to tumor and kidney of 0.33 +/- 0.12 (range, 0.21-0.66) and 0.06
      +/- 0.01 (range, 0.05-0.08) Gy/MBq, respectively. CONCLUSION: CLI is a promising,
      low-cost modality to measure individual radiation doses of (90)Y-labeled
      compounds noninvasively. The use of Cerenkov imaging is expected to facilitate
      the development and comparison of (90)Y-labeled compounds for targeted
      radiotherapy.

PMID- 25840976
TI  - Flow-Dependent Uptake of 123I-CMICE-013, a Novel SPECT Perfusion Agent, Compared
      with Standard Tracers.
AB  - Rotenone derivatives have shown promise in myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI).
      CMICE-013 is a novel (123)I-labeled rotenone derivative developed for SPECT MPI.
      The objective of this study was to assess the image quality of CMICE-013 and
      compare its uptake with tetrofosmin, sestamibi, and (201)Tl in vivo in a porcine
      model of stress-induced myocardial ischemia. METHODS: Microspheres were injected
      simultaneously with the radiotracer injections at rest and stress to measure
      blood flow. Mimicking a 1-d tetrofosmin protocol, stress imaging used 3 times as
      much activity and occurred 1 h after the rest injection. SPECT images were
      obtained at both rest and stress. After imaging, the heart was sectioned into 44
      50 pieces. In each heart sample, the tracer uptake was measured in a gamma
      counter. The images were aligned, and the decay-corrected ratio of the signals at
      rest and stress was used to separate the well-counter signal into rest and stress
      components. The uptake at rest and stress was compared with microsphere flow
      measurements. RESULTS: The CMICE-013 images showed good contrast between the
      heart and surrounding organs, with heart-to-liver and heart-to-lung uptake ratios
      similar to those of the standard tracers. Uptake of CMICE-013 was 1.5% of the
      injected dose at rest and increased more rapidly with increased blood flow than
      did the standard SPECT tracers. The percentage injected dose of CMICE-013 taken
      up by the heart was greater (P < 0.05) than (201)Tl, tetrofosmin, or sestamibi at
      flows greater than 1.5 mL/min/g. CONCLUSION: CMICE-013 is a promising new SPECT
      MPI agent.

PMID- 25840978
TI  - Semiquantitative Analysis of the Biodistribution of the Combined 18F-NaF and 18F
      FDG Administration for PET/CT Imaging.
AB  - In this study, we evaluated the biodistribution of the (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG
      administration, compared with separate (18)F-NaF and (18)F-FDG administrations.
      We also estimated the interaction of (18)F-NaF and (18)F-FDG in the (18)F(
      )/(18)F-FDG administration by semiquantitative analysis. METHODS: We
      retrospectively analyzed the data of 49 patients (39 men, 10 women; mean age +/-
      SD, 59.3 +/- 15.2 y) who underwent separate (18)F-FDG PET/CT and (18)F-NaF PET/CT
      scans as well as (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG PET/CT sequentially. The most common primary
      diagnosis was prostate cancer (n = 28), followed by sarcoma (n = 9) and breast
      cancer (n = 6). The mean standardized uptake values (SUVs) were recorded for 18
      organs in all patients, and maximum SUV and mean SUV were recorded for all the
      identified malignant lesions. We also estimated the (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG uptake as
      the sum of (18)F-FDG uptake and adjusted (18)F-NaF uptake based on the ratio of
      (18)F-NaF injected dose in (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG PET/CT. Lastly, we compared the
      results to explore the interaction of (18)F-FDG and (18)F-NaF uptake in the
      (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG scan. RESULTS: The (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG uptake in the cerebral
      cortex, cerebellum, parotid grand, myocardium, and bowel mostly reflected the
      (18)F-FDG uptake, whereas the uptake in the other analyzed structures was
      influenced by both the (18)F-FDG and the (18)F-NaF uptake. The (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG
      uptake in extraskeletal lesions showed no significant difference when compared
      with the uptake from the separate (18)F-FDG scan. The (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG uptake
      in skeletal lesions reflected mostly the (18)F-NaF uptake. The tumor-to
      background ratio of (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG in extraskeletal lesions showed no
      significant difference when compared with that from (18)F-FDG alone (P = 0.73).
      For skeletal lesions, the tumor-to-background ratio of (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG was
      lower than that from (18)F-NaF alone (P < 0.001); however, this difference did
      not result in missed skeletal lesions on the (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG scan. CONCLUSION:
      The understanding of the biodistribution of radiopharmaceuticals and the lesion
      uptake of the (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG scan as well as the variations compared with the
      uptake on the separate (18)F-FDG PET/CT and (18)F-NaF PET/CT are valuable for
      more in-depth evaluation of the combined scanning technique.

PMID- 25840979
TI  - Methods of CT Dose Estimation in Whole-Body 18F-FDG PET/CT.
AB  - We evaluated the effective dose (ED) of the CT component of whole-body PET/CT
      using software dedicated to CT dose estimation and from dose-length product (DLP)
      values to establish practical methods of ED estimation. METHODS: Eighty adult
      patients who underwent (18)F-FDG whole-body PET/CT were divided into groups A and
      B, each consisting of 20 men and 20 women. In group A, ED of the CT component was
      calculated using CT-Expo for 6 anatomic regions separately, and whole-body ED was
      obtained by summing the regional EDs (CT-Expo method). DLP was calculated for
      each of the 6 regions and multiplied by a corresponding conversion factor
      described in International Commission on Radiological Protection publication 102
      to obtain the ED for each region (regional DLP method). Whole-body ED was also
      calculated as the product of a whole-body DLP value provided by the scanner
      automatically and a conversion factor (simple DLP method). Moreover, the ED/DLP
      values were calculated using whole-body ED estimated by the CT-Expo method and
      the scanner-derived DLP, to optimize the conversion factor. In group B, the
      optimized conversion factor was applied for the estimation of ED by the simple
      DLP method. RESULTS: In group A, the regional DLP method allowed an accurate
      estimation of mean whole-body ED as a result of counterbalance of mild
      overestimation in men and mild underestimation in women, regarding the CT-Expo
      method as a standard. The simple DLP method using a conversion factor for the
      trunk (0.015 mSv/mGy/cm) caused overestimation. On the basis of the ED/DLP values
      in group A, a modified conversion factor of 0.013 mSv/mGy/cm and sex-specific
      conversion factors of 0.012 and 0.014 mSv/mGy/cm for men and women, respectively,
      were determined. In group B, the use of the modified conversion factor improved
      accuracy, and the use of sex-specific conversion factors eliminated sex-dependent
      residual errors. CONCLUSION: ED of the CT component of whole-body PET/CT can be
      assessed by multiplying the scanner-derived DLP by a conversion factor optimized
      for whole-body PET/CT.

PMID- 25840980
TI  - Can Studies of Neuroinflammation in a TSPO Genetic Subgroup (HAB or MAB) Be
      Applied to the Entire AD Cohort?
AB  - Neuroinflammation plays a significant role in Alzheimer disease (AD), and
      translocator protein (TSPO) PET imaging allows us to quantify this process.
      However, the binding of second-generation TSPO tracers depends on the TSPO
      genotype coded by the rs6971 single-nucleotide polymorphism, with a 40%-50%
      increase in BP in high-affinity binders (HABs) compared with mixed-affinity
      binders (MABs), whereas low-affinity binders (LABs) are unsuitable for
      evaluation. Hence, several studies are using either HAB alone or HAB and MAB
      subjects. To translate the findings of neuroinflammation studies to the entire
      population, it is crucial to establish the influence of TSPO genotypes on AD.
      Here, we investigated whether different TSPO genotypes influence cognitive
      function, amyloid load, and disease progression over time. METHODS: We evaluated
      798 subjects (225 control, 388 with mild cognitive impairment [MCI], and 185 with
      AD) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database at baseline and
      during follow-up. All subjects were screened for TSPO genotype and underwent
      detailed clinical and neuropsychologic assessments yearly for 4 y. Of the 798
      subjects, 255 also had T1- and T2-weighted MR imaging and amyloid PET with (11)C
      Pittsburgh compound B or (18)F-florbetapir. RESULTS: We demonstrated that all
      TSPO binding groups (HAB, MAB, and LAB) have same level of amyloid load in AD and
      MCI subjects. We also demonstrated that the prevalence is 50.3% for HAB, 41.2%
      for MAB, and 8.5% for LAB, without a statistical difference among the AD, MCI,
      and control groups. During longitudinal follow-up, the mean change in
      neuropsychometric test scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination, the cognitive
      and modified Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scales (ADASs), and the Geriatric
      Depression Scale over time were similar in AD and MCI subjects among the 3 TSPO
      binding groups. Analysis of the covariates showed that diagnostic group (control,
      MCI, AD), apolipoprotein E4 status, and sex had a significant effect on decline
      on the modified Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale (>3 points of the scale), but
      age and TSPO genotype did not. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that information
      obtained from evaluating a subgroup of AD or MCI subject using second-generation
      TSPO tracers can be translated to the entire AD and MCI population. Thus, we can
      study fewer AD subjects in evaluating new antineuroinflammatory and
      antimicroglial agents in intervention studies and in observational studies
      evaluating the role of neuroinflammation.

PMID- 25840981
TI  - PET of c-Met in Cancer with 64Cu-Labeled Hepatocyte Growth Factor.
AB  - The hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor, c-Met, are actively involved
      in tumor progression and metastasis and are closely associated with a poor
      prognostic outcome for cancer patients. Thus, the development of PET agents that
      can assess c-Met expression would be extremely useful for diagnosing cancer and
      subsequently monitoring response to c-Met-targeted therapies. Here, we report the
      characterization of recombinant human HGF (rh-HGF) as a PET tracer for detection
      of c-Met expression in vivo. METHODS: rh-HGF was expressed in human embryonic
      kidney 293 cells and purified by nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid affinity
      chromatography. The concentrated rh-HGF was conjugated to 2-S-(4
      isothiocyanatobenzyl)-1,4,7-triazacyclononane-1,4,7-triacetic acid and labeled
      with (64)Cu. c-Met binding evaluation by flow cytometry was performed on both
      U87MG and MDA-MB-231 cell lines, which have a high level and a low level,
      respectively, of c-Met. PET imaging and biodistribution studies were performed on
      nude mice bearing U87MG and MDA-MB-231 xenografted tumors. RESULTS: The rh-HGF
      expression yield was 150-200 MUg of protein per 5 * 10(6) cells after a 48-h
      transfection, with purity of approximately 85%-90%. Flow cytometry examination
      confirmed that rh-HGF had a strong and specific capacity to bind to c-Met. After
      (64)Cu labeling, PET imaging revealed specific and prominent uptake of (64)Cu
      NOTA-rh-HGF in c-Met-positive U87MG tumors (percentage injected dose per gram,
      6.8 +/- 1.8 at 9 h after injection) and significantly lower uptake in c-Met
      negative MDA-MB-231 tumors (percentage injected dose per gram, 1.8 +/- 0.6 at 9 h
      after injection). The fact that sonication-denatured rh-HGF had significantly
      lower uptake in U87MG tumors, along with histology analysis, confirmed the c-Met
      specificity of (64)Cu-NOTA-rh-HGF. CONCLUSION: This study provided initial
      evidence that (64)Cu-NOTA-rh-HGF visualizes c-Met expression in vivo, an
      application that may prove useful for c-Met-targeted cancer therapy.

PMID- 25840982
TI  - Rho kinase inhibitors block melanoma cell migration and inhibit metastasis.
AB  - There is an urgent need to identify new therapeutic opportunities for metastatic
      melanoma. Fragment-based screening has led to the discovery of orally available,
      ATP-competitive AKT kinase inhibitors, AT13148 and CCT129254. These compounds
      also inhibit the Rho-kinases ROCK 1 and ROCK 2 and we show they potently inhibit
      ROCK activity in melanoma cells in culture and in vivo. Treatment of melanoma
      cells with CCT129254 or AT13148 dramatically reduces cell invasion, impairing
      both "amoeboid-like" and mesenchymal-like modes of invasion in culture.
      Intravital imaging shows that CCT129254 or AT13148 treatment reduces the motility
      of melanoma cells in vivo. CCT129254 inhibits melanoma metastasis when
      administered 2 days after orthotopic intradermal injection of the cells, or when
      treatment starts after metastases have arisen. Mechanistically, our data suggest
      that inhibition of ROCK reduces the ability of melanoma cells to efficiently
      colonize the lungs. These results suggest that these novel inhibitors of ROCK may
      be beneficial in the treatment of metastasis.

PMID- 25840983
TI  - Effective Eradication of Glioblastoma Stem Cells by Local Application of an
      AC133/CD133-Specific T-cell-Engaging Antibody and CD8 T Cells.
AB  - Cancer stem cells (CSC) drive tumorigenesis and contribute to genotoxic therapy
      resistance, diffuse infiltrative invasion, and immunosuppression, which are key
      factors for the incurability of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). The AC133 epitope
      of CD133 is an important CSC marker for GBM and other tumor entities. Here, we
      report the development and preclinical evaluation of a recombinant AC133*CD3
      bispecific antibody (bsAb) that redirects human polyclonal T cells to AC133(+)
      GBM stem cells (GBM-SC), inducing their strong targeted lysis. This novel bsAb
      prevented the outgrowth of AC133-positive subcutaneous GBM xenografts. Moreover,
      upon intracerebral infusion along with the local application of human CD8(+) T
      cells, it exhibited potent activity in prophylactic and treatment models of
      orthotopic GBM-SC-derived invasive brain tumors. In contrast, normal
      hematopoietic stem cells, some of which are AC133-positive, were virtually
      unaffected at bsAb concentrations effective against GBM-SCs and retained their
      colony-forming abilities. In conclusion, our data demonstrate the high activity
      of this new bsAb against patient-derived AC133-positive GBM-SCs in models of
      local therapy of highly invasive GBM.

PMID- 25840984
TI  - Leptin-STAT3-G9a Signaling Promotes Obesity-Mediated Breast Cancer Progression.
AB  - Obesity has been linked to breast cancer progression but the underlying
      mechanisms remain obscure. Here we report how leptin, an obesity-associated
      adipokine, regulates a transcriptional pathway to silence a genetic program of
      epithelial homeostasis in breast cancer stem-like cells (CSC) that promotes
      malignant progression. Using genome-wide ChIP-seq and RNA expression profiling,
      we defined a role for activated STAT3 and G9a histone methyltransferase in
      epigenetic silencing of miR-200c, which promotes the formation of breast CSCs
      defined by elevated cell surface levels of the leptin receptor (OBR(hi)).
      Inhibiting the STAT3/G9a pathway restored expression of miR-200c, which in turn
      reversed the CSC phenotype to a more differentiated epithelial phenotype. In a
      rat model of breast cancer driven by diet-induced obesity, STAT3 blockade
      suppressed the CSC-like OBR(hi) population and abrogated tumor progression.
      Together, our results show how targeting STAT3-G9a signaling regulates CSC
      plasticity during obesity-related breast cancer progression, suggesting a novel
      therapeutic paradigm to suppress CSC pools and limit breast malignancy.

PMID- 25840985
TI  - Ormeloxifene suppresses desmoplasia and enhances sensitivity of gemcitabine in
      pancreatic cancer.
AB  - The management of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is extremely poor due
      to lack of an efficient therapy and development of chemoresistance to the current
      standard therapy, gemcitabine. Recent studies implicate the intimate reciprocal
      interactions between epithelia and underlying stroma due to paracrine Sonic
      hedgehog (SHH) signaling in producing desmoplasia and chemoresistance in PDAC.
      Herein, we report for the first time that a nonsteroidal drug, ormeloxifene, has
      potent anticancer properties and depletes tumor-associated stromal tissue by
      inhibiting the SHH signaling pathway in PDAC. We found that ormeloxifene
      inhibited cell proliferation and induced death in PDAC cells, which provoked us
      to investigate the combinatorial effects of ormeloxifene with gemcitabine at the
      molecular level. Ormeloxifene caused potent inhibition of the SHH signaling
      pathway via downregulation of SHH and its related important downstream targets
      such as Gli-1, SMO, PTCH1/2, NF-kappaB, p-AKT, and cyclin D1. Ormeloxifene
      potentiated the antitumorigenic effect of gemcitabine by 75% in PDAC xenograft
      mice. Furthermore, ormeloxifene depleted tumor-associated stroma in xenograft
      tumor tissues by inhibiting the SHH cellular signaling pathway and mouse/human
      collagen I expression. Xenograft tumors treated with ormeloxifene in combination
      with gemcitabine restored the tumor-suppressor miR-132 and inhibited stromal cell
      infiltration into the tumor tissues. In addition, invasiveness of tumor cells
      cocultivated with TGFbeta-stimulated human pancreatic stromal cells was
      effectively inhibited by ormeloxifene treatment alone or in combination with
      gemcitabine. We propose that ormeloxifene has high therapeutic index and in a
      combination therapy with gemcitabine, it possesses great promise as a treatment
      of choice for PDAC/pancreatic cancer.

PMID- 25840986
TI  - Using SRM-MS to quantify nuclear protein abundance differences between adipose
      tissue depots of insulin-resistant mice.
AB  - Insulin resistance (IR) underlies metabolic disease. Visceral, but not
      subcutaneous, white adipose tissue (WAT) has been linked to the development of
      IR, potentially due to differences in regulatory protein abundance. Here we
      investigate how protein levels are changed in IR in different WAT depots by
      developing a targeted proteomics approach to quantitatively compare the abundance
      of 42 nuclear proteins in subcutaneous and visceral WAT from a commonly used
      insulin-resistant mouse model, Lepr(db/db), and from C57BL/6J control mice. The
      most differentially expressed proteins were important in adipogenesis, as
      confirmed by siRNA-mediated depletion experiments, suggesting a defect in
      adipogenesis in visceral, but not subcutaneous, insulin-resistant WAT.
      Furthermore, differentiation of visceral, but not subcutaneous, insulin-resistant
      stromal vascular cells (SVCs) was impaired. In an in vitro approach to understand
      the cause of this impaired differentiation, we compared insulin-resistant
      visceral SVCs to preadipocyte cell culture models made insulin resistant by
      different stimuli. The insulin-resistant visceral SVC protein abundance profile
      correlated most with preadipocyte cell culture cells treated with both palmitate
      and TNFalpha. Together, our study introduces a method to simultaneously measure
      and quantitatively compare nuclear protein expression patterns in primary adipose
      tissue and adipocyte cell cultures, which we show can reveal relationships
      between differentiation and disease states of different adipocyte tissue types. 

PMID- 25840987
TI  - Gender differences in responses to moral dilemmas: a process dissociation
      analysis.
AB  - The principle of deontology states that the morality of an action depends on its
      consistency with moral norms; the principle of utilitarianism implies that the
      morality of an action depends on its consequences. Previous research suggests
      that deontological judgments are shaped by affective processes, whereas
      utilitarian judgments are guided by cognitive processes. The current research
      used process dissociation (PD) to independently assess deontological and
      utilitarian inclinations in women and men. A meta-analytic re-analysis of 40
      studies with 6,100 participants indicated that men showed a stronger preference
      for utilitarian over deontological judgments than women when the two principles
      implied conflicting decisions (d = 0.52). PD further revealed that women
      exhibited stronger deontological inclinations than men (d = 0.57), while men
      exhibited only slightly stronger utilitarian inclinations than women (d = 0.10).
      The findings suggest that gender differences in moral dilemma judgments are due
      to differences in affective responses to harm rather than cognitive evaluations
      of outcomes. 

PMID- 25840988
TI  - In good company: managing interpersonal resources that support self-regulation.
AB  - Effective self-regulation could involve not only managing internal resources for
      goal pursuit but also the often-fleeting interpersonal resources that can support
      goal attainment. In five studies, we test whether people who are effective self
      regulators tend to position themselves in social environments that best afford
      self-regulatory success. Results indicated individual differences in self
      regulatory effectiveness predict stronger preferences to spend time with,
      collaborate with, and be informed by others who were (a) high in self-control or
      self-regulation themselves or (b) instrumental to one's goal pursuit. These
      preferences for supportive social environments appeared to be both targeted and
      strategic. Together, the findings suggest that effective self-regulation may
      involve positioning oneself in social environments that support goal pursuit and
      increase one's chances of success. 

PMID- 25840991
TI  - High-resolution assessment of copy number variation.

PMID- 25840992
TI  - Fisetin, a dietary flavonoid, induces apoptosis of cancer cells by inhibiting
      HSF1 activity through blocking its binding to the hsp70 promoter.
AB  - Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) is a transcription factor for heat shock proteins
      (HSPs) expression that enhances the survival of cancer cells exposed to various
      stresses. HSF1 knockout suppresses carcinogen-induced cancer induction in mice.
      Therefore, HSF1 is a promising therapeutic and chemopreventive target. We
      performed cell-based screening with a natural compound collection and identified
      fisetin, a dietary flavonoid, as a HSF1 inhibitor. Fisetin abolished heat shock
      induced luciferase activity with an IC50 of 14 MUM in HCT-116 cancer cells. The
      treatment of HCT-116 with fisetin inhibited proliferation with a GI50 of 23 MUM.
      When the cells were exposed to heat shock in the presence of fisetin, the
      induction of HSF1 target proteins, such as HSP70, HSP27 and BAG3 (Bcl-2
      associated athanogene domain 3), were inhibited. HSP70/BAG3 complexes protect
      cancer cells from apoptosis by stabilizing anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins.
      The downregulation of HSP70/BAG3 by fisetin significantly reduced the amounts of
      Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Mcl-1 proteins, subsequently inducing apoptotic cell death.
      Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays showed that fisetin inhibited HSF1 activity
      by blocking the binding of HSF1 to the hsp70 promoter. Intraperitoneal treatment
      of nude mice with fisetin at 30mg/kg resulted in a 35.7% (P < 0.001) inhibition
      of tumor growth. 

PMID- 25840993
TI  - The histone H3 lysine-27 demethylase Jmjd3 plays a critical role in specific
      regulation of Th17 cell differentiation.
AB  - Interleukin (IL) 17-producing T helper (Th17) cells play critical roles in the
      clearance of extracellular bacteria and fungi as well as the pathogenesis of
      various autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, and
      ulcerative colitis. Although a global transcriptional regulatory network of Th17
      cell differentiation has been mapped recently, the participation of epigenetic
      modifications in the differentiation process has yet to be elucidated. We
      demonstrated here that histone H3 lysine-27 (H3K27) demethylation, predominantly
      mediated by the H3K27 demethylase Jmjd3, crucially regulated Th17 cell
      differentiation. Activation of naive CD4(+) T cells immediately induced high
      expression of Jmjd3. Genetic depletion of Jmjd3 in CD4(+) T cells specifically
      impaired Th17 cell differentiation both in vitro and in vivo. Ectopic expression
      of Jmjd3 largely rescued the impaired differentiation of Th17 cells in vitro in
      Jmjd3-deficient CD4(+) T cells. Importantly, Jmjd3-deficient mice were resistant
      to the induction of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Furthermore,
      inhibition of the H3K27 demethylase activity with the specific inhibitor GSK-J4
      dramatically suppressed Th17 cell differentiation in vitro. At the molecular
      level, Jmjd3 directly bound to and reduced the level of H3K27 trimethylation
      (me3) at the genomic sites of Rorc, which encodes the master Th17 transcription
      factor Rorgammat, and Th17 cytokine genes such as Il17, Il17f, and Il22.
      Therefore, our studies established a critical role of Jmjd3-mediated H3K27
      demethylation in Th17 cell differentiation and suggest that Jmjd3 can be a novel
      therapeutic target for suppressing autoimmune responses. 

PMID- 25840994
TI  - Collagen and elastin cross-linking is altered during aberrant late lung
      development associated with hyperoxia.
AB  - Maturation of the lung extracellular matrix (ECM) plays an important role in the
      formation of alveolar gas exchange units. A key step in ECM maturation is cross
      linking of collagen and elastin, which imparts stability and functionality to the
      ECM. During aberrant late lung development in bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD)
      patients and animal models of BPD, alveolarization is blocked, and the function
      of ECM cross-linking enzymes is deregulated, suggesting that perturbed ECM cross
      linking may impact alveolarization. In a hyperoxia (85% O2)-based mouse model of
      BPD, blunted alveolarization was accompanied by alterations to lung collagen and
      elastin levels and cross-linking. Total collagen levels were increased (by 63%).
      The abundance of dihydroxylysinonorleucine collagen cross-links and the
      dihydroxylysinonorleucine-to-hydroxylysinonorleucine ratio were increased by 11
      and 18%, respectively, suggestive of a profibrotic state. In contrast, insoluble
      elastin levels and the abundance of the elastin cross-links desmosine and
      isodesmosine in insoluble elastin were decreased by 35, 30, and 21%,
      respectively. The lung collagen-to-elastin ratio was threefold increased.
      Treatment of hyperoxia-exposed newborn mice with the lysyl oxidase inhibitor beta
      aminopropionitrile partially restored normal collagen levels, normalized the
      dihydroxylysinonorleucine-to-hydroxylysinonorleucine ratio, partially normalized
      desmosine and isodesmosine cross-links in insoluble elastin, and partially
      restored elastin foci structure in the developing septa. However, beta
      aminopropionitrile administration concomitant with hyperoxia exposure did not
      improve alveolarization, evident from unchanged alveolar surface area and alveoli
      number, and worsened septal thickening (increased by 12%). These data demonstrate
      that collagen and elastin cross-linking are perturbed during the arrested
      alveolarization of developing mouse lungs exposed to hyperoxia.

PMID- 25840996
TI  - STAT3-dependent CXC chemokine formation and neutrophil migration in streptococcal
      M1 protein-induced acute lung inflammation.
AB  - Streptococcus pyogenes cause infections ranging from mild pharyngitis to severe
      streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS). The M1 serotype of Streptococcus
      pyogenes is most frequently associated with STSS. Herein, it was hypothesized
      that STAT3 signaling might be involved in M1 protein-evoked lung inflammation.
      The STAT3 inhibitor, S3I-201, was administered to male C57Bl/6 mice before iv
      challenge with M1 protein. Bronchoalveolar fluid and lung tissue were harvested
      for quantification of STAT3 activity, neutrophil recruitment, edema, and CXC
      chemokine formation. Neutrophil expression of Mac-1 was quantified by use of flow
      cytometry. Levels of IL-6 and HMGB1 were determined in plasma. CXCL2-induced
      neutrophil chemotaxis was studied in vitro. Administration of S3I-201 markedly
      reduced M1 protein-provoked STAT3 activity, neutrophil recruitment, edema
      formation, and inflammatory changes in the lung. In addition, M1 protein
      significantly increased Mac-1 expression on neutrophils and CXC chemokine levels
      in the lung. Treatment with S3I-201 had no effect on M1 protein-induced
      expression of Mac-1 on neutrophils. In contrast, inhibition of STAT3 activity
      greatly reduced M1 protein-induced formation of CXC chemokines in the lung.
      Interestingly, STAT3 inhibition markedly decreased plasma levels of IL-6 and
      HMGB1 in animals exposed to M1 protein. Moreover, we found that S3I-201 abolished
      CXCL2-induced neutrophil migration in vitro. In conclusion, these novel findings
      indicate that STAT3 signaling plays a key role in mediating CXC chemokine
      production and neutrophil infiltration in M1 protein-induced acute lung
      inflammation.

PMID- 25840995
TI  - TGF-beta-induced IL-6 prevents development of acute lung injury in influenza A
      virus-infected F508del CFTR-heterozygous mice.
AB  - As the eighth leading cause of annual mortality in the USA, influenza A viruses
      are a major public health concern. In 20% of patients, severe influenza
      progresses to acute lung injury (ALI). However, pathophysiological mechanisms
      underlying ALI development are poorly defined. We reported that, unlike wild-type
      (WT) C57BL/6 controls, influenza A virus-infected mice that are heterozygous for
      the F508del mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator
      (HETs) did not develop ALI. This effect was associated with higher IL-6 and
      alveolar macrophages (AMs) at 6 days postinfection (d.p.i.) in HET
      bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). In the present study, we found that HET AMs
      were an important source of IL-6 at 6 d.p.i. Infection also induced TGF-beta
      production by HET but not WT mice at 2 d.p.i. TGF-beta neutralization at 2 d.p.i.
      (TGF-N) significantly reduced BALF IL-6 in HETs at 6 d.p.i. Neither TGF-N nor IL
      6 neutralization at 4 d.p.i. (IL-6-N) altered postinfection weight loss or viral
      replication in either mouse strain. However, both treatments increased influenza
      A virus-induced hypoxemia, pulmonary edema, and lung dysfunction in HETs to WT
      levels at 6 d.p.i. TGF-N and IL-6-N did not affect BALF AM and neutrophil numbers
      but attenuated the CXCL-1/keratinocyte chemokine response in both strains and
      reduced IFN-gamma production in WT mice. Finally, bone marrow transfer
      experiments showed that HET stromal and myeloid cells are both required for
      protection from ALI in HETs. These findings indicate that TGF-beta-dependent
      production of IL-6 by AMs later in infection prevents ALI development in
      influenza A virus-infected HET mice.

PMID- 25840997
TI  - Nrf2 regulates PU.1 expression and activity in the alveolar macrophage.
AB  - Alveolar macrophage (AM) immune function depends on the activation of the
      transcription factor PU.1 by granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor. We
      have determined that chronic alcohol ingestion dampens PU.1 signaling via an
      unknown zinc-dependent mechanism; specifically, although PU.1 is not known to be
      a zinc-dependent transcription factor, zinc treatment reversed alcohol-mediated
      dampening of PU.1 signaling. Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2),
      a zinc-dependent basic leucine zipper protein essential for antioxidant defenses,
      is also impaired by chronic alcohol ingestion and enhanced by zinc treatment. We
      hypothesized that the response of PU.1 to zinc treatment may result from the
      action of Nrf2 on PU.1. We first performed Nrf2/PU.1 protein
      coimmunoprecipitation on a rat AM cell line (NR8383) and found no evidence of
      protein-protein interactions. We then found evidence of increased Nrf2 binding to
      the PU.1 promoter region by chromatin immunoprecipitation. We next activated Nrf2
      using either sulforaphane or an overexpression vector and inhibited Nrf2 with
      silencing RNA to determine whether Nrf2 could actively regulate PU.1. Nrf2
      activation increased protein expression of both factors as well as gene
      expression of their respective downstream effectors, NAD(P)H
      dehydrogenase[quinone] 1 (NQO1) and cluster of differentiation antigen-14 (CD14).
      In contrast, Nrf2 silencing decreased the expression of both proteins, as well as
      gene expression of their effectors. Activating and inhibiting Nrf2 in primary rat
      AMs resulted in similar effects. Taken together, these findings suggest that Nrf2
      regulates the expression and activity of PU.1 and that antioxidant response and
      immune activation are coordinately regulated within the AM. 

PMID- 25840998
TI  - Compartment-specific expression of collagens and their processing enzymes in
      intrapulmonary arteries of IPAH patients.
AB  - Alterations in extracellular matrix (ECM) have been implicated in the
      pathophysiology of pulmonary hypertension. Here, we have undertaken a compartment
      specific study to elucidate the expression profile of collagens and their
      processing enzymes in donor and idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH)
      pulmonary arteries. Predominant intimal, but also medial and perivascular,
      remodeling and reduced lumen diameter were detected in IPAH pulmonary arteries.
      Two-photon microscopy demonstrated accumulation of collagen fibers.
      Quantification of collagen in pulmonary arteries revealed collagen accumulation
      mainly in the intima of IPAH pulmonary arteries compared with donors. Laser
      capture-microdissected pulmonary artery profiles (intima+media and perivascular
      tissue) were analyzed by real-time PCR for ECM gene expression. In the
      intima+media of IPAH vessels, collagens (COL4A5, COL14A1, and COL18A1), matrix
      metalloproteinase (MMP) 19, and a disintegrin and metalloprotease (ADAM) 33 were
      higher expressed, whereas MMP10, ADAM17, TIMP1, and TIMP3 were less abundant.
      Localization of COLXVIII, its cleavage product endostatin, and MMP10, ADAM33, and
      TIMP1 was confirmed in pulmonary arteries by immunohistochemistry. ELISA for
      collagen XVIII/endostatin demonstrated significantly elevated plasma levels in
      IPAH patients compared with donors, whereas circulating MMP10, ADAM33, and TIMP1
      levels were similar between the two groups. Endostatin levels were correlated
      with pulmonary arterial wedge pressure, and established prognostic markers of
      IPAH, right atrial pressure, cardiac index, 6-min walking distance, NH2-terminal
      pro-brain natriuretic peptide, and uric acid. Expression of unstudied collagens,
      MMPs, ADAMs, and TIMPs were found to be significantly altered in IPAH
      intima+media. Elevated levels of circulating collagen XVIII/endostatin are
      associated with markers of a poor prognosis. 

PMID- 25841000
TI  - Review and Summary of Research on the Embodied Effects of Expansive (vs.
      Contractive) Nonverbal Displays.

PMID- 25840999
TI  - Innate and ozone-induced airway hyperresponsiveness in obese mice: role of TNF
      alpha.
AB  - Innate airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and augmented responses to ozone, an
      asthma trigger, are characteristics of obese mice. Systemic inflammation, a
      condition of increased circulating concentrations of inflammatory moieties,
      occurs in obesity. We hypothesized that TNF-alpha, via its effects as a master
      effector of this systemic inflammation, regulates innate AHR and augmented
      responses to ozone in obese mice. Therefore, we examined pulmonary inflammation
      and airway responsiveness in unexposed or ozone-exposed (2 ppm for 3 h) lean wild
      type and obese Cpe(fat) mice that were TNF-alpha sufficient or deficient.
      Cpe(fat) mice lack carboxypeptidase E, which regulates satiety. Compared with
      wild type, Cpe(fat) mice had elevated serum IL-17A, G-CSF, KC, MCP-1, IL-9, MIG,
      and leptin, indicating systemic inflammation. Despite reductions in most of these
      moieties in TNF-alpha-deficient vs. -sufficient Cpe(fat) mice, we observed no
      substantial difference in airway responsiveness in these two groups of mice.
      Ozone-induced increases in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) neutrophils and
      macrophages were lower, but ozone-induced AHR and increases in BAL hyaluronan,
      osteopontin, IL-13, and protein carbonyls, a marker of oxidative stress, were
      augmented in TNF-alpha-deficient vs. -sufficient Cpe(fat) mice. Our data indicate
      that TNF-alpha has an important role in promoting the systemic inflammation but
      not the innate AHR of obesity, suggesting that the systemic inflammation of
      obesity is not the major driver of this AHR. TNF-alpha is required for the
      augmented effects of acute ozone exposure on pulmonary inflammatory cell
      recruitment in obese mice, whereas TNF-alpha protects against ozone-induced AHR
      in obese mice, possibly by suppressing ozone-induced oxidative stress.

PMID- 25841001
TI  - Development of a Job-Exposure Matrix (AsbJEM) to Estimate Occupational Exposure
      to Asbestos in Australia.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Occupational exposure data on asbestos are limited and poorly
      integrated in Australia so that estimates of disease risk and attribution of
      disease causation are usually calculated from data that are not specific for
      local conditions. OBJECTIVE: To develop a job-exposure matrix (AsbJEM) to
      estimate occupational asbestos exposure levels in Australia, making optimal use
      of the available exposure data. METHODS: A dossier of all available exposure data
      in Australia and information on industry practices and controls was provided to
      an expert panel consisting of three local industrial hygienists with thorough
      knowledge of local and international work practices. The expert panel estimated
      asbestos exposures for combinations of occupation, industry, and time period.
      Intensity and frequency grades were estimated to enable the calculation of annual
      exposure levels for each occupation-industry combination for each time period.
      Two indicators of asbestos exposure intensity (mode and peak) were used to
      account for different patterns of exposure between occupations. Additionally, the
      probable type of asbestos fibre was determined for each situation. RESULTS:
      Asbestos exposures were estimated for 537 combinations of 224 occupations and 60
      industries for four time periods (1943-1966; 1967-1986; 1987-2003; >=2004).
      Workers in the asbestos manufacturing, shipyard, and insulation industries were
      estimated to have had the highest average exposures. Up until 1986, 46 occupation
      industry combinations were estimated to have had exposures exceeding the current
      Australian exposure standard of 0.1 f ml(-1). Over 90% of exposed occupations
      were considered to have had exposure to a mixture of asbestos varieties including
      crocidolite. CONCLUSION: The AsbJEM provides empirically based quantified
      estimates of asbestos exposure levels for Australian jobs since 1943. This
      exposure assessment application will contribute to improved understanding and
      prediction of asbestos-related diseases and attribution of disease causation.

PMID- 25841002
TI  - Chloride-Inducible Expression Vector for Delivery of Antimicrobial Peptides
      Targeting Antibiotic-Resistant Enterococcus faecium.
AB  - Antibiotic-resistant enterococcal infections are a major concern in hospitals
      where patients with compromised immunity are readily infected. Enterococcus
      faecium bacteria are of particular interest as these pathogens account for over
      80% of vancomycin-resistant enterococcal infections. Antimicrobial peptides
      (AMPs) produced at the site of infection by engineered bacteria may offer a
      potential alternative to traditional antibiotics for the treatment of resistant
      bacteria such as E. faecium. For this mode of delivery to be effective, it is
      essential to identify a suitable protein expression system that can be used in
      the desired delivery bacterium. In this study, we describe a promising chloride
      inducible promoter and its application in the bacterial delivery of AMPs from
      Lactococcus lactis to reduce counts of E. faecium bacteria in vitro. Reporter
      gene studies show that at chloride concentrations found within the human
      intestines, the chloride-inducible promoter exhibits high levels of protein
      expression compared to those of the commonly used nisin-inducible promoter. These
      results indicate that this system is powerful and would not require the exogenous
      administration of an inducer molecule. In its application for AMP production
      against E. faecium in vitro, L. lactis producing AMPs under the chloride promoter
      rapidly decreased E. faecium counts by nearly 10,000-fold. As an extension of
      this application, we also demonstrate the potential in using this type of
      delivery system in combination with traditional antibiotics to slow the
      development of resistance. Collectively, this study shows the promise of using a
      chloride-inducible promoter for the bacterial delivery of AMPs in the body for
      the treatment of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and other antibiotic
      resistant bacteria. 

PMID- 25841003
TI  - Nisin H Is a New Nisin Variant Produced by the Gut-Derived Strain Streptococcus
      hyointestinalis DPC6484.
AB  - Accumulating evidence suggests that bacteriocin production represents a probiotic
      trait for intestinal strains to promote dominance, fight infection, and even
      signal the immune system. In this respect, in a previous study, we isolated from
      the porcine intestine a strain of Streptococcus hyointestinalis DPC6484 that
      displays antimicrobial activity against a wide range of Gram-positive bacteria
      and produces a bacteriocin with a mass of 3,453 Da. Interestingly, the strain was
      also found to be immune to a nisin-producing strain. Genome sequencing revealed
      the genetic determinants responsible for a novel version of nisin, designated
      nisin H, consisting of the nshABTCPRKGEF genes, with transposases encoded between
      nshP and nshR and between nshK and nshG. A similar gene cluster is also found in
      S. hyointestinalis LMG14581. Notably, the cluster lacks an equivalent of the
      nisin immunity gene, nisI. Nisin H is proposed to have the same structure as the
      prototypical nisin A but differs at 5 amino acid positions-Ile1Phe (i.e., at
      position 1, nisin A has Ile while nisin H has Phe), Leu6Met, Gly18Dhb (threonine
      dehydrated to dehydrobutyrine), Met21Tyr, and His31Lys--and appears to represent
      an intermediate between the lactococcal nisin A and the streptococcal nisin U
      variant of nisin. Purified nisin H inhibits a wide range of Gram-positive
      bacteria, including staphylococci, streptococci, Listeria spp., bacilli, and
      enterococci. It represents the first example of a natural nisin variant produced
      by an intestinal isolate of streptococcal origin. 

PMID- 25841004
TI  - Distinct circular single-stranded DNA viruses exist in different soil types.
AB  - The potential dependence of virus populations on soil types was examined by
      electron microscopy, and the total abundance of virus particles in four soil
      types was similar to that previously observed in soil samples. The four soil
      types examined differed in the relative abundances of four morphological groups
      of viruses. Machair, a unique type of coastal soil in western Scotland and
      Ireland, differed from the others tested in having a higher proportion of tailed
      bacteriophages. The other soils examined contained predominantly spherical and
      thin filamentous virus particles, but the Machair soil had a more even
      distribution of the virus types. As the first step in looking at differences in
      populations in detail, virus sequences from Machair and brown earth (agricultural
      pasture) soils were examined by metagenomic sequencing after enriching for
      circular Rep-encoding single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) (CRESS-DNA) virus genomes.
      Sequences from the family Microviridae (icosahedral viruses mainly infecting
      bacteria) of CRESS-DNA viruses were predominant in both soils. Phylogenetic
      analysis of Microviridae major coat protein sequences from the Machair viruses
      showed that they spanned most of the diversity of the subfamily Gokushovirinae,
      whose members mainly infect obligate intracellular parasites. The brown earth
      soil had a higher proportion of sequences that matched the morphologically
      similar family Circoviridae in BLAST searches. However, analysis of putative
      replicase proteins that were similar to those of viruses in the Circoviridae
      showed that they are a novel clade of Circoviridae-related CRESS-DNA viruses
      distinct from known Circoviridae genera. Different soils have substantially
      different taxonomic biodiversities even within ssDNA viruses, which may be driven
      by physicochemical factors. 

PMID- 25841005
TI  - Public Health Investigation of Two Outbreaks of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia
      coli O157 Associated with Consumption of Watercress.
AB  - An increase in the number of cases of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli
      (STEC) O157 phage type 2 (PT2) in England in September 2013 was epidemiologically
      linked to watercress consumption. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) identified a
      phylogenetically related cluster of 22 cases (outbreak 1). The isolates
      comprising this cluster were not closely related to any other United Kingdom
      strain in the Public Health England WGS database, suggesting a possible imported
      source. A second outbreak of STEC O157 PT2 (outbreak 2) was identified
      epidemiologically following the detection of outbreak 1. Isolates associated with
      outbreak 2 were phylogenetically distinct from those in outbreak 1.
      Epidemiologically unrelated isolates on the same branch as the outbreak 2 cluster
      included those from human cases in England with domestically acquired infection
      and United Kingdom domestic cattle. Environmental sampling using PCR resulted in
      the isolation of STEC O157 PT2 from irrigation water at one implicated watercress
      farm, and WGS showed this isolate belonged to the same phylogenetic cluster as
      outbreak 2 isolates. Cattle were in close proximity to the watercress bed and
      were potentially the source of the second outbreak. Transfer of STEC from the
      field to the watercress bed may have occurred through wildlife entering the
      watercress farm or via runoff water. During this complex outbreak investigation,
      epidemiological studies, comprehensive testing of environmental samples, and the
      use of novel molecular methods proved invaluable in demonstrating that two
      simultaneous outbreaks of STEC O157 PT2 were both linked to the consumption of
      watercress but were associated with different sources of contamination. 

PMID- 25841006
TI  - Interactions between Human Norovirus Surrogates and Acanthamoeba spp.
AB  - Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are the most common cause of food-borne disease
      outbreaks, as well as virus-related waterborne disease outbreaks in the United
      States. Here, we hypothesize that common free-living amoebae (FLA)-ubiquitous in
      the environment, known to interact with pathogens, and frequently isolated from
      water and fresh produce-could potentially act as reservoirs of HuNoV and
      facilitate the environmental transmission of HuNoVs. To investigate FLA as
      reservoirs for HuNoV, the interactions between two Acanthamoeba species, A.
      castellanii and A. polyphaga, as well as two HuNoV surrogates, murine norovirus
      type 1 (MNV-1) and feline calicivirus (FCV), were evaluated. The results showed
      that after 1 h of amoeba-virus incubation at 25 degrees C, 490 and 337 PFU of MNV
      1/ml were recovered from A. castellanii and A. polyphaga, respectively, while
      only few or no FCVs were detected. In addition, prolonged interaction of MNV-1
      with amoebae was investigated for a period of 8 days, and MNV-1 was demonstrated
      to remain stable at around 200 PFU/ml from day 2 to day 8 after virus inoculation
      in A. castellanii. Moreover, after a complete amoeba life cycle (i.e., encystment
      and excystment), infectious viruses could still be detected. To determine the
      location of virus associated with amoebae, immunofluorescence experiments were
      performed and showed MNV-1 transitioning from the amoeba surface to inside the
      amoeba over a 24-h period. These results are significant to the understanding of
      how HuNoVs may interact with other microorganisms in the environment in order to
      aid in its persistence and survival, as well as potential transmission in water
      and to vulnerable food products such as fresh produce. 

PMID- 25841007
TI  - Two-Component-System Histidine Kinases Involved in Growth of Listeria
      monocytogenes EGD-e at Low Temperatures.
AB  - Two-component systems (TCSs) aid bacteria in adapting to a wide variety of stress
      conditions. While the role of TCS response regulators in the cold tolerance of
      the psychrotrophic foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes has been
      demonstrated previously, no comprehensive studies showing the role of TCS
      histidine kinases of L. monocytogenes at low temperature have been performed. We
      compared the expression levels of each histidine kinase-encoding gene of L.
      monocytogenes EGD-e in logarithmic growth phase at 3 degrees C and 37 degrees C,
      as well as the expression levels 30 min, 3 h, and 7 h after cold shock at 5
      degrees C and preceding cold shock (at 37 degrees C). We constructed a deletion
      mutation in each TCS histidine kinase gene, monitored the growth of the EGD-e
      wild-type and mutant strains at 3 degrees C and 37 degrees C, and measured the
      minimum growth temperature of each strain. Two genes, yycG and lisK, proved
      significant in regard to induced relative expression levels under cold conditions
      and cold-sensitive mutant phenotypes. Moreover, the DeltaresE mutant showed a
      lower growth rate than that of wild-type EGD-e at 3 degrees C. Eleven other genes
      showed upregulated gene expression but revealed no cold-sensitive phenotypes. The
      results show that the histidine kinases encoded by yycG and lisK are important
      for the growth and adaptation of L. monocytogenes EGD-e at low temperature. 

PMID- 25841008
TI  - Differential Metabolism of Exopolysaccharides from Probiotic Lactobacilli by the
      Human Gut Symbiont Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron.
AB  - Probiotic microorganisms are ingested as food or supplements and impart positive
      health benefits to consumers. Previous studies have indicated that probiotics
      transiently reside in the gastrointestinal tract and, in addition to modulating
      commensal species diversity, increase the expression of genes for carbohydrate
      metabolism in resident commensal bacterial species. In this study, it is
      demonstrated that the human gut commensal species Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron
      efficiently metabolizes fructan exopolysaccharide (EPS) synthesized by probiotic
      Lactobacillus reuteri strain 121 while only partially degrading reuteran and
      isomalto/malto-polysaccharide (IMMP) alpha-glucan EPS polymers. B.
      thetaiotaomicron metabolized these EPS molecules via the activation of enzymes
      and transport systems encoded by dedicated polysaccharide utilization loci
      specific for beta-fructans and alpha-glucans. Reduced metabolism of reuteran and
      IMMP alpha-glucan EPS molecules may be due to reduced substrate binding by
      components of the starch utilization system (sus). This study reveals that
      microbial EPS substrates activate genes for carbohydrate metabolism in B.
      thetaiotaomicron and suggests that microbially derived carbohydrates provide a
      carbohydrate-rich reservoir for B. thetaiotaomicron nutrient acquisition in the
      gastrointestinal tract. 

PMID- 25841009
TI  - The impact of gamma radiation on sediment microbial processes.
AB  - Microbial communities have the potential to control the biogeochemical fate of
      some radionuclides in contaminated land scenarios or in the vicinity of a
      geological repository for radioactive waste. However, there have been few studies
      of ionizing radiation effects on microbial communities in sediment systems. Here,
      acetate and lactate amended sediment microcosms irradiated with gamma radiation
      at 0.5 or 30 Gy h(-1) for 8 weeks all displayed NO3 (-) and Fe(III) reduction,
      although the rate of Fe(III) reduction was decreased in 30-Gy h(-1) treatments.
      These systems were dominated by fermentation processes. Pyrosequencing indicated
      that the 30-Gy h(-1) treatment resulted in a community dominated by two
      Clostridial species. In systems containing no added electron donor, irradiation
      at either dose rate did not restrict NO3 (-), Fe(III), or SO4 (2-) reduction.
      Rather, Fe(III) reduction was stimulated in the 0.5-Gy h(-1)-treated systems. In
      irradiated systems, there was a relative increase in the proportion of bacteria
      capable of Fe(III) reduction, with Geothrix fermentans and Geobacter sp.
      identified in the 0.5-Gy h(-1) and 30-Gy h(-1) treatments, respectively. These
      results indicate that biogeochemical processes will likely not be restricted by
      dose rates in such environments, and electron accepting processes may even be
      stimulated by radiation. 

PMID- 25841010
TI  - Development and Application of a Blastocystis Subtype-Specific PCR Assay Reveals
      that Mixed-Subtype Infections Are Common in a Healthy Human Population.
AB  - The human gut is host to a diversity of microorganisms, including the single
      celled microbial eukaryote Blastocystis. Research has shown that most carriers
      host a single Blastocystis subtype (ST), which is unusual given the considerable
      within-host species diversity observed for other microbial genera in this
      ecosystem. However, our limited knowledge of both the incidence and biological
      significance of Blastocystis diversity within hosts (i.e., so-called mixed
      infections) is likely due to problems with existing methodologies. Here, we
      developed and applied Blastocystis ST-specific PCRs for the investigation of the
      most common subtypes of Blastocystis (ST1 to ST4) to a healthy human cohort (n =
      50). We detected mixed infections in 22% of the cases, all of which had been
      identified as single-ST infections in a previous study using state-of-the-art
      methods. Our results show that certain STs occur predominantly as either single
      (ST3 and 4) or mixed (ST1) infections, which may reflect inter alia transient
      colonization patterns and/or cooperative or competitive interactions between
      different STs. Comparative analyses with other primers that have been used
      extensively for ST-specific analysis found them unsuitable for detection of mixed
      and, in some cases, single-ST infections. Collectively, our data shed new light
      on the diversity of Blastocystis within and between human hosts. Moreover, the
      development of these PCR assays will facilitate future work on the molecular
      epidemiology and significance of mixed infections in groups of interest,
      including health and disease cohorts, and also help identify sources of
      Blastocystis transmission to humans, including identifying potential animal and
      environmental reservoirs. 

PMID- 25841011
TI  - A Novel Binary Mixture of Helicoverpa armigera Single Nucleopolyhedrovirus
      Genotypic Variants Has Improved Insecticidal Characteristics for Control of
      Cotton Bollworms.
AB  - The genotypic diversity of two Spanish isolates of Helicoverpa armigera single
      nucleopolyhedrovirus (HearSNPV) was evaluated with the aim of identifying
      mixtures of genotypes with improved insecticidal characteristics for control of
      the cotton bollworm. Two genotypic variants, HearSP1A and HearSP1B, were cloned
      in vitro from the most pathogenic wild-type isolate of the Iberian Peninsula,
      HearSNPV-SP1 (HearSP1-wt). Similarly, six genotypic variants (HearLB1 to -6) were
      obtained by endpoint dilution from larvae collected from cotton crops in southern
      Spain that died from virus disease during laboratory rearing. Variants differed
      significantly in their insecticidal properties, pathogenicity, speed of kill, and
      occlusion body (OB) production (OBs/larva). HearSP1B was ~3-fold more pathogenic
      than HearSP1-wt and the other variants. HearLB1, HearLB2, HeaLB5, and HearLB6
      were the fastest-killing variants. Moreover, although highly virulent, HearLB1,
      HearLB4, and HearLB5 produced more OBs/larva than did the other variants. The co
      occluded HearSP1B:LB6 mixture at a 1:1 proportion was 1.7- to 2.8-fold more
      pathogenic than any single variant and other mixtures tested and also killed
      larvae as fast as the most virulent genotypes. Serial passage resulted in
      modified proportions of the component variants of the HearSP1B:LB6 co-occluded
      mixture, suggesting that transmissibility could be further improved by this
      process. We conclude that the improved insecticidal phenotype of the HearSP1B:LB6
      co-occluded mixture underlines the utility of the genotypic variant dissection
      and reassociation approach for the development of effective virus-based
      insecticides. 

PMID- 25841012
TI  - sigma54-Dependent Response to Nitrogen Limitation and Virulence in Burkholderia
      cenocepacia Strain H111.
AB  - Members of the genus Burkholderia are versatile bacteria capable of colonizing
      highly diverse environmental niches. In this study, we investigated the global
      response of the opportunistic pathogen Burkholderia cenocepacia H111 to nitrogen
      limitation at the transcript and protein expression levels. In addition to a
      classical response to nitrogen starvation, including the activation of glutamine
      synthetase, PII proteins, and the two-component regulatory system NtrBC, B.
      cenocepacia H111 also upregulated polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) accumulation and
      exopolysaccharide (EPS) production in response to nitrogen shortage. A search for
      consensus sequences in promoter regions of nitrogen-responsive genes identified a
      sigma(54) consensus sequence. The mapping of the sigma(54) regulon as well as the
      characterization of a sigma(54) mutant suggests an important role of sigma(54)
      not only in control of nitrogen metabolism but also in the virulence of this
      organism. 

PMID- 25841013
TI  - Anoxic Conditions Promote Species-Specific Mutualism between Gut Microbes In
      Silico.
AB  - The human gut is inhabited by thousands of microbial species, most of which are
      still uncharacterized. Gut microbes have adapted to each other's presence as well
      as to the host and engage in complex cross feeding. Constraint-based modeling has
      been successfully applied to predicting microbe-microbe interactions, such as
      commensalism, mutualism, and competition. Here, we apply a constraint-based
      approach to model pairwise interactions between 11 representative gut microbes.
      Microbe-microbe interactions were computationally modeled in conjunction with
      human small intestinal enterocytes, and the microbe pairs were subjected to three
      diets with various levels of carbohydrate, fat, and protein in normoxic or anoxic
      environments. Each microbe engaged in species-specific commensal, parasitic,
      mutualistic, or competitive interactions. For instance, Streptococcus
      thermophilus efficiently outcompeted microbes with which it was paired, in
      agreement with the domination of streptococci in the small intestinal microbiota.
      Under anoxic conditions, the probiotic organism Lactobacillus plantarum displayed
      mutualistic behavior toward six other species, which, surprisingly, were almost
      entirely abolished under normoxic conditions. This finding suggests that the
      anoxic conditions in the large intestine drive mutualistic cross feeding, leading
      to the evolvement of an ecosystem more complex than that of the small intestinal
      microbiota. Moreover, we predict that the presence of the small intestinal
      enterocyte induces competition over host-derived nutrients. The presented
      framework can readily be expanded to a larger gut microbial community. This
      modeling approach will be of great value for subsequent studies aiming to predict
      conditions favoring desirable microbes or suppressing pathogens. 

PMID- 25841014
TI  - Next-generation pyrosequencing analysis of microbial biofilm communities on
      granular activated carbon in treatment of oil sands process-affected water.
AB  - The development of biodegradation treatment processes for oil sands process
      affected water (OSPW) has been progressing in recent years with the promising
      potential of biofilm reactors. Previously, the granular activated carbon (GAC)
      biofilm process was successfully employed for treatment of a large variety of
      recalcitrant organic compounds in domestic and industrial wastewaters. In this
      study, GAC biofilm microbial development and degradation efficiency were
      investigated for OSPW treatment by monitoring the biofilm growth on the GAC
      surface in raw and ozonated OSPW in batch bioreactors. The GAC biofilm community
      was characterized using a next-generation 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing technique
      that revealed that the phylum Proteobacteria was dominant in both OSPW and
      biofilms, with further in-depth analysis showing higher abundances of Alpha- and
      Gammaproteobacteria sequences. Interestingly, many known polyaromatic hydrocarbon
      degraders, namely, Burkholderiales, Pseudomonadales, Bdellovibrionales, and
      Sphingomonadales, were observed in the GAC biofilm. Ozonation decreased the
      microbial diversity in planktonic OSPW but increased the microbial diversity in
      the GAC biofilms. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed similar bacterial gene copy
      numbers (>10(9) gene copies/g of GAC) for both raw and ozonated OSPW GAC
      biofilms. The observed rates of removal of naphthenic acids (NAs) over the 2-day
      experiments for the GAC biofilm treatments of raw and ozonated OSPW were 31% and
      66%, respectively. Overall, a relatively low ozone dose (30 mg of O3/liter
      utilized) combined with GAC biofilm treatment significantly increased NA removal
      rates. The treatment of OSPW in bioreactors using GAC biofilms is a promising
      technology for the reduction of recalcitrant OSPW organic compounds. 

PMID- 25841015
TI  - Functional Analysis of Two l-Arabinose Transporters from Filamentous Fungi
      Reveals Promising Characteristics for Improved Pentose Utilization in
      Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
AB  - Limited uptake is one of the bottlenecks for l-arabinose fermentation from
      lignocellulosic hydrolysates in engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This study
      characterized two novel l-arabinose transporters, LAT-1 from Neurospora crassa
      and MtLAT-1 from Myceliophthora thermophila. Although the two proteins share high
      identity (about 83%), they display different substrate specificities. Sugar
      transport assays using the S. cerevisiae strain EBY.VW4000 indicated that LAT-1
      accepts a broad substrate spectrum. In contrast, MtLAT-1 appeared much more
      specific for l-arabinose. Determination of the kinetic properties of both
      transporters revealed that the Km values of LAT-1 and MtLAT-1 for l-arabinose
      were 58.12 +/- 4.06 mM and 29.39 +/- 3.60 mM, respectively, with corresponding
      Vmax values of 116.7 +/- 3.0 mmol/h/g dry cell weight (DCW) and 10.29 +/- 0.35
      mmol/h/g DCW, respectively. In addition, both transporters were found to use a
      proton-coupled symport mechanism and showed only partial inhibition by d-glucose
      during l-arabinose uptake. Moreover, LAT-1 and MtLAT-1 were expressed in the S.
      cerevisiae strain BSW2AP containing an l-arabinose metabolic pathway. Both
      recombinant strains exhibited much faster l-arabinose utilization, greater
      biomass accumulation, and higher ethanol production than the control strain. In
      conclusion, because of higher maximum velocities and reduced inhibition by d
      glucose, the genes for the two characterized transporters are promising targets
      for improved l-arabinose utilization and fermentation in S. cerevisiae. 

PMID- 25841016
TI  - Enhancing the Detection of Giardia duodenalis Cysts in Foods by Inertial
      Microfluidic Separation.
AB  - The sensitivity and specificity of current Giardia cyst detection methods for
      foods are largely determined by the effectiveness of the elution, separation, and
      concentration methods used. The aim of these methods is to produce a final
      suspension with an adequate concentration of Giardia cysts for detection and a
      low concentration of interfering food debris. In the present study, a
      microfluidic device, which makes use of inertial separation, was designed and
      fabricated for the separation of Giardia cysts. A cyclical pumping platform and
      protocol was developed to concentrate 10-ml suspensions down to less than 1 ml.
      Tests involving Giardia duodenalis cysts and 1.90-MUm microbeads in pure
      suspensions demonstrated the specificity of the microfluidic chip for cysts over
      smaller nonspecific particles. As the suspension cycled through the chip, a large
      number of beads were removed (70%) and the majority of the cysts were
      concentrated (82%). Subsequently, the microfluidic inertial separation chip was
      integrated into a method for the detection of G. duodenalis cysts from lettuce
      samples. The method greatly reduced the concentration of background debris in the
      final suspensions (10-fold reduction) in comparison to that obtained by a
      conventional method. The method also recovered an average of 68.4% of cysts from
      25-g lettuce samples and had a limit of detection (LOD) of 38 cysts. While the
      recovery of cysts by inertial separation was slightly lower, and the LOD slightly
      higher, than with the conventional method, the sample analysis time was greatly
      reduced, as there were far fewer background food particles interfering with the
      detection of cysts by immunofluorescence microscopy. 

PMID- 25841017
TI  - Bactericidal Compounds Controlling Growth of the Plant Pathogen Pseudomonas
      syringae pv. actinidiae, Which Forms Biofilms Composed of a Novel
      Exopolysaccharide.
AB  - Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae is the major cause of bacterial canker and is
      a severe threat to kiwifruit production worldwide. Many aspects of the disease
      caused by P. syringae pv. actinidiae, such as the pathogenicity-relevant
      formation of a biofilm composed of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs), are
      still unknown. Here, a highly virulent strain of P. syringae pv. actinidiae, NZ V
      13, was studied with respect to biofilm formation and architecture using a flow
      cell system combined with confocal laser scanning microscopy. The biofilm formed
      by P. syringae pv. actinidiae NZ V-13 was heterogeneous, consisting of a thin
      cellular base layer 5 MUm thick and microcolonies with irregular structures. The
      major component of the EPSs produced by P. syringae pv. actinidiae NZ V-13
      bacteria was isolated and identified to be an exopolysaccharide. Extensive
      compositional and structural analysis showed that rhamnose, fucose, and glucose
      were the major constituents, present at a ratio of 5:1.5:2. Experimental evidence
      that P. syringae pv. actinidiae NZ V-13 produces two polysaccharides, a branched
      alpha-d-rhamnan with side chains of terminal alpha-d-Fucf and an alpha-d-1,4
      linked glucan, was obtained. The susceptibility of the cells in biofilms to
      kasugamycin and chlorine dioxide was assessed. About 64 and 73% of P. syringae
      pv. actinidiae NZ V-13 cells in biofilms were killed when kasugamycin and
      chlorine dioxide were used at 5 and 10 ppm, respectively. Kasugamycin inhibited
      the attachment of P. syringae pv. actinidiae NZ V-13 to solid surfaces at
      concentrations of 80 and 100 ppm. Kasugamycin was bacteriostatic against P.
      syringae pv. actinidiae NZ V-13 growth in the planktonic mode, with the MIC being
      40 to 60 ppm and a bactericidal effect being found at 100 ppm. Here we studied
      the formation, architecture, and composition of P. syringae pv. actinidiae
      biofilms as well as used the biofilm as a model to assess the efficacies of
      bactericidal compounds. 

PMID- 25841018
TI  - Evaluation of Lactococcus lactis Isolates from Nondairy Sources with Potential
      Dairy Applications Reveals Extensive Phenotype-Genotype Disparity and
      Implications for a Revised Species.
AB  - Lactococcus lactis is predominantly associated with dairy fermentations, but
      evidence suggests that the domesticated organism originated from a plant niche.
      L. lactis possesses an unusual taxonomic structure whereby strain phenotypes and
      genotypes often do not correlate, which in turn has led to confusion in L. lactis
      classification. A bank of L. lactis strains was isolated from various nondairy
      niches (grass, vegetables, and bovine rumen) and was further characterized on the
      basis of key technological traits, including growth in milk and key enzyme
      activities. Phenotypic analysis revealed all strains from nondairy sources to
      possess an L. lactis subsp. lactis phenotype (lactis phenotype); however, seven
      of these strains possessed an L. lactis subsp. cremoris genotype (cremoris
      genotype), determined by two separate PCR assays. Multilocus sequence typing
      (MLST) showed that strains with lactis and cremoris genotypes clustered together
      regardless of habitat, but it highlighted the increased diversity that exists
      among "wild" strains. Calculation of average nucleotide identity (ANI) and
      tetranucleotide frequency correlation coefficients (TETRA), using the JSpecies
      software tool, revealed that L. lactis subsp. cremoris and L. lactis subsp.
      lactis differ in ANI values by ~14%, below the threshold set for species
      circumscription. Further analysis of strain TIFN3 and strains from nonindustrial
      backgrounds revealed TETRA values of <0.99 in addition to ANI values of <95%,
      implicating that these two groups are separate species. These findings suggest
      the requirement for a revision of L. lactis taxonomy. 

PMID- 25841019
TI  - Eaf1 Links the NuA4 Histone Acetyltransferase Complex to Htz1 Incorporation and
      Regulation of Purine Biosynthesis.
AB  - Proper modulation of promoter chromatin architecture is crucial for gene
      regulation in order to precisely and efficiently orchestrate various cellular
      activities. Previous studies have identified the stimulatory effect of the
      histone-modifying complex NuA4 on the incorporation of the histone variant H2A.Z
      (Htz1) at the PHO5 promoter (A. Auger, L. Galarneau, M. Altaf, A. Nourani, Y.
      Doyon, R. T. Utley, D. Cronier, S. Allard, and J. Cote, Mol Cell Biol 28:2257
      2270, 2008, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/MCB.01755-07). In vitro studies with a
      reconstituted system also indicated an intriguing cross talk between NuA4 and the
      H2A.Z-loading complex, SWR-C (M. Altaf, A. Auger, J. Monnet-Saksouk, J. Brodeur,
      S. Piquet, M. Cramet, N. Bouchard, N. Lacoste, R. T. Utley, L. Gaudreau, J. Cote,
      J Biol Chem 285:15966-15977, 2010, http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M110.117069). In
      this work, we investigated the role of the NuA4 scaffold subunit Eaf1 in global
      gene expression and genome-wide incorporation of Htz1. We found that loss of Eaf1
      affects Htz1 levels mostly at the promoters that are normally highly enriched in
      the histone variant. Analysis of eaf1 mutant cells by expression array unveiled a
      relationship between NuA4 and the gene network implicated in the purine
      biosynthesis pathway, as EAF1 deletion cripples induction of several ADE genes.
      NuA4 directly interacts with Bas1 activation domain, a key transcription factor
      of adenine genes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiments demonstrate
      that nucleosomes on the inactive ADE17 promoter are acetylated already by NuA4
      and enriched in Htz1. Upon derepression, these poised nucleosomes respond rapidly
      to activate ADE gene expression in a mechanism likely reminiscent of the PHO5
      promoter, leading to nucleosome disassembly. These detailed molecular events
      depict a specific case of cross talk between NuA4-dependent acetylation and
      incorporation of histone variant Htz1, presetting the chromatin structure over
      ADE promoters for subsequent chromatin remodeling and activated transcription. 

PMID- 25841020
TI  - Aspergillus nidulans Ambient pH Signaling Does Not Require Endocytosis.
AB  - Aspergillus nidulans (Pal) ambient pH signaling takes place in cortical
      structures containing components of the ESCRT pathway, which are hijacked by the
      alkaline pH-activated, ubiquitin-modified version of the arrestin-like protein
      PalF and taken to the plasma membrane. There, ESCRTs scaffold the assembly of
      dedicated Pal proteins acting downstream. The molecular details of this pathway,
      which results in the two-step proteolytic processing of the transcription factor
      PacC, have received considerable attention due to the key role that it plays in
      fungal pathogenicity. While current evidence strongly indicates that the pH
      signaling role of ESCRT complexes is limited to plasma membrane-associated
      structures where PacC proteolysis would take place, the localization of the PalB
      protease, which almost certainly catalyzes the first and only pH-regulated
      proteolytic step, had not been investigated. In view of ESCRT participation, this
      formally leaves open the possibility that PalB activation requires endocytic
      internalization. As endocytosis is essential for hyphal growth, nonlethal
      endocytic mutations are predicted to cause an incomplete block. We used a SynA
      internalization assay to measure the extent to which any given mutation prevents
      endocytosis. We show that none of the tested mutations impairing endocytosis to
      different degrees, including slaB1, conditionally causing a complete block, have
      any effect on the activation of the pathway. We further show that PalB, like PalA
      and PalC, localizes to cortical structures in an alkaline pH-dependent manner.
      Therefore, signaling through the Pal pathway does not involve endocytosis. 

PMID- 25841021
TI  - Cryptococcus strains with different pathogenic potentials have diverse protein
      secretomes.
AB  - Secreted proteins are the frontline between the host and pathogen. In mammalian
      hosts, secreted proteins enable invasive infection and can modulate the host
      immune response. Cryptococcosis, caused by pathogenic Cryptococcus species,
      begins when inhaled infectious propagules establish to produce pulmonary
      infection, which, if not resolved, can disseminate to the central nervous system
      to cause meningoencephalitis. Strains of Cryptococcus species differ in their
      capacity to cause disease, and the mechanisms underlying this are not well
      understood. To investigate the role of secreted proteins in disease, we
      determined the secretome for three genome strains of Cryptococcus species,
      including a hypovirulent and a hypervirulent strain of C. gattii and a virulent
      strain of C. neoformans. Sixty-seven unique proteins were identified, with
      different numbers and types of proteins secreted by each strain. The secretomes
      of the virulent strains were largely limited to proteolytic and hydrolytic
      enzymes, while the hypovirulent strain had a diverse secretome, including non
      conventionally secreted canonical cytosolic and immunogenic proteins that have
      been implicated in virulence. The hypovirulent strain cannot establish pulmonary
      infection in a mouse model, but strains of this genotype have caused human
      meningitis. To directly test brain infection, we used intracranial inoculation
      and found that the hypovirulent strain was substantially more invasive than its
      hypervirulent counterpart. We suggest that immunogenic proteins secreted by this
      strain invoke a host response that limits pulmonary infection but that there can
      be invasive growth and damage if infection reaches the brain. Given their known
      role in virulence, it is possible that non-conventionally secreted proteins
      mediate this process. 

PMID- 25841022
TI  - Diversification of Paralogous alpha-Isopropylmalate Synthases by Modulation of
      Feedback Control and Hetero-Oligomerization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
AB  - Production of alpha-isopropylmalate (alpha-IPM) is critical for leucine
      biosynthesis and for the global control of metabolism. The budding yeast
      Saccharomyces cerevisiae has two paralogous genes, LEU4 and LEU9, that encode
      alpha-IPM synthase (alpha-IPMS) isozymes. Little is known about the biochemical
      differences between these two alpha-IPMS isoenzymes. Here, we show that the Leu4
      homodimer is a leucine-sensitive isoform, while the Leu9 homodimer is resistant
      to such feedback inhibition. The leu4Delta mutant, which expresses only the
      feedback-resistant Leu9 homodimer, grows slowly with either glucose or ethanol
      and accumulates elevated pools of leucine; this phenotype is alleviated by the
      addition of leucine. Transformation of the leu4Delta mutant with a centromeric
      plasmid carrying LEU4 restored the wild-type phenotype. Bimolecular fluorescent
      complementation analysis showed that Leu4-Leu9 heterodimeric isozymes are formed
      in vivo. Purification and kinetic analysis showed that the hetero-oligomeric
      isozyme has a distinct leucine sensitivity behavior. Determination of alpha-IPMS
      activity in ethanol-grown cultures showed that alpha-IPM biosynthesis and growth
      under these respiratory conditions depend on the feedback-sensitive Leu4
      homodimer. We conclude that retention and further diversification of two yeast
      alpha-IPMSs have resulted in a specific regulatory system that controls the
      leucine-alpha-IPM biosynthetic pathway by selective feedback sensitivity of
      homomeric and heterodimeric isoforms. 

PMID- 25841023
TI  - Comment: Muscle strength at age 18 and Parkinson disease among Swedish men from a
      nationwide cohort.

PMID- 25841024
TI  - GRID2 mutations span from congenital to mild adult-onset cerebellar ataxia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: In a large family of Algerian origin, we aimed to identify the
      genetic mutation segregating with simultaneous presence of adult-onset,
      paucisymptomatic, slowly progressive, cerebellar ataxia in 7 adults and
      congenital ataxia in 1 child, and then to assess the involvement of GRID2
      mutations in 144 patients with congenital cerebellar ataxia. METHODS: We used a
      combined approach of linkage analysis and whole-exome sequencing in one family,
      and a targeted gene panel sequencing approach in 144 congenital ataxias. RESULTS:
      In the large family with spinocerebellar ataxia, we identified a missense
      mutation (c.1966C>G/p.Leu656Val) in the GRID2 gene, in a heterozygous state in
      adults, and in a homozygous state in one child with congenital ataxia, compatible
      with a semidominant transmission pattern. In 144 patients affected with
      congenital ataxia, we identified 2 missense de novo GRID2 mutations in 2 children
      (c.1960G>A/p.Ala654Thr, c.1961C>A/p.Ala654Asp). They affect the same amino acid
      as the previously described Lurcher mutation in mice; the variant in the large
      family concerns a nearby amino acid. CONCLUSIONS: In humans, GRID2 had only been
      involved in ataxia through complete loss-of-function mutations due to exon
      deletions. We report the first point mutations in this gene, with putative gain
      of-function mechanisms, and a semidominant transmission as was observed in the
      Lurcher mice model. Of note, cerebellar ataxia is the core phenotype, but with
      variable severity ranging from very mild adult-onset to congenital-onset ataxias
      linked to both the heterozygous and homozygous state of the variant, and the
      position of the mutation.

PMID- 25841027
TI  - Does the presence of aura inform us regarding migraine severity and response to
      treatment?

PMID- 25841025
TI  - Prevalence and factors associated with convulsive status epilepticus in Africans
      with epilepsy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We conducted a community survey to estimate the prevalence and
      describe the features, risk factors, and consequences of convulsive status
      epilepticus (CSE) among people with active convulsive epilepsy (ACE) identified
      in a multisite survey in Africa. METHODS: We obtained clinical histories of CSE
      and neurologic examination data among 1,196 people with ACE identified from a
      population of 379,166 people in 3 sites: Agincourt, South Africa; Iganga-Mayuge,
      Uganda; and Kilifi, Kenya. We performed serologic assessment for the presence of
      antibodies to parasitic infections and HIV and determined adherence to
      antiepileptic drugs. Consequences of CSE were assessed using a questionnaire.
      Logistic regression was used to identify risk factors. RESULTS: The adjusted
      prevalence of CSE in ACE among the general population across the 3 sites was 2.3
      per 1,000, and differed with site (p < 0.0001). Over half (55%) of CSE occurred
      in febrile illnesses and focal seizures were present in 61%. Risk factors for CSE
      in ACE were neurologic impairments, acute encephalopathy, previous
      hospitalization, and presence of antibody titers to falciparum malaria and HIV;
      these differed across sites. Burns (15%), lack of education (49%), being single
      (77%), and unemployment (78%) were common in CSE; these differed across the 3
      sites. Nine percent with and 10% without CSE died. CONCLUSIONS: CSE is common in
      people with ACE in Africa; most occurs with febrile illnesses, is untreated, and
      has focal features suggesting preventable risk factors. Effective prevention and
      the management of infections and neurologic impairments may reduce the burden of
      CSE in ACE.

PMID- 25841026
TI  - Challenges and opportunities in designing clinical trials for neuromyelitis
      optica.
AB  - Current management of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is noncurative and only
      partially effective. Immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory agents are the
      mainstays of maintenance treatment. Safer, better-tolerated, and proven effective
      treatments are needed. The perceived rarity of NMO has impeded clinical trials
      for this disease. However, a diagnostic biomarker and recognition of a wider
      spectrum of NMO presentations has expanded the patient population from which
      study candidates might be recruited. Emerging insights into the pathogenesis of
      NMO have provided rationale for exploring new therapeutic targets. Academic,
      pharmaceutical, and regulatory communities are increasingly interested in meeting
      the unmet needs of patients with NMO. Clinical trials powered to yield
      unambiguous outcomes and designed to facilitate rapid evaluation of an expanding
      pipeline of experimental agents are needed. NMO-related disability occurs
      incrementally as a result of attacks; thus, limiting attack frequency and
      severity are critical treatment goals. Yet, the severity of NMO and perception
      that currently available agents are effective pose challenges to study design. We
      propose strategies for NMO clinical trials to evaluate agents targeting recovery
      from acute attacks and prevention of relapses, the 2 primary goals of NMO
      treatment. Aligning the interests of all stakeholders is an essential step to
      this end. 

PMID- 25841028
TI  - RNF216 mutations as a novel cause of autosomal recessive Huntington-like
      disorder.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify the genetic cause in 2 Belgian families with autosomal
      recessive Huntington-like disorder (HDL). METHODS: Homozygosity mapping and whole
      exome sequencing in a consanguineous family as well as Sanger sequencing of the
      candidate gene in an independent family with HDL followed by genotype-phenotype
      correlation studies. RESULTS: We identified a homozygous mutation in the gene
      RNF216 p.(Gly456Glu) within a shared 4.8-Mb homozygous region at 7p22.3 in 2
      affected siblings of a consanguineous HDL family. In an independent family, 2
      siblings with HDL were compound heterozygous for mutations in RNF216 p.(Gln302*)
      and p.(Tyr539Cys). Chorea, behavioral problems, and severe dementia were the core
      clinical signs in all patients. Brain imaging consistently showed white matter
      lesions. Low gonadotropin serum levels and cerebellar atrophy could be
      demonstrated in the index family. CONCLUSIONS: Mutations in RNF216 have recently
      been found in families with Gordon Holmes syndrome, a condition defined by
      hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and cerebellar ataxia. The mode of inheritance was
      proposed to be oligogenic for most families. We describe novel RNF216 mutations
      causing an HDL phenotype with pure monogenic recessive inheritance. Subclinical
      serum evidence of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism links this disorder to Gordon
      Holmes syndrome. Our study thus challenges the oligogenic inheritance model and
      emphasizes chorea as an essential clinical feature in RNF216-mediated
      neurodegeneration.

PMID- 25841029
TI  - Quality of life in pediatric epilepsy: Considerations for measurement and use.

PMID- 25841030
TI  - Somatotopic fascicular organization of the human sciatic nerve demonstrated by MR
      neurography.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether the human sciatic nerve might have a
      consistent somatotopic organization according to proximal fascicle input by
      spinal nerves. METHODS: Twelve patients (55.3 +/- 15.5 years) with confirmed
      lesions of either the L5 or S1 spinal nerve root underwent magnetic resonance
      neurography of sciatic nerve fascicles including thigh and knee levels (T2
      weighted sequence with fat saturation, repetition time/echo time 7,552/52
      milliseconds, voxel size 0.27 * 0.27 * 3.0 mm(3)). Twenty healthy subjects and 12
      additional patients with an established diagnosis of peripheral polyneuropathy
      served as 2 separate age- and sex-matched control groups. Two blinded readers
      assessed patients and controls for presence of distinct lesion patterns. Spatial
      maps of normalized T2 signal were rendered after segmentation and coregistration
      of sciatic nerve voxels to detect fascicle lesion patterns. RESULTS: A clear
      somatotopic distribution of nerve fascicles was observed on cross-sections along
      the entire course of the sciatic nerve and was distinct between patients with L5
      and those with S1 lesions. Fascicles emerging from L5 were ordered in
      anterolateral positions within sciatic nerve cross-sections, while fascicles
      emerging from S1 appeared posteromedially. Visual assessment discriminated these
      somatotopic lesions in all cases from both healthy and polyneuropathy controls.
      CONCLUSION: A distinct pattern of somatotopy was identified within the sciatic
      nerve according to proximal fascicle input by L5 and S1 spinal nerves. Knowledge
      of human nerve somatotopy may have clinically useful implications in imaging
      aided diagnosis of neuropathies.

PMID- 25841031
TI  - Children's perspective of quality of life in epilepsy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study child mental health, parental support, and social support of
      children with epilepsy as these relate to quality of life (QOL) using child self
      report, seizure-related variables, and estimated verbal intelligence based on
      receptive vocabulary. METHODS: A cross-sectional structural equation model of
      baseline data from the QUALITE cohort study, which includes 6 Canadian child
      epilepsy ambulatory programs. A sample of 3,481 children were screened for the
      following eligibility: 8 to 14 years of age, with active or medication-managed
      epilepsy. Of 894 eligible children, 506 agreed to participate, of whom 26 were
      then excluded because of an inability to self-report based on a standard cutoff
      score of receptive vocabulary lower than 70. The primary outcome of child
      reported QOL was measured using the Child Epilepsy QOL Questionnaire. RESULTS:
      From the child's perspective, epilepsy-specific QOL is strongly related to their
      mental health and social support but not to their seizures. Specifically, child
      mental health and peer support exhibit direct associations with QOL; parental
      support has both direct and indirect associations with QOL (via child mental
      health); estimated verbal intelligence exerts its strongest association with QOL
      through mental health; and seizure status exhibits a weak relationship to QOL
      only through mental health. CONCLUSIONS: Among children with epilepsy aged 8 to
      14 years, mental health and social support should be areas of focus in the
      assessment of QOL. Controlling seizures is insufficient care for influencing the
      child's perception of their life.

PMID- 25841032
TI  - Reduced efficacy of sumatriptan in migraine with aura vs without aura.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether acute migraine treatment outcome is different in
      migraine with aura compared with migraine without aura. METHODS: We examined
      pooled outcome data for sumatriptan treatment of migraine with and without aura
      from the sumatriptan/naratriptan aggregate patient database. We also examined
      similar outcome data for inhaled dihydroergotamine (DHE) from a single, large
      randomized controlled study. RESULTS: The pooled pain-free rates 2 hours postdose
      for sumatriptan 100 mg were significantly higher in patients treating attacks
      without aura (32%) compared with the group who treated attacks with aura (24%) (p
      < 0.001). The relative risk for pain freedom 2 hours postdose for attacks without
      aura was 1.33 (95% confidence interval: 1.16-1.54). The number needed to treat
      for 2 hours of pain freedom was 4.4 for attacks without aura and 6.2 for attacks
      with aura. For the clinical trial of DHE, the 2-hour pain-free rates did not
      differ between patients treating attacks without aura (29.4%) compared with those
      who treated attacks with aura (27.2%; p = 0.65). The relative risk for pain
      freedom 2 hours postdose for attacks without aura vs with aura was 1.08 (95%
      confidence interval: 0.77-1.53). The number needed to treat for 2 hours pain free
      was 5.8 for attacks without aura and 5.0 for attacks with aura. CONCLUSION: This
      post hoc analysis of pooled data from multiple randomized trials indicates that
      sumatriptan is less effective as acute therapy for migraine attacks with aura
      compared with attacks without aura. In the single study of inhaled DHE, the
      treatment had similar efficacy for migraine attacks with and without aura.
      Different responses of migraine with vs without aura to acute therapies may
      provide insight into underlying migraine mechanisms and influence the choice of
      acute therapies for different types of migraine attacks.

PMID- 25841033
TI  - Low muscle strength in late adolescence and Parkinson disease later in life.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate maximal isometric muscle force at 18 years of age in
      relation to Parkinson disease (PD) later in life. METHODS: The cohort consisted
      of 1,317,713 men who had their muscle strength measured during conscription (1969
      1996). Associations between participants' muscle strength at conscription and PD
      diagnoses, also in their parents, were examined using multivariate statistical
      models. RESULTS: After adjustment for confounders, the lowest compared to the
      highest fifth of handgrip strength (hazard ratio [HR] 1.38, 95% confidence
      interval [CI] 1.06-1.79), elbow flexion strength (HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.02-1.76), but
      not knee extension strength (HR 1.24, 95% CI 0.94-1.62) was associated with an
      increased risk of PD during follow-up. Furthermore, men whose parents were
      diagnosed with PD had reduced handgrip (fathers: mean difference [MD] -5.7 N [95%
      CI -7.3 to -4.0]; mothers: MD -5.0 N [95% CI -7.0 to -2.9]) and elbow flexion
      (fathers: MD -4.3 N [95% CI -5.7 to -2.9]; mothers: MD -3.9 N [95% CI -5.7 to 
      2.2]) strength, but not knee extension strength (fathers: MD -1.1 N [95% CI -2.9
      to 0.8]; mothers: MD -0.7 N [95% CI -3.1 to 1.6]), than those with no such
      familial history. CONCLUSIONS: Maximal upper extremity voluntary muscle force was
      reduced in late adolescence in men diagnosed with PD 30 years later. The findings
      suggest the presence of subclinical motor deficits 3 decades before the clinical
      onset of PD.

PMID- 25841034
TI  - Perinatal and childhood risk factors for early-onset type 1 diabetes: a
      population-based case-control study in Taiwan.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Certain factors originating from the perinatal and childhood periods
      are suspected of contributing to the recent increasing trend of childhood type 1
      diabetes (T1D) incidence. This study sought to investigate the relationships
      between various perinatal and childhood risk factors and T1D incidence in young
      children (<10 years). METHODS: We used a nested case-control design based on
      1,478,573 live births born in 2000-05 in Taiwan. Cases were 632 incident cases of
      T1D between 2000 and 2008. Ten matched controls for each case were randomly
      selected. Information on various perinatal risk factors was also identified from
      claim data. Multiple conditional logistic regression was employed to estimate
      odds ratio (OR) and 95 confidence interval (CI) of T1D. RESULTS: Childhood
      infection was significantly associated with an increased risk of T1D (OR = 1.46,
      95% CI = 1.23-1.73). Increased risk of T1D was also noted in children born to
      younger mothers (<25 years) (OR = 1.94, 95% CI = 1.34-2.81), older fathers (>30
      years) (OR = 1.56 (95% CI = 1.16-2.10) to 1.57 (95% CI = 1.19-2.05), mothers with
      Caesarean section (CS) (OR = 2.35, 95% CI = 1.52-3.64), and mothers with
      gestational diabetes mellitus (OR = 4.36, 95% CI = 2.76-7.77). Fathers with T1D
      (OR = 7.36, 95% CI = 1.02-57.21) or type 2 diabetes (OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.04
      2.26) were observed to substantially increase the risk of offspring T1D.
      CONCLUSIONS: Certain modifiable perinatal factors such as infection and CS may
      predispose incidence of T1D in young children.

PMID- 25841035
TI  - Spatial variation of male alcohol-related mortality in Belarus and Lithuania.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have addressed the problem of hazardous alcohol
      consumption, alcohol-related causes of death and their relationship to persisting
      excess male mortality in the countries of the former USSR. Yet relatively little
      is known about the geographical patterns of alcohol-related mortality within
      these countries and the cross-border continuities of such patterns. This study
      aims at identifying the spatial distribution and the cross-border patterns of
      adult male mortality from alcohol poisonings and liver cirrhosis in Belarus and
      Lithuania. METHODS: We use cause-specific mortality data for 2003-2007. We employ
      spatial econometric techniques to detect 'hot spots' of alcohol-related mortality
      across the combined territory of the two countries. RESULTS: Specific patterns
      associated with extremely high rates of mortality from alcohol poisoning can be
      observed in Belarus, particularly in the areas bordering Russia and Lithuania.
      Meanwhile, patterns of alcohol-induced liver disease dominate in Lithuania, and
      continue across the border from eastern Lithuania into north-western Belarus.
      CONCLUSIONS: The districts located along the Belarusian-Lithuanian border appear
      to be especially problematic, as they suffer from an enormous burden of alcohol
      consumption. The situation is particularly severe on the Belarusian side, where
      there are extremely high levels of mortality from both alcohol poisoning and
      liver cirrhosis. These areas should be considered primary targets for antialcohol
      policies.

PMID- 25841036
TI  - The Transcriptional Regulator BBX19 Promotes Hypocotyl Growth by Facilitating
      COP1-Mediated EARLY FLOWERING3 Degradation in Arabidopsis.
AB  - Hypocotyl elongation is a highly coordinated physiological response regulated by
      myriad internal and external cues. Here, we show that BBX19, a transcriptional
      regulator with two B-box motifs, is a positive regulator of growth; diminished
      BBX19 expression by RNA interference reduces hypocotyl length, and its
      constitutive expression promotes growth. This function of BBX19 is dependent on
      the E3 ubiquitin ligase CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC1 (COP1), EARLY FLOWERING3
      (ELF3), and PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR4 (PIF4) and PIF5. BBX19 is nucleus
      colocalized and interacts physically with COP1 and ELF3, a component of the
      evening complex that represses the expression of PIF4 and PIF5. Moreover, ELF3
      protein abundance inversely correlates with BBX19 expression levels in a COP1
      dependent manner. By contrast, PIF expression, coinciding with the initiation of
      hypocotyl growth in the early evening, is positively correlated with the BBX19
      transcript abundance. These results collectively establish BBX19 as an adaptor
      that binds to and recruits ELF3 for degradation by COP1 and, as such, dynamically
      gates the formation of the evening complex, resulting in derepression of PIF4/5.
      This finding refines our perspective on how plants grow by providing a molecular
      link between COP1, ELF3, and PIF4/5 as an underlying mechanism of
      photomorphogenic development in Arabidopsis thaliana. 

PMID- 25841037
TI  - Ethylene responses in rice roots and coleoptiles are differentially regulated by
      a carotenoid isomerase-mediated abscisic acid pathway.
AB  - Ethylene and abscisic acid (ABA) act synergistically or antagonistically to
      regulate plant growth and development. ABA is derived from the carotenoid
      biosynthesis pathway. Here, we analyzed the interplay among ethylene, carotenoid
      biogenesis, and ABA in rice (Oryza sativa) using the rice ethylene response
      mutant mhz5, which displays a reduced ethylene response in roots but an enhanced
      ethylene response in coleoptiles. We found that MHZ5 encodes a carotenoid
      isomerase and that the mutation in mhz5 blocks carotenoid biosynthesis, reduces
      ABA accumulation, and promotes ethylene production in etiolated seedlings. ABA
      can largely rescue the ethylene response of the mhz5 mutant. Ethylene induces
      MHZ5 expression, the production of neoxanthin, an ABA biosynthesis precursor, and
      ABA accumulation in roots. MHZ5 overexpression results in enhanced ethylene
      sensitivity in roots and reduced ethylene sensitivity in coleoptiles. Mutation or
      overexpression of MHZ5 also alters the expression of ethylene-responsive genes.
      Genetic studies revealed that the MHZ5-mediated ABA pathway acts downstream of
      ethylene signaling to inhibit root growth. The MHZ5-mediated ABA pathway likely
      acts upstream but negatively regulates ethylene signaling to control coleoptile
      growth. Our study reveals novel interactions among ethylene, carotenogenesis, and
      ABA and provides insight into improvements in agronomic traits and adaptive
      growth through the manipulation of these pathways in rice. 

PMID- 25841038
TI  - Suppression of Arbuscule Degeneration in Medicago truncatula phosphate
      transporter4 Mutants is Dependent on the Ammonium Transporter 2 Family Protein
      AMT2;3.
AB  - During arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, the plant gains access to phosphate
      (Pi) and nitrogen delivered by its fungal symbiont. Transfer of mineral nutrients
      occurs at the interface between branched hyphae called arbuscules and root
      cortical cells. In Medicago truncatula, a Pi transporter, PT4, is required for
      symbiotic Pi transport, and in pt4, symbiotic Pi transport fails, arbuscules
      degenerate prematurely, and the symbiosis is not maintained. Premature arbuscule
      degeneration (PAD) is suppressed when pt4 mutants are nitrogen-deprived, possibly
      the result of compensation by PT8, a second AM-induced Pi transporter. However,
      PAD is also suppressed in nitrogen-starved pt4 pt8 double mutants, negating this
      hypothesis and furthermore indicating that in this condition, neither of these
      symbiotic Pi transporters is required for symbiosis. In M. truncatula, three AMT2
      family ammonium transporters are induced during AM symbiosis. To test the
      hypothesis that suppression of PAD involves AMT2 transporters, we analyzed double
      and triple Pi and ammonium transporter mutants. ATM2;3 but not AMT2;4 was
      required for suppression of PAD in pt4, while AMT2;4, but not AMT2;3,
      complemented growth of a yeast ammonium transporter mutant. In summary, arbuscule
      life span is influenced by PT4 and ATM2;3, and their relative importance varies
      with the nitrogen status of the plant. 

PMID- 25841040
TI  - Development of a retrospective/fortuitous accident dosimetry service based on OSL
      of mobile phones.
AB  - Work is presented on the development of a retrospective/fortuitous accident
      dosimetry service using optically stimulated luminescence of resistors found in
      mobile phones to determine the doses of radiation to members of the public
      following a radiological accident or terrorist incident. The system is described
      and discussed in terms of its likely accuracy in a real incident. 

PMID- 25841039
TI  - Axillary Meristem Formation in Rice Requires the WUSCHEL Ortholog TILLERS
      ABSENT1.
AB  - Axillary shoot formation is a key determinant of plant architecture. Formation of
      the axillary shoot is regulated by initiation of the axillary meristem or
      outgrowth of the axillary bud. Here, we show that rice (Oryza sativa) TILLERS
      ABSENT1 (TAB1; also known as Os WUS), an ortholog of Arabidopsis thaliana WUS, is
      required to initiate axillary meristem development. We found that formation of
      the axillary meristem in rice proceeds via a transient state, which we term the
      premeristem, characterized by the expression of OSH1, a marker of indeterminate
      cells in the shoot apical meristem. In the tab1-1 (wus-1) mutant, however,
      formation of the axillary meristem is arrested at various stages of the
      premeristem zone, and OSH1 expression is highly reduced. TAB1/WUS is expressed in
      the premeristem zone, where it shows a partially overlapping pattern with OSH1.
      It is likely, therefore, that TAB1 plays an important role in maintaining the
      premeristem zone and in promoting the formation of the axillary meristem by
      promoting OSH1 expression. Temporal expression patterns of WUSCHEL-RELATED
      HOMEOBOX4 (WOX4) indicate that WOX4 is likely to regulate meristem maintenance
      instead of TAB1 after establishment of the axillary meristem. Lastly, we show
      that the prophyll, the first leaf in the secondary axis, is formed from the
      premeristem zone and not from the axillary meristem. 

PMID- 25841042
TI  - The Quality of Life Burden Associated With Voice Disorders in Sjogren's Syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study examined quality of life burden of voice disorders in
      Sjogren's syndrome (SS). METHODS: Patients with SS (n = 101) completed interviews
      involving patient-reported histories of voice disorders, specific voice symptoms,
      SS disease severity, the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL), and the general
      health-related quality of life Short Form 36 (SF-36) questionnaires.
      Relationships among voice symptoms, disease severity, and quality-of-life
      measures were examined and compared with patient-reported voice disorders.
      RESULTS: Significant correlations were observed among voice symptoms, disease
      severity, V-RQOL, SF-36, and patient-reported voice disorders (P < .05). Patients
      with SS who reported a voice disorder experienced a greater burden on general
      quality of life as compared with those without voice disorders. Specific voice
      symptoms significantly correlated with reduced SF-36 scores included frequent
      throat-clearing, throat soreness, difficulty projecting, and vocal discomfort.
      Despite the added burden of a voice disorder on quality of life in SS, voice
      related treatment seeking was low (15.8%). However, the majority of patients who
      received voice treatment reported voice improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals
      with SS frequently experience voice disorders and specific voice-related symptoms
      that are associated with reduced quality of life. These findings have important
      implications for voice referral practices and voice disorder symptom management
      in this population.

PMID- 25841041
TI  - Dose Equivalents for Second-Generation Antipsychotic Drugs: The Classical Mean
      Dose Method.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The concept of dose equivalence is important for many purposes. The
      classical approach published by Davis in 1974 subsequently dominated textbooks
      for several decades. It was based on the assumption that the mean doses found in
      flexible-dose trials reflect the average optimum dose which can be used for the
      calculation of dose equivalence. We are the first to apply the method to second
      generation antipsychotics. METHODS: We searched for randomized, double-blind,
      flexible-dose trials in acutely ill patients with schizophrenia that examined 13
      oral second-generation antipsychotics, haloperidol, and chlorpromazine (last
      search June 2014). We calculated the mean doses of each drug weighted by sample
      size and divided them by the weighted mean olanzapine dose to obtain olanzapine
      equivalents. RESULTS: We included 75 studies with 16 555 participants. The doses
      equivalent to 1 mg/d olanzapine were: amisulpride 38.3 mg/d, aripiprazole 1.4
      mg/d, asenapine 0.9 mg/d, chlorpromazine 38.9 mg/d, clozapine 30.6 mg/d,
      haloperidol 0.7 mg/d, quetiapine 32.3mg/d, risperidone 0.4 mg/d, sertindole 1.1
      mg/d, ziprasidone 7.9 mg/d, zotepine 13.2 mg/d. For iloperidone, lurasidone, and
      paliperidone no data were available. CONCLUSIONS: The classical mean dose method
      is not reliant on the limited availability of fixed-dose data at the lower end of
      the effective dose range, which is the major limitation of "minimum effective
      dose methods" and "dose-response curve methods." In contrast, the mean doses
      found by the current approach may have in part depended on the dose ranges chosen
      for the original trials. Ultimate conclusions on dose equivalence of
      antipsychotics will need to be based on a review of various methods.

PMID- 25841043
TI  - Community-Engaged Public Health Research to Inform Hospital Campus Planning in a
      Low Socioeconomic Status Urban Neighborhood.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare sociodemographic and motivational factors for healthcare
      use and identify desirable health-promoting resources among groups in a low
      socioeconomic status (SES) community in Chicago, IL. BACKGROUND: Disparities in
      health services and outcomes are well established in low SES urban neighborhoods
      in the United States and many factors beyond service availability and quality
      impact community health. Yet there is no clear process for engaging communities
      in building resources to improve population-level health in such locales.
      METHODS: A hospital building project led to a partnership of public health
      researchers, architects, and planners who conducted community-engaged research.
      We collected resident data and compared factors for healthcare use and choice and
      likelihood of engaging new health-promoting services. RESULTS: Neighborhood areas
      were strongly associated with ethnic groupings, and there were differences
      between groups in healthcare choice and service needs, such as, proximity to home
      was more important to Latinos than African Americans in choice of healthcare
      facility ( p adj = .001). Latinos expressed higher likelihood to use a fitness
      facility ( p adj = .001). Despite differences in vehicle ownership, >75% of all
      respondents indicated that nearby public transportation was important in choosing
      healthcare. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of community needs and heterogeneity is
      essential to decision makers of facility and community development plans.
      Partnerships between public health, urban planning, architecture, and local
      constituents should be cultivated toward focus on reducing health disparities.
      Further work to integrate community perspectives through the planning and design
      process and to evaluate the long-term impact of such efforts is needed.

PMID- 25841044
TI  - Efficacy of mechanical insufflation-exsufflation in extubating unweanable
      subjects with restrictive pulmonary disorders.

PMID- 25841045
TI  - What is the potential role of transcutaneous carbon dioxide in guiding acute
      noninvasive ventilation?

PMID- 25841046
TI  - A look at the diversity in management of respiratory failure in amyotrophic
      lateral sclerosis.

PMID- 25841047
TI  - Mechanical ventilation for the treatment of severe excessive dynamic airway
      collapse.

PMID- 25841048
TI  - Excessive dynamic airway collapse in the critical care setting.

PMID- 25841050
TI  - Correction for Kim et al., development of an adenovirus-based respiratory
      syncytial virus vaccine: preclinical evaluation of efficacy, immunogenicity, and
      enhanced disease in a cotton rat model.

PMID- 25841051
TI  - Correction for McGuire et al., diverse recombinant HIV-1 Envs fail to activate B
      cells expressing the germline B cell receptors of the broadly neutralizing anti
      HIV-1 antibodies PG9 and 447-52D.

PMID- 25841053
TI  - MALDI-TOF typing highlights geographical and fluconazole resistance clusters in
      Candida glabrata.
AB  - Utilizing matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF)
      mass spectra for Candida glabrata typing would be a cost-effective and easy-to
      use alternative to classical DNA-based typing methods. This study aimed to use
      MALDI-TOF for the typing of C. glabrata clinical isolates from various
      geographical origins and test its capacity to differentiate between fluconazole
      sensitive and -resistant strains.Both microsatellite length polymorphism (MLP)
      and MALDI-TOF mass spectra of 58 C. glabrata isolates originating from Marseilles
      (France) and Tunis (Tunisia) as well as collection strains from diverse
      geographic origins were analyzed. The same analysis was conducted on a subset of
      C. glabrata isolates that were either susceptible (MIC <= 8 mg/l) or resistant
      (MIC >= 64 mg/l) to fluconazole.According to the seminal results, both MALDI-TOF
      and MLP classifications could highlight C. glabrata population structures
      associated with either geographical dispersal barriers (p < 10(-5)) or the
      selection of antifungal drug resistance traits (<10(-5)).In conclusion, MALDI-TOF
      geographical clustering was congruent with MPL genotyping and highlighted a
      significant population genetic structure according to fluconazole susceptibility
      in C. glabrata. Furthermore, although MALDI-TOF and MLP resulted in distinct
      classifications, MALDI-TOF also classified the isolates with respect to their
      fluconazole susceptibility profile. Further prospective studies are required to
      evaluate the capacity of MALDI-TOF typing to investigate C. glabrata infection
      outbreaks and predict the antifungal susceptibility profile of clinical
      laboratory isolates. 

PMID- 25841054
TI  - Inhibitory effects of antimicrobial agents against Fusarium species.
AB  - We investigated the inhibitory effects of antibacterial, biocidal, and antifungal
      agents against Fusarium spp. Seven Fusarium spp: four F. falciforme (Fusarium
      solani species complex), one Fusarium spp, one Fusarium spp. (Fusarium incarnatum
      equiseti species complex), and one F. napiforme (Gibberella fujikuroi species
      complex), isolated from eyes with fungal keratitis were used in this study. Their
      susceptibility to antibacterial agents: flomoxef, imipenem, gatifloxacin,
      levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, gentamicin, tobramycin, and Tobracin(r) (contained
      3,000 MUg/ml of tobramycin and 25 MUg/ml of benzalkonium chloride (BAK), a
      biocidal agent: BAK, and antifungal agents: amphotericin B, pimaricin
      (natamycin), fluconazole, itraconazole, miconazole, voriconazole, and micafungin,
      was determined by broth microdilution tests. The half-maximal inhibitory
      concentration (IC50), 100% inhibitory concentration (IC100), and minimum
      inhibitory concentration (MIC) against the Fusarium isolates were determined. BAK
      had the highest activity against the Fusarium spp. except for the antifungal
      agents. Three fluoroquinolones and two aminoglycosides had inhibitory effects
      against the Fusarium spp. at relatively high concentrations. Tobracin(r) had a
      higher inhibitory effect against Fusarium spp. than tobramycin alone.
      Amphotericin B had the highest inhibitory effect against the Fusarium spp,
      although it had different degrees of activity against each isolate. Our findings
      showed that fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, and BAK had some degree of
      inhibitory effect against the seven Fusarium isolates, although these agents had
      considerably lower effect than amphotericin B. However, the inhibitory effects of
      amphotericin B against the Fusarium spp. varied for the different isolates.
      Further studies for more effective medications against Fusarium, such as
      different combinations of antibacterial, biocidal, and antifungal agents are
      needed. 

PMID- 25841055
TI  - Scedo-Select III: a new semi-selective culture medium for detection of the
      Scedosporium apiospermum species complex.
AB  - The Scedosporium apiospermum complex is responsible for a large variety of
      infections in human. Members of this complex have become emerging fungal
      pathogens with an increasing occurrence in patients with underlying conditions
      such as immunosuppression or cystic fibrosis. A better knowledge of these fungi
      and of the sources of contamination of the patients is required and more accurate
      detection methods from the environment are needed. In this context, a highly
      selective culture medium was developed in the present study. Thus, various
      aliphatic, cyclic, or aromatic compounds were tested as the sole carbon source,
      in combination with some inorganic nitrogen sources and fungicides. The best
      results were obtained with 4-hydroxy-benzoate combined with ammonium sulfate and
      the fungicides dichloran and benomyl. This new culture medium called Scedo-Select
      III was shown to support growth of all species of the S. apiospermum complex.
      Subsequently, this new culture medium was evaluated successfully on water and
      soil samples, exhibiting higher sensitivity and selectivity than the previously
      described SceSel+ culture medium. Therefore, this easy-to-prepare and synthetic
      semi-selective culture medium may be useful to clarify the ecology of these fungi
      and to identify their reservoirs in patients' environment.

PMID- 25841056
TI  - Morphology and its underlying genetic regulation impact the interaction between
      Cryptococcus neoformans and its hosts.
AB  - Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungus that causes the majority of fatal
      cryptococcal meningitis cases worldwide. This pathogen is capable of assuming
      different morphotypes: yeast, pseudohypha, and hypha. The yeast form is the most
      common cell type observed clinically. The hyphal and pseudohyphal forms are
      rarely observed in the clinical setting and are considered attenuated in
      virulence. However, as a ubiquitous environmental pathogen, Cryptococcus
      interacts with various organisms, and it is known to be parasitic to different
      hosts. Capitalizing on recent discoveries, morphogenesis regulators were
      manipulated to examine the impact of cell shape on the cryptococcal interaction
      with three different host systems: the soil amoeba Acanthamoeba castellanii (a
      protist), the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella (an insect), and the murine
      macrophage cell line J774A.1 (mammalian cells). The regulation of Ace2 and
      morphogenesis (RAM) pathway is a highly conserved pathway among eukaryotes that
      regulates cytokinesis. Disruption of any of five RAM components in Cryptococcus
      renders cells constitutively in the pseudohyphal form. The transcription factor
      Znf2 is the master activator of the yeast to hyphal transition. Deletion of ZNF2
      locks cells in the yeast form, while overexpression of this regulator drives
      hyphal growth. Genetic epistasis analyses indicate that the RAM and the Znf2
      pathways regulate distinct aspects of cryptococcal morphogenesis and
      independently of each other. These investigations using the Cryptococcus RAM and
      ZNF2 mutants indicate that cell shape, cell size, and likely cell surface
      properties weigh differently on the outcome of cryptococcal interactions with
      different hosts. Thus, certain traits evolved in Cryptococcus that are beneficial
      within one host might be detrimental when a different host is encountered. 

PMID- 25841057
TI  - Cholesterol anchored arabinogalactan for asialoglycoprotein receptor targeting:
      synthesis, characterization, and proof of concept of hepatospecific delivery.
AB  - Asialoglycoprotein receptors (ASGPR) are hepatocyte bound receptors, which
      exhibit receptor mediated endocytosis (RME) for galactose specific moieties.
      Arabinogalactan (AG), a liver specific high galactose containing branched
      polysaccharide was hydrophobized using cholesterol (CHOL) as a lipid anchor via a
      two step reaction process to yield the novel polysaccharide lipid conjugated
      ligand (CHOL-AL-AG). CHOL-AL-AG was characterized by Fourier transform infra red
      (FTIR) spectroscopy, (1)H and (13)C nuclear magnetic spectroscopy (NMR), size
      exclusion chromatography (SEC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
      Conventional liposomes (CL) and surface modified liposomes (SML) containing CHOL
      AL-AG were prepared using reverse phase evaporation technique. Effect of CHOL-AL
      AG concentration on particle size and zeta potential of SML was evaluated.
      Surface morphology of CL and SML was studied using cryo-transmission electron
      microscopy (cryo-TEM). In vitro binding affinity of SML and CL was evaluated
      using Ricinus communis agglutinin (RCA) assay. Cellular uptake of SML and CL was
      determined on ASGPR expressing HepG2 cell lines by confocal laser scanning
      microscopy technique (CLSM). FTIR spectra revealed bands at 1736 cm(-1) and 1664
      cm(-1) corresponding to ester and carbamate functional groups, respectively.
      Signals at delta 0.5-2.5 corresponding to the cholestene ring and delta 3-5.5
      corresponding to the carbohydrate backbone were observed in (1)H NMR spectrum of
      the product. CHOL-AL-AG possessed a mean average molecular weight of 27 KDa as
      determined by size exclusion chromatography. An endothermic peak at 207  degrees
      C was observed in the DSC thermogram of CHOL-AL-AG, which was not observed in
      thermograms of reactants and intermediate product. Synthesized CHOL-AL-AG was
      successfully incorporated in liposomes to yield SML. Both CL and SML possessed a
      mean particle size of ~ 200 nm with polydispersity index of ~ 0.25. The zeta
      potential of CLs was observed to be -17 mV whereas zeta potential of SMLs varied
      from -18 to -22 mV. RCA assay revealed enhanced binding of SML compared to CL
      confirming presence of galactose on surface of SML. CLSM studies demonstrated
      enhanced cellular uptake of SMLs compared to CL by HepG2 cells post 3 h
      administration indicating enhanced uptake by the ASGPR. Thus surface modified
      liposomes specific to target heptocytes demonstrate a promising approach for
      targeted drug delivery in liver cancer therapeutics.

PMID- 25841058
TI  - Novel family GH3 beta-glucosidases or beta-xylosidases of unknown function found
      in various animal groups, including birds and reptiles.
AB  - Proteins from the glycoside hydrolase family 3 (GH3) are important bacterial,
      fungal and plant enzymes involved in cell wall remodeling, energy metabolism and
      pathogen defense but no animal GH3 proteins have been reported so far. In
      presented work we use the in silico approach to describe putative GH3 proteins of
      animals. Based on tertiary structure modeling, domain organization and
      transcriptomics data analysis, presence of catalytic and substrate binding
      residues and evolutionary relationship inference, we assume that there is a
      monophyletic group of GH3 enzymes (probably beta-xylosidases) found in various
      animal taxa with possible role in development. 

PMID- 25841059
TI  - Solubilization of octane in cationic surfactant-anionic polymer complexes: effect
      of polymer concentration and temperature.
AB  - Polymers may alter the ability of oppositely charged surfactant micelles to
      solubilize hydrophobic molecules depending on surfactant-polymer interactions.
      This study was conducted to investigate the effects of polymer concentration and
      temperature on the solubilization thermodynamics of an octane oil-in-water
      emulsion in mixtures of an anionic polymer (carboxymethyl cellulose) and cationic
      cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant micelles using isothermal
      titration calorimetry (ITC). Results showed that the CTAB binding capacity of
      carboxymethyl cellulose increased with increasing temperature from 301 to 323 K,
      and correspondingly the thermodynamic behavior of octane solubilization in CTAB
      micelles, either in the absence or presence of polymer, was found to depend on
      temperature. The addition of carboxymethyl cellulose caused the solubilization in
      CTAB micelles to be less endothermic, and increased the solubilization capacity.
      Based on the phase separation model, the solubilization was suggested to be
      mainly driven by enthalpy gains. Results suggest that increasing concentrations
      of the anionic polymer gave rise to a larger Gibbs energy decrease and a larger
      unfavorable entropy increase for octane solubilization in cationic surfactant
      micelles.

PMID- 25841060
TI  - Manganese chlorins immobilized on silica as oxidation reaction catalysts.
AB  - Synthetic strategies that comply with the principles of green chemistry represent
      a challenge: they will enable chemists to conduct reactions that maximize the
      yield of products with commercial interest while minimizing by-products
      formation. The search for catalysts that promote the selective oxidation of
      organic compounds under mild and environmentally friendly conditions constitutes
      one of the most important quests of organic chemistry. In this context,
      metalloporphyrins and analogues are excellent catalysts for oxidative
      transformations under mild conditions. In fact, their reduced derivatives
      chlorins are also able to catalyze organic compounds oxidation effectively,
      although they have been still little explored. In this study, we synthesized two
      chlorins through porphyrin cycloaddition reactions with 1.3-dipoles and prepared
      the corresponding manganese chlorins (MnCHL) using adequate manganese(II) salts.
      These MnCHL were posteriorly immobilized on silica by following the sol-gel
      process and the resulting solids were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction
      (PXRD), UVVIS spectroscopy, FTIR, XPS, and EDS. The catalytic activity of the
      immobilized MnCHL was investigated in the oxidation of cyclooctene, cyclohexene
      and cyclohexane and the results were compared with the ones obtained under
      homogeneous conditions. 

PMID- 25841061
TI  - Immobilization of laccase in a sponge-like hydrogel for enhanced durability in
      enzymatic degradation of dye pollutants.
AB  - A highly stable and efficient biocatalyst was fabricated by encapsulating
      Trametes versicolor laccase within a chitosan grafted polyacrylamide hydrogel
      (denoted as Lac-PAM-CTS). Scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption
      desorption tests demonstrated that channels of diameter of 10-20 MUm were
      regularly distributed throughout the sponge-like Lac-PAM-CTS. Besides, there were
      massive mesopores and macropores in the lamellar walls of the hydrogel. Such a
      network structure reduced the diffusion resistance of the hydrogel to the target
      substrates. The recovered activity of the obtained Lac-PAM-CTS was 40.8%. As
      compared to free laccase, the Lac-PAM-CTS showed enhanced thermal and chemical
      stability. The positive surface charge of the Lac-PAM-CTS endowed it with a pre
      enrichment effect in the treatment of anionic dyes. In a continuous six-cycle
      batch decoloration of Malachite Green, the Lac-PAM-CTS showed much better
      durability than the free laccase. The results here suggest that sponge-like
      hydrogel is a good supporting matrix for laccase.

PMID- 25841062
TI  - Intercalation of a block co-polymer in kaolinite.
AB  - Intercalates of kaolinite/Polyethylene-block-poly (ethylene glycol) were
      successfully prepared by melt intercalation of the polymer with a kaolinite:
      dimethyl sulfoxide pre-intercalate. Powder X-ray diffraction gives an 11.05 A d
      spacing which remains after washing the material with water. Thermal gravimetric
      analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance confirm the presence of the polymer in
      the prepared material. Perturbation of the kaolinite hydroxyl stretch and the
      polymer's CH2 bending modes in the materials' infrared spectrum suggest strong
      interaction between the aluminol clay sheet and the ethylene glycol units in the
      polymer. Dipolar dephasing studies show both polymer blocks experience a
      significant loss in mobility in the prepared material, indicative of
      intercalation. The presence of highly hydrophobic polyethylene inside kaolinite
      is expected to drastically modify the nature of the interlayer space, and could
      be of interest for applications where retention or sequestration of hydrophobic
      species is required.

PMID- 25841063
TI  - Adverse effects of bisphenol A on water louse (Asellus aquaticus).
AB  - Experiments were performed to study the effects of short and long-term exposure
      to bisphenol A (BPA) on a freshwater crustacean isopod Asellus aquaticus (L.).
      Two life stages of isopods were exposed to a range of BPA concentrations, from
      aqueous and two dietary sources, in the form of with BPA spiked conditioned alder
      leaf (Alnus glutinosa) discs, or spiked formulated sediment, to determine the
      relative importance of each source of exposure on the uptake of this contaminant.
      Several lethal and sublethal endpoints were evaluated in this study to measure
      the potential effects of BPA on A. aquaticus, including mortality, growth and
      feeding rate inhibition, mobility inhibition, de-pigmentation and molting
      disturbances. They signify a correlation to BPA levels and a difference in BPA
      uptake efficiency from different uptake sources. Results of acute exposure to BPA
      show a greater sensitivity of test systems using juvenile specimens with a 96 h
      LC50 of 8.6 mg L(-1) BPA in water medium and a 96 h LC50 of 13.5 mg L(-1) BPA in
      sediment. In comparison, adult isopods show a 96 h LC50 of 25.1 mg L(-1) BPA in
      water medium and a 96 h LC50 of 65.1 mg L(-1) BPA in sediment. Observed endpoints
      of chronic exposures suggest the alder leave discs to be the most efficient
      uptake source of BPA, in contrast to uptake from water or heterogeneous sediment.
      Significant (p<0.05) growth inhibition, with a 21d NOEC of 0.5/2.5 mg L(-1) (for
      juvenile/adult organisms), and feeding rate inhibition, with a 21d NOEC of
      0.5/1.0 mg L(-1) (for juvenile/adult organisms), were proven to be the most
      sensitive toxicity endpoints. An even more sensitive effect turned out to be
      molting frequency, which was significantly reduced; a 21d NOEC was 1.0 mg L(-1)
      of BPA for adult organisms and an even lower 21d NOEC of 0.05 mg L(-1) of BPA for
      juveniles. The observed endpoints are recorded at very low, non-toxic exposure
      concentrations, indicating that BPA acts as an endocrine disrupting compound, as
      well as a toxic substance. We also determined the importance of the direct
      dietary uptake of the pollutants, significant for juveniles as well as adult
      animals.

PMID- 25841064
TI  - Effects of land use intensity on the natural attenuation capacity of urban soils
      in Beijing, China.
AB  - Urban soils are major sinks that provide the services of attenuating and
      detoxifying environmental pollutants. This significant ecosystem service of urban
      soil can be evaluated by the natural attenuation capacity (NAC). In this
      research, we develop a method to calculate the natural pollutant attenuation
      capacity of urban soils on the basis of 5 chemical and physical measurements. By
      selecting municipal parks soils for reference, we assessed the spatial and
      temporal changes of NAC in Beijing city soils under influences of rapid
      urbanization. Results indicated that NAC was increasingly impacted by land use in
      the order: parks<schools<woods<residential areas<traffic areas. Sealed area rate
      and construction age are two main factors affecting the urban soil NAC. However,
      their roles are opposite. It would take dozens of years to reach the maximum soil
      NAC by soil self-recovery. The spatial distribution of NAC in Beijing built-up
      area resembled the age of urbanization. Regional hot spots of NAC corresponded to
      the land use distribution and the urbanization progress in Beijing city. The
      developed index can be used to assess the impacts of urbanization on soil
      ecosystem services of natural attenuation of contaminants. 

PMID- 25841065
TI  - Protective effect of spermidine on salt stress induced oxidative damage in two
      Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) cultivars.
AB  - To improve the salinity tolerance of turfgrass and investigate the effect of
      spermidine (Spd) on antioxidant metabolism and gene expression under salinity
      stress condition, exogenous Spd was applied before two kentucky bluegrass (Poa
      pratensis L.) cultivars ('Kenblue' and 'Midnight') were exposed to 200 mM sodium
      chloride (NaCl) stress for 28 d. Salinity stress decreased the turfgrass quality,
      increased the content of malonyldialdehyde (MDA), superoxide anion (O2(.-)) and
      hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and enhanced activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD),
      catalase (CAT), guaiacol peroxidase (POD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and
      isozymes intensity in both cultivars. In addition, the expression level of
      Cu/ZnSOD was down-regulated in 'Kenblue' but up-regulated in 'Midnight' after
      salt treatment. Salinity stress also enhanced the expression of APX but inhibited
      the expression of CAT and POD in both cultivars. Exogenous Spd treatment
      alleviated the salinity-induced oxidative stress through decreasing MDA, H2O2 and
      O2(.-) contents in both cultivars. Besides, exogenous Spd further enhanced the
      activities of SOD, CAT, POD and APX accompanied with the increased intensity of
      specific isozymes of SOD, CAT and APX in both cultivars and POD in 'Kenblue'.
      Moreover, Spd further up-regulated expression levels of Cu/ZnSOD and APX, but
      down-regulated those of CAT and POD in both cultivars. These results indicated
      that exogenous Spd might improve turfgrass quality and promote the salinity
      tolerance in the two cultivars of kentucky bluegrass through reducing oxidative
      damages and increasing enzyme activity both at protein and transcriptional
      levels.

PMID- 25841066
TI  - Effects of alginate on stability and ecotoxicity of nano-TiO2 in artificial
      seawater.
AB  - The large-scale use of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO2) in consumer and
      industrial applications raised environmental health and safety concerns.
      Potentially impacted ecosystems include estuarine and coastal organisms. Results
      from ecotoxicological studies with nano-TiO2 dispersed in salt exposure media are
      difficult to interpret due to fast flocculation and sedimentation phenomena
      affecting the dispersion stability. The goal of this study was to investigate the
      stabilisation effect of alginate on uncoated nano-Ti22 in artificial seawater
      dispersions used in ecotoxicity bioassays. The most effective stabilisation was
      obtained at alginate concentration of 0.45 g/L after sonicating dispersions for
      20 min (100 W). The size distribution remained constant after re-suspension,
      indicating that no agglomeration occurred after deposition. Ecotoxicity tests on
      Artemia franciscana and Phaeodactylum tricornutum did not show any adverse
      effects related to the presence of alginate in the exposure media, and provided
      evidence on possible reduced bioavailability of nano-TiO2. The suitable
      concentration of alginate is recommended to occur on a case-by-case basis.

PMID- 25841067
TI  - Removal of nickel(II) from aqueous solution using Citrus Limettioides peel and
      seed carbon.
AB  - The agricultural wastes like Citrus Limettioides peel and seed to be suitable
      precursor for the preparation of carbon [Citrus Limettioides peel carbon (CLPC)
      and seed carbon (CLSC)] has been explored in the present work, utilizing sulfuric
      acid as the activating agent. Adsorption studies were performed by varying
      contact time, solution pH, adsorbent dose and temperature. The equilibrium time
      for Ni(II) ions was determined as 4h and optimal pH was 4-7. Surface morphology
      and functionality of the CLPC and CLSC were characterized by SEM, EDX and FT-IR.
      The experimental data were analysed using the Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin,
      Redlich-Peterson, Sips and Dubinin-Radushkevich adsorption isotherm equations
      using nonlinear regression analysis. Equilibrium data were found to fit well in
      the Langmuir isotherm, which confirmed the monolayer coverage of Ni(II) ions. The
      Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity of CLPC and CLSC was found to be 38.46 and
      35.54 mg/g. The thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption process
      was spontaneous and exothermic in nature. The kinetic data followed pseudo-second
      order model with film diffusion process. The adsorbents were tested with Ni(II)
      plating wastewater in connection with the reuse and selectivity of the
      adsorbents.

PMID- 25841068
TI  - The functions of human saliva: A review sponsored by the World Workshop on Oral
      Medicine VI.
AB  - This narrative review of the functions of saliva was conducted in the PubMed,
      Embase and Web of Science databases. Additional references relevant to the topic
      were used, as our key words did not generate references which covered all known
      functions of saliva. These functions include maintaining a moist oral mucosa
      which is less susceptible to abrasion, and removal of micro-organisms,
      desquamated epithelial cells, leucocytes and food debris by swallowing. The
      mucins form a slimy coating on all surfaces in the mouth and act as a lubricant
      during such processes as mastication, formation of a food bolus, swallowing and
      speaking. Saliva provides the fluid in which solid tastants may dissolve and
      distributes tastants around the mouth to the locations of the taste buds. The
      hypotonic unstimulated saliva facilitates taste recognition. Salivary amylase is
      involved in digestion of starches. Saliva acts as a buffer to protect oral,
      pharyngeal and oesophageal mucosae from orally ingested acid or acid regurgitated
      from the stomach. Saliva protects the teeth against acid by contributing to the
      acquired enamel pellicle, which forms a renewable lubricant between opposing
      tooth surfaces, by being supersaturated with respect to tooth mineral, by
      containing bicarbonate as a buffer and urea and by facilitating clearance of
      acidic materials from the mouth. Saliva contains many antibacterial, antiviral
      and antifungal agents which modulate the oral microbial flora in different ways.
      Saliva also facilitates the healing of oral wounds. Clearly, saliva has many
      functions which are needed for proper protection and functioning of the human
      body.

PMID- 25841069
TI  - The effects of altered maxillary growth on patterns of mandibular rotation in a
      pig model.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A thorough understanding of influence of maxillary growth on patterns
      of mandibular rotation during development is important with regard to the
      treatment of skeletal discrepancies. In the present study, we examined whether
      experimentally altered maxillary position has a significant influence on patterns
      of mandibular rotation in a pig model. DESIGN: Maxillary growth was altered in a
      sample of n=10 domestic pigs via surgical fixation of the circummaxillary
      sutures. We compared the experimental group to control and surgical sham samples
      and assessed the effects of altered maxillary growth on mandibular form using
      geometric morphometric techniques. We tested for significant differences in
      mandibular shape between our samples and examined axes of morphological
      variation. Additionally, we examined whether altered mandibular shape resulting
      from altered maxillary position was predictably associated with morphological
      changes to the condylar region. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant
      difference in mandibular shape between the experimental and control/sham groups.
      As a result of vertical displacement of the snout, mandibles in the experimental
      sample resulted in greater anterior rotation when compared to the control/sham
      pigs. Variation in rotation was correlated with morphological changes in the
      condyle including the shape of the articular surface and condylar orientation
      indicative of greater anterior mandibular rotation. CONCLUSIONS: Vertical
      displacement of the maxilla had a significant effect on mandibular shape by
      encouraging anterior mandibular rotation. This result has important implications
      for understanding the effects of altered mandibular posture on condylar
      remodeling the treatment of skeletal discrepancies such as the correction of
      hyperdivegent mandibular growth.

PMID- 25841070
TI  - The expression of NLRP3, NLRP1 and AIM2 in the gingival tissue of periodontitis
      patients: RT-PCR study and immunohistochemistry.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Detecting the distribution and intensity of NLRP3, NLRP1 and AIM2
      expression in different types of periodontitis gingival tissues. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: A total of 65 gingival tissues were collected from clinic and been
      divided into three groups: patients with chronic periodontitis (CP), patients
      with generalized aggressive periodontitis (G-AgP) and healthy control subjects.
      Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to detect mRNA
      expression of NLRP3, NLRP1 and AIM2 in full-thickness tissue. In the meanwhile,
      immunohistochemistry was used to detect distribution of NLRP3, NLRP1 and AIM2 in
      the periodontal epithelium and in the connective tissue cells. RESULTS: The
      overall intensity of NLRP3 expression was significantly higher in CP or G-AgP
      than healthy tissue. A more significant difference was observed in the
      periodontal epithelium layer. NLRP1 was barely expressed in the healthy and
      periodontitis gingival tissues, whereas AIM2 was expressed at a higher level in
      the chronic periodontitis group than others. CONCLUSION: The NLRP3, NLRP1 and
      AIM2 proteins were differentially expressed in gingival tissues from patients
      with CP and G-AgP and may play vital roles in the progression of periodontal
      inflammation to different degrees. Our studies may provide a new direction for
      personalized periodontal treatment.

PMID- 25841071
TI  - Electroremediation of PCB contaminated soil combined with iron nanoparticles:
      Effect of the soil type.
AB  - Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) are carcinogenic and persistent organic
      pollutants that accumulate in soils and sediments. Currently, there is no cost
      effective and sustainable remediation technology for these contaminants. In this
      work, a new combination of electrodialytic remediation and zero valent iron
      particles in a two-compartment cell is tested and compared to a more conventional
      combination of electrokinetic remediation and nZVI in a three-compartment cell.
      In the new two-compartment cell, the soil is suspended and stirred simultaneously
      with the addition of zero valent iron nanoparticles. Remediation experiments are
      made with two different historically PCB contaminated soils, which differ in both
      soil composition and contamination source. Soil 1 is a mix of soils with spills
      of transformer oils, while Soil 2 is a superficial soil from a decommissioned
      school where PCB were used as windows sealants. Saponin, a natural surfactant,
      was also tested to increase the PCB desorption from soils and enhance
      dechlorination. Remediation of Soil 1 (with highest pH, carbonate content,
      organic matter and PCB concentrations) obtained the maximum 83% and 60% PCB
      removal with the two-compartment and the three-compartment cell, respectively.
      The highest removal with Soil 2 were 58% and 45%, in the two-compartment and the
      three-compartment cell, respectively, in the experiments without direct current.
      The pH of the soil suspension in the two-compartment treatment appears to be a
      determining factor for the PCB dechlorination, and this cell allowed a uniform
      distribution of the nanoparticles in the soil, while there was iron accumulation
      in the injection reservoir in the three-compartment cell. 

PMID- 25841072
TI  - Quantitative X-ray Diffraction (QXRD) analysis for revealing thermal
      transformations of red mud.
AB  - Red mud is a worldwide environmental problem, and many authorities are trying to
      find an economic solution for its beneficial application or/and safe disposal.
      Ceramic production is one of the potential waste-to-resource strategies for using
      red mud as a raw material. Before implementing such a strategy, an unambiguous
      understanding of the reaction behavior of red mud under thermal conditions is
      essential. In this study, the phase compositions and transformation processes
      were revealed for the Pingguo red mud (PRM) heat-treated at different sintering
      temperatures. Hematite, perovskite, andradite, cancrinite, kaolinite, diaspore,
      gibbsite and calcite phases were observed in the samples. However, unlike those
      red mud samples from the other regions, no TiO2 (rutile or anatase) or quartz
      were observed. Titanium was found to exist mainly in perovskite and andradite
      while the iron mainly existed in hematite and andradite. A new silico-ferrite of
      calcium and aluminum (SFCA) phase was found in samples treated at temperatures
      above 1100 degrees C, and two possible formation pathways for SFCA were
      suggested. This is the first SFCA phase to be reported in thermally treated red
      mud, and this finding may turn PRM waste into a material resource for the iron
      making industry. Titanium was found to be enriched in the perovskite phase after
      1200 degrees C thermal treatment, and this observation indicated a potential
      strategy for the recovery of titanium from PRM. In addition to noting these
      various resource recovery opportunities, this is also the first study to
      quantitatively summarize the reaction details of PRM phase transformations at
      various temperatures. 

PMID- 25841073
TI  - Influence of cations on the partition behavior of perfluoroheptanoate (PFHpA) and
      perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS) on wastewater sludge.
AB  - The effects of different cations on the sorption behavior of PFHpA and PFHxS on
      two types of sludge were investigated in this study. The sodium and potassium
      ions did not significantly affect PFHpA and PFHxS sorption on different sludge.
      For calcium and magnesium, the sorption amount of PFAS increased with calcium and
      magnesium concentration increasing from 1 to 30 mM and then decreased with those
      increasing from 30 to 100 mM. The sorption level of PFHxS or PFHpA greatly
      increased with increasing Al3+ and Fe3+ cation concentrations due to the strong
      sorption and coagulation effects by the formation of aluminum hydroxide (or
      ferric hydroxide) colloids or precipitates. After the organics in sludge has been
      removed by thermal treatment, the PFAS sorption on sludge was greatly reduced.
      Such finding indicated that sorption to organic matter is more important for
      anionic PFASs than adsorption to mineral surfaces. However, due to the higher
      content of biological organics, a secondary activated sludge has higher affinity
      toward PFAS species than chemically enhanced primary treatment sludge. It
      indicated that the organic types in sludge were also crucial to the sorption
      levels of PFASs by sludge.

PMID- 25841074
TI  - White paper on the promotion of an integrated risk assessment concept in European
      regulatory frameworks for chemicals.
AB  - The vision of a sustainable and safe use of chemicals to protect human health,
      preserve the environment and maintain the ecosystem requires innovative and more
      holistic approaches to risk assessment (RA) in order to better inform decision
      making. Integrated risk assessment (IRA) has been proposed as a solution to
      current scientific, societal and policy needs. It is defined as the mutual
      exploitation of environmental risk assessment (ERA) for human health risk
      assessment (HHRA) and vice versa in order to coherently and more efficiently
      characterize an overall risk to humans and the environment for better informing
      the risk analysis process. Extrapolating between species which are relevant for
      HHRA and ERA requires a detailed understanding of pathways of toxicity/modes of
      action (MoA) for the various toxicological endpoints. Significant scientific
      advances, changes in chemical legislation, and increasing environmental
      consciousness have created a favourable scientific and regulatory environment to
      develop and promote the concept and vision of IRA. An initial proof of concept is
      needed to foster the incorporation of IRA approaches into different chemical
      sectorial regulations and demonstrate their reliability for regulatory purposes.
      More familiarity and confidence with IRA will ultimately contribute to an overall
      reduction in in vivo toxicity testing requirements. However, significant progress
      will only be made if long-term support for MoA-related research is secured. In
      the short term, further exchange and harmonization of RA terminology, models and
      methodologies across chemical categories and regulatory agencies will support
      these efforts. Since societal values, public perceptions and cultural factors are
      of increasing importance for the acceptance of risk analysis and successful
      implementation of risk mitigation measures, the integration of socio-economic
      analysis and socio-behavioural considerations into the risk analysis process may
      help to produce a more effective risk evaluation and consideration of the risks
      and benefits associated with the use of chemicals. 

PMID- 25841075
TI  - Characterization of the microbial community structure and nitrosamine-reducing
      isolates in drinking water biofilters.
AB  - Two biofilters were constructed using biological activated carbon (BAC) and
      nitrosamine-containing water from two drinking water treatment plants. The
      microbiome of each biofilter was characterized by 454 high-throughput
      pyrosequencing, and one nitrosamine-reducing bacterium was isolated. The results
      showed that nitrosamines changed the relative abundance at both the phylum and
      class levels, and the new genera were observed in the microbial communities of
      the two BAC filters after cultivation. As such, the genus Rhodococcus, which
      includes many nitrosamine-reducing strains reported in previous studies, was only
      detected in the BAC2 filter after cultivation. These findings indicate that
      nitrosamines can significantly affect the genus level in the microbial
      communities. Furthermore, the isolated bacterial culture Rhodococcus
      cercidiphylli A41 AS-1 exhibited the ability to reduce five nitrosamines (N
      nitrosodimethylamine, N-nitrosodiethylamine, N-nitrosodi-n-propylamine, N
      nitrosopyrrolidine, and N-nitrosodi-n-butylamine) with removal ratios that ranged
      from 38.1% to 85.4%. The isolate exhibited a better biodegradation ability with
      nitrosamine as the carbon source when compared with nitrosamine as the nitrogen
      source. This study increases our understanding of the microbial community in
      drinking water biofilters with trace quantities of nitrosamines, and provides
      information on the metabolism of nitrosamine-reducing bacteria. 

PMID- 25841076
TI  - Associations between depression, chronic physical health conditions, and
      disability in a community sample: A focus on the persistence of depression.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous research has demonstrated that comorbid depression and
      chronic physical health conditions are associated with disability. The
      distinction between persistent and transient depression in the relationship
      between physical health conditions and disability, however, is poorly understood.
      The present study examined the interactive effects of major depressive disorder
      (MDD) and chronic physical health conditions on disability in a community sample;
      the effects of persistent or transient depression on disability were also
      examined. METHODS: Participants were from the Epidemiological Catchment Area of
      Montreal South-West Study (total N=2202). Past 12-month MDD, chronic physical
      conditions, functional disability, and disability days experienced within the
      past month were concurrently assessed. A subsample (n=1226) was used to examine
      the persistence of depression across three waves of data collection over
      approximately six years. RESULTS: Individuals with comorbid MDD and chronic
      physical health conditions were approximately thirteen times more likely to have
      moderate to severe functional disability and had the highest mean number of
      disability days compared to those without MDD or a chronic physical health
      condition. Persistent MDD was most strongly associated with functional disability
      and disability days, and persistence of MDD interacted with physical health
      conditions to increase likelihood of concurrent disability. LIMITATIONS: Our
      study is limited by a single assessment point for disability and chronic health
      conditions and by the use of self-report. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that
      MDD, particularly when persistent, is associated with disability among
      individuals with a broad range of chronic physical health conditions.

PMID- 25841077
TI  - Collaborative care for patients with bipolar disorder: Effects on functioning and
      quality of life.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Functioning and quality of life are impaired in bipolar patients.
      METHODS: Collaborative Care (CC) is a multi-component intervention, provided by a
      multidisciplinary team, in which a nurse-care manager plays a central role.
      Effects on functioning and quality of life were tested in a clinical trial. We
      also investigated the mediating role of depression severity on these outcome
      variables. RESULTS: Patients randomized to CC showed more improvement in overall
      functioning compared to patients in the control group who obtained care as usual
      (CAU), with a small effect size (ES=0.3, z=-2.5, p=0.01). In the domains of
      autonomy and leisure time, a medium effect was found in favor of CC (autonomy:
      ES=0.5, z=-2.9, p=0.004; leisure-time: ES=0.4, z=-2.4, p=0.02). No differences
      between conditions were found in the other domains of functioning. Concerning
      quality of life, patients in CC improved more in the domain physical health
      (ES=0.4, z=2.5, p=0.01), if compared to CAU. No differences were found in overall
      quality of life. Half of the effects on functioning are mediated through the
      effects of CC on depression severity. LIMITATIONS: At baseline, differences on
      the main outcomes existed between conditions. Two teams stopped participation in
      the experimental condition after randomization. Sample size was limited.
      CONCLUSION: Besides effects on depressive symptoms, CC seems to have direct
      beneficial effects on both level of functioning and aspects of quality of life.

PMID- 25841078
TI  - Modification of the hemagglutinin cleavage site allows indirect activation of
      avian influenza virus H9N2 by bacterial staphylokinase.
AB  - Influenza H9N2 is considered to be a low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI)
      virus that commonly infects avian species and can also infect humans. In 1996,
      the influenza virus, A/chicken/Korea/MS96-CE6/1996/H9N2 (MS96) was isolated from
      an outbreak in multiple farms in South Korea that resulted in upwards of 30%
      mortality in infected chickens, with the virus infecting a number of
      extrapulmonary tissues, indicating internal spread. However, in experimental
      infections, complete recovery of specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens occurred.
      Such a discrepancy indicated an alternative pathway for MS96 virus to gain
      virulence in farmed chickens. A key determinant of influenza pathogenesis is the
      susceptibility of the viral hemagglutinin (HA) to proteolytic
      cleavage/activation. Here, we identified that an amino acid substitution, Ser to
      Tyr found at the P2 position of the MS96 HA cleavage site optimizes cleavage by
      the protease plasmin (Pm). Importantly, we identified that certain Staphylococcus
      sp. are able to cleave and activate MS96 HA by activating plasminogen (Plg) to
      plasmin by use of a virulence factor, staphylokinase. Overall, these studies
      provide an in-vitro mechanism for bacterially mediated enhancement of influenza
      activation, and allow insight into the microbiological mechanisms underlying the
      avian influenza H9N2 outbreak in Korea in1996. 

PMID- 25841079
TI  - Emotional hyperreactivity in response to childhood abuse by primary caregivers in
      patients with borderline personality disorder.
AB  - BACKGROUND: One of the core postulated features of borderline personality
      disorder (BPD) is extreme emotional reactivity to a wide array of evocative
      stimuli. Findings from previous experimental research however are mixed, and some
      theories suggest specificity of hyper emotional responses, as being related to
      abuse, rejection and abandonment only. OBJECTIVE: The current experiment examines
      the specificity of emotional hyperreactivity in BPD. METHOD: The impact of four
      film clips (BPD-specific: childhood abuse by primary caregivers; BPD-nonspecific:
      peer bullying; positive; and neutral) on self-reported emotional affect was
      assessed in three female groups; BPD-patients (n = 24), cluster C personality
      disorder patients (n = 17) and non-patient controls (n = 23). RESULTS: Results
      showed that compared to the neutral film clip, BPD-patients reacted with more
      overall negative affect following the childhood abuse clip, and with more anger
      following the peer bullying clip than the two other groups. LIMITATIONS: The
      current study was restricted to assessment of the impact of evocative stimuli on
      self-reported emotions, and the order in which the film clips were presented to
      the participants was fixed. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that BPD-patients only
      react generally excessively emotional to stimuli related to childhood abuse by
      primary caregivers, and with excessive anger to peer-bullying stimuli. These
      findings are thus not in line with the core idea of general emotional
      hyperreactvity in BPD.

PMID- 25841080
TI  - The development, factor structure and psychometric properties of driving self
      regulation scales for older adults: Has self-regulation evolved in the last 15
      years?
AB  - The term driving self-regulation is typically used to describe the practice of
      drivers who avoid driving in situations that they regard as unsafe because of
      perceived physical impairment. Older adults report using this strategy to improve
      safety while retaining mobility. Self-regulation is typically assessed using the
      driving avoidance items from the driving habits questionnaire (DHQ) and the
      driver mobility questionnaire (DMQ-A). However, the psychometric properties of
      these measures are not well understood. Using data from 277 older drivers,
      exploratory factor analysis was used to test the homogeneity of three driving
      self-regulation scales: the DHQ, DMQ-A, and an extended DMQ-A. Good internal
      consistency for each of the scales was identified (all alphas>=.9). A one factor
      solution was identified for two of the measures (DHQ, DMQ-A) and a two factor
      solution accounting for over 70% of the score variance was identified for the
      third measure. The two factors assessed situations that may be avoided while
      driving because of the "external" (e.g., weather-related) or "internal" (e.g.,
      passenger-related) driving environments, respectively. The findings suggest that
      the interpretation of an overall summated scale score, or single-item
      interpretations, may not be appropriate. Instead, driving self-regulation may be
      a multifaceted construct comprised of distinct dimensions that have not been
      identified previously but can be reliably measured. These data have implications
      for our understanding of driving self-regulation by older adults and the way in
      which this behavior is measured. 

PMID- 25841081
TI  - Towards structural and functional characterization of photosynthetic and
      mitochondrial supercomplexes.
AB  - Bioenergetic reactions in chloroplasts and mitochondria are catalyzed by large
      multi-subunit membrane proteins. About two decades ago it became clear that
      several of these large membrane proteins further associate into supercomplexes
      and since then a number of new ones have been described. In this review we focus
      on supercomplexes involved in light harvesting and electron transfer in the
      primary reactions of oxygenic photosynthesis and on the mitochondrial
      supercomplexes that catalyze electron transfer and ATP synthesis in oxidative
      phosphorylation. Functional and structural aspects are overviewed. In addition,
      several relevant technical aspects are discussed, including membrane
      solubilization with suitable detergents and methods of purification. Some open
      questions are addressed, such as the lack of high-resolution structures, the
      outstanding gaps in the knowledge about supercomplexes involved in cyclic
      electron transport in photosynthesis and the unusual mitochondrial protein
      complexes of protists and in particular of ciliates. 

PMID- 25841082
TI  - Signal analysis and classification methods for the calcium transient data of stem
      cell-derived cardiomyocytes.
AB  - Calcium cycling is crucial in the excitation-contraction coupling of
      cardiomyocytes, and therefore has a key role in cardiac functionality. Cardiac
      disorders and different drugs alter the calcium transients of cardiomyocytes and
      can cause serious dysfunction of the heart. New insights into this biochemical
      phenomena can be achieved by studying and analyzing calcium transients. Calcium
      transients of spontaneously beating human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived
      cardiomyocytes were recorded for a data set of 280 signals. Our objective was to
      develop and program procedures: (1) to automatically detect cycling peaks from
      signals and to classify the peaks of signals as either normal or abnormal, and
      (2) on the basis of the preceding peak detection results, to classify the entire
      signals into either a normal class or an abnormal class. We obtained a
      classification accuracy of approximately 80% compared to class decisions made
      separately by an experienced researcher, which is promising for the further
      development of an automatic classification approach. Automated classification
      software would be beneficial in the future for analyzing cardiomyocyte
      functionality on a large scale when screening for the adverse cardiac effects of
      new potential compounds, and also in future clinical applications. 

PMID- 25841083
TI  - Transportation and kinetic analysis of Mo(VI) ions through a MDLM system
      containing TNOA as carrier.
AB  - In this report, Mo(VI) ions are transported from an aqueous donor phase into an
      aqueous acceptor phase by a newly designed method called as multi dropped liquid
      membrane (MDLM) system prepared by dissolving TNOA as carrier in kerosene. During
      the extraction of Mo(VI) ions by the liquid membrane system; 100ppm Mo(VI)
      solutions as donor phase, buffer solution(pH:9.5) and Na2CO3 in different
      concentrations as acceptor phase and TNOA diluted by kerosen as organic phase are
      used.In our experimental work, the effect of temperature by using buffer solution
      and Na2CO3 in the acceptor phase and effect of concentration of acceptor phase on
      the extraction of Mo(VI) ions were investigated. Appropriate conditions for
      Mo(VI) transportation were as follows: pH of donor phase is 2.00, concentration
      of TNOA is 0.005M, 1.00M Na2CO3 as acceptor phase, and flux rate is 50mL/min.
      Besides, Mo(VI) ion transportation is consecutive first order irreversible
      reaction and the transportation of Mo(VI) ions is diffusion controlled process.
      The kinetic parameters (k1, k2, Rm(max), tmax, Jd(max), Ja(max)) were calculated
      for the interface reactions assuming two consecutive, irreversible first-order
      reactions. 

PMID- 25841084
TI  - Effects of feed solution chemistry on low pressure reverse osmosis filtration of
      cesium and strontium.
AB  - The objective of this study was to identify the removal mechanisms of
      radionuclides by reverse osmosis (RO) membranes under conditions relevant to full
      scale water treatment. For this purpose, the effects of feed solution chemistry
      on the removal of Cs and Sr by a low pressure RO system was investigated by
      systematically varying membrane surface charge, ionic composition, and organic
      matter concentrations. The results showed that the effects of solution chemistry
      on the filtration of Cs and Sr were related to their hydrated ionic radius,
      resulting in the predominance of the Donnan's effect and electrostatic
      interactions, respectively. Consequently, the rejection of Cs increased more
      pronouncedly than Sr with the increases of feed concentration. Due to the
      Donnan's effect, different anions decreased the rejection of Cs to different
      extents in accordance to the order of anions' radii as SO4(2-)>Cl(-)>NO3(-)>F(-).
      The variations in Sr rejection were influenced by the electrostatic interactions
      between Sr(2+) and the membrane. In addition, humic acid (HA) lowered the
      rejection of Cs and caused significant membrane flux decline, but did not change
      the rejection of Sr. Sr also aggravated HA fouling of the membrane. 

PMID- 25841085
TI  - Abatement of fluorinated compounds using a 2.45GHz microwave plasma torch with a
      reverse vortex plasma reactor.
AB  - Abatement of fluorinated compounds (FCs) used in semiconductor and display
      industries has received an attention due to the increasingly stricter regulation
      on their emission. We have developed a 2.45GHz microwave plasma torch with
      reverse vortex reactor (RVR). In order to design a reverse vortex plasma reactor,
      we calculated a volume fraction and temperature distribution of discharge gas and
      waste gas in RVR by ANSYS CFX of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation
      code. Abatement experiments have been performed with respect to SF6, NF3 by
      varying plasma power and N2 flow rates, and FCs concentration. Detailed
      experiments were conducted on the abatement of NF3 and SF6 in terms of
      destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR).
      The DRE of 99.9% for NF3 was achieved without an additive gas at the N2 flow rate
      of 150 liter per minute (L/min) by applying a microwave power of 6kW with RVR.
      Also, a DRE of SF6 was 99.99% at the N2 flow rate of 60 L/min using an applied
      microwave power of 6kW. The performance of reverse vortex reactor increased about
      43% of NF3 and 29% of SF6 abatements results definition by decomposition energy
      per liter more than conventional vortex reactor. 

PMID- 25841086
TI  - DFT and two-dimensional correlation analysis methods for evaluating the Pu(3+)
      Pu(4+) electronic transition of plutonium-doped zircon.
AB  - Understanding how plutonium (Pu) doping affects the crystalline zircon structure
      is very important for risk management. However, so far, there have been only a
      very limited number of reports of the quantitative simulation of the effects of
      the Pu charge and concentration on the phase transition. In this study, we used
      density functional theory (DFT), virtual crystal approximation (VCA), and two
      dimensional correlation analysis (2D-CA) techniques to calculate the origins of
      the structural and electronic transitions of Zr1-cPucSiO4 over a wide range of Pu
      doping concentrations (c=0-10mol%). The calculations indicated that the low
      angular-momentum Pu-fxy-shell electron excites an inner-shell O-2s(2) orbital to
      create an oxygen defect (VO-s) below c=2.8mol%. This oxygen defect then captures
      a low-angular-momentum Zr-5p(6)5s(2) electron to form an sp hybrid orbital, which
      exhibits a stable phase structure. When c>2.8mol%, each accumulated VO-p defect
      captures a high-angular-momentum Zr-4dz electron and two Si-pz electrons to
      create delocalized Si(4+)->Si(2+) charge disproportionation. Therefore, we
      suggest that the optimal amount of Pu cannot exceed 7.5mol% because of the
      formation of a mixture of ZrO8 polyhedral and SiO4 tetrahedral phases with the
      orientation (10-1). This study offers new perspective on the development of
      highly stable zircon-based solid solution materials. 

PMID- 25841087
TI  - The epidemiology and progression time from transient to permanent psychiatric
      disorders of substance-induced psychosis in Taiwan.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Substance-induced psychosis (SIP), including alcohol-induced
      psychotic disorder (AIPD) and substance-induced psychotic disorder (SIPD), is
      gradually increasing in importance in clinical practice. However, few studies
      have investigated the epidemiology and progression time from transient to
      permanent psychiatric disorders for AIPD and SIPD patients. METHODS: We utilized
      the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) to investigate the
      incidence and prevalence of AIPD and SIPD in Taiwan and determined the timing of
      AIPD or SIPD followed by the development of persistent psychotic conditions.
      RESULTS: The average incidence and prevalence were 1.97 and 2.94 per 100,000
      person-years for AIPD, 3.09 and 5.67 per 100,000 person-years for SIPD in Taiwan.
      Moreover, 10.9% to 24.3% of subjects with either AIPD or SIPD had a change in
      diagnosis to either schizophrenia or affective disorder, and ~50% of patients had
      a psychotic or affective transformation in their first year after AIPD and SIPD
      diagnoses. The mean progression time of psychotic or affective transformation was
      1.9 to 2.7 years. CONCLUSIONS: SIP is a predictive factor for persistent
      psychotic and affective transformation, and a three-year follow-up may be an
      optimal clinical practice to prevent psychotic or affective transformation in 60%
      of patients.

PMID- 25841088
TI  - Prevalence and predictors of hookah use in US Air Force military recruits.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Hookah use has gained recent popularity among U.S. youth. The
      current study describes the characteristics and correlates associated with hookah
      use in late adolescent and young adult US Air Force (USAF) recruits. METHODS:
      Data were obtained from a cross-sectional questionnaire of USAF personnel in
      Technical Training School at Joint Base San Antonio (N=10,997). Response rate was
      78%. Logistic regression was used to analyze the associations between hookah use,
      demographic variables, other tobacco and nicotine containing product (TNCP) use,
      and the social environment. RESULTS: The prevalence of ever hookah use was 28%;
      at least monthly hookah use was 10%. Increased hookah use was positively
      associated with Hispanic ethnicity (OR [odds ratio] 1.52; 95% CI: 1.25, 1.85),
      cigarette smoking (OR 4.05; CI: 3.41, 4.82) and smokeless tobacco use (OR 1.35;
      95% CI: 1.07, 1.71). Hookah use was negatively associated with age (OR 0.84; 95%
      0.71 to 1.00), living as married (OR 0.54; 95% CI: 0.40-0.72), African American
      (OR 0.53; 95% CI: 0.40, 0.69) and >=4-year degree (OR 0.54; 95% CI: 0.35, 0.82).
      Hookah use was highest among recruits who "many or almost all" of their friends
      smoked cigarettes (OR 2.43; 95% CI: 1.80, 3.30) and for those who reported
      willingness to try a tobacco product that claims to be safer than cigarettes (OR
      3.16; 95% CI: 2.64, 3.77). CONCLUSIONS: Hookah use among military recruits is
      similar to the civilian population. A willingness to try TNCPs claiming to be
      safer than cigarettes may influence hookah use. Public health campaigns
      disseminating accurate information about hookah health risks may be needed to
      reduce hookah use among youth.

PMID- 25841089
TI  - Operant responding for alcohol following alcohol cue exposure in social drinkers.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Cue reactivity paradigms have found that alcohol-related cues
      increase alcohol consumption in heavy drinkers and alcoholics. However, evidence
      of this relationship among non-alcohol dependent "social" drinkers is mixed,
      suggesting that individual differences must be considered when examining cue
      induced drinking behavior. One important individual difference factor that might
      contribute to cue-induced drinking in the laboratory is the amount of alcohol
      that participants typically drink during occasions outside the laboratory. That
      is, those who typically consume more alcohol per occasion could display greater
      cue-induced drinking than those who typically drink less. The present study
      examined this hypothesis in healthy, non-dependent beer drinkers. METHODS: The
      drinkers were exposed to either a series of beer images intended to prime their
      motivation to drink beer or to a series of non-alcoholic images of food items
      that served as a control condition. Following cue exposure, motivation to drink
      was measured by giving participants an opportunity to work for glasses of beer by
      performing an operant response task. RESULTS: Results indicated that drinkers
      exposed to alcohol cues displayed greater operant responding for alcohol and
      earned more drinks compared with those exposed to non-alcohol (i.e., food) cues.
      Moreover, individual differences in drinking habits predicted subjects'
      responding for alcohol following exposure to the alcohol cues, but not following
      exposure to food cues. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that cue-induced
      drinking in non-dependent drinkers likely results in consumption levels
      commensurate with their typical consumption outside the laboratory, but not
      excessive consumption that is sometimes observed in alcohol-dependent samples.

PMID- 25841090
TI  - Fate of zinc and silver engineered nanoparticles in sewerage networks.
AB  - Engineered zinc oxide (ZnO) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) used in consumer
      products are largely released into the environment through the wastewater stream.
      Limited information is available regarding the transformations they undergo
      during their transit through sewerage systems before reaching wastewater
      treatment plants. To address this knowledge gap, laboratory-scale systems fed
      with raw wastewater were used to evaluate the transformation of ZnO- and Ag-NPs
      within sewerage transfer networks. Two experimental systems were established and
      spiked with either Ag- and ZnO-NPs or with their dissolved salts, and the
      wastewater influent and effluent samples from both systems were thoroughly
      characterised. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was used to assess the extent
      of the chemical transformation of both forms of Zn and Ag during transport
      through the model systems. The results indicated that both ZnO- and Ag-NPs
      underwent significant transformation during their transport through the sewerage
      network. Reduced sulphur species represented the most important endpoint for
      these NPs in the sewer with slight differences in terms of speciation; ZnO
      converted largely to Zn sulfide, while Ag was also sorbed to cysteine and
      histidine. Importantly, both ionic Ag and Ag-NPs formed secondary Ag sulfide
      nanoparticles in the sewerage network as revealed by TEM analysis. Ag-cysteine
      was also shown to be a major species in biofilms. These results were verified in
      the field using recently developed nanoparticle in situ deployment devices
      (nIDDs) which were exposed directly to sewerage network conditions by immersing
      them into a municipal wastewater network trunk sewer and then retrieving them for
      XAS analysis. 

PMID- 25841091
TI  - Timing and communication of parietal cortex for visuomotor control.
AB  - In both monkeys and humans, motor cognition emerges from a parietal-frontal
      network containing discrete dominant domains of visual, eye and hand signals,
      where neurons are responsible for goal and effector selection. Within these
      domains, the combination of different inputs shape the tuning properties of
      neurons, while local and long cortico-cortical connections outline the
      architecture of the distributed network and determine the conduction time
      underlying eye-hand coordination, necessary for visually guided operations in the
      action space. The analysis of the communication timing between parietal and
      frontal nodes of the network helps understanding the sensorimotor cortical delays
      associated to different functions, such as online control of movement and eye
      hand coordination, and opens a new perspective to the study of the parieto
      frontal interactions. 

PMID- 25841092
TI  - A lump in the heart.

PMID- 25841093
TI  - Neighbourhood disadvantage and individual adversities in adolescence and total
      alcohol consumption up to mid-life-Results from the Northern Swedish Cohort.
AB  - This study tests if neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage and family social
      and material adversities during adolescence are independently related to total
      alcohol consumption from adolescence through to mid-life. Self-reports from the
      Northern Swedish Cohort (effective sample=950) at ages 16, 18, 21, 30 and 42 was
      combined with register data on the socioeconomic composition of neighbourhoods at
      age 16. Total volume of alcohol consumed between age 16-42 was estimated based on
      the five survey waves, and self-reported social and material adversities were
      computed as composite variables. Neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage at age
      16 was associated with alcohol consumption age 16-42 for men but not for women.
      Social adversities at age 16 were associated with alcohol consumption age 16-42
      for both women and men, but material adversity or parental class was not. In
      conclusion, neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage in adolescence has a
      significant relationship with later alcohol consumption among men, even
      independently from individual factors. On family level, social factors but not
      socioeconomic factors in adolescence independently predict later alcohol
      consumption. 

PMID- 25841094
TI  - Exploring the practice of patient centered care: The role of ethnography and
      reflexivity.
AB  - Patient centered care (PCC) is an essential dimension of healthcare systems'
      mission worldwide and is recognized as an important condition for ensuring the
      quality of care. Nonetheless, it is also acknowledged that various care providers
      perceive patient centeredness differently and that there remain several
      unanswered questions about the aspects of healthcare delivery that are linked to
      an actual achievement of PCC. In the paper, we categorize the current research on
      PCC into two streams ("dyadic" and "organizational") and we discuss the strengths
      and weaknesses of each. Despite their important contributions to healthcare
      services research, these approaches to PCC do not fully capture the network of
      practices and relationships constituting patients and providers' experiences
      within healthcare contexts. Therefore, we propose an alternative interpretation
      of PCC that integrates insights from "practice theories" and emphasizes the
      negotiated and local nature of patient centeredness, which is accomplished
      through the engagement of providers and patients in everyday care practices. To
      develop such interpretation, we propose a research approach combining
      ethnographic and reflexive methods. Ethnography can help achieve more nuanced
      descriptions of what PCC truly encapsulates in the care process by drawing
      attention to the social and material reality of healthcare contexts. Reflexivity
      can help disentangle and bring to surface the tacit knowledge spread in everyday
      care practices and transform it into actionable knowledge, a type of knowledge
      that may support services improvement toward PCC. We anticipate that such
      improvement is far from straightforward: an actual achievement of PCC may
      challenge the interests of different stakeholders and unsettle consolidated
      habits, hierarchies and power dynamics. This unsettlement, however, can also
      serve as a necessary condition for engaging in a participative process of
      internal development. We discuss the outcomes, limitations and benefits of our
      approach through a hospital case study. 

PMID- 25841095
TI  - Characteristics and patterns of elective admissions to for-profit and not-for
      profit hospitals in France in 2009 and 2010.
AB  - In the mid 2000s, in an effort to increase competition among hospitals in France 
      and thereby reduce hospital care costs - policymakers implemented a prospective
      payment system and created incentives to promote use of for-profit hospitals. But
      such policies might incentivize 'upcoding' to higher-reimbursed procedures or
      overuse of preference-sensitive elective procedures, either of which would offset
      anticipated cost savings. To explore either possibility, we examined the relative
      use and costs of admissions for ten common preference-sensitive elective surgical
      procedures to French not-for profit and for-profit sector hospitals in 2009 and
      2010. For each admission type, we compared sector-specific hospitalization
      characteristics and mean per-admission reimbursement and sector-specific relative
      rates of lower- and higher-reimbursed procedures. We found that, despite having
      substantially fewer beds, for-profit hospitals captured a large portion of market
      for these procedures; further, for-profit admissions were shorter and less
      expensive, even after adjustment for patient demographics, hospital
      characteristics, and patterns of admission to different reimbursement categories.
      While French for-profit hospitals appear to provide more efficient care, we found
      coding inconsistencies across for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals that may
      suggest supplier-induced demand and upcoding in for-profit hospitals. Future work
      should examine sector-specific changes in relative use and billing practices of
      for elective surgeries, the degree to which these elective surgeries are
      justified in either sector, and whether outcomes differ according to sector used.

PMID- 25841096
TI  - The traditional healer in obstetric care: A persistent wasted opportunity in
      maternal health.
AB  - Traditional medical systems in low income countries remain the first line service
      of choice, particularly for rural communities. Although the role of traditional
      birth attendants (TBAs) is recognised in many primary health care systems in low
      income countries, other types of traditional practitioners have had less
      traction. We explored the role played by traditional healers in northern Ghana in
      managing pregnancy-related complications and examined their relevance to current
      initiatives to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. A grounded theory
      qualitative approach was employed. Twenty focus group discussions were conducted
      with TBAs and 19 in-depth interviews with traditional healers with expertise in
      managing obstetric complications. Traditional healers are extensively consulted
      to manage obstetric complications within their communities. Their clientele
      includes families who for either reasons of access or traditional beliefs, will
      not use modern health care providers, or those who shop across multiple health
      systems. The traditional practitioners claim expertise in a range of
      complications that are related to witchcraft and other culturally defined
      syndromes; conditions for which modern health care providers are believed to lack
      expertise. Most healers expressed a willingness to work with the formal health
      services because they had unique knowledge, skills and the trust of the
      community. However this would require a stronger acknowledgement and integration
      within safe motherhood programs. 

PMID- 25841097
TI  - The impact of economic, political and social globalization on overweight and
      obesity in the 56 low and middle income countries.
AB  - Anecdotal and descriptive evidence has led to the claim that globalization plays
      a major role in inducing overweight and obesity in developing countries, but
      robust quantitative evidence is scarce. We undertook extensive econometric
      analyses of several datasets, using a series of new proxies for different
      dimensions of globalization potentially affecting overweight in up to 887,000
      women aged 15-49 living in 56 countries between 1991 and 2009. After controlling
      for relevant individual and country level factors, globalization as a whole is
      substantially and significantly associated with an increase in the individual
      propensity to be overweight among women. Surprisingly, political and social
      globalization dominate the influence of the economic dimension. Hence, more
      consideration needs to be given to the forms of governance required to shape a
      more health-oriented globalization process. 

PMID- 25841098
TI  - Visualizing harm reduction: Methodological and ethical considerations.
AB  - The use of visual methods is becoming increasingly common and accepted in health
      research. This paper explores the opportunities and constraints of using photo
      based methods in the context of a community-based participatory research study on
      how to engage people living with HIV in conversations about a hospital's recently
      introduced harm reduction policy. Using a blended approach of photovoice and
      photo-elicited interviews, we provided participants (n = 16) with cameras and
      asked them to take a series of photos that "show how you feel about or have
      experienced harm reduction as a Casey House client." We reflect on methodological
      insights from the study to think through the process of doing photo-based work on
      a stigmatized topic in a small hospital setting by foregrounding: 1) how the act
      of taking photos assisted participants in visualizing connections between space,
      harm reduction, and substance use; 2) expectations of participation and
      navigating daily health realities; and 3) issues of confidentiality, anonymity
      and stigma in clinical settings. These reflections provide a case study on the
      importance of critically examining the process of engaging with photo-based
      methods. We conclude the paper by re-thinking issues of context and photo-based
      methods. Rather than viewing context as a neutral backdrop to apply a method,
      context should be viewed as an active force in shaping what can or cannot be done
      or produced within the space. Photo-based methods may offer an effective
      community-engagement strategy but may require modification for use in a clinical
      setting when working on a stigmatized topic with individuals with complex health
      care needs. Given the potential of visual methods as a community engagement
      strategy, research teams are advised to understand the entire process as a data
      collection opportunity so that these methods can be further explored in a variety
      of contexts. 

PMID- 25841099
TI  - Rituximab for treating inhibitors in people with inherited severe hemophilia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hemophilia A and B are inherited coagulation disorders characterized
      by a reduced or absent level of factor VIII or factor IX respectively. The severe
      form is characterized by a factor level less than 0.01 international units (IU)
      per milliliter. The development of inhibitors in hemophilia is the main
      complication of treatment, because the presence of these antibodies, reduces or
      even nullifies the efficacy of replacement therapy, making it very difficult to
      control the bleeding. People with inhibitors continue to have significantly
      higher risks of morbidity and mortality, with considerable treatment costs. Given
      the wide 'off-label' use of rituximab for treating people with hemophilia and
      inhibitors, its efficacy and safety need to be evaluated. OBJECTIVES: To assess
      the efficacy and safety of rituximab for treating inhibitors in people with
      inherited severe hemophilia A or B. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane
      Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group's Coagulopathies Trials Register,
      complied from electronic database searches and handsearching of journals and
      conference abstract books. We searched the reference lists of relevant articles
      and reviews and also searched for ongoing or unpublished studies.Date of last
      search: 27 January 2015. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomized controlled trials and
      controlled clinical trials investigating the efficacy and safety of rituximab for
      treating inhibitors in people with hemophilia. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: No
      randomized controlled trials matching the selection criteria were eligible for
      inclusion. MAIN RESULTS: No randomized controlled trials on rituximab for
      treating inhibitors in people with hemophilia were identified. AUTHORS'
      CONCLUSIONS: We were unable to identify any relevant trials on the efficacy and
      safety of rituximab for treating inhibitors in people with hemophilia. The
      research evidence available is from case reports and case series. Randomized
      controlled trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of rituximab for
      this condition. However, prior to the publication of any possible future
      randomized controlled trials, meta-analysis of case reports and case series may
      provide some evidence.

PMID- 25841100
TI  - Cross-species inhibition of dUTPase via the Staphylococcal Stl protein perturbs
      dNTP pool and colony formation in Mycobacterium.
AB  - Proteins responsible for the integrity of the genome are often used targets in
      drug therapies against various diseases. The inhibitors of these proteins are
      also important to study the pathways in genome integrity maintenance. A prominent
      example is Ugi, a well known cross-species inhibitor protein of the enzyme uracil
      DNA glycosylase, responsible for uracil excision from DNA. Here, we report that a
      Staphylococcus pathogenicity island repressor protein called StlSaPIbov1 (Stl)
      exhibits potent dUTPase inhibition in Mycobacteria. To our knowledge, this is the
      first indication of a cross-species inhibitor protein for any dUTPase. We
      demonstrate that the Staphylococcus aureus Stl and the Mycobacterium tuberculosis
      dUTPase form a stable complex and that in this complex, the enzymatic activity of
      dUTPase is strongly inhibited. We also found that the expression of the Stl
      protein in Mycobacterium smegmatis led to highly increased cellular dUTP levels
      in the mycobacterial cell, this effect being in agreement with its dUTPase
      inhibitory role. In addition, Stl expression in M. smegmatis drastically
      decreased colony forming ability, as well, indicating significant perturbation of
      the phenotype. Therefore, we propose that Stl can be considered to be a cross
      species dUTPase inhibitor and may be used as an important reagent in dUTPase
      inhibition experiments either in vitro/in situ or in vivo. 

PMID- 25841102
TI  - Motor performance, postural stability and behaviour of non-disabled extremely
      preterm or extremely low birth weight children at four to five years of age.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Extremely preterm or extremely low birth weight (ELBW) children who
      are non-disabled and otherwise healthy are at risk of neurodevelopmental
      impairments. Further understanding of these impairments is needed before
      commencement of formal education to optimise participation levels at a critical
      time point for these children. AIMS: To explore motor co-ordination, postural
      stability, limb strength and behaviour of non-disabled four to five year old
      children with a history of extreme prematurity or ELBW. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective
      descriptive-cohort-study. SUBJECTS: 50 children born at less than 28 weeks
      gestation or who had a birth weight less than 1000g with minimal/mild motor
      impairments and no significant neurological/cognitive impairments. OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Movement Assessment Battery for Children second-edition (MABC-2),
      single leg stance test (SLS), lateral reach test, standing long jump test and
      Child Behaviour Checklist for preschool children (CBCL). RESULTS: The mean
      percentile rank of the extremely preterm or ELBW sample on MABC-2 was 31% (SD
      23%). SLS right (mean +/- SD; 4.6 +/- 2.5s) and lateral reach to the right (10.0
      +/- 3.9 cm) were slightly stronger than SLS left (4.4 +/- 3.3s) and lateral reach
      left (9.9 +/- 3.5 cm). The average for standing long jump was 71.6 cm (SD 21.0
      cm). All participants were classified as 'normal' on CBCL syndrome scale scores,
      internalizing and externalizing syndrome T scores and total problem T score.
      CONCLUSIONS: This sample of non-disabled extremely preterm or ELBW children
      performed in the lower range of normal. These children continue to be at risk of
      impairments, therefore, ongoing monitoring and tailored intervention may optimise
      development.

PMID- 25841101
TI  - TDP1 promotes assembly of non-homologous end joining protein complexes on DNA.
AB  - The repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) is central to the maintenance of
      genomic integrity. In tumor cells, the ability to repair DSBs predicts response
      to radiation and many cytotoxic anti-cancer drugs. DSB repair pathways include
      homologous recombination and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). NHEJ is a
      template-independent mechanism, yet many NHEJ repair products carry limited
      genetic changes, which suggests that NHEJ includes mechanisms to minimize error.
      Proteins required for mammalian NHEJ include Ku70/80, the DNA-dependent protein
      kinase (DNA-PKcs), XLF/Cernunnos and the XRCC4:DNA ligase IV complex. NHEJ also
      utilizes accessory proteins that include DNA polymerases, nucleases, and other
      end-processing factors. In yeast, mutations of tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase
      (TDP1) reduced NHEJ fidelity. TDP1 plays an important role in repair of
      topoisomerase-mediated DNA damage and 3'-blocking DNA lesions, and mutation of
      the human TDP1 gene results in an inherited human neuropathy termed SCAN1. We
      found that human TDP1 stimulated DNA binding by XLF and physically interacted
      with XLF to form TDP1:XLF:DNA complexes. TDP1:XLF interactions preferentially
      stimulated TDP1 activity on dsDNA as compared to ssDNA. TDP1 also promoted DNA
      binding by Ku70/80 and stimulated DNA-PK activity. Because Ku70/80 and XLF are
      the first factors recruited to the DSB at the onset of NHEJ, our data suggest a
      role for TDP1 during the early stages of mammalian NHEJ. 

PMID- 25841103
TI  - C1-carbon sources for chemical and fuel production by microbial gas fermentation.
AB  - Fossil resources for production of fuels and chemicals are finite and fuel use
      contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Thus, sustainable
      fuel supply, security, and prices necessitate the implementation of alternative
      routes to the production of chemicals and fuels. Much attention has been focussed
      on use of cellulosic material, particularly through microbial-based processes.
      However, this is still costly and proving challenging, as are catalytic routes to
      biofuels from whole biomass. An alternative strategy is to directly capture
      carbon before incorporation into lignocellulosic biomass. Autotrophic acetogenic,
      carboxidotrophic, and methanotrophic bacteria are able to capture carbon as CO,
      CO2, or CH4, respectively, and reuse that carbon in products that displace their
      fossil-derived counterparts. Thus, gas fermentation represents a versatile
      industrial platform for the sustainable production of commodity chemicals and
      fuels from diverse gas resources derived from industrial processes, coal,
      biomass, municipal solid waste (MSW), and extracted natural gas. 

PMID- 25841104
TI  - A pilot open study of long term high dose creatine augmentation in patients with
      treatment resistant negative symptoms schizophrenia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The effects of creatine on brain metabolism and the potential
      cognitive enhancing properties of this compound raise the possibility of
      developing a new augmentation therapeutic strategy in schizophrenia especially in
      patients demonstrating negative and cognitive symptomatology. METHODS: Seven
      inpatients with chronic schizophrenia presenting with treatment resistant
      negative symptoms were enrolled into exploratory treatment study with creatine
      monohydrate augmentation at a daily high-dose of 10 grams, administered for 6
      months. Several clinical rating scales and a computerized cognitive assessment
      battery were applied. RESULTS: Creatine treatment mildly improved the
      schizophrenia symptomatology but there were no significant changes in cognitive
      functions. Several ward behaviors were also improved. Tardive parkinsonism
      improved numerically by above 40% in 4 out of 6 patients. CONCLUSION: This small,
      open design study of high dose creatine add-on for 6 months in chronic inpatients
      with schizophrenia demonstrated only mild positive effects on the patients'
      symptomatology and behavior and might have beneficial effect on tardive
      parkinsonism.

PMID- 25841105
TI  - Safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of open label sarcosine added on to
      anti-psychotic treatment in schizophrenia - preliminary study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hypofunction of NMDA receptor-mediated neurotransmission might play a
      critical role in schizophrenia. Sarcosine, N- methylglycine and inhibitor of the
      glycine transporter-1 (Gly-T1), has been suggested as a novel treatment for
      schizophrenia. METHODS: Open label sarcosine was added to 22 stabilized patients:
      5 patients received 2 gm/d, and 17 received 4gm/d. Pharmacokinetics samples,
      clinical and cognitive parameters using PANSS, CGI and MCCB were collected for
      all patients. RESULTS: Significant improvement was observed after one week of
      treatment on PANSS sub-scale of 'positive symptoms' (Z= -2.68; P=0.007) and
      'general psychopathology' (Z= -3.02; P=0.003), an improvement in PANSS total
      score and CGI-S showed a trend (Z= -2.72; P=0.06; Z=-2.69; P=0.08). Speed of
      processing (MCCB subscale) improved significantly (Z=-2.13; P=0.03). Sarcosine
      exhibited linear kinetics, with a Tmax and t1/2 of ~11/2- 21/2 hr and ~1hr,
      respectively. LIMITATIONS: This was a short period, open label pilot study with
      small sample size per dosage group. CONCLUSIONS: Sarcosine is a safe compound and
      might be efficacious in the treatment of schizophrenia.

PMID- 25841106
TI  - Long-term Follow-up of MDD Patients Who Respond to Deep rTMS: A Brief Report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS) is effective in
      treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and in re-treatment in case of
      relapse. Our study evaluates the long-term durability of dTMS in MDD. METHOD:
      Seventeen patients that responded to dTMS treatment evaluated. Follow-up period
      was 9.3 months. Patients were considered as relapsed if: HDRS (Hamilton
      Depression Rating Scale) score was 16 points or more, in case of change in
      antidepressants, hospitalization due to exacerbation, referral to ECT. RESULTS:
      Six months after last treatment three patients relapsed (17.6%). During the
      follow-up of 9.3 months, nine relapsed. Relapse rate was 5.6 per 100 person
      months. Patients continued to improve in HDRS following the treatment. We have
      found number of treatment sessions, stimulation, age, age of depressive disorder
      onset, length of depressive episode prior to the first treatment, as well as
      number of depressive episodes to have no predictive value regarding propensity to
      relapse in these patients. LIMITATIONS: The study's main limitations are the
      relatively small sample size, patients differing in follow-up periods and the
      lack of a control group. CONCLUSION: Relapse rates after dTMS are comparable to
      pharmacotherapy and ECT.

PMID- 25841107
TI  - Suicides among persons with psychiatric hospitalizations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Persons with severe mental disorders have higher suicide rates than
      the general population. Their risk profile needs to be fully explored to better
      guide suicide preventive efforts. Downsizing the number of beds in psychiatric
      hospitals and high bed turnover may also affect the suicide risk. OBJECTIVES: To
      investigate 1) Suicide rates among persons who were ever hospitalized in
      psychiatric facilities compared to the general population, 2) Associated
      sociodemographic and psychiatric factors, 3) Changes in rate over time, and 4)
      Timing of suicide deaths. METHODS: We linked the National Psychiatric Case
      Register (NPCR) with the national database on causes of death. Suicides in the
      years 1981-2009 were analyzed for the study group of Israelis aged 18 and over
      ever hospitalized (N= 158,800). ANALYSIS: Suicide rates were computed by age,
      gender, psychiatric diagnosis and year of death, as well as agestandardized rates
      and rate ratios (RR) for persons in the NPCR compared with those never
      hospitalized. The proportion of suicides committed by the ever hospitalized from
      all suicides in the population was calculated. Standardized mortality ratios
      (SMR) for suicide were computed for the ever hospitalized based on the total
      suicide rates of the population. A multivariate logistic model investigated risk
      factors associated with suicide in the ever-hospitalized population. RESULTS: The
      age-standardized suicide rate of Jews and Others with a psychiatric
      hospitalization was 17.6 times higher than that of the non-hospitalized (95% CI
      16.7-18.6) and 29.7 times higher for Arabs (95% CI 23.4- 37.9). The rates were
      higher among females and younger persons. In the years 2007-2009, 30% of all
      suicides of Jews and Others were committed by persons who had been hospitalized
      in psychiatric facilities. The SMRs of Jews and Others, which increased at the
      beginning of the study period, fell steadily until 1995. In recent years they
      have been rising since 2000 and 2005 among females and males, respectively. One
      fifth (19%) of suicides of Jews and Others occurred before or on the discharge
      day, and another 6% and 7% within a week and between a week and a month after
      discharge, respectively. Logistic analysis showed significantly higher suicide
      risk for males, those who attempted suicide before hospitalization, persons under
      age 65 and Ethiopian immigrants. Suicide risk increased with number of
      hospitalizations. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the importance of suicide
      prevention interventions for persons both during their inpatient stay and who
      were expected to be followed up in community-based facilities.

PMID- 25841108
TI  - Validation of the Hebrew and Arabic Versions of the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ
      45).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Measuring the progress of mental health treatment aids in assessment
      and monitoring of psychotherapeutic outcomes. The OQ-45 is a widely accepted
      measure of such outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate the Hebrew and
      Arabic versions of the OQ-45. METHOD: Data were collected from three samples: non
      patient university students (n=189), university mental health clinic patients
      (n=37), and outpatient mental health clinic patients (n=135). Subjects completed
      the OQ-45 as well as the BSI and PHQ-9 questionnaires. RESULTS: Test-retest and
      internal reliability, and concurrent and discriminative validity of both OQ-45
      versions were satisfactory. Sensitivity of the Hebrew and Arabic versions was
      0.70 and 0.80, respectively, and the specificity was 0.69and 0.93, respectively.
      Sensitivity-to-change was noted only for the Symptom Distress (SD) subscale.
      LIMITATIONS: Sensitivity-to-change was not demonstrated for the total OQ-45,
      possibly due to a too-short follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Adequate psychometric
      properties of the Hebrew and Arabic OQ-45 suggest that they can serve as useful
      measures of mental health treatment in Israel.Further research is necessary to
      confirm norms, cut-off scores and sensitivity-to-change using a larger
      representative population and diverse types of treatment over a longer period of
      time.

PMID- 25841109
TI  - Social Anxiety Disorder Comorbid with Schizophrenia: The Importance of Screening
      for This Under recognized and Under treated Condition.
AB  - BACKGROUND: While the presence of comorbid anxiety disorders such as obsessive
      compulsive disorder and panic disorder have been well described in schizophrenia,
      comorbid social anxiety disorder (SAD) has been less emphasized. The goal of this
      study was to examine the prevalence of SAD in our ambulatory population of
      patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: A group of 50 outpatients with
      schizophrenia randomly selected from our public mental health outpatient
      population was evaluated with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID)
      schizophrenia section, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the
      Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale (SQLS), the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale
      (LSAS) and the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF). After completion of
      assessments, a retrospective chart review was conducted on all study patients who
      met criteria for a diagnosis of SAD in order to determine how many of these
      patients had been previously given a diagnosis of SAD. RESULTS: Based on a cutoff
      score of 29/30 on the total LSAS score, 38% of our sample had a comorbid
      diagnosis of SAD. Compared to patients who did not suffer from comorbid SAD,
      patients with schizophrenia and comorbid SAD had lower ratings of quality of
      life, but similar GAF and PANSS scores. According to the results of the chart
      review, none of the affected patients had been previously diagnosed with SAD.
      CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of our study, SAD as a comorbid condition
      is highly prevalent in schizophrenia and may be under-detected in the outpatient
      mental health care setting. Furthermore, the presence of SAD may lead to a
      decreased quality of life for patients with schizophrenia. Further studies should
      evaluate whether the diagnosis and treatment of comorbid SAD would improve the
      treatment and quality of life of patients with schizophrenia.

PMID- 25841110
TI  - Dissociative Reality and Dissociative Being in Therapy for Post traumatic
      Patients.
AB  - Post traumatic patients experience a wide range of symptoms, some of them
      existential in nature which we term "dissociative being." Many varied
      psychotherapeutic approaches are available for the treatment of post traumatic
      patients. Nevertheless, in view of this disorder's complexity, therapists face
      shortcomings when employing each of these therapeutic interventions. In order to
      understand this, we posit the principle we call "dissociative reality" for the
      treatment of trauma survivors. Our proposed method "speaks the patient's own
      language," harnessing dissociative elements to help individuals recall, re-enact
      and integrate traumatic experiences, where words are insufficient, while still
      upholding reality. We believe that this may be seen as an effective part of the
      therapeutic dialogue, and suggest that therapists may consider supplementing this
      approach in their treatment "toolkit" for patients with post traumatic stress and
      other trauma related disorders, irrespective of their declared therapeutic
      approach. 

PMID- 25841111
TI  - Cognitive appraisal and psychological distress among patients with irritable
      bowel syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a debilitating condition that
      affects mainly the patient's mental health and quality of life. There is a gap in
      the literature regarding the relationship between cognitive appraisals and
      adjustment to physical and psychological aspects resulting from IBS. The aim of
      the current study was to explore the psycho-social factors that are associated
      with psychological distress among IBS patients and the contribution of cognitive
      appraisal to their adjustment. METHODS: One hundred and three patients diagnosed
      with Irritable Bowel Syndrome participated in the study. Each participant filled
      a battery of questionnaires targeting demographic and psycho-social factors. The
      study variables were analyzed via hierarchical regression along with
      supplementary analyses of multiple mediation tests of indirect effects. RESULTS:
      The findings showed that psychological distress and depressive symptoms among IBS
      patients are better predicted by their global positive illness cognition
      appraisal, specific illness cognition appraisal of helplessness, resilience and
      to a lesser extent by social support, perceived optimism, illness cognitions
      appraisals of acceptance and perceived benefit. Global positive illness cognition
      appraisal gives us a sum of positive and negative appraisals into one unified
      appraisal. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the salience of cognitive
      appraisal and resilience in IBS psychological adjustment. It seems that IBS
      patients might benefit from psycho-educational interventions designed to assist
      them in reducing their helplessness appraisal and increasing the appraisal of
      their ability to cope with the symptoms of their illness.

PMID- 25841112
TI  - Assessing fears of preschool children with nighttime fears by a parent version of
      the fear survey schedule for preschool children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although excessive fears are common in preschool children, validated
      assessment tools for this age are lacking. Our aim was to modify and provide
      preliminary evidence of the utility of a preschoolers' fear screening tool, a
      parent-reported Fear Survey Schedule for Preschool Children (FSS-PC). METHODS:
      109 Israeli preschool children (aged 4-6 years) with chronic night time fears
      (NF) and 30 healthy children (controls) participated. The FSS-PC analysis
      included: 1) internal reliability, 2) correlations between FSS-PC scores and
      Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) measures, 3) differences between NF and a
      comparison sample of FSS-PC scores, and 4) FSS-PC sensitivity in detecting change
      in NF following an intervention for NF. RESULTS: There were low-to-medium
      positive correlations between the FSS-PC scores and several internalizing scales
      of the CBCL measures. FSS-PC scores in the NF group were significantly higher
      than the control children's score. FSS-PC scores had adequate internal
      reliability and were also sensitive for detecting significant changes in fear
      levels following behavioral interventions. LIMITATIONS: Unique cultural and
      environmental circumstances and specific study group. CONCLUSIONS: This new
      version of the FSS-PC may provide clinicians with a novel and useful screening
      tool for early assessment of fear- and anxiety-related phenomena of preschool
      children.

PMID- 25841113
TI  - LSD-associated "Alice in Wonderland Syndrome"(AIWS): A Hallucinogen Persisting
      Perception Disorder (HPPD) Case Report.
AB  - A side effect associated with the use of LSD is the return of perceptual
      disturbances which anteriorly emerged during intoxication, despite absence of
      present use. Here we present the case of a patient with a previous history of
      sporadic and recreational cannabis, alcohol and LSD consumption who reported LSD
      associated "Alice in Wonderland Syndrome" (AIWS) or Todd's syndrome. AIWS is
      basically characterized by four frequent visual illusions: macropsia, micropsia,
      pelopsia and teleopsia. AIWS only appeared during LSD consumption and continued
      after LSD suspension, namely, Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD).
      This phenomenon did not cause a major functional impairment but provoked
      sufficient worry and concern due to its persistent continuation. The patient
      refused medical treatment and continued psychiatric follow-up. At the one year
      follow-up he reported complete remission. To the best of our knowledge this is
      the first reported case of AIWS which persist after LSD interruption (HPPD) in
      the professional literature. Reasons for this intriguing, benign, reversible and
      apparently harmless side effect are proposed. 

PMID- 25841114
TI  - Lixiviation of natural radionuclides and heavy metals in tropical soils amended
      with phosphogypsum.
AB  - The main phosphate industries in Brazil are responsible for the annual production
      of 5.5 million tons of a residue (phosphogypsum), which is stored in stacks. The
      presence of radionuclides and metals puts restrictions on the use of
      phosphogypsum in agriculture. To assure a safe utilization, it is important to
      estimate the lixiviation of the radionuclides ((238)U, (226)Ra, (210)Pb, (210)Po,
      (232)Th and (228)Ra) and metals (As, Cd, Cr, Ni, Se, Hg and Pb) present in
      phosphogypsum. For this purpose, an experiment was carried out, in which columns
      filled with sandy and clay Brazilian typical soils mixed with phosphogypsum were
      percolated with water, to achieve a mild extraction of these elements. The
      results obtained for the concentration of the radionuclides and metals in the
      leachate were low; giving evidence that, even when these elements are present in
      the phosphogypsum, they do not contribute to an enhancement of their content in
      water. 

PMID- 25841115
TI  - Effect of minerals on accumulation of Cs by fungus Saccaromyces cerevisiae.
AB  - The accumulation of Cs by unicellular fungus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the
      presence of minerals has been studied to elucidate the role of microorganisms in
      the migration of radioactive Cs in the environment. Two different types of
      experiments were employed: experiments using stable Cs to examine the effect of a
      carbon source on the accumulation of Cs, and accumulation experiments of
      radioactive Cs from agar medium containing (137)Cs and zeolite, vermiculite,
      phlogopite, smectite, mica, or illite as mineral supplements. In the former type
      of experiments, the Cs-accumulated cells were analyzed by scanning electron
      microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS). In the
      latter type, the radioactivity in the yeast cells was measured by an
      autoradiography technique. When a carbon source was present, higher amounts of Cs
      accumulated in the cells than in the resting condition without a carbon source.
      Analyses with SEM-EDS showed that no mineral formed on the cell surface. These
      results indicate that the yeast cells accumulate Cs by adsorption on the cell
      surface and intracellular accumulation. In the presence of minerals in the agar
      medium, the radioactivity in the yeast cells was in the order of mica > smectite,
      illite >> vermiculite, phlogopite, zeolite. This order is inversely correlated to
      the ratio of the concentration of radioactive Cs between the minerals and the
      medium solution. These results strongly suggest that the yeast accumulates
      radioactive Cs competitively with minerals. 

PMID- 25841116
TI  - 2D ratiometric fluorescent pH sensor for tracking of cells proliferation and
      metabolism.
AB  - Extracellular pH plays a vital role no matter in physiological or pathological
      studies. In this work, a hydrogel, CD@Nile-FITC@Gel (Gel sensor), entrapping the
      ratiometric fluorescent probe CD@Nile-FITC was developed. The Gel sensor was
      successfully used for real-time extracellular pH monitoring. In the case of
      CD@Nile-FITC, pH-sensitive fluorescent dye fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) was
      chosen as the response signal for H(+) and Nile blue chloride (Nile) as the
      reference signal. The developed fluorescent probe exhibited high selectivity for
      pH over other metal ions and amino acids. Meanwhile, the carbon-dots-based
      inorganic-organic probe demonstrated excellent photostability against long-term
      light illumination. In order to study the extracellular pH change in processes of
      cell proliferation and metabolism, CD@Nile-FITC probe was entrapped in sodium
      alginate gel and consequently formed CD@Nile-FITC@Gel. The MTT assay showed low
      cytotoxicity of the Gel and the pH titration indicated that it could monitor the
      pH fluctuations linearly and rapidly within the pH range of 6.0-9.0, which is
      valuable for physiological pH determination. As expected, the real-time
      bioimaging of the probe was successfully achieved. 

PMID- 25841117
TI  - Diagnostics on acute myocardial infarction: Cardiac troponin biomarkers.
AB  - Acute myocardial infarction or myocardial infarction (MI) is a major health
      problem, due to diminished flow of blood to the heart, leads to higher rates of
      mortality and morbidity. Data from World Health Organization (WHO) accounted 30%
      of global death annually and expected more than 23 million die annually by 2030.
      This fatal effects trigger the need of appropriate biomarkers for early
      diagnosis, thus countermeasure can be taken. At the moment, the most specific
      markers for cardiac injury are cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and cardiac troponin T
      (cTnT) which have been considered as 'gold standard'. Due to higher specificity,
      determination of the level of cardiac troponins became a predominant indicator
      for MI. Several ways of diagnostics have been formulated, which include enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay, chemiluminescent, fluoro-immunoassays, electrical
      detections, surface plasmon resonance, and colorimetric protein assay. This
      review represents and elucidates the strategies, methods and detection levels
      involved in these diagnostics on cardiac superior biomarkers. The advancement,
      sensitivity, and limitations of each method are also discussed. In addition, it
      concludes with a discussion on the point-of care (POC) assay for a fast, accurate
      and ability of handling small sample measurement of cardiac biomarker. 

PMID- 25841118
TI  - A novel ECL biosensor for beta-lactamase detection: Using RU(II) linked
      ampicillin complex as the recognition element.
AB  - In this work, Ru(phen)2(cpaphen)(2+) linked-ampicillin (Ru-Amp), as the novel
      specific recognition element, was proposed to construct a simple and sensitive
      electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor for the determination of beta
      lactamase. Here, Ru-Amp complex acted not only as a novel specific recognition
      element for beta-lactamase but also as the ECL Luminescent reagent. Through
      electrostatic adsorption and the intermolecular pi-pi interactions, a large
      amount of Ru-Amp was immobilized to gold nanoparticles (TA@AuNPs) prepared by
      thiophenemalonic acid (TA) to obtain Ru-Amp/TA@AuNPs nanocomposites. The
      nanocomposites, which can produce very stable films exhibiting excellent ECL
      behaviors, were self-assembled on the CNTs-Nf modified glassy carbon electrode
      surface. The presence of the target beta-lactamase resulted in autonomous
      hydrolysis reaction of Amp, achievement of the efficient ECL emission and highly
      sensitive detection of beta-lactamase. The biosensor for beta-lactamase detection
      was developed with excellent sensitivity of a concentration variation from 50 pg
      mL(-1) to 100 ng mL(-1) with a low detection limit of 37 pg mL(-1). An ECL assay
      offers the proposed method opportunities for designing new Ru-based ECL
      luminophores for biosensing applications.

PMID- 25841119
TI  - Ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of microRNA-21 combining layered
      nanostructure of oxidized single-walled carbon nanotubes and nanodiamonds by
      hybridization chain reaction.
AB  - Measurement of microRNA (miRNA) levels in body fluids is a crucial tool for the
      early diagnosis and prognosis of cancers. In this study, we developed an
      electrochemical assay to detect miRNA-21 by fabricating the electrode with layer
      by-layer assembly of oxidized single-walled carbon nanotubes and nanodiamonds.
      Tetrahedron-structured probes with free-standing probe on the top served as
      receptors to hybridize with target miRNA directly. The probes were immobilized on
      the deposited gold nanoparticles through a well-established strong Au-S bond. The
      electrochemical signal was mainly derived from an ultrasensitive pattern by
      combining hybridization chain reaction with DNA-functionalized AuNPs, which
      provided DNAzyme to catalyze H2O2 reduction. Differential pulse voltammetry was
      applied to record the electrochemical signals, which was increased linearly with
      the target miRNA-21, and the linear detection range was 10 fM to 1.0 nM. The
      limit of detection reached 1.95 fM (S/N=3), and the proposed biosensor exhibited
      good reproducibility and stability, as well as high sensitivity. Hence, this
      biosensor has a promising potential in clinical application.

PMID- 25841120
TI  - Fabrication of plasmon length-based surface enhanced Raman scattering for
      multiplex detection on microfluidic device.
AB  - The length of bioreceptors plays an important role in signal enhancement of
      surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) due to amplification of electromagnetic
      fields generated by the excitation of localized surface plasmons. Herein, intact
      antibodies (IgG) and Fab fragments conjugated onto gold nanostar were used to
      fabricate two kinds of immunosensors for measurement of their SERS signals. Using
      CA125 as the antigen and Rhodamine-6G (R6G)-conjugated immunogolds, a SERS
      immunosensor was self-assembled by antigen-antibody interaction. The results
      showed that the SERS signal from the Fab immunosensor was 2.4 times higher than
      that of the IgG immunosensor. Furthermore, increased hot-spots by silver atom
      deposition onto the IgG and Fab immunosensor showed 2.1 and 1.4 times higher
      signals than before enhancement, respectively. For application, based on the Fab
      immunosensor, a SERS-compatible microfluidic system was designed for multiplex
      assays to overcome the drawbacks of conventional assays. This system can measure
      biological specimens directly from bio fluids instead of using a complex
      microfluidic device containing separation and detection elements. Four approved
      biomarkers of breast cancer, including cancer antigen (CA125), HER2, epididymis
      protein (HE4), and Eotaxin-1, were detected from patient-mimicked serum with
      limits of 15 fM, 17 fM, 21 fM, and 6.5 fM, respectively. The results indicated
      that the lengths and geometry of the bioreceptors determined the intensity of
      SERS signal from the interface and cavity of the sandwich immunosensor. Silver
      atom deposition at the cavity of the immunosensor increased the SERS signal.
      Finally, the SERS immunosensor built-in microfluidic system improved the
      performance of multiplex diagnostics.

PMID- 25841121
TI  - Microfluidic enzymatic biosensing systems: A review.
AB  - Microfluidic biosensing systems with enzyme-based detection have been extensively
      studied in the last years owing to features such as high specificity, a broad
      range of analytes and a high degree of automation. This review gives an overview
      of the most important factors associated with these systems. In the first part,
      frequently used immobilization protocols such as physisorption and covalent
      bonding and detection techniques such as amperometry and fluorescence
      measurements are discussed with respect to effort, lifetime and measurement
      range. The Michaelis-Menten model describing the kinetics of enzymatic reactions,
      the role of redox mediators and the limitations of the linear measurement range
      of enzymatic sensors are introduced. Several possibilities of extending the
      linear measurement range in microfluidic systems such as diffusion-limiting
      membranes and the flow injection setup are presented. Regarding the integration
      of enzymes into microfluidic systems during the fabrication process, the
      constraints imposed by the biomolecules due to the limited usage of high
      temperatures and solvents are addressed. In the second part, the most common
      forms of enzyme integration into microfluidic systems, i.e. in channels and on
      electrodes, on microparticles, on paper and thread and as injected enzyme
      solutions, are reviewed, focusing on fabrication, applications and performance. 

PMID- 25841122
TI  - Centenarians with acute coronary syndrome - Biological and not chronological age
      counts.

PMID- 25841123
TI  - Clinical outcome of transcatheter treatment of heart failure with preserved or
      mildly reduced ejection fraction using a novel implant.

PMID- 25841124
TI  - Role of mitochondrial fission and fusion in cardiomyocyte contractility.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Mitochondria constitute 30% of cell volume and are engaged in two
      dynamic processes called fission and fusion, regulated by Drp-1 (dynamin related
      protein) and mitofusin 2 (Mfn2). Previously, we showed that Drp-1 inhibition
      attenuates cardiovascular dysfunction following pressure overload in aortic
      banding model and myocardial infarction. As dynamic organelles, mitochondria are
      capable of changing their morphology in response to stress. However, whether such
      changes can alter their function and in turn cellular function is unknown.
      Further, a direct role of fission and fusion in cardiomyocyte contractility has
      not yet been studied. In this study, we hypothesize that disrupted fission and
      fusion balance by increased Drp-1 and decreased Mfn2 expression in cardiomyocytes
      affects their contractility through alterations in the calcium and potassium
      concentrations. METHODS: To verify this, we used freshly isolated ventricular
      myocytes from wild type mouse and transfected them with either siRNA to Drp-1 or
      Mfn2. Myocyte contractility studies were performed by IonOptix using a myopacer.
      Intracellular calcium and potassium measurements were done using flow cytometry.
      Immunocytochemistry (ICC) was done to evaluate live cell mitochondria and its
      membrane potential. Protein expression was done by western blot and
      immunocytochemistry. RESULTS: We found that silencing mitochondrial fission
      increased the myocyte contractility, while fusion inhibition decreased
      contractility with simultaneous changes in calcium and potassium. Also, we
      observed that increase in fission prompted decrease in Serca-2a and increase in
      cytochrome c leakage leading to mitophagy. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that
      regulating mitochondrial fission and fusion have direct effects on overall
      cardiomyocyte contractility and thus function.

PMID- 25841125
TI  - Association between neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and atrial fibrillation.

PMID- 25841126
TI  - Left ventricular thrombus in repaired Tetralogy of Fallot.

PMID- 25841127
TI  - Noncoding RNA in cardiac fibrosis.

PMID- 25841128
TI  - Recurrent takotsubo syndrome triggered by undiagnosed pheochromocytoma.

PMID- 25841129
TI  - Optical coherence tomography during carotid artery stenting: A new niche
      application?

PMID- 25841130
TI  - Angiographically invisible spontaneous coronary artery dissection: A ticking time
      bomb during coronary intervention.

PMID- 25841131
TI  - Estrogen resisted stress-induced cardiomyopathy through increasing the activity
      of beta2AR-Galphas signal pathway in female rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Stress-induced cardiomyopathy (SCM) is characterized by transient
      left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Over 90% of SCM patients are
      postmenopausal women, suggesting that the incidence of SCM is associated with low
      level of estrogen. Previous studies have shown that high levels of epinephrine
      (EPI) triggered SCM by switching beta2-adrenoceptor (beta2AR) coupling from
      Galphas to Galphai signaling pathway. This study examined whether estrogen
      protected myocardium against SCM through modulating the beta2AR-G proteins signal
      pathway. METHODS AND RESULTS: Female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into
      sham operation (Sham) and ovariectomized (OVX) groups. Six weeks after
      ovariectomy, the plasma levels of EPI and norepinephrine significantly increased.
      Then they were injected with EPI to make SCM models. Lack of estrogen resulted in
      more serious cardiac dysfunction and higher cardiac troponin I (cTnI)
      concentration in acute EPI surge. Pretreatment with ICI118,551 abolished the
      discrepancy induced by ovariectomy. Pretreatment with clenbuterol aggravated the
      difference of left ventricular hemodynamics between Sham and OVX rats. Blocking
      Galphai abolished the cardiomyocyte contractile inhibition by high levels of EPI.
      Estrogen deficiency decreased the concentration of cAMP and the phosphorylation
      of PKA in OVX+EPI group. After EPI injection for 20 min, acute estrogen
      supplementation could increase the concentration of cAMP and the phosphorylation
      of PKA in OVX rats suffered EPI-induced injury. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed
      that estrogen improved the inhibitory effects of myocardial contraction induced
      by high levels of EPI. Estrogen protected myocardium against SCM via increasing
      the activity of beta2AR-Galphas signal pathway and decreasing the concentration
      of catecholamine in plasma.

PMID- 25841132
TI  - Nesiritide is beneficial or harmful to patients with decompensated acute
      congestive heart failure.

PMID- 25841133
TI  - Comparison of low dose versus standard dose heparin for radial approach in
      elective coronary angiography?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of two
      doses of heparin, a low dose (2500 IU) and a standard dose (5000 IU) in patients
      who underwent transradial coronary angiography (TRCAG). METHODS: A total of 459
      consecutive patients were included in the present study, 217 in the 2500-IU
      heparin group and 242 in the 5000-IU heparin group. Radial artery patency was
      evaluated one month after the TRCAG with Doppler ultrasonography. RESULTS: The
      RAO was observed in 15 (3.3%) patients. The RAO was significantly higher in 2500
      IU heparin group than 5000 IU heparin group (5.5% vs 1.2% p=0.010, respectively).
      Female gender (Odds ratio (OR)=66.135, p=0.002, 95% confidence interval
      (CI)=4.584-954.131), sheath removal time (OR=1.496, p<0.001, 95% CI=1.254-1.784)
      and administration of 2500 IU heparin (OR=9.758, p=0.034, 95% CI=1.195-79.695)
      were the independent predictors of RAO in multivariate regression analysis. While
      the presence of hypertension was independently associated with radial artery
      patency in multivariate regression analysis (OR=0.022, p=0.005, 95% CI=0.002
      0.307). CONCLUSION: The patients in the standard dose heparin group had lower RAO
      rates compared to low dose group in this study. This suggests that using the
      current technique, standard dose of heparin is still required for transradial
      diagnostic angiography.

PMID- 25841134
TI  - Estrogen-Related Receptor alpha (ERRalpha) is required for adaptive increases in
      PGC-1 isoform expression during electrically stimulated contraction of adult
      cardiomyocytes in sustained hypoxic conditions.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In adult myocardium, Estrogen-Related Receptor alpha
      (ERRalpha) programs energetic capacity of cardiomyocytes by regulating expression
      of target genes required for mitochondrial biogenesis, fatty acid metabolism and
      oxidative phosphorylation. Transcriptional activation by ERRalpha is dependent on
      the alpha or beta isoform of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma
      Coactivator-1 (PGC-1). This study utilized a model of continuously contracting
      adult cardiomyocytes to determine the effects of sustained oxygen reduction
      (hypoxia) on ERRalpha target gene expression. METHODS AND RESULTS: Adult feline
      cardiomyocytes in primary culture were electrically stimulated to contract at 1
      Hz in either normoxia (21% O2) or hypoxia (0.5% O2). Compared to normoxia,
      hypoxia increased PGC-1alpha mRNA and PGC-1beta mRNA levels by 16-fold and 14
      fold after 24h. ERRalpha mRNA levels were increased 3-fold by hypoxia over the
      same time period. Treatment of cardiomyocytes with XCT-790, an ERRalpha inverse
      agonist, caused knockdown of ERRalpha protein expression. The increases in PGC-1
      mRNA levels in response to hypoxia were blocked by XCT-790 treatment, which
      indicates that expression of PGC-1 isoforms is dependent on ERRalpha activity.
      The products of two ERRalpha target genes required for energy metabolism, Cox6c
      mRNA and Fabp3 mRNA, increased by 4.5-fold and 3.5 fold after 24h of hypoxia as
      compared to normoxic controls. These increases were blocked by XCT-790 treatment
      of hypoxic cardiomyocytes with a concomitant decrease in ERRalpha expression.
      CONCLUSIONS: ERRalpha activity is required to increase expression of PGC-1
      isoforms and downstream target genes as part of the adaptive response of
      contracting adult cardiomyocytes to sustained hypoxia.

PMID- 25841135
TI  - Percutaneous transluminal pulmonary angioplasty for the treatment of chronic
      thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Challenges and future directions.
AB  - Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a common type of
      pulmonary hypertension, resulting from fibrotic transformation of pulmonary
      artery clots causing chronic obstruction of major pulmonary arteries and
      associated vascular remodeling in more distal vessels. The mainstay of CTEPH
      treatment is pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA), which has the potential to be
      curative but is possible in less than two thirds of cases. In inoperable patients
      and those with residual or recurrent CTEPH, medical therapy has been shown to be
      beneficial, albeit not curative. Balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) is a
      percutaneous technique for the relief of chronic thromboembolic lesions, first
      reported over two decades ago. More recent case series have demonstrated that, as
      the technique is refined, results are improving. The potential indications for
      BPA are now expanding beyond inoperable CTEPH patients, with Shimura et al.
      demonstrating the aggressive nature of residual or recurrent CTEPH, treated
      successfully by BPA years after PEA. Major challenges lie ahead of BPA before it
      can take its place alongside PEA and medication in the treatment of CTEPH. 

PMID- 25841136
TI  - A comparison of low versus standard heparin dose for prevention of forearm artery
      occlusion after 5 French coronary angiography.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Radial artery occlusion (RAO) remains the Achilles' heel of
      transradial coronary procedures. Standard over lower systemic anticoagulation
      levels are believed to reduce RAO rates but this is ill-supported by scientific
      evidence. We compared whether standard in comparison with less intensive
      anticoagulation was superior in preventing vessel closure. METHODS AND RESULTS:
      The two arms of this analysis included 731 pooled patients with the same
      inclusion and exclusion criteria. We assessed forearm arterial access site
      occlusion rate by unfractionated heparin (UFH) dose in an individual participant
      data meta-analysis of this randomized study and of consecutive eligible patients
      from our previous trial. We randomized 308 consecutive patients undergoing
      transradial coronary angiography with 5 French (5 Fr) catheters without need to
      crossover to receive 2500 or 5000 UFH units. The primary end-point was the
      ultrasonographically determined vessel occlusion rate. Incident RAOs in the
      randomized arm were 15.9% vs. 14%, in the low and standard UFH dose, respectively
      (p=0.7). Corresponding figures for forearm arterial occlusion rates in the pooled
      population were 13.0% vs. 9.9% (relative risk: 1.3, 95% confidence interval - CI:
      0.88-1.98; p=0.2). Procedural and fluoroscopy duration was less than 15 and 3
      min, respectively. The mean UFH dose difference was 3.52 (95% CI: -0.45 to 7.49)
      units per kilo body weight between occluded (n=84) and patent forearm arteries
      (n=647); (p=0.053). CONCLUSIONS: Incident forearm arterial occlusions were high
      despite using 5 Fr catheters for a short-lasting procedure. Systemic
      anticoagulation with standard over lower UFH dose did not reduce the frequency of
      RAOs after coronary angiography.

PMID- 25841137
TI  - Impact of left ventricular hypertrophy on impaired coronary microvascular
      dysfunction.

PMID- 25841138
TI  - Ethnic differences in the diurnal variation of symptom onset time for acute ST
      elevation myocardial infarction - An observational cohort study.

PMID- 25841139
TI  - Rosuvastatin and risk of acute pancreatitis in a population-based case-control
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Few data exist about the relationship between rosuvastatin
      use and acute pancreatitis. We tested a plausible hypothesis that rosuvastatin
      use might be associated with acute pancreatitis in Taiwan. METHODS: We designed a
      case-control study using a randomly sampled database of the Taiwan National
      Health Insurance Program. We identified 5728 subjects with the first episode of
      acute pancreatitis in 1998-2011 as the case group and we randomly selected 22,912
      sex- and age-matched subjects without acute pancreatitis as the control group.
      Subjects who never received a rosuvastatin prescription were defined as never use
      of rosuvastatin. Subjects who at least received 1 prescription for rosuvastatin
      within 7 days before the date of diagnosing acute pancreatitis were defined as
      active use of rosuvastatin. Subjects who did not receive a prescription within 7
      days but at least received 1 prescription for rosuvastatin >= 8 days before the
      date of diagnosing acute pancreatitis were defined as non-active use of
      rosuvastatin. Those at least receiving 1 prescription for other statins or non
      statin lipid-lowering drugs were excluded from this study. We estimated the odds
      ratio with 95% confidence interval for acute pancreatitis associated with
      rosuvastatin use by using the multivariable unconditional logistic regression
      model. RESULTS: The multivariable analysis disclosed that the adjusted odds ratio
      for acute pancreatitis in subjects with active use of rosuvastatin was 3.21 (95%
      confidence interval 1.70, 6.06). The adjusted odds ratio was 0.90 in subjects
      with non-active use of rosuvastatin (95% confidence interval 0.67, 1.19), without
      statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: We observed active use of rosuvastatin to
      be associated with increased risk for acute pancreatitis.

PMID- 25841140
TI  - Endogenous vascular endothelial growth factor produces tonic facilitation of
      cardiac vagal baroreflex via fetal liver kinase-1 in medulla oblongata.

PMID- 25841141
TI  - Meta-analysis of major bleeding with uninterrupted warfarin compared to
      interrupted warfarin and heparin bridging in ablation of atrial fibrillation.

PMID- 25841142
TI  - In-stent restenosis after vertebral artery stenting.

PMID- 25841143
TI  - Contribution of ultrasound contrast in predicting conduction disturbances during
      percutaneous alcohol septal ablation.

PMID- 25841144
TI  - Unipolar voltage threshold of 5.0 mV is optimal to localize critical isthmuses in
      post-infarction patients presenting with ventricular tachycardia.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Bipolar voltage mapping is useful to delineate post-infarct
      endocardial scar and guide ablation of ischemic VT. The role of unipolar mapping
      is not yet well defined. The aim of this study was to assess the correlation
      between electrophysiological findings in patients with ischemic VT and unipolar
      voltage maps using different cut-offs. METHODS: We included 10 patients (age 67
      +/- 7 years, ejection fraction 33 +/- 10%) with ischemic cardiomyopathy
      undergoing catheter ablation for recurrent VT. Patients with right-sided VTs were
      excluded. In all patients a unipolar voltage map was constructed during right
      ventricular pacing. Ablation was performed guided by activation and entrainment
      mapping in hemodynamically stable VTs and by pace-mapping and abnormal
      (late/split/fractionated) potentials in unstable VTs. Subsequently, the unipolar
      voltage maps were analyzed off-line using cutoffs from 1.0 to 8.0 mV and
      correlated with the isthmus sites. RESULTS: A total of 17 sustained VTs were
      induced in the 10 patients and non-inducibility of the clinical VT was achieved
      in 90% of patients by endocardial ablation. The optimal cutoff was 5.0 mV. By
      using this value, the mean surface area of abnormal unipolar voltage was 43.8%
      and 95% of all VT isthmuses were located within the area of scar, as well as 81%
      of abnormal potentials. In addition, 71% of isthmuses were at less than 1cm from
      the scar border. CONCLUSION: Unipolar voltage mapping showed good correlation
      with areas of isthmuses and abnormal electrograms in patients with scar-related
      VT, with a cut-off of 5.0 mV allowing the best delineation of ablation targets.

PMID- 25841145
TI  - Morphine may enhance the cardioprotection induced by remote ischemic
      perconditioning.

PMID- 25841146
TI  - Omega-3 fatty acids do not suppress atrial fibrillation even in the "inflamed"
      heart.

PMID- 25841147
TI  - Predictors of mid-term functional tricuspid regurgitation after device closure of
      atrial septal defect in adults: Impact of pre-operative tricuspid valve
      remodeling.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Functional TR occurs in adults with congenital atrial septal defect
      (ASD) due to left-to-right inter-atrial shunting and enlarged right heart. The
      prevalence and the predictors of TR following ASD closure in adults remain
      unknown. Moreover, whether preoperative anatomical parameters of tricuspid valve
      related to TR after ASD closure is understudied. METHODS: Comprehensive
      transthoracic echocardiography was performed in 64 consecutive secundum ASD
      patients before and at 3 months after device closure. Tricuspid valve parameters
      [annulus diameter (TAD), tenting area, tenting height, distal tricuspid septal
      leaflet angle (TSLA)], right ventricular (RV) function, pulmonary arterial
      pressures and severity of TR were recorded. Post-closure TR was defined as PISA
      radius >= 6 mm at 3 months. RESULTS: The TR severity was reduced after ASD
      closure with post-closure TR in 31 patients (48%) at follow-up. TR patients had
      larger ventricles, more TR, greater TAD, and larger tenting area/height and TSLA
      but similar RV long-axis function and pulmonary pressures at baseline. Pre
      closure TAD [odds ratio (OR): 6.076, p=0.032] and TSLA (OR: 1.218, p=0.001) were
      the independent predictors for TR. A TAD >3.5 cm and a TSLA >30 degrees  had
      sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve of 97%, 76%, and 0.82 and
      100%, 78%, and 0.84, respectively. Assessment of TSLA showed an incremental value
      over TAD for predicting TR after closure (chi(2)=21.3 vs. 9.9, p<0.001).
      CONCLUSION: Nearly half of adults had TR following device closure of ASD. It was
      related to the excessive pre-operative structural remodeling in tricuspid valve
      rather than changes in RV.

PMID- 25841148
TI  - Systematic review of percutaneous coronary intervention and transcatheter aortic
      valve implantation for concomitant aortic stenosis and coronary artery disease.

PMID- 25841149
TI  - Impaired cholesterol efflux capacity is related to increased carotid intima media
      thickness in patients with end-stage renal disease.

PMID- 25841150
TI  - Spectroscopic and ultrasonic investigations on structural characterization of
      borate glass specimen doped with transition metal ions.
AB  - The present work describes the glass samples of composition (x% V2O5-(80-x)% B2O3
      20% Na2CO3) VBS glass system and (x%MnO2-(80-x)% B2O3-20% Na2CO3) in MBS glass
      system with mol% ranging from x=3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 in steps of 3 mol% are
      prepared by melt quenching technique. For these prepared glass systems, sound
      velocity (longitudinal and shear velocities) and density have been measured. The
      sound velocity (longitudinal and shear) was measured by using pulse-echo
      technique at 5 MHz. The XRD study was carried to out to ascertain the amorphous
      nature of the glass specimen. Using these measured values, the elastic moduli,
      Poisson's ratio, Debye temperature, acoustic impedance and thermal expansion
      coefficient of the two glass systems were evaluated. The elastic and mechanical
      properties of the prepared glass systems are analyzed from ultrasonic study and
      the structural characterization from spectroscopic study. The effects due to the
      doping of transition metal ions with borate have been discussed. In the V2O5
      doped glass system,(VBS glass system) the sound velocity, density and elastic
      moduli, steeply increases after 12 mol% comparatively with MnO2 doped glass
      system (VBS glass system). The present study critically observes the doping of
      V2O5 with borate enhances the strengthening of network linkage and hardening of
      the glassy network structure than MnO2. The IR spectral analysis reveals
      depolymerization of the borate network and conversion of BO3 or BO4 units with
      the formation of non-bridging oxygen. The FTIR spectral studies confirm the
      presence of various functional groups of the sample. FTIR spectrum of sample
      exhibits broad absorption bands indicating the wide distribution of borate
      structural units. The effect of Na2CO3, V2O5 and MnO2 contents on the structures
      of borate glass is evaluated from the FTIR spectra. The topological aspects of
      the prepared glass samples are exhaustively reported from SEM micrographs.

PMID- 25841151
TI  - Quantum chemical study on surface complex structures of phosphate on gibbsite.
AB  - Quantum mechanics calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT) were
      used to identify phosphate surface complexes on gibbsite at low and high pH. The
      different phosphate species were represented using the Al6(OH)18(H2O)6 cluster
      model considering four different geometries: monodentate mononuclear (Pmm),
      monodentate binuclear (Pmb), bidentate mononuclear (Pbm) and bidentate binuclear
      (Pbb). The corresponding adsorption reactions were modelled via ligand exchange
      between phosphate species and surface functional groups (hydroxyls and protonated
      hydroxyls at high and low pH, respectively). The theoretical results indicate
      that phosphate surface complexes are thermodynamically more favored at acid pH,
      in agreement with experimental evidences. The first step in these reactions,
      i.e., the generation of required aluminum vacant sites, was predicted to be
      particularly favorable when singly coordinated aquo groups are released.
      Stretching and bending vibrational frequencies associated with the different
      surface structures were calculated at both pH conditions. The corresponding
      values at low pH were found to be shifted to higher frequencies with respect to
      those ones at high pH. ATR-FTIR studies were also carried out. The resulting
      spectra are dominated by a strong band within the 800-840 cm(-1) interval due to
      P-OH stretching modes. The corresponding peak appearing around 820 cm(-1) at high
      pH is shifted to lower frequencies with respect to the position at low pH, a
      tendency well predicted by DFT calculations.

PMID- 25841152
TI  - Correlation between ionic radii of metal azodye complexes and electrical
      conductivity.
AB  - 5-(2,3-Dimethyl-1-phenylpyrazol-5-one azo)-2-thioxo-4-thiazolidinone (HL) and its
      metal complexes with copper(II) (1), cobalt(II) (2) and nickel(II) (3) are
      synthesized and characterized by physico-chemical techniques. The thermal
      properties of the ligand (HL) and its metal complexes (1-3) are discussed. The
      thermal activation energies of decomposition (Ea) of HL and its metal complexes
      with Cu(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) are found to be 48.76, 36.83, 30.59 and 40.45
      kJ/mol, respectively. The frequency and temperature dependence of ac
      conductivity, dielectric constants for HL and its complexes (1-3) are
      investigated in the temperature range 300-356 K and frequency range 0.1-100 kHz.
      Both of the ac conductivity and the values of the thermal activation energy for
      conduction, as well as the dielectric properties of the complexes of HL are found
      to depend on the nature of the metallic ions. The values of the thermal
      activation energies of electrical conductivity decrease with increasing the value
      of test frequency. The small polarons tunneling (SPT) is the dominant conduction
      mechanism for the ligand (HL), while for complex (2) the overlapping large
      tunneling model (OLPT) is the dominant conduction mechanism. The correlated
      barrier hopping (CBH) is the dominant conduction mechanism for both of the
      complexes (1) and (3).

PMID- 25841153
TI  - FT-IR, FT-Raman, UV/Vis spectra and fluorescence imaging studies on 2
      (bromoacetyl)benzo(b)furan by ab initio DFT calculations.
AB  - The vibrational and electronic properties of 2-(bromoacetyl)benzo(b)furan have
      been studied in the ground state using experimental techniques (FT-IR, FT-Raman
      and UV) and density functional theory (DFT) employing B3LYP exchange correlation
      with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set. The theoretically calculated optimized parameters,
      vibrational frequencies etc., were compared with the experimental values, which
      yield good agreement between the observed and calculated values. The complete
      assignments of fundamental modes were performed on the basis of the potential
      energy distribution (PED). UV-visible spectrum of the compound was recorded in
      the region 300-600 nm and compared with the theoretical spectrum obtained from
      SAC-CI calculations. A good agreement is observed between the experimental and
      theoretical spectra. Fluorescence microscopic imaging studies proved that the
      compound can be used as one of the potential light sources in the yellow region
      with suitable excitation. Further, the predicted electronic transitions between
      the MOs 47->64, 52->62, 56->65, 56->72, 56->77 of the compound show a strong line
      at 569.8 nm.

PMID- 25841154
TI  - Chondrosarcoma of a rib.
AB  - Chondrosarcoma of a rib is a very rare malignant tumor of the bone. Most patients
      were present with an enlarging painful anterior chest wall tumor. We present a
      case of an asymptomatic 29-years old female with a tumor size of 10cm*12cm on the
      left anterior chest wall involving the 8th rib. CT scan with intravenous contrast
      is the gold standard for radiological imaging and planning for surgery. Since
      chondrosarcoma is less sensitive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, surgical
      treatment with extensive resection with a sufficient margin is considered first
      line treatment. 

PMID- 25841155
TI  - Confirmation of immunoglobulin heavy chain rearrangement by polymerase chain
      reaction using surgically obtained, paraffin-embedded samples to diagnose primary
      palate mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma: A case study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Intraoral mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is a
      rare lymphoma that has a good prognosis if diagnosed correctly and treated in
      time. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 64-year-old woman was referred to our department
      with asymptomatic swelling of the left hard palate. Computed tomography and
      magnetic resonance imaging revealed a mass in the left hard palate. We performed
      a pre-surgery biopsy; however, it was difficult to differentiate MALT lymphoma
      from other reactive lymphoproliferative disorders via gross or microscopic
      examination. Although the lesion was completely excised, histological findings
      did not allow a definitive diagnosis due to an absence of visible monoclonality.
      We then performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using DNA extracted from
      formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded surgical samples. Capillary electrophoresis
      showed monoclonal peaks of immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangement, thus
      facilitating a definitive diagnosis of MALT lymphoma. DISCUSSION: PCR technique
      is rapid, accurate, and enables a definitive diagnosis without relying on
      traditional histological or molecular diagnostic techniques, such as Southern
      blotting. CONCLUSION: We suggest that, if histological examination is ambiguous
      or fresh material is insufficient, PCR can be performed using paraffin-embedded
      materials to definitively diagnose low-grade lymphomas, such as MALT lymphoma.

PMID- 25841156
TI  - Postpneumonectomy syndrome in a newborn after esophageal atresia repair.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Postpneumonectomy syndrome (PPS) is an ominous complication, caused
      by mediastinal shift following massive lung resection. PRESENTATION OF THE CASE:
      A neonate with oesophageal atresia and tracheo-oesophageal fistula developed
      acute respiratory distress shortly after surgery, despite mechanical ventilation.
      The patient was found to have an associated oesophageal right lung that collapsed
      after oesophageal atresia repair and a left pulmonary artery sling causing left
      main bronchus stenosis mimicking a postpneumonectomy syndrome. DISCUSSION: We
      will describe the diagnostic work-up and the therapeutic measures used both in
      the acute phase and as definitive treatment in this challenging case.
      CONCLUSIONS: Neonatologists and paediatric surgeons should be aware of this rare
      association that may cause acute life threatening and worsening of patient's
      clinical status. Prompt realignment of the mediastinum in the normal position is
      critical to obtain rapid improvement of the patient's clinical conditions.

PMID- 25841157
TI  - Normalization of chromium and cobalt values after femoral head replacement.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Adverse reaction to metal debris (ARMD) can be caused by metal-on
      metal total hip arthoplasty. We treated a case of ARMD in a 61-year-old patient
      by limited prosthetic revision, replacing the metal head with a polyethylene one.
      PRESENTATION OF CASE: Two years after metal-on-metal total arthoplasty of the
      left hip, radiographic control showed osteolysis of the patient's greater
      trochanter. He underwent surgical curettage and the application of demineralized
      bone matrix. After a few months, blood Co and Cr increased, and at clinical
      evaluation, the patient had worsening paresthesias. He agreed to prosthetic
      revision after 14 months. DISCUSSION: During surgery, the acetabular cup and
      femoral stem appeared correctly osteointegrated; therefore, the cup was
      maintained, while the prosthetic femoral head was removed and replaced with a
      50mm polyethylene head. CONCLUSION: Blood Cr and urinary Cr and Co decreased and
      normalized 3 months after surgery, and the patient no longer suffered
      paresthesias. Blood Co normalized 7 months after revision. Radiographic follow-up
      showed no change after 30 months post-operatively. We believe this case report
      could be a starting point for a future randomized clinical trial to test the
      efficacy of the procedure used compared with complete implant revision.

PMID- 25841158
TI  - Jejuno-ileal diverticulitis: Etiopathogenicity, diagnosis and management.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Although diverticular disease of the duodenum and colon is
      frequent, the jejuno-ileal diverticulosis (JOD) is an uncommon entity. The
      perforation of the small bowel diverticula can be fatal due to the delay in
      diagnosis. PRESENTATION OF CASE: We report the case of a 79-year-old man
      presenting with generalized abdominal pain and altered bowel habits. Physical
      examination revealed a severe diffuse abdominal pain. A CT scan of the abdomen
      and pelvis with oral contrast showed thickening of the distal jejunal loop and
      thickening and infiltration of the mesenteric fat and the presence of free air in
      the mesentery suggesting a possible perforation adjacent to the diverticula. A
      midline laparotomy was performed. The jejunal diverticula were found along the
      mesenteric border. Forty centimeters of the jejunum were resected. Histopathology
      report confirmed the presence of multiple jejunual diverticula, and one of them
      was perforated. The patient tolerated the procedure and the postoperative period
      was uncomplicated. DISCUSSION: The prevalence of small intestinal diverticula
      ranges from 0.06% to 1.3%. The etiopathogenesis of JOD is unclear, although the
      current hypothesis focuses on abnormalities in the smooth muscle or myenteric
      plexus, on intestinal dyskinesis and on high intraluminal pressures. Diagnosis is
      often difficult and delayed because clinical symptoms are not specific and mainly
      imaging studies performs the diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Because of the relative
      rarity of acquired jejuno-ileal diverticulosis, the perforation of small bowel
      diverticulitis poses technical dilemmas.

PMID- 25841159
TI  - Small bowel obstruction caused by dried apple.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Small bowel obstruction in a virgin abdomen is an uncommon surgical
      condition. While malignancy, inflammatory bowel disease and foreign body are the
      main reported causes, undigested food bezoar causing bowel obstruction is a rare
      entity. We report a case of small bowel obstruction secondary to dried preserved
      apple having re-expanded within the gastrointestinal tract. PRESENTATION OF CASE:
      A 69 year old male presented with severe abdominal distension, generalized
      abdominal tenderness and obstipation for 1 week. Small bowel obstruction (SBO)
      was confirmed on plain abdominal X-ray and CT imaging. An emergency explorative
      laparatomy identified a sausage-shaped intra-luminal foreign body obstructing the
      distal ileum. An enterotomy was performed which revealed a rehydrated, donut
      shaped piece of dried apple. DISCUSSION: Swallowed items that pass through the
      pylorus rarely cause obstruction as they are usually small enough to pass through
      the rest of the bowel without difficulty. We postulate that in our patient that
      the dried apple was originally small enough to pass through the pylorus. However
      during small bowel, its' highly absorbable nature resulted in an increase in size
      that prevented its' passage through the ileocecal valve. A simple in-vitro
      experiment discovered that dried apple has a potential to reabsorb fluid and
      expand up to 35% of its initial size within 72h. CONCLUSION: This report
      illustrates the potential for dried food substances to cause intra-luminal SBO
      after significant expansion with rehydration.

PMID- 25841160
TI  - Pathological fracture of the coronoid process secondary to medication-related
      osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ).
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) is a growing
      problem within the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery. It is defined as the
      presence of exposed necrotic alveolar bone that does not resolve over a period of
      8 weeks in a patient taking bisphosphonates, who has not had radiotherapy to the
      jaw [1]. Since the first report in 2003 that highlighted the potential harm
      caused by MRONJ, many more patients have been diagnosed with the condition [2].
      The growth in recent years is likely due to the more potent drugs delivered
      intravenously however there is some evidence that oral bisphosphonates given over
      longer periods of time can have similar effects. Bone exposure may occur
      spontaneously or most commonly occurs following an invasive dental procedure, as
      shown in the case below [3]. PRESENTATION OF CASE: This case report demonstrates
      the unpredictable nature of symptoms associated with medication related
      osteonecrosis and its management within the hospital environment. DISCUSSION:
      This case demonstrastes the unpredictable nature of MRONJ and how the disease can
      progress to cause significant morbidity. In this case extensive surgery was
      required to remove the necrotic fragments of bone with no guarnatee that the
      necrosis will stop spreading. CONCLUSION: It seems a matter of great importance
      that the lasting effects of MRONJ are known to general dental and medical
      practitioners alike. Nationally recognised evidence based guidelines are lacking
      and uniformity in the management of MRONJ is required amongst the speciality.

PMID- 25841161
TI  - Impact of real-time traffic characteristics on freeway crash occurrence:
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - The development of methods for real-time crash prediction as a function of
      current or recent traffic and roadway conditions is gaining increasing attention
      in the literature. Numerous studies have modeled the relationships between
      traffic characteristics and crash occurrence, and significant progress has been
      made. Given the accumulated evidence on this topic and the lack of an articulate
      summary of research status, challenges, and opportunities, there is an urgent
      need to scientifically review these studies and to synthesize the existing state
      of-the-art knowledge. This paper addresses this need by undertaking a systematic
      literature review to identify current knowledge, challenges, and opportunities,
      and then conducts a meta-analysis of existing studies to provide a summary impact
      of traffic characteristics on crash occurrence. Sensitivity analyses were
      conducted to assess quality, publication bias, and outlier bias of the various
      studies; and the time intervals used to measure traffic characteristics were also
      considered. As a result of this comprehensive and systematic review, issues in
      study designs, traffic and crash data, and model development and validation are
      discussed. Outcomes of this study are intended to provide researchers focused on
      real-time crash prediction with greater insight into the modeling of this
      important but extremely challenging safety issue. 

PMID- 25841162
TI  - Dual antiplatelet therapy after acute coronary syndrome: a cardiologist-based
      optimal decision.

PMID- 25841164
TI  - Response to: 'Towards optimal cut-off trough levels of adalimumab and etanercept
      for a good therapeutic response in rheumatoid arthritis. Results of the
      INMUNOREMAR study' by Sanmarti et al.

PMID- 25841163
TI  - Return to sport after hip surgery for femoroacetabular impingement: a systematic
      review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We aimed to appraise (1) the rate of return to sport of athletes
      after hip surgery for femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and (2) some aspects
      that may influence the return to sport. METHODS: Four databases (EMBASE, PubMed,
      Web of Science, Cochrane Library) were searched until 21 October 2014. Studies
      evaluated return to sport of athletes who underwent hip surgery for the treatment
      of symptomatic FAI. A validated tool was used for quality evaluation of the
      studies. RESULTS: A total of 18 case series (level of evidence IV) with moderate
      to-high methodological quality were included. On average, 87% of athletes
      returned to sport after hip surgery for FAI and 82% returned to the same sport
      level as before the occurrence of the symptoms. Professional athletes seem to
      return to sport at a higher rate compared with recreational and collegiate
      athletes. Sport participation after hip arthroscopy tends to decrease for
      professional athletes at short-term and mid-term follow-ups. Diffuse hip
      osteoarthritis at the time of surgery may not allow athletes to return to sport.
      CONCLUSIONS: Most athletes return to sport after hip surgery for the treatment of
      symptomatic FAI. The level of competition, time of evaluation after hip surgery
      and presence of articular cartilage lesions at the time of surgery may influence
      return to sport. Future studies with higher levels of evidence should describe
      and evaluate return to sport protocols after hip surgery for FAI.

PMID- 25841165
TI  - Economic comparison of the monitoring programmes for bluetongue vectors in
      Austria and Switzerland.
AB  - With the bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8) outbreak in 2006, vector monitoring
      programmes (according to EU regulation 1266/2007) were implemented by European
      countries to obtain information on the spatial distribution of vectors and the
      vector-free period. This study investigates the vector monitoring programmes in
      Austria and Switzerland by performing a retrospective cost analysis for the
      period 2006-2010. Two types of costs were distinguished: costs financed directly
      via the national bluetongue programmes and costs contributed in-kind by the
      responsible institutions and agricultural holdings. The total net costs of the
      monitoring programme in Austria amounted to ?1,415,000, whereby in Switzerland
      the costs were valued at ?94,000. Both countries followed the legislation
      complying with requirements, but differed in regard to sampling frequency, number
      of trap sites and sampling strategy. Furthermore, the surface area of Austria is
      twice the area of Switzerland although the number of ruminants is almost the same
      in both countries. Thus, for comparison, the costs were normalised with regard to
      the sampling frequency and the number of trap sites. Resulting costs per trap
      sample comprised ?164 for Austria and ?48 for Switzerland. In both countries,
      around 50 per cent of the total costs can be attributed to payments in-kind. The
      benefit of this study is twofold: first, veterinary authorities may use the
      results to improve the economic efficiency of future vector monitoring
      programmes. Second, the analysis of the payment in-kind contribution is of great
      importance to public authorities as it makes the available resources visible and
      demonstrates how they have been used. 

PMID- 25841166
TI  - Non-urgent accident and emergency department use as a socially shared custom: a
      qualitative study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We explored attitudes of non-urgent accident and emergency department
      (AED) patients in the middle-income healthcare setting Saint Vincent and the
      Grenadines (SVG) in the Caribbean to understand how and why they decide to seek
      emergency care and resist using primary care facilities. METHODS: In 2013, we
      conducted 12 semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of non-urgent AED
      users from a variety of social backgrounds. Verbatim transcripts were analysed
      with a grounded theory approach. RESULTS: In this study, we found, first, that
      participants automatically chose to visit the AED and described this as a locally
      shared custom. Second, the healthcare system in SVG reinforced this habitual use
      of the AED, for example, by health professionals routinely referring non-urgent
      cases to the AED. Third, there was also some deliberate use; patients took
      convenience and the systemic encouragement into account to determine that the AED
      was the most appropriate choice for healthcare. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the
      attitudes and habits of the Vincentian non-urgent patient are major determinants
      of their AED use and are intricately linked to local, socially shared practices
      of AED use. Findings show that health services research should reconsider
      rational choice behaviour models and further explore customs of health-seeking.

PMID- 25841167
TI  - Comparative Analysis of Principal Components Can be Misleading.
AB  - Most existing methods for modeling trait evolution are univariate, although
      researchers are often interested in investigating evolutionary patterns and
      processes across multiple traits. Principal components analysis (PCA) is commonly
      used to reduce the dimensionality of multivariate data so that univariate trait
      models can be fit to individual principal components. The problem with using
      standard PCA on phylogenetically structured data has been previously pointed out
      yet it continues to be widely used in the literature. Here we demonstrate
      precisely how using standard PCA can mislead inferences: The first few principal
      components of traits evolved under constant-rate multivariate Brownian motion
      will appear to have evolved via an "early burst" process. A phylogenetic PCA
      (pPCA) has been proprosed to alleviate these issues. However, when the true model
      of trait evolution deviates from the model assumed in the calculation of the pPCA
      axes, we find that the use of pPCA suffers from similar artifacts as standard
      PCA. We show that data sets with high effective dimensionality are particularly
      likely to lead to erroneous inferences. Ultimately, all of the problems we report
      stem from the same underlying issue--by considering only the first few principal
      components as univariate traits, we are effectively examining a biased sample of
      a multivariate pattern. These results highlight the need for truly multivariate
      phylogenetic comparative methods. As these methods are still being developed, we
      discuss potential alternative strategies for using and interpreting models fit to
      univariate axes of multivariate data.

PMID- 25841168
TI  - Leptomeningeal collateral vessels are a major risk factor for intracranial
      hemorrhage after carotid stenting in patients with carotid atherosclerotic
      plaque.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the relationship between leptomeningeal collaterals and
      intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) after carotid artery stenting (CAS). METHODS: A
      retrospective study was undertaken of 228 patients (median age 75 years (range 44
      90); 187 men and 41 women) who underwent CAS due to unilateral carotid
      atherosclerotic plaque from January 2009 to December 2013. Cerebral angiographic
      findings were classified into three patterns: type I, normal visualization of the
      anterior and middle cerebral arteries without leptomeningeal collaterals; type
      II, visualization of the middle cerebral artery only without leptomeningeal
      collaterals; and type III, visualization of leptomeningeal collateral flow.
      RESULTS: For all cerebral angiographic findings, 146 (64.0%) were type I, 61
      (26.8%) were type II, and 21 (9.2%) were type III. Four patients (1.8%) died with
      fatal ICH after CAS and had type III angiographic findings (19%). The prevalence
      of ICH in patients with leptomeningeal collateral vessels was significantly
      higher than in patients without leptomeningeal collateral vessels (19% vs 0%,
      p<0.0001). The percentage of carotid stenosis in patients with ICH based on North
      American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial (NASCET) criteria was
      significantly higher than in patients without ICH (89.8+/-3.6% vs 72.8+/-12.8%,
      p=0.014). CONCLUSIONS: Leptomeningeal collateral vessels are a major risk factor
      for ICH after CAS in patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaque.

PMID- 25841169
TI  - Vascular geometry of the extracranial carotid arteries: an analysis of length,
      diameter, and tortuosity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Stable access is essential for successful intracranial interventions.
      Quantifying variations in extracranial carotid arteries may help in the selection
      and development of access catheters. This study describes the vascular dimensions
      from the aortic arch to the skull base. METHODS: CT angiography analysis was
      performed on 100 patients. The lengths, diameters, and tortuosity of the common
      carotid artery (CCA) and internal carotid artery (ICA) were measured from the
      aortic arch to the skull base. RESULTS: The mean+/-SD length of the carotid
      artery from the aortic arch to the skull base was 22.2+/-2.2 cm for the right
      side and 20.8+/-1.9 cm for the left side (p<0.0001). The length of the right CCA
      was 13.6+/-1.2 cm and the length of the left CCA was 12.4+/-1.4 cm (p<0.0001).
      The length of the right ICA was 8.6+/-1.4 cm compared with 8.4+/-1.4 cm for the
      left ICA (p=0.3). The ICA length in men and women was 8.9+/-1.3 cm and 8.2+/-1.3
      cm, respectively (p=0.0001), and the CCA length in men and women was 13.6+/-1.5
      cm and 12.3+/-1.6 cm, respectively (p<0.0001). The lengths of the CCA and ICA in
      patients aged >=60 years were 13.3+/-1.7 cm and 8.9+/-1.5 cm, respectively
      compared with 12.8+/-1.7 cm and 8.2+/-1.1 cm, respectively, for patients aged <60
      years (p=0.04 for CCA, p=0.0002 for ICA). Tortuosity of the CCA and ICA was 1.2+/
      0.2 and 1.3+/-0.1, respectively, in patients aged >=60 years compared with 1.1+/
      0.1 for both the ICA and CCA in patients aged <60 years (p<0.0001 for both).
      There was a consistent ratio of CCA/ICA length of 1.6+/-0.3 on the right and
      1.5+/-0.3 on the left (p<0.0001). The arterial diameters did not show any
      significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: The distance from the aortic arch to the
      skull base is longer on the right than on the left side. Both the CCA and ICA are
      longer in men and in patients aged >=60 years. The tortuosity of both segments
      significantly increases with age.

PMID- 25841170
TI  - Successful endovascular treatment of three fusiform cerebral aneurysms with the
      Pipeline Embolization Device in a patient with dilating HIV vasculopathy.

PMID- 25841171
TI  - Serum nesfatin-1 is reduced in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with peripheral
      arterial disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nesfatin-1, recently identified as a satiety regulator, elicits an
      anti-atherosclerosis effect. Our study was designed to determine whether there is
      an association between serum nesfatin-1 and the development and severity of
      peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
      (T2DM). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 355 T2DM
      patients (200 without PAD and 155 with PAD). RESULTS: T2DM patients with PAD
      exhibited marked lower serum nesfatin-1 concentrations than those without PAD.
      Multivariable logistic regression analysis indicated an inverse association of
      serum nesfatin-1 concentrations with the development of PAD in T2DM patients (OR
      0.008, 95% CI 0.002 to 0.028; P<0.001). Simple linear regression analysis showed
      a marked correlation between serum nesfatin-1 concentrations and body mass index
      (BMI), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), C-reactive
      protein (CRP), and ankle-brachial index (ABI) in T2DM patients. By contrast,
      multivariable analysis showed only BMI and ABI as independent correlates of serum
      nesfatin-1. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows an association of serum nesfatin-1
      concentrations and the development and severity of PAD in T2DM patients.

PMID- 25841172
TI  - Exploring age differences in visual working memory capacity: is there a
      contribution of memory for configuration?
AB  - Recent research has shown marked developmental increases in the apparent capacity
      of working memory. This recent research is based largely on performance on tasks
      in which a visual array is to be retained briefly for comparison with a
      subsequent probe display. Here we examined a possible theoretical alternative (or
      supplement) to a developmental increase in working memory in which children could
      improve in the ability to combine items in an array to form a coherent
      configuration. Elementary school children and adults received, on each trial, an
      array of colored spots to be remembered. On some trials, we provided structure in
      the probe display to facilitate the formation of a mental representation in which
      a coherent configuration is encoded. This stimulus structure in the probe display
      helped younger children, and thus reduced the developmental trend, but only on
      trials in which the participants were held responsible for the locations of items
      in the array. We conclude that, in addition to the development of the ability to
      form precise spatial configurations from items, the evidence is consistent with
      the existence of an actual developmental increase in working memory capacity for
      objects in an array.

PMID- 25841173
TI  - Identification and expression analysis of two interleukin-23alpha (p19) isoforms,
      in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and Atlantic salmon Salmo salar.
AB  - Interleukin (IL)-23 is a heterodimeric IL-12 family cytokine composed of a p19
      alpha-chain, linked to a p40 beta-chain that is shared with IL-12. IL-23 is
      distinguished functionally from IL-12 by its ability to induce the production of
      IL-17, and differentiation of Th17 cells in mammals. Three isoforms of p40 (p40a,
      p40b and p40c) have been found in some 3R teleosts. Salmonids also possess three
      p40 isoforms (p40b1, p40b2 and p40c) although p40a is missing, and two copies
      (paralogues) of p40b are present that have presumably been retained following the
      4R duplication in this fish lineage. Teleost p19 has been discovered recently in
      zebrafish, but to date there is limited information on expression and modulation
      of this molecule. In this report we have cloned two p19 paralogues (p19a and
      p19b) in salmonids, suggesting that a salmonid can possess six potential IL-23
      isoforms. Whilst Atlantic salmon has two active p19 genes, the rainbow trout p19b
      gene may have been pseudogenized. The salmonid p19 translations share moderate
      identities (22.8-29.9%) to zebrafish and mammalian p19 molecules, but their
      identity was supported by structural features, a conserved 4 exon/3 intron gene
      organisation, and phylogenetic tree analysis. The active salmonid p19 genes are
      highly expressed in blood and gonad. Bacterial (Yersinia ruckeri) and viral
      infection in rainbow trout induces the expression of p19a, suggesting pathogen
      specific induction of IL-23 isoforms. Trout p19a expression was also induced by
      PAMPs (poly IC and peptidoglycan) and the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1beta in
      primary head kidney macrophages. These data may indicate diverse functional roles
      of trout IL-23 isoforms in regulating the immune response in fish.

PMID- 25841174
TI  - Functional roles and gene regulation of tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 in
      freshwater striped murrel.
AB  - In this study, a complete molecular characterization of tumor necrosis factor
      receptor 1 (TNFR1) which was identified from the constructed cDNA library of
      striped murrel Channa striatus (Cs) is reported. The CsTNFR1 encoded a type I
      membrane receptor protein that contains 399 amino acids including three cysteine
      rich domains (CRDs) at CRD1(41-46), CRD2(79-118) and CRD3(120-159) in the
      extracellular region and a putative TNF receptor-associated factor (TRAF) site at
      245-253 and a death domain between 297 and 388 in the cytoplasmic region which is
      essential for induction of apoptosis. The predicted molecular mass of CsTNFR1 is
      45kDa and its corresponding theoretical isoelectric point (pI) is 6.3. CsTNFR1
      shared maximum identity with TNFR1 from olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus
      (82%). Real-time PCR showed that CsTNFR1 gene was expressed most abundantly
      (P<0.05) in the head kidney. Further, CsTNFR1 mRNA transcription was studied
      after challenge with fungus Apanomyces invadans and bacteria Aeromonas
      hydrophila. The fungus injected murrels showed a highest expression at 48h,
      whereas bacteria injected murrels showed at 24h. The gene expression studies
      revealed that CsTNFR1 may be involved in innate immune process of murrels against
      pathogenic infections. The over-expressed and purified recombinant CsTNFR1
      protein (rCsTNFR1) was subjected to TNF-alpha inhibition assay to confirm their
      specificity and activity against TNF-alpha which confirmed that the rCsTNFR1
      inhibits the activity of TNF-alpha in a dose dependent manner where maximum
      inhibition (97%) was observed at 10,000 fold concentration of rCsTNFR1. In
      addition, the direct cytotoxic effect of rCsTNFR1 was analyzed against head
      kidney phagocyte. The results showed that the recombinant CsTNFR1 protein does
      not exhibit any significant cytotoxicity against head kidney phagocyte cells even
      at higher concentration (8MUg/ml). Moreover, the recombinant protein was analyzed
      for respiratory burst activity in the presence of two different ROS inducers,
      opsonized zymosan (fungal cell wall component) and phorbol 12-myristate 13
      acetate (PMA). The findings showed that the C. striatus head kidney phagocyte
      exposed to purified recombinant CsTNFR1 protein alone do not produced any ROS.
      However, opsonized zymosan induced recombinant CsTNFR1 protein significantly
      (P<0.05) enhanced the ROS production on concentration basis which is revealed
      that the ROS production depends on the concentration of the recombinant CsTNFR1
      protein. Overall, the study showed that the CsTNFR1 plays an important role in
      the pathogen-induced inflammatory process of striped murrel.

PMID- 25841175
TI  - Early adolescent temperament, parental monitoring, and substance use in Mexican
      origin adolescents.
AB  - Previous studies suggest that temperamental dispositions are associated with
      substance use. However, most research supporting this association has relied on
      European American samples (Stautz & Cooper, 2013). We addressed this gap by
      evaluating the prospective relations between 5th grade temperament and 9th grade
      substance use in a longitudinal sample of Mexican-origin youth (N = 674).
      Effortful control and trait aggressiveness predicted 9th grade substance use,
      intentions, and expectations, even after controlling for 5th grade substance use.
      Additionally, we found an interaction between temperament and parental monitoring
      such that monitoring is a protective factor for early substance use primarily for
      youth with temperamental tendencies associated with risk for substance use (e.g.,
      low effortful control and aggression). Results add to the growing literature
      demonstrating that early manifestations of self-control are related to
      consequential life outcomes. 

PMID- 25841176
TI  - Effect of prosthodontic planning on intercuspal occlusal contacts: comparison of
      digital and conventional planning.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adequate occlusal contacts are critical for masticatory function. The
      aim of this study is to evaluate the intercuspal occlusal contacts following
      conventional and digital wax-ups. METHODS: Stone casts of 15 patients undergoing
      prosthodontic treatment were gathered. Each cast was duplicated twice, so that
      conventional and digital wax-ups could be performed. To assess the occlusion, the
      following variables were evaluated: contact number per tooth (CNT), contact area
      per tooth (CAT) and contact accuracy. Further, the impact of tooth location in
      the arch was assessed. RESULTS: The CNT and CAT after the wax-ups increased
      significantly following each wax-up, and this increase was more prominent for the
      posterior teeth than the anterior teeth. The conventional wax-up was associated
      with lower CNT than the digital wax-up, especially for the posterior teeth. On
      the other hand, the CAT was greater for the conventional wax-up than the digital
      wax-up for the anterior and posterior teeth. In terms of accuracy, the two wax
      ups showed greater discrepancies than the pre-treatment casts, however, the
      magnitude of discrepancy was greater for the digital wax-up. CONCLUSIONS: The two
      wax-ups improved the contact number and area. Despite the statistical variation
      between the wax-ups, the actual difference was minimal. Therefore, it could be
      speculated that the two wax-ups produced a similar outcome.

PMID- 25841177
TI  - The influence of cognitive control training on stress reactivity and rumination
      in response to a lab stressor and naturalistic stress.
AB  - Cognitive control impairments have been identified as an underlying mechanism for
      rumination, a key predictor of depression. Literature suggests that cognitive
      control training (CCT) targeting working memory functioning can increase
      effectiveness of existing antidepressant treatments to reduce rumination.
      However, it remains unclear whether CCT can also be implemented as a preventive
      intervention for depression, increasing resilience. For this purpose, at-risk
      undergraduate students (high trait ruminators) were allocated to a CCT or active
      control condition, consisting of 10 online training sessions. Working memory
      functioning was assessed preceding and following the training and reactivity to a
      lab stressor was assessed directly following training. Finally, at four weeks
      follow-up, brooding--the maladaptive form of rumination--was re-assessed in
      response to a naturalistic stressor (examination period). Although we did not
      find direct transfer effects of CCT on working memory functioning, increase in
      working memory functioning following CCT was related to post-training brooding
      and resilience levels. Moreover, participants receiving CCT demonstrated lower
      stress reactivity in the lab and a decrease in brooding following a naturalistic
      stressor at follow-up, indicating temporal stability of our findings. These
      findings suggest that CCT can be considered a promising preventive intervention
      to reduce stress reactivity and rumination.

PMID- 25841178
TI  - A histological and ultrastructural study of the skin of rainbow trout
      (Oncorhynchus mykiss) alevins exposed to different levels of ultraviolet B
      radiation.
AB  - The current study was conducted to evaluate the effects of UV-B radiation on
      survival rate and histopathological changes in the skin structure and
      ultrastructure in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) alevins. In laboratory dark
      conditions, newly hatched rainbow trout alevins were exposed to two different
      doses of UV-B radiation (high dose: HD: 94.83 MUW cm(-2)) and (low dose: LD:
      68.75 MUW cm(-2)) for 9 days (time of exposure: 15 min per day), whereas
      specimens kept in darkness served as a control group. At the end of the
      experiment, alevins exposed to HD-UVB had the lowest survival rate (43.9 +/-
      0.9%), whereas fish exposed to LD-UVB showed intermediate values (73.6 +/- 0.4%)
      with regard to the control group (91.2 +/- 0.2%). Light microscopic and scanning
      electron microscopic studies revealed necrosis, sunburned cells, epidermis
      lifting of the epidermis, reduced number of mucous cells, degeneration of mucous
      cells and destruction of pavement cell microridges in both UV-B exposed groups.
      Hemorrhage and inflation in the meningeal layer of the brain were also observed
      in 17% and 42% of fish exposed to LD- and HD-UVB, respectively.

PMID- 25841179
TI  - Acute phytotoxicity of seven metals alone and in mixture: Are Italian soil
      threshold concentrations suitable for plant protection?
AB  - Metals can pollute soils in both urban and rural areas with severe impacts on the
      health of humans, plants and animals living there. Information on metal toxicity
      is therefore important for ecotoxicology. This study investigated the
      phytotoxicity of different metals frequently found as pollutants in soils:
      arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel and zinc. Cucumber (Cucumis
      sativus), sorghum (Sorghum saccharatum) and cress (Lepidium sativum) seeds were
      used as models for other plants used in human nutrition such as cereals, rice,
      fruits and vegetables. The 72-h germination rate and root elongations were
      selected as short-term ecotoxicological endpoints in seeds exposed to single
      metals and mixtures. Metals were spiked onto OECD standard soils in
      concentrations comparable to current Italian contamination threshold
      concentrations for residential and commercial soils. Arsenic, chromium, mercury
      and nickel were the most toxic metals in our experimental conditions,
      particularly to cress seeds (5.172, 152 and 255.4 mg/kg as 72 h IC50 for arsenic,
      mercury and nickel respectively). Italian limits were acceptable for plant
      protection only for exposure to each metal alone but not for the mixtures
      containing all the metals concentrations expected by their respective legislative
      threshold. The effects of the mixture were class-specific: trends were comparable
      in dicots but different in monocots. The response induced by the mixture at high
      concentrations differed from that theoretically obtainable by summing the effects
      of the individual metals. This might be due to partial antagonism of the metals
      in soil or to the formation of complexes between the metals, which reduce the
      bioavailability of the pollutants for plants.

PMID- 25841180
TI  - Neurokinin (NK)-1 receptor expression in monocytes from bipolar disorder
      patients: a pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Neurokinin 1 receptors (NK-1R) have been involved in several
      psychiatric disorders including major depression, but less is known for bipolar
      disorder (BD). METHOD: We compared NK-1R expression and Substance P (SP) ability
      to induce NF-kappaB activation in monocytes from BD patients and healthy donors
      (HD), also looking for the effects of tobacco smoke. After informed written
      consent, 20 euthymic BD patients, either bipolar type 1 (BDI) or type 2 (BDII),
      and 14 age-matched healthy donors (HD) were enrolled. NK-1R expression in
      monocytes was evaluated by Western blot and expressed as the ratio between NK-1R
      and Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase protein expressions. NF-kappaB activation was assessed by
      measuring the nuclear content of the p50 subunit (ELISA kit). RESULTS: NK-1R
      expression was significantly reduced (P<0.001) in monocytes from BD patients as
      compared to HD, with no major differences between BDI and BDII patients. Tobacco
      smoke enhanced NK-1R expression in HD, but not in BD patients. Un-stimulated
      monocytes from BD patients presented a constitutively higher (P<0.05) content of
      nuclear p50 subunit as compared to HD. SP and an NK-1R agonist induced NF-kappaB
      activation, with a higher effect in HD: this effect was receptor-mediated as it
      was abrogated by an NK-1R antagonist. LIMITATIONS: As a pilot study enrolling 20
      BD patients, an obvious limitation is the sample size. CONCLUSIONS: Our results
      show the existence of a relevant alteration in NK-1R expression in BD patients
      and further suggest SP involvement in BD, so improving our understanding of the
      underlying mechanisms of this disease.

PMID- 25841181
TI  - Degradation and monitoring of acetamiprid, thiabendazole and their transformation
      products in an agro-food industry effluent during solar photo-Fenton treatment in
      a raceway pond reactor.
AB  - In this study, pesticides acetamiprid and thiabendazole and their transformation
      products (TPs), seven from each pesticide, were successfully monitored during
      solar photo-Fenton treatment in a real secondary effluent from an agro-food
      industry spiked with 100MUgL(-1) of each pesticide. To this end, a highly
      sensitive procedure was developed, based on liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to
      hybrid quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometry (QqLIT-MS). In addition,
      finding low-cost and operational technology for the application of AOPs would
      then facilitate their use on a commercial level. Simple and extensive
      photoreactors such as raceway pond reactors (RPRs) are therefore proposed as an
      alternative for the application of solar photo-Fenton. Results showed that high
      degradation could be achieved in a complex water matrix (>99% TBZ and 91% ACTM in
      240min) using a 120-L RPR pilot plant as novel technology. The analyses indicated
      that after the treatment only three TPs from ACTM were still present in the
      effluent, while the others had been removed. The study showed that the goal of
      either just removing the parent compounds, or going one step further and removing
      all the TPs, can significantly change the treatment time, which would affect
      process costs.

PMID- 25841182
TI  - Genetic algorithm based feature selection combined with dual classification for
      the automated detection of proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
AB  - Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) is a condition that carries a high risk
      of severe visual impairment. The hallmark of PDR is the growth of abnormal new
      vessels. In this paper, an automated method for the detection of new vessels from
      retinal images is presented. This method is based on a dual classification
      approach. Two vessel segmentation approaches are applied to create two separate
      binary vessel map which each hold vital information. Local morphology features
      are measured from each binary vessel map to produce two separate 4-D feature
      vectors. Independent classification is performed for each feature vector using a
      support vector machine (SVM) classifier. The system then combines these
      individual outcomes to produce a final decision. This is followed by the creation
      of additional features to generate 21-D feature vectors, which feed into a
      genetic algorithm based feature selection approach with the objective of finding
      feature subsets that improve the performance of the classification. Sensitivity
      and specificity results using a dataset of 60 images are 0.9138 and 0.9600,
      respectively, on a per patch basis and 1.000 and 0.975, respectively, on a per
      image basis. 

PMID- 25841183
TI  - Urinary incontinence in spina bifida: Initial instrument validation.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to perform a psychometric assessment of the
      Incontinence Symptom Index-Pediatric (ISI-P) in a cohort of adolescents with
      spina bifida (SB) and neuropathic urinary incontinence (UI) to test its validity
      and reliability. The ISI-P, an 11-item instrument with domains for symptom
      severity and impairment, was self-administered by subjects 11-17 years old with
      SB and UI. Controls were 11-17 years old, with nephrolithiasis and no history of
      UI. Formal psychometric assessment included an evaluation of internal
      consistency, test re-test reliability and factor analysis. Of 78 study-eligible
      subjects we attempted to contact, 33 (66.7% female) with a median age of 13.1
      years completed the ISI-P (42.3% response rate). 21 control patients also
      completed the ISI-P. Cronbach's alpha was 0.936 and 0.792 for the severity and
      bother factors respectively. The delta Chi-square test for the two-factor (vs.
      one-factor) model was significantly [chi(2)(89) = 107.823, p < 0.05] in favor of
      the former model with descriptive fit indices being excellent (e.g., comparative
      fit index = 0.969). Furthermore, category information analysis showed that all
      categories were associated with different threshold values, namely that each
      category contributed unique information for the measurement of the latent trait.
      In conclusion, the ISI-P has desirable psychometric properties for the
      measurement of UI symptom severity and impairment in adolescents with SB.

PMID- 25841184
TI  - Economic process to co-produce poly(epsilon-l-lysine) and poly(l-diaminopropionic
      acid) by a pH and dissolved oxygen control strategy.
AB  - This study tended to apply biorefinery of indigenous microbes to the fermentation
      of target-product generation through a novel control strategy. A novel strategy
      for co-producing two valuable homopoly(amino acid)s, poly(epsilon-l-lysine)
      (epsilon-PL) and poly(l-diaminopropionic acid) (PDAP), was developed by
      controlling pH and dissolved oxygen concentrations in Streptomyces albulus PD-1
      fermentation. The production of epsilon-PL and PDAP got 29.4 and 9.6gL(-1),
      respectively, via fed-batch cultivation in a 5L bioreactor. What is more, the
      highest production yield (21.8%) of similar production systems was achieved by
      using this novel strategy. To consider the economic-feasibility, large-scale
      production in a 1t fermentor was also implemented, which would increase the gross
      profit of 54,243.5USD from one fed-batch bioprocess. This type of fermentation,
      which produces multiple commercial products from a unified process is attractive,
      because it will improve the utilization rate of raw materials, enhance production
      value and enrich product variety. 

PMID- 25841185
TI  - Suppression of methanogenesis for hydrogen production in single-chamber microbial
      electrolysis cells using various antibiotics.
AB  - Methanogens can utilize the hydrogen produced in microbial electrolysis cells
      (MECs), thereby decreasing the hydrogen generation efficiency. However, various
      antibiotics have previously been shown to inhibit methanogenesis. In the present
      study antibiotics, including neomycin sulfate, 2-bromoethane sulfonate, 2
      chloroethane sulfonate, 8-aza-hypoxanthine, were examined to determine if
      hydrogen production could be improved through inhibition of methanogenesis but
      not hydrogen production in MECs. 1.1mM neomycin sulfate inhibited both methane
      and hydrogen production while 2-chloroethane sulfonate (20mM), 2-bromoethane
      sulfonate (20mM), and 8-aza-hypoxanthine (3.6mM) can inhibited methane generation
      and with concurrent increases in hydrogen production. Our results indicated that
      adding select antibiotics to the mixed species community in MECs could be a
      suitable method to enhance hydrogen production efficiency. 

PMID- 25841186
TI  - The influence of light intensity and photoperiod on duckweed biomass and starch
      accumulation for bioethanol production.
AB  - Duckweed has been considered as a valuable feedstock for bioethanol production
      due to its high biomass and starch production. To investigate the effects of
      light conditions on duckweed biomass and starch production, Lemna aequinoctialis
      6000 was cultivated at different photoperiods (12:12, 16:8 and 24:0h) and light
      intensities (20, 50, 80, 110, 200 and 400MUmolm(-2)s(-1)). The results showed
      that the duckweed biomass and starch production was increased with increasing
      light intensity and photoperiod except at 200 and 400MUmolm(-2)s(-1). Considering
      the light cost, 110MUmolm(-2)s(-1) was optimum light condition for starch
      accumulation with the highest maximum growth rate, biomass and starch production
      of 8.90gm(-2)day(-1), 233.25gm(-2) and 98.70gm(-2), respectively. Moreover, the
      results suggested that high light induction was a promising method for duckweed
      starch accumulation. This study provides optimized light conditions for future
      industrial large-scale duckweed cultivation. 

PMID- 25841187
TI  - Production of cellulosic ethanol from cotton processing residues after
      pretreatment with dilute sodium hydroxide and enzymatic hydrolysis.
AB  - In this study, production of cellulosic ethanol from two cotton processing
      residues was investigated after pretreatment with dilute sodium hydroxide.
      Pretreatment performance was investigated using a 2(2) factorial design and the
      highest glucan conversion was achieved at the most severe alkaline conditions
      (0.4g NaOH g(-1) of dry biomass and 120 degrees C), reaching 51.6% and 38.8% for
      cotton gin waste (CGW) and cotton gin dust (CGD), respectively. The
      susceptibility of pretreated substrates to enzymatic hydrolysis was also
      investigated and the best condition was achieved at the lowest total solids
      (5wt%) and the highest enzyme loading (85mg of Cellic CTec2 g(-1) of dry
      substrate). However, the highest concentration of fermentable sugars - 47.8 and
      42.5gL(-1) for CGD and CGW, respectively - was obtained at 15wt% total solids
      using this same enzyme loading. Substrate hydrolysates had no inhibitory effects
      on the fermenting microorganism. 

PMID- 25841188
TI  - In situ biodegradation of naphthenic acids in oil sands tailings pond water using
      indigenous algae-bacteria consortium.
AB  - In this study, the biodegradation of total acid-extractable organics (TAOs),
      commonly called naphthenic acids (NAs), was investigated. An indigenous microbial
      culture containing algae and bacteria was taken from the surface of a tailings
      pond and incubated over the course of 120days. The influence of light, oxygen and
      the presence of indigenous algae and bacteria, and a diatom (Navicula
      pelliculosa) on the TAO removal rate were elucidated. The highest biodegradation
      rate was observed with bacteria growth only (without light exposure) with a half
      life (t(1/2)) of 203days. The algae-bacteria consortium enhanced the
      detoxification process, however, bacterial biomass played the main role in
      toxicity reduction. Principal component analysis (PCA) conducted on FT-IR
      spectra, identified functional groups and bonds (representing potential markers
      for biotransformation of TAOs) as follows: hydroxyl, carboxyl and amide groups
      along with CH, arylH, arylOH and NH bonds. 

PMID- 25841189
TI  - Evaluation of hydrogen production and internal resistance in forward osmosis
      membrane integrated microbial electrolysis cells.
AB  - In order to enhance hydrogen production by facilitated proton transport through a
      forward osmosis (FO) membrane, the FO membrane was integrated into microbial
      electrolysis cells (MECs). An improved hydrogen production rate was obtained in
      the FO-MEC (12.5+/-1.84*10(-3)m(3)H2/m(3)/d) compared to that of the cation
      exchange membrane (CEM) - MEC (4.42+/-0.04*10(-3)m(3)H2/m(3)/d) during batch
      tests (72h). After an internal resistance analysis, it was confirmed that the
      enhanced hydrogen production in FO-MEC was attributed to the smaller charge
      transfer resistance than in the CEM-MEC (90.3Omega and 133.4Omega respectively).
      The calculation of partial internal resistance concluded that the transport
      resistance can be substantially reduced by replacing a CEM with a FO membrane;
      decrease of the resistance from 0.069Omegam(2) to 5.99*10(-4)Omegam(2). 

PMID- 25841190
TI  - Earlier biomarker or index for the identification between Takotsubo
      cardiomyopathy and acute myocardial infarction.

PMID- 25841191
TI  - Successful closure of a large secundum atrial septal defect via the transjugular
      approach after failed transfemoral approach.

PMID- 25841192
TI  - Effluent quality and reuse potential of domestic wastewater treated in a pilot
      scale hybrid constructed wetland system.
AB  - The study investigates treatment and reuse potential of domestic wastewater of a
      small community of about 30 people sequentially by anaerobic pretreatment
      followed by horizontal (HSSF-CW) and vertical (VSSF-CW) sub-surface flow
      constructed wetlands operated in series. The organic and suspended solids load to
      the hybrid wetland system was decreased by anaerobic pretreatment. HSSF-CW mainly
      removed organic matter and supported denitrification whereas VSSF-CW mainly
      obtained nitrification and phosphorus removal. Recirculation of the effluent
      increased particularly total nitrogen removal in the wetland system. The study
      involves evaluation of the whole system in terms of effluent quality. It was
      achieved on average >95% organic matter and >90% nitrogen removal in the hybrid
      constructed wetland system with anaerobic pretreatment at a specific wetland
      surface area of only about 1 m(2) per person. Average mass removal rates were
      21.17 gCOD/m(2)day, 5.58 gBOD5/m(2)day, 2.78 gTKN/m(2)day, 1.35 gTN/m(2)day, 0.44
      gTP/m(2)day and 5.21 gTSS/m(2)day throughout the total duration of the operation.
      Consequently, the effluent met the regulations for discharge limits for organic
      matter and suspended solids. COD and TN concentrations decreased to below 20 mg/L
      in the effluent. It was also shown that effluent of the system could be reused
      for irrigation if it is disinfected properly. 

PMID- 25841193
TI  - Carbonaceous material obtained from exhausted coffee by an aqueous solution
      combustion process and used for cobalt (II) and cadmium (II) sorption.
AB  - New carbonaceous materials were obtained using a fast aqueous solution combustion
      process from mixtures of exhausted coffee, ammonium nitrate (oxidizer) and urea
      (fuel) heated at 600, 700, 800 or 900  degrees C. The resulting powders were
      effective adsorbents for removing Co(II) and Cd(II) from aqueous solutions.
      Exhausted coffee was also calcined at different temperatures and compared. The
      products were characterized, and the obtained carbons had BET specific surface
      areas of 114.27-390.85 m(2)/g and pore diameters of 4.19 to 2.44 nm when the
      temperature was increased from 600 to 800  degrees C. Cobalt and cadmium
      adsorption by the carbonaceous materials was correlated with the maximum
      adsorption capacities and specific surface areas of the materials. The method
      reported here is advantageous because it only required 5 min of reaction to
      improve the textural properties of carbon obtained from exhausted coffee, which
      play an important role in the material's cobalt and cadmium adsorption
      capacities. 

PMID- 25841194
TI  - Effect of weathering transformations of coal combustion residuals on trace
      element mobility in view of the environmental safety and sustainability of their
      disposal and use. I. Hydrogeochemical processes controlling pH and phase
      stability.
AB  - Coal combustion residuals (CCRs) are one of the most abundant high-volume waste
      materials disposed in impoundments worldwide. Some methods of CCR recycling, e.g.
      their use as structural fill for low lying areas or as soil amendment, also
      expose this material to atmospheric conditions. Combustion processes result in
      concentration of trace elements in CCRs at about an order of magnitude compared
      to coal. In order to assess an effect of long-term weathering transformations of
      CCRs on trace element binding/release, a study has been carried out. It is based
      on the chemical composition of real pore solutions extracted from the most
      abundant primary alkaline Class F bituminous CCRs, 0 to >40 years old, sampled
      from the surface layer and vertical profiles at four different impoundments. In
      this part of the study, results of a hydrogeochemical simulation of the
      saturation state of real pore solutions with respect to mineral phases of CCRs
      with use of the PHREEQC program, related to actual pH values reflecting the full
      cycle of weathering transformations, have been discussed. This study is the first
      geochemical proof of the general trend towards a progressive acidification up to
      pH < 4 of primary alkaline CCRs due to release of protons during internal
      processes of formation of gibbsite and aluminosilicate minerals, buffered by
      carbonates at the alkaline - near-neutral stages, and followed by parallel
      dissolution and buffering by aluminosilicates at pH < 7 after carbonate
      depletion, to the level up to pH~3.5-4.0. The intrinsic geochemical changes have
      resulted in the different susceptibility of trace elements to release and
      associated changes in risk to the environment at consecutive stages of
      weathering. 

PMID- 25841195
TI  - Cattle-derived microbial input to source water catchments: An experimental
      assessment of stream crossing modification.
AB  - The provision of safe drinking water is a global issue, and animal production is
      recognized as a significant potential origin of human infectious pathogenic
      microorganisms within source water catchments. On-farm management can be used to
      mitigate livestock-derived microbial pollution in source water catchments to
      reduce the risk of contamination to potable water supplies. We applied a modified
      Before-After Control Impact (BACI) design to test if restricting the access of
      livestock to direct contact with streams prevented longitudinal increases in the
      concentrations of faecal indicator bacteria and suspended solids. Significant
      longitudinal increases in pollutant concentrations were detected between upstream
      and downstream reaches of the control crossing, whereas such increases were not
      detected at the treatment crossing. Therefore, while the crossing upgrade was
      effective in preventing cattle-derived point source pollution by between 112 and
      158%, diffuse source pollution to water supplies from livestock is not
      ameliorated by this intervention alone. Our findings indicate that stream
      crossings that prevent direct contact between livestock and waterways provide a
      simple method for reducing pollutant loads in source water catchments, which
      ultimately minimises the likelihood of pathogenic microorganisms passing through
      source water catchments and the drinking water supply system. The efficacy of the
      catchment as a primary barrier to pathogenic risks to drinking water supplies
      would be improved with the integration of management interventions that minimise
      direct contact between livestock and waterways, combined with the mitigation of
      diffuse sources of livestock-derived faecal matter from farmland runoff to the
      aquatic environment. 

PMID- 25841197
TI  - Coumarin sharing the benzene ring with quinoline for quenching radicals and
      inhibiting DNA oxidation.
AB  - Fifteen 8-substituted-phenyl-6-ferrocenyl-4-methyl-2H-pyrano[3,2-g]quinolin-2
      ones were synthesized via Povarov three-component reaction, in which the
      substituted aromatic aldehydes reacted with ferrocenylacetylene and 7-amino-4
      methylcoumarin in the presence of Ce(OTf)3 as the catalyst. The obtained coumarin
      fused quinolines were applied to quench 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6
      sulfonate) cationic radical (ABTS(+)) and 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical
      (DPPH) and to inhibit 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane hydrochloride) (AAPH)-induced
      oxidation of DNA. It was found that the ferrocenyl group attaching to pyrano[3,2
      g]quinolin-2-one scaffold can trap radicals and inhibit DNA oxidation even in the
      absence of phenolic hydroxyl group. The inhibitory effects on radicals and DNA
      oxidation can be further enhanced by the electron-donating groups such as p-(N,N
      dimethyl amino)phenyl, ferrocenyl, and furan-2-yl group at 8-position. Therefore,
      ferrocenyl-substituted pyrano[3,2-g]quinolin-2-one skeleton together with
      electron-donating groups became a novel structural style for antioxidants. 

PMID- 25841196
TI  - Synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of novel bisindole derivatives bearing
      oximes moiety: identification of novel proapoptotic agents.
AB  - In an effort to develop potent anti-cancer chemopreventive agents, a novel series
      of bisindole derivatives bearing oxime moiety were synthesized. Structures of all
      compounds were characterized by NMR and HRMS. Anti-proliferative activities for
      all of these compounds were investigated by the method of MTT assay on 7 human
      cancer lines and the normal cell lines (HUVEC). Most of them showed a noteworthy
      anti-cancer activity in vitro, the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50)
      value is 4.31 MUM of 4e against T24. The results from Hoechst 33258 and acridine
      orange/propidium iodide staining as well as annexinV-FITC assays provided
      evidence for an apoptotic cell death. The further mechanisms of compound 4e
      induced apoptosis in T24 cells demonstrated that compound 4e induced the
      productions of ROS, and altered anti- and pro-apoptotic proteins, leading to
      mitochondrial dysfunction and activations of caspase-9 and caspase-3 for causing
      cell apoptosis. Moreover, the cell cycle analysis and western-blot analysis
      indicated that compound 4e effectively arrested T24 cells in G1 stage and
      possibly has an effect on cell cycle regulatory proteins particularly cyclin D1. 

PMID- 25841198
TI  - Discovery of N-benzoxazol-5-yl-pyrazole-4-carboxamides as nanomolar SQR
      inhibitors.
AB  - Succinate-ubiquinone oxidoreductase (SQR, EC 1.3.5.1, complex II), an essential
      component of cellular respiratory chain and tricarboxylic acid (or Krebs) cycle,
      has been identified as one of the most significant targets for pharmaceutical and
      agrochemical. Herein, with the aim of discovery of new antibacterial lead
      structure, a series of N-benzoxazol-5-yl-pyrazole-4-carboxamides were designed,
      synthesized, and evaluated for their SQR inhibitory effects. Very promisingly,
      one candidate (Ki = 11 nM, porcine SQR) was successfully identified as the most
      potent synthetic SQR inhibitor so far. The further inhibitory kinetics studies
      revealed that the candidate is non-competitive with respect to the substrate
      cytochrome c and DCIP. Computational simulations revealed that the titled
      compounds have formed hydrogen bond with D_Y91 and B_W173 and the pyrazole ring
      formed cation-pi interaction with C_R46. In addition, in R(1) position, -CHF2
      group has increased the binding affinity and decreased the entropy contribution,
      while -CF3 group displayed completely opposite effect when bound with SQR. The
      results of the present work showed that N-benzoxazol-5-yl-pyrazole-4-carboxamide
      is a new scaffold for discovery of SQR inhibitors and worth further study. 

PMID- 25841199
TI  - Design, synthesis and in vitro evaluation of novel ursolic acid derivatives as
      potential anticancer agents.
AB  - A series of novel ursolic acid (UA) derivatives modified at the C-3 and the C-28
      positions were designed and synthesized in an attempt to develop potential
      antitumor agents. The in vitro cytotoxicity were evaluated against five cancer
      cell lines (MGC-803, HCT-116, T24, HepG2 and A549 cell lines) and a normal cell
      (HL-7702) by MTT assay. The screening results indicated that some of these target
      compounds displayed moderate to high levels of antiproliferative activities
      compared with ursolic acid and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and exhibited much lower
      cytotoxicity than 5-FU, indicating that the targeted compounds had selective and
      significant effect on the cell lines. The induction of apoptosis and affects on
      the cell cycle distribution of compound 6r were investigated by acridine
      orange/ethidium bromide staining, Hoechst 33258 staining, JC-1 mitochondrial
      membrane potential staining and flow cytometry, which revealed that the antitumor
      activity of 6r was possibly achieved through the induction of cell apoptosis by
      G1 cell-cycle arrest. Western blot and qRT-PCR (quantitative real-time PCR)
      experiments demonstrated that compound 6r may induce apoptosis through both of
      intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathway. 

PMID- 25841200
TI  - Design, synthesis, in vitro antiproliferative evaluation, and kinase inhibitory
      effects of a new series of imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole derivatives.
AB  - Design and synthesis of a new series of 5,6-diarylimidazo[2,1-b]thiazole
      derivatives possessing terminal aryl sulfonamide moiety are described. Their in
      vitro antiproliferative activities against a panel of 57 human cancer cell lines
      of nine different cancer types were tested at the NCI. Compounds 8a, 8b, 8n, 8q,
      8t, and 8u showed the highest mean % inhibition values over the 57 cell line
      panel at 10 MUM, and they were further tested in 5-dose testing mode to determine
      their IC50 values. Among the six compounds, compound 8u possessing terminal para
      hydroxybenzenesulfonamido moiety and ethylene linker showed the highest potency.
      It demonstrated superior potency than Sorafenib against eight different cell
      lines, and was equipotent to Sorafenib against COLO 205 colon cancer cell line.
      Its IC50 values over NCI-H460 non-small cell lung cancer cell line and MCF7
      breast cancer cell line were 0.845 MUM and 0.476 MUM, respectively. Compounds 8a,
      8b, 8q, 8t, and 8u showed high selectivity indices towards cancer cells over L132
      normal lung cell line. Compound 8u showed potential inhibitory effects over the
      components of ERK pathway. Its IC50 value over V600E-B-RAF and C-RAF kinases were
      39.9 nM and 19.0 nM, respectively. 

PMID- 25841201
TI  - Synthesis, characterization and anticancer activity of gold(I) complexes that
      contain tri-tert-butylphosphine and dialkyl dithiocarbamate ligands.
AB  - Two new gold(I) complexes that contain tri-ter-butylphosphine and dialkyl
      dithiocarbamate ligands were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, NMR
      spectroscopy, Cyclic voltammetry, elemental analysis and X-ray diffraction. The
      in vitro cytotoxicity of both complexes was examined against A549 (lung cancer),
      MCF7 (breast cancer), and HeLa (cervical cancer) human cancer cell lines. Both
      complexes exhibit very strong in vitro cytotoxic effects against A549, MCF7 and
      HeLa cell lines. The screening of the cytotoxic activity based on IC50 data
      against the A549, MCF7, and HeLa lines shows that the synthesized gold(I)
      complexes are highly effective, particularly against HeLa cancer cell line. Based
      on IC50 data, the cytotoxic activity of both complexes is better than well-known
      commercial anticancer drug cisplatin against all the three cancer lines tested. 

PMID- 25841202
TI  - Calcium-ion-modulated ceramic hydroxyapatite resin for the scalable purification
      of recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus serotype 9.
AB  - Column chromatography has been widely used as a scalable purification strategy
      for recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors. The rAAV1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8
      and 9 serotypes could be separated using affinity resins, ion exchange resins or
      other types of resins. Apatite resin has displayed outstanding performance in
      protein purification in the past 10 years, and ceramic hydroxyapatite (CHT)
      chromatography resin with a polyethylene glycol (PEG) modulation has recently
      been used for rAAV1 and rAAV9 vectors. This study reports the use of CHT
      chromatography modulated by calcium ions instead of PEG for rAAV9 purification.
      Calcium-ion-containing buffers effectively improve the inclusion of CHT as a
      capture resin, the resin-binding capacity and the yield. The optimum calcium ion
      concentration is 30ppm, and the optimum pH is 7.0. A frontal analysis indicated
      that the binding capacity of CHT at 2ml/min reaches 65.1mg total protein per ml
      of resin. A previously developed purification strategy consists of CHT followed
      by ANX anion exchange chromatography. The vector yield of this approach is
      approximately 70%, and a software analysis indicated a vector purity exceeding
      98%. The residual host cell (HEK293) protein contents are 24.75+/-2.32ng and
      67.21+/-2.10ng, and the Benzonase residue contents are 1.55+/-0.10pg and 1.95+/
      0.16ng per 10(13) vector genome copies (G.C.) separated by CHT/ANX and CsCl. In
      addition, CHT/ANX yields 798.44+/-50.10pg of plasmid DNA and 2.17+/-0.11ng of
      HEK293 DNA, while CsCl purification yields 840.27+/-76.14pg of plasmid DNA and
      2.43+/-0.19 of HEK293 DNA. The two methods produce vectors with similar in vitro
      and in vivo potencies. The results indicated that the CHT/ANX method is suitable
      for the scalable purification of the rAAV9 vector. 

PMID- 25841203
TI  - Development of a SPE-HPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of most prescribed
      pharmaceuticals and related metabolites in urban sewage samples.
AB  - Based on regional prescription data several pharmaceuticals with variable amounts
      of prescription and corresponding metabolites were selected and analyzed in
      influent and effluent samples of the sewage treatment plant (STP) in Dresden,
      Germany. Pharmaceuticals of the following most prescribed therapeutic groups were
      chosen: antibiotics, antifungals, anticonvulsants, antipsychotics,
      antidepressants, and cardiovascular active compounds like beta blockers and
      angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. To analyze the selected compounds, a
      multi-target method was developed and applied to 24-h composite wastewater
      samples for three single days in May and June 2014. The method was based on a
      cleanup of a sample with a volume of 1mL using solid phase extraction followed by
      a high performance liquid chromatography coupled to a tandem mass spectrometer.
      Analytes were separated in a 15min chromatographic separation and quantified
      using 23 Internal Standards and a calibration curve in 40-fold diluted blank
      urine. The limit of quantification varied between 50 and 200ng/L and for all
      analytes good accuracy and precision as well as linearity for the calibration
      curve with the correlation coefficient R(2) higher than 0.99 was reached. A total
      of 41 and 40 of the selected 55 analytes were detected and quantified in the
      influent and effluent samples of the studied STP, respectively. Valsartan was the
      compound with the highest maximum concentration in influent (27.1MUg/L) and
      effluent (15.7MUg/L). Furthermore, analytes like bezafibrate, candesartan,
      carbamazepine, gabapentin, metoprolol, levetiracetam, pregabalin and telmisartan
      as well as the metabolite O-desmethyl venlafaxine were detectable in influent and
      effluent samples, respectively, with a concentration higher than 1MUg/L. 

PMID- 25841204
TI  - The effects of sad prosody on hemispheric specialization for words processing.
AB  - This study examined the effect of sad prosody on hemispheric specialization for
      word processing using behavioral and electrophysiological measures. A dichotic
      listening task combining focused attention and signal-detection methods was
      conducted to evaluate the detection of a word spoken in neutral or sad prosody.
      An overall right ear advantage together with leftward lateralization in early
      (150-170 ms) and late (240-260 ms) processing stages was found for word
      detection, regardless of prosody. Furthermore, the early stage was most
      pronounced for words spoken in neutral prosody, showing greater negative
      activation over the left than the right hemisphere. In contrast, the later stage
      was most pronounced for words spoken with sad prosody, showing greater positive
      activation over the left than the right hemisphere. The findings suggest that sad
      prosody alone was not sufficient to modulate hemispheric asymmetry in word-level
      processing. We posit that lateralized effects of sad prosody on word processing
      are largely dependent on the psychoacoustic features of the stimuli as well as on
      task demands.

PMID- 25841205
TI  - Metabolic fate of cardiac glycosides and flavonoids upon fermentation of aqueous
      sea squill (Drimia maritima L.) extracts.
AB  - Sea squill (Drimia maritima L.) extracts have been used for centuries for the
      medical treatment of heart diseases. A procedure for the preparation of Drimia
      extracts applied for such purposes comprising a fermentation step is described in
      the German Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia (GHP). However, little is known about the
      secondary metabolite profile of such extracts and the fate of these components
      upon processing and storage. Thus, in the present study sea squill extracts were
      monitored during fermentation and storage by HPLC-DAD-MS(n) and GC-MS to
      characterise and quantitate individual cardiac glycosides and phenolic compounds.
      For this purpose, a previously established HPLC method for the separation and
      quantitation of pharmacologically relevant cardiac glycosides (bufadienolides)
      was validated. Within 12 months of storage, total bufadienolide contents
      decreased by about 50%, which was attributed to microbial and plant enzyme
      activities. The metabolisation and degradation rates of individual bufadienolide
      glycosides significantly differed, which was attributed to differing structures
      of the aglycones. Further degradation of bufadienolide aglycones was also
      observed. Besides reactions well known from human metabolism studies, dehydration
      of individual compounds was monitored. Quantitatively predominating flavonoids
      were also metabolised throughout the fermentation process. The present study
      provides valuable information about the profile and stability of individual
      cardiac glycosides and phenolic compounds in fermented Drimia extracts prepared
      for medical applications, and expands the knowledge of cardiac glycoside
      conversion upon microbial fermentation. 

PMID- 25841207
TI  - Cation transporters/channels in plants: Tools for nutrient biofortification.
AB  - Cation transporters/channels are key players in a wide range of physiological
      functions in plants, including cell signaling, osmoregulation, plant nutrition
      and metal tolerance. The recent identification of genes encoding some of these
      transport systems has allowed new studies toward further understanding of their
      integrated roles in plant. This review summarizes recent discoveries regarding
      the function and regulation of the multiple systems involved in cation transport
      in plant cells. The role of membrane transport in the uptake, distribution and
      accumulation of cations in plant tissues, cell types and subcellular compartments
      is described. We also discuss how the knowledge of inter- and intra-species
      variation in cation uptake, transport and accumulation as well as the molecular
      mechanisms responsible for these processes can be used to increase nutrient
      phytoavailability and nutrients accumulation in the edible tissues of plants. The
      main trends for future research in the field of biofortification are proposed. 

PMID- 25841208
TI  - Recently fixed carbon allocation in strawberry plants and concurrent inorganic
      nitrogen uptake through arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
AB  - Most crop species form a symbiotic association with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM)
      fungi, receiving plant photosynthate and exchanging nutrients from the soil. The
      plant carbon (C) allocation to AM fungi and the nitrogen feedback are rarely
      studied together. In this study, a dual (13)CO2 and (15)NH4(15)NO3 pulse labeling
      experiment was carried out to determine the allocation of recent photosynthates
      to mycorrhizal hyphae and the translocation of N absorbed by hyphae to strawberry
      plants. Plants were grown in pots in which a 50 MUm mesh net allowed the physical
      separation of the mycorrhizal hyphae from the roots in one portion of the pot. An
      inorganic source of (15)N was added to the hyphal compartment at the same time of
      the (13)CO2 pulse labeling. One and seven days after pulse labeling, the plants
      were destructively harvested and the amount of the recently fixed carbon (C) and
      of the absorbed N was determined. (13)C allocated to belowground organs such as
      roots and mycorrhizal hyphae accounted for an average of 10%, with 4.3% allocated
      to mycorrhizal hyphae within the first 24h after the pulse labeling. Mycorrhizae
      absorbed labeled inorganic nitrogen, of which almost 23% was retained in the
      fungal mycelium. The N uptake was linearly correlated with the (13)C fixed by the
      plants suggesting a positive correlation between a plant photosynthetic rate and
      the hyphal absorption capacity.

PMID- 25841206
TI  - Cell fate commitment during mammalian sex determination.
AB  - The gonads form bilaterally as bipotential organs that can develop as testes or
      ovaries. All secondary sex characteristics that we associate with 'maleness' or
      'femaleness' depend on whether testes or ovaries form. The fate of the gonads
      depends on a cell fate decision that occurs in a somatic cell referred to as the
      'supporting cell lineage'. Once supporting cell progenitors commit to Sertoli
      (male) or granulosa (female) fate, they propagate this decision to the other
      cells within the organ. In this review, we will describe what is known about the
      bipotential state of somatic and germ cell lineages in the gonad and the
      transcriptional and antagonistic signaling networks that lead to commitment,
      propagation, and maintenance of testis or ovary fate. 

PMID- 25841209
TI  - Proteomic and biochemical responses of canola (Brassica napus L.) exposed to
      salinity stress and exogenous lipoic acid.
AB  - To evaluate the mitigating effects of exogenous lipoic acid (LA) on NaCl
      toxicity, proteomic, biochemical and physiological changes were investigated in
      the leaves of canola (Brassica napus L.) seedlings. Salinity stress decreased the
      growth parameters and contents of ascorbate (AsA) and glutathione (GSH), and
      increased the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), proline, cysteine and the
      activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol
      peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX). The foliar
      application of LA alleviated the toxic effects of salinity stress on canola
      seedlings and notably decreased MDA content and increased growth parameters,
      cysteine content, and activities of CAT and POD. In the proteomic analyses, total
      proteins from the leaves of control, LA, NaCl and NaCl+LA treated-seedlings were
      separated using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). A total of 28
      proteins were differentially expressed. Of these, 21 proteins were successfully
      identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF MS. These proteins had functions related to
      photosynthesis, stress defense, energy metabolism, signal transduction, protein
      folding and stabilization indicating that LA might play important roles in
      salinity through the regulation of photosynthesis, stress defense and signal
      transduction related proteins. The proteomic findings have provided new insight
      to reveal the effect of LA on salinity stress for the first time. 

PMID- 25841210
TI  - Unconscious attention modulates the silencing effect of top-down predictions.
AB  - The brain is considered to be proactive in that it continuously generates
      predictions about external environment stimuli. Recent Bayesian models of
      perception have demonstrated that prediction and attention operate
      synergistically to optimize stimulus processing. However, the relation between
      prediction and unconscious attention remains unclear given the relative neglect
      of unconscious attention in scholarly literatures. To investigate this issue,
      twenty participants (12 women) performed an orientation identification task in
      which a circular grating appeared either in the left or in the right visual field
      in a single 30-40min session, during which 64-channel EEG data were acquired.
      Behavioral results showed an unconscious-attended effect and a facilitated
      effect. Importantly, prediction-related P1 and N1 silencing effects were observed
      in the unconscious-attended condition, probably reflecting that unconscious
      attention improves the precision of top-down predictions at an early stage of
      processing, thereby increasing the synaptic gain of predictor neurons. Moreover,
      unlike the early ERP components, P3 revealed a reversed pattern of results, which
      displayed a silencing effect of prediction only in the unattended condition,
      suggesting that the influence of unconscious attention on the silencing effect
      may change over time. 

PMID- 25841211
TI  - Benzonphenone-type UV filters in urine of Chinese young adults: Concentration,
      source and exposure.
AB  - Benzophenone (BP)-type UV filters are commonly used in our daily life. 2-hydroxy
      4-methoxy benzophenone (BP-3), 4-hydroxy benzophenone (4-HBP), 2,4-dihydroxy
      benzophenone (BP-1), 2,2',4,4'-tetrahydroxy benzophenone (BP-2) and 2,2'
      dihydroxy-4-methoxy benzophenone (BP-8) were measured in urine samples from
      Chinese young adults. The results indicated that Chinese young adults were widely
      exposed to BP-3, BP-1, and 4-HBP, with the median concentrations of 0.55, 0.21,
      and 0.08 ng/mL, respectively. No significant difference was found between males
      and females, between urban and rural population. The correlations between urinary
      concentrations provided important indications for sources and metabolic pathways
      of target compounds. The estimated daily excretion doses of BP-3, 4-HBP, BP-1, BP
      2 and BP-8 were 27.2, 2.24, 5.86, 0.76 and 0.30 ng/kg-bw/day, respectively. The
      ratio of exposure to excretion must be considered for the exposure assessment
      with chemicals based on urine measurement. This is the first nationwide study on
      BP-derivatives with young adults in China.

PMID- 25841212
TI  - Contaminants of legacy and emerging concern in terrestrial passerines from a
      nature reserve in South China: Residue levels and inter-species differences in
      the accumulation.
AB  - Knowledge is limited about the bioaccumulation of persistent halogenated
      compounds (PHCs) in terrestrial wildlife. Several PHCs, including
      dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites (designated as DDTs),
      polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs),
      decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE) and 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy) ethane
      (BTBPE), and stable isotopes (delta(15)N and delta(13)C) were analyzed in the
      muscle of four terrestrial passerines, Parus major, Copsychus saularis,
      Pycnonotus sinensis and Pycnonotus jocosus, from a nature reserve in South China.
      P. major had the highest PHC concentrations, with median values of 1060, 401, 92,
      25 and 0.3 ng/g lipid weight for DDTs, PCBs, PBDEs, DBDPE and BTBPE,
      respectively. Fractions of DDT in P. jocosus and PCBs 153, 118 and 180 in C.
      saularis were higher compared with the other species. The inter-species
      differences in PHC concentrations and profiles could be attributed to the
      differences in trophic level, diet, living habits and metabolic capacity among
      the birds.

PMID- 25841213
TI  - Chaotropicity: a key factor in product tolerance of biofuel-producing
      microorganisms.
AB  - Fermentation products can chaotropically disorder macromolecular systems and
      induce oxidative stress, thus inhibiting biofuel production. Recently, the
      chaotropic activities of ethanol, butanol and vanillin have been quantified
      (5.93, 37.4, 174kJ kg(-1)m(-1) respectively). Use of low temperatures and/or
      stabilizing (kosmotropic) substances, and other approaches, can reduce,
      neutralize or circumvent product-chaotropicity. However, there may be limits to
      the alcohol concentrations that cells can tolerate; e.g. for ethanol tolerance in
      the most robust Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, these are close to both the
      solubility limit (<25%, w/v ethanol) and the water-activity limit of the most
      xerotolerant strains (0.880). Nevertheless, knowledge-based strategies to
      mitigate or neutralize chaotropicity could lead to major improvements in rates of
      product formation and yields, and also therefore in the economics of biofuel
      production.

PMID- 25841214
TI  - The intensive margin of technology adoption--Experimental evidence on improved
      cooking stoves in rural Senegal.
AB  - Today, almost 3 billion people in developing countries rely on biomass as primary
      cooking fuel, with profound negative implications for their well-being. Improved
      biomass cooking stoves are alleged to counteract these adverse effects. This
      paper evaluates take-up and impacts of low-cost improved stoves through a
      randomized controlled trial. The randomized stove is primarily designed to curb
      firewood consumption, but not smoke emissions. Nonetheless, we find considerable
      effects not only on firewood consumption, but also on smoke exposure and,
      consequently, smoke-related disease symptoms. The reduced smoke exposure results
      from behavioural changes in terms of increased outside cooking and a reduction in
      cooking time. We conclude that in order to assess the effectiveness of a
      technology-oriented intervention, it is critical to not only account for the
      incidence of technology adoption - the extensive margin - but also for the way
      the new technology is used - the intensive margin. 

PMID- 25841215
TI  - Double-faceted mechanism of parvoviral oncosuppression.
AB  - The H-1 parvovirus (H-1PV) exerts oncosuppressive action that has two components:
      oncotoxicity and immunostimulation. While many human tumor cells, including
      conventional drug-resistant ones, can be killed by H-1PV, some fail to support
      progeny virus production, necessary for infection propagation in neoplastic
      tissues. This limitation can be overcome through forced selection of H-1PV
      variants capable of enhanced multiplication and spreading in human tumor cells.
      In the context of further developing H-1PV for use in cancer therapy, arming it
      with immunostimulatory CpG motifs under conditions preserving replication and
      oncolysis enhances its action as an anticancer vaccine adjuvant. A first clinical
      study of H-1PV treatment in glioma patients has yielded evidence of intratumoral
      synthesis of the viral oncotoxic protein NS1 and immune cell infiltration.

PMID- 25841216
TI  - The influence of low-temperature degradation and cyclic loading on the fracture
      resistance of monolithic zirconia molar crowns.
AB  - The present study analyzed the kinetics of low-temperature degradation (LTD) in
      zirconia, and evaluated the influence of LTD and cyclic loading on the fracture
      resistance of monolithic zirconia molar crowns. Bar-shaped zirconia specimens
      were divided into nine groups and autoclaved at 134 degrees C for 0-200h to
      induce LTD. The surface fraction and penetration depth of the monoclinic phase
      were examined using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy.
      Monolithic zirconia molar crowns were prepared for crown fracture testing. The
      crowns were autoclaved for 0-100h (n=6) and cemented to dies. Six crown-die
      samples that were not autoclaved and six samples that were autoclaved for 100h
      were subjected to cyclic loading with a load of 300N for 240,000 cycles. All
      samples were tested in a load-to-failure test. The monoclinic fraction on the
      surface increased with autoclaving time and reached a plateau after 50h. The
      depth of the monoclinic phase increased without reaching a plateau. The fracture
      load of the crowns significantly decreased from 5683N (SD: 342) to 3975N (SD:
      194) after 100h of autoclaving. Cyclic loading did not significantly affect the
      fracture resistance of the crowns in all cases. Kinetic analysis showed no linear
      correlation between the surface fraction and depth of the monoclinic phase after
      50h of autoclaving. Even though LTD increased the monoclinic phase, resulting in
      lower strength, the fracture resistance of the monolithic zirconia crowns was
      still sufficient to withstand the loading conditions in the molar regions. 

PMID- 25841217
TI  - Comparison of disordered eating symptoms and emotion regulation difficulties
      between female college athletes and non-athletes.
AB  - The purpose of the study was to compare the prevalence of disordered eating
      between female college athletes and non-athletes and explore emotion regulation
      as a potential mediator of the link between participation in athletics and
      disordered eating symptoms. Data for this cross-sectional study came from 527
      college students in a mid-western state of the USA in fall of 2013 (376 non
      athletes and 151 athletes). Disordered eating symptoms and emotion regulation
      were assessed utilizing the Eating Attitudes Test and the Difficulties with
      Emotion Regulation Scale in a survey-based format. The prevalence of disordered
      eating was higher in non-athletes (16.5%, vs. 6.6%; X(2)=62.8; p<.05). Non
      athletes reported more signs and symptoms of disordered eating than athletes
      (p<.01). A linear regression approach indicated a statistically significant
      indirect effect (0.63, CI95=0.18, 1.20) of athletic-status on disordered eating
      via emotion regulation; however, this effect did not reach practical
      significance. Our findings show that female athletes in our sample were somewhat
      protected from disordered eating compared to non-athletes, but the mechanism of
      this relationship is unclear. A further in-depth examination of other factors,
      such as self-esteem and body satisfaction, that may have contributed to this
      finding is warranted utilizing a large sample of female college students and
      athletes representing a variety of sports. 

PMID- 25841218
TI  - Associations between aspects of friendship networks and dietary behavior in
      youth: Findings from a systematized review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To gather and synthesize current evidence on the associations between
      aspects of friendship networks (e.g., friends' dietary behavior, popularity) and
      an individual's dietary behavior among children and adolescents. METHODS: A
      systematic search of six scientific online databases was conducted in August
      2013. Eligible studies included child or adolescent participants (aged 6 to
      18years), a measure of each participant's friendship network, and a measure of
      habitual dietary behavior for both the participant and the participant's
      nominated friend(s). Data on study design, participant characteristics,
      friendship networks, dietary behavior, and study outcomes were abstracted.
      RESULTS: From a total of 9041 articles retrieved, seven studies were included in
      this review. Overall, friends' unhealthy food consumption was associated with an
      individual's unhealthy food consumption, and this association appeared to be
      stronger for boys compared with girls. More popular adolescents also tended to
      consume more unhealthy foods. Best friends' total energy intake was correlated
      with an individual's total energy intake. Similarities among friends' healthy
      food consumption, as well as daily breakfast consumption, were inconclusive.
      Longitudinal evidence showed that an individual's unhealthy food consumption
      tended to become similar to friends' unhealthy food consumption over time.
      CONCLUSIONS: Social network analysis in the adolescent dietary behavior
      literature is beginning to emerge. Results highlight friends' particular
      influence on unhealthy food consumption among adolescents. Focus on modeling
      healthy dietary behaviors among adolescent friendship group may help reduce
      unhealthy dietary behaviors and promote healthy weight status among youth.

PMID- 25841219
TI  - Response inhibition and sustained and attention in Heavy smokers versus non
      smokers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Repeated nicotine administration induces neuro-adaptations associated
      with abnormal dopaminergic activity. These neuronal changes may contribute to
      impaired inhibitory control and attention deficit. However, it remains unclear
      whether smokers perform worse than non-smokers on tests that involve attention
      and control of impulsivity. The present study examined response inhibition and
      sustained attention capacities in a large sample of smokers and non-smokers.
      METHODS: Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and Go/ NoGo computerized tasks were
      used as a measure of response-inhibition ability and sustained attention.
      Threeway repeated measures analysis of covariance was used with response time,
      variability of response time, number of commission errors (inappropriate
      responses to stimuli) and number of omission errors (missed stimuli) as dependent
      measures. Main effects were: group (smokers and controls), condition (CPT and
      Go/NoGo), and block (in each condition); gender, education, and age were used as
      covariates. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Smokers, as compared to the control group,
      made more errors of commission in the Go/ NoGo task, reflecting impaired
      inhibition ability. However, we found no significant differences between the
      groups in our measure of sustained attention. Impaired response inhibition was
      found to co-occur with heavy smoking and therefore may be a potential target for
      the development of more effective cessation programs.

PMID- 25841220
TI  - The Prevalence of Alcohol, Substance and Cigarettes Exposure among Pregnant Women
      within a General Hospital and the Compliance to Brief Intervention for Exposure
      Reduction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Compliance and impact of a time-limited brief intervention (BI) for
      reducing exposure to alcohol, psychoactive substances and nicotine among women
      admitted to the hospital during pregnancy were assessed. METHODS: Pregnant women
      (gestational week <=30) from a medical center pre-delivery, emergency and high
      risk units were interviewed about alcohol (AUDIT and TWEAK questionnaires),
      smoking (modified Fagerstrom) and psychoactive substance (modified ASI). All
      exposed women were invited to participate in a BI and underwent follow-up.
      Characteristics and rate of exposure were compared to a "standard-group" of non
      selected women who arrived to the hospital directly solely to give birth.
      RESULTS: Forty-six of the 108 study participants (42.6%) were exposed to smoking
      (85%), alcohol (41%), or drugs (39%), and 41 underwent the BI. Self-report of
      exposure was reduced significantly following BI but re-elevated post-delivery.
      Women belonging to the "standardgroup" were better educated, had lower lifetime
      rates of exposure, and gave birth to newborns with higher birth weights (3254.7+/
      506.9 g vs. 2650.8+/-785.6 g for the study group). CONCLUSION: Compliance of the
      exposed women to BI was high and contributed to exposure reduction during
      pregnancy but relapsed following delivery.

PMID- 25841221
TI  - Clinical Correlates of Alcohol Abuse among Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients in
      Israel.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent epidemiological studies have reported a world-wide increase in
      the rates of alcohol use among adolescents. Research has shown a strong link
      between alcohol abuse and psychiatric disorders. This study explored the clinical
      and demographic correlates of adolescents with a history of alcohol abuse (AA)
      compared to adolescents with no history of alcohol abuse (NAA) among a group of
      adolescent psychiatric inpatients in Israel. METHOD: Two hundred and thirty-eight
      subjects were screened, all were patients consecutively admitted to an adolescent
      inpatient unit at a university-affiliated mental health center in Israel during a
      4-year period RESULT: Patients in the AA group were more prone to have a history
      of suicide attempts and self-injury compared to patients in the NAA group.
      Prevalence of attentiondeficit disruptive behavior disorders was more common in
      the AA group, and these patients were more prone to have a history of criminal
      activity and drug use. Median length of hospitalization was greater in the NAA
      group. LIMITATIONS: Limitations concerning attribution of causality due to the
      cross-sectional nature of this study. CONCLUSION: Higher prevalence of criminal
      behavior, selfinjury and suicide attempts associated with alcohol abuse may be
      related to higher levels of impulsivity, indicated by higher prevalence of
      attention-deficit disruptive behavior disorders. Alcohol-related disorders should
      be carefully screened and addressed in adolescent psychiatric units and in
      consequent ambulatory treatment settings.

PMID- 25841222
TI  - Emerging issues in the relationship between adolescent substance use and suicidal
      behavior.
AB  - Adolescent suicidal behavior poses a major global public health concern as it is
      highly prevalent and associated with mortality and morbidity worldwide.
      Substanceuse disorders are also an issue of increasing concern among adolescents
      and have been shown to increase the risk for suicidal behaviors. In this review
      we address emerging issues in the relationship between adolescent substance use
      disorders and suicidal behaviors. We focus on common hazardous patterns of
      substance abuse such as binge drinking and poly-substance abuse and point out
      developing patterns of substance preferences as evidenced by the contemporary
      widespread use of synthetic cannabinoids. We address these issues in the context
      of vulnerable populations such as sexual-minority adolescents and youth with co
      occurring mental-disorder diagnoses. Finally, we relate to the present and future
      challenges presented by these issues to implement effective anti-suicidal
      treatment and prevention strategies in adolescents with substance use disorders. 

PMID- 25841223
TI  - Cannabis Withdrawal - A New Diagnostic Category in DSM-5.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cannabis withdrawal was not formally recognized by the DSM-IV
      classification but is listed, albeit without diagnostic criteria by ICD-10. The
      American Psychiatric Association recently has included cannabis withdrawal into
      DSM-5 classification as part of the "Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders"
      Section. However, many psychiatrists as well as other medical professionals have
      very little information, if at all, about the new diagnostic entity. METHOD: The
      information was obtained from PubMed (research words: Cannabis, THC, Hashish,
      Marijuana and Withdrawal). The different clinical symptoms of the phenomena as
      well as some pathophysiological mechanisms and treatment considerations were
      summarized and discussed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A substantial amount of
      scientific data has been obtained in recent years concerning reliability,
      validity and clinical importance of cannabis withdrawal.The possible influence of
      cannabis withdrawal on the severity of major psychiatric disturbances is far from
      being understood and deserves further research. LIMITATIONS: The reviewed studies
      varied in sample size, design and methodology limiting clear conclusions.

PMID- 25841224
TI  - Synthetic Cannabis Substances (SPS) Use and Hallucinogen Persisting Perception
      Disorder (HPPD): Two Case Reports.
AB  - Hallucinogen Persistent Perceptual Disorder (HPPD) is a clinical syndrome
      characterized by the recurrence of distressing perceptual disturbances which
      previously emerged during primary hallucinogen intoxication, in the absence of
      recent use. Here we present two patients who developed HPPD following use of
      Synthetic Cannabis Substances (SCS), with no prior history of natural-occurring
      or synthetic hallucinogen use. Both cases had a prior history of cannabis
      dependence and current tobacco dependence. In both cases patients reported the
      presence of visual disturbances when smoking SCS and staring at stationary and
      moving objects. Both patients discontinued SCS use abruptly after suffering from
      a panic attack under the influence of SCS. Despite cessation of SCS, both
      patients continued to suffer from HPPD which was accompanied by significant
      anxiety. Following clonazepam treatment, both subjects reported significant
      improvement in symptoms and remained with a residual focal visual disturbance
      which was not accompanied by significant anxiety. To the best of our knowledge
      these are the first reports of HPPD following SCS use. In light of the increasing
      use of SCS, clinical psychiatrists should be aware of these perceptual side
      effects. 

PMID- 25841225
TI  - Buprenorphine for opiate dependence: clinic based therapy in Israel.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Opioid dependency is characterized by repeated use of an opioid drug
      despite physical dependence, behavioral impairments and social dysfunction.
      Therapeutic approaches for the treatment of opioid dependence are total
      abstinence and opioid agonist maintenance treatment (OAMT). Opiate agonist
      maintenance therapy is administered using opioid replacement pharmacological
      agents, i.e., methadone or buprenorphine. Methadone acts as a full opiate agonist
      while buprenorphine acts as a partial agonist. Strict supervision is necessary
      when dispensing methadone, because overdose can be fatal. Buprenorphine
      associates with opioid receptors slowly but with high affinity, and dissociation
      from the receptor site is (pseudo) irreversible. It is safer than opioid full
      agonists such as methadone. METHODS: We probed the therapeutic efficacy of
      buprenorphine using a retrospective evaluation of numerical data in the first
      private buprenorphine clinic in Israel. Data was collected for all patients
      attending the clinic in December 2012. Our indicator for treatment success is
      retention in the program. RESULTS: During the years 2005-2012, 1,399 individuals
      approached the clinic; 1,224 (87.5%) of them attended the clinic at least twice;
      treatment adherence in this group was 66.5 % at the end of one year. CONCLUSIONS:
      The success rates of patients who are treated with buprenorphine and are able to
      eventually return to their families and re-enter the workforce is encouraging.
      Thus, the community based minimal intervention treatment model using
      buprenorphine for the treatment of opiate dependence is a viable treatment option
      in the war against opiate abuse.

PMID- 25841226
TI  - Benzodiazepine usage during 19.5 years in methadone maintenance treatment
      patients and its relation to long-term outcome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Benzodiazepines (BDZs) abuse was found to cause diverse harmful
      effects among MMT patients. The current study evaluates prevalence rates of BDZ
      usage during 19.5 years in MMT, and its relation to patients' long-term retention
      in treatment. METHODS: All 787 opiate addicts who were ever admitted to the
      Adelson MMT clinic in Tel Aviv between 1993 and 2012 were studied. Observed and
      random urine results for BDZs usage were taken a few times every month. Positive
      for BDZ was defined in each month if at least one of the urines tested positive.
      Long-term retention was studied using Kaplan Meier analyses. RESULTS: BDZ
      prevalence among the MMT patients (ranged from 26 patients in 1994, and 300 to
      350 since 2009) was about 35-40% in the last few years, with a "peak" of 61%
      followed by low rate of 25.4%. Followed up for up to 19.5 years, those who were
      negative to BDZ upon admission to MMT stayed longer in treatment (mean 8.5y, 95%
      Confidence Interval [CI] 7.6-9.4) than those who were positive to BDZ when
      admitted (mean 6.9y, 95% CI 6.2-7.7) (Kaplan Meier analyses p=0.01). CONCLUSION:
      BDZs abuse is highly prevalent among MMT patients. Abuse of BDZ on entry to
      treatment predicts worse MMT outcome. High and low rates of BDZ abuse may also be
      attributed to staff tolerance of this abuse; thus, we strongly recommend a strict
      attitude by staff in order to reduce patients' harm.

PMID- 25841227
TI  - Evaluating the clinical impact of involuntary admission to a specialized dual
      diagnosis ward.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We aimed to identify characteristics and outcomes of involuntary and
      voluntary admissions of dual-diagnosis patients in a single, large mental health
      center in Israel. METHODS: Using a retrospective chart review methodology, 24
      patient records were reviewed spanning a period of five years; clinical and
      demographic variables of voluntary and involuntary admissions were compared.
      RESULTS: No significant differences were found in sociodemographic
      characteristics, admission diagnosis and length of hospitalization between the
      two types of admission. A smaller proportion of patients discharged from
      involuntary admissions were in remission compared to those discharged from
      voluntary admission. Nevertheless, involuntary admissions were associated with
      longer time to next hospitalization. LIMITATIONS: The data were based on a small
      number of patients in a single ward, thus the generalizability of the results is
      uncertain. CONCLUSIONS: The finding of the current study that involuntary
      admission leads to longer tenure in the community suggests that there may be
      clinical advantages to involuntary admissions for certain dual diagnosis
      patients.

PMID- 25841228
TI  - Flashbacks and HPPD: A Clinical-oriented Concise Review.
AB  - A unique characteristic of LSD, LSD-like and substances with hallucinogenic
      properties is the recurrence of some or all the hallucinogenic symptoms which had
      appeared during the intoxication after the immediate effects of the substance had
      worn off. This recurring syndrome, mainly visual, is not clearly understood. The
      terms Flashback and Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD) have been
      used interchangeably in the professional literature. We have observed at least
      two different recurrent syndromes, the first Flashback Type we refer to as HPPD
      I, a generally short-term, non-distressing, benign and reversible state
      accompanied by a pleasant affect. In contrast, the second HPPD Type we refer to
      as HPPD II, a generally long-term, distressing, pervasive, either slowly
      reversible or irreversible, non-benign state accompanied by an unpleasant affect.
      HPPD I and II appear to be part of a broad spectrum of non-psychopathological and
      psychopathological states reported by hallucinogen users. HPPD I and II may be
      clinically characterized by prodromal symptoms, onset, content of visual imagery,
      precipitators, frequency, duration and intensity of perceptual recurrences,
      severity, course, differential diagnosis, accompanying mood and affect, insight
      and remission. Pharmacological therapy with or without preceding or following co
      occurring psychiatric disorders have been shown to ameliorate this syndrome. A
      large variety of medications may be utilized to alleviate this condition, but
      with differential results suggesting several subtypes. The purpose of this
      manuscript is to provide a clinical-oriented, comprehensive and concise review to
      treating psychiatrists. 

PMID- 25841229
TI  - A model for treating HCV hepatitis in patients receiving methadone maintenance
      therapy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Although hepatitis C virus (HCV) is associated with substance
      abuse, treatment of addicts is problematic. We report the results of a pilot
      scheme for treatment of HCV - infected substance abusers in a methadone
      maintenance center (MMC). METHODS: The treatment program was carried out at a
      single MMC. Patients were not using illicit drugs or alcohol and received regular
      treatment with methadone. The program consisted of 5 stages: 1. An explanatory
      lecture concerning HCV (50/114 attended). 2. 25 of the 50 presented for
      examination including HCV RNA, genotype and viral load. 3. HCV treatment with
      pegylated alfa-interferon-1b and ribavarin. 4. The MMC physician and staff aided
      the clients' medical compliance. 5. A hepatologist (SM) volunteered his services
      on the basis of one 3 hourly session every 4-6 weeks, in addition to open access
      telephone consultation with the MMC staff physician. RESULTS: 50 of 114 HCV
      seropositive clients attended the initial meeting , 25 (50%) were candidates for
      treatment, of whom 20 were treated. 10 had genotype 3 infection, 9 genotype 1 and
      1 genotype 2. The sustained virological response (SVR) on an intention-to-treat
      basis was 8/20 (40%). DISCUSSION: We present a model for the successful treatment
      of chronic HCV hepatitis in patients receiving methadone.

PMID- 25841230
TI  - LSD Flashbacks - The Appearance of New Visual Imagery Not Experienced During
      Initial Intoxication: Two Case Reports.
AB  - A side effect associated with the use of synthetic hallucinogens such as lysergic
      acid diethylamide-(LSD) is the partial or total recurrence of perceptual
      disturbances which previously appeared during intoxication, despite absence of
      recent use. These are commonly referred to as "flashbacks" or Hallucinogen
      Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD). Here we present two cases of patients with
      a prior history of LSD use who turned to psychiatric consultation following brief
      episodes of HPPD. Surprisingly, in both cases new visual imagery appeared during
      episodes of flashbacks which was not experienced during primary LSD use. Both
      subjects reported the ability to discern between LSD-associated visual
      disturbances and new visual imagery. This phenomenon did not cause functional
      impairment and in both cases caused gradual concern due to its persistence. Both
      patients refused medical treatment and continued psychiatric follow-up. At one
      year follow-up both patients reported almost complete spontaneous remission. To
      the best of our knowledge these are the first reported cases of LSD-related
      benign flashbacks in which new imagery is experienced. Reasons for this
      reversible and apparently harmless side effect are proposed. Conclusions from
      case reports should be taken with caution. 

PMID- 25841231
TI  - Intercostal chest drain insertion by general physicians: attitudes, experience
      and implications for training, service and patient safety.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intercostal chest drain (ICD) insertion is considered a core skill
      for the general physician. Recent guidelines have highlighted the risks of this
      procedure, while UK medical trainees have reported a concurrent decline in
      training opportunities and confidence in their procedural skills. OBJECTIVES: We
      explored clinicians' attitudes, experience and knowledge relating to pleural
      interventions and ICD insertion in order to determine what changes might be
      needed to maintain patient safety and quality of training. METHODS: Consultants
      and trainees delivering general medical services across five hospitals in England
      were invited to complete a questionnaire survey over a 5-week period in July and
      August 2014. RESULTS: 117 general physicians (32.4% of potential participants;
      comprising 31 consultants, 48 higher specialty trainees, 38 core trainees)
      responded. Respondents of all grades regarded ICD insertion as a core procedural
      skill. Respondents were asked to set a minimum requirement for achieving and
      maintaining independence at ICD insertion; however, only 25% of higher specialty
      trainees reported being able to attain this self-imposed standard. A knowledge
      gap was also revealed, with trainees managing clinical scenarios correctly in
      only 51% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: Given the disparity between clinical reality and
      what is expected of the physician-in-training, it is unclear whether ICD
      insertion can remain a core procedural skill for general physicians.
      Consideration should be given to how healthcare providers and training programmes
      might address issues relating to clinical experience and knowledge given the
      implications for patient safety and service provision.

PMID- 25841232
TI  - HFE gene mutation and oxidative damage biomarkers in patients with
      myelodysplastic syndromes and its relation to transfusional iron overload: an
      observational cross-sectional study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A relation between transfusional IOL (iron overload), HFE status and
      oxidative damage was evaluated. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: An
      observational cross-sectional study involving 87 healthy individuals and 78
      patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with and without IOL, seen at
      University Hospital of the Federal University of Ceara, Brazil, between May 2010
      and September 2011. METHODS: IOL was defined using repeated measures of serum
      ferritin >=1000 ng/mL. Variations in the HFE gene were investigated using
      PCR/restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). The biomarkers of oxidative
      stress (plasmatic malonaldehyde (MDA), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and
      superoxide dismutase (SOD)) were determined by spectrophotometry. RESULTS: The
      HFE gene variations were identified in 24 patients (30.77%) and 5 volunteers
      (5.74%). The H63D variant was observed in 35% and the C282Y variant as
      heterozygous in 5% of patients with MDS with IOL. One patient showed double
      heterozygous variant (C282Y/H63D) and serum ferritin of 11,649 ng/mL. In patients
      without IOL, the H63D variant was detected in 29.34%. Serum MDA levels were
      highest in patients with MDS with IOL, with a significant difference when
      compared with patients without IOL and healthy volunteers, pointing to the
      relationship between IOL and oxidative stress. The GPx and SOD were also
      significantly higher in these patients, indicating that lipid peroxidation
      increase was followed by an increase in antioxidant capacity. Higher ferritin
      levels were observed in patients with HFE gene variation. 95.7% of patients with
      MDS with the presence of HFE gene variations had received more of 20
      transfusions. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a significant increase in MDA levels in
      patients with MDS and IOL, suggesting an increased lipid peroxidation in these
      patients. The accumulation of MDA alters the organisation of membrane
      phospholipids, contributing to the process of cellular degeneration. Results show
      that excess iron intensifies the process of cell damage through oxidative stress.
      TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Local Ethics Committee (licence 150/2009).

PMID- 25841234
TI  - Recovery of photoreceptor inner and outer segment layer thickness after
      reattachment of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.
AB  - AIMS: To evaluate the recovery of retinal function and the thicknesses of the
      photoreceptor inner (IS) and outer segment (OS) layers after a reattachment of a
      rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). METHODS: 49 eyes of 49 patients (mean
      age, 57.4+/-10.3 years) with successfully reattached RRD were retrospectively
      studied. Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography was used to obtain images
      of the foveal area, and the thicknesses of the IS and OS were measured before and
      1, 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery. The thicknesses of the corresponding
      structures of the healthy fellow eye served as control. RESULTS: The thickness of
      the IS layer was 20.4+/-5.0 MUm and that of the OS layer was 34.4+/-9.7 at 1
      month after surgery, which was significantly thinner than the IS (28.9+/-2.9) and
      OS (55.4+/-5.2) layers of the fellow eyes. The thicknesses gradually increased
      and were not significantly different from that in the fellow eye at 12 months
      (IS, 28.4+/-4.4 um and OS, 50.7+/-6.6 um). The IS and OS thicknesses at 1 month
      after surgery in eyes that had a decimal visual acuity of 1.0 at 6 months were
      significantly thicker than those in eyes that had a visual acuity of <1.0.
      CONCLUSIONS: The increase in the thicknesses of the IS and OS layers of the
      photoreceptors during the recovery phase of eyes with RRD indicates that the
      recovery process was slow and gradual. Quantitative analysis of the IS and OS
      thicknesses may be useful to follow the disease process.

PMID- 25841233
TI  - The Australian public's preferences for emergency care alternatives and the
      influence of the presenting context: a discrete choice experiment.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The current study seeks to quantify the Australian public's
      preferences for emergency care alternatives and determine if preferences differ
      depending on presenting circumstances. SETTING: Increasing presentations to
      emergency departments have led to overcrowding, long waiting times and suboptimal
      health system performance. Accordingly, new service models involving the
      provision of care in alternative settings and delivered by other practitioners
      continue to be developed. PARTICIPANTS: A stratified sample of Australian adults
      (n=1838), 1382 from Queensland and 456 from South Australia, completed the
      survey. This included 951 females and 887 males from the 2045 people who met the
      screening criteria out of the 4354 people who accepted the survey invitation.
      INTERVENTIONS: A discrete choice experiment was used to elicit preferences in the
      context of one of four hypothetical scenarios: a possible concussion, a
      rash/asthma-related problem involving oneself or one's child and an anxiety
      related presentation. Mixed logit regression was used to analyse the dependent
      variable choice and identify the relative importance of care attributes and the
      propensity to access care in each context. RESULTS: Results indicated a
      preference for treatment by an emergency physician in hospital for possible
      concussion and treatment by a doctor in ambulatory settings for rash/asthma
      related and anxiety-related problems. Participants were consistently willing to
      wait longer before making trade-offs in the context of the rash/asthma-related
      scenario compared with when the same problem affected their child. Results
      suggest a clear preference for lower costs, shorter wait times and strong
      emphasis on quality care; however, significant preference heterogeneity was
      observed. CONCLUSIONS: This study has increased awareness that the public's
      emergency care choices will differ depending on the presenting context. It has
      further demonstrated the importance of service quality as a determinant of
      healthcare choices. The findings have also provided insights into the Australian
      public's reactions to emergency care reforms.

PMID- 25841235
TI  - Six-month changes in cytokine levels after intravitreal bevacizumab injection for
      diabetic macular oedema and macular oedema due to central retinal vein occlusion.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study evaluated the impact of intravitreal injection of
      bevacizumab (IVB) on the microenvironment of the eyes of diabetic macular oedema
      (DMO) and macular oedema due to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO-MO)
      patients. METHODS: This study comprised 136 patients, including 51 patients in
      the DMO group, 70 in the CRVO-MO group and 15 in the control group, who were
      followed for 6 months after IVB. Angiogenic cytokines, inflammatory cytokines and
      growth factors concentrations in the aqueous humour were measured before and
      after IVB using suspension array technology. We compared the levels of cytokines
      among DMO patients, CRVO-MO patients and control patients. We compared the levels
      of cytokines among groups according to the interval between the first and second
      injections of bevacizumab and according to the number of injections received
      during the 6-month follow-up period. RESULTS: Significantly higher concentrations
      of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), transforming growth factor beta
      (TGF-beta), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), interleukin 6 (IL-6), serum amyloid A
      (SAA) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were found in the aqueous
      humour of DMO and CRVO-MO patients compared with cataract patients. One month
      after IVB, the intraocular concentrations of VEGF were significantly decreased in
      the eyes of DMO (p=0.045) and CRVO-MO (p=0.002) patients compared with baseline.
      No other cytokine was significantly altered by bevacizumab therapy. CONCLUSIONS:
      Angiogenic, inflammatory and growth factors are involved in the development of
      DMO and CRVO-MO. In addition to VEGF, IVB did not cause significant differences
      in other inflammatory cytokines and growth factors in DMO and CRVO-MO patients.

PMID- 25841236
TI  - Perinatal paracetamol exposure in mice does not affect the development of
      allergic airways disease in early life.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Current data concerning maternal paracetamol intake during pregnancy,
      or intake during infancy and risk of wheezing or asthma in childhood is
      inconclusive based on epidemiological studies. We have investigated whether there
      is a causal link between maternal paracetamol intake during pregnancy and
      lactation and the development of house dust mite (HDM) induced allergic airways
      disease (AAD) in offspring using a neonatal mouse model. METHODS: Pregnant mice
      were administered paracetamol or saline by oral gavage from the day of mating
      throughout pregnancy and/or lactation. Subsequently, their pups were exposed to
      intranasal HDM or saline from day 3 of life for up to 6 weeks. Assessments of
      airway hyper-responsiveness, inflammation and remodelling were made at weaning (3
      weeks) and 6 weeks of age. RESULTS: Maternal paracetamol exposure either during
      pregnancy and/or lactation did not affect development of AAD in offspring at
      weaning or at 6 weeks. There were no effects of maternal paracetamol at any time
      point on airway remodelling or IgE levels. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal paracetamol did
      not enhance HDM induced AAD in offspring. Our mechanistic data do not support the
      hypothesis that prenatal paracetamol exposure increases the risk of childhood
      asthma.

PMID- 25841239
TI  - Altered microbiota in microscopic colitis.

PMID- 25841238
TI  - Microenvironmental hCAP-18/LL-37 promotes pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma by
      activating its cancer stem cell compartment.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The tumour stroma/microenvironment not only provides structural
      support for tumour development, but more importantly it provides cues to cancer
      stem cells (CSCs) that regulate their self-renewal and metastatic potential. This
      is certainly true for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC), where tumour
      associated fibroblasts, pancreatic stellate cells and immune cells create an
      abundant paracrine niche for CSCs via microenvironment-secreted factors. Thus
      understanding the role that tumour stroma cells play in PDAC development and CSC
      biology is of utmost importance. DESIGN: Microarray analyses, tumour microarray
      immunohistochemical assays, in vitro co-culture experiments, recombinant protein
      treatment approaches and in vivo intervention studies were performed to
      understand the role that the immunomodulatory cationic antimicrobial peptide
      18/LL-37 (hCAP-18/LL-37) plays in PDAC biology. RESULTS: We found that hCAP-18/LL
      37 was strongly expressed in the stroma of advanced primary and secondary PDAC
      tumours and is secreted by immune cells of the stroma (eg, tumour-associated
      macrophages) in response to tumour growth factor-beta1 and particularly CSC
      secreted Nodal/ActivinA. Treatment of pancreatic CSCs with recombinant LL-37
      increased pluripotency-associated gene expression, self-renewal, invasion and
      tumourigenicity via formyl peptide receptor 2 (FPR2)- and P2X purinoceptor 7
      receptor (P2X7R)-dependent mechanisms, which could be reversed by inhibiting
      these receptors. Importantly, in a genetically engineered mouse model of K-Ras
      driven pancreatic tumourigenesis, we also showed that tumour formation was
      inhibited by either reconstituting these mice with bone marrow from cathelicidin
      related antimicrobial peptide (ie, murine homologue of hCAP-18/LL-37) knockout
      mice or by pharmacologically inhibiting FPR2 and P2X7R. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, hCAP
      18/LL-37 represents a previously unrecognised PDAC microenvironment factor that
      plays a critical role in pancreatic CSC-mediated tumourigenesis.

PMID- 25841240
TI  - Stimulating hepatocyte renewal: a new paradigm for the treatment of severe
      alcoholic hepatitis unresponsive to corticosteroids?

PMID- 25841237
TI  - Glycopyrronium once-daily significantly improves lung function and health status
      when combined with salmeterol/fluticasone in patients with COPD: the GLISTEN
      study, a randomised controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The optimal use of various therapeutic combinations for
      moderate/severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is unclear. The
      GLISTEN trial compared the efficacy of two long-acting anti-muscarinic
      antagonists (LAMA), when combined with an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and a long
      acting beta2 agonist (LABA). METHODS: This randomised, blinded, placebo
      controlled trial in moderate/severe COPD patients compared once-daily
      glycopyrronium (GLY) 50 ug, once-daily tiotropium (TIO) 18 ug or placebo (PLA),
      when combined with salmeterol/fluticasone propionate (SAL/FP) 50/500 ug twice
      daily. The primary objective was to determine the non-inferiority of GLY+SAL/FP
      versus TIO+SAL/FP on trough FEV1 after 12 weeks. An important secondary objective
      was whether addition of GLY to SAL/FP was better than SAL/FP alone. RESULTS: 773
      patients (mean FEV1 57.2% predicted) were randomised; 84.9% completed the trial.
      At week 12, GLY+SAL/FP demonstrated non-inferiority to TIO+SAL/FP for trough
      FEV1: least square mean treatment difference (LSMdiff) -7 mL (SE 17.4) with a
      lower limit for non-inferiority of -60 mL. There was significant increase in week
      12 trough FEV1 with GLY+SAL/FP versus PLA+SAL/FP (LSMdiff 101 mL, p<0.001). At 12
      weeks, GLY+SAL/FP produced significant improvement in St George's Respiratory
      Questionnaire total score versus PLA+SAL/FP (LSMdiff -2.154, p=0.02). GLY+SAL/FP
      demonstrated significant rescue medication reduction versus PLA+SAL/FP (LSMdiff 
      0.72 puffs/day, p<0.001). Serious adverse events were similar for GLY+SAL/FP,
      TIO+SAL/FP and PLA+SAL/FP with an incidence of 5.8%, 8.5% and 5.8%, respectively.
      CONCLUSIONS: GLY+SAL/FP showed comparable improvements in lung function, health
      status and rescue medication to TIO+SAL/FP. Importantly, addition of GLY to
      SAL/FP demonstrated significant improvements in lung function, health status and
      rescue medication compared to SAL/FP. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01513460.

PMID- 25841241
TI  - Socioeconomic inequalities in smoking cessation in 11 European countries from
      1987 to 2012.
AB  - BACKGROUND: During the 1990s, inequalities in smoking prevalence by socioeconomic
      status (SES) have widened in Europe. Since then, many tobacco control policies
      have been implemented. Yet, European overviews of recent trends in smoking
      inequalities are lacking. This paper aims to provide an overview of long-term
      trends of socioeconomic inequalities in smoking cessation in Europe. METHODS: We
      used data for 11 countries taken from Eurobarometer surveys from 1987 to 1995 and
      2002-2012, with a total study sample of 63 737 respondents. We performed
      multilevel logistic regression to model associations of the quit ratio
      (proportion former smokers of ever smokers) with SES, measured by education and
      occupation separately, with adjustments for age, sex and time. RESULTS: We found
      a significant, positive association for education and occupation with the quit
      ratio. The strength of the association decreased slightly from 1987 to 1995 and
      increased again from 2002 to 2012. Inequalities increased between the two periods
      in most countries and decreased in only one country. While in 1987-1995, the quit
      ratio increased among all SES groups and most strongly among the low SES group,
      in 2002-2012 it increased only among the high-education group (OR=1.38, 95% CI
      1.02 to 1.87), and non-manual occupation group (OR=1.59, 95% CI 1.19 to 2.12).
      CONCLUSIONS: Socioeconomic inequalities in smoking cessation rates have strongly
      increased since the 1990s and during the 2000s. This suggests that the tobacco
      control policies implemented during the 2000s have not been able to counter the
      trend in increasing inequalities.

PMID- 25841242
TI  - Brief interventions to prevent recurrence and alcohol-related problems in young
      adults admitted to the emergency ward following an alcohol-related event: a
      systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Brief interventions addressing harmful alcohol use in adults admitted
      to emergency wards have been shown to be effective. The evidence in relation to
      interventions aimed at adolescents is less conclusive. Young adults share
      developmental characteristics with adolescents, while receiving care in adult
      services. We conducted a systematic review to assess the effectiveness of
      interventions to reduce the recurrence of alcohol-related events and their
      consequences in young adults (18-24 years) admitted to an emergency ward
      following alcohol intoxication. METHODS: We followed PRISMA guidelines to conduct
      this review. We searched Medline, Embase, Cochrane and PsychINFO, until March
      2014. We included randomised trials of brief interventions aimed at young adults
      admitted to an emergency ward following an alcohol-related event. Two
      investigators independently selected, analysed, rated and summarised the evidence
      from relevant studies. RESULTS: Four trials (n=618) were included, comparing a
      brief motivational interview with usual care (2 trials), personalised feedback or
      an educational brochure. In two studies, motivational interview was significantly
      associated with a reduction in alcohol-use while two studies showed no effect
      attributable to the intervention. Successful interventions were either delivered
      at a distance from the event or included booster sessions. Motivational interview
      favoured a reduction in alcohol-related problems in all but one study. Benefits
      were sustained over 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence is inconclusive, but the
      most effective interventions include at least one therapeutic contact several
      days after the event. Further research should provide more guidance about
      effective interventions in this age-group as well as about ways to favour delayed
      attendance for treatment. The potential role of parents or peers in supporting
      treatment also warrants further attention.

PMID- 25841244
TI  - Coronary artery bypass graft surgery provides clinically important quality-of
      life improvements over medical therapy in patients with ischaemic left
      ventricular dysfunction.

PMID- 25841243
TI  - Patterns and correlates of objectively measured free-living physical activity in
      adults in rural and urban Cameroon.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa is changing lifestyles and raising
      non-communicable disease burden. Understanding the underlying pattern of physical
      activity and its correlates may inform preventive interventions. We examined
      correlates of objectively-measured physical activity in rural and urban Cameroon.
      METHODS: Participants were 544 adults resident in rural (W-156, M-89) or urban (W
      189, M-110) regions. Physical activity was measured using individually-calibrated
      combined heart rate and movement sensing over seven continuous days.
      Sociodemographic data were collected by self-report. Independent associations of
      sociodemographic correlates with physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) or
      moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were analysed in multivariate
      regression models. RESULTS: Rural dwellers were significantly more active than
      their urban counterparts (PAEE: 58.0 vs 42.9 kJ/kg/day; MVPA: 107 vs 62 min/day;
      MVPA of 150 min/week in >10 min bouts: 62 vs 39%) and less sedentary (923 vs 1026
      min/day); p<0.001. There was no significant seasonal difference (dry vs rainy) in
      activity in urban dwellers whereas in rural dwellers activity was higher during
      dry seasons compared to rainy seasons (p<0.001). Age, obesity and education
      showed significant inverse associations with activity. Urban dwellers who
      considered themselves adequately active were only as active as rural dwellers who
      thought they were not adequately active. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study
      providing data on sociodemographic patterning of objectively-measured physical
      activity in rural and urban sub-Saharan Africa. Age, urban residence, obesity and
      higher educational level are important correlates of lower levels of physical
      activity. These suggest targets for public health interventions to improve
      physical activity in Cameroon.

PMID- 25841245
TI  - Impact of a GRADE-based medical question answering system on physician behaviour:
      a randomised controlled trial.
AB  - Physicians are frequently faced with questions related to their patients' care
      that they cannot answer. A vast number of randomised trials have tested a wide
      variety of behaviour-changing strategies designed to improve practitioners'
      evidence utilisation, but systematic reviews have concluded that the effects are
      generally small and inconsistent. We conducted a randomised controlled trial to
      determine whether a question identification and solving system, using structured
      evidence summaries with recommendations, would change physician's behavior
      related to the care of their hospitalised patients. The trial was conducted at
      the secondary level, internal medicine ward. Relevant clinical questions were the
      units of randomisation; 14 clinicians participated in the study. The question
      identification and answering system was carried out using evidence summaries with
      recommendations based on the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development
      and Evaluation (GRADE) approach stressing influence on clinician behaviour
      (decision/recommendation concordance). During 131 morning reports, 553 questions
      were identified (4.2 questions per meeting). 398 were excluded because they were
      not about diagnostic or therapeutic interventions or because their answers could
      not have impact on clinician behaviour, and 31 were excluded because of lack of
      time to answer them, leaving 124 included questions. The proportion of clinical
      decisions concordant with the proposed recommendations was 79%in the intervention
      arm and 44% in the control arm: relative risk 1.8 (95% CI 1.3 to 2.4), number of
      evidence summaries needed to change a care decision for one question raised was 3
      (95% CI 2 to 6). A question identification and answering system was feasible,
      effectively performed and significantly influenced clinician behaviour related to
      the care of hospitalised patients, which suggests that interventions facilitating
      accessibility and interpretability of the best available evidence at the point of
      care have the potential to significantly impact on the quality of healthcare.

PMID- 25841246
TI  - The human papillomavirus vaccination is not associated with risk of multiple
      sclerosis or other demyelinating diseases.

PMID- 25841247
TI  - Prenatal and postnatal exposure to parental smoking increases odds of allergic
      diseases during childhood and adolescence.

PMID- 25841248
TI  - Ocular histoplasmosis syndrome.
AB  - Ocular histoplasmosis syndrome (OHS) is a chorioretinal disorder with a distinct
      fundus appearance that is commonly found in regions endemic for Histoplasma
      capsulatum. Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to OHS is considered one
      of the principal causes of central vision loss among young adults in endemic
      areas. Although there is no consensus regarding its pathogenesis, evidence points
      to Histoplasma capsulatum as the most probable etiology. Once considered an
      intractable hemorrhagic maculopathy, CNVs are now treatable. Extrafoveal CNVs are
      successfully treated with laser photocoagulation. Subfoveal and juxtafoveal CNVs
      are managed with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy, photodynamic
      therapy, or a combination of both. Modern imaging technologies such as spectral
      domain optical coherence tomography have improved our diagnostic abilities,
      making it easier to monitor disease activity and CNV regression. We review the
      epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, differential diagnosis, and
      current treatment of this disease. 

PMID- 25841249
TI  - Mechanisms of enhanced insulin secretion and sensitivity with n-3 unsaturated
      fatty acids.
AB  - The widespread acceptance that increased dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids
      (PUFAs), especially alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and
      docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), improve health is based on extensive studies in
      animals, isolated cells and humans. Visceral adiposity is part of the metabolic
      syndrome, together with insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hypertension and
      inflammation. Alleviation of metabolic syndrome requires normalization of insulin
      release and responses. This review assesses our current knowledge of the
      mechanisms that allow n-3 PUFAs to improve insulin secretion and sensitivity. EPA
      has been more extensively studied than either ALA or DHA. The complex actions of
      EPA include increased G-protein-receptor-mediated release of glucagon-like
      peptide 1 (GLP-1) from enteroendocrine L-cells in the intestine, up-regulation of
      the apelin pathway and down-regulation of other control pathways to promote
      insulin secretion by the pancreatic beta-cells, together with suppression of
      inflammatory responses to adipokines, inhibition of peroxisome proliferator
      activated receptor alpha actions and prevention of decreased insulin-like growth
      factor-1 secretion to improve peripheral insulin responses. The receptors
      involved and the mechanisms of action probably differ for ALA and DHA, with
      antiobesity effects predominating for ALA and anti-inflammatory effects for DHA.
      Modifying both GLP-1 release and the actions of adipokines by n-3 PUFAs could
      lead to additive improvements in both insulin secretion and sensitivity. 

PMID- 25841250
TI  - White and dark kidney beans reduce colonic mucosal damage and inflammation in
      response to dextran sodium sulfate.
AB  - Common beans are a rich source of nondigestible fermentable components and
      phenolic compounds that have anti-inflammatory effects. We assessed the gut
      health-promoting potential of kidney beans in healthy mice and their ability to
      attenuate colonic inflammation following dextran sodium sulphate (DSS) exposure
      (via drinking water, 2% DSS w/v, 7 days). C57BL/6 mice were fed one of three
      isocaloric diets: basal diet control (BD), or BD supplemented with 20% cooked
      white (WK) or dark red kidney (DK) bean flour for 3 weeks. In healthy mice, anti
      inflammatory microbial-derived cecal short chain fatty acid (SCFA) levels
      (acetate, butyrate and propionate), colon crypt height and colonic Mucin 1 (MUC1)
      and Resistin-like Molecule beta (Relmbeta) mRNA expression all increased in WK-
      and DK-fed mice compared to BD, indicative of enhanced microbial activity, gut
      barrier integrity and antimicrobial defense response. During colitis, both bean
      diets reduced (a) disease severity, (b) colonic histological damage and (c)
      increased mRNA expression of antimicrobial and barrier integrity-promoting genes
      (Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4), MUC1-3, Relmbeta and Trefoil Factor 3 (TFF3)) and
      reduced proinflammatory mediator expression [interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6,
      interferon (IFN)gamma, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)alpha and monocyte
      chemoattractant protein-1], which correlated with reduced colon tissue protein
      levels. Further, bean diets exerted a systemic anti-inflammatory effect during
      colitis by reducing serum levels of IL-17A, IFNgamma, TNFalpha, IL-1beta and IL
      6. In conclusion, both WK and DK bean-supplemented diets enhanced microbial
      derived SCFA metabolite production, gut barrier integrity and the microbial
      defensive response in the healthy colon, which supported an anti-inflammatory
      phenotype during colitis. Collectively, these data demonstrate a beneficial colon
      function priming effect of bean consumption that mitigates colitis severity. 

PMID- 25841252
TI  - Leptin, adiposity, and mortality: results from the National Health and Nutrition
      Examination Survey III, 1988 to 1994.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether leptin is related to all-cause and cardiovascular
      (CV) mortality in older adults. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Participants 60 years and
      older with plasma leptin level measurements from the National Health and
      Nutrition Examination Survey III (1988-1994) and mortality data linked to the
      National Death Index were included. We created sex-specific tertiles of leptin
      (men: 4.2-7.7 MUg/L; women: 11.5-21.4 MUg/L) to identify the effect of leptin on
      all-cause and CV mortality. We also determined whether leptin predicted mortality
      in patients with obesity. We classified obesity using 4 possible definitions:
      body mass index 30 kg/m(2) or greater; body fat 25% or more in men and 35% or
      more in women; waist circumference 102 cm or greater in men and 88 cm or greater
      in women; and waist-hip ratio 0.85 or higher in women and 0.95 or higher in men.
      Sex-specific proportional hazard models were used to assess the effect of leptin
      on all-cause and CV mortality. RESULTS: Of 1794 participants, 51.6% were women;
      the mean age was 70.3+/-0.4 years, and the follow-up period was 12.5 years with
      994 deaths (469 were CV deaths). All-cause mortality in the highest leptin
      tertile was significant neither in men (hazard ratio [HR], 1.23; 95% CI, 0.93
      1.63) nor in women (HR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.68-1.40). CV mortality was the highest in
      the highest leptin tertile in men (HR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.06-2.70) but not in women
      (HR, 1.21; 95% CI, 0.73-1.98). Evaluating the effect of leptin in subgroups of
      different obesity definitions, we found that high leptin levels as predict CV
      mortality in men as measured by waist circumference or body fat. CONCLUSION:
      Elevated leptin level is predictive of CV mortality only in men. Leptin may
      provide additional mortality discrimination in obese men.

PMID- 25841251
TI  - Digital health interventions for the prevention of cardiovascular disease: a
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the potential benefit of digital health interventions (DHIs)
      on cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes (CVD events, all-cause mortality,
      hospitalizations) and risk factors compared with non-DHIs. PATIENTS AND METHODS:
      We conducted a systematic search of PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science,
      Ovid, CINHAL, ERIC, PsychINFO, Cochrane, and Cochrane Central Register of
      Controlled Trials for articles published from January 1, 1990, through January
      21, 2014. Included studies examined any element of DHI (telemedicine, Web-based
      strategies, e-mail, mobile phones, mobile applications, text messaging, and
      monitoring sensors) and CVD outcomes or risk factors. Two reviewers independently
      evaluated study quality utilizing a modified version of the Cochrane
      Collaboration risk assessment tool. Authors extracted CVD outcomes and risk
      factors for CVD such as weight, body mass index, blood pressure, and lipid levels
      from 51 full-text articles that met validity and inclusion criteria. RESULTS:
      Digital health interventions significantly reduced CVD outcomes (relative risk,
      0.61; 95% CI, 0.46-0.80; P<.001; I(2)=22%). Concomitant reductions in weight (
      2.77 lb [95% CI, -4.49 to -1.05 lb]; P<.002; I(2)=97%) and body mass index (-0.17
      kg/m(2) [95% CI, -0.32 kg/m(2) to -0.01 kg/m(2)]; P=.03; I(2)=97%) but not blood
      pressure (-1.18 mm Hg [95% CI, -2.93 mm Hg to 0.57 mm Hg]; P=.19; I(2)=100%) were
      found in these DHI trials compared with usual care. In the 6 studies reporting
      Framingham risk score, 10-year risk percentages were also significantly improved
      (-1.24%; 95% CI, -1.73% to -0.76%; P<.001; I(2)=94%). Results were limited by
      heterogeneity not fully explained by study population (primary or secondary
      prevention) or DHI modality. CONCLUSION: Overall, these aggregations of data
      provide evidence that DHIs can reduce CVD outcomes and have a positive impact on
      risk factors for CVD.

PMID- 25841253
TI  - The "delivery" of Adam: a medical interpretation of Michelangelo.
AB  - This article describes what we believe to be the key to interpreting the concept
      represented by Michelangelo's painting the Creation of Adam. This fresco, one of
      his most famous masterpieces, is situated in the heart of the Sistine Chapel and
      is viewed by millions of people every year. A man of many talents, Michelangelo's
      proficiency in anatomical dissection is reflected in his artwork. As such,
      analyses of hidden meanings in this fresco have been ascribed, including the
      concept of the "Brain-God." However, we see a postpartum uterus and adjacent
      anatomy, justifying our interpretation that Michelangelo was depicting something
      far more fundamental: the birth of mankind. 

PMID- 25841254
TI  - Nonexercise activity thermogenesis in obesity management.
AB  - Obesity is linked to cardiovascular disease. The global increase in sedentary
      lifestyle is an important factor contributing to the rising prevalence of the
      obesity epidemic. Traditionally, counseling has focused on moderate- to vigorous
      intensity exercise, with disappointing results. Nonexercise activity
      thermogenesis (NEAT) is an important component of daily energy expenditure. It
      represents the common daily activities, such as fidgeting, walking, and standing.
      These high-effect NEAT movements could result in up to an extra 2000 kcal of
      expenditure per day beyond the basal metabolic rate, depending on body weight and
      level of activity. Implementing NEAT during leisure-time and occupational
      activities could be essential to maintaining a negative energy balance. NEAT can
      be applied by being upright, ambulating, and redesigning workplace and leisure
      time environments to promote NEAT. The benefits of NEAT include not only the
      extra calories expended but also the reduced occurrence of the metabolic
      syndrome, cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality. We believe that to
      overcome the obesity epidemic and its adverse cardiovascular consequences, NEAT
      should be part of the current medical recommendations. The content of this review
      is based on a literature search of PubMed and the Google search engine between
      January 1, 1960, and October 1, 2014, using the search terms physical activity,
      obesity, energy expenditure, nonexercise activity thermogenesis, and NEAT. 

PMID- 25841255
TI  - Optimizing bowel cleansing for colonoscopy.
AB  - Adequate bowel cleansing is essential for complete examination of the colon
      mucosa during colonoscopy. Suboptimal bowel preparation has potential adverse
      consequences, such as missed pathologic abnormalities, the need for repeated
      procedures, and increased procedure-related complications. Several factors can
      predict individuals at increased risk for inadequate bowel preparation. If
      predictors of inadequate bowel preparation are identified, then education should
      be intensified and a more aggressive bowel regimen recommended. On completion of
      this article, you should be able to (1) define the frequency of inadequate colon
      preparations, (2) identify predictors of poor bowel preparation, and (3) use a
      more aggressive bowel regimen when clinically indicated. 

PMID- 25841256
TI  - 42-year-old man with asthma symptoms and recurrent bronchitis.

PMID- 25841257
TI  - Neuropathic pain: principles of diagnosis and treatment.
AB  - Neuropathic pain is caused by disease or injury of the nervous system and
      includes various chronic conditions that, together, affect up to 8% of the
      population. A substantial body of neuropathic pain research points to several
      important contributory mechanisms including aberrant ectopic activity in
      nociceptive nerves, peripheral and central sensitization, impaired inhibitory
      modulation, and pathological activation of microglia. Clinical evaluation of
      neuropathic pain requires a thorough history and physical examination to identify
      characteristic signs and symptoms. In many cases, other laboratory investigations
      and clinical neurophysiological testing may help identify the underlying etiology
      and guide treatment selection. Available treatments essentially provide only
      symptomatic relief and may include nonpharmacological, pharmacological, and
      interventional therapies. Most extensive evidence is available for
      pharmacological treatment, and currently recommended first-line treatments
      include antidepressants (tricyclic agents and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake
      inhibitors) and anticonvulsants (gabapentin and pregabalin). Individualized
      multidisciplinary patient care is facilitated by careful consideration of pain
      related disability (eg, depression and occupational dysfunction) as well as
      patient education; repeat follow-up and strategic referral to appropriate
      medical/surgical subspecialties; and physical and psychological therapies. In the
      near future, continued preclinical and clinical research and development are
      expected to lead to further advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of
      neuropathic pain. 

PMID- 25841258
TI  - Regenerative medicine in diabetes.
AB  - Diabetes is a common multisystem disease that results in hyperglycemia due to a
      relative or absolute insulin deficiency. Improved glycemic control decreases the
      risk of development and progression of microvascular and, to a lesser extent,
      macrovascular complications and prevents symptomatic hyperglycemia. However,
      complex treatment regimens aimed at improving glycemic control are associated
      with an increased incidence of hypoglycemia. On paper at least, cellular
      therapies arising from reprogramed stem cells or other somatic cell types would
      provide ideal therapy for diabetes and the prevention of its complications. This
      hypothesis has led to intensive efforts to grow beta cells from various sources.
      In this review, we provide an overview of beta-cell development as well as the
      efforts reported to date in terms of cellular therapy for diabetes. Engineering
      beta-cell replacement therapy requires an understanding of how beta cells respond
      to other metabolites such as amino acids, free fatty acids, and ketones. Indeed,
      efforts thus far have been characterized by an inability of cellular replacement
      products to adequately respond to metabolites that normally couple the metabolic
      state to beta-cell function and insulin secretion. Efforts to date intended to
      capitalize on current knowledge of islet cell development and stimulus-secretion
      coupling of the beta cell are encouraging but as yet of little clinical
      relevance. 

PMID- 25841259
TI  - In reply-Maternal, paternal, and societal efforts are needed to "cure" childhood
      obesity.

PMID- 25841260
TI  - Maternal, paternal, and societal efforts are needed to "cure" childhood obesity.

PMID- 25841261
TI  - In reply-Early goal-directed therapy for severe sepsis.

PMID- 25841262
TI  - Early goal-directed therapy for severe sepsis.

PMID- 25841263
TI  - Metastatic breast cancer.

PMID- 25841264
TI  - 64-year-old woman with diarrhea and increased abdominal girth.

PMID- 25841265
TI  - John E. Walker-Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1997.

PMID- 25841267
TI  - Cluster headache and trigeminal autonomic cephalgias.

PMID- 25841268
TI  - [Cleft lip, alveolar and palate sequelae. Proposal of new alveolar score by the
      Alveolar Cleft Score (ACS) classification].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The management of cleft lip, alveolar and palate sequelae remains
      problematic today. To optimize it, we tried to establish a new clinical index for
      diagnostic and prognostic purposes. TECHNICAL NOTE: Seven tissue indicators, that
      we consider to be important in the management of alveolar sequelae, are listed by
      assigning them individual scores. The final score, obtained by adding together
      the individual scores, can take a low, high or maximum value. DISCUSSION: We
      propose a new classification (ACS: Alveolar Cleft Score) that guides the
      therapeutic team to a prognosis approach, in terms of the recommended surgical
      and prosthetic reconstruction, the type of medical care required, and the
      preventive and supportive therapy to establish. Current studies are often only
      based on a standard radiological evaluation of the alveolar bone height at the
      cleft site. However, the gingival, the osseous and the cellular areas bordering
      the alveolar cleft sequelae induce many clinical parameters, which should be
      reflected in the morphological diagnosis, to better direct the surgical
      indications and the future prosthetic requirements, and to best maintain
      successful long term aesthetic and functional results.

PMID- 25841269
TI  - [Combined approach of parotid lithiasis. A technical note].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Sialendoscopy, extracorporeal lithotripsy and transoral removal are
      the usual treatments for parotid lithiasis. These techniques cannot treat all the
      patients. In fact, removal of lithiasis bigger than the ductal diameter and
      situated in the middle or posterior third of the duct may fail with such
      techniques. For this reason the combined approach has been developed. Our
      technical note describes this procedure. TECHNICAL NOTE: Preoperative check-up
      needs an ultrasound or a CT scan of the parotid region. The procedure is
      conducted under general anesthesia. It begins with the localization of the
      lithiasis with help of the sialendoscope light visible through the skin. A face
      lift approach is performed giving access to the SMAS that is opened over the
      lithiasis and the transilluminated area. A window is opened on the duct and the
      lithiasis is removed. Proximal duct permeability is assessed with the
      sialendoscope. The different layers are sutured and a suction drainage is left in
      place. DISCUSSION: Combined approach is indicated in case of failure of
      conservative techniques. It provides good results in removal of lithiasis located
      in the posterior or middle thirds of the duct. Its morbidity is low. It can avoid
      performing a parotidectomy and lowers the risk of facial palsy. In case of
      failure, botulinum toxin injection may be indicated.

PMID- 25841270
TI  - Increased incidence of extrapancreatic neoplasms in patients with IPMN: Fact or
      fiction? A critical systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND: To identify potential associations between intraductal papillary
      mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas (IPMN) and extrapancreatic neoplasms (EPN), a
      systematic review of the literature has been performed. METHODS: A systematic
      search of Medline/Pubmed was performed according to the PRISMA guidelines for
      reporting systematic reviews and meta-analysis for the following search terms:
      "extrapancreatic", "non pancreatic", "additional pancreatic", "additional
      primary" and alternatively matched with
      "neoplasms/tumours/cancers/malignancies/lesions". The results obtained
      specifically for IPMN were examined one by one by two independent investigators
      for further data selection and extraction. RESULTS: Fifteen studies were
      identified to be suitable and included for systematic review. Fourteen reported
      an elevated risk for extrapancreatic malignancy, particularly gastric and colon
      cancer, while the largest and only prospective study did not find any
      association. Most studies were retrospective with a weak level of evidence that
      was not substantially enhanced even by a recent multicentre case series.
      CONCLUSIONS: The available data on this clinically relevant question remain
      inconclusive. Due to lacking evidence on extrapancreatic neoplasms in IPMN
      patients, only a standard surveillance can be advised.

PMID- 25841271
TI  - NEDDylation in liver cancer: The regulation of the RNA binding protein Hu antigen
      R.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the
      third leading cause of cancer death. The current view of cancer progression and
      malignancy supports the notion that cancer cells must undergo through a post
      translational modification (PTM) regulation and a metabolic switch or
      reprogramming in order to progress in an unfriendly environment. NEDDylation is a
      post-translational modification of the proteins involved in several processes
      such as cell growth, viability and development. A ground-breaking knowledge on a
      new critical aspect of HCC research has been to identify that NEDDylation plays a
      role in HCC by regulating the liver oncogenic driver Hu antigen R (HuR). HuR is a
      RNA-binding protein that stabilizes target mRNAs involved in cell
      dedifferentiation, proliferation, and survival, all well-established hallmarks of
      cancer. And importantly, HuR levels were found to be highly representative in
      liver and colon cancer. These findings open a completely new area of research,
      exploring the impact that NEDDylation plays in liver diseases and paving the way
      for novel therapeutical approaches. 

PMID- 25841272
TI  - Editorial.

PMID- 25841273
TI  - Guest editorial.

PMID- 25841274
TI  - Current image acquisition options in PET/MR.
AB  - Whole-body PET/MR hybrid imaging combines excellent soft tissue contrast and
      various functional imaging parameters provided by MR with high sensitivity and
      quantification of radiotracer uptake provided by PET. Although clinical
      evaluation now is under way, PET/MR demands for new technologies and innovative
      solutions, currently subject to interdisciplinary research. Attenuation
      correction (AC) of human soft tissues and of hardware components has to be MR
      based to maintain quantification of PET imaging as CT attenuation information is
      missing. MR-based AC is inherently associated with the following challenges:
      patient tissues are segmented into only few tissue classes, providing discrete
      attenuation coefficients; bone is substituted as soft tissue in MR-based AC; the
      limited field of view in MRI leads to truncations in body imaging and,
      consequently, in MR-based AC; and correct segmentation of lung tissue may be
      hampered by breathing artifacts. Use of time of flight during PET image
      acquisition and reconstruction, however, may improve the accuracy of AC. This
      article provides a status of current image acquisition options in PET/MR hybrid
      imaging. 

PMID- 25841275
TI  - Future image acquisition trends for PET/MRI.
AB  - Hybrid PET/MRI scanners have become commercially available in the past years but
      are not yet widely distributed. The combination of a state-of-the-art PET with a
      state-of-the-art MRI scanner provides numerous potential advantages compared with
      the established PET/CT hybrid systems, namely, increased soft tissue contrast;
      functional information from MRI such as diffusion, perfusion, and blood
      oxygenation level-dependent techniques; true multiplanar data acquisition; and
      reduced radiation exposure. On the contrary, current PET/MRI technology is
      hampered by several shortcomings compared with PET/CT, the most important issues
      being how to use MR data for PET attenuation correction and the low sensitivity
      of MRI for small-scale pulmonary pathologies compared with high-resolution CT.
      Moreover, the optimal choice for hybrid PET/MRI acquisition protocols needs to be
      defined providing the highest possible degree of sensitivity and specificity
      within the constraints of the available measurement time. A multitude of new
      acquisition strategies of PET and MRI not only offer to overcome current
      obstacles of hybrid PET/MRI but also provide deeper insights into the
      pathophysiology of oncological, inflammatory, or degenerative diseases from the
      combination of molecular and functional imaging techniques. 

PMID- 25841277
TI  - PET/MR in dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.
AB  - The spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases covers the dementias, parkinsonian
      syndromes, Huntington disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and prion diseases.
      In these entities, brain MRI is often used in clinical routine to exclude other
      pathologies and to demonstrate specific atrophy patterns. [18F]FDG PET delivers
      early and sensitive readouts of neural tissue loss, and more specific PET tracers
      currently in use clinically target beta-amyloid plaques or dopaminergic
      deficiency. The recent integration of PET into MR technology offers a new chance
      to improve early and differential diagnosis of many neurodegenerative diseases.
      Initial evidence in the literature is available to support this notion. New
      emerging PET tracers, such as tracers that bind to tau or alpha-synuclein
      aggregates, as well as MR techniques, like diffusion-tensor imaging, resting
      state functional MRI, and arterial spin labeling, have the potential to broaden
      the diagnostic capabilities of combined PET/MRI to image dementias, Parkinson
      disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. The ultimate goal is to establish
      combined PET/MRI as a first-line imaging technique to provide, in a one-stop-shop
      fashion with improved patient comfort, all biomarker information required to
      increase diagnostic confidence toward specific diagnoses. The technical challenge
      of accurate PET data attenuation correction within PET/MRI systems needs yet to
      be solved. Apart from the projected clinical routine applications, future
      research would need to answer the questions of whether combined brain PET/MRI is
      able to improve basic research of neurodegenerative diseases and
      antineurodegeneration drug testing.

PMID- 25841276
TI  - Motion correction options in PET/MRI.
AB  - Subject motion is unavoidable in clinical and research imaging studies. Breathing
      is the most important source of motion in whole-body PET and MRI studies,
      affecting not only thoracic organs but also those in the upper and even lower
      abdomen. The motion related to the pumping action of the heart is obviously
      relevant in high-resolution cardiac studies. These two sources of motion are
      periodic and predictable, at least to a first approximation, which means certain
      techniques can be used to control the motion (eg, by acquiring the data when the
      organ of interest is relatively at rest). Additionally, nonperiodic and
      unpredictable motion can also occur during the scan. One obvious limitation of
      methods relying on external devices (eg, respiratory bellows or the
      electrocardiogram signal to monitor the respiratory or cardiac cycle,
      respectively) to trigger or gate the data acquisition is that the complex motion
      of internal organs cannot be fully characterized. However, detailed information
      can be obtained using either the PET or MRI data (or both) allowing the more
      complete characterization of the motion field so that a motion model can be
      built. Such a model and the information derived from simple external devices can
      be used to minimize the effects of motion on the collected data. In the ideal
      case, all the events recorded during the PET scan would be used to generate a
      motion-free or corrected PET image. The detailed motion field can be used for
      this purpose by applying it to the PET data before, during, or after the image
      reconstruction. Integrating all these methods for motion control,
      characterization, and correction into a workflow that can be used for routine
      clinical studies is challenging but could potentially be extremely valuable given
      the improvement in image quality and reduction of motion-related image artifacts.

PMID- 25841278
TI  - PET/MRI of the heart.
AB  - Hybrid imaging devices including PET/CT and SPECT/CT have seen a great success in
      clinical routine, especially in the field of oncology. With the recent advent of
      PET/MRI scanners, expectations that PET/MRI would replicate that success were
      accordingly high. The combination of molecular imaging with a variety of very
      specific PET tracers and the high spatial resolution of MRI are expected to
      result in increased diagnostic accuracy or even in the creation of additional
      demands for hybrid imaging. However, as these systems have entered the market
      just recently, experience in the field of nuclear cardiology is limited and some
      applications still need to be validated. Owing to the profound technical
      differences between CT and MRI, which influences not only the estimation of the
      photon attenuation but also causes marked differences in the workflow,
      particularly in cardiovascular studies (such as the need for special personnel
      training and interaction between nuclear medicine specialists, radiologists, and
      physicists), the "familiarization phase" with this new technique also seems to be
      extended. However, the approach to study various conditions such as perfusion,
      viability, and atherosclerosis in a single imaging examination session using PET
      and MRI offers advantages. Although MRI allows for a detailed morphologic
      characterization of the studied tissue, PET adds the information on functional
      biological markers that are not (or at least not fully) measurable by MRI. Thus,
      this combined imaging approach will prove valuable in distinct cardiac diseases
      (such as myocarditis and cardiac sarcoidosis) and will offer vast research
      opportunities. 

PMID- 25841279
TI  - PET/MR in cancers of the head and neck.
AB  - One early application of PET/MRI in clinical practice may be the imaging of head
      and neck cancers. This is because the morphologic imaging modalities, CT and MR,
      are recognized as similarly effective tools in cross-sectional oncological
      imaging of the head and neck. The addition of PET with FDG is believed to enhance
      the accuracy of both modalities to a similar degree. However, there are a few
      specific scenarios in head and neck cancer imaging where MR is thought to provide
      an edge over CT, including perineural spread of tumors and the infiltration of
      important anatomical landmarks, such as the prevertebral fascia and great vessel
      walls. Here, hybrid PET/MR might provide higher diagnostic certainty than PET/CT
      or a separate acquisition of PET/CT and MR. Another advantage of MR is the
      availability of several functional techniques. Although some of them might
      enhance the imaging of head and neck cancer with PET/MR, other functional
      techniques actually might prove dispensable in the presence of PET. In this
      overview, we discuss current trends and potential clinical applications of PET/MR
      in the imaging of head and neck cancers, including clinical protocols. We also
      discuss potential benefits of implementing functional MR techniques into hybrid
      PET/MRI of head and neck cancers. 

PMID- 25841280
TI  - Normal saline instillation before endotracheal suctioning: "What does the
      evidence say? What do the nurses think?": Multimethod study.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aimed to systematically review studies that investigated the
      effects of normal saline instillation before endotracheal suctioning and to
      determine the views of nurses concerning this procedure. METHODS: This study was
      carried out in 2 stages as a systematic review and a descriptive study. In the
      first stage, the Medline and CINAHL databases were searched. The second stage of
      the study consisted of a survey of 65 intensive care nurses. RESULTS: The
      systematic review identified 7 studies. Nearly all of the studies had a self
      controlled clinical trial design. Normal saline instillation before endotracheal
      suctioning was demonstrated to decrease patient oxygenation in most studies (P <
      .05). However, the impact of normal saline on hemodynamics and the incidence of
      ventilator-associated pneumonia remain unclear. Most nurses (87.7%) apply normal
      saline instillation. CONCLUSION: Although the effects of normal saline
      instillation on hemodynamics and pneumonia incidence remain controversial, this
      procedure significantly decreases the oxygenation. Therefore, the use of this
      procedure is not recommended. However, normal saline instillation is used
      frequently by nurses to manage thick and tenacious secretions in clinical
      practice. Additional studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of
      applications that may be alternatives to normal saline instillation in the
      management of these secretions.

PMID- 25841281
TI  - Foker process for the correction of long gap esophageal atresia: Primary
      treatment versus secondary treatment after prior esophageal surgery.
AB  - PURPOSE: The Foker process (FP) uses tension-induced growth for primary
      esophageal reconstruction in patients with long gap esophageal atresia (LGEA). It
      has been less well described in LGEA patients who have undergone prior esophageal
      reconstruction attempts. METHODS: All cases of LGEA treated at our institution
      from January 2005 to April 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients who
      initially had esophageal surgery elsewhere were considered secondary FP cases.
      Demographics, esophageal evaluations, and complications were collected. Median
      time to esophageal anastomosis and full oral nutrition was estimated using the
      Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate Cox-proportional hazards regression identified
      potential risk factors. RESULTS: Fifty-two patients were identified, including 27
      primary versus 25 secondary FP patients. Median time to anastomosis was 14 days
      for primary and 35 days for secondary cases (p<0.001). Secondary cases (p=0.013)
      and number of thoracotomies (p<0.001) were identified as significant predictors
      for achieving anastomosis and the development of a leak. Predictors of
      progression to full oral feeding were primary FP cases (O.R.=17.0, 95% CI: 2.8
      102, p<0.001) and patients with longer follow-up (O.R.=1.06/month, 95% CI: 1.01
      1.11, p=0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The FP has been successful in repairing infants with
      primary LGEA, but the secondary LGEA patients proved to be more challenging to
      achieve a primary esophageal anastomosis. Early referral to a multidisciplinary
      esophageal center and a flexible approach to establish continuity in secondary
      patients is recommended. Given their complexity, larger studies are needed to
      evaluate long-term outcomes and discern optimal strategies for reconstruction.

PMID- 25841282
TI  - Prematurity and neonatal comorbidities as risk factors for nonaccidental trauma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Parental, familial, and demographic risk factors for nonaccidental
      trauma (NAT) have been well-studied, but neonatal factors, such as comorbidities
      and prematurity have not. We assess the correlation of these factors with NAT.
      METHODS: A total of 234 cases of NAT and 287 cases of accidental trauma (AT)
      among children <1 year were identified in a trauma registry. Known risk factors
      for NAT, gestational age, and neonatal comorbidities were abstracted from medical
      records. Chi-square analysis and logistic regression evaluated the association of
      prematurity and comorbidities with NAT compared to AT with and without
      controlling for confounders. RESULTS: Children treated for NAT were younger than
      those treated for AT and were more likely to have younger parents with substance
      abuse issues. Prematurity, major comorbidities, and minor comorbidities were more
      common in those treated after NAT than after AT (24.8% vs 12.7%, p=0.0004; 25.6%
      vs 7.2%, p<0.0001, and 42.6% vs 29.3%, p=0.0014, respectively). After model
      adjustments for other risk factors, major comorbidity remained a significant risk
      factor for NAT compared to AT, with an adjusted odds ratio of 4.37 (p<0.0001).
      CONCLUSIONS: Among other risk factors, neonatal factors predict a child's risk
      for abuse. We have an opportunity for targeted preventive interventions among
      this at-risk population.

PMID- 25841283
TI  - The non-diagnostic ultrasound in appendicitis: is a non-visualized appendix the
      same as a negative study?
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate outcomes in
      children who underwent a non-diagnostic ultrasound (US) evaluating for
      appendicitis and to identify predictors of a negative diagnosis. METHODS: An IRB
      approved retrospective chart review was performed on patients age 0-18, who
      underwent an abdominal US evaluating for acute appendicitis from 2004 through
      2013. Clinical data and specified outcomes were recorded, and exams were
      categorized into non-diagnostic studies and further separated into studies where
      the appendix was non-visualized. RESULTS: Of the 1383 studies included for
      analysis, 876 were non-diagnostic for acute appendicitis (63.34%) with 777
      specifically because the appendix was non-visualized. Seven hundred forty of the
      876 non-diagnostic studies and 671 of the 777 non-visualized studies were
      ultimately considered true negatives, corresponding to a negative predictive
      value (NPV) of 84.47 and 86.36%, respectively. In patients with WBC <7.5*10(9)/L,
      the NPV of non-diagnostic and non-visualized studies increased to 97.12 and
      98.86%, respectively. Patients with WBC <11.0*10(9)/L have similarly high NPVs of
      95.59 and 96.99% (non-diagnostic and non-visualized). CONCLUSION: Based on the
      high NPV of a non-diagnostic US in children without leukocytosis, these patients
      may safely avoid further diagnostic imaging for the workup of suspected
      appendicitis.

PMID- 25841284
TI  - Strategic assessment of the availability of pediatric trauma care equipment,
      technology and supplies in Ghana.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess the availability of pediatric trauma care
      items (i.e. equipment, supplies, technology) and factors contributing to
      deficiencies in Ghana. METHODS: Ten universal and 9 pediatric-sized items were
      selected from the World Health Organization's Guidelines for Essential Trauma
      Care. Direct inspection and structured interviews with administrative, clinical
      and biomedical engineering staff were used to assess item availability at 40
      purposively sampled district, regional and tertiary hospitals in Ghana. RESULTS:
      Hospital assessments demonstrated marked deficiencies for a number of essential
      items (e.g. basic airway supplies, chest tubes, blood pressure cuffs, electrolyte
      determination, portable X-ray). Lack of pediatric-sized items resulting from
      equipment absence, lack of training, frequent stock-outs and technology breakage
      were common. Pediatric items were consistently less available than adult-sized
      items at each hospital level. CONCLUSION: This study identified several successes
      and problems with pediatric trauma care item availability in Ghana. Item
      availability could be improved, both affordably and reliably, by better
      organization and planning (e.g. regular assessment of demand and inventory,
      reliable financing for essential trauma care items). In addition, technology
      items were often broken. Developing local service and biomedical engineering
      capability was highlighted as a priority to avoid long periods of equipment
      breakage.

PMID- 25841286
TI  - Indoor Air Problems and Hoarseness in Children.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: A well-functioning voice is becoming increasingly important because
      voice-demanding professions are increasing. The largest proportion of voice
      disorders is caused by factors in the environment. Moisture damage is common and
      can initiate microbial growth and/or diffusion of chemicals from building
      materials. Indoor air problems due to moisture damage are associated with a
      number of health symptoms, for example, rhinitis, cough, and asthma symptoms. The
      purpose of this study was to investigate if children attending a day care center,
      preschool, or school with indoor air problems due to moisture damage were hoarse
      more often than the children in a control group. METHODS: Information was
      collected through electronic and paper questionnaires from the parents of 6- to 9
      year-old children (n = 1857) attending 57 different day care centers, preschools,
      or schools with or without indoor air problems due to moisture damage. RESULTS:
      The results showed a significant correlation between the degree of indoor air
      problem due to moisture damage and the frequency of hoarseness. Significant
      predictors for the child being hoarse every week or more often were dry cough,
      phlegm cough, and nasal congestion. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that these
      symptoms and exposure to indoor air problems due to moisture damage should be
      included in voice anamnesis. Furthermore, efforts should be made to remediate
      indoor air problems due to moisture damage and to treat health symptoms.

PMID- 25841285
TI  - Area deprivation and the food environment over time: A repeated cross-sectional
      study on takeaway outlet density and supermarket presence in Norfolk, UK, 1990
      2008.
AB  - Socioeconomic disparities in the food environment are known to exist but with
      little understanding of change over time. This study investigated the density of
      takeaway food outlets and presence of supermarkets in Norfolk, UK between 1990
      and 2008. Data on food retail outlet locations were collected from telephone
      directories and aggregated within electoral wards. Supermarket presence was not
      associated with area deprivation over time. Takeaway food outlet density
      increased overall, and was significantly higher in more deprived areas at all
      time points; furthermore, socioeconomic disparities in takeaway food outlet
      density increased across the study period. These findings add to existing
      evidence and help assess the need for environmental interventions to reduce
      disparities in the prevalence of unhealthy food outlets. 

PMID- 25841287
TI  - Vocal Assessment Before, After, and the Day After Opera Performance.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore aerodynamic, acoustic, and laryngeal changes surrounding
      opera performance. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective preperformance, postperformance, and
      day after performance. METHODS: The laryngeal and vocal function of five male and
      five female classically trained singers was assessed immediately before,
      immediately after, and 1 day after an actual operatic performance. Phonatory
      threshold pressure was obtained. In addition, during a full-voice singing task,
      aerodynamic and acoustic measures included estimated subglottal pressure, airflow
      during voicing, laryngeal resistance, and sound pressure level (SPL). Expert
      listeners in the audience judged performers' voice quality at the beginning and
      the end of the performance. Laryngeal visualization was performed immediately
      before performance and the day after performance. RESULTS: Laryngeal stroboscopy
      revealed allergy symptoms with no change in vocal fold edges for all men. Women
      were less impacted by allergies. For all singers, perceptual judgments of expert
      listeners in the audience corresponded well with laryngeal findings. The men
      whose voices were perceived to be balanced and strong across the performance
      demonstrated increased airflow and reduced laryngeal resistance after
      performance. The two women who did not sing in church the morning after the
      performance demonstrated increased airflow and reduced laryngeal resistance. The
      two men who did sing in church the morning after the performance demonstrated
      noticeably reduced SPL and increased laryngeal resistance the day after
      performance. CONCLUSIONS: It appears most useful to describe the complexity of
      vocal performance with a variety of acoustic, aerodynamic, and perceptual
      measures. The findings further suggest that vocal rest the day after performance
      may facilitate recovery.

PMID- 25841288
TI  - Rapid and specific identification of Brucella abortus using the loop-mediated
      isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay.
AB  - A rapid and accurate diagnosis of brucellosis is required to reduce and prevent
      the spread of disease among animals and the risk of transfer to humans. In this
      study, a Brucella abortus-specific (Ba) LAMP assay was developed, that had six
      primers designed from the BruAb2_0168 region of chromosome I. The specificity of
      this LAMP assay was confirmed with Brucella reference strains, B. abortus vaccine
      strains, B. abortus isolates and phylogenetically or serologically related
      strains. The detection limit of target DNA was up to 20 fg/MUl within 60 min. The
      sensitivity of the new LAMP assay was equal to or slightly higher than other PCR
      based assays. Moreover, this Ba-LAMP assay could specifically amplify all B.
      abortus biovars compared to previous PCR assays. To our knowledge, this is the
      first report of specific detection of B. abortus using a LAMP assay. The Ba-LAMP
      assay can offer a rapid, sensitive and accurate diagnosis of bovine brucellosis
      in the field.

PMID- 25841289
TI  - Abnormal urinalysis results are common, regardless of specimen collection
      technique, in women without urinary tract infections.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Voided urinalysis to test for urinary tract infection (UTI) is prone
      to false-positive results for a number of reasons. Specimens are often collected
      at triage from women with any abdominal complaint, creating a low UTI prevalence
      population. Improper collection technique by the patient may affect the result.
      At least four indices, if positive, can indicate UTI. OBJECTIVE: We examine the
      impact of voided specimen collection technique on urinalysis indicators of UTI
      and on urine culture contamination in disease-free women. METHODS: In this
      crossover design, 40 menstrual-age female emergency department staff without UTI
      symptoms collected urine two ways: directly in a cup ("non-clean") and midstream
      clean catch ("ideal"). Samples underwent standard automated urinalysis and
      culture. Urinalysis indices and culture contamination were compared. RESULTS: The
      proportion of abnormal results from samples collected by "non-clean" vs. "ideal"
      technique, respectively, were: leukocyte esterase (>trace) 50%, 35% (95%
      confidence interval for difference -6% to 36%); nitrites (any) 2.5%, 2.5%
      (difference -2.5 to 2.5%); white blood cells (>5/high-powered field [HPF]) 50%,
      27.5% (difference 4 to 41%); bacteria (any/HPF) 77.5%, 62.5%, (difference -7 to
      37%); epithelial cells (>few) 65%, 30% (difference 13 to 56%); culture
      contamination (>1000 colony-forming units of commensal or >2 species) 77%, 63%
      (difference -5 to 35%). No urinalysis index was positively correlated with
      culture contamination. CONCLUSION: Contemporary automated urinalysis indices were
      often abnormal in a disease-free population of women, even using ideal collection
      technique. In clinical practice, such false-positive results could lead to false
      positive UTI diagnosis. Only urine nitrite showed a high specificity. Culture
      contamination was common regardless of collection technique and was not predicted
      by urinalysis results.

PMID- 25841290
TI  - Another Disease Re-emerges Due to Parental Shot Refusal: Case Report of a Fussy
      Infant with Blood in Stool.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Infants may present to the emergency department (ED) with vague
      complaints worrisome to parents and may initially appear well, despite serious
      underlying pathology. Whereas sepsis and nonaccidental trauma are high on most
      providers' diagnostic considerations, we report a case representative of a
      worrisome trend secondary to the refusal of parenteral vitamin K at birth leading
      to significant neurologic sequelae. CASE REPORT: A 10-week-old boy presented to
      the ED with gradual increase in fussiness for 2 weeks and new onset of blood
      flecks in the stool on the day of presentation. Careful physical examination
      revealed a pale-appearing infant, leading to diagnostic evaluation demonstrating
      profound anemia and intracranial bleeding. The patient was diagnosed with late
      onset vitamin K-deficient bleeding (VKDB) secondary to parental refusal of the
      vitamin K shot at birth. Why Should Emergency Physicians be Aware of This?
      Emergency Medicine providers need to add this serious treatable disease into
      their diagnostic consideration for fussy infants, infants with unexplained
      bruising or bleeding, or infants with new-onset seizures. Rapid identification of
      VKDB can lead to prompt treatment and halt the rapid progression of symptoms.
      Emergency Medicine providers should ask all parents if their infant received
      parenteral vitamin K in the newborn period, especially if they are exclusively
      breastfed or born out of the hospital.

PMID- 25841291
TI  - Hyperdense Basal Ganglia in Nonketotic Hyperglycemia.

PMID- 25841292
TI  - Hemodynamic study of TCPC using in vivo and in vitro 4D Flow MRI and numerical
      simulation.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Altered total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) hemodynamics can
      cause long-term complications. Patient-specific anatomy hinders generalized
      solutions. 4D Flow MRI allows in vivo assessment, but not predictions under
      varying conditions and surgical approaches. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
      improves understanding and explores varying physiological conditions. This study
      investigated a combination of 4D Flow MRI and CFD to assess TCPC hemodynamics,
      accompanied with in vitro measurements as CFD validation. 4D Flow MRI was
      performed in extracardiac and atriopulmonary TCPC subjects. Data was processed
      for visualization and quantification of velocity and flow. Three-dimensional (3D)
      geometries were generated from angiography scans and used for CFD and a physical
      model construction through additive manufacturing. These models were connected to
      a perfusion system, circulating water through the vena cavae and exiting through
      the pulmonary arteries at two flow rates. Models underwent 4D Flow MRI and image
      processing. CFD simulated the in vitro system, applying two different inlet
      conditions from in vitro 4D Flow MRI measurements; no-slip was implemented at
      rigid walls. Velocity and flow were obtained and analyzed. The three approaches
      showed similar velocities, increasing proportionally with high inflow.
      Atriopulmonary TCPC presented higher vorticity compared to extracardiac at both
      inflow rates. Increased inflow balanced flow distribution in both TCPC cases.
      Atriopulmonary IVC flow participated in atrium recirculation, contributing to RPA
      outflow; at baseline, IVC flow preferentially traveled through the LPA. The
      combination of patient-specific in vitro and CFD allows hemodynamic parameter
      control, impossible in vivo. Physical models serve as CFD verification and fine
      tuning tools.

PMID- 25841294
TI  - Mechanical properties and morphological analysis of the transitional zone between
      meniscal body and ligamentous meniscal attachments.
AB  - In recent years, an increasing number of studies reporting on meniscal root tears
      have been published. While the meniscus and its ligamentous meniscal attachments
      have been studied before, little is known about the transitional zone between
      these two structures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to mechanically and
      morphologically characterize the transitional zone between meniscus and its
      meniscal attachments. Dumbbell-shaped specimens were obtained from the
      transitional zone between meniscus and its meniscal attachments of 6 knee joints.
      Samples were divided into tibial and central layers of the anterior lateral (AL),
      anterior medial (AM), posterior lateral (PL) and posterior medial (PM)
      transitional region. Testing was performed to obtain the dissipated energy during
      hysteresis as well as the linear modulus (Elin), the maximum strain (epsilonmax),
      the maximum engineering stress (sigmamax,eng) and location of rupture during
      tensile test to failure. Two additional knee joints were used to investigate
      morphological differences between meniscus, transitional zone and meniscal
      attachments in 8um transverse slices. The central layer of the AL, AM and PL
      dissipated up to 48% less energy than the tibial layer. Elin was highest in the
      tibial layer of the PM with 107.4+/-61.1MPa and lowest in the central layer of
      the PL with 56.0+/-20.5MPa. The maximum strain was higher in the central layer
      than in the tibial layer at the AL, AM, and PL locations. The average
      sigmamax,eng was 12.7+/-9.9MPa over all location and layers. 78% of the samples
      ruptured during tensile test to failure in the transitional zone. The
      morphological evaluation showed a smooth transitional zone with a transitional
      curve which was either linear or bell-shaped. The strength found in the
      transitional zone was lower than in the meniscus and the meniscal attachments,
      which corresponds well to clinical findings. 

PMID- 25841293
TI  - The mechanical role of the cervix in pregnancy.
AB  - Appropriate mechanical function of the uterine cervix is critical for maintaining
      a pregnancy to term so that the fetus can develop fully. At the end of pregnancy,
      however, the cervix must allow delivery, which requires it to markedly soften,
      shorten and dilate. There are multiple pathways to spontaneous preterm birth, the
      leading global cause of death in children less than 5 years old, but all
      culminate in premature cervical change, because that is the last step in the
      final common pathway to delivery. The mechanisms underlying premature cervical
      change in pregnancy are poorly understood, and therefore current clinical
      protocols to assess preterm birth risk are limited to surrogate markers of
      mechanical function, such as sonographically measured cervical length. This is
      what motivates us to study the cervix, for which we propose investigating
      clinical cervical function in parallel with a quantitative engineering evaluation
      of its structural function. We aspire to develop a common translational language,
      as well as generate a rigorous integrated clinical-engineering framework for
      assessing cervical mechanical function at the cellular to organ level. In this
      review, we embark on that challenge by describing the current landscape of
      clinical, biochemical, and engineering concepts associated with the mechanical
      function of the cervix during pregnancy. Our goal is to use this common platform
      to inspire novel approaches to delineate normal and abnormal cervical function in
      pregnancy.

PMID- 25841295
TI  - Effectiveness of microbubble removal in an airtrap with a free surface interface.
AB  - An end stage renal disease patient will undergo haemodialysis (HD) three or four
      times a week for four to five hours per session. Because of the chronic nature of
      the treatment, any minor imperfection in the extracorporeal system may become
      significant over time. Clinical studies have raised concerns relating to small
      microbubbles entering HD patients. These bubbles lead to further
      pathophysiological complications with the size of the bubble being a major
      factor. Microbubbles of different sizes can be generated throughout the extra
      corporeal HD circuit. It is important to understand the possibility of these
      bubbles passing through the air trap or successfully being removed which
      indicates the performance of the air trap, the only mechanics of removing air
      bubbles. Chronic exposure to various sizes of microbubbles was analysed in detail
      for haemodialysis patients. However, smaller microbubbles are shown to be able to
      pass our modelled air trap. While studies have reported the presence of bubbles
      before and after the air trap, because these bubbles are only counted and not
      tracked, the performance of the air trap for removing different bubble sizes is
      not understood. Here, the performance of the air trap in filtering bubbles and
      the possibility of different bubble sizes passing through the air trap with the
      presence of the free surface interface have been evaluated. The modelled air trap
      is shown to be ineffective for filtering small micro bubbles. 

PMID- 25841296
TI  - Lens GABA receptors are a target of GABA-related agonists that mitigate
      experimental myopia.
AB  - Coordinated growth of eye tissues is required to achieve visual acuity. However,
      visual experience also guides this process. Experimental myopia can be produced
      by altering light entering the eye, but also by changing light/dark regimens.
      Drug discovery studies demonstrated that gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-related
      agonists (e.g., baclofen) will mitigate experimental myopia, and are also drugs
      studied for their capacity to affect neurodevelopmental disorders that include
      Fragile X Syndrome and related autism spectrum disorders. GABA receptors thought
      to mediate these responses in the eye have been studied in the neural retina as
      well as the cornea and sclera which are both innervated tissues. In addition to
      neurons, lenses express GAD25/65/67 GABA metabolic enzymes and at least 13 GABA
      receptor subunits with developmental expression profiles that match neural
      development. Evidence that lens GABA receptors are expressed in a cell
      environment comparable to neurons is seen in the lens expression of AMPA and NMDA
      glutamate receptors together with an unexpectedly comprehensive array of
      associated signaling proteins that include post-synaptic-density 95 (PSD95),
      calcium calmodulin kinase IIalpha (CaMKIIalpha), Fragile X Syndrome mental
      retardation protein (FMRP), ephrin receptors, Ca(V)1.2, 1.3 channels, cyclin
      dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5), and neuronal C-src among others. Moreover, lens cells
      share fundamental molecular regulatory mechanisms that integrate the regulation
      and function of these genes at the DNA, RNA, and protein levels in neurons. GABA
      has trophic, growth promoting effects early in neuron development and later
      assumes its classic inhibitory role in the adult neural system. We hypothesize
      that the extensive parallels between GABA and glutamate receptor biology in lens
      and brain identifies the lens as a site of GABA agonist drug action affecting
      experimental myopia, acting through lens GABA receptors to similarly affect
      growth in both elongated cell types. 

PMID- 25841297
TI  - Telomere length variability is related to symptoms and cognition in
      schizophrenia.

PMID- 25841299
TI  - Comparative investigation of the detective quantum efficiency of direct and
      indirect conversion detector technologies in dedicated breast CT.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the dose saving potential of direct-converting CdTe
      photon-counting detector technology for dedicated breast CT. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: We analyzed the modulation transfer function (MTF), the noise power
      spectrum (NPS) and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of two detector
      technologies, suitable for breast CT (BCT): a flat-panel energy-integrating
      detector with a 70 MUm and a 208 MUm thick gadolinium oxysulfide (GOS) and a 150
      MUm thick cesium iodide (CsI) scintillator and a photon-counting detector with a
      1000 MUm thick CdTe sensor. RESULTS: The measurements for GOS scintillator
      thicknesses of 70 MUm and 208 MUm delivered 10% pre-sampled MTF values of 6.6 mm(
      1) and 3.2 mm(-1), and DQE(0) values of 23% and 61%. The 10% pre-sampled MTF
      value for the 150 MUm thick CsI scintillator 6.9 mm(-1), and the DQE(0) value was
      49%. The CdTe sensor reached a 10% pre-sampled MTF value of 8.5 mm(-1) and a
      DQE(0) value of 85%. CONCLUSION: The photon-counting CdTe detector technology
      allows for significant dose reduction compared to the energy-integrating
      scintillation detector technology used in BCT today. Our comparative evaluation
      indicates that a high potential dose saving may be possible for BCT by using CdTe
      detectors, without loss of spatial resolution.

PMID- 25841298
TI  - Intensive care medicine and organ donation: exploring the last frontiers?
AB  - The main, universal problem for transplantation is organ scarcity. The gap
      between offer and demand grows wider every year and causes many patients in
      waiting list to die. In Spain, 90% of transplants are done with organs taken from
      patients deceased in brain death but this has a limited potential. In order to
      diminish organ shortage, alternative strategies such as donations from living
      donors, expanded criteria donors or donation after circulatory death, have been
      developed. Nevertheless, these types of donors also have their limitations and so
      are not able to satisfy current organ demand. It is necessary to reduce family
      denial and to raise donation in brain death thus generalizing, among other
      strategies, non-therapeutic elective ventilation. As intensive care doctors,
      cornerstone to the national donation programme, we must consolidate our
      commitment with society and organ transplantation. We must contribute with the
      values proper to our specialization and try to reach self-sufficiency by rising
      organ obtainment.

PMID- 25841301
TI  - Mr Ivor William Broomhead.

PMID- 25841300
TI  - Saxagliptin is similar in glycaemic variability more effective in metabolic
      control than acarbose in aged type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled with
      metformin.
AB  - This study compared the effects on glycaemic variability and glucose control
      between saxagliptin and acarbose as add-on therapies for aged T2DM inadequately
      controlled with metformin alone. The results showed that compared with acarbose
      metformin, saxagliptin-metformin was more effective in glucose control with
      similar glycaemic variability. 

PMID- 25841302
TI  - Plastic surgery statistics: low cost/no cost methods for collecting, analyzing
      and interpreting visual data.

PMID- 25841303
TI  - A fatal poisoning involving 25C-NBOMe.
AB  - This paper reports on a fatal overdose case involving the potent hallucinogenic
      drug 25C-NBOMe (2-(4-chloro-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-N-[(2
      methoxyphenyl)methyl]ethanamine). In the present case, a young male was
      hospitalized after the recreational use of this potent drug. He died at the
      hospital at approximately 12h after ingestion, with preceding signs of serotonin
      toxicity. Medico-legal autopsy was performed on the deceased, during which time
      peripheral whole blood, urine, vitreous humor, liver and gastric content samples
      were submitted for toxicological examination. Further, whole blood collected at
      the hospital at 2-4h following ingestion of the drug was analyzed. 25C-NBOMe and
      a demethylated and glucuronidated metabolite of 25C-NBOMe were identified in the
      urine and blood samples using ultra-performance liquid chromatography with high
      resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-HRTOF-MS). Subsequently, 25C
      NBOMe was quantified in the peripheral whole blood (0.60MUg/kg), urine
      (2.93MUg/kg), vitreous humor (0.33MUg/kg), liver (0.82MUg/kg) and gastric content
      (0.32MUg total) samples collected during autopsy and in the ante-mortem whole
      blood (0.81MUg/kg) by ultra-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass
      spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The autopsy findings were consistent with acute
      poisoning. Based on the toxicological findings, the cause of death was determined
      to be a fatal overdose of 25C-NBOMe in combination with amphetamine intake. To
      our knowledge, the present paper reports the first quantification of 25C-NBOMe in
      biological specimens from a fatal intoxication case. 

PMID- 25841304
TI  - Impact of nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-like 2 and p62/sequestosome
      expression on prognosis of patients with gliomas.
AB  - The objective of the present study was to determine whether 2 proteins (nuclear
      erythroid 2-related factor 2 [Nrf2] and p62) can be used as the biomarkers for
      prognosis of gliomas. The glioma samples were from 75 glioma patients after
      surgery. The expression of Nrf2 and p62 in 75 samples was detected with
      immunohistochemical staining. The correlation between immunohistochemical results
      and clinicopathological parameters or prognosis was analyzed. The results
      indicated that high Nrf2 expression was detected in 61.3% of glioma tissue
      samples and was significantly correlated with age (P = .006), tumor grade (P =
      .002), and onset time (P = .019). The overall survival (OS) and disease-free
      survival (DFS) in patients with high Nrf2 expression were significantly shorter
      than those in patients with low Nrf2 expression (P < .001). High p62 expression
      was detected in 65.3% of glioma tissue samples, and p62 expression was correlated
      significantly with the tumor grade (P < .001) and 1-year survival (P = .024). OS
      and DFS in patients with high p62 expression were significantly shorter than
      those in patients with low p62 expression (P < .001). Spearman rank correlation
      test revealed a significant positive relation between Nrf2 and p62 expressions (r
      = 0.515, P < .001). Multivariate regression analysis showed that p62 expression
      and age were the significant independent prognostic factors for DFS (P < .05) and
      tumor grade and p62 expression were independent prognostic parameters for OS (P <
      .01 or P < .05). These findings indicated that p62 may be used as the prognostic
      biomarker in patients with gliomas. 

PMID- 25841305
TI  - Transgelin: a potentially useful diagnostic marker differentially expressed in
      triple-negative and non-triple-negative breast cancers.
AB  - Triple negative (TN) (estrogen receptor [ER], progesterone receptor [PR] and HER2
      ) are highly aggressive, rapidly growing, hormone-unresponsive tumors diagnosed
      at later stage that affect younger women with shorter overall survival. Most TN
      tumors are of the basal type. For the remainder, identification of target markers
      for effective treatment strategies remains a challenge. Transgelin (TGLN) is a 22
      kd actin-binding protein of the calponin family. It is one of the earliest
      markers of smooth muscle differentiation. TGLN has been shown to have important
      biologic activities including regulating muscle fiber contractility, cell
      migration, and tumor suppression. We examined TGLN expression in the different
      molecular subtypes of breast cancer. TGLN expression was examined as a function
      of tumor size, grade, histologic type, lymph node status, patients' age and
      overall survival, ER, PR, HER2, and Ki-67 in 101 tumors that included 35 luminal
      A, 28 luminal B, 4 HER2, and 34 TN types. TGLN positivity (defined as 2+ or 3+)
      was associated with more aggressive tumors (10% of grade I/II tumors were TGLN+
      versus 53% of grade III tumors; P < .001), high Ki-67 count, and low ER and PR
      expression (P < .001) but not with tumor size, age, or lymph node metastasis. TN
      (n = 34) tumors were 7.7 times more likely to be TGLN+ than non-TN (n = 67)
      tumors (77% versus 10%, respectively; P < .001). TGLN may be an excellent
      diagnostic marker of TN tumors and could be useful in stratification of patients.
      TGLN may also prove a potential target for future treatment strategies. 

PMID- 25841306
TI  - Expression of LATS family proteins in ovarian tumors and its significance.
AB  - Epithelial ovarian cancer is composed of a diverse group of tumors that can be
      derived from the fallopian tube, endometrium, or ovary. In this study, we
      explored the expression levels of LATS family members in ovarian tumors using
      normal ovaries, fallopian tubes, and endometrium as controls.
      Immunohistochemistry studies of LATS1, LATS2, Pax8, and calretinin were performed
      on normal ovary, fallopian tube, normal endometrium, and ovarian tumor sections.
      Statistical analyses were conducted using the chi(2) test, Fisher exact test, or
      Kruskal-Wallis H test. Patient survival was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier
      method. LATS1 was expressed in normal ovarian epithelia, endometrium, and
      fallopian tubes, whereas LATS2 expression was observed in the normal fallopian
      tubes and endometrium. High expressions of LATS1 and LATS2 in serous cystadenomas
      gradually decreased in borderline cystadenomas and carcinomas, respectively.
      However, an opposite expression pattern was observed in mucinous tumors. Low
      expressions of LATS1 and LATS2 were also detected in clear cell carcinoma. Both
      LATS1 and LATS2 expression levels significantly correlated with recurrence and
      stage; LATS1 levels were also related with tumor grades in serous carcinoma.
      However, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed that high
      expression of LATS1 was associated with better prognosis in patients with serous
      carcinoma. Both LATS1 and LATS2 were not related with the clinical variables in
      mucinous and clear cell carcinoma. LATS1 expression levels might be a valuable
      survival indicator in ovarian serous carcinoma. 

PMID- 25841307
TI  - Marking of tumor resection borders for improved radiation planning facilitates
      reduction of radiation dose to free flap reconstruction in head and neck cancer
      surgery.
AB  - Accurate localization of tumor resection borders is crucial for adjuvant
      radiotherapy. An improvement to adjuvant radiotherapy with the reduction of
      radiation doses to free flap reconstruction by virtual navigation procedures and
      titanium clips was evaluated. Thirty-three patients with oral cancer were
      prospectively included in the study. Following complete local excision of the
      primary tumor, resection borders were marked virtually using a navigation pointer
      and with titanium ligature clips. Postoperative delineation of tumor resection
      borders was examined. In five patients with microvascular free flap
      reconstruction a reduction of the radiation dose to the free flap reconstruction
      was achieved. The tumor resection borders in 30 patients were marked with
      titanium ligature clips. Surgical clip insertion was successful in 91%. We
      demonstrate a significant relationship between the reconstruction volume and the
      part of the target volume which will receive a reduced radiation dose. A
      cumulative dose of 60 Gy was administered to the target volume and a significant
      reduction of the administered radiation dose to the center of the flap could be
      demonstrated. We demonstrate an accurate delineation of the tumor resection
      margins. These improvements in tumor resection margin delineation allow for
      increased accuracy in adjuvant treatment and a reduction of radiation dose to the
      vascular free flap reconstruction. 

PMID- 25841308
TI  - Measured symmetry of facial 3D shape and perceived facial symmetry and
      attractiveness before and after orthognathic surgery.
AB  - One aim of cranio-maxillo-facial surgery is to strive for an esthetical
      appearance. Do facial symmetry and attractiveness correlate? How are they
      affected by surgery? Within this study faces of patients with orthognathic
      surgery were captured and analyzed regarding their symmetry. A total of 25 faces
      of patients were measured three-dimensionally by an optical sensor using the
      fringe projection technique before and after orthognathic surgery. Based upon
      this data an asymmetry index was calculated for each case. In order to gather
      subjective ratings each face was presented to 100 independent test subjects in a
      3D rotation sequence. Those were asked to rate the symmetry and the
      attractiveness of the faces. It was analyzed to what extend the ratings correlate
      with the measured asymmetry indices and whether pre- and post-surgical data
      differ. The measured asymmetry indices correlate significantly with the
      subjective ratings of both items. The measured symmetry as well as the rated
      symmetry and attractiveness increased on average after surgery. The increase of
      the ratings was even statistically significant. A larger enhancement of symmetry
      is achieved in pre-surgical strongly asymmetric faces than in rather symmetric
      faces. 

PMID- 25841309
TI  - Unknown primary of the head and neck: A long-term follow-up.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of an unknown primary (CUP) is
      a major burden for patients. Because the location of the primary tumor is
      unclear, patients remain fearful of recurrence, which aggravates the uncertain
      prognosis of the disease. This study evaluates factors associated with long-term
      recurrence-free and overall survival of patients with CUP of the head and neck.
      Additionally, patient survival rates are compared with those of patients with
      head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS: A total of 293
      consecutive patients operated on between January 1999 and December 2009 with at
      least a 5-year follow-up (survival permitting), were evaluated retrospectively.
      RESULTS: Twenty-six patients with a CUP of the head and neck were identified.
      Patients with CUP had a low overall survival rate, comparable with that of
      patients with pN + HNSCC, and recurrent disease occurred with a similar
      likelihood as in patients with pN + HNSCC. The median recurrence-free survival in
      the CUP group was 28.5 months compared with 48 months in the whole of the HNSCC
      group. The median overall survival of the CUP group was 56 months versus 65
      months for the HNSCC group. Extracapsular spread was the only independent
      prognostic factor for overall survival for CUP patients. CONCLUSION: Patients
      diagnosed with CUP syndrome have a poorer prognosis for overall survival compared
      with other HNSCC patients. Postoperative radiotherapy diminished disease
      recurrence and improved overall survival. Omission of postoperative radiotherapy
      resulted in a very high recurrence rate (75%) for CUP patients. Based on these
      results we suggest postoperative radiotherapy including the oral mucosa for all
      patients, regardless of histopathological results, possible favorable nodal
      disease, or favorable lymph node ratios.

PMID- 25841310
TI  - Application of biodegradable plates for treating pediatric mandibular fractures.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We assessed the clinical results of a biodegradable plate system for
      the internal fixation of mandibular fractures in children, and observed the
      imaging features of fracture healing and bone changes around the biodegradable
      plates and screws during follow-up. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We enrolled 39 patients
      (22 male, 17 female, average age 4 years 10 months) with different mandibular
      fractures. We used 2.0-mm resorbable plates to repair the fractures.
      Postoperative follow-up ranged from 6 months to 5 years; average follow-up was 1
      year 2 months. The outcome measures identified and assessed included facial
      symmetry, mouth opening, occlusal relationship, infection, nonunion, malunion,
      and plate dehiscence. RESULTS: We fixed 42 fractures with 43 resorbable plates;
      the fracture site of one patient (aged 11 years 3 months) was fixed with two
      plates. Two patients developed small fistulas at the intraoral incision 2 months
      after surgery; the fistulas healed after 1 month without special treatment. In
      the other patients, the incision healed well, there was facial symmetry, mouth
      opening was >35 mm, and occlusion was good. Follow-up computed tomography
      examination data were available for 20 cases, and revealed different degrees of
      radiolucency indicating that osteolysis had occurred. Radiolucency was observed
      around the resorbable plates 1 month after the surgery. The extent and depth of
      the radiolucent region were obvious within 1 year of surgery. In the second year,
      there were obvious repairs, with the bony defect areas becoming shallower. After
      2 years, the bony defect areas had almost disappeared. CONCLUSION: Biodegradable
      fixation devices are safe and efficient for treating pediatric mandibular
      fractures. Osteolysis commonly follows biodegradable fixation of pediatric
      mandibular fractures, and has no adverse effect on fracture healing.

PMID- 25841311
TI  - Incidence of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw in high-risk
      patients undergoing surgical tooth extraction.
AB  - As the most suitable approach for preventing bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis
      of the jaw (BRONJ) in patients undergoing surgical tooth extraction is still
      under discussion, the present study evaluates the incidence of BRONJ after
      surgical tooth extraction using a standardized surgical protocol in combination
      with an adjuvant perioperative treatment setting in patients who are at high-risk
      for developing BRONJ. High-risk patients were defined as patients who received
      intravenous bisphosphonate (BP) due to a malignant disease. All teeth were
      removed using a standardized surgical protocol. The perioperative adjuvant
      treatment included intravenous antibiotic prophylaxis starting at least 24 h
      before surgery, a gastric feeding tube and mouth rinses with chlorhexidine
      (0.12%) three times a day. In the follow-up period patients were examined every 4
      weeks for the development of BRONJ. Minimum follow-up was 12 weeks. In 61
      patients a total number of 184 teeth were removed from 102 separate extraction
      sites. In eight patients (13.1%) BRONJ developed during the follow-up. A higher
      risk for developing BRONJ was found in patients where an additional osteotomy was
      necessary (21.4% vs. 8.0%; p = 0.0577), especially for an osteotomy of the
      mandible (33.3% vs. 7.3%; p = 0.0268). Parameters including duration of
      intravenous antibiotic prophylaxis, the use of a gastric feeding tube and the
      duration of intravenous BP therapy showed no statistical impact on the
      development of BRONJ. Furthermore, patients currently undergoing intravenous BP
      therapy showed no higher risk for BRONJ compared with patients who have paused or
      completed their intravenous BP therapy (p = 0.4232). This study presents a
      protocol for surgical tooth extraction in high-risk BP patients in combination
      with a perioperative adjuvant treatment setting, which reduced the risk for
      postoperative BRONJ to a minimum. However, the risk for BRONJ increases
      significantly if an additional osteotomy is necessary, especially in the
      mandible. 

PMID- 25841313
TI  - Management of pancreatic mucinous cystic neoplasms: surgery or surveillance?

PMID- 25841314
TI  - Characterization of gait in female patients with moderate to severe hallux valgus
      deformity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hallux valgus is one of the most common forefoot problems in females.
      Studies have looked at gait alterations due to hallux valgus deformity, assessing
      temporal, kinematic or plantar pressure parameters individually. The present
      study, however, aims to assess all listed parameters at once and to isolate the
      most clinically relevant gait parameters for moderate to severe hallux valgus
      deformity with the intent of improving post-operative patient prognosis and
      rehabilitation. METHODS: The study included 26 feet with moderate to severe
      hallux valgus deformity and 30 feet with no sign of hallux valgus in female
      participants. Initially, weight bearing radiographs and foot and ankle clinical
      scores were assessed. Gait assessment was then performed utilizing pressure
      insoles (PEDAR) and inertial sensors (Physilog) and the two groups were compared
      using a non-parametric statistical hypothesis test (Wilcoxon rank sum, P<0.05).
      Furthermore, forward stepwise regression was used to reduce the number of gait
      parameters to the most clinically relevant and correlation of these parameters
      was assessed with the clinical score. FINDINGS: Overall, the results showed clear
      deterioration in several gait parameters in the hallux valgus group compared to
      controls and 9 gait parameters (effect size between 1.03 and 1.76) were
      successfully isolated to best describe the altered gait in hallux valgus
      deformity (r(2)=0.71) as well as showed good correlation with clinical scores.
      INTERPRETATION: Our results, and nine listed parameters, could serve as benchmark
      for characterization of hallux valgus and objective evaluation of treatment
      efficacy.

PMID- 25841315
TI  - [Bone marrow toxicity secondary to a primary Epstein-Barr infection in a patient
      with Crohn's disease on thiopurines treatment].

PMID- 25841316
TI  - Effects of LEP, LEPR, ADIPOQ, MC4R and FTO polymorphisms on dyslipidemia in
      Korean patients with schizophrenia who are taking clozapine.

PMID- 25841317
TI  - Corneal Cross-linking as an Adjuvant Therapy in the Management of Recalcitrant
      Deep Stromal Fungal Keratitis: A Randomized Trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the efficacy of corneal cross-linking (CXL) as an adjuvant to
      appropriate antifungal therapy in nonresolving deep stromal fungal keratitis.
      DESIGN: Randomized clinical trial. METHODS: Eyes with culture-positive deep
      stromal fungal keratitis not responding to appropriate medical therapy for a
      period of 2 weeks were randomized to receive either adjuvant CXL or no additional
      treatment. Antifungal medical therapy was continued in both groups. The
      prespecified primary outcome was treatment failure at 6 weeks after enrollment,
      defined as perforation and/or increase in ulcer size by >=2 mm. RESULTS: The
      trial was stopped before full enrollment because of a marked difference in the
      rate of perforation between the 2 groups. Of the 13 cases enrolled in the study,
      6 were randomized to the CXL group and 7 to the non-CXL group. Five eyes in the
      CXL group and 3 eyes in the non-CXL group experienced treatment failure by 6
      weeks (P = .56). In a secondary analysis, the CXL group experienced more
      perforations than the non-CXL group (4 vs 0, respectively; P = .02). CONCLUSION:
      CXL used as adjuvant therapy for recalcitrant deep stromal fungal keratitis did
      not improve outcomes.

PMID- 25841318
TI  - Protective effects of protocatechuic acid on acute lung injury induced by
      lipopolysaccharide in mice via p38MAPK and NF-kappaB signal pathways.
AB  - The study aims to investigate the effects of protocatechuic acid (PCA) separated
      from Chinese herbs, on acute lung injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide
      (LPS) in mice. The mouse model was induced by intraperitoneal injection of LPS at
      the dose of 5mg/kg body weight. Three doses of PCA (30, 15, 5 mg/kg) were
      administered to mice with intraperitoneal injection one hour prior to LPS
      exposure. Six hours later after LPS administration, the effect of PCA on ALI mice
      was assessed via histopathological examination by HE staining, inflammatory
      cytokine production by ELISA assay and RT-PCR, p38MAPK and NF-kappaB activation
      by Western blot analysis. We found that PCA administration significantly
      ameliorated lung histopathological changes and decreased protein concentration in
      the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Furthermore, the overproduction of tumor
      necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) was reduced by
      PCA. Additionally, PCA at the dose of 30 mg/kg could block the activation of
      p38MAPK and NF-kappaB signal pathways induced by LPS. In conclusion, our findings
      demonstrate that PCA possesses a protective effect on LPS-induced ALI in mice via
      suppression of p38MAPK and NF-kappaB signal pathways. Therefore, PCA may be
      useful in the therapy of lung inflammatory diseases, especially for ALI.

PMID- 25841319
TI  - Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) exerts antitumor effects by inducing apoptosis and
      autophagy in hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common types of liver cancers
      with high recurrence rate and mortality rate. Recent studies have indicated that
      tetramethylpyrazine (TMP), a purified chemical extracted from Ligusticum
      wallichii Franchat (ChuanXiong), possessed antitumor effects on HCC, but detailed
      mechanism remains unclear. Our study aims at investigating the antitumor effect
      of TMP on HCC and its underlying mechanism. We found that TMP inhibited cell
      proliferation of HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent way, and xenograft tumor models
      also indicated that high concentrations of TMP administration inhibited tumor
      growth. Next, flow cytometric analysis and transmission electron microscope
      images showed that TMP enhanced cell apoptosis in HepG2 cells, and western blot
      results showed that TMP promoted cleavage of caspase-3 and PARP in vitro and in
      vivo. We also found that TMP caused autophagy in HCC in vitro and in vivo. In
      order to examine the role of autophagy in TMP-induced apoptosis, 3-methyladenine
      (3-MA) was used to block the action of autophagy. Our data showed TMP-induced
      autophagy might be a pro-apoptosis process in HCC. Furthermore, the results of
      anti-oxidative enzymes and oxidation-sensitive fluorescent probe 2, 7
      dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) indicated that TMP induced ROS generation
      and inhibition of ROS diminished the anticancer function of TMP. In conclusion,
      our studies provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying the antitumor
      effect of TMP and suggest that TMP can be a novel therapeutic regimen for HCC.

PMID- 25841320
TI  - Trehalose decreases mutant SOD1 expression and alleviates motor deficiency in
      early but not end-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in a SOD1-G93A mouse model.
AB  - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder for
      which there is currently no effective treatment. Studies indicate that enhancing
      autophagy in mouse models of neurodegenerative disease can ameliorate the
      behavioral symptoms and pathological damage associated with the accumulation of
      pathological mutant proteins such as mutant superoxide dismutase (SOD1). This
      study investigated the effects of trehalose treatment on both early and end-stage
      disease in a transgenic mouse model of ALS via short-term (30 days after
      administration) and long-term (from 60 days after administration to death)
      trehalose treatment experiments. Sixty-day-old female SOD1-G93A transgenic mice
      were treated daily with 2% (w/v) trehalose in their drinking water for 30 days
      and monitored until they reached a neurological score of four, whereupon they
      were euthanized by cervical dislocation. Neurological, rotarod performance test
      and hanging wire test scores were recorded and body weight monitored. After
      death, the spinal cord was removed to assess the number of motor neurons and to
      measure the expression of mutant SOD1, LC3-II and p62. Trehalose significantly
      reduced the levels of mutant SOD1 and p62 and increased LC3-II in the spinal
      cords of 90-day-old SOD1-G93A transgenic mice. Furthermore, trehalose treatment
      significantly postponed disease onset, lengthened the time it took to reach a
      neurological score of 2 and preserved motor function; however, trehalose became
      less effective at delaying further disease progression as the disease progressed
      beyond a neurological score of 2 and it failed to extend the survival of SOD1
      G93A transgenic mice. Additionally, independent of autophagy, trehalose
      consistently inhibited microgliosis and astrogliosis throughout the entire
      duration of the study. In conclusion, trehalose may be a useful add-on therapy in
      conjunction with other ALS treatment options to alleviate symptoms in early-stage
      ALS.

PMID- 25841321
TI  - Atomoxetine reverses locomotor hyperactivity, impaired novel object recognition,
      and prepulse inhibition impairment in mice lacking pituitary adenylate cyclase
      activating polypeptide.
AB  - Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a complex neurobehavioral
      disorder that is characterized by attention difficulties, impulsivity, and
      hyperactivity. A non-stimulant drug, atomoxetine (ATX), which is a selective
      noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, is widely used for ADHD because it exhibits
      fewer adverse effects compared to conventional psychostimulants. However, little
      is known about the therapeutic mechanisms of ATX. ATX treatment significantly
      alleviated hyperactivity of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide
      (PACAP)-deficient (PACAP(-/-)) mice with C57BL/6J and 129S6/SvEvTac hybrid
      background. ATX also improved impaired novel object recognition memory and
      prepulse inhibition in PACAP(-/-) mice with CD1 background. The ATX-induced
      increases in extracellular noradrenaline and dopamine levels were significantly
      higher in the prefrontal cortex of PACAP(-/-) mice compared to wild-type mice
      with C57BL/6J and 129S6/SvEvTac hybrid background. These results suggest that ATX
      treatment-induced increases in central monoamine metabolism may be involved in
      the rescue of ADHD-related abnormalities in PACAP(-/-) mice. Our current study
      suggests that PACAP(-/-) mice are an ideal rodent model with predictive validity
      for the study of ADHD etiology and drug development. Additionally, the potential
      effects of differences in genetic background of PACAP(-/-) mice on behaviors are
      discussed. 

PMID- 25841322
TI  - Reductions of docosahexaenoic acid-containing phosphatidylcholine levels in the
      anterior horn of an ALS mouse model.
AB  - In this study, we analyzed the spatiotemporal alterations of phospholipid
      composition in the spinal cord of an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mouse
      model (G93A-mutated human superoxide dismutase 1 transgenic mice [SOD1(G93A)
      mice]) using imaging mass spectrometry (IMS), a powerful method to visualize
      spatial distributions of various types of molecules in situ. Using this
      technique, we deciphered the phospholipid distribution in the pre-symptomatic
      stage, early stage after disease onset, and terminal stages of disease in female
      SOD1(G93A) mouse spinal cords. These experiments revealed a significant decrease
      in levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-containing phosphatidylcholines (PCs),
      such as PC (diacyl-16:0/22:6), PC (diacyl-18:0/22:6), and PC (diacyl-18:1/22:6)
      in the L5 anterior horns of terminal stage (22-week-old) SOD1(G93A) mice. The
      reduction in PC (diacyl-16:0/22:6) level could be reflecting the loss of motor
      neurons themselves in the anterior horn of the spinal cord in ALS model mice. In
      contrast, other PCs, such as PC (diacyl-16:0/16:0), were observed specifically in
      the L5 dorsal horn gray matter, and their levels did not vary between ALS model
      mice and controls. Thus, our study showed a significant decrease in DHA
      containing PCs, but not other PCs, in the terminal stage of ALS in model mice,
      which is likely to be a reflection of neuronal loss in the anterior horns of the
      spinal cords. Given its enrichment in dorsal sensory regions, the preservation of
      PC (diacyl-16:0/16:0) may be the result of spinal sensory neurons being
      unaffected in ALS. Taken together, these findings suggest that ALS spinal cords
      show significant alterations in PC metabolism only at the terminal stage of the
      disease, and that these changes are confined to specific anatomical regions and
      cell types. 

PMID- 25841323
TI  - Temporal dissociation between sodium depletion and sodium appetite appearance:
      Involvement of inhibitory and stimulatory signals.
AB  - Our aim was to analyze the participation of inhibitory and stimulatory signals in
      the temporal dissociation between sodium depletion (SD) induced by peritoneal
      dialysis (PD) and the appearance of sodium appetite (SA), particularly 2h after
      PD, when the rats are hypovolemic/natremic but SA is not evident. We investigated
      the effects of bilateral injections of the serotonin (5-HT) receptor antagonist,
      methysergide, into the lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPBN) on hypertonic NaCl and
      water intake 2h vs. 24h after PD. We also studied plasma renin activity (PRA) and
      aldosterone (ALDO) concentration 2h vs. 24h after PD. Additionally, we combined
      the analysis of brain Fos immunoreactivity (Fos-ir) with the detection of double
      immunoreactivity in 5HT and oxytocinergic (OT) cells 2h after PD. Bilateral LPBN
      injections of methysergide (4MUg/200nl at each site) increased NaCl intake when
      tested 2h after PD compared to controls. We found a significant increase in PRA
      and ALDO concentration after PD but no differences between 2 and 24h after PD. We
      also found for the first time a significant increase 2h after PD in the number of
      Fos-ir neurons in the brainstem nuclei that have been shown to be involved in the
      inhibition of SA. In summary, the results show that 5HT-mechanisms in the LPBN
      modulate sodium intake during the delay of SA when the renin angiotensin
      aldosterone system (RAAS) is increased. In addition, the activation of brainstem
      areas previously associated with the satiety phase of SA is in part responsible
      for the temporal dissociation between SD and behavioral arousal. 

PMID- 25841324
TI  - Impact of Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring on Control of Untreated,
      Undertreated, and Resistant Hypertension in Older People in Spain.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The impact of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring
      (ABPM) on hypertension control has not been fully assessed across the treatment
      spectrum in older community-living individuals and could have important
      implications; specifically, the number of untreated, undertreated, and treatment
      resistant uncontrolled hypertensives in need of or with unnecessary drug
      treatment could vary with respect to studies based on conventional blood pressure
      (BP) measured in clinical settings. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross
      sectional study conducted in 2012 among 1118 community-living individuals aged
      >=60 years in Spain. MEASUREMENTS: Three conventional BP measurements at
      participants' homes and 24-hour ABPM were performed under standardized
      conditions. Uncontrolled hypertension (mean of the last 2 conventional BP
      readings >=140/90 mm Hg) was considered undertreated if on 1 or 2
      antihypertensive drugs, and apparently treatment-resistant if on >=3 drugs. White
      coat effect was defined as conventional BP >= 140/90 mm Hg and 24-hour BP <130/80
      mm Hg. RESULTS: Of 720 hypertensive patients (mean age, 72.3 +/- 6.3 years;
      51.3%, males), 64.4% had conventional BP >= 140/90 mm Hg, and from these 39.9%
      were untreated, 49.5% undertreated, and 10.6% apparently treatment-resistant.
      Among uncontrolled hypertensive patients, the white-coat effect was present in
      52.4% of those untreated, in 53.5% of undertreated, and in 49% of apparent
      treatment-resistant. These white-coat results were similar or even higher across
      alternative BP thresholds. CONCLUSIONS: One-half of older uncontrolled
      hypertensive patients studied at home were actually controlled according to ABPM,
      regardless of treatment status. This suggests reconsideration of treatment needs
      in these numerous white-coat hypertensive patients, who probably do not need drug
      treatment initiation or intensification.

PMID- 25841325
TI  - Consensus-Derived Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfer (INTERACT)
      Compatible Order Sets for Common Conditions Associated with Potentially Avoidable
      Hospitalizations.

PMID- 25841326
TI  - Grading Frailty in Long-Term Care.

PMID- 25841327
TI  - Effects of an Oral Nutritional Supplementation Plus Physical Exercise
      Intervention on the Physical Function, Nutritional Status, and Quality of Life in
      Frail Institutionalized Older Adults: The ACTIVNES Study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to assess the effects of a
      hyperproteic, hypercaloric oral nutritional supplement with prebiotic fiber,
      vitamin D, and calcium, plus a standardized physical intervention, in the
      functional status, strength, nutritional status, and quality of life of frail
      institutionalized older adults. DESIGN: Multicentric prospective observational
      study under usual clinical practice conditions. SETTING: Four nursing homes from
      Burgos (2), Albacete, and Madrid, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: Participants included 91
      institutionalized older adults (age >=70), able to walk 50 m, and meeting at
      least 3 of the Fried frailty phenotype criteria. INTERVENTION: Daily intake of
      two 200-mL bottles of an oral nutritional supplement, each bottle containing 300
      kcal, 20 g protein, 3 g fiber, 500 IU vitamin D, and 480 mg calcium, plus a
      standardized physical exercise training consisting of flexibility, balance, and
      strengthening exercises for arms and legs, 5 days per week. MEASUREMENTS: Short
      Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), Short-Form-Late-Life Function and Disability
      Instrument (SF-LLFDI) function subscale, handgrip strength, EuroQoL-5 Dimensions
      visual analogic scale (EQ5DVAS), weight, body mass index (BMI), and Short-Form
      Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA-SF) at baseline and 6 and 12 weeks. RESULTS:
      Forty-eight participants (52.7%) improved at least 1 point in the SPPB at week 6,
      and 44 (48.4%) did so at week 12; 39 participants (42.9%) improved at least 2
      points in the SF-LLFDI at week 6, and 46 (50.5%) at week 12. Participants
      improved their quality of life measured with the EQ5DVAS by 6% (95% confidence
      interval [CI] 3%-10%) at week 6, and by 5% (95% CI 0%-10%) at week 12. They also
      improved their nutritional status (weight gain, BMI increase, and higher MNA-SF
      scores at 6- and 12-week follow-up). This improvement was higher in participants
      with more frailty criteria, lower functional level, lower vitamin D levels, and
      poorer nutritional status. CONCLUSION: A 12-week intervention with oral
      nutritional supplementation plus physical exercise improves function, nutritional
      status, and quality of life in frail institutionalized older adults.

PMID- 25841329
TI  - Angioedema of the tongue with an unfamiliar final diagnosis.

PMID- 25841328
TI  - Building bridges across electronic health record systems through inferred
      phenotypic topics.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Data in electronic health records (EHRs) is being increasingly
      leveraged for secondary uses, ranging from biomedical association studies to
      comparative effectiveness. To perform studies at scale and transfer knowledge
      from one institution to another in a meaningful way, we need to harmonize the
      phenotypes in such systems. Traditionally, this has been accomplished through
      expert specification of phenotypes via standardized terminologies, such as
      billing codes. However, this approach may be biased by the experience and
      expectations of the experts, as well as the vocabulary used to describe such
      patients. The goal of this work is to develop a data-driven strategy to (1) infer
      phenotypic topics within patient populations and (2) assess the degree to which
      such topics facilitate a mapping across populations in disparate healthcare
      systems. METHODS: We adapt a generative topic modeling strategy, based on latent
      Dirichlet allocation, to infer phenotypic topics. We utilize a variance analysis
      to assess the projection of a patient population from one healthcare system onto
      the topics learned from another system. The consistency of learned phenotypic
      topics was evaluated using (1) the similarity of topics, (2) the stability of a
      patient population across topics, and (3) the transferability of a topic across
      sites. We evaluated our approaches using four months of inpatient data from two
      geographically distinct healthcare systems: (1) Northwestern Memorial Hospital
      (NMH) and (2) Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). RESULTS: The method
      learned 25 phenotypic topics from each healthcare system. The average cosine
      similarity between matched topics across the two sites was 0.39, a remarkably
      high value given the very high dimensionality of the feature space. The average
      stability of VUMC and NMH patients across the topics of two sites was 0.988 and
      0.812, respectively, as measured by the Pearson correlation coefficient. Also the
      VUMC and NMH topics have smaller variance of characterizing patient population of
      two sites than standard clinical terminologies (e.g., ICD9), suggesting they may
      be more reliably transferred across hospital systems. CONCLUSIONS: Phenotypic
      topics learned from EHR data can be more stable and transferable than billing
      codes for characterizing the general status of a patient population. This
      suggests that EHR-based research may be able to leverage such phenotypic topics
      as variables when pooling patient populations in predictive models.

PMID- 25841330
TI  - Correlations between basophil activation, allergen-specific IgE with outcome and
      severity of oral food challenges.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Double-blinded, placebo-controlled food challenges (DBPCFCs) remain
      the gold standard for diagnosing food allergies. Skin prick tests (SPTs) and
      allergen-specific IgE (sIgE) are routinely used in medical practice but are not
      sufficient to predict severity of clinical reactivity. OBJECTIVE: To compare the
      utility of SPT wheal diameter, sIgE, allergen-specific IgG4 (sIgG4), total IgE
      (tIgE), sIgE/sIgG4 and sIgE/tIgE ratios, peanut component-specific IgE, and
      basophil activation in predicting outcome and severity of reactions at DBPCFCs.
      METHODS: Sixty-seven subjects (12-45 years old) underwent DBPCFCs for peanut,
      tree nut, fish, shrimp, and/or sesame as part of screening for enrollment in a
      clinical trial. The SPT, sIgE, tIgE, sIgG4, and peanut component-specific IgE (if
      applicable) levels were measured. CD63 upregulation on basophils in response to
      in vitro allergen challenge was analyzed by flow cytometry. Correlations between
      these measurements and DBPCFC severity scores were analyzed. RESULTS: The SPT and
      sIgE showed a weak correlation with DBPCFC severity scores, but tIgE and sIgG4
      did not. The sIgE/sIgG4 ratio differentiated between positive and negative
      reactions but did not correlate with DBPCFC severity scores. A low positive
      correlation was seen between DBPCFC severity score and Ara h 2 IgE, whereas a low
      negative correlation with Ara h 8 IgE was observed. Basophil activation was
      positively correlated with DBPCFC severity scores. Receiver operating
      characteristic curves showed basophil reactivity had the largest area under the
      curve at 0.904 and sIgE at 0.870. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that
      basophil activation testing can enhance discrimination between allergic and
      nonallergic individuals and could serve as an additional tool to predict clinical
      severity.

PMID- 25841331
TI  - Allergen of the month-annual wormwood.

PMID- 25841332
TI  - Regulation of the expression of renal drug transporters in KEAP1-knockdown human
      tubular cells.
AB  - The kidney secretes various xenobiotics through a well-established transport
      system. The transcription factor NF-E2-related factor 2 (NRF2) up-regulates a
      subset of genes encoding antioxidant and detoxification proteins. Kelch-like ECH
      associated protein 1 (KEAP1) down-regulates NRF2 by facilitating continuous
      degradation of NRF2 protein. Here, we investigated the role of NRF2 in the
      expression of renal drug transporters by using a stable KEAP1 knockdown renal
      tubular HK-2 cell line (shKEAP1). KEAP1 knockdown resulted in a significant
      increase in the expression of four renal transporters, namely, multidrug
      resistance protein 1 (MDR1; ABCB1), breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP;
      ABCG2), multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 (MRP2; ABCC2), and MRP3
      (ABCC3). In western blot and immunocytochemical analyses, protein levels of these
      transporters were also significantly higher in the knockdown group. Consequently,
      shKEAP1 cells released more Hoechst 33342 fluorescent dye and doxorubicin, and
      they were more resistant to doxorubicin than the control cells. In addition,
      cisplatin resistance of shKEAP1 decreased upon co-incubation with a transporter
      inhibitor. Whereas, a short term incubation (24h) with sulforaphane did not show
      noticeable changes in the expression of transporter. Collectively, these results
      indicate that NRF2 regulates the expression of MDR1, BCRP, MRP2, and MRP3 in
      human tubular epithelial cells. Altered expression of these transporters affects
      drug secretion in these cells, which may result in the renal cellular damage upon
      exposure to nephrotoxic xenobiotics. 

PMID- 25841333
TI  - Effects of climatic conditions on annual shoot length and tree-ring width of
      alpine dwarf pine Pinus pumila in central Japan.
AB  - This study compared the effects of climatic conditions on annual shoot length
      (ASL) and tree-ring width (TRW) of alpine dwarf pine Pinus pumila in central
      Japan, by using dendrochronological techniques. Chronologies of ASL (1951-2009)
      and TRW (1972-2009) were standardized to remove non-climatic signals, and
      correlation tests were done for non-standardized observed values and standardized
      indices with monthly temperatures and precipitation. Monthly mean temperatures
      from March to October, except for July, increased during 1951-2009; observed
      values and a standardized index of ASL increased during this period. For the rate
      of increase in ASL, the standardized index was lower than the observed values.
      However, these values of TRW showed no trends. The observed values and
      standardized index of TRW positively correlated with temperatures of the
      beginning of the growing season of the current year. The observed values of ASL
      positively correlated with temperatures during the growing season of the previous
      and current years. However, the standardized index of ASL positively correlated
      with only June temperatures of the previous and current years. The different
      results of ASL between observed values and standardized indices indicate that
      many significant correlations of observed values were attributable to increasing
      trends of temperature and ASL. This study suggests that standardized ASL of P.
      pumila tended to increase greater than TRW, that high temperatures at the
      beginning of the growing season increases ASL and TRW, and that analyzing
      observed values of ASL may overestimate the effects of temperature on ASL of P.
      pumila. 

PMID- 25841334
TI  - Phytochrome-mediated regulation of cell division and growth during regeneration
      and sporeling development in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha.
AB  - Light regulates various aspects of development throughout the life cycle of
      sessile land plants. Photoreceptors, such as the red (R) and far-red (FR) light
      receptors phytochromes, play pivotal roles in modulating developmental programs.
      Reflecting high developmental plasticity, plants can regenerate tissues, organs,
      and whole bodies from varieties of cells. Among land plants, bryophytes exhibit
      extraordinary competency of regeneration under hormone-free conditions. As an
      environmental factor, light plays critical roles in regeneration of bryophytes.
      However, how light regulates regeneration remains unknown. Here we show that
      using the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, which contains a single phytochrome
      gene, the phytochrome regulates re-entry into the cell cycle and cell shape in
      newly regenerating tissues. Our morphological and cytological observations
      revealed that S-phase entry of G1-arrested epidermal cells around the midrib on
      the ventral surface of thallus explants was greatly retarded in the dark or under
      phytochrome-inactive R/FR cycle irradiation conditions, where, nevertheless,
      small, laterally narrow regenerants were eventually formed. Thus, consistent with
      earlier descriptions published over a century ago, light is not essential for,
      but exerts profound effects on regeneration in M. polymorpha. Ventral cells in
      regenerants grown under R/FR cycle conditions were longer and narrower than those
      under R cycle. Expression of a constitutively active mutant of M. polymorpha
      phytochrome allowed regeneration of well grown, widely expanded thalli even in
      the dark when sugar was supplied, further demonstrating that the phytochrome
      signal promotes cell proliferation, which is rate-limited by sucrose
      availability. Similar effects of R and FR irradiation on cell division and
      elongation were observed in sporelings as well. Thus, besides activation of
      photosynthesis, major roles of R in regeneration of M. polymorpha are to
      facilitate proliferation of rounder cells through the phytochrome by mechanisms
      that are likely to operate in the sporeling. 

PMID- 25841335
TI  - Different visual exploration of tool-related gestures in left hemisphere brain
      damaged patients is associated with poor gestural imitation.
AB  - According to the direct matching hypothesis, perceived movements automatically
      activate existing motor components through matching of the perceived gesture and
      its execution. The aim of the present study was to test the direct matching
      hypothesis by assessing whether visual exploration behavior correlate with
      deficits in gestural imitation in left hemisphere damaged (LHD) patients.
      Eighteen LHD patients and twenty healthy control subjects took part in the study.
      Gesture imitation performance was measured by the test for upper limb apraxia
      (TULIA). Visual exploration behavior was measured by an infrared eye-tracking
      system. Short videos including forty gestures (20 meaningless and 20
      communicative gestures) were presented. Cumulative fixation duration was measured
      in different regions of interest (ROIs), namely the face, the gesturing hand, the
      body, and the surrounding environment. Compared to healthy subjects, patients
      fixated significantly less the ROIs comprising the face and the gesturing hand
      during the exploration of emblematic and tool-related gestures. Moreover, visual
      exploration of tool-related gestures significantly correlated with tool-related
      imitation as measured by TULIA in LHD patients. Patients and controls did not
      differ in the visual exploration of meaningless gestures, and no significant
      relationships were found between visual exploration behavior and the imitation of
      emblematic and meaningless gestures in TULIA. The present study thus suggests
      that altered visual exploration may lead to disturbed imitation of tool related
      gestures, however not of emblematic and meaningless gestures. Consequently, our
      findings partially support the direct matching hypothesis. 

PMID- 25841336
TI  - Dimerization model of the C-terminal RNA Recognition Motif of HuR.
AB  - Human antigen R (HuR) is a ubiquitous 32 kDa protein comprising three RNA
      Recognition Motifs (RRMs), whose main function is to bind Adenylate and uridylate
      Rich Elements (AREs) in 3' UnTranslated Regions (UTRs) of mRNAs. In addition to
      binding RNA molecules, the third domain (RRM3) is involved in HuR oligomerization
      and apoptotic signaling. The RRM3 monomer is able to dimerize, with its self
      binding affinity being dependent on ionic strength. Here we provide a deeper
      structural insight into the nature of the encounter complexes leading to the
      formation of RRM3 dimers by using Brownian Dynamics and Molecular Dynamics. Our
      computational data show that the initial unspecific encounter follows a downhill
      pathway until reaching an optimum conformation stabilized by hydrophobic
      interactions.

PMID- 25841337
TI  - miR-889 promotes proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinomas through
      DAB2IP.
AB  - MicroRNAs have been reported to play critical roles in various cancers, but there
      has been no study on the role of miR-889 in cancers. Here, we report that over
      expression of miR-889 leads to rapid proliferation of EC109 and EC9706 cells in
      vitro and in vivo by inducing cells into S-phase. Using bioinformatics methods,
      DAB2IP was further confirmed to be a direct target of miR-889. In addition, the
      expression of DAB2IP, which was negatively correlated with that of miR-889, was
      significantly associated with clinicopathological features of ESCC patients. In
      conclusion, miR-889 is an important regulator in ESCC and both miR-889 and DAB2IP
      may serve as promising biomarkers and therapeutic targets in patients with ESCC. 

PMID- 25841338
TI  - Mitsugumin 56 (hedgehog acyltransferase-like) is a sarcoplasmic reticulum
      resident protein essential for postnatal muscle maturation.
AB  - Mitsugumin 56 (MG56), also known as the membrane-bound O-acyl-transferase family
      member hedgehog acyltransferase-like, was identified as a new sarcoplasmic
      reticulum component in striated muscle. Mg56-knockout mice grew normally for a
      week after birth, but shortly thereafter exhibited a suckling defect and died
      under starvation conditions. In the knockout skeletal muscle, regular contractile
      features were largely preserved, but sarcoplasmic reticulum elements swelled and
      further developed enormous vacuoles. In parallel, the unfolded protein response
      was severely activated in the knockout muscle, and presumably disrupted muscle
      development leading to the suckling failure. Therefore, MG56 seems essential for
      postnatal skeletal muscle maturation. 

PMID- 25841339
TI  - Combined effect of microRNA, nutraceuticals and drug on pancreatic cancer cell
      lines.
AB  - AIM: We proposed to investigate the combination effect of microRNA,
      nutraceuticals and drug (MND), in two pancreatic cancer cell lines to assess the
      therapeutic potential. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MIA PaCa-2 and PANC-1 cells
      transfected with miR-101 or miR-24-2 were treated with Betulinic acid or
      Thymoquinone and gemcitabine independently and in combination and assessed for
      the extent of synergism in both experimental and control conditions, considering
      significance at the p value of <0.05. RESULTS: miR-101 or miR-24-2 over
      expressing cells when treated with lower than IC50 doses of the dietary compounds
      and drug showed a reduced (37-50%) viability in two cell lines with differential
      synergistic effect and the outcome for Pro-caspase3, Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase
      (PARP) cleavage and PKM2 expression. CONCLUSION: Two independent microRNA
      backgrounds showed promise in therapeutic intervention of gemcitabine sensitive,
      MIA PaCa-2 and resistant, PANC-1 pancreatic cancer cells, in combination with
      dietary agents and drug.

PMID- 25841341
TI  - Taming molecular flexibility to tackle rare diseases.
AB  - Many mutations responsible of Fabry disease destabilize lysosomal alpha
      galactosidase, but retain the enzymatic activity. These mutations are associated
      to a milder phenotype and are potentially curable with a pharmacological therapy
      either with chaperones or with drugs that modulate proteostasis. We demonstrate
      the effectiveness of molecular dynamics simulations to correlate the genotype to
      the severity of the disease. We studied the relation between protein flexibility
      and residual enzymatic activity of pathological missense mutants in the cell. We
      found that mutations occurring at flexible sites are likely to retain activity in
      vivo. The usefulness of molecular dynamics for diagnostic purposes is not limited
      to lysosomal galactosidase because destabilizing mutations are widely encountered
      in other proteins, too, and represent a large share of all the ones associated to
      human diseases. 

PMID- 25841340
TI  - Mechanisms of oxidative stress resistance in the brain: Lessons learned from
      hypoxia tolerant extremophilic vertebrates.
AB  - The Oxidative Stress Theory of Aging has had tremendous impact in research
      involving aging and age-associated diseases including those that affect the
      nervous system. With over half a century of accrued data showing both strong
      support for and against this theory, there is a need to critically evaluate the
      data acquired from common biomedical research models, and to also diversify the
      species used in studies involving this proximate theory. One approach is to
      follow Orgel's second axiom that "evolution is smarter than we are" and
      judiciously choose species that may have evolved to live with chronic or seasonal
      oxidative stressors. Vertebrates that have naturally evolved to live under
      extreme conditions (e.g., anoxia or hypoxia), as well as those that undergo daily
      or seasonal torpor encounter both decreased oxygen availability and subsequent
      reoxygenation, with concomitant increased oxidative stress. Due to its high
      metabolic activity, the brain may be particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress.
      Here, we focus on oxidative stress responses in the brains of certain mouse
      models as well as extremophilic vertebrates. Exploring the naturally evolved
      biological tools utilized to cope with seasonal or environmentally variable
      oxygen availability may yield key information pertinent for how to deal with
      oxidative stress and thereby mitigate its propagation of age-associated diseases.

PMID- 25841342
TI  - Human and tuberculosis co-evolution: An integrative view.
AB  - Tuberculosis (TB) ranks as the second cause of death from an infectious disease
      worldwide after HIV. Archaeogenetics and evolutionary scenario for the
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) are in favor of a long-term interaction
      between tuberculosis and humans, predating the Neolithic period, contrary to the
      traditional belief. If tuberculosis evolved as a human pathogen in Africa and has
      spread outside Africa about more than ten-thousand years ago, its life history
      traits have been shaped by the immune system. Numerous studies described a
      variety of human susceptibility factors to TB, suggesting that MTBC strains have
      evolved different ways to overcome this system. However, the results of these
      studies reveal some inconsistencies even within populations. The temporally
      varying history of epidemics and ever-varying genetic diversity of pathogens and
      strains could easily contribute to blur out signal of selection in our human
      genome. Palaeomicrobiology gives the opportunity to genotype ancient TB strains
      circulating in past populations. Accessing ancient human pathogens allows us to a
      better understanding of infectious agents over a longer time scale and
      confrontation with the dynamic of modern TB strains. Nevertheless, we have to
      consider tuberculosis as a multifactorial disorder in which environmental factors
      interact tightly with human and pathogen genetic.

PMID- 25841343
TI  - Genetic diversity of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing family in Brazil and
      Mozambique and relation with infectivity and induction of necrosis in THP-1
      cells.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The success of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing (MtbB)
      lineage in different geographical regions has been attributed to high
      transmission, increased virulence, drug resistance and rapid adaptation to the
      host. In some countries of secondary MtbB dispersion like South Africa and Peru,
      rising prevalence of the Beijing strains is registered. However, in neighboring
      countries to affected regions such as Mozambique and Brazil, respectively, the
      prevalence of these strains is still low and this could be due to biological
      particularities of the circulating MtbB strains and/or differentiated host
      susceptibility. OBJECTIVE: To characterize genetically and phenotypically MtbB
      strains isolated in Brazil (n = 8) and Mozambique (n = 17). METHODS: This is a
      descriptive study of genotypes of the MtbB isolates, determined by spoligotyping,
      MIRU-VNTR typing, analysis of the IS6110 copy number in the NTF region and
      screening for mutations in mutT2, mutT4, rpoB, katG and pks 15/1 genes. Virulence
      associated properties of the studied isolates were verified in the in vitro model
      of infection of human THP-1 cells. RESULTS: The genotypes defined by the 24VNTRs
      were distinct for all isolates included in this study and presented an HGDI of
      0.997. The VNTR patterns with seven copies of MIRU26 and seven copies of QUB26,
      representative for the previously described MtbB genotype B0, dominant in Russia,
      were detected in 38.5% of the studied isolates. In addition, all isolates
      presented RD105 deletion and a 7 bp insertion in pks15/1 gene. Almost all tested
      strains belonged to the RD181 sublineage, with the exception of two strains from
      Mozambique of RD150 sublineage. Combined analysis of the NTF region integrity and
      mutations in mutT genes showed that 62.5% and 47% of isolates obtained in Brazil
      and Mozambique, respectively, were of the ancestral genotype. The virulence index
      of the ancient isolates, evaluated in the THP-1 cells, was significantly lower
      than that of the modern genotype group. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate
      genotype particularities of the Beijing strains isolated in Brazil and
      Mozambique, two countries of low prevalence of the MtbB lineage in local Mtb
      populations. In contrast to the neighboring countries with high prevalence of the
      MtbB strains of modern sublineage, significant proportions of the isolates
      obtained in Brazil and Mozambique were presented by the strains of the ancient
      sublineage. Our data suggest that lower virulence of the ancient strains,
      compared with the modern strains, could be involved in the slow spread of the
      MtbB strains in some regions.

PMID- 25841344
TI  - beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) uptake by the animal model, Daphnia magna and
      subsequent oxidative stress.
AB  - beta-N-methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA), produced by cyanobacteria, is a neurotoxin
      implicated in Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/Parkinsonism dementia complex
      (ALS/PDC). BMAA concentrations in cyanobacteria are lower than those thought to
      be necessary to result in neurological damage thus bioaccumulation or
      biomagnification is required to achieve concentrations able to cause
      neurodegeneration. Many cyanobacteria produce BMAA and uptake routes into the
      food web require examination. In this study we investigate the uptake of BMAA by
      adult phytoplanktivorus Daphnia magna via exposure to dissolved pure BMAA and
      BMAA containing cyanobacteria, as well as the subsequent oxidative stress
      response in the daphnia. Free BMAA and protein-associated BMAA were quantified by
      LC-MS/MS. Dissolved BMAA was taken up and was found as free BMAA in D. magna. No
      protein-associated BMAA was detected in D. magna after a 24-h exposure period. No
      BMAA was detectable in D. magna after exposure to BMAA containing cyanobacteria.
      BMAA inhibited the oxidative stress defence and biotransformation enzymes within
      24-h exposure in the tested Daphnia and could therefore impair the oxidant status
      and the capability of detoxifying other substances in D. magna. 

PMID- 25841345
TI  - Protective effects of bacterial osmoprotectant ectoine on bovine erythrocytes
      subjected to staphylococcal alpha-haemolysin.
AB  - Ectoine (ECT) is a bacterial compatible solute with documented protective action
      however no data are available on its effects on various cells against bacterial
      toxins. Therefore, we determined the in vitro influence of ECT on bovine
      erythrocytes subjected to staphylococcal alpha-haemolysin (HlyA). The cells
      exposed to HlyA alone showed a distinct haemolysis and reduced glutathione
      (GSH)/oxidised glutathione (GSSG) level, however the toxic effects were
      attenuated in the combinations of HlyA + ECT suggesting ECT-induced protection of
      erythrocytes from HlyA. 

PMID- 25841346
TI  - The potential role of strontium ranelate in treating particle-induced osteolysis.
AB  - Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) wear-particle-induced
      osteolysis is one of the major issues affecting the long-term survival of total
      joint prostheses. Currently, there are no effective therapeutic options to
      prevent osteolysis from occurring. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role
      of strontium ranelate (SR) in reducing the risk of particle-induced osteolysis.
      Forty-eight C57BL/6J ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) particle
      induced murine calvarial osteolysis models were used. The mice were randomized
      into four groups as: sham (Group 1), UHMWPE particles (Group 2), and SR with
      UHMWPE particles (Group 3 and Group 4). Groups 1 to 3 were sacrificed at two
      weeks and group 4 was sacrificed at the fourth week. The skulls were then
      analyzed with a high-resolution micro-CT. Histological evaluation was then
      conducted and osteoclast numbers were analyzed for comparison. Based on the micro
      CT, percentage bone volume and trabecular thickness were found to be
      significantly higher in Group 4 than in Group 2 (p<0.001). Osteoclast numbers in
      SR treated groups (Group 3 and Group 4) were reduced when compared to groups that
      did not receive SR treatment (Group 2). These results indicated that SR treatment
      helps to increase bone volume percentage and trabecular thickness and also
      suppresses osteoclast proliferation. It is suggested that oral SR treatment could
      serve as an alternative therapy for preventing particle-induced osteolysis. 

PMID- 25841347
TI  - Effect of tooth bleaching agents on protein content and mechanical properties of
      dental enamel.
AB  - This study investigated the effect of two bleaching agents, 16% carbamide
      peroxide (CP) and 35% hydrogen peroxide (HP), on the mechanical properties and
      protein content of human enamel from freshly extracted teeth. The protein
      components of control and treated enamel were extracted and examined on sodium
      dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Marked reduction
      of the protein matrix and random fragmentation of the enamel proteins after
      bleaching treatments was found. The mechanical properties were analyzed with
      Vickers indentations to characterize fracture toughness, and nanoindentation to
      establish enamel hardness, elastic modulus and creep deformation. Results
      indicate that the hardness and elastic modulus of enamel were significantly
      reduced after treatment with CP and HP. After bleaching, the creep deformation at
      maximum load increased and the recovery upon unloading reduced. Crack lengths of
      CP and HP treated enamel were increased, while fracture toughness decreased.
      Additionally, the microstructures of fractured and indented samples were examined
      with field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM) showing distinct
      differences in the fracture surface morphology between pre- and post-bleached
      enamel. In conclusion, tooth bleaching agents can produce detrimental effects on
      the mechanical properties of enamel, possibly as a consequence of damaging or
      denaturing of its protein components.

PMID- 25841348
TI  - Tunicate-mimetic nanofibrous hydrogel adhesive with improved wet adhesion.
AB  - The main impediment to medical application of biomaterial-based adhesives is
      their poor wet adhesion strength due to hydration-induced softening and
      dissolution. To solve this problem, we mimicked the wound healing process found
      in tunicates, which use a nanofiber structure and pyrogallol group to heal any
      damage on its tunic under sea water. We fabricated a tunicate-mimetic hydrogel
      adhesive based on a chitin nanofiber/gallic acid (a pyrogallol acid) composite.
      The pyrogallol group-mediated cross-linking and the nanofibrous structures
      improved the dissolution resistance and cohesion strength of the hydrogel
      compared to the amorphous polymeric hydrogels in wet condition. The tunicate
      mimetic adhesives showed higher adhesion strength between fully hydrated skin
      tissues than did fibrin glue and mussel-mimetic adhesives. The tunicate mimetic
      hydrogels were produced at low cost from recyclable and abundant raw materials.
      This tunicate-mimetic adhesive system is an example of how natural materials can
      be engineered for biomedical applications.

PMID- 25841349
TI  - Effects of thyroid hormone status on metabolic pathways of arachidonic acid in
      mice and humans: A targeted metabolomic approach.
AB  - Symptoms of cardiovascular diseases are frequently found in patients with
      hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. However, it is unknown whether arachidonic
      acid metabolites, the potent mediators in cardiovascular system, are involved in
      cardiovascular disorders caused by hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. To answer
      this question, serum levels of arachidonic acid metabolites in human subjects
      with hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and mice with hypothyroidism or thyroid
      hormone treatment were determined by a mass spectrometry-based method. Over ten
      arachidonic acid metabolites belonging to three catalytic pathways:
      cyclooxygenases, lipoxygenases, and cytochrome P450, were quantified
      simultaneously and displayed characteristic profiles under different thyroid
      hormone status. The level of 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, a cytochrome P450
      metabolite, was positively correlated with thyroid hormone level and possibly
      contributed to the elevated blood pressured in hyperthyroidism. The increased
      prostanoid (PG) I2 and decreased PGE2 levels in hypothyroid patients might serve
      to alleviate atherosclerosis associated with dyslipidemia. The elevated level of
      thromboxane (TX) A2, as indicated by TXB2, in hyperthyroid patients and mice
      treated with thyroid hormone might bring about pulmonary hypertension frequently
      found in hyperthyroid patients. In conclusion, our prospective study revealed
      that arachidonic acid metabolites were differentially affected by thyroid hormone
      status. Certain metabolites may be involved in cardiovascular disorders
      associated with thyroid diseases. 

PMID- 25841350
TI  - Different effects of lysophosphatidic acid on L-type calcium current in neonatal
      rat ventricular myocytes with and without H2O2 treatment.
AB  - L-type calcium current (I(Ca-L)) alterations are implicated in various cardiac
      diseases, and the lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) level increases in several ischemic
      heart diseases. We investigated the effects of LPA on I(Ca-L) in normal and H2O2
      treated neonatal rat ventricular myocytes. LPA treatment (24h) increased the
      action potential duration (APD) and I(Ca-L) in normal ventricular myocytes, but
      it decreased these parameters in H2O2-treated myocytes. LPA increased the single
      channel open probability of L-type calcium channels in both normal and H2O2
      treated myocytes. LPA activated calcineurin (CaN) and induced the cytoplasm-to
      nucleus translocation of nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT) in H2O2
      treated cardiomyocytes. In H2O2-treated cardiomyocytes, LPA decreased Ca(v)1.2
      mRNA and protein expression levels at 4 and 8h, respectively. A CaN inhibitor (FK
      506) prevented LPA-induced APD, I(Ca-L), and Ca(v)1.2 mRNA and protein down
      regulation. The LPA-induced I(Ca-L) increase in normal cardiomyocytes was CaN
      NFAT signaling-independent, and LPA did not affect Ca(v)1.2 mRNA or protein
      expression. In conclusion, LPA increases the I(Ca-L) in normal ventricular
      myocytes by increasing the single-channel open probability of L-type calcium
      channels, and LPA decreases I(Ca-L) in H2O2-treated cardiomyocytes via the CaN
      NFAT pathway.

PMID- 25841351
TI  - Promoter hypermethylation profiling of distant breast cancer metastases.
AB  - Promoter hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes seems to be an early event in
      breast carcinogenesis and is potentially reversible. This makes methylation a
      possible therapeutic target, a marker for treatment response and/or a prognostic
      factor. Methylation status of 40 tumor suppressor genes was compared between 53
      primary breast tumors and their corresponding metastases to brain, lung, liver,
      or skin. In paired analyses, a significant decrease in methylation values was
      seen in distant metastases compared to their primaries in 21/40 individual tumor
      suppressor genes. Furthermore, primary tumors that metastasized to the liver
      clustered together, in line with the finding that primary breast carcinomas that
      metastasized to the brain, skin, or lung, showed higher methylation values in up
      to 27.5 % of tumor suppressor genes than primary carcinomas that metastasized to
      the liver. Conversion in methylation status of several genes from the primary
      tumor to the metastasis had prognostic value, and methylation status of some
      genes in the metastases predicted survival after onset of metastases. Methylation
      levels for most of the analyzed tumor suppressor genes were lower in distant
      metastases compared to their primaries, pointing to the dynamic aspect of
      methylation of these tumor suppressor genes during cancer progression. Also,
      specific distant metastatic sites seem to show differences in methylation
      patterns, implying that hypermethylation profiles of the primaries may steer site
      specific metastatic spread. Lastly, methylation status of the metastases seems to
      have prognostic value. These promising findings warrant further validation in
      larger patient cohorts and more tumor suppressor genes. 

PMID- 25841352
TI  - Pretransplant donor and recipient CTLA-4 mRNA and protein levels as a prognostic
      marker for aGvHD in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) is an inhibitory T cells'
      receptor essential for maintaining T cell homeostasis and immunotolerance. The
      role of the co-stimulatory pathway in development of aGvHD has been studied
      mostly in animal models. To the best of our knowledge, there are no published
      data on the role of CTLA-4 in pathogenesis of aGvHD after hematopoietic stem cell
      transplantation (HSCT) in humans. Therefore the aim of our study was to determine
      the association of CTLA-4 mRNA and proteins level in HSCT donor-recipient pairs,
      prior to and after HSCT, with aGvHD risk. METHODS: Total CTLA-4 mRNA level in 51
      donor-recipient pairs prior to and 56 days after HSCT was determined using real
      time PCR techniques, while membrane (m) and cytoplasmic (c) CTLA-4 expression in
      CD3+ cells were measured by flow cytometry in 40 donor-recipient pairs at the
      same time points. RESULTS: We found an association between the risk of aGvHD and
      high pre-transplant CTLA-4 mRNA expression level both in recipients and in
      donors, stronger in recipients (OR=2.02, CI95% 1.39-3.01), and less pronounced in
      donors (OR=1.57, CI95% 1.18-2.0). Moreover, we showed that proportion of CD3+
      cells positive for mCTLA-4 in recipients prior to HSCT positively correlated with
      increased risk of aGvHD (OR=1.175, CI95% 1.024-1.311, p=0.018). CONCLUSION: Our
      results indicate that both donor and recipient CTLA-4 mRNA as well as recipient
      membrane protein expression levels measured before transplantation may be
      considered as prognostic factors for aGvHD development.

PMID- 25841353
TI  - The effect of walking while typing on neck/shoulder patterns.
AB  - PURPOSE: This project aimed to quantify the effects of modifying computer work
      posture on neck/shoulder patterns during a prolonged typing task. METHOD: Twenty
      healthy participants completed a 90-min typing task while sitting or walking on a
      treadmill. Electromyography (EMG) was recorded from eight upper body muscles and
      laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) from two upper body sites. Effects of Time and
      Posture were assessed for EMG amplitude (RMS), variability (CoV), normalized
      mutual information (NMI), LDF and upper limb discomfort. RESULTS: Upper limb
      discomfort was higher during sitting and increased with time, from 0.86 +/- 1.3
      to 3.7 +/- 3.1 out of 10. Interaction effects showed that EMG amplitude decreased
      over time for the lumbar erector spinae (LES) (from 6.3 +/- 2.9 to 5.6 +/- 3.2 %
      MIVC) and wrist extensor (from 12.4 +/- 2.7 to 11.3 +/- 3.5 % MIVC) during
      walking, but increased during sitting. Anterior Deltoid EMG amplitude was 64 %
      lower during walking while External Oblique EMG amplitude (43 %) and Lower
      Trapezius EMG variability (65 %) were higher during walking. Interaction effects
      showed higher LES CoV during walking compared to sitting (p = 0.019) in the
      beginning but not at the end of the task, and higher neck/shoulder NMI (p =
      0.050) towards the end of the task during sitting compared to walking.
      CONCLUSION: Results suggest that walking while performing computer work may be
      effective in inducing healthier muscular patterns, possibly explaining the lower
      level of discomfort compared to sitting.

PMID- 25841354
TI  - A near-isogenic line (NIL) collection in diploid strawberry and its use in the
      genetic analysis of morphologic, phenotypic and nutritional characters.
AB  - KEY MESSAGE: First near-isogenic line collection in diploid strawberry, a tool
      for morphologic, phenotypic and nutritional QTL analysis. Diploid strawberry
      (Fragaria vesca), with a small genome, has a high degree of synteny with the
      octoploid cultivated strawberry (F. * ananassa), so can be used as a simplified
      model for genetic analysis of the octoploid species. Agronomically interesting
      traits are usually inherited quantitatively and they need to be studied in large
      segregating progenies well characterized with molecular markers. Near-isogenic
      lines (NILs) are tools to dissect quantitative characters and identify some of
      their components as Mendelian traits. NILs are fixed homozygous lines that share
      the same genetic background from a recurrent parent with a single introgression
      region from a donor parent. Here, we developed the first NIL collection in
      Fragaria, with F. vesca cv. Reine des Vallees as the recurrent parent and F.
      bucharica as the donor parent. A collection of 39 NILs was identified using a set
      of single sequence repeat markers. The NILs had an average introgression of 32 cM
      (6 % of genome) and were phenotyped over several years in two locations. This
      collection segregates for agronomic characters, such as flowering, germination,
      fruit size and shape, and nutritional content. At least 16 QTLs for morphological
      and reproductive traits, such as round fruits and vegetative propagation, and
      seven for nutritional traits such as sugar composition and total polyphenol
      content, were identified. The NIL collection of F. vesca can significantly
      facilitate understanding of the genetics of many traits and provide insight into
      the more complex F. * ananassa genome.

PMID- 25841355
TI  - Quantification of sugars in breakfast cereals using capillary electrophoresis.
AB  - About 80% of the Australian population consumes breakfast cereal (BC) at least
      five days a week. With high prevalence rates of obesity and other diet-related
      diseases, improved methods for monitoring sugar levels in breakfast cereals would
      be useful in nutrition research. The heterogeneity of the complex matrix of BCs
      can make carbohydrate analysis challenging or necessitate tedious sample
      preparation leading to potential sugar loss or starch degradation into sugars. A
      recently established, simple and robust free solution capillary electrophoresis
      (CE) method was used in a new application to 13 BCs (in Australia) and compared
      with several established methods for quantification of carbohydrates.
      Carbohydrates identified in BCs by CE included sucrose, maltose, glucose and
      fructose. The CE method is simple requiring no sample preparation or
      derivatization and carbohydrates are detected by direct UV detection. CE was
      shown to be a more robust and accurate method for measuring carbohydrates than
      Fehling method, DNS (3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid) assay and HPLC (high performance
      liquid chromatography). 

PMID- 25841356
TI  - Mammogram segmentation using maximal cell strength updation in cellular automata.
AB  - Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed type of cancer among women.
      Mammogram is one of the most effective tools for early detection of the breast
      cancer. Various computer-aided systems have been introduced to detect the breast
      cancer from mammogram images. In a computer-aided diagnosis system, detection and
      segmentation of breast masses from the background tissues is an important issue.
      In this paper, an automatic segmentation method is proposed to identify and
      segment the suspicious mass regions of mammogram using a modified transition rule
      named maximal cell strength updation in cellular automata (CA). In coarse-level
      segmentation, the proposed method performs an adaptive global thresholding based
      on the histogram peak analysis to obtain the rough region of interest. An
      automatic seed point selection is proposed using gray-level co-occurrence matrix
      based sum average feature in the coarse segmented image. Finally, the method
      utilizes CA with the identified initial seed point and the modified transition
      rule to segment the mass region. The proposed approach is evaluated over the
      dataset of 70 mammograms with mass from mini-MIAS database. Experimental results
      show that the proposed approach yields promising results to segment the mass
      region in the mammograms with the sensitivity of 92.25% and accuracy of 93.48%.

PMID- 25841357
TI  - Bioavailability of heavy metals in soils: definitions and practical
      implementation--a critical review.
AB  - Worldwide regulatory frameworks for the assessment and remediation of
      contaminated soils have moved towards a risk-based approach, taking contaminant
      bioavailability into consideration. However, there is much debate on the precise
      definition of bioavailability and on the standardization of methods for the
      measurement of bioavailability so that it can be reliably applied as a tool for
      risk assessment. Therefore, in this paper, we reviewed the existing definitions
      of heavy metal bioavailability in relation to plant uptake (phytoavailability),
      in order to better understand both the conceptual and operational aspects of
      bioavailability. The related concepts of specific and non-specific adsorption, as
      well as complex formation and organic ligand affinity were also intensively
      discussed to explain the variations of heavy metal solubility and mobility in
      soils. Further, the most frequently used methods to measure bioavailable metal
      soil fractions based on both chemical extractions and mechanistic geochemical
      models were reviewed. For relatively highly mobile metals (Cd, Ni, and Zn), a
      neutral salt solution such as 0.01 M CaCl2 or 1 M NH4NO3 was recommended, whereas
      a strong acid or chelating solution such as 0.43 M HNO3 or 0.05 M DTPA was
      recommended for strongly soil-adsorbed and less mobile metals (Cu, Cr, and Pb).
      While methods which assessed the free metal ion activity in the pore water such
      as DGT and DMT or WHAM/Model VI, NICA-Donnan model, and TBLM are advantageous for
      providing a more direct measure of bioavailability, few of these models have to
      date been properly validated.

PMID- 25841358
TI  - Core outcome domains for clinical trials in non-specific low back pain.
AB  - PURPOSE: Inconsistent reporting of outcomes in clinical trials of patients with
      non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) hinders comparison of findings and the
      reliability of systematic reviews. A core outcome set (COS) can address this
      issue as it defines a minimum set of outcomes that should be reported in all
      clinical trials. In 1998, Deyo et al. recommended a standardized set of outcomes
      for LBP clinical research. The aim of this study was to update these
      recommendations by determining which outcome domains should be included in a COS
      for clinical trials in NSLBP. METHODS: An International Steering Committee
      established the methodology to develop this COS. The OMERACT Filter 2.0 framework
      was used to draw a list of potential core domains that were presented in a Delphi
      study. Researchers, care providers and patients were invited to participate in
      three Delphi rounds and were asked to judge which domains were core. A priori
      criteria for consensus were established before each round and were analysed
      together with arguments provided by panellists on importance, overlap,
      aggregation and/or addition of potential core domains. The Steering Committee
      discussed the final results and made final decisions. RESULTS: A set of 280
      experts was invited to participate in the Delphi; response rates in the three
      rounds were 52, 50 and 45%. Of 41 potential core domains presented in the first
      round, 13 had sufficient support to be presented for rating in the third round.
      Overall consensus was reached for the inclusion of three domains in this COS:
      'physical functioning', 'pain intensity' and 'health-related quality of life'.
      Consensus on 'physical functioning' and 'pain intensity' was consistent across
      all stakeholders, 'health-related quality of life' was not supported by the
      patients, and all the other domains were not supported by two or more groups of
      stakeholders. Weighting all possible argumentations, the Steering Committee
      decided to include in the COS the three domains that reached overall consensus
      and the domain 'number of deaths'. CONCLUSIONS: The following outcome domains
      were included in this updated COS: 'physical functioning', 'pain intensity',
      'health-related quality of life' and 'number of deaths'. The next step for the
      development of this COS will be to determine which measurement instruments best
      measure these domains.

PMID- 25841359
TI  - Reduction of cement leakage by sequential PMMA application in a vertebroplasty
      model.
AB  - PURPOSE: Leakage is the most common complication of percutaneous cement
      augmentation of the spine. The viscosity of the polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)
      cement is strongly correlated with the likelihood of cement leakage. We
      hypothesized that cement leakage can be reduced by sequential cement injection in
      a vertebroplasty model. METHODS: A standardized vertebral body substitute model,
      consisting of aluminum oxide foams coated by acrylic cement with a preformed
      leakage path, simulating a ventral vein, was developed. Three injection
      techniques of 6 ml PMMA were assessed: injection in one single step (all-in-one),
      injection of 1 ml at the first and 5 ml at the second step with 1 min latency in
      between (two-step), and sequential injection of 0.5 ml with 1-min latency between
      the sequences (sequential). Standard PMMA vertebroplasty cement was used; each
      injection type was tested on ten vertebral body substitute models with two
      possible leakage paths per model. Leakage was assessed by radiographs using a
      zonal graduation: intraspongious = no leakage and extracortical = leakage.
      RESULTS: The leakage rate was significantly lower in the "sequential" technique
      (2/20 leakages) followed by "two-step" (15/20) and "all-in-one" (20/20)
      techniques (p < 0.001). The RR for a cement leakage was 10.0 times higher in the
      "all-in-one" compared to the "sequential" group (95 % confidence intervals 2.7
      37.2; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The sequential cement injection is a simple
      approach to minimize the risk for leakage. Taking advantage of the temperature
      gradient between body and room temperature, it is possible to increase the cement
      viscosity inside the vertebra while keeping it low in the syringe. Using
      sequential injection of small cement volumes, further leakage paths are blocked
      before further injection of the low-viscosity cement.

PMID- 25841360
TI  - Affect of antidepressants on the in vitro differentiation of rat bone marrow
      mesenchymal stem cells into neuronal cells.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Bone marrow is a valuable source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)
      that can be used in regenerative medicine. MSCs are able to differentiate into
      cells from all three germ layers under specific conditions. The aim of the
      current work was to study the differentiation of rat MSCs (rMSCs) into neuron
      like cells. NEW METHOD: We investigated how the antidepressants imipramine,
      desipramine, fluoxetine and tianeptine affect the differentiation of rMSCs.
      Furthermore, we present differentiation cocktails using a cortex astrocyte
      conditioned medium (CACM) separately or in conjunction with each of the
      antidepressants and investigated their additive effect on the efficiency of
      differentiation. We also observed how various differentiation conditions affect
      the number of primary dendrites and branching dendrites per cell. RESULTS: Gene
      expression for an early neuronal marker (beta-III-tubulin) and markers that are
      typical for adult neurons such as Th, Htr2A and Slc6a4 were observed. The Tubb3
      and Htr2A gene expression were up-regulated, Th decreased slightly and Slc6a4 was
      down-regulated after differentiation We observed a two-fold higher percentage of
      beta-III-tubulin positive cells after treatment with antidepressants and two-fold
      increase of neuron-like cells after using CACM with imipramine or fluoxetine
      simultaneously. Differentiation using imipramine or in conjunction with CACM and
      desipramine or fluoxetine simultaneously increased the number of cell dendrites.
      COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: The results that were obtained are completely
      new and need further investigations in the nearest future. CONCLUSIONS: These
      results suggest that antidepressants improve differentiation efficiency of rMSCs
      and may be useful in the preparation of rMSCs for transplantation.
      Differentiation efficiency is higher after long-term exposure to antidepressants,
      than after a 24-h exposure. Nearly additive effect of CACM and imipramine or
      fluoxetine suggests a beneficial role of antidepressants after transplantation.

PMID- 25841361
TI  - Evaluation of three-dimensional printing for laparoscopic partial nephrectomy of
      renal tumors: a preliminary report.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the impact of three-dimensional (3D) printing on the
      surgical planning, potential of training and patients' comprehension of minimally
      invasive surgery for renal tumors. METHODS: Patients of a T1N0M0 single renal
      tumor and indicated for laparoscopic partial nephrectomy were selected. CT data
      were sent for post-processing and output to the 3D printer to create kidney
      models with tumor. By presenting to experienced laparoscopic urologists and
      patients, respectively, the models' realism, effectiveness for surgical planning
      and training, and patients' comprehension of disease and procedure were evaluated
      with plotted questionnaires (10-point rating scales, 1-not at all useful/not at
      all realistic/poor, 10-very useful/very realistic/excellent). The size of
      resected tumors was compared with that on the models. RESULTS: Ten kidney models
      of such patients were fabricated successfully. The overall effectiveness in
      surgical planning and training (7.8 +/- 0.7-8.0 +/- 1.1), and realism (6.0 +/-
      0.6-7.8 +/- 1.0) were reached by four invited urologists. Intraoperative
      correlation was advocated by the two performing urologists. Patients were
      fascinated with the demonstration of a tactile "diseased organ" (average >= 9.0).
      The size deviation was 3.4 +/- 1.3 mm. CONCLUSIONS: Generating kidney models of
      T1N0M0 tumors with 3D printing are feasible with refinements to be performed.
      Face and content validity was obtained when those models were presented to
      experienced urologists for making practical planning and training. Understandings
      of the disease and procedure from patients were well appreciated with this novel
      technology.

PMID- 25841362
TI  - Reply to: "Reduced mortality due to phlebotomy in moderately iron-loaded HFE
      Haemochromatosis? The need for clinical trials".

PMID- 25841363
TI  - Informed consent and Italian physicians: change course or abandon ship--from
      formal authorization to a culture of sharing.
AB  - In Italy in recent years, an exponential increase in the frequency of medical
      malpractice claims relating to the issue of informed consent has substantially
      altered not only medical ethics, but medical practice as well. Total or partial
      lack of consent has become the cornerstone of many malpractice lawsuits, and
      continues to be one of the primary cudgels against defendant physicians in
      Italian courtrooms. Physicians have responded to the rising number of claims with
      an increase in 'defensive medicine' and a prevailing preoccupation with the
      purely formal aspects of consent. The result is a plethora of consent forms,
      believed to be a guarantee of 'informed consent', as well as a growing reliance
      on informed consent as a shield against judicial action brought by the patient.
      Physicians 'inform' patients without really sharing information, often delegating
      the task of communication to other professionals who are not doctors. Italian
      judges always condemn the physician when information to the patient has been
      inadequate, thus leading insurance companies to consider the lack of valid
      informed consent as the total responsibility of the physician and/or the
      hospital. It is necessary to change tack, to remove this idea of consent which
      permeates the defensive culture of medical practice. Italian physicians need to
      be trained, first of all, to become aware that information and consent are two
      distinct processes, albeit closely connected. Valid communication (in which there
      is information and consent) demands a higher level of professionalism from
      physicians. 

PMID- 25841364
TI  - Tough and highly stretchable polyacrylamide nanocomposite hydrogels with chitin
      nanocrystals.
AB  - Chitin nanocrystals (CNCs) that were 10-20 nm wide and 100-500 nm long were
      synthetized via acidolysis and characterized with various methods. To avoid the
      flocculation of CNCs in the initiator solution during acrylamide polymerization,
      chitosan was selected as a surface modifier. The chitosan-modified CNCs were
      employed as multifunctional crosslinkers for the polyacrylamide (PAAm)
      nanocomposite (NC) hydrogels. The NC gels were tough and stretchable; for
      example, the maximum tensile strength and the elongation at break of the NC gels
      were 90 kPa and 3070%, respectively. The dynamic shear modulus of the NC gels was
      also significantly higher than that of the PAAm. The NC gels were nearly free of
      residual strain after 2000% elongation. The microstructures of all NC gels were
      porous, with a pore size of 20-100 MUm. The maximum equilibrium swelling degree
      of the NC gels was 3800%. The improvement in the properties of the NC gels is
      attributed to the good dispersion of CNCs and the interfacial interactions in the
      composites. This work developed PAAm NC hydrogels with CNCs for application as
      absorbent or biomedical material due to the high mechanical properties, high
      absorb ability and good biocompatibility of CNCs and explored new applications
      for CNCs as well.

PMID- 25841365
TI  - EGCG prevents tryptophan oxidation of cataractous ocular lens human gamma
      crystallin in presence of H2O2.
AB  - Disruption of the short range order of proteins present in the ocular lens leads
      to cataract resulting in a loss of transparency. Human gamma-crystallin (HGC), a
      water soluble protein present in the lens is known to aggregate with aging. A
      modified form of HGC (HGC(c)) was isolated from cataractous human ocular lens
      extract and the number of Trp residues that undergo oxidation was determined. The
      extent of oxidized Trp (N-formyl kynurenine) in HGC due to cataract formation was
      determined, primarily using fluorescence spectroscopy. The ability of (-)
      epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) to retain its antioxidant effect even in the
      presence of H2O2 was investigated. This was monitored by its ability to prevent
      the modification of intact Trp residues in HGC(c) isolated from cataractous human
      eye lens. Significant Trp fluorescence quenching occurs on interaction of the
      green tea component, EGCG with HGC(c) accompanied by a red shift. Docking studies
      were employed to substantiate the experimental results. As eye lens proteins are
      prone to oxidative stress it is essential that a clear understanding of the
      effects of the components generated in vivo vis-a-vis the antioxidant effects of
      natural polyphenols be obtained. 

PMID- 25841366
TI  - Effect of the physicochemical properties of binary ionic liquids on lipase
      activity and stability.
AB  - In the present study, the lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl butyrate
      is used as a model reaction to determine the activity and stability of Candida
      rugosa lipase in binary ionic liquids (ILs). The binary ILs consist of
      hydrophobic 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([Bmim]PF6) and a
      small amount of hydrophilic 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium nitrate ([Bmim]NO3) or 1
      butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([Bmim]CF3SO3) or 1-butyl-3
      methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Bmim]BF4). The activity and the stability
      of lipase are first correlated with the physicochemical properties of the binary
      ILs. In the three binary IL systems, both the hydrophilicity and the polarity of
      the systems increase with the increase of the content of hydrophilic ILs (HILs).
      At a fixed concentration of HIL, they vary in a descending order of
      [Bmim]PF6/[Bmim]NO3>[Bmim]PF6/[Bmim]CF3SO3>[Bmim]PF6/[Bmim]BF4. This order is in
      contrast with the order of the lipase conformation stability, i.e., the higher
      the polarity of ILs, the more unstable the lipase conformation. However, both the
      activity and the stability of lipase depend on the type and the content of the
      HIL in binary ILs, showing a complex dependency. Analysis shows that the
      catalytic performance of lipase in the binary ILs is affected not only by the
      direct influence of the ILs on lipase conformation, but also through their
      indirect influence on the physicochemical properties of water. The present study
      helps to explore binary IL mixtures suitable for lipase-based biocatalysis. 

PMID- 25841367
TI  - Enhancing catalytic performance of laccase via immobilization on chitosan/CeO2
      microspheres.
AB  - In this study, laccase from Trametes versicolor was immobilized onto
      chitosan/CeO2 microspheres (CCMS) by adsorption or covalent binding after
      activating the amine groups of chitosan with glutaraldehyde (GA). The results
      indicated that the laccase loading on chitosan/CeO2 microspheres was
      approximately 73 mg/g under the optimum conditions (pH 5.4, 6 h), and the
      activity recovery was 66.9%. In comparison with free laccase, the thermal and
      operational stabilities of the immobilized laccase were significantly improved.
      The catalytic activity of the immobilized laccase was also demonstrated by the
      decolorization of two reactive dyes (methyl red and orange II). The laccase
      immobilized on CCMS was very effective for the removal of textile dyes from an
      aqueous solution. The removal rates of methyl red and orange II by the
      immobilized laccase were 83.3% and 92.6%, respectively, which are much higher
      than that of free laccase (i.e., 49.0% and 67.1%, respectively).

PMID- 25841368
TI  - Chitosan/mangiferin particles for Cr(VI) reduction and removal.
AB  - In this work, chitosan/mangiferin particles (CMP) were prepared by spray-drying
      technique and characterized by SEM, DLS, FTIR, HPLC-UV and adsorption studies to
      investigate a possible application as a preventive material in cases of human and
      animal contamination with Cr(VI). CMP presented sizes ranging from nano to
      micrometers. Chitosan and mangiferin (MA) presence in the powder was confirmed by
      FTIR and MA quantification (136 MUg/mg) was performed using a calibration curve
      prepared by HPLC-UV. Adsorption capacity of Cr(VI) onto CMP was compared with
      chitosan and investigated in a batch system by considering the effects of various
      parameters like contact time, initial concentration of adsorbent and pH. Cr(VI)
      removal is pH dependent and it was found to be maximum at pH 5.0. The results
      showed that CMP has a potential application as a preventive material in cases of
      human or animal contamination with Cr(VI).

PMID- 25841370
TI  - Characterization of films based on chitosan lactate and its blends with oxidized
      starch and gelatin.
AB  - Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of chitosan lactate (CHL) was tested
      against bacteria and phytopathogenic fungi. Then, the structural, physicochemical
      and antimicrobial properties of films based on CHL, oxidized potato starch (OPS),
      and gelatin (GEL) were investigated. With the exception of Rhizopus nigricans,
      CHL was effective against the target organisms. Gram-positive bacteria
      (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus) were more sensitive to CHL than Gram
      negative bacteria (Pectobacterium carotovorum and Escherichia coli). Cryo-SEM
      images showed total miscibility between the polymers in the blends and the ATR
      FTIR spectra revealed that there was an interaction among the polymeric
      components. Pure CHL films displayed the highest moisture content (25.51%), water
      vapor permeability (48.78gmmm(-2)d(-1)kPa(-1)), and the lowest tensile and
      puncture strength (2.00 and 1.45MPa, respectively) among the studied films.
      CHL50/GEL50 films had lower permeability, higher mechanical strength, and lower
      elongation compared to CHL50/OPS50 films. Films obtained from CHL and CHL50/GEL50
      were completely water-soluble and did not show sorbitol recrystallization. The
      incorporation of CHL into OPS and GEL films did not affect their transparency and
      improved UV-blocking capacity. CHL films were the only ones that exhibited
      antibacterial efficiency. Antifungal activities against Alternaria alternata and
      Monilinia fructigena were detected for CHL and CHL50/GEL50 films. 

PMID- 25841369
TI  - Chemical modification of chitin with polypyrrole for the uptake of Pb(II) and
      Cd(II) ions.
AB  - This study described the possibility of using chemically modified chitin with
      polypyrrole (PPy-g-Ch) as an adsorbent for the removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions
      from aqueous solution. The PPy-g-Ch was characterized using FTIR, SEM, EDX, XRD,
      TGA and DSC techniques. The influence of various parameters such as pH, dosage,
      co-ions, contact time and concentration on the removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions
      was investigated. Among the various isotherm models studied, the Freundlich
      isotherm model fitted well to the equilibrium data. The magnitude of DeltaG(0),
      DeltaH(0) and DeltaS(0) indicated the feasibility, spontaneity and the
      endothermic nature of the adsorption process, respectively. The kinetic process
      followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The applicability of the PPy-g-Ch
      has been tested for the removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions from a real water
      sample spiked with Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions. 

PMID- 25841371
TI  - Amidase, a cell wall hydrolase, elicits protective immunity against
      Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis.
AB  - The morbidity and the mortality associated with Staphylococcus aureus and S.
      epidermidis infections have greatly increased due to the rapid emergence of
      highly virulent and antibiotic resistant strains. Development of a vaccine-based
      therapy is greatly desired. However, no staphylococcal vaccine is available till
      date. In this study, we have identified Major amidase (Atl-AM) as a prime
      candidate for future vaccine design against these pathogens. Atl-AM is a multi
      functional non-covalently cell wall associated protein which is involved in
      staphylococcal cell separation after cell division, host extracellular matrix
      adhesion and biofilm formation. Atl-AM is present on the surface of diverse S.
      aureus and S. epidermidis strains. When used in combination with Freund's
      adjuvant, Atl-AM generated a mixed Th1 and Th2 mediated immune response which is
      skewed more toward Th1; and showed increased production of opsonophagocytic IgG2a
      and IgG2b antibodies. Significant protective immune response was observed when
      vaccinated mice were challenged with S. aureus or S. epidermidis. Vaccination
      prevented the systemic dissemination of both organisms. Our results demonstrate
      the remarkable efficacy of Atl-AM as a vaccine candidate against both of these
      pathogens. 

PMID- 25841372
TI  - Murein hydrolase activity of surface layer proteins from Lactobacillus
      acidophilus against Escherichia coli.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate the murein hydrolase activities of the
      surface layer proteins (SLPs) from two strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus using
      zymography. The influence of these hydrolase activities on Escherichia coli ATCC
      43893 was also evaluated by analysing their growth curve, cell morphology and
      physiological state. After the incubation of E. coli with SLPs, growth was
      inhibited, the number of viable cells was significantly reduced, examination by
      transmission electron microscopy showed that the cell wall was damaged and flow
      cytometry results indicated that the majority of the cells were sublethally
      injured. All of these results suggested that the SLPs of both L. acidophilus
      strains possessed murein hydrolase activities that were sublethal to E. coli
      cells. 

PMID- 25841373
TI  - Biosorption of palladium(II) from aqueous solution by grafting chitosan on
      persimmon tannin extract.
AB  - A low-cost and environmentally green biosorbent (PTCS) was prepared by grafting
      chitosan onto persimmon tannin extract and its potentiality for efficient
      adsorption of palladium ion (Pd(II)) from aqueous solution was evaluated. Various
      adsorption parameters such as pH, the initial Pd(II) concentration and
      temperature were investigated. The maximum adsorption capacity reached 330mg/g at
      323K and pH 5.0 when the initial Pd(II) concentration was 100mg/L. The
      equilibrium adsorption data were satisfactorily fitted with Freundlich isotherm
      model and biosorption kinetics was found to be in good agreement with pseudo
      second-order kinetics model. Thermodynamic calculations indicated that the
      adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous in nature because of the
      negative value of free energy change (DeltaG) and positive value of enthalpy
      change (DeltaH). The positive value of entropy change (DeltaS) revealed the
      increased randomness at the solid-liquid interface. FT-IR and XRD analysis
      verified that Pd(II) adsorption on PTCS was electrostatic interaction and redox
      reaction. Moreover, selective adsorption study revealed that the adsorbent
      exhibited good adsorption ability to Pd(II) in the mixture metal ions solutions.
      All these results indicated that the PTCS biosorbent could be used as a low-cost
      alternative for the adsorption of Pd(II) in waste-water treatment. 

PMID- 25841374
TI  - alpha-Glucosidase inhibition by Tunisian Scabiosa arenaria Forssk. extracts.
AB  - Recent decades have witnessed a sharp increase in the incidence and prevalence of
      type 2 diabetes mellitus. One antidiabetic therapeutic approach is to reduce
      gastrointestinal glucose production and absorption through the inhibition of
      carbohydrate-digesting enzymes such as alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase. In
      this study, crude extracts and their corresponding fractions of flowers, fruits,
      (stems and leaves) and roots of the endemic North African plant Scabiosa arenaria
      Forssk. were screened for their ability of alpha-glucosidase inhibition. It was
      found that the fruits ethyl acetate (EtOAc), the fruits butanolic (n-BuOH) and
      the flowers ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fractions inhibited alpha-glucosidase in a non
      competitive manner with IC50 values of 0.11+/-0.09, 0.28+/-0.04 and 0.221+/
      0.01mg/ml, respectively. RP-HPLC analysis indicated that the major components of
      these active fractions are flavonoid aglycone, cinnamic acid and its derivatives.
      This result supports the conclusion that the three studied fractions could be a
      useful natural source for the development of a novel alpha-glucosidase inhibitory
      agent against diabetic complications. 

PMID- 25841375
TI  - Structural elucidation of inhomogeneous lignins from bamboo.
AB  - A better understanding of the inhomogeneous molecular structure of lignin from
      bamboo is a prerequisite for promoting the "biorefinery" technologies of the
      bamboo feedstock. A mild and successive method for fractionating native lignin
      from bamboo species was proposed in the present study. The molecular structure
      and structural inhomogeneity of the isolated lignin polymers were comprehensively
      investigated by elemental analysis, carbohydrate analysis, state-of-the-art NMR
      and analytical pyrolysis techniques (quantitative (13)C NMR, (13)C-DEPT 135 NMR,
      2D-HSQC NMR, (31)P NMR, and pyrolysis-GC-MS). The results showed that the
      proposed method is effective for extracting lignin from bamboo. NMR results
      showed that syringyl (S) was the predominant unit in bamboo lignin over guaiacyl
      (G) and p-hydroxyphenyl (H) units. In addition, the lignin was associated with p
      coumarates and ferulates via ester and ether bonds, respectively. Moreover,
      various substructures, such as beta-O-4, beta-beta, beta-5, beta-1, and
      alpha,beta-diaryl ether linkages, were identified and quantified by NMR
      techniques. Based on the results obtained, a proposed schematic diagram of
      structural heterogeneity of the lignin polymers extracted from the bamboo is
      presented. In short, well-defined inhomogeneous structures of native lignin from
      bamboo will facilitate further applications of bamboo in current biorefineries. 

PMID- 25841376
TI  - Spectroscopy study and co-administration effect on the interaction of
      mycophenolic acid and human serum albumin.
AB  - Mycophenolic acid (MPA), an immunosuppressor, is always administered in
      combination with several drugs in clinical therapy, which may alter the binding
      of MPA to human serum albumin (HSA) and could influence its pharmacological
      activities. Thus, this study evaluated the interaction between HSA and MPA, as
      well as investigated the effect of co-administrated drugs on the MPA-protein
      binary system using fluorescence spectroscopy. Results revealed that MPA has a
      strong capability to quench the fluorescence of HSA, and the acting forces for
      the binding are hydrogen bonds and van der Waals forces. Competition on combined
      administration showed that balofloxacin significantly affects the MPA-HSA
      interaction, as reflected by the remarkable decrease in fluorescence intensity.
      Furthermore, cefminox sodium has competitive capability with MPA to some extent,
      whereas methyl prednisone and amlodipine besylate have a minor influence on the
      binary system. However, simvastatin has no appreciable effect on the MPA-HSA
      interaction. In addition, three-dimensional fluorescence spectra and circular
      dichroism spectroscopy, which were employed to determine the conformation, showed
      that the binding of MPA with HSA can induce conformation changes in HSA. 

PMID- 25841377
TI  - Antifungal activity of chitooligosaccharides against the dermatophyte
      Trichophyton rubrum.
AB  - Antifungal activity against the dermatophytic fungus Trichophyton rubrum by a
      well-characterized chitooligosaccharides (COS) sample, hydrolyzed using a
      recombinant chitosanase, was investigated in vitro and in vivo. The minimum
      inhibitory concentration (MIC) of COS ranged between 0.25 and 0.50%, which was
      measured using a microdilution method. Analysis of inhibition rates using an agar
      diffusion method showed that treatment with 0.5% and 1% COS significantly
      suppressed T. rubrum cell growth (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively, in comparison
      with untreated control). Morphological changes and structural alterations of
      cells were observed by TEM. In vivo efficacy of COS in treatment of T. rubrum
      dermatophytosis was evaluated using a guinea pig model. Skin lesion scores
      revealed a strong, dose-dependent therapeutic effect of COS. The 5% COS group
      showed a reduction of skin lesions even greater than that of the positive control
      group treated with 1% fluconazole (FCZ). Histological analysis revealed no
      inflammation or tissue destruction in the groups treated with 5% COS or 1% FCZ.
      Hyperkeratosis was also observed, perhaps resulting from a defensive response of
      the tissue cells to COS. The findings indicate that COS has excellent potential
      for development of novel antifungal drugs for clinical treatment/remission of
      dermatophytoses. 

PMID- 25841378
TI  - Purification, antioxidant and hepatoprotective activities of polysaccharide from
      Cissus pteroclada Hayata.
AB  - Polysaccharide of Cissus pteroclada Hayata (CPHP) was extracted and purified.
      Three major fractions (CPHP I, CPHP II-1 and CPHP II-2) from the CPHP were
      purified by column chromatography and investigated for their monosaccharide
      compositions, scavenging radical effects and hepatoprotective activities in
      vitro. The results showed that glucose and galactose were the main
      monosaccharides of three polysaccharide fractions, CPHP II-1 and CPHP II-2 were
      acidic polysaccharide fractions which contained glucuronic acid and galacturonic
      acid. Antioxidant activity determination suggested that CPHP I and CPHP II-1 had
      a higher scavenging effects on DPPH, superoxide radical, hydroxyl radical and
      ABTS radical. And the results of antioxidant test in vitro showed that CPHP II-2
      could significantly increase (P<0.01) the activities of SOD and GSH-Px and
      decreased MDA level in human hepatocyte cell line (HL7702 cell), which indicating
      that CPHP II-2 possessed good hepatoprotective activity. 

PMID- 25841379
TI  - Selective recognition of specific G-quadruplex vs. duplex DNA by a phenanthroline
      derivative.
AB  - A key problem in designing G-quadruplex ligand is how to discriminate quadruplex
      DNA specifically from other DNAs, searching ligands targeted at special G
      quadruplex structure with high selectivity is a major challenge. Herein, a
      phenanthrolin-dicarboxylate ester (PD) is proved to exhibit selectivity toward
      parallel and hybrid G-quadruplex structures with propeller and edge-wise loops,
      over duplex DNA and antiparallel quadruplex structure with diagonal loop. Such
      preferred binding of PD to these special G-quadruplex structures is possibly
      resulted from steric hindrance of: (1) the four substituent groups in PD molecule
      which prevent close interaction with duplex DNA and (2) the diagonal loop above
      the G-tetrads in antiparallel G-quadruplex which hinder face-to-face stacking of
      planar phenanthrolin ring to G-tetrads. In line with its stabilizing ability of G
      quadruplex, PD molecule exhibit a inhibitory ability telomerase activity, as well
      as the potent cytotoxic activity against several human cancer cell lines, which
      makes it an interesting anti-tumor drug lead. 

PMID- 25841380
TI  - The interaction of amino acids, peptides, and proteins with DNA.
AB  - Amino acids that carry charges on their side groups can bind to double stranded
      DNA (dsDNA) and change the strength of the double helix. Measurement of the DNA
      melting temperature (Tm) confirmed that acidic amino acids (Glu, Asp) weaken the
      H-bonds between DNA strands, whereas basic amino acids (Arg, Lys) strengthen the
      interaction between the strands. A rank correlation exists between the amino acid
      isoelectric points and the observed changes in Tm. A similar dependence of the
      hyperchromic effect on the isoelectric point of a protein (pepsin, insulin,
      cortexin, and protamine) was observed for DNA-protein complexes at room
      temperature. Short peptides (KE, AEDG, and KEDP) containing a mixture of acidic
      and basic amino acid residues also affect Tm and the stability of the double
      helix. A model for binding Glu and Lys to dsDNA was explored by a docking
      simulation. The model shows that Glu, in an untwisted shape, binds to dsDNA in
      its major groove and disrupts three H-bonds between the strands, thereby
      destabilizing the double helix. Lys, in an untwisted shape, binds to the external
      side of the dsDNA and forms two bonds with O atoms of neighboring phosphodiester
      groups, thereby strengthening the DNA helix. 

PMID- 25841381
TI  - Development of receptor-based inhibitory RNA aptamers for anthrax toxin
      neutralization.
AB  - Anthrax toxin excreted by Bacillus anthracis is the key causative agent of
      infectious anthrax disease. In the present study, we targeted the binding of PA
      to the ATR/TEM8 Von Willebrand factor type A (VWA) domain, which we cloned into
      Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity under denaturing conditions. To
      develop an anthrax toxin inhibitor, we selected and identified short single
      strand RNA aptamers (approximately 30mer) consisting of different sequences of
      nucleic acids with a high binding affinity in the 100 nanomolar range against the
      recombinant ATR/TEM8 VWA domain using systematic evolution of ligands by
      exponential enrichment (SELEX). Five candidate aptamers were further
      characterized by several techniques including secondary structural analysis. The
      inhibitor efficiency (IC50) of one of the aptamers toward anthrax toxin was
      approximately 5MUM in macrophage RAW 264.7 cells, as determined from cytotoxicity
      analysis by MTT assay. We believe that the candidate aptamers should be useful
      for blocking the binding of PA to its receptor in order to neutralize anthrax
      toxin. 

PMID- 25841382
TI  - Applications of chitosan powder with in situ synthesized nano ZnO particles as an
      antimicrobial agent.
AB  - ZnO nanoparticles are immobilized on the chitosan matrix by an in situ sol-gel
      conversion of precursor molecules in a single step. Three different composites
      are prepared by varying the concentration of sodium hydroxide with same quantity
      of chitosan and zinc acetate dihydrate. The composites were characterized by
      FTIR, UV-visible spectra, and XRD. The observed decrease in the band width
      corresponding to OH and NH2 group in the composites is ascribed to the reduction
      of hydrogen bond due to the presence of ZnO nanoparticles. The direct evidence of
      the immobilization of nano ZnO particles in the matrix was identified by SEM. The
      average particle size values obtained for the nanoparticles, using Debye-Scherrer
      equation from XRD, is in the range 10-18nm. Optical studies proved that all the
      three composites studied have the same band gap energy (3.28eV) in agreement with
      the reported values. We observed that the composites possess excellent
      antimicrobial activity against Gram negative bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli)
      and Gram positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) than chitosan. Based
      on the above studies, the biocompatible, eco-friendly and low-cost composite
      powder could be applied in various fields as an antimicrobial agent. 

PMID- 25841383
TI  - Explosive radiation or uninformative genes? Origin and early diversification of
      tachinid flies (Diptera: Tachinidae).
AB  - Molecular phylogenetic studies at all taxonomic levels often infer rapid
      radiation events based on short, poorly resolved internodes. While such rapid
      episodes of diversification are an important and widespread evolutionary
      phenomenon, much of this poor phylogenetic resolution may be attributed to the
      continuing widespread use of "traditional" markers (mitochondrial, ribosomal, and
      some nuclear protein-coding genes) that are often poorly suited to resolve
      difficult, higher-level phylogenetic problems. Here we reconstruct phylogenetic
      relationships among a representative set of taxa of the parasitoid fly family
      Tachinidae and related outgroups of the superfamily Oestroidea. The Tachinidae
      are one of the most species rich, yet evolutionarily recent families of Diptera,
      providing an ideal case study for examining the differential performance of loci
      in resolving phylogenetic relationships and the benefits of adding more loci to
      phylogenetic analyses. We assess the phylogenetic utility of nine genes including
      both traditional genes (e.g., CO1 mtDNA, 28S rDNA) and nuclear protein-coding
      genes newly developed for phylogenetic analysis. Our phylogenetic findings, based
      on a limited set of taxa, include: a close relationship between Tachinidae and
      the calliphorid subfamily Polleninae, monophyly of Tachinidae and the subfamilies
      Exoristinae and Dexiinae, subfamily groupings of Dexiinae+Phasiinae and
      Tachininae+Exoristinae, and robust phylogenetic placement of the somewhat
      enigmatic genera Strongygaster, Euthera, and Ceracia. In contrast to poor
      resolution and phylogenetic incongruence of "traditional genes," we find that a
      more selective set of highly informative genes is able to more precisely identify
      regions of the phylogeny that experienced rapid radiation of lineages, while more
      accurately depicting their phylogenetic context. Although much expanded taxon
      sampling is necessary to effectively assess the monophyly of and relationships
      among major tachinid lineages and their relatives, we show that a small number of
      well-chosen nuclear protein-coding genes can successfully resolve even difficult
      phylogenetic problems. 

PMID- 25841384
TI  - The upcoming book, The Art and Science of Palliative Medicine, edited by Howard
      S. Smith and Julie G. Pilitsis.

PMID- 25841385
TI  - The PARAMOUNT trial in NSCLC: is the amount of benefit clinically meaningful?
AB  - The PARAMOUNT study recently updated for survival analysis, showed that
      continuous maintenance with pemetrexed (P) lead to a 3 months overall survival
      (OS) benefit in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients not progressing after
      P-based induction chemotherapy. The conclusion are that, continuing P alone up to
      progression of disease, is better that stop chemotherapy after 4 cycles of
      cisplatinum/P doublet, at the expense of a slightly worst toxicity compared to
      placebo arm, and no worsening of quality of life. If the benefit in this
      population of performance status 0-1 (and nonsquamous histology) subjects, would
      have been the same with reintroduction of P (or with any active second line
      available) at the progression of disease, is a matter of debate. Appropriate
      randomized trials are ongoing and will answer to this question. 

PMID- 25841386
TI  - Expectations as outcome of effectiveness for patients with metastatic lung
      cancer.
AB  - In patients that presented advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer
      (NSCLC), palliative treatments, as chemotherapy and radiation therapy (RT), play
      a central role to manage symptoms, prolong life, and improve quality of life
      (QoL). Although these treatments are not curative, our patients deserve different
      expectations regarding their effectiveness based on different variables, as
      communication skills, family support and psychological status. Expectations of
      effectiveness are related to communications between patients and physician that
      is the corner stone of "relationship" between patients and disease. In this
      article, we explore this interesting issue analysing the most interesting
      criticism. 

PMID- 25841387
TI  - End of life care in lung cancer patients: not at life's end?
AB  - Metastatic lung cancer has a poor prognosis, with a mortality of more than 80%
      within one year. As chemo- and radiotherapy are both effective in the palliation
      of symptoms, the emphasis of management is often too much put on these therapies,
      inducing unrealistic expectations. Since the most important aspect of caring for
      patients with metastatic lung cancer is to optimize or restore their quality of
      life (QoL), we need to integrate standard oncologic therapy with early palliative
      care to achieve a better understanding of the disease by the patient and his
      caregivers. 

PMID- 25841388
TI  - How many drugs in the maintenance setting for non-small-cell lung cancer? For
      what benefit?
AB  - Maintenance treatment has been used for several years inside clinical trials.
      Meta-analyses have been published. A new clinical trial (AVAPERL) has been
      recently published. Despite significant increase of progression-free survival
      (PFS), overall survival (OS) has not been changed with these strategies. Before a
      transfer into clinical practices and guidelines, new data on economic analyses
      (the cost effectiveness ratio was very high among specific studies) and quality
      of life are mandatory. 

PMID- 25841389
TI  - The use of opioids at the end-of-life and the survival of Egyptian palliative
      care patients with advanced cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: One of the barriers to cancer pain control and palliative
      care (PC) development is the misconception that the use of opioids may hasten
      death. This concern is exaggerated when higher doses of opioids are used at the
      end-of-life. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between
      survival and the dose of opioids used at the end-of-life of patients with
      advanced cancer in an Egyptian PC setting. METHODS: Retrospective review of the
      medical records of 123 patients with advanced cancer managed in an Egyptian
      cancer center-based palliative medicine unit (PMU). Patients were classified
      according to the last prescribed regular opioid dose expressed in milligrams of
      oral morphine equivalent (OME) per day (mg OME/24 h) into three groups: no opioid
      or low-dose group (<120 mg OME/24 h), intermediate-dose group (120-<300 mg OME/24
      h) and high-dose group (>=300 mg OME/24 h). Survival was calculated from the date
      of first referral to the PMU to death. RESULTS: The median age of patients was 53
      years, breast cancer was the most common diagnosis (18%) and the majority (68%)
      died at home. Opioids were prescribed for pain control in 94% of patients and
      were prescribed on regular basis in 89%. The mean last prescribed opioid dose for
      the whole group of patients was 167 (+/-170) mg OME/24 h and it was highest among
      patients with pleural mesothelioma [245 (+/-258) mg OME/24 h]. The last
      prescription included no opioids or low-dose opioids in 57 (46%) patients,
      intermediate-dose in 42 (34%) and high-dose in 24 (20%). The estimated median
      survival was 45 days for the no opioid/low-dose group, 75 days for the
      intermediate-dose group and 153 days for the high-dose group (P=0.031).
      CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the dose of opioids has no detrimental
      impact on the survival of patients with advanced cancer in an Egyptian PC
      setting. Further research is needed to overcome barriers to cancer pain control
      especially in settings with inadequate cancer pain control.

PMID- 25841390
TI  - Palliative care for patients with locally advanced and metastatic non-small cell
      lung cancer.
AB  - Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) often presents at an advanced stage and can
      result in a significant symptomatic burden. Many patients with advanced NSCLC
      experience symptoms that include pain, dyspnea, cough, decreased appetite, weight
      loss, and depression. Early initiation of palliative care for advanced or
      metastatic NSCLC can reduce symptoms, improve quality of life, and prolong
      survival. Palliative care interventions by an interdisciplinary team focus on
      patient and family and address physical symptoms, illness understanding, coping,
      and psychosocial and spiritual distress. The addition of systemic therapy to best
      supportive care can further improve quality of life and prolong survival.
      Thoracic external beam radiation therapy beam radiotherapy is well tolerated and
      can improve quality of life and relieve symptoms such as hemoptysis, pain, cough,
      and dyspnea. For central airway obstruction, external beam radiation therapy,
      endobronchial brachytherapy, Nd:YAG laser therapy, and photodynamic therapy can
      improve symptoms. Symptomatic lung metastases to the brain, adrenal glands, and
      liver or compressing or impinging the spinal cord or nerve roots can also result
      in patient symptoms and can be managed with medical and pharmacologic
      interventions, radiation therapy, surgery, ablative therapy, and systemic
      therapy. All healthcare providers treating patients with advanced or metastatic
      NSCLC should make palliative care a priority by assessing for pain, dyspnea,
      coping and psychosocial distress, and other symptoms at each patient encounter to
      reduce patient morbidity, improve quality of life, and potentially prolong
      survival. 

PMID- 25841391
TI  - Opioid combination: rationale and possible clinical applications.
AB  - The aim of this review is to provide a potential benefit of an opioid combination
      at receptor sites, based on experimental data and preliminary clinical studies
      where a combination of opioids with different characteristics yielded greater
      analgesic activity with lesser adverse effects. The receptor activity, including
      intrinsic activity, endocytosis, and oligomerization, and the interaction on
      opioid receptors and between different opioid receptors or different sites are
      described. Finally, clinical observations of opioid combinations reported in
      literature regarding the possible benefits of such an approach are presented. 

PMID- 25841393
TI  - Commentary on Alsirafy et al. The use of opioids at the end-of-life and the
      survival of Egyptian palliative care patients with advanced cancer.

PMID- 25841392
TI  - Bridging the communication gap between oncologists and patients receiving
      palliative therapies.
AB  - The discussion of prognosis is a regular component of oncology practice. When the
      prognosis is poor, the disclosure can be difficult for both patients and
      physicians alike. In a recent article by Chen et al., stage IIIB and IV lung
      cancer patients were surveyed on their beliefs about radiotherapy they were
      receiving. A significant proportion of patients expressed the belief that
      radiotherapy, which they were receiving purely with palliative intent, was likely
      to cure their cancer. Misunderstanding the goals of treatment can have important
      consequences with respect to informed decision-making and end-of-life planning.
      There are likely many factors contributing to this misunderstanding, both from
      the perspective of the patient as well as the physician. Discussing incurable
      disease in a clear, honest manner without taking away hope can be very
      challenging for the physician. Even when done well, patients often do not hear or
      completely understand the message. Focusing on active treatment may in fact
      perpetuate the patient's belief that they can be cured. In this article, some of
      the factors contributing to inaccurate beliefs are discussed. Awareness of the
      issue, and approaching the patient in a somewhat different manner when disclosing
      prognosis, may help patients to develop more appropriate beliefs about their
      disease and treatment. Ultimately the goal is for patients to make decisions that
      align with their beliefs and values, which can only be done if they have clear
      understanding of prognosis. 

PMID- 25841394
TI  - The importance of surgical oncology in China: a view from across the ocean.

PMID- 25841395
TI  - Perspectives in drug development for cancer therapy in Asia.

PMID- 25841396
TI  - Clinical practice guidelines on cancer-related anemia (2012-2013 Edition).

PMID- 25841397
TI  - Risk of venous thromboembolism with the erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs)
      for the treatment of cancer-associated anemia: a meta-analysis of randomized
      control trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In anemic patients receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy,
      erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) raise hemoglobin levels and reduce
      transfusion requirements, but ESA-related safety concerns exist. To evaluate the
      overall risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) associated with the use of ESAs, a
      systematic review and meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials
      (RCT) was performed. METHODS: The databases of PubMed and Web of Science were
      searched from January 1966 until December 2012 and abstracts presented at
      American Society of Clinical Oncology conferences held between January 2000 and
      December 2012 were searched to identify relevant clinical trials. Summary
      incidence rates, relative risks (RRs), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were
      calculated. RESULTS: Data from a total of 11,632 patients with cancer in 50 RCTs
      were identified and included for meta-analysis. Among those patients receiving
      ESAs, the summary incidences of all-grade VTE were 7.62%. Patients with cancer
      who received ESAs had increased VTE risks (482 events among 6,238 patients
      treated with ESA vs. 269 events among 5,394 control patients; RR=1.75; 95% CI,
      1.49-2.05). The highest risk of VET was found in patients with ovarian and
      cervical cancer for 2.45 (1.12-5.33). CONCLUSIONS: The use of ESAs was
      significantly associated with an increased risk of developing VTE in cancer
      patients receiving this drug. The risks of VTE may vary with various tumor types.

PMID- 25841398
TI  - The latest meta-analysis on the use of erythritopoiesis-stimulating agents in
      chemotherapy induced anaemia brings new light on the safety.

PMID- 25841399
TI  - Intravenous iron for treating cancer-induced anemia: meeting an unmet need?

PMID- 25841400
TI  - Is it time for erythropoietin use in acute myeloid leukemia and allogeneic
      hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients?

PMID- 25841401
TI  - Is it already time for combination treatment in lower risk MDS?

PMID- 25841402
TI  - Breakthrough in tracking tumor erythropoietin receptor expression.

PMID- 25841403
TI  - High-dose recombinant human erythropoietin for "low-risk" myelodysplastic
      patients: is more better?

PMID- 25841404
TI  - Erythropoietin and cancer - a poorly understood liaison!

PMID- 25841405
TI  - Sandra M. Swain: follow your passion at work.

PMID- 25841406
TI  - Charles M. Balch: specializing surgeons is going to be a trend.

PMID- 25841407
TI  - Claus-Henning Koehne: the awareness of K-Ras is a great progress in molecular
      targeted therapy.

PMID- 25841408
TI  - Rik J Scheper: European Regulations on cell therapy, going too far?

PMID- 25841409
TI  - The changing world of drug development.
AB  - Cancer drug development is undergoing a substantial shift nowadays. The
      underlying drivers are multi-factorial. On the one side, drug development is
      performed more rationally than ever, profiting from the scientific advances in
      molecular biology in general and the elucidation of the various "omes" from
      genome to metabolome in particular. On the other side, it is based on enormous
      technological progress, e.g., in the field of genome sequencing, and in that of
      adequate handling of the resulting plethora of data. The high attrition rate of
      oncologic drugs under development in the past and the pressure from the side of
      the payers make it necessary to find permanently new answers for and adaptations
      of the process of drug development. In this context, it is necessary to respect
      arguments and views from the various perspectives of all the relevant
      stakeholders. Together with a group of international experts from different
      perspectives of drug development, this special issue will illustrate the
      respective role of patients, laboratory, clinical trials, drug companies,
      regulatory bodies, and also the economic principle in drug development, aiming at
      facilitating drug research in the near future. 

PMID- 25841410
TI  - The spectrum of clinical trials aiming at personalizing medicine.
AB  - All anticancer molecularly targeted agents on the market today have been approved
      with one or no companion diagnostic based on a specific genomic molecular
      alteration. These drugs have followed the same clinical development than
      chemotherapeutic agents and have been developed in selected tumor types and
      histologies. Now, some molecular alterations have been described across different
      tumor types, although with variable prevalence and functional impact. The latter
      raises the question of whether treatment decision should be mainly based on
      molecular biology, independently of tumor location and histology. This approach
      refers to what is commonly named personalized medicine and can today be addressed
      in clinical trials, since major advances in high throughput technologies allow
      depicting most druggable molecular alterations for an affordable cost in a
      timeframe that is compatible with clinical practice. Several studies have been
      initiated that aim at personalizing medicine in oncology. They include molecular
      screening programs, as well as personalized medicine trials that can be divided
      in two categories: (I) stratified clinical trials according to either molecular
      alterations or tumor types; and (II) algorithm-testing trials evaluating a
      treatment algorithm instead of drugs efficacy. Multiple challenges are associated
      with personalized medicine trials, but the main one remains our ability to
      predict drug efficacy based on molecular alterations. It is expected that taking
      into account several molecular alterations for the prediction of drug efficacy
      using systems biology approaches will improve patients' outcome. Bioinformatics
      research will be an important factor of future progression in this emerging
      field. 

PMID- 25841411
TI  - Integrative oncology drug discovery accompanied by preclinical translational
      research as prerequisite for clinical development.
AB  - The molecular heterogeneity of cancer calls for individualized therapies to
      become the standard of care. It is now generally accepted that target-specific
      compounds require specific new development programs. But, even for new drugs with
      general mode of action (i.e., chemotherapy), tailored treatment approaches, such
      as specific schedules or combinations, have been shown to improve the therapeutic
      outcome. Therefore, the preclinical development of new therapeutic agents needs,
      next to the "classical pharmacodynamic studies", the implementation of
      integrative translational research (TR) as early as possible. New TR approaches,
      starting already at target identification and validation (TIV) will allow to
      defining the optimal patient population for clinical development, to tailor
      individual treatment of the tumor disease and to choose a rational basis among
      the manifold options for treatment combinations. We will discuss several examples
      from TR studies, which have initially been started to evaluate the molecular mode
      of action and to recognize mechanisms which can lead to resistance. Research was
      extended later to identify predictive response biomarkers and establish a
      rationale for combination with different therapies. A detailed gene expression
      analysis of lung cancer cells and apoptotic pathway interference studies in colon
      cancer cells provided insight in the molecular mechanisms of action. These new
      findings are correlated with results from other studies performed during the
      preclinical development program. We discuss pros and cons, successes and failures
      of our integrative preclinical development program and provide recommendations
      for future oncology projects. 

PMID- 25841412
TI  - From genomic data analysis to drug development: a new generation of trials using
      molecular marker assessment in breast cance.
AB  - With the advent of molecular subtypes in breast cancer, the landscape of clinical
      trials and drug development is rapidly changing. Molecular screening identifies
      numerous mutations but actually druggable targets are few and far between. Thus,
      new clinical trial concepts are needed which are feasible in clinical practice
      and successful from the point of view of drug development. This article
      highlights the evolution of the sequencing technologies, the current molecular
      screening efforts and their impact on drug development as well as novel
      successful trial designs, focusing on the hormone receptor (HR) positive breast
      cancer patients. The range of mutations to identify in order to adapt the
      treatment to each patient and limit the resistance mechanisms is quite wide
      already, but theoretical or practical restriction may have to be considered to
      optimize the development of such adaptive combinations of targeted therapies. 

PMID- 25841413
TI  - Functional and molecular imaging in cancer drug development.
AB  - Imaging biomarkers have a potential to identify key metabolic pathways that are
      up-regulated in cancer cells compared to normal cells. In early drug development,
      they can provide valuable information on the dissemination of the drug and
      estimate whether the drug reaches the target and, consequently, to determine the
      appropriate clinical benefit. The use of imaging as an early surrogate biomarker
      of response is also appealing, since it allows to tailor treatment regimens in
      individual patients. The aim of this review is to describe various imaging
      biomarkers covering most important cancer hallmarks such as cell death,
      proliferation, metabolism, vascularity, and hypoxia. We highlight the current
      status of using molecular imaging such as fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG),
      fluorothymidine (FLT), fluoromisonidazole (FMISO), and fluoroazomycin arabinoside
      (FAZA) positron emission tomography (PET) as well as advanced magnetic resonance
      imaging (MRI) techniques such as dynamic contrast enhancing (DCE) and diffusion
      weighted (DW)-MRI, and their potential roles in cancer drug development. 

PMID- 25841414
TI  - New challenge of developing combined radio-drug therapy.
AB  - Combined modality treatment can be used to improve control of the local disease
      at the expense of increased toxicity. Several randomized trials have demonstrated
      that this combined modality therapy is better than radiotherapy alone or
      chemotherapy alone in the treatment of locally advanced diseases. Several new
      targets as well as potential new radio-sensitizers have been identified. To speed
      up the process of developing new combined modality treatments, good preclinical
      models for optimization of the ratio between efficacy and toxicity and a well
      established methodology within a network of advanced high-tech laboratories and
      clinical departments devoted to early phase trials, are mandatory. The Synergy of
      Targeted Agents and Radiation Therapy (STAR) platform of the European
      Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) is gathering these
      tools. 

PMID- 25841415
TI  - The changing world of drug development: an academic research organization's
      perspective on the "Seven Wonders" of the future world of anticancer drug
      development.
AB  - Cancer poses a considerable economic burden to healthcare systems worldwide, so
      healthcare payers will only pay for "performance" in the future. It is likely
      that new "wonders" have emerged and as a scientific community we need to learn
      how we can make future cancer research more efficient. Biobanking and imaging
      platforms will allow full use of this wealth of data for defining and testing
      hypotheses before the launch of fewer, but ambitious, pivotal clinical studies
      targeting large therapeutic benefit. Clinical trials must be based on optimized
      trial designs with sound methodologies and high qualities. These
      multidisciplinary therapeutic strategies need to be in the new generation of
      patient treatment planning. In order to accelerate patient access to new
      treatments and techniques, better harmonized regulatory procedures and new forms
      of multi-stakeholder collaboration are needed in future drug development. 

PMID- 25841416
TI  - The changing world of oncology drug development-A global pharmaceutical company's
      perspective.
AB  - Recent approvals for oncology drugs have seen an increasing proportion directed
      to specific genetic targets identified with an associated companion diagnostic
      test. In addition, there is a wave of drugs directed against immune 'checkpoints'
      which promise to transform the way cancer is treated in the next decade. We can
      increase the probability of success in drug development based on a thorough
      mechanistic understanding of how a target drug affects cancer biology and the
      specific biological and genotypic context in which it operates. This article
      compares and contrasts the discovery and development of gefitinib-the first EGFR
      tyrosine kinase inhibitor and AZD9291, an irreversible inhibitor of both
      sensitizing and resistant mutated EGFR. This demonstrates how the better
      understanding we now have of the genetic changes driving the cancer growth and
      the biochemical structure and function of the mutated proteins, has led to a much
      faster developmental path with higher likelihood of success in pivotal trials. An
      emerging trend in response to the challenge of the increasing segmentation of
      cancers based on their genetic makeup is the development of 'basket' studies
      which include one or more screening tests for multiple genetic aberrations and
      the direction of patients to one of several arms of a clinical trial based on the
      specific aberration in their tumor. In the face of both the wealth of genetic
      information about cancer and the challenges of drug development, collaboration
      across academia and industry is vital. There is great potential to benefit from
      more 'open innovation' to address some of these challenges and opportunities. Far
      from there being a decline in innovation in pharmaceutical development, I see
      that we are in one of the most exciting times in cancer drug development with
      innovation in every aspect of how we discover and develop new therapies. 

PMID- 25841417
TI  - Medicine adaptive pathways to patients (MAPPs): using regulatory innovation to
      defeat Eroom's law.
AB  - Eroom's Law is, literally, Moore's law in reverse. The pharmaceutical sector
      invests $50 billion annually in research for new medicines but, "the number of
      new drugs approved per billion US dollars spent has halved roughly every 9 years
      since 1950, falling around 80-fold in inflation-adjusted terms". Pharmaceutical
      companies have invested enormous sums in new molecular entities (NME) in the
      areas of unmet medical need identified by the World Health Organization (WHO),
      but the approval rates from phase I are only 7% for cardiovascular disease,
      dropping to 4% for Alzheimer's disease. The increasing cost of research &
      development (R&D) is not only a factor of research management quality, but also
      indicative of an industry trying to address therapeutic areas that have
      incredibly complex biological mechanisms with budget-crushing failure rates.
      Medicine adaptive pathways to patients (MAPPs) build on the stratification
      breakthroughs of personalized medicine to facilitate new types of clinical trials
      that adapt to a given patient's response. At their core, MAPPs will have a
      limited commercial marketing authorization for a patient group who has access to
      new therapeutic agents while validating additional clinical endpoints at the same
      time. This gives MAPPs a theoretical ability to run trials that fulfil both the
      efficacy requirements for authorization and the effectiveness needs of national
      health technology assessments (HTA) simultaneously, providing patients with
      needed therapies in the most efficient timescale and trial size possible. In
      order to move science forward and meet these daunting medical challenges for
      patients, new collaborative approaches to testing the efficacy and effectiveness
      of new improved medicines such as MAPPs should be embraced by regulators in close
      partnership with patients, payers, and practitioners. To not do so puts the
      entire healthcare value chain, and the future health of patients, at risk. 

PMID- 25841418
TI  - The changing world of cancer drug development: the regulatory bodies'
      perspective.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although not a singular disease entity, advanced cancer continues to
      be a largely intractable disease and a high unmet medical need situation.
      Discovery of novel therapeutic modalities, including new drugs targeting cancer,
      is undoubtedly of major public health interest. METHODS: In this article, we
      discuss current trends in oncology drug development as these are ultimately
      reflected in regulatory drug approvals. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: These include
      the shift to targeted therapies which hold the promise of personalized medicine,
      but also financial pressures, the call for adaptive licensing which places more
      emphasis on early access and post-authorization studies (patient registries,
      prospective interventional and observational studies) and real-life effectiveness
      studies, as well as the emergence of biosimilars in the oncology treatment
      armamentarium.

PMID- 25841419
TI  - The positioning of economic principles under the changing conditions of the novel
      drug developmental process in cancer.
AB  - Cancer is a major burden to the health care system, presently mainly in developed
      countries, but is rapidly becoming a problem of similar magnitude in developing
      countries. Cancer ranks number two or three measured in loss of "good years of
      life" in Europe. The direct cost of cancer are estimated to be around 50% of
      total health care costs and of these costs a major part is linked to cancer
      drugs. With the ongoing revolution in the understanding of cancer and the
      development of an increasing number of new, but often very costly drugs, the
      health care systems in all parts of the world need to have a systematic way of
      evaluating new cancer drugs. Health technology assessment (HTA) now plays a major
      role in many parts of Europe. HTA has its focus on determining the value of new
      innovations in order to balance allocation of health care resources in a fair and
      equal way. This paper reviews the HTA process in general and for cancer drugs
      specifically. The key findings are that cancer drugs must be evaluated in a
      similar way as other health care technologies. One must however take into account
      that cancer drugs are often approved with a high level of uncertainty. Thus, it
      is of key importance that not only clinical efficacy, i.e., effect in pivotal
      clinical trials, is taken into account, but that there is a great need for follow
      up studies so that post regulatory approval is able to properly measure
      population based effects [clinical effectiveness (CLE)]. 

PMID- 25841420
TI  - And now for something completely different: drugs that work!-The patients'
      perspective.
AB  - The result of drug development so far is beyond expectations and also beyond what
      is possible. The reason for this is probably that the aim is not a better quality
      of life for the patient and her loved ones but profit. Working together with
      patients on an equal basis-and in the patients' best interest-will bring better
      drugs to the market that work and provide better quality of life and with less
      severe side effects. For the pharmaceutical companies that want to benefit
      patients, it will bring enough profit. Essential is that we are honest about our
      interests and respect the interest of one another. And go for the win-win
      situation instead of the compromise. We can also do better by doing research on
      combinations of new and existing drugs. This might be faster available for
      patients and also cheaper. The government can help by making the rules for drug
      development easier on safety. The cooperation with patients will still make
      things safe enough. The government has to support the patient advocacy groups
      financially to make them less dependent on the pharmaceutical companies. And
      finally, the patient advocacy groups can do a lot to make the patients, doctors,
      researchers, government and industry more cancer literate. 

PMID- 25841421
TI  - Introduction to the inaugural issue of Annals of Palliative Medicine.

PMID- 25841422
TI  - Opioid-induced hyperalgesia method is a clinically relevant issue.

PMID- 25841423
TI  - The double cross of morphine: Stopping OIH in its tracks.

PMID- 25841424
TI  - Opioid-induced hyperalgesia: What to do when it occurs?

PMID- 25841425
TI  - Cancer pain management: What should be done to improve effectiveness?

PMID- 25841426
TI  - Opioid-induced hyperalgesia after rapid titration with intravenous morphine:
      Switching and re-titration to intravenous methadone.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rapid titration with intravenous morphine (IV-MO) provides fast and
      efficient pain relief in cancer patients with severe-excruciating pain. However,
      some patients, after an initially favourable response, can develop an
      hyperexcitated state unrelieved or worsened by further dose increments. METHODS:
      Eighty-one patients admitted on emergency basis titrated with IV-MO were
      assessed. RESULTS: 12 patients were unsuccessfully titrated with IV-MO. Switching
      to intravenous methadone (IV-ME) and titrating the doses proved to be
      successfully. CONCLUSIONS: In escalating opioid doses rapidly a recognition of
      the development of hyperalgesia should be suspected. Increasing doses of opioids
      may stimulate rather than inhibiting the central nervous system, with complex
      mechanisms already recognized in experimental studies. Switching to IV-ME and
      titrating the doses could be taken into consideration to break this vicious
      circle before pain conditions worsen irreversibly.

PMID- 25841427
TI  - Painful boney metastases.
AB  - Treatments for painful osseous metastases may not only diminish pain, but also
      may improve quality of life and independence/mobility, and reduce skeletal
      morbidity, potential pathologic fractures, spinal cord compression, and other
      "skeletal-related events". Treatment strategies for painful osseous metastases
      include: Systemic analgesics, intrathecal analgesics, glucocorticoids, radiation
      (external beam radiation, radiopharmaceuticals), ablative techniques
      [radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and cryoablation], bisphosphonates,
      chemotherapeutic agents, inhibitors of RANKL-RANK interaction (e.g., denosumab),
      hormonal therapies, interventional techniques (e.g., kyphoplasty), and surgical
      approaches. The mechanisms underlying the development of bone metastases remain
      incompletely understood. A greater understanding of the pathophysiology of
      painful osseous metastases may lead to improved and more selective targeted
      analgesic therapy. Additionally, potential future therapeutic approaches to
      painful osseous metastases may revolutionize approaches to analgesia for this
      condition, leading to optimal outcomes with maximal pain relief and minimal
      adverse effects. 

PMID- 25841428
TI  - Assessment and treatment of cancer pain: From Western to Eastern.
AB  - Satisfactory control of the cancer pain remains the single most important element
      in palliative care, as failure of pain relief is a major threat to the quality of
      life. Inadequate classification and assessment would unavoidably lead to
      inappropriate and impractical treatment of cancer pain, which has been a striking
      challenge in cancer clinical practice for the past several decades. While the
      cancer pain characteristics are influenced by physiological, psychological,
      pathological, cultural and even social factors, a comprehensive assessment and an
      individualized plan of care should be provided throughout the course of illness.
      This review attempted to describe the framework, illustrate the present evidence
      supporting current classification methodologies and assessment approaches, and
      demonstrate the advance in multidisciplinary interventions for cancer pain
      syndrome, including Western and Traditional Chinese medicine. 

PMID- 25841429
TI  - Rapid onset opioids in palliative medicine.
AB  - Opioids are potent broad-spectrum analgesics useful to treat a variety of painful
      conditions. Opioids have been classified by many different categorizations (e.g.
      natural, semisynthetic, synthetic). One classification that may be useful in
      terms of selecting specific opioid agents is based on the pharmacokinetic
      characteristics of the various opioid formulations (e.g. longacting opioids,
      short-acting opioids, and rapid onset opioids). These various opioid agents
      appear to be useful to "match" specific types of pains. Rapid onset opioids
      appear especially well-suited to treat breakthrough pain and in particular,
      rapidonset breakthrough pain. This article will briefly review 5 rapid onset
      opioids that are FDA approved in the U.S. 

PMID- 25841430
TI  - Advances in the use of opioids in treating neuropathic cancer pain.
AB  - Neuropathic cancer pain has been challenging for both physicians and patients. As
      opioids' positive analgesic effect has been confirmed by some randomized studies
      in recent years, they are gradually becoming a first line option for the
      treatment of neuropathic cancer pain. Researches and trials in this field mainly
      concentrate on the pathogenesis of the pain and the metabolism, excretion and
      potential analgesic mechanisms of different opioids. Selective use of opioids,
      which has a dual mechanism of action, may be helpful in controlling neuropathic
      cancer pain. This review summarizes the different properties and usages of a
      variety of opioids. 

PMID- 25841431
TI  - Neuromodulation and palliative medicine.
AB  - The palliative care population is generally vulnerable to experiencing medication
      induced adverse effects and drug-drug interactions. Neuromodulation may offer
      particular advantages over systemic medications in this population. Although
      brain electrical stimulation has not been adequately trialed or in some cases
      even tried at all for management of a variety of symptoms, it is conceivable that
      in the future that it may be a potential therapeutic option in efforts to
      palliate various severe refractory symptoms. 

PMID- 25841432
TI  - Palliative radiotherapy for painful bone metastases: short-course or long-course?
AB  - For patients of bony metastases, the survival time becomes much longer as the
      anti-tumor strategies developed. External beam radiotherapy is effective for pain
      relieving. The appropriate fractionation scheme for the most effective regimen of
      palliative radiotherapy to treat bone metastases is still in debate. This article
      reviews the prospective randomized trials comparing short-course or long-course
      regimens of palliative radiotherapy for painful bone metastases. 

PMID- 25841433
TI  - Painful bone metastases - Can we do better?

PMID- 25841434
TI  - Denosumab will play an important role in patients with solid tumours and bone
      metastases.

PMID- 25841435
TI  - Early palliative care in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

PMID- 25841436
TI  - Delivery outcomes and patterns of morbidity and mortality for neonatal admissions
      in five Kenyan hospitals.
AB  - A cross-sectional survey was conducted in neonatal and maternity units of five
      Kenyan district public hospitals. Data for 1 year were obtained: 3999 maternal
      and 1836 neonatal records plus tallies of maternal deaths, deliveries and
      stillbirths. There were 40 maternal deaths [maternal mortality ratio: 276 per 100
      000 live births, 95% confidence interval (CI): 197-376]. Fresh stillbirths ranged
      from 11 to 43 per 1000 births. A fifth (19%, 263 of 1384, 95% CI: 11-30%) of the
      admitted neonates died. Compared with normal birth weight, odds of death were
      significantly higher in all of the low birth weight (LBW, <2500 g) categories,
      with the highest odds for the extremely LBW (<1000 g) category (odds ratio: 59,
      95% CI: 21-158, p < 0.01). The observed maternal mortality, stillbirths and
      neonatal mortality call for implementation of the continuum of care approach to
      intervention delivery with particular emphasis on LBW babies. 

PMID- 25841437
TI  - dbPSP: a curated database for protein phosphorylation sites in prokaryotes.
AB  - As one of the most important post-translational modifications, phosphorylation is
      highly involved in almost all of biological processes through temporally and
      spatially modifying substrate proteins. Recently, phosphorylation in prokaryotes
      attracted much attention for its critical roles in various cellular processes
      such as signal transduction. Thus, an integrative data resource of the
      prokaryotic phosphorylation will be useful for further analysis. In this study,
      we presented a curated database of phosphorylation sites in prokaryotes (dbPSP,
      Database URL: http://dbpsp.biocuckoo.org) for 96 prokaryotic organisms, which
      belong to 11 phyla in two domains including bacteria and archaea. From the
      scientific literature, we manually collected experimentally identified
      phosphorylation sites on seven types of residues, including serine, threonine,
      tyrosine, aspartic acid, histidine, cysteine and arginine. In total, the dbPSP
      database contains 7391 phosphorylation sites in 3750 prokaryotic proteins. With
      the dataset, the sequence preferences of the phosphorylation sites and functional
      annotations of the phosphoproteins were analyzed, while the results shows that
      there were obvious differences among the phosphorylation in bacteria, archaea and
      eukaryotes. All the phosphorylation sites were annotated with original references
      and other descriptions in the database, which could be easily accessed through
      user-friendly website interface including various search and browse options.
      Taken together, the dbPSP database provides a comprehensive data resource for
      further studies of protein phosphorylation in prokaryotes. Database URL:
      http://dbpsp.biocuckoo.org

PMID- 25841440
TI  - Carbon monoxide augments electrical signaling in cultured neural networks of
      hippocampal neurons partly through activation of BKCa channels.
AB  - Carbon monoxide (CO) is often viewed as a lethal gas in light of its capacity to
      prevent oxygen uptake in hemoglobin; however, it also functions to regulate a
      variety of proteins and physiological processes. Here we show that CO is an
      important chemical cue, to which neurons respond strongly, and this response is
      then integrated into neural network activity. In cultured mouse hippocampal
      neurons, CO enhanced synchronized spontaneous cytosolic Ca(2+) oscillations which
      arose from periodic action potentials through synaptic transmission. We used
      single-cell patch-clamp recording to investigate the neural network. Our results
      showed that the frequency of spontaneous and miniature post synaptic current was
      increased in neurons cultured for 14-18 days after addition of CO, with no change
      in current amplitude. BK channels have recently been demonstrated to be important
      in the action of CO. Our results showed that the effect of CO on neural network
      electrical activity was partly abolished after blocking the BK channels.
      Altogether, our results suggest that CO can influence neural network electrical
      activity and that BK channels participate in this regulation process. 

PMID- 25841438
TI  - Generating a focused view of disease ontology cancer terms for pan-cancer data
      integration and analysis.
AB  - Bio-ontologies provide terminologies for the scientific community to describe
      biomedical entities in a standardized manner. There are multiple initiatives that
      are developing biomedical terminologies for the purpose of providing better
      annotation, data integration and mining capabilities. Terminology resources
      devised for multiple purposes inherently diverge in content and structure. A
      major issue of biomedical data integration is the development of overlapping
      terms, ambiguous classifications and inconsistencies represented across databases
      and publications. The disease ontology (DO) was developed over the past decade to
      address data integration, standardization and annotation issues for human disease
      data. We have established a DO cancer project to be a focused view of cancer
      terms within the DO. The DO cancer project mapped 386 cancer terms from the
      Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC), The Cancer Genome Atlas
      (TCGA), International Cancer Genome Consortium, Therapeutically Applicable
      Research to Generate Effective Treatments, Integrative Oncogenomics and the Early
      Detection Research Network into a cohesive set of 187 DO terms represented by 63
      top-level DO cancer terms. For example, the COSMIC term 'kidney, NS, carcinoma,
      clear_cell_renal_cell_carcinoma' and TCGA term 'Kidney renal clear cell
      carcinoma' were both grouped to the term 'Disease Ontology Identification
      (DOID):4467 / renal clear cell carcinoma' which was mapped to the
      TopNodes_DOcancerslim term 'DOID:263 / kidney cancer'. Mapping of diverse cancer
      terms to DO and the use of top level terms (DO slims) will enable pan-cancer
      analysis across datasets generated from any of the cancer term sources where pan
      cancer means including or relating to all or multiple types of cancer. The terms
      can be browsed from the DO web site (http://www.disease-ontology.org) and
      downloaded from the DO's Apache Subversion or GitHub repositories. Database URL:
      http://www.disease-ontology.org

PMID- 25841439
TI  - Parthenolide inhibits LPS-induced inflammatory cytokines through the toll-like
      receptor 4 signal pathway in THP-1 cells.
AB  - Parthenolide (PTL) shows potent anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities. In
      the present study, the molecular mechanisms of PTL's activities were explored in
      lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced human leukemia monocytic THP-1 cells and human
      primary monocytes. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2
      (4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium salt (MTS) assay was used to analyze the effect of
      PTL on THP-1 cell viability. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to
      determine the effect of PTL on LPS-induced inflammatory cytokine secretion. Flow
      cytometry and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction were used to
      assess the effect of PTL on LPS-induced toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression.
      Phosphorylation levels of signaling molecules were determined by western blot
      analysis. Results showed that PTL <12.5 MUM did not significantly affect THP-1
      cells viability. LPS treatment led to a marked up-regulation of interleukin (IL)
      6, IL-1beta, IL-8, IL-12p40, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IL-18, and NO in THP-1
      cells. However, PTL inhibited the expression of these cytokines in a dose
      dependent manner, with IC50 values of 1.091-2.620 MUM. PTL blocked TLR4
      expression with an IC50 value of 1.373 MUM as determined by the flow cytometry
      analysis, and this blocking effect was verified at both protein and mRNA levels.
      Up-regulation of phosphorylation levels of extracellular signal-regulated kinase
      1/2, Jun N-terminal kinase, p38, nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) p65, and
      IkappaBalpha and up-regulation of expressions of other molecules (inducible
      nitric oxide synthase, TLR4, and TNF receptor-associated factor 6) induced by LPS
      were abolished by PTL in a dose-dependent manner. The anti-inflammatory
      mechanisms of PTL operate partly through the TLR4-mediated mitogen-activated
      protein kinase and NF-kappaB signaling pathways. Therefore, TLR4 may be a new
      target for anti-inflammation therapies. 

PMID- 25841441
TI  - Calibration ruler for CW-EPR distance measurement using diradical molecule of
      rigid structure.
AB  - Many experimental factors and uncontrollable factors may introduce errors in the
      distance measurement by continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance. To deal
      with this problem, several C60 nitroxide diradical adducts with rigid structure
      and definite molecular dimension were used as distance calibration rulers. Based
      on the improvement of distance calculation program via adding simulation programs
      of experimental spectra and dipolar broadening function, respectively, the
      distance calibration method was developed under different conditions such as
      different solvent, solution concentration, measuring temperature, and microwave
      power. As a result, stable distance calibration rulers were established within
      the range of 8-13 A. The distance calibration effect was evaluated resulting in a
      corresponding distance measurement precision of 0.84 A. The results suggested
      that the influence of non-dipolar spectral broadening factors could be overcome,
      and the established experimental and calculation methods were suitable to a wide
      range of situations. The developed method will ensure more accurate and objective
      distance measurement in biomacromolecular analysis. 

PMID- 25841442
TI  - Thiazide-sensitive Na+-Cl- cotransporter: genetic polymorphisms and human
      diseases.
AB  - The thiazide-sensitive Na(+)-Cl(-) cotransporter (TSC) is responsible for the
      major sodium chloride reabsorption pathway, which is located in the apical
      membrane of the epithelial cells of the distal convoluted tubule. TSC is involved
      in several physiological activities including transepithelial ion absorption and
      secretion, cell volume regulation, and setting intracellular Cl(-) concentration
      below or above its electrochemical potential equilibrium. In addition, TSC serves
      as the target of thiazide-type diuretics that are the first line of therapy for
      the treatment of hypertension in the clinic, and its mutants are also reported to
      be associated with the hereditary disease, Gitelman's syndrome. This review aims
      to summarize the publications with regard to the TSC by focusing on the
      association between TSC mutants and human hypertension as well as Gitelman's
      syndrome. 

PMID- 25841443
TI  - Can EGFR mutation status evolve with chemotherapy?

PMID- 25841444
TI  - EGFR mutation in lung cancer: tumor heterogeneity and the impact of chemotherapy.

PMID- 25841445
TI  - Drifting EGFR mutation.

PMID- 25841446
TI  - Molecular therapy for gastric cancer.
AB  - Several agents that target specific molecules have been investigated for the
      treatment of gastric cancer in many preclinical and clinical studies. Anti-HER2
      antibody, when combined with classical cytotoxic agents, has been shown to confer
      a significant survival benefit in patients with HER2-positive gastric cancer.
      This is the only targeted drug that has been shown to be successful for the
      treatment of gastric cancer. We need to determine specific targets for regulating
      gastric cancer cells by translational research, develop precise diagnostic
      procedures for personalized medicine, and identify candidate drugs for gastric
      cancer. 

PMID- 25841447
TI  - Current status and future direction of chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer.

PMID- 25841448
TI  - The B7-H1/PD-1 pathway in cancers associated with infections and inflammation:
      opportunities for therapeutic intervention.
AB  - Almost one fifth of malignancies worldwide and about one quarter in China are
      associated with viral or bacterial infections, mediating an inflammatory
      environment in the tumor. Hepatitis viruses (B and C), Epstein Barr Virus (EBV),
      and helicobacter pylori have been linked to liver, gastric, and nasopharyngeal
      cancer. The context of infection and chronic inflammation in these cancers may
      provide an opportunity for therapeutic intervention based on the role of immune
      checkpoint pathways, which are an important defense mechanism of many cancers
      against a tumor-directed immune response. Specifically, the expression of the
      inhibitory receptor PD-1 on the surface of activated T cells has been associated
      with T cell exhaustion in inflammatory and tumor environments. Furthermore,
      tumors have been found to over-express the PD-1 ligand B7-H1. Recent therapeutic
      successes with monoclonal antibodies directed against both B7-H1 and PD-1 in
      patients with advanced melanoma, renal cell cancer (RCC), and non-small cell
      cancer, along with the prominent role of this immune checkpoint axis in the
      inflammatory tumor context, suggest that B7-H1/PD-1 blockade may be particularly
      beneficial in cancers associated with infections and inflammation. 

PMID- 25841449
TI  - Colorectal cancer screening: are stool and blood based tests good enough?
AB  - Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third commonest cancer worldwide. As many CRC
      patients were identified at advanced stages, screening asymptomatic individuals
      has substantial clinical benefit. Most CRC arises through recognizable early
      stage. With the improved understanding of the biology of CRC and precancerous
      lesion, testing molecular aberrations in stool and blood promises novel screening
      approaches that are noninvasive, sensitive, and more affordable compared with
      traditional structural examinations. 

PMID- 25841450
TI  - The future of clinical research in oncology: where are we heading to?
AB  - Despite considerable investment in oncological research, the rate of improvement
      in cancer treatments remains frustratingly slow and the attrition rate in
      anticancer drug development has reached exasperatingly high levels. New skills
      are required to expand upon platforms to integrate clinical, biological and
      imaging data in the decision making process so that we can control the attrition
      rate of new drugs and/or determine tumor molecular sub-entities which will
      ultimately benefit new therapeutic strategies. Furthermore, modern clinical
      trials will be unable to generate reliable and robust evidence if they are not
      quality assured. Decreasing the number of poorly designed clinical trials through
      stronger collaboration between industry and academia is a win-win situation and
      will reduce the current high attrition rate and minimize exposure of patients to
      ineffective investigational therapies. 

PMID- 25841451
TI  - Paradigm of polyendocrine therapy in endocrine responsive breast cancer: the role
      of fulvestrant.

PMID- 25841452
TI  - Systemic treatment of cutaneous and mucosal melanoma.

PMID- 25841453
TI  - Melanoma adjuvant therapy.
AB  - The risk of recurrence and death after complete surgical resection of clinically
      detectable primary cutaneous melanoma ranges from low, intermediate to high risk
      depending on the stage of disease at diagnosis. This is defined by the depth,
      ulceration status and mitotic rate of the primary tumor, the presence of regional
      nodal disease or distant metastasis. For high-risk melanoma, adjuvant therapy
      aims at eradicating melanoma micrometastases in those patients that carry an
      unacceptable risk of mortality from melanoma recurrence. The ultimate goal of
      adjuvant therapy is to provide a potential cure before progression into advanced
      inoperable stages. After decades of randomized clinical trials, interferon-alpha
      alone has been shown to have a significant impact on relapse free survival and at
      high dosage on overall survival. These survival benefits were seen in comparison
      to observation (E1684 trial) and the ganglioside GMK vaccine (E1694 trial).
      Advances in our understanding of melanoma molecular biology and host immunology
      have given ways to novel targets and therapeutic agents that have demonstrated
      unprecedented results in the management of metastatic disease and currently are
      being tested in the adjuvant stetting where recent data support a significant
      clinical impact of adjuvant ipilimumab. Here, we review the standard of care
      melanoma adjuvant therapy along with the main completed, current and planned
      clinical trials. 

PMID- 25841454
TI  - Treatment of BRAF-mutated advanced cutaneous melanoma.
AB  - The field of melanoma oncology has recently awakened with groundbreaking
      scientific advances and innovative therapeutic strategies. New groups of small
      molecule kinase inhibitors targeting the aberrant mitogen-activated protein
      kinase (MAPK) pathway activation mediating tumor growth and survival have
      revolutionized the therapeutic approach to advanced melanoma. BRAF and MEK
      inhibitors are the first groups of agents that improved all clinical efficacy
      endpoints, including response rate, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall
      survival (OS), in patients with BRAF-mutated advanced melanoma when compared with
      standard chemotherapy in randomized phase III studies. However, despite the
      impressive clinical responses in patients with BRAF mutant advanced melanoma,
      duration of response to MAPK pathway-targeted therapy remains limited,
      implicating rapid emergence of drug resistance. Diverse strategies to overcome
      tumor resistance to MAPK inhibitors, the focus of today's translational and
      clinical research, will further improve the clinical outcome for patients with
      BRAF-mutated advanced melanoma in the near future. 

PMID- 25841455
TI  - BRAF, MEK and KIT inhibitors for melanoma: adverse events and their management.
AB  - The introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of malignant
      melanoma has led to unprecedented response rates with superior overall survival
      rates in patients with targetable kinase mutations. Even though targeted, the
      effects of these new therapies are not limited to the cancer cells and induce a
      wide array of different adverse events (AEs). Most toxicities are mild to
      moderate in severity and often only affect the skin, but quality of life of
      patients is still affected. To prevent dose reduction and/or interruption, a
      sound knowledge of potential AEs and their management is required. BRAF
      inhibitors should not be used in patients with known RAS-mutant tumour in the
      medical history. We review common AEs of BRAF, MEK and KIT inhibitors used for
      the treatment of malignant melanoma and their management. 

PMID- 25841456
TI  - Checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of cutaneous malignant melanoma.
AB  - Advanced malignant melanoma has historically been considered a uniformly lethal
      disease. Recent scientific strides have led to unprecedented understanding of
      both the molecular alterations and the mechanisms of immune evasion in this
      malignancy. The realization that an intense and dynamic interplay of stimulatory
      and inhibitory signals occurs in the "immune synapses" among T cells, tumor cells
      and dendritic cells, led to the development and subsequent clinical testing of
      agonist and antagonist monoclonal antibodies (mAb) that can modulate these
      signals. The resulting positive outcomes of the clinical trials utilizing CTLA-4,
      PD-1 and PD-L1 modulating drugs, has catapulted the field of immunotherapy into
      the realm of standard treatment. In this article we review the most important
      agents and clinical data feeding the ongoing paradigm change in the treatment of
      advanced melanoma. 

PMID- 25841457
TI  - Toxicity of checkpoint inhibitors.
AB  - Immunologic checkpoint inhibitor is a new class of antineoplastic drugs which
      mechanism of action depends on the interaction with the immune system. The first
      in class was ipilimumab, anti-CTLA4, and soon the anti-PD1 (Programmed Death 1)
      and anti-PDL1 are expected to be available. Although the profile of adverse
      events is unique, they are predictable and, by complying with the guidelines
      available, the management of these drugs is safe in the great majority of
      patients. Here, it is provided a review of adverse events and their management. 

PMID- 25841458
TI  - Algorithm for the management of metastatic cutaneous melanoma.
AB  - Over the last 4 years, various drugs have been approved for the treatment of
      metastatic cutaneous melanoma. Ipilimumab, an anti-CTLA-4 inhibitor that
      stimulates antitumor immunity, was the first agent to improve overall survival
      both in first line and in previously treated patients. Ipilimumab results in long
      term disease control in approximately 20% of the patients. Vemurafenib was the
      first BRAF inhibitor (BRAFi) approved and also resulted in improved overall
      survival compared with dacarbazine in patients with BRAF mutated metastatic
      melanoma. More recently, another BRAFi, dabrafenib, and a MEK inhibitor,
      trametinib, were approved either alone or in combination as they each showed
      significant antitumor activity relative to dacarbazine and the combination
      appeared superior to dabrafenib monotherapy. The major feature of such tumor
      targeted therapy is its high response rate (40-70%) and the rapidity of the
      responses, resulting in prompt clinical improvement. However, unlike
      immunotherapy, targeted therapy does not result in long-term treatment free
      survival. In this paper, we discuss how best to integrate the currently available
      treatment options including high-dose interleukin-2 (HD IL-2), systemic
      chemotherapy, ipilimumab and tumor targeted therapy in various clinical
      scenarios. 

PMID- 25841459
TI  - Adjuvant therapy of mucosal melanoma.
AB  - Mucosal melanoma is a rare subtype of melanoma and associated with extremely poor
      prognosis. However, standard adjuvant therapy for mucosal melanoma has not been
      established. Some approaches have been studied to reduce the risk of recurrence
      in patients. These include adjuvant chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted
      therapy, and radiotherapy (RT). In this review we aim to summarize and evaluate
      the therapies in development. 

PMID- 25841460
TI  - Genotyping of mucosal melanoma.
AB  - Mucosal melanoma is rare and associated with extremely poor prognosis. Mucosal
      melanoma has historically been refractory to traditional therapeutic approaches.
      Recently molecularly based targeted drugs show great success in melanoma. The
      success of these drug strategies can be partially attributed to the
      identification of the genetic alterations responsible for the development and
      progression of metastatic melanoma. This review will focus on genes involved in
      two major mucosal melanoma-related signaling pathways, the RAS/RAF/mitogen
      activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases
      (PI3K)-AKT pathway, and detail the current understanding of their roles in
      melanoma progression. Additional mutations in key genes, such as KIT, GNAQ and
      MITF, in mucosal melanoma will also be introduced. Finally, an overview of the
      current targeted therapy landscape will be provided. 

PMID- 25841461
TI  - Treatment of KIT-mutated metastatic mucosal melanoma.
AB  - Mucosal melanoma is a rare, aggressive histologic subtype of malignant melanoma,
      and prognosis for patients with metastatic mucosal melanoma is very poor. In
      general, conventional cytotoxic agents alone or in combination with immunologic
      drugs have limited clinical benefit. Advances in molecular analytic techniques
      have helped researchers discover genetic aberrations in KIT, a receptor tyrosine
      kinase, in nearly 40% of patients with mucosal melanoma. Preclinical studies have
      demonstrated that hot-spot mutations, mostly substitutions in exons 11 and 13,
      result in constitutive activation of KIT and its downstream signal transduction
      pathways, such as the MEK/ERK, PI3K/AKT and JAK/STAT pathways. KIT inhibitors,
      most notably imatinib, have shown promising clinical activity in KIT-mutant
      advanced melanoma, including mucosal melanoma, with clinical response rates
      exceeding 35% in patients with hot-spot mutations in exon 11 or 13 and/or a high
      mutant/wild-type allelic ratio. However, the duration of disease control is
      rather short in general, and treatment with KIT inhibitors as single agents is
      not optimal. Well-designed mechanistic studies aimed at assessing molecular
      differences between various KIT mutations or other aberrations and mechanisms of
      resistance are urgently needed to improve KIT-targeting therapy for melanoma. In
      addition, with availability of checkpoint inhibitors, such as anti-CTLA4 and/or
      anti-PD-1 antibodies, immunotherapies using those inhibitors alone or in
      combinations of such immunotherapies with KIT inhibitors may lead to more
      effective therapeutic regimens. This review discusses the rationale for KIT
      inhibitor therapy in patients with metastatic mucosal melanoma and the findings
      of preclinical and clinical studies of KIT inhibitors in this patient population.

PMID- 25841462
TI  - Chemotherapy, biochemotherapy and anti-VEGF therapy in metastatic mucosal
      melanoma.
AB  - Mucosal melanomas arise from melanocytes located at various mucosal membranes,
      which demonstrate a clear demographic and ethnic disparity. This subtype of
      melanoma has more aggressive course and poorer prognosis than other subsets of
      melanomas. Due to their rarity, there is no well-established protocol of staging
      and treatment of mucosal melanomas. Significant advances have been achieved in
      novel immunotherapeutic and specific targeted agents for metastatic melanomas.
      For mucosal melanoma patients especially without known gene mutation, anti
      angiogenic therapy combined with chemotherapy or other targeted drugs has shown
      promising efficacy, either as first- or second-line treatment. In some subset
      analysis, patients with mucosal melanoma, harboring wild type BRAF, might get
      more clinical and survival benefits than cutaneous ones. Therefore it is rational
      to further study these therapeutic strategies in the group of mucosal melanoma.
      Chemotherapy or biochemotherapy only showed limited efficacy without significant
      survival improvement, but larger sample size study is still required. Herein we
      presented a comprehensive review of chemotherapy/biochemotherapy and anti
      vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy in metastatic mucosal
      melanoma. 

PMID- 25841463
TI  - Checkpoint inhibitors in treatment of metastatic mucosal melanoma.
AB  - Mucosal melanoma (MM) is rare and of extremely poor prognosis. Although
      significant progress has been made in developing new therapies for patients with
      metastatic melanoma arising from the cutaneous, knowledge about the effects of
      treatments for patients with MM is limited. In this review we aim to summarize
      and evaluate related trials. 

PMID- 25841464
TI  - Treatment algorithm of metastatic mucosal melanoma.
AB  - Mucosal melanoma is usually considered as the most aggressive and treatment
      resistant subtype of melanoma. The unsatisfactory results of standard clinical
      therapies for metastatic melanoma highlight the needs for effective new
      therapeutic strategies. Recent successes in the development of new therapies for
      metastatic melanoma, such as inhibitors for mitogen-activated protein kinase
      (MAPK) pathway and blocking antibodies against cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated
      antigen-4 (CTLA-4) or programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1)/programmed cell
      death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway, have yielded promising results, expanding the
      continually evolving landscape of therapeutic options for patients with this
      disease. In this chapter we review chemotherapies, immunotherapies, targeted
      therapies and angiogenesis therapies in metastatic mucosal melanoma and discuss
      their implications. 

PMID- 25841465
TI  - Biomarker based clinical trial design.
AB  - The established molecular heterogeneity of human cancers and the subsequent
      stratification of conventional diagnostic categories require the development of
      new paradigms for the development of a reliable basis for predictive medicine. We
      review clinical trial designs for the development of new therapeutics and
      predictive biomarkers to inform their use. We cover designs for a wide range of
      settings. At one extreme is the development of a new drug with a single biomarker
      and strong biological evidence that marker negative patients are unlikely to
      benefit from the new drug. At the other extreme are phase III clinical trials
      involving both genome-wide discovery and internal validation of a predictive
      classifier that identifies the patients most likely and unlikely to benefit from
      the new drug. 

PMID- 25841466
TI  - On independent data monitoring committees in oncology clinical trials.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An independent data safety monitoring committee (IDMC) that is
      established to monitor the safety of participants in a clinical trial has, as its
      primary purpose, the protection of participants in the trial and the maintenance
      of the integrity of the trial. The IDMC should operate under a clear charter,
      with expectations understood by all its members. The investigators and sponsors
      should trust their IDMCs and give the IDMC the tools that it needs to operate
      effectively. The need to separate the investigators of randomized clinical trials
      from ongoing data has become widely appreciated. Especially when the study in
      question is a so-called 'phase III', or confirmatory, trial, knowledge of ongoing
      results can subtly or explicitly affect the care of participants in the trial,
      the methods of data collection, and the recruitment of new participants into the
      trial. These changes, if data-driven, can induce bias and therefore affect the
      scientific integrity of the trial. Failure to monitor the ongoing data, however,
      may put patients at undesirable risk, especially if emerging data indicate an
      unknown adverse consequence of therapy. The use of IDMCs has increased perhaps in
      response to the growing sophistication of the community of clinical trialists,
      the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) draft guidance on data monitoring
      committees, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s current rules for data
      monitoring plans, and the Data Monitoring Committees: Lessons, Ethics, Statistics
      Study Group from the UK National Health Service (DAMOCLES) recommendations.
      METHODS: This article summarizes and describes the design and operations of IDMCs
      in oncology. RESULTS: IDMCs in oncology share many similarities with IDMCs in
      other disease areas, but the particular nature of cancer patients affects the
      operation of these committees. COMMENTS: IDMC are important in oncology clinical
      trials because of the severity of illness and the often toxic effects of
      treatments.

PMID- 25841467
TI  - What can we do in the journey of fighting cancer?

PMID- 25841468
TI  - Pathophysiology of nausea and vomiting in palliative medicine.
AB  - Nausea/vomiting remains a significant problem in medicine, especially in patients
      with chronic illnesses. The incidence and patient distress level from nausea and
      vomiting are underestimated by health care providers. A thorough patient
      evaluation followed by rational polypharmacy and a multimodal treatment approach
      may minimize the occurrence and intensity of nausea/vomiting. Utilizing new
      techniques (e.g., PET imaging of the CNS with novel radiotracers, functional
      Magnetic Resonance Imaging), clinicians could have a greater chance to elucidate
      which receptors may be contributing to an individual's experience of nausea and
      vomiting and the relative importance of each. Future research into assessing
      precise mechanisms of nausea and vomiting in particular patients may enable
      clinicians to design the most appropriate combinations of antiemetics in efforts
      to achieve the most effective therapy with the least side effects. Individually
      tailored antiemetic "cocktails," based on patient specific pathophysiology, may
      lead to optimal treatment outcomes. 

PMID- 25841469
TI  - Postoperative nausea and vomiting.
AB  - Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) remains a significant clinical issue
      that can detract from patients' quality of life in hospital/treatment facility,
      as well as in the days immediately postdischarge. In addition, PONV may increase
      perioperative costs, increase perioperative morbidity, increase postanesthesia
      care unit stay, prolong hospital stays, length of stay/delay discharge, delay the
      time that the patient can go back to work, and lead to readmissions. Despite the
      existence of multiple tools to stratify patients according to their risk of
      developing PONV and multiple PONV treatment guidelines, clinicians do not appear
      to systematically address the treatment and/or prophylaxis of PONV in a uniform
      fashion with both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic strategies in attempts to
      minimize PONV occurrences. 

PMID- 25841470
TI  - An overview of nausea/vomiting in palliative medicine.
AB  - Nausea, vomiting and retching are among the most distressing symptoms that
      palliative care may experience. This article presents a brief overview of various
      medical conditions/treatments that may lead to nausea/vomiting/retching as well
      as potential mechanisms/neurotransmitters/receptors that may be involved and thus
      may represent therapeutic targets for antiemetic treatments. 

PMID- 25841471
TI  - 5-HT3 receptor antagonists for the treatment of nausea/vomiting.
AB  - It is well appreciated that a number of things (e.g., various insults,
      chemotherapeutic agents, radiation) may lead to the release of serotonin from the
      enterochromaffin of the gastrointestinal tract. Released serotonin may then bind
      to certain 5-HT3 receptors and promote nausea/vomiting. 5-HT3 receptor
      antagonists may ameliorate nausea/vomiting in a number of circumstances and have
      been utilized as important antiemetics for multiple conditions such as
      chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting (CINV), radiation-induced emesis (RIS), and
      postoperative nausea/vomiting (PONV). 

PMID- 25841472
TI  - Opioid-induced nausea and vomiting.
AB  - Opioids are broad spectrum analgesics that are an integral part of the
      therapeutic armamentarium to combat pain in the palliative care population.
      Unfortunately, among the adverse effects of opioids that may be experienced along
      with analgesia is nausea, vomiting, and/or retching. Although it is conceivable
      that in the future; combination agents (opioids combined with agents which may
      nullify emetic effects) currently; nausea/vomiting remains a significant issue
      for certain patients. However, there exists potential current strategies that may
      be useful in efforts to diminish the frequency and/or intensity of opioid-induced
      nausea/ vomiting. 

PMID- 25841473
TI  - Neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
AB  - Chemotherapy can be a life-prolonging treatment for many cancer patients, but it
      is often associated with profound nausea and vomiting that is so distressing that
      patients may delay or decline treatment to avoid these side effects. The
      discovery of several NK1 receptor antagonists is a big revolution to dealt this
      problem. NK1 receptor antagonists prevent both acute and delayed chemotherapy
      induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). These agents act centrally at NK-1 receptors
      in vomiting centers within the central nervous system to block their activation
      by substance P released as an unwanted consequence of chemotherapy. By
      controlling nausea and vomiting, these agents help improve patients' daily living
      and their ability to complete multiple cycles of chemotherapy. They are effective
      for both moderately and highly emetogenic chemotherapy regimens. Their use might
      be associated with increased infection rates; however, additional appraisal of
      specific data from RCTs is needed. 

PMID- 25841474
TI  - Dopamine receptor antagonists.
AB  - Intractable nausea and/or vomiting is a serious and significant clinical dilemma
      that may greatly detract from quality of life. One of the first classes of
      antiemetic agents used as well as one of the commonest classes of antiemetic
      agents used is that of the dopamine receptor antagonists. Dopamine receptor
      antagonists are useful antiemetic agents, however, unfortunately, clinicians have
      on occasion resorted to switching from one dopamine receptor antagonist to
      another dopamine receptor antagonist when the initial dopamine receptor
      antagonist was ineffective rather than adding on a second antiemetic agent from a
      totally different class (e.g., 5-HT3 receptor antagonists, NK-1 receptor
      antagonists). 

PMID- 25841475
TI  - Understanding vomiting from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine.
AB  - Vomiting is a common clinical symptom in which the conditions associated with
      impaired homeostasis and qi flow ascend reversely within the stomach, resulting
      in the expulsion of the stomach's contents through the mouth. The stomach,
      located in the middle warmer (also known as Zhong Jiao), is primarily responsible
      for receiving and digesting food and liquid, and its qi typically flows downward.
      Various unfavorable conditions associated with the environment, food, mental
      health, or physiological stress can compromise the stomach, thereby leading to a
      loss of gastric homeostasis, which often triggers vomiting. However, regardless
      of external factors or internal weaknesses, the direct cause of vomiting is the
      loss of gastric homeostasis and the ascending qi flow. Traditional Chinese
      medicine (TCM) built its understanding of vomiting from the long-term
      accumulation of clinical observations and treatments, which were used to
      gradually improve and develop relevant theories, diagnoses, and treatments. This
      review paper presents vomiting from the nonaggressive perspective of TCM;
      specifically, we summarize TCM's unique insights with regard to vomiting across
      various aspects including its etiology, diagnosis, locations, relationships with
      other organs, dialectical treatment, and drug and medical characteristics. By
      revealing the abundance of TCM's theoretical and clinical knowledge concerning
      vomiting, we attempt to integrate Chinese and western medicines to treat it. In
      addition, the valuable knowledge that TCM provides with regard to vomiting
      certainly deserves better understanding to develop and improve modern medicine. 

PMID- 25841476
TI  - Medication related nausea and vomiting in palliative medicine.
AB  - There are multiple potential states and/or symptoms that may occur in the
      palliative care population including: pain, nausea/vomiting, fatigue, anorexia,
      dyspnea, hiccups, cough, constipation, abdominal cramps/bloating, diarrhea,
      pruritis, depression/anxiety, dysphagia and sleep disturbances. Some of this may
      be the direct result of medications or drug-drug interactions from agents
      prescribed to treat the medical conditions that the patient has. Medication
      related nausea and vomiting (MRNV) is a significant problem in palliative
      medicine that is reasonably common likely due to the multiple medications that
      these patients are often taking. 

PMID- 25841477
TI  - Pain intensity in cancer.

PMID- 25841478
TI  - Concept mapping in palliative medicine research.
AB  - Palliative care adopts a share care model that emphasizes the collaboration among
      patients, families, and health care providers. Different views and different
      priority of care are often reported. Concept mapping is a research methodology
      that can best obtain a big picture as well as a clustering of sub-themes that are
      identified by different parties involved in palliative care. Concept mapping
      adopts qualitative method to identify themes, and then uses quantitative
      techniques such as multidimensional scaling to create a map that shows the
      patterns of relationships between themes. The method draws the shared expertise
      of a studied group by constructing graphic models of an issue in palliative
      medicine examined by the group. This paper will introduce the approach of concept
      mapping and its use in palliative medicine research. Issues such as sample size
      calculation and validity and reliability will be discussed. 

PMID- 25841479
TI  - Neuropathic pain in cancer.
AB  - Unrelieved neuropathic pain continues to be a substantial health problem in a
      cancer patient arises either due to disease itself or its treatment. Review of
      literature showed that neuropathic pain has high prevalence rate, greater
      severity and analgesic requirement with worse quality of life. Underreporting by
      patient and under treatment by physician is an important causative factor of
      indefinite persistence of neuropathic pain. Careful history taking, elaborated
      physical examination, patient's self report and diagnostic tools with high
      sensitivity and specificity are needed for accurate assessment of neuropathic
      pain. Neuropathic cancer pain is difficult to treat and also shows poor response
      to opioids so in this situation alternate a treatment strategy that also includes
      psycosocial and spiritual counseling with yoga and meditation exercises under the
      palliative care framework should be practiced. To find out the burden and
      estimation of resource generation of this widely recognized problem, accurate
      establishment of incidence, prevalence, severity, and effectiveness of treatment
      is quite mandatory. Complex phenomenon of neuropathic pain abolishes
      establishment of early diagnosis and accurate etiology of this symptom,
      emphasizes the need of sensitive and reliable clinical grading scale,
      international classification system and validated diagnostic tools that
      correspond with clinical assessment. Multiple studies towards this direction has
      been culminated and some are still going on, though the data and literature is
      very scant and require further research for the complete evaluation of
      neuropathic pain. 

PMID- 25841480
TI  - Fentanyl for episodic dyspnoea in cancer patients.
AB  - Two different patterns of breathlessness have been identified: chronic or
      continuous breathlessness and breathlessness crisis (acute, incident, episodic,
      breakthrough breathlessness). Meta-analysis and systematic reviews prove that
      opioids are beneficial in either opioid-naive or -tolerant patients. However,
      data from two recent randomised controlled trials were not able to show the
      effectiveness of fentanyl for the relief of exertion-induced dyspnoea. 

PMID- 25841481
TI  - End of life care in hematology: still a challenging concern.
AB  - The majority of patients with hematological malignancies (HM) may experience
      troublesome symptoms and complicating clinical syndromes throughout all phases of
      disease. Therefore, among the current concepts concerning the comprehensive
      management of hematological patients, palliative care should exert a more ever
      expanding role, in particular in the advanced phases of disease, as there are
      special clinical needs (such as blood transfusions and anti-infective
      treatments), presented by this peculiar category of cancer patients. However,
      reported experiences on advanced HM patients claimed a too intensive level of
      medical care during the last week of life for which the needs of future and
      collaborative researches in order to set a proper allocation of medical resources
      and the optimal end-of-life care in the hematologic setting are highly awaited.
      Indeed, the most important aspect of caring for these suffering patients is to
      ameliorate or restore their quality of life (QoL) though a highly humanized
      approach, whereas technological and pharmacological measures should be limited
      enough to control the symptoms burden and the several kinds of sufferance that
      may complicate the final phase of disease course. 

PMID- 25841482
TI  - Lack of patient-reported outcomes assessment in phase III breast cancer studies:
      a missed opportunity for informed decision making.
AB  - A phase III study comparing capecitabine monotherapy to combination treatment
      with capecitabine and sunitinib in patients with metastatic breast cancer failed
      to demonstrate a benefit in terms of progression-free or overall survival. Both
      regimens were reasonably well tolerated with some differences noted in the
      specific toxicity profiles. However, the study failed to incorporate an
      assessment of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) such as self-reported pain,
      quality of life, or employment outcomes. This is a missed opportunity. If more
      clinical trials included such measures, they would provide valuable information
      to patients and clinicians choosing from a wide array of available and otherwise
      similarly effective systemic therapies for metastatic breast cancer. 

PMID- 25841483
TI  - Haematology and palliative medicine: moving forward.
AB  - The documentation of details on the provision of medical care for haematology
      patients in the palliative care setting not only provides useful baseline
      information for clinical consideration and debate, but signals that the
      scholarship in this area has come of age. Previously the research literature
      predominantly centred on the question of whether palliative medicine could or
      should be integrated into the care of haematology patients. The assumption is now
      in the affirmative and the concern becomes how best to effectively achieve this
      end. 

PMID- 25841484
TI  - Patient reported outcomes from LUX-Lung 3: first-line afatinib is superior to
      chemotherapy-would patients agree?
AB  - The LUX-Lung 3 trial was an important randomized phase 3 trial in patients with
      EGFR mutant advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here, patients were
      randomized to either afatinib or cisplatin-pemetrexed and the primary endpoint of
      progression-free survival (PFS) was easily met (HR=0.58, P=0.001). This was the
      first large-scale trial of this type using a modern chemotherapy comparator,
      including Asian and non-Asian patients, central radiology review, and utilizing
      comprehensive patient-reported outcomes. Whilst efficacy for afatinib was
      markedly superior to chemotherapy, do the patient-reported outcomes reflect this
      superiority? The symptom control and quality of life (QoL) data from this trial
      has now been published. Analysis of these demonstrate clear superiority of
      afatinib over chemotherapy for delay in cough deterioration, and dyspnoea.
      Notably, given the toxicity profile of afatinib, these improvements translated
      into significant improvements in global health status, physical, role, and
      cognitive functioning. The clinical benefits for afatinib over cisplatin
      pemetrexed chemotherapy for EGFR mutation-positive advanced non-small cell lung
      patients seem overwhelming, and are clinically meaningful. These results are also
      consistent with QoL data from other trials of gefitinib/erlotinib, but much more
      robust, given the larger patient numbers. Would patients agree that afatinib is
      superior to chemotherapy? On the basis of data presented, the answer is probably
      "Yes". However, the key unanswered question remaining is "Which is the best EGFR
      tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) to use up front?" and we will have to wait until
      ongoing trial data can help answer this. 

PMID- 25841485
TI  - Acupuncture of the Five Shu Acupoints in spleen meridian to lower blood uric acid
      level.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Based on the principle of "spleen governing transportation and
      transformation", we have found that acupuncture of the Five Shu Acupoints in
      spleen meridian can remarkably lower the blood uric acid levels in patients with
      primary hyperuricemia. OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical efficacy of the
      acupuncture of the Five Shu Acupoints in spleen meridian in reducing the blood
      uric acid level and its relevant mechanism. METHODS: A total of 32 patients with
      primary hyperuricemia were enrolled in this study. They were allowed to have free
      access to diets. The initial treatment for the concomitant diseases (but not
      including the therapy that might affect uric acid metabolism) was kept unchanged.
      The observation was formally initiated at 8:00 am on day 1. Acupuncture was not
      performed within the 48 hours, and only the 24-hour urine volume was recorded.
      The urine uric acid concentration and urinary creatinine concentration were
      measured from 25 to 48 hours. On the 46th hour, venous blood samples were
      collected to detect blood uric acid and creatinine concentrations. After the 48th
      hour, the patients received acupuncture of the Five Shu Acupoints in spleen
      meridian each morning. Once Qi was encountered, retain the needle for 30 min. The
      acupuncture was performed once daily for ten consecutive days. The 24-hour urine
      volume was recorded daily, and the fasting indicators were detected on the
      morning of the 11th day. RESULTS: After the acupuncture, the blood uric acid
      level significantly decreased in patients with increased production
      (overproduction) of uric acid, decreased excretion (underexcretion) of uric acid,
      and mixed type (all P<0.01). In the underexcretion type, the urine uric acid
      concentration significantly increased after the treatment (P<0.01). After the
      acupuncture, the fraction excretion of uric acid (FEUA) significantly increased
      in the underexcretion type and mixed type (P<0.01) and decreased in the
      overproduction type (P<0.01). After the acupuncture, the serum uric acid
      concentration decreased by 16.32-18.29% whereas the 24-hour urine volume
      increased by 24.22-29.32%. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture of the Five Shu Acupoints in
      spleen meridian can lower the blood uric acid levels by promoting uric acid
      excretion the and increasing urine volume.

PMID- 25841486
TI  - Exploring obstacles of administrating AIDS control and prevention strategies in
      Iran.
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIM: Executing a strategy is a complicate process that seeks to
      reach the best results for guarantee some achievements. To explore barriers
      related to executing diseases prevention and control, is crucial to resolve
      weakness and improve administration of therapeutic procedure. This study aims to
      explore obstacles of implementing acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
      prevention and control strategies in Mazandaran province of Iran. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: This cross sectional study was conducted during 2012. The samples
      included 130 managers, experts and employees of Mazandaran University of Medical
      science of Iran and the other organization and agencies participating in an AIDS
      national program. The data were analysed by the chi-square method through SPSS
      software. RESULTS: The results showed that among eight factors of obstacles of
      implementing strategy including educational, technological, cultural,
      communication, legal, political, organizational and economic factors, technology
      and political issues are recognized as obstacles. CONCLUSIONS: Technology as an
      inter-organizational factor and political factors as out-organizational factors,
      could affect the successful executing of AIDS control and prevention strategies,
      therefore the health care providers should pay more attention on these matters.

PMID- 25841487
TI  - Effectiveness of acupoint sticking therapy in common chronic diseases, with
      disease differentiation principle.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the effectiveness of acupoint sticking therapy (AST) in
      three common chronic diseases including respiratory diseases, digestive system
      diseases, and chronic pain according to the disease differentiation principle.
      METHODS: A total of 200 eligible patients with respiratory diseases, digestive
      diseases, or chronic pain were enrolled in this study. AST was applied based on
      their specific conditions. The treatment effectiveness was compared three months
      later. RESULTS: The overall positive response rate was 87.50%, with 54.00%
      overall rate of significant effectiveness. For the respiratory diseases,
      digestive diseases, and chronic pain, the overall response rate was 87.69%,
      80.00%, and 93.33%, respectively (P>0.05), whereas the rate of significant
      effectiveness was 46.15%, 43.33%, and 69.33% (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: AST is
      effective for all these three common chronic diseases, particularly for the
      chronic pain.

PMID- 25841488
TI  - A Comprehensive Transcriptomic and Proteomic Analysis of Hydra Head Regeneration.
AB  - The cnidarian freshwater polyp Hydra sp. exhibits an unparalleled regeneration
      capacity in the animal kingdom. Using an integrative transcriptomic and stable
      isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture proteomic/phosphoproteomic
      approach, we studied stem cell-based regeneration in Hydra polyps. As major
      contributors to head regeneration, we identified diverse signaling pathways
      adopted for the regeneration response as well as enriched novel genes. Our global
      analysis reveals two distinct molecular cascades: an early injury response and a
      subsequent, signaling driven patterning of the regenerating tissue. A key factor
      of the initial injury response is a general stabilization of proteins and a net
      upregulation of transcripts, which is followed by a subsequent activation cascade
      of signaling molecules including Wnts and transforming growth factor (TGF) beta
      related factors. We observed moderate overlap between the factors contributing to
      proteomic and transcriptomic responses suggesting a decoupled regulation between
      the transcriptional and translational levels. Our data also indicate that
      interstitial stem cells and their derivatives (e.g., neurons) have no major role
      in Hydra head regeneration. Remarkably, we found an enrichment of evolutionarily
      more recent genes in the early regeneration response, whereas conserved genes are
      more enriched in the late phase. In addition, genes specific to the early injury
      response were enriched in transposon insertions. Genetic dynamicity and taxon
      specific factors might therefore play a hitherto underestimated role in Hydra
      regeneration. 

PMID- 25841489
TI  - Functional Pairing of Class B1 Ligand-GPCR in Cephalochordate Provides Evidence
      of the Origin of PTH and PACAP/Glucagon Receptor Family.
AB  - Several hypotheses have been proposed regarding the origin and evolution of the
      secretin family of peptides and receptors. However, identification of homologous
      ligand-receptor pairs in invertebrates and vertebrates is difficult because of
      the low levels of sequence identity between orthologs of distant species. In this
      study, five receptors structurally related to the vertebrate class B1 G protein
      coupled receptor (GPCR) family were characterized from amphioxus (Branchiostoma
      floridae). Phylogenetic analysis showed that they clustered with vertebrate
      parathyroid hormone receptors (PTHR) and pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating
      polypeptide (PACAP)/glucagon receptors. These PTHR-like receptors shared synteny
      with several PTH and PACAP/glucagon receptors identified in spotted gar, Xenopus,
      and human, indicating that amphioxus preserves the ancestral chordate genomic
      organization of these receptor subfamilies. According to recent data by Mirabeau
      and Joly, amphioxus also expresses putative peptide ligands including homologs of
      PTH (bfPTH1 and 2) and PACAP/GLUC-like peptides (bfPACAP/GLUCs) that may interact
      with these receptors. Functional analyses showed that bfPTH1 and bfPTH2 activated
      one of the amphioxus receptors (bf98C) whereas bfPACAP/GLUCs strongly interacted
      with bf95. In summary, our data confirm the presence of PTH and PACAP/GLUC ligand
      receptor pairs in amphioxus, demonstrating that functional homologs of vertebrate
      PTH and PACAP/glucagon GPCR subfamilies arose before the cephalochordate
      divergence from the ancestor of tunicates and vertebrates. 

PMID- 25841490
TI  - A Robust ANOVA Approach to Estimating a Phylogeny from Multiple Genes.
AB  - In this article, we address the issue of estimating the phylogenetic tree based
      on sequence data across a set of genes. Recognizing that the individual gene
      trees may not all share the same evolutionary history due to lateral gene
      transfer or differences in rates of evolution for instance, we develop a robust
      algorithm for tree estimation based on pairwise distances computed gene by gene.
      A robust analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to combine the distances across all
      genes giving a summary distance for all genes. The tree can then be constructed
      using any distance method such as BIONJ. Using the weights from the robust ANOVA,
      we can then identify the outlying genes and taxa for further examination. As the
      method is based on distances, computation is much faster than maximum likelihood
      on the concatenated genes. It is also very straightforward to carry out a
      bootstrap analysis using standard methods for regression models. We test our
      methods in a comprehensive simulation study and apply them to three data sets
      recently analyzed in the literature. 

PMID- 25841491
TI  - Causes and management of early colorectal cancer.

PMID- 25841492
TI  - Practical genetics of colorectal cancer.
AB  - Hereditary colorectal cancer (CRC) is highly heterogeneous, both genotypically
      and phenotypically. The most frequently occurring hereditary colorectal cancer
      syndrome is Lynch syndrome, accounting for approximately 3% of the total
      colorectal cancer burden. Polyposis syndromes, such as familial adenomatous
      polyposis, account for a lesser percentage. Familial colorectal cancer, defined
      by family history, occurs in an estimated 20% of all colorectal cancer cases.
      With a worldwide annual colorectal cancer incidence of over one million, and
      annual mortality of over 600,000, hereditary and familial forms of colorectal
      cancer are a major public health problem. Lynch syndrome is attributable to DNA
      mismatch repair germline mutations, with the MSH2, MLH1, MSH6, and PMS2 genes
      being implicated. The characteristics of Lynch syndrome-associated colorectal
      tumors, including early age of onset and predilection to the proximal colon,
      mandate surveillance by colonoscopy beginning by age 20 to 25 and repeated every
      other year through age 40 and annually thereafter. Besides colorectal cancer,
      Lynch syndrome also predisposes to a litany of extracolonic cancers, foremost of
      which is endometrial cancer, followed by cancer of the ovary, stomach, renal
      pelvis and ureter, small bowel, hepatobiliary tract, pancreas, glioblastoma
      multiforme in the Turcot's variant, and sebaceous skin tumors in the Muir-Torre
      variant and, more recently identified, cancers of the breast and prostate. The
      most common polyposis syndrome is familial adenomatous polyposis, caused by
      mutations in the APC gene. Affected individuals have multiple colonic adenomas
      and, without treatment invariably develop colorectal cancer. Colonic surveillance
      with polypectomy may be pursued until the appearance of multiple colonic
      adenomas, at which time prophylactic colectomy should be considered. Extra
      intestinal manifestations include desmoid tumor, hepatoblastoma, thyroid
      carcinoma, and medulloblastoma. Other polyposis syndromes include the
      hamartomatous polyp syndromes, including juvenile polyposis syndrome, Peutz
      Jeghers syndrome, Cowden syndrome, and Bannayan-Ruvalcaba-Riley syndrome. 

PMID- 25841494
TI  - Current surgical considerations for colorectal cancer.

PMID- 25841493
TI  - Prevention of colorectal cancer and dietary management.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This systematic review focuses on dietary and lifestyle risk factors
      for colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention and chemoprevention among high-risk
      populations. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We searched PubMed for English-language
      articles about dietary components, lifestyle risk factors, and chemoprevention
      agents in relation to colorectal cancer and their references published from 1980
      through 2013. We reviewed articles jointly for the most clinically important
      information, emphasizing randomized trials and meta-analyses where available.
      RESULTS: There is convincing evidence that intake of garlic, vitamin B6 and
      magnesium, active living, maintaining a healthy weight and waist, avoiding or
      reducing red meat, alcohol, and smoking, as well as hormone replacement therapy
      among women may significantly protect against developing colorectal cancer. There
      is less consistent evidence for fruit and vegetable intake (fiber and folate),
      fish and Omega-3 fatty acids, selenium, dairy, calcium and vitamin D. For high
      risk populations, aspirin have been shown to protect against the development of
      colonic adenomas and CRC, while a minimal effective dose remains unclear.
      CONCLUSIONS: Colorectal cancer can be prevented in general population through
      dietary and lifestyle interventions, and aspirin may be a good choice of
      chemoprevention agent among high risk individuals.

PMID- 25841495
TI  - Surgical treatment of colorectal liver metastases.
AB  - The incidence of colorectal cancer is rising in China. Since nearly 50% of these
      patients will ultimately develop liver metastases, an understanding of the
      surgical management of hepatic metastases is important. Surgical strategies for
      the management of liver metastases have evolved in recent years and now include
      adjunctive procedures such as portal vein embolization and radiofrequency
      ablation, which can help increase the number of patients eligible for potentially
      curative surgical management. In addition, innovations in treatment sequencing,
      including the use of peri-operative chemotherapy and the liver-first approach to
      the management of synchronous liver metastases have helped improve outcomes in
      these patients. Along with such changes in surgical management come new risks,
      such as chemotherapy-induced liver damage, with which the surgeon must be
      prepared to contend. 

PMID- 25841496
TI  - Stage II colon cancer.
AB  - Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third commonest cancer in the Western world.
      Approximately one-quarter of cases are classified as Stage II/Dukes' B, meaning
      that the disease has breached the bowel wall but not spread to draining lymph
      nodes or distant sites. Stage II colon cancer is a heterogeneous disease both
      biologically and in terms of outcome. Although pivotal data have confirmed the
      benefit of adjuvant 5-fluorouracil (FU) chemotherapy following resection of stage
      II tumours the absolute reduction in risk of recurrence is small - 3 to 4
      percentage points - and so most patients treated fail to gain from therapy. In
      contrast to stage III disease, the addition of oxaliplatin to FU as adjuvant
      chemotherapy for stage II disease does not improve outcome. Much attention has
      focused on the identification of biomarkers that identify patients more or less
      likely to benefit from treatment. Recent data confirm that patients with T3
      primary and tumour microsatellite instability (MSI) have excellent prognosis and
      do not require adjuvant chemotherapy. For patients with microsatellite-stable
      disease, a validated recurrence score based on gene expression provides greater
      prognostic information than conventional clinicopathological features alone and
      can be used to inform discussion on the benefits of adjuvant chemotherapy. 

PMID- 25841497
TI  - Adjuvant therapy of stage III colon cancer.
AB  - The decision for adjuvant therapy of colon cancer by both physicians and patients
      requires many factors, including knowledge of the risk for recurrence
      (prognosis), the likelihood of significant clinical benefit (prediction),
      toxicity of treatment, comorbidities, and the patient's understanding and
      acceptance of both the relative and absolute benefit of therapy. To predict the
      risk of recurrence, clinicopathologic features have typically been used such as
      the number of positive and negative nodes, T stage, tumor differentiation,
      obstruction and lymphovascular invasion. More recent quantitative prognostic
      markers include microsatellite instability, with MSI-H conferring better
      prognosis. In addition, in combination with MSI, gene expression profiles have
      been developed which may be especially helpful in stage II disease, and in some
      low risk stage III patients to decide on whether they should receive combination
      chemotherapy, capecitabine or no adjuvant treatment. The standard treatment for
      most stage III patients is a combination of oxaliplatin with infusional and bolus
      5-FU (FOLFOX) or with an oral agent such as capecitabine (XELOX), with equivalent
      results. Although irinotecan is active in advanced colorectal cancer, two trials
      of this drug with 5-FU failed to show improvement over the fluoropyrimidines
      alone. The antiangiogenic agent bevacizumab also failed to improve treatment
      compared to FOLFOX alone, as did the EGFR agent, cetuximab. Studies are currently
      underway to compare the standard 6 months of FOLFOX with 3 months of therapy, to
      reduce the risk of neurotoxocity associate with oxaliplatin, while maintaining
      treatment efficacy. 

PMID- 25841498
TI  - Mining the ACCENT database: a review and update.
AB  - The database of the Adjuvant Colon Cancer End Points (ACCENT) Group was assembled
      to address questions in early stage colon cancer that could be best answered by
      information pooled across many similar trials. Today, the ACCENT database
      contains individual patient-level data from over 33,000 patients enrolled onto 25
      adjuvant colon cancer trials conducted between 1977 and 2008. Since its flagship
      analysis of 3-year disease-free survival as a surrogate endpoint for 5-year
      overall survival in 2005, the ACCENT group has produced many noteworthy
      scientific findings addressing a variety of clinical questions, which we describe
      here. Additionally, we provide an overview of the history, collaboration,
      construction, principles, and future of the ACCENT database, as it has set a
      precedent for multi-trial database creation in other types of cancer. 

PMID- 25841499
TI  - Future of therapy for rectal cancer.
AB  - Since 2004, the standard of care for patients with cT3 and/or N+ rectal cancer
      has been preoperative chemoradiation followed by surgery and postoperative
      adjuvant chemotherapy. A number of advances have occurred and are defining the
      future of rectal cancer therapy. Among these are short course radiation, the
      impact of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, selective radiation and selective
      surgery, and new chemoradiation regimens with novel agents. This review will
      examine these developments and assess their impact on the future therapy of
      rectal cancer. 

PMID- 25841500
TI  - Current focus and future advances for Annals of Palliative Medicine.

PMID- 25841501
TI  - Physical methods in palliation.

PMID- 25841502
TI  - Self-expanding metallic stents and self-expanding plastic stents in the
      palliation of malignant oesophageal dysphagia.
AB  - Endoluminal stenting has revolutionised the practice of gastrointestinal
      endoscopy for many years. What started as rigid, inflexible, plastic stents have
      now evolved into flexible, easy-to-deploy self-expanding stents with a myriad of
      choices, including covered, partially covered and uncovered types. Many of these
      also come along with special features including anti-reflux, anti-migration and
      lasso for stent adjustment and retrieval. Numerous papers with meta-analyses and
      systemic reviews have without doubt confirmed the efficacy, safety and cost
      effectiveness of endoluminal stenting in the palliation of malignant obstruction
      of the oesophagus, stomach, duodenum, colon and the biliary tree. This paper will
      focus on the use of self-expanding plastic stents (SEPS) as well as self
      expanding metallic stents (SEMS) in the palliation of malignant oesophageal
      obstruction. 

PMID- 25841503
TI  - CT image guided thermal ablation techniques for palliation of painful bone
      metastases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Many different treatment methods have been used for pain palliation
      in patients with bone metastases. The ideal treatment has to be fast, safe,
      effective and tolerable for the patient. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and
      safety of computed tomography (CT)-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or
      microwave ablation (MWA) as a minimal invasive method of pain palliation.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of forty-five patients with painful bone
      metastases were included in our study (median age 65.43; range, 36-90 years).
      Thirty patients were treated with RFA and fifteen with MWA, all under CT
      guidance. Lesion diameter was between 2 and 9 cm (mean +/- SD: 3.9+/-2.6 cm).
      Pain was assessed in all patients with the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI). All
      procedures were performed under conscious sedation. RFAs were performed with a
      RITA Model 1500(r) electrosurgical generator with a seven or a nine-array
      multitined electrode depending on the lesion's size. MWAs were done with AMICA
      GEM microwave generator 2,450 MHz connected to a 14- or 16-gauge coaxial antenna.
      Technically successful ablation was considered to be when lesions were treated
      according to protocol and completely covered. After each session a dual-phase
      spiral CT examination with intravenous contrast medium was performed in order to
      evaluate immediate response. Patients were hospitalised and observed for 24-hour
      monitoring. Post-ablation assessment with BPI score and report of the use of
      analgesics was performed with telephone interview one, four and eight weeks after
      the ablation. RESULTS: In both groups there was a significant and similar
      decrease in the mean past day BPI score for worst pain, for average pain and for
      pain interference during daily life in comparison to preprocedural symptoms
      (P<0.001, paired t-test), one, 4 and 8 weeks after treatment. There was also a
      marked decrease (3 out of 45 patients, 4 and 8 weeks after treatment) in the use
      of analgesics. Mean ablation time for MWA was 4.5 minutes, shorter than RFA's
      mean ablation time that was 9.5 minutes but with the same clinical result.
      CONCLUSIONS: RFA and MWA appear to be similarly effective for treatment of
      painful bone metastases. The main difference is that MWA achieves the same
      clinical result faster but in a more expensive way.

PMID- 25841504
TI  - Self-expandable metallic stent placement for palliation in gastric outlet
      obstruction.
AB  - Malignant gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) often has a markedly adverse impact on
      the quality of life (QOL) of patients. Procedures in affected patients should aim
      to reduce obstructive symptoms and enable oral ingestion. Surgical
      gastrojejunostomy (GJJ) has been performed as a conventional palliative
      procedure. Enteral stenting has been increasingly used as an alternative to
      surgical palliation because of its lower invasiveness. Enteral stents used for
      GOO are made of a metal alloy mesh in a cylindrical shape, and are termed self
      expandable metallic stent (SEMS). Of the two placement techniques, over-the-wire
      (OTW) and through-the-scope (TTS) deployment, TTS is easier and is now more
      frequently used. In general, the technical success rate is extremely high, at
      nearly 100%, and the clinical success rate is about 90%, but complications after
      placement can occur, most frequently late-developing stent dysfunction due to
      stent obstruction and migration. Biliary obstruction can occur concurrently with
      GOO, or before or after GOO, particularly in patients with pancreaticobiliary
      malignancies. Considering accessibility to the bile duct, biliary stenting should
      generally be conducted prior to enteral stenting. Transhepatic or transmural
      biliary stenting may be required if transpapillary stenting is not possible.
      Because enteral stenting is more commonly associated with late-developing stent
      dysfunction, it is better suited than GJJ for patients with a short life
      expectancy and poorer performance score. Chemotherapy may be beneficial in
      reducing the risk of stent obstruction, despite the possible risk of migration,
      particularly in patients with GOO due to gastric cancer. Many enteral stents with
      different structures are now commercially available, but the association between
      the design and mechanical properties of a stent and clinical outcomes is still
      poorly understood. Further, no consensus on the benefits of covered SEMS has yet
      been obtained. Further study to verify which types of SEMS are most suited for
      GOO is warranted. 

PMID- 25841505
TI  - Advances in loco-regional palliation of unresectable cholangiocarcinomas.
AB  - Cholangiocarcinoma (CC) represents the second most common primary hepatic
      malignancy after hepatocellular carcinoma, accounting for 10% to 15% of primary
      liver tumors. Its prognosis is often poor due to its late presentation and its
      relative resistance to current chemotherapy and radiotherapy regimens. At the
      time of diagnosis, more than half of the patients are not candidates for surgical
      therapy due to either invasion of vascular structures or distant metastases.
      Therefore, for a large proportion of patients, palliation remains the only option
      for better quality of life and, in some circumstances, longer survival. The main
      goals of palliative interventions for CC are: restoration of the biliary drainage
      and resolution of pruritis caused by obstructive jaundice, improvement of the
      nutritional status and reduction of pain. During the last decades, novel
      therapies have been introduced to optimize the management of patients with
      unresectable CC. These therapies can be resource intensive and have some adverse
      effects; therefore patient selection is crucial. This article discusses the
      current options for palliation of CC. 

PMID- 25841506
TI  - Thoracic reirradiation for lung cancer: a literature review and practical guide.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Approximately half of all patients with lung cancer (LC) experience
      locoregional failure after initial treatment. Historically, thoracic
      reirradiation (ReRT) has been limited by toxicity concerns and lack of robust
      evidence. Our objective was to perform a systematic literature review regarding
      ReRT. METHODS: Search of the English-language literature related to best-practice
      thoracic ReRT (Medline and Embase) was performed. Clinical practice guidelines
      and consensus statements were also reviewed. Data was abstracted regarding
      patient, tumour and radiotherapy characteristics; response rate; overall survival
      (OS); and toxicity. In addition to descriptive analysis, Spearman's test explored
      relationships between RT dose and OS. RESULTS: A total of 379 patients (89% non
      small cell; 11% small cell LC) retreated with radical or palliative intent have
      been described by 13 publications (1982-2014). A total of 86% were symptomatic at
      the time of ReRT; rate of symptom improvement was 69%. Range of reported median
      survivals (MS) was 3-15 months. Median initial (59 Gy; range, 12-80 Gy), ReRT (36
      Gy; range, 12-70 Gy) and combined dose (86 Gy; range, 58-120 Gy) significantly
      correlated with OS, with Spearman's rho values of 0.85 (P=0.002), 0.72 (P=0.006),
      and 0.88 (P=0.001) respectively. Toxicity after ReRT was reported in 17%
      (esophagitis) and 12% (pneumonitis), with RT complications contributing to 2% of
      deaths. CONCLUSIONS: Despite heterogeneity of patient cohorts, RT techniques and
      duration of follow-up, ReRT appears to be a feasible option for recurrent
      thoracic disease. Treatment guidelines derived from this data will guide clinical
      decision-making for both radical- and palliative-intent ReRT.

PMID- 25841507
TI  - Self-expanding metal stents in palliative malignant oesophageal dysplasia.
AB  - Oesophageal cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide.
      At the time of presentation, more than half of patients with oesophageal cancer
      have advanced disease not eligible for curative resection. Due to this, the
      treatment of oesophageal malignancy is usually palliative, with the main aim to
      relieve dysphagia, maintain nutritional intake and occlusion of tracheoesophageal
      fistulas. Palliative surgery offers the optimal alleviation for oesophageal
      obstruction symptoms such as dysphagia and vomiting. However, due to the poor
      prognosis, the short survival time, the significant morbidity and mortality rate
      for surgical intervention, this treatment option cannot be justified to less
      invasive non-surgical techniques such as oesophageal stenting. Oesophageal
      stenting has now become the treatment option of choice for palliative oesophageal
      malignancy. The previously used covered plastic stents were related with high
      migration rates and nowadays have been superseded by self-expandable metal stents
      (SEMS) which comparably have significantly lower migration rates, whilst at the
      same time provide safe, rapid and effective symptomatic relief. Herein, we
      present an up to date review of the current literature regarding malignant
      oesophageal stenting. In particular, the authors will detail important factors in
      patient selection, indications, contraindications, procedural steps,
      complications and stent design. 

PMID- 25841508
TI  - Radiotherapy and radioembolization for liver metastases.
AB  - Liver metastases are a common source of cancer-related morbidity. While systemic
      palliative chemotherapy is an option for patients with significant metastatic
      disease burden, radiotherapy (RT) is a safe, well-tolerated local treatment that
      can offer durable tumor control and relief of symptoms. Innovations in RT
      delivery now allow for treatment of liver metastases in one to five sessions with
      high local control rates. There is a growing body of Phase I-II data supporting
      the use of such RT techniques, including stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT)
      and radioembolization for the treatment of liver metastases. While there are a
      variety of local therapies available to patients with liver metastases, RT should
      be strongly considered in patients with liver metastasis related pain or
      oligometastatic disease not amenable to surgery. We recommend a multidisciplinary
      approach when weighing the risks and benefits of the available local treatment
      modalities for each patient. 

PMID- 25841509
TI  - External beam radiotherapy and bone metastases.
AB  - Management of bone metastasis is a multi-disciplinary effort that involves
      coordination between several medical specialties. External beam radiation therapy
      (EBRT) remains a powerful and efficient method of palliating pain and preventing
      skeletal complications from osseous metastasis. Various fractionation schemes,
      ranging from 8 Gy in a single dose to 30 Gy in 10 fractions, provide equivalent
      pain relief as demonstrated by dozens of randomized clinical trials. Toxicity
      profiles are well established and the treatment is generally well tolerated.
      Radiopharmaceuticals and high-dose, stereotactic radiation therapy are adjuncts
      to EBRT whose role is being elucidated through clinical trials. Multiple
      organizations have compiled guidelines and quality metrics to help refine the
      role of each modality in the management of painful osseous metastases. 

PMID- 25841510
TI  - Persistent pain after breast cancer treatment.

PMID- 25841511
TI  - Brain metastases in HER2-positive breast cancer: challenges and opportunities.

PMID- 25841512
TI  - Brain metastases in HER2 positive breast cancer: the next hurdle.

PMID- 25841514
TI  - Psychometric evaluation of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast
      Symptom Index.

PMID- 25841513
TI  - Primary systemic treatment of HER2-positive metastatic brain disease: profaning
      the sanctuary.

PMID- 25841515
TI  - Measure validation is an ongoing process: the Functional Assessment of Cancer
      Therapy-Breast Symptom Index as a case example.

PMID- 25841516
TI  - Breast cancer and sleep disturbance: more than simply a quality of life concern.

PMID- 25841517
TI  - Breakthrough expected in translational research of targeted therapy for small
      cell lung cancer.

PMID- 25841518
TI  - Measuring non-pharmacological caregiving.

PMID- 25841519
TI  - Ketamine and cancer pain - an inconvenient truth?

PMID- 25841520
TI  - Reflections on an international study of non-pharmacological caregiving
      activities at the end of life.

PMID- 25841521
TI  - Non-pharmacological dimensions of end of life care.

PMID- 25841522
TI  - Growth of palliative care programs - how are we doing?

PMID- 25841523
TI  - The value of multidiciplinary cancer care and research: the role of the surgeon
      as an oncologist and clinical investigator.

PMID- 25841524
TI  - Organizing a multidisciplinary clinic.
AB  - Multidisciplinary cancer care models have become increasingly more popular in
      recent years. This comprehensive approach to care delivery has evolved to address
      numerous medical and social aspects critical to all patients diagnosed with
      cancer. Because of the sheer number of specialists involved in the care
      trajectory of patients with cancer, multidisciplinary care models add significant
      value in facilitating communication between specialists and in coordinating care.
      Multidisciplinary models also allow for new and innovative therapies to be
      incorporated more quickly than is seen in single provider care. Two principal
      modes of multidisciplinary care have been described-the tumor board and the
      multidisciplinary clinic. While tumor boards are well established in oncology
      literature and practice, there is growing support favoring the use of
      multidisciplinary clinics, bringing providers together at the point of care. In
      this section, we describe recent data demonstrating the value of the
      multidisciplinary approach, with particular focus on the creation and potential
      benefits of a formal multidisciplinary clinic. 

PMID- 25841525
TI  - The distinctive features of surgical oncology as a specialty: considerations for
      Chinese surgeons.
AB  - In China, as in the United States and other countries, cancer patients will
      increasingly receive more than one modality of treatment delivered by cancer
      physicians from different medical specialties (e.g., internal medicine and
      surgery). In the United States and in many other countries, the surgical
      specialization, known as "surgical oncology" has grown as an essential part of
      cancer care delivery in the United States, both in academic medical centers and
      in the majority of cancer centers and hospitals in the local community. At a
      broad level, one can define the roles and responsibilities of a surgical
      oncologist as follows: (I) an excellent surgeon who can safely manage cancer
      patients through complex operations and have the judgment to know what operations
      to select; (II) knows how to integrate surgical treatment as part of a
      multidisciplinary team, including the type and timing of surgery after pre
      operative systemic therapies and/or radiation therapies; (III) participates as an
      oncologist in the long-term disease-management of cancer patients; and (IV)
      participates in cancer clinical research and/or translational research. Perhaps
      the most compelling reason for surgical specializations is the evidence from
      multiple studies in the United States and Europe that "high volume" cancer
      centers and surgical specialists have better outcomes for treating complex or
      advanced cancers. It is important for all surgeons treating cancer patients to
      keep up to date with advances in oncology and be a partner with medical and
      radiation oncologists in providing contemporary multidisciplinary cancer care and
      to participate actively in cancer clinical trials where they are available. The
      uniqueness of our specialty is to function as both a surgeon and an oncologist in
      the management of the surgical patient with cancer. 

PMID- 25841526
TI  - Training and certification of the surgical oncologist.
AB  - Surgical Oncology has evolved as a distinct subspecialty of General Surgery with
      a well-defined curriculum focused on surgical care of the cancer patient,
      specific areas of clinical and basic science research focus and specialty
      journals dedicated to the discipline. The Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO),
      originally formed as the James Ewing Society, has provided leadership in
      developing training programs in Surgical Oncology and for three decades has been
      involved in the approval and oversight of Surgical Oncology training programs.
      Over this time, Surgical Oncology Fellowship training has expanded and in 2013
      there were 103 applicants for 56 fellowship positions in 21 programs. The basic
      tenants of Surgical Oncology training has remained devoted to the core principles
      of multidisciplinary care, surgical management of cancer patients and a focus on
      education in research, clinical trials, community outreach, patient advocacy and
      leadership in oncology. With the maturation of Surgical Oncology as a separate
      specialty, Surgical Oncology training programs are now accredited by the
      Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and graduates of the
      programs will soon be offered subspecialty certification in Complex General
      Surgical Oncology (CGSO) by the American Board of Surgery, which has created a
      component Surgical Oncology Board (SOB). Similar expansion has occurred in other
      specialty areas including an expansion of Breast Fellowships, which are still
      being approved by the SSO. In the 2013 SSO Breast Oncology Match, there were 67
      applicants for 54 positions in 39 Breast Fellowship programs. Continued advances
      in cancer biology and technology will challenge us to evolve training programs in
      Surgical Oncology to produce surgeons capable of advancing the multidisciplinary
      care of cancer patients. 

PMID- 25841527
TI  - Clinical trials in lung cancer surgery and research cooperation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: With China having an increasingly huge burden of lung cancers, the
      number of Chinese studies was the second largest all over the world. METHODS: We
      used the advanced search option available on the ClinicalTrials.gov to review
      clinical trials regarding surgical issues. In the drop down menus, we chose "all
      studies" for recruitment status and "interventional" for study type and all
      trials reported until Aug, 2013 on the website were included. RESULTS: Clinical
      trials on lung cancer surgeries (658 records) mainly aim at surgical procedures
      and (neo)adjuvant clinical studies, among which phase III trials account for
      15.5%. Only 34.9% (230 records) trials were completed, and 43 studies presented
      their results on ClinicalTrials.gov. The median time to completion (MTC) of phase
      III surgical procedure trials is 9.4 years. The MTCs of phase III neo-adjuvant
      and adjuvant trials have not been reached, but definitely are longer than 10
      years. In comparison, the MTC of phase III trials in the first-line treatment are
      only 4.3 years. COMMENTS: We summarized the characteristics of these trials using
      real-world case examples. Our analyses reveal that it is critically needed for
      regulatory authorities, clinical trial sponsors, collaborative research groups,
      and academic institutions to work together to build up the infrastructure and
      research cooperation for clinical trials with a surgical component. In 2007, a
      national collaborative clinical research group, Chinese Thoracic Oncology Group
      (CTONG), was established. CTONG is a network of researchers, physicians and
      health-care professionals in public institutions throughout China and currently
      has a growing membership of 25 hospitals. A CTONG-sponsored trial (CTONG1104) is
      discussed to illustrate our experience in surgical clinical trials. In summary,
      it is imperative for investigators to collaborate in cooperative clinical trials
      in order to expedite applications of therapies from clinical researches to cancer
      treatment. Since cancer treatment is multidisciplinary, current surgical trials
      should have multiple treatment combinations while retaining a surgical focus, and
      be carried out systematically with the cooperation of extensive monitoring and
      coordinating systems.

PMID- 25841528
TI  - Analysis of cardiac adverse events following postmastectomy hypofractionated
      radiotherapy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiac complications following chest wall irradiation are
      inevitable. The effects of conventional radiotherapy (RT) delivering 50 Gy in 25
      fractions +/- boost have been clearly demonstrated in a large number of trials.
      However, there are limited prospective studies demonstrating the impact of
      hypofractionated RT on normal cardiac tissues in post-mastectomy patients.
      Through this trial we tried to quantify the cardiac adverse events after post
      mastectomy hypofractionated RT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between June 2011 to June
      2012, 61 female patients post-mastectomy were treated with either 40 Gy in 15
      fractions or 42.5 Gy in 16 fractions. All patients had echocardiography (ECHO)
      done before start of RT, and then at three monthly intervals till last follow up.
      The Common Terminology Criteria (CTC) for Adverse Events v 3.0 was employed to
      evaluate early and late effects of RT. RESULTS: Median age of patients was 49
      years. Average length and width of tangential portals were 19.5 cm * 1.5 cm, and
      6.8 cm * 1.2 cm respectively. A total of 3.3% of the patients developed acute
      grade (Gr) 2 toxicity, while for late reactions, 8.2% and 6.6% had Gr 2 and Gr 3
      adverse events respectively at a median follow up 20 months. CONCLUSIONS: Use of
      hypofractionated RT for chest wall irradiation post-mastectomy is safe with no
      clinically significant acute or late cardiac adverse event noted at a follow up
      of 2 years.

PMID- 25841529
TI  - Phase II design: history and evolution.
AB  - Historically, phase II trials in oncology generally had a single-arm design,
      constructed to distinguish between a tumor response rate felt to indicate a lack
      of promise (often 5%) and a rate that would indicate potential benefit (often
      20%), with a one-sided type I error rate of 5% to 10% and a type II error rate of
      10% to 20%. The dominant use of this design was based on the premise that an
      agent that could not produce a tumor response rate of 20% was not likely to
      produce a clinically meaningful overall survival (OS) or progression-free
      survival (PFS) benefit in subsequent phase III testing. Recent trends in oncology
      drug development have challenged this paradigm. Many phase II trials are now
      designed to assess the promise of a molecularly targeted agent, given either
      alone or in combination with another regimen. In many cases these agents are not
      anticipated to produce or improve tumor response rates; rather the desired
      outcome from their use is improved PFS or OS through means other than direct cell
      killing as evidenced by tumor shrinkage. In general, PFS is the preferred end
      point for such phase II trials, as it is more statistically efficient than OS
      (because it is substantially shorter and the treatment effect is not diluted by
      salvage treatment). However, in a situation with no effective salvage therapy
      and/or a disease with concerns regarding the timing of progression assessment, OS
      could be chosen as the endpoint. We have reviewed the history and evolution of
      the phase II trial over the past 50 years, in particular, in oncology trials.
      This review is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather to cover the primarily used
      designs in self-contained detail, in such a manner as to provide a primer for the
      young investigator and reminders for the more experienced. 

PMID- 25841530
TI  - Adaptive clinical trial designs in oncology.
AB  - Adaptive designs have become popular in clinical trial and drug development.
      Unlike traditional trial designs, adaptive designs use accumulating data to
      modify the ongoing trial without undermining the integrity and validity of the
      trial. As a result, adaptive designs provide a flexible and effective way to
      conduct clinical trials. The designs have potential advantages of improving the
      study power, reducing sample size and total cost, treating more patients with
      more effective treatments, identifying efficacious drugs for specific subgroups
      of patients based on their biomarker profiles, and shortening the time for drug
      development. In this article, we review adaptive designs commonly used in
      clinical trials and investigate several aspects of the designs, including the
      dose-finding scheme, interim analysis, adaptive randomization, biomarker-guided
      randomization, and seamless designs. For illustration, we provide examples of
      real trials conducted with adaptive designs. We also discuss practical issues
      from the perspective of using adaptive designs in oncology trials. 

PMID- 25841531
TI  - Professor Bruce D. Minsky: Advances in radiation oncology in 2014 ASTRO.

PMID- 25841532
TI  - Professor Hope S. Rugo: Reversing resistance and hormone therapy for metastatic
      breast cancer.

PMID- 25841533
TI  - Prof. Yi-Long Wu: Patients on the afatinib arm had a significantly better quality
      of life according to the data of LUX-Lung 6.

PMID- 25841534
TI  - Widespread use of pemetrexed in oncology: has it turned it into a new drug?

PMID- 25841535
TI  - Lipoma and liposarcoma of the larynx: case reports and literature review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Two cases of laryngeal lipomatous tumors are presented. Their
      diagnoses and management are discussed and contrasted. METHODS: Case report and
      literature review. RESULTS: Patient 1 is a 58 year old male presenting with five
      years of progressive shortness of breath, dysphagia, and globus sensation.
      Clinical exam and imaging study showed a 3.5 cm hypodense laryngeal mass, and he
      underwent transoral robotic-assisted surgery for complete excision. Final
      pathology revealed a well-differentiated liposarcoma. Patient 2 is a 79 year old
      female presenting with one year of non-progressive hoarseness and globus
      sensation. Clinical examination and imaging study revealed a 1.8 cm hypodense
      laryngeal mass. Transoral endoscopic complete excision of the submucosal mass was
      performed. Final pathology revealed benign spindle-cell lipoma. CONCLUSION:
      Liposarcoma and lipoma may present with similar symptomatology, clinical, and
      imaging findings. Pathology evaluation is of utmost importance for definitive
      diagnosis. Therefore, diagnosis and treatment of laryngeal lipomatous lesions are
      best accomplished with complete excision of the mass.

PMID- 25841536
TI  - Sudden hearing loss and Crohn disease: when Cogan syndrome must be suspected.
AB  - Cogan's syndrome is a rare systemic vasculitis of unknown origin. It is
      characterized by the presence of worsening audiovestibular and ocular symptoms
      that may manifest simultaneously or sequentially. No specific diagnostic
      laboratory tests or imaging studies exist. The diagnosis is clinical and should
      be established as early as possible so as to initiate prompt treatment with
      steroids and prevent rapid progression to deafness or blindness and potentially
      fatal systemic involvement. We report a case of association between Cogan's
      syndrome and ileal Crohn's disease which we believe deserves attention since,
      after an accurate review of the literature, we have found approximately 250
      reports of patients with Cogan's syndrome, only 13 of whom with concurrent
      chronic inflammatory bowel disease; of these 13 cases, none experienced
      improvement after therapy. In the light of the good outcome obtained in our case,
      we proposed a valid treatment option with boluses of steroids, combined with
      early systemic immunosuppression and intra-tympanic steroid injections. 

PMID- 25841537
TI  - Effectiveness of structured education on knowledge and health behaviors in
      patients with congenital heart disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether a single educational session increased the
      level of knowledge and changed the prevalence of health risk behaviors in young
      people with congenital heart disease (CHD). STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a
      longitudinal study of patients transferred to adult CHD care who received a
      single educational session (n = 201) at a tertiary care center. Their knowledge
      level and prevalence of health risk behaviors were assessed via the Leuven
      Knowledge Questionnaire CHD and the Health Behavior Scale CHD, respectively. A
      general linear model for longitudinal measurements was used to analyze the
      natural progression of patients' knowledge during a 27-month period and the
      effect of one educational session on outcomes. RESULTS: Participating in an
      educational session resulted in a small-to-moderate, but significant, increase in
      total knowledge level and better understanding of deterioration symptoms, and
      rationale and frequency of follow-up; however, it did not improve patients'
      health behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: This type of education did improve knowledge but
      did not improve the patients' tendency to engage in better health behaviors.
      Future studies should assess the effect of repetitive exposure to educational
      sessions dealing with CHD.

PMID- 25841538
TI  - Treatment of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder among Children with Special
      Health Care Needs.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To describe the parent-reported prevalence of treatments for
      attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among a national sample of
      children with special health care needs (CSHCN), and assess the alignment of ADHD
      treatment with current American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines. STUDY DESIGN:
      Parent-reported data from the 2009-2010 National Survey of Children with Special
      Health Care Needs allowed for weighted national and state-based prevalence
      estimates of medication, behavioral therapy, and dietary supplement use for ADHD
      treatment among CSHCN aged 4-17 years with current ADHD. National estimates were
      compared across demographic groups, ADHD severity, and comorbidities. Medication
      treatment by drug class was described. RESULTS: Of CSHCN with current ADHD, 74.0%
      had received medication treatment in the past week, 44.0% had received behavioral
      therapy in the past year, and 10.2% used dietary supplements for ADHD in the past
      year. Overall, 87.3% had received past week medication treatment or past year
      behavioral therapy (both, 30.7%; neither, 12.7%). Among preschool-aged CSHCN with
      ADHD, 25.4% received medication treatment alone, 31.9% received behavioral
      therapy alone, 21.2% received both treatments, and 21.4% received neither
      treatment. Central nervous system stimulants were the most common medication
      class (84.8%) among CSHCN with ADHD, followed by the selective norepinephrine
      reuptake inhibitor atomoxetine (8.4%). CONCLUSION: These estimates provide a
      benchmark of clinical practice for the period directly preceding issuance of the
      American Academy of Pediatrics' 2011 ADHD guidelines. Most children with ADHD
      received medication treatment or behavioral therapy; just under one-third
      received both. Multimodal treatment was most common for CSHCN with severe ADHD
      and those with comorbidities. Approximately one-half of preschoolers received
      behavioral therapy, the recommended first-line treatment for this age group.

PMID- 25841539
TI  - Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of synbiotic yogurt effect on
      the health of children.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of daily consumption of a synbiotic yogurt drink
      on the health, growth, and quality of life of healthy children 12-48 months of
      age in out-of-home child care. STUDY DESIGN: Healthy children attending child
      care centers were enrolled in a prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled
      clinical trial. The intervention was a yogurt drink containing Streptococcus
      thermophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, and Bifidobacterium animalis subspecies
      lactis (BB-12) (5 * 10(9) cfu/100 mL serving), and 1 g of inulin (synbiotic
      group) vs a similar nonsynbiotic-containing acidified milk drink (placebo group)
      once daily for 16 weeks. The end points were days of diarrhea, fever, vomiting,
      symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection, use of antibiotics, physician
      visits, child care absenteeism, parental work absenteeism, and quality of life
      (PedsQL 4.0; Mapi Research Trust, Lyon, France). RESULTS: Compared with placebo
      (n = 73), children receiving synbiotic (n = 76) had significantly fewer days of
      reported fever (1.85 vs 1.95, P < .05), significant improvement in social
      functioning (P < .035; pre-to-end intervention), and school functioning (P <
      .045; pre-to-mid intervention). More days with >= 3 loose/watery stools were
      reported in the synbiotic group (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Daily supplementation of
      children's diet with yogurt containing probiotic bacteria BB-12 and inulin
      significantly reduced days of fever and improved social and school functioning.
      The increased frequency of bowel movements may be explained by an accelerating
      effect of BB-12 and inulin on intestinal transit. Further research on the
      possible benefits of synbiotics on children's health is advised. TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00653705.

PMID- 25841540
TI  - Necrotizing Enterocolitis and Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection Are
      Predictors of Growth Outcomes in Infants with Short Bowel Syndrome.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To describe the natural history of growth patterns and nutritional
      support in a cohort of infants with short bowel syndrome (SBS), and to
      characterize risk factors for suboptimal growth. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective
      chart review of 51 infants with SBS followed by our intestinal rehabilitation
      program. Weight and length data were converted to age, sex, and gestational age
      standardized weight-for-age z-scores (WAZ) and length-for-age z-scores (LAZ).
      RESULTS: Median (IQR) age at enrollment was 8.3 (0.9-14.6) weeks, and follow-up
      duration was 10 (8-13) months, including both inpatient and outpatient visits.
      Both WAZ and LAZ followed a U-shaped curve, with median for newborns (WAZ = 
      0.28; LAZ = -0.41), a nadir at age 6 months (-2.38 and -2.18), and near recovery
      by age 1 year (-0.72 and -0.76). Using multivariable regression analysis,
      diagnosis of necrotizing enterocolitis was independently associated with
      significant decrements of WAZ (-0.76 +/- 0.32; P = .02) and LAZ (-1.24 +/- 0.32;
      P = .0001). >= 2 central line-associated bloodstream infections was also
      independently associated with decreases in WAZ (-0.95 +/- 0.33; P = .004) and LAZ
      (-0.86 +/- 0.32; P = .007). CONCLUSION: In a cohort of infants with SBS, we
      observed a unique pattern of somatic growth, with concomitant deceleration of
      both WAZ and LAZ and near recovery by 1 year. Inflammatory conditions
      (necrotizing enterocolitis and central line-associated bloodstream infections)
      represent potentially modifiable risk factors for suboptimal somatic growth.

PMID- 25841541
TI  - Bone Mineral Content as a Driver of Energy Expenditure in Prepubertal and Early
      Pubertal Boys.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations of bone and bone-secreted factors with
      measures of energy metabolism in prepubertal and early pubertal boys. STUDY
      DESIGN: Participants in this cross-sectional, observational study included 37
      (69% black, 31% white) boys, aged 7-12 years (Tanner stage <III). Dual-energy X
      ray absorptiometry was used to measure bone mineral content (BMC) and percent
      body fat. Indirect calorimetry was used to assess resting energy expenditure
      (REE). Fasting blood levels of osteocalcin (OCN), fibroblast growth factor 23
      (FGF23), insulin, glucose, precursor product of type I collagen (N-terminal pro
      peptide) and type I collagen, and C-terminal cross-linked telopeptide were
      measured. Pearson correlations were performed to evaluate relationships among
      BMC, OCN, FGF23, fasting insulin and glucose, and REE. Multiple linear regression
      models were used to test associations between OCN and BMC (independent variables)
      with fasting insulin and glucose and with REE, adjusting for bone turnover
      markers and further adjusted for percent body fat. RESULTS: BMC was correlated
      with REE and insulin. OCN was correlated with glucose in blacks only (r = 0.45, P
      < .05). FGF23 was not correlated with any markers of energy metabolism. BMC was
      associated with insulin level in blacks (beta = 0.95, P = .001), which was
      attenuated by percent body fat (beta = 0.47, P = .081). BMC was associated with
      REE in whites (beta = 0.496.7, P < .05) and blacks (beta = 619.5, P < .0001); but
      accounting for percent body fat attenuated the association in whites (beta =
      413.2, P = .078). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that BMC is a determinant of
      fasting insulin and REE, and that the contribution of body fat appears to be race
      specific. Endocrine effects of FGF23 and OCN on energy metabolism were not
      apparent. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registered with ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02040740,
      NCT02040727, and NCT01410643.

PMID- 25841542
TI  - Efficacy and safety of ezetimibe monotherapy in children with heterozygous
      familial or nonfamilial hypercholesterolemia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the lipid-altering efficacy and safety of ezetimibe
      monotherapy in young children with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia
      (HeFH) or nonfamilial hypercholesterolemia (nonFH). STUDY DESIGN: One hundred
      thirty-eight children 6-10 years of age with diagnosed HeFH or clinically
      important nonFH (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C] >= 160 mg/dL [4.1
      mmol/L]) were enrolled into a multicenter, 12-week, randomized, double-blind,
      placebo-controlled study. Following screening/drug washout and a 5-week single
      blind placebo-run-in with diet stabilization, subjects were randomized 2:1 to
      daily ezetimibe 10 mg (n = 93) or placebo (n = 45) for 12 weeks. Lipid-altering
      efficacy and safety were assessed in all treated patients. RESULTS: Overall, mean
      age was 8.3 years, 57% were girls, 80% were white, mean baseline LDL-C was 228
      mg/dL (5.9 mmol/L), and 91% had HeFH. After 12 weeks, ezetimibe significantly
      reduced LDL-C by 27% after adjustment for placebo (P < .001) and produced
      significant reductions in total cholesterol (21%), nonhigh-density lipoprotein
      cholesterol (26%), and apolipoprotein B (20%) (P < .001 for all). LDL-C lowering
      response in sex, race, baseline lipids, and HeFH/nonFH subgroups was generally
      consistent with overall study results. Ezetimibe was well tolerated, with a
      safety profile similar to studies in older children, adolescents, and adults.
      CONCLUSIONS: Ezetimibe monotherapy produced clinically relevant reductions in LDL
      C and other key lipid variables in young children with primary HeFH or clinically
      important nonFH, with a favorable safety/tolerability profile. TRIAL
      REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00867165.

PMID- 25841543
TI  - Cerebral Palsy after Neonatal Encephalopathy: How Much Is Preventable?
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the expected proportion of term cerebral palsy (CP)
      after neonatal encephalopathy (NE) that could theoretically be prevented by
      hypothermia and elucidate the perinatal factors associated with CP after NE in
      those who do not meet currently used clinical criteria required to qualify for
      hypothermia ("cooling criteria"). STUDY DESIGN: Using the Canadian CP Registry,
      we categorized children born at >= 36 weeks with birth weight >= 1800 g with CP
      after moderate or severe NE according to the presence or absence of cooling
      criteria. Maternal, perinatal, postnatal, and placental factors were compared
      between the 2 groups. A number needed to treat of 8 (95% CI 6-17) to prevent one
      case of CP was used for calculations. RESULTS: Among the 543 term-born children
      with CP, 155 (29%) had moderate or severe NE. Sixty-four of 155 (41%) met cooling
      criteria and 91 of 155 (59%) did not. Shoulder dystocia was more common in those
      who did not meet cooling criteria (OR 8.8; 95% CI 1.1-71.4). Low birth weights
      (20% of all singletons), small placentas (42%), and chorioamnionitis (13%) were
      common in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of children with CP after NE did
      not meet cooling criteria. An estimated 5.1% (95% CI 2.4%-6.9%) of term CP after
      NE may be theoretically prevented with hypothermia. Considering shoulder dystocia
      as an additional criterion may help recognize more neonates who could potentially
      benefit from cooling. In all cases, a better understanding of the antenatal
      processes underlying NE is essential in reducing the burden of CP.

PMID- 25841544
TI  - Physicians Failed to Write Flawless Prescriptions When Computerized Physician
      Order Entry System Crashed.
AB  - PURPOSE: Clinical care has become increasingly dependent on computerized
      physician order entry (CPOE) systems. No study has reported the adverse effect of
      CPOE on physicians' ability to handwrite prescriptions. This study took advantage
      of an extensive crash of the CPOE system at a large hospital to assess the
      completeness, legibility, and accuracy of physicians' handwritten prescriptions.
      METHODS: The CPOE system had operated at the outpatient department of an academic
      medical center in Taiwan since 1993. During an unintentional shutdown that lasted
      3.5 hours in 2010, physicians were forced to write prescriptions manually. These
      handwritten prescriptions, together with clinical medical records, were later
      audited by clinical pharmacists with respect to 16 fields of the patient's,
      prescriber's, and drug data. FINDINGS: A total of 1418 prescriptions with 3805
      drug items were handwritten by 114 to 1369 patients. Not a single prescription
      had all necessary fields filled in. Although the field of age was most frequently
      omitted (1282 [90.4%] of 1418 prescriptions) among the patient's data, the field
      of dosage form was most frequently omitted (3480 [91.5%] of 3805 items) among the
      drug data. In contrast, the scale of illegibility was rather small. The highest
      percentage reached only 1.5% (n = 57) in the field of drug frequency.
      Inaccuracies of strength, dose, and drug name were observed in 745 (19.6%), 517
      (13.6%), and 435 (11.4%) prescribed drug items, respectively. IMPLICATIONS: The
      unintentional shutdown of a long-running CPOE system revealed that physicians
      fail to handwrite flawless prescriptions in the digital era. The contingency
      plans for computer disasters at health care facilities might include preparation
      of stand-alone e-prescribing software so that the service delay could be kept to
      the minimum. However, guidance on prescribing should remain an essential part of
      medical education.

PMID- 25841545
TI  - Effect of suppression of postpartum ovulation on endometrial inflammation in
      dairy cows.
AB  - The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of time of first
      postpartum ovulation on endometrial inflammation in dairy cows with and without
      uterine disease during the early puerperal period. Transvaginal follicular
      puncture (FP) was carried out to suppress postpartum ovulation and formation of a
      CL until Day 42. Fifty-three lactating Holstein Friesian cows were divided into
      four groups on the basis of presence (UD+) or absence (UD-) of uterine disease,
      which was defined as retained fetal membranes and/or metritis, and whether FP had
      (FP+) or had not been (FP-) carried out. This resulted in the following groups:
      UD-FP- (n = 15), UD-FP+ (n = 13), UD+FP- (n = 13), and UD+FP+ (n = 12).
      Cloprostenol was given on Days 55 to 60 postpartum, and GnRH was administered 2
      days later for synchronization of ovulation. In the FP- groups, endometrial swab
      and biopsy samples were collected during the second estrus (approximately Day 40)
      and during the estrus after synchronization. In the FP+ groups, the same samples
      were collected during the first estrus (approximately Day 49) and during the
      estrus after synchronization. The prevalence of positive bacteriologic cultures
      of the endometrium was not affected by FP (P > 0.05). Histologic signs of
      endometritis were more severe in UD+FP- cows at second sampling than in UD+FP+
      cows (P <= 0.05). Endometrial expression of IL1alpha (in UD- after first sampling
      and in UD+ after second sampling) and IL1beta (in UD- and UD+ after first
      sampling) was higher (P <= 0.05) in FP- cows than in FP+ cows. Regardless of
      group, cows with histopathologic evidence of endometritis had higher expression
      (P <= 0.05) of IL1alpha, IL1beta, IL6, and TNFalpha than cows without
      endometritis. In conclusion, suppression of early ovulation by transvaginal FP
      enhances clearance of uterine inflammation in postpartum cows.

PMID- 25841546
TI  - Assessing Option Grid(r) practicability and feasibility for facilitating shared
      decision making: An exploratory study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of Option Grids((r))for facilitating shared
      decision making (SDM) in simulated clinical consultations and explore clinicians'
      views on their practicability. METHODS: We used mixed methods approach to analyze
      clinical consultations using the Observer OPTION instrument and thematic analysis
      for follow-up interviews with clinicians. RESULTS: Clinicians achieved high
      scores on information sharing and low scores on preference elicitation and
      integration. Four themes were identified: (1) Barriers affect practicability of
      Option Grids((r)); (2) Option Grids((r)) facilitate the SDM process; (3)
      Clinicians are aware of the gaps in their practice of SDM; (4) Training and
      ongoing feedback on the optimal use of Option Grids((r)) are necessary.
      CONCLUSION: Use of Option Grids((r)) by clinicians with background knowledge in
      SDM did not facilitate optimal levels of competency on the SDM core concepts of
      preference elicitation and integration. Future research must evaluate the impact
      of training on the use of Option Grids((r)), and explore how best to help
      clinicians bridge the gap between knowledge and action. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS:
      Clinicians proficiently imparting information in simulations struggled to elicit
      and integrate patient preferences - understanding this gap and developing
      strategies to close it are the next steps for implementing SDM into clinical
      practice.

PMID- 25841547
TI  - A 3-D enteroid-based model to study T-cell and epithelial cell interaction.
AB  - The constant interaction between intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) and
      intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) is thought to regulate mucosal barrier
      function and immune responses against invading pathogens. IELs represent a
      heterogeneous population of mostly activated and antigen-experienced T cells, but
      the biological function of IELs and their relationship with IECs is still poorly
      understood. Here, we describe a method to study T-cell-epithelial cell
      interactions using a recently established long-term intestinal "enteroid" culture
      system. This system allowed the study of peripheral T cell survival,
      proliferation, differentiation and behavior during long-term co-cultures with
      crypt-derived 3-D enteroids. Peripheral T cells activated in the presence of
      enteroids acquire several features of IELs, including morphology, membrane
      markers and movement in the epithelial layer. This co-culture system may
      facilitate the investigation of complex interactions between intestinal
      epithelial cells and immune cells, particularly allowing long term-cultures and
      studies targeting specific pathways in IEC or immune cell compartments. 

PMID- 25841548
TI  - Anaphylaxis to food.
AB  - This article provides a clinically focused review of food-induced anaphylaxis
      that includes epidemiology, risk factors, allergens, diagnosis, and management.
      Currently, there is no treatment for food allergy. Dietary avoidance and
      emergency preparedness are the cornerstones of management. Effective and safe
      therapies to reduce the risk of serious food-induced reactions are urgently
      needed, as are reliable biomarkers to predict severity. 

PMID- 25841550
TI  - Exercise-induced anaphylaxis.
AB  - Exercise-induced anaphylaxis is an uncommon disorder in which anaphylaxis occurs
      in response to physical exertion. Food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis is
      a disorder with similar symptoms, although symptoms develop only if exercise
      takes place within a few hours of eating and, in most cases, only if a specific
      food is eaten. Management includes education about safe conditions for exercise,
      the importance of ceasing exercise immediately if symptoms develop, appropriate
      use of epinephrine, and, for patients with food-dependent exercise-induced
      anaphylaxis, avoidance of the culprit food for at least 4 hours before exercise. 

PMID- 25841549
TI  - Anaphylaxis to the carbohydrate side chain alpha-gal.
AB  - In 2007, the monoclonal antibody cetuximab caused severe hypersensitivity
      reactions during the first infusion in a region of the southeastern United
      States. Investigation of pretreatment sera established that they contained
      immunoglobulin (Ig) E against the oligosaccharide galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose
      (alpha-gal), which is present on the Fab of cetuximab. Alpha-gal is a blood group
      substance of nonprimate mammals. These IgE antibodies are also associated with
      delayed anaphylaxis to red meat (ie, to meat or organs of animals that carry this
      oligosaccharide). Evidence shows that the primary cause of these IgE antibodies
      is bites from the tick Amblyomma americanum or its larvae. 

PMID- 25841551
TI  - Mast cell activation syndromes presenting as anaphylaxis.
AB  - Anaphylaxis results from severe systemic mast cell activation. In addition to IgE
      mediated and physical triggers, it may occur with a clonal mast cell disease and
      in an idiopathic fashion without clear provoking factors. Disorders of mast cell
      activation are classified into primary (clonal), secondary, and idiopathic. Mast
      cell activation syndrome (MCAS) is a multisystem disorder characterized by
      objective documentation of elevated mast cell mediators during attacks and a
      favorable response to antimediator therapy. It should be considered in the
      differential diagnosis of patients presenting with recurrent anaphylaxis without
      a clear cause. This article discusses the diagnosis of MCAS. 

PMID- 25841552
TI  - Anaphylaxis to insect stings.
AB  - Anaphylaxis to insect stings has occurred in 3% of adults and can be fatal even
      on the first reaction. Large local reactions are more frequent but rarely
      dangerous. The chance of a systemic reaction to a sting is 5% to 10% in large
      local reactors and in children with mild (cutaneous) systemic reactions, and
      varies between 30% and 65% in adults with previous systemic reactions, depending
      on the severity of previous sting reactions. Baseline serum tryptase level is
      increased in many patients with sting anaphylaxis. Venom immunotherapy is 75% to
      98% effective in preventing sting anaphylaxis. 

PMID- 25841553
TI  - Anaphylaxis to drugs.
AB  - Drug-induced anaphylaxis is a common cause of anaphylaxis and a leading cause of
      fatal anaphylaxis. Antibiotics, radiocontrast, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory
      drugs are commonly implicated drugs. Vocal cord dysfunction can mimic anaphylaxis
      and is often overlooked. beta-Lactams are a common cause of anaphylaxis; however,
      skin testing and drug challenge can usually determine tolerability of other
      classes of beta-lactams. Nonionic contrast agents cause anaphylaxis less
      frequently than ionic contrast, and immunoglobulin E-mediated mechanisms may have
      a role in some of these reactions. Skin testing with radiocontrast may have a
      role in evaluating patients with anaphylaxis to nonionic contrast. 

PMID- 25841554
TI  - Perioperative anaphylaxis: diagnosis, evaluation, and management.
AB  - Perioperative anaphylaxis can occur during or after surgery and can have life
      threatening consequences. As anesthesia protocols become more complex and
      incorporate multiple agents to regulate physiologic processes intraoperatively,
      perioperative anaphylaxis is becoming increasingly recognized. The allergist
      should obtain detailed records from the anesthesiologist in order to perform
      appropriate testing to identify the likely causative agents. Testing should
      ideally be performed 4 to 6 weeks after the reaction to account for a refractory
      period after mast cell activation. This article includes 2 cases of perioperative
      anaphylaxis and reviews the historical elements that must be considered after a
      reaction has occurred.

PMID- 25841555
TI  - Anaphylaxis to chemotherapy and monoclonal antibodies.
AB  - Hypersensitivity reactions are increasingly prevalent, although underrecognized
      and underreported. Platins induce immunoglobulin E-mediated sensitization;
      taxenes and some monoclonal antibodies can induce reactions at first exposure.
      Severe hypersensitivity can preclude first-line therapy. Tryptase level at the
      time of a reaction is a useful diagnostic tool. Skin testing provides a specific
      diagnosis. Newer tests are promising diagnostic tools to help identify patients
      at risk before first exposure. Safe management includes rapid drug
      desensitization. This review provides information regarding the scope of
      hypersensitivity and anaphylactic reactions induced by chemotherapy and
      biological drugs, as well as diagnosis, management, and treatment options. 

PMID- 25841556
TI  - Idiopathic anaphylaxis.
AB  - Idiopathic anaphylaxis is a diagnosis of exclusion after other causes have been
      thoroughly evaluated and excluded. The pathogenesis of idiopathic anaphylaxis
      remains uncertain, although increased numbers of activated lymphocytes and
      circulating histamine-releasing factors have been implicated. Signs and symptoms
      of patients diagnosed with idiopathic anaphylaxis are indistinguishable from the
      manifestations of other forms of anaphylaxis. Treatment regimens are implemented
      based on the frequency and severity of patient symptoms and generally include the
      use of epinephrine autoinjectors, antihistamines, and steroids. The prognosis of
      idiopathic anaphylaxis is generally favorable with well-established treatment
      regimens and effective patient education. 

PMID- 25841557
TI  - Recognition, treatment, and prevention of anaphylaxis.
AB  - Anaphylaxis is an acute and potentially lethal multisystem allergic reaction that
      occurs in a variety of clinical scenarios and is almost unavoidable. Immunologic
      reactions to medications, foods, and insect stings cause most episodes, but
      virtually any substance capable of inducing systemic degranulation of mast cells
      and basophils can produce anaphylaxis. All health care professionals must be able
      to recognize anaphylaxis promptly, be prepared to treat it appropriately, and be
      able to provide preventive recommendations. Similarly, at-risk individuals must
      be prepared to self-treat anaphylaxis promptly if prevention fails. 

PMID- 25841558
TI  - Fatal and near-fatal anaphylaxis: factors that can worsen or contribute to fatal
      outcomes.
AB  - Anaphylaxis implies a risk of death even in patients whose prior episodes have
      been considered mild and managed easily. Anaphylaxis occurs in all age groups,
      from infants to the elderly, but most deaths occur in adults. Factors or
      circumstances associated with near-fatal or fatal anaphylaxis are reviewed from
      the following 10 perspectives: accidents and mishaps, adulterated products, age,
      allergens, atopy, comorbidities, Munchausen syndrome or contrived anaphylaxis,
      patient factors, route of administration, and treatment-related issues. There are
      no absolute contraindications to self-injectable epinephrine, and epinephrine can
      be administered for anaphylaxis to elderly patients or to those patients
      receiving beta-adrenergic blockers. 

PMID- 25841559
TI  - Anaphylaxis.

PMID- 25841560
TI  - Therapeutic application of electrical stimulation and constraint induced movement
      therapy in perinatal brachial plexus injury: A case report.
AB  - Infants and children with perinatal brachial plexus injury (PBPI) have motion
      limitations in the shoulder, elbow, forearm and hand that are dependent on the
      level of injury and degree of recovery. The injury and subsequent recovery period
      occur during critical periods of central and spinal neural development placing
      infants and children at-risk for developmental disregard and disuse of the
      affected arm and hand. A case report outlines the therapy and surgical
      interventions provided in the first 2 years of life for a child with global PBPI
      and a positive Horner's sign. Electrical stimulation and constraint induced
      movement therapy provided sequentially were effective therapy interventions.
      Neurosurgery to repair the brachial plexus was performed at an optimal time
      period.(2) The Assisting Hand Assessment,(12) Modified Mallet(13) and Active
      Movement Scale(14) are effective outcome measures in PBPI and served as valuable
      guides for therapy intervention. Oxford Level of Evidence: 3b; Individual Case
      Control Study. 

PMID- 25841561
TI  - Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Adenylyltransferase 1 Protects Neural Cells Against
      Ischemic Injury in Primary Cultured Neuronal Cells and Mouse Brain with Ischemic
      Stroke Through AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Activation.
AB  - Nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyltransferase 1 (NMNAT1) is a nicotinamide
      adenine dinucleotide biosynthetic enzyme. It has been shown to be neuroprotective
      against neonatal excitotoxicity-induced brain injury, but its role in ischemic
      stroke is unclear. In this study, the role of NMNAT1 in oxygen-glucose
      deprivation (OGD)-induced primary cultured neuronal cell injury and mouse middle
      cerebral artery occlusion-induced cerebral ischemic injury and its regulation on
      AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation were evaluated. The results showed
      that NMNAT1 overexpression reduced cell death and apoptosis both in vitro and in
      vivo. Conversely, NMNAT1 knockdown exacerbated cell death and apoptosis.
      Furthermore, NMNAT1 overexpression regulated neuron survival via AMPK activation,
      as NMNAT1 overexpression enhanced AMPK activity in OGD-treated cortical neurons,
      and AMPK inhibitor blocked LV-NMNAT1-induced neuroprotection in OGD-treated
      cortical neurons. In addition, NMNAT1 overexpression could reduce brain
      infarction size and improve behavioral outcomes in mice with ischemic stroke.
      These results suggested that up-regulation of NMNAT1 could induce neuroprotection
      against ischemic injury through AMPK activation and indicated that NMNAT1 is a
      potential therapeutic target for stroke.

PMID- 25841562
TI  - Neural responses to the mechanical characteristics of high velocity, low
      amplitude spinal manipulation: Effect of specific contact site.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Systematic investigations are needed identifying how variability in
      the biomechanical characteristics of spinal manipulation affects physiological
      responses. Such knowledge may inform future clinical practice and research study
      design. OBJECTIVE: To determine how contact site for high velocity, low amplitude
      spinal manipulation (HVLA-SM) affects sensory input to the central nervous
      system. DESIGN: HVLA-SM was applied to 4 specific anatomic locations using a no
      HVLA-SM control at each location randomized in an 8*8 Latin square design in an
      animal model. METHODS: Neural activity from muscle spindles in the multifidus and
      longissimus muscles were recorded from L6 dorsal rootlets in 16 anesthetized
      cats. A posterior to anterior HVLA-SM was applied through the intact skin
      overlying the L6 spinous process, lamina, inferior articular process and L7
      spinous process. HVLA-SMs were preceded and followed by simulated spinal movement
      applied to the L6 vertebra. Change in mean instantaneous discharge frequency
      (DeltaMIF) was determined during the thrust and the simulated spinal movement.
      RESULTS: All contact sites increased L6 muscle spindle discharge during the
      thrust. Contact at all L6 sites significantly increased spindle discharge more
      than at the L7 site when recording at L6. There were no differences between L6
      contact sites. For simulated movement, the L6 contact sites but not the L7
      contact site significantly decreased L6 spindle responses to a change in
      vertebral position but not to movement to that position. CONCLUSIONS: This animal
      study showed that contact site for an HVLA-SM can have a significant effect on
      the magnitude of sensory input arising from muscle spindles in the back.

PMID- 25841563
TI  - Atlanto-axial facet displacement during rotational high-velocity low-amplitude
      thrust: An in vitro 3D kinematic analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Very little is known about the kinematics of the upper cervical spine
      in particular during Manual Therapy techniques. In fact no data about
      displacement of the atlanto-axial joint during High-Velocity Low-Amplitude (HVLA)
      thrust are available. Knowing the precise kinematics of these vertebrae might
      allow a better comprehension of such important technique and possible vital
      structures involvement. METHODS: A Zebris CMS20 ultrasound-based motion tracking
      system was adopted. Twenty fresh human cervical specimens were used in this
      study. Facet joint displacements of C1 relative to C2 were analysed during three
      consecutive HVLA thrusts into rotation. Displacement during the thrust and the
      maximum displacement reached with the manoeuvre were analysed. RESULTS:
      Descriptive statistics showed a mean Norm displacement during the thrust of 0.5
      mm (SD +/- 0.5). The maximum displacement, representing the overall facet
      movement from neutral to end-range position, indicated a Norm value of 6.0 mm (SD
      +/- 3.4). Heterogeneous displacement directions were found during the thrust.
      Intra and inter-rater reliability reached an insufficient reproducibility level.
      Considering the amount of displacement induced, no statistical significant
      differences between the registrations were shown. CONCLUSION: Displacement during
      the execution of HVLA thrust is unintentional, unpredictable and not
      reproducible. On the other hand and in accordance with other studies, the
      displacement induced with the present technique seems not to be able to endanger
      vital structure on the Spinal Cord and the Vertebral Artery. This study also adds
      to a better comprehension of the kinematic of the atlanto-axial segment during
      the performance of HVLA manipulation.

PMID- 25841564
TI  - Losing control over control conditions in knee osteoarthritis orthotic research.

PMID- 25841565
TI  - Two solid forms of tauroursodeoxycholic acid and the effects of milling and
      storage temperature on solid-state transformations.
AB  - Two phase-pure solid forms of tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) were prepared and
      characterized by thermal analysis, vibrational spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction,
      solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, and morphological analysis. All solid
      forms can be produced from solvents and also can be obtained by mechanically and
      non-mechanically activated polymorph conversion. Near-infrared (NIR)
      spectroscopy, in combination with chemometrical techniques, was used for the
      quantitative monitoring of the polymorph conversion of TUDCA in milling process
      and at different storage temperatures. The NIR spectra in the range of 7139-5488
      cm(-1) were considered for multivariate analysis. Results demonstrated that the
      NIR multivariate chemometric model can predict the percentage of crystal and
      amorphous TUDCA with the correlation coefficient of 0.9998, root mean square
      error of calibration of 0.740%, root mean square error of prediction of 0.698%,
      and root mean square error of cross-validation of 1.49%. In the milling process
      of crystal TUDCA (Form I), a direct transformation from crystal to glass was
      observed in 4h. Moreover, the impact of different storage temperatures on the
      stability of amorphous TUDCA was investigated, and the rate of polymorph
      transformation was found to be accelerated with increasing temperature.

PMID- 25841566
TI  - Preparation and characterization of micronized ellagic acid using antisolvent
      precipitation for oral delivery.
AB  - In this work, poorly water soluble phytochemical ellagic acid (EA) was micronized
      to increase its solubility and thereby the bioavailability during antisolvent
      precipitation process using N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) as solvent and deionized
      water as antisolvent. The micronized EA (m-EA) freeze-dried powder was prepared
      by the subsequent lyophilization process. The effects of various experimental
      parameters on the mean particle size (MPS) of m-EA suspension (m-EAS) in the
      antisolvent precipitation process were investigated. MPS and production
      efficiency were taken into account comprehensively to obtain the optimum
      conditions of antisolvent precipitation. Under the optimum conditions, m-EA
      freeze-dried powder with a MPS of 429.2 +/- 7.6 nm was obtained. The physico
      chemical properties of m-EA freeze-dried powder were detected by scanning
      electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), liquid
      chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), X-ray diffraction (XRD),
      differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The
      results indicated m-EA kept the same chemical structure with raw EA, but the
      crystallinity was greatly reduced. Furthermore, a comparison of the 50%
      inhibition concentration (IC50) values revealed that m-EA was more effective than
      raw EA in scavenging 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical. Meanwhile, m
      EA also showed higher reducing power. Moreover, the residual amount of NMP was
      lower than the International Conference on Harmonization limit (530 ppm) for
      solvents. The dissolution rate of m-EA was approximately 2 times of raw EA.
      Moreover, the solubility of m-EA was about 6.5 times of raw EA. Meanwhile, the
      bioavailability of m-EA increased about 2 times compared with raw EA via oral
      administration.

PMID- 25841567
TI  - MPEG-DSPE polymeric micelle for translymphatic chemotherapy of lymph node
      metastasis.
AB  - Lymph node metastasis is one of the major pathways for tumor formation and it is
      difficult to deliver chemotherapeutics at therapeutic concentrations to lymph
      node metastasis. This study prepared methyl poly(ethylene glycol)
      distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine/doxorubicin (MPEG-DSPE/DOX) micelle for the
      treatment of lymph node metastasis. The MPEG-DSPE/DOX micelle prepared were of
      spherical morphology with a particle size of 20 +/- 5 nm. The uptake rates of DOX
      and MPEG-DSPE/DOX micelle by A375 cells were 51.2% and 88.7%, respectively. The
      phagocytosis rate of MPEG-DSPE/Rhodamine B micelle by RAW264.7 cells was 17.2
      fold lower than for Rhodamine B alone. After subcutaneous injection, MPEG-DSPE
      micelle underwent lymphatic absorption and accumulated in popliteal lymph nodes.
      MPEG-DSPE/DOX micelle significantly alleviated damage to the subcutaneous tissue
      of the injection sites compared with DOX alone. We established a model of nude
      mice bearing lymph node metastasis of A375 cells. After subcutaneous injection,
      the weights of both the popliteal and iliac lymph nodes of the MPEG-DSPE/DOX
      micelle group were significantly lower than in the saline and DOX groups. MPEG
      DSPE/DOX micelle effectively killed the tumor cells in popliteal and iliac lymph
      nodes. In conclusion, MPEG-DSPE micelle is a promising drug delivery system for
      the treatment of lymph node metastasis.

PMID- 25841568
TI  - Development of fluorous lipid-based nanobubbles for efficiently containing
      perfluoropropane.
AB  - Nano-/microbubbles are expected not only to function as ultrasound contrast
      agents but also as ultrasound-triggered enhancers in gene and drug delivery.
      Notably, nanobubbles have the ability to pass through tumor vasculature and
      achieve passive tumor targeting. Thus, nanobubbles would be an attractive tool
      for use as ultrasound-mediated cancer theranostics. However, the amounts of gas
      carried by nanobubbles are generally lower than those carried by microbubbles
      because nanobubbles have inherently smaller volumes. In order to reduce the
      injection volume and to increase echogenicity, it is important to develop
      nanobubbles with higher gas content. In this study, we prepared 5 kinds of fluoro
      lipids and used these reagents as surfactants to generate "Bubble liposomes",
      that is, liposomes that encapsulate nanobubbles such that the lipids serve as
      stabilizers between the fluorous gas and water phases. Bubble liposome containing
      1-stearoyl-2-(18,18-difluoro)stearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine carried 2-fold
      higher amounts of C3F8 compared to unmodified Bubble liposome. The modified
      Bubble liposome also exhibited increased echogenicity by ultrasonography. These
      results demonstrated that the inclusion of fluoro-lipid is a promising tool for
      generating nanobubbles with increased efficiency of fluorous gas carrier. 

PMID- 25841569
TI  - Tablet mechanics depend on nano and micro scale adhesion, lubrication and
      structure.
AB  - Tablets are the most convenient form for drug administration. However, despite
      the ease of manufacturing problems such as powder adhesion occur during the
      production process. This study presents surface and structural characterization
      of tablets formulated with commonly used excipients (microcrystalline cellulose
      (MCC), lactose, mannitol, magnesium (Mg) stearate) pressed under different
      compaction conditions. Tablet surface analyses were performed with scanning
      electron microscopy (SEM), profilometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The
      mechanical properties of the tablets were evaluated with a tablet hardness test.
      Local adhesion detected by AFM decreased when Mg stearate was present in the
      formulation. Moreover, the tablet strength of plastically deformable excipients
      such as MCC was significantly decreased after addition of Mg stearate. Combined
      these facts indicate that Mg stearate affects the particle-particle bonding and
      thus elastic recovery. The MCC excipient also displayed the highest hardness
      which is characteristic for a highly cohesive material. This is discussed in the
      view of the relatively high adhesion found between MCC and a hydrophilic probe at
      the nanoscale using AFM. In contrast, the tablet strength of brittle materials
      like lactose and mannitol is unaffected by Mg stearate. Thus fracture occurs
      within the excipient particles and not at particle boundaries, creating new
      surfaces not previously exposed to Mg stearate. Such uncoated surfaces may well
      promote adhesive interactions with tools during manufacture. 

PMID- 25841570
TI  - Core-shell structured Fe3O4@TiO2-doxorubicin nanoparticles for targeted chemo
      sonodynamic therapy of cancer.
AB  - To facilitate targeting drug delivery and combined therapy, we develop titanium
      dioxide-encapsulated Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4@TiO2 NPs). Titanium dioxide
      (TiO2), which is employed as a sonosensitizer for sonodynamic therapy (SDT), can
      also be used for the loading of doxorubicin (DOX). The fabricated Fe3O4@TiO2 NPs
      exhibit pH-dependent loading and release of doxorubicin (DOX) in vitro. After
      incubation with cancer cells, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated
      efficiently upon the irradiation of ultrasound. In the biodistribution
      experiments, extremely high in vivo tumor accumulation of Fe3O4@TiO2 NPs and long
      time retention effect are observed. Compared with chemotherapy or sonodynamic
      treatment alone, the combined therapy demonstrated a synergistic effect,
      resulting in stronger cytotoxicity and higher therapeutic efficacy. Thus, the
      constructed NPs are endowed with multifunctions which allow them to selectively
      deliver combinatorial therapeutic payload to tumor with enhanced therapeutic
      effectiveness and minimal side effects. 

PMID- 25841571
TI  - Optimized mixed oils remarkably reduce the amount of surfactants in
      microemulsions without affecting oral bioavailability of ibuprofen by
      simultaneously enlarging microemulsion areas and enhancing drug solubility.
AB  - The toxicity and irritation associated with high amounts of surfactants restrict
      the extensive utilization of microemulsions. To address these shortcomings,
      employing mixed oils to enlarge microemulsion areas therefore reducing surfactant
      contents is a promising strategy. However, what kinds of mixed oils are more
      efficient in enlarging microemulsion areas still remains unclear. In this
      research, we found that the chain length and degree of unsaturation of oils play
      a key role in enlarging microemulsion areas. The combination of moderate chain
      saturated oil caprylic/capric triglyceride (GTCC) with long chain unsaturated oil
      glycerol trioleate significantly increased the microemulsion areas. Solubility of
      ibuprofen in the mixed oils was unexpectedly and remarkably increased (almost
      300mg/mL) compared with that (around 100mg/mL) of the single oil (GTCC), which
      also resulted in greatly increased solubility of ibuprofen in mixed oils
      containing microemulsions. By optimizing the mixed oil formulation, the absolute
      amount of surfactant in drug-loaded microemulsions was reduced but increased drug
      oral bioavailability in rats was maintained. It could be concluded that the
      combined use of moderate chain oils and long chain unsaturated oils could not
      only acquire enlarged microemulsion areas but also enhanced drug solubility,
      therefore doubly reducing surfactant amount, which is extremely beneficial for
      developing safe microemulsions. 

PMID- 25841572
TI  - Novel coprocessed excipients composed of lactose, HPMC, and PVPP for tableting
      and its application.
AB  - New coprocessed excipients composed of alpha-lactose monohydrate (a filler), HPMC
      E3 (a binder), and PVPP (a superdisintegrant) were developed by spray drying in
      this study to improve the tableting properties of lactose. Factors affecting the
      properties of the coprocessed excipients were investigated by a 3 * 3 * 2
      factorial design. These factors include lactose grade (90 M, 200 M, and 450 M),
      percentage of HPMC (3.5%, 7.0%, and 10.5%), and percentage of PVPP (0% and 3.5%).
      The results show that the compactability of the excipients could be significantly
      improved by increasing either the percentage of HPMC or the primary particle size
      of lactose. The addition of 3.5% PVPP had little effect on the compactability,
      but significantly improved the disintegration ability. The developed coprocessed
      excipients have much lower yield pressures and much higher working efficiency
      during tableting compared to the main raw material (alpha-lactose monohydrate).
      These improvements are mainly attributed to the addition of HPMC and the
      proximately 30% amorphous lactose formed during process. Both HPMC and amorphous
      lactose were homogeneously distributed on the surface of the secondary particles,
      maximizing their effect. Furthermore, the low hygroscopicity and high glass
      transition temperature of HPMC led to a high yield. The drug loading capacity of
      the newly coprocessed excipients is also excellent. In summary, the tri-component
      coprocessed excipients investigated are promising and worthy of further
      development.

PMID- 25841573
TI  - A coal worker's pneumoconiosis diagnosed with endosonography.

PMID- 25841574
TI  - An unusual submucosal lesion.

PMID- 25841576
TI  - Is single-operator peroral cholangioscopy a useful tool for the diagnosis of
      indeterminate biliary lesion? A systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Differentiating between malignant and benign biliary lesions is
      critical in clinical practice but is difficult. OBJECTIVE: To systematically
      evaluate the diagnostic performance of single-operator peroral cholangioscopy on
      indeterminate biliary lesions. DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
      PATIENTS: Patients with indeterminate biliary lesions or equivocal ERCP findings.
      MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: The diagnostic performance of single-operator peroral
      cholangioscopy on indeterminate biliary lesions. The area under the summary
      receiver-operating characteristic curve was used as the main indicator for the
      overall diagnostic performance of single-operator peroral cholangioscopy visual
      impression (VI) and SpyBite biopsy (SB). The sensitivity, specificity, positive
      likelihood ratio, and negative likelihood ratio were also synthesized. RESULTS: A
      total of 8 studies met the inclusion criteria, involving 335 patients who had
      data on VI and 337 who had data on SB. The area under the curve values on the
      summary receiver-operating characteristic curve of single-operator peroral
      cholangioscopy VI and SB were 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92-0.96) and
      0.93 (95% CI, 0.90-0.95) respectively. The combined sensitivity, specificity,
      positive likelihood ratio, and negative likelihood ratio were 90% (95% CI, 73%
      97%), 87% (95% CI, 76%-94%), 7.1 (95% CI, 3.8-13.3), 0.12 (95% CI, 0.04-0.33) for
      VI and 69% (95% CI, 57%-79%), 98% (95% CI, 92%-99%), 30.1 (95% CI, 8.5-106.9),
      and 0.32 (95% CI, 0.23-0.44) for SB, respectively. LIMITATIONS: Small number of
      included studies; comparison with ERCP could not be made. CONCLUSION: Single
      operator peroral cholangioscopy is a good tool for differentiating malignant and
      benign biliary lesions. VI is useful for detecting malignant lesion, whereas SB
      is better at confirming a malignant diagnosis, but VI is not perfect in excluding
      biliary cancer, nor is SB, and their negative results should be interpreted with
      caution.

PMID- 25841575
TI  - Sex and race and/or ethnicity differences in patients undergoing radiofrequency
      ablation for Barrett's esophagus: results from the U.S. RFA Registry.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Little is known about differences in Barrett's esophagus (BE)
      characteristics by sex and race and/or ethnicity or these differences in response
      to radiofrequency ablation (RFA). OBJECTIVE: We compared disease-specific
      characteristics, treatment efficacy, and safety outcomes by sex and race and/or
      ethnicity in patients treated with RFA for BE. DESIGN: The U.S. RFA patient
      registry is a multicenter collaboration reporting processes and outcomes of care
      for patients treated with RFA for BE. PATIENTS: Patients enrolled with BE.
      INTERVENTIONS: RFA. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: We assessed safety (stricture,
      bleeding, perforation, hospitalization), efficacy (complete eradication of
      intestinal metaplasia [CEIM]), complete eradication of dysplasia, and number of
      treatments to CEIM by sex and race and/or ethnicity. RESULTS: Among 5521 patients
      (4052 men; 5126 white, 137 Hispanic, 82 African American, 40 Asian, 136 heritage
      not identified), women were younger (60.0 vs 62.1 years) and had shorter BE
      segments (3.2 vs 4.4 cm) and less dysplasia (37% vs 57%) than did men. Women were
      almost twice as likely to stricture (odds ratio 1.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.2
      2.3). Although white patients were predominantly male, about half of African
      Americans and Asians with BE were female. African Americans and Asians had less
      dysplasia than white patients. Asians and African Americans had more strictures
      than did white patients. There were no sex or race differences in efficacy.
      LIMITATIONS: Observational study with non-mandated paradigms, no central
      laboratory for reinterpretation of pathology. CONCLUSION: In the U.S. RFA patient
      registry, women had shorter BE segments and less-aggressive histology. The usual
      tendency toward BE in men was absent in African Americans and Asians.
      Posttreatment stricture was more common among women and Asians. RFA efficacy did
      not differ by sex or race.

PMID- 25841577
TI  - A prospective dual-center proof-of-principle study evaluating the incremental
      benefit of narrow-band imaging with a fixed zoom function in real-time prediction
      of polyp histology. Can we resect and discard?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Advancements in endoscopic technology have increased the ability to
      distinguish neoplastic polyps during colonoscopy. If a minimum accuracy can be
      achieved, then a resect-and-discard model can be implemented, although studies to
      date have demonstrated limited success, especially in the assessment of serrated
      polyps. OBJECTIVE: To perform a proof-of-principle study assessing the accuracy
      of narrow-band imaging with near focus in predicting polyp histology including
      serrated polyps and to determine whether the minimum requirements can be achieved
      for a resect-and-discard policy. DESIGN: Dual-center, prospective case series.
      SETTING: Two tertiary-care referral endoscopic centers in Australia. PATIENTS:
      Two hundred consecutive patients undergoing colonoscopy for routine indications
      were recruited. INTERVENTIONS: Any polyps identified were assessed by using
      standard white light followed by narrow-band imaging with near focus for Kudo pit
      patterns and modified Sano capillary patterns. Based on this assessment and the
      macroscopic appearance, the polyp histology was predicted and subsequently
      compared with histopathology results. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Correlation in
      postpolypectomy surveillance intervals between endoscopic and pathologic
      assessments as well as negative predictive value for rectosigmoid hyperplastic
      polyps. RESULTS: There was a 96% agreement for surveillance intervals between
      endoscopic assessment and histology by using the American Society for
      Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guidelines. There was a 96% negative predictive value
      in assessing rectosigmoid hyperplastic polyps. LIMITATIONS: Because this was a
      proof-of-principle study, there was no control arm, and there were small numbers,
      especially in assessing subgroups. The results have limited generalizability with
      the training requirements for polyp recognition, with confidence to be
      determined. CONCLUSION: Narrow-band imaging with near focus can predict polyp
      histology (including serrated polyps) accurately in the hands of trained
      endoscopists. Further studies with larger numbers are required to further
      validate this practice.

PMID- 25841578
TI  - Prevalence, variability, and outcomes in portal hypertensive colopathy: a study
      in patients with cirrhosis and paired controls.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Management of portal hypertensive colopathy (PHC) has been challenged
      by controversial results in its prevalence and clinical relevance. OBJECTIVE: To
      describe the PHC prevalence and to evaluate the variability in diagnosis, the
      relation to severity of liver disease, and the incidence of severe outcomes.
      DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Endoscopic unit of a tertiary-care
      academic center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. PATIENTS: Patients with cirrhosis with
      portal hypertension and controls paired for age and sex. INTERVENTIONS: All
      patients were submitted to standard and image-enhanced colonoscopies, which were
      recorded in a coded video file and analyzed twice by a blinded endoscopist. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: The prevalence of PHC. RESULTS: A total of 51 patients with
      cirrhosis (55% male, mean age 59 years) and 51 healthy controls (43% male, mean
      age 61 years) were included. The top ranking colonoscopic findings were
      angiodysplasia-like lesions, nonspecific vascular pattern, red spots, and
      colorectal varices, all significantly more frequent in patients with cirrhosis
      compared with controls. PHC prevalence was 71% in patients with cirrhosis. For
      PHC, interobserver and intraobserver agreement (k values [standard error]) were
      0.68 (0.09) and 0.63 (0.10), respectively. Intraobserver agreement for
      colonoscopic findings was satisfactory. PHC was not related to more severe liver
      disease or liver stiffness. Only 5 patients developed severe outcomes during
      follow-up. LIMITATIONS: The exclusion of patients with cirrhosis without
      esophageal varices and the absence of an interobserver agreement analysis by
      double-blinded endoscopists. CONCLUSION: PHC was highly prevalent in patients
      with cirrhosis, and its diagnostic agreement was satisfactory. PHC is not
      associated with relevant severe outcomes in a 12-month follow-up.

PMID- 25841579
TI  - When trainees reach competency in performing ERCP: a systematic review.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: ERCP is an advanced endoscopic procedure that is technically
      more challenging and carries a higher risk of adverse events compared with
      standard endoscopy. A discrepancy currently exists among guidelines regarding the
      number of ERCPs that a trainee needs to complete before procedural competency
      should be assessed. Our aim was to assess the learning curve for performing ERCP.
      METHODS: Two authors independently searched MEDLINE (1946 to November 25, 2014)
      along with the gray literature to identify relevant citations. To warrant
      inclusion, citations were required to report successful trainee cannulation rate.
      Successful cannulation rate, set at a value of 80% or higher, was used as our
      baseline reference for competency. RESULTS: Nine studies, assessing 137 trainees
      and 17,100 ERCPs, were included in our analysis. Overall, competency was achieved
      among the included studies between 70 to 400 ERCPs. In the 2 studies that used
      pancreatic duct cannulation rate, competency was achieved by 70 to 160 ERCPs. Of
      the 5 studies that used selective duct cannulation rate, competency was achieved
      by 79 to 300 ERCPs. Finally, in the 4 studies that used common bile duct
      cannulation rate, 2 studies reached the reference competency threshold by 160 to
      400 ERCPs. On further stratification, when assessing native papilla deep common
      bile duct cannulation, only 1 study reached the reference competency threshold by
      350 to 400 ERCPs. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that as ERCP has evolved from
      a predominantly diagnostic to therapeutic procedure, procedural thresholds have
      risen well above North American training guidelines. Therefore, advanced
      endoscopy training programs need to reassess their current structure to ensure
      that procedural competency is being reached.

PMID- 25841580
TI  - Integrated diagnostic strategy for the invasion depth of early gastric cancer by
      conventional endoscopy and EUS.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although conventional endoscopy (CE) and EUS are considered useful
      for predicting the invasion depth (T-staging) in early gastric cancer (EGC), no
      effective diagnostic strategy has been established. OBJECTIVE: To produce simple
      CE criteria and to elucidate an efficient diagnostic method by combining CE and
      EUS for accurate T-staging. DESIGN: Single-center retrospective analysis.
      SETTING: Academic university hospital. PATIENTS: Consecutive patients with EGC
      from April 2007 to March 2012 who underwent CE and EUS before treatment.
      INTERVENTIONS: Recorded endoscopic images were independently reviewed by 3
      observers. The CE criteria for massive invasion were defined, and their utility
      and the additional value of EUS were assessed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: The
      accuracy of CE based on the criteria and the accuracy of EUS. RESULTS: Two
      hundred thirty patients were enrolled: 195 with mucosal cancer or cancer in the
      submucosa less than 500 MUm from the muscularis mucosae and 35 with invasive
      cancers. Multivariate analysis of the CE findings by 1 observer revealed that an
      irregular surface and a submucosal tumor-like marginal elevation were
      significantly associated with massive invasion. The simple CE criteria,
      consisting of those 2 features, had an overall accuracy of 73% to 82% and no
      significant differences in the diagnostic yield compared with EUS in all
      observers. CE accurately revealed mucosal cancer, and EUS efficiently salvaged
      the lesions that were over-diagnosed by CE. With our strategy, which involved the
      CE criteria and the optimal use of EUS, the comprehensive accuracy exceeded 85%
      in each observer. LIMITATIONS: Retrospective, single-center study. CONCLUSIONS:
      We demonstrated a practical strategy for T-staging in EGC using simple CE
      criteria and EUS.

PMID- 25841581
TI  - Current knowledge of antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines regarding GI open-access
      endoscopic procedures is inadequate.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines from 2007 and the
      American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) guidelines from 2008
      recommended against antibiotic prophylaxis before GI endoscopic procedures to
      prevent bacterial endocarditis. OBJECTIVE: To determine physician knowledge
      regarding these guidelines and to identify physician subgroups for which
      knowledge was suboptimal. DESIGN: A survey questionnaire was developed based on
      AHA and ASGE guidelines regarding antibiotics before endoscopy. Physicians were
      queried about 10 theoretical scenarios as to whether or not they would recommend
      before-procedure antibiotics. SETTING: The survey was administered at 3 academic
      medical centers. PARTICIPANTS: Attending physicians and trainees in primary care
      and subspecialties. INTERVENTIONS: Survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Percentage
      of the survey questions answered correctly and predictors of correct response.
      RESULTS: The survey was administered to 941 participants of whom 12 declined to
      participate. Eighty percent (n=740/929) of participants completed the survey. The
      median number of correct answers was 70% (interquartile range [IQR] 50%-90%) and
      was similar at each institution (P=.6). A total of 7.3% (n=54) of respondents
      answered all questions correctly. There was no significant difference in correct
      responses between attending physicians and trainees or between study centers
      (median 7, IQR 5-9; P=.75). Gastroenterologists were more likely to answer
      questions correctly than other subspecialists or primary care physicians
      (P<.0001). On multivariate analysis, physician knowledge correlated directly with
      self-reported familiarity with guidelines (0.21; 95% confidence interval [CI],
      0.08-0.34; P=.002) and specialty (0.56; 95% CI, 0.30-0.82; P<.001) and inversely
      with year of medical school graduation (0.22; 95% CI, 0.07-0.37; P=.005).
      LIMITATIONS: Survey study that used theoretical scenarios. CONCLUSION: Physician
      knowledge of guidelines regarding antibiotic use before endoscopy is suboptimal.
      Further interventions are needed to improve the knowledge of before-procedure
      guidelines.

PMID- 25841582
TI  - Splenic abscess: a rare adverse event of a benign penetrating gastric ulcer.

PMID- 25841583
TI  - Success of single-balloon enteroscopy in patients with surgically altered
      anatomy.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Single-balloon enteroscopy (SBE) was introduced in 2007 to diagnose
      and treat small-bowel disorders. No study to date has evaluated SBE in patients
      with surgically altered anatomy outside of ERCP. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the
      efficacy, yield, and safety of SBE in patients with surgically altered anatomy.
      DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: Tertiary-care academic medical center.
      PATIENTS: All patients with altered surgical anatomy who underwent SBE at the
      Medical University of South Carolina from July 2007 to September 2013.
      INTERVENTIONS: SBE. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Diagnostic yield, therapeutic
      yield, technical success, and adverse events. RESULTS: A total of 48 patients met
      inclusion criteria. Mean age was 56 years (77% female). Eleven patients underwent
      single-balloon PEG placement, 8 single-balloon ERCP, 22 non-PEG/non-ERCP
      anterograde SBE, and 7 retrograde SBE. Previous surgeries included Roux-en-Y
      gastric bypass (n=26), small-intestine resection (n=6), colon resection (n=5),
      Whipple procedure (n=4), choledochojejunostomy (n=3), hepaticojejunostomy (n=1),
      Billroth I (n=1), Billroth II (n=1), and Puestow procedure (n=1). Procedural
      indications were PEG tube placement (n=11), choledocholithiasis (n=2), biliary
      stricture (n=2), obstructive jaundice (n=1), cholangitis (n=1), ampullary mass
      (n=1), sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (n=1), anemia and/or bleeding (n=15),
      abdominal pain (n=9), radiologic evidence of obstruction (n=3), and Peutz-Jeghers
      syndrome (n=2). The technical success rate was 73% in single-balloon PEG
      placement, 88% in single-balloon ERCP, 82% in other anterograde SBEs, and 86% in
      retrograde SBEs. No intraprocedural or postprocedural adverse events were
      observed. LIMITATIONS: Single center, retrospective study. CONCLUSION: SBE is
      safe and effective in patients with surgically altered anatomy.

PMID- 25841584
TI  - Pancreatic pseudotumor caused by toothpick ingestion.

PMID- 25841585
TI  - ERCP with per-oral pancreatoscopy-guided laser lithotripsy for calcific chronic
      pancreatitis: a multicenter U.S. experience.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In patients with chronic pancreatitis, laser lithotripsy (LL) permits
      stone fragmentation and removal during ERCP with some advantages over
      extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL) and surgery. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate
      the technical success of LL in pancreatic duct (PD) stones. DESIGN: Retrospective
      cohort. SETTING: Four tertiary referral centers. PATIENTS: Patients undergoing
      endotherapy for PD stones. INTERVENTIONS: ERCP with per-oral pancreatoscopy (POP)
      guided LL. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENT: Technical success was defined as complete
      stone clearance. RESULTS: Over 3 years, 28 patients (16 men, 51 years [mean age])
      underwent a median of 1 (range, 1-4) POP-LL for PD stones. Baseline parameters
      included pain requiring hospitalization (n=19, 68%), opiate use (n=14, 50%), or
      weight loss (n=11, 39%). Before POP-LL, 22 of 28 patients (79%) had a median of 1
      (range, 1-5) ERCP, 9 of 28 (32%) underwent a median of 2 (range, 1-3) ESWL
      sessions, and 5 underwent a median of 1 (range, 1-3) POP-guided electrohydraulic
      lithotripsy with failed (n=2) or partial (n=3) fragmentation. A median of 2
      (range, 1-3) stones sized 15 mm (range, 4-32 mm) were identified in the head
      (n=9, 32%), neck (n=3, 11%), body (n=9, 32%), tail (n=1, 4%), or multiple sites
      (n=6, 21%). Technical success occurred in 22 patients (79%) with complete
      clearance. Partial clearance occurred in 3 (11%). Clinical success at a median of
      13 (range, 1-25) months of follow-up was noted in 25 of 28 patients (89%) by
      improvement in pain (n=25), decreased narcotic use (n=25), or reduced
      hospitalizations (n=19). Mild adverse events occurred in 8 of 28 (29%).
      CONCLUSIONS: POP-LL is feasible at expert centers in patients with accessible
      stones. Although intensive endotherapy is required, most patients achieve stone
      clearance and clinical improvement.

PMID- 25841586
TI  - Do stage of disease, comorbidity or access to treatment explain socioeconomic
      differences in survival after ovarian cancer? - A cohort study among Danish women
      diagnosed 2005-2010.
AB  - AIMS: In order to reduce social inequality in cancer survival, knowledge is
      needed about where in the cancer trajectory disparities occur, and how social and
      health-related aspects may interact. We aimed to determine whether socioeconomic
      factors are related to cancer diagnosis stage, and whether socioeconomic
      disparities in survival after ovarian cancer can be explained by socioeconomic
      differences in cancer stage, comorbidity, treatment or lifestyle factors.
      METHODS: In the Danish Gynaecological Cancer Database we identified 2873 cases of
      ovarian cancer diagnosed between 2005 and 2010. From this data we retrieved
      information on prognostic factors, treatment information and lifestyle factors.
      Age, vital status, comorbidity, education, income and cohabitation status were
      ascertained from nationwide administrative registers. Associations were analyzed
      with logistic regression and Cox regression models. RESULTS: Educational level
      was weakly associated with cancer stage. Short education, lower income and living
      without a partner were related to poorer survival after ovarian cancer. Among
      women with early cancer stage, HR (95% CI) for death was 1.75 (1.20-2.54) in
      shorter compared to longer educated women. After adjustment for comorbid
      conditions, cancer stage, tumour histology, operation status and lifestyle
      factors, socioeconomic differences in survival persisted. CONCLUSIONS:
      Socioeconomic disparities in survival after ovarian cancer were to some extent,
      but not fully explained by differences in important prognostic factors,
      suggesting further investigations into this problem, however implying that
      socially less advantaged ovarian cancer patients should receive attention during
      cancer treatment and rehabilitation.

PMID- 25841587
TI  - Understanding type 2 diabetes: from genetics to epigenetics.
AB  - The known genetic variability (common DNA polymorphisms) does not account either
      for the current epidemics of type 2 diabetes or for the family transmission of
      this disorder. However, clinical, epidemiological and, more recently,
      experimental evidence indicates that environmental factors have an extraordinary
      impact on the natural history of type 2 diabetes. Some of these environmental
      hits are often shared in family groups and proved to be capable to induce
      epigenetic changes which alter the function of genes affecting major diabetes
      traits. Thus, epigenetic mechanisms may explain the environmental origin as well
      as the familial aggregation of type 2 diabetes much easier than common
      polymorphisms. In the murine model, exposure of parents to environmental hits
      known to cause epigenetic changes reprograms insulin sensitivity as well as beta
      cell function in the progeny, indicating that certain epigenetic changes can be
      transgenerationally transmitted. Studies from different laboratories revealed
      that, in humans, lifestyle intervention modulates the epigenome and reverts
      environmentally induced epigenetic modifications at specific target genes.
      Finally, specific human epigenotypes have been identified which predict adiposity
      and type 2 diabetes with much greater power than any polymorphism so far
      identified. These epigenotypes can be recognized in easily accessible white cells
      from peripheral blood, indicating that, in the future, epigenetic profiling may
      enable effective type 2 diabetes prediction. This review discusses recent
      evidence from the literature supporting the immediate need for further
      investigation to uncover the power of epigenetics in the prediction, prevention
      and treatment of type 2 diabetes.

PMID- 25841588
TI  - Eating disorders are frequent among type 2 diabetic patients and are associated
      with worse metabolic and psychological outcomes: results from a cross-sectional
      study in primary and secondary care settings.
AB  - AIMS: Data regarding the prevalence of eating disorders (ED) and their influence
      on clinical outcomes among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) are scarce. Our
      aim is to investigate the frequency of positive screening for ED, specifically
      binge eating disorder (BED), in a T2DM sample and analyze whether there are any
      differences among T2DM subjects with a positive screening for ED or BED. METHODS:
      Three hundred and twenty subjects with T2DM were recruited randomly. All
      participants were evaluated for the presence of ED by completing the "Eating
      Attitudes Test-26" (EAT-26). In addition, the "Questionnaire of Eating and Weight
      Patterns-Revised" (QEWP-R) for the screening of BED was also implemented.
      Sociodemographic, clinical and biochemical parameters were also recorded.
      RESULTS: According to EAT-26, 14 % of subjects screened positive for ED.
      Regarding QEWP-R, 16 % had a positive screening for ED, with BED having a
      frequency of 12.2 %, being the most prevalent one. There was a positive
      correlation between the scores obtained with the EAT-26 and the Beck Depression
      Inventory (p = 0.0014). Patients with BED were younger (57.5 +/- 11.1 vs 63.3 +/-
      10.3 years; p = 0.004), with a lesser T2DM duration (8.5 +/- 6.1 vs 12.1 +/- 9.6
      years; p = 0.002). Weight and BMI among subjects with BED were greater (89.1 +/-
      1.3 vs 82.4 +/- 16.7 kg; p = 0.04 and 39.4 +/- 10.3 vs 30.7 +/- 5.5 kg/m(2); p =
      0.01). The frequency of subjects with one admission related to T2DM or any other
      condition during the last year was higher (10 vs 3 %; p = 0.04 and 33 vs 21 %; p
      = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: ED among T2DM are frequent. Due to their deleterious effect
      on different metabolic and psychological outcomes, they should be diagnosed
      promptly, especially BED.

PMID- 25841589
TI  - Frequency of self-monitoring blood glucose and attainment of HbA1c target values.
AB  - AIMS: Test strips for self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) represent in
      Argentina, around 50 % of diabetes treatment cost; the frequency of their use is
      closely associated with hyperglycemia treatment. However, the favorable impact of
      SMBG on attainment of HbA1c goal in different treatment conditions remains
      controversial. We therefore attempted to estimate the relationship between use of
      SMBG test strips and degree of attainment of metabolic control in an institution
      of our social security subsector (SSS) in which provision is fully covered and
      submitted to a regular audit system. METHODS: Observational retrospective study
      using information of 657 patients with T2DM (period 2009-2010) from the database
      of the Diabetes and Other Cardiovascular Risk Factors Program (DICARO) of one
      institution of our SSS. DICARO provides-with an audit system-100 % coverage for
      all drugs and keeps records of clinical, metabolic and treatment data from every
      patient. RESULTS: The average monthly test strips/patient used for SMBG increased
      as a function of treatment intensification: Monotherapy with oral antidiabetic
      drugs (OAD) < combined OAD therapy < insulin treatment. In every condition, the
      number was larger in people with target HbA1c levels. Test strips represented the
      larger percentage of total prescription cost. CONCLUSIONS: In our population, the
      type of hyperglycemia treatment was the main driver of test strip use for SMBG;
      in every condition tested, targeted HbA1c values were associated with greater
      strip use. Patient education and prescription audit may optimize its use and
      treatment outcomes.

PMID- 25841590
TI  - [Intensive care unit profesionals's knowledge about non invasive ventilation
      comparative analysis].
AB  - AIMS: The literature highlights the lack of noninvasive ventilation (NIV)
      protocols and the variability of the knowledge of NIV between intensive care
      units (ICU) and hospitals, so we want to compare NIV nurses's Knowledge from 4
      multipurpose ICU and one surgical ICU. METHODS: Multicenter, crosscutting,
      descriptive study in three university hospitals. The survey instrument was
      validated in a pilot test, and the calculated Kappa index was 0.9. Returning a
      completed survey is an indication of informed consent. Analysis by Chi square
      test. RESULTS: 117 responded (65%) nurses, 11+/-9.7 years of experience in ICU
      and 9.2+/-7.2 in use of NIV. One of the multipurpose ICU, was initiated NIV an
      average of 6 years later than the others (95% CI [3.3 to 8.6], P<.001). Only
      23.1% of nurses would place a non-vented mask (with no exhalation port) by
      conventional ventilator, the rest any kind of face mask. 12.7% believed that the
      mask must be adjusted to the "2-finger" fit while 29% would seal the mask to the
      patient's face and cover the mask opening where air escapes to facilitate
      patient/ventilator synchronization. In the surgical ICU agitation identifies
      mostly as a complication of NIV compared with multipurpose UCIs (31.6% vs 1.8%,
      P<.001). 56.4% of nurses do not consider respiratory physiotherapy as nursing
      care, with no difference between units. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge about types of
      interface is very dependent on the material of the unit. More training for
      complications of NIV as agitation and handling secretions it is necessary.

PMID- 25841591
TI  - Proteome evolution of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) aleurone layer at fifteen
      stages of grain development.
AB  - The aleurone layer (AL) is the grain peripheral tissue; it is rich in
      micronutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, and essential amino acids. This highly
      nutritive part of the grain has been less studied partly because its isolation is
      so laborious. In the present study, the ALs of Triticum aestivum (variety
      Recital) were separated manually at 15 stages of grain development. A total of
      327 proteins were identified using 2-DE LC-MS/MS. They were classified in six
      main groups and 26 sub-groups according to their biochemical function. Proteomic
      analysis revealed seven different profiles distributed among three main
      development stages: (i) early AL development, with proteins involved in intense
      metabolic activities in the growth and development of the cell wall compounds;
      (ii) the intermediate stage, characterized by oxidative stress and defense
      proteins (65%) linked with loss of water in peripheral layers during grain
      filling; and (iii) AL maturation, involving the production of amino acids and the
      control of reactive oxidative species to enable the accumulation and maturation
      of globulins within the AL. The present study provides the first insights into
      developing proteome in the AL. We describe the numerous AL enzymes involved in
      the accumulation of storage protein and in the protection of the endosperm over
      time. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The hand dissection of wheat aleurone layer (AL)
      was carried in this study for the first time on fifteen developmental stages from
      cell differentiation to grain maturity. Three major phases were revealed over AL
      development: cell division activities, globulins storage, and grain protection.
      Enzymes related to metabolites and vitamins were abundantly expressed during the
      two first phases. In parallel to the progressive globulins accumulation, the
      final phase was characterized by key enzyme synthesis involved in energy
      production, amino-acids and antioxidant synthesis plus others to face hypoxia and
      dehydration of grain tissues.

PMID- 25841592
TI  - Feasibility of label-free phosphoproteomics and application to base-line
      signaling of colorectal cancer cell lines.
AB  - Robust phosphopeptide enrichment methods with minimal fractionation are required
      to profile signaling network analysis in cancer cell lines and tissues. We
      assessed performance of single-shot LC-MS/MS label-free phosphoproteomics using
      TiOx-based phosphopeptide enrichment and report phosphopeptide identification
      reproducibility (75.8%), depth of identification (6014-6150 phosphopeptides) and
      reproducibility of label-free quantification (CV 17.8%). Subsequently, we have
      profiled the baseline global phosphorylation of 8 colorectal cancer (CRC) cell
      lines representing different CRC prognostic subtypes. Global single-shot
      phosphoproteomics can distinguish CRC subtypes previously identified by
      transcriptomics and identifies signaling proteins and processes associated with
      the CCS3 poor prognosis subtype. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with
      identifiers PXD001546 and PXD001550. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Label-free single
      shot phosphoproteomics is a mature workflow that can be used for global
      quantitative profiling of biological cell lines and tissues to map signaling
      networks in comparative analyses. Here we show the feasibility of label-free
      profiling of CRC cell lines at sample input levels compatible with clinical
      samples such as tumor biopsies. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled:
      HUPO 2014.

PMID- 25841593
TI  - Structural and functional screening in human induced-pluripotent stem cell
      derived cardiomyocytes accurately identifies cardiotoxicity of multiple drug
      types.
AB  - Safety pharmacology studies that evaluate new drug entities for potential cardiac
      liability remain a critical component of drug development. Current studies have
      shown that in vitro tests utilizing human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived
      cardiomyocytes (hiPS-CM) may be beneficial for preclinical risk evaluation. We
      recently demonstrated that an in vitro multi-parameter test panel assessing
      overall cardiac health and function could accurately reflect the associated
      clinical cardiotoxicity of 4 FDA-approved targeted oncology agents using hiPS-CM.
      The present studies expand upon this initial observation to assess whether this
      in vitro screen could detect cardiotoxicity across multiple drug classes with
      known clinical cardiac risks. Thus, 24 drugs were examined for their effect on
      both structural (viability, reactive oxygen species generation, lipid formation,
      troponin secretion) and functional (beating activity) endpoints in hiPS-CM. Using
      this screen, the cardiac-safe drugs showed no effects on any of the tests in our
      panel. However, 16 of 18 compounds with known clinical cardiac risk showed drug
      induced changes in hiPS-CM by at least one method. Moreover, when taking into
      account the Cmax values, these 16 compounds could be further classified depending
      on whether the effects were structural, functional, or both. Overall, the most
      sensitive test assessed cardiac beating using the xCELLigence platform (88.9%)
      while the structural endpoints provided additional insight into the mechanism of
      cardiotoxicity for several drugs. These studies show that a multi-parameter
      approach examining both cardiac cell health and function in hiPS-CM provides a
      comprehensive and robust assessment that can aid in the determination of
      potential cardiac liability.

PMID- 25841595
TI  - Cervical cancer prevention: immunization and screening 2015.
AB  - Both primary and secondary prevention of cervical cancer are now available.
      Immunizations against human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 have the
      potential to prevent 70% of cancers of the cervix plus a large percentage of
      other lower anogenital tract cancers. Screening guidelines were recently changed
      to recommend cotesting with cytology plus an HPV test. The addition of HPV
      testing increases the sensitivity and negative predictive value of screening over
      the Papanicolaou (Pap) test alone. 

PMID- 25841594
TI  - Breast cancer screening: an evidence-based update.
AB  - Routine screening mammography is recommended by most groups issuing breast cancer
      screening guidelines, especially for women 50 years of age and older. However,
      both the potential benefits and risks of screening should be discussed with
      individual patients to allow for shared decision making regarding their
      participation in screening, age of commencement and conclusion, and interval of
      mammography screening. 

PMID- 25841596
TI  - Oral contraception.
AB  - Oral contraception (OC) remains a popular noninvasive, readily reversible
      approach for pregnancy prevention and, largely off label, for control of acne,
      hirsutism, dysmenorrhea, irregular menstruation, menorrhagia, and other menstrual
      related symptoms. Many OC formulations exist, with generics offering lower cost
      and comparable efficacy. Certain medical conditions, including hypertension,
      migraine, breast cancer, and risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), present
      contraindications. Blood pressure measurement is the only physical examination or
      testing needed before prescription. Although no OC is clearly superior to others,
      OCs containing the second-generation progestin levonorgestrel have been
      associated with lower VTE risk than those containing other progestins. 

PMID- 25841597
TI  - Intrauterine devices and other forms of contraception: thinking outside the pack.
AB  - A variety of contraception options are available in addition to traditional
      combined oral contraceptive pills. Newer long-acting reversible contraceptive
      (LARC) methods such as intrauterine devices and subcutaneous implants are
      preferred because they do not depend on patient compliance. They are highly
      effective and appropriate for most women. Female and male sterilization are other
      effective but they are irreversible and require counseling to minimize regret.
      The contraceptive injection, patch, and ring do not require daily administration,
      but their typical efficacy rates are lower than LARC methods and similar to those
      for combined oral contraceptive pills. 

PMID- 25841598
TI  - Menopause.
AB  - Women generally spend the last third of their lifetime in menopause, after their
      reproductive years have ended. During menopause, women experience a variety of
      predictable symptoms and conditions related to changes in sex hormone levels and
      aging. The menopausal transition precedes menopause by several years and is
      usually characterized by irregularity of the menstrual cycle and by hot flashes
      and night sweats. After menopause, genitourinary symptoms predominate, including
      vulvovaginal atrophy and dryness and lower urinary tract symptoms, including
      urinary frequency, urgency, and nocturia. Hormonal treatment is effective for
      vasomotor and genitourinary symptoms, but the understanding of its impact on
      cardiovascular disease, cognitive dysfunction, and depression continues to
      evolve. 

PMID- 25841599
TI  - Cardiovascular risk factors and disease in women.
AB  - Coronary artery disease and stroke predominantly affect older women as opposed to
      younger women, but the risk factors that contribute to atherosclerotic
      cardiovascular disease risk often start in young women. Young women with
      polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), with migraine, and who use oral contraceptive
      pills (OCPs) have short-term increases in thrombotic complications that can
      result in coronary events or stroke. Attention should be focused on risk
      reduction in women of all ages. Screening for and discussing diabetes,
      hypertension, obesity, smoking, migraine, PCOS, and pregnancy complication
      history and discussing the pros and cons of hormone and statin medications are
      part of reducing cardiovascular risk for women. 

PMID- 25841600
TI  - Common vaginal and vulvar disorders.
AB  - Vaginal and vulvar disorders are among the leading causes for women to visit a
      health care professional. Therefore, it is important to have a basic
      understanding of these diseases. Although rarely life threatening, these
      disorders can impact significantly a woman's sexual function and sense of well
      being. 

PMID- 25841601
TI  - Prevalence and management of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in women.
AB  - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common blood-borne pathogen in the United
      States and is a leading cause of cirrhosis, need for liver transplantation, and
      liver-related mortality in women. Women should be offered testing if they fall in
      a high-risk group for exposure. Compared to men, women have higher rates of
      spontaneous HCV clearance after exposure and slower progression to cirrhosis but
      are more susceptible to liver damage from comorbid alcohol use. Premenopausal
      women with HCV should be counseled about the risks of antiviral treatment during
      pregnancy and the potential for vertical transmission of HCV to their offspring. 

PMID- 25841602
TI  - Osteoporosis: screening, prevention, and management.
AB  - Osteoporosis is characterized by low bone mineral density (BMD) and abnormal bone
      architecture. Common fracture sites are vertebrae, proximal femur, and distal
      forearm. Osteoporosis is underdiagnosed and undertreated. All women 65 and older
      should be screened. Consider screening younger postmenopausal women with elevated
      risk. Osteoporosis is diagnosed based on T score or a fragility fracture. Women
      with osteoporosis or who have a 10-year risk of any major fracture of 20% or hip
      fracture of 3% should be evaluated for causes of low bone density and treated
      with an osteoporosis-specific medication, lifestyle interventions, and calcium
      and vitamin D intake. 

PMID- 25841603
TI  - Female sexual dysfunction.
AB  - Female sexual dysfunction is a common patient concern. After providing an
      overview regarding the various types of female sexual dysfunction, we will focus
      on history taking and treatment options for desire, arousal, orgasm, and pain
      disorders. Testosterone therapy and management of selective serotonin reuptake
      inhibitor-associated sexual dysfunction are reviewed. Treatments for atrophic
      vaginitis are appraised. Patient cases lead the discussion, providing the reader
      with clinically relevant information. 

PMID- 25841604
TI  - Intimate partner violence: prevalence, health consequences, and intervention.
AB  - Intimate partner violence (IPV) can be defined in many ways and encompasses many
      different types of physical and emotional abuse. IPV affects the health, safety,
      and quality of life for women, men, and children worldwide, regardless of race,
      sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. The health effects include acute
      trauma; a wide range of physical and mental sequelae; and, for some, death.
      Because of the serious consequences of IPV, both the Centers for Disease Control
      and the World Health Organization identify IPV as a significant public health
      issue. 

PMID- 25841605
TI  - Care of women veterans.
AB  - As more women have joined the US military, there has been a shift in the overall
      veteran population. Those who served in the US military, especially women, have
      undergone experiences that will impact their overall health and wellbeing. It is
      therefore critical for providers to better understand US military culture and be
      prepared on how to ask patients about their military experience. Health care
      providers need to be aware of the unique medical, psychiatric, and psychosocial
      needs of women veterans in order to best serve this patient population. 

PMID- 25841606
TI  - Preconception care and reproductive planning in primary care.
AB  - Preconception care is designed to identify and reduce biomedical, behavioral, and
      social risks to the health of a woman or her baby before pregnancy occurs. Few
      women present requesting preconception care; however, 1 in 10 US women of
      childbearing age will become pregnant each year. As primary care physicians
      (PCPs) care for reproductive-aged women before, between, and after their
      pregnancies, they are ideally positioned to help women address health risks
      before conception, including optimizing chronic conditions, to prevent adverse
      pregnancy and longer-term health outcomes. PCPs can help women make informed
      decisions both about preparing for pregnancy and about using effective
      contraception when pregnancy is not desired. 

PMID- 25841607
TI  - Women's health.

PMID- 25841608
TI  - Women's health.

PMID- 25841609
TI  - Which patients are less likely to improve during the first year after
      arthroscopic partial meniscectomy? A multivariate analysis of 201 patients with
      prospective follow-up.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine which specific factors influence the improvements in
      function and pain at the first year following arthroscopic partial meniscectomy.
      METHODS: Between 2012 and 2013, patients who had arthroscopic partial
      meniscectomy were included (n = 201) and followed prospectively before surgery
      and at 12 months. Multivariable stepwise analysis included preoperative variables
      (age, gender, limb side, height, weight, body mass index, comorbidities, smoking,
      Tegner activity scale, Lysholm knee score, preceding injury and duration of
      preoperative symptoms) and arthroscopic findings (degree of cartilage lesions,
      medial or lateral meniscus involvement, type of meniscal tear and concomitant
      cruciate tear). The Lysholm clinical score at the last follow-up and the time
      interval for substantial pain relief was modelled as a function of the above
      predictor variables. RESULTS: At the last follow-up, the mean Lysholm score
      improved by 14.6 points (95 % CI 10.4-18.8, P < 0.001), from 68.0 +/- 16.1 to
      82.6 +/- 19.6 points and 153 (76 %) patients declared they were satisfied to have
      had the operation. The mean time interval for substantial pain relief was 3.5 +/-
      1.5 months. Females and patients with lower preoperative Lysholm score were
      correlated with lower post-operative Lysholm score, while females and patients
      with lateral meniscal tears (compared to medial meniscal tears) were correlated
      with longer recovery. CONCLUSIONS: Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy improved
      pain and function at the first year post-operatively. Female gender, lateral
      meniscal tear and less favourable preoperative function were relatively
      correlated to worse post-operative function and longer rehabilitation time. LEVEL
      OF EVIDENCE: IV.

PMID- 25841610
TI  - Minimizing thermal degradation in gas chromatographic quantitation of
      pentaerythritol tetranitrate.
AB  - An analytical method for establishing calibration curves for the quantitation of
      pentaerythriol tetranitrate (PETN) from sorbent-filled thermal desorption tubes
      by gas chromatography with electron capture detection (TDS-GC-ECD) was developed.
      As PETN has been demonstrated to thermally degrade under typical GC instrument
      conditions, peaks corresponding to both PETN degradants and molecular PETN are
      observed. The retention time corresponding to intact PETN was verified by high
      resolution mass spectrometry with a flowing atmospheric pressure afterglow (FAPA)
      ionization source, which enabled soft ionization of intact PETN eluting the GC
      and subsequent accurate-mass identification. The GC separation parameters were
      transferred to a conventional GC-ECD instrument where analytical method-induced
      PETN degradation was further characterized and minimized. A method calibration
      curve was established by direct liquid deposition of PETN standard solutions onto
      the glass frit at the head of sorbent-filled thermal desorption tubes. Two local,
      linear relationships between detector response and PETN concentration were
      observed, with a total dynamic range of 0.25-25ng. 

PMID- 25841611
TI  - Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for the determination of new generation
      pesticides in soils by liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry.
AB  - A sensitive method for the determination of five new generation pesticides
      (chlorantraniliprole, spirotetramat, spiromesifen, spirodiclofen and
      flubendiamide) in soil samples has been developed using liquid chromatography and
      tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS(2)) with a triple-quadrupole in the multiple
      reaction monitoring mode. The target analytes are released from the solid matrix
      by single-phase extraction in acetonitrile (SLE), this organic phase being used
      as dispersant solvent in the dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME)
      step. The different parameters affecting the extraction efficiency in DLLME were
      carefully studied, being 1.5mL of acetonitrile extract (disperser solvent),
      125MUL carbon tetrachloride (extraction solvent) and 10mL aqueous solution, the
      selected conditions. The enriched organic phase was evaporated, reconstituted
      with 50MUL acetonitrile and injected into a liquid chromatograph with a mobile
      phase composed of acetonitrile and 0.1% (v/v) formic acid under gradient elution
      and a C8 stationary phase. Detection limits in the 0.0015-0.0090ngg(-1) range
      were obtained. Insecticide concentrations ranging from 0.03 to 197ngg(-1),
      depending on the compound, were found in the soil samples analysed. The recovery
      values obtained by SLE-DLLME-LC-ESI-MS(2) for three spiked soils at three
      concentration levels varied between 87 and 114%, with RSDs of between 5.5 and
      14%. 

PMID- 25841612
TI  - Fourier transform assisted deconvolution of skewed peaks in complex multi
      dimensional chromatograms.
AB  - Lower order peak moments of individual peaks in heavily fused peak clusters can
      be determined by fitting peak models to the experimental data. The success of
      such an approach depends on two main aspects: the generation of meaningful
      initial estimates on the number and position of the peaks, and the choice of a
      suitable peak model. For the detection of meaningful peaks in multi-dimensional
      chromatograms, a fast data scanning algorithm was combined with prior resolution
      enhancement through the reduction of column and system broadening effects with
      the help of two-dimensional fast Fourier transforms. To capture the shape of
      skewed peaks in multi-dimensional chromatograms a formalism for the accurate
      calculation of exponentially modified Gaussian peaks, one of the most popular
      models for skewed peaks, was extended for direct fitting of two-dimensional data.
      The method is demonstrated to successfully identify and deconvolute peaks hidden
      in strongly fused peak clusters. Incorporation of automatic analysis and
      reporting of the statistics of the fitted peak parameters and calculated
      properties allows to easily identify in which regions of the chromatograms
      additional resolution is required for robust quantification. 

PMID- 25841613
TI  - Beyond experimental noise: Analyzing single-molecule data of heterogeneous
      systems: Comment on "Extracting physics of life at the molecular level: A review
      of single-molecule data analyses" by W. Colomb and S.K. Sarkar.

PMID- 25841614
TI  - Profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells does not accurately predict the
      bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome after lung transplantation.
AB  - After lung transplantation (LTx), circulating mononuclear cell composition and
      their subsets may be predictive for the bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS).
      We investigated the cellular composition in patients developing BOS, or not, by
      analyzing peripheral blood taken at multiple time points after transplantation.
      PBMCs of 11 BOS and 39 non-BOS patients were analyzed by FACS for monocytes,
      dendritic cells, NK-, NKT-, B- and T cells as well as B- and T cell subsets.
      Analysis of blood samples taken monthly during the first year post-LTx showed
      that circulating NK, NKT and dendritic cell percentages were not indicative of
      BOS development, whereas increases in T cells, monocytes and lowered fractions of
      B cells were related to BOS development. B- and T cell subset analysis at month 5
      post-LTx indicated that IgM+IgD- memory B cells and central memory CD8+ T cells
      were decreased, whereas NKT cells were increased in BOS patients compared to non
      BOS patients. Prior to BOS diagnosis, the composition of specific mononuclear
      cells on a group level differs from patients remaining BOS free. However, given
      the overlap in percentages of cellular frequencies between the patient groups
      investigated, this analysis does not allow prediction or risk stratification for
      development of BOS in individual patients. 

PMID- 25841615
TI  - Prevalence and characteristics of women reporting poor mental health during
      pregnancy: Findings from the 2010 French National Perinatal Survey.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Self-rated mental health is a useful indicator to examine the
      positive dimension of mental health and psychological well-being. The primary
      objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of poor self-rated mental
      health during pregnancy in a nationally representative population in France. The
      second objective was to assess the sociodemographic and medical characteristics
      associated with this condition and with a health professional's consultation for
      psychological problems. METHODS: The study was based on the 2010 French National
      Perinatal Survey, which included all singleton live births in French maternity
      units during a 1-week period (n=14,326 women). Self-rated mental health was
      assessed using the following single-item question: "During your pregnancy, how
      did you feel from a psychological point of view: good - fairly good - rather poor
      - poor?" Women were also asked if they had visited a healthcare professional for
      psychological problems. They were interviewed between delivery and discharge to
      collect information on mental health, sociodemographic and medical
      characteristics, the context of their pregnancy, and their prenatal care.
      RESULTS: Of the women interviewed, 8.9% [95% CI, 8.5-9.5%] reported poor self
      rated mental health during pregnancy. Among them, 18.7% consulted a healthcare
      professional for psychological problems. Sociodemographic characteristics
      indicative of social disadvantage were associated with a higher-risk of poor self
      rated mental health, and a social gradient was observed. However, more favorable
      social characteristics were associated with consultation with a healthcare
      professional for these psychological difficulties. The reaction to the discovery
      of pregnancy and prenatal care differed significantly depending on self-rated
      mental health. Women with poor mental health had more complicated pregnancies.
      CONCLUSION: This study showed strong associations between many socially
      disadvantaged characteristics and a positive dimension of mental health. The
      findings suggest that well-being measures such as self-rated mental health should
      be routinely assessed during pregnancy so that women can be offered more
      appropriate support.

PMID- 25841616
TI  - The 6-OHDA mouse model of Parkinson's disease - Terminal striatal lesions provide
      a superior measure of neuronal loss and replacement than median forebrain bundle
      lesions.
AB  - Unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesions of the nigrostriatal pathway
      produce side-biased motor impairments that reflect the motor deficits seen in
      Parkinson's disease (PD). This toxin-induced model in the rat has been used
      widely, to evaluate possible therapeutic strategies, but has not been well
      established in mice. With the advancements in mouse stem cell research we believe
      the requirement for a mouse model is essential for the therapeutic potential of
      these and other mouse-derived cells to be efficiently assessed. This aim of this
      study focused on developing a mouse model of PD using the 129 P2/OLA Hsd mouse
      strain as this is widely used in the generation of mouse embryonic stem cells.
      Both unilateral 6-OHDA medial forebrain bundle (MFB) and striatal lesion
      protocols were compared, with mice analysed for appropriate drug-induced
      rotational bias. Results demonstrated that lesioned mice responded to d
      amphetamine with peak rotation dose at 5mg/kg and 10mg/kg for MFB and striatal
      lesions respectively. Apomorphine stimulation produced no significant rotational
      responses, at any dose, in either the MFB or striatal 6-OHDA lesioned mice.
      Analysis of dopamine neuron loss revealed that the MFB lesion was unreliable with
      little correlation between dopamine neuron loss and rotational asymmetry.
      Striatal lesions however were more reliable, with a strong correlation between
      dopamine neuron loss and rotational asymmetry. Functional recovery of d
      amphetamine-induced rotational bias was shown following transplantation of E13
      mouse VM tissue into the lesioned striatum; confirming the validity of this mouse
      model. 

PMID- 25841617
TI  - Memory boosts turn taking in evolutionary dilemma games.
AB  - Spontaneous turn taking phenomenon can be observed in many self-organized
      systems, and the mechanism is unclear. This paper tries to model it by
      evolutionary dilemma games with memory mechanism. Prisoner's dilemma, Snowdrift
      (including Leader and Hero) and Stag-hunt games are unified on an extended S-T
      plane. Agents play game with all the others and make decision by the last game
      histories. The experiments find that when agents remember last 2-step histories
      or more, a kind of cooperative turn taking (CAD) bursts at the area of Snowdrift
      game with restriction of S + T > 2R and S ? T, while the consistent strategy
      (DorC) gathers on the line of S + T > 2R and S = T. We also find that the
      system's fitness ratio greatly improved with 2-step memory.

PMID- 25841618
TI  - Cyclic supplementation of 5-MTHF is effective for the correction of
      hyperhomocysteinemia.
AB  - Folic acid supplementation is the mainstay treatment of hyperhomocysteinemia
      (HHcy). However, no recommendations are currently available in regard to the
      optimal replacement therapy. Therefore, this prospective study hypothesized that
      a cyclic schedule (1 month of therapy followed by 2 months of withdrawal) of 5
      methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) would reduce plasma levels of fasting total
      homocysteine (tHcy) in patients with mild/moderate HHcy. Patients with a new
      diagnosis of mild/moderate HHcy were evaluated for the methylenetetrahydrofolate
      reductase genotype and the presence of major features of metabolic syndrome. All
      enrolled subjects received a cyclic 5-MTHF oral supplementation and were
      reevaluated after each treatment cycle for a total of 2 years. In the 246
      enrolled subjects, a significant reduction of tHcy levels occurred after the
      first cycle of treatment (from 31.6 +/- 13.6 to 14.4 +/- 5.77 MUmol/L, P < .001)
      and during the whole 2-year follow-up (from 31.6 +/- 13.6 to 12.18 +/- 3.03
      MUmol/L, P < .001). The values of tHcy returned to reference range in 117
      subjects (51.3%) after the first cycle and in 198 (86.8%) during the follow-up.
      The risk of failure in tHcy level normalization was increased in patients with
      metabolic syndrome (hazard ratio [HR], 3.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.46
      8.36), higher baseline tHcy levels (HR, 1.045; 95% CI, 1.018-1.073), or
      methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase homozygous mutation (HR, 6.59; 95% CI, 2.64
      16.4). This study clearly shows that a cyclic schedule (1 month of therapy
      followed by 2 months of withdrawal) of 5-MTHF supplementation is able to
      significantly reduce tHcy levels in patients with mild/moderate HHcy. 

PMID- 25841619
TI  - Reply.

PMID- 25841620
TI  - Current recommendations for the Japanese encephalitis vaccine.
AB  - Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus infection and an
      important cause of encephalitis in most of Asia and parts of the western Pacific.
      Most people infected with the JE virus (JEV) are asymptomatic or seemingly suffer
      from a nonspecific, flu-like illness; in others, JE can cause illness ranging
      from fever and headache to severe encephalitis. Although it can cause significant
      morbidity and mortality, JE is a vaccine-preventable disease, and vaccination
      programs have proven most effective in preventing and diminishing the burden of
      disease. Such JE vaccines have been available for decades with four types of JE
      vaccines-live attenuated SA14-14-2 vaccine, inactivated mouse brain-derived
      vaccine (JE-MB), inactivated Vero cell culture vaccine (JE-VC), and live
      attenuated chimeric vaccine (IMOJEV)-and are currently used in most countries. In
      some Asian countries such as Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Thailand,
      immunization programs have been conducted for children and so the ongoing
      incidence of JE has declined considerably in recent decades. Until quite
      recently, the primary JE vaccine in use internationally has been the JE-MB, which
      is now commonly replaced by cell culture-based vaccines. 

PMID- 25841621
TI  - Risk of Pathologic Upgrading or Locally Advanced Disease in Early Prostate Cancer
      Patients Based on Biopsy Gleason Score and PSA: A Population-Based Study of
      Modern Patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: Radiation oncologists rely on available clinical information (biopsy
      Gleason score and prostate-specific antigen [PSA]) to determine the optimal
      treatment regimen for each prostate cancer patient. Existing published nomograms
      correlating clinical to pathologic extent of disease were based on patients
      treated in the 1980s and 1990s at select academic institutions. We used the
      Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to examine pathologic
      outcomes (Gleason score and cancer stage) in early prostate cancer patients based
      on biopsy Gleason score and PSA concentration. METHODS AND MATERIALS: This
      analysis included 25,858 patients whose cancer was diagnosed between 2010 and
      2011, with biopsy Gleason scores of 6 to 7 and clinical stage T1 to T2 disease,
      who underwent radical prostatectomy. In subgroups based on biopsy Gleason score
      and PSA level, we report the proportion of patients with pathologically advanced
      disease (positive surgical margin or pT3-T4 disease) or whose Gleason score was
      upgraded. Logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with
      pathologic outcomes. RESULTS: For patients with biopsy Gleason score 6 cancers,
      84% of those with PSA <10 ng/mL had surgical T2 disease with negative margins;
      this decreased to 61% in patients with PSA of 20 to 29.9 ng/mL. Gleason score
      upgrading was seen in 43% (PSA: <10 ng/mL) to 61% (PSA: 20-29.9 ng/mL) of biopsy
      Gleason 6 patients. Patients with biopsy Gleason 7 cancers had a one-third
      (Gleason 3 + 4; PSA: <10 ng/mL) to two-thirds (Gleason 4 + 3; PSA: 20-29.9 ng/mL)
      probability of having pathologically advanced disease. Gleason score upgrading
      was seen in 11% to 19% of patients with biopsy Gleason 4 + 3 cancers.
      Multivariable analysis showed that higher PSA and older age were associated with
      Gleason score upgrading and pathologically advanced disease. CONCLUSIONS: This is
      the first population-based study to examine pathologic extent of disease and
      pathologic Gleason score upgrading based on clinically available information in
      modern patients. These data inform the selection of radiation therapy strategies
      and an understanding of whether prostatectomy alone is likely to be curative for
      patients with early prostate cancers.

PMID- 25841622
TI  - Acupuncture-Like Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Versus Pilocarpine
      in Treating Radiation-Induced Xerostomia: Results of RTOG 0537 Phase 3 Study.
AB  - PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES: This report presents the analysis of the RTOG 0537
      multicenter randomized study that compared acupuncture-like transcutaneous
      stimulation (ALTENS) with pilocarpine (PC) for relieving radiation-induced
      xerostomia. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Eligible patients were randomized to twice
      weekly 20-minute ALTENS sessions for 24 sessions during 12 weeks or PC (5 mg 3
      times daily for 12 weeks). The primary endpoint was the change in the University
      of Michigan Xerostomia-Related Quality of Life Scale (XeQOLS) scores from
      baseline to 9 months from randomization (MFR). Secondary endpoints included basal
      and citric acid primed whole salivary production (WSP), ratios of positive
      responders (defined as patients with >=20% reduction in overall radiation-induced
      xerostomia symptom burden), and the presence of adverse events based on the
      Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3. An intention-to-treat
      analysis was conducted. RESULTS: One hundred forty-eight patients were
      randomized. Only 96 patients completed the required XeQOLS and were evaluable at
      9 MFR (representing merely 68.6% statistical power). Seventy-six patients were
      evaluable at 15 MFR. The median change in the overall XeQOLS in ALTENS and PC
      groups at 9 and 15 MFR were -0.53 and -0.27 (P=.45) and -0.6 and -0.47 (P=.21).
      The corresponding percentages of positive responders were 81% and 72% (P=.34) and
      83% and 63% (P=.04). Changes in WSP were not significantly different between the
      groups. Grade 3 or less adverse events, mostly consisting of grade 1, developed
      in 20.8% of patients in the ALTENS group and in 61.6% of the PC group.
      CONCLUSIONS: The observed effect size was smaller than hypothesized, and
      statistical power was limited because only 96 of the recruited 148 patients were
      evaluable. The primary endpoint-the change in radiation-induced xerostomia
      symptom burden at 9 MFR-was not significantly different between the ALTENS and PC
      groups. There was significantly less toxicity in patients receiving ALTENS.

PMID- 25841623
TI  - Hypofractionated versus standard radiation therapy with or without temozolomide
      for older glioblastoma patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: Older patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma have poor outcomes, and
      optimal treatment is controversial. Hypofractionated radiation therapy (HRT) is
      frequently used but has not been compared to patients receiving standard
      fractionated radiation therapy (SRT) and temozolomide (TMZ). METHODS AND
      MATERIALS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients >=65 years of age
      who received radiation for the treatment of newly diagnosed glioblastoma from
      1994 to 2013. The distribution of clinical covariates across various radiation
      regimens was analyzed for possible selection bias. Survival was calculated using
      the Kaplan-Meier method. Comparison of hypofractionated radiation (typically, 40
      Gy/15 fractions) versus standard fractionation (typically, 60 Gy/30 fractions) in
      the setting of temozolomide was conducted using Cox regression and propensity
      score analysis. RESULTS: Patients received SRT + TMZ (n=57), SRT (n=35), HRT +
      TMZ (n=34), or HRT (n=9). Patients receiving HRT were significantly older
      (median: 79 vs 69 years of age; P<.001) and had worse baseline performance status
      (P<.001) than those receiving SRT. On multivariate analysis, older age (adjusted
      hazard ratio [AHR]: 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-1.10, P=.01), lower
      Karnofsky performance status (AHR: 1.02; 95% CI: 1.01-1.03; P=.01), multifocal
      disease (AHR: 2.11; 95% CI: 1.23-3.61, P=.007), and radiation alone (vs SRT +
      TMZ; SRT: AHR: 1.72; 95% CI: 1.06-2.79; P=.03; HRT: AHR: 3.92; 95% CI: 1.44
      10.60, P=.007) were associated with decreased overall survival. After propensity
      score adjustment, patients receiving HRT with TMZ had similar overall survival
      compared with those receiving SRT with TMZ (AHR: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.50-2.4, P=.82).
      CONCLUSIONS: With no randomized data demonstrating equivalence between HRT and
      SRT in the setting of TMZ for glioblastoma, significant selection bias exists in
      the implementation of HRT. Controlling for this bias, we observed similar overall
      survival for HRT and SRT with concurrent TMZ among elderly patients, suggesting
      the need for a randomized trial to compare these regimens directly.

PMID- 25841624
TI  - Long-term Results of the UCSF-LBNL Randomized Trial: Charged Particle With Helium
      Ion Versus Iodine-125 Plaque Therapy for Choroidal and Ciliary Body Melanoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: Relevant clinical data are needed given the increasing national interest
      in charged particle radiation therapy (CPT) programs. Here we report long-term
      outcomes from the only randomized, stratified trial comparing CPT with iodine-125
      plaque therapy for choroidal and ciliary body melanoma. METHODS AND MATERIALS:
      From 1985 to 1991, 184 patients met eligibility criteria and were randomized to
      receive particle (86 patients) or plaque therapy (98 patients). Patients were
      stratified by tumor diameter, thickness, distance to disc/fovea, anterior
      extension, and visual acuity. Tumors close to the optic disc were included. Local
      tumor control, as well as eye preservation, metastases due to melanoma, and
      survival were evaluated. RESULTS: Median follow-up times for particle and plaque
      arm patients were 14.6 years and 12.3 years, respectively (P=.22), and for those
      alive at last follow-up, 18.5 and 16.5 years, respectively (P=.81). Local control
      (LC) for particle versus plaque treatment was 100% versus 84% at 5 years, and 98%
      versus 79% at 12 years, respectively (log rank: P=.0006). If patients with tumors
      close to the disc (<2 mm) were excluded, CPT still resulted in significantly
      improved LC: 100% versus 90% at 5 years and 98% versus 86% at 12 years,
      respectively (log rank: P=.048). Enucleation rate was lower after CPT: 11% versus
      22% at 5 years and 17% versus 37% at 12 years, respectively (log rank: P=.01).
      Using Cox regression model, likelihood ratio test, treatment was the most
      important predictor of LC (P=.0002) and eye preservation (P=.01). CPT was a
      significant predictor of prolonged disease-free survival (log rank: P=.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: Particle therapy resulted in significantly improved local control,
      eye preservation, and disease-free survival as confirmed by long-term outcomes
      from the only randomized study available to date comparing radiation modalities
      in choroidal and ciliary body melanoma.

PMID- 25841625
TI  - Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Tumors Greater
      Than 5 cm: Safety and Efficacy.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine outcomes of patients with
      node-negative medically inoperable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose
      primary tumors exceeded 5 cm and were treated with stereotactic body radiation
      therapy (SBRT). METHODS AND MATERIALS: We surveyed our institutional prospective
      lung SBRT registry to identify treated patients with tumors >5 cm. Treatment
      outcomes for local control (LC), locoregional control (LRC), disease-free
      survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) were assessed by Kaplan-Meier
      estimates. Toxicities were graded according to Common Terminology Criteria for
      Adverse Events version 4. Mean pretreatment pulmonary function test values were
      compared to mean posttreatment values. RESULTS: From December 2003 to July 2014,
      40 patients met study criteria. Median follow-up was 10.8 months (range: 0.4-70.3
      months). Median age was 76 years (range: 56-90 years), median body mass index was
      24.3 (range: 17.7-37.2), median Karnofsky performance score was 80 (range: 60
      90), and median Charlson comorbidity index score was 2 (range: 0-5). Median
      forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) was 1.41 L (range: 0.47-3.67 L), and
      median diffusion capacity (DLCO) was 47% of predicted (range: 29%-80%). All
      patients were staged by fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed
      tomography staging, and 47.5% underwent mediastinal staging by endobronchial
      ultrasonography. Median tumor size was 5.6 cm (range: 5.1-10 cm), median SBRT
      dose was 50 Gy (range: 30-60 Gy) in 5 fractions (range: 3-10 fractions). Eighteen
      month LC, LRC, DFS, and OS rates were 91.2%, 64.4%, 34.6%, and 59.7%,
      respectively. Distant failure was the predominant pattern of failure (32.5%).
      Three patients (7.5%) experienced grade 3 or higher toxicity. Mean posttreatment
      FEV1 was not significantly reduced (P=.51), but a statistically significant
      absolute 6.5% (P=.03) reduction in DLCO was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Lung SBRT for
      medically inoperable node-negative NSCLC with primary tumors larger than 5 cm is
      safe and provides excellent local control with limited toxicity. The predominant
      pattern of failure in this population was distant failure.

PMID- 25841626
TI  - The internal gene duplication and interrupted coding sequences in the MmpL genes
      of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Towards understanding the multidrug transport in
      an evolutionary perspective.
AB  - The multidrug resistance has emerged as a major problem in the treatment of many
      of the infectious diseases. Tuberculosis (TB) is one of such disease caused by
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis. There is short term chemotherapy to treat the
      infection, but the main hurdle is the development of the resistance to
      antibiotics. This resistance is primarily due to the impermeable mycolic acid
      rich cell wall of the bacteria and other factors such as efflux of antibiotics
      from the bacterial cell. The MmpL (Mycobacterial Membrane Protein Large) proteins
      of mycobacteria are involved in the lipid transport and antibiotic efflux as
      indicated by the preliminary reports. We present here, comprehensive comparative
      sequence and structural analysis, which revealed topological signatures shared by
      the MmpL proteins and RND (Resistance Nodulation Division) multidrug efflux
      transporters. This provides evidence in support of the notion that they belong to
      the extended RND permeases superfamily. In silico modelled tertiary structures
      are in homology with an integral membrane component present in all of the RND
      efflux pumps. We document internal gene duplication and gene splitting events
      happened in the MmpL genes, which further elucidate the molecular functions of
      these putative transporters in an evolutionary perspective. 

PMID- 25841627
TI  - The transcriptional programs of iNKT cells.
AB  - Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are innate T cells that express a semi
      invariant T cell receptor (TCR) and recognize lipid antigens presented by CD1d
      molecules. As part of innate immunity, iNKT cells rapidly produce large amounts
      of cytokines after activation and regulate the function of innate and adaptive
      immune cells in antimicrobial immunity, tumor rejection and inflammatory
      diseases. Global transcriptional profiling has advanced our understanding of all
      aspects of iNKT cell biology. In this review, we discuss transcriptional analyses
      of iNKT cell development, functional subsets of iNKT cells, and global
      comparisons of iNKT cells to other innate and adaptive immune cells. Global
      transcriptional analysis revealed that iNKT cells have a transcriptional profile
      distinct from NK cells and MHC-restricted T cells, both during thymic development
      and in the periphery. The transcription factors EGR2 and PLZF (and microRNA like
      miR-150) are key regulators of the iNKT cell transcriptome during development.
      PLZF is one of several factors that control the homing and maintenance of organ
      specific iNKT cell populations. As in MHC-restricted T cells, specific
      transcription factors are characteristic of functional subsets of iNKT cells,
      such as the transcription factor T-bet in the NKT1 subset. Exciting future
      directions for global transcriptional analyses include iNKT cells in disease
      models, diverse NKT cells and human studies. 

PMID- 25841628
TI  - Global transcriptional characterization of CD8+ T cell memory.
AB  - The differentiation of memory CD8T cells after acute infections comprises
      generation of functionally distinct populations that either have proliferative
      potential or display cytotoxic effector functions and that either recirculate
      into lymphoid tissues or remain tissue-resident. The development of these
      functionally distinct cell populations is dictated by defined signals from the
      microenvironment that result in a coordinated expression of a network of
      transcription factors, which determine the functionality of memory T cells.
      Distinct transcriptional regulation observed during chronic viral infection that
      results in generation of T cells that control viral replication in the absence of
      immunopathology suggests the existence of so far unappreciated functional
      adaptation of T cell function to the particular need during chronic infections to
      control infection and avoid immunopathology. Furthermore, the non-canonical
      generation of CD8T cell memory outside of lymphoid tissues in the liver in the
      absence of inflammation is correlated with a distinct transcriptional profile and
      indicates further complexity in the commensurate immune response to infectious
      pathogens that escape innate immunity. Taken together, distinct profiles of
      transcriptional regulation are linked to CD8T cells with different functions and
      provide important mechanistic insight into the continuous functional adaptation
      of CD8T cells to generate a commensurate immune response to infectious
      challenges. 

PMID- 25841629
TI  - Diet-related determinants of childhood obesity in urban settings: a comparison
      between Shanghai and New York.
AB  - Over the past three decades, both Shanghai and New York City (NYC), have
      experienced dramatic rises in childhood obesity rates. Given the role that
      obesity plays in the aetiology of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart
      disease, the elevated rates are a major concern. Despite differences in
      governance systems and cultures, Shanghai and NYC have experienced rapid
      industrialization, a growing population and a rise in income inequality. The
      prevalence of childhood obesity in Shanghai and NYC is greater than their
      respective national rate. However, the trajectory and development of this
      epidemic has differed between the cities. The distribution of obesity by race and
      ethnicity, socio-economic status, sex, and age differs markedly between the two
      cities. To reduce prevalence and inequities within this complex epidemic requires
      an understanding of the dynamic changes in living conditions among social groups
      in each city and the behaviours that are influenced by such changes. By comparing
      changes in the influences on dietary behaviours, such as food distribution,
      pricing, gender values, and media and marketing, this highlights opportunities
      for Shanghai, NYC, and other world cities with high or rising rates of childhood
      obesity to inform future program and policy initiatives. It reiterates the
      importance of a comprehensive and multilevel approach that includes action at the
      individual, family, community, municipal, national, and global levels.

PMID- 25841630
TI  - Distribution of the orexin-1 receptor (OX1R) in the mouse forebrain and rostral
      brainstem: A characterisation of OX1R-eGFP mice.
AB  - We have utilised a transgenic reporter mouse in which green fluorescent protein
      (GFP) expression is driven by the orexin-1 receptor (OX1R) promoter to
      systematically map the distribution of OX1R-expressing neurons throughout the
      mouse forebrain and rostral brainstem. GFP labelling was observed in perikarya
      and fibres in an extensive range of brain loci encompassing the olfactory and
      cerebral cortices, dorsal and ventral pallidum, hippocampus, amygdaloid regions,
      septal areas, thalamic nuclei, hypothalamic nuclei and several brainstem regions,
      consistent with previous studies of OX1R mRNA expression. This is the first study
      to systematically characterise the neuroanatomical distribution of OX1R in the
      OX1R-eGFP mouse, confirming its veracity as a faithful reporter of OX1R
      expression and utility for future studies assessing the role of OX1R in more
      complex behaviours. 

PMID- 25841631
TI  - Keeping Blood Transfusion Safe From West Nile Virus: American Red Cross
      Experience, 2003 to 2012.
AB  - West Nile virus (WNV) appeared for the first time in the United States in 1999
      and rapidly spread across the Western hemisphere within a few years causing
      hundreds of thousands of human infections and significant disease. In 2002, it
      was found to be transmissible by blood transfusion, and within less than a year,
      nucleic acid testing for WNV RNA was in place for all US donations. The American
      Red Cross (ARC) collects approximately 40% of blood donations in the United
      States and closely monitors the results of such testing and evaluates donors
      found to be reactive. This review describes the 10-year results of the ARC
      testing program during the period 2003 to 2012. Overall, more than 27 million
      donations were tested during the transmission periods with 1576 RNA-positive
      donations identified. The temporal and geographic distributions of the infected
      donors are described. Methods to initiate and discontinue periods of individual
      donation testing were developed and validated to maximize safety. The nature of
      WNV infection among donors was investigated, and the distribution of viral titers
      was defined and was found to be no greater than 720000 RNA copies per milliliter.
      The distribution of titers by time sequence of appearance of antibodies was
      determined. Donors who were identified as being in the earliest stages of
      infection were evaluated for the appearance of symptoms, and 26% developed at
      least 3 characteristic symptoms. The testing program has been successful in
      preventing transmission of WNV by transfusion, and only 1 of the 13 reported
      cases since the initiation of testing was attributable to the Red Cross; it was
      from a granulocyte product transfused before availability of the test result. 

PMID- 25841632
TI  - [Detection of an intrapulmonary shunt in patients with liver cirrhosis through
      contrast-enhanced transcranial Doppler. A study of prevalence, pattern
      characterization, and diagnostic validity].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Intrapulmonary vascular dilatations (IPVD) are considered a
      complication of cirrhosis. The technique of choice for their diagnosis is
      contrast-enhanced echocardiography (CEE). The aim of this study was to determine
      the usefulness of contrast-enhanced transcranial Doppler (CETD) in the diagnosis
      of IPVD. METHOD: We consecutively included patients evaluated for liver
      transplantation. A cross-sectional study was conducted. The investigator
      interpreting CETD was blind to the results of the gold standard (CEE). The
      accuracy of the diagnostic test was evaluated through sensitivity, specificity,
      positive and negative predictive values, and likelihood ratio. RESULTS: CETD
      (n=43) showed a right-to-left shunt in 23 patients (62.2%): 4 early, 2
      indeterminate and 17 late. Nineteen (51,4%) cases were classified as IPVD. With
      CEE (n=37), 10 procedures (27%) were negative for shunt, 27 (73%) were positive,
      and 21 (56.8%) were compatible with IPVD. Patients with and without IPVD showed
      no differences in age, sex, etiology, severity, or MELD score, independently of
      the diagnostic test. In the diagnostic validity study (n=37) of CETD versus CEE,
      the AUC for diagnostic yield was 0.813% (95%CI: 0.666-0.959; P=.001), sensitivity
      was 76.2% (95%CI: 54.9-89.4) and specificity was 90% (95%CI: 63.9-96.5). The
      positive likelihood ratio was 6.095. CONCLUSIONS: We found a high prevalence of
      IPVD in candidates for liver transplantation. When a late right-to-left shunt
      with recirculation is observed, CETD has a high probability of detecting IPVD,
      with few false-positive results. Because this technique has not previously been
      described in this indication, similar studies are needed for comparison.

PMID- 25841634
TI  - A massive cavitary lesion invading the chest wall.

PMID- 25841633
TI  - Predictors of postherpetic neuralgia in patients with herpes zoster: a pooled
      analysis of prospective cohort studies from North and Latin America and Asia.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The most common complication of herpes zoster (HZ) is postherpetic
      neuralgia (PHN), a persistent pain that can substantially affect quality of life
      (QoL). This analysis aimed to evaluate predictors of PHN in HZ patients. METHODS:
      A pooled analysis of prospective cohort studies of HZ patients aged >= 50 years
      from North America (Canada), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina), and
      Asia (Taiwan, South Korea, and Thailand) was performed. Patients within 14 days
      of rash onset were included. The incidence of PHN was defined as a worst pain
      score of >= 3, persisting/appearing at >90 days after rash onset. Socio
      demographics, HZ disease characteristics, treatment, pain-related interference
      with activities of daily living, and health-related QoL were assessed. RESULTS:
      Of 702 patients with HZ, 148 (21.1%) developed PHN. Similar risks of PHN were
      observed across geographic regions. On multivariate analysis, older age, greater
      severity of pain at rash onset, employment status, walking problems at
      enrollment, and pain interference affecting social relationships were
      significantly associated with the development of PHN. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to
      older age and severe acute pain, this study suggests that impaired physical and
      social functioning from acute zoster pain may play a role in the development of
      PHN in this prospective cohort study of HZ patients from North and Latin America
      and Asia.

PMID- 25841635
TI  - Hemolytic-uremic syndrome with acute encephalopathy in a pregnant woman infected
      with epidemic enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli: characteristic brain images and
      cytokine profiles.
AB  - A food-poisoning outbreak due to enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC)
      occurred in Toyama, Japan. The case of a 26-year-old pregnant woman with
      hemolytic-uremic syndrome who developed acute encephalopathy due to EHEC
      infection after eating raw meat is presented herein. On day 2 following
      admission, a cesarean section was performed because of a non-reassuring fetal
      status. Fecal bacterial culture confirmed an O111/O157 superinfection. Intensive
      care therapies including continuous hemodiafiltration and plasma exchange were
      performed. After the operation, the patient developed encephalopathy for which
      steroid pulse therapy was added. Her condition improved gradually and she was
      discharged 55 days after delivery. 

PMID- 25841636
TI  - Soil-plant interaction monitoring: Small scale example of an apple orchard in
      Trentino, North-Eastern Italy.
AB  - Accurate monitoring and modeling of soil-plant systems are a key unresolved issue
      that currently limits the development of a comprehensive view of the interactions
      between soil and atmosphere, with a number of practical consequences including
      the difficulties in predicting climatic change patterns. This paper presents a
      case study where time-lapse minimal-invasive 3D micro-electrical tomography (ERT)
      is used to monitor rhizosphere eco-hydrological processes in an apple orchard in
      the Trentino region, Northern Italy. In particular we aimed at gaining a better
      understanding of the soil-vegetation water exchanges in the shallow critical
      zone, as part of a coordinated effort towards predicting climate-induced changes
      on the hydrology of Mediterranean basins (EU FP7 CLIMB project). The adopted
      strategy relied upon the installation of a 3D electrical tomography apparatus
      consisting of four mini-boreholes carrying 12 electrodes each plus 24 mini
      electrodes on the ground surface, arranged in order to image roughly a cubic
      meter of soil surrounding a single apple tree. The monitoring program was
      initially tested with repeated measurements over about one year. Subsequently, we
      performed three controlled irrigation tests under different conditions, in order
      to evaluate the water redistribution under variable root activities and climatic
      conditions. Laboratory calibration on soil samples allowed us to translate
      electrical resistivity variations into moisture content changes, supported also
      by in-situ TDR measurements. Richards equation modeling was used also to explain
      the monitoring evidence. The results clearly identified the effect of root water
      uptake and the corresponding subsoil region where active roots are present, but
      also marked the need to consider the effects of different water salinity in the
      water infiltration process. We also gained significant insight about the need to
      measure quantitatively the plant evapotranspiration in order to close the water
      balance and separate soil structure effects (primarily, hydraulic conductivity)
      from water dynamics induced by living plants. 

PMID- 25841637
TI  - Auditory and visual localization accuracy in young children and adults.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to measure and compare sound and light source
      localization ability in young children and adults who have normal hearing and
      normal/corrected vision in order to determine the extent to which age, type of
      stimuli, and stimulus order affects sound localization accuracy. METHODS: Two
      experiments were conducted. The first involved a group of adults only. The second
      involved a group of 30 children aged 3 to 5 years. Testing occurred in a sound
      treated booth containing a semi-circular array of 15 loudspeakers set at 10
      degrees  intervals from -70 degrees  to 70 degrees  azimuth. Each loudspeaker had
      a tiny light bulb and a small picture fastened underneath. Seven of the
      loudspeakers were used to randomly test sound and light source identification.
      The sound stimulus was the word "baseball". The light stimulus was a flashing of
      a light bulb triggered by the digital signal of the word "baseball". Each
      participant was asked to face 0 degrees  azimuth, and identify the location of
      the test stimulus upon presentation. Adults used a computer mouse to click on an
      icon; children responded by verbally naming or walking toward the picture
      underneath the corresponding loudspeaker or light. A mixed experimental design
      using repeated measures was used to determine the effect of age and stimulus type
      on localization accuracy in children and adults. A mixed experimental design was
      used to compare the effect of stimulus order (light first/last) and varying or
      fixed intensity sound on localization accuracy in children and adults. RESULTS:
      Localization accuracy was significantly better for light stimuli than sound
      stimuli for children and adults. Children, compared to adults, showed
      significantly greater localization errors for audition. Three-year-old children
      had significantly greater sound localization errors compared to 4- and 5-year
      olds. Adults performed better on the sound localization task when the light
      localization task occurred first. CONCLUSIONS: Young children can understand and
      attend to localization tasks, but show poorer localization accuracy than adults
      in sound localization. This may be a reflection of differences in sensory
      modality development and/or central processes in young children, compared to
      adults.

PMID- 25841638
TI  - Consider ultrasound first for imaging the female pelvis.
AB  - Ultrasound technology has evolved dramatically in recent years and now includes
      applications such as 3-dimensional volume imaging, real-time evaluation of pelvic
      organs (simultaneous with the physical examination), and Doppler blood flow
      mapping without the need for contrast, which makes ultrasound imaging unique for
      imaging the female pelvis. Among the many cross-sectional imaging techniques, we
      should use the most informative, less invasive, and less expensive modality to
      avoid radiation when possible. Hence, ultrasound imaging should be the first
      imaging modality used in women with pelvic symptoms. 

PMID- 25841639
TI  - Identification of anti-HIV active dicaffeoylquinic- and tricaffeoylquinic acids
      in Helichrysum populifolium by NMR-based metabolomic guided fractionation.
AB  - South Africa being home to more than 35% of the world's Helichrysum species (c.a.
      244) of which many are used in traditional medicine, is seen potentially as a
      significant resource in the search of new anti-HIV chemical entities. It was
      established that five of the 30 Helichrysum species selected for this study had
      significant anti-HIV activity ranging between 12 and 21 MUg/mL (IC50) by using an
      in-house developed DeCIPhR method on a full virus model. Subsequent toxicity
      tests also revealed little or no toxicity for these active extracts. With the use
      of NMR-based metabolomics, the search for common chemical characteristics within
      the plant extract was conducted, which resulted in specific chemical shift areas
      identified that could be linked to the anti-HIV activity of the extracts. The NMR
      chemical shifts associated with the activity were identified to be 2.56-3.08 ppm,
      5.24-6.28 ppm, 6.44-7.04 ppm and 7.24-8.04 ppm. This activity profile was then
      used to guide the fractionation process by narrowing down and focusing the
      fractionation and purification processes to speed up the putative identification
      of five compounds with anti-HIV activity in the most active species, Helichrysum
      populifolium. The anti-HIV compounds identified for the first time from H.
      populifolium were three dicaffeoylquinic acid derivatives, i.e. 3,4
      dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid and 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid as
      well as two tricaffeoylquinic acid derivatives i.e. 1,3,5-tricaffeoylquinic acid
      and either 5-malonyl-1,3,4-tricaffeoylquinic or 3-malonyl-1,4,5-tricaffeoylquinic
      acid, with the latter being identified for the first time in the genus.

PMID- 25841640
TI  - MBRRACE-UK: saving lives, improving mothers' care - implications for
      anaesthetists.
AB  - In December 2014, the latest UK Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths report
      was published, covering the surveillance period from 2009 to 2012. This is the
      first report since a significant change in the organisational structure of the
      body responsible for surveillance and dissemination of reports. The Confidential
      Enquiry Reports are regarded as a gold standard worldwide and have contributed to
      quality improvement of maternity care both in the UK and elsewhere. This article
      aims to give obstetric anaesthetists an overview of the current report and
      highlight the pertinent implications for anaesthetic practice. 

PMID- 25841641
TI  - Foodborne parasites from wildlife: how wild are they?
AB  - The majority of wild foods consumed by humans are sourced from intensively
      managed or semi-farmed populations. Management practices inevitably affect
      wildlife density and habitat characteristics, which are key elements in the
      transmission of parasites. We consider the risk of transmission of foodborne
      parasites to humans from wildlife maintained under natural or semi-natural
      conditions. A deeper understanding will be useful in counteracting foodborne
      parasites arising from the growing industry of novel and exotic foods. 

PMID- 25841642
TI  - Both diabetes and fetuin-A are independently associated with increased risk of
      arterial stiffness.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Arterial stiffness is a functional assessment of vascular damage
      caused by cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Fetuin-A is associated with
      subclinical CVD and incident or fatal CVD, with some modification of its effect
      occurring with the presence of diabetes. We investigated the impact of different
      glycemic statuses and serum fetuin-A levels on arterial stiffness. METHODS: A
      total of 312 age- and sex-matched subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT),
      impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and newly
      diagnosed diabetes (NDD) were recruited. Serum fetuin-A levels were measured, and
      arterial stiffness was assessed by brachial-ankle pulse-wave velocity (baPWV).
      RESULTS: We found that the mean values of baPWV were 1533+/-338, 1518+/-353,
      1589+/-307, and 1690+/-414 cm/s, and fetuin-A levels were 298+/-69, 313+/-67,
      330+/-86, and 342+/-93 MUg/ml, in subjects with NGT, IFG, IGT, and NDD,
      respectively (both p<0.001, test for trend). NDD subjects had significantly
      higher baPWV and fetuin-A levels than those with NGT. Multiple linear regression
      analysis showed that age, fetuin-A, diabetes, hypertension, and
      hypertriglyceridemia are independently associated factors of baPWV after
      adjusting for cardiometabolic risk factors, HOMA-IR, and adiponectin. CONCLUSION:
      Both diabetes and fetuin-A levels are independently associated with arterial
      stiffness. Fetuin-A may further aggravate increased arterial stiffness in
      diabetes.

PMID- 25841643
TI  - MicroRNAs in cotton: an open world needs more exploration.
AB  - MAIN CONCLUSION: This paper reviews the progress and current problems in the
      field of cotton microRNAs. Cotton is not only one of the most important crops in
      terms of fiber usage and economic value, but also a model species for
      investigating cell wall and cellulose biosynthesis as well plant
      polyploidization. Compared with model plant species, such as Arabidopsis and
      rice, the research on cotton microRNAs (miRNAs) is lagging, although great
      progress has been made in the past decade. Since the first reports on identifying
      miRNAs in cotton in 2007, hundreds of miRNAs have been identified using an in
      silico comparative genome-based approach and direct cloning. Next-generation deep
      sequencing has opened the door for cotton miRNA research. In cotton, miRNAs are
      associated with many biological and metabolic processes, including fiber
      initiation and development, floral development, embryogenesis, and response to
      biotic and abiotic stresses. However, the majority of current research is focused
      on miRNA identification. Although several targets have been predicted using
      computational approaches and degradome sequencing, more functional studies should
      be performed in the next couple of years to elucidate the roles of miRNAs in
      cotton fiber development and response to different environmental stresses using
      transgenic technology. This paper reviews the history, identification, and
      function of cotton miRNAs as well as future directions for this research.

PMID- 25841644
TI  - Investigation into the misincorporation of norleucine into a recombinant protein
      vaccine candidate.
AB  - A high level of norleucine misincorporation was detected in a recombinant
      methionine-rich protein vaccine candidate expressed in E. coli K12. An
      investigation was conducted to evaluate a simple remediation strategy to reduce
      norleucine misincorporation and to determine if the phenomenon was either (a) due
      to the depletion of methionine during fermentation, (b) a result of the
      cultivation environment, or (c) a strain-specific effect. While supplementation
      with exogenous methionine improved product quality, the undesirable biosynthesis
      of non-standard amino acids such as norleucine and norvaline persisted. In
      contrast, non-standard amino acid biosynthesis was quickly minimized upon
      selection of an appropriate fed-batch process control strategy, fermentation
      medium, and nutrient feed. By expressing the same protein in E. coli BL21(DE3),
      it was determined that the biosynthesis of norleucine and norvaline, and the
      misincorporation of norleucine into the protein were primarily attributed to the
      use of E. coli K12 as the host for protein expression. 

PMID- 25841645
TI  - Food concerns and support for environmental food policies and purchasing.
AB  - Consumer support for pro environmental food policies and food purchasing are
      important for the adoption of successful environmental policies. This paper
      examines consumers' views of food policy options as their predisposition to
      purchase pro environmental foods along with their likely demographic, educational
      and cognitive antecedents including food and environmental concerns and
      universalism values (relating to care for others and the environment). An online
      survey to assess these constructs was conducted among 2204 Australian adults in
      November 2011. The findings showed strong levels of support for both
      environmental food policies (50%-78% support) and pro environmental food
      purchasing (51%-69% intending to purchase pro environmental foods). Confirmatory
      factor analysis and structural equation modelling showed that different cognitive
      mediators exist along pathways between demographics and the two outcome
      variables. Support for food policy was positively related to food and environment
      concerns (std. Beta = 0.25), universalism (0.41), perceived control (0.07), and
      regulatory issues (0.64 but negatively with food security issues (-0.37).
      Environment purchasing intentions were positively linked to food and nutrition
      concerns (0.13), food and environment concerns (0.24), food safety concerns
      (0.19), food and animal welfare concerns (0.16), universalism (0.25), female
      gender (0.05), education (0.04), and perceived influence over the food system
      (0.17). In addition, health study in years 11 and 12 was positively related to
      the beginning of both of these pathways (0.07 for each). The results are
      discussed in relation to the opportunities that communications based on the
      mediating variables offer for the promotion of environmental food policies and
      purchasing. 

PMID- 25841646
TI  - Impulsivity and overeating in children in the absence and presence of hunger.
AB  - Overweight children appear to be more responsive to environmental, hedonic cues
      and easily overeat in the current obesogenic environment. They are also found to
      overeat in the absence of hunger, and this overeating seems related to
      impulsivity: impulsive participants are more prone to external eating. However,
      some studies showed that impulsive adults are also more prone to hunger cues:
      impulsive participants overate especially when feeling hungry. This would mean
      impulsive people are more reactive to both external and internal cues. The
      overeating was limited to palatable high energy-dense foods: hunger made them
      fancy a snack. In the current study, we wanted to test the interaction between
      impulsivity, hunger and consumption of food type in children. Impulsivity was
      measured in 88 children between the ages of 7 and 9. Next, half of the
      participants performed a taste test before their own regular lunch and half of
      the participants immediately after their lunch. During the taste test, low,
      medium and high energy-dense food items were presented. Results showed that
      impulsive children ate more high energy-dense foods than low impulsive children,
      both before and after their lunch. No differences were found on low or medium
      energy-dense foods. Impulsive children therefore showed normal sensitivity for
      internal hunger and satiety cues, but abnormal response to high energy-dense
      foods. This might render them vulnerable to tasty temptation in the environment
      and to weight gain in their future. 

PMID- 25841647
TI  - Making food labels social: The impact of colour of nutritional labels and
      injunctive norms on perceptions and choice of snack foods.
AB  - Recent studies report that using green labels to denote healthier foods, and red
      to denote less healthy foods increases consumption of green- and decreases
      consumption of red-labelled foods. Other symbols (e.g. emoticons conveying
      normative approval and disapproval) could also be used to signal the healthiness
      and/or acceptability of consuming such products. The present study tested the
      combined effects of using emoticons and colours on labels amongst a nationally
      representative sample of the UK population (n = 955). In a 3 (emoticon
      expression: smiling vs. frowning vs. no emoticon) * 3 (colour label: green vs.
      red vs. white) *2 (food option: chocolate bar vs. cereal bar) between-subjects
      experiment, participants rated the level of desirability, healthiness, tastiness,
      and calorific content of a snack bar they had been randomised to view. At the end
      they were further randomised to view one of nine possible combinations of colour
      and emoticon labels and asked to choose between a chocolate and a cereal bar.
      Regardless of label, participants rated the chocolate as tastier and more
      desirable when compared to the cereal bar, and the cereal bar as healthier than
      the chocolate bar. A series of interactions revealed that a frowning emoticon on
      a white background decreased perceptions of healthiness and tastiness of the
      cereal bar, but not the chocolate bar. In the explicit choice task selection was
      unaffected by label. Overall nutritional labels had limited effects on
      perceptions and no effects on choice of snack foods. Emoticon labels yielded
      stronger effects on perceptions of taste and healthiness of snacks than colour
      labels. Frowning emoticons may be more potent than smiling emoticons at
      influencing the perceived healthiness and tastiness of foods carrying health
      halos. 

PMID- 25841648
TI  - A champion of organismal biology.

PMID- 25841649
TI  - Increased reports of measles in a low endemic region during a rubella outbreak in
      adult populations.
AB  - In 2013, a rubella outbreak was observed in Japan, Romania, and Poland. The
      outbreak in Japan was accompanied by an increase of measles reports, especially
      from a region where measles is highly controlled. This was attributed to the
      adult populations affected by this rubella outbreak, similarity of clinical signs
      between rubella and measles, sufficiently small impact of measles outbreaks from
      neighboring nations, and elimination levels of measles endemicity. Current and
      future concerns for measles control are discussed. 

PMID- 25841650
TI  - Saving time and resources: observational research to support adoption of a hand
      hygiene promotion campaign.
AB  - Hand hygiene is the most effective way to prevent the spread of health care
      associated infections, but many facilities may not have the resources or
      expertise to develop their own hand hygiene promotion campaign. This
      observational study demonstrated that a campaign developed for 1 facility could
      successfully contribute to behavior change at another, unrelated facility. It
      serves as a model and evidence that health care facilities can successfully adopt
      hand hygiene promotion campaigns developed and validated at other facilities. 

PMID- 25841651
TI  - Bridging with half-therapeutic dose enoxaparin in outpatients with left
      ventricular assist devices and sub-therapeutic international normalized ratios.

PMID- 25841652
TI  - Application of contrast media in post-mortem imaging (CT and MRI).
AB  - The application of contrast media in post-mortem radiology differs from clinical
      approaches in living patients. Post-mortem changes in the vascular system and the
      absence of blood flow lead to specific problems that have to be considered for
      the performance of post-mortem angiography. In addition, interpreting the images
      is challenging due to technique-related and post-mortem artefacts that have to be
      known and that are specific for each applied technique. Although the idea of
      injecting contrast media is old, classic methods are not simply transferable to
      modern radiological techniques in forensic medicine, as they are mostly dedicated
      to single-organ studies or applicable only shortly after death. With the
      introduction of modern imaging techniques, such as post-mortem computed
      tomography (PMCT) and post-mortem magnetic resonance (PMMR), to forensic death
      investigations, intensive research started to explore their advantages and
      limitations compared to conventional autopsy. PMCT has already become a routine
      investigation in several centres, and different techniques have been developed to
      better visualise the vascular system and organ parenchyma in PMCT. In contrast,
      the use of PMMR is still limited due to practical issues, and research is now
      starting in the field of PMMR angiography. This article gives an overview of the
      problems in post-mortem contrast media application, the various classic and
      modern techniques, and the issues to consider by using different media. 

PMID- 25841653
TI  - Specific Alu elements involved in a significant percentage of copy number
      variations of the STK11 gene in patients with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome.
AB  - Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) is a rare hereditary syndrome characterized by the
      occurrence of hamartomatous polyps in the gastrointestinal tract, mucocutaneous
      pigmentation and increased risk of cancer in multiple internal organs. PJS is
      preconditioned by the manifestation of mutations in the STK11 gene. The majority
      of detected STK11 changes are small scale mutations, however recent studies
      showed the significant contribution of medium-sized changes commonly known as
      copy number variations (CNVs). Here we present a novel 7001 bps deletion of STK11
      gene fragment, in which we identified the presence of breakpoints (BPs) within
      the Alu elements. Comparative meta-analysis with the 80 other CNV cases from 12
      publications describing STK11 mutations in patients with PJS revealed the
      participation of specific Alu elements in all deletions of exons 2-3 so far
      described. Moreover, we have shown their involvement in the two other CNVs,
      deletion of exon 2 and deletion of exon 1-3 respectively. Deletion of exons 2-3
      of the STK11 gene may prove to be the most recurrent large rearrangement causing
      PJS. In addition, the sequences present in its BPs may be involved in a formation
      of a significant percentage of the remaining gene CNVs. This gives a new insight
      into the conditioning of this rare disease and enables improvements in PJS
      genetic diagnostics. 

PMID- 25841654
TI  - How can we enhance cognitive bias modification techniques? The effects of
      prospective cognition.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cognitive bias modification for interpretation, a
      computerized program which manipulates biased interpretations, has shown
      therapeutic promise, including evidence that negatively biased interpretations
      can be reduced, leading to corresponding improvements in symptoms. Cognitive bias
      modification for cognitive errors (CBM-errors) is a second generation CBM-I
      procedure which manipulates seven types of cognitive error and is especially
      relevant to depressive cognition. The aim of this study was to investigate
      whether the effects of the CBM-errors manipulation would be enhanced by adding a
      component facilitating prospective cognition to help embed and extend newly
      acquired interpretations. METHODS: A sample of 80 volunteers completed a single
      session experiment. With a pretraining-posttraining design, we compared the
      effects of enhanced CBM-errors (targeting cognitive errors plus prospective
      cognition) with standard CBM-errors (targeting cognitive errors without
      prospective cognition), on interpretations of new material and mood. RESULTS:
      Significant differences between enhanced and standard CBM-errors revealed that
      enhanced positive training was more effective at decreasing negative
      interpretations compared to the standard procedure. LIMITATIONS: Extending the
      current investigation to a sample dysphoria or depression is needed for an
      appropriate next step. CONCLUSION: The findings serve as 'a proof of principle'
      for the potential of prospective cognition to enhance the effects of CBM-errors
      and other similar CBM procedures. Further work to enhance the effectiveness of
      CBM procedures is needed.

PMID- 25841655
TI  - Wilms Tumor 1 rs16754 predicts favorable clinical outcomes for acute myeloid
      leukemia patients in South Chinese population.
AB  - The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs16754 in WT1 shows a clinical
      implication in Caucasus population. However, the results were not reproducible in
      different population cohorts. We evaluated the clinical significance of rs16754
      for 205 de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients in South Chinese
      population, 188 healthy volunteers were recruited as healthy controls. WT1 mRNA
      expression was investigated in 81 pretreatment bone marrow specimens. WT1(GA/AA)
      patients showed better overall survival (OS, P=0.006) and relapse-free survival
      (RFS, P=0.025) as compared with WT1(GG) patients, and the favorable clinical
      outcomes were most prominent in older patients with superior OS (P=0.001) and RFS
      (P=0.003). In multivariable analysis, rs16754 was still associated with favorable
      OS (HR=1.533, P=0.042). The WT1(GG) patients showed significantly higher WT1 mRNA
      expression than the WT1(GA/AA) patients (P=0.01). In summary, WT1 rs16754 may
      serve as an independent biomarker in AML patients from South Chinese.

PMID- 25841656
TI  - Ageing of the vitreous: From acute onset floaters and flashes to retinal
      detachment.
AB  - Floaters and flashes are most commonly symptoms of age-related degenerative
      changes in the vitreous body and posterior vitreous detachment. The etiology and
      pathogenesis of floaters' formation is still not well understood. Patients with
      acute-onset floaters, flashes and defects in their visual field, represent a
      medical emergency with the need for same day referral to an ophthalmologist.
      Indirect ophthalmoscopy with scleral indentation is needed in order to find
      possible retinal break(s), on-time treatment and prevention of retinal
      detachment. The molecular and genetic pathogenesis, as well as the epidemiology
      of the ageing changes of the vitreous is summarized here, with view on the
      several treatment modalities in relation to their success rate and side-effects. 

PMID- 25841657
TI  - A novel molluscan Fos gene with immune defense function identified in the Hong
      Kong oyster, Crassostrea hongkongensis.
AB  - The transcription factor Fos is a member of one of the best-studied AP-1 sub
      families and has been implicated in a wide variety of biological processes,
      including the regulation of apoptosis, immune responses and cytokine production.
      In this report, a novel mollusk Fos (referred to as ChFos) gene was cloned and
      characterized from the Hong Kong oyster, Crassostrea hongkongensis. The deduced
      ChFos protein sequence comprised 333 amino acids and shared significant homology
      with invertebrate homologs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that ChFos clusters
      with Fos from Crassostrea gigas and Crassostrea ariakensis. Quantitative real
      time PCR analysis revealed that ChFos mRNA was broadly expressed in all tested
      tissues and during different stages of the oyster's embryonic and larval
      development. In addition, the expression of ChFos mRNA was significantly up
      regulated under challenge with microorganisms (Vibrio alginolyticus,
      Staphylococcus haemolyticus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and pathogen-associated
      molecular patterns (PAMPs: LPS, PGN and polyI:C). Moreover, fluorescence
      microscopy showed that ChFos protein is localized in the nucleus in HEK293T
      cells. Reporter assays suggested that ChFos may act as an efficient transcription
      activator in the regulation of AP-1-responsive gene expression through
      interaction with ChJun. Overall, this study presents the first experimental
      evidence of the presence and functional characteristics of Fos in mollusks, which
      reveals its involvement in host protection against immune challenge in the
      oyster. 

PMID- 25841658
TI  - Is bronchoscopy necessary in the preoperative workup of a solitary pulmonary
      nodule?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the role of conventional bronchoscopy in the
      preoperative workup of patients with solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs). METHODS:
      Patients with SPNs of unknown origin were enrolled for preoperative bronchoscopy
      at our institution. Bronchoscopic findings were prospectively collected, and
      their impact on planned therapy was analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 1026 patients
      were included. Bronchoscopy identified unsuspected findings in 80 (7.8%) of them,
      with a total of 826 (80.5%) malignant nodules. Referent values for bronchoscopic
      detection of malignant SPNs were: accuracy, 24.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]:
      21.7%-27.0%); sensitivity, 5.9% (95% CI: 4.5%-7.4%); specificity, 100%; and
      negative predictive value, 20.5% (95% CI: 18.0%-22.9%). Malignant bronchoscopic
      findings were more common in male patients (odds ratio [OR] = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1
      3.9, P = .021) and large nodules (OR = 2.3, 95% CI: 1.6-3.3, P < .001). Surgery
      was cancelled in 2 (0.2%) patients and modified in 36 (3.5%) patients because of
      bronchoscopic findings. In all, for 268 (26.1%) SPNs that presented with ground
      glass opacity, the bronchoscopy was unrevealing. CONCLUSIONS: In the preoperative
      evaluation of SPN, bronchoscopy is most likely to reveal malignancy in larger
      SPNs and in male patients. Bronchoscopy is not indicated in SPNs that present
      with ground-glass opacity on computed tomography scan.

PMID- 25841659
TI  - Paclitaxel-loaded expansile nanoparticles enhance chemotherapeutic drug delivery
      in mesothelioma 3-dimensional multicellular spheroids.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Intraperitoneal administration of paclitaxel-loaded expansile
      nanoparticles (Pax-eNPs) significantly improves survival in an in vivo model of
      malignant mesothelioma compared with conventional drug delivery with the
      clinically utilized Cremophor EL/ethanol (C/E) excipient. However, in vitro
      monolayer cell culture experiments do not replicate this superior efficacy,
      suggesting Pax-eNPs utilize a unique mechanism of drug delivery. Using a
      mesothelioma spheroid model, we characterized the mechanisms of enhanced tumor
      cytotoxicity leveraged by Pax-eNPs. METHODS: Human malignant mesothelioma (MSTO
      211H) spheroids were co-incubated for 24 hours with Oregon Green-conjugated
      paclitaxel dissolved in C/E or loaded into eNPs. Oregon Green-paclitaxel uptake
      was measured as Oregon Green intensity via confocal microscopy and kinetics of
      tumor cytotoxicity were assessed via propidium iodide staining. Pharmacologic
      endocytotic inhibitors were used to elucidate mechanisms of eNP uptake into
      spheroids. RESULTS: Increased drug penetration and a 38-fold higher
      intraspheroidal drug concentration were observed 24 hours after MSTO-211H
      spheroids were treated with Oregon Green-conjugated paclitaxel loaded into eNPs
      compared with Oregon Green-conjugated paclitaxel dissolved in C/E (P < .01).
      Macropinocytosis was the dominant endocytotic pathway of eNP uptake. Spheroids
      were more susceptible to paclitaxel when delivered via eNP, exhibiting more than
      twice the propidium iodine intensity compared with an equivalent paclitaxel-C/E
      dose. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with monolayer cell culture, the in vitro 3-D tumor
      spheroid model better reflects the superior in vivo efficacy of Pax-eNPs.
      Persistent tumor penetration and prolonged intratumoral release are unique
      mechanisms of Pax-eNP cytotoxicity. 3-D spheroid models are valuable tools for
      investigating cytotoxic mechanisms and nanoparticle-tumor interactions,
      particularly given the costs and limitations of in vivo animal studies.

PMID- 25841661
TI  - Alcohol dependence and physical comorbidity: Increased prevalence but reduced
      relevance of individual comorbidities for hospital-based mortality during a 12.5
      year observation period in general hospital admissions in urban North-West
      England.
AB  - PURPOSE: Alcohol dependence (AD) is associated with an increase in physical
      comorbidities. The effects of these diseases on general hospital-based mortality
      are unclear. Consequently, we conducted a mortality study in which we
      investigated if the burden of physical comorbidities and their relevance on
      general hospital-based mortality differs between individuals with and without AD
      during a 12.5-year observation period in general hospital admissions. METHODS:
      During 1 January 2000 and 30 June 2012, 23,371 individuals with AD were admitted
      at least once to seven General Manchester Hospitals. Their physical comorbidities
      with a prevalence>=1% were compared to those of 233,710 randomly selected
      hospital controls, group-matched for age and gender (regardless of primary
      admission diagnosis or specialized treatments). Physical comorbidities that
      increased the risk of hospital-based mortality (but not outside of the hospital)
      during the observation period were identified using multiple logistic regression
      analyses. RESULTS: Hospital-based mortality rates were 20.4% in the AD sample and
      8.3% in the control sample. Individuals with AD compared to controls had a higher
      burden of physical comorbidities, i.e. alcoholic liver and pancreatic diseases,
      diseases of the conducting airways, neurological and circulatory diseases,
      diseases of the upper gastrointestinal tract, renal diseases, cellulitis, iron
      deficiency anemia, fracture neck of femur, and peripheral vascular disease. In
      contrast, coronary heart related diseases, risk factors of cardiovascular
      disease, diverticular disease and cataracts were less frequent in individuals
      with AD than in controls. Thirty-two individual physical comorbidities
      contributed to the prediction of hospital-based mortality in univariate analyses
      in the AD sample; alcoholic liver disease (33.7%), hypertension (16.9%), chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease (14.1%), and pneumonia (13.3%) were the most
      frequent diagnoses in deceased individuals with AD. Multiple forward logistic
      regression analysis, accounting for possible associations of diseases, identified
      twenty-three physical comorbidities contributing to hospital-based mortality in
      individuals with AD. However, all these comorbidities had an equal or even lower
      impact on hospital-based mortality than in the comparison sample. CONCLUSION: The
      excess of in-hospital deaths in general hospitals in individuals with AD is due
      to an increase of multiple physical comorbidities, even though individual
      diseases have an equal or even reduced impact on general hospital-based mortality
      in individuals with AD compared to controls.

PMID- 25841662
TI  - Failure to deactivate medial prefrontal cortex in people at high risk for
      psychosis.
AB  - Impaired working memory is a core feature of schizophrenia and is linked with
      altered engagement the lateral prefrontal cortex. Although altered PFC activation
      has been reported in people with increased risk of psychosis, at present it is
      not clear if this neurofunctional alteration differs between familial and
      clinical risk states and/or increases in line with the level of psychosis risk.
      We addressed this issue by using functional MRI and a working memory paradigm to
      study familial and clinical high-risk groups. We recruited 17 subjects at ultra
      high-risk (UHR) for psychosis, 10 non-affected siblings of patients with
      schizophrenia (familial high risk [FHR]) and 15 healthy controls. Subjects were
      scanned while performing the N-back working memory task. There was a relationship
      between the level of task-related deactivation in the medial PFC and precuneus
      and the level of psychosis risk, with deactivation weakest in the UHR group,
      greatest in healthy controls, and at an intermediate level in the FHR group. In
      the high-risk groups, activation in the precuneus was associated with the level
      of negative symptoms. These data suggest that increased vulnerability to
      psychosis is associated with a failure to deactivate in the medial PFC and
      precuneus during a working memory task, and appears to be most evident in
      subjects at clinical, as opposed to familial high risk. 

PMID- 25841663
TI  - A functional SNP in MIR124-1, a brain expressed miRNA gene, is associated with
      aggressiveness in a Colombian sample.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Interpersonal violence and suicide are among the main causes of
      mortality and morbidity around the world. In several developing countries, such
      as Colombia, they are among the first five entities of public health concern.
      Aggressiveness is an important endophenotype for aggression and suicidal
      behavior, having a heritability of around 50%. Exploration of classical candidate
      genes, involved in serotoninergic and dopaminergic neurotransmission, has
      identified few consistent risk factors for aggressiveness. miRNAs are a novel
      class of molecules with a growing role in normal neural function and
      neuropsychiatric disorders; of special interest, miR-124 is a brain-specific
      miRNA that is key for neuronal plasticity. We evaluated the hypothesis that a
      functional polymorphism in MIR124-1 gene might be associated with aggressiveness
      in a Colombian sample. METHODS: The Spanish adaptation of the refined version of
      the Aggression Questionnaire and the abbreviated Barratt Impulsiveness Scale were
      applied to 170 young subjects. The functional SNP in MIR124-1 (rs531564) was
      genotyped by a TaqMan assay. RESULTS: We found a significant association between
      the MIR124-1 and aggressiveness in our sample, with G/G carriers having lower
      scores (P=0.01). This association seemed to be specific for aggressiveness, as it
      was not significant for impulsiveness. CONCLUSIONS: We showed for the first time
      the association of a functional polymorphism in MIR124-1 and aggressiveness.
      Known targets of miR-124 (such as BDNF and DRD4 genes) could explain the effect
      of this miRNA on behavior. A future analysis of additional novel functional
      polymorphisms in other brain expressed miRNAs could be useful for a deeper
      understanding of aggression in humans.

PMID- 25841664
TI  - The effects of the CACNA1C rs1006737 A/G on affective startle modulation in
      healthy males.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The CACNA1C rs1006737 risk A allele has been associated with
      affective psychoses and functional studies indicate that it is associated with
      increased hippocampal/amygdala activity during emotional face-processing. Here we
      studied the impact of the risk A allele on affective startle modulation. METHODS:
      Hundred and ninety-four healthy males stratified for their CACNA1C rs1006737
      genotype (GG:111, GA:67, AA:16) were presented with 18 pleasant, 18 unpleasant
      and 18 neutral pictures with acoustic probes (104 dB) occurring during 12
      pictures in each affective category. Baseline startle was assessed during blank
      screens. State mood was self-rated on arrival, pre- and post-test and the
      emotional valence and arousal of affective pictures at post-test. RESULTS:
      Relative to the other genotypes, risk A allele homozygotes presented with higher
      anxiety/negative affect at pre-test, reduced and exaggerated physiological
      responses to the pleasant and negative pictures respectively, negative affect
      with reduced arousal at post-test and rated the affective pictures as less
      arousing and inconsistently to their physiological responses (all P<0.05).
      Sustained contextual negative mood predicted reduced baseline and affective
      startle reactivity in the AA group. CONCLUSIONS: Healthy homozygous males for the
      risk A allele appear to have marked contextual sensitivity, affective reactivity
      akin to anxiety and depression and inefficient emotional appraisal. Our findings
      provide phenotypic detail of the CACNA1C AA genotype in non-symptomatic
      individuals, which suggest primary effects in emotional circuitry, consistent
      with previously documented alterations in hippocampal/amygdala processing.

PMID- 25841665
TI  - Coronary artery vasculitis: assessment with cardiac multi-detector computed
      tomography.
AB  - Coronary artery vasculitis is rare and comprises an array of inflammatory
      diseases. It often results in severe and life-threatening complications,
      including coronary artery aneurysm, coronary artery stenosis, intraluminal
      thrombosis, and microcirculation abnormalities. These may occur at a young age
      and are often silent in the early phases. Invasive coronary angiography is the
      gold standard for diagnosing coronary artery disease (CAD); however, multi
      detector computed tomography (MDCT) is now widely regarded as a powerful non
      invasive tool for the detection of CAD. It is important for clinicians to
      recognize the various CT findings associated with coronary artery vasculitis in
      order to promote accurate diagnosis and proper patient management. The purpose of
      this article is to present an overview of the conditions associated with coronary
      artery vasculitis, with an emphasis on etiology and cardiac MDCT diagnosis of
      CAD. Cardiac MDCT is clinically useful and can provide information for the
      accurate diagnosis and treatment of coronary vasculitis. 

PMID- 25841666
TI  - Multiple sclerosis drugs: how much bang for the buck?

PMID- 25841667
TI  - Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interferon beta and glatiramer acetate in
      the UK Multiple Sclerosis Risk Sharing Scheme at 6 years: a clinical cohort study
      with natural history comparator.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In 2002, the UK's National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE)
      concluded that interferon beta and glatiramer acetate would be cost effective as
      disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis only if the short-term
      disability benefits reported in clinical trials were maintained. The UK Multiple
      Sclerosis Risk Sharing Scheme (RSS) was established to assess whether disability
      progression was consistent with a cost-effectiveness target of L36 000 per
      quality-adjusted life-year projected over 20 years. We aimed to evaluate the long
      term effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of these DMTs by comparing a cohort of
      patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis enrolled in the UK RSS with
      a natural history cohort from British Columbia, Canada. METHODS: In our clinical
      cohort we included patients starting a DMT who were enrolled in the UK RSS who
      had relapsing multiple sclerosis at baseline and had at least one further
      clinical assessment. In our control cohort we included patients in the British
      Columbia multiple sclerosis database (BCMS; data collection 1980-96) who met the
      same eligibility criteria as for the RSS cohort. We compared disability
      progression at 6 years for RSS patients with untreated progression modelled from
      BCMS patients using continuous Markov and multilevel models. The primary outcomes
      were the progression ratio (treated vs untreated) measured both in Expanded
      Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score and utility. A ratio of less than 100% for
      EDSS implied slower than expected progression on treatment compared with off
      treatment; a utility ratio of 62% or less implied that the DMTs were cost
      effective. FINDINGS: 5610 patients starting a DMT were enrolled in the UK RSS
      between Jan 14, 2002, and July 13, 2005 (72 sites), of whom 4137 were included in
      our clinical cohort. We included 898 BCMS patients in the control cohort who met
      the RSS inclusion criteria and had at least one EDSS score after baseline. RSS
      patients had a mean follow-up of 5.1 years (SD 1.4). Both models showed slower
      EDSS progression than predicted for untreated controls (Markov model, 75.8% [95%
      CI 71.4-80.2]; multilevel model, 60.0% [56.6-63.4]). Utility ratios were
      consistent with cost-effectiveness (Markov model, 58.5% [95% CI 54.2-62.8];
      multilevel model, 57.1% [53.0-61.2]). INTERPRETATION: Findings from this large
      observational study of treatment with interferon beta or glatiramer acetate
      provide evidence that their effects on disability in patients with relapsing
      remitting multiple sclerosis are maintained and cost effective over 6 years.
      Similar modelling approaches could be applied to other chronic diseases for which
      long-term controlled trials are not feasible. FUNDING: Health Departments of
      England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Bayer
      Schering Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, UK National Institute
      of Health Research's Health Technology Assessment Programme.

PMID- 25841668
TI  - Personalised care initiatives for diabetes care.

PMID- 25841669
TI  - Molecular modeling, simulation and virtual screening of MurD ligase protein from
      Salmonella typhimurium LT2.
AB  - The Mur enzymes of the peptidoglycan biosynthesis pathway constitute ideal
      targets for the design of new classes of antimicrobial inhibitors in Gram
      negative bacteria. We built a homology model of MurD of Salmonella typhimurium
      LT2 using MODELLER (9v12) software. 'The homology model was subjected to energy
      minimization by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation study with GROMACS software
      for a simulation time of 20 ns in water environment. The model was subjected for
      virtual screening study from the Zinc Database using Dockblaster software.
      Inhibition assay for the best inhibitor, 3-(amino methyl)-n-(4-methoxyphenyl)
      aniline, by flow cytometric analysis revealed the effective inhibition of
      peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Results from this study provide new insights for the
      molecular understanding and development of new antibacterial drugs against the
      pathogen.

PMID- 25841670
TI  - ADVAN-style analytical solutions for common pharmacokinetic models.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The analytical solutions to compartmental pharmacokinetic models
      are well known, but have not been presented in a form that easily allows for
      complex dosing regimen and changes in covariate/parameter values that may occur
      at discrete times within and/or between dosing intervals. METHODS: Laplace
      transforms were used to derive ADVAN-style analytical solutions for 1, 2, and 3
      compartment pharmacokinetic linear models of intravenous and first-order
      absorption drug administration. The equations calculate the change in drug
      amounts in each compartment of the model over a time interval (t; t = t2 - t1)
      accounting for any dose or covariate events acting in the time interval. The
      equations were coded in the R language and used to simulate the time-course of
      drug amounts in each compartment of the systems. The equations were validated
      against commercial software [NONMEM (Beal, Sheiner, Boeckmann, & Bauer, 2009)]
      output to assess their capability to handle both complex dosage regimens and the
      effect of changes in covariate/parameter values that may occur at discrete times
      within or between dosing intervals. RESULTS: For all tested pharmacokinetic
      models, the time-course of drug amounts using the ADVAN-style analytical
      solutions were identical to NONMEM outputs to at least four significant figures,
      confirming the validity of the presented equations. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge,
      this paper presents the ADVAN-style equations for common pharmacokinetic models
      in the literature for the first time. The presented ADVAN-style equations
      overcome obstacles to implementing the classical analytical solutions in
      software, and have speed advantages over solutions using differential equation
      solvers. The equations presented in this paper fill a gap in the pharmacokinetic
      literature, and it is expected that these equations will facilitate the
      investigation of useful open-source software for modelling pharmacokinetic data.

PMID- 25841671
TI  - Reassessment of Lhermitte's sign in multiple sclerosis.
AB  - The reliability and diagnostic value of Lhermitte's sign in multiple sclerosis
      (MS) has not been fully established. The purpose of this study was to determine
      the clinical, neurophysiological and neuroradiological correlations of
      Lhermitte's sign in a cohort of MS patients and reassess the relevance of this
      phenomenon in the clinical history of the disease. A prospective study of 694
      patients with MS and 110 age-matched healthy adults was evaluated by a structured
      questionnaire that included basic demographic data, age of onset, clinical
      characteristics of the disease, and the inquiry of Lhermitte's sign. Cranial and
      spinal magnetic resonance imagings (MRI) and median and tibial somatosensory
      evoked potentials (SSEP) were performed at the same time. One hundred and twelve
      (16 %) patients were reported to have Lhermitte's sign; 582 (84 %) patients did
      not experience Lhermitte's sign during their disease duration (P < 0.026). No
      correlation was found between Lhermitte's sign and age, gender, EDSS, and disease
      duration; 88 % of patients with Lhermitte's sign had a demyelinating lesion on
      the cervical MRI. In negative Lhermitte's sign group, 64 % patients had a
      positive MRI. SSEP conductions were delayed in 92 % of patients with positive
      Lhermitte's sign and in 70 % of patients with negative Lhermitte's sign.
      Regarding the data, a significant correlation was found between MRI lesion and
      Lhermitte's sign (P < 0.001), and between SSEP abnormality and Lhermitte's sign
      as well (P < 0.001). This study underlines the relevance of this phenomenon with
      neuroradiological and neurophysiological abnormalities.

PMID- 25841672
TI  - Direct measurement of single-stranded DNA intermediates in mammalian cells by
      quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
AB  - Single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) intermediates are formed in multiple cellular
      processes, including DNA replication and recombination. Here, we describe a
      quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based assay to quantitate ssDNA
      intermediates, specifically the 3' ssDNA product of resection at specific DNA
      double-strand breaks induced by the AsiSI restriction enzyme in human cells. We
      protect the large mammalian genome from shearing by embedding the cells in low
      gelling-point agar during genomic DNA extraction and measure the levels of ssDNA
      intermediates by qPCR following restriction enzyme digestion. This assay is more
      quantitative and precise compared with existing immunofluorescence-based methods.

PMID- 25841673
TI  - A fast way to track functional OmpF reconstitution in liposomes: Escherichia coli
      total lipid extract.
AB  - A major requirement to perform structural studies with membrane proteins is to
      define efficient reconstitution protocols that ensure a high incorporation degree
      and protein directionality and topology that mimics its in vivo conditions. For
      this kind of studies, protein reconstitution in membrane systems via a detergent
      mediated pathway is usually successfully adopted because detergents are generally
      used in the initial isolation and purification of membrane proteins. This study
      reports OmpF reconstitution in preformed Escherichia coli liposomes followed by
      detection of its insertion by analyzing modifications on membrane structure by
      two different techniques: steady-state fluorescence anisotropy and dynamic light
      scattering. Another important issue is protein directionality. For OmpF, it is
      known that interaction with polyamines promotes channel blockage. In this work,
      the spermine-OmpF interaction was evaluated using surface plasmon resonance, and
      protein directionality was confirmed. 

PMID- 25841674
TI  - Replacing beta-mercaptoethanol in RNA extractions.
AB  - RNA extractions are potentially compromised in terms of both yield and quality by
      ribonucleases (RNases). The pungent and toxic reducing agent beta-mercaptoethanol
      (beta-ME), therefore, is commonly added to the biospecimen's lysis buffer to aid
      in RNase deactivation. Using different tissue types (liver tissue, kidney tissue,
      and cell pellets), extraction kits (RNeasy Mini Kit, Illustra RNA Spin Mini Kit,
      and PureLink Mini Kit), RNA quality assays (RNA integrity numbers [RINs] and
      quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction [qRT-PCR]), yield assessments,
      and in vitro functional RNase assays (RNaseAlert Kit), we demonstrate that beta
      ME should be replaced by the less toxic dithiothreitol (DTT) alternative.

PMID- 25841676
TI  - Expert consensus on the nutritional therapy for patients with malignancies.

PMID- 25841675
TI  - Combination of Paris and Vienna classifications may optimize follow-up of gastric
      epithelial neoplasia patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the
      combination of Paris and Vienna classifications in a follow-up study of gastric
      epithelial neoplasia (GEN) patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study was
      conducted between January 2003 and September 2010, during which 170 biopsy-proven
      GEN patients were followed up by gastroenterologists and pathologists according
      to our follow-up regimen (modified Vienna classification). RESULTS: In total, 161
      patients with low-grade neoplasia (LGN) and 9 patients with high-grade neoplasia
      (HGN) were randomly enrolled in our study. Eighteen patients with depressed
      appearance were observed, of which 9 patients had HGN and 9 patients had low
      grade dysplasia (LGD). Three patients with type 0-IIa were observed with low
      grade adenoma (LGA), and type 0-I was observed in 2 patients with LGN. Endoscopic
      or surgical treatments were performed to avoid potential malignancy or bleeding.
      Two patients with ulcer lesions, 2 patients with non-depressed type 0 appearance,
      and 3 patients without visible lesions were shown to have higher-grade lesions
      during follow-up. The misdiagnosis rate of forceps biopsy - 62.07% - was
      determined by comparing pre- and post-resection diagnoses of 29 patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: The combination of the Paris and Vienna classifications for GEN may
      optimize the follow-up routines for patients with suspicious precancerous lesions
      and may significantly improve the detection of early gastric cancer (EGC) while
      helping gastroenterologists select the best therapy option.

PMID- 25841677
TI  - The central role of nutritional therapy in cancer: the input of an experts
      committee of Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology.

PMID- 25841678
TI  - Targeted therapy in soft tissue sarcoma-a novel direction in therapeutics.
AB  - Inherent or acquired resistance to chemotherapy is a significant problem in the
      treatment of soft tissue sarcomas. Over the past decade, the discovery and
      characterization of aberrant signaling pathways and the identification of agents
      that can specifically target them has led to their introduction as novel
      treatment options in soft-tissue sarcomas (STS). Trials of monotherapy with
      targeted agents have shown results below expectations often because of activation
      of alternative signaling pathways. This review examines the potential for
      tactical combinations of these drugs to overcome this problem. 

PMID- 25841679
TI  - Emerging therapies for pancreas neuroendocrine cancers.
AB  - Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) are rare malignancies, with the most common site of
      origin being from the gastrointestinal tract, particularly the pancreas, small
      bowel and appendix. Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors can be functional, i.e.,
      hormone secreting tumors, e.g., insulinoma, gastrinoma or VIPoma, and can have
      distinctive symptoms leading to the diagnosis. In contrast nonfunctional tumors,
      the majority of PNET's, usually present later either incidentally or due to tumor
      bulk symptoms. The recent WHO classification system in 2010 classified PNET's
      into different stages and grades depending on the mitotic activity and Ki-67
      labeling index. PNET's have a broad range of prognoses depending on the
      histologic grade, differentiation and biologic behavior. Computerized tomographic
      scanning (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and octreoscan are imaging tools
      used to diagnose PNET, in addition to a confirmatory tissue diagnosis with
      immunohistochemical stains, typically obtained by either cytologic or histologic
      assessment. Symptomatic advanced PNET's can be treated with a long-acting
      somatostatin analogue for those tumors with somatostatin receptor positivity and
      which may also have antiproliferative activity. Another treatment modality is
      peptide receptor radionucleotide therapy (PRRT) in somatostatin receptor-positive
      tumors, albeit as yet with limited availability in the United States. Systemic
      therapies with combination cytotoxic agents e.g., streptozocin, anthracyclines,
      and capecitabine and temozolomide, all have established activity in PNET's.
      Biologic agents targeting the VEGF and mTOR signaling pathways, e.g., sunitinib,
      bevacizumab or everolimus are becoming integrated as treatments for PNET's.
      Poorly differentiated, high grade PNETs with a very high mitotic rate are treated
      with platinum-based chemotherapy regimens similar to treatment paradigms for
      small cell carcinoma of the lung. For liver confined or predominant disease,
      strategies such as cytoreductive surgery, hepatic artery embolization or
      radioembolization are treatment modalities to effect locoregional tumor control.
      The next generation of studies in PNET will help define optimal sequencing
      strategies of available therapies and also will attempt to use biomarker-guided
      approaches to select therapies. 

PMID- 25841680
TI  - Expert consensus on the nutritional therapy for patients with malignancies.

PMID- 25841681
TI  - A new rat model of prostate cancer.

PMID- 25841682
TI  - Locally advanced versus metastatic pancreatic cancer: two different diseases with
      two different treatment approaches?
AB  - The results of the SCALOP trial were reviewed and interpreted at the light of
      previous trials and of the more recent LAP-07 trial. In this latter trial the
      role of radiotherapy after an induction chmeotherapy has been questioned. Based
      on these findings data from the SCALOP trial loose most of their value. In fact,
      while it showed that capecitabine may be combined with radiotherapy more safely
      than gemcitabine and it could be a standard regimen as a consolidation regimen
      after an induction chemotherapy, the LAP-07 trial showed that radiotherapy in
      combination with chemotherapy does not add any valuable effect to chemotherapy
      alone. 

PMID- 25841683
TI  - Managing clinical trial data-sharing databases: interview with Professor Daniel
      J. Sargent.

PMID- 25841684
TI  - Highlights in hepatocellular carcinoma.

PMID- 25841685
TI  - How far are we going in colorectal cancer?

PMID- 25841686
TI  - Statistics in Oncology Clinical Trials: a learning platform never to miss.

PMID- 25841687
TI  - The state of oncology in 2014 and the role of palliative care for advanced and
      metastatic malignancies.

PMID- 25841688
TI  - Multidisciplinary approaches to palliative oncology care.

PMID- 25841689
TI  - The global state of palliative care-progress and challenges in cancer care.
AB  - All persons have a right to palliative care during cancer treatment and at the
      end-of-life. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines palliative care as a
      medical specialty that addresses physical, psychological, social, legal, and
      spiritual domains of care by an interdisciplinary team of professional and lay
      health care providers. Widespread adoption of this universal definition will aid
      policy development and educational initiatives on a national level. The need for
      palliative care is expanding due to the aging of the world's population and the
      increase in the rate of cancer in both developed and developing countries.
      However, in one third of the world there is no access to palliative care for
      persons with serious or terminal illness. Palliative care improves symptoms, most
      frequently pain, and improves quality of life for patients and their families,
      especially in the terminal disease phase. Accessibility to palliative care
      services, adequately trained health care professionals, availability of essential
      medicines, and gaps in education vary greatly throughout the world. Pain
      management is an integral concept in the practice of palliative care; however,
      opioiphobia, insufficient supply of opioids, and regulatory restrictions
      contribute to undue suffering for millions. Ongoing advocacy efforts call for
      increased awareness, palliative care integration with cancer care, and public and
      professional education. Enacting necessary change will require the engagement of
      health ministries and the recognition of the unique needs and resources of each
      country. The aim of this review is to examine progress in palliative care
      development and explore some of the barriers influencing cancer care across the
      globe. 

PMID- 25841690
TI  - A multidisciplinary approach in providing transitional care for patients with
      advanced cancer.
AB  - Patients living with a diagnosis of an advanced life-limiting malignancy often
      have concerns regarding symptom burden, physical and psychosocial impact on life,
      and questions surrounding end-of-life processes. Due to the complex care needs of
      patients with advanced life-limiting illness it is our experience that both a
      multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to care can optimize the patient
      and family illness experience for this vulnerable population. Progressive
      metastatic illness often necessitates care in multiple settings including an
      ambulatory clinic, inpatient hospital ward, at home, and at an in-patient hospice
      or palliative care unit. Palliative care teams are typically composed of
      clinicians from various disciplines who work in multiple settings and can act as
      a link between community, ambulatory and in-patient care-settings. The team often
      includes physicians, advance practice nurses [nurse practitioners and clinical
      nurse specialists (CNSs)], nurses, social workers, chaplains, and other allied
      health clinicians. The result of this team approach, in collaboration with
      oncology providers, makes palliative care an ideal model for providing care
      through the many transitions that are inherent to patients living with advanced
      malignancy. 

PMID- 25841691
TI  - Palliative care and advance care planning for patients with advanced
      malignancies.
AB  - Patients diagnosed with an advanced cancer frequently have a very limited life
      expectancy and need to understand their prognosis in order to make good choices
      about care. Advance care planning (ACP) is an important aspect of this care but
      can be especially difficult to address. Most patients and families prefer direct
      and honest communication, but they may interpret the information they are given
      in very different ways. In addition, oncologists strive to communicate honestly
      and sensitively, but often struggle with the best approach. Finally,
      standardization of ACP is challenging because patients have highly individualized
      values, traditions and social and family dynamics that guide their preferences.
      Palliative Care is a rapidly growing field that specializes in communication and
      patient-centered approaches to care. Treatment of patients with advanced or
      metastatic cancer should prioritize early discussions of ACP to ensure high
      quality end-of-life care. When available, this care should be delivered through
      careful integration with palliative care specialists. 

PMID- 25841692
TI  - Spirituality, religion and palliative care.
AB  - As medical science has evolved, many conditions that once were thought to be
      "death sentences" have become chronic illness. In some ways, this makes death and
      dying more complicated, fraught with decisions about what care is appropriate and
      when to withhold or withdraw care. Studies have shown that most patients faced
      with life-threatening illness have spiritual needs that are not adequately
      addressed by their health care providers. The philosophy and practice of
      palliative care operates upon an understanding of whole person care, reflected in
      the muli-dimensional approach of the biopsychosocial model. One cannot provide
      whole-person care without giving consideration to the relevant spiritual needs
      held by patients with serious illness. As palliative care clinicians, we are
      uniquely positioned to work with teams/patients/families to explore the many
      variables that individuals and their families use as the guiding principles when
      making difficult decisions around end of life. While we are often consulted to
      manage physical symptoms, that is only part of our work. As we work on building
      relationships, both with our patients and their care team, we are often able to
      help facilitate communication that allows for mutually satisfactory goal setting.
      We are equipped to work with patients within their cultural contexts of which
      spirituality is a part. It is important to recognize the barriers to providing
      adequate spiritual care. The National Consensus Project has created clinical
      practice guidelines to provide a road map for the provision of quality palliative
      care. These guidelines delineate eight domains that are addressed through the
      provision of palliative care; the fifth domain gives attention to spiritual,
      religious and existential aspects of care. Guidelines recommend the use of
      standardized tools wherever possible to assess spiritual needs; referral to
      members of the interdisciplinary team who have specialized skills in addressing
      existential and spiritual concerns, and initiating contact and communication with
      community spiritual providers as requested by patients and their families.
      Palliative care providers are also called to be advocates for the spiritual and
      religious rituals of patients and families, especially at the time of death. 

PMID- 25841693
TI  - Integrative and complementary therapies for patients with advanced cancer.
AB  - In integrative medicine, well-being is emphasized, and in palliative care,
      quality of life (QOL) is a similar concept or goal. Both can occur despite
      advanced cancer. Integrative medicine serves to combine the best of alternative,
      complementary and conventional therapies to optimize well-being and QOL, whether
      or not a person is at the end of their life. When integrative medicine is
      combined with palliative care modalities, the toolbox to provide symptom control
      and well-being or QOL is increased or broadened. Palliative care and integrative
      medicine are best provided early in the trajectory of illness such as cancer, and
      increase in amount as the illness progresses toward end of life. In cancer care,
      symptoms of the cancer, as well as symptoms produced by cancer therapies, are
      addressed with conventional and integrative therapies. Goals of care change as
      the disease progresses, and a patient's unique situation creates a different
      balance of integrative and conventional therapies. Integrative therapies such as
      music, aromatherapy, and massage might appeal to more patients than more
      specific, less common integrative therapies that might be more expensive, or seem
      more unusual such as Ayurvedic medicine and energy modalities. Each person may be
      drawn to different integrative modalities depending on factors such as cultural
      traditions, beliefs, lifestyle, internet information, advice from family and
      friends, books, etc. This review focuses on how integrative and complementary
      modalities can be included in comprehensive palliative care for patients with
      advanced malignancies. Nutrition and movement, often neglected in conventional
      treatment strategies, will also be included in the larger context of integrative
      and palliative modalities. Both conventional and integrative modalities in
      palliative care help patients live with empowerment, hope, and well-being no
      matter how long their lives last. A comprehensive review of all integrative and
      complementary therapies is impossible given the enormous diversity in this area.
      This review will concentrate on modalities such as nutrition, movement, music,
      aromatherapy, massage, select supplements, and acupuncture that have been
      researched in cancer survivors. Many of these modalities are quite effective for
      a number of symptoms in palliative care and have been studied in non-cancer
      populations. Resources for further study will also be included. 

PMID- 25841694
TI  - Opioids, adjuvants, and interventional options for pain management of symptomatic
      metastases.
AB  - Cancer pain is a complex issue that unfortunately affects a majority of cancer
      patients, the assessment and treatment of which are equally essential in
      alleviating many facets of this pain. The objective of this section is to address
      the many facets of cancer pain: its assessment, management, and its varied
      treatment modalities. We will discuss characteristics of pain, essential aspects
      of the patient interview, and management using opioids, adjuvants, and
      interventional and invasive strategies as well as side effects of these
      techniques. Many of these modalities are used for palliation but may and should
      be used in cancer patients who experience side effects from both their cancer and
      their chemotherapeutics. 

PMID- 25841695
TI  - Palliative radiotherapy for advanced malignancies in a changing oncologic
      landscape: guiding principles and practice implementation.
AB  - Radiotherapy can provide safe, cost-effective, efficient palliation of various
      symptoms of advanced cancer with minimal side effects. Radiotherapy can palliate
      pain related to bone metastases and growing visceral metastases or primary
      cancers, neurologic symptoms related to brain and spine metastases, other
      symptoms including cough and dyspnea from advanced cancers in the lung, bleeding
      from various internal and external tumors, and obstructive symptoms. Palliative
      radiotherapy should be offered in the context of a multidisciplinary oncology
      team including medical oncologists, palliative care clinicians and various
      surgical and interventional subspecialists. The prescription of radiotherapy
      should balance the convenience and fewer side effects associated with short,
      hypofractionated courses of radiotherapy with the potential greater durability
      associated with longer courses of radiotherapy in patients with more prolonged
      life expectancies. The judicious use of advanced techniques in radiotherapy,
      including intensity-modulated radiotherapy and stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT),
      may be warranted in select patients, and they can potentially improve symptom
      control and durability but are associated with increased technical and economic
      costs. 

PMID- 25841696
TI  - Chemotherapy for advanced cancers.
AB  - The decision to treat with chemotherapy in advanced cancers is a complex process
      that requires oncologists to weigh the indications and benefits. Treatment of
      patients with advanced cancer is typically multidimensional and should ideally
      include oncologists in coordination with palliative care specialists. When the
      intent of chemotherapy for patients with advanced neoplasms is no longer
      curative, palliative care can and should be delivered simultaneously with
      antineoplastic agents. Often, chemotherapy for advanced cancers is delivered in
      an attempt to palliate symptoms, and therefore improve quality of life (QOL). The
      role of palliative chemotherapy should be continually reevaluated throughout the
      trajectory of the patient's illness. When chemotherapy is no longer controlling
      the disease or helping symptoms, the role of chemotherapy should be reconsidered.
      This review aims to provide a foundation for discussions about treatment of
      patients with advanced malignancies. 

PMID- 25841697
TI  - Targeted therapy for lung cancer: present and future.
AB  - Recent advances in methods of genomic profiling have accelerated our
      understanding of the biology of oncologic diseases. Accumulating evidence
      suggests that both histology and molecular signature have prognostic and
      predictive value. Advances in molecular characterization of solid tumors have
      made individualized approaches feasible. Personalized chemotherapy and targeted
      biological therapy based on tumor's individual biologic and molecular profile can
      optimize efficacy while minimizing toxicity. Molecular testing for activating
      mutations is routinely performed for several disease subtypes, including non
      small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), breast cancer, melanoma and hematological
      malignancies including CML. For instance, alterations in the epidermal growth
      factor receptor (EGFR) domain and echinoderm microtubule associated protein-like
      4- anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK) translocation are routinely used to
      guide therapeutic decisions for advanced NSCLC. Several new treatments targeting
      EGFR family members, novel EML4-ALK inhibitors and MEK inhibitors are currently
      in clinical development. Availability of targeted therapies makes it easier to
      integrate early palliative and supportive care in the management of patients with
      advanced malignancies. This review summarizes recent advances in use of targeted
      therapy, with a focus on NSCLC and a special emphasis on investigational
      strategies for individualized treatment, especially in patients with metastatic
      disease. 

PMID- 25841698
TI  - Anticipation in stuttering: A theoretical model of the nature of stutter
      prediction.
AB  - The fact that some people who stutter have the ability to anticipate a stuttering
      moment is essential for several theories of stuttering and important for maximum
      effectiveness of many currently used treatment techniques. The "anticipation
      effect," however, is poorly understood despite much investigation into this
      phenomenon. In the present paper, we combine (1) behavioral evidence from the
      stuttering-anticipation literature, (2) speech production models, and (3) models
      of error detection to propose a theoretical model of anticipation. Integrating
      evidence from theories such as Damasio's Somatic Marker Hypothesis, Levelt's
      Perceptual Monitoring Theory, Guenther's The Directions Into Velocities of
      Articulators (DIVA) model, Postma's Covert Repair Hypothesis, among others, our
      central thesis is that the anticipation of a stuttering moment occurs as an
      outcome of the interactions between previous learning experiences (i.e., learnt
      associations between stuttered utterances and any self-experienced or
      environmental consequence) and error monitoring. Possible neurological mechanisms
      involved in generating conscious anticipation are also discussed, along with
      directions for future research. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will be able
      to: (a) describe historical theories that explain how PWS may learn to anticipate
      stuttering; (b) state some traditional sources of evidence of anticipation in
      stuttering; (c) describe how PWS may be sensitive to the detection of a
      stuttering; (d) state some of the neural correlates that may underlie
      anticipation in stuttering; and (e) describe some of the possible utilities of
      incorporating anticipation into stuttering interventions.

PMID- 25841699
TI  - Mitochondrial biology, targets, and drug delivery.
AB  - In recent years, mitochondrial medicine has emerged as a new discipline resting
      at the intersection of mitochondrial biology, pathology, and pharmaceutics. The
      central role of mitochondria in critical cellular processes such as metabolism
      and apoptosis has placed mitochondria at the forefront of cell science. Advances
      in mitochondrial biology have revealed that these organelles continually undergo
      fusion and fission while functioning independently and in complex cellular
      networks, establishing direct membrane contacts with each other and with other
      organelles. Understanding the diverse cellular functions of mitochondria has
      contributed to understanding mitochondrial dysfunction in disease states.
      Polyplasmy and heteroplasmy contribute to mitochondrial phenotypes and associated
      dysfunction. Residing at the center of cell biology, cellular functions, and
      disease pathology and being laden with receptors and targets, mitochondria are
      beacons for pharmaceutical modification. This review presents the current state
      of mitochondrial medicine with a focus on mitochondrial function, dysfunction,
      and common disease; mitochondrial receptors, targets, and substrates; and
      mitochondrial drug design and drug delivery with a focus on the application of
      nanotechnology to mitochondrial medicine. Mitochondrial medicine is at the
      precipice of clinical translation; the objective of this review is to aid in the
      advancement of mitochondrial medicine from infancy to application. 

PMID- 25841700
TI  - Early versus late carotid artery stenting for symptomatic carotid stenosis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Early carotid revascularization (<= 14 days) is recommended for
      symptomatic carotid stenosis. Carotid artery stenting (CAS) has become an
      alternative to carotid endarterectomy (CEA); however, safety data on early CAS is
      controversial. The study aims to compare early versus late CAS, when CAS is
      performed as a first intention revascularization strategy. METHODS: A
      retrospective analysis of all symptomatic patients admitted to our stroke unit
      who underwent CAS was conducted. Patients were divided between two groups:
      patients who had undergone CAS within 14 days after symptoms and those who had
      undergone CAS later. Primary endpoints were ipsilateral ischemic stroke or
      ipsilateral parenchymal hemorrhage (iPH) at 30 days. The secondary endpoints were
      major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) at the 30-day and at the
      12-month follow-up. RESULTS: One hundred twenty-seven consecutive patients were
      evaluated. Primary endpoints obtained in the early and late CAS groups were,
      respectively, ipsilateral stroke (2.0% vs. 2.6%, P = 1.00) and iPH (2.0% vs.
      0.0%, P = 0.40). The rates of MACCE between the early and the late CAS groups
      were, respectively, (7.8% vs. 2.6%, P = 0.21) at the 30-day follow-up, and (12.2%
      vs. 10.5%, P = 0.77) at the 12-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, CAS
      seems to be safe when used as first intention revascularization treatment within
      2 weeks of symptoms, if infarcted area is less than one third of the middle
      cerebral artery territory. Our results need to be confirmed by larger studies.

PMID- 25841701
TI  - Changes of the apparent diffusion coefficient in brain diffusion-weighted images
      due to subject positioning: A simulation study.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to investigate whether the
      cortical apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values derived from brain diffusion
      weighted images vary with changes in the position of the subject against a static
      magnetic field. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To focus on the variations in ADC due to
      the change of subject positioning, a simulation was performed using a digital
      brain phantom. The magnetic field inhomogeneities in the digital phantom were
      calculated for each subject position while changing the angle between the
      direction of the static field and the head of the digital phantom. The angle was
      changed from 0 to 40 degrees at 10-degree intervals. For each angle, the
      diffusion-weighted images were simulated based on magnetic resonance physics in
      which the magnetic field inhomogeneity was taken into account. The relative
      differences of average ADC values between the tilt angles were calculated to
      evaluate the variations in ADC. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for
      comparisons of ADC values between the tilt angles for each cortical region.
      RESULTS: In the cortical regions distorted by magnetic field inhomogeneities, the
      average ADC values differed significantly according to the position of the
      subject (P < 0.05). The range of the relative differences in average ADC values
      in relation to the differences in subject positioning was approximately 1% to
      12%. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that subject positioning against a static
      field is one of the factors affecting the accuracy of cortical ADC measurements
      derived from brain diffusion-weighted images.

PMID- 25841702
TI  - New model of flap-gliding flight.
AB  - A new modelling approach is presented for describing flap-gliding flight in birds
      and the associated mechanical energy cost of travelling. The new approach is
      based on the difference in the drag characteristics between flapping and non
      flapping due to the drag increase caused by flapping. Thus, the possibility of a
      gliding flight phase, as it exists in flap-gliding flight, yields a performance
      advantage resulting from the decrease in the drag when compared with continuous
      flapping flight. Introducing an appropriate non-dimensionalization for the
      mathematical relations describing flap-gliding flight, results and findings of
      generally valid nature are derived. It is shown that there is an energy saving of
      flap-gliding flight in the entire speed range compared to continuous flapping
      flight. The energy saving reaches the highest level in the lower speed region.
      The travelling speed of flap-gliding flight is composed of the weighted average
      of the differing speeds in the flapping and gliding phases. Furthermore, the
      maximum range performance achievable with flap-gliding flight and the associated
      optimal travelling speed are determined. 

PMID- 25841704
TI  - Extended-Release Naltrexone for Alcohol and Opioid Problems in Missouri Parolees
      and Probationers.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to compare the naturalistic outcomes of parolees
      and probationers with alcohol and/or opioid problems who were treated with
      extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX) to those treated with other medication
      assisted therapies or psychosocial treatment only. Methods consisted of using
      intake and discharge data collected as part of SAMHSA's Treatment Episode Data
      Set (TEDS) assessments, controlling for group differences using propensity scores
      that were based on a range of intake variables. Results showed that patients
      receiving XR-NTX had longer durations of care (compared to oral naltrexone and
      psychosocial treatment only) and were more likely to become abstinent (compared
      to oral naltrexone, buprenorphine/naloxone, and psychosocial treatment only).
      Findings were similar for the total sample and those with opioid problems. These
      XR-NTX results were found in the absence of significant differences in rates of
      self-help participation. No differences were found in employment or arrests in
      this relatively short time frame. This study documents the real-world
      effectiveness study of current FDA-approved addiction medications in
      parolees/probationers and encourages the use of XR-NTX in such a criminal justice
      population. 

PMID- 25841703
TI  - Treatment readiness, attitudes toward, and experiences with methadone and
      buprenorphine maintenance therapy among people who inject drugs in Malaysia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Little is known about attitudes toward and experiences with opioid
      maintenance therapy (OMT) among people who inject drugs in Malaysia, a country
      where people who inject drugs comprise 1.3% of the adult population. METHODS: In
      2010, 460 people who inject drugs in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were surveyed
      to evaluate attitudes toward and experiences with OMT and treatment readiness.
      Attitudes towards OMT with both methadone and buprenorphine were assessed using
      an opinions scale. Multivariable linear regression was used to assess correlates
      of treatment readiness, measured with the 19-item Stages of Change Readiness and
      Treatment Eagerness Scale (SOCRATES). RESULTS: All 460 participants used opioids
      and nearly all (99.1%) met criteria for opioid dependence. Few had had previous
      experience with methadone (9.3%) or buprenorphine (12.6%) maintenance therapy,
      yet many had used methadone (55.2%) or buprenorphine (51.7%) outside of treatment
      settings. Fifteen percent had injected buprenorphine in the past month, and of
      the few that were currently receiving buprenorphine maintenance therapy, almost
      all were injecting it. The majority of subjects exhibited a moderate level of
      treatment readiness and a preference for methadone over buprenorphine. Those with
      low treatment readiness scores were more likely to have previous experience with
      compulsory drug detention centers (p<0.01), needle/syringe exchange programs
      (p<0.005), or be of Indian ethnicity (p<0.001). Past use of methadone (p<0.01),
      older age (p<0.001), higher stress symptom severity (p<0.001), and sharing of
      needles or syringes (p<0.05) were associated with higher treatment readiness
      scores. CONCLUSION: There are suboptimal levels of OMT experience among people
      who inject drugs that may be improved by addressing factors that influence
      patient attitudes. Those individuals with moderate treatment readiness may be
      targeted by brief motivational and cognitive interventions in primary care,
      prisons or OMT clinics aimed at improving entry into and retention in treatment.

PMID- 25841705
TI  - The Relationship Between Postpartum Depression and Perinatal Cigarette Smoking:
      An Analysis of PRAMS Data.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: This study examines the relationship between postpartum depression
      (PPD) and cigarette smoking from prior to pregnancy to postpartum. METHODS: The
      study sample consisted of 29,654 U.S. women who reported smoking in the 3months
      prior to pregnancy and for whom data on PPD were available from the Pregnancy
      Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). Two sets of analyses were conducted.
      The first compared smoking at 2 time points (prior to pregnancy and postpartum)
      and the second at 3 time points (prior to pregnancy, during pregnancy, and
      postpartum). PPD was defined as responses of "often" or "always" to 2 questions:
      "Since your baby was born, how often have you felt down, depressed, or sad?" and
      "Since your new baby was born, how often have you had little interest or little
      pleasure in doing things?" RESULTS: Overall, 22% of the sample endorsed PPD
      symptoms. In the 2 time-point analysis, controlling for known confounders,
      participants whose smoking was reduced or unchanged postpartum were about 30%
      more likely to have PPD compared to those who quit (OR: 1.34; 95% CI=1.10-1.60,
      p=0.001; OR:1.32; 95% CI: 1.10-1.50, p<0.001 respectively). Participants who
      increased smoking postpartum were 80% more likely to have PPD compared those who
      quit (OR: 1.80; 95% CI: 1.50-2.30, p<0.001). In the 3 time-point analysis,
      participants who continued smoking at any level during pregnancy and postpartum
      had 1.48 times the odds of reporting PPD (95% CI: 1.26, 1.73) compared to those
      who quit during pregnancy and remained quit postpartum. Participants who quit
      during pregnancy but resumed postpartum had 1.28 times the odds of reporting PPD
      (95% CI: 1.06, 1.53) compared to those who quit during pregnancy and remained
      quit postpartum. CONCLUSION: Results suggest an association among women who smoke
      cigarettes prior to pregnancy between PPD and continued smoking during pregnancy
      and postpartum.

PMID- 25841706
TI  - Methods to select results to include in meta-analyses deserve more consideration
      in systematic reviews.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate how often systematic reviewers encounter multiple
      trial effect estimates that are available for inclusion in a particular meta
      analysis (multiplicity of results) and the methods they use to select effect
      estimates. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We randomly sampled Cochrane and MEDLINE
      indexed non-Cochrane reviews published between January 2010 and January 2012. The
      first presented meta-analysis of an effect measure for a continuous outcome in
      each review was identified, and methods to select results to include in this meta
      analysis were extracted from review protocols and reviews. All effect estimates
      that were available for inclusion in the meta-analyses were extracted from trial
      reports. RESULTS: We examined 44 reviews. Multiplicity of results was common,
      occurring in 49% of trial reports (n = 210). Prespecification of decision rules
      to select results from multiple measurement scales and intervention/control
      groups (in multi-arm trials) was uncommon (19% and 14% of 21 review protocols,
      respectively). Overall, 70% of reviews included at least one randomized
      controlled trial with multiplicity of results, but this occurred less frequently
      in reviews with a protocol (risk difference, -25%; 95% confidence interval: -52%,
      1%). CONCLUSION: Systematic reviewers are likely to encounter multiplicity of
      results in the included trials. We recommend that systematic reviewers always
      consider predefining methods to select results to include in meta-analyses.
      Methods focusing on selection of measurement scales and how to deal with multi
      arm trials would be most valuable.

PMID- 25841708
TI  - Chinese Clinical Oncology is now indexed by PubMed/MEDLINE: a big step forward.

PMID- 25841709
TI  - Lymphoma: looking from the present to the future.

PMID- 25841707
TI  - Sensitivity of neuroprogenitor cells to chemical-induced apoptosis using a
      multiplexed assay suitable for high-throughput screening.
AB  - High-throughput methods are useful for rapidly screening large numbers of
      chemicals for biological activity, including the perturbation of pathways that
      may lead to adverse cellular effects. In vitro assays for the key events of
      neurodevelopment, including apoptosis, may be used in a battery of tests for
      detecting chemicals that could result in developmental neurotoxicity. Apoptosis
      contributes to nervous system development by regulating the size of the
      neuroprogenitor cell pool, and the balance between cellular proliferation and
      apoptosis during neuroprogenitor cell proliferation helps to determine the size
      and shape of the nervous system. Therefore, chemicals that affect apoptosis
      during neuronal development can have deleterious effects on the developing brain.
      The present study examined the utility of a high-throughput assay to detect
      chemical-induced apoptosis in mouse or human neuroprogenitor cells, as well as
      differentiated human neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells.
      Apoptosis was assessed using an assay that measures enzymatic activity of caspase
      3/7 in a rapid and cost efficient manner. The results show that all three
      commercially available models generated a robust source of proliferating
      neuroprogenitor cells, and that the assay was sensitive and reproducible when
      used in a multi-well plate format. There were differences in the response of
      rodent and human neuroprogenitor cells to a set of chemicals previously shown to
      induce apoptosis in vitro. Neuroprogenitor cells were more sensitive to chemical
      induced apoptosis than differentiated neurons, suggesting that neuroprogenitor
      cells are one of the cell models that should be considered for use in a
      developmental neurotoxicity screening battery. 

PMID- 25841710
TI  - Pitfalls in the pathological diagnosis of lymphoma.
AB  - Since the publication of the 2008 World Health Organization classifications of
      lymphoma, additional immunohistochemical tests and other ancillary methods such
      as flow cytometry, cytogenetic and other molecular biology techniques, have been
      applied in routine clinical work. Due to the utilization of these methodologies,
      there has been great progress in the pathological diagnosis and classification of
      lymphomas in the mainland of China. Nonetheless, lymphoma pathology still remains
      very challenging in the field of diagnostic pathology. Ten percent of
      pathologist's annual consultation cases are lymphomas, thus reflecting the
      difficulty of this field. Here, we summarize the common misdiagnoses and pitfalls
      when dealing with lymphoma cases, the cause of the errors and strategies to avoid
      inaccurate diagnoses.

PMID- 25841711
TI  - PET/CT: appropriate application in lymphoma.
AB  - Positron emission tomography (PET) integrated with computed tomography (CT)
      (PET/CT) provides both metabolic and morphologic information, and becomes the
      most sensitive and specific imaging armamentarium in patients with non-Hodgkin
      lymphoma (NHL) and HL. This multimodality is being routinely used in staging,
      response assessment, and end-of-treatment evaluation for most lymphoma subtypes
      with convincing data. However, there are still controversial issues in the
      clinical management of patients with lymphoma. This comprehensive review
      addresses the latest information regarding the appropriate application of
      Fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) PET/CT, discusses the current dilemma
      in the prognostic value of interim PET/CT, and tries to clarify questions
      existing in PET/CT-navigated application.

PMID- 25841712
TI  - Staging and response assessment in lymphomas: the new Lugano classification.
AB  - Staging and response criteria were initially developed for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL)
      over 60 years ago, but not until 1999 were response criteria published for non-HL
      (NHL). Revisions to these criteria for both NHL and HL were published in 2007 by
      an international working group, incorporating PET for response assessment, and
      were widely adopted. After years of experience with these criteria, a workshop
      including representatives of most major international lymphoma cooperative groups
      and cancer centers was held at the 11(th) International Conference on Malignant
      Lymphoma (ICML) in June, 2011 to determine what changes were needed. An Imaging
      Task Force was created to update the relevance of existing imaging for staging,
      reassess the role of interim PET-CT, standardize PET-CT reporting, and to
      evaluate the potential prognostic value of quantitative analyses using PET and
      CT. A clinical task force was charged with assessing the potential of PET-CT to
      modify initial staging. A subsequent workshop was help at ICML-12, June 2013.
      Conclusions included: PET-CT should now be used to stage FDG-avid lymphomas; for
      others, CT will define stage. Whereas Ann Arbor classification will still be used
      for disease localization, patients should be treated as limited disease [I (E),
      II (E)], or extensive disease [III-IV (E)], directed by prognostic and risk
      factors. Since symptom designation A and B are frequently neither recorded nor
      accurate, and are not prognostic in most widely used prognostic indices for HL or
      the various types of NHL, these designations need only be applied to the limited
      clinical situations where they impact treatment decisions (e.g., stage II HL).
      PET-CT can replace the bone marrow biopsy (BMBx) for HL. A positive PET of bone
      or bone marrow is adequate to designate advanced stage in DLBCL. However, BMBx
      can be considered in DLBCL with no PET evidence of BM involvement, if
      identification of discordant histology is relevant for patient management, or if
      the results would alter treatment. BMBx remains recommended for staging of other
      histologies, primarily if it will impact therapy. PET-CT will be used to assess
      response in FDG-avid histologies using the 5-point scale, and included in new PET
      based response criteria, but CT should be used in non-avid histologies. The
      definition of PD can be based on a single node, but must consider the potential
      for flare reactions seen early in treatment with newer targeted agents which can
      mimic disease progression. Routine surveillance scans are strongly discouraged,
      and the number of scans should be minimized in practice and in clinical trials,
      when not a direct study question. Hopefully, these recommendations will improve
      the conduct of clinical trials and patient management.

PMID- 25841713
TI  - Radiotherapy in early stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma: past, present and future.
AB  - For early stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), extended field irradiation
      (EFRT) alone has shown excellent results in low relapse rate and high long-term
      survival rate. With the patients achieving long-term survival, the risk of the RT
      related late complications was increased, such as secondary malignancies and
      heart infarctions. According to a series of studies, the combined modality
      therapy (CMT) as the first-line therapy has replaced the radiotherapy (RT) alone.
      The recommended regimens are 2 cycles of ABVD followed by involved field
      radiotherapy (IFRT) (20-30 Gy) for the favorable patients, and 4 cycles of ABVD
      followed by IFRT (30 Gy) for unfavorable patients. The involved nodular
      radiotherapy (INRT) has shown the potential to achieve satisfactory primary tumor
      control with lower RT-related toxicity than EFRT or IFRT in combined therapy.
      Some prospective randomized studies are going about chemotherapy (CT) plus INRT
      under the guidance of PET. It is not certain that whether CT alone has more
      benefits to cure limited HL. Appropriate application of new RT techniques can
      improve the radiation dose distribution in target fields and protect normal
      tissues from excess RT-related damage.

PMID- 25841714
TI  - Individualized management of follicular lymphoma.
AB  - Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the most common indolent non-hodgkin lymphoma. Most
      patients with FL are diagnosed with advanced disease and are considered
      incurable. The classical prognostic index in FL is the FL international
      prognostic index (FLIPI). The management of FL is mainly determined by histologic
      grading, clinical stage, and tumor burden. For patients with stage I and II
      disease, an involved-site radiation therapy (ISRT) is recommended and may be
      potentially curative approach with 60% to 80% of 10-year overall survival (OS)
      rates, while patients with stage III and IV should be treated with systemic
      therapy. The watchful waiting is still an option for patients without symptoms
      or/and low tumor burden. Induction of immuno-chemotherapy combined with
      consolidation of rituximab maintenance (MR) is standard care for patients with
      symptomatic disease or with high tumor burden when treatment indicated. The major
      indication for systemic therapy is including candidate for clinical trials,
      threatened end organ function, cytopenia secondary to lymphoma bulky disease and
      steady progress etc. at present time. Routine baseline and regular hepatitis B
      surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) testing is strongly
      recommended for all patients before the initiation of immuno-chemotherapy in
      order to minimize the risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation which has been
      observed approximately 20% to 50% of patients with positive HBsAg and 3% to 45%
      of patients with positive HBcAb. Prophylactic antiviral treatment in patients who
      are HBsAg-positive or HBcAb-positive is indicated before immuno-chemotherapy. The
      management for elderly patients should be carefully selected to avoid
      overtreatment and severe toxicities. Individualized dose adjustment for
      chemotherapy and an adequate supportive treatment are essential for this special
      population. Novel agents such as lenalidomide, ibrutinib and idelalisib are
      promising. In conclusion, individualized management of FL remains challenging and
      role of new targeted agents need to be defined. 

PMID- 25841715
TI  - Mantle cell lymphoma-management in evolution.
AB  - The management of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) has been an area of rapid change in
      recent years. These changes have improved the prognosis for a disease that has
      had historically poor outcomes. There are several treatment options for the
      patient with newly diagnosed MCL, with younger, fit patients often receiving
      intensive treatment, while less intensive strategies have been used for older,
      less fit patients. The past few years has also seen the arrival of several novel
      agents used in the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) disease.
      These targeted therapies combine relatively high response rates with a favorable
      side-effect profile making them ideal agents for use in this patient population.

PMID- 25841716
TI  - Double hit diffuse large B-cell lymphomas: diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.
AB  - Although diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is curable with standard
      chemoimmunotherapy, over 30% of patients with advanced stage disease experience
      refractory disease or progression. Recent studies suggest that rearrangement of
      the myc oncogene occurs in approximately 10% of patients with DLBCL, and confers
      a very poor prognosis, particularly when there is concomitant rearrangement of
      bcl-2, a condition referred to as "double hit DLBCL". Using immunohistochemistry,
      up to 30% of patients have evidence of increased expression of myc, which occurs
      in both activated B-cell and germinal center type DLBCL. When bcl-2 is also
      positive by immunohistochemistry, prognosis is also poor. There are no randomized
      studies guiding treatment for patients with double hit DLBCL, but new datasets
      are emerging suggesting a possible role for dose-adjusted EPOCH infusional
      chemotherapy with rituximab. This review will conclude with a survey of novel
      agents which may be rationally incorporated into chemotherapy platforms for this
      high risk subset of DLBCL.

PMID- 25841717
TI  - Primary extranodal B-cell lymphoma: current concepts and treatment strategies.
AB  - Around 30% of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) cases arise from extranodal sites.
      Often the primary extranodal presentation requires site-specific strategies
      either for diagnosis or therapy. However, several issues remain controversial
      such as the definition itself of primary extranodal lymphoma, and the most
      appropriate staging system to characterize the disease extent. Moreover, the
      specific presenting sites may have per se prognostic implications. The vast
      majority of the published reports on primary extranodal lymphomas are represented
      by single-institution retrospective studies. In most clinical trials the primary
      extranodal lymphomas are often included together with the nodal ones and only a
      few studies have investigated the peculiarity of extranodal lymphomas. This
      review summarizes the recent advances in B-cell extranodal lymphomas, addressing
      the critical points in the management of the more frequently involved sites.

PMID- 25841719
TI  - Extranodal natural killer/T cell lymphoma: we should and we can do more.
AB  - Extranodal natural killer/T cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKL) is a rare disease,
      which is much more prevalent in Asia. With the advent of L-asparaginase-based
      regimen, the outcome of ENKL was improved obviously. Sequential chemotherapy and
      radiotherapy is the standard treatment for early-stage ENKL. However, the outcome
      of advanced-stage diseases is not satisfactory. Therefore, risk-stratification is
      needed for ENKL. The prognostic factors include IPI, KIPI, plasma EBV-DNA, and
      interim-PET/CT. However, these parameters are not validated in the era of L
      asparaginase. The role of high-dose chemotherapy and heamatopoietic stem cell
      transplantation require further investigation.

PMID- 25841720
TI  - Risk- and response-adapted strategies for the management of Hodgkin lymphoma.
AB  - Therapy for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is associated with excellent long-term survival
      rates, of 80% of more. Extended follow up has described late treatment-related
      toxicities, principally secondary malignancies, cardiovascular disease and
      infertility. Given the young age of many patients, there is a desire to offer a
      more personalised approach, correlated to individual tumour biology that enables
      treatment de-escalation in low risk patients to reduce toxicity, and treatment
      intensification in high risk patients to reduce treatment failure. Contemporary
      therapeutic strategies have involved risk assessment based on staging and
      clinical factors. The use of functional imaging with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose
      positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET) as a predictive tool to identify early
      non-responders has been well validated and outperforms the risk stratifying
      International Prognostic Score (IPS). HL has particularly high FDG-avidity (97
      100%), with FDG-PET scanning reflecting metabolic activity and acting as a
      surrogate biomarker for chemosensitivity. International consensus on the methods
      of reporting and interpreting FDG-PET scans has enabled their use to be
      standardised and reproducible. Given that primary therapy fails for 15-20% of
      patients, the use of combined FDG-PET and computerised tomography (FDG-PET/CT) to
      provide a response-adapted strategy to guide management is under investigation in
      numerous prospective clinical trials. They aim to determine whether early
      response scanning can be used to directly modulate subsequent therapy, through
      intensifying or abbreviating chemotherapy regimens and/or omitting radiotherapy.
      Integrated multi-modality imaging and advanced conformal planning techniques have
      led to the emergence of radiotherapy strategies such as involved-node radiation
      (INRT) that aim to optimise treatment volumes and maintain efficacy whilst
      lowering toxicity. Study groups have incorporated these modalities in trial
      designs to assess whether a PET-directed, individualised approach can become the
      new standard of care.

PMID- 25841721
TI  - New drugs for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphomas.
AB  - Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) are diverse diseases either of mature B-cell or T
      cell derivation. Despite being generally chemosensitive diseases, the last decade
      has focused on developing more targeted agents based on improved insights of
      underlying biology. The hope is that more targeted and biologically rational
      treatments will improve both the efficacy and toxicity profile of standard
      approaches, with the ultimate goal of improving clinical outcomes. Among the
      newest agents to be approved are inhibitors of B-cell receptor (BCR) and PI3K
      signaling; however, a number of other classes of agents such as selective
      inhibitors of nuclear export (SINE), inhibitors of immune regulation such as PD1
      inhibitors, and small molecule inhibitors of apoptosis are on the horizon. In
      addition, growing clinical evidence supports continued and new applications for
      immunomodulatory agents, proteasome inhibitors and histone deacetylase
      inhibitors. Altogether, this is an exciting time for NHL, with a number of
      promising agents and early clinical data. The key path forward will be to better
      apply these new agents in a personalized way, which will hopefully constitute the
      next generation of trials. 

PMID- 25841718
TI  - New approaches in primary central nervous system lymphoma.
AB  - Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) has long been associated with an
      inferior prognosis compared to other aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs).
      However, during the past 10 years an accumulation of clinical experience has
      demonstrated that long-term progression-free survival (PFS) can be attained in a
      major proportion of PCNSL patients who receive dose-intensive consolidation
      chemotherapy and avoid whole brain radiotherapy. One recent approach that has
      reproducibly demonstrated efficacy for newly diagnosed PCNSL patients is an
      immunochemotherapy combination regimen used during induction that consists of
      methotrexate, temozolomide, and rituximab followed by consolidative infusional
      etoposide plus high-dose cytarabine (EA), administered in first complete
      remission (CR). Other high-dose chemotherapy-based consolidative regimens have
      shown efficacy as well. Our goal in this review is to update principles of
      diagnosis and management as well as data regarding the molecular pathogenesis of
      PCNSL, information that may constitute a basis for development of more effective
      therapies required to make additional advances in this phenotype of aggressive
      NHL.

PMID- 25841722
TI  - Professor Shukui Qin: patient reported outcomes in study of axitinib or sorafenib
      in Asian patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

PMID- 25841723
TI  - Professor Jon Wigginton: where we are standing in immunotherapy.

PMID- 25841724
TI  - The lost Gemeinschaft: how people working with the elderly explain loneliness.
AB  - We conducted a qualitative interview study with people of different professions
      working with lonely elderly people. The rationale of the study was to examine how
      these respondents explain loneliness among the elderly. The present article
      focuses on the social explanations, i.e. explanations that identify causes of
      loneliness in the structure of modern society. We found that many of the social
      explanations given are aspects of a more encompassing and general pattern
      underlying all the reasoning about loneliness among the elderly. This pattern is
      the expression of two contrasting images of society which the classical
      sociologist Ferdinand Tonnies termed Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft
      (society). The former refers to traditional or small-size rural communities
      characterized by high degrees of social cohesion, integration, solidarity,
      proximity and familiarity, whereas the latter refers to functional
      differentiation, distance, individualization, exchanged-based social relations
      and anonymity. Loneliness among the elderly is explained by the lack of
      Gemeinschaft and its characteristics in contemporary society. This explanatory
      pattern goes hand in hand with a critical view of contemporary society and a
      nostalgic yearning for the lost communities of past societies, where inhabitants
      find their staked-out place and sense of belonging, and thus loneliness hardly
      seems to occur. We summarized this view under the label the "lost Gemeinschaft". 

PMID- 25841725
TI  - Japan's long-term care policy for older people: the emergence of innovative
      "mobilisation" initiatives following the 2005 reforms.
AB  - Japan leads the global race for solutions to the increasing long-term care demand
      from an ageing population. Initial responses in 2000 saw the launch of the public
      Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) system which witnessed an unexpectedly
      substantial uptake - with doubts raised about financial viability and
      sustainability. The post-2005 LTCI reform led to the adoption of innovations -
      including the "mobilisation" of active, older volunteers to support their frailer
      peers. This strategy, within the wider government's "2025 Vision" to provide
      total care for the entire older population, sought to secure financial viability
      and sustainability. Drawing on qualitative in-depth interviews with 21 provider
      organisations this study will examine three "mobilisation" schemes and identify
      those factors contributing to overall strengths while acknowledging complexities,
      diversities and challenges the schemes encountered. Initial literature written by
      mobilisation proponents may have been overly optimistic: this study seeks to
      balance such views through providing an understanding and analysis of these
      mobilisation schemes' realities. The findings will provide insights and suggest
      more caution to policy-makers intending to promote such schemes - in both Japan
      and in countries considering doing so. Furthermore, more evaluation is required
      to obtain evidence to support financial feasibility and sustainability. 

PMID- 25841726
TI  - Volunteering as reciprocity: beneficial and harmful effects of social policies to
      encourage contribution in older age.
AB  - Social policy applications of 'active ageing' ideals have recently focussed on
      volunteering as a beneficial and valuable contribution that older people can make
      to their communities. In this paper we draw attention to the positive and
      negative effects of a general imperative to contribute. Understanding the
      benefits of contribution in terms of the moral force of reciprocity recognises
      that older people do need and want to contribute to society and these
      contributions are beneficial for their sense of identity and wellbeing. However,
      older people vary greatly in their health, financial resources, and social
      networks and should not be seen as a homogenous group whose members must
      contribute in the same way. A policy focus on the imperative to contribute as a
      participating citizen can be oppressive and lead to withdrawal from social
      engagement by those who are the most in need of support to participate.
      Priorities for social and organisational policies must include support for the
      many ways older people are able to be involved in their communities and to
      provide structures necessary to support their preferences. A focus on individual
      responsibility for active engagement in society, which does not take account of
      individual circumstances or past contributions, can be harmful. 

PMID- 25841727
TI  - "Careworkers don't have a voice:" epistemological violence in residential care
      for older people.
AB  - Drawing on feminist epistemologies, this paper attends to the way the
      reductionist assumptions have shaped the organization of nursing home carework in
      manners that are insufficient to the needs of relational care. This paper is
      informed by a study involving nine focus groups and a survey of Canadian
      residential care workers (141 RNs, 139 LPNs and 415 frontline careworkers). Four
      major themes were identified. Reductionist assumptions contributed to routinized,
      task-based approaches to care, resulting in what careworkers termed "assembly
      line care." Insufficient time and emphasis on the relational dimensions of care
      made it difficult to "treat residents as human beings." Accountability, enacted
      as counting and documenting, led to an "avalanche of paperwork" that took time
      away from care. Finally, hierarchies of knowledge contributed to systemic
      exclusions and the perception that "careworkers' don't have a voice." Careworkers
      reported distress as a result of the tensions between the organization of work
      and the needs of relational care. We theorize these findings as examples of
      "epistemological violence," a concept coined by Vandana Shiva (1988) to name the
      harm that results from the hegemony of reductionist assumptions. While not acting
      alone, we argue that reductionism has played an important role in shaping the
      context of care both at a policy and organizational level, and it continues to
      shape the solutions to problems in nursing home care in ways that pose challenges
      for careworkers. We conclude by suggesting that improving the quality of both
      work and care will require respecting the specificities of care and its unique
      epistemological and ontological nature. 

PMID- 25841728
TI  - Staff members' negotiation of power in client engagement: analysis of practice
      within an Australian aged care service.
AB  - With increasing focus on client control and active client roles in aged care
      service provision, client engagement is highlighted as fundamental to
      contemporary care practice. Client engagement itself, however, is complex and is
      impacted by a range of issues including the relationships and power dynamics
      inherent in the care context. These dynamics do not simply reflect the roles that
      are available to or taken up by clients; just as important are the roles and
      positions that staff of aged care services are offered, and take up, in client
      engagement. This paper presents the findings of a study that explored client
      engagement practice within a large Australian service provider. Analysis of
      interview and focus group discussions addressed the ways in which staff were
      positioned - by both themselves and by clients - in terms of the roles that they
      hold within engagement practice and the power relations inherent within these.
      Analysis of power from the dominant policy perspective of choice and control, and
      the alternative perspective of an ethic of care suggests that power relations
      within the care context are dynamic, complex and involve on-going negotiation and
      regulation by clients and staff members in aged care. The use of these two
      contrasting perspectives reveals a more dynamic and complex understanding of
      power in care practice than dominant uni-dimensional approaches to critique
      suggest. 

PMID- 25841729
TI  - The experiences of older mothers following the return of an adult child home.
AB  - CONTEXT: The present study examines the experience of co-residence of older
      mothers with their adult children who have returned home, as seen from the
      mothers' perspective. METHODS: The population of the study consisted of 14 women
      between the ages of 58 and 74, whose sons and daughters aged 30 to 40 had come to
      live with them. The study is a qualitative one, conducted on the basis of in
      depth, semi-structured interviews with the mothers. The data were analyzed using
      constant comparisons. FINDINGS: The analysis of the interviews yielded four main
      themes: a) the mother's perception of the parental role; b) the mother's
      perception of the returning son or daughter; c) the mother's perception of living
      together with the adult child; and d) the emotional ramifications arising from co
      residence. The differences among the mothers interviewed allowed for the
      distinction of three types: (1) the mother as rescuer (2) the ambivalent mother
      and (3) the involved mother. IMPLICATIONS: The study sheds light on this late
      stage of the mother-child relationship, points to the complexity of the
      phenomenon, and offers insights for professionals working with clients in such
      situations.

PMID- 25841730
TI  - Making sense of a changed physical body: why gender matters at end of life.
AB  - The bodily experience of patients near end of life has been presented within
      sociological literature as largely undifferentiated. The attempt of this paper is
      to overcome this gap by exploring how gender intersects with the loss of bodily
      autonomy experienced by hospice patients. The study was conducted in two in
      patient hospice units located near Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. A total of
      ten terminally ill patients were interviewed, along with twenty family members
      and twenty members of hospice staff. For the men in this study loss of bodily
      autonomy was a very dramatic experience as it contravened masculine norms. The
      women's reactions towards their loss of autonomy were less negative compared to
      those of men and they made a considerable effort to integrate the best as they
      could their physical condition. This reflected feminine traits. Findings
      suggested that the loss of bodily autonomy is gendered in the sense that men and
      women experience it in dissimilar ways. 

PMID- 25841731
TI  - Sex and the (older) single girl: experiences of sex and dating in later life.
AB  - This study explored the sexual subjectivities of older Australian women. In this
      article we present findings from 15 qualitative interviews with Australian women
      aged 55-81 who were single at the time of interview. The majority of these women
      were single following divorce or separation, with a smaller number of women who
      were widowed or never in a long-term relationship. We found that these women's
      sexual desire and sexual activity were fluid and diverse across their life
      course. Although some participants desired a romantic or sexual relationship,
      they were also protective of their independence and reluctant to re-enter into a
      relationship in later life. Our findings indicate that these women's sexual
      subjectivities were shaped by dominant norms of ageing, sex, and gender. At the
      same time, older women are challenging and resisting these norms, and beginning
      to renegotiate sexuality in later life. 

PMID- 25841732
TI  - Sweet old things: moral complexities in old age in Muriel Spark's Memento Mori.
AB  - Through the lens of Muriel Spark's dark comedic novel, Memento Mori, this paper
      explores questions of morality, mortality, and the moral choices and performances
      in old age and in the systems and places of care. Spark's elderly characters are
      complex moral actors - some virtuous and some decidedly not - who have been
      receiving mysterious phone calls telling them simply, "Remember you must die."
      We, the co-authors, are from two different disciplines, namely Renaissance and
      medieval literature, and social work and critical gerontology. Among the
      questions that interest us is the paradox of a master narrative that on the one
      hand exempts the old from moral criticism yet holds them to a higher moral
      standard - essentially positioning them as moral nonentities, and relieving the
      old, their caretakers, and society of moral responsibility. Another is the
      question of whether moral agency in old age has distinctive aspects, and whether
      consciousness of one's impending mortality effects moral reasoning and
      performance. In this paper we offer our individual readings of the ways the novel
      opens up conceptual space in aging theory, and conclude with our thoughts about
      what our collaboration suggests for continuing cross-disciplinary dialogue. 

PMID- 25841734
TI  - Alexander Molassiotis: acupuncture, dramatic as it is.

PMID- 25841733
TI  - Incremental healthcare resource utilization and costs in US patients with
      Cushing's disease compared with diabetes mellitus and population controls.
AB  - PURPOSE: Resource utilization and costs in Cushing's disease (CD) patients have
      not been studied extensively. We compared CD patients with diabetes mellitus (DM)
      patients and population-based controls to characterize differences in utilization
      and costs. METHODS: Using 2008-2012 MarketScan(r) database, we identified three
      patient groups: (1) CD patients; (2) DM patients; and (3) population-based
      control patients without CD. DM and control patients were matched to CD patients
      by age, gender, region, and review year in a 2:1 ratio. Outcomes included annual
      healthcare resource utilization and costs. RESULTS: There were 1852 CD patients,
      3704 DM patients and 3704 controls. Mean age was 42.9 years; 78.2 % were female.
      CD patients were hospitalized more frequently (19.3 %) than DM patients (11.0 %,
      p < .001) or controls (5.6 %, p < .001). CD patients visited the ED more
      frequently (25.4 %) than DM patients (21.1 %, p < .001) or controls (14.3 %, p <
      .001). CD patients had more office visits than DM patients (19.1 vs. 10.7, p <
      .001) or controls (7.1, p < .001). CD patients on average filled more
      prescriptions than DM patients (51.7 vs. 42.7, p < .001) or controls (20.5, p <
      .001). Mean total healthcare costs for CD patients were $26,269 versus $12,282
      for DM patients (p < .001) and $5869 for controls (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: CD
      patients had significantly higher annual rates of healthcare resource utilization
      compared to matched DM patients and population controls without CD. CD patient
      costs were double DM costs and quadruple control costs. This study puts into
      context the additional burdens of CD over DM, a common, chronic endocrine
      condition affecting multiple organ systems, and population controls.

PMID- 25841735
TI  - Using acupuncture as part of a comprehensive program in helping patients with
      breast cancer beyond fatigue.

PMID- 25841736
TI  - Guidance for prospective acupuncture treatment on cancer-related fatigue (CRF).

PMID- 25841737
TI  - Does the strength of evidence support recommending acupuncture to relieve cancer
      related fatigue?

PMID- 25841738
TI  - Demonstration wards for the standardized cancer pain management in China.

PMID- 25841739
TI  - Guidelines on cancer pain management (2011 Edition).

PMID- 25841740
TI  - The role of cryosurgery in palliative care for cancer.
AB  - Cryosurgery as one of the ablation methods is performed intraoperatively,
      laparoscopically or percutaneously, is especially adapted for ablation of
      prostate cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer, breast cancer, benign
      fibroadenomas of breast, uterine tumors and neoplasms of soft tissue. Compared
      with other ablation methods (such as radiofrequency and microwave ablation),
      cryoablation has several advantages on therapeutic efficacy, imaging guidance and
      modality. 

PMID- 25841741
TI  - Lapatinib as a therapeutic option in brain metastases from HER2+ breast cancer.

PMID- 25841742
TI  - Ketamine: to be or not to be.

PMID- 25841743
TI  - Relevance of ketamine in the management of cancer pain.

PMID- 25841744
TI  - Information and support: implications for developing palliative care programs.

PMID- 25841745
TI  - Assessing depression in cancer patients - a longitudinal comparison of three
      questionnaires.

PMID- 25841746
TI  - The implementation of palliative care: opening Pandora's box?

PMID- 25841747
TI  - Palliative radiotherapy in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

PMID- 25841748
TI  - Genomic characterization of a turkey reovirus field strain by Next-Generation
      Sequencing.
AB  - The genome of a turkey arthritis reovirus (TARV) field strain
      (Reo/PA/Turkey/22342/13), isolated from a turkey flock in Pennsylvania (PA) in
      2013, has been sequenced using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) on the Illumina
      MiSeq platform. The genome of the PA TARV field strain was 23,496bp in length
      with 10 dsRNA segments encoding 12 viral proteins. The lengths of the genomic
      segments ranged from 1192bp (S4) to 3959bp (L1). The 5' and 3' conserved terminal
      sequences of the PA TARV field strain were similar to the two Minnesota (MN)
      TARVs (MN9 and MN10) published recently and avian orthoreovirus (ARV) reference
      strains. Phylogenetic analysis of the nucleotide sequences of all 10 genome
      segments revealed that there was a low to significant nucleotide sequence
      divergence between the PA TARV field strain and reference TARV and ARV strains.
      Analysis of the PA TARV sequence indicates that this PA TARV field strain is a
      unique strain and is different from the TARV MN9 or MN10 in M2 segment genes and
      ARV S1133 vaccine strain.

PMID- 25841749
TI  - Reregulation of the Swedish pharmacy sector-A qualitative content analysis of the
      political rationale.
AB  - In 2009, a reregulation of the Swedish pharmacy sector took place, and a
      fundamental change in ownership and structure followed. The reregulation provides
      an opportunity to reveal the politicians' views on pharmacies. The aim of this
      study was to explore and analyze the political arguments for the reregulation of
      the Swedish pharmacy sector in 2009. The method used was a qualitative content
      analysis of written political documents regarding the reregulation. The primary
      rationales for the reregulation were better availability, efficiency, price
      pressure, and safe usage of medicines. During the preparatory work, the
      rationales of diversity on the market and entrepreneurship were added, while the
      original rationales of efficiency, price pressure, and better usage of medicines
      were abandoned. The reform can be seen as a typical New Public Management reform
      influenced by the notion that private actors are better equipped to perform
      public activities. The results point to that the reform was done almost solely in
      order to introduce private ownership in the pharmacy sector, and was not
      initiated in order to solve any general problems, or to enhance patient outcomes
      of medicine use. 

PMID- 25841750
TI  - Transcriptional response to copper excess and identification of genes involved in
      heavy metal tolerance in the extremophilic microalga Chlamydomonas acidophila.
AB  - High concentrations of heavy metals are typical of acidic environments.
      Therefore, studies on acidophilic organisms in their natural environments improve
      our understanding on the evolution of heavy metal tolerance and detoxification in
      plants. Here we sequenced the transcriptome of the extremophilic microalga
      Chlamydomonas acidophila cultivated in control conditions and with 500 MUM of
      copper for 24 h. High-throughput 454 sequencing was followed by de novo
      transcriptome assembly. The reference transcriptome was annotated and genes
      related to heavy metal tolerance and abiotic stress were identified. Analyses of
      differentially expressed transcripts were used to detect genes involved in
      metabolic pathways related to abiotic stress tolerance, focusing on effects
      caused by increased levels of copper. Both transcriptomic data and observations
      from PAM fluorometry analysis suggested that the photosynthetic activity of C.
      acidophila is not adversely affected by addition of high amounts of copper. Up
      regulated transcripts include several transcripts related to photosynthesis and
      carbohydrate metabolism, transcripts coding for general stress response, and a
      transcript annotated as homologous to the oil-body-associated protein HOGP coding
      gene. The first de novo assembly of C. acidophila significantly increases
      transcriptomic data available on extremophiles and green algae and thus provides
      an important reference for further molecular genetic studies. The differences
      between differentially expressed transcripts detected in our study suggest that
      the response to heavy metal exposure in C. acidophila is different from other
      studied green algae.

PMID- 25841751
TI  - Desulfonatronum zhilinae sp. nov., a novel haloalkaliphilic sulfate-reducing
      bacterium from soda Lake Alginskoe, Trans-Baikal Region, Russia.
AB  - A novel haloalkaliphilic sulfate-reducing bacterium, designated Al915-01(T), was
      isolated from benthic sediments of the Lake Alginskoe, a soda lake located in the
      Trans-Baikal Region, Russia. Cells of the strain were Gram-stain negative,
      motile, non-spore-forming vibrion (0.4-0.5 * 1.2-2.3 um). Strain Al915-01(T) grew
      in the pH range from 8.0 to 10.5 (optimum pH 9.0) and required NaCl for growth (5
      100 g l(-1) NaCl, optimum 40 g l(-1)). The bacterium grew at 10-40  degrees C
      (optimally at 36  degrees C) and used lactate, formate and pyruvate as electron
      donors in the presence of sulfate. It was able to reduce sulfate, sulfite,
      thiosulfate and nitrate with lactate as an electron donor. The isolate was able
      to grow lithoheterotrophically with sulfate and molecular hydrogen if acetate was
      added as a carbon source. The predominant fatty acids were anteisoC15:0,
      isoC17:1, C18:1omega7 and C16:1omega7. The G+C content in the DNA was 58.3 +/- 1
      mol %. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that the new bacterium
      belongs to the genus Desulfonatronum. The closest relatives were Desulfonatronum
      buryatense Ki5(T) (99.9 % similarity) and Desulfonatronum lacustre Z-7951(T)
      (99.2 % similarity). On the basis of the genotypic, phenotypic and phylogenetic
      characteristics, the isolate is proposed as a representative of a novel species
      Desulfonatronum zhilinae with the type strain Al915-01(T) (=VKM B-2744(T) = DSM
      26338(T)).

PMID- 25841752
TI  - Racial Associations with Hemorrhagic Presentation in Cerebral Arteriovenous
      Malformations.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Studies focusing on hemorrhagic presentation of brain arteriovenous
      malformations (AVMs) have largely limited their analysis to angiographic
      features. We report the importance of race/ethnicity as a clinical factor
      associated with hemorrhagic AVM presentation in addition to previously reported
      angiographic features. METHODS: Data were prospectively and retrospectively
      collected on patients (N = 194) during the period 1993-2010 who presented with a
      single intracranial AVM, and baseline characteristics were compared for
      hemorrhagic presentation versus nonhemorrhagic presentation. Features that were
      statistically significant in univariate analysis or clinically significant were
      included in a multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The median age at presentation was
      32 years; 37.2% of patients were male. Spetzler-Martin grades were I in 17.5%, II
      in 37.1%, III in 28.9%, IV in 14.9%, and V in 1.5%. Baseline characteristics that
      differed significantly between patients presenting with hemorrhage compared with
      patients without hemorrhage were the following: race (P < 0.01), AVM size (P <
      0.01), <3 feeding arteries (P = 0.01), absence of middle cerebral artery supply
      to AVM (P < 0.01), and AVM location (P < 0.01). Multivariate analysis revealed
      nonwhite race (odds ratio [OR] = 3.09 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.52,
      6.44], P < 0.01); smaller AVM size (OR = 0.65 [95% CI = 0.19, 0.86], P < 0.01);
      and nonfrontal lobar (OR = 2.61 [95% CI = 1.2, 5.59], P = 0.02), basal ganglia
      (OR = 6.20 [95% CI = 1.52, 26.26], P = 0.01), or brainstem locations (OR = 4.41
      [95% CI = 1.38, 14.92], P = 0.01) as factors associated with hemorrhagic
      presentation of brain AVMs. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first
      study demonstrating that race/ethnicity is significantly associated with
      hemorrhagic presentation of AVMs. We also confirmed previous observations that
      AVM size and location are associated with hemorrhagic presentation.

PMID- 25841753
TI  - To Remove or Not to Remove, that Is the Question?

PMID- 25841754
TI  - Risk Factors for Graft Infection After Cranioplasty in Patients with Large
      Hemicranial Bony Defects.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify infection incidence and related risk factors in patients
      who underwent cranioplasty (CP) after unilateral decompressive craniectomy (DC).
      METHODS: CP after DC was performed in 45 patients from April 2011 through January
      2012. The covariates studied were compared with occurrence versus nonoccurrence
      of infection. Univariate analysis was performed, followed by a multivariate
      analysis and development of independent logistic regression models with
      significance of 5%. RESULTS: Wound infections were observed in 24% of cases.
      Patients treated with polymethyl methacrylate flaps had a 31% rate of infection
      compared with 12% in patients treated with autologous flaps, but the difference
      was not statistically significant (P = 0.279). Increased risk of infection was
      associated with performing CP during the same period of hospitalization as DC
      (45% vs. 8%; P = 0.006), recent systemic infection (53% vs. 10%; P = 0.003), a
      Glasgow Outcome Scale score lower than 4 (48% vs. none; P < 0.001), motor deficit
      (42% vs. 5%; P = 0.011), and lower levels of hemoglobin (P < 0.001). Another risk
      factor for infection was an interval between DC and CP of 29-84 days compared
      with >168 days (P = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of wound infection was
      high. Risk factors included motor deficits, Glasgow Outcome Scale score <4, lower
      hemoglobin levels, recent systemic infections, interval between DC and CP of 29
      84 days, and DC and CP performed during the same hospitalization. Performing CP
      during a different hospitalization may reduce the risk of graft infection because
      the hemoglobin level would be higher, and patients would be less dependent and
      free of recent infection.

PMID- 25841755
TI  - Anterior Transpetrosal Approach Combined with Partial Posterior Petrosectomy for
      Petroclival Meningiomas with Posterior Extension.
AB  - BACKGROUND: An anterior transpetrosal approach (ATPA) is suitable for treating
      upper petroclival lesions. However, the limit of the ATPA is reached when the
      tumor extends posterolaterally over the internal auditory canal (IAC) along the
      petrous edge. In such cases, ligation of the posterior part of the superior
      petrosal sinus (SPS) is necessary. To overcome this limitation, we combined the
      ATPA with a partial posterior petrosectomy in 8 patients who had petroclival
      meningiomas extending posterolaterally over the IAC. METHODS: We resected only
      the Trautmann triangle in addition to the Kawase triangle to secure the space to
      ligate the posterior portion of the SPS. Because the tympanic cavity and bony
      labyrinth of the ear were not exposed, we were able to preserve hearing function
      and lower the risk of cerebrospinal fluid leakage. Furthermore, this approach
      enables easy ligation of the SPS and the tentorium posterior to the tumor
      attachment. This combined technique also allows visualization of the petrosal
      vein, which is important for surgery of the posterior fossa. RESULTS: Total and
      near-total tumor removal was achieved in 6 patients (75%) with no permanent
      complications and no cerebrospinal fluid leakage. Postoperative hearing
      impairment was not found in any of the patients who underwent this surgery.
      CONCLUSIONS: The ATPA combined with partial posterior petrosectomy is an
      effective method for removal of complicated petroclival meningiomas that extend
      posterolaterally over the IAC along the petrous edge.

PMID- 25841756
TI  - The Road to Nonawaking Functional Mapping Combining High Gamma Activity with
      Corticocortical Evoked Potential.

PMID- 25841757
TI  - A Strange Case of Downward Displacement of a Deep Brain Stimulation Electrode 10
      Years Following Implantation: The Gliding Movement of Snakes Theory.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the best efforts to ensure stereotactic precision, deep brain
      stimulation (DBS) electrodes can wander from their intended position after
      implantation. We report a case of downward electrode migration 10 years following
      successful implantation in a patient with Parkinson disease. METHODS: A 53-year
      old man with Parkinson disease underwent bilateral implantation of DBS electrodes
      connected to a subclavicular 2-channel pulse generator. The generator was
      replaced 7 years later, and a computed tomography (CT) scan confirmed the correct
      position of both leads. The patient developed a gradual worsening affecting his
      right side 3 years later, 10 years after the original implantation. A CT scan
      revealed displacement of the left electrode inferiorly into the pons. The new CT
      scans and the CT scans obtained immediately after the implantation were merged
      within a stereotactic planning workstation (Brainlab). RESULTS: Comparing the CT
      scans, the distal end of the electrode was in the same position, the proximal tip
      being significantly more inferior. The size and configuration of the coiled
      portions of the electrode had not changed. At implantation, the length was 27.7
      cm; after 10 years, the length was 30.6 cm. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggests that
      the electrode had been stretched into its new position rather than pushed.
      Clinicians evaluating patients with a delayed worsening should be aware of this
      rare event.

PMID- 25841758
TI  - [Guide dedicated to general practitioner for the management of lower urinary
      tract symptoms related to benign prostatic hyperplasia].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To establish a guide dedicated to general practitioner for the
      diagnosis, the follow-up, and the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms
      (LUTS) related to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). METHOD: Guidelines already
      published for urologists were modified to make them relevant for general
      practitioners. The role of specialist's referral was defined. The whole content
      of the document was submitted to the formal consensus process in which urologists
      and general medicine teachers were involved. RESULTS: Initial assessment has
      several aims: making sure that LUTS are related to BPH, assessing bother related
      to LUTS, and checking for a possible complication. Initial assessment should
      include: medical history, physical examination with digital rectal examination,
      and urinalysis. Some other explorations such as frequency volume chart, serum PSA
      or creatinine, and ultrasonography of the urinary tract were found optional,
      meaning they are necessary only in specific situations. Referring to urologist is
      justified when LUTS might not be related to BPH (particularly when urgencies are
      predominant), or when a severe bladder outlet obstruction is suspected (severe
      symptoms, palpable bladder, post-voiding residual volume>100ml), or when a
      complication is assessed. Follow-up without treatment is justified for patients
      with no bothersome symptoms related to not complicated BPH. Several drugs are
      available for the treatment of bothersome symptoms related to BPH. Alpha-blockers
      and plants extracts might be offered as monotherapy. Five alpha reductase
      inhibitors might be offered to patients with LUTS related to a significant
      prostate hypertrophy (>40 ml) ; they might be given for a minimum duration of one
      year, alone or in association with alpha-blocker. The association of
      antimuscarinic and alpha-blocker might be used in patients with persistent
      storage LUTS in spite of alpha-blocker treatment. Phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors
      might be offered to patients with erectile dysfunction associated with LUTS
      related to BPH. In case of complicated BPH, or when medical treatment is not
      efficacious or not tolerated, a surgical option should be discussed. CONCLUSION:
      The male lower urinary tract symptom committee of the French Urological
      Association and general practitioner present the first guide for the management
      of LUTS related to BPH dedicated to general practitioner. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 5.

PMID- 25841759
TI  - [Penile prosthesis: Systematic review of infectious complications].
AB  - OBJECTIVES: In the absence of practice recommendations, it was realized a review
      of the literature to establish the epidemiological and bacteriological data,
      prevention of infection, therapeutic attitude according to the clinical situation
      as well as the future prospects about the infections of penile prostheses.
      METHODS: A systematic review of the scientific literature was realized by the
      base of Pubmed data (http://www.ncbi.nim.gov/pubmed/). The literature search was
      made between 1992 and 2014 using the keywords: penile prostheses, penile implant,
      infection. The article was developed according to the recommendations Preferred
      reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses 2009 (Prisma). RESULTS:
      The analysis of 10 meta-analysis and series published in various expert centers
      allowed us to synthesize the care recommended at present. Coagulasse negative
      staphylococcus were germs most frequently persons in charge but variations are
      secondarily observed in the current practices. The physiopathological knowledge
      (biofilm and risk factors) allowed to develop the antibiotic antibioprophylaxis,
      the precautionary measures of the infection of the operating site, the design of
      prostheses antimicrobial-impregnated or antibiotic-dipped and meticulous surgical
      technique ("Wash-Out", "No Touch"). In case of real infection, it was recommended
      in the absence of contra-indication to realize immediate salvage procedure
      allowing to set up a new penile prostheses, so avoiding the penile fibrosis.
      CONCLUSION: All these measures have induced a decrease of the infection of penile
      implants significantly as well in case of primary implantation as of surgical
      revision. The future perspectives aim at preventing the infection by inhibition
      of the formation of the biofilm and by a more effective action of antibiotics
      about germs which it contains; or to use devices intrapenile "spacer" when the
      immediate salvage procedure is not feasible to facilitate the next implantation.

PMID- 25841760
TI  - Post-mortem assessment of the short and long-term effects of the trophic factor
      neurturin in patients with alpha-synucleinopathies.
AB  - Substantial interest persists for developing neurotrophic factors to treat
      neurodegenerative diseases. At the same time, significant progress has been made
      in implementing gene therapy as a means to provide long-term expression of
      bioactive neurotrophic factors to targeted sites in the brain. Nonetheless, to
      date, no double-blind clinical trial has achieved positive results on its primary
      endpoint despite robust benefits achieved in animal models. A major issue with
      advancing the field is the paucity of information regarding the expression and
      effects of neurotrophic factors in human neurodegenerative brain, relative to the
      well-characterized responses in animal models. To help fill this information
      void, we examined post-mortem brain tissue from four patients with nigrostriatal
      degeneration who had participated in clinical trials testing gene delivery of
      neurturin to the putamen of patients. Each had died of unrelated causes ranging
      from 1.5-to-3-months (2 Parkinson's disease patients), to 4+-years (1 Parkinson's
      disease and 1 multiple-system atrophy-parkinsonian type patient) following gene
      therapy. Quantitative and immunohistochemical evaluation of neurturin, alpha
      synuclein, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and an oligodendroglia marker (Olig 2) were
      performed in each brain. Comparable volumes-of-expression of neurturin were seen
      in the putamen in all cases (~15-22%; mean=18.5%). TH-signal in the putamen was
      extremely sparse in the shorter-term cases. A 6-fold increase was seen in longer
      term cases, but was far less than achieved in animal models of nigrostriatal
      degeneration with similar or even far less NRTN exposure. Less than 1% of
      substantia nigra (SN) neurons stained for neurturin in the shorter-term cases. A
      15-fold increase was seen in the longer-term cases, but neurturin was still only
      detected in ~5% of nigral cells. These data provide unique insight into the
      functional status of advanced, chronic nigrostriatal degeneration in human brain
      and the response of these neurons to neurotrophic factor stimulation. They
      demonstrate mild but persistent expression of gene-mediated neurturin over 4
      years, with an apparent, time-related amplification of its transport and
      biological effects, albeit quite weak, and provide unique information to help
      plan and design future trials. 

PMID- 25841762
TI  - Fatty acid metabolism in the Plasmodium apicoplast: Drugs, doubts and knockouts.
AB  - The malaria parasite Plasmodium possesses a relict, non-photosynthetic plastid
      known as the apicoplast. The apicoplast is essential for parasite survival, and
      harbors several plant-like metabolic pathways including a type II fatty acid
      synthesis (FASII) pathway. The FASII pathway was discovered in 1998, and much of
      the early research in the field pursued it as a therapeutic drug target. These
      studies identified a range of compounds with activity against bloodstage
      parasites and led to the localization and characterization of most enzymes in the
      pathway. However, when genetic studies revealed FASII was dispensable in
      bloodstage parasites, it effectively discounted the pathway as a therapeutic drug
      target, and suggested these compounds instead interfered with other processes.
      Interest in FASII then shifted toward its disruption for malaria prophylaxis and
      vaccine development, with experiments in rodent malaria models identifying a
      crucial role for the pathway in the parasite's transition from the liver to the
      blood. Unexpectedly however, the human malaria parasite P. falciparum was
      recently found to differ from rodent models and require FASII for mosquito stage
      development. This requirement blocked the production of the FASII-deficient forms
      that might be used as a genetically attenuated parasite vaccine, suggesting the
      pathway was also unsuitable as a vaccine target. This review discusses how
      perception of FASII has changed over time, and presents key findings about each
      enzyme in the pathway to identify remaining questions and opportunities for
      malaria control. 

PMID- 25841763
TI  - Assessing Differences Between Ancestral Recombination Graphs.
AB  - Ancestral recombination graphs (ARGs) represent the history of portions of a
      genome with recombination. Attempts to infer ARGs have been hampered by the lack
      of an ARG comparison metric which could be used to measure how well inference
      succeeded. We propose a simple ARG comparison framework based on averaging
      standard tree comparison measures across either all sites or variable sites only.
      Using simulated data, we show that this framework, instantiated with an
      appropriate tree comparison measure, can distinguish better from worse inferences
      of an ARG. 

PMID- 25841764
TI  - Hemeoxygenase-1 maintains bone mass via attenuating a redox imbalance in
      osteoclast.
AB  - Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) has long been considered to be an endogenous antioxidant.
      However, the role of HO-1 is highly controversial in developing metabolic
      diseases. We hypothesized that HO-1 plays a role in maintaining bone mass by
      alleviating a redox imbalance. We investigated its role in bone remodeling. The
      absence of HO-1 in mice led to decreased bone mass with elevated activity and
      number of OCs, as well as higher serum levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS).
      HO-1, which is constitutively expressed at a high level in osteoclast (OC)
      precursors, was down-regulated during OC differentiation. HO-1 deficiency in bone
      marrow macrophages (BMM) in vitro resulted in increased numbers and activity of
      OCs due to enhanced receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL)
      signaling. This was associated with increased activation of nuclear factor-kappaB
      and of nuclear factor of activated T-cells, cytoplasmic 1 along with elevated
      levels of intracellular calcium and ROS. Decreased bone mass in the absence of HO
      1 appears to be mainly due to increased osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption
      resulting from elevated RANKL signaling in OCs. Our data highlight the potential
      role of HO-1 in maintaining bone mass by negatively regulating OCs. 

PMID- 25841765
TI  - Plasma membrane gp96 enhances invasion and metastatic potential of liver cancer
      via regulation of uPAR.
AB  - Targeted therapy is currently under intensive investigation due to the resistance
      of liver cancer to cytotoxic chemotherapies. Dissecting the molecular events that
      drive the progression of liver cancer and defining specific targets are urgently
      needed to develop efficient tailored therapies. Cell membrane gp96 (mgp96) has
      been implicated in tumor growth and malignancy. Here, we explored the functional
      and clinical relevance of mgp96 in liver cancer. We found that elevated mgp96
      abundance was associated with tumor metastasis and recurrence in patients with
      primary liver tumors. Decreased KDELR1 levels in hepatoma cells contribute to
      cell membrane translocation of the normally ER-resident gp96. Urokinase-type
      plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) was identified as a mgp96 client protein,
      and mgp96 stabilized uPAR protein. Our clinical results proved that elevated
      mgp96 abundance is positively correlated with uPAR expression levels in liver
      tumors. We further provided evidence that targeting mgp96 with siRNA or a
      specific mAb that blocked the mgp96-uPAR interaction led to inhibited cell
      growth, survival, and invasion in vitro, as well as the suppression of liver
      tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. mgp96 promotes liver cancer progression
      through increasing the protein stability and signaling of uPAR, and may be a new
      promising target for suppressing uPAR-mediated tumor growth and metastasis in
      liver cancer. 

PMID- 25841766
TI  - Targeting Nrf2 in healthy and malignant ovarian epithelial cells: Protection
      versus promotion.
AB  - Risk factors indicate the importance of oxidative stress during ovarian
      carcinogenesis. To tolerate oxidative stress, cells activate the transcription
      factor Nrf2 (Nfe2l2), the master regulator of antioxidant and cytoprotective
      genes. Indeed, for most cancers, hyperactivity of Nrf2 is observed, and siRNA
      studies assigned Nrf2 as therapeutic target. However, the cancer-protective role
      of Nrf2 in healthy cells highlights the requirement for an adequate therapeutic
      window. We engineered artificial transcription factors to assess the role of Nrf2
      in healthy (OSE-C2) and malignant ovarian cells (A2780). Successful NRF2 up- and
      downregulation correlated with decreased, respectively increased, sensitivity
      toward oxidative stress. Inhibition of NRF2 reduced the colony forming potential
      to the same extent in wild-type and BRCA1 knockdown A2780 cells. Only in BRCA1
      knockdown A2780 cells, the effect of Nrf2 inhibition could be enhanced when
      combined with PARP inhibitors. Therefore, we propose that this combination
      therapy of PARP inhibitors and Nrf2 inhibition can further improve treatment
      efficacy specifically in BRCA1 mutant cancer cells without acquiring the side
      effects associated with previously studied Nrf2 inhibition combinations with
      either chemotherapy or radiation. Our findings stress the dual role of Nrf2 in
      carcinogenesis, while offering approaches to exploit Nrf2 as a potent therapeutic
      target in ovarian cancer. 

PMID- 25841767
TI  - [Posttraumatic enophthalmos correction by bone graft: Why the unpredictable
      results?].
AB  - PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Posttraumatic enophthalmos cause complex cosmetic problems
      to fix. In order to get better results, we wanted to calculate the volume of
      parietal bone graft needed to be put in place, know where to place it in orbit
      and study soft tissues' participation. PATIENTS AND METHOD: In a retrospective
      study, we have calculated on scanner the volume of bone and soft tissue as well
      as the volume and the location of the graft. We have compared, between two groups
      ("good result" and "insufficient result"), graft volumes, taking into account
      differences in bone's volume between the healthy and the traumatized orbit. A
      comparison of the locations of the graft was also made. We were trying to find
      out if these factors were involved in the quality of the result. RESULTS: Twenty
      nine surgeries on 24 patients were analyzed. The average bone's volume of an
      orbit with enophthalmos was 24.76 cm(3) for 17.12 cm(3) of soft tissue. Retro
      lens distance was the most reliable measurement method of enophthalmos (P=0.001).
      There was a trend to a more substantial over-correction in the group "good
      result". A significant increase (P=0.0008) of soft tissue volumes in the
      traumatized orbit was found. CONCLUSION: This last result is surprising. Many
      authors believe that there is a scar retraction of soft tissues. But Kronish et
      al. showed an increase of the fat density and connective tissue. This, together
      with the assumption of a weathering of the ligament suspension of the globe, may
      affect our aesthetic results. MRI, ultrasound and anatomopathological studies
      would allow a better understanding of the fat, muscle and ligament
      pathophysiologies of an orbit with enophthalmos.

PMID- 25841768
TI  - [Comments on article "Scalp flap pedicled on posterior auricular artery.
      Anatomical study and clinical application"].
AB  - The authors comment on the reliability of the scalp flap pedicled on auricular
      posterior artery, arguing with the conclusions of anatomic studies published in
      this issue and their little experience in reconstructing scalp defects by local
      flaps. 

PMID- 25841769
TI  - Management of the spastic wrist and hand in cerebral palsy.
AB  - Research from the last 5 years on the pathophysiology and treatment of upper
      extremity sequelae of cerebral palsy (CP) is presented. The development of new
      treatments of CP-affected limbs, utilizing the brain's inherent neuroplasticity,
      remains an area of promising and active research. Functional magnetic resonance
      imaging scans have evaluated the role of neuroplasticity in adapting to the
      initial central nervous system insult. Children with CP appear to have greater
      recruitment of the ipsilateral brain for motor and sensory functions of the
      affected upper limb. Studies have also shown that constraint-induced movement
      therapy results in localized increase in gray matter volume of the sensorimotor
      cortex contralateral to the affected arm targeted during rehabilitation. Recent
      therapy interventions have emphasized the role of home therapy programs, the
      transient effects of splinting, and the promise of constraint-induced movement
      therapy and bimanual hand training. The use of motion laboratory analysis to
      characterize the movement pattern disturbances in children with CP continues to
      expand. Classification systems for CP upper limb continue to expand and improve
      their reliability, including use of the House Classification, the Manual Ability
      Classification System, and the Shriner's Hospital Upper Extremity Evaluation.
      Surgical outcomes have greater patients' satisfaction when they address
      functional limitations, also in addition to aesthetics, which may improve
      patients' self-esteem. Surgical techniques for elbow, wrist, fingers, and thumb
      continue to be refined. Research into each of these areas continues to expand our
      understanding of the nervous system insults that cause CP, how they may be
      modified, and how hand surgeons can continue to serve patients by improving their
      upper limb function and aesthetics. 

PMID- 25841770
TI  - Eliciting health care priorities in developing countries: experimental evidence
      from Guatemala.
AB  - Although some methods for eliciting preferences to assist participatory priority
      setting in health care in developed countries are available, the same is not true
      for poor communities in developing countries whose preferences are neglected in
      health policy making. Existing methods grounded on self-interested, monetary
      valuations that may be inappropriate for developing country settings where
      community care is provided through 'social allocation' mechanisms. This paper
      proposes and examines an alternative methodology for eliciting preferences for
      health care programmes specifically catered for rural and less literate
      populations but which is still applicable in urban communities. Specifically, the
      method simulates a realistic collective budget allocation experiment, to be
      implemented in both rural and urban communities in Guatemala. We report evidence
      revealing that participatory budget-like experiments are incentive compatible
      mechanisms suitable for revealing collective preferences, while simultaneously
      having the advantage of involving communities in health care reform processes.

PMID- 25841771
TI  - Cardiovascular disease and impoverishment averted due to a salt reduction policy
      in South Africa: an extended cost-effectiveness analysis.
AB  - The South African Government recently set targets to reduce cardiovascular
      disease (CVD) by lowering salt consumption. We conducted an extended cost
      effectiveness analysis (ECEA) to model the potential health and economic impacts
      of this salt policy. We used surveys and epidemiologic studies to estimate
      reductions in CVD resulting from lower salt intake. We calculated the average out
      of-pocket (OOP) cost of CVD care, using facility fee schedules and drug prices.
      We estimated the reduction in OOP expenditures and government subsidies due to
      the policy. We estimated public and private sector costs of policy
      implementation. We estimated financial risk protection (FRP) from the policy as
      (1) cases of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) averted or (2) cases of
      poverty averted. We also performed a sensitivity analysis. We found that the salt
      policy could reduce CVD deaths by 11%, with similar health gains across income
      quintiles. The policy could save households US$ 4.06 million (2012) in OOP
      expenditures (US$ 0.29 per capita) and save the government US$ 51.25 million in
      healthcare subsidies (US$ 2.52 per capita) each year. The cost to the government
      would be only US$ 0.01 per capita; hence, the policy would be cost saving. If the
      private sector food reformulation costs were passed on to consumers, food
      expenditures would increase by <0.2% across all income quintiles. Preventing CVD
      could avert 2400 cases of CHE or 2000 cases of poverty yearly. Our results were
      sensitive to baseline CVD mortality rates and the cost of treatment. We conclude
      that, in addition to health gains, population salt reduction can have positive
      economic impacts-substantially reducing OOP expenditures and providing FRP,
      particularly for the middle class. The policy could also provide large government
      savings on health care.

PMID- 25841772
TI  - Off-pump Bilateral Internal Thoracic Artery Grafting.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The long-term benefit of bilateral internal thoracic grafts (BITA) is
      well established. BITA grafting is often avoided in diabetic, female, obese,
      elderly and other high-risk patients because of concerns for deep sternal wound
      infection. The objective of this study is to analyse early results of our BITA
      grafting and to establish the safety of BITA use in all patients. METHODS: All
      cases of isolated consecutive unselected CABG were included in this retrospective
      study. BITA were used in-situ - one was used to graft left anterior descending
      artery and the other was used as inflow for a composite graft with radial artery.
      Dual inflow using in situ BITA grafting allows easy bailout by using an
      additional vein graft. RESULTS: BITA was used in 574 patients out of 602
      (95.35%). Incidence of early death was 1.33% (8/602), stroke 0.5% (3/602),
      reoperation for bleeding 0.17% (1/602). Deep sternal wound infection was not seen
      in any patient but nine patients (1.5%) had superficial wound infection which
      healed with dressing. CONCLUSION: We have used BITA in 95% of our unselected,
      consecutive off-pump CABG patients without any major wound complications. Our
      limited experience has shown off-pump CABG using BITA grafting can be safely
      adopted routinely with excellent early result.

PMID- 25841773
TI  - Pulse-echo method cannot measure wave attenuation accurately.
AB  - A number of techniques with different degrees of accuracies have been devised for
      the measurement of acoustic wave attenuation in solids and liquids. Still, a wide
      variation is observed in the attenuation values in different materials reported
      in the literature. Present numerical study based on a 'propagating wave' model
      analysis clearly shows that the attenuation constant obtained from exponential
      fitting of the echo heights in pulse-echo method differs from the exact value of
      intrinsic attenuation in the medium, even in the ideal situation of plane wave
      propagation without diffraction, dispersion or scattering. 

PMID- 25841774
TI  - Highly sensitive detection of cancer antigen human epidermal growth factor
      receptor 2 using novel chicken egg yolk immunoglobulin.
AB  - Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is an important biomarker that
      plays a crucial role in therapeutic decision-making for breast cancer patients.
      Ensuring the accuracy and reproducibility of HER2 assays by enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay (ELISA), western blot and immunohistochemistry (IHC) requires
      high sensitive and specific antibodies. Immunoglobulin Y (IgY) is a kind of avian
      antibody usually isolated from chicken egg yolks. Generation and use of IgY is of
      increasing interest in a wide variety of applications within the life sciences.
      In this study, IgY antibodies against two different truncated proteins of the
      extracellular domain (ECD) of human HER2 were produced, their sensitivity and
      specificity were evaluated. Specific IgYs were produced by hens immunized with
      the ECD proteins of human HER2 in long-standing immunization response and were
      isolated from yolks with a purity of 90% by water dilution, salt precipitations
      and ultrafiltration. The anti-HER2 IgYs were analytically validated for
      specificity by ELISA, western blot, immunocytochemistry and IHC. The IgYs bound
      desired targets in cells and fixed tissues and showed high affinity to HER2. The
      results demonstrated the viability of detection of HER2 with IgYs and showed
      promise for the using of IgYs in strict clinical validation. 

PMID- 25841775
TI  - [Protection of pregnancy in the Department of Health La Fe, Valencia, 2010 to
      2013].

PMID- 25841776
TI  - Essential role of Nrf2 in the protective effect of lipoic acid against
      lipoapoptosis in hepatocytes.
AB  - Excess of saturated free fatty acids, such as palmitic acid (PA), in hepatocytes
      has been implicated in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. alpha-Lipoic acid (LA)
      is an antioxidant that protects against oxidative stress conditions. We have
      investigated the effects of LA in the early activation of oxidative and
      endoplasmic reticulum stress, lipid accumulation, and Nrf2-mediated antioxidant
      defenses in hepatocytes treated with PA or in rats fed a high-fat diet. In
      primary human hepatocytes, a lipotoxic concentration of PA triggered endoplasmic
      reticulum stress, induced the apoptotic transcription factor CHOP, and increased
      the percentage of apoptotic cells. Cotreatment with LA prevented these effects.
      Similar results were found in mouse hepatocytes in which LA attenuated PA
      mediated activation of caspase 3 and reduced lipid accumulation by decreasing PA
      uptake and increasing fatty acid oxidation and lipophagy, thereby preventing
      lipoapoptosis. Moreover, LA augmented the proliferation capacity of hepatocytes
      after PA challenge. Antioxidant effects of LA ameliorated reactive oxygen species
      production and endoplasmic reticulum stress and protected against mitochondrial
      apoptosis in hepatocytes treated with PA. Cotreatment with PA and LA induced an
      early nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and activated antioxidant enzymes, whereas
      reduction of Nrf2 by siRNA abolished the benefit of LA on PA-induced
      lipoapoptosis. Importantly, posttreatment with LA reversed the established damage
      induced by PA in hepatocytes, as well as preventing obesity-induced oxidative
      stress and lipoapoptosis in rat liver. In conclusion, our work has revealed that
      in hepatocytes, Nrf2 is an essential early player in the rescue of oxidative
      stress by LA leading to protection against PA-mediated lipoapoptosis. 

PMID- 25841777
TI  - Nitrite-mediated renal vasodilatation is increased during ischemic conditions via
      cGMP-independent signaling.
AB  - The kidney is vulnerable to hypoxia, and substantial efforts have been made to
      ameliorate renal ischemic injury secondary to pathological conditions.
      Stimulation of the nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway is associated with renal
      and cardiovascular protection in disease models, but less is known about the
      vascular effects during renal ischemia. This study was aimed at investigating the
      vascular effects of nitrite in the kidney during normoxic and ischemic
      conditions. Using a multiwire myograph system, we assessed nitrite-mediated
      relaxation (10(-9)-10(-4)mol/L) in isolated and preconstricted renal interlobar
      arteries from C57BL/6 mice under normal conditions (pO2 13kPa; pH 7.4) and with
      low oxygen tension and low pH to mimic ischemia (pO2 3kPa; pH 6.6). Xanthine
      oxidoreductase expression was analyzed by quantitative PCR, and production of
      reactive nitrogen species was measured by DAF-FM DA fluorescence. During normoxia
      significant vasodilatation (15+/-3%) was observed only at the highest
      concentration of nitrite, which was dependent on NO-sGC-cGMP signaling. The
      vasodilatory responses to nitrite were greatly sensitized and enhanced during
      hypoxia with low pH, demonstrating significant dilatation (11+/-1%) already in
      the physiological range (10(-8)mol/L), with a maximum response of 27+/-2% at 10(
      4) mol/L. In contrast to normoxia, and to that observed with a classical NO donor
      (DEA NONOate), this sensitization was independent of sGC-cGMP signaling.
      Moreover, inhibition of various enzymatic systems reported to reduce nitrite in
      other vascular beds, i.e., aldehyde oxidase (raloxifene), aldehyde dehydrogenase
      (cyanamide), and NO synthase (L-NAME), had no effect on the nitrite response.
      However, inhibition of xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR; febuxostat or allopurinol)
      abolished the sensitized response to nitrite during hypoxia and acidosis. In
      conclusion, in contrast to normoxia, nitrite exerted potent vasorelaxation during
      ischemic conditions already at physiological concentrations. This effect was
      dependent on functional XOR but independent of classical downstream signaling by
      sGC-cGMP. 

PMID- 25841778
TI  - COX-2 is involved in vascular oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction of
      renal interlobar arteries from obese Zucker rats.
AB  - Obesity is related to vascular dysfunction through inflammation and oxidative
      stress and it has been identified as a risk factor for chronic renal disease. In
      the present study, we assessed the specific relationships among reactive oxygen
      species (ROS), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), and endothelial dysfunction in renal
      interlobar arteries from a genetic model of obesity/insulin resistance, the obese
      Zucker rats (OZR). Relaxations to acetylcholine (ACh) were significantly reduced
      in renal arteries from OZR compared to their counterpart, the lean Zucker rat
      (LZR), suggesting endothelial dysfunction. Blockade of COX with indomethacin and
      with the selective blocker of COX-2 restored the relaxations to ACh in obese
      rats. Selective blockade of the TXA2/PGH2 (TP) receptor enhanced ACh relaxations
      only in OZR, while inhibition of the prostacyclin (PGI2) receptor (IP) enhanced
      basal tone and inhibited ACh vasodilator responses only in LZR. Basal production
      of superoxide was increased in arteries of OZR and involved NADPH and xanthine
      oxidase activation and NOS uncoupling. Under conditions of NOS blockade, ACh
      induced vasoconstriction and increased ROS generation that were augmented in
      arteries from OZR and blunted by COX-2 inhibition and by the ROS scavenger
      tempol. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) evoked both endothelium- and vascular smooth
      muscle (VSM)-dependent contractions, as well as ROS generation that was reduced
      by COX-2 inhibition. In addition, COX-2 expression was enhanced in both VSM and
      endothelium of renal arteries from OZR. These results suggest that increased COX
      2-dependent vasoconstriction contributes to renal endothelial dysfunction through
      enhanced (ROS) generation in obesity. COX-2 activity is in turn upregulated by
      ROS. 

PMID- 25841779
TI  - Transforming growth factor beta-interacting factor-induced malignant progression
      of hepatocellular carcinoma cells depends on superoxide production from Nox4.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most deadly malignancies worldwide
      because of its high recurrence rate, high metastatic potential, and resistance to
      drugs. Elucidation of the mechanisms underlying malignancy in HCC is needed to
      improve diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis. Previously, we showed that
      transforming growth factor beta-interacting factor (TGIF) antagonizes arsenic
      trioxide-induced apoptosis of HepG2 cells and is associated with poor prognosis
      and progression of urothelial carcinoma in patients after radical
      nephroureterectomy. To determine whether TGIF plays a role in HCC tumorigenesis,
      we compared the expression of TGIF, its downstream targets, and reactive oxygen
      species levels between HCC HepG2 cells and the more invasive SK-Hep1 cells.
      Superoxide production, phosphorylation of c-Src(Y416) and AKT(S473), and
      expression of TGIF and NADPH oxidase (Nox) were higher in invasive SK-Hep1 cells
      than in HepG2 cells. TGIF-overexpressing HepG2 xenograft tumors markedly promoted
      tumor growth and metastasis to the lungs. Overexpression of TGIF in HepG2 cells
      increased superoxide production from Nox4, matrix metalloproteinase expression,
      invadopodia formation, and cellular migration/invasion ability. Conversely,
      knockdown of TGIF in SK-Hep1 cells attenuated these processes. Using gene
      knockdown and pharmacological inhibitors, we demonstrate that c-Src/AKT is the
      upstream signaling that regulates TGIF-induced Nox4 activation and subsequent
      superoxide production. Taken together, our results implicate TGIF as a potential
      biomarker for prognosis and target for clinical therapy in patients with advanced
      HCC. 

PMID- 25841780
TI  - Sod1 gene ablation in adult mice leads to physiological changes at the
      neuromuscular junction similar to changes that occur in old wild-type mice.
AB  - Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are believed to be important mediators of muscle
      atrophy and weakness in aging and many degenerative conditions. However, the
      mechanisms and physiological processes specifically affected by elevated ROS in
      neuromuscular units that contribute to muscle weakness during aging are not well
      defined. Here we investigate the effects of chronic oxidative stress on
      neurotransmission and excitation-contraction (EC) coupling mechanisms in the
      levator auris longus (LAL) muscle from young (4-8 months) and old (22-28 months)
      wild-type mice and young adult Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase 1 knockout (Sod1(-/-))
      mice. The frequency of spontaneous neurotransmitter release and the amplitude of
      evoked neurotransmitter release in young Sod1(-/-) and old wild-type LAL
      neuromuscular junctions were significantly reduced from the young wild-type
      values, and those declines were mirrored by decreases in synaptic vesicle pool
      size. Presynaptic cytosolic calcium concentration and mitochondrial calcium
      uptake amplitudes showed substantial increases in stimulated young Sod1(-/-) and
      old axon terminals. Surprisingly, LAL muscle fibers from old mice showed a
      greater excitability than fibers from either young wild-type or young Sod1(-/-)
      LAL. Both evoked excitatory junction potential (EJP) and spontaneous mini EJP
      amplitudes were considerably higher in LAL muscles from old mice than in fibers
      from young Sod1(-/-) LAL muscle. Despite a greater excitability, sarcoplasmic
      calcium influx in both old wild-type and young Sod1(-/-) LAL muscle fibers was
      significantly less. Sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium levels were also reduced in
      both old wild-type and young Sod1(-/-) mice, but the difference was not
      statistically significant in muscle fibers from old wild-type mice. The protein
      ratio of triad calcium channels RyR1/DHPR was not different in all groups.
      However, fibers from both young Sod1(-/-) and old mice had substantially elevated
      levels of protein carbonylation and S-nitrosylation modifications. Overall, our
      results suggest that young Sod1(-/-) recapitulate many neuromuscular and muscle
      fiber changes seen in old mice. We also conclude that muscle weakness in old mice
      might in part be driven by ROS-mediated EC uncoupling, while both EC uncoupling
      and reduced neurotransmitter release contribute to muscle weakness in Sod1(-/-)
      mice. 

PMID- 25841781
TI  - Peroxynitrite-mediated glyoxalase I epigenetic inhibition drives apoptosis in
      airway epithelial cells exposed to crystalline silica via a novel mechanism
      involving argpyrimidine-modified Hsp70, JNK, and NF-kappaB.
AB  - Glyoxalase I (Glo1) is a cellular defense enzyme involved in the detoxification
      of methylglyoxal (MG), a cytotoxic by-product of glycolysis, and MG-derived
      advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Argpyrimidine (AP), one of the major AGEs
      coming from MG modification of protein arginines, is a proapoptotic agent.
      Crystalline silica is a well-known occupational health hazard, responsible for a
      relevant number of pulmonary diseases. Exposure of cells to crystalline silica
      results in a number of complex biological responses, including apoptosis. The
      present study was aimed at investigating whether, and through which mechanism,
      Glo1 was involved in Min-U-Sil 5 crystalline silica-induced apoptosis. Apoptosis,
      by TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling assay, and transcript and protein levels
      or enzymatic activity, by quantitative real-time PCR, Western blot, and
      spectrophotometric methods, respectively, were evaluated in human bronchial BEAS
      2B cells exposed or not (control) to crystalline silica and also in experiments
      with appropriate inhibitors. Reactive oxygen species were evaluated by coumarin-7
      boronic acid or Amplex red hydrogen peroxide/peroxidase methods for peroxynitrite
      (ONOO(-)) or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) measurements, respectively. Our results
      showed that Min-U-Sil 5 crystalline silica induced a dramatic ONOO(-)-mediated
      inhibition of Glo1, leading to AP-modified Hsp70 protein accumulation that, in a
      mechanism involving JNK and NF-kappaB, triggered an apoptotic mitochondrial
      pathway. Inhibition of Glo1 occurred at both functional and transcriptional
      levels, the latter occurring via ERK1/2 MAPK and miRNA 101 involvement. Taken
      together, our data demonstrate that Glo1 is involved in the Min-U-Sil 5
      crystalline silica-induced BEAS-2B cell mitochondrial apoptotic pathway via a
      novel mechanism involving Hsp70, JNK, and NF-kappaB. Because maintenance of an
      intact respiratory epithelium is a critically important determinant of normal
      respiratory function, the knowledge of the mechanisms underlying its disruption
      may provide insight into the genesis, and possibly the prevention, of a number of
      pathological conditions commonly occurring in silica dust occupational exposure. 

PMID- 25841782
TI  - Zinc and calcium modulate mitochondrial redox state and morphofunctional
      integrity.
AB  - Zinc and calcium have highly interwoven functions that are essential for cellular
      homeostasis. Here we first present a novel real-time flow cytometric technique to
      measure mitochondrial redox state and show it is modulated by zinc and calcium,
      individually and combined. We then assess the interactions of zinc and calcium on
      mitochondrial H2O2 production, membrane potential (DeltaPsim), morphological
      status, oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), complex I activity, and structural
      integrity. Whereas zinc at low doses and both cations at high doses individually
      and combined promoted H2O2 production, the two cations individually did not alter
      mitochondrial redox state. However, when combined at low and high doses the two
      cations synergistically suppressed and promoted, respectively, mitochondrial
      shift to a more oxidized state. Surprisingly, the antioxidants vitamin E and N
      acetylcysteine showed pro-oxidant activity at low doses, whereas at high
      antioxidant doses NAC inhibited OXPHOS and dyscoupled mitochondria. Individually,
      zinc was more potent than calcium in inhibiting OXPHOS, whereas calcium more
      potently dissipated the DeltaPsim and altered mitochondrial volume and
      ultrastructure. The two cations synergistically inhibited OXPHOS but
      antagonistically dissipated DeltaPsim and altered mitochondrial volume and
      morphology. Overall, our study highlights the importance of zinc and calcium in
      mitochondrial redox regulation and functional integrity. Importantly, we
      uncovered previously unrecognized bidirectional interactions of zinc and calcium
      that reveal distinctive foci for modulating mitochondrial function in normal and
      disease states because they are potentially protective or damaging depending on
      conditions. 

PMID- 25841783
TI  - Mitoferrin modulates iron toxicity in a Drosophila model of Friedreich's ataxia.
AB  - Friedreich's ataxia is the most important recessive ataxia in the Caucasian
      population. Loss of frataxin expression affects the production of iron-sulfur
      clusters and, therefore, mitochondrial energy production. One of the pathological
      consequences is an increase of iron transport into the mitochondrial compartment
      leading to a toxic accumulation of reactive iron. However, the mechanism
      underlying this inappropriate mitochondrial iron accumulation is still unknown.
      Control and frataxin-deficient flies were fed with an iron diet in order to mimic
      an iron overload and used to assess various cellular as well as mitochondrial
      functions. We showed that frataxin-deficient flies were hypersensitive toward
      dietary iron and developed an iron-dependent decay of mitochondrial functions. In
      the fly model exhibiting only partial frataxin loss, we demonstrated that the
      inability to activate ferritin translation and the enhancement of mitochondrial
      iron uptake via mitoferrin upregulation were likely the key molecular events
      behind the iron-induced phenotype. Both defects were observed during the normal
      process of aging, confirming their importance in the progression of the
      pathology. In an effort to further assess the importance of these mechanisms, we
      carried out genetic interaction studies. We showed that mitoferrin downregulation
      improved many of the frataxin-deficient conditions, including nervous system
      degeneration, whereas mitoferrin overexpression exacerbated most of them. Taken
      together, this study demonstrates the crucial role of mitoferrin dysfunction in
      the etiology of Friedreich's ataxia and provides evidence that impairment of
      mitochondrial iron transport could be an effective treatment of the disease.

PMID- 25841784
TI  - Influence of vitamin C and vitamin E on redox signaling: Implications for
      exercise adaptations.
AB  - The exogenous antioxidants vitamin C (ascorbate) and vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)
      often blunt favorable cell signaling responses to exercise, suggesting that redox
      signaling contributes to exercise adaptations. Current theories posit that this
      antioxidant paradigm interferes with redox signaling by attenuating exercise
      induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS)
      generation. The well-documented in vitro antioxidant actions of ascorbate and
      alpha-tocopherol and characterization of the type and source of the ROS/RNS
      produced during exercise theoretically enable identification of redox-dependent
      mechanisms responsible for the blunting of favorable cell signaling responses to
      exercise. This review aimed to apply this reasoning to determine how the
      aforementioned antioxidants might attenuate exercise-induced ROS/RNS production.
      The principal outcomes of this analysis are (1) neither antioxidant is likely to
      attenuate nitric oxide signaling either directly (reaction with nitric oxide) or
      indirectly (reaction with derivatives, e.g., peroxynitrite); (2) neither
      antioxidant reacts appreciably with hydrogen peroxide, a key effector of redox
      signaling; (3) ascorbate but not alpha-tocopherol has the capacity to attenuate
      exercise-induced superoxide generation; and (4) alternate mechanisms, namely pro
      oxidant side reactions and/or reduction of bioactive oxidized macromolecule
      adducts, are unlikely to interfere with exercise-induced redox signaling. Out of
      all the possibilities considered, ascorbate-mediated suppression of superoxide
      generation with attendant implications for hydrogen peroxide signaling is
      arguably the most cogent explanation for blunting of favorable cell signaling
      responses to exercise. However, this mechanism is dependent on ascorbate
      accumulating at sites rich in NADPH oxidases, principal contributors to
      contraction-mediated superoxide generation, and outcompeting nitric oxide and
      superoxide dismutase isoforms. The major conclusions of this review are: (1)
      direct evidence for interference of ascorbate and alpha-tocopherol with exercise
      induced ROS/RNS production is lacking; (2) theoretical analysis reveals that both
      antioxidants are unlikely to have a major impact on exercise-induced redox
      signaling; and (3) it is worth considering alternate redox-independent
      mechanisms. 

PMID- 25841785
TI  - Reactivity of selenium-containing compounds with myeloperoxidase-derived
      chlorinating oxidants: Second-order rate constants and implications for
      biological damage.
AB  - Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and N-chloramines are produced by myeloperoxidase (MPO)
      as part of the immune response to destroy invading pathogens. However, MPO also
      plays a detrimental role in inflammatory pathologies, including atherosclerosis,
      as inappropriate production of oxidants, including HOCl and N-chloramines, causes
      damage to host tissue. Low molecular mass thiol compounds, including glutathione
      (GSH) and methionine (Met), have demonstrated efficacy in scavenging MPO-derived
      oxidants, which prevents oxidative damage in vitro and ex vivo. Selenium species
      typically have greater reactivity toward oxidants compared to the analogous
      sulfur compounds, and are known to be efficient scavengers of HOCl and other
      hypohalous acids produced by MPO. In this study, we examined the efficacy of a
      number of sulfur and selenium compounds to scavenge a range of biologically
      relevant N-chloramines and oxidants produced by both isolated MPO and activated
      neutrophils and characterized the resulting selenium-derived oxidation products
      in each case. A dose-dependent decrease in the concentration of each N-chloramine
      was observed on addition of the sulfur compounds (cysteine, methionine) and
      selenium compounds (selenomethionine, methylselenocysteine, 1,4-anhydro-4-seleno
      L-talitol, 1,5-anhydro-5-selenogulitol) studied. In general, selenomethionine was
      the most reactive with N-chloramines (k2 0.8-3.4*10(3)M(-1) s(-1)) with 1,5
      anhydro-5-selenogulitol and 1,4-anhydro-4-seleno-L-talitol (k2 1.1-6.8*10(2)M(-1)
      s(-1)) showing lower reactivity. This resulted in the formation of the respective
      selenoxides as the primary oxidation products. The selenium compounds
      demonstrated greater ability to remove protein N-chloramines compared to the
      analogous sulfur compounds. These reactions may have implications for preventing
      cellular damage in vivo, particularly under chronic inflammatory conditions. 

PMID- 25841786
TI  - Long-term effects of prenatal stress and diazepam on D2 receptor expression in
      the nucleus accumbens of adult rats.
AB  - Early life stress during the gestational period alters specific neuronal circuits
      leading to behavioral alterations later in life. In the present study, we
      assessed the effects of prenatal stress and repeated benzodiazepine
      administration on dopamine receptor 2 expression in the nucleus accumbens of
      adult offspring. Our results show elevated Drd2 expression levels in the nucleus
      accumbens (NAcc) of prenatally stressed rats compared to control subjects, while
      repeated diazepam administration in adulthood down-regulated Drd2 expression and
      prevented the effect of prenatal stress. These observations suggest that prenatal
      stress may induce permanent alterations in the corticolimbic pathway implicated
      in drug-seeking behavior. 

PMID- 25841787
TI  - 5-HT1B and other related serotonergic proteins are altered in APPswe mutation.
AB  - Serotonergic dysfunction is implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In addition,
      reductions in brain of both monoamine synthesis and release have been reported.
      Serotonin 1B receptors (5-HT1B), along with serotonin transporter (SERT) are
      among the regulators of extracellular 5-HT levels. We investigated the effect of
      the familial AD APP (Amyloid precursor protein) K670N/M671L double mutation, APP
      Swedish mutation (APPswe), on the expression of 5-HT1B, SERT, MAOA, p11 and 5-HT
      and its metabolite 5-HIAA in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cell line stably
      transfected with APPswe mutation. In addition, hippocampal expressions of 5-HT1B
      and SERT were assessed in wild type and transgenic mice expressing APPswe
      mutation (Tg2576) at different age groups. We found a reduction of 5-HT1B as well
      as SERT in both APPswe in vitro and ex vivo. P11 and 5HT were also reduced,
      whereas 5HT turnover and MAOA were increased. Our results indicate that APPswe
      induced decreased 5-HT1B expression and 5-HT release, as well as increased MAOA
      activity and 5-HT breakdown. Further studies to explore the detailed mechanism
      behind reduced 5-HT1B and SERT in AD and their clinical implications are needed. 

PMID- 25841788
TI  - A bout of treadmill exercise increases matrix metalloproteinase-9 activity in the
      rat hippocampus.
AB  - Regular exercise induces a variety of structural changes in the hippocampus of
      rodents, although the underlying mechanisms remain obscure. Particularly, the
      possible involvement of molecules regulating the remodeling of the extracellular
      matrix (ECM) is under-studied. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), an
      extracellular protease, plays a critical role in regulating neuronal plasticity
      by remodeling the ECM in the brain. The current study used gel zymography to
      examine for changes in the proteolytic activity of MMP-9 in the rat hippocampus
      following a bout of treadmill exercise at mild (10m/min) or moderate (25m/min)
      intensity. We found that MMP-9 activity was significantly increased at 12h after
      mild treadmill exercise. However, the activity of MMP-2 and the expression level
      of the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) were unchanged following
      exercise. These findings suggest that exercise triggers MMP-9 activation in the
      hippocampus, which might be a new molecular mechanism of exercise-induced
      hippocampal plasticity. 

PMID- 25841789
TI  - Hyperactivity and disruption of prepulse inhibition induced by NMDA infusion of
      the rat ventral hippocampus: Comparison of uni- and bilateral stimulation.
AB  - Numerous studies have demonstrated that NMDA stimulation of the rat ventral
      hippocampus induces hyperactivity and disruption of prepulse inhibition (PPI) and
      some reports have provided insights into the different neural substrates of these
      two effects. Bilateral or unilateral NMDA stimulation have been applied in these
      studies, but have never been compared directly. Thus, results of these studies
      can be related to each other only with reservations. Therefore - given the
      substantial interest in the behavioral effects of hippocampal overactivity and
      the neural substrates underlying PPI with respect to schizophrenia - the present
      experiments compared hyperactivity and PPI disruption following uni- or bilateral
      NMDA stimulation of the ventral hippocampus. Both bilateral and unilateral
      infusion of NMDA (0.5MUg/0.5MUl/side) induced hyperactivity in the open field and
      disrupted PPI. The major difference noted between unilateral and bilateral
      infusions was that the effects of bilateral infusions were stronger than those of
      the unilateral infusions. 

PMID- 25841790
TI  - Irisin: A myokine with locomotor activity.
AB  - The mechanisms underlying alterations in brain functions in response to physical
      exercise are not fully understood. The present study examined the central effect
      of irisin, a 112 amino acid polypeptide hormone secreted from the skeletal muscle
      after exercise, on the locomotion in rats. Central administration of irisin
      significantly increased the locomotion. Relative to control animals treated with
      IgG Fc peptide, rats receiving irisin demonstrated a marked increase in total
      travel distance, ambulatory counts and time, and vertical counts and time. These
      changes were associated with a significant decrease in resting time. Central
      treatment of irisin also induced significant increases in oxygen consumption,
      carbon dioxide production and heat production, indicating an increase in
      metabolic activity. Our study suggests that physical activity may signal to the
      central nervous system to coordinate locomotion with metabolic activity via
      irisin. 

PMID- 25841791
TI  - The effect of carmustine on Bergmann cells of the cerebellum.
AB  - Administration of the alkylating agent carmustine to pregnant mice induces
      hyperlocomotion in the offspring. Motor performance was evaluated by the rotarod
      task, which revealed that these animals have diminished Grab Frequency and a
      higher Performance Index, whereas Error of Latency and Latency to Fall were
      unaffected. Considering the recently revealed role of Bergmann cells of
      cerebellum in the control of motor activity, we used the transgenic mice GFAP-GFP
      to explore the impact of carmustine on the organization of these glial cells.
      Multiple examples of cell layer disorganization were detected; many soma of
      Bergmann cells were displaced to the external cell layer, and their processes
      were not well defined until young adulthood. In addition, the roof of the fourth
      ventricle was convoluted. These observations suggest that the exacerbated
      locomotion induced by carmustine may be due, in part, to the altered organization
      of the cell layers of cerebellum. 

PMID- 25841792
TI  - Histidine decarboxylase knockout mice, a genetic model of Tourette syndrome, show
      repetitive grooming after induced fear.
AB  - Tics, such as are seen in Tourette syndrome (TS), are common and can cause
      profound morbidity, but they are poorly understood. Tics are potentiated by
      psychostimulants, stress, and sleep deprivation. Mutations in the gene histidine
      decarboxylase (Hdc) have been implicated as a rare genetic cause of TS, and Hdc
      knockout mice have been validated as a genetic model that recapitulates
      phenomenological and pathophysiological aspects of the disorder. Tic-like
      stereotypies in this model have not been observed at baseline but emerge after
      acute challenge with the psychostimulant d-amphetamine. We tested the ability of
      an acute stressor to stimulate stereotypies in this model, using tone fear
      conditioning. Hdc knockout mice acquired conditioned fear normally, as manifested
      by freezing during the presentation of a tone 48h after it had been paired with a
      shock. During the 30min following tone presentation, knockout mice showed
      increased grooming. Heterozygotes exhibited normal freezing and intermediate
      grooming. These data validate a new paradigm for the examination of tic-like
      stereotypies in animals without pharmacological challenge and enhance the face
      validity of the Hdc knockout mouse as a pathophysiologically grounded model of
      tic disorders. 

PMID- 25841793
TI  - Markers related to the diagnosis and to the risk of abortion in bovine
      neosporosis.
AB  - Bovine neosporosis has emerged as a main cause of abortion in cattle worldwide.
      An important question to understand the disease is why not all infected cows
      abort. In the present review we summarize the knowledge on markers related to the
      diagnosis and more importantly to the risk of abortion in the infected cow.
      Markers considered herein include those based on specific antibodies, antibody
      titers and antibody subtypes, cellular immunological markers, hormones and other
      proteins related to gestation. The identification of parasite molecules that are
      specifically identified in the aborting cows might help to understand the
      mechanism of parasite-associated abortion and control the disease. 

PMID- 25841794
TI  - Localised mitogenic activity in horses following infection with Streptococcus
      equi.
AB  - Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (S. equi) is the causative agent of strangles,
      a highly contagious upper respiratory disease of equids. Streptococcus equi
      produces superantigens (sAgs), which are thought to contribute to strangles
      pathogenicity through non-specific T-cell activation and pro-inflammatory
      response. Streptococcus equi infection induces abscesses in the lymph nodes of
      the head and neck. In some individuals, some abscess material remains into the
      guttural pouch and inspissates over time to form chondroids which can harbour
      live S. equi. The aim of this study was to determine the sites of sAg production
      during infection and therefore improve our understanding of their role. Abscess
      material, chondroids and serum collected from Equidae with signs of strangles
      were tested in mitogenic assays. Mitogenic sAg activity was only detected in
      abscess material and chondroids. Our data support the localised in vivo activity
      of sAg during both acute and carrier phases of S. equi infection. 

PMID- 25841795
TI  - UCP1 and UCP2 expression in different subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue
      deposits in 30 days old goat kids and effect of fatty acid enriched diets.
AB  - Beside its importance in the first hours of life, brown adipose tissue has also
      significant roles in the following stages of growth and in adults by regulating
      energy metabolism, but its identification in adult ruminants is still
      controversial. Quantitative PCR, followed by histological confirmation, was used
      to investigate UCP expression and brown and white adipocytes' distribution in 30
      day-old goat kids. The influence of maternal diet enriched with either fish oil
      or stearic acid was investigated as well. Results showed the differential
      expression of both UCP1 and UCP2 genes between subcutaneous and visceral adipose
      tissues, suggesting a different thermogenic activity between the two macro areas.
      The maternal diet influenced neither UCP1 nor UCP2 gene expression. The presence
      of multilocular adipocytes in 1-month goat kids is remarkable, as suggests
      thermogenic activity in non-newborn animals. Further insights into
      characteristics and functions of adipose tissue in young and adult goats are
      worth exploring. 

PMID- 25841796
TI  - Urinary cotinine levels and environmental tobacco smoke in mothers and children
      of Romania, Portugal and Poland within the European human biomonitoring pilot
      study.
AB  - The aim of this study was to explore data from the DEMOCOPHES study population
      for Romania, Portugal and Poland, in order to assess smoking patterns and the
      extent of ETS exposure and compare the national study samples with reference to
      the respective anti-smoking laws. The subset of the DEMOCOPHES study sample
      consisted of 360 children and their mothers (120 in each of the three countries -
      Romania (RO), Portugal (PT) and Poland (PL). Smoking was assessed using a
      detailed questionnaire for the participants, which addresses both active and
      passive smoking. This assessment uses exposure-relevant questionnaire data, in
      particular on the home environment and residence, socio-demographic
      characteristics, lifestyle such as nutrition, smoking behavior, other exposure
      relevant behavior and occupational history, as well as urinary cotinine and
      creatinine measurements. We performed general statistical analysis and innovative
      receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Smoking prevalence as
      evaluated by the questionnaire was generally high, and higher than official
      statistics, which suggests some under-reporting in the countries, particularly in
      Romania. Urinary cotinine levels provided biochemical confirmation of the high
      and similar smoking prevalence for the three countries. Concerning ETS exposure,
      Romania presented significantly higher levels, for children as well as for non
      smoking mothers, with Portugal showing significantly lower levels. Compared to
      non-smoking mothers, the children showed relatively higher ETS exposure levels in
      all three countries. The established country-specific optimal cut-off values in
      urinary cotinine to distinguish smokers from non-smokers vary more than those to
      discriminate ETS exposure extent in non-smoking mothers and children. Although
      different between countries, these values are a valuable output to monitor
      effectiveness of both national antismoking laws and educational programs in the
      three countries. The findings of this study point to the urgent need for
      stronger, more effective and well enforced smoke-free legislation in the three
      countries. 

PMID- 25841797
TI  - Contralateral targeting of the corpus callosum in normal and pathological brain
      function.
AB  - The corpus callosum connects the two cortical hemispheres of the mammalian brain
      and is susceptible to structural defects during development, which often result
      in significant neuropsychological dysfunction. To date, such individuals have
      been studied primarily with regards to the integrity of the callosal tract at the
      midline. However, the mechanisms regulating the contralateral targeting of the
      corpus callosum, after midline crossing has occurred, are less well understood.
      Recent evidence suggests that defects in contralateral targeting can occur in
      isolation from midline-tract malformations, and may have significant functional
      implications. We propose that contralateral targeting is a crucially important
      and relatively under-investigated event in callosal development, and that defects
      in this process may constitute an undiagnosed phenotype in several neurological
      disorders. 

PMID- 25841798
TI  - Idiosyncratic connectivity in autism: developmental and anatomical
      considerations.
AB  - Hahamy and colleagues demonstrate individualized alterations of functional
      connectivity in the brains of adults with autism, suggesting that previous
      characterizations of general under- or over-connectivity may be overly
      simplistic. Adopting a developmental perspective spanning both cortical and
      subcortical landscapes will further clarify the nature and extent of these
      atypicalities. 

PMID- 25841799
TI  - The response of Paracoccidioides spp. to nitrosative stress.
AB  - Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is an endemic disease in Latin America caused by
      species belonging to the genus Paracoccidioides. During infection, immune cells
      present a variety of defense mechanisms against pathogens. One of these defensive
      strategies is the production and release of nitric oxide (NO) and S-nitroso
      thiols (e.g., S-nitrosoglutathione, GSNO), which produce reactive nitrogen
      species (RNS). This results in damage to DNA and membranes, inhibition of
      respiration and inactivation of cellular enzymes. In response to nitrosative
      stress, human pathogenic fungi possess defense mechanisms to prevent the adverse
      effects of NO, which helps them survive during initial contact with the host
      immune system. To understand how Paracoccidioides spp. respond to nitrosative
      stress, we conducted this study to identify genes and proteins that might
      contribute to this response. The results of proteomic analysis demonstrated that
      nitrosative stress induced a reduction in the expression of proteins related to
      the mitochondrial electron transport chain. This hypothesis was supported by the
      reduced mitochondrial activity observed in the presence of GSNO. Additionally,
      lipids and branched chain amino acid metabolism enzymes were altered. The role
      played by enzymes acting in oxidative stress in the RNS response was remarkable.
      This interface among enzymes acting in both stress responses was confirmed by
      using a RNA approach to silence the ccp gene in Paracoccidioides. It was observed
      that mutants with low expression of the ccp gene were more sensitive to
      nitrosative stress. 

PMID- 25841801
TI  - Subaxial cervical spine involvement in symptomatic rheumatoid arthritis patients:
      Comparison with cervical spondylosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the frequency, location, characteristics, and clinical
      significance of subaxial involvement (below C1-C2) in a series of patients with
      rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and symptomatic involvement of the cervical spine.
      METHODS: A total of 41 patients with RA were examined via cervical spine magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI). A comparative analysis of the incidence of the different
      types of subaxial lesions was performed between these patients and 41 age- and
      sex-matched patients with symptomatic cervical spondylosis. RESULTS: Stenosis of
      the spinal canal was found at the subaxial level in 85% of RA patients, and at
      the atlantoaxial level in 44%. Comparative analysis between these patients and
      the cervical spondylosis patients revealed significant differences in the types
      and frequencies of subaxial lesions. For both conditions, signs of discopathy and
      end-plate osteophytosis were the most common abnormalities observed on magnetic
      resonance imaging (MRI). However, in the RA patients these abnormalities
      coincided with subchondral bone and ligamentous acute inflammatory changes and
      with secondary destruction (vertebral instability) or repair (vertebral
      ankyloses). Only evidence of subaxial myelopathy was significantly associated
      with an increased risk of neurological dysfunction among the RA patients [Ranawat
      class II or III; P = 0.01; odds ratio (OR) = 11.43], although subaxial cord
      compression tended toward a significant association with the risk of neurological
      dysfunction (P = 0.06; OR = 3.95). CONCLUSION: Subaxial stenosis seems to be the
      consequence of both the inflammatory process and mechanical-degenerative changes.
      Despite its frequency, it was not usually related to the occurrence of myelopathy
      symptoms, not even in cases with MRI evidence of spinal cord compression.

PMID- 25841800
TI  - Filifactor alocis--a new emerging periodontal pathogen.
AB  - Filifactor alocis, a previously unrecognized Gram-positive anaerobic rod, is now
      considered a new emerging pathogen that may play a significant role in
      periodontal disease. F. alocis' unique characteristics and variations at the
      molecular level that may be responsible for the functional changes required to
      mediate the pathogenic process are discussed. 

PMID- 25841802
TI  - Interleukin-6 in ANCA-associated vasculitis: Rationale for successful treatment
      with tocilizumab.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) and granulomatosis with polyangiitis
      (GPA) are systemic, necrotizing, small-vessel vasculitis associated with
      circulating anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA), and thus called
      ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV). The aim of the present study is to evaluate a
      potential role of interleukin (IL)-6 and its pathway in the pathogenesis of AAV
      and to review previous evidence of IL-6 in MPA and GPA. METHODS: Blood and
      histological samples from 10 untreated myeloperoxidase (MPO)-ANCA/proteinase 3
      (PR3)-ANCA-positive patients with active AAV were studied. Serum levels of
      cytokines/chemokines were evaluated by means of a Bio-Plex Multiple Cytokine
      Assay. IL-6 production at sites of active vasculitis was assessed by means of
      both immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization techniques. We also treated a
      patient with MPA who was resistant or allergic to conventional treatments with a
      12-month course of the IL-6 inhibitor tocilizumab and followed him up for 24
      additional months. We also reviewed all the published cases in the English
      literature of histologically confirmed MPA or GPA, in which elevated IL-6 serum
      levels or intralesional IL-6 expression were reported. RESULTS: IL-6 serum levels
      were significantly increased in patients with AAV as compared to controls (median
      = 51.96pg/mL; range: 34.11-84.30; versus 0.68pg/mL; range: 0.01-1.81; P < 0.005).
      Also, IL-6 was expressed and produced at sites of active vasculitis. Treatment
      with tocilizumab was able to induce a complete and sustained disease remission in
      a patient with severe multisystemic MPA, as well as normalization of circulating
      levels of IL-6-associated pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Previous
      evidence of IL-6 pathway activation in AAV is scarce. Increased serum levels of
      IL-6 were reported in seven clinical studies for a total of approximately 120
      patients, mainly affected by GPA. CONCLUSION: The finding of an activated IL-6
      pathway in patients with AAV, together with the observed effects of tocilizumab
      monotherapy, provides evidence for a possible central role of IL-6 in the
      pathogenesis of AAV and suggests its targeting as a potential treatment.

PMID- 25841803
TI  - 50th Anniversary Perspective on Groves LK. Carcinoma of the Esophagus-1965:
      evaluation of treatment. Ann Thorac Surg 1965;1:416-31.

PMID- 25841804
TI  - 50th Anniversary Landmark Commentary on Pearson FG, Andrews MJ. Detection and
      management of tracheal stenosis following cuffed tube tracheostomy. Ann Thorac
      Surg 1971;12:359-74.

PMID- 25841805
TI  - 50th Anniversary Landmark Commentary on Ross DN. The replacement of the aortic
      valve with biological tissue. Ann Thorac Surg 1968;5:383-92.

PMID- 25841806
TI  - 50th Anniversary Landmark Commentary on Gay WA. Potassium-induced cardioplegia.
      Ann Thorac Surg 1975;20:95-100.

PMID- 25841807
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841808
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841809
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841810
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841811
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841812
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841813
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841814
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841815
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841816
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841817
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841818
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841819
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841821
TI  - Invited commentary.

PMID- 25841820
TI  - Development of off-pump mitral valve replacement in a porcine model.
AB  - PURPOSE: We describe our initial experience with on-bypass and off-bypass (off
      pump) mitral valve replacement with the modified version of our novel catheter
      based sutureless mitral valve (SMV) technology, which was developed to
      atraumatically anchor and seal in the mitral position. DESCRIPTION: The SMV is a
      self-expanding device consisting of a custom designed nitinol framework and a
      pericardial leaflet valve mechanism. For the current studies, our original device
      was modified (SMV2) to reduce the delivery profile and to allow for controlled
      deployment while still maintaining the key principles necessary for atraumatic
      anchoring and sealing in the mitral valve position. EVALUATION: Ten Yorkshire
      pigs underwent successful SMV2 device implantation through a left atriotomy (on
      pump, n = 6; off-pump, n = 4). Echocardiography and angiography revealed
      excellent left ventricular systolic function, no significant perivalvular leak,
      no mitral valve stenosis, no left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, and no
      aortic valve insufficiency. Postmortem examination demonstrated that the SMV2
      devices were anchored securely. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the
      feasibility and short-term success of off-pump mitral valve replacement using a
      novel, catheter-based device in a porcine model.

PMID- 25841822
TI  - Cadaveric nerve allotransplantation in the treatment of persistent thoracic
      neuralgia.
AB  - When relief from neuralgia cannot be achieved with traditional methods,
      neurectomy may be considered to abate the stimulus, and primary opposition of the
      terminal nerve ending is recommended to prevent neuroma. Nerve repair with
      autograft is limited by autologous nerves available for large nerve defects.
      Cadaveric allografts provide an unlimited graft source without donor-site
      morbidities, but are rapidly rejected unless appropriate immunosuppression is
      achieved. An optimal treatment method for nerve allograft transplantation would
      minimize rejection while simultaneously permitting nerve regeneration. This
      report details a novel experience of nerve allograft transplantation using
      cadaveric nerve grafts to desensitize persistent postoperative thoracic
      neuralgia. 

PMID- 25841823
TI  - Modified thoracoplasty using a breast implant to obliterate an infected pleural
      space: an alternative to traditional thoracoplasty.
AB  - Thoracoplasty is a technique used to obliterate residual intrapleural spaces
      after lung resection for infection or other causes. It involves multiple
      osteotomies on several ribs and then collapsing them into the space to be
      obliterated; however, this results in a distorted and asymmetrical chest wall. We
      report a case of a 34-year-old female with completely destroyed right upper lobe
      secondary to chronic Aspergillus infection. She underwent a completion right
      upper lobectomy and modified thoracoplasty with the use of a breast implant to
      obliterate the residual pleural space without any distortion of the chest wall,
      with an excellent outcome. 

PMID- 25841824
TI  - Intrapulmonary gallstone.
AB  - An octogenarian presented to her primary care physician with hemoptysis and a
      disabling chronic cough that developed several months after a complicated partial
      cholecystectomy. During investigation, a biopsy sample showed a right lower lobe
      inflammatory mass containing bile pigment and abundant neutrophils. Thoracotomy
      performed approximately 18 months after symptom onset confirmed a right lower
      lobe lung abscess together with a large gallstone embedded at its center and a
      healed defect in the right hemidiaphragm. A wedge excision of this mass was
      performed. The patient made an excellent uncomplicated recovery from this rare
      complication of a gallbladder operation. 

PMID- 25841825
TI  - Three-port thoracoscopic middle lobectomy in a patient after left pneumonectomy.
AB  - Lung lobectomy after contralateral pneumonectomy is a challenging procedure
      associated with high morbidity and mortality. To date, only limited evidence has
      been available, and adequate indication or surgical approach remain unclear. We
      herein report a successful case of thoracoscopic lobectomy in a single-lung
      patient. A 63-year-old man, who had a history of left pneumonectomy for lung
      cancer, was found to have an abnormal opacity in the right middle zone at a
      health checkup 13 years after the previous operation. This nodule was later
      diagnosed as squamous cell cancer (cT2N0M0, stage IB) and surgical resection was
      considered. Thoracoscopic middle lobectomy with D1 lymph node dissection was
      performed for this patient under selective ventilation of the right upper and
      lower lobes. Postoperative course was uneventful and he was discharged on
      postoperative day 7, requiring no oxygen. The patient is doing well with no
      evidence of recurrence for 5 years. Given the lower invasiveness, thoracoscopic
      lobectomy under the selective ventilation of residual lobes could be an option
      after contralateral pneumonectomy in selected patients. 

PMID- 25841826
TI  - Pneumocephalus and chylothorax complicating vertebrectomy for lung cancer.
AB  - Pneumocephalus is a rare, but potentially fatal complication of thoracic surgery.
      We describe a case of successful management of pneumocephalus complicated by
      persistent chylothorax developing after en bloc partial vertebrectomy performed
      after induction chemoradiotherapy for lung cancer invading the spine. Surgical
      treatment should be considered for pneumocephalus complicated by any condition
      requiring persistent chest drainage. 

PMID- 25841827
TI  - Long-term survival after pneumonectomy for primary pulmonary malignant melanoma.
AB  - As few as 30 cases of primary malignant melanoma of the lung have been reported
      in the literature. Many patients die within months of diagnosis; few published
      cases describe patients who survive long-term after treatment. We report a case
      of primary pulmonary malignant melanoma in a patient who remains disease-free 60
      months after pneumonectomy. 

PMID- 25841828
TI  - Endoluminal suturing of an anastomotic leak.
AB  - An anastomotic leak can be one of the most morbid and complex complications after
      esophagectomy. Typically, management can entail repair, stenting, or diversion.
      The leak complicates a patient's postoperative course and delays initiation of
      any adjuvant therapy. Novel minimally invasive tools created to expedite healing
      of the anastomotic leak may potentially limit additional procedures traditionally
      used to treat the leak. We present the case of a 49-year-old man who sustained an
      anastomotic leak 5 days after undergoing esophagectomy for cancer. He was
      initially managed with drainage, and when this failed, he was transferred to our
      hospital. An endoscopic suturing device was used to close the leak and pexy a
      partially covered self-expanding metal stent that was left in place for 2 weeks.
      At the end of 2 weeks, the leak healed and there was no stent migration. 

PMID- 25841829
TI  - Delayed presentation of nitroprusside-induced cyanide toxicity.
AB  - Cyanide toxicity is a rare complication of sodium nitroprusside that can be
      difficult to diagnose in critically ill patients. We describe a case of cyanide
      toxicity after cardiac surgery that presented as lactic acidosis after
      discontinuation of nitroprusside. 

PMID- 25841830
TI  - Late surgical explantation and aortic valve replacement after transcatheter
      aortic valve implantation.
AB  - Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in patients with bicuspid aortic
      valve disease is associated with higher rates of paravalvular aortic
      regurgitation, which may require subsequent surgical correction. We report a case
      of successful late surgical CoreValve explantation 1,389 days after TAVI in a
      patient with bicuspid aortic valve stenosis and McArdle's disease who developed
      severe paravalvular aortic regurgitation. We confirm that neoendothelialization
      and incorporation of the nitinol cage into the aortic wall had occurred at nearly
      4 years postimplantation, although explantation with careful endarterectomy could
      still be performed without requiring simultaneous aortic root replacement. 

PMID- 25841831
TI  - Resolution of heart block after surgical correction of failed transcatheter
      aortic valve implantation.
AB  - Surgical aortic valve replacement is the gold standard therapy for severe aortic
      stenosis but transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is increasingly
      employed in "high-risk" patients. Atrioventricular block and aortic regurgitation
      are frequent complications of nitinol-based stented valves. We report a case of
      successful, but complex reoperative surgery 13 days after failed TAVI with
      iatrogenic aortic and mitral regurgitation and new-onset heart block. Removal of
      a CoreValve prosthesis (Medtronic Inc, Minneapolis, MN) with standard aortic
      valve replacement resulted in restoration of sinus rhythm and valvular
      competencies. 

PMID- 25841832
TI  - Transcatheter mitral "valve-in-ring" implantation: a word of caution.
AB  - Transcatheter mitral valve-in-valve and valve-in-ring procedures have emerged as
      a potential alternative for patients with failed mitral bioprosthesis or mitral
      valve repair who are at very high or prohibitive surgical risk. However,
      transcatheter mitral valve-in-ring implantation (TMViRI) remains a challenging
      procedure, partially because of the oval shape of mitral rings, which may lead to
      prosthesis dysfunction when the ring is not able to adopt the circular shape of
      the transcatheter valve. We present a case of failed TMViRI in a dysfunctional
      mitral homograft. The potential factors leading to procedural failure are
      discussed. 

PMID- 25841833
TI  - Intraoperative coronary artery dissection in fibromuscular dysplasia.
AB  - A 61-year-old woman with bicuspid aortic stenosis, an ascending aortic aneurysm,
      and a remote history of renal fibromuscular dysplasia underwent aortic root
      replacement complicated by extensive dissection of the left circumflex artery
      extending retrograde into the left anterior descending artery. This was managed
      by coronary artery bypass grafting, left ventricular support, and percutaneous
      coronary intervention for propagation of the dissection. This case highlights the
      prevalence, diagnosis, and management of intraoperative coronary dissection
      secondary to fibromuscular dysplasia. 

PMID- 25841834
TI  - Reverse frozen elephant trunk procedure for rescue of a thoracic stent-graft in
      the false lumen.
AB  - Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) is now a common treatment for
      patients with descending aortic disease, including aortic dissection. As the
      indications for TEVAR have expanded, so has the complexity of complications.
      Retrograde aortic dissection may occur in 1% to 2% of patients after TEVAR. We
      present a patient who initially underwent TEVAR for a degenerative aneurysm
      followed by a proximal stent-graft extension for retrograde dissection that
      failed because of malposition within the false lumen. We performed a hybrid
      reverse frozen elephant trunk (RFET) operation as a salvage procedure for these
      complications. 

PMID- 25841835
TI  - Thoracic endovascular aortic repair after iatrogenic aortic dissection and false
      lumen stent grafting.
AB  - Iatrogenic aortic dissections are a severe complication after thoracic
      endovascular aortic repair, and treatment guidelines do not exist. Herein, we
      report a patient who experienced an iatrogenic type B aortic dissection during
      elective thoracic endovascular aortic repair and suggest an interventional
      treatment option. 

PMID- 25841836
TI  - Impaled aorta: a rare case of aortic perforation with a vertebral outgrowth.
AB  - We describe an unusual case of aortic perforation by a vertebral osteophyte,
      complicated by a mycotic pseudoaneurysm, in a patient who underwent successful
      repair. To our knowledge, no similar case has been reported previously. 

PMID- 25841837
TI  - Bilateral thoracic impalement through mediastinum.

PMID- 25841838
TI  - Successful closure of postoperative esophagobronchial fistula with amplatzer
      vascular plug.

PMID- 25841839
TI  - Redo mitral valve replacement in patient with "coconut atrium".

PMID- 25841840
TI  - Successful endovascular treatment of a large azygos vein aneurysm with stent
      graft implantation.

PMID- 25841841
TI  - A 3-step therapeutic strategy for severe alveolar proteinosis.
AB  - Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is characterized by accumulation of
      lipoproteinaceous material in the terminal airways. Whole lung lavage (WLL)
      remains the gold standard treatment but may be particularly challenging in cases
      of severe hypoxemia. We present a 3-step strategy that was used in a patient with
      PAP-associated refractory hypoxemia and that combined venovenous extracorporeal
      membrane oxygenation (vvECMO), double-lumen orotracheal intubation, and bilateral
      multisegmental sequential lavage (MSL). The procedure was well tolerated and
      permitted weaning from the ventilator. 

PMID- 25841842
TI  - Novel T-shaped linear-stapled intrathoracic esophagogastric anastomosis for
      minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy.
AB  - We report a novel T-shaped linear-stapled intrathoracic esophagogastric
      anastomosis for minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy. A unique feature of
      this technique is a "gastric pouch" that is preserved proximal to the gastric
      conduit and which serves as the stapler-firing pathway to protect the gastric
      conduit. The linear stapler is placed through an auxiliary port in the seventh
      intercostal space on the right posterior axillary line and fired along the
      longitudinal axis of the thorax, without being constrained by limited
      intrathoracic space. This technique, which has been performed in 8 patients, is
      efficient, reliable, and easy to perform. 

PMID- 25841843
TI  - First beating-heart valve-sparing aortic root repair: a "corset" technique.
AB  - We present our preliminary experience with beating-heart aortic root remodeling
      using an external "corset," which we performed in 2 patients with aortic
      insufficiency and aortic root dilatation. Standard extracorporeal circulation
      (ECC) was used. After a meticulous dissection of the aortic root and ascending
      aorta, the bespoke vascular prosthesis was placed around the vessel to decrease
      its diameter and restore aortic valve function. Postoperative angiographic
      computed tomography (CT) showed a significant decrease in the diameter of the
      wrapped aorta. Echocardiography performed 12 months after the operation showed
      normal aortic valve function with trivial regurgitation and stable aortic
      diameter in both patients. 

PMID- 25841844
TI  - Repair of unilateral absence of right pulmonary artery with contralateral
      pulmonary artery autograft interposition in an infant.
AB  - Unilateral absence of the pulmonary artery (PA) is a rare congenital abnormality.
      Although a traditional 2-stage approach with a preceding systemic-to-PA shunt
      followed by a definitive repair is mandatory in patients with absent
      extrapericardial pulmonary arteries, more creative solutions are necessary when 1
      stage repair is concerned. We present a novel technique for repairing the absent
      intrapericardial right pulmonary artery (RPA) with a contralateral PA autograft
      segment interposition. We believe that this technique using solely autologous
      tissue is effective in patients in whom the intrapericardial segment of the PAs
      is absent. 

PMID- 25841845
TI  - Management of esophageal small cell carcinoma.

PMID- 25841846
TI  - Combined heart-liver transplantation experience and improved organ utilization.

PMID- 25841847
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25069688.

PMID- 25841848
TI  - Mitral valve repair for ischemic mitral regurgitation: should we be targeting the
      papillary muscles?--letter 1.

PMID- 25841849
TI  - Mitral valve repair versus replacement for ischemic mitral regurgitation:
      controversy remains alive - letter 2.

PMID- 25841850
TI  - Reply: To PMID 24245543.

PMID- 25841851
TI  - Reply: To PMID 25087812.

PMID- 25841852
TI  - Anomalous aortic origin of the right coronary artery.

PMID- 25841853
TI  - Isolated unilateral absence of pulmonary artery: challenges in treatment.

PMID- 25841854
TI  - Esophagectomy for a rapidly progressing esophageal duplication cyst.
AB  - Esophageal duplication cysts are rare and frequently asymptomatic anomalies of
      the adult gastrointestinal tract that are often misdiagnosed in clinical
      practice. Identifying the unique features of esophageal duplication cysts is
      therefore important. We report a unique case of esophageal duplication cyst in a
      52-year-old woman with rapidly progressing chest pain and dysphagia. The cyst was
      found to share, in part, a remarkably inflammatory and edematous inner lining
      with the esophagus. Enucleation was not feasible, and therefore, esophagectomy
      was performed. The only long-term side effect that occurred after 44 months of
      follow-up examinations was slight acid reflux esophagitis. 

PMID- 25841855
TI  - An incidental pulmonary meningioma revealing an intracranial meningioma: primary
      or secondary lesion?
AB  - A 68-year-old man underwent a resection of the right middle lobe for a solitary
      lesion detected at computed tomography. The histologic result was suggestive for
      a pulmonary meningioma. Although the result of a preoperative brain computed
      tomography scan was negative, magnetic resonance imaging showed a skull-base
      meningioma. On the basis of the absence of symptoms, we decided to observe the
      intracranial meningioma. At 3 years of follow-up, the patient was free of
      recurrence and the cerebral lesion was stable. Primary pulmonary meningioma and
      benign meningioma metastasis share identical microscopic findings, and only a
      central nervous system radiologic study allows their distinction. The pulmonary
      lesion in our patient was classified as a meningioma metastasis. 

PMID- 25841856
TI  - Invasive desmoplastic fibroblastoma in the chest wall.
AB  - Desmoplastic fibroblastoma is a rare soft tissue tumor. We present the case of a
      61-year-old man with a growing chest wall tumor in the pleural cavity. After
      resection, the tumor was diagnosed as desmoplastic fibroblastoma. This is the
      first report of desmoplastic fibroblastoma occurring in the chest wall.
      Generally, desmoplastic fibroblastoma is considered as a benign and slow-growing
      tumor. However, the tumor in our patient grew very rapidly and invaded the
      adjacent lung, parietal pleura, and periosteum of the rib bone. We therefore
      describe this tumor as an "invasive" desmoplastic fibroblastoma. 

PMID- 25841857
TI  - Symetis valve implantation in failing freestyle with close proximity between
      coronary Ostia and annulus.
AB  - Transcatheter treatment of patients with degenerated aortic valve stentless
      prosthesis and low proximal coronary ostia to the aortic annulus remain a
      challenge because of the elevated risk for coronary obstruction. Newer generation
      transcatheter aortic valve devices that engage and pull the aortic valve calcium
      towards the aortic annulus may be beneficial in these patients. We present a case
      of successful treatment of a degenerated tubular stentless prosthesis with low
      coronary ostia with a Symetis Acurate TA prosthesis. 

PMID- 25841858
TI  - Periprocedural myocardial infarction resulting in a ventricular septal defect.
AB  - Although periprocedural myocardial infarction frequently occurs with the
      robustness of percutaneous coronary intervention, the prognosis of the
      periprocedural myocardial infarction has been known to be relatively good
      compared with that of spontaneous myocardial infarction. We present a patient
      with a postinfarction ventricular septal defect, with cardiogenic shock, that
      developed 7 days after a percutaneous coronary intervention. Emergency surgical
      repair combined with coronary artery bypass grafting saved the patient, without
      complications. 

PMID- 25841859
TI  - Bridge to long-term mechanical circulatory support with a left ventricular assist
      device: novel use of transcatheter aortic valve replacement.
AB  - We describe the use of transcatheter aortic valve replacement to allow for
      bridging to a left ventricular assist device in a patient with end-stage heart
      failure, secondary to nonischemic cardiomyopathy and severe bioprosthetic aortic
      valve regurgitation. 

PMID- 25841860
TI  - Left pulmonary artery originating from the right coronary artery in a patient
      with pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect.
AB  - We describe a patient with pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect in
      whom the left pulmonary artery was originating from the dilated right coronary
      artery. Successful division of the left pulmonary artery from the right coronary
      artery and the connection with the right ventricular outflow tract was carried
      out with closure of the end of the origin. The preoperative accurate diagnosis of
      this anomaly with ascending aortography is the most important in the surgical
      management of patients with pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect. 

PMID- 25841861
TI  - Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica: imaging and bronchoscopic findings.

PMID- 25841862
TI  - Anterior subcarinal node dissection on the left side using video thoracoscopy: an
      easier technique.
AB  - Lobectomy for lung carcinoma is usually associated with complete node dissection,
      but it is often difficult to perform using video thoracoscopy, especially on the
      left side. In this case, our team uses an anterior technique for subcarinal
      lymphadenectomy. After left lobectomy, we lift the bronchial stump by its
      anterior face to open and dissect the subcarinal space. Exposure is difficult
      using the more usual technique of posterior subcarinal lymphadenectomy, and the
      different techniques (often requiring retractors) remain complex because some
      vessels might be injured. We recommend using anterior lymphadenectomy, which
      should facilitate video thoracoscopy for lymphadenectomy on the left side. 

PMID- 25841863
TI  - Integrated assessment of ivermectin pharmacokinetics, efficacy against resistant
      Haemonchus contortus and P-glycoprotein expression in lambs treated at three
      different dosage levels.
AB  - The main goals of the current work were: (a) to assess the ivermectin (IVM)
      systemic exposure and plasma disposition kinetics after its administration at the
      recommended dose, x5 and x10 doses to lambs, (b) to compare the clinical efficacy
      of the same IVM dosages in lambs infected with an IVM-resistant isolate of
      Haemonchus contortus, and (c) to assess the expression of the transporter protein
      P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in H. contortus recovered at 14 days after administration
      of the IVM dose regimens. There were two separated trials where IVM was
      administered either subcutaneously (SC, Experiment I) or intraruminally (IR,
      Experiment II). Each experiment involved twenty-four (24) lambs artificially
      infected with a highly resistant H. contortus isolate. Animals were allocated
      into 4 groups (n=6) and treated with IVM at either 0.2 (IVM x1), 1 (IVM x5) or
      2mg/kg (IVM x10). Plasma samples were collected up to 12 days post-treatment and
      analysed by HPLC. An untreated-control Group was included to assess the
      comparative anthelmintic efficacy of the different treatments. The level of
      expression of Pgp in H. contortus specimens obtained from lambs both untreated
      and IR treated with the different IVM doses was quantified by real time PCR.
      Parametric and non-parametric tests were used to compare the statistical
      significance of the results (P<0.05). After the SC treatment, the IVM plasma area
      under the concentration-time curve (AUC0-LOQ) increased from 41.9 (IVM SCx1) up
      to 221 (IVM SCx5) and 287 (IVM SCx10)ng.day/mL and after the IR treatment from
      20.8 (IVM IRx1) up to 121 (IVM IRx5) and 323 (IVM IRx10)ng.day/mL. Dose-adjusted
      AUC0-LOQ and Cmax were similar among doses, demonstrating dose proportionality
      for IVM after both SC and IR administration at the three different doses. The
      efficacies against resistant H. contortus after the SC treatment were 42% (IVM
      SC1), 75% (IVM SCx5) and 75% (IVM SCx10). However, the IR IVM treatment reached
      clinical efficacies ranging from 48% (IVM IRx1) up to 96% (IVM IRx5) and 98% (IVM
      IRx10). None of the IR IVM treatments increased the expression of P-gp in adult
      H. contortus at 14 days post-treatment compared to samples collected from the
      untreated control group. An enhanced parasite exposure of the drug at the
      abomasum may explain the improved efficacy against this recalcitrant H. contortus
      isolate observed only after the IR administration at 5- and 10-fold the IVM
      therapeutic dosage.

PMID- 25841865
TI  - Systems redesign: a quality improvement initiative at a tertiary-care veterans
      affairs medical Center.

PMID- 25841864
TI  - How Much Is That Head CT? Price Transparency and Variability in Radiology.
AB  - PURPOSE: To extend the investigation of price transparency and variability to
      medical imaging. METHODS: Eighteen upper-tier academic hospitals identified by
      U.S. News & World Report and 14 of the 100 largest private radiology practices in
      the country identified by the Radiology Business Journal were contacted by
      telephone between December 2013 and February 2014 to determine the cash price for
      a noncontrast head CT. The price for a noncontrast head CT was chosen to assess
      price transparency in medical imaging because it represents a standard imaging
      examination with minimal differences in quality. RESULTS: Fourteen upper-tier
      academic hospitals (78%) and 11 private practices (79%) were able to provide
      prices for a noncontrast head CT. There was no significant difference between the
      proportions of upper-tier academic hospitals and private practices that were able
      to provide prices for a noncontrast head CT (P = .96). The average total price
      for the upper-tier academic hospitals was $1,390.12 +/- $686.13, with the price
      ranging from $391.62 to $2,015. The average total price for the private practices
      was $681.60 +/- $563.58, with the total price ranging from $211 to $2,200.
      CONCLUSIONS: Prices for a noncontrast head CT study were readily available from
      the vast majority of upper-tier academic hospitals and private practices,
      although there was tremendous variation in the price estimates both within and
      between the upper-tier academic hospitals and private practices. Routine medical
      imaging thus appears to be more price transparent compared with other health care
      services.

PMID- 25841866
TI  - Morphological and clinical presentation of papillary thyroid carcinoma in
      children and adolescents of Belarus: the influence of radiation exposure and the
      source of irradiation.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aims were to analyse the features of papillary thyroid carcinoma
      in a large cohort of children and adolescents in Belarus and to study the
      influence of radiation exposure as well as the source of irradiation on the
      morphological and clinical presentations of tumours. DESIGN AND PATIENTS: The
      clinical and pathological features of 1086 young patients (age range=4 to 18
      inclusive, followed up for >=18years) with papillary thyroid carcinoma diagnosed
      during the years 1990 to 2010 were reviewed. The patients were divided into three
      groups: "external radiation-related", "post-Chernobyl" (internal irradiation
      related) and "sporadic". Besides, patients from "post-Chernobyl" cohort (n=936)
      were further divided into the three equal subgroups according to the dates of
      surgery, which were corresponding to the early (4-9years), intermediate (10
      12years) and long (14-18years) latency periods. RESULTS: Patients in the
      "external radiation-related" group often showed extra-thyroidal extension in
      tumours sized <=10mm (p=0.002). Distant metastases were more frequently (p=0.006)
      discovered in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma in post-Chernobyl group
      (104 of 936, 11.1%) when compared to juveniles from other two groups. Lateral
      nodal disease and distant metastases were often noted in post-Chernobyl patients
      operated during the early and intermediate latency periods only. CONCLUSION:
      Young patients in Belarus with papillary thyroid carcinoma in the "post
      Chernobyl" group differed in many clinical and pathological parameters from those
      in the "sporadic" group. "External radiation related" papillary thyroid
      carcinomas were distinguished from other two groups of carcinoma in more advanced
      local spread and more aggressive behaviour of micro-carcinomas.

PMID- 25841867
TI  - The effect of the magnitude of the food deprivation motivating operation on free
      operant preference in mice.
AB  - A number of recent studies have demonstrated that organisms prefer stimuli
      correlated with food under high deprivation conditions over stimuli correlated
      with food under low deprivation conditions. The purpose of the present study was
      to extend the literature on this phenomenon by testing for preference under
      extinction conditions, testing for preference at baseline, employing a free
      operant preference test, and using mice as subjects. Our results appear to
      support the existing literature in that most subjects preferred a stimulus
      correlated with food under high deprivation conditions in the post-training
      preference test. We provide an analysis of this phenomenon based on the concept
      of the motivating operation (MO) and discuss how this analysis suggests a number
      of avenues for further research on this topic. 

PMID- 25841868
TI  - Sickness absence and psychosocial job quality: an analysis from a longitudinal
      survey of working Australians, 2005-2012.
AB  - Sickness absence is associated with adverse health, organizational, and societal
      outcomes. Using data from a longitudinal cohort study of working Australians (the
      Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey), we examined
      the relationship between changes in individuals' overall psychosocial job quality
      and variation in sickness absence. The outcome variables were paid sickness
      absence (yes/no) and number of days of paid sickness absence in the past year
      (2005-2012). The main exposure variable was psychosocial job quality, measured
      using a psychosocial job quality index (levels of job control, demands and
      complexity, insecurity, and perceptions of unfair pay). Analysis was conducted
      using longitudinal fixed-effects logistic regression models and negative binomial
      regression models. There was a dose-response relationship between the number of
      psychosocial job stressors reported by an individual and the odds of paid
      sickness absence (1 adversity: odds ratio (OR) = 1.26, 95% confidence interval
      (CI): 1.09, 1.45 (P = 0.002); 2 adversities: OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.51 (P =
      0.002); >=3 adversities: OR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.29, 1.94 (P < 0.001)). The negative
      binomial regression models also indicated that respondents reported a greater
      number of days of sickness absence in response to worsening psychosocial job
      quality. These results suggest that workplace interventions aiming to improve the
      quality of work could help reduce sickness absence. 

PMID- 25841869
TI  - Linking data from the Multiethnic Cohort Study to Medicare data: linkage results
      and application to chronic disease research.

PMID- 25841871
TI  - The eight-shaped heart: an incidental giant left ventricular pseudoaneurysm.

PMID- 25841870
TI  - Hearing impairment and cognitive decline: a pilot study conducted within the
      atherosclerosis risk in communities neurocognitive study.
AB  - Hearing impairment (HI) is prevalent, is modifiable, and has been associated with
      cognitive decline. We tested the hypothesis that audiometric HI measured in 2013
      is associated with poorer cognitive function in 253 men and women from Washington
      County, Maryland (mean age = 76.9 years) in a pilot study carried out within the
      Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study. Three cognitive tests
      were administered in 1990-1992, 1996-1998, and 2013, and a full
      neuropsychological battery was administered in 2013. Multivariable-adjusted
      differences in standardized cognitive scores (cross-sectional analysis) and
      trajectories of 20-year change (longitudinal analysis) were modeled using linear
      regression and generalized estimating equations, respectively. Hearing thresholds
      for pure tone frequencies of 0.5-4 kHz were averaged to obtain a pure tone
      average in the better-hearing ear. Hearing was categorized as follows: <=25 dB,
      no HI; 26-40 dB, mild HI; and >40 dB, moderate/severe HI. Comparing participants
      with moderate/severe HI to participants with no HI, 20-year rates of decline in
      memory and global function differed by -0.47 standard deviations (P = 0.02) and 
      0.29 standard deviations (P = 0.02), respectively. Estimated declines were
      greatest in participants who did not wear a hearing aid. These findings add to
      the limited literature on cognitive impairments associated with HI, and they
      support future research on whether HI treatment may reduce risk of cognitive
      decline. 

PMID- 25841872
TI  - Genetic variation in the cholesterol transporter NPC1L1, ischaemic vascular
      disease, and gallstone disease.
AB  - AIMS: Ezetimibe reduces plasma levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL)
      cholesterol by inhibiting Niemann-Pick C1-Like protein 1 (NPC1L1), the
      transporter responsible for cholesterol uptake from the intestine into
      enterocytes and from the bile into hepatocytes. We tested the hypothesis that
      genetic variation in NPC1L1, mimicking the effect of ezetimibe, was associated
      with reduced risk of ischaemic vascular disease (IVD) and with increased risk of
      symptomatic gallstone disease. METHODS AND RESULTS: We included 67 385
      individuals from the general population. Of these, 5255 and 3886 individuals
      developed IVD or symptomatic gallstone disease, respectively, during follow-up
      from 1977 to 2013. We genotyped four common NPC1L1 variants, previously
      associated with reduced LDL cholesterol levels, thus mimicking the effect of
      ezetimibe, and calculated a weighted genotype score. With increasing genotype
      score, LDL cholesterol decreased stepwise up to 3.5% (0.12 mmol/L) and total
      cholesterol up to 1.9% (0.11 mmol/L) (P-trend: 2 * 10(-12) and 2 * 10(-9)). The
      cumulative incidence by age of IVD decreased, while that of symptomatic gallstone
      disease increased as a function of increasing genotype score (P-trend: 0.005 and
      0.01). Hazard ratios for genotype scores >= 5.0 vs. <2.0 were 0.82 (95%
      confidence interval: 0.70-0.95) for IVD and 1.22 (0.99-1.49) for gallstone
      disease (P-trend across genotype scores: 0.004 and 0.01). CONCLUSION: Genetic
      variation in NPC1L1 is associated with a reduction in risk of IVD, with a
      corresponding reduction in LDL cholesterol, but with a concomitant increased risk
      of gallstone disease. These data support the hypothesis that treatment with
      ezetimibe protects against IVD but raise the question whether long-term treatment
      increases the risk of gallstone disease.

PMID- 25841873
TI  - Supra-cardiac type (1a) total anomalous pulmonary venous return with right to
      left shunt atrial septal defect diagnosed by 320 slice CT.

PMID- 25841874
TI  - A plea for caution and more research in the 'experimental' use of ionophores in
      ICSI.

PMID- 25841876
TI  - Dissociation between the panicolytic effect of cannabidiol microinjected into the
      substantia nigra, pars reticulata, and fear-induced antinociception elicited by
      bicuculline administration in deep layers of the superior colliculus: The role of
      CB1-cannabinoid receptor in the ventral mesencephalon.
AB  - Many studies suggest that the substantia nigra, pars reticulata (SNpr), a
      tegmental mesencephalic structure rich in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)- and
      cannabinoid receptor-containing neurons, is involved in the complex control of
      defensive responses through the neostriatum-nigral disinhibitory and nigro-tectal
      inhibitory GABAergic pathways during imminently dangerous situations. The aim of
      the present work was to investigate the role played by CB1-cannabinoid receptor
      of GABAergic pathways terminal boutons in the SNpr or of SNpr-endocannabinoid
      receptor-containing interneurons on the effect of intra-nigral microinjections of
      cannabidiol in the activity of nigro-tectal inhibitory pathways. GABAA receptor
      blockade in the deep layers of the superior colliculus (dlSC) elicited vigorous
      defensive behaviour. This explosive escape behaviour was followed by significant
      antinociception. Cannabidiol microinjection into the SNpr had a clear anti
      aversive effect, decreasing the duration of defensive alertness, the frequency
      and duration of defensive immobility, and the frequency and duration of explosive
      escape behaviour, expressed by running and jumps, elicited by transitory
      GABAergic dysfunction in dlSC. However, the innate fear induced-antinociception
      was not significantly changed. The blockade of CB1 endocannabinoid receptor in
      the SNpr decreased the anti-aversive effect of canabidiol based on the frequency
      and duration of defensive immobility, the frequency of escape expressed by
      running, and both the frequency and duration of escape expressed by jumps. These
      findings suggest a CB1 mediated endocannabinoid signalling in cannabidiol
      modulation of panic-like defensive behaviour, but not of innate fear-induced
      antinociception evoked by GABAA receptor blockade with bicuculline microinjection
      into the superior colliculus, with a putative activity in nigro-collicular
      GABAergic pathways. 

PMID- 25841875
TI  - Activated matrix metalloproteinase-8 in saliva as diagnostic test for periodontal
      disease? A case-control study.
AB  - Untreated periodontal disease may influence general health. However, how may a
      physician, who is not trained in periodontal probing, detect untreated
      periodontitis? Activated matrix metalloproteinase-8 (aMMP-8) in saliva correlates
      with periodontal probing parameters. Thus, sensitivity and specificity of a chair
      side test for aMMP-8 to detect periodontitis were evaluated. Thirty cases
      [untreated chronic periodontitis (ChP); 15 generalized moderate and 15
      generalized severe] and 30 controls [probing depths (PD) <=3 mm, vertical probing
      attachment level (PAL-V) <=2 mm at <30 % of sites) were examined periodontally
      (PD, PAL-V, bleeding on probing). Subsequently, the aMMP-8 test was performed.
      The test kit becomes positive with >=25 ng/ml aMMP-8 in the sample. The aMMP-8
      test was positive in 87 % of ChP and in 40 % of controls. That corresponds to a
      sensitivity of 87 % and a specificity of 60 %. The sensitivity to detect
      generalized severe ChP was 93 % (60 % specificity). Backward stepwise logistic
      regression analysis to explain positive aMMP-8 tests identified exclusively ChP
      with an odds ratio of 9.8 (p < 0.001). Positive results of the aMMP-8 test
      significantly correlate with generalized ChP. The aMMP-8 test may be used by
      physicians to detect periodontitis in their patients.

PMID- 25841877
TI  - Translational research for Parkinson's disease: The value of pre-clinical primate
      models.
AB  - Animal models have been highly questioned for their ability to predict the
      efficacy of different therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative diseases. The
      increasing number of phase I/II clinical trials that fail to proceed to further
      stages of drug development has discredited the pertinence of such investigations.
      However, critical analysis of the data has often revealed errors and partially
      explained the lack of efficacy, opening the way to a refinement in designing pre
      clinical studies. In parallel, many promising methods of drug delivery to the
      brain such as gene therapy or cell therapy have considerably advanced thanks to
      the clinical failures in the past 10 years. As methodological advances appear and
      knowledge becomes available, scientists will be faced with the choice of how to
      test new strategies or re-test old ones. With the hardening of social views and
      legislation regarding animal experimentation, there is increasing pressure to
      find alternative methods of assessment that predict efficacy (such as
      computational based models), or to perform efficacy trials directly in patients
      and only safety assays in animals. In this review we will focus on Parkinson's
      disease and on the impact of a body of data issued from NHP studies. We will
      attempt to critically examine the advantages and limitations of various
      approaches from the perspective of the animal model used to address specific
      questions. 

PMID- 25841878
TI  - Antinociceptive action of diphenyl diselenide in the nociception induced by
      neonatal administration of monosodium glutamate in rats.
AB  - Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a neuroexcitatory amino acid commonly used as
      flavoring of foods. MSG neonatal administration to animals leads to behavioral
      and physiological disorders in adulthood, including increased pain sensitivity.
      This study aimed to investigate the effect of diphenyl diselenide (PhSe)2, an
      organoselenium compound with pharmacological properties already documented, on
      nociception induced by MSG. Newborn Wistar rats received 10 subcutaneous
      injections of MSG at a dose of 4.0g/kg or saline (once daily). At the 60th day of
      life, the rats were daily treated with (PhSe)2 (1mg/kg) or vehicle (canola oil)
      by the intragastric route for 7 days. The behavioral tests (locomotor activity,
      hot plate, tail-immersion and mechanical allodynia) were carried out. Ex vivo
      assays were performed in samples of hippocampus to determine Na(+), K(+)-ATPase
      and Ca(2+)-ATPase activities, cytokine levels and [(3)H]glutamate uptake. The
      results demonstrated that MSG increased nociception in the hot plate test and in
      the mechanical allodynia stimulated by Von-Frey hair but did not alter the tail
      immersion test. (PhSe)2 reversed all nociceptive behaviors altered by MSG. MSG
      caused an increase in Na(+),K(+)-ATPase and Ca(2+)-ATPase activities and in pro
      inflammatory cytokine levels and a decrease in the anti-inflammatory cytokine and
      in the [(3)H]glutamate uptake. (PhSe)2 was effective in reversing all alterations
      caused by MSG. The results indicate that (PhSe)2 had a potential antinociceptive
      and anti-inflammatory action in the MSG model. 

PMID- 25841879
TI  - Fetal exposure to placental corticotropin-releasing hormone (pCRH) programs
      developmental trajectories.
AB  - The maternal endocrine stress system is profoundly altered during the course of
      human pregnancy. The human placenta expresses the genes for CRH as early as the
      seventh week of gestation and it is the expotential increase in placental CRH
      (pCRH) over the course of human gestation that is responsible for the greatest
      modification in the maternal stress system. The bi-directional placental release
      of hormones into the maternal and fetal compartments has profound influences for
      both. The influential Fetal Programming model predicted that early or fetal
      exposures to maternal signals of threat or adverse conditions have lifelong
      consequences for health outcomes. A basic assumption of this model was that
      developing organisms play a dynamic role in their own construction. Data are
      reviewed and new data are presented that elevated pCRH over the course of human
      gestation plays a fundamental role in the organization of the fetal nervous
      system, modifies birth phenotype (the timing of the onset of spontaneous labor
      and delivery), and influences developmental, temperamental and metabolic
      trajectories. Evidence for sex differences and conserved function across species
      is presented. Finally, a model is presented that proposes several pathways that
      pCRH can program risk for health and disease. 

PMID- 25841880
TI  - Usefulness of administrative databases for risk adjustment of adverse events in
      surgical patients.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of clinical
      administrative databases for the development of risk adjustment in the assessment
      of adverse events in surgical patients. METHODS: The study was conducted at the
      Hospital of Navarra, a tertiary teaching hospital in northern Spain. We studied
      1602 hospitalizations of surgical patients from 2008 to 2010. We analysed 40
      comorbidity variables included in the National Surgical Quality Improvement
      (NSQIP) Program of the American College of Surgeons using 2 sources of
      information: The clinical and administrative database (CADB) and the data
      extracted from the complete clinical records (CR), which was considered the gold
      standard. Variables were catalogued according to compliance with the established
      criteria: sensitivity, positive predictive value and kappa coefficient >0.6.
      RESULTS: The average number of comorbidities per study participant was 1.6 using
      the CR and 0.95 based on CADB (p<.0001). Thirteen types of comorbidities
      (accounting for 8% of the comorbidities detected in the CR) were not identified
      when the CADB was the source of information. Five of the 27 remaining
      comorbidities complied with the 3 established criteria; 2 pathologies fulfilled 2
      criteria, whereas 11 fulfilled 1, and 9 did not fulfil any criterion. CONCLUSION:
      CADB detected prevalent comorbidities such as comorbid hypertension and diabetes.
      However, the CABD did not provide enough information to assess the variables
      needed to perform the risk adjustment proposed by the NSQIP for the assessment of
      adverse events in surgical patients.

PMID- 25841881
TI  - A single German center experience with intermittent inotropes for patients on the
      high-urgent heart transplant waiting list.
AB  - AIM: Currently, more than 900 patients with end-stage heart failure are listed
      for heart transplantation in Germany. All patients on the Eurotransplant high
      urgent status (HU) have to be treated in intensive care units and have to be
      relisted every 8 weeks. Long-term continuous inotropes are associated with
      tachyphylaxia, arrhythmias and even increased mortality. In this retrospective
      analysis, we report our single center experience with HU patients treated with
      intermittent inotropes as a bridging therapy. METHODS AND RESULTS: 117
      consecutive adult HU candidates were treated at our intensive care heart failure
      unit between 2008 and 2013, of whom 14 patients (12 %) were stabilized and
      delisted during follow-up. In the remaining 103 patients (age 42 +/- 15 years),
      different inotropes (dobutamine, milrinone, adrenaline, noradrenaline,
      levosimendan) were administered based on the patient's specific characteristics.
      After initial recompensation, patients were weaned from inotropes as soon as
      possible. Thereafter, intermittent inotropes (over 3-4 days) were given as a
      predefined weekly (until 2011) or 8 weekly regimen (from 2011 to 2013). In 57 %
      of these patients, additional regimen-independent inotropic support was necessary
      due to hemodynamic instabilities. Fourteen patients (14 %) needed a left- or
      biventricular assist device; 14 patients (14 %) died while waiting and 87 (84 %)
      received heart transplants after 87 +/- 91 days. Cumulative 3 and 12 months
      survival of all 103 patients was 75 and 67 %, respectively. CONCLUSION:
      Intermittent inotropes in HU patients are an adequate strategy as a bridge to
      transplant; the necessity for assist devices was low. These data provide the
      basis for a prospective multicenter trial of intermittent inotropes in patients
      on the HU waiting list.

PMID- 25841882
TI  - Sphingomonas paucimobilis bacteremia in an HIV and hepatitis C co-infected
      patient.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Prompt diagnosis and treatment of blood stream infections in an
      immunocompromised host can result in a decrease in mortality with appropriate
      antibiotic coverage. Signs, symptoms, physical examination, cultures and
      sensitivity findings must be evaluated and interpreted together to accurately
      diagnose and manage the problem. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of
      Sphingomonas paucimobilis bacteremia in a patient with Human Immunodeficiency
      virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus co-infection. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge,
      this is the first reported case of this organism in a patient with HIV co
      infected with chronic hepatitis C virus.

PMID- 25841883
TI  - The role of imaging in anoxic brain injury and brain death: a review of
      modalities with an Irish and international perspective.

PMID- 25841884
TI  - Brief Report: Use of Superheroes Social Skills to Promote Accurate Social Skill
      Use in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
AB  - The current study evaluated the use of Superheroes Social Skills to promote
      accurate use of discrete social skills in training and generalization conditions
      in two children with autism spectrum disorder. Participants attended a twice
      weekly social skills training group over 5 weeks, with lessons targeting
      nonverbal, requesting, responding, and conversation skills. A multiple probe
      across social skills design, replicated across participants, was utilized to
      assess the effects of participation of the intervention on skill accuracy.
      Following introduction of the intervention, participants demonstrated abrupt
      improvements in skill accuracy in both training and generalization conditions.
      Additionally, parental reports of participant social functioning indicated
      improvements following participation in the intervention. Limitations and future
      directions are discussed.

PMID- 25841885
TI  - Differentiating physical discipline from abuse: Q findings from Chinese American
      mothers and pediatric nurses.
AB  - The perception and use of physical discipline (PD) is culture-based, and the
      differentiation between PD and abuse is subjective and complex. The purpose of
      this study was to understand how Chinese American mothers and one group of
      mandated reporters of child abuse (i.e. pediatric nurses) differentiate PD from
      abuse. Using Q-methodology, 3 viewpoints on PD and abuse differentiation were
      uncovered from a sample of 35 Chinese American mothers and 48 pediatric nurses.
      Although there was wide consensus on the most acceptable and most unacceptable
      parent discipline behaviors across the 3 views, the acceptability of punishments
      differed by their potential to inflict injury, pain, or incite fear and
      uncertainty. This was the first study to examine PD and abuse differentiation
      based on 5 definable domains of PD (i.e. specific behavior, intention, delivery,
      outcome, and pattern of use). Findings point to important nuances in how some
      mothers and nurses differentiate abuse from acceptable discipline, and the
      potential for using Q-methodology for exploring PD and abuse differentiations
      across diverse cultural, social, and professional groups. 

PMID- 25841886
TI  - Completing the specificity swap: Single-stranded DNA recognition by F and R100
      TraI relaxase domains.
AB  - During conjugative plasmid transfer, one plasmid strand is cleaved and
      transported to the recipient bacterium. For F and related plasmids, TraI contains
      the relaxase or nickase activity that cleaves the plasmid DNA strand. F TraI36,
      the F TraI relaxase domain, binds a single-stranded origin of transfer (oriT) DNA
      sequence with high affinity and sequence specificity. The TraI36 domain from
      plasmid R100 shares 91% amino acid sequence identity with F TraI36, but its oriT
      DNA binding site differs by two of eleven bases. Both proteins readily
      distinguish between F and R100 binding sites. In earlier work, two amino acid
      substitutions in the DNA binding cleft were shown to be sufficient to change the
      R100 TraI36 DNA-binding specificity to that of F TraI36. In contrast, three
      substitutions could make F TraI36 more "R100-like", but failed to completely
      alter the specificity. Here we identify one additional amino acid substitution
      that completes the specificity swap from F to R100. To our surprise, adding
      further substitutions from R100 to the F background were detrimental to binding
      instead of being neutral, indicating that their effects were influenced by their
      structural context. These results underscore the complex and subtle nature of DNA
      recognition by relaxases and have implications for the evolution of relaxase
      binding sites and oriT sequences. 

PMID- 25841887
TI  - Enhancing the efficacy of electrolytic chlorination for ballast water treatment
      by adding carbon dioxide.
AB  - We examined the synergistic effects of CO2 injection on electro-chlorination in
      disinfection of plankton and bacteria in simulated ballast water. Chlorination
      was performed at dosages of 4 and 6ppm with and without CO2 injection on electro
      chlorination. Testing was performed in both seawater and brackish water quality
      as defined by IMO G8 guidelines. CO2 injection notably decreased from the control
      the number of Artemia franciscana, a brine shrimp, surviving during a 5-day post
      treatment incubation (1.8 and 2.3 log10 reduction in seawater and brackish water,
      respectively at 6ppm TRO+CO2) compared with water electro-chlorinated only (1.2
      and 1.3 log10 reduction in seawater and brackish water, respectively at 6ppm
      TRO). The phytoplankton Tetraselmis suecica, was completely disinfected with no
      live cell found at >4ppm TRO with and without CO2 addition. The effects of CO2
      addition on heterotrophic bacterial growth was not different from electro
      chlorination only. Total residual oxidant concentration (TRO) more rapidly
      declined in electro-chlorination of both marine and brackish waters compared to
      chlorine+CO2 treated waters, with significantly higher amount of TRO being left
      in waters treated with the CO2 addition. Total concentration of trihalomethanes
      (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) measured at day 0 in brackish water test were
      found to be 2- to 3-fold higher in 6ppm TRO+CO2-treated water than in 6ppm TRO
      treated water. The addition of CO2 to electro-chlorination may improve the
      efficiency of this sterilizing treatment of ballast water, yet the increased
      production of some disinfection byproducts needs further study. 

PMID- 25841888
TI  - Sediment impacts on marine sponges.
AB  - Changes in sediment input to marine systems can influence benthic environments in
      many ways. Sponges are important components of benthic ecosystems world-wide and
      as sessile suspension feeders are likely to be impacted by changes in sediment
      levels. Despite this, little is known about how sponges respond to changes in
      settled and suspended sediment. Here we review the known impacts of sedimentation
      on sponges and their adaptive capabilities, whilst highlighting gaps in our
      understanding of sediment impacts on sponges. Although the literature clearly
      shows that sponges are influenced by sediment in a variety of ways, most studies
      confer that sponges are able to tolerate, and in some cases thrive, in sedimented
      environments. Critical gaps exist in our understanding of the physiological
      responses of sponges to sediment, adaptive mechanisms, tolerance limits, and the
      particularly the effect of sediment on early life history stages. 

PMID- 25841889
TI  - Neurotrophic Activity of Cultured Cell Line U87 is Up-Regulated by Proline-Rich
      Polypeptide Complex and Its Constituent Nonapeptide.
AB  - Neurotrophins such as nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic
      factor, as well as cytokines, for example, interleukin-6 (IL-6) play an important
      role in neuroprotection and in the control of the central nervous system (CNS)
      function. Reduced expression of neurotrophic factors can lead to dysregulation of
      neuron function and neuronal death. There is also evidence for mutual
      interactions between neurotrophins and IL-6. Therefore, the up-regulating the
      level of neuroprotective substances is one of the key manners to control the
      nervous system development and function. It can be a promising aim in the therapy
      of neurodegenerative disease in which the decreased level of neurotrophins is
      observed. In our recent studies, the role of proline-rich polypeptide complex
      (PRP) and its nonapeptide fragment (NP) in the regulation of neurotrophic
      activity in cultured astrocytes was shown. PRP and NP stimulate human astrocytoma
      cell line U87 to release the significant amounts of NGF to the extracellular
      space both in its precursor and mature form. We also provide the evidence that in
      NP-treated cells, the level of betaNGF mRNA was increased. NP-treated cells used
      in this study produced also increasing amounts of IL-6. This finding indicates
      that PRP and its nonapeptide fragment NP up-regulate neurotrophic activity of U87
      cell line by increase of NGF synthesis and its release into the extracellular
      space. It was also shown that NP-dependent increased production of IL-6 can
      enhance the NGF activity. 

PMID- 25841890
TI  - Effects of fluoxetine on the amygdala and the hippocampus after administration of
      a single prolonged stress to male Wistar rates: In vivo proton magnetic resonance
      spectroscopy findings.
AB  - Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety- and memory-based disorder.
      The hippocampus and amygdala are key areas in mood regulation. Fluoxetine was
      found to improve the anxiety-related symptoms of PTSD patients. However, little
      work has directly examined the effects of fluoxetine on the hippocampus and the
      amygdala. In the present study, male Wistar rats received fluoxetine or vehicle
      after exposure to a single prolonged stress (SPS), an animal model of PTSD. In
      vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) was performed -1, 1, 4, 7
      and 14 days after SPS to examine the effects of fluoxetine on neurometabolite
      changes in amygdala, hippocampus and thalamus. SPS increased the N
      acetylaspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr) and choline moieties (Cho)/Cr ratios in the
      bilateral amygdala on day 4, decreased the NAA/Cr ratio in the left hippocampus
      on day 1, and increased both ratios in the right hippocampus on day 14. But no
      significant change was found in the thalamus. Fluoxetine treatment corrected the
      SPS increases in the NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr levels in the amygdala on day 4 and in the
      hippocampus on day 14, but it failed to normalise SPS-associated decreases in
      NAA/Cr levels in the left hippocampus on day 1. These results suggested that
      metabolic abnormalities in the amygdala and the hippocampus were involved in SPS,
      and different effects of fluoxetine in correcting SPS-induced neurometabolite
      changes among the three areas. These findings have implications for fluoxetine
      treatment in PTSD. 

PMID- 25841892
TI  - Outpatient treatment for neonates and young infants with clinically suspected
      severe infection.

PMID- 25841891
TI  - Safety and efficacy of alternative antibiotic regimens compared with 7 day
      injectable procaine benzylpenicillin and gentamicin for outpatient treatment of
      neonates and young infants with clinical signs of severe infection when referral
      is not possible: a randomised, open-label, equivalence trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Severe infections remain one of the main causes of neonatal deaths
      worldwide. Possible severe infection is diagnosed in young infants (aged 0-59
      days) according to the presence of one or more clinical signs. The recommended
      treatment is hospital admission with 7-10 days of injectable antibiotic therapy.
      In low-income and middle-income countries, barriers to hospital care lead to
      delayed, inadequate, or no treatment for many young infants. We aimed to identify
      effective alternative antibiotic regimens to expand treatment options for
      situations where hospital admission is not possible. METHODS: We did this
      randomised, open-label, equivalence trial in four urban hospitals and one rural
      field site in Bangladesh to determine whether two alternative antibiotic regimens
      with reduced numbers of injectable antibiotics combined with oral antibiotics had
      similar efficacy and safety to the standard regimen, which was also used as
      outpatient treatment. We randomly assigned infants who showed at least one
      clinical sign of severe, but not critical, infection (except fast breathing
      alone), whose parents refused hospital admission, to one of the three treatment
      regimens. We stratified randomisation by study site and age (<7 days or 7-59
      days) using computer-generated randomisation sequences. The standard treatment
      was intramuscular procaine benzylpenicillin and gentamicin once per day for 7
      days (group A). The alternative regimens were intramuscular gentamicin once per
      day and oral amoxicillin twice per day for 7 days (group B) or intramuscular
      procaine benzylpenicillin and gentamicin once per day for 2 days, then oral
      amoxicillin twice per day for 5 days (group C). The primary outcome was treatment
      failure within 7 days after enrolment. Assessors of treatment failure were masked
      to treatment allocation. Primary analysis was per protocol. We used a
      prespecified similarity margin of 5% to assess equivalence between regimens. This
      study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00844337. FINDINGS:
      Between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2013, we recruited 2490 young infants into the
      trial. We assigned 830 infants to group A, 831 infants to group B, and 829
      infants to group C. 2367 (95%) infants fulfilled per-protocol criteria. 78 (10%)
      of 795 per-protocol infants had treatment failure in group A compared with 65
      (8%) of 782 infants in group B (risk difference -1.5%, 95% CI -4.3 to 1.3) and 64
      (8%) of 790 infants in group C (-1.7%, -4.5 to 1.1). In group A, 14 (2%) infants
      died before day 15, compared with 12 (2%) infants in group B and 12 (2%) infants
      in group C. Non-fatal relapse rates were similar in all three groups (12 [2%]
      infants in group A vs 13 [2%] infants in group B and 10 [1%] infants in group C).
      INTERPRETATION: Our results suggest that the two alternative antibiotic regimens
      for outpatient treatment of clinical signs of severe infection in young infants
      whose parents refused hospital admission are as efficacious as the standard
      regimen. This finding could increase treatment options in resource-poor settings
      when referral care is not available or acceptable.

PMID- 25841893
TI  - The role of anaerobes in diabetic foot infections.
AB  - Diabetic foot infections (DFI) are a common cause of morbidity and, on occasion,
      even mortality. Infection can be either mono- or polymicrobial, with a wide
      variety of potential pathogens. Anaerobes may be involved, particularly in wounds
      that are deeper or more chronic, and are more frequently identified when using
      modern molecular techniques, such as 16s PCR and pyrosequencing. It remains
      unclear whether the presence of anaerobes in DFI leads to more severe
      manifestations, or if these organisms are largely colonizers associated with the
      presence of greater degrees of tissue ischemia and necrosis. Commonly used
      empiric antibiotic therapy for diabetic foot infections is generally broad
      spectrum and usually has activity against the most frequently identified
      anaerobes, such as Peptostreptococcus and Bacteroides species. Adequate surgical
      debridement and, when needed, foot revascularization may be at least as important
      as the choice of antibiotic to achieve a successful treatment outcome. 

PMID- 25841895
TI  - A protein fold with multiple functions: Chlorite dismutase, HemQ and DyP-type
      peroxidase.

PMID- 25841894
TI  - Psychosine inhibits osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption via G protein-coupled
      receptor 65.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It was recently reported that G protein-coupled receptor 65 (GPR65)
      suppresses ovariectomy-induced bone loss. AIM: The present study investigated the
      role of the lysosphingolipid psychosine, a GPR65 ligand, on osteoclastic
      differentiation and bone resorption. METHODS: Osteoclasts were differentiated
      from mouse bone marrow macrophages. Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-positive
      multinucleated cells were considered to be osteoclasts, and the resorption area
      was measured by incubating the cells on dentine discs. The expression levels of
      osteoclast differentiation markers were assessed by qRT-PCR. GPR65 siRNA and its
      scrambled siRNA were transfected with lipofectamine. Intracellular cyclic
      adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels were assessed using a direct enzyme
      immunoassay. RESULTS: Psychosine inhibited osteoclastogenesis and in vitro bone
      resorption without any significant effect on the viability of pre-osteoclasts,
      decreased the expression of osteoclast differentiation markers significantly, and
      increased intracellular cAMP levels. The knockdown of GPR65 by its siRNA restored
      osteoclastogenesis and decreased cAMP levels in the presence of psychosine.
      CONCLUSION: Psychosine inhibits osteoclastogenesis by increasing intracellular
      cAMP levels via GPR65.

PMID- 25841896
TI  - Effects of a single glucocorticoid injection on propylene glycol-treated cows
      with clinical ketosis.
AB  - This study investigated the metabolic effects of glucocorticoids when
      administered to propylene glycol-treated cows with clinical ketosis. Clinical
      ketosis was defined by depressed feed intake and milk production, and a maximal
      score for acetoacetate in urine. All cows received 250 mL oral propylene glycol
      twice daily for 3 days and were randomly assigned to a single intramuscular
      injection with sterile isotonic saline solution (n = 14) or dexamethasone-21
      isonicotinate (n = 17). Metabolic blood variables were monitored for 6 days and
      adipose tissue variables for 3 days. beta-Hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) concentrations
      in blood decreased in all cows during treatment, but were lower in glucocorticoid
      treated cows. Cows treated with glucocorticoids had higher plasma glucose and
      insulin concentrations, whereas concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids, 3
      methylhistidine and growth hormone were unaffected. mRNA expression of hormone
      sensitive lipase, BHBA receptor and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor
      type gamma in adipose tissue was not affected. This shows that lipolytic effects
      do not appear to be important in ketotic cows when glucocorticoids are combined
      with PG. Plasma 3-methyl histidine concentrations were similar in both groups,
      suggesting that glucocorticoids did not increase muscle breakdown and that the
      greater rise in plasma glucose in glucocorticoid-treated cows may not be due to
      increased supply of glucogenic amino acids from muscle.

PMID- 25841897
TI  - The effects of altered distances between obstacles on the jump kinematics and
      apparent joint angulations of large agility dogs.
AB  - Canine agility is a rapidly growing sport in the UK. However, there is a paucity
      of scientific research examining jump kinematics and associated health and
      welfare implications of the discipline. The aim of this research was to examine
      differences in jump kinematics and apparent joint angulation of large (>431 mm at
      the withers) agility dogs (n = 54), when the distance between hurdles was altered
      (3.6 m, 4 m and 5 m apart) and to determine how level of skill impacted upon jump
      kinematics. Significant differences were observed for both the take-off (P
      <0.001) and landing distances (P <0.001) between the 3.6 m, 4 m and 5 m
      distances. Further differences were observed when level of skill was controlled
      for; take-off (F[3,55] = 5.686, P = 0.002) and landing (F[3,55] = 7.552, P
      <0.001) distances differed at the 3.6 m distance, as did the take-off distance at
      the 4 m hurdle distance (F[3,50] = 6.168, P = 0.001). Take-off and landing speeds
      differed for hurdle distances (P <0.001) and level of skill (P <0.001). There
      were significant differences in apparent neck angle during take-off and landing
      (P <0.001), lumbar spine angles during take-off, bascule and landing (P <0.01),
      and in shoulder angles during the bascule phase (P <0.05). The results indicate
      that agility dogs alter their jumping patterns to accommodate the spacing between
      hurdles, which ultimately may impact long term health and welfare due to altered
      kinematics.

PMID- 25841898
TI  - Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus infection: Etiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis
      and immunoprophylaxis.
AB  - Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), a member of the genera Alphacoronavirus
      in the family Coronaviridae, causes acute diarrhea/vomiting, dehydration and high
      mortality in seronegative neonatal piglets. For the last three decades, PEDV
      infection has resulted in significant economic losses in the European and Asian
      pig industries, but in 2013-2014 the disease was also reported in the US, Canada
      and Mexico. The PED epidemic in the US, from April 2013 to the present, has led
      to the loss of more than 10% of the US pig population. The disappearance and re
      emergence of epidemic PED indicates that the virus is able to escape from current
      vaccination protocols, biosecurity and control systems. Endemic PED is a
      significant problem, which is exacerbated by the emergence (or potential
      importation) of multiple PEDV variants. Epidemic PEDV strains spread rapidly and
      cause a high number of pig deaths. These strains are highly enteropathogenic and
      acutely infect villous epithelial cells of the entire small and large intestines
      although the jejunum and ileum are the primary sites. PEDV infections cause
      acute, severe atrophic enteritis accompanied by viremia that leads to profound
      diarrhea and vomiting, followed by extensive dehydration, which is the major
      cause of death in nursing piglets. A comprehensive understanding of the
      pathogenic characteristics of epidemic or endemic PEDV strains is needed to
      prevent and control the disease in affected regions and to develop an effective
      vaccine. This review focuses on the etiology, epidemiology, disease mechanisms
      and pathogenesis as well as immunoprophylaxis against PEDV infection. 

PMID- 25841899
TI  - The relationship between the Southern Oscillation Index, rainfall and the
      occurrence of canine tick paralysis, feline tick paralysis and canine parvovirus
      in Australia.
AB  - The aim of this study was to describe the association between climate, weather
      and the occurrence of canine tick paralysis, feline tick paralysis and canine
      parvovirus in Australia. The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and monthly average
      rainfall (mm) data were used as indices for climate and weather, respectively.
      Case data were extracted from a voluntary national companion animal disease
      surveillance resource. Climate and weather data were obtained from the Australian
      Government Bureau of Meteorology. During the 4-year study period (January 2010
      December 2013), a total of 4742 canine parvovirus cases and 8417 tick paralysis
      cases were reported. No significant (P >= 0.05) correlations were found between
      the SOI and parvovirus, canine tick paralysis or feline tick paralysis. A
      significant (P < 0.05) positive cross-correlation was found between parvovirus
      occurrence and rainfall in the same month (0.28), and significant negative cross
      correlations (-0.26 to -0.36) between parvovirus occurrence and rainfall 4-6
      months previously. Significant (P < 0.05) negative cross-correlations (-0.34 to 
      0.39) were found between canine tick paralysis occurrence and rainfall 1-3 months
      previously, and significant positive cross-correlations (0.29-0.47) between
      canine tick paralysis occurrence and rainfall 7-10 months previously. Significant
      positive cross-correlations (0.37-0.68) were found between cases of feline tick
      paralysis and rainfall 6-10 months previously. These findings may offer a useful
      tool for the management and prevention of tick paralysis and canine parvovirus,
      by providing an evidence base supporting the recommendations of veterinarians to
      clients thus reducing the impact of these diseases.

PMID- 25841900
TI  - Gene network and canonical pathway analysis in canine myxomatous mitral valve
      disease: a microarray study.
AB  - Myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) is the single most common acquired heart
      disease of the dog and is particularly common in small pedigree breed dogs such
      as the Cavalier King Charles spaniel (CKCS). There are limited data on the mitral
      valve transcriptome and the aim of this study was to use the microarray
      technology in conjunction with bioinformatics platforms to analyse transcript
      changes in MMVD in CKCS compared to normal dogs (non-CKCS). Differentially
      expressed genes (n = 5397) were identified using cut-off settings of fold change,
      false discovery rate (FDR) and P <0.05. In total, 4002 genes were annotated to a
      specific transcript in the Affymetrix canine database, and after further
      filtering, 591 annotated canine genes were identified: 322 (55%) were up
      regulated and 269 (45%) were down-regulated. Canine microRNAs (cfa-miR; n = 59)
      were also identified. Gene ontology and network analysis platforms identified
      between six and 10 significantly different biological function clusters from
      which the following were selected as relevant to MMVD: inflammation, cell
      movement, cardiovascular development, extracellular matrix organisation and
      epithelial-to-mesenchymal (EMT) transition. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis identified
      three canonical pathways relevant to MMVD: caveolar-mediated endocytosis,
      remodelling of epithelial adherens junctions, and endothelin-1 signalling.
      Considering the biological relevance to MMVD, the gene families of importance
      with significant difference between groups included collagens, ADAMTS peptidases,
      proteoglycans, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors, basement
      membrane components, cathepsin S, integrins, tight junction cell adhesion
      proteins, cadherins, other matrix-associated proteins, and members of the
      serotonin (5-HT)/transforming growth factor -beta signalling pathway.

PMID- 25841901
TI  - Understanding mechanisms of disease development: next generation pathology?

PMID- 25841902
TI  - Quality of life, heart rate, breathing, and pain: palliative care parameters and
      symptoms.

PMID- 25841903
TI  - Prospective evaluation of the quality of life of oral tongue cancer patients
      before and after the treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This prospective study was to evaluate the changes in quality of life
      (QOL) after 12 months post treatment from their pre-treatment levels, using
      specific questionnaires of well-known acceptability, responsiveness, and
      validity, with special emphasis on domains such as chewing, swallowing, speech,
      psychological aspects (mood and anxiety) and pain. METHODS: This prospective
      analytical study included a total of 72 patients affected by oral tongue cancer
      (T1-2N0M0) who underwent treatment [wide local excision with selective +
      radiotherapy (RT)] from 2009 to 2012 at the Department of Oncosurgery and
      Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi.
      RESULTS: A total of 39 (54.2%) patients were eligible for the study. Death
      occurred in 12 patients, four patients had disease recurrence and 17 patients
      lost to follow up. QOL in five domains was improved, there was significant
      improvement in pain scores [mean difference (-)17.94], overall activity of the
      patient was significantly improved (-13.46), recreational activities were also
      significantly improved (-8.33) and mental status of patient which included the
      mood and anxiety level were also significantly improved (-13.71 and -11.53)
      respectively. In seven domains which included the appearance of the patient
      (32.05), swallowing (16.41), chewing (24.35), speech (29.48), shoulder pain and
      discomfort (6.92), taste (35.12) and saliva production scores (20.51) were
      significantly worse. CONCLUSIONS: By our study we can strongly recommend that
      oral tongue cancers if diagnosed at early stages and without any neck node (T1
      2N0M0) can be easily managed without compromising the QOL of the patients
      significantly.

PMID- 25841904
TI  - Predicting discharge of palliative care inpatients by measuring their heart rate
      variability.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Home discharge after hospital admission to an inpatient palliative
      care unit (PCU) is a major challenge. Dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system
      is commonly observed in patients with advanced cancer in this setting. The aim of
      this prospective observational study was to determine whether the measurement of
      heart rate variability (HRV) by assessing parameters of the autonomic nervous
      system on a 24-h-ECG at the time of admission to the PCU was correlated with the
      likelihood of discharge. METHODS: Sixty hospitalized patients with advanced
      cancer of distinct origin, admitted to a PCU, were enrolled consecutively. The
      Karnofsky performance status scale (KPS) and the palliative performance scale
      (PPS) were obtained. HRV was measured over one day (20-24 hours) using a portable
      five-point ECG. The aim of the study was to compare HRV measurements in patients
      who could be discharged and those who died. The association of these variables
      with home discharge or death at the PCU was calculated. RESULTS: Discharge was
      achieved in 45% of patients while 55% of patients died. Median KPS and median PPS
      on admission were significantly higher in discharged patients than in those who
      died (P=0.001). Patients who were discharged tended to have a higher HRV,
      although the difference was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: KPS and PPS were
      significant predictors of the likelihood of discharge while HRV did not predict
      discharge.

PMID- 25841905
TI  - Safety evaluation of a potential ablation agent-hydrochloric acid in the rabbits'
      model.
AB  - AIM: To evaluate the safety of a potential ablation agent-hydrochloric acid
      (HCl), which may apply to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: Eighty
      adult New Zealand rabbits were divided into five groups of equal size (n=16),
      i.e., untreated group, normal saline (NS) control group, 10% HCl group, 20% HCl
      group and 30% HCl group. Each group was divided into two subgroups: ten rabbits
      for two-week toxicology study at the time points of hours 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 3, 6
      and days 2, 7, 14 and six rabbits for imaging and histopathology study at the
      time points of days 2, 7 and 14. In toxicology study we evaluated the safety of
      HCl from arterial blood gas status, hematology and hepatic and renal functions.
      In imaging and histopathology study, we observed the relationship between the
      sizes of lesion and the concentration of HCl, as well as extension of necrosis
      and concentration of HCl. In this study we also observed the microcosmic and
      macroscopic lesion that caused by HCl. RESULTS: In general condition, food, water
      consumption and body weight decreased notablely during the beginning of the
      experiment. In toxicology study, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate
      aminotransferase and lactic acid contents were higher in the 30% hydrochloric
      acid group than in other groups (P<0.005), all test items returned to normal on
      day 14. Imaging and histopathology study showed that 30% HCl caused larger lesion
      area than other HCl concentration and the necrosis that caused by HCl was
      complete. There was also a close relationship between the size of minor damaged
      area and HCl concentration. The 30% HCl caused larger minor damaged area than
      other HCl concentration. Because the damaged area was surrounded by a layer of
      fiber tissue, the lesion area became larger at days 7 and 14 time points. This
      study also demonstrated that the adjacent organs had no obvious damage, and all
      the damaged areas were limited in the liver. CONCLUSIONS: HCl is a safe ablation
      agent for local injection in the liver. HCl at a lower concentration is safer
      than at a higher concentration.

PMID- 25841906
TI  - Recent advances in the pharmacological management of acute and chronic pain.
AB  - This review focuses on newer medications for the treatment of pain as well as on
      new guidelines and indications for the use of established medications. With
      regard to classical analgesics, the use of non-opioids and opioids is reviewed.
      Here are relevant new data on the use of the old substance acetaminophen as well
      as on non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and the newer
      COX-2 selective agents, which continue to be misunderstood. Amongst the opioids
      the new compound tapentadol with a new mechanism of action is presented as well
      as a number of new opioid preparations aiming to increase speed of onset of
      effect and to reduce abuse and diversion. Many medications, which were not
      originally developed to treat pain, are now used as components of multimodal
      analgesia or in specific indications. Here are of relevance anticonvulsants such
      as pregabalin and gabapentin, which were initially used for neuropathic pain, but
      are now used successfully in a wide range of indications from postoperative pain
      to fibromyalgia. The reason for this increased range of indications is the
      realization of the relevance of central sensitization processes for all pain
      states. Similarly, the use of antidepressants and the old dissociative anesthetic
      ketamine is increasing for the same reasons. Calcitonin has also found some new
      indications in difficult to treat pain conditions, while the discussion on the
      role of cannabinoids in pain management continues, partially driven by political
      issues. For localized neuropathic pain, there is increasing interest in topical
      preparations such as lidocaine and capsaicin patches, in particular in view of
      their minimal systemic adverse effects. Overall, recent advances in the
      pharmacological management of pain are not so much the result of new 'miracle'
      drugs, but new preparations and new ways to use old drugs in a variety of
      settings, often as components of a multimodal approach to pain relief. 

PMID- 25841907
TI  - Palliation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with a progressive
      course with a variable illness trajectory causing death either from respiratory
      failure or complications from its comorbities. Palliative care benefits patients
      throughout all stages of COPD, with a goal to manage patients' symptom burden
      which can reduce physical, psychological, and social complications. Dyspnea is
      the most common and distressing symptom patients with end stage COPD experience,
      which responds only partially to therapy and eventually becomes refractory to
      routine care. Palliative management goals aim at relieving refractory symptoms,
      improving function, and enhancing quality of life in patients with advanced
      illness and high symptom burden. Caregivers and informed patients can utilize
      palliative care resources to provide effective relief from refractory dyspnea and
      help patients maintain a dignified quality-of-life until the end of life. This
      review is focused on identifying current deficiencies in palliative care provided
      to patients with advanced COPD with attempts to overcome these. We hope to
      increase awareness of palliative care in advanced COPD to healthcare providers
      caring for this population of patients. 

PMID- 25841908
TI  - Palliative radiotherapy: past, present and future-where do we go from here?
AB  - Radiotherapy is successful, time efficient, cost effective, and safe means to
      provide palliative relief for a variety of symptoms suffered by oncology
      patients. While the value of palliative radiotherapy has been understood for more
      than century, the radiation oncology specialty has only incompletely embraced its
      role in this setting. The optimization of palliative oncology requires accurate
      survival prognostication and a dedication to existing hypofractionated
      radiotherapy regimens that minimize toxicity and improve patient and caregiver
      convenience. The future of palliative radiotherapy demands more extensive
      treatment guidelines that explain the proper use of existing and novel
      technologies while remaining attentive to a growing population of cancer patients
      and a limited amount of resources with which to provide them care. 

PMID- 25841910
TI  - Hepatocellular carcinoma: what is happening everywhere?

PMID- 25841909
TI  - The role of hypofractionated radiation in the management of non-osseous
      metastatic or uncontrolled local cancer.
AB  - Radiation therapy is often used to palliate symptoms caused by cancer. Short
      course, or "hypofractionated" palliative radiation therapy provides equivalent
      palliation in the setting of non-osseous metastasis or uncontrolled localized
      cancer while being more convenient and cost-effective than longer courses of
      radiation. Hypofractionated palliative radiation plays a role in the management
      of obstruction due to tumor, neurologic symptoms, pain caused by localized bulky
      disease, and bleeding in patients with primary tumors of the lung, head and neck,
      bladder, rectum, gynecologic malignancies, and metastasis to the liver, lung and
      brain. Hypofractionated palliative radiation is well tolerated with minimal and
      self-limited side effects. The side effects that do occur are generally limited
      to the body region treated and last from a few days to a few weeks. 

PMID- 25841911
TI  - Viral hepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and alcohol as risk factors
      for hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cancer worldwide, with significant
      increase in the incidence observed in the past two decades in the United States.
      Majority of cases of HCC are due to chronic viral hepatitis B and C infections;
      however non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, associated with obesity and diabetes
      emerges as an important risk factor for HCC, in particular in the developed
      countries. Here we will review viral characteristics associated with increased
      risk for development of HCC and role of antiviral therapy in decreasing risk of
      HCC in those with viral hepatitis and cirrhosis. Association of alcoholic
      cirrhosis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with liver cancer will be
      reviewed as well as possible measures to decrease the risk of HCC in these highly
      prevalent populations. 

PMID- 25841912
TI  - A review of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) staging systems.
AB  - Accurately staging patients is essential to oncology practice. Cancer staging
      contributes to prognostication, guides management decisions, and informs
      clinical, epidemiologic, and health services research. In hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC), staging poses unique challenges due to the geographic and
      biological heterogeneity of the disease and lack of consensus on how to best
      classify patients. The features included in various HCC classifications systems
      have evolved over the last 50 years, but in general, need to account for both
      tumor characteristics as well as the burden of underlying liver disease.In this
      review, we discuss the Child-Turcotte-Pugh and Model for End-Stage Liver Disease,
      two practical systems that reflect the degree of hepatic dysfunction. We then
      describe several HCC staging systems, reviewing their development, and
      applicability to clinical practice, with a critical look at their validation.
      Finally, we look ahead to novel systems utilizing molecular markers. It is hoped
      this review will provide context regarding the use of current staging and scoring
      methods and a glimpse of what we can expect with future systems. 

PMID- 25841913
TI  - Management of liver cirrhosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is challenging compared to other
      common malignancies because of the nature of the associated background of chronic
      liver dysfunction. Most of the patients with HCC have underlying cirrhosis. While
      progression of the tumor is a major contributor to mortality, cirrhosis and its
      complications often accounts for a significant portion of the morbidity and
      mortality seen in this group of patients. Severity of underlying liver disease
      and degree of decompensation predicts prognosis and dictates the tumor treatment
      options and responses. A multidisciplinary approach is considered the standard of
      care and paramount to optimal patient outcomes. This review provides information
      on the general management of cirrhosis, cirrhosis-related complications and
      commonly associated symptoms, mainly focusing when available on high-level
      evidence and guidelines. 

PMID- 25841914
TI  - Hepatocellular carcinoma in the modern era: transplantation, ablation, open
      surgery or minimally invasive surgery? -A multidisciplinary personalized
      decision.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the few gastrointestinal cancers with
      increasing incidence and mortality worldwide. It arises most frequently in the
      setting of cirrhosis and presents heterogeneously with varying degrees of
      preserved liver function. Surgical resection and liver transplantation represent
      the cornerstones of curative treatment worldwide, whereas tumor ablation is being
      increasingly used for small tumors. A variety of different treatment algorithms
      have been developed, taking into consideration both the tumor stage as well as
      the liver reserve. Currently, many treatment modalities are continuously
      evolving. Transplantation criteria are expanding and even higher stage tumors
      become transplantable with neoadjuvant treatment. Surgical resection is being
      affected by the introduction of minimally invasive approaches. Ablation
      techniques are increasingly being used for small tumors. Combinations of
      different treatments are being introduced such as surgical resection followed by
      salvage transplantation. In this continuously changing field, the objectives of
      this review are to summarize the current curative surgical treatment options for
      patients with HCC, focusing on the controversial areas that multiple treatments
      might be applicable for the same patient, highlight the recent advances in
      minimally invasive surgery for HCC, and emphasize the need for a
      multidisciplinary approach and treatment plan tailored to the characteristics of
      each patient. 

PMID- 25841915
TI  - Percutaneous therapies of hepatocellular carcinoma-an update.
AB  - Percutaneous image-guided tumor therapies have proved important in the treatment
      of patients with primary liver cancer. The therapeutic spectrum for the
      management of this patient group includes ablative techniques such as ethanol
      ablation and radiofrequency ablation for patients with early-stage disease as
      well as intra-arterial approaches such as radioembolization and transarterial
      chemoembolization for patients with intermediate and end-stage disease. The
      tremendous advantage of such therapies is the reduced systemic toxicity combined
      with efficient local tumor control. However, specific therapeutic algorithms
      continue to be highly unstandardized and depend on individual experience of the
      operator. In this review, we will describe the rationale behind several
      percutaneous techniques, focusing on intra-arterial therapies of hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC) and review the available clinical evidence. We will also discuss
      new developments such as the combination of intra-arterial therapies with new
      systemically applicable drugs. 

PMID- 25841916
TI  - Systemic therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - The prognosis is poor for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
      Sorafenib is the only accepted standard of care for advanced disease. The
      benefits of this agent are modest and the precise mechanism of antitumor activity
      in HCC is unknown. Since the approval of sorafenib, there has been intense
      investigation into strategies that block angiogenic pathways. Unfortunately, the
      results of three randomized phase III trials that compared newer anti-angiogenic
      treatments to sorafenib failed to demonstrate their superiority or non
      inferiority. Thus, there remains a critical need for both continued molecular
      characterization and aggressive drug development in hepatocellular carcinoma. 

PMID- 25841917
TI  - Features and treatment options of Chinese hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. More
      than 53% of the total HCC patients in the world come from China. The absolute
      number of new Chinese HCC cases still keeps increasing and it remains a most
      dominant cancer burden in the next several decades. Compared to the HCC occurred
      in Europe and North America, Chinese HCC patients have their own special features
      in etiology, demographic features (risk factors, age of onset, gender
      distribution time trend of incidence), biological behavior, clinical
      manifestation, treatment strategy and prognosis. The success or failure of a
      series of clinical trials related with systemic therapy for advanced HCC can be
      partly attributed to those features of Chinese HCC. Thus it is suggested that new
      trials should be performed respectively for Chinese HCC patients from the Western
      population, like the success of sorafenib SHARP and ORIENTAL studies. The
      protocal design, organization and practice of trials in HCC of China should be
      made individually to avoid or reduce the possible heterogeneity of HCC
      populations and facilitate the personalized therapy of HCC. The present review
      discussed the features and treatment options of HCC in China that maybe help to
      understand the clinical course for Chinese patients with HCC. More importantly,
      the future strategies for clinical trials of Chinese HCC were emphasized. 

PMID- 25841918
TI  - Status of hepatocellular carcinoma in South Korea.
AB  - In South Korea, liver cancer is the 4th most common cancer in men and 6th most
      common cancer in women. However, the incidences of liver cancer among Korean men
      and women have been declining from 1999 to 2010. The reason for the declining
      incidence appears secondary to decreased hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, which
      is the leading risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with successful
      implementation of HBV vaccination since 1983. Despite recent advances in the
      treatment of HCC, including liver transplantation (LT), radiofrequency ablation
      (RFA), transarterial embolization, and the use of molecularly targeted agents,
      many patients cannot be cured due to the advanced stage of HCC at the time of
      diagnosis in South Korea. While the 5-year survival rate of HCC patients in Korea
      is relatively lower than other cancers, it has been gradually increased from the
      early 1990s to the late 2000s. The reason for the improvement in 5-year survival
      rates is attributed that early detection of HCC becomes possible by well
      established surveillance program in high-risk populations for HCC in Korea. In
      Korea, national surveillance program for HCC was established in 2003, in which
      repeated applications of screening tests [serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and liver
      ultrasound] at 6-month intervals have been recommended in patients at high risk
      for developing HCC, such as men and women older than 40 years of age with
      positive hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) or
      underlying liver cirrhosis. It is essential that the nationwide surveillance
      program for HCC should be effectively executed in high-risk patients for
      developing HCC. Optimal application of multidisciplinary team approach and active
      involvement in clinical studies with new agents in HCC patients are critically
      important not only for the management of advanced HCC patients but also for the
      improvement in natural history and therapeutic outcomes of HCC patients in the
      future. 

PMID- 25841919
TI  - Current status of hepatocellular carcinoma in Japan.
AB  - Approximately 32,000 patients die of primary liver cancer each year in Japan. The
      annual number of deaths from primary liver cancer in Japan ranks second only to
      that in China in the world. In recent years, there has been a gradual trend
      towards decrease in the number of liver cancer patients from its peak in Japan,
      and this trend is expected to also continue in the future. The main reason for
      this decreasing trend was the establishment of screening of transfusion products
      for hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses, which prevents transfusion-related
      transmission of the viral infection. Most patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
      (HCC) in Japan have underlying viral hepatitis, with hepatitis C accounting for
      about two-third of all the patients and hepatitis B accounting for about 15%.
      Regular screening of patients with viral hepatitis infection makes it possible to
      diagnose HCC early, and also enables effective loco-regional treatment, such as
      surgical resection, local ablative therapy and transcatheter arterial
      chemoembolization (TACE). However, HCC recurrence is encountered frequently even
      after these potentially effective treatments. After numerous loco-regional
      treatments for recurrent HCC, chemotherapy is administered for patients with
      highly advanced HCC. Among the modalities of chemotherapy, hepatic arterial
      infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) is employed more commonly than systemic
      chemotherapy, although no survival advantage has ever been demonstrated.
      Randomized controlled studies are currently under way to clarify the survival
      benefit of HAIC. Also, various novel systemic chemotherapeutic agents are
      currently under development in Japan, and further improvements in the treatment
      outcomes are expected. 

PMID- 25841921
TI  - Status of hepatocellular carcinoma in Gulf region.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a unique geographic distribution that is
      likely to be determined by specific etiologic factors. There is a distinctive
      difference in sex and age related occurrence of disease. In the Gulf region,
      there are contradicting data on the prevalence and death rates due to HCC. In
      this review we highlight some aspects of HCC specific to the Gulf region. A
      retrospective analysis of 150 patient's data is presented, including demographic,
      epidemiological, aetiological disease status assessment with child Pugh criteria,
      modes of treatment and treatment related outcome. Hepatitis C virus (HCV)
      infection was the most common (45%) documented etiology, similar to Western
      European countries, followed by hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in 27% of
      cases, alcoholic liver disease only in six patients (4%). Child-Pugh assessment
      was A in 33%, B in 37% and C in 30% of observed patients. Surgery (liver
      resection or transplantation) was performed in 12% and local ablation in 5% of
      cases. The others were treated by chemo-embolization in 17% and by systemic
      therapy with sorafenib in 13% of patients. Nearly half of the patients (53%) were
      in advanced stages and received palliative treatment. To improve the outcome of
      treatment in HCC patients in the Gulf region, an effective and strategic
      screening program must be implemented for early diagnosis and treatment to
      improve the outcome of this mostly fatal disease. 

PMID- 25841920
TI  - Hepatocellular carcinoma in India.
AB  - Cancers of the liver are one of the commonest cancers that occur in the world,
      the commonest of which is the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It is considered to
      be the 5th commonest cancer in the world. In the areas that are endemic for
      hepatitis B and C, it is extremely common. Unfortunately, India which is an
      endemic zone for hepatitis B, there has been no comprehensive analyzed data for
      HCC. Incidence of HCC in India occurs at two peaks, one at a young age between 40
      to 55 years and another above 60 years. Eighty per cent of all HCCs occurring in
      India occur with cirrhosis of liver in the background and 60% of all these cases
      are hepatitis B positive carriers. Symptoms are reflective of late presentation
      with advanced disease. Surgery, the only curative modulus available,
      unfortunately is not possible in 95% of HCC patients. Majority of the patients
      are treated with palliative and supportive care and life spans are limited.
      Sorafenib is used in a small section of patients. Characterization of HCC with
      molecular sub-typing is the need of the hour. 

PMID- 25841922
TI  - Risk factors for developing hepatocellular carcinoma in Egypt.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common disorder worldwide and ranks 2nd and
      6th most common cancer among men and women in Egypt. HCC has a rising incidence
      in Egypt mostly due to high prevalence of viral hepatitis and its complications.
      Proper management requires the interaction of multidisciplinary HCC clinic to
      choose the most appropriate plan. The different modalities of treatment include
      resection (surgery or transplantation), local ablation, chemoembolization,
      radioembolization and molecular targeted therapies. This paper summarizes both
      the environmental and host related risk factors of HCC in Egypt including well
      established risk factors such as hepatitis virus infection, aflatoxin, as well as
      possible risk factors. 

PMID- 25841923
TI  - Status of hepatocellular cancer in Europe.
AB  - Hepatocellular cancer (HCC) accounts for 47,000 deaths per year in Europe and the
      incidence is expected to increase over the next 10-15 years. The highest
      incidence is found in Southern Europe, mainly attributable to chronic hepatitis C
      infection. The most widely used staging system used is the Barcelona-Clinic Liver
      Cancer (BCLC) classification according to which, 30-40% patients are suitable for
      potentially curative therapies including transplantation, resection or ablative
      therapy while the remainder are offered palliative therapy with transarterial
      therapy, systemic therapy or supportive care. Here we review the indications and
      outcomes of these interventions as applied to the European population. 

PMID- 25841924
TI  - Current status of hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a challenging malignancy of worldwide
      importance and is the third most common cause of cancer-related death globally.
      While most of the burden of HCC is borne in Southeast Asia, particularly China,
      and sub-Saharan Africa, there have been several interesting trends of HCC in the
      United States in the past decades. First, the latest epidemiology trend has shown
      that the incidence rates for HCC in the United States have been rising. While
      most cancer related mortality is decreasing in the United States, deaths from HCC
      are increasing and at a rate faster than deaths from any other types of cancer.
      Second, early diagnosis of HCC continues to be challenging and most patients
      would present with unresectable disease. Third, the management of HCC is evolving
      with many new treatment modalities applied in clinical practice. In addition,
      multidisciplinary team efforts with increasing role of oncologists have emerged
      in the management of HCC in most centers in the United States. In this review,
      the author will highlight the key trends and current status of HCC in the United
      States. 

PMID- 25841925
TI  - High symptom burden in children with cancer and high parental satisfaction: why
      the disconnect?

PMID- 25841926
TI  - Optimizing transcatheter therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma: invited
      editorial regarding "Roles played by chemolipiodolization and embolization in
      chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma: single-blind, randomized trial".

PMID- 25841927
TI  - Quality of life and symptom prevalence in children with cancer in Lebanon: the
      perspective of parents.
AB  - In evaluating the outcomes of pediatric palliative care, health-care providers
      rely at times on the parents' input in evaluating children's quality of life and
      symptom experience. To date, the number of studies addressing the perspective of
      parents is scarce. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of
      life, symptom prevalence and management, and the quality of palliative care
      provided to Lebanese children with cancer from their parents' perspectives. A
      convenience sample of 85 caregivers from the Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon
      was enrolled in the study over a 1-year period [2010-2011]. Using face- to-face
      interviews, the administered Arabic questionnaire was a combination of the
      Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory cancer module and the Memorial Symptom
      Assessment Scale (both parent's versions), and selected items from the Needs at
      End of life Screening Tool. The majority of the sample was recruited from the
      outpatient clinic; mean age of children was 12.5 years with the majority having
      leukemia. According to parents, children encountered health-related quality of
      life problems in the areas related to nausea, worry and treatment anxiety. The
      most common symptoms were feeling irritable, feeling nervous, lack of energy,
      lack of appetite, pain, and feeling sad. The most treated symptoms were found to
      be nausea, vomiting, cough, and pain with success rates ranging between 56.3% and
      73.7%. According to the parents, cancer children had acceptable health-related
      quality of life. They experienced physical and psychological symptoms that were
      inadequately managed by the healthcare team. However, parents were highly
      satisfied with the provided quality of care by the center. The findings in this
      study highlight the importance of both physical and psychological symptom
      management among Lebanese children with cancer. 

PMID- 25841928
TI  - Skin toxicity after palliative chemotherapy containing pegylated liposomal
      doxorubicin for ovarian cancer patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Skin toxicity in the course of anticancer treatment occurs in
      majority of patients and may substantially reduce quality of life. Pegylated
      liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) is an anthracyclines' derivative with reducing
      severity of cardiotoxicity and myelosuppression but with localized skin lesions
      on the palms and the soles (PPE). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The retrospective
      analysis included medical records of ovarian cancer patients who were treated
      with PLD due to disease progression after prior therapy. The impact of several
      factors on the risk and severity of PPE was analyzed. RESULTS: In analyzed group
      of ovarian cancer PPE occurred more often in patients who have previously
      received more than two chemotherapy lines, P=0.09. The risk of PPE increased with
      the number of chemotherapy cycles, P<0.001 and anemia, P=0.038. In 5% of pts dose
      reduction was necessary due to PPE. CONCLUSIONS: Skin toxicity may significantly
      limit the possibility to continue the treatment. Good communication with patients
      and their families, close cooperation with family doctors, palliative care and
      dermatologists is essential for prompt and effective treatment of skin toxicity.
      Early preventive actions make to alleviate the discomfort associated with skin
      complications.

PMID- 25841929
TI  - Assessing psychosocial distress: a pain audit at IRCH-AIIMS.
AB  - AIM: Recent work in palliative care has recognized that pain is a complex social,
      psychological, spiritual and psychological experience. In order to assess if each
      of these components is equally well addressed in clinical practice, we undertook
      a retrospective audit of psychosocial assessment procedures at the pain clinic at
      IRCH-AIIMS, New Delhi. METHODS: 686 pain assessment forms collected over 2011
      were examined and analysed through SPPS. RESULTS: (I) While physical aspects of
      pain are recorded at almost 100% levels in the pain forms, psychosocial
      components of patient distress are found to be less adequately recorded; (II) The
      layout the assessment is slanted towards functional factors (such interference
      with daily activities and mobility), while non-functional symptoms are being
      recorded at relatively low levels (anxiety-1.2%, depression-4.4%). Prior studies
      in the same clinic as well as in the Indian psycho-oncology literature has shown
      that non-functional distress (such as anxiety and depression) are usually found
      at much higher rates of incidence (33-80%); (III) Analysis of the existing data
      revealed severe demographic vulnerabilities in our patient sample, an aspect that
      is recorded but not currently addressed as part of a psychosocial assessment.
      CONCLUSIONS: In light of these findings we surveyed 14 existing pain assessment
      tools, and chose two for incorporation into our existing pain practice. These
      tools were the Distress Inventory for Cancer-2 and the American Pain Society
      Patient Outcome Questionnaire. They were chosen for their balance between
      functional and non-functional symptoms, sensitivity to socioeconomic distress and
      ease of completion in the high volume public health scenario.

PMID- 25841930
TI  - Adverse reactions and their management in the treatment of malignant tumors using
      cytokine-induced killer cells.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify the causes and the corresponding management of adverse
      reactions during the treatment of malignant tumors using cytokine-induced killer
      cells. METHODS: From January 2012 to December 2012, 441 patients received a total
      of 1,393 autologous cytokine-induced killer cell transfusion cycles in our
      department. The adverse reactions after the procedures were observed (assessed
      using the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity version 2.0), and targeted
      care and health education were delivered by nurses. RESULTS: All treatment
      sessions were successfully completed, and the following adverse reactions were
      found: grade 1/3 fever in 1.36% (19/1,393) patients; grade 2/3 fever in 0.86%
      (12/1,393) patients; grade 2/3 chills in 0.65% (9/1,393) patients; and grade 1/3
      dizziness in 0.29% (4/1,393) patients. CONCLUSIONS: After timely intervention of
      the adverse reactions, all patients were treated successfully. The best timing of
      the CIK cell therapy for cancer patients is when the tumor burden, or the number
      of tumor cells, reaches the minimal level after the end of surgery, chemotherapy
      and radiation therapy.

PMID- 25841931
TI  - The reimbursement system is not the dominant factor influencing reluctance to
      perform single-fraction radiotherapy for painful bone metastases.

PMID- 25841932
TI  - Radiotherapy in palliative treatment of metastatic NSCLC: not all one and the
      same.

PMID- 25841933
TI  - Helping patients articulate end-of-life wishes: a target for interprofessional
      participation.

PMID- 25841934
TI  - Promotion of case management with coordinated care for fatigued patients with
      advanced cancer.

PMID- 25841935
TI  - The generalizability paradox within palliative care clinical trials.
AB  - We are increasingly recognizing that personalized advanced and chronic illness
      care requires meticulous assessment and management of supportive care needs
      across the entire disease trajectory. This requires drawing clinical decisions
      from a research evidence base that is presumably generalizable to a heterogeneous
      patient population, often with poor performance status, multi-morbidity, and a
      large symptom distress profile. As sometimes this is not the case, how do we
      improve evidence generation that can be consistently applied to all patients with
      advanced disease? 

PMID- 25841936
TI  - Commentary on children's palliative care.

PMID- 25841938
TI  - Optimization of brushless direct current motor design using an intelligent
      technique.
AB  - This paper presents a method for the optimal design of a slotless permanent
      magnet brushless DC (BLDC) motor with surface mounted magnets using an improved
      bee algorithm (IBA). The characteristics of the motor are expressed as functions
      of motor geometries. The objective function is a combination of losses, volume
      and cost to be minimized simultaneously. This method is based on the capability
      of swarm-based algorithms in finding the optimal solution. One sample case is
      used to illustrate the performance of the design approach and optimization
      technique. The IBA has a better performance and speed of convergence compared
      with bee algorithm (BA). Simulation results show that the proposed method has a
      very high/efficient performance.

PMID- 25841939
TI  - The recent views in treatment decision making for chronic kidney disease.

PMID- 25841937
TI  - Autoimmunity to the alpha 3 chain of type IV collagen in glomerulonephritis is
      triggered by 'autoantigen complementarity'.
AB  - 'Autoantigen complementarity' is a theory proposing that the initiator of an
      autoimmune response is not necessarily the autoantigen or its molecular mimic,
      but may instead be a peptide that is 'antisense/complementary' to the
      autoantigen. We investigated whether such complementary proteins play a role in
      the immunopathogenesis of autoimmune glomerulonephritis. Experimental autoimmune
      glomerulonephritis, a model of anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) disease,
      can be induced in Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats by immunization with the alpha3 chain
      of type IV collagen. In this study, WKY rats were immunized with a complementary
      alpha3 peptide (c-alpha3-Gly) comprised of amino acids that 'complement' the well
      characterized epitope on alpha3(IV)NC1, pCol(24-38). Within 8 weeks post
      immunization, these animals developed cresentic glomerulonephritis, similar to
      pCol(24-38)-immunized rats, while animals immunized with scrambled peptide were
      normal. Anti-idiotypic antibodies to epitopes from c-alpha3-Gly-immunized animals
      were shown to be specific for alpha3 protein, binding in a region containing
      sense pCol(24-38) sequence. Interestingly, anti-complementary alpha3 antibodies
      were identified in sera from patients with anti-GBM disease, suggesting a role
      for 'autoantigen complementarity' in immunopathogenesis of the human disease.
      This work supports the idea that autoimmune glomerulonephritis can be initiated
      through an immune response against a peptide that is anti-sense or complementary
      to the autoantigen. The implications of this discovery may be far reaching, and
      other autoimmune diseases could be due to responses to these once unsuspected
      'complementary' antigens. 

PMID- 25841940
TI  - Isolation and evaluation of dental pulp stem cells from teeth with advanced
      periodontal disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Successful isolation of mesenchymal stem cells from waste tissues
      might be extremely promising for developing stem cell-based therapies. This study
      aimed to explore whether cells retrieved from teeth extracted due to advanced
      periodontal disease present mesenchymal stem cell-like properties. METHODS: Pulp
      cells were isolated from 15 intact molars and 15 teeth with advanced periodontal
      disease. Cell proliferation and markers of mesenchymal stem cells were evaluated.
      RESULTS: Based on the RT-PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis, nucleostemin, Oct-4
      and jmj2c, but not Nanog, were expressed in undifferentiated mesenchymal stem
      cells of both groups. Interestingly, diseased pulp exhibited higher gene
      expressions although it was not statistically significant. The average percentage
      of BrdU positive cells in the diseased group (84.4%, n = 5) was significantly
      higher than that of the control group (65.4%, n = 5) (t-test, P = 0.001).
      CONCLUSION: Our results indicate the successful isolation of mesenchymal stem
      cells from the pulp tissue of hopeless periodontally involved teeth.

PMID- 25841941
TI  - Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma--review of clinicopathological and
      immunohistochemical features.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma is a low-grade malignant
      salivary gland neoplasm with a biphasic cell population that encompasses around
      1% of all salivary neoplasms. METHOD: We present different cases of epithelial
      myoepithelial carcinoma, with special emphasis on histopathology, differential
      diagnosis, relevant prognostic factors and follow-up. RESULT: This study included
      8 patients who were diagnosed with epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma and treated
      surgically including a follow-up period of at least 19 months. CONCLUSION:
      Clinical and histopathological characteristics of these rare tumors are extremely
      valuable for accurate diagnosis and further therapy planning.

PMID- 25841942
TI  - A comparative approach between heterologous prime-boost vaccination strategy and
      DNA vaccinations for rabies.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Rabies is a widespread neurological zoonotic disease causing
      significant mortality rates, especially in developing countries. Although a
      vaccine for rabies is available, its production and scheduling are costly in such
      countries. Advances in recombinant DNA technology have made it a good candidate
      for an affordable vaccine. Among the proteins of rabies virus, the Glycoprotein
      (RVG) has been the major target for new vaccine development which plays the
      principal role in providing complete protection against RV challenge. The aim of
      this study is to produce recombinant RVG which could be a DNA vaccine candidate
      and to evaluate the efficiency of this construct in a prime-boost vaccination
      regimen, compared to commercial vaccine. METHODS: Cloning to pcDNA3.1(+) and
      expression of rabies virus glycoprotein gene in BSR cell  line were performed
      followed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis of the expressed glycoprotein. The
      resulting genetic construct was used as a DNA vaccine by injecting 80 ug of the
      plasmid to MNRI mice twice. Prime-Boost vaccination strategy was performed using
      80 ug plasmid construct as prime dose and the second dose of an inactivated
      rabies virus vaccine. Production of rabies virus neutralizing antibody (RVNA)
      titers of the serum samples were determined by RFFIT. RESULTS: In comparisons
      between heterologous prime-boost vaccination strategy and DNA vaccinations, the
      potency of group D that received Prime-Boost vaccine with the second dose of
      pcDNA3.1(+)-Gp was enhanced significantly compared to the group C which had
      received pcDNA3.1(+)-Gp as first injection. CONCLUSION: In this study, RVGP
      expressing construct was used in a comparative approach between Prime-Boost
      vaccination strategy and DNA vaccination and compared with the standard method of
      rabies vaccination. It was concluded that this strategy could lead to induction
      of acceptable humoral immunity.

PMID- 25841943
TI  - Adverse cutaneous drug reactions--a clinico-demographic study in a tertiary care
      teaching hospital of the Kashmir Valley, India.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adverse cutaneous drug reactions (ACDRs) are caused by a wide variety
      of agents. The aim was to study the incidence and clinico-demographic profile of
      ACDRs to identify any potential risk factors and compare the results with other
      studies. METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted over a
      period of one year from October 2012 to October 2013 in the outpatient department
      (OPD) of a tertiary care teaching hospital of the Kashmir valley in India and
      various ACDRs were recorded. RESULTS: The incidence of ACDRs was 0.16%. The mean
      age of patients was 39.36 +/- 16.77 years. The male: female ratio was 0.97:1. The
      most frequently reported cutaneous reactions were with antimicrobials (57.33%)
      followed by NSAIDs (21.33%) and antiepileptic drugs (17.33%). Less common groups
      involved were steroids, antipsychotics and bisphosphonates (1.33% each). Fixed
      drug eruptions (FDEs) were the commonest (45.33%) followed by maculopapular
      (17.33%), photoallergic (8%), erythema multiforme (6.66%), Stevens-Johnson
      syndrome (5.33%) and lichenoid eruptions (4%). Less common patterns were
      urticaria, Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS syndrome)
      and acneform eruptions (2.66% each) followed by angioedema, acute generalized
      exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP), exfoliative dermatitis and toxic epidermal
      necrolysis (1.33% each). CONCLUSION: Physicians should have adequate knowledge of
      adverse drug reactions, especially of newer drugs which are increasing every year
      in order to minimize such events.

PMID- 25841944
TI  - Prevalence and comorbidity of depression, anxiety and obsessive compulsive
      disorders among Saudi secondary school girls, Taif Area, KSA.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Previous Saudi studies have shown the psychiatric comorbidity among
      adolescent girls. This article was done to assess the prevalence and comorbidity
      of psychiatric disorders among secondary school girls in Taif area. METHODS: A
      cross-sectional multistage cluster-sampling methodology was carried out on 1024
      secondary school female students. Psychometric evaluation of students was carried
      out using the Beck depression inventory, Castello and Comery Anxiety scale and
      Obsessive - compulsive disorder scale. RESULTS: Out of the 1024 participants,
      42.9%, 54.9%, and 23.1% had significant depression, anxiety and obsessive
      compulsive symptoms, respectively. In addition, 64.7% of them had symptoms of the
      three studied disorders. A highly significant positive correlation was found
      between depression score and both anxiety and OC symptoms scores and between
      anxiety score and OC symptoms score. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for a national
      intervention program for promotion of adolescent mental health. The program
      should include screening of students using the psychometric scales.

PMID- 25841945
TI  - Potential impact of peer mentoring on treatment choice in patients with chronic
      kidney disease: a review.
AB  - Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and the resultant end stage renal disease (ESRD) are
      associated with significant mortality, morbidity, and cost for the individual
      patient and society. CKD is among the major contributors to years of life lost
      (YLL) due to premature mortality. Also, while the disability adjusted life years
      (DALY) for many conditions decreased between 1990 and 2010, the DALY for CKD has
      increased by 69%. In addition to the physical disability, CKD is associated with
      high prevalence (27.9%) of major depressive episodes, associated with limitations
      of employment, and a significant negative effect on quality of life (QOL). A
      major determinant of QOL is satisfaction with treatment choice. There is
      consensus among investigators that patients who are actively engaged in their own
      care experience improved health outcomes. The shared decision making (SDM)
      approach allows patients and providers the opportunity to work in partnership to
      make decisions that are congruent with the patient's values, preferences, and
      distinct situations. SDM has been associated with improved outcomes among
      patients with various chronic disease states. Mentoring, particularly by trained
      peers, has been used as an approach to enhance SDM in several chronic conditions,
      including cancer and cardiovascular disease. In this review, we will focus on
      care of patients with CKD as a model for the study of the impact of peer
      mentoring on SDM and choice of treatment for ESRD. 

PMID- 25841946
TI  - The role of infectious mediators and gut microbiome in the pathogenesis of celiac
      disease.
AB  - Celiac disease (CD) is an immune disorder that is associated with gluten
      sensitivity in people who are genetically predisposed. In celiac disease, food
      containing gluten mounts inflammatory response that results in villous atrophy in
      small bowel and increased permeability. This disorder is not only related to
      complications in the small bowel, but also has association with manifestations
      outside the GI tract. Small bowel mucosal immunity, exposed to infectious agents,
      is affected by CD; therefore, it is likely that patients with untreated celiac
      disease are more susceptible to infectious diseases. It is possible that
      sensitivity to gluten increases in patients infected with infectious diseases,
      and consequently infection may trigger CD in susceptible individuals. It is
      likely that, due to reduced immunity following the loss of intestinal villi,
      viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections develop faster in celiac disease
      patients and systemic complication occur more frequently. In addition, increased
      permeability, changing the microbiota following the chronic inflammation of the
      small intestine and abnormal immunological reactions are associated with celiac
      disease. PubMed, Medline, Google scholar, SID, and Magiran were searched for full
      text articles published between 1999 and 2014 in Persian and English. The
      associated keywords were used, and papers, which described particularly the
      impact of infectious agents on celiac disease, were selected. In this review, we
      have focused on the role of infectious agents and gut microbiota in the
      pathogenesis of celiac disease. 

PMID- 25841947
TI  - Treatment of bladder transitional cell carcinoma in children: a single center
      experience from China.
AB  - Transitional cell carcinoma of urinary bladder (TCCB) is an extreme rare entity
      in childhood. We aim to report our experience in treating this tumor.  From 1980
      to 2013, four patients (4 males, aged 11, 14, 15, and 17 years) were referred to
      our center with TCCB. The clinicopathological features, means of treatment, and
      prognostic outcomes were reviewed from the medical records. Of all the four
      patients, three presented with gross hematuria, whereas the other patient
      presented with dysuria. All patients were treated with transurethral resection
      alone, but one patient underwent postoperative multiple intravesical instillation
      of hydroxycamptothecin. Postoperative histological studies showed low-grade
      papillary urothelial carcinoma for all patients. No evidence of recurrence has
      been observed during the follow up. In childhood, TCCB which carries an excellent
      prognosis is low-grade and non-invasive. The general principle of therapy is
      transurethral resection. Bladder ultrasound is an efficient tool in the screening
      protocol, especially for low-grade TCCB patients. 

PMID- 25841948
TI  - Simultaneous occurrence of two squamous cell carcinomas developing in a nevus
      sebaceous.
AB  - Nevus sebaceous (NS), also known as organoid nevus, is a congenital skin
      hamartoma involving pilosebaceous follicle, epidermis and adnexal structures,
      which usually occurs in the head and neck region. During the first stage, which
      is seen in infancy and childhood, the lesion remains static, but can subsequently
      grow during puberty to become more evident and verrucous or nodular. Depending on
      the location and extent, nevus sebaceous causes only a cosmetic problem during
      childhood; however, the development of benign and malignant neoplasms on the
      lesion is the most severe complication during adulthood. The association between
      nevus sebaceous and various benign and malignant cutaneous neoplasms is well
      documented. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common malignant lesion, and
      syringocystadenoma papilliferum (SP) is the most common benign tumor associated
      with nevus sebaceous. Development of squamous cell carcinoma within NS is very
      rare. The literature contains only a few reports of simultaneous multiple
      malignant tumors developing on nevus sebaceous. We present a review of the
      literature and report the case of a 42-year-old female patient with two squamous
      cell carcinomas (SCC) simultaneously within a single NS. 

PMID- 25841949
TI  - A rare case of aphallia with right kidney hypoplasia and left kidney dysplasia.
AB  - Aphallia or penile agenesis is an extremely rare congenital anomaly with an
      estimated incidence rate of 1 in 10 to 30 million births. We report a rare case
      of aphallia with right kidney hypoplasia and left kidney dysplasia in a 10-day
      old Iranian-Azeri male. The patient had creatinine rise and renal failure due to
      dysplastic left kidney and hypoplastic right kidney and expired on fifth day of
      admission. There were only six cases of renal malformation associated with
      aphallia in the literature review. Three of the cases were complicated by Potter
      sequence and one of them was accompanied by chronic renal failure. Our case had a
      unique presentation because of bilateral renal malformation and subsequent renal
      failure without the Potter sequence. 

PMID- 25841950
TI  - Uterine primitive neuroectodermal tumor.
AB  - Primitive neuroectodermal tumors are fairly rare in uterus. A case of uterine
      body primitive neuroectodermal tumor in a 32-year-old Iranian woman is presented.
      The patient was admitted with abdominal pain and fever and underwent emergency
      exploratory surgery with total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo
      oophorectomy, and pelvic lymph node dissection. Posterior wall of the uterus was
      necrotic and ruptured and a huge tumor disrupted the uterine body. The tumor was
      strongly positive for CD99, NSE, and chromogranin; No reaction was seen for CD10,
      CD45 and myogenin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an
      uterine body primitive neuroectodermal tumor and the second report of uterine
      primitive neuroectodermal tumor from Iran. 

PMID- 25841951
TI  - Medical care of children during the golden age of Islamic medicine.
AB  - During the Sassanid Empire in Persia (226-652 AD), there was a renaissance of
      humanistic sciences, including medicine, in the city of Gondi-Shapur. When the
      Islamic center of power moved to Baghdad in about 750 AD, physicians of Gondi
      Shapur, including the dean of the medical school (a Nestorian Christian),
      gradually moved to Baghdad constructing hospitals and medical schools. Aided by
      the Persian and Nestorian Christians, the Islamic civilization ushered in what is
      considered to be the Golden Age of Islam from the 8th to 13th century AD. During
      this period, there were remarkable achievements in humanistic sciences including
      medicine by many physicians/authors whose medical textbooks were used for
      centuries in burgeoning medical schools in Europe. The medical texts written
      during the Golden Age of Islamic Medicine contain sections and chapters about the
      clinical conditions, diseases and medical care of children. It was during this
      era that the first treatise was written on the diseases of children and their
      care. This essay will describe, in brief, the writings about the conditions and
      diseases of children and their medical care, by three prominent Persian
      physicians of the Golden Age of Islamic Medicine: 1) Abubakr Muhammad Ibn Zakaria
      Razi, Rhazes (865-925 AD); 2) Ali ibn-al-Abbas al-Majusi or Haly Abbas (949-994
      AD); and 3)  Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina or Avicenna (980-1037 AD). 

PMID- 25841952
TI  - The necessity of Improvement Statistical Management and Communication of
      identified suicides.

PMID- 25841953
TI  - Achalasia and pneumonia.

PMID- 25841954
TI  - Ebola worker's foot.

PMID- 25841955
TI  - Phase Transformation Behavior and Resistance to Bending and Cyclic Fatigue of
      ProTaper Gold and ProTaper Universal Instruments.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to compare the flexibility and cyclic
      fatigue resistance of ProTaper Universal (PTU; Dentsply Tulsa Dental
      Specialities, Tulsa, OK) and ProTaper Gold (PTG; Dentsply Tulsa Dental
      Specialities, Tulsa, OK) instruments in relation to their phase transformation
      behavior. METHODS: Sizes S1, S2, F1, F2, and F3 of PTU and PTG instruments were
      subjected to rotational bending at a curvature of 40 degrees  and a radius of 6
      mm. The number of cycles to fracture (NCF) was recorded. The fracture surface of
      all fragments was examined with a scanning electron microscope. Flexibility was
      determined by 45 degrees  bending tests according to the ISO 3630-1
      specification. Unused and fractured instruments were examined by differential
      scanning calorimetry. RESULTS: PTG had a cyclic fatigue resistance superior to
      PTU in all sizes (P < .001). The NCF of the nickel-titanium files of sizes S1 and
      S2 was significantly higher than those of sizes F1 to F3 (P < .001). No
      significant difference in the NCF of PTU instruments was detected between F1 and
      F2. The fractured files of both PTU and PTG showed the typical fracture pattern
      of fatigue failure. The bending load values were significantly lower for PTG than
      for PTU (P < .05). The differential scanning calorimetry analyses showed that
      each segment of the PTG instruments had a higher austenite finish temperature
      (50.1 degrees C +/- 1.7 degrees C) than the PTU instruments (21.2 degrees C +/-
      1.9 degrees C) (P < .001). PTG instruments had a 2-stage transformation behavior.
      There was no significant difference in the austenite finish between unused files
      and instruments subjected to the fatigue process. CONCLUSIONS: PTG files were
      significantly more flexible and resistant to fatigue than PTU files. PTG
      exhibited different phase transformation behavior than PTU, which may be
      attributed to the special heat treatment history of PTG instruments. PTG may be
      more suited for preparing canals with a more abrupt curvature.

PMID- 25841956
TI  - Quantitative Transportation Assessment in Simulated Curved Canals Prepared with
      an Adaptive Movement System.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of the Twisted
      File Adaptive (TF Adaptive; SybronEndo, Orange, CA) system in maintaining the
      original profile of root canal anatomy. The ProTaper Universal (Dentsply
      Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland) and Twisted File (TF) (SybronEndo) systems
      were used as reference techniques for comparison. METHODS: Thirty simulated
      curved root canals manufactured in clear resin blocks were randomly assigned to 3
      groups (n = 10) according to the instrumentation system: TF in rotary motion, TF
      in TF Adaptive motion, and ProTaper Universal. Color stereomicroscopic images
      from each block were taken exactly at the same position before and after
      instrumentation. All image processing and data analysis were performed with an
      open-source program (Fiji). Evaluation of canal transportation was obtained for 2
      independent canal regions: straight and curved levels. Univariate analysis of
      variance and Tukey Honestly Significant Difference were used, and a cutoff for
      significance was set at alpha = 5%. RESULTS: Instrumentation systems
      significantly influenced canal transportation (P = .000). A significant
      interaction between instrumentation system and root canal level (P = .000) was
      also found as follows: at the straight part, TF and TF Adaptive systems produced
      similar canal transportation, which was significantly lower than for the ProTaper
      Universal system; at the curved part, TF resulted in the lowest canal
      transportation followed by TF Adaptive and ProTaper Universal systems. Canal
      transportation was higher at the curved canal parts (P = .00). CONCLUSIONS: The
      TF in rotary motion produced overall less canal transportation in the curved
      portion when compared with the others tested systems. The ProTaper Universal
      system showed the highest canal transportation.

PMID- 25841957
TI  - Outcome of Direct Pulp Capping with Mineral Trioxide Aggregate: A Prospective
      Study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this experimental study was to assess the outcome of
      direct pulp capping with mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) after complete
      excavation of caries in permanent dentition with a 2-visit treatment protocol.
      METHODS: Sixty-four teeth with deep carious lesions were consecutively selected.
      The mean age of the patients was 36.1 +/- 15 years. An initial diagnosis of deep
      caries, with no irreversible pulp involvement, was made. Excavation of caries was
      performed under a rubber dam and operating microscope magnification. White MTA
      was applied, and a provisional restoration was placed. At the following
      appointment, positive sensibility testing and the MTA setting were confirmed.
      Bonded composite restorations were placed afterward. The patient was recalled at
      least 1 year after treatment for clinical and radiographic control. Outcome was
      described as success or failure. Success was defined as lack of complaints from
      the patient, positive reaction to cold testing, no sensitivity to percussion, and
      no widening of the periodontal ligament on the recall periapical radiograph.
      RESULTS: Forty-six teeth (77.9%) were recalled after 3.6 years (standard
      deviation = 1.1 years). The overall success rate was 91.3%. The success rate in
      occlusal caries was 100% and 89.7% in proximal caries (difference = 10.3%; 95%
      confidence interval [CI], 8.5-89.1). The success rate in initial caries was 94.7%
      and 88.9% in secondary caries (difference = 5.8%; 95% CI, -48.1 to 59.7). The
      success rate in patients younger than 40 years was 100% and 80% in patients aged
      40 years or older (difference = 20%; 95% CI, 4.2-35.8). CONCLUSIONS: Direct pulp
      capping with MTA after pulp exposure during excavation of deep caries could
      maintain pulp vitality in permanent teeth when a 2-visit treatment protocol is
      observed.

PMID- 25841958
TI  - ProFile Vortex and Vortex Blue Nickel-Titanium Rotary Instruments after Clinical
      Use.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to analyze the incidence and mode of
      ProFile Vortex and Vortex Blue instrument defects after clinical use in a
      graduate endodontic program and to examine the impact of clinical use on the
      instruments' metallurgical properties. METHODS: A total of 330 ProFile Vortex and
      1136 Vortex Blue instruments from the graduate program were collected after each
      had been used in 3 teeth. The incidence and type of instrument defects were
      analyzed. The lateral surfaces and fracture surfaces of the fractured files were
      examined by using scanning electron microscopy. Unused and used instruments were
      examined by full and partial differential scanning calorimetry. RESULTS: No
      fractures were observed in the 330 ProFile Vortex instruments, whereas 20 (6.1%)
      revealed bent or blunt defects. Only 2 of the 1136 Vortex Blue files fractured
      during clinical use. The cause of fracture was shear stress. The fractures
      occurred at the tip end of the spirals. Only 1.8% (21 of 1136) of the Vortex Blue
      files had blunt tips. Austenite-finish temperatures were very similar for unused
      and used ProFile Vortex files and were all greater than 50 degrees C. The
      austenite-finish temperatures of used and unused Vortex Blue files (38.5 degrees
      C) were lower than those in ProFile Vortex instruments (P < .001). However, the
      transformation behavior of Vortex Blue files had an obvious 2-stage
      transformation, martensite-to-R phase and R-to-austenite phase. The trends of
      differential scanning calorimetry plots of unused Vortex Blue instruments and
      clinically used instruments were very similar. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of ProFile
      Vortex and Vortex Blue instrument fracture is very low when instruments are
      discarded after clinical use in the graduate endodontic program. The Vortex Blue
      files have metallurgical behavior different from ProFile Vortex instruments.

PMID- 25841959
TI  - Effect of Buffered 4% Lidocaine on the Success of the Inferior Alveolar Nerve
      Block in Patients with Symptomatic Irreversible Pulpitis: A Prospective,
      Randomized, Double-blind Study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Medical studies have suggested that buffering local anesthetic may
      increase the ability to achieve anesthesia. The purpose of this study was to
      determine the effect of 4% buffered lidocaine on the anesthetic success of the
      inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) block in patients experiencing symptomatic
      irreversible pulpitis. METHODS: One hundred emergency patients diagnosed with
      symptomatic irreversible pulpitis of a mandibular posterior tooth randomly
      received a conventional IAN block using either 2.8 mL 4% lidocaine with 1:100,000
      epinephrine or 2.8 mL 4% lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine buffered with
      sodium bicarbonate in a double-blind manner. For the buffered solution, each
      cartridge was buffered with 8.4% sodium bicarbonate using the OnPharma (Los
      Gatos, CA) system to produce a final concentration of 0.18 mEq/mL sodium
      bicarbonate. Fifteen minutes after administration of the IAN block, profound lip
      numbness was confirmed, and endodontic access was initiated. Success was defined
      as no or mild pain (<=54 mm on a 170-mm visual analog scale) on access or
      instrumentation of the root canal. RESULTS: The success rate for the IAN block
      was 32% for the buffered group and 40% for the nonbuffered group, with no
      significant difference (P = .4047) between the groups. Injection pain ratings for
      the IAN block were not significantly (P = .9080) different between the 2
      formulations. CONCLUSIONS: For mandibular posterior teeth, a 4% buffered
      lidocaine formulation did not result in a statistically significant increase in
      the success rate or a decrease in injection pain of the IAN block in patients
      with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis.

PMID- 25841960
TI  - Effect of automatic cluster removers on milking efficiency and teat condition of
      Manchega ewes.
AB  - Milking operations represent more than 50% of the work on a dairy ewe farm. The
      implementation of automatic cluster removers (ACR) is gaining popularity, as it
      allows the operator to avoid manual cluster detachments, simplifying the milking
      routines. The aim of this study was to discover the effect on the milking of
      Manchega ewes over an entire lactation period by using this type of devices, set
      up with 2 different combinations of milk flow threshold (MF) and delay time (DT)
      and comparing them with the traditional method using manual cluster removal.
      During a 15-d pre-experimental period, the animals were milked without ACR and
      sampling was performed to select 108 ewes and distribute them into 3 groups of
      similar characteristics according to their parity, milk yield, milking duration,
      and mammary gland sanitary status. Later, each group was milked for a duration of
      4 mo in 3 different conditions: 1 with manual cluster removal, the second setting
      the ACR at MF 150 g/min and DT 20 s, and the third setting the ACR at MF 200
      g/min and DT 10 s. Samplings of milking fraction, milking duration, milk
      composition, mammary gland sanitary status, teat-end status, and vacuum level in
      the short milk tubes during milking were performed. The use of ACR limited the
      vacuum drops in the short milk tubes and the edema in the teat end after milking,
      although no reduction in the number of new cases of mastitis was observed and the
      milk composition did not change. Moreover, it was noted that the use of ACR set
      with MF 150 g/min and DT 20 s was more efficient than the manual cluster removal,
      as it obtained a similar amount of extracted milk but took less time. Conversely,
      the use of ACR set with MF 200 g/min and DT 10 s involved a higher reduction in
      individual milking duration and the milking duration of groups of animals but
      reduced milk extracted.

PMID- 25841961
TI  - Technical note: Comparison of radial immunodiffusion and ELISA for quantification
      of bovine immunoglobulin G in colostrum and plasma.
AB  - Historically, radial immunodiffusion (RID) has been the only method that directly
      measures IgG; however, recent studies have reported IgG concentrations in
      colostrum, milk, and plasma as measured using an ELISA. To our knowledge no
      comparison between RID and ELISA methods has been made for bovine colostrum or
      plasma. The objective of this study was to compare IgG concentrations measured by
      both methods in samples of bovine colostrum before and after heat treatment and
      bovine plasma. Concentration of IgG was quantified using a commercially available
      RID kit and a modified ELISA. Samples of bovine colostrum and plasma were
      collected from individual animals and colostrum was tested before and after heat
      treatment at 60 degrees C for 30 min. All samples were tested using both methods.
      Pearson correlation coefficients were determined for RID and ELISA values from
      unheated colostrum, heat-treated colostrum, and plasma samples. Mixed models were
      used to determine the effect of assay on IgG measurement in colostrum and plasma
      and effect of heat treatment on IgG concentration in colostrum. A weak
      correlation was found between ELISA and RID results in plasma and unheated
      colostrum. Concentration of IgG was significantly lower in all sample types when
      measured by ELISA compared to RID. Thus, direct comparison of ELISA and RID
      results is not recommended. Colostrum IgG concentration significantly decreased
      after heat treatment as measured by ELISA, but means were not different when
      measured by RID. Correlation plots between colostrum values measured before and
      after heat treatment indicated changes in the colostrum protein matrix due to
      heat affected RID and ELISA assays differently. This investigation compared RID
      and ELISA results, but no conclusions could be drawn as to the accuracy of either
      assay.

PMID- 25841962
TI  - Feed conversion efficiency in dairy cows: Repeatability, variation in digestion
      and metabolism of energy and nitrogen, and ruminal methanogens.
AB  - The objective was to study repeatability and sources of variation in feed
      conversion efficiency [FCE, milk kg/kg dry matter intake (DMI)] of lactating cows
      in mid to late lactation. Trials 1 and 2 used 16 cows (106 to 368 d in milk)
      grouped in 8 pairs of 1 high- and 1 low-FCE cow less than 16 d in milk apart.
      Trial 1 determined the repeatability of FCE during a 12-wk period. Trial 2
      quantified the digestive and metabolic partitioning of energy and N with a 3-d
      total fecal and urine collection and measurement of CH4 and CO2 emission. Trial 3
      studied selected ruminal methanogens in 2 pairs of cows fitted with rumen
      cannulas. Cows received a single diet including 28% corn silage, 27% alfalfa
      silage, 17% crude protein, and 28% neutral detergent fiber (dry matter basis). In
      trial 1, mean FCE remained repeatedly different and averaged 1.83 and 1.03 for
      high- and low-FCE cows, respectively. In trial 2, high-FCE cows consumed 21% more
      DMI, produced 98% more fat- and protein-corrected milk, excreted 42% less manure
      per kilogram of fat- and protein-corrected milk, but emitted the same daily
      amount of CH4 and CO2 compared with low-FCE cows. Percentage of gross energy
      intake lost in feces was higher (28.6 vs. 25.9%), but urinary (2.76 vs. 3.40%)
      and CH4 (5.23 vs. 6.99%) losses were lower in high- than low-FCE cows.
      Furthermore, high-FCE cows partitioned 15% more of gross energy intake toward net
      energy for maintenance, body gain, and lactation (37.5 vs. 32.6%) than low-FCE
      cows. Lower metabolic efficiency and greater heat loss in low-FCE cows might have
      been associated in part with greater energy demand for immune function related to
      subclinical mastitis, as somatic cell count was 3.8 fold greater in low- than
      high-FCE cows. As a percentage of N intake, high-FCE cows tended to have greater
      fecal N (32.4 vs. 30.3%) and had lower urinary N (32.2 vs. 41.7%) and greater
      milk N (30.3 vs. 19.1%) than low-FCE cows. In trial 3, Methanobrevibacter spp.
      strain AbM4 was less prevalent in ruminal content of high-FCE cows, which emitted
      less CH4 per unit of DMI and per unit of neutral detergent fiber digested than
      low-FCE cows. Thus lower digestive efficiency was more than compensated by
      greater metabolic efficiencies in high- compared with low-FCE cows. There was not
      a single factor, but rather a series of mechanisms involved in the observed
      differences in efficiency of energy utilization of the lactating cows in this
      study.

PMID- 25841963
TI  - Stall cleanliness and stall temperature of two different freestall bases.
AB  - The objective of this study was to describe the differences in freestall
      cleanliness and stall temperature between a barn with Dual Chamber Cow Waterbeds
      (DCCW; Advanced Comfort Technology, Reedsburg, WI) and a barn with rubber-filled
      mattresses at the University of Kentucky Coldstream Dairy Research Farm from
      January 18, 2012, to May 3, 2013. Stall cleanliness was measured twice weekly
      (n=134) by the same 2 observers using a 0.91 m*0.91 m wire grid containing 128
      equally sized rectangles (10.16 cm*5.08 cm). This grid was centered at the rear
      portion of the stall; a rectangle that was visibly wet or had any amount of feces
      present was defined as a dirty rectangle. Weekly stall temperature (n=66) was
      measured by the same observer during a.m. milkings in the same predetermined
      stalls. Feces and wet sawdust were removed from the stalls before stall
      temperatures were acquired. Temperatures were obtained using a handheld
      thermometer at 30.48 cm above the stall base as determined via dual laser
      measurements. Stall temperature was measured on the front, middle, and back of
      the stall first with clean sawdust and then with the sawdust removed from the
      stall and wiped clean with a towel. Daily temperature-humidity index (THI) was
      calculated using Kentucky climate data calculated through the University of
      Kentucky College of Agriculture via a data logger, located 5.63 km from the
      Coldstream Dairy Farm. Stall cleanliness was not different between the DCCW barn
      (26.09+/-0.89 rectangles) and the rubber-filled mattress barn (23.70+/-0.89
      rectangles). Mean THI throughout the study was 64.39+/-0.82. Stall temperature
      was different among THI categories. Temperature-humidity index categories 1
      (coldest), 2, 3, and 4 (warmest) had THI ranges of 22.94 to 50.77, 50.77 to
      64.88, 64.88 to 78.75, and 78.75 to 101.59, respectively. Stall temperatures (
      degrees C; least squares means+/-SE) were 2.26+/-0.30, 8.86+/-0.30, 15.52+/-0.30,
      and 20.95+/-0.30 for THI categories 1 to 4, respectively. Stalls with rubber
      filled mattresses had a lower temperature ( degrees C) than DCCW with least
      squares means+/-SE of 10.52+/-0.21 degrees C and 13.29+/-0.21 degrees C,
      respectively. The DCCW were probably significantly warmer because water holds
      heat well. The DCCW may have more of a heat-insulating effect compared with
      rubber-filled mattresses.

PMID- 25841964
TI  - Methyl-coenzyme M reductase A as an indicator to estimate methane production from
      dairy cows.
AB  - The evaluation of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies requires the quantitative
      assessment of individual methane production. Because methane measurement in
      respiration chambers is highly accurate, but also comprises various disadvantages
      such as limited capacity and high costs, the establishment of an indicator for
      estimating methane production of individual ruminants would provide an
      alternative to direct methane measurement. Methyl-coenzyme M reductase is
      involved in methanogenesis and the subunit alpha of methyl-coenzyme M reductase
      is encoded by the mcrA gene of rumen archaea. We therefore examined the
      relationship between methane emissions of Holstein dairy cows measured in
      respiration chambers with 2 different diets (high- and medium-concentrate diet)
      and the mcrA DNA and mcrA cDNA abundance determined from corresponding rumen
      fluid samples. Whole-body methane production per kilogram of dry matter intake
      and mcrA DNA normalized to the abundance of the rrs gene coding for 16S rRNA
      correlated significantly when using qmcrA primers. Use of qmcrA primers also
      revealed linear correlation between mcrA DNA copy number and methane yield.
      Regression analyses based on normalized mcrA cDNA abundances revealed no
      significant linear correlation with methane production per kilogram of dry matter
      intake. Furthermore, the correlations between normalized mcrA DNA abundance and
      the rumen fluid concentration of acetic and isobutyric acid were positive,
      whereas the correlations with propionic and lactic acid were negative. These data
      suggest that the mcrA DNA approach based on qmcrA primers could potentially be a
      molecular proxy for methane yield after further refinement. 

PMID- 25841965
TI  - Effect of sensor systems for cow management on milk production, somatic cell
      count, and reproduction.
AB  - To improve management on dairy herds, sensor systems have been developed that can
      measure physiological, behavioral, and production indicators on individual cows.
      It is not known whether using sensor systems also improves measures of health and
      production in dairy herds. The objective of this study was to investigate the
      effect of using sensor systems on measures of health and production in dairy
      herds. Data of 414 Dutch dairy farms with (n=152) and without (n=262) sensor
      systems were available. For these herds, information on milk production per cow,
      days to first service, first calving age, and somatic cell count (SCC) was
      provided for the years 2003 to 2013. Moreover, year of investment in sensor
      systems was available. For every farm year, we determined whether that year was
      before or after the year of investment in sensor systems on farms with an
      automatic milking system (AMS) or a conventional milking system (CMS), or whether
      it was a year on a farm that never invested in sensor systems. Separate
      statistical analyses were performed to determine the effect of sensor systems for
      mastitis detection (color, SCC, electrical conductivity, and lactate
      dehydrogenase sensors), estrus detection for dairy cows, estrus detection for
      young stock, and other sensor systems (weighing platform, rumination time sensor,
      fat and protein sensor, temperature sensor, milk temperature sensor, urea sensor,
      beta-hydroxybutyrate sensor, and other sensor systems). The AMS farms had a
      higher average SCC (by 12,000 cells/mL) after sensor investment, and CMS farms
      with a mastitis detection system had a lower average SCC (by 10,000 cells/mL) in
      the years after sensor investment. Having sensor systems was associated with a
      higher average production per cow on AMS farms, and with a lower average
      production per cow on CMS farms in the years after investment. The most likely
      reason for this lower milk production after investment was that on 96% of CMS
      farms, the sensor system investment occurred together with another major change
      at the farm, such as a new barn or a new milking system. Most likely, these other
      changes had led to a decrease in milk production that could not be compensated
      for by the use of sensor systems. Having estrus detection sensor systems did not
      improve reproduction performance. Labor reduction was an important reason for
      investing in sensor systems. Therefore, economic benefits from investments in
      sensor systems can be expected more from the reduction in labor costs than from
      improvements in measures of health and production in dairy herds.

PMID- 25841966
TI  - How imputation errors bias genomic predictions.
AB  - The objective of this study was to investigate in detail the biasing effects of
      imputation errors on genomic predictions. Direct genomic values (DGV) of 3,494
      Brown Swiss selection candidates for 37 production and conformation traits were
      predicted using either their observed 50K genotypes or their 50K genotypes
      imputed from a mimicked 6K chip. Changes in DGV caused by imputation errors were
      shown to be systematic. The DGV of top animals were, on average, underestimated
      and that of bottom animals were, on average, overestimated when imputed genotypes
      were used instead of observed genotypes. This pattern might be explained by the
      fact that imputation algorithms will usually suggest the most frequent haplotype
      from the sample whenever a haplotype cannot be determined unambiguously. That was
      empirically shown to cause an advantage for the bottom animals and a disadvantage
      for the top animals. 

PMID- 25841967
TI  - Optimization of reproductive management programs using lift chart analysis and
      cost-sensitive evaluation of classification errors.
AB  - The common practice on most commercial dairy farms is to inseminate all cows that
      are eligible for breeding, while ignoring (or absorbing) the costs associated
      with semen and labor directed toward low-fertility cows that are unlikely to
      conceive. Modern analytical methods, such as machine learning algorithms, can be
      applied to cow-specific explanatory variables for the purpose of computing
      probabilities of success or failure associated with upcoming insemination events.
      Lift chart analysis can identify subsets of high fertility cows that are likely
      to conceive and are therefore appropriate targets for insemination (e.g., with
      conventional artificial insemination semen or expensive sex-enhanced semen), as
      well as subsets of low-fertility cows that are unlikely to conceive and should
      therefore be passed over at that point in time. Although such a strategy might be
      economically viable, the management, environmental, and financial conditions on
      one farm might differ widely from conditions on the next, and hence the
      reproductive management recommendations derived from such a tool may be
      suboptimal for specific farms. When coupled with cost-sensitive evaluation of
      misclassified and correctly classified insemination events, the strategy can be a
      potentially powerful tool for optimizing the reproductive management of
      individual farms. In the present study, lift chart analysis and cost-sensitive
      evaluation were applied to a data set consisting of 54,806 insemination events of
      primiparous Holstein cows on 26 Wisconsin farms, as well as a data set with
      17,197 insemination events of primiparous Holstein cows on 3 Wisconsin farms,
      where the latter had more detailed information regarding health events of
      individual cows. In the first data set, the gains in profit associated with
      limiting inseminations to subsets of 79 to 97% of the most fertile eligible cows
      ranged from $0.44 to $2.18 per eligible cow in a monthly breeding period,
      depending on days in milk at breeding and milk yield relative to contemporaries.
      In the second data set, the strategy of inseminating only a subset consisting of
      59% of the most fertile cows conferred a gain in profit of $5.21 per eligible cow
      in a monthly breeding period. These results suggest that, when used with a
      powerful classification algorithm, lift chart analysis and cost-sensitive
      evaluation of correctly classified and misclassified insemination events can
      enhance the performance and profitability of reproductive management programs on
      commercial dairy farms. 

PMID- 25841968
TI  - A functional study of proximal goat beta-casein promoter and intron 1 in
      immortalized goat mammary epithelial cells.
AB  - Goat beta-casein (CSN2) promoter has been extensively used to derive expression
      of recombinant therapeutic protein in transgenic goats; however, little direct
      evidence exists for signaling molecules and the cis-elements of goat CSN2
      promoter in response to lactogenic hormone stimulation in goat mammary epithelial
      cells. Here, we use an immortalized caprine mammary epithelial cell line (CMC) to
      search for evidence of the above. Serial 5'-flanking regions deleted of promoter
      and intron 1 in goat CSN2 (-4,047 to +2,054) driven by firefly luciferase
      reporter gene were constructed and applied to measure promoter activity in CMC.
      The intron 1 region (+393 to +501) significantly decreased basal activity of the
      promoter. This finding contradicts other studies of the role of intron 1. The
      signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)5a played a significant
      role in activating promoter activity by prolactin stimulation. Hydrocortisone
      enhanced and prolonged the activity of STAT5a and promoter in CMC, but was
      independent of the glucocorticoid receptor response element. The minimum length
      of the CSN2 promoter segment in response to lactogenic stimulation was confirmed
      by 5' serial deletions. A cis-element located from -300 to -90 in proximal goat
      CSN2 promoter that is absent in bovine and human CSN2 promoter was newly
      identified. We demonstrated the presence of a STAT5a binding site (-102 to -82)
      and preservation of the guanosine nucleotide at position -90 based on responses
      to the presence of lactogenic hormone using internal deletions and point
      mutations of the predicted STAT5a binding site, and chromatin immunoprecipitation
      assay. Together, these findings demonstrate that the proximal -300 bp of goat
      CSN2 promoter containing the STAT5a binding site (-102 to -82) is the response
      element for lactogenic hormone stimulation. Additionally, intron 1 may be
      required for tissue or developmental stage-specific expression in mammary gland.
      The role of the far-distal regions of goat CSN2 promoter in high-level lactogenic
      hormone induction and specific expression require further examination. 

PMID- 25841969
TI  - Effects of alfalfa hay and its physical form (chopped versus pelleted) on
      performance of Holstein calves.
AB  - Inclusion of forage and its physical form in starter may affect rumen
      development, average daily gain (ADG), and dry matter intake (DMI) of dairy
      calves. To evaluate the effects of forage and its physical form (chopped vs.
      pelleted) on growth of calves under a high milk feeding regimen, 32 Holstein
      calves (38.8+/-1.1kg) were assigned at birth to 1 of 3 treatments in a completely
      randomized block design. Dietary treatments (% of dry matter) were (1) 100% semi
      texturized starter (CON); (2) 90% semi-texturized starter + 10% chopped alfalfa
      hay (mean particle size=5.4mm) as a total mixed ration (TMR; CH); and (3) 90%
      semi-texturized starter + 10% pelleted alfalfa (mean=5.8mm) hay as a TMR (PH).
      Data were subjected to mixed model analysis with contrasts used to evaluate
      effect of forage inclusion. Calves were weaned at 76 d of age and the experiment
      finished 2 wk after weaning. Individual milk and solid feed consumption were
      recorded daily. Solid feed consumption and ADG increased as age increased (effect
      of week), but neither forage inclusion nor physical form of forage affected these
      variables pre- or postweaning. Plasma urea N was affected by treatments such that
      the CON group had a lower concentration than forage-fed groups. Forage inclusion,
      but not physical form, resulted in increased total protein in plasma. Although
      days with elevated rectal temperature, fecal score, and general appearance were
      not affected by dietary treatments, calves fed alfalfa hay during the first month
      of life had fewer days with respiratory issues, regardless of physical form of
      hay. We concluded that provision of forage does have some beneficial effects in
      calves fed large amounts of milk replacer, but pelleted alfalfa hay did not
      result in any improvement in calf performance or health. 

PMID- 25841970
TI  - The effect of stocking rate on soil solution nitrate concentrations beneath a
      free-draining dairy production system in Ireland.
AB  - Economically viable and productive farming systems are required to meet the
      growing worldwide need for agricultural produce while at the same time reducing
      environmental impact. Within grazing systems of animal production, increasing
      concern exists as to the effect of intensive farming on potential N losses to
      ground and surface waters, which demands an appraisal of N flows within complete
      grass-based dairy farming systems. A 3-yr (2011 to 2013) whole-farm system study
      was conducted on a free-draining soil type that is highly susceptible to N loss
      under temperate maritime conditions. Soil solution concentrations of N from 3
      spring-calving, grass-based systems designed to represent 3 alternative whole
      farm stocking rate (SR) treatments in a post-milk quota situation in the European
      Union were compared: low (2.51 cows/ha), medium (2.92 cows/ha), and high SR (3.28
      cows/ha). Each SR had its own farmlet containing 18 paddocks and 23 cows.
      Nitrogen loss from each treatment was measured using ceramic cups installed to a
      depth of 1m to sample the soil water. The annual and monthly average nitrate,
      nitrite, ammonia, and total N concentrations in soil solution collected were
      analyzed for each year using a repeated measures analysis. Subsequently, and
      based on the biological data collated from each farm system treatment within each
      year, the efficiency of N use was evaluated using an N balance model. Based on
      similar N inputs, increasing SR resulted in increased grazing efficiency and milk
      production per hectare. Stocking rate had no significant effect on soil solution
      concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, or total N (26.0, 0.2, 2.4, and 32.3
      mg/L, respectively). An N balance model evaluation of each treatment
      incorporating input and output data indicated that the increased grass
      utilization and milk production per hectare at higher SR resulted in a reduction
      in N surplus and increased N use efficiency. The results highlight the
      possibility for the sustainable intensification of grass-based dairy systems and
      suggest that, at the same level of N inputs, increasing SR has little effect on N
      loss in pastoral systems with limited imported feed. These results suggest that
      greater emphasis should be attributed to increased grass production and
      utilization under grazing to further improve the environmental impact of grazing
      systems.

PMID- 25841971
TI  - Biofilm-producing ability and efficiency of sanitizing agents against Prototheca
      zopfii isolates from bovine subclinical mastitis.
AB  - The objectives of the present study were to evaluate (1) the capacity of the
      microalga Prototheca zopfii isolated from subclinical bovine mastitis cases to
      form biofilms; and (2) the resistance of these isolates to sanitizing agents. Ten
      isolates of P. zopfii from cows with subclinical mastitis (somatic cell
      count>200*10(3) cells/mL), distributed in 5 dairy farms, were evaluated for their
      capacity to form biofilms in polystyrene microplate assays and stainless steel
      coupons, at 25 degrees C and 37 degrees C+/-1 degrees C. Prototheca zopfii were
      isolated from milk samples via microbiological culture and analyzed by 18S rRNA
      gene sequencing. Biofilm formation on the coupons was observed by scanning
      electron microscopy. The resistance to sanitizing agents was assessed using the
      biofilm-forming P. zopfii isolates in stainless steel coupon assays, which were
      subjected to 3 sanitizers: peracetic acid, sodium hypochlorite, and iodine
      solution. To evaluate resistance to the sanitizers, the minimum inhibitory
      concentration (MIC) technique was performed using decreasing concentrations of
      the sanitizing agents (20, 10, 5, 2.5, 1.25, 0.625, 0.312, 0.156, 0.078, 0.039,
      and 0.019 g/L). After inoculating the isolates, all concentrations were evaluated
      at 3 distinct incubation periods (24, 48, and 72 h) to assess the effect of
      incubation time on the MIC. Using the polystyrene microplate assays, 1 isolate
      showed weak biofilm production, 5 moderate, and 4 strong, when incubated at 25
      degrees C+/-1. For isolates incubated at 37 degrees C+/-1, 6 showed weak biofilm
      production and 4 moderate. All P. zopfii isolates (n=10) had the capacity to form
      biofilms on stainless steel coupons. The longer the incubation period of the P.
      zopfii isolates at different dilutions, the greater the concentrations of
      sanitizer needed to prevent growth of the microalgae under the tested conditions.
      We detected a significant effect of sanitizer and time of incubation (24, 48, and
      72 h) on MIC values against P. zopfii isolates. The isolates were sensitive in
      vitro to peracetic acid (MIC90>=0.019 g/L), sodium hypochlorite (MIC90>=0.312
      g/L), and iodine solution (MIC90>=0.625 g/L), after 24 h of incubation (where
      MIC90=concentration needed to inhibit 90% of isolates). Of the tested sanitizers,
      peracetic acid had the greatest efficiency against P. zopfii. We conclude that P.
      zopfii isolates are capable of biofilm production, which may contribute to their
      persistence in a milking and dairy environment.

PMID- 25841972
TI  - Probiotic potential of selected lactic acid bacteria strains isolated from
      Brazilian kefir grains.
AB  - A total of 34 lactic acid bacteria isolates from 4 different Brazilian kefir
      grains were identified and characterized among a group of 150 isolates, using the
      ability to tolerate acidic pH and resistance to bile salts as restrictive
      criteria for probiotic potential. All isolates were identified by amplified
      ribosomal DNA restriction analysis and 16S rDNA sequencing of representative
      amplicons. Eighteen isolates belonged to the species Leuconostoc mesenteroides,
      11 to Lactococcus lactis (of which 8 belonged to subspecies cremoris and 3 to
      subspecies lactis), and 5 to Lactobacillus paracasei. To exclude replicates, a
      molecular typing analysis was performed by combining repetitive extragenic
      palindromic-PCR and random amplification of polymorphic DNA techniques.
      Considering a threshold of 90% similarity, 32 different strains were considered.
      All strains showed some antagonistic activity against 4 model food pathogens. In
      addition, 3 Lc. lactis strains and 1 Lb. paracasei produced bacteriocin-like
      inhibitory substances against at least 2 indicator organisms. Moreover, 1 Lc.
      lactis and 2 Lb. paracasei presented good total antioxidative activity. None of
      these strains showed undesirable enzymatic or hemolytic activities, while proving
      susceptible or intrinsically resistant to a series of clinically relevant
      antibiotics. The Lb. paracasei strain MRS59 showed a level of adhesion to human
      Caco-2 epithelial cells comparable with that observed for Lactobacillus rhamnosus
      GG. Taken together, these properties allow the MRS59 strain to be considered a
      promising probiotic candidate. 

PMID- 25841973
TI  - Genetic parameters of ovarian and uterine reproductive traits in dairy cows.
AB  - The objective of the study was to estimate genetic parameters of detailed
      reproductive traits derived from ultrasound examination of the reproductive tract
      as well as their genetic correlations with traditional reproductive traits. A
      total of 226,141 calving and insemination records as well as 74,134 ultrasound
      records from Irish dairy cows were used. Traditional reproductive traits included
      postpartum interval to first service, conception, and next calving, as well as
      the interval from first to last service; number of inseminations, pregnancy rate
      to first service, pregnant within 42 d of the herd breeding season, and
      submission in the first 21 d of the herd breeding season were also available.
      Detailed reproductive traits included resumed cyclicity at the time of ultrasound
      examination, incidence of multiple ovulations, incidence of early postpartum
      ovulation, heat detection, ovarian cystic structures, embryo loss, and uterine
      score; the latter was a subjectively assessed on a scale of 1 (little fluid with
      normal uterine tone) to 4 (large quantity of fluid with a flaccid uterine tone).
      Variance (and covariance) components were estimated using repeatability animal
      linear mixed models. Heritability for all reproductive traits were generally low
      (0.001-0.05), with the exception of traits related to cyclicity postpartum,
      regardless if defined traditionally (0.07; calving to first service) or from
      ultrasound examination [resumed cyclicity at the time of examination (0.07) or
      early postpartum ovulation (0.10)]. The genetic correlations among the detailed
      reproductive traits were generally favorable. The exception was the genetic
      correlation (0.29) between resumed cyclicity and uterine score; superior genetic
      merit for cyclicity postpartum was associated with inferior uterine score.
      Superior genetic merit for most traditional reproductive traits was associated
      with superior genetic merit for resumed cyclicity (genetic correlations ranged
      from -0.59 to -0.36 and from 0.56 to 0.70) and uterine score (genetic
      correlations ranged from -0.47 to 0.32 and from 0.25 to 0.52). Genetic
      predisposition to an increased incidence of embryo loss was associated with both
      an inferior uterine score (0.24) and inferior genetic merit for traditional
      reproductive traits (genetic correlations ranged from -0.52 to -0.42 and from
      0.33 to 0.80). The results from the present study indicate that selection based
      on traditional reproductive traits, such as calving interval or days open,
      resulted in improved genetic merit of all the detailed reproductive traits
      evaluated in this study. Additionally, greater accuracy of selection for calving
      interval is expected for a relatively small progeny group size when detailed
      reproductive traits are included in a multitrait genetic evaluation. 

PMID- 25841974
TI  - Corneal angiography for guiding and evaluating fine-needle diathermy treatment of
      corneal neovascularization.
AB  - PURPOSE: To investigate the outcome of selective occlusion of the afferent vessel
      of corneal neovascular complexes (CoNVs), using angiographically guided fine
      needle diathermy (FND). DESIGN: Retrospective interventional case series.
      SUBJECTS: Patients with CoNV unresponsive to topical steroid therapy. METHODS:
      Visual acuity, color images, and fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green
      angiography were measured before and after FND with a minimum of 3 months of
      follow-up. The number of afferent vessels crossing the limbus, time to
      fluorescein leakage, area, and geometric properties of the CoNV were determined
      using an in-house automated program written in numerical computing language
      (MatLab R14; The MathWorks Inc., Natick, MA). The location of the afferent vessel
      was identified from the angiographic images and marked at the slit lamp using a
      needle to make a cut to the depth of the vessel. We then applied FND using an
      electrolysis needle. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Area of CoNV. RESULTS: Thirty
      patients underwent FND for CoNV that had not responded to treatment with topical
      steroids. The CoNV was associated with previous microbial keratitis (n = 26),
      intrastromal corneal ring segments (n = 2), ectodermal dysplasia (n = 1), and
      corneal choristoma (n = 1). Duration of CoNV was >6 months in 23 patients (77%),
      between 3 and 6 months in 3 patients (10%), and <3 months in 5 patients (13%).
      The number of afferent vessels per CoNV ranged from 1 to 3, with a mean diameter
      of 40 MUm (standard deviation [SD], 10 MUm) and mean time to leakage from apical
      vessels was 44.22 seconds (minimum, 27.43 seconds; maximum, 63.59 seconds). The
      number of FND treatments that were required was 1 for 20 patients (66.6%), 2 for
      8 patients (26.6%), and 3 for 2 patients (6.6%). After FND, the area of CoNV
      reduced by 1.80 mm(2) (SD, 1.40 mm(2)), from 2.42 (SD, 1.59) to 0.62 mm(2) (SD,
      0.73 mm(2)) up to 12 weeks postoperatively (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The
      differentiation of afferent and efferent vessels using corneal angiography
      enables treatment to be selectively applied to the afferent vessels; there are
      usually 1 to 2 for each CoNV complex.

PMID- 25841975
TI  - Clinical features predictive of high-risk retinoblastoma in 403 Asian Indian
      patients: a case-control study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To identify the clinical features predictive of high-risk retinoblastoma
      on histopathology. DESIGN: Case-control study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 145 cases
      with histopathologic high-risk features of retinoblastoma and 258 controls
      without high-risk features. METHODS: Enucleation and adjuvant chemotherapy. MAIN
      OUTCOME MEASURES: High-risk features on histopathology were defined as the
      presence of anterior chamber seeds, iris infiltration, ciliary body infiltration,
      massive (>= 3 mm) choroidal invasion, postlaminar optic nerve invasion, invasion
      of optic nerve transection, combined nonmassive choroidal and prelaminar/laminar
      optic nerve invasion, or scleral/extrascleral infiltration. RESULTS: Of 403
      patients who underwent primary enucleation for the treatment of retinoblastoma,
      145 (36%) had high-risk features on histopathology (cases) and 258 (64%) had no
      high-risk features (controls). High-risk retinoblastoma occurred in 16% of (8/50)
      group D eyes and 39% of (137/353) group E eyes. The histopathologic high-risk
      features in these 145 patients included anterior chamber seeds (n = 25, 17%),
      iris infiltration (n = 12, 8%), ciliary body infiltration (n = 17, 12%), massive
      (>=3 mm) choroidal invasion (n = 69, 48%), postlaminar optic nerve invasion (n =
      71, 49%), invasion of optic nerve transection (n = 3, 2%), combined choroidal and
      optic nerve invasion (n = 17, 12%), scleral infiltration (n = 20, 14%), and
      extrascleral involvement (n = 8, 6%). The mean number of high-risk features was 2
      (median, 2; range, 1-7). The significant clinical features in cases versus
      controls included prolonged duration of symptoms of >6 months (21% vs. 7%; P <
      0.001), poor visual acuity at presentation (74% vs. 64%; P = 0.05), buphthalmos
      (16% vs. 7%; P = 0.005), secondary glaucoma (47% vs. 15%; P < 0.001), iris
      neovascularization (46% vs. 22%; P < 0.001), ectropion uveae (39% vs. 14%; P <
      0.001), and orbital cellulitis (3% vs. <1%; P = 0.05). On the basis of
      International Classification of Intraocular Retinoblastoma, group E tumor had a
      statistically significant higher incidence of high-risk retinoblastoma compared
      with controls (39% vs. 16%; P = 0.01). Multivariate analysis of clinical features
      at presentation that predicted high-risk features on histopathology included
      prolonged duration of symptoms of >6 months (P = 0.008) and secondary glaucoma (P
      = 0.021). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the clinical features at presentation
      predictive of high-risk features on histopathology included prolonged duration of
      symptoms of >6 months and secondary glaucoma. Globe-preserving methods of
      treatment should be used with caution in patients with these features.

PMID- 25841976
TI  - Methods for characterizing the fate and effects of nano zerovalent iron during
      groundwater remediation.
AB  - The emplacement of nano zerovalent iron (nZVI) for groundwater remediation is
      usually monitored by common measurements such as pH, total iron content, and
      oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) by potentiometry. However, the interpretation
      of such measurements can be misleading because of the complex interactions
      between the target materials (e.g., suspensions of highly reactive and variably
      aggregated nanoparticles) and aquifer materials (sediments and groundwater), and
      multiple complications related to sampling and detection methods. This paper
      reviews current practice for both direct and indirect characterizations of nZVI
      during groundwater remediation and explores prospects for improving these methods
      and/or refining the interpretation of these measurements. To support our
      recommendations, results are presented based on laboratory batch and column
      studies of nZVI detection using chemical, electrochemical, and geophysical
      methods. Chemical redox probes appear to be a promising new method for
      specifically detecting nZVI, based on laboratory tests. The potentiometric and
      voltammetric detections of iron nanoparticles, using traditional stationary disc
      electrodes, rotating disc electrodes, and flow-through cell disc electrodes,
      provide insight for interpreting ORP measurements, which are affected by solution
      chemistry conditions and the interactions between iron nanoparticles and the
      electrode surface. The geophysical methods used for characterizing ZVI during
      groundwater remediation are reviewed and its application for nZVI detection is
      assessed with results of laboratory column experiments. 

PMID- 25841977
TI  - Wine, alcohol and pills: What future for the French paradox?
AB  - The present review discusses the acquisitions obtained to date on the subject of
      wine consumption, health and cardiovascular protection. We distinguished the
      cardiovascular effects related to the consumption of wine and other alcoholic
      beverages focusing on non-alcoholic wine fraction: polyphenols and especially
      resveratrol. In the second part of the review we have addressed the issue of
      resveratrol bioavailability and the importance of wine matrix and phytocomplex
      highlighting the biological effects that can be obtained with nutraceuticals and
      resveratrol pills compared to the daily consumption of a glass of red wine. 

PMID- 25841978
TI  - Factors associated with the quality of life of Korean COPD patients as measured
      by the EQ-5D.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study evaluated the health-related quality of life measured using
      the EuroQol five-dimension questionnaire (EQ-5D) and the degree of airway
      obstruction in a Korean population using Korea National Health and Nutritional
      Examination Survey (KNHANES IV-V, 2007-2010) data. METHODS: A cross-sectional
      analysis examined 2356 subjects (1178 COPD patients, 1178 control subjects) aged
      >=40 years and performed reliable spirometry as part of KNHANES IV-V. Baseline EQ
      5D visual analog scale (VAS) and EQ-5D utility scores were obtained. A Tobit
      censored regression model was used to evaluate factors affecting EQ-5D in COPD
      patients. RESULTS: The EQ-5D VAS and EQ-5D utility scores were significantly
      different among the COPD severity groups (P < 0.05). The mean EQ-5D VAS scores
      for patients with mild, moderate, and severe COPD were 73.0 (SD 18.6), 70.8
      (19.1), and 60.9 (23.4), respectively. The mean utility scores were 0.90 (0.14)
      for patients with mild COPD, 0.89 (0.14) for patients with moderate COPD, and
      0.84 (0.15) for patients with severe COPD. Factors influencing the EQ-5D utility
      score in patients with COPD were age, gender, household income, education level,
      severe airflow obstruction, and comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS: The EQ-5D score could
      be a useful instrument for evaluating the quality of life of COPD patients in
      Korea. In Korean COPD patients, the main determinants of EQ-5D scores include
      older age, female gender, lower household income, lower education level, severe
      airflow obstruction, and many comorbid diseases.

PMID- 25841979
TI  - Measuring attachment to life in old age: the Portuguese version of the Positive
      Valuation of Life Scale (Positive VOL).
AB  - PURPOSE: This study aims to present the psychometric properties of the Portuguese
      version of the Positive Valuation of Life Scale (Lawton et al. in J Aging Ment
      Healt 13:3-31, 2001). METHOD: Sample included 207 community-dwelling elders (129
      women; M Age = 77.2 years, SD = 7.5). The data collection included the translated
      and adapted Portuguese version of Positive Valuation of Life Scale, Life
      Satisfaction Index Z, Meaning in Life Questionnaire and Geriatric Depression
      Scale. RESULTS: From exploratory factor analysis, two factors emerged,
      existential beliefs and perceived control, explaining 49 % of the total variance.
      Both factors were positively related with meaning in life and life satisfaction
      and negatively related with depression (p < 0.05). The values obtained for
      internal consistency for the total scale and for each subscale were good (alpha >
      0.75). CONCLUSION: The Portuguese version of Positive VOL Scale represents a
      reliable and valid measure to capture the subjective experience of attachment to
      one's life. The two-factor structure is an update to Lawton's previous work and
      in line with findings obtained in the USA (Dennis et al. in What is valuation of
      life for frail community-dwelling older adults: factor structure and criterion
      validity of the VOL, Thomas Jefferson University, Center for Applied Research on
      Aging and Health Research, 2005) and Japan (Nakagawa et al. in Shinrigaku Kenkyu
      84:37-46, 2013). Future research is required to investigate VOL predictors and
      the potential changes toward the end of the life span.

PMID- 25841981
TI  - Enhanced amino acid utilization sustains growth of cells lacking Snf1/AMPK.
AB  - The metabolism of proliferating cells shows common features even in evolutionary
      distant organisms such as mammals and yeasts, for example the requirement for
      anabolic processes under tight control of signaling pathways. Analysis of the
      rewiring of metabolism, which occurs following the dysregulation of signaling
      pathways, provides new knowledge about the mechanisms underlying cell
      proliferation. The key energy regulator in yeast Snf1 and its mammalian ortholog
      AMPK have earlier been shown to have similar functions at glucose limited
      conditions and here we show that they also have analogies when grown with glucose
      excess. We show that loss of Snf1 in cells growing in 2% glucose induces an
      extensive transcriptional reprogramming, enhances glycolytic activity, fatty acid
      accumulation and reliance on amino acid utilization for growth. Strikingly, we
      demonstrate that Snf1/AMPK-deficient cells remodel their metabolism fueling
      mitochondria and show glucose and amino acids addiction, a typical hallmark of
      cancer cells. 

PMID- 25841980
TI  - Trends in Breast Cancer Screening: Impact of U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
      Recommendations.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Although there is general agreement among various guidelines on
      benefits of routine screening mammography, the age of screening initiation and
      the optimal frequency of the test remain controversial. In 2009, the U.S.
      Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended against routine breast cancer
      screening in women aged younger than 50 years. In this study, screening
      mammography guideline adherence among U.S. women is explored by examining
      patterns in rates of mammography age of initiation and utilization in years prior
      to and following the 2009 USPSTF guideline implementation. METHODS: U.S.
      population-based data from the 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor
      Surveillance System surveys were used to measure the overall proportion and rate
      of change in the proportion of women who underwent screening mammography within
      the last year, by age and survey year. Data were accessed and analyzed in July
      2014. RESULTS: Rates of mammography screening were lower in 2010 and 2012
      compared with 2007 and 2008 (p<0.0001). The rate of screening initiation at age
      40 years increased over time and was the highest in the years following USPSTF
      guideline changes (p=0.012). CONCLUSIONS: These data support no perceptible
      change in U.S. women's patterns of screening mammography age at initiation within
      3 years of the USPSTF guideline revision. Whether this finding reflects a delayed
      effect of guideline revision in population trends or rather health provider
      practice and patient preference for more frequent screening is unclear and
      requires further investigation.

PMID- 25841982
TI  - Altered white matter in cocaine-dependent subjects with traumatic brain injury: A
      diffusion tensor imaging study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a useful technique for non
      invasively investigating the microstructural organization of white matter (WM),
      and the most consistent DTI finding regarding cocaine-related WM alterations is
      in the corpus callosum (CC). WM injury has also been observed in subjects with
      traumatic brain injury (TBI), including in the CC. METHODS: We used DTI to test
      if the WM microstructure is relatively more impaired in cocaine-dependent
      subjects who had suffered a mild TBI (mTBI). Fractional anisotropy (FA), which
      reflects the degree of alignment of cellular structures within fiber tracts and
      their structural integrity, was compared across cocaine-dependent subjects with
      mTBI (COCTBI group, n = 9), matched cocaine-dependent subjects without TBI (COC
      group, n = 12), and matched healthy controls (CTL group, n = 12). RESULTS: The
      COCTBI group had significantly lower FA in the genu, body, and splenium of CC,
      than the CTL group whenever the education was controlled or not. The COC group
      had significantly lower FA in the left and right anterior corona radiata than the
      CTL group only when the education was controlled. There was no significant
      difference in FA between the COC and COCTBI groups. CONCLUSION: Cocaine
      dependence (or mTBI) related WM impairments in the CC were not detectable in this
      small subject sample. The significant finding in the CC suggests that the
      concurrence of cocaine dependence and mTBI might result in more severe damage to
      the CC, which could even be detected in small sample size.

PMID- 25841983
TI  - Substance use and mental health disorders are linked to different forms of
      intimate partner violence victimisation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Substance and mental health disorders convey significant health
      burdens and impair interpersonal relationships. We tested associations between
      comorbid substance and mental health disorders and different forms of intimate
      partner violence (IPV) experienced by young adults. METHOD: Mothers (n = 6703)
      were recruited during pregnancy to the longitudinal Mater-University of
      Queensland Study of Pregnancy. Mother/offspring dyads were followed up from birth
      to 21 years. Offspring with complete psychiatric data at 21 years who reported
      having had an intimate partnership were included (n = 1781). Participants'
      experiences of psychological, physical and severe combined IPV were assessed at
      21 years using a summarised form of the Composite Abuse Scale. We used the
      Composite International Diagnostic Interview to obtain lifetime diagnoses of
      mental health and substance disorders. Multivariable logistic regression models
      of each IPV form were adjusted for individual, family and neighbourhood factors
      during adolescence, and for other forms of IPV. RESULTS: We have shown specific
      links between different forms of IPV experienced and individual substance and
      mental health disorders. Mental health disorders were related to all three forms
      of IPV, while alcohol disorders were linked to psychological IPV (ORAUD = 1.86;
      1.21-2.86) and illicit substance disorders to physical IPV (ORSUD = 2.07; 1.25
      3.43). The co-occurrence of related disorders was strongly linked to
      psychological and physical IPV. CONCLUSIONS: Intimate partner violence was
      experienced by both men and women. Substance and mental health disorders were
      associated with specific forms of IPV victimisation, suggesting that screening
      IPV clients and mental health/substance disorder patients for the converse
      problems may be important for intervention planning.

PMID- 25841984
TI  - Prevalence and experience of chronic pain in suburban drug injectors.
AB  - AIMS: To explore the relationship between chronic pain and characteristics,
      behaviors, and psychological status of suburban Connecticut injection drug users.
      METHODS: Cross-sectional study with quantitative interview and serological
      testing for HIV and hepatitis B and C in 456 individuals who injected drugs in
      the past month. Participants were dichotomized into those reporting current
      chronic pain of at least six months duration and all others. The interview
      covered (i) sociodemographics, (ii) injection drug use, (iii) interactions with
      drug treatment, criminal justice, and harm reduction, (iv) screening for alcohol
      use, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression, and (v) knowledge regarding HIV,
      hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV), and opioid overdose. Serological testing for HIV,
      HBV, and HCV was conducted. RESULTS: One-third (n = 143) reported chronic pain.
      These individuals differed significantly from those not reporting chronic pain on
      characteristics that included older age, lower educational achievement, and
      injection of pharmaceutical opioids. They also reported experiencing more
      psychological and family problems on the ASI and higher levels of depression and
      anxiety. Four of five individuals with chronic pain (n = 117) reported non
      medical opioid use prior to the onset of chronic pain. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic pain
      is common among drug injectors in our study population although it was unusual
      for chronic pain to have preceded non-medical opioid use. Psychological problems
      in injectors with co-occurring chronic pain are likely pose significant
      complications to successful treatment for substance abuse, pain, or infectious
      disease treatment.

PMID- 25841985
TI  - Hemodynamic monitoring of the critically ill neonate: An eye on the future.
AB  - By continuous assessment of dynamic changes in systemic and regional perfusion
      during transition to extrauterine life and beyond, comprehensive neonatal
      hemodynamic monitoring creates numerous opportunities for both clinical and
      research applications. In particular, it has the potential of providing
      additional details about physiologic interactions among the key hemodynamic
      factors regulating systemic blood flow and blood flow distribution along with the
      subtle changes that are frequently transient in nature and would not be detected
      without such systems in place. The data can then be applied for predictive
      mathematical modeling and validation of physiologically realistic computer models
      aiming to identify patient subgroups at higher risk for adverse outcomes and/or
      predicting the response to a particular perturbation or therapeutic intervention.
      Another emerging application that opens an entirely new era in hemodynamic
      research is the use of the physiometric data obtained by the monitoring and data
      acquisition systems in conjunction with genomic information. 

PMID- 25841986
TI  - Consequences of dietary methyl donor supplements: Is more always better?
AB  - Epigenetic mechanisms are now recognized to play roles in disease etiology.
      Several diseases increasing in frequency are associated with altered DNA
      methylation. DNA methylation is accomplished through metabolism of methyl donors
      such as folate, vitamin B12, methionine, betaine (trimethylglycine), and choline.
      Increased intake of these compounds correlates with decreased neural tube
      defects, although this mechanism is not well understood. Consumption of these
      methyl donor pathway components has increased in recent years due to
      fortification of grains and high supplemental levels of these compounds (e.g.
      vitamins, energy drinks). Additionally, people with mutations in one of the
      enzymes that assists in the methyl donor pathway (5-MTHFR) are directed to
      consume higher amounts of methyl donors to compensate. Recent evidence suggests
      that high levels of methyl donor intake may also have detrimental effects.
      Individualized medicine may be necessary to determine the appropriate amounts of
      methyl donors to be consumed, particularly in women of child bearing age. 

PMID- 25841988
TI  - The protective effect of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T polymorphism
      against prostate cancer risk: Evidence from 23 case-control studies.
AB  - Genetic polymorphisms of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) were
      considered to have some influence on both folate metabolism and cancer risk.
      Previous studies on the relation between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and prostate
      cancer (PCa) risk remained controversial. To derive a more precise estimation of
      the relationship, we carried out an update comprehensive meta-analysis to assess
      the associations of the MTHFR C677T polymorphism with the susceptibility of PCa.
      Twenty-three trials with a total of 24,024 participants on the MTHFR C677T
      polymorphism that met inclusion criteria were analyzed in the current study.
      Overall, no statistical relationship was found with any MTHFR C677T genetic model
      associated with susceptibility to PCa (TT versus CC, OR=0.83, 95% CI 0.68-1.02,
      P=0.07; CT versus CC, OR=0.95, 95% CI 0.85-1.07, P=0.43; Dominant, OR=0.93, 95%
      CI 0.83-1.03, P=0.17; Recessive, OR=0.84, 95% CI 0.70-1.02, P=0.09.).
      Nevertheless, subgroup analysis found a reduced PCa risk associated with
      polymorphism in Asian population (TT versus CC, CT versus CC, dominant and
      recessive model). Moreover, the protective effect of polymorphism against PCa
      risk was also shown upon hospital-based studies (TT versus CC, and recessive
      model). When benign prostate hyperplasia was chosen as controls, both TT versus
      CC and recessive model showed significant difference. In addition, the protective
      effect of homozygote TT against high aggressive PCa was proved to have
      significant difference. Taken together, the existing evidence indicates the
      homozygote TT of MTHFR C677T should be viewed as a protective factor against PCa
      risk for clinical practice with the consideration of different gene background,
      study design as well as specific controls. 

PMID- 25841987
TI  - Phosphorylation of epigenetic "readers, writers and erasers": Implications for
      developmental reprogramming and the epigenetic basis for health and disease.
AB  - Epigenetic reprogramming that occurs during critical periods of development can
      increase the susceptibility to many diseases in adulthood. Programming of the
      epigenome during development occurs via the activity of a variety of epigenetic
      modifiers, including "readers, writers and erasers" of histone methyl marks.
      Posttranslational modification of these programmers can alter their activity,
      resulting in global or gene-specific changes in histone methylation and gene
      transcription. This review summarizes what is currently known about
      phosphorylation of histone methyltransferases ("writers"), demethylases
      ("erasers") and effector proteins ("readers) that program the epigenome, and the
      impact of this posttranslational modification on their activity. Understanding
      how the activity of these epigenetic programmers is perturbed by environmental
      exposures via changes in phosphorylation is key to understanding mechanisms of
      developmental reprogramming and the epigenetic basis of health and disease. 

PMID- 25841989
TI  - Gene cloning, characterization and expression and enzymatic activities related to
      trehalose metabolism during diapause of the onion maggot Delia antiqua (Diptera:
      Anthomyiidae).
AB  - Trehalose represents the main hemolymph sugar in many insects, and it functions
      in energy metabolism and protection in extreme environmental conditions. To gain
      an insight into trehalose functions in Delia antiqua diapausing pupae, genes
      encoding trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS), trehalose-6-phosphatase (TPP) and
      trehalase (TRE) were identified and characterized. Analysis of the deduced amino
      acid sequences indicated that these genes were highly similar to each homolog
      from Diptera insects. Gene expressions and their enzyme activities were also
      investigated. The differential expressions of TPS and TPP shared very similar
      trends for summer and winter diapausing pupae. Their enzyme activities were
      consistent with the gene expressions. Trehalose concentrations in summer- and
      winter-diapausing pupae were lower at the initial phase (4.37-5.09MUg/mg) but
      increased gradually and peaked in the maintenance phase (10.59-14.36MUg/mg); the
      concentrations then declined in the quiescence phase. We speculated that a higher
      trehalose content during the maintenance stage may contribute to protein and/or
      biological membrane stabilization in winter or to desiccation resistance in the
      summertime. Diapause termination requires a decrease in the trehalose
      concentration to promote pupal-adult development. The glucose content also varied
      during the diapausing processes. Our results provide an overview of the
      differential expression levels of trehalose metabolic enzymes, confirming the
      important roles of trehalose in diapausing pupae of the onion maggot. Further
      work remains to explore its actual functions. 

PMID- 25841990
TI  - Identification and expression patterns of extracellular matrix-associated genes
      fibropellin-ia and tenascin involved in regeneration of sea cucumber Apostichopus
      japonicus.
AB  - Sea cucumbers have a strong regenerative capacity. Many important genes involved
      in the molecular mechanism of regeneration and associated with intercellular
      signaling pathways of regeneration have been identified. The product of the
      fibropellin-ia gene forms a layer known as the apical lamina that surrounds the
      sea cucumber embryo throughout development. Meanwhile, the tenascin gene displays
      highly restricted and dynamic patterns of expression in the embryo and is
      expressed in the adult during normal processes such as wound healing, nerve
      regeneration and tissue involution. In this study, we cloned for the first time
      full-length cDNAs of fibropellin-ia (1390 bp, encoding a 199 amino acid protein)
      and tenascin (1366 bp, encoding a 179 amino acid protein) from Apostichopus
      japonicus (designated Aj-fnia and Aj-tenascin, respectively) using rapid
      amplification of cDNA ends. The structures and characteristics of these two genes
      were analyzed bioinformatically, and their expression patterns associated with
      extracellular matrix remodeling in regeneration of A. japonicus were investigated
      by real-time PCR and in situ hybridization (ISH). Expression levels of Aj-fnia
      and Aj-tenascin in the regeneration tissues were higher than those in normal
      tissues. The highest expression levels of Aj-fnia and Aj-tenascin were shown in
      the intestine and respiratory tree on the 15th and 20th days after sea cucumbers
      were eviscerated. In the body wall, the highest expression levels of Aj-fnia and
      Aj-tenascin occurred at 35 and 45 min during early regeneration and then emerged
      between 5 and 7 days again during late regeneration after the body wall was
      injured. ISH analysis revealed expression of these genes in the body wall,
      longitudinal muscle, intestine and respiratory tree. These findings suggest that
      Aj-fnia and Aj-tenascin are crucial genes that play important roles in the
      regeneration of the sea cucumber.

PMID- 25841991
TI  - Environmental and individual characteristics associated with depressive disorders
      and mental health care use.
AB  - PURPOSE: Few studies examined the relationship between neighborhood
      characteristics and both depressive disorders and the corresponding mental health
      care use. The aim of our study was to investigate neighborhood effects on
      depressive symptomatology, antidepressant consumption, and the consultation of
      psychiatrists. METHODS: Data from the French Residential Environment and Coronary
      heart Disease Study (n = 7290, 2007-2008, 30-79 years of age) were analyzed.
      Depressive symptomatology was cross-sectionally assessed. Health care
      reimbursement data allowed us to assess antidepressant consumption and
      psychiatric consultation prospectively more than 18 months. Multilevel logistic
      regression models were estimated. RESULTS: The risk of depressive symptoms
      increased with decreasing personal educational level and unemployment and
      slightly with decreasing neighborhood income. In a sample comprising participants
      with and without depressive symptoms, high individual and parental educational
      levels were both associated with the consultation of psychiatrists. In this
      sample, a low personal educational level increased the odds of consumption of
      antidepressants. No heterogeneity between neighborhoods was found for
      antidepressant consumption. However, the odds of consulting psychiatrists
      increased with median neighborhood income and with the density of psychiatrists,
      after adjustment for individual characteristics. Among depressive participants
      only, a particularly strong gradient in the consultation of psychiatrists was
      documented according to individual socioeconomic status. CONCLUSIONS: Future
      research on the relationships between the environments and depression should take
      into account health care use related to depression and consider the spatial
      accessibility to mental health services among other environmental factors.

PMID- 25841992
TI  - [Stereotactic body radiation radiotherapy for oligometastatic non-small cell lung
      cancer (NSCLC): A case report].
AB  - Metastatic non-small cell lung cancer is associated with a poor prognosis, and
      palliative chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment. However, long-time survival
      has been observed in oligometastatic patients treated with locally ablative
      therapies to all sites of metastatic disease. An 80-year-old man was diagnosed
      with an adenocarcinoma of the lung. The right upper lobe lesion was classified
      cT2aN0M0 and was treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy at the dose of
      60Gy in eight fractions. A few months after, he successively presented with two
      brain metastases and one left adrenal metastasis, with a complete response on the
      primary tumor. The three secondary lesions were treated with stereotactic body
      radiation therapy alone. Thirty months after the diagnosis and 12months after
      metastases' apparition, primary and brain lesion kept controlled (complete
      response). Oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer management is not clear.
      Locally ablative therapies such as stereotactic body radiation therapy, surgery
      and radiofrequency are efficient and should be considered. A phase III study
      should evaluate radical treatment strategies in such patients. 

PMID- 25841993
TI  - Transcollation: lost in translation?

PMID- 25841994
TI  - Folic acid mediates activation of the pro-oncogene STAT3 via the Folate Receptor
      alpha.
AB  - The signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a well
      described pro-oncogene found constitutively activated in several cancer types.
      Folates are B vitamins that, when taken up by cells through the Reduced Folate
      Carrier (RFC), are essential for normal cell growth and replication. Many cancer
      cells overexpress a glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored Folate Receptor
      alpha (FRalpha). The function of FRalpha in cancer cells is still poorly
      described, and it has been suggested that transport of folate is not its primary
      function in these cells. We show here that folic acid and folinic acid can
      activate STAT3 through FRalpha in a Janus Kinase (JAK)-dependent manner, and we
      demonstrate that gp130 functions as a transducing receptor for this signalling.
      Moreover, folic acid can promote dose dependent cell proliferation in FRalpha
      positive HeLa cells, but not in FRalpha-negative HEK293 cells. After folic acid
      treatment of HeLa cells, up-regulation of the STAT3 responsive genes Cyclin A2
      and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) were verified by qRT-PCR. The
      identification of this FRalpha-STAT3 signal transduction pathway activated by
      folic and folinic acid contributes to the understanding of the involvement of
      folic acid in preventing neural tube defects as well as in tumour growth.
      Previously, the role of folates in these diseases has been attributed to their
      roles as one-carbon unit donors following endocytosis into the cell. Our finding
      that folic acid can activate STAT3 via FRalpha adds complexity to the established
      roles of B9 vitamins in cancer and neural tube defects. 

PMID- 25841996
TI  - Emerging molecular networks common in ionizing radiation, immune and inflammatory
      responses by employing bioinformatics approaches.
AB  - Efficient radiation therapy is characterized by enhanced tumor cell killing
      involving the activation of the immune system (tumor immunogenicity) but at the
      same time minimizing chronic inflammation and radiation adverse effects in
      healthy tissue. The aim of this study was to identify gene products involved in
      immune and inflammatory responses upon exposure to ionizing radiation by using
      various bioinformatic tools. Ionizing radiation is known to elicit different
      effects at the level of cells and organism i.e. DNA Damage Response (DDR), DNA
      repair, apoptosis and, most importantly, systemic effects through the instigation
      of inflammatory 'danger' signals and innate immune response activation. Genes
      implicated both in radiation and immune/inflammatory responses were collected
      manually from the scientific literature with a combination of relevant keywords.
      The experimentally validated and literature-based results were inspected, and
      genes involved in radiation, immune and inflammatory response were pooled. This
      kind of analysis was performed for the first time, for both healthy and tumor
      tissues. In this way, a set of 24 genes common in all three different phenomena
      was identified. These genes were found to form a highly connected network. Useful
      conclusions are drawn regarding the potential application of these genes as
      markers of response to radiation for both healthy and tumor tissues through the
      modulation of immune and/or inflammatory mechanisms. 

PMID- 25841995
TI  - PKA and actin play critical roles as downstream effectors in MRP4-mediated
      regulation of fibroblast migration.
AB  - Multidrug resistance protein 4 (MRP4), a member of the ATP binding cassette
      transporter family, functions as a plasma membrane exporter of cyclic
      nucleotides. Recently, we demonstrated that fibroblasts lacking the Mrp4 gene
      migrate faster and contain higher cyclic-nucleotide levels. Here, we show that
      cAMP accumulation and protein kinase A (PKA) activity are higher and polarized in
      Mrp4(-/-) fibroblasts, versus Mrp4(+/+) cells. MRP4-containing macromolecular
      complexes isolated from these fibroblasts contained several proteins, including
      actin, which play important roles in cell migration. We found that actin
      interacts with MRP4, predominantly at the plasma membrane, and an intact actin
      cytoskeleton is required to restrict MRP4 to specific microdomains of the plasma
      membrane. Our data further indicated that the enhanced accumulation of cAMP in
      Mrp4(-/-) fibroblasts facilitates cortical actin polymerization in a PKA
      dependent manner at the leading edge, which in turn increases the overall rate of
      cell migration to accelerate the process of wound healing. Disruption of actin
      polymerization or inhibition of PKA activity abolished the effect of MRP4 on cell
      migration. Together, our findings suggest a novel cAMP-dependent mechanism for
      MRP4-mediated regulation of fibroblast migration whereby PKA and actin play
      critical roles as downstream effectors. 

PMID- 25841997
TI  - Preventing childhood scalds within the home: Overview of systematic reviews and a
      systematic review of primary studies.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To synthesise and evaluate the evidence of the effectiveness of
      interventions to prevent scalds in children. METHODS: An overview of systematic
      reviews (SR) and a SR of primary studies were performed evaluating interventions
      to prevent scalds in children. A comprehensive literature search was conducted
      covering various resources up to October 2012. Experimental and controlled
      observational studies reporting scald injuries, safety practices and safety
      equipment use were included. RESULTS: Fourteen systematic reviews and 39 primary
      studies were included. There is little evidence that interventions are effective
      in reducing the incidence of scalds in children. More evidence was found that
      inventions are effective in promoting safe hot tap water temperature, especially
      when home safety education, home safety checks and discounted or free safety
      equipment including thermometers and thermostatic mixing valves were provided. No
      consistent evidence was found for the effectiveness of interventions on the safe
      handling of hot food or drinks nor improving kitchen safety practices.
      CONCLUSION: Education, home safety checks along with thermometers or thermostatic
      mixing valves should be promoted to reduce tap water scalds. Further research is
      needed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions on scald injuries and to
      disentangle the effects of multifaceted interventions on scald injuries and
      safety practices.

PMID- 25841998
TI  - Risk factors for foot and mouth disease outbreaks in grazing beef cattle herds.
AB  - Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is considered one of the most important diseases of
      cattle. Recurrence of FMD outbreaks in Israel is common, even though routine
      vaccination of livestock is mandatory and control measures are applied during the
      outbreaks. Grazing beef herds are occasionally involved in these outbreaks and
      play an important role in disseminating the disease, due to the large efflux of
      animals from these herds to feedlots. Nevertheless, the risk factors for the
      occurrence of FMD among these herds have never been investigated. In 2011, Israel
      faced a large scale outbreak of serotype O FMD virus, which strongly affected
      beef cattle. We conducted a case-control study of 44 beef cattle herds grazing in
      the Golan Heights in order to determine the risk factors for FMDV infection. Data
      were analyzed using a generalized estimation equation (GEE) with a logit link
      function. Multivariable analysis was conducted for factors with p-value lower
      than 0.1 in the univariable analysis. The presence of calves under 6 months of
      age was found as a significant risk factor for FMDV infection in the univariable
      analysis (odds ratio (OR)=5.95, confidence intervals of 95% (CI95%)=1.59-22.29,
      p=0.008). This was also the only variable that remained statistically significant
      in the multivariable analysis. Herds in which more than 6 months between
      vaccination of adults and exposure had elapsed were in higher risk, albeit not
      statistically significant, for the occurrence of FMDV infection (OR=3.29,
      CI95%=0.83-12.99, p=0.089). The higher probability of infection in herds, which
      included young calves may be a result of their higher susceptibility due to
      administration of only one or no vaccine prior to the outbreak. The results of
      the study thus support increasing the frequency of vaccination of both cows and
      calves in grazing beef herds. Intensifying surveillance where young calves are
      abundant may also prove efficient for early detection of infected herds and for
      mitigating outbreaks of FMDV. 

PMID- 25841999
TI  - Brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis prevalence in livestock from pastoralist
      communities adjacent to Awash National Park, Ethiopia.
AB  - This cross-sectional study investigated the prevalence of brucellosis and bovine
      tuberculosis (BTB) in local cattle and goat breeds of Oromo and Afar pastoralist
      communities living in two distinct parts around the Awash National Park. A
      questionnaire survey was carried out to assess information on husbandry, milk
      consumption habits, and on knowledge-attitude-practice regarding both diseases.
      Among a total of 771 animals from all sites tested by comparative intradermal
      tuberculin test (CIDT) none were BTB reactors with the >4mm cut-off. Using the
      >2mm cut-off, individual apparent prevalence was 0.9% (95%CI: 0.23-3.56%) in
      cattle and 0.7% (95%CI: 0.12-3.45%) in goats. Herd prevalence in Oromia and Afar
      sites was 0% and 66.7% respectively in goats and 16.7% and 50% in cattle. Among
      the 327 animals tested by enzyme linked immunoassay for brucellosis, 4.8% (95%CI:
      1.2-17.1%) of cattle and 22.8% (95%CI: 5.98-29.5%) of goats were reactors.
      Highest individual prevalence of both diseases was found in Afar settlements with
      brucellosis being as high as 50%. Respondent ethnicity was the only risk factor
      for brucellosis positivity in goats in the univariable risk factor analysis.
      Knowledge about the diseases was poor. Raw goat milk was regularly consumed by
      women and children, putting them at risk for brucellosis. This study highlighted
      an increased prevalence gradient of BTB and brucellosis from West to East along
      the study sites with high brucellosis individual prevalence and abortion rates
      among Afar settlements in particular. 

PMID- 25842000
TI  - How to reach the poor? Surveillance in low-income countries, lessons from
      experiences in Cambodia and Madagascar.
AB  - Surveillance of animal diseases in developing countries faces many constraints.
      Innovative tools and methods to enhance surveillance in remote and neglected
      areas should be defined, assessed and applied in close connection with local
      farmers, national stakeholders and international agencies. The authors performed
      a narrative synthesis of their own publications about surveillance in Madagascar
      and Cambodia. They analysed the data in light of their fieldwork experiences in
      the two countries' very challenging environments. The burden of animal and
      zoonotic diseases (e.g. avian influenza, African swine fever, Newcastle disease,
      Rift Valley fever) is huge in both countries which are among the poorest in the
      world. Being poor countries implies a lack of human and financial means to ensure
      effective surveillance of emerging and endemic diseases. Several recent projects
      have shown that new approaches can be proposed and tested in the field. Several
      advanced participatory approaches are promising and could be part of an
      innovative method for improving the dialogue among different actors in a
      surveillance system. Thus, participatory modelling, developed for natural
      resources management involving local stakeholders, could be applied to health
      management, including surveillance. Data transmission could benefit from the
      large mobile-phone coverage in these countries. Ecological studies and advances
      in the field of livestock surveillance should guide methods for enhancing
      wildlife monitoring and surveillance. Under the umbrella of the One Health
      paradigm, and in the framework of a risk-based surveillance concept, a
      combination of participatory methods and modern technologies could help to
      overcome the constraints present in low-income countries. These unconventional
      approaches should be merged in order to optimise surveillance of emerging and
      endemic diseases in challenging environments.

PMID- 25842001
TI  - Endoscopically assisted release of the superficial radial nerve.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The feasibility of endoscopically assisted decompression of the
      superficial radial nerve at the midportion and distal forearm was assessed.
      SURGICAL TECHNIQUE: After a 3 cm longitudinal skin incision at the Tinel's sign
      at the forearm, the subcutaneous tissue is dissected until forearm fascia is
      detected. The fascia is opened cautiously under direct visualization and the
      superficial radial nerve is identified. Blunt forceps mobilize the subcutaneous
      tissue upon the fascia before the illuminated speculum is inserted. Then further
      dissection of the fascia is performed proximally using the Metzenbaum scissors.
      After further blunt tunneling by forceps the endoscope is introduced proximally
      in order to release the superficial radial nerve completely. Then the speculum is
      inserted distally to identify the nerve within the subcutaneous tissue. Then
      further visualization is facilitated using the endoscope. CONCLUSION: The
      endoscopically assisted release of the superficial radial nerve may be feasible
      in a safe and sufficient way.

PMID- 25842002
TI  - [Local analgesic effect of tramadol is not mediated by opioid receptors in early
      postoperative pain in rats].
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tramadol is known as a central acting analgesic drug,
      used for the treatment of moderate to severe pain. Local analgesic effect has
      been demonstrated, in part due to local anesthetic-like effect, but other
      mechanisms remain unclear. The role of peripheral opioid receptors in the local
      analgesic effect is not known. In this study, we examined role of peripheral
      opioid receptors in the local analgesic effect of tramadol in the plantar
      incision model. METHODS: Young male Wistar rats were divided into seven groups:
      control, intraplantar tramadol, intravenous tramadol, intravenous naloxone
      intraplantar tramadol, intraplantar naloxone-intraplantar tramadol, intravenous
      naloxone-intravenous tramadol, and intravenous naloxone. After receiving the
      assigned drugs (tramadol 5mg, naloxone 200MUg or 0.9% NaCl), rats were submitted
      to plantar incision, and withdrawal thresholds after mechanical stimuli with von
      Frey filaments were assessed at baseline, 10, 15, 30, 45 and 60min after
      incision. RESULTS: Plantar incision led to marked mechanical hyperalgesia during
      the whole period of observation in the control group, no mechanical hyperalgesia
      were observed in intraplantar tramadol group, intraplantar naloxone-intraplantar
      tramadol group and intravenous naloxone-intraplantar tramadol. In the intravenous
      tramadol group a late increase in withdrawal thresholds (after 45min) was
      observed, the intravenous naloxone-intravenous tramadol group and intravenous
      naloxone remained hyperalgesic during the whole period. CONCLUSIONS: Tramadol
      presented an early local analgesic effect decreasing mechanical hyperalgesia
      induced by plantar incision. This analgesic effect was not mediated by peripheral
      opioid receptors.

PMID- 25842003
TI  - [Comparison of interscalene brachial plexus block and intra-articular local
      anesthetic administration on postoperative pain management in arthroscopic
      shoulder surgery].
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In this study, the aim was to compare postoperative
      analgesia effects of the administration of ultrasound-guided interscalene
      brachial plexus block and intra-articular bupivacaine carried out with
      bupivacaine. METHODS: In the first group of patients 20mL 0.25% bupivacaine and
      ultrasound-guided interscalene brachial plexus block (ISPB) were applied, while
      20mL 0.25% bupivacaine was given via intra-articular (IA) administration to the
      second group patients after surgery. Patients in the third group were considered
      the control group and no block was performed. Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA)
      with morphine was used in all three groups for postoperative analgesia. RESULTS:
      In the ISPB group, morphine consumption in the periods between 0-4, 6-12 and 12
      24 postoperative hours and total consumption within 24h was lower than in the
      other two groups. Morphine consumption in the IA group was lower than in the
      control group in the period from 0 to 6h and the same was true for total morphine
      consumption in 24h. Postoperative VASr scores in the ISPB group were lower than
      both of the other groups in the first 2h and lower than the control group in the
      4(th) and 6(th) hours (p<0.05). In the IA group, VASr and VASm scores in the
      2(nd), 4(th) and 6(th) hours were lower than in the control group (p<0.05).
      CONCLUSION: Interscalene brachial plexus block was found to be more effective
      than intra-articular local anesthetic injection for postoperative analgesia.

PMID- 25842004
TI  - Case-based learning: What traditional curricula fail to teach.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Case-based learning seeks to contextualize learning and to enhance
      the transition of nurses to practice. This instructional approach is gaining
      widespread interest in nursing education since the unfolding process emulates the
      work environment. Case-based learning holds great promise to the development of
      professional skills. An assumption that was worth researching to determine what
      those skills are. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed at exploring perceptions of
      nursing students who had completed two undergraduate nursing courses using case
      based learning to be able to identify professional skills that may be gained by
      this instructional approach. DESIGN: The qualitative focus group research
      technique was used to explore the perceptions of 16 nursing students who used CBL
      in two adult health nursing courses in the junior year of an undergraduate
      nursing program in Beirut, Lebanon. The sample was divided into three groups of
      four to six students each. METHOD: Thematic analysis using cross-group analysis
      and inductive constant comparison. FINDINGS: The analyzed data converged on three
      learning practices that were developed by the case study approach: (a)
      recognizing the particulars of a clinical situation, (b) making sense of patient
      data and informing decisions, and (c) reflection. In-depth analysis of these
      practices helped unravel four professional attributes that form the tenets of
      case-based learning: (1) a salience of clinical knowledge, (2) multiple ways of
      thinking, (3) professional self-concept, and (4) professional caring. CONCLUSION:
      Since professional skills are developmental in nature, educational programs may
      play an active role in the skill acquisition process. In search of those
      ineffable skills, four professional attributes emerged from the study findings.
      Findings support concerns of higher education regarding the ability of the
      traditional curriculum to meet the expectations of employers at the workplace.

PMID- 25842006
TI  - Accelerated progression of white matter hyperintensities and subsequent risk of
      mortality: a 12-year follow-up study.
AB  - We examined the association of accelerated progression of white matter
      hyperintensities (WMH) with mortality outcomes in 534 older subjects at risk for
      cardiovascular disease. Using brain magnetic resonance imaging, volume of WMH was
      measured 2 times in an average of 33 months apart. After the second magnetic
      resonance imaging, occurrence of death was recorded during 12 years of follow-up.
      In multivariable analyses, each mL/y increase in global WMH was associated with
      1.22-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09-1.37) higher risk of all-cause
      mortality, 1.29-fold (95% CI, 1.06-1.56) higher risk of cardiovascular mortality,
      and 1.20-fold (95% CI, 1.02-1.40) higher risk of noncardiovascular mortality.
      Each mL/y increase in periventricular WMH was associated with 1.22-fold (95% CI,
      1.08-37) higher risk of all-cause mortality and 1.24-fold (95% CI, 1.06-1.44)
      higher risk of noncardiovascular mortality. Conversely, deep cortical WMH was
      only associated with cardiovascular mortality (1.92-fold, 95% CI, 1.12-3.30).
      Accelerated progression of WMH is linked with mortality risk in old age.
      Progression of periventricular WMH associates with noncardiovascular mortality,
      whereas progression of deep cortical WMH associates with cardiovascular
      mortality.

PMID- 25842005
TI  - The eHealth Enhanced Chronic Care Model: a theory derivation approach.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Chronic illnesses are significant to individuals and costly to
      society. When systematically implemented, the well-established and tested Chronic
      Care Model (CCM) is shown to improve health outcomes for people with chronic
      conditions. Since the development of the original CCM, tremendous information
      management, communication, and technology advancements have been established. An
      opportunity exists to improve the time-honored CCM with clinically efficacious
      eHealth tools. OBJECTIVE: The first goal of this paper was to review research on
      eHealth tools that support self-management of chronic disease using the CCM. The
      second goal was to present a revised model, the eHealth Enhanced Chronic Care
      Model (eCCM), to show how eHealth tools can be used to increase efficiency of how
      patients manage their own chronic illnesses. METHODS: Using Theory Derivation
      processes, we identified a "parent theory", the Chronic Care Model, and conducted
      a thorough review of the literature using CINAHL, Medline, OVID, EMBASE
      PsychINFO, Science Direct, as well as government reports, industry reports,
      legislation using search terms "CCM or Chronic Care Model" AND "eHealth" or the
      specific identified components of eHealth. Additionally, "Chronic Illness Self
      management support" AND "Technology" AND several identified eHealth tools were
      also used as search terms. We then used a review of the literature and specific
      components of the CCM to create the eCCM. RESULTS: We identified 260 papers at
      the intersection of technology, chronic disease self-management support, the CCM,
      and eHealth and organized a high-quality subset (n=95) using the components of
      CCM, self-management support, delivery system design, clinical decision support,
      and clinical information systems. In general, results showed that eHealth tools
      make important contributions to chronic care and the CCM but that the model
      requires modification in several key areas. Specifically, (1) eHealth education
      is critical for self-care, (2) eHealth support needs to be placed within the
      context of community and enhanced with the benefits of the eCommunity or virtual
      communities, and (3) a complete feedback loop is needed to assure productive
      technology-based interactions between the patient and provider. CONCLUSIONS: The
      revised model, eCCM, offers insight into the role of eHealth tools in self
      management support for people with chronic conditions. Additional research and
      testing of the eCCM are the logical next steps.

PMID- 25842007
TI  - Personalized microbial network inference via co-regularized spectral clustering.
AB  - We use Human Microbiome Project (HMP) cohort (Peterson et al., 2009) to infer
      personalized oral microbial networks of healthy individuals. To determine
      clustering of individuals with similar microbial profiles, co-regularized
      spectral clustering algorithm is applied to the dataset. For each cluster we
      discovered, we compute co-occurrence relationships among the microbial species
      that determine microbial network per cluster of individuals. The results of our
      study suggest that there are several differences in microbial interactions on
      personalized network level in healthy oral samples acquired from various niches.
      Based on the results of co-regularized spectral clustering we discover two groups
      of individuals with different topology of their microbial interaction network.
      The results of microbial network inference suggest that niche-wise interactions
      are different in these two groups. Our study shows that healthy individuals have
      different microbial clusters according to their oral microbiota. Such
      personalized microbial networks open a better understanding of the microbial
      ecology of healthy oral cavities and new possibilities for future targeted
      medication. The scripts written in scientific Python and in Matlab, which were
      used for network visualization, are provided for download on the website
      http://learning-machines.com/. 

PMID- 25842008
TI  - Concomitant use of dronedarone with dabigatran in patients with atrial
      fibrillation in clinical practice.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Dronedarone is a strong P-glycoprotein inhibitor with a potential
      to increase bioavailability of dabigatran. We sought to measure and report plasma
      concentrations of dabigatran in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) on
      concomitant dronedarone treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cohort of 33 patients
      (mean age 64 years, 16 men) concomitantly treated with dabigatran at a dose of
      110 mg twice a day (bid) and dronedarone at a dose of 400mg bid at the discretion
      of the patient's cardiologist were followed prospectively. RESULTS: Median trough
      plasma concentration of dabigatran at one week and one month after the
      concomitant treatment start was 102.0 (range 8-251) ng/ml and 84 (range 27-302)
      ng/ml respectively. Median treatment length was 13 (range 1-21) months. There was
      one major bleeding event (2,8% per patient-year) and no thrombotic events during
      a total of 35.5 patient-years. CONCLUSIONS: Median trough plasma concentration of
      dabigatran in our study was observed to be similar to median trough plasma
      concentration of dabigatran at a dose of 150 mg bid without concomitant
      dronedarone in earlier studies with low reported rate of bleeding and thrombosis.
      Since concomitant treatment offers potential benefits to patients with AF, larger
      future trials that might refute the current contraindication are warranted.

PMID- 25842009
TI  - Ultra-low iodine concentrations iso-attenuating with diagnostic 0.5M gadolinium
      in endovascular procedures to minimize the risk of contrast nephropathy: A
      phantom study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To establish the concentrations of iodine contrast media (I-CM) iso
      attenuating with 0.5M gadolinium contrast media (Gd-CM), regarded diagnostic in
      catheter angiography and vascular interventions in azotemic patients, at various
      X-ray tube potentials with correlation to skin radiation dose. MATERIALS AND
      METHOD: 20-mL syringes filled with 30, 40, 50, 70 and 90 mgI/mL, 0.5M Gd-CM and
      air were placed in a water-equivalent phantom and exposed at about 50, 60, 70, 80
      and 90 kV in an X-ray angiographic system. Relative contrast between the contrast
      materials and the background phantom material was measured on a PACS workstation.
      Radiation entrance dose, measured with a dose meter and estimated from the dose
      area-product (DAP), was adjusted for radiation backscatter to simulate absorbed
      skin dose. RESULT: The iodine concentrations 30, 40, 50, 70 and 90 mg/mL resulted
      in the same relative contrast as 0.5M gadolinium at 53, 57, 62, 71 and 85 kVp,
      respectively. Air had lower relative contrast than all iodine concentrations at
      all kVp-settings except for 30 mgI/mL above 84 kVp. The measured skin radiation
      dose was less than 1 mGy per exposure at all kVp-settings, and around 25-30%
      lower than the dose estimations derived from the angiographic system's in-built
      DAP meter. CONCLUSION: Low-kilovoltage X-ray technique and ultra-low
      concentrations of I-CM iso-attenuating with 0.5M Gd-CM may be utilizable in
      peripheral arteriography and endovascular interventions, to minimize the total CM
      dose to avoid CIN in azotemic patients.

PMID- 25842010
TI  - Finding our roots and celebrating our shoots: Plant virology in Virology, 1955
      1964.
AB  - To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Virology a survey is made of the plant
      viruses, virologists and their institutions, and tools and technology described
      in the first decade of plant virus publications in Virology. This was a period
      when plant viruses increasingly became tools of discovery as epistemic objects
      and plant virology became a discipline discrete from plant pathology and other
      life sciences. 

PMID- 25842011
TI  - Radiologists adding value through the clinical practice of interventional
      radiology.

PMID- 25842012
TI  - Certainty.

PMID- 25842013
TI  - Pioneers of America.

PMID- 25842014
TI  - ACR Appropriateness Criteria indeterminate renal mass.
AB  - Renal masses are increasingly detected in asymptomatic individuals as incidental
      findings. An indeterminate renal mass is one that cannot be diagnosed confidently
      as benign or malignant at the time it is discovered. CT, ultrasonography, and MRI
      of renal masses with fast-scan techniques and intravenous (IV) contrast are the
      mainstays of evaluation. Dual-energy CT, contrast-enhanced ultrasonography,
      PET/CT, and percutaneous biopsy are all technologies that are gaining traction in
      the characterization of the indeterminate renal mass. In cases in which IV
      contrast cannot be used, whether because of IV contrast allergy or renal
      insufficiency, renal mass classification with CT is markedly limited. In the
      absence of IV contrast, ultrasonography, MRI, and biopsy have some advantages.
      Owing to the low malignant and metastatic potential of small renal cell
      carcinomas (<=4 cm in diameter), active surveillance is additionally emerging as
      a diagnostic strategy for patients who have high surgical risk or limited life
      expectancy. The ACR Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based guidelines for
      specific clinical conditions that are reviewed every 3 years by a
      multidisciplinary expert panel. The guideline development and review include an
      extensive analysis of current medical literature from peer-reviewed journals and
      application by the panel of a well-established consensus methodology (modified
      Delphi) to rate the appropriateness of imaging and treatment procedures. In those
      instances in which evidence is lacking or not definitive, expert opinion may be
      used to recommend imaging or treatment. 

PMID- 25842015
TI  - Radiology order decision support: examination-indication appropriateness assessed
      using 2 electronic systems.
AB  - PURPOSE: The goal of the study was to determine the effects of guideline
      implementation strategy using 2 commercial radiology clinical decision support
      (CDS) systems. METHODS: The appropriateness and insurance dispositions of MRI and
      CT orders were evaluated using the Medicalis SmartReq and Nuance RadPort CDS
      systems during 2 different 3-month periods. Logistic regression was used to
      compare these outcomes between the 2 systems, after adjusting for patient-mix
      differences. RESULTS: Approximately 2,000 consecutive outpatient MRI and CT
      orders were evaluated over 2 periods of 3 months each. Medicalis scored 60% of
      exams as "indeterminate" (insufficient information) or "not validated" (no
      guidelines). Excluding these cases, Nuance scored significantly more exams as
      appropriate than did Medicalis (80% versus 51%, P < .001) and predicted insurance
      outcome significantly more often (76% versus 58%, P < .001). Only when the
      Medicalis "indeterminate" and "not validated" categories were combined with the
      high- or moderate-utility categories did the 2 CDS systems have similar
      performance. Overall, 19% of examinations with low-utility ratings were
      reimbursed. Conversely, 0.8% of examinations with high- or moderate-utility
      ratings were denied reimbursement. CONCLUSIONS: The chief difference between the
      2 CDS systems, and the strongest influence on outcomes, was how exams without
      relevant guidelines or with insufficient information were handled. Nuance
      augmented published guidelines with clinical best practice; Medicalis requested
      additional information utilizing pop-up windows. Thus, guideline implementation
      choices contributed to decision making and outcomes. User interface,
      specifically, the number of screens and completeness of indication choices,
      controlled CDS interactions and, coupled with guidance implementation, influenced
      willingness to use the CDS system.

PMID- 25842016
TI  - Clinical imaging guidelines part 4: challenges in identifying, engaging and
      collaborating with stakeholders.
AB  - The effective development and use of clinical imaging guidelines requires an
      understanding of who the stakeholders are, what their interests in the process
      are, and what roles they should play. If the appropriate stakeholders are not
      engaged in the right roles, it is unlikely that clinical imaging guidelines will
      be successfully developed, relied on, and actually used. Some stakeholders are
      obvious: for the development of clinical imaging guidelines, both imagers and
      those who request examinations, such as general practitioners, internists, and
      medical specialists, must be involved. To gain acceptance, other relevant groups
      are stakeholders, including medical societies, other health care professionals,
      insurers, health IT experts and vendors, and patients. The role of stakeholders
      must be dictated by their specific interest. For some, involvement in the
      creation of guidelines is the right role. For others, such as regulators or
      insurers, reviews or invitations to comment are required, and for others, such as
      medical educators, it is probably sufficient to provide information and create
      awareness. Only through a careful consideration of who the stakeholders are and
      what are their interests are the successful development, acceptance, and use of
      clinical imaging guidelines likely to occur. Future efforts must focus on
      collaboration, particularly among groups that create clinical imaging guidelines
      and those that can support their use, and on regulatory roles and mandates. 

PMID- 25842017
TI  - Role of the Quantitative Imaging Biomarker Alliance in optimizing CT for the
      evaluation of lung cancer screen-detected nodules.
AB  - The Quantitative Imaging Biomarker Alliance (QIBA) is a multidisciplinary
      consortium sponsored by the RSNA to define processes that enable the
      implementation and advancement of quantitative imaging methods described in a
      QIBA profile document that outlines the process to reliably and accurately
      measure imaging features. A QIBA profile includes factors such as technical
      (product-specific) standards, user activities, and relationship to a clinically
      meaningful metric, such as with nodule measurement in the course of CT screening
      for lung cancer. In this report, the authors describe how the QIBA approach is
      being applied to the measurement of small pulmonary nodules such as those found
      during low-dose CT-based lung cancer screening. All sources of variance with
      imaging measurement were defined for this process. Through a process of
      experimentation, literature review, and assembly of expert opinion, the strongest
      evidence was used to define how to best implement each step in the imaging
      acquisition and evaluation process. This systematic approach to implementing a
      quantitative imaging biomarker with standardized specifications for image
      acquisition and postprocessing for a specific quantitative measurement of a
      pulmonary nodule results in consistent performance characteristics of the
      measurement (eg, bias and variance). Implementation of the QIBA small nodule
      profile may allow more efficient and effective clinical management of the
      diagnostic workup of individuals found to have suspicious pulmonary nodules in
      the course of lung cancer screening evaluation. 

PMID- 25842018
TI  - The imaging 3.0 informatics scorecard.
AB  - Imaging 3.0 is a radiology community initiative to empower radiologists to create
      and demonstrate value for their patients, referring physicians, and health
      systems. In image-guided health care, radiologists contribute to the entire
      health care process, well before and after the actual examination, and out to the
      point at which they guide clinical decisions and affect patient outcome. Because
      imaging is so pervasive, radiologists who adopt Imaging 3.0 concepts in their
      practice can help their health care systems provide consistently high-quality
      care at reduced cost. By doing this, radiologists become more valuable in the new
      health care setting. The authors describe how informatics is critical to
      embracing Imaging 3.0 and present a scorecard that can be used to gauge a
      radiology group's informatics resources and capabilities. 

PMID- 25842019
TI  - The challenges in delivering the value chain.

PMID- 25842020
TI  - Are employers responsible for an employee's unauthorized review of a patient's
      confidential health information?

PMID- 25842021
TI  - Making quality improvement projects relevant to the 6 Institute of Medicine aims.

PMID- 25842022
TI  - Improving radiographic quality at a busy outpatient imaging center.

PMID- 25842023
TI  - The correct selection of pitch for optimal CT scanning: avoiding common
      misconceptions.

PMID- 25842024
TI  - Outcome of triple-tendon transfer, an Eden-Lange variant, to reconstruct
      trapezius paralysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study describes the technique and evaluates the outcome of the
      triple-tendon (T3) transfer, an Eden-Lange variant, to the scapula to stabilize
      the scapulothoracic articulation in the treatment of symptomatic trapezius
      paralysis. METHODS: T3 transfers were performed in 22 patients with a history of
      persistent trapezius paralysis secondary to spinal accessory nerve injury. The
      indications for surgery included shoulder pain and weakness and limited range of
      motion of the shoulder. The T3 transfer included transfer of the levator scapulae
      to the lateral aspect of the spine of the scapula, the rhomboid minor to the
      spine of the scapula just medial to the levator scapulae insertion, and the
      rhomboid major to the medial spine of the scapula, including all muscles bony
      insertions. RESULTS: At an average follow-up of 35 months, winging was corrected
      in all patients, with improvement of shoulder asymmetry. All patients had
      significant improvement of pain (P < .01) and range of motion, including active
      shoulder abduction that improved from an average of 71 degrees  preoperatively to
      118 degrees  postoperatively (P < .02) and shoulder flexion from an average of
      102 degrees  to 150 degrees  (P < .01). There were also significant improvements
      in aggregate Constant Shoulder Score (P < .01), subjective shoulder value (P <
      .01), and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand score (P < .01). All
      patients were very satisfied with the outcome of surgery. CONCLUSION: This study
      shows that the T3 transfer is effective in stabilizing the scapulothoracic
      articulation and restoring the function of the trapezius, and thus, in improving
      pain and shoulder function in patients with symptomatic trapezius paralysis.

PMID- 25842025
TI  - Upper extremity blood flow changes in professional baseball pitchers between two
      consecutive seasons.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Because of the tremendous forces produced and the repetitive nature
      of baseball, players have shown various shoulder adaptations in strength and
      range of motion. However, no research has identified whether alterations occur in
      the blood flow to the dominant arm among competitive baseball players. METHODS:
      Twenty professional baseball pitchers and 16 position players participated.
      Measurements were taken on day 1 of 2 consecutive spring training seasons.
      Diagnostic ultrasound was used to measure blood flow of the throwing arm brachial
      artery. These measurements were taken in a standing position with the test arm
      resting at the participant's side and again with the test arm in a provocative
      shoulder position. Separate 1-way analyses of variance were conducted to compare
      blood flow between seasons (P < .05). RESULTS: In a resting position, the blood
      flow of the pitchers did not change from 1 year to the next (P = .48). However,
      blood flow of the pitchers in the provocative position significantly decreased
      after the first year (P = .009). The position players did not have any
      significant changes in blood flow for either arm position (P > .11). CONCLUSIONS:
      In a provocative shoulder position, the blood flow of pitchers significantly
      decreased after 1 competitive baseball season. These results indicate that after
      a competitive season, the blood flow to the upper extremity of pitchers may be
      compromised.

PMID- 25842026
TI  - Scapular allograft reconstruction after total scapulectomy: surgical technique
      and functional results.
AB  - HYPOTHESIS: Scapular allograft reconstruction after total scapulectomy preserving
      the rotator cuff muscles is an oncologically safe procedure and results in good
      functional outcome with a low complication rate. METHODS: The data of 6 patients
      who underwent scapular allograft reconstruction after a total scapulectomy for
      tumor resection were retrospectively reviewed. At least 1 of the rotator cuff
      muscles was preserved and the size-matched scapular allograft fixed to the
      residual host acromion with a plate and screws. The periscapular muscles and the
      residual joint capsule were sutured to the corresponding insertions of the
      allograft. RESULTS: The mean follow-up was 5.5 years (range, 24-175 months). In
      all patients, a wide surgical margin was achieved. The average functional scores
      were 20 points for the International Society of Limb Salvage score and 60 points
      for the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score. Mean active shoulder flexion
      of 60 degrees  (range, 30 degrees -90 degrees ) and mean active abduction of 62
      degrees  (range, 30 degrees -90 degrees ) were achieved. During the follow-up, 1
      patient (16.6%) had a local recurrence and lung metastasis, whereas the remaining
      5 patients (83.3%) were disease free. Two breakages of the osteosynthesis and 2
      allograft fractures were observed, necessitating a revision surgery in 2 cases
      (33.3%). In this series, no infection, allograft resorption, or shoulder
      instability occurred. CONCLUSION: Allograft substitution of a completely removed
      scapula is an oncologically safe procedure, with good functional results,
      avoiding common complications in prosthetic replacements such as infection and
      dislocation of the shoulder joint.

PMID- 25842027
TI  - Five- to ten-year follow-up with a partially cemented all-polyethylene bone
      ingrowth glenoid component.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although total shoulder arthroplasty has demonstrated better clinical
      outcomes than hemiarthroplasty, glenoid component loosening is a common
      complication. Recently, a novel partially cemented all-polyethylene fluted
      central peg bone-ingrowth component was introduced. METHODS: Forty-two
      consecutive total shoulder arthroplasties from 2003 to 2007 performed by a single
      surgeon were evaluated radiographically and clinically with American Shoulder and
      Elbow Surgeons (ASES) scores and range of motion. RESULTS: The average follow-up
      was 80 months (63-114); the average forward elevation improved from 107 degrees 
      to 137 degrees , and external rotation improved from 30 degrees  to 37 degrees 
      at the latest follow-up. The average ASES score improved from 50 to 84. There was
      a strong correlation with the mean peripheral peg lucent line score (Lazarus
      score), which was 0.81, with the mean anchor peg lucent line score, which was
      0.50 (P < .001). An analysis of polyethylene before and after cross-linking
      revealed a strong correlation between components with cross-linking and the
      Lazarus scores and the central fluted peg scores. Overall, there was 97%
      survivorship at 80 months. On radiographs, 81% of the central fluted pegs had
      complete incorporation with no lucent lines. These lucent lines correlated with
      lower ASES scores, suggesting that loosening of the glenoid decreases functional
      outcome. CONCLUSION: Care should be taken in preparing the central fluted peg as
      perforation of the vault can lead to central flute peg lucent line formation,
      whereas perforation of the peripheral pegs does not seem to negatively affect the
      outcome.

PMID- 25842028
TI  - Sleep quality and nocturnal pain in patients with shoulder disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nocturnal shoulder pain resulting in poor sleep quality is a common
      finding in patients with shoulder disease. The purpose of this paper was to
      describe and to compare the sleep quality, pain, and function in adult subjects
      who have been diagnosed with rotator cuff disorders, osteoarthritis, or adhesive
      capsulitis (AC). METHODS: Patients completed a clinical assessment and
      comprehensive questionnaire regarding their current medical health history,
      shoulder symptoms, and impact of their symptoms on activities of daily living and
      quality of sleep. RESULTS: The study analyzed 343 patients with an average age of
      57.4 years. The mean Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation score for AC was 34%,
      which was significantly lower than the score for the subacromial impingement
      syndrome group of 53% (P = .007). The mean American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons
      scale score for AC was 38, which was also significantly lower than the score for
      the subacromial impingement syndrome group of 51 (P = .007). There were no
      significant differences in pain, with mean scores ranging from 4.90 to 5.82 for
      diagnostic subgroups on a visual analog scale (P = .28). Sleep quality was
      significantly poorer in the AC group (P = .008), with a mean Pittsburgh Sleep
      Quality Index score of 12.07. Specific subcomponents of the Pittsburgh Sleep
      Quality Index that had a significant impact on sleep interruption included sleep
      quality, sleep duration, and habitual sleep efficiency in the AC group (P < .05).
      CONCLUSION: This study shows that whereas many patients with shoulder disease may
      have sleep-related issues, patients with adhesive capsulitis are particularly
      vulnerable to reduced sleep quality.

PMID- 25842029
TI  - Predictors of throwing velocity in youth and adolescent pitchers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Shoulder and elbow injuries are a common cause of pain, dysfunction,
      and inability to play in overhead throwers. Pitch velocity plays an integral part
      in the etiology of these injuries; however, the demographic and biomechanical
      correlates with throwing velocity remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that
      pitchers with higher velocity would have shared demographic and kinematic
      characteristics. METHODS: Normal preseason youth and adolescent pitchers
      underwent dual-orthogonal high-speed video analysis while pitch velocity was
      collected with a radar gun. Demographic and pitching history data were also
      collected. Kinematic data and observational mechanics were recorded. Multivariate
      regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: A total of 420 pitchers were
      included, with a mean pitching velocity of 64 +/- 10 mph. After multivariate
      logistic regression analysis, the most important correlates with pitch velocity
      were age (P < .001; R(2) = 0.658), height (P < .001; R(2) = 0.076), separation of
      the hips and shoulders (P < .001; R(2) = 0.027), and stride length (P < .001;
      R(2) = 0.016); in combination, these 4 variables explained 78% of the variance in
      pitch velocity. Each year of age was associated with a mean 1.5 mph increase in
      velocity; each inch in height, with 1.2 mph; separation of the hips and
      shoulders, with 2.6 mph; and a 10% increase in stride length, with 1.9 mph.
      CONCLUSION: Pitch velocity is most strongly correlated with age, height,
      separation of the hips and shoulders, and stride length.

PMID- 25842030
TI  - Suture anchor fixation of displaced olecranon fractures in the elderly: a case
      series and surgical technique.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Olecranon fractures are common in elderly patients, causing
      significant morbidity and functional impairment. Traditional surgical treatments
      are often complicated by hardware failure and prominence, frequently requiring
      reoperation. To address these concerns, a suture anchor fixation technique was
      developed and clinically evaluated. METHODS: A consecutive series of elderly
      patients treated with this technique from 2006 to 2013 at a single institution
      were studied. All cases were surgically repaired with nonmetallic fully threaded
      suture anchors in a double-row fashion. Clinical outcome measures including the
      shortened Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand score, the Oxford Elbow
      Score, and the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey score were obtained. RESULTS:
      Eight female patients with Mayo IIA or IIB fractures were identified. The mean
      age of the patients at time of operation was 73.5 +/- 10.7 years (range, 59.3
      88.8 years). The average time from injury to operation was 5.7 +/- 3.7 days. The
      average follow-up was 5.1 +/- 2.5 years (range, 0.8-7.4 years). Six patients were
      available for long-term follow-up; 1 patient had died, and 1 patient was unable
      to be contacted despite multiple attempts. There were no intraoperative
      complications or reoperations. All 8 patients healed uneventfully in an
      acceptable position without displacement. Postoperatively, the average Oxford
      Elbow Score was 47.17 +/- 2.04; the average shortened Disabilities of the Arm,
      Shoulder, and Hand score was 6.43 +/- 9.47; and the average 12-Item Short Form
      Health Survey scores were 49.02 +/- 16.59 and 55.38 +/- 4.05 for the physical and
      mental component scales, respectively. CONCLUSION: Suture anchor fixation of
      olecranon fractures in the elderly population provides excellent long-term
      radiographic and clinical outcomes without hardware complications associated with
      traditional fixation methods.

PMID- 25842031
TI  - Wear rates of retentive versus nonretentive reverse total shoulder arthroplasty
      liners in an in vitro wear simulation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although short-term outcomes of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty
      (rTSA) remain promising, the most commonly cited complication remains prosthetic
      instability. A retentive rTSA liner is commonly used to increase system
      constraint; however, no studies have evaluated the rate of polyethylene wear. Our
      hypothesis was that more constrained retentive liners would have higher wear
      rates than nonretentive liners. METHODS: Six nonretentive and six retentive rTSA
      non-cross-linked polyethylene liners were subjected to 4.5 million cycles of
      alternating cycles of abduction-adduction and flexion-extension motion loading
      profiles. The rTSA liners were assessed for gravimetric wear loss, 3-dimensional
      volumetric loss by novel micro-computed tomography analysis, and particulate wear
      debris analysis. RESULTS: Volumetric wear rates were significant at 7 specific
      time points (1.0, 2.0, 2.5, 3.25, 3.75, 4.0, and 4.5 million cycles) throughout
      testing between nonretentive and retentive liners; however, overall mean
      volumetric wear rate was not statistically significant (P = .076). Total volume
      loss between liner test groups was found to be significant starting after 3.5
      million cycles of testing. Maximum and mean surface deviations were found to be
      larger for retentive liners vs. nonretentive liners by micro-computed tomography
      analysis across the entire articulation surface. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:
      Retentive liners undergo significantly greater volume loss and greater surface
      deviation compared with nonretentive liners, most notably at later time points
      representing extended implantation times. Additional stability afforded by
      retentive liners should be balanced against the potential for increased wear and
      potential for subsequent polyethylene wear-induced aseptic loosening.

PMID- 25842032
TI  - Moving beyond standard procedures to assess spontaneous recognition memory.
AB  - This review will consider how spontaneous tasks have been applied alongside
      neuroscientific techniques to test complex forms of recognition memory for
      objects and their environmental features, e.g. the spatial location of an object
      or the context in which it is presented. We discuss studies that investigate the
      roles of the perirhinal cortex and the hippocampus in recognition memory using
      standard testing paradigms, and consider how these findings contribute to the
      ongoing debate about whether recognition memory is a single unitary process or
      multiple processes that can be dissociated anatomically and functionally. Due to
      the wide use of spontaneous tasks, the need for improved procedures that reduce
      animal use is acknowledged, with multiple trial paradigms discussed as a novel
      way of reducing variability and animal numbers in these tasks. The importance of
      improving translation of animal models to humans is highlighted, with emphasis on
      a shift away from relying on the phenomenological experience of human subjects. 

PMID- 25842033
TI  - Patch clamp characterization of the effect of cardiolipin on MscS of E. coli.
AB  - The bacterial mechanosensitive channels MscS and MscL are gated by an increase in
      membrane tension when the bacterium experiences hypoosmotic shock. It has been
      well established that membrane lipids modulate the mechanosensitivity and gating
      behavior of these channels. The focus of this study is a negatively charged
      phospholipid, cardiolipin, which has been shown to localize at curved regions of
      the bacterial cell, including the poles and the septum, and to have a strong
      preference for binding to membrane proteins. Here we characterize the effect of
      cardiolipin on MscS, the mechanosensitive channel of small conductance, using
      patch-clamp electrophysiology. We compare the gating kinetics and
      mechanosensitivity of the channel in both azolectin and mixtures of pure lipids
      DOPE/DOPC liposomes with and without cardiolipin. In azolectin liposomes, the
      addition of 10 % cardiolipin abolishes hysteresis of MscS, but MscL remains
      largely unaffected, indicating that cardiolipin may stabilize the closed state of
      MscS. On the other hand, mixtures of DOPE/DOPC abolish the hysteresis gating of
      MscS even in the absence of cardiolipin, and the addition of cardiolipin
      increases the opening and closing thresholds of both MscS and MscL. In addition,
      we show that MscS gates more frequently when cardiolipin is present in both the
      azolectin and pure lipid systems; this dose-dependent effect ultimately
      destabilizes the open state of MscS and we consider the functional implications
      of this cardiolipin effect in the bacterial osmotic response. Our results show
      that cardiolipin modulates the mechanosensitivity and gating characteristics of
      MscS, indicating its important role in the physiology of bacterial cells. 

PMID- 25842034
TI  - Downregulation of discoidin domain receptor 2 decreases tumor growth of
      hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: Discoidin domain receptors (DDRs) have been identified as tyrosine
      kinase receptors for collagen, and the overexpression of DDR1 was correlated with
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression in vitro. Little is known about DDR2
      on HCC cells, and we investigated the expression and function of DDR2 in human
      HCC cells. METHODS: Expression of DDR2 in human HCC cell lines and patient HCC
      tissues was observed. The suppression of DDR2 by siRNA against DDR2 was performed
      in vitro and in vivo study. RESULTS: All of HCC cell lines expressed DDR2 mRNA,
      and all HCC tissues from the ten patients with HCC demonstrated DDR2 mRNA
      expression. Transfection of DDR2 siRNA significantly inhibits cell growth
      compared to cells with nontarget siRNA transfection in vitro (P < 0.001). In
      SNU182, Hep3B, and HeLa cell xenograft models, there was a significant difference
      in average tumor volumes after 12 days of the DDR2 siRNA injection (P < 0.05) in
      SNU182 xenograft mice. DDR2 siRNA injection decreased the mean tumor volume by
      65.6 % compared to that of the control. The apoptosis analysis demonstrated that
      DDR2 siRNA treatment significantly increased apoptotic cells (P < 0.01). Cell
      migration (P < 0.05) and cell invasion (P < 0.01) were significantly decreased by
      DDR2 siRNA treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The inhibition of DDR2 by RNA interference
      suppressed in vivo and in vitro growth of human HCC cells. Our results may
      support that the use of DDR2 as a novel target of HCC treatment through control
      of tumor apoptosis, migration, and invasion.

PMID- 25842035
TI  - Assessment of the outcomes of the treatment of Cushing's disease in the hospitals
      of Castilla-La Mancha.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Treatment of Cushing's disease poses interesting dilemmas in clinical
      practice. The aim of our study was to analyze the outcomes of the different
      treatments, the control and recurrence rates, and the complications derived from
      them. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data were collected from the clinical records of 22
      patients over 18 years of age (86.4% women). They had been diagnosed with
      Cushing's disease between 2000 and 2012, and were monitored at Complejo
      Hospitalario Universitario-Albacete, Hospital Virgen de la Salud-Toledo Hospital
      General Universitario de Ciudad Real, Hospital Virgen de la Luz-Cuenca, Hospital
      Nuestra Senora del Prado-Talavera de la Reina, and Complejo Hospitalario la
      Mancha Centro-Alcazar de San Juan. RESULTS: Surgery was the treatment of choice
      in all patients. Biochemical cure was achieved in 72.2% of patients. Nine
      patients developed in the early postoperative period diabetes insipidus, which
      became in 2 patients only. Surprisingly, 3 patients with normal postoperative
      neurohypophyseal function later developed permanent diabetes insipidus. New
      hormone deficiencies occurred in 7 patients. Seventeen patients received
      ketoconazole before surgery (5 of them after surgery also), and 70% of them
      achieved normal urinary free cortisol levels. Three patients also received
      radiotherapy, and all of them were cured after a median follow-up of 85.5 months;
      they developed no tumors or other complications. CONCLUSIONS: Our study reports
      the outcomes of management of Cushing's disease in non-reference centers for this
      disease, possibly giving a realistic picture of standard clinical practice for
      the condition in Spain.

PMID- 25842036
TI  - Diagnostic criteria for gestational diabetes: The debate goes on.

PMID- 25842037
TI  - Delftia deserti sp. nov., isolated from a desert soil sample.
AB  - A Gram-staining negative, short rod, motile, light brownish-pigmented bacterial
      strain, designated YIM Y792(T), was isolated from a soil sample taken from Turpan
      desert in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, north-western China. Phylogenetic
      analysis indicated that strain YIM Y792(T) belongs to the genus Delftia. Strain
      YIM Y792(T) shared highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with Delftia
      lacustris DSM 21246(T) (93.96 %), Delftia tsuruhatensis NBRC 16741(T) (93.74 %),
      and Delftia acidovorans NBRC 14950(T) (93.62 %). Growth of the strain YIM Y792(T)
      was found to occur at 20-45  degrees C (optimum at 30  degrees C), pH 6.0-9.0
      (optimum at pH 7.0), and salinities of 0-3.0 % NaCl (optimum at 1.0 %). The new
      bacterium exhibits typical chemotaxonomic features of the genus Delftia with
      ubiqinone-8 (Q-8) as the predominant quinone and C16:0, Summed feature 3, Summed
      Feature 8 as major fatty acids (>10 %). The polar lipids were found to consist of
      diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol,
      glycolipid, two unidentified phospholipids and one unidentified lipid. The G+C
      content of the genomic DNA of strain YIM Y792(T) was found to be 70.3 mol%. The
      DNA-DNA relatedness values between strain YIM Y792(T) and D. lacustris DSM
      21246(T), D. tsuruhatensis NBRC16741(T), D. acidovorans NBRC14950(T) were 35.5 +/
      2.0, 17.1 +/- 1.8, 26.2 +/- 2.0 %. Based on the phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and
      phenotypic data presented here, we propose a novel species with the name Delftia
      desertisoli sp. nov. The type strain is YIM Y792(T) (=KCTC 42377(T) = JCM
      30639(T)). 

PMID- 25842038
TI  - Assessment of epiphytic yeast diversity in rice (Oryza sativa) phyllosphere in
      Thailand by a culture-independent approach.
AB  - The epiphytic yeast diversity in rice phyllosphere in Thailand was investigated
      by a culture-independent technique based on the RFLP pattern and the sequence of
      the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit rRNA gene. Forty-four samples of rice leaf
      were collected randomly from six provinces. The DNA was extracted from leaf
      washing samples and the D1/D2 domain was amplified using PCR technique. The PCR
      products were cloned and then screened by colony PCR. Of total 1121 clones, 451
      clones (40.2 %) revealed the D1/D2 domain sequences closely related to sequences
      of yeasts in GenBank, and they were clustered into 45 operational taxonomic units
      (OTUs) at 99 % homology. Of total yeast related clones, 329 clones (72.9 %) were
      identified as nine known yeast species, which consisted of 314 clones (8 OTUs) in
      the phylum Basidiomycota including Bullera japonica, Pseudozyma antarctica,
      Pseudozyma aphidis, Sporobolomyces blumeae, Sporobolomyces carnicolor and
      Sporobolomyces oryzicola and 15 clones (6 OTUs) in the phylum Ascomycota
      including Metschnikowia koreensis, Meyerozyma guilliermondii and Wickerhamomyces
      anomalus. The D1/D2 sequences (122 clones) that could not be identified as known
      yeast species were closest to 3 and 14 species in Ascomycota and Basidiomycota,
      respectively, some of which may be new yeast species. The most predominant
      species detected was P. antarctica (42.6 %) followed by B. japonica (25.9 %) with
      63.6 and 22.7 % frequency of occurrence, respectively. The results of OTU
      richness of each sampling location revealed that climate condition and sampling
      location could affect epiphytic yeast diversity in rice phyllosphere. 

PMID- 25842039
TI  - The ipdC, hisC1 and hisC2 genes involved in indole-3-acetic production used as
      alternative phylogenetic markers in Azospirillum brasilense.
AB  - Plant growth-promoting bacteria of the genus Azospirillum are present in the
      rhizosphere and as endophytes of many crops. In this research we studied 40
      Azospirillum strains isolated from different plants and geographic regions. They
      were first characterized by 16S rDNA restriction analysis, and their phylogenetic
      position was established by sequencing the genes 16S rDNA, ipdC, hisC1, and
      hisC2. The latter three genes are involved in the indole-3-pyruvic acid (IPyA)
      biosynthesis pathway of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Furthermore, the suitability
      of the 16S-23S rDNA intergenic spacer sequence (IGS) for the differentiation of
      closely related Azospirillum taxa and development of PCR protocols allows for
      specific detection of strains. The IGS-RFLP analysis enabled intraspecies
      differentiation, particularly of Azospirillum brasilense and Azospirillum
      lipoferum strains. Results demonstrated that the ipdC, hisC1, and hisC2 genes are
      highly conserved in all the assessed A. brasilense isolates, suggesting that
      these genes can be used as an alternative phylogenetic marker. In addition, IAA
      production determined by HPLC ranged from 0.17 to 98.2 MUg mg(-1) protein.
      Southern hybridization with the A. brasilense ipdC gene probe did not show, a
      hybridization signal with A. lipoferum, Azospirillum amazonense, Azospirillum
      halopreferans and Azospirillum irakense genomic DNA. This suggests that these
      species produce IAA by other pathways. Because IAA is mainly synthesized via the
      IPyA pathway in A. brasilense strains, a species that is used worldwide in
      agriculture, the identification of ipdC, hisC1, and hisC2 genes by PCR may be
      suitable for selecting exploitable strains. 

PMID- 25842041
TI  - Expression of glutamine transporter isoforms in cerebral cortex of rats with
      chronic hepatic encephalopathy.
AB  - Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a neuropsychiatric disorder that occurs due to
      acute and chronic liver diseases, the hallmark of which is the increased levels
      of ammonia and subsequent alterations in glutamine synthesis, i.e. conditions
      associated with the pathophysiology of HE. Under physiological conditions,
      glutamine is fundamental for replenishment of the neurotransmitter pools of
      glutamate and GABA. The different isoforms of glutamine transporters play an
      important role in the transfer of this amino acid between astrocytes and neurons.
      A disturbance in the GABA biosynthetic pathways has been described in bile duct
      ligated (BDL) rats, a well characterized model of chronic HE. Considering that
      glutamine is important for GABA biosynthesis, altered glutamine transport and the
      subsequent glutamate/GABA-glutamine cycle efficacy might influence these
      pathways. Given this potential outcome, the aim of the present study was to
      investigate whether the expression of the glutamine transporters SAT1, SAT2, SN1
      and SN2 would be affected in chronic HE. We verified that mRNA expression of the
      neuronal glutamine transporters SAT1 and SAT2 was found unaltered in the cerebral
      cortex of BDL rats. Similarly, no changes were found in the mRNA level for the
      astrocytic transporter SN1, whereas the gene expression of SN2 was increased by
      two-fold in animals with chronic HE. However, SN2 protein immuno-reactivity did
      not correspond with the increase in gene transcription since it remained
      unaltered. These data indicate that the expression of the glutamine transporter
      isoforms is unchanged during chronic HE, and thus likely not to participate in
      the pathological mechanisms related to the imbalance in the GABAergic
      neurotransmitter system observed in this neurologic condition. 

PMID- 25842040
TI  - Kribbella qitaiheensis sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from soil.
AB  - A novel nocardioform actinomycete, designated strain NEAU-GQTH2-3(T), was
      isolated from muddy soil collected from a stream in Qitaihe, Heilongjiang
      Province, northeast China and characterized using a polyphasic approach.
      Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence demonstrated that the
      organism should be assigned to the genus Kribbella and forms a clade with
      Kribbella catacumbae JCM 14968(T) (99.2 % sequence similarity), Kribbella
      koreensis JCM 10977(T) (99.1 %), Kribbella ginsengisoli JCM 16928(T) (98.6 %) and
      Kribbella sancticallisti JCM 14969(T) (98.4 %), although with low bootstrap
      support. Morphological and chemotaxonomic properties of the isolate are in
      agreement with the description of the genus Kribbella. Chemotaxonomic
      characteristics include LL-diaminopimelic acid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan;
      glucose and ribose as the characteristic whole-cell hydrolysates;
      diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine,
      phosphatidylinositol, a glycerolipid and an unidentified phospholipid as the
      predominant polar lipids; the major menaquinones MK-9(H4) and MK-9(H2); as well
      as iso-C15:0, iso-C16:0 and C17:1 omega7c being the predominant fatty acid
      components. Mycolic acids were not detected. Furthermore, the strain could be
      clearly distinguished by the combination of DNA-DNA hybridization results and
      some phenotypic characteristics from the closest phylogenetic relatives.
      Therefore, it is proposed that strain NEAU-GQTH2-3(T) represents a novel species
      of the genus Kribbella, for which the name Kribbella qitaiheensis sp. nov. is
      proposed. The type strain is NEAU-GQTH2-3(T) (=CGMCC 4.7215(T)  =JCM 30343(T)). 

PMID- 25842042
TI  - Development of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase inhibitors in medicinal chemistry
      with particular emphasis as anticancer agents.
AB  - Many cancer cells demonstrate a high rate of glucose consumption via glycolysis
      to provide intermediates for macromolecule biosynthesis. To accomplish this
      metabolic change, the expression of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinases (PDKs) is
      rapidly increased in cancer cells. Inhibition of PDKs could promote the function
      of mitochondria by increasing the oxidative metabolism of pyruvate, resulting in
      the death of cancer cells. In this review, we provide an overview of the
      structural information available for PDKs and their connections to known
      therapeutic effects. We then describe the development of small molecule PDK
      inhibitors in medicinal chemistry with particular emphasis as anticancer agents.
      Finally, directions for further development of PDK inhibitors as potential
      anticancer agents are discussed. 

PMID- 25842043
TI  - Postural- and respiratory-related activities of abdominal muscles during post
      exercise hyperventilation.
AB  - The present study focuses on the role of superficial abdominal muscles revealed
      by electromyographic recordings during the maintenance of a bipedal stance
      perturbed by post-exercise hyperventilation. Twelve healthy subjects performed
      six 30-s postural tests: one pre-exercise test while breathing quietly, then one
      test every minute for the 5 min immediately following a maximum-intensity,
      incremental cycling exercise test. Displacement of the centre of pressure in the
      sagittal plane was monitored over time. Myoelectric activities of the obliquus
      externus (OE), obliquus internus (OI) and rectus abdominis (RA) muscles were
      recorded by surface electromyography (EMG). Metabolic parameters were measured
      with a portable telemetric device. The change in ventilatory drive induced by
      exercise was accompanied by a significant increase in both postural sway
      parameters and EMG activities. For OE and OI, the increased EMG activities were
      prominent during expiration, whereas OI was silent during inspiration. OE and RA
      were activated during both expiration and inspiration. It is concluded that the
      compensation of respiratory disturbances of the erect posture appears to be less
      effective when minute ventilation increases. The patterns of muscle activity
      suggest that abdominal muscles are controlled differentially and that their
      functional coordination is dependent on the respiratory demand.

PMID- 25842045
TI  - Editor's Introduction on the Special Section "Spirituality in Adolescents: The
      Hub of Mental Health and Positive Development".

PMID- 25842044
TI  - Internet and Advertisement.
AB  - The Internet has revolutionized the way knowledge is currently produced, stored
      and disseminated. A few finger clicks on a keyboard can save time and many hours
      of search in libraries or shopping in stores. Online trademarks with an (e-)
      prefix such as e-library, e-business, e-health etc., are increasingly part of our
      daily professional vocabularies. However, the Internet has also produced multiple
      negative side effects, ranging from an unhealthy dependency to a dehumanization
      of human relationships. Fraudulent, unethical and scam practices are also
      flourishing through for example misleading online advertising methods. Some
      social and professional networks gather users' profiles for selling and
      advertising purposes, sometimes by making it technically difficult to
      unsubscribe. Here, I discuss some of these unethical aspects and propose some
      potential solutions to reduce them. 

PMID- 25842046
TI  - Children of Few Words: Relations Among Selective Mutism, Behavioral Inhibition,
      and (Social) Anxiety Symptoms in 3- to 6-Year-Olds.
AB  - Children with selective mutism (SM) fail to speak in specific public situations
      (e.g., school), despite speaking normally in other situations (e.g., at home).
      The current study explored the phenomenon of SM in a sample of 57 non-clinical
      children aged 3-6 years. Children performed two speech tasks to assess their
      absolute amount of spoken words, while their parents completed questionnaires for
      measuring children's levels of SM, social anxiety and non-social anxiety symptoms
      as well as the temperament characteristic of behavioral inhibition. The results
      indicated that high levels of parent-reported SM were primarily associated with
      high levels of social anxiety symptoms. The number of spoken words was negatively
      related to behavioral inhibition: children with a more inhibited temperament used
      fewer words during the speech tasks. Future research is necessary to test whether
      the temperament characteristic of behavioral inhibition prompts children to speak
      less in novel social situations, and whether it is mainly social anxiety that
      turns this taciturnity into the psychopathology of SM. 

PMID- 25842047
TI  - Staging for vulvar cancer.
AB  - Vulvar cancer has been staged by the International Federation of Gynaecology and
      Obstetrics (FIGO) since 1969, and the original staging system was based on
      clinical findings only. This system provided a very good spread of prognostic
      groupings. Because vulvar cancer is virtually always treated surgically, the
      status of the lymph nodes is the most important prognostic factor and this can
      only be determined with certainty by histological examination of resected lymph
      nodes, FIGO introduced a surgical staging system in 1988. This was modified in
      1994 to include a category of microinvasive vulvar cancer (stage IA), because
      such patients have virtually no risk of lymph node metastases. This system did
      not give a reasonably even spread of prognostic groupings. In addition, patients
      with stage III disease were shown to be a heterogeneous group prognostically, and
      the number of positive nodes and the morphology of those nodes were not taken
      into account. A new surgical staging system for vulvar cancer was introduced by
      FIGO in 2009. Initial retrospective analyses have suggested that this new staging
      system has overcome the major deficiencies in the 1994 system. 

PMID- 25842048
TI  - Erratum to: Growth Hormone Deficiency and Lysinuric Protein Intolerance: Case
      Report and Review of the Literature.
AB  - The first and last names of the authors were inadvertently reversed in the
      original version. 

PMID- 25842049
TI  - Outcome of Patients with Immunoglobulin Light-Chain Amyloidosis with Lung, Liver,
      Gastrointestinal, Neurologic, and Soft Tissue Involvement after Autologous
      Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.
AB  - There is limited information on the outcome when organs other than heart or
      kidneys are involved by immunoglobulin light-chain amyloidosis (AL). We report
      the outcome of 53 patients with AL with gastrointestinal (GI), peripheral nerve
      (PN), liver, lung, or soft-tissue involvement, who underwent high-dose
      chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HCT) at
      our institution between 1997 and 2013. The median age at auto-HCT was 56 years
      (range, 35 to 74). One, 2, 3, or 4 organs were involved in 43%, 22%, 28%, and 4%
      of patients, respectively. Concurrent cardiac, renal, or both were involved in 24
      (45%) patients. Forty-six patients received induction therapy before auto-HCT.
      The 100-day and 1-year treatment-related mortality (TRM) were 3.8% (n = 2) and
      7.5% (n = 4), respectively. Forty-one (80%) patients achieved a hematologic
      response. Organ response at 1 year after auto-HCT was seen in 23 (57%) of the 40
      evaluable patients. With a median follow-up of 24 months, the median progression
      free survival and overall survival (OS) were 36 and 73 months, respectively. Auto
      HCT was associated with a low TRM, durable organ responses, and a median OS of >
      6 years in selected patients with AL and GI, PN, liver, lung, or soft-tissue
      involvement.

PMID- 25842050
TI  - Impact of Additional Cytogenetic Abnormalities in Adults with Philadelphia
      Chromosome-Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Undergoing Allogeneic
      Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation.
AB  - The occurrence of additional cytogenetic abnormalities (ACAs) is common in
      Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL) but is of
      unknown significance in the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) era. We
      retrospectively analyzed data from a consecutive case series of adults with Ph+
      ALL who had undergone allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) at
      City of Hope between 2003 and 2014. Among 130 adults with Ph+ ALL who had TKI
      therapy before alloHCT, 78 patients had available data on conventional
      cytogenetics at diagnosis and were eligible for outcomes analysis. ACAs were
      observed in 41 patients (53%). There were no statistically significant
      differences in median age, median initial WBC count, post-HCT TKI maintenance, or
      disease status at the time of transplant between the Ph-only and ACA cohorts;
      however, the Ph-only cohort had a higher rate of minimal residual disease
      positivity at the time of HCT. Three-year leukemia-free survival (79.8% versus
      39.5%, P = .01) and 3-year overall survival (83% versus 45.6%, P = .02) were
      superior in the Ph-only cohort compared with the ACA cohort, respectively.
      Monosomy 7 was the most common additional aberration observed in our ACA cohort
      (n = 12). Thus, when TKI therapy and alloHCT are used as part of adult Ph+ ALL
      therapy, the presence of ACAs appears to have a significant deleterious effect on
      outcomes post-HCT. 

PMID- 25842051
TI  - Effectiveness of conventional versus virtual reality-based balance exercises in
      vestibular rehabilitation for unilateral peripheral vestibular loss: results of a
      randomized controlled trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of virtual reality-based balance
      exercises to conventional balance exercises during vestibular rehabilitation in
      patients with unilateral peripheral vestibular loss (UVL). DESIGN: Assessor
      blind, randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Two acute care university teaching
      hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with UVL (N=71) who had dizziness/vertigo, and
      gait and balance impairment. INTERVENTIONS: Patients with UVL were randomly
      assigned to receive 6 weeks of either conventional (n=36) or virtual reality
      based (n=35) balance exercises during vestibular rehabilitation. The virtual
      reality-based group received an off-the-shelf virtual reality gaming system for
      home exercise, and the conventional group received a foam balance mat. Treatment
      comprised weekly visits to a physiotherapist and a daily home exercise program.
      MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was self-preferred gait speed.
      Secondary outcomes included other gait parameters and tasks, Sensory Organization
      Test (SOT), dynamic visual acuity, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale,
      Vestibular Rehabilitation Benefits Questionnaire, and Activities Balance
      Confidence Questionnaire. The subjective experience of vestibular rehabilitation
      was measured with a questionnaire. RESULTS: Both groups improved, but there were
      no significant differences in gait speed between the groups postintervention
      (mean difference, -.03m/s; 95% confidence interval [CI], -.09 to .02m/s). There
      were also no significant differences between the groups in SOT scores (mean
      difference, .82%; 95% CI, -5.00% to 6.63%) or on any of the other secondary
      outcomes (P>.05). In both groups, adherence to exercise was high (~77%), but the
      virtual reality-based group reported significantly more enjoyment (P=.001), less
      difficulty with (P=.009) and less tiredness after (P=.03) balance exercises. At 6
      months, there were no significant between-group differences in physical outcomes.
      CONCLUSIONS: Virtual reality-based balance exercises performed during vestibular
      rehabilitation were not superior to conventional balance exercises during
      vestibular rehabilitation but may provide a more enjoyable method of retraining
      balance after unilateral peripheral vestibular loss.

PMID- 25842052
TI  - Wechsler profiles in referred children with intellectual giftedness: Associations
      with trait-anxiety, emotional dysregulation, and heterogeneity of Piaget-like
      reasoning processes.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: It is common that intellectually gifted children (IQ >= 130)
      are referred to paediatric or child neuropsychiatry clinics for socio-emotional
      problems and/or school underachievement or maladjustment. Among them, those
      displaying developmental asynchrony - a heterogeneous developmental pattern
      reflected in a significant verbal-performance discrepancy (SVPD) on Wechsler's
      intelligence profile - are thought to be more emotionally and behaviourally
      impaired than others. Our purpose was to investigate this clinical dichotomy
      using a cognitive psychopathological approach. METHODS: Trait-anxiety and
      emotional dysregulation were investigated in two groups of referred gifted
      children (n = 107 and 136, respectively), a pilot-study of reasoning processes on
      extensive Piaget-like tasks was also performed in an additional small group (n =
      12). RESULTS: Compared to those with a homogenous Wechsler profile, children with
      a SVPD exhibited: 1) a decreased prevalence of social preoccupation-anxiety
      (11.1% versus 27.4%; p < 0.05); 2) an increased prevalence of emotional
      dysregulation (58.7% versus 41.3%; p < 0.05); and 3) an increased prevalence of
      pathological cognitive disharmony on Piaget-like tasks (87.5% versus 0.0%; p <
      0.05). CONCLUSION: The results support a clinical dichotomy of behaviourally
      impaired children with intellectual giftedness, with developmentally asynchronous
      ones exhibiting more severe psychopathological features. This suggests that
      developmental asynchrony matters when examining emotional and behavioural
      problems in gifted children and call for further investigation of this profile.

PMID- 25842053
TI  - Complications of mandibular distraction osteogenesis for acquired deformities: a
      systematic review of the literature.
AB  - A systematic review on complications in all forms of mandibular distraction
      osteogenesis (MDO) for acquired deformities was performed. Search terms
      expressing distraction osteogenesis were used in 'AND' combination with search
      terms comprising 'mandible' and terms for complication, failure, and morbidity. A
      search using PubMed (National Library of Medicine, NCBI), EMBASE, and the
      Cochrane Controlled Trials Register yielded 644 articles published between 1966
      and mid October 2013. Three hundred and twenty-one eligible articles were
      screened in detail. Complications related to MDO in acquired deformities were
      reported in 105 clinical articles, involving 1332 patients. Treatments included
      alveolar distraction osteogenesis (ADO), mandibular lengthening, DO in bone
      grafts, and bi-/trifocal transport disc DO (TDDO) for segmental mandibular
      defects. A high incidence of complications was seen in MDO for acquired
      deformities (ADO 44.4%; residual group 43.9%). An index for classifying
      complications in MDO, based on the impact and further treatment or final results,
      was used. In the ADO group, soft tissue complications (8.0%), insufficient vector
      control (7.6%), temporary inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) neurosensory disturbances
      (6.5%), device-related problems (3.5%), mandible fractures (2.8%), insufficient
      bone formation (2.5%), and fracture of the transport disc (1.3%) were seen. In
      the residual group, temporary IAN neurosensory disturbances (13.4%), minor
      infection (5.3%), DO failure (4.0%), and device-related problems (3.8%) were
      reported. 

PMID- 25842054
TI  - Predominance of B haplotype associated KIR genes in Tamil Speaking Dravidians.
AB  - Killer cell immunoglobulin like receptors (KIRs) are a group of activating
      (aKIRs) and inhibitory receptors (iKIRs) expressed on subsets of lymphoid cells.
      Their interaction with HLA class I molecules modulate the innate and adaptive
      immune response against infections and malignancies. KIR haplotypes varies in
      gene content and also at allelic level, thereby, distinguishing individuals and
      populations. Hence, the present study is aimed to determine the KIR gene
      diversity in Piramalai Kallar (PK) population of South India. The PK population
      shows diverged KIR gene frequencies and novel haplotypes than other South Indian
      populations. 52 different KIR gene profiles were identified and 18 of them were
      new in this population. In phylogenetic analysis the study population is
      positioned between African and Iranian population in the clade, which supports
      the South African ancestry of Indian population. 

PMID- 25842055
TI  - Introducing a new manuscript format: Enabling access to immunogenomic population
      data with short population reports.

PMID- 25842056
TI  - Passenger lymphocyte syndrome in ABO and Rhesus D minor mismatched liver and
      kidney transplantation: A prospective analysis.
AB  - The increasing demand for solid organs has necessitated the use of ABO and Rhesus
      (Rh) D minor mismatched transplants. The passenger lymphocyte syndrome (PLS)
      occurs when donor lymphocytes produce antibodies that react with host red blood
      cell (RBC) antigens and result in hemolysis. Our aim was to evaluate
      prospectively the role of PLS in post transplant anemia and hemolysis in ABO and
      RhD minor mismatched recipients of liver and kidney grafts and to study the
      association of PLS with donor lymphocyte microchimerism. We examined 11 liver and
      10 kidney recipients at Day +15 for anemia, markers of hemolysis, direct
      antiglobulin test and eluates, and serum RBC antibodies. Microchimerism was
      determined in peripheral blood lymphocytes by genotyping of simple sequence
      length polymorphisms encoding short tandem repeats. Immune hemolytic anemia and
      anti-recipient RBC antibodies were observed in 2 out of 11 liver (18.2%) and 2
      out of 10 kidney (20%) transplants. RBC antibody specificity reflected the donor
      to recipient transplant, with anti-blood group B antibodies identified in 2 cases
      of O to B and 1 case of A to AB transplants while anti-D antibodies were detected
      in 1 case of RhD-negative to RhD-positive transplant. Donor microchimerism was
      found in only 1 patient. In conclusion, passenger lymphocyte mediated hemolysis
      is frequent in minor mismatched liver and kidney transplantation. Recognizing PLS
      as a potential cause of post transplant anemia may allow for early diagnosis and
      management to decrease the morbidity and mortality in some patients. 

PMID- 25842057
TI  - The self-perceived identity of Spanish geriatric nurses: Comment on Carlson et
      al. (2014).

PMID- 25842058
TI  - Organizing the French response to the Ebola virus infection in West Africa -
      ethical considerations on information given to patients, their relatives, and
      healthcare professionals.

PMID- 25842059
TI  - Chinese Clinical Oncology: a new oncology journal for oncology physicians and
      researchers worldwide.

PMID- 25842060
TI  - Medical oncology in Asia.

PMID- 25842061
TI  - Advanced clinical trials for China.

PMID- 25842062
TI  - Serum Dickkopf-1 as a biomarker for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - We reviewed the tumor markers for hepatocellular carcinoma, with special
      reference to the roles of Dickkopf-1 and alpha-fetoprotein in hepatocellular
      carcinoma. 

PMID- 25842063
TI  - Who will be the next rising star? -- Any hope to find a reliable biomarker for
      HCC?

PMID- 25842064
TI  - Vitamin E: potential therapeutical approach for prevention of liver cancer
      development.

PMID- 25842065
TI  - Vitamin intake and risk of liver cancer: potential for prevention?

PMID- 25842066
TI  - Vitamin E in prevention against hepatocellular carcinoma: right type, right dose
      and right population.

PMID- 25842067
TI  - Hepatocellular carcinoma: expanding the horizon.

PMID- 25842068
TI  - Guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of primary liver cancer (2011 edition).

PMID- 25842069
TI  - Expert consensus on local ablation therapies for primary liver cancer.

PMID- 25842071
TI  - Current status of bevacizumab for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

PMID- 25842070
TI  - Expert consensus on the scheme of pathological diagnosis of primary liver cancer.

PMID- 25842072
TI  - Hepatocellular carcinoma: present and future.

PMID- 25842073
TI  - Guidelines for the management of hepatocellular carcinoma: still in need of
      standardization.

PMID- 25842074
TI  - Google-driven search for big data in autoimmune geoepidemiology: analysis of
      394,827 patients with systemic autoimmune diseases.
AB  - Systemic autoimmune diseases (SADs) are a significant cause of morbidity and
      mortality worldwide, although their epidemiological profile varies significantly
      country by country. We explored the potential of the Google search engine to
      collect and merge large series (>1000 patients) of SADs reported in the Pubmed
      library, with the aim of obtaining a high-definition geoepidemiological picture
      of each disease. We collected data from 394,827 patients with SADs. Analysis
      showed a predominance of medical vs. administrative databases (74% vs. 26%),
      public health system vs. health insurance resources (88% vs. 12%) and patient
      based vs. population-based designs (82% vs. 18%). The most unbalanced gender
      ratio was found in primary Sjogren syndrome (pSS), with nearly 10 females
      affected per 1 male, followed by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic
      sclerosis (SSc) and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) (ratio of nearly 5:1). Each
      disease predominantly affects a specific age group: children (Kawasaki disease,
      primary immunodeficiencies and Schonlein-Henoch disease), young people (SLE
      Behcet disease and sarcoidosis), middle-aged people (SSc, vasculitis and pSS) and
      the elderly (amyloidosis, polymyalgia rheumatica, and giant cell arteritis). We
      found significant differences in the geographical distribution of studies for
      each disease, and a higher frequency of the three SADs with available data (SLE,
      inflammatory myopathies and Kawasaki disease) in African-American patients. Using
      a "big data" approach enabled hitherto unseen connections in SADs to emerge. 

PMID- 25842075
TI  - Differences of Intracranial Electrical Stimulation Thresholds in the Human Brain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The thresholds of current intensities required to evoke a clinical
      response during intracranial electrical stimulation mapping vary. OBJECTIVE: We
      wanted to test if there is systematic variation of threshold currents between
      different brain areas. METHODS: Electrode contacts of depth electrodes in a
      series of patients undergoing presurgical evaluation for epilepsy surgery were
      stimulated. The brain regions we studied included the insular cortex, the
      pericentral cortex, and the intervening white matter. RESULTS: Current
      intensities that elicited clinical responses in central subcortical white matter
      tracts were significantly lower than those needed to evoke a clinical response in
      the cortex. CONCLUSION: We found systematic differences of threshold stimulation
      intensities between cortical and subcortical structures in the human brain. In
      addition to known neurophysiologic differences between white and grey matter, the
      systematic difference in stimulation thresholds may be due to the direction of
      the white matter tracts with respect to the electrode orientation and to inherent
      properties of specific brain regions.

PMID- 25842076
TI  - Aortic arch surgery after previous type A dissection repair: results up to 5
      years.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Open aortic arch surgery after type A dissection repair is
      challenging. We sought to review our surgical experience to analyse the causes
      and timing, establish the risk profile for this patient population, and better
      define outcomes. METHODS: From 2000 to 2014, we identified 55 patients who
      required aortic arch surgery after a previous type A dissection repair. Medical
      records were available for review including computerized tomographic angiograms,
      cerebral protection strategies and follow-up. RESULTS: The mean interval from
      previous type A dissection repair to aortic arch surgery was 5.7 +/- 5.4 years.
      At reoperation 36 patients (65%) had total arch replacement and 19 (35%) had
      hemiarch replacement. Indications for reoperations were: enlarging aneurysm in 27
      (49%), impending rupture in 12 (22%), chronic dissection in 10 (18%) and
      aneurysms in 6 (11%). Arterial peripheral cannulation was used in 80% of
      patients. Selective antegrade cerebral perfusion was used in 35 patients (64%)
      and retrograde perfusion in 2 (4%). There were 3 perioperative deaths (5%) and 4
      cases of permanent stroke (7%). Survival rates were 90, 85 and 77% at the 1-, 3-
      and 5-year follow-up, respectively. The 5-year survival rate was 10% lower than
      that of an age- and sex-matched population (P < 0.001). The only predictor of the
      follow-up mortality was older age (odds ratio: 1.07, 95% confidence interval:
      1.02-1.13, P = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Aortic arch surgery after previous type A
      dissection repair can be performed with satisfactory early and mid-term results
      and acceptable risk of stroke. Cerebral perfusion strategies likely contribute to
      positive outcomes. Favourable mid-term survival justifies performing such
      difficult reoperations.

PMID- 25842077
TI  - Percutaneous closure of acquired Gerbode defect: management of a rare
      complication of cardiac surgery.
AB  - Although rare, acquired Gerbode defect (abnormal communication between left
      ventricle and right atrium) may result as a complication of myocardial
      infarction, endocarditis as well as aortic or mitral valve replacement resulting
      in resistant heart failure secondary to significant left to right shunting. We
      are reporting the case of a 50-year old lady with repeated aortic valve
      replacement presenting with resistant heart failure secondary to an acquired
      Gerbode defect. Management of this defect in these high-risk patients may be
      challenging and percutaneous closure, if feasible, may represent the best
      management option. 

PMID- 25842078
TI  - Aortic cusp sizers to establish the functional classification of aortic
      insufficiency: algorithm and midterm outcome of operative repair.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Wider adoption of aortic valve repair procedures is held up by the
      difficulty in recognizing the exact alterations that are responsible for aortic
      valve insufficiency. New aortic cusp sizers were developed to assist in aortic
      valve assessment in the operating theatre. Our objectives were to examine the
      efficacy of the aortic cusp sizers in establishing the functional classification
      of aortic valve insufficiency, and to report the midterm outcome in a group of
      patients who had undergone aortic valve repair guided by this device. METHODS: A
      prospective clinical study was performed involving 33 consecutive patients (18
      males, age range: 8-74 years) with severe aortic valve insufficiency (mean
      severity: 3.4 +/- 0.5). The aortic cusp sizers were used as a template to
      identify existing cusp and root alterations. Consequently, the functional
      classification of aortic insufficiency was determined, and the appropriate
      techniques of aortic valve repair were implemented. RESULTS: Aortic valve repair
      was successful in all patients. Procedures performed were 37 functional aortic
      annulus corrections, 9 cusp free-edge plications, 2 cusp repairs with autologous
      pericardium, 9 replacements of the ascending aorta and 2 reimplantation
      procedures. At a mean follow-up time of 18.3 +/- 13.7 months, 1 patient underwent
      aortic valve replacement for recurrent aortic valve regurgitation, while aortic
      valve function remained stable in 32 patients, with aortic insufficiency <1+ in
      27 (84.4%) patients and 1-1.5 in 5 (15.6%) patients, and no significant gradients
      across the aortic valves. CONCLUSIONS: The aortic cusp sizers are valuable in
      establishing the functional classification of aortic insufficiency, and can guide
      implementation of aortic valve repair techniques successfully. This approach is
      analogous to that accredited for the success and wide adoption of mitral valve
      repair techniques, and is likely to assist in increasing the percentage of aortic
      valves that are repaired when compared with current practice.

PMID- 25842079
TI  - Overview: biostatistician's role in oncology clinical trials-strive for sound,
      efficient and practical studies.

PMID- 25842080
TI  - The current design of oncology phase I clinical trials: progressing from
      algorithms to statistical models.
AB  - In this article we examine how phase I trial designs for anti-cancer agents have
      developed over the past few decades. We review the use of algorithmic, relatively
      non- statistical designs, and then describe nonparametric and parametric
      statistically-driven designs that have better operating characteristics than
      algorithmic designs. We then follow with a description of how the original
      parametric design, known as the continual reassessment method (CRM), has been
      generalized and expanded to create designs for many complex settings that occur
      in early-phase oncology trials. We conclude with a discussion of outstanding
      issues and controversies that continue to exist with phase I trial designs. 

PMID- 25842081
TI  - Adaptive randomized phase II design for biomarker threshold selection and
      independent evaluation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Frequently a biomarker capable of defining a patient population with
      enhanced response to an experimental agent is not fully validated with a known
      threshold at the start of a phase II trial. When such candidate predictive
      markers are evaluated and/or validated retrospectively, over-accrual of patients
      less likely to benefit from the regimen may result, leading to underpowered
      analyses or sub-optimal patient care. PURPOSE: We propose an adaptive randomized
      phase II study design incorporating prospective biomarker threshold
      identification (or non-identification), possible early futility stopping,
      potential mid-trial accrual restriction to marker-positive subjects, and final
      marker and treatment evaluation in the patient population identified as most
      likely to benefit. METHODS: An interim analysis is used to determine whether an
      initially unselected trial should stop early for futility, continue without a
      promising marker, or adapt accrual and resize (up to a pre-determined maximum)
      according to a promising biomarker. Final efficacy analyses are performed in the
      target population identified at the interim as most likely to benefit from the
      experimental regimen. Simulation studies demonstrate control of false-positive
      error rates, power, reduced average sample size, and other favorable aspects.
      RESULTS: The design performs well at identifying a truly predictive biomarker at
      interim analysis, and subsequently restricting accrual to patients most likely to
      benefit from the experimental treatment. Type I and type II error rates are
      adequately controlled by restricting the range of marker prevalence via the
      candidate thresholds, and by careful consideration of the timing of interim
      analysis. CONCLUSIONS: In situations where identification and validation of a
      naturally continuous biomarker are desired within a randomized phase II trial,
      the design presented herein offers a potential solution.

PMID- 25842082
TI  - Reducing late effects of radiotherapy in average risk medulloblastoma.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the efficacy and safety in average-risk pediatric
      medulloblastoma (MB) receiving tumor bed boost irradiation compared to a
      posterior fossa (PF) boost. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty patients were enrolled
      in the study and divided evenly into two treatment arms of 15. Both arms received
      23.4 Gy craniospinal irradiation (CS) and a 32.4 Gy boost. Patients in arm 1 were
      given PF boosts, and those in arm 2 were given boosts to the gross target volume
      (GTV). Weekly oncovin was given throughout all radiotherapy (RT). Eight cycles of
      adjuvant chemotherapy of CCNU, oncovin and platinol were given to all patients
      after RT. MRI, pure tone audiogram (PTA) and intelligence quotient (IQ) tests
      were performed before and after RT and every three months thereafter. RESULTS:
      There were significant differences in the sparing dose to the cochlea and brain
      stem as well as the volume of the normal brain receiving a 100% dose. There was a
      significant initial improvement of hearing function in patients given the target
      volume boost after RT, which was lost after chemotherapy. With a median follow up
      of 23 months, there was no difference in progression free survival or overall
      survival between the two arms. CONCLUSIONS: Irradiation of the tumor bed after
      23.4 Gy craniospinal irradiation for average-risk MB results in similar disease
      control as a PF boost. Dosimetric sparing for the cochleae and normal tissue is
      evident in patients receiving tumor bed boosts. The hearing improvement and
      cognitive function preservation effects of the treatment need more follow up.

PMID- 25842083
TI  - EGFR-targeting therapy as an evolving concept: learning from nimotuzumab clinical
      development.
AB  - Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeted therapies have been extensively
      evaluated in the clinic for different tumor localizations and using different
      EGFR-targeting products, either registered or still in clinical development.
      Nonetheless, there still is a long way to go to optimize the clinical benefit
      from EGFR-targeted therapies. In this article we briefly discuss on current
      paradigms guiding the use of EGFR-targeting agents in the clinic, and on new
      emergent concepts. The discussion is largely based on experiences from the
      clinical development of the monoclonal antibody nimotuzumab, which has shown a
      quite particular clinical profile, characterized by a very low toxicity. In order
      to optimize the design of EGFR-targeting therapies, clinical researchers should
      take into account the interconnection between the EGFR pathway and other cellular
      pathways. Thus, clinical trials need to incorporate more translational research. 

PMID- 25842084
TI  - Commentary on the clinical trial reported by: Tewari KS, Sill M, Long III HJ, et
      al. Incorporation of bevacizumab in the treatment of recurrent and metastatic
      cervical cancer: a phase III randomized trial of the Gynecologic Oncology Group.
      J Clin Oncol 2013;(suppl; abstr 3).

PMID- 25842085
TI  - Commentary on "aTTom": long-term effects of continuing adjuvant Tamoxifen to 10
      years.

PMID- 25842086
TI  - Comments on "Sorafenib in locally advanced or metastatic patients with
      radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer: the phase III
      DECISION trial".

PMID- 25842087
TI  - Prof. Peter Yu: opportunities and challenges in big data era.

PMID- 25842088
TI  - Prof. Shukui Qin: strategy on liver cancer treatment for Asian population.

PMID- 25842089
TI  - Prof. Jean Armand: personalized medicine in France and the niche in future
      international cooperation.

PMID- 25842090
TI  - Usage of EGFR-TKI and WBRT in NSCLC patients with brain metastases.

PMID- 25842091
TI  - Efficacy of erlotinib plus concurrent whole-brain radiation therapy for patients
      with brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - Treatment and control of brain metastases are important in patients with non
      small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) has a major
      role in the management of brain metastasis. Recently, efficacy erlotinib plus
      concurrent WBRT for patients with brain metastases from NSCLC was reported.
      Herein, we discussed the results and commented the clinical matters in future. 

PMID- 25842092
TI  - Treatment of brain metastases in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with
      epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations: the role of EGFR tyrosine
      kinase inhibitors.

PMID- 25842093
TI  - Palliative concurrent chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced and metastatic
      esophageal cancer patients with dysphagia.
AB  - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Dysphagia is the most common and serious symptom in
      patients with esophageal cancer. Several management options have been developed
      to palliate dysphagia in unresectable and metastatic esophageal carcinoma
      patients. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the efficacy and
      toxicity of palliative chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced and metastatic
      esophageal cancer as regard improvement of dysphagia, primary tumor response and
      survival time. PATIENTS & METHODS: This prospective study was conducted on 25
      patients with advanced and metastatic esophageal carcinoma. A radiation dose of
      40 Gy/22 fractions was given concomitantly with chemotherapy, consisted of
      cisplatin 70 mg/m2 infusion on day 1, plus continuous infusion of 5-fluorouracil
      at 700 mg/m2 per day from day 1 to day 4. RESULTS: Dysphagia improved in 18 (72%)
      of the 25 patients. The median duration of dysphagia improvement was 5 months
      after treatment in these patients. Overall, treatment was well tolerated; acute
      haematologic toxicities were limited, with anaemia (80%) the commonest. The most
      common non-haematologic toxicity was esophagitis. There were no reports of grade
      IV toxicities. The activity of the concurrent chemoradiotherapy regimen was good,
      achieving incomplete response in 18 patients (72%), 5 patients showed stable
      disease (20%) and 2 patients showed progressive disease (8%). The median overall
      and progression free survival were 7 and 4 months, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our
      study showed that palliative concurrent chemo-radiotherapy is an effective and
      well tolerated treatment for dysphagia in patients with advanced and metastatic
      esophageal carcinoma.

PMID- 25842094
TI  - Changes in expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in the spinal dorsal horn after
      intrathecal p38MAPK inhibitor SB203580 on neuropathic pain in rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in
      the spinal cord dorsal horn after intrathecal a specific p38MAPK inhibitor
      SB203580 on neuropathic pain in rats induced by chronic constrictive injury (CCI)
      to the sciatic nerve. METHODS: Twenty-four male SD rats after intrathecal
      catheter placement were randomly divided into 4 groups: a sham group with sham
      surgery, the neuropathic pain model of a NS group, a DMSO group and an SB group
      were established by CCI to sciatic nerve. NS or DMSO or SB203580 was injected IT
      NS or 2% DMSO or SB203580 twice a day for 5 consecutive days starting at 6th day
      when the model of CCI was established. Mechanical stimuli were measured before
      the surgery and on 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th day after the surgery. Then
      all rats were sacrificed and the lumbar segment of spinal cord was removed to
      determine the COX-2 expression in the dorsal horn by immunocytochemistry.
      RESULTS: Day 1 to 11 after the surgery, the threshold to mechanical on the
      surgery side was significantly lower in the NS group and the DMSO group than in
      the sham group. Day 7 to 11 after the surgery, the threshold to mechanical on the
      surgery side was significantly lower in the SB group than in the NS group and the
      DMSO group. The expression of spinal COX-2 was higher in the NS group and the
      DMSO group than in the sham group, but lower in the SB group than in NS group and
      the DMSO group.

PMID- 25842095
TI  - Cryosurgery for colorectal liver metastases.
AB  - Cryosurgical ablation is mainly reserved for treatment of unresectable lesions
      for patients with colorectal liver metastases, including multiple tumors in the
      liver, tumors located at anatomical position that does not permit liver
      resection, patients with high risk for resection and patients who refuse liver
      resection. The techniques of cryosurgery include open cryosurgery, laparoscopic
      cryosurgery, and percutaneous cryoablation. Long-term follow-up study showed that
      cryosurgery is a safe and important option for a wide range of unresectable
      colorectal hepatic metastases and provides the potential for long-term survival. 

PMID- 25842096
TI  - Traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of symptoms in patients with
      advanced cancer.
AB  - Patients with advanced malignancies are often suffered from deficient vital qi,
      which is clinically presented as cancer-related pain, anorexia, nausea/vomiting,
      fatigue, fever, indigestion, and constipation, which severely lower the quality
      of life and even shorten the survival of these patients. Traditional Chinese
      medicine (TCM) has a long history and rich experiences in treating malignancies.
      In addition to surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and other modern therapies,
      the TCM-based treatment can dramatically alleviate the clinical symptoms and
      improve the quality of life. This article analyzes the TCM treatment for the
      cancer pain, nausea/vomiting and cancer-related fatigue in patients with advanced
      malignancies, and the TCM-based emotional care for these patients are also
      discussed. 

PMID- 25842097
TI  - Welcome to join us in 2013 conferences-Annals of Palliative Medicine.

PMID- 25842098
TI  - Highlights in hepatocellular carcinoma.

PMID- 25842099
TI  - All-ceramic or metal-ceramic tooth-supported fixed dental prostheses (FDPs)? A
      systematic review of the survival and complication rates. Part I: Single crowns
      (SCs).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the 5-year survival of metal-ceramic and all-ceramic tooth
      supported single crowns (SCs) and to describe the incidence of biological,
      technical and esthetic complications. METHODS: Medline (PubMed), Embase, Cochrane
      Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) searches (2006-2013) were
      performed for clinical studies focusing on tooth-supported fixed dental
      prostheses (FDPs) with a mean follow-up of at least 3 years. This was
      complimented by an additional hand search and the inclusion of 34 studies from a
      previous systematic review [1,2]. Survival and complication rates were analyzed
      using robust Poisson's regression models to obtain summary estimates of 5-year
      proportions. RESULTS: Sixty-seven studies reporting on 4663 metal-ceramic and
      9434 all-ceramic SCs fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Seventeen studies reported
      on metal-ceramic crowns, and 54 studies reported on all-ceramic crowns. Meta
      analysis of the included studies indicated an estimated survival rate of metal
      ceramic SCs of 94.7% (95% CI: 94.1-96.9%) after 5 years. This was similar to the
      estimated 5-year survival rate of leucit or lithium-disilicate reinforced glass
      ceramic SCs (96.6%; 95% CI: 94.9-96.7%), of glass infiltrated alumina SCs (94.6%;
      95% CI: 92.7-96%) and densely sintered alumina and zirconia SCs (96%; 95% CI:
      93.8-97.5%; 92.1%; 95% CI: 82.8-95.6%). In contrast, the 5-year survival rates of
      feldspathic/silica-based ceramic crowns were lower (p<0.001). When the outcomes
      in anterior and posterior regions were compared feldspathic/silica-based ceramic
      and zirconia crowns exhibited significantly lower survival rates in the posterior
      region (p<0.0001), the other crown types performed similarly. Densely sintered
      zirconia SCs were more frequently lost due to veneering ceramic fractures than
      metal-ceramic SCs (p<0.001), and had significantly more loss of retention
      (p<0.001). In total higher 5 year rates of framework fracture were reported for
      the all-ceramic SCs than for metal-ceramic SCs. CONCLUSIONS: Survival rates of
      most types of all-ceramic SCs were similar to those reported for metal-ceramic
      SCs, both in anterior and posterior regions. Weaker feldspathic/silica-based
      ceramics should be limited to applications in the anterior region. Zirconia-based
      SCs should not be considered as primary option due to their high incidence of
      technical problems.

PMID- 25842100
TI  - ECG screening for SCD in young adults: community volunteers can acquire higher
      quality ECGs than health professionals.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: ECG screening of young athletes for risk of sudden
      cardiac death has grown in popularity throughout the world. The purpose of this
      study is to assess the technical error rate of ECGs acquired by appropriately
      trained community volunteers compared to that reported in the literature
      utilizing trained medical personnel. METHODS: This is a retrospective study
      analyzing consecutive ECGs acquired during 5 successive high school screenings at
      3 separate schools in 2011. RESULTS: A total of 4477 consecutive ECGs were
      acquired and assessed for technical quality. The total rate of technically
      inadequate tracings was 0.34%. This is lower than that reported in outpatient
      clinics acquired by medically trained technicians (0.4%) and in ICUs acquired by
      nurses (4.8%). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the ECG training program
      utilized by the YH4L program for community volunteers results in a technical
      error rate that is lower than reported in the literature.

PMID- 25842101
TI  - Apatite formation on calcined kaolin-white Portland cement geopolymer.
AB  - In this study, calcined kaolin-white Portland cement geopolymer was investigated
      for use as biomaterial. Sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate were used as
      activators. In vitro test was performed with simulated body fluid (SBF) for
      bioactivity characterization. The formation of hydroxyapatite bio-layer on the 28
      day soaked samples surface was tested using SEM, EDS and XRD analyses. The
      results showed that the morphology of hydroxyapatite was affected by the source
      material composition, alkali concentration and curing temperature. The calcined
      kaolin-white Portland cement geopolymer with relatively high compressive strength
      could be fabricated for use as biomaterial. The mix with 50% white Portland
      cement and 50% calcined kaolin had 28-day compressive strength of 59.0MPa and the
      hydroxyapatite bio-layer on the 28-day soaked sample surface was clearly evident.

PMID- 25842102
TI  - Novel nanosized water soluble fluorescent micelles with embedded perylene diimide
      fluorophores for potential biomedical applications: cell permeability,
      localization and cytotoxicity.
AB  - Novel biocompatible water-soluble fluorescent micelles with embedded perylene
      diimides (PDI) for intracellular applications have been prepared by self
      assembling of amphiphilic poly(vinyl alcohol)-b-poly(acrylonitrile) (PVA-b-PAN)
      copolymers in the presence of synthesized fluorophores. Amphiphilic PVA-b-PAN
      copolymers were obtained by selective hydrolysis of well-defined poly(vinyl
      acetate)-b-poly(acrylonitrile) (PVAc-b-PAN) copolymer. The preparation of the
      novel fluorescence micelles consisting of PVA hydrophilic shell and PAN
      hydrophobic core with incorporated PDI fluorophores has been confirmed by DLS and
      TEM analysis. The cytotoxicity of the water-soluble fluorophores and their
      internalization into living cells depending on the micellar concentration have
      been tested. It was shown that they could successfully enter in living cells
      without destroying their morphology. The results obtained indicate that the novel
      water-soluble fluorescent micelles with embedded PDI fluorophores would be
      suitable for potential intracellular biomedical applications. 

PMID- 25842103
TI  - Nanofibrous yet injectable polycaprolactone-collagen bone tissue scaffold with
      osteoprogenitor cells and controlled release of bone morphogenetic protein-2.
AB  - In this work, we developed a nanofibrous, yet injectable orthobiologic tissue
      scaffold that is capable of hosting osteoprogenitor cells and controlling kinetic
      release profile of the encapsulated pro-osteogenic factor without diminishing its
      bioactivity over 21days. This innovative injectable scaffold was synthesized by
      incorporating electrospun and subsequently O2 plasma-functionalized
      polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers within the collagen type-I solution along with
      MC3T3-E1 cells (pre-osteoblasts) and bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP2). Through
      changing the PCL nanofiber concentration within the injectable scaffolds, we were
      able to tailor the mechanical strength, protein retention capacity, bioactivity
      preservation, and osteoinductive potential of the scaffolds. The nanofibrous
      internal structure of the scaffold allowed us to use a low dose of BMP2
      (200ng/ml) to achieve osteoblastic differentiation in in vitro culture. The
      osteogenesis capacity of the injectable scaffolds were evaluated though measuring
      MC3T3-E1 cell proliferation, ALP activity, matrix mineralization, and early- and
      late-osteoblast specific gene expression profiles over 21days. The results
      demonstrated that the nanofibrous injectable scaffold provides not only an
      osteoinductive environment for osteoprogenitor cells to differentiate, but also a
      suitable biomechanical and biochemical environment to act as a reservoir for
      osteogenic factors with controlled release profile. 

PMID- 25842104
TI  - Carbodiimide cross-linking of amniotic membranes in the presence of amino acid
      bridges.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to investigate the carbodiimide cross-linking of
      amniotic membrane (AM) in the presence of amino acid bridges. The biological
      tissues were treated with glycine, lysine, or glutamic acid and chemically cross
      linked to examine the role of amino acid types in collagenous biomaterial
      processing. Results of zeta potential measurements showed that the use of
      uncharged, positively and negatively charged amino acids dictates the charge
      state of membrane surface. Tensile strength and water content measurements
      demonstrated that the addition of lysine molecules to the cross-linking system
      can increase the cross-linking efficiency and dehydration degree while the
      introduction of glutamic acid in the AM samples decreases the number of cross
      links per unit mass of chemically modified tissue collagen. The differences in
      the cross-linking density further determined the thermal and biological stability
      by differential scanning calorimetry and in vitro degradation tests. As
      demonstrated in matrix permeability studies, the improved formation of covalent
      cross-linkages imposed by lysine facilitated construction of stronger cross
      linking structures. In contrast, the added glycine molecules were insufficient to
      enhance the resistances of the proteinaceous matrices to thermal denaturation and
      enzymatic degradation. The cytocompatibility of these biological tissue membranes
      was evaluated by using human corneal epithelial cell cultures. Results of cell
      viability, metabolic activity, and pro-inflammatory gene expression level showed
      that the AM materials cross-linked with carbodiimide in the presence of different
      types of amino acids are well tolerated without evidence of detrimental effect on
      cell growth. In addition, the amino acid treated and carbodiimide cross-linked AM
      implants had good biocompatibility in the anterior chamber of the rabbit eye
      model. Our findings suggest that amino acid type is a very important engineering
      parameter to mediate carbodiimide cross-linking of AM collagen. 

PMID- 25842105
TI  - Highly ordered Ni-Ti-O nanotubes for non-enzymatic glucose detection.
AB  - Anodization is used to fabricate Ni-Ti-O nanotube (NT) electrodes for non
      enzymatic glucose detection. The morphology, microstructure and composition of
      the materials are characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy
      (FE-SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and X-ray
      photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Our results show amorphous and highly ordered
      NTs with diameter of 50nm, length of 800nm, and Ni/Ti ratio (at %) of 0.35 can be
      fabricated in ethylene glycol electrolyte supplemented with 0.2 wt.% NH4F and 0.5
      vol.% H2O at 30 degrees C and 25V for 1h. Electrochemical experiments indicate
      that at an applied potential of 0.60V vs. Ag/AgCl, the electrode exhibits a
      linear response window for glucose concentrations from 0.002mM to 0.2mM with a
      response time of 10s, detection limit of 0.13MUM (S/N=3), and sensitivity of
      83MUAmM(-1)cm(-2). The excellent performance of the electrode is attributed to
      its large specific area and fast electron transfer between the NT walls. The good
      electrochemical performance of the Ni-Ti-O NTs as well as their simple and low
      cost preparation method make the strategy promising in non-enzymatic glucose
      detection. 

PMID- 25842106
TI  - Enhanced biocompatibility and wound healing properties of biodegradable polymer
      modified allyl 2-cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive.
AB  - As poly L-lactic acid (PLLA) is a polymer with good biocompatibility and
      biodegradability, we created a new tissue adhesive (TA), pre-polymerized allyl 2
      cyanoacrylate (PACA) mixed with PLLA in an effort to improve biocompatibility and
      mechanical properties in healing dermal wound tissue. We determined optimal
      mixing ratios of PACA and PLLA based on their bond strengths and chemical
      structures analyzed by the thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and Fourier
      transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. In vitro biocompatibility of the
      PACA/PLLA was evaluated using direct- and indirect-contact methods according to
      the ISO-10993 cytotoxicity test for medical devices. The PACA/PLLA have similar
      or even better biocompatibility than those of commercially available
      cyanoacrylate (CA)-based TAs such as Dermabond(r) and Histoacryl(r). The
      PACA/PLLA were not different from those exposed to Dermabond(r) and Histoacryl(r)
      in Raman spectra when biochemical changes of protein and DNA/RNA underlying
      during cell death were compared utilizing Raman spectroscopy. Histological
      analysis revealed that incised dermal tissues of rats treated with PACA/PLLA
      showed less inflammatory signs and enhanced collagen formation compared to those
      treated with Dermabond(r) or Histoacryl(r). Of note, tissues treated with
      PACA/PLLA were stronger in the tensile strength compared to those treated with
      the commercially available TAs. Therefore, taking all the results into
      consideration, the PACA/PLLA we created might be a clinically useful TA for
      treating dermal wounds. 

PMID- 25842107
TI  - Cysteine modified polyaniline films improve biocompatibility for two cell lines.
AB  - This work focuses on one of the most exciting application areas of conjugated
      conducting polymers, which is cell culture and tissue engineering. To improve the
      biocompatibility of conducting polymers we present an easy method that involves
      the modification of the polymer backbone using l-cysteine. In this publication,
      we show the synthesis of polyaniline (PANI) films supported onto Polyethylene
      terephthalate (PET) films, and modified using cysteine (PANI-Cys) in order to
      generate a biocompatible substrate for cell culture. The PANI-Cys films are
      characterized by Fourier Transform infrared and UV-visible spectroscopy. The
      changes in the hydrophilicity of the polymer films after and before the
      modification were tested using contact angle measurements. After modification the
      contact angle changes from 86 degrees +/-1 to 90 degrees +/-1, suggesting a more
      hydrophylic surface. The adhesion properties of LM2 and HaCaT cell lines on the
      surface of PANI-Cys films in comparison with tissue culture plastic (TCP) are
      studied. The PANI-Cys film shows better biocompatibility than PANI film for both
      cell lines. The cell morphologies on the TCP and PANI-Cys film were examined by
      florescence and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Microscopic observations show
      normal cellular behavior when PANI-Cys is used as a substrate of both cell lines
      (HaCaT and LM2) as when they are cultured on TCP. The ability of these PANI-Cys
      films to support cell attachment and growth indicates their potential use as
      biocompatible surfaces and in tissue engineering. 

PMID- 25842108
TI  - Crystalline hydroxyapatite coatings synthesized under hydrothermal conditions on
      modified titanium substrates.
AB  - Hydroxyapatite coatings were successfully produced on modified titanium
      substrates via hydrothermal synthesis in a Ca(EDTA)(2-) and (NH4)2HPO4 solution.
      The morphology of modified titanium substrates as well as hydroxyapatite coatings
      was studied using scanning electron microcopy and phase identification by X-ray
      diffraction, and Raman and FTIR spectroscopy. The results show that the
      nucleation and growth of hydroxyapatite needle-like crystals with hexagonal
      symmetry occurred only on titanium substrates both chemically and thermally
      treated. No hydroxyapatite phase was detected on only acid etched Ti metal. This
      finding demonstrates that only a particular titanium surface treatment can
      effectively induce the apatite nucleation under hydrothermal conditions. 

PMID- 25842109
TI  - Molecular response of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells on hydrogels.
AB  - There is a high demand for the isolation of primary endothelial cells for
      biomaterial endotheliazation studies, tissue engineering, and artificial organ
      development. Further, biomarkers for monitoring the response of endothelial cells
      in biomaterials science are required. We systematically compared two strategies
      for isolating liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC) from mouse liver. We
      demonstrate that fluorescence-activated cell sorting results in a considerably
      higher purity (~97%) compared to magnetic-assisted cell sorting (~80%), but is
      associated with a lower yield and recovery rate. Cell repellent polyethylene
      glycol (PEG) substrates affected the morphology of primary LSEC in culture and
      significantly downregulated the intracellular adhesion molecule (ICAM) and
      upregulated the vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM). This molecular response
      could partially be reverted by further modification with arginylglycylaspartic
      acid (RGD). Thus, usage of PEGylated materials may reduce, while applying RGD may
      support endotheliazation of materials, and we could relate LSEC attachment to
      their expression of ICAM and VCAM mRNA, suggesting their usage as biomarkers for
      endothelialization. 

PMID- 25842110
TI  - Crosslinked soy protein films and their application as ophthalmic drug delivery
      system.
AB  - In this research, the potential of soy protein (SPI) based-films as drug delivery
      devices for ocular therapy was developed. Hence, crosslinked films with a natural
      and non-cytotoxic crosslinking agent, genipin (Gen), coated with poly(lactic
      acid) (PLA), were prepared. Filmogenic solutions were loaded with timolol maleate
      (TM) as a model drug, to be used as drug delivery devices, a novel application
      for this material. The mechanical properties of the films were studied, observing
      that with the presence of PLA coating, more rigid materials with improved
      properties were obtained. Furthermore, the release behavior of TM was evaluated
      in aqueous medium, it being influenced by the degree of film crosslinking.
      Furthermore, it was determined that PLA coating decreased TM release rate
      compared to that of uncoated films. Similarly, this behavior was observed via
      indirect estimation of the release by assessing the hypotensive effectiveness of
      the films by in-vivo assays. Through intraocular pressure (IOP) determination
      tests in rabbits, it was demonstrated that, through the use of high crosslinked
      and coated films, a significant decrease in IOP could be achieved for prolonged
      time periods. These results suggest that the use of soy protein-based films as
      drug delivery systems is highly suitable. 

PMID- 25842111
TI  - Biological properties of nanostructured Ti incorporated with Ca, P and Ag by
      electrochemical method.
AB  - TiO2 nanotube arrays were synthesized on Ti surface by anodic oxidation. The
      elements of Ca and P were simultaneously incorporated during nanotubes growth in
      SBF electrolyte, and then Ag was introduced to nanotube arrays by cathodic
      deposition, which endowed the good osseointegration and antibacterial property of
      Ti. The bioactivity of the Ti surface was evaluated by simulated body fluid
      soaking test. The biocompatibility was investigated by in vitro cell culture
      test. And the antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus was examined by
      the bacterial counting method. The results showed that the incorporation of Ca, P
      and Ag elements had no significant influence on the formation of nanotube arrays
      on Ti surface during electrochemical treatment. Compared to the polished or
      nanotubular Ti surface, TiO2 nanotube arrays incorporated with Ca, P and Ag
      increased the formation of bone-like apatite in simulated body fluid, enhanced
      cell adhesion and proliferation, and inhibited the bacterial growth. Based on
      these results, it can be concluded that the nanostructured Ti incorporated with
      Ca, P and Ag by electrochemical method has promising applications as implant
      material. 

PMID- 25842112
TI  - Analytical modeling of the thermomechanical behavior of ASTM F-1586 high nitrogen
      austenitic stainless steel used as a biomaterial under multipass deformation.
AB  - Precipitation-recrystallization interactions in ASTM F-1586 austenitic stainless
      steel were studied by means of hot torsion tests with multipass deformation under
      continuous cooling, simulating an industrial laminating process. Samples were
      deformed at 0.2 and 0.3 at a strain rate of 1.0s(-1), in a temperature range of
      900 to 1200 degrees C and interpass times varying from 5 to 80s. The tests
      indicate that the stress level depends on deformation temperature and the slope
      of the equivalent mean stress (EMS) vs. 1/T presents two distinct behaviors, with
      a transition at around 1100 degrees C, the non-recrystallization temperature
      (Tnr). Below the Tnr, strain-induced precipitation of Z-phase (NbCrN) occurs in
      short interpass times (tpass<30s), inhibiting recrystallization and promoting
      stepwise stress build-up with strong recovery, which is responsible for
      increasing the Tnr. At interpass times longer than 30s, the coalescence and
      dissolution of precipitates promote a decrease in the Tnr and favor the formation
      of recrystallized grains. Based on this evidence, the physical simulation of
      controlled processing allows for a domain refined grain with better mechanical
      properties. 

PMID- 25842113
TI  - Influence of the intramedullary nail preparation method on nail's mechanical
      properties and degradation rate.
AB  - When it comes to the treatment of long bone fractures, scientists are still
      investigating new materials for intramedullary nails and different manufacturing
      methods. Some of the most promising materials used in the field are resorbable
      polymers and their composites, especially since there is a wide range of
      potential manufacturing and processing methods. The aim of this work was to
      select the best manufacturing method and technological parameters to obtain
      multiphase, and multifunctional, biodegradable intramedullary nails. All
      composites were based on a poly(l-lactide) matrix. Either magnesium alloy wires
      or carbon and alginate fibres were introduced in order to reinforce the nails.
      The polylactide matrix was also modified with tricalcium phosphate and gentamicin
      sulfate. The composite nails were manufactured using three different methods:
      forming from solution, injection moulding and hot pressing. The effect of each
      method of manufacturing on mechanical properties and degradation rate of the
      nails was evaluated. The study showed that injection moulding provides higher
      uniformity and homogeneity of the particle-modified polylactide matrix, whereas
      hot pressing favours applying higher volume fractions of fibres and their better
      impregnation with the polymer matrix. Thus, it was concluded that the fabrication
      method should be individually selected dependently on the nail's desired phase
      composition. 

PMID- 25842114
TI  - Pilot-scale synthesis and rheological assessment of poly(methyl methacrylate)
      polymers: perspectives for medical application.
AB  - This work presents the rheological assessment of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)
      polymers synthesized in a dedicated pilot-scale plant. This material is to be
      used for the construction of scaffolds via Rapid Prototyping (RP). The polymers
      were prepared to match the physical and biological properties required for
      medical applications. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Size Exclusion
      Chromatography (SEC) measurements verified that the synthesized polymers were
      atactic, amorphous and linear in chains. Rheological properties such as
      viscosity, storage and loss modulus, beyond the loss factor, and creep and
      recovery were measured in a plate-plate sensor within the viscoelastic linear
      region. The results showed the relevant influence of the molecular weight on the
      viscosity and elasticity of the material, and how, as the molecular weight
      increases, the viscoelastic properties are getting closer to those of human bone.
      This article demonstrates that by using the implemented methodology it is
      possible to synthesize a polymer, with properties comparable to commercially
      available PMMA. 

PMID- 25842115
TI  - Surface modification of biomaterials based on high-molecular polylactic acid and
      their effect on inflammatory reactions of primary human monocyte-derived
      macrophages: perspective for personalized therapy.
AB  - Polylactic acid (PLA) based implants can cause inflammatory complications.
      Macrophages are key innate immune cells that control inflammation. To provide
      higher biocompatibility of PLA-based implants with local innate immune cells
      their surface properties have to be improved. In our study surface modification
      technique for high-molecular PLA (MW=1,646,600g/mol) based biomaterials was
      originally developed and successfully applied. Optimal modification conditions
      were determined. Treatment of PLA films with toluene/ethanol=3/7 mixture for
      10min with subsequent exposure in 0.001M brilliant green dye (BGD) solution
      allows to entrap approximately 10(-9)mol/cm(2) model biomolecules. The modified
      PLA film surface was characterized by optical microscopy, SERS, FT-IR, UV and
      TG/DTA/DSC analysis. Tensile strain of modified films was determined as well. The
      effect of PLA films modified with BGD on the inflammatory reactions of primary
      human monocyte-derived macrophages was investigated. We developed in vitro test
      system by differentiating primary monocyte-derived macrophages on a coating
      material. Type 1 and type 2 inflammatory cytokines (TNFalpha, CCL18) secretion
      and histological biomarkers (CD206, stabilin-1) expression were analyzed by ELISA
      and confocal microscopy respectively. BGD-modified materials have improved
      thermal stability and good mechanical properties. However, BGD modifications
      induced additional donor-specific inflammatory reactions and suppressed
      tolerogenic phenotype of macrophages. Therefore, our test-system successfully
      demonstrated specific immunomodulatory effects of original and modified PLA-based
      biomaterials, and can be further applied for the examination of improved coatings
      for implants and identification of patient-specific reactions to implants. 

PMID- 25842116
TI  - Quercetin-imprinted polymer for anthocyanin extraction from mangosteen pericarp.
AB  - Molecular imprinting is a facilitative technology for the production of
      artificial receptors possessing great endurance with high specificity toward
      target molecules of interest. The polymers are commonly applied for separation or
      analysis of substances of interest. In this study, we prepared molecularly
      imprinted polymers for the purpose of binding specifically to quercetin and
      related compounds. Quercetin was used as the template molecule, 4-vinylpyridine
      (4-VP) as the functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as the
      cross-linking monomer, azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the polymerization
      initiator and ethanol as the porogenic solvent. Such 4-VP-based imprinted polymer
      was found to bind the template molecule greater than that of the control polymer
      with an approximate 2 folds higher binding using 20mg of polymer in the optimal
      solvent, ethanol:water (4:1v/v). Quercetin-imprinted polymer (QIP) was found to
      bind well against its template; approximately 1mg/g polymer. In addition, QIP was
      applied to bind anthocyanin from the crude extract of mangosteen pericarp. The
      binding capacity of quercetin-MIP toward anthocyanin was approximately 0.875mg
      per gram of polymer. This result indicated that quercetin-MIP showed its specific
      binding to quercetin and related compound particularly anthocyanin. In
      conclusion, we have demonstrated the successful preparation and utilization of
      molecularly imprinted polymer for the specific recognition of quercetin as well
      as structurally related anthocyanins from the mangosteen pericarp with enhanced
      and robust performance. 

PMID- 25842117
TI  - Effects of anodizing parameters and heat treatment on nanotopographical features,
      bioactivity, and cell culture response of additively manufactured porous
      titanium.
AB  - Anodizing could be used for bio-functionalization of the surfaces of titanium
      alloys. In this study, we use anodizing for creating nanotubes on the surface of
      porous titanium alloy bone substitutes manufactured using selective laser
      melting. Different sets of anodizing parameters (voltage: 10 or 20V anodizing
      time: 30min to 3h) are used for anodizing porous titanium structures that were
      later heat treated at 500 degrees C. The nanotopographical features are examined
      using electron microscopy while the bioactivity of anodized surfaces is measured
      using immersion tests in the simulated body fluid (SBF). Moreover, the effects of
      anodizing and heat treatment on the performance of one representative anodized
      porous titanium structures are evaluated using in vitro cell culture assays using
      human periosteum-derived cells (hPDCs). It has been shown that while anodizing
      with different anodizing parameters results in very different nanotopographical
      features, i.e. nanotubes in the range of 20 to 55nm, anodized surfaces have
      limited apatite-forming ability regardless of the applied anodizing parameters.
      The results of in vitro cell culture show that both anodizing, and thus
      generation of regular nanotopographical feature, and heat treatment improve the
      cell culture response of porous titanium. In particular, cell proliferation
      measured using metabolic activity and DNA content was improved for anodized and
      heat treated as well as for anodized but not heat-treated specimens. Heat
      treatment additionally improved the cell attachment of porous titanium surfaces
      and upregulated expression of osteogenic markers. Anodized but not heat-treated
      specimens showed some limited signs of upregulated expression of osteogenic
      markers. In conclusion, while varying the anodizing parameters creates different
      nanotube structure, it does not improve apatite-forming ability of porous
      titanium. However, both anodizing and heat treatment at 500 degrees C improve the
      cell culture response of porous titanium. 

PMID- 25842118
TI  - Injectable hydrogels derived from phosphorylated alginic acid calcium complexes.
AB  - Phosphorylation of sodium alginate salt (NaAlg) was carried out using
      H3PO4/P2O5/Et3PO4 followed by acid-base reaction with Ca(OAc)2 to give
      phosphorylated alginic acid calcium complexes (CaPAlg), as a water dispersible
      alginic acid derivative. The modified alginate derivatives including
      phosphorylated alginic acid (PAlg) and CaPAlg were characterized by nuclear
      magnetic resonance spectroscopy for (1)H, and (31)P nuclei, high resolution
      inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy, Fourier transform
      infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. CaPAlg hydrogels were
      prepared simply by mixing CaPAlg solution (2w/v%) with NaAlg solution (2w/v%) in
      various ratios (2:8, 4:6, 6:4, 8:2) of volume. No additional calcium salts such
      as CaSO4 or CaCl2 were added externally. The gelation was completed within about
      3-40min indicating a high potential of hydrogel delivery by injection in vivo.
      Their mechanical properties were tested to be <=6.7kPa for compressive strength
      at break and about 8.4kPa/mm for elastic modulus. SEM analysis of the CaPAlg
      hydrogels showed highly porous morphology with interconnected pores of width in
      the range of 100-800MUm. Cell culture results showed that the injectable
      hydrogels exhibited comparable properties to the pure alginate hydrogel in terms
      of cytotoxicity and 3D encapsulation of cells for a short time period. The
      developed injectable hydrogels showed suitable physicochemical and mechanical
      properties for injection in vivo, and could therefore be beneficial for the field
      of soft tissue engineering. 

PMID- 25842119
TI  - Microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-Zr-Cr biomedical alloys.
AB  - The Ti-15Zr-xCr (0<=x<=10, wt.%) alloys were investigated to develop new
      biomedical materials. It was found that the phase constitutions and mechanical
      properties strongly depended on the Cr content. The Ti-15Zr alloy was comprised
      of alpha' phase and a small fraction of beta phase was detected with adding 1wt.%
      Cr. With addition of 5wt.% or more, the beta phase was completely retained. In
      addition, the omega phase was detected in the Ti-15Zr-5Cr alloy and Ti-15Zr-7Cr
      alloy which exhibited the highest compressive Young's modulus and the lowest
      ductility. On the other hand, all the Ti-15Zr-xCr alloys without omega phase
      exhibited high microhardness, high yield strength and superior ductility.
      Furthermore, the elastic energy of Ti-15Zr-10Cr alloy (5.89MJ/m(3)) with only
      beta phase and that of Ti-15Zr-3Cr alloy (4.04MJ/m(3)) with alpha' phase and
      small fraction of beta phase was higher than the elastic energy of c.p. Ti
      (1.25MJ/m(3)). This study demonstrated that Ti-15Zr-3Cr alloy and Ti-15Zr-10Cr
      alloy with superior mechanical properties are potential materials for biomedical
      applications. 

PMID- 25842120
TI  - Impact and fracture analysis of fish scales from Arapaima gigas.
AB  - Fish scales from the Amazonian fish Arapaima gigas have been characterised to
      study their impact and fracture behaviour at three different environmental
      conditions. Scales were cut in two different directions to analyse the influence
      of the orientation of collagen layers. The energy absorbed during impact tests
      was measured for each sample and SEM images were taken after each test in order
      to analyse the failure mechanisms. The results showed that scales tested at
      cryogenic temperatures display fragile behaviour, while scales tested at room
      temperature did not fracture. Different failure mechanisms have been identified,
      analysed and compared with the failure modes that occur in bone. The impact
      energy obtained for fish scales was two to three times higher than the values
      reported for bone in the literature. 

PMID- 25842121
TI  - TiO2 nanotube composite layers as delivery system for ZnO and Ag nanoparticles -
      an unexpected overdose effect decreasing their antibacterial efficacy.
AB  - Enhancement of biocompatibility and antibacterial properties of implant materials
      is potentially beneficial for their practical value. Therefore, the use of
      metallic and metallic oxide nanoparticles as antimicrobial coatings components
      which induce minimized antibacterial resistance receives currently particular
      attention. In this work, TiO2 nanotubes layers loaded with ZnO and Ag
      nanoparticles were designed for biomedical coatings and delivery systems and
      evaluated for antimicrobial activity. TiO2 nanotubes themselves exhibited
      considerable and diameter-dependent antibacterial activity against planktonic
      Staphylococcus epidermidis cells but favored bacterial adhesion. Loading of
      nanotubes with moderate amount of ZnO nanoparticles significantly diminished S.
      epidermidis cell adhesion and viability just after 1.5h contact with modified
      surfaces. However, an increase of loaded ZnO amount unexpectedly altered the
      structure of nanoparticle-nanolayer, caused partial closure of nanotube interior
      and significantly reduced ZnO solubility and antibacterial efficacy. Co
      deposition of Ag nanoparticles enhanced the antibacterial properties of
      synthesized coatings. However, the increase of ZnO quantity on Ag nanoparticles
      co-deposited surfaces favored the adhesion of bacterial cells. Thus, ZnO/Ag/TiO2
      nanotube composite layers may be promising delivery systems for combating post
      operative infections in hard tissue replacement procedures. However, the amount
      of loaded antibacterial agents must be carefully balanced to avoid the overdose
      and reduced efficacy. 

PMID- 25842122
TI  - Preparation of cellulose II and IIII films by allomorphic conversion of bacterial
      cellulose I pellicles.
AB  - The structural changes resulting from the conversion of native cellulose I (Cel
      I) into allomorphs II (Cel II) and IIII (Cel IIII) have usually been studied
      using powder samples from plant or algal cellulose. In this work, the conversion
      of Cel I into Cel II and Cel IIII was performed on bacterial cellulose films
      without any mechanical disruption. The surface texture of the films was observed
      by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the morphology of the constituting cellulose
      ribbons, by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The structural changes were
      characterized using solid-state NMR spectroscopy as well as X-ray and electron
      diffraction. The allomorphic change into Cel II and Cel IIII resulted in films
      with different crystallinity, roughness and hydrophobic/hydrophilicity surface
      and the films remained intact during all process of allomorphic conversion. 

PMID- 25842123
TI  - PEGylation of novel hydroxyapatite/PEG/Ag nanocomposite particles to improve its
      antibacterial efficacy.
AB  - Hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanocomposite particles were prepared simply in the presence
      of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and fabricated with silver via a sol-gel route and
      the physico-chemical and biological properties of these materials were
      investigated. The objective of this study is to inspect the crystallinity and
      antibacterial activity of these composite materials. PEG has been used to greatly
      promote biocompatibility and biodegradability of HAp. Silver nanoparticles were
      used for improving its bactericidal efficacy while applying composites. Nano
      sized HAp composite particles with PEG and nano-silver was incorporated to
      increase the crystalline nature of the nanocomposite. The structure of
      nanocomposite particles was studied by XRD, FTIR, HR-SEM, EDS and TEM analyses.
      Silver nanoparticles loaded on the synthesized HAp-PEG showed a synergistic
      antibacterial effect against Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli).
      The controlled release of Ag(+) ion from HAp-PEG-Ag nanocomposite has given good
      antibacterial efficacy evidenced by epi-fluorescence microscopy images during
      different hours. 

PMID- 25842124
TI  - Carbon nanotube array inducing osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal
      stem cells.
AB  - Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a kind of nanomaterials which have been shown a
      promising application for biomedicine. There are a lot of studies to use CNTs to
      induce the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). However, the
      cellular behavior of MSCs on the top layer of CNT array was still not well
      understood. In this study, we evaluated the morphology, the gene expressions of
      the osteogenic differentiation related markers, and the gene expressions of
      collagen type II (Col II, a marker of chondrogenesis), PPARgamma (a marker of
      adipogenesis) and scleraxis (SCX, a marker of tenogenesis) in human mesenchymal
      stem cells (hMSCs) cultured on multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) array. The
      effect of MWCNT array on the mineralization of hMSCs which were cultured in
      osteogenic differentiation medium (ODM) was further assayed. Our results showed
      that the hMSCs cultured on MWCNT array spread well, formed numerous spiral shaped
      cell colons and showed perinuclear morphology. Compared to hMSCs cultured on
      dish, the gene expression of osteocalcin (OCN) was increased while the gene
      expressions of collagen type II (Col II), PPARgamma and scleraxis (SCX) were
      decreased in hMSCs which were cultured on MWCNT array without any differentiation
      factors. Furthermore, compared with hMSCs on dish, the gene expressions of
      collagen type I (Col I), osteocalcin (OCN), osteopontin (OPN) and RUNX2, and the
      mineralization of hMSCs on MWCNT array were enhanced when they were cultured in
      osteogenic differentiation medium (ODM). Our results indicated that MWCNT array
      was able to promote the osteogenesis of hMSCs. 

PMID- 25842125
TI  - Synthesis and properties of antifouling poly(CL-co-zDMAEMA) zwitterionic
      copolymer by one-step hybrid copolymerization.
AB  - A novel biocompatible and biodegradable copolymer was synthesized by one-step
      hybrid copolymerization of epsilon-caprolactone (CL) and 2-(N,N-dimethylamino)
      ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) employing (1-tert-butyl-4,4,4-tris(dimethylamino)-2,2
      bis[tris(dimethylamino)phophoranylidenamino]-2Lambda5,Lambda5
      catenadi(phosphazene) (t-BuP4) as a catalyst. The as-synthesized copolymer was
      betainizated resulting in a zwitterionic copolymer poly(CL-co-zDMAEMA) and the
      structure of the zwitterionic copolymer was confirmed by the FT-IR, NMR, and XPS
      measurements. The results of dynamic light scattering (DLS) show that this
      zwitterionic copolymer can self-assemble into stable micelles. The results of
      quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) analysis and MTT measurement
      suggest that this zwitterionic copolymer possess better protein resistance and
      lower cell cytotoxicity in vitro in comparison with the cationic copolymer. The
      pyrene solubilization measurement of copolymers poly(CL-co-zDMAEMA) indicates an
      excellent pyrene solubilization capacity. These zwitterionic polymer micelles can
      release drugs in response to specific signals, such as temperature, pH, and
      enzymes and have a potential application in drug delivery and gene therapy due to
      their good antifouling, low cytotoxicity and high pyrene solubilization. 

PMID- 25842126
TI  - Bioactive glass/hydroxyapatite composites: mechanical properties and biological
      evaluation.
AB  - Bioactive glass/hydroxyapatite composites for bone tissue repair and regeneration
      have been produced and discussed. The use of a recently developed glass, namely
      BG_Ca/Mix, with its low tendency to crystallize, allowed one to sinter the
      samples at a relatively low temperature thus avoiding several adverse effects
      usually reported in the literature, such as extensive crystallization of the
      glassy phase, hydroxyapatite (HA) decomposition and reaction between HA and
      glass. The mechanical properties of the composites with 80wt.% BG_Ca/Mix and
      20wt.% HA are sensibly higher than those of Bioglass(r) 45S5 reference samples
      due to the presence of HA (mechanically stronger than the 45S5 glass) and to the
      thermal behaviour of the BG_Ca/Mix, which is able to favour the sintering process
      of the composites. Biocompatibility tests, performed with murine fibroblasts
      BALB/3T3 and osteocites MLO-Y4 throughout a multi-parametrical approach, allow
      one to look with optimism to the produced composites, since both the samples
      themselves and their extracts do not induce negative effects in cell viability
      and do not cause inhibition in cell growth. 

PMID- 25842127
TI  - A modified milling system, using a bimodal distribution of highly resistant
      ceramics. Part 1. A natural hydroxyapatite study.
AB  - A careful combination of the main parameters controlling natural hydroxyapatite
      (NHA: Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) production such as milling techniques, sintering
      temperature and holding time may lead to an interesting NHA based bio-ceramics
      without any foreign oxide additions. In this way, an original wet milling setup
      has been proposed to obtain sub-micron sized NHA powders. In order to avoid any
      possible NHA decomposition, a precise Ca/P ratio of NHA derived from animals was
      selected accordingly. Also, an alternative direct visual approach of the bone age
      classification was also proposed. A relative density of about 95% was obtained
      for powders sintered at 1300 degrees C for 2h. The best Vickers micro-hardness
      and 3 point bending strength values for these sintered samples, using this
      proposed milling system and without any additions, were 4.7+/-0.3GPa and 37MPa,
      respectively. Finally, a complete correlation between the powder microstructure
      and the final product properties has been established. 

PMID- 25842128
TI  - Catalytic and biological activities of green silver nanoparticles synthesized
      from Plumeria alba (frangipani) flower extract.
AB  - Herein, we report the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Plumeria alba
      (frangipani) flower extract (FFE) and their biological applications. The
      formation of frangipani silver nanoparticles (FSNPs) was confirmed by UV-visible
      spectroscopy and characterized by DLS particle size analyzer, SEM/EDAX, FTIR,
      TGA/DSC and XRD. The synthesized spherical FSNPs were found to be 36.19nm in size
      as determined by DLS particle size analyzer. EDAX data and XRD pattern of FSNPs
      confirmed the presence and face-centered cubic (fcc) phase structure of silver.
      The bioactive groups C-C and C-N present in FFE were involved in the formation of
      FSNPs as identified by FTIR analysis. FSNPs exhibited powerful catalytic activity
      by reducing 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol within 8min and the other organic dyes
      namely methylene blue and ethidium bromide were moderately degraded. Biological
      activities of FSNPs are evaluated by means of antioxidant, antibacterial and
      cytotoxic effect. Antioxidant potential of FSNPs was assessed by various in vitro
      assays in which they exhibited moderate antioxidant activity. The antibacterial
      effect of FSNPs was tested in two different pathogenic bacterial strains and
      their bacteriostatic effect was confirmed by growth kinetic study in Escherichia
      coli. The cytotoxic effect of FSNPs in COLO 205 was analyzed by MTT assay and the
      IC50 concentration was found at 5.5 and 4MUg/ml respectively after 24 and 48h of
      incubation. Cytotoxic effect of FSNPs in COLO 205 cells was associated with the
      loss of membrane integrity and chromatin condensation which might have played a
      crucial role in the induction of apoptosis as evidenced in AO/EB staining. 

PMID- 25842129
TI  - Improved stress corrosion cracking resistance of a novel biodegradable EW62
      magnesium alloy by rapid solidification, in simulated electrolytes.
AB  - The high corrosion rate of magnesium (Mg) and Mg-alloys precludes their
      widespread acceptance as implantable biomaterials. Here, we investigated the
      potential for rapid solidification (RS) to increase the stress corrosion cracking
      (SCC) resistance of a novel Mg alloy, Mg-6%Nd-2%Y-0.5%Zr (EW62), in comparison to
      its conventionally cast (CC) counterpart. RS ribbons were extrusion consolidated
      in order to generate bioimplant-relevant geometries for testing and practical
      use. Microstructural characteristics were examined by SEM. Corrosion rates were
      calculated based upon hydrogen evolution during immersion testing. The surface
      layer of the tested alloys was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
      (XPS). Stress corrosion resistance was assessed by slow strain rate testing and
      fractography. The results indicate that the corrosion resistance of the RS alloy
      is significantly improved relative to the CC alloy due to a supersaturated Nd
      enrichment that increases the Nd2O3 content in the external oxide layer, as well
      as a more homogeneous structure and reduced grain size. These improvements
      contributed to the reduced formation of hydrogen gas and hydrogen embrittlement,
      which reduced the SCC sensitivity relative to the CC alloy. Therefore, EW62 in
      the form of a rapidly solidified extruded structure may serve as a biodegradable
      implant for biomedical applications. 

PMID- 25842130
TI  - Surface modification of silk fibroin fibers with poly(methyl methacrylate) and
      poly(tributylsilyl methacrylate) via RAFT polymerization for marine antifouling
      applications.
AB  - In this study, silk fibroin surface containing hydroxyl and aminogroups was
      firstly modified using a polymerizable coupling agent 3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl
      methacrylate (MPS), in order to induce vinyl groups onto the fiber surface. The
      reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)-mediated polymerization
      of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and tributylsilyl methacrylate (TBSiMA) through the
      immobilized vinyl bond on the silk fibroin surface in the presence of 2-cyanoprop
      2-yl dithiobenzoate (CPDB) as chain-transfer agent and 2,2'
      azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) as initiator was conducted in toluene solution at
      70 degrees C for 24h. The structure and properties of the modified fiber were
      characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, (13)C, (29)Si Nuclear
      Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning
      electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), confirming
      the presence of the coupling molecule and the methacrylate groups onto the silk
      fibroin fiber surface. Molecular weight distributions were assessed by triple
      detection size exclusion chromatography (TD-SEC) in order to verify the
      livingness of the polymerization. 

PMID- 25842131
TI  - In situ study of self-assembled nanocomposite films by spectral SPR sensor.
AB  - Spectral surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor with a time-resolved charge
      coupled device (CCD) detector is a powerful analytical tool for label-free
      detection of biomolecular interaction at the liquid/solid interface and for in
      situ study of molecular adsorption behavior. In this work, the layer-by-layer
      self-assembly processes for three nanocomposite films were monitored in real time
      using a broadband spectral SPR sensor with a large dynamic range. Kinetics
      studies suggest that cytochrome c (Cyt c) and deoxy ribonucleic acid (DNA)
      adsorptions obey the Langmuir-isotherm theory, while gold nanoparticle (GNP)
      adsorption follows the Diffusion-controlled model. Using poly(sodium 4
      styrenesulfonate) (PSS) and poly(dimethyldiallylammonium chloride) (PDDA) as the
      positively charged agents, three kinds of multilayer films such as the PSS/Cyt c,
      GNP/Cyt c and PDDA/DNA binary nanocomposites were fabricated on the SPR chips by
      the electrostatic attraction based on self-assemble. The SPR response in terms of
      DeltalambdaR was measured to linear increase with increasing the number of layers
      for a six-bilayer PSS/Cyt c nanocomposite film, indicating that every PSS/Cyt c
      layer has equal mass coverage. In contrast, the nonlinear dependences of
      DeltalambdaR on the number of bilayers were observed for the GNP/Cyt c and
      PDDA/DNA nanocomposite multilayer films. 

PMID- 25842132
TI  - Gene expression of human osteoblasts cells on chemically treated surfaces of Ti
      6Al-4V-ELI.
AB  - Surface modifications of titanium alloys are useful methods to enhance the
      biological stability of intraosseous implants and to promote a well succeeded
      osseointegration in the early stages of implantation. This work aims to
      investigate the influence of chemically modified surfaces of Ti-6Al-4V-ELI (extra
      low interstitial) on the gene expression of human osteoblastic (HOb) cells. The
      surface treatments by acid etching or acid etching plus alkaline treatment were
      carried out to modify the topography, effective area, contact angle and chemical
      composition of the samples. The surface morphology was investigated using:
      scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser-scanning microscope (CLSM).
      Roughness measurements and effective surface area were obtained using the CLSM.
      Surface composition was analysed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX)
      and by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The expression levels of some bone related genes
      (ALPL, COL1A1, COL3A1, SPP1, RUNX2, and SPARC) were analysed using real-time
      Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (real-time RT-PCR). The results
      showed that all the chemical modifications studied in this work influenced the
      surface morphology, wettability, roughness, effective area and gene expression of
      human osteoblasts. Acid phosphoric combined to alkaline treatment presented a
      more accelerated gene expression after 7days while the only phosphoric etching or
      chloride etching combined to alkaline treatment presented more effective
      responses after 15days. 

PMID- 25842133
TI  - Tautomerizable beta-ketonitrile copolymers for bone tissue engineering: Studies
      of biocompatibility and cytotoxicity.
AB  - beta-Ketonitrile tautomeric copolymers have demonstrated tunable
      hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity properties according to surrounding environment,
      and mechanical properties similar to those of human bone tissue. Both
      characteristic properties make them promising candidates as biomaterials for bone
      tissue engineering. Based on this knowledge we have designed two scaffolds based
      on beta-ketonitrile tautomeric copolymers which differ in chemical composition
      and surface morphology. Two of them were nanostructured, using an anodized
      aluminum oxide (AAO) template, and the other two obtained by solvent casting
      methodology. They were used to evaluate the effect of the composition and their
      structural modifications on the biocompatibility, cytotoxicity and degradation
      properties. Our results showed that the nanostructured scaffolds exhibited higher
      degradation rate by macrophages than casted scaffolds (6 and 2.5% of degradation
      for nanostructured and casted scaffolds, respectively), a degradation rate
      compatible with bone regeneration times. We also demonstrated that the beta
      ketonitrile tautomeric based scaffolds supported osteoblastic cell proliferation
      and differentiation without cytotoxic effects, suggesting that these biomaterials
      could be useful in the bone tissue engineering field. 

PMID- 25842134
TI  - Engineering of a polymer layered bio-hybrid heart valve scaffold.
AB  - Current treatment strategy for end stage valve disease involves either valvular
      repair or replacement with homograft/mechanical/bioprosthetic valves. In cases of
      recurrent stenosis/ regurgitation, valve replacement is preferred choice of
      treatment over valvular repair. Currently available mechanical valves primarily
      provide durability whereas bioprosthetic valves have superior tissue
      compatibility but both lack remodelling and regenerative properties making their
      utility limited in paediatric patients. With advances in tissue engineering,
      attempts have been made to fabricate valves with regenerative potential using
      various polymers, decellularized tissues and hybrid scaffolds. To engineer an
      ideal heart valve, decellularized bovine pericardium extracellular matrix
      (DBPECM) is an attractive biocompatible scaffold but has weak mechanical
      properties and rapid degradation. However, DBPECM can be modified with synthetic
      polymers to enhance its mechanical properties. In this study, we developed a Bio
      Hybrid scaffold with non-cross linked DBPECM in its native structure coated with
      a layer of Polycaprolactone-Chitosan (PCL-CH) nanofibers that displayed superior
      mechanical properties. Surface and functional studies demonstrated integration of
      PCL-CH to the DBPECM with enhanced bio and hemocompatibility. This engineered Bio
      Hybrid scaffold exhibited most of the physical, biochemical and functional
      properties of the native valve that makes it an ideal scaffold for fabrication of
      cardiac valve with regenerative potential. 

PMID- 25842135
TI  - Nacre-like calcium carbonate controlled by ionic liquid/graphene oxide composite
      template.
AB  - Nacre-like calcium carbonate nanostructures have been mediated by an ionic liquid
      (IL)-graphene oxide (GO) composite template. The resultant crystals were
      characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared
      (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD). The results showed
      that either 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM]BF4) or graphene
      oxide can act as a soft template for calcium carbonate formation with unusual
      morphologies. Based on the time-dependent morphology changes of calcium carbonate
      particles, it is concluded that nacre-like calcium carbonate nanostructures can
      be formed gradually utilizing [BMIM]BF4/GO composite template. During the process
      of calcium carbonate formation, [BMIM]BF4 acted not only as solvents but also as
      morphology templates for the fabrication of calcium carbonate materials with
      nacre-like morphology. Based on the observations, the possible mechanisms were
      also discussed. 

PMID- 25842136
TI  - Synthesis and cytotoxicity of azo nano-materials as new biosensors for L-Arginine
      determination.
AB  - Inspired from biological counterparts, chemical modification of azo derivatives
      with function groups may provide a highly efficient method to detect amino acid.
      Herein, we have designed and prepared a series of azo nano-materials involving 
      NO2, -COOH, -SO3H and naphthyl group, which showed high response for Arginine
      (Arg) among normal twenty kinds of (Alanine, Valine, Leucine, Isoleucine,
      Methionine, Aspartic acid, Glutamic acid, Arginine, Glycine, Serine, Threonine,
      Asparagine, Phenylalanine, Histidine, Tryptophan, Proline, Lysine, Glutamine,
      Tyrosine and Cysteine). Furthermore, theoretical investigation further
      illustrated the possible binding mode in the host-guest interaction and the roles
      of molecular frontier orbitals in molecular interplay. In addition, nano-material
      3 exhibited high binding ability for Arg and low cytotoxicity to KYSE450 cells
      over a concentration range of 5-50MUmol.L(-1) which may be used a biosensor for
      the Arg detection in vivo. 

PMID- 25842137
TI  - Silk fibroin/sodium alginate fibrous hydrogels regulated hydroxyapatite crystal
      growth.
AB  - Use of organic templates for controlling the growth of inorganic crystals is one
      of the research topics in biomimetic field. In particular, oriented growth of
      hydroxyapatite (HAp) in organic fibrous matrix is provided a new view angle to
      study biomineralization of bone and its potential biomedical applications. The
      crystallization of HAp in fibrous hydrogels could mimic such biomineralization.
      In this paper, we report HAp nanorod crystal synthesized successfully by a
      biomimetic method using calcium chloride and ammonium dihydrogen phosphate as
      reagents in the presence of silk fibroin/sodium alginate (SF/SA) fibrous
      hydrogels. The effects of influence factors such as mineral times, pH, and
      temperature on controlling HAp nanorod crystals are discussed. The elongated HAp
      nanorods with rectangular column are grown with the increase of mineral times in
      biomimetic process. By changing pH, HAp nanorod crystals are obtained at alkaline
      condition in fibrous hydrogels. Moreover, compared to other temperatures, rod
      shaped HAp crystals were formed at 20 degrees C. The results imply this to be an
      effective method for preparing HAp crystals with controllable morphology for bone
      repair application. 

PMID- 25842138
TI  - Structure-property relationships of iron-hydroxyapatite ceramic matrix
      nanocomposite fabricated using mechanosynthesis method.
AB  - Hydroxyapatite (HAp) is an attractive bioceramics due to its similar composition
      to bone mineral and its ability to promote bone-implant interaction. However, its
      low strength has limited its application as load bearing implants. This paper
      presented a work focusing on the improvement of HAp mechanical property by
      synthesizing iron (Fe)-reinforced bovine HAp nanocomposite powders via
      mechanosynthesis method. The synthesis process was performed using high energy
      milling at varied milling time (3, 6, 9, and 12h). The samples were characterized
      by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and scanning
      electron microscopy (SEM). Its mechanical properties were investigated by micro
      Vicker's hardness and compression tests. Results showed that milling time
      directly influenced the characteristics of the nanocomposite powders. Amorphous
      BHAp was formed after 9 and 12h milling in the presence of HPO4(2-) ions.
      Continuous milling has improved the crystallinity of Fe without changing the HAp
      lattice structure. The nanocomposite powders were found in spherical shape,
      agglomerated and dense after longer milling time. The hardness and Young's
      modulus of the nanocomposites were also increased at 69% and 66%, respectively,
      as the milling time was prolonged from 3 to 12h. Therefore, the improvement of
      the mechanical properties of nanocomposite was attributed to high Fe
      crystallinity and homogenous, dense structure produced by mechanosynthesis. 

PMID- 25842139
TI  - Heat treatment mechanism and biodegradable characteristics of ZAX1330 Mg alloy.
AB  - Heat treatments are key processes in the development of biodegradable magnesium
      implants. The aim of this study is to investigate the factors of microstructures
      and metallurgical segregation on the functionality of biodegradable magnesium
      alloy. The solid solution heat treatment and strain induced melting activation
      heat treatment were employed to alter the microstructures of ZAX1330 alloy in
      this study. Heat treatments caused a significant change on grain size and
      distribution of secondary phases. The fine-grained microstructure enhanced the
      mechanical strength, corrosion resistance and achieved the lowest degradation
      rate in simulated body fluid solution. In coarse-grained microstructure systems,
      grain growth followed liquid phase formation. The corrosion rate increased due to
      a larger cathodic region. The status of micro-alloyed calcium (in solid solution
      or segregated) influenced the microstructural evolution mechanisms, mechanical
      strength, and degradation properties. A cytotoxicity test and a live/dead assay
      showed that ZAX1330 had good cytocompatibility, which varied with heat treatment,
      and no cell toxicity. The results suggest that heat treatment should be
      controlled precisely in order to improve the cytocompatibility of magnesium
      alloys for application in orthopedic implants. 

PMID- 25842140
TI  - Hydroxyapatite-based materials of marine origin: a bioactivity and sintering
      study.
AB  - Single phase hydroxyapatite (HAp) and biphasic material hydroxyapatite/beta
      tricalcium phosphate (HAp/beta-TCP) were obtained from a marine source (Atlantic
      cod fish bones). Here we report a study on the biological properties of these
      materials, including cytotoxicity, bioactivity and haemocompatibility. Results
      showed that the materials are not cytotoxic, neither in their powder nor in
      pellet form; indeed growth of Saos-2 cells was comparable to that of commercial.
      The haemolysis rate was lower than 2%; hence the materials can be classified as
      non-haemolytic. Moreover, when immersed in Simulated Body Fluid (SBF), crystal
      formation was observed on the surface of both materials. The sintering behaviour
      of the samples was also studied; both powders showed very high sinterability
      (density higher than 95% of the theoretical value). Overall, these results
      confirm the suitability of these materials for biomedical applications. 

PMID- 25842141
TI  - Layer-by-layer assembly of peptide based bioorganic-inorganic hybrid scaffolds
      and their interactions with osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells.
AB  - In this work we have developed a new family of biocomposite scaffolds for bone
      tissue regeneration by utilizing self-assembled fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl
      protected Valyl-cetylamide (FVC) nanoassemblies as templates. To tailor the
      assemblies for enhanced osteoblast attachment and proliferation, we incorporated
      (a) Type I collagen, (b) a hydroxyapatite binding peptide sequence (EDPHNEVDGDK)
      derived from dentin sialophosphoprotein and (c) the osteoinductive bone
      morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) to the templates by layer-by-layer assembly. The
      assemblies were then incubated with hydroxyapatite nanocrystals blended with
      varying mass percentages of TiO2 nanoparticles and coated with alginate to form
      three dimensional scaffolds for potential applications in bone tissue
      regeneration. The morphology was examined by TEM and SEM and the binding
      interactions were probed by FITR spectroscopy. The scaffolds were found to be non
      cytotoxic, adhered to mouse preosteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells and promoted osteogenic
      differentiation as indicated by the results obtained by alkaline phosphatase
      assay. Furthermore, they were found to be biodegradable and possessed inherent
      antibacterial capability. Thus, we have developed a new family of tissue
      engineered biocomposite scaffolds with potential applications in bone
      regeneration. 

PMID- 25842142
TI  - Graded porous polyurethane foam: a potential scaffold for oro-maxillary bone
      regeneration.
AB  - Bone tissue engineering applications demand for biomaterials offering a substrate
      for cell adhesion, migration, and proliferation, while inferring suitable
      mechanical properties to the construct. In the present study, polyurethane (PU)
      foams were synthesized to develop a graded porous material-characterized by a
      dense shell and a porous core-for the treatment of oro-maxillary bone defects.
      Foam was synthesized via a one-pot reaction starting from a polyisocyanate and a
      biocompatible polyester diol, using water as a foaming agent. Different foaming
      conditions were examined, with the aim of creating a dense/porous functional
      graded material that would perform at the same time as an osteoconductive
      scaffold for bone defect regeneration and as a membrane-barrier to gingival
      tissue ingrowth. The obtained PU was characterized in terms of morphological and
      mechanical properties. Biocompatibility assessment was performed in combination
      with bone-marrow-derived human mesenchymal stromal cells (hBMSCs). Our findings
      confirm that the material is potentially suitable for guided bone regeneration
      applications. 

PMID- 25842143
TI  - The structure and properties of the carbon non-wovens modified with bioactive
      nanoceramics for medical applications.
AB  - The paper presents the results of the manufacture of carbon fibers (CF) from
      polyacrylonitrile fiber precursor containing bioactive ceramic nanoparticles. In
      order to modify the precursor fibers two types of bio-glasses and wollastonite in
      the form of nanoparticles were used. The processing variables of the thermal
      conversion of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor fibers into carbon fibers were
      determined using the FTIR method. The carbonization process of oxidized PAN
      fibers was carried out up to 1000 degrees C. The carbon fibers were characterized
      by a low ordered crystalline structure. The bioactivity tests of carbon fibers
      modified with a ceramic nanocomponent carried out in the artificial serum (SBF)
      revealed the apatite precipitation on the fibers' surfaces. 

PMID- 25842144
TI  - Electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers loaded with silver nanoparticles by
      silver mirror reaction.
AB  - The silver mirror reaction (SMR) method was selected in this paper to modify
      electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers, and these nanofibers loaded with
      silver nanoparticles showed excellent antibacterial properties. PAN nanofibers
      were first pretreated in AgNO3 aqueous solution before the SMR process so that
      the silver nanoparticles were distributed evenly on the outer surface of the
      nanofibers. The final PAN nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron
      microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), transmission electron
      microscopy (TEM), TEM-selected area electron diffraction (SAED), X-ray
      diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). SEM, TEM micrographs and
      SAED patterns confirmed homogeneous dispersion of the silver nanoparticles which
      were composed of monocrystals with diameters 20-30nm. EDS and XRD results showed
      that these monocrystals tended to form face-centered cubic single silver. TGA
      test indicated that the nanoparticles loaded on the nanofibers reached above
      50wt.%. This material was also evaluated by the viable cell-counting method. The
      results indicated that PAN nanofibers loaded with silver nanoparticles exhibited
      excellent antimicrobial activities against gram-negative Escherichia coli (E.
      coli), gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and the fungus Monilia
      albicans. Thus, this material had many potential applications in biomedical
      fields. 

PMID- 25842145
TI  - Anti-biofilm formation of a novel stainless steel against Staphylococcus aureus.
AB  - Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a bacterium frequently found proliferating
      on metal surfaces such as stainless steels used in healthcare and food processing
      facilities. Past research has shown that a novel Cu-bearing 304 type stainless
      steel (304CuSS) exhibits excellent antibacterial ability (i.e. against S. aureus)
      in a short time period (24h.). This work was dedicated to investigate the
      304CuSS's inhibition ability towards the S. aureus biofilm formation for an
      extended period of 7days after incubation. It was found that the antibacterial
      rate of the 304CuSS against sessile bacterial cells reached over 99.9% in
      comparison with the 304SS. The thickness and sizes of the biofilms on the 304SS
      surfaces increased markedly with period of contact, and thus expected higher risk
      of bio-contamination, indicated by the changes of surface free energy between
      biofilm and the steel surfaces. The results demonstrated that the 304CuSS
      exhibited strong inhibition on the growth and adherence of the biofilms. The
      surface free energy of the 304CuSS after contact with sessile bacterial cells was
      much lower than that of the 304SS towards the same culture times. The
      continuously dissolved Cu(2+) ions well demonstrated the dissolution ability of
      Cu-rich precipitates after exposure to S. aureus solution, from 3.1ppm (2days) to
      4.5ppm (7days). For this to occur, a hypothesis mechanism might be established
      for 304CuSS in which the Cu(2+) ions were released from Cu-rich phases that bond
      with extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of the microorganisms. And these
      inhibited the activities of cell protein/enzymes and effectively prevented
      planktonic bacterial cells attaching to the 304CuSS metal surface. 

PMID- 25842146
TI  - Nanostructured delivery system for Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid against lung
      cancer cells.
AB  - With the objective to provide a potential approach for the treatment of lung
      cancer, nanotechnology based Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA)-loaded Poly
      d, l-lactide-co glycolide (PLGA) nanoparticles have been formulated using the
      nanoprecipitation technique. The acquired nanoparticles were characterized by
      various throughput techniques and the analyses showed the presence of smooth and
      spherical shaped SAHA-loaded PLGA nanoparticles, with an encapsulation efficiency
      of 44.8% and a particle size of 208nm. The compatibility between polymer and drug
      in the formulation was tested using FT-IR, Micro-Raman spectrum and DSC
      thermogram analyses, revealing a major interaction between the drug and polymer.
      The in vitro drug release from the SAHA-loaded PLGA nanoparticles was found to be
      biphasic with an initial burst followed by a sustained release for up to 50h. In
      experiments using the lung cancer cell line A549, SAHA-loaded PLGA nanoparticles
      demonstrated a superior antineoplastic activity over free SAHA. In conclusion,
      SAHA-loaded PLGA nanoparticles may be a useful novel approach for the treatment
      of lung cancer. 

PMID- 25842147
TI  - [Editorial].

PMID- 25842148
TI  - [Ocular involvement with Candida albicans: report of 2 cases].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Ocular involvement by Candida albicans is rare and may present as
      endogenous endophthalmitis or choroiditis. It occurs in the context of C.
      albicans septicemia, in the context of intensive care unit hospitalization or
      intravenous drug use. We report two cases referred to our department with
      different characteristics, background, diagnostic modalities and different
      courses. OBSERVATIONS: A 37-year-old woman, with a history of intravenous drug
      use, presented with C. albicans endophthalmitis. Intravenous combination
      antifungal therapy was begun, but vitrectomy and intravitreal amphotericin B were
      performed due to worsening of the endophthalmitis. The second case was a 53-year
      old man who was hospitalized in the intensive care unit for C. albicans
      septicemia with a left macular chorioretinitis. Intravenous antifungal therapy
      was initiated and allowed regression of the ocular lesion. DISCUSSION: Our cases
      illustrate both types of ophthalmic involvement by candidiasis requiring
      different treatments with well-described recommendations: in the case of
      endophthalmitis, the use of vitrectomy and intravitreal amphotericin B injection
      in association with intravenous antifungal treatment, whereas parenteral
      antifungal treatment is often sufficient in the case of chorioretinitis.
      CONCLUSION: Early detection, initiation of treatment and ophthalmologic
      monitoring are difficult but necessary in these populations non-compliant with
      follow-up or in intensive care units. The management of ocular candidiasis
      requires good collaboration between the ophthalmology, infectious diseases and
      intensive care unit departments.

PMID- 25842149
TI  - [Quantification of ocular dominance for better management of eye disease].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The dominant eye is defined as the one we unconsciously choose when
      we have to perform monocular tasks. In the field of clinical neuro-ophthalmology,
      it is well-established that ocular dominance plays a key role in several eye
      diseases. Furthermore, the accurate quantification of ocular dominance is crucial
      with regard to certain surgical techniques. However, classical preoperative tests
      cannot determine the amount of ocular dominance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In order
      to obtain further insight into the phenomenon of ocular dominance, we study its
      influence at behavioral and neurophysiological levels (experiments 1 and 2).
      Based on these new data, we suggest a method to improve quantification of ocular
      dominance (experiment 3). RESULTS: We demonstrate that ocular dominance has an
      influence on hand movements and on interhemispheric transfer time. Moreover, we
      show that an analysis of the dynamics of saccades allows us to sort out
      participants with strong or weak ocular dominance. CONCLUSION: In conclusion,
      this better understanding of the phenomenon of ocular dominance, coupled with the
      analysis of saccadic dynamics, might, in the short or medium term, lead to the
      establishment of a quick and straightforward battery of tests allowing
      determination of the amount of ocular dominance for each patient.

PMID- 25842150
TI  - Tumor necrosis factor-alpha concentration in the aqueous humor of healthy and
      diseased dogs: a preliminary pilot study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine reference values of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF
      alpha) concentrations in the aqueous humor of control dogs. To show whether these
      values are significantly different from those obtained in dogs affected with
      intraocular pathology: acute anterior uveitis (AAU) or chronic primary angle
      closure glaucoma (PACG). METHODS: Forty-four dogs were included in the study and
      were divided into two groups: a control group and a group with intraocular
      disease. Twenty-seven dogs (9 males and 18 females) were examined and found to be
      normal after a complete ophthalmological examination (control group), 7 (6
      females and 1 male) presented with PACG, and 10 (7 females and 3 males) presented
      with AAU secondary to corneal perforation. One aqueous humor sample (volume >=
      0.2 mL) was collected from one eye of all dogs. The aqueous TNF-alpha
      concentration was determined with an Elisa kit. RESULTS: TNF-alpha levels were
      detectable in all dogs. TNF-alpha levels were significantly higher in the group
      with intraocular disease compared to the normal control group (P=0.001). In the
      group with intraocular disease, TNF-alpha levels were significantly higher in the
      aqueous humor of the AAU group compared with the PACG group (P=0.001).
      CONCLUSIONS: In the dog, it is possible to measure the concentration of TNF-alpha
      in the aqueous humor. The level of TNF-alpha was significantly higher in the case
      of AAU. TNF-alpha is an interesting biomarker for longitudinal follow-up studies
      of comparative ophthalmology.

PMID- 25842151
TI  - [Comparison of two different surgical treatments of presbyopia for hyperopic
      patients over 55 years old: Presbylasik (Supracor) and Prelex (presbyopic lens
      exchange)].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The management of presbyopic patients is a medical, surgical and
      economic issue. We wondered which procedure, whether a Presbylasik technique
      called Regular Supracor or the intraocular surgery of clear lens replacement by a
      trifocal diffractive lens (presbyopic lens exchange [Prelex]), provided the best
      results (in visual acuity and satisfaction) for our hyperopic and presbyopic
      patients between 55 and 70. The aim of this study was to compare the safety and
      efficacy of the two techniques (at one week and three months) and to assess
      patients' quality of life. METHODS: This study is a retrospective monocentric
      clinical trial conducted between June 2011 and March 2014, on 21 hyperopic
      presbyopic patients (mean age 60.9 years), in the "hopital d'instruction des
      armees-Percy" (Clamart); 13 patients underwent the corneal treatment of
      Presbylasik (with the Intralase FS60 femtosecond laser [AMO, USA] and the
      Technolas 217P excimer laser [Technolas Perfect Vision, GmbH] following the
      Zyoptix Tissue-Saving algorithm adjusted with a nomogram and the Regular Supracor
      mode), and 8 patients underwent clear lens extraction (Prelex), through bimanual
      phacoemulsification and implantation of diffractive trifocal intraocular lenses
      (Finevision Micro F, PhysIOL(*)). RESULTS: Mean uncorrected binocular distance
      and near vision visual acuity in the Supracor group were respectively 0.03 (-0.2
      0.1) LogMar and 0.23 (0.06-0.36) one week postoperatively and 0.031 (-0.2-0.1)
      and 0,166 (0.06-0.36) three months postoperatively. In the Prelex group, the mean
      uncorrected one week binocular VA was 0.025 (0-0.1) for distance vision and 0.165
      (0.06-0.18) for near distance and the three months visual acuity was 0 (-0.1-0.1)
      and 0.105 (0.06-0.18) for distance and near vision. All Prelex patients were
      spectacle-free at all distances, whereas 4 Supracor patients required spectacles
      for near vision postoperatively. Seven of 11 patients in the Supracor group and
      100% of the Prelex patients were completely satisfied. Both groups experienced
      halos, but patients reported more halos in the Prelex group (75%). One eye
      required intraocular lens exchange and four eyes (16.7%) required a new corneal
      procedure in the Supracor group. CONCLUSION: Both surgeries are safe and
      effective modalities in the management of hyperopic and presbyopic patients.
      However, the Prelex procedure seems to be more appropriate for patients over 55
      years of age.

PMID- 25842152
TI  - Genome sequencing and analysis of an Escherichia coli phage vB_EcoM-ep3 with a
      novel lysin, Lysep3.
AB  - Bacteriophages represent one prospect for preventing and treating multi-drug
      resistant Escherichia coli. In this study, we have isolated a novel E. coli
      specific bacteriophage and characterised its biological properties. vB_EcoM-ep3
      has a broad host range and was able to lyse 9 out of 15 clinical isolates of
      multi-drug-resistant pathogenic E. coli from chickens. The optimal multiplicity
      of infection for vB_EcoM-ep3 in host bacteria was 0.01. vB_EcoM-ep3 was
      thermostable at temperatures below 50  degrees C for up to 60 min. Electron
      microscopy demonstrated that vB_EcoM-ep3 belongs to Myoviridae. The vB_EcoM-ep3
      genome contained 42,351 pairs of nucleotides with a GC content of 53.35 %. There
      were 52 predicted open reading frames that appeared to overlap and have a modular
      structure. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the closest evolutionary relative
      to vB_EcoM-ep3 is the previously reported E. coli phage vB_EcoM_ECO1230-10.
      However, there was no homology between reported E. coli phage lysins and the
      vB_EcoM-ep3 lysin gene. Lysep3 was 58 % similar to the Pseudomonas phage PPpW-3
      lysin despite showing no similarities at the gene sequence level. And Lysep3 has
      good lysis activity. 

PMID- 25842153
TI  - Prevalence and evolution of scleroderma pattern at nailfold videocapillaroscopy
      in systemic sclerosis patients: Clinical and prognostic implications.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Microvascular involvement plays a decisive role in systemic sclerosis
      (SSc) pathogenesis occurring early in the course of the disease. Microangiopathy
      is responsible of important clinical manifestations, such as Raynaud's
      phenomenon, digital ulceration, and pulmonary arterial hypertension. Typical
      microvascular alterations, called scleroderma pattern, are detectable at nailfold
      capillaroscopy in a significant percentage of SSc patients; however its
      prevalence is highly variable in published studies. AIM: The aims of this study
      are to evaluate the prevalence and the evolution of scleroderma pattern in SSc
      patients and analyze their demographic, clinical and prognostic characteristics
      according to capillaroscopic features. METHODS: Two hundred and seventy-five SSc
      patients, underwent at least two nailfold videocapillaroscopy during follow-up,
      were retrospectively enrolled. RESULTS: A scleroderma pattern was observed in 80%
      of patients at baseline and 87.1% during follow-up, and it was significantly
      associated to digital ulcers, interstitial lung disease, reduction of diffusion
      lung of carbon monoxide <75%, teleangectasias and melanodermia, while sicca
      syndrome and arthralgias were associated to normal/nonspecific pattern. Digital
      ulcers, teleangectasias, sicca syndrome, and arthralgias remained independently
      associated with scleroderma pattern on multivariate analysis. In conclusion, the
      main clinical manifestation correlated with scleroderma pattern is the occurrence
      of digital ulcers, and their appearance is strictly correlated with the variation
      of capillaroscopic feature during the time. Further studies should confirm the
      association between SSc pattern and lung fibrosis.

PMID- 25842154
TI  - Children's Lung Health Improves With Reduced Air Pollution.

PMID- 25842155
TI  - Healthcare professionals' use of health clouds: Integrating technology acceptance
      and status quo bias perspectives.
AB  - PURPOSE: Cloud computing technology has recently been seen as an important
      milestone in medical informatics development. Despite its great potential, there
      are gaps in our understanding of how users evaluate change in relation to the
      health cloud and how they decide to resist it. Integrating technology acceptance
      and status quo bias perspectives, this study develops an integrated model to
      explain healthcare professionals' intention to use the health cloud service and
      their intention to resist it. METHODS: A field survey was conducted in Taiwan to
      collect data from healthcare professionals; a structural equation model was used
      to examine the data. A valid sample of 209 healthcare professionals was collected
      for data analysis. RESULTS: The results show that healthcare professionals'
      resistance to the use of the health cloud is the result of regret avoidance,
      inertia, perceived value, switching costs, and perceived threat. Attitude,
      subjective norm, and perceived behavior control are shown to have positive and
      direct effects on healthcare professionals' intention to use the health cloud.
      The results also indicate a significant negative effect in the relationship
      between healthcare professionals' intention and resistance to using the health
      cloud. CONCLUSION: Our study illustrates the importance of incorporating user
      resistance in technology acceptance studies in general and in health technology
      usage studies in particular. This study also identifies key factors for
      practitioners and hospitals to make adoption decisions in relation to the health
      cloud. Further, the study provides a useful reference for future studies in this
      subject field.

PMID- 25842156
TI  - Complete genome sequence of Streptomyces cyaneogriseus ssp. noncyanogenus, the
      thermotolerant producer of commercial antibiotics nemadectin.
AB  - Streptomyces cyaneogriseus ssp. noncyanogenus is thermotolerant bacterium
      producing commercially important nemadectin, a kind of macrolide antibiotics,
      which has been widely used as a biopesticide. Here, we report the complete genome
      sequence of S. cyaneogriseus ssp. noncyanogenus, which consists of one chromosome
      (7,762,396bp) with no plasmid. Genome sequence information contributes to
      understanding the biosynthesis of nemadectin better and provides the basis for
      analysis of its thermotolerance and biosynthetical potential. 

PMID- 25842157
TI  - Extracellular bone matrix exhibits hardening elastoplasticity and more than
      double cortical strength: Evidence from homogeneous compression of non-tapered
      single micron-sized pillars welded to a rigid substrate.
AB  - We here report an improved experimental technique for the determination of
      Young's modulus and uniaxial strength of extracellular bone matrix at the single
      micrometer scale, giving direct access to the (homogeneous) deformation (or
      strain) states of the tested samples and to the corresponding mechanically
      recoverable energy, called potential or elastic energy. Therefore, a new protocol
      for Focused Ion Beam milling of prismatic non-tapered micropillars, and attaching
      them to a rigid substrate, was developed. Uniaxial strength turns out as at least
      twice that measured macroscopically, and respective ultimate stresses are
      preceded by hardening elastoplastic states, already at very low load levels. The
      unloading portion of quasi-static load-displacement curves revealed Young's
      modulus of 29GPa in bovine extracellular bone matrix. This value is impressively
      confirmed by the corresponding prediction of a multiscale mechanics model for
      bone, which has been comprehensively validated at various other observation
      scales, across tissues from the entire vertebrate animal kingdom. 

PMID- 25842158
TI  - Extremity in surgeon volume: Korea may be the place to go if you want to be a
      decent gastric surgeon.

PMID- 25842159
TI  - Large B-cell lymphoma: is the future written in the blood?

PMID- 25842160
TI  - Circulating tumour DNA and CT monitoring in patients with untreated diffuse large
      B-cell lymphoma: a correlative biomarker study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma is curable, but when treatment fails,
      outcome is poor. Although imaging can help to identify patients at risk of
      treatment failure, they are often imprecise, and radiation exposure is a
      potential health risk. We aimed to assess whether circulating tumour DNA encoding
      the clonal immunoglobulin gene sequence could be detected in the serum of
      patients with diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma and used to predict clinical disease
      recurrence after frontline treatment. METHODS: We used next-generation DNA
      sequencing to retrospectively analyse cell-free circulating tumour DNA in
      patients assigned to one of three treatment protocols between May 8, 1993, and
      June 6, 2013. Eligible patients had diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma, no evidence of
      indolent lymphoma, and were previously untreated. We obtained serial serum
      samples and concurrent CT scans at specified times during most treatment cycles
      and up to 5 years of follow-up. VDJ gene segments of the rearranged
      immunoglobulin receptor genes were amplified and sequenced from pretreatment
      specimens and serum circulating tumour DNA encoding the VDJ rearrangements was
      quantitated. FINDINGS: Tumour clonotypes were identified in pretreatment
      specimens from 126 patients who were followed up for a median of 11 years (IQR
      6.8-14.2). Interim monitoring of circulating tumour DNA at the end of two
      treatment cycles in 108 patients showed a 5-year time to progression of 41.7%
      (95% CI 22.2-60.1) in patients with detectable circulating tumour DNA and 80.2%
      (69.6-87.3) in those without detectable circulating tumour DNA (p<0.0001).
      Detectable interim circulating tumour DNA had a positive predictive value of
      62.5% (95% CI 40.6-81.2) and a negative predictive value of 79.8% (69.6-87.8).
      Surveillance monitoring of circulating tumour DNA was done in 107 patients who
      achieved complete remission. A Cox proportional hazards model showed that the
      hazard ratio for clinical disease progression was 228 (95% CI 51-1022) for
      patients who developed detectable circulating tumour DNA during surveillance
      compared with patients with undetectable circulating tumour DNA (p<0.0001).
      Surveillance circulating tumour DNA had a positive predictive value of 88.2% (95%
      CI 63.6-98.5) and a negative predictive value of 97.8% (92.2-99.7) and identified
      risk of recurrence at a median of 3.5 months (range 0-200) before evidence of
      clinical disease. INTERPRETATION: Surveillance circulating tumour DNA identifies
      patients at risk of recurrence before clinical evidence of disease in most
      patients and results in a reduced disease burden at relapse. Interim circulating
      tumour DNA is a promising biomarker to identify patients at high risk of
      treatment failure. FUNDING: National Cancer Institute and Adaptive
      Biotechnologies.

PMID- 25842161
TI  - The anti-malarial chloroquine suppresses proliferation and overcomes cisplatin
      resistance of endometrial cancer cells via autophagy inhibition.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The anti-malarial drug chloroquine (CQ) is also known as an autophagy
      inhibitor. Autophagy can promote tumor growth by fueling the necessary energy
      metabolism and inducing resistance to chemotherapy and/or irradiation in various
      human cancers. However, the role of autophagy in endometrial cancer has not yet
      been established. We investigated the anti-tumor effects and autophagy inhibition
      caused by CQ in endometrial cancer cells. METHODS: Cell proliferation and cell
      cycle were assessed in response to CQ in six endometrial cancer cell lines by
      using an MTT assay and/or flow cytometry. To assess the level of autophagy,
      western blotting and an immunofluorescence assay were used to measure LC3
      expression. The effects of knockdown of either ATG5 or ATG7, both of which are
      indispensable for induction of autophagy, were assessed via an MTT assay.
      Sensitivity to CQ was compared between parental and cisplatin-resistant (CP-r)
      Ishikawa endometrial cancer cells. RESULTS: CQ suppressed proliferation in all
      six endometrial cancer cell lines in a dose-dependent manner, whereas it
      increased the population of apoptotic cells. Inhibition of autophagy via
      knockdown of either ATG5 or ATG7 decreased the sensitivity to CQ. Additionally,
      sensitivity to cisplatin was improved by knocking down ATG5 or ATG7. Finally, CP
      r Ishikawa cells, with a high basal level of autophagy, were more sensitive to CQ
      than parental Ishikawa cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that autophagy is
      involved in endometrial tumor growth and cisplatin resistance. Furthermore, our
      data support a therapeutic role for CQ in endometrial cancer cells with
      upregulation of autophagy.

PMID- 25842162
TI  - Outcomes of pediatric and adolescent girls with malignant ovarian germ cell
      tumors.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze the oncologic and reproductive outcomes of pediatric and
      young adolescents with malignant ovarian germ cell tumors (MOGCTs). METHODS:
      Pediatric or young adolescent girls aged 16years or under with MOGCT were
      eligible for this study. RESULTS: Forty-two pediatric or adolescent girls with
      MOGCT met the inclusion criteria. The median age was 12years (range, 6-16years)
      and 29 patients were premenarchal. The most common histologic type was immature
      teratoma, and 30 patients (54.3%) had stage I MOGCT. All patients underwent
      fertility-sparing surgery, which was defined as the preservation of at least one
      adnexa and the uterus. No patient had residual disease after surgery. Thirteen
      patients had tumor spillage, two patients had a positive peritoneal cytology, and
      two patients had lymph node metastasis. After surgery, 31 patients received
      adjuvant chemotherapy with bleomyocin, etoposide, and cisplatin (BEP) (median,
      4cycles; range, 1-6 cycles). After a median follow-up time of 93months (range, 22
      217 months), six patients had a recurrence of the disease, and one patient died.
      The 5-year disease-free and overall survival rates were 85% and 97%,
      respectively. Among the surviving 41 patients, seven were premenarchal, 30 had
      regular menstruation, and three had irregular menstruation. No patient had
      premature ovarian failure. CONCLUSION: All patients received uniform treatment
      consisting of fertility-sparing complete cytoreductive surgery followed by BEP
      chemotherapy. Regardless of histologic type and FIGO stage, the oncologic
      outcomes were excellent and the reproductive outcomes were favorable.

PMID- 25842163
TI  - Detection failure rate of chest radiography for the identification of nursing and
      healthcare-associated pneumonia.
AB  - AIM: To clarify the detection failure rate of chest radiography for the
      identification of nursing and healthcare-associated pneumonia (NHCAP), we
      compared high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) with chest radiography
      simultaneously for patients with clinical symptoms and signs leading to a
      suspicion of NHCAP. METHODS: We analyzed 208 NHCAP cases and compared them based
      on four groups defined using NHCAP criteria, patients who were: Group A) resident
      in an extended care facility or nursing home; Group B) discharged from a hospital
      within the preceding 90 days; Group C) receiving nursing care and had poor
      performance status; and Group D) receiving regular endovascular treatment.
      RESULTS: Chest radiography was inferior to HRCT for the identification of
      pneumonia (149 vs 208 cases, p < 0.0001). Among the designated NHCAP criteria,
      chest radiography identified pneumonia cases at a significantly lower frequency
      than HRCT in Group A (70 vs 97 cases, p = 0.0190) and Group C (86 vs 136 cases, p
      < 0.0001). The detection failure rate of chest radiography differed among NHCAP
      criteria; 27.8% in Group A, 26.5% in Group B, 36.7% in Group C and 5.8% in Group
      D. Cerebrovascular disease and poor functional status were significantly more
      frequent in patients in Groups A and C compared with those in Groups B and D.
      CONCLUSIONS: Physicians may underestimate pneumonia shadow in chest radiographs
      in patients with NHCAP, and the detection failure rate of chest radiography
      differed among NHCAP criteria. Poor functional status may correlate with the low
      accuracy of chest radiography in diagnosing pneumonia.

PMID- 25842164
TI  - The effect of uranium on bacterial viability and cell surface morphology using
      atomic force microscopy in the presence of bicarbonate ions.
AB  - Past disposal practices at nuclear production facilities have led to the release
      of liquid waste into the environment creating multiple radionuclide plumes.
      Microorganisms are known for the ability to interact with radionuclides and
      impact their mobility in soils and sediments. Gram-positive Arthrobacter sp. are
      one of the most common bacterial groups in soils and are found in large numbers
      in subsurface environments contaminated with radionuclides. This study
      experimentally analyzed changes on the bacteria surface at the nanoscale level
      after uranium exposure and evaluated the effect of aqueous bicarbonate ions on
      U(VI) toxicity of a low uranium-tolerant Arthrobacter oxydans strain G968 by
      investigating changes in adhesion forces and cell dimensions via atomic force
      microscopy (AFM). Experiments were extended to assess cell viability by the
      Live/Dead BacLight Bacterial Viability Kit (Molecular Probes) and quantitatively
      illustrate the effect of uranium exposure in the presence of varying
      concentrations of bicarbonate ions. AFM and viability studies showed that samples
      containing bicarbonate were able to withstand uranium toxicity and remained
      viable. Samples containing no bicarbonate exhibited deformed surfaces and a low
      height profile, which, in conjunction with viability studies, indicated that the
      cells were not viable. 

PMID- 25842165
TI  - DNA damage checkpoint recovery and cancer development.
AB  - Cell cycle checkpoints were initially presumed to function as a regulator of cell
      cycle machinery in response to different genotoxic stresses, and later found to
      play an important role in the process of tumorigenesis by acting as a guard
      against DNA over-replication. As a counterpart of checkpoint activation, the
      checkpoint recovery machinery is working in opposition, aiming to reverse the
      checkpoint activation and resume the normal cell cycle. The DNA damage response
      (DDR) and oncogene induced senescence (OIS) are frequently found in precancerous
      lesions, and believed to constitute a barrier to tumorigenesis, however, the DDR
      and OIS have been observed to be diminished in advanced cancers of most tissue
      origins. These findings suggest that when progressing from pre-neoplastic lesions
      to cancer, DNA damage checkpoint barriers are overridden. How the DDR checkpoint
      is bypassed in this process remains largely unknown. Activated cytokine and
      growth factor-signaling pathways were very recently shown to suppress the DDR and
      to promote uncontrolled cell proliferation in the context of oncovirus infection.
      In recent decades, data from cell line and tumor models showed that a group of
      checkpoint recovery proteins function in promoting tumor progression; data from
      patient samples also showed overexpression of checkpoint recovery proteins in
      human cancer tissues and a correlation with patients' poor prognosis. In this
      review, the known cell cycle checkpoint recovery proteins and their roles in DNA
      damage checkpoint recovery are reviewed, as well as their implications in cancer
      development. This review also provides insight into the mechanism by which the
      DDR suppresses oncogene-driven tumorigenesis and tumor progression. 

PMID- 25842166
TI  - Caveolin-1 is transcribed from a hypermethylated promoter to mediate colonocyte
      differentiation and apoptosis.
AB  - Caveolin-1(CAV1) is a tyrosine-phosphorylated scaffold protein of caveolae with
      multiple interacting partners. It functions both as an oncogene and a tumour
      suppressor depending upon the cellular contexts. In the early stage of colorectal
      cancers (CRC), CAV1 suppresses tumour progression, while over-expression of CAV1
      reduced the tumourigenicity of colon carcinoma cells. In contrast, elevated level
      of CAV1 was reported in stage III CRC. To address this ambiguity, we studied the
      functional role and the regulation of CAV1 expression during colonocyte
      differentiation and apoptosis. Here, we reported for the first time that CAV1
      expression was increased during colonocyte differentiation and mediated butyrate
      induced differentiation and apoptosis of HT29 cells. CAV1 expression was silenced
      by promoter hypermethylation in HT-29 cells and reactivated by prolonged histone
      hyperacetylation of the promoter upon treatment of the cells with butyrate.
      However, the methylation status was unaltered by butyrate. We for the first time
      showed that HDAC inhibitor-mediated transactivation of CAV1 was regulated by
      methylation density of the promoter. Our study further explains the underlying
      mechanisms of the anti-cancer property of butyrate in CRC. 

PMID- 25842167
TI  - The c-Rel subunit of NF-kappaB is a crucial regulator of phenotype and motility
      of HaCaT keratinocytes.
AB  - The transcription factor NF-kappaB exerts key functions in epidermal homeostasis
      and carcinogenesis. Its c-Rel subunit is expressed in squamous cell carcinoma,
      and c-Rel down-regulation results in increased apoptosis, G2/M cell cycle delay
      with reduced proliferation and aberrant mitotic spindle formation. To further
      study the impact of c-Rel on essential keratinocyte features such as migration
      and epithelial morphology, c-Rel was down-regulated in HaCaT keratinocytes by a
      siRNA approach. This inhibition of c-Rel impaired the keratinocyte-typical
      clustered growth leading to a more scattered appearance of the cultures. The
      cells were more spindle-shaped and elongated, albeit without expression changes
      of markers characteristic for epithelial mesenchymal transition. In addition,
      wound healing-related migration and adhesion to type I collagen, fibronectin,
      laminin and vitronectin were significantly impaired. On the sub-cellular level,
      these functional features were not associated with quantitatively altered
      adhesion receptor or Rho-GTPase expression, but rather with a significantly
      reduced length of cell-matrix adhesion complexes and altered appearance of
      filamentous actin. Thus, our studies support a role for c-Rel in processes
      crucial for keratinocyte integrity and malignant transformation such as adhesion
      and migration. 

PMID- 25842168
TI  - Beyond EGFR and ALK inhibition: unravelling and exploiting novel genetic
      alterations in advanced non small-cell lung cancer.
AB  - During the last decade, thoracic oncology has witnessed an unprecedented outburst
      of knowledge regarding molecular biology of non small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
      The implementation of high-throughput sequencing analysis and genomic
      technologies has led to the identification of novel molecular events that
      characterize NSCLC transformation and may represent critical oncogenic drivers
      amenable to targeted therapy. Among these, the presence of activating mutations
      of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene and of chromosomic
      rearrangements in the anaplastic-lymphoma kinase (ALK) proto-oncogene, have been
      the first well characterized genetic alterations with corresponding targeted
      agents to enter the clinical arena. Nevertheless, in the recent years a number of
      other oncogenic drivers beyond EGFR and ALK inhibition have emerged as novel
      molecular targets with potential therapeutic implications, including mutations in
      the genes KRAS, BRAF, HER2, PI3KCA and DDR2, as well as ROS1 and RET
      rearrangements and MET, HER2 and FGFR1 gene amplifications. The aim of this
      review is to provide comprehensive information on the novel therapeutic targets
      identified by recent preclinical evidence and to discuss developments in
      molecular treatments targeting these oncogenic drivers or actionable mutations
      beyond EGFR and ALK in advanced NSCLC.

PMID- 25842169
TI  - Current challenges and future perspectives of plant and agricultural
      biotechnology.
AB  - Advances in understanding plant biology, novel genetic resources, genome
      modification, and omics technologies generate new solutions for food security and
      novel biomaterials production under changing environmental conditions. New gene
      and germplasm candidates that are anticipated to lead to improved crop yields and
      other plant traits under stress have to pass long development phases based on
      trial and error using large-scale field evaluation. Therefore, quantitative,
      objective, and automated screening methods combined with decision-making
      algorithms are likely to have many advantages, enabling rapid screening of the
      most promising crop lines at an early stage followed by final mandatory field
      experiments. The combination of novel molecular tools, screening technologies,
      and economic evaluation should become the main goal of the plant biotechnological
      revolution in agriculture. 

PMID- 25842170
TI  - [Reply to authors: "Epidemiological study about pain in Andalusian public
      hospitals"].

PMID- 25842171
TI  - [Acute toxicity due to local anesthetics].

PMID- 25842172
TI  - Morbidity after Total Gastrectomy: Analysis of 238 Patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Surgical quality improvement requires well-defined benchmarks and
      accurate reporting of postoperative adverse events, which have not been well
      defined for total gastrectomy. STUDY DESIGN: Detailed postoperative outcomes on
      238 patients who underwent total gastrectomy with curative intent, from 2003 to
      2012, were reviewed by a dedicated surgeon chart reviewer to establish 90-day
      patterns of adverse events. RESULTS: Of the 238 patients with stage I to III
      gastric adenocarcinoma who underwent curative-intent total gastrectomy, the
      median age was 66 years, and 68% were male. Median body mass index was 28
      kg/m(2), and 68% of patients had at least 1 medical comorbidity. Forty-three
      percent of our patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and 34% received
      postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Over the 90-day study period, 30-day
      mortality was 2.5% (6 of 238), and 90-day mortality was 2.9% (7 of 238). At least
      1 postoperative adverse event was documented in 62% of patients, with 28% of
      patients experiencing a major adverse event requiring invasive intervention. The
      readmission rate was 20%. Anemia was the most common adverse event (20%),
      followed by wound complications (18%). The most common major adverse event was
      esophageal anastomotic leak, which required invasive intervention in 10% of
      patients. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis has defined comprehensive 90-day patterns in
      postoperative adverse events after total gastrectomy with curative intent in a
      Western population. This benchmark allows surgeons to measure, compare, and
      improve outcomes and informed consent for this surgical procedure.

PMID- 25842173
TI  - A rapid and miniaturized method for the selection of microbial phenol degraders
      using colourimetric microtitration.
AB  - A high-throughput method is described, consisting of a colourimetric
      microtitration for screening phenol-degrading microorganisms, using a mixture of
      4-aminoantipyrine and potassium ferricyanide as the colour indicator. This
      contemporary study summarizes a new method to determine phenol-degrading bacteria
      isolated from different areas. The method was used for testing a total of 72
      bacteria collected from the natural environment and five known strains obtained
      from diagnostic and research laboratories employing 200 mg/L phenol (the linear
      range saturation concentration). Depending on the change in colour indicator, the
      degradation profiles of 11 strains of bacteria are shown, of which seven strains
      were able to degrade more than 80 % of phenol within 6-8 h, while the other four
      strains took 12-24 h. Two of the environmentally isolated strains showed high
      efficiency of phenol degradation and were confirmed by the high-performance
      liquid chromatography analysis. These strains were identified by 16S rRNA
      sequencing as unique (Escherichia coli moh1 and Bacillus cereus moh2) and were
      deposited in the GenBank of NCBI. Two pathogenic strains (Uropathogenic E. coli
      and Salmonella sp.) were found to be the fast degraders of phenol, which is of
      medical concern, as phenol is generally used as a disinfectant in hospitals. This
      method can be used for the estimation and screening of phenol degraders in a
      single step, for its application in bioremediation as well as in hospitals for
      screening the phenol resistance of pathogens.

PMID- 25842174
TI  - Overexpression of Small Heat Shock Protein Enhances Heat- and Salt-Stress
      Tolerance of Bifidobacterium longum NCC2705.
AB  - Bifidobacteria are probiotics that are incorporated live into various dairy
      products. They confer health-promotive effects via gastrointestinal tract
      colonization. However, to provide their health-beneficial properties, they must
      battle the various abiotic stresses in that environment, such as bile salts,
      acids, oxygen, and heat. In this study, Bifidobacterium longum salt- and heat
      stress tolerance was enhanced by homologous overexpression of a small heat shock
      protein (sHsp). A positive contribution of overproduced sHsp to abiotic stress
      tolerance was observed when the bacterium was exposed to heat and salt stresses.
      Significantly higher survival of B. l ongum NCC2705 overexpressing sHsp was
      observed at 30 and 60 min into heat (55  degrees C) and salt (5 M NaCl)
      treatment, respectively. Thermotolerance analysis at 47  degrees C with sampling
      every 2 h also revealed the great potential tolerance of the engineered strain.
      Cell density and acid production rate increased for the sHsp-overexpressing
      strain after 8 and 10 h of both heat and salt stresses. In addition, tolerance to
      bile salts, low pH (3.5) and low temperature (4  degrees C) was also increased by
      homologous overexpression of the sHsp hsp20 in B. l ongum. Results revealed that
      hsp20 overexpression in B longum NCC2705 plays a positive cross-protective role
      in upregulating abiotic responses, ensuring the organism's tolerance to various
      stress conditions; therefore, sHsp-overexpressing B. l ongum is advised for
      fermented dairy foods and other probiotic product applications. 

PMID- 25842175
TI  - Web 2.0 applications in medicine: trends and topics in the literature.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The World Wide Web has changed research habits, and these changes
      were further expanded when "Web 2.0" became popular in 2005. Bibliometrics is a
      helpful tool used for describing patterns of publication, for interpreting
      progression over time, and the geographical distribution of research in a given
      field. Few studies employing bibliometrics, however, have been carried out on the
      correlative nature of scientific literature and Web 2.0. OBJECTIVE: The aim of
      this bibliometric analysis was to provide an overview of Web 2.0 implications in
      the biomedical literature. The objectives were to assess the growth rate of
      literature, key journals, authors, and country contributions, and to evaluate
      whether the various Web 2.0 applications were expressed within this biomedical
      literature, and if so, how. METHODS: A specific query with keywords chosen to be
      representative of Web 2.0 applications was built for the PubMed database.
      Articles related to Web 2.0 were downloaded in Extensible Markup Language (XML)
      and were processed through developed hypertext preprocessor (PHP) scripts, then
      imported to Microsoft Excel 2010 for data processing. RESULTS: A total of 1347
      articles were included in this study. The number of articles related to Web 2.0
      has been increasing from 2002 to 2012 (average annual growth rate was 106.3% with
      a maximum of 333% in 2005). The United States was by far the predominant country
      for authors, with 514 articles (54.0%; 514/952). The second and third most
      productive countries were the United Kingdom and Australia, with 87 (9.1%;
      87/952) and 44 articles (4.6%; 44/952), respectively. Distribution of number of
      articles per author showed that the core population of researchers working on Web
      2.0 in the medical field could be estimated at approximately 75. In total, 614
      journals were identified during this analysis. Using Bradford's law, 27 core
      journals were identified, among which three (Studies in Health Technology and
      Informatics, Journal of Medical Internet Research, and Nucleic Acids Research)
      produced more than 35 articles related to Web 2.0 over the period studied. A
      total of 274 words in the field of Web 2.0 were found after manual sorting of the
      15,878 words appearing in title and abstract fields for articles. Word frequency
      analysis reveals "blog" as the most recurrent, followed by "wiki", "Web 2.0",
      "social media", "Facebook", "social networks", "blogger", "cloud computing",
      "Twitter", and "blogging". All categories of Web 2.0 applications were found,
      indicating the successful integration of Web 2.0 into the biomedical field.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the biomedical community is engaged in the use
      of Web 2.0 and confirms its high level of interest in these tools. Therefore,
      changes in the ways researchers use information seem to be far from over.

PMID- 25842176
TI  - The neuroprotective effect of lovastatin on MPP(+)-induced neurotoxicity is not
      mediated by PON2.
AB  - Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of
      the pigmented dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta with
      subsequent striatal dopamine (DA) deficiency and increased lipid peroxidation.
      The etiology of the disease is still unclear and it is thought that PD may be
      caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. In the search of
      new pharmacological options, statins have been recognized for their potential
      application to treat PD, due to their antioxidant effect. The aim of this work is
      to contribute in the characterization of the neuroprotective effect of lovastatin
      in a model of PD induced by 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP(+)). Male Wistar
      rats (200-250 g) were randomly allocated into 4 groups and administered for 7
      days with different pharmacological treatments. Lovastatin administration (5
      mg/kg) diminished 40% of the apomorphine-induced circling behavior, prevented the
      striatal DA depletion and lipid peroxides formation by MPP(+) intrastriatal
      injection, as compared to the group of animals treated only with MPP(+).
      Lovastatin produced no change in paraoxonase-2 (PON2) activity. It is evident
      that lovastatin conferred neuroprotection against MPP(+)-induced protection but
      this effect was not associated with the induction of PON2 in the rat striatum.

PMID- 25842177
TI  - Rapid turnover of antimicrobial-type cysteine-rich protein genes in closely
      related Oryza genomes.
AB  - Defensive and reproductive protein genes undergo rapid evolution. Small, cysteine
      rich secreted peptides (CRPs) act as antimicrobial agents and function in plant
      intercellular signaling and are over-represented among reproductively expressed
      proteins. Because of their roles in defense, reproduction and development and
      their presence in multigene families, CRP variation can have major consequences
      for plant phenotypic and functional diversification. We surveyed the CRP genes of
      six closely related Oryza genomes comprising Oryza sativa ssp. japonica and ssp.
      indica, Oryza glaberrima and three accessions of Oryza rufipogon to observe
      patterns of evolution in these gene families and the effects of variation on
      their gene expression. These Oryza genomes, like other plant genomes, have
      accumulated large reservoirs of CRP sequences, comprising 26 groups totaling
      between 676 and 843 genes, in contrast to antimicrobial CRPs in animal genomes.
      Despite the close evolutionary relationships between the genomes, we observed
      rapid changes in number and structure among CRP gene families. Many CRP sequences
      are in gene clusters generated by local duplications, have undergone rapid
      turnover and are more likely to be silent or specifically expressed. By contrast,
      conserved CRP genes are more likely to be highly and broadly expressed. Variable
      CRP genes created by repeated duplication, gene modification and inactivation can
      gain new functions and expression patterns in newly evolved gene copies. For the
      CRP proteins, the process of gain/loss by deletion or duplication at gene
      clusters seems to be an important mechanism in evolution of the gene families,
      which also contributes to their expression evolution. 

PMID- 25842178
TI  - Characterizations and expression analyses of NF-kappaB and Rel genes in the Yesso
      scallop (Patinopecten yessoensis) suggest specific response patterns against Gram
      negative infection in bivalves.
AB  - Rel/NF-kappaB (nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells)
      genes are evolutionarily conserved and play a pivotal role in several
      physiological events. They have been extensively studied from various species,
      including both vertebrates and invertebrates. However, the Rel/NF-kappaB genes
      have not been systematically characterized in bivalves. In this study, we
      identified and characterized PyNF-kappaB and PyRel in the Yesso scallop
      (Patinopecten yessoensis). Phylogenetic and protein structural analyses were
      conducted to determine the identities and evolutionary relationships of Rel/NF
      kappaB genes in Yesso scallop. Compared with the Rel/NF-kappaB genes from
      vertebrate species, the PyNF-kappaB and PyRel are relatively conserved in their
      structural features, but there were no paralogs found in P. yessoensis or other
      invertebrates. To gain insights into the roles of Rel/NF-kappaB genes during the
      innate immune response in scallop, quantitative real-time PCR was used to
      investigate the expression profiles of these genes at different developmental
      stages, in healthy adult tissues and in the hemolymph after bacterial infection
      with Micrococcus luteus and Vibrio anguillarum. The real-time PCR results
      indicated the abundance of PyNF-kappaB in the first four embryonic stages,
      including oocytes, fertilized eggs, morulae and blastulae. By contrast, PyRel was
      abundantly expressed in blastulae, trochophores and D-shaped larvae. In adult
      scallops, PyNF-kappaB and PyRel were ubiquitously expressed in most healthy
      tissues and highly expressed in most of the immune related tissues. Both genes
      were significantly up-regulated during the acute phase (3 h) after infection with
      Gram-positive (M. luteus) and negative (V. anguillarum) bacteria, while the much
      higher expression level of PyNF-kappaB suggested the involvement of the extra
      immune deficiency (IMD)-like pathway against the Gram-negative bacterial
      infection. The complex pattern of Rel/NF-kappaB induced expression suggested that
      PyNF-kappaB and PyRel both have specific and cooperative roles in the acute
      immune responses to bacterial infection. 

PMID- 25842179
TI  - Transcriptomic analysis and biomarkers (Rag1 and IgMU) for probing the immune
      system development in Pacific cod, Gadus macrocephalus.
AB  - Mortality (>90%) is a big concern in larval rearing facilities of Pacific cod,
      Gadus macrocephalus, limiting its culture presently still in the experimental
      stages. Understanding the immune system development of G. macrocephalus is
      crucial to optimize the aquaculture of this species, to improve the use of
      economic resources and to avoid abuse of antibiotics. For the transcriptome
      analysis, using an Illumina sequencing platform, 61,775,698 raw reads were
      acquired. After a de novo assembly, 77,561 unigenes were obtained. We have
      classified functionally these transcripts by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto
      Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). 27 genes mainly related to
      hematopoietic or lymphoid organ development and somatic diversification of immune
      receptors have been reported for the first time in Pacific cod, and 14 Ig heavy
      chain (MU chain) locuses were assembled using Trinity. Based on our previous
      achievement, we have chosen Rag1 and IgMU as immune system development
      biomarkers. Full length cDNA of Rag1 and IgMU as biomarkers were obtained
      respectively using RACE PCR. Concerning Rag1, the deduced amino acid of Rag1 and
      protein immunodetection revealed a Rag1 isoform of 69 kDa, significantly
      different from other fish orthologs, such as Oncorhynchus mykiss (121 kDa).
      Phylogenetic analysis reveals a unique immune system for the Gadus genre, not
      exclusive for Atlantic cod, among vertebrates. Meanwhile, full length cDNA of
      IgMU included an ORF of 1710 bp and the deduced amino acid was composed of a
      leader peptide, a variable domain, CH1, CH2, Hinge, CH3, CH4 and C-terminus,
      which was in accordance with most teleost. Absolute quantification PCR revealed
      that significant expression of Rag1 appeared earlier than IgMU, 61 and 95 dph
      compared to 95 dph, respectively. Here we report the first transcriptomic
      analysis of G. macrocephalus as the starting point for genetic research on immune
      system development towards improving the Pacific cod aquaculture.

PMID- 25842180
TI  - Molecular characterization and functional analysis of a novel C-type lectin
      receptor-like gene from a teleost fish, Plecoglossus altivelis.
AB  - C-type lectin-like receptors (CLRs) are important pathogen pattern recognition
      molecules that recognize carbohydrate structures. However, the functions of these
      receptors in fish keep less known. In this study, we characterized a novel CLR
      from a teleost fish, Plecoglossus altivelis (ayu), tentatively named PaCD209L.
      The cDNA of PaCD209L is 1464 nucleotides (nts) in length, encoding a polypeptide
      of 281 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular weight of 31.5 kDa.
      Multiple alignment of the deduced amino acid sequences of PaCD209L and other
      related fish CLRs revealed that the PaCD209L sequence had typical characteristics
      of fish CLRs, but without Ca(2+)-binding sites. Sequence comparison and
      phylogenetic tree analysis showed that PaCD209L shared the highest amino acid
      identity (44%) with rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) CD209 aE PaCD209L
      transcripts were detected in all of the tissues examined, mainly expressed in the
      brain and heart. Upon Vibrio anguillarum infection, PaCD209L transcripts were
      upregulated in all tested tissues and in monocytes/macrophages (MO/MPhi). We
      prepared recombinant PaCD209L (rPaCD209L) by prokaryotic expression and raised
      antiserum against PaCD209L. Western blot analysis revealed that native PaCD209L
      was glycosylated, and its protein expression significantly increased in ayu
      MO/MPhi upon V. anguillarum infection. In addition, rPaCD209L was able to bind
      Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in the absence of Ca(2+). After PaCD209L
      was blocked by anti-PaCD209L IgG, the phagocytosis and bacterial killing activity
      of MO/MPhi significantly decreased. These results suggest that PaCD209L plays an
      important role in the regulation of MO/MPhi functions in ayu. 

PMID- 25842181
TI  - Functional analysis of Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) beta-thymosin: Focus on
      antimicrobial activity.
AB  - An antimicrobial peptide, ~5 kDa in size, was isolated and purified in its active
      form from the mantle of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas by C18 reversed
      phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Matrix-assisted laser desorption
      ionisation time-of-flight analysis revealed 4656.4 Da of the purified and
      unreduced peptide. A comparison of the N-terminal amino acid sequence of oyster
      antimicrobial peptide with deduced amino acid sequences in our local expressed
      sequence tag (EST) database of C. gigas (unpublished data) revealed that the
      oyster antimicrobial peptide sequence entirely matched the deduced amino acid
      sequence of an EST clone (HM-8_A04), which was highly homologous with the beta
      thymosin of other species. The cDNA possessed a 126-bp open reading frame that
      encoded a protein of 41 amino acids. To confirm the antimicrobial activity of C.
      gigas beta-thymosin, we overexpressed a recombinant beta-thymosin (rcgTbeta)
      using a pET22 expression plasmid in an Escherichia coli system. The antimicrobial
      activity of rcgTbeta was evaluated and demonstrated using a bacterial growth
      inhibition test in both liquid and solid cultures.

PMID- 25842182
TI  - Ceftriaxone susceptibility of oxacillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus from
      patients with prosthetic joint infection.
AB  - Ceftriaxone is used to treat oxacillin-susceptible S. aureus (OSSA) prosthetic
      joint infection (PJI). Susceptibility of ceftriaxone against OSSA has been
      questioned. Ceftriaxone susceptibility was determined against 100 PJI OSSA
      isolates. Ceftriaxone MIC90/MIC50 were 8/4 and 4/3MUg/mL by broth microdilution
      and Etest, respectively. Ceftriaxone susceptibility is inferable by oxacillin
      susceptibility. 

PMID- 25842183
TI  - Prevalence and characteristics of serrated lesions of the colorectum in Italy: A
      multicentre prospective cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Serrated lesions are recognized as important contributors to
      colorectal cancer incidence. We aimed to prospectively assess the prevalence of
      serrated lesions and identify potential predictors of these lesions during
      colonoscopy in an Italian population. METHODS: Prospective cross sectional study
      involving 8 endoscopy units from February 1st to July 31st 2012. RESULTS: Out of
      2468 colonoscopies, 886 precancerous lesions were detected in 567 patients. Of
      these, 173 SELs were diagnosed in 148 patients (140 serrated/hyperplastic polyps
      and 33 serrated adenomas). Prevalence was 7% (173/2468). Serrated lesions
      accounted for 19.5% of all precancerous lesions. Serrated polyps were prevalent
      in the left colon (42.1%) and serrated adenomas in the proximal colon (54.5%).
      Independent clinical predictors of serrated lesions were patient age (OR 0.98
      [0.97-1.00]) and post-polypectomy surveillance (OR 1.87 [1.24-2.82]). Endoscopic
      predictors were right colon location (OR 2.65 [1.63-4.30] vs. rectum; and 1.53
      [1.03-2.26] vs. left colon), polypoid shape (OR 0.41 [027-0.64]) and size <6 mm
      (OR 0.49 [0.33-0.72] vs. 6-10 mm; and 0.14 [0.07-0.28] vs. >10 mm). There was no
      independent predictor of serrated adenoma. CONCLUSION: In our Italian study
      population, the prevalence of colorectal serrated lesions was 7%. Their diagnosis
      is associated with younger age and surveillance colonoscopy, right-sided
      colorectal location, non-polypoid shape and size <6 mm.

PMID- 25842184
TI  - General sale of non-prescription medicinal products: Comparing legislation in two
      European countries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The number of non-prescription medicines (NPMs) available for self
      medication is increasing within the European Union (EU). This can enhance the
      autonomy of individuals but is also connected with risks. Under an existing EU
      Directive, Sweden has only recently deregulated and made NPMs available in non
      pharmacy outlets; The United Kingdom (UK) is a more established NPM market; both
      are guided by the same EU directives. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to
      compare specific requirements under the legislation, rationales and outcomes
      regarding the sale of NPMs through non-pharmacy outlets between Sweden and the
      UK. METHOD: The main method was analysis of legislative text and policy
      documents, conducted in 2012. RESULTS: Both countries had specified medicines
      available to the public in non-pharmacy outlets, but with restrictions on
      different factors, e.g. placement and package size of the NPMs. The main
      rationales for legislation were quality and patient safety. NPMs for 51 ailments
      were available in the UK, compared to 35 in Sweden. CONCLUSION: Sweden had more
      extensive requirements, probably due to the market being more recently
      deregulated, while the UK represented a more mature market. There is a difference
      in the balance between confidence and control, as well as availability and safety
      when it comes to NPMs in non-pharmacy settings that needs to be further
      discussed.

PMID- 25842185
TI  - Exosomes as nanocarriers for immunotherapy of cancer and inflammatory diseases.
AB  - Cell secreted exosomes (30-100nm vesicles) play a major role in intercellular
      communication due to their ability to transfer proteins and nucleic acids from
      one cell to another. Depending on the originating cell type and the cargo,
      exosomes can have immunosuppressive or immunostimulatory effects, which have
      potential application as immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases.
      Cellular components shed from tumor cells or antigen presenting cells (APCs),
      such as dendritic cells, macrophages and B cells, have been shown to be
      efficiently packaged in exosomes. In this review, we focus on the application of
      exosomes as nanocarriers and immunological agents for cancer and autoimmune
      immunotherapy. APC-derived exosomes demonstrate effective therapeutic efficacy
      for the treatment of cancer and experimental autoimmune diseases such as
      rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis. In
      addition to their intrinsic immunomodulating activity, exosomes have many
      advantages over conventional nanocarriers for drug and gene delivery. 

PMID- 25842186
TI  - BAFF blockade prevents anti-drug antibody formation in a mouse model of Pompe
      disease.
AB  - Antibodies formed against the therapeutic protein are a life-threatening
      complication that arises during enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease
      (acid alpha-glucosidase deficiency; GAA). To provide an effective alternative to
      current practices, we investigated the capacity of anti-B-cell activating factor
      (BAFF) as a novel drug candidate to prevent antibody formation in a Pompe disease
      mouse model. A BAFF-neutralizing antibody was administered prophylactically and
      with maintenance doses in association with enzyme replacement therapy using
      recombinant human GAA in Gaa(-/-) mice. BAFF blockade delayed antibody production
      and increased GAA activity within tissues with protection from anaphylaxis. Anti
      BAFF also resolved antibody formation during an immune response and precluded the
      maturation of antibody secreting cells from entering the bone marrow compartment.
      This treatment modality may therefore be a viable alternative for the clinical
      management of antibody formation for Pompe disease and has potential use against
      antibody formation in other protein replacement therapies. 

PMID- 25842187
TI  - A combination dual-sized microparticle system modulates dendritic cells and
      prevents type 1 diabetes in prediabetic NOD mice.
AB  - We developed a novel poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-based, microparticle (MP)
      system providing concurrent delivery of multiple encapsulated immuno-suppressive
      factors and antigen, for in vivo conditioning of dendritic cells (DCs) toward a
      tolerance promoting pathway. Subcutaneous administration prevents onset of type 1
      diabetes (T1D) in NOD mice. Two MP sizes were made: phagocytosable MPs were
      fabricated encapsulating vitamin D3 or insulin B(9-23) peptide, while
      unphagocytosable MPs were fabricated encapsulating TGF-beta1 or GM-CSF. The
      combination of Vit D3/TGF-beta1 MPs confers an immature and LPS activation
      resistant phenotype to DCs, and MP-delivered antigen is efficiently and
      functionally presented. Notably, two subcutaneous injections into 4week old NOD
      mice using the combination of MPs encapsulating Vit D3, Ins B, TGF-beta1 and GM
      CSF protected 40% of mice from T1D development, significant in comparison to the
      control. This work represents one of the first applications of a biomaterial
      based, MP vaccine system to successfully prevent autoimmune diabetes. 

PMID- 25842188
TI  - Lactose hydrolysis by beta-galactosidase enzyme: optimization using response
      surface methodology.
AB  - In the present study, it was aimed to optimize the process of lactose hydrolysis
      using free and immobilized beta-galactosidase to produce glucose and galactose.
      Response surface methodology (RSM) by central composite design (CCD) was employed
      to optimize the degree of hydrolysis by varying three parameters, temperature (15
      45 degrees C), solution pH (5-9) and beta-galactosidase enzyme concentration (2
      8mg/mL) for free mode of analysis and sodium alginate concentration (2-4%),
      calcium chloride concentration (3-6%) and enzyme concentration (2-8mg/mL) for
      immobilized process. Based on plots and variance analysis, the optimum
      operational conditions for maximizing lactose hydrolysis were found to be
      temperature (35.5 degrees C), pH (6.7) and enzyme concentration (6.7mg/mL) in
      free mode and sodium alginate concentration (3%), calcium chloride concentration
      (5.9%) and enzyme concentration (5.2mg/mL) in immobilized mode. 

PMID- 25842189
TI  - Regulation of RGS5 GAP activity by GPSM3.
AB  - Heterotrimeric G protein signaling is limited by intracellular proteins that
      impede the binding of or accelerate the hydrolysis of the activating nucleotide
      GTP, exemplified respectively by the G protein-signaling modifier (GPSM) and
      regulator of G protein-signaling (RGS) families of proteins. Little is known
      about how members of these groups of proteins might influence the impact of the
      other on G protein activity. In the present study, we have identified novel
      binding and functional interactions between GPSM3 (also known as activator of G
      protein-signaling 4 (AGS4) or G18) and RGS5, both of which were found to be
      expressed in primary rat aortic smooth muscle cell cultures. The binding of GPSM3
      to RGS5 appears to be selective as no interactions were detected with other RGS
      proteins tested. In solution-based experiments, the addition of GPSM3 was found
      to enhance the ability of RGS5 to accelerate GTP hydrolysis by Galphai1 but not
      that of RGS4. In membrane-based assays utilizing M2 muscarinic receptor-activated
      Galphai1, GPSM3 decreased the rate of GTP hydrolysis in the presence of RGS4 but
      not RGS5, suggesting that the enhancement of RGS5 activity by GPSM3 is maintained
      under these conditions and/or that the binding of RGS5 to GPSM3 impedes its
      inhibitory effect on GTP turnover. Overall these findings show that it is
      possible for GPSM and RGS proteins to bind to one another to produce distinct
      regulatory effects on heterotrimeric G protein activity.

PMID- 25842190
TI  - Protective effects of N-acetylcysteine against hyperoxaluria induced
      mitochondrial dysfunction in male wistar rats.
AB  - The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the nephro-protective potential
      of N-acetylcysteine against hyperoxaluria-induced renal mitochondrial dysfunction
      in rats. Nine days dosing of 0.4 % ethylene glycol +1 % ammonium chloride,
      developed hyperoxaluria in male wistar rats which resulted in renal injury and
      dysfunction as supported by increased level of urinary lactate dehydrogenase,
      calcium, and decreased creatinine clearance. Mitochondrial oxidative strain in
      hyperoxaluric animals was evident by decreased levels of superoxide dismutase,
      glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, reduced glutathione, and an
      increased lipid peroxidation. Declined activities of respiratory chain enzymes
      and tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes showed mitochondrial dysfunction in
      hyperoxaluric animals. N-acetylcysteine (50 mg/kg, i.p.), by virtue of its -SH
      reviving power, was able to increase the glutathione levels and thus decrease the
      oxidative stress in renal mitochondria. Hence, mitochondrial damage is,
      evidently, an essential event in ethylene glycol-induced hyperoxaluria and N
      acetylcysteine presented itself as a safe and effective remedy in combating
      nephrolithiasis.

PMID- 25842191
TI  - 3 dimensional cell cultures: a comparison between manually and automatically
      produced alginate beads.
AB  - Cancer diseases are a common problem of the population caused by age and
      increased harmful environmental influences. Herein, new therapeutic strategies
      and compound screenings are necessary. The regular 2D cultivation has to be
      replaced by three dimensional cell culturing (3D) for better simulation of in
      vivo conditions. The 3D cultivation with alginate matrix is an appropriate method
      for encapsulate cells to form cancer constructs. The automated manufacturing of
      alginate beads might be an ultimate method for large-scaled manufacturing
      constructs similar to cancer tissue. The aim of this study was the integration of
      full automated systems for the production, cultivation and screening of 3D cell
      cultures. We compared the automated methods with the regular manual processes.
      Furthermore, we investigated the influence of antibiotics on these 3D cell
      culture systems. The alginate beads were formed by automated and manual
      procedures. The automated steps were processes by the Biomek((r)) Cell
      Workstation (celisca, Rostock, Germany). The proliferation and toxicity were
      manually and automatically evaluated at day 14 and 35 of cultivation. The results
      visualized an accumulation and expansion of cell aggregates over the period of
      incubation. However, the proliferation and toxicity were faintly and partly
      significantly decreased on day 35 compared to day 14. The comparison of the
      manual and automated methods displayed similar results. We conclude that the
      manual production process could be replaced by the automation. Using automation,
      3D cell cultures can be produced in industrial scale and improve the drug
      development and screening to treat serious illnesses like cancer. 

PMID- 25842192
TI  - Reactivation of resolved infection with the hepatitis B virus immune escape
      mutant G145R during dasatinib treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia.
AB  - Reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) following immunosuppressive therapy or
      hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a potentially fatal complication that
      may occur even in patients with prior resolution of HBV infection. Dasatinib is a
      small-molecule inhibitor of the tyrosine kinases SRC and ABL that has been
      approved for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia
      chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Here, we report the first case
      of reactivation of resolved infection with the HBV immune escape mutant G145R in
      a CML patient receiving dasatinib. Although dasatinib is not recognized as an
      immunosuppressant, our observations suggest that dasatinib may enhance HBV
      replication and induce its reactivation in immunocompetent patients, that HBV
      escape mutants may contribute to the pathogenesis of HBV reactivation, and that
      close monitoring of HBV status is advisable in patients with current or resolved
      HBV infection. 

PMID- 25842193
TI  - The effects of brain wave vibration on oxidative stress response and
      psychological symptoms.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Brain Wave Vibration (BWV) training is a simple healing practice, a
      kind of Mind Body Training. This study was designed to investigate the psycho
      endocrine differences between BMV practitioners and naive controls. METHODS: The
      experimental group included 54 individuals who had participated in BWV. The
      control group included 58 subjects who had not participated in formal BWV. Levels
      of plasma NO, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were
      measured, and the modified form of the Stress Response Inventory (SRI-MF), the
      Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), the Beck Depression Inventory
      (BDI), and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were administered. RESULTS: The BWV
      group demonstrated significantly higher plasma NO levels (p=0.003), and levels of
      ROS and SOD did not differ between the two groups. The BWV group showed lower
      scores in BDI (p=0.009), BAI (p=0.009) and stress level (p<0.001) and higher
      scores on positive affect (p=0.023) compared with the control group. NO levels
      were associated with increased positive affect (p = 0.024) only in BWV subjects.
      CONCLUSION: BWV may increase NO, a relaxation-related factor, possibly by
      improving emotional state.

PMID- 25842194
TI  - Validation of the Italian version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale
      Second Edition (Y-BOCS-II) in a clinical sample.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is the most widely
      accepted measure of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptom severity.
      Recently, the scale has been revised into a second edition (Y-BOCS-II) in order
      to improve its measurement properties. The present study aimed to evaluate the
      psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Y-BOCS-II Severity Scale
      (SS) in a large clinical sample. METHOD: The original version of the Y-BOCS-II
      was translated into Italian, which involved forward and back-translation
      procedures. The Italian Y-BOCS-II-SS was administered to one hundred twenty-five
      treatment-seeking adults with OCD, together with the original Y-BOCS-SS and a
      battery of self-report measures assessing OCD symptom severity and depressive and
      anxious symptomology. The factor structure, internal consistency, temporal
      stability, and construct validity were investigated on the whole sample, while
      inter-rater and test-retest reliability were assessed on a subsample of
      participants. RESULTS: Factor analyses revealed a two-factor structure different
      from those of the original scale, comprising (1) symptom severity; and (2)
      interference from symptoms. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability over a
      2-week period and inter-rater reliability were satisfactory. The Y-BOCS-II-SS
      also showed excellent construct validity (and better than the Y-BOCS-SS), with
      good convergent and discriminant validity when assessed against other OCD symptom
      measures and measures of depression, anxiety and worry. CONCLUSIONS: These
      findings suggest that the Italian version of the Y-BOCS-II-SS retains the
      adequate psychometric properties of the original and that it can be confidently
      used as an assessment tool of OCD symptoms in both clinical and research
      settings.

PMID- 25842195
TI  - Examining the associations between emotion regulation difficulties, anxiety, and
      eating disorder severity among inpatients with anorexia nervosa.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: There is growing interest in the role of emotion regulation in
      anorexia nervosa (AN). Although anxiety is also hypothesized to impact symptoms
      of AN, little is known about how emotion regulation, anxiety, and eating disorder
      symptoms interact in AN. In this study, we examined the associations between
      emotion regulation, anxiety, and eating disorder symptom severity in AN. METHODS:
      Questionnaires and interviews assessing emotion regulation difficulties, anxiety,
      eating disorder symptoms, and eating disorder-related clinical impairment were
      collected from group of underweight individuals with AN (n=59) at admission to
      inpatient treatment. Hierarchical linear regressions were used to examine the
      associations of emotion regulation difficulties, anxiety, and the interaction of
      these constructs with eating disorder symptoms and eating disorder-related
      clinical impairment. RESULTS: Emotion regulation difficulties were significantly
      positively associated with eating disorder symptoms and related clinical
      impairment only when anxiety levels were low and anxiety was significantly
      positively associated with eating disorder symptoms and related clinical
      impairment only when emotion regulation problems were not elevated. CONCLUSIONS:
      This study adds to a growing literature suggesting that emotion regulation
      deficits are associated with eating disorder symptoms in AN. Certain individuals
      with AN may especially benefit from a focus on developing emotion regulation
      skills in the acute stages of illness.

PMID- 25842196
TI  - [Profile and susceptibility to antibiotics in urinary tract infections in
      children and newborns from 2012 to 2013: Data from 1879 urine cultures].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: We present recent data on the bacteriological profile and
      antibiotic susceptibility of uropathogenic bacteria isolated in children and
      newborns in our region over the past 2 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A
      retrospective study on the positive urine cultures from pediatric and neonatal
      populations during 2012-2013. Bacteria were identified using conventional
      methods. Susceptibility testing was performed and interpreted as recommended by
      the committee of the susceptibility of the French Society of Microbiology (CA
      SFM). RESULTS: We collected 1879 non-redundant bacteria with more than 73%
      Escherichia coli. Children and infants (mean age, 32 months [range, 1 month to 14
      years]) accounted for 84% of the bacteria collected and newborns (mean age, 12
      days [range, 1 day to 1 month]) 16%. A female predominance was observed in the
      pediatric population (M:F sex ratio, 3.2), whereas for the neonatal population,
      the proportions were almost identical in both sexes (M:F sex ratio, 1.1). Most of
      the positive urine cultures (n=1234) were from the community. Hospitalized
      patients (n=636) were divided into pediatric (60%) and neonatal units (40%). Five
      bacterial genera dominated the bacteriological profile: E. coli, Klebsiella sp.,
      Proteus sp., Enterobacter sp., and Enterococcus. The susceptibility of the main
      BUP antibiotics used for treatment of frequent UTI showed the effectiveness of
      furadoine, imipenem, fosfomycin, and colistin. Amoxicillin kept constant activity
      against Enterococcus and Streptococcus agalactiae. The rates of resistance of
      Enterobacteriaceae to beta-lactam antibiotics were high, especially in the
      neonatal population. The production of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)
      was noted in 12.8% of pediatric Enterobacteria vs. 22.6% of the neonatal strains.
      For community Enterobacteriaceae, the activity of beta-lactam antibiotics was
      limited with 11.2% resistance to third-generation cephalosporins (C3G), including
      8.6% ESBL production. CONCLUSION: The impact of widespread use of beta-lactam
      antibiotics in neonatal and pediatric environments is felt. Colistin, imipenem,
      and fosfomycin are the most frequently used antibiotics active against bacteria
      responsible for neonatal and pediatric UTI; however, they cannot be used as
      probabilistic treatment. Nitrofurans seem to be active antibiotics on UTI, but
      they present limits in their use in neonatal and pediatric populations. Their
      indication in case of pyelonephritis should be discussed.

PMID- 25842197
TI  - [Adenosine deaminase 1 deficiency, an inborn error of metabolism underlying a
      severe form of combined immunodeficiency].
AB  - Severe combined immune deficiencies (SCIDs) are a heterogeneous group of severe
      cellular immunodeficiencies. Early diagnosis is essential to allow adapted care
      before life-threatening systemic infections or complications associated with live
      vaccines. Adenosine deaminase 1 deficiency (ADA1) is an inborn error of
      metabolism leading to severe lymphopenia and characteristic bone lesions. Herein,
      we present the typical case of a child in whom ADA SCID was diagnosed at 2 months
      of life, revealed by lung involvement and extreme lymphopenia. Immune restoration
      in terms of peripheral lymphocyte count with enzyme replacement therapy, namely
      pegylated bovine ADA, is satisfactory so far. The search for a compatible donor
      is underway. Correcting the genetic defect by gene transfer is also being
      considered. The phenotype of this very rare condition is described. A severe
      peripheral lymphopenia in a young child is a finding of utmost importance for the
      diagnosis of a primary cellular immunodeficiency.

PMID- 25842198
TI  - [Information for parents of children with sickle cell trait detected by neonatal
      screening: A 10-year experience].

PMID- 25842200
TI  - The power of movement.

PMID- 25842199
TI  - [Acute tubulointerstitial nephritis following adenovirus and respiratory
      syncytial virus infection].
AB  - Acute tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN) is responsible for nearly 10% of acute
      renal failure (ARF) cases in children. It is mostly drug-induced, but in a few
      cases viruses are involved, probably by an indirect mechanism. An immune
      competent 13-month-old boy was admitted to the intensive care unit for severe ARF
      with anuria in a context of fever, cough, and rhinorrhea lasting 1 week. The
      kidney biopsy performed early brought out tubulointerstitial damage with mild
      infiltrate of lymphocytes, without any signs of necrosis. There were no virus
      inclusion bodies, no interstitial hemorrhage, and no glomerular or vascular
      damage. Other causes of TIN were excluded: there was no biological argument for
      an immunological, immune, or drug-induced cause. Adenovirus (ADV) and respiratory
      syncytial virus (RSV) were positive in respiratory multiplex polymerase chain
      reaction (PCR) in nasal aspirate but not in blood, urine, and renal tissue. The
      patient underwent dialysis for 10 days but the response to corticosteroid therapy
      was quickly observed within 48 h. The mechanism of TIN associated with virus
      infection is unknown. However, it may be immune-mediated to be able to link
      severe renal dysfunction and ADV and/or RSV invasion of the respiratory tract.

PMID- 25842201
TI  - Linear Extrapolation Results in Erroneous Overestimation of Plausible Stressor
      Related Yearly Weight Changes.

PMID- 25842203
TI  - The Pediatric Epilepsy Side Effects Questionnaire: Establishing clinically
      meaningful change.
AB  - The present study extends the utility of the Pediatric Epilepsy Side Effects
      Questionnaire (PESQ) by determining distribution-based minimally clinically
      important difference (MCID) scores. Participants (N=682) were youth (ages 2-25)
      with newly diagnosed and chronic epilepsy pooled from research and clinical data
      in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. Caregivers completed the PESQ. Demographic
      and medical data were extracted from medical chart reviews or via a
      questionnaire. The MCIDs, which are the standard errors of measurement for each
      scale, for the entire sample were as follows: Cognitive=4.66, Motor=4.67,
      Behavior=8.05, General Neurological=7.41, Weight=9.58, and Total Side
      Effects=3.25. Additionally, MCIDs for patients with new-onset (<12months)
      epilepsy on monotherapy, new-onset epilepsy on polytherapy, chronic epilepsy on
      monotherapy (>12months), and chronic epilepsy on polytherapy were calculated.
      Results from the present study extend the utility of the PESQ by providing
      clinicians and researchers an enhanced understanding about clinically meaningful
      changes in side effect profiles across the pediatric epilepsy spectrum. These
      data can inform clinical decision-making for clinicians and researchers. 

PMID- 25842204
TI  - Cyclic lipopeptide iturin A structure-dependently induces defense response in
      Arabidopsis plants by activating SA and JA signaling pathways.
AB  - Iturin A is the most well studied antifungal cyclic lipopeptide produced by
      Bacillus species that are frequently utilized as biological control agents.
      Iturin A not only shows strong antifungal activity against phytopathogens but
      also induces defense response in plants, thereby reducing plant disease severity.
      Here we report the defense signaling pathways triggered by iturin A in
      Arabidopsis salicylic acid (SA) or jasmonic acid (JA)-insensitive mutants. Iturin
      A activated the transcription of defense genes PR1 and PDF1.2 through the SA and
      JA signaling pathways, respectively. The role of iturin A as an elicitor was
      dependent on the cyclization of the seven amino acids and/or the beta-hydroxy
      fatty acid chain. The iturin A derivative peptide, NH2-(L-Asn)-(D-Tyr)-(D-Asn)-(L
      Gln)-(L-Pro)-(D-Asn)-(L-Ser)-COOH, completely suppressed PR1 and PDF1.2 gene
      expression in wild Arabidopsis plants. The identification of target molecules
      binding to iturin A and its derivative peptide is expected to shed new light on
      defense response in plants through the SA and JA signaling pathways. 

PMID- 25842202
TI  - Structural Plasticity of the Hippocampus and Amygdala Induced by
      Electroconvulsive Therapy in Major Depression.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) elicits a rapid and robust clinical
      response in patients with refractory depression. Neuroimaging measurements of
      structural plasticity relating to and predictive of ECT response may point to the
      mechanisms underlying rapid antidepressant effects and establish biomarkers to
      inform other treatments. Here, we determine the effects of diagnosis and of ECT
      on global and local variations of hippocampal and amygdala structures in major
      depression and predictors of ECT-related clinical response. METHODS: Longitudinal
      changes in hippocampal and amygdala structures were examined in patients with
      major depression (N = 43, scanned three times: prior to ECT, after the second ECT
      session, and within 1 week of completing the ECT treatment series), referred for
      ECT as part of their standard clinical care. Cross-sectional comparisons with
      demographically similar controls (N = 32, scanned twice) established effects of
      diagnosis. RESULTS: Patients showed smaller hippocampal volumes than controls at
      baseline (p < .04). Both the hippocampal and the amygdala volumes increased with
      ECT (p < .001) and in relation to symptom improvement (p < .01). Hippocampal
      volume at baseline predicted subsequent clinical response (p < .05). Shape
      analysis revealed pronounced morphometric changes in the anterior hippocampus and
      basolateral and centromedial amygdala. All structural measurements remained
      stable across time in controls. CONCLUSIONS: ECT-induced neuroplasticity in the
      hippocampus and amygdala relates to improved clinical response and is pronounced
      in regions with prominent connections to ventromedial prefrontal cortex and other
      limbic structures. Smaller hippocampal volumes at baseline predict a more robust
      clinical response. Neurotrophic processes including neurogenesis shown in
      preclinical studies may underlie these structural changes.

PMID- 25842205
TI  - Aging accelerates memory extinction and impairs memory restoration in Drosophila.
AB  - Age-related memory impairment (AMI) is a phenomenon observed from invertebrates
      to human. Memory extinction is proposed to be an active inhibitory modification
      of memory, however, whether extinction is affected in aging animals remains to be
      elucidated. Employing a modified paradigm for studying memory extinction in fruit
      flies, we found that only the stable, but not the labile memory component was
      suppressed by extinction, thus effectively resulting in higher memory loss in
      aging flies. Strikingly, young flies were able to fully restore the stable memory
      component 3 h post extinction, while aging flies failed to do so. In conclusion,
      our findings reveal that both accelerated extinction and impaired restoration
      contribute to memory impairment in aging animals.

PMID- 25842206
TI  - Molecular characterization and hypoxia-induced upregulation of neuronal nitric
      oxide synthase in Atlantic croaker: Reversal by antioxidant and estrogen
      treatments.
AB  - Neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) catalyzes production of nitric oxide in
      vertebrate brains. Recent findings indicate that endothelial NOS and reactive
      oxygen species (ROS) are significantly increased during hypoxic stress and are
      modulated by antioxidants. However, the influence of antioxidants and steroids on
      nNOS upregulation by hypoxia is largely unknown. In this study, we characterized
      nNOS cDNA and examined the effects of hypoxia and antioxidant and steroid
      treatments on nNOS expression in Atlantic croaker hypothalamus. Hypoxia exposure
      (dissolved oxygen, DO: 1.7 mg/L for 2 and/or 4weeks) caused significant increases
      in hypothalamic nNOS mRNA, protein and its neuronal expression. Hypothalamic nNOS
      expression and superoxide radical (O2(.-), an index of ROS) production were
      increased by pharmacological treatment of fish exposed to normoxic conditions
      with N-ethylmaleimide, an alkene drug which covalently modifies sulfhydryl groups
      and inhibits aromatase activity. In contrast, treatments with Nomega-nitro-L
      arginine methyl ester, a competitive NOS-inhibitor, or vitamin E, an antioxidant,
      prevented the upregulation of O2(.-) production and nNOS expression in hypoxia
      exposed (DO: 1.7 mg/L for 4 weeks) fish. Moreover, treatment with 1,4,6
      androstatrien-3,17-dione, an aromatase inhibitor, increased hypothalamic O2(.-)
      production and nNOS expression in normoxic control fish; whereas estradiol-17beta
      treatment significantly reduced O2(.-) production and nNOS expression in hypoxia
      exposed fish. Double-labeled immunohistochemical results showed that nNOS and
      aromatase proteins are co-expressed in the hypothalamus. Taken together, the
      results suggest that upregulation of nNOS and ROS in the croaker hypothalamus in
      response to hypoxia is influenced by antioxidant and overall estrogen status.

PMID- 25842207
TI  - A retrospective study of correlation of morphologic patterns, MIB1 proliferation
      index, and survival analysis in 134 cases of plasmacytoma.
AB  - Plasmacytoma classified into solitary plasmacytoma of bone (SPB) and
      extramedullary plasmacytoma (EMP) is characterized by infiltrate of plasma cells
      of diverse maturity and by their monoclonal immunoglobulin products. Both SPB and
      EMP represent different groups of neoplasm in terms of location, tumor
      progression, and overall survival rate. There is a need for features that
      indicate likelihood of myeloma in patients with plasmacytoma without other
      manifestations. This study was an attempt to study the morphologic patterns of
      plasmacytoma (SPB and EMP), MIB1 proliferation index, and correlation of these
      with clinicopathologic features and survival of the patients. The study group
      comprised of 134 cases of plasmacytoma (88 SPB and 46 EMP) over duration of 8
      years and were graded as per Bartl's histologic grading system. Commonest site
      was vertebral body in SPB (36%) and upper aerodigestive tract in EMP (48%). On
      serum electrophoresis, overall M band was detected in 41% cases. Both SPB and EMP
      on histology revealed similar morphologic features. MIB1 proliferation index
      ranged from less than 1% to 80%. It was slightly higher in EMP in comparison with
      SPB (P value = .002). Seventy percent of cases, which progressed to multiple
      myeloma (MM) showed MIB1 labeling index more than 10%; however, it was not
      statistically significant in predicting the disease progression. With the median
      follow-up of 19 months (range, 1-99 months), 10 SPB had disease progression of
      which 7 converted to MM, and 3 developed EMP, with a median interval of 21 months
      (range, 8-75 months) for the development of MM and 3 months (range, 3-9 months)
      for the progression to EMP. Five-year survival for EMP varied by site, with
      poorest survival in brain/central nervous system EMP as compared with EMP at
      other sites. To conclude, grade and MIB1 proliferation index help in predicting
      aggressive course in plasmacytoma. 

PMID- 25842208
TI  - The 2011 West Nile disease outbreak in Sardinia region, Italy.
AB  - In 2011, strains of West Nile Virus (WNV) belonging to lineage 1 spread for the
      first time in Sardinia region (Italy). In contrast to previous WNV Italian
      incursion, the strains were found in Culex modestus and, more surprisingly, they
      were able to cause severe clinical signs in the affected birds. Based on the
      partial sequence of the NS3 encoding gene, the Sardinian WNV strains demonstrated
      a high similarity with the other WNV strains recently detected in the
      Mediterranean Basin. Nonetheless, the 2011 Sardinian sequences were grouped in a
      distinct sub-cluster. Both the NS3-249P and NS3-249T genotypes were detected in
      the Sardinian outbreaks confirming that the co-circulation of different genotypes
      in the affected population might be common for WNV as for many RNA viruses. No
      association, however, was observed between virulence and viral genotype. 

PMID- 25842209
TI  - Orbivirus detection from Culicoides collected on African horse sickness outbreaks
      in Namibia.
AB  - African horse sickness (AHS), a non-contagious infectious disease caused by a RNA
      virus in the Orbivirus genus within the Reoviridae family affecting all equids,
      is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. The virus is transmitted by some species of
      biting midges in the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). In April 2011,
      8 Culicoides collections were performed in 6 districts of 4 regions of the
      Republic of Namibia (Africa), all within a 400 km radious from the capital
      Windhoek. Six farms - Khomas (Windhoek and Steinhausen), Erongo (Karibib and
      Omaruru), Otjozondjupa (Okahandja), and Omaheke (Gobabis) involved in the AHS
      outbreaks, were sampled. Overall 194,211 Culicoides were collected and
      identified. Culicoides imicola was largely the most abundant species at all farms
      (99.4%). A total of 18,687 parous and gravid Culicoides females were assayed for
      AHS virus (AHSV) by real time RT-PCR. Of the 248 assayed pools, 227 consisted of
      C. imicola, 13 of Culicoides pycnostictus and 5 of Schultzei complex. Only 1 pool
      each of Culicoides nivosus, Culicoides leucostictus, and Culicoides tropicalis
      was assayed. Of the 248 pools examined by real time RT-PCR, 81 tested positive
      for AHSV, all consisting of C. imicola collected at Omaruru, resulting in a field
      vector infection rate of 0.91%. No viable AHSV could be isolated from 88 of the
      tested pools (n = 1,463). However, bluetongue virus (BTV) serotype-1 and 10 were
      isolated from 3 of these pools, each consisting of 100 C. imicola collected at
      Windhoek. The present study confirms the relative low infection prevalence in
      field collected Culicoides and the strict relationship between the high abundance
      of C. imicola and outbreaks of AHSV.

PMID- 25842210
TI  - A sero-survey of major infectious causes of abortion in small ruminants in
      Morocco.
AB  - A serological survey was conducted to estimate the seroprevalence of 5 major
      abortive infections in 13 sheep flocks and 10 goat herds in 2 regions of Morocco.
      A total of 308 from aborted females (202 ewes and 106 does) and 197 sera (97 ewes
      and 99 does), were tested for brucellosis, chlamydiosis, Q fever, toxoplasmosis,
      and for 9 major serovars of Leptospira. An average abortion rate of 12.10% was
      found in ewes and 10.26% in does. The serological analyses revealed the presence
      of all 5 abortive infections, both in sheep and in goats. Ten (43%) herds/flocks
      were positive to brucellosis, 21 (91%) to chlamydiosis, 17 (74%) to
      toxoplasmosis, 13 (57%) to Q fever, and 5 (22%) to leptospirosis. Leptospira spp.
      serovars Copenhageni and Grypothyphosa were found in a single sheep flock, while
      Tarassovi and Copenhageni were detected in 4 goat herds. Of the 23 investigated
      herds/flocks, 22 (96%) showed mixed infections. The findings of this study
      confirmed the possible involvement of the 5 selected abortive infections in
      abortion outbreaks occurring in the investigated regions. Further investigations
      are needed to better understand the aetiology of infectious abortions in herds
      and flocks within investigated regions. 

PMID- 25842211
TI  - Phylogenetic analysis of the leader proteinase (Lpro) region of Indian foot and
      mouth disease serotype O isolates.
AB  - In this study, the nucleotide sequences of the complete leader proteinase (Lpro)
      region of 21 isolates of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype O collected
      during various outbreaks in India were sequenced and compared with vaccine
      strains. The phylogenetic analysis of these Lpro sequences showed a difference in
      the clustering of the isolates based on the VP1 capsid coding region sequences.
      The comparison of amino acid sequences at the N terminus end of the Lpro region
      showed very high variability, although 2 conserved start codons (AUG) at 1st and
      29th sites. Furthermore, all the amino acid residues that formed the active cleft
      site of the Lpro sequences of this study were conserved. These results suggest
      that Lpro sequences could also be used for phylogenetic comparison of FMDV
      isolates. 

PMID- 25842212
TI  - Molecular characterization of canine parvovirus (CPV) infection in dogs in
      Turkey.
AB  - This study provides data about canine parvovirus (CPV) types circulating among
      dogs in Turkey. Sixty-five samples from dogs with and without clinical signs of
      parvovirus infection were collected between April 2009 and February 2010. The
      samples were subsequently tested for CPV using polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
      Twenty-five samples (38.4%) were positive; when positive samples were
      characterized by sequence analysis, results showed that both CPV-2a (17/25, 68%)
      and CPV-2b (8/25, 32%) strains are circulating among domestic dogs in Turkey.
      This is the first molecular characterization study of CPVs from dogs based on
      partial VP2 gene sequences in Turkey. 

PMID- 25842213
TI  - The development of a four-way linking framework in Egypt: an example of the FAO,
      OIE and WHO joint activities to facilitate national risk assessment.
AB  - Cross-sectoral assessment of health risks arising or existing at the human-animal
      interface is crucial to identifying and implementing effective national disease
      control measures. This requires availability of information from 4 functional
      information 'streams' - epidemiological, laboratory, animal, and human health.
      The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/ World
      Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)/ World Health Organization (WHO) Four-Way
      Linking (4WL) project promotes the establishing of a national-level joint
      framework for data sharing, risk assessment, and risk communication, in order to
      both improve communications within and among governmental public health and
      animal health influenza laboratories, epidemiology offices, national partners,
      with the aim of strengthening the national capacity to detect, report and assess
      risks arising from emerging influenza viruses. The project is currently being
      implemented in countries where H5N1 avian influenza is endemic and where human
      cases have been reported. The project is comprised of two main activities at
      country level: a 'review mission', which is the project launch in the country and
      has the objective to assess the existing situation; and a 'scenario based
      workshop', with the scope to bring together key national partners and build
      relationships among people working in the 4 information streams and to improve
      understanding of national strengths and gaps. During the workshop the delegates
      engaged in interactive sessions on basic risk assessment and devoted to specify
      the needs and roles of the 4 different streams. The participants work through a
      mock influenza outbreak scenario, which practically illustrates how risk
      assessment and communication of an emergency at the animal-human interface is
      more effective when there is linking of the 4 streams, collaboration,
      communication, and coordinated action. In 2010, Egypt was the first country where
      the project was successfully implemented, followed by Vietnam and Indonesia. 

PMID- 25842214
TI  - Characterization of composting mixtures and compost of rabbit by-products to
      obtain a quality product and plant proposal for industrial production.
AB  - In this study we have observed the effects of using rabbit manure and
      slaughtering by-products in a composting process. Three piles of this material,
      4700 kg each, with different amount and C/N ratio, have been investigated and
      experimental tests were carried out in an industrial horizontal axe reactor using
      a prototype of turning machine. The composting time lasted 85 days; 2
      experimental cycles were conducted: one in Winter and one in Summer. In the
      Winter test, mesophilic reaction started only in the control mixture (animal
      manure + slaughtering by-products without straw). It is noteworthy that, the 3
      investigated mixtures produced soil amendment by compost with good agronomical
      potential but with parameters close to the extreme limits of the law. In the
      Summer test, there was thermophilic fermentation in all mixtures and a better
      quality compost was obtained, meeting all the agronomic and legislative
      constraints. For each pile, we examined the progression of fermentation process
      and thus the plant limitations that did not allow a correct composting process.
      The results obtained in this study are useful for the development of appropriate
      mixtures, machines, and plants assuring continuance and reliability in the
      composting of the biomass coming from rabbit industry. 

PMID- 25842215
TI  - Efficacy of nicarbazin (Ovistop(r)) in the containment and reduction of the
      populations of feral pigeons (Columba livia var. domestica) in the city of Genoa,
      Italy: a retrospective evaluation.
AB  - This study describes the results of a retrospective evaluation (8 years: 2005
      2012) of the efficacy of the anti-fertility drug, Ovistop(r) nicarbazin (800 ppm)
      added to corn kernels used to feed non-migratory feral pigeon colonies, Columba
      livia var. domestica, in the city of Genoa, Italy. The observation interested 4
      non-migratory feral pigeon colonies located into well-defined areas of the city
      of Genoa, Italy. Three of these colonies were treated for 12 months, with 10 g of
      drug (Ovistop(r)) provided per bird per day for 5 days each week; the other
      colony was treated in the same way but with a placebo (control station). Each
      colony and the relative area where the colony was located were both monitored
      with the same daily examination. Statistical analysis techniques were applied to
      the findings recorded - both descriptive (indices of central and dispersion
      trends) and comparative (one-way variance analysis). In the colonies treated with
      the drug, following an initial increase in the population ('magnet effect'), a
      reduction was observed over the following 4 years (-35% >x> -45%) and a further
      decrease (-65% >x> -70%) was observed over the subsequent 4 years (statistically
      significant one-way ANOVA p<0.01). This phenomenon was recorded across the board
      in the 3 treated stations, compared to the overall unstable trend observed for
      the control station. As no external or exceptional anthropic or natural factors
      were observed, it can be stated that, given the results observed, the drug seemed
      effective in reducing the treated bird populations.

PMID- 25842216
TI  - Molecular detection of Coxiella burnetii using an alternative loop-mediated
      isothermal amplification assay (LAMP).
AB  - Q fever, caused by Coxiella burnetii, is a worldwide zoonosis with important
      consequences for human and animal health. In livestock, the diagnosis, using
      direct and indirect techniques, is challenging even if to tackle coxiellosis in
      domesticated animals a rapid diagnosis is crucial. In the recent years, new
      molecular methods have been developed to overcome these issues. Several
      polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays have been studied, but loop mediated
      isothermal amplification (LAMP) has not been fully developed. This new
      methodology is emerging due to simplicity and speed in diagnosis of microbial
      diseases. In this study, we design a new LAMP assay against C. burnetii targeting
      the com1 gene as an actual alternative to conventional PCR. The assay was
      specific to C. burnetii reactive with sensitivity comparable to standard PCR. The
      application of the com1 LAMP on 10 clinical samples from water buffalo, sheep,
      and goats, previously tested positive, confirmed the presence of C. burnetii. To
      our knowledge, this study is the first report of LAMP targeting C. burnetii in
      Europe and the results also suggest that it may be an useful and cost-effective
      tool for the clinical and epidemiological surveillance of Q Fever. 

PMID- 25842217
TI  - Transcatheter closure of medium and large congenital coronary artery fistula
      using wire-maintaining technique.
AB  - BACKGROUND: For medium and large coronary artery fistula (CAF), the initially
      selected device sometimes has to be exchanged by reconstruction of track wire
      loop due to the complexity of CAF. OBJECTIVES: We sought to evaluate the
      feasibility and safety of transcatheter closure of medium and large CAF by using
      the wire-maintaining technique (WMT). METHODS: A total of 18 patients aged 15-56
      years with congenital CAF underwent percutaneous transcatheter closure by WMT
      between April 2006 and October 2012. The immediate and long-term outcomes were
      evaluated. RESULTS: Of the 18 patients (11 females), 16 (88%) underwent
      successful transcatheter closure of fistula using WMT. The CAFs originated from
      the right coronary artery (67%), the left circumflex coronary artery (28%), and
      the left anterior descending coronary artery (5%). The drainage sites were the
      right ventricle (56%), right atrium (22%), left ventricle (11%), and coronary
      sinus (11%). The mean diameter of fistulas was 9.5+/-1.71mm and mean size of the
      devices was 13.6+/-3.03mm. An angiogram following device deployment showed
      complete occlusion in 11 patients, mild residual shunt in 2 patients, and trivial
      residual shunt in 3 patients. One patient had transient ST-T wave changes, and
      one patient had hemolysis after the procedure. Follow-up ranged from 1 month to
      54 months (median 39 months). Echocardiogram showed trivial residual shunt in 3
      patients at 6-month follow-up and in 1 patient at 12-month follow-up. Coronary
      artery thrombosis was observed in 1 patient by multislice computed tomography at
      12-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: For those patients with medium and large complex
      fistula, transcatheter closure of CAF can be performed by using the wire
      maintaining technique.

PMID- 25842218
TI  - Opportunities and challenges in delivering influenza vaccine by microneedle
      patch.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Simple and efficacious delivery methods for influenza vaccines are
      needed to improve health outcomes and manage possible pandemics both in the
      United States and globally. One approach to meeting these needs is the
      microneedle patch (MNP), a small array of micron-scale needles that is applied to
      the skin like a bandage. METHODS: To inform additional technical developments and
      the eventual introduction of MNPs for influenza vaccination, we interviewed key
      opinion leaders in the United States for insights into the opportunities and
      challenges associated with this technology, particularly its potential for self
      administration. RESULTS: All interviewees expressed high support for
      administration of influenza vaccine in MNPs by health care providers and for self
      administration in groups supervised by a provider. Self-administration via
      prescription and over-the-counter purchase of MNPs received lower levels of
      support. Interviewees also highlighted priorities that should be considered in
      the ongoing development of an influenza vaccine MNP, such as confirming efficacy
      and ensuring safety for self-administration. For patient and health care provider
      acceptability, important attributes are ease of use, short wear times, and an
      easily accessible application site. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Stakeholders
      agreed that using MNPs can help increase coverage, facilitate easy and safe
      delivery, reduce the cost of vaccination, and decrease the global morbidity and
      mortality associated with influenza. Another opportunity for this delivery method
      is the potential for self-administration. The prospect of reduced provider
      training requirements, increased thermostability, and high patient and provider
      acceptability makes it an attractive option for use in remote and low-resource
      settings worldwide. However, in addition to the technological challenges
      associated with producing the patch, developers must be mindful of cost
      considerations and key product attributes or requirements, such as usability,
      wear time, and proper disposal, that can affect how the product will be received
      in the marketplace.

PMID- 25842219
TI  - M2e-immobilized gold nanoparticles as influenza A vaccine: Role of soluble M2e
      and longevity of protection.
AB  - Influenza virus causes seasonal epidemics and also poses a high risk for
      pandemics. To develop a broadly cross-protective influenza vaccine we have
      previously shown that a formulation consisting of the extracellular domain of M2
      membrane protein (M2e) immobilized on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and soluble CpG
      as an adjuvant can elicit protective immunity against different influenza A
      subtypes. The vaccine formulation contains M2e that is immobilized on AuNPs, and
      an excess amount that is freely dissolved in solution, whose role in inducing
      protective immunity against virus infection is unclear. Using a mouse model, the
      current study shows that inclusion of excess soluble M2e antigen along with M2e
      immobilized on AuNPs is vital for inducing high levels of antibody response, and
      in providing complete protection against lethal influenza virus challenge. We
      also show that the vaccine induces long-lasting protection against mortality and
      morbidity upon lethal challenge with influenza A virus. 

PMID- 25842220
TI  - Vagotomy reverses established allergen-induced airway hyperreactivity to
      methacholine in the mouse.
AB  - We evaluated the role of vagal reflexes in a mouse model of allergen-induced
      airway hyperreactivity. Mice were actively sensitized to ovalbumin then exposed
      to the allergen via inhalation. Prior to ovalbumin inhalation, mice also received
      intratracheally-instilled particulate matter in order to boost the allergic
      response. In control mice, methacholine (i.v.) caused a dose-dependent increase
      in respiratory tract resistance (RT) that only modestly decreased if the vagi
      were severed bilaterally just prior to the methacholine challenge. Sensitized and
      challenged mice, however, manifested an airway reactivity increase that was
      abolished by severing the vagi prior to methacholine challenge. In an innervated
      ex vivo mouse lung model, methacholine selectively evoked action potential
      discharge in a subset of distension-sensitive A-fibers. These data support the
      hypothesis that the major component of the increased airway reactivity in
      inflamed mice is due to a vagal reflex initiated by activation of afferent
      fibers, even in response to a direct (i.e., smooth muscle)-acting muscarinic
      agonist. 

PMID- 25842221
TI  - Simplified antibiotic regimens compared with injectable procaine benzylpenicillin
      plus gentamicin for treatment of neonates and young infants with clinical signs
      of possible serious bacterial infection when referral is not possible: a
      randomised, open-label, equivalence trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: WHO recommends hospital-based treatment for young infants aged 0-59
      days with clinical signs of possible serious bacterial infection, but most
      families in resource-poor settings cannot accept referral. We aimed to assess
      whether use of simplified antibiotic regimens to treat young infants with
      clinical signs of severe infection was as efficacious as an injectable procaine
      benzylpenicillin-gentamicin combination for 7 days for situations in which
      hospital referral was not possible. METHODS: In a multisite open-label
      equivalence trial in DR Congo, Kenya, and Nigeria, community health workers
      visited all newborn babies at home, identifying and referring unwell young
      infants to a study nurse. We stratified young infants with clinical signs of
      severe infection whose parents did not accept referral to hospital by age (0-6
      days and 7-59 days), and randomly assigned each individual within these strata to
      receive one of the four treatment regimens. Randomisation was stratified by age
      group of infants. An age-stratified randomisation scheme with block size of eight
      was computer-generated off-site at WHO. The outcome assessor was masked. We
      randomly allocated infants to receive injectable procaine benzylpenicillin
      gentamicin for 7 days (group A, reference group); injectable gentamicin and oral
      amoxicillin for 7 days (group B); injectable procaine benzylpenicillin-gentamicin
      for 2 days, then oral amoxicillin for 5 days (group C); or injectable gentamicin
      for 2 days and oral amoxicillin for 7 days (group D). Trained health
      professionals gave daily injections and the first dose of oral amoxicillin. Our
      primary outcome was treatment failure by day 8 after enrolment, defined as
      clinical deterioration, development of a serious adverse event (including death),
      no improvement by day 4, or not cured by day 8. Independent outcome assessors,
      who did not know the infant's treatment regimen, assessed study outcomes on days
      4, 8, 11, and 15. Primary analysis was per protocol. We used a prespecified
      similarity margin of 5% to assess equivalence between regimens. This study is
      registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number
      ACTRN12610000286044. FINDINGS: In Kenya and Nigeria, we started enrolment on
      April 4, 2011, and we enrolled the necessary number of young infants aged 7 days
      or older from Oct 17, 2011, to April 30, 2012. At these sites, we continued to
      enrol infants younger than 7 days until March 29, 2013. In DR Congo, we started
      enrolment on Sept 17, 2012, and continued until June 28, 2013. We randomly
      assigned 3564 young infants to either group A (n=894), group B (n=884), group C
      (n=896), or group D (n=890). We excluded 200 randomly assigned infants, who did
      not fulfil the predefined criteria of adherence to treatment and adequate follow
      up. In the per-protocol analysis, 828 infants were included in group A, 826 in
      group B, 862 in group C, and 848 in group D. 67 (8%) infants failed treatment in
      group A compared with 51 (6%) infants in group B (risk difference -1.9%, 95% CI 
      4.4 to 0.1), 65 (8%) in group C (-0.6%, -3.1 to 2.0), and 46 (5%) in group D (
      2.7%, -5.1 to 0.3). Treatment failure in groups B, C, and D was within the
      similarity margin compared with group A. During the 15 days after random
      allocation, 12 (1%) infants died in group A, compared with ten (1%) infants in
      group B, 20 (2%) infants in group C, and 11 (1%) infants in group D. An infant in
      group A had a serious adverse event other than death (injection abscess).
      INTERPRETATION: The three simplified regimens were as effective as injectable
      procaine benzylpenicillin-gentamicin for 7 days on an outpatient basis in young
      infants with clinical signs of severe infection, without signs of critical
      illness, and whose caregivers did not accept referral for hospital admission.
      FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant to WHO.

PMID- 25842222
TI  - Community management of neonatal infections.

PMID- 25842223
TI  - Oral amoxicillin compared with injectable procaine benzylpenicillin plus
      gentamicin for treatment of neonates and young infants with fast breathing when
      referral is not possible: a randomised, open-label, equivalence trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: WHO recommends referral to hospital for possible serious bacterial
      infection in young infants aged 0-59 days. We aimed to assess whether oral
      amoxicillin treatment for fast breathing, in the absence of other signs, is as
      efficacious as the combination of injectable procaine benzylpenicillin
      gentamicin. METHODS: In a randomised, open-label, equivalence trial at five sites
      in DR Congo, Kenya, and Nigeria, community health workers followed up all births
      in the community, identified unwell young infants, and referred them to study
      nurses. We randomly assigned infants with fast breathing as a single sign of
      illness or possible serious bacterial infection, whose parents did not accept
      referral to hospital, to receive either injectable procaine benzylpenicillin
      gentamicin once per day or oral amoxicillin treatment twice per day for 7 days. A
      person who was off-site generated randomisation lists using computer software.
      Trained health professionals gave injections, but outcome assessors were masked
      to group allocations. The primary outcome was treatment failure by day 8 after
      enrolment, defined as clinical deterioration, development of a serious adverse
      event including death, persistence of fast breathing on day 4, or recurrence up
      to day 8. The primary analysis was per protocol and we used a prespecified
      similarity margin of 5% to assess equivalence between regimens. This study is
      registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number
      ACTRN12610000286044. FINDINGS: From April 4, 2011, to March 29, 2013, we enrolled
      2333 infants aged 0-59 days with fast breathing as the only sign of possible
      serious bacterial infection at the five study sites. We assigned 1170 infants to
      receive injectable procaine benzylpenicillin-gentamicin and 1163 infants to
      receive oral amoxicillin. In the per-protocol analysis, from which 137 infants
      were excluded, we included 1061 (91%) infants who fulfilled predefined criteria
      of adherence to treatment and adequate follow-up in the injectable procaine
      benzylpenicillin-gentamicin group and 1145 (98%) infants in the oral amoxicillin
      group. In the procaine benzylpenicillin-gentamicin group, 234 infants (22%)
      failed treatment, compared with 221 (19%) infants in the oral amoxicillin group
      (risk difference -2.6%, 95% CI -6.0 to 0.8). Four infants died within 15 days of
      follow-up in each group. We detected no drug-related serious adverse events.
      INTERPRETATION: Young infants with fast breathing alone can be effectively
      treated with oral amoxicillin on an outpatient basis when referral to a hospital
      is not possible. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant to WHO.

PMID- 25842226
TI  - Editorial commentary revisited and the spin move refined.
AB  - First, editorial commentary: editorial commentary may be educational and may be
      controversial, but above all else, authors come first. Second, The Spin Move: The
      Spin Move is effective, cost-effective, and ubiquitous because, while many
      techniques are specific to a single joint, The Spin Move can be performed as a
      part of any arthroscopic and related procedure. However, like many advanced
      procedures, The Spin Move, when poorly executed, entails substantial risk.
      Preoperative planning is essential, and The Spin Move must be reviewed by
      inexperienced practitioners, in detailed text, figures tables, and video, at
      www.arthroscopytechniques.org. Practice makes perfect. 

PMID- 25842225
TI  - Oral Debio1143 (AT406), an antagonist of inhibitor of apoptosis proteins,
      combined with daunorubicin and cytarabine in patients with poor-risk acute
      myeloid leukemia--results of a phase I dose-escalation study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains difficult owing to
      the development of treatment resistance, which might be overcome through
      antagonists of inhibitors of apoptosis proteins (IAPs). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The
      present multicenter, open-label, dose-escalation study aimed to evaluate the
      tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD), and efficacy of
      Debio1143 (formerly AT-406), a new IAP antagonist, when given along with a
      standard "7 plus 3 regimen" of daunorubicin and cytarabine to poor-risk patients
      with AML during the induction cycle. Consecutive patient cohorts received once
      daily 100, 200, 300, or 400 mg of oral Debio1143 on treatment days 1 to 5. Blood
      samples were collected regularly until hematologic recovery or response was
      documented. Bone marrow samples were collected on days 0, 14, and 29 and PK and
      PD samples on days 1, 3, 5, 8, and 10 and 1, 2, and 8, respectively. RESULTS: Of
      the 29 enrolled patients, 23 completed the study. The most common adverse events
      of any grade deemed related to treatment were nausea (31% of patients), diarrhea
      (14%), and febrile neutropenia (14%). Exposure exceeded dose proportionality,
      without accumulation over 5 days. Inhibition of cellular IAP1 was detectable in
      the CD34/CD117(+) cells and blasts. A total of 11 patients (38%) achieved
      complete remission, most in the 100-mg dose cohort. Of these, 6 (56%) developed a
      relapse within the study period. The patients with a response more frequently
      showed plasma increases of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-8 after
      the first dose of Debio1143. CONCLUSION: Debio1143 <= 400 mg/d showed good
      tolerability in combination with daunorubicin and cytarabine. Additional studies
      in subsets of patients with AML are warranted.

PMID- 25842227
TI  - Authors' reply.

PMID- 25842224
TI  - Comparative investigation of the various determinants that influence the codon
      and amino acid usage patterns in the genus Bifidobacterium.
AB  - Various strains of the genus Bifidobacterium are crucial members of the human,
      animal and insect gut, associated with beneficial probiotic activities. An
      extensive analysis on codon and amino acid usage of the GC rich genus
      Bifidobacterium has been executed in the present study. Multivariate statistical
      analysis revealed a coupled effect of GC compositional constraint and natural
      selection for translational efficiency to be operative in producing the observed
      codon usage variations. Gene expression level was inferred to be the most crucial
      factor governing the codon usage patterns. Amino acid usage was found to be
      influenced significantly by hydrophobic and aromatic character of the encoded
      proteins. Gene expressivity and protein energetic cost also had considerable
      impact on the differential mode of amino acid usage. The genus was found to
      strictly obey the cost-minimization hypothesis as was reflected from the amino
      acid usage patterns of the potential highly expressed gene products. Evolutionary
      analysis revealed that the highly expressed genes were candidates to extreme
      evolutionary selection pressure and indicated a high degree of conservation at
      the proteomic level. Interestingly, the complimentary strands of replication
      appeared to evolve under similar evolutionary constraints which might be
      addressed as a consequence of absence of replicational selection and lack of
      strand-specific asymmetry among the members of the genus. Thus, the present
      endeavor confers considerable know-how pertaining to the codon and amino acid
      usage intricacies in Bifidobacterium and might prove handy for further scientific
      investigations associated with the concerned domain. 

PMID- 25842228
TI  - Unspecific passive exercises in rotator cuff pathology: the need for
      comprehensive physical therapy.

PMID- 25842229
TI  - Platelet-rich plasma in arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.

PMID- 25842230
TI  - Authors' reply.

PMID- 25842231
TI  - Glenoid diameter is an inaccurate method for percent glenoid bone loss
      quantification: analysis and techniques for improved accuracy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare diameter-based glenoid bone loss quantification with a true
      geometric calculation for the area of a circular segment. METHODS: By use of
      Maxima 12.01.0 mathematics modeling software (Macysma, Boston, MA), the diameter
      based glenoid bone loss equation (% Bone loss = [Defect width (w)/Inferior
      glenoid circle diameter (D)] * 100%) was compared with a true geometric
      calculation for the area of a circular segment of the glenoid (Wolfram Research,
      Champaign, IL) rearranged in terms of w and D: Percent bone loss = (100/2pi) (2 *
      arccos [1 - 2 (w/D)] - sin {2 * arccos [1 - 2 (w/D)]}). Percent error was
      calculated by taking the difference between the diameter equation and the true
      geometric calculation at varying true glenoid defect widths (w) (0% to 50% of
      diameter). RESULTS: The commonly used diameter equation overestimated true
      glenoid bone loss at all values of w except at 0% and 50% of the diameter. The
      mean overestimation error was 3.9% +/- 1.9% (range, 0.0% to 5.8%), with the
      maximum error occurring when w was 20% of the diameter: At this value, w/D * 100%
      (diameter equation) predicts 20% bone loss when true bone loss is actually 14.2%.
      CONCLUSIONS: Diameter-based glenoid bone loss quantification overestimates true
      glenoid bone loss, with the maximum error occurring when theorized bone loss is
      20%. To address situations for which a diameter-based bone loss quantification
      method must be performed or to improve the accuracy of surface-area calculations
      in previous diameter-based bone loss estimations, a corrective factor can be
      applied. Clinicians quantifying glenoid loss to make treatment decisions should
      be aware of the measurement methods used in the biomechanical studies on which
      they are basing their surgical decisions. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Diameter-based
      glenoid bone loss quantification overestimates true glenoid bone loss, with the
      maximum error occurring when theorized bone loss is 20%, a commonly used
      threshold for bone grafting.

PMID- 25842232
TI  - ISAKOS knee committee: biologics in orthopaedics.

PMID- 25842233
TI  - Editorial commentary: healing requires scaffolds, growth factors, and cells.
AB  - Fracture biology healing requires scaffolds, growth factors, and cells. Biologics
      definitions are clarified in terms of osteoconductivity, osteoinductivity, and
      osteogenesis. 

PMID- 25842235
TI  - Editorial commentary: autologous chondrocyte implantation versus microfracture.
AB  - Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) shows greater durability, lower failure
      rates, and is effective for larger lesions, compared with microfracture. In
      addition, membrane-ACI (M-ACI) is technically simpler with fewer complications of
      cartilage hypertrophy than first-generation ACI using periosteum. However, second
      generation, M-ACI is not yet approved for general use in the United States. 

PMID- 25842234
TI  - Editorial commentary: biologics of osteotomy of the proximal tibia.
AB  - Tri-calcium phosphate, calcium phosphate, hydroxyapatite/tri-calcium phosphate,
      or hydroxyapatite synthetic graft choices are associated with favorable outcomes
      for high tibial osteotomy, particularly in contrast to allograft. Smokers are at
      high risk of complications. 

PMID- 25842236
TI  - Editorial commentary: osteoarticular transplant outcomes may deteriorate over
      time.
AB  - Osteoarticular (OA) transplant hyaline cartilage may deteriorate, and ultimately
      result in "fibrocartilage" at 2 years. Long-term OA transplant outcomes may be
      inferior to autologous chondrocyte transplantation, yet this conclusion is based
      on a single, prospective comparative study. The promise of an ideally conceived,
      tissue-engineered, OA transplantation graft remains distant. 

PMID- 25842237
TI  - Editorial commentary: osteochondral allografts are an effective treatment for
      large osteochondral lesions.
AB  - Osteochondral (OC) allografts are an effective treatment for large OC lesions. OC
      allografts are hyaline. Allograft limitations and OC graft limitations are well
      known. Five year survivorship is similar to autologous chondrocyte implantation. 

PMID- 25842238
TI  - Editorial commentary: scaffold-based cartilage treatments.
AB  - With or without cells, scaffold-based cartilage treatments show promising
      results. Clinical study focuses on autologous stem cells, but in vitro, basic
      science biologics research favors mesenchymal stem cells. MSCs vary by cell type
      and concentration, and may be expanded ex vivo. 

PMID- 25842239
TI  - Editorial commentary: autologous platelet-rich plasma.
AB  - Autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is promising for osteoarthritis pain and
      may effect cartilage repair. Platelets are growth factor factories. Commercially
      available PRP is heterogeneous. 

PMID- 25842240
TI  - Editorial commentary: arthritis treatments for pain.
AB  - Arthritis treatment must be analyzed with regard to outcome. Pain is one
      important outcome measure. Pain relief is variable among individual patients;
      individually discerning, personalized, or precision medical indications for
      nonsurgical treatment of osteoarthritis must be more specifically determined. 

PMID- 25842241
TI  - Highlighting clinical needs in Clostridium difficile infection: the views of
      European healthcare professionals at the front line.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the leading cause of
      infectious nosocomial diarrhoea in Europe. Despite increased focus, its incidence
      and severity are increasing in many European countries. AIM: We developed a
      series of consensus statements to identify unmet clinical needs in the
      recognition and management of CDI. METHODS: A consortium of European experts
      prepared a series of 29 statements representing their collective views on the
      diagnosis and management of CDI in Europe. The statements were grouped into the
      following six broad themes: diagnosis; definitions of severity; treatment
      failure, recurrence and its consequences; infection prevention and control
      interventions; education and antimicrobial stewardship; and National CDI clinical
      guidance and policy. These statements were reviewed using questionnaires by 1047
      clinicians involved in managing CDI, who indicated their level of agreement with
      each statement. FINDINGS: Levels of agreement exceeded the 66% threshold for
      consensus for 27 out of 29 statements (93.1%), indicating strong support.
      Variance between countries and specialties was analysed and showed strong
      alignment with the overall consensus scores. CONCLUSION: Based on the consensus
      scores of the respondent group, recommendations are suggested for the further
      development of CDI services in order to reduce transmission and recurrence and to
      ensure that appropriate diagnosis and treatment strategies are applied across all
      healthcare settings.

PMID- 25842243
TI  - The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor: From molecular biology to cognition.

PMID- 25842242
TI  - Neurotensinergic augmentation of glutamate release at the perforant path-granule
      cell synapse in rat dentate gyrus: Roles of L-Type Ca2+ channels, calmodulin and
      myosin light-chain kinase.
AB  - Neurotensin (NT) serves as a neuromodulator in the brain where it is involved in
      modulating a variety of physiological functions including nociception,
      temperature, blood pressure and cognition, and many neurological diseases such as
      Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease. Whereas there is
      compelling evidence demonstrating that NT facilitates cognitive processes, the
      underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms have not been fully determined.
      Because the dentate gyrus expresses high densities of NT and NT receptors, we
      examined the effects of NT on the synaptic transmission at the synapse formed
      between the perforant path (PP) and granule cells (GC) in the rats. Our results
      demonstrate that NT persistently increased the amplitude of the AMPA receptor
      mediated EPSCs at the PP-GC synapse. NT-induced increases in AMPA EPSCs were
      mediated by presynaptic NTS1 receptors. NT reduced the coefficient of variation
      and paired-pulse ratio of AMPA EPSCs suggesting that NT facilitates presynaptic
      glutamate release. NT increased the release probability and the number of readily
      releasable vesicles with no effects on the rate of recovery from vesicle
      depletion. NT-mediated augmentation of glutamate release required the influx of
      Ca(2+) via L-type Ca(2+) channels and the functions of calmodulin and myosin
      light chain kinase. Our results provide a cellular and molecular mechanism to
      explain the roles of NT in the hippocampus. 

PMID- 25842244
TI  - NH125 reduces the level of CPEB3, an RNA binding protein, to promote synaptic
      GluA2 expression.
AB  - Neuronal activity can alter the phosphorylation state of eukaryotic elongation
      factor 2 (eEF2) and thereby regulates protein synthesis. This is thought to be
      the underlying mechanism for a form of synaptic plasticity that involves changes
      in the expression of synaptic AMPA type glutamate receptors. Phosphorylation of
      eEF2 by Ca/calmodulin-dependent eEF2 kinase reduces the activity of eEF2, and
      this is prevented by a commonly used eEF2 kinase inhibitor, NH125. Here we show
      that 10 MUM NH125 increased the expression of synaptic GluA2-containing receptors
      in mouse cerebellar stellate cells and this was prevented by a protein synthesis
      inhibitor. However NH125 at 10 MUM also reduced the level of CPEB3, a protein
      that is known to bind to GluA2 mRNA and suppress GluA2 (also known as GluR2)
      synthesis. In contrast, a low concentration of NH125 lowered the peEF2 level, but
      did not alter CPEB3 expression and also failed to increase synaptic GluA2
      receptors. A selective eEF2 kinase inhibitor, A-484954, decreased the level of
      peEF2, without changing the expression of CPEB3. This suggests that reducing
      peEF2 does not lead to a decrease in CPEB3 levels and is not sufficient to
      increase GluA2 synthesis. Thus NH125 at 10 MUM reduced the level of CPEB3, and
      promoted GluA2 translation via a mechanism independent of inhibition of eEF2
      kinase. Therefore NH125 does not always alter protein synthesis via selective
      inhibition of eEF2 kinase and the effects of NH125 on translation of mRNAs should
      be interpreted with caution.

PMID- 25842245
TI  - Editorial.

PMID- 25842246
TI  - Neuropharmacology of light-induced locomotor activation.
AB  - Presentation of non-aversive light stimuli for several seconds was found to
      reliably induce locomotor activation and exploratory-like activity. Light-induced
      locomotor activity (LIA) can be considered a convenient simple model to study
      sensory-motor activation. LIA was previously shown to coincide with serotonergic
      and dopaminergic activation in specific cortical areas in freely moving and
      anesthetized animals. In the present study we explore the neuropharmacology of
      LIA using a receptor antagonist/agonist approach in rats. The non-selective 5-HT2
      receptor antagonist ritanserin (1.5-6 mg/kg, i.p.) dose-dependently reduced LIA.
      Selective antagonism of either the 5-HT2A-receptor by MDL 11,939 (0.1-0.4 mg/kg,
      i.p.), or the 5-HT2C-receptor by SDZ SER 082 (0.125-0.5 mg/kg, i.p.), alone or in
      combination, had no significant influence on LIA. Also the selective 5-HT1A
      receptor antagonist, WAY 100635 (0.4 mg/kg, i.p.) did not affect LIA. Neither did
      the preferential dopamine D2-receptor antagonist, haloperidol (0.025-0.1 mg/kg,
      i.p.) nor the D2/D3-receptor agonist, quinpirole (0.025-0.5 mg/kg, i.p.) affect
      the expression of LIA. However, blocking the glutamatergic NMDA-receptor with
      phencyclidine (PCP, 1.5-6 mg/kg, i.p.) dose-dependently reduced LIA. This effect
      was also observed with ketamine (10 mg/kg, i.p.). These findings suggest that
      serotonin and dopamine receptors abundantly expressed in the cortex do not
      mediate light-stimulus triggered locomotor activity. PCP and ketamine effects,
      however, suggest an important role of NMDA receptors in LIA.

PMID- 25842247
TI  - Effects of lorazepam and WAY-200070 in larval zebrafish light/dark choice test.
AB  - Zebrafish larvae spend more time in brightly illuminated area when placed in a
      light/dark testing environment. Here we report that the anxiolytic drugs
      lorazepam and diazepam increased the time larval fish spent in the dark
      compartment in the light/dark test. Lorazepam did not affect the visual induced
      optokinetic response of larval fish. Gene expression levels of c-fos and crh were
      significantly increased in the hypothalamus of fish larvae underwent light/dark
      choice behavior, whilst lorazepam treatment alleviated the increased c-fos and
      crh expressions. Furthermore, we found estrogen receptor beta gene expression
      level was increased in fish larvae underwent light/dark choice. We next examined
      effects of estrogen receptor modulators (estradiol, BPA, PHTPP, and WAY-200070)
      in the light/dark test. We identified WAY-200070, a highly selective ERbeta
      agonist significantly altered the light/dark choice behavior of zebrafish larvae.
      Further investigation showed WAY-200070 treatment caused a reduction of crh
      expression level in the hypothalamus, suggesting activation of ERbeta signaling
      attenuate the stress response. Interestingly, WAY-200070 treatment caused marked
      increase of c-fos expression in the habenula of fish larvae underwent behavior
      test. These results suggest WAY-200070 activation of ERbeta mediated signaling
      may regulate anxiety related behavior in zebrafish through modulation of neuronal
      activity in habenula. 

PMID- 25842248
TI  - Mild to Moderate Hip OA: Joint Preservation or Total Hip Arthroplasty?
AB  - Treatment of structural hip disease such as FAI and acetabular dysplasia has
      increased dramatically over the past decade with the goal of preservation of the
      native hip joint. A number of patient and disease specific parameters including
      the amount of underlying hip osteoarthrosis can help predict success with joint
      preservation surgery. Total hip arthroplasty remains a very good option in young
      patients who are not ideal candidates for joint preservation surgery. Future
      developments will help to better identify ideal surgical candidates and improve
      understanding of the disease processes. 

PMID- 25842249
TI  - Acetabular component navigation in lateral decubitus based on EOS imaging: A
      preliminary study of 13 cases.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Acetabular component navigation classically requires palpation of
      the bone landmarks defining the anterior pelvic plane (APP) (anterior superior
      iliac spine [ASIS] and pubis), the recording of which is not very reliable when
      performed in lateral decubitus. The objectives of the current experimental study
      were: (1) to assess the clinical feasibility of NAVEOS navigation (based on EOS
      imaging) in lateral decubitus; and (2) to compare precision versus classical APP
      based navigation (NAVAPP). HYPOTHESIS: Iliac plane navigation using EOS is as
      reliable as APP navigation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A continuous prospective series
      of 13 total hip replacements were implanted in lateral decubitus under APP-guided
      navigation (NAVAPP). Planning used preoperative EOS measurement. The ASIS, pubis
      and ipsilateral posterior superior iliac spine (PSIS) were located and exported
      to the navigator. Intra-operatively, NAVEOS landmarks (acetabular center, ASIS
      and PSIS on the operated side) were palpated. Postoperatively, cup inclination
      and anteversion with respect to the APP were measured on EOS imaging (SterEOS3D
      software). The SterEOS3D measurements were compared to those of the performed
      NAVAPP and simulated NAVEOS navigations. RESULTS: Three patients were excluded
      for technical reasons. In the remaining 10, inclination on NAVAPP and SterEOS3D
      differed by a median 4 degrees  (range, 0-12 degrees ), and on NAVEOS versus
      SteEOS3D by 5 degrees  (range, 2-10 degrees ); anteversion on NAVAPP and
      SterEOS3D differed by a median 4.5 degrees  (range, 0-12 degrees ), and on NAVEOS
      versus SteEOS3D by 4 degrees  (range, 0-14 degrees ). CONCLUSION: Precision was
      comparable between NAVEOS and classical navigation. NAVEOS simplifies cup
      navigation in lateral decubitus on initial acquisition. These results require
      validation on a larger sample.

PMID- 25842250
TI  - Body weight-associated differences in ovarian morphology in captive common
      marmoset (Callithrix jacchus).
AB  - In captivity, Callithrix jacchus (common marmoset) is on average heavier than
      their wild-living counterparts, and has a tendency to produce triplet litters
      rather than the normal twins. To provide initial basic information about possible
      weight-related differences among the ovaries, a morphometric study of follicular
      phase ovaries from 48 young adult marmosets has been carried out. Nearly 90% of
      these ovaries were found to contain some degree of luteal tissue composed of
      large and/or small cells. The luteal structures, follicles of all stages, and
      stroma were subjected to morphometric analysis, and these results were compared
      with body weight, circulating triglyceride, androstenedione, and total estrogens.
      Where only large luteal cells were present, the median body weight was the
      highest (only this group included animals over 500 g) compared with mixed, or
      only small luteal cells, or absence of luteal cells. Furthermore, in this group
      plasma triglycerides were significantly higher compared to other groups,
      suggesting possible role of triglycerides in promoting luteinisation. Plasma
      androstenedione was also a critical discriminating factor, and was elevated where
      large luteal cells were present even as a mixture with small cells suggesting the
      large luteal cells to be the likely major ovarian source of this hormone and its
      metabolites. Additionally, the ovaries with large luteal cells compared to those
      containing only small or no luteal cells, had lower primordial follicle reserve
      associated with high levels of atresia and luteinisation among growing non
      ovulatory follicles, indicating an accelerated activation, but at the same time a
      suboptimal environment for follicular growth.

PMID- 25842251
TI  - Spermatozoon ultrastructure and semen parameters of Brycon vermelha
      (Characiformes, Characidae).
AB  - This study analyzed semen parameters and the ultrastructure of spermatozoa of
      Brycon vermelha. The semen was white and viscous, with a mean volume of 5.0+/-2.6
      mL/kg body weight and mean spermatozoon concentration of 4.3+/-0.8*10(10)
      spermatozoa/mL. The estimated motility rate was 90%, with 50% of spermatozoa
      motile at 35.0+/-0.1 s and 100% immotile by 46.5+/-0.1 s. The spermatozoon of B.
      vermelha had a distinct head, midpiece, and flagellum. The ovoid head measured
      1.9+/-0.2 MUm by 1.3+/-0.1 MUm, with its volume almost completely occupied by the
      nucleus, and was enveloped by an irregular nuclear membrane, with no acrosome
      vesicle. The nuclear fossa held the centriole complex and the initial segment of
      flagellum. The midpiece was symmetrical and measured 1.3+/-0.3MUm. Mitochondria
      were scarce and restricted to the anterior region, while vesicles were absent.
      The posterior region of the midpiece was characterized by the absence of
      mitochondria and the presence of the cytoplasmic sheath. The flagellum, enclosed
      by the flagellar membrane, measured 29.6+/-3.4 MUm, and possessed an axial
      filament containing a 9+2 microtubule pattern. The spermatozoa of B. vermelha
      appeared similar in structure to those of fish that breed through external
      fertilization, thus classifying them as uniflagellate anacrosomal aquasperm, or
      Type 1 aquasperm.

PMID- 25842253
TI  - Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy: Clinical and neurophysiological features.

PMID- 25842252
TI  - The short-run causal effect of tumor detection and treatment on psychosocial well
      being, work, and income.
AB  - This paper estimates the short-run causal effect of tumor detection and treatment
      on psychosocial well-being, work and income. Tumor detection can be considered as
      a random event, so that we can compare individuals' average outcomes in the year
      of diagnosis with the year before. We argue for using panel data estimation
      techniques that enable us to control for observed and unobserved information
      intrinsic to the individual and time constants. We use data of a national
      representative panel in the Netherlands that includes health survey information
      and data on work, education, and income between 2007 and 2012. Our findings show
      differences in the psychosocial dysfunction of men and women in response to tumor
      detection and treatment. Women, not men, are decreasingly likely to participate
      in the labor force as a result of malignant tumor detection, while no significant
      effects are found on her personal or household income. We also demonstrate that
      fixed effects panel data models are superior to matching techniques. 

PMID- 25842254
TI  - Epigenetics of T cells regulated by Polycomb/Trithorax molecules.
AB  - Epigenetics provides a bridge between genetic and environmental factors, and can
      change the transcriptional outcome of a gene without changing the genomic
      sequence. Allergies and autoimmune diseases are caused by both of these factors,
      and dynamic changes in epigenetic marks have been reported in T cells, which are
      key players in the pathogenesis of immune-mediated diseases. Advances in
      technology, including gene knockout systems and high-throughput sequencing, have
      significantly enhanced the understanding of the lifespan of T cells, including
      maturation, differentiation and memory formation. In this review, we focus on
      Polycomb and Trithorax proteins, well-characterized epigenetic modulators, and
      discuss their role in the epigenetic regulation of T cell differentiation and
      function. 

PMID- 25842255
TI  - Detection and Pathologic Evaluation of Sentinel Lymph Nodes in the VX2 Tumor
      Model Using a Novel Ultrasound/Near-Infrared Dual-Modality Contrast Agent.
AB  - This study was conducted with the aim of developing a microbubble agent for near
      infrared (NIR) fluorescence and ultrasound dual-modality contrast microbubbles
      applicable to imaging of sentinel lymph nodes in the VX2 rabbit tumor model.
      Specific ligands of phosphatidylserine (PS) and Cy7 NIR fluorescent dyes with
      long emission wavelengths (750-900 nm) were conjugated to the surface of
      ultrasound contrast microbubbles (MBs), termed Cy7 PS MBs. Ultrasound
      lymphography and NIR fluorescence imaging were performed using subcutaneous
      injection of Cy7 PS MBs to visualize the sentinel lymph node. Sentinel lymph node
      detection rates using the patent blue method, ultrasound lymphography and NIR
      fluorescence imaging were 95%, 79% and 95%, respectively, and sensitivity was
      87%, 74% and 92%, respectively. With 2-D ultrasound, the diagnostic sensitivity
      for detection of sentinel lymph node metastases was 60% and the specificity was
      74%, whereas Cy7 PS MB-enhanced ultrasound had a sensitivity of 80% and a
      specificity of 87%. The results indicate that dual-modality Cy7 PS MBs combined
      with ultrasound lymphography and NIR fluorescence may be useful in the detection
      of normal and metastasized sentinel lymph nodes. 

PMID- 25842256
TI  - A Simple Technique for Visualizing Ultrasound Fields Without Schlieren Optics.
AB  - A simple technique designed for visualization of ultrasound fields without
      Schlieren optics is introduced. An optical system of direct shadowgraphy with
      diverging light, which consists of a point light source and a shadow screen,
      constituted the basic system, but the screen was replaced by focusing optics: a
      camera that makes a virtual screen at its focus plane. The proposed technique
      visualizes displacement of light deflected by ultrasound, and the use of focusing
      optics enables flexible settings of the virtual screen position and optical
      magnification. Insufficient sensitivity of shadowgraphy was overcome by
      elimination of non-deflecting light using image subtraction of shadowgrams taken
      with and without ultrasound exposure. A 1-MHz focused transducer for ultrasound
      therapy and a 20-MHz miniature transducer for intravascular imaging were used for
      experiments, and alternate pressure change in short-pulsed ultrasound was
      visualized, indicating the usefulness of the proposed technique for evaluation of
      medical ultrasound fields. 

PMID- 25842257
TI  - Reliability and Limits of Agreement of the Supraspinatus Muscle Anatomical Cross
      Sectional Area Assessment by Ultrasonography.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and limits of agreement
      for assessment of the anatomical cross-sectional area (ACSA) of the supraspinatus
      muscle using B-mode ultrasonography. Sixteen participants were examined with two
      different protocols, on two different days. There were no statistically
      significant differences (p > 0.05) in ACSA values between days 1 and 2 or between
      protocols 1 and 2; the average intra-class correlation coefficient ranged from
      0.93 to 0.96. The limits of agreement for supraspinatus ACSA were, in both
      protocols, about +/- 1 cm(2). Our findings revealed that both protocols had high
      reliability in distinguishing differences of about 1 cm(2) between groups or
      after interventions and that ultrasonography can be used for experimental designs
      in which the expected changes in ACSA would be higher than 14%. 

PMID- 25842258
TI  - Alcohol use across the lifespan: An analysis of adolescent and aged rodents and
      humans.
AB  - Adolescence and old age are unique periods of the lifespan characterized by
      differential sensitivity to the effects of alcohol. Adolescents and the elderly
      appear to be more vulnerable to many of alcohol's physiological and behavioral
      effects compared to adults. The current review explores the differential effects
      of acute alcohol, predominantly in terms of motor function and cognition, in
      adolescent and aged humans and rodents. Adolescents are less sensitive to the
      sedative-hypnotic, anxiolytic, and motor-impairing effects of acute alcohol, but
      research results are less consistent as it relates to alcohol's effects on
      cognition. Specifically, previous research has shown adolescents to be more,
      less, and similarly sensitive to alcohol-induced cognitive deficits compared to
      adults. These equivocal findings suggest that learning acquisition may be
      differentially affected by ethanol compared to memory, or that ethanol-induced
      cognitive deficits are task-dependent. Older rodents appear to be particularly
      vulnerable to the motor- and cognitive-impairing effects of acute alcohol
      relative to younger adults. Given that alcohol consumption and abuse is prevalent
      throughout the lifespan, it is important to recognize age-related differences in
      response to acute and long-term alcohol. Unfortunately, diagnostic measures and
      treatment options for alcohol dependence are rarely dedicated to adolescent and
      aging populations. As discussed, although much scientific advancement has been
      made regarding the differential effects of alcohol between adolescents and
      adults, research with the aged is underrepresented. Future researchers should be
      aware that adolescents and the aged are uniquely affected by alcohol and should
      continue to investigate alcohol's effects at different stages of maturation. 

PMID- 25842259
TI  - The relationship between liver function and liver parenchymal contrast
      enhancement on Gd-BOPTA-enhanced MR imaging in the hepatocyte phase.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relationships between liver function parameters
      and the degree of hepatic contrast enhancement on gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd
      BOPTA)-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the hepatocyte phase, as well
      as to clarify whether Gd-BOPTA-enhanced MR imaging in the hepatocyte phase could
      be used to evaluate liver function and liver function reserve. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: In this study, 150 patients were classified into the following 4 groups:
      patients with normal liver function without liver cirrhosis (the NLF group) and
      cirrhosis patients with Child-Pugh Classes A, B, and C (the LCA, LCB, and LCC
      groups, respectively). The relative enhancement ratio (RE) of the liver
      parenchyma in the T1-vibe sequence was calculated from measurements of the signal
      intensity before (SI pre) and 90min after (SI post) the intravenous
      administration of Gd-BOPTA, using the following formula: RE=(SI post-SI pre)/SI
      pre. Statistical analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between the REs
      of the liver parenchyma and liver function parameters, as well as the different
      REs of the liver parenchyma among the NLF, LCA, LCB, and LCC groups. RESULTS:
      Increased REs of the hepatic parenchyma showed correlations with decreased serum
      levels of total bilirubin (r=-0.263, P<0.01) and prothrombin time (r=-0.24,
      P<0.01), and elevated serum levels of albumin (r=0.328, P<0.01) for all of the
      patients. The REs of the liver parenchyma were significantly higher for the NLF
      and LCA groups compared with the LCB (P<0.001) and LCC (P<0.001) groups,
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The intracellular uptake of Gd-BOPTA decreased with
      impaired liver function. Measurement of the degree of the liver parenchymal
      contrast enhancement on GD-BOPTA-enhanced MR imaging in the hepatocyte phase
      might be a non-invasive technique for assessing liver function and liver function
      reserve.

PMID- 25842260
TI  - The medical treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease receiving subthalamic
      neurostimulation.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Deep brain stimulation of subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) for
      Parkinson's disease allows for a reduction in medication dosage. Changes in total
      levodopa equivalent daily dose (LEDD) have been frequently reported, there is
      little information about changes within the drug classes. METHODS: We
      retrospectively assessed the changes in antiparkinsonian drugs dosages in 150
      patients from one center who had preoperative and postoperative evaluations at 6
      months and 3 years. Two long term subgroups with postoperative follow-up till the
      5th-6th year (n = 58) and 10th year (n = 15) were included. RESULTS: The major
      modifications in medication dosage occurred during the initial postoperative
      period. LEDD was reduced by 53.4% compared to baseline at 6 months and 47.9% at 3
      years. Fifty six percent and 41.3% of the patients were on monotherapy, 9.3% on
      no medication at 6 months and 6.7% at 3 years post surgery. Patients on levodopa,
      or dopamine agonists showed similar reductions. At the 3rd year the oldest group
      of patients showed a significant decrease in dopamine agonists. The number of
      patients treated with amantadine was significantly reduced; however the number of
      patients treated with antidepressants was significantly increased over the first
      3 years. Annual medication costs per patient were decreased after the DBS-STN
      implantation by 61.3% at 6 months and 55.4% at 3 years. CONCLUSION: STN-DBS
      allows for a reduction in the dosage of medication and the costs are similarly
      reduced. In this cohort different medication groups were reduced to a similar
      extent. Patients' demographic factors did not play a major role in the selection
      of treatment.

PMID- 25842261
TI  - Varying time-course of effects of high frequency stimulation of sub-regions of
      the globus pallidus in patients with parkinson's disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Deep brain stimulation of the globus pallidus can be a highly
      effective treatment for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), experiencing
      Levodopa-induced-dyskinesia (LID). Stimulation programming can focus simply on
      eliminating dyskinesia, or can also attempt to relieve the rigidity, tremor or
      akinesia of PD itself. METHODS: In this study, we explored whether additional
      benefit on the "off" symptoms and signs of PD, could be achieved in post
      operative PD patients with good LID control, by making further adjustment to
      existing stimulation parameters directed towards the more superior electrode
      contacts, located in the Globus Pallidus pars externa (GPe). RESULTS: Acutely,
      GPe-DBS led to clear improvement in the akinesia, rigidity and tremor of PD in
      the off-medication state compared with Globus Pallidus pars interna (GPi) DBS (p
      = 0.003), however this was accompanied by the development of off-medication
      dyskinesia. Combined GPi-GPe DBS allowed maintained improvement but without
      dyskinesia. Follow up of patients over the subsequent 6-12 weeks showed gradual
      loss of this initial improvement. Switching back to GPi-DBS alone provided
      greater improvement in off medication symptoms than had been observed using the
      same GPi-DBS setting, 6-12 weeks previously. CONCLUSIONS: Benefits on the off
      medication symptoms of PD obtained acutely with GPe-DBS are in general not
      sustained. Similarly, the effects of GPi-DBS on the off medication symptoms of
      PD, can evolve over short periods of time presumably as a result of changes in
      network-wide neuronal plasticity. These clinical observations provide further
      insight into DBS mechanism of action, and can also help inform optimal methods of
      GPi-DBS programming.

PMID- 25842262
TI  - Cardiac memory: The slippery slope twixt normalcy and pathology.
AB  - "Cardiac memory" is an altered repolarization phenotype resulting from prior
      cardiac rate, rhythm, and/or activation changes. The various types of memory
      depend on biophysical properties of cardiac ion channels, trafficking of those
      channels, and/or epigenetic changes in the genes determining the channels. The
      processes that engage the memory function presage changes in function that
      ultimately can lead to pathological remodeling. Hence--rather than completely
      benign--memory may be a warning of disease to come. This article considers the
      forms, the mechanisms, and the clinical expression of cardiac memory.

PMID- 25842263
TI  - Notch1 ligand signaling pathway activated in cervical cancer: poor prognosis with
      high-level JAG1/Notch1.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Notch signalings are regulated multiple cellular processes during
      cancer progression. We aimed to investigate the significance and prognostic value
      of expression of Notch1 and JAG1 in cervical cancer to determine whether they
      could serve as prognostic predictors. METHODS/MATERIALS: The expression of
      Notch1/JAGD1 was investigated by real-time PCR, western blot assay and its
      association with overall survival of patients was analyzed by statistical
      analysis. RESULTS: Notch1 and JAGD1 expression level were significantly elevated
      in cervical cancer in comparison to normal specimens and other types of Notch
      receptors and ligands. It is also proved that Notch1 and JAGD1 expression were to
      be associated with cervical cancer invasion, lymph node metastasis, and FIGO
      system. In addition, survival analysis proved that elevated Notch1 and JAGD1
      expression were associated with poor overall survival of patients (P = 0.01, P =
      0.02 log-rank test), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The present data proved the over
      expression of Notch1/JAGD1 and its association with tumor progression in human
      cervical cancer, which might be a potential valuable biomarker for cervical
      cancer and further studies need.

PMID- 25842264
TI  - Regulation of gene expression mediating indeterminate muscle growth in teleosts.
AB  - Teleosts are unique among vertebrates due to their indeterminate muscle growth,
      i.e., continued production of neonatal muscle fibers until death. However, the
      molecular mechanism(s) underlying this property is unknown. Here, we focused on
      the torafugu (Takifugu rubripes) myosin heavy chain gene, MYHM2528-1, which is
      specifically expressed in neonatal muscle fibers produced by indeterminate muscle
      growth. We examined the flanking region of MYHM2528-1 through an in vivo reporter
      assay using zebrafish (Danio rerio) and identified a 2100 bp 5'-flanking sequence
      that contained sufficient promoter activity to allow specific gene expression.
      The effects of enhanced promoter activity were observed at the outer region of
      the fast muscle and the dorsal edge of slow muscle in zebrafish larvae. At the
      juvenile stage, the promoter was specifically activated in small diameter muscle
      fibers scattered throughout fast muscle and in slow muscle near the septum
      separating slow and fast muscles. This spatio-temporal promoter activity
      overlapped with known myogenic zones involved in teleost indeterminate muscle
      growth. A deletion mutant analysis revealed that the -2100 to -600 bp 5'flanking
      sequence of MYHM2528-1 is essential for promoter activity. This region contains
      putative binding sites for several representative myogenesis-related
      transcription factors and nuclear factor of activated T-cell (NFAT), a
      transcription activator involved in regeneration of mammalian adult skeletal
      muscle. A significant reduction in the promoter activity of the MYHM2528-1
      deletion constructs was observed in accordance with a reduction in the number of
      these binding sites, suggesting the involvement of specific transcription factors
      in indeterminate muscle growth.

PMID- 25842265
TI  - Authors' response: Understanding variation in disease risk.

PMID- 25842266
TI  - Commentary: Frailty and cancer.

PMID- 25842267
TI  - Brief electrical stimulation improves nerve regeneration after delayed repair in
      Sprague Dawley rats.
AB  - Functional recovery after peripheral nerve injury and surgical repair declines
      with time and distance because the injured neurons without target contacts
      (chronic axotomy) progressively lose their regenerative capacity and chronically
      denervated Schwann cells (SCs) atrophy and fail to support axon regeneration.
      Findings that brief low frequency electrical stimulation (ES) accelerates axon
      outgrowth and muscle reinnervation after immediate nerve surgery in rats and
      human patients suggest that ES might improve regeneration after delayed nerve
      repair. To test this hypothesis, common peroneal (CP) neurons were chronically
      axotomized and/or tibial (TIB) SCs and ankle extensor muscles were chronically
      denervated by transection and ligation in rats. The CP and TIB nerves were cross
      sutured after three months and subjected to either sham or one hour 20Hz ES.
      Using retrograde tracing, we found that ES significantly increased the numbers of
      both motor and sensory neurons that regenerated their axons after a three month
      period of chronic CP axotomy and/or chronic TIB SC denervation. Muscle and motor
      unit forces recorded to determine the numbers of neurons that reinnervated
      gastrocnemius muscle demonstrated that ES significantly increased the numbers of
      motoneurons that reinnervated chronically denervated muscles. We conclude that
      electrical stimulation of chronically axotomized motor and sensory neurons is
      effective in accelerating axon outgrowth into chronically denervated nerve stumps
      and improving target reinnervation after delayed nerve repair. Possible
      mechanisms for the efficacy of ES in promoting axon regeneration and target
      reinnervation after delayed nerve repair include the upregulation of neurotrophic
      factors. 

PMID- 25842268
TI  - Chronic deep brain stimulation of the rat ventral medial prefrontal cortex
      disrupts hippocampal-prefrontal coherence.
AB  - Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subgenual cingulate gyrus (SCG) has been used
      to treat patients with treatment-resistant depression. As in humans, DBS applied
      to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex of rats induces antidepressant-like
      responses. Physiological interactions between structures that play a role in
      depression and antidepressant treatment are still unknown. The present study
      examined the effect of DBS on inter-region communication by measuring the
      coherence of local field potentials in the rat infralimbic cortex (IL; homologue
      of the SCG) and one of its major afferents, the ventral hippocampus (VH). Rats
      received daily IL DBS treatment (100 MUA, 90 MUs, 130 Hz; 8h/day). Recordings
      were conducted in unrestrained, behaving animals on the day before treatment,
      after 1 and 10 days of treatment, and 10 days stimulation offset. VH-IL coherence
      in the 2-4 Hz range was reduced in DBS-treated animals compared with shams after
      10 days, but not after only 1 day of treatment. No effect of DBS was observed in
      the 6-10 Hz (theta) range, where coherence was generally high and could be
      further evoked with a loud auditory stimulus. Finally, coherence was not affected
      by fluoxetine (10mg/kg), suggesting that the effects of DBS were not likely
      mediated by increased serotonin levels. While these data support the hypothesis
      that DBS disrupts communication between regions important for expectation-based
      control of emotion, they also suggest that lasting physiological effects require
      many days of treatment and, furthermore, may be specific to lower-frequency
      patterns, the nature and scope of which await further investigation.

PMID- 25842269
TI  - Artificial milk-feeding women's views of their feeding choice in Ireland.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: despite the well-documented benefits of breast feeding to both mother
      and child, breast-feeding initiation rates in Ireland are the second lowest in
      Europe. This study set out to explore the views of women from low socio-economic
      groups in Ireland on their choice to feed their infants artificial milk, and to
      elicit factors that may encourage these women to breast feed in the future.
      DESIGN: a qualitative descriptive approach was used. METHODS: data were collected
      through recorded focus groups and individual interviews, using a semi-structured
      interview schedule. Data were transcribed verbatim. SETTING: interviews took
      place in two regions in the Republic of Ireland, north and south. PARTICIPANTS: a
      purposive sample was drawn from the population of 2572 women taking part in the
      Irish Infant Feeding Study who had never breast fed previously, had intended to,
      and had, fed this infant artificial milk and who had completed their education
      before they were 18 years of age. Two focus groups with two women in each were
      conducted and six women took part in individual interviews. ANALYSIS: constant
      comparative analysis was performed to construct the categories and concepts that
      led to the final themes. FINDINGS: these artificial milk-feeding women based
      their infant feeding decision on many social and experiential factors. The major
      influences on their decisions were: personal attitudes toward feeding methods,
      and external influences on infant feeding methods. Attitudes towards other women
      and feeding future infants reinforced a strong preference towards artificial milk
      feeding. KEY CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: it is apparent that a
      prevailing culture that is unreceptive to breast feeding and the lack of positive
      breast-feeding role models, contributed to a strong commitment to artificial milk
      feeding for these participants. Promotion of breast feeding must take account of
      the complex contexts in which women make decisions. Advice regarding breast
      feeding should take account of women's feelings and avoid undue pressure, while
      still promoting the benefits of breast feeding to women and their families.

PMID- 25842270
TI  - Which insights have we gained from the kindling and post-status epilepticus
      models?
AB  - Experimental animal epilepsy research got a big boost since the discovery that
      daily mild and short (seconds) tetanic stimulations in selected brain regions led
      to seizures with increasing duration and severity. This model that was developed
      by Goddard (1967) became known as the kindling model for epileptogenesis and has
      become a widely used model for temporal lobe epilepsy with complex partial
      seizures. During the late ninety-eighties the number of publications related to
      electrical kindling reached its maximum. However, since the kindling procedure is
      rather labor intensive and animals only develop spontaneous seizures (epilepsy)
      after hundreds of stimulations, research has shifted toward models in which the
      animals exhibit spontaneous seizures after a relatively short latent period. This
      led to post-status epilepticus (SE) models in which animals experience SE after
      injection of pharmacological compounds (e.g. kainate or pilocarpine) or via
      electrical stimulation of (limbic) brain regions. These post-SE models are the
      most widely used models in epilepsy research today. However, not all aspects of
      mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) are reproduced and the widespread brain
      damage is often a caricature of the situation in the patient. Therefore, there is
      a need for models that can better replicate the disease. Kindling, although
      already a classic model, can still offer valid clues in this context. In this
      paper, we review different aspects of the kindling model with emphasis on
      experiments in the rat. Next, we review characteristic properties of the post-SE
      models and compare the neuropathological, electrophysiological and molecular
      differences between kindling and post-SE epilepsy models. Finally, we shortly
      discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these models. 

PMID- 25842271
TI  - Remote monitoring improves outcome after ICD implantation: the clinical efficacy
      in the management of heart failure (EFFECT) study.
AB  - AIMS: Internet-based remote interrogation systems have been shown to reduce
      emergency department and in-office visits in patients with implantable
      cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), resulting in increased efficiency for
      healthcare providers. Nonetheless, studies sized to demonstrate the impact of
      remote monitoring on patients' outcome have been lacking. METHODS AND RESULTS:
      The EFFECT study was a multicentre clinical trial aimed at measuring and
      comparing the outcome of ICD patients conventionally followed-up by means of in
      clinic visits (Standard arm) or by remote monitoring (Remote arm) in the clinical
      practice of 25 Italian centres. From 2011 to 2013, 987 consecutive patients were
      enrolled and followed up for at least 12 months. The primary endpoint was the
      rate of death and cardiovascular hospitalizations. Remote monitoring was adopted
      by 499 patients. Patients in the Standard and Remote arms did not differ
      significantly in terms of baseline clinical characteristics, except for a more
      frequent use of ICD with cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT-D) in the Remote
      arm (48 vs. 36%, P < 0.001). One-year rates of the primary combined endpoint were
      0.27 events/year for patients in the Standard arm and were 0.15 events/year for
      those in the Remote arm (incident rate ratio, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.41-0.73; P <
      0.001). The endpoint rates in the Standard and Remote arms were 0.27 and 0.08
      events/year, respectively, among CRT-D recipients (P < 0.001), and 0.28 vs. 0.21
      among ICD patients (P = 0.094). The rates of in-office visits were 1.9 per year
      in the Standard arm and 1.7 per year in the Remote arm. CONCLUSION: Compared with
      the standard follow-up through in-office visits, remote monitoring is associated
      with reduced death and cardiovascular hospitalizations in patients with ICD in
      clinical practice. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: http://clinicaltrials.gov/
      Identifier: NCT01723865.

PMID- 25842272
TI  - Three-dimensional atrial wall thickness maps to inform catheter ablation
      procedures for atrial fibrillation.
AB  - AIMS: Transmural lesion formation is critical to success in atrial fibrillation
      ablation and is dependent on left atrial wall thickness (LAWT). Pre- and peri
      procedural planning may benefit from LAWT measurements. METHODS AND RESULTS: To
      calculate the LAWT, the Laplace equation was solved over a finite element mesh of
      the left atrium derived from the segmented computed tomographic angiography (CTA)
      dataset. Local LAWT was then calculated from the length of field lines derived
      from the Laplace solution that spanned the wall from the endocardium or
      epicardium. The method was validated on an atrium phantom and retrospectively
      applied to 10 patients who underwent routine coronary CTA for standard clinical
      indications at our institute. The Laplace wall thickness algorithm was validated
      on the left atrium phantom. Wall thickness measurements had errors of <0.2 mm for
      thicknesses of 0.5-5.0 mm that are attributed to image resolution and
      segmentation artefacts. Left atrial wall thickness measurements were performed on
      10 patients. Successful comprehensive LAWT maps were generated in all patients
      from the coronary CTA images. Mean LAWT measurements ranged from 0.6 to 1.0 mm
      and showed significant inter and intra patient variability. CONCLUSIONS: Left
      atrial wall thickness can be measured robustly and efficiently across the whole
      left atrium using a solution of the Laplace equation over a finite element mesh
      of the left atrium. Further studies are indicated to determine whether the
      integration of LAWT maps into pre-existing 3D anatomical mapping systems may
      provide important anatomical information for guiding radiofrequency ablation.

PMID- 25842273
TI  - Incessant ventricular tachycardia and concomitant recurrent left ventricular
      thrombus: to ablate or not to ablate?

PMID- 25842274
TI  - The risk of atrial fibrillation in the general male population: a lifetime follow
      up of 50-year-old men.
AB  - AIM: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence, incidence rate, and lifetime
      risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF) in a population-based study of
      Swedish men. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study is a part of 'The Study of Men Born
      in 1913', which is a longitudinal prospective cohort study of 855 men born in
      1913 and living in the city of Gothenburg in Sweden. They were followed from the
      age of 50 years until 98 years with repeated examinations and data from the
      Swedish National Hospital Discharge Register. A total of 185 (21.6%) men
      developed AF. The prevalence of AF increased from 0.4% at 50 years old, to 1.9%
      by 60 years old, to 4.6% by 70 years old, to 12.5% by 80 years old, and to 15.7%
      by 90 years old. The lifetime risk of developing AF was 22.5%. CONCLUSION: Atrial
      fibrillation is rare at the age of 50 in Swedish men, but it increases
      exponentially with age, markedly accelerating after 70 years old. In
      nonagenarians, one of five men has or has had AF.

PMID- 25842275
TI  - Inappropriate shocks by subcutaneous defibrillator in a patient with
      arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy: problem fixed.

PMID- 25842276
TI  - Novel SCN10A variants associated with Brugada syndrome.
AB  - AIMS: The expression of sodium channel Nav1.8 in cardiac nervous systems has been
      identified, and variants of SCN10A that encodes Nav1.8 contribute to the
      development of Brugada syndrome (BrS) by modifying the function of Nav1.5 or
      directly reducing the sodium current. The aim of this study was to identify the
      frequency of SCN10A mutations in Japanese patients with BrS and to compare the
      phenotypical differences between patients with BrS and those who have other BrS
      causative genes. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study involved 240 Japanese probands
      who were clinically suspected with BrS and were negative for mutations in major
      BrS-related genes. We screened for the SCN10A gene using a high-resolution
      melting method and direct sequencing. In addition, we compared the clinical
      characteristics among the probands with gene mutations in SCN10A, 6 probands with
      CACNA1C and 17 probands with SCN5A. We identified six SCN10A variant carriers
      (2.5%): W189R, R844H (in two unrelated probands), N1328K, R1380Q, and R1863Q.
      Five were male. Four were symptomatic: one died following sudden cardiopulmonary
      arrest at age 35, one suffered ventricular fibrillation, and two had recurrent
      syncope. Compared with BrS patients carrying SCN5A or CACNA1C mutations, although
      there were no significant differences among them, symptomatic patients in the
      SCN10A group tended to be older than those in the other gene groups. CONCLUSION:
      In six BrS probands who carried SCN10A variants, most experienced severe
      arrhythmic attacks. It is of clinical importance to screen SCN10A mutations in
      BrS, although the functional significance of these variants remains unclear.

PMID- 25842277
TI  - First We Have to Engage Them: A Mixed Methods Assessment of Low-Income Parents'
      Preferences for and Barriers to Receiving Child Health Promotion Information.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study is to understand low-income parents'
      preferences for and barriers to receiving child health promotion information.
      METHODS: A mixed-methods approach was used. Data were collected in an urban
      pediatric primary care setting serving predominantly low-income African American
      families. Parents (n = 190) of 3- to 8-year-old children completed a survey; a
      randomly selected subset participated in focus groups. RESULTS: The quantitative
      and qualitative samples differed with regard to whether they would like to get
      parenting information from their doctors. The most commonly cited obstacles to
      attending parenting classes were time (50.6%), work schedule (40.6%),
      transportation (37.7%), and own health (22.4%). DISCUSSION: New and creative
      methods are needed to promote child health and development that do not increase
      the burden associated with raising children in the context of limited resources.

PMID- 25842278
TI  - Implementation and Evaluation of a Unit-Based Discharge Coordinator to Improve
      the Patient Discharge Experience.
AB  - Hospitals are currently focusing on quality measure initiatives such as patient
      safety, satisfaction scores, and patient length of stay. Inefficient and
      ineffective discharge planning is often directly associated with long hospital
      stays and poor patient satisfaction with the overall discharge process. The
      purpose of this quality improvement initiative is to describe and address the
      implementation and evaluation of a unit-based discharge coordinator role on a
      general medicine pediatric unit at a tertiary care children's hospital. Improved
      outcomes, including an increase in patient satisfaction with the discharge
      process, decreased length of stay, and a decrease in patient safety net reports
      are demonstrated through implementation. A unit-based discharge coordinator can
      play an important part in enhancing the overall discharge experience for the
      patient and families by providing an effective and efficient approach to
      discharge, providing the patients and families with a feeling of preparedness.

PMID- 25842279
TI  - Trends in Major Lower Limb Amputation Related to Peripheral Arterial Disease in
      Hungary: A Nationwide Study (2004-2012).
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the trends of peripheral arterial disease associated major
      lower limb amputation in Hungary over a 9 year period (2004-2012) in the whole
      Hungarian population. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study employing
      administrative health care data. Major amputations were identified in the entire
      Hungarian population during a 9 year period (2004-2012) using the health care
      administrative data. Direct standardization was used to eliminate the potential
      bias induced by the different age and sex structure of the compared populations.
      For external direct standardization, the ESP 2013 was chosen as reference.
      RESULTS: 76,798 lower limb amputations were performed. The number of major
      amputations was 38,200; these procedures affected 32,084 patients. According to
      case detection, 50.4% of the amputees were diabetic. The overall primary
      amputation rate was 71.5%. The annual crude and age adjusted major amputation
      rates exhibited no significant long-term pattern over the observation period. The
      major lower limb amputation incidence for the overall period was 42.3/10(5) in
      the total population and 317.9/10(5) in diabetic population. CONCLUSION:
      According to this whole population based study from Hungary, the incidence of
      lower limb major amputation is high with no change over the past 9 years. An
      explanation for this remains to be determined, as the traditional risk factors in
      Hungary do not account for it. The characteristics of major amputation (the rate
      of primary amputation, the ratio of below to above knee amputation and the age of
      the affected population) underline the importance of screening, early detection,
      improved vascular care and an optimal revascularization policy. Standardization
      and validation of amputation detection methods and reporting is essential.

PMID- 25842280
TI  - Editor's perspectives - April 2015.

PMID- 25842281
TI  - The long way to positive trials for mechanical thrombectomy in acute ischemic
      stroke.

PMID- 25842282
TI  - Patient engagement with a mobile web-based telemonitoring system for heart
      failure self-management: a pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intensive remote monitoring programs for congestive heart failure
      have been successful in reducing costly readmissions, but may not be appropriate
      for all patients. There is an opportunity to leverage the increasing
      accessibility of mobile technologies and consumer-facing digital devices to
      empower patients in monitoring their own health outside of the hospital setting.
      The iGetBetter system, a secure Web- and telephone-based heart failure remote
      monitoring program, which leverages mobile technology and portable digital
      devices, offers a creative solution at lower cost. OBJECTIVE: The objective of
      this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility of using the iGetBetter system
      for disease self-management in patients with heart failure. METHODS: This was a
      single-arm prospective study in which 21 ambulatory, adult heart failure patients
      used the intervention for heart failure self-management over a 90-day study
      period. Patients were instructed to take their weight, blood pressure, and heart
      rate measurements each morning using a WS-30 bluetooth weight scale, a self
      inflating blood pressure cuff (Withings LLC, Issy les Moulineaux, France), and an
      iPad Mini tablet computer (Apple Inc, Cupertino, CA, USA) equipped with cellular
      Internet connectivity to view their measurements on the Internet. Outcomes
      assessed included usability and satisfaction, engagement with the intervention,
      hospital resource utilization, and heart failure-related quality of life.
      Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data, and matched controls
      identified from the electronic medical record were used as comparison for
      evaluating hospitalizations. RESULTS: There were 20 participants (mean age 53
      years) that completed the study. Almost all participants (19/20, 95%) reported
      feeling more connected to their health care team and more confident in performing
      care plan activities, and 18/20 (90%) felt better prepared to start discussions
      about their health with their doctor. Although heart failure-related quality of
      life improved from baseline, it was not statistically significant (P=.55). Over
      half of the participants had greater than 80% (72/90 days) weekly and overall
      engagement with the program, and 15% (3/20) used the interactive voice response
      telephone system exclusively for managing their care plan. Hospital utilization
      did not differ in the intervention group compared to the control group (planned
      hospitalizations P=.23, and unplanned hospitalizations P=.99). Intervention
      participants recorded shorter average length of hospital stay, but no significant
      differences were observed between intervention and control groups (P=.30).
      CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of a low-intensive
      remote monitoring program leveraging commonly used mobile and portable consumer
      devices in augmenting care for a fairly young population of ambulatory patients
      with heart failure. Further prospective studies with a larger sample size and
      within more diverse patient populations is necessary to determine the effect of
      mobile-based remote monitoring programs such as the iGetBetter system on clinical
      outcomes in heart failure.

PMID- 25842283
TI  - Impact of prescription drug-monitoring program on controlled substance
      prescribing in the ED.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In 2009, Florida initiated a statewide prescription drug-monitoring
      program (PDMP) to encourage safer prescribing of controlled substances and reduce
      drug abuse and diversion. Data supporting the utility of such programs in the
      emergency department (ED) is scarce. This study sought to determine the effect of
      PDMP data on controlled substance prescribing from the ED. METHODS: In this pre
      post study utilizing a historical control, pharmacists in the ED provided
      prescribers with a summary of the PDMP data for their patients. The number of
      controlled substances prescribed in the intervention group was compared with that
      prescribed in the historical control to determine if the intervention resulted in
      a change in the average number of controlled substance prescribed. RESULTS: Among
      the 710 patients evaluated, providing prescribers with PDMP data did not alter
      the average number of controlled substance per patient prescribed (0.23
      controlled substances per patient in the historical control compared with 0.28
      controlled substances per patient in the intervention group; 95% confidence
      interval [CI], -0.016 to 0.116; P = .125). All prescribers surveyed indicated
      that having PDMP data altered their controlled substance prescribing and felt
      more comfortable prescribing controlled substances. CONCLUSIONS: Although the
      results did not demonstrate a change in the average number of controlled
      substances prescribed when prescribers were provided with PDMP data, results from
      the survey indicate that prescribers felt the data altered their prescribing of
      controlled substances, and thus were more contented prescribing controlled
      substances.

PMID- 25842284
TI  - Evolution of the electrocardiogram QRS complexes voltage in scorpion envenomation
      induced Takotsubo syndrome.

PMID- 25842285
TI  - Accidental pediatric ingestions of medical marijuana: a 4-year poison center
      experience.

PMID- 25842286
TI  - Safety and tolerability of a novel inhaled GATA3 mRNA targeting DNAzyme in
      patients with TH2-driven asthma.

PMID- 25842289
TI  - Inter-subject neural code converter for visual image representation.
AB  - Brain activity patterns differ from person to person, even for an identical
      stimulus. In functional brain mapping studies, it is important to align brain
      activity patterns between subjects for group statistical analyses. While
      anatomical templates are widely used for inter-subject alignment in functional
      magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, they are not sufficient to identify
      the mapping between voxel-level functional responses representing specific mental
      contents. Recent work has suggested that statistical learning methods could be
      used to transform individual brain activity patterns into a common space while
      preserving representational contents. Here, we propose a flexible method for
      functional alignment, "neural code converter," which converts one subject's brain
      activity pattern into another's representing the same content. The neural code
      converter was designed to learn statistical relationships between fMRI activity
      patterns of paired subjects obtained while they saw an identical series of
      stimuli. It predicts the signal intensity of individual voxels of one subject
      from a pattern of multiple voxels of the other subject. To test this method, we
      used fMRI activity patterns measured while subjects observed visual images
      consisting of random and structured patches. We show that fMRI activity patterns
      for visual images not used for training the converter could be predicted from
      those of another subject where brain activity was recorded for the same stimuli.
      This confirms that visual images can be accurately reconstructed from the
      predicted activity patterns alone. Furthermore, we show that a classifier trained
      only on predicted fMRI activity patterns could accurately classify measured fMRI
      activity patterns. These results demonstrate that the neural code converter can
      translate neural codes between subjects while preserving contents related to
      visual images. While this method is useful for functional alignment and decoding,
      it may also provide a basis for brain-to-brain communication using the converted
      pattern for designing brain stimulation.

PMID- 25842287
TI  - Aberrant ORM (yeast)-like protein isoform 3 (ORMDL3) expression dysregulates
      ceramide homeostasis in cells and ceramide exacerbates allergic asthma in mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Asthma, a chronic inflammatory condition defined by episodic
      shortness of breath with expiratory wheezing and cough, is a serious health
      concern affecting more than 250 million persons. Genome-wide association studies
      have identified ORM (yeast)-like protein isoform 3 (ORMDL3) as a gene associated
      with susceptibility to asthma. Although its yeast ortholog is a negative
      regulator of de novo ceramide biosynthesis, how ORMDL3 contributes to asthma
      pathogenesis is not known. OBJECTIVES: We sought to decipher the molecular
      mechanism for the pathologic functions of ORMDL3 in asthma and the relationship
      to its evolutionarily conserved role in regulation of ceramide homeostasis.
      METHODS: We determined the relationship between expression of ORMDL3 and ceramide
      in epithelial and inflammatory cells and in asthma pathogenesis in mice. RESULTS:
      Although small increases in ORMDL3 expression decrease ceramide levels,
      remarkably, higher expression in lung epithelial cells and macrophages in vitro
      and in vivo increased ceramide production, which promoted chronic inflammation,
      airway hyperresponsiveness, and mucus production during house dust mite-induced
      allergic asthma. Moreover, nasal administration of the immunosuppressant drug
      FTY720/fingolimod reduced ORMDL3 expression and ceramide levels and mitigated
      airway inflammation and hyperreactivity and mucus hypersecretion in house dust
      mite-challenged mice. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that overexpression
      of ORMDL3 regulates ceramide homeostasis in cells in a complex manner and suggest
      that local FTY720 administration might be a useful therapeutic intervention for
      the control of allergic asthma.

PMID- 25842290
TI  - Combined MEG and EEG show reliable patterns of electromagnetic brain activity
      during natural viewing.
AB  - Naturalistic stimuli such as movies are increasingly used to engage cognitive and
      emotional processes during fMRI of brain hemodynamic activity. However, movies
      have been little utilized during magnetoencephalography (MEG) and EEG that
      directly measure population-level neuronal activity at a millisecond resolution.
      Here, subjects watched a 17-min segment from the movie Crash (Lionsgate Films,
      2004) twice during simultaneous MEG/EEG recordings. Physiological noise
      components, including ocular and cardiac artifacts, were removed using the
      DRIFTER algorithm. Dynamic estimates of cortical activity were calculated using
      MRI-informed minimum-norm estimation. To improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR),
      principal component analyses (PCA) were employed to extract the prevailing
      temporal characteristics within each anatomical parcel of the Freesurfer Desikan
      Killiany cortical atlas. A variety of alternative inter-subject correlation (ISC)
      approaches were then utilized to investigate the reliability of inter-subject
      synchronization during natural viewing. In the first analysis, the ISCs of the
      time series of each anatomical region over the full time period across all
      subject pairs were calculated and averaged. In the second analysis, dynamic ISC
      (dISC) analysis, the correlation was calculated over a sliding window of 200 ms
      with 3.3 ms steps. Finally, in a between-run ISC analysis, the between-run
      correlation was calculated over the dynamic ISCs of the two different runs after
      the Fisher z-transformation. Overall, the most reliable activations occurred in
      occipital/inferior temporal visual and superior temporal auditory cortices as
      well as in the posterior cingulate, precuneus, pre- and post-central gyri, and
      right inferior and middle frontal gyri. Significant between-run ISCs were
      observed in superior temporal auditory cortices and inferior temporal visual
      cortices. Taken together, our results show that movies can be utilized as
      naturalistic stimuli in MEG/EEG similarly as in fMRI studies. 

PMID- 25842291
TI  - Age differences in the brain mechanisms of good taste.
AB  - There is strong evidence demonstrating age-related differences in the
      acceptability of foods and beverages. To examine the neural foundations
      underlying these age-related differences in the acceptability of different
      flavors and foods, we performed an fMRI study to investigate brain and hedonic
      responses to orange juice, orange soda, and vegetable juice in three different
      age groups: Young (22), Middle (40) and Elderly (60 years). Orange juice and
      orange soda were found to be liked by all age groups, while vegetable juice was
      disliked by the Young, but liked by the Elderly. In the insular primary taste
      cortex, the activations to these stimuli were similar in the 3 age groups,
      indicating that the differences in liking for these stimuli between the 3 groups
      were not represented in this first stage of cortical taste processing. In the
      agranular insula (anterior to the insular primary taste cortex) where flavor is
      represented, the activations to the stimuli were similar in the Elderly, but in
      the Young the activations were larger to the vegetable juice than to the orange
      drinks; and the activations here were correlated with the unpleasantness of the
      stimuli. In the anterior midcingulate cortex, investigated as a site where the
      activations were correlated with the unpleasantness of the stimuli, there was
      again a greater activation to the vegetable than to the orange stimuli in the
      Young but not in the Elderly. In the amygdala (and orbitofrontal cortex),
      investigated as sites where the activations were correlated with the pleasantness
      of the stimuli, there was a smaller activation to the vegetable than to the
      orange stimuli in the Young but not in the Elderly. The Middle group was
      intermediate with respect to the separation of their activations to the stimuli
      in the brain areas that represent the pleasantness or unpleasantness of flavors.
      Thus age differences in the activations to different flavors can in some brain
      areas be related to, and probably cause, the differences in pleasantness of foods
      as they differ for people of different ages. This novel work provides a
      foundation for understanding the underlying neural bases for differences in food
      acceptability between age groups.

PMID- 25842292
TI  - Mental imagery of emotions: Electrophysiological evidence.
AB  - Affective stimuli such as emotional words, scenes or facial expressions elicit
      well-investigated emotional responses. For instance, two distinct event-related
      brain potentials (ERPs) have been reported in response to emotional facial
      expressions, the early posterior negativity (EPN), associated with enhanced
      attention and perception of affective stimuli, and a later centro-parietal
      positivity (LPP) that is taken to reflect evaluations of the intrinsic relevance
      of emotional stimuli. However, other rich sources of emotions that have as yet
      received little attention are internal mental events such as thoughts, memories
      and imagination. Here we investigated mental imagery of emotional facial
      expressions and its time course using ERPs. Participants viewed neutral familiar
      and unfamiliar faces, and were subsequently asked to imagine the faces with an
      emotional or neutral expression. Imagery was compared to visually perceiving the
      same faces with the different expressions. Early ERP modulations during imagery
      resemble the effects frequently reported for perceived emotional facial
      expressions, suggesting that common early processes are associated with emotion
      perception and imagination. A later posterior positivity was also found in the
      imagery condition, but with a different distribution than for perception. These
      findings underscore the similarity of the brain's responses to internally
      generated and external sources of emotions. 

PMID- 25842288
TI  - PRKDC mutations associated with immunodeficiency, granuloma, and autoimmune
      regulator-dependent autoimmunity.
AB  - BACKGROUND: PRKDC encodes for DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA
      PKcs), a kinase that forms part of a complex (DNA-dependent protein kinase [DNA
      PK]) crucial for DNA double-strand break repair and V(D)J recombination. In mice
      DNA-PK also interacts with the transcription factor autoimmune regulator (AIRE)
      to promote central T-cell tolerance. OBJECTIVE: We sought to understand the
      causes of an inflammatory disease with granuloma and autoimmunity associated with
      decreasing T- and B-cell counts over time that had been diagnosed in 2 unrelated
      patients. METHODS: Genetic, molecular, and functional analyses were performed to
      characterize an inflammatory disease evocative of a combined immunodeficiency.
      RESULTS: We identified PRKDC mutations in both patients. These patients exhibited
      a defect in DNA double-strand break repair and V(D)J recombination. Whole-blood
      mRNA analysis revealed a strong interferon signature. On activation, memory T
      cells displayed a skewed cytokine response typical of TH2 and TH1 but not TH17.
      Moreover, mutated DNA-PKcs did not promote AIRE-dependent transcription of
      peripheral tissue antigens in vitro. The latter defect correlated in vivo with
      production of anti-calcium-sensing receptor autoantibodies, which are typically
      found in AIRE-deficient patients. In addition, 9 months after bone marrow
      transplantation, patient 1 had Hashimoto thyroiditis, suggesting that organ
      specific autoimmunity might be linked to nonhematopoietic cells, such as AIRE
      expressing thymic epithelial cells. CONCLUSION: Deficiency of DNA-PKcs, a key
      AIRE partner, can present as an inflammatory disease with organ-specific
      autoimmunity, suggesting a role for DNA-PKcs in regulating autoimmune responses
      and maintaining AIRE-dependent tolerance in human subjects.

PMID- 25842293
TI  - Modulation of prefrontal functioning in attention systems by NPSR1 gene
      variation.
AB  - Evidence has accumulated for a dysfunction of arousal and executive attention in
      anxiety. The neuropeptide S (NPS) system has been shown to play a pivotal role in
      the mediation of arousal and to be associated with anxiety/panic disorder. The
      present study aims at investigating the impact of functional neuropeptide S
      receptor (NPSR1) gene variation on neural attention patterns applying an imaging
      genetics approach. In an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging
      (fMRI) setting, 47 healthy subjects (f=23) evenly pre-stratified for NPSR1
      rs324981 A/T genotype were investigated for brain activation patterns while
      performing the Attention Network Task (ANT), simultaneously probing alerting and
      executive control functions. Anxiety sensitivity was ascertained by the Anxiety
      Sensitivity Index (ASI). In the alerting condition, NPSR1 TT homozygotes showed
      higher activations in the right prefrontal cortex and the locus coeruleus region
      as compared to A allele carriers. In the executive control condition, TT
      homozygotes displayed increased activations in fronto-parietal regions. Genotype
      driven activation differences in the prefrontal cortex correlated with anxiety
      sensitivity, in both the alerting and the executive control system. The present
      results for the first time suggest NPSR1 gene variation to be associated with
      alterations of prefrontal functioning in the attentional functions alerting and
      executive control partly modulated by anxiety sensitivity. These findings may aid
      in unraveling the neurobiological underpinnings of distorted arousal and
      attention in anxiety and thereby possibly in the biomarker-guided development of
      preventive/therapeutic strategies targeting attention processes in anxiety
      disorders. 

PMID- 25842295
TI  - Isolating weather effects from seasonal activity patterns of a temperate North
      American Colubrid.
AB  - Forecasting the effects of climate change on threatened ecosystems and species
      will require an understanding of how weather influences processes that drive
      population dynamics. We have evaluated weather effects on activity patterns of
      western ratsnakes, a widespread predator of birds and small mammals in eastern
      North America. From 2010-2013 we radio-tracked 53 ratsnakes in the fragmented
      region of central Missouri. We relocated each snake 4* per week and used movement
      frequency as an index of activity. We used generalized linear mixed models within
      an information-theoretic approach to evaluate temporal and weather variables as
      potential predictors of snake activity. While snakes were generally sedentary,
      activity showed a linear response to relative humidity and a quadratic response
      to air temperature, peaking near 30  degrees C. Seasonal activity patterns
      differed between sexes and among years, but snakes were generally least active in
      mid-summer, regardless of weather. Our findings provide strong evidence that air
      temperature and relative humidity differentially affect activity patterns of an
      important predator and are the mechanism explaining increased nest predation
      rates with warmer temperatures. 

PMID- 25842294
TI  - Human posterior parietal cortex mediates hand-specific planning.
AB  - The processes underlying action planning are fundamental to adaptive behavior and
      can be influenced by recent motor experience. Here, we used a novel fMRI
      Repetition Suppression (RS) design to test the hypotheses that action planning
      unfolds more efficiently for successive actions made with the same hand. More
      efficient processing was predicted to correspond with both faster response times
      (RTs) to initiate actions and reduced fMRI activity levels - RS. Consistent with
      these predictions, we detected faster RTs for actions made with the same hand and
      accompanying fMRI-RS within bilateral posterior parietal cortex and right
      lateralized parietal operculum. Within posterior parietal cortex, these RS
      effects were localized to intraparietal and superior parietal cortices. These
      same areas were more strongly activated for actions involving the contralateral
      hand. The findings provide compelling new evidence for the specification of
      action plans in hand-specific terms, and indicate that these processes are
      sensitive to recent motor history. Consistent with computational efficiency
      accounts of motor history effects, the findings are interpreted as evidence for
      comparatively more efficient processing underlying action planning when
      successive actions involve the same versus opposite hand. 

PMID- 25842296
TI  - Cacti supply limited nutrients to a desert rodent community.
AB  - In the Sonoran Desert, cacti represent a potentially important source of
      nutrients and water for consumers. Columnar cacti, in particular, produce a large
      pulse of flowers and succulent fruit during hot summer months. The importance of
      cactus stems, flowers and fruit to the small mammal community has not been
      quantified. We exploited natural variation in the carbon isotope (delta(13)C)
      values of cacti (CAM) versus C3 plants to quantify the relative use of these
      resources by a diverse desert small mammal community. We also estimated trophic
      level by measuring nitrogen isotope (delta(15)N) values. We hypothesized that
      (H1) granivorous heteromyids (kangaroo rats, pocket mice) would exploit the
      summer pulse of seeds and pulp; (H2) folivorous and omnivorous cactus mice, wood
      rats, and ground squirrels would exploit cacti stems year-round and seeds when
      available; and (H3) kangaroo rats and pocket mice would shift from seeds to
      insects during hot dry months. We found that heteromyids made minimal use of
      seeds during the period of heavy seed rain. Of the cricetids, only the folivore
      Neotoma albigula made continuous but highly variable use of cacti resources
      (annual mean = 32%, range 0-81%), whereas the omnivore Peromyscus eremicus
      ignored cacti except during the summer, when it exploited seeds and/or fruit pulp
      (June-July mean = 39%, range 20-64%). We also found little evidence for a shift
      to greater consumption of insects by heteromyids during the hot dry months.
      Overall, use of cactus resources by the small mammal community is very limited
      and highly variable among species.

PMID- 25842297
TI  - Bark ecology of twigs vs. main stems: functional traits across eighty-five
      species of angiosperms.
AB  - Although produced by meristems that are continuous along the stem length, marked
      differences in bark morphology and in microenvironment would suggest that main
      stem and twig bark might differ ecologically. Here, we examined: (1) how closely
      associated main stem and twig bark traits were, (2) how these associations varied
      across sites, and (3) used these associations to infer functional and ecological
      differences between twig and main stem bark. We measured density, water content,
      photosynthesis presence/absence, total, outer, inner, and relative thicknesses of
      main stem and twig bark from 85 species of angiosperms from six sites of
      contrasting precipitation, temperature, and fire regimes. Density and water
      content did not differ between main stems and twigs across species and sites.
      Species with thicker twig bark had disproportionately thicker main stem bark in
      most sites, but the slope and degree of association varied. Disproportionately
      thicker main stem bark for a given twig bark thickness in most fire-prone sites
      suggested stem protection near the ground. The savanna had the opposite trend,
      suggesting that selection also favors twig protection in these fire-prone
      habitats. A weak main stem-twig bark thickness association was observed in non
      fire-prone sites. The near-ubiquity of photosynthesis in twigs highlighted its
      likely ecological importance; variation in this activity was predicted by outer
      bark thickness in main stems. It seems that the ecology of twig bark can be
      generalized to main stem bark, but not for functions depending on the amount of
      bark, such as protection, storage, or photosynthesis. 

PMID- 25842298
TI  - Chemopreventive effects of aspirin at a glance.
AB  - Experimental, epidemiological, and clinical data from the last two decades have
      each supported the hypothesis that aspirin possesses anticancer properties, and
      that its use may also reduce the lifetime probability of developing or dying from
      a number of cancers. Aspirin's ability to act on multiple key metabolic and
      signaling pathways via inhibition of the cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme, as well as
      through COX-independent mechanisms, makes it particularly relevant in the fight
      against cancer. A growing body of evidence indicates that aspirin may not only
      reduce cancer risk, but also prevent metastasis and angiogenesis while slowing
      the rate of mutation-inducing DNA damage. These emerging benefits of aspirin are
      offset to some extent by the known risks of treatment, such as cardiovascular
      events and gastrointestinal bleeding. However, it has been shown that pre
      treatment risk assessment of individual patients and the use of proton pump
      inhibitors or Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy concomitantly with aspirin
      treatment can reduce these potential risks. Thus, the significant benefits of
      aspirin treatment, coupled with recent data concerning its risks, may prove to
      tip the balance in favor of aspirin use in cancer prevention. 

PMID- 25842299
TI  - Integrated fixed-biofilm activated sludge reactor as a powerful tool to enrich
      anammox biofilm and granular sludge.
AB  - A pilot-scale activated sludge bioreactor was filled with immobile carrier to
      treat high ammonium wastewater. Autotrophic nitrogen elimination occurred rapidly
      by inoculating nitrifying activated sludge and anammox biofilm. As the ammonium
      loading rate increased, nitrogen removal rate of 1.2kgNm(-3)d(-1) was obtained
      with the removal efficiency of 80%. Activated sludge diameter distribution
      profiles presented two peak values, indicating simultaneous existence of
      flocculent and granular sludge. Red granular sludge was observed in the reactor.
      Furthermore, the results of morphological and molecular analysis showed that the
      characteristics of granular sludge were similar to that of biofilm, while much
      different from the flocculent sludge. It was assumed granular sludge was formed
      through the continuous growth and detachment of anammox biofilm. The mechanism of
      granular sludge formation was discussed and the procedure model was proposed.
      According to the experimental results, the integrated fixed-biofilm activated
      sludge reactor provided an alternative to nitrogen removal based on anammox. 

PMID- 25842300
TI  - Acrylamide in potato crisps prepared from 20 UK-grown varieties: effects of
      variety and tuber storage time.
AB  - Twenty varieties of field-grown potato were stored for 2 months and 6 months at 8
      degrees C. Mean acrylamide contents in crisps prepared from all varieties at
      both storage times ranged from 131 MUg/kg in Verdi to 5360 MUg/kg in Pentland
      Dell. In contrast to previous studies, the longer storage period did not affect
      acrylamide formation significantly for most varieties, the exceptions being
      Innovator, where acrylamide formation increased, and Saturna, where it decreased.
      Four of the five varieties designated as suitable for crisping produced crisps
      with acrylamide levels below the European Commission indicative value of 1000
      MUg/kg (Saturna, Lady Rosetta, Lady Claire, and Verdi); the exception was Hermes.
      Two varieties more often used for French fries, Markies and Fontane, also
      produced crisps with less than 1000 MUg/kg acrylamide. Correlations between
      acrylamide, its precursors and crisp colour are described, and the implications
      of the results for production of potato crisps are discussed.

PMID- 25842301
TI  - Selenium in commercial beer and losses in the brewing process from wheat to beer.
AB  - There is increasing interest in enhancing the micronutrient composition of
      cereals through fertilization. The aims of this study were (1) to determine the
      Se concentration of commercial beers retailing in the UK, and (2) to test if the
      transfer of Se, from biofortified grain to final beer product, is <10% under UK
      cultivation conditions, as seen previously under Mediterranean conditions. The Se
      concentration of 128 commercial beers was measured, using inductively coupled
      plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The selenium content of commercial beers
      varied 6.5-fold, with beers originating from America having higher Se
      concentrations than those from Europe. Laboratory-scale brewing trials with
      isotopically-enriched (77)Se wheat, sampled from UK field-sites, showed that most
      (77)Se losses in the brewing process occurred during mashing (54%), with
      fermented beer containing ~ 10% of the (77)Se initially present in the wheat
      grain. Total N values in wort and malt were positively correlated with the (77)Se
      content of the wheat grain.

PMID- 25842302
TI  - Practical aspects in gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the analysis of
      pesticide residues in exotic fruits.
AB  - The most relevant parameters of a multimode inlet were optimized to increase the
      injection volume up to 25 MUL using solvent vent mode in order to improve the
      sensitivity of the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry system. Consequently, the
      implementation of a concurrent backflushing was necessary to largely prevent the
      expected loss of performance derived from such matrix load out of a general
      purpose extraction (EN-15622-QuEChERS). Additionally, four mixtures of compounds
      used as analyte protectants were tested using spiked physalis to enhance the
      quality of signals. The chosen mixture remarkably improved sensitivity and yield
      better peak shapes, significantly more than others also tested. The analysis of
      pesticide residues in exotic fruits using instruments of limited selectivity is
      challenging since these complex matrices usually give notably dirty extracts.
      This scheme included an instrumental optimization and the addition of selected
      compounds that enabled to selectively reach limits of quantitation of 0.01 mg kg(
      1) for most analytes.

PMID- 25842303
TI  - The effect of different cooking processes on stable C, N, and H isotopic
      compositions of beef.
AB  - The variability in the stable C, N, and H isotopic composition caused by
      different beef processing operations (boiling, frying, and roasting) was studied.
      The aim was to evaluate the stability of stable isotopic fingerprint information
      during the beef cooking process. The delta(13)C, delta(15)N, and delta(2)H values
      for raw, boiled, fried and roasted beef were measured, and the differences in the
      stable isotopic composition between raw and processed beef products were
      assessed. The results indicated that the delta(13)C and delta(15)N values in raw
      beef were not significantly different compared with processed beef, but the
      delta(2)H values were significantly higher in processed beef than in raw beef. In
      general, boiling, frying, and roasting had no significant effect on delta(13)C
      and delta(15)N values, but the delta(2)H value of processed beef increased. 

PMID- 25842304
TI  - Fatty acids and oxidative stability of meat from lambs fed carob-containing
      diets.
AB  - Male Comisana lambs were individually stalled and, for 56 days, were fed
      concentrates with 60% barley (n = 8 lambs), or concentrates in which barley was
      partially replaced by 24% or 35% carob pulp (n = 9 lambs in each group). The
      intramuscular fatty acids were analyzed and the color stability, lipid and
      protein oxidation were measured in fresh meat overwrapped with polyvinyl chloride
      film at 0, 3 or 6 days of storage at 4  degrees C in the dark. Carob pulp
      increased the concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in muscle,
      including the rumenic acid (P < 0.01), and reduced the saturated fatty acids (P <
      0.01) and the n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio (P = 0.01). The meat did not undergo extensive
      oxidative deterioration and the diet did not affect the oxidative stability
      parameters. Therefore, carob in lamb diet could increase PUFA in muscle without
      compromising meat oxidative stability.

PMID- 25842305
TI  - Quantification of adulterations in extra virgin flaxseed oil using MIR and PLS.
AB  - This paper proposes a new method for the quantitative analysis of soybean oil
      (SO) and sunflower oil (SFO) as adulterants in extra virgin flaxseed oil (EFO) by
      applying Mid Infrared Spectroscopy (MIR) associated with chemometric technique of
      Partial Least Squares (PLS). The PLS models were built in accordance with
      standard method ASTM E1655-05 and these showed good correlation between the
      reference values and those calculated using the PLS models with low error values,
      with R = 0.998 for SFO and R = 0.999 for SO in EFO. These models were validated
      analytically in accordance with Brazilian and international guidelines through
      the estimate of figures of merit parameters, thus showing an effective and
      feasible method to control the quality of extra virgin flaxseed oil.

PMID- 25842306
TI  - Volatile flavor compounds, total polyphenolic contents and antioxidant activities
      of a China gingko wine.
AB  - The volatile compounds in gingko wine, a novel functional wine, were extracted by
      head-space solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) and analyzed by gas chromatography
      mass spectrometry (GC-MS) coupled with odor activity value (OAV) and relative
      odor contribution (ROC) analyses. In addition, the total polyphenolic content of
      gingko wine was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent, and its antioxidant
      capacity was evaluated by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'
      azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assays. Fifty-eight
      compounds were tentatively identified, including 13 esters, 10 alcohols, 11
      acids, 12 carbonyl compounds, 2 lactones, 2 phenols, and 8 hydrocarbons. Ethyl
      hexanoate, ethyl pentanoate, nonanal, ethyl butyrate and ethyl heptanoate were
      the major contributors to the gingko wine aroma based on the results of OAV and
      ROC. The total phenols content of the gingko wine was 456 mg/L gallic acid
      equivalents, and its antioxidant capacity was higher than those of typical
      Chinese liquors analyzed in this paper.

PMID- 25842307
TI  - Selective methods for polyphenols and sulphur dioxide determination in wines.
AB  - A critical review to the methods recommended by international bodies and widely
      used in the winery industry and research studies was performed. A Laccase
      biosensor was applied to the selective determination of polyphenols in wines. The
      biosensor response was characterised and it responds mainly to o-diphenols which
      are the principal polyphenols responsible for the stability and sensory qualities
      of wines. The spectrophotometric method to determine free and total sulphur
      dioxide recommended for beers was applied directly to wines. A sampling of 14 red
      and white wines was performed and they were analysed for biosensor polyphenol
      index (IBP) and sulphur dioxide concentration (SO2). The antioxidant capacity by
      the ABTS(+) spectrophotometric method was also determined. A correlation study
      was performed to elucidate the influence of the polyphenols and SO2 on the wines
      stability. High correlations were found between IBP and antioxidant capacity and
      low correlation between SO2 and antioxidant capacity. To evaluate the benefits of
      wine drinking a new parameter (IBP/SO2) is proposed. 

PMID- 25842308
TI  - In vitro digestion of short-dough biscuits enriched in proteins and/or fibres,
      using a multi-compartmental and dynamic system (1): viscosity measurement and
      prediction.
AB  - The effects of biscuit composition on the viscosity generated during digestion
      were investigated. A control biscuit, one with proteins, one with fibres, and one
      with both proteins and fibres were digested under the same conditions, using the
      TNO intestinal model (TIM-1). The TIM-1 is a multi-compartmental and dynamic in
      vitro system, simulating digestion in the upper tract (stomach and small
      intestine) of healthy adult humans. Digesta were collected at different times, in
      the different compartments of the TIM-1 (stomach, duodenum, jejunum and ileum)
      and viscosity was measured with a dynamic rheometer. Results showed a marked
      effect of biscuit composition on chyme viscosity. Highest viscosity was obtained
      with biscuits containing viscous soluble fibres, followed by those enriched in
      both proteins and fibres, then by protein-enriched and control biscuits. The
      viscosity was maintained throughout the gut up to the ileal compartment. A
      prediction of the evolution of the chyme viscosity in each compartment of the TIM
      1 was built, based on model curves describing the evolution of the viscosity as a
      function of biscuit concentration, and on dilution factors measured by
      spectrophotometry on a blank digestion. 

PMID- 25842309
TI  - Developing precipitation modes for preventing the calcium-oxalate contamination
      of sugar beet pectins.
AB  - Effects of precipitation modes on the co-precipitation of insoluble oxalates
      particles during the purification of sugar beet pectins (SBP) from the extract
      were investigated. It was observed that soluble oxalate ions formed insoluble
      oxalate salts with calcium and precipitated with pectins during ethanol
      precipitation as pH of the medium increased and the solvent changed from water to
      ethanol-water mixture. Comparison among the employed precipitation methods
      revealed that both the dialysis-ethanol-precipitation and metal precipitation
      effectively prevented the calcium-oxalate contamination of SBP. Emulsifying
      properties of DEPP, EPP and MPP were also studied. It was observed that DEPP
      performed better than the remainder with respect to emulsifying ability. Based on
      these results, we concluded that the dialysis-ethanolic-precipitation can be a
      suitable method for improving the purity as well as emulsifying properties of the
      resulting pectins. 

PMID- 25842310
TI  - Homocapsaicin: it's NOT the 7-ene-9-methyl isomer.

PMID- 25842311
TI  - Optimisation of a simple and reliable label-free methodology for the relative
      quantitation of raw pork meat proteins.
AB  - Recent advances in proteomics have become an indispensable tool for a fast,
      precise and sensitive analysis of proteins in complex biological samples at both,
      qualitative and quantitative level. In this study, a label-free quantitative
      proteomic methodology has been optimised for the relative quantitation of
      proteins extracted from raw pork meat. So, after the separation of proteins by
      one-dimensional gel electrophoresis and trypsin digestion, their identification
      and quantitation have been done using nanoliquid chromatography coupled to a
      quadrupole/time-of-flight (Q/ToF) mass spectrometer. Relative quantitation has
      been based on the measurement of mass spectral peak intensities, which have been
      described that are correlated with protein abundances. The results obtained
      regarding linearity, robustness, repeatability and accuracy show that this
      procedure could be used as a fast, simple, and reliable method to quantify
      changes in protein abundance in meat samples. 

PMID- 25842312
TI  - Determination of mycotoxins in pomegranate fruits and juices using a QuEChERS
      based method.
AB  - A rapid and accurate analytical method for the determination of three Alternaria
      mycotoxins (alternariol, alternariol monomethyl ether, and tentoxin) in
      pomegranate samples (fruits and juices) was developed and validated. The overall
      average recoveries ranged for 82.0-109.4% and the relative standard deviations
      were from 1.2% to 10.9%. The optimized and validated method was applied to detect
      the presence of the target mycotoxins in real samples (fruits and juices)
      purchased from Greek markets. Mycotoxins were not found in any of the analyzed
      samples. Also, artificially inoculated pomegranate fruits with six different
      Alternaria alternata species complex isolates, known to produce the target
      mycotoxins on pure cultures, were analyzed and alternariol concentrations found
      ranged from 0.3 to 50.5 MUg/g, alternariol monomethyl ether from 0.5 to 32.3
      MUg/g, while tentoxin was not detected. The developed analytical method can be
      used for the routine monitoring of the major Alternaria mycotoxins in
      pomegranates.

PMID- 25842313
TI  - Thermal and spectroscopic studies of the antioxidant food additive propyl
      gallate.
AB  - Literature mentions propyl gallate (PG) as a non-toxic synthetic antioxidant that
      can be used as a food additive due to its high tolerance to heat. It is important
      to understand the thermal properties and to identify the decomposition products
      of this substance, since it has been reported to be thermally stable at
      temperatures as high as 300  degrees C. Simultaneous thermogravimetry
      differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), differential scanning calorimetry
      photovisual (DSC-photovisual), coupled thermogravimetry-infrared spectroscopy (TG
      FTIR) analyses and spectroscopic techniques were used to study the food additive
      PG. The TG-DTA curves, which were performed with the aid of DSC-photovisual,
      provided information concerning the thermal stability and decomposition profiles
      of the compound. From the TG-FTIR coupled techniques, it was possible to identify
      n-propanol as a possible volatile compound released during the thermal
      decomposition of the antioxidant. A complete spectroscopic characterization in
      the ultraviolet, visible, near and middle infrared regions was performed in order
      to understand the spectroscopic properties of PG.

PMID- 25842314
TI  - Antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds added to a functional emulsion
      containing omega-3 fatty acids and plant sterol esters.
AB  - The effect of eleven compounds extracted from red propolis on the oxidative
      stability of a functional emulsion was evaluated. Emulsions prepared with Echium
      oil as omega 3 (omega-3 FA) source, containing 1.63 g/100mL of alpha-linolenic
      acid (ALA), 0.73 g/100 mL of stearidonic acid (SDA) and 0.65 g/100mL of plant
      sterol esters (PSE) were prepared without or with phenolic compounds (vanillic
      acid, caffeic acid, trans-cinnamic acid, 2,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid, p-coumaric
      acid, quercetin, trans-ferulic acid, trans,trans-farnesol, rutin, gallic acid or
      sinapic acid). tert-Butylhydroquinone and a mixture containing ascorbic acid and
      FeSO4 were applied as negative and positive controls of the oxidation.
      Hydroperoxide, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), malondialdehyde
      and phytosterol oxidation products (POPs) were evaluated as oxidative markers.
      Based on hydroperoxide and TBARS analysis, sinapic acid and rutin (200 ppm)
      showed the same antioxidant activity than TBHQ, representing a potential
      alternative as natural antioxidant to be applied in a functional emulsion
      containing omega-3 FA and PSE.

PMID- 25842315
TI  - New structural features of Acacia tortuosa gum exudate.
AB  - Acacia tortuosa produces a clear gum, very soluble in water. Previous reports
      showed that it was constituted by four fractions, one of them an arabinogalactan
      protein complex. The elucidation of the A. tortuosa gum structure by the
      combination of classical chemical methods, size exclusion chromatography and NMR
      spectroscopy, was the objective of this investigation. The data obtained show
      that the heteropolysaccharide is an arabinogalactan type II, highly ramified,
      with lateral chains at C-2 as well as at C-6 of the galactose 3-O residues; mono
      O-substituted galactoses were not detected. There are residues of mannose, the
      arabinose, pyranose predominantly, is terminal and 2-O-linked. The abundance of
      the 4-O-methyl-alpha-d-glucuronic acid was not previously reported. The proteic
      fraction is probably represented by an arabinogalactan-protein complex that binds
      poorly with beta-glucosyl Yariv reagent, and two glycoproteins. The NMR spectra
      suggest that the carbohydrate links to hydroxyproline through the galactose
      (galactosylation). 

PMID- 25842316
TI  - Ethylene-dependent regulation of an alpha-L-arabinofuranosidase is associated to
      firmness loss in 'Gala' apples under long term cold storage.
AB  - Fruit texture changes impair the quality of apples submitted to long term
      storage, especially under cold. The changes are due to cell wall modifications
      during ripening and senescence and are associated to ethylene. We have
      investigated the activity of alpha-l-arabinofuranosidase, a glycosyl hydrolase
      acting on the side chains of pectin in the cell wall and middle lamella. The
      transcription of arabinofuranosidase coding sequences 1 and 3 was investigated in
      plant organs and in response to ethylene, employing hormone application and 1
      methylcyclopropene. The transcription of arabinofuranosidase genes is not
      restricted to fruits, although upregulated by ripening and ethylene. Transcripts
      of the genes were detected under cold storage up to 180 days. Similarly,
      arabinofuranosidase activity increased with rising levels of ethylene and under
      cold storage. Levels of arabinofuranosidase3 transcripts were higher than those
      of arabinofuranosidase1, suggesting that the first is an important contributor to
      enzyme activity and texture changes during cold storage.

PMID- 25842317
TI  - Kinetics of protein and textural changes in Atlantic salmon under frozen storage.
AB  - Fish proteins are highly susceptible to changes during frozen storage, leading to
      modifications in protein solubility, functionality, and structure, which affect
      the rheological properties, which, in turn, contribute to changes in techno
      functional properties. Under frozen storage, these changes are the result of many
      physical and chemical modifications, especially structural and functional protein
      changes. The aim of this study was to evaluate and quantify protein and textural
      changes during frozen storage of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fillets at four
      temperatures (268 K, 264 K, 260 K and 255 K). The Weibullian model was applied in
      order to understand the quality changes. Results for all frozen storage
      temperatures showed that total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) did not reach the
      regulated limits (30-35 mg/100 g muscle), salt-soluble protein (SSP) decreased
      systematically and total nitrogen (TN) was constant. Hardness, adhesiveness,
      gumminess and chewiness levels decreased systematically at all temperatures, but
      cohesiveness and springiness values were relatively constant over time, at the
      same given temperature. A comparison between different temperatures showed an
      increase in the measurements observed. A kinetic analysis for TVBN, SSP,
      hardness, adhesiveness and chewiness, was performed. All quality indicators,
      except TVBN, showed reaction rates inversely proportional to the temperature, and
      fractional shape factors or orders of reaction. Using the Weibullian model, this
      study demonstrates that, in complex biological processes, quality indicators do
      not have an integer kinetic order and reaction rates are strongly temperature
      dependent. Thus, this kind of model can be used to improve understanding,
      prediction, and control of the frozen storage process.

PMID- 25842318
TI  - Variations in the accumulation, localization and rate of metabolization of
      selenium in mature Zea mays plants supplied with selenite or selenate.
AB  - Quantification of selenium bioavailability from foods is a key challenge
      following the discovery of the antioxidant role of this micronutrient in human
      health. This study presents the uptake, accumulation and rate of metabolization
      in mature Zea mays plants grown in hydroponic solution supplemented with selenate
      or selenite. Selenium content was lower in plants supplemented with selenate and
      accumulated mainly in the leaves compared with selenite-treated plants where the
      selenium was retained in the roots. Selenite-treated grains accumulated more
      selenium. Selenate was metabolized less than selenite in whole plants, but in
      grains selenium was present exclusively as organic selenium compounds. For
      humans, the bioavailability of organic selenium was evaluated at 90% compared
      with only 50% for inorganic forms. Our results show that the potential for
      selenium bioavailability is increased with selenite treatment. 

PMID- 25842319
TI  - Rapid purification and characterization of angiotensin converting enzyme
      inhibitory peptides from lizard fish protein hydrolysates with magnetic affinity
      separation.
AB  - In this study, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides from
      lizard fish protein hydrolysate with neutral protease were purified through
      magnetic affinity separation. Magnetic agarose microsphere was prepared by
      reverse-phase microemulsion method, and its surface was modified with epoxy
      groups to immobilize ACE as a magnetic affinity medium (MAM-ACE) and then mixed
      with lizard fish ultrafiltration hydrolysate (<5 kDa). The MAM-ACE was recovered
      by a magnet. The bound peptides were released by 1M NaCl and further purified by
      reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The amino acid sequence of
      the peptide with the highest ACE inhibitory activity was identified as Gly-Met
      Lys-Cys-Ala-Phe, and its IC50 was 45.7 +/- 1.1 MUM. The result indicates that MAM
      ACE is a faster and more efficient method for purifying micro-bioactive peptides
      from food protein complex mixtures compared with ion exchange and gel
      chromatography.

PMID- 25842320
TI  - Comparative assessment of three cleanup procedures after QuEChERS extraction for
      determination of trichothecenes (type A and type B) in processed cereal-based
      baby foods by GC-MS.
AB  - A QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe) method was optimized
      and validated for the simultaneous extraction of 12 trichothecenes (type A and
      type B) from baby foods, followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
      analysis. Using this methodology, limits of detection and quantification ranging
      from 0.37 to 19.19 MUg/kg and 1.24 to 63.33 MUg/kg, respectively, were achieved.
      Mean recoveries between 44% and 135% were obtained and repeatability, expressed
      as relative standard deviation, was always lower than 29%. A comparison between
      the developed method and two alternative cleanup procedures (MultiSep and IAC-
      immunoaffinity columns) was performed, being the advantages and drawbacks of each
      one presented. The screening of nine commercially available cereal-based baby
      foods revealed the presence of 4 out of 12 studied trichothecenes: DON
      (deoxynivalenol), 15AcDON (15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol), T2-Tetrol and NEO
      (Neosolaniol). DON was the most commonly found, being detected in 4 samples in
      significant levels (29-270 MUg/kg), sometimes exceeding the maximum permitted
      level. 15AcDON, T2-Tetrol and NEO were found only in one sample each.

PMID- 25842321
TI  - Determination of irradiation dose and distinguishing between irradiated and non
      irradiated fish meat by real-time PCR.
AB  - In this study, the effects of gamma irradiation on the DNA of fish (Oncorhynchus
      mykiss) by real-time PCR were studied. Fish (O. mykiss) were exposed to radiation
      doses of 0.250, 0.500, 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 kGy in a gamma cell. Primers were
      designed for regions with different lengths of both nuclear and mitochondrial
      DNA, and each primer was used to amplify the DNA from irradiated samples. The
      amplicon curves for mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, and the correlations among the
      curves, were obtained. The Ct values for a 519 bp region of the 18S RNA gene on
      nuclear DNA correlated appropriately. Radiation doses applied to the fillets were
      estimated using the standard curve data obtained from the correlation values, and
      the DNA damage caused by each dose was calculated. As a consequence, a molecular
      methodology to analyze irradiated fish meat qualitatively and also for the
      estimation of administered dose was developed. This method allowed analysis of
      irradiated fish, which had been stored for up to 3 months with a dose limit of
      approximately 0.5 kGy.

PMID- 25842322
TI  - Morphological, nutritional and chemical description of "Vatikiotiko", an onion
      local landrace from Greece.
AB  - "Vatikiotiko" is an onion local landrace from Greece with special quality
      features, such as strong and pungent taste and storability. In this study, we
      tried for the first time to describe this landrace and record its morphological
      traits and nutritional value in comparison with commercially cultivated genotypes
      ("Creamgold", "Red Cross F1" and "Sivan F1"). Nutritional value of "Vatikiotiko"
      was higher than commercial genotypes, whereas total sugars, fructose and glucose
      content were lower in "Vatikiotiko" and "Creamgold" onions. Fatty acids composed
      mostly from polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and alpha-linolenic acid),
      whereas for "Vatikiotiko" saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids were detected
      in equal amounts (29.79% and 30.60%, respectively). "Vatikiotiko" and "Creamgold"
      had low antioxidant activity (DPPH radical scavenging activity), especially when
      comparing with "Sivan F1" and "Red Cross F1", whereas no flavonoids were detected
      in "Vatikiotiko". The overview of "Vatikiotiko" landrace supported its special
      character regarding its nutritional value (sugar content, mineral composition and
      fatty acids profile) and the necessity to revalorize and protect its traditional
      culture. The potential of introducing it as Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)
      or Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) product has also been discussed. 

PMID- 25842323
TI  - Formation and reduction of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural at frying temperature in model
      system as a function of amino acid and sugar composition.
AB  - 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is formed during heat treatment of carbohydrate
      containing foods, especially in a deep-fat frying process. This study aimed to
      investigate the effect of amino acids on the formation and reduction of HMF from
      glucose, fructose and sucrose at frying temperature in model systems containing
      binary mixtures of an amino acid and a sugar in equal concentrations (0.3M). The
      results revealed that the formation of HMF from sugars accelerated in the
      presence of acidic amino acids (i.e. glutamic and aspartic acids). Conversely,
      the presence of basic amino acids (i.e. lysine, arginine and histidine) led to
      reduced concentrations of HMF to non-detectable levels in model systems. The
      results showed that both pH and heating time significantly affected the formation
      of HMF from fructose in the presence of glutamic acid. In this regard, a higher
      amount of HMF was formed at lower pH. 

PMID- 25842324
TI  - Effect of water, metallic ions, fatty acid and temperature on oxidative stability
      of 1-octacosanol from sugarcane rind.
AB  - The chemical composition and selected physical parameters of crude 1-octacosanol
      (1-OC) extracted from sugarcane rind have been determined. GC-MS results
      exhibited that 1-OC sample was primarily composed of 1-OC (45.17%), 1-docosene
      (12.04%), 1-triacontanol (0.23%), 1-heneicosanol (0.33%), 1-tetracosanal (0.28%),
      campesterol (4.5%), stigmasterol (9.12%) and beta-sitosterol (8.23%). The
      linoleic acid had important effects on physical and chemical properties of 1-OC
      sample, as it notably changed the melting point and the onset oxidation
      temperature To of 1-OC sample from 83.75 +/- 0.35  degrees C to 63.25 +/- 0.35 
      degrees C and 245.64 +/- 2.04  degrees C to 160.03 +/- 0.01  degrees C,
      respectively. It was also proved that the oxidation reactions were significantly
      different at different temperature levels. 1-OC was stable up to 245.64 +/- 2.04 
      degrees C. However, when the temperature continued to rise, 1-OC and its
      oxidation products started to be oxidized. Therefore, attention should be paid to
      the quality of 1-OC during the preparation of food and to minimize the
      undesirable breakdown products.

PMID- 25842325
TI  - Rapid approach to identify the presence of Arabica and Robusta species in coffee
      using 1H NMR spectroscopy.
AB  - NMR spectroscopy was used to verify the presence of Arabica and Robusta species
      in coffee. Lipophilic extracts of authentic roasted and green coffees showed the
      presence of established markers for Robusta (16-O-methylcafestol (16-OMC)) and
      for Arabica (kahweol). The integration of the 16-OMC signal (delta 3.165 ppm) was
      used to estimate the amount of Robusta in coffee blends with an approximate limit
      of detection of 1-3%. The method was successfully applied for the analysis of 77
      commercial coffee samples (coffee pods, coffee capsules, and coffee beans).
      Furthermore, principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the spectra of
      lipophilic and aqueous extracts of 20 monovarietal authentic samples. Clusters of
      the two species were observed. NMR spectroscopy can be used as a rapid
      prescreening tool to discriminate Arabica and Robusta coffee species before the
      confirmation applying the official method.

PMID- 25842326
TI  - Effects of sub-lethal concentrations of thyme and oregano essential oils,
      carvacrol, thymol, citral and trans-2-hexenal on membrane fatty acid composition
      and volatile molecule profile of Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli and
      Salmonella enteritidis.
AB  - The aim of this work was to investigate the modifications of cell membrane fatty
      acid composition and volatile molecule profiles of Listeria monocytogenes,
      Salmonella enteritidis, Escherichia coli, during growth in the presence of
      different sub-lethal concentrations of thyme and oregano essential oils as well
      as carvacrol, thymol, trans-2-hexenal and citral. The results evidenced that the
      tested molecules induced noticeable modifications of membrane fatty acid profiles
      and volatile compounds produced during the growth. Although specific differences
      in relation to the species considered were identified, the tested compounds
      induced a marked increase of some membrane associated fatty acids, particularly
      unsaturated fatty acids, trans-isomers, and specific released free fatty acids.
      These findings can contribute to the comprehension of the stress response
      mechanisms used by different pathogenic microorganisms often involved in food
      borne diseases in relation to the exposure to sub-lethal concentrations of
      natural antimicrobials. 

PMID- 25842327
TI  - Ecdysteroids in Sida tuberculata R.E. Fries (Malvaceae): chemical composition by
      LC-ESI-MS and selective anti-Candida krusei activity.
AB  - Sida tuberculata is found in a region of South America and has traditionally been
      consumed as an infusion or tea. The chemical composition and antifungal activity
      of aqueous infusions from leaves and roots were investigated. LC-ESI-MS mass
      spectra were successfully obtained and used to identify four ecdysteroids: 20
      hydroxyecdysone-3-O-beta-D-glycopyranoside, 20-hydroxyecdysone, 20
      hydroxyecdysone-3-O-beta-D-xylose and a hydroxyecdysterone derivative. The in
      vitro antifungal activity was studied, and the minimal inhibitory concentration
      (MIC) and minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC) were established against Candida
      krusei isolates. The antibiofilm activity was evaluated by the determination of
      the biofilm removal efficiency in contaminated central venous catheter (CVC)
      coupons. The preparations exhibited antifungal activity against the species
      tested, with MICs ranging from 3.90 to 62.50 MUg/ml. The infusion removed the C.
      krusei biofilm after 90 min of exposure. The observed bioactivity and composition
      of ecdysteroids will contribute to the future development of antifungal
      substances for clinical use or as food additives.

PMID- 25842328
TI  - Application of muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia Michx.) pomace extract to
      reduce carcinogenic acrylamide.
AB  - Acrylamide is a byproduct of the Maillard reaction and is formed in a variety of
      heat-treated commercial starchy foods. It is known to be toxic and potentially
      carcinogenic to humans. Muscadine grape polyphenols and standard phenolic
      compounds were examined on the reduction of acrylamide in an equimolar
      asparagine/glucose chemical model, a potato chip model, and a simulated
      physiological system. Polyphenols were found to significantly reduce acrylamide
      in the chemical model, with reduced rates higher than 90% at 100 MUg/ml. In the
      potato chip model, grape polyphenols reduced the acrylamide level by 60.3% as
      concentration was increased to 0.1%. However, polyphenols exhibited no acrylamide
      reduction in the simulated physiological system. Results also indicated no
      significant correlation between the antioxidant activities of polyphenols and
      their acrylamide inhibition. This study demonstrated muscadine grape extract can
      mitigate acrylamide formation in the Maillard reaction, which provides a new
      value-added application for winery pomace waste.

PMID- 25842329
TI  - Singlet oxygen autoxidation of vegetable oils: evidences for lack of synergy
      between beta-carotene and tocopherols.
AB  - The synergy between beta-carotene and tocopherols--antioxidants protecting oils
      from oxidation, was analyzed in a model system. The model used stripped borage
      and evening primrose oils. A chlorophyll extract, beta-carotene and one of the
      tocopherols were added together or separately to the oils. Oil oxidation was
      initiated by singlet oxygen that was produced by chlorophylls irradiated with the
      use of a xenon lamp equipped with the cut-off 600 nm filter. Experiments were
      carried out at two mole ratios of tocopherols to beta-carotene, i.e. at 1:1 and
      23:1. Analyses were performed using absorption and fluorescence spectra in the
      UV+Vis region. The results demonstrated an antagonistic action of the
      antioxidants. The protective effect of unsaturated fatty acids was significantly
      better in the case of beta-carotene compared to the tocopherols. Furthermore,
      tocopherols were less effective in protecting the oils in the presence of beta
      carotene than without it.

PMID- 25842330
TI  - Cooking behavior and starch digestibility of NUTRIOSE(r) (resistant starch)
      enriched noodles from sweet potato flour and starch.
AB  - The effect of a resistant starch source, NUTRIOSE(r) FB06 at 10%, 15% and 20% in
      sweet potato flour (SPF) and 5% and 10% in sweet potato starch (SPS) in reducing
      the starch digestibility and glycaemic index of noodles was investigated. While
      NUTRIOSE (10%) significantly reduced the cooking loss in SPF noodles, this was
      enhanced in SPS noodles and guar gum (GG) supplementation reduced CL of both
      noodles. In vitro starch digestibility (IVSD) was significantly reduced in test
      noodles compared to 73.6g glucose/100g starch in control SPF and 65.9 g in SPS
      noodles. Resistant starch (RS) was 54.96% for NUTRIOSE (15%)+GG (1%) fortified
      SPF noodles and 53.3% for NUTRIOSE (5%)+GG (0.5%) fortified SPS noodles, as
      against 33.8% and 40.68%, respectively in SPF and SPS controls. Lowest glycaemic
      index (54.58) and the highest sensory scores (4.23) were obtained for noodles
      with 15% NUTRIOSE+1% GG.

PMID- 25842331
TI  - The structure of infant formulas impacts their lipolysis, proteolysis and
      disintegration during in vitro gastric digestion.
AB  - Milk lipids supply most of the calories necessary for newborn growth in maternal
      milk or infant formulas. The chemical composition of infant formulas has been
      optimized but not the structure of the emulsion. There is still a major
      difference between the native emulsions of milk fat globules and processed
      submicronic emulsions in infant formulas. This difference may modify the kinetics
      of digestion of emulsions in newborns and influence lipid metabolism. To check
      this, semi-dynamic gastric in vitro digestions were conducted on three matrices:
      a standardized milk emulsion containing native milk fat globules referred to as
      minimally-processed emulsion and two processed model infant formulas (homogenized
      or homogenized/pasteurized). Gastric conditions mimicked those reported in
      newborns. The minimally-processed emulsion was lipolyzed and proteolyzed slower
      than processed formulas. The difference in initial structure persisted during
      digestion. The surface of the droplets was the key parameter to control gastric
      lipolysis kinetics, the pattern of released fatty acids and proteolysis by faster
      hydrolysis of adsorbed proteins. 

PMID- 25842332
TI  - A reliable and reproducible method for the lipase assay in an AOT/isooctane
      reversed micellar system: modification of the copper-soap colorimetric method.
AB  - The copper-soap method, which is based on the absorbance of a fatty acid-copper
      complex at 715 nm, is a widely used colorimetric assay to determine the lipase
      activity in reversed micellar system. However, the absorbance of the bis(2
      ethylhexyl) sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT)-copper complex prevents the use of an
      AOT/isooctane reversed micellar system. An extraction step was added to the
      original procedure to remove AOT and eliminate interference from the AOT-copper
      complex. Among the solvents tested, acetonitrile was determined to be the most
      suitable because it allows for the generation of a reproducible calibration curve
      with oleic acid that is independent of the AOT concentrations. Based on the
      validation data, the modified method, which does not experience interference from
      the AOT-copper complex, could be a useful method with enhanced accuracy and
      reproducibility for the lipase assay.

PMID- 25842333
TI  - Determination of creatinine, uric and ascorbic acid in bovine milk and orange
      juice by hydrophilic interaction HPLC.
AB  - Creatinine (Cr), uric (UA) and ascorbic acid (AA) are common constituents in
      human fluids. Their abnormal concentrations in human fluids are associated with
      various diseases. Thus, apart from the endogenous formation in human body, it is
      also important to examine their sources from food products. In this study, a
      rapid and accurate HILIC method was developed for simultaneous determination of
      Cr, UA and AA in bovine milk and orange juice. Milk samples were pretreated by
      protein precipitation, centrifugation and filtration, followed by HPLC separation
      and quantification using a Waters Spherisorb S5NH2 column. The developed method
      has been successfully applied to determine the concentration of UA, AA and Cr in
      milk and fruit juice samples. The milk samples tested were found to contain UA
      and creatinine in the concentration range of 24.1-86.0 and 5.07-11.2 MUg mL(-1),
      respectively. The orange juices contain AA over 212 MUg mL(-1).

PMID- 25842334
TI  - Validation of quantitative method for azoxystrobin residues in green beans and
      peas.
AB  - This study presents a method validation for extraction and quantitative analysis
      of azoxystrobin residues in green beans and peas using HPLC-UV and the results
      confirmed by GC-MS. The employed method involved initial extraction with
      acetonitrile after the addition of salts (magnesium sulfate and sodium chloride),
      followed by a cleanup step by activated neutral carbon. Validation parameters;
      linearity, matrix effect, LOQ, specificity, trueness and repeatability precision
      were attained. The spiking levels for the trueness and the precision experiments
      were (0.1, 0.5, 3 mg/kg). For HPLC-UV analysis, mean recoveries ranged between
      83.69% to 91.58% and 81.99% to 107.85% for green beans and peas, respectively.
      For GC-MS analysis, mean recoveries ranged from 76.29% to 94.56% and 80.77% to
      100.91% for green beans and peas, respectively. According to these results, the
      method has been proven to be efficient for extraction and determination of
      azoxystrobin residues in green beans and peas.

PMID- 25842335
TI  - GC-MS-olfactometric characterization of the most aroma-active components in a
      representative aromatic extract from Iranian saffron (Crocus sativus L.).
AB  - Aroma and aroma-active compounds of Iranian saffron (Crocus sativus L.) were
      analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-olfactometry. The saffron
      aromatic extracts were obtained by four different extraction techniques including
      solvent-assisted flavour evaporation (SAFE), liquid-liquid extraction (LLE),
      solid phase extraction (SPE), and simultaneous distillation extraction (SDE) and
      compared to achieve a representative aromatic extract from saffron. According to
      sensory analysis, the aromatic extract obtained by SAFE was the most
      representative of saffron odour. A total of 28 aroma compounds were identified in
      saffron. Ketones were quantitatively the most dominant volatiles in saffron,
      followed by aldehydes and acids. Aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA) was used
      for the determination of aroma-active compounds of saffron. A total of nine aroma
      active compounds were detected in the aromatic extract. On the basis of the
      flavour dilution (FD) factor, the most powerful aroma active compounds were
      safranal (FD = 512), 4-ketoisophorone (FD = 256) and dihydrooxophorone (FD =
      128).

PMID- 25842336
TI  - Combined effects of reduced malaxation oxygen levels and storage time on extra
      virgin olive oil volatiles investigated by a novel chemometric approach.
AB  - Combined effects of oxygen level reduction in the malaxation headspace and
      storage time up to 6 months on the volatile composition of a monovarietal extra
      virgin olive oil (EVOO), obtained from cv. Carboncella olives, were investigated
      by applying a full factorial design approach (4 oxygen levels * 4 storage times)
      on EVOOs extracted on an industrial scale in two mills, equipped with "two-phase"
      and "three-phase" centrifugation systems, respectively. The outcoming data were
      analysed by the chemometric technique called ANOVA-simultaneous component
      analysis (ASCA). Both reduction of oxygen malaxation levels and storage time
      significantly affected the volatile profile of the extracted EVOOs. Reduction of
      oxygen malaxation levels hindered the formation of lipoxygenase derived volatiles
      (hexanal, 1-hexanol, (Z)-2-hexenal, (E)-2-hexen-1-ol, (Z)-2-penten-1-ol, 2,4
      hexadienals), whereas prolonged storage times were associated with increased
      levels of autoxidation products (octane, hexanal, C10 hydrocarbons) and other
      compounds that could originate from exogenous microbial activity (1-octen-3-ol, 6
      methyl-5-hepten-2-one, benzaldehyde, methyl salicylate).

PMID- 25842337
TI  - Effects of gluten-free breads, with varying functional supplements, on the
      biochemical parameters and antioxidant status of rat serum.
AB  - This paper examines the effects of gluten-free bread enriched with functional
      ingredients (milk powder, poppy, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, egg yolk, carum,
      hazel nuts and amaranth) on the morphological and biochemical parameters and
      antioxidant status of rats serum. Rats were provided test diets--gluten-free
      breads and water ad libitum. After 14 days, the animals were weighed and killed.
      A hazel nut-amaranth bread diet significantly increased the level of thrombocytes
      when compared to control bread. A mixed bread diet significantly decreased
      cholesterol levels in rats. All fortified breads decreased triglyceride levels
      and alanine transaminase activity and caused an increase in antiradical activity
      of the serum. In rats fed with poppy-milk bread, milk-seed bread and mixed bread,
      a marked decrease in superoxide dismutase activity was found. Enriched breads
      reduced the levels of triglyceride and improved the antiradical properties of
      serum, although the physiological relevance of this needs to be confirmed by
      human studies.

PMID- 25842338
TI  - Core-shell biopolymer nanoparticle delivery systems: synthesis and
      characterization of curcumin fortified zein-pectin nanoparticles.
AB  - Biopolymer core-shell nanoparticles were fabricated using a hydrophobic protein
      (zein) as the core and a hydrophilic polysaccharide (pectin) as the shell.
      Particles were prepared by coating cationic zein nanoparticles with anionic
      pectin molecules using electrostatic deposition (pH 4). The core-shell
      nanoparticles were fortified with curcumin (a hydrophobic bioactive molecule) at
      a high loading efficiency (>86%). The resulting nanoparticles were spherical,
      relatively small (diameter ~ 250 nm), and had a narrow size distribution
      (polydispersity index ~ 0.24). The encapsulated curcumin was in an amorphous
      (rather than crystalline form) as detected by differential scanning calorimetry
      (DSC). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectra indicated that the
      encapsulated curcumin interacted with zein mainly through hydrophobic
      interactions. The nanoparticles were converted into a powdered form that had good
      water-dispersibility. These core-shell biopolymer nanoparticles could be useful
      for incorporating curcumin into functional foods and beverages, as well as
      dietary supplements and pharmaceutical products.

PMID- 25842339
TI  - Characterization of polyphenols, sugars, and other polar compounds in persimmon
      juices produced under different technologies and their assessment in terms of
      compositional variations.
AB  - Persimmon juice is emerging in the global juice market as a new wholesome
      commercial juice that could effectively complement a healthy diet, given the
      epidemiological evidence linking a diet rich in fruits and vegetables with
      reduced incidences of chronic diseases. However, little data are available on the
      persimmon-juice composition or on the effect of the technological treatment
      employed for its production. The present work performs a complete qualitative
      analytical characterization through high-performance liquid chromatography
      coupled to electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI-TOF/MS) of
      the diverse persimmon juices produced under different technologies in a pilot
      plant (clarification, astringency removal, flash vacuum expansion, centrifugation
      and pasteurization) in order to evaluate the effect of the different production
      procedures on the polar chemical profile of persimmon juice. Persimmon-juice
      extracts have been found to be a source of sugars, protein derivatives, organic
      acids, vitamins, and polyphenols, including simple polyphenols (phenolic acids
      and flavonoids) and polymerized flavan-3-ols. A marked influence of processing on
      the composition of the juices has been noticed. Extracts 3 and 7 (undergoing the
      combinations of clarification and centrifugation, and astringency removal,
      centrifugation and pasteurization, respectively) contained more polyphenols,
      which may help reduce risk of chronic diseases. 

PMID- 25842340
TI  - Physicochemical properties of tamarillo (Solanum betaceum Cav.) hydrocolloid
      fractions.
AB  - Tamarillo (Solanum betaceum Cav.) is an underutilised fruit in Malaysia. The
      fruit, however, contains good proportions of soluble fibre, protein, starch,
      anthocyanins and carotenoids. Amongst the fruits, only tamarillo mesocarp
      contains both polar (anthocyanins) and non-polar (carotenoids) pigments. The
      ability to retain both polar and non-polar pigments in the mesocarp could be
      related to the unique properties of its hydrocolloids. To understand the pigment
      hydrocolloid interaction in the fruit, information on the physicochemical
      characteristics of the hydrocolloids is required. Therefore, hydrocolloids from
      the anthocyanin-rich seed mucilage fraction of the tamarillo and its carotenoid
      rich pulp fraction were extracted and characterised. Water and 1% citric acid
      were used to extract the seed mucilage hydrocolloid while 72% ethanol and 20mM
      HEPES buffer were used for pulp hydrocolloid extraction. Seed mucilage
      hydrocolloid was primarily composed of arabinogalactan protein-associated pectin
      whereas pulp hydrocolloid was composed of hemicellulosic polysaccharides with
      some naturally interacting proteins and neutral polysaccharides. 

PMID- 25842342
TI  - How does electron beam irradiation dose affect the chemical and antioxidant
      profiles of wild dried Amanita mushrooms?
AB  - As with all mushrooms, Amanita species demonstrates several conservation
      problems, due to a post-harvest life limited to a few days. Drying is one of the
      most commonly used methods in mushroom preservation. Food irradiation is another
      possible way to improve food quality and insure its security. Among the emerging
      irradiation technologies, electron beam irradiation has wide applications,
      allowing for high throughput, wide flexibility and potential, without any
      negative effect on the environment. The effects of different electron beam
      irradiation doses in Amanita genus, were assessed by measuring the changes
      produced on a wide variety of nutritional, chemical and antioxidant indicators.
      The evaluated profiles indicated differences between non-irradiated and
      irradiated samples, however a high similarity was observed among different doses.
      This finding advises that the highest assayed dose (10 kGy) be applied, ensuring
      a higher effectiveness from a decontamination and disinfestation perspective,
      without having any stronger effects than those observed by the lower doses.

PMID- 25842341
TI  - The content of Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg and Mn and antioxidant activity of green coffee
      brews.
AB  - A simple and fast method of the analysis of green coffee infusions was developed
      to measure total concentrations of Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg and Mn by high resolution
      continuum source flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The precision of the
      method was within 1-8%, while the accuracy was within -1% to 2%. The method was
      used to the analysis of infusions of twelve green coffees of different
      geographical origin. It was found that Ca and Mg were leached the easiest, i.e.,
      on average 75% and 70%, respectively. As compared to the mug coffee preparation,
      the rate of the extraction of elements was increased when infusions were prepared
      using dripper or Turkish coffee preparation methods. Additionally, it was
      established that the antioxidant activity of green coffee infusions prepared
      using the mug coffee preparation was high, 75% on average, and positively
      correlated with the total content of phenolic compounds and the concentration of
      Ca in the brew. 

PMID- 25842343
TI  - Identification and determination of 34 water-soluble synthetic dyes in foodstuff
      by high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-ion trap time-of
      flight tandem mass spectrometry.
AB  - An accurate method combining high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with
      diode array detection (DAD) and ion-trap time-of-flight mass spectrometry (IT
      TOF/MS) was developed for simultaneous identification and quantification of 34
      water-soluble synthetic dyes in foodstuff. Fragmentation patterns of synthetic
      dyes were proposed based on IT-TOF/MS. The molecular ion [M+H](+) was not
      observed in the conventional single-stage mass spectra for most of synthetic
      dyes. The single-stage mass spectra of synthetic dyes all afforded the diagnostic
      ions [(M-nNa+nH)+H](+) or [(M-nNa+nH)-H](-) in the positive or negative mode.
      Doubly charged ions were the characteristic ions of azo dyes. An HPLC-DAD method
      was developed to analyze 34 synthetic dyes in foodstuffs. The limits of detection
      (LOD) for the dyes were 0.01-0.05 MUg/mL. The recoveries were between 76.1% and
      105.0% with a RSD ranging from 1.4% to 6.4%. This method was successfully applied
      to analyzing the 34 water-soluble synthetic dyes in 21 commercial foods.

PMID- 25842344
TI  - Folate content and retention in commonly consumed vegetables in the South
      Pacific.
AB  - This paper reports the effect of boiling and frying on the retention of folate in
      commonly consumed Fijian vegetables (drumstick leaves, taro leaves, bele leaves,
      amaranth leaves, fern/ota, okra and French bean). The folate content was
      determined by microbiological assay (Lactobacillus casei rhamnosus) and tri
      enzyme (protease, alpha-amylase and chicken pancreas conjugase) extraction
      treatment. The folate loss varied among the vegetables from 10-64% on boiling
      while 1-36% on frying. The higher folate loss was observed during boiling. The
      folate content in the water derived after boiling different vegetables ranged
      from 11.9 +/- 0.5 to 61.6 +/- 2.5 MUg/100mL. The folate loss on boiling was
      accounted for in the cooking water. The predominant way of folate loss on boiling
      was leaching rather than thermal degradation which makes boiling the better
      choice of cooking the studied vegetables for folate intake, provided the cooking
      water is consumed together with the vegetables.

PMID- 25842345
TI  - Genetic and Environmental Influences on Adult Mental Health: Evidence for Gene
      Environment Interplay as a Function of Maternal and Paternal Discipline and
      Affection.
AB  - Researchers have long theorized that genetic influence on mental health may
      differ as a function of environmental risk factors. One likely moderator of
      genetic and environmental influences on psychopathological symptoms is parenting
      behavior, as phenotypic research shows that negative aspects of parent-child
      relationships are associated with greater likelihood of mental illness in
      adulthood. The current study examined whether levels of reported parental
      discipline and affection experienced in childhood act as a trigger, or buffer,
      for adult mental health problems. Results from a nationwide twin sample suggest
      level of father's discipline and affection, as reported by now-adult twins,
      moderated genetic and environmental influences on internalizing symptoms in
      adulthood, such that heritability was greatest at the highest levels of
      discipline and affection. Father's affection also moderated the etiological
      influences on alcohol use problems, with greater heritability at the lowest
      levels of affection. No moderating effect was found for mothers. Findings suggest
      relationships with fathers in childhood can have long-lasting effects on the
      etiological influences on adult mental health outcomes. 

PMID- 25842346
TI  - The effect of sleep continuity on pain in adults with sickle cell disease.
AB  - This analysis examined the influence of quantifiable parameters of daily sleep
      continuity, primarily sleep duration and sleep fragmentation, on daily pain in
      adults with sickle cell disease. Seventy-five adults with sickle cell disease
      completed baseline psychosocial measures and daily morning (sleep) and evening
      (pain) diaries over a 3-month period. Mixed-effect modeling was used to examine
      daily between- and within-subjects effects of sleep continuity parameters on
      pain, as well as the synergistic effect of sleep fragmentation and sleep duration
      on pain. Results revealed that nights of shorter sleep duration and time in bed,
      increased fragmentation, and less efficient sleep (relative to one's own mean)
      were followed by days of greater pain severity. Further, the analgesic benefit of
      longer sleep duration was attenuated when sleep fragmentation was elevated. These
      results suggest that both the separate and combined effects of sleep duration and
      fragmentation should be considered in evaluating pain in adults with sickle cell
      disease. PERSPECTIVE: Subjective parameters of sleep continuity (eg, sleep
      duration, fragmentation, and efficiency) predict clinical pain in individuals
      with sickle cell disease. Additionally, sleep duration should not be considered
      in isolation, and its association with pain may be qualified by sleep
      fragmentation. Research and practice should include assessments of both when
      addressing pain severity.

PMID- 25842348
TI  - Coronary artery perforation in a patient with STEMI and a myocardial bridge: an
      increased risk for coronary artery perforation?
AB  - We present the case of a patient with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)
      due to subtotal occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery caused
      by an atherosclerotic lesion and a myocardial bridge (MB). Stenting of the MB
      caused coronary artery perforation resulting in a fistula to the right ventricle
      that was closed by implantation of a PTFE-covered stent. Follow-up coronary
      angiography showed persistent shunting, which was sealed by inflation of a high
      pressure balloon over the site of extravasation guided by intravascular
      ultrasound. Additionally, we provide a short review of cases with coronary artery
      perforation after stenting of an MB. 

PMID- 25842347
TI  - MU-Opioid Receptor Gene A118 G Variants and Persistent Pain Symptoms Among Men
      and Women Experiencing Motor Vehicle Collision.
AB  - The MU-opioid receptor 1 (OPRM1) binds endogenous opioids. Increasing evidence
      suggests that endogenous OPRM1 agonists released at the time of trauma may
      contribute to the development of posttraumatic musculoskeletal pain (MSP). In
      this prospective observational study, we evaluated the hypothesis that
      individuals with an AG or GG genotype at the OPRM1 A118 G allele, which results
      in a reduced response to opioids, would have less severe MSP 6 weeks after motor
      vehicle collision (MVC). Based on previous evidence, we hypothesized that this
      effect would be sex-dependent and most pronounced among women with substantial
      peritraumatic distress. European American men and women >= 18 years of age
      presenting to the emergency department after MVC and discharged to home after
      evaluation (N = 948) were enrolled. Assessments included genotyping and 6-week
      evaluation of overall MSP severity (0-10 numeric rating scale). In linear
      regression modeling, a significant A118 G Allele * Sex interaction was observed:
      an AG/GG genotype predicted reduced MSP severity among women with substantial
      peritraumatic distress (beta = -.925, P = .014) but not among all women. In
      contrast, men with an AG/GG genotype experienced increased MSP severity at 6
      weeks (beta = .827, P = .019). Further studies are needed to understand the
      biologic mechanisms mediating observed sex differences in A118 G effects.
      PERSPECTIVE: These results suggest a sex-dependent mechanism by which an
      emotional response to trauma (distress) contributes to a biologic mechanism
      (endogenous opioid release) that increases MSP in the weeks after stress
      exposure. These results also support the hypothesis that endogenous opioids
      influence pain outcomes differently in men and women.

PMID- 25842349
TI  - Side-branch technique for difficult guidewire placement in coronary bifurcation
      lesion.
AB  - Despite tremendous advances in technology and skills, percutaneous coronary
      intervention (PCI) of bifurcation lesion (BL) remains a particular challenge for
      the interventionalist. During bifurcation PCI, safe guidewire placement in the
      main branch (MB) and the side branch (SB) is the first step for successful
      procedure. However, in certain cases, the complex pattern of vessel anatomy and
      the mix of plaque distribution may make target vessel wiring highly challenging.
      Therefore, specific techniques are required for solving this problem. Hereby, we
      describe a new use of side-branch technique for difficult guidewire placement in
      BL. 

PMID- 25842350
TI  - The changing face of autism in Brazil.
AB  - At the end of 2012, after intensive lobbying by parent activist associations, a
      federal law recognized autism as a "disability for all legal purposes" in Brazil.
      Defining autism as a disability was more than a change of legal status to
      guarantee social benefits. It was also a political maneuver, orchestrated by
      parent associations, aimed to take the responsibility for treatment away from the
      public mental health network of services. This article examines the controversies
      that have set parent associations in direct antagonism with mental health
      professionals in the public health system. We draw from ethnographic data and
      theoretical discussions in the field of disability studies to situate these
      controversies within the context of a larger debate on the relationship between
      health, rights, and citizenship. We found similarities between the ethical and
      political goals of parent activists and mental health professionals in Brazil,
      but we argue that the main cause of dissent is the role that each of these social
      actors assigns to identity politics in their clinical and political projects. 

PMID- 25842351
TI  - Erratum to: Writing Prozak Diaries in Tehran: Generational Anomie and Psychiatric
      Subjectivities.

PMID- 25842353
TI  - Erratum to: Anti-miR-362-3p Inhibits Migration and Invasion of Human Gastric
      Cancer Cells by Its Target CD82.

PMID- 25842354
TI  - Differential Expression of Ion Channels and Transporters During Hepatocellular
      Carcinoma Development.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ion channels and transporters are potential markers and therapeutic
      targets for several cancers. However, their expression during hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC) development remains unclear. AIM: To investigate the mRNA
      expression of Na(+), K(+) and Ca(2+) channels and ABC transporters during rat HCC
      development, as well as Abcc3 protein in human liver biopsies. METHODS: Wistar
      rats were treated with diethylnitrosamine (DEN) and developed both cirrhosis (12
      weeks of treatment) and either pre-neoplastic lesions (16 weeks of treatment) or
      multinodular HCC (16 weeks of treatment plus 2 weeks DEN-free). The mRNA
      expression of 12 ion channels and two ABC transporters was studied using real
      time RT-PCR. Tumor-containing or tumor-free liver sections were isolated by laser
      capture microdissection. Abcc3 protein expression was studied by
      immunohistochemistry in healthy, cirrhotic and HCC human biopsies. RESULTS: We
      observed expression changes in seven genes. Kcna3, Kcnn4, Kcnrg and Kcnj11
      potassium channel mRNA expression reached peak values at the end of DEN
      treatment, while Scn2a1 sodium channel, Trpc6 calcium channel and Abcc3
      transporter mRNA expression reached their highest levels in the presence of HCC
      (18 weeks). Whereas Kcnn4 and Scn2a1 channel expression was similar in non-tumor
      and tumor tissue, the Abcc3 transporter and Kcna3 potassium channels were
      preferentially overexpressed in the tumor sections. We observed differential
      Abcc3 protein subcellular localization and expression in human samples.
      CONCLUSIONS: The ion channel/transporter expression profile observed suggests
      that these genes are potential early markers or therapeutic targets of HCC. The
      differential localization of Abcc3 may be useful in the diagnosis of cirrhosis
      and HCC.

PMID- 25842355
TI  - Multi-Dimensional Gastrointestinal Symptom Severity Index: Validation of a Brief
      GI Symptom Assessment Tool.
AB  - Few instruments have been developed and validated for the evaluation of multi
      dimensional GI symptoms. The Gastrointestinal Symptoms Severity Index (GISSI), a
      multi-dimensional, self-report instrument, was designed as a brief measure of the
      frequency, severity, and bothersomeness of individual GI and pelvic
      floor/urogynecologic symptoms. AIM: To report the psychometric properties of the
      GISSI subscales, including factorial structure, validity, and internal
      consistency. METHODS: The GISSI included 32 items that assessed upper and lower
      GI symptoms and seven items related to pelvic floor/urogynecologic symptoms. A
      total of 934 patients presenting for upper and lower GI complaints completed the
      questionnaire between January 2013 and December 2013. The sample was randomly
      split into derivation (n = 466) and validation datasets (n = 468). A non-patient
      sample of 200 was collected separately. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis
      supported a six-factor model for the derivation sample that accounted for 69.3 %
      of the total variance. The six GI symptom clusters were labeled as
      constipation/difficult defecation (five items), abdominal pain/discomfort (four
      items), dyspepsia (four items), diarrhea/anal incontinence (four items),
      GERD/chest symptoms (four items), and nausea/vomiting (two items). Inclusion of
      additional items related to female pelvic floor/urogynecologic symptoms resulted
      in a separate factor. Confirmatory factor analysis of the validation dataset
      supported the a priori hypothesized six-factor measurement model (Chi (2)(428) =
      1462.98; P < 0.001; GFI = .88; RMSEA = .051). CONCLUSION: The GISSI demonstrated
      good to excellent psychometric properties and provided multi-dimensional scaling
      of prominent GI symptom clusters. Further validation may provide an efficient,
      valid, and reliable measure of patient-reported clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25842356
TI  - Awareness of modifiable acute myocardial infarction risk factors has little
      impact on risk perception for heart attack among vulnerable patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Poor awareness of modifiable risks for acute myocardial infarction
      (AMI) may explain the reported weak relationship between patients' actual and
      perceived risk for AMI. OBJECTIVES: To assess the level of awareness of
      modifiable risks and perceived vulnerability for AMI among Jordanian patients,
      and to determine their independent association. METHODS: This was a cross
      sectional correlational study (N = 231). Perceived risk, awareness of risk
      factors and risk profile were collected by self-reports and medical chart review.
      RESULTS: Patients were mostly males (80%) and had a mean of 55.3 +/- 12.6 years
      for age. Perceived and actual AMI risks were not highly congruent even though
      patients had, on average, two modifiable risks and were knowledgeable of them.
      Awareness of risk factors independently explained 3.5% of the variance in
      perceived risk. CONCLUSIONS: The risk for developing AMI is underestimated among
      cardiac patients and it is only weakly linked with their awareness of AMI risk
      factors.

PMID- 25842357
TI  - Impacts of cardiac rehabilitation on ventricular repolarization indexes and
      ventricular arrhythmias in patients affected by coronary artery disease and type
      2 diabetes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The benefits of cardiac rehabilitation in diabetic patients are well
      recognized. We aimed to assess its impact on ventricular repolarization indexes
      and the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with coronary artery
      disease (CAD) and diabetes type 2. METHODS: From January 2012 to August 2013, 122
      consecutive patients [diabetics (n = 59) and non diabetics (n = 63)] were
      prospectively enrolled in an out-patient rehabilitation program. Clinical
      examination, 12-lead ECG, 24-Holter ECGs and maximal exercise testing were
      performed at the beginning and end of the rehabilitation program in all patients.
      RESULTS: Diabetic patients showed significant decreases of repolarization
      indexes: QTc (-6.4%; p = 0.006), QTc disp (-22.6%; p = 0.050) and JTc (-9.4%; p =
      0.003). At the end of the rehabilitation program diabetic patients showed a
      higher decrease in ventricular arrhythmias according to Lown classes' grading in
      comparison to non diabetics (-1.05 +/- 0.84 vs -0.74 +/- 0.91; p = 0.048).
      Insulin therapy was associated with a lower decrease in Lown classes compared to
      oral anti-diabetics (-0.95 +/- 0.80 vs -1.61 +/- 0.84; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION:
      Cardiac rehabilitation provided an improvement in the majority of ventricular
      repolarization indexes in patients with diabetes type 2 and CAD, decreasing the
      frequency of ventricular arrhythmias, particularly in those not treated by
      insulin.

PMID- 25842358
TI  - Neutrophil count is the most important prognostic component of the differential
      white cell count in patients undergoing elective surgery for colorectal cancer.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Systemic inflammatory scoring systems such as the NLR have been
      reported to have prognostic value in many solid organ cancers. The aim of this
      study was to examine the relationships between the components of the white cell
      count (WCC) and survival in patients undergoing elective surgery for colorectal
      cancer. METHODS: Patients undergoing elective resection at a single center (1997
      to 2008) were identified from a prospective database (n = 508). Patient
      demographics and preoperative laboratory measurements including the differential
      WCC and their association with cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall
      survival were examined. RESULTS: There were 172 cancer deaths and 120 noncancer
      deaths. On Kaplan-Meier analysis of the whole cohort, age, Tumor, Nodal, and
      Metastasis stage, venous invasion, margin involvement, peritoneal involvement and
      tumor perforation, and white cell and neutrophil count (all P < .05) were
      associated with CSS. In those with node-negative colon cancer (n = 226), on
      multivariate analysis, age, venous invasion, modified Glasgow Prognostic Score,
      and neutrophil count (all P < .05) were independently associated with CSS.
      CONCLUSION: Of the components of a differential WCC, only the neutrophil count
      was independently associated with survival, particularly in node-negative colon
      cancer.

PMID- 25842359
TI  - Structure coefficients and strategy selection in multiplayer games.
AB  - Evolutionary processes based on two-player games such as the Prisoner's Dilemma
      or Snowdrift Game are abundant in evolutionary game theory. These processes,
      including those based on games with more than two strategies, have been studied
      extensively under the assumption that selection is weak. However, games involving
      more than two players have not received the same level of attention. To address
      this issue, and to relate two-player games to multiplayer games, we introduce a
      notion of reducibility for multiplayer games that captures what it means to break
      down a multiplayer game into a sequence of interactions with fewer players. We
      discuss the role of reducibility in structured populations, and we give examples
      of games that are irreducible in any population structure. Since the known
      conditions for strategy selection, otherwise known as [Formula: see text]-rules,
      have been established only for two-player games with multiple strategies and for
      multiplayer games with two strategies, we extend these rules to multiplayer games
      with many strategies to account for irreducible games that cannot be reduced to
      those simpler types of games. In particular, we show that the number of structure
      coefficients required for a symmetric game with [Formula: see text]-player
      interactions and [Formula: see text] strategies grows in [Formula: see text] like
      [Formula: see text]. Our results also cover a type of ecologically asymmetric
      game based on payoff values that are derived not only from the strategies of the
      players, but also from their spatial positions within the population. 

PMID- 25842360
TI  - Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of pyrimidine-2-carboxamide analogs:
      investigation for novel RAGE inhibitors with reduced hydrophobicity and toxicity.
AB  - This paper describes an investigation of novel RAGE inhibitors with improved drug
      like properties. To identify the improved drug-like RAGE inhibitor, we designed
      and synthesized pyrimidine-2-carboxamide analogs based on our previous work.
      Several potent analogs with improved hydrophilicity were identified by evaluation
      of RAGE inhibitory activity. In particular, one of the potent
      (diethylamino)ethoxymethoxy analogs did not exhibit undesired cytotoxicity in
      contrast with the parent RAGE inhibitors. 

PMID- 25842361
TI  - Analysis of speed, curvature, planarity and frequency characteristics of heart
      vector movement to evaluate the electrophysiological substrate associated with
      ventricular tachycardia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: We developed a novel method of assessing ventricular conduction using
      the surface ECG. METHODS: Orthogonal ECGs of 81 healthy controls (age 39.0+/-14.2
      y; 51.8% males; 94% white), were compared with iDower-transformed 12-lead ECGs
      (both 1000Hz), recorded in 8 patients with infarct-cardiomyopathy and sustained
      monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (VT) (age 68.0+/-7.8y, 37.5% male, mean LVEF
      29+/-12%). Normalized speed at 10 QRS segments was calculated as the distance
      traveled by the heart vector along the QRS loop in three-dimensional space,
      divided by 1/10th of the QRS duration. Curvature was calculated as the magnitude
      of the derivative of the QRS loop tangent vector divided by speed. Planarity was
      calculated as the mean of the dihedral angles between 2 consecutive planes for
      all planes generated for the median beat. Orbital frequency (a scalar measure of
      rotation rate of the QRS vector) was calculated as a product of speed and
      curvature. RESULTS: Mixed regression analysis showed that speed was slower [6.6
      (95%CI 4.4-8.9) vs. 24.6 (95%CI 11.5-37.7)uV/ms; P<0.0001]; orbital frequency was
      smaller [1.4 (95%CI 1.2-1.6) vs. 6.8 (95%CI 5.4-8.1)ms(-1); P<0.0001], and
      planarity was larger by 3.6 degrees  (95%CI 1.4 degrees -5.8; P=0.002) in VT
      cases than in healthy controls. ROC AUC for orbital frequency was 0.940 (95%CI
      0.935-0.944) across all frequencies and QRS segments. ROC AUC for planarity at 70
      249Hz was 0.995 (95%CI 0.985-1.00). ROC AUC for speed at 70-79Hz was 0.979 (95%CI
      0.969-0.989). CONCLUSION: This novel method reveals characteristic features of an
      abnormal electrophysiological substrate associated with VT.

PMID- 25842362
TI  - Histological features of peri-implant bone subjected to overload.
AB  - PURPOSE: The aim of this review has been to investigate the histological findings
      of bone structure surrounding implants subjected to excessive load. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: Clinical and pre-clinical histological studies that observed overloaded
      intraoral implants were included. RESULTS: All included studies (n=15) were
      conducted on animals. Most of them failed to find pathological alteration in the
      microstructure of bone surrounding overloaded implants. Overload and infection
      alone may induce bone loss, but related lesions have different and peculiar
      features. CONCLUSIONS: The different histological features observed around
      implants subjected to overload or to ligature-induced peri-implantitis may
      indicate a specific pathogenetic mechanism for overload or infection-induced loss
      of osseointegration. The clinical significance of these findings should be
      confirmed in human studies.

PMID- 25842363
TI  - Design and synthesis of piperazine derivatives as a novel class of gamma
      secretase modulators that selectively lower Abeta42 production.
AB  - Novel piperazine derivatives as gamma-secretase modulators (GSMs) were prepared
      and tested for their ability to selectively lower Abeta42 production. Lead
      compound 3, with selective Abeta42-lowering activity, was modified by replacing
      its imidazolylphenyl moiety with an oxazolylphenyl moiety. Optimization of the
      urea group significantly improved mouse microsomal stability, while retaining
      both activity and selectivity. These efforts led to the successful identification
      of an orally available and brain-penetrant GSM, 6j, which selectively reduced
      brain Abeta42 in mice.

PMID- 25842364
TI  - Design, synthesis and in vitro cell-based evaluation of the anti-cancer
      activities of hispolon analogs.
AB  - Phytochemicals play an important role in cancer therapy. Hispolon and 26 of its
      analogs (9 known and 17 new) were synthesized and evaluated for their
      antiproliferative activities in a panel of six independent human cancer cell
      lines using the in vitro cell-based MTT assay. Among the hispolon analogs tested,
      compound VA-2, the most potent overall, produced its most significant effect in
      the colon cancer cell lines HCT-116 (IC50 1.4 +/- 1.3 MUM) and S1 (IC50 1.8 +/-
      0.9 MUM) compared to its activity in the normal HEK293/pcDNA3.1 cell line (IC50
      15.8+/-3.7 MUM; p<0.01 for each comparison). Based on our results, VA-2 was about
      9- to 11-times more potent in colon cancer cells and 2- to 3-times more potent in
      prostate cancer cells compared to HEK293/pcDNA3.1 cells. Morphological analysis
      of VA-2 showed significant reduction of cell number, while the cells' sizes were
      also markedly increased and were obvious at 68 h of treatment with 1 MUM in HCT
      116 (colon) and PC-3 (prostate) cancer cells. A known analog, compound VA-4,
      prepared by simple modifications on the aromatic functional groups of hispolon,
      inhibited prostate and colon cancer cell lines with IC50 values <10 MUM. In
      addition, hispolon isoxazole and pyrazole analogs, VA-7 and VA-15 (known),
      respectively, have shown significant activity with the mean ICv values in the
      range 3.3-10.7 MUM in all the cancer cell lines tested. Activity varied among the
      analogs in which aromatic functional groups and beta-diketone functional groups
      are modified. But the activity of analogs VA-16 to VA-27 was completely lost when
      the side chain double-bond was hydrogenated indicating the crucial role of this
      functionality for anticancer activity. Furthermore, many of the compounds
      synthesized were not substrates for the ABCB1-transporter, the most common cause
      of multidrug resistance in anti-cancer drugs, suggesting they may be more
      effective anticancer agents.

PMID- 25842365
TI  - Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of tasiamide B derivatives as BACE1
      inhibitors.
AB  - Nineteen new derivatives based on the structure of marine natural product
      tasiamide B were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their inhibitory
      activity against BACE1, a potential therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease.
      The hydrophobic substituents Val at P3 position, Leu at P1' position, Ala at P2'
      position, and Phe at P3' position were found to significantly affect the
      inhibition. Free carboxylic acid at C-terminus was also found to be important to
      the activity. In addition, the structure-activity relationships (SARs) were
      supported by molecular docking simulation.

PMID- 25842367
TI  - Overcoming Resistance Without the Risk of Reaction: Use of Afatinib and
      Panitumumab in Two Cases of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor--Mutated Non--Small
      Cell Lung Cancer With T790M Mutations.

PMID- 25842366
TI  - Hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 maintains the assembly of
      keratin into desmosomes in keratinocytes by regulating protease-activated
      receptor 2-dependent p38 signaling.
AB  - Hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 (HAI-1; official symbol
      SPINT1) is a membrane-associated serine proteinase inhibitor abundantly expressed
      in epithelial tissues. Genetically engineered mouse models demonstrated that HAI
      1 is critical for epidermal function, possibly through direct and indirect
      regulation of cell surface proteases, such as matriptase and prostasin. To obtain
      a better understanding of the role of HAI-1 in maintaining epidermal integrity,
      we performed ultrastructural analysis of Spint1-deleted mouse epidermis and
      organotypic culture of an HAI-1 knockdown (KD) human keratinocyte cell line,
      HaCaT. We found that the aggregation of tonofilaments to desmosomes was
      significantly reduced in HAI-1-deficient mouse epidermis with decreased desmosome
      number. Similar findings were observed in HAI-1 KD HaCaT organotypic cultures.
      Immunoblot and immunohistochemical analyses revealed that p38 mitogen-activated
      protein kinase was activated in response to HAI-1 insufficiency. Treatment of HAI
      1 KD HaCaT cells with a p38 inhibitor abrogated the above-observed
      ultrastructural abnormalities. The activation of p38 induced by the loss of HAI-1
      likely resulted from enhanced signaling of protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2),
      because its silencing abrogated the enhanced activation of p38. Consequently,
      treatment of HAI-1 KD HaCaT cells with a serine protease inhibitor, aprotinin, or
      PAR-2 antagonist alleviated the abnormal ultrastructural phenotype in organotypic
      culture. These results suggest that HAI-1 may have a critical role in maintaining
      normal keratinocyte morphology through regulation of PAR-2-dependent p38 mitogen
      activated protein kinase signaling. 

PMID- 25842368
TI  - Mass spectrometric quantification of glucosylsphingosine in plasma and urine of
      type 1 Gaucher patients using an isotope standard.
AB  - Deficiency of glucocerebrosidase (GBA) leads to Gaucher disease (GD), an
      inherited disorder characterised by storage of glucosylceramide (GlcCer) in
      lysosomes of tissue macrophages. Recently, we reported marked increases of
      deacylated GlcCer, named glucosylsphingosine (GlcSph), in plasma of GD patients.
      To improve quantification, [5-9] (13)C5-GlcSph was synthesised for use as
      internal standard with quantitative LC-ESI-MS/MS. The method was validated using
      plasma of 55 GD patients and 20 controls. Intra-assay variation was 1.8% and
      inter-assay variation was 4.9% for GlcSph (m/z 462.3). Plasma GlcSph levels with
      the old and new methods closely correlate (r=0.968, slope=1.038). Next, we
      analysed GlcSph in 24h urine samples of 30 GD patients prior to therapy. GlcSph
      was detected in the patient samples (median 1.20nM, range 0.11-8.92nM), but was
      below the limit of quantification in normal urine. Enzyme replacement therapy led
      to a decrease of urinary GlcSph of GD patients, coinciding with reductions in
      plasma GlcSph and markers of Gaucher cells (chitotriosidase and CCL18). In
      analogy to globotriaosylsphingsone in urine of Fabry disease patients, additional
      isoforms of GlcSph differing in structure of the sphingosine moiety were
      identified in GD urine samples. In conclusion, GlcSph can be sensitively detected
      by LC-ESI-MS/MS with an internal isotope standard. Abnormalities in urinary
      GlcSph are a hallmark of Gaucher disease allowing biochemical confirmation of
      diagnosis. 

PMID- 25842369
TI  - Polymorphic variations influencing fetal hemoglobin levels: association study in
      beta-thalassemia carriers and in normal individuals of Portuguese origin.
AB  - Three major loci have been associated with HbF levels, including -158C/T (XmnI)
      at HBG2 promoter region, and several polymorphisms at BCL11A intron-2 and HBS1L
      MYB (HMIP) intergenic region. Mutations in the KLF1 gene were recently associated
      with increased HbF levels. This study aims to evaluate whether genetic
      variability at these loci influences HbF levels in beta-thalassemia carriers and
      in normal individuals of Portuguese origin. Sixty five beta-thalassemia carriers,
      HbF levels ranging from 0.2% to 9.5%, and 60 individuals with normal
      hematological parameters, HbF levels ranging from 0.2% to 7.4%, were selected for
      this study. In beta-thal carriers linear regression models revealed a strong
      statistical significant association for HBG2 (XmnI) rs7482144 (beta=0.455;
      P=5.858*10(-7)), and nominal significance for BCL11A rs766432 (beta=0.215;
      P=0.029) and HMIP rs9399137 (beta=0.209; P=0.011). In normal individuals, a case
      (HbF>2%; n=15) vs. control (HbF<1.7%; n=45) model, showed nominal significant
      associations for BCL11A SNPs rs11886868 (OR=4; P=0.001), rs766432 (OR=3.7;
      P=0.002) and rs7606173 (OR=0.36; P=0.032). KLF1 rs3817621 was not found
      associated with HbF levels. Our results suggest that in Portuguese beta-thal
      carriers the HBG2 XmnI polymorphism is strongly associated with HbF levels. In
      normal individuals, BCL11A polymorphisms, but not HMIP or HBG2 (XmnI) loci, are
      nominally associated with HbF expression. 

PMID- 25842370
TI  - Severity of Brazilian sickle cell disease patients: severity scores and
      feasibility of the Bayesian network model use.
AB  - The integration of the several clinical and laboratory dimensions and the
      influence of each parameter on the sickle cell disease (SCD)-related mortality is
      useful for predicting the phenotype of an individual. This study evaluated the
      feasibility of the SCD severity calculator use to measure disease severity in
      Brazilian patients. The study group was composed of 500 SCD patients (440 HbSS
      and 60 HbSC) diagnosed by molecular biology. We observed a decrease in severity
      scores in 72 SCD patients assessed before and after the hydroxyurea (HU) use.
      Furthermore, the HU influenced the increase of mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and
      HbF concentration, and the decrease of leukocytes and total bilirubin. We found
      180 (36.0%) patients with intermediate phenotype, 170 (34.0%) mild phenotype and
      150 (30.0%) with severe phenotype. Patients with ages >40 years had higher mean
      score (0.778+/-0.177) than patients between 18 and 40 years (0.562+/-0.152) and
      patients between 5 and 17 years (0.322+/-0.145). We observe that there is a
      tendency of individuals with leg ulcers, avascular necrosis and cardiac
      complications with increasing age. Correlation analysis showed relations between
      severity scores with leukocytes, reticulocytes, bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase,
      HbS, hemoglobin and hematocrit (p<0.05). Several comparisons involving age
      groups, SCD genotype and phenotypic classification had satisfactory results and
      this classification will be used for future studies involving genetic
      polymorphisms, response to treatment with HU and oxidative stress markers in SCD.

PMID- 25842371
TI  - Quantitative proteomic analysis of the brainstem following lethal sarin exposure.
AB  - The brainstem represents a major tissue area affected by sarin organophosphate
      poisoning due to its function in respiratory and cardiovascular control. While
      the acute toxic effects of sarin on brainstem-related responses are relatively
      unknown, other brain areas e.g., cortex or cerebellum, have been studied more
      extensively. The study objective was to analyze the guinea pig brainstem
      toxicology response following sarin (2*LD50) exposure by proteome pathway
      analysis to gain insight into the complex regulatory mechanisms that lead to
      impairment of respiratory and cardiovascular control. Guinea pig exposure to
      sarin resulted in the typical acute behavior/physiology outcomes with death
      between 15 and 25min. In addition, brain and blood acetylcholinesterase activity
      was significantly reduced in the presence of sarin to 95%, and 89%, respectively,
      of control values. Isobaric-tagged (iTRAQ) liquid chromatography tandem mass
      spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) identified 198 total proteins of which 23% were
      upregulated, and 18% were downregulated following sarin exposure. Direct gene
      ontology (GO) analysis revealed a sarin-specific broad-spectrum proteomic profile
      including glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity, calcium overload, energy depletion
      responses, and compensatory carbohydrate metabolism, increases in ROS defense,
      DNA damage and chromatin remodeling, HSP response, targeted protein degradation
      (ubiquitination) and cell death response. With regards to the sarin-dependent
      effect on respiration, our study supports the potential interference of sarin
      with CO2/H(+) sensitive chemoreceptor neurons of the brainstem retrotrapezoid
      nucleus (RTN) that send excitatory glutamergic projections to the respiratory
      centers. In conclusion, this study gives insight into the brainstem broad
      spectrum proteome following acute sarin exposure and the gained information will
      assist in the development of novel countermeasures. 

PMID- 25842372
TI  - Neural correlates of taste and pleasantness evaluation in the metabolic syndrome.
AB  - Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a constellation of cardiometabolic abnormalities
      that commonly occur together and increase risk for cardiovascular disease and
      type II diabetes. Having MetS, especially during middle-age, increases the risk
      for dementia in later life. Abdominal obesity is a central feature of MetS;
      therefore, increased efforts to prevent obesity and identify predictors of weight
      gain are of extreme importance. Altered processing of food reward in the brain of
      obese individuals has been suggested to be a possible mechanism related to
      overeating. We scanned fifteen healthy middle-aged controls (aged 44-54) and
      sixteen middle-aged adults with MetS after a fast (hungry) and after a preload
      (sated), while they rated the pleasantness of sucrose (sweet) and caffeine
      (bitter) solutions. Data were analyzed using voxelwise linear mixed-effects
      modeling, and a region of interest analysis to examine associations between
      hypothalamic activation to sweet taste and BMI during hunger and satiety. The
      results indicate that middle-aged individuals with MetS respond with
      significantly less brain activation than controls without MetS during
      pleasantness evaluation of sweet and bitter tastes in regions involved in sensory
      and higher-level taste processing. Participants with higher BMI had greater
      hypothalamic response during pleasantness evaluation of sucrose in the sated
      condition. Importantly, this study is the first to document differential brain
      circuitry in middle-aged adults with MetS, a population at risk for poor physical
      and cognitive outcomes. Future research aimed at better understanding
      relationships among MetS, obesity, and brain function is warranted to better
      conceptualize and develop interventions for overeating in these disorders. 

PMID- 25842373
TI  - ERV enhances spatial learning and prevents the development of infarcts,
      accompanied by upregulated BDNF in the cortex.
AB  - PURPOSES: An anti-allergic and analgesic drug, "an extract derived from the
      inflamed cutaneous tissue of rabbits inoculated with vaccinia virus (ERV)", has
      been used in medical practice in Japan and some other countries. We examined the
      effect of ERV, prior to induction of ischemia, on the development of cerebral
      infarction, on learning and memory, or on brain-derived neurotrophic factor
      (BDNF) levels in C57BL/6J mice. METHODS: Following oral administration of ERV
      (the same in humans: *1) or vehicle, daily for three consecutive weeks, temporary
      focal ischemia was induced by the three vessel occlusion technique. In the other
      group of animals, after daily ERV (Low: *1; Med: *3, or High dose: *9) or vehicle
      administration for three weeks, we performed a quantitative assessment of spatial
      learning or intracerebral BDNF levels. RESULTS: The volumes of infarcted lesions,
      brain edema and the extent of the neurological deficits were significantly
      reduced in the ERV-treated group. ERV treatment also enhanced spatial learning,
      accompanied by upregulated BDNF in the cortex. CONCLUSIONS: Daily oral intake of
      ERV, at a clinically relevant dose, protects the brain from ischemic stroke, and
      also enhances the learning function in normal mice. As millions of people are
      currently taking the drug safely, and have been for many years in some cases,
      there is a need to test the inhibitory actions of the drug on progressive
      dementia encountered in humans with recurrent ischemic attacks or Alzheimer's
      disease.

PMID- 25842374
TI  - Production of poly(3-hydroxypropionate) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3
      hydroxypropionate) from glucose by engineering Escherichia coli.
AB  - Poly(3-hydroxypropionate) (P3HP) is the strongest family member of microbial
      polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) synthesized by bacteria grown on 1,3-propandiol or
      glycerol. In this study synthesis pathways of P3HP and its copolymer P3HB3HP of 3
      hydroxybutyrate (3HB) and 3-hydroxypropionate (3HP) were assembled respectively
      to allow their synthesis from glucose, a more abundant carbon source. Recombinant
      Escherichia coli was constructed harboring the P3HP synthetic pathway consisting
      of heterologous genes encoding glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gpd1),
      glycerol-3-P phosphatase (gpp2) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae that catalyzes
      formation of glycerol from glucose, and genes coding glycerol dehydratase
      (dhaB123) with its reactivating factors (gdrAB) from Klebsiella pneumoniae that
      transfer glycerol to 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde, as well as gene encoding
      propionaldehyde dehydrogenase (pdup) from Salmonella typhimurium which converts 3
      hydroxypropionaldehyde to 3-hydroxypropionyl-CoA, together with the gene of PHA
      synthase (phaC) from Ralstonia eutropha which polymerizes 3-hydroxypropionyl-CoA
      into P3HP. When phaA and phaB from Ralstonia eutropha respectively encoding beta
      ketothiolase and acetoacetate reductase, were introduced into the above P3HP
      producing recombinant E. coli, copolymers poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3
      hydroxypropionate) (P3HB3HP) were synthesized from glucose as a sole carbon
      source. The above E. coli recombinants grown on glucose LB medium successfully
      produced 5g/L cell dry weight containing 18% P3HP and 42% P(3HB-co-84mol% 3HP),
      respectively, in 48h shake flask studies. 

PMID- 25842375
TI  - Quinine for muscle cramps.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Muscle cramps can occur anywhere and for many reasons. Quinine has
      been used to treat cramps of all causes. However, controversy continues about its
      efficacy and safety. This review was first published in 2010 and searches were
      updated in 2014. OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy and safety of quinine-based
      agents in treating muscle cramps. SEARCH METHODS: On 27 October 2014 we searched
      the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group Specialized Register, CENTRAL, MEDLINE
      and EMBASE. We searched reference lists of articles up to 2014. We also searched
      for ongoing trials in November 2014. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled
      trials of people of all ages with muscle cramps in any location and of any cause,
      treated with quinine or its derivatives. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Three
      review authors independently selected trials for inclusion, assessed risk of bias
      and extracted data. We contacted study authors for additional information. For
      comparisons including more than one trial, we assessed the quality of the
      evidence using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation
      (GRADE). MAIN RESULTS: We identified 23 trials with a total of 1586 participants.
      Fifty-eight per cent of these participants were from five unpublished studies.
      Quinine was compared to placebo (20 trials, n = 1140), vitamin E (four trials, n
      = 543), a quinine-vitamin E combination (three trials, n = 510), a quinine
      theophylline combination (one trial, n = 77), and xylocaine injections into the
      gastrocnemius muscle (one trial, n = 24). The most commonly used quinine dosage
      was 300 mg/day (range 200 to 500 mg). We found no new trials for inclusion when
      searches were updated in 2014.The risk of bias in the trials varied considerably.
      All 23 trials claimed to be randomised, but only a minority described
      randomisation and allocation concealment adequately.Compared to placebo, quinine
      significantly reduced cramp number over two weeks by 28%, cramp intensity by 10%,
      and cramp days by 20%. Cramp duration was not significantly affected.A
      significantly greater number of people suffered minor adverse events on quinine
      than placebo (risk difference (RD) 3%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0% to 6%),
      mainly gastrointestinal symptoms. Overdoses of quinine have been reported
      elsewhere to cause potentially fatal adverse effects, but in the included trials
      there was no significant difference in major adverse events compared with placebo
      (RD 0%, 95% CI -1% to 2%). One participant suffered from thrombocytopenia (0.12%
      risk) on quinine.A quinine-vitamin E combination, vitamin E alone, and xylocaine
      injections into gastrocnemius were not significantly different to quinine across
      all outcomes, including adverse effects. Based on a single trial comparison,
      quinine alone was significantly less effective than a quinine-theophylline
      combination but with no significant differences in adverse events. AUTHORS'
      CONCLUSIONS: There is low quality evidence that quinine (200 mg to 500 mg daily)
      significantly reduces cramp number and cramp days and moderate quality evidence
      that quinine reduces cramp intensity. There is moderate quality evidence that
      with use up to 60 days, the incidence of serious adverse events is not
      significantly greater than for placebo in the identified trials, but because
      serious adverse events can be rarely fatal, in some countries prescription of
      quinine is severely restricted.Evidence from single trials suggests that
      theophylline combined with quinine improves cramps more than quinine alone, and
      the effects of xylocaine injections into gastrocnemius are not significantly
      different to quinine across all outcomes. Low or moderate quality evidence shows
      no significant difference between quinine and vitamin E or quinine and quinine
      vitamin E mixture. Further research into these alternatives, as well other
      pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, is thus warranted.There is no
      evidence to judge optimal dosage or duration of quinine treatment. Further
      studies using different dosages and measurement of serum quinine levels will
      allow a therapeutic range to be defined for muscle cramp. Because serious adverse
      events are not common, large population studies are required to more accurately
      inform incidence. Longer lengths of follow-up in future trials will help
      determine the duration of action following cessation of quinine as well as long
      term adverse events. The search for new therapies, pharmacological and
      nonpharmacological, should continue and further trials should compare vitamin E,
      quinine-vitamin E combination, and quinine-theophylline mixture with quinine.

PMID- 25842376
TI  - Asbestos fibres in the lungs of an American mechanic who drilled, riveted, and
      ground brake linings: a case report and discussion.
AB  - In North America and Europe, the use of asbestos in friction products was
      discontinued before the end of the 20th century. In the developing world, the use
      of asbestos-containing friction products continues. In 2010, Cely-Garcia and
      colleagues (Cely-Garcia et al., 2012) sampled three brake repair shops located in
      Bogota, Colombia. Both asbestos and non-asbestos containing brake linings were
      sold separately or attached to a shoe. When brake linings are sold separated from
      the shoe, they must be manipulated to attach them to the shoe before
      installation. The process starts with the removal of the old brake shoe from the
      vehicle's brake drum. If the existing brake shoe is to be reused, the old lining
      needs to be removed and the old shoe must be ground to prepare it for a new
      lining. Riveting requires drilling holes in the linings and shoes and before
      installing rivets, the lining must be countersunk. The borders of the lining are
      bevelled. On some occasions, the entire exposed surface of the lining is ground
      to make it thinner. Once attached to the shoe, the edges of brake linings may
      extend beyond the shoe. In this case, it is necessary to cut or grind the edges
      to match the lining to the shoe before bevelling or grinding. The authors
      reported that 'the sampling results indicate that the brake mechanics sampled are
      exposed to extremely high asbestos concentrations (i.e. based on transmission
      electron microscopy counts), suggesting that this occupational group could be at
      excess risk of asbestos-related diseases'. 

PMID- 25842378
TI  - Hoping Is Coping: A Guiding Theoretical Framework for Promoting Coping and
      Adjustment Following Pediatric Cancer Diagnosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the pattern of resilience and adjustment following
      pediatric cancer diagnosis and to evaluate hope as a mediator of adjustment.
      METHODS: 61 participants with pediatric cancer completed measures of hope,
      depression, anxiety, and quality of life (QoL) within 4 weeks of cancer diagnosis
      and every 3 months for 1 year. RESULTS: Participants showed high and increasing
      levels of hope and QoL, as well as low and decreasing levels of depression and
      anxiety. Linear mixed-effects regression analyses revealed changes in depression,
      anxiety, and hope to be significant predictors of changes in QoL. Changes in hope
      were found to partially mediate the effects of depression and anxiety on QoL.
      CONCLUSIONS: While a variety of interventions are efficacious for treating
      anxiety and depression, hope theory provides a framework for choosing
      interventions that may more globally promote children's ability to maintain good
      functioning, adjustment, well-being, and QoL following cancer diagnosis.

PMID- 25842377
TI  - Global deletion of MGL in mice delays lipid absorption and alters energy
      homeostasis and diet-induced obesity.
AB  - Monoacylglycerol lipase (MGL) is a ubiquitously expressed enzyme that catalyzes
      the hydrolysis of monoacylglycerols (MGs) to yield FFAs and glycerol. MGL
      contributes to energy homeostasis through the mobilization of fat stores and also
      via the degradation of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoyl glycerol. To further
      examine the role of MG metabolism in energy homeostasis, MGL(-/-) mice were fed
      either a 10% (kilocalories) low-fat diet (LFD) or a 45% (kilocalories) high-fat
      diet (HFD) for 12 weeks. Profound increases of MG species in the MGL(-/-) mice
      compared with WT control mice were found. Weight gain over the 12 weeks was
      blunted in both diet groups. MGL(-/-) mice were leaner than WT mice at both
      baseline and after 12 weeks of LFD feeding. Circulating lipids were decreased in
      HFD-fed MGL(-/-) mice, as were the levels of several plasma peptides involved in
      glucose homeostasis and energy balance. Interestingly, MGL(-/-) mice had markedly
      reduced intestinal TG secretion following an oral fat challenge, suggesting
      delayed lipid absorption. Overall, the results indicate that global MGL deletion
      leads to systemic changes that produce a leaner phenotype and an improved serum
      metabolic profile. 

PMID- 25842379
TI  - Prevalence of and contributing factors for overweight and obesity among
      Montenegrin schoolchildren.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Newly emerging Western style economic systems provide new
      opportunities to study the prevalence and predictors of childhood obesity. We
      also provide for the first time a national study of childhood obesity using all
      three international anthropometric criteria. METHODS: The sample included 4097
      Montenegrin children, 2076 boys (50.7%) and 2021 girls. Anthropometric
      measurements were performed in school. The questionnaire for parents included
      questions on 24 potential contributing factors for childhood obesity. Nutritional
      status was assessed according to World Health Organization, US Center for Disease
      Prevention and Control and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) criteria.
      RESULTS: Overall percentage of Montenegrin children who are overweight or obese
      (IOTF) is 22.9% of which 5.3% are obese (7.0% boys vs. 3.5% girls). We found 10
      factors to be independently associated with child obesity. Positive relations
      [odds ratio (95% confidence interval)] were found with maternal obesity [2.05
      (1.68-2.51)], paternal obesity [1.67 (1.32-2.10)], paternal employment [1.40
      (1.12-1.74)], maternal smoking [1.32 (1.08-1.61)], obesity at birth [1.33 (1.04
      1.70)] and computer game playing [per hour--1.11 (1.00-1.24)]. Negative relations
      were found with female gender [0.64 (0.53-0.78)], the number of siblings [0.88
      (0.78-0.98)], birth order [0.73 (0.64-0.83)] and age [0.92 (0.88-0.98)].
      CONCLUSION: One out of four Montenegrin children is overweight, with two times
      more frequent obesity among boys compared with girls. Some previously salient
      predictors did not appear salient in this sample. To enable worldwide
      comparability, we propose the use of all three childhood obesity criteria in
      national studies.

PMID- 25842380
TI  - The effect of Greek herbal tea consumption on thyroid cancer: a case-control
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although in the last decade several studies have addressed the
      protective role of black and green tea on several diseases, including cancer,
      there are only few and controversial studies on the effect of tea on benign and
      malignant thyroid diseases. METHODS: An age and gender group matched case-control
      study conducted in Athens, Greece, was designed. 113 Greek patients with
      histologically confirmed thyroid cancer and 286 patients with benign thyroid
      diseases along with 138 healthy controls were interviewed with a pre-structured
      questionnaire in person by trained interviewers. RESULTS: An inverse association
      between chamomile tea consumption and benign/malignant thyroid diseases was found
      (P < 0.001). The odds of chamomile tea consumption, two to six times a week,
      after controlling for age, gender and BMI, were 0.30 (95% CI: 0.10-0.89) and 0.26
      (95% CI: 0.12-0.5) for developing thyroid cancer and benign thyroid diseases,
      respectively when compared with not consumption. The duration of consumption was
      also inversely associated with the diseases. Thirty years of consumption
      significantly reduced the risk of thyroid cancer and benign thyroid diseases
      development by almost 80%. Similar, although weaker protective association, was
      found for sage and mountain tea. Adjustment for smoking, alcohol and coffee
      consumption did not alter the results. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest for the
      first time that drinking herbal teas, especially chamomile, protects from thyroid
      cancer as well as other benign thyroid diseases.

PMID- 25842381
TI  - Are Spanish primary care professionals aware of patient safety?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Knowledge about safety culture improves patient safety (PS) in health
      care organizations. The first contact a patient has with health care occurs at
      the primary level. We conducted a survey to measure patient safety culture (PSC)
      among primary care professionals (PCPs) of health centres (HCs) in Spain and
      analyzed PS dimensions that influence PSC. METHODS: We used Agency for Healthcare
      Research and Quality (AHRQ) Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture
      translated and validated into Spanish to conduct a cross-sectional anonymous
      postal survey. We randomly selected a sample of 8378 PCPs at 289 HCs operated by
      17 Regional Health Services. Statistical analysis was performed on
      sociodemographic variables, survey items, PS dimensions and a patient safety
      synthetic index (PSSI), calculated as average score of the items per dimension,
      to identify potential predictors of PSC. We used AHRQ data to conduct
      international comparison. RESULTS: A total of 4344 PCPs completed the
      questionnaire. The response rate was 55.69%. Forty-two percent were general
      practitioners, 34.9% nurses, 18% administrative staff and 4.9% other
      professionals. The highest scoring dimension was 'PS and quality issues' 4.18
      (4.1-4.20) 'Work pressure and pace' was the lowest scored dimension with 2.76
      (2.74-2.79). Professionals over 55 years, with managerial responsibilities,
      women, nurses and administrative staff, had better PSSI scores. Professionals
      with more than 1500 patients and working for more than 11 years at primary care
      had lower PSSI scores. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first national study to measure
      PSC in primary care in Spain. Results may reflect on-going efforts to build a
      strong PSC. Further research into its association with safety outcomes and
      patients' perceptions is required.

PMID- 25842382
TI  - Increasing Melanoma Screening Among Hispanic/Latino Americans: A Community-Based
      Educational Intervention.
AB  - Melanoma incidence is increasing among Hispanics/Latinos in California. This
      community-based project reached out to a rural Hispanic/Latino community in North
      San Diego County to provide melanoma prevention and screening education. At a
      local community health fair, bilingual volunteer lay health workers led 10- to 15
      minute-long information sessions on melanoma disease, risk factors, and skin self
      examination techniques. Pearson chi-square analyses of participants' (N = 34)
      responses to pre- and postintervention evaluation surveys indicate significant
      increases in knowledge, risk awareness, and self-efficacy for self-screening. The
      results revealed that Hispanics/Latinos in a low socioeconomic stratum might be
      at moderate to high risk for developing melanoma. Their low annual income, low
      level of education, occupational sun-exposure, and lack of access to health care
      are likely factors that deter at-risk Hispanics/Latinos from seeking health care.

PMID- 25842383
TI  - Individual, Social, and Environmental Correlates of Healthy and Unhealthy Eating.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Few studies use comprehensive ecological approaches considering
      multilevel factors to understand correlates of healthy (and unhealthy) dietary
      intake. The aim of this study was to examine the association between individual,
      social, and environmental factors on composite measures of healthy and unhealthy
      dietary intake in adults. METHOD: Participants (n = 565) of the Australian
      RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) project self-reported dietary intake, home food
      availability, and behavioral and perceived social and physical environmental
      influences on food choices. A geographic information system measured proximity of
      supermarkets from each participant's home. "Healthy" and "unhealthy" eating
      scores were computed based on adherence to dietary guidelines. Univariate and
      multivariate models were constructed using linear regression. RESULTS: After full
      adjustment, "healthy" eating (mean = 6.25, standard deviation [SD] = 1.95) was
      significantly associated with having confidence to prepare healthy meals (beta =
      0.34; 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.13, 0.55]); having more healthy (beta =
      0.13; 95% CI = [0.09-0.16]) and fewer unhealthy (beta = -0.04; 95% CI = [-0.06, 
      0.02]) foods available at home; and having a supermarket within 800 meters of
      home (beta = 1.39; 95% CI = [0.37, 2.404]). "Unhealthy" eating (mean = 3.53, SD =
      2.06) was associated with being male (beta = 0.39; 95% CI = [0.02, 0.75]),
      frequently eating takeaway (beta = 0.33; 95% CI = [0.21, 0.46]) and cafe or
      restaurant meals (beta = 0.20; 95% CI = [0.06, 0.33]) and having fewer healthy
      (beta = -0.07; 95% CI = [-0.10, -0.03]) and more unhealthy (beta = 0.09; 95% CI =
      [0.07, 0.10]) foods available within the home. CONCLUSION: Initiatives to improve
      adherence to dietary guidelines and reduce the consumption of unhealthy foods
      needs to be multifaceted; addressing individual factors and access to healthy
      food choices in both the home and neighborhood food environment. Ensuring
      proximity to local supermarkets, particularly in new suburban developments,
      appears to be an important strategy for facilitating healthy eating.

PMID- 25842384
TI  - Insights for Exercise Adherence From a Minimal Planning Intervention to Increase
      Physical Activity.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To test the impact of a minimal, online planning intervention on
      physical activity in Australian office workers. METHOD: Employees were randomized
      to an implementation intention intervention (n = 124) or health information
      control group (n = 130). Measures of physical activity, past behavior, and
      motivation were taken at baseline and 6 weeks. RESULTS: Analysis revealed both
      groups increased weekly physical activity sessions (intervention M = 1.12,
      control M = 0.78) at follow-up, but no significant difference was found between
      groups. Because the sample consisted of experienced exercisers, secondary
      analyses investigated differential effects for those who had lapsed over the
      previous year (nonmaintainers) and those who had maintained their previous level
      of activity (maintainers). For nonmaintainers, both planning and information
      provision successfully changed behavior, but only planning significantly
      increased physical activity in maintainers over the study. CONCLUSION: Different
      minimal intervention approaches may be useful for preventing long-term relapse
      and assisting people to improve regular exercise routines. The practical and
      theoretical implications are discussed.

PMID- 25842385
TI  - Does Successful Weight Loss in an Internet-Based Worksite Weight Loss Program
      Improve Employee Presenteeism and Absenteeism?
AB  - Certain risk factors associated with overweight and obesity may lead to reduced
      productivity in the workforce (i.e., increased absenteeism and presenteeism).
      Participants in a large, Internet-based worksite weight loss intervention, who
      were present at follow-up (N = 1,030), completed a self-reported productivity
      measure (World Health Organization's Health and Work Performance Questionnaire)
      at baseline and postintervention. Twenty-two percent of the participants lost a
      clinically meaningful amount of weight (>=5% weight loss). There were no
      statistically significant (p < .05) relationships between weight change from
      baseline to 12 months and change scores of absolute or relative absenteeism or
      for absolute or relative presenteeism. Within a modestly successful Internet
      based, worksite weight loss intervention, weight loss did not improve self
      reported absenteeism or presenteeism. Further studies are needed to explore the
      sensitivity of the World Health Organization's Health and Work Performance
      Questionnaire and the long-term effects of weight loss on productivity. 

PMID- 25842386
TI  - Racial/Ethnic Differences in Use of Health Care Services for Diabetes Management.
AB  - Research demonstrates consistent racial/ethnic disparities in access to and use
      of health care services for a variety of chronic conditions. Yet we know little
      about whether these disparities exist for use of health care services for
      diabetes management. Racial/ethnic minorities disproportionately suffer from
      diabetes, complications from diabetes, and diabetes-related mortality. Proper
      diabetes management can reduce the risk of complications and premature mortality.
      Using a large national data set (N = 37,705) of White, Black, Hispanic, Asian,
      and Native American U.S. adults aged 65 years and older who have been diagnosed
      with diabetes, we examine three specific types of health care provider (HCP) use
      for diabetes management: number of times seen by a health care professional for
      diabetes, number of times feet have been checked by a health care professional,
      and number of visits for a glycosylated hemoglobin check. We found that net of
      controls for a variety of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, Blacks
      and Hispanics had significantly more visits to a HCP for their diabetes and
      significantly more glycosylated hemoglobin checks than Whites, and Blacks and
      Native Americans had significantly more HCP feet checks than Whites. Our results
      suggest that the reduced access to health care services traditionally found among
      racial/ethnic minorities does not hold for access to health care services for
      diabetes management, where racial/ethnic minority diabetics are actually more
      likely to use care than are White diabetics. Future research should examine
      whether higher use of health care services for diabetes among racial/ethnic
      minorities is due to greater disease severity among racial/ethnic minorities than
      among non-Hispanic Whites. 

PMID- 25842387
TI  - Relationships Between Illicit Drug Use and Body Mass Index Among Adolescents.
AB  - Prior research has established associations between body mass index (BMI) and use
      of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. However, little research has been done
      investigating the relationship between other common illicit drugs and BMI trends.
      The present study investigated whether adolescents who reported using illicit
      drugs showed differences in BMI compared to peers who reported no drug use. There
      was a positive relationship between drug use and BMI as well as the number of
      drugs used and BMI. The results suggested that the positive relationship between
      the use of illicit drugs and BMI is largely due to smoking. Further research
      needs to ascertain whether smoking, illicit drug use, or both are among the first
      of many unhealthy behaviors that can subsequently lead to greater gains in BMI.
      Implications for health educators are discussed. 

PMID- 25842388
TI  - Searching for the Kinkeepers: Historian Gender, Age, and Type 2 Diabetes Family
      History.
AB  - Kinkeepers facilitate family communication and may be key to family medical
      history collection and dissemination. Middle-aged women are frequently
      kinkeepers. Using type 2 diabetes (T2DM) as a model, we explored whether the
      predicted gender and age effects of kinkeeping can be extended to family medical
      historians. Through a U.S. telephone survey, nondiabetic Mexican Americans (n =
      385), Blacks (n = 387), and Whites (n = 396) reported family histories of T2DM.
      Negative binomial regressions used age and gender to predict the number of
      affected relatives reported. Models were examined for the gender gap, parabolic
      age effect, and gender-by-age interaction predicted by kinkeeping. Results
      demonstrated support for gender and parabolic age effects but only among Whites.
      Kinkeeping may have application to the study of White family medical historians,
      but not Black or Mexican American historians, perhaps because of differences in
      family structure, salience of T2DM, and/or gender roles. 

PMID- 25842389
TI  - Fruit and Vegetable Attitudes, Norms, and Intake in Low-Income Youth.
AB  - Fruit and vegetable (FV) attitudes and norms have been shown to influence intake
      in youth; yet research with low-income youth and studies supplementing self
      report with objective measures of intake are lacking. Cross-sectional survey data
      on self-rated FV intake, FV attitudes, and FV norms were collected in a sample of
      116 youth attending a residential summer camp serving low-income families. FV
      intake also was estimated by direct observation. Differences between self-rated
      and observed FV intake, perceived and observed peer intake, and perceived and
      peer-reported attitudes toward eating FVs were assessed with paired samples t
      tests. The role of FV attitudes, descriptive norms (perceived peer FV intake),
      injunctive norms (perceived peer attitudes toward eating FVs), and actual norms
      (observed peer FV intake and peer-reported FV attitudes) in predicting FV intake
      also was examined with multiple regression analysis. Youth misperceived their own
      and their peers' FV intake (i.e., overestimated intake of fruit and
      underestimated intake of vegetables) and believed that peers held less favorable
      attitudes toward eating FVs than was the case. The models predicting self-rated
      intake were significant, accounting for 34% of the variance in fruit intake and
      28% of the variance in vegetable intake. Attitudes and descriptive norms were
      positively associated with FV intake, and observed peer fruit intake was
      negatively associated with fruit intake. Findings suggest that in low-income
      youth, FV attitudes, descriptive norms, and normative peer behavior predict
      perceived but not actual intake. Youth may benefit from intervention to promote
      favorable FV attitudes and norms. A focus on descriptive norms holds promise for
      improving self-rated intake in this population. 

PMID- 25842391
TI  - Evaluation of exome sequencing variation in undiagnosed ataxias.

PMID- 25842392
TI  - Reply: Evaluation of exome sequencing variation in undiagnosed ataxias.

PMID- 25842390
TI  - HS3ST2 expression is critical for the abnormal phosphorylation of tau in
      Alzheimer's disease-related tau pathology.
AB  - Heparan sulphate (glucosamine) 3-O-sulphotransferase 2 (HS3ST2, also known as
      3OST2) is an enzyme predominantly expressed in neurons wherein it generates rare
      3-O-sulphated domains of unknown functions in heparan sulphates. In Alzheimer's
      disease, heparan sulphates accumulate at the intracellular level in disease
      neurons where they co-localize with the neurofibrillary pathology, while they
      persist at the neuronal cell membrane in normal brain. However, it is unknown
      whether HS3ST2 and its 3-O-sulphated heparan sulphate products are involved in
      the mechanisms leading to the abnormal phosphorylation of tau in Alzheimer's
      disease and related tauopathies. Here, we first measured the transcript levels of
      all human heparan sulphate sulphotransferases in hippocampus of Alzheimer's
      disease (n = 8; 76.8 +/- 3.5 years old) and found increased expression of HS3ST2
      (P < 0.001) compared with control brain (n = 8; 67.8 +/- 2.9 years old). Then, to
      investigate whether the membrane-associated 3-O-sulphated heparan sulphates
      translocate to the intracellular level under pathological conditions, we used two
      cell models of tauopathy in neuro-differentiated SH-SY5Y cells: a tau mutation
      dependent model in cells expressing human tau carrying the P301L mutation
      hTau(P301L), and a tau mutation-independent model in where tau
      hyperphosphorylation is induced by oxidative stress. Confocal microscopy,
      fluorescence resonance energy transfer, and western blot analyses showed that 3-O
      sulphated heparan sulphates can be internalized into cells where they interact
      with tau, promoting its abnormal phosphorylation, but not that of p38 or NF
      kappaB p65. We showed, in vitro, that the 3-O-sulphated heparan sulphates bind to
      tau, but not to GSK3B, protein kinase A or protein phosphatase 2, inducing its
      abnormal phosphorylation. Finally, we demonstrated in a zebrafish model of
      tauopathy expressing the hTau(P301L), that inhibiting hs3st2 (also known as
      3ost2) expression results in a strong inhibition of the abnormally phosphorylated
      tau epitopes in brain and in spinal cord, leading to a complete recovery of motor
      neuronal axons length (n = 25; P < 0.005) and of the animal motor response to
      touching stimuli (n = 150; P < 0.005). Our findings indicate that HS3ST2
      centrally participates to the molecular mechanisms leading the abnormal
      phosphorylation of tau. By interacting with tau at the intracellular level, the 3
      O-sulphated heparan sulphates produced by HS3ST2 might act as molecular
      chaperones allowing the abnormal phosphorylation of tau. We propose HS3ST2 as a
      novel therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease. 

PMID- 25842393
TI  - The outline of a curriculum.

PMID- 25842394
TI  - Planning, requesting medicines  and reporting for preventive  chemotherapy.

PMID- 25842395
TI  - UNICEF and WHO meet  to strengthen reporting of  anthelminthic treatment for 
      preschool children.

PMID- 25842396
TI  - Pain management prior to nasogastric tube placement: atomized lidocaine.
AB  - Nasogastric tube (NGT) insertion is often painful for patients of all ages.
      Randomized clinical trials in adult patients support the use of some form of
      topical lidocaine in reducing pain associated with NGT insertion. A review of
      pediatric evidence also confirms that NGT insertion is painful and provides
      guidance in determining lidocaine concentrations, dosages, and administration
      methods. The Iowa Model of Evidence-Based-Practice to Promote Quality Care
      provided the framework for development of a weight-based standard of practice
      (SOP) for administration of atomized lidocaine prior to NGT insertion for all
      patients. To facilitate usage, the orders for NGT placement and atomized
      lidocaine administration were linked in the electronic health record (EHR).
      Atomized lidocaine was administered via a patient-specific intranasal mucosal
      delivery device. Evaluation measures included pre- and post-implementation
      questionnaires which measured discomfort with NGT insertion in pediatric patients
      (0-10 scale; pre-implementation mean = 7.4; post-implementation mean = 6.5),
      monitoring utilization of atomized lidocaine via automated dispensing cabinet
      reports, soliciting comments from families and users, and monitoring
      institutional patient safety (incident) and adverse drug reaction reports. No
      patient safety or adverse drug reactions related to atomized lidocaine were
      identified post-implementation. Patients of all ages have benefited from
      administration of weight-based intranasal atomized lidocaine to decrease pain
      caused by NGT insertion. Ongoing safety evaluation and research is warranted
      since this is the first known report in the literature describing implementation
      of a weight-based dosing SOP.

PMID- 25842397
TI  - Vocal fold injection products.

PMID- 25842398
TI  - Being an older patient advocate: strategies for the non-geriatric nurse.

PMID- 25842399
TI  - [The alternative way of colorectal cancer developing. The histogenetic and
      molecular features of serrated lesions (review, continued)].
AB  - The occurrence of colorectal cancer can be traced in two ways: from conventional
      adenomas with the APC-gene mutation (model Fearon-Vogelstein) and the "serrated
      way", that has a unique genetic profile and morphological characteristics at the
      early stages. These neoplasms are determined from 7 to 9%. The risk of developing
      cancer of them is 7.5-15%. Precursors of epithelial neoplasia are aberrant crypts
      foci. About 20% of colorectal cancer demonstrated the common defects in DNA
      methylation (CIMP-positive profile), mutations BRAF (KRAS)--oncogenes,
      microsatellite instability (MSI). The serrated lesions may have these mutations.
      Serrated polyposis syndrome has specific genetic changes associated with
      biallelic mutation MUTYH also. Risk of colorectal cancer is very high in this
      syndrome and is more than 50%. Often the synchronous or metachronous cancers
      presence. They are usually accompanied by MSI-H and represented serrated
      morphology too. Understanding epigenetic ways and molecular features of serrated
      lesions gives an knowledge of their clinical significance and provides the
      evidence for the treatment and monitoring of patients with this disease. This
      review is devoted to these issues.

PMID- 25842400
TI  - [Immune status estimation algorithm in irritable bowel syndrome patients with
      food intolerance].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To develop an algorithm for evaluation of the immune status in IBS
      patients with food intolerance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 42 patients with IBS were
      observed. The diagnosis is based Rome III criteria. Determination of the
      concentration of serum allergen-IgG-antibodies to food allergens, IgG, IgA, IgM,
      IgE and immunoregulatory substances IL-5, TGF beta1, IL-10, IL-4 IL-2, IL-13 were
      determined by enzyme immunoassay. All the patients received rotational diet
      therapy based on immunoassay data in addition to medical treatment of the basis
      disease. The control group comprised 15 healthy individuals. RESULTS: Food
      intolerances basically to foods proteinaceous was diagnosed in 25 patients with
      IBS (59.5% of cases). The effectiveness of diet therapy was 68% (17 patients).
      Analysis of clinical and laboratory data revealed that the implementation of food
      intolerance in patients with IBS reducing the levels of IL-10 and TGFbeta1. An
      effective rotational diet of food intolerance in IBS patients had significantly
      (p < 0.05) increase IgA levels. CONCLUSION: Food intolerance in IBS patients
      characterized an increased synthesis of allergen-specific IgG antibodies,
      insufficient production of anti-inflammatory immunoregulatory substances IL-10
      and TGFbeta1, and intact cytokines IL-2, - 4, - 5, - 13, IgG and IgM in serum.
      Efficiency rotary diet in patients with IBS is accompanied by positive clinical
      dynamics, increase levels of anti-inflammatory substances and serum IgA.

PMID- 25842401
TI  - [Elevated levels of circulating immune complexes -C3d and-C1q as a criterion for
      acute extraintestinal manifestations of ulcerative colitis].
AB  - During ulcerative colitis in the exacerbation phase the high level of circulating
      immune complexes -C1q and -C3d (CIC-C1q and -C3d) was detected in 35.4% and 28.9%
      of patients respectively. This raise of CIC-C1q and -C3d level was accompanied by
      increase of clinical and endoscopic activity of ulcerative colitis (AC). In 45.4%
      of AC patients with extraintestinal onsets CIC-C3d was detected and only in 11.7%
      of patients CIC-C1q was found. These data confirm that activation of the humoral
      immunity accompanied by increase in formation of immune complexes is
      characteristic for AC patients with extraintestinal onsets. CIC emergence in
      serum of AC patients is considered as a prognostically unfavorable sign
      indicating that the disease may be accompanied by extraintestinal onsets.

PMID- 25842402
TI  - [Serum calprotectin as a marker for determining the activity of the inflammatory
      process and the effectiveness of therapy in inflammatory bowel disease].
AB  - The increase in the concentration level of calprotectin in serum (ICP) in
      patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is closely associated with
      increased rates of acute phase of inflammation and combined with worsening of
      clinical and endoscopic disease activity. In the acute stage IBD concentration
      UPC hung on the degree of inflammatory activity, not localization. Test with the
      act is a highly sensitive method for assessing the degree of inflammatory
      activity and the effectiveness of therapy in IBD. After transplantation of
      mesenchymal stromal cells from bone marrow and standard therapy largely reduced
      levels SKP than selective immunosuppressive therapy with infliximab (INFL) in
      patients with IBD.

PMID- 25842403
TI  - [Colorectal neo- and dysplasia in acromegaly].
AB  - Colorectal disorders can be not only an independent disease, but also
      manifestation of acromegaly--a neuroendocrine disease which is characterized by
      chronic pathological hypersecretion of the growth hormone (GH) and the increased
      concentration of insulino-like growth factor type 1 (IGF-1). In clinical
      recommendations on diagnosis and treatment of acromegaly, colonic polyps are
      marked as one of most pathognomonic manifestations of acromegaly. Prevalence of
      coloni polyps in acromegalic is 2,5-3 times higher than in the general
      population. Moreover, frequency of diverticula and dolichocolon is increased in
      patients with acromegaly compared with general population (in 3,6 and 12 times,
      accordingly). Colorectal cancer incidence with a tendency to more aggressive
      current is also increased (by 4,4 times). When these colonic diseases is
      diagnosed, especially in patients of young age, it is necessary to define the IGF
      1 blood level as the first stage of acromegaly identification. If diagnosis of
      acromegaly is confirmed, gastroenterologist with endocrinologist together should
      direct treatment on correction of intestinal pathology as well as on achievement
      of the biochemical control over acromegaly.

PMID- 25842404
TI  - [Radiological diagnostics in Crohn's disease].
AB  - The article presents modern methods of radiological small bowel imaging in
      Crohn's disease patients. The characteristic of each method was described,
      indicating the advantages and disadvantages, their specificity and sensitivity in
      the various forms of Crohn's disease. The sequence of use of radiological imaging
      methods in diagnostic algorithm was determined. The article is illustrated with a
      lot of own observations.

PMID- 25842405
TI  - [Anti-recurrent treatment of colon diverticulitis].
AB  - The article presents the recent data of individual studies and meta-analyses of
      the frequency of relapses after one, two or more episodes of acute colon
      diverticulitis, lits different opinions about the predictors of the recurrent
      course of the disease. The bigger part of the article is devoted to the analysis
      of the results of different variants of anti-recurrent treatment of
      diverticulitis with the assessment of the effectiveness of therapy, with the
      conclusion that today the problem of the most effective method of treatment
      exists.

PMID- 25842406
TI  - [Normal values for high-resolution anorectal manometry in a healthy women:
      effects of age and maternity].
AB  - BACKGROUND: High-resolution manometry (HRM) is increasingly used in the
      evaluation of anorectal disorders. However, the normal values of HRM have not
      been widely evaluated. Anorectal pressure patterns are known to be possibly
      influenced by maternity status in women, but the normal values of HRM in parous
      and non-parous asymptomatic women have not been studied. The aim of the present
      study was to evaluate, for the first time, the normal values HRM in asymptomatic
      parous and non-parous women. METHODS: Sixteen asymptomatic healthy females (age:
      18-63 years) were enrolled into this study, and among them, 11 were parous women.
      HRM was performed using solid-state manometric assembly with 9 circumferential
      pressure sensors (MMS, Netherlands). Measurements of external and internal anal
      sphincter pressure at rest, during voluntary contraction and during rectal
      balloon distension were compared.. RESULTS: In asymptomatic parous women mean
      external anal sphincter resting pressure (69.9 +/- 13.2) was significantly lower
      then anal pressure (101.2 +/- 22.9) in healthy non-parous women. No differences
      were found between groups in internal sphincter pressure, voluntary contraction
      or during balloon distension. CONCLUSIONS: The found difference in resting
      external sphincter pressure between parous and non-parous women have to be taken
      in account when HRM is used for evaluation of functional defecatory disorders.
      Further studies for establishing of normal values of anorectal HRM in larger
      group of healthy controls are badly needed.

PMID- 25842407
TI  - [Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the correction of experimental
      ulcerative colitis].
AB  - Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs influence the electromyogram of smooth
      muscle of ileum, the cecum and the ascending portion of the colon in rats during
      ulcerative colitis was investigated. It was shown that COX-2 inhibitors
      normalized the electromotor activity of ileo-ascendo complex, lowered
      infiltration of round cells in mucous-submucosal tissue and blood flow.

PMID- 25842408
TI  - [Adaptive changes of parietal cells of the fundal glands of the stomach after
      total colonectomy].
AB  - The researchers are investigated in 32 white male, rats by means of electron
      microscopic methods and morphometric analysis. The sharp reduction acid produceds
      functions parietal hutches after total colonectomy, her (its) stability at early
      periods after operation are certainly conditioned inflammatory-distrofic change
      on the part of secretory membranes, and particularly mitochondria of the device.

PMID- 25842409
TI  - [Immunologic and oncological safety of autologous and allogenic mesenchymal bone
      marrow stromal cells].
AB  - It is indubitable that autologous transplantation of mesenchymal stromal cells
      (MSCs) is the golden standard for cell therapy. But also it is still in interest
      to explore the possibilities of allogeneic MSCs transplantation, because of their
      special role in lymphopoiesis, particularly in the positive selection of T
      lymphocytes.

PMID- 25842410
TI  - [The superorganism concept in biology and medicine].
AB  - The paper discusses the concept of the superorganism of man and his microbiota. A
      unique and little-known details regarding mutualistic relationship of the host
      and its microbiome are represented. The main metabolic effects of the gut
      microbiota of the intestine are described. The use of microbial metabolites as
      autoregulatory substances in experiments and in clinical practice is discussed.
      Authors propose an innovative concept of controlled microbiocenosis as a main
      goal and a priority task of the development of clinically effective probiotics
      and metabolite preparations (metabiotics).

PMID- 25842411
TI  - [Autonomic disorders in the patophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome].
AB  - The article deals with results of researches autonomic disorders in patients with
      irritable bowel syndrome. It's maintained data various methods studies of state
      autonomic nervous system, role of autonomic disfunction in IBS pathogenesis
      mechanisms.

PMID- 25842412
TI  - [The development of severe methemoglobinemia in patients receiving "Almagel A"].
AB  - This clinical case and the literature review show possible development of
      methemoglobinemia due to the use of local anesthetics, included in drugs for the
      gastrointestinal diseases treatment, in particular benzocaine, which is the
      methaemoglobin forming agent. These drugs are common and often taken by the
      patients themselves without any control. The aim of our paper is to draw the
      attention of physicians to the risk of the widely known drug administration which
      can be purchased without a prescription.

PMID- 25842413
TI  - [The 6th International Hepatology Congress "White Nights of Hepatology", Saint
      Petersburg, June 2014].

PMID- 25842414
TI  - [Tobacco use: thank you Mrs Delaunay!].

PMID- 25842415
TI  - [Therapeutic. Which therapeutic alternatives to antibiotics in the context of
      emerging bacterial resistance?].

PMID- 25842416
TI  - [Does a slight overweight increase life expectancy?].

PMID- 25842417
TI  - [Biotherapy targeting the immune system].
AB  - The use of monoclonal antibody targeted therapy has changed the management of
      several diseases, including in hematology and immunology. The panel of the
      present available biotherapies allows a specific action at various stages of the
      immune response. Indeed, some of these molecules can target the naive T cell at
      the immunological synapse or the way of TH1, TH17 and regulatory T cell. Others
      may be more specific for the B cell and immunoglobulin. Some will even be active
      on both B and T cells.

PMID- 25842418
TI  - [Clostridium difficile colitis].
AB  - C. difficile is a spore-forming anaerobic enteropathogen responsible for a wide
      range of clinical features ranging from mild uncomplicated diarrhoea to severe
      debilitating disease, toxic megacolon, or even perforation and sometimes death.
      Risk factors for C. difficile infection (CDI) include age > 65 years, previous
      hospitalization and recent antibiotic therapy. Main virulence factors of C.
      difficile are toxins A (TcdA) and B (TcdB). Since 2005, a new hypervirulent
      strain has emerged. This epidemic strain named 027/NAP/BI has been responsible
      for outbreaks worldwide, with increased mortality and severity. Antibiotic
      treatment of CDI is based on severity of the disease and relies on the use of
      oral metronidazole, vancomycin or fidaxomicin. Control of CDI needs an
      antimicrobial stewardship policy and the implementation of contact precautions
      for the infected patients.

PMID- 25842419
TI  - [Pachydermoperiostosis].

PMID- 25842420
TI  - [Not Available].

PMID- 25842421
TI  - [Not Available].

PMID- 25842422
TI  - [Not Available].

PMID- 25842423
TI  - [In Process Citation].

PMID- 25842424
TI  - [How to put an emergency physician at less than 30 minutes of each French?].

PMID- 25842425
TI  - [Organisation of emergency medicine in France].
AB  - The French emergency medicine infrastructure (structures de medecine d'urgence)
      ensures patients care from the very location of the distress to the appropriate
      hospital department: medical care in the field, by hospital clinical teams (the
      services mobiles d'urgence et de reanimation [SMUR]), is a key characteristic of
      our medical emergency response system. Response to medical distress revolves
      around information about not only the location and characteristics of the medical
      need, but also the availability of adapted hospital services. Gathering and
      transmitting this information is the prerogative of the service d'aide medicale
      d'urgence (SAMU) and its telephone dispatch center (Centre 15). For patients
      coming directly to the hospital, the emergency room (ER), a former underfunded
      and neglected hospital service, has become a key point of access. The ER is now
      responsible, after providing immediate first line care, to guide the patient
      through the care system. As such they are equipped with short term
      hospitalization units designed to enable up to 24h patient observation before
      orientation. This ensemble, networked at the level of a health territory, ensures
      the quality, safety, and efficacy that the population is entitled to demand.

PMID- 25842426
TI  - [Helicopter transport in the management of emergencies].

PMID- 25842427
TI  - [Improving emergency department organisation].
AB  - Emergency departments use has been constantly increasing over the world.
      Overcrowding is defined as a situation which compromises patient safety because
      of delayed cares. This situation is often reached. Emergency departments have to
      continuously improve their organization to be able to ensure the same quality of
      care to a higher number of patients. Thus a good organization is essential: it
      doesn't always avoid overcrowding. The rest of the hospital has to be involved in
      this process to ensure efficiency. We examine the various interventions and
      procedures that can be found in medical literature for improving patients flow
      and management in emergency departments.

PMID- 25842428
TI  - [Paediatric emergencies; example of the management of winter epidemics].
AB  - Every year, epidemics of viral bronchiolitis and gastroenteritis occur with a
      significant increase in the number of visits (by a factor 1.8) and
      hospitalisations that can over-exceed bed capacity leading to transfer sick
      children to other hospitals. This kind of hospital 'crisis' is not limited to
      paediatrics, big cities or western nations. It is a worldwide worrying problem.
      Because our hospital sits in the Northern districts of Paris where a large
      community of m.ncants lives in poverty, our number of visits is high (mean 250
      per day), and winter epidemics further jeopardise the difficult equilibrium
      achieved between quality management and waiting times. Thus, we have taken
      various initiatives in terms of organisation of the paediatric emergency
      department and other wards, including a "fast track" clinic, the opening of beds
      dedicated to winter epidemics, the institution of a "bed manager" in order to
      more easily find a bed, and a larger use of home hospitalisations. Furthermore,
      we created a specific committee which may decide on various indicators of tension
      whether it is necessary to cancel programmed hospitalisations or surgery.in order
      to resolve the emergency crisis. This kind of organisation can serve as a model
      for other hospitals facing winter epidemics crises.

PMID- 25842429
TI  - [Lifelines of stroke].

PMID- 25842430
TI  - [Lifelines of acute coronary syndrome].

PMID- 25842431
TI  - [Lifelines of proximal femur fracture in the elderly].

PMID- 25842432
TI  - [Disaster medicine].
AB  - For over 30 years, the French hospital and pre-hospital medical teams are trained
      in disaster medicine. In fact, they are regularly confronted with the management
      of multiple casualties in accidents or even terrorist attacks, and more rarely to
      large-scale disasters. The intervention of physicians of the EMS system (SAMU
      SMUR) in the field allows an original healthcare organization: in an advanced
      medical post, the victims are triaged according to their severity and benefit if
      needed of initial resuscitation. SAMU medical regulating center then organize
      their transport and repartition in several hospitals put on alert. To cope with a
      mass casualty situation, the hospital also has a specific organization, the White
      Plan. This plan, initiated by the director, assisted by a medico-administrative
      cell crisis can mobilize all the resources of the institution. Personnel are
      recalled and the ability of emergency units is increased. Care, less urgent,
      other patients are postponed. There are many plans for responding to disasters.
      ORSEC plans of the ministry of Interior articulate with the ORSAN plans of the
      ministry of Health. This complementarity allows a global mobilization of public
      services in disasters or exceptional medical situations.

PMID- 25842433
TI  - [Management of a sanitary crisis].

PMID- 25842434
TI  - [Forensic risk in emergency medicine].
AB  - Activities in the emergency departments increase in all countries for many
      reasons: medical, social, economic, etc. In the same time, it is logical to
      observe an increase in claims; this is confirmed by the insurance companies. In
      this review, we describe the typology of claims according to the Reason model,
      also named Swiss cheese model. Thus weseparate the risk situations, the taking
      risk and the lack of information. When the three factors are associated, claims
      occur. Then it is easy to propose a method of prevention based on the compliance
      to the recommandations of good pratices written by the scientific societies.

PMID- 25842435
TI  - [To a new emergency medicine specialty].

PMID- 25842436
TI  - [Risks of ionizing radiation].

PMID- 25842437
TI  - [Risks associated to ionizing radiation from natural sources].
AB  - This article presents an overview of current knowledge about natural sources of
      radiation exposure and potential associated health risks. Natural radioactivity
      constitutes the main source of exposure to ionizing radiation of the French and
      world population. Exposure is both external (telluric and cosmic rays) and
      internal (radon inhalation and ingestion of radionuclides from food and drinking
      water). It varies according to altitude, geology, and individual way of life
      (housing, food habits). Epidemiological studies demonstrated an excess risk of
      lung cancer associated to domestic radon exposure, ranking radon at the second
      place of known lung cancer risk factors after smoking. Data currently available
      do not allow concluding to risks associated to other natural sources of exposure
      to ionizing radiation.

PMID- 25842438
TI  - [Radon awareness and prevention in France].

PMID- 25842439
TI  - [Diagnostic imaging and radiation hazards].
AB  - For the last 20 years, the exposure of the population to medical radiation has
      been increased by 600%, mainly due to the extension of new imaging modalities
      such as CT or interventional radiology. The risk for radio-induced hazards is
      especially marked for children, because of the high sensivity of tissues to
      radiation especially during the first decade of the life. Two main ways allow to
      better control and reduce the mean effective dose per patient in diagnostic
      imaging: the introduction of recent technical improvement (i.e. low dose CT scans
      using iterative reconstruction algorithms, low dose technique for pediatric
      spine), and the substitution to non-radiating techniques such as ultrasound and
      MRI. The French National institute of Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety
      periodically publishes dose reference levels for conventional films and CT
      examinations, for both adults and pediatric patients. A close relationship
      between clinicians and radiologists remains essential for a better appreciation
      of the risk/benefit ratio of each individual examination using X-Rays.

PMID- 25842440
TI  - [Interventional radiology and radiation exposure hazard].

PMID- 25842441
TI  - [Potential radiation hazard in nuclear medicine].
AB  - Nuclear medicine uses unsealed radioisotopes. The potential radiation hazards
      depend on the amount of radioactivity administered and the type of radionucleide.
      Thus, radiation safety instructions will minimize radiation exposure and
      contamination as low as reasonably achievable. National nuclear safety authority
      requires rules, regulations and exposure limits for both patients and workers.
      Good practices and training staff contribute to optimize the radioprotection.

PMID- 25842442
TI  - [Risks related to radiation therapy].
AB  - Radiotherapy is used for about 60% of cancer patients, in 2/3rd of the cases with
      a curative intent. If the frequent early secondary effects are transitory and
      with a limited impact, some late effects, even rare as cardiac troubles and
      secondary tumors, are now more important due to the increase of cure rate and due
      to the improvement of life expectancy of cured patients. Technologic improvements
      of the last decades reduced some of these risks, as the strengthening of human
      resources and the development of quality assurance procedures have contributed to
      reduce the risk of major accidents.

PMID- 25842443
TI  - [Risk of medical ionizing radiation during pregnancy].

PMID- 25842444
TI  - [Occupational hazard related to ionizing radiation and surveillance of exposed
      people].
AB  - In France, around 400,000 persons are occupationaly exposed to ionizing
      radiations especially in the field of medicine or industry (nuclear plant or
      other). Outside of accident the effective doses received are low and below the
      natural annual exposure dose in Paris (2,5 mSv). Epidemiological studies show
      that in the occupational environment the excess risk of cancexer leukemia related
      to ionizing radiations is negligible. Doctors performing interventional radiology
      if not taking safety measures may receive doses above 20 mSv responsible for lens
      opacity. In case of nuclear plant accident the emergency workers and liquidators
      may receive life-threatening whole body doses. In general industry accident may
      be responsible for high local dose and severe radiation necrosis which required a
      highly sophisticated treatment. Strict observance of radiation safety rules under
      the responsibility of the head of the company or institution must provide a safe
      professional environment.

PMID- 25842445
TI  - [Radiation-related health effects of major nuclear events].
AB  - Three major nuclear events, the Hirosima and Nagasaki bombings and the Chernobyl
      and Fukushima catastrophes, have been selected to Illustrate the health
      consequences, observed or anticipated, of irradation of populations. Differences
      in doses and modalities of irradiation, with the combination of clinical
      epidemiology and dose estimates, recently revisited, allow for more accurate dose
      effect relationship models of the risks. However, extrapolation to the low-doses
      (< 0.1 Gy) or very low-doses of these models obtained with doses >= 0.2 Gy
      remains hazardous.

PMID- 25842446
TI  - [Iodide load: the antidote for the risk of thyroid irradiation in case of nuclear
      accident].

PMID- 25842447
TI  - [Accreditation (certification) ... or not?].

PMID- 25842448
TI  - [Managing a suspicion of stroke in the acute phase for a possible thrombolysis].

PMID- 25842449
TI  - [Recent neurological deficit].

PMID- 25842450
TI  - [Elevated serum creatinine].

PMID- 25842451
TI  - [Sensitivities and mucocutaneous allergies in children and adults. Urticaria,
      atopic and contact dermatitis].

PMID- 25842452
TI  - [Louis Desliens, unknown actor of the origins of modern cardiology].

PMID- 25842453
TI  - In vitro effect of S. mutans biofilm on fluoride/MDPB-containing adhesive system
      bonded to caries-affected primary dentin.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of storage in S. mutans culture or water on the
      durability of fluoride and MDPB-containing adhesive system on artificial caries
      affected primary dentin. METHODS: Dentin flat surfaces of primary molars were
      submitted to artificial caries development using S. mutans biofilm. CAPD cavities
      were restored with Adper Scotchbond Multi-Purpose (SBM) or Clearfil Protect Bond
      (CPB) and they were serially sectioned into sticks (1 mm2 cross-sectional area)
      and stored in S. mutans biofilm for 3 days, in deionized water for 3 months and
      afterwards subjected to microtensile bond strength (MUTBS) test. A control group
      was submitted to immediate TBS testing. Two-way ANOVA and Tukey's tests were
      used. Failure sites were observed by SEM and classified as cohesive (dentin or
      resin) and adhesive failures. RESULTS: The control group showed the highest MUTBS
      values (MPa) for both SBM (25.2 +/- 8.5) and CPB (15.6 +/- 6.1) adhesive systems.
      A significant decrease in MUTBS values after S. mutans biofilm and water storage
      was observed for SBM (18.7 +/- 5.7 and 17.4 +/- 4.1, respectively) and CPB (13.9
      +/- 5.2 and 13.7 +/- 4.8, respectively), but no difference was found between
      them. The highest percentage of adhesive failure was observed for all groups.
      However, cohesive failure in dentin was observed in a higher percentage for SBM
      than CP.

PMID- 25842454
TI  - Indirect resin composite restorations bonded to dentin using self-adhesive resin
      cements applied with an electric current-assisted method.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of an electric current-assisted application on
      the bond strength and interfacial morphology of self-adhesive resin cements
      bonded to dentin. METHODS: Indirect resin composite build-ups were luted to
      prepared dentin surfaces using two self-adhesive resin cements (RelyX Unicem and
      BisCem) and an ElectroBond device under 0, 20, or 40 MUA electrical current. All
      specimens were submitted to microtensile bond strength test and to interfacial
      SEM analysis. RESULTS: The electric current-assisted application induced no
      change (P > 0.05) on the overall bond strength, although RelyX Unicem showed
      significantly higher bond strength (P < 0.05) than BisCem. Similarly, no
      differences were observed in terms of interfacial integrity when using the
      electrical current applicator.

PMID- 25842455
TI  - Cytotoxicity of resin-based luting cements to pulp cells.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the cytotoxicity of components released from different types
      of luting cements to two cell lines obtained from pulp tissue. METHODS: Three
      types of luting cements were evaluated, distributed into the following groups: G1
      -negative control (no treatment); G2--resin-modified glass-ionomer cement (Rely X
      Luting 2); G3--self-adhesive resin cement (Rely X U200); and G4--conventional
      resin cement (Rely X ARC). Standardized cylindrical specimens (14 mm diameter and
      1 mm thick) prepared with the dental materials were immersed in culture medium
      (DMEM) for 24 hours to obtain the extracts (DMEM + components released from the
      cements). Then, the extracts were applied to cultured odontoblast-like MDPC-23
      cells or human dental pulp cells (HDPCs). Finally, cell viability (MTT assay),
      cell death (Annexin/PI) (Kruskal-Wallis/Mann-Whitney; alpha = 5%) and cell
      morphology (SEM) were assessed. Cements' components in contact with cells
      (SEM/EDS) and pH of the extracts were also evaluated. RESULTS: The resin-modified
      glass-ionomer cement (G2) caused the most intense toxic effect to the two cell
      lines; the cell viability reduction was around 95.8% and 89.4% for MDPC-23 cells
      and HDPCs, respectively, which was statistically significantly different compared
      with that of the negative control group (G1). Also, a high quantity of particles
      leached from this ionomeric cement was found on the cells, which showed intense
      morphological alterations. In the G2 group, 100% necrosis was observed for both
      cell lines, and an acidic pH was detected on the extract. Conversely, Rely X U200
      (G3) and Rely X ARC (G4), which presented low solubility and no alteration in pH,
      caused only slight cytotoxicity to the cultured cells.

PMID- 25842456
TI  - Restorations in abrasion/erosion cervical lesions: 8-year results of a triple
      blind randomized controlled trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: An equivalence randomized controlled trial within the subject was
      organized to evaluate the clinical long-term success of a new 2-step etch & rinse
      adhesive and a new nano-filled ormocer. METHODS: 50 subjects, 21 males and 29
      females aged between 21 and 65, were randomized to receive 150 restorations, 100
      with the new restorative material, 50 with the composite as control, placed in
      non-carious cervical lesions with the same bonding system. The main outcome
      measure was the cause of failure at 8 years. Randomization was number table
      generated, with allocation concealment by opaque sequentially numbered sealed and
      stapled envelopes. Subjects, examiner, and analyst were blinded to group
      assignment. Two interim analyses were performed. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and
      Cox test (P < 0.05). RESULTS: After 8 years, 40 subjects and 120 teeth were
      included in the analysis of the primary outcome. There were eight failures in the
      experimental group and four failures in the control group. The cumulative loss
      rate was 7% for both restorative materials, with the annual failure lower than
      1%, without any statistically significant difference. There were two key elements
      of failure: the presence of sclerotic dentin and the relationship between lesion
      and gingival margin.

PMID- 25842458
TI  - Effect of the coating material on root dentin remineralization in vitro.
AB  - PURPOSE: A fluoride-releasing coating material containing surface pre-reacted
      glass-ionomer (S-PRG) filler has become commercially available. However, there
      has been no detailed investigation of its remineralization effects at various
      tooth surface regions. The remineralization effects of S-PRG filler-containing
      coating material at different sites of demineralized dentin surfaces in vitro
      were evaluated. METHODS: Baseline lesions were prepared on bovine root dentin
      surfaces by immersion in demineralization buffer and divided into four groups:
      (B)--baseline lesion; (P)--S-PRG filler-containing material; (V)--S-PRG filler
      free coating material as negative control; and (X)--resin-modified glass- ionomer
      as positive control. Material was applied to half the lesion surface, then P, V
      and X were remineralized in a gel system. Mineral profiles, integrated mineral
      loss (IML) and lesion depth (LD) at four regions, i.e. 1--exposed dentin surface
      adjacent to the material; 2--at a distance from the material; 3--beneath the
      material near to the edge; and 4--at a distance from the edge, were analyzed by
      transversal microradiography. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and Games-Howell
      test with alpha = 0.05. RESULTS: B showed typical artificial demineralized
      lesion. The IMLs of V, P and X at regions 1 and 2, and P and X at region 3 were
      significantly lower than that of B, however, those of V at region 3 and the other
      three groups at region 4 were not significantly different from that of B. At
      region 1, P and X showed significantly lower IMLs than V. At region 2, the IML of
      X showed significantly lower IML than V. There was no significant difference
      between P and X. The LD values of V, P and X at all regions were not
      significantly different from that of B. Fluoride, strontium and silicate ions
      released from the S-PRG filler would provide a favorable environment for
      remineralization of the demineralized dentin in P.

PMID- 25842457
TI  - Effectiveness of a desensitizing agent for topical and home use for dentin
      hypersensitivity: a randomized clinical trial.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a desensitizing gel for topical and
      home use for the treatment of dentin hypersensitivity (DH) by means of a 3-arm
      parallel, randomized, double blind clinical trial. METHODS: 107 participants were
      allocated to three groups: placebo gel (PG), test gel (TG) (5% sodium fluoride,
      5% potassium oxalate, 10% strontium chloride) and 2% sodium fluoride gel (FG). DH
      measurement was performed by a single blind examiner by means of the visual
      analog scale (VAS) after tactile (blunt tipped probe), thermal (air blast) and
      osmotic (water blast) stimulus at time intervals of baseline, 7, 15 and 30 days.
      RESULTS: The greatest reductions in DH were observed for the TG, with significant
      differences for FG in the thermal (Delta = -56 vs -30) and osmotic stimuli (Delta
      = -44 vs -18). Considering the percentage of participants with moderate/severe
      pain at 30 days, the TG demonstrated the lowest percentages, with significant
      differences in comparison with the other groups in thermal and osmotic stimuli.
      We can conclude that the test gel showed a greater reduction in DH than fluoride
      2% and placebo gel, and maybe a treatment option for individuals with DH.

PMID- 25842459
TI  - Abrasive wear of enamel by bioactive glass-based toothpastes.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the abrasivity of a 45S5 bioactive glass based toothpaste
      on enamel as a function of the particle size and shape of the glass. METHODS:
      45S5 glass was synthesized ground and sieved to give various particle sized
      fractions < 38, 38-63 and 63-110 microns. Two different grinding routes were
      used: percussion milling and ball milling. The glass powders were formulated into
      toothpastes and their tooth brush abrasivity measured according to BS EN ISO11609
      methodology. RESULTS: Enamel loss increased with increasing particle size. The
      percussion milled powder exhibited particles that had sharp edges and the pastes
      were significantly more abrasive than the pastes made with round ball milled
      powders. One interesting observation made during the present study was that there
      was preferential wear of the enamel at the dentin-enamel junction (DEJ),
      particularly with the coarse particle sized pastes.

PMID- 25842460
TI  - Effect of mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) pulpotomies in primary molars on their
      permanent tooth successors.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine the long-term success rate of white MTA pulpotomies in
      primary teeth and its influence upon eruption and calcification of the permanent
      successor, as well as other key clinical and radiographic parameters. METHODS: A
      total of 138 molars from participants between 2-10 years of age were included.
      Clinical and radiographic parameters were monitored in the primary and/or
      permanent successor at 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, and 48 months or until eruption
      of the permanent successor, using the contralateral tooth as control. Chi-squared
      test and the Spearman correlation coefficient (r) were used to evaluate potential
      associations and distributions between radiographic/clinical parameters (P <
      0.05; 95% CI). RESULTS: Clinical alterations were observed in 1.4% of the primary
      molars. Unfavorable radiographic pulp responses (furcation radiolucency, internal
      root resorption with perforation, or external root resorption) were observed in
      6.5% of the cases. Dentin bridge formation in the roots was observed in a range
      as low as 71.2% to a maximum of 89.9% of the cases. The presence or absence of
      dentin bridge formation in any of the roots was not associated or correlated with
      the age of the patient (P > 0.05). Reparative dentin formation in any of the the
      root canals was recorded in 37.3 to a 68.1% of the canals (P > 0.05). The 50
      permanent successors recorded after exfoliation of the treated molars showed no
      alterations in color, mineralization, structure or position, and no alterations
      in the timing of eruption were noted.

PMID- 25842461
TI  - A 6-month clinical investigation of custom tray application of peroxide gel with
      or without doxycycline as adjuncts to scaling and root planing for treatment of
      periodontitis.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the 6-month clinical effects of one scaling and root planing
      (SRP) procedure alone or combined with local administration of hydrogen peroxide
      gel (with or without inclusion of doxycycline for 2 weeks) using periodontal
      medicament carriers in the form of customized prescription trays for treatment of
      subjects with chronic periodontitis. METHODS: Using a randomized controlled
      design, 61 subjects with moderate to advanced periodontitis were assigned to
      three parallel treatment groups: 1) SRP combined with prescription-tray (Perio
      Tray) application of 1.7% hydrogen peroxide gel (Perio Gel) and, for the first 2
      weeks, doxycycline, 2) SRP combined with prescription-tray application of
      peroxide gel, and 3) SRP alone. All subjects brushed twice daily with standard
      dentifrice and toothbrush for a 4-week acclimation phase, and continued this
      regimen throughout the 6-month treatment phase. Pocket probing depth (PPD) and
      bleeding index (BI) were assessed on natural and restored sites at baseline and
      after 2, 5, 13, and 26 weeks. SRP was performed 3 weeks after baseline. Clinical
      variables were compared by ANCOVA and paired t-tests after each treatment
      interval, analyzing natural and restored sites separately. RESULTS: 57 subjects
      completed the trial. Analysis of pockets > 5 mm at baseline showed that mean PPD
      for both test groups significantly decreased from baseline approximately 0.50 mm
      prior to SRP. Two weeks following SRP, mean PPD significantly decreased from
      baseline by > 0.90 mm for both test groups and 0.29 mm for the control. By 26
      weeks, mean PPD decreased > 1.10 mm for both test groups compared to 0.38 mm for
      the SRP-only control (P < 0.001 for test versus control at all post-SRP
      comparisons). Analysis of pockets <= 5 mm at baseline showed the same
      relationship between groups (P < 0.001 for test versus control). Mean BI dropped
      significantly only for test groups before SRP, and the tray/peroxide-doxycycline
      group was significantly different from the control (P = 0.033). Two weeks post
      SRP, mean BI reductions for test groups were significantly greater than the
      control, and remained so for most comparisons. For restored sites, mean PPDs of
      both test groups were significantly better (P < 0.05) than the control for all
      post-baseline comparisons.

PMID- 25842462
TI  - Alveolar ridge augmentation with autogenous mental block harvested using
      ultrasonic bone surgery (USBS) and platelet rich plasma: a case report.
AB  - Predictable reconstruction of alveolar ridge defects can be obtained by using
      autogenous bone block. Ultrasonic bone surgery (USBS) is a fast, precise, and
      simple technique for block graft harvesting. It allows for a clean surgical field
      with no risk of injury to surrounding neurovascular structures. This article
      describes a case of horizontal alveolar ridge defect augmented with mental bone
      block harvested using USBS. The defect was overcorrected using bovine derived
      xenograft and platelet rich plasma, which is an autologous source of growth
      factors that helps in early graft consolidation. Platelet poor plasma (PPP)
      membrane was used for graft containment. After six months, on exposure, it was
      observed that the block graft was integrated with the alveolar ridge, resulting
      in increased ridge width. This was confirmed on dentascan and 3D reconstruction
      images. Implants were placed and restored with satisfactory aesthetic and
      functional outcome.

PMID- 25842463
TI  - The role of health behavior in preventing dental caries in resource-poor adults:
      a pilot intervention.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dental caries is a highly prevalent, yet preventable disease that is
      commonly overlooked in the adult population. It is strongly related to health
      related behaviors and knowledge, and therefore, is potentially receptive to a
      behavioral health intervention. However, prevention strategies that target health
      behaviors in adults are fundamentally different from those in children, whom most
      current intervention strategies for dental caries target. This study attempts to
      pilot design, implement, and assess health behavior intervention tools for
      adults, in order to improve their oral health. OBJECTIVE: To increase knowledge
      about dental caries by 80% and increase positive self-reported oral hygiene
      behaviors by 80% in low-income adult participants at Interfaith Dental Clinic by
      piloting novel interventional and educational tools based on the Transtheoretical
      Model of Health Behavior. METHODS: A convenience sample of newly registered
      participants to the Interfaith Dental Clinic between August 2011 and May 2013,
      were interviewed on each participant's first appointment, exposed to the
      interventional tools, and subsequently interviewed at their next appointment. A
      control group, comprised of participants who had completed their caries care as
      deemed by the clinic and had not been exposed to the interventional tools, were
      also interviewed on their last appointment before graduating the clinic's
      program. RESULTS: A total of 112 participants were exposed to the intervention,
      and forty-two participants comprised the control group. Follow-up for the
      intervention group was 20.5% (n = 23). Knowledge about the cause of caries
      increased by 29.9%, and positive self-reported oral hygiene behaviors increased
      by 25.4%. A Wilcoxon rank sum test showed no significance between the interview
      scores of the post-intervention group and that of the control group (p = 0.18 for
      knowledge, p = 0.284 for behaviors). Qualitative results show the vast majority
      of participants blamed diet for cause of caries, that this participant population
      prioritized practical advice over factual education, and that flossing was
      perceived to be the largest barrier to proper oral care, citing pain, lack of
      time, and technique as common reasons. CONCLUSION: Educational tools based on
      current models of health behavior theory have the potential to improve
      participant knowledge and health behaviors, while also remaining low-cost and
      convenient for clinical use.

PMID- 25842464
TI  - Plaque reduction in school children using a disposable brush pre-pasted with
      xylitol toothpaste.
AB  - PREMISE: The epidemiological data from many countries indicates a global increase
      in dental caries in children and adults. The purpose of this study was to
      determine if children in a school setting would accept an after lunch brushing
      program and if such program would be effective in reducing plaque. STUDY SETTING:
      A small school of 300 students in Eastern Tennessee was selected to participate
      of which 200 elected to brush after lunch for 30 school days. Fifty-four
      students' anterior teeth were stained with a disclosing solution before, during
      and at the end of the study. The 54 students represented 4 students from each
      grade level, kindergarten through eighth grade MATERIALS: An ADA approved 27 tuft
      brush pre-pasted with a paste made with 49% by weight of xylitol was given to
      each child after lunch. The paste did not require water or the need to spit. A
      short, 4 minute, musical educational video on correct brushing was designed with
      the assistance of the mathematics teacher to be shown while the students brushed.
      RESULTS: The students, principal, and the staff readily accepted the concept and
      were very cooperative and appreciative. The reduction in plaque levels was
      dramatic.

PMID- 25842465
TI  - Management of traumatic tooth injuries in the dental office.
AB  - Dental trauma is sudden, unscheduled, and the dentist and staff must be
      adequately equipped to expeditiously and properly treat the patient to assure the
      best possible outcome. This paper reviews current dental trauma guidelines to
      provide the correct treatment protocol to ensure the best prognosis. The case
      report illustrates the technique of avulsion care, RCT care, and functional
      splinting in a successful manner.

PMID- 25842466
TI  - A simplified approach to implant restorations using innovative digital
      technology.
AB  - Digital impressions and CAM/CAD systems are currently burgeoning dental
      technologies. This article presents a case study describing the clinical protocol
      necessary to produce multiple crown restorations supported by dental implants.

PMID- 25842467
TI  - Dressing minor wounds: avant garde or tried and trusted?

PMID- 25842468
TI  - The value of historical vignettes.

PMID- 25842469
TI  - Rosemary oil vs minoxidil 2% for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia: a
      randomized comparative trial.
AB  - Rosmarinus officinalis L. is a medicinal plant with diverse activities including
      enhancement microcapillary perfusion. The present study aimed to investigate the
      clinical efficacy of rosemary oil in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia (AGA)
      and compare its effects with minoxidil 2%. Patients with AGA were randomly
      assigned to rosemary oil (n = 50) or minoxidil 2% (n = 50) for a period of 6
      months. After a baseline visit, patients returned to the clinic for efficacy and
      safety evaluations every 3 months. A standardized professional microphotographic
      assessment of each volunteer was taken at the initial interview and after 3 and 6
      months of the trial. No significant change was observed in the mean hair count at
      the 3-month endpoint, neither in the rosemary nor in the minoxidil group (P >
      .05). In contrast, both groups experienced a significant increase in hair count
      at the 6-month endpoint compared with the baseline and 3-month endpoint (P <
      .05). No significant difference was found between the study groups regarding hair
      count either at month 3 or month 6 (> .05). The frequencies of dry hair, greasy
      hair, and dandruff were not found to be significantly different from baseline at
      either month 3 or month 6 trial in the groups (P > .05). The frequency of scalp
      itching at the 3- and 6-month trial points was significantly higher compared with
      baseline in both groups (P < .05). Scalp itching, however, was more frequent in
      the minoxidil group at both assessed endpoints (P < .05). The findings of the
      present trial provided evidence with respect to the efficacy of rosemary oil in
      the treatment of AGA.

PMID- 25842470
TI  - Efficacy evaluation of a cosmetic slimming treatment for the waist and hips: a
      double-blind study.
AB  - The aim of this study was to evaluate by clinical and noninvasive instrumental
      evaluations the efficacy and tolerance of a cosmetic topical slimming treatment
      specific for light/moderate adipose pannicula at the level of the waist and hips.
      The protocol was performed as a double-blind active vs placebo trial in 110
      volunteers for a period of 4 weeks, with an additional visit 4 weeks after the
      last product application. The following clinical/instrumental evaluation was
      performed during the visit: clinical assessment of hip-abdomen adipose pannicula,
      circumference measurements, ultrasonographic evaluation of adipose pannicula
      thickness, and plicometry. At the end of treatment, the slimming activity of the
      study product resulted in clinically different results than placebo, determined
      by a significant decrease in abdomen/hips circumferences and considerable
      reduction of abdomen/hips adipose pannicula thickness. The tolerability of the
      product was good and the enrolled volunteers expressed their full satisfaction
      with the studied product.

PMID- 25842471
TI  - The use of traditional Chinese medicine in some dermatologic diseases: Part I-
      Acne, psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis.
AB  - Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is increasingly being used in the Western
      world particularly in specialty areas such as gynecology, pediatrics, nutrition,
      and dermatology. TCM is an alternative method of therapy that proposes to treat
      symptoms that Western medicine is unable to manage by treating the underlying
      causes of disease. The authors provide a general overview of TCM remedies used in
      the treatment of various dermatologic disorders (acne, psoriasis, atopic
      dermatitis) for dermatologists interested in this unconventional therapeutic
      approach.

PMID- 25842472
TI  - Alopecia areata--Part I: Background .
AB  - Alopecia areata is a trichosis characterized by loss of hair, with the abrupt
      onset of round or oval, nonscarring, flat, single or multiple areas of alopecia
      lesions, which can coalesce. Several hypotheses have been raised to explain its
      etiology, with autoimmunity being accepted until today, along with genetic
      factors.

PMID- 25842473
TI  - Tavaborole 5% solution for onychomycosis.

PMID- 25842474
TI  - Infective endocarditis: of heart, head, and skin.

PMID- 25842475
TI  - Hoffman's drops: the technique of the concentrated neosalvarsan injection.

PMID- 25842476
TI  - The history of tuberous sclerosis complex: when skin gives a clue.

PMID- 25842477
TI  - Autologous fat transplantation for the treatment of linear scleroderma en coup de
      sabre.
AB  - Scleroderma en coup de sabre is a disfiguring disease for which only limited
      therapeutic options exist. Three cases of facial linear scleroderma treated with
      autologous fat transplantation with acceptable results are presented. Autologous
      fat transplantation was preferred to corrective surgery because of the extent of
      the lesions and absence of any associated facial distortion. Fat as a filler was
      chosen to reduce the risk of adverse effects. Adipocytes are suggested to have
      wider biological effects than other fillers and may offer more durable results.
      At least two transplantations were needed to evoke a significant effect.

PMID- 25842478
TI  - Battling mothers for measles.

PMID- 25842479
TI  - Pheochromocytoma presenting as acute non-ST elevation myocardial infarction
      following elective hysterectomy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Studies have shown patients with pheochromocytoma have a 14-fold
      higher rate of cardiovascular events than patients with essential hypertension.
      CASE PRESENTATION: A 47-year-old female was found to have elevated troponins and
      marked ST depression following elective hysterectomy. The patient underwent
      cardiac catheterization, and labile blood pressures with a narrow-complex
      tachycardia were noted during the procedure. No evidence of coronary artery
      disease or wall motion abnormality was found. After catheterization, the patient
      complained of abdominal pain with difficulty passing gas. CT abdomen/pelvis
      revealed a 4.3 x 5 cm left adrenal mass. Plasma metanephrines and 24-hour urine
      catecholamines suggested pheochromocytoma. She underwent left total
      adrenalectomy, and pathology confirmed pheochromocytoma. At 3-month follow-up,
      she was asymptomatic and required only one agent for blood pressure control.
      DISCUSSION: Suspecting pheochromocytoma in patients with an unexpected
      myocardialevent and labile hypertension can lead to prompt diagnosis and
      appropriate preoperative management as well as avoidance of unnecessary
      procedures.

PMID- 25842480
TI  - Pitfalls to avoid in treating the end-stage renal disease patient.

PMID- 25842481
TI  - How to eliminate the "perverse incentive" in medicine: health savings accounts.

PMID- 25842482
TI  - Physicians must continue to fight the good fights.

PMID- 25842483
TI  - Avoid the social networks: a mobile communication platform should provide a
      secure, efficient workflow.

PMID- 25842484
TI  - MS UR: an all-but-forgotten law pushed by MSMA dusted off as use of utilization
      review increases.

PMID- 25842485
TI  - [Bases of information hygiene: concepts and problems of innovations].
AB  - The rising flow of information affects the health and affords ground for
      strengthening measures of hygienists. There is considered the place of
      information hygiene in preventive medicine. There are discussed physical and
      hygienic aspects of measurement and evaluation of information, there are
      considered some of their negative consequences. International and local
      regulations and guidance documents in this area are presented. In the light of
      the strategy of innovative development of Russia there are considered hygienic
      aspects of innovation and the improvement of hygienic standards.

PMID- 25842486
TI  - [Prevalence and transmission pathways of the pyloric Helicobacter infection.
      Transmission from person to person (literature review)].
AB  - The purpose of review: analysis of the available in the literature data about the
      possible kinds and pathways of transmission of pyloric Helicobacter infection
      from person to person. Knowledge of these data is necessary for its prevention.
      Subjects--available literature, mainly English-language articles. There were
      separated two modes of transmission of Helicobacter pylori: vertical--the spread
      of infection from older to younger and horizontal--by contact between persons
      outside of the family. Basis statements. There is abundant evidence confirming
      the gastro-oral, oral-oral and fecal-oral transmission of H. pylori. To prevent
      the transmission of infection from person to person and the development of
      related diseases an essential measure is elibiotics.

PMID- 25842487
TI  - [Radio-ecological situation in the area of JSC "Priargunsky Production Mining and
      Chemical Association"].
AB  - In order to assess the radioecological situation created in the area of the
      location of diversified uranium mining enterprise "Priargunsky Production Mining
      and Chemical Association" (PIMCU) there was investigated the radioactivity of a
      number of the compartments of environment, both at the industrial site and beyond
      it, as well as the volume activity of radon inside the ground and working
      premises. Radioecological situation in the vicinity of the uranium mines was
      performed in comparison with the background (fixed reference, control) district,
      where there is no uranium mining. Performed studies have shown the significant
      excess content of 226Ra, 232Th, 210Pb, 222Rn in soil, water open water bodies and
      local foods near uranium mines compared to areas outside the zone of influence of
      uranium mining that allows to make a conclusion about the significant technogenic
      pollution of local areas of the plant and adjoining territory.

PMID- 25842488
TI  - [Heterogeneity of microbial communities of surface waters on indices of
      antibiotic resistance of bacteria].
AB  - Microorganisms isolated from reservoirs within urbanized areas, have acquired
      multiple antibiotic resistance, in this connection during the microbiological
      monitoring of water objects as an additional criterion of anthropogenic pollution
      it is worth to take into account indices of antibiotic resistance of bacteria.
      The study of heterogeneity of microbial communities of largest reservoirs in
      Eastern Siberia (Angara River and Lena) in terms of antibiotic resistance
      bacteria was performed from the positions of cluster structuredness.
      Opportunistic gram-negative bacteria and allochthonous representatives of
      microbiocenoses of the water bodies were established to be characterized by
      belonging to four clusters (antibiotic sensitive, mono-, moderately--and poly
      antibiotic resistant). At the same time the proportion of microorganisms
      belonging to different clusters, vary significantly both in terms of different
      water bodies, and in separate parts of the same body of water, being largely
      dependent on anthropogenic load on water. Thus, the heterogeneity of the
      microbial populations permits to present comparative quantitative assessment of
      reservoirs, as well as their portions, in terms of antibiotic resistance of
      microorganisms. The increment in the proportion of resistant strains reflects the
      sanitary and epidemiological importance of this property, because provides
      evidence of the contamination of water supplies by household sewage.

PMID- 25842489
TI  - [Current trends in the use of pesticides].
AB  - The aim of this study--to identify the main trends in the use of pesticides at
      the present stage. Since 2004, in the Republic of Tatarstan, there is observed an
      increase of the discharge of pesticides, the list of drugs and cultivated area.
      The introduction of minimum tillage on technology was shown to have led to an
      increase in the share of herbicide to 86.2% and significantly changed their
      range. Glyphosate became the main active ingredient.

PMID- 25842490
TI  - [The formation of intestinal microbiocenosis in children in the industrial cities
      of Siberia].
AB  - The purpose of this study was to investigate the features of the formation of
      intestinal microbiocenosis in children residing in the industrial cities of
      Siberia. The study included 168 healthy children. There is presented the medical
      and hygienic assessment of the examined area with bearing in mind the degree and
      specificity of the man-made pollution of the atmosphere. There were revealed
      distinctive features of formation of intestinal microecology, specific for the
      each of the examined groups (diversity of species of transient microorganisms,
      rated characteristics of opportunistic pathogens, "indicator" species).

PMID- 25842491
TI  - [Habitat and incidence of respiratory organs diseases in the Samara population].
AB  - There was performed the assessment of habitat quality for Samara population. Risk
      factors for prevalence of respiratory diseases (pneumonia, allergic rhinitis,
      asthma) in children, teenagers and adults were revealed to be formaldehyde,
      phenol, hydrogen sulfide in the ambient, cadmium and copper in the soil.

PMID- 25842492
TI  - [hygienic assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of the concept
      for the improvement the water supply of population in the south-east region of
      the Republic of Tatarstan].
AB  - In the paper there is presented the hygienic evaluation of the implementation of
      the program aimed at the improvement of the water supply of the population in the
      oil-producing regions of the Republic of Tatarstan. As a result of the
      implementation of measures it managed to improve the quality of drinking water in
      terms of chemical harmlessness and to reduce the risk to public health. Currently
      following factors as quality of the water from water sources, the mismatch of
      sanitary protection zone to requirements of sanitary legislation and the failure
      of regime measures in its territory, water quality deterioration during
      transportation and the inadequacies in the laboratory control were shown to make
      the highest contribution to the disadvantage of centralized drinking water
      systems.

PMID- 25842493
TI  - [Evaluation of the migration of contaminants from building materials produced on
      the base of blast-furnace slags].
AB  - There is experimentally established the change of the migratory activity of
      pollutants from building materials produced from blast furnace slag throughout
      their life cycle in the form of a nonlinear wave-like nature as there are
      appeared newly opened surfaces of a contact with aggressive waters in the process
      of gradual crushing of materials as a result of destructive mechanical effects on
      him and corrosive waters with varying pH values. There are established
      regularities of the migration activity ofpollutants (on the example of heavy
      metals) as directly dependent on the newly opening surface of the contact of the
      material with water having a various pH value. There is shown an expediency of
      introduction of alterations in the procedure for sanitary hygienic assessment of
      building materials with the addition of industrial waste (Methodical Instructions
      2.1.674-97), allowing to take into account the migration of contaminants from
      them throughout the life cycle.

PMID- 25842494
TI  - [Results of monitoring of pollution by metallic impurities of environment of
      districts of anthropogenic impact in Georgia and methods to reduce their
      technogenic load].
AB  - There was performed a comprehensive study of consistent pattern of the
      accumulation of toxic heavy metals in the natural environments of mentioned areas
      and there were developed methods and recommendations for improvement of their
      ecological status. The aim of the study--a performance of the study of pollution
      of natural environments by major mining regions of Georgia: Madneuli copper
      pyrite and barite-polymetallic deposit, Chiatura manganese deposit, Lukhumi
      arsenic deposits. In the process of the work, the special attention was paid to
      the consistent patterns of accumulation of heavy toxic contaminants in natural
      waters and soils, as well as to the development of methods and recommendations
      for their purification from impurities. At the same time there were used: field
      geochemical, and hydrogeochemical pedological methods, modern ultrasensitive
      analytical equipment, laboratory experiments for the identification of tools of
      water and soil purification from heavy metals etc.

PMID- 25842495
TI  - [On the problem of the study of the chemical air pollution with chlororganic
      hydrocarbons at productions of polyvinyl chloride and epichlorohydrin].
AB  - Hygienic assessment of working conditions at the chemical productions of
      polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and epichlorohydrin (EPCH) in East Siberia has shown
      that the employees are exposed to the chlororganic hydrocarbons of hazard
      category 1-2, out of them there were found to be more toxical pollutants such as
      vinyl chloride, 1.2-dicloroethane in the production of polyvinyl chloride; allyl
      chloride and epichlorohydrin in the production of epichlorohydrin. Multistageness
      of the technological processes, the absence of the isolation of main stages of
      the technological processes as well as the heating microclimate contribute to the
      chemical pollution of the air environment. In spite of the significant
      improvement of the hygienic situation at the productions mentioned in the recent
      10 years according to the chemical factor due to the introduction of the complex
      of curative measures, the working conditions of the employees still belonged to
      the harmful category. According to the content of the harmful chemical substances
      in the air of the working zone and the parameters of microclimate, the working
      conditions of the employees working at the production of epichlorohydrin and in
      the shop of vinyl chloride production must be qualified as the harmful ones of
      the first category of the hazard and danger (Class 3.1), in the production shop
      for PVC- as the harmful ones which correspond to the second category of the
      hazard and danger (Class 3.2).

PMID- 25842496
TI  - [To the issue on the optimization and regulation of microclimate in the subway
      trains and stations].
AB  - There is presented an overview of currently existing regulatory framework
      governing the parameters of the microclimate in the salons of subway passenger
      cars and stations. Analysis of the normative documents indicated that they
      contain very incomplete, contradictory, often unfounded information about the
      parameters of microclimate parameters in salons of subway rolling stock. Also,
      there are no clear cut hygienically-sound requirements for the work of imposed on
      the rolling stock subway systems provide microclimate, including new systems for
      air conditioning and disinfection.

PMID- 25842497
TI  - [Functional state of the respiratory system in employees at the tantalum plant].
AB  - Indices of pulmonary ventilation function in employees at the tantalum plant
      tended to decrease according to the length of service and type of performed
      technological operations. Physiological changes of the functional State of the
      respiratory system were accompanied by pulmonary ventilation disorders of mixed
      and obstructive types. Changes in indices of respiratory function at the level of
      distal and proximal airways, including the bronchial tree, wore compensatory
      adaptive character in response to the exposure of harmful factors of dust-gas
      mixture from the tantalum production.

PMID- 25842498
TI  - [Analysis of associations of polymorphic loci of a tumor suppressor gene TP53
      with malignant neoplasms in glass fiber manufacturing workers].
AB  - The purpose of the study was to determine the role of TP53 tumor suppressor gene
      polymorphisms in the occurrence of skin malignant neoplasms in glass fiber
      manufacturing workers. We carried out a comparative study of polymorphous loci
      Arg72Pro and dup16bp in TP53 gene in workers with skin cancer and hyperkeratosis
      (n = 68), occupied in continuous glass fiber manufacture, and in healthy workers
      (n = 52). The associations of both Pro and dup16 minor alleles of TP53 gene, and
      Arg/Pro-W/dup16 genotype combination with higher risks for skin oncologic
      diseases of occupational genesis have been revealed.

PMID- 25842499
TI  - [Health status, morbidity and injury rate in divers serving in the Kola North].
AB  - The authors analyzed the health status of military personnel (males) of the
      Northern Fleet who did call-up military service (n = 420) and served on contract
      (n = 1370) in special diving positions in the Kola Arctic over the past few
      years. For the comparison of the rate of the decline of health level in different
      conditions of service the authors presented the averaged results of studies
      previously performed in the same period of time in the service personnel of
      coastal military units in the European North, troops from the surface ship crews
      and crew nuclear submarine. In the article there are considered the features of
      the primary disease and injury. Research and monitoring of causative-consecutive
      relationships between the features of military professional activity and the
      level and structure of primary morbidity rate allow to form the main directions
      of vocational rehabilitation for fleet specialists.

PMID- 25842500
TI  - [Comprehensive assessment of the health of students with different state of the
      musculoskeletal system].
AB  - Priority health indices (the morbidity rate, the resistance status, the physical
      development, the orthopedic status, the level of bone mineralization, functional
      reserves of the body, health groups) in schoolchildren aged 7-18 years with a
      different state of the musculoskeletal system (MSS), learning in secondary
      schools were studied with the aim of the development of prevention programs. The
      high incidence of MSS diseases was determined to be combined with a high level of
      overall morbidity rate, on separate classes--with diseases of the nervous,
      endocrine, digestive systems, increasing with age ofthe student. Comprehensive
      assessment of health is much worse in schoolchildren with functional MSS
      diseases, as well as in girls. This demonstrates the need for careful monitoring
      of these children by experts in different fields, differentiated prescription,
      prevention and wellness programs throughout all the period of schooling.

PMID- 25842501
TI  - [On motivations of adolescents to promote a healthy lifestyle].
AB  - There was studied the motivation of modern adolescents to promote healthy
      lifestyle. There were observed two arrays, including adolescent-schoolchildren
      aged 16-17 and 13-14 years in Moscow. The results showed that health occupied one
      of the first places among the positive motivations, being stable dominant in the
      period of 13-17 years. The real motivation for a healthy lifestyle coincides with
      the perspective and informed choice coincides with the life goals. In this,
      almost all of the identified negative motivation are "manageable", available to
      be modified or eliminated.

PMID- 25842502
TI  - [Regional features of the physical development of schoolchildren in the city of
      Ufa].
AB  - There was studied the physical development of 4550 schoolchildren of the city of
      Ufa at the age from 8 to 16 years. Almost a third of the students was noted to
      have disharmonious physical development. The proportion of children with excess
      of body weight exceeds the proportion of underweight children in 2 times. Modern
      schoolchildren of middle and senior age groups were established to have higher
      indices of height and weight in comparison with peers at the end of twentieth
      century, and in younger schoolchildren the indices are higher than in their peers
      in 2004.

PMID- 25842503
TI  - [The features of the relationship of the indices of physical and sexual
      development of teenagers of the city of Chelyabinsk--the industrial center of
      South Ural].
AB  - There was made a determination of the correlation relationships (CR) between
      indices of physical and sexual development (SD) of 1997 adolescents aged from 11
      years 6 months to 17 years 5 months 29 days residing in the industrial center of
      the Southern Urals characterized by high levels of air pollution (API 7-13).
      Benzo(a)pyrene and formaldehyde contribute the greatest part to air pollution.
      The level of SD, time of appearance of secondary sexual characteristics was
      revealed to be interrelated with the pace of physical development of adolescents,
      regardless of the gender Children with an accelerated pace of physical
      development (macrosomatotype) are characterized by advancing sexual development
      and the earlier appearance of secondary sexual characteristics. Slow pace of
      physical development (microsomatotype) is characterized by SD retardation and the
      later appearance of secondary sexual characteristics. The degree of intensity of
      secondary sexual characteristics and such anthropometric indices as height, body
      mass are interrelated and have age and gender differences: the maximal CR for
      these indices is typical for boys aged from 13 to 16 years as for girls--of 13
      and 14 years old.

PMID- 25842504
TI  - [Morbidity rate in students of lyceum and specialized educational institution].
AB  - Comparative analysis of the morbidity rate of students was implemented on the
      basis of a special educational institution for students who are prone to crime
      and delinquency and for pupils of the lyceum-boarding school. The analysis showed
      that the state of health of the surveyed children was characterized by high
      indices of morbidity rates, the high occurrence of chronic diseases among
      students and the progressive decrease in the indices of the health. The highest
      morbidity rates were noted in classes of diseases of the nervous system,
      digestive system, circulatory system, diseases of the eye and adnexa, and
      musculoskeletal system. The higher level of incidence of different pathologies in
      students of the specialized secondary school gives evidence of the possibility of
      unfavorable prognosis for the future health of adolescents and can refer them to
      the risk group.

PMID- 25842505
TI  - [The levels of electrolytes and nitric oxide in saliva of students under mental
      emotional exertion].
AB  - The influence of examination-induced psycho-emotional stress on students'
      hemodynamic parameters, nitric oxide (NO) level and electrolyte composition of
      saliva was investigated. Before examinations, the examinees with a sympathotonic
      response (75.0%) showed the increase of heart rate levels and blood pressure
      indices, the decline of salivary NO excretion that was retained within 24-hours
      after an exam. There was a significant negative correlation between the amount of
      NO and the values of blood pressure. The examinees with a parasympathetic
      response (25%) showed the elevated salivary NO level and lowered blood pressure
      indices in the pre- and post- examinational periods. Throughout the examination
      period the increased autonomic tone of the organism contributes to the changes of
      the electrolyte composition of saliva. In pre-examination period the examinees
      with sympathotonic response demonstrated a significant decrease of the
      concentration of Na+ in saliva, that persisted after exams also. Hyponatremia was
      associated with the increased K+ and decreased Na+/K+ ratio. Before exams the
      level of Na+ in the saliva of the students of the II group increased, at the same
      time concentration of K+ decreased. After the exam there was a reduction of Na+,
      which, however, did not reach the initial level.

PMID- 25842506
TI  - [The impact of social and psychological factors on the formation of health
      students during training in the higher educational institution].
AB  - There was performed an assessment of anthropometric indices of physical
      development and functional parameters of the cardiovascular system, psychological
      and social status in 770 students of the higher educational institutions in the
      city ofSamara. There was revealed the presence of I-III degree obesity in 13.2%
      of young males and underweight in 19.1% of young females. Stress and disruption
      of the processes of the adaptation process were shown to be observed in 7.6% and
      6.1% of students, respectively. There was found a tendency to hypertension in
      12.6% of young males. Revealed changes are related to lifestyle of the modern
      student. The main factors for the improvement of the life quality is the duration
      of sleep and ultimate nutrition. Initially, the lower level of physical and
      functional capabilities is compensated by virtue of the correct organization of
      social and psychological factors and prevents possible deviations from the part
      of health.

PMID- 25842507
TI  - [Evaluation of the physical development and adaptation capacities of the body of
      schoolchildren in the Ulyanovsk region].
AB  - The current environmental and socio-economic living conditions are major causes
      of the deterioration of the population health. The physical development of
      children and adolescents permits to evaluate fleeting changes in the population.
      There was performed the evaluation of the physical development of 1664
      schoolchildren in the Ulyanovsk region. Features of the physical development, the
      state of autonomic tone and cardiac activity of children and adolescents residing
      in areas with the intense anthropogenic impact testify to the exertion of
      adaptation mechanisms under the influence of environmental factors.

PMID- 25842508
TI  - [Lifestyle of the students of specialized educational institutions and lyceum].
AB  - The results of the survey indicate that students of the specialized educational
      institution have grown in less favorable conditions than lyceum students, they
      often brought up in single-parent (45% vs. 26%), large (34% vs. 14%) families,
      their parents are less likely to have higher education. Lifestyle of the parents
      of students of specialized educational institution is more "unhealthy" than in
      families of lyceum students: parents drink alcohol 1.8 times more frequently, the
      prevalence of smoking among mothers was 24 times more. Among students of the
      specialized educational institution one in five (21%) had the experience of
      tobacco smoking, among lyceum students--only every 25th (4.0%), alcohol use is
      common in 24% of pupils and 6% of lyceum students, 7.1% of students irregularly
      use drugs, among lyceum students there was no such children. Irrational mode of
      the day was more common among lyceum students: they less frequently rate their
      health as good (61% vs. 76%), had more complaints about their health, as well as
      more often experience a fatigue after training sessions (40% versus 26%) and
      difficulty in falling asleep.

PMID- 25842509
TI  - [Hygienic evaluation of the efficacy of the regional program of the modernization
      of school meals (on the example of Altai Krai)].
AB  - With the use of the method for the analysis of the frequency of food intake there
      was studied the actual nutrition in adolescents at the age of 12-17 years (n =
      257) who were the students of the urban and rural educational institutions (EI)
      of Altai Krai. The analysis of the menu-layout and assessment of nutritional
      status was performed with the use of clinical methods. The main group consisted
      of 125 adolescents from the EI with upgraded technological equipment of the
      nutrition unit, the comparison group--132 teenagers from EI with non-upgraded
      equipment of the nutrition department. The program of the modernization of school
      meals was implemented in several ways and included the reconstruction and
      technical re-equipment of school nutrition units on the base of modern
      technologies, delivery and introduction in accordance with the requirements of
      the school menu, differentiated by age groups with the use of food products aimed
      at the prevention of diseases caused by micronutrient deficiency. This led to the
      enlargement of the assortment of dishes, the increase of the coverage for
      catering students, improvement of the structure of student nutrition, the
      increased in the intake of a number of nutrients. Symptoms of skin lesions
      associated with insufficient provision of micronutrients in a core group of
      students occurred less common than in the comparison group (p < 0.01).

PMID- 25842510
TI  - [Interstitial endocrine apparatus of testes of experimental animals in conditions
      of chromium-benzene intoxication].
AB  - With the use of histological, morphometric and statistical methods there was
      shown a gonadotropic effect of chromium, benzene and also their mixtures in male
      mice (CBA x C57Bl6) F1. The established structural changes in the testes of
      exposed animals showed the suppression of their germinative and endocrine
      functions. The response of Leydig cells in the chromium group expresses a
      development of the compensatory process in the relation with the destruction of
      seminiferous epithelium.

PMID- 25842511
TI  - [Effect of physical activity of varying intensity and hypodynamia on the
      morphological indices of the internal organs in the experiment].
AB  - The influence of physical activity of varying intensity and hypodynamia on the
      morphological indices parameters of the internal organs of rats in the experiment
      was investigated. Animals were subjected to the forced swim test by Porsolt of
      varying duration and to immobilization. The intense exercise, as well as long
      term lack of exercise, were reveled to lead to the pronounced structural defects
      in the internal organs, while moderate exercise can be considered as the most
      favorable.

PMID- 25842512
TI  - [Crystallographic evaluation of structural changes in water].
AB  - The study of the structural state of tap water that has been stored for two days
      in the packaging materials of various type and in different conditions, was
      performed with the use of crystallographic method for the investigation of
      liquids based on a special approach for dehydration of the drop, which is a fixed
      thin "slice" of the examines liquid. Most organized crystallographic pattern was
      shown to observe in a drop of water after treatment Bioptron lamp (content of
      liquid-crystal associates (LCA)--6.90 +/- 0.23), and stored in a silver vessel
      (content LCA--6.28 +/- 0.17), and the least organized, almost amorphous
      precipitate is formed in a drop of water stored in plastic containers (content
      LCA--2.92 +/- 0.15%). Basing on the obtained results, it can be concluded that
      the crystallographic method can be used for the identification of qualitative
      changes occurring in liquid water under the influence of various physical
      factors, for the identification of the rationality of the use of hereafter
      sophisticated quantitative techniques.

PMID- 25842513
TI  - [New methodological approach to hygienic audit of learning and upbringing
      environment for children in educational institutions].
AB  - A methodical approach to the hygienic assessment of the educational environment
      in children's educational institutions was developed and tested for the objective
      determination of the level ofsanitary and epidemiological welfare and effective
      planning of preventive measures with bearing in mind environmental factors which
      have the most negative impact on children's health.

PMID- 25842514
TI  - [Methodical ware for the hygienic risk assessment of vanadium exposure to the
      children's health].
AB  - In the article there is considered the complex of methodological approaches for
      the detection of vanadium in the air and biological substrates of the population
      for the practical use in the frameworks of public health monitoring in areas with
      localization of steel industry facilities. The developed complex of methods on
      the base of mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-MS) allowed to
      perform the hygienic assessment of the quality of objects of the environment in
      the territory located in the zone of the impact of emissions of ferrovanadium
      production (the city of Tchusovoy of the Perm Krai). From the results of the
      study there was established the significant excess of the vanadium content in the
      ambient air of the studied area in relation to the control territory and to the
      reference concentration for chronic inhalation exposure (RfCxp) to 6.0 times.
      There was revealed a significant excess of vanadium content in the blood of
      children residing in the study area, with respect to the regional background
      levels (0.0001-0.00016 mg/dm3). Complex clinical laboratory and chemical
      analytical studies of biosubstrates of the children population allowed to
      substantiate the marker of the inhalation exposure (the vanadium content in the
      blood) and its reference level (0.0023 dm3).

PMID- 25842515
TI  - [Functional state of the visual analyzer in the conditions of the use of
      traditional and LED light sources].
AB  - There was performed the experimental work on the study of the possibility of the
      application of LED lighting (LED light sources) in rail transport for traffic
      safety in related professions. Results of 4 series of studies involving 10
      volunteers for the study and a comparative evaluation of the functional state of
      the visual analyzer, the general functional state and mental capacity under the
      performing the simulated operator activity in conditions of traditional light
      sources (incandescent, fluorescent lamp) and the new LED (LED lamp, LED panel)
      light sources have revealed changes in the negative direction. This was
      pronounced in a some decrease of functional stability to color discrimination
      between green and red cone signals, as well as an increase in response time in
      complex visual--motor response and significant reduction in readiness for
      emergency action of examinees.

PMID- 25842516
TI  - [Psychophysiological research of changes of the functional condition of the neuro
      psychic sphere of younger schoolchildren during the school day at luminescent and
      LED lighting in the classroom].
AB  - The purpose of the study is to test the hypothesis that the LED lighting (LL) in
      training class does not have a negative impact on the change in the functional
      state of the neuro-psychiatric sphere in pupils by the end of the school day, if
      compared with traditional for schools fluorescent lighting (FL). With the help of
      specially matched methods for psychophysiological examination there was performed
      the testing of changes in the functional state of the neuro-psychiatric in pupils
      during the school day and there was made an analysis of these changes in
      dependence on the type of lighting the classroom. LL, if compared to FL, was
      established to lead to a significant weakening of the negative changes of
      functional lability of the visual analyzer, the power of excitation of the
      nervous system and cognitive functions, as well as to an increase in positive
      changes in psychomotorics. The data obtained allow us to recommend the use of LED
      lighting equipment in modern schools.

PMID- 25842517
TI  - Experience: we know it when we see it.

PMID- 25842518
TI  - Why experience matters: moving from words to action.
AB  - This article explores the nature of patient experience from the perspective of
      the language we use at a systemic level, discussing the range of terminology that
      has an impact on how we involve the voices of patients and families in health
      care today. The author explores the recent evolution in the language of patient
      experience, acknowledging the diversity of perspective while offering that there
      is an opportunity for alignment, and presents a model for integrating the
      constructs that frame excellence in patient experience. The author leaves us with
      a challenge: to continue the conversation and to find opportunities to elevate
      the impact of patient experience overall.

PMID- 25842519
TI  - Self-determination, end-of-life decisions, and the role of nurse practitioners.
AB  - Nurse practitioners should be aware that societal changes could lead to their
      being asked to actively assist terminally ill patients who wish to end their
      lives, as opposed to their current supportive role in palliative care. With
      physician staff shortages and the need for nurse practitioners to fill the gaps,
      end-of-life responsibilities could be placed in the hands of nurse practitioners,
      rather than being reserved for physicians alone (Sagon, 2013). End-of-life
      matters raise uncertainties about the nurse practitioner role because it differs
      state by state, relates to ethics, reflects the religious beliefs of those
      involved, and concerns the conflict of nurses simultaneously caring for their
      patients while advocating for their right to self-determination in choosing to
      end their lives.

PMID- 25842520
TI  - Transformation from within: a concept analysis of epiphany.
AB  - The aim of this article is to explore the concept of epiphany using a modified
      version of Walker and Avant's (2005) concept analysis procedures. This
      transformative experience produces behavior change that can impact wellness. The
      occurrence of epiphanies through analysis of historical figures, retrospective
      and qualitative studies, and literary works is described. Evidence suggests this
      phenomenon can be profound, liberating, and enduring. Nursing research has not
      considered the potential of epiphanies as a behavior change theory to improve
      health behaviors and wellness.

PMID- 25842521
TI  - Finding the research questions for care coordination of older adults.
AB  - With the growing number of older adults needing complex medical care, new models
      of care are needed to reduce unnecessary Medicare costs while helping older
      adults achieve their highest level of well-being. Advances in models for care
      coordination have occurred over the past 10 years, yet the research is not
      complete. Now is the time for nurses to examine the literature and identify
      research questions for future studies. This article identifies 2 research
      questions that will fill the gaps in the state of the science on how best to meet
      the needs of older adults with multiple chronic conditions.

PMID- 25842522
TI  - Primary nursing in a short-stay unit.
AB  - Primary nursing is a model of care delivery that has been shown to improve the
      quality of care provided to patients and enhance the nurse-patient relationship.
      Although there is considerable attention in the literature on Primary Nursing
      concerning inpatient hospital units, there has been no discussion of Primary
      Nursing in short-stay units. Our hospital aimed to introduce Primary Nursing into
      all the units including short-stay. Staff were educated about the role of the
      primary nurse using Koloroutis's (2004) Relationship-Based Care model, comprising
      three crucial relationships: care provider's relationship with patients and
      families, with self, and with colleagues. The primary nurse develops the plan of
      care for individual patients based on their therapeutic relationship, which is
      sustained for the patient's length of stay in the unit.

PMID- 25842523
TI  - To move health care to health caring: a conversation with Julie Kennedy Oehlert,
      DNP, RN.
AB  - The complex nature of health care requires a culture of interprofessionality that
      supports high-functioning interprofessional teams. Wolf and Prince (2014) wrote,
      "Culture is the foundation on which any healthcare encounter is delivered" (p.
      3). It is therefore important for nursing to elevate thought leaders who can
      address the culture of health care organizations and how culture can be
      transformed. Julie Kennedy Oehlert is one of these leaders.

PMID- 25842524
TI  - Cognitive behavioral therapy in patients with sickle cell disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited autosomal recessive
      disorder. In the United States, most individuals with SCD are African Americans,
      withan incidence of 1 in 400 to 1 in 500 live births. SCD is a lifelong disorder
      with no known cure. BACKGROUND: SCD causes anemia, frequent painful episodes, and
      reduced life ex- pectancy. The most disturbing clinical problem associated with
      SCD is severe pain episodes, the most common reason for hospitalization.
      Pharmacological interventions have been the mainstream for treatment; however,
      psychological interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may
      complement current medical treatment, lead- ing to better coping and overall
      improved quality of life. METHODS: In a quasi-experimental one-group pretest
      posttest study, 9 African American individuals with SCD completed 3 weekly
      educational sessions learning CBT methods. RESULTS: Participants demonstrated
      increased frequency of use of CBT methods post-intervention, including diverting
      attention, coping self-statements, and behavioral activities, leading to better
      pain control. However, quality of life and role limitation did not show
      significant improvement. DISCUSSION: CBT may be beneficial to those suffering
      from SCD when combined with conventional treatment options; however, there are
      still barriers to incorporating psychological interventions into practice.
      CONCLUSIONS: CBT shows promise for individuals with chronic conditions such as
      SCD, but more investigation into its efficacy is needed with larger sample sizes
      over longer periods of time.

PMID- 25842525
TI  - Joy, happiness, and humor in dementia care: a qualitative study.
AB  - People with advanced dementia can still enjoy life. Even if their language is
      impaired and they live in the moment, it should still be possible for them to
      live a life of pleasure and joy. A pilot study was conducted to learn more about
      these individuals' experiences, but because of the decline in their access to
      language, it was necessary to have others speak on their behalf. Analysis of
      findings was based on a hermeneutic approach inspired by Ricoeur (1981). Central
      findings were that all the interviewees emphasized humor and interacting with
      other people as a source of happiness.

PMID- 25842526
TI  - Using eHealth to improve health literacy among the patient population.
AB  - There is no denying the global influence of eHealth, in its various forms, on the
      health care system in the 21st Century. Health care professionals are often
      familiar with technological tools used to enhance health outcomes by assisting
      clinicians in meeting the needs of the patient population. In an age of social
      media, web-based information, and material available literally in an instant, it
      is crucial for nurses to use and proactively share their knowledge regarding
      accessing and finding credible sources of online health information with the
      patient population. By improving health literacy among consumers, self
      sufficiency and competence can be developed and promoted to improve health
      outcomes, placing the patient in a participatory starring role of managing and
      improving his or her overall well-being.

PMID- 25842527
TI  - A salon for students.
AB  - A Nursing Salon specifically for students and faculty of a baccalaureate school
      of nursing introduced the students to an opportunity to talk with nurses from all
      walks and all levels of nursing life.

PMID- 25842528
TI  - Ask "why" and don't be afraid to say "no".
AB  - The author of Questioning Protocol: How One Mom Dispensed Equal Doses of Humor;
      Humility, and Corporate Smarts to Help Her Family Navigate Their Health Care
      Crisis describes advocating for her chronically ill son in the hospital. The
      skills she gained working for 18 years as an engineer with General Electric
      empowered her to navigate the health care system effectively and find
      opportunities for process improvements. Best practices can be shared between
      companies, and the same is true for patients and loved ones. This adaptation of a
      passage from Questioning Protocol demonstrates a critical corporate survival
      skill: the confidence to say "No".

PMID- 25842529
TI  - Heavy metal accumulations in water, sediment, and some cyprinid species in Porsuk
      Stream (Turkey).
AB  - Porsuk Stream is one of Turkey's most important river systems and also one of the
      most important branches of the Sakarya River. It provides drinking and utility
      water for two Turkish cities (Kutahya and Eskisehir) with a total population of
      one million. In this study, water, sediment, and some tissues (liver, gill, and
      muscle) of five cyprinid fish species were collected seasonally (2010-2011) from
      eight stations on the Porsuk Stream, and the zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), chromium
      (Cr), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), and arsenic (As) levels of
      collected samples were determined. The data observed were evaluated with national
      and international quality criteria. Based on the data observed, it was determined
      that the Porsuk Stream is affected by significant inorganic pollution from the
      Kutahya and Eskisehir Provinces. It was also determined that the Porsuk Dam Lake
      has an important cleaning capacity and that the water and sediment quality of the
      Porsuk Stream improves after the output of the dam lake.

PMID- 25842530
TI  - Experimental attempt at using Lecane inermis rotifers to control filamentous
      bacteria Eikelboom Type 0092 in activated sludge.
AB  - In laboratory experiments, the authors tested the efficacy of Lecane inermis
      rotifers in reducing the abundance of filamentous bacteria in activated sludge
      samples dominated by one filamentous bacterium, Eikelboom Type 0092. The
      experiment was conducted in three replicates and repeated three times at 1-month
      intervals. In all repetitions, rotifers were able to significantly reduce the
      density of bacterial filaments through predation. It was also shown that the
      influence of rotifers on filament abundance depends on the duration of grazing
      pressure. The data show that L. inermis, already reported to be effective in
      reducing the density of Microthrix parvicella, Nostocoida limicola, and Type 021N
      in activated sludge, can be equally helpful in limiting Type 0092, another
      troublesome filamentous bacterium found in low-loaded water resource recovery
      facilities.

PMID- 25842531
TI  - Quantitative microbial risk assessment for recreational exposure to water bodies
      in Philadelphia.
AB  - A quantitative microbial risk assessment was conducted to estimate risk of
      gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses associated with recreational exposure to
      Philadelphia waterways, under dry and wet weather conditions. Using maximum
      likelihood estimation, stochastic exposure models were generated for each
      exposure scenario and Monte Carlo techniques were applied to characterize
      uncertainty in final risk estimates. The dry-weather risk estimates were found
      significantly lower than those predicted for wet-weather conditions. Moreover,
      the predicted risk, calculated in proportion of the frequency of use, was
      elevated at 6 out of 10 sites (ranging from 9 to 52 illnesses/1000 users/day).
      Activities contributing most to the risk of GI illness at creeks were identified
      as wading and playing (81%), while fishing was the potential risk contributor
      (65%) at rivers. The quantitative measure of risk contribution from each type of
      water activity obtained from this study can be useful for policy makers in
      prioritizing the future interventions.

PMID- 25842532
TI  - Variability in the concentration of indicator bacteria in landfill leachate--a
      comparative study.
AB  - Leachate collected from the collection ponds of four landfill sites was
      investigated and compared for total coliforms and E. coli concentration as
      representatives of fecal pollution. Concentration of total coliforms and E. coli
      was comparable for leachate obtained from Kulim Landfill Site (KLS) and Ampang
      Landfill Site (ALS) with little variations. However, the level of indicator
      bacteria was significantly lower for Kuala Sepetang Landfill Site (KSLS), whereas
      Pulau Burung Landfill Site (PBLS) had the lowest concentration for both total
      coliforms and E. coli. Considering the landfills are currently operational, with
      the exception of ALS, the presence of indicator bacteria implies their
      inactivation prior to discharge. High concentration of indicator bacteria in ALS
      is attributed to the run-off entering the leachate pond. Greater concentration of
      ammonia and salinity level were partly responsible for lower concentration of
      indicator bacteria in leachate from KSLS and PBLS, indicating that salinty and
      ammonia could significantly affect the survival of indicator bacteria.

PMID- 25842533
TI  - Survival of biofilm-associated Legionella pneumophila exposed to various
      stressors.
AB  - Biofilm is crucial for the multiplication and survival of Legionella pneumophila.
      The survival after different stressors of biofilm-associated L. pneumophila was
      evaluated during 150 days in this study. Mixed biofilms were allowed to develop
      on coupons in a biofilm reactor, which was experimentally infected with L.
      pneumophila. A dose of 2 ppm of monochloramine was found ineffective to kill
      younger (60 days) biofilm-associated L. pneumophila, whereas shock treatment (500
      and 1000 ppm) was found to be significantly successful, as expected. Also, short
      exposure to 60  degrees C was insufficient to kill all young L. pneumophila
      within biofilms. A significant amount of young L. pneumophila bacteria also
      resisted pH 11 and 3 molar salt solution. No significant change was observed
      after exposure to 4  degrees C, ultra pure water and pH 5. Interestingly, L.
      pneumophila bacteria in biofilm became more sensitive after 90 days.

PMID- 25842534
TI  - Application of a low cost ceramic filter to a membrane bioreactor for greywater
      treatment.
AB  - The performance of a low cost and simple ceramic filter to a membrane bioreactor
      (MBR) process was evaluated for greywater treatment. The ceramic filter was
      submerged in an acrylic cylindrical column bioreactor. Synthetic greywater
      (prepared by shampoo, dish cleaner and laundry detergent) was fed continuously
      into the reactor. The filter effluent was obtained by gravitational pressure. The
      average flux performance was observed to be 11.5 LMH with an average hydraulic
      retention time of 1.7 days. Complete biodegradation of surfactant (methylene blue
      active substance removal: 99-100%) as well as high organic removal performance
      (biochemical oxygen demand: 97-100% and total organic carbon: >88%) was obtained.
      The consistency of flux (11.5 LMH) indicated that the filter can be operated for
      a long time without fouling. The application of this simple ceramic filter would
      make MBR technology cost-effective in developing countries for greywater
      reclamation and reuse.

PMID- 25842535
TI  - Biological treatment of textile dyes by agar-agar immobilized consortium in a
      packed bed reactor.
AB  - The decolorization of Acid Maroon V was investigated using bacterial consortium
      EDPA containing Enterobacter dissolvens AGYP1 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa AGYP2
      immobilized in different entrapment matrices. The consortium displayed 96%
      removal of dye (100 mg/l) within 6 h when immobilized in agar-agar. Under optimum
      concentrations of agar-agar (3.0% w/v) and cell biomass (0.9 g% w/v), the
      consortium displayed decolorization for 18 successive batches of Acid Maroon V
      and also decolorized 14 other different textile dyes. A packed bed reactor under
      batch mode showed 89% decolorization of dye after 56 repetitive cycles. Under
      continuous flow mode, maximum color removal was achieved with bed length of 36
      cm, hydraulic retention time of 2.66 h, and dye concentration of 100 mg/l.
      Additionally, the reactor decolorized relatively higher concentrations (100-2000
      mg/l) of dye. The synthetic dye wastewater containing five textile dyes was
      decolorized 92% with 62% COD reduction using an immobilized consortium.

PMID- 25842536
TI  - Energy balance affected by electrolyte recirculation and operating modes in
      microbial fuel cells.
AB  - Energy recovery and consumption in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) can be
      significantly affected by the operating conditions. This study investigated the
      effects of electrolyte recirculation and operation mode (continuous vs sequence
      batch reactor) on the energy balance in a tubular MFC. It was found that
      decreasing the anolyte recirculation also decreased the energy recovery. Because
      of the open environment of the cathode electrode, the catholyte recirculation
      consumed 10 to 50 times more energy than the anolyte recirculation, and resulted
      in negative energy balances despite the reduction of the anolyte recirculation.
      Reducing the catholyte recirculation to 20% led to a positive energy balance of
      0.0288 kWh m(-3). The MFC operated as a sequence batch reactor generated less
      energy and had a lower energy balance than the one with continuous operation.
      Those results encourage the further development of MFC technology to achieve
      neutral or even positive energy output.

PMID- 25842537
TI  - Abiotic effects on effluent dissolved organic nitrogen along an estuarine
      transect.
AB  - Biological nutrient removal is a process commonly used in water resource recovery
      facilities to reduce dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) concentrations in
      effluent; this process is less effective at removing all of the effluent
      dissolved organic nitrogen (EDON). The goal of this study was to investigate the
      fate of EDON after it undergoes the disinfection process and enters receiving
      waters. The authors quantified the abiotic effects of effluent exposure to
      sunlight, increased salinity, and a combination of the two factors. Effluent
      dissolved organic nitrogen showed significant breakdown during the disinfection
      process (UV and chlorine) and when exposed to sunlight and increasing salinity.
      Approximately 7% of the EDON was transformed to DIN and dissolved primary amines
      after exposure to 9 hours of sunlight and a salinity increase from 0 to 33. The
      production of DIN and primary amines should be taken into account when
      considering sources of labile nitrogen to aquatic ecosystems.

PMID- 25842538
TI  - Pilot demonstration of energy-efficient membrane bioreactor (MBR) using
      reciprocating submerged membrane.
AB  - Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is becoming popular for advanced wastewater treatment
      and water reuse. Air scouring to "shake" the membrane fibers is most suitable and
      applicable to maintain filtration without severe and rapidfouling. However,
      membrane fouling mitigating technologies are energy intensive. The goal of this
      research is to develop an alternative energy-saving MBR system to reduce energy
      consumption; a revolutionary system that will directly compete with air scouring
      technologies currently in the membrane water reuse market. The innovative MBR
      system, called reciprocation MBR (rMBR), prevents membrane fouling without the
      use of air scouring blowers. The mechanism featured is a mechanical reciprocating
      membrane frame that uses inertia to prevent fouling. Direct strong agitation of
      the fiber is also beneficial for the constant removal of solids built up on the
      membrane surface. The rMBR pilot consumes less energy than conventional coarse
      air scouring MBR systems. Specific energy consumption for membrane reciprocation
      for the pilot rMBR system was 0.072 kWh/m3 permeate produced at 40 LMH, which is
      75% less than the conventional air scouring in an MBR system (0.29 kWh/m3).
      Reciprocation of the hollow-fiber membrane can overcome the hydrodynamic
      limitations of air scouring or cross-flow membrane systems with less energy
      consumption and/or higher energy efficiency.

PMID- 25842539
TI  - Impact of substrate feed patterns on solids reduction by the Cannibal process.
AB  - A biological solids reduction process that uses a side-stream anaerobic reactor
      (Cannibal process) was investigated to better understand why variations in solids
      reduction occur in field installations. Field observations indicated that single
      stage, high sludge age processes would frequently not provide a low solids yield.
      To study this, laboratory sequencing batch reactors were operated, one as a
      conventional activated sludge system and the other two with a side-stream
      anaerobic reactors. The control and one anaerobic side-stream system were
      operated with a 5-minute feed cycle to mimic a plug flow system. The other
      anaerobic side-stream system operated with a 4-hour feed cycle to simulate
      complete mix. The 5 minutes feed Cannibal system generated up to 80%. less
      biological solids than the control. The 4 hours feed Cannibal system produced
      less biological solids than the conventional activated sludge system but remained
      higher than for system with a 5-minute feed time.

PMID- 25842540
TI  - Conventional and advanced oxidation processes used in disinfection of treated
      urban wastewater.
AB  - The purpose of the current study is to compare the inactivation of Escherichia
      coli in wastewater effluents using conventional treatments (chlorination) and
      advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as UV irradiation, hydrogen peroxide
      (H2O2)/solar irradiation, and photo-Fenton processes. In addition, an analysis of
      the operational costs of each treatment is carried out taking into account the
      optimal dosages of chemicals used. Total inactivation of bacteria (7.5 log) was
      achieved by means of chlorination and UV irradiation. However, bacterial regrowth
      was observed 6 hours after the completion of UV treatment, obtaining a
      disinfection value around 3 to 4 log. On the other hand, the combination
      H2O2/solar irradiation achieved a maximum inactivation of E. coli of 3.30 +/-
      0.35 log. The photo-Fenton reaction achieved a level of inactivation of 4.87 +/-
      0.10 log. The order of disinfection, taking into account the reagent/cost ratio
      of each treatment, is as follows: chlorination > UV irradiation > photo-Fenton >
      H2O2/sunlight irradiation.

PMID- 25842541
TI  - Metamorphosis of vascular surgery and Hybrid operations rooms.

PMID- 25842542
TI  - Evaluation of antimicrobial activities of minocycline and rifampin-impregnated
      silicone surfaces in an in vitro urinary system model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the antimicrobial activity in urinary catheters and
      silicones in antibiotic-coated prosthetic urinary systems in order to reduce
      morbidity and mortality caused by catheter-associated infection. METHODS: The
      study was initiated in 1993 at Houston, USA and continued in Turkey till 1996. A
      sterileplastic bag was used as kidney in the in vitro urinary system.
      Physiological renal jet streams (50 cc/h) were generated with an intravenous
      metric pump. The temperature was kept at body temperature. The bladder drainage
      was achieved at the physiological drainage period of 4-6 hours during the 72-hour
      experiment. Silicone surfaces coated with pure silicone and impregnated with
      Minocycline-Rifampin were exposed to the urine contaminated with the targeted
      bacteria in the in vitro urinary model for 72 hours. Antimicrobial activities
      occurring in the Eosin methylene blue and blood agar media in the infected
      silicones were assessed. RESULTS: Minocycline-Rifampin silicone surfaces exposed
      to the urine contaminated with Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa
      reported reproduction. No reproduction was observed in the culture of Minocycline
      Rifampin-impregnated silicone surfaces for Proteus mirabilis.The difference with
      the control group was regarded as statistically significant for Proteus mirabilis
      (p < 0.005). Minocycline-Rifampin-coated silicones were closely monitored only
      for Proteus mirabilis in the in vitro urinary medium. Although inhibition zones
      (< 10 mm) in the cultures were observed for Minocycline-Rifampin-coated silicones
      for Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but the microbial efficacy was
      not regarded sufficient. CONCLUSION: There is still need for evidence-based in
      vivo and in vitro studies where antimicrobial activity is evaluated on the
      surface of catheters.

PMID- 25842543
TI  - Clinical presentation and predictors of survival in patients with Budd Chiari
      syndrome: experience from a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine aetiology, clinical presentation and predictors of
      survival in Budd Chiari Syndrome patients. METHODS: The prospective observational
      study based on non-probability convenient sampling was conducted at the Sindh
      Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), Karachi, and comprised Budd
      Chiari Syndrome patients between January 2004 and December 2013. The patients
      were evaluated for onset of symptoms, causes, mode of presentation and predictors
      of survival. SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 25
      patients, 16(64%) were males, and 16(64%) belonged to the paediatric age group.
      Overall age range was 2-50 years with a mean of 14.7 +/- 12.41 years.
      Presentation was chronic in 14(56%) patients, acute in 10(40%) and acute on
      chronic in 1(4%). Commonest morphological abnormality involved was hepatic veins
      alone in 14(56%). Probable aetiologies were hypercoagulable states in 21(84%)
      patients, infections in 2(8%) and malignancy in 1(4%). Among hypercoagulable
      states, protein C deficiency was the commonest, affecting 9 (36%) patients. Seven
      (28%) patients died; acute 4 (16%) and chronic 3 (12%). Causes of death included
      sepsis 4 (16%), fulminant hepatic failure 1 (4%), gastrointestinal bleeding 1
      (4%), and bleeding from liver biopsy site 1 (4%). Poor survival was associated
      with bilirubin > 5 mg/dl (p < 0.031), serum alanine transaminase > 40 U/L (p <
      0.005), serum albumin < 2.8 g/dl (p < 0.008), Child-Turcotte-Pugh score > 10 (p <
      0.001) and absence of varices (p < 0.025). Cox regression analysis failed to show
      any significant independent predictors of survival. CONCLUSION: Budd Chiari
      Syndrome affected young patients more frequently and was associated with high
      mortality. The commonest aetiology was hypercoagulable state. Survival was poor
      in patients with decompensated liver disease and those with an acute clinical
      presentation.

PMID- 25842544
TI  - The influence of the lateral pharyngeal wall anatomy on snoring and sleep apnoea.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To elucidate the variations of the lateral pharyngeal wall anatomy on
      physical examination and to assess the clinical importance of the examination of
      the lateral pharyngeal wall on the presence and severity of obstructive sleep
      apnoea syndrome. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted at Ege
      University Medical School, Izmir, Turkey, between May 2010 and April 2011. The
      patients were divided into four equal groups: Group 1--snoring without apnoea
      (age 20-40); Group 2--snoring without apnoea (age 40-60); Group 3--apnoea
      hypopnoea index < 5/hr; Group 4: apnoea-hypopnoea index > 30/hr. Calibrated
      oropharynx pictures were taken. Distance between palatoglossal and
      palatopharyngeal arches, height of palatoglossal and palatopharyngeal arches,
      uvula width, uvula length and distance between tonsils were measured. SPSS 17 was
      used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 80 patients in the study, 44 (55%)
      were men. Mean distance between palatopharyngeal and palatoglossal arches were
      1.55 +/- 0.34 cm and 2.70 +/- 0.43 cm respectively. Mean height of
      palatopharyngeal and palatoglossal arches were 0.60 +/- 0.21 cm and 1.37 +/- 0.36
      cm respectively (p > 0.05). Mean uvula width and uvula length were 0.80 +/-
      0.12cm and 1.25 +/- 0.27 cm respectively (p > 0.05). Mean distance between
      tonsils was 2.24 +/- 0.56 cm (p > 0.05). Distance between palatopharyngeal arches
      was significantly different between groups 3 and 4 (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:
      Palatopharyngeal arch anatomy was found to be significantly associated with
      obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome severity, especially in patients with normal or
      small tonsil size. Patients with the palatopharyngeal arches, which narrow the
      oropharyngeal inlet more than the tonsils, should further be investigated with
      polysomnography.

PMID- 25842545
TI  - Prolidase activity and oxidative stress in patients with schizophrenia: a
      preliminary study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether serum prolidase levels are associated with the
      etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia. METHODS: The study was conducted at the
      psychiatry outpatient clinics of the University Hospitals of Recep Tayyip Erdogan
      and Afyonkocatepe in spring 2013. It comprised patients with schizophrenia who
      were consecutively recruited from the Psychiatry outpatient clinics of the
      hospital. An equal number of healthy individuals were recruited from the
      community. Each patient underwent a detailed diagnostic evaluation by psychiatry
      residents by using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and
      Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV. Serum prolidase activity and oxidative
      parameters were measured in patient and control groups.The severity of psychotic
      symptoms was assessed using the positive and negative syndrome scale. SPSS 16 was
      used for statitistical analysis. RESULTS: There were 30 subjects in each group,
      with 18 (60%) females among the patients and 21 (70%) among the controls. Serum
      prolidase level was significantly higher in schizophrenia patients compared to
      the controls (p < 0.001). Total Oxidative Stress and Oxidative Stress Index
      parameters were found to be significantly different between the patients and the
      controls (p = 0.024 and p < 0.001). Serum prolidase level did not show any
      correlation with markers of oxidative stress in the patients. CONCLUSION:
      Prolidase activity, glutamate transmission and oxidative stress may be inter
      related in the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia.

PMID- 25842546
TI  - Cigarette consumption habits and related factors among college students in
      Turkey: a logit model analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate smoking habits, related factors and level of
      consciousness among college students in Turkey. METHODS: The study was conducted
      at Gaziosmanpasa University, Tokat, Turkey, in May 2013. Data was obtained
      through face-to-face questionnaires. It was tested using Binomial Logit
      Regression Model. In addition, students were asked to answer a five-score
      question group in order to determine the reflections and judgments of smoker
      students. RESULTS: Of the 253 students in the study, 125(49%) were males.
      Overall, there were 101 (40%) smokers. Smoking ban was found to lower cigarette
      smoking among the smokers (p < 0.0001). On the other hand, smoking habit of
      parents and friends, income levels and differences in places where they lived
      positively affected cigarette smoking (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Tobacco policies
      and precautions taken to lower tobacco use resulted in considerable decrease in
      cigarette consumption.

PMID- 25842547
TI  - Abuse among school going adolescents in three major cities of Pakistan: is it
      associated with school performances and mood disorders?
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the proportion of various types of abuses and their
      association with school performances and psychological stress among adolescents
      from three major cities of Pakistan. METHODS: The cross-sectional school survey
      was conducted from March to September 2009, comprising adolescent students at six
      schools in Karachi, Lahore and Quetta. Data was collected using a self
      administered and pre-tested questionnaire by trained medical students. SPSS 16
      was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 414 subjects in the study,
      there were 223 (54%) boys and 191 (46%) girls with an overall mean age of 14.36
      +/- 1.08 years. In all, 140 (33.7%) participants were physically abused and 236
      (57%) participants were verbally abused in the preceding 12 months. Besides, 245
      (59.2%) were involved in physical fight and 195 (47.1%) had suffered injury
      during the preceding year. There were 171 (41.4%) subjects having suffered
      bullying during the same period. Verbal abuse (p = 0.05), physical fight (p =
      0.05) and bullying (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with poor school
      performances among adolescents. Physical abuse (p = 0.05), verbal abuse (p =
      0.003), injury (p = 0.02) and bullying (p < 0.001) were significantly associated
      with psychological stress. CONCLUSION: Various types of abuse were quite
      prevalent in adolescents that were significantly associated with poor school
      performance and poor mental health.

PMID- 25842548
TI  - Evaluating success of curettage in the surgical treatment of endometrial polyps.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine treatment efficacy of curettage on endometrial polyp.
      METHODS: The quasi-experimental pre-and-post study was conducted in 2011-12 at
      the gynaecology department of Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, and comprised
      patients who underwent hysteroscopy for endometrial polyp. Location, size, number
      and base condition of the polyps were recorded before the patient underwent
      curettage. Hysteroscopy was then performed and the condition of the remaining
      polyps was compared with initial findings. Also, the remaining polyps were
      resected. SPSS 13 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: There were 51
      patients in the study with a mean age of 33.14 +/- 8.19 years (range: 23-59
      years)Besides, there were 82 polyps; 38(46.3%) having a narrow base, and
      44(53.7%) having a wide base. The mean polyp size was 2.39 +/- 2.63cm.After
      performing curettage, 23 (28.0%) polyps were removed completely, 39(47.6%) had
      size reduction, and 20(24.4%) had no change in size. Curettage could not
      significantly remove polyps (p < 0.001). Polyps smaller than 2cm were more likely
      to have been removed compared to the bigger ones (p = 0.003).Polyps with wide
      base were more significantly removed than those with narrow base (p <
      0.001).Further, those with wide base and also smaller than 2 cm were removed more
      significantly than others (p < 0.001).The location of polyps had no effect on
      removal probability by curettage (p = 0.114). CONCLUSION: Curettage was not found
      to be a reliable method for endometrial polyp removal. If hysteroscopy is not
      accessible, the size of the polyp should be determined by vaginal sonograghy to
      estimate the probability of its removal by curettage.

PMID- 25842549
TI  - Opinion of Pakistani physiotherapists/students about anatomy as a subject and
      method of teaching anatomy: a cross sectional survey.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To recognise and identify the importance of Anatomy as a subject for
      physiotherapists/students. METHODS: The cross-sectional descriptive study was
      conducted from January to October 2011 at Riphah International University,
      Lahore, and comprised physiotherapists registered with Pakistan Physical Therapy
      Association and students pursuing undergraduate physiotherapy studies at the
      University. A survey proforma consisting of six questions was used for data
      collection which was analysed using SPSS 17. RESULTS: Of the 500 questionnaires
      distributed among physiotherapists and students, 286(57.2%) were collected back
      duly filled. Overall, 280(97.9%) respondents said Anatomy was important in
      physical therapy, 179(62.58%) said Anatomy was a difficult subject to retain
      knowledge of, 155 (54.38%) were of the view that only Clinical Anatomy should be
      studied, 204 (71.32%) were in favour of performing dissection, 259 (90.55%) found
      that teaching videos were essential for the study of Anatomy, and 89 (31.11%)
      believed Anatomy could be memorised by multiple readings. CONCLUSION: Despite
      being a difficult subject, Anatomy is an essential subject for medical
      professionals.

PMID- 25842550
TI  - Features of retinopathy of prematurity in a tertiary care hospital in Lahore.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the demographic and clinical features of Retinopathy of
      Prematurity in urban Punjab. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was performed at
      Hameed Latif Hospital, Lahore, from April 2010 to October 2013 and comprised
      neonates born with birth weight less than 2000 g, gestational age less than 37
      weeks, or those who were considered high risk for Retinopathy of Prematurity.
      Variables recorded included history, birth weight, gestational age, oxygen
      supplementation, development of Retinopathy of Prematurity, and laser treatment.
      Data was analysed using SPSS 17. RESULTS: There were 285 neonates in the study
      with a mean birth weight of 1280.34 +/- 350.43 g and mean gestational age being
      29.38 +/- 3.14 weeks. Overall, 167 (58.6%) received supplemental oxygen,
      86(30.2%) were anaemic and 44 (15.4%) received blood transfusion. Besides, 47
      (16.5%) premature babies were product of multiple gestation, 34 (11.9%) were
      having respiratory distress, 25 (8.8%) had sepsis and received intravenous
      antibiotics, 70(24.6%) developed Retinopathy of Prematurity, and 22 (7.7%)
      developed threshold disease and received laser treatment at mean gestational age
      of 32.11 +/- 2.53 weeks. CONCLUSION: Screening is key to preventing childhood
      blindness caused by Retinopathy of Prematurity. Prematurity, low birth weight and
      supplemental oxygen therapy are significant risk factors for the condition.

PMID- 25842551
TI  - Immune mechanisms in type-2 diabetic retinopathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To enumerate CDR+CD25+ Treg cells and determine serum IL-6 and IL-17
      in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with retinopathy. METHODS: The case-control
      study was conducted at the Department of Immunology, University of Health
      Sciences, Lahore, from November 2009 to January 2012 and comprised diabetic
      patients and healthy controls who were divided into three groups. Group 1 had
      controls, while Group 2 had diabetic patients without retinopathy and Group 3 had
      diabetic patients with retinopathy. Flowcytometre and enzyme-linked immunosorbent
      assay were used for CD4+CD25+ Tregs and serum IL-6 and IL-17 respectively. SPSS
      20 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 212 subjects in the study,
      30(14%) were Group 1, 30(14%) in Group 2 and 152(72%) in Group 3.There were 25
      (83%) women in Group 2 and 101 (66%) in Group 3 compared to 9 (30%) in Group 1.
      Higher mean age was in Group 3 (50.88 +/- 8.9 years) and Group 2 (49.46 +/- 9.94
      years) compared to Group 1 (34.66 +/- 8.78 years) while longer mean disease
      duration was in Group 3 (10.51 +/- 5.24 years) than Group 2 (7.76 +/- 4.14
      years). Highest median ratio of IL- 6 was in Group 1 (1468.62) (Q1-Q3: 1229.9
      1543.35), followed by Group 2 (1455.32) (Q1-Q3:1214.22-158.9) and Group 3
      (469.84) (Q1-Q3: 206.53-1231.33) whereas IL-17 was the highest in Group 1
      (339.38) (QT-Q3: 159.89- 1174.93), followed by Group 3 (216.60) (Q1-Q3:141.87
      410.25) and Group 2 (174.17) (Q1-Q3: 138.77-458.17). Higher percentage of Tregs
      was in Group 2 (3.07 +/- 0.43) followed by Group 1 (2.91 +/- 0.04) and Group 3
      (2.88 +/- 0.38). Significant difference was observed in gender, age, disease
      duration, level of IL-6 and IL-17 (p < 0.05 each), while no difference was found
      in glycated haemoglobin, CD4+CD25+ and Tregs (p > 0.05 each). CONCLUSION: Age,
      gender and duration of diabetes contributed to diabetic retinopathy, while
      CD4+CD25+ T cells and Treg cells did not. Serum IL-6 and IL-17 were inversely
      associated with diabetic retinopathy.

PMID- 25842552
TI  - Acute and chronic impact of smoking on salivary and serum total antioxidant
      capacity.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate increased oxidative stress in saliva of smokers along
      with their serum. METHODS: The case-control study was conducted from September to
      December 2008 in the Department of Biochemistry of the Medical School, Kirikkale
      University, Kirikkale, Turkey. A blood sample and saliva samples before and after
      smoking were collected from the smokers, while blood and saliva samples were
      taken from the controls. All samples were taken concurrently. The samples were
      measured for total antioxidant capacity, total oxidant stress, oxidative stress
      index, malondialdehyde, nitric oxide and total sulfhydryl groups. Levels of
      superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase were also measured on saliva
      samples. SPSS 13 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 54 subjects
      in the study, 27(50%) were smokers with a mean age of 28.4 +/- 5.42 years, and 27
      (50%) were controls with a mean age of 29.7 +/- 8.03 years. Total oxidant stress,
      oxidative stress index, malondialdehyde and nitric oxide levels were found higher
      in the serum samples of smokers (p < 0.05), and the levels of total sulfhydryl
      groups in smokers were lower compared with the controls (p < 0.05). Among the
      smokers, salivary malondialdehyde levels were higher before and after smoking (p
      < 0.05), glutathione peroxidase levels were lower than the controls, and salivary
      nitric oxide levels after smoking were higher than both those of the control
      group and the levels before smoking (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Both acute and
      chronic increased oxidative conditions may be a significant sign of the
      destructive effects of smoking. The investigation of disorders in smokers
      concerning oxidative stress will be beneficial in terms of novel approaches and
      treatment modalities.

PMID- 25842553
TI  - Impact of rituximab and IPI on survival in diffuse large B cell lymphoma patients
      treated at a tertiary level cancer centre in Pakistan: a single-centre
      experience.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of Rituximab and international prognostic
      index score on survival in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients. METHOD: The
      retrospective study was conducted at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and
      Research Centre, Lahore, from January to May 2013 and comprised record of
      patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who were treated from 2007 to 2010.
      Baseline international prognostic index score, stage at presentation were noted
      and the records were divided into two groups A and B on the basis of the type of
      chemotherapy. SPSS 19 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 93
      patients in the study whose records were reviewed, 54(58%) were men. Overall
      median age was 43 years (range: 18-76). Stages at presentation were stage-I 14
      (15.1%), stage-II 41 (44.1%), stage-III 20 (21.5%) and stage-lV 18 (19.4%).
      International prognostic index risk categorisation was low risk 59 (63.4%), low
      intermediate risk 23 (24.7%), high intermediate risk 10 (10.8%) and high risk 1
      (1.1%). There were 31 (33%) patients in Group A and 62 (67%) in Group B. Median
      follow-up was 3.9 years (range: 1.2-6.1). Overall survival at 4 years was 66.4%;
      for Group A 65.3% and for Group B 66.7% (p < 0.4). On the basis of risk
      categories, overall survival was statistically significant (p < 0.001) between
      the groups. CONCLUSION: International prognostic index risk categorisation had
      statistically significant impact on survival. However, there was no evidence of a
      significant survival benefit between types of chemotherapy. Further controlled
      trials are needed in this regard.

PMID- 25842554
TI  - The effect of prenatal administration of valproic acid on the survivability and
      day of hatching of chick embryo.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of prenatal administration of valproic acid on
      the survivability and day of hatching of chick embryo in comparison with age
      matched controls. METHODS: The experimental study was conducted at the Department
      of Anatomy, Regional Centre of College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan,
      Islamabad, from February 2010 to February 2011. Fertilised chicken eggs were
      divided into two groups, labelled as experimental group-A and control group-B.
      Group-A eggs were injected with valproic acid, incubated and hatched. Group-B
      eggs underwent sham treatment using normal saline. The fully hatched chicks were
      then evaluated for the day of hatching and survivability, on hatching or on day
      22 of incubation whichever was earlier. Outcome was statistically compared with
      the controls using SPSS 10. RESULTS: The two groups had 30 eggs each. In Group-A
      23 (76.66%) chicks hatched out, while there were 7 (23.33%) dead chicks. In Group
      B, 28 (93.33%) chicks hatched out and 2 (6.66%) were dead. Chicken embryos
      exposed to valproic acid in ovo showed increased mortality (p < 0.001) and
      delayed hatching (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Prenatal exposure of chick embryos to
      valproic acid decreased embryo survival and also delayed hatching compared to age
      matched controls.

PMID- 25842555
TI  - Acute renal failure in diabetes mellitus.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the causes and outcome of Acute renal failure (ARF) in
      diabetes mellitus. METHODS: This prospective study was conducted at nephrology
      unit of SIUT Karachi, Pakistan from November 2012 to May 2013. All adult patients
      with known underlying diabetes presenting with suspected ARF were included in the
      study. The treatment options were conservative and dialysis. Renal biopsy was
      performed in selected patients. All patients were followed for a period of six
      weeks for outcome of renal failure i.e. recovery, dialysis dependency and death.
      RESULTS: A total of 95 patients with suspected ARF were enrolled during this
      period. We found sepsis as the single most common factor causing ARF in 66
      (69.5%) patients and the most common focus of infection was found to be urinary
      tract in 47 (71.2%) patients. Other factors leading to ARF included volume
      depletion in 19 (20%), cardio renal in 13 (13.7%), acute glomerulonephritis in 3
      (3.15%) and contrast exposure in 2 (2.1%) patients. In all 72 (75.8%) patients
      required dialysis, while 23 (24.2%) were managed conservatively. Eventually 62
      (67.39%) patients recovered, 14 (15.21%) became dialysis dependent, and 16
      (17.39%) died. Among those who expired, all underwent dialysis and sepsis was the
      leading cause of death in 13 (81.25%) patients. CONCLUSION: Infection, especially
      of urinary tract is the leading cause of ARF in Diabetics. Outcome is favourable
      in those who dot require dialysis.

PMID- 25842557
TI  - Visual inspection of cervix with acetic acid: a good alternative to pap smear for
      cervical cancer screening in resource-limited setting.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of visual inspection of cervix
      using 3% acetic acid as a screening test for early detection of cervical cancer
      taking histopathology as the gold standard. METHODS: The cross-sectional study
      was conducted at Civil Hospital Karachi from July 1 to December 31, 2012 and
      comprised all sexually active women aged 19-60 years. During speculum examination
      3% acetic acid was applied over the cervix with the help of cotton swab. The
      observations were noted as positive or negative on visual inspection of the
      cervix after acetic acid application according to acetowhite changes. Colposcopy
      guided cervical biopsy was done in patients with positive or abnormal looking
      cervix. Colposcopic-directed biopsy was taken as the gold standard to assess
      visual inspection readings. SPSS 17 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS:
      There were 500 subjects with a mean age of 35.74 +/- 9.64 years. Sensitivity,
      specifically, positive predicted value, negative predicted value of visual
      inspection of the cervix after acetic acid application was 93.5%, 95.8%, 76.3%,
      99%, and the diagnostic accuracy was 95.6%. CONCLUSION: Visual inspection of the
      cervix after acetic acid application is an effective method of detecting pre
      invasive phase of cervical cancer and a good alternative to cytological screening
      for cervical cancer in resource-poor setting like Pakistan and can reduce
      maternal morbidity and mortality.

PMID- 25842556
TI  - A sample of paediatric residents' loneliness-anxiety-depression-burnout and job
      satisfaction with probable affecting factors.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout and job
      satisfaction among paediatric Residents, and how they influence each other.
      METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted at Necmettin Erbakan University,
      Meram, and Konya Meram Education and Research Hospital, Turkey from January to
      June 2011, and comprised paediatric Residents and their counterparts from other
      departments who formed the control group. While maintaining confidentiality, a
      questionnaire was used to collect data that had elements of the University of
      California, Los Angeles, Loneliness Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale,
      Maslach Burnout Inventory and Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. SPSS
      version 13 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Overall there were 74
      Residents in the study; 43 (58%) working with the paediatrics department, and 31
      (42%) in the control group. Overall mean age was 27.60 +/- 2.25 years. Residents
      who were not satisfied with the city they were living in, with their professional
      career and who would not choose the same career given a second chance were
      feeling more lonely and had higher loneliness scores (p < 0.05). In contrast,
      anxiety among female Residents who were unsatisfied with their professional
      career and working conditions was significantly high (p < 0.05). Positive
      correlation was detected between the burnout levels of Residents and their
      anxiety, depression and loneliness scores (r = 0.74; r = 0.65; r = 0.36). In
      terms of intrinsic, extrinsic and total job satisfaction, there was an obvious
      negative correlation (r = -0.57; r = -0.54; r = -0.61). CONCLUSION: Working
      conditions and professional liability were the main factors affecting the
      Residents. Informed decision and career willingness may help them feel better.

PMID- 25842558
TI  - Higher frequency of methicillin resistant bacteria in children with familial
      mediterranean fever.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate resistant microorganisms in nasal mucosa of children
      with Familial Mediterranean Fever. METHODS: The study was conducted from March to
      May 2013 at Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey, and comprised children with
      Familial Mediterranean Fever and healthy controls. All subjects had no history of
      antibiotic or local and/or systemic steroid use within the preceding 2 weeks.
      Nasal swab samples were obtained from all the subjects. Strain identification was
      done by using standard methods. SPSS 13 was used for statistical analysis.
      RESULTS: Of the 151 subjects in the study, 73 (48.34%) were cases and 78 (51.65%)
      were controls. Among the cases, there were 26(35.6%) girls, while among the
      controls, there were 40(51.3%) girls (p=0.052). The mean age of the cases was
      7.78 +/- 3.34 years (range: 3-15 years), while it was 8.15 +/- 2.71 years (range:
      3-16) among the controls (p = 0.208). Methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative
      staphylococcus and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus were isolated in
      both the groups. The growth rate of resistant bacteria was 63% (n = 46) in the
      cases, in the controls (p = 0.003; odds ratio [OR]: 2.7; 95% confidence interval
      [CI]: 1.4-5.2). Among the controls, history of hospitalisation increased the risk
      for the presence of resistant bacteria by 7.7 fold (OR: 7.7; 95% CI: 1.4-40.4).
      CONCLUSION: Higher rates of resistant bacteria showed that they were at risk of
      comorbidities related to antibiotic resistance.

PMID- 25842559
TI  - Analysis of surgical approaches for unstable thoracolumbar burst fracture:
      minimum of five year follow-up.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate and compare the long-term outcome of unstable
      thoracolumbar burst fractures treated using anterior, posterior or combined
      anterior and posterior approaches. METHODS: The prospective randomised controlled
      study was conducted at the Tianjin 4th Centre Hospital, Tianjin, China, and
      comprised patients of unstable thoracolumbar burst fracture operated between July
      2004 and July 2006 and followed up for five years. The patients were divided
      randomly into three groups of anterior, posterior and combined anterior and
      posterior approaches. Clinical data was analysed using SPSS 17. RESULTS: Of the
      66 cases in the study, 45 (68.18%) were male and 21 (31.8%) were female, with
      overall age ranging from 19 to 69 years. There were 22 (33.3%) patients in the
      anterior group, 23 (35%) in the posterior group, and 21 (32%) in the combined
      anterior and posterior group. Comparison was made between two respective groups.
      The combined group was found to have the longest operation time (p < 0.02; p <
      0.01, respectively), larger blood loss (p < 0.006; p < 0.005, respectively),
      longer hospital stay (p < 0.01; p < 0.003, respectively) and higher
      hospitalisation costs (p < 0.004; p < 0.001, respectively). The postoperative
      kyphotic angle was significantly smaller than preoperative one in all groups (p <
      0.01; p < 0.02; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The anterior approach or combined anterior
      and posterior approach were better options in managing unstable thoracolumbar
      burst fracture, while the latter should be used only for the burst fracture with
      a significant posterior column injury.

PMID- 25842560
TI  - Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1A disease from patient to laboratory.
AB  - Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is a well-known neural or spinal type of
      muscular atrophy. It is the most familiar disease within a group of conditions
      called Hereditary Motor and Sensory Neuropathies (HMSN). The disease was
      discovered by three scientists several years ago. Several genes are involved as
      the causative agents for the disease. Hundreds of causative mutations have been
      found and research work for the identification of a novel locus and for the
      treatment of CMT1A is going on. This review article was planned to gather
      information on CMT disease and updates on its treatment.National Center for
      Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and PubMed were searched for data retrieval.
      Molgen database, which is the exclusive site for CMT mutation, was the other
      source of articles. Different aspects of the CMT disease were
      compared.Advancements in the finding of the causative gene, discovery of the
      novel Loci are the current issues in this regard.CMT disease is incurable, but
      researchers are trying to get some benefits from different natural compounds and
      several therapeutic agents.Various groups are working on the treatment projects
      of CMT1A. Major step forward in CMT research was taken in 2004 when ascorbic acid
      was used for transgenic mice treatment. Gene therapy for constant neurotrophin-3
      (NT- 3) delivery by secretion by muscle cells for the CMT1A is also one of the
      possible treatments under trial.

PMID- 25842561
TI  - Measles hectic in Pakistan; Upsurge versus the lurking vaccination.
AB  - Measles has claimed more lives than anticipated, as the outbreaks hit Pakistan
      severely in 2013 as compared to 2012. Claiming 350 lives through the year 2013,
      Measles became a headache for the health agencies, authorities and common people.
      The sudden appearance of the virus in different parts of the country both rural
      and urban at the same time can be linked to more than one cause. The notable
      being corruption in health system, poor health infrastructure, destabilized
      routine immunization, shortage in number of vaccinators, negligence among
      parents, and floods. As a consequence of these causative factors, the unclear
      picture of immunization coverage can be presumed as the ultimate etiology of
      outbreaks in such numbers. Therefore, there is an urgent need to draw out the
      actual data of immunisation coverage and focus on elimination of hurdles in the
      road to success in fully coverage with vaccines.

PMID- 25842562
TI  - Tubo-omental ectopic pregnancy.
AB  - Tubo-omental pregnancy is a very rare form of ectopic pregnancy. Here we present
      a case of tubo-omental pregnancy diagnosed at surgical exploration. A 26-year-old
      woman presented with abdominal discomfort, nausea and vomiting. There was ectopic
      pregnancy with viable foetus in the right adnexa and haemoperitonium. Laparotomy
      was performed and on exploration tubo-omental pregnancy was found attached to
      fimbria at one side and omentum at the other. Fimriaectomy and partial
      omentectomy was performed. The patient had a successful post-operative recovery.

PMID- 25842563
TI  - Pathognomonic symptom associated with lightning strike: Lichtenberg figure.
AB  - Lightning strikes especially occur during spring and summer months in the
      afternoons when there is heavy rain. In deaths resulting from lightning strike,
      there may either be no evidence on the dead person's clothes or body, or there
      may be burnt or torn patches on their clothes and lichtenberg figures specific to
      lightning strikes on their bodies. In such cases that also have a comorbid of
      cognitive dysfunction, since there is generally amnesia, having these figures
      during the physical examination has a valuable place in early diagnosis and quick
      treatment. This paper presents a case of lightning strike that was found to have
      Lichtenberg figures on the back and right leg after secondary examination.

PMID- 25842564
TI  - Tumour induced osteomalacia.
AB  - Tumour-induced osteomalacia (TIO) is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome usually
      presenting with bone pain, fracture of bones and muscle weakness. It is caused by
      high serum levels of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF- 23), which is a hormone
      regulating phosphate, and vitamin D. FGF-23 is secreted by several tumours,
      especially benign mesenchymal tumours which are very small and difficult to
      locate. There is a significant delay from onset of symptoms to the diagnosis of
      this entity dueto occult nature of this disease. We present a case of young male
      who presented with long history of progressively worsening muscular pain and
      weakness, rendering the patient confined to bed. Our aim of presenting this
      patient as a case report is to make physicians realise that any patient with
      unexplained muscular weakness and pain must undergo workup for TIO, including
      serum phosphate measurement, as this is a rare but potentially curable disease.

PMID- 25842565
TI  - Valentino appendix: a report of 3 cases.
AB  - We present three cases of young male patients with perforated duodenal ulcer that
      were diagnosed and treated as appendicitis with appendectomy. They presented with
      peritonitis and were treated accordingly. Because of the misdiagnosis, their
      hospital course was significantly prolonged. This morbidity could have been
      avoided by careful history-taking, examination and per-operative findings.

PMID- 25842566
TI  - Artificial sweeteners: safe or unsafe?
AB  - Artificial sweeteners or intense sweeteners are sugar substitutes that are used
      as an alternative to table sugar. They are many times sweeter than natural sugar
      and as they contain no calories, they may be used to control weight and obesity.
      Extensive scientific research has demonstrated the safety of the six low-calorie
      sweeteners currently approved for use in foods in the U.S. and Europe (stevia,
      acesulfame-K, aspartame, neotame, saccharin and sucralose), if taken in
      acceptable quantities daily. There is some ongoing debate over whether artificial
      sweetener usage poses a health threat .This review article aims to cover
      thehealth benefits, and risks, of consuming artificial sweeteners, and discusses
      natural sweeteners which can be used as alternatives.

PMID- 25842567
TI  - Radiography in primary care diabetes.
AB  - Diabetes mellitus is a relatively common disease, and a variety of plain
      radiographic changes are frequently encountered in diabetic patients. Primary
      care physicians should be able to recognize these common x-ray findings so that
      early treatment may be started, thereby preventing disease progression and
      decreasing patient morbidity.

PMID- 25842568
TI  - Growing prevalence of osteoporosis in Pakistan: call for action.

PMID- 25842569
TI  - Prevalence and correlates of poor oral hygiene among school attending 13-15 year
      adolescents in Morocco.

PMID- 25842570
TI  - Translational research versus promotional research; basic conflict in Iran.

PMID- 25842572
TI  - Enormity of urolithiasis in Sindh province.

PMID- 25842571
TI  - Frequency of comorbidities and risk factors among ischaemic heart disease
      patients in Karachi--perspective from three tertiary care hospitals.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate comorbidities and risk factors among ischaemic heart
      disease patients. METHODS: The descriptive study was conducted at the cardiology
      wards of three hospitals in Karachi, and comprised and comprised data related to
      patients from September 5, 2013 to January 15, 2014. Data was analysed using SPSS
      20. RESULTS: Out of 377 individuals, 238 (63.1%) were males and 139(36.9%) were
      females. Depression outnumbered all other comorbids 137(58%) in males and
      103(74%) in females. It was followed by anxiety in 129 (54%) males and 90 (65%)
      females. In risk factors, high-cholesterol diet outnumbered all other risk
      factors 137 (58%) followed by stressful life 123 (52%) in males, while in females
      physical inactivity 91 (65%) and stressful life 91 (65%) both were leading risk
      factors. CONCLUSION: A variety of risk factors existed in ischaemic heart disease
      patients. Special attention should be paid to stressful lifestyle and high
      cholesterol, two of the most common risk factors in both genders.

PMID- 25842573
TI  - Medical students' perspective about factors motivating participation in small
      group discussions.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess perceptions of medical students about the factors that may
      enhance motivation for learning through small group discussions. METHODS: The
      qualitative descriptive study was conducted in May, 2013, at Riphah International
      University, Islamabad, and comprised undergraduate medical students from the
      first to the fourth year who were given a questionnaire that sought their opinion
      about group characteristics, composition, expectations from the teachers,
      environment, additional tools and optimum time duration. The effects of granting
      extra marks for active participation, feedback and weightage of attendance in
      enhancing motivation in small group discussions were also explored. Common themes
      from within the responses were highlighted. RESULTS: Initially, 400 students were
      given the questionnaire, but complete responses were received from 290(72.5%).
      About the effective group size, 221(76.2%) suggested 12 or less students, while
      153(52.75%) thought groups should be divided into subgroups according to the
      task, and 148(51.03%) were in favour of mixed gender composition of a group. A
      comfortable and air-conditioned environment was suggested as a motivating factor
      by 156(53.79%) students. Use of models, laptops and internet during the
      discussion was suggested by 97(33.44%) students, and 232(80%) suggested an hour
      or less as sufficient time. Grant of extra marks 209(72.06%), feedback
      220(75.86%) and weightage of attendance 193(66.55%) were all considered positive
      motivating factors. Finally, 250(86.20%) were in favour of continuation of small
      group discussion as a learning tool. CONCLUSION: Most students thought a smaller
      size makes a small group discussion more effective, and that it should continue
      to be used as one of the learning modalities.

PMID- 25842574
TI  - Role of intraoperative ultrasound in achieving complete resection of intra-axial
      solid brain tumours.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the frequency of completeness of resection for intra
      axial solid brain tumours with the help of intra-operative ultrasound to detect
      residual brain tumour. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the
      Department of Neurosurgery, Dow University of Health Sciences and Civil Hospital
      Karachi, from September 2009 to June 2010 and comprised patients with intra-axial
      solid brain lesion. During operation following standard craniotomy, multi-plane
      sonographic examination was performed using intra-operative ultrasound for tumour
      localisation and calculation of dimension, followed by tumour resection in the
      standard fashion. At the end of tumour resection ultrasound was again used for
      the detection of any residual tumour. Results of intra-operative ultrasound were
      compared with post-operative contrast magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: Of the
      39 cases in which intra-operative ultrasound was performed, 32(82.1%) were males
      and 7(17.9%) were females, with an overall mean age of 42.6+/-19.7 years. Intra
      operative ultrasonography was able to localise and delineate the tumour in all 39
      (100%) cases. It showed no residual tumour in 36 (92.3%) cases, but in 3(7.7%)
      cases residual tumour was detected. Post-operative contrast enhancing magnetic
      resonance imaging showed no residual tumour in 35(89.7%) cases and in 4(10.3%)
      cases residual tumour was detected. The frequency of completely resected intra
      axial solid brain tumour was 35(89.7%), while in 4(10.3%) cases incomplete
      resection was observed. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that intra-operative
      ultrasonography has an important role in achieving increased frequency of
      completely resected intra-axial solid brain tumours.

PMID- 25842575
TI  - Arthroplasty versus fusion for single-level cervical disc disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of cervical arthroplasty and
      anterior cervical discectomy fusion methods. METHODS: The randomised clinical
      trial was conducted at the neurosurgical clinic of University of Harran, Turkey,
      between February 2009 and January 2010. The patients had single level disc
      disorder between C4-C7 levels. Before surgery, all of the patients had taken
      medical treatment with no improvement. Surgery was conducted with anterior
      approach, and disc prosthesis or polyetheretherketone cage for fusion were
      applied after patients were randomly divided into two groups. For preoperative
      and postoperative clinical evaluations Neck Disability Index and Visual Analogue
      Scale were used. Surgical results were evaluated according to Odom's criterion,
      and 'excellent' and 'good' results were accepted as successful. P<0.05 was taken
      as statistically significant. RESULTS: Of the 42 patients in the study,
      23(54.76%) were treated with Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion, and
      19(45.23%) with Cervical Disc Arthroplasty. There were no statistical differences
      between postoperative mean Visual Analogue Scale score (p<0.86) and Neck
      Disability Index scores (p<0.11) in the two groups. Average decrease in lordosis
      angle was 1.2 degree in Arthroplasty group, while it was 1 degree in the Fusion
      group. Postoperative adjacent segment degeneration was not detected in either
      group. CONCLUSION: Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion, and Cervical Disc
      Arthroplasty are safe and successful methods for the treatment of single level
      cervical disc disease. Although the latter is a relatively new technique
      performed with increased frequency, but its superiority is still uncertain.

PMID- 25842576
TI  - "Mentorship" a stride towards maintenance of medical student's well being.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of mentorship programme with respect to
      emotional wellness of medical students. METHODS: The cross-sectional
      questionnaire-based survey was carried out from March 2009 to February 2013
      comprising first year medical students of five consecutive batches from two
      medical colleges. They were divided into two groups; Group A had non-mentored
      students from a medical college in Karachi, while Group B had mentored students
      of Bahria University Medical and Dental College, Karachi. Responses on aspects of
      emotional wellness was taken on a 4-point Likert scale; never, sometimes, mostly
      and always. Predictive Analysis Software version 18 was used for statistical
      analysis. RESULTS: Out of the 500 questionnaires distributed to each batch,
      423(84.6%) were returned filled in Group A and 450(90%) in Groups B. Overall,
      873(87.3%) responses were obtained. Group A had 275(65%) females whereas in Group
      B there were 275(61%) females. The mean age of the overall study population was
      20+/-2 years. The scores of emotional wellness were better in Group A compared to
      Group B 21.36+/-4.54 vs. 20.54+/-4.340 (p<0.028). The feeling of being cheerful
      and helpful was valued by 212(50%) students of Group A and 180(40%) of Group B
      (p<0.008). The satisfaction of being needed by family members and recognising
      stresses of life was significant in Group A (p<0.0001 vs. p<0.014). Group B had
      low emotional wellness scores yet 369(82%) had never consulted psychologists and
      psychiatrists compared to 13(0.03%) of Group A (p<0.02). Help from family members
      was also acquired by non-mentored students (p<0.003). CONCLUSION: Emotional
      support provided by mentoring programme of Bahria University Medical and Dental
      College minimised the stress, limited consultation by psychologists or
      psychiatrists, and reduced reservations of parents and students of first year
      medical education.

PMID- 25842577
TI  - Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura in children: a 10 years experience at
      tertiary care hospital.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate presenting features, treatment modalities and response to
      therapy in children with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. METHODS: The
      retrospective study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi,
      and comprised clinical data, presenting demographics, clinical spectrum,
      management and outcome of children admitted with idiopathic thrombocytopenic
      purpura from 2001 to 2010. SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS:
      Records of 95 children between 0-15 years in the period 2001 to 2010 were
      reviewed. The overall mean age at the time of presentation was 6.1+/-3.8 years.
      There were 45(47.3%) male and 50(52.7%) female cases. A total of 34(35.8%)
      patients had history of preceding illness. Regarding clinical presentations,
      bruises 81(85.3%), petechial rash 75(79%), epistaxis 23(24%) were common. Median
      platelet count at the time of presentation was 5,000 (Inter-quartile range: 4000
      13,000). Spontaneous recovery was seen in 7(7.4%) children. Overall, 24(25.2%)
      patients received intravenous immunoglobulin G and only 19(20%) showed complete
      response. Besides, a total of 32(33.7%) patients did not respond and only 5(5.3%)
      developed chronic ailment. CONCLUSION: Bruises, petechial rash and epistaxis were
      the common presentations. Overall prognosis was good.

PMID- 25842578
TI  - The use of omega 3 on pregnancy outcomes: a single-center study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the rate of Omega 3 use in pregnant women and its
      effect on pregnancy outcome. METHODS: The study was conducted from January to
      April 2010 at Tamin Ejtemaee Hospital, Hamedan, Iran, and comprised women who
      were carrying 16 weeks of pregnancy and were referred to the study site. They
      were divided into 3 groups: those who did not consume fish in a month, those who
      consumed fish 1-3 times in the preceding month, and those who had it more than 3
      times in the same period. Data was analysed using SPSS version 16. RESULTS: Of
      the 550 subjects initially approached, 20(3.6%) either declined to participate or
      were lost to follow-up. The final study sample, as such, comprised 530(96.4%) who
      were followed up until delivery. The overall mean age of the subjects was 27.98+/
      5.30 years. Of the total, 21(4%) were below 18 years, 467(88%) were between 18-35
      years, and 42(8%) were over 35 years of age. Omega 3 consumption was
      significantly associated with neonate weight (p<0.03), pre-eclampsia (p<0.04) and
      pre-term labour (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: Increased consumption of omega 3 can
      prevent low birth weight, pre-term labour and pre-eclampsia.

PMID- 25842579
TI  - Mesterolone treatment of aging male syndrome improves lower urinary tract
      symptoms.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of mesterolone on prostate in patients
      treated for aging male syndrome. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted
      from June to September, 2009, at endocrinology and metabolism department of
      Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey, andcomprised patients with symptoms of aging
      male syndrome and/or low testosterone. They were given mesterolone 50 mg/day per
      oral for two months. Aging Male Symptoms and International Prostate Symptom Score
      questionaires and prostate-related quality of life scores were completed and
      prostate ultrasonography (USG) was performed before and after the treatment.
      Total testosterone, free testosterone, gonadotropins, estradiol, prolactin, sex
      hormone binding globulin, as well as total and free prostate-specific antigen
      were also studied. RESULTS: Of the 34 patients in the study, 22(64.70%) had their
      prostate volume increased, while 12(35.29%) had it decreased. The change,
      however, was not statistically significant (p<0.098). Mesterolone significantly
      improved Aging Male Symptoms, International Prostate Symptom and prostate-related
      quality of life scores (p<0.001). These improvements though significant were
      independent of the changes in prostate volume. Total testosterone, sex-hormone
      binding globulin andestradiol decreased, while free testosterone showed no change
      (p<0.002, p<0.001, p<0.024, p<0.337). The fraction of free testosterone increased
      (p<0.001), while total and free prostate-specific antigen did not change (p<0.368
      and p<0.841) CONCLUSION: Mesterolone proved to be a safe alternative in the
      treatment of Aging Male Syndrome. It also improved lower urinary tract symptoms
      and prostate-related quality of life.

PMID- 25842580
TI  - Use of bispectral index monitoring for determination of sedation depth in 50
      patients undergoing cardioversion.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the contribution of Bispectralindex monitoring on the
      amount of used anaesthetic substance and the quality of anaesthesia in patients
      with persistent atrial fibrillation who would undergo cardioversion. METHODS: The
      prospective, randomised, controlled clinical study was conducted at Akdeniz
      University, Antalya, Turkey from October 2010 to November 2011 Sedation was
      performed on 50 adult patients using midazolam and fentanyl. Patients were
      randomised to group 1 and 2. In group 1 cardioversion was performed when the
      BispectralIndex value was seen to have decreased to <80 and the Ramsay sedation
      score was 5-6. In Group 2, BispectralIndex monitor was blinded to the
      investigator, and cardioversion was performed when Ramsay sedation score was 5-6.
      In both groups, blood pressure, heart rate and Bispectral index values were
      recorded. Total anaesthetic amount, awareness and pain were also assessed. SPSS
      13 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Overall, 23(46%) patients were
      male and 27(54%) were female and there was no significant difference in the two
      groups in terms of age (p>0.05). No statistically significant difference was
      detected between the groups in terms of induction time, anaesthetic need and
      Bispectral Index values (p>0.05). In both groups, 2(8%) patients perceived pain
      and 2(8%) perceived the procedure. CONCLUSION: In the presence of anaesthetist in
      the team, Bispectral Index monitoring did not contribute to the determining of
      anaesthetic drug dosage and the depth and quality of anaesthesia in patients with
      persistent atrial fibrillation during cardioversion.

PMID- 25842581
TI  - Prevalence of albicans and non-albicans candiduria in a Malaysian medical centre.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the proportion of albicans and non-albicans candiduria in
      a hospital setting and to ascertain if fluconazole is still suitable as empirical
      antifungal therapy based on antifungal susceptibility patterns of Candida
      species. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2010
      and December 2011 at UKM Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and comprised 64
      urine samples from patients who were either suspected or confirmed to have
      urinary tract infections. Yeasts were speciated using ID 32 C and subjected to
      antifungal susceptibility testing using Sensititre(r) YeastOne YO8. RESULTS:
      Candida albicans accounted for 38(59.4%) of the isolates, Candida tropicalis
      18(28.1%), Candida glabrata 6(9.4%) and Candida parapsilosis 2(3.1%). Overall,
      the isolates were susceptible to both amphotericin B (MIC90 1 MUg/ml) and to 5
      flucytosine (MIC90 0.25 MUg/ml), but susceptible-dose dependent towards
      fluconazole (MIC90 16 MUg/ml). Individually, Candida albicans was susceptible to
      fluconazole (MIC90 2 MUg/ml), amphotericin B (MIC90 0.5 MUg/ml) and 5-flucytosine
      (MIC90 0.25 MUg/ml). Candida tropicalis was also susceptible to fluconazole
      (MIC90 4 MUg/ml), amphotericin B (MIC90 1 MUg/ml) and 5-flucytosine (MIC90 0.125
      MUg/ml). Candida glabrata was resistant to fluconazole (MIC90 64 MUg/ml), but
      susceptible to amphotericin B (MIC90 1 MUg/ml) and 5-flucytosine (MIC90 0.125
      MUg/ml). Lastly, Candida parapsilosis was resistant to fluconazole (MIC90 256
      MUg/ml), but susceptible to amphotericin B (MIC90 0.5 MUg/ml) and 5-flucytosine
      (MIC90 0.5 MUg/ml). CONCLUSION: The commonest yeast associated with candiduria at
      the study site was Candida albicans, and fluconazole can still be used for
      empirical therapy of candiduria.

PMID- 25842582
TI  - Spontaneous platelet recovery time in primary and secondary dengue infection in a
      tertiary care hospital.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the spontaneous platelet recovery time in primary and
      secondary dengue infection in a tertiary care hospital. METHOD: The cross
      sectional observational study was conducted at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi,
      from July 2010 to January 2011, and comprised 138 seropositive patients with ages
      13 years and above who fulfilled the World Health Organisation criteria of
      probable dengue infection, and presented with platelet count of <50,000/mm3 were
      enrolled. Serology was performed using rapid immunochromatographic assay and
      enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with differential detection of immunoglobulin M
      and G. Spontaneous platelet recovery time (days) in both primary and secondary
      dengue infection was recorded. SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis. RESULT:
      Of the total 138, patients, 38(27.5%) had primary infection and 100(72.5%) had
      secondary infection. Male-to-female ratio was 2.3:1. Among primary and secondary
      infections, platelet count on presentation was not significantly different
      (p<0.64). Mean spontaneous platelet recovery time was 3+/-2.6 days and 3+/-1.87
      days in primary and secondary infection respectively. Higher platelet count at
      presentation was associated with early recovery time (p<0.033). Of 108(78%)
      patients who presented with platelet count of 20,000-<50,000/mm3, platelet count
      of 36(33.33%) rose to >50,000/mm3 within 2 days, and 62(57.4%) rose to >50,000 in
      3-5 days. In primary and secondary dengue infections, no statistically
      significant difference was observed in spontaneous platelet recovery time (
      =0.87). CONCLUSION: Platelet count at presentation and spontaneous platelet
      recovery time do not significantly differ in primary and secondary dengue
      infection.

PMID- 25842583
TI  - Determination of bacterial etiological agents, sensitivity pattern and clinical
      outcome of patients with bacterial endocarditis at Punjab Institute of
      Cardiology, Lahore.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the type of pathogens causing bacterial endocarditis,
      their in vitro drug susceptibility profile and the effect of empirical antibiotic
      therapy in endocarditis patients. METHODS: The prospective study was conducted at
      the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, from January to November 2013. Blood
      samples of endocarditis patients in the 20-40 age group were collected and
      culture-positive patients were included in the study. Antibiotics given to
      patients as empirical therapy were noted. Antimicrobial susceptibility of the
      isolates against various antibiotics was determined in vitro by using Kirby Bauer
      disc diffusion technique. The results were interpreted as frequencies and
      percentages. RESULTS: Of the 110 endocarditis patients initially scanned,
      60(54.5%) were culture-positive and represented the study sample. Of them,
      31(51.7%) were men and 29(48.3%) were women. The combination of Benzyl Penicillin
      and Gentamicin was given to 11(18.3%) patients, while combination of Vancomycin
      and Gentamicin and Vancomycin alone was also given to 3(5%) and 6(10%) patients
      respectively. Overall, 53(88.3%) isolates were Gram-positive and 7(11.7%) were
      Gram-negative. Among Gram-positive isolates, 39(65%) were Methicillin-sensitive
      Staphylococcus aureus, 2(3.3%) were Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
      and 12(20%) were Streptococcus species. Among the Gram-negative group, 5(8.4%)
      isolates were of Escherichia coli, 2(3.3%) were of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In
      vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of Gram-positive revealed 100% susceptibility
      to Vancomycin. Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed 100% in vitro susceptibility to
      Ciprofloxacin, Ceftazidime, Piperacillin+Tazobactam and Tigecycline, while
      Escherichia coli showed 60% susceptibility to Amikacin and Co-Amoxiclav.
      CONCLUSION: The frequency of Gram-positive organisms causing endocarditis was
      high. Vancomycin in Gram-positive cases revealed better in vitro efficacy, while
      in Gram-negative cases, Ciprofloxacin, Ceftazidime, Piperacillin+Tazobactam,
      Tigecycline Amikacin and Co-Amoxiclav were more effective than other antibiotics.

PMID- 25842584
TI  - Elevated levels of ferritin and hs-CRP in type 2 diabetes.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To measure the levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and
      ferritin in blood and to assess their association with inflammation in people
      with Type 2 diabetes. METHOD: The case-control study was conducted between
      November 2012 to November 2013 at the Basic Medical Sciences Institute, Jinnah
      Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, and comprised randomly selected patients
      and healthy controls. Fasting blood samples were analysed for blood glucose,
      insulin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and iron status. SPSS 19 was used
      for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 210 subjects initially selected,
      99(47%) were excluded owing to anaemia. The study population, as such, comprised
      111(53%) with an overall mean age of 38.6+/-1.56 years and mean fasting blood
      sugar of 110.78+/-3.795 mg/dl. Group 1 had 44(39.6%) healthy controls while Group
      2 had 67(60.3%) diabetic patients. Elevated levels of mean serum ferritin
      (233.11+/-43.84 ng/ml), insulin (29.94+/-2.19), homeostasis model of insulin
      resistance (10.23+/-0.89) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (5.29+/-0.80
      mg/L) with low serum iron levels (1.07+/- 0.115 ?g/dl) were found in Group 2.
      There was positive correlation of homeostasis model of insulin resistance with
      fasting blood sugar (r=0.596; p<0.001), serum ferritin (r=0.306; p<0.008),
      insulin (r=0.866; p<0.001), and total iron-binding capacity (r=0.302; p<0.009).
      There was negative correlation with serum iron (r=-0.280; p<0.016) and
      transferrin saturation (r=-0.316; p<0.006). CONCLUSION: Elevated ferritin levels
      without evident iron overload may affect glucose homeostasis, leading to insulin
      resistance in conjunction with inflammatory changes as seen by elevated C
      reactive protein levels.

PMID- 25842585
TI  - Inpatient satisfaction at tertiary care public hospitals of a metropolitan city
      of Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the satisfaction of in-patients towards quality of
      service provision and environment of public-sector hospitals. METHODS: The cross
      sectional study was conducted in four major public-sector hospitals of Karachi
      from December 2010 to February 2012. The questionnaire, besides the demographic
      details, also had 5-point Likert scale questions regarding satisfaction of
      patients with doctors, staff, administration and the hospital environment. SPSS
      20 was used for statistical analysis and results were expressed as frequencies
      with percentages. RESULTS: Of the 710 subjects in the study, 475(67%) agreed that
      their doctors checked them with concentration and care. Staff was reported as
      being kind natured and well-mannered by 423(59.6%) and 451(63.5%) patients
      respectively. However, 414(58.3%) were not pleased with the sanitary condition of
      the hospital. Only 225(31.7%) got comfortable beds, while 498(70.14%) patients
      found bugs in beds. In terms of overall satisfaction 452(63.7%) were satisfied
      with the staff, 463(65.2%) with doctors, and 385(54.2%) with the hospital
      environment. CONCLUSION: Patients were relatively satisfied with the staff, but
      sanitary conditions and hospital environment were a concern for majority of the
      patients.

PMID- 25842586
TI  - Low-cost thermotherapy for cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sindh, Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy of a low-cost heating pack device used for
      thermotherapy in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. METHODS: The study was
      conducted at the Department of Dermatology, Civil Hospital Sukkur, Pakistan, from
      April 20, 2012, to January 3, 2013. Thermotherapy with Hand-Held Exothermic
      Crystallisation Therapy for cutaneous leishmaniasis was performed on each lesion
      of the participating subjects at an average initial temperature of 51.6 degrees C
      for 3 minutes daily for 7 days. Patients were followed regularly for 6 months
      after the therapy. SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Even
      though all 27 patients completed 1 week of thermotherapy, only 23(85.2%) patients
      could be evaluated for full treatment response since 4(14.8%) were lost to
      complete follow-up. By the final 180-day evaluation, 19 (83%) patients had been
      cured. Applications were well tolerated with no side effects. CONCLUSION: The
      devise was a convenient, safe, non-toxic and effective treatment for cutaneous
      leishmaniasis at a fraction of the cost of standard antimonial treatment. Further
      studies are needed to certify its safety and efficacy as monotherapy for the
      condition.

PMID- 25842587
TI  - Community acquired pneumonia in Pakistan: an analysis on the literature published
      between 2003 and 2013.
AB  - This article reviews literature pertaining to community acquired pneumonia (CAP)
      in adults published over the last decade (2003-2013) and includes ten studies and
      one guideline document. The review was done to identify the trend in etiologies
      and antimicrobial susceptibilities in order to recognize the need to update
      treatment guidelines for CAP in adults. Except for one laboratory based study, no
      articles were published between 2003 and 2008. Thereafter, most of the studies
      are retrospective in nature and published with a time lag hence reducing the
      relevance of the data. Out of the ten studies, two were purely clinical and among
      those that presented microbiological data, sensitivities to antibiotics were
      demonstrated in five studies which too were mainly organism specific.
      Streptococcus pneumonia remains the most common etiology of CAP in adults. There
      is increased isolation of atypical organisms in mild to moderate CAP, possibly
      due to better detection techniques. Mortality related to CAP is on the rise and
      noted up to 51% in patients with severe disease. There is limited evidence to
      support increasing resistances of pathogens to antibiotics. Lack of updated data
      leaves Pakistan Chest Society guidelines 2010 for treatment of CAP applicable to
      date in its original form. However there is a need to conduct more comprehensive
      studies on CAP to help reduce morbidity and mortality associated with the
      disease.

PMID- 25842588
TI  - Number of Pakistani physicians working abroad; do we really need to know?
AB  - There are around 175,600 registered doctors in Pakistan, but limited data is
      available about Pakistani physicians pursuing medical careers abroad.
      Additionally, no data is reported about Pakistani physicians who leave the
      country to pursue medical career overseas, but end up in non-medical professions.
      We identified two groups of physicians leaving the country: those going abroad
      for postgraduate training and residency; and those doing so for better career
      incentives and monetary benefits and to avoid the deteriorating law and order
      situation and rising hostilities towards doctors in the last few years. Other
      factors contributing towards physician's migration include poor service structure
      and career prospects, lack of research funding, increased workload and stressful
      work environment. Optimal measures need to be taken so that the locally trained
      doctors can deliver their services where they are needed the most, instead of
      seeking overseas opportunities. Similarly, volume of expertise may be enhanced by
      promoting social accountability among Pakistani physicians working abroad and by
      creating comparable opportunities within the country.

PMID- 25842589
TI  - Importance of research and services among people who inject drugs in Pakistan.

PMID- 25842590
TI  - Huge congenital haemangioma of the tongue.
AB  - Haemangiomas, the most common type of benign vascular tumours, are rare in the
      oral cavity. Some of these lesions are congenital and show symptoms in late
      childhood or early adult life. A 32-years-old woman presented with a huge lesion
      on her tongue which caused dysphagia and dysphasia. She had first noticed the
      lesion when she was 6. Her obstructive symptoms started when she was 28 and,
      despite various medical treatments, the size of the lesion gradually increased.
      Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a 7 x 5 x 3 cm mass on the right side of the
      tongue. Because of severe functional and cosmetic problems, the lesion was
      excised with partial haemiglossectomy. Histopathological examination was
      consistent with intramuscular haemangioma. Haemangiomas are benign tumours with a
      benign course and are rarely seen on the tongue. They have clinical importance
      when localised in the oral cavity. Different treatment modalities exist, but in
      cases of large tumours, surgery may be the mainstay treatment.

PMID- 25842591
TI  - Pulmonary thromboembolism in a patient with active ulcerative colitis and lung
      abscess secondary to pulmonary infarction.
AB  - Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are inflammatory bowel diseases and they
      primarily involve intestines. Herein we report the case of a young man who,
      during a clinical recurrence of ulcerative colitis, presented with symptoms
      suggestive of a lung abscess. When the patient was re-evaluated because of
      unexplained shortness of breath, an area of infarction was detected that had led
      to the development of cavitation secondary to submassive embolism and foci of
      infection contained within. The patient was managed with subcutaneous heparin and
      he was asymptomatic during 2 months of follow-up. He completed six months of anti
      coagulation therapy and any recurrence was not detected during 3 months of post
      treatment follow-up.

PMID- 25842592
TI  - Microtubule inhibition therapy by colchicine in severe myocarditis especially
      caused by Epstein-Barr and cytomegalovirus co-infection during a two-year period:
      a novel therapeutic approach.
AB  - The co-infection of Epstein-Barr virus and Cytomegalovirus rarely gains multi
      pathogenicity and leads to viral myocarditis. Also, it may lead to progressive
      heart failure or sudden death. We present a case series of five patients who were
      monitored for the impact of low-dose colchicine therapy as adjunct to
      conventional heart failure therapy. Epstein-Barr virus, Cytomegalovirus and other
      viral antibodies were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.
      Adjuvant low-dose colchicine therapy (2x0.5 mg twice daily) was prescribed for
      addition to the conventional heart failure therapy of these patients and it wsa
      continued for two years. Ejection fractions of echocardiographic examinations in
      all patients were 21%, 18%, 25%, 20% and 21% before low-dose colchicine therapy.
      After two years of treatment, the values increased to 59%, 45%, 40%, 25% and 41%,
      respectively. The early implementation of low-dose colchicine in these patients
      seemed to have beneficial effects on overall survival.

PMID- 25842593
TI  - A novel method for repair of testis rupture after gunshot trauma: repair with
      Tutoplast processed pericardium.
AB  - Gunshot wound injury to the external genitalia is relatively uncommon. However,
      if a testis isaffected in such a case, early surgical exploration should be
      carried out. A 16-year-old boy presented with right testicular rupture. Tunica
      albugineal defect could not be closed primarily. We used a Tutoplast(r) processed
      bovine pericardium to repair the defect of tunica albuginea. At his 3-month
      follow-up visit, there was no complication. Doppler blood flow of testis was
      normal. In this case, preservation of testis tissue was obtained with early
      exploration and repair of the big tunica albugineal defect with Tutoplast(r)
      processed pericardium.

PMID- 25842594
TI  - Insulin initiation: the triage system.
AB  - Insulin is an effective glucose lowering agent and key component of effective
      diabetes management. However, prescription of insulin is faced with inertia as
      well as resistance. The barriers exists both at level of provider as well as
      patient. Here, we discuss a model, to overcome these barriers in a patient
      friendly and time effective way.

PMID- 25842595
TI  - My patient has had an intracerebral haemorrhage--how do I best control his blood
      pressure?

PMID- 25842596
TI  - Mast cell density, microvessel density and their role in renal cell carcinoma.

PMID- 25842597
TI  - Subjective well-being of nurses.

PMID- 25842598
TI  - Rheumatoid arthritis clinical features and management strategies at an urban
      tertiary facility in Pakistan.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the presentation patterns, biologically vulnerable
      patient groups and treatment strategies of rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: The
      retrospective study was conducted at the Rheumatology Clinic of Liaquat National
      Hospital and Medical College, Karachi, and comprised data of rheumatology
      patients who presented between September 2006 and September 2012. After screening
      all the files, rheumatoid arthritis cases were identified. Data collection was
      done using a questionnaire that included patient demographics, co-morbidities,
      clinical manifestations and drug therapy. SPSS 13 was used for statistical
      analysis. RESULTS: Of the 2300 files screened, 500(21.7%) related to patients of
      rheumatoid arthritis. The mean age at presentation of these 500 patients was 41+/
      15 years. There were 367(73.4%) women and they presented at an earlier age
      compared to men (p<0.024). Erosions were present in 198(40%) patients on X-rays
      and 22(4.4%) had joint deformities. Seropositive rheumatoid arthritis was
      associated with higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate levels (p<0.014), but did
      not differ from seronegative rheumatoid arthritis in terms of Disease Activity
      Score-28 levels (p<0.21). CONCLUSIONS: The skewed gender distribution was likely
      an effect of rheumatoid arthritis biology rather than due to issues of healthcare
      accessibility. Seronegative RA is likely to present late though it is as
      destructive as the seropositive disease.

PMID- 25842599
TI  - Colonoscopic diagnosis of trichuris trichiura in a patient with pulmonary
      tuberculosis; there is more than what meets the eye.

PMID- 25842600
TI  - Personality changes in medical students: causes, consequences and proposed
      solutions.

PMID- 25842601
TI  - Looking forward. ACS program helps surgeons provide care for vulnerable
      population.

PMID- 25842602
TI  - Welcome to the 114th Congress: the implications for surgery.

PMID- 25842603
TI  - New resources from the College offer alternative approaches to medical liability
      reform.

PMID- 25842604
TI  - Report from the Past-Chair of the Board of Regents: Fostering innovation at the
      ACS through strategic planning.

PMID- 25842605
TI  - To Bangalore and back: resident leads software design effort at Indian heart
      hospital.

PMID- 25842606
TI  - Managing burnout: Seek outside help and foster a true work-life balance.

PMID- 25842607
TI  - Statement on medical liability reform.

PMID- 25842608
TI  - The ACS motto: What does it really mean?

PMID- 25842609
TI  - Setting standards of efficiency.

PMID- 25842610
TI  - Managing medication in ambulatory surgery centers.

PMID- 25842611
TI  - Affordable trauma care?

PMID- 25842612
TI  - Girma Tefera, MD, FACS, joins ACS staff as OGB Medical Director.

PMID- 25842613
TI  - M. Margaret Knudson, MD, FACS, new Medical Director of MHSSPACS.

PMID- 25842614
TI  - Murray F. Brennan, MD, FACS, named Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand
      Order of Merit.

PMID- 25842615
TI  - Part 1. Assessment of carcinogenicity and biologic responses in rats after
      lifetime inhalation of new-technology diesel exhaust in the ACES bioassay.
AB  - The Health Effects Institute and its partners conceived and funded a program to
      characterize the emissions from heavy-duty diesel engines compliant with the 2007
      and 2010 on-road emissions standards in the United States and to evaluate
      indicators of lung toxicity in rats and mice exposed repeatedly to 2007-compliant
      new-technology diesel exhaust (NTDE*). The a priori hypothesis of this Advanced
      Collaborative Emissions Study (ACES) was that 2007-compliant on-road diesel
      emissions "... will not cause an increase in tumor formation or substantial toxic
      effects in rats and mice at the highest concentration of exhaust that can be used
      ... although some biological effects may occur." This hypothesis was tested at
      the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI) by exposing rats by chronic
      inhalation as a carcinogenicity bioassay. Indicators of pulmonary toxicity in
      rats were measured after 1, 3, 12, 24, and 28-30 months of exposure. Similar
      indicators of pulmonary toxicity were measured in mice, as an interspecies
      comparison of the effects of subchronic exposure, after 1 and 3 months of
      exposure. A previous HEI report (Mauderly and McDonald 2012) described the
      operation of the engine and exposure systems and the characteristics of the
      exposure atmospheres during system commissioning. Another HEI report described
      the biologic responses in mice and rats after subchronic exposure to NTDE
      (McDonald et al. 2012). The primary motivation for the present chronic study was
      to evaluate the effects of NTDE in rats in the context of previous studies that
      had shown neoplastic lung lesions in rats exposed chronically to traditional
      technology diesel exhaust (TDE) (i.e., exhaust from diesel engines built before
      the 2007 U.S. requirements went into effect). The hypothesis was largely based on
      the marked reduction of diesel particulate matter (DPM) in NTDE compared with
      emissions from older diesel engine and fuel technologies, although other
      emissions were also reduced. The DPM component of TDE was considered the primary
      driver of lung tumorigenesis in rats exposed chronically to historical diesel
      emissions. Emissions from a 2007-compliant, 500-horsepower-class engine and after
      treatment system operated on a variable-duty cycle were used to generate the
      animal inhalation test atmospheres. Four groups were exposed to one of three
      concentrations (dilutions) of exhaust combined with crankcase emissions, or to
      clean air as a negative control. Dilutions of exhaust were set to yield average
      integrated concentrations of 4.2, 0.8, and 0.1 ppm nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
      Exposure atmospheres were analyzed by daily measurements of key effects of NTDE
      in the present study were generally consistent with those observed previously in
      rats exposed chronically to NO2 alone. This suggests that NO2 may have been the
      primary driver of the biologic responses to NTDE in the present study. There was
      little evidence of effects characteristic of rats exposed chronically to high
      concentrations of DPM in TDE, such as an extensive accumulation of DPM within
      alveolar macrophages and inflammation leading to neoplastic transformation of
      epithelia and lung tumors. components and periodic detailed physical-chemical
      characterizations. Exposures were conducted 16 hours/day (overnight, during the
      rats' most active period), 5 days/week. Responses to exposure were evaluated via
      hematology, serum chemistry, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), lung cell
      proliferation, histopathology, and pulmonary function. The exposures were
      accomplished as planned, with average integrated exposure concentrations within
      20% of the target dilutions. The major components from exhaust were the gaseous
      inorganic compounds, nitrogen monoxide (NO), NO2, and carbon monoxide (CO). Minor
      components included low concentrations of DPM and volatile and semi-volatile
      organic compounds (VOCs and SVOCs). Among the more than 100 biologic response
      variables evaluated, the majority showed no significant difference from control
      as a result of exposure to NTDE. The major outcome of this study was the absence
      of pre-neoplastic lung lesions, primary lung neoplasia, or neoplasia of any type
      attributable to NTDE exposure. The lung lesions that did occur were minimal to
      mild, occurred only at the highest exposure level, and were characterized by an
      increased number and prominence of basophilic epithelial cells (considered
      reactive or regenerative) lining distal terminal bronchioles, alveolar ducts, and
      adjacent alveoli (termed in this report "Hyperplasia; Epithelial; Periacinar"),
      which often had a minimal increase in subjacent fibrous stroma (termed "Fibrosis;
      Interstitial; Periacinar"). Slight epithelial metaplastic change to a cuboidal
      morphology, often demonstrating cilia, was also noted in some animals (termed
      "Bronchiolization"). In addition to the epithelial proliferation, there was
      occasionally a subtle accumulation of pulmonary alveolar macrophages (termed
      "Accumulation; Macrophage") in affected areas. The findings in the lung
      progressed slightly from 3 to 12 months, without further progression between 12
      months and the final sacrifice at 28 or 30 months. In addition to the histologic
      findings, there were biochemical changes in the lung tissue and lavage fluid that
      indicated mild inflammation and oxidative stress. Generally, these findings were
      observed only at the highest exposure level. There was also a mild progressive
      decrease in pulmonary function, which was more consistent in females than males.
      Limited nasal epithelial changes resulted from NTDE exposure, including increases
      in minor olfactory epithelial degeneration, hyperplasia, and/or metaplasia.
      Increases in these findings were present primarily at the highest exposure level,
      and their minor and variable nature renders their biologic significance
      uncertain. Overall, the findings of this study demonstrated markedly less severe
      biologic responses to NTDE than observed previously in rats exposed similarly to
      TDE. Further, the effects of NTDE in the present study were generally consistent
      with those observed previously in rats exposed chronically to NO2 alone. This
      suggests that NO2 may have been the primary driver of the biologic responses to
      NTDE in the present study. There was little evidence of effects characteristic of
      rats exposed chronically to high concentrations of DPM in TDE, such as an
      extensive accumulation of DPM within alveolar macrophages and inflammation
      leading to neoplastic transformation of epithelia and lung tumors.

PMID- 25842616
TI  - Part 2. Assessment of micronucleus formation in rats after chronic exposure to
      new-technology diesel exhaust in the ACES bioassay.
AB  - The formation of micronuclei (MN*) is a well-established endpoint in genetic
      toxicology; studies designed to examine MN formation in vivo have been conducted
      for decades. Conditions that cause double-strand breaks or disrupt the proper
      segregation of chromosomes during division result in increases in MN formation
      frequency. This endpoint is therefore commonly used in preclinical studies
      designed to assess the potential risks to humans of exposure to a myriad of
      chemical and physical agents, including inhaled diesel exhaust (DE). As part of
      the Advanced Collaborative Emissions Study (ACES) Phase 3B, which examined
      numerous additional toxicity endpoints associated with lifetime exposure to DE in
      a rodent model, this ancillary 24-month investigation examined the potential of
      inhaled DE to induce chromosome damage in chronically exposed rodents. The ACES
      design included exposure of both mice and rats to DE derived from heavy-duty
      engines that met U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2007 standards for
      diesel-exhaust emissions (new-technology diesel exhaust). The exposure conditions
      consisted of air (the control) and three dilutions of DE, resulting in four
      levels of exposure. At specific times, blood samples were collected, fixed, and
      shipped by the bioassay staff at Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI)
      to Litron Laboratories (Rochester, NY) for further processing and analysis. In
      recent years, significant improvements have been made to MN scoring by using
      objective, automated methods such as flow cytometry, which allows the detection
      of micronucleated reticulocytes (MN-RET), micronucleated normochromatic
      erythrocytes (MN-NCE), and reticulocytes (RET) in peripheral blood samples from
      mice and rats. By using a simple staining procedure coupled with rapid and
      efficient analysis, many more cells can be examined in less time than was
      possible using traditional, microscopy-based MN assays. Thus, for each sample in
      the current study, 20,000 RET were scored for the presence of MN. In the chronic
      exposure (12 and 24 months) bioassay, blood samples were obtained from separate
      groups of exposed animals at specific time points throughout the course of the
      study. The automated method using flow cytometry has found widespread use in
      safety assessment and is supported by regulatory guidelines, including
      International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) S2(R1) (2011). Statistical
      analyses included the use of analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare the effects
      of sex, exposure condition, and duration, as well asthe interactions between
      them. Analyses of blood samples from rats combined data from our earlier 1- and 3
      month exposure studies (Bemis et al. 2012) with data from our current 12- and 24
      month exposure studies. Consistent with findings from the preliminary studies, no
      sex-based differences in MN frequency were observed in the rats. An initial
      examination of mean frequencies across the treatment groups and durations of
      exposure showed no evidence of treatment-related increases in MN at any of the
      time points studied. Further statistical analyses did not reveal any significant
      exposure-related effects. An examination of the potential genotoxic effects of DE
      is clearly valuable as part of a large-scale chronic exposure bioassay. The
      results described in this report provide a comprehensive examination of chronic
      exposure to DE in a rodent model. Our investigation of chromosomal damage also
      plays an important role in the context of ACES, which was designed to assess the
      safety of emissions from 2007-compliant diesel engines.

PMID- 25842617
TI  - Part 3. Assessment of genotoxicity and oxidative damage in rats after chronic
      exposure to new-technology diesel exhaust in the ACES bioassay.
AB  - In 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA*) and the California Air
      Resources Board (CARB) adopted new standards for diesel fuel and emissions from
      heavy-duty diesel engines. By 2007, diesel engines were required to meet these
      new standards for particulate matter (PM), with other standards to follow.
      Through a combination of advanced compression-ignition engine technology,
      development of exhaust aftertreatment systems, and reformulated fuels, stringent
      standards were introduced. Before the 2007 standards were put in place by the
      EPA, human health effects linked to diesel exhaust (DE) exposure had been
      associated with diesel-fuel solvent and combustion components. In earlier
      research, diesel engine exhaust components were, in turn, linked to increased
      mutagenicity in cultures of Salmonella typhimurium and mammalian cells (Tokiwa
      and Ohnishi 1986). In addition, DE was shown to increase both the incidence of
      tumors and the induction of 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) adducts in rodents
      (Ichinose et al. 1997) and total DNA adducts in rats (Bond et al. 1990).
      Furthermore, DE is composed of a complex mixture of polycyclic aromatic
      hydrocarbons (PAHs) and particulates. One such PAH, 3-nitrobenzanthrone (3-NBA),
      is also found in urban air. 3-NBA has been observed to induce micronucleus
      formation in the DNA of human hepatoma cells (Lamy et al. 2004). The current
      study is part of the Advanced Collaborative Emissions Study (ACES), a
      multidisciplinary program carried out by the Health Effects Institute and the
      Coordinating Research Council. Its purpose was to determine whether recent
      improvements in the engineering of heavy-duty diesel engines reduce the toxicity
      associated with exposure to DE components. To this end, we evaluated potential
      genotoxicity and induction of oxidative stress in bioassays of serum and tissues
      from Wistar Han rats chronically exposed--for up to 24 months--to DE from a 2007
      compliant diesel engine (new-technology diesel exhaust, or NTDE). Genotoxicity
      was measured as DNA strand breaks in lung tissue, using an alkaline-modified
      comet assay. As a correlate of possible DNA damage evaluated in the comet assay,
      concentrations of the free DNA adduct 8-OHdG were evaluated in serum by a
      competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The 8-OHdG fragment found
      in the serum is a specific biomarker for the repair of oxidative DNA damage. In
      addition, an assay for thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) was used
      to assess oxidative stress and damage in the form of lipid peroxidation in the
      hippocampus region of the brains of the DE-exposed animals. These endpoints were
      evaluated at 1, 3, 12, and 24 months of exposure to DE or to a control atmosphere
      (filtered air). At the concentrations of DE evaluated, there were no significant
      effects of exposure in male or female rats after 1, 3, 12, or 24 months in any
      measure of DNA damage in the comet assay (%DNA in tail, tail length, tail moment,
      or olive moment). The comparison of exposure groups versus control and the
      comparison of groups by sex for 1 and 3 months of exposure showed no significant
      differences in serum 8-OHdG concentrations (P > 0.05). The concentrations of 8
      OHdG in all exposure groups at 3 months were higher than those in exposure groups
      at any other time point (P < 0.05). Looking at the levels of 8-OHdG in serum in
      the 12-month and 24-month groups, we saw a significant difference from control in
      the 12-month group at the mid and high levels (P < 0.05), as well as some other
      scattered changes. Sex differences were noted in the 12-month high-level group (P
      < 0.05). However, these differences did not follow an exposure-dependent pattern.
      All other comparisons were not significant (P > 0.05). Hippocampal concentrations
      of TBARs, measured as malondialdehyde (MDA), showed some small and scattered
      changes in groups exposed to different levels of DE and at different time points,
      but we did not consider these to be exposure-related. We concluded that exposure
      to DE in these rats did not produce any significant increase in oxidative damage
      to lipids or damage to DNA in the form of strand breaks.

PMID- 25842618
TI  - Part 4. Assessment of plasma markers and cardiovascular responses in rats after
      chronic exposure to new-technology diesel exhaust in the ACES bioassay.
AB  - Although epidemiologic and experimental studies suggest that chronic exposure to
      diesel exhaust (DE*) emissions causes adverse cardiovascular effects, neither the
      specific components of DE nor the mechanisms by which DE exposure could induce
      cardiovascular dysfunction and exacerbate cardiovascular disease (CVD) are known.
      Because advances in new technologies have resulted in cleaner fuels and decreased
      engine emissions, uncertainty about the relationship between DE exposure and
      human cardiovascular health effects has increased. To address this ever-changing
      baseline of DE emissions, as part of the larger Advanced Collaborative Emissions
      Study (ACES) bioassay studying the health effects of 2007-compliant diesel engine
      emissions (new-technology diesel exhaust), we examined whether plasma markers of
      vascular inflammation, thrombosis, cardiovascular aging, cardiac fibrosis, and
      aorta morphometry were changed over 24 months in an exposure-level-, sex-, or
      exposure-duration-dependent manner. Many plasma markers--several recognized as
      human CVD risk factors--were measured in the plasma of rats exposed for up to 24
      months to filtered air (the control) or DE. Few changes in plasma markers
      resulted from 12 months of DE exposure, but significant exposure-level-dependent
      increases in soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1) and interleukin
      6 (IL-6) levels, as well as decreases in total and non-high-density-lipoprotein
      cholesterol (non-HDL) levels in plasma, were observed in female rats after 24
      months of DE exposure. These effects were not observed in male rats, and no
      changes in cardiac fibrosis or aorta morphometry resulting from DE exposure were
      observed in either sex. Collectively, the significant changes may reflect an
      enhanced sensitivity of the female cardiovascular system to chronic DE exposure;
      however, this conclusion should be interpreted within both the context and
      limitations of the current study.

PMID- 25842619
TI  - [Retinopathy of pematurity prevention and risk factors assessment].

PMID- 25842620
TI  - [Criticism of the gonioscopic classifications of the glaucoma: with particular
      reference to the classification issued by the European Glaucoma Society in 2008].
AB  - PURPOSE: To critically analyze the gonioscopic classifications of glaucoma,
      especially of the classification issued by the European Glaucoma Society in 2008,
      in order to reveal its advantages and shortcomings. METHODS: The paper tries to
      determine the extent to which this classification is clear (being based on a
      coherent and consistently followed set of criteria), is comprehensive (framing
      all forms of glaucoma), helps to understand the sickness (using a logical framing
      system), and facilitates therapeutic decision making (offering direct therapeutic
      suggestions). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The paper shows that, compared with all the
      previous classifications, the 2008 European Glaucoma Society classification is
      one step ahead (in the way of classifying the group of secondary angle-closure
      glaucomas), two steps behind (in rejecting two useful categories of congenital
      glaucoma), and similar in several respects: that it is based on criticizable
      fundamental and secondary criteria that cannot cover all forms of sickness
      gathered at a particular crossing; that it uses several equally weighted criteria
      for one single crossing (division); that it frames one clinical entity in several
      clinical categories; that it does not reflect reality in some aspects; and that
      it does not offer direct therapeutic suggestions: after framing a case in a
      scheme built on the basis of gonioscopic observation, it requires a second stage
      of pathogenic analysis, so that the ophthalmologist is able to decide the correct
      treatment only in the third stage. This tortuous thinking pathway, with
      successive stages - that are not followed by all doctors, explains many of the
      erroneous therapeutic decisions. All these considerations justify the efforts to
      find a new classification, able to correct the abovementioned shortcomings.

PMID- 25842621
TI  - [Ocular hypertension in herpes simplex keratouveitis].
AB  - The herpes simplex virus is one of the most common pathogens in humans, who are
      seropositive for the virus in 90% of the cases at the adult age. It determines
      reccurent infections in more than a third of the population and these infections
      depend on the immune response of the host. Ocular infections of newborns are due
      to the herpes simplex virus type 2, meanwhile type 1 is found predominantly at
      adults; almost all ocular structures can be affected. HSV-1 in the most frequent
      etiologic agent in infectious anterior uveitis (with the varicelo-zosterian
      virus) and it is responsible for 6-10% of all cases of anterior uveitis. More
      than half of the keratouveitides due to HSV will develop intraocular hypertension
      and open-angle secondary glaucoma, during reccurences and most of them will
      resolve after proper control of inflammation.

PMID- 25842622
TI  - [Issues and histopathologic correlations and imaging of complex coriocapilara -
      Bruch membrance - retinal pigment epithelium in age-related macular
      degeneration].

PMID- 25842623
TI  - [Congenital aniridia].
AB  - Aniridia is a rare congenital, hereditary, bilateral disease which is associated
      with various systemic and ocular defects. We present the case of a 61 year old
      patient who was admitted in the hospital of ophthalmology Cluj Napoca, for the
      symptoms caused by the ocular defects associated with aniridia. In this case,
      aniridia is autosomal dominant transmitted with incomplete penetrance and it is
      not accompanied by any systemic defects. The disease also affects three of her
      sons and two nephews of the patient.

PMID- 25842624
TI  - [Choroidal melanoma - evolution and prognosis].
AB  - Choroidal melanoma is the most common primary intraocular malignant tumor. We
      present the case of a 62 year old patient who was diagnosed with intraocular
      tumor in his right eye, for about three years. Regarding the fact that the
      patient refused any kind of treatment during this period, we just had the
      opportunity to monitor this case. Finally, the diagnosis was choroidal melanoma,
      confirmed by the histopathological exam.

PMID- 25842625
TI  - [Importance of asferic treatment of intraocular lenses in contrast sensitivity of
      the human eye].
AB  - PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Clinical study which follows the influence of asphericity
      of intraocular lenses on an important parameter of quality of vision in operated
      cataract patients - contrast sensibility. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a pilot,
      prospective study with 131 eyes of 124 patients, which had cataract surgery by
      phacoemulsification between 2011-2012. All operations were done by the same
      surgeon. EXCLUSION CRITERIAS WERE: VA ( 0.7; postop refraction >0.75 D sf. or
      0.75 D cyl, corneal diseases, optic nerv or retinal pathologies, atypical
      surgery, pupil diameter 3 mm. Postoperative control was done at six weeks and
      included : AV, optical correction, contrast sensibility testing, intraocular
      pressure, posterior pol exam. Contrast sensibility testing was done using a LCD
      device, in fotopic condition, CC-100 TOPCON. PRIMARY RESULTS: Contrast
      sensibility graphics were compared between spheric and aspheric lenses for Zeiss,
      AMO, Bausch&Lomb, Alcon. CONCLUSIONS: There were no statistically significant
      differences between aspherical lenses. Also, there were no differences for the
      same manufacturer between spherical and aspherical lenses.

PMID- 25842626
TI  - Why we use AT.Lisa multifocals?
AB  - In this paper, the authors try to motivate their preference for implanting
      AT.Lisa Multifocals from all other premium IOL's from the market. It is
      emphasized, through clinical examples, that their choice comes after a long
      experience with this type of mul- tifocals IOL's. We make a short presentation of
      this particular type of MIOL's with their good but also weak points and try to
      motivate our decision to change from other types. We present the steps that each
      patient has to follow in our clinic prior to surgery itself, stressing out the
      idea that the discussion with the patient is very important in taking a decision
      regarding the implantation of a Premium IOL.

PMID- 25842627
TI  - Recertifying the professional nurse anesthetist: a call for national dialogue.
AB  - In 2011 the National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse
      Anesthetists initiated a Continued Professional Certification program that
      strongly suggests the search for alternatives. This article presents a thoughtful
      critique of the proposed professional competency program as well as alternatives
      that could be considered in a revision of the current program. Options discussed
      include a Continuous Professional Development program, a Simulation-Based Model,
      and a Practice-Based Model.

PMID- 25842628
TI  - Five elements for consideration in the development of corneal abrasion avoidance
      protocols.

PMID- 25842629
TI  - Development of clinical sites.
AB  - Clinical experiences are vital to all types of healthcare educational programs.
      Supervised clinical experiences provide the opportunity for the learner to apply
      didactic knowledge and theory to real world situations and hone skills necessary
      for entry into practice. Nurse anesthesia programs utilize a wide variety of
      clinical sites to expose student registered nurse anesthetists to experiences
      that will prepare them clinically, academically and professionally to enter
      practice as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. This article describes the
      process of developing a clinical site. A thorough evaluation will determine the
      types of experiences meant to be offered at the site, the resources available to
      house and educate the students, and how to evaluate the effectiveness of the
      clinical site. Open communication between the clinical coordinator and the
      program director or designee is essential to ensure success of the clinical site.
      The Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs has
      resources available to guide those interested in becoming a clinical site, as
      well as for program administrators who seek to add new experiences to their
      programs.

PMID- 25842630
TI  - Difficult intubation resulting in surgical repair of esophageal and
      hypopharyngeal perforation.
AB  - Although rare, perilous injury of the aerodigestive tract due to traumatic
      endotracheal intubation can have devastating consequences for patient and
      provider. Resulting serious complications of injury may involve esophageal
      perforation, pneumomediastinum, mediastinitis, retropharyngeal abscess, vocal
      cord paralysis, arytenoids dislocation, and hypopharyngeal pseudodiverticulum.
      Morbidity, mortality, and legal and financial consequences can be enormous. Early
      identification and treatment of suspected injury will promote patient recovery
      and thwart life-threatening progression of injury. This case report presents a 70
      year-old woman scheduled for an elective hip arthroplasty. Intraoperatively she
      was unable to be intubated, and her operation was canceled. In the post
      anesthesia care unit, the patient underwent an otolaryngology consultation and
      was admitted for observation of reactive airway edema. Pharyngoesophageal
      perforation was diagnosed several days later and required surgical repair.

PMID- 25842631
TI  - Primary cesarean delivery results in emergency hysterectomy due to placenta
      accreta: a case study.
AB  - Placenta accreta is a major cause of obstetric hemorrhage, a situation that
      remains the most significant cause of maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide.
      It is generally recognized that a previous cesarean delivery increases the risk
      of placenta accreta. However, the risk also increases with previous intrauterine
      procedures. In 2010, The Joint Commission released a sentinel event alert
      regarding the prevention of maternal death, which recommended the adoption of
      protocols to treat postpartum hemorrhage. This case study demonstrates the
      success of quickly initiating protocol interventions necessary to prevent
      disseminated intravascular coagulation and maternal mortality, while reviewing
      current literature on risk identification, management, and treatment of obstetric
      hemorrhage resulting from placenta accreta.

PMID- 25842632
TI  - Methods of identifying and managing the difficult airway in the pediatric
      population.
AB  - The goal of this literature review is to provide the anesthesia practitioner with
      the skill set to detect and prepare for a difficult pediatric airway. The authors
      have reviewed and compiled information on some of the most common conditions that
      can predispose pediatric patients to a difficulty airway, such as macroglossia,
      mandibular hypoplasia, micrognathia, cervical instability, limited cervical
      movement, maxillary and midfacial hypoplasia, and cleft palate. This article
      provides an overview of preoperative assessment techniques, normal pediatric
      airway anatomy, and respiratory physiology. An emphasis is placed on some common
      syndromes and their related anatomical abnormalities that can compromise the
      airway, as well as anesthetic approaches recommended to successfully secure a
      potentially difficult airway.

PMID- 25842633
TI  - Music in the operating room: is it a safety hazard?
AB  - Noise is a health hazard and a source of stress, and it impairs concentration and
      communication. Since 1960, hospital noise levels have risen around the world.
      Nowhere in the healthcare setting is noise more prevalent than in the operating
      room (OR). The genetic makeup of humans does not evolve at the rate of
      technology. Noise exposure, sensory overload, and the capacity to adapt without
      physical and psychological consequences are absent from the human condition. The
      World Health Organization has recognized environmental noise as harmful pollution
      that causesadverse effects on health. Although noise in the OR is unavoidable,
      music is a choice. The purpose of this literature review is to provide further
      insight into the ramifications of the presence of music in the OR, evaluate its
      appropriateness in relation to care and safety for the patient and staff, and
      provide information for future research.

PMID- 25842634
TI  - Alice Magaw: a model for evidence-based practice.
AB  - The model of evidence-based practice (EBP) of Alice Magaw places the practice of
      nurse anesthesia as an early pioneer in patient safety and is prophetic to the
      aims of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). In its 2001 report, Crossing the Quality
      Chasm, the IOM identified 6 aims essential to improving the delivery of care.
      These aims include safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness,
      efficiency, and equity. Magaw used her vast expertise in anesthetic
      administration to develop protocols and a body of knowledge that could be used as
      a template for practitioners near and far. This early use of EBP principles
      places nurse anesthesia at the forefront of the model and the movement to provide
      high-quality care. Practitioners sought her practice model out as she
      demonstrated her techniques to visiting providers as well as through her
      published ideal anesthetics in the literature. She wrote, "Pioneers are noted for
      building upon a body of knowledge, establishing a model for continuous
      improvement, and exemplifying notable methods of research with subsequent
      documentation of their findings." Magaw exemplified the EBP model.

PMID- 25842635
TI  - Educational programs for students: what can China learn from the United States,
      the United Kingdom, and France?
AB  - Designed to explore a suitable way to develop nurse anesthetist education in
      China, this article introduces 3 educational models for nurse anesthesia
      education in 3 countries, which all are members of the International Federation
      of Nurse Anesthetists (IFNA). In addition, this article carries out the
      comparison from 4 areas: program admission requirements; structure and length;
      content; and delivery mode. Healthcare leaders in China can learn from the United
      States, France, and the United Kingdom regarding how to develop nurse anesthesia
      educational programs and how to design a standardized nurse anesthesia
      educational program, which is consistent with the national need.

PMID- 25842636
TI  - Surgical site infection and prevention guidelines: a primer for Certified
      Registered Nurse Anesthetists.
AB  - Each year 500,000 surgical site infections occur in the US. Surgical site
      infections are the second most common healthcare-associated infections resulting
      in readmissions, prolonged hospital stays, higher medical costs, and increased
      morbidity and mortality. Surgical site infections are preventable in most cases
      by following evidence-based guidelines for hand hygiene, administration of
      prophylactic antibiotics, and perioperative patient temperature management. As
      attention to issues of healthcare quality heightens, the demands for positive
      surgical patient outcomes are intensifying. The Certified Registered Nurse
      Anesthetist can provide transparent high-quality care by implementing evidence
      based guidelines for timely and appropriate antibiotic use, maintenance of
      normothermia, and hand washing.

PMID- 25842637
TI  - Sevoflurane cost comparisons questioned.

PMID- 25842638
TI  - Response.

PMID- 25842639
TI  - Objective Structured Clinical Examination as an educational initiative for
      summative simulation competency evaluation of first-year student registered nurse
      anesthetists' clinical skills.
AB  - The use of simulation to imitate real-life scenarios reaches back many centuries.
      In the last decade, the use of simulation in healthcare has gained acceptance as
      a valuable tool for teaching and learning technical and nontechnical skills in
      healthcare. The use of simulation technology has moved medical education from the
      standard of pen and paper examinations to the assessment of clinical competency
      before caring for patients. The old thinking of "see one, do one, teach one" is
      behind us as healthcare works to create a culture of safety that holds healthcare
      personnel accountable. A current use of testing clinical competence is the use of
      Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) by physician training programs.
      As a testing tool, the OSCE has great potential to assess the clinical competence
      of students before they enter the clinical setting. The nurse anesthesia program
      at the authors' university has moved toward creating a formal assessment to
      ensure clinical competence of their student registered nurse anesthetists. In
      this article, we describe the development and implementation of an OSCE to ensure
      clinical competence of first-year student registered nurse anesthetists before
      they begin their clinical training.

PMID- 25842640
TI  - Perioperative glucose monitoring and treatment of patients undergoing vascular
      surgery in a community hospital setting.
AB  - This article discusses the glucose monitoring and treatment practices of a small
      community hospital and aims to determine how these practices relate to
      postoperative complications in patients undergoing vascular surgery. Previous
      studies in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery have demonstrated that
      glucose control directly affects outcomes, including length of stay and incidence
      of infection, stroke, renal failure, myocardial infarction, and readmissions
      within 30 days of the initial surgery. A retrospective analysis of 101 patients
      who underwent vascular surgery was performed. After informed consent was
      obtained, patient charts were reviewed. Perioperative blood glucose levels,
      frequency of monitoring, treatment practices, and postoperative complications
      were collected by review of both electronic and paper medical records. Twenty
      seven of the 101 patients had a blood glucose level greater than 140 mg/dL
      preoperatively. Intraoperative blood glucose levels were monitored for 8
      patients. Nine patients had blood glucose levels treated during the perioperative
      period. The threshold for treatment of preoperative hyperglycemia was a blood
      glucose level of 236 mg/dL. Increased vigilance of perioperative blood glucose
      levels is needed so that appropriate interventions can be instituted and outcomes
      improved. Glucometers must be readily available to anesthesia providers so that
      intraoperative monitoring of blood glucose levels can occur.

PMID- 25842641
TI  - Anesthetic management and implications of pediatric patients with a diagnosis of
      anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis: two case reports.
AB  - This article discusses the anesthetic management and implications of 2 pediatric
      patients with a diagnosis of anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor
      encephalitis. Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis has been described as an immune
      meditated syndrome that triggers the production of antibodies to the NMDA
      receptor: a site of action for many commonly used anesthetic agents. Symptoms of
      this disease can be autonomic, neurologic, and psychological in nature. This
      disease process can pose a challenge to the anesthesia provider during all stages
      of the anesthetic. Thus, the anesthesia provider must incorporate an
      understanding of the administered anesthetic agent's potential pharmacologic
      effect on the affected NMDA receptor when formulating the patient's anesthetic
      plan.

PMID- 25842642
TI  - Workplace incivility affecting CRNAs: a study of prevalence, severity, and
      consequences with proposed interventions.
AB  - Incivility in healthcare settings has potentially detrimental effects on
      healthcare providers and patient safety. This study examines the prevalence of
      incivility and the influence of workplace incivility on burnout among Certified
      Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) in Michigan. It proposes interventions to
      prevent and manage incivility. The Nursing Incivility Scale and the Copenhagen
      Burnout Inventory were used to measure workplace incivility and professional
      burnout. Qualitative data were also collected to provide recommendations to
      address workplace incivility. The most notable sources of workplace incivility
      were general employee personnel or nonemployee individuals and physicians. A
      lesser prevalent source of incivility was other CRNA practitioners. The least
      prevalent source of incivility was CRNA supervisors. A statistically significant,
      direct relationship existed between workplace incivility and professional
      burnout. The only statistically significant factor contributing to professional
      burnout was experiencing workplace incivility, independent of other measured
      factors. The most notable recommendation was use of a zero tolerance policy for
      practice, regardless of title or role, in employment situations. Incivility is a
      major concern among CRNAs.

PMID- 25842643
TI  - Psychometric testing of the Pecka Grading Rubric for evaluating higher-order
      thinking in distance learning.
AB  - This article describes development of the Pecka Grading Rubric (PGR) as a
      strategy to facilitate and evaluate students' higher-order thinking in discussion
      boards. The purpose of this study was to describe psychometric properties of the
      PGR. Rubric reliability was pilot tested on a discussion board assignment used by
      15 senior student registered nurse anesthetist enrolled in an Advanced Principles
      of Anesthesia course. Interrater and intrarater reliabilities were tested using
      an interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to evaluate absolute agreement of
      scoring. Raters gave each category a score, scores of the categories were summed,
      and a total score was calculated for the entire rubric. Interrater (ICC = 0.939,
      P < .001) and intrarater (ICC = 0.902 to 0.994, P < .001) reliabilities were
      excellent for total point scores. A content validity index was used to evaluate
      content validity. Raters evaluated content validity of each cell of the PGR. The
      content validity index (0.8-1.0) was acceptable. Known-group validity was
      evaluated by comparing graduate student registered nurse anesthetists (N = 7)
      with undergraduate senior nursing students (N = 13). Beginning evidence indicates
      a valid and reliable instrument that measures higher-order thinking in the
      student registered nurse anesthetist.

PMID- 25842644
TI  - Securing the endotracheal tube with adhesive tape: an integrative literature
      review.
AB  - The practice of securing the endotracheal tube with adhesive tape appears to be
      benign. However, evidence-based research suggests it is a high-risk practice.
      Common elements for the taping practice include the tape, anesthesia gas machine,
      and anesthesia provider. Researchers have found that adhesive tape outside its
      original packaging became contaminated with pathogens. The bacteria found on the
      tape included Pseudomonas, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, coagulase
      positive staphylococci, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and
      vancomycin-resistant enterococcal organisms. In addition, a patient does not need
      to have direct contact with the anesthesia gas machine for pathogen transmission
      to occur. Anesthesia providers were identified as the origin of bacterial
      transmission in 12% of cases, with pathogens on their hands 66% of the time.
      Unfortunately, anesthesia providers are often noncompliant with hand hygiene.
      They failed to practice hand hygiene 82% of the time. Last, the tape can drop to
      the floor and harbor pathogens despite cleaning 41.6% of the time; it is often
      retrieved and reused. All the common elements, independently and collectively,
      involve the tape and its potential to increase the patient's exposure to
      pathogens and the risk of infection. This literature review presents evidence
      based research regarding endotracheal tube taping practice to ensure patient
      safety.

PMID- 25842645
TI  - Medication administration in the operating room: new standards and
      recommendations.
AB  - Anesthesia is one of the few areas in healthcare with no secondary verification
      of medication administration, yet it also has the highest number of administered
      medications, most of which are high-alert medications. Anesthetists often
      prescribe, dispense, mix, relabel, administer, and document medications without
      secondary verification. To increase patient safety, vigilance is one of the basic
      principles of anesthesia delivery in addition to the other fundamentals of
      medication administration. The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation recommends
      implementing standardizations, barcode medication administration, and the use of
      prefilled or premixed syringes to assist in the safe delivery of anesthesia. It
      has been shown that adhering to the principles outlined by the Anesthesia Patient
      Safety Foundation reduces the number of adverse drug events and results in safer
      care of patients.

PMID- 25842646
TI  - Methodological weaknesses of block study make analyzing results very difficult.

PMID- 25842647
TI  - Author's reply.

PMID- 25842648
TI  - Serotonin syndrome: fentanyl and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor
      interactions.
AB  - Serotonin syndrome is a rare but potentially fatal adverse drug reaction
      associated with increased serotonergic activity in the central nervous system. It
      is characterized by a triad of symptoms, which include altered mental status,
      neuromuscular hyperactivity, and autonomic instability or hyperactivity. Due to
      the potential of rapid onset, it is important for clinicians to recognize the
      signs and symptoms of serotonin syndrome. Serotonin syndrome symptoms may
      resemble other conditions. Although this article focuses on serotonin syndrome as
      a result of an adverse interaction of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
      (SSRI) and fentanyl, it is important for not only anesthesia professionals, but
      all clinicians--such as those in emergency medicine and critical care--to be
      aware of this syndrome and its management. This article discusses the clinical
      manifestations of the serotonin syndrome and highlights reported cases of
      serotonin syndrome specifically related to an interaction between SSRIs and
      fentanyl, a commonly used opioid in anesthesia practice.

PMID- 25842649
TI  - Anesthesia information management systems: imperatives for nurse anesthetists.
AB  - Informatics is a new science within healthcare and anesthesia that leverages
      computer technology to improve patient safety, the quality of care provided, and
      workload efficiency. In clinical anesthesia practice, appropriate application of
      informatics promotes data standardization and integrity, and supports clinical
      decision-making. This article describes current issues in anesthesia information
      management to support the critical need for Certified Registered Nurse
      Anesthetists (CRNAs) to influence functionality, adoption, and use of an
      anesthesia information management system. The use of informatics tools and
      concepts should enable CRNAs to enhance their bedside vigilance, align their
      practice with evidence-based clinical guidelines, and provide cost-effective care
      for patients and healthcare systems.

PMID- 25842650
TI  - Pharmacologic, physiologic, and psychological characteristics associated with
      emergence delirium in combat veterans.
AB  - The goal of this research was to investigate, through active-duty Army anesthesia
      providers, their perceptions on emergence delirium (ED) in US combat veterans.
      Specifically, the pharmacologic, physiologic, and psychological characteristics
      associated with ED. An online survey was sent to all active-duty Army anesthesia
      providers with a response rate of 34%. Results indicated that the providers
      overwhelmingly agreed that ED was related to type of anesthetic used (67.1%) with
      potent inhalational agents and ketamine ranking highest (88.6% and 63.6%,
      respectively). Providers also overwhelmingly considered both physiologic and
      psychological factors (86.8% and 97.1%, respectively) as producing ED in combat
      veterans. Young age (57.5%) and traumatic brain injury (54.2%) were believed to
      be the most likely physiologic factors, with posttraumatic stress disorder (88%)
      and anxiety (84.8%) rated highest for psychological factors related to ED. This
      study emphasizes the need to develop a prospective clinical database involving
      all military anesthesia providers that could collect demographic, pharmacologic,
      psychological, and physiologic information on all combat veterans undergoing
      anesthesia. This kind of longitudinal data would provide answers to many of the
      unanswered questions that we currently have regarding combat veterans and ED.

PMID- 25842651
TI  - Comparison of compliance of glove use among anesthesia providers: a prospective
      blinded observational study.
AB  - Compliance of using gloves in the operating room (OR) is still poor amongst
      anesthesia providers. The practice of using gloves amongst OR anesthesia
      providers (attending anesthesiologists, anesthesia nurses, and trainees) in a
      tertiary care center was observed over 8 months. Observations were made during
      intravenous (IV) cannulations, laryngeal mask airway (LMA)/endotracheal tube
      (ETT) introductions, and ETT extubation/LMA removals, without alerting anesthesia
      personnel. Ten observations were made from each of the procedures for every
      provider involved. 1,240 observations were made involving 8 attending
      anesthesiologists, 9 trainees, and 14 nurses. A Chi-square test showed
      significant difference of glove utilization rates between the groups during all 4
      procedures. The highest compliance was observed in trainees (50%), followed by
      nurses (39.64%), and attending anesthesiologists (10.93%). All groups had their
      highest compliance levels during IV cannulation. Additionally, attending
      anesthesiologists had the lowest compliance levels during all individual
      procedures. Anesthesia nurses had the highest compliance during LMA removals
      (39.29%), whereas trainees showed the highest compliance in all other procedures.
      Glove usage by anesthesia providers during routine OR procedures continues to be
      low. Educational programs highlighting the hazards of noncompliance and strict
      departmental protocols may help to eliminate irregularities in the use of gloves.

PMID- 25842652
TI  - Anaphylactic reaction with avitene: a pediatric case report.
AB  - Anaphylaxis is an unanticipated severe allergic reaction that can occur during a
      surgical procedure. A patient is exposed to myriad foreign substances during
      surgery, such as anesthetic drugs, blood products, and surgical materials,
      including a commonly used hemostatic agent called Avitene Microfibrillar Collagen
      Hemostat. Anaphylaxis is the most severe immune-mediated reaction, and it
      generally occurs on reexposure to a specific antigen. This case report details a
      case of an acute anaphylactic reaction in a 10-year-old boy presumed to be from
      Avitene used during a routine ear, nose, and throat surgery. There will be a
      discussion of the mechanism and management of anaphylaxis as well as a brief
      overview of hemostasis and hemostatic agents. Education of anesthesia providers
      and the surgical team may enable early detection and management of anaphylactic
      reactions that may improve patient outcomes and save lives.

PMID- 25842653
TI  - A pilot study evaluating the perceptions of Certified Registered Nurse
      Anesthetists toward human patient simulation.
AB  - An evaluation was conducted of perceptions of practicing Certified Registered
      Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) toward use of simulation for initial certification,
      continuing education, and recertification. The hypothesis was that a 1-day
      simulation experience would improve their perceptions toward simulation use. The
      first phase developed content-valid questions to examine CRNAs' perceptions
      toward simulation. The second phase used these questions to survey practicing
      CRNAs in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. During the third
      phase, 9 CRNAs were selected to complete a 1-day simulation experience and
      complete the perception questionnaire before and after the experience. Through
      content validity index calculations, 25 of 27 questions were retained for use in
      this study. A total of 378 CRNAs responded to the questionnaire. There was
      consensus that human patient simulation (HPS) is an important part of anesthesia
      provider training, and 85.7% strongly agreed, agreed, or somewhat agreed that HPS
      should be a required component for initial certification. Additionally, 52.9% of
      respondents agreed (somewhat agreed or strongly agreed) that continuing education
      units from HPS should be required for recertification. After the simulation, a
      significant (P < .05) positive change in level of agreement was noted for 13 of
      25 questions, including questions related to initial training and
      recertification.

PMID- 25842654
TI  - Anesthesia and critical care ventilator modes: past, present, and future.
AB  - Mechanical ventilators have evolved from basic machines to complicated,
      electronic, microprocessing engines. Over the last 2 decades, ventilator
      capabilities and options for critical care and anesthesia ventilators have
      rapidly advanced. These advances in ventilator modalities--in conjunction with a
      better understanding of patient physiology and the effects of positive pressure
      ventilation on the body--have revolutionized the mechanical ventilation process.
      Clinicians today have a vast array of mechanical ventilator mode options designed
      to match the pulmonary needs of the critically ill and anesthetized patient.
      Modes of mechanical ventilation continue to be based on 1 of 2 variances: volume
      based or pressure-based. The wording describing the standard ventilatory modes on
      select present-day ventilators has changed, yet the basic principles of operation
      have not changed compared with older ventilators. Anesthesia providers need to
      understand these ventilator modes to best care for patients. This literature
      review encompasses a brief history of mechanical ventilation and current modes
      available for anesthesia and critical care ventilators, including definitions of
      each mode, definitions of the various descriptive labels given each mode, and
      techniques for optimizing and meeting the ventilator needs of the patient while
      avoiding complications in the surgical and critical care patient.

PMID- 25842655
TI  - [South Ural State Medical University on the 70th anniversary of foundation].

PMID- 25842656
TI  - [The heterogeneity of genetic variants of Helicobacter pylori in patients with
      various acid-related diseases].
AB  - THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: To study the genetic diversity of H. pylori in patients
      with chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, chronic pancreatitis. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: The study involved 490 patients with gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer,
      chronic superficial gastritis, chronic atrophic gastritis, chronic pancreatitis.
      Diagnosis of H. pylori infection was carried out by the following methods:
      morphological, urea breath test serological (determining the concentration of IgG
      antibodies to H. pylori and immunoblotting) and by polymerase chain reaction. For
      genotyping of H. pylori using sets of primers with a mixture of CagA, VacA s1/
      s2, VacA m1, VacA m2, IceA1, IceA2, BabA. To perform immunoblotting using Anti
      Helicobacter pylori EUROLINE-Western blot (IgG), based on the Western blot method
      using test strips with antigens separated by electrophoresis cell extract H.
      pylori. Statistical computer processing was performed using software packages
      Statistic for Windows 6.0. RESULTS: The virulent genotype of H. pylori was
      determined in 92% cases of duodenal ulcer. In chronic non-atrophic and atrophic
      gastritis virulent genotypes of H. pylori were not detected. In case of
      uncomplicated duodenal ulcer we revealed isolated (vacA m2) and combined (vacA
      s1/ s2) genotypes of H.pylori in 23% of cases, of them monogenotip VacAm2
      (vacuolating-associated cytotoxin) was determined in 83%. In complicated duodenal
      ulcer the combined genotype of H. pylori (vacAs1/ s2; vacAs1/ s2 + vacAm1 +
      vacAm2; vacAs1/ s2 + vacAm2) and mixed genotype of H. pylori (vacAs1/ s2 + cagA,
      vacAs1/ s2 + iceA2, vacAm1 + cagA + iceA2) were determined in 77% of the samples.
      In cases of chronic pancreatitis the vacuolating cytotoxin VacA was detected in
      35.7%, such as in the control group it was 81.8%. Genes encoding the production
      of urease (subunit A) were found in 85.7% of chronic pancreatitis patients, in
      the control group--54.5%. Genes encoding the synthesis of outer membrane proteins
      of H. pylori such as p26, p19, p17 were detected in 82.1% of patients with
      chronic pancreatitis, in patients of the control group--54.5%. H. pylori outer
      membrane proteins with molecular weights of 30 and 33kDa (p30 and p33) were
      detected in 85.7% of patients with chronic pancreatitis. CONCLUSION: The
      bacterium H. pylori, which is the main cause of acid diseases, realizes effect
      through its pathogenicity factors. Waste products of H. pylori have a direct
      damaging effect on the mucous membrane of the stomach and duodenum, contributing
      to the release of lysosomal enzymes, a number of cytokines. They are cause the
      development of inflammatory processes in the mucosa. Lipopolysaccharide of outer
      membrane of H. pylori cause immune response of the human body and the development
      of chronic inflammation at the system level. Set of pathogenicity factors of H.
      pylori determine the nature and severity of the pathological processes triggered
      by the bacterium at different levels of the microorganism.

PMID- 25842657
TI  - [Psychoemotional status and "adaptation diseases" at patients with the peptic
      ulcer in Ural Federal Territory].
AB  - RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: To study the psycho-emotional status and prevalence of the
      coronary heart disease (CHD) and the idiopathic hypertensia (IH) at patients with
      the peptic ulcer of a stomach (PUS) and at patients with a peptic ulcer of a
      duodenum is (YaB DPK). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Examination of 226 patients with an
      exacerbation of a peptic ulcer was conducted. Patients were distributed in 3
      groups of observation depending on localization of ulcerative process. At all
      surveyed questioning was carried out, data on heriditary burdeness, smoking,
      alcohol intake, existence of somatopathies were specified, clinic-morphological
      implications of a peptic ulcer were studied. RESULTS: Feeling of alarm was
      present at 109 (48.2%) patients with a peptic ulcer, from them at 92 (40.7%) the
      subclinical level of alarm is noted, and at 17 (7.5%) clinically expressed form
      is taped. At 39.3% of the examined patients the depression is defined, from them
      two thirds of patients had the subclinical level of a depression, and 13 people
      suffered from clinically expressed depression form. Communication of recurrence
      with a stress was noted at 86.0% of patients, professionally caused stress--at
      44.4%. In our research at the time of the beginning of a disease prevalence of an
      ischemic heart disease among patients with an ulcer of a duodenum (DPK) made
      18.2%. In group of patients with the combined localization of ulcerative defect
      in a stomach and in DPK which already had an ischemic heart disease before
      emergence of the second ulcerative defect there were 26.6% that statistically
      significantly doesn't differ. However that by the time of emergence of the
      combined lesion this category of patients made already 73.4% is indicative. In
      case of DPK ulcer prevalence of an ischemic heart disease increased from the
      moment of the beginning of a disease until carrying out research twice (to
      36.4%), but patients with the combined ultserozny lesion nevertheless
      distinguished both larger initial prevalence of an ischemic heart disease, and
      more expressed its gain. At the time of the beginning of a disease of GB met in a
      group of persons with the isolated ulcerative defect authentically more often
      (36.4% against 18.7% in group of patients with the combined localization of an
      ulcer). At the time of carrying out research prevalence of GB among patients with
      DPK ulcer (47.7%) whereas in group of the combined lesion of a stomach and DPK of
      GB without ischemic heart disease there was only every fourth patient remained
      significant by 2,7 times (DI 1.2-6.3). The combination of associated diseases of
      an ischemic heart disease and GB at patients with the advent of an ulcer at the
      same time in a stomach and DPK practically always met at the persons abusing
      alcohol and tobacco smoking that in general enlarges risk of development of an
      ulcer of the second localization by 7,6 times CONCLUSION: At the peptic ulcer
      (PU) of any localization the previous stress conducting quite often to formation
      of alarm and a depression conducts to also education a stress--the induced
      conditions, for example, of an arterial hypertonia, and later--to an ischemic
      heart disease. As specific to every second patient with the combined form of a
      peptic ulcer of a stomach and a duodenum it is possible to consider a
      polisintropiya from such the comorbidity diseases as coronary heart disease and
      an idiopathic hypertensia. The combination of these associated diseases to
      alcohol intake and tobacco smoking progressively enlarges risk of development of
      a peptic ulcer of the combined localization by 7,6 times in comparison with the
      isolated duodenum canker. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: To define influence of the
      comorbidity diseases and risk.

PMID- 25842658
TI  - [Clinical and immunological study of the relationship of the digestive system
      chronic diseases and atherosclerosis in the basin of the abdominal aorta in
      elderly patients].
AB  - Paper describes clinical and immunological study about the relationship between
      chronic diseases of the digestive system and atherosclerosis in the basin of the
      abdominal aorta in patients of elderly and senile age. There were revealed the
      structural and clinical features of the gastrointestinal tract diseases,
      depending on the extent of atherosclerosis in the basin of the abdominal aorta.
      Evaluation of the immune status included the determination of lymphocyte
      subpopulation composition, the functional state of neutrophils and cytokine
      levels. It is found that the progression of atherosclerosis in the basin of the
      abdominal aorta in patients of elderly and senile age with chronic diseases of
      the digestive system was accompanied by the activation of pro-inflammatory
      mechanisms of the immune system and the accompanying intensification of oxidative
      stress.

PMID- 25842659
TI  - [Pathological features of coronary heart disease in patient of elderly and senile
      age depending on a blood flow condition in the abdominal aorta].
AB  - AIM: To perform the analysis of correlation of clinical symptoms and laboratory
      sings in patients of elderly and senile age with coronary heart disease depending
      on a blood flow condition in the pool of abdominal aorta. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
      Longitudinal clinical research was conducted. The register was made by 132
      patients of elderly and senile age with coronary heart disease being on treatment
      during the period since 2013-2014. RESULTS: Results of the research of
      correlation of clinical symptoms and indexes of lipidemia in patients of elderly
      and senile age with coronary heart disease depending on a blood flow condition in
      the pool of abdominal aorta are performed. CONCLUSION: Specific features of the
      cardiovascular pathology and a course of coronary heart disease in combination
      with atherosclerosis of the abdominal aorta and its visceral branches are
      revealed.

PMID- 25842660
TI  - [Association of structure-functional indices of the heart and psychoemotional
      factors in patients with duodenal ulcer].
AB  - Peptic ulcer is a disease of the upper part of the psychosomatic continuum, that
      allows to consider it as a result of mental maladjustment. The cross-sectional
      study examined 62 men with newly diagnosed duodenal ulcer, the average age of the
      surveyed was 21.5 +/- 2.1 (M +/- s). Men suffering from duodenal ulcer have a
      significant correlation of structure-functional indices of heart and
      psychoemotional factors examined. According to the step by step regression to
      coping-strategies "flight- avoidance" in a lot of left ventricular myocardium and
      the indexed rate ranged between 62-77%. Our data allow us to propose that the
      left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with duodenal ulcer with the normal
      level of blood pressure is morphological and functional expression of adaptation
      in response to various stressors and exposure on the force. The nature of stress
      changes their biochemical, hormonal, functional support, essential for uncovering
      the mechanisms of influence of stress on the development and course of systemic
      diseases, develop psychosomatic approach to prevention of functional and organic
      psychosomatic disease.

PMID- 25842661
TI  - [The changes of microbiota and genetic polymorphism of cytokines in patients with
      irritable bowel syndrome].
AB  - The aim of this study was to assess the presence or absence of association
      between the degree of changes in microbiota and gene polymorphism of cytokines IL
      1Ra, IL-1b, TNFa, IL-4, IL-10 in patients with IBS. Materials and methods. The
      sample consisted of 81 patients, the diagnosis was verified according to the Rome
      criteria III. Polymorphism genotyping of IL-1Ra, IL-1b, IL-4, TNFalpha was
      carried out by PCR. Statistical processing: chi-square test, Fisher's exact test,
      odds ratio. The relationship between the heterozygous genotype G/A -308 TNFa and
      clinically relevant microbiological disorders in patients with irritable bowel
      syndrome was established.

PMID- 25842662
TI  - [Characteristics of eating behavior in overweight young people with biliary tract
      diseases among Bashkortostan population].
AB  - The goal of the present research was to study the types of nutritional behavior
      disturbances in overweight patients with the pathology biliary tract. 132
      patients with chronic noncalculous cholecystitis aged from 18 to 35 were
      examined. The comprehensive clinical examination was conducted and types of
      eating behavior disturbances with the help DEBQ test (Dutch Eating Behavior
      Questionnaire) were examined. It was discovered that disturbances of eating
      behavior are observed in 82,9 percent of normal weight patients, in 100 percent
      of overweight and in 93,3 percent of patients with obesity. Restraint and
      emotional eating are more often observed in obesity. External eating is more
      often observed in overweight and normal weight persons than that emotional
      eating. Rational eating is rarely observed in all groups of examined persons.

PMID- 25842663
TI  - [Prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in young patients with abdominal
      obesity and hypertension].
AB  - THE AIM: To estimate the incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and the
      factors of cardiovascular risk in young patients with abdominal obesity and
      hypertension compared to persons with isolated forms of these diseases. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Studied 127 patients aged 18-44 years with presence of abdominal
      obesity and/or hypertension. The factors of cardiovascular risk were evaluated.
      Laboratory examination included the determination of parameters of lipid
      metabolism, glucose and uric acid. The liver ultrasound was processed. In 61.3%
      of young patients with abdominal obesity and hypertension identified laboratory
      and instrumental signs of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. In patients with
      abdominal obesity and hypertension were more prevalent family history of
      hypertension, smoking, dyslipidemia, mainly due to triglycerides, as well as
      higher levels of fasting glucose.

PMID- 25842664
TI  - [Evaluation of prognostic factors for the development of cholelithiasis in
      patients with metabolic syndrome].
AB  - The aim of study to determine the leading clinical and immunological parameters,
      reflecting the high risk of development and progression of gallstone disease in
      patients with metabolic syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An assessment of
      clinical, biochemical and immunological parameters in 54 patients with gallstone
      disease associated with the metabolic syndrome and in comparison groups (31 with
      metabolic syndrome without gallstone disease and 29 with gallstone disease only)
      were made. For modeling the significant correlation and prediction of the effect
      of different combinations of factors on the risk of gallstone disease formation
      in patients with metabolic syndrome was used the multiple logistic regression
      analysis. RESULTS: In accordance with our results the main risk factors of
      gallstone formation in patients with metabolic syndrome are the age (P = 0.02),
      waist volume (P = 0.0002), the increase of serum concentration of GGTP (P =
      0.00001), MMP-9 (P = 0.002) and TIMP-1 (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: The results of our
      study have shown that in patients with metabolic syndrome was estimated the high
      risk of gallstone disease formation compared and the most significant factors of
      it formation are the patients age, waist volume and increase of serum
      concentration of GGTP, MMP-9 and TIMP-1.

PMID- 25842665
TI  - [Surgical treatment and different preoperative preparation of patients with
      malignant tumors of hepatopancreatoduodenal zone].
AB  - Different tactical approaches present to optimize surgical treatment of patients
      with malignant tumors hepatopancreatoduodenal zone. This research based on
      diagnosis and results of treatment of tumors of this localization, which included
      357 analyzed case histories of patients treated in the Chelyabinsk Regional
      Hospital from 2010 to 2014. During this study was considered the preoperative
      preparation of patients with malignant obstructive jaundice genesis, and was
      assessed its impact on the level of postoperative complications and mortality.
      Farther was found effectiveness of a two-stage surgical treatment of patients
      with obstructive jaundice malignant etiology for the reduction of postoperative
      mortality. The complication rate is significantly reduced radically operated
      patients with bilirubin level below 40 mmol/l, palliative - 80 mmol/l. Also were
      presented results of treatment of chronic pain.

PMID- 25842666
TI  - [The possibilities of modern prophylaxis of acute pancreatitis after endoscopic
      retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)].
AB  - The paper presents the results of the 1778 performed ERCP on patients with benign
      bile duct occlusion. Father was given evaluation of the effectiveness of using
      ksifokam, and usage of preventive and therapeutic stenting of the main pancreatic
      duct in 31 patients.

PMID- 25842667
TI  - [Morphological changes of the esophagus in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell
      carcinoma].
AB  - PURPOSE: To study the micro-topography of the abdominal wall of the esophagus and
      give it a quantitative characterization of tumor pathology of the esophagus.
      METHODS: The study was performed using morphological methods: 1 anatomical
      dissection; 2 gistotopographical method with coloring of gistotopogramms with
      hematoxylin-eosin and Van Gieson; 3 Morphometry of macro and microstructures of
      the esophagus. Operating studied material from 15 patients who over the tumor
      lesion was performed resection of the lower third of the esophagus and the upper
      part of the stomach. Operations were carried out on the basis of the thoracic
      department of the Orenburg Regional Clinical Oncology Center (ORCOC). RESULTS:
      This article describes the features of the morphological changes in the abdominal
      wall of the esophagus at its two forms of tumor lesions: in squamous cell
      carcinoma and in adenocarcinoma. For adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma
      is characterized by a different type of growth, a different degree of sprouting
      layers of the esophageal wall, different propensity to metastasize within the
      wall of the esophagus. Submucosa of the esophagus is the main layer in which
      there are significant changes in neoplastic lesions of the esophagus, both within
      tumor and in adjacent areas of the esophageal wall. CONCLUSION: The common
      involvement of submucosa of the abdominal esophagus in the pathological process
      in its malignant lesions (up to 5 cm in our study) should be considered when
      determining the upper limit of esophageal resection.

PMID- 25842668
TI  - [Colitis associated with C. difficile].
AB  - Pseudomembranous colitis (PMC), is characterized by acute onset, severe diarrhea,
      hypovolemic shock, toxic expansion of colon perforation, thrombus syndrome and
      without treatment in some cases leading to death of the patient. The paper
      describes a clinical case of pseudomembranous colitis in patients 35 years that
      developed on the background of the massive antibiotic therapy. The diagnosis was
      made only at autopsy. This case is unique, and dictates the need to inform
      doctors of practical health care of the complications of antibiotic therapy, such
      as pseudomembranous colitis.

PMID- 25842669
TI  - [Modern surgical tactics in Crohn's disease].
AB  - Surgical tactics of Crohn's disease (CD) treatment was elaborated on base of
      modern information analysis, concerning pathogenesis, peculiarities of clinical
      course, possibilities of diagnosis, experience in the disease treatment. The
      tactics provides a timely diagnosis of the disease, prognostication for the
      recurrence occurrence and postoperative complications, the indications and the
      method of surgery optimization. Application of the elaborated surgical tactics in
      CD in 121 patients have permitted to improve the objective estimation of the
      disease severity, to prognosticate complications, to optimize surgical
      indications, as well as a choice of the method of a conditionally-radical,
      restorational, reconstructive-restorational stages of operative intervention, to
      reduce the disease recurrences rate, postoperative complications, postoperative
      lethality.

PMID- 25842670
TI  - [Prognostication and prophylaxis of the adhesions recurrence postoperatively in
      patients suffering acute adhesive peritoneal disease complicated by ileus].
AB  - The results of treatment of 92 patients, suffering an acute ileus, were analyzed.
      After urgent operative interventions for an acute ileus the recurrence have
      occurred in 19.6% patients. To reduce the operative intervention traumaticity the
      preference was given to local viscerolysis conduction. For the adhesions
      occurrence prophylaxis a barrier medicines were used, what have promoted the
      reduction of contents of a connective tissue metabolites, excluding oxyprolin,
      concentration of which have exceeded such in a control, what have guaranteed the
      risk lowering for postoperative adhesions occurrence.

PMID- 25842672
TI  - [Cholecystectomy as a simultant abdominal intervention in bariatric surgery].
AB  - Necessity and validity of simultant interventions while doing restrictive
      bariatric operations were considered. There were analyzed the results of
      perioperative examination of 41 patients, in whom laparoscopic bariatric
      operation was performed, and 23--after simultant operations. There was
      established necessity for obligatory performance of simultant operations while
      presence of indices and according qualification of surgeons.

PMID- 25842671
TI  - [Prophylaxis and correction of inflammatory complications in peritonitis,
      depending on severity of enteral insufficiency].
AB  - There were examined 54 patients, in whom peritonitis of various etiology was
      diagnosed. Clinical, biochemical, immunological and other investigations were
      conducted for estimation of the enteral insufficiency syndrome severity. Basing
      on the analysis of the data obtained and criterions of the patient common state
      there was determined the occurrence risk for inflammatory complications (IC).
      Complex of prophylactic and therapeutic measures for reduction of the IC rate was
      proposed.

PMID- 25842673
TI  - [Surgical treatment of chronic pancreatitis complicated by biliary hypertension].
AB  - The results of 29 patients treatment, suffering chronic pancreatitis, complicated
      by biliary hypertension, in whom operative interventions in Department of Surgery
      of Regional Ivano-Frankivsk clinical hospital in 2009 - 2014 yrs, were analyzed.
      The drainage, resectional and combined interventions were performed. Direct
      intervention on pancreatic gland was not applied in 5 (17.2%) patients. Operation
      to Frey was performed in 7 (24.1%) patients, in 4--it was added by
      choledochojejunoanastomosis formation, longitudinal pancreatojejunostomy--in 13
      (44.8%). In 4 (14.8%) patients while functional disorders of adjacent organs
      present a pancreaticoduodenal resection to Whipple was done. For biliary
      hypertension diagnosis (including the occult one) the method of intraoperative
      pressure measurement in common biliary duct (CBD) was proposed. The operation was
      added by biliodigestive anastomosis formation, using choledochoenterostomy to
      Roux method if while operations to Frey or Beger after intervention on pancreatic
      head with the intrapancreatic CBD freeing the intraductal pressure witnessed the
      biliary hypertension presence. In all the patients good and satisfactory results
      of operative treatment were noted.

PMID- 25842674
TI  - [Algorithm of tactics for nutritive support choice in operated patients].
AB  - Algorithm of determination of energetic status for calculation of variants of
      nutritive support while performing operations in patients, depending on their
      functional state, was proposed, basing on literature data and results of own
      clinical investigations.

PMID- 25842675
TI  - [Peculiarities of application of a cell saver apparatus in neonathal
      cardiosurgery using artificial blood circulation].
AB  - Elaborated and introduced into the practice method of the blood preservation,
      while correction of complex inborn heart failures (IHF) in a newborn babies, was
      proposed. It assumes application of system for intraoperative reinfusion of own
      erythrocytes with processing of residual perfusate and their reinfusion in a
      postperfusion period. Impact of the blood preservation on volume of a donor's
      blood components, hematological indices and methods of application of washed
      erythrocytes while correction of complex IHF in a newborn babies were presented.
      The method was applied in 47 newborn babies, to whom an arterial switch was
      performed for the main vessels transposition.

PMID- 25842676
TI  - [Evaluation of vascular bed before and after embolization of renal artery for
      renal cancer].
AB  - Results of treatment of 120 patients, suffering nephro-cellular cancer, in the
      clinic were analyzed. In 60 of them radical nephrectomy was done, in 30-
      palliative angiographic occlusion of renal blood flow, in 30--the combined
      treatment in accordance to original method, using embolization of renal artery
      with further application of operative intervention. There was established, that
      performance of endovascular intervention and embolization of renal artery caused
      a renal blood flow inhibition: reduction of the contrasting coefficient of renal
      parenchyma and enhancement of period of maximal contrasting achievement. Such
      result have witnessed a sensitivity of the preoperative preparation method
      choosed, concerning changes in a renal blood flow parameters.

PMID- 25842677
TI  - [Thrombotic complications in severe forms of varicose disease: diagnosis,
      surgical treatment, using miniinvasive methods].
AB  - Actual issues of surgical treatment of patients, suffering complications of
      varicose disease severe forms, are discussed. The causes of unsatisfactory
      results of treatment of patients, suffering varicothrombophlebitis, the main of
      which is the absence of common tactics of operative treatment and anticoagulant
      therapy, were analyzed. There were formatted the groups of patients, suffering
      severe forms of varicose disease of various localization of thrombotic process, a
      differentiated tactics of their surgical treatment was proposed.

PMID- 25842678
TI  - [Choice of fistulas optimal diameter while performance of thrombectomy from ileo
      femoral venous segment].
AB  - The results of investigation of arterio-venous fistula (AVF) hemodynamics,
      depending on its diameter, were adduced. There were operated 98 patients for deep
      veins thrombosis (DVTH) of ileo-femoral segment, in 82 (83.7%) of them the
      extraction of a flotation thrombus with femoral vein ligation was performed, in
      16 (16.3%)--thrombectomy from the ileo-femoral segment veins, in 14 (14.3%)--the
      intervention was added by formation of AVF. While AVF formation a lateral
      branches of femoral vein of a necessary diameter were applied. In all the
      patients AVF have closed spontaneously in terms from 3 to 10 weeks. While the
      accelerated blood flow presence in 1 (7.1%) patients a rethrombosis have
      occurred. Pulmonary thrombosis in operated patients did not occurr. Application
      of active surgical tactics in treatment of DVTH of ileo-femoral segment securely
      prophylacts the pulmonary thromboembolism, application of thrombectomy together
      with AVF formation of optimal diameter guarantees the essential reduction of the
      rethrombosis and complications occurrence rate.

PMID- 25842679
TI  - [Tactics of organ preserving interventions for splenic rupture].
AB  - The results of treatment of 76 injured persons with splenic rupture were
      analysed. The methods of conserving surgery were elaborated, depending on the
      severity and localization of rupture, which permit to reduce complications rates
      and improve patient's quality of life.

PMID- 25842681
TI  - [Changes in clinical indices in patients in predisposition for pathological
      cicatrices formation].
AB  - Prophylaxis of ocurrence of pathological cutaneous cicatrices is one of actual
      problems of plastic surgery of head and neck. Cicatricial changes of tissues, as
      a consequence of operative interventions and various damaging causes (mechanical,
      thermal and chemical impact, ionizing irradiation, deep destructive
      inflammation), were depicted. Propensity for formation of pathological cicatrices
      we consider as the organism state, in which cicatricial changes occur as an
      answer for minimal trauma or spontaneously. Detailed analysis of fundamental
      issues and periodical scientific publications witness the insufficient
      substantiation of this issue.

PMID- 25842680
TI  - [A magnet application for the splinters take out in the mine-explosion
      woundings].
AB  - The methods of successful take out of metallic splinters from soft tissues with
      the help of magnet were depicted. Experience of the splinters take out, using
      small operative accesses or the wounding channell passage, was summarized. The
      method permits to determine precisely the splinter localization. The method
      application have promoted the reduction of the patient's stationary treatment
      duration and the comlications rate.

PMID- 25842682
TI  - [Pathogenetic substantiation of surgical treatment safety in early reproductive
      losses].
AB  - Early loss of pregnancy is associated with high rate of chronic inflammatory
      processes of genital organs. While still and tubal pregnancy a multicomponent
      associations of microorganisms in genital ways are revealed, accordingly, in 66.7
      and 48.9% women, morphological signs of inflammatory process--in 72.2 and 51.1%.
      Application of endoscopic methods of diagnosis and treatment of women in early
      loss of pregnancy is highly effective, permits to reveal comorbidities, to
      perform miniinvasive organ preserving interventions in necessary volume.
      Performance of complex anti-inflammatory treatment of women in early loss of
      pregnancy is substantiated with the objective to escape negative outcomes, and
      for improvement of immediate and late results of surgical treatment.

PMID- 25842683
TI  - [Comparative evaluation of mastoidoplasty results in application of various
      plastic materials].
AB  - The results of surgical treatment of 62 patients, suffering chronic purulent
      middle otitis, were analyzed. The structure of mastoid processus and attic
      constitutes a base for choice of middle ear surgical sanation. Sanation operation
      with preservation or reconstruction of external acoustical meatus posterior wall
      was finished with combined mastoidoplasty using autobone, spongioid bone
      bioimplant Tutoplast or bioceramic material "Sintekost". Achievement of a steady
      sanating effect have promoted in late postoperative period a trustworthy lowering
      of the perception threshold of the bone--conducted sounds as on vocal, and also
      on high frequencies, while of the air--conducted sounds--on vocal frequencies.
      This permits in perspective to perform a hearing--improving operations with good
      functional result.

PMID- 25842684
TI  - [New approaches for determination of area of superficial functional and anatomic
      objects in pediatric anesthesiology and surgery].
AB  - A hypothesis concerning expediency for application of a Bezye's curves in
      anesthesiology while solving the tasks of the images recognition of a functional
      part hyperalgesia and hemangioma.

PMID- 25842685
TI  - [Impact of abdominal cavity open EHF irradiation on activity of adhesive process
      in peritonitis].
AB  - In experiment on 45 rats a purulent peritonitis was simulated. There was
      established, that on background of a standard therapy for peritonitis application
      of abdominal cavity open irradiation of extreme high frequency (EHF) have
      promoted rapid stabilization of the lipid metabolism indices and the blood
      coagulation system, the reduction of intensity of lipids peroxidal oxidation
      processes and severity of systemic inflammatory reaction. Under the influence of
      complex treatment the severity of adhesive process was reduced in 5.4 times,
      comparing with such in animals, to whom a standard treatment was conducted only.
      The revealed pathogenetic aspects of the adhesions formation witnesses the
      expediency to add EHF irradiation to complex therapy of peritonitis.

PMID- 25842686
TI  - [Simultant operative interventions in patients for the diseases of large bowel].

PMID- 25842687
TI  - [Application of modern miniinvasive technologies in diagnosis and treatment of
      tubo-peritoneal infertility].

PMID- 25842688
TI  - [Combined impairments of common hepatic duct and the branch of the right hepatic
      artery complicated by hemobilia].

PMID- 25842689
TI  - [Method for video-assisted atypical lung resection].

PMID- 25842690
TI  - Bringing to life the issues that matter.

PMID- 25842691
TI  - Is early intervention the most cost-effective way of helping children and
      troubled families?

PMID- 25842692
TI  - At a glance: respiratory tract infections in children.
AB  - Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are one of the most common presentations to
      child health professionals. It is important that community practitioners are able
      to distinguish serious RTIs from those which can be managed in the community with
      advice and reassurance. Common respiratory symptoms include cough, wheeze, fever,
      tachypnoea and stridor. This paper aims to identify the common presentations of
      RTIs seen in children. A discussion on asthma with relevance to RTIs is also
      included. The red flag indicators and children from high risk groups should be
      identified while assessing a child with suspected RTI and an early referral to a
      medical professional should be initiated. Community practitioners should be able
      to reassure parents and educate them on signs of deterioration when the
      management of a child with RTI is considered appropriate in the community.

PMID- 25842693
TI  - Birthmarks in infants - cause for concern?

PMID- 25842694
TI  - Setting up an FNP programme in a London borough.

PMID- 25842695
TI  - Poor diabetes care costs lives.

PMID- 25842696
TI  - Bye bye bump!

PMID- 25842697
TI  - Legalizing pot--facts, fables and avoiding follies.

PMID- 25842698
TI  - Brian O. Foy selected to lead West Virginia State Medical Association.

PMID- 25842699
TI  - Acute calcific longus colli tendonitis.
AB  - Acute calcific longus colli tendonitis is an inflammatory response of the neck
      flexor musculature. Patients present with symptoms suggestive of a
      retropharyngeal abscess or meningitis. Adjunctive medical imaging is required to
      confirm the diagnosis and dispel other, more serious and life threatening,
      pathologies. We present a case of acute calcific longus colli tendonitis, and
      provide a discussion on the topic as to avoid unnecessary medical and surgical
      intervention because the entity can be easily confused with more severe diseases.

PMID- 25842700
TI  - Delayed fracture of fibular strut allograft following three-level anterior
      cervical corpectomy and fusion: a case report.
AB  - Strut allografts are used in cervical spine reconstruction following corpectomy.
      A stress fracture in the graft is a rare event. We explain a late stress fracture
      of an allograft following anterior cervical fusion. A 57-year-old male with a
      history of cervical myeloradiculopathy underwent a three-level anterior cervical
      corpectomy and allograft reconstruction from C3-C7. Fracture lucencies in the
      allograft were identified on flexion/extension radiographs 11 months post
      operatively. The patient reported no new pain, numbness, or weakness and denied
      any traumatic injury. Three years post-operatively, he was asymptomatic with no
      change in alignment or signs of failure of the instrumentation or strut graft.
      With a healed fibular strut allograft, a delayed stress fracture may be observed
      with a favorable outcome.

PMID- 25842701
TI  - Medical management of aortic coarctation is feasible & durable in selected
      patients: a case report & literature review.
AB  - Long-term survival in patients with complete aortic coarctation (AC) without
      surgical repair has not been well characterized and is rarely documented. We
      report a case of an 84 year old male with complete aortic coarctation with
      history of hypertension for more than 40 years. Since the diagnosis was made in
      early 1950's medical treatment to control hypertension was initiated as patient
      was deemed high risk for surgical intervention. He has survived to the age of 84
      years with minimal medical problems. This report also reviews the few documented
      cases of prolonged survival in patients with aortic coarctation. This report
      demonstrates that prolonged survival is possible in patients with documented
      complete coarctation and awareness of this report may influence the decision to
      use medical treatment for selected elderly patients with high risk of mortality
      associated with surgical repair.

PMID- 25842702
TI  - Solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas.
AB  - Solid pseudopapillary tumor is a rare tumor accounting for 1-2% of exocrine
      neoplasms involving the pancreas. This typically benign tumor is predominately
      found in young females of non-Caucasian descent between the second and fourth
      decades of life. Despite the reported increasing incidence of this neoplasm, many
      physicians are unfamiliar with this tumor, which may lead to uncertainty of
      diagnosis and treatment. While further delineating the clinical and imaging
      features of this tumor, we present two cases with review of the literature.

PMID- 25842703
TI  - Mentoring program that gives primary care providers (PCPs) direct access to
      clinical experts.

PMID- 25842704
TI  - State minority health.

PMID- 25842705
TI  - New legislature seeks to amend the MPLA.

PMID- 25842706
TI  - RHI students explore underground mines.

PMID- 25842707
TI  - The RACs are back: auditors to start performing complex reviews.
AB  - The Recovery Auditor program is cranking back up again after almost a year's
      hiatus, but despite the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' plans to
      improve the program and issue new contracts, the audits will be conducted by the
      same auditors under the same rules. Auditors are likely to target short stays and
      other weak areas the Medicare Administrative Contractors identified during Probe
      and Educate, according to Elizabeth Lamkin, MHA, chief executive officer and
      partner in PACE Healthcare Consulting, LLC, based in Beaufort County, SC. CMS has
      not made any clarifications to the two-midnight rule, and auditors may begin
      auditing hospitals for compliance beginning April 1. The Outpatient Prospective
      Payment System (OPPS) final rule clarified the requirement for physician
      certification, saying that the order to admit must be signed by the treating
      physician and the justification for the admission, the expected length of stay,
      the treatment plan, and the discharge plan do not have to be a separate document
      but can be part of the history and physical.

PMID- 25842708
TI  - Changes in RA program are intended to reduce burden on providers.

PMID- 25842709
TI  - Game changer: HHS sets goals for basing payments on quality.
AB  - For the first time, theDepartment of Health and Human Services has set specific
      goals for basing Medicare fee-for-service payments on quality or value by the end
      of 2018. Commercial payers are expected to follow suit and develop their own
      programs for basing payment on quality or value. Since much of the data used in
      the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services quality-based programs is risk
      adjusted, complete and detailed documentation that represents all of the
      patients' conditions and services received is vital. The emphasis on care
      throughout the continuum means that case managers are going to have to
      communicate regularly with their counterparts in post-acute providers and make
      sure patients do well in the post-discharge setting.

PMID- 25842710
TI  - Tools improve communication with SNFs, reduce readmissions.
AB  - A case management team at UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside Hospital in Pittsburgh has
      developed an initiative to improve communication between the hospital and skilled
      nursing facilities in an effort to reduce readmissions. The team interviewed
      readmitted patients, analyzed trends in readmissions and what caused them, and
      researched readmission prevention tools. They developed a risk tool that assesses
      a variety of issues and use it to help identify patients who are at risk for
      readmission. The tool covers comorbidities, psychiatric issues, polypharmacy
      issues, emergency department visits and hospitalization, and other issues. They
      created a discharge checklist that lists the tasks that should be done for every
      skilled nursing discharge.

PMID- 25842711
TI  - Hospital cuts length of stay for babies in the NICU by four days.
AB  - An initiative in which the entire treatment team focuses on moving premature
      babies through the continuum has resulted in a drop of foul days in the average
      length of stay at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The
      treatment team has daily rounds on every patient and a multidisciplinary early
      discharge team assesses every patientat the bedside to determine who is ready to
      go home and what is holding up the discharge, and to take action to move things
      along. The bedside nurses assess the babies several times a day for feeding
      readiness and to determine if they are ready to move along in the clinical
      protocol. The team gets parents involved in daily care and gives them hands-on
      experience so they won't be nervous about caring for the child at home.

PMID- 25842712
TI  - Health system, churches work together to support patients after discharge.

PMID- 25842713
TI  - Perioperative surgical home optimizes patient care, Part 1.

PMID- 25842714
TI  - Building the business case for a hybrid OR.

PMID- 25842715
TI  - Surgical patients warmed with forced air still experience hypothermia.

PMID- 25842716
TI  - First step taken in FDA-issued unique device identification system.

PMID- 25842717
TI  - Communication, collaboration, commitment are cornerstones of high reliability
      healthcare.

PMID- 25842718
TI  - Redefining staff roles and responsibilities can help reduce turnover time.

PMID- 25842719
TI  - Water: a critical ingredient for instrument cleaning and disinfection.

PMID- 25842720
TI  - Careful planning essential when expanding outpatient surgery repertoire.

PMID- 25842721
TI  - Chinese patent medicine for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease based on
      principles of tonifying Qi, promoting blood circulation by removing blood stasis,
      and resolving phlegm: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of Chinese patent medicine (CPM)
      with the principle of tonifying Qi, promoting blood circulation by removing blood
      stasis, and resolving phlegm (TQ-PBC-RP) in the management of stable chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: A systematic review of randomized
      controlled trials (RCTs) identified from electronic databases and print was
      conducted. RCTs testing CPMs with TQ-PBC-RP against any type of controlled
      intervention in patients with stable COPD and assessing clinically relevant
      outcomes were included. Methodological quality was evaluated with the risk of
      bias tool according to systematic review handbook 5.0.2. Quality of evidence was
      estimated by the rating approach developed by the Grading of Recommendations,
      Assessment, Development, and Evaluation Working Group. RESULTS: Thirteen eligible
      RCTs with 12 oral CPMs were tested. Significant differences between groups in
      favor of CPMs were not reported in all trials. Most trials included were deemed
      to be of low methodological quality with poor evidence quality. Because of large
      data heterogeneity, statistical pooling was not performed for all outcomes.
      CONCLUSION: The effectiveness of CPM in the treatment of stable COPD is not
      supported by evidence. Currently, evidence from RCTs is scarce and
      methodologically weak. Considering the popularity of CPMs among patients
      undergoing COPD, rigorously designed trials are warranted.

PMID- 25842722
TI  - Meta-analysis on integrative medicine for the treatment of malig- nant ascites: a
      comparative study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of integrated Chinese and Western Medicine
      with that of only Western Medicine for the treatment of malignant ascites.
      METHODS: All randomized controlled trials (January 2004 to March 2013) from the
      China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature
      Database, and Wanfang Database were searched with keywords. Meta-analysis was
      conducted by combining the odds ratios of the individual studies. Review Manager
      5.0 was used for the analysis. RESULTS: One thousand one hundred and fifty-six
      patients from 19 randomized controlled trails were included. Of them, 630
      patients were treated with integrated Chinese and Western Medicine (the
      integrative group), and 526 patients were treated with Western Medicine alone
      (the control group). The Meta-analysis showed that the total effective rate was
      78.73% in the integrated group, and 59.13% in the control group. The effective
      percentage was significantly higher in the integrative group than that of the
      control group [OR = 2.85, 95% CI (2.16, 3.74), P < 0.01]. CONCLUSION: The short
      term curative effect in the integrative group was better than that in the control
      group. Integrative medicine may be beneficial for malignant ascites.

PMID- 25842723
TI  - Effect of Huangshukuihua (Flos Abelmoschi Manihot) on diabetic nephropathy: a
      meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of Huangshukuihua (Flos Abelmoschi Manihot) on
      diabetic nephropathy (DN). METHODS: Articles were retrieved from PubMed, EMBASE,
      the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, Chinese
      Biomedical Literature Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure
      Database, Chinese Evidence-Based Medicine Database, and Wanfang Database. Two
      reviewers independently reviewed the article. Only randomized controlled trials
      were included and 27 were identified involving 2239 patients (1143 in the
      treatment group and 1096 in the control group). RESULTS: Huangshukuihua (Flos
      Abelmoschi Manihot) had a significant effect on renal function by improving blood
      urea nitrogen and serum creatinine, reducing urine protein (24-h urine protein,
      and urinary albumin excretion rate), and improving serum albumin level, compared
      with the control group. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that, although the
      bioactive ingredients and mechanism underlying renal protection are unknown, the
      role of Huangshukuihua (Flos Abelmoschi Manihot) in the treatment of DN deserves
      further investigation.

PMID- 25842724
TI  - Efficacy evaluation of summer acupoint application treatment on asthma patients:
      a two-year follow-up clinical study.
AB  - fill out a questionnaire evaluating asthma degree, exacerbation frequency,
      concomitant medications and self-satisfaction. The self-rate and doctor-report
      outcomes obtained in parallel were evaluated to assess the efficacy of SAAT.
      RESULTS: A total of 527 asthma patients were initially enrolled in this study, of
      which 97 elderly patients and those with more severe cases of asthma were lost to
      follow-up. Thus, a total of 430 patients were valid for analysis using self-rate
      data. Nevertheless, occasional negative returns were obtained; almost all of the
      outcomes were rated as "No change", "Moderate effective", or "Very effective". In
      addition, 80% of the patients were satisfied with this treatment. Moreover, 391
      (91.4% ) patients were somewhat improved after SAAT in 2009, and further
      improvement was observed in 2010. After SAAT, the average asthma-degree score
      decreased from 5.3 in 2008 to 4 in 2009 and, subsequently to 3.5 in 2010.
      CONCLUSION: With pronounced patient satisfaction, SAAT can reduce the
      exacerbation severity and frequency, concomitant medications and asthma degree.
      Prolonging the treatment course might enhance the efficacy of SAAT. OBJECTIVE: To
      evaluate the self-efficacy and satisfaction of asthma patients subjected to
      summer acupoint application treatment (SAAT). METHODS: A two-year follow-up
      clinical study was conducted. Patients with asthma were treated by applying a
      herbal paste onto the Feishu (BL 13) and Fengmen (BL 12) acupoints on the three
      hottest days of summer, according to the traditional Chinese calendar, from 2008
      to 2010. During a two-year follow-up, these patients were asked to

PMID- 25842725
TI  - 1H nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomic study on efficacy of Qingrehuatan
      decoction against abundant phlegm-heat syndrome in young adults with essential
      hypertension.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To observe the influence of Qingrehuatan decoction (QRHT) on serum
      metabolic profile in young essential hypertension (YEH) patients with abundant
      phlegm-heat syndrome and provide a basis for treatment with the decoction.
      METHODS: Twelve male YEH patients were randomly selected and serum samples were
      collected for examination before and after 4 weeks of the treatment with QRHT.
      Twelve healthy males were randomly selected and their serum samples were
      collected as a control. All serum samples were detected using metabolomic
      technology with 1H nuclear magnetic resonance. Differences in metabolites were
      studied by principal component analysis and partial least squares-discriminate
      analysis, which produced scores and loadings plots. RESULTS: After 4 weeks of
      treatment, serum substances could be distinguished between the YEH patients with
      abundant phlegm-heat syndrome and the control patients. The specific serum endog-
      enous metabolites tended to improve after the treatment. QRHT can appropriately
      increase the levels of glucose, lactic acid, citric acid, high-density
      lipoprotein, phosphatidylcholine, glycerophosphate choline, hydroxybutyrate,
      alanine, and glutamate. QRHT could also decrease the levels of low-density
      lipoprotein/very low-density lipoprotein, lipids, N-acetyl glycoprotein, and O
      acetyl glycoprotein. CONCLUSION: QRHT can effectively ameliorate metabolic
      disorders in YEH Patients with abundant phlegm-heat syndrome. 1H NMR-based
      metabolomic technology can provide an objective basis for the treatment of YEH
      patients with abundant phlegm-heat syndrome using QRHT.

PMID- 25842726
TI  - Effect of stimulating acupoint Guanyuan (CV 4) on lower back pain by burning moxa
      heat for different time lengths: a randomized controlled clinical trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of different heat-stimulating time lengths
      on lower back pain. METHODS: Forty participants were randomly assigned to four
      groups of various heating time lengths. The short heating time length group (SL),
      moderate heating time length group (ML), and long heating time length group (LL)
      respectively received 15, 30, and 60 min of moxibustion therapy stimulating the
      acupoint Guanyuan (CV 4). The conventional acupuncture group (CA) received needle
      acupuncture treatment as a control group. The participants were treated
      continuously over a 2-week treatment period for a total of 10 sessions, with five
      sessions given per week. Participants were assessed weekly by blinded
      assessors,using the visual analogue scale (VAS) and Roland Morris Questionnaire
      (RMQ). RESULTS: The VAS and RMQ scores reduced in all four groups during
      treatment. There were significant differences in VAS scores (P < 0.01) and RMQ
      scores (P < 0.01) between before treatment and after 2 weeks of treatment in the
      LL group. After treatment, the LL group reported significantly lower VAS scores
      compared with the CA group, ML group, and SL group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The
      long and moderate lengths of heat-stimulating time of 30 and 60 min may be more
      effective for relieving lower back pain than that of short stimulating time
      lengths.

PMID- 25842727
TI  - Integrated treatment for lower-limb stage II thromboangiitis obliterans by
      interventional therapy and oral administration of Chinese medicine: a randomized
      controlled clinical trial.
AB  - METHODS: Ninety lower-limb stage II or worse TAO patients were randomly divided
      into three groups: group A (30 cases) treated by intervention and oral
      administration of Chinese medicine; group B (30 cases) treated by intervention
      alone; and group C (30 cases) treated only with oral administration of Chinese
      medicine. Therapeutic effects were observed, including the cure rate; the
      recurrence rate after one month, three months, six months, nine months, and one
      year; the ankle brachial indexes; the incidence of complications; and the level
      of C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. RESULTS: Group A had
      significantly better clinically curative effects, related indexes, and outcomes
      during the long-term follow-up survey, than that of groups B and C. CONCLUSION:
      Integrated treatment is more effective for treating lower-limb stage II or worse
      TAO. OBJECTIVE: To observe if integrated treatment is better than other therapies
      for lower-limb stage II thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO).

PMID- 25842728
TI  - Pattern characteristics in patients with primary liver cancer in different
      clinical stages.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the characteristics of primary liver cancer in terms of
      Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) by analyzing the variations of the patterns
      along with the clinical stages. METHODS: The patients who were hospitalized in
      the Changhai Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine dated from March 1999 to
      December 2008 were included in this retrospective study. The patients were
      grouped according to their cancer stages, and their patterns were judged and
      quantified according to the "Standard diagnosis and quantitative criteria of the
      common patterns in primary liver cancer" formulated by the Changhai Hospital of
      Traditional Chinese Medicine. Statistics methods included ANOVA and nonparametric
      test, among others. RESULTS: The data of the 398 newly diagnosed pa- tients
      showed that Qi Stagnation, Blood Stasis, and Dampness patterns were more frequent
      than the other basic patterns with relatively high scores; patterns of Liver Qi
      Stagnation, Liver Blood Stasis, and Dampness Heat were more than the other
      complex patterns and scored relatively high. Scores of Dampness and Liver Qi
      Stagnation patterns varied among the groups at different stages and the
      differences were statistically significant (P(Dnampness) = 0.002, P(Liver Qi
      Stagnation) = 0.020). The highest scores of Dampness pattern and Liver Qi
      Stagnation pattern corresponded with Stage IIIb, and Stage IIIa, respectively.
      Dampness pattern frequency was higher (P = 0.001) in the Stage IIIb group than in
      other groups. CONCLUSION: Pattern characteristics in patients with primary liver
      cancer of different clinical stages might manifest in the variations of the
      Dampness pattern along the process of the disease and the major pathogenic factor
      of primary liver cancer might be Dampness.

PMID- 25842729
TI  - Effect of Liuweibuqi capsule, a Chinese patent medicine, on the JAK1/STAT3
      pathway and MMP9/TIMP1 in a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease rat model.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To observe effect of Liuweibuqi Capsule, a Traditional Chinese
      Medicine (TCM), on the janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of
      transcription (STAT) pathway and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in a chronic
      obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rat model with lung deficiency in terms of
      TCM's pattern differentiation. METHODS: Rats were randomly divided into a normal
      group, model group, Liuweibuqi group, Jinshuibao group, and spleen aminopeptidase
      group (n=10). Aside from the normal group, all rats were exposed to smoke plus
      lipopolysaccharide tracheal instillation to establish the COPD model with lung
      deficiency. Models were established after 28 days and then the normal and model
      groups were given normal saline (0.09 g/kg), Liuweibuqi group was given
      Liuweibuqi capsule (0.35 g/kg), Jinshuibao group was given Jinshuibao capsules
      (0.495 g/kg), and the spleen group was given spleen aminopeptidase (0.33 mg/kg),
      once a day for 30 days. Changes in symptoms, signs, and lung histology were
      observed. Lung function was measured with a spirometer. Serum cytokines were
      detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and changes in the JAK/STAT
      pathway, MMP-9, and MMPs inhibitor 1 (TIMP1) were detected by
      immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR, and western blotting, respectively. RESULTS:
      Compared with the normal group, lung tissue was damaged, and lung function was
      reduced in the model control group. Additionally, the levels of interleukin (IL)
      1beta, gamma interferon (IFN-gamma), and IL-6 were higher, while IL-4 and IL-10
      were lower in the model control group than those in the normal group. The
      expressions of JAK1, STAT3, p-STAT3, and MMP-9 mRNA and protein in lung tissue
      were higher, and TIMP1 mRNA and protein was lower in the model group compared
      with the normal group. After treatment, compared with the model group, the
      expression of inflammatory cytokines was lower in each treatment group, and
      expressions of JAK/STAT pathway, MMPs were lower. Compared with the positive
      control groups, the Jinshuibao and spleen aminopeptidase groups, lung function
      was better, and JAK1, STAT3, and p-STAT3 protein were lower and TIMP1 was higher
      in the Liuweibuqi group. CONCLUSION: Liuweibuqi capsules can improve the symptoms
      of COPD possibly by regulating the expression of the JAK1/STAT3 pathway and
      MMP9/TIMP1.

PMID- 25842730
TI  - Effect of allogeneic umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in a
      rat model of hepatic cirrhosis.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell
      (UCMSC) transplantation, alone or in combination with tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) on
      hepatic cirrhosis in rats. METHODS: A rat model of cirrhosis was established.
      Rats were divided into control, UCMSC, and UCSMC plus Tan IIA groups. Rats in the
      UCMSC group were injected via the tail vein with 0.2 mL Dil-labeled UCMSC
      suspension. Intraperitoneal Tan IIA injections (20 mg/kg) were started on the day
      of UCMSC transplantation in the UCMSC plus Tan IIA group, and continued for 7
      consecutive days thereafter. Rats were sacrificed 1 day, 3 days, 1 month, and 3
      months after transplantation and the numbers of Dil-labeled UCMSCs colonizing the
      liver were determined. Albumin (ALB) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels
      were measured in venous blood, and mRNA and protein expression levels of human
      ALB and cytokeratin (CK)-18 in liver tissues were determined by reverse
      transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, respectively.
      RESULTS: Serum ALT levels were significantly lower and serum ALB levels
      significantly higher in rats in the UCMSC group compared with the control group
      (P < 0.05). Hepatic CK-18 and ALB mRNA and protein expression levels increased
      after transplantation, and were significantly higher in the UCMSC plus Tan IIA
      group compared with the UCMSC group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Human UCMSCs
      transplanted into rats with liver cirrhosis can grow and differentiate into
      hepatocyte-like cells resulting in improved liver function in vivo. Tan IIA
      further influenced transplantation outcomes.

PMID- 25842731
TI  - Qingnaoyizhi decoction suppresses the formation of glial fibrillary acidic
      protein-positive cells in cultured neural stem cells by inhibiting the Janus
      kinase 2/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 signaling pathway.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Inactivation of the Janus kinase 2 in treated NSCs. Furthermore, QNYZD
      may play a direct role in suppressing the formation of GFAP-positive cells and
      enhancing neuronal differentiation by inhibiting JAK2/STAT3 activation. Overall,
      these results provide insights into the possible mechanism underlying QNYZD
      mediated neurogenesis. (JAK2)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3
      (STAT3) signaling axis plays a crucial role in determining the fate of neural
      stem cells (NSCs). Qingnaoyizhi decoction (QNYZD) has been used for the treatment
      of vascular dementia and has shown to improve synaptic remodeling. The aim of
      this study was to evaluate the effect of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) containing
      QNYZD (CSF-QNYZD) on the differentiation of cultured NSCs and the involvement of
      the JAK2/STAT3 pathway. METHODS: The protein expression levels of glial
      fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), tubulin, drosophila mothers against
      decapentaplegic protein (SMAD-1), STAT3, and phosphorylated-STAT3 were detected
      by western immunoblot analysis in the groups: control, CSF, JAK/STAT inhibitor
      (AG490), CSF-QNYZD, and CSF-XDZ (CSF-Xidezhen). The differentiation of NSCs was
      determined by immunofluorescence staining. The proliferation of NSCs was measured
      using the Cell Counting Kit-8 proliferation assay. RESULTS: Compared with the
      control group, CSF-QNYZD and AG490 significantly increased the number and
      expression of tubulin-positive cells, reduced the number and expression of GFAP
      positive cells, and down-regulated the expression of p-STAT3. However, CSF-QNYZD
      also decreased the expression of SMAD-1 and STAT3. CONCLUSION: Enhanced neuronal
      differentiation may be associated with the down-regulation of glial
      differentiation instead of promoting proliferation in treated NSCs. Furthermore,
      QNYZD may play a direct role in suppressing the formation of GFAP-positive cells
      and enhancing neuronal differentiation by inhibiting JAK2/STAT3 activation.
      Overall, these results provide insights into the possible mechanism underlying
      QNYZD-mediated neurogenesis.

PMID- 25842732
TI  - Anti-tumor effect of the extract from qingyihuaji formula on pancreatic cancer by
      down-regulating Notch-4 and Jagged-1.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate, in terms of Notch signaling pathway, the effect on
      pancreatic cancer of the extract of an anti-tumor prescription--Qingyi-huaji
      formula (QYHJ)--from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). METHODS: Nude mice were
      implanted subcutaneously with human pancreatic cancer cell line SW1990 and then
      randomly divided into four groups: Control, QYHJ extract, Gemcitabine, and
      Combination of QYHJ extract and gemcitabine. Treatments were given for 21 days
      and tumor growth was evaluated simultaneously. Then, expression of Notch
      receptors (Notch-1, Notch-2, Notch-3, and Notch-4) and their Jagged ligands
      (Jagged-1 and Jagged-2) in dissected tumor tissue were detected by real-time
      quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot.
      Finally, immunohistochemistry was performed to detect CD133, a marker of
      pancreatic cancer stem cells (CSCs), to evaluate the impact of QYHJ extract on
      pancreatic CSCs. RESULTS: QYHJ extract treatment effectively inhibited the tumor
      growth in nude mice. The expression of both Notch-4 and Jagged-1 were decreased
      significantly in QYHJ treatment groups (P < 0.05), while gemcitabine alone had no
      significant effect in down-regulating Jagged-1 (P > 0.05). No significant
      difference was observed in the ex- pression of Notch-1, Notch-2, Notch-3, and
      Jagged-2 between three treatment groups and control group (P > 0.05). Moreover,
      immunohistochemical analysis showed that the number of CD133 positive cells was
      significantly reduced by QYHJ treatment (P < 0.05), and the combined treatment
      was more effective than gemcitabine alone (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The role of the
      extract in pancreatic cancer treatment was associated with down-regulation of
      Notch-4 and Jagged-1 in Notch signaling pathway. The extract could enhance the
      antitumor activity of gemcitabine and was more effective than gemcitabine in
      regulating Notch signaling pathway to some extent.

PMID- 25842733
TI  - Daily administration times of canhuang tablet based on a
      pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic model in jaundiced rats.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the daily administration times of Canhuang tablet (CHT) for
      treating jaundice in rats based on a pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic model.
      METHODS: Rats were modeled by 4% 1-Naphthylisothiocyanate (75 mg/kg, p.o.). After
      48 h, CHT was given (p.o.) at 0.75 g/kg once a day, 0.375 g/kg twice a day, and
      0.25 g/kg three times a day. Blood was collected from the orbital sinus at
      different intervals. Levels of liver enzymes and bilirubin were detected using
      these blood samples. Bile was collected and determined after the first
      administration of CHT. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to
      determine the concentration of berberine in bile simultaneously. Time-effect and
      time-dose curves were then obtained. RESULTS: Compared with rats taking CHT twice
      and three times a day, the total amount of bile within 10 h of rats taking CHT
      once a day were 1.32- and 1.47-fold higher, respectively. There was good
      consistency between the pharmacokinetics of berberine and the pharmacodynamics of
      the effect on liver enzymes and bilirubin in vivo. The pharmacokinetic analyses
      showed that rats administered CHT once daily maintained a higher concentration of
      berberine in bile for a longer period than rats administered CHT two- and three
      times daily. CONCLUSION: In jaundiced rats, taking CHT once a day is better than
      taking CHT twice or three times a day. These data may provide a reference for the
      clinical application of CHT.

PMID- 25842734
TI  - A combined dynamic inhalation device designed for moxa-smoking toxicity testing.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To design a combined dynamic inhalation device for testing the
      toxicity induced by moxa smoking. METHODS: The new apparatus (Patent No.
      201120101911.5) includes air renewal and recycling systems, a gas generating
      device, a gas control unit, and a device to measure and control temperature and
      humidity. Sprague-Dawley rats were tested for acute and sub-chronic toxicity
      after exposure to moxa-burning smoke. RESULTS: We found an LC50 of 1.2 x 10(4)
      mg/m3 in the acute toxicity assays. In sub-chronic toxicity tests the organ
      coefficients studied showed no significant differences within rats groups of the
      same gender after treatment with moxa smoke or a month of recovery. However, mean
      gray degree of lung 70 heat shock protein (HSP70) was significantly elevated in
      the high dose group in comparison with the low dose group (P < 0.05); mean gray
      degree, mean optical density, gross area of HSP70 in other organs and caspase-9
      parameters showed no significant differences between groups. CONCLUSION: These
      results suggest that moxa smoke had no overt toxicity in rats. This work provides
      evidence and reference for the design of dynamic inhalation exposure systems.

PMID- 25842735
TI  - Postmarketing evaluation on the safety and effectiveness of deng-zhanxixin
      injection made from Dengzhanxixin (Herba Erigerontis Breviscapi).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the safety and effectiveness of Dengzhanxixin injection
      (DZI) extracted from Dengzhanxixin (Herba Erigerontis Breviscapi) and identify
      its potential risks. METHODS: A series of studies were conducted on the
      production process, quality standards, and pharmacology. Postmarketing clinical
      studies and literature reviews including adverse reactions (ADR) ,adverse events
      (ADE), case analysis and systematic reviews were also conducted. Data from the
      hospital information system and spontaneous reporting system were analyzed.
      RESULTS: The acute toxicity test indicated that the Lethal Dose 50 test ( LD 50)
      dosage was 250 times more than the clinical maximum daily dosage (6 mg/kg). In
      long-term toxicity tests, rats experienced renal tubular damage at 480 mg/kg.
      However, the dose of 120 mg/kg is safe and non-toxic, which is 40 times above the
      clinical daily maximum. Beagles had increased serum creatinine at 160 mg/kg. Ina
      prospective study, 15 962 cases experienced 16 ADR/ADE. The rate of ADR/ADE was
      0.1002%. ADR symptoms included rash (16.00%), chills (16.00%), and fever
      (16.00%). CONCLUSION: There is significant evidence that DZI is safe and
      effective in a clinical setting.

PMID- 25842736
TI  - Medicinal properties of Peganum harmala L. in traditional Iranian medicine and
      modern phytotherapy: a review.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To review the pharmacological activities of Peganum harmala L. (P.
      harmala, Nitrariaceae) in traditional Iranian medicine (TIM) and modern
      phytotherapy. METHODS: Opinions of TIM and modern phytotherapy about safety and
      acceptable dosage of this plant are discussed. Various medical properties of P.
      harmala were collected from important TIM references and added to scientific
      reports derived from modern medical databases like PubMed, Scirus, ScienceDirect
      and Scopus. RESULTS: The main medicinal part of the plant is the seed. In TIM
      resources, this plant possesses various Pharmacological activities such as
      carminative, galactagogue, diuretic, emmenagogue, antithrombotic and analgesic.
      In modern phytotherapy, P. harmala demonstrated numerous medicinal effects
      including cardiovascular, neurologic, antimicrobial, insecticidal,
      antineoplasmic, antiproliferative, gastrointestinal and antidiabetic effects.
      Adverse events such as neuro-sensorial symptoms, visual hallucination,
      bradycardia, hypotension, agitation, tremors, ataxia, abortion and vomiting cause
      people to use this plant cautiously. P. harmala is contraindicated during
      pregnancy, due to its abortive and mutagenic activities. Because of increasing
      the expression of CYP1A2, 2C19, and 3A4 and inhibition of monoamine oxidase, the
      pharmacokinetic parameters of drugs which are mainly metabolized by these enzymes
      may be affected by P. harmala. CONCLUSION: The medicinal properties declared for
      this plant in TIM are compared with those showed in modern phytotherapy. Some of
      the TIM properties were confirmed in modern phytotherapy like emetic and
      analgesic activities and some have not been evaluated in modern phytotherapy such
      as its therapeutic effects on paralysis, epilepsy and numbness. Finally, the
      current review provides the evidence for other researchers to use TIM properties
      of P. harmala as an efficacious natural drug. Further preclinical and clinical
      studies for adequate evaluating safety and therapeutic efficacy are recommended.

PMID- 25842737
TI  - A precise and accurate acupoint location obtained on the face using consistency
      matrix pointwise fusion method.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To develop a more precise and accurate method, and identified a
      procedure to measure whether an acupoint had been correctly located. METHODS: On
      the face, we used an acupoint location from different acupuncture experts and
      obtained the most precise and accurate values of acupoint location based on the
      consistency information fusion algorithm, through a virtual simulation of the
      facial orientation coordinate system. RESULTS: Because of inconsistencies in each
      acupuncture expert's original data, the system error the general weight
      calculation. First, we corrected each expert of acupoint location system error
      itself, to obtain a rational quantification for each expert of acupuncture and
      moxibustion acupoint location consistent support degree, to obtain pointwise
      variable precision fusion results, to put every expert's acupuncture acupoint
      location fusion error enhanced to pointwise variable precision. Then, we more
      effectively used the measured characteristics of different acupuncture expert's
      acupoint location, to improve the measurement information utilization efficiency
      and acupuncture acupoint location precision and accuracy. CONCLUSION: Based on
      using the consistency matrix pointwise fusion method on the acupuncture experts'
      acupoint location values, each expert's acupoint location information could be
      calculated, and the most precise and accurate values of each expert's acupoint
      location could be obtained.

PMID- 25842738
TI  - Ideas, properties, and standards of fracture repositioning with osteopathy in
      traditional Mongolian medicine in China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To explore the unique ideas, properties, and standards of fracture
      repositioning with osteopathy in traditional Mongolian medicine in China.
      METHODS: Based on the natural life concept of "integration of universe and man",
      osteopathy in traditional Mongolian medicine in China uses the modern principles
      and methods of physiology, psychology, and biomechanics. Against this background,
      we explored the unique ideas, properties, and stan- dards of fracture
      repositioning in traditional Mongolian medicine. RESULTS: Fracture treatment with
      osteopathy in traditional Mongolian medicine in China is based on (a) the ideas
      of natural, sealed, self and dynamic repositioning of fractures; (b) the
      properties of structural continuity and functional completeness; (c) the
      standards of "integration of movement and stillness" and "force to force".
      CONCLUSION: The unique ideas, properties, and standards of fracture repositioning
      with osteopathy in traditional Mongolian medicine in China have resulted in the
      widespread use of such techniques and represents the future direction of the
      development of fracture repositioning.

PMID- 25842739
TI  - Epidemiological study of visual functions--refractive errors, macular
      degeneration and glaucoma in children in the Karst area of Opatija.
AB  - Authors of earlier studies examined the epidemiological characteristics of
      certain eye diseases: age-related macular degeneration (AMD), refractive errors
      and glaucoma in the area of Primorsho-goranska County (the island of Rab, Novi
      Vinodolshi and Delnice). It was found that the occurrence of AMD is most common
      on the island of Rab, followed by Novi Vinodolski and it is least common in
      Gorshi Kotar. This fact is associated with the intensity of solar radiation in
      the UV-A and UV-B fields. The highest percentage of the occurrence of glaucoma
      was also identified on the island of Rab. In comparison to this study, it was
      found that in the karst area of Opatija (Mune, Brgud, Zejane, Bresca, Zvonece,
      Pasjak, Sapjane and Zaluki) there is a very high incidence of glaucoma (27%
      suspected and 7% diagnosed glaucoma) within the indigenous population. Glaucoma
      does not appear among children whose parents migrated to the karst area of
      Opatija. Refractive errors are far less common among children of indigenous
      population than among the children whose parents migrated to this area. The
      occurrence ofAMD was not found in any child that was born and lives in this area,
      regardless of whether their parents are indigenous or not. This statement is very
      important because it confirms author's earlier statement which claims that at low
      exposure to solar UV-A and UV-B there is no occurrence of AMD.

PMID- 25842740
TI  - Discrepancy of whiteness and UV protection in wet state.
AB  - The incidence of skin cancer is increasing by epidemic proportions. Basal cell
      cancer remains the most common skin neoplasm, and simple excision is generally
      curative. On the other hand, aggressive local growth and metastasis are common
      features of malignant melanoma, which accounts for 75 percent of all deaths
      associated with skin cancer. In Croatia only, more than 20,000 new cases of skin
      cancer has been diagnosed in 2008 of which melanoma 286 new cases and 118 yearly
      deaths in men, and 275 new cases and 79 deaths in women population. The back
      sides in men and women, as well as the lower limbs in women, are the most common
      site for melanomas. The primary cause of skin cancer is believed to be a long
      exposure to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation crossed with the amount of skin
      pigmentation in the population. There are indications that other parts of solar
      spectrum (e.g., blue light) might also have effects on skin and eyes. Most people
      think all clothing will protect them, but that's not the case. UV clothing can
      show UVprotection, but in the most cases it does not provide full sun screening
      properties. UV protection ability highly depends on large number of factors such
      are type of fiber, fabric surface and construction, type and concentration of
      dyestuff, fluorescent whitening agent (FWA), UV-B protective agents, as well as
      nanoparticles, if applied. For that reason, jeans and tightly woven fabrics offer
      a very good level of protection. However, on a hot summer day, those aren't the
      kinds of clothing people usually reach for. More often, when they are on the
      beach, they wear T-shirt, as well during the swimming in the sea, thinking that
      it will protect them. Therefore, in this paper the discrepancy of UVprotection in
      wet state was researched. For the purpose, FWA and UVabsorber were applied in
      wide concentration range to white cotton knit fabrics commonly used for T-shirts.
      Afterwards, the discrepancy in whiteness and UVprotection was research in
      distilled water as well as Adriatic Sea water.

PMID- 25842741
TI  - The importance of anatomical topography in nasolacrimal duct stenosis.
AB  - In our previous study the inclination of nasolacrimal canal in relation to
      Frankfurt horizontal plane has been analysed on 71 anatomically preparated human
      skulls by introducing the probe through canal. The results of that study showed
      that the alpha angle in the frontalplane was greater than 91 degrees in 27% of
      cases, i.e., nasolacrimal canals descend diverging in relation to the median
      plane and both probes are intersected on glabella. In 55% of cases, the alpha
      angle was less than 89 degrees and probes diverge on glabella, and in 18% of
      cases the canals were parallel to the median plane. In this study nasolacrimal
      ducts in patients were visualised with Omnipaque contrast that was injected with
      probe through the superior lacrimal punctum. Thereafter radiography was
      performed. These in vivo results confirm our previous results obtained on the
      skulls. Minimal individual variations of values of the angle were observed. These
      findings are very important inprobing of stenosis of nasolacrimal duct in
      infants, as the operator would not have to forcefully probe with rigid instrument
      through gentle infant nasolacrimal duct. Difficult and serious consequences for
      infants arise when directing the probe "via falsa" and that often happened in
      practice. The authors therefore suggest when using this old method ofprobing,
      that this "surgical" act should be performed with "soft" probe made of nylon or
      silver that is very pliable and does not lead to nasal or temporal rupture of the
      canal.

PMID- 25842742
TI  - Changes in the eyelids and conjunctiva caused by ultraviolet radiation.
AB  - The aim of this study was to show the frequency, sex and age distribution of
      eyelids skin tumor changes and degen erative changes of the conjunctiva for the
      period of three years (2011-2013) at the Department of Ophthalmology in Split. We
      analyzed the eyelids skin lesions in biopsy material at the Department of
      Pathology and the same were compared with the profession of the patients. In this
      period there were found 131 tumor changes of the eyelids. The most common tumor
      was the basal cell carcinoma (118) with the higher frequency in women. There were
      10 squamous cell carcinomas with the equal representation among sexes and three
      melanomas. There were 79 female and 52 male patients. There were 299 pterygiums
      operated with the higher frequency in women (68.2%). Exposure to UV radiation,
      particulary UVB radiatiori is the most common causative factor for genetic
      abnormalities in cells and provoked factor in oncogenesis of skin tumors. In our
      research we found a correlation between changes in the eyelids and conjunctiva
      caused by UV radiation with the professional interest of the respondents. Due to
      high incidence of eyelids skin tumor changes in the population professionally
      exposed to UV radiation, medical professionals should be aware of the importance
      of the public education on the etiology of these tumors and the importance of the
      UVprotection.

PMID- 25842743
TI  - Contact lenses as the best conservative treatment of newly diagnosed keratoconus-
      epidemiological retrospective study.
AB  - Keratoconus is a progressive, non-inflammatory corneal ectasia characterized by
      thinning and weakening of the corneal stroma which results in its' protrusion.
      The onset is during puberty and progresses until the fourth decade of life. In
      earlier stages, good visual acuity can be provided with spectacles. With
      progression, contact lenses are considered to be a better therapy. Aim of this
      study was to determine if there is statistically significant difference between
      best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) obtained by spectacles and contact lenses in
      newly diagnosed keratoconus patients, as well as to determine which type of
      contact lenses provide better BCVA in keratoconus patients. We conducted a 5-year
      retrospective study of all 2891 patients attending our Contact Lens Department
      for the first time, searching for patients newly diagnosed with keratoconus. Data
      were obtained on gender, age, education level, treated eyes, corneal changes,
      keratoconus severity, BCVA with spectacles, contact lenses and best fitted
      contact lens type. All patients underwent standard ophthalmic exam, refractometry
      and keratometry have been done, followed by a spectacles correction and lens
      fitting. Wilcoxon signed rank test was used for statistical analysis. Results
      showed that of all 2891 patients examined for the first time, 137 patients
      (4.74%) have been newly diagnosed with heratoconus, there was male bias (72.26%),
      mean age 27.7 +/- 9.9 years. Most patients had high school education (51.11%),
      3.70% had present corneal changes, 50.37% had mild heratoconus. Majority had
      keratoconus on both eyes (36.3%) or keratoconus of right eye (26.67%). There was
      a statistically significant difference (p<0.001) between the BCVA obtained with
      contact lenses (0.82 +/- 0.21 Snellen chart) rather than spectacles (0.37 +/-
      0.27 Snellen chart). The best corrected visual acuity was achieved with rigid gas
      permeable (RGP) lenses in majority of kera- toconus eyes (51.85%), with semi-gas
      permeable (SGP) lenses in 43.39%, in 4.23% with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)
      lenses and with hard-soft gas permeable (GP) contact lenses in 0.53% of
      keratoconus eyes. We have showed that there is a statistically significant
      difference in BCVA achieved better with contact lenses than with spectacles. RGP
      lenses are most frequently used in conservative treatment of heratoconus, but SGP
      lenses were also shown to be a good option that gives equally satisfying final
      visual acuity with subjective comfortable feeling of contact lens wear.

PMID- 25842744
TI  - Prostate volume and urinary discomforts in elderly.
AB  - Occasional doubts about the real effect of the prostate volume on the urinary
      discomforts that elderly have been experiencing required additional assessment of
      these parameters. The aim of this study was to re-evaluate relationship between
      the urinary discomforts of the elderly and the prostate volume in comparison with
      age. Results of the group of 79 patients observed within one-year period were
      analyzed. In assessing their urinary discomforts the International Prostate
      Symptom Score (IPSS) was calculated, the ultrasound prostate volumetry was
      performed, and both of these parameters where compared with age. Statistical
      analysis of the results confirmed significant positive correlation between the
      prostate volume and age, positive correlation between IPSS and age, as well as
      between prostate volume and IPSS.

PMID- 25842745
TI  - Diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound T-staging of the urinary bladder cancer in
      comparison with histology in elderly patients.
AB  - Urinary bladder cancer (UBC) is dominantly the cancer of the elderly occurring
      primarily in the 6h, 7!h and 81h decade of life. The aim of this study was to
      evaluate diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound T-staging (UTS) of UBC in dhe group of
      elderly patients. In 152 elderly patients referred to transabdominal ultrasound
      examination in two different facilities (76 each) due to various symptoms
      (primarily painless gross or microscopic haematuria) UBC was diagnosed. Initial
      UTS at the moment of detection was performed and compared with final histological
      T-staging (HTS). A high level of conformity between UTS and HTS was detected. In
      a total of 152 patients with UBC there were 115 (75.66%) patients with complete
      match between the UTS and HTS, 24 (15.79%) patients with minimal variation within
      one stage, and 13 (8.55%) patients with one stage difference between the UTS and
      HTS. The best result was established for the stage T1, where the accuracy was
      94.5%. In other stages the accuracy was between 84.9% and 91.8%. The Youden's
      index for all the stages was over 0.6. UTS has a high diagnostic accuracy,
      especially for stages T1 and T2. It is extremely useful tool in differentiating
      the superficial UBC from the muscle-invasive one, being of significant importance
      in planning the further treatment of elderly patients and having important role
      in choosing appropriate surgical approach.

PMID- 25842746
TI  - Transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM)--alternative or a method of choice in
      treating tumors of the rectum with appropriately selected patients?
AB  - TEM is an endoscopic method of operating tumors up to 18 cm of the anal verge. It
      enables procedures from a simple mucosectomy to en-block excisions of the whole
      thickness of the rectal wall. We present a study in which we evaluated surgical
      morbidity, mortality and recurrence rate of rectal tumors in patients treated
      with TEM from July 2007, up to the end of March 2014. In our Department 129
      patients were treated by TEM and 123 of them (74 men and 49 women) had rectal
      tumors: 55 adenomas, 36 cancers in situ (Tis), 15 T1, 9 T2, 4 T3 (3 palliative,
      and 1 underwent salvage operation) and 4 T4 (all palliative) rectal cancers.
      6/123 patients were treated with TEM after the finding of metachronic recurrences
      that emerged after previously performing major surgery. In 3/123 cases (2.44%)
      the resection margins were positive. The overall local recurrence rate was
      19(15.45%)--adenoma 6/55(10.91%), Tis 4/36 (11.11%), T1 0/15 (0%), T2 4/9
      (44.44%), T3 1/4 (25%), T4 4/4 (100%), respectively. In 2 patients the illness
      was subsequently disseminated, and in 7 patients it was widespread at the time of
      surgery. Nine (7.31%) patients died during follow-up due to disease
      dissemination. Minor com plications occurred in 24 patients (19.51%) whereas we
      had no major complications and no early postoperative mortality. The average
      postoperative hospital stay is 2.3 days. TEM is a safe and appropriate surgical
      treatment option for benign rectal tumors and for early-stage rectal carcinomas.
      TEM is also good as a palliative method, and it's useful for elderly and unfit
      patients.

PMID- 25842747
TI  - Can non-adhesive short stretch bandages change a life?
AB  - Venous stasis ulcers are common in patients who have a history of leg swelling,
      varicose veins, or a history of blood clots in either the superficial or the deep
      veins of their legs. The treatment is long and hard but the main aim of it is to
      create such an environment that allows skin to grow over an ulcer. Chronic wounds
      are a growing social, economical and health issue throughout the world. The
      purpose of this retrospective study was to establish detailed characterization of
      how effective a compression is in reducing the time of wound healing. A total of
      176 patients with leg ulcers were included in our three years study. The
      measurements were taken based on the anamnesis, presenting clinical symptoms,
      digital photography at each dressing foam change, and, finally, wounds. During a
      3 years period (2011-2013) a total of 176 patients (61 male and 115 female,
      34.66% and 65.34% respectively) with different types of leg ulcers were treated
      at our Hospital. The average age is 68.94 years (male 68 years, female 70 years).
      We measured how long the patient had the wound before starting the treatment, and
      also how long the treatment lasted. This led us to the conclusion that
      compression therapy shortened the time of treatment by two thirds, compared to
      the usual therapy. Compression systems improve the healing of venous leg ulcers
      and should be used routinely regarding venous ulcers.

PMID- 25842748
TI  - Malignant neoplasms of breast and female genital organs (C50, C51-C58) in the
      Osijek-Baranja County, Croatia.
AB  - Breast cancer (C50) and neoplasms of female genital organs (C51-C58) represent
      one of the most frequent cancer groups among females in economically developed
      countries. The Institute of Public Health of the Osijek-Baranja County in
      collaboration with different county institutes provide updated information on the
      cancer occurrence and trends in the Osijek-Baranja County (OBC). The aim of this
      article is to provide information on the tendencies relating to these cancer
      groups in the OBC during the period from 2001 to 2009, which will be the first
      report on these cancer sites on a county level in Croatia. This article processes
      data on cancer incidence and mortality, appertaining age distribution, median
      age, cancer survival and length of stay in the county hospitals collected in
      period 1996-2010. In the OBC, the overall incidence rates of breast, cervix
      uteri, corpus uteri and ovary cancer were, using the EU standard population,
      82.9, 13.0, 19.0 and 14.5/100,000, respectively, and are all characterized by a
      declining tendency in the second period except breast can- cer. The overall
      breast incidence rate resembles the Croatian average and way exceeds the
      corresponding Central and Eastern Europe incidence rates, but is still bellow the
      Northern Europe ones. Also, the overall mortality rates of breast, cervix uteri,
      corpus uteri and ovary cancer were 29.6, 5.0, 8.1 and 9.6/100,000, respectively,
      and are all featured by a increasing tendency. The cancer 5-year relative
      survival rate from breast, cervix uteri, corpus uteri and ovary cancer in period
      2001-2005 amounted to 64.2%, 66.1%, 57.4% and 43.0%, respectively. The overall
      median ages at diagnosis of breast, cervix uteri, corpus uteri and ovary cancer
      totalled 61.9, 56.4, 66.4 and 60.8 years, respectively, while the median ages at
      death from these cancers were 68.7, 65.7, 70.3 and 67.6 years, respectively.
      During the entire 9-year period, the average length of stay in hospital due to
      breast, cervix uteri, corpus uteri and ovary cancer were 12.1, 14.8, 18.5 and
      11.3 days, respectively. The length of stay in hospital decreased for all but for
      ovary cancer. Implementation and consolidation of women's awareness of these
      cancers and relating early diagnostic activities within the OBC population seem
      to be the most effective ways to reduce the appertaining risks and thus to
      encourage changes in the lifestyle.

PMID- 25842749
TI  - The effect of trombophilia on pregnancy outcome and IVF success.
AB  - Thrombophilia is a group of inherited and acquired coagulation disorders often
      associated with an increased risk of thrombosis. Over the last decade, inherited
      thrombophilia is often referred as a possible cause of recurrent miscarriages and
      in vitro fertilisation (IVF) failure. However, many studies in this area still
      give conflicting results, so the goal of our study was to determine the effect of
      thrombophilia on pregnancy outcome and success of IVF. The study included 38
      patients with proven gene mutation for thrombophilia and 53patients without
      mutations. The studied parameters were age, duration of infertility, dose of
      gonadotropins, duration of stimulation, number of embryo transfer (ET), number of
      oocytes retrieved, the number of days to ET and the outcome in terms of delivery
      (full term or premature), ectopic pregnancy or abortion. There was no significant
      difference between two groups in the number of procedures performed, the number
      of twin pregnancies, abortions, twin miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, births
      and the etiology of infertility. A statistically significant difference was found
      in the number of pregnancies (p=0.018) and in duration of infertility which was
      signifi- cantly longer in the group with thrombophilia (p<0.001). The number of
      abortions in homozygous PAI-1 was significantly more common (p=0.012). Procedures
      in natural cycle were significantly more frequent in group with thrombophila
      (p=0.011), so we recommend in patients with proven mutation first to start with
      procedures in the natural cycle, and only in case of failure to use the
      possibility of stimulating cycles. In conclusion, in patients on anticoagulant
      therapy a higher percentage of IVF failure has not been proven. Therefore, we
      strongly recommend the prophylactic use of low molecular weight heparin during
      pregnancy and screening for the most common mutations in our population,
      particularly in patients with a history of IVF failure and those with a long
      duration of infertility.

PMID- 25842750
TI  - Height, weight and body mass index by age and sex in children aged 4 to 6 years
      in Merida, Mexico, as compared to international references after normalization
      with LMS.
AB  - A cross-sectional study was done in 2006-2007 of 458 children (218 boys and 240
      girls) aged 4 to 6 years (range 4.00 to 6.99 years) in Merida, Mexico. Height
      (cm) and body weight (kg) were measured to estimate growth; body mass index (BMI,
      kg/m2) was calculated to evaluate nutritional status. Results showed significant
      sex difference with respect to height, weight, and BMI. Increment of height and
      weight with age was observed. However, age difference in BMI was not consis-
      tent. Nutritional status was evaluated using International Obesity Task Force
      (IOTF) classification and BMI cut-off values showed notable rates of overweight
      (boys 14.41% and girls 17.75%) and obesity (boys 12.43% and girls 7.21%).
      Anthropometric data of height, weight, and BMI were normalized using LMS
      methodology and were compared with World Health Organization (WHO) growth
      reference data. Again, increment of height and weight with age was observed
      although those were lower in the present study for boys and girls than the
      corresponding WHO growth reference data. In contrast, mean BMI by age in the
      present results exceeded WHO reference data, especially above the 85th
      percentile. Assessment of nutritional status with reference to IOTF and WHO
      revealed similar trends.

PMID- 25842751
TI  - Treatment of congenital leg length discrepancies in children using an Ilizarov
      external fixator: a comparative study.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of intramedullary (IM)
      alignment used in combination with an Ilizarov external fixation on the healing
      index (HI) and lengthening index (LI) in the treatment of congenital leg length
      discrepancies (LLD). This study included 35patients aged from 3.5 to 19 (average
      age 10.73) who underwent thl egalisation procedure using an Ilizarov external
      fixator. We compared the duration of the external fixator application, LLD, HI
      and LI between two groups of children: children in Group I underwent limb
      lengthening by the conventional llizarov technique using an Ilizarov external
      fixator alone, and children in Group II underwent a combination of Ilizarov
      technique and intramedullary alignment with two Kirschner wires, introduced
      through two mini-incisions. We found significant differences between the two
      groups of patients for duration of external fixator application and HI. Patients
      with congeni- tal LLD treated with combined method of treatment had benefit from
      intramedullary alignment due to its better outcome.

PMID- 25842752
TI  - Virus etiology of schizophrenia: the characteristics of the "*Little Ice Age" and
      its consequences.
AB  - The data of the "Little Ice Age" (1500-1850) in Croatia and those which applied
      to human health were especially emphasized were analyzed. They are some which
      stand out like: importance of the sort of soil and relief, the influence of
      cutting down of woods and cattle-breeding and especially the war which lasted for
      250 years in the territory of Croatia. The important interactions between those
      parameters were defined. The important correlations were also defined between
      freezing and long winters as well as wet springs and summers which caused
      starvation, malnutrition and the increase of infant mortality and also epidemics
      with enormous psychological stress among people in that period. The result was
      witch-hunting and burning (which was also advocated in the other parts of Europe)
      and they sometimes reached the levels of madness. Considering that such events
      were unknown in the earlier periods (in such proportions) and that (even today)
      the influence of the slow virus is emphasized in connection to the etiology of
      schizophrenia so why should't it be supposed that the "Litlle Ace Age" could be
      the cause of the larger prevalence of schizophrenia in the teritory of Croatia.

PMID- 25842753
TI  - Perception of stress, depression, hypertension and myocardial infarction as
      predictors of adherence to hypertension drug treatment.
AB  - This survey was performed to determine the relationship between the adherence to
      hypertension drug treatment and the perception of stress, depression,
      hypertension, and myocardial infarction. 300 patients with uncomplicated hyperten
      sion from Rijeka, Croatia, were included (131 women, 169 men, mean age 53.5
      years). Adherence to hypertension drug treatment as criterion, and the perception
      of stress, depression hypertension and myocardial infarction as prediclors were
      determined by self-assessment. Collected data were analysed using factor
      analysis, regression analysis, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, chi2-test and t-test. The
      statistical significance was set at a probability rate of less than 5% (p <
      0.05). 45.09% of women (p=0.479), and 64.08% of men (p = 0.032) were motivated to
      take antihypertensives. 55.79% of women (p = 0.382) and 64.78% of men (p = 0.028)
      had sufficient knowledge about drug treatment of hypertension. The positive
      predictors of motivation for taking antihypertensives were physiological
      disturbances and perceived potency of hypertension and the negative were
      perceived helplessness in stress control and negative thoughts and emotions. The
      positive predictors of knowledge about taking antihypertensives were perceived
      helplessness in stress control, perceived potency of hypertension and myocardial
      infarction and the negative predictors were perceived self-efficacy in stress
      control, physiological disturbances and evaluation of hypertension. Both the
      motivation as well as the knowledge about taking antihypertensives should be
      improved, especially in women. The perception of stress, depression, hypertension
      and myocardial infarction can be used to predict adherence to hypertension drug
      treatment.

PMID- 25842754
TI  - Progression of conjunctival primary acquired melanosis (PAM) to widely spreaded
      malignant melanoma.
AB  - Primary acquired melanosis (PAM) is an acquired pigmentation of the conjunctival
      epithelium, a preinvasive pigmented lesion. When it is associated with cellular
      atypia it can lead to the developement of melanoma. We report a case report of
      malignant melanoma of the conjuntiva, which arrised from the conjuntival PAM. The
      disease was too extensive for ocular conservation, therefore exenteration was
      performed. This case highlights the need for regular follow-up of patients with
      melanocytic lesions of the ocular adnexa, and particular attention to the
      surgical technique, and careful follow-up to detect further disease activity.

PMID- 25842755
TI  - Vitiligo in Croatia: a case report.
AB  - Vitiligo is an acquired, chronic, multifactorial disorder which involves complex
      interactions between genetic risk factors and environmental triggers. It is
      characterized by scattered circumscribed depigmented macules and patches anywhere
      on the skin that result from loss of functional melanocytes. According to our
      statistical data, 1.6% of the general population in Croatia suffers from
      vitiligo, but varies based on region. It affects all age groups equally, with
      female patients being more affected (53.95%) than male patients, and no
      difference in severity of vitiligo. We present a case of a sudden onset of
      vitiligo vulgaris from a female patient in her twenties, treated at the
      Department of Dermatology and Venereology. Her 12-year-old brother simultaneously
      developed acrofacial vitiligo, six months after their mother died in a car
      accident. She has been previously diagnosed with type I diabetes and autoimmune
      endocrinopathies. The depigmented patches covered approximately 60% of her body,
      with Koebner response on trauma. Although no characteristic UV fluorescence was
      detected on the affected area, histopathological and immunohistochemical analyses
      revealed a complete loss of melanocytes, while Langerhans and dermal dendritic
      cells replaced the DOPA-positive melanocytes. TSH levels were elevated, and the
      ultrasound showed thyroid enlargement, which substantiated for a hypothyroidism
      therapy. Treatment by systemic corticosteroids for a 6 month period was
      successful in stabilizing the disease.

PMID- 25842756
TI  - Risk factors for subdural bleeding in elderly population.
AB  - In the elderly, a larger proportion of the intracranial bleeds is related to non
      traumatic causes or is caused by slight trauma--such that in a younger patient
      would not be expected to cause a bleed. In clinical practice, there is a
      prevailing impression that these bleeds, especially subdural hematomas of chronic
      and sub-chronic duration with or without acutization (evidence of "fresh"
      bleeding) are in many cases related directly to the use of anticoagulant therapy.
      A retrospective survey of medical documentation was performed for patients
      treated at the Neurosurgery Clinic of KBC Rijeka during the period of 2011 and
      2012. Statistical analysis showed a significantly greater incidence of
      spontaneous SDH (subdural hematoma) in patients taking oral anticoagulation
      therapy (Fisher exact test, p < 0.01). In the article 3 typical cases of such
      patients are also presented. This survey confirmed the existence of a
      relationship between oral anticoagulant therapy and SDH, in particular the
      subgroup of "spontaneous" SDH. A larger study is planned.

PMID- 25842757
TI  - The role of negative pressure wound therapy in patients with kidney
      transplantation.
AB  - Kidney transplantation is the best treatment modality for patients with end-stage
      renal disease. Wound healing is impaired in these patients, and factors such as
      immunosuppression, older age and comorbidities have a negative impact on wound
      healing. Recently, negative pressure wound therapy has become an important wound
      management technique. We present two patients with wound healing issues in the
      early posttransplant period. In both patients, an imrnunosup- pressive treatment
      was administered, which included tacrolimus, mycophenolate mophetil and high-dose
      corticosteroids with anti-IL-2 induction therapy. Postoperatively, the wounds
      became inflamed with dehiscence. Negative pressure wound therapy was successfully
      applied to aid the wound healing. The treatment duration period was two weeks for
      one patient and three weeks for the other. After the treatment period, the wounds
      were significantly improved and were closed. After the secondary wound closures,
      the posttransplant course was uneventful in both patients. Presently, one and
      three years after the transplantations, both patients have well functioning
      kidneys. According to our limited experience, negative pressure wound therapy is
      a feasible and effective dehiscence wound treatment following kidney
      transplantation.

PMID- 25842758
TI  - Incarcerated diaphragmatic hernia--differential diagnoses.
AB  - The incarceration of diaphragmatic hernia is very rare. We present a case of a
      four-year-old girl who developed the incarceration of left-sided diaphragmatic
      hernia, who, until then, was completely asymptomatic. This incarceration of the
      hernia represented a surgical emergency presenting as obstructive ileus and a
      severe respiratory distress which developed from what appeared to be full health.
      During a brief pre-operative examination a number of differential diagnoses were
      suggested. Along with the laboratory blood analysis (complete blood count and
      acid-base balance) a plain thoracic and abdominal radiography was done
      (babygram). After that, through an inserted nasal-gastric tube, barium meal of
      the upper gastrointestinal tract was done, showing abdominal organs in the left
      half of the thorax and a significant shift of the mediastinum to the right. With
      an urgent upper medial laparotomy we accessed the abdominal cavity and made the
      correct diagnosis. An opening was shown in the rear part of the left hemi
      diaphragm with thickened and edematous edges, approx. 6 cm in diameter with
      incarcerated content. The incarcerated abdominal organs (stomach, transversal
      colon, small intestine and spleen) gradually moved into the abdominal cavity. The
      opening was closed with nonresorptive sutures (TiCron) size 2-0 with aprevious
      control and ventilated expansion of the well-developed left lung. In
      postoperative course the acid-base balance quickly recovered, as well as the
      general state of the patient and radiography showed a good expansion and lucency
      of the lung parenchyma and a return of the mediastinum into the middle part of
      the thorax.

PMID- 25842759
TI  - Less is more--possible option in the treatment of depression.
AB  - Depression is an illness of modern society, which affects population of different
      age. Etiological factors differ, and frustration factors as a cause of depression
      are multiplying. Each new episode presents difficulties, both for patients and
      psychiatrists. Despite the increasing number of antidepressants we use in
      treatment, it is sometimes hard to notice an efficient antidepressant in an
      optimal-efficient dose. In resistant cases we apply combinations of
      psychopharmacs, and the choice of the same depends on the leading symptoms. We
      will present the case of a 67-year-old patient where a depressive episode (in the
      terms of a reccurent major depressive disorder) lasts for one year. During this
      period she was treated as outpatient and inpatient with several antidepresants in
      combinations with other psychopharmacotherapeutical drugs. Despite regular
      treatment, mental state was worsening. Clinical presentation was indicating
      developing of dementia (behavior, cognition outges), which we excluded through
      diagnostic process. Psychopharmacological combinations (antidepresants, mood
      stabilizators, antypschotics, anxsiolotix) were not efficant. Progression of
      simptoms leads to rehospitalisation. In further treatmen, we followed the
      principle "Less is more" which resulted with an expected and satisfactory
      outcome.

PMID- 25842760
TI  - The wild boar attack--a case report of a wild boar inflicted injury and
      treatment.
AB  - Croatia is a relatively safe country in regards to wild animal attacks and trauma
      to humans, even though there are a few reported cases of wild animal attacks on
      humans almost every year. As a biodiversity hot-spot it is inhabited by a few
      wild animal species that are known to attack humans and cause serious, sometimes
      even fatal injuriCs to humans throughout the world, such as wolves, brown bears
      and wild boars. We present a case of a recent wild boar attack on a human--a
      hunter that occurred in central Croatia in the year 2012. The injured person was
      a part of a group of hunters involved in a drive hunt on wild boars. He sustained
      a 4 cm long laceration of the left knee by a wounded male wild boar. After the
      surgical and antibiotic treatment he recovered completely and without any
      complications.

PMID- 25842761
TI  - Comparison of 23 gauge and 25 gauge PPV in the treatment of epiretinal membranes
      and macular holes.
AB  - The aim of this study was to show the long term recovery after the operative
      procedure of pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) in patients with epiretinal membranes
      (ERM) and macular holes. We wanted to show if there is a difference in operative
      approach and results of 23 and 25 gauge PPV Twenty eight patients underwent to
      operative treatment of idiopatic ERM and macular holes grade III and IV In our
      study there was not a statistical significant difference in visual acuity (VA)
      between 23 gauge and 25 gauge operated patients, both ERM and macular holes.
      Although both approaches are good, morphological restitution do not always follow
      the functional recovery.

PMID- 25842762
TI  - Compliance among soft contact lens wearers.
AB  - Contact lens compliance is proven to be crucial for preventing lens wear-related
      complications because of the interdependence of the steps in lens care regime and
      their influence on lens system microbial contamination. Awareness of the
      patients' lens handling compliance as well as correct recognition of non
      compliant behaviours is the basis for creating more targeted strategies for
      patient education. The aim of this study was to investigate compliance among soft
      contact lens (SCL) wearers in different aspects of lens care handling and wearing
      habits. In our research 50 asymptomatic lens wearers filled out a questionnaire
      containing demographic data, lens type, hygiene and wearing habits, lenses and
      lens care system replacement schedule and self-evaluation of contact lens
      handling hygiene. We established criteria of compliance according to available
      manufacturer's recommendations, prior literature and our clinical experience.
      Only 2 (4%) of patients were fully compliant SCL wearers. The most common non
      compliant behaviours were insufficient lens solution soaking time (62%), followed
      by failure to daily exchange lens case solution and showering while wearing
      lenses. 44% of patients reported storing lenses in saline solution. Mean lens
      storage case replacement was 3.6 months, with up to 78% patients replacing lens
      case at least once in 3 months. Average grade in self evaluating level of
      compliance was very good (4 +/- 0.78) (from 1-poor level of hygiene to 5-great
      level of hygiene). Lens wearers who reported excessive daily lens wear and more
      than 10 years of lens wearing experience were also found to be less compliant
      with other lens system care procedures. (t = -2.99, df=47, p < 0.0045 and t = 
      2.33, df= 48, p < 0.024, respectively). Our study indicates that almost all
      patients had some degree of non-compliance in lens system maintenance steps. Most
      common non-compliant behaviours were the ones that are crucial for maintaining
      lens sterility and preventing infection. Despite the low objective compliance
      rate, self grading was relatively high. Therefore, these results indicate the
      need for patient education and encouragement of better lens wearing habits and
      all of the lens maintenance steps at each patient visit.

PMID- 25842763
TI  - Effect of the against the rule myopic astigmatism on the near vision of the
      elderly.
AB  - In the two groups of patients with myopic astigmatism the uncorrected near vision
      was tested after catatract surgery. Each group with 20 patients ages 60-80. All
      patients enrolled in study have uncorrected far vision 0.5 or better on Snellen
      tables. In the first group patients were with the rule after surgery myopic
      astigmatism (1-1.50 Diopter), and in the second group were patients with against
      the rule after surgery myopic astigmatism (1-1.50 Diopter). Patients in the
      second group with against the rule astigmatism achieved significantly (p<0.01)
      better uncorrected near vision.

PMID- 25842764
TI  - Surgical treatment of kidney cancer in elderly.
AB  - The aim of this study was to analyze our patients over the age of 70 suffering
      from kidney cancer that had undergone surgical treatment. During the 2000-2012
      period 634 patients with kidney cancer were treated, 197 of whom were over the
      age of 70. In this group there were 117 (59.4%) men and 80 (40.6%) women. In most
      of these patients (156 patients--79.2%) the clear cell type of renal carcinoma
      was diagnosed. According to TNM classification the dominant stages were Tlb in 62
      patients (31.8%) and T1a in 48 patients (24.6%). The most common grade was G2 (73
      patients--37%). Radical nephrectomy was performed in 103 (52.3%) patients, simple
      nephrectomy in 86patients (43.7%), enucleation of the tumor and resection of the
      kidney in 6 (3.1%) patients, while in 2 patients the tumor was inoperable. Early
      postoperative compli cations developed in 21 (10.8%) patients. They included
      complications in distant organs in 11 (5.6%) patients and surgical complications
      in 10 (5.4%) patients. Five patients (2.6%) died during early postoperative
      period. Surgery is recommended treatment for elderly patients with kidney cancer
      with complications comparable with those in younger patients.

PMID- 25842765
TI  - Potential years of life lost due to premature mortality from cancer in Karlovac
      County (Croatia), 2006-2010.
AB  - The aim of this paper was to estimate cancer burden in the Karlovac County using
      potential years of life lost due to cancer and contribute to setting priorities
      in cancer control at the local level. Potential years of life lost (PYLL) is an
      important public health mortality indicator that goes into the category of social
      indicators and has a great role in the process of health care planning in
      defining priorities for the prevention of premature death. In this paper PYLL is
      defined as the number of years of life lost by persons who died in the age of 1
      75. In the period 2006-2010 there were 4118 death in Karlovac County in the 1-75
      age group which makes 48,204 potential years of life lost, where 33,856.5
      (70.24%) PYLL referred to men, and 14,347.5 (29.76%) PYLL to women. Cancer was
      responsible for the largest proportion of premature death (33.17%), in which
      62.90% of premature death referred to men and 37.10% to women. Lung cancer was
      the leading cause of premature death due to cancer for men (31.04% of PYLL due to
      cancer) and the breast cancer for women (17.95% PYLL due to cancer). In the
      observed period cancer caused the shortening of the average life span of 11.9
      years, out of which the biggest loss was caused by melanoma (18.7 years).
      Population health measures based on PYLL are useful for measuring and monitoring
      the impact of local efforts to reduce premature mortality.

PMID- 25842766
TI  - Treatment of hardware infection after osteosynthesis of lower leg using negative
      pressure wound therapy and transforming powder dressing.
AB  - Fractures of the distal part of the lower leg are more common in everyday
      practice and traumatology. In young and active patients these injuries are mainly
      caused by high energy trauma. They are treated with external fixator in first
      step, and in second step, after sanation of the soft tissue, with open reduction
      and internal fixation (ORIF). It is very safe and effective method of treatment.
      Treatment of the infections that occur in the early postoperative period after
      open reduction and internal fixation represents a great problem and challenge for
      surgeons. It is widely accepted that the presence of deep infection can't be
      cured in the presence of hardware. However, removal of hardware in the presence
      of unhealed fractures significantly complicates sanation of infection and
      fracture itself We have decided to present a 35-years-old patient with a hardware
      infection with present chronic wound with hardware exposed eight months after the
      first operation and six months after second operation. The wound measured one
      centimeter in diameter with cell detritus and bad granulations tissue inside the
      wound. Hardwre was exposed in the depth of the wound.The secretion was minimal.
      Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) was applicated after debridemet and lavage
      performed in ambulatory conditions. The starting therapy was continuously -125 mm
      Hg of vacuum. After five days of NPWT the defect was partially filled with
      granula- tion tissue. For another five days we continue with NPWT with the same
      values of-125 mm Hg pressure but in the inter- mitent mode. After that period we
      used transforming powder dressing for covering and protection of the wound with
      was filled with granulation tissue. Five days later, wound was completely healed
      with epithelisation. After four months of patient follow-up, we found the wound
      is completely repaired. The patient denies pain and has continued orderly flow of
      fracture healing, with no signs of infection.

PMID- 25842767
TI  - Influence of stressful life events on coping in psoriasis.
AB  - Outbreaks of psoriasis usually can be linked with traumatic life stress events.
      Stressful life events in response to psychosocial trigger have been reported to
      negatively affect the course of psoriasis and are regarded as preventable causes
      of morbidity. Aims of this study were to determine which coping strategies are
      mostly used in psoriatic patients and to determine if there is a difference in
      coping according genders, clinical stages and stress level. The result shows that
      denial, active coping, seeking emotional support, positive reframing and
      acceptance are most frequently used among psoriatic patients. In adaptive coping
      psoriatic patients Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score was 16.24, in
      maladaptive coping psoriatic patients PASI score was 19.6. Difference between
      adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies in psoriatic patients according
      clinical stage measured by PASI score was not statistically significant.
      Psoriatic patients who had higher score of life stress events (461.57) measured
      by Life change units (LCU) used maladaptive coping statistically significant more
      then patients with lower life stress events score (284.71). The results point to
      the need of psoriatic patients to learn how to cope with stress, enabling them to
      change ways of coping. There is need for integrating psychological intervention
      into standard care protocol of chronic dermatologic disease as psoriasis.

PMID- 25842768
TI  - Impact of adolescents awareness on perception of sexually transmitted infections.
AB  - Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are diseases transmitted by direct contact
      during sexual intercourse. Because of high incidence and possibility of
      development severe consequences on general and reproductive health, STIs are a
      major problem among young people in the world. Lack of information is one of the
      major risk factors for STI transmission. Most of young people (53.3%) had their
      first sexual intercourse at the age of 18 years, 67.7% of students have no
      knowledge about STI, 53.3% of students have already entered into sexual relations
      and 13% of them with more than 4partners. 31.1% of students who are sexually
      active was not examined by a gynecologist because of shame and fear. Most
      sexually active adolescents did not use contraceptives and they are not satisfied
      with the available information about STI. There is also continuing problem of
      teen pregnancy. The main goal of this research is to examine whether there is
      relationship between level of information and awareness of surveyed adolescents
      and their perception of sexually transmitted diseases.

PMID- 25842769
TI  - Photorejuvenation--topical photodynamic therapy as therapeutic opportunity for
      skin rejuvenation.
AB  - The intrinsic aging process of the skin in unavoidable and depends on the passage
      of time per se. Among harmful environmental factors that contribute to extrinsic
      aging, long-term effects of repeated exposure to ultraviolet radiation are the
      most significant and are referred to as photoaging. Photoaging is directly
      correlated to the quantity of UV rays received during the course of a lifetime.
      Topical photodynamic therapy is well-established procedure for the treatment of
      actinic keratoses, Bowen disease and basal cell carcinomas. Clinical experience
      has demonstrated that extensive treatment of actinic keratoses on sun-damaged
      skin also produces as a positive side effects significant improvement of the
      signs of skin aging. An improvement of lentigines, skin roughness, fine lines,
      increases in skin smoothness and improvement of actinic elastosis, skin colour
      and reduction of hyperpigmentation were seen. The reversible side effects of
      photodynamic therapy include pain, erythema, oedema, scaling and crusting, and
      sometimes in darker skin types post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Photodynamic
      therapy is promising approach for treatment ofphotoinduced skin aging and takes
      place between ablative and non-ablative methods for skin rejuvenation. Effective
      improvement of photoaged skin, the possibility of repeated treatments and
      imitated side effects makes photodynamic therapy a promising procedure for skin
      rejuvenation.

PMID- 25842770
TI  - Benefits of controlled ultraviolet radiation in the treatment of dermatological
      diseases.
AB  - Phototherapy is a second-line treatment modality for the most common dermatoses
      that is safe and effective. Most phototherapy regimens denote the use of
      ultraviolet (UV) radiation of different wavelengths in the management of several
      dermatoses. Currently, irradiations with broadband UVB (290-320 nm), narrowband
      UVB (311-313 nm), 308 nm excimer laser, UVA 1 (340-400 nm), UVA with psoralen
      (PUVA), and extracorporeal photochemotherapy (photopheresis) are being used.
      Beneficial effects of UV radiation are far from being completely understood.
      Dermatoses that may benefit from such approach are numerous, with psoriasis,
      parapsoriasis, atopic dermatitis, cutaneous T-cell lymphomas, morphea, and
      vitiligo vulgaris as main indications. UVB radiation primarily acts on cells at
      the epidermis and the epidermodermal junction, while UVA radiation affects
      epidermal and dermal components, especially blood vessels. UVradiation has im-
      mediate and delayed effects. Immediate effects are the formation of DNA
      photoproducts and DNA damage leading to apoptosis of heratinocytes, Langerhans
      cells, activated T-lymphocytes, neutrophils, macrophages, NK cells, fibroblasts,
      endothelial cells, and mast-cells, cell membrane damage by lipid peroxidation,
      and isomerization of chromophores such as urocanic acid. Delayed effects include
      synthesis of prostaglandins and cytokines that play important roles in immune
      suppression. Systemic and local immune suppression, alteration in cytokine
      expression (induction of interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist, decrease in IL
      2, increase in IL-IO, IL-15), and cell cycle arrest may all contribute to the
      suppression of disease activity. PUVA is a form of controlled and repeated
      induction of phototoxic reactions which uses UVA light to activate chemicals
      known as psoralens. The conjunction of psoralens with epidermal DNA inhibits DNA
      synthesis and causes cell apoptosis. PUVA also causes an alteration in the
      expression of cytokines and cytokine receptors. Psoralens interact with RNA,
      proteins and other cellular components and indirectly modify proteins and lipids
      via singlet oxygen-mediated reactions or by generating of free radicals.
      Psoralens and UV radiation also stimulate melanogenesis with variable effects in
      patients with vitiligo vulgaris. Extracorporealphotopheresis is treatment
      modality used in management of erythrodermic cutaneous T-cell lymphomas. It is
      very potent in induction of lymphocyte apoptosis. Despite the introduction of
      numerous potent bioengineered systemic medications in the field of dermatology,
      phototherapy remains established, and often preferred, option for the most common
      dermatoses.

PMID- 25842771
TI  - Neurosurgical procedure for treatment of traumatic subdural hematoma with severe
      brain injury: a single center matched-pair analysis.
AB  - Decompressive craniectomy (DC), an auxiliary neurosurgical invasive procedure,
      has been a part of the treatment regimen for severe brain injury (SBI). Today DC
      is the standard of care in patients with middle cerebral artery infarction. Our
      previous positive research results about effectiveness of DC procedure when
      applied to a specific group of SBIlpatients have made a solid base for a clinical
      evaluation of DC technique application to patients with isolated SBI with
      traumatic subdural hematoma (TSDH), despite controversies regarding clinical
      benefit of DC technique when applied to STBI patients. A matched-pair analysis
      has been performed to compare long-term clinical outcomes in patients with and
      without the DC technique applied. This study has encompassed 150 consecutive STBI
      patients with TSDH, aged between 18 and 82 years. One hundred patients had
      required application of DC procedure, while remaining 50 patients represented a
      matched control group in which the DCprocedure had not been applied. The control
      group match was conducted on the basis of epidemiological and potential
      prognostic factors, such as age, gender, DC surface area and Glasgow Coma Score
      (GCS). The main reason for occurrence of STBI with TSDH was traffic accidents,
      with sex ration 2:1 (male/female), while 2/3 of patients were aged between 26 and
      40 years. Mortality rate of 18% had occurred in the group of patients in which DC
      procedure was applied early in the first 24 hours after the injury, while
      mortality rate of 54% had occurred in the group of patients in which DC procedure
      was applied later than 24 hours after the injury, in comparison to mortality rate
      of 35% that had occurred in the control matched group of patients. Also, better
      control of intracranial pressure (ICP) had occurred in patients in which a DC
      surface was made larger than 40ccm. In addition, less computed tomography (CT)
      scans were made as a follow up care procedure in patients in which DC procedure
      was performed and especially if DC procedure had been performed within 24 hours
      after the injury. However, regardless of many positive results that an early
      application of DC procedure has had on SBI patients with TSDH, an expected
      increase in immediate or delayed complications had occurred, for example we had
      recorded an increased number of encefalocele. Significantly better outcome of
      clinical recovery with less cases of morbidity and deaths had occurred in
      patients in which TSDH was removed with the DC technique within 24 hours after
      the time of injury and also if a DC surface had had size over 40 ccm, in compari-
      son to the group of patients that had TSDH removed with DC technique within
      longer period of time than 24 hours after the time of injury and also better than
      the control group.

PMID- 25842772
TI  - Periprosthetic infections after total hip and knee arthroplasty--a review.
AB  - Periprosthetic joint infections (PJI) in orthopedic surgery are considered to be
      very serious and dangerous complications of total joint arthroplasty. PJI becomes
      a long-lasting medical problem and a heavy burden on patient and his family.
      Patients with such a complication are a significant financial burden for the
      health care system. Recognizing this issue, investing in scientific research and
      simultaneously developing technologies in medicine are efforts taken to increase
      successfulness in preventing and treating PJI. Each year the number of total
      joint arthroplasties increases which entails a rise in the number of
      complications among which infections are the leading ones. Sometimes, in the
      worst case scenarios, infections can endanger patients' lives. New procedural
      algorithms and new diagnostic possibilities help us make accurate and early
      diagnoses of postoperative PJI with a great degree of certainty. These diagnostic
      methods include laboratory tests, imaging, histopathology and microbiological
      analyses. Treatment options depend on many factors which include the onset of
      symptoms, patients'general physical condition and type of pathogen. The approach
      to treating PJI is complex and it requires a multidisciplinary approach in order
      to ensure the most successful treatment possible. For adequate and successful
      treatment we need to take into account antibiotic therapy, one-stage or two-stage
      revision, Girdlestone operation, athrodesis and amputation. In this review we
      will try to sum up all relevant findings and suggest further steps in management
      of PJI.

PMID- 25842773
TI  - Endoscopic diagnostic of chronic pancreatitis.
AB  - Chronic pancreatitis is defined as a continuous inflammatory pancreatic disease,
      one characterized by irreversible morphological changes, often associates with
      pain and sometimes with the loss of endocrine and exocrine function. As a
      histological confirmation of chronic pancreatitis is often unavailable, the
      diagnosis is traditionally based on imaging methods such as computerized
      tomography (CT) or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), and
      recently magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) as a noninvasive
      alternative to ERCP. Developments in the classification system of CP include the
      Marseille classification of 1963 which offered histopathologic criteria for CP,
      the Cambridge classification of 1984 which introduced imaging features of
      computed tomography (CT), transabdominal ultrasound (TUS) and endoscopic
      retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for classification of CP as well as
      Rosemont classification system of 2007 which presented the endoscopic
      ultrasonography diagnosis of CP. Endoscopic ultra-sonography (EUS) was first
      introduced as a diagnostic method for evaluation of pancreatic disease in 1986.
      It has experienced significant improvements since then and allowed for an
      alternative approach in diagnosing patients with pancreatic diseases. In patients
      with suspected pancreatic masses EUS-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is
      the best method for obtaining tissue diagnosis and differentiating CP from
      pancreatic carcinoma. The recent studies indicate that EUS is the method of
      choice when compared with other imaging methods such as ERCP because it
      frequently provides more accurate diagnostics. The aim of this review is to
      discuss the findings in endoscopic diagnostics up to the present moment and to
      indicate advantages, limitations and possible complications along with the
      current recommendations in CP diagnostics.

PMID- 25842774
TI  - Nutrition in cancer patients.
AB  - Cachexia is defined as an unintended loss of stable weight exceeding 10%.
      Patients with advanced cachexia express anorexia, early satiety, severe weight
      loss, weakness, anemia, and edema. Anorexia represents the result of a failure of
      the usual appetite signals whereas cachexia is the debilitating state of
      involuntary weight loss. This syndrome, referred to as the cancer anorexia
      cachexia syndrome, (CACS) and usually consists of a combination of anorexia,
      tissue wasting, malnutrition, weight loss and loss of compensatory increase in
      feeding. CACS represents the result of a complex interaction between cancer
      growth and host response and is associated with a poor response to chemotherapy
      and with an increase in drug-related toxicity. In advanced cachexia (mostly in
      metastatic cancer and terminally disease) any interventions with nutritional
      suplements are ineffective. Therefore, nutritional support in the reversion of
      tumor cachexia and in the importance of maintaining patient weight, muscle mass,
      quality of life, has the exceptional importance, becouse good nutritional status
      of patients leads to the possibility of more aggressive and longer treatment and
      thus to longer survival.

PMID- 25842775
TI  - [Participation of the family in hospital-based palliative cancer care:
      perspective of nurses].
AB  - The objective was to understand the perspective of nurses about the participation
      of the family in palliative cancer care and to analyze the nursing care
      strategies to meet their needs. Descriptive and qualitative research, conducted
      at the National Cancer Institute between January and March 2013, with 17 nurses.
      Elements of the Roy Adaptation Model were used for the interpretation of the
      data. Two categoriesemergedfrom the thematic analysis: perspective of nurses
      about the presence and valuation of family in the hospital; and appointing
      strategies to encourage family participation in care and meet their needs. This
      participation is essentialand represents a training opportunity for the purpose
      of homecare. Nurses create strategies to encourage it and seek to meet the needs.
      The results contribute to promote the family adaptation and integrity, in order
      to balance the dependent and independent behaviors, aimingfor quality of life and
      comfort. Further studies are neededdue to the challenges of the specialty.

PMID- 25842776
TI  - [Analysis of job satisfaction of the nursing staff of a primary health care
      unit].
AB  - This was a cross-sectional, observational study conducted in an outpatient
      specialty district health unit in the city of Ribeirao Preto, in the southeastern
      Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, with the aim to analyze the job satisfaction of the
      nursing staff. Data were collected using the Index of Work Satisfaction (IWS), a
      validated instrument which was applied to 23 members of the nursing team in
      January 2012. Among the components of job satisfaction, participants considered
      Interaction to be most important, followed by Professional Status, Job
      Requirements, Organizational Policies, Remuneration and Autonomy. The combined
      mean Index of Work Satisfaction obtained was 8.29, corresponding to poor job
      satisfaction among the studied population, as most of the studies in the
      literature that used the same instrument had scores between 12 and 37.

PMID- 25842777
TI  - [Analysis of fall risk factors in adults within the first 48 hours of
      hospitalization].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To analyze fall risk factors in the first 48 hours of hospitalization
      and to associate them with the occurrence of falls. METHOD: Cohort study
      conducted at a hospital in Porto Alegre/RS, Brazil. A sample of 556 patients from
      an adult in-patient study population were evaluated within the first 48 hours of
      hospitalization for factors associated with falls, based on the Morse Fall Scale
      (MFS) and muscle strength, among others. RESULTS: Evidence showed that the
      classification of high-risk according to the MFS and, more specifically, the
      items history of falls, ambulatory aid, impaired gait and overestimation of
      walking ability, were associated with falls during hospitalization (p<=0.005). In
      addition to these risk factors, reduced muscle strength and visual deficit also
      contributed to the occurrence of this safety incident CONCLUSION: The analysis of
      fall risk factors in patients evaluated within 48 hours of hospitalization may
      contribute to minimizing these occurrences and preventing injury.

PMID- 25842778
TI  - [Poor self-rated health and associated factors among elderly urban residents].
AB  - The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of bad self-rated health
      in the elderly and associated demographic and socioeconomic factors. This was an
      epidemiological, cross-sectional study. Data were collected through interviews
      using the BOAS (Brazil Old Age Schedule) questionnaire. The study included 573
      elderly residents in the urban area of Cuiaba-MT, Brazil.The adopted measure of
      association was the prevalence ratio. For multivariate analysis, multiple Poisson
      regression was used. The prevalence of poor/very poor self-rated health was 30.9%
      and the associated factors were income, number of morbidities and urinary
      incontinence. The association of demographic and socioeconomic factors with
      poor/very poor self-rated health among the elderly in this study shows the need
      for assistance and policies that minimize the impact of these factors on the
      lives and health of the elderly.

PMID- 25842779
TI  - [Self-care among patients enrolled in a self-monitoring blood glucose program].
AB  - This cross-sectional study checks specific self-care activities of patients with
      diabetes mellitus enrolled in a self-monitoring blood glucose program from August
      to December 2012 in two Primary Health Care units in the interior of Sao Paulo,
      Brazil.The sample was composed of 74 female and male individuals, aged 18 years
      old or older. The Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Questionnaire was
      used. It contains six dimensions: general diet, specific diet, physical activity,
      blood glucose monitoring, foot care, medication usage, plus three items about
      smoking. Eight out of the 15 self-care activities were within desirable levels,
      namely: healthy diet, not eating sweets, blood glucose testing and as frequently
      as recommended, drying between toes after washing feet, and taking medications
      (three items).The results enabled the identification of gaps in specific self
      care activities among patients with diabetes mellitus.

PMID- 25842780
TI  - [Work ability in hospital housekeeping services and associated factors].
AB  - This study aimed to measure the Work Ability Index of workers of a hospital
      housekeeping staff and identify the associated factors. Cross-sectional study
      conducted in 201 with 157 workers of the housekeeping staff of a university
      hospital in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. A questionnaire containing
      sociodemographic, labor and health variables and the Brazilian version of the
      Work Ability Index was used. As a result, 79.6% of the workers were classified as
      having good/great work capacity. Mild mental (31.8%) and musculoskeletal
      disorders (15.9%) were the most prevalent medical diagnoses. After some
      adjustments, the workers that did not have time for leisure showed a 2.67 times
      higher prevalence of having the work ability reduced (CI95%=1.23-5.82). The other
      variables lost their association with the outcome. Measures aimed at the
      maintenance of work ability and the practice of physical activity and training
      for postural care are indicated.

PMID- 25842781
TI  - [Organizational context and care management by nurses at emergency care units].
AB  - The purpose of this study was to understand the meanings attributed to the
      organizational context and the role of nurses in care management at emergency
      care units.This study was based on qualitative research and the Grounded Theory
      methodological framework. Data were collected from September 2011 to June 2012 by
      means of semi-structured interviews with 20 participants from two emergency care
      units (UPA) in southern Brazil, divided into three sample groups. The context is
      marked by constraints that hinder communication and interaction between
      professionals and the search of assistance by patients with demands that are not
      resolved at other levels of care. This scenario highlights the performance of
      nurses in the managerial dimension of their work, who assume the responsibility
      for managing care and coordinating professional actions in favour of improved
      care practices.

PMID- 25842782
TI  - [Care as a commitment of all: a study in a rural settlement].
AB  - This study aims to understand the perceptions of care of families living in a
      rural settlement in the northwestern area of Rio Grande do Sul. It is an
      ethnographical based qualitative field research, which has used the Observation
      Participation-Reflection Model for data collection, performed between February
      and March, 2011. The data analysis went through four steps: raw data collection
      and documentation, describers and indexes identification, contextual and current
      patterns analysis, and identification of research themes and relevant findings.
      The study has shown that, for the settlers who participated in the study, care is
      bound to their vision of world, meaning a commitment of everybody, under the
      collective and individual premise of improvement of their lives. It is concluded
      that Nursing needs to understand cultural behaviors in order to enable a
      congruent and holistic care.

PMID- 25842783
TI  - [The formation of nurses in residency programs in public and private intensive
      care units].
AB  - This qualitative study aimed to acknowledge the importance of practice in public
      and private institutions in the training of nurses in residency programs. Data
      were collected at two hospitals between February and March 2013, through
      interviews. From their analysis the following categories emerged: experience of
      graduate nurses in residency programs in ICUs of public and private institutions
      and potential for learning in public and private institutions regarding the
      training of nurses. Differences were detected in the work process and in the
      profile of patients between the public and private fields, and dissociation
      between caring and management functions carried out by residents was
      demonstrated. It was concluded that the development of practices in public and
      private institutions provides different and complementary experiences which
      prepare residents for management and care activities, improve management and
      technical assistance skills, encourages the exercise of in-service education and,
      by means of surveys, the search for solutions to problems that emerge from daily
      work.

PMID- 25842784
TI  - [Nursing undergraduate education in relation to the death-dying process:
      perceptions in light of the complex thinking].
AB  - The objective of this study was to perceive the death-dying process from the
      perspective of nursing students. This is an exploratory, descriptive and
      qualitative research study. Data were collected between June and July 2013, from
      three focus groups with six nursing students at a University Center located in
      the central region of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The meetings were organized with
      an approach to increase discussions about the death-dying process from the
      perspective of the complex thinking. Data were analyzed by means of the Strategic
      Focal Analysis, and three categories were created: Death: a process of rupture or
      continuity?; Recognizing weaknesses in the undergraduate educational process; and
      Outlining strategies to broaden academic discussions. It is possible to conclude
      that the death/dying process is minimally discussed in undergraduate courses, and
      when it is discussed, it happens in a fragmented and disjunctive manner, without
      integrating it into the human living process. Descriptors: Death. Education,
      nursing. Attitude to death.

PMID- 25842785
TI  - [Spending with unnecessary complementary tests for hypertension and diabetes in
      health services].
AB  - The aims of this study were to analyze unnecessary laboratory exams for patients
      with hypertension and diabetes and to check the expenditures involved.This is an
      exploratory-descriptive, cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach.We
      used data from medical records of 293 patients registered in primary units - the
      Family Health Center (NSF3); secondary: School Health Center (CSE); and tertiary:
      Hospital das Clinicas (HC) from 2006 to 2009 in a city in Southeastern Brazil. We
      identified a total of 9,522 laboratory tests, of which 5.97% were unnecessary. Of
      these, about 58% were requested by NSF3 and 42% by CSE. Results suggest there is
      a lack of integration among different levels of health care, which result in
      misallocation of resources and unnecessary spending. Descriptors: Health
      expenditures. Hypertension. Diabetes mellitus. Family health. Health services.

PMID- 25842786
TI  - [Social representations of HIV/AIDS among healthcare professionals in benchmark
      services].
AB  - This study was based on exploratory research and a qualitative approach within
      the framework of the Social Representations Theory. It aims to capture the social
      representations of healthcare providers in relation to HIV/AIDS by describing
      their structure.The Free Evocations technique was applied on 86 professionals of
      HIV/AIDS benchmark services in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, from 2011 to 2013.
      Analysis using EVOC 2005 software showed that the possible central core is
      prejudice in a negative attitude dimension; in the contrast zone, chronic disease
      translates living with the disease. In the first periphery, treatment and disease
      in a clinical/biometric conception; in the second periphery, death has a
      imagistic and negative nature. Positive and negative elements were observed,
      allowing healthcare personnel to construct meaning attributed to the phenomenon
      and reflect on their practices.

PMID- 25842787
TI  - [Instruments of health literacy used in nursing studies with hypertensive
      elderly].
AB  - This study aimed to analyze nursing research regarding the instruments used to
      evaluate health literacy in elderly hypertensive patients. This is an integrative
      literature review done in the databases LILACS, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and
      Cochrane, in June 2013. The articles, electronically available, were selected for
      full-text review by nurses, who assessed health literacy of elderly with
      hypertension. Eight studies were selected for analysis and four different
      instruments were used in the research. The instruments were developed according
      to a methodology and they were all designed to evaluate the abilities of elderly
      regarding reading, numeracy, pronunciation and recognition of some health-related
      words. The nursing research analyzed in this study revealed the gaps in care
      related to measures aimed to increase patient's involvement in decision-making.
      Also, the instruments used for measuring health literacy showed limitations, and
      there is no gold standard test.

PMID- 25842788
TI  - [Health promotion of lesbian woman: nursing care].
AB  - The aim of this study was to analyze national and international scientific
      literature on nursing care for lesbian women. An integrative approach was adopted
      to review studies from MEDLINE, LILACS, BDENF and SCOPUS databases and SciELO and
      Cochrane libraries using the keywords: female homosexuality, nursing care, health
      promotion and women's health. Studies published between 1990 and 2013 in English,
      Portuguese or Spanish were considered for analysis. After analyzing data, four
      international studies were selected, being that three were from the United States
      and one was from Canada. This study revealed a scarcity of Brazilian and
      international studies and the importance of increasing scientific literature on
      this topic. Descriptors: Homosexuality, female. Nursing care. Health promotion.
      Women's health.

PMID- 25842789
TI  - [Contextual analysis of gynaecological care provided to women with physical
      disability].
AB  - This is a theoretical-reflective study that aimed to analyze the contexts
      associated with gynaecological care for women with physical disabilities.
      Discussion consisted of contextual analysis according to Hinds, Chaves and
      Cypress, leading to four interconnected layers: immediate, specific, general and
      metacontext. Analysis showed that gynaecological assistance to clients with
      physical disabilities is influenced by attitudinal, structural, financial and
      informational barriers. Other influential issues are social beliefs and stigmas
      and the persistence of a biomedical model, which is hegemonic in this type of
      assistance. Therefore, gynaecological care must be valued based on the holistic
      paradigm offered by a transdisciplinary team in orderto provide quality care to
      women with physical disabilities.

PMID- 25842790
TI  - Pregnancy outcomes of mothers with very advanced maternal age (40 years or more).
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess pregnancy outcomes in women at age of 40 years or more
      compared with those at age of 20 to 30 years. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The
      retrospective cohort study was conducted at Maternal Fetal Medicine Unit, Chiang
      Mai University, Thailand, to identify the delivery. All consecutive records
      between January 2002 and December 2012 were searched. Singleton pregnancies with
      maternal age of 20 years or older were recruitedfor study. The primary outcomes
      for comparison were the rates of various obstetric outcomes, such aspreterm
      birth, cesarean section, etc. RESULTS: During the study period, 797 women at age
      of 40 years or more and 18,802 women at age of between 20 and 30 years were
      recruited. Women in the study group had significantly higher rates of medical
      diseases, such as chronic hypertension or pregestational diabetes mellitus.
      Cesarean rate, preterm delivery, and fetal growth restriction were significantly
      higher in the study group. CONCLUSION: Maternal age of 40 years or more is
      associated with medical complications and more operative deliveries. Furthermore,
      very advanced maternal age is significantly associated with adverse perinatal
      outcomes such as abortion, preterm birth, and fetal growth restriction. This
      information may be useful for obstetric counseling.

PMID- 25842791
TI  - 24-Hour pad tests in Thai continent women.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Twenty-four hours pad test is a simple tool to establish the
      differential diagnosis between high amount of vaginal secretion and urinary
      incontinence, evaluate the severity, and assess the result after treatment in
      women with urinary incontinence problem. The normal value of 24-hour pad test has
      been studied in non-Thai population. However; this may be different based on
      race. Therefore, this value in Thai population is important. OBJECTIVE: Identify
      the normal value of 24-hour pad test in Thai continent women by accurately
      comparing pad's weight before and after use. The secondary objective was to
      identify the factor associating the amount of vulvo-vaginal secretion. MATERIAL
      AND METHOD: Continent women were screened to exclude urinary incontinence by
      urogenital distress inventory (UDI-6) questionnaire. Participants were requested
      to use pad test for 24 hours. During study period, participants were advised to
      do their routine as usual but avoid exercise and sexual intercourse. Participants
      were able to change the pads as needed and asked to put the used pad in airtight
      plastic bag, kept them in a sealed envelope, and sent them to the researcher at
      their earliest convenience. Once received, the pads were kept in airtight plastic
      bag and were weighed. Weights were recorded. RESULTS: Two hundred twenty
      continent women were eligible to participate in the present study to determine
      the normal value of 24-hour pad test as our reference value. The median of 24
      hour pad test was found to be 1.8 g of which the 95 percentiles was 4.7 g. The
      high amount of vaginal secretion were affected by premenopausal status, hormonal
      contraceptive used, and duration after menopause less than 5 years, which these
      factors were associated with estrogen. CONCLUSION: The authors developed a normal
      value of the 24-hour pad test that could be used as reference or initial
      information for further evaluation and diagnosis of urinary incontinence in Thai
      women.

PMID- 25842792
TI  - Achievement of LDL-cholesterol goal with statins after an st segment elevation
      myocardial infarction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In patients with very high cardiovascular risk, low-density
      lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) less than 70 mg/dL or at least 50% reduction of
      LDL-C are recommended targets. High-dose atorvastatin has been shown to reduce
      death and ischemic events among patients with acute coronary syndrome. OBJECTIVE:
      To evaluate the proportion of STEMl patients that achieve LDL-C goal after
      hospital discharge from a real-world setting in Thailand To determine if the
      formulation of statin prescribed affected the LDL-C goal achievement. MATERIAL
      AND METHOD: The authors analyzed data from a cohort of patients with STEMI
      enrolled from June 1, 2008 through May 31, 2011. Patients who survived, were
      prescribed astatin on discharge and had LDL-C data at follow-up were analyzed.
      The formulation of statin was categorized as simvastatin or other statins
      (atorvastatin or rosuvastatin) group. RESULTS: Ninety-seven percent (n = 265 of
      272) of patients were prescribed a statin at discharge. Of these, 216 patients
      had LDL-C data during a 3-month follow-up period, 75% were men, the mean age was
      60.5 +/- 12.2 years old and the mean baseline LDL-C was 118.1 +/- 41.2 mg/dL. 73%
      (n = 157) of patients received simvastatin and 27% (n = 59) received other
      statins. At discharge, the median daily dose of simvastatin, atorvastatin and
      rosuvastatin were 20, 20 and 10 mg respectively. At follow-up, target LDL-C < 70
      mg/dL or LDL-C reduction >= 50% was achieved in 30.1% (n = 65) of patients, 27.4%
      (n = 43) on simvastatin and 37.3% (n = 22) on other statins, (p = 0.158,
      simvastatin versus other statins). When stratified by the dose intensity of
      statin, a significantly greater proportion of patients on moderate to high
      intensity statin attained LDL-C goals than those on low intensity statin: (36.3%
      versus 24.3%, p = 0.038). CONCLUSION: Most patients with STEMI are prescribed
      statin therapy at discharge. Despite this, the target LDL-C is attained in a
      minority of the patients due to suboptimal statin dosing. The formulation of
      statin did not affect LDL-C goal attainment. High-dose statin therapy is
      underused in real-world clinical practice. These findings emphasize the
      opportunities to improve outcomes of STEMI patients with evidence-based
      therapies.

PMID- 25842793
TI  - Clinico-pathological correlation of severe tubulointerstitial fibrosis in
      glomerular diseases.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Renal histopathology is the best method available to assess
      chronicity ofglomerular diseases. However renal biopsy is an invasive procedure
      and is available only in medical schools or tertiary-care hospitals in Thailand.
      Clinical predictors that discriminate the chronicity index of renal pathology may
      be valuable for the best timing of biopsy. The authors conducted this study to
      identify the clinical parameters of severe fibrosis in glomerular diseases.
      MATERIAL AND METHOD: The authors retrospective analyzed all consecutive patients
      with glomerular diseases who underwent ultrasound-guided renal biopsy in Siriraj
      Hospital between 2008 and 2010. The patients were statified according to degree
      of tubulointerstitial fibrosis (IF) into mild to moderate group (IF < 50%) and
      severe group (IF >= 50%). Data of clinical and radiological parameters which
      relate to severe fibrosis were obtained. Formula for prediction of advanced IF
      was also developed by backward stepwise logistic regression analysis. The authors
      also validated the model by application to the patients who underwent kidney
      biopsy in our center between 2011 and 2012. RESULTS: Of a total 682 patients, 169
      patients (24.8%) were classified as a severe IF group. In the multivariate model,
      higher serum creatinine, lower mean length of both kidneys and systolic blood
      pressure (SBP) of more than 140 mmHg were significantly related to severe IF All
      three factors were incorporated into apredictive model: e(x)/(1 +e(x)) while x =
      1.3 + (0.6 x serum Cr in mg/dl)--(0.4 x mean length of both kidneys in cm)+(0.7 x
      1 if SBP >= 140 mmHg or 0 if < 140 mmHg). The formula had AUROC of 0.82 and if
      calculated probability of fibrosis is higher than 0.37, it yields 90% specificity
      and 44% sensitivity for the prediction ofsevere fibrosis. When applied to 523
      patients who underwent renal biopsy in 2011 and 2012, the sensitivity was 65.6%
      while specificity was 87.8%. CONCLUSION: High serum creatinine, presence of HT
      and decreased mean length of both kidneys are important clinical markers to
      predict renal fibrosis. The model constructed from these factors could be used in
      clinical practice for appropriate decision making.

PMID- 25842794
TI  - Hemodynamic effect of iloprost inhalation and oral sildenafil during acute
      vasoreactivity test in pulmonary arterial hypertension.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The vasoreactivity test is usually performed to identify pulmonary
      arterial hypertension (PAH) patients who may benefit from long-term calcium
      channel blocker (CCB). The first and most commonly used agent is intravenous
      epoprostenol. A few other agents such as intravenous adenosine and inhaled nitric
      oxide are also used. In Thailand, epoprostenol is not available and the others
      are costly. Therefore, inhaled iloprost or oral sildenafil may be alternatives to
      test vasoreactivity. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the hemodynamic effect and response
      rate of inhaled iloprost and oral sildenafil during acute vasoreactivity test in
      PAH patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD: In this retrospective descriptive study, the
      authors recruited patients with idiopathic PAH (IPAH) or PAHassociated with
      connective tissue disease (PAH-CNT) seen at the Medicine department Siriraj
      Hospital between January 2005 and December 2011 for whom acute vasoreactivity
      test was indicated. All patients used 20 microgram of inhaled iloprost via
      Delphinus(r) nebulizer for the test. Hemodynamic parameters were recorded before
      and after iloprost administration. Eight of those patients subsequently had a
      repeated test using 100 mg of oral sildenafil. RESULTS: Fifteen patients had
      acute vasoreactivity testing. Eleven patients were IPAH and four were PAH-CNT
      Using ESC/ERS guidelines criteria for responsiveness to vasoreactivity test, the
      response rate was 13% (2 out of 15 patients) using inhaled iloprost. Hemodynamic
      change was seen as early as five minutes after the inhalation and the effect
      lasted up to 35 minutes. The response rate was 25% (2 out of 8 patients) using
      oral sildenafil. Hemodynamic change was seen as early as 30 minutes after
      sildenafil ingestion and lasted up to 480 minutes. CONCLUSION: Inhaled iloprost
      can be used for acute vasoreactivity test in Thailand. The hemodynamic parameters
      should be recorded immediately after iloprost inhalation. Oral sildenafil,
      however, is not a suitable agent for acute vasoreactivity test due to its
      extended effect.

PMID- 25842795
TI  - Pilot study of a non-return catheter valve for reducing catheter-associated
      urinary tract infections in critically ill patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of a non-return catheter valve vs. the
      standard urine bag for prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections
      (CAUTI) in critically ill patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This was a pilot,
      randomized, stratified, open-label controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov, number
      NCT01963013). Ninety-six critically illpatients requiring indwelling urinary
      catheter were assigned with either a non-return catheter valve or the standard
      urine bag. Symptoms and signs of CAUTI before and after enrollment for all
      patients were recorded. If CAUTI was suspected, urine for microbiological testing
      was collected The primary outcome was the incidence density rate of symptomatic
      CAUTI and bacteriurial presence. RESULTS: The 96 patients were randomized into
      two groups. Baseline patient characteristics were similar in both groups except
      for the sex distribution. The incidence rate ratio was 0.71 for symptomatic CAUTI
      in the non-return catheter valve group (95% CI 0.25-1.98, p-value = 0.51). The
      crude incidence rate ratio of bacteriuria in the non-return valve group was 0.66
      (95% CI 0.3-1.46, p-value = 0.31). The sex-adjusted incidence rate ratio of
      bacteriuria in the non-return catheter valve group was 0.64 (95% CI 0.29-1.41, p
      value = 0.27). CONCLUSION: Using a non-return catheter valve might not prevent CA
      UTI among critically ill patients.

PMID- 25842796
TI  - Relationship between Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index (CAVI) and Obstructive Sleep
      Apnea (OSA).
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: A non-invasive test called Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index
      (CA VI) measures aortic stiffness, which is an early sign of atherosclerosis.
      Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has a close association with cardiovascular
      mortality and morbidity. We sought to assess the relationship between OSA and
      arterial stiffness. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Seventy-one patients with OSA (apnea
      hypopnea index AHI >= 5, mean age 51.5 +/- 14.1 years, 27 females) and 11
      controls (AHI < 5, mean age 56.8 +/- 11.8 years, 5 females) were enrolled in the
      study. In all subjects, arterial stiffness (CAVI) was performed and recorded
      along with blood pressure, pulse pressure of brachial arteries, and ankle
      arteries. RESULTS: The demographic data of the patients with OSA and controls
      were not significantly different. Subjects with OSA demonstrated higher values
      ofmean ankle artery pulse pressure than the controls (73.1 +/- 14.6 vs. 59.6 +/-
      6.1 mmHg, respectively), but arterial stiffness and CAVI had no statistically
      significant difference (7.47 +/- 1.68 vs. 7.25 +/- 1.61, respectively).
      CONCLUSION: There was no relationship between arterial stiffness CAVI, and the
      presence of OSA. However; there was a significant association between ankle
      artery pulse pressure and the presence of OSA.

PMID- 25842797
TI  - The Thai version of the Montreal Children's Hospital Feeding Scale (MCH-FS):
      psychometric properties.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To standardize and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Thai
      version of the Montreal Children's Hospital Feeding Scale (MCH-FS). MATERIAL AND
      METHOD: The MCH-FS was translated and the cultural effects of the Thai version
      (Thai.MCH-FS) were reviewed. Caregivers of 200 children between the age of12 and
      48 months were interviewed and completed the Thai.MCH-FS. In addition to
      demographic information, each child had a physical exam and anthropometric
      measures were taken. Each child was classified with or without feeding problems
      by at least two of three pediatricians who were blind to the results of the
      feeding scale. RESULTS: Internal consistency for reliability was high (Cronbach's
      alpha at 0.835). The area under the ROC curve was 0.864. With a discrimination
      score of 40, both sensitivity (72%) and specificity (80.67%) were at acceptable
      levels. Factor analysis resulted in three factors accounting for 52.3%. Of the
      200 children, 150 children were classified with nofeedingproblems and 50 with
      feeding problems. There were no significant differences in the characteristics of
      the two groups; however the Thai.MCH-FS scores were significantly different for
      the two groups. CONCLUSION: The Thai version of the MCH-FS has been shown to be a
      valid and reliable short scale for detecting feeding problems in a pediatric care
      setting.

PMID- 25842798
TI  - Predictive factors of the outcome and intraventricular rupture of brain abscess.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To identify the significant factors predicting afavorable outcome and
      to study clinical characteristics and identify the factors predicted by
      intraventricular rupture of brain abscess (IVROBA). MATERIAL AND METHOD: In the
      retrospective study, the computer-based medical records of patients of a tertiary
      care hospital between 1999 and 2013 were reviewed. Univariate and multivariate
      analyses were used to determine the significant factors predicting the outcomes
      and IVROBA. RESULTS: One hundred fourteen patients with brain abscesses were
      enrolled. The predictivefactor of a favorable outcome was Glasgow Coma Scale
      (GCS) score 13 to 15 (OR 14.64; 95% CI 2.70-79.34; p = 0.02). Conversely, the
      factors associated with an unfavorable outcome were fungal brain abscess (OR
      40.81; 95% CI 3.57-466.49; p = 0.003) and IVROBA (OR 5.50; 95% CI 1.34-22.49; p =
      0.017). Moreover greater distance of the brain abscess from the ventricle
      decreased the IVROBA (OR 0.62; 95% CI 0.45-0.87; p = 0.005). Abscesses with
      intraventricular rupture that were at less than 7 mm of a ventricle (p < 0.000)
      were likely to IVROBA. CONCLUSION: The outcome of a brain abscess depends on good
      clinical status, pathogens, and fatal complication of lVROBA. If poor prognostic
      factors exist, then better surgical option can be selected.

PMID- 25842799
TI  - R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry score in clinical stage T1 renal mass: Ramathibodi
      hospital experience.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The main treatment strategies for clinical stage T1 renal mass are
      radical nephrectomy (RN) and partial nephrectomy (PN). Treatment decision depends
      largely on tumor complexity as assessed by the R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry scoring
      system. The authors evaluated our experience with R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry score in
      all patients who underwent surgery. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The authors evaluated 61
      patients who presented with clinical stage T1 renal mass and underwent radical or
      partial nephrectomy between 2007 and 2013 at Ramathibodi Hospital. Tumor
      complexity was quantified by R.E.N.A.L. nephromety score in all patients using
      preoperative imaging. Statistical analysis was done to study associations.
      RESULTS: Sixty-one patients were included in this study, which 34 (55.70%) were
      male and 27 (44.30%) were female. The most common pathologic report was clear
      cell renal cell carcinoma followed by angiomyolipoma and papillary renal cell
      carcinoma. Forty-one patients underwent radical nephrectomy, of whom three, 25,
      and 10 patients had low, moderate, and high tumor complexity respectively. Twenty
      patients underwent partial nephrectomy, of whom 10 patients had low tumor
      complexity and 10 patients had moderate tumor complexity. No patient had high
      tumor complexity. In the present study, the function coefficient showed that
      radius had the most influence on surgical decision-making,followed by nearness to
      collecting system, exophytic/endophytic, and location. We also developed the
      Ramathibodi equation to help selecting the proper operation. CONCLUSION: The
      R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry score is a feasible and standardized classification system
      for evaluating renal masses. It could be used to stratify tumor complexity and
      may help for surgical decision-making.

PMID- 25842800
TI  - Appropriate size and angulation for axis screw placement.
AB  - BACKGROUND: A screw larger than 4.0-4.5-mm-diameter screw has now become the
      preferred sizefor providing maximum anchorage during atlantoaxial segmental
      fixation and transarticular screw fixation. At present, there are no studies
      available of Axis (C2) morphology related to screw placement specifically in Thai
      patients, a situation that might result in surgical complications. OBJECTIVE: The
      purpose ofthis study was to determine the typical width, height and angulations
      in both C2 pars interarticularis and C2 pedicle in Thai population. MATERIAL AND
      METHOD: A radiographic-based study was conducted in 54 Thai patients aged over 20
      from July 2011 to January 2012 in Chiang Mai University Hospital. C2 parameters
      including the height, width, medial angulation and superior angulation of the
      pars interarticularis and the pedicle were measured by using a CT scan.
      Allparameters were measured using the ONIS 2.3 program. RESULTS: The C2 pedicle
      in Thais was found to have a mean width of 5.47 mm (range 3.28-6.81 mm), a height
      7.54 mm (5.9-9.54), a superior angulation of 27.54 degrees  (range 20. 65 degrees
      -33.95 degrees ), and a medial angulation of 38.95 degrees  (range 28.07 degrees 
      52.85 degrees ). C2 Pars interarticularis had a mean width of 7.72 mm (range 5.93
      10.61 mm), a height of 4.47 mm (range 2.33-6.3 mm), a superior angulation of
      49.85 degrees  (range 41.89 degrees -58.65 degrees ), and a medial angulation of
      6.76 degrees  (range 1.18 degrees -13.5 degrees ). CONCLUSION: Because the mean
      height of pars interarticularis is 4.47 mm, atlantoaxial arthrodesis should not
      use 4.5-mm-diameter screw, especially transarticular screws, due to the
      possibility of vascular and nerve damage.

PMID- 25842801
TI  - Locking plate fixation of proximal humeral fracture: minimally invasive vs.
      standard delto-pectoral approach.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the results of surgery of proximal humeral fractures using
      the MIPO technique and to compare that with the results of surgery using the
      traditional approach. MATERIAL AND METHOD: All PHILOS-plate osteosynthesis
      operations for two and three part proximal humeral fractures conducted at Chiang
      Mai University Hospital between January 2010 and December 2011 were evaluated
      retrospectively. Operative time, blood loss, mean fracture union time, and rate
      of axillary nerve injury were recorded for each patient. RESULTS: The records of
      twenty-eight consecutive osteosynthesis operations were reviewed and the patients
      were divided into two groups. Group A included 12 patients (4 males, 8 females,
      mean age 52 years) who were treated by MIPO. Group B included 16 patients (8
      males, 8 females, mean age 62 years), who were treated using the conventional
      approach. The mean operative time in group A was 80 minutes (range 55-185), and
      in group B 110 minutes (range 90-180) (p = 0.059). The mean blood loss in group A
      was 87.5 +/- 42.0 ml, and in group B was 128.1 +/- 65.8 ml (p = 0.073). The mean
      length of hospital stay in group A was 5.7 +/- 1.7 days, and in group B was 8.4
      +/- 4.3 days (p = 0.091). The mean fracture union time in group A was 12 weeks
      (range 10-24), and in group B was 20 weeks (range 12-28) (p = 0.002). Axillary
      nerve injury rates were not different between the two groups. CONCLUSION:
      Compared to conventional techniques, MIPO offers the advantages of significantly
      shorter time tounion, less blood loss, shorter operative time, and a shorter
      hospital stay.

PMID- 25842802
TI  - Second hip fractures at Chiang Mai University Hospital.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Hip fractures are a major public health problem. Patients who have
      suffered a hip fracture have an increased risk of a subsequent hip fracture. This
      study examines the incidence ofsecondhip fractures and attempts to identify
      underlying risk factors. OBJECTIVE: To examine the incidence ofsecond hip
      fractures in osteoporotic patients at Chiang Mai University Hospital and to
      identify risk factors related to second hip fractures. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A
      retrospective review was conducted of all low-energy mechanism hip fracture
      patients admitted during 2008 and 2009. Analysis of second hip fractures was
      conducted using survival analysis and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: A
      total of 191 patients were observed for 391.68 person-years (mean 2.05 person
      years per patient). Among that group, nine second hip fractures were identified,
      an overall incidence rate of 0.023 second fractures per person-year. Second hip
      fractures tended to occur within the first year following an initial hip
      fracture. There were no significant differences related to either gender or
      comorbid medical conditions. Logistic regression analysis revealed that increased
      risk of a second hip fracture was associated with age (highest between 80 to 89
      years) and patients who were not treated for osteoporosis following their initial
      fracture. CONCLUSION: The incidence of second hip fractures at Chiang Mai
      University Hospital was 0.023 per person-year Careful follow-up of older
      patients, especially those over 80, and treatment ofosteoporosis with
      bisphosphonate plus vitamin D and calcium supplements was correlated with a
      reduction in the incidence of second hip fractures.

PMID- 25842803
TI  - Anatomical relationship between the deep peroneal nerve and the anterolateral
      surface of the tibia in Thai cadavers.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The deep peroneal nerve innervates muscles of the anterior leg
      compartment and the dorsum of the foot, and also receives sensation from the
      first interdigital cleft of the foot. Along its course in lower part of the leg,
      this nerve is very close to the anterolateral surface of the tibia and might be
      vulnerable to injury in fractures of the tibia or during surgery. OBJECTIVE: The
      objective of this study is to clarify the relationship between the deep peroneal
      nerve and anterolateral surface of tibia. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Variations in the
      course of the deep peroneal nerve related to the anterolateral surface of tibia
      were investigated by dissection of 82 legs from 45 fresh cadavers. The distance
      by which the deep peroneal nerve was directly contacted to the tibia was measured
      and compared to the length from the tibial tuberosity to the medial malleolus.
      The length of that association, as a percentage ofthe distance from the tibial
      tuberosity to the medial malleolus, was calculated. RESULTS: The fraction of the
      distance along which the deep peroneal nerve was in direct contact with the
      anterolateral surface of the tibia as a percentage of the distance between the
      tibial tuberosity and the medial malleolus ranged from 40.38% to 84.11%, with an
      average of 64.87% (95% confidence interval: 63.23-66.52%). In the majority of the
      legs studied (52.44%), the percentage range between 60-70%. CONCLUSION: An
      majority of the deep peroneal nerve was directly in contact with the
      anterolateral surface of tibia and ranged from 60-70% of the distance between
      tibia tuberosity and medial malleolus. Surgical incision along this area should
      be carefully performed.

PMID- 25842804
TI  - Warfarin related nephropathy: the first case report in Thailand.
AB  - Warfarin is the most prescribed oral anticoagulant. Adverse renal effect from
      warfarin therapy are uncommon and Thailand is not acquainted. Warfarin-related
      nephropathy (WRN) is a newly recognized complication of warfarin treatment,
      especially in patients with chronic kidney disease. The authors hereby report a
      56-year-old man who developed gross hematuria and severe acute kidney injury
      (AKI) necessitating hemodialysis, following supra-therapeutic INR level. Renal
      pathology revealed extensive intratubular obstruction with red blood cell casts.
      From the literature, there were only twelve case reports of WRN, which were
      confirmed by renal histopatology. Renal survival of this condition was
      unsatisfactory. However, our patient was dialysis-independent after vitamin K
      treatment and temporary warfarin discontinuation. To the best of our knowledge,
      this is the first case report of biopsy-proven WRN in Thailand.

PMID- 25842805
TI  - [Discussion meeting on the perspective of the Japanese Society of Internal
      Medicine and Japan Surgical Society].

PMID- 25842806
TI  - [Future of the annual meeting of JSS].

PMID- 25842807
TI  - [Introduction of new journal: surgical case reports].

PMID- 25842808
TI  - [Introducing the topic of junctional cancer].

PMID- 25842809
TI  - [What is the esophagogastric junction?].
AB  - The esophagogastric junction is a muscle, not a mucosal, junction. The boundary
      of the esophagus is at the upper esophageal sphincter and lower esophageal
      sphincter (LES) at the oral and anal ends, respectively. The distal end of the
      LES is the esophagogastric junction. Fine palisade vessels occur in the mucosa
      above the LES, and the esophagogastric junction is at the distal end of this
      palisade zone. The esophagogastric junction is defined as the part changing into
      the lumen seen in radiographic, examination or in surgically resected specimens.
      It is extremely difficult to identify the esophagogastric junction
      pathologically, requiring special effort.

PMID- 25842810
TI  - [Endoscopic therapy for cancer of the esophagogastric junction].
AB  - In Japan, the criteria for cancer of the esophagogastric junction (EGJ) are that
      the center of the lesions are located within 2cm from the EGJ orally and anally.
      The main histology of these lesions are squamous cell carcinoma and
      adenocarcinoma. Squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus is treated following the
      guidelines published by the Japan Esophageal Society. This paper focuses on EGJ
      adenocarcinomas, which include cardiac gastric cancer and Barrett's cancer
      originating from the short-segment Barrett's esophagus. EGJ cancer is resected
      endoscopically at the termination of the palisade vessels or upper end of the
      gastric fold. The various types of cancer involving the EGJ are treated following
      the guidelines published by each medical specialist society in Japan. The main
      endoscopic treatment is endoscopic submucosal dissection. The EGJ is a narrow
      space, and therefore lesions are approached from the oral approach or anal
      approach using a reverse endoscope. Bleeding, perforation, and stenosis are major
      complications. When two-thirds or more of the wall is resected, stenosis occurs.
      Endoscopic therapy for cancer originating in the EGJ has not yet been fully
      established.

PMID- 25842811
TI  - [Esophagogastric junction cancer in the TNM classification].
AB  - The current 7th version of the TNM classification newly defines esophagogastric
      junction cancer as cancer invading the junction, of which the epicenter is
      located within 5cm proximal or distal to the junction. Progression of tumors is
      newly staged in this version of the TNM classification by separating
      adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. The background to this revision was
      to resolve the confusion that occurred when classification of cancer of the
      esophagus or stomach was left to the judgment of the physician in the 6th
      version, to acknowledge that the prognosis of gastric cancer patients differs
      depending on tumor location, and to reflect the rapid increase in the incidence
      of adenocarcinoma of the cardia and lower esophagus in the USA. Siewert
      classification is reflected in the definition of esophagogastric junction cancer.
      The new classification appears appropriate for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
      and Siewert type I adenocarcinoma, but there is doubt about type II and type III
      adenocarcinomas. German, Korean, and Japanese surgeons have investigated which
      classification of esophageal or stomach junction cancer was better for predicting
      patient prognosis, and the Japanese report demonstrated that its classification
      as stomach cancer was more appropriate.

PMID- 25842812
TI  - [Optimal surgical approach for esophagogastric junction carcinoma].
AB  - Esophagogastric junction (EGJ) carcinoma, representing carcinoma involving the
      anatomical border between the esophagus and stomach, has attracted considerable
      attention recently because of the marked increase in its incidence. In patients
      with cancer of the EGJ, comparable outcomes have been obtained with extended
      esophagectomy and total gastrectomy, and therefore the optimal surgical approach
      for EGJ tumors remains to be clarified. According to retrospective studies, nodal
      metastases are frequent in pericardial nodes (no. 1 and no. 2), the lesser curve
      node (no. 3), and along the left gastric artery node (no. 7), followed by the
      lower mediastinal paraesophageal node (no. 110) and suprapancreatic nodes (no.
      8a, 9, 11p). Nodes along the distal stomach are rarely involved, and therefore
      total gastrectomy seems unlikely to be justified for prophylactic lymphadenectomy
      for EGJ carcinoma. Subgroup analysis showed that neither esophagectomy via right
      thoracotomy nor left thoracoabdominal extended total gastrectomy offered a
      survival benefit over the transhiatal procedure in Siewert type II carcinoma.
      Patients with nodal involvement are at high risk of systemic recurrence, and
      therefore perioperative adjuvant therapy may be as important as the extent of
      resection in this tumor entity.

PMID- 25842813
TI  - [Advantages and pitfalls of minimally invasive surgery for esophagogastric
      junction tumors].
AB  - Several studies of minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) for esophagogastric
      junction (EGJ) tumors have been reported from Western countries with high
      incidences of lower esophageal cancer. Less invasiveness and a better quality of
      life after MIE compared with open esophagectomy were found in a randomized
      controlled trial in Europe. On the other hand, as laparoscopic total gastrectomy
      for upper gastric cancer has gradually become more common, laparoscopic
      transhiatal resection and reconstruction to treat EGJ tumors have been reported
      in Japan. Some potential benefits of laparoscopic total gastrectomy for upper
      gastric cancer, such as less blood loss and fewer complications, were indicated
      in comparative studies. Therefore, similar benefits are also expected for EGJ
      tumors, although there is no current evidence for this. It is difficult to
      determine which minimally invasive approach is better because the appropriate
      approach and extent of resection may differ depending on the location and size of
      each tumor. For the minimally invasive approach to the treatment of EGJ tumors to
      be accepted as an option, a safe reconstruction method with good long-term
      quality of life needs to be established.

PMID- 25842814
TI  - [Adjuvant treatment for esophagogastric junction cancer].
AB  - Conducting clinical trials to establish evidence of the benefits of adjuvant
      treatment for resectable esophagogastric junction (EGJ) cancer is difficult
      because it is a very rare disease compared with gastric or esophageal cancer. In
      the West, where esophageal cancer occurs more frequently than gastric cancer, a
      phase III trial (the CROSS trial) demonstrated the efficacy of preoperative
      chemoradiotherapy using carboplatin plus paclitaxel for patients with esophageal
      or EGJ cancer. Thus, this preoperative regimen is considered to be the standard
      adjuvant treatment for resectable EGJ cancer in the West. On the other hand, the
      Western evidence is not widely accepted in Asia because there are many
      differences in surgical techniques, particularly in the field of lymph node
      dissection, between the West and Asia. The standard adjuvant treatment for
      resectable EGJ cancer in Asia is postoperative chemotherapy using S-1 alone or
      capecitabine plus oxaliplatin based on the results of two large-scale phase III
      trials in gastric cancer conducted in East Asia. The incidence of EGJ cancer has
      recently increased in Japan, and nationwide studies to develop more effective
      adjuvant treatment for resectable EGJ cancer should be conducted in the near
      future.

PMID- 25842815
TI  - [An essay about new therapies for the anorectal dysfunction].

PMID- 25842816
TI  - [Sacral neuromodulation].

PMID- 25842817
TI  - [What we can learn from a case of medical malpractice--physician at the secondary
      emergency facility held liable for medical negligence for the death of a patient
      transported to the facility for an automobile accident].

PMID- 25842818
TI  - [Anatomy and ablation of the coronary sinus and the mitral valve annulus].

PMID- 25842819
TI  - [Review of the health technology assessment on surgeries in Japan].
AB  - Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is the systematic evaluation to measure the
      value of new health technologies. It improves the quality of choices on hand for
      cost-effective health technologies that are considered valuable. Japan has built
      a society of longevity consisted of the institution of the universal health care
      system, which is financially unsustainable. In Japan, no independent HTA
      organization has been publicly established but the government is contemplating
      implementation of such system. To advance the usage of HTA into surgery, we need
      to establish methods for evaluating new surgical technologies with steep learning
      curves. The promotion of clinical researches is also essential, especially by
      taking advantage of observational studies from medical big data such as the
      Japanese nationwide database which has more than four million surgical cases
      registered. In addition, we need more clinical information regarding each
      surgical patient's quality of life and socioeconomic status. The countries
      already introduced HTA into their health care system have measures to solve the
      problems that arose and have developed necessary evaluating methods. To introduce
      and promote HTA in Japan without taking away the benefit of our current
      healthcare, it is required that surgeons collaborate with other specialists such
      as methodologists and health economists.

PMID- 25842820
TI  - [Issues related to national university medical schools: focusing on the low wages
      of university hospital physicians].
AB  - University hospitals, bringing together the three divisions of education,
      research, and clinical medicine, could be said to represent the pinnacle of
      medicine. However, when compared with physicians working at public and private
      hospitals, physicians working at university hospitals and medical schools face
      extremely poor conditions. This is because physicians at national university
      hospitals are considered to be "educators." Meanwhile, even after the
      privatization of national hospitals, physicians working for these institutions
      continue to be perceived as "medical practitioners." A situation may arise in
      which physicians working at university hospitals-performing top-level medical
      work while also being involved with university and postgraduate education, as
      well as research-might leave their posts because they are unable to live on their
      current salaries, especially in comparison with physicians working at national
      hospitals, who focus solely on medical care. This situation would be a great loss
      for Japan. This potential loss can be prevented by amending the classification of
      physicians at national university hospitals from "educators" to "medical
      practitioners." In order to accomplish this, the Japan Medical Association, upon
      increasing its membership and achieving growth, should act as a mediator in
      negotiations between national university hospitals, medical schools, and the
      government.

PMID- 25842821
TI  - [Molecular basis of Parkinson's disease linked with mutations in the LRRK2 gene].
AB  - Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder. Disease symptoms
      correlate with the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra pars
      compacta. A number of factors are supposed to take part in PD pathogenesis
      including alpha-synuclein aggregation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial
      dysfunction and apoptosis, although the precise molecular mechanism of
      neudegeneration remains unknown. PD is generally a sporadic neuro- logical
      disorder, however, rare monogenic forms have been described during previous 15
      years. Despite of the fact that mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase
      (LRRK2) gene are the most common cause of inherited forms of PD known today, the
      mechanisms by which mutations in the LRRK2 gene lead to disease remain unclear.
      It's difficult to understand the signaling pathways, regulated by LRRK2 in the
      absence of its clear physiological substrates. The G2019S substitution was shown
      to be the most common in mutations' spectrum of the LRRK2 gene in different
      populations which makes it easier to reveal patients with LRRK2-associated PD. In
      this review LRRK2 influence on protein aggregation, cytoskeletal dynamics,
      apoptosis rate and inflammatory response is discussed. Groups of patients with
      inherited forms of PD with known etiology are worth to be included into
      investigations. It could promote our un- derstanding of the mechanisms of
      neurodegeneration in more common sporadic cases.

PMID- 25842822
TI  - [RNA editing. The classical cases and the outlook of new technologies].
AB  - This article provides an overview of studied RNA editing cases and the examples
      of RNA editing investigations that apply to different experimental data. Typical
      RNA editing site prediction errors and the methods to minimize them are shown.
      The outlook of up-to-date technologies and further RNA editing studies are
      discussed.

PMID- 25842823
TI  - [Dead-box RNA helicases in animal gametogenesis].
AB  - This review analyzes and summarizes a current knowledge about a role of RNA
      helicases in the development and maintenance of gametogenesis of eukaryotic
      organisms. Here we focused on three representatives of RNA helicase family
      containing the characteristic motifs in the amino acid sequence (DEAD-box) and
      carrying substantial and conservative functions in the germinal tissues of
      various species from drosophila to human. There are such proteins as Vasa/DDX4,
      BelIe/DDX3 and Spindle-E/TDRD9. They are involved in a wide range of activities
      that are associated with the regulation of transcription, splicing, nuclear
      export, and especially with the initiation of translation. The expression of
      genes required for the gametogenesis appears to be regulated mainly at the
      translational level. RNA helicases are involved in the formation of cytoplasmic
      RNP granules and in the implementation of gene RNA-silencing. "DEAD-box RNA
      helicases" that carry highly homologous central domain, which determines their
      basic biochemical activity in the ATP-dependent unwinding of short RNA duplexes,
      perform the essential and non-overlapping functions in the germinal tissues.

PMID- 25842824
TI  - [Structure, function, and biosynthesis of thiazoleoxazole modified microcins].
AB  - Recent advances in a large-scale genome sequencing and data analysis led to
      discovery of a large number of diverse ribosomally-synthesized
      posttranslationally-modified natural products. One bourgeoning family of such
      compounds, characterized by the presence of thiazole and oxazoleheterocycles
      derived from cysteine and serine residues, is referred to as thiazoleoxazole
      modified microcins. This review brings together known information about
      classification, structure, and biosynthesis of thiazole-oxazole modified
      microcins, their biological activity and potential applications.

PMID- 25842825
TI  - [Frequency of CHEK2 gene mutations in patients with breast cancer from the
      Republic of Bashkortostan].
AB  - Several studies have shown, that mutation in CHEK2 gene can increase the risk of
      different cancers, including breast cancer (BC). Clearly, that character of
      mutations distribution in the defined regions is depended on genetic structure of
      the population. We conducted the screening of mutations c.1100delC, c.444 + 1G>A,
      de15395, p.I157T andIp.R145Win CHEK2 gene in patients with breast cancer (n =
      977) and in control group (n = 1069) originating from the Republic of
      Bashkortostan. The mutation de15395 in CHEK2 gene was detected with frequency of
      1,23% (12/977)in woman with BC and 0.09% (1/1069) in controls (OR:13.28, CI 95%:
      1.72-102.33, p = 0.003). Mutations c.1100delC and c.444 + 1G>A were found in BC
      patients and controls with frequencies of 0.4%, 0.4% (4/977) and 0.09% (1/1069),
      0.2% (2/1069), respectively. The missense mutation p.I157T in CHEK2 was found as
      the most common variant in two studied cohorts (approximately 5%), but
      differences did not achieved statistical significance. We found the ethnic
      specificity in distribution of truncating mutations, which occurs mainly among
      the women of Slavic origin. All three mutations were identified in women of
      Russian and Ukrainian ethnic origin. Mutations c.1100delC and c.444 + 1G>A in
      CHEK2 gene were not detected in Bashkirs and Tatars, but CHEK2 de15395 mutation
      was observed in Tatars.

PMID- 25842826
TI  - [Association of polymorphic markers Arg72Pro of TP53 and T309g of MDM2 genes with
      non small cell lung cancer in Russians of Moscow region].
AB  - State Research Center "GosNIIgenetika", Moscow, 117545 Russia). Association of
      polymorphic markers Arg72Pro of TP53 gene and T309G of MDM2 gene with risk of non
      small cell lung cancer has been studied in Russians of Moscow region. We found an
      association of minor Pro/Pro genotype of polymorphic marker Arg72Pro (OR = 5.46,
      p = 8 x 10(-6)) and TG genotype of polymorphic marker T309G (OR = 5.57, p =
      0.007) with non small cell lung cancer development. We have also showed a strong
      association of both Pro/Pro and TG genotypes with development of adenocarcinoma
      (OR = 8.71, p = 3 x 10(-6) and OR = 8.13, p = 0.003) and squamous-cell lung
      cancer (OR = 4.2, p = 0.001 and OR = 7.02, p = 0.002). We have finally found
      highly reliable association of combined susceptible genotypes of polymorphic
      markers Arg72Pro and T309G of TP53 and MDM2 genes with non small cell lung cancer
      and both its subtypes (OR = 7.9, p = 0.01; OR = 9.12,p = 0.02; OR = 7.31, p =
      0.03, respectively).

PMID- 25842827
TI  - [Genetic diversity and relationships of northern eurasia populations for
      polymorphic Alu-insertions].
AB  - We for the first time have examined the autosomal gene pool of the Siberia,
      Central Asian and the Far East populations (27 populations of 12 ethnic groups)
      using a set of polymorphic Alu insertions in the human genome. The results of the
      analysis testify (i) to a significant level of genetic diversity in the Northern
      Eurasian populations and (ii) to a considerable differentiation of gene pool in
      the population of this region. It has been shown that at the CD4 locus, the
      frequency of Alu (-) is inversely related to the Mongoloid component of the
      population, the lowest and highest frequencies of the Alu deletion at locus CD4
      were recorded respectively in Eskimo (0.012) and Russian and Ukrainian (0.35).
      The analysis of gene flow proved Caucasoid populations (Russian, Tajik and
      Uzbek), as well as those of Turkic ethnic groups from the Southern Siberia
      (Altaians and Tuvinians) and Khanty and Mansy populations to be the recipients of
      a considerable gene flow from the outside of the concerned population system, as
      compared with the East Siberian and the Far East ethnic groups. The results of
      the correlation analysis received with use polymorphic Alu insertion testify to
      the greatest correlation of genetic distances with anthropological
      characteristics of populations.

PMID- 25842828
TI  - [The moderating effect of the Va166Met polymorphism of brain-derived neurotrophic
      factor gene on the clinical and psychological features of patients with
      schizophrenia].
AB  - The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene is a prominent candidate gene
      for schizophrenia. The BDNFVal66Met polymorphism has been extensively studied for
      association to this disease. There is accumulating evidence that the polymorphism
      is associated with clinical presentations of schizophrenia and not with the
      disease itself. We compared the allele and genotype distribution in patients
      (n=1785) and healthy controls (n = 1092) and did not find association of the
      Va166Met polymorphism with schizophrenia. No association was found with affective
      syndromes. At the same time, the ValVal genotype was associated with the higher
      anxiety level assessed with the PANSS in male patients. We studied personality
      characteristics using personality questionnaires EPI, MMPI, STAI (n=363) and
      cognitive functions (attention (n=227) and verbal fluency (n=392). Patients with
      the ValVal genotype demonstrated higher levels of anxiety assessed by the MMPI
      and better performance on the neurocognitive tests. The interaction effect of
      genotype and trait anxiety, measured with the STAI, on cognitive functions was
      identified. In patients with higher anxiety, the performance on cognitive tests
      did not depend on the genotype, while in patients with lower levels of anxiety
      the ValVal gen- otype was associated with the better performance. This effect
      should be taken into account when studying the association of the Val66Met
      polymorphism with cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia.

PMID- 25842829
TI  - [Introgression of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA markers of Mus musculus musculus
      to aboriginal populations of wild mice from central Asia (M. m. wagneri) and
      south Siberia (M. m. gansuensis)].
AB  - Variability of the nucleotide sequences of the second intron of the b1-chain of
      hemoglobin (Hbb-b1) and complete control region of mitochondrial DNA (D-loop) was
      studied in aboriginal and commensal populations of M. m. wagneri from Central
      Asia and M. m. gansuensis from South Siberia. A difference in frequency of the
      hemoglobin Hbb(w1) type for natural and urban populations of mice was shown. All
      mice from natural habitats of studied areas kept musculus-type of mtDNA.
      Apparently, the substitution of taxonpecific mitochondrial haplotypes of wagneri
      and gansuensis might occur due to absorbing hybridization with nominate
      subspecies musculus, what is consistent with the results on nuclear DNA (Hbb-b1
      gene) of this work. Two differentiated haplo groups among aboriginal subspecies
      wagneri were discovered first time (d = 0.01), one of which included house mice
      from Turkmenistan. This may indicate on mtDNA introgression from commensal forms
      of Turkmenistan into natural populations of Kazakhstan mice. The castaneus-type
      of mtDNA was detected in two individuals from the natural habitat of Kazakhstan
      and Turkmenistan, it had not been met in Central Asia before. It is suggested
      that the gene flow of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes in microevolution
      processes in M. musculus is directed from the commensal forms towards wild
      populations.

PMID- 25842830
TI  - [P28GANK is a novel marker for prognosis and therapeutic target in gastric
      cancer].
AB  - P28/PSMD10, a regulatory complex of the human 26S proteasome, plays a critical
      role in tumor genesis. This study was designed to clarify the clinical
      significance of p28GANK in gastric cancer. In order to demonstrate the importance
      of p28GANK expression for the prognosis of gastric cancer, p28GANK expression in
      124 paired cases of gastric cancer and noncancerous regions and immortal gastric
      epithelial cell GES-1 and 5 human gastric cancer cell lines was analyzed by RT
      PCR in real-time. MTT was used to observe the effect of P28GANK on cell growth.
      P28GANK expression was higher in gastric cancer tissues than in corresponding
      normal tissues (p = 0.0033), and patients comprising the group with p28GANK high
      expression had a poorer overall survival rate than those from the low expression
      group (p = 0.0037). Further, the results of multivariate analysis demonstrated
      that the high p28GANK expression was an independent prognostic factor of gastric
      cancer process. P28GANK expression was also up-regulated in five gastric cancer
      cell lines. As it has been shown by in vitro proliferation assay, p28GANK
      expression correlated with tumor growth. On the base results of present study one
      can suggests the p28GANK being useful as a predictive marker for patient
      prognosis and a novel therapeutic target for gastric cancer.

PMID- 25842831
TI  - [Lentivirus-mediated siRNA targeting sae1 induces cell cycle arrest and apop-
      tosis in colon cancer cell RKO].
AB  - Deregulated expression of proteins involved in the SUMOylation pathway has been
      detected in several tumors. SUMO1-activating enzyme subunit 1 (SAE1) plays an
      important role in this process. We found that SAE1 was highly expressed in the
      colon cancer cell line RKO and used lentivirus-mediated siRNA to suppress SAE1
      expressionin RKO cells. RNA-interference efficiently and specifically
      downregulated the target gene expression in RKO on both mRNA and protein levels.
      Silencing of SAE1 inhibited proliferation and reduced colony formation of RKO
      cells. Furthermore, as it has been shown by flow cytometry analysis, specific
      knockdown of SAE1 slowed down the cell population at G0/G1 phase and induced
      apoptosis of RKO cells. On the base of results obtained, one can suppose the
      biological significance of SAE1 in colon tumorigenesis and a use of this protein
      as a novel molecular target for colon cancer therapy.

PMID- 25842832
TI  - [A new immuno-PCR format for serological diagnosis of colon cancer].
AB  - Anew immuno-PCR format is described that is based on detection of membrane
      protein CDH17 in serum exosomes. Format application allows distinction between
      sera samples of healthy donors and colon cancer patients. Obtained results open a
      possibility of serological colon cancer diagnosis in high risk groups.

PMID- 25842833
TI  - [Cloning and characterization of lactate dehydrogenase C4 from pika ochotona
      curzoniae].
AB  - Lactate dehydrogenase C4 (LDH-C4) is considered to be a good target protein for
      the development of contraceptive drugs. To develop contraceptive rodenticide
      against pika (Ochotona curzoniae) LDH-C4, the pika LDH-C gene was cloned and
      expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant protein was purified and
      characterized. The cDNA of pika LDH-C gene was cloned by RACE method. The cDNA
      was 1498 bp in length containing an ORF of 996 bp which encoded a polypeptide of
      332 amino acids. The ORF of pika LDH-C was introduced in E. coli and expressed
      with no fusion tags added. The recombinant LDH-C4 protein was purified by
      heating, affinity chromatography and ion-exchange chromatography. The recombinant
      pika LDH-C4 was a tetramer with a molecular weight of approximately 140 kDa, and
      it had temperature-dependent catalytic activity, as it was thermally stable up to
      60 degrees C. The optimal pH values in the forward and backward reactions were
      around 7.48 and 10.28, respectively. The apparent Michaelis constants for
      pyruvate and lactate were 51.2 +/- 3.8 and 8568.8 +/- 409 microM respectively.
      The inhibition constant for oxalic acid was 11.8 +/- 3.5 mM. This study laid a
      solid foundation for contraceptive rodenticide development against pika LDH-C4.

PMID- 25842834
TI  - [Disparity of apoptotic response in human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA
      MB-231 after infection with recombinant adenovirus encoding the VP2 gene of
      infectious bursail disease virus].
AB  - Recombinant adenovirus encoding the VP2 gene of infectious bursal disease virus
      (ADV-VP2) has shown potent anti-tumour effects due to its capability of apoptotic
      induction in cancer cells. In the present study, human breast cancer cells MCF-7
      and MDA-MB-231 were infected with ADV-VP2. The expression of VP2 protein was
      registered 4 h post-infection, particularly in MCF-7 cells. Multiple time-point
      DNA ladder assay demonstrated that ADV-VP2 infected MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells
      endured apoptosis as early as 8 and 12 h post-infection, respectively. Apoptosis
      induction in both MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells, albeit different start points,
      lasted til 36 h post-infection. The induction of apoptosis by ADV-VP2 was further
      shown by the TUNEL assay, with dark brown discoloration of apoptotic cells. The
      present study also explored the different stages of apoptosis by Annexin V/PI
      double staining flow cytometry quantification. Treated MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231
      cells, respectively detected 25.58 +/- 9.02 and 14.51 +/- 3.12% of early
      apoptotic cells, 6.09 +/- 4.06 and 77.12 +/- 5.09% of late apoptotic cells.
      Results revealed that there were significant differences in the number of cells
      of both types which underwent early and late apoptosis. Significant differences
      were also observed among viable and apoptotic cells which have been post treated
      with ADV-VP2. The apoptotic effects of ADV-VP2 on human breast cancer cell lines
      were consistently demonstrated by three apoptosis detection methods. Therefore, a
      cancer vaccine basing on gene therapy could be developed in the near future using
      the present construct.

PMID- 25842835
TI  - [Comparative analysis of activity of different promoters for NIS gene expression
      in melanoma cells].
AB  - Development of targeted drug delivery system is key problem of cancer gene
      therapy. To ensure specific delivery of these therapeutic compounds to the tumor
      it is preferable for therapeutic gene expression to occur predominantly in cancer
      cells. Therefore, when testing drug in vivo, it is necessary to study
      distribution of therapeutic gene expression products in different tissues of the
      organism. Sodium iodide symporter (NIS) is attractive reporter because its tissue
      level is easily quantitatively detected by noninvasive imaging methods. Different
      promoters are used to direct expression of therapeutic genes in tumor cells:
      strong nonspecific, moderate tissue-specific and tumor-specific. Tumor-specific
      promoters function in wide range of tumor cells, however they are relatively
      weak. Relationship between promoter and sodium iodide symporter activity is
      unclear to date. In this report we examined activity of different promoters in
      two melanoma cell lines, functional activity of NIS driven by these promoters,
      also we compared promoter strength and NIS activity. We demonstrated that in
      spite of strong differences in promoter activity functional activity of NIS
      directed by these promoters varies weakly. Relatively weak melanoma-specific
      promoter directs high NIS activity in melanoma cell, however weaker cancer
      specific promoters drive high NIS activity only in certain melanoma cell line.

PMID- 25842836
TI  - [Transcription factor comr acts as a direct activator in the genetic program
      controlling spermatogenesis in D. melanogaster].
AB  - Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK). In Drosophila melanogaster
      differentiation of the male germ cells is accompanied by chromatin rearrangement
      and activation of the specific genes. These processes are regulated by few
      transcription factors that belong to two classes, can and aly that form distinct
      functional complexes. Mechanisms of action of aly and can class transcription
      factors on gene expression and chromatin state remain unclear. To investigate
      this question we have built the whole genome binding profile of transcription
      factor Comr belonging to aly class using the tissue-specific DamID method.
      Resulting datawere correlated with gene expression in comr (aly class) and can
      (can class) mutant testes. It was shown that Comr is a direct activator for about
      300 testis-specific genes. Furthermore a set of genes revealed decreased
      expression in comr mutants but did not bind Comr protein, suggesting the
      existence of secondary regulation. Indeed, among the Comr gene targets we found a
      gene coding an uncharacterized transcription factor that could be a secondary
      participant in the genetic pathway in spermatocytes. These date allowed us to
      advance a model of gene activation needed for male gametes differentiation in D.
      melanogaster.

PMID- 25842837
TI  - [RPN4 the yeast transcription factor promotes the complex defence against methyi,
      methanesulfonate].
AB  - Methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) is an alkylating agent commonly used in models of
      genotoxic stress. It methylates bases in DNA but also leads to oxidative stress.
      The transcription factor Rpn4 protects yeast cells from toxic effect of MMS.
      Although Rpn4 is a major regulator of ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), a number
      of data points to its participation in the stress response regardless of the UPS.
      We have demonstrated that under the methyl methanesulfonate stress Rpn4 promotes
      the regulation of several genes involved in DNA repair, antioxidant response and
      glucose metabolism. We suggest a mechanism of complex action of Rpn4 in the
      stress response.

PMID- 25842838
TI  - [Antirestriction activity of T7 Ocr protein in monomeric and dimeric forms].
AB  - The Ocr protein, encoded by 0.3 (ocr) gene of bacteriophage T7, belongs to the
      family of antirestriction proteins that specifically inhibit the type I
      restriction-modification systems. Native Ocr forms homodimer (Ocr)2 both in
      solution and in the crystalline state. The Ocr protein belongs to the family of
      mimicry proteins. F53D A57E and E53R V77D mutant proteins were obtained, which
      form monomers. It was shown that the values of the dissociation constants Kd for
      Ocr, Ocr F53D A57E and Ocr F53RV77D proteins with EcoKI enzyme differ in 1000
      times: Kd (Ocr) = 10(-10) M, Kd (Ocr F53D A57E and Ocr F53R V77D) = 10(-7) M.
      Antimodification activity of the Ocr monomeric forms is significantly reduced. We
      have shown, that Ocr dimeric form has fundamental importance for high inhibitory
      activity.

PMID- 25842839
TI  - [Gene expression analysis of familial hypercholesterolemia].
AB  - Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a common cause of a variety of
      cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to uncover the underlying
      mechanism of FH and provide a possible treatment project for FH. We tried to
      identify the differently expressed genes (DEGs) involved in FH by comparing the
      gene expression profiles between FH and normal cells. We performed GO and
      biological pathway analysis of differently expressed genes with DAVID. We
      searched for candidates for FH treatment by analyzing DEGs between normal cells
      and FH cells and compared the differences with the DEGs caused by the small
      interfering molecules in The Connectivity Map (CMap). Using a bioinformatics
      method, we identified the abnormal metabolic processes in the cells of FH
      patients, including cell adhesion, material transport, signal transduction and
      gene expression, and found that the small molecule trazodone could be a potential
      drug in restoring the dysregulated metabolic pathway. In conclusion, candidates
      for further evaluation as possible therapeutic agents for FH have been identified
      using bioinformatics analysis of differentially expressed genes. Phenotype
      targeting using genomic profiling is a rational approach to drug discovery, which
      provides a new guideline in treatment of FH and a potential new clinical drug for
      FH patients.

PMID- 25842840
TI  - [Mechanisms of targeted frameshift mutations--insertion formation under error
      prone or SOS synthesis of DNA containing CIS-SYN cyncyclobutane thymine dimers].
AB  - Up to now the mechanism of formation of frameshift mutations caused by
      cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers has not been yet explained satisfactorily.
      Mechanisms of different mutations are usually considered in polymerase model.
      Here, the alternative polymerase-tautomer model of ultraviolet mutagenesis is
      developed. The mechanism of targeted insertion formation caused by cis-syn
      cyclobutane thymine dimers is proposed. Insertions are mutations when one or
      several DNA bases are inserted.Targeted insertions are mutations of a frameshift
      type--when one or severalnucleotides are inserted opposite damageswhich may stop
      synthesis of DNA. Targeted insertions are induced bycyclobutane pyrimidine
      dimmers. Ultraviolet irradiation may result in a change of tautomer state of DNA
      bases. A thymine base may form 5 rare tautomer forms that are stable if the base
      is a part of cyclobutane dimer. As it was shown by structural analysis, one rare
      tautomeric form of thymine forms hydrogen bonds with no one canonical DNA base.
      Therefore, under SOS or error-prone synthesis of DNA containing cis-syn
      cyclobutane thymine dimers with such rare tautomeric_form a specialize or
      modified DNA polymerase leaves a single nucleotide gap opposite the cis-syn
      cyclobutane thymine dimer. According to Streisinger model, if the DNA composition
      within this region is homogeneous, the end of the growing DNA strand can slip and
      form complementary pairs with a template nucleotide neighboring to the dimer of
      such type a loop is formed. Further elongation of the daughter strand leads to
      the appearance of targeted insertion in the daughter strand. Here, it is first
      shown that cis-syn cyclobutane thymine dimers with one or both bases in the
      specific tautomer conformation--opposite which it is impossible to insert a
      canonical base with a hydrogen bond formation--results in targeted insertions.
      Moreover, the model of forming targeted single--and several-base insertions is
      developed. The polymerase-tautomer model of ultraviolet mutagenesis can explain a
      nature and mechanism of appearing not only hot and cold spots, targeted and
      untargeted base substitution mutations but also targeted frameshift mutations.

PMID- 25842841
TI  - [Ribosome: lessons of a molecular factory construction].
AB  - Ribosome is a macromolecular complex, which is responsible for protein
      biosynthesis. Two bacterial ribosomal subunits contain more than 4000 RNA
      nucleotides and 50 proteins. Ribosome assembly is a complicated multi-step
      process, vitally important for cell. In this review we summarised present-day
      conceptions about the mechanism of the bacterial ribosome assembly in the cell
      and in vitro model systems. Some details of the assembly of this machinery are
      still-unknown.

PMID- 25842842
TI  - [The role of PARP2 in DNA repair].
AB  - The genome stability of higher eukaryotes is mainly dependent on the functioning
      of the DNA repair systems. In turn, the precise regulation of each step of repair
      processes is required for efficient DNA repair. While at present the most
      pathways of DNA repair have been established already, but the mechanisms of DNA
      repair regulation are required further investigation. Poly(ADP-ribose)polymerases
      (PARPs) are widely considered as potential regulators of a DNA repair. The role
      of most prominent member of this protein family--PARP1--in DNA repair is
      intensively studied, while the literature data on participation in repair
      processes of PARP2--the closestPARP1 homolog--are poorly Sum- marized although a
      great body of information concerning PARP2 participation in DNA repair has
      accumulated.. Using PARP2-deficient model organisms and cell lines, their
      increased sensitivity to several DNA damage agents was elucidated. The
      accumulation of PARP2 at the DNA damage sites in cells was shown. There are data
      demonstrating protein-protein interaction of PARP2 with several base excision
      repair/single strand break repair and non-homologous end joining proteins. Most
      of the data on PARP2 role have been obtained in experiments with model organisms
      and cell lines so it is difficult to project the attribution of PARP2 influence
      to specific process in vivo. In this review, we tried to summarize data on PARP2
      participation in DNA repair processes, including our recent results.

PMID- 25842843
TI  - [Genome-wide association study as a method for genetic architecture analysis in
      polygenic diseases (by the example of multiple sclerosis)].
AB  - Genome-wide association study (GWAS), which is a powerful tool for investigating
      the genetic architecture of polygenic disease in humans, is generally applied for
      identification of genetic factors of disease susceptibility, clinical phenotypes
      and treatment response. The differences in allele frequencies of genome-wide
      distributedsingle nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are analyzed with microarray
      technique or other technologies, that allow simultaneous genotyping from tens'of
      thousands to several millions SNPs per sample. The power toexplore highly
      reliable differences between compared groups of patients aind controls allowed
      GWAS to become a common approach for identification of genetic susceptibility for
      complex diseases with polygenic nature. The main achievements and challenges of
      GWAS in multiple sclerosis (MS), which is a prototype example of complex disease,
      are reviewed here for identification of MS causative genes, which expand the
      knowledge on molecular mechanisms of MS pathogenesis and genetic risk factors.

PMID- 25842844
TI  - [Genetically modified animals as model systems of psoriasis].
AB  - Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune skin disorder. Experimental models of psoriasis
      can be used to study the disease in controlled conditions. Moreover, the
      experimental models allow to study a certain aspect of the pathological process.
      Although none of the multiple mouse models reproduces the human disease
      precisely, lab animals as model systems can be very helpful because of two
      reasons. First, introduction of new mutations into animal genome allows to reveal
      the new genes that may play a certain role in pathogenesis of the disease.
      Second, the experiments that are carried on the lab animals can be used for
      testing the new drugs and selection of the most efficient chemical agents from a
      variety of the proposed experimental preparations. The aim of this paper was to
      summarize the data on the lab animals that serve as experimental models of
      psoriasis.

PMID- 25842845
TI  - [Peroxyredoxins as multifunctional enzymes].
AB  - Peroxiredoxins are evolutionarily ancient, but relatively recently discovered
      group of seleniumindependent peroxidases. Peroxiredoxins protect cells from
      various peroxides and play an important role in maintaining the oxidation
      reduction homeostasis. Moreover, they are involved in many cellular processes
      that are not related to peroxidase activity. Here, recent data on the structure
      and function of peroxiredoxins, regulation of gene expression and activity of
      different peroxiredoxins are considered.

PMID- 25842846
TI  - [The association of polymorphisms in SLC18A1, TPH1 and RELN genes with risk of
      paranoid schizophrenia].
AB  - We have developed a biochip for the analysis of polymorphisms in candidate genes
      for schizophrenia: DISC1, RELN, ZNF804A, PLXNA2, COMT, SLC18A41, CACNA1C, ANK3,
      TPH1, PLAA and SNAP-25. Using biochip the allele and genotype frequencies in 198
      patients with schizophrenia and 192 healthy individuals have been obtained. For
      SLC18A1 polymorphism rs2270641 A>C, the frequencies of A allele (p = 0.007) and
      AA genotype (p = 0.002) were lower in patients compared with healthy individuals.
      A significant association was found between AA genotype (p = 0.036) of the TPH1
      polymorphism rs1800532 C>A and schizophrenia. The C allele (p = 0.039) of the
      RELNpolymorphism rs7341475 C>T were lower in patients with schizophrenia compared
      with healthy individuals in a tatar population. Genotype AA of the TPH1
      polymorphism rs1800532 C>A were more frequent in patients with schizophrenia
      compared with healthy individuals. Ithas been shown that the C allele (p =
      0.0001) and GC (p = = 0.0001) genotype of the PLXNA2 polymorphism rs1327175 G>C
      are associated with the family history in patients with paranoid schizophrenia.
      The obtained data suggest that SLC18A1, TPH1 and RELN gene polymorphisms are
      associated with the risk of paranoid schizophrenia.

PMID- 25842847
TI  - [Identification of hypervariable regions within the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic
      spacer region of Flavobacterium columnare and its application in assigning
      genomovar group to an individual strain].
AB  - Flavobacterium columnare is an important bacterial pathogen of fish with wide ge-
      netic variability within species. This intraspecies diversity has been termed as
      genomovars and genomovar groups on the basis of Restriction Fragment Length
      Polymorphisms of 16S rDNA and 16S-23S rDNA Intergenic Spacer Region (ISR),
      respectively. In this study, we demonstrate the source of genetic heterogeneity
      in the F. columnare by sequence analysis of ISR. Length of ISR sequences of
      different genomovars varied from 553 to 592 nucleotides, while the similarity
      among sequences ranged from 76.1 to 92.6%. A common ISR structure with tRNAAa and
      tRNAne embedded within the sequence was identified in all the genomovars ofF.
      columnare. The results show that strains of F. columnare can be categorized into
      five genomovar groups based on the heterogeneity in the ISR sequences. Of these,
      strains belonging to Genomovar I and II can be sub-divided into two groups each;
      while strains of Genomovar III belonged to one group. Sequence similarity between
      genomovar groups was lower for ISR (76.1-92.6%) as compared to 16S rDNA (96.1
      99.4%) indicating its ability to resolve closely related groups within the
      genomovars of F. columnare. The main source of variation between genomovar groups
      is the presence of three hyper variable regions (V1, V2 & V3) in the ISR Of the
      three, V3 was found to be the most heterogeneous region and was found to be
      useful in assigning genomovar group to an individual strain of F. columnare.

PMID- 25842848
TI  - [High level of expression and nuclear localization of RNA, transcribed from
      genome region, containing repetitive elements].
AB  - The non-coding and repetitive sequences constitute a great amount of higher
      eukaryotes genomes, but the elucidation of its role and mechanisms of action is
      now at the very beginning. Here we found, that internal telomeric repeats in
      Danio rerio are colocalized with some repetitive elements, namely, hAT and EnSpm
      repeats, which are highly represented in vertebrate genome. While investigating
      one of genome regions, containing two pairs of such repeats in close proximity we
      found, that it is transcribed. RNA-dependent structures, containing this
      sequence, were revealed in D. rerio fibroblast nuclei, which may serve as
      evidence of functional relevance of repetitive elements in genomes or of their
      transcripts.

PMID- 25842849
TI  - [Molecular polymorphism of IB-fructosidase SUC genes in the yeast].
AB  - SUC gees encoding bea-fructosidase has been investigated in the yeast genus
      Saccharomyces. We have determined nucleotide sequences of subtelomeric SUC3,
      SUCS, SUC7, SUC8, SUC9, S UCO10 genes of S. cerevisiae and SUCa gene o:f S.
      arboricola. Comparisns of nucleotid sequences of all known SUCgenes revealed
      predominance of transitions C-->T in the third codon position, Which are silent.
      The amilioacids sequences of p-fructosidases studied have identity of 88
      100%.4'Most divergent are SUCa (S.'arboricola) and SUCb (S. bayanus), having
      amino acid identity.with the other SUCproteins less than 92%. It wasdetermined
      that accumulation of the polymeric SUC genes takes place in industrial
      populations of S. cerevisiae, while the other Saccharomyces species (S.
      arboricola, S.:bayanus, S. cariocanuis, kudriavzevii, S. mikatae and S.
      paradoxus) each harbor only one SUCgene. Subtelomeric repeats of pructosidase
      SUCgenes cobetald appear in the genome of S. cerevisiae under the effect of
      selection in the course of their domestication.

PMID- 25842850
TI  - [The effect of topology of quorum sensing-related genes in Pectobacterium
      atrosepticumon their expression].
AB  - In prokaryotic genomes, the neighboring genes are often located on the
      complementary DNA strands and adjoin each other by their 5'- or 3'-ends or even
      overlap by their open reading frames. It was suggested that such gene topology
      hasfunctional purpose providing the regulation of their expression. For those
      genes that overlap by their coding 3'-termini this assumption has not been
      confirmed experimentally. In a broad group of bacteria that belong to
      proteobacteria such a convergent gene arrangement is typical for functionally
      connected quorum sensing-related genes "P" and "R" that encode synthases of N
      acyl homoserine lactones and their sensors, respectively. In the present study on
      the example of overlapping quorum sensing-related genes of plant pathogenic
      bacterium Pectobacterium atrosepticum SCRI1043--expI and expR it was shown that
      the topology of these genes determines the regula- tion of their expression.

PMID- 25842851
TI  - [Evaluating the mitochondrial dna copy number in leukocytes and adipocytes from
      metabolic syndrome patients: pilot study].
AB  - The metabolic syndrome is a complex of metabolic, hormonal and clinical
      disorders. Defects in mitochondrial functions play an important role in the
      metabolic syndrome pathogenesis. Here, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number
      variations were evaluated different fat tissue and peripheral blood leukocyte
      samples from metabolic syndrome patients ranked by, body mass indexes. It was
      elucidated a tendency in decreasing the mtDNA copy number with increasing a body
      mass index.

PMID- 25842852
TI  - [Interaction of DAXX and human papillomavirus type 16 E2 protein].
AB  - The aim of the study was to explore the interactions of human papilloma virus 16
      (HPV16) E2 protein and Daxx. The location or co-localization of PML and E2 with
      Daxx in Caski cells was observed by indirect immunofluorescence test. The
      interaction of E2 and Daxx was analyzed by co-immunoprecipitation, Western-blot
      and yeast-two hybrid assay. In Caski cells the fluorescence of Daxx or PML was
      mainly distributed in the cytoplasm or nucleus, respectively, and in the align
      image their signals did not overlapped. However, when the red signal of HPV16 E2
      and the green signal of Daxx in cyto- plasm of Caski cells were merged, the
      yellow signals appeared. The yeast co-transformed with pGBKT7/Daxx and pGADT7/E2
      or pGADT7/E2 TAD can grow onto SD/-Trp-Leu-His and SD/-Trp-Leu-His-Ade plates. So
      Daxx wasn't co-located with PML but with HPV16 E2 mainly in the cytoplasm of
      Caski cells. On the base of the results one can propose that HPV16 E2, in
      particularly its transcription-activity domain (TAD), interacts with Daxx.

PMID- 25842853
TI  - [High glucose promotes gap junctional communication in cultured neonatal cardiac
      fibroblasts via AMPK activation].
AB  - Cardiac fibroblasts are known to be essential for adaptiveresponses in the patho-
      genesis of cardiovascular diseases, and increased intercellular communication of
      myocardial cells and cardiac fibroblasts acts as a crucial factor in maintaining
      the functional integrity of the heart. AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) is a key
      stress signaling kinase, which plays an important role in promoting cell survival
      and improving cell function. However, the underlying link between AMPK and gap
      junctional communication (GJIC) is still poorly understood. In this study, a
      connection between AMPK and GJIC in high glucose-mediated neonatal cardiac
      fibroblasts was assessed using fibroblast migration, measurement of dye transfer
      and connexin43 (Cx43) expression. 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-beta-D
      ribofuranoside (AICAR) and Compound C (CC) were used to regulate AMPK activity.
      The levels of cell migration and Cx43 protein expression in neonatal cardiac
      fibroblasts increased during high glucose treatment, accompanied by developed dye
      transfer. In addition, high glucose induced abundant phosphorylation of AMPK.
      Suppression of AMPK phosphorylation using CC reduced dye transfer, cell migration
      and Cx43 protein expression in neonatal cardiac fibroblasts, whereas the
      activation of AMPK using AICAR mimicked the high glucose-mediated cell migration,
      Cx43 protein expression and dye transfer enhancement. AMPK appears to participate
      in regulating GJIC in high-glucose-treated neonatal cardiac fibroblasts,
      including cell migration, dye transfer, Cx43 expression and distribution.

PMID- 25842854
TI  - [Estimation of phosphorilation level of amyloid beta, extracted from human blood
      plasma. Ultra high resolution mass spectrometry].
AB  - Recently it has been shown that phosphorylation of the Ser8 residue in amyloid
      beta (pS8-Abeta) is tightly involved in the pathogenesis ofAlzheimer's disease.
      Since this modification occurs in the key metal-binding domain of amyloid-beta,
      and thus should seriously affect the interaction of pS8-Abeta with zinc ions,
      this isoform might be a potential precursor of pathogenic oligomeric forms of
      amyloid beta. Hence the level of pS8-Abeta in human biological fluids (such as
      blood, urine, cerebral spinal fluid) might resemble the different stages of the
      pathogenesis of Alzhe- imer's disease. The aim of this workwas to develop a
      prototype of an analytical method for quantitative determination of the level of
      pS8-Abeta isoform in binary mixtures with native amyloid-beta in order to further
      use it to determine the levels of phosphorylated amyloid-beta in blood plasma
      samples of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

PMID- 25842855
TI  - [Ribonucleases as antiviral agents].
AB  - Many ribonucleases (RNases) are able to inhibit the reproduction of viruses in
      infected cell cultures and laboratory animals, but molecular mechanisms of their
      antiviral activity remain unclear. The review observes the most known RNases
      which possess established antiviral effects, actually intracellular RNases (RNase
      L, MCPIPI protein, eosinophylic RNases) as well as exogenously applied ones
      (RNase A, BS-RNase, onconase, binase, synthetic RNases). Attention is given on
      two important but not always obligatory aspects in molecule of RNases, which have
      antiviral properties: catalytic activity and ability to the dimerization. The
      hypothetic scheme of virus elimination by exogenous RNases, that reflects
      possible types of interaction of viruses and RNases with a cell, is proposed. The
      evidence for RNases as classical components of immune defense which are
      perspective agents for development of new antiviral therapeutics is produced.

PMID- 25842856
TI  - [Methods of protein immunoanalysis].
AB  - This review describes current methods of protein immunoanalysis:
      radioimmunoanalysis, ELISA, immuno-PCR, electrochemical analysis and chromatin
      immunoprecipitation, as well as main areas of their application.

PMID- 25842857
TI  - [Anatlysis of HSPA1B A1267G gene polymorphism in peptic ulcer].
AB  - Peptic ulcer disease is a common illness, affecting a considerable number of
      people worldwide, and its occurrence can be influenced by environmental and
      genetic factors. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) function mostly as molecular
      chaperones, and are induced by various stresses. The A to G transition at
      position 1267 of the HSPA1B gene was shown to correlate with changes in the level
      of HSPA mRNA expression. Here, the relation between A1267G polymorphism of the
      HSPAIB gene and risk of peptic ulcer in the Iranian population was evaluated. One
      hundred subjects, who underwent gastroscopy, took part in the study. DNA samples
      extracted from the biopsy tissues were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction
      restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). After gastroscopy, peptic
      ulcer was diagnosed for 50 patients; among them the distribution of AA/AB/BB
      genotypes was 10, 88 and 2%, respectively. As for the other 50 subjects (without
      peptic ulcer) included in the control group, the AA/AB/BB genotypes were
      identified as 40, 52 and 8%, respectively. A significant association was found
      between the HSPA1B genotype and peptic ulcer (6.76 OR; 95% CI, 2.26-20.2; p =
      0.0006). Thus, the HSPA1B A1267G polymorphism may be a marker of susceptibility
      to peptic ulcer.

PMID- 25842858
TI  - [Coexpression of genes located in the 111.35-116.16 Mb of chromosome 13 in mice
      with different predisposition to catalepsy].
AB  - Catalepsy is a pathologic behavior which is usually associated with a dysfunction
      of striatal pallidal pathway and which can be caused by different mechanisms. It
      was showned previously that hereditary catalepsy is linked with the distal 111.35
      116.16 Mb of chromosome 13. We investigated the level of mRNA of 42 genes located
      in this fragment in two brain regions which are concerned with catalepsy-striatum
      and substantia nigra in catalepsy-resistant AKR mice strain, in cataleptic CBA
      mice strain and in congenic cataleptic AKR.CBA-D13Mit76 (D13) mice strain which
      were created by transferring of this fragment from CBA in AKR genome. We showed
      congenic D13 mice vary from AKR in level of mRNA of 2 genes (Ndufs4 and Ppap2a
      genes) in striatum and 10 genes (Esm1, Fst, Gm10735, Gm15322, Gm15323, Gm15324,
      Gm15325, Il6st, II31ra, Itga1) in sibstantia nigra. The level of mRNA of Mcidas
      gene is reduced in both brain regions in D13 compared to AKR. Gene expression of
      Hspb3 n Mocs2, which codes heat shock protein and, molybdenum cofactor synthesis,
      respectively, in substantia nigra is reduced in cataleptic CBA and D13 mice
      compared to catalepsy-resistant AKR mice. These genes can be considered as the
      most likely genes candidate of catalepsy. The revealed genes coexpression shows
      that there is a difficult genes network, which regulates hereditary catalepsy.

PMID- 25842859
TI  - [Molecular cloning, structural analysis, and expression of zona pellucida
      glycoprotein ZP3 gene from Chinese zokor, Myospalax fontanierii].
AB  - The zona pellucida 3 (ZP3) plays a crucial role in reproductive immunology. We
      obtained a full-length cDNA encoding Chinese Zokor zp3, using rapid amplification
      of cDNA ends-polymerase chain reaction (RACE-PCR). The cDNA contains an open
      reading frame of 1269 nucleotides encoding a polypeptide of 422 amino acid
      residues. The amino acid sequence has a high degree of homology with hamster
      (78%), mouse (76%), and rat (74%). XhoI and SacI sites restricted 1158 bp
      fragment of zokor ZP3 cDNA, excluding the signal sequence and transmembrane-like
      domain was cloned under the phage T7 promoterlac operator control in the pET
      28a(+) vector. Recombinant pET-zokorZP3 (r-ZP3) was expressed as a poly-histidine
      fusion protein in E. coli strain BL21 (DE3). Optimum expression of r-ZP3 was
      observed at 28 degrees C, 1 mM IPTG and 2 h of inducing. The purified protein was
      tested by Western blot.

PMID- 25842860
TI  - [[Length polymorphism of minisatellite repeat B2-VNTR of the bradykinin B2
      receptor gene in healthy Russians and in patients with coronary heart disease].
AB  - Bradykinin B2 receptor is involved in many processes, including the regulation of
      blood pressure and smooth muscle contraction, vasodilation, inflammation, edema,
      cell proliferation, pain. It is suggested that this receptor may be one of the
      factors that have cardioprotective and infarct-limiting effects. It is assumed
      that certain genetic variants in both coding and non-coding regions ofBDKRB2 gene
      may influence its expression. In the 3'-untranslated region of BDKRB2 exon 3 the
      minisatellite repeat B2-VNTR is located. B2-VNTR has previously been shown to
      affect the BDKRB2 mRNA stability. Therefore, it is important to perform the
      molecular genetic analysis of this minisatellite in patients with different forms
      of coronary heart disease in order to reveal possible associations between
      specific B2-VNTR alleles and certain clinical forms of coronary heart disease. In
      the present study, a comparative analysis of the allele and genotype frequencies
      of B2-VNTR was carried out in groups of healthy individuals and patients with two
      clinical forms of coronary heart disease (angina pectoris and myocardial
      infarction), ethnically Russian. The results of the B2-VNTR length polymorphism
      analysis indicate that this tandem repeat may be attributed to a class of low
      polymorphic and non-hypervariable minisatellite. In all analyzed groups we
      revealed three B2-VNTR alleles, consisting of 43, 38 and 33 repeat units. Alleles
      of 43 and 33 repeats were major in all investigated groups. No statistically
      significant differences were found in the B2-VNTR allele and genotype frequencies
      between men and women in control group, and also between healthy men and men with
      angina pectoris and myocardial infarction. Thus, B2-VNTR length polymorphism was
      not associated with these clinical forms of coronary heart disease in Russian
      men. However, we do not exclude the possibility of association between the B2
      VNTR short alleles (38 and 33 repeats) and cardioprotective effects of bradykinin
      B2 receptor in women with coronary heart disease. This hypothesis requires
      further investigation.

PMID- 25842861
TI  - [Linkage disequilibrium and haplotypes of rs1042522, rs1625895 and rs17878362
      gene TP53 markers in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma].
AB  - Association of rs1042522, rs17878362 and rs1625895 markers with non-Hodgkin's
      lymphoma risk is not well studied. Large number of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
      entities, as well as a small effect of each of the polymorphisms on the lymphomas
      risk, leads to the analyses of these markers in each of histological subtypes of
      lymphoma and to study the polymorphisms in the haplotype groups. The goal of this
      work was to analyze the frequency, haplotypes and linkage disequilibrium of
      rs1042522, rs1625895 and rs17878362 in the patients with diffuse large B-cell
      lymphoma and in control group. The differences in the structure of LD between
      rs17878362, rs1042522 and rs1625895 TP53 gene in the population of the Siberian
      region were shown. Haplotype approach wasmore informative in the analyses of
      association of the gene TP53 polymorphisms and the diffuse large B-cell lymphomas
      risk in case-control study than the study of each polymorphism. The association
      of haplotype wArgG with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma risk, and the protective
      effect of haplotypes wProG or dupProG were identified. The difference in the
      effects of the haplotype TP53 was noted depending on the homozygous or
      heterozygous diplotype.

PMID- 25842862
TI  - [Glutamate receptors genes polymorphism and the risk of paranoid schizophrenia in
      Russians and tatars from the Republic of Bashkortostan].
AB  - Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that affects about 1% of the world
      population, leading to disability and social exclusion. Glutamatergic
      neurotransmission is a violation of one of the main hypotheses put forward to
      explain the neurobiological mechanisms of schizophrenia. Post mortem studies have
      found changes in the degree of affinity glutamate receptors, their transcription,
      and altered expression of their subunits in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus,
      and thalamus in patients with schizophrenia. As a result of genetic studies of
      gene family encoding ionotropic AMPA and kainate glutamate receptors in
      schizophrenia, ambiguous results were received. The association of polymorphic
      variants of genes GRIA2 and GRIK2 with paranoid schizophrenia and response to
      therapy with haloperidol in Russian and Tatar of the Republic of Bashkortostan
      was conducted in the present study. DNA samples of 257 patients with paranoid
      schizophrenia and of 349 healthy controls of Russian and Tatar ethnic group
      living in the Republic of Bashkortostan were involved into the present study. In
      the result of the present study: (1) high risk genetic markers of paranoid
      schizophrenia (PSZ) were obtained: in Russians-GR4IA2*CCC (OR = 9.60) and in
      Tatars-GRIK2*ATG (OR = 3.5), GRIK2*TGG (OR = 3.12) (2) The following low risk
      genetic markers of PSZ were revealed: in Tatars-GRIA2*T/T (rs43025506) of GRIA2
      gene (OR = 0.34); in Russians.- GRIA2*CCT (OR = 0.481). (3) Genetic markers of
      low haloperido! treatment efficacy in respect of negative and positive symptoms
      GRIK2*T/T (rs2227281) of GRIK2 gene and GRAL42*C/C in Russians, GRIK2*A/A
      (rs995640) of GRIK2 gene in Tatars. (4) Genetic markers of low haloperidol
      treatment efficacy in respect of positive symptoms GRL42*C/C in Russians. The
      results of the present study support the hypothesis of the involvement of
      glutamate receptor genes in schizophrenia pathway. Considerable inter
      ethnic'diversity of genetic risk factors for this disease was revealed.

PMID- 25842863
TI  - [Developmental expression of Arabidopsis methyltransferase genes MET1, DRM2 and
      CMT3].
AB  - Cytosine methylation is an epigenetic mark found in the genome of fungi, plants,
      and animals. DNA methylation is catalyzed by DNA methyltransferases. The function
      of DNA methyltransferases was shown to be highly conversed, but biological role
      of these enzymes has not been clearly defined. We generated transgenic plants
      expressing METHYLTRANSFERASES::GUS reporter genes for three major DNA
      methyltransferases (MET1, DRM2 and CMT3) to gain insight into the potential
      physiological relevance of the distinct members of the DNA methyltransferase
      family in Arabidopsis thaliana, and to investigate the expression patterns in
      detail. We found that METHYLTRANSFERASE::GUS genes display unique tissue, cell
      type, and temporal patterns of expression throughout normal development,
      particularly in the flower. Our findings are supported by semi-quantitative
      reverse-transcription PCR, as well as by analyses of microarray databases. These
      data suggest that DNA methyltransferase may contribute to morphogenesis at every
      developmental stage and in every plant organ.

PMID- 25842864
TI  - [Prion-like determinant [NSI+] decreases expression of the SUP45 gene in
      Saccharomyces cerevisiae].
AB  - Previously, we described and characterized yeast non-chromosomal determinant
      [NSI+], possessing prion properties. This determinant causes a decrease in
      translation termination fidelity, which is phenotypically detectable as the
      nonsense suppression in the strains with decreased functional activity of eRF3
      release factor. As a result of geneticscreen, we demonstrated that an increase in
      the expression of SUP45 encoding the eRF1 release factor (Sup45), masks, but does
      not eliminate nonsense suppression in the [NSI+] strains. In the present study,
      we first demonstrated the direct cause for the nonsense suppression in [NSI+]
      strains. We demonstrated that [NSI+] decreases the relative amounts of SUP45 mRNA
      that causes a decrease in the amounts of Sup45 protein that is detectable in the
      stationary growth phase. The data obtained suggest the structural protein of
      [NSI+] seems to be either a transcription factor or participates in the
      regulation of cellular mRNA stability.

PMID- 25842865
TI  - [Analysis of tissue-specific differentially methylated genes with differential
      gene expression in non-small cell lung cancer].
AB  - Adenocarcinoma (ADC) and squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) are two subtypes of non
      small cell lung carcinomas which are regarded as the leading cause of cancer
      related malignancy worldwide. The aim of this study is to detect the
      differentially methylated loci (DMLs) and differentially methylated genes (DMGs)
      of these two tumor sets, and then to illustrate the different expression level of
      specific methylated genes. Using TCGA database and Illumina HumanMethylation 27
      arrays, we first screened the DMGs and DMLs in tumor samples. Then, we explored
      the BiologicalProcess terms of hypermethylated and hypomethylated genes using
      Functional Gene Ontology (GO) catalogues. Hypermethylation intensively occurred
      in CpG-island, whereas hypomethylation was located in non-CpG-island. Most SCC
      and ADC hypermethylated genes involved GO function of DNA dependenit regulation
      of transcription, and hypomethylated genes mainly 'enriched in the term of immune
      responses. Additionally, the expression level of specific differentially
      methylated genesis distinctbetween ADC and SCC. It is concluded that ADC and SCC
      have different methylated status that might play an important role in
      carcinogenesis.

PMID- 25842866
TI  - [Dynamic properties of germinal granule ping-body in the testes of Drosophila
      melanogaster].
AB  - Here we investigated dynamic properties of the piNG-body, large perinuclear
      granule that was discovered previously in spermatocytes of Drosophila. The piNG
      body contains ribonucleoprotein complexes involved in piRNA-silencing of genome
      repeats including transposons in premeiotic spermatocytes with aid of short
      piRNAs. Confocal microscopy of fixed and native preparations demonstrates that
      the piNG-body is mobile structure which does not occupy a stationary position
      near nuclear surface relative to chromosomal territories. FRAP-analysis reveals a
      high exchange rate of RNA helicase Vasa in the piNG-body and small perinuclear
      granules with the cytozol Vasa pool. Disruption of microtubule assembly of
      cytoskeleton does not affect to stability of the piNG-body and small granules. We
      suppose that the combination of piNG-body mobility and permanent molecular
      exchange of Vasa protein provides an efficient "scanning" of total volume of the
      cytoplasm of primary spermatocytes and timely recognition and destruction of
      unwanted transcripts of the repetitive elements of genome.

PMID- 25842867
TI  - [RNA-silencing of anionic peroxidase gene decreases the potato plant resistance
      to Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary].
AB  - Transformed potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants expressing the antisense
      fragment of M21334 gene were estimated. In transgenic plants the decrease of
      anionic isoperoxidase pI - 3.5 activity was detected. So, the data testify that
      M21334 gene encodes this isoperoxidase. Decrease of lignin accumulation and
      dramatic decline of resistance of transgenic potato plants to the late blight
      agent Phytophthora infestans emphasize an importance of isoperoxidase pI - 3.5 in
      defense reaction against late blight.

PMID- 25842868
TI  - [Stimulation of proliferation by carnosine: cellular and transcriptome
      approaches].
AB  - Concentration of endogenous dipeptide carnosine in human muscle tissue reaches
      tens of millimoles. For more than 100 years of research, a lot of data concerning
      carnosine functions were accumulated, among which anti-aging effects are regarded
      most important. Heire, effect of carnosine in cell cultures was studied. It has
      been found that apart from the known action--an increase of the Hayflick limit
      and morphological rejuvenation--carnosine stimulates cell division in colony
      forming assays and in the course of transition of cells to the quiescent state.
      The analysis of the transcriptome showed that carnosine-induced changes are
      mainly related to positive regulation of the cell cycle at all levels, from the
      onset of the DNA synthesis to chromosome condensation. One can suppose that the
      revealed stimulation of the cell cycle account for the carnosine-induced
      rejuvenation processes and a high concentration ofcarnosine in muscle tissue is
      required for the muscle recovery (regeneration) after excess loads.

PMID- 25842869
TI  - [2'fluoro derivatives of nucleosides as substrates of viral replicative
      nucleotide polymerases].
AB  - Substrate specificities of three viral replicative polymerases of different
      origins (HIV reverse transcriptase, hepatitis C virus RNA polymerase, and herpes
      virus DNA polymerase) towards 2'F-NTP were studied. Activated DNA, polyA-oligoUs
      and (2'F-A)20-oligoU6-complexes were used as templates. It was shown that all DNA
      polymerases studied can incorporate 2'F-NMP into the 3'-end of primer-template
      complexes. HIV reverse transcriptase and herpes virus DNA polymerase can elongate
      synthesis with both dNTP and 2'F-NTP. Homopolymer (2'F-A)20 can serve as a
      template for polymerization of both UTP and 2'F-UTP,-catalyzed by hepatitis C
      virus polymerase although with efficacy about 5 to 10-fold lower in comparison
      with natural primertemplate complex. Pyrophosphorolysis reaction of 2'F-CMP
      residue at 3'-end of primer catalyzed with HIV reverse transcriptase is going by
      two orders of magnitude less effective if compared with natural dNMP residue at
      the same system.

PMID- 25842870
TI  - [[correlation between macro- and micro-stability C(H)2 domains of human IgG2 and
      their biological activity. II. Calculation of thermodynamic functions
      characterizing domains stability].
AB  - The thermodynamic parameters of the stabilization of the native structure C(H)2
      domains of human myeloma immunoglobulin LOM and SIN second subclass and their
      firstly obtained hFc fragments were determined using the methods of scanning
      microcalorimenry. A decrease in the termal stability and energy stability of the
      native of these domains in the intact proteins correlated in the "phisiological"
      range of temperatures (20-37 degrees C), mainly, with entropy factor.

PMID- 25842872
TI  - [RANDTRAN: random transcriptome sequence generator that accounts for partition
      specific features in eukaryotic mRNA datasets].
AB  - The generation of true random and pseudorandom control sequences is an important
      problem of computational biology. Available random sequence generators differ in
      underlying probabilistic models that often remain undisclosed to users. Random
      sequences produced by differing probabilistic models substantially differ in
      their outputs commonly used as baselines for evaluations of the motif
      frequencies. Moreover, modern bioinformatics studies often require generation of
      matching control transcriptome with emulated partitions into ORFs, 5'- and 3'
      UTRs as well as the proportion of non-coding RNAs within model transcriptome
      rather than relatively simple continuous control sequences. Here we describe
      novel random sequence generating tool RANDTRAN that accounts for the length
      distribution of 5' and 3' non-translated regions in given transcriptome and the
      partition-specific di- and trinucleotide compositions in translated and non
      translated regions. RANDRAN presents matching control transcriptomes in ready-to
      use UCSC genome browser-compatible input files. These features may be useful for
      generating of control sequence sets for common types of computational analysis of
      various sequence motifs within various sets of RNA. RANDTRAN is available for
      free download at http://www.genereseairch.ru/images/Randtran.rar.

PMID- 25842871
TI  - [Stimulation of DNA molecules association with amphiphilic derivatives of 1,3
      diazaadamantane containing hydrophobic side chanins].
AB  - Earlier, a new class of compounds--amphiphilic derivatives of 1,3
      diazaadamantanes, capable of facilitating the strand exchange in the system of
      short oligonucleotides was revealed. Longer hydrophobic side chains of 1,3
      diazaadamantanes promoted stronger acceleration of the reaction. In this study,
      interaction with DNA of two 1,3-diazaadamantane derivatives containing different
      side chains was investigated by use of optical methods. Concentration of the
      investigated 1,3-diazaadamantans micelles formation were determined by the means
      of monitoring fluorescence intensity enhancement of 1-anilinonaphtalene-8
      sulphonate probe; as well as the ranges of concentrations where the
      compounds/water mixtures existed as true solutions. 1,3-diazaadamantanes affinity
      to DNA was determined with Fluorescent Intercalator Displacement (FID) approach.
      Significant increase in hydrodynamic volume of short DNA hairpins in the
      complexes with 1,3-diazaadamantanes was revealed by estimation of the
      fluorescence polarization of ethidium bromide probe bound to the hairpins.
      Intermolecular association of DNA hairpins upon binding with 1,3-diazaadamantans
      was confirmed by Forster resonance energy transfer in system of an equimolar
      mixture of fluorescently labeled with Cy-3 and Cy-5 hairpins. In this study, the
      number of positive charges at 1,3-diazaadamantane derivatives containing side
      chains of different lengths was demonstrated to affect their affinity to DNA,
      whereas longer length of the hydrophobic side chains ensured more efficient
      interaction between the DNA duplexes that may facilitate, in particular, DNA
      strand exchange.

PMID- 25842873
TI  - [Affinity chromatography and proteomic screening as the effective method for
      S100A4 new protein targets discovery].
AB  - Affinity chromatography followed by a selective binding proteins identification
      can be using as effective method for a biological impotent interactions
      discovery. The molecular structure and their surface charge as and conformational
      regulation possibilities, which change their surface hydrophobic properties, all
      they should to taken in account during method optimization process. With the
      same' method we had identify some new S100A4 target proteins such as cytoskeleton
      proteins Sept2, Sept7, Sept11 and this interaction would can to highlight as
      S100A4 would regulate cell motility. Even we had identify the transcription
      cofactor Ddx5 and through such complex formation a S100A4 protein would can to
      regulate E-cadherin, p21 Waf1/Cip1), Bnip3 gene expression. The same protocol can
      be using for a target proteins search with another S100 protein family members,
      because their molecules demonstrate a high homology level in amino aside
      sequences and 3D structures.

PMID- 25842874
TI  - [Tactics of "damage control" in the injured persons with severe combined trauma
      of abdominal organs].
AB  - In the clinic in 2000 - 2013 yrs of 42 injured persons with severe combined
      trauma of abdominal organs were treated, in 18 of them the method of a multi
      staged treatment (damage control) with a short-term operative intervention on the
      first stage was applied, what permitted to lower postoperative lethality by
      22.3%, and rate of purulent-septic complications--by 18.1%.

PMID- 25842875
TI  - [Prophylaxis and treatment of postoperative complications of abdominoplasty].
AB  - Results of abdominoplasty conduction in 206 patients were analyzed. Early
      postoperative complications are studied and methods of their prophylaxis are
      elaborated. Minimization of the local complications rate was achieved due to
      estimation of the anterior abdominal wall state, its angioarchitectonics, the
      apparatus control of PO2 in cutaneous-subcutaneous flap, rational combination of
      dermolipectomy and liposuction, prophylaxis of microcirculation disorders. In
      detailed analysis of remote, first of all, esthetic results of the anterior
      abdominal wall plasty we have concluded about necessity of the state estimation
      of surrounding anatomic structures. While planning and conduction of the anterior
      abdominal wall plasty it is mandatory to take into account the pubis subcutaneous
      layer width, as well as lateral regions of abdominal wall, pelvis and costal
      arcs, the form and localization of costal arcs, especially of XII rib and a
      vertebral column form. Such approach have secured the operation esthetic level
      raising, reduction of local complications rate, permitted more trustworthy to
      prognosticate the outcome.

PMID- 25842876
TI  - [Early enteral therapy in complex of treatment in patients, suffering acute small
      intestinal ileus].
AB  - Results of complex treatment of patients, suffering acute small intestinal ileus,
      using early enteral therapy via probe, were presented.

PMID- 25842877
TI  - [Peculiarities of enterosorption via nasointestinal probe using sorbent
      diosmectite].
AB  - Peculiarities of conduction of enterosorption, using sorbent diosmectit via
      nasointestinal probe, were analyzed in patients, suffering peritonitis in acute
      ileus. The data obtained witness positive dynamics of indices of endogenic
      intoxication and antiendotoxic immunity while application of sorbent.

PMID- 25842878
TI  - [The method of mucosectomy of rectal stump in reconstructive surgery of ulcer
      colitis].
AB  - The method of coloproctectomy performance with formation of a J-like ileal
      reservoire and ileoanal anastomosis, using welding mucosectomy and protective
      ileostomy, was proposed. Application of the method guarantees complete excision
      of the rectal stump mucosa, what excludes the risk of the stump inflammation
      occurrence, as a sign of residual ulcer colitis in immediate and late
      postoperative period. Functional results in this setting are not worsen.

PMID- 25842879
TI  - [Late results of surgical treatment in patients, suffering complicated forms of
      chronic pancreatitis].
AB  - Late results of treatment were analyzed in 58 patients, suffering complicated
      forms of chronic pancreatitis, to whom draining and resectional-draining surgical
      interventions were performed. On average the patients age was (49.90 +/- 8.59)
      yrs, there were 42 (72.4%) men and 16 (27.6%) women. During period of the 3 yrs
      postoperative follow- up in the patients the pain syndrome severity have reduced
      essentially and quality of life improved, comparing with those indices after
      resectional-draining interventions.

PMID- 25842880
TI  - [Local fibrinolytic therapy in complex of surgical treatment of the brain
      arterial aneurism in acute period of hemorrhagic insult].
AB  - Hemorrhagic insult (HI) with formation of intracranial hemorrhage of various
      anatomic form constitutes a typical clinical sign of the brain arterial aneurism
      rupture. Surgical intervention is the only one method of treatment in such
      patients. Some of them need performance of a one-staged or multi-staged operative
      interventions, directed on devascularization of the brain arterial aneurisms,
      evacuation or drainage of intracranial hemorrhage. One of physiological and
      perspective methods of clinical situation improvement is a local fibrinolytic
      therapy (LFTH) in complex of surgical treatment of the brain arterial aneurisms.
      Retrospective cohort investigation was performed in the clinic in 2012 - 2014 yrs
      on 86 patients with the objective to determine expediency, efficacy and
      perspective of LFTH application in complex of surgical treatment of the brain
      arterial aneurisms in acute period of HI. There was established the effectiveness
      and perspectivity of LFTH in complex of surgical treatment of the brain arterial
      aneurisms in acute period of HI, not depending on method of its devascularization
      and positive impact on general results of the patients treatment.

PMID- 25842881
TI  - [Metabolic support in surgical treatment in patients with stenotic impairment of
      carotid arteries].
AB  - Clinical effectiveness of metabolic support in surgical treatment of patients,
      suffering stenotic affection of carotid arteries, was estimated. Neoton
      intraoperative injection inside internal carotid artery have promoted improvement
      of metabolism in ischemized brain tissues, reduction of metabolic acidosis
      severity, and preservation of normal bioelectrical activity of the brain.
      Expediency of prolongation of clinical investigation for intraoperative
      prophylaxis of reperfusional brain tissue damage, while surgical treatment of
      patients, suffering stenotic affection of carotid arteries, using metabolic
      support, was discussed.

PMID- 25842882
TI  - [Antibodies to Hsp60 in newborn babies, to whom during the intervention for
      critical inborn heart failure, autologous cord blood was transfused, in early and
      late postoperative period].
AB  - The titre of antibodies to Hsp60 (heat shock protein) enhancement in the blood
      serum is considered a biological marker of poor state of organism. Comparative
      investigation was done on the antibodies titre to Hsp60 in the blood serum of a
      newborn babies, suffering critical inborn heart failure, to whom autologous cord
      blood or the donor's blood components was transfused, in early and remote
      postoperative period. In early postoperative period the lowering of the
      antibodies titre to Hsp60 in the blood serum was observed in comparison with them
      preoperatively, in a late period (in 2 yrs) in all the blood serum samples
      investigated antibodies to Hsp60 were not revealed. In 35% of patients, to whom
      the donor's blood components were transfused, there was registered the
      enhancement of the antibodies to Hsp60 titre in early postoperative period. High
      titre of antibodies have associated with enhanced rate of complications. In late
      postoperative period antibodies to Hsp60 were revealed in 20% of the examined
      patients.

PMID- 25842883
TI  - [Atherosclerosis of ascending aorta as a risk factor for neurological
      complications occurrence in surgical treatment of the ischemic heart disease].
AB  - Own experience of the ischemic heart disease (IHD) surgical treatment, combined
      with the ascending aorta (AA) atherosclerosis, was analyzed. Basing on results of
      surgical treatment for IHD there were noted mostly informative methods of
      diagnosis of the AA atherosclerotic affection severity and optimal approaches to
      surgical treatment of such patients.

PMID- 25842884
TI  - [Complications of endovascular interventions in patients, suffering critical
      ischemia of the lower extremities tissues].
AB  - Results of endovascular treatment of 315 patients, suffering critical ischemia of
      the lower extremities tissues, were analyzed. In 45 patients complications have
      occurred after performance of 349 endovascular interventions, for critical
      ischemia of the lower extremities tissues. Possibilities of treatment of
      perioperative complications, using endovascular and open surgical methods, are
      shown.

PMID- 25842885
TI  - [Immune status of patients after splenectomy, performed for the spleen traumatic
      injury in remote terms and choice of preparations for its correction].
AB  - Immune status was analyzed in 28 patients in remote period after splenectomy. In
      accordance to immunological data obtained in splenectomy patients, inhibition of
      cellular chain of speciphic and natural immunity was noted on background of
      hyperactivation of its humoral chain with signs of autoimmune processes. In such
      patients, while immunomodulators selection, the mostly pronounced stimulating
      impact was noted in immunoglobulin; of sorbents the most binding capacity has
      rheopolyglukin. This opens further perspectives of postsplenectomy patients
      treatment, using immunomodulating and elimination correction of the disorders
      revealed. Expediency of application of rheopolyglukin and immunoglobulin in
      contents of eliminating amed immunomodulating therapy was substantiated. Studying
      of peculiarities of immune status constitute a perspective way in the patients,
      in whom various variants of organpreserving tactics while surgical interventions
      on spleen were applied.

PMID- 25842886
TI  - [Orthopedic treatment of the shoulder joint impairment in patients with
      rheumatoid arthritis].
AB  - Brachial joint affection in patients, suffering rheumatoid arthritis, occupies a
      third place after such of the elbow and the hand. Due to significant reduction of
      a freedom degree, caused by inflammation, the upper extremity looses function of
      active instrument for the items transposition. Volume of surgical treatment of
      such patients depends on stage of the process. On early stages arthroscopic
      synovectomy of brachial joint is performed and on the late--endoprosthesis. Late
      results of the treatment are mainly positive. Satisfactory results are based,
      predominantly, on raising of activity of general rheumatoid inflammation.

PMID- 25842887
TI  - [Evaluation of intestinal viability on a simulation model of a small ileus based
      on determination of dielectric parameters].
AB  - Interrelationship between dielectric parameters and level of ATPH before and
      during ischemia, as well as with indices of survival after elimination of
      strangulation, was estimated on a simulation model of strangulation ileus in
      rats. The data obtained permit to suppose, that parameter tg deltam may be used
      as effective noninvasive criterion of diagnosis in real time for estimation of
      the intestinal wall state in strangulation. Resection of the infringed intestine
      without elimination of strangulation is necessary in tg deltam less than 2.20, in
      tg deltam more than 2.36 the elimination of infringement is indicated, because
      there exist possibility to restore intestinal function after ischemic-reperfusion
      injury. Tactics of treatment in intermediate meanings of tg deltam is not
      determined, but its measurement before reperfusion may help in estimation of a
      small intestine viability and choice of surgical tactics in its ischemia.

PMID- 25842888
TI  - [Investigation of simple and complex prelamination of vascularized flaps in
      experiment].
AB  - Prelamination, permitting improvement not esthetics only, but also function of
      the damaged region, to create necessary, by contents and configuration,
      vascularized complexes of tissues, is applied for effective treatment of complex
      defects in tissues. In experiment on laboratory animals for prelamination of
      vascularized flaps were applied separate and combined placement of mucosal and
      cartilaginous autotransplants. Results of the investigation witness possibility
      and efficacy of creation of content--component complexes of tissues, owing
      necessary characteristics for their further application in the clinic during
      performance of reconstructive interventions.

PMID- 25842889
TI  - [Investigation of adhesive properties of polypropylene net prosthesis "ESPERA"].
AB  - Adhesive towards the cells properties of three polypropylene net prostheses
      (PNP), manufactured by "Espera", with the slots size 1 x 1 mm, 2 x 2 mm, 2 x 4 mm
      and one specimen (the slot diameter 1 mm) on the oxycellulose background, were
      tested for prognostication of hernioplasty results, using nonresorbable PNP. The
      adhesion degree and peculiarities of cellular line, obtained from embryonal
      kidney of pig, put on the tested nets specimen in conditions of cultivation
      during 5 - 10 days were estimated, using inverted microscope in regime of phasic
      contrast. The data obtained witness the lowered cellular adhesion towards PNP
      "Espera" without oxycellular background. The net processing, using components of
      extracellular matrix, as well as presence of the oxycellulose fragments,
      facilitate the PNP ingrowth by connective tissue.

PMID- 25842890
TI  - [Restitution of bioactive ceramic material "Syntekost" by a newly evolved bone in
      experiment].
AB  - Peculiarities of reparative processes of bioactive ceramic material "Syntekost",
      as well as reaction of structures of internal ear on these material, transplanted
      on osteal bulla in guinea pigs for experimental model of antromastoidotomy
      creation, were studied up. The signs of its resorbtion were mild, and these
      processes not always paralleled the osteal tissue evolvement. A newly formed
      osteal beams were observed up to 90-th day. In terms up to 12 mo there were
      preserved practically unchanged groups of granules of ceramic implanted material.
      New bone have evolved in a kind of foci in a distance from internal surface of
      osteal bulla. Inflammation or ototoxic impact of the material on structures of
      internal ear were not observed.

PMID- 25842891
TI  - [Military--medical doctrine of the Ukraine (project)].

PMID- 25842892
TI  - [Possibilities of surgical correction of metabolic syndrome as a comorbid factor
      for the obstetrics-gynecological diseases].

PMID- 25842893
TI  - [Observation of perforation of gastric ulcer in a giant hiatal hernia].

PMID- 25842894
TI  - [Treatment of gastrointestinal stromal jejunal tumor].

PMID- 25842895
TI  - [Probability of incidence of abdominal adhesional process in peritonitis,
      depending on the sanation preparation applied].

PMID- 25842896
TI  - [XIV Annual Scientific Conference with international participation. "Surgery
      wounds. Emergency and elective surgery, the use of electric welding of living
      tissues. Innovations in surgery wounds, diabetic foot syndrom and joints"].

PMID- 25842897
TI  - Diversity of diazotrophic gut inhabitants of pikas (Ochotonidae) revealed by PCR
      DGGE analysis.
AB  - Diazotrophic gut symbionts are considered to act as nitrogen providers for their
      hosts, as was shown for various termite species. Although the diet of lagomorphs,
      like pikas or rabbits, is very poor in nitrogen and energy, their fecal matter
      contains 30-40% of protein. Since our hypothesis was that pikas maintained a
      diazotrophic consortium in their gastrointestinal tract, we conducted the first
      investigation of microbial diversity in pika guts. We obtained gut samples from
      animals of several Ochotona species, O. hyperborea (Northern pika), O.
      mantchurica (Manchurian pika), and O. dauurica (Daurian pika), in order to
      retrieve and compare the nitrogen-fixing communities of different pika species.
      The age and gender of the animals were taken into consideration. We amplified 320
      bp long fragments of the nifH gene using the DNA extracted directly from the
      colon and cecum samples of pika's gut, resolved them by DGGE, and performed
      phylogenetic reconstruction of 51 sequences obtained from excised bands. No
      significant difference was detected between the nitrogen-fixing gut inhabitants
      of different pika species. NifH sequences fell into two clusters. The first
      cluster contained the sequences affiliated with NifH Cluster I (Zehr et al.,
      2003) with similarity to Sphingomonas sp., Bradyrhizobium sp., and various
      uncultured bacteria from soil and rhizosphere. Sequences from the second group
      were related to Treponema sp., Fibrobacter succinogenes, and uncultured clones
      from the guts of various termites and belonged to NifH Cluster III. We suggest
      that diazotrophic organisms from the second cluster are genuine endosymbionts of
      pikas and provide nitrogen for further synthesis processes thus allowing these
      animals not to be short of protein.

PMID- 25842899
TI  - Application of bioinformatics tools and databases in microbial dehalogenation
      research (a review).
AB  - Microbial dehalogenation is a biochemical process in which the halogenated
      substances are catalyzed enzymatically in to their non-halogenated form. The
      microorganisms have a wide range of organohalogen degradation ability both
      explicit and non-specific in nature. Most of these halogenated organic compounds
      being pollutants need to be remediated; therefore, the current approaches are to
      explore the potential of microbes at a molecular level for effective
      biodegradation of these substances. Several microorganisms with dehalogenation
      activity have been identified and characterized. In this aspect, the
      bioinformatics plays a key role to gain deeper knowledge in this field of
      dehalogenation. To facilitate the data mining, many tools have been developed to
      annotate these data from databases. Therefore, with the discovery of a
      microorganism one can predict a gene/protein, sequence analysis, can perform
      structural modelling, metabolic pathway analysis, biodegradation study and so on.
      This review highlights various methods of bioinformatics approach that describes
      the application of various databases and specific tools in the microbial
      dehalogenation fields with special focus on dehalogenase enzymes. Attempts have
      also been made to decipher some recent applications of in silico modeling methods
      that comprise of gene finding, protein modelling, Quantitative Structure
      Biodegradibility Relationship (QSBR) study and reconstruction of metabolic
      pathways employed in dehalogenation research area.

PMID- 25842898
TI  - [In vitro antitumor activity of heterochitooligosaccharides (a review)].
AB  - This review presents an analysis of the literature data over the last decade in
      order to reveal the relationship between the structure and composition of
      chitin/chitosan oligomers and their antitumor activity. Oligosaccharides
      consisting of N-acetylglucosamine and/or glucosamine units connected to each
      other by beta-1,4-O-glycoside bond are generally called chitooligosaccharides.
      Homochitooligosaccharides are the oligomers of N-acetylglucosamine (AGA) or
      glucosamine (GA). Heterooligosaccharides are a mixture of various oligomers
      differing in the degree of polymerization (DP), acetylation (DA), or
      deacetylation (DD), as well as in the location of N-acetyl residues in the
      oligomer chain. Heterochitooligomers with a polymerization degree of no more than
      10 are usually water soluble. The solubility of chitooligosaccharides with a DP
      of more than 10 depends on the DA and pH of a solution. The pharmaceutical and
      food industries, as well as scientists engaged in basic research, are interested
      in the use of heterochitooligosaccharides. This is explained by their unique
      properties, such as good water solubility; minimal toxicity; biocompatibility;
      the ability to penetrate cell membranes, resulting in a high degree of absorption
      (unlike chitin and chitosan); and their biological activity. Therefore, in the
      last decade, researchers have focused their attention on studying the
      relationship of the structure of oligosaccharides and their specific activity,
      such as antitumor, antimicrobial, antioxidant, immunemodulatory, and other
      activities. This is shown by the number of publications, which has doubled
      compared to the number in 2001.

PMID- 25842900
TI  - Isolation and characterization of a novel thermostable beta-glucosidase from
      Bacillus subtilis SU40.
AB  - A new bacterial strain SU40 with ability to produce thermostable beta-glucosidase
      was isolated from soil located at Puducherry (India) and identified as Bacillus
      subtilis. The conditions like temperature, pH, carbon and nitrogen sources were
      optimized conditions for the maximum production of beta-glucosidase. The enzyme
      was purified using ammonium sulphate precipitation and BioSep and HPLC
      chromatography. Purified enzyme was found to be a monomeric protein with an
      apparent molecular mass of 38.3 kDa. The enzyme was stable over a wide range of
      pH and temperatures and exhibited maximal activity at 75 degrees C and pH 12.0.
      The enzyme was found to retain approximately 60% of maximal activity for 1 h at
      70 degrees C and hydrolyzed a wide range of aryl-beta-D-glucosides and beta
      linked oligosaccharides with highest activity towards cellobiose and p
      nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside. The Km and Vmax values of the enzyme were
      0.21 MUM and 9.38 MUmoles mg(-1) min(-1), respectively. The enzyme demonstrated
      stability in the presence of 0.5% surfactants and was completely inhibited after
      addition of EDTA and Hg2+ ions. Synergistic action of beta-glucosidase from B.
      subtilis SU40 with endoglucanase from Paenibacillus barcinonensis MG7 completely
      degraded the rice straw.

PMID- 25842901
TI  - Biochemical characterization and functional analysis of UDP-glucose
      dehydrogenase, in the synthesis of biopolymer Ss from Sphingomonas sanxanigenens
      NX02.
AB  - Biopolymer Ss of Sphingomonas sanxanigenens strain NX02 is an sphingan that can
      be extracted using a small quantity of acid, which is a low cost extraction
      process. A UDP-glucose dehydrogenase gene (ugdG), related to Ss biosynthesis, was
      cloned from S. sanxanigenens NX02 and expressed in Escherichia coli. It encoded a
      454-residue protein of 48.2 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence had 77% identity
      with UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UgdG) from Sphingomonas sp. KC8, and 73% identity
      with UgdG from Sphingomonas elodea ATCC31461. Purified recombinant UgdG had
      maximum activity at 35 degrees C and pH 8.0, with Km values of 0.47 and 0.38 mM
      for UDP-glucose and NAD+, respectively. Overexpression of the ugdG gene in S.
      sanxanigenens resulted in increased (14.9 +/- 0.5)% Ss production and higher
      fermentation broth viscosity. Furthermore, the weight-average molecular weight of
      polymer Ss from the recombinant strain was (5.3 +/- 0.16)% higher and the
      viscosity was (74 +/- 0.15)% higher than those from the WT strain at a shear rate
      of 1 rev/min.

PMID- 25842902
TI  - [Reactivating factor of Luteococcus japonicus subsp. casei: isolation and
      characterization].
AB  - It has been shown that a producer strain of reactivating factor (RF) is identical
      to a typical strain of Luteococcus japonicus DSM 10546 from the
      Propionibacteriaceae family according to the physiological and biochemical
      properties and the sequencing of 16S rRNA fragments. A number of phenotypical
      differences from the model strain allowed the producer strain to be considered a
      subspecies of Luteococcus japonicus, and it was named Luteococcus japonicus
      subsp. casei. At cultivation of the producer, RF is secreted into the medium and
      plays the role of a signaling molecule. RF antioxidant activities towards various
      organic radicals may be a possible mechanism of its protective and reactivating
      effects. Metabolites secreted by the L. casei producer strain into the culture
      medium were separated by a combination of liquid chromatographies. Four
      components possessing biological activities were found. The most active one was
      studied by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, which revealed that it is a polypeptide.
      Primary identification of some amino acid residues was performed. Sugar residues
      were found in the structure.

PMID- 25842903
TI  - [Amylase inhibitors from Streptomyces lucensis VKPM Ac-1743 and Streptomyces
      violaceus VKPM Ac-1734].
AB  - Inhibitors synthesized by the Streptomyces lucensis VKPM AS-1743 and Streptomyces
      violaceus VKPM AS-1734 strains were studied for their influence on amylases of
      different origin. The effect of the inhibitors was shown to be different on
      fungal amylase, pancreatic amylase, and amylase from human blood. It has been
      found that the studied inhibitors are substances of a pseudooligosaccharide
      nature and exhibit their activity and stability over a wide range of pH and
      temperature values. The physico-chemical and biochemical properties of isolated
      inhibitors were compared with those of known microbial inhibitors of alpha
      glucosidases.

PMID- 25842904
TI  - [Transformation of amides by adherent rhodococcus cells possessing amidase
      activity].
AB  - We report the development of a heterogeneous biocatalyst for the hydrolysis of
      amides that is based on cell adhesion ofamidase-containing Rhodococci on
      activated birch carbon (ABC) and crude carbon. We investigated the properties of
      the obtained biocatalyst in the hydrolysis reaction of acrylamide to acrylic acid
      and nicotinamide to nicotinic acid, as well as in a model reaction of racemic
      lactamide hydrolysis to a mixture of D- and L-isomers of lactic acid. We show
      that a six- and threefold increase in the concentrations of adherent and
      suspended cells, respectively, results in a reduction of amidase activity by 3
      and 30 times, respectively. ABC Cells adherent on ABC maintained more than 50% of
      enzymatic activity for seven 24-hour cycles of acrylamide hydrolysis, while
      suspended cells lost more than 60% of activity already in the second cycle. We
      also noted that cell adhesion on ABC reduced the stereoselectivity of hydrolysis
      reaction of racemic lactamide.

PMID- 25842905
TI  - [Adhesion of Bacillus subtilis on the surface of pectin-calcium gel].
AB  - Pectin-calcium gels obtained based on pectins of callus cultures are able to
      adhere to the surface of cells of Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis to
      various degrees and this is thanks to the structural features of pectin. Rapid
      adhesion of the cells to gels obtained from the pectin of Tanacetum vulgare (TVC)
      callus cultures is associated with a high content of the linear region in the
      carbohydrate chain of pectin, a high molecular weight, and a low degree of methyl
      etherification of pectin. The number of adherent cells on the surface of gels
      obtained from pectins of Silene vulgaris callus cultures (SVC), TVC, and Lemna
      minor (LMC) after 8 h of incubation was close, whereas the number of cells was
      minimal on a gel produced using the pectin of Silene tatarica (STC) callus
      culture. This was due to the higher degree of methyl etherification of STC pectin
      (45%) compared to other pectins (4-12%). The adhesion rate constant (k) of B.
      subtilis for TCV gel during the first 120 min was the highest in comparison with
      other gels; the k value for SVC, STC and LMC gels was similar. The lowest level
      of k was characteristic for the gel from commercial apple pectin. The obtained
      data can beused for the production of gels with adhesive and antiadhesive
      properties.

PMID- 25842906
TI  - [Investigation of stages of chemical leaching and biooxidation during the
      extraction of gold from sulfide concentrates].
AB  - We examined the chemical leaching and biooxidation stages in a two-stage
      biooxidation process of an auriferous sulfide concentrate containing pyrrhotite,
      arsenopyrite and pyrite. Chemical leaching of the concentrate (slurry density at
      200 g/L) by ferric sulfate biosolvent (initial concentration at 35.6 g/L), which
      was obtained by microbial oxidation of ferrous sulfate for 2 hours at 70 degrees
      C at pH 1.4, was allowed to oxidize 20.4% ofarsenopyrite and 52.1% of sulfur. The
      most effective biooxidation of chemically leached concentrate was observed at 45
      degrees C in the presence of yeast extract. Oxidation of the sulfide concentrate
      in a two-step process proceeded more efficiently than in one-step. In a two-step
      mode, gold extraction from the precipitate was 10% higher and the content of
      elemental sulfur was two times lower than in a one-step process.

PMID- 25842907
TI  - [Analysis of metabolic profile of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cultivated under
      autotrophic conditions].
AB  - This study presents a metabolite profile analysis of unicellular green alga
      Chlamydomonas reinhardtii grown under autotrophic conditions at late stages of
      culture development. Metabolites were identified by gas chromatography coupled to
      mass spectrometry. Approximately 400 peaks corresponding to individual compounds
      were distinguished, of which approximately 100 compounds (including saccharides,
      fatty acids, aromatic compounds, amino acids, alcohols, etc.) were identified. A
      local database of mass spectra of unidentified compounds was created using
      MassBank software. Mapping of the metabolomic data with the use of the ChlamyCyc
      service showed that the identified compounds are involved in various energetic,
      synthetic, and signaling pathways in Chlamydomonas. The mapping of metabolites by
      their chemical structure with the use of Cytoscape software, combined with
      quantitative interpretation, showed that the majority of organic matter was
      concentrated primarily in the carbon backbones of fatty acids and terpenes, as
      well as saccharides and structurally similar compounds.

PMID- 25842908
TI  - [Properties of extracellular proteinase--an activator of protein C in blood
      plasma formed by Aspergillus ochraceus].
AB  - The properties of an extracellular proteinase activating plasma protein C
      isolated from the culture supernatant of A. ochraceus VKM F-4104D have been
      studied. This enzyme demonstrated a substrate specificity absent of hydrolyzing
      activity toward chromogenic proteinase substrates. On the basis of inhibitory
      analysis, the protein C-activating proteinase from A. ochraceus VKM F-4104D
      appeared to be a serine proteinase, together with that isolated from the venom of
      Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix. The isolated enzyme was a nonglycosylated
      protein with a molecular weight of about 33 kDa, pI 6.0 with an observed optimal
      activity under a pH of 8.0-9.0 and 37 degrees C. A comparison of the properties
      of the protein C-activating proteinase formed by A. ochraceus and the enzyme
      derived from the venom of Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix demonstrated a
      similarity in their properties; however, proteinase from the micromycete appeared
      to be in the nonglycosylated state and possessed the ability to hydrolyze the
      chromogenic plasmin substrate H-D-Val-Leu-Lys-pNA.

PMID- 25842909
TI  - [Formation of biogenic amines in wine production].
AB  - Factors and conditions for the formation of biogenic amines in wine production
      were studied. It was shown that amino acids were decarboxylated during alcoholic
      fermentation and biological acidic reduction in the presence of enzymes of yeast
      and lactic acid bacteria. The pH value, the presence of phenolic compounds,
      tartaric and malic acid, the duration of the contact between the wine material
      and yeast lees, and the rate of their autolysis were found to influence the
      intensity of the decarboxylation process.

PMID- 25842910
TI  - [Antiradical properties of essential oils and extracts from clove bud and
      pimento].
AB  - The antiradical properties of essential oils and extracts from the clove bud
      (Eugenia caryophyllata Thumb.) and berries of tree (Pimenta dioica (L.) Meriff)
      were studied and compared with the properties of synthetic antioxidant ionol (2,6
      ditret-butyl-4-hydroxytoluene, BHT) in model reactions with the stable free 2,2
      diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical. The essential oils of clove bud and
      pimento had qualitatively close composition of the main components but differed
      by their quantitative content. In the studied samples, eugenol was the main
      compound with high antiradical activity. The reaction rates of essential oils and
      extracts with the DPPH radical were practically the same for essential oils and
      twice the reaction rate of BHT. The values of antiradical efficiency (AE) were
      also close for essential oils and were twice that for extracts and ionol. A
      synergetic action of components in the essential oil and extract of pimento on
      antiradical efficiency values was found.

PMID- 25842911
TI  - [Extending therapeutic possibilities in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis:
      dimethyl fumarate].
AB  - Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is a novel oral therapy that has recently been approved
      for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Dimethyl
      fumarate shows anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective properties that are thought
      to be mediated primarily via activation of the nuclear factor (erythroid-derived
      2)-like 2- Nrf2 transcriptional pathway, which up-regulates the genes involved in
      the cellular response to oxidative stress. The drug was evaluated in 2 large,
      randomized, double-blind, multicentric, multinational, 2-year, phase III clinical
      trials. The DEFINE and CONFIRM trials, conducted with over 2600 adult patients
      suffering from RRMS, unequivocally confirmed the efficacy of DMF (2 x 240 mg
      daily) in reducing the annualized relapse rate (ARR) and reducing the proportion
      of patients with MS relapse at 2 years. Significantly reduced sustained
      disability progression was observed with the drug versus placebo in DEFINE, while
      the same tendency was seen in CONFIRM. The MRI results of the studies were also
      convincing: DMF significantly reduced the number of new/enlarging T2-hyperintense
      lesions and the number of Gd-enhancing lesions compared to placebo. Dimethyl
      fumarate was generally well tolerated and no safety concern has been raised.
      Adverse events that occurred most frequently included flushing and
      gastrointestinal events. The long-term efficacy and tolerability of dimethyl
      fumarate is currently being investigated in the ENDORSE trial, with interim
      results demonstrating the same results as the two previous studies. In
      conclusion, although further, mostly comparative data are needed to fully
      establish the relative efficacy and tolerability of dimethyl fumarate compared
      with other therapies, dimethyl-fumarate is a valuable addition to the therapeutic
      options available for RRMS.

PMID- 25842912
TI  - Role of modified open-door laminoplasty in the treatment of multilevel cervical
      spinal stenosis: a retrospective analysis of 43 cases.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Symptomatic degenerative multilevel cervical spinal
      stenosis--beside other methods--is often treated using the open-door
      laminoplasty. This procedure aims to decompress the spinal cord and preserve the
      stability of the cervical spine. The efficiency and safety of the method was
      proved by numerous Japanese and American studies, also the technique related
      complications are well known. We treated 43 patients with symptomatic multilevel
      cervical spine stenosis using the open-door laminoplasty as a surgical procedure
      of choice in the National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences between 2009 and
      2012. In this article we analyse our results and the related literature is
      discussed. METHODS: Symptomatic patients with a minimum of three-segment cervical
      spine stenosis and radiologically proved myelopathy or with
      electrophisiologically verified subclinical myelopathy were selected for
      laminoplasty. Patients in whom cervical kyphosis was present were operated on
      using laminectomy and posterior fusion. Postoperative control CT, MRI and/or X
      ray images were made after the surgery and at six weeks, three, six and 12 months
      after the operation and in the same time neurological evaluation was performed.
      The modified Japanase Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) scale value was assigned to
      patients preoperatively, six weeks, three, six and 12 months after the operation.
      The statistical difference between the groups of data was tested by chi square
      test. RESULTS: The average follow-up time was 27 months (minimum seven, maximum
      42). According to the mJOA scale, 26 patient's condition (61%) improved, in 13
      cases (30%) remained unchanged, and in one case (2%) we detected neurological
      deterioration. We lost three patients during the follow up period. The median of
      mJOA preoperatively was 12 (minimum eight, maximum 18), while six week
      postoperative mJOA was 14 (minimum 10, maximum 17). Three, six and 12 months mean
      value of mJOA was 14 which shows that the improvement in patients' condition
      remained stable at one year after surgery. The difference was statistically
      significant (p < 0.05). The canal's average anteroposterior diameter on CT was
      8.29 +/- 0.92 mm at the level of C III, while after the operation we measured
      15.16 +/- 1.02 mm; 7.54 +/- 0.62 mm at the level of C IV before, and 15.29 +/-
      0.2 mm after; 9.05 +/- 0.48 mm at the level of C V before and 17.23 +/- 0.4 mm
      after the surgery. The differences proved to be significant (p = 0.0001).
      CONCLUSION: According to our experiences the modified open-door laminoplasty is
      an efficient and safe method for the treatment of symptomatic multilevel cervical
      spinal stenosis.

PMID- 25842913
TI  - [The efficacy of lacosamide in relation to antiepileptic drug history. Clinical
      experiences in adult partial epilepsy].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A retrospective study in adult partial epilepsy on the efficacy of
      lacosamide in relation to previous antiepileptic drug experiences. METHOD: We
      analysed 3-65 months' data on epilepsy-care of 43 pharmacoresistant partial
      epilepsy patients treated with lacosamide. Further analysis of antiepileptic drug
      history was carried out in strictly selected subgroups of patients with good and
      poor therapeutic response to lacosamide (10 and 9 patients, respectively) for 2
      10 years long retrospective follow up. PATIENTS: Adult patients with partial
      onset seizures had been treated previously with three or more lifetime
      antiepileptic drugs without permanent success. RESULTS: Six patients (14%) were
      seizure free, eleven patients (25%) have experienced important improvement (their
      seizure-frequency decreased by at least 50%) for more than 12 months. Fourteen
      patients (32%) improved for less than 6 months and then have relapsed; and add-on
      lacosamide proved ineffective in 12 patients (28%). Those selected 10 patients
      successfully treated with lacosamide (seizure free for at least six months)
      favourably responded to carbamazepine or oxcarbazepine earlier and levetiracetam
      was ineffective or even caused worsening. The selected lacosamide-unresponsive
      nine patients responded unfavourably to carbamazepine or oxcarbazepine earlier.
      Fifteen patients (35%) suffered side effects as dizziness or sleepiness, in 11 of
      them lacosamide was combined with a "traditional" sodium-channal blocker
      antiepileptic drug. CONCLUSION: Lacosamide is an effective add-on antiepileptic
      drug in difficult-to treat adult partial epilepsy patients. Our data suggest that
      good lacosamide response may be expected in those patients who reacted favourably
      to "traditional" sodium-channel blocker carbamazepine or oxcarbazepine earlier.

PMID- 25842914
TI  - Assessment of severity and time course of critical illness neuropathy in septic
      patients: a prospective observational study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In this prospective observational study we investigated
      electrophysiological alterations in the early phase of critical illness and
      correlated electrophysiological findings with the clinical picture and outcome.
      METHODS: We enrolled 21 critically ill surgical patients having >= 12 Acute
      Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II scores on admission. Routine
      non-invasive bilateral electroneurography (ENG) examination of median and ulnar
      nerves was done on five consecutive days starting in two days after admission.
      Then weekly follow-up was performed. Motor and sensory nerve conduction indices
      were calculated and correlated with APACHE II and Simplified Acute Physiology
      Score II severity scores. RESULTS: On the first examination 18/21 patients had >
      20% reduction in the motor and sensory nerve conduction indices. Severity score
      systems showed significant negative correlation with the daily change of CMAP and
      SNAP amplitudes and calculated nerve conduction indices (Spearman's correlation,
      p < 0.001). Mortality was higher in the patients with worse admission ENG and/or
      stagnant electrophysiological status or declining tendency in the first week.
      CONCLUSIONS: Electrophysiological alterations appeared soon after the development
      of critical illness. Early phase alterations showed a strong correlation with
      patients' general condition and more severe electrophysiological alterations
      predisposed to higher mortality. In several cases early alterations proved to be
      reversible.

PMID- 25842915
TI  - [Intraoperativ electrophysiological monitoring during neurosurgery on eloquent
      structures].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We summarize our experiences on intraoperative electrophysiological
      monitoring during neurosurgical procedures on eloquent neuronal structures.
      PATIENTS, METHODS: Sixty patients were enrolled retrospectively in our study with
      pathologies involving eloquent neuronal structures. They were operated between
      May 2011. and March 2012. at the University of Debrecen, Department of
      Neurosurgery and at the National Institute of Neurosciences. Patients underwent
      standard preoperative examinations due to the primary pathology. In all cases we
      used intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring. We had 22 cases with cranial
      nerve monitoring, 10 cases with cauda monitoring, 16 cases with motor system
      monitoring, six cases with complex spinal cord monitoring, three degenerative
      spine reconstructions and 3 awake surgeries. RESULTS: We found that with the use
      of intraoperative electrophysiology we could make these neurosurgical procedures
      safer, and were able to optimize the extent of resection in the cases of
      oncological pathologies. CONCLUSIONS: Our experiences as well as the
      international literature suggests that in certain high risk neurosurgical
      procedures intraoperative electrophysiology is indispensible for safe and
      optimally extended operation.

PMID- 25842916
TI  - [Effectiveness of anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists in acute stroke
      patients with atrial fibrillation--Hungarian results].
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: An estimated 20% of ischemic strokes are of cardiogenic
      origin, half of which is associated with atrial fibrillation (AF).
      Anticoagulation treatment of patients with this arrhythmia reduces their risk of
      stroke. Effectiveness and safety of oral anticoagulant therapy with vitamin K
      antagonists (VKA) is limited, however, by their well-known narrow therapeutic
      window and the substantial inter- and intraindividual variability of INR values
      depending on genetic and dietary factors as well as drug interactions. Our
      objective was to evaluate the prevalence of adequate anticoagulation and the
      level of anticoagulant effect actually achieved among patients with AF
      hospitalized for acute stroke. METHODS: Patients with AF admitted to our hospital
      ward in 2012 for acute stroke (n = 226) were included in the analysis. Using
      descriptive statistics, relevant clinical and therapeutic characteristics of the
      patients were assessed, with special reference to the INR values on admission
      (among patients with known AF), and the clinical outcomes. RESULTS: Of the study
      cohort, 170 patients had a diagnosis of AF before the admission for stroke, but
      47% of them did not take anticoagulants. Patients who suffered stroke while on
      anticoagulants (83 on VKA, 7 on low-molecular-weight heparins), were in most
      cases (75%) out of the therapeutic INR range, typically undertreated (INR < 2).
      Overall, inadequate or completely absent anticoagulation was documented in 81% of
      the stroke cases occurring in patients with known AF. Of the entire study cohort,
      41% was discharged home, 34% required continued institutional care, and 25% died.
      CONCLUSIONS: The inadequacy or lack of anticoagulation was observed in the vast
      majority of acute strokes in patients with known AF. These cases are often
      related to the well-documented limitations of VKA therapy in terms of its safety,
      tolerability and/or practical aspects. To prevent them, important changes are
      warranted in the anticoagulation practice, including the closer control of VKA
      therapy and the broader use of new oral anticoagulants.

PMID- 25842917
TI  - [Treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures with PMMA-augmented
      pedicle screw fixation].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Over the last few decades many innovative operation technique were
      developed due to the increase of porotic vertebral fractures. These new
      techniques aim to reach the required stability of the vertebral column. In case
      of significant instability, spinal canal stenosis or neural compression,
      decompressive intervention may be necessary, which results in further weakening
      of the column of the spine, the minimal invasive percutan vertebroplasty is not
      an adequate method to reach the required stability, that is why insertion of
      complementary pedicular screws is needed. Considering the limited screw-fixing
      ability of the porotic bone structure, with this new technique we are able to
      reach the appropriate stability of cement-augmented pedicle screws by dosing
      cement carefully through the screws into the vertebral body. We used this
      technique in our Institute in case of 12 patients and followed up the required
      stability and the severity of complications. METHODS: Fifteen vertebral
      compression fractures of 12 patients were treated in our Institute. Using the
      classification proposed by Genant et al. we found that the severity of the
      vertebral compression was grade 3 in case of 13, while grade 2 in case of two
      fractures. The average follow up time of the patients was 22 months (12-39),
      during this period X-ray, CT and clinical control examinations were taken. During
      the surgery the involved segments were localised by using X-ray and after the
      exploration the canulated screws were put through the pedicles of the spine and
      the vertebral body was filled through the transpedicular screws with bone cement.
      Depending on the grade of the spinal canal stenosis, we made the decompression,
      vertebroplasty or corpectomy of the fractured vertebral body, and the replacement
      of the body. Finally the concerned segments were fixed by titanium rods. RESULTS:
      In all cases the stenosis of spinal canal was resolved and the bone cement
      injected into the corpus resulted in adequated stability of the spine. In case of
      six patients we observed cement extravasation without any clinical signs, and by
      one patient--as a serious complication--pulmonary embolism. Neurological
      progression or screw loosening were not detected during the follow up period.
      Part of the patients had residual disability after the surgery due to their older
      ages and the problem of their rehabilitation process. CONCLUSION: After the right
      consideration of indications, age, general health condition and the chance of
      successful rehabilitation, the technique appears to be safe for the patients.
      With the use of this surgical method, the stability of the spine can be improved
      compared to the preoperative condition, the spinal canal stenosis can be solved
      and the neural structures can be decompressed. The severity of complications can
      be reduced by a precise surgical technique and the careful use of the injected
      cement. The indication of the surgical method needs to be considered in the light
      of the expected outcome and the rehabilitation.

PMID- 25842918
TI  - [Inclusion body myositis].
AB  - The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies are systemic, chronic autoimmune diseases
      characterized by proximal symmetrical muscle weakness. One of the main diseases
      in this group is inclusion body myositis (IBM), an underdiagnosed, progressive
      muscle disease characteristically affecting the middle-aged and older population.
      It has a slow, relentlessly progressive course. The precise pathogenesis of the
      disease remains unknown. In most of the cases it is diagnosed a few years after
      the appearance of the first symptoms. The muscle biopsy typically shows
      endomysial inflammation, with invasion of mononuclear cells into the non-necrotic
      fibers, and also rimmed vacuoles. It appers, that both inflammation and
      degeneration are present at the onset of the disease. Our aim is to raise
      awareness about this disease which leads to severe disability, with
      clinicopathological case presentations and literature overview, emphasizing the
      importance of collaboration between the clinician and the neuropathologist. No
      effective therapy is currently available but the rapid diagnosis is essential to
      slow disease progression. Although this is a relatively rare disease, patients
      are presenting not only in immunology outpatient clinics; our reports aims to
      raise awareness and facilitate accurate early diagnosis of IBM.

PMID- 25842919
TI  - The first identified Central-Eastern European patient with genetically confirmed
      dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy.
AB  - AIMS: Dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA) is an inherited
      neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a trinucleotide repeat expansion. The
      disease mainly occurs amongst the Japanese and is extremely rare in the European
      population. The characteristic clinical symptoms are cerebellar ataxia, dementia,
      choreoathetoid movements, epileptic seizures and myoclonus. The aim of this study
      is to present the first genetically confirmed Hungarian case of DRPLA. CASE
      REPORT: The middle-aged female patient developed the characteristic clinical
      symptoms except myoclonus over her late thirties with positive family history.
      The major finding in the skull magnetic resonance imaging was the atrophy of
      infratentorial brain structures with the consequential dilation of related
      cerebrospinal fluid spaces. A detailed neuropsychological examination was also
      performed and it revealed moderate cognitive dysfunctions, mild depression and
      anxiety. As underlying conditions, Huntington's disease and common
      spinocerebellar ataxia forms all came into consideration, but all the result of
      the respective genetic tests were negative. However, the test for mutation in the
      ATN1 gene revealed pathological heterozygous CAG repeat expansion. CONCLUSION:
      This case study serves as the first description of genetically confirmed DRPLA in
      the Central-Eastern region of Europe, the clinical features of which seems to be
      very similar to the previously reported cases.

PMID- 25842920
TI  - [Myocardial infarction and acute coronary syndrome: definitions, classification,
      and diagnostic criteria].
AB  - The review gives the definitions and classification of and diagnostic criteria
      for myocardial infarction and acute coronary syndrome in accordance with the "The
      third universal definition of myocardial infarction" adopted in 2012 (Joint
      ESC/ACCF/AHA/WHF Task Force for the Universal Definition of Myocardial
      Infarction, 2012). It also discusses the clinical and morphological comparisons
      of and the problems in the differential diagnosis of myocardial infarction as a
      nosological entity within coronary heart disease with other coronarogenic and non
      coronarogenic necroses of the myocardium.

PMID- 25842921
TI  - [Functional morphology of ischemic cardiomyopathy].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To show that ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) that is generally believed
      to be a variant of chronic heart disease (CHD) and an analogue of chronic heart
      failure is an initial stage and the background of all further forms of CHD.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Sixty cardiac biopsies obtained from patients during
      aortocoronary bypass surgery for CHD and myocardia from 55 rabbits in which the
      investigators simulated atherosclerosis over time, as well as acute, transient,
      and recurrent coronary insufficiency after vasopressin administration were
      examined. A number of adequate histological, histochemical, and
      immunohistological procedures, electron microscopic and electron histochemical
      studies, and morphometry were employed. The investigators made biochemical
      monitoring of blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels and ECG monitoring in the
      animals had received intravenous vasopressin. RESULTS: The authors have indicated
      that CHD begins with endothelial changes in the trophic component of the
      microhemocirculatory bed, which gives rise to its impaired blood flow and to
      hypoxia at the level of the myocardial structural and functional unit-
      fascicules. Over time, the disease develops a set of processes that cause damage
      to microvessels, cardiomyocytes, stroma, lymph capillaries, and nerve endings and
      changes in secretion. Compensatory and adaptive responses that long mask the
      symptoms of damage to the vascular bed and myocardial tissue take place
      simultaneously. The occurring lesions result in irregular diffuse
      cardiosclerosis, micro- and lymphocirculatory, innervation, and conduction
      disturbances, and irregular cardiomyocyte damage. The authors consider this set
      of myocardial changes to be an initial phase of ICM that shows no clinical
      manifestation at all. As coronary atherosclerosis progresses, the already damaged
      myocardium is superimposed by the morphological changes caused by higher hypoxia
      at the whole organ level. Depending upon a combination of these changes, one or
      another form of CHD and progression of chronic CHD may prevail at a later time.
      CONCLUSION: ICM is a broader concept than chronic heart failure and it is a basis
      for the pathogenesis and morphogenesis of CHD.

PMID- 25842922
TI  - [Comparative study of the determination of the HER2 status in gastric cancer in
      the biopsy and intraoperative specimens].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the HER2 status of gastric adenocarcinomas, by using
      biopsy and intraoperative specimens. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Immunohistochemistry
      and in situ hybridization were used to examine the HER2 status of 346 gastric
      cancer biopsy and intraoperative specimens. RESULTS: The study conducted on a
      large Russian sample of 346 patients showed a positive HER2 status in 10.7% of
      the examined specimens. Intestinal-type adenocarcinomas exhibited a positive HER2
      status in 21.4% of the cases. Comparative analysis of the HER2 status in the
      biopsy and intraoperative specimens indicated that there were differences in the
      determination of the tumor HER2 status in less than 1% of the examined specimens.
      The remaining found differences (14.7%) failed to change the tumor HER2 status
      and to affect the choice of a treatment regimen. CONCLUSION: The performed
      investigation has demonstrated that the tumor HER2 status determined in the
      biopsy specimen significantly reflects the molecular biological properties of
      gastric cancer and may be clinically used to determine indications for the use of
      targeted drugs.

PMID- 25842923
TI  - [The morphology and molecular bases of damage to the stem cell niche of
      respiratory acini in idiopathic interstitial pneumonias].
AB  - The authors present the material of their study of the morphological and
      molecular biological features of damage to the stem cell niches (SCN) in the
      respiratory acini of the lung and the significance of their occurring changes in
      the pathogenesis of chronic idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIP), including
      idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP),
      cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP) with bronchiolitis obliterans (BO), and
      nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study was
      performed using open transthoracic (n=181) and transbronchial (n=71) lung
      biopsies from 194 patients (118 cases (61%) with IPF, 35 (18%) with NSIP, 23
      (12%) with DIP, 18 (9%) with COP + BO). The serial paraffin sections were stained
      with hematoxylin and eosin and van Gieson's picrofuchsin and immunohistochemical
      reactions were carried out to detect MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-7, Apo-Cas ("Novocastra",
      1:100), vimentin (Vimentin) ("LabVision" 1:100), SMA ("LabVision", 1:100), TGF
      beta, TNF-alpha, CD34, Ost-4, and CD117 ("Dako", 1:50), CD68, and EMA ("Dako",
      1:100). Biotinylated anti-mouse and anti-rabbit immunoglobulin antibodies ("Dako"
      LSAB + KIT, PEROXIDASE) were used as secondary antibodies. All the quantitative
      and semi-quantitative data obtained were processed by variation statistics.
      RESULTS: The compared IIPs were shown to differ in the site and degree of initial
      and secondary respiratory acinus damages caused by the aggressiveness of an
      inflammatory infiltrate and the spread of a lesion to different SCN areas
      involved in the regeneration of lung tissue. The mesenchymal cell with
      myofibroblast differentiation, which is probably associated with a mesenchymal
      stem cell, as evidenced by Oct-4, Vimentin, SMA, CD117, and CD34 expression by
      these cells, may be considered to be a marker cell of deep SCN damage.
      CONCLUSION: The author state that the clinical course and degree of morphological
      changes in IPP directly depend on the severity and depth of damage to the SCN
      areas of the respiratory acinus.

PMID- 25842924
TI  - [The morphological substrate and pathogenetic mechanisms of pelvic pain syndrome
      in endometriosis].
AB  - OBJECTION: To study the origin and morphological substrate of pain syndrome in
      deep infiltrating endometriosis involving the bowel. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The
      investigation was conducted using the intraoperative material (resected portions
      of the large and small bowels, appendix) obtained from 40 women diagnosed as
      having deep infiltrating endometriosis involving the bowel, which was accompanied
      by pain syndrome. Paraffin sections were immunohistochemically examined using the
      standard protocol. Antibodies to Ki-67, PTEN, ER, PR, ("Dako"), CD34 ("Cell
      Marque", USA), VEGF, EGF, EGFR, COX-2 ("Abcam"), and MMP 1 and 2 ("Abbiotec")
      were applied. Dako REAL EnVision Detection System kits ("Dako", Denmark) were
      used as secondary antibodies. RESULTS: The morphological substrate of pelvic pain
      syndrome in deep infiltrating endometriosis was established to be factors that
      acted in situ at the location of endometriotic foci and those caused by the
      infiltrative perivascular, intravascular, and perineural growth of endometrioid
      heterotopies. CONCLUSION: Inflammation and fibrosis in the endometriotic foci
      contribute to the accumulation of algogenes, which gives rise to somatogenic pain
      syndrome, and chronic nerve fiber injury as a source of nociceptive stimulation
      leads to neuropathic pain syndrome.

PMID- 25842925
TI  - [Immunohistochemical detection of biomolecular markers for metaplastic mucosal
      atrophy in gastric biopsy specimens].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To estimate the validity of the signs of metaplastic atrophic
      gastritis to elaborate a marker principle of its detection. SUBJECTS AND METHODS:
      Two hundred diagnostic cases morphologically diagnosed with chronic gastritis
      were selected for examination. The validity of the histological and
      immunohistochemical signs/markers reflecting a gland abnormality (hyperplasia of
      smooth muscle cells and argyrophilic and elastic fibers) and a cell phenotype
      change (intestinal and pyloric metaplasia): CDX-2, Shh, villin, CD10, MUC2, and
      MUC5AC was estimated in gastric biopsy specimens with atrophic gastritis forms
      verified in accordance with international classifications. The validity of the
      signs/markers was assessed, by calculating the sensitivity, specificity,
      prognostic value of positive and negative results, and positive and negative
      likelihood ratios. RESULTS: There were 3 molecules: CDX-2 is a nuclear
      transcription factor associated with intestinal differentiation; CCD10 is a brush
      border membrane-bound mycin and MUC2 is an intestinal-type mycin, which showed a
      high validity like the markers of metaplastic atrophic gastritis. An algorithm
      that could probably evaluate atrophic gastritis was elaborated for the successive
      immunohistochemical identification of the above-mentioned marker. CONCLUSION: The
      proposed technical decision to verify atrophic gastritis by the biomarker method
      may be not an alternative, but complementary technique of identifying the form of
      atrophic gastritis.

PMID- 25842926
TI  - [Ultrastructural assessment of the role of dysangiogenesis in congenital
      hydronephrosis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To confirm the key role of vascular malformation by ultrasound
      examination and to make a more detailed study of the manifestations of dysnephro-
      and angiogenesis. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study enrolled 34 children aged 3
      days to 7 years with congenital hydronephrosis, who were divided into 3 groups in
      accordance with the degree of renal hemodynamic disorders, the criterion for
      which was a resistive index (RI). RESULTS: The performed electron microscopic
      study revealed the signs of malformed vessels of all diameters, as well as
      hypoplastic changes in the renal parenchyma in children of all ages in all the
      groups. The most significant ultrastructural signs demonstrating a close
      correlation between dysangio- and dysnephrogenetic processes are the uniformity
      of structural failure in the glomerular and arteriolar basement membrane, which
      shows up in the irregularity of its thickness and obliteration of its layers, as
      well as the immaturity of endothelial cells of both glomerular and arteriolar
      capillaries (large sizes and a round shape). The important factor confirming
      their relationship is a direct correlation between the increased RI in all
      branches of the renal artery as hypoplastic changes progress in the parenchyma of
      hydronephrotic kidneys. CONCLUSION: The investigation demonstrated the
      interdependence of dysangio- and dysnephrotic processes in children with
      congenital hydronephrosis.

PMID- 25842927
TI  - [Pathomorphological features of pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis].
AB  - The paper provides the clinical and X-ray characteristics of pulmonary Langerhans
      cell histiocytosis (PLCH). It describes pulmonary pathohistological changes in
      this disease, characterizes the cellular composition of granuloma, and gives
      methods that can verify the diagnosis of PLCH. A case of PLCH with severe
      respiratory failure, for which bilateral lung transplantation and histological
      examination of removed lungs have been made, is described.

PMID- 25842928
TI  - [Giant chondroblastoma of the femur].
AB  - Chondroblastoma is a benign cartilaginous bone tumor. The large dimension and
      aggressive local spread of the tumor may create a diagnostic problem. A 24 x 17 x
      15-cm chondroblastoma is described in a 50 year-old woman. The tumor of typical
      structure was located in the upper femur, growing into soft tissues and pelvic
      bones. Thirteen months following interilioabdominal exarticulation, the patient
      was found to have neither local recurrence nor distant metastases.

PMID- 25842929
TI  - [Portal hypertensive gastropathy].
AB  - In spite of a great number of publications, as yet there is no agreement that
      which of the detected morphological changes should be considered pathognomonic in
      portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG). The study of the pathogenesis of PHG
      suggested a diversity of mechanisms involved in varying degrees in the
      development of this abnormality. The paper summarizes the data available in the
      literature on the role of endothelial dysfunction, apoptosis, damaging factors,
      and H. pylori infection in the development of this abnormality. A differential
      diagnosis was made between PHG and GAVE syndrome and histological features in
      both groups were revealed.

PMID- 25842930
TI  - [Glomerulopathy with fibrillary and tubular deposits].
AB  - The advent of up-to-date electron microscopes and molecular biological methods
      for the examination of renal puncture biopsies could define earlier undetectable
      and unworthy cellular structures and stromas. There is a diversity of diseases
      that can be diagnosed exclusively at the ultrastructural level, thus the
      literature has identified the concept of glomerular diseases with organized
      deposits. The current classifications based only on the ultrastructual deposits
      are imperfect as they fail to account for the etiological and pathogenetic
      features included in these diseases.

PMID- 25842931
TI  - [Viktor Viktorovich Serov is a distinguished scientist and teacher (on the
      occasion of the 90th anniversary of his birth)].

PMID- 25842932
TI  - [Donat Semenovich Sarkisov (on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of his
      birth)].

PMID- 25842933
TI  - [Extracorporeal methods of hematological correction in patients with acute liver
      insufficiency after cardiac surgery].
AB  - BACKGROUND & AIMS: Acute liver failure (ALF) usually develops in multiple organ
      dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and carries a high mortality risk in patients after
      cardiac surgery. Artificial liver support devices aim to remove albumin-bound and
      water-soluble toxins arising as a result of liver failure. The currently most
      used devices combine haemodialysis with albumin dialysis (MARS) or plasma
      separation and adsorption (Prometheus). The aim of this study was to assess
      safety and efficacy of use MARS or Prometheus in elderly patients with ALF have
      been operated for heart diseases. METHOD: We studied 26 elder patients with ALF
      and MODS as postoperative complication after cardiac surgery. Patients were
      assigned to groups, given a combination of MARS and standard medical therapy
      (SMT) (MARS-group, n=9) or Prometheus and SMT (Prometheus-group, n=17). Inclusion
      criteria were clinical and laboratory signs of ALF: serum total bilirubin
      level>180 mkmol/L, 2-fold increasing serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and
      alanine aminotransferase (ALT), low serum cholinesterase and high serum ammonia
      levels. A variety of clinical and biochemical parameters were assessed. Primary
      endpoint was survival probabilities at day 28. RESULTS: MARS was used to provide
      1 to 2 rounds (minimum of 6 hours each) and Prometheus was used to provide 2 to
      14 rounds (minimum of 6 hours each). There were amelioration of haemodinamic
      instability, especially in MARS-group (increase in ADmean was 17% in MARS
      (p=0.005) and 10% in Prometheus-group (p=0.001)), increase in P/F ratio (12% in
      Prometheus-group (p=0.07)), decrease in serum total bilirubin (8.6% in MARS-group
      (p=0.028) and 33% in Prometheus-group (p<0.001)) and unconjugated bilirubin
      levels (29% in Prometheus-group (p=0.003)), also we had decreasing in serum
      aminotransferase levels and trend to increasing in serum cholinesterase level
      (12% in MARS-group (p=0.87) and 8% in Prometheus-group (p=0.86)). There were no
      side effects of extracorporeal liver support in both patients groups. Survival of
      patients with ALF, treated with MARS was 22%, in Prometheus group--35%.
      CONCLUSIONS: MARS and Prometheus are found to be safe and effective in patients
      with ALF after cardiac surgery. Further studies are needed to assess whether
      therapy might be beneficial in specific sublets of patients.

PMID- 25842934
TI  - [Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (u-NGAL) in the assessment of renal
      function in patients after kidney allotransplantation].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Early dysfunction of transplanted kidney is a serious complication
      that can lead to the premature loss of transplant. Ischemic and reperfusion
      injury of donor kidney leads to the disturbance of the function of the graft,
      which is a form of post-transplantation acute kidney injury that causes the
      relevance of search of early markers for diagnosis. OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of the
      diagnostic value of determination in the urine neutrophilgelatinase-associated
      lipocalin (u-NGAL) in patients in the early period after kidney transplantation.
      METHODS: An open, randomized, retrospective comparative study of 80 patients, who
      underwent kidney transplantation from a living human-related donor (group 1, 50
      patients) and from donor with brain death documentation (group 2, 30 patients)
      was carried out. In 20 patients of the second group (group 2a) rapid recovery of
      graft function was observed, and in 10 patients (group 2b)--delayed graft
      recovery as a result of postischemic acute kidney injury. During the first five
      post-transplantation days investigated biochemical analysis of blood and urine,
      as well as the marker u-NGAL. RESULTS: Because of kidney transplantation was
      performed to the patients with end-stage chronic renal failure, high values of
      urea and creatinine in the blood samples during the first postoperative days were
      noted, that reflected the severity of the preoperative state of the patients. In
      the patients, who underwent human-related kidney transplantation, a more
      favorable picture of the investigated laboratory parameters was seen. Values of u
      NGAL in this group in the early post-transplant period were normal, which
      attested to the absence of significant ischemic injury of transplanted kidney. In
      30 patients with cadaver kidney transplantation average u-NGAL value during the
      first post-transplant day was 14-times fold exceeded normal range (160 ng/ml),
      while in 50 patients of the group with human-related transplantation--only 2
      times. In the first day in group 2a average u-NGAL value decreased to normal,
      while in group 2b, where renal replacement therapy was carried out from the first
      day, remained extremely high (more than 2000 ng/ml, p<0.001 to compare with other
      two groups) during all 5 days of investigation. Conducting of hemodialysis
      sessions during the first week was required in 10 patients of group 2b, on the
      2nd week--9 patients, on the 3 and 4 week in 5 patients 5, and on the fifth week-
      in 3 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Due to prolonged period of ischemia in kidney
      transplantation from a donor with established brain death the level of u-NGAL in
      these patients was significantly higher than in the kidneys transplantation from
      living human-related donor. In patients after transplantation dynamics of u-NGAL
      allows to identify patients with delayed graft function recovery and the need for
      renal replacement therapy already in the early postoperative period.

PMID- 25842935
TI  - [Clinical application of dexmedetomidine in patients after thoracic and abdominal
      surgeries].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study efficacy and safety of dexmedetomidine application for long
      term (more than 12 hours) artificial lungs ventilation (ALV) and for psychomotor
      agitation. METHODS: We studied 57 patients after thoracic and abdominal
      surgeries. The patients were divided into three groups. Patients of a group-1
      (n=18) received ALV under 12 hours, patients of group-2 (n=26) received ALV more
      than 12 hours. Patients of group-3 (n=13) received dexmedetomidine due to
      delirious state. Dexmedetomidine was administered by infusion 0.7 mkg/kg during
      the first hour. The rate of administration was corrected after the first hour. We
      recorded the level of sedation according to RASS, need of additional sedative
      drugs use, duration of ALV duration of ICU stay. RESULTS: Dexmedetomidine
      infusion provides target level of sedation from 0 to -3 according to RASS in 91%
      of patients requiring prolonged ALV after thoracic and abdominal surgeries.
      Bradycardia occurred in 15% of patients and arterial hypotension in 12% of
      patients. Bolus administration of dexmedetomidine should be avoided.

PMID- 25842936
TI  - [Improving the systemic oxygenation by enteral oxygen therapy].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study possibilities of enteral oxygen therapy for the improvement
      of systemic oxygenation. We studied 34 critical patients. RESULTS: Insufflation
      of oxygen into intestines brought to delayed and prolonged increase of systemic
      oxygenation (PaO2 and PaO2/FiO2 growth, p<0.001, ANOVA, Holm-Sidack test)
      reaching its maximum in 9 hours after the insufflation procedure and lasting 32
      hrs. Oxygen administration into stomach did not result to better oxygenation.
      CONCLUSIONS: Taking into account low volumes of insufflated oxygen (from 2 to 6
      L) and the duration of achieved systemic oxygenating effect, we may suggest that
      mechanism of systemic oxygenation was not based on the direct intestinal oxygen
      absorption, but rather due to normalization of the gastrointestinal tract
      functions and followed systemic metabolism change improving pulmonary gas
      exchange. Future investigations are needed to clarify mechanisms.

PMID- 25842937
TI  - [Thrombocytopenia and postoperative analgesia].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To develop effective and safe measures of postoperative multimodal
      analgesia (optimizing the use of narcotic analgesics) in surgical treatment of
      hematological patients with thrombocytopenia. DESIGN: A pilot and prospective
      comparative controlled study. METHODS: We studied 27 patients with acquired
      thrombocytopenia who underwent laparoscopic splenectomy. Three schemes of
      anesthesia were used: 1) Nefopam 20 mg/day + trimeperidin (n = 7); 2) Paracetamol
      4 g/day + trimeperidin (n = 10); 3) paracetamol + trimeperidin +
      glucocorticosteroids (GC) (through treatment of the underlying disease) (n = 10).
      Analgesic properties and effect of each scheme were assessed according to a
      rating scale of pain NRS (10 points) and VAS (100 points) studied. Additionally
      we evaluated the effect of nefopam and paracetamol on the functional properties
      of platelets and hemostasis, platelet levels while monitoring and indicators of
      thromboelastogram (TEG). RESULTS: Application of paracetamol + trimeperidin
      accompanied with effectively reducing of postoperative pain (less than 5 points
      on the NRS). The level of postoperative pain was lower in patients who were
      treated with corticosteroids within the therapy of the underlying disease before
      surgery and who continued to receive it in postoperative period (2-3 points NRS).
      Nefopam use in the perioperative period is not only inferior to the analgesic
      effect of paracetamol, but also causes frequent side effects. Consumption of
      narcotic analgesic--trimeperidin when applying nefopam averaged 43 mg/day, the
      appointment of paracetamol--28 mg/day, using a combination of paracetamol + GC-
      20 mg/day. Thus, GC within the underlying disease treatment substantially reduces
      the need for opioid analgesics. A monitoring of the number of platelets and TEG
      did not shows negative effect of paracetamol and nefopam on platelet and plasma
      hemostasis. CONCLUSIONS: Nefopam and paracetamol may be used in patients with
      thrombocytopenia, as do not affect the hemostasis and platelet count. Application
      of postoperative analgesia scheme paracetamol + trimeperidin in patients
      receiving corticosteroids provides the maximum reduction of pain with the least
      consumption of narcotic analgesics.

PMID- 25842938
TI  - ["Evidance"--Russian national epidemiological study].
AB  - The article deals with results of epidemiological study of 2516 ICU patients
      received prophylaxis of a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and venous thromboembolic
      complications (VTEC). RESULTS: The frequency of renal failure was 19.8%.
      Mortality rate in patients with acute renal failure (ARF) was 34% and in patients
      without ARF 17%. CONCLUSIONS: An analysis of drugs for prophylaxis of DVT and
      VTEC which were used in patients with ARF showed that the prophylaxis was
      performed without a taking in account a significance of such complication.

PMID- 25842940
TI  - [Russian national observational study of nutritional support in children in the
      ICU--"NutriPed.ru"].
AB  - The article deals with results of the first Russian national observational study
      of nutritional support in children in the ICU. We assessed a frequency of use of
      enteral and parenteral nutrition and analyzed preparations for enteral and
      parenteral nutrition. The article discusses methods of the calculation of
      malnutrition in children in critical states.

PMID- 25842939
TI  - [Reversion of sedation and general anaesthesia--agonist-antagonist technique].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study an expediency and efficacy of application of different
      reverses drugs (naloxone, flumazenil, neostigmine, galantamine, sugammadex)
      either their separate or combined using. METHODS: We studied 119 patients
      underwent endoluminal endoscopic procedures and surgeries on trachea-bronchial
      tree and intestines under sedation or general anaesthesia. RESULTS: The article
      deals with conceptual approaches to the reversal of residual effects of opioids,
      benzodiazepine sedation and neuromuscular block (the so-called agonist-antagonist
      technique). CONCLUSIONS: A reversion of neuromuscular block without using of
      antagonists' combination does not provide complete recovery of psychomotor and
      cognitive functions for rapid socialization of patients after anaesthesia.

PMID- 25842941
TI  - [Effect of cardiovascular functional disorders on cerebral oxygenation in
      children].
AB  - The article deals with data of cerebral oximeter INVOS Somanetics (US) used for
      comparison the degree of brain oxygenation reduction, ejection fraction and
      stroke volume relative to age norms in children with dilated cardiomyopathy.

PMID- 25842942
TI  - [Sedation with midazolam for ambulatory pediatric dentistry].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To improve the quality of dental treatment in children by using
      combined anaesthesia technique including local anaesthesia and conscious
      sedation, and to assess the effectiveness of conscious sedation for younger
      children undergoing dental treatment. METHODS: The study included 208 children
      aged 14-88 months who received dental treatment for tooth decay and its
      complication under combined anaesthesia. Midazolam was used as sedative
      medication. Sedation level was assessed by visual scale and BIS-monitoring. ANI
      monitoring was also used for pain sensitiveness evaluation. Results All 208
      children were successfully treated under combined anaesthesia which showed
      satisfactory sedation rates both by visual scale and and BIS-monitoring values.
      While mean patient age was 39 months 20.6% were younger than 24 months. These
      data are extremely valuable as according to literature review conscious sedation
      in early infancy remains controversial. CONCLUSIONS: Our results proved conscious
      sedation to be effective in younger children undergoing dental treatment thus
      representing important alternative for general anaesthesia and providing a basis
      for later behavior management.

PMID- 25842943
TI  - [Systemic toxicity of local anaesthetics in children].
AB  - The article deals with an analysis of the publications devoted of local
      anaesthetics' systemic toxicity (LAST) due to regional anaesthesia and symptoms
      of this potentially lethal complication. The review discusses features of
      systemic absorption and forms of local anaesthetics' neurotoxicity and
      cardiotoxicity in children, including newborns, differences of clinical signs of
      the LAST in adults and children and dosage of racemic bupivacaine. Moreover, the
      article deals with a modified treatment protocol for LAST and a method of lipid
      resuscitation with 20% lipid emulsion in the form of Intralipid. In conclusion
      the article discusses recommendations for LAST prophylaxis and scenarios during
      cardiopulmonary and cerebral resuscitation.

PMID- 25842944
TI  - [Ultrasound guided catheterization of thoracic paravertebral space].
AB  - Prolonged thoracic paravertebral block is a complex technique of regional
      anesthesia. For a long time paravertebral blocks were conducted under
      stimulation. Recently, techniques of paravertebral space (PVS) verification using
      ultrasound navigation were developed. The article deals with an anatomy and
      technique of ultrasound navigation for paravertebral space catheterization.
      Successful and safe block under ultrasound guidance requires: identification and
      visualization of paravertebral space; operator's skill in needle visualization in
      real time; experience in estimating the distribution of local anesthetic in PVS.
      Sonographic navigation makes PVS much easier to find and optimizes introduction
      of a local anesthetic thus providing adequate long-term pain relief without
      complications.

PMID- 25842945
TI  - [Evaluation of psychological methods for determining the degree of psychological
      stress in children in dentistry].
AB  - The article deals with results of comparative evaluation of system of assessment
      of children's fear and anxiety in dentistry (SDS test) and other objective and
      subjective methods for assessing anxiety in pediatric patients. We studied 381
      pediatric patients aged from 3 to 7 years. The aim of the study was to prove
      validity mathematical derived FCD test as a technique of anxiety detection in
      dentistry. During the study following subjective test were used: MAS, DAS, mYPAS,
      VAS, STAI, STAIC, EASI, PHBQ, and some history data and stress factors were also
      considered. Objective data used were vital signs (hemodynamics and respiratory
      rate). Test SDS has strong correlation with YALE, MAS, DAS, STAIlich, VAS and
      other parameters such as age, sex, person which is responsible for bringing up a
      child and so on.

PMID- 25842946
TI  - [Cholera Vibrio biofilm: production, characterization and role in reservation of
      causative agent in water environment].
AB  - AIM: Experimental production, characterization and evaluation of the role of
      cholera vibrio biofilm. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 33 strains of Vibrio cholerae
      eltor O1 and V. cholerae O139 of various epidemic significance and origin were
      studied in a series of experiments by bacteriologic, microscopic (light-optic,
      luminescent, scanning electron microscopy), molecular genetics,
      spectrophotometric and statistical methods. RESULTS: Formation of a biofilm
      involving inter-cellular bonds, pili and extracellular material and variability
      of the microorganism (RO-phenotype and transition into uncultivable forms) was
      shown at various temperature and substrate conditions. A more pronounced ability
      to form biofilms was detected for strains isolated from environmental samples
      compared with isolated from clinical material regardless of their epidemic
      significance. Toxigenic strains of eltor biovar (from surface reservoirs during
      cholera outbreaks) have demonstrated the highest parameters of optical density
      compared with toxigenic clinical isolates and non-toxigenic O1 and O139 serogroup
      cultures. The presence of mbaA1 and mbaA2, vpsR, toxR, hapA genes is common for
      strains that form a biofilm. CONCLUSION: The data obtained confirm the role of
      biofilm in reservation of cholera vibrio strains of various epidemic significance
      in saprophytic phase of microorganism existence.

PMID- 25842947
TI  - [Evaluation of modern epizootic activity of natural tularemia foci in Voronezh
      region using immune-serological and molecular-genetic study of main carriers of
      the disease].
AB  - AIM: Improvement of monitoring and prognosis of epidemic manifestations of
      natural foci of tularemia on the territory of Voronezh region using immune
      serological and molecular-genetic study of main carriers of the disease.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: 539 small mammals captured during summer period of 2011 in
      4 districts of North-Eastern part of Voronezh region were studied. Animal organs
      were studied by serologic (search for Francisella tularensis antigens) and
      molecular-biologic (detection of F. tularensis DNA) methods. Tularemia antigen
      was detected using passive hemagglutination reaction (PHAR) with erythrocytic
      tularemia immunoglobulin diagnosticum. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT
      PCR) was applied for detection of tularemia causative agent DNA. RESULTS: Complex
      study revealed epizootic activity of natural foci of tularemia in the examined
      territory. F. tularensis antigen and/or DNA were detected in 82 objects (15.2%).
      Use of RT-PCR allowed to additionally detect samples with relatively low content
      of F. tularensis DNA substrate, when antigen was not detected in samples. High
      sensitivity and specificity of the RT-PCR was ensured by inclusion of specific
      probes (tu14-PR2 and ISFTu2P). CONCLUSION: The results obtained give evidence on
      functioning and epizootic activity of natural foci of tularemia in Voronezh
      region that requires constant monitoring of the territory and prophylaxis
      measures, first of all vaccination of risk groups by live tularemia vaccine.

PMID- 25842948
TI  - [Characteristics of isogenic variants of Bacillus anthracis with various content
      of virulence plasmids].
AB  - AIM: Production and characteristics by main cultural-morphologic and antigenic
      properties of isogenic variants Bacillus anthracis, that differ by the presence
      of virulence plasmids. MATERIALS AND METHODS: B. anthracis 81/1, 575/122 virulent
      and B. anthracis STI, 55, Sterne vaccine strains were used in the study. Isogenic
      variants, that differ by the presence of virulence plasmids, were obtained by
      temperature elimination of plasmids, as well as during cultivation of anthrax
      strains in medium with kanamycin. The strains were characterized by cultural
      morphologic, biochemical properties. The presence of virulence plasmids was
      determined by polymerase chain reaction method. Antigenic properties were studied
      in immune diffusion reaction with growing cultures with sera against protective
      antigen and S-layer proteins, electrophoresis, immune blotting. RESULTS: Isogenic
      variants were produced from virulent strains B. anthracis 81/1, 575/122 and
      vaccine strains STI, 55, Sterne: mono-plasmid toxin-producing (81/1 R01, 575/122
      R01) and capsule-containing (81/1 R02, 575/122 R02), and plasmid-less (81/1 R00,
      575/122 R00, STI R00, 55 R00, Sterne R00), that differ by the presence of
      virulence plasmids. Strains had typical cultural-morphologic properties, differed
      by biochemical and antigenic properties. Cultural filtrates of toxin-producing
      strains had protein of anthrax toxin; plasmid-less strains--had proteins, that
      had molecular masses corresponding to molecular masses of S-layer EA1 and Sap
      proteins. CONCLUSION: These strains may be used to study variability and
      proteomic analysis of anthrax causative agent, as well as for isolation of
      antigens with the aim of evaluating their immune diagnostic significance.

PMID- 25842949
TI  - [Flow-cytofluorometric study of bactericidal granules in blood phagocytes of
      animals with various species sensitivity to experimental plague infection].
AB  - AIM: Compare the content of bactericidal granules (BG) in blood phagocytes of
      animals, that differ by species sensitivity to plague infection, under the
      conditions of measuring, that ensure automatic differentiating by this parameter
      of monocytes and granulocytes of human blood. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human whole
      blood leukocytes were studied, as well as from 7 animal species: mice, guinea
      pigs, golden hamsters, white rats, rabbits, dogs and horses. Acridine orange (AO)
      was used for supra-vital staining in primary (bactericidal) granule cells.
      Relative BG content was measured in separate cells in conventional units of red
      fluorescence intensity by flow cytofluorometry. RESULTS: Deficiency of AO
      molecules in BG, that correlates with deficiency of leukocyte elastase in cells,
      that is most pronounced in mice and lest pronounced in rabbits, was established
      to be characteristic for all the blood phagocytes of all the laboratory animal
      species sensitive to plague. Blood phagocytes of dogs and horses, that were non
      sensitive to plague, differed by high heterogeneity by the studied parameter, and
      in horse blood innate immunity cells were detected, that contained 2.5 times
      higher amount of BG, than blood granulocytes of humans. CONCLUSION: Leukocyte BG,
      that have enzyme cationic proteins: elastase, cathepsin G, protease 3 and
      myeloperoxidase, play and important role in protection of organism from plague
      infection.

PMID- 25842950
TI  - [Effect of serotonin on immune competent cells of biomodels under the conditions
      of vaccination against plague and tularemia].
AB  - AIM: Comparative evaluation of the effect of exogenic serotonin on the
      development of apoptosis and proliferative activity of immune system cells of
      biomodels in vivo and in vitro in the dynamic of immunity forming against plague
      and tularemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Analysis of relative content of immune
      competent cell DNA of unlinear and BALB/c mice was carried out after staining of
      the samples with mithramycin and ethidium bromide by flow cytometry. RESULTS:
      Administration of serotonin into biomodels before immunization with vaccine
      strains of Yersinia pestis and Francisella tularensis was established to increase
      in vivo proliferative activity of immune system cells, without a significant
      effect on their death by apoptosis. Serotonin inhibited in vitro the development
      of apoptosis of mice blood leukocytes in response to both the vaccine Y. pestis
      EV strain and tularin. CONCLUSION: Biogenic amine serotonin shows equivalent
      modulating effect on both anti-plague and anti-tularemia immune response in vivo
      and in vitro, without disrupting immune system homeostasis.

PMID- 25842951
TI  - [Monocytes of human blood as a target of Streptococcus pyogenes components].
AB  - AIM: Study the effect of components of destroyed streptococci on human blood
      monocyte functions related to processes of trans-endothelial migration in vitro.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mononuclear leukocytes, isolated from blood of healthy
      donors, endothelial cells of EA.hy 926 line and supernatant of ultrasound
      disintegrated Streptococcus pyogenes (DSS) were the objects of the study.
      Evaluation of adhesion and monocyte migration, level of expression of adhesion
      molecules and phosphokinases on monocytes was carried out by flow cytometry using
      monoclonal antibodies. Cytokine concentration was determined by using standard
      commercial test systems in enzyme immunoassay. RESULTS: Under the effect of DSS,
      expression of adhesion molecules CD162 and CD11b, as well as phospho-p38 MAPK
      changed, IL-6 and IL-8 secretion induction took place. DSS caused enhancement of
      migration and adhesive activity of monocytes, however, inhibited intensity of
      trans-endothelial migration. CONCLUSION: Products of destroyed streptococci have
      a multi-directional effect on human blood monocytes, that could be explained by
      the presence of components with varying biological activity in DSS.

PMID- 25842952
TI  - [Improvement of laboratory diagnostics of cholera due to genetically altered
      (hybrid) variants of cholera Vibrio biovar El Tor].
AB  - AIM: Improvement of laboratory diagnostics of cholera taking into the account
      appearance of hybrid variants of cholera vibrio El Tor biovar in the 1990s.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Phenotypic and molecular-genetic properties of typical
      toxigenic (151 strains) and hybrid (102 strains) variants of El Tor biovar
      cholera vibrios, isolated in the Caucuses in 1970-1990 and 1993-1998,
      respectively, were studied. Toxigenicity gene DNA fragments, inherent to El Tor
      biovars or classic, were detected by using a reagent kit "Genes of Vibrio
      cholerae variant ctxB-rstR-rstC, REF" developed by us. RESULTS: Reagent kit
      "Genes of V. cholerae variant ctxB-rstR-rstC, REF" is proposed to be used for
      laboratory diagnostics of cholera during study of material from humans or
      environmental objects and for identification of V. cholerae 01 on genome level in
      PCR-analysis as a necessary addition to the classic scheme of bacteriological
      analysis. CONCLUSION: Laboratory diagnostics of cholera due to genetically
      altered (hybrid) variants of cholera vibrio El Tor biovar is based on a complex
      study of material from humans and environmental objects by routine bacteriologic
      and PCR-analysis methods with the aim of detection of gene DNA fragments in the
      studied material, that determine biovar (classic or El Tor), identification of V.
      cholerae O1 strains with differentiation of El Tor vibrios into typical and
      altered, as well as determination of enterotoxin, produced by the specific
      cholera vibrio strain (by the presence ctxB(El) or ctxB(Cl) gene DNA fragment,
      coding biosynthesis of CT-2 or CT-1, respectively).

PMID- 25842953
TI  - [Transplacental IgG against measles virus in umbilical blood of neonates from
      various regions of Russian Federation].
AB  - AIM: Determine content of protective transplacental IgG against measles virus in
      umbilical blood of neonates of various regions of Russian Federation. MATERIALS
      AND METHODS: Umbilical blood of 1147 neonates was studied, whose mothers had not
      previously had measles. 672 samples among those were from neonates of Moscow and
      Moscow Region, 475--from Rostov-on-Don. IgG values were determined in EIA using a
      standard kit from "Vector Best" (VectoKor-IgG). A kit from Euroimmun--Avidity:
      Anti-Measles Virus ELISA (IgG) was used for determination of avidity of IgG
      against measles virus. RESULTS: Protective (>= 0.18 IU/ml) IgG against measles
      were registered in 79.9% of children in Moscow, Moscow Region and in 81.3% of
      neonates in Rostov-on-Don. Mean level of IgG in umbilical blood sera of neonates
      from the studied regions was within protective values (1.74 +/- 0.13 IU/ml and
      1.51 +/- 0.09 IU/ml, respectively). Predominance of low level antibodies was
      noted in the studied samples (< 1.0 IU/ml), those are highly avid though (AI >
      60%). In neonates from women aged 16 - 25 years in Moscow and Moscow Region
      protective antibodies were detected in 83.6%; 26 - 35 years--in 75%; women aged
      36 - 43 years--in 88.2% of cases. Mean level of IgG in umbilical blood of
      neonates from mothers aged 36 - 43 years was 1.5 times higher than from mothers
      aged 16 - 25 years and 2 times higher than mothers 26 - 35 years of age.
      CONCLUSION: Neonates from Moscow, Moscow Region and Rostov-on-Don, similarly, in
      79.9% and 81.3% of cases are protected from measles, respectively. Women aged 26
      35 years in 25% of cases are a risk group for measles morbidity and require a
      closer attention during selection of vaccination tactics before conception, and
      their neonates--on reaching decree terms.

PMID- 25842954
TI  - [Evaluation of therapeutic-prophylactic effectiveness of chemical compound NIOC
      14 against ectromelia virus in vivo].
AB  - AIM: Study pharmacodynamic parameters of anti-viral effectiveness of a chemical
      compound NIOC-14 in experiments in mice infected with ectromelia virus (EV).
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: EV (K-1 strain) was obtained from the State Collection of
      Viral Infections and Rickettsioses Causative Agents of the State Scientific
      Centre of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector". Outbred ICR mice were intranasally
      infected with EV at a dose of 10 LD50 per animal (10 x 50% lethal doses/animal)
      and per orally received NIOC-14 or ST-246 as a positive control. Chemical
      compound NIOC-14 (7-[N'-(4-trifluoromethylbenzoyl)-hidrazincarbonyl]
      tricyclo[3.2.2.0(2,4)]non-8-en-6-carbonic acid) was synthesized in Novosibirsk
      Institute of Organic Chemistry (NIOC). Anti-pox preparation ST-246, developed by
      SIGA Technologies Inc. (USA), was synthesized in NIOC using the technique
      described by the authors. RESULTS: 50% effective doses against EV in vivo were
      shown not to differ significantly between the preparations NIOC-14 (3.59 MUg/g
      mouse mass) and ST-246 (5.08 MUg/g mouse mass). During determination of
      therapeutic window, administration of NIOC-14 to mice 1 day or 1 hour before EV
      infection, as well as 1, 2 and 4 days after EV infection and then for 9 days was
      found to ensure 100% animal survival. Administration of NIOC-14 as well as ST-246
      resulted in the decrease relative to control of EV titers in lungs, nasal cavity,
      brains, liver, spleen, kidneys and pancreas. CONCLUSION: Anti-viral effectiveness
      of NIOC-14 against EV in vivo was thus comparable by all the studied
      pharmacodynamic parameters with anti-viral activity of anti-pox-virus preparation
      ST-246.

PMID- 25842955
TI  - [Microbiota of lower urine tract and genital organs of healthy men and in
      infertility].
AB  - AIM: Study microflora of urine, ejaculate, urethra scrape in normal state and
      infertility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 2 groups of men were examined: I (28)-
      control, conditionally healthy men (20 - 25 years of age), II (26)--infertile
      patients (25 - 35 years of age). Middle portion of morning urine, ejaculate,
      urethra scrape were studied in group I, in II--ejaculate. Bacteriologic study of
      urine and ejaculate was carried out in an extended kit of nutrient media
      (HiMedia) for facultative- anaerobic (FAB) and non-clostridia anaerobic bacteria
      (NAB). Urethra scrape and ejaculate were studied by PCR in group I. RESULTS: In
      urethra scrape and ejaculate a wide spectrum of FAB and NAB was detected in group
      I. Corynebacterium spp. and coagulase-negative staphylococci (67.9% each) were
      the dominant cluster of FAB. Eubacterium spp.--in NAB. Bacteriologic study of
      ejaculate corresponded in PCR with similar results of dominating bacteria. Among
      FAB the same clusters dominated during bacteriologic study of ejaculate from
      group II patients, among NAB--Propionibacterium spp., Peptococcus spp. and
      Peptostreptococcus spp. Quantitative characteristics of ejaculate of group I and
      II differed insignificantly. CONCLUSION: The frequency of detection of certain
      genera of FAB and NAB was significantly higher in patients with infertility than
      in conditionally healthy men, however quantitative parameters of the isolated
      microorganisms practically did not differ between groups.

PMID- 25842956
TI  - [Domination of Staphylococcus aureus in microbiocenosis of nasal cavity in
      children and adults with infectious and allergic rhinitis].
AB  - Aim. Determine the occurrence of S. aureus in microbiocenosis of nasal cavity of
      children and adults with allergic and infectious rhinitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Content of nasal cavity microflora in patients with infectious and allergic
      rhinitis was studied. 295 patients were observed, among those--179 children aged
      3 months to 14 years and 116 adults aged 15 - 71 years. RESULTS: In 60.3% of
      cases in children and 52.5% of adults S. aureus was revealed to be the dominating
      microorganism. Additionally, in 26.8% of children and 35.3% of adults epidermal
      staphylococcus was isolated. CONCLUSION: Antagonistic properties of these 2
      species of microorganisms assume their competition on the nasal mucous membrane.

PMID- 25842957
TI  - [Signs of microbial sensibilization in patients with various cardiovascular
      diseases].
AB  - AIM: Analysis of intensity of non-specific (level of sera cytokines) and specific
      (titers of antibodies against Chlamydophila pneumoniae) factors of humoral
      immunity in patients with arterial hypertension and various forms of ischemic
      heart diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 282 individuals were the object of
      examination--157 (55.7%) males. 8 groups were formed, comparable by age: 1 - 32
      individuals with exertional angina pectoris of the III functional class; 2 - 20
      individuals with healing Q-positive myocardial infarction (MI); 3 - 15
      individuals with Q-negative healing MI; 4 - 15 individuals with unstable angina
      pectoris; 5 - 40 individuals with persisting atrium fibrillation; 6 - 35
      individuals with clinically significant chronic heart failure; 7 - 92 patients
      with hypertension of the II stage; 33 conditionally healthy composed the control
      group. Class A and G immunoglobulins against C. pneumoniae, IL-1beta, -6, -17,
      TNFalpha content in blood were determined. RESULTS: The proportion of
      seropositive individuals in groups with IgG and IgA titer characteristics was
      determined. Data on the level of cytokines, taking into the account
      seropositivity, and titer increase are presented. Correlations between hemostasis
      system were established, that demonstrate increase of thrombophilia in the
      presence of persistent infection, mediated via induction of cytokine production.
      Significant differences by instrumental parameters depending on seropositivity
      were not obtained. CONCLUSION: Contribution of microbial sensibilization and
      latent inflammation in the development and destabilization of atherogenesis
      associated diseases seems evident.

PMID- 25842958
TI  - [Commensal microflora and endogenous inductors of pathophysiological reactions of
      innate immunity].
AB  - This paper content analytical review of literature on commensal microflora and
      endogenous inductors of pathophysiological reactions of innate immunity. The
      important role of participation in the homeostasis of the intestinal microflora,
      the repair of tissue damage, maintaining the innate immune system in a state of
      physiological tone by interacting with receptors pattern recognition receptors.
      Effects of the interaction of components commensal flora and innate immune
      receptors play an important role in physiological processes of microorganism in
      maintaining the balance of the synthesis of pro-inflammatory and anti
      inflammatory cytokines and antimicrobial substances.

PMID- 25842959
TI  - [When will the new tuberculosis vaccine appear?].
AB  - The problem of tuberculosis prophylaxis remains actual for many countries of the
      world including Russia. The search of candidates for substitution of the only
      authorized BCG vaccine has been ongoing for some time, because it does not
      prevent reactivation of the causative agent in the latent stage and causes
      generalized BCG-infection in individuals with pronounced immune deficiency. In
      October 2013 in Lille at the European Congress "World Vaccine 2013" results of
      multi-year projects and trials of around 40 novel tuberculosis vaccine candidates
      were presented. The article contains a critical analysis of the materials
      presented at the congress. 12 vaccines have been developed or are being developed
      for priming. Among those a live VPM 1002 vaccine based on a genetically modified
      BCG Mycobacterium bovis (HLY+rBCG) strain and an attenuated vaccine based on
      Mycobacterium tuberculosis (att. MTB-MTBVAC) have passed phase II clinical
      trials. 17 candidates are being examined as booster vaccines, among those 6
      vaccines have passed phase II clinical trials, and are presented by both modified
      M. bovis strains and partial proteins of M. tuberculosis. Characteristics of the
      3 most perspective vaccines have been presented at the congress: VPM 1002, H &H56
      and MVA85A. VPM 1002 is the vaccine closest to introduction. This is a live
      recombinant anti-tuberculosis vaccine based on the BCG strain, its DNA had genes
      partially deleted, that code synthesis of listeriolysin. The trials have shown
      that protective effectiveness of the vaccine is significantly higher than the
      parent BCG due to better induction of CD4+ and CD8+ cells, as well as IFN-gamma,
      IL-18, 12 and other cytokines responsible for cell immunity function against M.
      tuberculosis.

PMID- 25842960
TI  - [Principle directions for the creation and organization of the system of sanitary
      epidemiological safety during the preparations for the XXII Olympic Winter Games
      and XI Paralympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi].
AB  - The paper generalizes the experience of formation of protection system against
      biological threats and ensuring sanitary and epidemiological welfare during
      preparation for the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of
      2014 in Sochi. The basic steps for creating this system, since 2007,
      participation and role of Rospotrebnadzor in this process are shown. The paper
      deals with such questions as the governmental and administrative structures with
      federal agencies interaction, development of a regulatory framework governing the
      safety system of the Olympic Games, development of algorithms of information
      exchange and management decisions, biological safety in developing infrastructure
      in Sochi.

PMID- 25842961
TI  - [Improving prevention activities of infectious diseases during preparation and
      holding of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games 2014 in
      Sochi].
AB  - The article presents data on the implementation of a set of preventive activities
      to ensure sanitation and epidemiological welfare during the XXII Olympic Winter
      Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi. The importance of monitoring
      and evaluation of epidemiological risk, as the basis of formation of preventive
      measures is noticed. The questions of specific, and nonspecific prevention of
      infectious diseases, especially the work done during the pre-Olympic period are
      considered. The importance of specifically developed regulatory basis, and health
      education are emphasized. The conclusion about the effectiveness of the measures
      taken, which led to a significant reduction of infectious diseases in the region
      is made.

PMID- 25842962
TI  - [Operation and interaction peculiarities of diagnostic laboratories involved in
      providing protection from infectious diseases during the XXII Olympic Winter
      Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi].
AB  - The experience of the organization and functioning of the laboratory network
      during the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in
      Sochi is considered. Efforts to establish an effective system of laboratory
      support, the order of work and interaction of diagnostic laboratories involved in
      diseases control of population during the Olympic Games are analyzed.

PMID- 25842963
TI  - [Epidemiological risk of introduction of dangerous and exotic infectious diseases
      on the territory of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games
      2014 in Sochi].
AB  - To assess the epidemiological risk of introduction of serious infectious diseases
      in the pre-Olympic period defined list of dangerous and exotic infections and
      held assessment of potential danger threatening. Initial external information to
      assess the potential risk of skidding were reports, forecasts, posted on the
      official websites. The risk of skidding and epidemiological complications
      conditionally designated as high, moderate and minimal risk importation of
      measles virus-Rate was considered as high. In confirmation of the forecast for
      the period of the Olympic Games in Sochi have been registered about 100 cases of
      measles. Moderate risk of importation was determined for poliomyelitis due to
      wild poliovirus, Lassa fever, cholera, plague, and the minimal--for Dengue fever,
      yellow fever, the Middle East and respiratory syndrome, diseases caused by
      viruses Marburg and Ebola. Based on of analysis of previous Olympic Games and
      subsequent co-events related to the activity of the infectious diseases in the
      world, mate-cluded that even a slight risk of importation of infectious diseases
      requires maximum alertness and readiness to conduct adequate epidemiological
      issues incorporated.

PMID- 25842964
TI  - Novel therapeutic uses and formulations of botulinum neurotoxins: a patent review
      (2012 - 2014).
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are among the most toxic of known
      biological molecules and function as acetylcholine release inhibitors and
      neuromuscular blocking agents. Paradoxically, these properties also make them
      valuable therapeutic agents for the treatment of movement disorders, urological
      conditions and hypersecretory disorders. Greater understanding of their molecular
      mechanism of action and advances in protein engineering has led to significant
      efforts to improve and expand their function with a view towards broadening their
      therapeutic potential. AREAS COVERED: Searches of Espacenet and Google Patent
      have revealed a number of patents related to BoNTs. This review will focus on
      novel therapeutic uses and formulations disclosed during 2012 - 2014. The seven
      patents discussed will include nanoformulations of FDA-approved BoNTs, additional
      BoNT subtypes and novel BoNT variants and chimeras created through protein
      engineering. Supporting patents and related publications are also briefly
      discussed. EXPERT OPINION: The clinical and commercial success of BoNTs has
      prompted investigation into novel BoNTs or BoNT-mediated chimeras with promising
      in vitro results. Distinct strategies including the use of nanoformulations and
      targeted delivery have been implemented to identify new indication and improved
      functionality. Greater understanding of their systemic exposure, efficacy and
      safety profiles will be required for further development.

PMID- 25842965
TI  - Changes in nasal resonance following septoplasty in adults: Acoustic and
      perceptual characteristics.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Patients undergoing surgery for a deviated nasal septum (septoplasty)
      often report that their voice sounds different or less hyponasal. However, such a
      relationship between septoplasty and vocal resonance remains without scientific
      evidence. The purpose of this work is to investigate whether nasal septal surgery
      has any effect on nasal resonance, both in terms of objective measurements and
      patient perception. METHODS: The research carried out was a prospective case
      control study. We recruited patients who underwent septoplasty (study group) and
      healthy volunteers (control group). We obtained voice recordings of the nasal
      consonant /m/ pre- and four weeks postoperatively and twice at similar time
      intervals in the control group. We investigated objective changes by means of
      acoustic analysis of the voice recordings and calculated the total amount of
      acoustic energy in different bandwidths on a wide-band spectrogram. We also
      utilized a questionnaire to explore patient perception. RESULTS: A total of 34
      participants entered the study. ANOVA testing revealed significant changes in
      average total acoustic energy, phlegm, and throat dryness postoperatively.
      Regarding patient perception, a considerable number of our patients felt that
      their voice had changed for the better upon direct questioning. However,
      statistical analysis of the questionnaire items related to nasality of voice did
      not show a significant change. CONCLUSIONS: In this study it has been
      demonstrated that surgical correction of septal deviation causes significant
      spectrographic changes. In particular it causes changes in the average total
      acoustic energy during the production of a nasal consonant. A considerable number
      of our patients reported change in their vocal resonance for the better. We
      recommend that patients be advised that their voice may sound different after
      surgery, or less hyponasal.

PMID- 25842966
TI  - Universal gestational age effects on cognitive and basic mathematic processing: 2
      cohorts in 2 countries.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether general cognitive ability, basic mathematic
      processing, and mathematic attainment are universally affected by gestation at
      birth, as well as whether mathematic attainment is more strongly associated with
      cohort-specific factors such as schooling than basic cognitive and mathematical
      abilities. STUDY DESIGN: The Bavarian Longitudinal Study (BLS, 1289 children, 27
      41 weeks gestational age [GA]) was used to estimate effects of GA on IQ, basic
      mathematic processing, and mathematic attainment. These estimations were used to
      predict IQ, mathematic processing, and mathematic attainment in the EPICure Study
      (171 children <26 weeks GA). RESULTS: For children born <34 weeks GA, each lower
      week decreased IQ and mathematic attainment scores by 2.34 (95% CI: -2.99, -1.70)
      and 2.76 (95% CI: -3.40, -2.11) points, respectively. There were no differences
      among children born 34-41 weeks GA. Similarly, for children born <36 weeks GA,
      mathematic processing scores decreased by 1.77 (95% CI: -2.20, -1.34) points with
      each lower GA week. The prediction function generated using BLS data accurately
      predicted the effect of GA on IQ and mathematic processing among EPICure
      children. However, these children had better attainment than predicted by BLS.
      CONCLUSIONS: Prematurity has adverse effects on basic mathematic processing
      following birth at all gestations <36 weeks and on IQ and mathematic attainment
      <34 weeks GA. The ability to predict IQ and mathematic processing scores from one
      cohort to another among children cared for in different eras and countries
      suggests that universal neurodevelopmental factors may explain the effects of
      gestation at birth. In contrast, mathematic attainment may be improved by
      schooling.

PMID- 25842967
TI  - Cyclic hypoxia does not alter RAD51 expression or PARP inhibitor cell kill in
      tumor cells.
AB  - Solid tumors contain regions of chronic and cyclic hypoxia. Chronic hypoxia can
      downregulate RAD51 and sensitize cells to PARP inhibition. Herein, we show that
      RAD51 expression, cell survival and toxicity to PARP inhibition is not affected
      under cyclic hypoxic conditions. This suggests that PARP inhibition may be
      selectively toxic in tumor sub-regions associated with chronic hypoxia. 

PMID- 25842969
TI  - Dissecting risk haplotypes in sporadic Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - Understanding how genetic risk variants contribute to complex diseases is crucial
      for predicting disease susceptibility and developing patient-tailored therapies.
      In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Young et al. (2015) dissect the function of
      common non-coding risk haplotypes in the SORL1 locus in the pathogenesis of
      sporadic Alzheimer's disease using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem
      cells.

PMID- 25842968
TI  - Clinical implementation and range evaluation of in vivo PET dosimetry for
      particle irradiation in patients with primary glioma.
AB  - PURPOSE: The physical and biological properties of ion-beams offer various
      advantages in comparison to conventional radiotherapy, though uncertainties
      concerning quality assurance are still left. Due to the inverted depth dose
      profile, range accuracy is of paramount importance. We investigated the range
      deviations between planning simulation and post-fractional PET/CT measurement
      from particle therapy in primary glioblastoma. METHODS AND MATERIALS: 20 patients
      with glioblastoma undergoing particle therapy at our institution were selected.
      10 received a proton-boost, 10 a carbon-ion-boost in addition to standard
      treatment. After two fractions, we performed a PET/CT-scan of the brain. We
      compared the resulting range deviation based on the Most-likely-shift method
      between the two measurements, and the measurements with corresponding
      expectations, calculated with the Monte-Carlo code FLUKA. RESULTS: A patient's
      two measurements deviated by 0.7mm (+/-0.7mm). Overall comparison between
      measurements and simulation resulted in a mean range deviation of 3.3mm (+/
      2.2mm) with significant lower deviations in the (12)C-arm. CONCLUSION: The used
      planning concepts display the actual dose distributions adequately. The carbon
      ion group's results are below the used PTV safety margins (3mm). Further
      adjustments to the simulation are required for proton irradiations. Some
      anatomical situations require particular attention to ensure highest accuracy and
      safety.

PMID- 25842970
TI  - An epigenomic road map for endoderm development.
AB  - While studies of organ development have traditionally relied on model organisms,
      recent advances in embryonic stem cell (ESC) culture allow investigation of
      organogenesis in human cells. Wang et al. (2015) employ this system to map the
      dynamic enhancer landscape during ESC differentiation to the endoderm derivatives
      pancreas and liver.

PMID- 25842971
TI  - The lncRNA Pnky in the brain.
AB  - Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) influence diverse cellular processes and have been
      implicated in regulating stem cell properties. Now in Cell Stem Cell, Ramos et
      al. (2015) demonstrate that the neural-specific lncRNA Pnky regulates neuronal
      differentiation from neural stem cells and mediates RNA splicing through
      interactions with polypyrimidine tract-binding protein 1 (PTBP1).

PMID- 25842972
TI  - Epiblast and primitive endoderm differentiation: fragile specification ensures
      stable commitment.
AB  - Specification of the epiblast and primitive endoderm is one of the earliest
      differentiation steps during embryogenesis. In vitro tracking of pluripotency
      markers in ESCs suggests that epiblast specification may be plastic; however,
      live imaging of blastocysts, as detailed in a recent paper from Xenopoulos et al
      (2015), showed that, unlike in ESCs, fate commitment in vivo is largely
      irreversible.

PMID- 25842973
TI  - Clinical translation of TALENS: Treating SCID-X1 by gene editing in iPSCs.
AB  - Mutations causing X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1) reduce
      immune cell populations and function and may be amenable to targeted gene
      correction strategies. Now in Cell Stem Cell, Menon et al. (2015) correct SCID-X1
      related blood differentiation defects by TALEN-mediated genome editing in patient
      derived iPSCs, suggesting a possible strategy for autologous cell therapy of SCID
      X1.

PMID- 25842974
TI  - New Japanese initiatives on stem cell therapies.
AB  - Two laws aiming to provide a new legal framework to promote regenerative
      medicine, while ensuring the efficacy and safety of the treatments, came into
      effect in Japan on November 25, 2014. The scope of these laws is briefly
      described here.

PMID- 25842975
TI  - Conditional approval: Japan lowers the bar for regenerative medicine products.
AB  - A new system for conditional approval of regenerative medicine products will
      allow products of undetermined efficacy to enter the Japanese market. The
      potential scientific, economic, and ethical implications of this program
      highlight the need for further discussion and refinement. 

PMID- 25842976
TI  - New cell sources for T cell engineering and adoptive immunotherapy.
AB  - The promising clinical results obtained with engineered T cells, including
      chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy, call for further advancements to
      facilitate and broaden their applicability. One potentially beneficial innovation
      is to exploit new T cell sources that reduce the need for autologous cell
      manufacturing and enable cell transfer across histocompatibility barriers. Here
      we review emerging T cell engineering approaches that utilize alternative T cell
      sources, which include virus-specific or T cell receptor-less allogeneic T cells,
      expanded lymphoid progenitors, and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived T
      lymphocytes. The latter offer the prospect for true off-the-shelf, genetically
      enhanced, histocompatible cell therapy products.

PMID- 25842977
TI  - Epigenetic priming of enhancers predicts developmental competence of hESC-derived
      endodermal lineage intermediates.
AB  - Embryonic development relies on the capacity of progenitor cells to appropriately
      respond to inductive cues, a cellular property known as developmental competence.
      Here, we report that epigenetic priming of enhancers signifies developmental
      competence during endodermal lineage diversification. Chromatin mapping during
      pancreatic and hepatic differentiation of human embryonic stem cells revealed the
      en masse acquisition of a poised chromatin state at enhancers specific to
      endoderm-derived cell lineages in gut tube intermediates. Experimentally, the
      acquisition of this poised enhancer state predicts the ability of endodermal
      intermediates to respond to inductive signals. Furthermore, these enhancers are
      first recognized by the pioneer transcription factors FOXA1 and FOXA2 when
      competence is acquired, while subsequent recruitment of lineage-inductive
      transcription factors, such as PDX1, leads to enhancer and target gene
      activation. Together, our results identify the acquisition of a poised chromatin
      state at enhancers as a mechanism by which progenitor cells acquire developmental
      competence.

PMID- 25842979
TI  - The long noncoding RNA lncTCF7 promotes self-renewal of human liver cancer stem
      cells through activation of Wnt signaling.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most prevalent subtype of liver cancer, and
      it is characterized by a high rate of recurrence and heterogeneity. Liver cancer
      stem cells (CSCs) may well contribute to both of these pathological properties,
      but the mechanisms underlying their self-renewal and maintenance are poorly
      understood. Here, using transcriptome microarray analysis, we identified a long
      noncoding RNA (lncRNA) termed lncTCF7 that is highly expressed in HCC tumors and
      liver CSCs. LncTCF7 is required for liver CSC self-renewal and tumor propagation.
      Mechanistically, lncTCF7 recruits the SWI/SNF complex to the promoter of TCF7 to
      regulate its expression, leading to activation of Wnt signaling. Our data suggest
      that lncTCF7-mediated Wnt signaling primes liver CSC self-renewal and tumor
      propagation. In sum, therefore, we have identified an lncRNA-based Wnt signaling
      regulatory circuit that promotes tumorigenic activity in liver cancer stem cells,
      highlighting the role that lncRNAs can play in tumor growth and propagation.

PMID- 25842980
TI  - Misperception of weight status and associated factors among undergraduate
      students.
AB  - PROBLEM: We compared participants' self-perception of their weight with the World
      Health Organisation (WHO) definition for BMI categories among undergraduate
      university students undertaking health related academic programmes in Ghana.
      Also, we investigated factors associated to the underestimation of weight status
      in this sample. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample
      of 368 undergraduate students. Anthropometric measurements of weight and height
      were measured with appropriate tools and computed into Body Mass Index (BMI)
      categorised based on WHO classifications. Waist and hip circumferences were also
      measured appropriately. Participants' self-perception of weight status was
      assessed by the question: How do you perceive your weight? (a) Underweight, (b)
      normal weight, (c) overweight, and (d) obese. The BMI-measured weight status was
      compared to the self-perceived weight status by cross-tabulation, Kappa
      statistics of agreement and chi(2) for trend analysis. Factors associated with
      misperception of weight status was measured using univariate and multivariable
      analysis. RESULTS: Thirteen percent (n=48) of the participants were
      overweight/obesity (BMI) and 31.5% had central obesity. Overall, 20.6% of the
      participants misperceived their weight status in which 78.9% of them
      underestimated it. Among overweight/obese participants, 41.7% self-perceived
      themselves accurately. Whereas 10.6% of normal weight participants underestimated
      their weight status, over half (58.3%) of overweight/obese participants did so.
      Factors that were associated with underestimation of weight status were having
      overweight/obesity (BMI) and central obesity. CONCLUSION: Underestimation of
      weight status was frequent. Health professionals and related government agencies
      should develop intervention programmes to empower young people to have accurate
      weight status perception.

PMID- 25842978
TI  - Basal cell carcinoma preferentially arises from stem cells within hair follicle
      and mechanosensory niches.
AB  - Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is characterized by frequent loss of PTCH1, leading to
      constitutive activation of the Hedgehog pathway. Although the requirement for
      Hedgehog in BCC is well established, the identity of disease-initiating cells and
      the compartments in which they reside remain controversial. By using several
      inducible Cre drivers to delete Ptch1 in different cell compartments in mice, we
      show here that multiple hair follicle stem cell populations readily develop BCC
      like tumors. In contrast, stem cells within the interfollicular epidermis do not
      efficiently form tumors. Notably, we observed that innervated Gli1-expressing
      progenitors within mechanosensory touch dome epithelia are highly tumorigenic.
      Sensory nerves activate Hedgehog signaling in normal touch domes, while
      denervation attenuates touch dome-derived tumors. Together, our studies identify
      varying tumor susceptibilities among different stem cell populations in the skin,
      highlight touch dome epithelia as "hot spots" for tumor formation, and implicate
      cutaneous nerves as mediators of tumorigenesis.

PMID- 25842981
TI  - Circulating microRNA-223 as a potential biomarker for obesity.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Obesity is a serious health problem that is implicated in
      many metabolic disorders. Recent studies have proposed that microRNA-223 (miR
      223) is a potent regulator of many diseases related to obesity. However, the
      association of miR-223 with obesity remains unclear. In this study, we examined
      the relationship between serum miR-223 and obesity. DESIGN: A total of 121
      subjects were selected, including 41 normal-weight, 40 overweight and 40 obesity
      subjects. The overweight and obesity subjects received lifestyle intervention for
      3 months after baseline examination. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to
      measure the expression of circulating miR-223 in the serum. RESULTS: MiR-223 was
      lower in both overweight and obesity subjects compared with normal-weight control
      (1.06 vs. 7.54, p<0.001; 4.56 vs. 7.54, p<0.001, respectively). Circulating miR
      223 increased significantly in both overweight and obesity groups after lifestyle
      intervention. Furthermore, subjects with the lowest tertile of miR-223 expression
      had the highest obesity prevalence. The odds ratio was 2.77 (95% confidence
      interval: 1.59-6.54, p<0.05) compared with the highest tertile of miR-223
      expression. Such association was still apparent after adjusting for other major
      risk factors. CONCLUSION: The findings in this study suggest that miR-223 is a
      factor of obesity. The level of miR-223 in the serum can be used as a biomarker
      of obesity and therapeutic response.

PMID- 25842982
TI  - A sequential Ugi multicomponent/Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition approach
      for the continuous flow generation of cyclic peptoids.
AB  - The development of a continuous flow multistep strategy for the synthesis of
      linear peptoids and their subsequent macrocyclization via Click chemistry is
      described. The central transformation of this process is an Ugi four-component
      reaction generating the peptidomimetic core structure. In order to avoid exposure
      to the often toxic and malodorous isocyanide building blocks, the continuous
      approach was telescoped by the dehydration of the corresponding formamide. In a
      concurrent operation, the highly energetic azide moiety required for the
      subsequent intramolecular copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (Click
      reaction) was installed by nucleophilic substitution from a bromide precursor.
      All steps yielding to the linear core structures can be conveniently coupled
      without the need for purification steps resulting in a single process generating
      the desired peptidomimetics in good to excellent yields within a 25 min reaction
      time. The following macrocyclization was realized in a coil reactor made of
      copper without any additional additive. A careful process intensification study
      demonstrated that this transformation occurs quantitatively within 25 min at 140 
      degrees C. Depending on the resulting ring strain, either a dimeric or a
      monomeric form of the cyclic product was obtained. 

PMID- 25842983
TI  - [Diagnostic usefulness of procalcitonin and C-reactive protein in the Emergency
      Department for predicting bacterial meningitis in the elderly].
AB  - OBJETIVES: To analyse and compare procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein
      (CRP) as tools for detecting bacterial meningitis (BM) in the elderly (>74 years
      of age). METHODS: A prospective, observational, descriptive, analytical study of
      220 consecutive patients aged >=1year and diagnosed with acute meningitis in an
      emergency department between September 2009 and July 2014. RESULTS: A total of
      220 patients (136 [62%] male) were studied. The mean age was 30+/-26years, with
      BM being diagnosed in 17/83 patients from 1 to 14years of age, 32/111 from 15 to
      74years of age, and 17/26 patients >=75years of age. PCT had the highest area
      under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) (0.972; 95%CI, 0.946
      0,998; P<.001) to predict bacterial meningitis. With a cut-off of >=0.52ng/mL,
      PCT achieved 93% sensitivity and 86% specificity, and for patients over 75years
      of age 96% sensitivity and 75% specificity, with the same AUC (0.972). The AUC
      for CRP was 0.888, and a >=54,4mg/L cut-off achieved 91% sensitivity and 78%
      specificity, and for patients over 75years of age an AUC of only 0.514 achieved
      with 97% sensitivity and 43% specificity. CONCLUSIONS: For all patients with
      acute meningitis in the emergency department, PCT has a high diagnostic power,
      outperforming CRP and Leukocytes for detection of bacterial etiology, but CPR is
      of not useful in the elderly.

PMID- 25842984
TI  - Tannoid principles of Emblica officinalis renovate cognitive deficits and
      attenuate amyloid pathologies against aluminum chloride induced rat model of
      Alzheimer's disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Emblica officinalis is mentioned as a maharasayana in many
      Ayurvedic texts and promotes intelligence, memory, freedom from disease,
      longevity, and strength of the senses. The present study has been designed to
      explore the memory-enhancing effect of the tannoid principles of E. officinalis
      (EoT) at the biochemical, anatomical, behavioral, and molecular levels against
      aluminum chloride (AlCl3) induced Alzheimer's disease (AD) in rats. Aluminum is
      reported to have an important role in the etiology, pathogenesis, and development
      of AD. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were divided into control, AlCl3 treated, AlCl3
      and EoT (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg bw) co-treated, and EoT (200 mg/kg bw) alone
      treated groups. In control and experimental rats, behavior tests including water
      maze and open field test, estimation of aluminum, assay of acetylcholinesterase
      (AChE) activity, and expression of amyloidogenic proteins were performed.
      RESULTS: Intraperitonial injection of AlCl3 (100 mg/kg bw) for 60 days
      significantly elevated the concentration of aluminum (Al), activity of AChE and
      protein expressions of amyloid precursor protein, A-beta1-42, beta-, and gamma
      secretases as compared to control group in hippocampus and cortex. Co
      administration of EoT orally to AlCl3 rats for 60 days significantly revert back
      the Al concentration, AChE activity, and A-beta synthesis-related molecules in
      the studied brain regions. The spatial learning, memory, and locomotor
      impairments observed in AlCl3 treated rats were significantly attenuated by EoT.
      CONCLUSION: Therefore, EoT may be a promising therapy in ameliorating
      neurotoxicity of aluminum, however further studies are warranted to elucidate the
      exact mechanism of action of EoT.

PMID- 25842985
TI  - Immunosuppression in pregnant women with systemic lupus erythematosus.
AB  - Most pregnancies are successful in women with systemic lupus erythematosus,
      particularly if the disease is quiescent and there are no signs of active
      nephritis. There is no major impact of immunosuppression on maternal outcome.
      However, high doses of cyclosporine and glucocorticoids are used which may favor
      development of hypertension or preeclampsia. Some immunosuppressive drugs may
      exert toxic effects on the fetus. Glucocorticoids may cause small birth weight,
      and azathioprine and calcineurin inhibitors may be associated with lower birth
      weight, gestational age and prematurity. Cyclophosphamide may cause fetal
      malformation when given in the first trimester. Mycophenolate and leflunomide are
      teratogenic drugs and should be withdrawn before conception in case of programmed
      pregnancy or should be rapidly discontinued in case of unexpected pregnancy.
      Option counseling for pregnancy and correct use of immunosuppressive drugs are
      prerequisites for a successful pregnancy in women with lupus. 

PMID- 25842987
TI  - Effect of culture and maturation on human monocyte-derived dendritic cell surface
      markers, necrosis and antigen binding.
AB  - Dendritic cells (DC) are antigen-presenting cells (APC) that are important for
      innate and acquired immune responses. Owing to their involvement in
      autoinflammation, autoimmunity and cancer, DC are useful cellular models for
      biomedical research. Appropriate DC production in vitro could aid the study of DC
      in many human diseases. We used fluorochrome-based flow cytometry assays to
      analyze the effects of culture period and maturation of monocyte-derived DC
      (MoDC) on their viability and necrosis, purity, CD11c expression and phagocytic
      capacity. The morphological changes that occur as purified monocytes become DC
      were assessed at 24 and 72 h, and 6 and 9 days in culture. The dynamics of
      certain cell surface markers of monocytes and mature MoDC (mMoDC) also were
      assessed using fluorescence-based assays. We found that day 6 of culture yielded
      the most functional immature MoDC (iMoDC) with maximal viability, purity, CD11c
      expression and appropriate phagocytic capacity. Mass production of viable MoDC
      could be useful for immunotherapy. 

PMID- 25842988
TI  - Radiation Safety: A Call to Arms.

PMID- 25842989
TI  - The Importance of Re-interventions After Ruptured EVAR.

PMID- 25842990
TI  - High Axial Loads While Walking Increase Anterior Tibial Translation in Intact and
      Anterior Cruciate Ligament-Deficient Knees.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of high axial loading (AL) on anterior tibial
      translation (ATT) according to the increase in knee flexion and the effect of
      valgus stress (VS) and internal rotation (IR) combined with high AL in intact and
      anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-deficient knees according to the increase in
      knee flexion. METHODS: We used 10 fresh-frozen, human cadaveric knees. Different
      loading conditions (134-N anterior drawer, 1,000-N AL, 10-Nm VS, and 5-Nm IR)
      were sequentially combined, and ATT was measured at 0 degrees , 15 degrees , 30
      degrees , 45 degrees , and 60 degrees  of flexion in the intact and ACL-deficient
      knees. RESULTS: ATT increased significantly by adding high AL in intact knees (P
      = .001) and ACL-deficient knees (P < .0001) according to the change in flexion
      angle (P < .0001). Under high AL, ATT in the ACL-deficient knees was
      significantly larger than that in the intact knees for all loading conditions,
      and it also increased gradually according to the increase in knee flexion (P =
      .0001). ATT increased significantly after adding IR or VS with high AL in intact
      knees (VS, P = .002; VS/IR, P = .03) and ACL-deficient knees (VS, P = .0004) at
      some of the flexion angles. CONCLUSIONS: The added high AL increased ATT in
      intact and ACL-deficient knees from 0 degrees  to 60 degrees  of flexion. The
      effect of high AL on ATT became greater in ACL-deficient knees than in intact
      knees, and ATT also gradually increased according to the increase in knee flexion
      from 0 degrees  to 60 degrees . In both the intact and ACL-deficient knees, ATT
      increased significantly after valgus stress or IR from 0 degrees  to 60 degrees .
      CLINICAL RELEVANCE: ATT during weight bearing increases stress to the ACL, which
      worsens with valgus stress and/or IR forces. This finding should be considered
      when one is studying ACL injury mechanisms, as well as prescribing rehabilitation
      after ACL surgery.

PMID- 25842986
TI  - Advances in the treatment of invasive neonatal candidiasis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Invasive candidiasis is responsible for ~ 10% of nosocomial sepsis
      in very-low-birth-weight infants and is associated with substantial morbidity and
      mortality. Over the last two decades, the antifungal armamentarium against
      Candida spp. has increased; however, efficacy and safety studies in this
      population are lacking. AREAS COVERED: We reviewed the medical literature and
      extracted information on clinical and observational studies evaluating the use of
      antifungal agents in neonates with invasive candidiasis. EXPERT OPINION: Efficacy
      and safety data for antifungals in neonates are lacking, and the majority of
      studies conducted to date have concentrated on pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic
      evaluations. Unlike other anti-infective agents, efficacy data in the setting of
      neonatal candidiasis cannot be extrapolated from adult studies due to differences
      in the pathophysiology of the disease in this population relative to older
      children and adults. Data for amphotericin B deoxycholate, fluconazole, and
      micafungin suggest that these are the current agents of choice for this disease
      in neonates until data for newer antifungal agents become available. For
      prophylaxis, data from fluconazole randomized controlled trials will be submitted
      to the regulatory agencies for labeling. Ultimately, the field of therapeutics
      for neonatal candidiasis will require multidisciplinary collaboration given the
      numerous challenges associated with conducting clinical trials in neonates.

PMID- 25842991
TI  - Effect of two surgical circumcision procedures on postoperative pain: A
      prospective, randomized, double-blind study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Male circumcision (MC) is one of the most commonly used surgical
      procedures worldwide for medical and traditional reasons. No studies have
      compared the postoperative pain advantages of conventional techniques (i.e.,
      sleeve and dorsal slit). OBJECTIVE: In this prospective randomized double-blind
      study, we investigated the effect of two surgical techniques (i.e., sleeve and
      dorsal slit) on postoperative pain and emergence agitation. STUDY DESIGN: This
      prospective study was conducted between January and July 2013. Approval was
      obtained from the local Ethical Committee on 17 December 2012, 06/23 (CLINICAL
      TRIALS IDENTIFIER: NCT 01909765). We compared two surgical techniques (i.e., the
      dorsal slit incision technique (Group A) and the double incision (i.e., sleeve)
      technique (Group B) in 60 children who were subjected to MC surgery under general
      anesthesia. All children received dorsal nerve blocks with bupivacaine. The
      modified objective pain scale (MOPS) was used for pain assessment, and the Ramsey
      Sedation Scale was used for the assessment of agitation during anesthesia
      emergence. RESULTS: The MOPS scores were lower in Group B than in Group A in the
      post-anesthesia care unit and during the 4th hour post-surgery (p = 0.01 and p =
      0.037, respectively). Twelve children (40%) in Group A and 23 children (76.6%) in
      Group B required no additional analgesia on postoperative day one (p = 0.004).
      The Ramsey sedation scores were lower in Group A (p = 0.018). DISCUSSION: Dorsal
      slit is often the primary method in cases with paraphimosis; during this
      procedure, the frenulum frequently cannot be preserved at the 6-o'clock position
      of the mucosa, because of traction applied to skin and mucosa. As a result, the
      frenular artery is injured. In contrast, the sleeve technique protects the
      frenulum and the anatomic structures of the glans. In the sleeve technique,
      providing hemostasis and preventing partial ischemia by protecting the frenular
      artery reduces postoperative pain and complications. This present study
      demonstrated that the sleeve technique, which preserved the frenular artery,
      caused less bleeding, reduced electrocautery use and less ischemia than the
      dorsal slit technique. The sleeve technique effectively reduces early
      postoperative pain and agitation after circumcision, provided that adequate
      postoperative analgesia has been achieved. While all variables except the
      employed surgical techniques were similar, Group B had advantages with respect to
      analgesic requirement and pain control during the first 8 h after the operation.
      CONCLUSION: The sleeve technique provides lower pain scores and a reduced
      incidence of agitation after elective MC.

PMID- 25842992
TI  - Renal damage detected by DMSA, despite normal renal ultrasound, in children with
      febrile UTI.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: 2011 American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines recommended renal
      bladder ultrasound (RBUS) as the only evaluation after febrile urinary tract
      infection (FUTI) in infants aged 2-24 months. We determined the sensitivity,
      specificity, and false negative rate of RBUS to identify DMSA-detected renal
      damage in this age group as well as in older children. METHODS: Consecutive
      patients referred to pediatric urology with a history of FUTI underwent DMSA >= 3
      months after FUTI. Abnormal RBUS was defined as: Society of Fetal Urology
      hydronephrosis grades I-IV; hydroureter >= 7 mm; renal scar defined as focal
      parenchymal thinning; and/or size discrepancy >= 1 cm between kidneys. Abnormal
      DMSA was presence of any focal uptake defects and/or split renal function < 44%.
      We calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values,
      and false negative rates of RBUS compared to DMSA. RESULTS: 618 patients (79%
      female), median age 3.4 years, were referred for FUTIs. Of the 512 (83%) with
      normal RBUS, 99 (19%) had abnormal DMSA. Children with normal RBUS after their
      first FUTI had abnormal DMSA in 15/151 (10%) aged <= 24 months and 23/119 (19%)
      aged > 24 months. RBUS had poor sensitivity (34%) and low positive predictive
      value (47%) to identify patients with renal damage. 99/149 (66%) children with
      renal damage on DMSA had normal RBUS. CONCLUSION: After FUTI, 66% of children
      with reduced renal function and/or renal cortical defects found by DMSA
      scintigraphy had a normal RBUS. Since abnormal DMSA may correlate with increased
      risk for VUR, recurrent FUTI and renal damage, our data suggest RBUS alone will
      fail to detect a significant proportion of patients at risk. The data suggest
      that imaging after FUTI should include acute RBUS and delayed DMSA, reserving
      VCUG for patients with abnormal DMSA and/or recurrent FUTI.

PMID- 25842993
TI  - Commentary to "Flexible ureteroscopy and lasertripsy (FURSL) for paediatric renal
      calculi: Results from a systematic review".

PMID- 25842994
TI  - Management of bilateral Wilms tumor over three decades: The perspective of a
      single center.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Outcomes of Wilms tumor improved in last 50 years and excellent
      survival rates can be achieved especially in case of non-metastatic disease and
      favorable histology. Nevertheless, bilateral cases still stand as a therapeutic
      challenge. Prognosis of bilateral Wilms tumor (BWT) is not as good as the
      unilateral tumors of similar stage and histology in terms of survival and renal
      function. OBJECTIVE: Management of BWT is constantly evolving and still stands as
      a therapeutic challenge. This study is designed to review and share our
      experiences on this topic from a surgical standpoint. STUDY DESIGN: The records
      of patients treated in our clinic between 1980 and 2013 according to Turkish
      Pediatric Group of Oncology protocol were analyzed retrospectively and clinical
      data, surgical details, pathology results, long term outcomes were analyzed.
      RESULTS: Thirteen girls and 7 boys with a mean age of 2,5 years were treated.
      There were 2 patients with Wilms tumor-Aniridia-Growth Retardation complex and
      one with isolated hemihypertrophy. Metastasis were detected in lungs of 4
      patients; liver of 2 and in the cranium of one. All patients except one with the
      presumptive diagnosis of unilateral Wilms tumor were given preoperative
      chemotherapy. To sum up; 19 nephroureterectomies, 8 partial nephrectomies and 13
      enucleations were performed to 36 kidneys without any major early or late
      postoperative complications. Pathologic results revealed positive surgical
      margins in 2 lesions with enucleation and in 2 with partial nephrectomies and
      anaplasia in 4 patients. Two patients were not operated due to parental
      disapproval. Two patients had the need of dialysis; one was anephric and the
      others' renal functions recovered over a year. Seven patients received
      radiotherapy for pulmonary metastasis, positive surgical margins or local
      recurrences. Overall, 13 patients survived and 7 died due to metastasis,
      recurrences, and complication of dialysis and refusal of surgical treatment.
      Survival among all patients was 65% and 72.2% among operated ones. Of the 7
      patients with the partial nephrectomy, 2 died and 5 survived. Among enucleation
      group, 8 out of 10 survived and 2 died. Survival was slightly higher among
      enucleation group (80% vs 71.4%). Median time of follow-up for survivors of
      disease is 5.8 years (min: 6 months and max: 14 years). DISCUSSION: Outcomes of
      BWT management have changed dramatically during the last few decades from only
      survival, to a long life expectancy without the need of renal replacement therapy
      owing to improvements in treatment options. We argue that positive surgical
      margins do not necessarily lead to local recurrence. For this reason it may be
      wiser to favor on more nephron sparing surgery than to achieve negative surgical
      margins. Adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy may be adequate to prevent local
      recurrence. Also, survival did not differ significantly between different ways of
      nephron sparing surgeries, so it may be wiser to choose enucleation over partial
      nephrectomy which preserves more nephrons. Nephron-sparing surgery should have
      utmost importance despite the risk of positive margins. On the other hand, there
      is not enough data to interpret if positive surgical margins have role on distant
      metastases or not. Presence of metastasis and recurrence seems to be an important
      determinant of prognosis given the fact that none of the survivors had any
      metastasis or recurrence. CONCLUSION: Nephron preservation should be the aim
      while taking positive surgical margin risk on nephron sparing surgery side
      relying on postoperative chemotherapy and carefully planned radiotherapy to avoid
      recurrence. However, there is significant diversity on the management BWT in
      different centers and a certain validated guideline or protocol to provide the
      optimal treatment is still lacking.

PMID- 25842995
TI  - Predisposing factors associated with stillbirth in Tanzania.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether specific medical conditions and/or fetal
      compromise during labor are associated with fresh stillbirth (FSB), and whether
      absent fetal heart rate (FHR) before delivery can increase risk of FSB. METHODS:
      An observational cohort study was conducted at three university referral
      hospitals in Tanzania between January and September 2013. Maternal, labor, and
      neonatal characteristics were recorded for all deliveries. FSB was defined as an
      Apgar score of 0 at 1 and 5minutes, with intact skin and suspected death during
      labor or delivery. RESULTS: Among 15 305 deliveries, there were 499 stillbirths
      (243 FSBs and 256 macerated stillbirths). Stillbirth was significantly more
      likely than a live birth after maternal transfer (odds ratio [OR] 3.27; 95%
      confidence interval [CI] 2.73-3.92; P<0.001) and when FHR was absent (OR 996.29;
      95% CI 632.19-1570.09; P<0.001). Risk of stillbirth increased with uterine
      rupture (OR 138.62; 95% CI 60.73-316.44), placental abruption (OR 40.96; 95% CI
      28.97-57.91), cord prolapse (OR 13.49; 95% CI 6.97-26.11), and prematurity (OR
      6.87; 95% CI 4.71-10.03; P<0.001 for all). CONCLUSION: In low-resource settings,
      FSB may be prevented by using a combined strategy of clinical risk
      identification, early detection of abnormal FHR, and expedited delivery.

PMID- 25842996
TI  - The flavivirus NS2B-NS3 protease-helicase as a target for antiviral drug
      development.
AB  - The flavivirus NS3 protein is associated with the endoplasmic reticulum membrane
      via its close interaction with the central hydrophilic region of the NS2B
      integral membrane protein. The multiple roles played by the NS2B-NS3 protein in
      the virus life cycle makes it an attractive target for antiviral drug discovery.
      The N-terminal region of NS3 and its cofactor NS2B constitute the protease that
      cleaves the viral polyprotein. The NS3 C-terminal domain possesses RNA helicase,
      nucleoside and RNA triphosphatase activities and is involved both in viral RNA
      replication and virus particle formation. In addition, NS2B-NS3 serves as a hub
      for the assembly of the flavivirus replication complex and also modulates viral
      pathogenesis and the host immune response. Here, we review biochemical and
      structural advances on the NS2B-NS3 protein, including the network of
      interactions it forms with NS5 and NS4B and highlight recent drug development
      efforts targeting this protein. This article forms part of a symposium in
      Antiviral Research on flavivirus drug discovery. 

PMID- 25842997
TI  - From industrially weavable and knittable highly conductive yarns to large
      wearable energy storage textiles.
AB  - Wearable electronic textiles that store capacitive energy are a next frontier in
      personalized electronics. However, the lack of industrially weavable and
      knittable conductive yarns in conjunction with high capacitance, limits the wide
      scale application of such textiles. Here pristine soft conductive yarns are
      continuously produced by a scalable method with the use of twist-bundle-drawing
      technique, and are mechanically robust enough to be knitted to a cloth by a
      commercial cloth knitting machine. Subsequently, the reduced-graphene-oxide
      modified conductive yarns covered with a hierarchical structure of MnO2
      nanosheets and a polypyrrole thin film were used to fabricate weavable, knittable
      and wearable yarn supercapacitors. The resultant modified yarns exhibit specific
      capacitances as high as 36.6 mF cm(-1) and 486 mF cm(-2) in aqueous electrolyte
      (three-electrode cell) or 31 mF cm(-1) and 411 mF cm(-2) in all solid-state two
      electrode cell. The symmetric solid-state supercapacitor has high energy
      densities of 0.0092 mWh cm(-2) and 1.1 mWh cm(-3) (both normalized to the whole
      device) with a long cycle life. Large energy storage textiles are fabricated by
      weaving our flexible all-solid-state supercapacitor yarns to a 15 cm * 10 cm
      cloth on a loom and knitting in a woollen wrist band to form a pattern, enabling
      dual functionalities of energy storage capability and wearability. 

PMID- 25842998
TI  - Release behavior of non-network proteins and its relationship to the structure of
      heat-induced soy protein gels.
AB  - Heat-induced soy protein gels were prepared by heating protein solutions at 12%,
      15% ,or 18% for 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0 h. The release of non-network proteins from gel
      slices was conducted in 10 mM pH 7.0 sodium phosphate buffer. SDS-PAGE and
      diagonal electrophoresis demonstrated that the released proteins consisted of
      undenatured AB subunits and denatured proteins including monomers of A
      polypeptides, disulfide bond linked dimers, trimers, and polymers of A
      polypeptides, and an unidentified 15 kDa protein. SEC-HPLC analysis of non
      network proteins revealed three major protein peaks, with molecular weights of
      approximately 253.9, 44.8, and 9.7 kDa. The experimental data showed that the
      time-dependent release of the three fractions from soy protein gels fit Fick's
      second law. An increasing protein concentration or heating time resulted in a
      decrease in diffusion coefficients of non-network proteins. A power law
      expression was used to describe the relationship between non-network protein
      diffusion coefficient and molecular weight, for which the exponent (alpha)
      shifted to higher value with an increase in protein concentration or heating
      time, indicating that a more compact gel structure was formed. 

PMID- 25842999
TI  - Interactive effects of nanoparticles with other contaminants in aquatic
      organisms: Friend or foe?
AB  - The increasing production and use of nanoparticles (NPs) will lead to their
      release into the aquatic environment, posing a potential threat to the health of
      aquatic organisms. Both in the water phase and in the sediments NPs could mix and
      interact with other pollutants, such as organic xenobiotics and heavy metals,
      leading to possible changes in their bioavailability/bioconcentration/toxicity.
      However, whether these interactive effects may lead to increased harmful effects
      in marine organisms is largely unknown. In this work, available data mainly
      obtained on carbon based NPs and n-TiO2, as examples of widespread NPs, in
      aquatic organisms are reviewed. Moreover, data are summarized on the interactive
      effects of n-TiO2 with 2,3,7,8-TCDD and Cd(2+), chosen as examples of common and
      persistent organic and inorganic contaminants, respectively, in the model marine
      bivalve Mytilus. The results reveal complex and often unexpected interactive
      responses of NPs with other pollutants, depending on type of contaminant and the
      endpoint measured, as well as differences in bioaccumulation. The results are
      discussed in relation with data obtained in freshwater organisms. Overall,
      information available so far indicate that interactive effects of NPs with other
      contaminants do not necessarily lead to increased toxicity or harmful effects in
      aquatic organisms. 

PMID- 25843000
TI  - Charge transfer emission in oligotriarylamine-triarylborane compounds.
AB  - Donor-acceptor compounds exhibiting charge transfer emission are of interest in a
      variety of different contexts, for example, for nonlinear optical processes and
      for sensor applications. Recently investigated triarylamine-triarylborane
      compounds represent an important class of donor-acceptor systems, and we explored
      to what extent their charge-transfer properties can be further improved by using
      stronger amine donors and borane acceptors than prior studies. The
      oligotriarylamine employed here is a much stronger donor than previously used
      triarylamines containing single nitrogen centers. In order to increase the
      acceptor strength, the electron-accepting unit was equipped with two (instead of
      one) dimesitylboron substituents. In our comparative study, six donor-acceptor
      compounds were synthesized and investigated by cyclic voltammetry and optical
      spectroscopy. An increase of the donor strength through replacement of an
      ordinary triarylamine by an oligotriarylamine unit leads to the expected
      energetic stabilization of charge transfer (CT) excited states, but the emission
      solvatochromism is not more pronounced. The attempted increase of the acceptor
      strength by substitution of the acceptor moiety by two (instead of one)
      dimesitylboron groups leads to a drastic decrease of emission quantum yields. On
      the basis of these results, our purely experimental study provides fundamental
      guidelines for the design of new triarylamine-triarylborane donor-acceptor
      compounds with favorable charge-transfer emission properties. 

PMID- 25843001
TI  - Biofilm formation and genetic variability of BCR1 gene in the Candida
      parapsilosis complex.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Candida parapsilosis sensu stricto, Candida orthopsilosis, and
      Candida metapsilosis are cryptic species that belong to the C. parapsilosis
      complex, which has been increasingly associated to fungemia in various geographic
      regions, principally due to the capability of these yeasts to form biofilms on
      indwelling medical devices. BCR1 is one of the most studied genes related to
      Candida spp. biofilms. AIMS: To evaluate the biofilm forming capability of a
      subset of 65 clinical isolates of the C. parapsilosis complex using two
      conventional approaches, and to look for an association between the biofilm
      forming phenotype and genetic variants of a fragment of BCR1. METHODS: The
      biofilm determination was carried out by crystal violet staining and tetrazolium
      reduction assay. On the other hand, a segment of BCR1 gene was sequenced by
      Sanger methodology. RESULTS: C. parapsilosis sensu stricto was statistically
      associated with a low biofilm production phenotype, while C. orthopsilosis was
      significantly associated with both phenotypes (high and low biofilm producers).
      According to the BCR1 sequence analysis, genetic variability was detected in C.
      orthopsilosis and C. metapsilosis without a particular biofilm formation
      phenotype association. CONCLUSIONS: Under the adopted experimental design, C.
      parapsilosis sensu stricto was associated with the low biofilm phenotype and C.
      orthopsilosis with both phenotypes (high and low biofilm producers). On the other
      hand, an association between a biofilm forming phenotype and a particular genetic
      variant of the analyzed BCR1 fragment was not found.

PMID- 25843002
TI  - Cancer cell-autonomous TRAIL-R signaling promotes KRAS-driven cancer progression,
      invasion, and metastasis.
AB  - Many cancers harbor oncogenic mutations of KRAS. Effectors mediating cancer
      progression, invasion, and metastasis in KRAS-mutated cancers are only
      incompletely understood. Here we identify cancer cell-expressed murine TRAIL-R,
      whose main function ascribed so far has been the induction of apoptosis as a
      crucial mediator of KRAS-driven cancer progression, invasion, and metastasis and
      in vivo Rac-1 activation. Cancer cell-restricted genetic ablation of murine TRAIL
      R in autochthonous KRAS-driven models of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and
      pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) reduces tumor growth, blunts metastasis,
      and prolongs survival by inhibiting cancer cell-autonomous migration,
      proliferation, and invasion. Consistent with this, high TRAIL-R2 expression
      correlates with invasion of human PDAC into lymph vessels and with shortened
      metastasis-free survival of KRAS-mutated colorectal cancer patients. 

PMID- 25843003
TI  - Mechanistic Asymmetry in Hsp90 Dimers.
AB  - Hsp90 is a molecular chaperone that facilitates the maturation of signaling
      proteins including many kinases and steroid hormone receptors. Through these
      client proteins, Hsp90 is a key mediator of many physiological processes and has
      emerged as a promising drug target in cancer. Additionally, Hsp90 can mask or
      potentiate the impact of mutations in clients with remarkable influence on
      evolutionary adaptations. The influential roles of Hsp90 in biology and disease
      have stimulated extensive research into the molecular mechanism of this
      chaperone. These studies have shown that Hsp90 is a homodimeric protein that
      requires ATP hydrolysis and a host of accessory proteins termed co-chaperones to
      facilitate the maturation of clients to their active states. Flexible hinge
      regions between its three structured domains enable Hsp90 to sample dramatically
      distinct conformations that are influenced by nucleotide, client, and co
      chaperone binding. While it is clear that Hsp90 can exist in symmetrical
      conformations, recent studies have indicated that this homodimeric chaperone can
      also assume a variety of asymmetric conformations and complexes that are
      important for client maturation. The visualization of Hsp90-client complexes at
      high resolution together with tools to independently manipulate each subunit in
      the Hsp90 dimer are providing new insights into the asymmetric function of each
      subunit during client maturation. 

PMID- 25843004
TI  - Therapeutic efficacy of liposomes containing 4-(5-pentadecyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2
      yl)pyridine in a murine model of progressive pulmonary tuberculosis.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the deadliest infectious
      diseases and comprises a global public health concern because co-infection with
      Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and, in particular, the continuous isolation
      of new Multidrug-resistant strains (MDR), rendering the discovery of novel anti
      TB agents a strategic priority. One of the most effective first-line
      mycobactericidal drugs is Isoniazid (INH). Previously, we reported in vitro anti
      mycobacterial activity against sensitive and MDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis
      strains of a new oxadiazole obtained from the hybridization of INH and palmitic
      acid. The present study evaluated the therapeutic potential of liposomes
      including Phosphatidylcholine (PC) and L-alpha Phosphatidic acid (PA) or PC and
      Cholesterol (Chol) containing 4-(5-pentadecyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)pyridine in
      BALB/c male mice infected by intratracheal (i.t.) route with drug-sensitive or
      MDR M. tuberculosis. METHODS: The lipophilic 4-(5-pentadecyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2
      yl)pyridine was obtained to mix INH and palmitoyl chloride. The in vivo anti-TB
      effect of this oxadiazole derivative contained in two different liposomes was
      tested in BALB/c mice infected with a sensitive strain of M. tuberculosis,
      initiating treatment 2 months post-infection, by i.t. route, of 50 MUg of
      oxadiazole derivative for 1 month. In a second stage, mice were infected with an
      MDR (resistant to first-line drugs) and treated with 150 MUg of an oxadiazole
      derivative carried by PC + Chol liposomes for 2 months. The effect of the
      oxadiazole derivative in vivo was determined by the quantification of lung
      bacilli loads and histopathology. RESULTS: In comparison with control animals,
      drug-sensitive, strain-infected mice treated for 1 month with 50 MUg of this
      oxadiazole derivative contained in the liposomes of PC + Chol showed a
      significant, 80% decrease of live bacilli in lungs, which correlated with the
      morphometric observation, and the group of MDR clinical isolate-infected mice
      treated with 150 MUg of the oxadiazole derivative contained in the same type of
      liposome showed significantly lower lung bacillary loads than control mice,
      producing 90% of bacilli burden reduction after 2 months of treatment.
      CONCLUSION: These results confirm and extend the reported highly efficient anti
      mycobacterial activity of this lipophilic oxidazole derivative when it is carried
      by liposomes in mice suffering from late progressive pulmonary TB induced by drug
      sensitive, and most prominently by, MDR strains.

PMID- 25843005
TI  - Nintedanib modulates surfactant protein-D expression in A549 human lung
      epithelial cells via the c-Jun N-terminal kinase-activator protein-1 pathway.
AB  - Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive disease with a high
      mortality rate. Signalling pathways activated by several tyrosine kinase
      receptors are known to be involved in lung fibrosis, and this knowledge has led
      to the development of the triple tyrosine kinase inhibitor nintedanib, an
      inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), platelet
      derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), and fibroblast growth factor receptor
      (FGFR), for the treatment of IPF. Pulmonary surfactant protein D (SP-D), an
      important biomarker of IPF, reportedly attenuates bleomycin-induced pulmonary
      fibrosis in mice. In this study, we investigated whether nintedanib modulates SP
      D expression in human lung epithelial (A549) cells using quantitative real-time
      reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. To
      investigate the mechanisms underlying the effects of nintedanib, we evaluated the
      phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and its downstream target c-Jun.
      The effect of the JNK inhibitor SP600125 on c-Jun phosphorylation was also
      tested. Activation of activator protein-1 (AP-1) was examined using an enzyme
      linked immunosorbent assay-based test, and cell proliferation assays were
      performed to estimate the effect of nintedanib on cell proliferation.
      Furthermore, we treated mice with nintedanib to examine its in vivo effect on SP
      D levels in lungs. These experiments showed that nintedanib up-regulated SP-D
      messenger RNA expression in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations up to 5
      MUM, with significant SP-D induction observed at concentrations of 3 MUM and 5
      MUM, in comparison with that observed in vehicle controls. Nintedanib stimulated
      a rapid increase in phosphorylated JNK in A549 cells within 30 min of treatment
      and stimulated c-Jun phosphorylation, which was inhibited by the JNK inhibitor
      SP600125. Additionally, nintedanib was found to activate AP-1. A549 cell
      proliferation was not affected by nintedanib at any of the tested concentrations.
      Moreover, blocking FGFR, PDGFR, and VEGFR function did not affect nintedanib
      induced SP-D expression, suggesting that nintedanib mediates its effects through
      a mechanism that is distinct from its known role as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor.
      Nintedanib is also reported to inhibit Src kinase although pre-treatment of cells
      with a Src kinase inhibitor had no effect on nintedanib-induced SP-D expression.
      Increased expression of SFTPD mRNA and SP-D protein in the lungs of nintedanib
      treated mice was also observed. In this work, we demonstrated that nintedanib up
      regulated SP-D expression in A549 cells via the JNK-AP-1 pathway and did not
      affect cell proliferation. This is the first report describing SP-D induction by
      nintedanib.

PMID- 25843006
TI  - Efficacy and safety of phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitors for pulmonary arterial
      hypertension: A meta-analysis focusing on 6MWD.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitors (PDE-5 inhibitors)
      have been suggested as a first-line drug for treating pulmonary arterial
      hypertension (PAH). The aim of present meta-analysis was to fully evaluate the
      efficacy and safety of treating PAH with PDE-5 inhibitors, focusing on the
      improvement of 6-min walk distance (6MWD). METHODS: Studies were identified from
      The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and PUBMED databases. We calculated odds ratios
      (OR) for dichotomous data and weighted mean differences with 95% confidence
      intervals (CI) for continuous data. RESULTS: Six studies with a total of 1056
      patients (729 patients in PDE-5 inhibitors treatment group and 327 patients in
      placebo group) were included. All-cause mortality rate in the control group and
      PDE-5 inhibitors group was 2.6% and 0.7%, respectively. In an average of 12.3
      week follow-up, PDE-5 inhibitors treatment was associated with a 71% reduction in
      mortality (OR 0.29; 95 %CI 0.07-1.15; P = 0.08), and increased 6MWD by 40.17 m,
      improved NYHA functional class and hemodynamic parameters. As for monotherapy and
      combination therapy patients, 6MWD has improved by 48.94 m and 21.75 m,
      respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results of present meta-analysis suggest that
      treatment with PDE-5 inhibitors improves the 6MWD, clinical symptoms, hemodynamic
      parameters, and a tendency of survival benefits. In patients treated with PDE-5
      inhibitor monotherapy, the 6MWD significantly increased when compared to
      combination therapies.

PMID- 25843007
TI  - Plant growth-promoting and antifungal activity of yeasts from dark chestnut soil.
AB  - 538 yeast strains were isolated from dark chestnut soil collected from under the
      plants of the legume family (Fabaceae). The greatest number of microorganisms is
      found at soil depth 10-20 cm. Among the 538 strains of yeast 77 (14.3%) strains
      demonstrated the ability to synthesize IAA. 15 strains were attributed to high
      IAA-producing yeasts (above 10 MUg/ml). The most active strains were YA05 with
      51.7 +/- 2.1 MUg/ml of IAA and YR07 with 45.3 +/- 1.5 MUg/ml. In the study of
      effect of incubation time on IAA production the maximum accumulation of IAA
      coincided with maximum rates of biomass: at 120 h for YR07 and at 144 h for
      strain YA05. IAA production increased when medium was supplemented with the L
      tryptophan. 400 MUg/ml of L-tryptophan showed maximum IAA production. 10 strains
      demonstrated the ability to inhibit the growth and development of phytopathogenic
      fungi. YA05 and YR07 strains formed the largest zones of inhibition compared to
      the other strains--from 21.6 +/- 0.3 to 30.6 +/- 0.5 mm. Maximum zone of
      inhibition was observed for YA05 against Phytophtora infestans and YR07 strains
      against Fusarium graminearum. YA05 and YR07 strains were identified as
      Aureobasidium pullulans YA05 (GenBank accession No JF160955) and Rhodotorula
      mucilaginosa YR07 (GenBank accession No JF160956).

PMID- 25843008
TI  - Considering affinity: An ethereal conversation (part three of three).

PMID- 25843009
TI  - Molecular detection of Rangelia vitalii in domestic dogs from Uruguay.
AB  - The piroplasm Rangelia vitalii is the etiological agent of canine rangeliosis, a
      severe disease affecting domestic dogs in South America. Two domestic dogs from
      two different Departments (Salto and Treinta y Tres) of Uruguay presented with
      clinical signs such as apathy, anorexia, pale mucous membranes, jaundice, and
      hemorrhagic manifestations, suggestive of a canine vector-borne disease.
      Molecular analysis, based on PCR and DNA sequencing of portions of the 18S rRNA
      gene, revealed that both dogs were infected by R. vitalii. Two consensus
      sequences, one from Salto and one from Treinta y Tres, differed from each other
      by only 1 nucleotide (99.8% similarity) and were 99.8-100% identical to
      corresponding sequences of R. vitalii from Brazil and Argentina available in
      GenBank. Through phylogenetic analysis inferred by the 18S rRNA gene, the two
      Uruguayan sequences of R. vitalii were aligned with the corresponding sequences
      from 7 other R. vitalii sequences available in GenBank (5 from Brazil and, 2 from
      Argentina) under high bootstrap support. The two dogs of the present study were
      negative for Ehrlichia canis according to the E. canis-specific real-time PCR
      assay. Our findings not only confirm the occurrence of R. vitalii in Uruguay but
      also provide the southernmost record of this re-emerging agent. The only previous
      report of R. vitalii in Uruguay dated from 1976, a period when molecular analyses
      were not available. We provide the first molecular detection of R. vitalii in
      Uruguay. Currently, canine rangeliosis is confirmed to occur in Brazil,
      Argentina, and Uruguay. 

PMID- 25843010
TI  - Seated postural neck and trunk reactions to sideways perturbations with or
      without a cognitive task.
AB  - Driving on irregular terrain will expose the driver to sideways mechanical shocks
      or perturbations that may cause musculoskeletal problems. How a cognitive task,
      imposed on the driver, affects seated postural reactions during perturbations is
      unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate seated postural
      reactions in the neck and trunk among healthy adults exposed to sideways
      perturbations with or without a cognitive task. Twenty-three healthy male
      subjects aged 19-36 years, were seated on a chair mounted on a motion system and
      randomly exposed to 20 sideways perturbations (at two peak accelerations 5.1 or
      13.2m/s(2)) in two conditions: counting backwards or not. Kinematics were
      recorded for upper body segments using inertial measurement units attached to the
      body and electromyography (EMG) was recorded for four muscles bilaterally in the
      neck and trunk. Angular displacements (head, neck, trunk and pelvis) in the
      frontal plane, and EMG amplitude (normalised to maximum voluntary contractions,
      MVC) were analysed. The cognitive task provoked significantly larger angular
      displacements of the head, neck and trunk and significantly increased EMG mean
      amplitudes in the upper neck during deceleration, although 10% of MVC was never
      exceeded. A cognitive task seems to affect musculoskeletal reactions when exposed
      to sideways perturbations in a seated position.

PMID- 25843011
TI  - Linking the Cell Cycle with Innate Immunity in Arabidopsis.

PMID- 25843012
TI  - Targeting Plant Ethylene Responses by Controlling Essential Protein-Protein
      Interactions in the Ethylene Pathway.
AB  - The gaseous plant hormone ethylene regulates many processes of high agronomic
      relevance throughout the life span of plants. A central element in ethylene
      signaling is the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-localized membrane protein ethylene
      insensitive2 (EIN2). Recent studies indicate that in response to ethylene, the
      extra-membranous C-terminal end of EIN2 is proteolytically processed and
      translocated from the ER to the nucleus. Here, we report that the conserved
      nuclear localization signal (NLS) mediating nuclear import of the EIN2 C-terminus
      provides an important domain for complex formation with ethylene receptor
      ethylene response1 (ETR1). EIN2 lacking the NLS domain shows strongly reduced
      affinity for the receptor. Interaction of EIN2 and ETR1 is also blocked by a
      synthetic peptide of the NLS motif. The corresponding peptide substantially
      reduces ethylene responses in planta. Our results uncover a novel mechanism and
      type of inhibitor interfering with ethylene signal transduction and ethylene
      responses in plants. Disruption of essential protein-protein interactions in the
      ethylene signaling pathway as shown in our study for the EIN2-ETR1 complex has
      the potential to guide the development of innovative ethylene antagonists for
      modern agriculture and horticulture.

PMID- 25843013
TI  - Sleep stability and transitions in patients with idiopathic REM sleep behavior
      disorder and patients with Parkinson's disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior
      disorder (iRBD) are at high risk of developing Parkinson's disease (PD). As
      wake/sleep-regulation is thought to involve neurons located in the brainstem and
      hypothalamic areas, we hypothesize that the neurodegeneration in iRBD/PD is
      likely to affect wake/sleep and REM/non-REM (NREM) sleep transitions. METHODS: We
      determined the frequency of wake/sleep and REM/NREM sleep transitions and the
      stability of wake (W), REM and NREM sleep as measured by polysomnography (PSG) in
      27 patients with PD, 23 patients with iRBD, 25 patients with periodic leg
      movement disorder (PLMD) and 23 controls. Measures were computed based on manual
      scorings and data-driven labeled sleep staging. RESULTS: Patients with PD showed
      significantly lower REM stability than controls and patients with PLMD. Patients
      with iRBD had significantly lower REM stability compared with controls. Patients
      with PD and RBD showed significantly lower NREM stability and significantly more
      REM/NREM transitions than controls. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that W, NREM and REM
      stability and transitions are progressively affected in iRBD and PD, probably
      reflecting the successive involvement of brain stem areas from early on in the
      disease. SIGNIFICANCE: Sleep stability and transitions determined by a data
      driven approach could support the evaluation of iRBD and PD patients.

PMID- 25843014
TI  - Some additional considerations in modelling the dynamic traits and genome-wide
      association studies: Comments on "Mapping complex traits as a dynamic system" by
      L. Sun and R. Wu.

PMID- 25843015
TI  - Single molecule data under scrutiny: Comment on "Extracting physics of life at
      the molecular level: A review of single-molecule data analyses" by W. Colomb &
      S.K. Sarkar.

PMID- 25843016
TI  - Burkitt leukaemia/lymphoma: R-CODOX-M/R-IVAC remains gold standard treatment in
      BL.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sporadic Burkitt lymphoma (BL), characterised by translocation
      associated C-MYC upregulation is a rare, aggressive lymphoma with a cure rate up
      to 90 % using the R-CODOX-M/R-IVAC (RCRI) protocol. RCRI is active in HIV
      associated BL in combination with HAART. The WHO classification system defines
      lymphomas intermediate between DLBCL and BL, in which lymphomas with
      t(14;18)(q32;q21) and C-MYC-carrying translocation, i.e. 'double-hit' are
      included (BL-DH), and these patients are conventionally treated with RCRI.
      RESULT: We describe the SJH experience of 25 patients with BL, BL + HIV and BL-DH
      treated with RCRI between 2002 and 2011. Twelve BL patients (8M/4F), median age
      49.1 years (range 20-73 years); of whom 9 had extensive disease, including 8 with
      marrow and 2 with CNS involvement. Eleven patients remain in remission at 80.5
      months (range 37-147 months) from completion of treatment and one died of
      progressive BL giving an OS of 91.6 % at 1 year with no late relapses. Eight
      patients with BL + HIV were treated (6M/2F) with a median age 40.25 years (range
      24-64). Five remain in complete remission (CR) at 65 months (range 13-109
      months), three patients died, two of progressive disease and one of treatment
      associated hepatotoxicity in CR. Five patients with BL-DH were included; (3M/2F),
      age 47.8 years (range 42-55 years); and all patients died of progressive disease,
      4 on RCRI therapy and a further patient despite an allogeneic transplantation.
      CONCLUSION: These results confirm that RCRI is an effective treatment in adults
      with BL and BL + HIV and remains the gold standard against which other regimens
      should be compared. We confirm the poor prognosis found in BL-DH, indicating new
      treatment approaches are needed for this sub-group which should be identified at
      diagnosis by FISH analysis.

PMID- 25843017
TI  - Predicting prostate cancer: analysing the clinical efficacy of prostate cancer
      risk calculators in a referral population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The decision to proceed to biopsy for the diagnosis of prostate
      cancer in clinical practice is a difficult one. Prostate cancer risk calculators
      allow for a systematic approach to the use of patient information to predict a
      patient's likelihood of prostate cancer. AIMS: In this paper, we validate the two
      leading prostate cancer risk calculators, the prostate cancer prevention trial
      (PCPT) and the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC)
      in an Irish population. METHODS: Data were collected for 337 men referred to one
      tertiary referral center in Ireland. Calibration analysis, ROC analysis and
      decision curve analysis were undertaken to ascertain the performance of the PCPT
      and the ERSPC risk calculators in this cohort. RESULTS: Of 337 consecutive
      biopsies, cancer was subsequently diagnosed in 146 men (43 %), 98 (67 %) of which
      were high grade. The AUC for the PCPT and ERSPC risk calculators were 0.68 and
      0.66, respectively for the prediction of prostate cancer. Each calculator was
      sufficiently calibrated in this cohort. Decision curve analysis demonstrated a
      net benefit via the use of the PCPT and ERSPC risk calculators in the diagnosis
      of prostate cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The PCPT and ERSPC risk calculators achieve a
      statistically significant prediction of prostate cancer in this Irish population.
      This study provides external validation for these calculators, and therefore
      these tools can be used to aid in clinical decision making.

PMID- 25843018
TI  - Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) producing Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN)
      alleviates age associated oxidative stress and hyperlipidemia, and improves
      mitochondrial function in ageing rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Ageing involves oxidative stress mediated by Reactive Oxygen Species
      (ROS) and mitochondrial dysfunction. The present work demonstrates the protective
      effect of PQQ producing EcN against rotenone induced mitochondrial oxidative
      stress and consequence of mitochondrial and cellular dysfunction in naturally
      ageing rat model. PQQ is a potent antioxidant molecule also known to stimulate
      mitochondrial biogenesis and function in mammals. METHODS: Firstly, adult rats
      (16-18 weeks old) were treated with rotenone (2.5 mg/kg body weight; i.p.) daily
      for 28 days along with PQQ (10 mg/kg diet, daily) and modified probiotic EcN
      strains (10(8) CFU twice weekly). Secondly, ageing rats (48-50 weeks old) were
      gavaged with probiotic EcN strains (10(8)CFU twice weekly) and PQQ (10 mg/kg
      diet, daily) for 8 months. RESULTS: PQQ producing EcN-5 treatment prevented
      rotenone induced hepatic oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage in rats as
      assessed by reduced lipid peroxidation (29%), elevated glutathione (GSH) content
      (43%), increased catalase (52%) and superoxide dismutase (52%) activities when
      compared to only rotenone treatment. Moreover, increased hepatic mitochondrial
      content (41%), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1
      alpha (PGC-1alpha) mRNA (25%) and mitochondrial Superoxide Dismutase (Mit-SOD)
      activity (94%) were also observed in EcN-5 treated rats. Rotenone treated rats
      did not exhibit gain in body weight, whereas rats co-treated with EcN-5 showed
      significant restoration in body weight gain. Furthermore, weekly administration
      of EcN-5 to naturally ageing rats for eight months resulted in significant
      reduction of oxidative stress in hepatic and colonic tissues (assessed by lipid
      peroxidation, GSH content and catalase and SOD enzyme activities) along with
      increase in hepatic mitochondrial enzyme activities (Mit-SOD and succinate
      dehydrogenase) and biogenesis, when compared to untreated rats. Additionally,
      these rats also exhibited reduced expression of fatty acid synthase (50%) and
      increased expression of acyl coenzyme oxidase (225%) genes in liver in contrast
      to untreated rats resulting in lowered triglyceride (13% & 13.5%) and cholesterol
      (21% & 27%) levels in plasma and liver, respectively. Increased levels of
      butyrate (93%), propionate (45%) and acetate (18%) were also found in colonic
      content of these rats. PQQ administered daily (supplemented in diet) exhibited
      more or less similar effect as weekly gavaged EcN-5 in both the experiments,
      which substantiate that these effects are mediated by PQQ. CONCLUSION: These
      results suggest that genetically modified EcN-5 can be used as a nutritional
      supplement which can reduce age related oxidative stress and hyperlipidemia.
      Furthermore, it also rejuvenates healthy mitochondria by stimulating
      mitochondrial biogenesis and metabolism.

PMID- 25843019
TI  - Harvard Aging Brain Study: Dataset and accessibility.
AB  - The Harvard Aging Brain Study is sharing its data with the global research
      community. The longitudinal dataset consists of a 284-subject cohort with the
      following modalities acquired: demographics, clinical assessment, comprehensive
      neuropsychological testing, clinical biomarkers, and neuroimaging. To promote
      more extensive analyses, imaging data was designed to be compatible with other
      publicly available datasets. A cloud-based system enables access to interested
      researchers with blinded data available contingent upon completion of a data
      usage agreement and administrative approval. Data collection is ongoing and
      currently in its fifth year.

PMID- 25843020
TI  - Possible mechanisms of action of Caesalpinia pyramidalis against ethanol-induced
      gastric damage.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Caesalpinia pyramidalis Tul. (Fabaceae), known as
      "catingueira", is an endemic tree of the Northeast region of Brazil. This plant,
      mainly inner bark and flowers, has been used in traditional medicine to treat
      gastritis, heartburn, indigestion, stomachache, dysenteries, and diarrheas.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: The ethanol extract of C. pyramidalis inner bark was used
      in rats via oral route, at the doses of 30, 100, and 300 mg/kg, in the ethanol
      induced ulcer model and some of the mechanisms underlying to the gastroprotective
      effect of this plant investigated. RESULTS: The ethanol extract of C. pyramidalis
      inner bark (100 mg/kg) produced reduction (P < 0.001) on the total lesion area in
      the ethanol-induced gastric damage. The gastroprotective response caused by the
      ethanol extract (100 mg/kg) was significantly attenuated (P < 0.05) by
      intraperitoneal treatment of rats with DL-Propargylglycine (PAG, a cystathionine
      gamma-lyase inhibitor; 25 mg/kg), but not by Nw-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester
      hydrochloride (L-NAME, an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase; 70 mg/kg), and
      confirmed by microscopic evidence. The ethanol extract significantly decreased
      the number of mucosal mast cells compared to vehicle-treated group. The
      inflammatory cells of the ethanol extract (100 mg/kg)-treated ulcerated rats
      exhibited an upregulation of interleukin (IL)-4 protein expression and
      downregulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression, observed by
      immunohistochemistry and flow cytometer. CONCLUSIONS: The present results suggest
      that the ethanol extract of C. pyramidalis produced dose-related gastroprotective
      response on ethanol-induce ulcer in rats through mechanisms that involved an
      interaction with endogenous hydrogen sulfide and reduction of inflammatory
      process with imbalance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediators,
      supporting the popular usage of this plant.

PMID- 25843021
TI  - Uses of plants, animal and mineral substances in Mediterranean ethno-veterinary
      practices for the care of small ruminants.
AB  - ETHNO-PHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The cultural heritage of Sardinian shepherds is
      rapidly vanishing and survives in the memory of elderly people. The objective of
      our study was not only to report the usage of plants and their preparation for
      administration but also the use of other remedies of different origin arising
      from traditional ethno-veterinary knowledge, as Sardinian shepherds were used to
      employ plants, animals, minerals and combinations of several substances to
      prepare remedies for prophylaxis or therapy on their animals. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: The work was carried out in rural areas of the island of Sardinia
      (Italy) by interviewing shepherds and filling questionnaires in order to record
      ethno-veterinary practices traditionally used for animal health care. RESULTS:
      Ethno-veterinary remedies traditionally utilised for treatments of small
      ruminants against ecto-and endo-parasites, gastrointestinal diseases, viral and
      bacterial diseases, wounds, sprains and bruises were identified. Non herbal
      remedies outnumbered the herbal ones, as usually plant species were mainly used
      for the care of cattle and equines. A total of 150 ethno-veterinary uses were
      documented for the treatment of 33 animal conditions, a detailed account of the
      formulations and their administration to sheep and goats was provided. Herbal
      remedies involved the use of twenty two spontaneous species and seven cultivated
      species. CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies remedies used in ethno-veterinary
      practices for small ruminants care in Sardinia, the second major Mediterranean
      island which has agro-pastoral activities dating back to Neolithic. Moreover, the
      danger of losing oral traditions, and the increasing attention towards
      traditional remedies as potential sources of natural products for improving
      animal health and welfare, support the interest of our survey.

PMID- 25843022
TI  - Antibacterial and antifungal activities of various solvent extracts from the
      leaves and stem bark of Anisophyllea laurina R. Br ex Sabine used as traditional
      medicine in Guinea.
AB  - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Anisophyllea laurina R. Br ex Sabine is a plant
      that has been used in the folk medicine to treat malaria, dysentery, diabetes and
      toothache against bacterial infection. Through this study, most likely we are
      reporting for the first time, its effectiveness as an antibacterial and
      antifungal agent. AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate antibacterial and antifungal
      activities of various solvent extracts from the leaves and stem bark of A.
      laurina R. Br ex Sabine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The various solvent extracts of
      leaves and stem bark were tested for antibacterial and antifungal activities
      against eight bacteria strains and three fungal strains using the well diffusion
      and micro-dilution methods. RESULTS: Antibacterial and antifungal activities of
      methanol and ethanol extracts were higher than the ethyl acetate and water
      extract. Leaves extracts had the highest potential activity against bacteria than
      stem bark extracts, but showed low antifungal activity compared to stem bark
      extracts. They also exhibited potent growth inhibitory activity against
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 and
      Bacillus subtilis with MIC value of 125ug/mL. CONCLUSIONS: The current study
      confirmed that the leaves and stem bark extracts of A. laurina R. Br ex Sabine
      proved to be most effective as antibacterial and antifungal activities.

PMID- 25843023
TI  - Endocrine approaches to treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other neurological
      conditions: Part I: Some recollections of my association with Dr. Abba Kastin: A
      tale of successful collaboration.

PMID- 25843024
TI  - In vitro and in vivo pharmacological characterization of Pronetupitant, a prodrug
      of the neurokinin 1 receptor antagonist Netupitant.
AB  - The aim of the present study was to investigate the pharmacological activity of
      Pronetupitant, a novel compound designed to act as prodrug of the NK1 antagonist
      Netupitant. In receptor binding experiments Pronetupitant displayed high
      selectivity for the NK1 receptor. In a calcium mobilization assay performed on
      CHONK1 cells Pronetupitant (100 nM, 15 min preincubation) behaved as an NK1
      antagonist more potent than Netupitant (pK(B) 8.72 and 7.54, respectively). In
      the guinea pig ileum bioassay Pronetupitant antagonized the contractile effect of
      SP showing a similar potency as Netupitant (pK(B)~9). Similar results were
      obtained with 5 min preincubation time while at 2 min only Pronetupitant produced
      significant effects. In vivo in mice the intrathecal injection of 0.1 nmol SP
      elicited the typical scratching, biting and licking (SBL) nociceptive response.
      This effect of SP was dose dependently (0.1-10 mg/kg) antagonized by
      Pronetupitant given intravenously 2 h before the peptide. Superimposable results
      were obtained using Netupitant. Pharmacokinetic studies performed in rats
      demonstrate that Pronetupitant, after i.v. administration, is quickly (few
      minutes) and completely converted to Netupitant. Collectively the present results
      indicated that Pronetupitant acts in vitro as selective NK1 antagonist more
      potent than Netupitant. However based on the short half-life measured for
      Pronetupitant in rats, the in vivo action of Pronetupitant can be entirely
      interpreted as due to its conversion to Netupitant.

PMID- 25843025
TI  - Endogenous opioids and feeding behavior: A decade of further progress (2004
      2014). A Festschrift to Dr. Abba Kastin.
AB  - Functional elucidation of the endogenous opioid system temporally paralleled the
      creation and growth of the journal, Peptides, under the leadership of its
      founding editor, Dr. Abba Kastin. He was prescient in publishing annual and
      uninterrupted reviews on Endogenous Opiates and Behavior that served as a
      microcosm for the journal under his stewardship. This author published a 2004
      review, "Endogenous opioids and feeding behavior: a thirty-year historical
      perspective", summarizing research in this field between 1974 and 2003. The
      present review "closes the circle" by reviewing the last 10 years (2004-2014) of
      research examining the role of endogenous opioids and feeding behavior. The
      review summarizes effects upon ingestive behavior following administration of
      opioid receptor agonists, in opioid receptor knockout animals, following
      administration of general opioid receptor antagonists, following administration
      of selective mu, delta, kappa and ORL-1 receptor antagonists, and evaluating
      opioid peptide and opioid receptor changes in different food intake models. 

PMID- 25843026
TI  - Guideline Adherence for Echocardiographic Follow-Up in Outpatients with at Least
      Moderate Valvular Disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Attention to resource utilization has led to increased scrutiny of
      the appropriateness of initial diagnostic imaging studies on the basis of current
      guidelines. Far less attention has been paid to examining the lack of appropriate
      follow-up studies. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was
      performed of 3,781 consecutive outpatients referred for transthoracic
      echocardiography (TTE) from July to December 2008. Data from the electronic
      medical records were extracted to see if patients with at least moderate left
      sided valvular stenosis or regurgitation underwent subsequent echocardiographic
      studies within 60 days of the period recommended by the 2006 American College of
      Cardiology and American Heart Association valve guidelines document. RESULTS: Of
      342 outpatients with at least moderate valve dysfunction, 38 (11%) were excluded
      for reasons that precluded the need for a follow-up study (e.g. death, surgery).
      Of the remaining 304 patients, only 179 (59%) underwent follow-up
      echocardiography within the recommended period. Rates of timely follow-up TTE
      were higher when ordering physicians were cardiologists or cardiovascular
      surgeons (65%) compared with primary care physicians or internal medicine
      specialists (45%) (P < .01). Follow-up rates were significantly different for
      aortic stenosis (77%), mitral stenosis (67%), aortic regurgitation (49%), and
      mitral regurgitation (49%) (P < .01). Patients receiving timely follow-up TTE
      were younger (66 +/- 15 vs 71 +/- 15 years, P = .002) and more likely to be male
      (odds ratio, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.12-2.85; P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: To the authors'
      knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating low rates of compliance with
      guideline-recommended monitoring TTE in patients with at least moderate valve
      dysfunction. Cardiac practitioners have significantly better compliance.
      Strategies are needed to improve timely follow-up care in this population.

PMID- 25843027
TI  - Maternal tobacco smoking in pregnancy and children's socio-emotional development
      at age 5: The EDEN mother-child birth cohort study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is debate as to whether maternal tobacco use in pregnancy is
      related to offspring behaviour later on. We tested this association examining
      multiple aspects of children's behaviour at age 5 and accounting for parental
      smoking outside of pregnancy, as well as child and family characteristics.
      METHODS: Data come from a prospective community based birth cohort study (EDEN;
      n=1113 families in France followed since pregnancy in 2003-2005 until the child's
      5th birthday). Maternal tobacco use in pregnancy was self-reported. Children's
      socio-emotional development (emotional symptoms, conduct problems, symptoms of
      hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationship problems, prosocial behaviour) was
      assessed by mothers using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at
      age 5 years. Logistic regression analyses controlled for Inverse Probability
      Weights (IPW) of maternal tobacco use calculated based on study center,
      children's characteristics (sex, premature birth, low birth weight,
      breastfeeding), maternal characteristics (age at the child's birth, psychological
      difficulties and alcohol use in pregnancy, post-pregnancy depression, and
      smoking), paternal smoking in and post-pregnancy, parental educational
      attainment, family income, parental separation, and maternal negative life
      events. RESULTS: Maternal smoking in pregnancy only predicted children's high
      symptoms of hyperactivity/inattention (sex and study center-adjusted ORs:
      maternal smoking in the 1st trimester: 1.95, 95%CI: 1.13-3.38; maternal smoking
      throughout pregnancy: OR=2.11, 95%CI: 1.36-3.27). In IPW-controlled regression
      models, only children of mothers who smoked throughout pregnancy had
      significantly elevated levels of hyperactivity/inattention (OR=2.20, 95%CI: 1.21
      4.00). CONCLUSIONS: Maternal tobacco smoking in pregnancy may contribute directly
      or through epigenetic mechanisms to children's symptoms of
      hyperactivity/inattention.

PMID- 25843028
TI  - Visual cortical prosthesis with a geomagnetic compass restores spatial navigation
      in blind rats.
AB  - Allocentric sense is one of the major components that underlie spatial
      navigation. In blind patients, the difficulty in spatial exploration is
      attributed, at least partly, to the deficit of absolute direction perception. In
      support of this notion, we announce that blind adult rats can perform spatial
      tasks normally when externally provided with real-time feedback of their head
      directions. Head-mountable microstimulators coupled with a digital geomagnetic
      compass were bilaterally implanted in the primary visual cortex of adult rats
      whose eyelids had been sutured. These "blind" rats were trained to seek food
      pellets in a T-shaped maze or a more complicated maze. Within tens of trials,
      they learned to manage the geomagnetic information source to solve the mazes.
      Their performance levels and navigation strategies were similar to those of
      normal sighted, intact rats. Thus, blind rats can recognize self-location through
      extrinsically provided stereotactic cues.

PMID- 25843029
TI  - Repeating spatial activations in human entorhinal cortex.
AB  - The ability to remember and navigate spatial environments is critical for
      everyday life. A primary mechanism by which the brain represents space is through
      hippocampal place cells, which indicate when an animal is at a particular
      location. An important issue is understanding how the hippocampal place-cell
      network represents specific properties of the environment, such as signifying
      that a particular position is near a doorway or that another position is near the
      end of a corridor. The entorhinal cortex (EC), as the main input to the
      hippocampus, may play a key role in coding these properties because it contains
      neurons that activate at multiple related positions per environment. We examined
      the diversity of spatial coding across the human medial temporal lobe by
      recording neuronal activity during virtual navigation of an environment
      containing four similar paths. Neurosurgical patients performed this task as we
      recorded from implanted microelectrodes, allowing us to compare the human
      neuronal representation of space with that of animals. EC neurons activated in a
      repeating manner across the environment, with individual cells spiking at the
      same relative location across multiple paths. This finding indicates that EC
      cells represent non-specific information about location relative to an
      environment's geometry, unlike hippocampal place cells, which activate at
      particular random locations. Given that spatial navigation is considered to be a
      model of how the brain supports non-spatial episodic memory, these findings
      suggest that EC neuronal activity is used by the hippocampus to represent the
      properties of different memory episodes.

PMID- 25843030
TI  - Anillin Regulates Neuronal Migration and Neurite Growth by Linking RhoG to the
      Actin Cytoskeleton.
AB  - Neuronal migration and neurite growth are essential events in neural development,
      but it remains unclear how guidance cues are transduced through receptors to the
      actin cytoskeleton, which powers these processes. We report that a cytokinetic
      scaffold protein, Anillin, is redistributed to the leading edge of the C. elegans
      Q neuroblast during cell migration and neurite growth. To bypass the requirement
      for Anillin in cytokinesis, we used the somatic CRISPR-Cas9 technique to generate
      conditional mutations in Anillin. We demonstrate that Anillin regulates cell
      migration and growth cone extension by stabilizing the F-actin network at the
      leading edge. Our biochemical analysis shows that the actin-binding domain of
      Anillin is sufficient to stabilize F-actin by antagonizing the F-actin severing
      activity of Cofilin. We further uncover that the active form of RhoG/MIG-2
      directly binds to Anillin and recruits it to the leading edge. Our results reveal
      a novel pathway in which Anillin transduces the RhoG signal to the actin
      cytoskeleton during neuronal migration and neurite growth. 

PMID- 25843031
TI  - Colonization, competition, and dispersal of pathogens in fluid flow networks.
AB  - The colonization of bacteria in complex fluid flow networks, such as those found
      in host vasculature, remains poorly understood. Recently, it was reported that
      many bacteria, including Bacillus subtilis [1], Escherichia coli [2], and
      Pseudomonas aeruginosa [3, 4], can move in the opposite direction of fluid flow.
      Upstream movement results from the interplay between fluid shear stress and
      bacterial motility structures, and such rheotactic-like behavior is predicted to
      occur for a wide range of conditions [1]. Given the potential ubiquity of
      upstream movement, its impact on population-level behaviors within hosts could be
      significant. Here, we find that P. aeruginosa communities use a diverse set of
      motility strategies, including a novel surface-motility mechanism characterized
      by counter-advection and transverse diffusion, to rapidly disperse throughout
      vasculature-like flow networks. These motility modalities give P. aeruginosa a
      selective growth advantage, enabling it to self-segregate from other human
      pathogens such as Proteus mirabilis and Staphylococcus aureus that outcompete P.
      aeruginosa in well-mixed non-flow environments. We develop a quantitative model
      of bacterial colonization in flow networks, confirm our model in vivo in plant
      vasculature, and validate a key prediction that colonization and dispersal can be
      inhibited by modifying surface chemistry. Our results show that the interaction
      between flow mechanics and motility structures shapes the formation of mixed
      species communities and suggest a general mechanism by which bacteria could
      colonize hosts. Furthermore, our results suggest novel strategies for tuning the
      composition of multi-species bacterial communities in hosts, preventing
      inappropriate colonization in medical devices, and combatting bacterial
      infections.

PMID- 25843033
TI  - Chemokine-Dependent pH Elevation at the Cell Front Sustains Polarity in
      Directionally Migrating Zebrafish Germ Cells.
AB  - Directional cell migration requires cell polarization with respect to the
      distribution of the guidance cue. Cell polarization often includes asymmetric
      distribution of response components as well as elements of the motility
      machinery. Importantly, the function and regulation of most of these molecules
      are known to be pH dependent. Intracellular pH gradients were shown to occur in
      certain cells migrating in vitro, but the functional relevance of such gradients
      for cell migration and for the response to directional cues, particularly in the
      intact organism, is currently unknown. In this study, we find that primordial
      germ cells migrating in the context of the developing embryo respond to the
      graded distribution of the chemokine Cxcl12 by establishing elevated
      intracellular pH at the cell front. We provide insight into the mechanisms by
      which a polar pH distribution contributes to efficient cell migration.
      Specifically, we show that Carbonic Anhydrase 15b, an enzyme controlling the pH
      in many cell types, including metastatic cancer cells, is expressed in migrating
      germ cells and is crucial for establishing and maintaining an asymmetric pH
      distribution within them. Reducing the level of the protein and thereby erasing
      the pH elevation at the cell front resulted in abnormal cell migration and
      impaired arrival at the target. The basis for the disrupted migration is found in
      the stringent requirement for pH conditions in the cell for regulating
      contractility, for the polarization of Rac1 activity, and hence for the formation
      of actin-rich structures at the leading edge of the migrating cells.

PMID- 25843032
TI  - Role of Synchronous Activation of Cerebellar Purkinje Cell Ensembles in Multi
      joint Movement Control.
AB  - It is a longstanding question in neuroscience how elaborate multi-joint movements
      are coordinated coherently. Microzones of cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs) are
      thought to mediate this coordination by controlling the timing of particular
      motor domains. However, it remains to be elucidated to what extent motor
      coordination deficits can be correlated with abnormalities in coherent activity
      within these microzones and to what extent artificially evoked synchronous
      activity within PC ensembles can elicit multi-joint motor behavior. To study PC
      ensemble correlates of limb, trunk, and tail movements, we developed a
      transparent disk treadmill that allows quantitative readout of locomotion and
      posture parameters in head-fixed mice and simultaneous cellular-resolution
      imaging and/or optogenetic manipulation. We show that PC ensembles in the ataxic
      and dystonic mouse mutant tottering have a reduced level of complex spike co
      activation, which is delayed relative to movement onset and co-occurs with
      prolonged swing duration and reduced phase coupling of limb movements as well as
      with enlarged deflections of body-axis and tail movements. Using optogenetics to
      increase simple spike rate in PC ensembles, we find that preferred locomotion and
      posture patterns can be elicited or perturbed depending on the behavioral state.
      At rest, preferred sequences of limb movements can be elicited, whereas during
      locomotion, preferred gait-inhibition patterns are evoked. Our findings indicate
      that synchronous activation of PC ensembles can facilitate initiation and
      coordination of limb and trunk movements, presumably by tuning downstream systems
      involved in the execution of behavioral patterns.

PMID- 25843034
TI  - Planar Cell Polarity Breaks the Symmetry of PAR Protein Distribution prior to
      Mitosis in Drosophila Sensory Organ Precursor Cells.
AB  - During development, cell-fate diversity can result from the unequal segregation
      of fate determinants at mitosis. Polarization of the mother cell is essential for
      asymmetric cell division (ACD). It often involves the formation of a cortical
      domain containing the PAR complex proteins Par3, Par6, and atypical protein
      kinase C (aPKC). In the fly notum, sensory organ precursor cells (SOPs) divide
      asymmetrically within the plane of the epithelium and along the body axis to
      generate two distinct cells. Fate asymmetry depends on the asymmetric
      localization of the PAR complex. In the absence of planar cell polarity (PCP),
      SOPs divide with a random planar orientation but still asymmetrically, showing
      that PCP is dispensable for PAR asymmetry at mitosis. To study when and how the
      PAR complex localizes asymmetrically, we have used a quantitative imaging
      approach to measure the planar polarization of the proteins Bazooka (Baz, fly
      Par3), Par6, and aPKC in living pupae. By using imaging of functional GFP-tagged
      proteins with image processing and computational modeling, we find that Baz,
      Par6, and aPKC become planar polarized prior to mitosis in a manner independent
      of the AuroraA kinase and that PCP is required for the planar polarization of
      Baz, Par6, and aPKC during interphase. This indicates that a "mitosis rescue"
      mechanism establishes asymmetry at mitosis in PCP mutants. This study therefore
      identifies PCP as the initial symmetry-breaking signal for the planar
      polarization of PAR proteins in asymmetrically dividing SOPs.

PMID- 25843035
TI  - Basal level of Th17 immune response is not enhanced in aplastic amemia.
AB  - Acquired aplastic anemia (AA) is an immune mediated bone marrow failure syndrome
      which is associated with impaired T-cell immune responses. In this work we
      investigated the role of Th17 immune response in AA. Our results showed that the
      absolute numbers of circulating IL-17-producing CD4(+) T cells and
      CD4(+)CD161(+)CCR6(+) cells, the blood plasma level of IL-17, and the expression
      level of Th17 lineage-specifying transcription factor RORC in circulating CD4(+)
      T cells, were not increased in AA. These results suggest that Th17 immune
      response may not play an important role in the pathogenesis of AA. 

PMID- 25843036
TI  - Novel anticancer activity of phloroglucinol against breast cancer stem-like
      cells.
AB  - Poor prognosis of breast cancer patients is closely associated with metastasis
      and relapse. There is substantial evidence supporting that cancer stem-like cells
      (CSCs) are primarily responsible for relapse in breast cancer after anticancer
      treatment. However, there is a lack of suitable drugs that target breast cancer
      stem-like cells (BCSCs). Here, we report that phloroglucinol (PG), a natural
      phlorotannin component of brown algae, suppresses sphere formation, anchorage
      independent colony formation and in vivo tumorigenicity. In line with these
      observations, treatment with PG also decreased CD44(+) cancer cell population as
      well as expression of CSC regulators such as Sox2, CD44, Oct4, Notch2 and beta
      catenin. Also, treatment with PG sensitized breast cancer cells to anticancer
      drugs such as cisplatin, etoposide, and taxol as well as to ionizing radiation.
      Importantly, PG inhibited KRAS and its downstream PI3K/AKT and RAF-1/ERK
      signaling pathways that regulate the maintenance of CSCs. Taken together, our
      findings implicate PG as a good candidate to target BCSCs and to prevent the
      disease relapse. 

PMID- 25843037
TI  - Profiling of plasma metabolites in canine oral melanoma using gas chromatography
      mass spectrometry.
AB  - Malignant melanoma is one of the most common and aggressive tumors in the oral
      cavity of dog. The tumor has a poor prognosis, and methods for diagnosis and
      prediction of prognosis after treatment are required. Here, we examined
      metabolite profiling using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for
      development of a discriminant model for evaluation of prognosis. Metabolite
      profiles were evaluated in healthy and melanoma plasma samples using orthogonal
      projection to latent structure using discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Cases that
      were predicted to be healthy using the OPLS discriminant model had no advanced
      lesions after radiation therapy. These results indicate that metabolite profiling
      may be useful in diagnosis and prediction of prognosis of canine malignant
      melanoma. 

PMID- 25843038
TI  - Performance of a new carbon dioxide absorbent, Yabashi lime(r) as compared to
      conventional carbon dioxide absorbent during sevoflurane anesthesia in dogs.
AB  - In the present study, we compare a new carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbent, Yabashi
      lime((r)) with a conventional CO2 absorbent, Sodasorb((r)) as a control CO2
      absorbent for Compound A (CA) and Carbon monoxide (CO) productions. Four dogs
      were anesthetized with sevoflurane. Each dog was anesthetized with four
      preparations, Yabashi lime((r)) with high or low-flow rate of oxygen and control
      CO2 absorbent with high or low-flow rate. CA and CO concentrations in the
      anesthetic circuit, canister temperature and carbooxyhemoglobin (COHb)
      concentration in the blood were measured. Yabashi lime((r)) did not produce CA.
      Control CO2 absorbent generated CA, and its concentration was significantly
      higher in low-flow rate than a high-flow rate. CO was generated only in low-flow
      rate groups, but there was no significance between Yabashi lime((r)) groups and
      control CO2 absorbent groups. However, the CO concentration in the circuit could
      not be detected (<=5ppm), and no change was found in COHb level. Canister
      temperature was significantly higher in low-flow rate groups than high-flow rate
      groups. Furthermore, in low-flow rate groups, the lower layer of canister
      temperature in control CO2 absorbent group was significantly higher than Yabashi
      lime((r)) group. CA and CO productions are thought to be related to the
      composition of CO2 absorbent, flow rate and canister temperature. Though CO
      concentration is equal, it might be safer to use Yabashi lime((r)) with
      sevoflurane anesthesia in dogs than conventional CO2 absorbent at the point of CA
      production.

PMID- 25843039
TI  - The fate and tissue disposition of deoxynivalenol in broiler chickens.
AB  - To evaluate the fate of deoxynivalenol (DON) in broilers, DON was administered
      either intravenously or orally to broilers at a dose of 1 mg/kg BW.
      Concentrations of DON in plasma were measurable up to 4 hr and 2 hr after
      intravenous and oral administration, respectively. Following intravenous
      administration, the values for the elimination half-life, the volume of
      distribution and the clearance were 1.25 +/- 0.25 hr, 7.55 +/- 2.03 l/kg and 4.16
      +/- 0.42 l/hr/kg, respectively. The oral bioavailability was 15.46 +/- 4.02%. DON
      was detectable in all tissues examined after oral administration. These results
      suggest that DON is able to penetrate into the various tissues in broilers,
      though poorly absorbed from their gastrointestinal tract.

PMID- 25843040
TI  - Virulence characterization of Campylobacter jejuni isolated from resident wild
      birds in Tokachi area, Japan.
AB  - The prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni in wild birds is a potential hazard for
      human and animal health. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of
      C. jejuni in wild birds in Tokachi area, Hokkaido, Japan and investigate their
      virulence in vitro. In total, 173 cloacal swabs from individual wild birds were
      collected for the detection of Campylobacter spp. Thirty four samples (19.7%)
      were positive for Campylobacter of which 94.1% (32/34 samples) were C. jejuni.
      Additionally, one C. coli and one C. fetus were isolated. Seven C. jejuni
      isolates (one from crows and the other from pigeons) had important virulence
      genes including all three CDT genes (cdtA, cdtB and cdtC) and flaA, flaB, ciaB
      and cadF, and the other isolates were lacking cdtA gene. Further studies on in
      vitro virulence-associated phenotypes, such as motility assay on soft agar and
      invasion assay in Caco-2 cells, were performed. The wild bird C. jejuni isolates
      adhered and invaded human cells. Although the numbers of viable intracellular
      bacteria of wild bird isolates were lower than a type strain NCTC11168, they
      persisted at 48-hr and underwent replication in host cells. 

PMID- 25843041
TI  - Tree-in-bud pattern in central lung cancer: CT findings and pathologic
      correlation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Tree-in-bud (TIB) pattern can be found with central lung cancer on
      chest CT scans. However, few reports have described it so far. We aim to
      determine its incidence, CT findings and pathologic basis. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      652 consecutive patients with confirmed central lung cancer were enrolled in our
      study. The incidence, CT findings and pathologic features of TIB pattern were
      analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: In total, TIB pattern was found in 22.5%
      (147/652) of patients. It was more common in patients with squamous cell
      carcinoma than those with non-squamous cell carcinoma (P=0.000). The most
      important associated CT finding was obstructive bronchial mucoid impaction distal
      to the cancer (100%, 147/147), followed by consolidation and ground-glass
      opacities (62.6%, 92/147). TIB pattern was confined to the areas of lung supplied
      by the involved bronchi (100%, 147/147) and had a focal distribution
      predominantly (94.6%, 139/147). Pathologically, it correlated with
      bronchiolectasis, bronchiolar lumen filled by mucus and inflammatory exudates,
      wall thickening with inflammatory cells infiltration. CONCLUSIONS: TIB pattern is
      commonly detected in central lung squamous cell carcinoma on thoracic CT scan. It
      usually has a localized distribution with a predominant associated CT finding of
      obstructive bronchial mucoid impaction. This pattern corresponds to the mucoid
      impaction of bronchioles and bronchiolitis pathologically. A full understanding
      of TIB pattern in central lung cancer can be useful in preventing diagnostic
      errors.

PMID- 25843042
TI  - Intratumoral macrophage phenotype and CD8+ T lymphocytes as potential tools to
      predict local tumor outgrowth at the intervention site in malignant pleural
      mesothelioma.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: In patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), local tumor
      outgrowth (LTO) after invasive procedures is a well-known complication.
      Currently, no biomarker is available to predict the occurrence of LTO. This study
      aims to investigate whether the tumor macrophage infiltration and phenotype of
      and/or the infiltration of CD8+ T-cells predicts LTO. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten
      mesothelioma patients who developed LTO were clinically and pathologically
      matched with 10 non-LTO mesothelioma patients. Immunohistochemistry was performed
      on diagnostic biopsies to determine the total TAM (CD68), the M2 TAM (CD163) and
      CD8+ T-cell count (CD8). RESULTS: The mean M2/total TAM ratio differed between
      the two groups: 0.90+/-0.09 in the LTO group versus 0.63+/-0.09 in patients
      without LTO (p<0.001). In addition, the mean CD8+ T-cell count was significantly
      different between the two groups: 30 per 0.025 cm2 (range 2-60) in the LTO group
      and 140 per 0.025 cm2 (range 23-314) in the patients without LTO (p<0.01).
      CONCLUSION: This study shows that patients who develop LTO after a local
      intervention have a higher M2/total TAM ratio and lower CD8+ cell count at
      diagnosis compared to patients who did not develop this outgrowth. We propose
      that the M2/total TAM ratio and the CD8+ T-cell amount are potential tools to
      predict which MPM patients are prone to develop LTO.

PMID- 25843043
TI  - Validation of a semi-physiological model for caffeine in healthy subjects and
      cirrhotic patients.
AB  - The objective of this paper was to validate a previously developed semi
      physiological model to simulate bioequivalence trials of drug products. The aim
      of the model was to ascertain whether the measurement of the metabolite
      concentration-time profiles would provide any additional information in
      bioequivalence studies (Fernandez-Teruel et al., 2009a,b; Navarro-Fontestad et
      al., 2010). The semi-physiological model implemented in NONMEM VI was used to
      simulate caffeine and its main metabolite plasma levels using caffeine parameters
      from bibliography. Data from 3 bioequivalence studies in healthy subjects at 3
      different doses (100, 175 and 400mg of caffeine) and one study in cirrhotic
      patients (200 or 250mg) were used. The first aim was to adapt the previous semi
      physiological model for caffeine, showing the hepatic metabolism with one main
      metabolite, paraxanthine. The second aim was to validate the model by comparison
      of the simulated plasma levels of parent drug and metabolite to the experimental
      data. The simulations have shown that the proposed semi-physiological model was
      able to reproduce adequately the pharmacokinetic behavior of caffeine and
      paraxanthine in both healthy subjects and cirrhotic patients at all the assayed
      doses. Therefore, the model could be used to simulate plasma concentrations vs.
      time of drugs with the same pharmacokinetic scheme as caffeine, as long as their
      population parameters are known, and it could be useful for bioequivalence trial
      simulation of drugs that undergo hepatic metabolism with a single main
      metabolite. 

PMID- 25843044
TI  - Response to: A new approach to treatment of vulvovaginal atrophy.

PMID- 25843045
TI  - Mitochondrial alterations by PARKIN in dopaminergic neurons using PARK2 patient
      specific and PARK2 knockout isogenic iPSC lines.
AB  - In this study, we used patient-specific and isogenic PARK2-induced pluripotent
      stem cells (iPSCs) to show that mutations in PARK2 alter neuronal proliferation.
      The percentage of TH(+) neurons was decreased in Parkinson's disease (PD) patient
      derived neurons carrying various mutations in PARK2 compared with an age-matched
      control subject. This reduction was accompanied by alterations in
      mitochondrial:cell volume fraction (mitochondrial volume fraction). The same
      phenotype was confirmed in isogenic PARK2 null lines. The mitochondrial phenotype
      was also seen in non-midbrain neurons differentiated from the PARK2 null line, as
      was the functional phenotype of reduced proliferation in culture. Whole genome
      expression profiling at various stages of differentiation confirmed the
      mitochondrial phenotype and identified pathways altered by PARK2 dysfunction that
      include PD-related genes. Our results are consistent with current model of PARK2
      function where damaged mitochondria are targeted for degradation via a
      PARK2/PINK1-mediated mechanism.

PMID- 25843046
TI  - PDX1 binds and represses hepatic genes to ensure robust pancreatic commitment in
      differentiating human embryonic stem cells.
AB  - Inactivation of the Pancreatic and Duodenal Homeobox 1 (PDX1) gene causes
      pancreatic agenesis, which places PDX1 high atop the regulatory network
      controlling development of this indispensable organ. However, little is known
      about the identity of PDX1 transcriptional targets. We simulated pancreatic
      development by differentiating human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into early
      pancreatic progenitors and subjected this cell population to PDX1 chromatin
      immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq). We identified more than 350 genes
      bound by PDX1, whose expression was upregulated on day 17 of differentiation.
      This group included known PDX1 targets and many genes not previously linked to
      pancreatic development. ChIP-seq also revealed PDX1 occupancy at hepatic genes.
      We hypothesized that simultaneous PDX1-driven activation of pancreatic and
      repression of hepatic programs underlie early divergence between pancreas and
      liver. In HepG2 cells and differentiating hESCs, we found that PDX1 binds and
      suppresses expression of endogenous liver genes. These findings rebrand PDX1 as a
      context-dependent transcriptional repressor and activator within the same cell
      type. 

PMID- 25843047
TI  - Deterministic HOX patterning in human pluripotent stem cell-derived
      neuroectoderm.
AB  - Colinear HOX expression during hindbrain and spinal cord development diversifies
      and assigns regional neural phenotypes to discrete rhombomeric and vertebral
      domains. Despite the precision of HOX patterning in vivo, in vitro approaches for
      differentiating human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to posterior neural fates
      coarsely pattern HOX expression thereby generating cultures broadly specified to
      hindbrain or spinal cord regions. Here, we demonstrate that successive activation
      of fibroblast growth factor, Wnt/beta-catenin, and growth differentiation factor
      signaling during hPSC differentiation generates stable, homogenous
      SOX2(+)/Brachyury(+) neuromesoderm that exhibits progressive, full colinear HOX
      activation over 7 days. Switching to retinoic acid treatment at any point during
      this process halts colinear HOX activation and transitions the neuromesoderm into
      SOX2(+)/PAX6(+) neuroectoderm with predictable, discrete HOX gene/protein
      profiles that can be further differentiated into region-specific cells, e.g.,
      motor neurons. This fully defined approach significantly expands capabilities to
      derive regional neural phenotypes from diverse hindbrain and spinal cord domains.

PMID- 25843048
TI  - Emergence of a stage-dependent human liver disease signature with directed
      differentiation of alpha-1 antitrypsin-deficient iPS cells.
AB  - Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide an inexhaustible source of cells
      for modeling disease and testing drugs. Here we develop a bioinformatic approach
      to detect differences between the genomic programs of iPSCs derived from diseased
      versus normal human cohorts as they emerge during in vitro directed
      differentiation. Using iPSCs generated from a cohort carrying mutations (PiZZ) in
      the gene responsible for alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, we find that the
      global transcriptomes of PiZZ iPSCs diverge from normal controls upon
      differentiation to hepatic cells. Expression of 135 genes distinguishes PiZZ iPSC
      hepatic cells, providing potential clues to liver disease pathogenesis. The
      disease-specific cells display intracellular accumulation of mutant AAT protein,
      resulting in increased autophagic flux. Furthermore, we detect beneficial
      responses to the drug carbamazepine, which further augments autophagic flux, but
      adverse responses to known hepatotoxic drugs. Our findings support the utility of
      iPSCs as tools for drug development or prediction of toxicity. 

PMID- 25843049
TI  - Efficient generation of NKX6-1+ pancreatic progenitors from multiple human
      pluripotent stem cell lines.
AB  - Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) represent a renewable source of pancreatic
      beta cells for both basic research and therapeutic applications. Given this
      outstanding potential, significant efforts have been made to identify the
      signaling pathways that regulate pancreatic development in hPSC differentiation
      cultures. In this study, we demonstrate that the combination of epidermal growth
      factor (EGF) and nicotinamide signaling induces the generation of NKX6-1(+)
      progenitors from all hPSC lines tested. Furthermore, we show that the size of the
      NKX6-1(+) population is regulated by the duration of treatment with retinoic
      acid, fibroblast growth factor 10 (FGF10), and inhibitors of bone morphogenetic
      protein (BMP) and hedgehog signaling pathways. When transplanted into NOD scid
      gamma (NSG) recipients, these progenitors differentiate to give rise to exocrine
      and endocrine cells, including monohormonal insulin(+) cells. Together, these
      findings provide an efficient and reproducible strategy for generating highly
      enriched populations of hPSC-derived beta cell progenitors for studies aimed at
      further characterizing their developmental potential in vivo and deciphering the
      pathways that regulate their maturation in vitro. 

PMID- 25843050
TI  - Efficacy of cleansing agents in killing microorganisms in mixed species biofilms
      present on silicone facial prostheses--an in vitro study.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of different
      cleansing agents in killing mixed species biofilms on silicone facial prostheses.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two bacterial and three yeast strains, isolated from
      silicone facial prostheses, were selected for the mixed species biofilms. A
      variety of agents used to clean facial prostheses were employed, viz.,
      antibacterial soap, essential-oil-containing mouth rinse, ethanol 27 %,
      chlorhexidine mouth rinse, and buttermilk. Colony forming units (CFUs) and
      live/dead staining were analyzed to assess the efficacy of these cleansing agents
      against 24-h and 2-week biofilms and regrown biofilms on silicone samples.
      RESULTS: Chlorhexidine was the most effective cleansing agent. Chlorhexidine
      killed 8 log unit CFUs (>99.99 % killing) in a 24-h biofilm and 5 log unit CFUs
      (>99.99 % killing) in 2-week biofilms. Also, after regrowth and repeated
      treatment of the biofilm, chlorhexidine was the most effective cleansing agent
      showing no detectable CFUs. The essential-oil-containing mouth rinse (containing
      26.9 % ethanol) showed a similar efficacy as ethanol (27 %) alone. Antibacterial
      soap and buttermilk were the least effective agents tested. CONCLUSIONS:
      Chlorhexidine showed the highest reduction in CFUs in 24-h, 2-week, and regrown
      mixed species biofilm of microorganisms isolated from silicone facial prostheses.
      CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Chlorhexidine mouth rinse (easy obtainable and relatively
      cheap) is very effective in killing bacteria and yeast present in biofilms on
      silicone facial prostheses. When applied on a regular basis, cleansing a facial
      prosthesis with chlorhexidine will presumably increase its lifetime and reduce
      skin irritations.

PMID- 25843051
TI  - Impact of dentists' years since graduation on management of temporomandibular
      disorders.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The aims were to assess the impact of the number of years since
      dentists' graduation on appraisement of diagnostic needs and utilization of
      treatment options for temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and to investigate
      whether increased knowledge in TMD is sufficiently considered in today's
      dentist's undergraduate curricula and, therefore, represented in more evidence
      based TMD management in dentists with less years since graduation. MATERIAL AND
      METHODS: A questionnaire regarding knowledge and management of TMD was developed
      and was subsequently applied in a random sample of 400 dentists in a region in
      Northern Germany. RESULTS: Of the 222 dentists (response rate 55.6 %),
      participating in the study, the frequency of TMD treatment need in the general
      population was estimated at 21.5 %, with lower values in dentists with more years
      passed since graduation. Measures regarding utilization of standardized
      examination forms, perceptions of insufficient specialization, and referrals of
      patients to TMD specialists indicated a lower quality and certainty in TMD
      management in participants with less time since graduation. While the provision
      of splints was a well-established treatment option in initial TMD management of
      all participants, additional TMD treatment options were mentioned less often,
      with lower proportions of participants making use of these options within the
      first decade since graduation. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence-based TMD management is not
      fully represented in dental practitioners in Germany. This might be due to an
      insufficient consideration of TMD management in the dentist's undergraduate
      curricula. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Effective interventions to increase dentists'
      knowledge and to change dentists' practices in TMD management are required.

PMID- 25843052
TI  - DNA methylation analysis of SOCS1, SOCS3, and LINE-1 in microdissected gingival
      tissue.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: DNA methylation plays a critical role in the regulation of the
      transcription of the suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) 1 and SOCS3, which
      are modulators in the inflammation. We hypothesized that the methylation status
      of SOCS1, SOCS3, and long interspersed nuclear element (LINE)-1 in gingival
      tissues previously inflamed would be similar to that found in gingival tissues
      without clinical inflammation in the period studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Laser
      capture microdissection was performed to isolate epithelial and connective
      gingival tissues. The groups were comprised by ten patients without history of
      periodontitis and absence of clinical signs of inflammation in the gingiva during
      the study (healthy group) and ten patients with history of periodontitis,
      presenting inflammation in the gingival tissue at the first examination of the
      study (controlled chronic periodontitis group). The gingival biopsies from the
      controlled chronic periodontitis group were collected after controlling the
      inflammation. DNA methylation patterns were analyzed using methylation-specific
      high-resolution melting and combined bisulfite restriction analysis. RESULTS: DNA
      methylation levels for SOCS1 and SOCS3 did not differ between groups or tissues;
      likewise, no differences were observed in total LINE-1 methylation or at specific
      loci. CONCLUSION: At 3 months following control of inflammation in gingival
      tissues, the methylation profile of SOCS1, SOCS3, and LINE-1 is similar between
      connective and epithelial tissues from patients that were previously affected or
      not by chronic inflammation. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Clinical results of a successful
      treatment are observed after inflammation control and the molecular findings
      illustrate local and general methylation patterns in recovering tissues toward
      health conditions and might help to understand events that are occurring in oral
      cells.

PMID- 25843053
TI  - Zoledronate induces bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw in osteopenic
      sheep.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BP-ONJ) occurs in 1
      % of patients with medication-induced osteoporosis treated with bisphosphonates.
      Sheep are an established large animal model for investigating osteoporotic
      skeletal changes. Zoledronate significantly reduces tissue mineral variability in
      ovariectomized sheep. The aim of this study was to analyze bone healing after
      tooth extraction in sheep with induced osteopenia and zoledronate administration.
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight adult ewes were randomly divided into two groups of
      four animals. All sheep underwent ovariectomy and a low-calcium diet.
      Dexamethasone was administered weekly for 16 weeks. Zoledronate was then given
      every third week for a further 16 weeks in four sheep; these infusions were
      repeated after extraction of two lower premolars. Four sheep without zoledronate
      administrations served as controls. RESULTS: Due to general health conditions,
      two sheep of the zoledronate group had to be excluded before surgery. The
      remaining two sheep of this group developed BP-ONJ lesions at the extraction site
      and various other sites in both jaws. Control group animals showed uneventful
      wound healing. Histology of the alveolar processes as well as lumbar spine
      revealed larger portions of old bone and smaller portions of new bone in the
      zoledronate group. CONCLUSIONS: This animal study showed uneventful wound healing
      after tooth extraction in osteopenic sheep whereas zoledronate treatment leads to
      development of BP-ONJ-like lesions. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: As bisphosphonate
      administration is a standard treatment for glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis,
      this model can be used for further research in pathogenesis and management of
      bisphosphonate-related adverse events.

PMID- 25843054
TI  - Efficacy of Inhaled Cannabis on Painful Diabetic Neuropathy.
AB  - A randomized, double-blinded, placebo controlled crossover study was conducted in
      16 patients with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy to assess the short-term
      efficacy and tolerability of inhaled cannabis. In a crossover design, each
      participant was exposed to 4 single dosing sessions of placebo or to low (1%
      tetrahydrocannabinol [THC]), medium (4% THC), or high (7% THC) doses of cannabis.
      Baseline spontaneous pain, evoked pain, and cognitive testing were performed.
      Subjects were then administered aerosolized cannabis or placebo and the pain
      intensity and subjective "highness" score was measured at 5, 15, 30, 45, and 60
      minutes and then every 30 minutes for an additional 3 hours. Cognitive testing
      was performed at 5 and 30 minutes and then every 30 minutes for an additional 3
      hours. The primary analysis compared differences in spontaneous pain over time
      between doses using linear mixed effects models. There was a significant
      difference in spontaneous pain scores between doses (P < .001). Specific
      significant comparisons were placebo versus low, medium, and high doses (P =
      .031, .04, and <.001, respectively) and high versus low and medium doses (both P
      < .001). There was a significant effect of the high dose on foam brush and von
      Frey evoked pain (both P < .001). There was a significant negative effect
      (impaired performance) of the high dose on 2 of the 3 neuropsychological tests
      (Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test, Trail Making Test Part B. PERSPECTIVE: This
      small, short-term, placebo-controlled trial of inhaled cannabis demonstrated a
      dose-dependent reduction in diabetic peripheral neuropathy pain in patients with
      treatment-refractory pain. This adds preliminary evidence to support further
      research on the efficacy of the cannabinoids in neuropathic pain.

PMID- 25843055
TI  - Increase in Bacterial Colony Formation from a Permafrost Ice Wedge Dosed with a
      Tomitella biformata Recombinant Resuscitation-Promoting Factor Protein.
AB  - Resuscitation-promoting factor (Rpf) is a protein that has been found in a number
      of different Actinobacteria species and has been shown to promote the growth of
      active cells and resuscitate dormant (non-dividing) cells. We previously reported
      the biological activity of an Rpf protein in Tomitella biformata AHU 1821(T), an
      Actinobacteria isolated from a permafrost ice wedge. This protein is excreted
      outside the cell; however, few studies have investigated its contribution in
      environmental samples to the growth or resuscitation of bacteria other than the
      original host. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine whether
      Rpf from T. biformata impacted the cultivation of other bacteria from the
      permafrost ice wedge from which it was originally isolated. All experiments used
      recombinant Rpf proteins produced using a Rhodococcus erythropolis expression
      system. Dilutions of melted surface sterilized ice wedge samples mixed with
      different doses of the purified recombinant Rpf (rRpf) protein indicated that the
      highest concentration tested, 1250 pM, had a significantly (p <0.05) higher
      number of CFUs on agar plates after 8 d, approximately 14-fold higher than that
      on control plates without rRpf. 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that all the
      colonies on plates were mainly related to Brevibacterium antiquum strain VKM Ac
      2118 (AY243344), with 98-99% sequence identity. This species is also a member of
      the phylum Actinobacteria and was originally isolated from Siberian permafrost
      sediments. The results of the present study demonstrated that rRpf not only
      promoted the growth of T. biformata from which it was isolated, but also enhanced
      colony formation by another Actinobacteria in an environmental sample. 

PMID- 25843056
TI  - Selective inhibition of prostaglandin E2 receptors EP2 and EP4 modulates DNA
      methylation and histone modification machinery proteins in human endometriotic
      cells.
AB  - Endometriosis is an inflammatory gynecological disease of reproductive-age women.
      The prevalence of endometriosis is 5-10% in reproductive-age women. Modern
      medical treatments are directed to inhibit the action of estrogen in
      endometriotic cells. However, hormonal therapies targeting estrogen can be
      prescribed only for a short time because of their undesirable side effects.
      Recent studies from our laboratory, using human endometriotic epithelial cell
      line 12Z and stromal cell line 22B derived from red lesion, discovered that
      selective inhibition of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) receptors EP2 and EP4 inhibits
      adhesion, invasion, growth, and survival of 12Z and 22B cells by modulating
      integrins, MMPs and TIMPs, cell cycle, survival, and intrinsic apoptotic
      pathways, suggesting multiple epigenetic mechanisms. The novel findings of the
      present study indicate that selective pharmacological inhibition of EP2 and EP4:
      (i) decreases expression of DNMT3a, DNMT3b, H3K9me3, H3K27me3, SUV39H1, HP1a,
      H3K27, EZH2, JMJD2a, HDAC1, HDAC3, MeCP2, CoREST and Sin3A; (ii) increases
      expression of H3K4me3, H3H9ac, H3K27ac; and (iii) does not modulate the
      expression of DNMT1, hSET1, LSD1, MBD1, p300, HDAC2, and JMJD3 epigenetic
      machinery proteins in an epithelial and stromal cell specific manner. In this
      study, we report for the first time that inhibition of PGE2-EP2/EP4 signaling
      modulates DNA methylation, H3 histone methylation and acetylation, and epigenetic
      memory machinery proteins in human endometriotic epithelial cells and stromal
      cells. Thus, targeting EP2 and EP4 receptors may emerge as long-term nonsteroidal
      therapy for treatment of active endometriotic lesions in women. 

PMID- 25843057
TI  - The effects of dietary protein and amino acids on skeletal metabolism.
AB  - Dietary protein is required for optimal skeletal growth and maturation. Although
      Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) exist for global dietary protein intake,
      the level and sources of dietary protein that are optimal for skeletal health
      over the life continuum have not been established. This is partly due to the
      difficulty in quantifying the effects of variable levels of a nutrient's intake
      over a lifetime as well as the complex nature of the relationships between
      dietary protein and calcium economy. Areas of current uncertainty include the
      precise source and amount of dietary protein required for optimal skeletal
      accretion and maintenance of skeletal mass, as well as the site-specific effects
      of dietary protein. The cellular and molecular mechanisms that underpin the
      actions of dietary protein on mineral metabolism and skeletal homeostasis remain
      unclear. This review attempts to summarize recent data bearing on these
      questions. 

PMID- 25843058
TI  - N-trans-feruloyltyramine inhibits LPS-induced NO and PGE2 production in RAW 264.7
      macrophages: Involvement of AP-1 and MAP kinase signalling pathways.
AB  - Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathway can regulate
      inflammatory and immune responses. N-trans-feruloyltyramine (FLA) is an active
      phenylpropanoid compound. It possesses antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti
      melanogenesis, and anticancer activities. However, the precise molecular
      mechanisms underlying FLA modulation of cytokine expression in LPS-stimulated RAW
      264.7 macrophages have not been fully investigated. In this study, we examined
      the mechanisms underlying the immunomodulative effects of FLA isolated from
      Arcangelisia gusanlung. FLA strongly suppressed mRNA expression of inducible
      nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), but not tumor necrosis
      factor (TNF)-alpha, thereby inhibiting the production of nitric oxide (NO) and
      prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells.
      Furthermore, FLA also inhibited nuclear translocation of activation protein (AP)
      1, and simultaneously decreased the expression and phosphorylation of the c-Jun N
      terminal kinase (JNK) protein. These results suggest that the anti-inflammatory
      effects of FLA might be attributed to downregulation of COX-2 and iNOS via
      suppression of AP-1 and the JNK signalling pathway in RAW 264.7 macrophages. 

PMID- 25843061
TI  - Editorial Comment.

PMID- 25843059
TI  - 3,4-Dihydroxy-benzohydroxamic acid (Didox) suppresses pro-inflammatory profiles
      and oxidative stress in TLR4-activated RAW264.7 murine macrophages.
AB  - Didox (3,4-dihydroxy-benzohydroxamic acid), is a synthetic ribonucleotide
      reductase (RR) inhibitor derived from polyhydroxy-substituted benzohydroxamic
      acid, and originally developed as an anti-cancer agent. Some studies indicate
      that didox may have anti-oxidative stress-like properties, while other studies
      hint that didox may have anti-inflammatory properties. Using nitric oxide
      production in response to LPS treatment as a sensitive screening assay for anti
      inflammatory compounds, we show that didox is very potent at levels as low as
      6.25 MUM, with maximal inhibition at 100 MUM. A qRT-PCR array was then employed
      to screen didox for other potential anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative stress
      related properties. Didox was very potent in suppressing the expression of these
      arrayed mRNA in response to LPS, and in some cases didox alone suppressed
      expression. Using qRT-PCR as a follow up to the array, we demonstrated that didox
      suppresses LPS-induced mRNA levels of iNOS, IL-6, IL-1, TNF-alpha, NF-kappabeta
      (p65), and p38-alpha, after 24h of treatment. Treatment with didox also
      suppresses the secretion of nitric oxide, IL-6, and IL-10. Furthermore, oxidative
      stress, as quantified by intracellular ROS levels in response to macrophage
      activators LPS and phorbol ester (PMA), and the glutathione depleting agent BSO,
      is reduced by treatment with didox. Moreover, we demonstrate that nuclear
      translocation of NF-kappabeta (p65) in response to LPS is inhibited by didox.
      These findings were supported by qRT-PCR for oxidative stress genes SOD1 and
      catalase. Overall, this study supports the conclusion that didox may have a
      future role in managing acute and chronic inflammatory diseases and oxidative
      stress due to high production of ROS.

PMID- 25843063
TI  - Noninvasive prenatal screening for aneuploidy: positive predictive values based
      on cytogenetic findings.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the positive predictive value (PPV) of
      noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS) for various aneuploidies based on cases
      referred for follow-up cytogenetic testing. Secondarily, we wanted to determine
      the false-negative (FN) rate for those cases with a negative NIPS result. STUDY
      DESIGN: We compared the cytogenetic findings (primarily from chromosome analysis)
      from 216 cases referred to our laboratories with either a positive or negative
      NIPS result, and classified NIPS results as true positive, false positive, true
      negative, or FN. Diagnostic cytogenetic testing was performed on the following
      tissue types: amniotic fluid (n = 137), chorionic villi (n = 69), neonatal blood
      (n = 6), and products of conception (n = 4). RESULTS: The PPV for NIPS were as
      follows: 93% for trisomy (T)21 (n = 99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 86-97.1%),
      58% for T18 (n = 24; 95% CI, 36.6-77.9%), 45% for T13 (n = 11; 95% CI, 16.7
      76.6%), 23% for monosomy X (n = 26; 95% CI, 9-43.6%), and 67% for XXY (n = 6; 95%
      CI, 22.3-95.7%). Of the 26 cases referred for follow-up cytogenetics after a
      negative NIPS result, 1 (4%) was FN (T13). Two cases of triploidy, a very serious
      condition but one not claimed to be detectable by the test providers, were among
      those classified as true negatives. CONCLUSION: T21, which has the highest
      prevalence of all aneuploidies, demonstrated a high true-positive rate, resulting
      in a high PPV. However, the other aneuploidies, with their lower prevalence,
      displayed relatively high false-positive rates and, therefore, lower PPV.
      Patients and physicians must fully understand the limitations of this screening
      test and the need in many cases to follow up with appropriate diagnostic testing
      to obtain an accurate diagnosis.

PMID- 25843064
TI  - Ultrasound control of magnet growing rod distraction in early onset scoliosis.
AB  - The growing rod technique is currently one of the most common procedures used in
      the management of early onset scoliosis. However, in order to preserve spine
      growth and control the deformity it requires frequent surgeries to distract the
      rods. Magnetically driven growing rods have recently been introduced with same
      treatment goal, but without the inconvenience of repeated surgical distractions.
      One of the limitations of this technical advance is an increase in radiation
      exposure due to the increase in distraction frequency compared to conventional
      growing rods. An improvement of the original technique is presented, proposing a
      solution to the inconvenience of multiple radiation exposure using ultrasound
      technology to control the distraction process of magnetically driven growing
      rods. 

PMID- 25843065
TI  - Relationship between flexible flat foot and developmental hip dysplasia.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the possible relationship between flexible flat foot and
      developmental hip dysplasia in children between six and 15 years of age. METHOD:
      Cross-sectional study including 65 patients that had undergone surgery due to
      residual hip dysplasia or hip dislocation and compared against 75 healthy
      patients. Flexible flat foot prevalence was measured in each group, with the
      results showing that 61% of the group with residual hip dysplasia or hip
      dislocation had this condition, vs. 12% in the healthy group. The statistical
      analysis shows that the chances of suffering from flexible flat foot, are five
      times greater in the hip dysplasia or hip dislocation group, than in the healthy
      group. DISCUSSION: There is no evidence in the literature showing a relationship
      between these two conditions, even though they have a common etiology. This study
      shows a potential measurable relation between this two conditions. CONCLUSION:
      Patients with hip dysplasia or dislocation may have a higher chance of presenting
      flexible flat foot during late childhood, adolescence and adulthood, a fact that
      suggests a relationship between these two pathologies. Also, patients who seek
      assistance for the first time because of a flexible flat foot condition without
      having been evaluated during the first year of life for hip dysplasia, would be
      better off if evaluated for residual hip dysplasia.

PMID- 25843066
TI  - Computational models of epileptiform activity.
AB  - We reviewed computer models that have been developed to reproduce and explain
      epileptiform activity. Unlike other already-published reviews on computer models
      of epilepsy, the proposed overview starts from the various types of epileptiform
      activity encountered during both interictal and ictal periods. Computational
      models proposed so far in the context of partial and generalized epilepsies are
      classified according to the following taxonomy: neural mass, neural field,
      detailed network and formal mathematical models. Insights gained about interictal
      epileptic spikes and high-frequency oscillations, about fast oscillations at
      seizure onset, about seizure initiation and propagation, about spike-wave
      discharges and about status epilepticus are described. This review shows the
      richness and complementarity of the various modeling approaches as well as the
      fruitful contribution of the computational neuroscience community in the field of
      epilepsy research. It shows that models have progressively gained acceptance and
      are now considered as an efficient way of integrating structural, functional and
      pathophysiological data about neural systems into "coherent and interpretable
      views". The advantages, limitations and future of modeling approaches are
      discussed. Perspectives in epilepsy research and clinical epileptology indicate
      that very promising directions are foreseen, like model-guided experiments or
      model-guided therapeutic strategy, among others. 

PMID- 25843068
TI  - How could we increase the impact factor of the journal of neurogastroenterology
      and motility?

PMID- 25843067
TI  - The in vitro isolated whole guinea pig brain as a model to study epileptiform
      activity patterns.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Research on ictogenesis is based on the study of activity between
      seizures and during seizures in animal models of epilepsy (chronic condition) or
      in in vitro slices obtained from naive non-epileptic brains after treatment with
      pro-convulsive drugs, manipulations of the extracellular medium and specific
      stimulation protocols. NEW METHOD: The in vitro isolated guinea pig brain retains
      the functional connectivity between brain structures and maintains interactions
      between neuronal, glial and vascular compartments. It is a close-to-in vivo
      preparation that offers experimental advantages not achieved with the use of
      other experimental models. Neurophysiological and imaging techniques can be
      utilized in this preparation to study brain activity during and between seizures
      induced by pharmacological or functional manipulations. RESULTS: Cellular and
      network determinants of interictal and ictal discharges that reproduce abnormal
      patterns observed in human focal epilepsies and the associated changes in
      extracellular ion and blood-brain permeability can be identified and analyzed in
      the isolated guinea pig brain. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: Ictal and
      interictal patterns recorded in in vitro slices may show substantial differences
      from seizure activity recorded in vivo due to slicing procedure itself. The
      isolated guinea pig brain maintained in vitro by arterial perfusion combines the
      typical facilitated access of in vitro preparations, that are difficult to
      approach during in vivo experiments, with the preservation of larger neuronal
      networks. CONCLUSIONS: The in vitro whole isolated guinea pig brain preparation
      offers an unique experimental model to study systemic and neurovascular changes
      during ictogenesis.

PMID- 25843069
TI  - Association between visceral fat and inflammatory cytokines in reflux
      esophagitis.

PMID- 25843072
TI  - A bama minipig model of laryngopharyngeal reflux and the change of
      laryngopharyngeal mucosal ultrastructure.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: To establish an animal model of laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR)
      and study the effect of LPR on the laryngopharyngeal mucosal ultrastructure.
      METHODS: Ten Bama minipigs were randomly divided into control group and stent
      group. Every pig underwent endoscope, and baseline pH was monitored for 4 hours
      at laryngopharynx and distal esophagus, then specimens from laryngopharyngeal
      mucosa were biopsied. For the control group, these procedures were repeated on
      the 14th day. In the stent group, a custom-designed esophageal stent suit was
      implanted into esophagus, laryngopharyngeal and distal esophageal pH monitoring
      lasted for 2 hours, then stent suit was removed 3 days later. At last, the same
      procedures were done as the control group on the 14th day. Specimens were
      observed under transmission electron microscope to measure the intercellular
      space and desmosome number. RESULTS: In the control group, there was no
      laryngopharyngeal reflux on the first day and 14th day. Before the stent was
      implanted, there was also no laryngopharyngeal reflux in the stent group. In both
      2 hours and 14 days after stent implantation, the num-ber of reflux, reflux time,
      and percentage time of pH < 4.0 were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the
      stent group. There was no difference in intercellular space and desmosomes in the
      control group between baseline and 14th day. In the stent group, intercellular
      space of laryngopharyngeal mucosa was significantly increased (0.37 MUm vs 0.96
      MUm, P = 0.008), and the number of desmosomes was significantly decreased (20.25
      vs 9.5, P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: A Bama minipig model of LPR was established by
      implanting a custom-designed stent suit. LPR might destroy the laryngophar yngeal
      mucosal barrier.

PMID- 25843070
TI  - Role of principal ionotropic and metabotropic receptors in visceral pain.
AB  - Visceral pain is the most common form of pain caused by varied diseases and a
      major reason for patients to seek medical consultation. It also leads to a
      significant economic burden due to workdays lost and reduced productivity.
      Further, long-term use of non-specific medications is also associated with side
      effects affecting the quality of life. Despite years of extensive re-search and
      the availability of several therapeutic options, management of patients with
      chronic visceral pain is often in-adequate, resulting in frustration for both
      patients and physicians. This is, most likely, because the mechanisms associated
      with chronic visceral pain are different from those of acute pain. Accumulating
      evidence from years of research implicates several receptors and ion channels in
      the induction and maintenance of central and peripheral sensitization during
      chronic pain states. Understanding the specific role of these receptors will
      facilitate to capitalize on their unique properties to augment the ther-apeutic
      efficacy while at the same time minimizing unwanted side effects. The aim of this
      review is to provide a concise review of the recent literature that reports on
      the role of principal ionotropic receptors and metabotropic receptors in the
      modulation visceral pain. We also include an overview of the possibility of these
      receptors as potential new targets for the treatment of chronic visceral pain
      conditions. 

PMID- 25843073
TI  - Regulation of gastric electrical and mechanical activity by cholinesterases in
      mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Gastric peristalsis begins in the orad corpus and propagates to
      the pylorus. Directionality of peristalsis depends upon orderly generation and
      propagation of electrical slow waves and a frequency gradient between proximal
      and distal pacemakers. We sought to understand how chronotropic agonists affect
      coupling between corpus and antrum. METHODS: Electrophysiological and imaging
      techniques were used to investigate regulation of gastric slow wave frequency by
      muscarinic agonists in mice. We also investigated the expression and role of
      cholinesterases in regulating slow wave frequency and motor patterns in the
      stomach. RESULTS: Both acetycholinesterase (Ache) and butyrylcholine esterase
      (Bche) are expressed in gastric muscles and AChE is localized to var-icose
      processes of motor neurons. Inhibition of AChE in the absence of stimulation
      increased slow wave frequency in corpus and throughout muscle strips containing
      corpus and antrum. CCh caused depolarization and increased slow wave frequency.
      Stimulation of cholinergic neurons increased slow wave frequency but did not
      cause depolarization. Neostigmine (1 MUM) in-creased slow wave frequency, but
      uncoupling between corpus and antrum was not detected. Motility mapping of
      contractile activity in gastric muscles showed similar effects of enteric nerve
      stimulation on the frequency and propagation of slow waves, but neostigmine (> 1
      MUM) caused aberrant contractile frequency and propagation and ectopic
      pacemaking. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that slow wave uncoupling is difficult to
      assess with electrical recording from a single or double sites and sug-gest that
      efficient metabolism of ACh released from motor neurons is an extremely important
      regulator of slow wave frequency and propagation and gastric motility patterns.

PMID- 25843074
TI  - In vitro effects of rabeprazole on human pylorus tone.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: It has been reported that proton pump inhibitors induce
      relaxation in different types of smooth muscles. The aim of this study is to
      investigate in vitro effects of proton pump inhibitors on human pylorus muscle.
      METHODS: Pyloric sphincters were studied in 10 patients who were operated for
      stomach cancer. In isolated organ bath, control and re-sponse to rabeprazole were
      recorded following contraction with carbachol. During the treatment experiment,
      while distilled wa-ter was applied during the control experiment in every 5
      minutes, rabeprazole was administered in every 5 minutes at doses of 10(-6), 10(
      5), 10(-4), and 10(-3) M respectively. Contraction frequencies, maximum
      contraction values and muscle tones were measured. RESULTS: The contraction
      frequencies in the control group were greater than the rabeprazole group in the
      second, third and fourth in-tervals while the maximum contraction values in the
      rabeprazole group were lower in the fourth interval. Even though muscles tones
      were not different in both groups during all intervals, it was remarkable that
      the muscle tone was significantly decreased in the rabeprazole group during the
      fourth interval compared to the first and second intervals. CONCLUSIONS: In the
      present study, high doses of rabeprazole reduced contraction frequencies, maximum
      contraction values, and muscle tone of human pylorus.

PMID- 25843071
TI  - Role of MicroRNA in Visceral Pain.
AB  - The long-lasting nociceptive transmission under various visceral pain conditions
      involves transcriptional and/or translational alter-ation in neurotransmitter and
      receptor expression as well as modification of neuronal function, morphology and
      synaptic connections. Although it is largely unknown how such changes in
      posttranscriptional expression induce visceral pain, recent evi-dence strongly
      suggests an important role for microRNAs (miRNAs, small non-coding RNAs) in the
      cellular plasticity underlying chronic visceral pain. MicroRNAs are small
      noncoding RNA endogenously produced in our body and act as a major regulator of
      gene expression by either through cleavage or translational repression of the
      target gene. This regulation is essential for the normal physiological function
      but when disturbed can result in pathological conditions. Usually one miRNA has
      multiple targets and target mRNAs are regulated in a combinatorial fashion by
      multiple miRNAs. In recent years, many studies have been per-formed to delineate
      the posttranscriptional regulatory role of miRNAs in different tissues under
      various nociceptive stimuli. In this review, we intend to discuss the recent
      development in miRNA research with special emphases on miRNAs and their tar-gets
      responsible for long term sensitization in chronic pain conditions. In addition,
      we review miRNAs expression and function data for different animal pain models
      and also the recent progress in research on miRNA-based therapeutic targets for
      the treatment of chronic pain. 

PMID- 25843076
TI  - Mast Cell-dependent Mesenteric Afferent Activation by Mucosal Supernatant From
      Different Bowel Segments of Guinea Pigs With Post-infectious Irritable Bowel
      Syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Mesenteric afferent nerves (MANs) play a pivotal role in the
      visceral-nociceptive perception. Inappropriate activation of MANs may be involved
      in the pathogenesis of post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome (PI-IBS).
      However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We assessed the effects of
      mucosal mediators from different bowel segments of guinea pigs with PI-IBS on MAN
      firing and the role of mast cells. METHODS: PI-IBS was induced in guinea pigs by
      Trichinella spiralis infection. Inflammation in terminal ileum, proximal and
      distal colon was scored with hematoxylin-eosin staining, and mast cell
      infiltration was assessed with immunofluorescence. We determined the effects of
      supernatant extracted from the mucosa of different bowel segments of PI-IBS on
      MANs activity, and assessed the role of mast cells in this process. RESULTS:
      Eight weeks after infection, intestinal inflammation resolved, whereas mast cell
      numbers increased significantly in terminal ileum and proximal colon (P < 0.05)
      compared with findings in controls. Mucosal supernatant from different bowel
      segments of PI-IBS models, but not from controls, significantly enhanced the
      frequency of MAN firing (terminal ileum 41.01 +/- 7.60 Hz vs. 26.55 +/- 0.67 Hz,
      P = 0.001; proximal colon 45.90 +/- 11.20 Hz vs. 30.88 +/- 6.92 Hz, P = 0.002;
      distal colon 48.25 +/- 9.70 Hz vs. 29.47 +/- 6.13 Hz, P < 0.001). In addition,
      the excitatory effects were inhibited by mast cell stabilizer Nasmil (terminal
      ileum, 32.71 +/- 2.52 Hz, P = 0.030; proximal colon, 30.94 +/- 4.44 Hz, P =
      0.002; distal colon, 27.15 +/- 5.83 Hz, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Supernatant from
      the intestinal mucosa of different bowel segments of PI-IBS models markedly
      enhanced the MAN firing in a mast cell-dependent manner, indicating that mast
      cell-mediated MAN activation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of PI
      IBS.

PMID- 25843075
TI  - Lipopolysaccharides facilitate colonic motor alterations associated to the
      sensitization to a luminal antigen in rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Enteric dysbiosis is a risk factor for dietary proteins
      associated intestinal alterations, contributing to the development of food
      allergies and the symptomatology of functional gastrointestinal disorders, mainly
      irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). We explored if a dysbiotic-like state, simulated
      by intraperitoneal administration of bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS),
      facilitates the sensitiza-tion to a luminal antigen, ovalbumin (OVA), in rats.
      METHODS: Rats were exposed to oral OVA for 1 week, alone or with LPS. Thereafter,
      colonic histology, goblet cell density, mucosal eosi-nophils and mucosal mast
      cell (MMC) and connective tissue mast cell (CTMC) were evaluated. Colonic
      expression (real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction) of interleukins,
      IFN-alpha1 and integrins was assessed to determine local immune responses.
      Luminal and wall adhered microbiota were characterized by fluorescence in situ
      hybridization. Colonic contractility (in vitro) served to assess functional
      changes associated to OVA and/or LPS. RESULTS: Neither OVA nor LPS, alone or
      combined, lead to structural alterations, except for a reduced goblet cell
      density in OVA-LPS- treated rats. MMC density was unaffected, while CTMC counts
      increased within the submucosa of OVA-LPS-treated animals. Marginal immune
      activation (IFN-alpha1 up-regulation) was observed in OVA-LPS-treated rats. LPS
      induced a dysbiotic-like state characterized by decreased luminal bacterial
      counts, with a specific loss of clostridia. LPS facilitated Clostridium spp. wall
      adherence, an effect prevented by OVA. Colonic contractility was altered in OVA
      LPS-treated animals, showing increased basal activity and enhanced motor
      responses to OVA. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in gut microbiota and/or direct effects of
      LPS might enhance/facilitate local neuroimmune responses to food antigens leading
      to motor alterations similar to those observed in IBS.

PMID- 25843077
TI  - The effect of abdominal visceral fat, circulating inflammatory cytokines, and
      leptin levels on reflux esophagitis.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although adipocytes secrete inflammatory cytokines and
      adipokines, their role in reflux esophagitis is controversial. We investigated
      the association between visceral fat and inflammatory cytokines or adipokines in
      reflux esophagitis. METHODS: Abdominal visceral fat and cytokines were measured
      in 66 individuals with reflux esophagitis and 66 age- and sex-matched controls.
      The mean values for visceral fat and cytokines were compared in cases and
      controls. Second, correlations between visceral fat and inflammatory cytokines
      were measured. Finally, multiple logistic regression models for odds ratios (ORs)
      and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to estimate the effects of visceral
      fat and cytokines on reflux esophagitis. RESULTS: Visceral fat, leptin,
      interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-1beta were higher in reflux esophagitis compared to
      controls. Visceral fat showed a strong positive correlation with IL-6 (r = 0.523,
      P < 0.001), IL-8 (r = 0.395, P < 0.001), and IL-1beta (r = 0.557, P < 0.001), and
      a negative correlation with adiponectin (r = -0.466, P < 0.001). With adjusted
      analysis, visceral fat/100 (OR, 4.32; 95% CI, 2.18-8.58; P < 0.001) and leptin
      (OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.10-1.69; P = 0.005) independently increased the risk of
      reflux esophagitis, but the effects of other cytokines were abolished.
      CONCLUSIONS: Visceral fat may increase the risk of reflux esophagitis by
      increasing the levels of inflammatory cytokines. Leptin showed a positive
      association with reflux esophagitis that was independent of visceral fat.

PMID- 25843079
TI  - Application and Interpretation of High-resolution Manometry for Pharyngeal
      Dysphagia.
AB  - The pharyngeal phase of swallowing is a complex event consisted with subsequent
      muscular contractions and pressure gen-eration to move a bolus from the mouth to
      the esophagus. Recently, high-resolution impedance manometry (HRIM) was devel
      oped and used for the evaluation of pharyngeal dysphagia. Although HRIM provides
      precise pharyngeal pressure information, it has yet to be used as part of routine
      clinical practice for the assessment of dysphagia. The main reasons are thought
      to be that the test method and result interpretation are not easily applicable
      and standardized. The anatomical landmarks for HRIM parameters are velopharynx,
      tongue base, epiglottis, low pharynx, and upper esophageal sphincter. With HRIM,
      the pressure and timing data could be obtained at a precise anatomical structure.
      In the present review, we will review how to apply HRIM for the evaluation of
      pharyngeal dysphagia, including the interpretation of its parameters.(J
      Neurogastroenterol Motil 2015;21:283-287). 

PMID- 25843078
TI  - Inconsistency in the Diagnosis of Functional Heartburn: Usefulness of Prolonged
      Wireless pH Monitoring in Patients With Proton Pump Inhibitor Refractory
      Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The diagnosis of functional heartburn is important for
      management, however it stands on fragile pH monitoring variables, ie, acid
      exposure time varies from day to day and symptoms are often few or absent. Aim of
      this study was to investigate consistency of the diagnosis of functional
      heartburn in subsequent days using prolonged wireless pH monitoring and its
      impact on patients' outcome. METHODS: Fifty proton pump inhibitotor refractory
      patients (11 male, 48 years [range, 38-57 years]) with a diagnosis of functional
      heartburn according to Rome III in the first 24 hours of wireless pH monitoring
      were reviewed. pH variables were analysed in the following 24-hour periods to
      determine if tracings were indicative of diagnosis of non-erosive reflux disease
      (either acid exposure time > 5% or normal acid exposure time and symptom index >=
      50%). Outcome was assessed by review of hospital files and/or telephone
      interview. RESULTS: Fifteen out of 50 patients had a pathological acid exposure
      time after the first day of monitoring (10 in the second day and 5 in subsequent
      days), which changed their diagnosis from functional heartburn to non-erosive
      reflux disease. Fifty-four percent of non-erosive reflux disease vs 11% of
      functional heartburn patients (P < 0.003) increased the dose of proton pump
      inhibitors or underwent fundoplication after the pH test. Outcome was positive in
      77% of non-erosive reflux disease vs 43% of functional heartburn patients (P <
      0.05). CONCLUSIONS: One-third of patients classified as functional heartburn at
      24-hour pH-monitoring can be re-classified as non-erosive reflux disease after a
      more prolonged pH recording period. This observation has a positive impact on
      patients' management.

PMID- 25843080
TI  - Acid-suppressive Medications and Risk of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma in Patients
      With Barrett's Esophagus(Gut 2014;63:1229-1237).

PMID- 25843081
TI  - Are there any association between colonic diverticula and bowel
      symptoms?(neurogastroenterol motil 2015;27:333-338).

PMID- 25843082
TI  - Impedance-detected Symptom Association and Number of Reflux Episodes as Pre
      treatment Parameters That Predict Outcomes of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
      Patients.

PMID- 25843083
TI  - A survey using the social networks revealed poor knowledge on fecal microbiota
      transplantation.

PMID- 25843084
TI  - Optimal Testing for Diagnosis of Fructose Malabsorption: Under-dosage Leads to
      False Negative Intolerance Test.

PMID- 25843085
TI  - Decreased neuroplasticity may play a role in irritable bowel syndrome:
      implication from the comorbidity of depression and irritable bowel syndrome.

PMID- 25843086
TI  - 3',4',5',5,7-pentamethoxyflavone sensitizes Cisplatin-resistant A549 cells to
      Cisplatin by inhibition of Nrf2 pathway.
AB  - Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is an important redox
      sensitive transcription factor that regulates the expression of several
      cytoprotective genes. More recently, genetic analyses of human tumors have
      indicated that Nrf2 may cause resistance to chemotherapy. In this study, we found
      that the expression levels of Nrf2 and its target genes GCLC, HO-1, NQO1 were
      significantly higher in cisplatin-resistant A549 (A549/CDDP) cells than those in
      A549 cells, and this resistance was partially reversed by Nrf2 siRNA.
      3',4',5',5,7-Pentamethoxyflavone (PMF), a natural flavonoid extracted from
      Rutaceae plants, sensitized A549/CDDP to CDDP and substantially induced apoptosis
      compared with that of CDDP alone treated group, and this reversal effect
      decreased when Nrf2 was downregulated by siRNA. Mechanistically, PMF reduced Nrf2
      expression leading to a reduction of Nrf2 downstream genes, and in contrast, this
      effect was decreased by blocking Nrf2 with siRNA. Taken together, these results
      demonstrated that PMF could be used as an effective adjuvant sensitizer to
      increase the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs by downregulating Nrf2 signaling
      pathway. 

PMID- 25843087
TI  - Consequences of household air pollution on child survival: evidence from
      demographic and health surveys in 47 countries.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Over one-third of the world's population is exposed to household air
      pollution (HAP) but the separate effects of cooking with solid fuel and kerosene
      on childhood mortality are unclear. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of both
      solid fuels and kerosene on neonatal (0-28 days) and child (29 days-59 months)
      mortality. METHODS: We used Demographic and Health Surveys from 47 countries and
      calculated adjusted relative risks (aRR) using Poisson regression models.
      RESULTS: The aRR of neonatal and child mortality in households exposed to solid
      fuels were 1.24 (95% CI: 1.14, 1.34) and 1.21 (95% CI: 1.12, 1.30), respectively,
      and the aRR for neonatal and child mortality in households exposed to kerosene
      were 1.34 (95% CI: 1.18, 1.52) and 1.12 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.27), controlling for
      individual, household, and country-level predictors of mortality. CONCLUSIONS:
      Kerosene should not be classified as a clean fuel. Neonates are at risk for
      mortality from exposure to solid fuels and kerosene.

PMID- 25843088
TI  - Development of the Russian matrix sentence test.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To develop the Russian matrix sentence test for speech intelligibility
      measurements in noise. DESIGN: Test development included recordings, optimization
      of speech material, and evaluation to investigate the equivalency of the test
      lists and training. For each of the 500 test items, the speech intelligibility
      function, speech reception threshold (SRT: signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, that
      provides 50% speech intelligibility), and slope was obtained. The speech material
      was homogenized by applying level corrections. In evaluation measurements, speech
      intelligibility was measured at two fixed SNRs to compare list-specific
      intelligibility functions. To investigate the training effect and establish
      reference data, speech intelligibility was measured adaptively. STUDY SAMPLE:
      Overall, 77 normal-hearing native Russian listeners. RESULTS: The optimization
      procedure decreased the spread in SRTs across words from 2.8 to 0.6 dB.
      Evaluation measurements confirmed that the 16 test lists were equivalent, with a
      mean SRT of -9.5 +/- 0.2 dB and a slope of 13.8 +/- 1.6%/dB. The reference SRT, 
      8.8 +/- 0.8 dB for the open-set and -9.4 +/- 0.8 dB for the closed-set format,
      increased slightly for noise levels above 75 dB SPL. CONCLUSIONS: The Russian
      matrix sentence test is suitable for accurate and reliable speech intelligibility
      measurements in noise.

PMID- 25843089
TI  - QVA149 (indacaterol/glycopyrronium) for the treatment of chronic obstructive
      pulmonary disease.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The combination of two bronchodilators with different mechanisms of
      action to treat patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an
      established medical practice, but the dissimilarities in the onset and duration
      of action of long-acting beta2-agonists (LABA) and long-acting muscarinic agents
      (LAMA) and differences in the devices used for the delivery of these drugs make
      free combinations uncomfortable and unpredictable, especially if focused on
      adherence to prescribed treatment. Therefore, there is the need for fixed-dose
      combinations (FDCs) of bronchodilators in a single inhaler. AREAS COVERED: The
      results of the pivotal Phase III IGNITE and EXPEDITION programs show that QVA149
      (indacaterol/glycopyrronium FDC) is able to elicit a significant improvement in
      lung function and patient-reported outcomes, including breathlessness and rescue
      medication use, reduced rates of COPD exacerbations and health-related quality of
      life when compared with current standard of care. Moreover, QVA149 is generally
      well tolerated, with most adverse events being of mild-to-moderate severity.
      EXPERT OPINION: Given that the LABA/LAMA coformulation is the most powerful
      bronchodilator available, QVA149, which has been the first LABA/LAMA FDC to be
      developed, should be considered central in the maintenance treatment of COPD, and
      could be a potential option for improving lung function and health status in
      maintenance-naive patients.

PMID- 25843090
TI  - Getting to z.

PMID- 25843091
TI  - Vertical Oviposition Preferences of the Asian Tiger Mosquito, Aedes albopictus,
      In Temperate North America.
AB  - As a hyperaggressive mosquito that is also a public health threat, Aedes
      albopictus (Skuse), the Asian tiger mosquito, is a major priority for control
      efforts. We examine one aspect of Ae. albopictus biology: oviposition height.
      Field-based research in an urban habitat was conducted to determine if a height
      preference exists for this species. Larval and egg counts showed a significant
      preference for oviposition at ground level (0 m) compared to heights of 1, 2, 3,
      or 4 m (P < 0.01). An experiment conducted under semi-field conditions supported
      our conclusion of oviposition preference at ground level (P < 0.001), and further
      defines the search image needed by mosquito control personnel when dealing with
      this invasive species. 

PMID- 25843092
TI  - A comparison of two commercial mosquito traps for the capture of malaria vectors
      in northern belize, central america.
AB  - To achieve maximum success from any vector control intervention, it is critical
      to identify the most efficacious tools available. The principal aim of this study
      was to evaluate the efficacy of 2 commercially available adult mosquito traps for
      capturing Anopheles albimanus and An. vestitipennis, 2 important malaria vectors
      in northern Belize, Central America. Additionally, the impact of outdoor baited
      traps on mosquito entry into experimental huts was assessed. When operated
      outside of human-occupied experimental huts, the Centers for Disease Control and
      Prevention (CDC) miniature light trap, baited with human foot odors, captured
      significantly greater numbers of female An. albimanus per night (5.1 +/- 1.9)
      than the Biogents SentinelTM trap baited with BG-LureTM (1.0 +/- 0.2). The 2 trap
      types captured equivalent numbers of female An. vestitipennis per night, 134.3 +/
      45.6 in the CDC trap and 129.6 +/- 25.4 in the Sentinel trap. When compared to a
      matched control hut using no intervention, the use of baited CDC light traps
      outside an experimental hut did not impact the entry of An. vestitipennis into
      window interception traps, 17.1 +/- 1.3 females per hour in experimental huts vs.
      17.2 +/- 1.4 females per hour in control huts. However, the use of outdoor baited
      CDC traps did significantly decrease the entry of An. albimanus into window
      interception traps from 3.5 +/- 0.5 females per hour to 1.9 +/- 0.2 females per
      hour. These results support existing knowledge that the underlying ecological and
      behavioral tendencies of different Anopheles species can influence trap efficacy.
      Furthermore, these findings will be used to guide trap selection for future push
      pull experiments to be conducted at the study site. 

PMID- 25843093
TI  - Development of a New Mosquito Retention System for the BG-Malaria Trap To Reduce
      The Damage To Mosquitoes.
AB  - The BG-Malaria trap was recently modified from the BioGents BG-Sentinel trap to
      collect Anopheles species, including Anopheles darlingi. However, the captured
      mosquitoes often lose their hind legs in the collector bag, making them difficult
      to identify. To develop a new collector system that is capable of maintaining the
      integrity of the mosquitoes collected in the BG-Malaria trap, we conducted a
      study in the municipalities of Belem (Para State [PA]) and Porto Velho (Rondonia
      State [RO]), Brazil, using carbon dioxide-baited BG-Malaria traps with 4
      different mosquito collector systems: standard, no bag, rigid short, and rigid
      long. Results indicated significant differences among the numbers of mosquitoes
      captured in the 4 different collectors (P < 0.05). Additionally, significantly
      fewer insects (P < 0.05) were damaged using the rigid short and rigid long
      collectors than by using the standard and no-bag collectors. We observed that the
      longer the insects remained in the collector, the higher the number of damaged
      insects; this effect was the greatest in the standard collector. The results of
      this study indicate that rigid long collectors were the best suited for use in
      the BG-Malaria trap. 

PMID- 25843094
TI  - SR450 And Superhawk XP Applications Of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis Against
      Culex quinquefasciatus.
AB  - Sprayer comparisons and larval morality assays were conducted following SR450
      backpack mist blower and Superhawk XP thermal fogger applications of Vectobac(r)
      WDG Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) against Culex quinquefasciatus.
      Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis was applied at maximum label rate in a 232.26
      m(2) field plot located in north-central Florida with containers placed at 2
      heights (ground level and 1.52 m above ground) on stakes positioned 3.04, 6.09,
      9.14, 12.19, and 15.24 m from the spray line. Results indicated that there was no
      significant (P > 0.05) difference in 24- and 48-h larval mortality between the 2
      sprayers or between the 2 heights. There was significant difference (P < 0.05)
      among the 5 rows, with mortality continuously decreasing with increasing distance
      from sprayer. Both sprayers provided on average >70% larval mortality 3.04-9.14 m
      from the spray line, and <60% mortality at 12.19 and 15.24 m. The data suggest
      that the SR450 and Superhawk XP may be comparable sprayers for use with Bti to
      control mosquito larvae. 

PMID- 25843095
TI  - Fumigant Activity of 6 Selected Essential Oil Compounds and Combined Effect of
      Methyl Salicylate And Trans-Cinnamaldehyde Against Culex pipiens pallens.
AB  - We studied the knockdown activity and lethal toxicity of 6 essential oil
      compounds-methyl salicylate, linalool, 2-phenethyl alcohol, eugenol, beta
      citronellol, and trans-cinnamaldehyde-as fumigants against adult female Culex
      pipiens pallens in the laboratory. Of the 6 products tested, trans-cinnamaldehyde
      was the most toxic (LC50  =  0.26 ul/l air, 24 h) with a slow knockdown time
      (KT95  =  176.5 min at 0.5 ul/l air). Methyl salicylate displayed a lower
      toxicity (LC50  =  1.17 ul/l air, 24 h) but the fastest knockdown activity (KT95 
      =  16.8 min) at the sublethal concentration 0.5 ul/l air. Furthermore, the binary
      mixture of methyl salicylate and trans-cinnamaldehyde exhibited a combined effect
      of fast knockdown activity and high toxicity against Cx. p. pallens adults,
      showing potential for development as natural fumigants for mosquito control. 

PMID- 25843096
TI  - Mosquito vector biology and control in latin america-a 24th symposium.
AB  - The 24th Annual Latin American Symposium presented by the American Mosquito
      Control Association (AMCA) was held as part of the 80th Annual Meeting in
      Seattle, WA, in February 2014. The principal objective, for the previous 23
      symposia, was to promote participation in the AMCA by vector control specialists,
      public health workers, and academicians from Latin America. This publication
      includes summaries of 26 presentations that were given orally in Spanish or
      presented as posters by participants from Colombia, Mexico, and the USA. Topics
      addressed in the symposium included: surveillance, ecology, chemical control,
      studies of dengue viruses, and insecticide resistance associated with Aedes
      aegypti; Anopheles vectors of malaria; essential oils; and ethnic groups and
      vector-borne diseases. 

PMID- 25843097
TI  - Blood meal identification and feeding habits of uranotaenia species collected in
      the ryukyu archipelago.
AB  - To know the blood meal in the stomach of Uranotaenia species, blood-fed
      mosquitoes were collected by 4 methods at different sites in the mountain forest
      of 3 islands, Amamioshima, Okinawajima, and Iriomotejima in the Ryukyu
      Archipelago, Japan from 2005 to 2012. One hundred twenty-four blood-fed
      Uranotaenia mosquitoes of 7 species (Ur. jacksoni, nivipleura, ohamai, yaeyamana,
      annandalei, lateralis, and macfarlanei) were collected. The collection rates are
      0.26, 0.6, 0.31, and 0.66 by black light trap, black light blue with dry ice
      trap, frog call trap, and sweeping net, respectively. The blood meals of 107
      females (86.3%) were successfully identified by a polymerase chain reaction-based
      method. All Uranotaenia species fed on cold-blooded animals, especially
      amphibians (99.1%), and notably on frogs. They would feed readily on available
      frogs in a given region having no close connection with the breeding (calling)
      season of each frog. They also fed on reptiles (0.9%), but not on warm-blooded
      animals. 

PMID- 25843098
TI  - Environmentally Dependent Density-Distance Relationship of Dispersing Culex
      tarsalis in a Southern California Desert Region.
AB  - The direct inclusion of environmental factors into the empirical model that
      describes a density-distance relationship (DDR) is demonstrated on dispersal data
      obtained in a capture-mark-release-recapture experiment (CMRR) with Culex
      tarsalis conducted around the community of Mecca, CA. Empirical parameters of
      standard (environmentally independent) DDR were expressed as linear functions of
      environmental variables: relative orientation (azimuthal deviation of north) of
      release point (relative to recapture point) and proportions of habitat types
      surrounding each recapture point. The yielded regression model (R(2)  =  0.5373,
      after optimization on the best subset of linear terms) suggests that spatial
      density of recaptured individuals after 12 days of a CMRR experiment
      significantly depended on 1) distance from release point, 2) orientation of
      recapture points in relation to release point (preferring dispersal toward the
      south, probably due to wind drift and position of periodically flooded habitats
      suitable for species egg clutches), and 3) habitat spectrum in surroundings of
      recapture points (increasing and decreasing population density in desert and
      urban environment, respectively). 

PMID- 25843099
TI  - The mosquito ultra-low volume dispersion model for estimating environmental
      concentrations of insecticides used for adult mosquito management.
AB  - Computer models for pesticide drift are widely used tools by regulatory agencies
      to estimate the deposition of pesticides beyond the intended target area.
      Currently, there is no model in use that has been validated or verified as an
      accurate means of estimating concentrations of insecticides after ground-based
      ultra-low volume (ULV) applications used for adult mosquito management. To
      address the need for a validated model we created a spreadsheet-based model
      called Mosquito Ultra-Low Volume Dispersion (MULV-Disp) to aid in the adoption
      and to provide easier use of a validated model. We explain the origin, use, and
      utility of MULV-Disp, which can be used by regulatory agencies and other
      interested parties to estimate deposition of ULV insecticides. 

PMID- 25843101
TI  - Evaluation of Vegetation Treatment With Lambda-Cyhalothrin to Control Aedes
      vexans and Simulium maculatum in Northern China.
AB  - The mosquito Aedes vexans and black fly Simulium maculatum are important blood
      sucking pests in northern China. Control of these pests using current methods is
      difficult because of complex larval developmental sites. In the present study,
      lambda-cyhalothrin was applied as a barrier spray to vegetation and various
      structures surrounding human dwellings for control against the adults of each
      species. The barrier spray resulted in an 88.2-99.4% reduction in Ae. vexans
      abundance and a 67.8-89.6% reduction in S. maculatum abundance for 2 wk
      postapplication. Our results indicated that lambda-cyhalothrin applied as a
      barrier spray to vegetation and other structures that serve as harborage for
      adults of both species could be adopted as part of an integrated pest management
      approach against these pests. 

PMID- 25843100
TI  - Evaluation of Culex pipiens Populations in a Residential Area with a High Density
      of Catch Basins in a Suburb of Chicago, Illinois.
AB  - The North Shore Mosquito Abatement District applies extended release larvicides
      including methoprene-based Altosid(r) XR Extended Residual Briquets to
      approximately 40,000 catch basins in the southern half of the District's
      operational area at the beginning of each season. Treatments begin in May and
      typically again 9 to 10 wk later when larvicide efficacy appears to wane. In 2013
      spinosad-based NatularTM XRT tablets were applied to basins, and a subset were
      monitored for larvae and pupae weekly with a standard dipper. When setting the
      threshold for retreatment as 12 juveniles per dip sample it was observed that
      basins required a second application 9 wk after the initial application, a time
      period similar to Altosid despite utilizing a different active ingredient.
      Average counts of weekly larval samples appeared to be positively associated with
      average numbers of Culex pipiens collected the following week in a gravid trap
      located among catch basins, highlighting the importance of basins as sources of
      these mosquitoes. 

PMID- 25843102
TI  - A mobile app for military operational entomology pesticide applications.
AB  - Multiple field studies conducted for the Deployed War-Fighter Protection (DWFP)
      research program have generated more than 80 specific guidance points for
      innovative combinations of pesticide application equipment, pesticide
      formulations, and application techniques for aerosol and residual pesticide
      treatments in 6 ecological regions against a range of mosquito, sand fly, and
      filth fly nuisance and disease-vector threats. To synthesize and operationalize
      these DWFP field and laboratory efficacy data we developed an interactive iOS and
      Android mobile software application, the Pesticide App, consisting of specific
      pesticide application guidance organized by environment and target insect vector
      species. 

PMID- 25843103
TI  - 2014 AMCA Memorial Lecture Honoree: Founding Mothers: Women, Entomology, and
      Mosquito Control.

PMID- 25843105
TI  - Journal of the american mosquito control association information for
      contributors.

PMID- 25843106
TI  - Current and potential use of MAINTRAC method for cancer diagnosis and prediction
      of metastasis.
AB  - Cells shed from solid malignant tumors into the circulation are considered to be
      the origin of metastases. In spite of a wealth of research on the pathway of
      metastasis formation, it is still not clear when and how metastases develop, nor
      is there a consensus on the number and the nature of circulating tumor cells
      present in individual patients and their relationship to the formation of
      metastases. We have developed a method to detect a maximum of unselected non
      hematological, epithelial cells in the blood, assuming that in cancer patients
      the majority of these cells are derived from the tumor. Assessment of the number
      of these cells longitudinally during the course of disease and therapy allows the
      response to different treatments to be monitored. Due to the viability of the
      cells, additional analyses such as expression profiles and determination of their
      sensitivity to drugs can be performed. 

PMID- 25843107
TI  - Design and Synthesis of Labystegines, Hybrid Iminosugars from LAB and
      Calystegine, as Inhibitors of Intestinal alpha-Glucosidases: Binding Conformation
      and Interaction for ntSI.
AB  - This paper identifies the required configuration and orientation of alpha
      glucosidase inhibitors, miglitol, alpha-1-C-butyl-DNJ, and alpha-1-C-butyl-LAB
      for binding to ntSI (isomaltase). Molecular dynamics (MD) calculations suggested
      that the flexibility around the keyhole of ntSI is lower than that of ctSI
      (sucrase). Furthermore, a molecular-docking study revealed that a specific
      binding orientation with a CH-pi interaction (Trp370 and Phe648) is a requirement
      for achieving a strong affinity with ntSI. On the basis of these results, a new
      class of nortropane-type iminosugars, labystegines, hybrid iminosugars of LAB and
      calystegine, have been designed and synthesized efficiently from sugar-derived
      cyclic nitrones with intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition or samarium iodide
      catalyzed reductive coupling reaction as the key step. Biological evaluation
      showed that our newly designed 3(S)-hydroxy labystegine (6a) inherited the
      selectivity against intestinal alpha-glucosidases from LAB, and its inhibition
      potency was 10 times better than that of miglitol. Labystegine, therefore,
      represents a promising new class of nortropane-type iminosugar for improving
      postprandial hyperglycemia. 

PMID- 25843108
TI  - QuEChERs Combined with Online Interference Trapping LC-MS/MS Method for the
      Simultaneous Determination of 20 Polyfluoroalkane Substances in Dietary Milk.
AB  - In this study, a highly sensitive and reliable method for the determination of 20
      polyfluoroalkane substances (PFASs) in milk was established using the QuEChERS
      approach and an online interference trapping LC-MS/MS analysis. By a calibration
      with stable-isotope-labeled internal standards, we showed that the method
      displayed excellent linear dynamic ranges for 20 PFASs (correlation coefficients
      >=0.997). The LOQs for the two types of PFASs, perfluorinated carboxylic acids
      (PFCAs) and perfluorinated sulfonic acids (PFSAs), were 0.010 and 0.050 MUg/L,
      respectively. At the three spiking levels, the average recoveries for PFCAs
      ranged from 78.5 to 111% with the RSD (n = 6) within 1.20-13.1%, and those for
      PFSAs ranged from 72.8 to 105% with the RSD (n = 6) within 3.53-14.9%. By the
      developed method, 16 PFASs were found to be positive in 46 milk samples, and the
      levels for the PFASs with longer chains were significantly higher than those
      reported from other known regions. 

PMID- 25843109
TI  - Synthesis and characterization of an iron complex bearing a cyclic tetra-N
      heterocyclic carbene ligand: an artifical heme analogue?
AB  - An iron(II) complex with a cyclic tetradentate ligand containing four N
      heterocyclic carbenes was synthesized and characterized by means of NMR and IR
      spectroscopies, as well as by single-crystal X-ray structure analysis. The iron
      center exhibits an octahedral coordination geometry with two acetonitrile ligands
      in axial positions, showing structural analogies with porphyrine-ligated iron
      complexes. The acetonitrile ligands can readily be substituted by other ligands,
      for instance, dimethyl sulfoxide, carbon monoxide, and nitric oxide. Cyclic
      voltammetry was used to examine the electronic properties of the synthesized
      compounds. 

PMID- 25843110
TI  - Application of Direct Analysis in Real Time-Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS) to the
      study of gas-surface heterogeneous reactions: focus on ozone and PAHs.
AB  - A novel analytical method is presented whereby Direct Analysis in Real Time-Mass
      Spectrometry (DART-MS) is applied to the study of gas-surface heterogeneous
      reactions. To illustrate the capabilities of the approach, the kinetics of a well
      studied reaction of surface-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with ozone are
      presented. Specifically, using helium as the reagent gas and with the DART heater
      temperature of 500  degrees C, nanogram quantities of benzo[e]pyrene (BeP)
      deposited on the outside of glass melting point capillary tubes were analyzed in
      positive ion mode with a limit of detection of 40 pg. Using bis(2-ethylhexyl)
      sebacate as an internal standard, the kinetics of the ozone-BeP reaction were
      assessed by determining the surface-bound BeP decays, after oxidation in an off
      line reaction cell. The reaction is demonstrated to follow the Langmuir
      Hinshelwood mechanism, known to prevail for heterogeneous reactions of this type.
      In addition, a wide array of oxygenated, condensed-phase products has been
      observed. The present work demonstrates the capability of the DART-MS technique
      to investigate the heterogeneous chemistry taking place on a wide range of
      surfaces, such as those that form in both outdoor and indoor environments. 

PMID- 25843113
TI  - Anatomical evaluation of hepatic vascular system in healthy beagles using X-ray
      contrast computed tomography.
AB  - Liver contrast X-ray computed tomography (CT) has been used for evaluation of
      hepatic vessels for liver transplantation, liver lobectomy, interventional
      radiology and diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in humans. However, there
      remains scant available anatomical information on normal hepatic vessels in the
      veterinary field. In this study, visualization of hepatic vessels was evaluated
      in 32 normal beagle dogs by X-ray contrast CT using triple phase images. The
      following hepatic vessels were clearly visualized: arterial, portal and hepatic
      veins. With regards to the running patterns of the portal vein and hepatic vein,
      there were no significant differences between the dogs. However, the hepatic
      artery exhibited some differences in each dog. In particular, the hepatic artery
      of the quadrate lobe and the right lateral lobe had many running patterns. The
      results of the present study could be useful for veterinary diagnosis, surgery
      and interventional radiology. 

PMID- 25843114
TI  - Post-traumatic stress disorder in participants of foot-and-mouth disease epidemic
      control in Miyazaki, Japan, in 2010.
AB  - Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) occurred in Miyazaki, Japan, in 2010, and 290,000
      animals were culled. This paper describes the mental distress of the volunteers
      who had been dispatched to Miyazaki for disease control two years after the
      epidemic. It also assesses risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder
      (PTSD). A participatory appraisal and self-administered questionnaire survey were
      conducted in 2012 for those who were dispatched to Miyazaki in 2010. The Impact
      of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) was used as an indicator of PTSD, and univariate
      and multivariable analyses were performed. Of the 875 respondents, 1.3% had
      higher IES-R scores than the cut-off point (25), which is suggestive of PTSD.
      Mental stresses during and soon after FMD control and after two years were
      described. Four risk factors associated with high IES-R scores were found:
      transporting culled animals (P<0.01), stress during FMD control (P<0.01) and at
      the time of the survey (P<0.01), and lack of someone to talk to about FMD
      associated stress at the time of the survey (P<0.01). Veterinarians, livestock
      technicians and clerical officers involved in FMD control still suffer from
      mental stress two years later. Public services should provide an opportunity for
      them to consult with mental health specialists. These findings should be used to
      better prepare workers who deal with infectious diseases of animals, especially
      when they must be culled. The establishment of a collaborative framework between
      veterinary and mental health services is recommended. 

PMID- 25843115
TI  - Expression of Vasohibin-1 in Human Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque.
AB  - AIM: In patients with carotid plaque, intraplaque hemorrhage arising from
      ruptured neovascular vessels within the neointima is an important cause of
      stroke. The expression of Vasohibin-1 (VASH1), a negative feedback regulator of
      angiogenesis, occurs in the microvessel endothelial cells of various solid tumors
      and the arterial wall. However, the roles of VASH1 in the pathogenesis of
      atherosclerotic diseases remain unclear. The present study aimed to clarify the
      relevance of the VASH1 expression and plaque instability in human carotid
      plaques. METHODS: We used quantitative real-time PCR and immunostaining to
      examine 12 atheromatous plaque specimens obtained via carotid endarterectomy. The
      distal areas of specimens lacking macroscopic atherosclerotic lesions served as
      controls. RESULTS: Compared with that observed in the controls, the VASH1 gene
      expression increased significantly in the atheromatous plaque (p=0.018).
      Moreover, the VASH1 mRNA levels correlated positively with those of VEGFA, CD31
      and VCAM1 (r=0.788, p=0.004; r=0.99, p < 0.001; r=0.94, p < 0.001, respectively).
      Finally, the immunohistochemical analyses revealed the VASH1 expression in the
      neointimal microvessel endothelial cells of carotid plaque. CONCLUSIONS: The
      VASH1 expression levels in atheroma reflect both enhanced neovascularization and
      the inflammatory burden. Therefore, the VASH1 level may be a novel biomarker for
      evaluating plaque instability in patients with carotid arteriosclerosis and
      predicting ischemic stroke.

PMID- 25843116
TI  - Dual Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients with Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase
      Deficiency undergoing PCI with Drug-Eluting Stents.
AB  - Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is the most common human
      enzyme defect, affecting more than 400 million people worldwide. In patients with
      G6PD deficiency, the use of aspirin is controversial, since past studies have
      reported a potential risk of haemolysis related to its administration, even at
      low doses. More recent publications have shown that low-dose aspirin
      administration is safe in these patients. At the same time, no authors have
      previously reported more than single cases regarding low-dose aspirin treatment
      in patients with G6PD deficiency undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention
      (PCI), and most physicians are still sceptical about aspirin administration in
      these patients. In this paper, we report a case series of five patients with G6PD
      deficiency receiving PCI with drug-eluting stents (DES) and treatment with dual
      antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) containing low-dose aspirin, without clinical
      complications. Moreover, we discuss our internal protocol for managing these
      patients and provide an overview of the available data. 

PMID- 25843117
TI  - Chitosan Oligosaccharides Attenuate Atherosclerosis and Decrease Non-HDL in ApoE
      /- Mice.
AB  - AIM: Chitosan-oligosaccharides (COS) treatment showed lipid lowering effects in
      rats and reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) promotion in mice, suggested that
      COS might be a potential atheroprotective material. In this study, we
      investigated the effects of COS treatment on atherosclerosis (AS) in
      apolipoprotein E deficient mice (apoE-/-). METHODS: After feeding high fat (HF)
      diet for 12 weeks with the gastric gavages administration of COS or vehicle,
      respectively, the mice were sacrificed for the assessment of atherosclerosis,
      plaque stability, and the mechanism investigation. RESULTS: Cholesterol and TG in
      non-high density lipoprotein (non-HDL) fractions were reduced dramatically in COS
      groups. The COS treatment decreased the lesion areas of aortic enface, plaque
      areas in aortic root, and increased plaque stability in apoE-/-. Furthermore, the
      COS treatment significantly enhanced the expression of liver low density
      lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R), scavenger receptor BI (SR-BI) as well as the
      expression of macrophage SR-BI and ATP binding cassette transporter A1(ABCA1). We
      also found that the COS treatment did not affect the plasma lipid level in LDL-R
      deficient mice and cholesterol absorption in wild type mice. CONCLUSIONS: COS
      treatment attenuated AS and decreased plasma non-HDL level in apoE-/-, and the
      potential mechanism might be involved with enhanced expression of hepatic LDL-R
      and SR-BI, and macrophage ABCA1.

PMID- 25843118
TI  - Risks, benefits, complications and harms: neglected factors in the current debate
      on non-therapeutic circumcision.
AB  - Much of the contemporary debate about the propriety of non-therapeutic
      circumcision of male infants and boys revolves around the question of risks vs.
      BENEFITS: With its headline conclusion that the benefits outweigh the risks, the
      current circumcision policy of the American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP] (released
      2012) is a typical instance of this line of thought. Since the AAP states that it
      cannot assess the true incidence of complications, however, critics have pointed
      out that this conclusion is unwarranted. In this paper it is argued that the
      AAP's conclusion is untenable not only for empirical reasons related to lack of
      data, but also for logical and conceptual reasons: the concept of risk employed
      risk of surgical complications-is too narrow to be useful in the circumcision
      debate. Complications are not the only harms of circumcision: the AAP and other
      parties debating the pros and cons of circumcision should conceptualize their
      analysis more broadly as risk of harm vs. prospect of benefit, thereby factoring
      in the value of the foreskin to the individual and the physical and ethical harms
      of removing it from a non-consenting child.

PMID- 25843119
TI  - Applying a global justice lens to health systems research ethics: an initial
      exploration.
AB  - Recent scholarship has considered what, if anything, rich people owe to poor
      people to achieve justice in global health and the implications of this for
      international research. Yet this work has primarily focused on international
      clinical research. Health systems research is increasingly being performed in low
      and middle income countries and is essential to reducing global health
      disparities. This paper provides an initial description of the ethical issues
      related to priority setting, capacity-building, and the provision of post-study
      benefits that arise during the conduct of such research. It presents a selection
      of issues discussed in the health systems research literature and argues that
      they constitute ethical concerns based on their being inconsistent with a
      particular theory of global justice (the health capability paradigm). Issues
      identified include the fact that priority setting for health systems research at
      the global level is often not driven by national priorities and that capacity
      building efforts frequently utilize one-size-fits-all approaches. 

PMID- 25843120
TI  - Governing the postmortem procurement of human body material for research.
AB  - Human body material removed post mortem is a particularly valuable resource for
      research. Considering the efforts that are currently being made to study the
      biochemical processes and possible genetic causes that underlie cancer and
      cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, it is likely that this type of
      research will continue to gain in importance. However, post mortem procurement of
      human body material for research raises specific ethical concerns, more in
      particular with regard to the consent of the research participant. In this paper,
      we attempt to determine which consent regime should govern the post mortem
      procurement of body material for research. In order to do so, we assess the
      various arguments that could be put forward in support of a duty to make body
      material available for research purposes after death. We argue that this duty
      does in practice not support conscription but is sufficiently strong to defend a
      policy of presumed rather than explicit consent. 

PMID- 25843121
TI  - Obesity and obligation.
AB  - The belief that obese people ought to lose weight and keep it off is widespread,
      and has a profound negative impact on the lives of the obese. I argue in this
      paper that most obese people have no such obligation, even if obesity is bad, and
      caused by calorie input exceeding output. Obese people do not have an obligation
      to achieve long-term weight loss if this is impossible for them, is worse than
      the alternative, or requires such an enormous effort in relation to what stands
      to be gained that this option is supererogatory rather than obligatory. It is
      highly plausible that most obese people fall into one of these three groups.
      Politicians may still have obligations to fight obesity, but they ought to do so
      through progressive politics rather than blaming and shaming. 

PMID- 25843122
TI  - Editorial note. Under-explored topics in bioethics.

PMID- 25843124
TI  - A cluster of lead poisoning among consumers of Ayurvedic medicine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Use of alternative medications and herbal remedies is widespread in
      the United States and across the globe. These traditional medications can be
      contaminated with toxic metals. Despite several case reports of poisoning from
      such contamination, the epidemiological data are still limited. OBJECTIVES: To
      report on a cluster of lead and mercury toxicity cases in 2011 among a community
      of adherents of traditional medical practice of Ayurveda. METHODS: Adherents of
      Ayurveda were offered heavy metals screening following the identification of the
      index case. RESULTS: Forty-six of 115 participants (40%) had elevated blood lead
      levels (BLLs) of 10 MUg/dl or above, with 9.6% of BLLs at or above 50 MUg/dl.
      CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest cluster of lead and mercury toxicity following
      use of Ayurvedic supplements described in the literature in the US. Contamination
      of herbal products is a public health issue of global significance. There are few
      regulations addressing contamination of "natural" products or supplements.

PMID- 25843125
TI  - Positron-emission tomography molecular imaging of glia and myelin in drug
      discovery for multiple sclerosis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Therapies acting on glial cells are being explored for new drug
      development for multiple sclerosis. Molecular imaging using positron-emission
      tomography (PET) could address relevant questions in early phase clinical trials.
      AREAS COVERED: In this article, the authors critically review human PET methods
      that can be applied in specialised centres for imaging activated microglia and
      astrocytes and myelin. EXPERT OPINION: Strengths of PET lie in the molecular
      selectivity, sensitivity and potential for absolute quantitation. Even now,
      translocator protein PET radioligands could be used in exploratory studies for
      interventions targeting brain microglial activation. The clinical and
      neuropathological meaningfulness of signal from PET radioligands reporting on
      astrocyte activation through cellular expression of either monoamine oxidase B or
      the I2-imidazoline receptor or metabolism of [(11)C]acetate can now explored.
      [(11)C] N-methyl-4,4'-diaminostilbene, a PET marker for myelin, could soon enter
      first human trials. However, use of any of these PET glial markers demands a well
      focused hypothesis and a commitment to validation in the context of use. Enhanced
      access to these radioligands, standardisation of analyses and lowering the costs
      of using them are needed if their full promise is to be realised.

PMID- 25843126
TI  - Multilayer flow modulator stent technology: a treatment revolution for US
      patients?
AB  - Thoracoabdominal aortic repair is a high-risk procedure in most experienced
      centers, not only because of anatomical complexity but also due to the fragility
      of the patients in whom these aneurysms occur. Such repairs are complex, time
      consuming and impose a systemic injury upon the patients, regardless of whether
      the repair is performed by open surgery or via a fenestrated/branched technique.
      The substantive risks associated with such repairs include death, dialysis and
      paralysis. The multilayer flow modulator (MFM) is a disruptive technology which
      promises a minimally invasive reproducible treatment option, with clinical
      results demonstrating physiological modulation of the aortic sac with abolition
      of spinal injury. The mode of action of MFM forces us to completely rethink
      aneurysm pathogenesis and, consequently, it has been met with much cynicism. We
      aim to uncloak some of the mystery surrounding the MFM, clarify its mode of
      action and explore the truth behind its clinical effectiveness. 

PMID- 25843127
TI  - Artificial neuron-glia networks learning approach based on cooperative
      coevolution.
AB  - Artificial Neuron-Glia Networks (ANGNs) are a novel bio-inspired machine learning
      approach. They extend classical Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) by
      incorporating recent findings and suppositions about the way information is
      processed by neural and astrocytic networks in the most evolved living organisms.
      Although ANGNs are not a consolidated method, their performance against the
      traditional approach, i.e. without artificial astrocytes, was already
      demonstrated on classification problems. However, the corresponding learning
      algorithms developed so far strongly depends on a set of glial parameters which
      are manually tuned for each specific problem. As a consequence, previous
      experimental tests have to be done in order to determine an adequate set of
      values, making such manual parameter configuration time-consuming, error-prone,
      biased and problem dependent. Thus, in this paper, we propose a novel learning
      approach for ANGNs that fully automates the learning process, and gives the
      possibility of testing any kind of reasonable parameter configuration for each
      specific problem. This new learning algorithm, based on coevolutionary genetic
      algorithms, is able to properly learn all the ANGNs parameters. Its performance
      is tested on five classification problems achieving significantly better results
      than ANGN and competitive results with ANN approaches. 

PMID- 25843128
TI  - Potential pharmacological interventions against hematotoxicity: an overview.
AB  - Various treatment regimens, including chemotherapy, are known to induce heavy
      oxidative stress on the system, which in turn leads to adverse effects on healthy
      tissues. Blood being prone to oxidative stress is affected the most. At this
      juncture, it might not be prudent to anticipate having chemotherapeutic agents
      with no hematotoxicity; the best way forward is to look for potential anti
      hematotoxic compounds, which could be supplemented to exposed patients, thus
      reducing the toxic burden on blood cells. We mined existing literature for
      reviewing possible interventions against hematotoxicity and figured that there is
      a great lacuna in this field in terms of not having such useful information at
      one place. This review presents the possible entities based on their antioxidant
      potentials, including their mechanistic pathways. 

PMID- 25843129
TI  - Diabetic cardiomyopathy and the role of mitochondrial dysfunction: novel
      insights, mechanisms, and therapeutic strategies.
AB  - This Forum addresses the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the multifactorial
      nature of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) from multiple angles. Contributors
      deliver a diverse and in-depth view of the state-of-the-art in DCM, from bench to
      bedside. What emerges is a picture of mitochondrial dysfunction as a central
      upstream defect, inflicted on the heart by diabetes. Collectively, the authors
      pinpoint high-value knowledge gaps, propose new conceptual frameworks, and
      highlight understudied, but promising, research themes.

PMID- 25843130
TI  - Comparison of the Potential for Different Genetic Forms in the Culex pipiens
      Complex in North America to Transmit Rift Valley Fever Virus.
AB  - Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV), a mosquito-borne virus, has been responsible for
      large outbreaks in Africa that have resulted in hundreds of thousands of human
      infections and major economic disruption due to loss of livestock and to trade
      restrictions. Culex pipiens was implicated as the principal vector of the
      Egyptian outbreak in 1977 that affected about 200,000 people. In the northern
      USA, Cx. pipiens occurs both as a mix of forms pipiens and molestus (i.e., US
      Culex pipiens) as well as pure Cx. pipiens form molestus, the latter mostly in
      underground locations such as sewers and basements. In order to understand the
      potential risk of spread of RVFV in the USA, we compared their relative abilities
      to transmit RVFV in the laboratory. After feeding on hamsters with high viremias,
      >10(9) plaque-forming units (PFU)/ml, both US Cx. pipiens and Cx. pipiens form
      molestus were highly susceptible to infection (~80%) and about 20% of each form
      developed a disseminated infection. In contrast, when fed on a hamster with a
      moderate viremia, 10(7.5) PFU/ml, US Cx. pipiens were significantly (P < 0.001)
      more susceptible (84%) than were the pure form molestus (47%). Similarly,
      dissemination rates were significantly (P  =  0.0261) higher in US Cx. pipiens
      (34%) than they were in pure Cx. pipiens form molestus (10%). These results
      underscore differences in vector competence between genetic forms in the Cx.
      pipiens complex but also indicate that if RVFV were to arrive in the USA,
      competent vectors abound in the highly urbanized Northeast. 

PMID- 25843131
TI  - Mosquito biodiversity patterns around urban environments in South-central okinawa
      island, Japan.
AB  - Okinawa is the largest, most urbanized, and densely populated island in the
      Ryukyus Archipelago, where mosquito species diversity has been thoroughly
      studied. However, the south-central Okinawa mosquito fauna has been relatively
      poorly studied. Here, we present results from a mosquito faunal survey in urban
      environments of Nishihara city, south-central Okinawa. Mosquitoes were sampled
      biweekly, from April 2007 to March 2008, at 3 different environments: a forest
      preserve, an animal farm, and a water reservoir. We employed 4 mosquito
      collection methods: 1) oviposition traps; 2) light traps; 3) sweep nets; and 4)
      larval surveys of tree holes, leaf axils, and artificial water containers. We
      collected a total of 568 adults and 10,270 larvae belonging to 6 genera and 13
      species, including 6 species of medical importance: Aedes albopictus, Armigeres
      subalbatus, Anopheles Hyrcanus group, Culex bitaeniorhynchus, Cx.
      quinquefasciatus, and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus. Mosquito species composition was
      similar to data from previous studies in Okinawa Island. The flattening of the
      species accumulation curve suggests that our diversity sampling was exhaustive
      with light and oviposition traps, as well as the coincidence between the species
      richness we found in the field and estimates from the Chao2 index, a theoretical
      estimator of species richness based on species abundance. This study highlights
      the importance of combining several sampling techniques to properly characterize
      regional mosquito fauna and to monitor changes in the presence of mosquito
      species. 

PMID- 25843132
TI  - Immature mosquitoes in bamboo internodes in municipal parks, city of sao paulo,
      Brazil.
AB  - We conducted an inventory of the mosquito fauna of the internodes of bamboo
      plants grown in municipal parks in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. During October
      2010 to July 2013, a total of 8,541 immature stages belonging to 21 mosquito
      species were collected from bamboos over 61 municipal parks. Of these, Aedes
      albopictus was the most abundant species followed by Ae. aegypti found in broken
      bamboos in most parks. The former species was 7.2 times more abundant than the
      latter when both species shared the same habitat. Other species collected from
      bamboos included Culex quinquefasciatus and Haemagogus leucocelaenus. In bamboos
      with perforated internodes, species of the genus Wyeomyia were the most
      prevalent. Differences were also observed in species composition and abundance of
      mosquitoes collected in transversely broken bamboos and those collected from
      perforated bamboo internodes. Constant surveillance of these breeding sites is
      crucial due to the epidemiological importance of the species found. Furthermore,
      these breeding sites may help maintain some native wild mosquito populations
      along with a variety of other invertebrates found in these urban green areas. 

PMID- 25843133
TI  - Field assessment of yeast- and oxalic Acid-generated carbon dioxide for mosquito
      surveillance.
AB  - Carbon dioxide (CO2) sources improve the efficacy of mosquito traps. However,
      traditional CO2 sources (dry ice or compressed gas) may be difficult to acquire
      for vector surveillance during military contingency operations. For this reason,
      a new and convenient source of CO2 is required. Two novel CO2 generators were
      evaluated in order to address this capability gap: 1) an electrolyzer that
      converts solid oxalic acid into CO2 gas, and 2) CO2 produced by yeast as it
      metabolizes sugar. The flow rate and CO2 concentration produced by each generator
      were measured, and each generator's ability to attract mosquitoes to BG
      SentinelTM traps during day surveillance and to Centers for Disease Control and
      Prevention light traps with incandescent bulbs during night surveillance was
      compared to dry ice and compressed gas in Jacksonville, FL. The electrolyzed
      oxalic acid only slightly increased the number of mosquitoes captured compared to
      unbaited traps. Based on the modest increase in mosquito collection for traps
      paired with the oxalic acid, it is not a suitable stand-in for either of the 2
      traditional CO2 sources. Conversely, the yeast-generated CO2 resulted in
      collections with mosquito abundance and species richness more closely resembling
      those of the traditional CO2 sources, despite achieving a lower CO2 flow rate.
      Therefore, if dry ice or compressed gas cannot be acquired for vector
      surveillance, yeast-generated CO2 can significantly improve trap capability. 

PMID- 25843134
TI  - Laboratory and Field Evaluations of Mosquiron(r) 0.12CRD, a New Formulation of
      Novaluron, Against Culex Mosquitoes.
AB  - Laboratory and field evaluations were conducted to assess the activity and
      efficacy of Mosquiron(r) 0.12CRD, a new formulation containing 0.12% novaluron,
      against immature Culex mosquitoes. In laboratory bioassays, this formulation was
      highly active against Culex quinquefasciatus as indicated by low inhibition of
      emergence (IE) values (IE50 and IE90). When Mosquiron 0.12CRD was applied at 1
      briquet per underground stormwater vault, counts of late instars showed a
      significant reduction on day 28 posttreatment. When the late instars and pupae
      collected from Mosquiron-treated water were brought back to the laboratory for
      posttreatment observation, emergence inhibition was >90% on day 7. When the late
      instars from a laboratory colony of Cx. quinquefasciatus were exposed to the
      Mosquiron-treated water, 99% and 95% emergence inhibition was noted on day 7 and
      day 14, respectively. When Mosquiron 0.12CRD was applied at 11 briquets per
      vault, significant reductions of larval populations were encountered on days 7
      and 35 posttreatment for early instars, and on days 14, 21, and 35 posttreatment
      for late instars. Laboratory observation of late instars and pupae sampled from
      the treated vault water showed nearly complete emergence inhibition from day 7 to
      day 28 posttreatment. A similar trend was observed in laboratory-reared late
      instars of Cx. quinquefasciatus when exposed to the treated water. Preliminary
      evaluations indicated that Mosquiron 0.12CRD is a useful new tool to control
      Culex mosquitoes breeding in persistent sources. 

PMID- 25843135
TI  - Truck-Mounted Area-Wide Application of Pyriproxyfen Targeting Aedes aegypti and
      Aedes albopictus in Northeast Florida.
AB  - This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of truck-mounted ultra-low
      volume applications of pyriproxyfen against Aedes aegypti larvae in artificial
      water containers and wild adult Ae. albopictus populations in an urban setting.
      The study was conducted over a 3.5-month period (June-October 2012), during which
      3 pyriproxyfen applications were conducted. Beginning 6 wk prior to the 1st
      pyriproxyfen spray, 10 Biogents-Sentinel(r) traps were used each week to survey
      the adult Ae. albopictus population at each experimental plot through the end of
      the study. The treatment and control plots contained specimen cups, each
      containing 10 laboratory-reared Ae. aegypti larvae, placed at 8, 15, and 23 m
      from the spray line. Emergence inhibition (EI) of 82% or greater was observed
      among Ae. aegypti larvae exposed to the 3 pyriproxyfen sprays. The EI of these
      same Ae. aegypti larvae at the 3 distances from the spray ranged from 84% to 92%
      and were not significantly different. Laboratory analysis of water samples taken
      from the larval cups independently confirmed the presence of pyriproxyfen.
      Similar levels of EI were achieved in Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus larvae when
      the measured field concentrations of pyriproxyfen were recreated in laboratory
      assays. Trap captures of wild adult Ae. albopictus were not markedly reduced
      following the 1st pyriproxyfen spray, perhaps due to heavy rainfall at the time
      and the lower rate of pyriproxyfen applied. Within 2 wk following Spray 2,
      however, Ae. albopictus collections from the treatment plot averaged
      approximately 50% of those from the control plot, and the reduction trend
      continued following Spray 3. 

PMID- 25843136
TI  - Insecticide Resistance and Metabolic Mechanisms Involved in Larval and Adult
      Stages of Aedes aegypti Insecticide-Resistant Reference Strains from Cuba.
AB  - Studies were conducted to compare levels of insecticide resistance and to
      determine the metabolic resistance mechanisms in larval and adult stages of Aedes
      aegypti from Cuba. Three insecticide-resistant reference strains of Ae. aegypti
      from Cuba were examined. These strains were derived from a Santiago de Cuba
      strain isolated in 1997; it was previously subjected to a strong selection for
      resistance to temephos (SAN-F6), deltamethrin (SAN-F12), and propoxur (SAN-F13)
      and routinely maintained in the laboratory under selection pressure up to the
      present time, when the study was carried out. In addition, an insecticide
      susceptible strain was used for comparison. The insecticide resistance in larvae
      and adults was determined using standard World Health Organization methodologies.
      Insecticide resistance mechanisms were determined by biochemical assays. The
      esterases (alpha EST and beta EST) and mixed function oxidase (MFO) activities
      were significantly higher in adults than in the larvae of the three resistant
      strains studied. The association of resistance level with the biochemical
      mechanism for each insecticide was established for each stage. The observed
      differences between larval and adult stages of Ae. aegypti in their levels of
      insecticide resistance and the biochemical mechanisms involved should be included
      as part of monitoring and surveillance activities in Ae. aegypti vector control
      programs. 

PMID- 25843138
TI  - Host feeding patterns of mosquitoes in a rural malaria-endemic region in hainan
      island, china.
AB  - Malaria is endemic in Wangxia Village of Hainan Island. In this area little is
      known about the host seeking behavior and feeding habit of mosquitoes. Three
      sites representing the most common habitat types in the village were selected to
      study the host seeking behavior and feeding habit of mosquitoes. Of the total 9
      species belonging to 4 genera (Armigeres, Culex, Aedes, and Anopheles) collected
      in Wangxia Village, Culex tritaeniorhynchus and Cx. pipiens quinquefasciatus were
      the most commonly collected species. Armigeres subalbatus and Anopheles sinensis
      were moderately common species. Blood meal analysis confirmed that Cx.
      tritaeniorhynchus and Cx. p. quinquefasciatus fed on multiple hosts, mainly
      poultry but occasionally other animals. Anopheles sinensis, a vector of malaria,
      fed predominately on cattle hosts, followed by humans. Anopheles maculatus and
      An. barbirostris fed on both humans and domestic animals. Our results indicate
      that most mosquitoes in this area preferred domestic animals over humans and
      showed a tendency to feed on multiple hosts within the same gonotrophic cycle.
      Therefore, the potential role of domestic animals in arbovirus transmission
      should be evaluated as part of a strategy for controlling mosquito-borne diseases
      in this region. 

PMID- 25843137
TI  - First Record of Aedes stimulans from Louisiana.
AB  - The first confirmed collection of Aedes stimulans in Louisiana was made in St.
      Tammany Parish, LA. A single adult female was collected by a large-bore aspirator
      in March 2011, and identified by microscopic and molecular methods. Notes are
      provided on the morphology, location, habitat, and potential mosquito associates
      that may be found with Ae. stimulans. 

PMID- 25843139
TI  - The landing of field mosquitoes on permethrin-treated military uniforms in
      queensland, australia.
AB  - A study to evaluate the protection provided by permethrin-treated military fabric
      following cold-water washing against host-seeking mosquitoes is reported. The
      landing/probing of native mosquitoes on Australian Defence Force Disruptive
      Pattern Combat Uniform shirts treated by dipping in 0.6% permethrin emulsion
      (Perigen Defence(r), containing 500 g/l permethrin), and commercial factory
      treatments in the USA (Factory A) and Europe (Factory B) were recorded after 0,
      1, 3, 5, and 10 washes. The study showed that significantly shorter
      landing/probing times compared with untreated controls were recorded for shirts
      treated with Factory A treatment after 0 and 1 wash, and for the Factory B
      treatment after 0 washes, and there were no differences between permethrin
      treatment and control landing. The study concludes that better methods to assess
      protection from landing/probing mosquitoes in the field are needed. 

PMID- 25843140
TI  - Jorge R. Arias.

PMID- 25843141
TI  - American mosquito control association annual board of directors meeting in
      Seattle, washington-february 1, 2014.

PMID- 25843142
TI  - American mosquito control association annual board of directors meeting in
      Seattle, washington-february 6, 2014.

PMID- 25843144
TI  - Bio-molecule assisted aggregation of ZnWO4 nanoparticles (NPs) into chain-like
      assemblies: material for high performance supercapacitor and as catalyst for
      benzyl alcohol oxidation.
AB  - ZnWO4 nanoparticles (NPs) that are assembled and aggregated together as chain
      like morphology have been synthesized via the reaction of Zn(II) salt solution
      with sodium tungstate in the presence of the DNA scaffold under 5 min of
      microwave heating. The reaction parameters have been tuned to control the size of
      the individual particles and diameter of the chains. The significance of
      different reaction parameters and specific growth mechanism for the formation of
      particles is elaborated. The DNA-ZnWO4 nanoassemblies have been used in two
      potential applications for the first time, namely, supercapacitor and catalysis
      studies. Supercapacitor study revealed that DNA-ZnWO4 nanoassemblies exhibited
      good electrochemical properties having high specific capacitance value ~72 F/g at
      5 mV s(-1), and electrodes possessed a good cyclic stability with more than 1000
      consecutive times of cycling. Catalysis studies have been done for benzyl alcohol
      oxidation, and it was observed that DNA-ZnWO4 nanoassemblies having smaller
      diameter gives better catalytic efficiency compared to other morphology. This is
      further authenticated from their BET surface area analysis. In the future, the
      self-assembled DNA-ZnWO4 nanoassemblies could be a promising candidate for the
      synthesis of other mixed metal oxides and should be applicable in various
      emerging fields like Li ion batteries or photocatalysis, or as luminescent
      materials. 

PMID- 25843146
TI  - Organic contamination of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite as studied by
      scanning electrochemical microscopy.
AB  - Highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) is an important electrode material as a
      structural model of graphitic nanocarbons such as graphene and carbon nanotubes.
      Here, we apply scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) to demonstrate
      quantitatively that the electroactivity of the HOPG basal surface can be
      significantly lowered by the adsorption of adventitious organic impurities from
      both ultrapure water and ambient air. An SECM approach curve of
      (ferrocenylmethyl)trimethylammonium (FcTMA(+)) shows the higher electrochemical
      reactivity of the HOPG surface as the aqueous concentration of organic
      impurities, i.e., total organic carbon (TOC), is decreased from ~20 to ~1 ppb.
      SECM-based nanogap voltammetry in ~1 ppb-TOC water yields unprecedentedly high
      standard electron-transfer rate constants, k(0), of >=17 and >=13 cm/s for the
      oxidation and reduction of the FcTMA(2+/+) couple, respectively, at the
      respective tip-HOPG distances of 36 and 45 nm. Anomalously, k(0) values and
      nanogap widths are different between the oxidation and reduction of the same
      redox couple at the same tip position, which is ascribed to the presence of an
      airborne contaminant layer on the HOPG surface in the noncontaminating water.
      This hydrophobic layer is more permeable to FcTMA(+) with less charge than its
      oxidized form so that the oxidation of FcTMA(+) at the HOPG surface results in
      the higher tip current and, subsequently, apparently narrower gap and higher
      k(0). Mechanistically, we propose that HOPG adsorbs organic impurities mainly
      from ambient air and then additionally from ~20 ppb-TOC water. The latter
      tightens a monolayer of airborne contaminants to yield lower permeability. 

PMID- 25843145
TI  - Improving resveratrol bioaccessibility using biopolymer nanoparticles and
      complexes: impact of protein-carbohydrate maillard conjugation.
AB  - The impact of encapsulating resveratrol in biopolymer nanoparticles or biopolymer
      complexes on its physicochemical stability and bioaccessibility was determined.
      The biopolymer nanoparticles consisted of a zein core surrounded by a caseinate
      or caseinate-dextran shell. The biopolymer complexes consisted of resveratrol
      bound to caseinate or caseinate-dextran. The caseinate-dextran conjugates were
      formed using the Maillard reaction. Both the biopolymer nanoparticles and
      complexes protected trans-resveratrol from isomerization when exposed to UV
      light, with the nanoparticles being more effective. Nanoparticles coated by
      caseinate-dextran were more stable to aggregation under simulated
      gastrointestinal conditions than those coated by caseinate, presumably due to
      greater steric repulsion. The bioaccessibility of resveratrol was enhanced when
      it was encapsulated in both biopolymer nanoparticles and biopolymer complexes.
      These results have important implications for the development of effective
      delivery systems for incorporating lipophilic nutraceuticals into functional
      foods and beverages. 

PMID- 25843147
TI  - Structural and compositional characterization of the adhesive produced by reef
      building oysters.
AB  - Oysters have an impressive ability to overcome difficulties of life within the
      stressful intertidal zone. These shellfish produce an adhesive for attaching to
      each other and building protective reef communities. With their reefs often
      exceeding kilometers in length, oysters play a major role in balancing the health
      of coastal marine ecosystems. Few details are available to describe oyster
      adhesive composition or structure. Here several characterization methods were
      applied to describe the nature of this material. Microscopy studies indicated
      that the glue is comprised of organic fiber-like and sheet-like structures
      surrounded by an inorganic matrix. Phospholipids, cross-linking chemistry, and
      conjugated organics were found to differentiate this adhesive from the shell.
      Symbiosis in material synthesis could also be present, with oysters incorporating
      bacterial polysaccharides into their adhesive. Oyster glue shows that an organic
      inorganic composite material can provide adhesion, a property especially
      important when constructing a marine ecosystem. 

PMID- 25843151
TI  - Serum Lipid Goal Attainment in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Patients under the
      Japan Atherosclerosis Society (JAS) 2012 Guidelines.
AB  - AIM: According to the Japan Atherosclerosis Society 2012 guidelines (JAS2012-GL),
      chronic kidney disease (CKD) has newly been added to the high-risk group in terms
      of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. We therefore explored the lipid
      target level achievement rates under the JAS2012-GL in real-world clinical
      practice. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of patients who
      were hospitalized at the Nephrology Department at Kobe City Medical Center
      General Hospital in the period from April 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013 and explored
      the serum lipid target level achievement rates. Patients without lipid data or
      those undergoing regular dialysis because of chronic renal failure were excluded.
      In this study, the CKD group (CKD-G) did not include CKD patients under secondary
      prevention for coronary heart disease (CHD) or diabetes mellitus (DM). RESULTS:
      The CKD-G included 146 (81.1%) of the 180 enrolled patients. According to the
      JAS2012-GL, 100% of the CKD-G patients were categorized into the high-risk group,
      although only 12.1% of the CKD-G subjects were at high risk according to the
      JAS2007-GL. Under the JAS2012-GL, the LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and non-HDL
      cholesterol (non-HDL-C) target level achievement rates for CKD-G were 71.4% and
      68.1%, respectively. According to the JAS2007-GL, these rates were 81.3% and
      79.1%, respectively, and, under both guidelines, these rates were 71.7% and 72.1%
      for primary prevention DM and 66.7% and 66.7% for CHD, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:
      After the revision of the JAS-GL in 2012, the LDL-C and non-HDL-C target level
      achievement rates for CKD-G were reduced by approximately 10%; however, they
      remained similar to those for DM and higher than those for CHD.

PMID- 25843152
TI  - Genetic Diagnosis via Whole Exome Sequencing in Taiwanese Patients with
      Hypertriglyceridemia.
AB  - AIM: Whole exome sequencing (WES) is a recently developed method for discovering
      rare mutations associated with hereditary disorders. However, the feasibility and
      utilization of this method in identifying familial hypertriglyceridemia is not
      well known. The purpose of the study was to identify the genetic locus that
      causes hypertriglyceridemia and assess its prevalence in Taiwanese subjects with
      hypertriglyceridemia. METHODS: We performed WES among two individuals with
      hypertriglyceridemia and one control subject in an index family (22 members).
      Based on the WES findings, we extended the study to genotype 65 unrelated adult
      index patients with a fasting serum triglyceride level of > 500 mg/dL and 125
      normal controls using polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Using WES alignment,
      variant calling and annotation, 15 presumptive causal variants were initially
      identified, including 13 cases by the autosomal dominant model and two cases by
      the autosomal recessive model. Only APOA5 c.553 G > T (rs2075291), resulting in
      the amino acid mutation Gly185Cys, co-segregated well with hypertriglyceridemia
      in terms of autosomal recessive inheritance (homozygote TT: mean triglyceride
      level: 1,071 mg/dL vs non TT (GT and GG): mean triglyceride level: 118 mg/dL; p <
      0.001) in the index family. In the unrelated cohorts, the frequency of the TT
      genotype of rs2075291 was 12.3% in the hypertriglyceridemic group; however, no TT
      genotype was found in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate
      that WES is feasible for identifying the genetic locus that causes
      hypertriglyceridemia. The TT genotype of APOA5 c.553G > T acts as an important
      indicator of hypertriglyceridemia in patients in Taiwan.

PMID- 25843153
TI  - Positional strategy of trunk muscles among aquatic, semi-aquatic and terrestrial
      species in Urodela.
AB  - Clarification of the trunk structure in Urodela is important in understanding the
      locomotive evolution of basal tetrapods. The components of the muscular trunk
      wall among Urodela using different modes of locomotion were compared. Since the
      whole trunk may be used for swimming and the effect of limbs may be small in the
      more aquatic species, they showed smaller differences in the trunk muscles among
      anterior, middle and posterior sections of the trunk. By contrast, in the more
      terrestrial species, the dorsal and abdominal muscles are larger in the middle
      section than those in the anterior and posterior sections. High compressive
      stresses occur in the supporting limbs and their insertion at the trunk on the
      ventral side, and spread from the forelimbs along the back to the supporting
      hindlimbs on the dorsal side. Tensile stresses occur in the middle ventral part.
      The components of the trunk muscles among the three sections may reflect
      differences in stresses occurring in the trunk of the more terrestrial species.
      The findings also suggest that in the middle section, larger dorsal muscles for
      stiffening the back to maintain posture and larger abdominal muscles are
      responsible for balancing the body weight while it is supported by the limbs in
      the more terrestrial species.

PMID- 25843154
TI  - Use of S1 nuclease in deep sequencing for detection of double-stranded RNA
      viruses.
AB  - Metagenomic approach using next-generation DNA sequencing has facilitated the
      detection of many pathogenic viruses from fecal samples. However, in many cases,
      majority of the detected sequences originate from the host genome and bacterial
      flora in the gut. Here, to improve efficiency of the detection of double-stranded
      (ds) RNA viruses from samples, we evaluated the applicability of S1 nuclease on
      deep sequencing. Treating total RNA with S1 nuclease resulted in 1.5-28.4- and
      10.1-208.9-fold increases in sequence reads of group A rotavirus in fecal and
      viral culture samples, respectively. Moreover, increasing coverage of mapping to
      reference sequences allowed for sufficient genotyping using analytical software.
      These results suggest that library construction using S1 nuclease is useful for
      deep sequencing in the detection of dsRNA viruses.

PMID- 25843155
TI  - Establishment of optimal scan delay for multi-phase computed tomography using
      bolus-tracking technique in canine pancreas.
AB  - To establish a protocol for a multi-phase computed tomography (CT) of the canine
      pancreas using the bolus-tracking technique, dynamic scan and multi-phase CT were
      performed in six normal beagle dogs. The dynamic scan was performed for 60 sec at
      1-sec intervals after the injection (4 ml/sec) of a contrast medium, and
      intervals from aortic enhancement appearance to aortic, pancreatic parenchymal
      and portal vein peaks were measured. The multi-phase CT with 3 phases was
      performed three times using a bolus-tracking technique. Scan delays were 0, 15
      and 30 in first multi-phase scan; 5, 20 and 35 in second multi-phase scan; and
      10, 25 and 40 sec in third multi-phase scan, respectively. Attenuation values and
      contrast enhancement pattern were analyzed from the aorta, pancreas and portal
      vein. The intervals from aortic enhancement appearance to aortic, pancreatic
      parenchymal and portal vein peaks were 3.8 +/- 0.7, 8.7 +/- 0.9 and 13.3 +/- 1.5
      sec, respectively. The maximum attenuation values of the aorta, pancreatic
      parenchyma and portal vein were present at scan sections with no scan delay, a 5
      sec delay and a 10-sec delay, respectively. When a multi-phase CT of the canine
      pancreas is triggered at aortic enhancement appearance using a bolus-tracking
      technique, the recommended optimal delay times of the arterial and pancreatic
      parenchymal phases are no scan delay and 5 sec, respectively.

PMID- 25843156
TI  - Motor vehicle driving in high incidence psychiatric disability: comparison of
      drivers with ADHD, depression, and no known psychopathology.
AB  - Although not often discussed in clinical settings, motor vehicle driving is a
      complex multitasking endeavor during which a momentary attention lapse can have
      devastating consequences. Previous research suggests that drivers with high
      incidence psychiatric disabilities such as ADHD contribute disproportionately to
      collision rates, which in turn portend myriad adverse social, financial, health,
      mortality, and legal outcomes. However, self-referral bias and the lack of
      psychiatric comparison groups constrain the generalizability of these findings.
      The current study addressed these limitations and examined the unique
      associations among ADHD, Depression, and adverse driving outcomes, independent of
      self-selection, driving exposure, and referral bias. The Strategic Highway
      Research Program (SHRP-2) Naturalistic Driving Study comprises U.S. drivers from
      six sites selected via probability-based sampling. Groups were defined by Barkley
      ADHD and psychiatric diagnosis questionnaires, and included ADHD (n = 275),
      Depression (n = 251), and Healthy Control (n = 1828). Primary outcomes included
      self-reported traffic collisions, moving violations, collision-related injuries,
      and collision fault (last 3 years). Accounting for demographic differences, ADHD
      but not Depression portended increased risk for multiple violations (OR = 2.3)
      and multiple collisions (OR = 2.2). ADHD but not Depression portended increased
      risk for collision fault (OR = 2.1). Depression but not ADHD predicted increased
      risk for self-reported injury following collisions (OR = 2.4). ADHD appears
      uniquely associated with multiple collisions, multiple violations, and collision
      fault, whereas Depression is uniquely associated with self-reported injury
      following a collision. Identification of the specific mechanisms underlying this
      risk will be critical to designing effective interventions to improve long-term
      functioning for drivers with high incidence psychiatric disability. 

PMID- 25843157
TI  - Common variants of IRF3 conferring risk of schizophrenia.
AB  - Schizophrenia is a brain disorder with high heritability. Recent studies have
      implicated genes involved in the immune response pathway in the pathogenesis of
      schizophrenia. Interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3), a virus-immune-related
      gene, activates the transcription of several interferon-induced genes, and
      functionally interacts with several schizophrenia susceptibility genes. To test
      whether IRF3 is a schizophrenia susceptibility gene, we analyzed the associations
      of its SNPs with schizophrenia in independent population samples as well as
      reported data from expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) in healthy
      individuals. We observed multiple independent SNPs in IRF3 showing nominally
      significant associations with schizophrenia (P < 0.05); more intriguingly, a SNP
      (rs11880923), which is significantly correlated with IRF3 expression in
      independent samples (P < 0.05), is also consistently associated with
      schizophrenia across different cohorts and in combined samples (odds ratio =
      1.075, Pmeta = 2.08 * 10(-5)), especially in Caucasians (odds ratio = 1.078,
      Pmeta = 2.46 * 10(-5)). These results suggested that IRF3 is likely a risk gene
      for schizophrenia, at least in Caucasians. Although the clinical associations of
      IRF3 with diagnosis did not achieve genome-wide level of statistical
      significance, the observed odds ratio is comparable with other susceptibility
      loci identified through large-scale genetic association studies on schizophrenia,
      which could be regarded simply as small but detectable effects.

PMID- 25843158
TI  - Targeting the adaptive immune system: new strategies in the treatment of
      atherosclerosis.
AB  - Atherosclerosis is a lipid-driven chronic inflammatory disease of the arterial
      wall. Current treatment of atherosclerosis is focused on limiting its risk
      factors, such as hyperlipidemia or hypertension. However, treatments that target
      the inflammatory nature of atherosclerosis are still under development. Discovery
      of novel targets involved in the inflammation of the arterial wall creates
      opportunities to design new therapeutics that successfully modulate
      atherosclerosis. Here, we review drug targets that have proven to play pivotal
      roles in the adaptive immune system in atherosclerosis, and we discuss their
      potential as novel therapeutics. 

PMID- 25843159
TI  - The biomarkers of fetal growth in intrauterine growth retardation and large for
      gestational age cases: from adipocytokines to a metabolomic all-in-one tool.
AB  - Adipose tissue is no longer considered as inert; the literature describes the
      role it plays in the production of many substances, such as adiponectin,
      visfatin, ghrelin, S100B, apelin, TNF, IL-6 and leptin. These molecules have
      specific roles in humans and their potential as biomarkers useful for identifying
      alterations related to intrauterine growth retardation and large for gestational
      age neonates is emerging. Infants born in such conditions have undergone
      metabolic changes, such as fetal hypo- or hyperinsulinemia, which may lead to
      development of dysmetabolic syndrome and other chronic diseases in adulthood. In
      this review, these biomarkers are analyzed specifically and it is discussed how
      metabolomics may be an advantageous tool for detection, discrimination and
      prediction of metabolic alterations and diseases. Thus, a holistic approach, such
      as metabolomics, could help the prevention and early diagnosis of metabolic
      syndrome. 

PMID- 25843160
TI  - Advances in lipid-based drug delivery: enhancing efficiency for hydrophobic
      drugs.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Many drug candidates with high therapeutic efficacy have low water
      solubility, which limits the administration and transport across physiological
      barriers, for example, the tumor tissue barrier. Therefore, strategies are needed
      to permeabilize the physiological barriers safely so that hydrophobic drugs may
      be delivered efficiently. AREAS COVERED: This review focuses on prospects for
      therapeutic application of lipid-based drug delivery carriers that increase
      hydrophobic drugs to improve their solubility, bioavailability, drug release,
      targeting and absorption. Moreover, novel techniques to prepare for lipid-based
      drug delivery to extend pharmaceuticals with poor bioavailability such as surface
      modifications of lipid-based drug delivery are presented. Industrial developments
      of several drug candidates employing these strategies are discussed, as well as
      applications and clinical trials. EXPERT OPINION: Overall, hydrophobic drugs can
      be encapsulated in the lipid-based drug delivery systems, represent a relatively
      safe and promising strategy to extend drug retention, lengthen the lifetime in
      the circulation, and allow active targeting to specific tissues and controllable
      drug release in the desirable sites. However, there are still noticeable gaps
      that need to be filled before the theoretical advantage of these formulations may
      truly be realized such as investigation on the use of lipid-based drug delivery
      for administration routes. This research may provide further interest within the
      area of lipid-based systems, both in industry and in the clinic.

PMID- 25843161
TI  - Male gender is an adverse risk factor only in young patients with diffuse large B
      cell lymphoma - a Swedish population-based study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a heterogeneous group of B
      cell lymphomas. Five clinical adverse risk factors are merged into the
      International Prognostic Index (IPI), which is the major tool for
      prognostication. In contrast to Hodgkin's lymphoma, gender is not considered as
      an adverse risk factor for DLBCL patients. As we clinically had observed a very
      good survival rate in young female patients we hypothesised that there was a
      gender difference in survival due to the hormonal status of the patient. MATERIAL
      AND METHODS: We conducted a registry-based retrospective cohort study of all
      Swedish DLBCL patients diagnosed between 2000 and 2013, to evaluate the impact of
      gender for survival from DLBCL. RESULTS: In total, 7166 patients were included
      for further analysis. No survival difference was found between the genders when
      the entire population was analysed. However, analysis of 880 young patients of
      pre-menopausal age (i.e. 52 years) revealed that women had a longer survival
      compared to men of the same age group (p=0.007). This was not found for patients
      older than menopausal age. In a relative survival multifactorial model adjusted
      for stage, ECOG performance status, serum lactate dehydrogenase and two or more
      extranodal sites, male gender was found to be an adverse risk factor for patients
      younger than 52 years (RR 1.51, 95% CI 1.14-1.88), but not for older patients (RR
      0.99, 95% CI 0.89-1.10). CONCLUSION: This is one of the largest population-based
      studies of DLBCL presented to date. Most interestingly, we found male gender to
      be a significant adverse risk factor compared to fertile women whereas we found
      no survival differences between genders in the older sub-population.

PMID- 25843162
TI  - Hypogammaglobulinemia with normal antibody response progressing to common
      variable immunodeficiency.

PMID- 25843163
TI  - Desensitization to mecasermin in an insulin-like growth factor 1-deficient
      patient.

PMID- 25843164
TI  - Association between adverse childhood experiences in the home and pediatric
      asthma.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Numerous studies suggest that psychosocial factors could contribute
      to pediatric asthma. OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation between single and
      cumulative adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), a measurement of household
      dysfunction, on parent report of lifetime asthma in children. METHODS: This cross
      sectional study used data from the 2011 to 2012 National Survey of Children's
      Health, a nationally representative sample of children 0 to 17 years old (n =
      92,472). The main exposure was parent or guardian report of 6 ACE exposures (eg,
      witnessing domestic violence). The relation between ACE exposures and parent
      reported diagnosis of childhood asthma was examined using multivariable logistic
      regression after controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral
      covariates. RESULTS: Overall asthma prevalence was 14.6%. Exposure prevalence to
      any ACE was 29.2%. Increased number of ACE exposures was associated with
      increased odds of asthma. In the adjusted model, the odds of reporting asthma
      were 1.28 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14-1.43) for those reporting 1 ACE,
      1.73 (95% CI 1.27-2.36) for those with 4 ACEs, and 1.61 (95% CI 1.15-2.26) for
      those with 5 or 6 ACEs compared with those with no ACE exposures. Effects were
      moderated by Hispanic ethnicity. Hispanic children exposed to 4 ACEs had a 4.46
      times increase in lifetime asthma (95% CI 2.46-8.08); white children had a 1.19
      times increase (95% CI 0.80-1.79) compared with those exposed to 0 ACE.
      CONCLUSION: This study supports the growing evidence for the biopsychosocial
      model of asthma onset. Future studies should examine the association between ACEs
      and specific asthma-related health outcomes.

PMID- 25843165
TI  - Dilemmas in diagnosing and managing hypertension: is white coat hypertension
      benign?

PMID- 25843166
TI  - Limitations of home blood pressure monitoring in clinical practice.

PMID- 25843167
TI  - The new pooled cohort equations risk calculator.
AB  - In the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III
      guidelines published in 2001, estimation of cardiovascular risk was recommended
      based on the Framingham score for 10-year risk of myocardial infarction and the
      Canadian Cardiovascular Society currently recommends the Framingham total
      cardiovascular risk score. During development of joint guidelines released in
      2013 by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association
      (AHA), the decision was taken to develop a new risk score. This resulted in the
      ACC/AHA Pooled Cohort Equations Risk Calculator. This risk calculator, based on
      major National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded cohort studies, is
      designed to predict 10-year risk of 'hard' atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease
      (ASCVD) events, namely, nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal coronary heart
      disease, nonfatal, or fatal stroke. Considerable strengths are its inclusion of
      stroke as an end point and race as a characteristic, which allows better risk
      prediction especially in African-American individuals, plus provision of lifetime
      ASCVD risk estimates for adults aged 20-59 years. Notable omissions from the risk
      factors include chronic kidney disease and any measure of social deprivation. An
      early criticism of the Pooled Cohort Equations Risk Calculator has been its
      alleged overestimation of ASCVD risk which, if confirmed in the general
      population, is likely to result in statin therapy being prescribed to many
      individuals at lower risk than the intended 7.5% 10-year ASCVD risk threshold for
      treatment in the joint ACC/AHA cholesterol guidelines. In this review we discuss
      the development of the new risk calculator, its strengths and weaknesses, and
      potential implications for its routine use. 

PMID- 25843168
TI  - Circulating levels of DNA-histone complex and dsDNA are independent prognostic
      factors of disseminated intravascular coagulation.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Neutrophils can be induced to release DNA combined with histones.
      The resulting neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) provides a scaffold for growing
      hemostatic plug. Therefore, the NET formation may be inevitable in clinical
      conditions that are characterized by formation of vascular thrombi. Thus far,
      there have been no reports on the clinical significance of NET in disseminated
      intravascular coagulation (DIC). Therefore, we investigated circulating levels of
      NET in DIC and analyzed their potential values to assess coagulation severity and
      predict clinical outcome. METHODS: The plasma levels of DNA-histone complexes and
      double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), considered to be in vivo markers of NET, were
      measured in 199 patients suspected of having DIC and 20 healthy controls. RESULT:
      The circulating levels of DNA-histone complexes and dsDNA were significantly
      elevated in overt-DIC. The increased levels of these two markers correlated with
      the severity of coagulopathy including DIC score and D-dimer. Multivariable Cox
      regression analysis, adjusted for the conventional DIC markers, revealed that
      elevated DNA-histone complexes and dsDNA are poor independent prognostic markers.
      CONCLUSION: The circulating levels of NET release reflect the coagulation
      activation and adverse clinical outcomes in patients with DIC, thereby providing
      potential clinical relevance for mortality prediction in DIC.

PMID- 25843169
TI  - Group Exchange between Ketones and Carboxylic Acids through Directing Group
      Assisted Rh-Catalyzed Reorganization of Carbon Skeletons.
AB  - The Rh(I)-catalyzed direct reorganization of organic frameworks and group
      exchanges between carboxylic acids and aryl ketones was developed with the
      assistance of directing group. Biaryls, alkenylarenes, and alkylarenes were
      produced in high efficiency from aryl ketones and the corresponding carboxylic
      acids by releasing the other molecule of carboxylic acids and carbon monoxide. A
      wide range of functional groups were well compatible. The exchanges between two
      partners were proposed to take place on the Rh-(III) center of key intermediates,
      supported by experimental mechanistic studies and computational calculations. The
      transformation unveiled the new catalytic pathway of the group transfer of two
      organic molecules. 

PMID- 25843170
TI  - Methods for detection of West Nile virus antibodies in mosquito blood meals.
AB  - We describe and compare 2 qualitative serologic techniques for detecting West
      Nile virus (WNV)-specific antibodies in mosquito blood meals. The techniques are
      the biotin microsphere immunoassay (b-MIA) and the inhibition platform of the
      VectorTestTM WNV antigen assay (VecTest-inhibition). To demonstrate the ability
      of these tests to detect WNV-neutralizing antibodies, we experimentally exposed
      feeding mosquitoes to blood containing 5 concentrations of 6B6C-1, a flavivirus
      neutralizing monoclonal antibody. Antibody concentrations were quantified using
      the 90% plaque-reduction neutralization test (PRNT90). After 24 h of blood-meal
      digestion at 22.5 degrees C, the threshold PRNT90 titer of detection was <=18 for
      b-MIA and <=50 for VecTest-inhibition. Both tests reliably detected antibodies in
      3 of 3 blood meals that had been digested for up to 30 h, or were about 25%
      digested. The b-MIA was also applied to mosquitoes that had engorged on avian
      blood in Arizona following a WNV epidemic in 2010. There was no significant
      difference in the WNV antibody prevalence determined by b-MIA (52% of 71 avian
      blood meals) compared to the WNV-neutralizing antibody prevalence in birds
      determined by direct sampling (49% of 234 birds). VecTest-inhibition requires
      fewer resources and may be used in the field without a laboratory, but consumes
      the entire blood meal and relies on subjective interpretation of results. The b
      MIA requires a laboratory and sophisticated equipment and reagents. Results for b
      MIA are analyzed objectively and can be applied to mosquito blood meals with
      greater confidence than the VecTest-inhibition method and thus can contribute
      substantially to research and surveillance programs that would benefit from the
      detection of specific WNV antibodies in mosquito blood meals. 

PMID- 25843171
TI  - Genetic Characterization of Esterase Activity Variants Associated with an
      Esterase Gene Amplification in a Strain of Culex pipiens from California.
AB  - In the Culex pipiens complex, a common mechanism of insecticide resistance is
      amplification of esterase genes leading to overproduction of detoxifying esterase
      enzymes. A number of electrophoretic esterase alleles have been identified, and
      in field populations individuals with the same esterase electromorph can exhibit
      a wide range of esterase enzyme activities. We isolated and characterized
      esterase activity variants associated with the esterase B1 electromorph from a
      field strain. A mating scheme was used to isolate chromosomes with esterase genes
      from the strain into 45 families. Twenty-six of the families received esterase
      genes from the field strain that conferred elevated esterase activity. Mean
      esterase activities in these families ranged from 43 to 695 nmoles alpha-naphthyl
      acetate hydrolyzed/min/mg protein. Variance components indicated that genetic
      variance (i.e., genetic differences among families) accounted for 77% of the
      total variation in esterase activity. A comparison of mean esterase activities
      indicated that there were at least 11 different esterase activity variants
      contributing to the observed genetic variation in esterase activity among the 26
      families. The relevance of these results to understanding the dynamics of
      amplified esterase genes in populations is discussed. 

PMID- 25843172
TI  - Evaluation of BG-Sentinel Trap as a Management Tool to Reduce Aedes albopictus
      Nuisance in an Urban Environment in Italy.
AB  - Since its introduction and establishment in Italy during the early 1990s, the
      Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, has spread over large parts of Italy and
      other Mediterranean countries. Aedes albopictus is both a nuisance and a
      competent vector for various arthropod-borne pathogens. Although efficient traps
      for Ae. albopictus exist and are used for population monitoring, their use as a
      control tool has not yet been studied. We evaluated Biogents BG-Sentinel mosquito
      traps, used with the BG Lure, as control tools in northern Italy. The trial was
      performed as a controlled experiment in which 3 intervention sites, equipped with
      7 or 8 BG-Sentinel traps each, were matched with 3 comparable control sites. Trap
      density ranged from 1 trap per 150 m2 to 1 per 350 m2. Mosquito populations were
      monitored at both the intervention and control sites with weekly human landing
      collections (HLC) and ovitraps. Between 64% and 87% fewer Ae. albopictus
      individuals were collected by HLC at the intervention sites with the BG-Sentinel
      mosquito traps, as compared to the untreated control sites. These results
      indicate that the sustained use and proper placement of efficient mosquito traps
      can significantly reduce Ae. albopictus biting pressure.

PMID- 25843173
TI  - Comparison of BG-Sentinel(r) Trap and Oviposition Cups for Aedes aegypti and
      Aedes albopictus Surveillance in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
AB  - The BG-Sentinel(r) (BGS) trap and oviposition cups (OCs) have both proven
      effective in the surveillance of Aedes species. This study aimed to determine
      which of the 2 traps could best characterize the relative population sizes of
      Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti in an urban section of Jacksonville, FL. Until
      1986, Ae. aegypti was considered the dominant container-breeding species in urban
      northeastern Florida. Since the introduction of Ae. albopictus, Ae. aegypti has
      become almost completely extirpated. In 2011, a resurgence of Ae. aegypti was
      detected in the urban areas of Jacksonville; thus this study initially set out to
      determine the extent of Ae. aegypti reintroduction to the area. We determined
      that the BGS captured a greater number of adult Ae. aegypti than Ae. albopictus,
      while OCs did not monitor significantly different numbers of either species, even
      in areas where the BGS traps suggested a predominance of one species over the
      other. Both traps were effective at detecting Aedes spp.; however, the BGS proved
      more diverse by detecting over 20 other species as well. Our results show that in
      order to accurately determine vectorborne disease threats and the impact of
      control operations on these 2 species, multiple trapping techniques should be
      utilized when studying Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus population dynamics. 

PMID- 25843174
TI  - Macrocyclops albidus (Copepoda: cyclopidae) for the Biocontrol of Aedes
      albopictus and Culex pipiens in Italy.
AB  - The aim of our study was to assess the potential of Macrocyclops albidus as a
      biological control agent against the 1st and 2nd instars of Culex pipiens and
      Aedes albopictus. Under laboratory conditions of prey saturation (50 1st
      instars/copepod), an average of 58.98% of Cx. pipiens and 54.99% of Ae.
      albopictus larvae were killed by 1 copepod in 24 h. Trials run in big drums
      containing 200 liters of water showed that the M. albidus population, inoculated
      in April, efficiently controlled the mosquito population for the entire season.
      The predator was particularly effective against Ae. albopictus, as only 2 larvae
      of this species were found in the treated drums, compared to 814 larvae in
      untreated control drums throughout the study period. No difference was observed
      in the control efficacy between the 2 initial densities of copepods used. The
      reduction in Ae. albopictus density in the drums with 100 and 500 M. albidus with
      respect to the control drums was 99.90 +/- 0.35% and 100.0 +/- 0.0%,
      respectively. For Cx. pipiens, the reduction in density was 88.69 +/- 13.51% and
      84.65% in drums inoculated with 100 and 500 copepods, respectively. Macrocyclops
      albidus populations survived through the winter and continued to keep the
      mosquito population under control during the 2008 season. The M. albidus
      population developed very well both in drums placed in sunny and shaded areas and
      proved to be tolerant to both high (summer) and low (winter) temperatures. Trials
      performed on M. albidus survival in catch basins showed that after a few weeks,
      the copepod population dramatically decreased and subsequently disappeared. The
      main problem for copepod survival in catch basins seemed to be the low oxygen
      tension and accumulation of toxic substances, rather than copepods being flushed
      out in heavy rainfall episodes. During the period when copepods were present,
      they maintained the mosquito population under control; their partial
      disappearance from the catch basins, however, would require more recolonization
      intervention to maintain mosquito control during the season. 

PMID- 25843176
TI  - Two Novel Bioassays to Assess the Effects of Pyrethroid-Treated Netting on
      Knockdown-Susceptible Versus Resistant Strains of Aedes aegypti.
AB  - We describe 2 new mosquito bioassays for use with insecticide-treated netting or
      other textiles. The 1st is a cylinder bioassay in which a mosquito is forced to
      contact treated material regardless of where it lands within the bioassay
      construct. The 2nd is a repellency/irritancy and biting-inhibition bioassay
      (RIBB) in which human arms and breath are used as attractants. Mosquitoes have
      the choice to pass through holes cut in untreated or treated netting to move from
      a center release chamber into side chambers to reach arms and potentially bite.
      Trials were conducted with pyrethroid-susceptible (New Orleans), moderately
      resistant (Hunucma), and highly resistant (Vergel) strains of Aedes aegypti.
      Tests with netting treated with different pyrethroids demonstrated the utility of
      the cylinder bioassay to quantify knockdown and mortality following exposure to
      treated netting, and of the RIBB to quantify spatial repellency/contact irritancy
      of the treated netting and biting inhibition after females land on and then pass
      through holes in the treated netting. Both tested brands of pyrethroid-treated
      mosquitocidal netting (DuraNet(r) and NetProtect(r)) were effective against New
      Orleans but ineffective against Vergel strains. Mortality in the cylinder
      bioassay was 100% for New Orleans for all tested brands of treated netting, but
      only 10-14% for Vergel. Rates of passage through treated netting to reach a human
      arm in the RIBB were 10-15% for New Orleans versus 24-37% for Vergel. The
      reduction in biting after passage through treated netting, compared with
      untreated netting in the same trial replicates, was 12-39% for New Orleans versus
      <=9% for Vergel. 

PMID- 25843175
TI  - Mortality Patterns of Simulium vittatum Larvae (Diptera: Simuliidae) Following
      Exposure to Insecticidal Proteins Produced by Bacillus thuringiensis var.
      israelensis.
AB  - Products containing insecticidal crystalline proteins (ICPs) produced by Bacillus
      thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti ICPs) are used to suppress vector and
      nuisance populations of black flies. The efficacy of an application of these
      products is often determined by a posttreatment evaluation of larval mortality.
      Larvae are typically removed from the substrate at some point in time after
      application of the product and mortality is determined. The time necessary for
      the effects of Bti ICPs to cause morality in exposed larvae can vary, and there
      is little consensus on how long operators should wait before evaluating larval
      mortality. This study was conducted to provide more information to larvicide
      applicators when performing posttreatment evaluations. Simulium vittatum larvae
      were exposed to Bti ICPs under controlled conditions and the mortality was
      monitored over time. Larvae exposed to operational concentrations of ICPs
      exhibited maximum mortality, approximately 87%, after 4 h. Exposure of larvae to
      1/3 of that concentration resulted in similar mortality; however, the maximum
      mortality was not reached until 8 h postexposure. Additional experiments revealed
      that maximum mortality and time to maximum mortality can also be affected by
      components in the larval medium. Larval mortality was compared between larvae
      exposed to Bti ICPs in moderately hard water, medium containing 50 parts per
      million (ppm) of kaolinite, and medium containing 50 ppm of cellulose. The clay
      material had no significant effect on larval mortality or time to achieve maximum
      mortality. When cellulose was present in the medium, the time to maximum
      mortality was increased 50% and overall mortality was reduced by more than 40%. 

PMID- 25843177
TI  - Laboratory Studies of Aedes aegypti Attraction to Ketones, Sulfides, and Primary
      Chloroalkanes Tested Alone and in Combination with L-Lactic Acid.
AB  - The attraction of female Aedes aegypti to single compounds and binary
      compositions containing L-lactic acid and an additional saturated compound from a
      set of ketones, sulfides, and chloroalkanes was studied using a triple-cage dual
      port olfactometer. These chemical classes were studied because of their
      structural relation to acetone, dimethyl disulfide, and dichloromethane, which
      have all been reported to synergize attraction to L-lactic acid. Human odors,
      carbon dioxide, and the binary mixture of L-lactic acid and CO2served as controls
      for comparison of attraction responses produced by the binary mixtures. All
      tested mixtures that contained chloroalkanes attracted mosquitoes at synergistic
      levels, as did L-lactic acid and CO2. Synergism was less frequent in mixtures of
      L-lactic acid with sulfides and ketones; in the case of ketones, synergistic
      attraction was observed only for L-lactic acid combined with acetone or butanone.
      Suppression or inhibition of attraction response was observed for combinations
      that contained ketones of C7-C12 molecular chain length (optimum in the C8-C10
      range). This inhibition effect is similar to that observed previously for
      specific ranges of carboxylic acids, aldehydes, and alcohols.

PMID- 25843178
TI  - Larvicidal activity of naturally occurring naphthalenedione and its structurally
      related analogs against three mosquito species.
AB  - The objective of this study was to determine the larvicidal activity of an active
      compound isolated from Cercis chinensis heartwood and its structurally related
      analogs against 4th-stage Aedes aegypti, Culex pipiens pallens, and Ae. togoi.
      The larvicidal compound of C. chinensis was isolated with the use of various
      chromatographic techniques and identified as analogs of 1,4-naphthalenedione.
      Based on the median lethal concentration (LC(50)) values of commercially procured
      analogs against Ae. aegypti larvae, the most toxic analog was 2-bromo-1,4
      naphthalenedione (1.19 ug/ml); followed by 5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthalenedione (1.72
      ug/ml); 2-methyl-1,4-naphthalenedione (9.12 ug/ml); 2-hydroxy-1,4
      naphthalenedione (10.76 ug/ml); and 2-methoxy-1,4-naphthalenedione (12.50 ug/ml).
      Similar results were observed against Cx. p. pallens and Ae. togoi larvae with
      1,4-naphthalenedione analogs. These results also showed that 1,4-naphthalenedione
      analogs were less toxic than the organophosphate pirimiphos-methyl. Nonetheless,
      naturally occurring C. chinensis-derived materials and 1,4-naphthalenedione
      analogs have potential for development as mosquito larvicidal agents.

PMID- 25843179
TI  - Evaluation of Household Bleach as an Ovicide for the Control of Aedes aegypti.
AB  - Accumulations of dormant eggs in container habitats allow Aedes aegypti
      populations to survive harsh environmental conditions and may frustrate control
      interventions directed at larval and adult life stages. While sodium hypochlorite
      solutions (NaOCl) have long been recognized as ovicides for use against dengue
      vectors, the susceptibility of eggs to spray applications has not been robustly
      evaluated on substrate materials representative of the most frequently utilized
      artificial container habitats. Experiments were performed under controlled and
      natural conditions by applying dilutions of household bleach (52.5 ppt NaOCl) as
      a spray to eggs on plastic, rubber, and concrete surfaces, with and without a
      smectite clay thickener. Laboratory assays identified the minimum NaOCl
      concentrations required to eliminate eggs on plastic (10 ppt), rubber (20 ppt)
      and concrete (20 ppt) surfaces. Addition of smectite clay reduced the minimum
      effective concentration to 10 ppt NaOCl for all 3 substrates. A minimum exposure
      period of 24 h was required to completely eliminate egg viability on concrete
      surfaces, even at the highest NaOCl concentration (52.5 ppt). Field experiments
      verified that spray application of a 1?3 dilution of household bleach mixed with
      smectite clay can reduce egg hatching by >= 99% in shaded and sun-exposed plastic
      containers. Similarly, 4?1 dilution of household bleach (with or without smectite
      clay) eliminated >= 98% of eggs from concrete surfaces in outdoor, water-filled
      drums. In this study, we propose a practical, effective and safe strategy for
      using household bleach to eliminate Ae. aegypti eggs in a range of artificial
      container habitats. 

PMID- 25843180
TI  - Evaluation of a new spraying machine for barrier treatment and penetration of
      bifenthrin on vegetation against mosquitoes.
AB  - The effectiveness and penetration of a novel, truck-mounted mist sprayer (3WC-30
      4P provided by American LongRay) was evaluated with bifenthrin in a large, park
      like setting with historic floodwater and woodland mosquito populations. Efficacy
      evaluations were determined through adult population collections and excised leaf
      bioassays. Trapping results showed a mean reduction of 77% in mosquito
      populations in the treated area for 5 sampling events up to 4 wk posttreatment.
      Leaf bioassays revealed an average mortality of 80% at 2.7 m and 51% at 5.5 m
      against laboratory-reared Aedes aegypti for 5 posttreatment samples. Leaves
      collected from the treated areas caused higher mortality at distances closer to
      the sprayer, though the distance and coverage of bifenthrin application was
      effective up to 5 m. 

PMID- 25843181
TI  - Updated Distribution of Aedes albopictus in Oklahoma, and Implications in
      Arbovirus Transmission.
AB  - A series of statewide surveys were conducted in Oklahoma in the summers between
      1991 and 2004 to identify the distribution of Aedes albopictus. Adult mosquitoes
      were identified in 63 counties, bringing the currently known distribution of Ae.
      albopictus in the state to 69 of 77 counties. The widespread presence of Ae.
      albopictus in Oklahoma has important current and future public and veterinary
      health implications for surveillance and control efforts. 

PMID- 25843182
TI  - Aedes pertinax, a Newly Recognized Mosquito Species in the United States.
AB  - Specimens of a mosquito new to the continental USA, Aedes pertinax, were
      retrospectively identified from 2 collections made in 2011 in Indian River
      County, FL. Routine mosquito surveillance in subsequent years yielded more than
      700 specimens appearing in 100 collections. The distribution of this mosquito in
      Florida and the United States is currently unknown, and recognition of the adult
      female is likely hampered by morphological similarities to Ae. atlanticus and Ae.
      tormentor. 

PMID- 25843183
TI  - A checklist of the 67 mosquito species of Ontario, Canada.
AB  - We provide an updated checklist of 67 endemic mosquito species known from
      Ontario, Canada. Nine endemic species are added to the checklist found in Darsie
      and Ward (2005) : Aedes cantator, Ae. churchillensis, Ae. nigripes, Ae. pullatus,
      Anopheles perplexens, An. crucians, An. smaragdinus, Culex erraticus, and Cx.
      salinarius. Only 4 specimens of Ae. albopictus have been recorded in Ontario
      since 2001 despite concerted efforts to find this species; therefore, it is
      considered an "accidental" species and is excluded from the checklist. 

PMID- 25843184
TI  - The correct type localities of three species of Sabethini.
AB  - The correct type localities were noted for the following mosquito species: 1)
      Sabethes fabricii, municipality of Angra dos Reis, state of Rio de Janeiro,
      Brazil; 2) Sa. soperi 1942 , municipality of Nova Iguacu, state of Rio de
      Janeiro, Brazil; and 3) Wyeomyia finlayi 1942 , Xerem, in the municipality of
      Duque de Caxias, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

PMID- 25843185
TI  - Evaluation of the AtrAedesTM Lure for Collection of Culex quinquefasciatus in
      Gravid Traps.
AB  - The typical attractant used in gravid trapping of Culex quinquefasciatus is an
      aged infusion of organic materials, which can change in attractiveness over time.
      A standardized chemical attractant dispenser derived from grass infusion, the
      AtrAedesTM lure, has been produced for the surveillance of the dengue vector
      Aedes aegypti. A study using this lure in combination with the Centers for
      Disease Control and Prevention gravid traps was conducted in Tanga, Tanzania. The
      addition of the lure to traps baited with either grass infusion or tap water did
      not result in significant increases in trap catch. Grass infusion-baited traps
      (with and without the AtrAedes lure) collected significantly more Cx.
      quinquefasciatus than traps baited with AtrAedes + tap water, tap water alone, or
      AtrAedes alone. The catches of the traps baited with AtrAedes + tap water, tap
      water alone, and AtrAedes alone were not significantly different from each other.
      Although the placement of the lure in the base of the trap may have decreased
      trap catches, it seems that the AtrAedes is not as effective as grass infusion
      for collecting Cx. quinquefasciatus in Tanzania. 

PMID- 25843186
TI  - Field Evaluation of a Novel Mos-Hole Trap and Naphtha Compared with BG Sentinel
      Trap and Mosquito Magnet X Trap to Collect Adult Mosquitoes.
AB  - The novel Mos-Hole trapTM with liquid attractant naphthaTM from Korea was
      compared with BG SentinelTM trap and Mosquito Magnet XTM trap for field
      collection of adult mosquitoes in St. Johns County, northeastern Florida, from
      May to October 2013. The novel Mos-Hole trap baited with naphtha (liquid
      attractant) collected similar numbers of mosquitoes, compared with the number of
      mosquitoes caught by BG Sentinel traps baited with BG LureTM. Both Mos-Hole and
      BG Sentinel traps collected a significantly greater number of mosquitoes compared
      with the numbers collected by Mosquito Magnet X traps. In other field evaluations
      when switching lures, the Mos-Hole traps baited with BG Lure caught more
      mosquitoes than the BG Sentinel trap baited with liquid naphtha attractant. The
      results showed that the novel Mos-Hole trap has the potential to be used as an
      additional effective sampling tool for population surveillance and control of
      adult mosquitoes. 

PMID- 25843187
TI  - Notes on facultative predation in Prosimulium larvae (Diptera: Simuliidae) in
      alpine and subalpine streams in Colorado.
AB  - Although it is widely accepted that black fly larvae employ filter feeding as
      their primary mode of nutrient intake, other forms of food acquisition, such as
      predation, may be more prevalent than previously realized. It has been suggested
      that environments where particulate matter is low, such as high-elevation
      seasonal streams, may drive predatory behavior in black fly larvae. Relatively
      little is known about the frequency at which larvae prey on other organisms or if
      predation may be obligate in some species. In order to supplement the idea that
      larval black fly predation may be a common method of feeding under certain
      conditions, a preliminary survey of predation by Prosimulium larvae was conducted
      in order to assess predation frequency at high-elevation sites (> 3,200 m) in the
      Colorado Rocky Mountains. Larvae were sampled from alpine and subalpine
      locations, and their gut content analysis revealed evidence of facultative
      predation and possible cannibalism. Evidence of predation was observed in all but
      1 Prosimulium species collected. Predation frequency was highest in the North
      Fork Snake River headwater location, a small tributary stream of the Snake River
      in central Colorado. This survey suggests that further inquiry into predatory
      behavior of black fly larvae should be conducted to determine the mechanisms,
      behavior, and ecological impact of this understudied feeding strategy. 

PMID- 25843189
TI  - The acceptability of screening for colorectal cancer in Saudi Arabia: myths
      busted.

PMID- 25843188
TI  - Critical Role of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia
      Induced Deficits in Synaptic Plasticity and Long-Term Memory.
AB  - AIMS: This study examined the role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in
      mediating chronic intermittent hypoxia (IH)-induced neurocognitive deficits. We
      designed experiments to demonstrate that ER stress is initiated in the
      hippocampus under chronic IH and determined its role in apoptotic cell death,
      impaired synaptic structure and plasticity, and memory deficits. RESULTS: Two
      weeks of IH disrupted ER fine structure and upregulated ER stress markers,
      glucose-regulated protein 78, caspase-12, and C/EBP homologous protein, in the
      hippocampus, which could be suppressed by ER stress inhibitors,
      tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) and 4-phenylbutyric acid. Meanwhile, ER stress
      induced apoptosis via decreased Bcl-2, promoted reactive oxygen species
      production, and increased malondialdehyde formation and protein carbonyl, as well
      as suppressed mitochondrial function. These effects were largely prevented by ER
      stress inhibitors. On the other hand, suppression of oxidative stress could
      reduce ER stress. In addition, the length of the synaptic active zone and number
      of mature spines were reduced by IH. Long-term recognition memory and spatial
      memory were also impaired, which was accompanied by reduced long-term
      potentiation in the Schaffer collateral pathway. These effects were prevented by
      coadministration of the TUDCA. INNOVATION AND CONCLUSION: These results show that
      ER stress plays a critical role in underlying memory deficits in obstructive
      sleep apnea (OSA)-associated IH. Attenuators of ER stress may serve as novel
      adjunct therapeutic agents for ameliorating OSA-induced neurocognitive
      impairment.

PMID- 25843190
TI  - SASLT position statement on the direct-acting antiviral agents for the treatment
      of hepatitis C virus infection.

PMID- 25843191
TI  - Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: Noninvasive methods of diagnosing hepatic
      steatosis.
AB  - Hepatic steatosis is the buildup of lipids within hepatocytes. It is the simplest
      stage in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). It occurs in approximately 30%
      of the general population and as much as 90% of the obese population in the
      United States. It may progress to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, which is a state
      of hepatocellular inflammation and damage in response to the accumulated fat.
      Liver biopsy remains the gold standard tool to diagnose and stage NAFLD. However,
      it comes with the risk of complications ranging from simple pain to life
      threatening bleeding. It is also associated with sampling error. For these
      reasons, a variety of noninvasive radiological markers, including ultrasound,
      computed tomography, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and the controlled
      attenuation parameter using transient elastography and Xenon-133 scan have been
      proposed to increase our ability to diagnose NAFLD, hence avoiding liver biopsy.
      The aim of this review is to discuss the utility and accuracy of using available
      noninvasive diagnostic modalities for fatty liver in NAFLD. 

PMID- 25843192
TI  - Effect of public knowledge, attitudes, and behavior on willingness to undergo
      colorectal cancer screening using the health belief model.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Success of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is dependent in
      part on the proportion of uptake by the targeted population. We aimed in this
      study to identify factors that were associated with willingness to undergo CRC
      screening based on the health belief model (HBM). PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was
      a cross-sectional study among citizens of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Demographic data
      collected included gender, age, education, marital status, employment status, a
      history of CRC in the family or knowing a friend with CRC, as well as income. A
      questionnaire was developed in Arabic based on the HBM and included enquiries on
      knowledge about CRC symptoms and risk factors, types of CRC screening tests,
      perceived risk of CRC, previously undergoing CRC screening, intent to undergo CRC
      screening, perceived barriers to CRC screening, perceived severity of CRC, as
      well as attitudes toward CRC and its screening. RESULTS: Five hundred
      participants were included. The mean age was 41.0 years (SD 10.7). Males were 50%
      and only 6.7% of those between 50 and 55 years of age had undergone CRC
      screening. Of those surveyed, 70.7% were willing to undergo CRC screening. Also,
      70.5% thought that CRC is curable, 73.3% believed it was preventable, whereas
      56.7% thought it was a fatal disease. Neither gender, level of education,
      occupation, income, marital status, nor general knowledge about CRC was found to
      be associated with the willingness to undergo CRC screening. Recognizing that
      colonoscopy was a screening test (OR 1.55, 95% CI; 1.04-2.29) was associated with
      a strong desire to undergo CRC screening while choosing a stool-based test was
      associated with not willing to undergo CRC screening (OR 0.59, 95%CI; 0.38-0.91).
      CONCLUSION: We found that the majority of those interviewed were willing to
      undergo CRC screening and identified a number of barriers as well as potential
      areas that could be targeted in the promotion of CRC screening uptake if such a
      national program were to be implemented.

PMID- 25843193
TI  - Public awareness of colorectal cancer in Saudi Arabia: A survey of 1070
      participants in Riyadh.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this study was to investigate colorectal cancer (CRC)
      awareness in healthy individuals in Saudi Arabia in order to identify segments of
      the population that would most benefit from targeted education programs. SETTING
      AND DESIGN: Survey/questionnaire. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Random, healthy
      individuals from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were approached to participate in a 10
      question multiple choice survey about CRC. Data were analyzed by demographic
      criteria, including age, gender, marital status, and level of education, to
      determine if members of these groups displayed differential knowledge.
      STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Differences in responses by demographic data were analyzed
      using Pearson's Chi-square test. A P < 0.05 was considered statistically
      significant. RESULTS: In total, 1070 participants completed the survey. Most
      respondents believe that screening for colon cancer should begin at symptom onset
      (42.9%). Less than 20% of all respondents believe that polyps are a risk factor
      for CRC, which varied significantly according to level of education; however,
      even the most educated answered correctly less than 50% of the time. Similarly,
      only 34.8% of all respondents knew that a family history of CRC imparted a
      personal risk for CRC. CONCLUSIONS: Although older individuals and those with
      higher education tended to answer questions correctly more often, there were some
      misconceptions regarding universally accepted screening protocols, symptoms, and
      general understanding of CRC in Saudi Arabia. A national education/screening
      program in Saudi Arabia is recommended to improve CRC knowledge.

PMID- 25843194
TI  - Mannose-binding lectin gene polymorphism and chronic hepatitis B infection in
      children.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is a member of innate immune system
      that activates complement system through lectin pathway. MBL deficiency is
      associated with susceptibility to infectious diseases. In this study, the
      relation between MBL gene polymorphism and chronic hepatitis B infection in
      children is evaluated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study included 67 children with
      chronic hepatitis B and 99 healthy controls. The hepatitis B patients were
      divided into immuntolerant, chronic inactive, and treatment groups according to
      their laboratory findings. MBL gene codon 52, 54, and 57 polymorphisms were
      studied with polymerase chain reaction in all patients and controls. The
      associations of MBL gene polymorphism with clinical, laboratory, and
      histopathologic findings were evaluated. RESULTS: Homozygous codon 54
      polymorphism of MBL was found significantly higher in chronic hepatitis B
      patients than controls. Rate of the polymorphism was similar in all groups and,
      responsive and nonresponsive patients in the treatment group. CONCLUSIONS: The
      hepatitis B patients who are homozygous for codon 54 of MBL are prone to develop
      chronic infection. Longitudinal studies with larger groups are needed.

PMID- 25843195
TI  - Quality of gastroenterology research published in Saudi Arabian scientific
      journals.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Evidence-based medicine has established itself in the field of
      gastroenterology. In this study we aim to assess the types of study designs of
      gastroenterology-related articles published in Saudi scientific journals.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: An online review using PubMed was carried out to review
      gastroenterology-related articles published in six Saudi medical journals in the
      time interval from 2003 to 2012. To classify the level of evidence in these
      articles we employed the Oxford's levels of evidence. One-way analysis of
      variance was used to compare the levels of evidence between published articles.
      RESULTS: A total of 721 gastroenterology-related articles were reviewed, of which
      591 articles met our inclusion criteria; 80.7% were level IV. The three most
      common types of studies we encountered were cross-sectional (33.9%), case reports
      (27.9%), and case series (18.8%). Forty-three percent of the published research
      was in the field of hepatobiliary and spleen. The total number of articles
      increased from 260 articles in the 1 st 5-year period (2003-2007) to 330 in the 2
      nd period (2008-2012). However, no statistically significant difference in the
      level of evidence was noted. In Annals of Saudi Medicine Journal, articles with
      level II increased from 0 to 10% with a P value 0.02. CONCLUSION: In our review
      of gastroenterology-related published articles in Saudi scientific journals, we
      observed an increase in the quantity of articles with the quality and level of
      evidence remaining unchanged. Further research is recommended to explore
      different reasons affecting the volume and quality of gastroenterology-related
      research in Saudi scientific journals.

PMID- 25843196
TI  - Toll-like receptor gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to Epstein-Barr virus
      associated and -negative gastric carcinoma in Northern China.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Various polymorphisms in toll-like receptor (TLR) genes have
      been identified and associated with susceptibility to various malignancies, such
      as gastric carcinoma (GC), breast cancer, and prostate cancer. However, little is
      known about the polymorphisms of TLR genes and the susceptibility to GC in
      Northern China, especially to Epstein-Barr virus-associated GC (EBVaGC). We
      focused on the association with susceptibility to GC, especially to EBVaGC.
      PATIENTS AND METHODS: Polymorphisms of the TLR2, 3, 4, and 9 genes were measured
      in 52 cases of EBVaGC and 157 cases of EBV-negative GC (EBVnGC). Ninety-four
      peripheral blood samples from healthy individuals were also examined. RESULTS:
      For the TLR2 gene (196 to 174 del), there was no significant difference between
      the GC group and control group in genotype, but there was a significant
      difference in the del allele. As for the TLR3 gene (c. 1377C/T), there were
      significant differences between the GC group and the control group in both
      genotype and allelic frequency. No SNPs single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)
      were found in the TLR4 gene at the sites Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile. As for TLR9
      1486T/C (rs187084) and C2848T (rs352140), there was also no association between
      the GC group and control. In all of the indicators, there were no significant
      differences between EBVaGCs and EBVnGCs. CONCLUSIONS: The TLR3 gene (c. 1377C/T)
      polymorphisms and the del allele of the TLR2 gene ( 196 to 174) were both
      associated with susceptibility to GC in Shangdong Province of Northern China.
      There was no interaction between EBV and TLR gene polymorphisms in EBVaGC.

PMID- 25843197
TI  - Partially hydrolyzed guar gum in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with
      constipation: effects of gender, age, and body mass index.
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG) relieves symptoms in
      constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and may have prebiotic
      properties. However, the correlation between the effectiveness of PHGG and
      patient characteristics has not been examined. We aimed to investigate the effect
      of PHGG in symptom relief on constipation-predominant IBS according to gender,
      age, and body mass index (BMI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty-eight patients with
      IBS entered a 2-week run-in period, followed by a 4-week study period with PHGG.
      Patients completed a daily questionnaire to assess the presence of abdominal
      pain/discomfort, swelling, and the sensation of incomplete evacuation. The number
      of evacuations/day, the daily need for laxatives/enemas and stool consistency
      form were also evaluated. All patients also underwent a colonic transit time
      (CTT) evaluation. RESULTS: PHGG administration was associated with a significant
      improvement in symptom scores, use of laxatives/enemas, stool form/consistency
      and CTT. At the end of the study period and compared with baseline, the number of
      evacuations improved in women, patients aged >= 45 years and those with BMI >= 25
      (P < 0.05 for all comparisons); abdominal bloating improved in males (P < 0.05),
      patients < 45 years (P < 0.01) and those with BMI < 25 (P < 0.05). A decrease in
      the number of perceived incomplete evacuations/day was reported in patients with
      a BMI >= 25 (P < 0.05). Reductions in laxative/enema use were recorded in females
      (P < 0.05), patients < 45 years (P < 0.01), and patients with BMI < 25 (P <
      0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Gender, age, and BMI seem to influence the effect of PHGG
      supplementation in constipated IBS patients. Further studies are needed to
      clarify the interaction of such parameters with a fiber-enriched diet.

PMID- 25843198
TI  - Does anxiety or waiting time influence patients' tolerance of upper endoscopy?
AB  - BACKGROUND/AIMS: Endoscopy is an essential and very commonly used procedure for
      the evaluation of a multitude of gastrointestinal symptoms. Although it is
      increasingly required, patients often wait on arrival at the endoscopy unit until
      they are called for the procedure. It is not clear whether or not this waiting
      time may have an impact on patient's tolerance during upper endoscopy. Our study
      attempts to address this. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied consecutive
      outpatients who underwent endoscopy from September to December, 2013. Gender,
      age, body mass index (BMI), previous endoscopic experiences, antidepressant
      therapy, and the time interval between arrival at the endoscopy unit and the
      onset of examination was recorded. Anxiety before the procedure, pain, and
      discomfort were rated by a numeric rating scale (0 = no pain/discomfort
      encountered to 10 = extremely painful/uncomfortable). RESULTS: One hundred and
      five consecutive outpatients (male = 52; mean age = 45.3 years; age range = 20-86
      years) were included in the study. The mean BMI was 25 +/- 4.8; mean waiting time
      from registration to the procedure was  172 min (time range = 30 - 375 mins).
      Mean patients' pre-examination anxiety level was 3 +/- 3.84, mean discomfort
      score was 4.3 +/- 3.09 and mean pain score was 3.4 +/- 3.03. The level of pain
      and discomfort was significantly higher in patients with higher levels of pre
      procedure anxiety. No differences were found in terms of anxiety, pain and
      discomfort among patients divided according to waiting time. CONCLUSIONS:
      According to our data, waiting time does not have a significant impact on the
      perception of pain and discomfort related to the endoscopic procedure. On the
      other hand, high pre-procedural levels of anxiety were associated with a low
      tolerance. Further multicenter randomized trials are needed to clarify the impact
      of waiting time.

PMID- 25843200
TI  - Unusual case of a submucosal tumor in the sigmoid colon. Gastrointestinal
      elastosis.

PMID- 25843199
TI  - Cytology findings in pancreatic heterotopia, a potential pitfall for malignancy:
      a case report and literature review.
AB  - Pancreatic heterotopia is a rare congenital disorder occurring at a variety of
      sites in the gastrointestinal tract. It is rarely symptomatic. Despite advances
      in diagnostic techniques, it still remains a challenge to the clinician to
      differentiate it from a neoplasm. Cytologic characteristics of pancreatic
      heterotopia in general are rarely described in the literature. We report the
      cytologic characteristics of heterotopic pancreatic tissue at the gastric outlet
      in a 48-year-old female. The patient underwent surgical excision due to symptoms
      related to the lesion. Endoscopic ultrasound fine-needle aspiration is
      increasingly used for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal tumors, which makes the
      recognition of certain endoscopically unreachable lesions an important step in
      optimal patient management. 

PMID- 25843202
TI  - Lanthanide(III) di- and tetra-nuclear complexes supported by a chelating tripodal
      tris(amidate) ligand.
AB  - Syntheses, structural, and spectroscopic characterization of multinuclear
      tris(amidate) lanthanide complexes is described. Addition of K3[N(o
      PhNC(O)(t)Bu)3] to LnX3 (LnX3 = LaBr3, CeI3, and NdCl3) in N,N-dimethylformamide
      (DMF) results in the generation of dinuclear complexes, [Ln(N(o
      PhNC(O)(t)Bu)3)(DMF)]2(MU-DMF) (Ln = La (1), Ce (2), Nd(3)), in good yields.
      Syntheses of tetranuclear complexes, [Ln(N(o-PhNC(O)(t)Bu)3)]4 (Ln = Ce (4),
      Nd(5)), resulted from protonolysis of Ln[N(SiMe3)2]3 (Ln = Ce, Nd) with N(o
      PhNCH(O)(t)Bu)3. In the solid-state, complexes 1-5 exhibit coordination modes of
      the tripodal tris(amidate) ligand that are unique to the 4f elements and have not
      been previously observed in transition metal systems. 

PMID- 25843201
TI  - MDR1C3435T polymorphism and inflammatory bowel disease.

PMID- 25843203
TI  - Factors related to vaccine uptake by young adult women in the catch-up phase of
      the National HPV Vaccination Program in Australia: Results from an observational
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Australia commenced a publically-funded, National Human
      Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Program in 2007 with a two year catch-up phase
      for females aged 12-26 years. OBJECTIVE: To identify the factors associated with
      the uptake of the HPV vaccine (which has a recommended 3-dose schedule in
      Australia) by young adult women vaccinated by general practitioners and community
      based programs within the catch-up phase. METHODS: 1139 women who were eligible
      to receive the free HPV vaccine during the catch-up period were recruited in 2008
      2009 (age 20-29 years at recruitment), in New South Wales, after having a normal
      (negative) cervical smear result recorded on the NSW Pap Test Register.
      Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire providing information on
      vaccination status, and sociodemographic and other factors. RESULTS: Overall, 880
      (77%) women reported receiving >= 1 dose of the vaccine and 777 women (68%)
      reported receiving >= 2 doses. In multivariable analysis (adjusting for the
      period for which each woman was eligible for free HPV vaccination), uptake of >=
      1 dose of the vaccine was significantly associated with being born in Australia
      (p < 0.01), being single (p = 0.02), being nulliparous (p < 0.01), living in a
      higher socioeconomic status area (p-trend = 0.03), living in more remote areas (p
      = 0.03), drinking alcohol (p < 0.01) and using hormonal contraceptives (p <
      0.01). Although vaccinated women were more likely to have fewer sexual partners
      than unvaccinated women (p-trend = 0.02), they were also more likely to report a
      prior sexually transmitted infection (STI) (p = 0.03). Similar factors were
      associated with receiving >= 2 doses. CONCLUSIONS: In this group, women living in
      higher socioeconomic status areas were more likely to be vaccinated against HPV
      in the catch-up phase of the national program. Although vaccinated women tended
      to have fewer sexual partners, they also reported prior STIs, which may be a
      marker of increased risk of prior exposure to HPV. The findings of this study
      reinforce the continuing need to prioritise equitable delivery of vaccination to
      various population subgroups.

PMID- 25843204
TI  - Food Resource Management Education With SNAP Participation Improves Food
      Security.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the influence of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
      Program (SNAP) and participant demographics on nutrition education outcomes.
      METHODS: At program enrollment (pre) and 1 month later (post), a statewide
      convenience sample of adults, who participated in the Plan, Shop, Save, and Cook
      program, completed a 7-item questionnaire to evaluate change in resource
      management skills (RMS) and running out of food before the end of the month.
      RESULTS: Percent of participants (n = 3,744) who reported behavioral improvements
      in RMS ranged from 38.8% in comparing prices to 54% in reading labels. Female
      gender and Hispanic ethnicity were positively related to pre-post RMS change (P =
      .001). Participants who received SNAP food assistance and made greater pre-post
      improvement in RMS reported the greatest decrease in running out of food (P =
      .001). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Both food assistance and education on
      nutrition and resource management are needed to reduce food insecurity in SNAP
      eligible audiences.

PMID- 25843205
TI  - Cerebro-retinal microangiopathy with calcifications and cysts due to recessive
      mutations in the CTC1 gene.
AB  - Cerebro-retinal microangiopathy with calcifications and cysts (CRMCC) or Coats
      plus syndrome is a pleiotropic disorder affecting the eyes, brain, bone and
      gastrointestinal tract. Its primary pathogenesis involves small vessel
      obliterative microangiopathy. Recently, autosomal recessively inherited mutations
      in CTC1 have been reported in CRMCC patients. We herein report an adolescent
      referred to our hospital following new seizures in a context of an undefined
      multisystem disorder. Cerebral imaging disclosed asymmetrical leukopathy,
      intracranial calcifications and cysts. In addition, he presented other typical
      CRMCC features i.e. a history of intrauterine growth retardation, skeletal
      demineralization and osteopenia, bilateral exudative vitreo-retinopathy
      reminiscent of Coats disease, recurrent gastrointestinal hemorrhages secondary to
      watermelon stomach and variceal bleeding of the esophagus due to idiopathic
      portal hypertension and telangiectatic and angiodysplasic changes in the small
      intestine and colon, and anemia due to recurrent bleeding and bone marrow
      abnormalities. The patient was diagnosed with Coats plus syndrome. CTC1 gene
      screening confirmed the diagnosis with the identification of heterozygous
      deleterious mutations. CRMCC due to CTC1 mutations has a broad clinical
      expressivity. Our case report illustrates the main possible associated phenotypes
      and their complications, demonstrating the need for a careful etiological search
      in order to initiate appropriate therapeutic and preventive measures. 

PMID- 25843206
TI  - Valedictory editorial.

PMID- 25843207
TI  - Editorial--new editors-in-chief.

PMID- 25843209
TI  - [Epidemiology and classification of arachnoid cysts in children].
AB  - The prevalence of arachnoid cysts in children is 1-3%. They are more frequent in
      boys. They can be located intracranially or in the spine. Intracranial cysts are
      classified as supratentorial, infratentorial, and supra-infratentorial (tentorial
      notch). Supratentorial are divided into middle cranial fossa, convexity, inter
      hemisferic, sellar region, and intraventricular. Infratentorial are classified
      into supracerebellar, infracerebellar, hemispheric, clivus, and cerebellopontine
      angle. Finally spinal arachnoid cysts are classified taking into account whether
      they are extra- or intradural, and nerve root involvement. 

PMID- 25843210
TI  - Acute effect of 3beta-hidroxihop-22(29)ene on insulin secretion is mediated by
      GLP-1, potassium and calcium channels for the glucose homeostasis.
AB  - The effect of 3beta-hidroxihop-22(29)ene (3-BHO) on insulin and glucagon-like
      peptide 1 (GLP-1) secretion as well as the mechanism of action of the compound in
      pancreatic islet on glucose homeostasis was investigated. The data from in vivo
      treatment show that 3-BHO significantly reduces the hyperglycemia by increasing
      the insulin and GLP-1 secretion, as well as by accumulating hepatic glycogen in
      hyperglycemic rats. In rat pancreatic beta-cell, 3-BHO stimulates the glucose
      uptake, insulin vesicles translocation to the plasma membrane and thus the
      insulin secretion through the involvement of potassium channels (ATP- and Ca(2+)
      dependent K(+) channels) and calcium channels (L-type voltage-dependent calcium
      channels (L-VDCC)). Furthermore, this study also provides evidence for a
      crosstalk between intracellular high calcium concentration, PKA and PKC in the
      signal transduction of 3-BHO to stimulate insulin secretion. In conclusion, 3-BHO
      diminishes glycaemia, stimulates GLP-1 secretion and potentiates insulin
      secretion and increase hepatic glycogen content. Moreover, this triterpene
      modulates calcium influx characterizing ATP-K(+), Ca(2+)-K(+) and L-VDCC channels
      dependent pathways as well as PKA and PKC activity in pancreatic islets
      underlying the signaling of 3-BHO for the secretory activity and contribution on
      glucose homeostasis. 

PMID- 25843208
TI  - The ER/PM microdomain, PI(4,5)P2 and the regulation of STIM1-Orai1 channel
      function.
AB  - All forms of cell signaling occur in discreet cellular microdomains in which the
      ER is the main participant and include microdomains formed by the ER with
      lysosomes, endosomes, the nucleus, mitochondria and the plasma membrane. In the
      microdomains the two opposing organelles transfer and exchange constituents
      including lipids and ions. As is the case for other forms of signaling pathways,
      many components of the receptor-evoked Ca(2+) signal are clustered at the ER/PM
      microdomain, including the Orai1-STIM1 complex. This review discusses recent
      advances in understanding the molecular components that tether the ER and plasma
      membrane to form the ER/PM microdomains in which PI(4,5)P2 is enriched, and how
      dynamic targeting of the Orai1-STIM1 complex to PI(4,5)P2-poor and PI(4,5)P2-rich
      microdomains controls the activity of Orai1 and its regulation by Ca(2+) that is
      mediated by SARAF. 

PMID- 25843211
TI  - Estrogen O-sulfamates and their analogues: Clinical steroid sulfatase inhibitors
      with broad potential.
AB  - Estrogen sulfamate derivatives were the first irreversible active-site-directed
      inhibitors of steroid sulfatase (STS), an emerging drug target for endocrine
      therapy of hormone dependent diseases that catalyzes inter alia the hydrolysis of
      estrone sulfate to estrone. In recent years this has stimulated clinical
      investigation of the estradiol derivative both as an oral prodrug and its
      currently ongoing exploration in endometriosis. 2-Substituted steroid sulfamate
      derivatives show considerable potential as multi-targeting agents for hormone
      independent disease, but are also potent STS inhibitors. The steroidal template
      has spawned nonsteroidal STS inhibitors one of which, Irosustat, has been
      evaluated clinically in breast cancer, endometrial cancer and prostate cancer and
      there is potential for innovative dual-targeting approaches. This review surveys
      the role of estrogen sulfamates, their analogues and current status. 

PMID- 25843212
TI  - Reprint of "Baroreflex function in anurans from different environments".
AB  - Anurans from terrestrial environments have an enhanced ability to maintain mean
      arterial blood pressure (Pm) through lymph mobilization in response to
      desiccation or hemorrhage compared with semiaquatic or aquatic species. Because
      short term blood pressure homeostasis is regulated by arterial baroreceptors, we
      compared baroreflex function in three species of anurans that span a range of
      environments, dehydration tolerance and an ability to maintain Pm with
      dehydration and hemorrhage. The cardiac limb of the baroreflex loop was studied
      using pharmacological manipulation of Pm with phenylephrine and sodium
      nitroprusside (20-200MUgkg(-1)), and the resulting changes in heart rate (fH)
      were quantitatively analyzed using a four-parameter sigmoidal logistic function.
      Resting Pm in the aquatic species, Xenopus laevis, was 3.6+/-0.3kPa and was
      significantly less (P<0.005) than for the semiaquatic species, Lithobates
      catesbeianus (4.1+/-0.2kPa), or the terrestrial species, Rhinella marina (4.7+/
      0.2kPa). The maximal baroreflex gain was not different among the three species
      and ranged from 12.1 to 14.3beatsmin(-1)kPa(-1) and occurred at Pm ranging from
      3.0 to 3.8kPa, which were slightly below the resting Pm for each species. Mean
      arterial blood pressures at rest in the three species were near the saturation
      point of the baroreflex curve which provides the animals with a greater fH
      response range to hypotensive, rather than hypertensive, changes in Pm. This is
      consistent with the hypothesis that arterial baroreceptors are key sensory
      components that allow anurans to maintain Pm possibly by mobilization of
      lymphatic return in response to hypotension. 

PMID- 25843214
TI  - Novel 3D bio-macromolecular bilinear descriptors for protein science: Predicting
      protein structural classes.
AB  - In the present study, we introduce novel 3D protein descriptors based on the
      bilinear algebraic form in the R(n) space on the coulombic matrix. For the
      calculation of these descriptors, macromolecular vectors belonging to R(n) space,
      whose components represent certain amino acid side-chain properties, were used as
      weighting schemes. Generalization approaches for the calculation of inter-amino
      acidic residue spatial distances based on Minkowski metrics are proposed. The
      simple- and double-stochastic schemes were defined as approaches to normalize the
      coulombic matrix. The local-fragment indices for both amino acid-types and amino
      acid-groups are presented in order to permit characterizing fragments of interest
      in proteins. On the other hand, with the objective of taking into account
      specific interactions among amino acids in global or local indices, geometric and
      topological cut-offs are defined. To assess the utility of global and local
      indices a classification model for the prediction of the major four protein
      structural classes, was built with the Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA)
      technique. The developed LDA-model correctly classifies the 92.6% and 92.7% of
      the proteins on the training and test sets, respectively. The obtained model
      showed high values of the generalized square correlation coefficient (GC(2)) on
      both the training and test series. The statistical parameters derived from the
      internal and external validation procedures demonstrate the robustness, stability
      and the high predictive power of the proposed model. The performance of the LDA
      model demonstrates the capability of the proposed indices not only to codify
      relevant biochemical information related to the structural classes of proteins,
      but also to yield suitable interpretability. It is anticipated that the current
      method will benefit the prediction of other protein attributes or functions. 

PMID- 25843213
TI  - The inflammatory response to influenza A virus (H1N1): An experimental and
      mathematical study.
AB  - Mortality from influenza infections continues as a global public health issue,
      with the host inflammatory response contributing to fatalities related to the
      primary infection. Based on Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) formalism, a
      computational model was developed for the in-host response to influenza A virus,
      merging inflammatory, innate, adaptive and humoral responses to virus and linking
      severity of infection, the inflammatory response, and mortality. The model was
      calibrated using dense cytokine and cell data from adult BALB/c mice infected
      with the H1N1 influenza strain A/PR/8/34 in sublethal and lethal doses.
      Uncertainty in model parameters and disease mechanisms was quantified using
      Bayesian inference and ensemble model methodology that generates probabilistic
      predictions of survival, defined as viral clearance and recovery of the
      respiratory epithelium. The ensemble recovers the expected relationship between
      magnitude of viral exposure and the duration of survival, and suggests mechanisms
      primarily responsible for survival, which could guide the development of immuno
      modulatory interventions as adjuncts to current anti-viral treatments. The model
      is employed to extrapolate from available data survival curves for the population
      and their dependence on initial viral aliquot. In addition, the model allows us
      to illustrate the positive effect of controlled inflammation on influenza
      survival. 

PMID- 25843215
TI  - Accurate in silico identification of protein succinylation sites using an
      iterative semi-supervised learning technique.
AB  - As a widespread type of protein post-translational modifications (PTMs),
      succinylation plays an important role in regulating protein conformation,
      function and physicochemical properties. Compared with the labor-intensive and
      time-consuming experimental approaches, computational predictions of
      succinylation sites are much desirable due to their convenient and fast speed.
      Currently, numerous computational models have been developed to identify PTMs
      sites through various types of two-class machine learning algorithms. These
      methods require both positive and negative samples for training. However,
      designation of the negative samples of PTMs was difficult and if it is not
      properly done can affect the performance of computational models dramatically. So
      that in this work, we implemented the first application of positive samples only
      learning (PSoL) algorithm to succinylation sites prediction problem, which was a
      special class of semi-supervised machine learning that used positive samples and
      unlabeled samples to train the model. Meanwhile, we proposed a novel
      succinylation sites computational predictor called SucPred (succinylation site
      predictor) by using multiple feature encoding schemes. Promising results were
      obtained by the SucPred predictor with an accuracy of 88.65% using 5-fold cross
      validation on the training dataset and an accuracy of 84.40% on the independent
      testing dataset, which demonstrated that the positive samples only learning
      algorithm presented here was particularly useful for identification of protein
      succinylation sites. Besides, the positive samples only learning algorithm can be
      applied to build predictors for other types of PTMs sites with ease. A web server
      for predicting succinylation sites was developed and was freely accessible at
      http://59.73.198.144:8088/SucPred/. 

PMID- 25843216
TI  - A computational model of insect discontinuous gas exchange: A two-sensor, control
      systems approach.
AB  - The insect gas exchange system is characterised by branching air-filled tubes
      (tracheae/tracheoles) and valve-like structures in their outer integument
      (spiracles) which allow for a periodic gas exchange pattern known as the
      discontinuous gas exchange cycle (DGC). The DGC facilitates the temporal
      decoupling of whole animal gas exchange from cellular respiration rates and may
      confer several physiological benefits, which are nevertheless highly
      controversial (primarily reduction of cellular oxidative damage and/or
      respiratory water saving). The intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing DGCs
      are the focus of extensive ongoing research and little consensus has been reached
      on the evolutionary genesis or mechanistic costs and benefits of the pattern.
      Despite several hypotheses and much experimental and evolutionary biology
      research, a mechanistic physical model, which captures various key elements of
      the DGC pattern, is currently lacking. Here, we present a biologically realistic
      computational, two-sensor DGC model (pH/carbon dioxide and oxygen setpoints) for
      an Orthopteran gas exchange system, and show computationally for the first time
      that a control system of two interacting feedback loops is capable of generating
      a full DGC pattern with outputs which are physiologically realistic,
      quantitatively matching experimental results found in this taxonomic model
      elsewhere. A finite-element mathematical approach is employed and various trigger
      sets are considered. Parameter sensitivity analyses suggest that various aspects
      of insect DGC are adequately captured in this model. In particular, with
      physiologically relevant input parameters, the full DGC pattern is induced; and
      the phase durations, endotracheal carbon dioxide partial pressure ranges, and pH
      fluctuations which arise are physically realistic. The model results support the
      emergent property hypothesis for the existence of DGC, and indicate that
      asymmetric loading and off-loading (hysteresis) in one of the sensor feedback
      loops, which is a novel inclusion here, is a critical aspect of the insect
      spiracle-tracheal gas exchange system. 

PMID- 25843217
TI  - Necessary relations for nucleotide frequencies.
AB  - Genome composition analysis of di-, tri- and tetra-nucleotide frequencies is
      known to be evolutionarily informative, and useful in metagenomic studies, where
      binning of raw sequence data is often an important first step. Patterns appearing
      in genome composition analysis may be due to evolutionary processes or purely
      mathematical relations. For example, the total number of dinucleotides in a
      sequence is equal to the sum of the individual totals of the sixteen types of
      dinucleotide, and this is entirely independent of any assumptions made regarding
      mutation or selection, or indeed any physical or chemical process. Before any
      statistical analysis can be attempted, a knowledge of all necessary mathematical
      relations is required. I show that 25% of di-, tri- and tetra-nucleotide
      frequencies can be written as simple sums and differences of the remainder. The
      vast majority of organisms have circular genomes, for which these relations are
      exact and necessary. In the case of linear molecules, the absolute error is very
      nearly zero, and does not grow with contiguous sequence length. As a result of
      the new, necessary relations presented here, the foundations of the statistical
      analysis of di-, tri- and tetra-nucleotide frequencies, and k-mer analysis in
      general, need to be revisited. 

PMID- 25843219
TI  - Do tree split probabilities determine the branch lengths?
AB  - The evolution of aligned DNA sequence sites is generally modeled by a Markov
      process operating along the edges of a phylogenetic tree. It is well known that
      the probability distribution on the site patterns at the tips of the tree
      determines the tree topology, and its branch lengths. However, the number of
      patterns is typically much larger than the number of edges, suggesting
      considerable redundancy in the branch length estimation. In this paper we ask
      whether the probabilities of just the 'edge-specific' patterns (the ones that
      correspond to a change of state on a single edge) suffice to recover the branch
      lengths of the tree, under a symmetric 2-state Markov process. We first show that
      this holds provided the branch lengths are sufficiently short, by applying the
      inverse function theorem. We then consider whether this restriction to short
      branch lengths is necessary. We show that for trees with up to four leaves it can
      be lifted. This leaves open the interesting question of whether this holds in
      general. Our results also extend to certain Markov processes on more than 2
      states, such as the Jukes-Cantor model. 

PMID- 25843218
TI  - Error catastrophe in populations under similarity-essential recombination.
AB  - Organisms are often more likely to exchange genetic information with others that
      are similar to themselves. One of the most widely accepted mechanisms of RNA
      virus recombination requires substantial sequence similarity between the parental
      RNAs and is termed similarity-essential recombination. This mechanism may be
      considered analogous to assortative mating, an important form of non-random
      mating that can be found in animals and plants. Here we study the dynamics of
      haplotype frequencies in populations evolving under similarity-essential
      recombination. Haplotypes are represented by a genome of B biallelic loci and the
      Hamming distance between individuals is used as a criterion for recombination. We
      derive the evolution equations for the haplotype frequencies assuming that
      recombination does not occur if the genetic distance is larger than a critical
      value G and that mutation occurs at a rate MU per locus. Additionally, uniform
      crossover is considered. Although no fitness is directly associated to the
      haplotypes, we show that frequency-dependent selection emerges dynamically and
      governs the haplotype distribution. A critical mutation rate MUc can be
      identified as the error threshold transition, beyond which this selective
      information cannot be stored. For MU<MUc the distribution consists of a dominant
      sequence surrounded by a cloud of closely related sequences, characterizing a
      quasispecies. For MU>MUc the distribution becomes uniform, with all haplotypes
      having the same frequency. In the case of extreme assortativeness, where
      individuals only recombine with others identical to themselves (G=0), the error
      threshold results MUc=1/4, independently of the genome size. For weak
      assortativity (G=B-1)MUc=2(-(B+1)) and for the case of no assortativity (G=B)
      MUc=0. We compute the mutation threshold for 0<G<B and show that, for large B, it
      depends only on the ratio G/B. We discuss the consequences of these results for
      recombination in viruses and for speciation. 

PMID- 25843220
TI  - Evolutionary performance of zero-determinant strategies in multiplayer games.
AB  - Repetition is one of the key mechanisms to maintain cooperation. In long-term
      relationships, in which individuals can react to their peers' past actions,
      evolution can promote cooperative strategies that would not be stable in one-shot
      encounters. The iterated prisoner's dilemma illustrates the power of repetition.
      Many of the key strategies for this game, such as ALLD, ALLC, Tit-for-Tat, or
      generous Tit-for-Tat, share a common property: players using these strategies
      enforce a linear relationship between their own payoff and their co-player's
      payoff. Such strategies have been termed zero-determinant (ZD). Recently, it was
      shown that ZD strategies also exist for multiplayer social dilemmas, and here we
      explore their evolutionary performance. For small group sizes, ZD strategies play
      a similar role as for the repeated prisoner's dilemma: extortionate ZD strategies
      are critical for the emergence of cooperation, whereas generous ZD strategies are
      important to maintain cooperation. In large groups, however, generous strategies
      tend to become unstable and selfish behaviors gain the upper hand. Our results
      suggest that repeated interactions alone are not sufficient to maintain large
      scale cooperation. Instead, large groups require further mechanisms to sustain
      cooperation, such as the formation of alliances or institutions, or additional
      pairwise interactions between group members. 

PMID- 25843221
TI  - Seasonal habitat preference by the flagship species Testudo hermanni:
      Implications for the conservation of coastal dunes.
AB  - In this study, we explored if, how, and when the European Union habitats (EU
      sensu Habitats Directive 92/43/CEE) are used by the flagship species Testudo
      hermanni in a well-preserved coastal dune system of the Italian peninsula. Radio
      telemetry data and fine-scale vegetation habitat mapping were used to address the
      following questions: (a) is each EU habitat used differentially by Hermann's
      tortoises? (b) is there any seasonal variation in this utilization pattern? (c)
      how does each habitat contribute to the ecological requirements of the tortoises?
      Nine tortoises were fitted with transmitters and monitored for the entire season
      of activity. The eight EU habitats present in the study area were surveyed and
      mapped using GIS. The seasonal preferential use or avoidance of each habitat was
      tested by comparing, through bootstrap tests, the proportion of habitat occupied
      (piTh) with the proportion of available habitat in the entire landscape (piL).
      The analysis of 340 spatial locations showed a marked preference for the Cisto
      Lavanduletalia dune sclerophyllous scrubs (EU code 2260) and a seasonal selection
      of Juniperus macrocarpa bushes (EU code 2250(*)), wooded dunes with Pinus (EU
      code 2270) and mosaic of dune grasslands and sclerophyllous scrubs (EU codes
      2230, 2240, 2260). Seasonal variation of habitat preference was interpreted in
      light of the different feeding, thermoregulation and reproductive needs of the
      tortoises. Our results stress the ecological value of EU coastal dune habitats
      and suggest prioritization of conservation efforts in these ecosystems. 

PMID- 25843222
TI  - Current advance methods for the identification of blast resistance genes in rice.
AB  - Rice blast caused by Magnaporthe oryzae is one of the most devastating diseases
      of rice around the world and crop losses due to blast are considerably high. Many
      blast resistant rice varieties have been developed by classical plant breeding
      and adopted by farmers in various rice-growing countries. However, the
      variability in the pathogenicity of the blast fungus according to environment
      made blast disease a major concern for farmers, which remains a threat to the
      rice industry. With the utilization of molecular techniques, plant breeders have
      improved rice production systems and minimized yield losses. In this article, we
      have summarized the current advanced molecular techniques used for controlling
      blast disease. With the advent of new technologies like marker-assisted
      selection, molecular mapping, map-based cloning, marker-assisted backcrossing and
      allele mining, breeders have identified more than 100 Pi loci and 350 QTL in rice
      genome responsible for blast disease. These Pi genes and QTLs can be introgressed
      into a blast-susceptible cultivar through marker-assisted backcross breeding.
      These molecular techniques provide timesaving, environment friendly and labour
      cost-saving ways to control blast disease. The knowledge of host-plant
      interactions in the frame of blast disease will lead to develop resistant
      varieties in the future. 

PMID- 25843223
TI  - Open Heart Surgery with Intracranial Meningioma: Case Report & Literature Review.
AB  - Meningiomas are generally considered slow growing tumours of arachnoid cell
      origin which remain asymptomatic for a long period of time and are usually
      managed conservatively by serial radiological follow-up. Only those lesions which
      show a potential for rapid growth are considered for surgical resection. Coronary
      artery bypass surgery usually involves use of cardiopulmonary bypass which
      incites varying degrees of systemic inflammatory response. Although some
      meningiomas are recognised by secretion of vasoactive substances leading to peri
      lesion oedema, very little is known about the behaviour of asymptomatic
      meningiomas during a normal run of cardiopulmonary bypass where there is a
      significant rise in the plasma level of many vasoactive substances. We report the
      case of a 68 year-old male patient with asymptomatic meningioma who required
      urgent coronary artery bypass surgery leading to peri-lesion oedema and
      significant post-operative morbidity due to reversible neurological deficit. 

PMID- 25843224
TI  - Severity and Functional Outcome of Patients with Cardioembolic Stroke Occurring
      during Non-vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulant Treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Severity and functional outcome of patients with cardioembolic stroke
      (CE) occurring during non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC)
      treatment remain uncertain. METHODS: The consecutive 355 CE patients within 48
      hours after onset and with modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 1 or less before
      onset were studied. Of all, 262 patients were treated with no anticoagulants (non
      AC), 63 with warfarin below therapeutic range of prothrombin time-international
      normalized ratio (PT-INR) on admission (PT-INR <1.6 [WF-Lo]), 16 with warfarin
      within therapeutic range (PT-INR >=1.6 [WF-Tp]), and 14 with NOACs (9 dabigatran
      and 5 rivaroxaban [NOAC-DR]). We compared severity and functional outcome of CE
      patients among these 4 groups, especially focusing on patients during NOAC
      treatment. RESULTS: Stroke severity on admission, assessed by the National
      Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, was lower in WF-Tp (median, 5 [1-15]) and NOAC
      DR (5 [3-6]) than in non-AC (11 [5-19]) and WF-Lo (12 [5-19]; P = .006).
      Functional outcome at discharge, assessed by mRS, was favorable in WF-Tp (median,
      1 [0-4]) and NOAC-DR (1 [1-2]) compared with that in non-AC (2 [1-4]) and WF-Lo
      (3 [1-5]; P = .02), and ratios of the patients with mRS score of 1 or less were
      63% and 64% versus 31% and 33%, respectively (P = .005). Multivariate analysis
      also showed a favorable functional outcome at discharge in WF-Tp and NOAC-DR
      groups. Drug management was likely associated with NOAC-associated CE.
      CONCLUSIONS: Stroke severity and functional outcome of CE patients treated with
      warfarin within therapeutic range and with NOACs are similar to each other, and
      are more favorable than those with no anticoagulants and with warfarin below
      therapeutic range.

PMID- 25843225
TI  - Relationship Between Sleep Apnea and Cancer.
AB  - In the light of relationships reported between hypoxemia (tissue hypoxia) and
      cancer, Abrams et al. concluded in 2008 that sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS)
      and its main consequence, intermittent hypoxia, could be related with increased
      susceptibility to cancer or poorer prognosis of a pre-existing tumor. This
      pathophysiological association was confirmed in animal studies. Two large
      independent historical cohort studies subsequently found that the degree of
      nocturnal hypoxia in patients with SAHS was associated with higher cancer
      incidence and mortality. This finding has been confirmed in almost all subsequent
      studies, although the retrospective nature of some requires that they be
      considered as hypothesis-generating only. The relationship between sleep apnea
      and cancer, and the pathophysiological mechanisms governing it, could be
      clarified in the near future in a currently on-going study in a large group of
      melanoma patients.

PMID- 25843226
TI  - The evaluation of drug-induced changes in cardiac inotropy in dogs: Results from
      a HESI-sponsored consortium.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Drug-induced effects on the cardiovascular system remain a major
      cause of drug attrition. While hemodynamic (blood pressure (BP) and heart rate
      (HR)) and electrophysiological methods have been used in testing drug safety for
      years, animal models for assessing myocardial contractility are used less
      frequently and their translation to humans has not been established. The goal of
      these studies was to determine whether assessment of contractility and
      hemodynamics, when measured across different laboratories using the same
      protocol, could consistently detect drug-induced changes in the inotropic state
      of the heart using drugs known to have clinically relevant positive and negative
      effects on myocardial contractility. METHODS: A 4*4 double Latin square design
      (n=8) design using Beagle dogs was developed. Drugs were administrated orally.
      Arterial blood pressure, left ventricular pressure (LVP) and the
      electrocardiogram were assessed. Each of the six laboratories studied at least 2
      drugs (one positive inotrope (pimobendan or amrinone) and one negative inotrope)
      (itraconazole or atenolol) at 3 doses selected to match clinical exposure data
      and a vehicle control. Animals were instrumented with an ITS telemetry system,
      DSI's D70-PCTP system or DSI's Physiotel Digital system. Data acquisition and
      analysis systems were Ponemah, Notocord or EMKA. RESULTS: Derived parameters
      included: diastolic, systolic and mean arterial BP, peak systolic LVP, HR, end
      diastolic LVP, and LVdP/dtmax as the primary contractility index. Blood samples
      were drawn to confirm drug exposures predicted from independent pharmacokinetic
      studies. Across the laboratories, a consistent change in LVdP/dtmax was captured
      despite some differences in the absolute values of some of the hemodynamic
      parameters prior to treatment. DISCUSSION: These findings indicate that this
      experimental model, using the chronically instrumented conscious dog, can
      accurately and consistently detect changes in cardiac contractility, across
      multiple sites and instrumentation systems, and that data obtained in this model
      may also translate to clinical outcomes.

PMID- 25843227
TI  - Relationship of postoperative thrombocytosis and survival of patients with
      colorectal cancer.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Thrombocytosis accompanying solid tumors and predicting the
      prognosis of malignant tumors has been the subject of intensive research lately.
      Reports so far have evaluated the role of preoperative platelet count. In our
      present study we looked at the effect of tumor removal on platelet count and the
      predictive power of postoperative thrombocytosis on the survival of patients with
      colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the clinical and
      histopathological data of 336 patients operated due to CRC between 2001 and 2011.
      Thrombocytosis was defined as a platelet count exceeding 400 * 10(3)/MUL.
      Preoperative platelet count was compared with the value measured 1 month
      postoperatively. RESULTS: The platelet count significantly decreased after the
      removal of the primary tumor (paired Wilcoxon test p < 0.001). In univariate
      analysis preoperative thrombocytosis was a significant marker of overall survival
      (OS) with HR 2.2, p < 0.001 while the postoperative thrombocytosis was nearly
      significant with HR = 1.59, p = 0.087. In multivariate setting, when corrected
      for location, stage, tumor size and controlling for gender and age (> 65 years
      vs. <= 65 years), both pre- and postoperative thrombocytosis were significant
      independent prognostic markers with HR 1.80, p = 0.20 and HR = 1.98, p = 0.018,
      respectively. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Although the pathomechanism of
      thrombocytosis related to solid tumors is not known the decrease of platelet
      count after the removal of the primary tumor raises the possibility that the
      tumor may play an active role in the development of thrombocytosis. Furthermore,
      the observation of postoperative thrombocytosis with significant worse outcome
      underlines the predictive power of elevated platelet count.

PMID- 25843228
TI  - Role of CD154 in cancer pathogenesis and immunotherapy.
AB  - Many factors and molecules have been investigated as potential players in the
      pathogenesis or immunosurveillance of cancer. Among these, CD154 has been
      recognized as a co-stimulatory molecule with high potential for treating cancer,
      in addition to its contribution in the development of the disease. CD154 was
      initially described for its pivotal role in T cell-dependent humoral responses
      via an interaction with its classical receptor, CD40. Subsequent studies showed
      that CD154 is also implicated in cell-mediated immunity and inflammation via an
      interaction with CD40 alone or in combination with newly identified receptors,
      members of the integrin family, leading to the development of chronic
      inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. In the current article, we present an
      overview of the role of CD154 as a potential etiological factor in tumors
      inducing proliferation of malignant cells, their rescue from apoptosis and their
      invasiveness. In addition, this review describes the immuno-regulatory functions
      of CD154 against cancer reflected by its stimulation of antigen-presenting cells
      and the subsequent activation of effector cells, its enhancement of malignant
      cells' immunogenicity, its modulation of immune settings around tumors, and its
      initiation of proliferation inhibiting effects in malignant cells. In vitro as
      well as in vivo studies are outlined and a particular attention is given to
      clinical studies and progress reached at this point. Findings reviewed herein
      will improve our knowledge of the role of the CD154 system in cancers from
      causative to immunotherapeutic functions, paving the way for the identification
      of new targets for prevention and/or treatment of malignant disorders.

PMID- 25843229
TI  - A role for KMT1c in monocyte to dendritic cell differentiation: Epigenetic
      regulation of monocyte differentiation.
AB  - Monocytes play a key role in immune system function. Chromatin remodeling is
      crucial for various differentiation and gene regulation processes and is rather
      well studied in T cells. However, for monocytes not much is known regarding how
      the epigenetic machinery influences the differentiation into various effector
      cell types. In the work presented here, we explore the epigenetic underpinnings
      of monocyte differentiation. By transcriptional profiling we show that
      transcription of lysine methyltransferases (KMTs) and in particular KMT1c is
      markedly up regulated after differentiation of monocytes into immature dendritic
      cells (iDCs). Specifically inhibiting KMT1c function, using the small-molecule
      inhibitor BIX-01294, changes the transcription levels of the DC marker DC-SIGN,
      but does not affect surface protein expression. Blocking global KMT activity,
      using DZNep, does influence monocyte differentiation into iDCs, indicated by a
      loss of DC-SIGN surface expression. When BIX-01294 and DZNep treatment was
      combined DC-SIGN expression was almost lost completely. This work shows that the
      activities of KMTs are required for successful differentiation of monocyte
      derived dendritic cells. Furthermore it shows the importance of KMT inhibitors in
      the field of epigenetic immune therapy, which is still much focused around HDAC
      inhibitors. 

PMID- 25843230
TI  - Atypical aHUS: State of the art.
AB  - Tremendous advances in our understanding of the thrombotic microangiopathies
      (TMAs) have revealed distinct disease mechanisms within this heterogeneous group
      of diseases. As a direct result of this knowledge, both children and adults with
      complement-mediated TMA now enjoy higher expectations for long-term health. In
      this update on atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, we review the clinical
      characteristics; the genetic and acquired drivers of disease; the broad spectrum
      of environmental triggers; and current diagnosis and treatment options. Many
      questions remain to be addressed if additional improvements in patient care and
      outcome are to be achieved in the coming decade. 

PMID- 25843231
TI  - Absorption and Metabolism of Luteolin and Its Glycosides from the Extract of
      Chrysanthemum morifolium Flowers in Rats and Caco-2 Cells.
AB  - To elucidate the bioavailability of luteolin and its glycosides in Chrysanthemum
      morifolium flowers, the absorption and metabolism of luteolin from them was
      investigated in rats and Caco-2 cells using HPLC and LC-MS. After oral
      administration of C. morifolium extract (1.7 g/kg body weight (bw), equivalent to
      22.8 and 58.3 MUmol/kg bw of luteolin and luteolin-7-O-glucoside, respectively)
      to rats, luteolin and its glycosides were quickly absorbed and luteolin, luteolin
      monoglucoside, and luteolin monoglucuronide were detected in the plasma. Their
      levels were highest at 1 h after administration (0.76 +/- 0.27 MUM). These
      compounds were also detected in media on the basolateral side from Caco-2 cells
      treated with the C. morifolium extract. These results suggest that luteolin and
      luteolin monoglucoside are rapidly absorbed after administration of C. morifolium
      flower extract and that luteolin, luteolin monoglucoside, and luteolin
      monoglucuronide may circulate in humans. 

PMID- 25843232
TI  - Summary scores captured changes in subjects' QoL as measured by the multiple
      scales of the EORTC QLQ-C30.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To examine the performance of the European Organization for Research
      and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30)
      global health status/quality of life (QoL) scale and two summary scores to detect
      changes in the QoL profile over time, according to changes in the individual
      scales. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Data came from 167 clinical trial patients with
      unresectable (advanced) hepatocellular carcinoma. The global health status/QoL
      scale of the questionnaire contained two items: overall health and overall QoL.
      Nordin and Hinz proposed summary scores for the questionnaire. A mixed-effect
      model was fitted to estimate trends in scores over time. RESULTS: Predominantly
      the individual scale scores declined over time; however, the global health
      status/QoL score was stable [rate of change = -0.3 per month; 95% confidence
      interval (CI): -1.2, 0.6]. Nordin's summary score, which gave equal weight to the
      15 questionnaire scales, and Hinz's summary score, which gave equal weight to the
      30 questionnaire items, showed a statistically significant decline over time, 3.4
      (95% CI: -4.5, -2.4) and 4.2 (95% CI: -5.3, -3.0) points per month, respectively.
      CONCLUSION: In contrast to the global health status/QoL scale, the summary scores
      proposed by Nordin and Hinz detected changes in subjects' QoL profile described
      by the EORTC QLQ-C30 individual scales.

PMID- 25843233
TI  - Are practice trials required for hop tests?
AB  - Single-legged hop tests are commonly used in clinic and research settings to
      obtain information on functional performance of the injured leg. When performing
      these tests, it is typical to provide a few practice trials before performing
      actual test trials. However, the importance of practice trials and how it affects
      performance during actual test trials are not known. This study investigated the
      effect of practice trials on single-leg hop performance using a marker-based
      kinematic tracking approach in individuals with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
      reconstruction and athletic controls. Thirteen subjects with ACL reconstruction
      and thirteen uninjured healthy subjects performed the single hop for distance
      test for both legs. Three practice and five test trials were performed on each
      leg. Single-leg hop distance scores and hop indices (i.e., side-to-side hop
      distance ratios) obtained from practice and test trials were compared. There were
      significant differences in the mean hop distance between practice and test trials
      (P<0.05) when raw scores were compared, but no differences were observed when
      comparing the side-to-side distance ratios (P>0.05). There were also
      significantly high correlations between practice and test trials (P<0.01) and the
      agreement between practice and test scores was very good (rhoc=0.88-0.98). The
      findings suggest that subjects indeed improve their performance during test
      trials; however, the improvements had an inconsequential effect on the side-to
      side hop distance ratios. Therefore, if the examiner is interested only in side
      to-side ratios, then practice trials can be minimized or even avoided to improve
      efficiency and minimize time and costs associated with additional trials. 

PMID- 25843234
TI  - How reliable are knee kinematics and kinetics during side-cutting manoeuvres?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Side-cutting tasks are commonly used in dynamic assessment of ACL
      injury risk, but only limited information is available concerning the reliability
      of knee loading parameters. The aim of this study was to investigate the
      reliability of side-cutting data with additional focus on modelling approaches
      and task execution variables. METHODS: Each subject (n=8) attended six testing
      sessions conducted by two observers. Kinematic and kinetic data of 45 degrees 
      side-cutting tasks was collected. Inter-trial, inter-session, inter-observer
      variability and observer/trial ratios were calculated at every time-point of
      normalised stance, for data derived from two modelling approaches. Variation in
      task execution variables was regressed against that of temporal profiles of
      relevant knee data using one-dimensional statistical parametric mapping. RESULTS:
      Variability in knee kinematics was consistently low across the time-series
      waveform (<=5 degrees ), but knee kinetic variability was high (31.8, 24.1 and
      16.9 Nm for sagittal, frontal and transverse planes, respectively) in the weight
      acceptance phase of the side-cutting task. Calculations conveyed consistently
      moderate-to-good measurement reliability. Inverse kinematic modelling reduced the
      variability in sagittal (~6 Nm) and frontal planes (~10 Nm) compared to direct
      kinematic modelling. Variation in task execution variables did not explain any
      knee data variability. CONCLUSION: Side-cutting data appears to be reliably
      measured, however high knee moment variability exhibited in all planes,
      particularly in the early stance phase, suggests cautious interpretation towards
      ACL injury mechanics. Such variability may be inherent to the dynamic nature of
      the side-cutting task or experimental issues not yet known.

PMID- 25843236
TI  - Activation-induced and damage-induced cell death in aging human T cells.
AB  - In multicellular organisms the proper system functionality is ensured by the
      balance between cell division, differentiation, senescence and death. This
      balance is changed during aging. Immunosenescence plays a crucial role in aging
      and leads to the shrinkage of T cell repertoire and the propensity to apoptosis.
      The elimination of expanded T cells at the end of immune response is crucial to
      maintain homeostasis and avoid any uncontrolled inflammation. Resting mature T
      lymphocytes, when activated via their antigen-specific receptor (TCR) and CD28 co
      receptor, start to proliferate and then undergo the so called activation induced
      cell death (AICD), which mechanistically is triggered by the death receptor and
      leads to apoptosis. T lymphocytes, like other cells, are also exposed to damage,
      which can trigger the so called damage-induced cell death (DICD). It was
      hypothesized that oxidative stress and chronic antigenic load increasing with age
      reduced lymphocyte susceptibility to DICD and enhanced a proinflamatory status
      leading to increased AICD. However, data collected so far are inconsistent and
      does not support this assumption. Systematic and comprehensive studies are still
      needed for conclusive elucidation of the role of AICD and DICD in human
      immunosenescence, including the role of autophagy and necroptosis in the
      processes. 

PMID- 25843235
TI  - NRMT1 knockout mice exhibit phenotypes associated with impaired DNA repair and
      premature aging.
AB  - Though defective genome maintenance and DNA repair have long been known to
      promote phenotypes of premature aging, the role protein methylation plays in
      these processes is only now emerging. We have recently identified the first N
      terminal methyltransferase, NRMT1, which regulates protein-DNA interactions and
      is necessary for both accurate mitotic division and nucleotide excision repair.
      To demonstrate if complete loss of NRMT1 subsequently resulted in developmental
      or aging phenotypes, we constructed the first NRMT1 knockout (Nrmt1(-/-)) mouse.
      The majority of these mice die shortly after birth. However, the ones that
      survive, exhibit decreased body size, female-specific infertility, kyphosis,
      decreased mitochondrial function, and early-onset liver degeneration; phenotypes
      characteristic of other mouse models deficient in DNA repair. The livers from
      Nrmt1(-/-) mice produce less reactive oxygen species (ROS) than wild type
      controls, and Nrmt1(-/-) mouse embryonic fibroblasts show a decreased capacity
      for handling oxidative damage. This indicates that decreased mitochondrial
      function may benefit Nrmt1(-/-) mice and protect them from excess internal ROS
      and subsequent DNA damage. These studies position the NRMT1 knockout mouse as a
      useful new system for studying the effects of genomic instability and defective
      DNA damage repair on organismal and tissue-specific aging.

PMID- 25843237
TI  - MARK-AGE population: From the human model to new insights.

PMID- 25843239
TI  - Effect of mucoadhesive polymers on the in vitro performance of insulin-loaded
      silica nanoparticles: Interactions with mucin and biomembrane models.
AB  - The present paper focuses on the development and characterization of silica
      nanoparticles (SiNP) coated with hydrophilic polymers as mucoadhesive carriers
      for oral administration of insulin. SiNP were prepared by sol-gel technology
      under mild conditions and coated with different hydrophilic polymers, namely,
      chitosan, sodium alginate or poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) with low and high
      molecular weight (PEG 6000 and PEG 20000) to increase the residence time at
      intestinal mucosa. The mean size and size distribution, association efficiency,
      insulin structure and insulin thermal denaturation have been determined. The mean
      nanoparticle diameter ranged from 289 nm to 625 nm with a PI between 0.251 and
      0.580. The insulin association efficiency in SiNP was recorded above 70%. After
      coating, the association efficiency of insulin increased up to 90%, showing the
      high affinity of the protein to the hydrophilic polymer chains. Circular
      dichroism (CD) indicated that no conformation changes of insulin structure
      occurred after loading the peptide into SiNP. Nano-differential scanning
      calorimetry (nDSC) showed that SiNP shifted the insulin endothermic peak to
      higher temperatures. The influence of coating on the interaction of nanoparticles
      with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) biomembrane models was also evaluated
      by nDSC. The increase of DeltaH values suggested a strong association of non
      coated SiNP and those PEGylated nanoparticles coated with DPPC polar heads by
      forming hydrogen bonds and/or by electrostatic interaction. The mucoadhesive
      properties of nanoparticles were examined by studying the interaction with mucin
      in aqueous solution. SiNP coated with alginate or chitosan showed high contact
      with mucin. On the other hand, non-coated SiNP and PEGylated SiNP showed lower
      interaction with mucin, indicating that these nanoparticles can interdiffuse
      across mucus network. The results of the present work provide valuable data in
      assessing the in vitro performance of insulin-loaded SiNP coated with
      mucoadhesive polymers.

PMID- 25843238
TI  - The use of cisplatin-loaded mucoadhesive nanofibers for local chemotherapy of
      cervical cancers in mice.
AB  - Polymer-based local drug delivery system may be suitable for the treatment of
      cervix cancer. A pilot study was carried out to examine the efficacy of cisplatin
      loaded poly(ethylene oxide)/polylactide composite electrospun nanofibers as a
      local chemotherapy system against cervical cancer in mice via vaginal
      implantation. The nanofibers were proven to have good mucoadhesive property by in
      vitro mucoadhesion test and in vivo vaginal retention evaluation. An orthotopic
      cervical/vaginal cancer model was established by injecting murine cervical cancer
      U14 cells into the vaginal submucosa nearby the cervix. By inserting the
      nanofibers mat into the vagina of mice, the cisplatin released from the fiber-mat
      showed a much more accumulation in the vagina/cervix region than in the
      peripheral organs such as kidneys, liver, or blood, in contrary to the case of
      intravenous (i.v) injection. The in vivo trials showed that a better balance
      between anti-tumor efficacy and systemic safety was achieved in nanofibers group
      than that in i.v injection group at the equal drug dose. Therefore, electrospun
      nanofibers present a promising approach to the local drug delivery via vagina
      against cervical cancer. 

PMID- 25843240
TI  - Takeuchi repair of anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery.
AB  - Anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a rare form
      of congenital heart disease that has been successfully palliated for decades.
      Prior to coronary reimplantation, the Takeuchi repair was the most common
      operative palliation. The Takeuchi repair is still seen today at less experienced
      congenital centers or when reimplantation is not possible. Patients who have had
      the Takeuchi repair are at risk of having subsequent complications related to
      this repair. Unfortunately, due to the surgical rarity, the post surgical anatomy
      is often poorly understood by cardiologists leading to inadequate risk factor
      assessment and compromised patient care. Coronary computed tomography angiography
      is a useful imaging modality to follow patients who have had the Takeuchi repair.

PMID- 25843241
TI  - Coronary competitive reverse flow: Imaging findings at CT angiography and
      correlation with invasive coronary angiography.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To study the imaging features of coronary competitive reverse flow and
      incidence of a "reverse attenuation gradient" in coronary CT angiography (CTA)
      with correlation to invasive coronary angiography (ICA). METHODS: Patients who
      had undergone coronary CTA and ICA within 2 weeks were retrospectively identified
      in our database and reviewed. All cases with ICA-confirmed competitive reverse
      flow or chronic total occlusions (CTOs) were included for further analysis. The
      "reverse attenuation gradient sign" was defined as a reverse intraluminal
      opacification gradient of vessels which showed higher opacification in more
      distal compared with proximal segments. ICA findings were recorded and served as
      the reference to identify the clinical implications of this sign. RESULTS: In
      total, 134 patients (mean age, 68.1 +/- 11.3 years; range, 38-90 years; 104 men)
      were included in our study. ICA revealed 11 cases of coronary competitive reverse
      flow and 123 cases of CTO. A reverse attenuation gradient sign was present in 9
      of 11 patients (82%) with coronary competitive reverse flow and 72 of 123 (59%)
      chronically occluded coronary arteries. Myocardial bridges, distal collateral
      filling, as well as direct visualization of collateral connection were all more
      frequent in cases with coronary competitive reverse flow group compared with
      cases with a CTO. CONCLUSIONS: The reverse attenuation gradient sign distal to an
      upstream coronary severe stenosis indicates the presence of competitive
      collateral flow. Coronary CTA is able to correctly detect coronary competitive
      collateral flow and differentiate it from CTOs.

PMID- 25843242
TI  - High-sensitivity cardiac troponin T is associated with coronary artery
      calcification.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have suggested that high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T
      (hs-cTnT) may be useful for detecting subclinical atherosclerosis and assessing
      cardiovascular disease risk. The aim of this study was to investigate whether
      serum hs-cTnT is associated with the degree of coronary artery calcification.
      METHODS: We measured serum hs-cTnT concentrations and performed multidetector row
      coronary CT in 215 consecutive, stable patients with clinical suspicion of
      coronary artery disease. Nonenhanced coronary CT was performed to determine the
      coronary calcium score, and contrast-enhanced coronary CT was performed to
      identify obstructive coronary artery disease. We then evaluated the relationship
      between serum hs-cTnT concentrations and the degree of coronary calcium or
      obstructive coronary artery disease using multiple regression analysis and
      logistic regression models. RESULTS: Multiple regression analysis demonstrated
      that serum hs-cTnT concentrations and calcium score were independently associated
      after logarithmic transformation (beta = 0.348; P < .0001). Logistic regression
      analyses demonstrated that serum hs-cTnT concentration was associated with an
      increased odds of an Agatston score >10 (odds ratio, 1.250; 95% confidence
      interval [CI], 1.150-1.378), an Agatston Score >400 (odds ratio, 1.101; 95% CI,
      1.054-1.157), and obstructive coronary artery disease (odds ratio, 1.119; 95% CI,
      1.066-1.185). CONCLUSION: Serum hs-cTnT is associated with coronary calcium in
      individuals with suspected coronary disease and may therefore be a marker to
      detect subclinical atherosclerosis.

PMID- 25843243
TI  - Effect of reduced x-ray tube voltage, low iodine concentration contrast medium,
      and sinogram-affirmed iterative reconstruction on image quality and radiation
      dose at coronary CT angiography: results of the prospective multicenter REALISE
      trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Both low tube voltage and sinogram-affirmed iterative reconstruction
      (IR) techniques hold promise to decrease radiation dose at coronary CT
      angiography (CCTA). The increased iodine contrast at low tube voltage allows for
      minimizing iodine load. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of reduced x-ray tube
      voltage, low iodine concentration contrast medium and IR on image quality and
      radiation dose at CCTA. METHODS: Two hundred thirty-one consecutive patients with
      suspected coronary artery disease were enrolled in this prospective, multicenter
      trial and randomized to 1 of 2 dual-source CCTA protocols: 120-kVp with 370
      mgI/mL iopromide or iopamidol (n = 116; 44 women; 55.3 +/- 9.8 years) or 100 kVp
      with 270 mgI/mL iodixanol (n = 115; 48 women; 54.2 +/- 10.4 years).
      Reconstruction was performed with filtered back projection and IR. Attenuation,
      image noise, signal-to-noise ratio, and contrast-to-noise ratio were measured and
      image quality scored. Size-specific dose estimates and effective doses were
      calculated. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in mean arterial
      attenuation (406.6 +/- 76.7 vs 409.7 +/- 65.2 Hounsfield units; P = .739), image
      noise (18.7 +/- 3.8 vs 17.9 +/- 3.4 Hounsfield units; P = .138), signal-to-noise
      ratio (22.5 +/- 5.4 vs 23.7 +/- 6.1; P = .126), contrast-to-noise ratio (17.5 +/-
      5.5 vs 18.3 +/- 6.1; P = .286), or image quality scores (4.1 +/- 0.9 vs 4.0 +/-
      0.9; P > .05) between 120-kVp filtered back projection-reconstructed and 100-kVp
      IR-reconstructed series. Mean iodine dose was 26.5% lower (18.3 +/- 0.5 vs 24.9
      +/- 0.9 g; P < .0001), mean size-specific dose estimate was 35.1% lower (17.9 +/-
      6.6 vs 27.5 +/- 8.2 mGy; P < .0001), and effective dose was 34.9% lower (2.3 +/-
      1.0 vs 3.5 +/- 1.1 mSv; P < .0001) with the 100 kVp compared with the 120-kVp
      protocol, respectively. CONCLUSION: Using low x-ray tube voltage and IR allows
      for decreasing the iodine load and effective radiation dose at CCTA while
      maintaining image quality.

PMID- 25843245
TI  - Dendritic cell functions: Learning from microbial evasion strategies.
AB  - Dendritic cells (DCs) are specialized antigen presenting cells (APC) that are
      fundamental to initiate both immunity and tolerance. DCs play a 'sentinel' role
      to protect our body from potential pathogens and induce tolerogenic responses
      toward harmless antigens. The flexibility of DCs or macrophages to adapt to the
      environment and to respond accordingly can be hijacked by pathogens for their own
      interest to transform a potentially immunogenic APC into a tolerogenic cell with
      clear consequences in pathogen clearance. While these immune evasion mechanisms
      can be detrimental for the host, they can highlight important molecular pathways
      in DCs necessary for their function. In this review we will mention several
      mechanisms employed by pathogens to evade DC patrolling function. 

PMID- 25843244
TI  - Personal financial incentives for changing habitual health-related behaviors: A
      systematic review and meta-analysis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Uncertainty remains about whether personal financial incentives could
      achieve sustained changes in health-related behaviors that would reduce the fast
      growing global non-communicable disease burden. This review aims to estimate
      whether: i. financial incentives achieve sustained changes in smoking, eating,
      alcohol consumption and physical activity; ii. effectiveness is modified by (a)
      the target behavior, (b) incentive value and attainment certainty, (c)
      recipients' deprivation level. METHODS: Multiple sources were searched for trials
      offering adults financial incentives and assessing outcomes relating to pre
      specified behaviors at a minimum of six months from baseline. Analyses included
      random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regressions grouped by timed endpoints.
      RESULTS: Of 24,265 unique identified articles, 34 were included in the analysis.
      Financial incentives increased behavior-change, with effects sustained until
      18months from baseline (OR: 1.53, 95% CI 1.05-2.23) and three months post
      incentive removal (OR: 2.11, 95% CI 1.21-3.67). High deprivation increased
      incentive effects (OR: 2.17; 95% CI 1.22-3.85), but only at >6-12months from
      baseline. Other assessed variables did not independently modify effects at any
      time-point. CONCLUSIONS: Personal financial incentives can change habitual health
      related behaviors and help reduce health inequalities. However, their role in
      reducing disease burden is potentially limited given current evidence that
      effects dissipate beyond three months post-incentive removal.

PMID- 25843246
TI  - A transcriptional perspective on human macrophage biology.
AB  - Macrophages are a major cell type in tissue homeostasis and contribute to both
      pathology and resolution in all acute and chronic inflammatory diseases ranging
      from infections, cancer, obesity, atherosclerosis, autoimmune disorders to
      neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. The cellular and
      functional diversity of macrophages depends upon tightly regulated transcription.
      The innate immune system is under profound evolutionary selection. There is
      increasing recognition that human macrophage biology differs very significantly
      from that of commonly studied animal models, which therefore can have a limited
      predictive value. Here we report on the newest findings on transcriptional
      control of macrophage activation, and how we envision integrating studies on
      transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, and more classical approaches in
      murine models. Moreover, we provide new insights into how we can learn about
      transcriptional regulation in the human system from larger efforts such as the
      FANTOM (Functional Annotation of the Mammalian Genome) consortium. 

PMID- 25843247
TI  - Mutations in the genes encoding eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2B in
      Japanese patients with vanishing white matter disease.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Vanishing white matter disease (VWM) is a chronic, progressive
      leukoencephalopathy associated with episodes of rapid deterioration following
      minor stress events such as head traumas or infectious disorders. The white
      matter of the patients with VWM exhibits characteristic radiological findings.
      METHOD: The genes encoding all five subunits of eukaryotic translation initiation
      factor 2B (EIF2B) were analyzed in patients, who were tentatively diagnosed with
      VWM, by Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: Seven mutations were identified in the genes
      encoding the subunits 1, 2, 4, and 5 of EIF2B. Among them, one mutation (p.V83E)
      in the subunit 2 (EIF2B2) was recurrently identified in three alleles, indicating
      the most common mutation in Japanese patients with VWM. Two patients were
      homozygous, and the other four patients were compound heterozygous. CONCLUSION:
      All patients showed white matter abnormalities with various degrees. One patient
      showed manifestations of end-stage VWM disease. Some patients showed late onset
      and slow progression associated with brain magnetic resonance imaging displaying
      T2 high intensity only in the deep white matter. There was clinical heterogeneity
      among patients with VWM.

PMID- 25843249
TI  - Duraseal thecal sac compression after lumbar discectomy causing radiculopathy.

PMID- 25843248
TI  - Three patients manifesting early infantile epileptic spasms associated with
      2q24.3 microduplications.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent development of genetic analyses enabled us to reveal
      underlying genetic causes of the patients with epileptic encephalopathy in
      infancy. Mutations of voltage-gated sodium channel type I alpha subunit gene
      (SCN1A) are to be causally related with several phenotypes of epilepsy,
      generalized epilepsy with febrile seizure plus (GEFS+), Dravet syndrome, and
      other infantile epileptic encephalopathies. In addition to SCN1A, contiguous
      genes such as SCN2A and SCN3A in 2q24.3 are also reported to have contribution to
      epileptic seizures. Therefore, gene abnormality involving this region is
      reasonable to contribute to epilepsy manifestation. RESULTS: We encountered three
      patients with 2q24.3 microduplication diagnosed by Array comparative genomic
      hybridization array (aCGH). They developed partial seizures and epileptic spasms
      in their early infantile periods and showed remarkable developmental delay,
      although their seizures disappeared from 11 to 14 months of age. One of three
      patients had 2q24.3 microduplication which excludes SCN1A. Therefore,
      characteristics of epilepsy with 2q24.3 microduplication do not necessarily need
      duplication of SCN1A. This study suggested that 2q24.3 microduplication is one of
      the causes for early infantile epileptic spasms. Epileptic spasms associated with
      2q24.3 microduplications may have better seizure outcome comparing with other
      etiologies.

PMID- 25843250
TI  - Anaplastic ependymoma of spinal cord presented with low back pain.

PMID- 25843251
TI  - Very rare reason of neurologic deficit: thoracic cystic schwannoma.

PMID- 25843252
TI  - Cervical hemangioma with neurologic deficit.

PMID- 25843253
TI  - Thoracic infantile hemangiopericytoma.

PMID- 25843254
TI  - Multiple butterfly vertebrae with disc through the sagittal cleft.

PMID- 25843255
TI  - Guggulsterone attenuates cerulein-induced acute pancreatitis via inhibition of
      ERK and JNK activation.
AB  - Guggulsterone (GS), a plant steroid and a compound found at high levels in
      Commiphora myrrha, exhibits anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and cholesterol
      lowering effects. However, the potential of GS to ameliorate acute pancreatitis
      (AP) is unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of GS on
      cerulein-induced AP. AP was induced by intraperitoneally injecting supramaximal
      concentrations of the stable cholecystokinin analog cerulein (50 MUg/kg) hourly
      for 6 h. In the GS-treated group, GS was administered intraperitoneally (10, 25,
      or 50mg/kg) 1 h before the first cerulein injection. Mice were sacrificed 6 h
      after the final cerulein injection. Blood samples were collected to measure serum
      lipase levels and evaluate cytokine production. The pancreas and lung were
      rapidly removed for morphologic and histological examinations, flow cytometry
      analysis, myeloperoxidase (MPO) assay, and real-time reverse transcription
      polymerase chain reaction analysis. Pre-treatment with GS attenuated cerulein
      induced histological damage, reduced pancreas weight/body weight ratio, decreased
      serum lipase levels, inhibited infiltrations of macrophages and neutrophils, and
      suppressed cytokine production. Additionally, GS treatment suppressed the
      activation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) and c-Jun N
      terminal kinase (JNK) in the pancreas in cerulein-induced pancreatitis. In
      conclusion, our results suggest that GS attenuates AP via deactivation of ERK and
      JNK.

PMID- 25843256
TI  - Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate suppresses lipopolysaccharide-induced expression of
      ICAM-1 through modulation of toll-like receptor-4 signaling in brain endothelial
      cells.
AB  - Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP) is a glycolytic intermediate with salutary
      effects in various brain injury models, but its neuroprotective mechanism is
      incompletely understood. In this study, we examined the effects of FBP on the
      expression of adhesion molecules in cerebrovascular endothelial cells and
      explored the possible mechanisms therein involved. FBP significantly down
      regulated lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced expression of adhesion molecules and
      leukocyte adhesion to brain endothelial cells and inhibited NF-kappaB activity,
      which is implicated in the expression of adhesion molecules. FBP abrogated ICAM-1
      expression and NF-kappaB activation induced by macrophage-activating lipopeptide
      2-kDa (MALP-2) or overexpression of MyD88 or TRAF6. FBP suppressed TRAF6-induced
      phosphorylation of TAK1, IKKbeta and IkappaBalpha, but fail to affect NF-kappaB
      activity induced by ectopic expression of IKKbeta. In addition, LPS-induced IRAK
      1 phosphorylation was inhibited by FBP, suggesting the presence of multiple
      molecular targets of FBP in MyD88-dependent signaling pathway. FBP significantly
      attenuated ICAM-1 expression and NF-kappaB activity induced by poly[I:C] or
      overexpression of TRIF or TBK1. FBP significantly repressed the expression of
      interferon-beta (IFN-beta) and the activation of IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF3)
      induced by LPS, poly[I:C] or overexpression of TRIF or TBK1, but fail to affect
      IRF3 activity induced by ectopic expression of constitutively active IRF3.
      Overall, our results demonstrate that FBP modulates both MyD88- and TRIF
      dependent signaling pathways of TLR4 and subsequent inflammatory responses in
      brain endothelial cells, providing insight into its neuroprotective mechanism in
      brain injury associated with inflammation.

PMID- 25843257
TI  - Oxidative airway inflammation leads to systemic and vascular oxidative stress in
      a murine model of allergic asthma.
AB  - Oxidant-antioxidant imbalance plays an important role in repeated cycles of
      airway inflammation observed in asthma. It is when reactive oxygen species (ROS)
      overwhelm antioxidant defenses that a severe inflammatory state becomes apparent
      and may impact vasculature. Several studies have shown an association between
      airway inflammation and cardiovascular complications; however so far none has
      investigated the link between airway oxidative stress and systemic/vascular
      oxidative stress in a murine model of asthma. Therefore, this study investigated
      the contribution of oxidative stress encountered in asthmatic airways in
      modulation of vascular/systemic oxidant-antioxidant balance. Rats were sensitized
      intraperitoneally with ovalbumin (OVA) in the presence of aluminum hydroxide
      followed by several intranasal (i.n.) challenges with OVA. Rats were then
      assessed for airway and vascular inflammation, oxidative stress (ROS, lipid
      peroxides) and antioxidants measured as total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and
      thiol content. Challenge with OVA led to increased airway inflammation and
      oxidative stress with a concomitant increase in vascular inflammation and
      oxidative stress. Oxidative stress in the vasculature was significantly inhibited
      by antioxidant treatment, N-acetyl cysteine; whereas hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)
      inhalation worsened it. Therefore, our study shows that oxidative airway
      inflammation is associated with vascular/systemic oxidative stress which might
      predispose these patients to increased cardiovascular risk.

PMID- 25843258
TI  - In-vivo deformation measurements of the human heart by 3D Digital Image
      Correlation.
AB  - Fast and accurate measurements of the kinetics and deformation of the heart
      during cardiac surgery can be useful for assessing the best strategies for the
      protection of the myocardium. While measurements based on ultrasonic technology
      such as the transesophageal echocardiography are rapidly developing in this
      direction, also other analysis methods based on optical imaging have been
      developed within the recent decade. The improved quality of digital cameras and
      increased computational power of personal computers have led to the development
      of deformation analysis method known as Digital Image Correlation (DIC). This
      paper presents preliminary results on the application of the DIC technique on
      analysing of the movement and deformation of the myocardial movement during a
      cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. The results show that the natural pattern of the
      heart should be sufficient for DIC, but better and more accurate results could be
      obtained with improved contrast conditions. DIC has a potential to be used as a
      sensitive tool for the surgeon to monitor the cardiac function. 

PMID- 25843259
TI  - Material properties of individual menisci and their attachments obtained through
      inverse FE-analysis.
AB  - Meniscal properties for computational methods have already been proposed.
      However, it is well known that there is high intra subject variability in the
      material properties of soft tissues and that disruption of the fiber network
      alters the biomechanics of the meniscus. Therefore, the objective of this study
      was to establish a non invasive method to determine the material properties of
      the individual menisci and their attachments using inverse FE-analyses. In a
      previous study, the 3D displacements of the meniscus and its attachments under
      axial joint loads were determined for intact porcine knees. To simulate the
      experimental response in individual FE-analyses (n=5), an anisotropic,
      hyperelastic meniscus matrix was embedded in a poroelastic model. During a
      particle swarm optimization, the difference between the force applied to the
      meniscus during the experiment and the femoral surface reaction force of the FE
      model at equilibrium was minimized by varying four material parameters.
      Afterwards, a prediction error was determined to describe how well the material
      parameter fit to each of the three displacement directions. Additionally, the
      stresses occurring in the meniscus were evaluated. The error of the material
      parameter optimization was on average 6.5+/-4.4%. The best fitting material
      parameter combination revealed an error of 1.2%. The highest stresses occurred in
      the region between the pars intermedia and posterior horn of the meniscus. The
      individual material properties of the meniscus were successfully obtained with a
      combination of previously reported, noninvasively measured 3D displacements and
      inverse FE-analyses. The methodology presented in this study is a promising
      contribution to the detection of degeneration within the meniscus. 

PMID- 25843260
TI  - The impact of boundary conditions on surface curvature of polypropylene mesh in
      response to uniaxial loading.
AB  - Exposure following pelvic organ prolapse repair has been observationally
      associated with wrinkling of the implanted mesh. The purpose of this study was to
      quantify the impact of variable boundary conditions on the out-of-plane
      deformations of mesh subjected to tensile loading. Using photogrammetry and
      surface curvature analyses, deformed geometries were accessed for two
      commercially available products. Relative to standard clamping methods, the
      amount of out-of-plane deformation significantly increased when point loads were
      introduced to simulate suture fixation in-vivo. These data support the hypothesis
      that regional increases in the concentration of mesh potentially enhance the
      host's foreign body response, leading to exposure.

PMID- 25843261
TI  - Strain distribution in the proximal Human femur during in vitro simulated
      sideways fall.
AB  - This study assessed: (i) how the magnitude and direction of principal strains
      vary for different sideways fall loading directions; (ii) how the principal
      strains for a sideways fall differ from physiological loading directions; (iii)
      the fracture mechanism during a sideways fall. Eleven human femurs were
      instrumented with 16 triaxial strain gauges each. The femurs were non
      destructively subjected to: (a) six loading configurations covering the range of
      physiological loading directions; (b) 12 configurations simulating sideways
      falls. The femurs were eventually fractured in a sideways fall configuration
      while high-speed cameras recorded the event. When the same force magnitude was
      applied, strains were significantly larger in a sideways fall than for
      physiological loading directions (principal compressive strain was 70% larger in
      a sideways fall). Also the compressive-to-tensile strain ratio was different: for
      physiological loading the largest compressive strain was only 30% larger than the
      largest tensile strain; but for the sideways fall, compressive strains were twice
      as large as the tensile strains. Principal strains during a sideways fall were
      nearly perpendicular to the direction of principal strains for physiological
      loading. In the most critical regions (medial part of the head-neck) the
      direction of principal strain varied by less than 9 degrees  between the
      different physiological loading conditions, whereas it varied by up to 17 degrees
      between the sideways fall loading conditions. This was associated with a
      specific fracture mechanism during sideways fall, where failure initiated on the
      superior-lateral side (compression) followed by later failure of the medially
      (tension), often exhibiting a two-peak force-displacement curve. 

PMID- 25843262
TI  - Direct measurement of the intrinsic ankle stiffness during standing.
AB  - Ankle stiffness contributes to standing balance, counteracting the destabilizing
      effect of gravity. The ankle stiffness together with the compliance between the
      foot and the support surface make up the ankle-foot stiffness, which is relevant
      to quiet standing. The contribution of the intrinsic ankle-foot stiffness to
      balance, and the ankle-foot stiffness amplitude dependency remain a topic of
      debate in the literature. We therefore developed an experimental protocol to
      directly measure the bilateral intrinsic ankle-foot stiffness during standing
      balance, and determine its amplitude dependency. By applying fast (40 ms) ramp
      and-hold support surface rotations (0.005-0.08 rad) during standing, reflexive
      contributions could be excluded, and the amplitude dependency of the intrinsic
      ankle-foot stiffness was investigated. Results showed that reflexive activity
      could not have biased the torque used for estimating the intrinsic stiffness.
      Furthermore, subjects required less recovery action to restore balance after
      bilateral rotations in opposite directions compared to rotations in the same
      direction. The intrinsic ankle-foot stiffness appears insufficient to ensure
      balance, ranging from 0.93+/-0.09 to 0.44+/-0.06 (normalized to critical
      stiffness 'mgh'). This implies that changes in muscle activation are required to
      maintain balance. The non-linear stiffness decrease with increasing rotation
      amplitude supports the previous published research. With the proposed method
      reflexive effects can be ruled out from the measured torque without any model
      assumptions, allowing direct estimation of intrinsic stiffness during standing.

PMID- 25843263
TI  - Development of a stable Gaussia luciferase enterovirus 71 reporter virus.
AB  - We report a stable Gaussia luciferase enterovirus 71 (Gluc-EV71) reporter virus
      to facilitate drug discovery. The Gluc-EV71 reporter virus was generated by
      engineering the Gaussia luciferase (Gluc) gene between the 5' untranslated region
      and VP4 gene of the EV71 genome. We could recover Gluc-EV71 after transfection of
      Vero cells with the cDNA clone-derived RNA. The reporter virus efficiently
      infects and replicates in various cell types (Vero, human rhabdomyosarcoma, and
      HeLa cells), producing robust luciferase activity. The Gluc-EV71 virus replicates
      slower than the wild-type virus in cell culture. The reporter virus is stable in
      maintaining the Gluc gene after five rounds of continuous passaging in Vero
      cells. Using known EV71 inhibitors, we demonstrate that the reporter virus can be
      used for antiviral testing. However, the Gluc-EV71 infection assay cannot be
      adapted to a homogenous format for high throughput screen, mainly due to the
      secreted nature of the Gluc protein and the short half-life of the Gluc
      luminescence signal. The Gluc-EV71 and its infection assay could be useful for
      antiviral drug discovery as well as for studying EV71 replication and
      pathogenesis. 

PMID- 25843264
TI  - Sources of variation analysis and derivation of reference intervals for ALP, LDH,
      and amylase isozymes using sera from the Asian multicenter study on reference
      values.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sources of variation (SV) of ALP, LDH, and amylase isozymes were
      explored. METHODS: We analyzed 3511 sera from well-defined healthy individuals
      recruited during the 2009 Asian project for derivation of common reference
      intervals (RIs). Up-to-date electrophoresis auto-analyzer and reagents were
      employed for high resolution and reproducibility. SVs including sex, age, body
      mass index (BMI), ABO blood groups, and levels of drinking, smoking, and exercise
      were analyzed by multiple regression analysis. RIs were determined by parametric
      methods after refining healthy individuals by use of latent reference values
      exclusion method. RESULTS: Age-related changes in ALP2-3 were different in
      females: ALP2, linear increase from 20-64y; ALP3, lowering until 45 y and rising
      steeply thereafter. ALP2 increased with BMI especially in females. ALP5 was
      barely detectable except in blood-types O and B. Age-related increases in LDH1
      LDH3 were noted in females, whereas BMI-related increases were found only for
      LDH2-LDH5 in both sexes. Pancreatic amylase showed age-related increase in
      females and was slightly higher in blood-type O. RIs for absolute and relative
      activities of each isozyme were derived in consideration of sex and age.
      CONCLUSIONS: Investigation of these isozymes revealed various age-, BMI-, and
      blood-type-related changes that are all relevant in clinical interpretation of
      enzyme test results.

PMID- 25843265
TI  - A phenol-free method for isolation of microRNA from biological fluids.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) found in biological fluids such as blood and urine have been
      identified as promising biomarkers for many human disorders, including cancer,
      cardiopathies, and neurodegenerative diseases. However, circulating miRNAs are
      either encapsulated into vesicles or found in complexes with proteins and
      lipoproteins and, thus, require a special approach to their isolation. Acid
      phenol-chloroform extraction can solve this problem, but it is a labor-intensive
      procedure that relies heavily on the use of hazardous chemicals. Here we describe
      a fast and simple phenol-free protocol for miRNA isolation from biofluids. MiRNA
      is extracted from complexes with biopolymers by a high concentration of guanidine
      isothiocyanate combined with water/organic composition of solvents. Purification
      is finished using silica-based spin columns. Comparison of miRNA isolation from
      blood plasma and urine using the single-phase method and acid phenol-chloroform
      extraction by means of radioisotope spike-ins and quantitative real-time reverse
      transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) showed similar performance of
      the two methods. 

PMID- 25843266
TI  - Defining patient acceptable symptom state thresholds for commonly used patient
      reported outcomes measures in general orthopedic practice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patient reported outcomes measures are distributed regularly within
      musculoskeletal physical therapy practice in an effort to track patient progress
      and response to treatment. A number of studies have reported on the amount of
      change necessary to identify the minimal clinically important difference. Few
      studies have identified thresholds signifying patient satisfaction with treatment
      and what patient specific factors may be influential in identifying patient
      satisfaction. OBJECTIVES: To identify thresholds amongst commonly used patient
      reported outcomes measures associated with the patient acceptable symptom state
      (PASS). To identify the confounding effects of demographic and psychosocial
      variables on reported PASS estimates. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. METHOD: A
      sample of convenience consisting of consecutive patients referred for outpatient
      physical therapy for general orthopaedic conditions fulfilling the eligibility
      criteria were included. All patients completed baseline demographic information
      as well as baseline pain and functional outcomes measures. The PASS question was
      used as the anchor in this study to identify patient thresholds. Patients
      completed outcomes measures every 2 weeks and at patient discharge. PASS
      thresholds were identified using receiver-operating curves maximizing sensitivity
      and specificity. RESULTS: PASS thresholds were found to vary depending on
      baseline pain levels, functional status, socioeconomic status, educational level,
      and psychosocial status. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple factors are influential in
      determining patient success following treatment. Clinicians should be aware of
      patient baseline pain and functional status as well as socioeconomic status,
      educational level, and psychosocial status and stratify patients accordingly when
      determining patient prognosis and developing a plan of care.

PMID- 25843267
TI  - Stabilizing effects of excipients on dissociation of intact (146S) foot-and-mouth
      disease virions into 12S particles during storage as oil-emulsion vaccine.
AB  - Most conventional foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) vaccines contain oil
      adjuvant. Their potency decreases upon prolonged storage. Intact (146S) FMDV
      particles can dissociate into 12S degradation products with a concomitant
      decrease in immunogenicity. We therefore measured virion stability in vaccines
      using two previously developed ELISAs to separately quantify 12S and 146S
      particles. Virions completely dissociated into 12S particles within 3 months
      after oil-emulsification. Dissociation occurred at a much lower rate in a
      comparable aqueous solution that was not oil-emulsified. Thus, oil-emulsification
      stimulates virion dissociation, presumably due to the protein denaturing effect
      of the oil-water interface. In real-time stability studies the stability of oil
      adjuvanted virions of four different FMDV strains was significantly increased by
      addition of sucrose and BSA in a synergistic manner. Contrary to BSA addition,
      the effect of sucrose addition was concentration dependent. This study
      illustrates the importance of analysing antigen integrity after oil
      emulsification and provides methods for FMDV vaccine stabilization. 

PMID- 25843268
TI  - Observational study on immune response to yellow fever and measles vaccines in 9
      to 15-month old children. Is it necessary to wait 4 weeks between two live
      attenuated vaccines?
AB  - BACKGROUND: The use of 2 live attenuated vaccines (LAV) is recommended to be
      simultaneous or after an interval of at least four weeks between injections. The
      primary objective of this study was to compare the humoral response to yellow
      fever (YF) and measles vaccines among children vaccinated against these two
      diseases, either simultaneously or separated by an interval of 7-28 days.
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A prospective, multicenter observational study was
      conducted among children aged 9-15 months. The primary endpoint was the
      occurrence of positive yellow fever antibodies after YF vaccine by estimating the
      titers of neutralizing antibodies from venous blood samples. Children vaccinated
      against YF 7-28 days after receiving the vaccine against measles (test group)
      were compared with children vaccinated the same day against these two diseases
      (referent group). RESULTS: Analysis was performed on 284 children. Of them, fifty
      four belonged to the test group. Measles serology was positive in 91.7% of
      children. Neutralizing antibodies against YF were detected in 90.7% of the test
      group and 92.9 of the referent group (p=0.6). In addition, quantitative analysis
      of the immune response did not show a lower response to YF vaccination when it
      took place 1-28 days after measles vaccination. DISCUSSION: In 1965, Petralli
      showed a lower response to the smallpox vaccine when injected 4-20 days after
      measles vaccination. Since then, recommendations are to observe an interval of
      four weeks between LAV not injected on the same day. Other published studies
      failed to show a significant difference in the immune response to a LAV injected
      1-28 days after another LAV. These results suggest that the usual recommendations
      for immunization with two LAV may not be correct. CONCLUSION: In low income
      countries, the current policy should be re-evaluated. This re-evaluation should
      also be applied to travelers to yellow fever endemic countries.

PMID- 25843269
TI  - The long-term efficacy, 13-23 years, of a plasma-derived hepatitis B vaccine in
      highly endemic areas in China.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the long-term effectiveness of the plasma-derived
      hepatitis B vaccine that has been applied widely in five areas of China where HBV
      prevalence was highly endemic. METHOD: A cross-sectional investigation was
      conducted in 2009 at five HBV surveillance sites around China. The target study
      subjects of 6772 were born between 1986 and 1996 and received plasma-derived HBV
      vaccine. Serum samples were collected to test for HBV markers using the
      microparticle enzyme immunoassay. RESULTS: The number of participants enrolled
      was 6772. The average hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) prevalence was 2.01%.
      The birth dose group included 5052 children. In this group, the average positive
      rates of HBsAg and hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) were 1.58% and 6.39%,
      respectively, and these values declined gradually from 1986 to 1996. The positive
      rates of anti-hepatitis B surface antibody (HBs) and the geometric mean
      concentration (GMC) of anti-HBs-positive subjects were 41.69% and 115.8mIU/ml.
      CONCLUSION: The long-term effectiveness of the plasma-derived hepatitis B vaccine
      still provided protection 13-23 years after vaccination. It seems that a booster
      dose is not necessary. Enhancing the rate of the birth dose within 24h is one of
      the most important measures to prevent and control HBV infection.

PMID- 25843271
TI  - Characterization of Red/Green Cyanobacteriochrome NpR6012g4 by Solution Nuclear
      Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: A Protonated Bilin Ring System in Both
      Photostates.
AB  - Cyanobacteriochromes (CBCRs) are cyanobacterial photoreceptors distantly related
      to phytochromes. Both CBCRs and phytochromes use photoisomerization of a linear
      tetrapyrrole (bilin) chromophore to photoconvert between two states with distinct
      spectral and biochemical properties, the dark state and the photoproduct. The
      isolated CBCR domain NpR6012g4 from Nostoc punctiforme is a well-characterized
      member of the canonical red/green CBCR subfamily, photosensory domains that can
      function as sensors for light color or intensity to regulate phototactic
      responses of filamentous cyanobacteria. Such red/green CBCRs utilize conserved
      Phe residues to tune the photoproduct for green light absorption, but conflicting
      interpretations of the photoproduct chromophore structure have been proposed. In
      the hydration model, the proposed photoproduct state is extensively solvated,
      with a loosely bound, conformationally flexible chromophore. In the trapped-twist
      model, the photoproduct chromophore is sterically constrained by hydrophobic
      amino acids, including the known Phe residues. Here, we have characterized
      chromophore structure in NpR6012g4 using solution nuclear magnetic resonance
      spectroscopy and a series of labeled chromophores. Four NH resonances are
      assigned for both the red-absorbing dark state and the green-absorbing
      photoproduct. Moreover, observed (13)C chemical shifts are in good agreement with
      those obtained for protonated rather than deprotonated bilins in ab initio
      calculations. Our results demonstrate that NpR6012g4 has a protonated, cationic
      bilin pi system in both photostates, consistent with a photoproduct structure in
      which the chromophore is not extensively hydrated. 

PMID- 25843270
TI  - Safety, immunogenicity, and lot-to-lot consistency of a quadrivalent inactivated
      influenza vaccine in children, adolescents, and adults: A randomized, controlled,
      phase III trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Inactivated quadrivalent influenza vaccine (IIV4) containing two
      influenza A strains and one strain from each B lineage (Yamagata and Victoria)
      may offer broader protection against seasonal influenza than inactivated
      trivalent influenza vaccine (IIV3), containing a single B strain. This study
      examined the safety, immunogenicity, and lot consistency of an IIV4 candidate.
      METHODS: This phase III, randomized, controlled, multicenter trial in
      children/adolescents (9 through 17 years) and adults (18 through 60 years) was
      conducted in Australia and in the Philippines in 2012. The study was double-blind
      for IIV4 lots and open-label for IIV4 vs IIV3. Children/adolescents were
      randomized 2:2:2:1 and adults 10:10:10:1 to receive one of three lots of IIV4 or
      licensed IIV3. Safety data were collected for up to 6 months post-vaccination.
      Hemagglutination inhibition and seroneutralization antibody titers were assessed
      pre-vaccination and 21 days post-vaccination. RESULTS: 1648 adults and 329
      children/adolescents received IIV4, and 56 adults and 55 children/adolescents
      received IIV3. Solicited reactions, unsolicited adverse events, and serious
      adverse events were similar for IIV3 and IIV4 recipients in both age groups.
      Injection-site pain, headache, malaise, and myalgia were the most frequently
      reported solicited reactions, most of which were mild and resolved within 3 days.
      No vaccine-related serious adverse events or deaths were reported. Post
      vaccination antibody responses, seroconversion rates, and seroprotection rates
      for the 3 strains common to both vaccines were comparable for IIV3 and IIV4 in
      both age groups. Antibody responses to IIV4 were equivalent among vaccine lots
      and comparable between age groups for each of the 4 strains. IIV4 met all
      European Medicines Agency immunogenicity criteria for adults for all 4 strains.
      CONCLUSIONS: In both age groups, IIV4 was well tolerated and caused no safety
      concerns, induced robust antibody responses to all 4 influenza strains, and met
      all EMA immunogenicity criteria for adults. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRY NUMBER:
      NCT01481454.

PMID- 25843272
TI  - One size does not always fit all: a reply to Stroud and Feeley.

PMID- 25843273
TI  - The concept of fitness in fluctuating environments.
AB  - Fitness is a central concept in evolutionary biology, but there is no unified
      definition. We review recent theoretical developments showing that including
      fluctuating environments and density dependence has important implications for
      how differences among phenotypes in their contributions to future generations
      should be quantified. The rate of phenotypic evolution will vary through time
      because of environmental stochasticity. Density dependence may produce
      fluctuating selection for large growth rates at low densities but for larger
      carrying capacities when population sizes are large. In general, including
      ecologically realistic assumptions when defining the concept of fitness is
      crucial for estimating the potential of evolutionary rescue of populations
      affected by environmental perturbations such as climate change. 

PMID- 25843274
TI  - Sperm storage: distinguishing selective processes and evaluating criteria.
AB  - Sperm storage, the extended maintenance of viable sperm, probably occurs in most
      internally fertilizing animals. Because it temporally separates mating from
      conception, sperm storage can be adaptive in ecologically diverse habitats and
      affect life histories, mating systems, cryptic female choice, sperm competition,
      and sexual conflict. Sperm storage can result from different selective forces
      acting on females and/or males, sometimes resulting in coevolution. The various
      criteria often used to determine the presence of sperm storage in any given taxon
      can result from the action of any one or all of these selective forces. Here we
      discuss the criteria used to study sperm storage and how we can use these to
      better understand the evolution of diversity in sperm-storage adaptations. 

PMID- 25843276
TI  - Biogenetically-inspired total synthesis of epidithiodiketopiperazines and related
      alkaloids.
AB  - Natural products chemistry has historically been the prime arena for the
      discovery of new chemical transformations and the fountain of insights into key
      biological processes. It remains a fervent incubator of progress in the fields of
      chemistry and biology and an exchange mediating the flow of ideas between these
      allied fields of science. It is with this ethos that our group has taken an
      interest in and pursued the synthesis of a complex family of natural products
      termed the dimeric epipolythiodiketopiperazine (ETP) alkaloids. We present here
      an Account of the highly complex target molecules to which we pegged our
      ambitions, our systematic and relentless efforts toward those goals, the
      chemistry we developed in their pursuit, and the insight we have gained for their
      translational potential as potent anticancer molecules. The dimeric ETP alkaloids
      are fungal metabolites that feature a highly complex molecular architecture
      comprising a densely functionalized core structure with many stereogenic centers,
      six of which are fully substituted, and a pair of vicinal quaternary carbon
      stereocenters, decorated on polycyclic architectures in addition to the unique
      ETP motif that has been recognized as acid-, base-, and redox-sensitive. A cyclo
      dipeptide consisting of an essential tryptophan residue and a highly variable
      ancillary amino acid lies at the core of these structures; investigation of the
      transformations that take this simplistic core to the complex alkaloids lies at
      the heart of our research program. The dimeric epidithiodiketopiperazine
      alkaloids have largely resisted synthesis on account of their complexity since
      the 1970s when the founding members of this class, chaetocin A ( Hauser , D. et
      al. Helv. Chim. Acta 1970 , 53 , 1061 ) and verticillin A ( Katagiri , K. et al.
      J. Antibiot. 1970 , 23 , 420 ), were first isolated. This was despite their
      potent cytotoxic and bacteriostatic activities, which were well appreciated at
      the time of their discovery. In the past decade, an increasing number of studies
      have uncovered powerful new biological processes that these molecules can
      uniquely effect, such as the inhibition of histone methyltransferases by
      chaetocin A ( Greiner , D. et al. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2005 , 1 , 143 ). In fact, the
      complete collection of hexahydropyrroloindoline alkaloids features a diverse
      range of potent biological properties including cytotoxic, antitumor,
      antileukemic, antiviral, antibiotic, and antinematodal activities ( Jiang , C.-S.
      ; Guo , Y.-W. Mini-Rev. Med. Chem. 2011 , 11 , 728 ). This melange of activities
      is reflective of their structural diversity. Under the precepts of
      retrobiosynthetic analysis, we have accomplished the syntheses of more than a
      dozen natural products, including members of the bionectin, calycanthaceous,
      chaetocin, gliocladin, naseseazine, and verticillin alkaloids. More importantly,
      these molecules have acted as venerable venues for the development of new
      strategies to address structural challenges including, but not limited to, C3-C3'
      vicinal quaternary centers, heterodimeric linkages, C3-Csp(2) linkages,
      diketopiperazine oxidation, stereoselective thiolation, homologue-specific
      polysulfidation, and C12-hydroxyl incorporation. Synthesis of these natural
      products has resulted in the structural confirmation, and sometimes revision such
      as the case of (+)-naseseazines A and B, as well as access to many plausible
      biogenetically relevant intermediates and new synthetic ETP derivatives.
      Furthermore, our studies have paved the way for the formulation of a
      comprehensive SAR profile and the identification of lead compounds with in vitro
      subnanomolar IC50's against a broad range of cancer types. 

PMID- 25843277
TI  - The influence of biodegradable gemini surfactants, N,N'-bis(1-decyloxy-1
      oxopronan-2-yl)-N,N,N',N' tetramethylpropane-1,3-diammonium dibromide and N,N'
      bis(1-dodecyloxy-1-oxopronan-2-yl) N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethane-1,2-diammonium
      dibromide, on fungal biofilm and adhesion.
AB  - A group of biodegradable alanine-derived gemini quaternary ammonium salts
      (bromides and chlorides) with various alkyl chains and spacer lengths was tested
      for anti-adhesive and anti-biofilm activity. The strongest antifungal activity
      was exhibited by bromides with 10 and 12 carbon atoms within hydrophobic chains
      (N,N'-bis(1-decyloxy-1-oxopronan-2-yl)-N,N,N',N'-tetramethylpropane-1,3
      diammonium dibromide and N,N'-bis(1-dodecyloxy-1-oxopronan-2-yl)-N,N,N',N'
      tetramethylethane-1,2-diammonium dibromide). It was also demonstrated that these
      gemini surfactants enhanced the sensitivity of Candida albicans to azoles
      (itraconazole and fluconazole) and polyenes (amphotericin B and nystatine).
      Gemini quaternary ammonium salts effectively inhibited fungal cell adhesion to
      polystyrene and silicone surface. These compounds reduced C. albicans
      filamentation and eradicated C. albicans and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa biofilms,
      as it was shown in crystal violet and fluorescent staining. None of the tested
      compounds were cytotoxic against yeast mitochondrial metabolism. 

PMID- 25843278
TI  - Cis-9, trans-11 and trans-10, cis-12 CLA mixture does not change body
      composition, induces insulin resistance and increases serum HDL cholesterol level
      in rats.
AB  - Synthetic supplements of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) containing 50:50 mixture
      of cis-9, trans-11 and trans-10, cis-12 CLA isomers have been commercialized in
      some places for reducing body fat. However the safety of this CLA mixture is
      controversial and in some countries the CLA usage as food supplement is not
      authorized. Changes in insulinemic control and serum lipids profile are potential
      negative effects related to consumption of CLA mixture. The present study aimed
      to evaluate the effects of a diet containing mixture of cis-9, trans-11 and trans
      10, cis-12 CLA on prevention of obesity risk as well as on potential side effects
      such as insulin resistance and dyslipidemia in Wistar rats. Thirty male Wistar
      rats were randomly assigned to the following dietary treatments (n=10/group), for
      60 days: Normolipidic Control (NC), diet containing 4.0% soybean oil (SO); High
      Fat-Control (HF-C), diet containing 24.0% SO; High Fat-synthetic CLA (HF-CLA),
      diet containing 1.5% of an isomeric CLA mixture (Luta-CLA 60) and 22.5% SO. Luta
      CLA 60 (BASF) contained nearly 60% of CLA (cis-9, trans-11 and trans-10, cis-12
      CLA at 50:50 ratio). The HF-CLA diet contained 0.3% of each CLA isomer. HF-CLA
      diet had no effect on dietary intake and body composition. HF-CLA-fed rats had
      lower levels of PPARgamma protein in retroperitoneal adipose tissue,
      hyperinsulinemia compared to HF-C-fed rats, hyperglycemia compared to NC-fed rats
      while no differences in glycemia were observed between NC and HF-C groups,
      increased HOMA index and higher levels of serum HDL cholesterol. Thus, feeding
      rats with a high fat diet containing equal parts of cis-9, trans-11 and trans-10,
      cis-12 CLA isomers had no effect on body composition and induced insulin
      resistance. Despite HF-CLA-fed rats had increased serum HDL cholesterol levels,
      caution should be taken before synthetic supplements containing cis-9, trans-11
      and trans-10, cis-12 CLA are recommended as a nutritional strategy for weight
      management. 

PMID- 25843279
TI  - Characteristic odor components of essential oils from Eurya japonica.
AB  - The chemical compositions of essential oils from the flower and aerial parts
      (i.e., leaf and branch) of Eurya japonica were determined and quantified using
      gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 87 and 50 compounds were
      detected in the oils from the flower and aerial parts, respectively. The main
      compounds of the flower oil were linalool (14.0%), (9Z)-tricosene (12.0%), and
      nonanal (7.4%). In the oil from the aerial parts, linalool (37.7%), alpha
      terpineol (13.5%), and geraniol (9.6%) were detected. In the oils from the flower
      and aerial parts, 13 and 8 aroma-active compounds were identified by GC
      olfactometry (GC-O) analysis, respectively. The key aroma-active compounds of the
      flower oil were heptanal [fatty, green, flavor dilution (FD) = 128, odor activity
      value (OAV) = 346], nonanal (sweet, citrus, FD = 128, OAV = 491), and eugenol
      (sweet, spicy, FD = 64, OAV = 62): in the oil from the aerial parts, the key
      aroma-active compounds were linalool (sweet, citrus, FD = 64, OAV = 95), (E)-beta
      damascenone (sweet, FD = 256, OAV = 4000), and (E)-beta-ionone (floral, violet,
      FD = 128, OAV = 120). This study revealed that nonanal and eugenol impart the
      sweet, citrus, and spicy odor of the flower oil, while (E)-beta-damascenone and
      (E)-beta-ionone contribute the floral and sweet odor of the oil from the aerial
      parts. 

PMID- 25843280
TI  - Synthesis of waste cooking oil based biodiesel via ferric-manganese promoted
      molybdenum oxide / zirconia nanoparticle solid acid catalyst: influence of ferric
      and manganese dopants.
AB  - The utilization of ferric-manganese promoted molybdenum oxide/zirconia (Fe-Mn-
      MoO3/ZrO2) (FMMZ) solid acid catalyst for production of biodiesel was
      demonstrated. FMMZ is produced through impregnation reaction followed by
      calcination at 600 degrees C for 3 h. The characterization of FMMZ had been done
      using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermal
      gravimetric analysis (TGA), temperature programmed desorption of NH3 (TPD-NH3),
      transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and Brunner-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface
      area measurement. The effect of waste cooking oil methyl esters (WCOME's) yield
      on the reactions variables such as reaction temperature, catalyst loading, molar
      ratio of methanol/oil and reusability were also assessed. The catalyst was used
      to convert the waste cooking oil into corresponding methyl esters (95.6%+/-0.15)
      within 5 h at 200C reaction temperature, 600 rpm stirring speed, 1:25 molar ratio
      of oil to alcohol and 4% w/w catalyst loading. The reported catalyst was
      successfully recycled in six connective experiments without loss in activity.
      Moreover, the fuel properties of WCOME's were also reported using ASTM D 6751
      methods. 

PMID- 25843281
TI  - Bioactivity and chemical constituents of the essential oil from Dendranthema
      indicum (L.) Des Moul. against two stored insects.
AB  - Dendranthema indicum (L.) Des Moul. is a perennial herb commonly used as a
      traditional Chinese medicine for a long time. In this work, we took Dendranthema
      indicum as a target plant and two stored insects which include Tribolium
      castaneum and Stegobium paniceum adults as target insects. Essential oil obtained
      from Dendranthema indicum was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
      (GC-MS). A total of 31 components representing 92.44% of the oil were identified
      and the main compounds were found to be chamazulene (15.93%), beta-caryophyllene
      (13.78%), germacrene D (9.11%), and b-cis-farnesene (6.59%). With a further
      isolation, three constituents were obtained from the essential oil and identified
      as chamazulene, beta-caryophyllene and eucalyptol. Significantly, in the progress
      of assay, it showed that the essential oil and chamazulene exhibited stronger
      insecticidal and repellent activities against Stegobium paniceum than Tribolium
      castaneum. The results indicate that additional to its traditional use as Chinese
      medicinal herb, the essential oil of Dendranthema indicum aerial parts and
      isolated compounds have potential to be developed into natural insecticides or
      repellents for control of insects in stored grains. 

PMID- 25843282
TI  - Agroecosystem development of industrial fermentation waste -- characterization of
      aroma-active compounds from the cultivation medium of Lactobacillus brevis.
AB  - Volatile oils obtained from both the liquid medium after incubation (MAI) and
      liquid medium before incubation (MBI) during the cultivation process of
      Lactobacillus brevis were isolated by hydrodistillation (HD) and analyzed to
      determine the utility of the liquid waste. The composition of the volatile oils
      was analyzed by capillary gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass
      spectrometry (GC-MS). In total, 55 and 36 compounds were detected in the volatile
      oils from MAI (MAI oil) and MBI (MBI oil), respectively. The principle components
      of MAI oil were N-containing compounds, including 2,3-dimethylpyrazine (16, 37.1
      %), methylpyrazine (4, 17.1 %). The important aroma-active compounds in the oils
      were detected by GC-Olfactometry (GC-O), and their intensity of aroma were
      measured by aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA). Expressly, pyrazine compounds
      were determined as key aroma components; in particular, 2,5-dimethylpyrazine and
      2,3-dimethylpyrazine were the most primary aroma-active compound in MAI oil.
      These results imply that the waste medium after incubation of L. brevis may be
      utilized as a source of volatile oils. 

PMID- 25843283
TI  - Method for attaining rosemary essential oil with differential composition from
      dried or fresh material.
AB  - Rosemary (Rosemarinus officinalis L.) is a well-known medicinal and essential oil
      plant, utilized by humankind since ancient times. The objective was to determine
      the effect of steam distillation time (DT) and material (dry or fresh biomass) on
      essential oil yield, composition, and bioactivity; and to develop regression
      models that can predict oil yield and composition at specific DT. The oil yield
      (content) from dry biomass was higher (0.43%) than that from fresh biomass
      (0.35%) and ranged from 0.18% in the 1.25 min DT to 0.51% in the 40 min DT. There
      was no yield advantage in extending the DT beyond 40 min, which is much shorter
      than the DT used by industry. In this study, the antioxidant capacity of the
      rosemary oil using the ORACoil method was 4,108 MUmolVE/L. Rosemary oil did not
      exhibit significant antileishmanial, antimalarial, or antimicrobial activity. In
      general, the low-boiling constituents eluted earlier than the higher boiling
      constituents of the essential oil, resulting in a great variation of essential
      oil composition obtained at different DT. The most important constituents are
      alpha-pinene, eucalyptol, and camphor. The highest alpha-pinene concentration in
      the oil (30.4%) was obtained from dry biomass at 2.5 min DT; eucalyptol (23.3% of
      the total oil) from fresh biomass at 2.5 min DT; and camphor (15.9% of the total
      oil) from fresh biomass at 160 min DT. The DT could be used as an inexpensive
      tool to alter essential oil composition of the essential oil from fresh or dried
      rosemary biomass, and to produce rosemary oils with elevated or lowered
      concentration of specific targeted oil constituents to meet specific market
      demands. 

PMID- 25843285
TI  - Cardio-oncology Part I: chemotherapy and cardiovascular toxicity.
AB  - Cancer and cardiovascular disease are the most common causes of mortality in the
      US, causing approximately 1.2 million deaths annually. The incidence of cancer is
      expected to increase as the population ages. The prognosis of cancer patients has
      improved over the last few decades primarily because of newer chemotherapeutic
      drugs; however, many of these drugs have cardiotoxic side effects. The short-term
      cardiovascular toxicities of more established drugs are well described; however,
      understanding of the underlying pathogenesis is increasing. The delayed
      cardiotoxic effects of cancer treatments have become an important issue
      contributing to mortality and morbidity as cancer survivorship increases.
      Chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity can manifest in many ways, from asymptomatic
      decreases in left ventricular ejection fraction to congestive heart failure.
      Hypertension is commonly seen both as a co-morbidity and a side effect of
      chemotherapy. In this article, we discuss the pathogenesis, scope, presentation
      and potential prevention of these toxicities. 

PMID- 25843284
TI  - The effect of various antioxidants on the degradation of O/W microemulsions
      containing esterified astaxanthins from Haematococcus pluvialis.
AB  - Esterified astaxanthins are used as functional nutraceuticals and pigments in
      many food products. Unfortunately, the utilization is currently limited due to
      their chemical instability and poor water-solubility. In this study, esterified
      astaxanthins were quantified and purified from Haematococcus pluvialis using a
      novel and precise approach. By HPLC-(+)APCI-MS/MS, twenty esterified astaxanthin
      molecular species were identified, of which classified into eight monoester forms
      (approximately 85%, w/w) and twelve diester forms (approximately 15%, w/w),
      depending on the number of fatty acids that bind thereto. The MS data showed that
      the predominant fatty acids in astaxanthin esters of H. pluvialis are usually a
      long chain fatty acid with 16~18 carbon atoms, such as C18:1, C18:2, C18:3,
      C18:4, C16:0, C16:1. The purity of the esterified astaxanthins was determined to
      be 96.8+/-1.2% after purification. A well water-dispersible microemulsion was
      fabricated using high purity esterified astaxanthins, ethyl butyrate, Tween 80
      and ethanol; and that emulsion exhibited a mean particle radius around 60 nm. The
      chemical degradation of esterified astaxanthins was monitored under accelerated
      stress storage conditions. After storage for 20 days, the results indicated that
      the degradation of esterified astaxanthins was effectively slowed by the addition
      of antioxidants to the microemulsions. By investigating the dependence of the
      chemical degradation of the esterified astaxanthins in O/W microemulsions on the
      concentration of the additives, it was concluded that the effectiveness of the
      additives at inhibiting the degradation of the esterified astaxanthins decreased
      in the following order: EDTA > ascorbic acid > vitamin E acetate. The utilization
      of antioxidants in combination was less effective than using them individually.
      These results provide information for designing effective delivery systems,
      thereby delaying the chemical degradation of esterified astaxanthins in foods,
      beverages and other commercial products during long-term storage. 

PMID- 25843286
TI  - A statistical note on analyzing and interpreting individual-level epidemiological
      data.

PMID- 25843287
TI  - The Japanese government's "good sleep" challenge: Sleep Guidelines for Health
      Promotion 2014.

PMID- 25843288
TI  - Identification of environmental sounds and melodies in syndromes of anterior
      temporal lobe degeneration.
AB  - Recognition of nonverbal sounds in semantic dementia and other syndromes of
      anterior temporal lobe degeneration may determine clinical symptoms and help to
      define phenotypic profiles. However, nonverbal auditory semantic function has not
      been widely studied in these syndromes. Here we investigated semantic processing
      in two key nonverbal auditory domains - environmental sounds and melodies - in
      patients with semantic dementia (SD group; n=9) and in patients with anterior
      temporal lobe atrophy presenting with behavioural decline (TL group; n=7,
      including four cases with MAPT mutations) in relation to healthy older controls
      (n=20). We assessed auditory semantic performance in each domain using novel,
      uniform within-modality neuropsychological procedures that determined sound
      identification based on semantic classification of sound pairs. Both the SD and
      TL groups showed comparable overall impairments of environmental sound and melody
      identification; individual patients generally showed superior identification of
      environmental sounds than melodies, however relative sparing of melody over
      environmental sound identification also occurred in both groups. Our findings
      suggest that nonverbal auditory semantic impairment is a common feature of
      neurodegenerative syndromes with anterior temporal lobe atrophy. However, the
      profile of auditory domain involvement varies substantially between individuals. 

PMID- 25843289
TI  - Characterization of spheroids in hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with
      axonal spheroids.
AB  - Hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids (HDLS) is a
      neurodegenerative disease clinically characterized by slowly progressive
      cognitive decline and motor dysfunction. Neuropathology shows diffuse
      degeneration in the white matter, with prominent presence of widespread axonal
      spheroids. To investigate the mechanism underlying HDLS neurodegeneration, we
      characterized spheroids and examined their development in the degenerated white
      matter. Analysis revealed that the spheroids are an early neuropathological
      manifestation in the white matter degeneration and involve axonal component
      proteins and alpha-synuclein. The development of spheroids facilitates in
      initiating neurodegeneration in HDLS.

PMID- 25843290
TI  - Physical functional capacity in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: performance
      characteristics of the continuous-scale physical function performance test.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Physical functional capacity is impaired in idiopathic pulmonary
      fibrosis (IPF). There is no tool to measure this key clinical outcome. The
      continuous-scale physical function performance (CS-PFP) test is one that assesses
      activities of daily living, but it has never been used in IPF. METHODS: We
      determined internal consistency of the CS-PFP. We used correlations to assess the
      strength of association between CS-PFP scores and various parameters of IPF
      severity, and compared the CS-PFP scores between patients with IPF and published
      values from a healthy control group. RESULTS: Sixteen subjects completed the test
      and retest. Test-retest reliability (0.84, p = 0.003) and internal consistency
      (Cronbach's alpha = 0.91) were excellent. Subjects with IPF had significantly
      worse CS-PFP scores than controls (46.0 +/- 11.1 vs 58.7 +/- 12.5, p = 0.001). In
      IPF, the CS-PFP scores correlated moderately to very strongly with several
      disease severity variables. CONCLUSION: The CS-PFP is a reliable and valid tool
      in IPF.

PMID- 25843291
TI  - miR-483-5p determines mitochondrial fission and cisplatin sensitivity in tongue
      squamous cell carcinoma by targeting FIS1.
AB  - Mitochondria play an important role in the initiation of apoptosis. However,
      whether cisplatin can induce apoptosis by initiating a mitochondrial fission
      pathway and the mechanism underlying this effect remain poorly understood. In
      this study, we show that the mitochondrial fission protein FIS1 is upregulated
      upon cisplatin treatment in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) cells. FIS1
      knockdown can attenuate mitochondrial fission and cisplatin sensitivity. We found
      that FIS1 is a direct target of miR-483-5p and that miR-483-5p can inhibit
      mitochondrial fission and cisplatin sensitivity in vitro and in vivo.
      Furthermore, we found that miR-483-5p and FIS1 are significantly associated with
      cisplatin sensitivity and with overall survival in patients with TSCC in a
      retrospective analysis of multiple centers. This study revealed that a novel
      mitochondrial fission pathway composed of miR-483-5p and FIS1 regulates cisplatin
      sensitivity. The modulation of miR-483-5p and FIS1 levels may provide a new
      approach for increasing cisplatin sensitivity. 

PMID- 25843292
TI  - Cytokine induced killer cell-based immunotherapies in patients with different
      stages of renal cell carcinoma.
AB  - Cytokine induced killer (CIK) cell-based treatments have shown antitumor activity
      against renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in vitro and in vivo. But the therapeutic
      options and benefits of various CIK cells were unknown for different stages of
      RCC. In this random clinical trial, the 3-year disease free survival (DFS) of
      operable RCC patients treated with autologous tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cells
      co-cultured with cytokine induced killer (Ag-DC-CIK) was 96.7% compared with
      57.7% in the control group. Ag-DC-CIK immunotherapy decreased the risk of post
      operative disease progression and relapse (P = 0.0418). In inoperable RCC
      patients treated with CIK, the 3-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free
      survival (PFS) were significantly longer than the control group (P = 0.0116 and P
      = 0.0212). The CD4(+)/CD8(+) T cell ratio in peripheral blood increased after the
      last cell infusion in the CIK treatment group, and especially further increased
      in the Ag-DC-CIK treatment group (P = 0.002). No severe toxicity was observed
      after infusion of CIK cells. Therefore, tumor antigen-sensitized Ag-DC-CIK cells
      might be more efficient and personalized for the patients with tumor resection,
      and CIK cells could improve the prognosis for those inoperable patients.
      According to the stages of RCC patients, different CIK cell-based immunotherapies
      would help to achieve more beneficial effects.

PMID- 25843293
TI  - SKP2 is a direct transcriptional target of MYCN and a potential therapeutic
      target in neuroblastoma.
AB  - SKP2 is the substrate recognition subunit of the ubiquitin ligase complex which
      targets p27(KIP1) for degradation. Induced at the G1/S transit of the cell cycle,
      SKP2 is frequently overexpressed in human cancers and contributes to malignancy.
      We previously identified SKP2 as a possible MYCN target gene and hence
      hypothesise that SKP2 is a potential therapeutic target in MYCN amplified
      disease. A positive correlation was identified between MYCN activity and SKP2
      mRNA expression in Tet21N MYCN-regulatable cells and a panel of MYCN amplified
      and non-amplified neuroblastoma cell lines. In chromatin immunoprecipitation and
      reporter gene assays, MYCN bound directly to E-boxes within the SKP2 promoter and
      induced transcriptional activity which was decreased by the removal of MYCN and E
      box mutation. Although SKP2 knockdown inhibited cell growth in both MYCN
      amplified and non-amplified cells, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis were induced
      only in non-MYCN amplified neuroblastoma cells. In conclusion these data identify
      SKP2 as a direct transcriptional target of MYCN and supports SKP2 as a potential
      therapeutic target in neuroblastoma. 

PMID- 25843294
TI  - MicroRNA-30d-5p inhibits tumour cell proliferation and motility by directly
      targeting CCNE2 in non-small cell lung cancer.
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules that are
      dysregulated in many types of human cancers, although their precise functions in
      driving non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are incompletely understood. In the
      present study, we found that miR-30d-5p, often downregulated in NSCLC tissues,
      significantly inhibited the growth, cell cycle distribution, and motility of
      NSCLC cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that cyclin E2 (CCNE2), which was often
      upregulated in NSCLC tissues, was a direct target of miR-30d-5p. CCNE2 expression
      promoted the proliferation, invasion, and migration of NSCLC cells. In addition,
      the re-introduction of CCNE2 expression antagonised the inhibitory effects of miR
      30d-5p on the capacity of NSCLC cells for proliferation and motility. Together,
      these results suggest that the miR-30d-5p/CCNE2 axis may contribute to NSCLC cell
      proliferation and motility, indicating miR-30d-5p as a potential therapeutic
      target for the treatment of NSCLC. 

PMID- 25843295
TI  - Connexin-43 downregulation in G2/M phase enriched tumour cells causes extensive
      low-dose hyper-radiosensitivity (HRS) associated with mitochondrial apoptotic
      events.
AB  - Enrichment of tumour cells in G2/M phases in vitro is known to be associated with
      low-dose hyper-radiosensitivity (HRS). These cell cycle phases also involve
      reduced expression of adhesion protein connexin-43 (Cx43). Therefore, we
      investigated the role of Cx43 in HRS. Asynchronous or G2/M enriched tumour cells
      (U87, BMG-1, HeLa) and normal primary fibroblasts (HDFn) were gamma-irradiated at
      varying doses, with an asynchronous group separately subjected to Cx43-knockdown
      prior to irradiation. Cx43 level, gap junctional activity, clonogenic cell
      survival, cell growth/viability, mitochondrial alterations and other apoptosis
      regulating events were studied. G2/M enrichment reduced Cx43 level by ~50% and
      caused considerable HRS at doses 10 cGy-30 cGy in all tumour cell lines. Cx43
      knockdown to the same level (~60%) also elicited prominent HRS response in these
      cells. Quite important, radiosensitivity of primary HDFn cells remained unaltered
      by all these treatments. In Cx43-knockdown tumour cells, low-dose irradiation
      caused significant growth inhibition and apoptosis involving loss of MMP,
      cytochrome-c release and caspase-3 activation, thereby demonstrating the
      important cytoprotective role of Cx43. Therefore, this study significantly shows
      that Cx43 downregulation (a constitutive feature of G2/M phase) selectively
      renders tumour cells hypersensitive to low-dose radiation, and presents connexins
      as potential therapeutic targets. 

PMID- 25843296
TI  - A rapid guide to PTEN function.

PMID- 25843297
TI  - PTEN: a yin-yang master regulator protein in health and disease.
AB  - The PTEN gene is a tumor suppressor gene frequently mutated in human tumors,
      which encodes a ubiquitous protein whose major activity is to act as a lipid
      phosphatase that counteracts the action of the oncogenic PI3K. In addition, PTEN
      displays protein phosphatase- and catalytically-independent activities. The
      physiologic control of PTEN function, and its inactivation in cancer and other
      human diseases, including some neurodevelopmental disorders, is upon the action
      of multiple regulatory mechanisms. This provides a wide spectrum of potential
      therapeutic approaches to reconstitute PTEN activity. By contrast, inhibition of
      PTEN function may be beneficial in a different group of human diseases, such as
      type 2 diabetes or neuroregeneration-related pathologies. This makes PTEN a
      functionally dual yin-yang protein with high potential in the clinics. Here, a
      brief overview on PTEN and its relation with human disease is presented. 

PMID- 25843298
TI  - Direct costs of unintended pregnancy in Spain.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to estimate the burden and direct medical
      costs of unintended pregnancy to the public payer in Spain. METHODS: An economic
      model evaluating the costs and outcomes of contraceptive use over a 1-year period
      was constructed for women in Spain aged 15 to 44 years at risk of pregnancy.
      Model inputs were derived from published literature and national survey data.
      Outcomes evaluated included: (i) the annual number of unintended pregnancy events
      and their cost; (ii) the proportion of unintended pregnancy events and their cost
      due to non-adherence; and (iii) the use and cost of contraceptive methods in
      Spain. RESULTS: Of the total number of pregnancies, 35% are estimated to be
      unintended and are associated with a direct cost burden of ?292.8 million per
      year. Most unintended pregnancies (26%) occur in women aged 30 to 34 years,
      whilst 69% of the total cost burden is estimated to be attributable to poor
      adherence to contraceptive methods. CONCLUSIONS: The cost associated with
      unintended pregnancy is high. The major proportion of the burden is estimated to
      be attributable to imperfect adherence and is likely avoidable. Shifts in
      patterns of contraceptive use, combined with measures to improve adherence, could
      have a substantial and positive impact on this burden.

PMID- 25843299
TI  - The value of cardiac MRI versus echocardiography in the pre-operative assessment
      of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Duchenne Mmuscular Ddystrophy (DMD) related cardiomyopathy is
      associated with significant perioperative mortality. Cardiac MRI (CMR) has not
      previously been systematically evaluated as pre-operative assessment tool for
      heart function in DMD. Our aim was to establish whether CMR versus
      echocardiography contributes to pre-operative DMD assessment. METHODS: Case
      records were retrospectively reviewed of 35 consecutive DMD boys who underwent
      evaluation for surgical procedures between 2010 and 2013. RESULTS:
      Echocardiography revealed a median left ventricular (LV) shortening fraction (SF)
      of 29/% (range: 7-44). 37% of boys (13/35) had abnormal SF <25%, 66% (23/35)
      showed hypokinesia and 26% (9/35) had LV dilatation. CMR revealed a median left
      ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 52% (range: 27-67%). 57% of boys (20/35)
      had abnormal LVEF <55%, 71% (25/35) had hypokinesia, and 82% late gadolinium
      enhancement. Extensive versus minimal late gadolinium enhancement was associated
      with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (48% vs 58%; p = 0.003)
      suggesting more severe cardiomyopathy. Although echocardiography shortening
      fraction correlated with CMR ejection fraction (rs = 0.67; p < 0.001), three
      quarter of echocardiography studies had suboptimal scanning windows and in 26%
      measurements significantly over- or underestimated left-ventricular function
      compared to CMR. CONCLUSION: Our findings clearly demonstrate the added value of
      CMR versus echocardiography in assessing DMD-cardiomyopathy. Particularly when
      echocardiographic scanning windows are suboptimal, CMR should be considered to
      allow accurate pre-operative cardiac assessment.

PMID- 25843300
TI  - Outcomes and predictors of improved survival after gamma knife radiosurgery for
      metastatic brain tumors originated from breast carcinoma.
AB  - Gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) has emerged as a possible treatment option for
      metastasis brain tumor (MBTs) originated from breast cancer. However, the
      intermediate or long-term outcome of GKRS on MBTs originated from breast
      carcinoma is not well defined. The outcome of GKRS on MBTs derived from breast
      carcinoma was reviewed in our institution's case series. We performed a
      retrospective review (2000-2013) of 50 patients with MBTs originated from breast
      cancer who received GKRS. Out of 50 patients, 11 patients had recurrent tumors
      after microsurgical resection and the other 39 patients received GKRS alone. The
      study population was followed clinically and radiographically after GKRS
      treatment. GKRS on MBTs metastasized from breast cancer showed significant
      variations in tumor growth control (decreased in 14 (31.9 %) patients, arrested
      growth in 17 (38.6 %) patients, and progressed tumor in 13 (29.5 %) patients).
      The overall median survival in this case series was 33 months. In our case
      series, overall survival rate after 5 years was 20 %, whereas progression-free
      survival rate after 5 years was 30 %. The prognostic factors for improving
      survival in the patients with MBTs from breast cancer were recursive partitioning
      analysis (RPA) class I (p = 0.014), age <=65 years (p = 0.025), controlled
      primary tumor (p = 0.04), and single number of MBTs (p = 0.022). Recent follow-up
      revealed that GKRS offers good overall survival period in both new and recurrent
      patients with MBTs originated from breast carcinoma. Thus, GKRS is a therapeutic
      option for new and recurrent patients with MBTs derived from breast cancer.

PMID- 25843301
TI  - Utility of three-dimensional computed tomography for anatomical assistance in
      endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery.
AB  - Endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery (ETSS) has been widely applied to
      pituitary adenomas. However, anatomical orientation is difficult when structures
      of the sphenoidal sinus are complicated. This study investigated the usefulness
      of three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) modeling in planning surgical
      procedures for ETSS and providing anatomical guidance during surgery. CT data
      from 99 consecutive patients with pituitary adenoma treated between January 2008
      and March 2014 were used to reconstruct 3D-CT models. Based on these images, the
      architecture of sphenoidal sinus, particularly structures surrounding the sellar
      floor, was visualized for preoperative simulation of surgical procedures. These
      3D-CT images were also compared to surgical views during ETSS to evaluate
      applicability of the images. These models clearly demonstrated the morphology of
      the nasal cavity and structures of the sphenoidal sinus, including bony
      prominences of the internal carotid arteries (ICAs) and optic canals by
      successively eliminating sphenoidal structures. The 3D-CT images permitted
      determination of the maximum marginal line of the opening of the sellar floor by
      presenting vital structures such as ICAs and optic canals. With this 3D-CT model,
      the surgeon could access the sella more easily, open the floor widely enough for
      each individual patient, and resect the tumor maximally without complications.
      Preoperative 3D-CT models distinctly visualized the optic canals, bilateral ICAs,
      and complicated structures of sphenoidal septa. The 3D-CT images were useful for
      preoperative planning and as a road map during endoscopic surgery for pituitary
      adenoma, facilitating maximum tumor resection without complications. 

PMID- 25843303
TI  - Backbone structures in human milk oligosaccharides: trans-glycosylation by
      metagenomic beta-N-acetylhexosaminidases.
AB  - This paper describes the discovery and characterization of two novel beta-N
      acetylhexosaminidases HEX1 and HEX2, capable of catalyzing the synthesis of human
      milk oligosaccharides (HMO) backbone structures with fair yields using chitin
      oligomers as beta-N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) donor. The enzyme-encoding genes
      were identified by functional screening of a soil-derived metagenomic library.
      The beta-N-acetylhexosaminidases were expressed in Escherichia coli with an N
      terminal His6-tag and were purified by nickel affinity chromatography. The
      sequence similarities of the enzymes with their respective closest homologues are
      59 % for HEX1 and 51 % for HEX2 on the protein level. Both beta-N
      acetylhexosaminidases are classified into glycosyl hydrolase family 20 (GH 20)
      are able to hydrolyze para-nitrophenyl-beta-N-acetylglucosamine (pNP-GlcNAc) as
      well as para-nitrophenyl-beta-N-acetylgalactosamine (pNP-GalNAc) and exhibit pH
      optima of 8 and 6 for HEX1 and HEX2, respectively. The enzymes are able to
      hydrolyze N-acetylchitooligosaccharides with a degree of polymerization of two,
      three, and four. The major findings were, that HEX1 and HEX2 catalyze trans
      glycosylation reactions with lactose as acceptor, giving rise to the human milk
      oligosaccharide precursor lacto-N-triose II (LNT2) with yields of 2 and 8 % based
      on the donor substrate. In total, trans-glycosylation reactions were tested with
      the disaccharide acceptors beta-lactose, sucrose, and maltose, as well as with
      the monosaccharides galactose and glucose resulting in the successful attachment
      of GlcNAc to the acceptor in all cases.

PMID- 25843304
TI  - Effectiveness of direct immobilization of bacterial cells onto material surfaces
      using the bacterionanofiber protein AtaA.
AB  - The bacterionanofiber protein AtaA, a member of the trimeric autotransporter
      adhesin family found in Acinetobacter sp. Tol 5, is responsible for the
      nonspecific, high adhesiveness and autoagglutination of this strain. Previously,
      we introduced the ataA gene into the nonadhesive Acinetobacter strain ST-550,
      which conferred high adhesiveness to this strain, immobilized its cells, and
      improved indigo productivity due to enhanced tolerance to the toxic substrate. In
      this study, we again demonstrated the effectiveness of this new microbial
      immobilization method using AtaA in a number of conditions. AtaA enabled the
      effective immobilization of growing, resting, and lyophilized cells of a type
      strain of Acinetobacter, ADP1, which is also intrinsically nonadhesive, onto the
      surface of several kinds of support ranging from artificial to natural materials
      and from hydrophobic polyurethane to hydrophilic glass. Immobilization with AtaA
      enabled exclusive cell growth in the support space and only a few cells existed
      in the bulk medium. Immobilization of resting cells drastically increased cell
      concentration, depending on the support material; dry cells of approximately 110
      g/L could be immobilized onto glass wool. Finally, we demonstrated that ADP1
      cells immobilized on polyurethane foam can undergo at least 10 repetitive
      reactions without inactivation during a 5-h period. Even after drying and storing
      for 3 days, the immobilized cells showed enzymatic activity and an ester
      hydrolysis reaction was repeated by simply transferring the support with the
      cells into a fresh reaction buffer.

PMID- 25843305
TI  - Diagnostic criteria for DCD: Past and future.
AB  - The aim of this review was to gather information on how well authors comply to
      DSM criteria in their description and selection of children with DCD. We
      investigated which selection criteria were used in experimental and intervention
      studies published in the last 5 years (2010-2014). Results on 176 papers are
      summarized. Compliance to the DSM criteria has improved over this time period. In
      general, detailed information was provided on motor performance using
      standardized test scores and cut-off values are reported. Method sections were
      far less detailed about other DSM criteria (i.e., whether motor coordination
      problems interfered with activities of daily living and how IQ, other medical
      conditions or co-occurring disorders were checked). Views on how the new DSM-5
      criteria could be specified for clinical and research use are discussed.

PMID- 25843302
TI  - The gut microbiome in multiple sclerosis.
AB  - OPINION STATEMENT: The gut microbiome is made up of a wide range of (chiefly)
      bacterial species that colonize the small and large intestine. The human gut
      microbiome contains a subset of thousands of bacterial species, with up to 10(14)
      total bacteria. Studies examining this bacterial content have shown wide
      variations in which species are present between individuals. The gut microbiome
      has been shown to have profound effects on the development and maintenance of
      immune system in both animal models and in humans. A growing body of evidence has
      implicated the human gut microbiome in a range of disorders, including obesity,
      inflammatory bowel diseases, and cardiovascular disease. Animal studies present
      compelling evidence that the gut microbiome plays a significant role in the
      progression of demyelinating disease, and that modulation of the microbiome can
      lead to either exacerbation or amelioration of symptoms. Differences in diet,
      vitamin D insufficiency, smoking, and alcohol use have all been implicated as
      risk factors in MS, and all have the ability to affect the composition of the gut
      microbiota. Preliminary clinical trials aimed at modulating the gut microbiota in
      MS patients are underway and may prove to be a promising and lower-risk treatment
      option in the future.

PMID- 25843306
TI  - A divided ventricle: A rare case of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with 'burned out'
      apex.

PMID- 25843307
TI  - Cardiovascular effects of fingolimod: Relevance, detection and approach.
AB  - Fingolimod, a structural analogue of sphingosine, is the first oral treatment
      available for multiple sclerosis. The presence of sphingosine-1-phosphate
      receptors in the sinus and atrioventricular nodes, myocardial cells, endothelial
      cells and arterial smooth muscle cells is responsible for fingolimod's
      cardiovascular effects. We provide a comprehensive review of the mechanisms of
      these effects and characterize their clinical relevance. 

PMID- 25843308
TI  - Rotational atherectomy: Technical update.
AB  - Percutaneous coronary intervention is currently the most common form of
      revascularization for symptomatic coronary artery disease. In elderly, diabetic
      and renal patients, there is an increased prevalence of calcified coronary
      disease. Rotational atherectomy (RA) can be useful in the treatment of these
      lesions. Plaque removal was initially proposed as an alternative to balloon
      angioplasty, hence RA required high-velocity protocols with large-sized burrs
      (over 2.0 mm). With a high incidence of acute complications and disappointing
      restenosis rates, the use of RA dwindled. However, the advent of drug-eluting
      stents, which significantly decreased the rate of restenosis, led to the
      repositioning of RA as an adjunctive technique in the preparation of densely
      calcified lesions, improving stent delivery and expansion. In recent years, a
      better understanding of the mechanism of action of RA has changed it from a
      plaque debulking to a compliance modifying technique. As a result, RA has become
      less aggressive, using smaller size burrs and lower rotational speeds. This
      conservative approach has improved immediate results, with increased safety and
      better long-term outcomes. In this review paper, the technique of RA is explained
      in the light of current knowledge. 

PMID- 25843309
TI  - Fever-induced type 1 Brugada pattern.
AB  - Brugada syndrome, first described over 20 years ago, is characterized by a
      typical electrocardiographic pattern with coved-type ST-segment elevation in the
      right precordial leads and a high risk of sudden death in otherwise healthy young
      adults. The electrocardiographic pattern is sometimes intermittent, and fever is
      a possible trigger. The authors present the case of a 68-year-old woman who came
      to the emergency department with fever and syncope. A diagnosis of community
      acquired pneumonia was made. The electrocardiogram performed when the patient had
      fever revealed a type 1 Brugada pattern, which disappeared after the fever
      subsided. After other causes of Brugada-like pattern were excluded, Brugada
      syndrome was diagnosed and a cardioverter-defibrillator was implanted. This case
      demonstrates that this entity can be diagnosed at more advanced ages and
      highlights the usefulness of electrocardiography in a febrile state. 

PMID- 25843310
TI  - More on noncompaction in Fabry's disease.

PMID- 25843311
TI  - Noncompaction in Fabry's disease.

PMID- 25843312
TI  - Performance of traditional risk factors in identifying a higher than expected
      coronary atherosclerotic burden.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk
      factors in identifying a higher than expected coronary atherosclerotic burden.
      METHODS: We assessed 2069 patients undergoing coronary CT angiography, with
      assessment of calcium score (CS), for suspected coronary artery disease. A higher
      than expected atherosclerotic burden was defined as CS >75th percentile (CS >P75)
      according to age and gender-adjusted monograms. The ability of traditional CV
      risk factors to predict a CS >P75 was assessed in a customized logistic
      regression model ("Clinical Score") and by the calculation of SCORE (Systemic
      Coronary Risk Evaluation). The population attributable risk (PAR) of risk factors
      for CS >P75 was calculated. RESULTS: The median CS was 3.0 (IQR 0.0-98.0); 362
      patients had CS >P75. The median SCORE was 3.0 (IQR 1.0-4.0). With the exception
      of hypertension, all traditional CV risk factors were independent predictors of
      CS >P75: diabetes, dyslipidemia, smoking and family history (OR 1.3-2.2,
      p<=0.026). The areas under the ROC curves for CS >P75 were 0.64 for the Clinical
      Score (95% CI 0.61-0.67, p<0.001) and 0.53 for SCORE (95% CI 0.50-0.56, p=0.088).
      About a quarter of patients with CS >P75 were in the two lower quartiles of the
      Clinical Score. Altogether, the traditional risk factors explain 56% of the
      prevalence of CS >P75 (adjusted PAR 0.56). CONCLUSION: Despite the association of
      CV risk factors with a higher than expected atherosclerotic burden, they appear
      to explain only half of its prevalence. Even when integrated in scores, the
      predictive power of these risk factors was modest, exposing the limitations of
      risk stratification based solely on demographic and clinical risk factors.

PMID- 25843313
TI  - Characterization of human memory CD4(+) T-cell responses to the dog allergen Can
      f 4.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The recently identified dog lipocalin allergen Can f 4 is an
      important respiratory allergen. OBJECTIVE: We sought to comprehensively
      characterize the memory CD4(+) T-cell responses of allergic and nonallergic
      subjects to Can f 4. METHODS: Can f 4-specific CD4(+)CD45RO(+) T-cell lines
      (TCLs) from allergic and healthy subjects were established and characterized by
      their functional and phenotypic properties. The epitope specificity of the TCLs
      was tested with 48 overlapping 16-mer peptides spanning the sequence of Can f 4.
      HLA restriction of the specific TCLs and the binding capacity of the epitope
      containing peptides to common HLA class II molecules were studied. RESULTS: Can f
      4-specific memory CD4(+) TCLs were obtained at an 8-fold higher frequency from
      allergic than from nonallergic subjects. Functionally, the TCLs of allergic
      subjects exhibited a higher T-cell receptor avidity and expression of CD25 and
      predominantly produced IL-4 and IL-5. The TCLs of nonallergic subjects mostly
      secreted IFN-gamma and IL-10, with high CXCR3 expression. Several distinct T-cell
      epitope regions along the allergen were identified. Importantly, the peptides
      from the region between amino acids 43 and 67 showed promiscuous HLA-binding
      capacity and induced memory CD4(+) T-cell responses in 90% of the allergic
      donors. CONCLUSION: Productive TH2-deviated memory T-cell responses to Can f 4
      are observed in allergic but not nonallergic subjects. A 19-mer peptide sequence
      covering the core of the immunodominant region of the allergen is a potential
      target for the development of peptide-based allergen immunotherapy.

PMID- 25843315
TI  - Breast-feeding does not protect against allergic sensitization in early childhood
      and allergy-associated disease at age 7 years.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Extended breast-feeding is recommended for newborn children at risk
      of allergy-associated diseases, but the evidence of a protective effect on
      sensitization and these diseases remains elusive. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this
      study was to investigate the effects of the duration of exclusive breast-feeding
      on the development of sensitization in preschool children. METHODS: Information
      on breast-feeding was gathered by interviews involving 335 children aged 1, 6,
      and 12 months from the Copenhagen Prospective Study on Asthma in Childhood2000
      birth cohort born to mothers with a history of asthma. Skin prick test responses
      and specific IgE levels against 12 common inhalant and 10 food allergens were
      assessed longitudinally at ages 1/2 year, 11/2 years, 4 years, and 6 years.
      Eczema, wheeze/asthma, and allergic rhinitis were diagnosed at the Copenhagen
      Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood clinic at 7 years of age, strictly
      adhering to predefined algorithms. Associations between duration of exclusive
      breast-feeding and outcomes were analyzed by logistic regression. RESULTS: We
      found no significant association between duration of exclusive breast-feeding and
      development of sensitization in the first 6 years of life (odds ratio [OR]: 1/2
      year, 1.10 [95% CI, 0.90-1.36]; 11/2 years, 1.15 [95% CI, 0.97-1.36]; 4 years,
      1.08 [95% CI, 0.93-1.25]; and 6 years, 0.96 [95% CI, 0.84-1.10]) or with current
      eczema, wheeze/asthma, and allergic rhinitis at age 7 years (OR, 1.07 [95% CI,
      0.92-1.24]; OR, 0.97 [95% CI, 0.82-1.14]; and OR, 1.02 [95% CI, 0.84-1.23],
      respectively). Adjusting for reverse causation by excluding children with eczema,
      wheeze, or a positive skin prick test response before ending exclusive breast
      feeding did not alter the results. CONCLUSION: Exclusive breast-feeding does not
      affect sensitization in early childhood or associated diseases at 7 years of age
      in at-risk children.

PMID- 25843316
TI  - Tunable catalytic activity of solid solution metal-organic frameworks in one-pot
      multicomponent reactions.
AB  - The aim of this research is to establish how metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)
      composed of more than one metal in equivalent crystallographic sites (solid
      solution MOFs) exhibit catalytic activity, which is tunable by virtue of the
      metal ions ratio. New MOFs with general formula [InxGa1-x(O2C2H4)0.5(hfipbb)]
      were prepared by the combination of Ga and In. They are isostructural with their
      monometal counterparts, synthesized with Al, Ga, and In. Differences in their
      behavior as heterogeneous catalysts in the three-component, one pot Strecker
      reaction illustrate the potential of solid solution MOFs to provide the ability
      to address the various stages involved in the reaction mechanism. 

PMID- 25843314
TI  - Novel mutations in TNFRSF7/CD27: Clinical, immunologic, and genetic
      characterization of human CD27 deficiency.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The clinical and immunologic features of CD27 deficiency remain
      obscure because only a few patients have been identified to date. OBJECTIVE: We
      sought to identify novel mutations in TNFRSF7/CD27 and to provide an overview of
      clinical, immunologic, and laboratory phenotypes in patients with CD27
      deficiency. METHODS: Review of the medical records and molecular, genetic, and
      flow cytometric analyses of the patients and family members were performed.
      Treatment outcomes of previously described patients were followed up. RESULTS: In
      addition to the previously reported homozygous mutations c.G24A/p.W8X (n = 2) and
      c.G158A/p.C53Y (n = 8), 4 novel mutations were identified: homozygous missense
      c.G287A/p.C96Y (n = 4), homozygous missense c.C232T/p.R78W (n = 1), heterozygous
      nonsense c.C30A/p.C10X (n = 1), and compound heterozygous c.C319T/p.R107C
      c.G24A/p.W8X (n = 1). EBV-associated lymphoproliferative disease/hemophagocytic
      lymphohistiocytosis, Hodgkin lymphoma, uveitis, and recurrent infections were the
      predominant clinical features. Expression of cell-surface and soluble CD27 was
      significantly reduced in patients and heterozygous family members. Immunoglobulin
      substitution therapy was administered in 5 of the newly diagnosed cases.
      CONCLUSION: CD27 deficiency is potentially fatal and should be excluded in all
      cases of severe EBV infections to minimize diagnostic delay. Flow cytometric
      immunophenotyping offers a reliable initial test for CD27 deficiency. Determining
      the precise role of CD27 in immunity against EBV might provide a framework for
      new therapeutic concepts.

PMID- 25843318
TI  - Pharmacokinetics of Levetiracetam in Healthy Hispaniolan Amazon Parrots ( Amazona
      ventralis ) After Oral Administration of a Single Dose.
AB  - Long-term anticonvulsive treatments have been poorly described in birds, and few
      pharmacokinetic studies have been performed, with mixed results. Levetiracetam, a
      new anticonvulsive drug, has shown good efficacy for monotherapy or adjunctive
      treatment of seizures in both human and veterinary medicine. To determine
      pharmacokinetics of levetiracetam in Hispaniolan Amazon parrots ( Amazona
      ventralis ), 20 healthy birds were randomly divided into 2 groups and
      administered either a 50 mg/kg (n = 10) or a 100 mg/kg (n = 10) oral dose of
      levetiracetam with no observable adverse effects. Blood samples were collected at
      baseline and at 12 time intervals (6 per group) for 16 hours. The concentration
      time profiles resembled characteristic absorption, with maximum plasma
      concentrations of 61.0 MUg/mL and 95.1 MUg/mL at 60 minutes; terminal half-lives
      at 2.38 and 2.37 hours; volumes of distribution of 0.807 and 0.773 L/kg, with an
      area under the curve at 14 100 and 28 820 mg * min/L; and clearance rates of 3.65
      and 3.60 mL/min per kg, respectively. Plasma concentrations were greater than 5.5
      mg/L for up to 9.4 and 12 hours, suggesting an 8- and 12-hour oral dosing at 50
      and 100 mg/kg, respectively, would be sufficient to maintain targeted values.
      Clinically, doses and frequencies may need escalation based on differences in
      species and individuals, and drug levels should be monitored. 

PMID- 25843319
TI  - Voriconazole Disposition After Single and Multiple, Oral Doses in Healthy, Adult
      Red-tailed Hawks ( Buteo jamaicensis ).
AB  - Voriconazole is effective for treatment of aspergillosis, a common disease in
      captive red-tailed hawks ( Buteo jamaicensis ). To determine the disposition and
      safety of voriconazole after single and multiple, oral doses, 12 adult red-tailed
      hawks were studied in 2 phases. In phase 1, each bird received a single dose of
      voriconazole solution (10 mg/kg) by gavage. Blood samples were collected at 0,
      0.5, 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 16, 24, and 36 hours after treatment. In phase 2, each of 8
      birds received voriconazole oral solution at 10 mg/kg PO q12h for 14 days. Plasma
      samples were collected on days 0, 5, and 10 and after the final dose and were
      processed as in phase 1. Plasma samples were submitted for analysis of
      voriconazole levels by high-performance liquid chromatography and ultraviolet
      spectrophotometry and for measurement of selected plasma biochemical parameters.
      After single dosing, voriconazole concentrations reached a (mean +/- SD) peak
      (Cmax) of 4.7 +/- 1.3 MUg/mL at 2.0 +/- 1.2 hours. The disappearance half-life
      (t1/2) was 2.8 +/- 0.7 hours, and the mean residence time (MRT) was 4.6 +/- 0.9
      hours. After the last dose at 14 days, the mean Cmax of voriconazole was 4.5 +/-
      2.7 MUg/mL at 2.4 +/- 1.1 hours. The t1/2 was 2.1 +/- 0.8 hours, and the MRT was
      3.5 +/- 1.1 hours. Although concentrations of several plasma biochemical
      parameters were significantly different at study end compared with prestudy
      concentrations, only plasma creatine kinase activity was outside the reference
      range. No adverse reactions were observed in any of the birds. After both single
      and multiple dosing at 10 mg/kg, voriconazole concentrations exceeded the minimum
      inhibitory concentration to inhibit 90% (MIC90) of Aspergillus species (1 MUg/mL)
      by at least fourfold and remained above the MIC90 for 8.8 +/- 1.1 hours after
      single dosing versus 6.5 +/- 1.5 hours after multiple dosing (P = .003). This
      difference suggests that more frequent dosing (eg, up to q8h) may be necessary to
      maintain target concentrations during prolonged therapy. 

PMID- 25843317
TI  - Altered Neurochemistry in Former Professional Soccer Players without a History of
      Concussion.
AB  - Soccer is played by more than 250 million people worldwide. Repeatedly heading
      the ball may place soccer players at high risk for repetitive subconcussive head
      impacts (RSHI). This study evaluates the long-term effects of RSHI on
      neurochemistry in athletes without a history of clinically diagnosed concussion,
      but with a high exposure to RSHI. Eleven former professional soccer players (mean
      age 52.0+/-6.8 years) and a comparison cohort of 14 age- and gender-matched,
      former non-contact sport athletes (mean age 46.9+/-7.9 years) underwent 3T
      magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and neurocognitive evaluation. In the
      soccer players a significant increase was observed in both choline (Cho), a
      membrane marker, and myo-inositol (ml), a marker of glial activation, compared
      with control athletes. Additionally, ml and glutathione (GSH) were significantly
      correlated with lifetime estimate of RSHI within the soccer group. There was no
      significant difference in neurocognitive tests between groups. Results of this
      study suggest an association between RSHI in soccer players and MRS markers of
      neuroinflammation, suggesting that even subconcussive head impacts affect the
      neurochemistry of the brain and may precede neurocognitive changes. Future
      studies will need to determine the role of neuroinflammation in RSHI and the
      effect on neurocognitive function. 

PMID- 25843320
TI  - Lipid Panel Reference Intervals for Amazon Parrots (Amazona species).
AB  - The lipoprotein panel is a useful diagnostic tool that allows clinicians to
      evaluate blood lipoprotein fractions. It is a standard diagnostic test in human
      medicine but is poorly understood in avian medicine. Amazon parrots (Amazona
      species) are popular pets that frequently lead a sedentary lifestyle and are
      customarily fed high-fat diets. Similar to people with comparable diets and
      lifestyles, Amazon parrots are prone to obesity and atherosclerosis. In human
      medicine, these conditions are typically correlated with abnormalities in the
      lipoprotein panel. To establish reference intervals for the lipoprotein panel in
      Amazon parrots, plasma samples from 31 captive Amazon parrots were analyzed for
      concentrations of cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low
      density lipoprotein (LDL), and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). The data were
      also grouped according to sex, diet, body condition score, and age. Aside from
      HDL levels, which were significantly different between male and female parrots,
      no intergroup differences were found for any of the lipoprotein fractions. 

PMID- 25843321
TI  - Circulating Fat-Soluble Vitamin Concentrations and Nutrient Composition of
      Aquatic Prey Eaten by American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus palliatus) in
      the Southeastern United States.
AB  - The American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus palliatus) is currently listed
      as a species of high concern by the United States Shorebird Conservation Plan.
      Because nutritional status directly impacts overall health and reproduction of
      individuals and populations, adequate management of a wildlife population
      requires intimate knowledge of a species' diet and nutrient requirements. Fat
      soluble vitamin concentrations in blood plasma obtained from American
      oystercatchers and proximate, vitamin, and mineral composition of various
      oystercatcher prey species were determined as baseline data to assess nutritional
      status and nutrient supply. Bird and prey species samples were collected from the
      Cape Romain region, South Carolina, USA, and the Altamaha River delta islands,
      Georgia, USA, where breeding populations appear relatively stable in recent
      years. Vitamin A levels in blood samples were higher than ranges reported as
      normal for domestic avian species, and vitamin D concentrations were lower than
      anticipated based on values observed in poultry. Vitamin E levels were within
      ranges previously reported for avian groups with broadly similar feeding niches
      such as herons, gulls, and terns (eg, aquatic/estuarine/marine). Prey species
      (oysters, mussels, clams, blood arks [Anadara ovalis], whelks [ Busycon carica ],
      false angel wings [ Petricola pholadiformis ]) were similar in water content to
      vertebrate prey, moderate to high in protein, and moderate to low in crude fat.
      Ash and macronutrient concentrations in prey species were high compared with
      requirements of carnivores or avian species. Prey items analyzed appear to meet
      nutritional requirements for oystercatchers, as estimated by extrapolation from
      domestic carnivores and poultry species; excesses, imbalances, and toxicities
      particularly of minerals and fat-soluble vitamins-may warrant further
      investigation. 

PMID- 25843322
TI  - Association of plasma lipid levels with atherosclerosis prevalence in
      psittaciformes.
AB  - The prevalence of atherosclerosis is high in the captive psittacine population
      and increases with age and female sex. The genera Psittacus, Amazona, and
      Nymphicus are predisposed to atherosclerosis, whereas the genera Cacatua and Ara
      are less susceptible. Plasma cholesterol and lipoprotein abnormalities have been
      suggested as risk factors in the development of atherosclerosis as observed in
      mammals. To investigate whether the psittacine genera susceptibility to
      atherosclerosis and the known risk factors of age and sex could be associated
      with differences in the lipid profile, a retrospective analysis was conducted on
      blood lipid values from 5625 birds. Prevalence values were obtained from a
      previously published, large, case-control study and were compared with identified
      trends in plasma lipid profiles. Genus-specific differences were identified in
      plasma total cholesterol values that corresponded to observed trends in the
      prevalence of clinically important atherosclerotic lesions, which were also
      highly correlated. The effect of age was significant but was mild and may not
      account for the dramatic increase in atherosclerosis prevalence observed with
      age. In addition, Quaker parrots ( Myiopsitta monachus ), which were used as
      experimental models for psittacine atherosclerosis and dyslipidemia, were found
      to have the highest values in all lipid profile parameters. The results of this
      study suggest that the differences observed in prevalence among species of the
      psittacine genera may partly be explained by differences in plasma total
      cholesterol levels. Results also support the use of Quaker parrots as models for
      studying atherosclerosis and dyslipidemia. 

PMID- 25843323
TI  - Branchial Cyst With Carcinoma in an Umbrella Cockatoo (Cacatua alba).
AB  - A 16-year-old female umbrella cockatoo (Cacatua alba) was presented for a
      fluctuant, right-sided cervical mass that extended from the caudolateral edge of
      the right mandible to the coelomic inlet. Results of initial diagnostic tests
      were consistent with a cystic mass containing hemorrhage. Surgical exploration
      and removal of the mass was done, but because the hyoid apparatus was
      incorporated in the base of the cyst, complete surgical excision was not
      possible. Histopathologic results were consistent with a branchial cyst with
      carcinoma. Five months after surgery, the cockatoo exhibited intermittent
      periorbital swelling and epistaxis, and cytologic results of a fluid aspirate
      from the right infraorbital sinus were consistent with carcinoma. Results of
      magnetic resonance imaging revealed extensive abnormal T2 and short-tau inversion
      recovery hyperintense tissue associated with the right side of the head and neck,
      infiltrating between muscle planes and extending into the right retro-orbital
      tissue and nasal cavity. At 7 months after surgery, the bird was severely
      dyspneic and was euthanatized. To our knowledge, this is the first report
      describing the diagnosis, management, and histologic characteristics associated
      with a branchial cyst with carcinoma in an animal. 

PMID- 25843324
TI  - Mycoplasma columbinum Isolated From a Racing Pigeon ( Columba livia ) With
      Arthritis.
AB  - A juvenile racing pigeon ( Columba livia ) was presented with drooping of the
      wing and inability to fly. On physical examination, the right shoulder joint was
      swollen. The pigeon was euthanatized and submitted for necropsy. An excessive
      amount of fibrin was present in the canalis triosseus with severe arthritis of
      the affected shoulder joint. A pure growth of Mycoplasma-like colonies was
      obtained on microbiological culture of the shoulder joint. A 16S ribosomal RNA
      gene-specific polymerase chain reaction assay was performed on the isolate and
      revealed 100% similarity with Mycoplasma columbinum . Although infectious
      arthritis in homing pigeons is primarily associated with paratyphoid and
      Streptococcus gallolyticus infection, clinical practitioners should consider the
      potential role of Mycoplasma columbinum in arthritis in pigeons. 

PMID- 25843326
TI  - Avian health information management in the digital age.

PMID- 25843325
TI  - Coelomic Granulomatous Fat Necrosis (Lipogranulomatosis) in an Umbrella Cockatoo
      (Cacatua alba).
AB  - A 28-year-old, female umbrella cockatoo (Cacatua alba) was evaluated because of
      lethargy, anorexia, regurgitation, and coelomic swelling of 6 month's duration,
      which corresponded to cessation of egg laying. Radiographs and ultrasound
      examination demonstrated extensive deposits of coelomic fat and an enlarged
      oviduct. Exploratory celiotomy demonstrated copious amounts of firm, nodular fat
      completely surrounding the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in extensive chronic
      adhesions between intestinal loops. Free yolk was present in the cranial left
      coelom, yolk coelomitis was diagnosed, and a salpingohysterectomy was performed.
      Two days after surgery, the bird stopped passing feces and began regurgitating
      after eating, and a colonic obstruction was demonstrated via contrast
      radiography. Euthanasia was elected, and necropsy revealed an obstruction of the
      distal colon caused by extraluminal compression by adhesions of firm, nodular
      fat. Histologic examination demonstrated extensive fat necrosis with
      granulomatous inflammation, characterized by cords of necrotic fat surrounded by
      multinucleated giant cells and epithelioid macrophages with scattered lymphocytes
      and plasma cells and rare heterophils. The clinical signs, gross lesions, and
      histologic lesions are characteristic of massive fat necrosis
      (lipogranulomatosis) in ruminants and mesenteric panniculitis in humans and
      companion mammals. This is the first report, to our knowledge, of this disease in
      psittacine birds. 

PMID- 25843327
TI  - What is your diagnosis?

PMID- 25843329
TI  - Coming meetings.

PMID- 25843330
TI  - Growth hormone deficiency in monozygotic twins with autosomal dominant
      pseudohypoparathyroidism type Ib.
AB  - Pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) is associated with compromised signal
      transductions via PTH receptor (PTH-R) and other G-protein-coupled receptors
      including GHRH-R. To date, while GH deficiency (GHD) has been reported in
      multiple patients with PHP-Ia caused by mutations on the maternally expressed
      GNAS coding regions and in two patients with sporadic form of PHP-Ib accompanied
      by broad methylation defects of maternally derived GNAS differentially methylated
      regions (DMRs), it has not been identified in a patient with an autosomal
      dominant form of PHP-Ib (AD-PHP-Ib) accompanied by an STX16 microdeletion and an
      isolated loss of methylation (LOM) at exon A/B-DMR. We studied 5 4/12-year-old
      monozygotic twins with short stature (both -3.4 SD) and GHD (peak GH values, <6.0
      MUg/L after arginine and clonidine stimulations). Molecular studies revealed
      maternally derived STX16 microdeletions and isolated LOMs at exon A/B-DMR in the
      twins, confirming the diagnosis of AD-PHP-Ib. GNAS mutation was not identified,
      and neither mutation nor copy number variation was detected in GH1, POU1F1,
      PROP1, GHRHR, LHX3, LHX4, and HESX1 in the twins. The results, in conjunction
      with the previous finding that GNAS shows maternal expression in the pituitary,
      suggest that GHD of the twins is primarily ascribed to compromised GHRH-R
      signaling caused by AD-PTH-Ib. Thus, resistance to multiple hormones including
      GHRH should be considered in AD-PHP-Ib. 

PMID- 25843332
TI  - Editorial for the ACS select virtual issue on inorganic chemistry driving the
      energy sciences.

PMID- 25843331
TI  - Ischemia-modified albumin and malondialdehyde levels in patients with overt and
      subclinical hyperthyroidism: effects of treatment on oxidative stress.
AB  - The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the levels of ischemia-modified
      albumin (IMA) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in patients with OHyper and SHyper, to
      assess the effects of antithyroid drug (ATD) therapy on the oxidative stress (OS)
      parameters. Forty-five untreated patients with overt hyperthyroidism (OHyper), 20
      untreated patients with subclinical hyperthyroidism (SHyper) and 30 age-and sex
      matched healthy controls were prospectively included in the study. Biochemical
      and hormonal parameters were evaluated in all patients before and after
      treatment. Compared with the control subjects, the levels of MDA, glucose and TG
      were significantly increased in patients with SHyper (p<0.05), whereas LDL-C
      levels were significantly decreased (p<0.01). Patients with OHyper showed
      significantly elevated MDA and glucose levels (p<0.001) and significantly
      decreased LDL-C and HDL-C levels compared with the controls (p<0.01). In patients
      with Graves' disease, serum TSH levels were inversely correlated with plasma MDA
      levels (r: -0.42, p<0.05). Plasma MDA levels significantly decreased and levels
      of TC, LDL-C and HDL-C significantly increased in the groups of OHyper and SHyper
      after treatment. Serum IMA levels did not significantly change at baseline and
      with the therapy in all subjects. In conclusion, increased MDA levels in both
      patient groups represent increased lipid peroxidation which might play an
      important role in the pathogenesis of the atherosclerosis in these patients.
      Increased oxidative stress in patients with SHyper and OHyper could be improved
      by ATD therapy. Also, MDA can be used as a reliable marker of OS and oxidative
      damage, while IMA is considered to be inappropriate. 

PMID- 25843333
TI  - DSM-5 and psychiatric genetics - round hole, meet square peg.

PMID- 25843334
TI  - Genotype-first analysis of the 16p11.2 deletion defines a new type of "autism".

PMID- 25843335
TI  - Connectivity in context: emphasizing neurodevelopment in autism spectrum
      disorder.

PMID- 25843336
TI  - Made in Scotland from... Irn-Bru((r)) bottles. A cheap, effective carrier for
      scientific posters.

PMID- 25843337
TI  - Promoting quality of care in disaster response: A survey of core surgical
      competencies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Recent humanitarian crises have led to a call for professionalization
      of the humanitarian field, but core competencies for the delivery of surgical
      care have yet to be established. The objective of this study was to survey
      surgeons with experience in disaster response to identify surgical competencies
      required to be effective in these settings. METHODS: An online survey elucidating
      demographic information, scope of practice, and previous experience in global
      health and disaster response was transmitted to surgeons from a variety of
      surgical societies and nongovernmental organizations. Participants were provided
      with a list of 111 operative procedures and were asked to identify those deemed
      essential to the toolset of a frontline surgeon in disaster response via a Likert
      scale. Responses from personnel with experience in disaster response were
      contrasted with those from nonexperienced participants. RESULTS: A total of 147
      surgeons completed the survey. Participants held citizenship in 22 countries,
      were licensed in 30 countries, and practiced in >20 countries. Most respondents
      (56%) had previous experience in humanitarian response. The majority agreed or
      strongly agreed that formal training (54%), past humanitarian response (94%), and
      past global health experiences (80%) provided adequate preparation. The most
      commonly deemed important procedures included control of intraabdominal
      hemorrhage (99%), abdominal packing for trauma (99%), and wound debridement
      (99%). Procedures deemed important by experienced personnel spanned multiple
      specialties. CONCLUSION: This study addressed specifically surgical competencies
      in disaster response. We provide a list of operative procedures that should set
      the stage for further structured education programs.

PMID- 25843338
TI  - Should we randomize our patients in the name of the "scientific evidence"?

PMID- 25843339
TI  - Emerging neuroimaging contribution to the diagnosis and management of the ring
      chromosome 20 syndrome.
AB  - Ring chromosome 20 [r(20)] syndrome is an underdiagnosed chromosomal anomaly
      characterized by severe epilepsy, behavioral problems, and mild-to-moderate
      cognitive deficits. Since the cognitive and behavioral decline follows seizure
      onset, this syndrome has been proposed as an epileptic encephalopathy (EE). The
      recent overwhelming development of advanced neuroimaging techniques has opened a
      new era in the investigation of the brain networks subserving the EEs. In
      particular, functional neuroimaging tools are well suited to show alterations
      related to epileptiform discharges at the network level and to build hypotheses
      about the mechanisms underlying the cognitive disruption observed in these
      conditions. This paper reviews the brain circuits and their disruption as
      revealed by functional neuroimaging studies in patients with [r(20)] syndrome. It
      discusses the clinical consequences of the neuroimaging findings on the
      management of patients with [r(20)] syndrome, including their impact to an
      earlier diagnosis of this disorder. Based on the available lines of evidences,
      [r(20)] syndrome is characterized by interictal and ictal dysfunctions within
      basal ganglia-prefrontal lobe networks and by long-lasting effects of the
      peculiar theta-delta rhythm, which represents an EEG marker of the syndrome on
      integrated brain networks that subserve cognitive functions. 

PMID- 25843340
TI  - Cognitive adverse events of topiramate in patients with epilepsy and intellectual
      disability.
AB  - Topiramate (TPM) is an effective antiepileptic drug (AED). A high proportion of
      patients, however, experiences cognitive adverse events (CAEs), especially in
      verbal fluency, memory spans, and working memory. To our knowledge, CAEs of TPM
      have not been studied systematically in patients with intellectual disability
      (ID). This may be due to the fact that many of those patients are not able to
      follow test instructions properly and that neuropsychological instruments are not
      validated for that group. Cognitive deterioration in patients with ID may thus
      easily be overlooked. Topiramate is in frequent use in persons with ID. We
      included 26 consecutive patients with epilepsy and ID in this observational study
      who had undergone neuropsychological examinations as part of clinical routine
      before and after the introduction of TPM into the therapeutic regimen (n=4) or
      before and after the withdrawal of TPM (n=22). Examinations under TPM showed
      reduced cognitive speed, reduced verbal memory, reduced verbal fluency, and
      reduced flexibility compared to examinations without TPM. Despite some
      limitations (especially small sample size, high interindividual variation of the
      results dependent on the degree of ID, effects of other - limited - changes in
      the therapeutic regimen), our study indicates that TPM in persons with epilepsy
      and ID may lead to CAEs comparable to those in persons with normal intelligence.
      Neuropsychological testing is mandatory in order not to miss CAEs that might
      severely impair quality of life. 

PMID- 25843341
TI  - Epileptic aura and perception of self-control.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The health locus of control is the subjective perception of control
      over one's health. It has been studied for years as one of several factors that
      determine patient health-related behaviors. The aim of this study was to
      investigate how the epileptic aura is associated with the health locus of
      control, anxiety, and depression. METHODS: Patients were included
      retrospectively, based on patient records from the epilepsy monitoring unit of
      the Rigshospitalet University Hospital. Participants were asked about the
      presence and nature of auras in a semistructured interview. The Multidimensional
      Health Locus of Control Scale, Form C was used to evaluate the health locus of
      control. Three domains were evaluated: internal, where health is controlled by
      personal action; chance, where health is controlled by fate or luck; and powerful
      others, where health is controlled by the actions of others (e.g., doctors and
      parents). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was used to evaluate levels
      of anxiety and depression. RESULTS: Forty-nine patients, with mean age of
      38years, participated in the study. Of these, 67% reported experiencing one or
      more auras; i.e., subjective warning signs prior to a generalized or focal
      seizure with an impairment in consciousness. Patients that could react to their
      aura prior to a seizure scored higher on the internal subscale of the
      Multidimensional Health Locus of Control questionnaire compared to participants
      that could not react to their aura. CONCLUSIONS: The ability to react to an aura
      prior to a seizure correlated positively with the internal subscale of the health
      locus of control. However, it did not significantly correlate with the external
      subscales of chance and powerful others in the health locus of control. Moreover,
      there was no significant relation between the ability to react to an aura prior
      to a seizure and the levels of anxiety or depression.

PMID- 25843342
TI  - An integrative review of the benefits of self-management interventions for adults
      with epilepsy.
AB  - The life-limiting effects of epilepsy are well documented in the literature,
      where the management of epilepsy and seizure control relies heavily on the self
      management abilities of the individual. The psychosocial impact of epilepsy on
      the person and their family is profound and has been studied extensively.
      Interventions such as educational programs and lifestyle management education to
      improve self-mastery and quality of life in people with epilepsy are not
      necessarily integrated in standard care practices. The aim of this integrative
      review was to systematically identify and appraise research that reported
      findings related to self-management interventions for adults with epilepsy. A
      search of bibliographic databases was conducted, and a total of n=14 articles
      were included in this review. The main finding was that self-management education
      for adults with epilepsy shows promise to improving knowledge and self-confidence
      in managing one's own condition including the management of the psychosocial
      stressors, improvement in seizure control, and enhancement of quality of life.
      Self-management interventions were delivered in diverse formats, and the
      inclusion of this type of intervention should be part of the comprehensive care
      for people living with epilepsy. 

PMID- 25843343
TI  - P2X purinoceptors as a link between hyperexcitability and neuroinflammation in
      status epilepticus.
AB  - There remains a need for more efficacious treatments for status epilepticus.
      Prolonged seizures result in the release of ATP from cells which activates the P2
      class of ionotropic and metabotropic purinoceptors. The P2X receptors gate
      depolarizing sodium and calcium entry and are expressed by both neurons and glia
      throughout the brain, and a number of subtypes are upregulated after status
      epilepticus. Recent studies have explored the in vivo effects of targeting ATP
      gated P2X receptors in preclinical models of status epilepticus, with particular
      focus on the P2X7 receptor (P2X7R). The P2X7R mediates microglial activation and
      the release of the proepileptogenic inflammatory cytokine interleukin 1beta. The
      receptor may also directly modulate neurotransmission and gliotransmission and
      promote the recruitment of immune cells into brain parenchyma. Data from our
      group and collaborators show that status epilepticus produced by intraamygdala
      microinjection of kainic acid increases P2X7R expression in the hippocampus and
      neocortex of mice. Antagonism of the P2X7R in the model reduced seizure severity,
      microglial activation and interleukin 1beta release, and neuronal injury.
      Coadministration of a P2X7R antagonist with a benzodiazepine also provided
      seizure suppression in a model of drug-refractory status epilepticus when either
      treatment alone was minimally effective. More recently, we showed that status
      epilepticus in immature rats is also reduced by P2X7R antagonism. Together, these
      findings suggest that P2X receptors may be novel targets for seizure control and
      interruption of neuroinflammation after status epilepticus. This article is part
      of a Special Issue entitled "Status Epilepticus". 

PMID- 25843344
TI  - Socioeconomic deprivation is an independent risk factor for behavioral problems
      in children with epilepsy.
AB  - AIM: The aim of this study was to examine whether socioeconomic deprivation in
      children with epilepsy (CWE) increases risk for behavioral problems independent
      of seizure factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was done in which parents of
      children attending a specialist epilepsy clinic were invited to complete a child
      behavior checklist (CBCL) questionnaire about their child. Medical and
      sociodemographic data on CWE were obtained through their pediatric neurologists.
      Home postal code was used to obtain quintiles of Scottish Index of Multiple
      Deprivation 2012 (SIMD2012) scores for individuals. Lower (1-3) quintiles
      correspond to higher socioeconomic deprivation. Regression analysis was used to
      investigate whether a lower quintile was an independent risk factor for scores
      >63 (significant behavioral problem). RESULTS: Parents of 87 children (42 male,
      mean age of 10.5years) were enrolled. Fifty-nine percent had total scores >63. A
      higher proportion of children from quintiles 1-3 compared to those from quintiles
      4-5 had externalizing (49% vs. 25%, p=0.02) and total (54% vs. 30%, p=0.02)
      scores >63. Adjusted OR of quintiles 1-3 vs. 4-5 for scores >63=14.8, 95% CI=3.0,
      68.0. Fewer children with scores >63 and from quintiles 1-3 were known to the
      child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) compared to those in quintiles
      4-5 (p=0.01). INTERPRETATION: Socioeconomic deprivation was an independent risk
      factor for behavioral problems in CWE. Children with epilepsy and behavioral
      problems who lived in socioeconomically deprived areas received less help.

PMID- 25843345
TI  - Early intervention for preventing posttraumatic stress disorder: an Internet
      based virtual reality treatment.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops in approximately 20% of
      people exposed to a traumatic event, and studies have shown that cognitive
      behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective as a treatment for chronic PTSD. It has
      also been shown to prevent PTSD when delivered early after a traumatic event.
      However, studies have shown that uptake of early treatment is generally low, and
      therefore, the need to provide interventions through other mediums has been
      identified. The use of technology may overcome barriers to treatment. OBJECTIVE:
      This paper describes a randomized controlled trial that will examine an early CBT
      intervention for PTSD. The treatment incorporates virtual reality (VR) as a
      method for delivering exposure-based elements of the treatment. The intervention
      is Internet based, such that the therapist and patient will "meet" in a secure
      online site. This site will also include multi-media components of the treatment
      (such as videos, audios, VR) that can be accessed by the patient between
      sessions. METHOD: Two hundred patients arriving to a Level 1 emergency department
      following a motor vehicle accident will be randomly assigned to either treatment
      or control groups. Inclusion criteria are age 18-65, PTSD symptoms 2 weeks
      posttrauma related to current trauma, no suicidality, no psychosis. Patients will
      be assessed by telephone by a team blind to the study group, on four occasions:
      before and after treatment, and 6 and 12 months posttreatment. The primary
      outcome is PTSD symptoms at follow up. Secondary outcomes include depression and
      cost effectiveness. Analyses will be on an intention-to-treat basis. DISCUSSION:
      The results will provide more insight into the effects of preventive
      interventions, in general, and Internet-based early interventions, in particular,
      on PTSD, in an injured population, during the acute phase after trauma. We will
      discuss possible strengths and limitations.

PMID- 25843346
TI  - Effect of arginine vasopressin on the cortex edema in the ischemic stroke of
      Mongolian gerbils.
AB  - Brain edema formation is one of the most important mechanisms of ischemia-evoked
      cerebral edema. It has been demonstrated that arginine vasopressin (AVP)
      receptors are involved in the pathophysiology of secondary brain damage after
      focal cerebral ischemia. In a well-characterized animal model of ischemic stroke
      of Mongolian gerbils, the present study was undertaken to clear the effect of AVP
      on cortex edema in cerebral ischemia. The results showed that (1) occluding the
      left carotid artery of Mongolian gerbils not only decreased the cortex specific
      gravity (cortex edema) but also increased AVP levels in the ipsilateral cortex
      (ischemic area) including left prefrontal lobe, left parietal lobe, left temporal
      lobe, left occipital lobe and left hippocampus for the first 6 hours, and did not
      change of the cortex specific gravity and AVP concentration in the right cortex
      (non-ischemic area); (2) there were many negative relationships between the
      specific gravity and AVP levels in the ischemic cortex; (3) intranasal AVP (50 ng
      or 200 ng), which could pass through the blood-brain barrier to the brain,
      aggravated the focal cortex edema, whereas intranasal AVP receptor antagonist
      D(CH2)5Tyr(ET)DAVP (2 ug) mitigated the cortex edema in the ischemic area after
      occluding the left carotid artery of Mongolian gerbils; and (4) either intranasal
      AVP or AVP receptor antagonist did not evoke that edema in the non-ischemic
      cortex. The data indicated that AVP participated in the process of ischemia
      evoked cortex edema, and the cerebral AVP receptor might serve as an important
      therapeutic target for the ischemia-evoked cortex edema.

PMID- 25843347
TI  - [Help tools for the safe treatment of Ebola in emergency departments].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the tools (audit procedure and Checklist) designed to
      ensure the correct implementation of the Ebola Virus Disease Guidelines in a
      hospital emergency department. METHOD: Forty-one elements were identified to be
      included in the checklist to avoid serious mistakes and to provide appropriate
      care in a safe environment. An audit procedure was designed to apply this
      checklist. Audit was conducted two times with an interval of 3 weeks. RESULTS:
      Critical points and potential areas of improvement were identified, for example:
      materials to ensure that protection measures were correctly applied, information
      that should be provided to the patient and, if applicable, their relatives,
      procedure to report changes in the Guidelines, and a review of the personal
      protection measures. The second audit verified the compliance of all elements of
      the checklist. The duration of the audit was 45 min the first time and 75 min the
      second time. CONCLUSIONS: This approach ensures that Ebola Guidelines were
      applied, with greater guarantees for patients and hospital professionals.

PMID- 25843348
TI  - [The cost of prolonged hospital stay of the critical patient].

PMID- 25843349
TI  - [Assessment of two applications of medication self-management in older patients.
      Qualitative study].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aging population and the growing use of technology are two
      realities of modern society. Developing tools to support medication self
      management to polymedicated elderly may contribute to increase their safety.
      OBJECTIVE: To know how patients polymedicated and older than 64 years manage dose
      their medication and assessment the utility of two medication self-management
      applications, specifically analyzing management systems, medication errors and
      positive and improvable aspects of each of the tools presented. PATIENTS AND
      METHODS: Seven focal groups with 59 patients from associations and health
      departments were conducted. In such meetings, they received the applications and
      they were encouraged to use it. Then, a several group questions were asked them
      about their health status, how they managed their medication and their assessment
      about the applications. RESULTS: Most participants reported to use memory
      strategies to take correctly their medication. They assessed positively the
      applications although some of them showed resistance to incorporate it in their
      daily routine. The simple interface and ease of use were the characteristics of
      the applications most appreciated by patients. CONCLUSIONS: Is possible to foster
      among elderly patients the use of technological tools to support the proper
      administration of medications with purpose is to decrease errors and increase
      safety. When designing health applications is necessary to take into account the
      preferences of those who are targeted.

PMID- 25843350
TI  - A synthetic cGMP-sensitive gene switch providing Viagra((r))-controlled gene
      expression in mammalian cells and mice.
AB  - Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is a universal second messenger that is
      synthesized from guanosine triphosphate (GTP) by guanylyl cyclases (GCs) and
      hydrolyzed into guanosine monophosphate (GMP) by phosphodiesterases (PDEs). Small
      molecule drugs that induce high cGMP levels in specialized tissues by boosting GC
      activity or inhibiting PDE activity have become the predominant treatment
      strategy for a wide range of medical conditions, including congestive heart
      failure, pulmonary hypertension, atherosclerosis-based claudication and erectile
      dysfunction. By fusing the cGMP receptor protein (CRP) of Rhodospirillum centenum
      to the Herpes simplex-derived transactivation domain VP16, we created a novel
      synthetic mammalian cGMP-sensing transcription factor (GTA) that activates
      synthetic promoters (PGTA) containing newly identified GTA-specific operator
      sites in a concentration-dependent manner. In cell lines expressing endogenous
      natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPR-A) (HeLa), GTA/PGTA-driven transgene
      expression was induced by B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP; Nesiritide((r))) in a
      concentration-dependent manner, which activated NPR-A's intracellular GC domain
      and triggered a corresponding cGMP surge. Ectopic expression of NPR-A in NPR-A
      negative cell lines (HEK-293T) produced high cGMP levels and mediated maximum
      GTA/PGTA-driven transgene expression, which was suppressed by co-expression of
      PDEs (PDE-3A, PDE-5A and PDE-9A) and was re-triggered by the corresponding PDE
      inhibitor drugs (Pletal((r)), Perfan((r)), Primacor((r)) (PDE-3A), Viagra((r)),
      Levitra((r)), Cialis((r)) (PDE-5A) and BAY73-6691 (PDE-9A)). Mice implanted with
      microencapsulated designer cells co-expressing the GTA/PGTA device with NPR-A and
      PDE-5A showed control of blood SEAP levels through administration of sildenafil
      (Viagra((r))). Designer cells engineered for PDE inhibitor-modulated transgene
      expression may provide a cell-based PDE-targeting drug discovery platform and
      enable drug-adjusted gene- and cell-based therapies. 

PMID- 25843351
TI  - Spatial dynamics of a nutrient-phytoplankton system with toxic effect on
      phytoplankton.
AB  - The production of toxins by some species of phytoplankton is known to have
      several economic, ecological, and human health impacts. However, the role of
      toxins on the spatial distribution of phytoplankton is not well understood. In
      the present study, the spatial dynamics of a nutrient-phytoplankton system with
      toxic effect on phytoplankton is investigated. We analyze the linear stability of
      the system and obtain the condition for Turing instability. In the presence of
      toxic effect, we find that the distribution of nutrient and phytoplankton becomes
      inhomogeneous in space and results in different patterns, like stripes, spots,
      and the mixture of them depending on the toxicity level. We also observe that the
      distribution of nutrient and phytoplankton shows spatiotemporal oscillation for
      certain toxicity level. 

PMID- 25843352
TI  - Ca(2+)-activation kinetics modulate successive puff/spark amplitude, duration and
      inter-event-interval correlations in a Langevin model of stochastic Ca(2+)
      release.
AB  - Through theoretical analysis of the statistics of stochastic calcium (Ca(2+))
      release (i.e., the amplitude, duration and inter-event interval of simulated
      Ca(2+) puffs and sparks), we show that a Langevin description of the collective
      gating of Ca(2+) channels may be a good approximation to the corresponding Markov
      chain model when the number of Ca(2+) channels per Ca(2+) release unit (CaRU) is
      in the physiological range. The Langevin description of stochastic Ca(2+) release
      facilitates our investigation of correlations between successive puff/spark
      amplitudes, durations and inter-spark intervals, and how such puff/spark
      statistics depend on the number of channels per release site and the kinetics of
      Ca(2+)-mediated inactivation of open channels. When Ca(2+) inactivation/de
      inactivation rates are intermediate-i.e., the termination of Ca(2+) puff/sparks
      is caused by an increase in the number of inactivated channels-the correlation
      between successive puff/spark amplitudes is negative, while the correlations
      between puff/spark amplitudes and the duration of the preceding or subsequent
      inter-spark interval are positive. These correlations are significantly reduced
      or change signs when inactivation/de-inactivation rates are extreme (slow or
      fast) and puff/sparks terminate via stochastic attrition. 

PMID- 25843353
TI  - Estimating epidemic parameters: Application to H1N1 pandemic data.
AB  - This paper discusses estimation of the parameters in an SIR epidemic model from
      the observed longitudinal new infection count data. The potential problems of the
      standard MLE approaches are revealed and possible remedies suggested. The
      analysis is based on the epidemic data from the 2009 outbreak of H1N1 influenza
      on the campus of Washington State University. 

PMID- 25843354
TI  - Co-digestion of wheat and rye bread suspensions with source-sorted municipal
      biowaste.
AB  - Acidification of wheat bread (WBS), rye bread (RBS) and fresh biowaste
      suspensions (FBS), leading to lactate+acetate, lactate+acetate+n-buyrate, and
      acetate+propionate+n-butyrate, respectively, and biogas production as well as
      population dynamics were investigated. Co-fermentation of FBS (14 kg m(-3) d(-1)
      organic loading rate (OLR)) with WBS or RBS was stable up to an OLR of 22 kg m(
      3) d(-1) and resulted in up to 3 times as much biogas. During co-fermentation at
      more than 20 kg m(-3) d(-1) OLR the total population increased more than 2-fold,
      but the originally low share of propionate-oxidizing bacteria significantly
      decreased. The proportion of methanogens also decreased. Whereas the proportion
      of Methanosarcinales to Methanomicrobiales in biowaste and biowaste+WBS remained
      constant, Methanosarcinales and in particular Methanosaeta spec. in the
      biowaste+RBS assay almost completely disappeared. Methanomicrobiales increased
      instead, indicating propionate oxidation via acetate cleavage to CO2 and
      hydrogen.

PMID- 25843355
TI  - The effect of gender and age structure on municipal waste generation in Poland.
AB  - In this study the effect of gender and age structure on municipal waste
      generation was investigated. The data from 10-year period, from 2001 to 2010
      year, were taken into consideration. The following parameters of gender and age
      structure were analyzed: men and woman quantity, female to male ratio, number of
      working, pre-working and post-working age men/women, number of unemployed
      men/women. The results have showed a strong correlation of annual per capita
      waste generation rate with number of unemployed women (r=0.70) and female to male
      ratio (r=0.81). This indicates that waste generation rate is more depended on
      ratio of men and women that on quantitative size of each group. Using the
      regression analysis a model describing the dependence between female to male
      ratio, number of unemployed woman and waste quantity was determined. The model
      explains 70% of waste quantity variation. Obtained results can be used both to
      improve waste management and to a fuller understanding of gender behavior.

PMID- 25843356
TI  - Conversion of lipid from food waste to biodiesel.
AB  - Depletion of fossil fuels and environmental problems are encouraging research on
      alternative fuels of renewable sources. Biodiesel is a promising alternative fuel
      to be used as a substitute to the petroleum based diesel fuels. However, the cost
      of biodiesel production is high and is attributed mainly to the feedstock used
      which leads to the investigation of low cost feedstocks that are economically
      feasible. In this paper, we report on the utilization of lipid obtained from food
      waste as a low-cost feedstock for biodiesel production. Lipid from food waste was
      transesterified with methanol using base and lipase as catalysts. The maximum
      biodiesel yield was 100% for the base (KOH) catalyzed transesterification at
      1:10M ratio of lipid to methanol in 2h at 60 degrees C. Novozyme-435 yielded a
      90% FAME conversion at 40 degrees C and 1:5 lipid to methanol molar ratio in 24h.
      Lipid obtained from fungal hydrolysis of food waste is found to be a suitable
      feedstock for biodiesel production. 

PMID- 25843357
TI  - The Teaching on Wheels Cart (TowCart) Portable Simulator to Improve Resident
      Training in Lung Isolation.

PMID- 25843358
TI  - Visible-light-mediated radical aryldifluoroacetylation of alkynes with ethyl
      bromodifluoroacetate for the synthesis of 3-difluoroacetylated coumarins.
AB  - A mild and efficient method for the synthesis of 3-difluoroacetylated coumarins
      through visible-light-promoted aryldifluoroacetylation of alkynes with ethyl
      bromodifluoroacetate has been developed. The reaction allows the direct formation
      of Csp(2)-CF2COOEt and C-C bonds via a proposed tandem radical cyclization
      process. 

PMID- 25843359
TI  - Tailored motivational message generation: A model and practical framework for
      real-time physical activity coaching.
AB  - This paper presents a comprehensive and practical framework for automatic
      generation of real-time tailored messages in behavior change applications. Basic
      aspects of motivational messages are time, intention, content and presentation.
      Tailoring of messages to the individual user may involve all aspects of
      communication. A linear modular system is presented for generating such messages.
      It is explained how properties of user and context are taken into account in each
      of the modules of the system and how they affect the linguistic presentation of
      the generated messages. The model of motivational messages presented is based on
      an analysis of existing literature as well as the analysis of a corpus of
      motivational messages used in previous studies. The model extends existing
      'ontology-based' approaches to message generation for real-time coaching systems
      found in the literature. Practical examples are given on how simple tailoring
      rules can be implemented throughout the various stages of the framework. Such
      examples can guide further research by clarifying what it means to use e.g. user
      targeting to tailor a message. As primary example we look at the issue of
      promoting daily physical activity. Future work is pointed out in applying the
      present model and framework, defining efficient ways of evaluating individual
      tailoring components, and improving effectiveness through the creation of
      accurate and complete user- and context models. 

PMID- 25843360
TI  - Iron diminishes the in vitro biological effect of vanadium.
AB  - Mechanistic pathways underlying inflammatory injury following exposures to
      vanadium-containing compounds are not defined. We tested the postulate that the
      in vitro biological effect of vanadium results from its impact on iron
      homeostasis. Human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells exposed to vanadyl sulfate
      (VOSO4) showed a time- and dose-dependent increase in vanadium relative to PBS.
      HBE cells exposed to VOSO4 and then exposed to ferric ammonium citrate (FAC)
      significantly increased intracellular iron import supporting an interaction
      between the two metals. Following exposure to VOSO4, there was an increase (336+/
      73%) in RNA for divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1), a major iron importer. With
      inclusion of VOSO4 in the incubation, vanadium could be measured in the nuclear
      and mitochondrial fractions and the supernatant. Non-heme iron in the nuclear and
      mitochondrial fractions were decreased immediately following VOSO4 exposure while
      there was an increased concentration of non-heme iron in the supernatant.
      Provision of excess iron inhibited changes in the concentration of this metal
      provoked by VOSO4 exposures. Using Amplex Red, VOSO4 was shown to significantly
      increase oxidant generation by HBE cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner.
      HBE cells pre-treated with FAC and then exposed to VOSO4 demonstrated a decreased
      generation of oxidants. Similarly, activation of the transcription factor NF-KB
      promoter and release of interleukin-6 and -8 were increased following VOSO4
      exposure and these effects were diminished by pre-treatment with FAC. We conclude
      that an initiating event in biological effect after exposure to vanadyl sulfate
      is a loss of requisite cell iron. 

PMID- 25843361
TI  - Thirty years through vanadium chemistry.
AB  - The relevance of vanadium in biological systems is known for many years and
      vanadium-based catalysts have important industrial applications, however, till
      the beginning of the 80s research on vanadium chemistry and biochemistry did not
      receive much attention from the scientific community. The understanding of the
      broad bioinorganic implications resulting from the similarities between phosphate
      and vanadate(V) and the discovery of vanadium dependent enzymes gave rise to an
      enormous increase in interest in the chemistry and biological relevance of
      vanadium. Thereupon the last 30years corresponded to a period of enormous
      research effort in these fields, as well as in medicinal applications of vanadium
      and in the development of catalysts for use in fine-chemical synthesis, some of
      these inspired by enzymatic active sites. Since the 80s my group in collaboration
      with others made contributions, described throughout this text, namely in the
      understanding of the speciation of vanadium compounds in aqueous solution and in
      biological fluids, and to the transport of vanadium compounds in blood plasma and
      their uptake by cells. Several new types of vanadium compounds were also
      synthesized and characterized, with applications either as prospective
      therapeutic drugs or as homogeneous or heterogenized catalysts for the production
      of fine chemicals. The developments made are described also considering the
      international context of the evolution of the knowledge in the chemistry and
      bioinorganic chemistry of vanadium compounds during the last 30years. This
      article was compiled based on the Vanadis Award presentation at the 9th
      International Vanadium Symposium. 

PMID- 25843362
TI  - Cytoprotective effect of resveratrol diastereomers in CHO-K1 cells exposed to
      beauvericin.
AB  - Beauvericin (BEA) causes cytotoxicity, lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen
      species in CHO-K1 cells. Resveratrol (RSV) is a polyphenol with multiple
      biological properties, including antioxidant effects. RSV has two forms: trans
      and cis. The aims of this study were to determine the cytoprotective effect of
      trans-RSV and diastereomers mixtures (50:50 trans/cis-RSV and 70:30 trans/cis
      RSV) incubated alone and in combination with BEA in ovarian (CHO-K1) cells. The
      results demonstrated that cell viability increases (from 9% to 77%) when they
      were exposed to low concentration of RSV. Moreover, when the cells were pre
      treated with RSV and then exposed to BEA, a cytoprotective effect (from 25% to
      76%) and a ROS production diminution (from 27% to 92%) were observed, with
      respect to cells exposed to BEA without previous RSV exposure. RSV pre-treatment
      decreased the MDA levels (from 15% to 37%) when it is compared with cells exposed
      only to BEA. Therefore, it can be concluded that RSV could reduce the
      toxicological risk produced by BEA when they are in combination. 

PMID- 25843363
TI  - A 7-month cigarette smoke inhalation study in C57BL/6 mice demonstrates reduced
      lung inflammation and emphysema following smoking cessation or aerosol exposure
      from a prototypic modified risk tobacco product.
AB  - Modified risk tobacco products (MRTP) are designed to reduce smoking-related
      health risks. A murine model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was
      applied to investigate classical toxicology end points plus systems toxicology
      (transcriptomics and proteomics). C57BL/6 mice were exposed to conventional
      cigarette smoke (3R4F), fresh air (sham), or a prototypic MRTP (pMRTP) aerosol
      for up to 7 months, including a cessation group and a switching-to-pMRTP group (2
      months of 3R4F exposure followed by fresh air or pMRTP for up to 5 months
      respectively). 3R4F smoke induced the typical adaptive changes in the airways, as
      well as inflammation in the lung, associated with emphysematous changes (impaired
      pulmonary function and alveolar damage). At nicotine-matched exposure
      concentrations of pMRTP aerosol, no signs of lung inflammation and emphysema were
      observed. Both the cessation and switching groups showed a similar reversal of
      inflammatory responses and no progression of initial emphysematous changes. A
      significant impact on biological processes, including COPD-related inflammation,
      apoptosis, and proliferation, was identified in 3R4F-exposed, but not in pMRTP
      exposed lungs. Smoking cessation or switching reduced these perturbations to near
      sham-exposed levels. In conclusion, the mouse model indicated retarded disease
      progression upon cessation or switching to pMRTP which alone had no adverse
      effects. 

PMID- 25843365
TI  - In whom and when to look for causal pathways of osteoarthritis of the knee.

PMID- 25843366
TI  - Positioning of bacterial chemoreceptors.
AB  - For optimum growth, bacteria must adapt to their environment, and one way that
      many species do this is by moving towards favourable conditions. To do so
      requires mechanisms to both physically drive movement and provide directionality
      to this movement. The pathways that control this directionality comprise
      chemoreceptors, which, along with an adaptor protein (CheW) and kinase (CheA),
      form large hexagonal arrays. These arrays can be formed around transmembrane
      receptors, resulting in arrays embedded in the inner membrane, or they can
      comprise soluble receptors, forming arrays in the cytoplasm. Across bacterial
      species, chemoreceptor arrays (both transmembrane and soluble) are localised to a
      variety of positions within the cell; some species with multiple arrays
      demonstrate this variety within individual cells. In many cases, the positioning
      pattern of the arrays is linked to the need for segregation of arrays between
      daughter cells on division, ensuring the production of chemotactically competent
      progeny. Multiple mechanisms have evolved to drive this segregation, including
      stochastic self-assembly, cellular landmarks, and the utilisation of ParA
      homologues. The variety of mechanisms highlights the importance of chemotaxis to
      motile species. 

PMID- 25843364
TI  - Prodromal symptoms in knee osteoarthritis: a nested case-control study using data
      from the Osteoarthritis Initiative.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: In order to gain a better understanding of the timing of emergent
      symptoms of osteoarthritis, we sought to investigate the existence, duration and
      nature of a prodromal symptomatic phase preceding incident radiographic knee
      osteoarthritis (ROA). DESIGN: Data were from the incidence cohort of the
      Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) public use datasets. Imposing a nested case
      control design, ten control knees were selected for each case of incident
      tibiofemoral ROA between 2004 and 2010 from participants aged 45-79 years.
      Candidate prodromal symptoms were Western Ontario & McMaster Universities
      Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score
      (KOOS) subscale scores and individual items, available up to 4 years prior to the
      time of incident ROA. Multi-level models were used to estimate the length of the
      prodromal phases. RESULTS: The prodromal phase for subscale scores ranged from 29
      months (KOOS Other Symptoms) to 37 months (WOMAC Pain). Pain and difficulty on
      activities associated with higher dynamic knee loading were associated with
      longer prodromal phases (e.g., pain on twisting/pivoting (39 months, 95%
      confidence interval: 13, 64) vs pain on standing (25 months: 7, 42)).
      CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis found that incident ROA is preceded by prodromal
      symptoms lasting at least 2-3 years. This has potential implications for
      understanding phasic development and progression of osteoarthritis and for early
      recognition and management.

PMID- 25843367
TI  - Reduction-sensitive micelles with sheddable PEG shells self-assembled from a Y
      shaped amphiphilic polymer for intracellular doxorubicine release.
AB  - A new type of shell-sheddable micelles with disulfide linkages between the
      hydrophobic polyester core and hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) shell was
      developed based on Y-shaped amphiphilic polymers mPEG-S-S-(PCL)2. The micelles
      were then used for the glutathione-mediated intracellular delivery of the
      anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) into tumor cells. The polymer could self
      assemble into micelles with an average diameter of 135nm in aqueous solution and
      load DOX at a total content of 3.6%. The hydrophilic PEG shell of these micelles
      could be shed in the presence of reducing agent dithiothreitol (DTT), which
      resulted in size change of the micelles. In vitro release studies revealed that
      DOX-loaded mPEG-S-S-(PCL)2 micelles exhibited faster DOX release in the presence
      of DTT. MTT assay demonstrated that DOX-loaded mPEG-S-S-(PCL)2 micelles showed
      higher cytotoxicity against 10mM of glutathione monoester (GSH-OEt) pretreated
      HeLa cells than that of the non-pretreated ones. Confocal laser scanning
      microscopy and flow cytometry analyses indicated that DOX-loaded mPEG-S-S-(PCL)2
      micelles were efficiently internalized into HeLa cells and exhibited faster DOX
      release in GSH-OEt-pretreated cells than in cells with no pretreatment.
      Endocytosis inhibition results proved that mPEG-S-S-(PCL)2 micelles entered the
      cells mainly through the clathrin-mediated endocytosis pathway, and caveolae
      mediated endocytosis was involved to a small extent. These results indicate the
      great potential of the proposed Y-shaped reduction-sensitive polymer for
      application in effective intracellular anticancer drug delivery. 

PMID- 25843368
TI  - Hybrid alginate-polyester bimodal network hydrogel for tissue engineering-
      Influence of structured water on long-term cellular growth.
AB  - The development of biodegradable scaffolds (which promote cell-binding,
      proliferation, long-term cell viability and required biomechanical stability) for
      cardiac tissue engineering is a challenge. In this study, biosynthetic
      amphiphilic hybrid hydrogels were prepared using a graft comacromer of natural
      polysaccharide alginate and synthetic polyester polypropylene fumarate (PPF).
      Monomodal network hydrogel (HPAS-NO) and bimodal network hydrogel (HPAS-AA) were
      prepared. Between the two hydrogels, HPAS-AA hydrogel excels over the HPAS-NO
      hydrogel. HPAS-AA hydrogel is mechanically more stable in the culture medium and
      undergoes gradual degradation in vitro in PBS (phosphate buffered saline). HPAS
      AA contains nano-porous structure and acquires structured water (non-freezing
      bound water) (53.457%) along with free water (11.773%). It absorbs more plasma
      proteins and prevents platelet adsorption and hemolysis when contacted with
      blood. HPAS-AA hydrogel is cytocompatible and promote 3D cell growth (~ 70%) of
      L929 fibroblast even after 18 days and H9C2 cardiomyoblasts. The enhanced and
      long-term cellular growth of HPAS-AA hydrogel is attributed to the cell
      responsive features of structured water. HPAS-AA hydrogel can be a better
      candidate for cardiac tissue engineering applications.

PMID- 25843369
TI  - Synthesis, Radiolabeling, and Biological Evaluation of (R)- and (S)-2-Amino-5
      [(18)F]fluoro-2-methylpentanoic Acid ((R)-, (S)-[(18)F]FAMPe) as Potential
      Positron Emission Tomography Tracers for Brain Tumors.
AB  - A novel (18)F-labeled alpha,alpha-disubstituted amino acid-based tracer, 2-amino
      5-[(18)F]fluoro-2-methylpentanoic acid ([(18)F]FAMPe), has been developed for
      brain tumor imaging with a longer alkyl side chain than previously reported
      compounds to increase brain availability via system L amino acid transport. Both
      enantiomers of [(18)F]FAMPe were obtained in good radiochemical yield (24-52% n =
      8) and high radiochemical purity (>99%). In vitro uptake assays in mouse DBT
      gliomas cells revealed that (S)-[(18)F]FAMPe enters cells partly via sodium
      independent system L transporters and also via other nonsystem A transport
      systems including transporters that recognize glutamine. Biodistribution and
      small animal PET/CT studies in the mouse DBT model of glioblastoma showed that
      both (R)- and (S)-[(18)F]FAMPe have good tumor imaging properties with the (S)
      enantiomer providing higher tumor uptake and tumor to brain ratios. Comparison of
      the SUVs showed that (S)-[(18)F]FAMPe had higher tumor to brain ratios compared
      to (S)-[(18)F]FET, a well-established system L substrate. 

PMID- 25843370
TI  - Prenatal immune activation alters hippocampal place cell firing characteristics
      in adult animals.
AB  - Prenatal maternal immune activation (MIA) is a risk factor for several
      developmental neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism, bipolar disorder and
      schizophrenia. Adults with these disorders display alterations in memory function
      that may result from changes in the structure and function of the hippocampus. In
      the present study we use an animal model to investigate the effect that a
      transient prenatal maternal immune activation episode has on the spatially
      modulated firing activity of hippocampal neurons in adult animals. MIA was
      induced in pregnant rat dams with a single injection of the synthetic cytokine
      inducer polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (poly I:C) on gestational day 15. Control
      dams were given a saline equivalent. Firing activity and local field potentials
      (LFPs) were recorded from the CA1 region of the adult male offspring of these
      dams as they moved freely in an open arena. Most neurons displayed characteristic
      spatially-modulated 'place cell' firing activity and while there was no between
      group difference in mean firing rate between groups, place cells had smaller
      place fields in MIA-exposed animals when compared to control-group cells. Cells
      recorded in MIA-group animals also displayed an altered firing-phase synchrony
      relationship to simultaneously recorded LFPs. When the floor of the arena was
      rotated, the place fields of MIA-group cells were more likely to shift in the
      same direction as the floor rotation, suggesting that local cues may have been
      more salient for these animals. In contrast, place fields in control group cells
      were more likely to shift firing position to novel spatial locations suggesting
      an altered response to contextual cues. These findings show that a single MIA
      intervention is sufficient to change several important characteristics of
      hippocampal place cell activity in adult offspring. These changes could
      contribute to the memory dysfunction that is associated with MIA, by altering the
      encoding of spatial context and by disrupting plasticity mechanisms that are
      dependent on spike timing synchrony. 

PMID- 25843371
TI  - Long-lasting pro-inflammatory suppression of microglia by LPS-preconditioning is
      mediated by RelB-dependent epigenetic silencing.
AB  - Microglia, the innate immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), react to
      endotoxins like bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) with a pronounced
      inflammatory response. To avoid excess damage to the CNS, the microglia
      inflammatory response needs to be tightly regulated. Here we report that a single
      LPS challenge results in a prolonged blunted pro-inflammatory response to a
      subsequent LPS stimulation, both in primary microglia cultures (100 ng/ml) and in
      vivo after intraperitoneal (0.25 and 1mg/kg) or intracerebroventricular (5 MUg)
      LPS administration. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiments with primary
      microglia and microglia acutely isolated from mice showed that LPS
      preconditioning was accompanied by a reduction in active histone modifications
      AcH3 and H3K4me3 in the promoters of the IL-1beta and TNF-alpha genes.
      Furthermore, LPS preconditioning resulted in an increase in the amount of
      repressive histone modification H3K9me2 in the IL-1beta promoter. ChIP and knock
      down experiments showed that NF-kappaB subunit RelB was bound to the IL-1beta
      promoter in preconditioned microglia and that RelB is required for the attenuated
      LPS response. In addition to a suppressed pro-inflammatory response,
      preconditioned primary microglia displayed enhanced phagocytic activity,
      increased outward potassium currents and nitric oxide production in response to a
      second LPS challenge. In vivo, a single i.p. LPS injection resulted in reduced
      performance in a spatial learning task 4 weeks later, indicating that a single
      inflammatory episode affected memory formation in these mice. Summarizing, we
      show that LPS-preconditioned microglia acquire an epigenetically regulated,
      immune-suppressed phenotype, possibly to prevent excessive damage to the central
      nervous system in case of recurrent (peripheral) inflammation.

PMID- 25843372
TI  - Ultrasound-Guided Distal Bicep Tendon Injection Using a Posterior Approach.
AB  - Distal biceps tendinopathy is an uncommon but increasingly diagnosed condition in
      persons with elbow pain. When traditional treatments are unsuccessful,
      practitioners have performed ultrasound (US)-guided tendon injections in this
      region using an anterior approach. Although success has been reported with this
      technique, this approach may lead to neurovascular injury. This case report is
      the first in the literature to describe a US-guided distal bicep tendon injection
      using a posterior approach. The patient had an excellent clinical outcome with no
      adverse events. This outcome suggests that a US-guided posterior percutaneous
      tendon injection might be a safe, viable, nonsurgical option for recalcitrant
      distal biceps tendinopathy. 

PMID- 25843373
TI  - Eight challenges in modelling infectious livestock diseases.
AB  - The transmission of infectious diseases of livestock does not differ in principle
      from disease transmission in any other animals, apart from that the aim of
      control is ultimately economic, with the influence of social, political and
      welfare constraints often poorly defined. Modelling of livestock diseases suffers
      simultaneously from a wealth and a lack of data. On the one hand, the ability to
      conduct transmission experiments, detailed within-host studies and track
      individual animals between geocoded locations make livestock diseases a
      particularly rich potential source of realistic data for illuminating biological
      mechanisms of transmission and conducting explicit analyses of contact networks.
      On the other hand, scarcity of funding, as compared to human diseases, often
      results in incomplete and partial data for many livestock diseases and regions of
      the world. In this overview of challenges in livestock disease modelling, we
      highlight eight areas unique to livestock that, if addressed, would mark major
      progress in the area. 

PMID- 25843374
TI  - Thirteen challenges in modelling plant diseases.
AB  - The underlying structure of epidemiological models, and the questions that models
      can be used to address, do not necessarily depend on the host organism in
      question. This means that certain preoccupations of plant disease modellers are
      similar to those of modellers of diseases in human, livestock and wild animal
      populations. However, a number of aspects of plant epidemiology are very
      distinctive, and this leads to specific challenges in modelling plant diseases,
      which in turn sets a certain agenda for modellers. Here we outline a selection of
      13 challenges, specific to plant disease epidemiology, that we feel are important
      targets for future work. 

PMID- 25843375
TI  - Seven challenges in modeling vaccine preventable diseases.
AB  - Vaccination has been one of the most successful public health measures since the
      introduction of basic sanitation. Substantial mortality and morbidity reductions
      have been achieved via vaccination against many infections, and the list of
      diseases that are potentially controllable by vaccines is growing steadily. We
      introduce key challenges for modeling in shaping our understanding and guiding
      policy decisions related to vaccine preventable diseases. 

PMID- 25843376
TI  - Seven challenges for modelling indirect transmission: vector-borne diseases,
      macroparasites and neglected tropical diseases.
AB  - Many of the challenges which face modellers of directly transmitted pathogens
      also arise when modelling the epidemiology of pathogens with indirect
      transmission--whether through environmental stages, vectors, intermediate hosts
      or multiple hosts. In particular, understanding the roles of different hosts, how
      to measure contact and infection patterns, heterogeneities in contact rates, and
      the dynamics close to elimination are all relevant challenges, regardless of the
      mode of transmission. However, there remain a number of challenges that are
      specific and unique to modelling vector-borne diseases and macroparasites.
      Moreover, many of the neglected tropical diseases which are currently targeted
      for control and elimination are vector-borne, macroparasitic, or both, and so
      this article includes challenges which will assist in accelerating the control of
      these high-burden diseases. Here, we discuss the challenges of indirect measures
      of infection in humans, whether through vectors or transmission life stages and
      in estimating the contribution of different host groups to transmission. We also
      discuss the issues of "evolution-proof" interventions against vector-borne
      disease.

PMID- 25843377
TI  - Nine challenges in incorporating the dynamics of behaviour in infectious diseases
      models.
AB  - Traditionally, the spread of infectious diseases in human populations has been
      modelled with static parameters. These parameters, however, can change when
      individuals change their behaviour. If these changes are themselves influenced by
      the disease dynamics, there is scope for mechanistic models of behaviour to
      improve our understanding of this interaction. Here, we present challenges in
      modelling changes in behaviour relating to disease dynamics, specifically: how to
      incorporate behavioural changes in models of infectious disease dynamics, how to
      inform measurement of relevant behaviour to parameterise such models, and how to
      determine the impact of behavioural changes on observed disease dynamics. 

PMID- 25843378
TI  - Eight challenges in modelling disease ecology in multi-host, multi-agent systems.
AB  - Many disease systems exhibit complexities not captured by current theoretical and
      empirical work. In particular, systems with multiple host species and multiple
      infectious agents (i.e., multi-host, multi-agent systems) require novel methods
      to extend the wealth of knowledge acquired studying primarily single-host, single
      agent systems. We outline eight challenges in multi-host, multi-agent systems
      that could substantively increase our knowledge of the drivers and broader
      ecosystem effects of infectious disease dynamics. 

PMID- 25843379
TI  - Five challenges in modelling interacting strain dynamics.
AB  - Population epidemiological models where hosts can be infected sequentially by
      different strains have the potential to help us understand many important
      diseases. Researchers have in recent years started to develop and use such
      models, but the extra layer of complexity from multiple strains brings with it
      many technical challenges. It is therefore hard to build models which have
      realistic assumptions yet are tractable. Here we outline some of the main
      challenges in this area. First we begin with the fundamental question of how to
      translate from complex small-scale dynamics within a host to useful population
      models. Next we consider the nature of so-called "strain space". We describe two
      key types of host heterogeneities, and explain how models could help generate a
      better understanding of their effects. Finally, for diseases with many strains,
      we consider the challenge of modelling how immunity accumulates over multiple
      exposures. 

PMID- 25843380
TI  - Nine challenges in modelling the emergence of novel pathogens.
AB  - Studying the emergence of novel infectious agents involves many processes
      spanning host species, spatial scales, and scientific disciplines. Mathematical
      models play an essential role in combining insights from these investigations and
      drawing robust inferences from field and experimental data. We describe nine
      challenges in modelling the emergence of novel pathogens, emphasizing the
      interface between models and data. 

PMID- 25843381
TI  - Five challenges in evolution and infectious diseases.
AB  - Evolution is a key aspect of the biology of many pathogens, driving processes
      ranging from immune escape to changes in virulence. Because evolution is
      inherently subject to feedbacks, and because pathogen evolution plays out at
      scales ranging from within-host to between-host and beyond, evolutionary
      questions provide special challenges to the modelling community. In this article,
      we provide an overview of five challenges in modelling the evolution of pathogens
      and their hosts, and point to areas for development, focussing in particular on
      the issue of linking theory and data. 

PMID- 25843382
TI  - Seven challenges in modeling pathogen dynamics within-host and across scales.
AB  - The population dynamics of infectious disease is a mature field in terms of
      theory and to some extent, application. However for microparasites, the theory
      and application of models of the dynamics within a single infected host is still
      an open field. Further, connecting across the scales--from cellular to host
      level, to population level--has potential to vastly improve our understanding of
      pathogen dynamics and evolution. Here, we highlight seven challenges in the
      following areas: transmission bottlenecks, heterogeneity within host, dynamic
      fitness landscapes within hosts, making use of next-generation sequencing data,
      capturing superinfection and when and how to model more than two scales.

PMID- 25843383
TI  - Nine challenges for deterministic epidemic models.
AB  - Deterministic models have a long history of being applied to the study of
      infectious disease epidemiology. We highlight and discuss nine challenges in this
      area. The first two concern the endemic equilibrium and its stability. We
      indicate the need for models that describe multi-strain infections, infections
      with time-varying infectivity, and those where superinfection is possible. We
      then consider the need for advances in spatial epidemic models, and draw
      attention to the lack of models that explore the relationship between
      communicable and non-communicable diseases. The final two challenges concern the
      uses and limitations of deterministic models as approximations to stochastic
      systems. 

PMID- 25843384
TI  - Five challenges for stochastic epidemic models involving global transmission.
AB  - The most basic stochastic epidemic models are those involving global
      transmission, meaning that infection rates depend only on the type and state of
      the individuals involved, and not on their location in the population. Simple as
      they are, there are still several open problems for such models. For example,
      when will such an epidemic go extinct and with what probability (questions
      depending on the population being fixed, changing or growing)? How can a model be
      defined explaining the sometimes observed scenario of frequent mid-sized epidemic
      outbreaks? How can evolution of the infectious agent transmission rates be
      modelled and fitted to data in a robust way? 

PMID- 25843385
TI  - Eight challenges for network epidemic models.
AB  - Networks offer a fertile framework for studying the spread of infection in human
      and animal populations. However, owing to the inherent high-dimensionality of
      networks themselves, modelling transmission through networks is mathematically
      and computationally challenging. Even the simplest network epidemic models
      present unanswered questions. Attempts to improve the practical usefulness of
      network models by including realistic features of contact networks and of host
      pathogen biology (e.g. waning immunity) have made some progress, but robust
      analytical results remain scarce. A more general theory is needed to understand
      the impact of network structure on the dynamics and control of infection. Here we
      identify a set of challenges that provide scope for active research in the field
      of network epidemic models. 

PMID- 25843386
TI  - Seven challenges for metapopulation models of epidemics, including households
      models.
AB  - This paper considers metapopulation models in the general sense, i.e. where the
      population is partitioned into sub-populations (groups, patches,...),
      irrespective of the biological interpretation they have, e.g. spatially
      segregated large sub-populations, small households or hosts themselves modelled
      as populations of pathogens. This framework has traditionally provided an
      attractive approach to incorporating more realistic contact structure into
      epidemic models, since it often preserves analytic tractability (in stochastic as
      well as deterministic models) but also captures the most salient structural
      inhomogeneity in contact patterns in many applied contexts. Despite the progress
      that has been made in both the theory and application of such metapopulation
      models, we present here several major challenges that remain for future work,
      focusing on models that, in contrast to agent-based ones, are amenable to
      mathematical analysis. The challenges range from clarifying the usefulness of
      systems of weakly-coupled large sub-populations in modelling the spread of
      specific diseases to developing a theory for endemic models with household
      structure. They include also developing inferential methods for data on the
      emerging phase of epidemics, extending metapopulation models to more complex
      forms of human social structure, developing metapopulation models to reflect
      spatial population structure, developing computationally efficient methods for
      calculating key epidemiological model quantities, and integrating within- and
      between-host dynamics in models. 

PMID- 25843387
TI  - Five challenges for spatial epidemic models.
AB  - Infectious disease incidence data are increasingly available at the level of the
      individual and include high-resolution spatial components. Therefore, we are now
      better able to challenge models that explicitly represent space. Here, we
      consider five topics within spatial disease dynamics: the construction of network
      models; characterising threshold behaviour; modelling long-distance interactions;
      the appropriate scale for interventions; and the representation of population
      heterogeneity. 

PMID- 25843388
TI  - Six challenges in measuring contact networks for use in modelling.
AB  - Contact networks are playing an increasingly important role in epidemiology. A
      contact network represents individuals in a host population as nodes and the
      interactions among them that may lead to the transmission of infection as edges.
      New avenues for data collection in recent years have afforded us the opportunity
      to collect individual- and population-scale information to empirically describe
      the patterns of contact within host populations. Here, we present some of the
      current challenges in measuring empirical contact networks. We address
      fundamental questions such as defining contact; measurement of non-trivial
      contact properties; practical issues of bounding measurement of contact networks
      in space, time and scope; exploiting proxy information about contacts; dealing
      with missing data. Finally, we consider the privacy and ethical issues
      surrounding the collection of contact network data. 

PMID- 25843389
TI  - Seven challenges for model-driven data collection in experimental and
      observational studies.
AB  - Infectious disease models are both concise statements of hypotheses and powerful
      techniques for creating tools from hypotheses and theories. As such, they have
      tremendous potential for guiding data collection in experimental and
      observational studies, leading to more efficient testing of hypotheses and more
      robust study designs. In numerous instances, infectious disease models have
      played a key role in informing data collection, including the Garki project
      studying malaria, the response to the 2009 pandemic of H1N1 influenza in the
      United Kingdom and studies of T-cell immunodynamics in mammals. However, such
      synergies remain the exception rather than the rule; and a close marriage of
      dynamic modeling and empirical data collection is far from the norm in infectious
      disease research. Overcoming the challenges to using models to inform data
      collection has the potential to accelerate innovation and to improve practice in
      how we deal with infectious disease threats. 

PMID- 25843390
TI  - Four key challenges in infectious disease modelling using data from multiple
      sources.
AB  - Public health-related decision-making on policies aimed at controlling epidemics
      is increasingly evidence-based, exploiting multiple sources of data. Policy
      makers rely on complex models that are required to be robust, realistically
      approximating epidemics and consistent with all relevant data. Meeting these
      requirements in a statistically rigorous and defendable manner poses a number of
      challenging problems. How to weight evidence from different datasets and handle
      dependence between them, efficiently estimate and critically assess complex
      models are key challenges that we expound in this paper, using examples from
      influenza modelling. 

PMID- 25843392
TI  - Six challenges in modelling for public health policy.
AB  - The World Health Organisation's definition of public health refers to all
      organized measures to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong life among the
      population as a whole (World Health Organization, 2014). Mathematical modelling
      plays an increasingly important role in helping to guide the most high impact and
      cost-effective means of achieving these goals. Public health programmes are
      usually implemented over a long period of time with broad benefits to many in the
      community. Clinical trials are seldom large enough to capture these effects.
      Observational data may be used to evaluate a programme after it is underway, but
      have limited value in helping to predict the future impact of a proposed policy.
      Furthermore, public health practitioners are often required to respond to new
      threats, for which there is little or no previous data on which to assess the
      threat. Computational and mathematical models can help to assess potential
      threats and impacts early in the process, and later aid in interpreting data from
      complex and multifactorial systems. As such, these models can be critical tools
      in guiding public health action. However, there are a number of challenges in
      achieving a successful interface between modelling and public health. Here, we
      discuss some of these challenges. 

PMID- 25843391
TI  - Eight challenges in phylodynamic inference.
AB  - The field of phylodynamics, which attempts to enhance our understanding of
      infectious disease dynamics using pathogen phylogenies, has made great strides in
      the past decade. Basic epidemiological and evolutionary models are now well
      characterized with inferential frameworks in place. However, significant
      challenges remain in extending phylodynamic inference to more complex systems.
      These challenges include accounting for evolutionary complexities such as
      changing mutation rates, selection, reassortment, and recombination, as well as
      epidemiological complexities such as stochastic population dynamics, host
      population structure, and different patterns at the within-host and between-host
      scales. An additional challenge exists in making efficient inferences from an
      ever increasing corpus of sequence data. 

PMID- 25843393
TI  - Six challenges in the eradication of infectious diseases.
AB  - Eradication and elimination are increasingly a part of the global health agenda.
      Once control measures have driven infection to low levels, the ecology of disease
      may change posing challenges for eradication efforts. These challenges vary from
      identifying pockets of susceptibles, improving monitoring during and after the
      endgame, to quantifying the economics of disease eradication versus sustained
      control, all of which are shaped and influenced by processes of loss of immunity,
      susceptible build-up, emergence of resistance, population heterogeneities and non
      compliance with control measures. Here we discuss how modelling can be used to
      address these challenges. 

PMID- 25843395
TI  - Challenges in modelling infectious disease dynamics: preface.

PMID- 25843394
TI  - Modelling challenges in context: lessons from malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis.
AB  - Malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis (TB) collectively account for several million
      deaths each year, with all three ranking among the top ten killers in low-income
      countries. Despite being caused by very different organisms, malaria, HIV, and TB
      present a suite of challenges for mathematical modellers that are particularly
      pronounced in these infections, but represent general problems in infectious
      disease modelling, and highlight many of the challenges described throughout this
      issue. Here, we describe some of the unifying challenges that arise in modelling
      malaria, HIV, and TB, including variation in dynamics within the host, diversity
      in the pathogen, and heterogeneity in human contact networks and behaviour.
      Through the lens of these three pathogens, we provide specific examples of the
      other challenges in this issue and discuss their implications for informing
      public health efforts. 

PMID- 25843396
TI  - Women undergoing Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass surgery: Family resemblance in pre- to
      postsurgery physical activity and sedentary behavior in children and spouses.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) surgery among women often greatly
      decreases their body size. It may also change their spouses', children's, and
      their own physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) patterns.
      OBJECTIVES: The aim was objectively to measure and compare pre- to postsurgery
      changes in different PA intensities and SB in children and spouses 3 months
      before and 9 months after maternal RYGB. METHODS: Recruitment from RYGB waiting
      lists at 5 Swedish hospitals generated a study population of 56 women, with 75
      children aged 7-14 years, and 33 spouses. PA was measured over one week using tri
      axial Actigraph GT3 X+accelerometers, and anthropometric measures were taken at
      home visits 3 months before and 9 months after maternal surgery. RESULTS: Mean
      time spent on moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) by children pre- and postsurgery was
      76.3 (SD 40.6) and 65.3 (SD 31.5) min/d, respectively, by spouses 31.2 (SD 18.0)
      and 33.6 (SD 18.1), and by the women 32.9 (SD 23.4.0) and 34.3 (SD 28.6). Mean
      time spent sedentary by children pre- and postsurgery was 320.7 (SD 143.4) and
      374.4 (SD 123.3) min/d, respectively, by spouses 423.7 (SD 141.5) and 472.1 (SD
      145.9), and by the women 425.5 (SD 138.2) and 420.0 (SD 127.8). CONCLUSIONS:
      Between 3 months before and 9 months after RYGB, objective measurements showed a
      significant decrease in MVPA and an increase in SB among children, but no
      differences were observed for spouses or women. Interventions may be needed to
      promote PA within the family after mothers' RYGB surgery.

PMID- 25843398
TI  - Comment on: Preoperative glucocorticoid use and risk of postoperative bleeding
      and infection after gastric bypass surgery for the treatment of obesity.

PMID- 25843397
TI  - Comparison of the effects of Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy and LRYGB with small
      stomach pouch on type 2 diabetes mellitus in patients with BMI<35 kg/m(2).
AB  - BACKGROUND:  OBJECTIVE: Based on distinct epidemiologic features of Chinese type
      2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, who tend to have abdominal fat deposition,
      but with normal or mildly overweight epidemiologic features, our center initially
      had treated T2DM with body mass index (BMI)<35 kg/m2 by performing laparoscopic
      Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy since 2008. This procedure is successful in treating
      abnormal glucose metabolism but not in improving abdominal visceral obesity.
      However, since 2011, laparoscopic Roux-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) with a small
      stomach pouch has been performed at our center, with prominent resolution of
      abdominal visceral obesity and lower incidences of postoperative complications.
      The purpose of the present study was to formally compare these different
      procedures. METHODS: From 2011 to 2013, 60 patients who met the NIH criteria were
      recruited and randomly assigned to undergo either laparoscopic Roux-en-Y
      gastrojejunostomy (n = 30) or LRYGB with a small stomach pouch (n = 30). All of
      the patients were followed for 12 months, and pre- and postoperative changes in
      BMI, waist circumference, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), postprandial plasma
      glucose (PBG), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), homoeostatic model assessment (HOMA
      IR), the body fat rate and major complications were recorded. RESULTS: Both
      procedures were successful in reducing HbA1c, FPG, and PBG levels and HOMA-IR
      scores. However, LRYGB with a small stomach pouch resulted in a greater reduction
      in FPG, PBG, and HbA1c levels, and HOMA-IR scores compared with Roux-en-Y
      gastrojejunostomy. In addition, the reductions in BMI, body fat content, waist
      circumference, and the incidence of postoperative marginal ulcers in the small
      stomach-pouch LRYGB were significant. CONCLUSIONS: Both procedures are effective
      treatments for T2DM patients with BMI<35 kg/m2. However, the advantages of
      resolved abnormal glucose metabolism and abdominal visceral obesity and decreased
      incidences of surgical complications are more obvious for LRYGB with a small
      gastric pouch. Potentially, LRYGB with a small gastric pouch is more suitable for
      Chinese diabetic patients with BMI <35 kg/m2.

PMID- 25843399
TI  - Algorithmic approach to utilization of CT scans for detection of internal hernia
      in the gastric bypass patient.
AB  - BACKGROUND: While surgical exploration remains the gold standard for diagnosing
      internal hernia (IH) after certain bariatric surgeries, decisions for operative
      intervention are often based on computed tomography (CT) findings. OBJECTIVES:
      The aim of this study is to review our institutional experience and create an
      algorithm to approach patients presenting with abdominal pain and/or emesis after
      certain bariatric procedures. SETTINGS: University Hospital METHODS: Following
      institutional review board approval, a retrospective chart review of all patients
      presenting with obstruction symptoms after laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass
      (LRYGB) was performed at 2 institutions from 2008 to 2013. Patients without CT
      scans or with incidental hernia defect findings were excluded. CT and
      intraoperative findings were compared via univariate statistical analysis.
      RESULTS: Fifty-two patients who underwent an operation for a suspected IH were
      identified. Of the 50 patients, 25 (50%) had IH at operation. Twenty-nine
      patients (58%) had positive CT scans read for IH and/or obstruction. Of these 29,
      19 (66%) were found to have IH at operation and 10 (34%) underwent negative
      diagnostic laparoscopy. Of the 21 patients with negative CT scans, 6 (29%) had IH
      at operation versus 15 (71%) who were negative. The sensitivity of CT scan to
      detect an internal hernia is 76% with 95% confidence interval (CI) [53% to 90%]
      and specificity is 60% with 95% CI [39% to 78%]. Sensitivity increased to 96%
      with 95% CI [78% to 99.8%] when combining CT scans with neutrophilia findings.
      CONCLUSION: Positive CT scans are sensitive for IH but not specific. CT scans
      will not detect IH in 1:4 patients; despite negative findings, surgical
      exploration should remain the gold standard for patients with acute abdominal
      pain after LRYGB or biliopancreatic diversion when IH is a consideration.

PMID- 25843400
TI  - D-Serine rescues the deficits of hippocampal long-term potentiation and learning
      and memory induced by sodium fluoroacetate.
AB  - It is well known that bidirectional glia-neuron interactions play important roles
      in the neurophysiological and neuropathological processes. It is reported that
      impairing glial functions with sodium fluoroacetate (FAC) impaired hippocampal
      long-term depression (LTD) and spatial memory retrieval. However, it remains
      unknown whether FAC impairs hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) and learning
      and/or memory, and if so, whether pharmacological treatment with exogenous d
      serine can recuse the impairment. Here, we reported that systemic administration
      of FAC (3mg/kg, i.p.) before training resulted in dramatic impairments of spatial
      learning and memory in water maze and fear memory in contextual fear
      conditioning. Furthermore, the behavioral deficits were accompanied by impaired
      LTP induction in the hippocampal CA1 area of brain slices. More importantly,
      exogenous d-serine treatment succeeded in recusing the deficits of hippocampal
      LTP and learning and memory induced by FAC. Together, these results suggest that
      astrocytic d-serine may be essential for hippocampal synaptic plasticity and
      memory, and that alteration of its levels may be relevant to the induction and
      potentially treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders. 

PMID- 25843401
TI  - Lengthening of the Stargazin Cytoplasmic Tail Increases Synaptic Transmission by
      Promoting Interaction to Deeper Domains of PSD-95.
AB  - PSD-95 is a prominent organizer of the postsynaptic density (PSD) that can
      present a filamentous orientation perpendicular to the plasma membrane.
      Interactions between PSD-95 and transmembrane proteins might be particularly
      sensitive to this orientation, as "long" cytoplasmic tails might be required to
      reach deeper PSD-95 domains. Extension/retraction of transmembrane protein C
      tails offer a new way of regulating binding to PSD-95. Using stargazin as a
      model, we found that enhancing the apparent length of stargazin C-tail through
      phosphorylation or by an artificial linker was sufficient to potentiate binding
      to PSD-95, AMPAR anchoring, and synaptic transmission. A linear extension of
      stargazin C-tail facilitates binding to PSD-95 by preferentially engaging
      interaction with the farthest located PDZ domains regarding to the plasma
      membrane, which present a greater affinity for the stargazin PDZ-domain-binding
      motif. Our study reveals that the concerted orientation of the stargazin C-tail
      and PSD-95 is a major determinant of synaptic strength. 

PMID- 25843402
TI  - Distinct developmental origins manifest in the specialized encoding of movement
      by adult neurons of the external globus pallidus.
AB  - Transcriptional codes initiated during brain development are ultimately realized
      in adulthood as distinct cell types performing specialized roles in behavior.
      Focusing on the mouse external globus pallidus (GPe), we demonstrate that the
      potential contributions of two GABAergic GPe cell types to voluntary action are
      fated from early life to be distinct. Prototypic GPe neurons derive from the
      medial ganglionic eminence of the embryonic subpallium and express the
      transcription factor Nkx2-1. These neurons fire at high rates during alert rest,
      and encode movements through heterogeneous firing rate changes, with many neurons
      decreasing their activity. In contrast, arkypallidal GPe neurons originate from
      lateral/caudal ganglionic eminences, express the transcription factor FoxP2, fire
      at low rates during rest, and encode movements with robust increases in firing.
      We conclude that developmental diversity positions prototypic and arkypallidal
      neurons to fulfil distinct roles in behavior via their disparate regulation of
      GABA release onto different basal ganglia targets. 

PMID- 25843403
TI  - Retinoic Acid and LTP Recruit Postsynaptic AMPA Receptors Using Distinct SNARE
      Dependent Mechanisms.
AB  - Retinoic acid (RA)-dependent homeostatic plasticity and NMDA receptor-dependent
      long-term potentiation (LTP), a form of Hebbian plasticity, both enhance synaptic
      strength by increasing the abundance of postsynaptic AMPA receptors (AMPARs).
      However, it is unclear whether the molecular mechanisms mediating AMPAR
      trafficking during homeostatic and Hebbian plasticity differ, and it is unknown
      how RA signaling impacts Hebbian plasticity. Here, we show that RA increases
      postsynaptic AMPAR abundance using an activity-dependent mechanism that requires
      a unique SNARE (soluble NSF-attachment protein receptor)-dependent fusion
      machinery different from that mediating LTP. Specifically, RA-induced AMPAR
      trafficking did not involve complexin, which activates SNARE complexes containing
      syntaxin-1 or -3, but not complexes containing syntaxin-4, whereas LTP required
      complexin. Moreover, RA-induced AMPAR trafficking utilized the Q-SNARE syntaxin
      4, whereas LTP utilized syntaxin-3; both additionally required the Q-SNARE SNAP
      47 and the R-SNARE synatobrevin-2. Finally, acute RA treatment blocked subsequent
      LTP expression, probably by increasing AMPAR trafficking. Thus, RA-induced
      homeostatic plasticity involves a novel, activity-dependent postsynaptic AMPAR
      trafficking pathway mediated by a unique SNARE-dependent fusion machinery.

PMID- 25843404
TI  - Circuit mechanisms underlying motor memory formation in the cerebellum.
AB  - The cerebellum stores associative motor memories essential for properly timed
      movement; however, the mechanisms by which these memories form and are acted upon
      remain unclear. To determine how cerebellar activity relates to movement and
      motor learning, we used optogenetics to manipulate spontaneously firing Purkinje
      neurons (PNs) in mouse simplex lobe. Using high-speed videography and motion
      tracking, we found that altering PN activity produced rapid forelimb movement. PN
      inhibition drove movements time-locked to stimulus onset, whereas PN excitation
      drove delayed movements time-locked to stimulus offset. Pairing either PN
      inhibition or excitation with sensory stimuli triggered the formation of robust,
      associative motor memories; however, PN excitation led to learned movements whose
      timing more closely matched training intervals. These findings implicate
      inhibition of PNs as a teaching signal, consistent with a model whereby learning
      leads first to reductions in PN firing that subsequently instruct circuit changes
      in the cerebellar nucleus. 

PMID- 25843406
TI  - Sensory inputs to intercalated cells provide fear-learning modulated inhibition
      to the basolateral amygdala.
AB  - Increasing evidence suggests that parallel plastic processes in the amygdala
      involve inhibitory elements to control fear and extinction memory. GABAergic
      medial paracapsular intercalated cells (mpITCs) are thought to relay activity
      from basolateral nucleus (BLA) and prefrontal cortex to inhibit central amygdala
      output during suppression of fear. Recently, projection diversity and
      differential behavioral activation of mpITCs in distinct fear states suggest
      additional functions. Here, we show that mpITCs receive convergent sensory
      thalamic and cortical inputs that undergo fear learning-related changes and are
      dynamically modulated via presynaptic GABAB receptors recruited by GABA released
      from the mpITC network. Among mpITCs, we identify cells that inhibit but are also
      mutually activated by BLA principal neurons. Thus, mpITCs take part in fear
      learning-modulated feedforward and feedback inhibitory circuits to simultaneously
      control amygdala input and output nuclei. Our findings place mpITCs in a unique
      position to gate acquired amygdala-dependent behaviors via their direct sensory
      inputs.

PMID- 25843405
TI  - Inhibitory and excitatory spike-timing-dependent plasticity in the auditory
      cortex.
AB  - Synapses are plastic and can be modified by changes in spike timing. Whereas most
      studies of long-term synaptic plasticity focus on excitation, inhibitory
      plasticity may be critical for controlling information processing, memory
      storage, and overall excitability in neural circuits. Here we examine spike
      timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) of inhibitory synapses onto layer 5 neurons in
      slices of mouse auditory cortex, together with concomitant STDP of excitatory
      synapses. Pairing pre- and postsynaptic spikes potentiated inhibitory inputs
      irrespective of precise temporal order within ~10 ms. This was in contrast to
      excitatory inputs, which displayed an asymmetrical STDP time window. These
      combined synaptic modifications both required NMDA receptor activation and
      adjusted the excitatory-inhibitory ratio of events paired with postsynaptic
      spiking. Finally, subthreshold events became suprathreshold, and the time window
      between excitation and inhibition became more precise. These findings demonstrate
      that cortical inhibitory plasticity requires interactions with co-activated
      excitatory synapses to properly regulate excitatory-inhibitory balance.

PMID- 25843408
TI  - Melatonin affects voltage-dependent calcium and potassium currents in MCF-7 cell
      line cultured either in growth or differentiation medium.
AB  - Big efforts have been dedicated up to now to identify novel targets for cancer
      treatment. The peculiar biophysical profile and the atypical ionic channels
      activity shown by diverse types of human cancers suggest that ion channels may be
      possible targets in cancer therapy. Earlier studies have shown that melatonin
      exerts an oncostatic action on different tumors. In particular, it was shown that
      melatonin was able to inhibit growth/viability and proliferation, to reduce the
      invasiveness and metastatic properties of human estrogen-sensitive breast
      adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cell line cultured in growth medium, with substantial
      impairments of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and Notch-1-mediated signaling. The
      purpose of this work was to evaluate on MCF-7 cells the possible effects of
      melatonin on the biophysical features known to have a role in proliferation and
      differentiation, by using the patch-clamp technique. Our results show that in
      cells cultured in growth as well as in differentiation medium melatonin caused a
      hyperpolarization of resting membrane potential paralleled by significant changes
      of the inward Ca(2+) currents (T- and L-type), outward delayed rectifier K(+)
      currents and cell capacitance. All these effects are involved in MCF-7 growth and
      differentiation. These findings strongly suggest that melatonin, acting as a
      modulator of different voltage-dependent ion channels, might be considered a new
      promising tool for specifically disrupting cell viability and differentiation
      pathways in tumour cells with possible beneficial effects on cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25843407
TI  - Neuronal Activity and CaMKII Regulate Kinesin-Mediated Transport of Synaptic
      AMPARs.
AB  - Excitatory glutamatergic synaptic transmission is critically dependent on
      maintaining an optimal number of postsynaptic AMPA receptors (AMPARs) at each
      synapse of a given neuron. Here, we show that presynaptic activity, postsynaptic
      potential, voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) and UNC-43, the C. elegans
      homolog of CaMKII, control synaptic strength by regulating motor-driven AMPAR
      transport. Genetic mutations in unc-43, or spatially and temporally restricted
      inactivation of UNC-43/CaMKII, revealed its essential roles in the transport of
      AMPARs from the cell body and in the insertion and removal of synaptic AMPARs. We
      found that an essential target of UNC-43/CaMKII is kinesin light chain and that
      mouse CaMKII rescued unc-43 mutants, suggesting conservation of function.
      Transient expression of UNC-43/CaMKII in adults rescued the transport defects,
      while optogenetic stimulation of select synapses revealed CaMKII's role in
      activity-dependent plasticity. Our results demonstrate unanticipated,
      fundamentally important roles for UNC-43/CaMKII in the regulation of synaptic
      strength. 

PMID- 25843409
TI  - Nalbuphine could decrease the rewarding effect induced by tramadol in mice while
      enhancing its antinociceptive activity.
AB  - Nalbuphine, a kappa-opioid agonist and mu-opioid partial agonist, has been used
      as an analgesic or an adjuvant with morphine to attenuate the development of
      morphine dependence and rewarding effect. In this study, we investigated the
      effect of nalbuphine on tramadol rewarding effect and antinociception. Using the
      conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm in mice, we demonstrated that co
      administration of nalbuphine (7mg/kg, s.c.) with tramadol (70mg/kg, s.c.) during
      conditioning completely blocked the CPP induced by tramadol. Co-administration of
      nalbuphine blocked the increase in dopamine level in the nucleus accumbens
      induced by tramadol. These actions were accompanied by an increase rather than
      attenuation of the antinociceptive effect of tramadol. These results suggest that
      nalbuphine could have a great potential as a pharmacotherapy for tramadol abuse. 

PMID- 25843410
TI  - Elements in support of the 'non-identity' of the PGRMC1 protein with the sigma2
      receptor.
AB  - sigma2 Receptor subtype is overexpressed in a variety of human tumors, with
      sigma2 agonists showing antiproliferative effects towards tumor cells through
      multiple pathways that depend both on the tumor cell type and on the molecule
      type. Therefore, sigma2 receptor is an intriguing target for tumor diagnosis and
      treatment despite the fact that that it has not yet been cloned. One of the last
      attempts to characterize sigma2 receptors led to identify it as the progesterone
      receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1). Although still controversial, such
      identity appears to have been accepted. We the aim of contributing to solve this
      controversy, in this work we stably silenced or overexpressed PGRMC1 protein in
      human MCF7 adenocarcinoma cells. Western blotting analyses were performed to
      quantify the presence of PGRMC1 protein on each of the three MCF7 cell lines
      variants, while scatchard analyses with radioligand were performed in order to
      determine the expression of the sigma2 receptors. In order to correlate the
      antiproliferative effect of sigma2 receptor agonist with PGRMC1 density, some
      sigma2 ligands were administered to each of the three MCF7 cells variants. The
      results suggested that PGRMC1 and sigma2 receptors are two different molecular
      entities. 

PMID- 25843411
TI  - SIRT1 inhibition in pancreatic cancer models: contrasting effects in vitro and in
      vivo.
AB  - Gemcitabine remains the standard treatment for pancreatic cancer, although most
      patients acquire resistance to the therapy. Up-regulated in pancreatic cancer,
      SIRT1 is involved in tumorigenesis and drug resistance. However the mechanism
      through which SIRT1 regulates drug sensitivity in cancer cells is mainly unknown.
      We hypothesise that inhibiting SIRT1 activity may increase sensitivity of
      pancreatic cancer cells to gemcitabine treatment through the regulation of
      apototic cell death, cell cycle, epithelial-mesenschymal-transition (EMT) and
      senescence. We demonstrate that gemcitabine or 6-Chloro-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1 H
      Carbazole-1-carboxamide (EX527) SIRT1 inhibitor reduces PANC-1 cell proliferation
      in vitro. EX527 enhanced sensitivity of PANC-1 cells to gemcitabine treatment
      through increased apoptosis. However, EX527 displayed no beneficial effect either
      as a monotreatment or in combination with gemcitabine in the modulation of cell
      cycle progression. Combination treatment did not reverse the two phenomena known
      to affect drug sensitivity, namely EMT and senescence, which are both induced by
      gemcitabine. Unexpectedly, EX527 promoted PANC-1 xenograft tumour growth in SCID
      mice compared to control group. Dual tX527 and gemcitabine displayed no
      synergistic effect compared to gemcitabine alone. The study reveals that SIRT1 is
      involved in chemoresistance and that inhibiting SIRT1 activity with EX527
      sensitised PANC-1 cells to gemcitabine treatment in vitro. Sensitisation of cells
      is shown to be mainly through induction of micronuclei formation as a result of
      DNA damage and apoptosis in vitro. However, the absence of positive combinatorial
      effects in vivo indicates possible effects on cells of the tumor microenvironment
      and suggests caution regarding the clinical relevance of tissue culture findings
      with EX527.

PMID- 25843412
TI  - Cutaneous iontophoresis of treprostinil, a prostacyclin analog, increases
      microvascular blood flux in diabetic malleolus area.
AB  - Diabetic foot ulcers are one of the most common and serious complications of
      diabetes mellitus. Few drugs are effective in enhancing the healing of
      microvascular skin ulcers. The main objective of the present study was to
      determine whether iontophoresis of treprostinil, a prostacyclin analog, increases
      skin microvascular blood flux in the malleolus area of healthy subjects and
      diabetic patients. We recruited 12 healthy subjects and 12 type 2 diabetic
      patients. Cathodal iontophoresis (40mC/cm2) of treprostinil 250uM and NaCl 0.9%
      was performed in the malleolus area. Skin hyperemia was quantified using non
      invasive laser speckle contrast imaging, and expressed as the area under the
      curve (AUC) of cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC). In healthy controls and
      diabetic patients, treprostinil 250uM induced a significant increase in CVC
      compared with NaCl (for diabetic patients, AUC0-6h was 19970+/-8697; versus
      2893+/-5481%BL.min, respectively; P=0.002). In both groups, the peak flux was
      obtained between 30min and 1h after the end of treprostinil iontophoresis and
      flux remained higher than baseline up to 6h after ending of iontophoresis. No
      significant side-effect occurred. Cutaneous iontophoresis of 250uM treprostinil
      increases microvascular blood flux in the malleolus area in healthy volunteers
      and diabetic patients, without inducing systemic or local side-effects.
      Treprostinil cathodal iontophoresis should be further investigated as a new local
      therapy for diabetic ulcers. 

PMID- 25843413
TI  - The interactive role of cannabinoid and vanilloid systems in hippocampal synaptic
      plasticity in rats.
AB  - Long-term potentiation (LTP) has been most thoroughly studied in the hippocampus,
      which has a key role in learning and memory. Endocannabinoids are one of the
      endogenous systems that modulate this kind of synaptic plasticity. The activation
      of the vanillioid system has also been shown to mediate synaptic plasticity in
      the hippocampus. In addition, immunohistochemical studies have shown that
      cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) and vanilloid receptor 1 (TRPV1) are closely
      located in the hippocampus. In this study, we examined the hippocampal effects of
      co-administrating WIN55-212-2 and capsaicin, which are CB1 and TRPV1 agonists,
      respectively, on the induction of LTP in the dentate gyrus (DG) of rats. LTP in
      the hippocampal area was induced by high-frequency stimulation (HFS). Our results
      indicated that the cannabinoid agonist reduced both field excitatory post
      synaptic potential (fEPSP) slope and population spike (PS) amplitude after HFS
      with respect to the control group, whereas the vanilloid agonist increased these
      parameters along with the increased induction of LTP as compared to the control
      group. We also showed that the co-administration of cannabinoid and vanilloid
      agonists had different effects on fEPSP slope and PS amplitude. It seems that
      agonists of the vanilloid system modulate cannabinoid outputs that cause an
      increase in synaptic plastisity, while in contemporary consumption of two
      agonist, TRPV1 agonist can change production of endocannabinoid, which in turn
      result to enhancement of LTP induction. These findings suggest that the two
      systems may interact or share certain common signaling pathways in the
      hippocampus.

PMID- 25843414
TI  - Arecoline inhibits intermediate-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels
      in human glioblastoma cell lines.
AB  - Arecoline (ARE) is an alkaloid-type natural product from areca nut. This compound
      has numerous pharmacological and toxicological effects. Whether this agent
      interacts with ion channels to perturb functional activity of cells remains
      unknown. The effects of ARE on ionic currents were studied in glioma cell lines
      (U373 and U87MG) using patch-clamp technique. Like TRAM-34(1-[(2-chlorophenyl)
      diphenylmethyl]pyrazole), ARE suppressed the amplitude of whole-cell voltage
      gated K(+) currents in U373 cells elicited by a ramp voltage clamp. In cell
      attached configuration, ARE did not modify the single-channel conductance of
      intermediate-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) (IKCa) channels; however, it did
      reduce channel activity. Its inhibition of IKCa channels was accompanied by a
      significant lengthening in the slow component of mean closed time of IKCa
      channels. Based on minimal kinetic scheme, the dissociation constant (KD)
      required for ARE-mediated prolongation of mean closed time was 11.2uM. ARE
      induced inhibition of IKCa channels was voltage-dependent. Inability of ARE to
      perturb the activity of large-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) (BKCa) channels
      was seen. Under current-clamp recordings, ARE depolarized the membrane of U373
      cells and DCEBIO reversed ARE-induced depolarization. Similarly, ARE suppressed
      IKCa-channel activities in oral keratinocytes. This study provides the evidence
      that ARE block IKCa channels in a concentration, voltage and state-dependent
      manner. ARE-induced block of IKCa channels is unrelated to the binding of
      muscarinic receptors. The effects of ARE on these channels may partially be
      responsible for the underlying cellular mechanisms by which it influences the
      functional activities of glioma cells or oral keratinocytes, if similar findings
      occur in vivo. 

PMID- 25843415
TI  - Effect of Age on Treatment Decision-Making in Elderly Patients With Acute Myeloid
      Leukemia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients aged >= 70 years with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have a
      poorer prognosis than those aged 60 to 69 years. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We
      retrospectively analyzed the cases of 183 patients aged >= 70 years with a
      performance status of <= 2 treated at our institution from 2000 to 2014.
      Treatment consisted of anthracycline- and cytarabine-based chemotherapy for 93
      patients and lower intensity therapy with low-dose cytarabine or hypomethylating
      agent cycles for 90 patients. RESULTS: A total of 57 patients (61%) achieved
      complete remission in the intensive chemotherapy group versus only 11 (12%) in
      the lower intensity treatment group (P < .0001). The median overall survival (OS)
      was 14.5 months and 11.7 months with a 3-year OS rate of 34% and 18% (P = .005)
      for the intensive and lower intensity groups, respectively. The difference
      remained significant when considering patients aged <= 75 years, but not for
      patients aged > 75 years. Similarly, a significant difference was only observed
      when considering favorable and intermediate cytogenetic factors (P = .007) but
      not unfavorable karyotypes. On multivariate analysis, age did not appear as an
      independent prognostic factor. CONCLUSION: With intensive chemotherapy, the
      median OS significantly increased after the introduction of an improved
      supportive care policy compared with historical controls (14 vs. 5.4 months, with
      a 3-year OS rate of 33% vs. 8%). After 2006, a more "personalized" therapeutic
      approach tended to erase the difference in terms of OS, especially in patients
      aged > 75 years.

PMID- 25843416
TI  - Evaluation of clinical and biological prognostic factors in relapsed or
      refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients after previous treatment with
      rituximab and chemotherapy: results of the PRO-R-IPI study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a heterogeneous entity,
      showing a highly variable outcome. In patients with DLBCL relapsed/refractory to
      first-line treatment with rituximab the usefulness of the revised International
      Prognostic Index (R-IPI) as a prognostic tool remains unexplored. Some biological
      parameters (B-cell lymphoma 6 [Bcl-6], Bcl-2, p53, and multiple myeloma 1 [MUM1])
      and blood populations (lymphocyte and monocyte counts) have been described as
      International Prognostic Index-independent prognostic factors. The objective was
      to evaluate the R-IPI to predict the outcome of DLBCL patients at the time of
      relapse after a front-line treatment with chemotherapy and rituximab and to
      establish in this population the relationship between biological parameters and
      outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We included patients with refractory/relapsed
      DLBCL after first-line treatment with rituximab-containing regimens; patients
      must have already finished a rescue treatment also including rituximab.
      Immunohistochemical assessment of Bcl-2, Bcl-6, p53, and MUM1 expression were
      undertaken in available biopsies. R-IPI factors were identified from the clinical
      data at diagnosis and at relapse. Response was assessed using National Cancer
      Institute-sponsored Working Group guidelines. RESULTS: R-IPI prognosis at relapse
      was not significantly associated with overall response rate (ORR) after Rituximab
      chemotherapy rescue therapy. None of the immunohistochemical parameters analyzed
      correlated with rescue therapy results. In contrast, patients with absolute
      lymphocyte count (ALC) >= 1 * 10(9)/L at relapse were more likely to respond than
      patients with ALC < 1 * 10(9)/L (P = .05). CONCLUSION: The R-IPI score calculated
      at relapse could not predict the ORR to second-line treatment. Lymphopenia is a
      simple and useful predictor for outcome in relapsed/refractory DLBCL and the only
      prognostic factor that in our hands could predict the overall response to a
      second-line treatment with rituximab and chemotherapy.

PMID- 25843417
TI  - Can 3D ultrasound identify trochlea dysplasia in newborns? Evaluation and
      applicability of a technique.
AB  - Femoro-patellar dysplasia is considered as a significant risk factor of patellar
      instability. Different studies suggest that the shape of the trochlea is already
      developed in early childhood. Therefore early identification of a dysplastic
      configuration might be relevant information for the treating physician. An easy
      applicable routine screening of the trochlea is yet not available. The purpose of
      this study was to establish and evaluate a screening method for femoro-patellar
      dysplasia using 3D ultrasound. From 2012 to 2013 we prospectively imaged 160
      consecutive femoro-patellar joints in 80 newborns from the 36th to 61st
      gestational week that underwent a routine hip sonography (Graf). All ultrasounds
      were performed by a pediatric radiologist with only minimal additional time to
      the routine hip ultrasound. In 30 degrees  flexion of the knee, axial, coronal,
      and sagittal reformats were used to standardize a reconstructed axial plane
      through the femoral condyle and the mid-patella. The sulcus angle, the lateral-to
      medial facet ratio of the trochlea and the shape of the patella (Wiberg
      Classification) were evaluated. In all examinations reconstruction of the
      standardized axial plane was achieved, the mean trochlea angle was 149.1 degrees 
      (SD 4.9 degrees ), the lateral-to-medial facet ratio of the trochlea ratio was
      1.3 (SD 0.22), and a Wiberg type I patella was found in 95% of the newborn. No
      statistical difference was detected between boys and girls. Using standardized
      reconstructions of the axial plane allows measurements to be made with lower
      operator dependency and higher accuracy in a short time. Therefore 3D ultrasound
      is an easy applicable and powerful tool to identify trochlea dysplasia in
      newborns and might be used for screening for trochlea dysplasia.

PMID- 25843418
TI  - Influence of technical parameters on epicardial fat volume quantification at
      cardiac CT.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To systematically analyze the influence of technical parameters on
      quantification of epicardial fat volume (EATV) at cardiac CT. METHODS: 153
      routine cardiac CT data sets were analyzed using three-dimensional pericardial
      border delineation. Three image series were reconstructed per patient: (a) CTAD:
      coronary CT angiography (CTA), diastolic phase; (b) CTAS: coronary CTA, systolic
      phase; (c) CaScD: non-contrast CT, diastolic phase. EATV was calculated using
      three different upper thresholds (-15HU, -30 HU, -45HU). Repeated measures ANOVA,
      Spearman's rho, and Bland Altman plots were used. RESULTS: Mean EATV differed
      between all three image series at a -30HU threshold (CTAD 87.2 +/- 38.5 ml, CTAS
      90.9 +/- 37.7 ml, CaScD 130.7 +/- 49.5 ml, P<0.001). EATV of diastolic and
      systolic CTA reconstructions did not differ significantly (P=0.225). Mean EATV
      for contrast enhanced CTA at a -15HU threshold (CTAD15 102.4 +/- 43.6 ml, CTAS15
      105.3 +/- 42.3 ml) could be approximated most closely by non-contrast CT at -45HU
      threshold (CaScD45 105.3 +/- 40.8 ml). The correlation was excellent: CTAS15
      CTAD15, rho=0.943; CTAD15-CaScD45, rho=0.905; CTAS15-CaScD45, rho=0.924; each
      P<0.001). Bias values from Bland Altman Analysis were: CTAS15-CTAD15, 4.9%;
      CTAD15-CaScD45, -4.3%; CTAS15-CaScD45, 0.6%. CONCLUSIONS: Measured EATV can
      differ substantially between contrast enhanced and non-contrast CT studies, which
      can be reconciled by threshold modification. Heart cycle phase does not
      significantly influence EATV measurements.

PMID- 25843419
TI  - Dasatinib enhances cisplatin sensitivity in human esophageal squamous cell
      carcinoma (ESCC) cells via suppression of PI3K/AKT and Stat3 pathways.
AB  - The clinical efficacy of cisplatin in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC)
      treatment remains undesirable. Src, a non-receptor tyrosine kinase involved in
      multiple fields of tumorigenesis, recently has been indicated as a promising
      therapeutic target in the treatment of solid tumors including ESCC. However,
      whether inhibition of Src activity can increase cisplatin efficacy in ESCC cells
      remains unknown. The present study found that inhibition of Src by its inhibitor
      dasatinib sensitized ESCC cells to cisplatin in vitro. Our data also suggest a
      likely mechanism for this synergy that dasatinib reduces expression of critical
      oncogenic members of the signaling pathways, such as AKT or Stat3, and cisplatin
      resistant molecules, such as ERCC1 and BRCA1, under the control of Src.
      Furthermore, dasatinib could sensitize ESCC cells to another platin-based agent,
      carboplatin. Therefore, this study provides a potential target for improving
      cisplatin efficacy in ESCC therapy. 

PMID- 25843420
TI  - Kinetic and hysteretic behavior of ATP hydrolysis of the highly stable dimeric
      ATP synthase of Polytomella sp.
AB  - The F1FO-ATP synthase of the colorless alga Polytomella sp. exhibits a robust
      peripheral arm constituted by nine atypical subunits only present in
      chlorophycean algae. The isolated dimeric enzyme exhibits a latent ATP hydrolytic
      activity which can be activated by some detergents. To date, the kinetic behavior
      of the algal ATPase has not been studied. Here we show that while the soluble F1
      sector exhibits Michaelis-Menten kinetics, the dimer exhibits a more complex
      behavior. The kinetic parameters (Vmax and Km) were obtained for both the F1
      sector and the dimeric enzyme as isolated or activated by detergent, and this
      activation was also seen on the enzyme reconstituted in liposomes. Unlike other
      ATP synthases, the algal dimer hydrolyzes ATP on a wide range of pH and
      temperature. The enzyme was inhibited by oligomycin, DCCD and Mg-ADP, although
      oligomycin induced a peculiar inhibition pattern that can be attributed to
      structural differences in the algal subunit-c. The hydrolytic activity was
      temperature-dependent and exhibited activation energy of 4 kcal/mol. The enzyme
      also exhibited a hysteretic behavior with a lag phase strongly dependent on
      temperature but not on pH, that may be related to a possible regulatory role in
      vivo.

PMID- 25843421
TI  - Retention time correction in gas chromatography by modeling concentration related
      effects, applied to the analysis of fatty acid methyl esters.
AB  - Constant and reproducible retention times are a basic requirement to allow the
      automatic peak assignment in complex gas chromatograms. Drifting retention times
      are best handled by frequent updates, based on reference peaks. Some refinements
      of this concept have been reported as well as alternative concepts, including
      pattern recognition algorithms to achieve ultimate precision; however, in
      applications requiring a wide concentration range, the effects of concentration
      on the retention time of individual peaks may become relevant, requiring special
      considerations. The analysis of fatty acid methyl esters is such an application.
      A model describing concentration related effects was drawn up and found to work
      best for this purpose. The precision of peak alignment could be improved by an
      order of magnitude, allowing reliable automation of routine analysis. 

PMID- 25843422
TI  - Isolation of two Delta5 polymethylene interrupted fatty acids from Podocarpus
      falcatus by countercurrent chromatography.
AB  - The lipids of gymnosperms frequently feature unusual polyunsaturated fatty acids
      (PUFAs) such as sciadonic acid (20:3Delta5,11,14) and juniperonic acid
      (20:4Delta5,11,14,17) showing a first double bond on C-5 which is separated from
      the next double bond by five methylene units. Compared to "classic" fatty acids,
      these fatty acids are not easily commercially available and their prices are
      quite high. For this reason, we wished to isolate those fatty acids from the seed
      oil of Podocarpus falcatus by countercurrent chromatography (CCC) after
      conversion of the fatty acids to methyl esters (FAMEs). The contribution of
      sciadonic acid (20:3Delta5,11,14) and juniperonic acid (20:4Delta5,11,14,17) in
      the unfractionated sample was 10% and 6% respectively, while oleic acid
      (18:1Delta9) and linoleic acid (18:2Delta9,12) were the major fatty acids. After
      a first CCC run with FAMEs from Podocarpus falcatus, fractions enriched in the
      target compounds were chosen for subsequent isolation by means of two subsequent
      CCC runs. Initially, 13mg of juniperonic acid was recovered with a purity of 92%
      according to analysis by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC/MS).
      Further purification of this fraction yielded 2.7mg with a purity of 99%
      according to GC/MS. The isolation of sciadonic acid was hampered by high amounts
      of linoleic acid with the same equivalent chain length in suitable fractions of
      the first CCC separation. After an enrichment step by CCC, the critical pair
      sciadonic acid and linoleic acid was finally separated as free fatty acids. After
      this step, 4.4mg of sciadonic acid was recovered with 99% purity. The methodology
      could also be applied to isolate larger amounts of those fatty acids or for the
      isolation of other minor fatty acids. 

PMID- 25843423
TI  - Separation and identification of oligomeric phenylethoxysiloxanols by liquid
      chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.
AB  - Liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry has been applied
      to qualitative analysis of oligomeric phenylethoxysiloxanols, a class of
      organosilanols as active intermediates to polyhedral silsesquioxanes. The
      phenylethoxysiloxanol samples were prepared by controlled acid-catalyzed
      hydrolysis and condensation of phenyltriethoxysilane at various molar equivalents
      of water (r1) and characterized by standard spectroscopic techniques. Using a
      gradient binary water-methanol mobile phase, these reaction products were
      resolved on octadecylsiloxane silica stationary phase and subsequently identified
      by online electrospray ionization mass spectrometric detection. Results show that
      the reaction products are composed of a multitude of linear and monocyclic
      siloxanol oligomers with various numbers of silicon atoms and hydroxyl groups,
      depending upon the reaction conditions used. With the r1 value increasing from
      0.5 to 2.0, the chain lengths of the oligomers increase slightly but the numbers
      of hydroxyl groups increase considerably, accompanying by structural evolution
      from chains to rings. Characterization of the retention behavior of these
      oligomers indicates that hydrophobic interactions of phenyl and ethoxy groups
      with the stationary phase are responsible for their retention in reversed-phase
      liquid chromatography. 

PMID- 25843425
TI  - Targeting hepatitis B virus cccDNA by CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease efficiently inhibits
      viral replication.
AB  - Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection causes liver cirrhosis and
      hepatocellular carcinoma and remains a serious health problem worldwide.
      Covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) in the liver cell nucleus sustains HBV
      infection. Major treatments for HBV infection include the use of interferon-alpha
      and nucleotide analogs, but they cannot eradicate cccDNA. As a novel tool for
      genome editing, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat
      (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system developed from bacteria can be
      used to accurately and efficiently engineer and modify genomic DNA. In this
      study, the CRISPR/Cas9 system was used to target the HBV genome and efficiently
      inhibit HBV infection. We synthesized four single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs) targeting
      the conserved regions of HBV. The expression of these sgRNAS with Cas9 reduced
      the viral production in Huh7 cells as well as in HBV-replication cell HepG2.2.15.
      We further demonstrated that CRISPR/Cas9 direct cleavage and cleavage-mediated
      mutagenesis occurred in HBV cccDNA of transfected cells. In the new mouse model
      carrying HBV cccDNA, injection of sgRNA-Cas9 plasmids via rapid tail vein
      resulted in the low level of cccDNA and HBV protein. In conclusion, the designed
      CRISPR/Cas9 system can accurately and efficiently target HBV cccDNA and inhibit
      HBV replication. This system may be used as a novel therapeutic strategy against
      chronic HBV infection. 

PMID- 25843426
TI  - The Potential for Clinical Decision Support to Improve Emergency Care.

PMID- 25843424
TI  - The Herpes Simplex Virus-1 genome contains multiple clusters of repeated G
      quadruplex: Implications for the antiviral activity of a G-quadruplex ligand.
AB  - Guanine-rich nucleic acids can fold into G-quadruplexes, secondary structures
      implicated in important regulatory functions at the genomic level in humans,
      prokaryotes and viruses. The remarkably high guanine content of the Herpes
      Simplex Virus-1 (HSV-1) genome prompted us to investigate both the presence of G
      quadruplex forming sequences in the viral genome and the possibility to target
      them with G-quadruplex ligands to obtain anti-HSV-1 effects with a novel
      mechanism of action. Using biophysical, molecular biology and antiviral assays,
      we showed that the HSV-1 genome displays multiple clusters of repeated sequences
      that form very stable G-quadruplexes. These sequences are mainly located in the
      inverted repeats of the HSV-1 genome. Treatment of HSV-1 infected cells with the
      G-quadruplex ligand BRACO-19 induced inhibition of virus production. BRACO-19 was
      able to inhibit Taq polymerase processing at G-quadruplex forming sequences in
      the HSV-1 genome, and decreased intracellular viral DNA in infected cells. The
      last step targeted by BRACO-19 was viral DNA replication, while no effect on
      virus entry in the cells was observed. This work, presents the first evidence of
      extended G-quadruplex sites in key regions of the HSV-1 genome, indicates the
      possibility to block viral DNA replication by G-quadruplex-ligand and therefore
      provides a proof of concept for the use of G-quadruplex ligands as new anti
      herpetic therapeutic options. 

PMID- 25843427
TI  - Energy-Based Molecular Fragmentation Methods.

PMID- 25843429
TI  - A heterozygous missense mutation in adolescent-onset very long-chain acyl-CoA
      dehydrogenase deficiency with exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis.
AB  - Very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (VLCAD) deficiency is characterized by
      impaired mitochondrial beta-oxidation of fatty acids. The fatty acid oxidation
      plays a significant role in energy production especially in skeletal muscle.
      VLCAD is one of four acyl-CoA dehydrogenases with different-chain length
      specificity and catalyzes the initial step in mitochondrial beta-oxidation of
      fatty acids. While the clinical phenotypes in neonates and infants are described
      as severe, adolescent-onset or adult-onset VLCAD deficiency has a more benign
      course with only skeletal muscle involvement. These myopathic phenotypes are
      characterized by episodic muscle weakness and rhabdomyolysis triggered by fasting
      and strenuous exercise. We report a male teenager who manifested repeated
      episodes of rhabdomyolysis immediately after exertional exercise. Rhabdomyolysis
      was diagnosed based on the marked elevation of serum creatine kinase and
      myoglobinuria. Acylcarnitine analysis by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS)
      revealed elevation of serum tetradecenoylcarnitine (C14:1-AC), which represents
      an abnormal acylcarnitine profile associated with the mitochondrial beta
      oxidation defect. High performance liquid chromatographic analysis showed
      decreased production of 2-hexadecenoyl-CoA (C16:1) from palmitoyl-CoA (C16:0),
      indicating the defect of VLCAD activity. Direct sequencing of the acyl-CoA
      dehydrogenase, very long-chain gene (ACADVL) that codes VLCAD revealed a
      heterozygous mutation (c.1242G>C) in exon 12 (E414D), which is a novel mutation
      in myopathic-type VLCAD deficiency. Because VLCAD functions as a homodimer, we
      assume that this heterozygous mutation may exhibit dominant-negative effect. This
      patient remains asymptomatic thereafter by avoiding exertional exercise. The
      findings of reduction of enzyme activity and clinical features associated with
      this novel missense mutation of VLCAD are discussed. 

PMID- 25843430
TI  - Dabigatran for the prevention and treatment of thromboembolic disorders.
AB  - Dabigatran, an oral direct thrombin inhibitor, was the first of a new class of
      drugs referred to as non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants. Dabigatran is better than
      warfarin for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (dose of 150
      mg twice a day), non-inferior to enoxaparin for venous thromboembolism prevention
      after orthopedic surgery and non-inferior to warfarin in preventing recurrence
      after acute venous thromboembolism. The safety profile is similar to standard
      anticoagulants, with significant reduction observed in intracranial hemorrhage.
      Other advantages include a rapid onset of action and a predictable
      pharmacokinetic profile, allowing a fixed-dose regimen without the need for
      routine anticoagulation monitoring. In the event of bleeding, general support
      measures are recommended and if severe, the use of non-specific hemostatic agents
      such as prothrombin complex concentrates and recombinant factor VIIa must be
      considered. A specific reversal agent (idarucizumab) is in development. 

PMID- 25843431
TI  - Lenalidomide in multiple myeloma.
AB  - In the last couple of years major progress has been made in the treatment of
      multiple myeloma (MM) through the introduction of novel agents like thalidomide,
      lenalidomide, bortezomib and pomalidomide, mostly in combination with autologous
      stem cell transplantation. Lenalidomide, a second-generation immunomodulatory
      agent with antitumor and immunomodulatory effects against MM, in combination with
      dexamethasone was proven to show significant clinical benefits (overall survival
      and progression-free survival) in Phase III trials either as induction or as
      maintenance therapy. With a manageable toxicity profile, lenalidomide seems to be
      an attractive agent in the treatment of MM. Here, we discuss the present data and
      research on lenalidomide in the treatment of MM. 

PMID- 25843432
TI  - Occurrence of common allergic diseases in children with idiopathic nephrotic
      syndrome.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Clinical and immunological studies have consistently shown a possible
      link between atopy and idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS). However, whether
      allergic diseases occur after INS develops is unknown. METHODS: From Taiwan's
      National Health Insurance database, 1340 children with newly diagnosed INS and
      5360 non-INS matched controls were identified in 2000-2007. By the end of 2008,
      the incidences and hazard ratios of four allergic diseases (allergic
      conjunctivitis, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, and asthma) were
      calculated. RESULTS: The incidence rates of all four allergic diseases were
      greater in the INS cohort than in the non-INS cohort in all age groups and
      decreased sharply as age increased in both cohorts. Children with INS had the
      highest adjusted hazard ratio (4.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.50-6.83) for
      atopic dermatitis and the lowest adjusted hazard ratio (1.71; 95% CI, 1.39-2.09)
      for allergic rhinitis. Most of the allergic diseases appeared within 2-6 months
      after INS developed, and the incidences declined with increasing follow-up
      duration. CONCLUSIONS: Allergic disorders are common in children with INS,
      especially within the first year after diagnosis. The role of INS in the
      development of allergic disorders should be elucidated to establish innovative
      disease intervention programs.

PMID- 25843433
TI  - Relative validity and reproducibility of a brief-type self-administered diet
      history questionnaire for Japanese children aged 3-6 years: application of a
      questionnaire established for adults in preschool children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dietary intake assessment and subsequent dietary education or
      intervention in young children is important in decreasing prevalence of various
      noncontagious diseases in adulthood. Validation of diet assessment questionnaires
      for preschool children has just started in Japan. In this study, we rearranged
      the brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ), a convenient
      diet assessment questionnaire that is widely used in a range of situations for
      adults, for use in children aged 3-6 years (BDHQ3y) and then validated the BDHQ3y
      in Japanese children. METHODS: The guardians of 61 children aged 3-4 years
      completed the BDHQ3y twice at an interval of 1 month, along with a 3
      nonconsecutive-day diet record (DR) between the two administrations of the
      BDHQ3y. Dietary intakes for energy and 42 selected nutrients were estimated using
      both the DR and the BDHQ3y. Mean intakes estimated by the two methods were
      compared, and correlation coefficients were calculated. Reproducibility of the
      BDHQ3y estimates was investigated using intra-class correlation coefficients
      (ICCs). RESULTS: No significant differences in mean intakes estimated by the DR
      and the BDHQ3y were observed for one- to two-thirds of energy and examined
      nutrients. The median of Pearson correlation coefficients between intakes energy
      adjusted by the residual method was 0.31 (interquartile range, 0.24 to 0.38). The
      median ICC was 0.72 (interquartile range, 0.63 to 0.76) for the crude nutrient
      intakes. CONCLUSIONS: Although the BDHQ3y might be a good candidate for dietary
      intake assessment in Japanese preschool children, its validity is currently
      moderate to low. Shortcomings should be overcome by obtaining and utilizing more
      information about children's dietary habits.

PMID- 25843434
TI  - Introduction. Costs and benefits of imperfect cognitions.

PMID- 25843435
TI  - Erratum to: Self-Reported and Observed Punitive Parenting Prospectively Predicts
      Increased Error-Related Brain Activity in Six-Year-Old Children.

PMID- 25843436
TI  - CACNA1C SNP rs1006737 associates with bipolar I disorder independent of the Bcl-2
      SNP rs956572 variant and its associated effect on intracellular calcium
      homeostasis.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Intracellular calcium (Ca(2+)) dyshomeostasis (ICDH) has been
      implicated in bipolar disorder (BD) pathophysiology. We previously showed that
      SNP rs956572 in the B-cell CLL/lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) gene associates with elevated B
      lymphoblast (BLCL) intracellular Ca(2+) concentrations ([Ca(2+)]B) differentially
      in BD-I. Genome-wide association studies strongly support the association between
      BD and the SNP rs1006737, located within the L-type voltage-dependent Ca(2+)
      channel alpha1C subunit gene (CACNA1C). Here we investigated whether this CACNA1C
      variant also associates with ICDH and interacts with SNP rs956572 on [Ca(2+)]B in
      BD-I. METHODS: CACNA1C SNP rs1006737 was genotyped in 150 BD-I, 65 BD-II, 30
      major depressive disorder patients, and 70 healthy subjects with available BLCL
      [Ca(2+)]B and Bcl-2 SNP rs956572 genotype measures. RESULTS: SNP rs1006737 was
      significantly associated with BD-I. The [Ca(2+)]B was significantly higher in BD
      I rs1006737 A compared with healthy A allele carriers and also in healthy GG
      compared with A allele carriers. There was no significant interaction between SNP
      rs1006737 and SNP rs956572 on [Ca(2+)]B. CONCLUSIONS: Our study further supports
      the association of SNP rs1006737 with BD-I and suggests that CACNA1C SNP
      rs1006737 and Bcl-2 SNP rs956572, or specific causal variants in LD with these
      proxies, act independently to increase risk and ICDH in BD-I.

PMID- 25843437
TI  - Self-Assembled Functional Nanostructure of Plasmid DNA with Ionic Liquid
      [Bmim][PF6]: Enhanced Efficiency in Bacterial Gene Transformation.
AB  - The electrostatic interaction between the negatively charged phosphate groups of
      plasmid DNA and the cationic part of hydrophobic ionic liquid 1-butyl-3
      methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([Bmim][PF6]), initiates spontaneous self
      assembly to form the functional nanostructures made up of DNA and ionic liquid
      (IL). These functional nanostructures were demonstrated as promising synthetic
      nonviral vectors for the efficient bacterial pGFP gene transformation in cells.
      In particular, the functional nanostructures that were made up of 1 MUL of IL
      ([Bmim][PF6]) and 1 MUg of plasmid DNA can increase the transformation efficiency
      by 300-400% in microbial systems, without showing any toxicity for E. coli
      DH5alpha cells. (31)P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform
      infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopic
      analysis revealed that the electrostatic interaction between negatively charged
      phosphate oxygen and cationic Bmim(+) tends to initiate the self-assembly
      process. Thermogravimetric analysis of the DNA-IL functional nanostructures
      showed that these nanostructures consist of ~16 wt % ionic liquid, which is
      considered to provide the stability to the plasmid DNA that eventually enhanced
      the transformation efficiency. 

PMID- 25843440
TI  - Sperm whales ability to avoid approaching vessels is affected by sound reception
      in stratified waters.
AB  - Collision with vessels is a major cause of whale mortality in the Mediterranean
      Sea. The effect of non-spherical sound propagation effects on received levels
      (RL) was investigated for the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). Relevant dive
      patterns were considered in each case and the RL were compared for two periods
      using a ray tracing software, the winter conditions and the summer stratified
      situation. RL were plotted as a function of time in a simulated collision case
      for two vessel speeds representative of a conventional merchant ship (15knots)
      and a fast-ferry (37knots). In almost all simulated cases, RL featured a brutal
      23-31dB re 1MUPa rise from below 100dB while the vessel approached the whale at
      close range. Summer situations were worse because this transition occurred at
      closer ranges, resulting in acoustic warning times of less than 30s in the fast
      ferry case. These results suggested that sperm whales could not be able to
      achieve an escape manoeuvre in a critical situation such as a fast vessel
      approaching under stratified waters conditions. 

PMID- 25843439
TI  - Total petroleum hydrocarbons in sediments from the coastline and mangroves of the
      northern Persian Gulf.
AB  - To provide baseline information for the marine ecosystem of Hormozgan province,
      the distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons was evaluated in 52 stations involved
      in the mangrove and coastline ecosystem. Coastline sampling sites included areas
      facing harbor, river, domestic and industrial discharge. Sediment samples were
      analyzed based on ultraviolet fluorescence spectroscopy. Petroleum hydrocarbons
      showed narrow variations ranging from non-detectable (ND) to 1.71 and from 0.2 to
      0.63MUg/g dry weight for coastline and mangrove sediments, respectively. The
      detected concentrations for total petroleum hydrocarbons were lower than
      guideline values for ecological risk. Furthermore, the minimum environmental risk
      was confirmed by background levels for the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and
      detected values for reference areas. The results were regarded as background data
      in the studied area, and, considering the rapid expansion of activities related
      to the petroleum industry in Hormozgan province, the continuous monitoring of
      pollutants is recommended. 

PMID- 25843441
TI  - Assessment of growth, genotoxic responses and expression of stress related genes
      in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas following chronic exposure to ionizing
      radiation.
AB  - Marine organisms are exposed to low doses of anthropogenic contaminants during
      their entire life. Authorized amounts of radionuclides are discharged in the
      Channel by nuclear facilities. The Pacific oyster was used to investigate the
      potential impact of chronic exposure to ionizing radiation. Though we exposed
      larvae and spat for two weeks to much higher concentrations than those
      encountered near nuclear facilities, oyster growth and expression of 9 selected
      stress genes were not significantly changed. To determine potential DNA damage,
      2year old oysters were exposed for two weeks to tritiated water. The comet assay
      was used to evaluate the level of DNA strand breaks in haemocytes, whilst the
      'clearance rate' was used as a measure of physiological effects. Whilst other
      parameters did not alter, DNA damage significantly increased. Our results
      highlight the significance of the observed DNA damage and their potential
      consequences at higher levels of biological organization. 

PMID- 25843442
TI  - Distribution of butyltins and alternative antifouling biocides in sediments from
      shipping and shipbuilding areas in South Korea.
AB  - The occurrence and distribution of tributyltin (TBT) and alternative biocides
      were investigated in sediment from semi-enclosed bays, fishing ports, and large
      commercial harbors in Korea. Extremely high concentration of TBT (55,264ngSn/g)
      was detected near a large shipyard, even after a total ban on its use in Korea.
      Diuron was the biocide with the highest detection frequency and concentration
      levels, followed by Irgarol 1051. Sea-Nine 211 was detected at 3 of 32 stations
      surveyed. Dichlofluanid, zinc and copper pyrithiones levels were below the
      detection limits at all the stations surveyed. The relatively high levels of
      Diuron (9-62.3ng/g) and Irgarol 1051 (1.5-11.5ng/g) were detected in harbor and
      shipyard areas. Diuron and Irgarol 1051 levels including TBT in sediments from
      hot spots in Korea exceeded global sediment quality guidelines. 

PMID- 25843438
TI  - Beyond neurovascular coupling, role of astrocytes in the regulation of vascular
      tone.
AB  - The brain possesses two intricate mechanisms that fulfill its continuous
      metabolic needs: cerebral autoregulation, which ensures constant cerebral blood
      flow over a wide range of arterial pressures and functional hyperemia, which
      ensures rapid delivery of oxygen and glucose to active neurons. Over the past
      decade, a number of important studies have identified astrocytes as key
      intermediaries in neurovascular coupling (NVC), the mechanism by which active
      neurons signal blood vessels to change their diameter. Activity-dependent
      increases in astrocytic Ca(2+) activity are thought to contribute to the release
      of vasoactive substances that facilitate arteriole vasodilation. A number of
      vasoactive signals have been identified and their role on vessel caliber assessed
      both in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we discuss mechanisms implicating
      astrocytes in NVC-mediated vascular responses, limitations encountered as a
      result of the challenges in maintaining all the constituents of the neurovascular
      unit intact and deliberate current controversial findings disputing a main role
      for astrocytes in NVC. Finally, we briefly discuss the potential role of
      pericytes and microglia in NVC-mediated processes. 

PMID- 25843443
TI  - Development of Fingertip Synchrotron Radiation Microangiography toward Clinical
      Prediction of Diabetic Microangiopathy.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The spatial resolution of conventional angiographic systems is not
      enough to predict diabetic microangiopathy in arterioles (20-200 um). METHODS: To
      determine whether fingertip synchrotron (SR) radiation microangiography has
      enough spatial resolution to quantitate arteriolar diameter changes, and whether
      an arteriolar paradoxical vasoconstriction is a characteristic observation for
      diabetic microangiopathy, diameter reduction as arteriolar branching and
      difference of the diameter changes induced by acetylcholine between control (n =
      5) and diabetic rats (n = 5) were analyzed. RESULTS: Fingertip SR
      microangiography visualized the arterioles with a diameter range of 30-300 um and
      demonstrated vascular diameter reduction as branching with a fixed ratio (r =
      0.93, P < 0.004 and r = 0.73, P < 0.001). A vasodilatory reaction was induced by
      acetylcholine in the control (142.4 +/- 61.9 to 190.9 +/- 73.5, P < 0.05, n =
      25), in contrast, paradoxical vasoconstriction in diabetic rats (201.6 +/- 83.0
      to 16 0.4 +/- 67.9, P < 0.05, n = 37). Histological angiopathy was noted only in
      the diabetic rats. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the fingertip SR microangiography
      is useful to predict diabetic micrangiopahty.

PMID- 25843444
TI  - Prilocaine hydrochloride protects zebrafish from lethal effects of ionizing
      radiation: role of hematopoietic cell expansion.
AB  - Drug repositioning is an approach of significant translatability, and the present
      study was undertaken to screen a collection of FDA approved small-molecule
      clinical compounds for identification of novel radioprotective agents. Screening
      of JHCCL (Johns Hopkins Clinical Compound Library), a collection of 1,400 FDA
      approved small molecules, lead to identification of prilocaine hydrochloride, a
      local anesthetic used widely during dental procedures, as a potential
      radioprotector. Prilocaine, at a concentration of 20 uM, protected zebrafish from
      radiation induced (20 Gy) pericardial edema (PE), microphthalmia and rendered 60
      % survival advantage over radiation exposed controls. While 40 % survival
      advantage over radiation exposed controls was achieved with 10 uM prilocaine.
      Prilocaine, in a dose-dependent manner, scavenged, radiation-induced hydroxyl
      radicals and maximally (43 %) at the highest concentration (1 mM) tried in this
      study. However, prilocaine exerted a mild superoxide anion scavenging potential
      (around 5 %) at all the concentrations used within this study. Prilocaine, at 20
      uM concentration, significantly increased erythropoiesis, a marker for HSC
      function, in caudal hematopoietic tissue (CHT) in wild type and anemic zebrafish
      embryos (1.48 and 0.85 folds respectively) when compared to untreated (1) and
      phenylhydrazine (PHZ) (0.41 fold) treated control groups respectively. These
      results suggest that prilocaine is a radioprotective agent and free radical
      scavenging and HSC expanding potential seems to be contributing towards its
      radioprotective action. 

PMID- 25843445
TI  - Evaluation of Renal Artery Anomalies Associated with Horseshoe Kidney Using CT
      Angiography.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the incidence of supernumerary renal arteries in horseshoe
      kidney (HSK) patients, focusing on number and diameters using computed
      tomographic angiography (CTA). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty-nine patients with
      HSK and 103 patients with normal kidney (NK) underwent 64 or 128 multidetector
      CT. Based on 2-dimensional CT, including multiplanar reconstruction, maximum
      intensity projection, and volume-rendered images with a 0.5-mm reconstruction
      interval on CTA, we assessed the incidence of supernumerary renal arteries, and
      large ( > 3 mm in diameter) supernumerary renal arteries, and compared the
      results between the HSK and NK patients using a chi-square test. RESULT: The mean
      number of renal arteries was 3.87 in HSK patients and 2.41 in the NK patients.
      The incidence rates of supernumerary arteries and supernumerary arteries greater
      than 3 mm were 92.3 %, 69.2 % in HSK patients and 33%, 8.7% in NK patients.
      Supernumerary and large supernumerary renal arteries had significantly higher
      incidence rates in the HSK patients than in the NK patients on CTA (p = 0.003, <
      0.001). CONCLUSION: Supernumerary and large supernumerary renal arteries were
      frequently found among the HSK patients on CTA.

PMID- 25843446
TI  - Rapidly progressive dementia caused by a superior sagittal sinus dural
      arteriovenous fistula: a case report.
AB  - We describe the case of a 72-year-old man who presented with dementia that had
      progressed rapidly over a few months. Laboratory analysis of blood and
      cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) showed no abnormalities, with the exception of a
      slightly increased CSF protein level. Results of routine magnetic resonance
      imaging (MRI) including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and magnetic resonance
      angiography (MRA) were unremarkable. However, detailed neuroimaging studies
      including contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI and conventional angiography revealed
      a superior sagittal sinus (SSS) dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF). After
      endovascular embolization and surgical interruption of all arteries feeding the
      DAVF, the dementia reversed. We should be aware of the possibility of DAVF as the
      cause of rapidly progressive dementia even if routine MRI reveals no or only
      minimal abnormality. 

PMID- 25843447
TI  - Adaptive Bone Remodeling of the Femoral Bone After Tumor Resection Arthroplasty
      With an Uncemented Proximally Hydroxyapatite-Coated Stem.
AB  - Loss of bone stock and stress shielding is a significant challenge in limb
      salvage surgery. This study investigates the adaptive bone remodeling of the
      femoral bone after implantation of a tumor prosthesis with an uncemented press
      fit stem. We performed a prospective 1 yr follow-up of 6 patients (mean age: 55
      (26-78) yr, female/male=3/3) who underwent bone tumor resection surgery of the
      proximal femur (n=3) or distal femur (n=3). Reconstruction was done using a
      Global Modular Replacement System (Stryker(r) Orthopaedics, Mahwah, NJ) tumor
      prosthesis, and all patients received a straight-fluted 125-mm uncemented press
      fit titanium alloy stem with hydroxyapatite coating of the proximal part of the
      stem. Measurements of bone mineral density (BMD; g/cm2) were done postoperatively
      and after 3, 6, and 12 mo in the part of the femur bone containing the Global
      Modular Replacement System stem using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. BMD was
      measured in 3 regions of interest (ROIs) in the femur bone. Nonparametric
      analysis of variance (Friedman test) for evaluation of changes in BMD over time.
      BMD decreased in all 3 ROIs with time. In ROI 1 (p=0.01), BMD decreased by 10%
      after 3 mo and ended with a total decrease of 14% after 1 yr. In ROI 2 (p=0.006),
      BMD was decreased by 6% after 3 and 6 mo; after 1 yr of follow-up, BMD was 9%
      below the postoperative value. In ROI 3 (p=0.009), BMD decreased by 6% after 3
      and 6 mo; after 1 yr of follow-up, BMD was 8% below the postoperative value. A
      bone loss of 8%-9% during the first postoperative year was seen along the femoral
      stem, but in the bone containing the hydroxyapatite-coated part of the stem, the
      decrease in BMD was 14%, thus indicating that stress shielding of this part of
      the bone may play a role for the adaptive bone remodeling.

PMID- 25843448
TI  - A study to investigate the bond strengths of orthodontic brackets bonded to
      prosthetic acrylic teeth.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: In this study, we compared the shear bond strengths of five
      different adhesive techniques for attaching metal orthodontic brackets onto
      acrylic pontics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred upper left lateral incisor
      acrylic teeth with bonded brackets were divided into five groups - composite
      alone (control), composite following sandblasting, composite held with a
      mechanical undercut, cyanoacrylate adhesive and Panavia((r)). The initial bond
      strength was tested using the Instron Universal Testing Machine. The fatigue bond
      strength was tested by subjecting each bracket to 5000 repetitive low-load cycles
      at 50% of the mean shear bond strength using the Dartec machine at 2 Hz. RESULTS:
      Cyanoacrylate adhesive statistically exhibited the highest mean bond strength
      (19.82 MPa). This was followed by the mechanical undercut group (17.69 MPa) and
      the sandblasted group (17.18 MPa). There was no statistically significant
      difference when considering the effect of fatiguing (p = 0.238) as well as the
      interaction between the adhesive technique and the effect of fatiguing on the
      bond strength (p = 0.440). CONCLUSION: The initial and fatigue bond strengths of
      the cyanoacrylate adhesive, sandblasted and undercut groups were significantly
      higher than the control and Panavia((r)) groups when tested under laboratory
      conditions.

PMID- 25843449
TI  - Acute cutaneous zygomycosis of the scalp: A case report and literature review.
AB  - Cutaneous zygomycosis is the third most common form of zygomycosis. However,
      scalp involvement is rare for this disease. In this study, we present a case of
      acute zygomycosis in a diabetic patient who was effectively treated with local
      debridement, amphotericin B lipid complex and posaconazole. 

PMID- 25843451
TI  - Decarboxylation of fatty acids to terminal alkenes by cytochrome P450 compound I.
AB  - OleT(JE), a cytochrome P450, catalyzes the conversion of fatty acids to terminal
      alkenes using hydrogen peroxide as a cosubstrate. Analytical studies with an
      eicosanoic acid substrate show that the enzyme predominantly generates nonadecene
      and that carbon dioxide is the one carbon coproduct of the reaction. The addition
      of hydrogen peroxide to a deuterated substrate-enzyme (E-S) complex results in
      the transient formation of an iron(IV) oxo pi cation radical (Compound I)
      intermediate which is spectroscopically indistinguishable from those that perform
      oxygen insertion chemistries. A kinetic isotope effect for Compound I decay
      suggests that it abstracts a substrate hydrogen atom to initiate fatty acid
      decarboxylation. Together, these results indicate that the initial mechanism for
      alkene formation, which does not result from oxygen rebound, is similar to that
      widely suggested for P450 monooxygenation reactions.

PMID- 25843450
TI  - Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome: a new cause of vasculitis of the central
      nervous system.
AB  - Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (IHES) is a primary haematological
      condition characterised by persistent, otherwise unexplained hypereosinophilia
      sufficient to cause organ damage. Various neurological complications are
      reported, but very few have mentioned CNS pathology and none has included CNS
      vasculitis. Our objective here is to report IHES as a new cause of
      histopathologically confirmed CNS vasculitis. A 39-year-old man presented with a
      relapsing sub-acute encephalopathy, with severe headaches, confusion and
      drowsiness, myoclonus, ataxia and papilloedema. He had a history of nephrotic
      syndrome 18 years earlier, stable for the past 5 years on low-dose
      corticosteroids and low-dose tacrolimus (2 mg bd); lichen planus, and (15 years
      previously) aloplecia totalis. On admission, he had a marked peripheral
      eosinophilia (up to 9.1 * 10(9)/dL), which-it subsequently became clear-had been
      intermittently present for 16 years. After extensive investigation, biopsies of
      brain and bone marrow confirmed diagnoses of cerebral vasculitis, with
      lymphocytic and macrophage (but not eosinophilic) cellular infiltration of blood
      vessel walls, and IHES. CNS vasculitis can therefore now be added to the list of
      neurological complications of IHES. A dramatic and sustained neurological
      improvement, and likewise of the eosinophilia, following treatment with
      corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide, emphasises the tractability of this newly
      described form of CNS vasculitis.

PMID- 25843452
TI  - [Indication and actual status of endoscopic submucosal dissection for colorectal
      tumors -present status and future perspective].

PMID- 25843453
TI  - [Clinico-pathological findings and molecular alterations of colorectal serrated
      lesion].

PMID- 25843454
TI  - [Histopathological diagnosis of colorectal serrated lesions].

PMID- 25843455
TI  - [Endoscopic diagnosis and clinical management for serrated lesions of the large
      intestine].

PMID- 25843456
TI  - [A case of large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the rectum].
AB  - A 77-year-old woman was referred to our hospital because of blood in feces and
      anal pain. Colonoscopy revealed a villous semicircular tumor in the rectum. A
      biopsy showed well-differentiated adenocarcinoma. Miles' operation was performed
      because of the persistence of anal pain and blood in feces. Histological and
      immunohistochemical analysis showed coexistent tubulovillous adenoma,
      tubulovillous adenocarcinoma, and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC),
      which was positive for CD56, chromogranin A, and synaptophysin. Pathological
      examination revealed that most of the lesion was occupied by the LCNEC. The tumor
      was therefore diagnosed as LCNEC of the rectum. The patient underwent adjuvant
      chemotherapy with cisplatin (CDDP), irinotecan (CPT-11), and mFOLFOX6, but died
      because of LCNEC progression 10 months after the operation. LCNEC rarely occurs
      in the gastrointestinal tract; here we report a case of rectal LCNEC. 

PMID- 25843457
TI  - [Duodenal gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) with deletion in exon 11 of c-kit
      treated with emergency pancreaticoduodenectomy due to massive bleeding: a case
      report].
AB  - A Japanese woman in her 50s presented with coffee-ground vomiting at a local
      clinic and was referred to our hospital for further investigation.
      Esophagogastroduodenoscopy demonstrated a submucosal tumor in the descending part
      of the duodenum, and she was diagnosed with a gastrointestinal stromal tumor
      (GIST) by other imaging studies. Elective surgery of the tumor was initially
      planned. However, on the 13th day of hospitalization, emergency
      pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed because of massive hematemesis with
      hemorrhagic shock. Genetic analysis demonstrated a deletion in exon 11 of the c
      kit gene, which could dramatically alter the clinical course. Although duodenal
      GIST with active bleeding is comparatively rare, we have to assume that it is the
      cause of gastrointestinal bleeding and treat such cases with a minimally invasive
      surgical procedure and neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy. It is necessary to
      accumulate more cases with duodenal GIST to establish an evidence-based
      therapeutic strategy. 

PMID- 25843458
TI  - [A case of autoimmune pancreatitis associated with hemorrhagic duodenal ulcers].
AB  - An 84-year-old man was diagnosed with IgG4-related autoimmune pancreatitis and
      sclerosing cholangitis with jaundice. Endoscopic nasobiliary drainage was
      performed, but hemorrhagic shock due to multiple duodenal ulcers occurred about a
      week later. After several endoscopic hemostasis, he was given corticosteroids.
      Histopathology of duodenal ulcer biopsies showed IgG4-positive plasma cell
      infiltration. Reports about duodenal ulcers with IgG4-related disease are very
      rare and we consider this case valuable. 

PMID- 25843459
TI  - [Effectiveness of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha therapy in Crohn's disease
      with abscesses around the sigmoid colon: a case report].
AB  - We report the case of a man in his 50s who was diagnosed with Crohn's colitis in
      his 30s and who presented with post-prandial lower abdominal pain in January,
      20XX. Colonoscopy and abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed
      abscesses around the sigmoid colon. Although his response to antibiotics was
      poor, treatment with a combination of antibiotics and adalimumab resolved the
      abscesses. Nine months later, however, the abscesses around the sigmoid colon
      recurred. Treatment comprising bowel rest and antibiotics led to immediate
      improvement of the symptoms. We report a case of effective anti-tumor necrosis
      factor-alpha therapy in Crohn's colitis with abscesses around the sigmoid colon. 

PMID- 25843460
TI  - [Tumor lysis syndrome after FOLFIRI+cetuximab for ascending colon cancer].
AB  - We report a case of an 83-year-old woman who developed tumor lysis syndrome (TLS)
      5 days after FOLFIRI+cetuximab (Cmab) therapy. A huge ascending colon cancer
      measuring 10 cm in diameter and with peritoneal dissemination was diagnosed.
      Following successful therapy with FOLFIRI alone, FOLFIRI+Cmab was administered.
      On day 5, TLS was diagnosed with hyperuricemia, hyperkalemia, hyperphosphatemia,
      and an increase in serum creatinine. Intravenous furosemide, volume loading, and
      glucose-insulin therapy resulted in improvement of laboratory data in 2 days.
      However, she died on the 34th day due to multiple organ failure caused by
      aspiration pneumonia following small intestine functional ileus. Although TLS is
      a rare complication in colon cancer, its onset must be taken into consideration.
      Also, risk assessment and preventive therapy for TLS should be performed before
      cancer treatment. 

PMID- 25843461
TI  - [A case of esophageal stenosis caused by esophageal intramural
      pseudodiverticulosis with candida esophagitis].
AB  - A 55-year-old man who was a heavy drinker with a history of diabetes mellitus was
      admitted to our hospital with the complaint of dysphagia. Upper gastrointestinal
      endoscopy revealed multiple intramural pseudodiverticula of the esophagus with
      candida infection in the cervical and thoracic esophagus. It was difficult to
      pass the endoscope through the lower thoracic esophagus, indicating stenosis.
      Thoracic computed tomography and esophagogram revealed widespread, multiple
      confluent pseudodiverticula in the submucosa. A diagnosis of esophageal
      intramural pseudodiverticulosis with candida esophagitis was made. The stenosis
      of the esophagus was improved by endoscopic balloon dilatation and antifungal
      therapy. 

PMID- 25843462
TI  - [A case of lymphoproliferative disorder in the entire small intestine after renal
      transplantation detected by wireless capsule endoscopy].
AB  - A 42-year-old woman underwent renal transplantation in 200X. After the
      transplant, she received tacrolimus as immunosuppressant therapy. Eleven years
      after the transplant, diffuse large B-cell lymphomas were detected in the
      duodenum and terminal ileum. Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) revealed multiple
      lymphoma lesions in the entire small intestine. The patient achieved complete
      response through the administration of R-CHOP therapy and discontinuation of
      immunosuppressant therapy. Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is
      a rare complication and WCE may be useful for diagnosing PTLD of the small
      intestine. 

PMID- 25843463
TI  - [A case of serous cystic neoplasm of the pancreas with stenosis of the main
      pancreatic duct].
AB  - A 64-year-old woman was accidentally detected to have multiple cystic tumors
      measuring 30 mm in diameter in the pancreatic head in 2009. The probable
      diagnosis was a serous cystic neoplasm of the pancreas. However, the tumor had
      grown to 52 mm in diameter in 4 years, and endoscopic retrograde pancreatography
      (ERCP) showed stenosis of the main pancreatic duct. We performed subtotal stomach
      preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy, and histopathological diagnosis was serous
      cystadenoma. 

PMID- 25843464
TI  - Bacteria Isolated From the Skin of Congo African Grey Parrots ( Psittacus
      erithacus ), Budgerigars ( Melopsittacus undulatus ), and Cockatiels ( Nymphicus
      hollandicus ).
AB  - Little is known about the normal bacterial flora of the skin of birds. To
      identify the bacterial organisms that reside on the integument of companion
      psittacine birds in a normal physiologic state, skin cultures were taken from 75
      psittacine birds comprising 25 Congo African grey parrots ( Psittacus erithacus
      ), 25 budgerigars ( Melopsittacus undulatus ), and 25 cockatiels ( Nymphicus
      hollandicus ). All birds were adults and in good health with no underlying
      identifiable diseases, had not been on antibiotics in the preceding 2 months or
      longer, and had no skin or feather abnormalities. Cultures were taken from the
      axillary region and incubated on bovine blood agar plates. Positive cultures were
      identified for 52 out of 75 birds, and a total of 89 bacterial colonies grew. The
      most frequently identified bacterial organisms belonged to the genus
      Staphylococcus followed by Corynebacterium. Several other genera of bacteria were
      also isolated. Of the 89 bacterial colonies, 25 were identified to the species
      level and 50 to the genus level, and 14 were identified as either a nonfermenter
      or coliform. 

PMID- 25843465
TI  - Evaluation of Multidrug Therapy With Azithromycin, Rifampin, and Ethambutol for
      the Treatment of Mycobacterium avium subsp avium in Ring-neck Doves (Streptopelia
      risoria): An Uncontrolled Clinical Study.
AB  - An uncontrolled clinical study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a
      multidrug protocol in 16 ring-neck doves ( Streptopelia risoria ) from a flock
      naturally infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp avium. The doves were
      considered infected on the basis of a high prevalence of infection in a group of
      29 birds that were euthanatized from the same flock and clinical signs and
      pathologic results consistent with infection in the remaining birds. All birds
      were treated with azithromycin (43 mg/kg), rifampin (45 mg/kg), and ethambutol
      (30 mg/kg) administered orally once daily for 180 days. Five birds died during
      treatment and were confirmed positive for mycobacteriosis on postmortem
      examination. Of the remaining 11 birds, infection and disease were present in 9
      (81.8%) at the end of the treatment. Postmortem investigation showed that 2
      mycobacterial isolates were resistant to ethambutol, intermediately sensitive to
      rifampin, and sensitive to azithromycin. Microscopic examination of liver
      sections equivalent of those that would be taken for biopsy showed that biopsy as
      a method of monitoring birds for treatment success had poor sensitivity. Toxicity
      associated with drug therapy was not observed in these doves nor in 6 outwardly
      healthy ring-neck doves exposed to the same treatment. The results of this study
      showed that this protocol of azithromycin, rifampin, and ethambutol has poor
      efficacy when administered for 180 days for treatment of doves infected with M
      avium subsp avium. 

PMID- 25843466
TI  - Measuring the Level of Agreement Between Cloacal Gram's Stains and Bacterial
      Cultures in Hispaniolan Amazon Parrots ( Amazona ventralis ).
AB  - Cloacal or fecal Gram's stains and bacterial cultures are routinely performed
      during avian physical examinations to assess the microbial flora of the
      gastrointestinal tract. Although cloacal or fecal Gram's stains and bacterial
      cultures are considered routine diagnostic procedures, the level of agreement
      between the individual tests has not been determined. To investigate the level of
      agreement between results from Gram's stain and bacterial culture when used to
      assess cloacal or fecal samples from psittacine birds, samples were taken from 21
      clinically healthy Hispaniolan Amazon parrots ( Amazona ventralis ) and tested by
      Gram's stain cytology and bacterial culture. Most bacteria (97.2%) identified by
      Gram's stain were gram positive. However, gram-negative organisms were identified
      in 7 of 21 (33.3%; 95% confidence interval: 13.3%-53.3%) birds. Escherichia coli
      was the only gram-negative organism identified on culture. Agreement between
      results of Gram's stain and culture was fair (weighted kappa = 0.27). The results
      of this study suggest that Gram's stains and bacterial culture may need to be
      performed with a parallel testing strategy to limit the likelihood of
      misclassifying the microbial flora of psittacine patients. 

PMID- 25843467
TI  - Gastrointestinal cryptosporidiosis in captive psittacine birds in the United
      States: a case review.
AB  - Histopathologic analysis performed on tissue samples from 34 captive psittacine
      birds over a 14-year period demonstrated gastrointestinal cryptosporidiosis.
      Although 8 birds had died unexpectedly, at least 10 showed gastrointestinal signs
      before death. Most birds had other significant pathologic lesions, unrelated to
      cryptosporidiosis, in which case Cryptosporidium was likely a secondary pathogen.
      However, in 11 birds the only significant histopathologic finding was
      gastrointestinal cryptosporidiosis. In 2 lovebird (Agapornis species) cases,
      direct sequencing of proventricular samples confirmed the presence of
      Cryptosporidium avian genotype III. A description and analysis of the pathologic
      findings in these 34 birds, as well as a review of avian gastrointestinal
      cryptosporidiosis, is provided. 

PMID- 25843468
TI  - Coracoid fractures in wild birds: a comparison of surgical repair versus
      conservative treatment.
AB  - Medical records of wild bird admissions to the Australian Wildlife Health Centre
      at Healesville Sanctuary were analyzed for cases of unilateral coracoid fractures
      with known final outcomes. Forty-seven birds, comprising 13 species, fit these
      criteria. Of those birds, 18 were treated conservatively with analgesia and cage
      rest without coaptation bandaging, and 29 were treated with surgical correction
      of the fracture. Of the conservatively managed birds, 89% (16 of 18) were
      released back into the wild. Conversely, 34% (10 of 29) of the surgically managed
      birds were released. Treatment success for release differed significantly between
      treatment groups (P < .001). Intraoperative death from concurrent trauma was the
      major reason that surgically treated birds were not released. Given the high
      risks associated with surgical treatment and the high success rate of
      conservative management, cage rest without surgery appears prudent when managing
      coracoid injuries in birds. 

PMID- 25843469
TI  - Immunohistochemical Study of Aquaporins in an African Grey Parrot (Psittacus
      erithacus) With Hydrocephalus.
AB  - A 5-month-old African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) was examined after 3
      weeks of weakness, ataxia, mental depression, and seizures. Results of a complete
      blood cell count and plasma biochemical analysis were unremarkable. Magnetic
      resonance imaging revealed a severe bilateral hydrocephalus. The bird failed to
      improve with supportive care, and the owner requested euthanasia. Necropsy
      findings were severe bilateral hydrocephalus with no evidence of cerebrospinal
      fluid obstruction. Histologic examination of the brain revealed microspongiosis,
      edema, gliosis, and neuronal chromatolysis of surrounding periventricular tissue.
      Aquaporins (AQP) and astrocytes were examined to elucidate the participation of
      these water channel proteins and glial cells in the pathophysiology and
      resolution of hydrocephalus. Results showed AQP4 and glial fibrillary acidic
      protein were overexpressed, especially near the ventricles, but expression of
      AQP1 was decreased. This is the first report, to our knowledge, of AQP
      immunolabeling in hydrocephalus in avain species. 

PMID- 25843470
TI  - Antemortem Diagnosis and Successful Treatment of Pulmonary Candidiasis in a Sun
      Conure (Aratinga solstitialis).
AB  - An adult male sun conure (Aratinga solstitialis) was evaluated because of
      lethargy, ruffled feathers, and decreased appetite. Physical examination revealed
      hypothermia, dehydration, dyspnea, and crop distention. Results of a complete
      blood cell count revealed a marked inflammatory leukogram, and cytologic
      examination of a crop swab sample identified gram-negative bacilli and occasional
      yeast organisms. Radiographs demonstrated an opaque, ill-defined, soft tissue
      structure in the caudal coelom just cranial to the renogonadal silhouette, loss
      of serosal detail, and splenomegaly. Endoscopic examination revealed a pale,
      granuloma-like structure within the caudal aspect of the left lung, splenomegaly,
      and an enlarged proventriculus. Intraoperative cytologic examination of a biopsy
      sample of the lesion demonstrated yeast organisms, and a subsequent culture of
      the biopsy sample revealed Candida albicans . The bird was treated
      intraoperatively with intralesional amphotericin B. Postoperative treatment
      consisted of meloxicam, trimethoprim sulfa, amphotericin B by nebulization, and
      systemic itraconazole and fluconazole. The bird made a complete recovery, was
      discontinued from all medications, and has remained asymptomatic for 6 months.
      Although rare, pulmonary candidiasis should be on the list of differential
      diagnoses for any respiratory infection in birds. Endoscopic biopsy, cytology,
      and fungal culture were valuable in making the diagnosis. 

PMID- 25843472
TI  - Fatal Envenomation of a Chilean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) From Eastern
      Yellow Jacket Wasps (Vespula maculifrons).
AB  - A 37-year-old, female Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) presented with
      severe facial angioedema, bilateral corneal and palpebral edema, nictitating
      membrane paralysis, bradycardia, bradypnea, hypothermia, and numerous stingers
      and remnants of eastern yellow jacket wasps (Vespula maculifrons) attached to the
      feathers of the head, palpebrae, and conjunctiva. Evaluation of 2 complete blood
      cell counts and results of plasma chemical analysis and serum protein
      electrophoresis revealed severe increases in creatinine phosphokinase and
      aspartate aminotransferase activity, electrolyte disturbances, and moderate
      increases in levels of alpha1, alpha2, beta1, and gamma immunoglobulins when
      compared with reference interval values and conspecifics. Despite intensive
      treatment, the bird died 19 hours after presentation. Results of histologic
      evaluation of tissues were compatible with envenomation. Response to envenomation
      in avian species is not documented but should be considered in birds presenting
      with angioedema. 

PMID- 25843471
TI  - Mycotic Keratitis in a Khaki Campbell Duck ( Anas platyrhynchos domesticus).
AB  - A 1.5-year-old, intact female khaki Campbell duck (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus)
      was evaluated for lethargy and a swollen left eye (OS). Mucoid discharge,
      chemosis, and conjunctival hyperemia with trace aqueous flare, indicating
      anterior uveitis, in the anterior chamber were evident on ophthalmic examination.
      There was no fluorescein stain uptake by the cornea. Initial topical antibiotic
      therapy and systemic anti-inflammatory treatments were unsuccessful, and the
      lesion progressed to a diffuse, yellow-white plaque, which covered 90%-95% of the
      cornea 4 days later. There was moderate blepharospasm, mild blepharedema, and
      epiphora OS. The mobility of the nictitating membrane was impaired because of the
      presence of the plaque over the cornea. Cytologic examination of a corneal
      scraping revealed fungal hyphae, and aerobic culture confirmed Aspergillus
      species. Treatment with topical voriconazole (1 drop OS q4h-q6h) was initiated
      and was switched to oral voriconazole (20 mg/kg PO q12h) 6 days after initiating
      treatment. The ocular disease improved during the antifungal treatment period.
      Eighty-four days after initial presentation (9 days after discontinuation of
      treatment), there was no clinical evidence of mycotic keratitis on ophthalmic
      examination. 

PMID- 25843473
TI  - Preventive avian medicine-what are your recommendations?

PMID- 25843474
TI  - What is your diagnosis?

PMID- 25843477
TI  - Cumulative subject index.

PMID- 25843478
TI  - Coming meetings.

PMID- 25843480
TI  - Foot posture and function have only minor effects on knee function during
      barefoot walking in healthy individuals.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Foot posture has been postulated as a risk factor for overuse
      injuries of the knee, however the link between foot posture and knee joint
      function is unclear. The aims of this study were to: (i) compare knee adduction
      moment and knee joint rotations between normal, planus and cavus foot posture
      groups, and (ii) to determine the relationship between rearfoot and midfoot joint
      rotations and knee adduction moment magnitude. METHODS: Rotation of the knee,
      rearfoot and midfoot was evaluated in 97 healthy adults that were classified as
      normal (n=37), cavus (n=30) or planus (n=30) for the Foot Posture Index, Arch
      Index and normalised navicular height. One way analyses of variance were used to
      compare tri-planar knee joint rotation, knee adduction moment peak variables and
      knee adduction angular impulse between foot posture groups. Pearson's correlation
      coefficient was used to investigate the association between rearfoot and midfoot
      joint rotation during initial contact phase and the magnitude of 1st knee
      adduction moment peak. FINDINGS: The planus group displayed significantly greater
      external rotation angle at heel contact compared to both normal and cavus groups.
      The planus groups also displayed greater extension at heel contact and sagittal
      plane flexion range of motion during propulsion and early swing compared to the
      cavus group. Otherwise, differences between groups were characterised by small
      effect sizes. There was no association between rearfoot or midfoot joint
      rotations and knee adduction moment. INTERPRETATION: These findings suggest that
      in healthy individuals, foot posture and foot joint rotations do not
      substantially influence knee joint rotations and knee adduction moment while
      walking at a comfortable pace.

PMID- 25843479
TI  - Inhibition of Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 2 Alpha Phosphatase Reduces Tissue
      Damage and Improves Learning and Memory after Experimental Traumatic Brain
      Injury.
AB  - Patients who survive traumatic brain injury (TBI) are often faced with persistent
      memory deficits. The hippocampus, a structure critical for learning and memory,
      is vulnerable to TBI and its dysfunction has been linked to memory impairments.
      Protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase regulates protein synthesis (by phosphorylation
      of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 alpha [eIF2alpha]) in response to endoplasmic
      reticulum (ER) stressors, such as increases in calcium levels, oxidative damage,
      and energy/glucose depletion, all of which have been implicated in TBI
      pathophysiology. Exposure of cells to guanabenz has been shown to increase
      eIF2alpha phosphorylation and reduce ER stress. Using a rodent model of TBI, we
      present experimental results that indicate that postinjury administration of 5.0
      mg/kg of guanabenz reduced cortical contusion volume and decreased hippocampal
      cell damage. Moreover, guanabenz treatment attenuated TBI-associated motor,
      vestibulomotor, recognition memory, and spatial learning and memory dysfunction.
      Interestingly, when the initiation of treatment was delayed by 24 h, or the dose
      reduced to 0.5 mg/kg, some of these beneficial effects were still observed. Taken
      together, these findings further support the involvement of ER stress signaling
      in TBI pathophysiology and indicate that guanabenz may have translational
      utility.

PMID- 25843481
TI  - Neck muscle fatigue alters the cervical flexion relaxation ratio in sub-clinical
      neck pain patients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The cervical flexion relaxation ratio is lower in neck pain patients
      compared to healthy controls. Fatigue modulates the onset and offset angles of
      the silent period in both the lumbar and cervical spine in healthy individuals;
      however, this response has not been studied with neck pain patients. The purpose
      of this study was to determine if cervical extensor fatigue would alter the
      parameters of the cervical flexion relaxation more in a neck pain group than a
      healthy control group. METHODS: Thirteen healthy and twelve neck pain patients
      participated. Cervical extensor activity was examined bilaterally and kinematics
      of the neck and head were collected. An isometric, repetitive neck extension task
      at 70% of maximum elicited fatigue. Participants performed 3 trials of maximal
      cervical flexion both pre and post fatigue. FINDINGS: The healthy controls and
      neck pain groups fatigued after 56 (41) and 39 (31) repetitions, respectively.
      There was a significant interaction effect for the flexion relaxation ratio
      between the control and neck pain groups from pre to post fatigue trials
      (F1,96=22.67, P=0.0001), but not for onset and offset angles (F1, 96=0.017,
      P=0.897), although the onset and offset angles did decrease significantly for
      both groups following fatigue (F1,96=9.26, P=0.002). INTERPRETATION: Individuals
      with mild to moderate neck pain have significant differences in their
      neuromuscular control relative to controls, experienced myoelectric fatigue with
      fewer repetitions in a shorter time, had a lower cervical flexion relaxation
      ratio at baseline and had an inability to decrease this ratio further in response
      to fatigue.

PMID- 25843482
TI  - Wrist salvage procedures alter moment arms of the primary wrist muscles.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Proximal row carpectomy and scaphoid-excision four-corner fusion are
      salvage procedures that relieve pain by removing arthritic joint surfaces. While
      numerous studies have examined how these procedures affect joint motion, few have
      examined how they influence muscle mechanical actions. This study examines
      whether muscle moment arms change after these procedures. METHODS: Moment arms of
      primary wrist muscles were measured in 8 cadaveric specimens using the tendon
      excursion method. In each specimen, moment arms were measured for two degrees of
      freedom (flexion-extension and radial-ulnar deviation) and three conditions
      (nonimpaired, scaphoid-excision four-corner fusion, and proximal row carpectomy).
      For each muscle and degree of freedom, moment arm versus joint angle curves for
      the three conditions were statistically compared. FINDINGS: Wrist salvage
      procedures significantly alter moment arms of the primary wrist muscles. Proximal
      row carpectomy primarily alters flexion-extension moment arms, while scaphoid
      excision four-corner fusion primarily alters radial-ulnar deviation moment arms.
      Both procedures also alter the balance between agonist and antagonist wrist
      muscles. Following proximal row carpectomy, wrist extensors have smaller moment
      arms in extended postures. Following scaphoid-excision four-corner fusion, radial
      deviators have larger moment arms throughout radial-ulnar deviation.
      INTERPRETATION: Different moment arms indicate that different forces are required
      to complete the same tasks in nonimpaired and surgically altered wrists. The
      altered muscle moment arms likely contribute to post-operative impairments.
      Understanding how salvage procedures alter muscle mechanical actions is a
      critical first step toward identifying the cause of post-operative impairments
      and is necessary to develop effective interventions to augment deficient muscles
      and improve overall function.

PMID- 25843483
TI  - Evolution of vaulting strategy during locomotion of individuals with transfemoral
      amputation on slopes and cross-slopes compared to level walking.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Vaulting is a walking strategy qualitatively characterized in clinics
      by the sound ankle plantiflexion in midstance to assist prosthetic foot
      clearance. Even though potentially harmful, this strategy is often observed among
      people with transfemoral amputation to secure clearance of the prosthetic limb
      during swing phase. The aim of the study is to provide a quantitative analysis of
      the evolution of the vaulting strategy in challenging situations of daily living.
      METHODS: 17 persons with transfemoral amputation and 17 able-bodied people
      participated in the study. Kinematic and kinetic gait analyses were performed for
      level walking, 10% inclined cross-slope walking, 5% and 12% inclined slope
      ascending. To study vaulting strategy, peak of generated power at the sound ankle
      at midstance was identified and quantified in the different walking situations.
      In particular, values were compared to a vaulting threshold corresponding to a
      peak of generated power superior to 0.15 W/kg. FINDINGS: The vaulting threshold
      was exceeded for a larger proportion of people with amputation during cross-slope
      locomotion and slope ascent than during level walking. In addition, magnitude of
      the peak of generated power increased significantly compared to level walking in
      these situations. INTERPRETATION: Vaulting seems to be widely used by patients
      with transfemoral amputation in daily living situations. The number of patients
      using vaulting increased with the difficulty of the walking situation. Results
      also suggested that patients could dose the amount of vaulting according to gait
      environment to secure prosthetic toe clearance. During rehabilitation, vaulting
      should also be corrected or prevented in daily living tasks.

PMID- 25843485
TI  - Central venous obstruction in the thorax.
AB  - Central venous stenosis and occlusion can occur secondary to a spectrum of
      conditions ranging from aggressive malignancy to benign extrinsic anatomical
      compression in otherwise healthy individuals. Irrespective of aetiology,
      significant morbidity in the acute setting and long term can occur unless prompt
      accurate diagnosis and appropriate management is initiated, the radiologist being
      central to both. The present review will provide radiologists with a thorough
      illustration and explanation of the range of central venous conditions in the
      thorax (including deep vein thrombosis, thoracic outlet syndrome, haemodialysis,
      and malignancy related causes), the salient imaging findings and interventional
      management using case examples from the authors' practice. 

PMID- 25843486
TI  - [Prevalence of non-traumatic musculoskeletal pathology as main complaint and its
      impact in a emergency department].
AB  - BACKGROUND: Non-traumatic musculoskeletal pathology (NTMP) generates a high
      healthcare demand in primary care, however, European studies designed to assess
      its real impact in Emergency Departments are scarce. The present study aims to
      determine the prevalence of NTMP and its impact in Emergency Department of a
      university hospital in Madrid. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Two thousand randomized
      medical registries were reviewed from 2008 to 2011. The epidemiological data
      collected were, main complaints, time consumed, image test requests, and need of
      further assessment within a month. RESULTS: Prevalence of NTMP was 13.8% (95% CI;
      12.1%-15.4%) of all patients. The most frequent musculoskeletal complaint was
      lumbar pain. An imaging test was requested in 79.1% of all the NTMP cases
      assessed. Patients with NTMP consumed an average of 79 minutes, with 17% of them
      requesting a new urgent assessment within the first month. CONCLUSIONS: The
      results of this study show that NTMP is the leading cause for emergency
      department visits in our area, producing the highest consumption of time and the
      highest frequency of new queries for the same reason within a month. The overuse
      of the emergency services and the lack of medical training in the management of
      this type of pathology can cause this phenomenon. During the design of strategies
      to optimize patients care in emergency departments, the importance of this type
      of pathology should be taken into account.

PMID- 25843487
TI  - Overexpression of EPS8 is associated with poor prognosis in patients with acute
      lymphoblastic leukemia.
AB  - Molecular markers have become an invaluable tool in monitoring disease status
      particularly of leukemias, as bone marrow samples can be easily collected for
      analysis during all stages of disease development including diagnosis, treatment,
      and follow-up. Two genes that have been used as prognostic markers in acute
      leukemia are Wilms' tumor (WT1) and multidrug resistance-1 (MDR1). A novel gene,
      epidermal growth factor receptor pathway substrate 8 (EPS8), is often over
      expressed and associated with poor outcome in some solid tumor types. However,
      whether EPS8 is also associated with the development of acute lymphoblastic
      leukemia (ALL) is unclear. Here, quantitative real-time PCR was used to evaluate
      the expression of EPS8, MDR1, and WT1 in bone marrow samples of adult ALL
      patients (n=107) and non-leukemia controls (n=22). EPS8, MDR1, and WT1 were
      detected in ALL patients, and significant correlations were found between
      expression profiles for EPS8 and MDR1, EPS8 and WT1, and MDR1 and WT1. In
      general, high expression of EPS8, MDR1, or WT1 in patients was associated with a
      higher risk of relapse. Furthermore, when patients were stratified based on high
      or low expression of the genes, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that
      disease-free survival of patients with the high-EPS8/high-WT1/high-MDR1 profile
      was significantly shorter than in patients with the low-EPS8/low-WT1/low-MDR1
      profile or those excluded from either of these groups (P<0.0001). Thus, EPS8, as
      MDR1 and WT1, may be a clinically valuable biomarker for assessing the outcome of
      ALL patients.

PMID- 25843488
TI  - Cytogenetic patterns of relapse following allogeneic stem cell transplantation in
      morphologic complete remission in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

PMID- 25843489
TI  - Bevacizumab, Pemetrexed, and Cisplatin, or Bevacizumab and Erlotinib for Patients
      With Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Stratified by Epidermal Growth Factor
      Receptor Mutation: Phase II Trial SAKK19/09.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The goal was to demonstrate that tailored therapy, according to tumor
      histology and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status, and the
      introduction of novel drug combinations in the treatment of advanced non-small
      cell lung cancer are promising for further investigation. METHODS: We conducted a
      multicenter phase II trial with mandatory EGFR testing and 2 strata. Patients
      with EGFR wild type received 4 cycles of bevacizumab, pemetrexed, and cisplatin,
      followed by maintenance with bevacizumab and pemetrexed until progression.
      Patients with EGFR mutations received bevacizumab and erlotinib until
      progression. Patients had computed tomography scans every 6 weeks and repeat
      biopsy at progression. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS)
      >= 35% at 6 months in stratum EGFR wild type; 77 patients were required to reach
      a power of 90% with an alpha of 5%. Secondary end points were median PFS, overall
      survival, best overall response rate (ORR), and tolerability. Further biomarkers
      and biopsy at progression were also evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 77 evaluable
      patients with EGFR wild type received an average of 9 cycles (range, 1-25). PFS
      at 6 months was 45.5%, median PFS was 6.9 months, overall survival was 12.1
      months, and ORR was 62%. Kirsten rat sarcoma oncogene mutations and circulating
      vascular endothelial growth factor negatively correlated with survival, but
      thymidylate synthase expression did not. A total of 20 patients with EGFR
      mutations received an average of 16 cycles. PFS at 6 months was 70%, median PFS
      was 14 months, and ORR was 70%. Biopsy at progression was safe and successful in
      71% of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: Both combination therapies were promising for
      further studies. Biopsy at progression was feasible and will be part of future
      SAKK studies to investigate molecular mechanisms of resistance.

PMID- 25843490
TI  - Improving newborn care practices through home visits: lessons from Malawi, Nepal,
      Bangladesh, and Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Nearly all newborn deaths occur in low- or middle-income countries.
      Many of these deaths could be prevented through promotion and provision of
      newborn care practices such as thermal care, early and exclusive breastfeeding,
      and hygienic cord care. Home visit programmes promoting these practices were
      piloted in Malawi, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Uganda. OBJECTIVE: This study assessed
      changes in selected newborn care practices over time in pilot programme areas in
      four countries and evaluated whether women who received home visits during
      pregnancy were more likely to report use of three key practices. DESIGN: Using
      data from cross-sectional surveys of women with live births at baseline and
      endline, the Pearson chi-squared test was used to assess changes over time.
      Generalised linear models were used to assess the relationship between the main
      independent variable - home visit from a community health worker (CHW) during
      pregnancy (0, 1-2, 3+) - and use of selected practices while controlling for
      antenatal care, place of delivery, and maternal age and education. RESULTS: There
      were statistically significant improvements in practices, except applying nothing
      to the cord in Malawi and early initiation of breastfeeding in Bangladesh. In
      Malawi, Nepal, and Bangladesh, women who were visited by a CHW three or more
      times during pregnancy were more likely to report use of selected practices.
      Women who delivered in a facility were also more likely to report use of selected
      practices in Malawi, Nepal, and Uganda; association with place of birth was not
      examined in Bangladesh because only women who delivered outside a facility were
      asked about these practices. CONCLUSION: Home visits can play a role in improving
      practices in different settings. Multiple interactions are needed, so programmes
      need to investigate the most appropriate and efficient ways to reach families and
      promote newborn care practices. Meanwhile, programmes must take advantage of
      increasing facility delivery rates to ensure that all babies benefit from these
      practices.

PMID- 25843491
TI  - Engaging community health workers in maternal and newborn care in eastern Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Community health workers (CHWs) have been employed in a number of low
      and middle-income countries as part of primary health care strategies, but the
      packages vary across and even within countries. The experiences and motivations
      of a multipurpose CHW in providing maternal and newborn health have not been well
      described. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the perceptions of community members
      and experiences of CHWs around promoting maternal and newborn care practices, and
      the self-identified factors that influence the performance of CHWs so as to
      inform future study design and programme implementation. DESIGN: Data were
      collected using in-depth interviews with six local council leaders, ten health
      workers/CHW supervisors, and eight mothers. We conducted four focus group
      discussions with CHWs. Respondents included 14 urban and 18 rural CHWs. Key
      themes explored included the experience of CHWs according to their various roles,
      and the facilitators and barriers they encounter in their work particular to
      provision of maternal and newborn care. Qualitative data were analysed using
      manifest content analysis methods. RESULTS: CHWs were highly appreciated in the
      community and seen as important contributors to maternal and newborn health at
      grassroots level. Factors that positively influence CHWs included being selected
      by and trained in the community; being trained in problem-solving skills; being
      deployed immediately after training with participation of local leaders; frequent
      supervision; and having a strengthened and responsive supply of services to which
      families can be referred. CHWs made use of social networks to identify pregnant
      and newly delivered women, and were able to target men and the wider family
      during health education activities. Intrinsic motivators (e.g. community
      appreciation and the prestige of being 'a doctor'), monetary (such as a small
      transport allowance), and material incentives (e.g. bicycles, bags) were also
      important to varying degrees. CONCLUSIONS: There is a continued role for CHWs in
      improving maternal and newborn care and linking families with health services.
      However, the process for building CHW programmes needs to be adapted to the local
      setting, including the process of training, deployment, supervision, and
      motivation within the context of a responsive and available health system.

PMID- 25843492
TI  - Strategies for helping families prepare for birth: experiences from eastern
      central Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Promotion of birth preparedness and raising awareness of potential
      complications is one of the main strategies to enhance the timely utilisation of
      skilled care at birth and overcome barriers to accessing care during emergencies.
      OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate factors associated with birth
      preparedness in three districts of eastern central Uganda. DESIGN: This was a
      cross-sectional baseline study involving 2,010 women from Iganga [community
      health worker (CHW) strategy], Buyende (vouchers for transport and services), and
      Luuka (standard care) districts who had delivered within the past 12 months.
      'Birth prepared' was defined as women who had taken all of the following three
      key actions at least 1 week prior to the delivery: 1) chosen where to deliver
      from; 2) saved money for transport and hospital costs; and 3) bought key birth
      materials (a clean instrument to cut the cord, a clean thread to tie the cord,
      cover sheet, and gloves). Logistical regression was performed to assess the
      association of various independent variables with birth preparedness. RESULTS:
      Only about 25% of respondents took all three actions relating to preparing for
      childbirth, but discrete actions (e.g. financial savings and identification of
      place to deliver) were taken by 75% of respondents. Variables associated with
      being prepared for birth were: having four antenatal care (ANC) visits [adjusted
      odds ratio (ORA)=1.42; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10-1.83], attendance of ANC
      during the first (ORA=1.94; 95% CI 1.09-3.44) or second trimester (ORA=1.87; 95%
      CI 1.09-3.22), and counselling on danger signs during pregnancy or on place of
      referral (ORA=2.07; 95% CI 1.57-2.74). Other associated variables included being
      accompanied by one's husband to the place of delivery (ORA=1.47; 95% CI 1.15
      1.89), higher socio-economic status (ORA=2.04; 95% CI 1.38-3.01), and having a
      regular income (ORA=1.83; 95% CI 1.20-2.79). Women from Luuka and Buyende were
      less likely to have taken three actions compared with women from Iganga
      (ORA=0.72; 95% CI 0.54-0.98 and ORA=0.37; 95% CI 0.27-0.51, respectively).
      CONCLUSIONS: Engaging CHWs and local structures during pregnancy may be an
      effective strategy in promoting birth preparedness. On the other hand, if not
      well designed, the use of vouchers could disempower families in their efforts to
      prepare for birth. Other effective strategies for promoting birth preparedness
      include early ANC attendance, attending ANC at least four times, and male
      involvement.

PMID- 25843493
TI  - Weeping in silence: community experiences of stillbirths in rural eastern Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Stillbirths do not register amongst national or global public health
      priorities, despite large numbers and known solutions. Although not accounted in
      statistics - these deaths count for families. Part of this disconnect is that
      very little is known about the lived experiences and perceptions of those
      experiencing this neglected problem. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore local
      definitions and perceived causes of stillbirths as well as coping mechanisms used
      by families affected by stillbirth in rural eastern Uganda. DESIGN: A total of 29
      in-depth interviews were conducted with women who had a stillbirth (14), men
      whose wives experienced a stillbirth (6), grandmothers (4), grandfathers (1), and
      traditional birth attendants (TBAs) (4). Participants were purposively recruited
      from the hospital maternity ward register, with additional recruitment done
      through community leaders and other participants. Data were analysed using
      content analysis. RESULTS: Women and families affected by stillbirth report
      pregnancy loss as a common occurrence. Definitions and causes of stillbirth
      included the biomedical, societal, and spiritual. Disclosure of stillbirth varies
      with women who experience consecutive or multiple losses, subject to potential
      exclusion from the community and even the family. Methods for coping with
      stillbirth were varied and personal. Ritual burial practices were common, yet
      silent and mainly left to women, as opposed to public mourning for older
      children. There were no formal health system mechanisms to support or care for
      families affected by stillbirths. CONCLUSION: In a setting with strong collective
      ties, stillbirths are a burden borne by the affected family, and often just by
      the mother, rather than the community as a whole. Strategies are needed to
      address preventable stillbirths as well as to follow up with supportive services
      for those affected.

PMID- 25843494
TI  - Designing for action: adapting and implementing a community-based newborn care
      package to affect national change in Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is a lack of literature on how to adapt new evidence-based
      interventions for maternal and newborn care into local health systems and policy
      for rapid scale-up, particularly for community-based interventions in low-income
      settings. The Uganda Newborn Study (UNEST) was a cluster randomised control trial
      to test a community-based care package which was rapidly taken up at national
      level. Understanding this process may help inform other studies looking to design
      and evaluate with scale-up in mind. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to describe the
      process of using evidence to design a community-based maternal and newborn care
      package in rural eastern Uganda, and to determine the dissemination and advocacy
      approaches used to facilitate rapid policy change and national uptake. DESIGN: We
      reviewed UNEST project literature including meeting reports and minutes,
      supervision reports, and annual and midterm reports. National stakeholders,
      project and district staff were interviewed regarding their role in the study and
      perceptions of what contributed to uptake of the package under evaluation. Data
      related to UNEST formative research, study design, implementation and policy
      influence were extracted and analysed. RESULTS: An advisory committee of key
      players in development of maternal and newborn policies and programmes in Uganda
      was constituted from many agencies and disciplines. Baseline qualitative and
      quantitative data collection was done at district, community and facility level
      to examine applicability of aspects of a proposed newborn care package to the
      local setting. Data were summarised and presented to stakeholders to adapt the
      intervention that was ultimately tested. Quarterly monitoring of key activities
      and events around the interventions were used to further inform implementation.
      The UNEST training package, home visit schedule and behaviour change counselling
      materials were incorporated into the national Village Health Team and Integrated
      Community Case Management packages while the study was ongoing. CONCLUSIONS:
      Designing interventions for national scale-up requires strategies and planning
      from the outset. Use of evidence alongside engagement of key stakeholders and
      targeted advocacy about the burden and potential solutions is important when
      adapting interventions to local health systems and communities. This approach has
      the potential to rapidly translate research into policy, but care must be taken
      not to exceed available evidence while seizing the policy opportunity.

PMID- 25843495
TI  - Differences in essential newborn care at birth between private and public health
      facilities in eastern Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In Uganda and elsewhere, the private sector provides an increasing
      and significant proportion of maternal and child health services. However, little
      is known whether private care results in better quality services and improved
      outcomes compared to the public sector, especially regarding care at the time of
      birth. OBJECTIVE: To describe the characteristics of care-seekers and assess
      newborn care practices and services received at public and private facilities in
      rural eastern Uganda. DESIGN: Within a community-based maternal and newborn care
      intervention with health systems strengthening, we collected data from mothers
      with infants at baseline and endline using a structured questionnaire.
      Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate data analysis comparing nine newborn
      care practices and three composite newborn care indicators among private and
      public health facilities was conducted. RESULTS: The proportion of women giving
      birth at private facilities decreased from 25% at baseline to 17% at endline,
      whereas overall facility births increased. Private health facilities did not
      perform significantly better than public health facilities in terms of coverage
      of any essential newborn care interventions, and babies were more likely to
      receive thermal care practices in public facilities compared to private (68%
      compared to 60%, p=0.007). Babies born at public health facilities received an
      average of 7.0 essential newborn care interventions compared to 6.2 at private
      facilities (p<0.001). Women delivering in private facilities were more likely to
      have higher parity, lower socio-economic status, less education, to seek
      antenatal care later in pregnancy, and to have a normal delivery compared to
      women delivering in public facilities. CONCLUSIONS: In this setting, private
      health facilities serve a vulnerable population and provide access to service for
      those who might not otherwise have it. However, provision of essential newborn
      care practices was slightly lower in private compared to public facilities,
      calling for quality improvement in both private and public sector facilities, and
      a greater emphasis on tracking access to and quality of care in private sector
      facilities.

PMID- 25843496
TI  - Strengthening health facilities for maternal and newborn care: experiences from
      rural eastern Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In Uganda maternal and neonatal mortality remains high due to a
      number of factors, including poor quality of care at health facilities.
      OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the experience of building capacity for maternal
      and newborn care at a district hospital and lower-level health facilities in
      eastern Uganda within the existing system parameters and a robust community
      outreach programme. DESIGN: This health system strengthening study, part of the
      Uganda Newborn Study (UNEST), aimed to increase frontline health worker capacity
      through district-led training, support supervision, and mentoring at one district
      hospital and 19 lower-level facilities. A once-off supply of essential medicines
      and equipment was provided to address immediate critical gaps. Health workers
      were empowered to requisition subsequent supplies through use of district
      resources. Minimal infrastructure adjustments were provided. Quantitative data
      collection was done within routine process monitoring and qualitative data were
      collected during support supervision visits. We use the World Health Organization
      Health System Building Blocks to describe the process of district-led health
      facility strengthening. RESULTS: Seventy two per cent of eligible health workers
      were trained. The mean post-training knowledge score was 68% compared to 32% in
      the pre-training test, and 80% 1 year later. Health worker skills and
      competencies in care of high-risk babies improved following support supervision
      and mentoring. Health facility deliveries increased from 3,151 to 4,115 (a 30%
      increase) in 2 years. Of 547 preterm babies admitted to the newly introduced
      kangaroo mother care (KMC) unit, 85% were discharged alive to continue KMC at
      home. There was a non-significant declining trend for in-hospital neonatal deaths
      across the 2-year study period. While equipment levels remained high after
      initial improvement efforts, maintaining supply of even the most basic
      medications was a challenge, with less than 40% of health facilities reporting no
      stock-outs. CONCLUSION: Health system strengthening for care at birth and the
      newborn period is possible even in low-resource settings and can be associated
      with improved utilisation and outcomes. Through a participatory process with wide
      engagement, training, and improvements to support supervision and logistics,
      health workers were able to change behaviours and practices for maternal and
      newborn care. Local solutions are needed to ensure sustainability of medical
      commodities.

PMID- 25843497
TI  - 'As soon as the umbilical cord gets off, the child ceases to be called a
      newborn': sociocultural beliefs and newborn referral in rural Uganda.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The first week of life is the time of greatest risk of death and
      disability, and is also associated with many traditional beliefs and practices.
      Identifying sick newborns in the community and referring them to health
      facilities is a key strategy to reduce deaths. Although a growing area of
      interest, there remains a lack of data on the role of sociocultural norms and
      practices on newborn healthcare-seeking in sub-Saharan Africa and the extent to
      which these norms can be modified. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to understand the
      community's perspective of potential sociocultural barriers and facilitators to
      compliance with newborn referral. METHOD: In this qualitative study, focus group
      discussions (n=12) were conducted with mothers and fathers of babies aged less
      than 3 months. In addition, in-depth interviews (n=11) were also held with
      traditional birth attendants and mothers who had been referred by community
      health workers to seek health-facility-based care. Participants were purposively
      selected from peri-urban and rural communities in two districts in eastern
      Uganda. Data were analysed using latent content analysis. RESULTS: The community
      definition of a newborn varied, but this was most commonly defined by the period
      between birth and the umbilical cord stump falling off. During this period,
      newborns are perceived to be vulnerable to the environment and many mothers and
      their babies are kept in seclusion, although this practice may be changing.
      Sociocultural factors that influence compliance with newborn referrals to seek
      care emerged along three sub-themes: community understanding of the newborn
      period and cultural expectations; the role of community health actors; and
      caretaker knowledge, experience, and decision-making autonomy. CONCLUSION: In
      this setting, there is discrepancy between biomedical and community definitions
      of the newborn period. There were a number of sociocultural factors that could
      potentially affect compliance to newborn referral. The widely practised cultural
      seclusion period, knowledge about newborn sickness, individual experiences in
      households, perceived health system gaps, and decision-making processes were
      facilitators of or barriers to compliance with newborn referral. Designers of
      newborn interventions need to address locally existing cultural beliefs at the
      same time as they strengthen facility care.

PMID- 25843498
TI  - Effect of the Uganda Newborn Study on care-seeking and care practices: a cluster
      randomised controlled trial.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Care for women and babies before, during, and after the time of birth
      is a sensitive measure of the functionality of any health system. Engaging
      communities in preventing newborn deaths is a promising strategy to achieve
      further progress in child survival in sub-Saharan Africa. OBJECTIVE: To assess
      the effect of a home visit strategy combined with health facility strengthening
      on uptake of newborn care-seeking, practices and services, and to link the
      results to national policy and scale-up in Uganda. DESIGN: The Uganda Newborn
      Study (UNEST) was a two-arm cluster-randomised controlled trial in rural eastern
      Uganda. In intervention villages volunteer community health workers (CHWs) were
      trained to identify pregnant women and make five home visits (two during
      pregnancy and three in the first week after birth) to offer preventive and
      promotive care and counselling, with extra visits for sick and small newborns to
      assess and refer. Health facility strengthening was done in all facilities to
      improve quality of care. Primary outcomes were coverage of key essential newborn
      care behaviours (breastfeeding, thermal care, and cord care). Analyses were by
      intention to treat. This study is registered as a clinical trial, number
      ISRCTN50321130. RESULTS: The intervention significantly improved essential
      newborn care practices, although many interventions saw major increases in both
      arms over the study period. Immediate breastfeeding after birth and exclusive
      breastfeeding were significantly higher in the intervention arm compared to the
      control arm (72.6% vs. 66.0%; p=0.016 and 81.8% vs. 75.9%, p=0.042,
      respectively). Skin-to-skin care immediately after birth and cord cutting with a
      clean instrument were marginally higher in the intervention arm versus the
      control arm (80.7% vs. 72.2%; p=0.071 and 88.1% vs. 84.4%; p=0.023,
      respectively). Half (49.6%) of the mothers in the intervention arm waited more
      than 24 hours to bathe the baby, compared to 35.5% in the control arm (p<0.001).
      Dry umbilical cord care was also significantly higher in intervention areas
      (63.9% vs. 53.1%, p<0.001). There was no difference in care-seeking for newborn
      illness, which was high (around 95%) in both arms. Skilled attendance at delivery
      increased in both the intervention (by 21%) and control arms (by 19%) between
      baseline and endline, but there was no significant difference in coverage across
      arms at endline (79.6% vs. 78.9%; p=0.717). Home visits were pro-poor, with more
      women in the poorest quintile visited by a CHW compared to families in the least
      poor quintile, and more women who delivered at home visited by a CHW after birth
      (73.6%) compared to those who delivered in a hospital or health facility (59.7%)
      (p<0.001). CHWs visited 62.8% of women and newborns in the first week after
      birth, with 40.2% receiving a visit on the critical first day of life.
      CONCLUSION: Consistent with results from other community newborn care studies,
      volunteer CHWs can be effective in changing long-standing practices around
      newborn care. The home visit strategy may provide greater benefit to poorer
      families. However, CHW strategies require strong linkages with and concurrent
      improvement of quality through health system strengthening, especially in
      settings with high and increasing demand for facility-based services.

PMID- 25843499
TI  - Collecting syndromic surveillance data by mobile phone in rural India:
      implementation and feasibility.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Infectious disease surveillance has long been a challenge for
      countries like India, where 75% of the health care services are private and
      consist of both formal and informal health care providers. Infectious disease
      surveillance data are regularly collected from governmental and qualified private
      facilities, but not from the informal sector. This study describes a mobile-based
      syndromic surveillance system and its application in a resource-limited setting,
      collecting data on patients' symptoms from formal and informal health care
      providers. DESIGN: The study includes three formal and six informal health care
      providers from two districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. Data collectors were
      posted in the clinics during the providers' working hours and entered patient
      information and infectious disease symptoms on the mobile-based syndromic
      surveillance system. RESULTS: Information on 20,424 patients was collected in the
      mobile-based surveillance system. The five most common (overlapping) symptoms
      were fever (48%), cough (38%), body ache (38%), headache (37%), and runny nose
      (22%). During the same time period, the government's disease surveillance program
      reported around 22,000 fever cases in one district as a whole. Our data - from a
      very small fraction of all health care providers - thus highlight an enormous
      underreporting in the official surveillance data, which we estimate here to
      capture less than 1% of the fever cases. Additionally, we found that patients
      from more than 600 villages visited the nine providers included in our study.
      CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated that a mobile-based system can be used for
      disease surveillance from formal and informal providers in resource-limited
      settings. People who have not used smartphones or even computers previously can,
      in a short timeframe, be trained to fill out surveillance forms and submit them
      from the device. Technology, including network connections, works sufficiently
      for disease surveillance applications in rural parts of India. The data collected
      may be used to better understand the health-seeking behaviour of those visiting
      informal providers, as they do not report through any official channels. We also
      show that the underreporting to the government can be enormous.

PMID- 25843500
TI  - Uganda Newborn Study (UNEST): learning from a decade of research in Uganda to
      accelerate change for newborns especially in Africa.

PMID- 25843502
TI  - Molecular epidemiology suggests Venezuela as the origin of the dengue outbreak in
      Madeira, Portugal in 2012-2013.
AB  - An explosive epidemic occurred in Madeira Island (Portugal) from October 2012 to
      February 2013. Published data showed that dengue virus type 1 introduced from
      South America was the incriminated virus. We aim to determine the origin of the
      strain introduced to Madeira by travellers returning to Europe. Using
      phylogeographic analysis and complete envelope sequences we have demonstrated
      that the most probable origin of the strain is Venezuela. 

PMID- 25843501
TI  - Special issue: newborn health in Uganda.

PMID- 25843503
TI  - New diagnostic tools in schistosomiasis.
AB  - Schistosomiasis is a water-based parasitic disease that affects over 250 million
      people. Control efforts have long been in vain, which is one reason why
      schistosomiasis is considered a neglected tropical disease. However, since the
      new millennium, interventions against schistosomiasis are escalating. The initial
      impetus stems from a 2001 World Health Assembly resolution, urging member states
      to scale-up deworming of school-aged children with the anthelminthic drug
      praziquantel. Because praziquantel is safe, efficacious and inexpensive when
      delivered through the school platform, diagnosis before drug intervention was
      deemed unnecessary and not cost-effective. Hence, there was little interest in
      research and development of novel diagnostic tools. With the recent publication
      of the World Health Organization (WHO) Roadmap to overcome the impact of
      neglected tropical diseases in 2020, we have entered a new era. Elimination of
      schistosomiasis has become the buzzword and this has important ramifications for
      diagnostic tools. Indeed, measuring progress towards the WHO Roadmap and whether
      local elimination has been achieved requires highly accurate diagnostic assays.
      Here, we introduce target product profiles for diagnostic tools that are required
      for different stages of a schistosomiasis control programme. We provide an update
      of the latest developments in schistosomiasis diagnosis, including microscopic
      techniques, rapid diagnostic tests for antigen detection, polymerase chain
      reaction (PCR) assays and proxy markers for morbidity assessments. Particular
      emphasis is placed on challenges and solutions for new technologies to enter
      clinical practice. 

PMID- 25843504
TI  - Human infections with Plasmodium knowlesi--zoonotic malaria.
AB  - In 2004 a large focus of Plasmodium knowlesi malaria was reported in the human
      population in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. Plasmodium knowlesi, a parasite of the
      South-East Asian macaques (Macaca fascicularis and Macaca nemestrina), had
      entered the human population. Plasmodium knowlesi is transmitted by the
      leucosphyrus group of Anopheline mosquitoes and transmission is largely zoonotic
      and restricted to the jungle setting. Humans entering jungle transmission sites
      are at risk. Since 2004, human cases of P. knowlesi have been continuously
      reported in local communities and in travellers returning from South East Asia.
      Plasmodium knowlesi is the most common type of indigenous malaria reported in
      Malaysia. Infections are most often uncomplicated but at least 10% of patients
      report with severe malaria and 1-2% of cases have a fatal outcome. Parasitaemia
      is positively associated with the clinical and laboratory markers of severe
      malaria. The current literature on P. knowlesi, including epidemiology, natural
      hosts and vectors, pathogenesis, clinical descriptions, treatment and diagnosis,
      is reviewed. There are many gaps in our understanding of this disease that are
      highlighted here with suggestions for further research to inform pre-emptive
      control measures that would be required to prevent a full emergence of this
      parasite into the human population.

PMID- 25843505
TI  - Clinical consequences of new diagnostic tools for intestinal parasites.
AB  - Following the success of nucleic acid-based detection in virology and
      bacteriology, multiplex real-time PCRs are increasingly used as first-line
      diagnostics in clinical parasitology, replacing microscopy. The detection and
      quantification of parasite-specific DNA in faeces is highly sensitive and
      specific and allows for cost-effective high-throughput screening. In this paper
      we discuss the clinical consequences of this radical change in diagnostic
      approach, as well as its potential drawbacks. In the Netherlands, routine
      diagnostic laboratories have been pioneering the implementation of multiplex real
      time PCR for the detection of pathogenic intestinal protozoa and this has
      resulted in increased detection rates of Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium spp.
      As a consequence of this new diagnostic approach, expertise in the field of
      parasite morphology by conventional light microscopy seems to be disappearing in
      most of the high-throughput microbiological laboratories. As a result, to
      maintain a high standard of care, a formalized exchange of critical information
      between clinicians and laboratory staff is necessary to determine the most
      appropriate testing either in local laboratories or in reference centres, based
      on clinical signs and symptoms, exposure and immune status. If such a diagnostic
      algorithm is lacking, important infections in travellers, immigrants and
      immunocompromised patients may be missed. 

PMID- 25843506
TI  - The evaluation of penile microvascular endothelial function using laser speckle
      contrast imaging in healthy volunteers.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of
      laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) coupled with transdermal iontophoretic
      delivery of acetylcholine (ACh) for the assessment of penile microvascular
      function. Additionally, we tested systemic microvascular function using both LSCI
      and ACh iontophoresis on the forearm. METHODS: We assessed cutaneous, endothelium
      dependent microvascular reactivity on the penis and forearm of healthy volunteers
      (aged 56.6 +/- 1.0 years, n = 26) at rest and 60 min following the oral
      administration of the phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor (sildenafil: SIL,
      100mg). LSCI was coupled with the iontophoresis of ACh using increasing anodal
      currents of 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 MUA during 10-second intervals spaced 1
      min apart. RESULTS: Basal skin microvascular flow in the penis increased
      significantly following SIL administration. The endothelium-dependent skin
      microvascular vasodilator responses induced by ACh were also significantly
      enhanced following SIL administration for each of the following parameters: peak
      values of cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC); increases in CVC; and the area
      under the curve for ACh-induced vasodilation. ACh-induced microvascular
      vasodilation in the forearm was not modified by SIL. Finally, the administration
      of electric current alone did not affect penile microvascular flow. CONCLUSION:
      LSCI appears to be a promising non-invasive technique for the evaluation of
      penile microvascular endothelial function. This methodology may be valuable for
      the evaluation of penile microvascular reactivity among patients with
      cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and to test the effectiveness of drugs used
      to treat vasculogenic erectile dysfunction.

PMID- 25843508
TI  - [Varicella vaccine effectiveness in schoolchildren in outbreaks in a semi-urban
      area].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To estimate the effectiveness of the varicella vaccine in school
      outbreaks during the academic year 2009-2010. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Retrospective
      cohort study in public day-care centers and/or schools in an area in the region
      of Murcia. Spain. The participants were all children of 1 to 12 years who were in
      the same classroom where there was an outbreak of varicella. The main
      measurements were the sociodemographic, clinical and vaccination data, as well as
      variables related to varicella disease obtained through a questionnaire self
      completed by parents, and from the computerized regional immunization registry
      (VACUSAN). RESULTS: A total of 51 varicella outbreaks were detected, with a
      median of 3 cases per outbreak at both educational levels. The overall
      vaccination coverage was 10.7% (95% CI 8.63 to 13.18), always being higher in
      Spanish schoolchildren versus foreign (OR: 21.21, 95% CI: 2.92 to 153.92,
      P<.001). Discrepancies were found between the vaccine questionnaire data and
      vaccination program (kappa=0.50, 95% CI: 0.43 to 0.58, P<.001). According to
      VACUSAN, the overall attack rate was 59.7 (95% CI: 55.82 to 63.43) in
      unvaccinated and 6.5 (95% CI: 2.54 to 15.45) in vaccinated children. An overall
      effectiveness of 89.1% (95% CI: 74.55 to 95.35) and 100% was obtained for 1 and 2
      doses of vaccine, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high effectiveness of
      varicella vaccine, emphasizing that the administration of two doses of vaccine
      produces an adequate and optimal protection against varicella disease. A
      discrepancy was found between the information provided by parents and official
      records. Finally, there was a lower vaccination coverage in the immigrant
      community.

PMID- 25843507
TI  - [Analysis of tracheostomies in a pediatric intensive care unit during the period
      2003-2013].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Tracheotomy in pediatric patients is a rare procedure. In this
      pediatric series, perioperative complications, mortality related to surgical
      procedure and overall mortality are analyzed. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a
      retrospective study conducted from January 2003 to December 2013. Data were
      retrieved from patients who were tracheotomized and admitted to our PICU in the
      postoperative period. RESULTS: Data were collected from 25 tracheotomized
      patients admitted during the study period. The mean age was 3.3 months (median 14
      months, range 1-144 months), and PICU length of stay was 53 days (median 37 days,
      range 1-338 days). Most patients (68%) had comorbidities before their admission,
      with a higher prevalene of craniofacial anomalies/polymalformative syndromes
      (32%) and prematurity related disorders (12%) being obserevd. The most common
      etiologies related to the procedure were congenital airway obstruction (16%) and
      several types of spinal cord injury (16%), followed by tracheobronchomalacia
      (12%) and subglottic stenosis (12%). Some kind of complication was detected in
      40% of patients, with accidental decannulation being the most frequent.
      Accidental or unexpected decannulation was present in a percentage as high as 20%
      of our patients, mainly in the first 24 hours after surgery. One of the patients
      died as a result of this. CONCLUSIONS: The postoperative course of a tracheotomy
      is associated with a high rate of complications, some of them related to life
      threatening events.

PMID- 25843509
TI  - 68th annual Cancer Symposium of the Society of Surgical Oncology.

PMID- 25843510
TI  - Overtreatment of younger patients with colon cancer.

PMID- 25843511
TI  - Increasing morbidity in childhood-onset cancer survivors.

PMID- 25843512
TI  - Including children in life-sustaining treatment decisions.

PMID- 25843514
TI  - Intensity-Invariant Texture Analysis for Classification of BI-RADS Category 3
      Breast Masses.
AB  - Radiologists likely incorrectly classify benign masses as Breast Imaging
      Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) category 3. A computer-aided diagnosis (CAD)
      system was developed in this study as a second viewer to avoid misclassification
      of carcinomas. Sixty-nine biopsy-proven BI-RADS category 3 masses, including 21
      malignant and 48 benign masses, were used to evaluate the CAD system. To improve
      the texture features, gray-scale variations between images were reduced by
      transforming pixels into intensity-invariant ranklet coefficients. The textures
      of the tumor and speckle pixels were extracted from the transformed ranklet
      images to provide more robust features than in conventional CAD systems. As a
      result, tumor texture and speckle texture with ranklet transformation achieved
      significantly better areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (Az)
      compared with those without ranklet transformation (Az = 0.83 vs. 0.58 and Az =
      0.80 vs. 0.56, p value < 0.05). The improved CAD system can be a second reader to
      confirm the classification of BI-RADS category 3 masses. 

PMID- 25843513
TI  - Recurrent TERT promoter mutations identified in a large-scale study of multiple
      tumour types are associated with increased TERT expression and telomerase
      activation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several somatic mutation hotspots were recently identified in the
      telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter region in human cancers. Large
      scale studies of these mutations in multiple tumour types are limited, in
      particular in Asian populations. This study aimed to: analyse TERT promoter
      mutations in multiple tumour types in a large Chinese patient cohort, investigate
      novel tumour types and assess the functional significance of the mutations.
      METHODS: TERT promoter mutation status was assessed by Sanger sequencing for 13
      different tumour types and 799 tumour tissues from Chinese cancer patients.
      Thymic epithelial tumours, gastrointestinal leiomyoma, and gastric schwannoma
      were included, for which the TERT promoter has not been previously sequenced.
      Functional studies included TERT expression by reverse-transcriptase quantitative
      polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), telomerase activity by the telomeric repeat
      amplification protocol (TRAP) assay and promoter activity by the luciferase
      reporter assay. RESULTS: TERT promoter mutations were highly frequent in
      glioblastoma (83.9%), urothelial carcinoma (64.5%), oligodendroglioma (70.0%),
      medulloblastoma (33.3%) and hepatocellular carcinoma (31.4%). C228T and C250T
      were the most common mutations. In urothelial carcinoma, several novel rare
      mutations were identified. TERT promoter mutations were absent in
      gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST), thymic epithelial tumours,
      gastrointestinal leiomyoma, gastric schwannoma, cholangiocarcinoma, gastric and
      pancreatic cancer. TERT promoter mutations highly correlated with upregulated
      TERT mRNA expression and telomerase activity in adult gliomas. These mutations
      differentially enhanced the transcriptional activity of the TERT core promoter.
      CONCLUSIONS: TERT promoter mutations are frequent in multiple tumour types and
      have similar distributions in Chinese cancer patients. The functional
      significance of these mutations reflect the importance to telomere maintenance
      and hence tumourigenesis, making them potential therapeutic targets.

PMID- 25843515
TI  - Attenuation Correction and Normalisation for Quantification of Contrast
      Enhancement in Ultrasound Images of Carotid Arteries.
AB  - An automated attenuation correction and normalisation algorithm was developed to
      improve the quantification of contrast enhancement in ultrasound images of
      carotid arteries. The algorithm first corrects attenuation artefact and
      normalises intensity within the contrast agent-filled lumen and then extends the
      correction and normalisation to regions beyond the lumen. The algorithm was first
      validated on phantoms consisting of contrast agent-filled vessels embedded in
      tissue-mimicking materials of known attenuation. It was subsequently applied to
      in vivo contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) images of human carotid arteries.
      Both in vitro and in vivo results indicated significant reduction in the
      shadowing artefact and improved homogeneity within the carotid lumens after the
      correction. The error in quantification of microbubble contrast enhancement
      caused by attenuation on phantoms was reduced from 55% to 5% on average. In
      conclusion, the proposed method exhibited great potential in reducing attenuation
      artefact and improving quantification in contrast-enhanced ultrasound of carotid
      arteries.

PMID- 25843516
TI  - Cavitation-enhanced back projection for acoustic rib detection and attenuation
      mapping.
AB  - High-intensity focused ultrasound allows for minimally invasive, highly localized
      cancer therapies that can complement surgical procedures or chemotherapy. For
      high-intensity focused ultrasound interventions in the upper abdomen, the
      thoracic cage obstructs and aberrates the ultrasonic beam, causing undesired
      heating of healthy tissue. When a phased array therapeutic transducer is used,
      such complications can be minimized by applying an apodization law based on
      analysis of beam path obstructions. In this work, a rib detection method based on
      cavitation-enhanced ultrasonic reflections is introduced and validated on a
      porcine tissue sample containing ribs. Apodization laws obtained for different
      transducer positions were approximately 90% similar to those obtained using image
      analysis. Additionally, the proposed method provides information on attenuation
      between transducer elements and the focus. This principle was confirmed
      experimentally on a polymer phantom. The proposed methods could, in principle, be
      implemented in real time for determination of the optimal shot position in
      intercostal high-intensity focused ultrasound therapy. 

PMID- 25843517
TI  - Percutaneous withdrawal of HeartWare HVAD left ventricular assist device support.

PMID- 25843518
TI  - Interplay of coronary angiography and intravascular ultrasound in predicting long
      term outcomes after heart transplantation.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) remains the major cause of late
      graft-related death after heart transplantation (HT). Identification of patients
      at risk of cardiovascular events has relevant implications in appropriately
      guiding resources and intensity of follow-up. In this context, the prognostic
      relevance of serial coronary imaging long-term after HT is unexplored. METHODS:
      Recipients with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and coronary angiography
      performed 1 and 5 years after HT were monitored for subsequent 1 to 10 years to
      analyze the association of serial coronary imaging with cardiovascular death and
      major cardiovascular events (MACEs). RESULTS: Included were 131 patients. The
      MACE incidence was 31.8 per 1,000 patient-years, and cardiovascular mortality was
      17.4 per 1,000 patient-years. Progression of coronary lesions detected by
      angiography and changes in IVUS-defined parameters, including an increase in
      maximal intimal thickness (MIT) >=0.35 mm and vascular remodeling, predicted MACE
      occurrence. However, only MIT change >=0.35 mm also predicted cardiovascular
      mortality. Among patients with normal or stable angiography, an MIT change >=0.35
      mm identified those with a significantly higher MACE rate (80 vs 13 events/1,000
      patient-years). Worsening metabolic parameters appeared associated with the
      increasing severity of CAV development. CONCLUSIONS: Combined imaging analysis of
      progression of angiographic lesions and IVUS-detected MIT between 1 and 5 years
      post-HT allows discriminating patients at high, intermediate, and low risk for
      adverse long-term cardiovascular outcomes. The metabolic syndrome milieu is
      confirmed as a key risk factor for long-term CAV progression and adverse
      prognosis.

PMID- 25843519
TI  - Dynamic Behavior of N-Heterocyclic Carbene Boranes: Boron-Carbene Bonds in B,B
      Disubstituted N,N-Dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene Boranes Have Substantial Rotation
      Barriers.
AB  - Dynamic NMR spectroscopy has been used to measure rotation barriers in five B,B
      disubstituted 1,3-dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene boranes. The barriers are attributed
      to the sp(2)-sp(3) bond between C(1) of the N-heterocyclic carbene ring and the
      boron atom. Bonds to boron atoms bearing a thexyl (1,1,2-trimethylpropyl) group
      show especially high barriers, ranging from 75-86 kJ mol(-1). 2-Isopropyl-1,3,5
      trimethylbenzene is used as a comparable to help understand the nature and
      magnitude of the barriers. 

PMID- 25843520
TI  - Bariatric Surgery: Does It Play a Role in Fertility-Preserving Treatment Among
      Obese Young Women With Endometrial Cancer?
AB  - We present the case of a 17-year-old nulliparous woman with a history of obesity
      (body mass index 36.2 kg/m(2)), type 2 diabetes, and polycystic ovary syndrome,
      who was diagnosed with grade 1 endometrioid adenocarcinoma without radiological
      evidence of myometrial invasion or metastatic disease. After failure of a
      fertility-preserving treatment with a levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine
      device, bariatric surgery was proposed to treat the obesity and improve control
      of her type 2 diabetes in an attempt to increase the chances of obtaining
      response to local treatment. Nine months after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy
      and 18 months after insertion of the intrauterine device, the patient reached
      normal body weight (body mass index 20.3 kg/m(2)) and showed complete response to
      treatment. As far as we know, this is the first published case of an adolescent
      obese patient treated with bariatric surgery concomitantly with fertility
      preserving management of endometrial cancer. We propose that bariatric surgery
      may play a role as an adjuvant therapy in fertility-preserving treatment of
      endometrial cancer with local progestin, in which it could enhance remission
      rates and reduce recurrence. 

PMID- 25843521
TI  - Essure Surgical Removal and Subsequent Symptom Resolution: Case Series and Follow
      Up Survey.
AB  - Transcervical sterilization is a minimally invasive option for permanent
      contraception with high reported rates of patient satisfaction. A small
      percentage of women subsequently choose to have the tubal inserts removed due to
      regret or perceived side effects. There is limited information with regard to the
      improvement in the symptom profile following surgical removal of the tubal
      inserts. We present a retrospective case series of 11 women who underwent
      surgical removal of Essure by hysteroscopy, salpingectomy, and/or hysterectomy.
      The predominant symptom at presentation was pain (n = 10; 90.91%), as well as
      bleeding (n = 6; 54.54%) and/or dyspareunia (n = 5; 45.45%). After surgical
      removal, the majority of patients (n = 8; 72.72%) reported an improvement of
      their symptoms. However, 3 (27.27%) patients continued to have persistent
      symptoms after surgery. Before surgical removal of Essure, it is important to
      thoroughly discuss the risk of continuing symptoms with patients. 

PMID- 25843522
TI  - hCG stimulates angiogenic signals in lymphatic endothelial and circulating
      angiogenic cells.
AB  - Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) has long been associated with the initiation
      and maintenance of pregnancy, where angiogenesis plays an important role.
      However, the function of hCG in angiogenesis and the recruitment of vascular
      active cells are not fully understood. In this study, the role of hCG and its
      receptor in circulating angiogenic and human endothelial cells, including
      lymphatic, uterine microvascular, and umbilical vein endothelial cells, was
      examined. Immunohistochemistry and immunoblot analysis were used to detect LH/hCG
      receptor expression and the expression of hCG-induced angiogenic molecules. HIF
      1alpha was determined via ELISA and downstream molecules, such as CXCL12 and
      CXCR4, via real-time PCR. Chemotaxis was analyzed using Boyden chambers. Our
      results show that the LH/hCG receptor was present in all tested cells.
      Furthermore, hCG was able to stimulate LH/hCG-receptor-specific migration in a
      dose-dependent fashion and induce key angiogenic molecules, including HIF-1alpha,
      CXCL12, and CXCR4. In conclusion, our findings underscore the importance of hCG
      as one of the first angiogenic molecules produced by the conceptus. hCG itself
      alters endothelial motility, recruitment, and expression of pro-angiogenic
      molecules and may therefore play an important role in vascular adaption during
      implantation and early placental formation. 

PMID- 25843523
TI  - Development of human B cells and antibodies following human hematopoietic stem
      cell transplantation to Rag2(-/-)gammac(-/-) mice.
AB  - Humanized mice represent a valuable model system to study the development and
      functionality of the human immune system. In the RAG-hu mouse model highly
      immunodeficient Rag2(-/-)gammac(-/-) mice are transplanted with human CD34(+)
      hematopoietic stem cells, resulting in human hematopoiesis and a predominant
      production of B and T lymphocytes. Human adaptive immune responses have been
      detected towards a variety of antigens in humanized mice but both cellular and
      humoral immune responses tend to be weak and sporadically detected. The
      underlying mechanisms for inconsistent responses are poorly understood. Here, we
      analyzed the kinetics of human B cell development and antibody production in RAG
      hu mice to better understand the lack of effective antibody responses. We found
      that T cell levels in blood did not significantly change from 8 to 28 weeks post
      engraftment, while B cells reached a peak at 14 weeks. Concentrations of 3
      antibody classes (IgM, IgG, IgA) were found to be at levels about 0.1% or less of
      normal human levels, but human antibodies were still detected up to 32 weeks
      after engraftment. Human IgM was detected in 92.5% of animals while IgG and IgA
      were detected in about half of animals. We performed flow cytometric analysis of
      human B cells in bone marrow, spleen, and blood to examine the presence of
      precursor B cells, immature B cells, naive B cells, and plasma B cells. We
      detected high levels of surface IgM(+) B cells (immature and naive B cells) and
      low levels of plasma B cells in these organs, suggesting that B cells do not
      mature properly in this model. Low levels of human T cells in the spleen were
      observed, and we suggest that the lack of T cell help may explain poor B cell
      development and antibody responses. We conclude that human B cells that develop
      in humanized mice do not receive the signals necessary to undergo class-switching
      or to secrete antibody effectively, and we discuss strategies to potentially
      overcome these barriers.

PMID- 25843524
TI  - The aryl hydrocarbon receptor-dependent disruption of contact inhibition in rat
      liver WB-F344 epithelial cells is linked with induction of survivin, but not with
      inhibition of apoptosis.
AB  - Inhibition of apoptosis by the ligands of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) has
      been proposed to play a role in their tumor promoting effects on liver
      parenchymal cells. However, little is presently known about the impact of toxic
      AhR ligands, such as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) on apoptosis in
      other liver cell types, such as in liver epithelial/progenitor cells. In the
      present study, we focused on the effects of TCDD on apoptosis regulation in a
      model of liver progenitor cells, rat WB-F344 cell line, during the TCDD-elicited
      release from contact inhibition. The stimulation of cell proliferation in this
      cell line was associated with deregulated expression of a number of genes known
      to be under transcriptional control of the Hippo signaling pathway, a principal
      regulatory pathway involved in contact inhibition of cell proliferation.
      Interestingly, we found that mRNA and protein levels of survivin, a known Hippo
      target, which plays a role both in cell division and inhibition of apoptosis,
      were significantly up-regulated in rat liver epithelial cell model, as well as in
      undifferentiated human liver HepaRG cells. Using the short interfering RNA
      mediated knockdown, we confirmed that survivin plays a central role in cell
      division of WB-F344 cells. When evaluating the effects of TCDD on apoptosis
      induction by camptothecin, a genotoxic topoisomerase I inhibitor, we observed
      that the pre-treatment of WB-F344 cells with TCDD increased number of cells with
      apoptotic nuclear morphology, and it potentiated cleavage of both caspase-3 and
      poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase I. This indicated that despite the observed up
      regulation of survivin, apoptosis induced by the genotoxin was potentiated in the
      model of rat liver progenitor cells. The present results indicate that, unlike in
      hepatocytes, AhR agonists may not prevent induction of apoptosis elicited by DNA
      damaging agents in a model of rat liver progenitor cells. 

PMID- 25843525
TI  - 4-Hydroxybenzyl methyl ether improves learning and memory in mice via the
      activation of dopamine D1 receptor signaling.
AB  - The phenolic compound 4-hydroxybenzyl methyl ether (HBME) is isolated from
      Gastrodia elata Blume (Orchidaceae). In the present study, we investigated the
      effect of HBME on three stages of memory (acquisition, consolidation, and
      retrieval) using the step-through passive avoidance task. HBME was administered
      at 3 time points; 1 h before the acquisition trial, immediately after the
      acquisition trial, and 1h before the retention trial, respectively. HBME (10
      mg/kg, p.o.) markedly increased the step-through latency compared with the
      vehicle-treated control at all stages of memory. To clarify the mechanism of the
      memory-enhancing effect of HBME, an antagonism study and Western blot analysis
      were performed. The enhancing effects of HBME on each phase were reversed by the
      sub-effective dose of the dopamine D1 receptor antagonist SCH23390 (0.0125 mg/kg,
      s.c.), or the protein kinase A (PKA) antagonist H-89 (0.25 mg/kg, i.p.). In
      addition, the administration of HBME (10 mg/kg, p.o.) significantly increased the
      phosphorylation of the cortical and hippocampal PKA/cAMP response element-binding
      protein (CREB), and was reversed by the co-administration of SCH23390. HBME (10
      mg/kg, p.o.) also ameliorated the memory impairment induced by SCH23390 or
      scopolamine. Taken together, these results suggest that the effect of HBME on
      cognitive functions may be partly involved in dopaminergic neurotransmitter
      signaling and that HBME could be a potential therapeutic agent for treating the
      cognitive dysfunction induced by dopaminergic or cholinergic neurotransmitter
      system deficits.

PMID- 25843526
TI  - Electrical impedance tomography monitoring in acute respiratory distress syndrome
      patients with mechanical ventilation during prolonged positive end-expiratory
      pressure adjustments.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The time required to reach oxygenation equilibrium after
      positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) adjustments in mechanically ventilated
      patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is unclear. We used
      electrical impedance tomography to elucidate gas distribution and factors related
      to oxygenation status following PEEP in patients with ARDS. METHODS: Nineteen
      mechanically ventilated ARDS patients were placed on baseline PEEP (PEEPB) for 1
      hour, PEEPB - 4 cmH2O PEEP (PEEPL) for 30 minutes, and PEEPB + 4 cmH2O PEEP
      (PEEPH) for 1 hour. Tidal volume and respiratory rate were similar. Impedance
      changes, respiratory parameters, and arterial blood gases were measured at
      baseline, 5 minutes, and 30 minutes after PEEPL, and 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30
      minutes, and 1 hour after PEEPH. RESULTS: PaO2/fraction of inspired oxygen (P/F
      ratio) decreased quickly from PEEPB to PEEPL, and stabilized 5 minutes after
      PEEPL. However the P/F ratio progressively increased from PEEPL to PEEPH, and a
      significantly higher P/F ratio and end-expiratory lung impedance were found at 60
      minutes compared to 5 minutes after PEEPH. The end-expiratory lung impedance
      level significantly correlated with P/F ratio (p < 0.001). With increasing PEEP,
      dorsal ventilation significantly increased; however, regional ventilation did not
      change over time with PEEP level. CONCLUSION: Late improvements in oxygenation
      following PEEP escalation are probably due to slow recruitment in ventilated ARDS
      patients. Electrical impedance tomography may be an appropriate tool to assess
      recruitment and oxygenation status in patients with changes in PEEP.

PMID- 25843527
TI  - De novo cancer avoidance after renal transplantation: A case-control study on low
      dose sirolimus combined with a calcineurin inhibitor.
AB  - BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Full-dose sirolimus (SRL) therapy without a calcineurin
      inhibitor (CNI) reduces the incidence of malignancy after renal transplantation,
      but with significant side effects. We hypothesized that de novo therapy with low
      dose SRL combined with a CNI could still prevent cancer in renal transplant
      recipients. METHODS: A retrospective case-control study was performed to assess
      the cancer incidence among renal transplant patients who had undergone surgery in
      our transplant centers between January 2000 and June 2012. Patients who received
      low-dose SRL and a CNI (SRL group, n = 189) were compared with patients receiving
      conventional CNI-based therapy in the same hospitals (Conventional group, n =
      271). RESULTS: The 5-year graft and patient survival rates were comparable
      between the two groups. Seven patients in the SRL group and 24 patients in the
      Conventional group developed malignancies during mean follow-up periods of 68.2
      +/- 37.5 months and 81.7 +/- 51.4 months, respectively. The cancer incidence at 5
      years was significantly lower in the SRL group (1.9%), than that in the
      Conventional group (6.7%; p = 0.04). By multivariate analyses, SRL therapy (p =
      0.04), male sex (p = 0.04), and younger age (p = 0.01) were significantly
      associated with a lower risk of malignancy after kidney transplantation.
      CONCLUSION: De novo therapy with low-dose SRL combined with a CNI was associated
      with reduced risk of post-transplant cancer in renal transplant recipients. De
      novo cancer prevention using a low-dose proliferation signal inhibitor such as
      SRL could be effective for renal transplant recipients.

PMID- 25843528
TI  - Correction to Regiocontrolled synthesis and optical resolution of mono-, di-, and
      trisubstituted tribenzotriquinacene derivatives: key building blocks for further
      assembly into molecular squares and cubes.

PMID- 25843530
TI  - Radiocapitate congruency as a predictive factor for the results of proximal row
      carpectomy.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate whether the congruency between the joint surfaces of the
      lunate fossa of the distal radius and the proximal capitate might be a prognostic
      factor for functional, clinical, or radiographic results after proximal row
      carpectomy (PRC). METHODS: After reconstructing the computed tomographic
      arthrogram of patients with PRC, we evaluated the shape of the proximal capitate
      by measuring the radius of curvature of the tip of the capitate. The congruency
      of the future radiocapitate joint was then evaluated by the radiocapitate index
      in the frontal and sagittal planes. This was calculated by dividing the radius of
      curvature of the tip of the capitate by the mean radius of curvature of the
      lunate fossa. We determined the relationship between these morphological results
      and the functional (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand [DASH] score,
      Mayo Wrist score, and pain relief), clinical (mobility and strength) and x-ray
      results (radiocapitate arthrosis). RESULTS: A total of 27 patients were reviewed
      at a mean follow-up of 59 months. The shape of the proximal capitate did not
      affect outcomes. In the frontal plane, a better radiocapitate congruency was
      significantly associated with an increase in wrist flexion and better functional
      results for the DASH. There was a non-significant relationship between congruency
      and improvement of Mayo Wrist score and pain relief. In the sagittal plane, the
      DASH score tended to improve when congruency was better. CONCLUSIONS: The shape
      of the capitate was not a prognostic factor for functional outcome after PRC. The
      radiocapitate index seems more relevant in predicting results at last follow-up.
      TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic II.

PMID- 25843529
TI  - Molecular typing of Chinese Streptococcus pyogenes isolates.
AB  - Streptococcus pyogenes causes human infections ranging from mild pharyngitis and
      impetigo to serious diseases including necrotizing fasciitis and streptococcal
      toxic shock syndrome. The objective of this study was to compare molecular emm
      typing and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) with multiple-locus variable
      number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) for genotyping of Chinese S. pyogenes
      isolates. Molecular emm typing and PFGE were performed using standard protocols.
      Seven variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) loci reported in a previous study were
      used to genotype 169 S. pyogenes geographically-diverse isolates from China
      isolated from a variety of disease syndromes. Multiple-locus variable-number
      tandem-repeat analysis provided greater discrimination between isolates when
      compared to emm typing and PFGE. Removal of a single VNTR locus (Spy2) reduced
      the sensitivity by only 0.7%, which suggests that Spy2 was not informative for
      the isolates screened. The results presented support the use of MLVA as a
      powerful epidemiological tool for genotyping S. pyogenes clinical isolates.

PMID- 25843531
TI  - Danger zones for flexor tendons in volar plating of distal radius fractures.
AB  - PURPOSE: To define a danger zone for volar plates using magnetic resonance
      imaging by analyzing the position of the flexor tendons at risk around the
      watershed line. METHODS: We analyzed 40 wrist magnetic resonance images. The
      location of the flexor pollicus longus (FPL) and index flexor digitorum profundus
      (FDPi) tendons was recorded at 3 and 6 mm proximal to the watershed line of the
      distal radius. We measured the distance between the volar margin of the distal
      radius and the FPL and FDPi tendons, and the coronal position of the tendons.
      RESULTS: At a point 3 mm proximal to the watershed line, FPL and FDPi were
      located on average 2.6 and 2.2 mm anterior to the volar margin of the distal
      radius. This distance increased to 4.7 and 5.3 mm at a point 6 mm proximal to the
      watershed line. The FPL and FDPi were located at 57% and 42% of the total width
      of the distal radius from the sigmoid notch at 3 mm from the watershed, and at
      66% and 46% at 6 mm from the watershed. CONCLUSIONS: Surgeons should be aware of
      the close proximity of the flexor tendons to the volar cortex of the distal
      radius proximal to the watershed line and their radial to ulnar position. Three
      millimeters proximal to the watershed line, plate placement more than 2 mm
      anterior to the volar cortex or the use of plates thicker than 2 mm poses a high
      risk for directly contacting flexor tendons. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This article may
      prove to be helpful in avoiding flexor tendon injury during volar plate fixation.

PMID- 25843532
TI  - The use of a sliding bone graft in the upper extremity for long bone nonunions.
AB  - Nonunions of the upper extremity are a source of significant morbidity and can be
      difficult to treat. This paper describes a sliding bone graft technique that
      offers several significant advantages over other techniques for nonunions.

PMID- 25843533
TI  - Efficacy and safety of collagenase clostridium histolyticum in the treatment of
      proximal interphalangeal joints in dupuytren contracture: combined analysis of 4
      phase 3 clinical trials.
AB  - PURPOSE: To examine the results of proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint
      contractures from 4 phase 3 clinical trials of collagenase clostridium
      histolyticum (CCH) injection for Dupuytren contracture. METHODS: Patients
      enrolled in Collagenase Option for Reduction of Dupuytren I/II and JOINT I/II
      with one or more PIP joint contractures (20 degrees  to 80 degrees ) received CCH
      0.58 mg/0.20 mL or placebo (Collagenase Option for Reduction of Dupuytren I/II
      only) injected directly into a palpable cord. The percentage of PIP joints
      achieving clinical success (0 degrees  to 5 degrees  of full extension), clinical
      improvement (50% or more reduction in baseline contracture), and range of motion
      improvement at 30 days after the first and last CCH injections was assessed. The
      PIP joint contractures were classified into low (40 degrees  or less) and high
      (more than 40 degrees ) baseline severity. Adverse events were recorded. RESULTS:
      A total of 506 adults (mean age, 63 +/- 10 y; 80% male) received 1,165 CCH
      injections in 644 PIP joint cords (mean, 1.6 injections/cord). Most patients
      (60%) received 1 injection, with 24%, 16%, and 1% receiving 2, 3, and 4
      injections, respectively. Clinical success and clinical improvement occurred in
      27% and 49% of PIP joints after one injection and in 34% and 58% after the last
      injection. Patients with lower baseline severity showed greater improvement and
      response was comparable between fingers, as were improvements in range of motion.
      Adverse events occurring in more than 10% of patients were peripheral edema
      (58%), contusion (38%), injection site hemorrhage (23%), injection site pain
      (21%), injection site swelling (16%), and tenderness (13%). This incidence was
      consistent with data reported in phase 3 trials. Two tendon ruptures occurred. No
      further ruptures occurred after a modified injection technique was adopted.
      CONCLUSIONS: Collagenase clostridium histolyticum was effective and well
      tolerated in the short term in patients with Dupuytren PIP joint contractures.
      TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic II.

PMID- 25843534
TI  - Association of lesions of the scapholunate interval with arthroscopic grading of
      scapholunate instability via the geissler classification.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine whether specific anatomic lesions of the scapholunate
      supporting structures are associated with the grades of scapholunate instability
      according to the Geissler classification. METHODS: Six fresh frozen cadaveric
      limbs underwent serial arthroscopic sectioning of the scapholunate supporting
      ligaments. To simulate a progressive scapholunate injury based on the current
      literature, sectioning occurred as follows: volar scapholunate interosseous
      ligament (SLIL), membranous SLIL, dorsal SLIL, radioscaphocapitate, long
      radiolunate, dorsal radiocarpal, dorsal intercarpal, and scaphotrapeziotrapezoid
      ligaments. We performed arthroscopic examination of the radiocarpal and midcarpal
      joints after each ligamentous sectioning and recorded the appearance of the
      scapholunate interval. RESULTS: There was a progressive increase in Geissler
      grade with sequential sectioning of the scapholunate supporting ligaments. In all
      specimens, Geissler grade 2 injury was associated with sectioning of intrinsic
      ligaments only. Geissler grade 3 injury first appeared with sectioning through
      the dorsal SLIL and continued through sectioning of the volar extrinsic
      ligaments. Geissler grade 4 injury did not occur until the dorsal extrinsic
      ligaments were sectioned. Statistical analysis indicated a linear relationship
      between ligament sectioned and Geissler grade, with deeper sections associated
      with a higher Geissler grade. CONCLUSIONS: In this cadaveric model,
      arthroscopically determined Geissler grade was associated with specific anatomic
      lesions of the scapholunate supporting ligaments. Sequential sectioning of the
      ligaments showed a progressive increase in Geissler grade. CLINICAL RELEVANCE:
      Knowledge of the association of Geissler grade with pathoanatomy may aid the
      surgeon in deciding which reconstructive method is best.

PMID- 25843535
TI  - Superior half of the sternoclavicular joint pedicled with the sternocleidomastoid
      muscle for reconstruction of the temporomandibular joint: a preliminary study
      with a simplified technique and expanded indications.
AB  - The sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) has similar anatomical and physical
      characteristics to the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The purpose of this article
      is to introduce a modified technique for the pedicled SCJ and the expanded
      indications for its use. During the period June 2011 to June 2014, six TMJs were
      reconstructed using the superior half of the SCJ pedicled with the
      sternocleidomastoid muscle. The inclusion criteria were (1) poor vascularization
      jeopardizing a non-vascularized TMJ replacement, and/or (2) a large defect of
      both bone and soft tissue. The average follow-up period was 14.8 months (range 7
      39 months). Fracture of the clavicle occurred in one patient (16.7%). No
      recurrence, graft resorption, or secondary deformity was found. Reconstruction of
      the TMJ using the superior half of the SCJ pedicled with the clavicle head of the
      sternocleidomastoid muscle and sternocleidomastoid branch of the superior thyroid
      artery benefited patients who had a poor blood supply and a medullary condition
      or who had a defect in both the condyle and surrounding soft tissue.

PMID- 25843536
TI  - Assessing stomatognathic performance after mandibulectomy according to the method
      of mandibular reconstruction.
AB  - The aim of this study was to investigate stomatognathic performance after
      mandibulectomy. Twenty-six subjects were classified into two groups: the
      mandibular continuity (MC) group were reconstructed and kept in MC, while the
      mandibular non-continuity (MNC) group lost MC. Stomatognathic performance was
      evaluated using the Oral Health Impact Profile in Japanese (OHIP-J), a colour
      changing chewing gum, a gummy jelly, Sato's questionnaire, electromyography (EMG)
      of the masticatory muscles, and mandibular movement. The OHIP-J and modified
      Sato's questionnaire revealed that the physical and eating disability of the MNC
      group was significantly more severe than that of the MC group (P<0.05). The mean
      EMG activity of the anterior temporalis muscle in the relaxed state was
      significantly higher in the MNC group than in the MC group (P<0.05). The mean
      masticating/relaxing ratio of EMG activities for the masseter muscle was lower in
      the MNC group than in the MC group (P<0.05). The maximum mouth opening range of
      the MNC group was greater than that of the MC group (P<0.05). Accordingly, the MC
      group had good results for physical and eating ability. The MNC group suffered
      from muscle fatigue but had the advantage of a greater maximum mouth opening
      range. 

PMID- 25843538
TI  - Harmful chemicals: poisoning our children one life-saving device at a time.

PMID- 25843537
TI  - Intra-arterial chemoradiation therapy with weekly low-dose cisplatin for squamous
      cell carcinoma of the maxillary sinus.
AB  - A new intra-arterial chemoradiation regimen that involves infusing low-dose
      cisplatin in combination with definitive irradiation was used in 36 patients
      diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the maxillary sinus. The safety and
      therapeutic efficacy of this regimen were reviewed retrospectively. An intra
      arterial catheter was inserted in a retrograde manner into the target artery via
      the superficial temporal artery or occipital artery. Intra-arterial infusion was
      performed using cisplatin at a dose of 20-50mg/m(2) per week for 6-8 weeks. At
      the same time, sodium thiosulphate was infused as a neutralizing agent.
      Irradiation was performed at 60Gy in 30 fractions. All 36 patients completed
      treatment. Grade 3 adverse events occurred in only seven patients (19.4%) and no
      grade 4 events were noted. As a primary therapy, the complete response rate was
      83.3%, the partial response rate was 16.7%, and the overall response rate was
      100%. The 2-year local control rate was 63.0%, and the 2-year overall survival
      rate was 75.5%. The 2-year preservation rate of the hard palate was 97.1%, that
      of the eyeball was 97.2%, and that of visual function was 94.4%. This treatment
      regimen can contribute to improving the quality of life of patients without
      reducing the curability of the therapy.

PMID- 25843539
TI  - Mindfulness-based stress reduction for chronic insomnia in adults older than 75
      years: a randomized, controlled, single-blind clinical trial.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction
      (MBSR) for chronic insomnia and combined depressive or anxiety symptoms of older
      adults aged 75 years and over. DESIGN: A randomized, controlled, single-blind
      clinical trial. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Participants included 60 adults aged 75
      years and over with chronic insomnia. Participants were randomly assigned to the
      eight-week MBSR group or the wait-list control group. Assessments using the
      Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Self-rating Anxiety Sale (SAS), and
      Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were taken at baseline and post-treatment. For
      each outcome measure, a repeated measures analysis of variance was used to detect
      changes across assessments. RESULTS: There was a significant time * group
      interaction for the PSQI global score (P = .006); the MBSR group had a decrease
      in the PSQI global score (Cohen's d = 1.12), while the control group did not
      (Cohen's d = -0.06). Among the PSQI components, there was a significant time *
      group interaction for daytime dysfunction (P = .048); Cohen's d of the MBSR group
      was 0.76, while Cohen's d of control group was -0.04. There was no significant
      time * group interaction for the SAS score (P = .116), while for the GDS there
      was a significant time * group interaction (P = .039); the Cohen's d value for
      the MBSR group was 1.20, and it was 0.12 for the control group. CONCLUSION: This
      study demonstrated that the MBSR program could be a beneficial treatment for
      chronic insomnia in adults aged 75 years and older.

PMID- 25843540
TI  - HHS sets goals and timeline for shifting Medicare reimbursements from volume to
      value.

PMID- 25843541
TI  - Tactile remapping: from coordinate transformation to integration in sensorimotor
      processing.
AB  - Tactile localization entails the transformation of the initial skin-based
      location into an external reference frame that accounts for body posture and
      subsequent flexible integration of these two reference frames. The mechanisms
      underlying this tactile remapping are not well understood. Notably, there is a
      gap between the principles uncovered by psychophysical research and the
      mechanistic explanations offered by neuroscientific studies. We suggest that
      spatial localization is best viewed as a process of integrating multiple
      concurrently active spatial representations rather than a sequential
      transformation process. To achieve integration, large-scale interactions are
      required that link these different representations. Coordinated oscillatory
      activity may be a suitable mechanism that allows parallel representation of
      multiple spatial formats and the formation of an integrated location estimate. 

PMID- 25843542
TI  - Degree of automaticity and the prefrontal cortex.
AB  - The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), with more anterior areas [Brodmann area
      (BA) 45, 47, and 10], has been known to be activated as cognitive hierarchy
      increases. However, this does not hold for highly automatic processes such as
      first language (L1), where the posterior region (BA 44) is known as the key area
      for the processing of complex linguistic hierarchy. Discussing this disparity, we
      propose that the degree of automaticity (DoA) is a crucial factor for the
      framework of functional mapping in the PFC: the posterior-to-anterior gradient
      system for more controlled processes and the posterior-confined system for
      automatic processes. We support this view with previous findings and provide a
      new perspective on the functional organization of the PFC. 

PMID- 25843543
TI  - A Bayesian perspective on magnitude estimation.
AB  - Our representation of the physical world requires judgments of magnitudes, such
      as loudness, distance, or time. Interestingly, magnitude estimates are often not
      veridical but subject to characteristic biases. These biases are strikingly
      similar across different sensory modalities, suggesting common processing
      mechanisms that are shared by different sensory systems. However, the search for
      universal neurobiological principles of magnitude judgments requires guidance by
      formal theories. Here, we discuss a unifying Bayesian framework for understanding
      biases in magnitude estimation. This Bayesian perspective enables a re
      interpretation of a range of established psychophysical findings, reconciles
      seemingly incompatible classical views on magnitude estimation, and can guide
      future investigations of magnitude estimation and its neurobiological mechanisms
      in health and in psychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia. 

PMID- 25843544
TI  - The lateral occipitotemporal cortex in action.
AB  - Understanding and responding to other people's actions is fundamental for social
      interactions. Whereas many studies emphasize the importance of parietal and
      frontal regions for these abilities, several lines of recent research show that
      the human lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC) represents varied aspects of
      action, ranging from perception of tools and bodies and the way they typically
      move, to understanding the meaning of actions, to performing overt actions. Here,
      we highlight common themes across these lines of work, which have informed
      theories related to high-level vision, concepts, social cognition, and apraxia.
      We propose that patterns of activity in LOTC form representational spaces, the
      dimensions of which capture perceptual, semantic, and motor knowledge of how
      actions change the state of the world. 

PMID- 25843545
TI  - Theoretical chemical kinetics in tropospheric chemistry: methodologies and
      applications.

PMID- 25843547
TI  - Slit and Semaphorin signaling governed by Islet transcription factors positions
      motor neuron somata within the neural tube.
AB  - Motor neurons send out axons to peripheral muscles while their cell bodies remain
      in the ventral spinal cord. The unique configuration of motor neurons spanning
      the border between the CNS and PNS has been explained by structural barriers such
      as boundary cap (BC) cells, basal lamina and radial glia. However, mechanisms in
      motor neurons that retain their position have not been addressed yet. Here we
      demonstrate that the Islet1 (Isl1) and Islet2 (Isl2) transcription factors, which
      are essential for acquisition of motor neuron identity, also contribute to
      restrict motor neurons within the neural tube. In mice that lack both Isl1 and
      Isl2, large numbers of motor neurons exited the neural tube, even prior to the
      appearance of BC cells at the ventral exit points. Transcriptional profiling of
      motor neurons derived from Isl1 null embryonic stem cells revealed that
      transcripts of major genes involved in repulsive mechanisms were misregulated.
      Particularly, expression of Neuropilin1 (Npr1) and Slit2 mRNA was diminished in
      Islet mutant mice, and these could be target genes of the Islet proteins.
      Consistent with this mechanism, Robo and Slit mutations in mice and knockdown of
      Npr1 and Slit2 in chick embryos caused motor neurons to migrate to the periphery.
      Together, our study suggests that Islet genes engage Robo-Slit and Neuropilin
      Semaphorin signaling in motor neurons to retain motor somata within the CNS. 

PMID- 25843548
TI  - Large-Area Epitaxial Monolayer MoS2.
AB  - Two-dimensional semiconductors such as MoS2 are an emerging material family with
      wide-ranging potential applications in electronics, optoelectronics, and energy
      harvesting. Large-area growth methods are needed to open the way to applications.
      Control over lattice orientation during growth remains a challenge. This is
      needed to minimize or even avoid the formation of grain boundaries, detrimental
      to electrical, optical, and mechanical properties of MoS2 and other 2D
      semiconductors. Here, we report on the growth of high-quality monolayer MoS2 with
      control over lattice orientation. We show that the monolayer film is composed of
      coalescing single islands with limited numbers of lattice orientation due to an
      epitaxial growth mechanism. Optical absorbance spectra acquired over large areas
      show significant absorbance in the high-energy part of the spectrum, indicating
      that MoS2 could also be interesting for harvesting this region of the solar
      spectrum and fabrication of UV-sensitive photodetectors. Even though the
      interaction between the growth substrate and MoS2 is strong enough to induce
      lattice alignment via van der Waals interaction, we can easily transfer the grown
      material and fabricate devices. Local potential mapping along channels in field
      effect transistors shows that the single-crystal MoS2 grains in our film are well
      connected, with interfaces that do not degrade the electrical conductivity. This
      is also confirmed by the relatively large and length-independent mobility in
      devices with a channel length reaching 80 MUm. 

PMID- 25843549
TI  - Cardiolipin is a key determinant for mtDNA stability and segregation during
      mitochondrial stress.
AB  - Mitochondria play a key role in adaptation during stressing situations.
      Cardiolipin, the main anionic phospholipid in mitochondrial membranes, is
      expected to be a determinant in this adaptive mechanism since it modulates the
      activity of most membrane proteins. Here, we used Saccharomyces cerevisiae
      subjected to conditions that affect mitochondrial metabolism as a model to
      determine the possible role of cardiolipin in stress adaptation. Interestingly,
      we found that thermal stress promotes a 30% increase in the cardiolipin content
      and modifies the physical state of mitochondrial membranes. These changes have
      effects on mtDNA stability, adapting cells to thermal stress. Conversely, this
      effect is cardiolipin-dependent since a cardiolipin synthase-null mutant strain
      is unable to adapt to thermal stress as observed by a 60% increase of cells
      lacking mtDNA (rho0). Interestingly, we found that the loss of cardiolipin
      specifically affects the segregation of mtDNA to daughter cells, leading to a
      respiratory deficient phenotype after replication. We also provide evidence that
      mtDNA physically interacts with cardiolipin both in S. cerevisiae and in
      mammalian mitochondria. Overall, our results demonstrate that the mitochondrial
      lipid cardiolipin is a key determinant in the maintenance of mtDNA stability and
      segregation.

PMID- 25843550
TI  - Light-harvesting II antenna trimers connect energetically the entire
      photosynthetic machinery - including both photosystems II and I.
AB  - In plant chloroplasts, the two photosystems (PSII and PSI) are enriched in
      different thylakoid domains and, according to the established view, are regarded
      as energetically segregated from each other. A specific fraction of the light
      harvesting complex II (LHCII) has been postulated to get phosphorylated by the
      STN7 kinase and subsequently to migrate from PSII to PSI as part of a process
      called 'state transition'. Nevertheless, the thylakoid membrane incorporates a
      large excess of LHCII not present in the isolatable PSII-LHCII and PSI-LHCII
      complexes. Moreover, LHCII phosphorylation is not limited to a specific LHCII
      pool and "state 2" condition, but is found in all thylakoid domains in any
      constant light condition. Here, using a targeted solubilization of pigment
      protein complexes from different thylakoid domains, we demonstrate that even a
      minor detachment of LHCII leads to markedly increased fluorescence emission from
      LHCII and PSII both in grana core and non-appressed thylakoid membranes and the
      effect of the detergent to detach LHCII is enhanced in the absence of LHCII
      phosphorylation. These findings provide evidence that PSII and PSI are energy
      traps embedded in the same energetically connected LHCII lake. In the lake, PSI
      and LHCII are energetically connected even in the absence of LHCII
      phosphorylation, yet the phosphorylation enhances the interaction required for
      efficient energy transfer to PSI in the grana margin regions. 

PMID- 25843551
TI  - The chimeric origin of the cardiolipin biosynthetic pathway in the Eukarya
      domain.
AB  - Cardiolipin (CL) and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) are the main anionic phospholipids
      present in the Eukarya and Bacteria domains. They participate in energy
      transduction by activating and stabilizing the components of the oxidative
      phosphorylation machinery. Experimental evidence shows that they are synthesized
      by two different mechanisms which indicate that both pathways evolved
      convergently. Former studies on the lipid composition of archaeal membranes
      showed the absence of CL in these organisms, consequently, restricting it to the
      Eukarya and Bacteria domains. Interestingly, recent studies have demonstrated
      that both CL and PG are present as constitutive components of membranes of the
      haloarchaea group. However, this scenario complicates the analysis of the
      evolutionary origin of this biosynthetic pathway. Here I suggest that a
      phospholipid biosynthetic pathway in Eukarya probably arose from a chimeric event
      between bacterial and archaeal enzymes during the endosymbiosis event.
      Phylogenetic analyses support the different evolutionary origin of the enzymes
      comprising this pathway in bacteria and Eukarya. Based on protein domain
      analyses, orthologous proteins in the Archaea domain were identified. An
      integrative analysis of the proteins found demonstrates that CL biosynthesis in
      major clades of the Eukarya domain originated by chimerism between the bacteria
      and archaea pathways. Moreover, primary and secondary endosymbiontic events in
      plants and chromoalveolata respectively, reshaped this pathway again. The
      implications and advantages that these new enzymatic orders conferred to the
      Eukarya domain are discussed. 

PMID- 25843552
TI  - Electron transfer pathways from the S2-states to the S3-states either after a
      Ca2+/Sr2+ or a Cl-/I- exchange in Photosystem II from Thermosynechococcus
      elongatus.
AB  - The site for water oxidation in Photosystem II (PSII) goes through five
      sequential oxidation states (S0 to S4) before O2 is evolved. It consists of a
      Mn4CaO5-cluster close to a redox-active tyrosine residue (YZ). Cl- is also
      required for enzyme activity. By using EPR spectroscopy it has been shown that
      both Ca2+/Sr2+ exchange and Cl-/I- exchange perturb the proportions of centers
      showing high (S=5/2) and low spin (S=1/2) forms of the S2-state. The S3-state was
      also found to be heterogeneous with: i) a S=3 form that is detectable by EPR and
      not sensitive to near-infrared light; and ii) a form that is not EPR visible but
      in which Mn photochemistry occurs resulting in the formation of a (S2YZ)' split
      EPR signal upon near-infrared illumination. In Sr/Cl-PSII, the high spin (S=5/2)
      form of S2 shows a marked heterogeneity with a g=4.3 form generated at low
      temperature that converts to a relaxed form at g=4.9 at higher temperatures. The
      high spin g=4.9 form can then progress to the EPR detectable form of S3 at
      temperatures as low as 180K whereas the low spin (S=1/2) S2-state can only
      advance to the S3 state at temperatures>=235 K. Both of the two S2 configurations
      and the two S3 configurations are each shown to be in equilibrium at >=235 K but
      not at 198 K. Since both S2 configurations are formed at 198 K, they likely arise
      from two specific populations of S1. The existence of heterogeneous populations
      in S1, S2 and S3 states may be related to the structural flexibility associated
      with the positioning of the oxygen O5 within the cluster highlighted in
      computational approaches and which has been linked to substrate exchange. These
      data are discussed in the context of recent in silico studies of the electron
      transfer pathways between the S2-state(s) and the S3-state(s).

PMID- 25843554
TI  - Complications of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis: risk factors and
      management recommendations.
AB  - Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA) is an inflammatory condition
      characterized by fever, lymphadenopathy, arthritis, rash and serositis. Systemic
      inflammation has been associated with dysregulation of the innate immune system,
      suggesting that SJIA is an autoinflammatory disorder. IL-1 and IL-6 play a major
      role in the pathogenesis of SJIA, and treatment with IL-1 and IL-6 inhibitors has
      shown to be highly effective. However, complications of SJIA, including
      macrophage activation syndrome, limitations in functional outcome by arthritis
      and long-term damage from chronic inflammation, continue to be a major issue in
      SJIA patients' care. Translational research leading to a profound understanding
      of the cytokine crosstalk in SJIA and the identification of risk factors for SJIA
      complications will help to improve long-term outcome. 

PMID- 25843553
TI  - The painful tweet: text, sentiment, and community structure analyses of tweets
      pertaining to pain.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite the widespread popularity of social media, little is known
      about the extent or context of pain-related posts by users of those media.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim was to examine the type, context, and dissemination of pain
      related tweets. METHODS: We used content analysis of pain-related tweets from 50
      cities to unobtrusively explore the meanings and patterns of communications about
      pain. Content was examined by location and time of day, as well as within the
      context of online social networks. RESULTS: The most common terms published in
      conjunction with the term "pain" included feel (n=1504), don't (n=702), and love
      (n=649). The proportion of tweets with positive sentiment ranged from 13% in
      Manila to 56% in Los Angeles, CA, with a median of 29% across cities. Temporally,
      the proportion of tweets with positive sentiment ranged from 24% at 1600 to 38%
      at 2400, with a median of 32%. The Twitter-based social networks pertaining to
      pain exhibited greater sparsity and lower connectedness than did those social
      networks pertaining to common terms such as apple, Manchester United, and Obama.
      The number of word clusters in proportion to node count was greater for emotion
      terms such as tired (0.45), happy (0.43), and sad (0.4) when compared with
      objective terms such as apple (0.26), Manchester United (0.14), and Obama (0.25).
      CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our results suggest that pain-related tweets carry
      special characteristics reflecting unique content and their communication among
      tweeters. Further work will explore how geopolitical events and seasonal changes
      affect tweeters' perceptions of pain and how such perceptions may affect
      therapies for pain.

PMID- 25843555
TI  - Stone-Wales rearrangements in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: a computational
      study.
AB  - Mechanisms for Stone-Wales rearrangements (SWRs) in polycyclic unsaturated
      hydrocarbons containing a pentafulvalene core have been studied using density
      functional, coupled cluster, and multiconfigurational methods. At the BD(T)/cc
      pVDZ//(U)M06-2X/cc-pVDZ level of theory, free energies of activation (at 1000 
      degrees C) range from ca. 70 kcal/mol for the model system pentafulvalene ->
      naphthalene (1 -> 2) to >110 kcal/mol for the degenerate SWR of pyracyclene (3).
      Systems studied that do not contain a pyracyclene subunit are predicted to have
      DeltaG(?) less than about 90 kcal/mol and to proceed by a carbene-type mechanism.
      Substrates containing a pyracyclene subunit should proceed via a cyclobutyl
      mechanism, and appropriate benzannelation of 3 lowers the activation free energy
      considerably. Computed DeltaG(?) values are consistent with experimental
      observations reported for known systems. SWRs of two untested substrates,
      cyclopent[fg]aceanthrylene (18) and dicyclopenta[fg,op]tetracene (21), are
      predicted to have DeltaG(?) < 95 kcal/mol and thus to be accessible via flash
      vacuum pyrolysis.

PMID- 25843556
TI  - Azole antifungals: 35 years of invasive fungal infection management.
AB  - Prior to 1981, treatment options for invasive fungal infections were limited and
      associated with significant toxicities. The introduction of ketoconazole marked
      the beginning of an era of dramatic improvements over previous therapies for non
      life-threatening mycosis. After nearly a decade of use, ketoconazole was quickly
      replaced by the triazoles fluconazole and itraconazole due to significant
      improvements in pharmacokinetic profile, spectrum of activity and safety. The
      triazoles posaconazole and voriconazole followed, and were better known for their
      further extended spectrum, specifically against emerging mold infections. With
      the exception of fluconazole, the triazoles have been plagued with significant
      inter- and intrapatient pharmacokinetic variability and all possess significant
      drug interactions. Azoles currently in development appear to combine an in vitro
      spectrum of activity comparable to voriconazole and posaconazole with more
      predictable pharmacokinetics and fewer adverse effects. 

PMID- 25843558
TI  - Diagnostic Performance of Artificial Neural Network for Detecting Ischemia in
      Myocardial Perfusion Imaging.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to apply an artificial neural network
      (ANN) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and to characterize its
      diagnostic ability compared with conventional visual and quantitative methods in
      myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 106 patients
      with CAD were studied with MPI, including multiple vessel disease (49%), history
      of myocardial infarction (27%) and coronary intervention (30%). The ANN detected
      abnormal areas with a probability of stress defect and ischemia. The consensus
      diagnosis based on expert interpretation and coronary stenosis was used as the
      gold standard. The left ventricular ANN value was higher in the stress-defect
      group than in the no-defect group (0.92+/-0.11 vs. 0.25+/-0.32, P<0.0001) and
      higher in the ischemia group than in the no-ischemia group (0.70+/-0.40 vs.
      0.004+/-0.032, P<0.0001). Receiver-operating characteristics curve analysis
      showed comparable diagnostic accuracy between ANN and the scoring methods (0.971
      vs. 0.980 for stress defect, and 0.882 vs. 0.937 for ischemia, both P=NS). The
      relationship between the ANN and defect scores was non-linear, with the ANN
      rapidly increased in ranges of summed stress score of 2-7 and summed defect score
      of 2-4. CONCLUSIONS: Although the diagnostic ability of ANN was similar to that
      of conventional scoring methods, the ANN could provide a different viewpoint for
      judging abnormality, and thus is a promising method for evaluating abnormality in
      MPI.

PMID- 25843557
TI  - Accuracy of optical frequency domain imaging for evaluation of coronary
      adventitial vasa vasorum formation after stent implantation in pigs and humans -
      a validation study - .
AB  - BACKGROUND: Coronary adventitia harbors a wide variety of components, such as
      inflammatory cells and vasa vasorum (VV). Adventitial VV initiates the
      development of coronary artery diseases as an outside-in supply route of
      inflammation. We have recently demonstrated that drug-eluting stent implantation
      causes the enhancement of VV formation, with extending to the stent edges in the
      porcine coronary arteries, and also that optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI)
      is capable of visualizing VV in humans in vivo. However, it remains to be fully
      validated whether OFDI enables the precise measurement of VV formation in pigs
      and humans. METHODS AND RESULTS: In the pig protocol, a total of 6 bare-metal
      stents and 12 drug-eluting stents were implanted into the coronary arteries, and
      at 1 month, the stented coronary arteries were imaged by OFDI ex vivo. OFDI data
      including the measurement of VV area at the stent edge portions were compared
      with histological data. There was a significant positive correlation between VV
      area on OFDI and that on histology (R=0.91, P<0.01). In the human protocol, OFDI
      enabled the measurement of the VV area at the stent edges after coronary stent
      implantation in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide the first direct
      evidence that OFDI enables the precise measurement of the VV area in coronary
      arteries after stent implantation in pigs and humans.

PMID- 25843559
TI  - Distribution of serotonin 5-HT1A-binding sites in the brainstem and the
      hypothalamus, and their roles in 5-HT-induced sleep and ingestive behaviors in
      rock pigeons (Columba livia).
AB  - Serotonin 1A receptors (5-HT1ARs), which are widely distributed in the mammalian
      brain, participate in cognitive and emotional functions. In birds, 5-HT1ARs are
      expressed in prosencephalic areas involved in visual and cognitive functions.
      Diverse evidence supports 5-HT1AR-mediated 5-HT-induced ingestive and sleep
      behaviors in birds. Here, we describe the distribution of 5-HT1ARs in the
      hypothalamus and brainstem of birds, analyze their potential roles in sleep and
      ingestive behaviors, and attempt to determine the involvement of auto-/hetero-5
      HT1ARs in these behaviors. In 6 pigeons, the anatomical distribution of [(3)H]8
      OH-DPAT binding in the rostral brainstem and hypothalamus was examined.
      Ingestive/sleep behaviors were recorded (1h) in 16 pigeons pretreated with MM77
      (a heterosynaptic 5-HT1AR antagonist; 23 or 69 nmol) for 20 min, followed by
      intracerebroventricular ICV injection of 5-HT (N:8; 150 nmol), 8-OH-DPAT (DPAT, a
      5-HT1A,7R agonist, 30 nmol N:8) or vehicle. 5-HT- and DPAT-induced sleep and
      ingestive behaviors, brainstem 5-HT neuronal density and brain 5-HT content were
      examined in 12 pigeons, pretreated by ICV with the 5-HT neurotoxin 5,7
      dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT) or vehicle (N:6/group). The distribution of
      brainstem and diencephalic c-Fos immunoreactivity after ICV injection of 5-HT,
      DPAT or vehicle (N:5/group) into birds provided with or denied access to water is
      also described. 5-HT1ARs are concentrated in the brainstem 5-HTergic areas and
      throughout the periventricular hypothalamus, preoptic nuclei and
      circumventricular organs. 5-HT and DPAT produced a complex c-Fos expression
      pattern in the 5-HT1AR-enriched preoptic hypothalamus and the circumventricular
      organs, which are related to drinking and sleep regulation, but modestly affected
      c-Fos expression in 5-HTergic neurons. The 5-HT-induced ingestivebehaviors and
      the 5-HT- and DPAT-induced sleep behaviors were reduced by MM77 pretreatment. 5,7
      DHT increased sleep per se, decreased tryptophan hydroxylase expression in the
      raphe nuclei and decreased prosencephalic 5-HT release but failed to affect 5-HT-
      or DPAT-induced drinking or sleep behavior. 5-HT- and DPAT-induced ingestive and
      sleep behaviors in pigeons appear to be mediated by heterosynaptic and/or non
      somatodendritic presynaptic 5-HT1ARs localized to periventricular diencephalic
      circuits.

PMID- 25843560
TI  - Behavioural changes observed in demyelination model shares similarities with
      white matter abnormalities in humans.
AB  - Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the
      central nervous system (CNS). Further to the symptoms resulting from
      demyelination, new studies point to the involvement of neuroinflammation and
      white matter abnormalities in psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative
      diseases. Cuprizone, a model of MS, produces consistent demyelination and elicits
      behavioural, morphological and inflammatory changes in animals that share some
      similarities with those observed in humans. In this study, we used the cuprizone
      model in Lewis rats to evaluate clinical signs triggered by the demyelination
      process which could be comparable with the symptoms seen in white matter
      abnormalities in human beings. To induce the demyelination process, 0.6%
      cuprizone was added to the Lewis rats' diet for 4 weeks. We proceeded with
      behavioural, morphological and immunological analyses. Animals fed with cuprizone
      exhibited behavioural changes: higher scores in the neurotoxicity test, reduced
      exploratory and locomotion behaviour, and also an increase of permanency in the
      closed arm of the elevated plus maze test, were observed. In these analyses, the
      animals showed motor coordination impairment and anxiety-like behaviour.
      Demyelination also triggered changes in discrimination of objects identified by
      an increase in the time spent close to a familiar object. These behavioural
      alterations were associated with a significant increase in the levels of TNF
      alpha and corticosterone, consistent with the activation of microglia and
      astrocytes. Taken together, the results of this work show the cuprizone/Lewis rat
      model demyelination as an attractive paradigm for studying the correlation
      between white matter abnormalities and behaviour. 

PMID- 25843561
TI  - QT Indexes in Cirrhotic Patients: Relationship with Clinical Variables and
      Potential Diagnostic Predictive Value.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A wide spectrum of cardiovascular changes characterizes
      cirrhosis, ranging from subclinical alterations to hyperkinetic syndrome. We
      looked for ECG markers of ventricular repolarization in a population of patients
      with cirrhosis in comparison to patients without cirrhosis and we investigated
      the relationship between these and other clinical and laboratory variables.
      METHODS: In 149 patients with cirrhosis and 152 controls, we measured QT maximum
      interval (QTmax), QT corrected interval (QTc), QT minimum interval (QTmin), QT
      dispersion (QTdisp), QT peak and T peak-to-end (TpTe). RESULTS: In subjects with
      cirrhosis, in comparison with controls, we observed a higher mean QTmax, mean
      QTc, mean QTmin, mean QTdisp and mean TpTe. At Cox regression analysis, diastolic
      blood pressure and beta-blocker treatment were significantly associated with mean
      QTmax, hypertension with mean QTmin and mean QTc, diastolic blood pressure, beta
      blockers and ACE-inhibitors/ARBs with QT disp, and beta-blockers with TpTe.
      Analysis of ROC curves showed a significant area under curve towards cirrhosis
      diagnosis, respectively, for a cut-off value of > 400 msec of QTmax, > 360 msec
      of QTmin, > 450 msec of QTc, > 105 msec of TpTe and > 55 msec of QTdisp.
      CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that QT indexes are altered in cirrhotic patients
      and have a potential diagnostic predictive value.

PMID- 25843562
TI  - Assessing Parental Knowledge About Thalassemia in a Thalassemia Center of
      Karachi, Pakistan.
AB  - Thalassemia is the leading haemoglobinopathy after sickle cell anemia that
      accounts for 1.5 % of the global population. In Pakistan, every 1-4 per 1000
      infants suffers from Thalassemia. Regardless of being a population "at high risk"
      for Thalassemia major, evidence suggest that Pakistanis possess poor knowledge of
      the disease. The present study aimed to assess parents' accurate knowledge about
      Thalassemia disease at Afzaal Memorial Thalassemia Foundation in Karachi,
      Pakistan. A total of 172 parents of existing patients who were receiving regular
      blood transfusion from the center were included in the study. Parents' knowledge
      was assessed via a pre-tested and validated Thalassemia knowledge questionnaire.
      Findings show that 40 % of the sample showed lower knowledge scores about
      Thalassemia. Among different ethnic origins, Urdu speaking respondents showed a
      higher average score of correct knowledge about Thalassemia major (21.6 +/- 4.41)
      as compared to the Siraiki (17.9 +/- 4.48) and the Pathans (17.2 +/- 4.34). These
      latter two ethnic groups also showed poor knowledge about Thalassemia minor.
      Generally parents provided correct answers about treatment of Thalassemia major.
      The findings suggest targeted interventions are required for high risk ethnic
      groups. Thalassemia education programs should be offered to extended family
      members of existing patients by all Thalassemia centers. High risk ethnic groups
      (Siraiki and Pathan) need rigorous interventions, and Thalassemia worker program
      should be introduced nationwide.

PMID- 25843563
TI  - Complexities of Genetic Counseling for ALS: A Case of Two Siblings with
      Discordant Genetic Test Results.
AB  - Rapid advances in the genetics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have
      dramatically changed the approach of clinicians and researchers to the motor
      neuron diseases. We report two siblings in whom the genetic study provided
      conflicting results, hence raising a number of issues which deserve to be
      considered by clinicians involved in genetic testing for ALS. The first patient
      died within 2 years of ALS onset, while her brother still manages to walk
      unaided, 7 years into onset. Genetic analyses, performed on the first patient as
      part of a research protocol, and as clinical genetic testing on the brother,
      provided different results. Results for Patient 1 were negative for all
      investigated genes, thus suggesting that her disease may be a phenocopy, while
      her brother carried an autosomal dominant TARDBP mutation (p.A382T). A
      multidisciplinary approach may help patients and clinicians face the emerging
      dilemmas in such a complex field. Sharing and updating of advances, not to
      mention uncertainties inherent to current knowledge, with patients and families
      may prove to be an effective way to support them and to make them aware of the
      present limits of our knowledge and of the blurred border between research and
      clinical practice. 

PMID- 25843565
TI  - Regulatory system reform of occupational health and safety in China.
AB  - With the explosive economic growth and social development, China's regulatory
      system of occupational health and safety now faces more and more challenges. This
      article reviews the history of regulatory system of occupational health and
      safety in China, as well as the current reform of this regulatory system in the
      country. Comprehensive, a range of laws, regulations and standards that
      promulgated by Chinese government, duties and responsibilities of the regulatory
      departments are described. Problems of current regulatory system, the ongoing
      adjustments and changes for modifying and improving regulatory system are
      discussed. The aim of reform and the incentives to drive forward more health and
      safety conditions in workplaces are also outlined. 

PMID- 25843564
TI  - Effect of higher frequency components and duration of vibration on bone tissue
      alterations in the rat-tail model.
AB  - To formulate more accurate guidelines for musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) linked
      to Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), delineation of the response of bone tissue
      under different frequencies and duration of vibration needs elucidation. Rat
      tails were vibrated at 125 Hz (9 rats) and 250 Hz (9 rats), at 49 m/s(2), for 1D
      (6 rats), 5D (6 rats) and 20D (6 rats); D=days (4 h/d). Rats in the control group
      (6 rats for the vibration groups; 2 each for 1D, 5D, and 20D) were left in their
      cages, without being subjected to any vibration. Structural and biochemical
      damages were quantified using empty lacunae count and nitrotyrosine signal
      intensity, respectively. One-way repeated-measure mixed-model ANOVA at p<0.05
      level of significance was used for analysis. In the cortical bone, structural
      damage quantified through empty lacunae count was significant (p<0.05) at 250 Hz
      (10.82 +/- 0.66) in comparison to the control group (7.41 +/- 0.76). The
      biochemical damage was significant (p<0.05) at both the 125 Hz and 250 Hz
      vibration frequencies. The structural damage was significant (p<0.05) at 5D for
      cortical bone while the trabecular bone showed significant (p<0.05) damage at 20D
      time point. Further, the biochemical damage increased with increase in the
      duration of vibration with a significant (p<0.05) damage observed at 20D time
      point and a near significant change (p=0.08) observed at 5D time point.
      Structural and biochemical changes in bone tissue are dependent upon higher
      vibration frequencies of 125 Hz, 250 Hz and the duration of vibration (5D, 20D). 

PMID- 25843566
TI  - Reversal of P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance in MCF-7/Adr cancer
      cells by sesquiterpene coumarins.
AB  - In the present study, fifteen sesquiterpene coumarins were isolated and purified
      from different Ferula species, and were tested for their MDR reversal properties.
      Enhancement of doxorubicin cytotoxicity in MCF-7/Adr cells (doxorubicin resistant
      derivatives of MCF-7 cells overexpressing P-gp), when combined with very non
      toxic concentrations of the sesquiterpene coumarins (50 MUM) including
      umbelliprenin, farnesiferol B, farnesiferol C and lehmferin, proved significant
      MDR reversal activity of these coumarins. Flow cytometric efflux assay confirmed
      that the intracellular accumulation of Rho123 was significantly increased in MCF
      7/Adr cells when treated with sesquiterpene coumarins. A deeper insight into the
      structure-activity relationship of sesquiterpene coumarins revealed that ring
      opened drimane-type sesquiterpene coumarins including farnesiferol B,
      farnesiferol C and lehmferin possessed the best inhibitory effects on P-gp pump
      efflux and they could be considered as lead scaffolds for further structure
      modifications.

PMID- 25843567
TI  - Characterization of Subcellular Responses Induced by Exposure of Microbubbles to
      Astrocytes.
AB  - Blast traumatic brain injury (bTBI) has now been identified to associate with
      adverse health consequences among combat veterans. Post-traumatic stress disorder
      linked with explosive blasts, for example, may result from such brain injury. The
      fundamental questions about the nature, diagnosis, and long-term consequences of
      bTBI and causative relationship to post-traumatic stress disorder remain elusive,
      however. A better understanding of brain tissue injury requires elucidation of
      potential mechanisms. One such mechanism may be generation of microcavitation
      bubbles in the brain after an explosive blast and their subsequent interaction
      with brain cells. Using a controlled electrical discharge system, we have
      successfully generated shock waves (~10 MPa) and microbubbles (20-30 MUm) in the
      cell culture of mouse astrocytes. Detachment of astrocytes from the substrate
      after exposure to microbubbles was observed, and it depended on repetitive
      exposures. Of the cells that survived the initial assault, several subcellular
      changes were monitored and determined using fluorescent microscopy, including
      cell viability, cytoskeletal reorganization, changes in focal adhesion, membrane
      permeability, and potential onset of apoptosis. While the astrocytes impacted by
      the shock wave only demonstrated essentially unaltered cellular behavior, the
      astrocytes exposed to microbubbles exhibited significantly different responses,
      including production of reactive oxygen species by collapse of microbubbles. In
      the present study, we characterized and report for the first time the altered
      biophysical and subcellular properties in astrocytes in response to exposure to
      the combination of shock waves and microbubbles. 

PMID- 25843568
TI  - Molecular studies reveal a MLL-MLLT3 gene fusion displaced in a case of childhood
      acute lymphoblastic leukemia with complex karyotype.
AB  - Rearrangement of the mixed lineage-leukemia gene (MLL-r) is common in
      hematological diseases and is generally associated with poor prognosis. The mixed
      lineage leukemia gene translocated to, 3 (MLLT3) gene (9p22) is a frequent MLL-r
      partner (~18% of leukemias with MLL rearrangement) and is characterized by the
      translocation t(9;11) (p22;q23), forming an MLL-MLLT3 gene fusion. MLL-r are
      usually simple reciprocal translocations between two different chromosomes,
      although karyotypes with complex MLL-r have been observed. We present a rare case
      of a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia with a complex karyotype in which
      the classical t(9;11) (p22;q23) was cryptically relocated into a third chromosome
      in a balanced three-way translocation. At the genome level, however, the MLL
      MLLT3 three-way translocation still displayed both reciprocal fusion transcripts.
      This argues in favor for a model where a simple two-way t(9;11) (p22;q23) was
      likely the first step that then evolved in to a more complex karyotype.
      Multicolor banding techniques can be used to greatly refine complex karyotypes
      and its chromosomal breakpoints. Also in the presence of putative new
      rearrangements, Long distance inverse-PCR is an important tool to identify which
      gene fusion is involved. 

PMID- 25843569
TI  - First detections of Rickettsia helvetica and R. monacensis in ectoparasitic mites
      (Laelapidae and Trombiculidae) infesting rodents in south-western Slovakia.
AB  - Information on circulation of rickettsiae between small mammals and their
      ectoparasitic mites is scarce. In this study, we investigated infestation rates
      of rodents with mites in some areas of SW Slovakia and the role of mites as
      possible vectors of pathogenic rickettsiae. A total of 615 rodents of five
      species were caught during 2010-2012. All individuals were examined for
      ectoparasites which resulted in 2821 mites belonging to three species of
      Laelapidae and six species of Trombiculidae. The most common Laelapidae species
      was Laelaps agilis (81.25 %), followed by Haemogamasus nidi, and Eulaelaps
      stabularis. Hirsutiella zachvatkini (16.52 %) was the dominant species of the
      family Trombiculidae. DNA extracted from rodent blood and ectoparasitic mites was
      examined for the presence of rickettsiae by PCR. By pooling mites, 345 pool
      samples were created, of which 112 (32.46 %) were found to be positive for the
      rickettsial DNA. From 487 examined rodent blood samples, rickettsial DNA was
      found in 46 (9.44 %). Sequencing DNA from the positive blood samples and mites
      revealed the identity of Rickettsia helvetica and Rickettsia monacensis. The
      results of the study suggest that ectoparasitic mites may be reservoirs as well
      as vectors of some pathogenic rickettsiae. 

PMID- 25843570
TI  - Asian fish tapeworm, Khawia japonensis (Yamaguti, 1934), has expanded its
      European invasive range.
AB  - The invasive fish tapeworm, Khawia japonensis (Yamaguti, 1934) originally
      described in Japan, is reported for the first time in Slovakia. The tapeworm was
      found in farmed common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) from East-Slovakian breeding
      fish pond. This finding is registered 4 years after the first announcement of
      this parasite in Europe (Po River Basin in Italy) in 2010 and increases its
      distribution area within this continent. Morphological characterization of K.
      japonensis supplemented with DNA sequences of cox1 and ribosomal lsrDNA genes is
      provided. Specimens from Slovakia phenotypically corresponded with those from
      feral and farmed carps from China, Vietnam, and Italy. Moreover, 100 and 98.7%
      identity of partial ribosomal lsrDNA gene and mitochondrial cox1 genes,
      respectively, were detected with K. japonensis from Japan. The invasive and
      pathogenic potential of K. japonensis in commercial breeding fisheries and its
      possible further spread in natural habitats is difficult to estimate for now. As
      yet, K. japonensis appears to be without a major impact on commercial breeding
      fisheries, but calls for more attention to the problem of biological invasions.

PMID- 25843571
TI  - Epidemiologic study on Besnoitia besnoiti infection in dairy herds in Jordan.
AB  - Besnoitia besnoiti is an apicomplexan parasite and the causative agent of bovine
      besnoitiosis which is considered as a re-emergent disease in Europe. A cross
      sectional serological study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and to
      identify risk factors associated with B. besnoiti infection in 68 dairy herds (n
      = 806 cows) in Jordan during the period from January to June 2007 and the spring
      of 2014. Data regarding herd's management was obtained by filling questionnaires
      through personal interviews with farmers. An indirect ELISA test was used to
      detect antibodies against B. besnoiti. Chi-square analysis and multivariable
      logistic regression model were used to identify risk factors associated with
      seropositivity to B. besnoiti. At the individual cow and herd level, the true
      prevalence of seropositive animals was 6 and 28.7 %, respectively. Cows between 2
      and 6 years of age had significantly higher seroprevalence of B. besnoiti than
      other age groups. The highest seroprevalence of B. besnoiti was found in Zarqa
      and Irbid governorates. Multivariable logistic regression model identified that
      exchanging visits by farm workers to neighboring farms as a risk factor for
      seropositivity to B. besnoiti, while smaller herd size and twice a day farm
      cleaning using sweeping and water hosing were identified as protective factors.
      This is the first study that investigated the seroprevalence of B. besnoiti
      infection in dairy herds in Jordan. Further studies are warranted to explore the
      clinical manifestation of B. besnoiti infection as well as to identify the
      possible presence of other Besnoitia species and definitive hosts for the
      parasite. 

PMID- 25843572
TI  - First report of Myxobolus sp. infection in the skeletal muscle of Neotropical
      freshwater fish Piaractus mesopotamicus.
AB  - Although there are several reports of Myxobolus species infecting the somatic
      muscle of teleost fish, species of this genus have not been described
      parasitizing the muscle tissue of pacus, Piaractus mesopotamicus. This study
      presented the first report of natural infection by Myxobolus sp. in the skeletal
      muscle of pacus reared in intensive system. Twenty-one fish (+/-142.2 g; +/-23.1
      cm) were captured (April 2013) from an intensive fish farm in Sao Paulo State,
      southeast Brazil. Spores of Myxobolus sp. were contained within plasmodia and
      showed oval morphology with the apical portion slightly pyriform and two polar
      capsules pyriform retaining the same ratio to each other. In the
      histopathological study, the skeletal muscle do not present signs of
      inflammation. The integrity of myofibrils within the infected fibers showed some
      degree of degeneration, with partial loss of myofibrillar details and striations.
      Spores were found infecting the skeletal muscle of 18 fish (85.7%). Finally, the
      high prevalence of Myxobolus sp. infection in the skeletal muscle of P.
      mesopotamicus and the absence of macroscopic lesions in the muscle tissue
      indicate the necessity of more meticulous examinations during the health
      management in the rearing system and at slaughter of pacus to ensure best quality
      of meat.

PMID- 25843573
TI  - Two different myiasis cases in southeast of Turkey: ophthalmomyiasis and
      cutaneous myiasis.
AB  - Myiasis has become increasingly prevalent, particularly when human activity is
      carried out in environments with poor hygiene. We reported two cases of human
      myiasis in this paper. All of myiasis cases initially presenting to the Emergency
      Department of Kilis State Hospital in Turkey were identified. We present one case
      of ophthalmomyiasis caused by Oestrus ovis and one case of cutaneous myiasis
      caused by Lucilia sericata. Both of the myiasis cases were reported from rural
      area case limiting the exposure to adult flies and exterminating the flies will
      play important role in preventing the myiasis. 

PMID- 25843574
TI  - Thelazia callipaeda (Spirurida: Thelaziidae): first report in Greece and a case
      of canine infection.
AB  - The eyeworm Thelazia callipaeda has been reported in different European
      countries, i.e. Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Bosnia and
      Herzegovina, Croatia and Romania. The present article describes the first
      autochthonous case of ocular thelaziosis in a dog from Greece, thus revealing a
      new spot of infection in Europe. The dog in this case report, most likely
      infected at the northern borders of Greece, was referred to a private veterinary
      practice with conjunctivitis, oedema, keratitis, epiphora and mucoid discharge in
      both eyes. Seventy-seven nematodes were removed from both eyes, and the dog was
      treated with two subcutaneous injections of ivermectin 14 days apart, in
      combination with a topical antimicrobial medication. The parasites were
      morphologically and molecularly identified as T. callipaeda. Although in Greece
      there is no information about the presence and distribution of the fruit fly
      Phortica variegata, i.e. the intermediate host of T. callipaeda, the location
      where the dog was infected is environmentally suitable for its development. The
      present report of this zoonotic parasitosis indicates that in Greece, along with
      endemic areas in Spain and Italy, T. callipaeda is currently reaching its
      southernmost distribution limit in Europe. 

PMID- 25843575
TI  - Can asenapine cause myocarditis?

PMID- 25843576
TI  - Boundary lubrication by associative mucin.
AB  - Mucus lubricants are widely distributed in living organisms. Such lubricants
      consist of a gel structure constructed by associative mucin. However, limited
      tribological studies exist on associative mucin fluids. The present research is
      the first to investigate the frictional behavior of a typical intact vertebrate
      mucin (loach skin mucin), which can recover the gel structure of mucus via
      hydrophobic association under physiological conditions (5-10 mg/mL loach skin
      mucin dissolved in water). Both rough hydrophobic and hydrophilic
      polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) rubber plates were used as friction substrates. Up to
      10 mg/mL loach skin mucin dissolved in water led to a 10-fold reduction in
      boundary friction of the two substrates. The boundary-lubricating ability for
      hydrophilic PDMS decreased with rubbing time, whereas that for hydrophobic PDMS
      remained constant. The boundary-lubricating abilities of the mucin on hydrophobic
      PDMS and hydrophilic PDMS showed almost similar responses toward changing
      concentration or sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The mucin fluids reduced boundary
      friction coefficients (MU) only at concentrations (c) in which intermucin
      associations were formed, with a relationship shown as MU ~ c(-0.7). Destroying
      intermucin associations by SDS largely impaired the boundary-lubricating ability.
      Results reveal for the first time that intermolecular association of intact mucin
      in bulk solution largely enhances boundary lubrication, whereas tightly adsorbed
      layer plays a minor role in the lubrication. This study indicates that associated
      mucin should contribute considerably to the lubricating ability of biological
      mucus in vivo. 

PMID- 25843577
TI  - Spatial and temporal dynamics of stink bugs in southeastern farmscapes.
AB  - A 3-yr study (2009-2011) was conducted to examine the spatial and temporal
      dynamics of stink bugs in three commercial farmscapes. Study locations were
      replicated in South Carolina and Georgia, in an agriculturally diverse region
      known as the southeastern coastal plain. Crops included wheat, Triticum aestivum
      (L.), corn, Zea mays (L.), soybean, Glycine max (L.), cotton, Gossypium hirsutum
      (L.), and peanut, Arachis hypogaea (L.). Farmscapes were sampled weekly using
      whole-plant examinations for corn, with all other crops sampled using sweep nets.
      The predominant pest species of phytophagous stink bugs were the brown stink bug,
      Euschistus servus (Say), the green stink bug, Chinavia hilaris (Say), and the
      southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.). Chi-square tests indicated a
      departure from a normal distribution in 77% of analyses of the variance to mean
      ratio, with 37% of slopes of Taylor's power law and 30% of coefficient beta of
      Iwao's patchiness regression significantly greater than one, indicating
      aggregated distributions. Spatial Analyses by Distance IndicEs (SADIE) indicated
      aggregated patterns of stink bugs in 18% of year-end totals and 42% of weekly
      counts, with 80% of adults and nymphs positively associated using the SADIE
      association tool. Maximum stink bug densities in each crop occurred when the
      plants were producing fruit. Stink bugs exhibited greater densities in crops
      adjacent to soybean in Barnwell and Lee Counties compared with crops adjacent to
      corn or fallow areas. The diversity of crops and relatively small size of fields
      in the Southeast leads to colonization of patches within a farmscape. The
      ecological and management implications of the spatial and temporal distribution
      of stink bugs within farmscapes are discussed.

PMID- 25843578
TI  - Thermal death kinetics of fifth-instar Corcyras cephalonica (Lepidoptera:
      Galleriidae).
AB  - The infestation of rice moth, Corcyras cephalonica (Lepidoptera: Galleriidae),
      causes severe losses in postharvest walnuts. Heat has been studied as a
      phytosanitary treatment to replace chemical fumigation for controlling this pest.
      Information on kinetics for thermal mortality of C. cephalonica is needed for
      developing effective postharvest phytosanitary thermal treatments of walnuts.
      Thermal death kinetics of fifth-instar C. cephalonica were investigated at
      temperatures between 44 degrees C and 50 degrees C at a heating rate of 5 degrees
      C min(-1) using a heating block system. The results showed that thermal-death
      curves for C. cephalonica larvae followed a 0 order of kinetic reaction. The time
      to reach 100% mortality decreased with increasing temperature from 150 min at 44
      degrees C to 2.5 min at 50 degrees C. The activation energy for controlling C.
      cephalonica was 466-592 kJ/mol, and the z value obtained from the thermal death
      time curve was 3.3 degrees C. This kinetic model prediction could be useful in
      designing the thermal treatment protocol for controlling C. cephalonica in
      walnuts.

PMID- 25843579
TI  - Variation in C:N:S stoichiometry and nutrient storage related to body size in a
      holometabolous insect (Curculio davidi) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) larva.
AB  - Body size can be an important factor controlling consumer stoichiometry. In
      holometabolous insects, body size is typically associated with nutrient storage.
      Consumer stoichiometry is known to vary within species across a range of body
      sizes; however, the contribution of nutrient storage to this variation is not
      well understood. We used the fifth-instar larvae of the oak weevil (Coleoptera:
      Curculio davidi Fairmaire), which is characterized by a high capacity for
      nutrient storage, to investigate the effect of shifts in nutrient storage with
      body mass on variations in larva stoichiometry. Our results showed that weevil
      larvae with larger body mass had a lower carbon (C) content, reflecting decreases
      in the sequestration rate of C-rich lipids. Larger larvae had elevated
      concentrations of nitrogen (N), sulfur (S), and protein. The similar patterns of
      variation in elemental composition and macromolecule storage with body weight
      indicate that the shift in nutrient storage is the main factor causing the
      variation in larval stoichiometry with body weight. This finding was further
      supported by the low variation in residual larval biomass C, N, and S
      concentrations after lipid extraction. These results help decipher the
      physiological mechanism of stoichiometric regulation in growing organisms.

PMID- 25843580
TI  - Transcriptional regulation of cuticular protein glycine-rich13 gene expression in
      wing disc of Bombyx mori, Lepidoptera.
AB  - Cuticular protein genes are good models to study the molecular mechanisms of
      signaling by ecdysteroids, which regulate molting and metamorphosis in insects.
      The present research demonstrates on hormonal regulation and analysis of the
      regulatory sequences and transcription factors important for Bombyx mori
      cuticular protein glycine-rich13 (CPG13) gene expression. Expression of CPG13 was
      strong at prepupal stage in wing tissues of B. mori. CPG13 expression was induced
      by the addition of 20E, which was inhibited by cycloheximide in the wing disc.
      The upstream region of the CPG13 gene was analyzed using a transient reporter
      assay with a gene gun system and identified two BR-Z2 binding sites to be
      important cis-acting elements for the transcription activation of the luciferase
      reporter gene by an ecdysone pulse. Site-directed mutagenesis of these sites,
      followed by introduction into wing discs, significantly decreased the reporter
      activity. It was found that the regions carrying the binding sites for the
      ecdysone-responsive transcription factor BR-Z2 were responsible for the hormonal
      enhancement of the reporter gene activity in wing discs. Mutation of the BR-Z2
      binding sites decreased the reporter activity suggesting that the BR-Z2 isoform
      can bind to the upstream region of the cuticle protein gene, CPG13 and activates
      its expression. 

PMID- 25843581
TI  - Spatiotemporal distribution of Chinavia hilaris (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in corn
      farmscapes.
AB  - The green stink bug, Chinavia hilaris (Say) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is a pest
      of cotton in the southeastern United States but little is known concerning its
      spatiotemporal distribution in corn cropping systems. Therefore, the
      spatiotemporal distribution of C. hilaris in farmscapes, when corn was adjacent
      to cotton, peanut, or both, was examined weekly. The spatial patterns of C.
      hilaris counts were analyzed using Spatial Analysis by Distance Indices
      methodology. Interpolated maps of C. hilaris density were used to visualize
      abundance and distribution of C. hilaris in crops in corn-peanut-cotton
      farmscapes. This stink bug was detected in six of seven corn-cotton farmscapes,
      four of six corn-peanut farmscapes, and in both corn-peanut-cotton farmscapes.
      The frequency of C. hilaris in cotton (89.47%) was significantly higher than in
      peanut (7.02%) or corn (3.51%). This stink bug fed on noncrop hosts that grew in
      field borders adjacent to crops. The spatial distribution of C. hilaris in crops
      and the capture of C. hilaris adults and nymphs in pheromone-baited traps near
      noncrop hosts indicated that these hosts were sources of this stink bug
      dispersing into crops, primarily cotton. Significant aggregated spatial
      distributions were detected in cotton on some dates within corn-peanut-cotton
      farmscapes. Maps of local clustering indices depicted small patches of C. hilaris
      in cotton or cotton-sorghum at the peanut-cotton interface. Factors affecting the
      spatiotemporal dynamics of C. hilaris in corn farmscapes are discussed.

PMID- 25843582
TI  - Isolation and characterization of microsatellite markers useful for exploring
      introgression among species in the diverse New Zealand cicada genus Kikihia.
AB  - The New Zealand cicada genus Kikihia Dugdale 1971 exhibits more than 20 contact
      zones between species pairs that vary widely in their divergence times (between
      20,000 and 2 million years) in which some level of hybridization is evident.
      Mitochondrial phylogenies suggest some movement of genes across species
      boundaries. Biparentally inherited and quickly evolving molecular markers like
      microsatellites are useful for assessing gene flow levels. Here, we present six
      polymorphic microsatellite loci that amplify DNA from seven species across the
      genus Kikihia; Kikihia "northwestlandica," Kikihia "southwestlandica," Kikihia
      muta, Kikihia angusta, Kikihia "tuta," Kikihia "nelsonensis," and Kikihia
      "murihikua." The markers were developed using whole-genome shotgun sequencing on
      the 454 pyrosequencing platform. Moderate to high levels of polymorphisms were
      observed with 14-47 alleles for 213 individuals from 15 populations. Observed and
      expected heterozygosity range from 0 to 1 and 0.129 to 0.945, respectively. These
      new markers will be instrumental for the assessment of gene flow across multiple
      contact zones in Kikihia.

PMID- 25843583
TI  - Influences of Cry1Ac broccoli on larval survival and oviposition of diamondback
      moth.
AB  - Larval survival and oviposition behavior of three genotypes of diamondback moth,
      Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), (homozygous Cry1Ac
      susceptibile, Cry1Ac-resistant, and their F1 hybrids), on transgenic Bacillus
      thuringiensis (Bt) broccoli expressing different levels of Cry1Ac protein were
      evaluated in laboratory. These Bt broccoli lines were designated as relative low,
      medium, and high, respectively, according to the Cry1Ac content. Untransformed
      brocccoli plants were used as control. Larval survival of diamondback moth on non
      Bt leaves was not significantly different among the three genotypes. The Cry1Ac
      resistant larvae could survive on the low level of Bt broccoli plants, while
      Cry1Ac-susceptible and F1 larvae could not survive on them. The three genotypes
      of P. xylostella larvae could not survive on medium and high levels of Bt
      broccoli. In oviposition choice tests, there was no significant difference in the
      number of eggs laid by the three P. xylostella genotypes among different Bt
      broccoli plants. The development of Cry1Ac-susceptible and Cry1Ac-resistant P.
      xylostella on intact Bt plants was also tested in greenhouse. All susceptible P.
      xylostella larvae died on all Bt plants, while resistant larvae could survive on
      broccoli, which expresses low Cry1Ac protein under greenhouse conditions. The
      results of the greenhouse trials were similar to that of laboratory tests. This
      study indicated that high dose of Bt toxins in broccoli cultivars or germplasm
      lines is required for effective resistance management. 

PMID- 25843584
TI  - The distribution of dragonfly larvae in a South Carolina stream: relationships
      with sediment type, body size, and the presence of other larvae.
AB  - Dragonfly larvae were sampled in Little Creek, Greenville, SC. The distributions
      of five common species were described relative to sediment type, body size, and
      the presence of other larvae. In total, 337 quadrats (1 m by 0.5 m) were sampled
      by kick seine. For each quadrat, the substrate was classified as sand, sand
      cobble mix, cobble, coarse, or rock, and water depth and distance from bank were
      measured. Larvae were identified to species, and the lengths of the body, head,
      and metafemur were measured. Species were distributed differently across sediment
      types: sanddragons, Progomphus obscurus (Rambur) (Odonata: Gomphidae), were
      common in sand; twin-spotted spiketails, Cordulegaster maculata Selys (Odonata:
      Cordulegastridae), preferred a sand-cobble mix; Maine snaketails, Ophiogomphus
      mainensis Packard (Odonata: Gomphidae), preferred cobble and coarse sediments;
      fawn darners, Boyeria vinosa (Say) (Odonata: Aeshnidae), preferred coarse
      sediments; and Eastern least clubtails, Stylogomphus albistylus (Hagen) (Odonata:
      Gomphidae), preferred coarse and rock sediments. P. obscurus and C. maculata co
      occurred more frequently than expected by chance, as did O. mainensis, B. vinosa,
      and S. albistylus. Mean size varied among species, and species preferences
      contributed to differences in mean size across sediment types. There were
      significant negative associations among larval size classes: small larvae (<12
      mm) occurred less frequently with large larvae (>15 mm) than expected by chance,
      and large larvae were alone in quadrats more frequently than other size classes.
      Species may select habitats at a large scale based on sediment type and their
      functional morphology, but small scale distributions are consistent with
      competitive displacement or intraguild predation.

PMID- 25843585
TI  - Effect of Tithonia diversifolia mulch on Atta cephalotes (Hymenoptera:
      Formicidae) nests.
AB  - Recent studies have shown an insecticidal effect of Tithonia diversifolia
      (Hemsl.) Gray (Asterales: Asteraceae) foliage on workers of Atta cephalotes L.
      and inhibitory effects of this plant on the growth of the symbiotic fungus
      Leucoagaricus gongylophorus (A. Muler) Singer. To evaluate the potential of T.
      diversifolia as a biological control treatment of this important pest, we
      assessed the effect of green manure (mulch) of this plant on natural nests of A.
      cephalotes, in Cali, Colombia. Three treatments were randomly assigned to 30
      nests: 1) green mulch of T. diversifolia, 2) green mulch of Miconia sp., Ruiz &
      Pav. and 3) unmulched control. Every 2 wk for 6 mo, the surface of the nests was
      completely covered with leaves. Physical and chemical parameters of nest soil
      were assessed before the first and after the last application of the mulch. Ant
      foraging in T. diversifolia-treated nests decreased by 60% after the initial
      applications of the mulch, while nest surface area decreased by 40%. When the
      nests covered with T. diversifolia were opened, it was observed that the
      superficial fungus chambers had been relocated at a greater depth. In addition,
      microbial activity and soil pH increased by 84% and 12%, respectively, in nests
      covered with plant residues. In conclusion, the continued use of T. diversifolia
      mulch reduces foraging activity and negatively affects the internal conditions of
      the colonies, thereby inducing the ants to relocate the fungus chambers within
      the nests.

PMID- 25843586
TI  - Do Sesamia nonagrioides (Lepidoptera; Noctuidae) gravid females discriminate
      between Bt or multivitamin corn varieties? Role of olfactory and visual cues.
AB  - The Mediterranean corn borer, Sesamia nonagrioides Lefebvre, is a key pest of
      corn and a main target of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn in Northeast Spain.
      Trends for future biotechnology crops indicate that Bt, non-Bt, and stacked corn
      varieties with metabolic pathways for vitamin-increased traits could coexist in
      same region. Knowledge of the oviposition response of gravid females of S.
      nonagrioides to these different varieties could be extremely important for
      managing strategies aimed for delaying resistance development. In dual-choice
      assays, we examined the host preference of gravid females of S. nonagrioides for
      four corn varieties: a new transgenic corn with increased vitamin levels, its
      near isogenic counterpart (M37W), a Bt corn plant, and its near isogenic
      counterpart. Olfactory cues were the predominant ones when gravid females looked
      for a suitable host to lay eggs, and no synergistic effects were observed when
      both visual and olfactory cues were present. When the plant was visible, the
      females preferred the odors emitted by the nontransgenic to its multivitamin
      transgenic counterpart and when they only could detect the volatiles they also
      preferred the nontransgenic M37W variety to the Bt corn variety. If gravid
      females are less attracted to corn with an increased level of vitamins, this
      could impact insect resistance management and the value of refuge plants, if such
      traits are stacked with an insect resistance trait.

PMID- 25843587
TI  - Bioactivity of six plant extracts on adults of Demotispa neivai (Coleoptera:
      Chrysomelidae).
AB  - Demotispa neivai Bondar (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) damage oil palm fruits, which
      makes it necessary to develop products to control this insect. The mortality,
      repellency, and antifeeding effects on adults of D. neivai of six plant extracts
      of Azadirachta indica A. Juss. (Sapindales: Meliaceae), Ricinus communis (L.)
      (Malpighiaes: Euphorbiaceae), Citrus sinensis Oesbek (Sapindales: Rutaceae),
      Nicotiana tabacum (L.) (Slanales: Solanaceae), Capsicum annuum (L.) (Solanales:
      Solanaceae), and Artemisia absinthium (L.) (Asterales: Asteraceae) were
      determined: 1) the lethal concentration LC50-90, lethal time of D. neivai was
      evaluated after spraying the fruits of oil palm; 2) repellent effects of each
      ingredient were evaluated by calculating the index of repellency; 3) antifeeding
      effects with the rate of inhibition calculated between doses of 20 and 24
      g/liter. The mortality of D. neivai was higher with the extracts Ci. sinensis, R.
      communis, N. tabacum, and Ca. annuum. The mortality of D. neivai increased in the
      first 72 hr in all treatments. The extracts of N. tabacum, Ca. annuum, and A.
      indica were more repellent to D. neivai that those of Ci. sinensis, Ar.
      Absinthium, and R. communis. Antifeeding effect was higher with Ci. sinensis and
      R. communis. The increased mortality of D. neivai by Ci. sinensis can be
      explained by the effect of this compound on the respiratory system of insects.
      Extracts of Ci. sinensis, R. communis, N. tabacum, and Ca. annuum repelled and
      caused mortality of D. neivai and, thus, can be used in integrate pest management
      programs of this pest in oil palm plantations.

PMID- 25843588
TI  - Revision of the neotropical Exoristini (Diptera, Tachinidae): the status of the
      genera Epiplagiops and Tetragrapha.
AB  - The monotypic genera Epiplagiops Blanchard, 1943 and Tetragrapha Brauer and
      Bergenstamm, 1891 are revised. Both are invalidated and synonymized with
      Chetogena Rondani, 1856. Their type-species, Epiplagiops littoralis Blanchard,
      1943 and Tetragrapha tessellata Brauer and Bergenstamm, 1891, are studied,
      redescribed, illustrated, and transferred to Chetogena. A lectotype is designated
      for T. tessellata.

PMID- 25843589
TI  - Antennal sensilla in the parasitoid Sclerodermus sp. (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae).
AB  - Parasitoid wasps of the genus Sclerodermus (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) are an
      important natural enemy of the Japanese pine sawyer beetle Monochamus alternatus
      Hope (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). In this study, we used scanning electron
      microscopy to examine the external morphology of the antennal sensilla of
      Sclerodermus sp. Antennae of females and males comprised the scape, pedicel, and
      11 flagellomere segments. Based on the morphology of the sensilla in each sex,
      seven types of sensillum were identified: sensilla trichodea (Tr.1, Tr.2 and
      Tr.3), sensilla basiconica (Ba.1, Ba.2, and Ba.3), sensilla styloconica (St.1 and
      St.2), sensilla placodea, sensilla coeloconica, sensilla squamiforma, and Bohm's
      bristles. Tr.2, Ba.1, and St.1 were only found in females, whereas Ba.2, Ba.3,
      and St.2 were only observed in males. Sensilla placodea were the most common,
      given that they occur on the antennae of many parasitoid Hymenoptera, whereas
      sensilla Tr were the most abundant, being distributed over the entire antennal
      surface. These sensilla are likely to have roles in the host locating and habitat
      searching behavior of adult Sclerodermus wasps. Therefore, our findings provide a
      basis for further studies of the host location behavior of this and other species
      of parasitic wasp.

PMID- 25843590
TI  - Five new records of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Morocco.
AB  - A recent catalogue of the rich ant fauna of Morocco included 214 species, with
      later studies adding an additional 12 species. Following recent fieldwork in the
      north of Morocco, we report five new records for the country (Plagiolepis pygmaea
      Latreille, 1798, Ponera testacea Emery, 1895, Strumigenys tenuipilis Emery, 1915,
      Temnothorax pardoi Tinaut, 1987, and Tetramorium parvioculum Guillem & Bensusan,
      2009) and we present new data on the distribution and natural history of six
      additional species. This work brings the total number of ants known from Morocco
      to 233, taking into account two species which were omitted in the list of
      Cagniant.

PMID- 25843591
TI  - Morphological outcomes of gynandromorphism in Lycaeides butterflies (Lepidoptera:
      Lycaenidae).
AB  - The genitalia of male insects have been widely used in taxonomic identification
      and systematics and are potentially involved in maintaining reproductive
      isolation between species. Although sexual selection has been invoked to explain
      patterns of morphological variation in genitalia among populations and species,
      developmental plasticity in genitalia likely contributes to observed variation
      but has been rarely examined, particularly in wild populations. Bilateral
      gynandromorphs are individuals that are genetically male on one side of the
      midline and genetically female on the other, while mosaic gynandromorphs have
      only a portion of their body developing as the opposite sex. Gynandromorphs might
      offer unique insights into developmental plasticity because individuals
      experience abnormal cellular interactions at the genitalic midline. In this
      study, we compare the genitalia and wing patterns of gynandromorphic Anna and
      Melissa blue butterflies, Lycaeides anna (Edwards) (formerly L. idas anna) and L.
      melissa (Edwards) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), to the morphology of normal
      individuals from the same populations. Gynandromorph wing markings all fell
      within the range of variation of normal butterflies; however, a number of
      genitalic measurements were outliers when compared with normal individuals. From
      these results, we conclude that the gynandromorphs' genitalia, but not wing
      patterns, can be abnormal when compared with normal individuals and that the
      gynandromorphic genitalia do not deviate developmentally in a consistent pattern
      across individuals. Finally, genetic mechanisms are considered for the
      development of gynandromorphism in Lycaeides butterflies.

PMID- 25843592
TI  - Influence of different types of Phyllostachys pubescens (Poales: Poaceae) leaves
      on population parameters of Pantana phyllostachysae (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae)
      and parasitic effects of Beauveria bassiana (Moniliales: Moniliaceae).
AB  - We found that Pantana phyllostachysae, a dangerous pest of moso bamboo
      (Phyllostachys pubescens), showed differences in growth and development after
      feeding on diverse types of moso bamboo leaves. The mortality rate of Pa.
      phyllostachysae due to Beauveria bassiana, an entomopathogenic fungus, was also
      affected by the varied larval diet. Larval and pupal developmental duration of
      Pa. phyllostachysae was longer when feeding on "off-year" bamboo leaves. Pupal
      weight and adult fertility were higher when feeding on "on-year" bamboo leaves.
      Mortality due to B. bassiana was significantly lower in larvae fed on on-year
      bamboo leaves than in larvae fed on off-year bamboo leaves. Larvae fed on new
      bamboo leaves had a shorter development period and higher survival rate than
      those fed on off-year bamboo leaves. However, mixed feed (mixture of new, on
      year, and off-year bamboo leaves) decreased the egg production of Pa.
      phyllostachysae. After infection by the second generation of B. bassiana, the
      survival time of Pa. phyllostachysae fed on mixed feed increased significantly
      compared with the first generation. We also fed Pa. phyllostachysae different
      proportion of new bamboo leaves in mixed feed to simulate natural conditions. We
      found that increasing the proportion of new bamboo leaves in the food promoted
      pupal development and increased egg production; it also increased the resistance
      of larvae to the first generation of B. bassiana. The pathogenicity of the second
      generation of B. bassiana declined in all mixed feed treatments.

PMID- 25843593
TI  - Aphidophagous parasitoids can forage wheat crops before aphid infestation, Parana
      State, Brazil.
AB  - Aphid parasitoids are common in Brazilian wheat fields, and parasitize aphids at
      the wheat tillering stage. However, there is little information available about
      when this natural enemy occurs in wheat crops. This study investigated the
      initial occurrence of aphid parasitoids in four commercial wheat crops in
      northern Parana during the 2009 crop season. We installed two Malaise traps at
      each wheat farm, and 400 tillers were assessed weekly in each field for aphid
      abundance. During this study, we captured 4,355 aphid parasitoids and 197 aphids.
      Three species of braconid parasitoids were identified, including Aphidius
      colemani (Viereck 1912), Lysiphlebus testaceipes (Cresson 1880), and Diaeretiella
      rapae (McIntosh 1855). The aphids species identified were Rhopalosiphum padi
      (Linnaeus 1758) and Sitobion avenae (Fabricius 1775). This study showed that
      aphid parasitoids are present in wheat crops even when aphid densities are low,
      and in one farm, occurred before the aphids colonization. These reports can
      justified the high efficiency of these natural enemies against aphids in wheat
      fields.

PMID- 25843594
TI  - External Validation and Evaluation of Reliability and Validity of the Modified
      Seoul National University Renal Stone Complexity Scoring System to Predict Stone
      Free Status After Retrograde Intrarenal Surgery.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: The modified Seoul National University Renal Stone Complexity scoring
      system (S-ReSC-R) for retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) was developed as a
      tool to predict stone-free rate (SFR) after RIRS. We externally validated the S
      ReSC-R. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 159 patients who
      underwent RIRS. The S-ReSC-R was assigned from 1 to 12 according to the location
      and number of sites involved. The stone-free status was defined as no evidence of
      a stone or with clinically insignificant residual fragment stones less than 2 mm.
      Interobserver and test-retest reliabilities were evaluated. Statistical
      performance of the prediction model was assessed by its predictive accuracy,
      predictive probability, and clinical usefulness. RESULTS: Overall SFR was 73.0%.
      The SFRs were 86.7%, 70.2%, and 48.6% in low-score (1-2), intermediate-score (3
      4), and high-score (5-12) groups, respectively (p<0.001). External validation of
      S-ReSC-R revealed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.731 (95% CI 0.650-0.813).
      The AUC of the three-titered S-ReSC-R was 0.701 (95% CI 0.609-0.794). The
      calibration plot showed that the predicted probability of SFR had a concordance
      comparable to that of observed frequency. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit
      test revealed a p-value of 0.01 for the S-ReSC-R and 0.90 for the three-titered S
      ReSC-R. Interobserver and test-retest reliabilities revealed an almost perfect
      level of agreement. CONCLUSIONS: The present study proved the predictive value of
      S-ReSC-R to predict SFR following RIRS in an independent cohort. Interobserver
      and test-retest reliabilities confirmed that S-ReSC-R was reliable and valid.

PMID- 25843595
TI  - Structure of Waxy Maize Starch Hydrolyzed by Maltogenic alpha-Amylase in Relation
      to Its Retrogradation.
AB  - Maltogenic alpha-amylase is widely used as an antistaling agent in bakery foods.
      The objective of this study was to determine the degree of hydrolysis (DH) and
      starch structure after maltogenic amylase treatments in relation to its
      retrogradation. Waxy maize starch was cooked and hydrolyzed to different degrees
      by a maltogenic amylase. High-performance anion-exchange chromatography and size
      exclusion chromatography were used to determine saccharides formed and the
      molecular weight (Mw) distributions of the residual starch structure,
      respectively. Chain length (CL) distributions of debranched starch samples were
      further related to amylopectin (AP) retrogradation. Differential scanning
      calorimetry (DSC) results showed the complete inhibition of retrogradation when
      starches were hydrolyzed to >20% DH. Mw and CL distributions of residual AP
      structure indicated that with an increase in %DH, a higher proportion of unit
      chains with degree of polymerization (DP) <=9 and a lower proportion of unit
      chains with DP >=17 were formed. A higher proportion of short outer AP chains
      that cannot participate in the formation of double helices supports the decrease
      in and eventual inhibition of retrogradation observed with the increase in %DH.
      These results suggest that the maltogenic amylase could play a powerful role in
      inhibiting the staling of baked products even at limited starch hydrolysis. 

PMID- 25843596
TI  - Cereblon binding molecules in multiple myeloma.
AB  - Immunomodulation is an established treatment strategy in multiple myeloma with
      thalidomide and its derivatives lenalidomide and pomalidomide as its FDA approved
      representatives. Just recently the method of action of these cereblon binding
      molecules was deciphered and results from large phase 3 trials confirmed the
      backbone function of this drug family in various combination therapies. This
      review details the to-date knowledge concerning mechanism of IMiD action,
      clinical applications and plausible escape mechanisms in which cells may become
      resistant/refractory to cereblon binding molecule based treatment. 

PMID- 25843597
TI  - Control of immunopathology during chikungunya virus infection.
AB  - After several decades of epidemiologic silence, chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has
      recently re-emerged, causing explosive outbreaks and reaching the 5 continents.
      Transmitted through the bite of Aedes species mosquitoes, CHIKV is responsible
      for an acute febrile illness accompanied by several characteristic symptoms,
      including cutaneous rash, myalgia, and arthralgia, with the latter sometimes
      persisting for months or years. Although CHIKV has previously been known as a
      relatively benign disease, more recent epidemic events have brought waves of
      increased morbidity and fatality, leading it to become a serious public health
      problem. The host's immune response plays a crucial role in controlling the
      infection, but it might also contribute to the promotion of viral spread and
      immunopathology. This review focuses on the immune responses to CHIKV in human
      subjects with an emphasis on early antiviral immune responses. We assess recent
      developments in the understanding of their possible Janus-faced effects in the
      control of viral infection and pathogenesis. Although preventive vaccination and
      specific therapies are yet to be developed, exploring this interesting model of
      virus-host interactions might have a strong effect on the design of novel
      therapeutic options to minimize immunopathology without impairing beneficial host
      defenses. 

PMID- 25843599
TI  - Lessons from Ebola and readiness for new emerging infectious threats.

PMID- 25843601
TI  - Biomarkers and inhaled corticosteroid responsiveness in asthmatic patients.

PMID- 25843598
TI  - Ebola: a holistic approach is required to achieve effective management and
      control.
AB  - The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa has already caused substantial
      mortality and dire human and economic consequences. It continues to represent an
      alarming public health threat in the region and beyond and jeopardizes the
      provision of health care and other services in the affected countries. The scale
      of the epidemic has accelerated research efforts for diagnostics, treatment, and
      prevention galvanized through increased availability of funding. Our knowledge
      relating to the virus, disease pathogenesis, risk factors, dynamics of
      transmission, and epidemic control is increasing, and sociocultural factors have
      emerged as critical determinants for the success and failure of control efforts.
      However, there is a long way to go. In this review we summarize the current
      knowledge, examine the sociocultural context in West Africa, and outline priority
      areas for future research. 

PMID- 25843602
TI  - Signaling impairments in maternal T cells engrafted in an infant with a novel IL
      2 receptor gamma mutation.

PMID- 25843603
TI  - Efficacy of resin-modified glass ionomer cement varnish in the prevention of
      white spot lesions during comprehensive orthodontic treatment: a split-mouth
      study.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of resin-modified glass ionomer cement
      varnish in the prevention of white spot lesions (WSLs) during early orthodontic
      treatment with fixed appliances. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 480 maxillary
      and mandibular anterior teeth were studied. The varnish was applied to either the
      right or left side of the maxillary or mandibular anterior teeth on a random
      basis. For each experimental quadrant in each patient, the varnish was applied to
      the labial surfaces of incisors and canines, from the gingival surface of the
      bracket to the free gingival margin. White spot lesions were recorded on a
      standard pro forma before (T(0)) and approximately 6 months following varnish
      application (T(1)) by DIAGNOdent and direct visual inspection. RESULTS: The
      DIAGNOdent score at T(1) was increased significantly in the control maxillary
      lateral and mandibular central (P < 0.05), and lateral incisors (P < 0.01). The
      visual scores in experimental maxillary lateral incisors and mandibular canines
      were decreased significantly at T(1) (P < 0.05). The sidewise post-treatment
      (T(1)) comparisons of control and experimental teeth for visual scores revealed
      significant decreases for maxillary lateral incisors, maxillary canines and
      mandibular canines (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Application of resin-modified glass
      ionomer cement varnish had a favourable effect in the prevention of WSLs during
      comprehensive orthodontic treatment.

PMID- 25843604
TI  - Detection and quantification of proteins in clinical samples using high
      resolution mass spectrometry.
AB  - Quantitative proteomics has benefited from the recent development of mass
      spectrometers capable of high-resolution and accurate-mass (HR/AM) measurements.
      While targeted experiments are routinely performed on triple quadrupole
      instruments in selected reaction monitoring (SRM; often referred as multiple
      reaction monitoring, MRM) mode, the quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometers allow
      quantification in MS/MS mode, also known as parallel reaction monitoring (PRM).
      This technique is characterized by higher selectivity and better confidence in
      the assignment of the precursor and fragment ions, and thus translates into an
      improved analytical performance. More fundamentally, PRM introduces a change of
      the overall paradigm of targeted experiments, by the decoupling of the
      acquisition and data processing. They rely on two distinct steps, with a
      simplified acquisition method in conjunction with a flexible, iterative, post
      acquisition data processing. This account describes in detail the different steps
      of a PRM experiment, which include the design of the acquisition method, the
      confirmation of the identity of the analytes founded upon a full MS/MS
      fragmentation pattern, and the quantification based on the extraction of specific
      fragment ions (selected post-acquisition) using tight mass tolerance. The
      different types of PRM experiments, defined as large-scale screening or precise
      targeted quantification using calibrated internal standards, together with the
      considerations on the selection of experimental parameters are discussed. 

PMID- 25843605
TI  - Fabrication and characterization of injectable hydrogels derived from
      decellularized skeletal and cardiac muscle.
AB  - Biomaterials, which can contain appropriate biomechanical and/or biochemical
      cues, are increasingly being investigated as potential scaffolds for tissue
      regeneration and/or repair for treating myocardial infarction, heart failure, and
      peripheral artery disease. Specifically, injectable hydrogels are touted for
      their minimally invasive delivery, ability to self-assemble in situ, and capacity
      to encourage host tissue regeneration. Here we present detailed methods for
      fabricating and characterizing decellularized injectable cardiac and skeletal
      muscle extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogels. The ECM derived hydrogels have low
      cellular and DNA content, retain sulfated glycosaminoglycans and other
      extracellular matrix proteins such as collagen, gel at physiologic temperature
      and pH, and assume a nanofibrous architecture. These injectable hydrogels are
      amenable to minimally invasive, tissue specific biomaterial therapies for
      treating myocardial infarction and peripheral artery disease. 

PMID- 25843607
TI  - A method for constructing vascularized muscle flap.
AB  - Abdominal wall reconstruction following extensive tissue loss is essential and
      can be achieved using autologous flaps. However, their use is limited due to
      their inadequate availability and due to post-operative donor site scarification.
      This work presents a step-by-step technique for fabrication of a vascularized
      muscle flap, to be applied in full-thickness abdominal wall defect
      reconstruction. Poly L-lactic acid/poly lactic-co-glycolic acid scaffolds,
      prepared using a salt leaching technique, were used as the supporting matrix in
      vitro for simultaneously seeded endothelial cells, fibroblasts and myoblasts. The
      cell-embedded graft was then implanted around femoral artery and vein vessels,
      which provided a central blood supply. Vascularization and perfusion were
      achieved by capillary sprouting from the main host vessel into the graft. A thick
      and vascularized tissue was formed within one week, and was then transferred as
      an autologous flap together with its main vessels, to a full-thickness abdominal
      wall defect. The flap remained viable after transfer and featured sufficient
      mechanical strength to support the abdominal viscera. Thus, this engineered
      muscle flap can be used as an alternative source for autologous flaps to
      reconstruct full-thickness abdominal wall defects.

PMID- 25843606
TI  - Long term perfusion system supporting adipogenesis.
AB  - Adipose tissue engineered models are needed to enhance our understanding of
      disease mechanisms and for soft tissue regenerative strategies. Perfusion systems
      generate more physiologically relevant and sustainable adipose tissue models,
      however adipocytes have unique properties that make culturing them in a perfusion
      environment challenging. In this paper we describe the methods involved in the
      development of two perfusion culture systems (2D and 3D) to test their
      applicability for long term in vitro adipogenic cultures. It was hypothesized
      that a silk protein biomaterial scaffold would provide a 3D framework, in
      combination with perfusion flow, to generate a more physiologically relevant
      sustainable adipose tissue engineered model than 2D cell culture. Consistent with
      other studies evaluating 2D and 3D culture systems for adipogenesis we found that
      both systems successfully model adipogenesis, however 3D culture systems were
      more robust, providing the mechanical structure required to contain the large,
      fragile adipocytes that were lost in 2D perfused culture systems. 3D perfusion
      also stimulated greater lipogenesis and lipolysis and resulted in decreased
      secretion of LDH compared to 2D perfusion. Regardless of culture configuration
      (2D or 3D) greater glycerol was secreted with the increased nutritional supply
      provided by perfusion of fresh media. These results are promising for adipose
      tissue engineering applications including long term cultures for studying disease
      mechanisms and regenerative approaches, where both acute (days to weeks) and
      chronic (weeks to months) cultivation are critical for useful insight. 

PMID- 25843608
TI  - Automated image analysis programs for the quantification of microvascular network
      characteristics.
AB  - The majority of reports in which microvascular network properties are quantified
      rely on manual measurements, which are time consuming to collect and somewhat
      subjective. Despite some progress in creating automated image analysis
      techniques, the parameters measured by these methods are limited. For example, no
      automated system has yet been able to measure support cell recruitment, which is
      an important indicator of microvascular maturity. Microvessel alignment is
      another parameter that existing programs have not measured, despite a strong
      dependence of performance on alignment in some tissues. Here we present two image
      analysis programs, a semi-automated program that analyzes cross sections of
      microvascular networks and a fully automated program that analyzes images of
      whole mount preparations. Both programs quantify standard characteristics as well
      as support cell recruitment and microvascular network alignment, and were highly
      accurate in comparison to manual measurements for engineered tissues containing
      self-assembled microvessels. 

PMID- 25843610
TI  - Evaluation of cognitive behaviour therapy for paediatric obsessive-compulsive
      disorder in the context of tic disorders.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and tic
      disorders (TD) often present together. However, there has been relatively little
      research on whether comorbid tic disorders influence response to cognitive
      behaviour therapy (CBT) for OCD. This study aimed to examine the outcomes of CBT
      for paediatric patients with OCD and a tic disorder compared to a matched group
      of children with OCD and no tics. Outcomes were compared post-treatment and at 3
      or 6 month follow-up. METHODS: Participants were 29 young people with tic
      disorders and OCD (OCD + TD) and 29 young people with OCD without tic disorders
      (OCD-TD) who were matched according to age, gender and baseline OCD symptom
      severity. All participants received a course of CBT and outcomes were assessed
      using the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS). RESULTS:
      OCD symptoms reduced over the course of CBT to an equivalent extent in the OCD +
      TD and OCD-TD groups. Response or remission rates did not differ significantly at
      either post-intervention or follow-up between those with OCD + TD and those with
      OCD-TD. For both groups, response rates were high - 72% of both groups were
      classified as responders post-intervention and, at follow-up, 81% of the OCD + TD
      group and 82% of the OCD no tics group responded. Those with OCD + TD responded
      in significantly fewer sessions than those with OCD without tics. LIMITATIONS: A
      number of potential confounding factors were not assessed and therefore could not
      be controlled for, such as other comorbidities and stability of medication.
      CONCLUSIONS: Paediatric patients with OCD and tic disorders respond equally well
      to standard CBT for OCD as compared to those with OCD and no tics.

PMID- 25843611
TI  - Cognitive Bias Modification for adolescents with substance use problems--Can
      serious games help?
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Excessive use of psychoactive substances and resulting
      disorders are a major societal problem, and the most prevalent mental disorder in
      young men. Recent reviews have concluded that Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM)
      shows promise as an intervention method in this field. As adolescence is a
      critical formative period, successful early intervention may be key in preventing
      later substance use disorders that are difficult to treat. One issue with
      adolescents, however, is that they often lack the motivation to change their
      behavior, and to engage in multisession cognitive training programs. The upcoming
      use of serious games for health may provide a solution to this motivational
      challenge. METHODS: As the use of game-elements in CBM is fairly new, there are
      very few published studies in this field. This review therefore focuses on
      currently available evidence from similar fields, such as cognitive training, as
      well as several ongoing CBM gamification projects, to illustrate the general
      principles. RESULTS: A number of steps in the gamification process are
      identified, starting with the original, evidence-based CBM task, towards full
      integration in a game. While more data is needed, some steps seem better suited
      for CBM gamification than others. Based on the current evidence, several
      recommendations are made. LIMITATIONS: As the field is still in its infancy,
      further research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn. CONCLUSIONS:
      Gamified CBM may be a promising way to reach at risk youth, but the term "game"
      should be used with caution. Suggestions are made for future research.

PMID- 25843609
TI  - Infected animal models for tissue engineering.
AB  - Infection is one of the most common complications associated with medical
      interventions and implants. As tissue engineering strategies to replace missing
      or damaged tissue advance, the focus on prevention and treatment of concomitant
      infection has also begun to emerge as an important area of research. Because the
      in vivo environment is a complex interaction between host tissue, implanted
      materials, and native immune system that cannot be replicated in vitro, animal
      models of infection are integral in evaluating the safety and efficacy of
      experimental treatments for infection. In this review, considerations for
      selecting an animal model, established models of infection, and areas that
      require further model development are discussed with regard to cutaneous,
      fascial, and orthopedic infections. 

PMID- 25843612
TI  - Henneguya doneci (Myxosporea: Bivalvulida) in the gill filaments of Prussian carp
      Carassius gibelio (Bloch) from the upper Yellow River running through Inner
      Mongolia, China.
AB  - We examined 11 Prussian carp, Carassius gibelio (Bloch), from the upper Yellow
      River running through Inner Mongolia (Wuhai City) to record myxosporean species.
      Between 6 and 15 elongated cysts of Henneguya doneci were located at the basal
      part of the gill filaments of 3 carp (27.3%); no more myxosporean plasmodia were
      found in other organs. Although the morphology and morphometric values of the
      spores (average measurements of 14 spores in um: 11.4 long by 9.2 wide with 7.5
      in thickness; 2 polar capsules, equal, 5.5 long by 3.2 wide; and a bifurcated
      caudal process, 51.6 long) with an evident intercapsular appendix were basically
      coincident with the species, the dimensions of the spore bodies were marginally
      larger, and the length of the caudal processes was distinctly longer than
      previously reported values for H. doneci (44.2-59.2 um vs. 26.8-42.6 um,
      respectively). Genetic analysis of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) found few
      nucleotide substitutions when compared with 3 deposited sequences of H. doneci
      collected around the Yangtze River (Sichuan and Hubei Provinces), China,
      indicating that the uniqueness of some of the morphological features exhibited by
      the present Wuhai isolate should be ascribed to intraspecific variation.

PMID- 25843613
TI  - Metachronous colorectal cancers result from missed lesions and non-compliance
      with surveillance.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several studies examined the rate of colorectal cancer (CRC)
      developed during colonoscopy surveillance after CRC resection (ie, metachronous
      CRC [mCRC]), yet the underlying etiology is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To examine the
      rate and likely etiology of mCRCs. DESIGN: Population-based, multicenter study.
      Review of clinical and histopathologic records, including data of the national
      pathology database and The Netherlands Cancer Registry. SETTING: National cancer
      databases reviewed at 3 hospitals in South-Limburg, The Netherlands. PATIENTS:
      Total CRC population diagnosed in South-Limburg from January 2001 to December
      2010. INTERVENTIONS: Colonoscopy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: We defined an mCRC
      as a second primary CRC, diagnosed >6 months after the primary CRC. By using a
      modified algorithm to ascribe likely etiology, we classified the mCRCs into
      cancers caused by non-compliance with surveillance recommendations, inadequate
      examination, incomplete resection of precursor lesions (CRC in same segment as
      previous advanced adenoma), missed lesions, or newly developed cancers. RESULTS:
      We included a total of 5157 patients with CRC, of whom 93 (1.8%) had mCRCs, which
      were diagnosed on an average of 81 months (range 7-356 months) after the initial
      CRC diagnosis. Of all mCRCs, 43.0% were attributable to non-compliance with
      surveillance advice, 43.0% to missed lesions, 5.4% to incompletely resected
      lesions, 5.4% to newly developed cancers, and 3.2% to inadequate examination. Age
      adjusted and sex-adjusted logistic regression analyses showed that mCRCs were
      significantly smaller in size (odds ratio [OR] 0.8; 95% confidence interval [CI],
      0.7-0.9) and more often poorly differentiated (OR 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0-2.8) than were
      solitary CRCs. LIMITATIONS: Retrospective evaluation of clinical data.
      CONCLUSION: In this study, 1.8% of all patients with CRC developed mCRCs, and the
      vast majority were attributable to missed lesions or non-compliance with
      surveillance advice. Our findings underscore the importance of high-quality
      colonoscopy to maximize the benefit of post-CRC surveillance.

PMID- 25843614
TI  - Nonneoplastic polypectomy during screening colonoscopy: the impact on polyp
      detection rate, adenoma detection rate, and overall cost.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The frequency of nonneoplastic polypectomy (NNP) and its impact on
      the polyp detection rate (PDR) is unknown. The correlation between NNP and
      adenoma detection rate (ADR) and its impact on the cost of colonoscopy has not
      been investigated. OBJECTIVE: To determine the rate of NNP in screening
      colonoscopy, the impact of NNP on the PDR, and the correlation of NNP with ADR.
      The increased cost of NNP during screening colonoscopy also was calculated.
      DESIGN: We reviewed all screening colonoscopies. PDR and ADR were calculated. We
      then calculated a nonneoplastic polyp detection rate (patients with >=1
      nonneoplastic polyp). SETTING: Tertiary-care referral center. PATIENTS: Patients
      who underwent screening colonoscopies from 2010 to 2011. INTERVENTIONS:
      Colonoscopy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: ADR, PDR, NNP rate. RESULTS: A total of
      1797 colonoscopies were reviewed. Mean (+/-standard deviation) PDR was 47.7%+/
      12.0%, and mean ADR was 27.3%+/-6.9%. The overall NNP rate was 10.4%+/-7.1%, with
      a range of 2.4% to 28.4%. Among all polypectomies (n=2061), 276 were for
      nonneoplastic polyps (13.4%). Endoscopists with a higher rate of nonneoplastic
      polyp detection were more likely to detect an adenoma (odds ratio 1.58; 95%
      confidence interval, 1.1-1.2). With one outlier excluded, there was a strong
      correlation between ADR and NNP (r=0.825; P<.001). The increased cost of removal
      of nonneoplastic polyps was $32,963. LIMITATIONS: Retrospective study.
      CONCLUSION: There is a strong correlation between adenoma detection and
      nonneoplastic polyp detection. The etiology is unclear, but nonneoplastic polyp
      detection rate may inflate the PDR for some endoscopists. NNP also adds an
      increased cost. Increasing the awareness of endoscopic appearances through
      advanced imaging techniques of normal versus neoplastic tissue may be an area to
      improve cost containment in screening colonoscopy.

PMID- 25843615
TI  - EUS-guided drainage of hepatic abscess and infected biloma using short and long
      metal stents (with videos).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Currently, few reports exist on EUS-guided hepatic abscess drainage
      (EUS-HAD) and EUS-guided biloma drainage (EUS-BLD) using a metal stent.
      OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the technical success rate and efficacy of EUS-HAD and
      EUS-BLD for patients with hepatic abscess (HA) and infected biloma. DESIGN:
      Retrospective case series. SETTING: Single tertiary referral medical center.
      PATIENTS: We evaluated 7 HA and 6 infected biloma patients who were treated
      between August 2013 and August 2014 at Tokyo Medical University Hospital.
      INTERVENTIONS: EUS-HAD or EUS-BLD using a short (length, 2 or 3 cm) or long
      (length, 6 or 8 cm) self-expandable fully covered metal stent. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASUREMENTS: Technical success, clinical success, and adverse event. RESULTS:
      The overall technical success rate was 100% in both EUS-HAD and EUS-BLD. The
      clinical success rates of EUS-HAD and EUS-BLD at the first session were 71.4% and
      83.3%, respectively. Direct endoscopic necrosectomy was required in 1 case each
      of HA and infected biloma. The final clinical success rate was 100%. There were
      no procedure-related adverse events or cases of recurrence during the follow-up
      period (median, 83.5 days; range, 24-396 days). LIMITATIONS: Small sample size
      and no control group. CONCLUSIONS: EUS-HAD and EUS-BLD using a metal stent can be
      performed safely and effectively for HA and infected biloma.

PMID- 25843616
TI  - Clip artifact after closure of large colorectal EMR sites: incidence and
      recognition.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Clip closure of large colorectal EMR defects sometimes results in
      bumpy scars that are normal on biopsy. We refer to these as "clip artifact." If
      unrecognized, clip artifact can be mistaken for residual polyp, leading to
      thermal treatment and potential adverse events. OBJECTIVE: To describe the
      incidence of and define predictors of clip artifact. DESIGN: Review of
      photographs of scars from consecutive clipped EMR defects. SETTING: University
      outpatient endoscopy center. PATIENTS: A total of 284 consecutive patients with
      clip closure of defects after EMR of lesions 20 mm or larger and follow-up
      colonoscopy. INTERVENTIONS: EMR, clip closure. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS:
      Incidence of clip artifact. RESULTS: A total of 303 large polyps met the
      inclusion criteria. On review of photographs, 96 scars (31.7%) had clip artifact.
      Clip artifact was associated with increased numbers of clips placed (odds ratio
      for each additional clip, 1.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-1.38) but not polyp
      histology, size, or location. The rate of residual polyp by histology was 8.9%
      (27/303), with 21 of 27 scars with residual polyp evident endoscopically. The
      rate of residual polyp evident only by histology in scars with clip artifact
      (3/93; 3.2%) was not different from the rate in scars without clip artifact
      (3/189; 1.6%). LIMITATIONS: Retrospective design. Sites closed primarily with 1
      type of clip. Single-operator assessment of endoscopic photographs. CONCLUSION:
      Clip artifact occurred in the scars of approximately one-third of large clipped
      EMR sites and increased with number of clips placed. Clip artifact could be
      consistently distinguished from residual polyp by its endoscopic appearance.

PMID- 25843617
TI  - Findings of diagnostic colonoscopy in young adults versus findings of screening
      colonoscopy in patients aged 50 to 54 years: a comparative study stratified by
      symptom category.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The threshold for diagnostic colonoscopy in symptomatic patients aged
      <50 years remains controversial. Previous studies on the prevalence of neoplasia
      or other serious pathology in young patients mostly have been uncontrolled,
      providing only limited data on the risk associated with specific symptoms.
      OBJECTIVE: To compare colonoscopy findings in patients aged <50 years who have
      various symptoms (diagnostic cohort) against those of concurrent patients aged 50
      to 54 years who are asymptomatic (screening cohort). DESIGN: Retrospective
      controlled cohort study. SETTING: Teaching hospital. PATIENTS: Symptomatic
      patients aged between 18 and 49 years and asymptomatic patients aged between 50
      and 54 years. INTERVENTIONS: Colonoscopy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Prevalence
      of advanced neoplasia. RESULTS: During the study period, 1638 patients underwent
      colonoscopy in the screening cohort (mean [+/- standard deviation{SD}] age 51.7
      +/- 1.4 years) and 1266 underwent colonoscopy in the diagnostic cohort (40.4 +/-
      8.0 years). Despite the age difference, the prevalence of advanced neoplasia in
      patients with rectal bleeding was comparable with that in the screening controls:
      28 of 472 (5.9%) versus 113 of 1638 patients (6.9%) (P = .459). Furthermore, 10
      patients (2.1%) with rectal bleeding were newly diagnosed with inflammatory bowel
      disease. In contrast, other symptoms that commonly lead to colonoscopy, such as
      abdominal pain, changes in bowel habits, and weight loss, were associated with
      much lower risks for neoplasia. As a result, the overall prevalences of neoplasia
      and advanced neoplasia were significantly higher in the screening cohort than in
      the diagnostic cohort: 467 of 1638 patients (28.5%) versus 179 of 1266 patients
      (14.1%), and 113 patients (6.9%) versus 48 patients (3.8%), respectively (both P
      < .001). LIMITATIONS: No data on duration of symptoms; discrepant sex ratios
      between cohorts. CONCLUSION: The threshold for diagnostic colonoscopy in
      symptomatic young adults should be individualized for each symptom category.
      Rectal bleeding warrants colonoscopy to detect advanced neoplasia or inflammatory
      bowel disease in most young patients, especially those aged 40 to 49 years,
      whereas non-bleeding symptoms, including some traditionally regarded as "alarm"
      symptoms, were associated with a much lower risk for neoplasia compared with the
      risk in screening patients aged 50 to 54 years.

PMID- 25843618
TI  - Innate immune evasion by filoviruses.
AB  - Ebola viruses and Marburg viruses, members of the filovirus family, cause severe
      hemorrhagic fever. The ability of these viruses to potently counteract host
      innate immune responses is thought to be an important component of viral
      pathogenesis. Several mechanisms of filoviral innate immune evasion have been
      defined and are reviewed here. These mechanisms include suppression of type I
      interferon (IFN) production; inhibition of IFN-signaling and mechanisms that
      either prevent cell stress responses or allow the virus to replicate in the face
      of such responses. A greater understanding of these innate immune evasion
      mechanisms may suggest novel therapeutic approaches for these deadly pathogens. 

PMID- 25843619
TI  - Failed replications, contributing factors and careful interpretations: Commentary
      on Boekel et al., 2015.

PMID- 25843620
TI  - Evolving models of comprehensive geriatric assessment.

PMID- 25843622
TI  - Comparison of fine needle aspiration biopsy and paraffin embedded tissue sections
      for measuring AgNOR proteins.
AB  - Paraffin embedded tissue sections and fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) are
      important methods for diagnosis. We compared thyroid tissue obtained by FNAB to
      paraffin embedded sections to determine whether there were differences in
      detection of the amounts of argyrophilic nucleolar organizing region (AgNOR)
      proteins. Twenty-two patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma were included in
      the study. Slides were prepared with both FNAB tissue and 3 MUm sections of
      paraffin embedded tissue, and stained for AgNOR. One hundred nuclei per
      individual were evaluated; total AgNOR number/nucleus (TAn/TNn) and total AgNOR
      area/nuclear area (TAa/TNa) of individual cells were determined. Mean TAn/TNn and
      TAa/TNa values were 4.800 +/- 1.118 and 13.382 +/- 2.612, respectively, for FNAB
      samples; corresponding values were 2.406 +/- 0.649 and 8.49 +/- 0.893,
      respectively, for paraffin embedded sections. The differences between FNAB
      materials and paraffin embedded tissue sections were significant for the mean
      TAn/TNn and TAa/TNa values. Significant differences in the amounts of AgNOR
      protein detected were found between FNAB and paraffin embedded tissue sections. 

PMID- 25843621
TI  - Critical decisions for older people with advanced dementia: a prospective study
      in long-term institutions and district home care.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To describe and compare the decisions critical for survival or quality
      of life [critical decisions (CDs)] made for patients with advanced dementia in
      nursing homes (NHs) and home care (HC) services. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study
      with a follow-up of 6 months. SETTING: Lombardy Region (NHs) and Reggio-Emilia
      and Modena Districts (HC), Italy. PARTICIPANTS: Patients (496 total; 315 in NHs
      and 181 in HC) with advanced dementia (Functional Assessment Staging Tool score
      >= 7) and expected survival >= 2 weeks. MEASUREMENTS: At baseline, the patients'
      demographic data, date of admission and of dementia diagnosis, type of dementia,
      main comorbidities, presence of pressure sores, ongoing treatments, and current
      prescriptions were abstracted from clinical records. At baseline and every 15
      days thereafter, information regarding the patients' general condition and CDs
      (deemed critical by the doctor or team) was collected by an interview with the
      doctor. For each CD, the physician reported the problem that led to the decision,
      that was eventually made, the purpose of the decision, whether the decision had
      been discussed with and/or communicated to the family, who made the final
      decision, whether the decision was maintained after 1 week, whether it
      corresponded to what the doctor would have judged appropriate, and the expected
      survival of the patient (<= 15 days). RESULTS: For 267 of the 496 patients
      (53.8%; 60.3% in NHs and 42.5% at home), 644 CDs were made; for 95 patients, more
      than 1 CD was made. The problems that led to a CD were mainly infections
      (respiratory tract and other infections; 46.6%, 300/644 CDs);
      nutritional/hydration problems (20.6%; 133 CDs); and the worsening of a pre
      existing disease (9.3%; 60 CDs). The most frequent type of decision concerned the
      prescription of antibiotics (overall 41.1%, 265/644; among NH patients 44.6%,
      218/488; among HC patients, 30.2%, 47/156). The decision to hospitalize the
      patient was more frequently reported for HC than NH patients (25.5% vs 3.1%). The
      most frequent purposes of the CDs in both settings were reducing symptoms or
      suffering (more so in NHs; 81.1% vs 57.0% in HC) and prolonging survival (NH
      27.5%; HC 23.1%; multiple purposes were possible). For 26 decisions (3.8%), the
      purpose was to ease death or not to prolong life. CONCLUSIONS: Decisions critical
      for the survival or quality of life of patients with advanced dementia were made
      for approximately one-half of the patients during a 6-month time frame, and such
      decisions were made more frequently in NHs than in HC. HC patients were more
      frequently hospitalized, and a sizeable minority of these patients were treated
      with the goal of prolonging survival. Italian patients with advanced dementia may
      benefit from the implementation of palliative care principles, and HC patients
      may benefit from the implementation of measures to avoid hospitalizing patients
      near the end of life.

PMID- 25843624
TI  - Phylogenetic and stress-responsive expression analysis of 20 WRKY genes in
      Populus simonii * Populus nigra.
AB  - WRKY transcription factors play important roles in regulating biotic and abiotic
      stress responses in plants. Although a plethora of studies have revealed the
      functions and mechanisms of some WRKYs in various plants, the studies of WRKYs in
      woody plants especially tree species under different abiotic and biotic stress
      conditions are still not well characterized. In this study, we selected 20
      Populus simonii*Populus nigra WRKY genes based on our previous transcriptome
      study, and characterized these genes by phylogenetic analysis to investigate
      their evolutionary relations, then studied their expression patterns under NaCl,
      NaHCO3, PEG6000, CdCl2 and Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissl treatments that
      mimic the salt, alkalinity, drought, heavy metal and fungal infection conditions.
      The phylogenetic analysis showed that these 20 genes can be divided into five
      clades (Groups I, IIa, IIb, IIc and III) and all of their WRKY domains are
      conserved except for an N-terminal single amino acid mutation in PsnWRKY8. Before
      conducting quantitative real time PCR calculation, we evaluated five candidate
      reference genes under different stress treatments, and chose At4g33380-like as
      the reference gene for salt stress, Actin for alkalinity stress, UBQ for drought
      stress, TUA for heavy metal stress, and 18S rRNA for pathogen infection stress.
      The final qRT-PCR analysis indicated that 20/20, 20/20, and 15/20 PsnWRKYs were
      downregulated under salt, alkali and drought stresses, and 14/20 and 19/20
      PsnWRKYs were upregulated under heavy metal and pathogen stresses. Members from
      the same clade tended to present similar expression patterns. In addition, we
      observed noticeable changes in the expression of PsnWRKY11 (increased by 41
      times) and PsnWRKY20 (increased by 141 times) under pathogen infection condition,
      implying that these two genes are potentially important for the disease
      resistance of P. simonii * P. nigra.

PMID- 25843623
TI  - ATR-mediated phosphorylation of FANCI regulates dormant origin firing in response
      to replication stress.
AB  - Excess dormant origins bound by the minichromosome maintenance (MCM) replicative
      helicase complex play a critical role in preventing replication stress,
      chromosome instability, and tumorigenesis. In response to DNA damage, replicating
      cells must coordinate DNA repair and dormant origin firing to ensure complete and
      timely replication of the genome; how cells regulate this process remains
      elusive. Herein, we identify a member of the Fanconi anemia (FA) DNA repair
      pathway, FANCI, as a key effector of dormant origin firing in response to
      replication stress. Cells lacking FANCI have reduced number of origins, increased
      inter-origin distances, and slowed proliferation rates. Intriguingly, ATR
      mediated FANCI phosphorylation inhibits dormant origin firing while promoting
      replication fork restart/DNA repair. Using super-resolution microscopy, we show
      that FANCI co-localizes with MCM-bound chromatin in response to replication
      stress. These data reveal a unique role for FANCI as a modulator of dormant
      origin firing and link timely genome replication to DNA repair. 

PMID- 25843625
TI  - Association of UBASH3A gene polymorphisms and systemic lupus erythematosus in a
      Chinese population.
AB  - Recent evidence has demonstrated that UBASH3A gene was associated with multiple
      autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to explore the association between
      UBASH3A gene single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and systemic lupus
      erythematosus (SLE) in a Chinese Han population. Four UBASH3A polymorphisms
      (rs11203203, rs3788013, rs2277798, and rs1893592) were genotyped using the
      Fluidigm 192.24 Dynamic ArrayTM Integrated Fluidic Circuit (IFC). Data were
      analyzed by SPSS 11.5 software. A total of 792 SLE patients and 777 healthy
      controls were included in this study. The CC genotype and C allele of rs3788013
      polymorphism were more frequent in the patient group than in controls (OR=1.583,
      95% CI=1.095-2.287; OR=1.258, 95% CI=1.083-1.461, respectively). We also found a
      statistical significance under the recessive model (OR=1.298, 95% CI=1.049-1.607,
      p=0.017). The frequency of variant genotype AC of rs3788013 was associated with
      the phenotype of vasculitis (p=0.012). A statistically significant association
      was observed between UBASH3A rs1893592 C allele and skin rash, oral ulcer and
      arthritis (p<0.05). Moreover, we found that the genotype distribution of
      rs2277798 was significantly associated with hematuria in the SLE patients
      (p=0.003). However, UBASH3A rs11203203, rs2277798, and rs1893592 polymorphisms
      were not associated with the risk of SLE (p>0.05). The findings suggest that
      UBASH3A gene might contribute to SLE susceptibility and influence the clinical
      phenotype of the disease. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the exact
      role of UBASH3A gene in the pathogenesis of SLE.

PMID- 25843626
TI  - Oncolytic measles virus as a novel therapy for malignant peripheral nerve sheath
      tumors.
AB  - Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) are devastating soft tissue
      sarcomas that can arise sporadically or in association with neurofibromatosis
      type I, have a poor prognosis, and have limited treatment options. Oncolytic
      measles virus therapy has been demonstrated to have significant antitumor
      properties in a number of different cancers, but the oncolytic potential of a MV
      Edmonston (MVEdm) vaccine strain engineered to express the human sodium iodide
      symporter (MV-NIS) on MPNST has not previously been evaluated. MPNST cell lines
      were found to highly express CD46, a cellular receptor required for measles viral
      entry, on their cell surface. After in vitro MV-NIS infection, MPNST cell lines
      showed significant cytopathic effect (CPE), while normal Schwann cells were less
      susceptible to CPE. Virus localization and distribution could be monitored by
      imaging of I-125 uptake. Local administration of MV-NIS into MPNST-derived tumors
      resulted in significant regression of tumor and improved survival. These results
      demonstrate feasibility of oncolytic measles virus therapy for MPNST patients and
      the possibility of a novel treatment for patients with NF1 tumors. 

PMID- 25843627
TI  - Molecular cloning, characterization and expression analysis of the protein
      arginine N-methyltransferase 1 gene (As-PRMT1) from Artemia sinica.
AB  - Protein arginine N-methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) is an important epigenetic
      regulation factor in eukaryotic genomes. PRMT1 is involved in histone arginine
      loci methylation modification, changes in eukaryotic genomes' chromatin
      structure, and gene expression regulation. In the present paper, the full-length
      1201-bp cDNA sequence of the PRMT1 homolog of Artemia sinica (As-PRMT1) was
      cloned for the first time. The putative As-PRMT1 protein comprises 346 amino
      acids with a SAM domain and a PRMT5 domain. Multiple sequence alignments revealed
      that the putative sequence of As-PRMT1 protein was relatively conserved across
      species, especially in the SAM domain. As-PRMT1 is widely expressed during embryo
      development of A. sinica. This is followed by a dramatic upregulation after
      diapause termination and then downregulation from the nauplius stage.
      Furthermore, As-PRMT1 transcripts are highly upregulated under conditions of high
      salinity and low temperature stress. These findings suggested that As-PRMT1 is a
      stress-related factor that might promote or inhibit the expression of certain
      genes, play a critical role in embryonic development and in resistance to low
      temperature and high salinity stress. 

PMID- 25843628
TI  - Systematic discovery of Xist RNA binding proteins.
AB  - Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) function with associated proteins to effect complex
      structural and regulatory outcomes. To reveal the composition and dynamics of
      specific noncoding RNA-protein complexes (RNPs) in vivo, we developed
      comprehensive identification of RNA binding proteins by mass spectrometry (ChIRP
      MS). ChIRP-MS analysis of four ncRNAs captures key protein interactors, including
      a U1-specific link to the 3' RNA processing machinery. Xist, an essential lncRNA
      for X chromosome inactivation (XCI), interacts with 81 proteins from chromatin
      modification, nuclear matrix, and RNA remodeling pathways. The Xist RNA-protein
      particle assembles in two steps coupled with the transition from pluripotency to
      differentiation. Specific interactors include HnrnpK, which participates in Xist
      mediated gene silencing and histone modifications but not Xist localization, and
      Drosophila Split ends homolog Spen, which interacts via the A-repeat domain of
      Xist and is required for gene silencing. Thus, Xist lncRNA engages with proteins
      in a modular and developmentally controlled manner to coordinate chromatin
      spreading and silencing.

PMID- 25843629
TI  - The BRAF pseudogene functions as a competitive endogenous RNA and induces
      lymphoma in vivo.
AB  - Research over the past decade has suggested important roles for pseudogenes in
      physiology and disease. In vitro experiments demonstrated that pseudogenes
      contribute to cell transformation through several mechanisms. However, in vivo
      evidence for a causal role of pseudogenes in cancer development is lacking. Here,
      we report that mice engineered to overexpress either the full-length murine B-Raf
      pseudogene Braf-rs1 or its pseudo "CDS" or "3' UTR" develop an aggressive
      malignancy resembling human diffuse large B cell lymphoma. We show that Braf-rs1
      and its human ortholog, BRAFP1, elicit their oncogenic activity, at least in
      part, as competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) that elevate BRAF expression and
      MAPK activation in vitro and in vivo. Notably, we find that transcriptional or
      genomic aberrations of BRAFP1 occur frequently in multiple human cancers,
      including B cell lymphomas. Our engineered mouse models demonstrate the oncogenic
      potential of pseudogenes and indicate that ceRNA-mediated microRNA sequestration
      may contribute to the development of cancer.

PMID- 25843631
TI  - [Lipoidic necrobiosis].

PMID- 25843630
TI  - Deconvolving the recognition of DNA shape from sequence.
AB  - Protein-DNA binding is mediated by the recognition of the chemical signatures of
      the DNA bases and the 3D shape of the DNA molecule. Because DNA shape is a
      consequence of sequence, it is difficult to dissociate these modes of
      recognition. Here, we tease them apart in the context of Hox-DNA binding by
      mutating residues that, in a co-crystal structure, only recognize DNA shape.
      Complexes made with these mutants lose the preference to bind sequences with
      specific DNA shape features. Introducing shape-recognizing residues from one Hox
      protein to another swapped binding specificities in vitro and gene regulation in
      vivo. Statistical machine learning revealed that the accuracy of binding
      specificity predictions improves by adding shape features to a model that only
      depends on sequence, and feature selection identified shape features important
      for recognition. Thus, shape readout is a direct and independent component of
      binding site selection by Hox proteins.

PMID- 25843632
TI  - [Beyond "data sharing"].

PMID- 25843633
TI  - [Leukocytoclastic vasculitis].

PMID- 25843634
TI  - [Right heart failure after pacemaker implantation].
AB  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) secondary to
      interference pacemaker (PM) cable is a rare cause of progressive right heart
      failure (HF), which can worsen patient outcomes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We present
      3 clinical cases of right HF secondary to TR after PM implantation. RESULTS: In
      these patients the clinic is right HF, which can appear early, as in our second
      patient, or after years of implementation of the PM, as in the first and third
      patients. The diagnosis is confirmed by echocardiography, the most accurate 3D,
      followed by transesophageal. The 2D transthoracic can not detect it, because it
      has low sensitivity for TR associated with PM. Medical treatment is always the
      first choice, since any other procedure carries significant morbidity and
      mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Probably this is a condition that we will diagnose with
      increasing frequency, because there are more and more patients with devices and,
      at the same time, the diagnostic tools are improving.

PMID- 25843635
TI  - Alveolar macrophages and type I IFN in airway homeostasis and immunity.
AB  - Globally, respiratory infections cause more than 4 million deaths per year, with
      influenza and tuberculosis (TB) in particular being major causes of mortality and
      morbidity. Although immune cell activation is critical for killing respiratory
      pathogens, this response must be tightly regulated to effectively control and
      eliminate invading microorganisms while minimizing immunopathology and
      maintaining pulmonary function. The distinct microenvironment of the lung is
      constantly patrolled by alveolar macrophages (Mphi), which are essential for
      tissue homeostasis, early pathogen recognition, initiation of the local immune
      response, and resolution of inflammation. Here, we focus on recent advances that
      have provided insight into the relation between pulmonary Mphi, type I interferon
      (IFN) signaling, and the delicate balance between protective and pathological
      immune responses in the lung. 

PMID- 25843636
TI  - [Is nocturnal polyuria more frequent among patients with Parkinson's disease?].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Nocturia is a frequent complaint in the population of idiopathic
      Parkinson's disease patients (IPD). The consequences of nocturia in the IPD
      population are at high importance as these patients have motor problems and
      therefore a risk of nocturnal fall. The aim of the study was to determine the
      mechanism of nocturia in patients with MPI, by determining the prevalence of
      nocturnal polyuria (NP) in this population. METHOD: A prospective study by
      bladder diary was conducted on 70 consecutive IPD patients consulting for regular
      neurological follow-up at a non-severe stage. Nocturia was defined as 1 or more
      awakenings to urinate. Two definitions of NP were used: nocturnal diuresis 33% or
      higher of the total diuresis (NUV33), which is the ICS (International Continence
      Society) definition, and nocturnal diuresis 90 mL/h or higher (NUP90). RESULTS:
      The mean patient age was 71 years (45-86, sex ratio 33/30). On average, patients
      were diagnosed for IPD 6.76 years earlier. The prevalence of NP was 64.5%
      according to NUV33 definition, and 17.7% according to NUP90 definition. Among
      patients with nocturia, the prevalence of NP was 66% (NUV33) and 21.5% (NUP90).
      No association was observed between disease duration of the IPD and the
      prevalence of nocturia and NP. Patients 70 years and older were more likely to
      have NP as defined by NUV33 than those less than 70 years (72.7% versus 55.17%,
      P=0.015). Men had more frequently nocturia (33.3% versus 20.7%, P=0.027).
      CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of NP and nocturia was analyzed in patients with IPD
      at a non-severe stage. This prevalence was not higher than in the general
      population of the same age. The mechanism of nocturia in patients with IPD is not
      unambiguous and therefore requires to be explored by a bladder diary.

PMID- 25843637
TI  - Potential of yeast secretory vesicles in biodelivery systems.
AB  - Membranous vesicular organelles (MVOs), such as secretory vesicles and exosomes,
      perform a variety of biological functions ranging from secretion to cellular
      communication in eukaryotic cells. Exosomes, particularly those of mammalian
      cells, have been widely studied as potential carriers in human therapeutic
      applications. However, no study has yet demonstrated the use of yeast secretory
      vesicles for such applications. Therefore, we explore here the current state of
      knowledge on yeast secretory vesicles and their potential use in therapeutic
      delivery systems. We focus on the characteristics shared by exosomes and yeast
      secretory vesicles to provide insights into the use of the latter as delivery
      vehicles. From this perspective, we speculate on the potential application of
      post-Golgi vesicles (PGVs) in the biomedical field. 

PMID- 25843638
TI  - The preclinical development of biosimilars: introduction.

PMID- 25843639
TI  - 'Turn On/Off' fluorescence probe for the screening of unactivated Bruton's
      tyrosine kinase.
AB  - BTK has emerged as a promising target for treating B-cell malignancies and
      autoimmune diseases, and there has been a growing demand to identify selective
      BTK inhibitors efficiently. In this Letter, we have designed and synthesized a
      new fluorescent probe to screen compounds that preferentially bind to an
      unactivated state of BTK (BTK [U]). The fluorescence of the probe was turned on
      in the presence of BTK [U], and quenched by the addition of compounds which
      preferentially bind to BTK [U]. This unique fluorescent probe was successfully
      applied to the screening of a kinase focused compound library. The results
      suggest that this new method is a simple and easy-to-perform assay to screen
      inhibitors of BTK [U]. 

PMID- 25843640
TI  - Endovascular Extraction of Caval Tumor Thrombus to Facilitate Minimally Invasive
      Cytoreductive Nephrectomy for Metastatic Kidney Cancer.

PMID- 25843641
TI  - Essential role of transient receptor potential M8 (TRPM8) in a model of acute
      cold-induced urinary urgency.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute exposure of part of the skin to cold stimuli can evoke urinary
      urgency, a phenomenon termed acute cold-induced urgency (ACIU). Despite its high
      prevalence, particularly in patients with overactive bladder, little is known
      about the mechanisms that induce ACIU. OBJECTIVE: To develop an animal model of
      ACIU and test the involvement of cold-activated ion channels transient receptor
      potential (TRP) M8 and TRPA1. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Intravesical
      pressure and micturition were monitored in female mice (wild-type C57BL/6J,
      Trpa1(-/-), Trpm8(+/+), and Trpm8(-/-)) and Sprague Dawley rats. INTERVENTIONS:
      An intravesical catheter was implanted. Localized cooling of the skin was
      achieved using a stream of air or topical acetone. The TRPM8 antagonist (N-(3
      aminopropyl)-2-{[(3-methylphenyl) methyl]oxy}-N-(2-thienylmethyl)benzamide (AMTB)
      or vehicle was injected intraperitoneally. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL
      ANALYSIS: Frequencies of bladder contractions and voids in response to sensory
      stimuli were compared using the Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis test. RESULTS AND
      LIMITATIONS: Brief, innocuously cold stimuli applied to different parts of the
      skin evoked rapid bladder contractions and voids in anesthetized mice and rats.
      These responses were strongly attenuated in Trpm8(-/-) mice and in rats treated
      with AMTB. As rodent bladder physiology differs from that of humans, it is
      difficult to directly extrapolate our findings to human patients. CONCLUSIONS:
      Our findings indicate that ACIU is an evolutionarily conserved reflex rather than
      subconscious conditioning, and provide a useful in vivo model for further
      investigation of the underlying mechanisms. Pharmacological inhibition of TRPM8
      may be useful for treating ACIU symptoms in patients. PATIENT SUMMARY: Brief cold
      stimuli applied to the skin can evoke a sudden desire to urinate, which can be
      highly bothersome in patients with overactive bladder. We developed an animal
      model to study this phenomenon, and found that it depends on a specific molecular
      cold sensor, transient receptor potential M8 (TRPM8). Pharmacological inhibition
      of TRPM8 may alleviate acute cold-induced urinary urgency in humans.

PMID- 25843642
TI  - Competencies for master and doctoral students in epidemiology: what is important,
      what is unimportant, and where is there room for improvement?
AB  - In 2008, members of the American College of Epidemiology's Education Committee
      began work on a project to facilitate discussion on identifying domains and core
      competencies for epidemiologic training at the master and doctoral levels. Two
      online surveys were created and participants (N = 183; n = 147 [established
      epidemiologists] and n = 36 [recent graduates]) rated the importance of 19
      domains and 66 competencies. A total of 17 competencies were viewed as important
      or very important for individuals earning various master- or doctoral-level
      degrees in epidemiology, whereas eight competencies were reported as being
      unimportant for all individuals earning graduate degrees in epidemiology. Twenty
      additional competencies were viewed as important or very important only for
      individuals receiving doctoral training. In addition, recent master-level
      graduates identified nine domains in which they felt less prepared, and recent
      doctoral-level graduates identified two such domains. Additional research is
      warranted to ensure that all epidemiologists receive sufficient training in
      identified areas. 

PMID- 25843644
TI  - Could tuning of the inhibitory tone involve graded changes in neuronal chloride
      transport?
AB  - Hyperpolarizing synaptic inhibition through GABAA and glycine receptors depends
      on the presence of the neuronal cation-chloride-cotransporter protein, KCC2.
      Several transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms have been shown to
      regulate KCC2 and thereby influence the polarity and efficacy of inhibitory
      synaptic transmission. It is unclear however whether regulation of KCC2 enables
      the transporter to attain different levels of activity thus allowing a neuron to
      modulate the strength of inhibitory synaptic transmission to its changing
      requirements. We therefore investigated whether phosphorylation can allow KCC2 to
      achieve distinct levels of [Cl(-)]i in neurons. We generated a variety of KCC2
      alanine dephosphorylation mimics and used NH4(+)-induced pHi shifts in cultured
      hippocampal neurons to quantify the rate of KCC2 transport activity exhibited by
      these mutants. To explore the relationship between KCC2 transport and GABAA
      receptor-mediated current amplitudes we performed gramicidine perforated-patch
      recordings. The correlation between EGABA and NH4(+)-induced pHi shifts enabled
      an estimate of the range of chloride extrusion possible by kinase/phosphatase
      regulation of KCC2. Our results demonstrate that KCC2 transport can vary
      considerably in magnitude depending on the combination of alanine mutations
      present on the protein. Transport can be enhanced to sufficiently high levels
      that hyperpolarizing GABAA responses may be obtained even in neurons with an
      extremely negative resting membrane potential and at high extracellular K(+)
      concentrations. Our findings highlight the significant potential for regulating
      the inhibitory tone by KCC2-mediated chloride extrusion and suggest that cellular
      signaling pathways may act combinatorially to alter KCC2
      phosphorylation/dephosphorylation and thereby tune the strength of synaptic
      inhibition. 

PMID- 25843643
TI  - Sex differences in GABA(B)R-GIRK signaling in layer 5/6 pyramidal neurons of the
      mouse prelimbic cortex.
AB  - The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been implicated in multiple disorders
      characterized by clear sex differences, including schizophrenia, attention
      deficit hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and
      drug addiction. These sex differences likely represent underlying differences in
      connectivity and/or the balance of neuronal excitability within the mPFC.
      Recently, we demonstrated that signaling via the metabotropic gamma-aminobutyric
      acid receptor (GABABR) and G protein-gated inwardly-rectifying K(+) (GIRK/Kir3)
      channels modulates the excitability of the key output neurons of the mPFC, the
      layer 5/6 pyramidal neurons. Here, we report a sex difference in the GABABR-GIRK
      signaling pathway in these neurons. Specifically, GABABR-dependent GIRK currents
      recorded in the prelimbic region of the mPFC were larger in adolescent male mice
      than in female counterparts. Interestingly, this sex difference was not observed
      in layer 5/6 pyramidal neurons of the adjacent infralimbic cortex, nor was it
      seen in young adult mice. The sex difference in GABABR-GIRK signaling is not
      attributable to different expression levels of signaling pathway components, but
      rather to a phosphorylation-dependent trafficking mechanism. Thus, sex
      differences related to some diseases associated with altered mPFC function may be
      explained in part by sex differences in GIRK-dependent signaling in mPFC
      pyramidal neurons. 

PMID- 25843645
TI  - Polarized stakeholders and institutional vulnerabilities: the enduring politics
      of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
AB  - PURPOSE: We conducted a comparative study of how state-level political
      stakeholders affected the implementation of 3 major reforms within the Patient
      Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Our goal was to analyze the effects of
      policy legacy, institutional fragmentation, and public sentiments on state
      obstruction of the reform. METHODS: We gathered quantitative and qualitative
      evidence to generate cross-case comparisons of state implementation of 3 reform
      streams within the ACA: health insurance exchanges, Medicaid expansion, and
      regulatory reform. Our sources included secondary literature, analysis of
      official decisions, and background interviews with experts and public officials.
      FINDINGS: We found that state-level opponents of the ACA were most likely to be
      successful in challenging reforms with few preexisting policy legacies, high
      institutional fragmentation, and negative public sentiments. Reforms that built
      on existing state legislation, avoided state veto points or offered lucrative
      fiscal incentives, and elicited less negative public reaction were less likely to
      be contested. IMPLICATIONS: Our findings point to the importance of institutional
      design for the role of political stakeholders in implementing reforms to improve
      the cost, quality, and availability of medical treatments. Although other
      research has found that political polarization has shaped early ACA outcomes,
      comparative analysis suggests political stakeholders have had the highest effect
      on reforms that were particularly vulnerable.

PMID- 25843646
TI  - Morphological analysis of the lip and nose following cleft lip repair with
      simultaneous partial primary rhinoplasty: A prospective study over 4 years.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Facial clefts involve complex abnormalities. The therapy is
      elaborate, and a critical evaluation of therapeutic outcome is required. Our
      study analyzed the lip and nose deformities associated with unilateral clefts in
      a prospective longitudinal study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 33 patients
      with a cleft lip or cleft lip and alveolus (UCL) and 46 with a cleft lip and
      palate (UCLP) were treated using a similar concept. Standardized photographs were
      taken preoperatively (age 0.4-0.52 years) and again aged 4.04-4.59 years.
      Anthropometric analyses were performed and compared with age-matched normal
      values. RESULTS: Nostril width (UCL = 1.01, UCLP = 1.03) and nostril floor width
      (UCL = 1.02, UCLP = 1.04) were almost symmetric. Nasal tip angles were normalized
      by surgery. Upper labial height improved, but remained slightly reduced (-4% to 
      6%). Upper vermillion length was increased (15-17%), and vermillion width was
      reduced (-12% to -13%) postoperatively. A significantly flatter nostril axis
      inclination persisted, especially on the affected side (UCL: 37.5 degrees ; UCLP:
      38.5 degrees ), when compared with normal values (53.8 degrees ). CONCLUSION:
      Most cleft irregularities were almost eliminated by therapy; however, the outcome
      is still not satisfactory for some parameters. The rehabilitation of patients
      with clefts remains a considerable surgical challenge. Facial anthropometric
      assessment must play an important role in order to detect and overcome
      therapeutic shortcomings.

PMID- 25843648
TI  - Genomic and single nucleotide polymorphism analysis of infectious bronchitis
      coronavirus.
AB  - Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a Gammacoronavirus that causes a highly
      contagious respiratory disease in chickens. A QX-like strain was analysed by high
      throughput Illumina sequencing and genetic variation across the entire viral
      genome was explored at the sub-consensus level by single nucleotide polymorphism
      (SNP) analysis. Thirteen open reading frames (ORFs) in the order 5'-UTR-1a-1ab-S
      3a-3b-E-M-4b-4c-5a-5b-N-6b-3'UTR were predicted. The relative frequencies of
      missense: silent SNPs were calculated to obtain a comparative measure of
      variability in specific genes. The most variable ORFs in descending order were E,
      3b, 5'UTR, N, 1a, S, 1ab, M, 4c, 5a, 6b. The E and 3b protein products play key
      roles in coronavirus virulence, and RNA folding demonstrated that the mutations
      in the 5'UTR did not alter the predicted secondary structure. The frequency of
      SNPs in the Spike (S) protein ORF of 0.67% was below the genomic average of
      0.76%. Only three SNPS were identified in the S1 subunit, none of which were
      located in hypervariable region (HVR) 1 or HVR2. The S2 subunit was considerably
      more variable containing 87% of the polymorphisms detected across the entire S
      protein. The S2 subunit also contained a previously unreported multi-A insertion
      site and a stretch of four consecutive mutated amino acids, which mapped to the
      stalk region of the spike protein. Template-based protein structure modelling
      produced the first theoretical model of the IBV spike monomer. Given the lack of
      diversity observed at the sub-consensus level, the tenet that the HVRs in the S1
      subunit are very tolerant of amino acid changes produced by genetic drift is
      questioned.

PMID- 25843649
TI  - Elucidating evolutionary features and functional implications of orphan genes in
      Leishmania major.
AB  - Orphan genes are protein coding genes that lack recognizable homologs in other
      organisms. These genes were reported to comprise a considerable fraction of
      coding regions in all sequenced genomes and thought to be allied with organism's
      lineage-specific traits. However, their evolutionary persistence and functional
      significance still remain elusive. Due to lack of homologs with the host genome
      and for their probable lineage-specific functional roles, orphan gene product of
      pathogenic protozoan might be considered as the possible therapeutic targets.
      Leishmania major is an important parasitic protozoan of the genus Leishmania that
      is associated with the disease cutaneous leishmaniasis. Therefore, evolutionary
      and functional characterization of orphan genes in this organism may help in
      understanding the factors prevailing pathogen evolution and parasitic adaptation.
      In this study, we systematically identified orphan genes of L. major and employed
      several in silico analyses for understanding their evolutionary and functional
      attributes. To trace the signatures of molecular evolution, we compared their
      evolutionary rate with non-orphan genes. In agreement with prior observations,
      here we noticed that orphan genes evolve at a higher rate as compared to non
      orphan genes. Lower sequence conservation of orphan genes was previously
      attributed solely due to their younger gene age. However, here we observed that
      together with gene age, a number of genomic (like expression level, GC content,
      variation in codon usage) and proteomic factors (like protein length, intrinsic
      disorder content, hydropathicity) could independently modulate their evolutionary
      rate. We considered the interplay of all these factors and analyzed their
      relative contribution on protein evolutionary rate by regression analysis. On the
      functional level, we observed that orphan genes are associated with regulatory,
      growth factor and transport related processes. Moreover, these genes were found
      to be enriched with various types of interaction and trafficking motifs, implying
      their possible involvement in host-parasite interactions. Thus, our comprehensive
      analysis of L. major orphan genes provided evidence for their extensive roles in
      host-pathogen interactions and virulence.

PMID- 25843647
TI  - In Vivo Tumor Vasculature Targeting of CuS@MSN Based Theranostic Nanomedicine.
AB  - Actively targeted theranostic nanomedicine may be the key for future personalized
      cancer management. Although numerous types of theranostic nanoparticles have been
      developed in the past decade for cancer treatment, challenges still exist in the
      engineering of biocompatible theranostic nanoparticles with highly specific in
      vivo tumor targeting capabilities. Here, we report the design, synthesis, surface
      engineering, and in vivo active vasculature targeting of a new category of
      theranostic nanoparticle for future cancer management. Water-soluble
      photothermally sensitive copper sulfide nanoparticles were encapsulated in
      biocompatible mesoporous silica shells, followed by multistep surface engineering
      to form the final theranostic nanoparticles. Systematic in vitro targeting, an in
      vivo long-term toxicity study, photothermal ablation evaluation, in vivo
      vasculature targeted imaging, biodistribution and histology studies were
      performed to fully explore the potential of as-developed new theranostic
      nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25843650
TI  - Molecular diversity of Bacillus anthracis in the Netherlands: investigating the
      relationship to the worldwide population using whole-genome SNP discovery.
AB  - Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, has been widely described as
      a clonal species. Here we report the use of both canonical SNP analysis and whole
      genome sequencing to characterize the phylogenetic lineages of B. anthracis from
      the Netherlands. Eleven strains isolated over a 25-years period (1968-1993) were
      paired-end sequenced using parallel sequencing technology. Five canSNP groups or
      lineages, i.e. A.Br.001/002 (n=6), A.Br.Aust94 (n=2), A.Br.008/011 (n=1),
      A.Br.011/009 (n=1) and A.Br.Vollum (n=1) were identified. Comparative analyses,
      with a focus on SNPs discovery, were carried out using a total of 52 B. anthracis
      genomes. A phylogeographic "Dutch" cluster within the dominant A.Br.001/002 group
      was discovered, involving isolates from a single outbreak. Diagnostic SNPs
      specific to the newly identified sub-groups were developed into high-resolution
      melting SNP discriminative assays for the purpose of rapid molecular
      epidemiology. Phylogenetic relationships with strains from other parts of the
      world are discussed.

PMID- 25843651
TI  - Serotype shift of a 793/B genotype infectious bronchitis coronavirus by natural
      recombination.
AB  - An infectious bronchitis coronavirus, designated as ck/CH/LHLJ/140906, was
      isolated from an infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) strain H120-vaccinated chicken
      flock, which presented with a suspected infectious bronchitis virus (IBV)
      infection. A phylogenetic analysis based on the S1 gene clustered
      ck/CH/LHLJ/140906 with the 793/B group; however, a pairwise comparison showed
      that the 5' terminal of the S1 gene (containing hypervariable regions I and II)
      had high sequence identity with the H120 strain, while the 3' terminal sequence
      was very similar to that of IBV 4/91 strain. A SimPlot analysis of the complete
      genomic sequence, which was confirmed by a phylogenetic analysis and nucleotide
      similarities using the corresponding gene fragments, suggested that isolate
      ck/CH/LHLJ/140906 emerged from multiple recombination events between parental IBV
      strains 4/91 and H120. Although the isolate ck/CH/LHLJ/140906 had slightly higher
      S1 amino acid sequence identity to strain 4/91 (88.2%) than to strain H120 (86%),
      the serotype of the virus was more closely related to that of the H120 strain
      (32% antigenic relatedness) than to the 4/91 strain (15% antigenic relatedness).
      Whereas, vaccination of specific pathogen-free chickens with the 4/91 vaccine
      provided better protection against challenge with ck/CH/LHLJ/140906 than did
      vaccination with the H120 strain according to the result of virus re-isolation.
      As the spike protein, especially in the hypervariable regions of the S1 domain,
      of IBVs contains viral neutralizing epitopes, the results of this study showed
      that recombination of the S1 domain resulted in the emergence of a new serotype.

PMID- 25843652
TI  - Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation Is an Effective Salvage Therapy for Primary
      Refractory Multiple Myeloma.
AB  - High-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) have proven
      efficacy in patients with multiple myeloma responding well to induction therapy.
      For those who fail to achieve a stable partial response (PR), the effect of ASCT
      is unclear. We report on 126 patients identified from a national database, who
      underwent ASCT having achieved <PR after induction with modern induction
      regimens. The overall response rate was 86% (24% complete response). Patients
      with progressive disease at the time of transplantation had poorer outcomes than
      those with minimally responsive or stable disease, but clinical benefit was seen
      in all groups. Day 100 and 1-year nonrelapse mortalities were 2% and 4%,
      respectively. The 5-year relapse rate and progression-free survival were 84% and
      14% (median, 18 months), respectively. The 5-year overall survival was 42%
      (median, 51 months). Our findings support the use of ASCT in myeloma patients
      responding suboptimally to modern induction therapies. Patients should not be
      excluded on the basis of refractoriness to induction, as ASCT is effective in
      this group conventionally considered to have a poor outcome. Comprehensive
      multivariate analysis identified no disparate subgroups, meaning ASCT is a
      reasonable strategy for all fit primary refractory patients. 

PMID- 25843653
TI  - GLCCI1 and Glucocorticoid Receptor Genetic Diversity and Response to
      Glucocorticoid-Based Treatment of Graft-versus-Host Disease.
AB  - The genetic diversity of loci implicated in glucocorticoid (GC) response has been
      associated with interindividual variations in responsiveness to GC in various
      diseases, such as asthma and inflammatory bowel disorders. In acute graft-versus
      host disease (aGVHD), similar differences of first-line therapy responsiveness
      are also observed, with approximately 40% of patients failing to respond to GC.
      Here, the distribution of functionally relevant single nucleotide polymorphisms
      (SNP) belonging to the GC-induced transcript 1 GLCCI1 (rs37972) and the
      glucocorticoid receptor (rs41423247, rs6195 and rs6198) gene loci were analyzed
      alongside clinical factors for their association with the response to
      corticosteroids in aGVHD. The frequencies of variant alleles did not differ
      significantly between corticoresistant patients, their donors, and their
      corticosensitive peers (P = .10 to 1.00). Severe and early onset of aGVHD, bone
      marrow as the stem cell source, and an HLA mismatch were associated with the
      failure to respond to GC in logistic regression. After including the single SNPs
      to the model, carriers of the rs41423247 polymorphism had a higher probability of
      responding to GC, whereas all other polymorphisms did not affect the likelihood
      of response. 

PMID- 25843654
TI  - 4-Hydroxynonenal induces Nrf2-mediated UCP3 upregulation in mouse cardiomyocytes.
AB  - 4-Hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) is a highly cytotoxic product of lipid peroxidation.
      Nevertheless, at low concentrations, it is able to mediate cell signaling and to
      activate protective pathways, including that of the transcription factor Nrf2
      (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2). In addition, HNE activates
      uncoupling proteins (UCPs), mitochondrial inner membrane proteins that mediate
      uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation and have been proposed to protect against
      oxidative stress. It is not known, however, whether HNE might induce UCP
      expression via Nrf2 to cause mitochondrial uncoupling. We investigated the
      effects of HNE on UCP3 expression in mouse cardiomyocytes and the involvement of
      Nrf2. HNE induced the nuclear accumulation of Nrf2 and enhanced UCP3 expression,
      effects prevented by the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine. ChIP assays indicated that
      Nrf2 bound to the Ucp3 promoter after HNE treatment, increasing its expression.
      Cardiomyocytes treated with Nrf2- or UCP3-specific siRNA were less tolerant to
      HNE as reflected by increased cell death, and Nrf2 siRNA prevented HNE-induced
      UCP3 upregulation. The treatment with HNE greatly altered cardiomyocyte
      bioenergetics, increasing the proton leak across the inner mitochondrial membrane
      and severely decreasing the maximal respiratory capacity and the respiratory
      reserve capacity. These findings confirm that low HNE doses activate Nrf2 in
      cardiomyocytes and provide the first evidence of Nrf2 binding to the Ucp3
      promoter in response to HNE, leading to increased protein expression. These
      results suggest that the upregulation of UCP3 mediated by Nrf2 in response to HNE
      might be important in the protection of the heart under conditions of oxidative
      stress such as ischemia-reperfusion. 

PMID- 25843655
TI  - Ceruloplasmin is an endogenous protectant against kainate neurotoxicity.
AB  - To determine the role of ceruloplasmin (Cp) in epileptic seizures, we used a
      kainate (KA) seizure animal model and examined hippocampal samples from epileptic
      patients. Treatment with KA resulted in a time-dependent decrease in Cp protein
      expression in the hippocampus of rats. Cp-positive cells were colocalized with
      neurons or reactive astrocytes in KA-treated rats and epileptic patient samples.
      KA-induced seizures, initial oxidative stress (i.e., hydroxyl radical formation,
      lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation, and synaptosomal reactive oxygen species),
      altered iron status (increasing Fe(2+) accumulation and L-ferritin-positive
      reactive microglial cells and decreasing H-ferritin-positive neurons), and
      impaired glutathione homeostasis and neurodegeneration (i.e., Fluoro-Nissl and
      Fluoro-Jade B staining analyses) were more pronounced in Cp antisense
      oligonucleotide (ASO)- than in Cp sense oligonucleotide-treated rats.
      Consistently, Cp ASO facilitated KA-induced lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release,
      Fe(2+) accumulation, and glutathione loss in neuron-rich and mixed cultures.
      However, Cp ASO did not alter KA-induced LDH release or Fe(2+) accumulation in
      the astroglial culture, but did facilitate impairment in glutathione homeostasis
      in the same culture. Importantly, treatment with human Cp protein resulted in a
      significant attenuation against these neurotoxicities induced by Cp ASO. Our
      results suggest that Cp-mediated neuroprotection occurs via the inhibition of
      seizure-associated oxidative damage (including impairment in glutathione
      homeostasis), Fe(2+) accumulation, and alterations in ferritin immunoreactivity.
      Moreover, interactive modulation between neurons and glia was found to be
      important for Cp upregulation in the attenuation of epileptic damage in both
      animals and humans. 

PMID- 25843656
TI  - Skeletal muscle increases FGF21 expression in mitochondrial disorders to
      compensate for energy metabolic insufficiency by activating the mTOR-YY1
      PGC1alpha pathway.
AB  - Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a growth factor with pleiotropic effects
      on regulating lipid and glucose metabolism. Its expression is increased in
      skeletal muscle of mice and humans with mitochondrial disorders. However, the
      effects of FGF21 on skeletal muscle in response to mitochondrial respiratory
      chain deficiency are largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that the increased
      expression of FGF21 is a compensatory response to respiratory chain deficiency.
      The mRNA and protein levels of FGF21 were robustly raised in skeletal muscle from
      patients with mitochondrial myopathy or MELAS. The mammalian target of rapamycin
      (mTOR) phosphorylation levels and its downstream targets, Yin Yang 1 (YY1) and
      peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, coactivator 1alpha (PGC
      1alpha), were increased by FGF21 treatment in C2C12 myoblasts. Activation of the
      mTOR-YY1-PGC1alpha pathway by FGF21 in myoblasts regulated energy homeostasis as
      demonstrated by significant increases in intracellular ATP synthesis, oxygen
      consumption rate, activity of citrate synthase, glycolysis, mitochondrial DNA
      copy number, and induction of the expression of key energy metabolic genes. The
      effects of FGF21 on mitochondrial function required phosphoinositide 3-kinase
      (PI3K), which activates mTOR. Inhibition of PI3K, mTOR, YY1, and PGC-1alpha
      activities attenuated the stimulating effects of FGF21 on intracellular ATP
      levels and mitochondrial gene expression. Our findings revealed that
      mitochondrial respiratory chain deficiency elicited a compensatory response in
      skeletal muscle by increasing the FGF21 expression levels in muscle, which
      resulted in enhanced mitochondrial function through an mTOR-YY1-PGC1alpha
      dependent pathway in skeletal muscle. 

PMID- 25843658
TI  - The antioxidant requirement for plasma membrane repair in skeletal muscle.
AB  - Vitamin E (VE) deficiency results in pronounced muscle weakness and atrophy but
      the cell biological mechanism of the pathology is unknown. We previously showed
      that VE supplementation promotes membrane repair in cultured cells and that
      oxidants potently inhibit repair. Here we provide three independent lines of
      evidence that VE is required for skeletal muscle myocyte plasma membrane repair
      in vivo. We also show that when another lipid-directed antioxidant, glutathione
      peroxidase 4 (Gpx4), is genetically deleted in mouse embryonic fibroblasts,
      repair fails catastrophically, unless cells are supplemented with VE. We conclude
      that lipid-directed antioxidant activity provided by VE, and possibly also Gpx4,
      is an essential component of the membrane repair mechanism in skeletal muscle.
      This work explains why VE is essential to muscle health and identifies VE as a
      requisite component of the plasma membrane repair mechanism in vivo. 

PMID- 25843660
TI  - Iron status in obesity: An independent association with metabolic parameters and
      effect of weight loss.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Growing evidence has shown that ferritin concentrations are
      associated with obesity and insulin resistance, and with nonalcoholic fatty liver
      disease. However, it is unclear whether ferritin is simply an inflammatory
      marker, or it may directly contribute to the pathogenesis of obesity-related
      metabolic alterations. The aim of our study was to investigate the independent
      associations of ferritin levels with metabolic parameters in overweight/obese
      subjects before and after hypocaloric diet-induced weight changes. METHODS AND
      RESULTS: A sample study of 48 premenopausal, 39 postmenopausal women and 50 men
      was retrospectively analyzed. Clinical, bioimpedentiometry and biochemical data
      from baseline evaluations and after 3, 6 and 12 months of hypocaloric diet were
      collected. In the whole sample study, the baseline values of ferritin
      concentrations were positively correlated with body mass index (BMI) (r = 0.21, p
      < 0.05) and mass body fat (MBF) (r = 0.26, p < 0.05), whereas the serum iron
      level was negatively correlated with MBF (r = -0.29, p < 0.05). In premenopausal
      women, BMI-adjusted ferritin concentrations were negatively associated with high
      density lipoprotein-cholesterol and positively related with triglycerides and
      aspartate aminotransferase. Moreover, the quantitative ferritin reduction at 12
      months was positively associated with the relative reduction of BMI (r = 0.34, p
      < 0.05). Finally, the association between changes of alanine aminotransferase and
      ferritin levels at 12 months from baseline turned out to be independent of
      respective BMI changes (beta = 0.31, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In obesity, ferritin,
      putatively entailing increased iron storage, is independently associated with
      lipid derangements and transaminase levels, and the association with the latter
      persists after weight changes.

PMID- 25843659
TI  - Activated AMPK boosts the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling axis--A role for the unfolded
      protein response.
AB  - In light of the emerging interplay between redox and metabolic signaling pathways
      we investigated the potential cross talk between nuclear factor E2-related factor
      2 (Nrf2) and AMP-activated kinase (AMPK), central regulators of the cellular
      redox and energy balance, respectively. Making use of xanthohumol (XN) as an
      activator of both the AMPK and the Nrf2 signaling pathway we show that AMPK
      exerts a positive influence on Nrf2/heme oxygenase (HO)-1 signaling in mouse
      embryonic fibroblasts. Genetic ablation and pharmacological inhibition of AMPK
      blunts Nrf2-dependent HO-1 expression by XN already at the mRNA level. XN leads
      to AMPK activation via interference with mitochondrial function and activation of
      liver kinase B1 as upstream AMPK kinase. The subsequent AMPK-mediated enhancement
      of the Nrf2/HO-1 response does not depend on inhibition of the mammalian target
      of rapamycin, inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase 3beta, or altered abundance
      of Nrf2 (total and nuclear). However, reduced endoplasmic reticulum stress was
      identified and elaborated as a step in the AMPK-augmented Nrf2/HO-1 response.
      Overall, we shed more light on the hitherto incompletely understood cross talk
      between the LKB1/AMPK and the Nrf2/HO-1 axis revealing for the first time
      involvement of the unfolded protein response as an additional player and
      suggesting tight cooperation between signaling pathways controlling cellular
      redox, energy, or protein homeostasis. 

PMID- 25843661
TI  - A role of 1,25(OH)2D3 supplementation in rats with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis
      induced by choline-deficient diet.
AB  - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: It has been reported that 1,25(OH)2D3 (1,25-VD3) ameliorates
      the progression of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). However, it is unclear
      whether 1,25-VD3 plays a role in NASH induced by a choline-deficient (CD) diet.
      In this study, we investigated the roles of 1,25-VD3 in the development and
      progression of NASH in rats induced by a CD diet. METHODS AND RESULTS: Wistar
      rats with NASH induced by a CD diet were subjected to intraperitoneal injections
      of 1, 5, or 10 MUg/kg of 1,25-VD3 twice weekly for 12 weeks. The administration
      of 1,25-VD3 decreased free fatty acids (FFAs), triglycerides (TGs),
      thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), the number of apoptotic cells,
      and the expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) in the
      liver, and it improved liver histology, but it did not change the total
      antioxidant capacity (TAOC) in the liver. Interestingly, the level of CK18-M30
      was decreased in the liver of model animals. Treatment with 1,25-VD3 may restrain
      the downregulation of CK18-M30 in the liver and its release into the bloodstream,
      thus decreasing the level of serum CK18-M30. 1,25-VD3 supplementation elevated
      the serum level of 25(OH)D3 and the expression of VDR in the liver. The dose
      effect relationship of 1,25-VD3 indicated that 1,25-VD3 slows down the
      development and progression of NASH induced by a CD diet, but higher doses of
      1,25-VD3 may lead to adverse effects. CONCLUSION: The results suggest the
      presence of both antagonistic and adverse dose-dependent effects of the long-term
      supplementation of 1,25-VD3 on NASH induced by a CD diet.

PMID- 25843662
TI  - Novel curcumin-based pyrano[2,3-d]pyrimidine anti-oxidant inhibitors for alpha
      amylase and alpha-glucosidase: Implications for their pleiotropic effects against
      diabetes complications.
AB  - Curcumin (bis-alpha,beta-unsaturated beta-diketone), the chief constituent of
      turmeric plant (Curcuma longa), plays significant role in prevention of various
      diseases including diabetes. The research objective in the current study was to
      synthesize novel anti-diabetic curcumin derivatives with inhibitory properties
      against alpha-amylase (alpha-Amy) and alpha-glucosidase (alpha-Gls), as these two
      carbohydrate-hydrolysing enzymes are known to be important molecular targets for
      attenuation of postprandial hyperglycemia. The curcumin-based pyrano[2,3
      d]pyrimidine derivatives were synthesized in the presence of curcumin, barbituric
      acids and aldehydes, using a multi-component reaction (MCR). Also, their
      inhibitory properties against alpha-Amy and alpha-Gls were evaluated
      spectroscopically. The curcumin-derived compounds with two invariant
      substructures (curcumin-based subunit and barbituric acid moiety) and one
      variable aryl (Ar) group demonstrated inhibitory action against alpha-Amy and
      alpha-Gls. Moreover, the synthetic compounds revealed prominent antioxidant
      activities, when examined by a 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic
      acid) (ABTS) decolorization assay system. Overall, these antioxidant inhibitors
      are potentially important anti-diabetic drugs, not only to restore euglysemic
      condition, but also to limit activity of the major reactive oxygen species (ROS)
      producing pathways in diabetic patients. 

PMID- 25843663
TI  - Optimism in prolonged grief and depression following loss: A three-wave
      longitudinal study.
AB  - There is considerable evidence that optimism, the predisposition to have
      generalized favorable expectancies for the future, is associated with numerous
      desirable outcomes. Few studies have examined the association of optimism with
      emotional distress following the death of a loved one. Doing so is important,
      because optimism may be an important target for interventions for post-loss
      psychopathology. In the current study, we examined the degree to which optimism,
      assessed in the first year post-loss (Time 1, T1), was associated with symptom
      levels of prolonged grief and depression six months (Time 2, T2) and fifteen
      months (Time 3, T3) later, controlling for baseline symptoms and also taking into
      account positive automatic cognitions at T1. Findings showed that higher optimism
      at T1 was associated with lower concurrent prolonged grief and depression
      severity. Higher optimism at T1 was also inversely related with depression
      symptom severity at T2 and T3, but not prolonged grief severity at T2 and T3.
      Implications of these findings are discussed. 

PMID- 25843657
TI  - The cysteine proteome.
AB  - The cysteine (Cys) proteome is a major component of the adaptive interface
      between the genome and the exposome. The thiol moiety of Cys undergoes a range of
      biologic modifications enabling biological switching of structure and reactivity.
      These biological modifications include sulfenylation and disulfide formation,
      formation of higher oxidation states, S-nitrosylation, persulfidation,
      metalation, and other modifications. Extensive knowledge about these systems and
      their compartmentalization now provides a foundation to develop advanced
      integrative models of Cys proteome regulation. In particular, detailed
      understanding of redox signaling pathways and sensing networks is becoming
      available to allow the discrimination of network structures. This research
      focuses attention on the need for atlases of Cys modifications to develop systems
      biology models. Such atlases will be especially useful for integrative studies
      linking the Cys proteome to imaging and other omics platforms, providing a basis
      for improved redox-based therapeutics. Thus, a framework is emerging to place the
      Cys proteome as a complement to the quantitative proteome in the omics continuum
      connecting the genome to the exposome. 

PMID- 25843664
TI  - Daily versus monthly reporting of post-traumatic symptoms: A study of reliability
      across time and instruments.
AB  - This study compared daily-versus-monthly self-ratings of post-traumatic symptoms
      using two similar but not wholly identical measures. The rationale was to
      determine whether (1) posttraumatic dissociation and/or minimization or (2)
      certain biases (more recent symptoms, more severe symptoms, practice effect,
      Hawthorne effect) might undermine symptom recall. Seventeen voluntary
      participants provided daily self-ratings for an average of 11.6 months. Nine male
      veterans had combat trauma; one also experienced sexual trauma. Four women had
      experienced sexual assault, and four women had other trauma. The monthly measure
      consisted of the self-rated Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist (PCL),
      and daily ratings employed the self-rated PTSD Life Chart that we devised. These
      data revealed that people with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) produced
      monthly ratings that reflected their day-to-day symptom experience over the
      previous month, despite the dissociation and minimization that often accompanies
      PTSD. Initial practice effect occurred in the first month, but other biases
      (recent symptoms, severe symptoms, Hawthorne effect) were not demonstrated. 

PMID- 25843665
TI  - Aqueous humor phospholipids of DBA/2J and DBA/2J-Gpnmb(+)/SjJ mice.
AB  - PURPOSE: To compare phospholipid profiles [phosphatidylcholine (PC),
      phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidylinositol
      (PI)] of normotensive and hypertensive aqueous humor (AH) from DBA/2J and compare
      them with phospholipid profiles of DBA/2J-Gpnmb(+)/SjJ mice. METHODS: AH was
      obtained from young-normotensive DBA/2J, old -hypertensive DBA/2J mice, young and
      old DBA/2J-Gpnmb(+)/SjJ mice (aging control). Lipids were extracted using
      modified Bligh and Dyer method and subjected to mass spectrometric identification
      using appropriate class-specific lipid standards and ratiometric quantification.
      Corresponding aqueous phase (of extraction) protein concentrations were measured
      using Bradford method. RESULTS: The total amount of phospholipids showed a
      decrease in the hypertensive state compared to normotensive state. The total PE
      and total PS contributed over 50% of the total amount. Total PS showed a
      remarkable decrease in hypertensive compared to normotensive state. In contrast,
      total PE in the hypertensive stage presented an increase in amount. Unique lipid
      species were found encompassing all four phospholipid classes in normotensive as
      well as in the hypertensive state. Several phospholipid species were found common
      to both states but with remarkable differences in amount in individual states.
      The ratio of lysophospholipids to total phospholipids is significantly reduced in
      the hypertensive state. Commensurate with reduced level of lysophospholipids, we
      found an increased level of lysophospholipase D (Autotaxin) in the hypertensive
      state. The difference of total phospholipids between young and old was 35.4% in
      DBA/2J group but 10% in DBA/2J-Gpnmb(+)/SjJ mice. CONCLUSION: The significant
      change of phospholipids including lysophospholipids was found commensurate with
      the elevated intraocular pressure (IOP).

PMID- 25843666
TI  - Astrocytic response to cerebral ischemia is influenced by sex differences and
      impaired by aging.
AB  - Ischemic stroke occurs more often among the elderly, and within this demographic,
      women are at an increased risk for stroke and have poorer functional recovery
      than men. This is also well replicated in animal studies where aging females are
      shown to have more extensive brain tissue loss as compared to adult females.
      Astrocytes provide nutrients for neurons, regulate glutamate levels, and release
      neurotrophins and thus play a key role in the events that occur following
      ischemia. In addition, astrocytes express receptors for gonadal hormones and
      synthesize several neurosteroids suggesting that the sex differences in stroke
      outcome may be mediated through astrocytes. This review discusses key astrocytic
      responses to ischemia including, reactive gliosis, excitotoxicity, and
      neuroinflammation. In light of the age and sex differences in stroke outcomes,
      this review highlights how aging and gonadal hormones influence these responses.
      Lastly, astrocyte specific changes in gene expression and epigenetic
      modifications during aging and following ischemia are discussed as possible
      molecular mechanisms for impaired astrocytic functioning. 

PMID- 25843667
TI  - Astrogliopathology in neurological, neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders.
AB  - Astroglial cells represent a main element in the maintenance of homeostasis and
      providing defense to the brain. Consequently, their dysfunction underlies many,
      if not all, neurological, neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.
      General astrogliopathy is evident in diametrically opposing morpho-functional
      changes in astrocytes, i.e. their hypertrophy along with reactivity or atrophy
      with asthenia. Neurological disorders with astroglial participation can be
      genetic, of which Alexander disease is a primary sporadic astrogliopathy,
      environmentally caused, such as heavy metal encephalopathies, or
      neurodevelopmental in origin. Astroglia contribute to neurodegenerative processes
      seen in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases.
      Furthermore, astroglia also play a role in major neuropsychiatric disorders,
      ranging from schizophrenia to depression, as well as in addictive disorders. 

PMID- 25843668
TI  - Contribution of protease-activated receptor 1 in status epilepticus-induced
      epileptogenesis.
AB  - Clinical observations and studies on different animal models of acquired epilepsy
      consistently demonstrate that blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage can be an
      important risk factor for developing recurrent seizures. However, the involved
      signaling pathways remain largely unclear. Given the important role of thrombin
      and its major receptor in the brain, protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1), in the
      pathophysiology of neurological injury, we hypothesized that PAR1 may contribute
      to status epilepticus (SE)-induced epileptogenesis and that its inhibition
      shortly after SE will have neuroprotective and antiepileptogenic effects. Adult
      rats subjected to lithium-pilocarpine SE were administrated with SCH79797 (a PAR1
      selective antagonist) after SE termination. Thrombin and PAR1 levels and neuronal
      cell survival were evaluated 48h following SE. The effect of PAR1 inhibition on
      animal survival, interictal spikes (IIS) and electrographic seizures during the
      first two weeks after SE and behavioral seizures during the chronic period was
      evaluated. SE resulted in a high mortality rate and incidence of IIS and seizures
      in the surviving animals. There was a marked increase in thrombin, decrease in
      PAR1 immunoreactivity and hippocampal cell loss in the SE-treated rats.
      Inhibition of PAR1 following SE resulted in a decrease in mortality and
      morbidity, increase in neuronal cell survival in the hippocampus and suppression
      of IIS, electrographic and behavioral seizures following SE. These data suggest
      that the PAR1 signaling pathway contributes to epileptogenesis following SE.
      Because breakdown of the BBB occurs frequently in brain injuries, PAR1 inhibition
      may have beneficial effects in a variety of acquired injuries leading to
      epilepsy. 

PMID- 25843669
TI  - A variant of Nesprin1 giant devoid of KASH domain underlies the molecular
      etiology of autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia type I.
AB  - Nonsense mutations across the whole coding sequence of Syne1/Nesprin1 have been
      linked to autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia Type I (ARCA1). However, nothing
      is known about the molecular etiology of this late-onset debilitating pathology.
      In this work, we report that Nesprin1 giant is specifically expressed in CNS
      tissues. We also identified a CNS-specific splicing event that leads to the
      abundant expression of a KASH-LESS variant of Nesprin1 giant (KLNes1g) in the
      cerebellum. KLNes1g displayed a noncanonical localization at glomeruli of
      cerebellar mossy fibers whereas Nesprin2 exclusively decorated the nuclear
      envelope of all cerebellar neurons. In immunogold electron microscopy, KLNes1g
      colocalized both with synaptic vesicles within mossy fibers and with dendritic
      membranes of cerebellar granule neurons. We further identified vesicle- and
      membrane-associated proteins in KLNes1g immunoprecipitates. Together, our results
      suggest that the loss of function of KLNes1g resulting from Nesprin1 nonsense
      mutations underlies the molecular etiology of ARCA1. 

PMID- 25843670
TI  - The sickle cell mouse lung: proinflammatory and primed for allergic inflammation.
AB  - Comorbid asthma in sickle cell disease (SCD) confers higher rates of vaso
      occlusive pain and mortality, yet the physiological link between these two
      distinct diseases remains puzzling. We used a mouse model of SCD to study
      pulmonary immunology and physiology before and after the induction of allergic
      airway disease (AAD). SCD mice were sensitized with ovalbumin (OVA) and aluminum
      hydroxide by the intraperitoneal route followed by daily, nose-only OVA-aerosol
      challenge to induce AAD. The lungs of naive SCD mice showed signs of inflammatory
      and immune processes: (1) histologic and cytochemical evidence of airway
      inflammation compared with naive wild-type mice; (2) bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL)
      fluid contained increased total lymphocytes, %CD8+ T cells, granulocyte-colony
      stimulating factor, interleukin 5 (IL-5), IL-7, and chemokine (C-X-C motif)
      ligand (CXCL)1; and (3) lung tissue and hilar lymph node (HLN) had increased
      CD4+, CD8+, and regulatory T (Treg) cells. Furthermore, SCD mice at AAD
      demonstrated significant changes compared with the naive state: (1) BAL fluid
      with increased %CD4+ T cells and Treg cells, lower %CD8+ T cells, and decreased
      interferon gamma, CXCL10, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2, and IL-17; (2) serum
      with increased OVA-specific immunoglobulin E, IL-6, and IL-13, and decreased IL
      1alpha and CXCL10; (3) no increase in Treg cells in the lung tissue or HLN; and
      (4) hyporesponsiveness to methacholine challenge. In conclusion, SCD mice have an
      altered immunologic pulmonary milieu and physiological responsiveness. These
      findings suggest that the clinical phenotype of AAD in SCD mice differs from that
      of wild-type mice and that individuals with SCD may also have a unique, divergent
      phenotype perhaps amenable to a different therapeutic approach. 

PMID- 25843672
TI  - Repair effect of coexpression of the hVEGF and hBMP genes via an adeno-associated
      virus vector in a rabbit model of early steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the
      femoral head.
AB  - We investigated the repair effect of coexpression of the human vascular
      endothelial growth factor (hVEGF) and human bone morphogenetic protein (hBMP)
      genes via an adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector in a rabbit model of early
      steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head (SANFH). The following AAV
      vectors were constructed: AAV-green fluorescent protein, AAV-VEGF, AAV-BMP, and
      AAV-VEGF/BMP. The rabbit model was induced using lipopolysaccharide and
      methylprednisolone. Virus vector was injected into the core decompression region
      at a dose of 25 MUL per side after core decompression operation in each group.
      hVEGF165 and BMP-7 expressions were determined by Western blotting and
      immunohistochemical staining, and the femoral head was examined by magnetic
      resonance image scan, histopathologic staining, ink vessel staining,
      microcomputed tomography scan, and biomechanical assessment to determine the
      repair effect. The vector AAV-VEGF/BMP successfully expressed hVEGF165 and BMP-7
      at the gene and protein levels at 12 weeks after virus injection. The expression
      of hVEGF165 promoted metabolism of the necrotic region by inducing vessel
      formation. The expression of BMP-7 promoted osteogenesis by increasing the
      mineral density and biomechanical strength of the femoral head. The repair effect
      of the AAV-VEGF/BMP group was better than those of the AAV-VEGF and AAV-BMP
      groups in the rabbit early SANFH model. The AAV-VEGF/BMP vector improved the bone
      repair capacity of the necrotic femoral head by inducing angiogenesis and
      improving bone quality in the femoral head.

PMID- 25843673
TI  - Predictive value of biomarkers for the prognosis of acute pulmonary embolism in
      Japanese patients: Results of the Tokyo CCU Network registry.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several studies from Western countries have reported associations
      between cardiac troponin and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels and acute
      pulmonary embolism prognosis; however, the number of such reports from Asian
      countries, including Japan, is limited. Thus, we evaluated the relationship
      between blood biochemical findings and acute-phase pulmonary embolism prognosis
      in Japanese patients. METHODS: The subjects included 441 patients with acute
      pulmonary embolism (191 men, 250 women; average age, 65.8+/-16.0 years) treated
      at Tokyo CCU Network Institutions from 2009 to 2011 and registered via survey
      forms. The association between blood biochemical findings at admission and 30-day
      mortality was investigated. RESULTS: The median BNP value was 186.5pg/mL (25th to
      75th interquartile range: 49.8-500pg/mL) of 210 cases. No deaths were recorded
      among those with BNP levels <90pg/mL (n=70), whereas significantly higher
      mortality (10 deaths/140 cases, 7.1%; p=0.033) was observed among those with BNP
      levels >=90pg/mL. A qualitative cardiac troponin test was positive in 58 of the
      204 cases (28.4%), with a significantly higher mortality incidence (p=0.017)
      among the troponin-positive cases [6 (10.3%) versus 3 (2.1%) deaths among the 146
      troponin-negative cases]. The overall mean blood glucose level at admission of
      331 cases was 152.0+/-74.0mg/dL, and 30-day mortality significantly increased
      with blood glucose values (p=0.048). CONCLUSIONS: Troponin, BNP, and blood
      glucose levels are useful prognostic biomarkers for acute pulmonary embolism in
      Japanese patients.

PMID- 25843674
TI  - Comparison of Lotrafilcon B and Balafilcon A silicone hydrogel bandage contact
      lenses in reducing pain and discomfort after photorefractive keratectomy: A
      contralateral eye study.
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess the effect of two silicone hydrogel contact lenses with high
      oxygen permeability in patients having photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).
      SETTING: Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran,
      Iran. METHODS: Sixty patients (120 eyes) who had bilateral PRK were enrolled in
      this double blind clinical trial. Each patient was fitted with a Lotrafilcon B
      (Air Optix((r))AQUA, Ciba Vision, Duluth, GA, USA) lens in one eye and a
      Balafilcon A (PureVisionTM Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY, USA) lens in the fellow
      eye. Patients' responses to a subjective questionnaire in terms of pain, foreign
      body sensation, photophobia, blurred vision and epiphora were evaluated on the
      first and third postoperative days. RESULTS: Mean pain score for Lotrafilcon B
      and Balafilcon A contact lenses was 4.43+/-3.18 vs. 5.45+/-3.37 on the first
      postoperative day and 3.43+/-3.23 vs. 3.88+/-3.01 on the third postoperative day.
      However, the difference was only significant in the first 24h after surgery
      (P=0.032). Foreign body sensation was clinically higher with Balafilcon A contact
      lens (5.0+/-3.47 vs. 4.08+/-3.34 on day 1 and 4.98+/-3.52 vs. 3.55+/-3.20 on day
      3) and the difference was statistically significant on the first and the third
      postoperative days (P=0.042 and 0.002, respectively). There was no statistically
      significant difference between two contact lenses in terms of photophobia,
      epiphora and blurred vision (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The Lotrafilcon B lens resulted
      in significantly less postoperative pain and discomfort after PRK, especially in
      the first 24h after PRK.

PMID- 25843671
TI  - Janus kinase 2/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 inhibitors
      attenuate the effect of cardiotrophin-like cytokine factor 1 and human focal
      segmental glomerulosclerosis serum on glomerular filtration barrier.
AB  - Recurrence of idiopathic focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) after renal
      transplantation is believed to be caused by a circulating factor(s). We detected
      cardiotrophin-like cytokine factor 1 (CLCF1), a member of the interleukin 6
      family, in the plasma from patients with recurrent FSGS. We hypothesized that
      CLCF1 contributes to the effect of FSGS serum on the glomerular filtration
      barrier in vitro. Presently, we studied the effect of CLCF1 on isolated rat
      glomeruli using an in vitro assay of albumin permeability (P(alb)). CLCF1 (0.05
      100 ng/mL) increased P(alb) and caused maximal effect at 5-10 ng/mL (P < 0.001).
      The increase in Palb was analogous to the effect of FSGS serum. Anti-CLCF1
      monoclonal antibody blocked the CLCF1-induced increase in P(alb) and
      significantly attenuated the effect of FSGS serum (P < 0.001). The heterodimer
      composed of CLCF1 and cosecreted molecule cytokine receptor-like factor 1 (CRLF1)
      attenuated the increase in P(alb) caused by CLCF1 or FSGS serum. Western blot
      analysis showed that CLCF1 upregulated phosphorylation of signal transducer and
      activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) (Tyr705) in glomeruli. This effect was
      diminished by the heterodimer CLCF1-CRLF1. Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) inhibitor BMS
      1119543 or STAT3 inhibitor Stattic significantly blocked the effect of CLCF1 or
      FSGS serum on P(alb) (P < 0.001). These novel findings suggest that when
      monomeric CLCF1 increases P(alb), the heterodimer CLCF1-CRLF1 may protect the
      glomerular filtration barrier. We speculate that albuminuria in FSGS is related
      to qualitative or quantitative changes in the CLCF1-CRLF1 complex, and that JAK2
      or STAT3 inhibitors may be novel therapeutic agents to treat FSGS.

PMID- 25843678
TI  - Interaction study between maltose-modified PPI dendrimers and lipidic model
      membranes.
AB  - The influence of maltose-modified poly(propylene imine) (PPI) dendrimers on
      dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) or
      dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine/dimyristoylphosphatidylglycerol (DMPC/DMPG) (3%)
      liposomes was studied. Fourth generation (G4) PPI dendrimers with primary amino
      surface groups were partially (open shell glycodendrimers - OS) or completely
      (dense shell glycodendrimers - DS) modified with maltose residues. As a model
      membrane, two types of 100nm diameter liposomes were used to observe differences
      in the interactions between neutral DMPC and negatively charged DMPC/DMPG
      bilayers. Interactions were studied using fluorescence spectroscopy to evaluate
      the membrane fluidity of both the hydrophobic and hydrophilic parts of the lipid
      bilayer and using differential scanning calorimetry to investigate thermodynamic
      parameter changes. Pulsed-filed gradient NMR experiments were carried out to
      evaluate common diffusion coefficient of DMPG and DS PPI in D2O when using below
      critical micelle concentration of DMPG. Both OS and DS PPI G4 dendrimers show
      interactions with liposomes. Neutral DS dendrimers exhibit stronger changes in
      membrane fluidity compared to OS dendrimers. The bilayer structure seems more
      rigid in the case of anionic DMPC/DMPG liposomes in comparison to pure and
      neutral DMPC liposomes. Generally, interactions of dendrimers with anionic
      DMPC/DMPG and neutral DMPC liposomes were at the same level. Higher
      concentrations of positively charged OS dendrimers induced the aggregation
      process with negatively charged liposomes. For all types of experiments, the
      presence of NaCl decreased the strength of the interactions between
      glycodendrimers and liposomes. Based on NMR diffusion experiments we suggest that
      apart from electrostatic interactions for OS PPI hydrogen bonds play a major role
      in maltose-modified PPI dendrimer interactions with anionic and neutral model
      membranes where a contact surface is needed for undergoing multiple H-bond
      interactions between maltose shell of glycodendrimers and surface membrane of
      liposome. 

PMID- 25843679
TI  - Targeting ion channels for cancer therapy by repurposing the approved drugs.
AB  - Ion channels have been shown to be involved in oncogenesis and efforts are being
      poured in to target the ion channels. There are many clinically approved drugs
      with ion channels as "off" targets. The question is, can these drugs be
      repurposed to inhibit ion channels for cancer treatment? Repurposing of drugs
      will not only save investors' money but also result in safer drugs for cancer
      patients. Advanced bioinformatics techniques and availability of a plethora of
      open access data on FDA approved drugs for various indications and omics data of
      large number of cancer types give a ray of hope to look for possibility of
      repurposing those drugs for cancer treatment. This article is part of a Special
      Issue entitled: Membrane channels and transporters in cancers. 

PMID- 25843681
TI  - Molecular evidence for antigen drive in the natural history of mantle cell
      lymphoma.
AB  - To further our understanding about antigen involvement in mantle cell lymphoma
      (MCL), we analyzed the expression levels of activation-induced cytidine deaminase
      (AID), a key player in B-cell responses to antigen triggering, in 133 MCL cases;
      assessed the functionality of AID by evaluating in vivo class switch
      recombination in 52 MCL cases; and sought for indications of ongoing antigen
      interactions by exploring intraclonal diversification within 14 MCL cases. The
      AID full-length transcript and the most frequent splice variants (AID-DeltaE4a,
      AID-DeltaE) were detected in 128 (96.2%), 96 (72.2%), and 130 cases (97.7%),
      respectively. Higher AID full-length transcript levels were significantly
      associated (P < 0.001) with lack of somatic hypermutation within the clonotypic
      immunoglobulin heavy variable (IGHV) genes. Median AID transcript levels were
      higher in lymph node material compared to cases in which peripheral blood was
      analyzed, implying that clonal behavior is influenced by the microenvironment.
      Switched tumor-derived IGHV-IGHD-IGHJ transcripts were identified in 5 of 52
      cases (9.6%), all of which displayed somatic hypermutation and AID-mRNA
      expression. Finally, although most cases exhibited low levels of intraclonal
      diversification, analysis of the mutational activity revealed a precise targeting
      of somatic hypermutation indicative of an active, ongoing interaction with
      antigen(s). Collectively, these findings strongly allude to antigen involvement
      in the natural history of MCL, further challenging the notion of antigen naivety.

PMID- 25843682
TI  - Mast cells are dispensable in a genetic mouse model of chronic dermatitis.
AB  - Chronic inflammatory skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, affect a large
      percentage of the population, but the role of different immune cells in the
      pathogenesis of these disorders is largely unknown. Recently, we found that mice
      lacking fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (Fgfr1) and Fgfr2 (K5-R1/R2 mice) in
      the epidermis have a severe impairment in the epidermal barrier, which leads to
      the development of a chronic inflammatory skin disease that shares many features
      with human atopic dermatitis. Using Fgfr1-/Fgfr2-deficient mice, we analyzed the
      consequences of the loss of mast cells. Mast cells accumulated and degranulated
      in the skin of young Fgfr1-/Fgfr2-deficient mice, most likely as a consequence of
      increased expression of the mast cell chemokine Ccl2. The increase in mast cells
      occurred before the development of histological abnormalities, indicating a
      functional role of these cells in the inflammatory skin phenotype. To test this
      hypothesis, we mated the Fgfr1-/Fgfr2-deficient mice with mast cell-deficient
      CreMaster mice. Surprisingly, loss of mast cells did not or only mildly affect
      keratinocyte proliferation, epidermal thickness, epidermal barrier function,
      accumulation and activation of different immune cells, or expression of different
      proinflammatory cytokines in the skin. These results reveal that mast cells are
      dispensable for the development of chronic inflammation in response to a defect
      in the epidermal barrier.

PMID- 25843680
TI  - Prevention of phenytoin-induced gingival overgrowth by lovastatin in mice.
AB  - Drug-induced gingival overgrowth is caused by the antiseizure medication
      phenytoin, calcium channel blockers, and ciclosporin. Characteristics of these
      drug-induced gingival overgrowth lesions differ. We evaluate the ability of a
      mouse model to mimic human phenytoin-induced gingival overgrowth and assess the
      ability of a drug to prevent its development. Lovastatin was chosen based on
      previous analyses of tissue-specific regulation of CCN2 production in human
      gingival fibroblasts and the known roles of CCN2 in promoting fibrosis and
      epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Data indicate that anterior gingival tissue
      overgrowth occurred in phenytoin-treated mice based on gross tissue observations
      and histomorphometry of tissue sections. Molecular markers of epithelial
      plasticity and fibrosis were regulated by phenytoin in gingival epithelial
      tissues and in connective tissues similar to that seen in humans. Lovastatin
      attenuated epithelial gingival tissue growth in phenytoin-treated mice and
      altered the expressions of markers for epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Data
      indicate that phenytoin-induced gingival overgrowth in mice mimics molecular
      aspects of human gingival overgrowth and that lovastatin normalizes the tissue
      morphology and the expression of the molecular markers studied. Data are
      consistent with characterization of phenytoin-induced human gingival overgrowth
      in vivo and in vitro characteristics of cultured human gingival epithelial and
      connective tissue cells. Findings suggest that statins may serve to prevent or
      attenuate phenytoin-induced human gingival overgrowth, although specific human
      studies are required.

PMID- 25843683
TI  - A disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type I motif 7: a new
      protease for connective tissue growth factor in hepatic progenitor/oval cell
      niche.
AB  - Hepatic progenitor/oval cell (OC) activation occurs when hepatocyte proliferation
      is inhibited and is tightly associated with the fibrogenic response during severe
      liver damage. Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is important for OC
      activation and contributes to the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis. By using the
      Yeast Two-Hybrid approach, we identified a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with
      thrombospondin repeat 7 (ADAMTS7) as a CTGF binding protein. In vitro
      characterization demonstrated CTGF binding and processing by ADAMTS7. Moreover,
      Adamts7 mRNA was induced during OC activation, after the implantation of 2
      acetylaminofluorene with partial hepatectomy in rats or on feeding a 3,5
      diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine (DDC) diet in mice. X-Gal staining showed
      Adamts7 expression in hepatocyte nuclear factor 4alpha(+) hepatocytes and
      desmin(+) myofibroblasts surrounding reactive ducts in DDC-treated Adamts7(-/-)
      mice carrying a knocked-in LacZ gene. Adamts7 deficiency was associated with
      higher transcriptional levels of Ctgf and OC markers and enhanced OC
      proliferation compared to Adamts7(+/+) controls during DDC-induced liver injury.
      We also observed increased alpha-smooth muscle actin and procollagen type I
      mRNAs, large fibrotic areas in alpha-smooth muscle actin and Sirius red staining,
      and increased production of hepatic collagen by hydroxyproline measurement. These
      results suggest that ADAMTS7 is a new protease for CTGF protein and a novel
      regulator in the OC compartment, where its absence causes CTGF accumulation,
      leading to increased OC activation and biliary fibrosis.

PMID- 25843684
TI  - Development of approaches to induce puberty in cultured female sablefish
      (Anoplopoma fimbria).
AB  - Efforts to establish sustainable and efficient aquaculture production of
      sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) have been constrained by delayed puberty in
      cultured females. This study integrates a series of experiments aimed at gaining
      an understanding of the reproductive physiology of puberty in female sablefish.
      We detected transcripts for the dopamine D2 receptor (drd2) in brain, pituitary
      and ovary of sablefish, and prepubertal females exhibited significantly elevated
      brain and pituitary drd2 expression relative to wild maturing females. Treatments
      with sustained-release cholesterol pellets containing testosterone (T) and the
      dopamine D2 receptor antagonist, metoclopramide (Met), stimulated expression of
      pituitary luteinizing hormone beta subunit (lhb) and follicle-stimulating hormone
      beta subunit (fshb), respectively, in prepubertal females, whereas a combination
      of T and gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) had a strong synergistic
      effect on lhb expression (2000-fold higher than control). Although T induced a
      significant increase in the maximum ovarian follicle volume, none of the
      treatments tested stimulated onset of vitellogenesis. Using liquid
      chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, we demonstrated that Met stimulated
      production of T by previtellogenic ovarian follicles in vitro, whereas
      gonadotropin preparations enhanced 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone, androstenedione
      (A4), T and 17beta-estradiol (E2) production. Treatment with T increased
      production of A4, 11beta-hydroxyandrostenedione, 11beta-hydroxytestosterone, E2,
      11-ketotestosterone, and 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Interestingly, in the
      presence of high doses of T the previtellogenic ovary preferentially produced A4
      and DHT over any other metabolite. Our data suggest the existence of dopamine
      inhibition of the reproductive axis in female sablefish. Treatments with Met and
      T elevated gonadotropin mRNAs in prepubertal females but failed to stimulate the
      transition into vitellogenic growth, suggesting a possible failure in pituitary
      gonadotropin protein synthesis/release. Previtellogenic ovarian follicles of
      sablefish are equipped to synthesize steroids, including those required for
      vitellogenic growth, and DHT, a steroid hormone whose role in reproduction of
      fishes remains unknown. 

PMID- 25843686
TI  - The role of health care experience and consumer information efficacy in shaping
      privacy and security perceptions of medical records: national consumer survey
      results.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Providers' adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) is increasing
      and consumers have expressed concerns about the potential effects of EHRs on
      privacy and security. Yet, we lack a comprehensive understanding regarding
      factors that affect individuals' perceptions regarding the privacy and security
      of their medical information. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe
      national perceptions regarding the privacy and security of medical records and
      identify a comprehensive set of factors associated with these perceptions.
      METHODS: Using a nationally representative 2011-2012 survey, we reported on
      adults' perceptions regarding privacy and security of medical records and sharing
      of health information between providers, and whether adults withheld information
      from a health care provider due to privacy or security concerns. We used
      multivariable models to examine the association between these outcomes and
      sociodemographic characteristics, health and health care experience, information
      efficacy, and technology-related variables. RESULTS: Approximately one-quarter of
      American adults (weighted n=235,217,323; unweighted n=3959) indicated they were
      very confident (n=989) and approximately half indicated they were somewhat
      confident (n=1597) in the privacy of their medical records; we found similar
      results regarding adults' confidence in the security of medical records (very
      confident: n=828; somewhat confident: n=1742). In all, 12.33% (520/3904) withheld
      information from a health care provider and 59.06% (2100/3459) expressed concerns
      about the security of both faxed and electronic health information. Adjusting for
      other characteristics, adults who reported higher quality of care had
      significantly greater confidence in the privacy and security of their medical
      records and were less likely to withhold information from their health care
      provider due to privacy or security concerns. Adults with higher information
      efficacy had significantly greater confidence in the privacy and security of
      medical records and less concern about sharing of health information by both fax
      and electronic means. Individuals' perceptions of whether their providers use an
      EHR was not associated with any privacy or security outcomes. CONCLUSIONS:
      Although most adults are confident in the privacy and security of their medical
      records, many express concerns regarding sharing of information between
      providers; a minority report withholding information from their providers due to
      privacy and security concerns. Whether individuals thought their provider was
      using an EHR was not associated with negative privacy/security perceptions or
      withholding, suggesting the transition to EHRs is not associated with negative
      perceptions regarding the privacy and security of medical information. However,
      monitoring to see how this evolves will be important. Given that positive health
      care experiences and higher information efficacy were associated with more
      favorable perceptions of privacy and security, efforts should continue to
      encourage providers to secure medical records, provide patients with a
      "meaningful choice" in how their data are shared, and enable individuals to
      access information they need to manage their care.

PMID- 25843685
TI  - p70 S6-kinase mediates the cooperation between Akt1 and Mek1 pathways in
      fibroblast-mediated extracellular matrix remodeling.
AB  - Previous studies have demonstrated both synergistic and opposing effects of Akt
      and Mek1/2 in various cell functions and disease states. Furthermore, Akt has
      been reported to inhibit and activate cRaf/Mek pathway, suggesting that their
      mutual interaction and cooperation may be cell type, stimuli and/or context
      specific. While PI3-kinase/Akt and cRaf/Mek pathways have been implicated in the
      regulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, mutual interactions between
      these two pathways and their specific contributions to the events leading to ECM
      synthesis and assembly is not clear. We investigated the specific role of Akt1
      and Mek1 in ECM synthesis and assembly by NIH 3T3 fibroblasts and how these
      effects were reconciled to mediate overall ECM remodeling. Our study identified
      that cooperation between Akt1 and Mek1 is necessary to mediate ECM synthesis.
      Whereas Akt1 activation resulted in Mek1 activation as evidenced by increased
      ERK1/2 phosphorylation, Mek1 inhibition using U0126 or DN-Mek1 resulted in
      enhanced Akt1 phosphorylation. Interestingly, both Akt1 and Mek1 activities were
      needed for the synthesis and assembly of ECM. The effect of Akt1 and Mek1 on ECM
      synthesis was reconciled through the activation of p70 S6-kinase via
      phosphorylation at T421/S424 and S411, respectively. Furthermore, Akt1 and Mek1
      cooperated in mediating ECM assembly via activation of integrin beta1. Together,
      we show for the first time that Akt1 and Mek1 pathways cooperate in the
      regulation of ECM remodeling by the fibroblasts. 

PMID- 25843687
TI  - Survival of Enveloped and Non-Enveloped Viruses on Inanimate Surfaces.
AB  - In the present study, we evaluated the viability of non-enveloped viruses, minute
      virus of mice (MVM) and coxsackievirus B4 (CVB4), and enveloped-viruses,
      influenza A virus (H1N1) and herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), on surfaces. We
      also investigated the impact of the initial concentration of proteins and sodium
      chloride on the persistence of infectious CVB4 on surfaces. Viral suspensions
      (>10(4.5) TCID50) were applied to petri dish lids and dried under the air flow of
      a biosafety cabinet. The recovered viral preparations were titered on appropriate
      cell lines. Enveloped viruses persisted for less than 5 days while CVB4 and MVM
      persisted for weeks. However, repetitive cycles of drying and resuspension had a
      stronger virucidal effect on CVB4 than on H1N1 and HSV-1. These repetitive cycles
      had no effect on the infectious titer of MVM. When exposed to drying, the initial
      concentrations of bovine serum albumin (from 0 to 90 mg mL(-1)), fetal calf serum
      (from 0 to 100%), and sodium chloride (from 0 to 300 mg mL(-1)) affected the
      viability of CVB4. CVB4 was more likely to be inactivated by drying in a protein
      rich medium, whereas the impact of drying was reduced in the presence of sodium
      chloride. The results of the present study demonstrated that the resistance of
      viruses to drying, as suggested by iterative drying, was not due to the
      heterogeneity of viral subpopulations, but was influenced by media compositions
      and component concentrations, as illustrated in the model of CVB4. 

PMID- 25843688
TI  - Improving the osteogenic efficacy of BMP2 with mechano growth factor by
      regulating the signaling events in BMP pathway.
AB  - Local application of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) is known to promote
      large bone defect healing and BMP2-initiated bone regeneration could be enhanced
      by an additional mechanical stimulation. The C-terminal 24-a.a. peptide of
      mechano growth factor (MGF24E), a mechanical-sensitive molecule, has been
      demonstrated to promote bone healing. Here, we propose a hypothesis that MGF24E
      could also improve the osteogenic efficacy of BMP2 by regulating the signaling
      events in the BMP pathway. To confirm the hypothesis, the potentials of MGF24E,
      BMP2 and BMP2/MGF24E combination treatments on the phosphorylation of Smad 1/5/8,
      the downstream osteogenesis-related gene expression and osteoblasts
      mineralization, are investigated with or without the blocking of Smad 5 siRNA.
      Furthermore, 15-mm rabbit radial bone defects were healed with the cytokine
      treatments and then evaluated by radiographic examination, histological
      assessment and immunohistochemical analysis. MGF24E could enhance the BMP2
      induced Smad signaling pathway by upregulating the p-Smad protein expression and
      the downstream osteogenic gene expression. An amount of 5 nM BMP2 in a sub-25 nM
      concentration of MGF24E medium achieved a higher expression for ALP mRNA and a
      greater calcium mineral content compared with BMP2 alone. Nevertheless, the
      inhibition of the MGF24E-regulated BMP pathway could block osteogenesis induced
      by the dual treatment. In vivo, MGF24E treatment upregulated the endogenous BMP2
      expression and the addition of MGF24E into the BMP2 treatment remarkably enhanced
      the bone mineral density (BMD), the radiographic scores and the histological
      restoration of the regenerated tissue against BMP2 treatment, suggesting a new
      strategy for BMP2 in bone defect healing. 

PMID- 25843690
TI  - Role of region-distinctive expression of Rac1 in regulating fibronectin
      arrangement during palatal shelf elevation.
AB  - Palatal shelf elevation is a crucial process in palate development, with the
      contribution of various factors. Disturbances in any factor during this process
      result in cleft palate. Prior to palatal shelf elevation starting from embryonic
      day 12.5, the Rac1 expression level in the bend region of the mid-palatal shelf
      progressively increases and the cell densities in the bend and groove regions
      gradually become higher than those in the middle region. The comparative decrease
      of cell density in the middle region is correlated with a gradual alteration of
      the arrangement of fibronectin (FN) fibers, whereas the bend and groove regions
      with higher cell densities maintain ring-like FN arrangements. Rac1
      overexpression alters the fibrillar FN arrangement in the middle region to the
      ring-like arrangement by increasing cell density. This alteration is sufficient
      to induce the failure of palatal shelf elevation, ultimately leading to cleft
      palate. Furthermore, the inhibition of FN delays palatal shelf elevation. Thus,
      the spatiotemporal expression of Rac1 plays an impressive role in palatal shelf
      elevation by regulating FN arrangement within the palatal shelf. 

PMID- 25843689
TI  - Specific synaptopathies diversify brain responses and hearing disorders: you lose
      the gain from early life.
AB  - Before hearing onset, inner hair cell (IHC) maturation proceeds under the
      influence of spontaneous Ca(2+) action potentials (APs). The temporal signature
      of the IHC Ca(2+) AP is modified through an efferent cholinergic feedback from
      the medial olivocochlear bundle (MOC) and drives the IHC pre- and post-synapse
      phenotype towards low spontaneous (spike) rate (SR), high-threshold
      characteristics. With sensory experience, the IHC pre- and post-synapse phenotype
      matures towards the instruction of low-SR, high-threshold and of high-SR, low
      threshold auditory fiber characteristics. Corticosteroid feedback together with
      local brain-derived nerve growth factor (BDNF) and catecholaminergic
      neurotransmitters (dopamine) might be essential for this developmental step. In
      this review, we address the question of whether the control of low-SR and high-SR
      fiber characteristics is linked to various degrees of vulnerability of auditory
      fibers in the mature system. In particular, we examine several IHC synaptopathies
      in the context of various hearing disorders and exemplified shortfalls before and
      after hearing onset. 

PMID- 25843691
TI  - Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) expression is associated with a poor prognosis
      of bladder cancer.
AB  - Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1), a cancer stem cell marker, has been reported to
      be altered in human carcinogenesis. This study assessed the expression of ALDH1
      protein in invasive vs. noninvasive bladder cancer tissues for association with
      clinicopathological factors and bladder cancer prognosis. Tissue samples were
      collected from 227 bladder cancer patients, including 118 with noninvasive and
      109 with invasive bladder cancer for immunostaining of ALDH1 expression. ALDH1
      expression in tumor tissues was significantly greater than that in adjacent
      normal tissues. ALDH1 protein was highly expressed in 29.07% (66/227) of bladder
      tumor tissues (i.e., 24.58% of noninvasive bladder cancer tissues vs. 33.94% of
      invasive bladder cancer tissues). In patients with noninvasive bladder cancer,
      ALDH1 protein expression was significantly associated with an advanced tumor
      grade and frequent tumor recurrence (P<=0.05). In patients with invasive bladder
      cancer, ALDH1 protein expression was significantly associated with an advanced
      tumor grade, stage, as well as lymph node and distant metastases (P<=0.05). After
      adjusting for the confounding factors, ALDH1 protein expression was significantly
      associated with relapse-free survival in noninvasive bladder cancer patients [HR
      (95% CI)=4.45 (1.32-15.04); P=0.027] and overall survival in invasive bladder
      cancer patients [HR (5% CI)=2.86 (1.72-8.83); P=0.020]. These data indicate that
      ALDH1 expression plays an important role in bladder cancer development and
      prognosis. Further validation of our results is warranted in a larger sample
      cohort, and further investigation of ALDH1 signaling and function will increase
      our understanding of ALDH1 in bladder cancer progression. 

PMID- 25843692
TI  - The aggregation of early-onset melanoma in young Western Australian families.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined the familial aggregation of melanoma or its
      co-aggregation with other cancers using whole-population based designs. This
      study aimed to investigate aggregation patterns in young Western Australian
      families, using population-based linked health data to identify individuals born
      in Western Australia between 1974 and 2007, their known relatives, and all
      incident cancer diagnoses within the resulting 1,506,961 individuals. METHODS:
      Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to compare the risk of
      melanoma for first-degree relatives of melanoma cases to that for first-degree
      relatives of controls, with bootstrapping used to account for correlations within
      families. The risk of (i) developing melanoma based on the number of first-degree
      relatives with other cancers, and (ii) developing non-melanoma cancers based on
      the number of first-degree relatives diagnosed with melanoma was also
      investigated. RESULTS: First-degree relatives of melanoma cases had a
      significantly greater incidence of melanoma than first-degree relatives of
      individuals not affected with melanoma (Hazard Ratio (HR)=3.58, 95% bootstrap
      confidence interval (CI): 2.43-5.43). Sensitivity analyses produced a higher
      hazard ratio estimate when restricted to melanoma cases diagnosed before 40 years
      of age (HR=3.77, bootstrap 95% CI: 2.49-6.39) and a lower estimate when only
      later-onset cases (>40 years) were considered (HR=2.45, bootstrap 95% CI: 1.23
      4.82). No significant evidence was found for co-aggregation between melanoma and
      any other cancers. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicated a strong familial basis of
      melanoma, with the higher than expected hazard ratio observed likely to reflect
      early-age at onset cases in this young cohort, supported by the results of the
      sensitivity analyses. Exploratory analyses suggested that the determinants of
      melanoma causing the observed aggregation within families may be independent of
      other malignancies, although these analyses were limited by the young age of the
      sample. Determining familial aggregation patterns will provide valuable knowledge
      regarding improved clinical risk prediction and the underlying biological
      mechanisms of melanoma and other cancers.

PMID- 25843693
TI  - Site-Specific Description of the Enhanced Recognition Between Electrogenerated
      Nitrobenzene Anions and Dihomooxacalix[4]arene Bidentate Ureas.
AB  - Electron transfer controlled hydrogen bonding was studied for a series of
      nitrobenzene derivative radical anions, working as large guest anions, and
      substituted ureas, including dihomooxacalix[4]arene bidentate urea derivatives,
      in order to estimate binding constants (Kb) for the hydrogen-bonding process.
      Results showed enhanced Kb values for the interaction with phenyl-substituted
      bidentate urea, which is significantly larger than for the remaining compounds,
      e.g., in the case of 4-methoxynitrobenzene a 28-fold larger Kb value was obtained
      for the urea bearing a phenyl (Kb ~ 6888) vs tert-butyl (Kb ~ 247) moieties. The
      respective nucleophilic and electrophilic characters of the participant anion
      radical and urea hosts were parametrized with global and local electrodonating
      (omega(-)) and electroaccepting (omega(+)) powers, derived from DFT calculations.
      omega(-) data were useful for describing trends in structure-activity
      relationships when comparing nitrobenzene radical anions. However, omega(+) for
      the host urea structures lead to unreliable explanations of the experimental
      data. For the latter case, local descriptors omegak(+)(r) were estimated for the
      atoms within the urea region in the hosts [?komegak(+)(r)]. By compiling all the
      theoretical and experimental data, a Kb-predictive contour plot was built
      considering omega(-) for the studied anion radicals and ?komegak(+)(r) which
      affords good estimations.

PMID- 25843694
TI  - Central retinal artery occlusion and infective endocarditis: rigor does matter.
AB  - CLINICAL CASE: A patient with acute amaurosis due central retinal artery
      occlusion (CRAO), who had mitral regurgitation and Streptococcus viridans
      positive blood cultures. Using transesophageal ultrasound, the patient was
      diagnosed with native valve infective endocarditis without fever, and with loss
      of vision as the only symptom. DISCUSSION: CRAO due to infective endocarditis is
      rare and there are few cases reported in the literature. Semiology and a
      systematic and comprehensive study of patients with this ophthalmological
      pathology helps uncover serious underlying medical conditions. Infective
      endocarditis has many different forms of presentation and a high clinical
      suspicion is often required to reach a diagnosis.

PMID- 25843695
TI  - [Atypical presentation of lacrimal gland pleomorphic adenoma with necrotic foci].
AB  - CLINICAL CASE: The case is presented of 48 year-old male complaining of a painful
      left upper eyelid and swelling of the lacrimal gland, with a suspicion of
      dacryoadenitis. Removal was decided after dacriops suspicion. Histopathology
      diagnosed a pleomorphic adenoma of the lacrimal gland, with areas of necrosis.
      DISCUSSION: Lacrimal gland pleomorphic adenoma usually presents as a slowly
      progressive painless mass. However, painful presentation in this case might be
      related with necrotic foci found in the histopathological examination. Although
      not described in lacrimal glands, pleomorphic adenomas have already been reported
      in the major and minor salivary glands, and these patients also presented with a
      painful mass.

PMID- 25843696
TI  - The digitalised patient.

PMID- 25843697
TI  - Treatment of vitreomacular traction syndrome with autologous plasmin enzyme.
AB  - PURPOSE: To determine whether intravitreal injection of autologous plasmin enzyme
      (APE) is effective in vitreomacular traction syndrome (VMTS) by improving visual
      acuity and restoring macular morphology. METHODS: A prospective study of 11
      consecutive patients diagnosed with VMTS in the Ophthalmology Department from
      January to May, 2011. INCLUSION CRITERIA: best corrected visual acuity (BCVA)
      less than 0.5, and vitreomacular attachment in foveal area resulting in macular
      thickness>250 microns diagnosed by optical coherence tomography (Cirrus OCT, Carl
      Zeiss Meditec, Inc, Oberkochen, Germany). EXCLUSION CRITERIA: active
      proliferative diabetic retinopathy, axial myopia>26mm, vitrectomy, glaucoma,
      previous intravitreal injections and previous rhegmatogenous detachment. One to 3
      monthly intravitreal injections of 0.2ml of APE were applied, interrupting if
      posterior vitreous detachment was attained. Wilcoxon's test was used for
      statistical analysis. RESULTS: A total of 12 eyes of 11 patients were treated. A
      complete posterior vitreous detachment was achieved in 4 (33%) eyes at the end of
      the study, 2 of them with one injection, and 2 with 3 monthly injections.
      Improvement of BCVA was statistically significant (P=.017) and the decrease in
      central macular thickness also was statistically significant (P=.016). There was
      only one complication: intraocular hypertension after injection that subsided
      with a new paracentesis. CONCLUSIONS: Intravitreal APE injections avoided
      vitrectomy in VMTS in one in every 3 patients.

PMID- 25843698
TI  - Effects of antibiotic administration delay and inadequacy upon the survival of
      septic shock patients.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To assess how antibiotic administration delay and inadequacy influence
      survival in septic shock patients. DESIGN: A prospective, observational cohort
      study was carried out between September 2005 and September 2010. SCOPE: Patients
      admitted to the ICU of a third level hospital. PATIENTS: A total of 342 septic
      shock patients INTERVENTIONS: None VARIABLES OF INTEREST: The time to antibiotic
      administration (difference between septic shock presentation and first
      administered dose of antibiotic) and its adequacy (in vitro susceptibility
      testing of isolated pathogens) were determined. RESULTS: ICU and hospital
      mortality were 26.4% and 33.5%, respectively. The median delay to administration
      of the first antibiotic dose was 1.7h. Deceased patients received antibiotics
      significantly later than survivors (1.3+/-14.5h vs. 5.8+/-18.02h; P=.001).
      Percentage drug inadequacy was 12%. Those patients who received inadequate
      antibiotics had significantly higher mortality rates (33.8% vs. 51.2%; P=.03).
      The coexistence of treatment delay and inadequacy was associated to lower
      survival rates. CONCLUSIONS: Both antibiotic administration delay and inadequacy
      exert deleterious effects upon the survival of septic shock patients,
      independently of their characteristics or severity.

PMID- 25843699
TI  - [Usefulness of procalcitonin for diagnosing infection in critically ill patients
      with liver cirrhosis].
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the usefulness of procalcitonin (PCT) for diagnosing
      infection in patients with liver cirrhosis admitted to an Intensive Care Unit.
      DESIGN: A retrospective study was carried out. SCOPE: Intensive Care Unit.
      Versatile, twenty-four beds. Participants Patients with liver cirrhosis admitted
      to our Intensive Care Unit in the last four years with suspected infection and
      measurement of PCT. RESULTS: Among the 255 patients with cirrhosis admitted to
      our unit, PCT was determined for the differential diagnosis of infection in 69
      cases (27%). Three patients were excluded from analysis due to a lack of clinical
      data. The average stay was 10.6 +/- 9.2 days, with a mortality rate of 65%. The
      origin of cirrhosis was mainly viral (57%) or alcoholic (37%). The Child-Pugh and
      MELD scores were 9.5 +/- 2 and 23 +/- 8, respectively. Infection was diagnosed in
      54 patients (82%). The most common infection was pneumonia (72%), followed by
      intraabdominal infections (18%) and bacteremia (5%). In patients without
      infection, the median PCT concentration was 0.57 ng/ml (range 0.28 to 1.14)
      versus 2.99 (1.31 to 9.4) in those with infection (p<.001). Diagnostic capacity
      was maintained in patients with intraabdominal infections. The diagnostic cutoff
      point was set at 0.8 ng/ml (sensitivity 83%, specificity 75%, AUC 0.82 [0.702
      0.93]). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with liver cirrhosis, PCT is useful for
      identifying bacterial infections, including intraabdominal processes.

PMID- 25843700
TI  - Regret and adaptive decision making in young children.
AB  - In line with the claim that regret plays a role in decision making, O'Connor,
      McCormack, and Feeney (Child Development, 85 (2014) 1995-2010) found that
      children who reported feeling sadder on discovering they had made a non-optimal
      choice were more likely to make a different choice the next time around. We
      examined two issues of interpretation regarding this finding: whether the emotion
      measured was indeed regret and whether it was the experience of this emotion,
      rather than the ability to anticipate it, that affected decision making. To
      address the first issue, we varied the degree to which children aged 6 or 7 years
      were responsible for an outcome, assuming that responsibility is a necessary
      condition for regret. The second issue was addressed by examining whether
      children could accurately anticipate that they would feel worse on discovering
      they had made a non-optimal choice. Children were more likely to feel sad if they
      were responsible for the outcome; however, even if they were not responsible,
      children were more likely than chance to report feeling sadder. Moreover, across
      all conditions, feeling sadder was associated with making a better subsequent
      choice. In a separate task, we demonstrated that children of this age cannot
      accurately anticipate feeling sadder on discovering that they had not made the
      best choice. These findings suggest that although children may feel regret
      following a non-optimal choice, even if they were not responsible for an outcome,
      they may experience another negative emotion such as frustration. Experiencing
      either of these emotions seems to be sufficient to support better decision
      making.

PMID- 25843701
TI  - Niemann-Pick disease type C2 protein induces autophagy and inhibits growth in
      FM3A breast cancer cells.
AB  - Some peptides that are highly conserved between insects and mammals have anti
      tumor action. Screening for inhibitors of cell growth from animal fluids may
      provide useful clues to anti-tumor drugs. Inducers of autophagy also have anti
      tumor activity. The current authors recently studied a protein found in silkworm
      hemolymph, Niemann-Pick disease type C2 (NPC2). This protein, which is highly
      conserved among eukaryotes, was found to have anti-proliferative action on a
      silkworm cell line. The current study found that the silkworm NPC2 protein also
      inhibits the growth of FM3A murine breast cancer cells. In FM3A cells, silkworm
      NPC2 increased phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase and decreased
      phosphorylation of Akt and mammalian target of rapamycin, which are regulators of
      autophagy. This study also found that NPC2 increased the amount of microtubule
      associated protein light chain 3 (LC3)-II, an autophagosome marker, in FM3A
      cells. Silkworm NPC2 also induced an increase in the number of LC3-dots, a marker
      of pre-autophagic endosomes, in FM3A cells. When silkworm NPC2 was used to
      inhibit FM3A cell growth, that inhibition was attenuated by chloroquine, which
      inhibits autophagic activity by preventing lysosomal acidification. Murine NPC2
      also inhibited growth and induced autophagy in FM3A cells. These findings suggest
      that NPC2 is involved in the induction and/or maintenance of autophagy and may
      help to elucidate the mechanisms underlying other neurodegenerative disorders
      such as Niemann-Pick disease.

PMID- 25843702
TI  - Template-assisted synthesis of Janus silica nanobowls.
AB  - The preparation of anisotropic nanoparticles has drawn much attention in the
      literature, with most of the efforts being dedicated to convex particles. In this
      work, instead, we present a reliable method to synthesis silica nanobowls with
      one well-defined opening, covering a broad range of sizes. The nanobowls have
      been obtained from asymmetrically functionalized silica-polymer Janus
      nanodumbbells, used as templates, by removing of the polymer. Polystyrene seeds
      having different sizes as well as surface chemistry have been used as starting
      material in a two-step seeded emulsion polymerization, which leads to polymer
      nanodumbbells. These dumbbells are also asymmetrically functionalized due to the
      presence of silane groups on only one of their two hemispheres. This allows us to
      selectively coat the silane-bearing hemisphere of the dumbbells with a silica
      layer by means of a Stoeber process. The silica nanobowls are eventually obtained
      after either calcination or dissolution of the polymeric template. Depending on
      the route followed to remove the polymer, nanobowls made of pure silica (from
      calcination) or hybrid Janus nanobowls with a silica outer shell and a covalently
      bound hydrophobic polymer layer inside the cavity (from dissolution) could be
      prepared. The difference between the two types of nanobowls has been proved by
      electrostatically binding oppositely charged silica nanoparticles, which adhere
      selectively only on the outer silica part of the nanobowls prepared by polymer
      dissolution, while they attach both inside and outside of nanobowls prepared by
      calcination. We also show that selective functionalization of the outer surface
      of the Janus nanobowls from dissolution is possible. This work is one of the
      first examples of concave objects bearing different functionalities in the inner
      and outer parts of their surface. 

PMID- 25843703
TI  - Bone alkaline phosphatase isoforms in hemodialysis patients with low versus non
      low bone turnover: a diagnostic test study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Renal osteodystrophy encompasses the bone histologic abnormalities
      seen in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The bone-specific alkaline
      phosphatase (bALP) isoform B1x is exclusively found in serum of some patients
      with CKD. STUDY DESIGN: The aim of this cross-sectional diagnostic test study was
      to examine the relationship between serum bALP isoform activity and
      histomorphometric parameters of bone in patients with CKD receiving maintenance
      hemodialysis. SETTINGS & PARTICIPANTS: Anterior iliac crest bone biopsy samples
      from 40 patients with CKD were selected on the basis of bone turnover for
      histomorphometric analysis. There were samples from 20 patients with low and 20
      with non-low bone turnover. INDEX TEST: In serum, bALP, bALP isoforms (B/I, B1x,
      B1, and B2), and parathyroid hormone (PTH) were measured. REFERENCE TEST: Low
      bone turnover was defined by mineral apposition rate < 0.36MUm/d. Non-low bone
      turnover was defined by mineral apposition rate >= 0.36MUm/d. OTHER MEASUREMENTS:
      PTH. RESULTS: B1x was found in 21 patients (53%) who had lower median levels of
      bALP, 18.6 versus 46.9U/L; B/I, 0.10 versus 0.22 MUkat/L; B1, 0.40 versus 0.88
      MUkat/L; B2, 1.21 versus 2.66 MUkat/L; and PTH, 49 versus 287pg/mL, compared with
      patients without B1x (P<0.001). 13 patients (65%) with low bone turnover and 8
      patients (40%) with non-low bone turnover (P<0.2) had detectable B1x. B1x
      correlated inversely with histomorphometric parameters of bone turnover. Receiver
      operating characteristic curves showed that B1x can be used for the diagnosis of
      low bone turnover (area under the curve [AUC], 0.83), whereas bALP (AUC, 0.89)
      and PTH (AUC, 0.85) are useful for the diagnosis of non-low bone turnover.
      LIMITATIONS: Small number of study participants. Requirement of high-performance
      liquid chromatography methods for measurement of B1x. CONCLUSIONS: B1x, PTH, and
      bALP have similar diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing low from non-low bone
      turnover. The presence of B1x is diagnostic of low bone turnover, whereas
      elevated bALP and PTH levels are useful for the diagnosis of non-low bone
      turnover.

PMID- 25843704
TI  - Extended Daily Dialysis Versus Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy for Acute
      Kidney Injury: A Meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Extended daily dialysis (EDD) has been suggested as an effective
      renal replacement therapy for acute kidney injury. However, results from studies
      comparing EDD to continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) are inconclusive.
      STUDY DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed by searching in
      MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and a Chinese database
      (SinsoMed). SETTING & POPULATION: Patients with acute kidney injury. SELECTION
      CRITERIA FOR STUDIES: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational
      studies were included. EDD was defined as extended hemodialysis or
      hemodiafiltration for more than 6 but less than 24 hours per session using a
      conventional hemodialysis machine. INTERVENTION: Renal replacement therapy
      comparing EDD with CRRT. OUTCOMES: Mortality, kidney recovery, and fluid removal.
      RESULTS: We included 17 studies from 2000 to 2014: 7 RCTs and 10 observational
      studies involving 533 and 675 patients, respectively. Meta-analysis of RCTs
      showed no difference in mortality rates between EDD and CRRT (relative risk,
      0.90; 95% CI, 0.74-1.11; P=0.3). However, EDD was associated with lower mortality
      risk compared with CRRT in observational studies (relative risk, 0.86; 95% CI,
      0.74-1.00; P=0.05). There was no evidence of heterogeneity in RCTs (I(2)=0%) or
      observational studies (I(2)=15%). In both RCTs and observational studies, there
      were no significant differences in recovery of kidney function, fluid removal, or
      days in the intensive care unit, and EDD showed similar biochemical efficacy to
      CRRT during treatment (serum urea, serum creatinine, and serum phosphate).
      LIMITATIONS: The survival benefit of EDD is dependent on only observational
      studies and might have been affected by allocation or selection bias.
      CONCLUSIONS: EDD is associated with similar outcomes to CRRT in RCTs. The finding
      that EDD is associated with a lower mortality rate relies on data from
      observational studies, which are potentially subject to allocation or selection
      bias, making further high-quality RCTs desirable.

PMID- 25843705
TI  - Teriparatide and bone turnover and formation in a hemodialysis patient with low
      turnover bone disease: a case report.
AB  - Teriparatide, a recombinant form of parathyroid hormone, is an anabolic agent
      approved for use in women and men with osteoporosis. However, it is not well
      studied in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We report on a patient with
      stage 5 CKD treated with dialysis who presented to our clinic with multiple
      fractures, including bilateral nondisplaced pelvic fractures resulting in chronic
      pain and interfering with the patient's ability to work. Bone histomorphometry
      demonstrated low-turnover bone disease, and he was treated with 20MUg of
      teriparatide (subcutaneous injection) every morning for 24 months. Within 6
      months of initiating therapy, the patient's pain resolved and he was able to
      resume work. Serum calcium and phosphate levels remained within reference ranges
      throughout his treatment, and he sustained no further fractures. During 24 months
      of treatment, bone mineral density was maintained at the lumbar spine, and there
      was an increase of 4% at the femoral neck and total hip. A second transiliac bone
      biopsy demonstrated improvements in static and dynamic parameters of bone
      formation. In our patient, 24-month treatment with teriparatide was safe and
      effective; however, larger studies are needed to determine the efficacy of
      teriparatide in the dialysis-dependent CKD population. 

PMID- 25843706
TI  - mTORC2 regulates cardiac response to stress by inhibiting MST1.
AB  - The mTOR and Hippo pathways have recently emerged as the major signaling
      transduction cascades regulating organ size and cellular homeostasis. However,
      direct crosstalk between two pathways is yet to be determined. Here, we
      demonstrate that mTORC2 is a direct negative regulator of the MST1 kinase, a key
      component of the Hippo pathway. mTORC2 phosphorylates MST1 at serine 438 in the
      SARAH domain, thereby reducing its homodimerization and activity. We found that
      Rictor/mTORC2 preserves cardiac structure and function by restraining the
      activity of MST1 kinase. Cardiac-specific mTORC2 disruption through Rictor
      deletion leads to a marked activation of MST1 that, in turn, promotes cardiac
      dysfunction and dilation, impairing cardiac growth and adaptation in response to
      pressure overload. In conclusion, our study demonstrates the existence of a
      direct crosstalk between mTORC2 and MST1 that is critical for cardiac cell
      survival and growth. 

PMID- 25843707
TI  - High-precision analysis of translational pausing by ribosome profiling in
      bacteria lacking EFP.
AB  - Ribosome profiling is a powerful method for globally assessing the activity of
      ribosomes in a cell. Despite its application in many organisms, ribosome
      profiling studies in bacteria have struggled to obtain the resolution necessary
      to precisely define translational pauses. Here, we report improvements that yield
      much higher resolution in E. coli profiling data, enabling us to more accurately
      assess ribosome pausing and refine earlier studies of the impact of polyproline
      motifs on elongation. We comprehensively characterize pausing at proline-rich
      motifs in the absence of elongation factor EFP. We find that only a small
      fraction of genes with strong pausing motifs have reduced ribosome density
      downstream, and we identify features that explain this phenomenon. These features
      allow us to predict which proteins likely have reduced output in the efp-knockout
      strain. 

PMID- 25843708
TI  - The lncRNA DEANR1 facilitates human endoderm differentiation by activating FOXA2
      expression.
AB  - Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulate diverse biological processes, including
      cell lineage specification. Here, we report transcriptome profiling of human
      endoderm and pancreatic cell lineages using purified cell populations. Analysis
      of the data sets allows us to identify hundreds of lncRNAs that exhibit
      differentiation-stage-specific expression patterns. As a first step in
      characterizing these lncRNAs, we focus on an endoderm-specific lncRNA, definitive
      endoderm-associated lncRNA1 (DEANR1), and demonstrate that it plays an important
      role in human endoderm differentiation. DEANR1 contributes to endoderm
      differentiation by positively regulating expression of the endoderm factor FOXA2.
      Importantly, overexpression of FOXA2 is able to rescue endoderm differentiation
      defects caused by DEANR1 depletion. Mechanistically, DEANR1 facilitates FOXA2
      activation by facilitating SMAD2/3 recruitment to the FOXA2 promoter. Thus, our
      study not only reveals a large set of differentiation-stage-specific lncRNAs but
      also characterizes a functional lncRNA that is important for endoderm
      differentiation. 

PMID- 25843710
TI  - HJURP involvement in de novo CenH3(CENP-A) and CENP-C recruitment.
AB  - Although our understanding of centromere maintenance, marked by the histone H3
      variant CenH3(CENP-A) in most eukaryotes, has progressed, the mechanism
      underlying the de novo formation of centromeres remains unclear. We used a
      synthetic system to dissect how CenH3(CENP-A) contributes to the accumulation of
      CENP-C and CENP-T, two key components that are necessary for the formation of
      functional kinetochores. We find that de novo CENP-T accumulation depends on CENP
      C and that recruitment of these factors requires two domains in CenH3(CENP-A):
      the HJURP-binding region (CATD) and the CENP-C-binding region (CAC). Notably,
      HJURP interacts directly with CENP-C and is critical for de novo accumulation of
      CENP-C at synthetic centromeres. On the basis of our findings, we propose that
      HJURP serves a dual chaperone function in coordinating CenH3(CENP-A) and CENP-C
      recruitment. 

PMID- 25843709
TI  - Genetic investigation of tricarboxylic acid metabolism during the Plasmodium
      falciparum life cycle.
AB  - New antimalarial drugs are urgently needed to control drug-resistant forms of the
      malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Mitochondrial electron transport is the
      target of both existing and new antimalarials. Herein, we describe 11 genetic
      knockout (KO) lines that delete six of the eight mitochondrial tricarboxylic acid
      (TCA) cycle enzymes. Although all TCA KOs grew normally in asexual blood stages,
      these metabolic deficiencies halted life-cycle progression in later stages.
      Specifically, aconitase KO parasites arrested as late gametocytes, whereas alpha
      ketoglutarate-dehydrogenase-deficient parasites failed to develop oocysts in the
      mosquitoes. Mass spectrometry analysis of (13)C-isotope-labeled TCA mutant
      parasites showed that P. falciparum has significant flexibility in TCA
      metabolism. This flexibility manifested itself through changes in pathway fluxes
      and through altered exchange of substrates between cytosolic and mitochondrial
      pools. Our findings suggest that mitochondrial metabolic plasticity is essential
      for parasite development. 

PMID- 25843711
TI  - Bacterial c-di-GMP affects hematopoietic stem/progenitors and their niches
      through STING.
AB  - Upon systemic bacterial infection, hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells
      (HSPCs) migrate to the periphery in order to supply a sufficient number of immune
      cells. Although pathogen-associated molecular patterns reportedly mediate HSPC
      activation, how HSPCs detect pathogen invasion in vivo remains elusive. Bacteria
      use the second messenger bis-(3'-5')-cyclic dimeric guanosine monophosphate (c-di
      GMP) for a variety of activities. Here, we report that c-di-GMP comprehensively
      regulated both HSPCs and their niche cells through an innate immune sensor,
      STING, thereby inducing entry into the cell cycle and mobilization of HSPCs while
      decreasing the number and repopulation capacity of long-term hematopoietic stem
      cells. Furthermore, we show that type I interferon acted as a downstream target
      of c-di-GMP to inhibit HSPC expansion in the spleen, while transforming growth
      factor-beta was required for c-di-GMP-dependent splenic HSPC expansion. Our
      results define machinery underlying the dynamic regulation of HSPCs and their
      niches during bacterial infection through c-di-GMP/STING signaling. 

PMID- 25843712
TI  - NF-kappaB-activating complex engaged in response to EGFR oncogene inhibition
      drives tumor cell survival and residual disease in lung cancer.
AB  - Although oncogene-targeted therapy often elicits profound initial tumor responses
      in patients, responses are generally incomplete because some tumor cells survive
      initial therapy as residual disease that enables eventual acquired resistance.
      The mechanisms underlying tumor cell adaptation and survival during initial
      therapy are incompletely understood. Here, through the study of EGFR mutant lung
      adenocarcinoma, we show that NF-kappaB signaling is rapidly engaged upon initial
      EGFR inhibitor treatment to promote tumor cell survival and residual disease.
      EGFR oncogene inhibition induced an EGFR-TRAF2-RIP1-IKK complex that stimulated
      an NF-kappaB-mediated transcriptional survival program. The direct NF-kappaB
      inhibitor PBS-1086 suppressed this adaptive survival program and increased the
      magnitude and duration of initial EGFR inhibitor response in multiple NSCLC
      models, including a patient-derived xenograft. These findings unveil NF-kappaB
      activation as a critical adaptive survival mechanism engaged by EGFR oncogene
      inhibition and provide rationale for EGFR and NF-kappaB co-inhibition to
      eliminate residual disease and enhance patient responses. 

PMID- 25843713
TI  - Casein kinase 1delta is an APC/C(Cdh1) substrate that regulates cerebellar
      granule cell neurogenesis.
AB  - Although casein kinase 1delta (CK1delta) is at the center of multiple signaling
      pathways, its role in the expansion of CNS progenitor cells is unknown. Using
      mouse cerebellar granule cell progenitors (GCPs) as a model for brain
      neurogenesis, we demonstrate that the loss of CK1delta or treatment of GCPs with
      a highly selective small molecule inhibits GCP expansion. In contrast, CK1delta
      overexpression increases GCP proliferation. Thus, CK1delta appears to regulate
      GCP neurogenesis. CK1delta is targeted for proteolysis via the anaphase-promoting
      complex/cyclosome (APC/C(Cdh1)) ubiquitin ligase, and conditional deletion of the
      APC/C(Cdh1) activator Cdh1 in cerebellar GCPs results in higher levels of
      CK1delta. APC/C(Cdh1) also downregulates CK1delta during cell-cycle exit.
      Therefore, we conclude that APC/C(Cdh1) controls CK1delta levels to balance
      proliferation and cell-cycle exit in the developing CNS. Similar studies in
      medulloblastoma cells showed that CK1delta holds promise as a therapeutic target.

PMID- 25843715
TI  - TET3 is recruited by REST for context-specific hydroxymethylation and induction
      of gene expression.
AB  - Ten-eleven translocation hydroxylases (TET1-3) oxidize 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to
      5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC). In neurons, increased 5hmC levels within gene
      bodies correlate positively with gene expression. The mechanisms controlling TET
      activity and 5hmC levels are poorly understood. In particular, it is not known
      how the neuronal TET3 isoform lacking a DNA-binding domain is targeted to the
      DNA. To identify factors binding to TET3, we screened for proteins that co
      precipitate with TET3 from mouse retina and identified the transcriptional
      repressor REST as a highly enriched TET3-specific interactor. REST was able to
      enhance TET3 hydroxylase activity after co-expression and overexpression of TET3
      activated transcription of REST target genes. Moreover, we found that TET3 also
      interacts with NSD3 and two other H3K36 methyltransferases and is able to induce
      H3K36 trimethylation. We propose a mechanism for transcriptional activation in
      neurons that involves REST-guided targeting of TET3 to the DNA for directed 5hmC
      generation and NSD3-mediated H3K36 trimethylation. 

PMID- 25843714
TI  - Transcriptional co-repressor function of the hippo pathway transducers YAP and
      TAZ.
AB  - YAP (yes-associated protein) and TAZ are oncogenic transcriptional co-activators
      downstream of the Hippo tumor-suppressor pathway. However, whether YAP and/or TAZ
      (YAP/TAZ) engage in transcriptional co-repression remains relatively unexplored.
      Here, we directly demonstrated that YAP/TAZ represses numerous target genes,
      including tumor-suppressor genes such as DDIT4 (DNA-damage-inducible transcript
      4) and Trail (TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand). Mechanistically, the
      repressor function of YAP/TAZ requires TEAD (TEA domain) transcription factors. A
      YAP/TAZ-TEAD complex recruits the NuRD complex to deacetylate histones and alters
      nucleosome occupancy at target genes. Functionally, repression of DDIT4 and Trail
      by YAP/TAZ is required for mTORC1 (mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1)
      activation and cell survival, respectively. Our demonstration of the
      transcriptional co-repressor activity of YAP/TAZ opens a new avenue for
      understanding the Hippo signaling pathway. 

PMID- 25843716
TI  - Artificial association of pre-stored information to generate a qualitatively new
      memory.
AB  - Memory is thought to be stored in the brain as an ensemble of cells activated
      during learning. Although optical stimulation of a cell ensemble triggers the
      retrieval of the corresponding memory, it is unclear how the association of
      information occurs at the cell ensemble level. Using optogenetic stimulation
      without any sensory input in mice, we found that an artificial association
      between stored, non-related contextual, and fear information was generated
      through the synchronous activation of distinct cell ensembles corresponding to
      the stored information. This artificial association shared characteristics with
      physiologically associated memories, such as N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor
      activity and protein synthesis dependence. These findings suggest that the
      association of information is achieved through the synchronous activity of
      distinct cell ensembles. This mechanism may underlie memory updating by
      incorporating novel information into pre-existing networks to form qualitatively
      new memories. 

PMID- 25843717
TI  - E4F1 is a master regulator of CHK1-mediated functions.
AB  - It has been previously shown that the polycomb protein BMI1 and E4F1 interact
      physically and genetically in the hematopoietic system. Here, we report that E4f1
      is essential for hematopoietic cell function and survival. E4f1 deletion induces
      acute bone marrow failure characterized by apoptosis of progenitors while stem
      cells are preserved. E4f1-deficient cells accumulate DNA damage and show defects
      in progression through S phase and mitosis, revealing a role for E4F1 in cell
      cycle progression and genome integrity. Importantly, we showed that E4F1
      interacts with and protects the checkpoint kinase 1 (CHK1) protein from
      degradation. Finally, defects observed in E4f1-deficient cells were fully
      reversed by ectopic expression of Chek1. Altogether, our results classify E4F1 as
      a master regulator of CHK1 activity that ensures high fidelity of DNA
      replication, thus safeguarding genome stability. 

PMID- 25843718
TI  - Differentiation of human parthenogenetic pluripotent stem cells reveals multiple
      tissue- and isoform-specific imprinted transcripts.
AB  - Parental imprinting results in monoallelic parent-of-origin-dependent gene
      expression. However, many imprinted genes identified by differential methylation
      do not exhibit complete monoallelic expression. Previous studies demonstrated
      complex tissue-dependent expression patterns for some imprinted genes. Still, the
      complete magnitude of this phenomenon remains largely unknown. By differentiating
      human parthenogenetic induced pluripotent stem cells into different cell types
      and combining DNA methylation with a 5' RNA sequencing methodology, we were able
      to identify tissue- and isoform-dependent imprinted genes in a genome-wide
      manner. We demonstrate that nearly half of all imprinted genes express both
      biallelic and monoallelic isoforms that are controlled by tissue-specific
      alternative promoters. This study provides a global analysis of tissue-specific
      imprinting in humans and suggests that alternative promoters are central in the
      regulation of imprinted genes. 

PMID- 25843719
TI  - A critical role for PKR complexes with TRBP in Immunometabolic regulation and
      eIF2alpha phosphorylation in obesity.
AB  - Aberrant stress and inflammatory responses are key factors in the pathogenesis of
      obesity and metabolic dysfunction, and the double-stranded RNA-dependent kinase
      (PKR) has been proposed to play an important role in integrating these pathways.
      Here, we report the formation of a complex between PKR and TAR RNA-binding
      protein (TRBP) during metabolic and obesity-induced stress, which is critical for
      the regulation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha (eIF2alpha)
      phosphorylation and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation. We show that TRBP
      phosphorylation is induced in the setting of metabolic stress, leading to PKR
      activation. Suppression of hepatic TRBP reduced inflammation, JNK activity, and
      eIF2alpha phosphorylation and improved systemic insulin resistance and glucose
      metabolism, while TRBP overexpression exacerbated the impairment in glucose
      homeostasis in obese mice. These data indicate that the association between PKR
      and TRBP integrates metabolism with translational control and inflammatory
      signaling and plays important roles in metabolic homeostasis and disease. 

PMID- 25843720
TI  - Synapsin III acts downstream of semaphorin 3A/CDK5 signaling to regulate radial
      migration and orientation of pyramidal neurons in vivo.
AB  - Synapsin III (SynIII) is a phosphoprotein that is highly expressed at early
      stages of neuronal development. Whereas in vitro evidence suggests a role for
      SynIII in neuronal differentiation, in vivo evidence is lacking. Here, we
      demonstrate that in vivo downregulation of SynIII expression affects neuronal
      migration and orientation. By contrast, SynIII overexpression affects neuronal
      migration, but not orientation. We identify a cyclin-dependent kinase-5 (CDK5)
      phosphorylation site on SynIII and use phosphomutant rescue experiments to
      demonstrate its role in SynIII function. Finally, we show that SynIII
      phosphorylation at the CDK5 site is induced by activation of the semaphorin-3A
      (Sema3A) pathway, which is implicated in migration and orientation of cortical
      pyramidal neurons (PNs) and is known to activate CDK5. Thus, fine-tuning of
      SynIII expression and phosphorylation by CDK5 activation through Sema3A activity
      is essential for proper neuronal migration and orientation. 

PMID- 25843721
TI  - The transcription factor E4F1 coordinates CHK1-dependent checkpoint and
      mitochondrial functions.
AB  - Recent data support the notion that a group of key transcriptional regulators
      involved in tumorigenesis, including MYC, p53, E2F1, and BMI1, share an
      intriguing capacity to simultaneously regulate metabolism and cell cycle. Here,
      we show that another factor, the multifunctional protein E4F1, directly controls
      genes involved in mitochondria functions and cell-cycle checkpoints, including
      Chek1, a major component of the DNA damage response. Coordination of these
      cellular functions by E4F1 appears essential for the survival of p53-deficient
      transformed cells. Acute inactivation of E4F1 in these cells results in CHK1
      dependent checkpoint deficiency and multiple mitochondrial dysfunctions that lead
      to increased ROS production, energy stress, and inhibition of de novo pyrimidine
      synthesis. This deadly cocktail leads to the accumulation of uncompensated
      oxidative damage to proteins and extensive DNA damage, ending in cell death. This
      supports the rationale of therapeutic strategies simultaneously targeting
      mitochondria and CHK1 for selective killing of p53-deficient cancer cells. 

PMID- 25843723
TI  - 'Geraniums (red) and Delphiniums (blue)': Trauma, Ethics, and Medical
      Communications.
AB  - More official complaints about medical treatment in the UK relate to poor
      communications than to wrong diagnoses. This article, in considering the
      importance of communications training for clinicians, is structured into three
      sections. From use of a story that introduces the idea of miscommunication and
      trauma in the first section, the article moves, in the second, to a theorisation
      of trauma as a concept, addressing issues of intersubjectivity, the relationship
      between embodied and psychological being, and ethics. From this, the third
      section engages directly with medical communications training, exemplifying a
      particular literary-studies approach to matters of communication.

PMID- 25843722
TI  - Individual and collective contributions of chaperoning and degradation to protein
      homeostasis in E. coli.
AB  - The folding fate of a protein in vivo is determined by the interplay between a
      protein's folding energy landscape and the actions of the proteostasis network,
      including molecular chaperones and degradation enzymes. The mechanisms of
      individual components of the E. coli proteostasis network have been studied
      extensively, but much less is known about how they function as a system. We used
      an integrated experimental and computational approach to quantitatively analyze
      the folding outcomes (native folding versus aggregation versus degradation) of
      three test proteins biosynthesized in E. coli under a variety of conditions.
      Overexpression of the entire proteostasis network benefited all three test
      proteins, but the effect of upregulating individual chaperones or the major
      degradation enzyme, Lon, varied for proteins with different biophysical
      properties. In sum, the impact of the E. coli proteostasis network is a
      consequence of concerted action by the Hsp70 system (DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE), the Hsp60
      system (GroEL/GroES), and Lon. 

PMID- 25843724
TI  - Seven Types of Ambiguity in Evaluating the Impact of Humanities Provision in
      Undergraduate Medicine Curricula.
AB  - Inclusion of the humanities in undergraduate medicine curricula remains
      controversial. Skeptics have placed the burden of proof of effectiveness upon the
      shoulders of advocates, but this may lead to pursuing measurement of the
      immeasurable, deflecting attention away from the more pressing task of defining
      what we mean by the humanities in medicine. While humanities input can offer a
      fundamental critical counterweight to a potentially reductive biomedical science
      education, a new wave of thinking suggests that the kinds of arts and humanities
      currently used in medical education are neither radical nor critical enough to
      have a deep effect on students' learning and may need to be reformulated. The
      humanities can certainly educate for tolerance of ambiguity as a basis to
      learning democratic habits for contemporary team-based clinical work. William
      Empson's 'seven types of ambiguity' model for analyzing poetry is transposed to
      medical education to: (a) formulate seven values proffered by the humanities for
      improving medical education; (b) offer seven ways of measuring impact of medical
      humanities provision, thereby reducing ambiguity; and 

PMID- 25843725
TI  - Viruses and cancer: introduction.

PMID- 25843727
TI  - Reprint of: cancer "causation" by infections--individual contributions and
      synergistic networks.
AB  - The search for infectious agents playing a role in human carcinogenesis and their
      identification remain important issues. This could provide clues for a broader
      spectrum of cancers preventable by vaccination and accessible to specific
      therapeutic regimens. Yet, the various ways of interacting among different
      factors functioning synergistically and their different modes of affecting
      individual cells should bring to question the validity of the term "causation".
      It also should put a word of caution into all attempts to summarize criteria for
      "causality" of infectious agents in cancer development. At least in the opinion
      of these authors, we would be much better off avoiding these terms, replacing
      "causal factor" by "risk factor" and grading them according to their contribution
      to an individual's cancer risk. 

PMID- 25843728
TI  - Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus-associated malignancies: epidemiology,
      pathogenesis, and advances in treatment.
AB  - Kaposi sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV), a gamma2-herpesvirus, also known as
      human herpesvirus-8, is the etiologic agent of three virally associated tumors:
      Kaposi sarcoma, a plasmablastic form of multicentric Castleman disease (KSHV
      MCD), and primary effusion lymphoma. These malignancies are predominantly seen in
      people with acquired immunodeficiencies, including acquired immunodeficiency
      syndrome and iatrogenic immunosuppression in the setting of organ
      transplantation, but can also develop in the elderly. Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is most
      frequent in regions with high KSHV seroprevalence, such as sub-Saharan Africa and
      some Mediterranean countries. In the era of combination antiviral therapy,
      inflammatory manifestations associated with KSHV-infection, including KSHV-MCD, a
      recently described KSHV-associated inflammatory cytokine syndrome and KS immune
      reconstitution syndrome also are increasingly appreciated. Our understanding of
      viral and immune mechanisms of oncogenesis continues to expand and lead to
      improved molecular diagnostics, as well as novel therapeutic strategies that
      employ immune modulatory agents, manipulations of the tumor microenvironment,
      virus-activated cytotoxic therapy, or agents that target interactions between
      specific virus-host cell signaling pathways. This review focuses on the
      epidemiology and advances in molecular and clinical research that reflects the
      current understanding of viral oncogenesis, clinical manifestations, and
      therapeutics for KSHV-associated tumors. 

PMID- 25843726
TI  - Serodiagnosis for tumor viruses.
AB  - The known human tumor viruses include the DNA viruses Epstein-Barr virus (EBV),
      Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV), Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV), human
      papillomavirus (HPV), and hepatitis B virus (BV). RNA tumor viruses include human
      T-cell lymphotrophic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). The
      serological identification of antigens/antibodies in serum is a rapidly
      progressing field with utility for both scientists and clinicians. Serology is
      useful for conducting seroepidemiology studies and to inform on the pathogenesis
      and host immune response to a particular viral agent. Clinically, serology is
      useful for diagnosing current or past infection and for aiding in clinical
      management decisions. Serology is useful for screening blood donations for
      infectious agents and for monitoring the outcome of vaccination against these
      viruses. Serodiagnosis of human tumor viruses has improved in recent years with
      increased specificity and sensitivity of the assays, as well as reductions in
      cost and the ability to assess multiple antibody/antigens in single assays.
      Serodiagnosis of tumor viruses plays an important role in our understanding of
      the prevalence and transmission of these viruses and ultimately in the ability to
      develop treatments/preventions for these globally important diseases. 

PMID- 25843729
TI  - The epidemiology of cancers in human immunodeficiency virus infection and after
      organ transplantation.
AB  - The authors provide an update on the association between immune deficiency and
      cancer risk in people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and in solid organ
      transplant recipients. Over the past decade, it has become clear that a wider
      range of about 20 mostly infection-related cancers occur at increased rates in
      people with immune deficiency. The human herpes virus 8 (HHV8) and Epstein Barr
      Virus (EBV)-related cancers of Kaposi sarcoma (KS) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)
      are most closely related to level of immune deficiency. Transplant recipients
      also have a greatly increased risk of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin,
      related to direct carcinogenic effects of the pharmaceuticals used for immune
      suppression. For those three cancer types, the increased cancer risk is largely
      reversed when immune deficiency is decreased by treatment of HIV or by reduction
      of iatrogenic immune suppression. Other infection-related cancers also occur at
      increased rates, but it is not clear whether reduction of immune deficiency
      reduces cancer risk. Prostate and breast cancer do not occur at increased rates,
      providing strong evidence that these cancers are unlikely to be related to
      infection. Epidemiological and clinical trends in these two populations have led
      to substantial recent changes in cancer occurrence. 

PMID- 25843730
TI  - Epstein-barr virus- and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus-related
      malignancies in the setting of human immunodeficiency virus infection.
AB  - The human gammaherpesvirus family includes Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human
      herpesvirus (HHV)-8, also known as Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV).
      In human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, both EBV and KSHV have
      been implicated in the development of a wide range of tumors. KSHV-associated
      diseases include Kaposi sarcoma (KS), primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), and
      multicentric Castleman disease (MCD). EBV has been associated with the
      development of several malignancies, including Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and non
      Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy
      (HAART) has dramatically modified the natural history of HIV infection, causing a
      decline in the incidence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-defining
      malignancies, including KS. However, it has had a less favorable impact on EBV
      related malignancies and NHLs remain the most common tumors in the HAART era. In
      this review, we briefly summarize the pathogenesis, epidemiology, clinical
      features, and therapeutic approach to EBV- and KSHV-associated tumors in the
      setting of HIV infection. 

PMID- 25843731
TI  - Prevention of human papillomavirus-associated cancers.
AB  - The oncogenic, anogenital types of human papillomavirus (HPV) are established as
      causing about 4.8% of all human cancers worldwide, particularly cervical, anal,
      vulvar, vaginal, penile, and oropharyngeal cancers. Quantitative knowledge of the
      HPV type-specific risks for these cancers, as well as for the different cervical
      cancer precursors (cervical intraepithelial neoplasias, CINs), is useful for
      estimating the effect of elimination of specific HPV types and clinical benefits
      of screening for specific HPV types. The present review summarizes both the
      worldwide presence of specific HPV types in cervical cancer precursors and in
      invasive cervical cancers, and also the long-term follow-up data from a large
      randomized clinical trial of HPV-based cervical cancer screening. All 12 HPV
      types classified as class I (established) carcinogens (HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33,
      35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59) were more common in cervical cancers than among
      women without cervical lesions. A few rare HPV types also were more common in
      cervical cancers (eg, HPV26, 67, 68, 69, 73, 82). The follow-up studies found
      increased long-term risks particularly for HPV types 16, 18, 31, and 33, which
      had 14-year cumulative incidences for CIN3+above 28%, while HPV35, 45, 52, and 58
      had 14-year risks between 14%-18% and HPV39, 51, 56, 59, 66, and 68 had
      risks<10%. HPV16 contributed to the greatest proportion of CIN2+(first-round
      population attributable proportion [PAR] 36%), followed by types 31, 52, 45, and
      58 (7%-11%). HPV16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58 together contributed 73.9% of
      CIN2+lesions and all high-risk types contributed 86.9%.In summary, the different
      oncogenic HPV types have substantial differences in their oncogenic potential.
      These differences are relevant for the design and evaluation of cervical
      screening tests and programs, as well as for studying the effect of vaccination
      programs using different HPV vaccines. 

PMID- 25843732
TI  - Human papillomaviruses and non-melanoma skin cancer.
AB  - Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) infect the squamous epithelium and can induce
      benign and malignant lesions. To date, more than 200 different HPV types have
      been identified and classified into five genera, alpha, beta, gamma, MU, and nu.
      While high-risk alpha mucosal HPVs have a well-established role in cervical
      carcinoma and a significant percentage of other anogenital tract and oral
      carcinomas, the biology of the cutaneous beta HPVs and their contribution to non
      melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) has been less studied. Although the association of
      beta HPV infection with NMSC in patients with a rare, genetically determined
      condition, epidermodysplasia verruciformis has been well established, the role of
      beta HPV infection with NMSC in the normal population remains controversial. In
      stark contrast to alpha HPV-associated cancers, the presence of the beta HPV
      genome does not appear to be mandatory for the maintenance of the malignant
      phenotype. Moreover, the mechanism of action of the beta HPV E6 and E7
      oncoproteins differs from the beta HPV oncoproteins. 

PMID- 25843733
TI  - Epstein-Barr virus-associated lymphomas.
AB  - The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the first identified human virus with a proven
      association with the pathogenesis of cancer. To maintain the integrity of the
      viral genome and to "get out" of the control of the host immune system, in the
      phase of the latent infection EBV shows the expression of several genes,
      including genes for six nuclear antigens, three latent membrane proteins, two
      short non-coding RNAs, and BamHI-A rightward transcripts. The different patterns
      of expression of these latent genes determine the occurrence of different types
      of latency in the pathogenesis of particular malignancies. One of the most
      important features of EBV is its ability to infect various cell types and the
      consequent variety of diseases. It has been shown that in humans, EBV infection
      may lead to the development of cancers, including those derived from
      hematopoietic cells. Although cases of T-cell and epithelial cell infections have
      been documented, EBV is characterized mainly by tropism for B lymphocytes, and
      under certain conditions their infection may result in transformation to B-cell
      lymphoma. This article discusses the mechanisms leading to the development of EBV
      dependent lymphomas, and briefly characterizes these diseases. 

PMID- 25843734
TI  - Parvovirus and thyroid cancer.
AB  - Parvoviruses are some of the smallest DNA viruses known to infect a wide range of
      animal species and humans. Though not all parvoviruses are pathogenic, some can
      cause disease ranging from asymptomatic to benign to life-threatening. Recently,
      there has been an interest in the possible role of parvoviruses in thyroid
      disease in general. The objectives of this review are to cite and appraise the
      available evidence on the role of parvoviruses in thyroid cancer in particular.
      Little to no evidence is available directly linking animal parvoviruses and
      thyroid cancer, but there is a growing literature on the human erythrovirus B19
      (EVB19) and its association with thyroid cancer. Of particular interest is the
      persistence and expression of EVB19 DNA, RNA, and protein in a wide variety of
      thyroid tissues. While a causative role of EVB19 in the pathogenesis of thyroid
      cancer cannot be supported at this time, an indirect role is hypothesized and
      discussed but with the recognition that the data are limited. Further studies are
      clearly warranted to determine the exact, if any, role of this human pathogen in
      thyroid cancer. 

PMID- 25843735
TI  - A comparison of patients with hepatitis B- or hepatitis C-based advanced-stage
      hepatocellular carcinoma.
AB  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer death and has
      characteristic causes, epidemiology and clinical features. The leading causes
      include hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), alcoholism, and
      aflatoxin B1 dietary exposure, as well as combinations of these factors. Few
      cancers offer the opportunity to study the clinical and cancer phenotype that
      results from different causes, quite like HCC. Advantage was taken of a large
      cohort of advanced, unresectable and untransplantable HCCs to compare the
      phenotypes resulting from HBV-based compared with HCV-based HCC. The main
      findings were that HBV-based HCC patients were statistically significantly
      younger, had a higher percent of males, had larger maximum tumor sizes, and had
      higher blood alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and albumin levels and platelet counts than
      HCV-based HCC patients. These differences partly reflect an earlier age of HBV
      infection and a lesser degree of cirrhosis-associated liver damage, as a result
      of the different biological consequences of chronic HBV compared with chronic HCV
      infection. 

PMID- 25843736
TI  - Prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma: beyond hepatitis B vaccination.
AB  - Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection is the major cause of hepatocellular
      carcinoma (HCC), accounting for approximately 50% of the underlying etiologies.
      We reviewed the primary, secondary, and tertiary measures for the prevention of
      hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC. The most effective method for preventing HBV
      related HCC is vaccination. Universal hepatitis B vaccination has been shown to
      reduce the rates of HBV infection and HCC significantly. Once chronic HBV
      infection is established, antiviral treatment using interferon or nucleos(t)ide
      analogs is used to prevent disease progression to cirrhosis, HCC, or both.
      Studies have found viral replication indicated by HBV DNA level to be a strong
      risk factor for development of HCC. Additionally, periodic surveillance using
      ultrasonography and serum alpha-fetoprotein for earlier detection of HCC is also
      important so that curative treatments with survival benefit can be possible.
      Finally, adjuvant antiviral treatment using interferon or nucleos(t)ide analogs
      is used to prevent tumor recurrence after curative resection. Adjuvant interferon
      treatment prevented early recurrence, not late recurrence, probably due to its
      antiangiogenetic and antiproliferative effects. Adjuvant nucleos(t)ide analogs
      demonstrated promising results for preventing late recurrence, probably due to
      effective suppression of viral replication. Further investigations are required
      to establish the optimal preventive plans for HBV-related HCC. 

PMID- 25843737
TI  - Hepatitis C virus infection, antiviral therapy, and risk of hepatocellular
      carcinoma.
AB  - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma
      (HCC) around the world. Carcinogenesis may result indirectly from longstanding
      hepatic inflammation and fibrosis. It also may arise directly from viral proteins
      and their interaction with the host intracellular machinery. Pegylated interferon
      plus ribavirin had been the standard antiviral regimen for a decade until
      recently when the paradigm shifted to the direct-acting antivirals. A large body
      of evidence has shown undisputedly that antiviral therapy can effectively reduce
      the occurrence of HCC in patients at any stage of liver fibrosis. Moreover, it is
      associated with an attenuated risk of recurrence following curative resection of
      the cancer. Sustained virological eradication is crucial for the effectiveness in
      clinical outcomes, whereas prolonged interferon maintenance without viral
      clearance should be regarded as obsolete. Surveillance remains essential after
      successful antiviral treatment because the risk of HCC is decreased but not
      eliminated, particularly in older patients or those with liver cirrhosis. In the
      upcoming interferon-free era, more efficacious and tolerable medications
      hopefully will further extinguish not only the virus but also the health burden
      associated with it. 

PMID- 25843738
TI  - Evaluation of total hepatocellular cancer lifespan, including both clinically
      evident and preclinical development, using combined network phenotyping strategy
      and fisher information analysis.
AB  - We previously showed that for hepatocellular cancer (HCC) prognostication,
      disease parameters need to be considered within a total personal clinical
      context. This requires preserving the coherence of data values, observed
      simultaneously for each patient during baseline diagnostic evaluation.
      Application of the Network Phenotyping Strategy (NPS) provided quantitative
      descriptors of these patient coherences. Combination of these descriptors with
      Fisher information about the patient tumor mass and the histogram of the tumor
      masses in the whole cohort permitted estimation of the time from disease onset
      until clinical diagnosis (t(baseline)). We found faster growth of smaller tumors
      having total masses<70 (80% of cohort) which involved about three times more
      interacting cellular processes than were observed for slower growing larger
      tumors (20% of cohort) with total masses>70. Combining the clinical survival and
      t(baseline) normalized all HCC patients to a common 1,045 days of mean total
      disease duration (t(baseline) plus post diagnosis survival). We also found a
      simple relationship between the baseline clinical status, t(baseline), and
      survival. Every difference between individual patient baseline clinical profiles
      and special coherent clinical status (HL1) reduced the above common overall
      survival (OVS) by 65 days. In summary, we showed that HCC patients with any given
      tumor can best have their tumor biology understood, when account is taken of the
      total clinical and liver contexts, and with knowing the point in the tumor
      history when an HCC diagnosis is made. This ability to compute the t(baseline)
      from standard clinical data brings us closer to calculating survival from
      diagnosis of individual HCC patients.

PMID- 25843739
TI  - Merkel cell polyomavirus in merkel cell carcinoma: clinical and therapeutic
      perspectives.
AB  - Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and often aggressive cutaneous cancer with
      a poor prognosis. The incidence of this cancer increases with age,
      immunodeficiency and sun exposure. Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV), a new human
      polyomavirus identified in 2008, is detected in the majority of the MCCs and
      there is a growing body of evidence that healthy human skin harbors resident or
      transient MCPyV. A causal link between MCPyV and MCC has been evidenced and this
      is the first polyomavirus to be clearly implicated as a causal agent underlying a
      human cancer, and MCPyV was recently classified as a 2A carcinogen. MCC is thus a
      rare tumor caused by a very common viral skin infection. The aim of this review
      is to provide a basic overview of the epidemiological, clinical, and pathological
      characteristics of MCC, to present the current knowledge on MCPyV polyomavirus
      and its causal association with MCC development, and to describe the therapeutic
      implications of this causal link. 

PMID- 25843740
TI  - Synchronous primary carcinoma of breast and ovary versus ovarian metastases.

PMID- 25843741
TI  - GHS-R1A antagonism reduces alcohol but not sucrose preference in prairie voles.
AB  - RATIONALE: Ghrelin has been shown to mediate food and drug reward in rats and
      mice, and the rewarding properties of sweet foods and alcohol are known to
      contribute to overconsumption of these substances. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the
      effects of GHS-R1A antagonism in a novel animal model of high alcohol
      consumption, the prairie vole, and to characterize the role of ghrelin in limited
      access consumption of a drug (alcohol) and non-drug (sucrose) reward. METHODS:
      Female prairie voles were given four 2-h two-bottle drinking sessions, occurring
      every other day. During drinking sessions, animals had access to 20% ethanol vs
      water or 10% sucrose vs water. Pre-treatment with the GHS-R1A antagonist JMV 2959
      (i.p.; 0.0, 9.0mg/kg Experiments 1 and 2; 0.0, 9.0, 12.0mg/kg Experiments 3 and
      4.) occurred 30-min before the fourth session. To determine if the amount of
      exposure to sucrose sessions affected the efficacy of JMV 2959, in Experiment 5
      animals were given 16 daily 2-hr drinking sessions with 10% sucrose vs water. JMV
      2959 treatment (0.0 or 9.0mg/kg) occurred 30-min prior to the 16th session.
      RESULTS: JMV 2959 reduced alcohol but not sucrose preference. Even after extended
      experience with sucrose sessions, JMV 2959 had no effect on sucrose preference or
      consumption. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that GHS-R1A antagonism
      reduces alcohol preference, but suggest limitations on the role of ghrelin in the
      preference for and consumption of naturally rewarding substances.

PMID- 25843742
TI  - Improved rapid and efficient method for Staphylococcus aureus DNA extraction from
      milk for identification of mastitis pathogens.
AB  - A rapid and efficient DNA extraction method was developed for detecting mastitis
      pathogens in milk. The first critical step involved cell wall disruption by bead
      beating, as physical disruption using beads was more effective for DNA extraction
      from Gram-positive bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, than enzymatic
      disruption using proteinase K. The second critical step involves the use of
      acetic acid and ammonium sulfate in the purification process, as these reagents
      effectively and efficiently remove the lipids and proteins in milk. Using these
      methods, DNA suitable for loop-mediated isothermal amplification was obtained
      within 30 min. Also, the rapid and sensitive detection of S. aureus in milk was
      possible at levels as low as 200 cfu/ml. 

PMID- 25843743
TI  - Phylogenetic analysis of Newcastle disease viruses isolated from wild birds in
      the Poyang Lake region of China.
AB  - Newcastle disease virus (NDV) causes a highly contagious viral disease in poultry
      and wild birds, and it can cause significant economic loss worldwide. Eight viral
      strains were isolated by inoculating embryonated chicken eggs from the Poyang
      Lake region of China with swab samples. All eight of the NDV isolates were
      identified as class I genotype 3 strains, but they diverged notablely from class
      II viruses. Further analysis revealed that all eight NDV isolates were lentogenic
      strains containing the (112)ERQER?L(117) motif at the F protein cleavage site.
      The strains were highly identical and were more species specific (chicken and
      waterfowl) than site specific (Nanchang and Duchang regions). The close
      phylogenetic proximity of these isolates indicates that viral transmission may
      happen between poultry and wild birds. Our study demonstrates that lentogenic
      class I NDVs exist in clinically healthy wild waterfowl and poultry within the
      Poyang Lake region. Active surveillance of these viruses to determine their
      evolution and origin is one of the most realistic strategies for preventing and
      controlling NDV outbreaks.

PMID- 25843744
TI  - Effect of supplemental vitamin E on the peripheral blood leukocyte population in
      Japanese Black calves.
AB  - We investigated the effect of supplemental vitamin E on the peripheral blood
      leukocyte population in Japanese Black calves. Twenty-six calves kept at the same
      farm were studied. They were divided into two groups; thirteen calves received
      300 IU/day of vitamin E orally from 1 to 3 months of age (VE group), and the
      other thirteen calves did not receive the vitamin E supplement (control group).
      The VE group showed a higher serum vitamin E concentration at 2 and 3 months of
      age compared with the control group (P<0.01). The numbers of CD3(+) cells and
      CD4(+) cells were higher in the VE group than in the control group, and the
      difference was statistically significant at 3 months of age (P<0.05). The numbers
      of CD21(+) cells were higher in the VE group than in the control group, and the
      difference was statistically significant at 2 months of age (P<0.05). The numbers
      of CD335(+) cells tended to be higher in the VE group than in the control group.
      The numbers of CD8(+) cells and CD14(+) cells tended to be higher in the VE group
      than in the control group at 3 and 4 months of age. This study demonstrated that
      the supplementation of suckling Japanese Black calves with vitamin E might affect
      the numbers of some immune cell types in the peripheral blood. 

PMID- 25843745
TI  - Characterization of Aerococcus viridans isolated from milk samples from cows with
      mastitis and manure samples.
AB  - Thirty-eight Aerococcus viridans isolates were obtained from milk from 478 cows
      with clinical mastitis in a farm during the periods between November 2011 and
      February 2012, and between December 2012 and March 2013. Additional isolates were
      obtained from processed manure (a mixture of composted manure, straw and hydrated
      lime) and bedding materials. The processed manure was later used to cover the
      floor of the stalls in barns as bedding materials. The temperatures recorded in
      the composted and processed manure were not as high as those generally observed
      during satisfactory composting. To reveal the association of A. viridans in
      manure-related products with intramammary infection in cows, isolates were
      characterized by their DNA fragment patterns as determined by pulsed-field gel
      electrophoresis (PFGE) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Isolates
      obtained from milk, processed manure and bedding materials had identical DNA
      fragment patterns. Antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined for 29 isolates
      from milk, processed manure and bedding materials. Of these, 26 (89.7%) were
      resistant to clindamycin, whereas virtually all the isolates were susceptible to
      12 other antimicrobials including cefalosporins that have been used to treat
      bovine mastitis in Japan. In vitro, three A. viridans isolates from milk and an
      isolate from processed manure survived for 3 hr in Good's buffer (pH 9) at high
      temperature (50 degrees C). The results suggest that the processed manure and
      bedding materials in this farm were possible sources of A. viridans that caused
      infection in the cows with mastitis.

PMID- 25843746
TI  - Reply to comment on "Biodegradation of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) as an
      emerging contaminant".

PMID- 25843747
TI  - Output feedback stabilization for time-delay nonholonomic systems with polynomial
      conditions.
AB  - This paper addresses the problem of output feedback stabilization for a class of
      time-delay nonholonomic systems. One distinct characteristic or difficulty of
      this paper is that time-delay exists in polynomial nonlinear growing conditions.
      Based on input-state-scaling technique, homogeneous domination approach and
      Lyapunov-Krasovskii theorem, a new output feedback control law which guarantees
      all the system states converge to the origin is designed. Examples are provided
      to demonstrate the validness of the proposed approach. 

PMID- 25843749
TI  - ITI-007 demonstrates brain occupancy at serotonin 5-HT2A and dopamine D2
      receptors and serotonin transporters using positron emission tomography in
      healthy volunteers.
AB  - RATIONALE: Central modulation of serotonin and dopamine underlies efficacy for a
      variety of psychiatric therapeutics. ITI-007 is an investigational new drug in
      development for treatment of schizophrenia, mood disorders, and other
      neuropsychiatric disorders. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to
      determine brain occupancy of ITI-007 at serotonin 5-HT2A receptors, dopamine D2
      receptors, and serotonin transporters using positron emission tomography (PET) in
      16 healthy volunteers. METHODS: Carbon-11-MDL100907, carbon-11-raclopride, and
      carbon-11-3-amino-4-(2-dimethylaminomethyl-phenylsulfanyl)-benzonitrile) (carbon
      11-DASB) were used as the radiotracers for imaging 5-HT2A receptors, D2
      receptors, and serotonin transporters, respectively. Brain regions of interest
      were outlined using magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) with cerebellum as the
      reference region. Binding potentials were estimated by fitting a simplified
      reference tissue model to the measured tissue-time activity curves. Target
      occupancy was expressed as percent change in the binding potentials before and
      after ITI-007 administration. RESULTS: Oral ITI-007 (10-40 mg) was safe and well
      tolerated. ITI-007 rapidly entered the brain with long-lasting and dose-related
      occupancy. ITI-007 (10 mg) demonstrated high occupancy (>80 %) of cortical 5-HT2A
      receptors and low occupancy of striatal D2 receptors (~12 %). D2 receptor
      occupancy increased with dose and significantly correlated with plasma
      concentrations (r (2) = 0.68, p = 0.002). ITI-007 (40 mg) resulted in peak
      occupancy up to 39 % of striatal D2 receptors and 33 % of striatal serotonin
      transporters. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide evidence for a central mechanism
      of action via dopaminergic and serotonergic pathways for ITI-007 in living human
      brain and valuable information to aid dose selection for future clinical trials.

PMID- 25843748
TI  - Multivariate analysis of subjective responses to d-amphetamine in healthy
      volunteers finds novel genetic pathway associations.
AB  - RATIONALE: Researchers studying behavioral and physiologic effects of d
      amphetamine have explored individual response differences to the drug.
      Concurrently, genome-wide analyses have identified several single-nucleotide
      polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with these traits. Univariate methods can
      identify SNPs associated with behavioral and physiological traits, but
      multivariate analyses allow identification of clusters of related biologically
      relevant SNPs and behavioral components. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to
      identify clusters of related biologically relevant SNPs and behavioral components
      in the responses of healthy individuals to d-amphetamine using multivariate
      analysis. METHODS: Individuals (N = 375) without substance abuse histories
      completed surveys and detailed cardiovascular monitoring during randomized,
      blinded sessions: d-amphetamine (10 and 20 mg) and placebo. We applied parallel
      independent component analysis (Para-ICA) to data previously analyzed with
      univariate approaches, revealing new associations between genes and behavioral
      responses to d-amphetamine. RESULTS: Three significantly associated (p < .001)
      phenotype-genotype pairs emerged. The first component included physiologic
      measures of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) and mean arterial pressure
      (MAP) along with SNPs in calcium and glutamatergic signaling pathways. The second
      associated components included the "Anger" items from the Profile of Mood States
      (POMS) questionnaire and the marijuana effects from the Addiction Research Center
      Inventory (Cuyas, Verdejo-Garcia et al.), with enriched genetic pathways involved
      in cardiomyopathy and MAPK signaling. The final pair included "Anxious,"
      "Fatigue," and "Confusion" items from the POMS questionnaire, plus functional
      pathways related to cardiac muscle contraction and cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSIONS:
      Multifactorial genetic networks related to calcium signaling, glutamatergic and
      dopaminergic synapse function, and amphetamine addiction appear to mediate common
      behavioral and cardiovascular responses to d-amphetamine.

PMID- 25843751
TI  - Analysis of the Size and Position of the Mental Foramen Using the CS 9000 Cone
      beam Computed Tomographic Unit.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The mental foramen (MF) houses vital neurovascular structures, thus
      making it an anatomic landmark of great importance for many dental procedures.
      Because the size and position of the MF can vary, proper planning is necessary
      beforehand to prepare the strategy of treatment. The purpose of this
      retrospective observational study was to determine and compare the size and
      position of the MF using the CS 9000 CBCT unit (Carestream Dental, Rochester, NY)
      to the findings from similar studies. METHODS: Tangential, axial, and coronal
      CBCT images of 106 patients were retrospectively evaluated to determine the size
      and position of the MF with respect to the mandibular second premolar apex and
      the cementoenamel junction. Distinguishing characteristics of sex, age, and race
      were evaluated. RESULTS: Regarding location, 53.7% of the MFs were located
      mesial, 45.3% distal, and 1% coincident to the apex of the mandibular second
      premolar. Males had a significantly greater coronal height and tangential height
      measurement than females. Black patients had a significantly greater distal
      horizontal distance from the cementoenamel junction than white patients. The mean
      width of the MF was 4.08 mm (axial) or 4.12 mm (tangential), whereas the mean
      height was 3.54 mm (tangential) or 3.55 mm (coronal). CONCLUSIONS: The present
      study shows that the size and position of the MF can be reliably measured using
      limited field of view CBCT technology. The findings are similar to previous
      studies when considering the averages and ranges of the measurements.

PMID- 25843750
TI  - Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha Stimulates Proliferation of Dental Pulp Stem Cells
      via Akt/Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3beta/Cyclin D1 Signaling Pathway.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: It has been widely accepted that dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs),
      which are a class of self-renewal and differentiation potential of adult stem
      cells, play an important role in the repair procession of pulp's inflammation. We
      investigated whether tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) could induce the
      proliferation of DPSCs and clarified the potential mechanism of this
      proliferation. METHODS: Cell Counting Kit-8 assay (Dojindo Laboratories, Mashiki
      machi, Kumamoto, Japan) and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine-based proliferation assays
      were determined to investigate various concentrations or hours of TNF-alpha
      inducing a cell number change of DPSCs. Next, flow cytometry analysis was
      performed to investigate the main cell cycle phase process of DPSCs. Furthermore,
      the signaling pathway of TNF-alpha-induced proliferation of DPSCs was analyzed
      using Western blot analysis. Then, inhibitors were added to confirm the mechanism
      of this signaling pathway. RESULTS: TNF-alpha induced the proliferation of DPSCs
      in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Cyclin D1, which controlled the cell cycle
      process from the G1 to the S phase, was up-regulated by TNF-alpha in a time
      dependent manner, whereas its overexpression alone increased DPSC proliferation.
      Furthermore, TNF-alpha was capable of inducing Akt/GSK-3beta signaling pathway
      activation. Blockage of phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt by their kinase or genetic
      inhibitors could significantly reduce TNF-alpha-induced proliferation of DPSCs.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed that TNF-alpha induced the proliferation of
      DPSCs by regulating the Akt/GSK-3beta/cyclin D1 signaling pathway and then
      provided a suitable number for the requirements of cell differentiation.

PMID- 25843752
TI  - Incidence of Dentinal Cracks after Root Canal Preparation with Twisted File
      Adaptive Instruments Using Different Kinematics.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The purpose of the present study was to assess the effect of root
      canal instrumentation using Twisted File Adaptive instruments (Axis/SybronEndo,
      Orange, CA) with different kinematics (adaptive motion, 90 degrees  clockwise
      [CW]-30 degrees  counterclockwise [CCW], 150 degrees  CW-30 degrees  CCW, 210
      degrees  CW-30 degrees  CCW, and continuous rotation) on crack formation.
      METHODS: One hundred five mandibular central incisor teeth were selected. Fifteen
      teeth were left unprepared (control group), and the remaining 90 teeth were
      assigned to the 5 root canal shaping groups as follows (n = 15): adaptive motion,
      90 degrees  CW-30 degrees  CCW, 150 degrees  CW-30 degrees  CCW, 210 degrees  CW
      30 degrees  CCW, continuous rotation, and hand file. All the roots were sectioned
      horizontally at 3, 6, and 9 mm from the apex with a low-speed saw under water
      cooling, and the slices were then viewed through a stereomicroscope at 25*
      magnification. Digital images of each slice were captured using a camera to
      determine the presence of dentinal cracks. RESULTS: No cracks were observed in
      the control group, and the continuous rotation group had more cracks than the
      reciprocation groups (90 degrees  CW-30 degrees  CCW, 150 degrees  CW-30 degrees 
      CCW, and 210 degrees  CW-30 degrees  CCW) (P < .05). Both the continuous rotation
      and adaptive motion groups had significantly more dentinal cracks than the hand
      file group (P < .05). Regarding the different sections (3, 6, and 9 mm), there
      was a significant difference between the experimental groups at the 9-mm level (P
      < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of dentinal cracks is less with TF Adaptive
      instruments working in 210 degrees  CW-30 degrees  CCW reciprocating motion
      compared with working in continuous rotation and adaptive motion.

PMID- 25843753
TI  - The Diagnostic Efficacy of Cone-beam Computed Tomography in Endodontics: A
      Systematic Review and Analysis by a Hierarchical Model of Efficacy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of
      cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) imaging in endodontics based on a
      systematic search and analysis of the literature using an efficacy model.
      METHODS: A systematic search of the literature was performed to identify studies
      evaluating the use of CBCT imaging in endodontics. The identified studies were
      subjected to strict inclusion criteria followed by an analysis using a
      hierarchical model of efficacy (model) designed for appraisal of the literature
      on the levels of efficacy of a diagnostic imaging modality. RESULTS: Initially,
      485 possible relevant articles were identified. After title and abstract
      screening and a full-text evaluation, 58 articles (12%) that met the inclusion
      criteria were analyzed and allocated to levels of efficacy. Most eligible
      articles (n = 52, 90%) evaluated technical characteristics or the accuracy of
      CBCT imaging, which was defined in this model as low levels of efficacy. Only 6
      articles (10%) proclaimed to evaluate the efficacy of CBCT imaging to support the
      practitioner's decision making; treatment planning; and, ultimately, the
      treatment outcome, which was defined as higher levels of efficacy. CONCLUSIONS:
      The expected ultimate benefit of CBCT imaging to the endodontic patient as
      evaluated by its level of diagnostic efficacy is unclear and is mainly limited to
      its technical and diagnostic accuracy efficacies. Even for these low levels of
      efficacy, current knowledge is limited. Therefore, a cautious and rational
      approach is advised when considering CBCT imaging for endodontic purposes.

PMID- 25843754
TI  - Semi-solid fluorinated-DPPC liposomes: Morphological, rheological and thermic
      properties as well as examination of the influence of a model drug on their skin
      permeation.
AB  - The goal of this study was to investigate the influence of an incorporated model
      drug on the skin permeation of the vehicle itself as it may affect the
      microstructure and properties of the applied formulation via molecular
      interactions. For this purpose, we performed skin permeation studies using
      liposomes prepared with F-DPPC, a monofluorinated analog of
      dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), with and without sodium fluorescein (SoFl)
      serving as model drug. Interestingly, the liposome preparation with F-DPPC
      yielded semi-solid opalescent systems. Hence, a thorough characterization was
      accomplished beforehand by electron microscopy imaging, rheological and
      thermoanalytical experiments. Freeze-fracture electron microscopy images
      confirmed the existence of globular shaped vesicles in the F-DPPC preparations
      and oscillatory rheological measurements proved the viscoelastic properties of F
      DPPC and F-DPPC+SoFl liposomes in contrast to the viscous characteristics of DPPC
      liposomes. Thermoanalytical measurements revealed an increased phase transition
      temperature Tm of about 50  degrees C for F-DPPC and F-DPPC+SoFl liposomes
      compared to pure DPPC liposomes with a Tm of about 43 degrees  C. The similar Tm
      of F-DPPC+SoFl and F-DPPC liposomes as well as the similar skin permeation of the
      vehicle compound F-DPPC compared to its drug-free counterpart suggest an
      incorporation of sodium fluorescein into the aqueous core of F-DPPC liposomes.

PMID- 25843755
TI  - Dehydration mechanism of caffeine hydrate and structural description of driven
      metastable anhydrates analyzed by micro Raman spectroscopy.
AB  - This study shows the contribution of Raman spectroscopy to carefully describe the
      mechanism of solid-state transformation at the molecular level, by simultaneously
      monitoring the molecular reorganization and the water escape during the
      dehydration kinetics. Dehydration of monohydrate caffeine was analyzed at various
      temperatures. In-situ low- and high-frequency Raman investigations provide
      information on the long-range and local arrangement of caffeine molecules, during
      the dehydration kinetics and in the anhydrate state. The nature of the anhydrate
      was determined, from the analysis in the low-frequency region, as metastable and
      transient between both polymorphic forms of anhydrous caffeine. It was shown that
      changing the temperature mainly induces structural reorganization of caffeine
      molecules in the hydrate state, leading to an anhydrate more or less transformed
      in form I of anhydrous caffeine. 

PMID- 25843756
TI  - "Pierce and inhale" design in capsule based dry powder inhalers: Effect of
      capsule piercing and motion on aerodynamic performance of drugs.
AB  - In this work three capsule-based dry powder inhalers, available for generics
      product development, were compared. Two technologically different dry powder
      formulations were used in order to relate the capsule piercing position and
      motion in the device to their aerodynamic performance. A "pierce and inhale"
      design, in which the capsules pierced with RS01, HandiHaler or Turbospin devices
      were aerosolized in the same device or transferred and aerosolized with another
      device, was constructed and carried out. The results obtained showed that two dry
      powder formulations, i.e., a drug/lactose blend or a carrier-free powder,
      aerosolized using capsule based inhalers, performed differently. The
      aerosolization of drug carrier mixture in terms of drug dispersion and emitted
      dose, was more sensible to the piercing and device combination than the carrier
      free powder. The motion of the capsule during the aerosolization boosted the
      powder emission, whereas the powder disaggregation was more influenced by the
      airflow pattern around the capsule and inside the inhaler turbulence chamber. 

PMID- 25843757
TI  - Development of gastroretentive metronidazole floating raft system for targeting
      Helicobacter pylori.
AB  - The study demonstrates the feasibility of prolonging gastric residence time and
      release rate of metronidazole (Mz) by preparing floating raft system (FRS) using
      ion-sensitive in situ gel forming polymers. FRSs contained 3, 4, 5 and 0.5, 0.75,
      1% w/v sodium alginate (Alg) and gellan gum (G), respectively, 0.25% w/v sodium
      citrate and calcium carbonate (C). Lipids: glyceryl mono stearate (GMS),
      Precirol((r)) and Compritol((r)) were incorporated into G-based formulations
      (G1%C1%). Mz:lipid ratio was 1:1, except for Mz:GMS, ratios of 1:1.5 and 1:2 were
      also investigated. Buoyancy, gelation capacity and viscosity parameters were
      evaluated. Drug release and kinetics for selected formulae were examined. The
      selected lipid containing formula was subjected to an accelerated stability
      testing. Alg4%C2% FRS exhibited short gelation lag time (3s), long duration
      (>24h), floating lag time 1m in and duration >24h, and a reliable sustained drug
      release (MDT 6h). Gellan gum FRSs achieved successful floating gastroretention,
      but failed to achieve the required gelation capacity. Incorporation of GMS
      (Mz:GMS 1:1) enhanced the gelation lag time and duration (6s and >24h,
      respectively), keeping sustained drug release and formulation stability. The
      improved characteristics of the selected FRS make them excellent candidates for
      gastric targeting to eradicate Helicobacter pylori.

PMID- 25843758
TI  - Development of gastro-resistant tablets for the protection and intestinal
      delivery of Lactobacillus fermentum CECT 5716.
AB  - Different studies have attributed health benefits to Lactobacillus fermentum CECT
      5716. However, the main problem associated with probiotics, is their low
      resistance to environmental and technological factors. Actually, probiotics are
      marketed as capsules or sachets, but few probiotic tablets exist. The aim of this
      study was to design tablets made out of functional polymers (formula 1: methocel
      K-15-sodium alginate; formula 2: Eudragit((r)) L-100-sodium alginate; formula 3:
      cellulose acetate phthalate) that improve the stability and survival of
      probiotics. Rigid tablets were produced through direct compression with a
      bacterial content of 10(9)CFU/tablet (9logCFU). Tablets were shown to improve the
      survival of cells when exposed to an acidic medium as compared to free cells.
      Eudragit((r)) L-100-sodium alginate was found to be the most suitable excipient
      for the protection of probiotic within gastric conditions, resulting in the
      survival of 10(9)CFU (9logCFU) after 2h of incubation. Finally, these tablets
      were found to be stable over 6 months when stored at 4 degrees C. No significant
      differences were reported between the number of cells at time cero and after 6
      months of storage at 4 degrees C (p>0.05). In conclusion, direct compression
      using Eudragit((r)) L-100-sodium alginate seems to be a suitable to produce
      probiotics tablets and could confer protection during passage trough stomach and
      storage. 

PMID- 25843759
TI  - Vancomycin-modified silica: Synthesis, controlled release and biological activity
      of the drug.
AB  - Vancomycin was immobilized on three different organically functionalized silicas.
      The materials obtained were used for a controlled release of the antibiotic. The
      influence of the type of chemical bond on the in vitro drug release was
      investigated. A weak ionic bonding caused burst release of the drug within one
      day. A covalent bonding resulted in a slowdown in the release process and
      uniformity of dosage release. For these two carriers, biological activity of the
      drug was retained because the minimal inhibitory concentration values against the
      strains tested were similar to that of a free form of the drug (about 2 MUg/mL).
      A strong ionic bonding of vancomycin adversely affected both the drug release, as
      well as its biological activity. A strong base on the surface of the silica
      prevented disconnection of the antibiotic which then became ineffective.

PMID- 25843760
TI  - A miniaturized in vitro release method for investigating drug-release mechanisms.
AB  - We have evaluated a miniaturized in vitro method, based on the MUDISS ProfilerTM
      technique that enables on-line monitoring of drug release from a 21 MUl sample
      with 10 ml of release medium. Four model drugs in eight clinically used
      formulations, including both solid and non-solid drug delivery systems, were
      investigated. The acquired data were compared with historical in vitro release
      data from the same formulations. Use of the Weibull function to describe the in
      vitro drug-release profiles allowed discrimination between the selected
      formulations with respect to the drug-release mechanisms. Comparison of the
      release data from the same formulation in different in vitro set-ups showed that
      the methodology used can affect the mechanism of in vitro release. We also
      evaluated the ability of the in vitro methods to predict in vivo activity by
      comparing simulated plasma concentration-time profiles acquired from the
      application of the biopharmaceutical software GI-Sim to the in vitro
      observations. In summary, the simulations based on the miniaturized-method
      release data predicted the plasma profiles as well as or more accurately than
      simulations based on the historical release data in 71% of the cases and this
      miniaturized in vitro method appears to be applicable for both solid and non
      solid formulations.

PMID- 25843761
TI  - Amorphous solid dispersions of piroxicam and Soluplus((r)): Qualitative and
      quantitative analysis of piroxicam recrystallization during storage.
AB  - The conversion of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) from amorphous to
      crystalline form is the primary stability issue in formulating amorphous solid
      dispersions (SDs). The aim of the present study was to carry out qualitative and
      quantitative analysis of the physical solid-state stability of the SDs of poorly
      water-soluble piroxicam (PRX) and polyvinyl caprolactam-polyvinyl acetate
      polyethylene-glycol graft copolymer (Soluplus((r))). The SDs were prepared by a
      solvent evaporation method and stored for six months at 0% RH/6  degrees C, 0%
      RH/25  degrees C, 40% RH/25  degrees C and 75% RH/25  degrees C. Fourier
      transform infrared spectroscopy equipped with attenuated total reflection
      accessory (ATR-FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy were used for characterizing the
      physical solid-state changes and drug-polymer interactions. The principal
      component analysis (PCA) and multivariate curve resolution alternating least
      squares (MCR-ALS) were used for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of
      Raman spectra collected during storage. When stored at 0% RH/6  degrees C and at
      0% RH/25  degrees C, PRX in SDs remained in an amorphous form since no
      recrystallization was observed by ATR-FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. Raman
      spectroscopy coupled with PCA and MCR-ALS and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy enabled to
      detect the recrystallization of amorphous PRX in the samples stored at higher
      humidity.

PMID- 25843762
TI  - Tris-biphenyl triazine, a new ultraviolet filter studied in terms of
      photoprotective efficacy.
AB  - There are relatively few authorized ultraviolet filters in Europe and this
      presents a certain number of problems when we want to formulate a sun protection
      product which both ensures a high level of protection and respects the
      recommendations in force in terms of broad-spectrum efficacy, with, in
      particular, a critical wavelength (lambdac) greater than or equal to 370 nm. A
      new ultraviolet filter has just been launched on the market. Known as tris
      biphenyl triazine, it is the first filter to be registered on Annexe VI of
      "Cosmetics Regulation" (EC) No. 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the
      Council, which gives a list of the ultraviolet filters allowed in cosmetic
      products, since the regulation came into force in July 2013. This filter is both
      very effective (as it enables 2 SPF units and 1 UVA-PF units to be obtained
      respectively, by percentage of use) and very photostable (since the SPF and UVA
      PF do not vary after 2h of irradiation in a solar simulator). Its broad spectrum
      associated with its qualities in terms of efficacy and photostability make it a
      choice ingredient for the formulation of sun protection products.

PMID- 25843763
TI  - Leukapheresis in acute myeloid leukemia patients with hyperleukocytosis: A single
      center experience.
AB  - Hyperleukocytosis is defined as WBC count above 100,000/mm(3) in peripheral
      blood. Increased WBC count leads to leukocyte aggregation, increased blood
      viscosity, and consequently results in stasis in small blood vessels. Ultimate
      neurological, pulmonary, gastrointestinal complications, coagulopathy, and tumor
      lysis syndrome cause increase in morbidity and mortality. Leukapheresis is a
      treatment modality used for hyperleukocytosis. In patients presenting with
      hyperleukocytosis the indications for leukapheresis were accepted as having
      symptoms of leukostasis and prophylactic. Indications for leukapheresis in
      prophylactic group evaluated according to WBC count. We report a single center
      experience about leukapheresis in managing 31 AML patients with
      hyperleukocytosis. In addition to demographic characteristics, disease-related
      clinical and laboratory findings of the patients were recorded. Survival rates
      were also calculated. Ten patients were female. The most common of AML subtype
      was AML-M2. The median number of leukapheresis per patient was 2 and totally 60
      leukapheresis cycles were performed in all patients. There was a significant
      decrease in WBC count and LDH level after leukapheresis as compared with the
      baseline values (p < 0.05). Early and total mortality were 16.1% and 58.0%,
      respectively. Alive and died patients were evaluated according to baseline WBC,
      LDH; increased WBC count and LDH level were found in died patients (p < 0.05).
      According to leukapheresis indications, patients were divided into two groups: 14
      patients in symptomatic leukostasis, 17 patients in prophylaxis. No statistically
      significant differences were noted between both groups in leukapheresis
      effectiveness, mean survival time, early and total mortality rate (p > 0.05).
      None of our patients suffered serious side effects and tumor lysis syndrome
      during or after apheresis. Leukapheresis is an effective and safe approach to
      reduce WBC counts in patients with AML with hyperleukocytosis. Further evidence
      based data obtained from larger sample sizes are required to better understand
      the impact of prophylaxis leukapheresis on early and total mortality of AML
      patients with hyperleukocytosis.

PMID- 25843764
TI  - Obstetrical complications in women with epilepsy.
AB  - PURPOSE: Better knowledge of risk factors for women with epilepsy giving birth.
      METHOD: Investigating all studies reporting complications in pregnancy and
      deliveries in women with epilepsy during the last 15 years. RESULTS: Studies have
      observed that women with epilepsy have a higher risk of preeclampsia, gestational
      hypertension, bleeding in pregnancy, caesarean delivery (CD), excessive bleeding
      postpartum, preterm birth, and small for gestational age. It has been unclear
      whether the increased risk of complications is due to the epilepsy per se, the
      use of antiepileptic drugs (AED), or the combination of both factors. Recent
      studies strongly indicate an association between AED use, and complications in
      pregnancy and labour. CONCLUSION: Newer drugs commonly used in treatment of
      epilepsy are associated with an increased risk of pregnancy complications, as
      well as complication during labour and delivery.

PMID- 25843765
TI  - Interactions between hormonal contraception and antiepileptic drugs: Clinical and
      mechanistic considerations.
AB  - Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and hormonal contraceptives may affect each other's
      metabolism and clinical efficacy. Loss of seizure control and unplanned pregnancy
      may occur when these compounds are used concomitantly. Although a large number of
      available preparations yield a plethora of possible drug combinations, most of
      these drug interactions are predictable and, thus, avoidable. Unfortunately,
      there is a substantial lack of data regarding the newer AEDs. Detailed
      understanding of these issues is necessary for those who prescribe AEDs and/or
      hormonal contraception to women with epilepsy, as well as for those who provide
      comprehensive care, education and counseling to them, in order to reduce the
      unacceptably high number of unplanned pregnancies among women with epilepsy. 

PMID- 25843766
TI  - Finding of leishmanicidal activity of 14-hydroxylunularin in mice experimentally
      infected with Leishmania infantum.
AB  - In this study, we report the in vivo efficacy of 14-hydroxylunularin evaluated in
      BALB/c mice experimentally infected with promastigotes of Leishmania infantum
      (syn L. chagasi), the major causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis in Latin
      America. Seven days post-infection, treatment with 14-hydroxylunularin started
      and it was administered by oral and subcutaneous routes in doses of 10 and 25
      mg/kg of weight for ten days using Glucantime(r) as reference drug. In the liver,
      the evaluated compound showed parasite reduction above 90% by both administration
      routes being the oral route the most effective at both doses. Significant
      decreased numbers of parasites were also observed when the treated group was
      compared with the control group (p<=0.05). The subcutaneous route presented a
      remarkable difference with at least 80% parasite suppression in liver and spleen
      at 10 mg/kg dose and 90% in liver at 25 mg/kg. The leishmanicidal activity of 14
      hydroxylunularin against L. infantum revealed by this study is another evidence
      in favor of this compound as a potential candidate for the development of a new
      oral treatment for leishmaniasis.

PMID- 25843767
TI  - Coping with Weight-related Discrepancies: Initial Development of the WEIGHTCOPE.
AB  - PURPOSE: The present research sought to provide the initial development,
      validation and reliability for a measure (WEIGHTCOPE) to assess the variation in
      how women, who are currently trying to lose or maintain weight, cope with common,
      perceived weight-related discrepancies. METHODS: To this end, two studies were
      conducted to 1) develop an initial list of coping responses to common weight
      related triggers, 2) create an initial measurement model through exploratory
      factor analysis (study 1; n = 470), and 3) provide initial validation for the
      measure through confirmatory factor analysis (study 2; n = 310). FINDINGS:
      Results support the initial validity and reliability of a 38-item, 10-factor
      structure: Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, Suppressed Eating, Supplement Use,
      Self-Regulation, Positive Reframing, Social Support, Disengagement, Camouflage,
      and Comfort Food. The present findings reiterate individual variation in coping
      choice in response to a perceived weight-related discrepancy, and its prospective
      assessment with the WEIGHTCOPE. CONCLUSIONS: The WEIGHTCOPE can be an integral
      tool for public health and clinical practice, where triggers are common, and
      interventions are employed to enhance the use of more positive forms of weight
      control behaviors and/or avoid negative consequences of weight- and fat-related
      discrepancies. Future research can use the WEIGHTCOPE to help guide theoretical
      and pragmatic approaches to various triggering events and potential moderators of
      coping.

PMID- 25843768
TI  - Blunted neural responses to monetary risk in high sensation seekers.
AB  - The sensation-seeking trait is a valid predictor of various risk-taking
      behaviors. However, the neural underpinnings of risk processing in sensation
      seeking are yet unclear. The present event-related potential (ERP) study examined
      electrophysiological correlates associated with different stages of risky reward
      processing in sensation seeking. Twenty-one high sensation seekers (HSS) and 22
      low sensation seekers (LSS) performed a simple two-choice gambling task.
      Behaviorally, whereas LSS exhibited a risk-averse pattern, HSS showed a risk
      neutral pattern. During the anticipation stage, an increased stimulus-preceding
      negativity was elicited by high-risk compared to low-risk choices in LSS but not
      in HSS. During the outcome-appraisal stage, the feedback-related negativity, when
      calculated as the difference between losses and gains, was enhanced in response
      to the high-risk versus low-risk outcomes, which appeared for LSS but not for
      HSS. Further, HSS as compared to LSS exhibited a diminished P300 to both gains
      and losses. These findings suggest that risk-taking behavior in sensation seeking
      is expressed as blunted neural responses to risk in the anticipation stage and in
      the outcome-appraisal stage, which represents a candidate target for drug
      prevention. 

PMID- 25843769
TI  - Brain herniation with surrounding CSF into the skull or encepholecele?

PMID- 25843770
TI  - Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn: Advances in diagnosis and
      treatment.
AB  - Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) is a frequent cause for
      admission to the neonatal intensive care unit and is associated with mortality
      and variable morbidities. It is primarily a state of oxygenation failure
      representing a failure of the normal postnatal decline in pulmonary vascular
      resistance that may be associated with right ventricular dysfunction. Enhanced
      knowledge of the pathophysiologic contributors to this syndrome helps clinicians
      understand its phenotypic expression and facilitates more focused intensive care
      decision-making. The approach to treatment should be based on alleviation of the
      elevation in pulmonary vascular resistance and should include optimization of
      lung recruitment and judicious use of pulmonary vasodilators. When response to
      inhaled nitric oxide is suboptimal, the physiologic contributors to impaired
      oxygenation need further investigation. Targeted neonatal echocardiography
      provides novel physiologic insights; in particular, it may help assess the
      adequacy of right ventricular performance, the relative contribution of the fetal
      shunts and the magnitude of the overall impairment to cardiac output. This
      information may facilitate therapeutic next steps and whether adjunctive
      vasodilators or drugs to augment ventricular function are preferable. This
      article provides a comprehensive overview of the pathological contributors to
      PPHN, the physiologic constituents of its phenotypic expression, standard
      approach to therapeutic intervention, and the role of bedside echocardiography in
      enhancing the decision-making process. 

PMID- 25843771
TI  - Chloroplast thylakoid structure in evergreen leaves employing strong thermal
      energy dissipation.
AB  - In nature, photosynthetic organisms cope with highly variable light environments-
      intensities varying over orders of magnitudes as well as rapid fluctuations over
      seconds-to-minutes--by alternating between (a) highly effective absorption and
      photochemical conversion of light levels limiting to photosynthesis and (b)
      powerful photoprotective thermal dissipation of potentially damaging light levels
      exceeding those that can be utilized in photosynthesis. Adjustments of the
      photosynthetic apparatus to changes in light environment involve biophysical,
      biochemical, and structural adjustments. We used electron micrographs to assess
      overall thylakoid grana structure in evergreen species that exhibit much stronger
      maximal levels of thermal energy dissipation than the more commonly studied
      annual species. Our findings indicate an association between partial or complete
      unstacking of thylakoid grana structure and strong reversible thermal energy
      dissipation that, in contrast to what has been reported for annual species with
      much lower maximal levels of energy dissipation, is similar to what is seen under
      photoinhibitory conditions. For a tropical evergreen with tall grana stacks, a
      loosening, or vertical unstacking, of grana was seen in sun-grown plants
      exhibiting pronounced pH-dependent, rapidly reversible thermal energy dissipation
      as well as for sudden low-to-high-light transfer of shade-grown plants that
      responded with photoinhibition, characterized by strong dark-sustained, pH
      independent thermal energy dissipation and photosystem II (PSII) inactivation. On
      the other hand, full-sun exposed subalpine confers with rather short grana stacks
      transitioned from autumn to winter via conversion of most thylakoids from granal
      to stromal lamellae concomitant with photoinhibitory photosynthetic inactivation
      and sustained thermal energy dissipation. We propose that these two types of
      changes (partial or complete unstacking of grana) in thylakoid arrangement are
      both associated with the strong non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) of chlorophyll
      fluorescence (a measure of photoprotective thermal energy dissipation) unique to
      evergreen species rather than with PSII inactivation per se.

PMID- 25843772
TI  - Stability of Hydrated Methylamine: Structural Characteristics and H2N...H-O
      Hydrogen Bonds.
AB  - Methylamine is the simplest aliphatic amine found in human urine, blood, and
      tissues. It is thought to play a significant part in central nervous system
      disturbances observed during renal and hepatic disease. In this work we have
      investigated the methylamine hydration clusters using a basin hopping (BH)
      algorithm with the density functional theory (DFT). The results presented herein
      yield a detailed understanding of the structure and stability for a system
      consisting of one methylamine molecule and up to seven waters: the most stable
      geometries arise from a fusion of tetramer or pentamer rings; by the geometrical
      parameters and topological parameters analysis, the strengths of the H2N...H-O
      hydrogen bonds of the global minima increase as the sizes of clusters increase,
      except for n = 5 where there is a slight fluctuation. This work may shed light on
      the form mechanism of methylamine existing in organisms and the hydration
      structures of larger molecules containing amino functional groups and their
      interaction with the water molecules nearby. 

PMID- 25843773
TI  - Anthranoyl-CoA monooxygenase/reductase from Azoarcus evansii possesses both FMN
      and FAD in two distinct and independent active sites.
AB  - Anthranoyl-CoA monooxygenase/reductase (ACMR) participates in an unusual pathway
      for the degradation of aromatic compounds in Azoarcus evansii. It catalyzes the
      monooxygenation of anthranoyl-CoA to 5-hydroxyl-2-aminobenzoyl-CoA and the
      subsequent reduction to the dearomatized product 2-amino-5-oxo-cyclohex-1-ene-1
      carbonyl-CoA. The two reactions occur in separate domains, termed the
      monooxygenase and reductase domain. Both domains were reported to utilize FAD as
      a cofactor for hydroxylation and reduction, respectively. We have heterologously
      expressed ACMR in Escherichia coli BL21 and found that the monooxygenase domain
      contains FAD. However, the reductase domain utilizes FMN and not FAD for the
      reduction of the intermediate 5-hydroxyl-2-aminobenzoyl-CoA. A homology model for
      the reductase domain predicted a topology similar to the Old Yellow Enzyme
      family, which exclusively bind FMN, in accordance with our results. Binding
      studies with 2-aminobenzoyl-CoA (AbCoA) and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde (pHB) as probes
      for the monooxygenase and reductase domain, respectively, indicated that two
      functionally distinct and independent active sites exist. Given the homodimeric
      quartenary structure of ACMR and the compact shape of the dimer as determined by
      small-angle X-ray scattering experiments we propose that the monooxygenase and
      reductase domain of opposite peptide chains are involved in the transformation of
      anthranoyl-CoA to 2-amino-5-oxo-cyclohex-1-ene-1-carbonyl-CoA. 

PMID- 25843774
TI  - Autophagy in neurodegenerative diseases: From pathogenic dysfunction to
      therapeutic modulation.
AB  - Neuronal homeostasis depends on the proper functioning of quality control systems
      like autophagy. This mechanism is responsible of the clearance of misfolded
      proteins, aggregates and the turnover of organelles within the neuron. Autophagic
      dysfunction has been described in many neurodegenerative diseases. It can occur
      at several steps of the autophagic machinery and can contribute to the formation
      of intracellular aggregates and ultimately to neuronal death. Accordingly
      restoring autophagy activity in affected neurons can be an attractive therapeutic
      approach to fight neurodegeneration. In this review we summarize the present
      encouraging strategies that have been achieved with pharmacological and genetic
      treatments aimed to induce neuronal autophagy in experimental models of
      neurodegenerative diseases. 

PMID- 25843775
TI  - Microparticles in cancer: A review of recent developments and the potential for
      clinical application.
AB  - Once thought of as inert remnants of cellular processes, the significance of
      membrane vesicles is now expanding as their capacity to package and transfer
      bioactive molecules during intercellular communication is established. This
      ability to serve as vectors in the trafficking of cellular cargo is of mounting
      interest in the context of cancer, particularly in the dissemination of
      deleterious cancer traits from donor cells to recipient cells. Although
      microparticles (MPs) contribute to the pathogenesis of cancer, their unique
      characteristics can also be exploited in the context of cancer management. The
      detection of MPs in body fluids has the potential to provide an effective means
      for the diagnosis, prognosis and surveillance of cancer patients. The use of
      these readily accessible systemic biomarkers has the potential to circumvent the
      need for invasive biopsy procedures. In addition, the autologous nature of MPs
      may allow them to be used as novel drug delivery carriers. Consequently, the
      modulation of MP vesiculation to treat disease, the detection of MPs in disease
      monitoring, and the application of MPs as therapeutic delivery vehicles present
      prospective clinical interventions in the treatment of cancer. 

PMID- 25843776
TI  - The Bmi-1 helix-turn and ring finger domains are required for Bmi-1 antagonism of
      (-) epigallocatechin-3-gallate suppression of skin cancer cell survival.
AB  - The Bmi-1 Polycomb group (PcG) protein is an important epigenetic regulator of
      chromatin status. Elevated Bmi-1 expression is observed in skin cancer and
      contributes to cancer cell survival. (-) Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), an
      important green tea-derived cancer prevention agent, reduces Bmi-1 level
      resulting in reduced skin cancer cell survival. This is associated with increased
      p21(Cip1) and p27(Kip1) expression, reduced cyclin, and cyclin dependent kinase
      expression, and increased cleavage of apoptotic markers. These EGCG-dependent
      changes are attenuated by vector-mediated maintenance of Bmi-1 expression. In the
      present study, we identify Bmi-1 functional domains that are required for this
      response. Bmi-1 expression reverses the EGCG-dependent reduction in SCC-13 cell
      survival, but Bmi-1 mutants lacking the helix-turn-helix-turn-helix-turn (Bmi
      1DeltaHT) or ring finger (Bmi-1DeltaRF) domains do not reverse the EGCG impact.
      The reduction in Ring1B ubiquitin ligase activity, observed in the presence of
      mutant Bmi-1, is associated with reduced ability of these mutants to interact
      with and activate Ring1B ubiquitin ligase, the major ligase responsible for the
      ubiquitination of histone H2A during chromatin condensation. This results in less
      chromatin condensation leading to increased tumor suppressor gene expression and
      reduced cell survival; thereby making the cells more susceptible to the anti
      survival action of EGCG. We further show that these mutants act in a dominant
      negative manner to inhibit the action of endogenous Bmi-1. Our results suggest
      that the HT and RF domains are required for Bmi-1 ability to maintain skin cancer
      cell survival in response to cancer preventive agents. 

PMID- 25843777
TI  - CREB is a key negative regulator of carbonic anhydrase IX (CA9) in gastric
      cancer.
AB  - Carbonic anhydrase IX(CA9)is a member of the carbonic anhydrase family that
      catalyzes the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide, and plays a key role in the
      regulation of pH. Although a large number of studies have shown that CA9 is
      strongly up-regulated by HIF1-alpha, little is known about the negative
      regulation mechanism of CA9 in cancer cells. Here we find that CREB is a key
      negative regulator of CA9 in gastric cancer. Over-expression of CREB can
      significantly repress the expression of CA9. Treating with anisomycin (ANS), an
      activator of p38, the phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of CREB are both
      promoted, while the transcription of CA9 is repressed. Besides, our results
      firstly identify that CREB can recruit SIRT1 (class III HDACS) by adaptor protein
      p300, then repress the expression of CA9. These findings may contribute to
      understand the negative regulation mechanisms of CA9 in gastric cancer. 

PMID- 25843778
TI  - Is hydrogen ion (H(+)) the real second messenger in calcium signalling?
AB  - Most second messengers have the acknowledged ability to mobilize the segregated
      Ca(2+) from intracellular stores, although the mechanisms of mobilization are
      unclear. To study this problem, the fact that inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, and
      six other known endogenous Ca(2+) mobilizers are acids, or acid-generating
      compounds, is highlighted. In physiological conditions, a newly generated acid
      releases H(+). The transient rise of H(+) in the cytosol may induce the lowering
      of pH, mobilization of bound Ca(2+), protein conformational rearrangement, store
      depletion, and Ca(2+) influx. Accordingly, a new description of the basic
      mechanism for signal transduction in non-excitable cells and the related
      consequences is put forward. 

PMID- 25843780
TI  - Sphenoid sinus types, dimensions and relationship with surrounding structures.
AB  - The human sphenoid sinus is an extremely variable cavity and an important
      landmark in hypophyseal surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the
      relationship between the sphenoid sinus type, size, extent of pneumatization and
      occurrence of protrusions of the adjacent neurovascular structures. A total of 51
      randomly selected skulls (>=20 years of age, 33 male; 102 sinuses) were analyzed
      using cone beam computed tomography to estimate pneumatization extension beyond
      the body of the sphenoid (planum sphenoidale, pterygoid process, greater wings,
      clivus, dorsum sellae) and protrusions of the maxillary, mandibular, optic or
      pterygoid nerve or the internal carotid artery. Difference in pneumatization type
      between the left and the right-sided sinus was observed in 45% of the skulls.
      Conchal pneumatization was registered in 2%, presellar in 24%, sellar in 41% and
      postsellar in 33% of total sinuses. Presellar sinuses frequently pneumatized
      planum sphenoidale and sporadically other structures, and were characterized by
      sporadic optic nerve protrusions. Sellar and particularly postsellar sinuses were
      characterized by simultaneous pneumatization extensions and neurovascular
      protrusions. In the case of postsellar-type sinuses, the probability of these
      multiple interactions was not affected by their actual size, while it increased
      with the increasing sinus dimensions in the case of sellar-type sinuses. A more
      detailed analysis indicated that increasing sinus height, length or width
      increased the probability of interactions and pneumatization of particular
      surrounding structures. Data suggest that the sphenoid sinus pneumatization type
      and dimensions might be used to estimate the risks of iatrogenic injury during
      transsphenoidal surgical procedures. 

PMID- 25843781
TI  - Gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), gamma butyrolactone (GBL) and 1,4-butanediol (1,4
      BD; BDO): A literature review with a focus on UK fatalities related to non
      medical use.
AB  - Misuse of gamma hydroxybutrate (GHB) and gamma butyrolactone (GBL) has increased
      greatly since the early 1990s, being implicated in a rising number of deaths.
      This paper reviews knowledge on GHB and derivatives, and explores the largest
      series of deaths associated with their non-medical use. Descriptive analyses of
      cases associated with GHB/GBL and 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BD) use extracted from the
      UK's National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths database. From 1995 to
      September 2013, 159 GHB/GBL-associated fatalities were reported. Typical victims:
      White (92%); young (mean age 32 years); male (82%); with a drug misuse history
      (70%). Most deaths (79%) were accidental or related to drug use, the remainder
      (potential) suicides. GHB/GBL alone was implicated in 37%; alcohol 14%; other
      drugs 28%; other drugs and alcohol 15%. Its endogenous nature and rapid
      elimination limit toxicological detection. Post-mortem blood levels: mean 482
      (range 0-6500; SD 758)mg/L. Results suggest significant caution is needed when
      ingesting GHB/GBL, particularly with alcohol, benzodiazepines, opiates,
      stimulants, and ketamine. More awareness is needed about risks associated with
      consumption. 

PMID- 25843782
TI  - Preliminary results of transplantation with kidneys donated after cardiac death:
      a path of hope for organ transplantation in China.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This article aims to explore the feasibility and effect of kidney
      transplantation (KT) from donation after cardiac death (DCD) donors in China.
      METHODS: From July 2011 to April 2013, 94 DCD kidneys retrieved and transplanted
      by our centre were reviewed in this largest single-centre cohort study. Patients
      with and without delayed graft function (DGF) were compared between DCD KT
      cohorts. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), post-operative
      complications and graft loss at different time points were recorded. Factors
      related to DGF were examined and analysed. RESULTS: There was no primary non
      function (PNF) graft observed from patients. DGF rate was 27.7%; and 1-year
      overall graft and patient survival rates were 95.7 and 98.9%, respectively. In
      the first 6 months post-transplantation, eGFR was significantly lower in the DGF
      group compared with the non-DGF group (46 versus 52 mL/min; P = 0.04); but the
      difference disappeared thereafter (50 versus 47 mL/min, after 1 year).
      CONCLUSION: Despite early DGF and short-term observations, we are pleased to have
      this opportunity of sharing our initial experience and results, and justifying
      the continued DCD KT programmes in China.

PMID- 25843783
TI  - High versus low dialysate sodium concentration in chronic haemodialysis patients:
      a systematic review of 23 studies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: It is the object of debate whether a low or high dialysate sodium
      concentration (DNa(+)) should be advocated in chronic haemodialysis patients. In
      this paper, we aimed at evaluating benefits and harms of different DNa(+)
      prescriptions through a systematic review of the available literature. METHODS:
      MEDLINE and CENTRAL databases were searched for studies comparing low or high
      DNa(+) prescriptions. Outcomes of interest were mortality, blood pressure (BP),
      interdialytic weight gain (IDWG), plasma sodium, hospitalizations, use of anti
      hypertensive agents and intradialytic complications. RESULTS: Twenty-three
      studies (76 635 subjects) were reviewed. There was high heterogeneity in the
      number of patients analysed, overall study quality, duration of follow-up, DNa(+)
      and even in the definition of 'high' or 'low' DNa(+). The only three studies
      looking at mortality were observational. The risk of death was related to the
      plasma-DNa(+) gradient, but was also shown to be confounded by indication from
      the dialysate sodium prescription itself. BP was not markedly affected by high or
      low DNa(+). Patients treated with higher DNa(+) had overall higher IDWG when
      compared with those with lower DNa(+). Three studies reported a significant
      increase in intra-dialytic hypotensive episodes in patients receiving low DNa(+).
      Data on hospitalizations and use of anti-hypertensive agents were sparse and
      inconclusive. CONCLUSIONS: There is currently no definite evidence proving the
      superiority of a low or high uniform DNa(+) on hard or surrogate endpoints in
      maintenance haemodialysis patients. Future trials adequately powered to evaluate
      the impact of different DNa(+) on mortality or other patient-centred outcomes are
      needed.

PMID- 25843784
TI  - Outcomes after cochlear reimplantation in children.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: With cochlear implantation now a routine procedure, reimplantation is
      becoming more commonplace for medical/surgical complications or device
      malfunctions. This study investigated the indications for reimplantation and the
      auditory outcomes following reimplantation surgery in prelingually-deafened
      children. METHODS: Of the 539 prelingually deafened children implanted between
      1990 and 2013, 45 were reimplanted (8.3% of implantations). Causes of
      reimplantation, type of device and angle of insertion at initial implantation
      were recorded, as well as type of implant reinserted, number of electrodes
      inserted and angle of insertion (calculated on cone beam computed tomography) on
      reimplantation, and finally any surgical findings. Speech perception test scores
      (phonetically balanced kindergarten (PBK) words, open-set sentence testing in
      quiet and in noise (S/N+ 10 dB SNR), and speech tracking scores) were obtained 1,
      2 and 3 years after reimplantation, and compared against the best speech
      recognition score obtained with the first implant before failure. RESULTS:
      Medical reasons for reimplantation were found in 10 cases (22.2%). A
      malfunctioning device had occurred in 35 cases (77.7%) including hard failure in
      24 and soft failure in 11. Complete insertion was achieved in the scala tympani
      in 42 cases and in the scala vestibuli in one case; partial insertion occurred in
      the remaining two cases. In two cases, one or two electrode rings snatched off
      from the electrode array during removal. The mean insertion angle was 330.5
      degrees  before surgery and 311.8 degrees  after reimplantation (no statistical
      difference p=0.48). The postoperative speech perception outcome measures showed
      no significant difference to the best score before reimplantation. Angle of
      insertion, type of device and etiology of deafness did not influence the results.
      The PBK performance improved over 10% in 43.2% of children, was similar in 40.5%,
      and showed a more than 10% decrease in 16.2% of children after reimplantation.
      The latter decline in performance was explained for some children by a partial
      insertion. CONCLUSIONS: Reimplantation has no negative effect on auditory
      outcome. In rare cases, speech perception outcome may not improve, requiring a
      specific rehabilitation program.

PMID- 25843785
TI  - Surgical success of boomerang-shaped chondroperichondrial graft in pediatric
      chronic otitis media cases.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To reveal the success of boomerang-shaped chondroperichondrial graft
      (BSCPG) in pediatric chronic otitis media cases. METHODS: A total of 43 pediatric
      patients (age 7-16 years) who had undergone type 1 tympanoplasty with the
      diagnosis of chronic otitis media between March 2010 and March 2013 were included
      in this retrospective study. The main outcome measures were the graft success
      rate and level of hearing improvement. RESULTS: Graft intake success rate was
      90.7%. Mean preoperative and postoperative air-bone gap values were 20.51 +/-
      4.34 dB SPL and 9.32 +/- 5.64 dB SPL, respectively (p < 0.001). Mean preoperative
      and postoperative pure tone average values were 28.6 +/- 3.52 and 12.24 +/- 5.22
      respectively (p < 0.001). Air-bone gap was improved to <= 10 dB in 38 (88.37%)
      patients during the postoperative period. CONCLUSIONS: Boomerang-shaped
      chondroperichondrial grafting technique seems to be a successful alternative in
      the management of pediatric chronic otitis media cases. It has relatively higher
      grade graft success rate.

PMID- 25843786
TI  - The hidden loss of otolithic function in children with profound sensorineural
      hearing loss.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study sought to define the profile of ocular and cervical
      vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP and cVEMP) in children with profound
      sensorineural hearing loss (PSHL). METHODS: The ACS-evoked oVEMPs and cVEMPs of
      43 children with PSHL and 20 healthy children were investigated. The response
      rates, thresholds, amplitudes, P1 and N1 latencies, and interpeak latencies of
      VEMPs were analyzed. Each patient's medical record was summarized and classified.
      RESULTS: The response rates of oVEMP and cVEMP in patients with PSHL were 58.1%
      and 61.9% respectively, which were significantly less than those in healthy
      children (both were 100%). In the children patients whose oVEMP or cVEMP could
      still be elicited, significant elevated thresholds and decreased amplitudes in
      VEMPs could be observed (p<0.05). However, in the summary of the medical records
      of all the 43 patients, it was showed that neither the patients and their parents
      nor the doctors noticed the balance problem and the loss of otolithic function.
      CONCLUSIONS: The otolithic dysfunction, which could be easily ignored in children
      with PSHL, could be observed in VEMPs. In the process of diagnosis and treatment
      of PSHL, the vestibular function should obtain enough attention. VEMPs have
      special value in observation of the hidden loss of otolithic function, and could
      be an important vestibular assessment method for children with PSHL.

PMID- 25843787
TI  - Prophylactic antibiotic therapy for all out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors?

PMID- 25843789
TI  - Failed epilepsy surgery: It is not too late.

PMID- 25843779
TI  - microRNA regulation of Wnt signaling pathways in development and disease.
AB  - Wnt signaling pathways and microRNAs (miRNAs) are critical regulators of
      development. Aberrant Wnt signaling pathways and miRNA levels lead to
      developmental defects and diverse human pathologies including but not limited to
      cancer. Wnt signaling pathways regulate a plethora of cellular processes during
      embryonic development and maintain homeostasis of adult tissues. A majority of
      Wnt signaling components are regulated by miRNAs which are small noncoding RNAs
      that are expressed in both animals and plants. In animal cells, miRNAs fine tune
      gene expression by pairing primarily to the 3'untranslated region of protein
      coding mRNAs to repress target mRNA translation and/or induce target degradation.
      miRNA-mediated regulation of signaling transduction pathways is important in
      modulating dose-sensitive response of cells to signaling molecules. This review
      discusses components of the Wnt signaling pathways that are regulated by miRNAs
      in the context of development and diseases. A fundamental understanding of miRNA
      functions in Wnt signaling transduction pathways may yield new insight into
      crosstalks of regulatory mechanisms essential for development and disease
      pathophysiology leading to novel therapeutics. 

PMID- 25843788
TI  - Isolation of syncytiotrophoblast microvesicles and exosomes and their
      characterisation by multicolour flow cytometry and fluorescence Nanoparticle
      Tracking Analysis.
AB  - The human placenta releases multiple types and sizes of syncytiotrophoblast (STB)
      extracellular vesicles (EV) into the maternal circulation that exhibit diverse
      biological activities. The placental perfusion technique enables isolation of
      these STBEV, but conventional flow cytometry can only be used to phenotype EV
      down to ~300 nm in size. Fluorescence Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (fl-NTA) has
      the potential to phenotype EV down to ~50 nm, thereby improving current
      characterisation techniques. The aims of this study were to prepare microvesicle
      and exosome enriched fractions from human placental perfusate (n=8) and improve
      fl-NTA STBEV detection. Differential centrifugation and filtration effectively
      removed contaminating red blood cells from fresh placental perfusates and
      pelleted a STB microvesicle (STBMV) fraction (10,000*g pellet - 10KP; NTA modal
      size 395+/-12 nm), enriched for the STB marker placental alkaline phosphatase
      (PLAP) and a STB exosome (STBEX) fraction (150,000*g pellet - 150KP; NTA modal
      size 147+/-6 nm), enriched for PLAP and exosome markers Alix and CD63. The PLAP
      positivity of 'standard' 10KP and 150KP pools (four samples/pool), determined by
      immunobead depletion, was used to optimise fl-NTA camera settings. Individual
      10KP and 150KP samples (n=8) were 54.5+/-5.7% (range 17.8-66.9%) and 30.6+/-5.6%
      (range 3.3-51.7%) PLAP positive, respectively. We have developed a reliable
      method for enriching STBMV and STBEX from placental perfusate. We also
      standardised fl-NTA settings and improved measurement of PLAP positive EV in
      STBMV. However, fl-NTA is not as sensitive as anti-PLAP Dynabead capture for
      STBEX detection, possibly due to STBEX having lower surface expression of PLAP.
      These important developments will facilitate more detailed studies of the role of
      STBMV and STBEX in normal and pathological pregnancies.

PMID- 25843790
TI  - Urticaria multiforme: A report of 5 cases and a review of the literature.
AB  - Urticaria multiforme is a cutaneous disorder that affects infants and small
      children. It is characterized by large, annular urticarial plaques with a
      violaceous center and is frequently accompanied by fever. Urticaria multiforme
      follows a benign, self-limiting course, but the striking appearance of the
      lesions can cause alarm and considerable anxiety among parents. We present 5
      cases of urticaria multiforme seen in our hospital over a period of 18 months.
      All the cases were preceded by an infection of the upper airways or otitis, and
      they were all empirically with amoxicillin. It is important to be familiar with
      this condition to reassure parents and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and
      tests. 

PMID- 25843791
TI  - Thrombolytic therapy for cardiac arrest secondary to acute pulmonary embolism: an
      oft overlooked strategy.

PMID- 25843792
TI  - Prognostic factors in adenocarcinoma of the salivary glands.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: We aimed to characterize prognostic factors and outcomes in
      adenocarcinomas of the salivary glands. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients were
      identified and retrospectively reviewed for clinical and pathologic tumor
      characteristics. Low and high grade adenocarcinoma histologies were separated and
      analyzed. Treatment regimens and patient-related outcomes were recorded and
      measured. RESULTS: A total of 51 adenocarcinomas of the salivary glands were
      reviewed. The most common locations of disease were the superficial lobe of the
      parotid gland, followed by the deep lobe. Five-year overall and disease free
      survival rates were 43% and 37%. Univariate analysis identified the following as
      negative prognostic factors: symptoms of a fixed mass or rapid growth, advanced
      tumor or nodal stage, and perineural or lymphovascular invasion. Facial nerve
      paralysis was not found to be a significant prognostic variable. Multivariate
      analysis confirmed the independent negative prognostic importance of the
      following characteristics: presentation with a fixed mass or rapid growth,
      diagnosis of adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified, and positive surgical
      margins. CONCLUSIONS: Our results identify several important prognostic factors
      associated with overall survival in adenocarcinoma of the salivary glands. These
      prognostic variables encompass symptoms on presentation, clinical and pathologic
      tumor stage characteristics, and treatment-related factors; all of which are
      important in patient counseling and may provide impetus for determining treatment
      escalation.

PMID- 25843793
TI  - Norepinephrine induces the expression of interleukin-6 via beta-adrenoreceptor
      NAD(P)H oxidase system -NF-kappaB dependent signal pathway in U937 macrophages.
AB  - Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease in the vessel wall. IL-6 is a mediator
      of inflammation and a major alarm hormone signaling tissue damage and infection
      to the body's host defense system, in particular to the liver, where it induces
      the synthesis of acute phase plasma proteins. Although Norepinephrine (NE) can
      stimulate the vascular cells to produce IL-6, it is unknown whether NE induces IL
      6 expression in macrophages. The present study was to observe effect of NE on IL
      6 production and the related signal pathway in U937 macrophages so as to provide
      more evidence for the proinflammatory action of NE. The results showed that NE
      significantly increased mRNA and protein expression of IL-6 in U937 macrophages
      in time- and concentration-dependent manners. beta-adrenoreceptor inhibitor
      propranolol blocked NE-induced IL-6 expression in mRNA and protein levels in U937
      macrophages. Propranolol and DPI [NAD(P)H oxidase inhibitor] decreased NE
      stimulated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and antioxidant NAC
      completely abolished NE-induced IL-6 expression in U937 macrophages. The further
      study indicated that NAD(P)H oxidase inhibitor DPI and NF-kappaB inhibitor PDTC
      reduced NE-induced mRNA and protein expression of IL-6 in U937 macrophages. These
      demonstrate that NE is capable of inducing IL-6 generation in macrophages via
      beta-ADR-ROS-NF-kappaB signal pathway, which contributes to better understanding
      of the proinflammatory and proatherosclerotic actions of NE. 

PMID- 25843794
TI  - Reovirus double-stranded RNA genomes and polyI:C induce down-regulation of
      hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha.
AB  - Reovirus has genomes consisting of 10-segmented double-stranded RNAs, and have
      received much attention as an oncolytic virus. A previous study reported that
      reovirus down-regulates hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1alpha) protein
      levels following infection in tumor cells, which contributes to the antitumor
      effects of reovirus; however, the mechanism remains to be elucidated. In this
      study, we examined which virus component was involved in reovirus-mediated down
      regulation of HIF-1alpha. Reovirus induced significant down-regulation of HIF
      1alpha protein levels in not only reovirus-permissive tumor cells but also
      reovirus-resistant tumor cells. UV-inactivated reovirus also induced a reduction
      in HIF-1alpha protein levels. These data indicate that reovirus induces HIF
      1alpha down-regulation independently of virus replication. Furthermore,
      transfection with not only reovirus genomes but also polyI:C efficiently induced
      HIF-1alpha down-regulation in a manner similar to reovirus, indicating that
      double-stranded reovirus RNA genomes are a key component for HIF-1alpha down
      regulation. Reovirus-mediated HIF-1alpha down-regulation was inhibited when tumor
      cells were pretreated with inhibitors of cathepsins B and L, which play a crucial
      role in endo-lysosomal escape of virions to the cytoplasm. These data suggest
      that endo-lysosomal escape of reovirus genome into the cytoplasm is crucial for
      HIF-1alpha down-regulation; however, the retinoic acid-inducible gene-I (RIG-I)
      or interferon-beta promoter stimulator-1 (IPS-1), which are involved in reovirus
      genome-induced innate immunity in the cytoplasm, did not play a crucial role in
      reovirus-mediated HIF-1alpha reduction. 

PMID- 25843795
TI  - Integrative function of adrenaline receptors for glucagon-like peptide-1
      exocytosis in enteroendocrine L cell line GLUTag.
AB  - Adrenaline reacts with three types of adrenergic receptors, alpha1, alpha2 and
      beta-adrenergic receptors (ARs), inducing many physiological events including
      exocytosis. Although adrenaline has been shown to induce glucagon-like peptide-1
      (GLP-1) secretion from intestinal L cells, the precise molecular mechanism by
      which adrenaline regulates GLP-1 secretion remains unknown. Here we show by live
      cell imaging that all types of adrenergic receptors are stimulated by adrenaline
      in enteroendocrine L cell line GLUTag cells and are involved in GLP-1 exocytosis.
      We performed RT-PCR analysis and found that alpha1B-, alpha2A-, alpha2B-, and
      beta1-ARs were expressed in GLUTag cells. Application of adrenaline induced a
      significant increase of intracellular Ca(2+) and cAMP concentration ([Ca(2+)]i
      and [cAMP]i, respectively), and GLP-1 exocytosis in GLUTag cells. Blockade of
      alpha1-AR inhibited adrenaline-induced [Ca(2+)]i increase and exocytosis but not
      [cAMP]i increase, while blockade of beta1-AR inhibited adrenaline-induced [cAMP]i
      increase and exocytosis but not [Ca(2+)]i increase. Furthermore, overexpression
      of alpha2A-AR suppressed the adrenaline-induced [cAMP]i increase and exocytosis.
      These results suggest that the fine-turning of GLP-1 secretion from
      enteroendocrine L cells is established by the balance between alpha1-, alpha2-,
      and beta-ARs activation. 

PMID- 25843796
TI  - Islet beta-cell failure in type 2 diabetes--Within the network of toxic lipids.
AB  - Obesity-related type 2 diabetes develops in individuals with the onset of beta
      cell dysfunction. Pancreatic islet lipotoxicity is now recognized as a primary
      reason for the onset and progression of the disease. Such dysfunction is
      reflected by the aberrant secretory capacity and detrimental loss of beta-cell
      mass and survival. Elevated circulating serum fatty acid levels and disordered
      lipid metabolism management are particularly interesting in the search for
      biologically relevant triggers of beta-cell demise. Herein, we review various
      types of toxic lipid metabolites that may play a significant role in pancreatic
      islet failure. The lipotoxic effect on beta-cells depends on the type of lipid
      mediator (e.g., long-chain fatty acids, diacylglycerols, ceramides,
      phospholipids), cellular location of its action (e.g., endoplasmic reticulum,
      mitochondria), and associated-organelle conditions (e.g., membranes, vesicles).
      We also discuss various aspects of lipid action in beta-cells, including effects
      on metabolic pathways, stress responses (e.g., oxidative stress, endoplasmic
      reticulum stress, and autophagy), and gene expression. 

PMID- 25843797
TI  - DEPTOR-related mTOR suppression is involved in metformin's anti-cancer action in
      human liver cancer cells.
AB  - Metformin, one of the most commonly used drugs for patients with type 2 diabetes,
      recently has received much attention regarding its anti-cancer action. It is
      thought that the suppression of mTOR signaling is involved in metformin's anti
      cancer action. Although liver cancer is one of the most responsive types of
      cancer for reduction of incidence by metformin, the molecular mechanism of the
      suppression of mTOR in liver remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the
      mechanism of the suppressing effect of metformin on mTOR signaling and cell
      proliferation using human liver cancer cells. Metformin suppressed
      phosphorylation of p70-S6 kinase, and ribosome protein S6, downstream targets of
      mTOR, and suppressed cell proliferation. We found that DEPTOR, an endogenous
      substrate of mTOR suppression, is involved in the suppressing effect of metformin
      on mTOR signaling and cell proliferation in human liver cancer cells. Metformin
      increases the protein levels of DEPTOR, intensifies binding to mTOR, and exerts a
      suppressing effect on mTOR signaling. This increasing effect of DEPTOR by
      metformin is regulated by the proteasome degradation system; the suppressing
      effect of metformin on mTOR signaling and cell proliferation is in a DEPTOR
      dependent manner. Furthermore, metformin exerts a suppressing effect on
      proteasome activity, DEPTOR-related mTOR signaling, and cell proliferation in an
      AMPK-dependent manner. We conclude that DEPTOR-related mTOR suppression is
      involved in metformin's anti-cancer action in liver, and could be a novel target
      for anti-cancer therapy. 

PMID- 25843798
TI  - Major urinary protein 1 interacts with cannabinoid receptor type 1 in fatty acid
      induced hepatic insulin resistance in a mouse hepatocyte model.
AB  - Hepatic insulin resistance (HIR) is a metabolic abnormality characterized by
      increased gluconeogenesis which usually contributes from an elevation of free
      fatty acids. Cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1R) and major urinary protein 1
      (MUP1) are thought to play pivotal roles in mitochondrial dysfunction, liver
      steatosis and insulin resistance. The aim of this study was to explore the role
      of MUP1 in CB1R-mediated HIR through the dysregulation of mitochondrial function
      in AML12 mouse hepatocytes challenged with high concentration of free fatty acids
      (HFFA). Firstly we observed that treatment of AM251, a selective CB1R antagonist,
      obviously reversed the HFFA-induced reduction of MUP1 protein expression both in
      vivo and in vitro. Additionally, our results revealed that AM251 also reverted
      HFFA-mediated decrease of the mRNA level of mitochondrial biogenesis-related
      factors, mtDNA amount, ATP production, mitochondrial respiratory complexes-I and 
      III, and mitochondrial membrane potential, thus consequently might correlate with
      a parallel reduction of ROS production. Meanwhile, AM251 attenuated HFFA-induced
      impairment of insulin signaling phosphorylation and elevation of
      phosphoenolpyrvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and glucose 6-phosphatase (G6Pase), two
      key enzymes of gluconeogenesis. Silence of MUP1 gene abolished the inhibitory
      effect of AM251 on HFFA-mediated elevation of PEPCK and G6Pase expression,
      whereas the suppression of insulin signaling and mRNA level of mitochondrial
      biogenesis-related factors were only partially recovered. Altogether, these
      findings suggest that the anti-HIR effect of AM251 via improvement of
      mitochondrial functions might occur in a MUP1-dependent manner.

PMID- 25843799
TI  - RIG-I-dependent antiviral immunity is effective against an RNA virus encoding a
      potent suppressor of RNAi.
AB  - Nodamura virus (NoV) lethally infects suckling mice and contains a segmented
      positive-strand RNA genome that encodes a potent suppressor of RNA interference
      (RNAi). Recent studies have demonstrated immune detection and subsequent
      processing of NoV dsRNA replicative intermediates by the mouse RNAi machinery.
      However, diverse RNA viruses, including Encephalomyocarditis virus that also
      triggers Dicer-dependent biogenesis of viral siRNAs in mouse cells, are targeted
      in mammals by RIG-I-like receptors that initiate an IFN-dependent antiviral
      response. Using mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) for NoV infection, here we
      show that MEFs derived from mice knockout for RIG-I, but not those knockout for
      MDA5, LGP2, TLR3 or TLR7, exhibited an enhanced susceptibility to NoV. Further
      studies indicate that NoV infection induced an IFN-dependent antiviral response
      mediated by RIG-I. Our findings suggest that RIG-I directs a typical IFN
      dependent antiviral response against an RNA virus capable of suppressing the RNAi
      response. 

PMID- 25843800
TI  - Knockdown of transcription factor forkhead box O3 (FOXO3) suppresses erythroid
      differentiation in human cells and zebrafish.
AB  - Our previous study on the dynamic transcriptomes activated during human
      erythropoiesis suggested that transcription factor forkhead box O3 (FOXO3)
      possibly plays a role in erythroid differentiation. Functional studies in human
      cell line TF-1 indicated that FOXO3 knockdown repressed erythropoietin (EPO)
      induced erythroid differentiation by activating promoter region of B-cell
      translocation gene 1 (BTG1), thereby regulating its expression. In zebrafish,
      injection of foxo3b-specific morpholinos (foxo3b MO) resulted in reduced globin
      (hbae1 and hbbe2) and gata1 gene expression. Transcriptome analyses of erythroid
      lineage cells isolated from the control and foxo3b morphants revealed the dynamic
      regulation of foxo3b. Further study suggested that BTG1 is partially responsible
      for FOXO3 regulation in erythroid differentiation of TF-1 cells but is
      inconsequential in zebrafish. Taken together, we found that FOXO3 plays an
      important role in erythroid differentiation in both human TF-1 cells and
      zebrafish, but the mechanism underlying this regulation still remains unclear. 

PMID- 25843801
TI  - Prevention of EBV lymphoma development by oncolytic myxoma virus in a murine
      xenograft model of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease.
AB  - Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been associated with a variety of epithelial and
      hematologic malignancies, including B-, T- and NK cell-lymphomas, Hodgkin's
      disease (HD), post-transplant lymphoproliferative diseases (LPDs), nasopharyngeal
      and gastric carcinomas, smooth muscle tumors, and HIV-associated lymphomas.
      Currently, treatment options for EBV-associated malignancies are limited. We have
      previously shown that myxoma virus specifically targets various human solid
      tumors and leukemia cells in a variety of animal models, while sparing normal
      human or murine tissues. Since transplant recipients of bone marrow or solid
      organs often develop EBV-associated post-transplant LPDs and lymphoma, myxoma
      virus may be of utility to prevent EBV-associated malignancies in
      immunocompromised transplant patients where treatment options are frequently
      limited. In this report, we demonstrate the safety and efficacy of myxoma virus
      purging as a prophylactic strategy for preventing post-transplant EBV-transformed
      human lymphomas, using a highly immunosuppressed mouse xenotransplantation model.
      This provides support for developing myxoma virus as a potential oncolytic
      therapy for preventing EBV-associated LPDs following transplantation of bone
      marrow or solid organ allografts. 

PMID- 25843802
TI  - Identification and analysis of the promoter region of the human HAS3 gene.
AB  - Hyaluronan (HA) is a key component of the vertebrate extracellular matrix that is
      synthesized at the plasma membrane by the hyaluronan synthases including HAS1,
      HAS2 and HAS3. The expression and regulation of HAS1-3 are implicated in numerous
      physiological and pathological processes. The promoters of human HAS1 and HAS2
      genes have been identified previously whereas HAS3 promoter remains unclear. In
      the present study, we have for the first time identified and characterized the
      human HAS3 gene promoter region. 5' RACE assay revealed two novel transcriptional
      variants of HAS3 gene with distinct transcription start sites. Progressive
      deletion analysis of the 5'-flanking region of HAS3 gene demonstrated that HAS3
      proximal promoter is mainly restricted to a 450-bp region (i.e. -761 to -305 bp
      upstream of the major HAS3 transcription start site), whereas its core promoter
      is located to a minimal 129-bp region (i.e. -433 to -305 bp upstream of the major
      HAS3 transcription start site). Transcriptional factor binding analysis indicated
      that HAS3 gene promoter lacks of canonical TATA box, but contains classical GC
      box as well as other putative binding sites for transcriptional factors such as
      C/EBP and NFkappaB. In addition, site-directed mutagenesis assay demonstrated
      that the proximal Sp1 binding site is essential for the robust proximal promoter
      activity of HAS3 gene whereas the core MTE (core promoter motif ten elements)
      motif is required for the basic core promoter activity of HAS3 gene. Our present
      study should facilitate further studies on the mechanism regulating the
      expression of this important gene.

PMID- 25843803
TI  - Tripartite motif 16 inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis by
      down-regulating sonic hedgehog pathway in non-small cell lung cancer cells.
AB  - The present study was to examine the effect of Tripartite motif 16 (TRIM16) on
      epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis in non-small cell lung
      cancer (NSCLC) cells, and its clinical significance in NSCLC. The correlation of
      TRIM16 expression and clinical features of NSCLC was analyzed in paraffin
      embedded archived normal lung tissues and NSCLC tissues by immunohistochemical
      analysis. The effect of TRIM16 on EMT and metastasis was examined both in vitro
      and in vivo. The expression of TRIM16 was markedly decreased in NSCLC and
      correlated with tumor metastasis. Upregulation of TRIM16 significantly inhibited
      EMT and metastasis of NSCLC cells. In contrast, silencing TRIM16 expression
      significantly promoted the EMT and metastasis of NSCLC cells both in vitro and in
      vivo. Moreover, we demonstrated that downregulation of TRIM16 activated the sonic
      hedgehog pathway, and that inhibition of the sonic hedgehog pathway by
      cyclopamine abrogated the effect of TRIM16-downregulation induced EMT and
      metastasis on NSCLC cells. Our results suggest that TRIM16 is a potential
      pharmacologic target for the treatment of NSCLC and promotion TRIM16 expression
      might represent a novel strategy to NSCLC metastasis.

PMID- 25843804
TI  - Extra-chromosomal DNA maintenance in Bacillus subtilis, dependence on
      flagellation factor FliF and moonlighting mediator EdmS.
AB  - Extra-chromosomal DNA maintenance (EDM) as an important process in the
      propagation and genetic engineering of microbes. Bacillus subtilis EdmS (formerly
      PgsE), a protein comprising 55 amino acids, is a mediator of the EDM process. In
      this study, the effect of mutation of global regulators on B. subtilis EDM was
      examined. Mutation of the swrA gene abolished EdmS-mediated EDM. It is known that
      swrA predominantly regulates expression of the fla/che operon in B. subtilis. We
      therefore performed EDM analysis using fla/che-deletion mutants and identified an
      EDM-mediated EDM cooperator in the flgB-fliL region. Further genetic
      investigation identified the flagellation factor FliF is a crucial EDM
      cooperator. To our knowledge, this is the first observation of the moonlighting
      function of FliF in DNA maintenance.

PMID- 25843805
TI  - Pulmonary Hypertension in a Premature Infant With Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia.

PMID- 25843806
TI  - Microarray gene expression analysis reveals major differences between Toxocara
      canis and Toxocara cati neurotoxocarosis and involvement of T. canis in lipid
      biosynthetic processes.
AB  - Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati are globally occurring intestinal nematodes of
      dogs and cats with a high zoonotic potential. Migrating larvae in the CNS of
      paratenic hosts, including humans, may cause neurotoxocarosis resulting in a
      variety of neurological symptoms. Toxocara canis exhibits a stronger affinity to
      the CNS than T. cati, causing more severe neurological symptoms in the mouse
      model. Pathomechanisms of neurotoxocarosis as well as host responses towards the
      respective parasite are mostly unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to
      characterise the pathogenesis at a transcriptional level using whole genome
      microarray expression analysis and identify differences and similarities between
      T. canis- and T. cati-infected brains. Microarray analysis was conducted in
      cerebra and cerebella of infected C57Bl/6J mice 42daysp.i. revealing more
      differentially transcribed genes for T. canis- than T. cati-infected brains. In
      cerebra and cerebella of T. canis-infected mice, a total of 2304 and 1954
      differentially transcribed genes, respectively, were identified whereas 113 and
      760 differentially transcribed genes were determined in cerebra and cerebella of
      T. cati-infected mice. Functional annotation analysis revealed major differences
      in host responses in terms of significantly enriched biological modules. Up
      regulated genes were mainly associated with the terms "immune and defence
      response", "sensory perception" as well as "behaviour/taxis" retrieved from the
      Gene Ontology database. These observations indicate a strong immune response in
      both infection groups with T. cati-infected brains revealing less severe
      reactions. Down-regulated genes in T. canis-infected cerebra and cerebella
      revealed a significant enrichment for the Gene Ontology term "lipid/cholesterol
      biosynthetic process". Cholesterol is a highly abundant and important component
      in the brain, representing several functions. Disturbances of synthesis as well
      as concentration changes may lead to dysfunction in signal transduction and
      neurodegenerative disease. Overall, only a minor overlap of differentially
      transcribed genes was observed between the two infection groups in both brain
      parts. Most genes are regulated individually in each infection group, supporting
      the evident differences of both roundworm species observed in the paratenic host
      in previous studies. In summary the present study underlines the differences in
      pathogenicity of T. canis and T. cati. It furthermore provides a comprehensive
      basis for future analyses over the course of infection as well as functional
      tests to identify gene regulatory circuits that are crucial for pathogenesis of
      neurotoxocarosis. The results of this study provide a promising foundation for
      further specific research to evaluate the particular pathogenetic mechanisms and
      to identify possible therapeutic targets. 

PMID- 25843807
TI  - Integrating biological knowledge based on functional annotations for biclustering
      of gene expression data.
AB  - Gene expression data analysis is based on the assumption that co-expressed genes
      imply co-regulated genes. This assumption is being reformulated because the co
      expression of a group of genes may be the result of an independent activation
      with respect to the same experimental condition and not due to the same
      regulatory regime. For this reason, traditional techniques are recently being
      improved with the use of prior biological knowledge from open-access repositories
      together with gene expression data. Biclustering is an unsupervised machine
      learning technique that searches patterns in gene expression data matrices. A
      scatter search-based biclustering algorithm that integrates biological
      information is proposed in this paper. In addition to the gene expression data
      matrix, the input of the algorithm is only a direct annotation file that relates
      each gene to a set of terms from a biological repository where genes are
      annotated. Two different biological measures, FracGO and SimNTO, are proposed to
      integrate this information by means of its addition to-be-optimized fitness
      function in the scatter search scheme. The measure FracGO is based on the
      biological enrichment and SimNTO is based on the overlapping among GO annotations
      of pairs of genes. Experimental results evaluate the proposed algorithm for two
      datasets and show the algorithm performs better when biological knowledge is
      integrated. Moreover, the analysis and comparison between the two different
      biological measures is presented and it is concluded that the differences depend
      on both the data source and how the annotation file has been built in the case GO
      is used. It is also shown that the proposed algorithm obtains a greater number of
      enriched biclusters than other classical biclustering algorithms typically used
      as benchmark and an analysis of the overlapping among biclusters reveals that the
      biclusters obtained present a low overlapping. The proposed methodology is a
      general-purpose algorithm which allows the integration of biological information
      from several sources and can be extended to other biclustering algorithms based
      on the optimization of a merit function. 

PMID- 25843808
TI  - Disruption in the Relationship between Blood Pressure and Salty Taste Thresholds
      among Overweight and Obese Children.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Prevalence of high blood pressure among American children has
      increased over the past 2 decades, due in part to increasing rates of obesity and
      excessive dietary salt intake. OBJECTIVE: We tested the hypothesis that the
      relationships among blood pressure, salty taste sensitivity, and salt intake
      differ between normal-weight and overweight/obese children. DESIGN: In an
      observational study, sodium chloride (NaCl) and monosodium glutamate (MSG) taste
      detection thresholds were measured using the Monell two-alternative, forced
      choice, paired-comparison tracking method. Weight and blood pressure were
      measured, and salt intake was determined by 24-hour dietary recall.
      PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: Children aged 8 to 14 years (N=97; 52% overweight or obese)
      from the Philadelphia, PA, area completed anthropometric and blood pressure
      measurements; 97% completed one or both thresholds. Seventy-six percent provided
      valid dietary recall data. Testing was completed between December 2011 and August
      2012. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: NaCl and MSG detection thresholds, blood pressure,
      and dietary salt intake. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: Outcome measures were compared
      between normal-weight and overweight/obese children with t tests. Relationships
      among outcome measures within groups were examined with Pearson correlations, and
      multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between blood
      pressure and thresholds, controlling for age, body mass index z score, and
      dietary salt intake. RESULTS: NaCl and MSG thresholds were positively correlated
      (r[71]=0.30; P=0.01) and did not differ between body weight groups (P>0.20).
      Controlling for age, body mass index z score, and salt intake, systolic blood
      pressure was associated with NaCl thresholds among normal-weight children
      (P=0.01), but not among overweight/obese children. All children consumed excess
      salt (>8 g/day). Grain and meat products were the primary source of dietary
      sodium. CONCLUSIONS: The apparent disruption in the relationship between salty
      taste response and blood pressure among overweight/obese children suggests the
      relationship may be influenced by body weight. Further research is warranted to
      explore this relationship as a potential measure to prevent development of
      hypertension.

PMID- 25843809
TI  - Meta-analysis of amino acid stable nitrogen isotope ratios for estimating trophic
      position in marine organisms.
AB  - Estimating trophic structures is a common approach used to retrieve information
      regarding energy pathways, predation, and competition in complex ecosystems. The
      application of amino acid (AA) compound-specific nitrogen (N) isotope analysis
      (CSIA) is a relatively new method used to estimate trophic position (TP) and
      feeding relationships in diverse organisms. Here, we conducted the first meta
      analysis of delta(15)N AA values from measurements of 359 marine species covering
      four trophic levels, and compared TP estimates from AA-CSIA to literature values
      derived from food items, gut or stomach content analysis. We tested whether the
      AA trophic enrichment factor (TEF), or the (15)N enrichment among different
      individual AAs is constant across trophic levels and whether inclusion of
      delta(15)N values from multiple AAs improves TP estimation. For the TEF of
      glutamic acid relative to phenylalanine (Phe) we found an average value of
      6.60/00 across all taxa, which is significantly lower than the commonly applied
      7.60/00. We found that organism feeding ecology influences TEF values of several
      trophic AAs relative to Phe, with significantly higher TEF values for herbivores
      compared to omnivores and carnivores, while TEF values were also significantly
      lower for animals excreting urea compared to ammonium. Based on the comparison of
      multiple model structures using the metadata of delta(15)N AA values we show that
      increasing the number of AAs in principle improves precision in TP estimation.
      This meta-analysis clarifies the advantages and limitations of using individual
      delta(15)N AA values as tools in trophic ecology and provides a guideline for the
      future application of AA-CSIA to food web studies.

PMID- 25843810
TI  - Comparative genetic diversity of Lyme disease bacteria in Northern Californian
      ticks and their vertebrate hosts.
AB  - Vector-borne pathogens are transmitted between vertebrate hosts and arthropod
      vectors, two immensely different environments for the pathogen. There is further
      differentiation among vertebrate hosts that often have complex, species-specific
      immunological responses to the pathogen. All this presents a heterogeneous
      environmental and immunological landscape with possible consequences on the
      population genetic structure of the pathogen. We evaluated the differential
      genetic diversity of the Lyme disease pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, in its
      vector, the western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus), and in its mammal host
      community using the 5S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer region. We found differences in
      haplotype distribution of B. burgdorferi in tick populations from two counties in
      California as well as between a sympatric tick and vertebrate host community. In
      addition, we found that three closely related haplotypes consistently occurred in
      high frequency in all sample types. Lastly, our study found lower species
      diversity of the B. burgdorferi species complex, known as B. burgdorferi sensu
      lato, in small mammal hosts versus the tick populations in a sympatric study
      area. 

PMID- 25843811
TI  - New Borrelia species detected in ixodid ticks in Oromia, Ethiopia.
AB  - Little is known about Borrelia species transmitted by hard ticks in Ethiopia. The
      present study was conducted from November 2011 through March 2014 to address the
      occurrence and molecular identity of these bacteria in ixodid ticks infesting
      domestic animals in Oromia, Ethiopia. A total of 767 ixodid ticks collected from
      domestic animals were screened for Borrelia DNA by quantitative (q) real-time PCR
      followed by standard PCR and sequencing to identify the species. Overall, 3.8%
      (29/767) of the tested ticks were positive for Borrelia DNA, including 8/119
      (6.7%) Amblyomma cohaerens, 1/42 (2.4%) Am. gemma, 3/53 (5.7%) Am. variegatum,
      5/22 (22.7%) Amblyomma larvae, 3/60 (5%) Amblyomma nymphs, 2/139 (1.4%)
      Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus, 2/31 (6.4%) Rh. decoloratus nymphs, and
      5/118 (4.2%) Rh. pulchellus using 16S genus-specific qPCR. The prevalence of
      Borrelia DNA was significantly higher in genus Amblyomma (20/298, 6.7%) than in
      the genus Rhipicephalus (9/417, 2.1%) ticks (P=0.001). Sequencing of PCR products
      from the flaB and 16S rRNA genes of Borrelia spp. from Amblyomma ticks showed the
      presence of a new species between the relapsing fever and Lyme disease groups.
      However, Borrelia sp. detected in Rhipicephalus ticks clustered with B.
      theileri/B. lonestari. The human pathogenicity of the Borrelia sp. detected in
      Amblyomma ticks from Ethiopia has not yet been investigated, whereas the Borrelia
      sp. detected in Rhipicephalus ticks in our study is the causative agent of bovine
      borreliosis in cattle and may have veterinary importance in different parts of
      Ethiopia. Furthermore, the detection of previously unrecognized Borrelia species
      in Amblyomma and Rhipicephalus ticks in Ethiopia generates additional questions
      concerning the bacterial fauna in hard ticks and will prompt researchers to
      perform detailed studies for better understanding of ixodid ticks associated
      bacteria. 

PMID- 25843812
TI  - Comparative analysis of the roles of Ixodes persulcatus and I. trianguliceps
      ticks in natural foci of ixodid tick-borne borrelioses in the Middle Urals,
      Russia.
AB  - Long-term studies on natural foci of ixodid tick-borne borrelioses (ITBB) have
      been performed in Chusovskoi district of Perm region, the Middle Urals, where the
      vectors of these infections are represented by two ixodid tick species: the taiga
      tick Ixodes persulcatus and many times less abundant vole tick I. trianguliceps.
      Over 10 years, more than 6000 half-engorged ticks were collected from small
      forest mammals using the standard procedure, and 1027 I. persulcatus and 1142 I.
      trianguliceps ticks, individually or in pools, were used to inoculate BSK-2
      medium. As a result, 199 Borrelia isolates were obtained. Among them, 177
      isolates were identified, and the rrf(5S)-rrl(23S) intergenic spacer sequence was
      determined in 57 isolates. The prevalence of Borrelia infection in I. persulcatus
      larvae and nymphs averaged 31.0 and 53.3%, while that in I. trianguliceps larvae,
      nymphs, and adult ticks was five to ten times lower: 2.6, 10.2, and 8.1%,
      respectively. Each of the two tick species was found to carry both ITBB agents
      circulating in the Middle Ural foci (Borrelia garinii and B. afzelii), but the
      set of genogroups and genovariants of these spirochetes in I. trianguliceps
      proved to be far less diverse. According to the available data, this tick,
      compared to I. persulcatus, is generally less susceptible to Borrelia infection
      (especially by B. afzelii). Taking into account of its relatively low abundance,
      it appears that I. trianguliceps cannot seriously influence the course of
      epizootic process in ITBB foci of the study region, whereas highly abundant I.
      persulcatus with the high level of Borrelia infection is obviously a key
      component of these parasitic systems. A similar situation may well be typical for
      the entire geographic range shared by the two tick species. 

PMID- 25843813
TI  - [C-KIT in gastrointestinal stromal tumors and associated malignancies: A Study in
      a population with genetic isolation].
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are the most common
      mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. Numerous studies have reported
      the association between GIST and other neoplasms. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this
      study was to investigate the possible association between GIST and other tumors
      in a genetically isolated population. METHODS: A retrospective study was
      conducted of patients with GIST between 2002 and 2009 at our center.
      Epidemiological, pathological and family data in patients with GIST alone (group
      A) were compared with those in patients with GIST associated with other neoplasms
      (group B). A possible common genetic mechanism was investigated between GIST and
      associated malignancies by testing the detection of the immunohistochemical
      marker, CD117, in all tumors. RESULTS: Twenty-two patients with GIST were
      identified, 10 in group A (45%) and 12 in group B (55%). In group B, the
      associated tumor was malignant in 6 patients (50%) and benign in another 6 (50%).
      Of the 22 patients with GIST, 8 (36%) had a family history of malignancies. Of
      these 8 patients, 7 (87.5%) were in group B (p=0.03) and 3 (37.5%) showed the
      same pathological type of neoplasm as their relatives. All GIST were positive for
      CD117 whereas associated malignancies were negative for this marker. CONCLUSION:
      We did not find immunohistochemical positivity for CD117 in malignancies
      associated with GIST. Given the special characteristics of the study population,
      the association between GIST and associated malignancies may be incidental.

PMID- 25843814
TI  - Lateral Pharyngeal Wall Tension After Maxillomandibular Advancement for
      Obstructive Sleep Apnea Is a Marker for Surgical Success: Observations From Drug
      Induced Sleep Endoscopy.
AB  - PURPOSE: The efficacy of maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) for obstructive
      sleep apnea (OSA) with anatomic airway changes has previously been studied using
      static imaging and endoscopy in awake subjects. The aim of the present study was
      to use drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) to evaluate the dynamic upper airway
      changes in sleeping subjects before and after MMA and their association with the
      surgical outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of
      subjects with OSA who had undergone MMA at the Stanford University Sleep Surgery
      Division from July 2013 to July 2014. The subjects were included if perioperative
      polysomnography and DISE had been performed. The predictor variable was the
      perioperative DISE velum-oropharynx-tongue-epiglottis score. The outcome
      variables were the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), oxygen-desaturation index (ODI),
      and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). A subgroup analysis was performed for the
      subjects who had undergone primary and secondary MMA. The statistical analyses
      included Cronbach's alpha coefficient, the McNemar test, and the independent
      Student t test. The P value was set at <.01. RESULTS: A total of 16 subjects (15
      males, 1 female) were included in the present study, with an average age of 47 +/
      10.9 years and body mass index of 29.4 +/- 5.1 kg/m(2). Significant post-MMA
      decreases were found in the AHI (from 59.8 +/- 25.6 to 9.3 +/- 7.1 events/hr) and
      ODI (from 45 +/- 29.7 to 5.7 +/- 4.1 events/hr; P < .001). Greater improvement in
      the AHI occurred in the primary MMA group (P = .022). The post-MMA change in
      airway collapse was most significant at the lateral pharyngeal wall (P = .001).
      The subjects with the most improvement in lateral pharyngeal wall collapsibility
      demonstrated the largest changes in the AHI (from 60.0 +/- 25.6 events/hr to 7.5
      +/- 3.4 events/hr) and ODI (from 46.7 +/- 29.8 to 5.3 +/- 2 events/hr; P = .002).
      CONCLUSIONS: Using DISE, we observed that after MMA, the greatest reduction in
      upper airway collapsibility is seen at the lateral pharyngeal wall of the
      oropharynx, followed by the velum, and then the tongue base. The stability of the
      lateral pharyngeal wall is a marker of surgical success after MMA using the AHI,
      ODI, and ESS.

PMID- 25843815
TI  - Topical timolol maleate for superficial infantile hemangiomas: an observational
      study.
AB  - PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to assess the clinical effects and
      safety of topical timolol maleate for the management of superficial infantile
      hemangiomas (IHs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: From October 2012 to March 2014, 35
      infants (24 girls and 11 boys; 2 to 10 months old; median age, 4.7 months) with
      superficial hemangiomas were treated with the local application of timolol
      maleate in the authors' department. Thirty-five lesions were treated using
      topically administrated timolol maleate every 12 hours for a mean duration of 22
      weeks (range, 6 to 45 weeks). Follow-up visits were scheduled monthly and changes
      in tumor size, texture, and color were recorded. Treatment response was scored
      according to a 3-point scale system as good, partial, or no response. Adverse
      effects after medication were evaluated and managed accordingly. RESULTS: All
      patients completed treatment. Of the 35 hemangiomas, 18 (51.4%) showed a good
      response, 10 (31.4%) showed a partial response, and 6 (17.2%) had no response.
      The total response rate was 82.8% (29 of 35). Clinically, no systemic or local
      side effects caused by timolol maleate were observed in the patients.
      CONCLUSIONS: Topical timolol maleate could provide an effective and safe
      alternative to the systemic use of propranolol for the treatment of superficial
      IHs. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of
      topical timolol maleate for the treatment of IHs.

PMID- 25843816
TI  - A randomized clinical trial of the effects of submucosal dexamethasone after
      surgery for mandibular fractures.
AB  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of immediate postoperative submucosal
      dexamethasone administration on postoperative pain, edema, trismus, and
      mandibular functions after open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) for
      mandibular fractures. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a prospective,
      randomized, controlled, double-blind study of 40 patients who required ORIF for
      mandibular fractures under general anesthesia. The patients were divided into 2
      groups, an experimental group (n = 20) who received immediate postoperative
      submucosal 8 mg of dexamethasone through the surgical incision site, and a
      control group (n = 20) who did not receive dexamethasone. Pain was assessed using
      a visual analog scale (VAS) score and the frequency of analgesic consumption at
      the various postoperative intervals. The maximum interincisal distance and facial
      measurements were compared before surgery and at 24, 48, and 72 hours and 7 days
      after surgery. The difficulty in mandibular function after surgery was graded as
      mild, moderate, or severe. RESULTS: The analgesic drugs required 2 hours after
      surgery and the VAS score 72 hours after surgery were significantly less (P <
      .05) in the experimental group than in the control group. The total number of
      diclofenac tablets required by the experimental group was less than that for the
      control group, but the difference was not statistically significant. The control
      group had significantly increased swelling (P < .05) compared with the
      experimental group from preoperatively to 24 hours postoperatively (experimental
      group 0.115 +/- 0.143, control group 0.253 +/- 0.173). No statistically
      significant difference was present in the mouth opening or difficulty in
      mandibular function at the different follow-up intervals between the 2 groups (P
      > .05). CONCLUSION: The results of our study suggest that submucosal
      administration of dexamethasone after ORIF for mandibular fractures is effective
      in reducing postoperative pain and edema.

PMID- 25843817
TI  - Pseudogout in the temporomandibular joint with imaging, arthroscopic, operative,
      and pathologic findings. Report of an unusual case.
AB  - The authors present a case of a 60-year-old woman with a destructive painful
      condition in the right temporomandibular joint (TMJ) that proved to be calcium
      pyrophosphate crystal deposits at subsequent biopsy examination. The patient
      presented with the chief complaints of pain and limitation that had not resolved
      with splint therapy, medications, and habit control. Magnetic resonance imaging
      studies showed internal derangement without reduction. Right TMJ arthroscopy with
      manipulation of the jaw under anesthesia showed unique findings of fronds of
      synovial tissue in the posterior joint space and areas of white matter. Because
      there was no long-term improvement in her clinical symptoms, she subsequently
      underwent arthroplasty of the right joint, with the white material clearly seen
      at surgery, and the biopsy examination confirmed the clinical and arthroscopic
      impression of pseudogout. The presentation, diagnosis, pathology, and treatment
      of pseudogout of the TMJ are discussed. 

PMID- 25843818
TI  - Knowledge, practices, and opinions of ontario dentists when treating patients
      receiving bisphosphonates.
AB  - PURPOSE: Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws (BRONJ) is a severe but
      extremely rare complication of prolonged treatment with bisphosphonates (BPs).
      Improper treatment or misdiagnosis can have serious repercussions. In some cases,
      the treatment of BRONJ can require jaw resection, prolonged use of antibiotics,
      and long hospitalizations. This study aimed to measure the awareness of dentists
      in the Province of Ontario, Canada about BRONJ and to identify any gaps in their
      knowledge of the condition and its treatment. In particular, the study aimed to
      answer questions about the dentists' knowledge of the current guidelines and
      their opinions and practices related to performing surgical dental procedures in
      patients taking BPs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study involved sending a Web
      based questionnaire to a random sample of dentists in Ontario, Canada (n =
      1,579). Information about their awareness of BPs, their experiences treating
      patients presenting with ONJ, their experiences with different surgical
      procedures in patients taking intravenous or oral BPs, and their awareness of the
      BRONJ guidelines suggested by the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial
      Surgeons was collected. RESULTS: A response rate of 30% was achieved. Sixty
      percent of responding dentists had a good knowledge of BP and BRONJ; however,
      only 23% followed the guidelines for surgical treatment of a patient taking BPs,
      and 63% would refer patients if they were taking BPs. Approximately 50% of
      responding Ontario dentists were not comfortable treating patients with BRONJ at
      their current knowledge. CONCLUSION: The finding shows that although 60% of
      Ontario general dentists and specialists have a good knowledge about BRONJ, most
      are not comfortable performing oral surgery in patients taking BPs. Those who are
      comfortable have higher knowledge scores, suggesting greater educational efforts
      should be made to promote the knowledge of dentists regarding BP, ONJ, and BRONJ.

PMID- 25843819
TI  - Renal cell carcinoma metastatic to the tongue: a case report and review of the
      literature.
AB  - Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) metastatic to the head and neck region is quite rare.
      This report describes a case of RCC metastatic to the oral tongue presenting
      initially with a renal mass that evaded diagnosis by biopsy examination of the
      primary lesion and was eventually established as a papillary type RCC by lingual
      biopsy examination. The tongue mass progressed rapidly despite chemotherapy with
      interferon-alpha2b, caused difficulties with oral food intake, and thus
      necessitated removal by partial glossectomy. Treatment alternatives for lingual
      RCC metastasis include surgical resection for major functional impairment, risk
      of airway compromise, or massive hemorrhage. Radiotherapy might be useful and
      should be considered for specific patients. Lingual metastasis from RCC usually
      predicts poor survival. 

PMID- 25843820
TI  - Impact of Perioperative Fluid Administration on Postoperative Morbidity and
      Length of Hospital Stay Following Maxillomandibular Advancement for Obstructive
      Sleep Apnea.
AB  - PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the volume of
      perioperative fluids administered to patients undergoing maxillomandibular
      advancement (MMA) for treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated
      with an increased incidence of postoperative complications and prolonged length
      of hospital stay. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study design was
      implemented and patients undergoing MMA for OSA at the Mayo Clinic were
      identified from 2001 through 2014. The primary predictor variable was the total
      volume of intravenous fluids administered during MMA. The primary outcome
      variable was length of hospital stay in hours. Secondary outcome variables
      included the presence of complications incurred during postoperative
      hospitalization. Additional covariates abstracted included basic demographic
      data, preoperative body mass index, preoperative apnea-hypopnea index,
      preoperative Charlson comorbidity index, preoperative American Society of
      Anesthesiologists score, type of intravenous fluid administered, surgical
      complexity score, duration of anesthesia, duration of surgery, and the use of
      planned intensive care unit admission. Univariate and multivariable models were
      developed to assess associations between the primary predictor variable and
      covariates relative to the primary and secondary outcome variables. RESULTS:
      Eighty-eight patients undergoing MMA for OSA were identified. Total fluid volume
      was significantly associated with increased length of stay (odds ratio [OR] =
      1.34, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-1.71; P = .020) in univariate analysis.
      Total fluid volume did not remain significantly associated with increased length
      of hospital stay in stepwise multivariable modeling. Total fluid volume was
      significantly associated with the presence of postoperative complications (OR =
      1.69; 95% CI, 1.08-2.63; P = .021) in univariate logistic regression. CONCLUSION:
      Fluid administration was not found to be significantly associated with increased
      length of hospital stay after MMA for OSA. Increased fluid administration might
      be associated with the presence of postoperative complications after MMA;
      however, future large multicenter studies will be required to more
      comprehensively assess this association.

PMID- 25843821
TI  - A randomized trial to identify the most effective dose of remifentanil during Le
      Fort I osteotomy.
AB  - PURPOSE: The Le Fort I osteotomy (L-I) requires extensive dissection and
      manipulation of tissue, causing hemodynamic instability and an undesirable
      postoperative stress response. This study aimed to clarify the most effective
      dose of remifentanil during L-I. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was designed
      as a prospective, randomized, controlled double-blinded study. Patients (American
      Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I to II) undergoing L-I were
      randomly assigned to receive anesthesia with propofol and remifentanil under 3
      remifentanil dose conditions: 0.25 MUg/kg/minute (group 1), 0.5 MUg/kg/minute
      (group 2), and 0.75 MUg/kg/minute (group 3). All patients underwent L-I with
      propofol and remifentanil target-controlled anesthesia. The study endpoints were
      mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate. Data were recorded before L-I (20
      minute period before surgery), during L-I (from the beginning of surgery to
      downfracture), and after L-I (20-minute period after downfracture). Average age,
      gender, average body mass index, aimed maxillary position, average bispectral
      index, average surgery time, and average blood loss also were examined. Data were
      analyzed using the Bartlett test and then 1-way analysis of variance with the
      Bonferroni multiple comparison test. RESULTS: Data were obtained from 20 patients
      (9 men, 11 women). The average operating times for groups 1, 2, and 3 were 53.1,
      46.7, and 49 minutes, respectively. The age range was 18 to 46 years (average,
      26.05 yr). The rate of MAP increase from before to during L-I in group 1 was
      10.8% (n = 7). The rate of MAP increase from before to during L-I in group 3 was
      2.1% (n = 6). Group 3 showed a significantly lower rate of MAP increase during
      and after L-I compared with group 1 (P < .05). CONCLUSION: Remifentanil
      administration at 0.75 MUg/kg/minute stabilized hemodynamics during L-I without
      major side effects. Results indicated that the standard index of remifentanil
      administration during L-I should be 0.75 MUg/kg/minute when using oxygen,
      propofol, and remifentanil for general anesthesia.

PMID- 25843822
TI  - Watershed-scale assessment of oil palm cultivation impact on water quality and
      nutrient fluxes: a case study in Sumatra (Indonesia).
AB  - High fertilizer input is necessary to sustain high yields in oil palm
      agroecosystems, but it may endanger neighboring aquatic ecosystems when excess
      nutrients are transported to waterways. In this study, the hydrochemical dynamics
      of groundwater and streams under baseflow conditions were evaluated with bi
      monthly measurements for 1 year on 16 watersheds. Hydrochemical measurements were
      related to the spatial distribution of soil and fertilization practices across a
      landscape of 100 km(2), dominated by oil palm cultivation, in Central Sumatra,
      Indonesia. The low nutrient concentrations recorded in streams throughout the
      landscape indicated that the mature oil palm plantations in this study did not
      contribute to eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems. This was ascribed to high
      nutrient uptake by oil palm, a rational fertilizer program, and dilution of
      nutrient concentrations due to heavy rainfall in the study area. Soil type
      controlled dissolved inorganic N and total P fluxes, with greater losses of N and
      P from loamy-sand uplands than loamy lowlands. Organic fertilization helped to
      reduce nutrient fluxes compared to mineral fertilizers. However, when K inputs
      exceeded the oil palm requirement threshold, high K export occurred during
      periods when groundwater had a short residence time. For higher nutrient use
      efficiency in the long term, the field-scale fertilizer management should be
      complemented with a landscape-scale strategy of fertilizer applications that
      accounts for soil variability. 

PMID- 25843823
TI  - Effects of hydrodynamic conditions on the sorption behaviors of aniline on
      sediment with coexistence of nitrobenzene.
AB  - The sorption behaviors of pollutants affected by hydrodynamic conditions were
      confirmed in natural water environment. The effects of hydrodynamic conditions on
      the sorption behaviors of aniline on sediment with coexistence of nitrobenzene
      were investigated. The particle entrainment simulator (PES) was used to simulate
      varied bottom shear stresses. The batch equilibrium method was applied to the
      experiments with the stress levels and the action time controlled at 0.2-0.5
      N/m(2) and 24 h, respectively. The findings indicated that apparent partition
      coefficient of aniline on sediment increased with the shear stress significantly,
      while decreased with nitrobenzene concentration. On the contrary, both the
      sorption amount of aniline on suspended particulate matter (Q s) and the effect
      of nitrobenzene concentration on Q s declined as the shear stress increased. The
      sorption kinetic results showed that the sorption process followed the pseudo
      second-order kinetics equation, and the process included two stages: fast
      sorption stage and slow sorption stage, among which the average sorption rate of
      fast stage was 7.5-9.5 times that of slow one. The effect of shear stress on the
      average sorption rate of aniline was enhanced with the increase of nitrobenzene
      concentration. And shear stress weakened the disturbance of cosolute on main
      solute sorption process. In addition, experiment results of sorption kinetic show
      that only the initial sorption rate was affected by shear stress and cosolute
      concentration. In the first 5 min, shear stress had positive effects on the
      sorption rate. After that, the sorption rate barely changed with shear stress and
      cosolute concentration.

PMID- 25843824
TI  - Multi-component adsorption of copper, nickel and zinc from aqueous solutions onto
      activated carbon prepared from date stones.
AB  - The removal of Cu(2+), Ni(2+), and Zn(2+) ions from their multi-component aqueous
      mixture by sorption on activated carbon prepared from date stones was
      investigated. In the batch tests, experimental parameters were studied, including
      solution pH, contact time, initial metal ions concentration, and temperature.
      Adsorption efficiency of the heavy metals was pH-dependent and the maximum
      adsorption was found to occur at around 5.5 for Cu, Zn, and Ni. The maximum
      sorption capacities calculated by applying the Langmuir isotherm were 18.68 mg/g
      for Cu, 16.12 mg/g for Ni, and 12.19 mg/g for Zn. The competitive adsorption
      studies showed that the adsorption affinity order of the three heavy metals was
      Cu(2+) > Ni(2+) > Zn(2+). The test results using real wastewater indicated that
      the prepared activated carbon could be used as a cheap adsorbent for the removal
      of heavy metals in aqueous solutions. 

PMID- 25843825
TI  - Bioaccumulation, morphological changes, and induction of metallothionein gene
      expression in the digestive system of the freshwater crab Sinopotamon henanense
      after exposure to cadmium.
AB  - To study the responses of digestive system of the freshwater crab Sinopotamon
      henanense to the exposure with cadmium (Cd), crabs were acutely exposed to 7.25,
      14.50, and 29.00 mg/l Cd for 96 h and subchronically exposed to 0.725, 1.450, and
      2.900 mg/l for 21 days. Cd bioaccumulation in the hepatopancreas and digestive
      tract (esophagus and intestine) was examined. Furthermore, histopathological
      alterations of the esophagus, midgut, hindgut, and hepatopancreas were assessed
      in animals from the 29.0 and 2.90 mg/l Cd treatment groups, and expression of
      metallothionein messenger RNA (MT mRNA) in the hepatopancreas and intestine was
      measured in all treatment groups. The results showed difference in the middle and
      high concentrations between acute and subchronic treatment groups. Cd content in
      digestive tract after acute 14.5 and 29.0 mg/l Cd exposure was significantly
      higher than that at subchronic 1.45 and 2.90 mg/l exposure, but Cd levels in
      hepatopancreas were not significantly different under the same condition. Acute
      exposure to Cd induced greater morphological damage than subchronic exposure:
      large areas of epithelial cells were necrotic in hepatopancreas and midgut, which
      detached from the basal lamina. Vacuolated muscle cells were observed in the
      hindgut of animals from the acute exposure group, but the changes of esophageal
      morphology were not obvious after acute or subchronic treatments. The expression
      of MT mRNA increased with increasing Cd concentration, and MT mRNA level in acute
      exposure groups was significantly lower when compared to the subchronic exposure
      groups. Higher Cd content and lower MT mRNA expression in the acutely exposed
      groups may be responsible for more severe damage of digestive system in these
      exposure groups.

PMID- 25843826
TI  - Combination of ozonation, activated carbon, and biological aerated filter for
      advanced treatment of dyeing wastewater for reuse.
AB  - Laboratorial scale experiments were performed to investigate and evaluate the
      performance and removal characteristics of organics, color, and genotoxicity by
      an integrated process including ozonation, activated carbon (AC), and biological
      aerated filter (BAF) for recycling biotreated dyeing wastewater (BTDW) collected
      from a cotton textile factory. Influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the range
      of 156 - 252 mg/L, 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) of 13.5 - 21.7 mg/L,
      and color of 58 - 76 degrees  were observed during the 20-day continuous
      operation. Outflows with average COD of 43 mg/L, BOD5 of 6.6 mg/L, and color of
      5.6 degrees  were obtained after being decontaminated by the hybrid system with
      ozone dosage of 0.25 mg O3applied/mg COD0, 40 min ozonation contact time, 30 min
      hydraulic retention time (HRT) for AC treatment, and 2.5 h HRT for BAF treatment.
      More than 82 % of the genotoxicity of BTDW was eliminated in the ozonation unit.
      The genotoxicity of the BAF effluent was less than 1.33 MUg 4-nitroquinoline-N
      oxide/L. Ozonation could change the organics molecular structures, destroy
      chromophores, increase the biodegradability, and obviously reduce the
      genotoxicity of BTDW. Results showed that the combined process could guarantee
      water reuse with high quality. 

PMID- 25843827
TI  - Health literacy in Europe: comparative results of the European health literacy
      survey (HLS-EU).
AB  - BACKGROUND: Health literacy concerns the capacities of people to meet the complex
      demands of health in modern society. In spite of the growing attention for the
      concept among European health policymakers, researchers and practitioners,
      information about the status of health literacy in Europe remains scarce. This
      article presents selected findings from the first European comparative survey on
      health literacy in populations. M ETHODS: The European health literacy survey
      (HLS-EU) was conducted in eight countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece,
      Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain (n = 1000 per country, n = 8000 total
      sample). Data collection was based on Eurobarometer standards and the
      implementation of the HLS-EU-Q (questionnaire) in computer-assisted or paper
      assisted personal interviews. R ESULTS: The HLS-EU-Q constructed four levels of
      health literacy: insufficient, problematic, sufficient and excellent. At least 1
      in 10 (12%) respondents showed insufficient health literacy and almost 1 in 2
      (47%) had limited (insufficient or problematic) health literacy. However, the
      distribution of levels differed substantially across countries (29-62%).
      Subgroups within the population, defined by financial deprivation, low social
      status, low education or old age, had higher proportions of people with limited
      health literacy, suggesting the presence of a social gradient which was also
      confirmed by raw bivariate correlations and a multivariate linear regression
      model. DISCUSSION: Limited health literacy represents an important challenge for
      health policies and practices across Europe, but to a different degree for
      different countries. The social gradient in health literacy must be taken into
      account when developing public health strategies to improve health equity in
      Europe.

PMID- 25843828
TI  - Interactions between kappa-carrageenan and some surfactants in the bulk solution
      and at the surface of alumina.
AB  - The interactions between surfactants (SDS, CTAB, TX-100 or their equimolar
      mixtures) and kappa-carrageenan (Carr) in the bulk solution and at the surface of
      alumina were determined using the surface tension and the spectrophotometric
      adsorption measurements. The obtained results show that Carr has the ability to
      create the multilayer complexes with CTAB, TX-100 and the equimolar mixtures of
      surfactants (CTAB/TX-100), but does not interact with SDS. The created complexes
      are electrostatic (with CTAB) or they are of different mechanisms such as the
      hydrogen bonding or the acid-base interactions (with TX-100). The electrokinetic
      measurements (the surface charge density and the zeta potential) allow to analyze
      the structure of the adsorption layer: polymer/surfactant/metal oxide. It turned
      out that the macromolecules of Carr are directly bonded to the surface whereas
      the surfactants are present in the upper parts of the electrical double layer. 

PMID- 25843829
TI  - Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory levan produced from Acetobacter xylinum
      NCIM2526 and its statistical optimization.
AB  - Levan is a homopolymer of fructose naturally obtained from both the plants and
      microorganisms. Along with the general properties of a biopolymer like bio
      compatibility, bio-degradability, renewability, flexibility, and eco
      friendliness, levan also offers some important biomedical properties such as anti
      oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, anti-AIDS and hyperglycaemic
      inhibitor. In this study, we have demonstrated the microbial production of
      therapeutically potential levan by batch fermentation process in sucrose rich
      medium using Acetobacter xylinum NCIM 2526. The produced Levan was characterized
      using various physicochemical techniques such as FTIR, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR
      spectroscopy, TGA and HPLC. The biomedical potential of the isolated A. xylinum
      levan for its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities was exploited in
      vitro. Further the present study also focused on the optimization of levan
      production using one factor at a time approach followed by a statistical method,
      central composite design (CCD) with selected variables. The yield of levan was
      increased significantly from 0.54 to 13.25g/L with the optimized variables. 

PMID- 25843830
TI  - Structural characterization of hemicelluloses and topochemical changes in
      Eucalyptus cell wall during alkali ethanol treatment.
AB  - Eucalyptus was sequentially extracted with 70% ethanol containing 0.4, 1.0, 2.0,
      3.0, and 5.0% NaOH for 2h at 80 degrees C. The chemical composition and
      structural features of the hemicellulosic fractions obtained were comparatively
      characterized by the combination of high-performance anion-exchange
      chromatography, gel permeation chromatography, Fourier transform infrared, and
      nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies. Furthermore, the main component
      distribution and their changes in cell wall were investigated by confocal Raman
      microscopy. Based on the Fourier transform infrared and nuclear magnetic
      resonance analyses, the hemicelluloses extracted from Eucalyptus mainly have a
      linear backbone of (1->4)-linked-beta-d-xylopyranosyl residues decorated with
      branch at O-2 of 4-O-methyl-alpha-glucuronic acid unit. Raman analysis revealed
      that the dissolution of hemicelluloses was different in the morphological
      regions, and the hemicelluloses released mainly originated from the secondary
      wall. The information obtained from the study conducted by combining chemical
      characterization with ultrastructure provides important basis for studying the
      mechanism of the alkali treatment. 

PMID- 25843831
TI  - Physical properties of emulsion-based hydroxypropyl methylcellulose/whey protein
      isolate (HPMC/WPI) edible films.
AB  - The objective of this research was to study the effect of the film microstructure
      of oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose/whey
      protein isolate (HPMC/WPI) with or without sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) over
      physical properties of HPMC/WPI emulsion-based films. The films were prepared
      with different HPMC/WPI-oil-SDS combinations (%w/w for 100g of dispersion): HPMC;
      WPI; HPMC/1WPI-0.5-SDS; HPMC/1WPI-1; HPMC/2WPI-0.5; HPMC/2WPI-1-SDS. Physical
      properties of films were evaluated. The results showed no statistical differences
      (p>0.05) between the thicknesses of EFs (0.156 +/- 0.004 mm). The effect of oil
      content and incorporation of SDS showed the inverse trend for WI and DeltaE, the
      increasing order of change, for WI and DeltaE, among the formulation evaluated
      was: HPMC/1WPI-1>HPMC/2WPI-0.5>HPMC/2WPI-1.0-SDS~HPMC/1WPI-0.5-SDS~WPI>HPMC for
      WI and HPMC/1WPI-0.5-SDS>HPMC/2WPI-1.0-SDS>HPMC/2WPI-0.5>HPMC/1WPI-1 for DeltaE,
      respectively. The addition of oil and SDS decreased the TS and EB, because oil
      addition into EF induces the development of structural discontinuities, producing
      an EF with less chain mobility, and consequently, with less flexibility and
      resistance to fracture.

PMID- 25843832
TI  - Chitosan/bioactive glass nanoparticles scaffolds with shape memory properties.
AB  - We propose a combination of chitosan (CHT) with bioactive glass nanoparticles (BG
      NPs) in order to produce CHT/BG-NPs scaffolds that combine the shape memory
      properties of chitosan and the biomineralization ability of BG-NPs for
      applications in bone regeneration. The addition of BG-NPs prepared by a sol-gel
      route to the CHT polymeric matrix improved the bioactivity of the nanocomposite
      scaffold, as seen by the precipitation of bone-like apatite layer upon immersion
      in simulated body fluid (SBF). Shape memory tests were carried out while the
      samples were immersed in varying compositions of water/ethanol mixtures.
      Dehydration with ethanol enables to fix a temporary shape of a deformed scaffold
      that recovers the initial geometry upon water uptake. The scaffolds present good
      shape memory properties characterized by a recovery ratio of 87.5% for CHT and
      89.9% for CHT/BG-NPs and a fixity ratio of 97.2% for CHT and 98.2% for CHT/BG-NPs
      (for 30% compressive deformation). The applicability of such structures was
      demonstrated by a good geometrical accommodation of a previously compressed
      scaffold in a bone defect. The results indicate that the developed CHT/BG-NPs
      nanocomposite scaffolds have potential for being applied in bone tissue
      engineering. 

PMID- 25843833
TI  - (1)H NMR and (1)H-(13)C HSQC surface characterization of chitosan-chitin sheath
      core nanowhiskers.
AB  - Surface deacetylation of chitin nanowhiskers (CtNWs) to chitosan-sheath/chitin
      core nanowhiskers (CsNWs) was successfully monitored by liquid-state high
      resolution NMR of colloidal suspensions of these never-dried nanowhiskers. CtNWs
      were derived from acid hydrolysis (3N HCl, 30mL/g, 90min, 104 degrees C) of
      chitin at 65% yield and 86% CrI. Deacetylation (50% NaOH, 48h, 50 degrees C) of
      CtNWs generated CsNWs with unchanged nanowhisker morphology and overall length
      and width dimensions, but a reduced CrI of 54%. Successful step-wise exchanging
      the aqueous media with acetone, then D2O prevented agglomeration of nanowhiskers
      and enabled NMR detection of individual nanowhiskers. The crystalline structure
      of CtNWs and CsNWs provided different chemical environments for the glucosamine
      hydrogen atom H2, splitting the NMR signals into 2 peaks (delta 3.0 and delta
      3.35ppm) which differed from that reported for soluble chitosan (delta 3.2ppm).
      Besides, (1)H-(13)C HSQC was only possible for CsNWs indicating the NMR
      phenomenon observed to represent that of the surfaces where the outer layers were
      highly mobile and less crystalline. The degree of acetylation at the surfaces was
      determined from (1)H NMR data to be 56% and 9% for CtNWs and CsNWs, respectively.

PMID- 25843834
TI  - Preparation and application of micro/nanoparticles based on natural
      polysaccharides.
AB  - Polysaccharides have attracted more and more attentions and been recognized to be
      the most promising materials in recent years because of their outstanding merits
      such as easily available, non-toxic, biocompatible, biodegradable, and easily
      modified. Considerable research efforts have been directed toward developing
      polysaccharides-based micro/nanoparticles (PM/NPs). The new major studies of
      PM/NPs over the past few years are outlined in this review. Methods of
      preparation, including self-assembly, ionic-gelation, complex coacervation,
      emulsification, and desolvation method and some others, are summarized. Different
      applications of PM/NPs in the field of drug-delivery system are highlighted.
      Besides, another novel application of PM/NPs that are used as emulsifiers to
      stabilize Pickering emulsion is also introduced. These environmental-friendly
      particle emulsifiers have received reasonable attention due to their novel
      applications, especially in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutics. From literature
      surveys, we realized that studies on PM/NP systems for different applications
      have increased rapidly. Hence, the present review is timely. 

PMID- 25843835
TI  - Microwave-assisted extraction of pectic polysaccharide from waste mango peel.
AB  - This present study investigates the extraction characteristics and optimal
      parameters of the microwave-assisted extraction of pectin from waste mango peel
      (WMP). Microwave power, pH, time and solid-liquid ratio were selected as the
      extraction parameters and was studied by using Box-Behnken response surface
      design. The experimental data was analyzed by least square regression analysis
      method and a second order polynomial model was constructed for response from the
      experimental data. The constructed model was adequate to explain the
      relationships between independent variables and response. All studied factors had
      great influence on the yield of pectin by individually and interactively. The
      optimum microwave assisted extraction conditions for the highest pectin yield
      (28.86%) from WMP was found to be: microwave power of 413W, pH of 2.7, time of
      134s and solid-liquid ratio of 1:18g/ml. The experimental value was well
      correlated with predicted value at the optimal condition. 

PMID- 25843836
TI  - Self-assembly and emulsification of dopamine-modified hyaluronan.
AB  - Dopamine modified hyaluronan (HA-DOPA) with different grafting degree were
      synthesized and self-assembled into nanoparticles. The effects of pH and salinity
      changes on the structure of the HA-DOPA nanoparticles were investigated.
      Nanoparticles swelled under increased pH values, and disassociation started at pH
      values above 6.20. At a fixed pH of 6.20, the size of the nanoparticles decreased
      with increased salinity, and flocculation occurred when the salt concentration
      was higher than 0.3M. The emulsification performance of HA-DOPA nanoparticles at
      different pH values and salt concentrations demonstrated that nanoparticles with
      moderately swollen structures possess better emulsifying efficiency and emulsion
      stability. Additionally, HA-DOPA nanoparticles were able to stabilize various
      types of oils. These results suggest that HA-DOPA nanoparticles have promising
      potential as Pickering emulsifiers for applications in the cosmetics, medical,
      and food industries. 

PMID- 25843837
TI  - The effect of fibre and gelatinised starch type on amylolysis and apparent
      viscosity during in vitro digestion at a physiological shear rate.
AB  - An in vitro system was used to determine if the addition of insoluble or soluble
      fibre to aqueous suspensions of gelatinised starch affected the rate at which the
      starch was digested. Pre-gelatinised potato or corn starch suspensions were
      digested with porcine pancreatic amylase in the presence of either finely milled
      insoluble fibres from various sources or with guar gum. In vitro digestion was
      conducted at 37 degrees C in a rheometer at a low and constant shear rate of 10s(
      1) and the quantity of glucose released measured. The rates of starch digestion
      and suspension viscosity declined asymptotically and were unaffected by the
      addition of wheat fibre, but were considerably reduced by the addition of wood
      and AllBran((r)) fibre and to a much greater extent (60%) by the addition of
      guar. The latter effect may be due to inhibition of amylase activity by non
      starch polysaccharide sequences. 

PMID- 25843838
TI  - Chitosan/organic rectorite composite for the magnetic uptake of methylene blue
      and methyl orange.
AB  - In this study, magnetic particles were prepared using organic rectorite as a
      carrier, and then a novel magnetic adsorbent named chitosan/organic rectorite
      Fe3O4 intercalated composite microspheres (CS/Mt-OREC microspheres) was
      synthesized. The microspheres were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, TEM, SEM and VSM.
      The effects of adsorbent dosage, initial pH, contact time, temperatures, initial
      concentrations of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) were studied. The
      adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics, and the intra
      particle diffusion was one but not the only rate-limiting step. The adsorption
      equilibrium data can be well described by Langmuir model. Thermodynamic
      parameters such as DeltaG, DeltaH, and DeltaS were estimated to understand the
      adsorption mechanism of dyes. Moreover, CS/Mt-OREC microspheres were successfully
      regenerated using NaOH and HCl, and could be easily separated from aqueous
      solution in magnetic field. 

PMID- 25843839
TI  - Mechanical and thermal properties of Posidonia oceanica cellulose nanocrystal
      reinforced polymer.
AB  - In the present study, cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were isolated from Posidonia
      oceanica balls and leaves. CNC was prepared from this marine biomass by sulfuric
      acid hydrolysis (H2SO4) treatment. The raw fibers were firstly isolated by a
      delignification-bleaching process then the acid hydrolysis treatment was
      performed at 55 degrees C during 40min under mechanical stirring. The ensuing
      CNCs were characterized by their morphological and thermal properties using
      transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA),
      respectively. Nanocomposite materials using the CNC extracted from marine biomass
      were obtained by casting and evaporating a mixture of this suspension with
      poly(styrene-co-butyl acrylate). The effect of CNC loading on mechanical and
      thermal properties was studied. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results showed
      a strong reinforcing effect of CNC that depends on their origin (balls or
      leaves). The difference was attributed not only to differences in the aspect
      ratio of CNC but also to the stiffness of the percolating network of
      nanoparticles. 

PMID- 25843840
TI  - Effect of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) on rheological and mechanical properties
      and crystallization behavior of PLA/CNC nanocomposites.
AB  - In earlier work, we reported that spray freeze drying of cellulose nanocrystals
      (CNC) yields porous agglomerate structures. On the other hand, the conventional
      spray dried CNC (CNCSD) and the freeze dried CNC (CNCFD) produce compact solid
      structures with very low porosity. As it is rather difficult to obtain direct
      microscopic evidence of the quality of dispersion of CNC in polymer
      nanocomposites, it was shown that supporting evidence of the quality and
      influence of dispersion in a polypropylene (PP)/CNC nanocomposite could be
      obtained by studying the rheological behavior, mechanical properties and
      crystallization characteristics of PP/CNC nanocomposites. In an effort to produce
      a sustainable, fully biosourced, biodegradable nanocomposite, this manuscript
      presents the results of a study of the rheological, mechanical and
      crystallization behavior of PLA/CNCSFD nanocomposites obtained by melt
      processing. The results are analyzed to determine CNC network formation,
      rheological percolation threshold concentrations, mechanical properties in the
      rubbery and glassy states, and the effect of CNCSFD on crystalline nucleation and
      crystallization rates of PLA. These results suggest that the porosity and network
      structure of CNCSFD agglomerates contribute significantly to good dispersion of
      CNC in the PLA matrix. 

PMID- 25843841
TI  - The supramolecular structure of LPS-chitosan complexes of varied composition in
      relation to their biological activity.
AB  - The complexes of chitosan (Ch) with lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) from Escherichia
      coli O55:B5 (E-LPS) and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis 1B 598 (Y-LPS) of various
      weight compositions were investigated using quasi-elastic light scattering, zeta
      potential distribution assay and atomic force microscopy. The alteration of zeta
      potential of E-LPS-Ch complexes from negative to positive values depending on Ch
      content was detected. The Y-LPS-Ch complexes had similar positive zeta-potentials
      regardless of Ch content. The transformation of the supramolecular structure of E
      LPS after binding with to Ch was revealed. Screening of E-LPS and Y-LPS particles
      by Ch in the complexes with high polycation was detected. The ability of LPS-Ch
      complex to induce biosynthesis of TNF-alpha and reactive oxygen species in
      stimulated human mononuclear cells was studied. A significant decrease in
      activity complexes compared to that of the initial LPS was observed only for E
      LPS-Ch complexes. 

PMID- 25843842
TI  - Small-angle X-ray scattering study on pectin-chitosan mixed solutions and
      thermoreversible gels.
AB  - Hot solutions containing pectin and chitosan with pectin weight fraction of 0.75,
      in acidic pH, demonstrate gelation occurring upon cooling to room temperature.
      This study explores the origin of this gelation using small angle X-ray
      scattering (SAXS) as the main experimental tool. Modeling SAXS patterns revealed
      rigid rod conformation in chitosan solutions, whereas pectin formed a self
      avoiding chain. In addition, nanometric aggregates were detected in pectin
      solutions. Pectin and chitosan in mixed solutions adopted a similar semiflexible
      conformation. The only sample that created a visually stable gel displayed a
      different pattern, characteristic to polymers gels. Manipulating the composition
      by adding urea and salts highlighted the important role of hydrogen bonding,
      which governs the gelation mechanism. Nevertheless, electrostatic interactions
      were also found to take part in the gelation. To the best of our knowledge, this
      is the first comprehensive and systematic SAXS study on these pectin-chitosan
      mixtures. 

PMID- 25843843
TI  - (13)C and (15)N solid-state NMR studies on albendazole and cyclodextrin
      albendazole complexes.
AB  - (13)C and (15)N solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra were
      recorded from albendazole (ABZ) and from ABZ:beta-cyclodextrin, ABZ:methyl-beta
      cyclodextrin, ABZ:hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin and ABZ:citrate-beta
      cyclodextrin, which were prepared by the spray-drying technique. ABZ signals were
      typical of a crystalline solid for the pure drug and of an amorphous compound
      obtained from ABZ:cyclodextrin samples. Relevant spectral differences were
      correlated with chemical interaction between ABZ and cyclodextrins. The number
      and type of complexes revealed a strong dependence on the cyclodextrin group
      substituent. Solid-state NMR data were consistent with the presence of stable
      inclusion complexes. 

PMID- 25843844
TI  - Probing hydrogen bond interactions in a shear thickening polysaccharide using
      nonlinear shear and extensional rheology.
AB  - Mamaku gum is a polysaccharide extracted from the fronds of the black tree fern
      found in New Zealand. The cooked pith has traditionally been used for various
      medicinal purposes and as a food source by the Maori people of New Zealand. It
      has potential applications as a thickener in the food industry and as a
      palliative for patients with dysphagia. Studies on the shear rheology of Mamaku
      gum have revealed that the gum exhibits shear thickening at a critical shear rate
      due to a transition from intra- to inter-molecular chain interactions upon shear
      induced chain elongation. In this paper, we demonstrate that these interactions
      are primarily due to hydrogen bonding. We perform extensional rheology on
      mixtures of Mamaku gum and urea (a known disruptor of hydrogen bonds) to quantify
      the nature of these interactions. Capillary Breakup Extensional Rheometry (CaBER)
      performed on the pure Mamaku gum solutions yield plateau values of the Trouton
      ratio as high as ~10(4), showing that the viscoelasticity of the gum in uniaxial
      elongation is much higher than in shear. For all Mamaku concentrations tested,
      the extensional viscosity decreases upon increasing urea concentration.
      Furthermore, the relaxation time decreases exponentially with increasing urea
      concentration. This exponential relationship is independent of the Mamaku
      concentration, and is identical to the relationships between urea concentration
      and characteristic timescales measured in nonlinear shear rheology. We show using
      the sticky reptation model for polymers with multiple sticker groups along the
      backbone how such a relationship is consistent with a linear decrease in the free
      energy for hydrogen bond dissociation. We then demonstrate that a time
      concentration superposition principle can be used to collapse the viscoelastic
      properties of the Mamaku-gum/urea mixtures.

PMID- 25843845
TI  - Work of adhesion between mucin macromolecule and calcium-alginate gels on
      molecular level.
AB  - The bioadhesion of biopolymers to mucus layers is of great interest for the
      development of drug delivery systems. Herein we use AFM force measurements to
      evaluate the interaction on molecular level between a mucin macromolecule
      attached to an AFM tip and a calcium-alginate gel layer. The total work of
      adhesion is measured from the AFM force curves depending on different parameters:
      time of contact, G/M ratio of the alginate, and crosslink ratio of the gel. The
      total work of adhesion is found to be in the range of 1*10(-19) to 6*10(-18)J.
      The results show that the work of adhesion increases with the time of contact but
      it is independent from the molecular mass of the alginate, the G/M ratio of the
      alginate and crosslink ratio of the gel. 

PMID- 25843846
TI  - Fabrication of cellulose-based aerogels from waste newspaper without any
      pretreatment and their use for absorbents.
AB  - Cellulose-based aerogel (CBA) was prepared from waste newspaper (WNP) without any
      pretreatment using 1-allyl-3-methyimidazolium chloride (AmImCl) as a solvent via
      regeneration and an environmentally friendly freeze-drying method. After being
      treated with trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) via a simple thermal chemical vapor
      deposition process, the resulting CBAs were rendered both hydrophobic and
      oleophilic. Successful silanization on the surface of the porous CBA was verified
      by a variety of techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy
      dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and water contact angle (WCA) measurements. As a
      result, the silane-coated, interconnected CBAs not only exhibited good absorption
      performance for oils (e.g., waste engine oil), but also showed absorption
      capacity for organic solvents such as chloroform (with a representative weight
      gain ranging from 11 to 22 times of their own dry weight), making them
      diversified absorbents for potential applications including sewage purification. 

PMID- 25843847
TI  - Adsorption of polyethylene glycol (PEG) onto cellulose nano-crystals to improve
      its dispersity.
AB  - In this work, the adsorption of polyethylene glycol (PEG) onto cellulose nano
      crystals (CNC) was investigated for preparing re-dispersible dried CNC. Results
      showed that the re-dispersity of CNC in water can be significantly enhanced using
      a PEG1000 dosage of 5wt% (based on the dry weight of CNC). The elemental analysis
      confirmed the adsorption of PEG onto the CNC surface. Transmission electron
      microscopy (TEM) was used to characterize the dry powder and indicated that the
      irreversible agglomeration of CNC after drying was essentially eliminated based
      on the PEG adsorption concept. Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray
      diffraction (XRD) suggested that CNC crystallinity and thermal stability were not
      affected by the adsorption of PEG. Thus, the adsorption of PEG has great
      potential for producing re-dispersible powder CNC. 

PMID- 25843848
TI  - Preparation and characterization of self-photostabilizing UV-durable
      bionanocomposite membranes for outdoor applications.
AB  - Here, we report a durable and ultraviolet (UV) resistant nanocomposite membrane
      of chitosan (CS) with effective photostabilization ascribed to Zinc oxide (ZnO)
      nanoparticles. Zinc oxide nanoparticles were successfully dispersed in the
      solution of chitosan polymer. The nanocomposite films with the homogenous
      dispersion of ZnO nanoparticles in the chitosan matrix were obtained by solution
      casting method and the influence of ZnO nanoparticles as a photostabilizer was
      studied. The nanocomposite membranes were photoirradiated by polychromatic
      radiations with lambda>300nm using mercury vapour lamps in SEPAP instrument. The
      resulting nanocomposite material exhibited excellent UV-resistance in very low
      percentages of ZnO nanoparticles. The chitosan membranes showed fast degradation
      attributes than the nanocomposite membranes. ZnO nanoparticles effectively
      absorbed UV radiations, thus protecting polymer from radiation degradation. The
      neat and irradiated nanocomposites of chitosan and ZnO nanoparticles (CS/ZnO)
      were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR)
      spectroscopy for the chemical changes/degradation taking place. Chitosan
      nanocomposites were further characterized for tensile properties, contact angle
      measurements and surface morphology. 

PMID- 25843849
TI  - Activation of corn cellulose with alcohols to improve its dissolvability in
      fabricating ultrafine fibers via electrospinning.
AB  - Water and four small molecular alcohols are respectively used to activate corn
      cellulose (CN cellulose) with the aim to improve the dissolvability in DMAc/LiCl.
      Among all these activated agents, monohydric alcohols are found to produce the
      optimal effect of activation in the whole process including of activating,
      dissolving, and electrospinning of CN cellulose. Meanwhile, well distributed
      fibers with the diameter of 500nm-2MUm are fabricated in electrospinning.
      Understanding the activation effect of monohydric alcohols with water and
      polyhydric alcohols, the most effective activated agent is ascertained with the
      characteristics of small molecular size, low viscosity, and single functionality.
      This work is definitely initiated to understand the critical principle of CN
      cellulose in dissolving. Accordingly, a feasible methodology is also established
      to prepare ultrafine cellulose fibers with good morphology in electrospinning. 

PMID- 25843850
TI  - Pullulan-based composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering: Improved
      osteoconductivity by pore wall mineralization.
AB  - Porous hydrogels have been explored for bone tissue engineering; however their
      poor mechanical properties make them less suitable as bone graft substitutes.
      Since incorporation of fillers is a well-accepted method for improving mechanical
      properties of hydrogels, in this work pullulan hydrogels were reinforced with
      nano-crystalline hydroxyapatite (nHAp) (5 wt% nHAp in hydrogel) and poly(3
      hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) fibers (3 wt% fibers in hydrogel) containing nHAp (3 wt%
      nHAp in fibers). Addition of these fillers to pullulan hydrogel improved
      compressive modulus of the scaffold by 10 fold. However, the hydrophilicity of
      pullulan did not support adhesion and spreading of cells. To overcome this
      limitation, porous composite scaffolds were modified using a double diffusion
      method that enabled deposition of hydroxyapatite on pore walls. This method
      resulted in rapid and uniform coating of HAp throughout the three-dimensional
      scaffolds which not only rendered them osteoconductive in vitro but also led to
      an improvement in their compressive modulus. These results demonstrate the
      potential of mineralized pullulan-based composite scaffolds in non-load bearing
      bone tissue engineering. 

PMID- 25843851
TI  - Pullulan and pullulan derivatives as promising biomolecules for drug and gene
      targeting.
AB  - Pullulan is a water soluble exo-polysaccharide produced by yeast like fungus
      Aureobasidium pullulans. Pullulan structure have a unique characteristic i.e. co
      existence of alpha-(1->4) and alpha-(1->6) linkages. Pullulan nanoparticle
      consists of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic characteristics which are due to its
      unique structure. It can be derivatized via various chemical reactions to
      increase its utility in the field of pharmaceuticals. Although, various drugs
      have the potential to become powerful therapeutic medicines, but their safe and
      targeted delivery to a specific site is a major challenge and rapidly growing
      area of research. Pullulan-drug conjugates can target infected cells/tissues and
      exhibit high bioactivity with the release of cytotoxic molecules. The pullulan
      conjugates can be used for targeted drug delivery as well as targeted gene
      delivery for the treatment of various diseases in liver, lungs, brain, spleen,
      etc. In this review, the applications of pullulan and its derivatives in drug and
      gene targeting are described. 

PMID- 25843852
TI  - Improving surface and mechanical properties of alginate films by using ethanol as
      a co-solvent during external gelation.
AB  - Alginate films were prepared by solution casting method and further ionically
      crosslinked in a calcium chloride (CaCl2) water solution containing different
      proportions (0-40% v/v) of ethanol as the co-solvent. The addition of ethanol
      into the CaCl2 water solution was found to improve the visual appearance,
      thickness, surface homogeneity, and mechanical properties of the films, which can
      be attributed to the reduced swelling degree of films during crosslinking
      process. Furthermore, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and energy
      dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis indicated that the incorporation of
      ethanol into the crosslinking solution did not detract from the uniformity of
      crosslinking throughout the film matrix. However, the swelling degree and calcium
      content determination indicated that the Ca(2+) crosslinking degree decreased
      when the ethanol proportion exceeded 30% v/v. Consequently, this study introduces
      a green, efficient, and simple technique for the preparation of calcium alginate
      films with excellent surface appearance and mechanical properties for
      pharmaceutical products. 

PMID- 25843853
TI  - Fabrication of transparent and ultraviolet shielding composite films based on
      graphene oxide and cellulose acetate.
AB  - Graphene oxide (GO) has been considered a promising filler material for building
      polymeric nanocomposites because of its excellent dispersibility and high surface
      area. In this work, we present the fabrication and characterization of
      transparent and ultraviolet (UV) shielding composite films based on GO and
      cellulose acetate (CA). GO sheets were found to be well-dispersed throughout the
      CA matrix, providing smooth and homogeneous composite films. Moreover, the GO
      sheets were completely embedded within the CA matrix and no presence of this
      nanomaterial was found at the surface. Nevertheless, CAGO composite films offered
      an improved high energy light-shielding capacity when compared to pristine CA
      films. Particularly for UVC irradiation, the CAGO film containing 0.50wt% GO
      displayed a UV-shielding capacity of 57%, combined with 79% optical transparency
      under visible light. These CAGO composite films can be potentially applied as
      transparent UV-protective coatings for packing biomedical, pharmaceutical, and
      food products. 

PMID- 25843854
TI  - Extraction and structural characteristics of pectic polysaccharides from Abies
      sibirica L.
AB  - Structurally different pectins were isolated from the wood greenery of Abies
      sibirica L. by the sequential extraction with water (ASW), HCl solution (pH~4)
      (ASA), and NH3 solution (pH~8.5) (ASN). The GalA/Rha molar ratios for the ASW
      (15), ASA (8.9), and ASN (3.9) polysaccharides diminish in the order ASW>ASA>ASN,
      indicating a decrease in homogalacturonans and increase in rhamnogalacturonan I
      in this series. The ASWH, ASAH, and ASNH homogalacturonans derived by acid
      hydrolysis of ASW, ASA, and ASN have similar Mw 23.8, 21.1, and 18.9kDa,
      respectively, corresponding to a mean polymerization degree of 97-122 for the
      GalA residue. The macromolecule backbone of ASN was represented mainly by
      moieties of partially methylesterified homogalacturonan and partially 2-O- and/or
      3-O-acetylated rhamnogalacturonan I. The carbohydrate side chains of the branched
      region are primarily made up of terminal, 1,5-O-, 1,3,5-di-O- and 1,2,3,5-tri-O
      substituted alpha-L-Araf residues and terminal, 1,3-O- and 1,3,6-di-O-substituted
      beta-D-Galp residues. The currently known pectin models were refined. 

PMID- 25843855
TI  - Water soluble cationic dextran derivatives containing poly(amidoamine) dendrons
      for efficient gene delivery.
AB  - To develop new dextran derivatives for efficient gene delivery, the conjugation
      of poly(amidoamine) dendrons onto biocompatible dextran was carried out by a
      Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition, as confirmed by FTIR and (1)H NMR
      analyses. For resultant dextran conjugates with various generations of
      poly(amidoamine) dendrons, their buffering capacity and in vitro cytotoxicity
      were evaluated by acid-base titration and MTT tests, respectively. In particular,
      their physicochemical characteristics for the complexation with plasmid DNA were
      investigated by the combined analyses from agarose gel electrophoresis, zeta
      potential, particle size, transmission electron microscopy and fluorescence
      emission spectra. Moreover, their complexes with plasmid DNA were studied with
      respect to their transfection efficiency in human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cell
      lines. In the case of a higher generation of poly(amidoamine) dendrons, such a
      dextran conjugate was found to have much lower cytotoxicity and better gene
      delivery capability when compared to branched polyethylenimine (bPEI, 25kDa), a
      commonly used gene vector. 

PMID- 25843856
TI  - In vitro digestibility, crystallinity, rheological, thermal, particle size and
      morphological characteristics of pinole, a traditional energy food obtained from
      toasted ground maize.
AB  - Flour obtained from toasted ground maize grains is widely consumed by different
      ethnic groups of Northern Mexico and Southwest USA as an energy source. In this
      work the in vitro digestibility, crystallinity, rheological, thermal, particle
      size distribution and morphological characteristics of toasted ground white and
      blue maize flours were studied. X-ray diffraction studies showed that the
      crystallinity content was reduced, but that the hydrolysis rate and the in vitro
      digestibility of starch were greatly improved by the toasting process. The
      relative amount of rapidly digestible starch showed an important increase at the
      expense of resistant starch content reduction. The thermal properties of white
      maize starch increased slightly, but those of the blue maize starch decreased
      slightly after toasting. Aqueous dispersions formed with 10% (w/w) flour were
      heated at 90 degrees C for 5min to induce starch gelling, in order to resemble
      thin porridges. The dispersed gels exhibited higher elastic modulus (G') than
      loss modulus (G'') in the linear viscoelastic region, with blue maize dispersions
      displaying higher moduli magnitudes. At higher shear strain amplitudes, G'
      decreased but G'' first increased and then decreased (overshoot phenomenon). The
      effects of toasting on the structure and functionality of maize starch are
      explained on the basis of limited gelatinization of the granules. The results in
      this work provide insights for understanding the extensive use of pinole by
      impoverished ethnic groups, and more recently by high performance ultra-runners
      and athletes, as an energy food. 

PMID- 25843857
TI  - Crystallization, structural relaxation and thermal degradation in Poly(L
      lactide)/cellulose nanocrystal renewable nanocomposites.
AB  - In this work, crystallization, structural relaxation and thermal degradation
      kinetics of neat Poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) and its nanocomposites with cellulose
      nanocrystals (CNC) and CNC-grafted-PLLA (CNC-g-PLLA) have been studied. Although
      crystallinity degree of nanocomposites remains similar to that of neat
      homopolymer, results reveal an increase on the crystallization rate by 1.7-5
      times boosted by CNC, which act as nucleating agents during the crystallization
      process. In addition, structural relaxation kinetics of PLLA chains has been
      drastically reduced by 53% and 27% with the addition of neat and grafted CNC,
      respectively. The thermal degradation activation energy (E) has been determined
      from thermogravimetric analysis in the light of Kissinger's and Ozawa-Flynn-Wall
      theoretical models. Results reveal a reduction on the thermal stability when in
      presence of CNC-g-PLLA, while raw CNC slightly increases the thermal stability of
      PLLA. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray
      spectroscopy results confirm that the presence of residual catalyst in CNC-g-PLLA
      plays a pivotal role in the thermal degradation behavior of nanocomposites.

PMID- 25843858
TI  - Amylolysis of maize mutant starches described with a fractal-like kinetics model.
AB  - Two empirical models, a conventional first-order kinetics and a fractal-like
      first-order kinetic model were tested for analysing the hydrolysis of 13 wild
      type, single and double mutants of maize starch by porcine pancreatic alpha
      amylase (PPA). The major difference between the two models is an additional
      parameter, the fractal kinetics exponent h, which enables to characterise a
      decrease of the reaction rate coefficient over time. The fractal-like kinetic
      model should be preferred to characterise the amylolysis for 10 mutants out of 13
      as sugary-2 and amylose-extender curves exhibit clear reaction rate retardation,
      unlike normal maize and waxy maize. Analysis of the model parameter values
      reveals two groups of kinetics for the maize mutants: amylose-extender, normal
      and waxy on one hand, sugary-2 on the other hand. Possible relations between the
      parameters of the model and granule composition and structure are discussed. 

PMID- 25843859
TI  - Morphology and mechanical properties of poly(butylene adipate-co
      terephthalate)/potato starch blends in the presence of synthesized reactive
      compatibilizer or modified poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate).
AB  - The biodegradable poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)(PBAT)/thermoplastic
      starch (TPS) composite has received considerable attention because of the
      environmental concerns raised by solid waste disposal. However, the application
      of PBAT/TPS blends was limited due to the poor mechanical properties originating
      from the incompatibility between PBAT and TPS. In this work, two approaches were
      developed to improve the mechanical properties of PBAT/TPS blends. One approach
      is to use compatibilizers, including the synthesized reactive compatibilizer - a
      styrene-maleic anhydride-glycidyl methacrylate (SMG) terpolymer, and the
      commercial compatibilizer (Joncryl-ADR-4368). The chemical structures of SMG were
      analyzed with (1)H NMR and FT-IR. The other approach is to use the modified PBAT
      (M-PBAT) to replace part of PBAT in the PBAT/TPS blends. M-PBATs with higher
      molecular weight were obtained via reactive extrusion of PBAT in the presence of
      a chain extender. The better dispersion of TPS in PBAT was observed in SEM images
      when using M-PBAT, leading to the higher tensile strength and elongation at break
      of PBAT/TPS blends. However, the elongation at break decreased in the presence of
      compatibilizer (SMG or 4368), though the tensile strength remained in a similar
      level or slightly higher. Overall, the tensile strength and the elongation at
      break of the resulting biodegradable PBAT/M-PBAT/TPS blends (TPS=40wt%) were
      above 27.0MPa and 500%, respectively, which is promising for various
      applications, including packaging and agricultural mulching films. 

PMID- 25843860
TI  - Carboxylate groups play a major role in antitumor activity of Ganoderma
      applanatum polysaccharide.
AB  - In this paper, the structure difference between the polysaccharides isolated from
      fruit bodies (FGAP) and submerged fermentation system (SGAP) of Ganoderma
      applanatum was investigated by means of GPC, HPLC and IR, respectively. And their
      antitumor activities were evaluated against Sarcoma 180 in vivo. The results
      showed that FGAP and SGAP were typical polysaccharides with different molecular
      weights, monosaccharide components, and functional groups. Closely related to the
      distinct structures, FGAP exhibited a better antitumor activity than SGAP.
      Moreover, since FGAP contained carboxylate groups rather than SGAP, such groups
      were chemically introduced into SGAP (CSGAP) by carboxymethylation in order to
      identify their contribution to antitumor activity. The results demonstrated that
      the inhibition of CSGAP against Sarcoma 180 in vivo was significantly enhanced by
      comparison to the native SGAP and even higher than that of FGAP, suggesting that
      the carboxylate groups played a major role in antitumor activity of G. applanatum
      polysaccharide. 

PMID- 25843861
TI  - Fluorescent imino and secondary amino chitosans as potential sensing
      biomaterials.
AB  - A variety of fluorescent imino and secondary amino chitosans were synthesized
      under very mild conditions by reaction of the biopolymer amino functions with
      aromatic aldehydes in an acidified methanolic suspension. Simultaneous reactions
      of several aldehydes with chitosan were successfully carried out, and kinetic
      studies showed that 1-pyrenecarboxaldehyde reacts the fastest among them. An
      unprecedented study on the evaluation of the degree of N-substitution (DS,
      ranging from 31.7% to 12.0%) for the chitosan Schiff bases by using solid state
      CPMAS (13)C NMR is performed. A linear correlation between the DS obtained for
      the secondary amino chitosans by (1)H NMR (55.3-10.2%) and those obtained by
      CPMAS (13)C NMR (34.4-13.8%) has allowed us to calculate an empirical correlation
      factor that could be applied on chitosan-based aromatic systems. The new chiral
      labelled chitosan derivatives exhibit a stable fluorescent behaviour, which was
      used to explore solvent sensoring applications. 

PMID- 25843862
TI  - Self-assembled nanostructured cellulose prepared by a dissolution and
      regeneration process using phosphoric acid as a solvent.
AB  - This report describes a "green" method for preparing self-assembled
      nanostructured cellulose through a dissolution and regeneration process. Cold
      phosphoric acid is used to dissolve cellulose in order to convert crystalline
      cellulose into its molecular form. Self-assembly of cellulose molecules into
      nanostructured cellulose is achieved by using water to regenerate cellulose. By
      controlling the temperature and time of the phosphoric acid treatment between
      dissolution and regeneration, the degree of polymerization and the degree of
      substitution of phosphorous for the regenerated celluloses can be tuned. As a
      result, cellulose nanofibers or nanospheres can be obtained when the treatment
      temperature is set to 5 or 50 degrees C, respectively. X-ray analysis shows that
      the cellulose nanofibers are amorphous and that the cellulose nanospheres are
      structured similarly to cellulose II with crystallinity indexes between 56 and
      73%. Our method offers a "green" process for preparing nanostructured celluloses
      in high yields. 

PMID- 25843863
TI  - Inhibition of alpha-amylase activity by cellulose: Kinetic analysis and
      nutritional implications.
AB  - We report on inhibition of alpha-amylase activity by cellulose based on in vitro
      experiments. The presence of cellulose in the hydrolysing medium reduced the
      initial velocity of starch hydrolysis in a concentration dependent manner. alpha
      Amylase adsorption to cellulose was reversible, attaining equilibrium within
      30min of incubation, and showed a higher affinity at 37 degrees C compared to 20
      and 0 degrees C. The adsorption was almost unchanged in the presence of maltose
      (2.5-20mM) but was hindered in the presence of excess protein, suggesting non
      specific adsorption of alpha-amylase to cellulose. Kinetic analyses of alpha
      amylase hydrolysis of maize starch in the presence of cellulose showed that the
      inhibition is of a mixed type. The dissociation constant (Kic) of the EI complex
      was found to be ca. 3mg/mL. The observed inhibition of alpha-amylase activity
      suggests that cellulose in the diet can potentially attenuate starch hydrolysis. 

PMID- 25843864
TI  - Hyaluronic acid-decorated poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles for
      combined delivery of docetaxel and tanespimycin.
AB  - Multiple-drug combination therapy is becoming more common in the treatment of
      advanced cancers because this approach can decrease side effects and delay or
      prevent drug resistance. In the present study, we developed hyaluronic acid (HA)
      decorated poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (HA-PLGA NPs) for co
      delivery of docetaxel (DTX) and tanespimycin (17-AAG). DTX and 17-AAG were
      simultaneously loaded into HA-PLGA NPs using an oil-in-water
      emulsification/solvent evaporation method. Several formulations were tested. HA
      PLGA NPs loaded with DTX and 17-AAG at a molar ratio of 2:1 produced the smallest
      particle size (173.3+/-2.2nm), polydispersity index (0.151+/-0.026), and zeta
      potential (-12.4+/-0.4mV). Approximately 60% and 40% of DTX and 17-AAG,
      respectively, were released over 168h in vitro. Cytotoxicity assays performed in
      vitro using MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and SCC-7 cells showed that dual drug-loaded HA
      PLGA NPs at a DTX:17-AAG molar ratio of 2:1 exhibited the highest synergistic
      effect, with combination index values of 0.051, 0.036, and 0.032, respectively,
      at the median effective dose. Furthermore, synergistic antitumor activity was
      demonstrated in vivo in a CD44 and RHAMM (CD168) - overexpressing squamous cell
      carcinoma (SCC-7) xenograft in nude mice. These findings indicated that
      nanosystem-based co-delivery of DTX and 17-AAG could provide a promising combined
      therapeutic strategy for enhanced antitumor therapy. 

PMID- 25843865
TI  - Adsorption of cationized eucalyptus heteropolysaccharides onto chemical and
      mechanical pulp fibers.
AB  - Adsorption of native eucalyptus heteropolysaccharides onto bleached softwood and
      hardwood kraft pulps and bleached CTMP was explored in this work to potentially
      improve the mechanical properties of the final furnish. It was found that
      adsorption of native heteropolysaccharides onto softwood kraft pulp was slightly
      higher than hardwood; however, heteropolysaccharides with low arabinose content
      were preferentially adsorbed onto the hardwood fibers. Adsorption onto CTMP was
      the lowest, although the general phenomenon of native absorption was rather low
      under the applied conditions. A strategy to increase the absorption required
      cationizing the heteropolysaccharides with 2,3-epoxy propyltrimethylamonium
      chloride that in general significantly increased the overall phenomenon, again
      with the same general tendencies as observed for the native adsorption. 

PMID- 25843866
TI  - Mechanistic insights into cellular immunity of chondroitin sulfate A and its
      zwitterionic N-deacetylated derivatives.
AB  - As a major component in extracellular matrix of the tissue, chondroitin sulfate A
      (CS-A) has been shown to exhibit either pro- or anti-inflammatory immune response
      which was largely dependent on its molecular size and cell types. In this study,
      we determined the signaling pathway involved in immune response of CS and its N
      deacetylated derivative (dCS). Our data indicated that both CS and dCS could
      activate the NF-kappaB transcription factor in antigen presenting cells and
      induce TNF-alpha production through the TLR/MyD88 pathway. Further studies
      demonstrated that both CS and dCS had a potential in promoting the proliferation
      of spleen lymphocytes, and promoting the cytokines secretion by OVA-sensitized
      splenocytes. Thus, our finding provided a mechanistic insight into the
      understanding of cellular immunity of CS and dCS, which might be helpful to
      develop CS-based immune modulators against chronic inflammatory conditions,
      autoimmunity, infectious diseases, allergies and asthmatic conditions. 

PMID- 25843867
TI  - Self-assembled carrageenan/protamine polyelectrolyte nanoplexes-Investigation of
      critical parameters governing their formation and characteristics.
AB  - The aim of this work was to investigate the feasibility of cross-linker free
      polyelectrolyte complex formation at the nanoscale between carrageenan (CAR) and
      protamine (PROT). The properties of CAR/PROT nanoparticles (NPs) were dependent
      on the carrageenan type: kappa (KC), iota (IC) and lambda (LC), concentration of
      components, addition of divalent cations, weight mixing ratio (WMR) of
      constituents and mode of component addition. In the case of 0.1% w/v solutions,
      IC-based NPs had the smallest particle sizes (100-150nm) and low polydispersity
      indices (0.1-0.4). A decrease in the solution concentration from 0.1% to 0.05%
      w/v enabled the formation of KC/PROT NPs. All carrageenans exhibited the ability
      to form NPs with surface charge ranging from -190 to 40mV. The inclusion of
      divalent cations caused an increase in the particle size and zeta potential.
      Infrared analysis confirmed the presence of a complex between CAR and PROT and
      showed that IC chains undergo structural changes when forming NPs. Colloidal
      stability of NPs was related to the initial surface charge of particles and was
      time- and pH-dependent. IC was found to be the most suitable type of CAR when
      forming nanoplexes with PROT. 

PMID- 25843868
TI  - Structural, immunological, and antioxidant studies of beta-glucan from edible
      mushroom Entoloma lividoalbum.
AB  - A water soluble beta-glucan having molecular weight ~2*10(5)Da was isolated from
      hot water extract of the fruit bodies of an edible mushroom Entoloma lividoalbum
      (Kuhner & Romagn) Kubicka. This polysaccharide (ELPS) contains (1->3,6)-beta-D
      Glcp, (1->3)-beta-D-Glcp, (1->6)-beta-D-Glcp, and terminal beta-D-Glcp moieties
      in a molar ratio of nearly 1:1:3:1. Chemical and spectroscopic analysis showed
      that the backbone of glucan consists of three (1->6)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl and
      two (1->3)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl residues, out of which one (1->3)-beta-D
      glucopyranosyl moiety was branched at O-6 with a terminal beta-D-glucopyranosyl
      residue. This beta-glucan exhibited macrophage, splenocyte, and thymocyte
      stimulations. It possesses promising antioxidant activities as evidenced from its
      hydroxyl and superoxide radical scavenging activities and reducing properties. 

PMID- 25843869
TI  - Modelling of wicking and moisture interactions of flax and viscose fibres.
AB  - Methods for assessing the wicking properties of individual fibre bundles have
      been developed from models based on the original Washburn equation (WE) and the
      modified Washburn equation (MWE), which also accounts for swelling. Both models
      gave indication of differences in wicking properties of flax and the viscose
      fibres, though MWE gave additional information that could be interpreted in terms
      of the physical model. Wicking of the viscose fibres is mainly via inter-fibre
      capillaries while that of flax is a combination of inter-fibre capillaries and
      lumen present in some elementary fibres. The degree of swelling and associated
      rotation of flax fibre in a vapour pressure range of 1-6torr were monitored using
      an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). Viscose fibre exhibited
      swelling under the same conditions but did not rotate. The two techniques
      highlighted different mechanisms of wicking which can be used for monitoring
      moisture uptake/swelling of treated fibres for fabrication of composites. 

PMID- 25843870
TI  - Hybrid nanosystems based on natural polymers as protein carriers for respiratory
      delivery: Stability and toxicological evaluation.
AB  - Chitosan/carrageenan/tripolyphosphate nanoparticles were previously presented as
      holding potential for an application in transmucosal delivery of macromolecules,
      with tripolyphosphate demonstrating to contribute for both size reduction and
      stabilisation of the nanoparticles. This work was aimed at evaluating the
      capacity of the nanoparticles as protein carriers for pulmonary and nasal
      transmucosal delivery, further assessing their biocompatibility pattern regarding
      that application. Nanoparticles demonstrated stability in presence of lysozyme,
      while freeze-drying was shown to preserve their characteristics when glucose or
      sucrose were used as cryoprotectants. Bovine serum albumin was associated to the
      nanoparticles, which were successfully microencapsulated by spray-drying to meet
      the aerodynamic requirements inherent to pulmonary delivery. Finally, a
      satisfactory biocompatibility profile was demonstrated upon exposure of two
      respiratory cell lines (Calu-3 and A549 cells) to the carriers. A negligible
      effect on cell viability along with no alterations on transepithelial electrical
      resistance and no induction of inflammatory response were observed. 

PMID- 25843871
TI  - Dynamic mechanical and swelling properties of maleated hyaluronic acid hydrogels.
AB  - A series of maleated hyaluronan (MaHA) are developed by modification with maleic
      anhydride. The degrees of substitution (DS) of MaHA vary between 7% and 75%. The
      DS of MaHA is both higher and wider than methacrylated HA derivatives (MeHA)
      reported in the literature. MaHA hydrogels are then prepared by
      photopolymerization and their dynamic mechanical and swelling properties of the
      hydrogels are investigated. The results showed that MaHA hydrogels with moderate
      DS (25%, 50% and 65%) have higher storage modulus and lower equilibrium swelling
      ratios than those with either low or high DS (7%, 15% and 75%). Theoretical
      analyses also suggest a similar pattern among hydrogels with different DS. The
      results confirm that the increased cross-linking density enhances the strength of
      hydrogels. Meanwhile, the hydrophilicity of introduced groups during modification
      and the degree of incomplete crosslinking reaction might have negative impact on
      the mechanical and swelling properties of MaHA hydrogels. 

PMID- 25843872
TI  - The oxidative degradation of barley beta-glucan in the presence of ascorbic acid
      or hydrogen peroxide.
AB  - Cereal beta-glucans are polysaccharides with health benefits that have been
      linked to their ability to increase luminal viscosity. However, the functional
      properties of cereal beta-glucans may be diminished by the susceptibility of this
      polysaccharide to oxidative degradation. In this study, barley beta-glucan was
      oxidised with hydrogen peroxide or ascorbic acid and the oxidative degradation of
      beta-glucan was investigated using both asymmetrical flow field-flow
      fractionation (AsFlFFF) with aqueous solvent and high performance size exclusion
      chromatography (HPSEC) with LiBr in DMSO as the solvent. Oxidation was shown to
      cause degradation of beta-glucan, the reaction being faster when oxidised with
      hydrogen peroxide compared with ascorbic acid. Both HPSEC and AsFlFFF showed
      comparable results as long as aggregates (only observed in AsFlFFF) were not
      included in the integration. The compact aggregates observed in oxidised samples
      suggest oxidation driven interactions between beta-glucan molecules. 

PMID- 25843873
TI  - Cationic curdlan: Synthesis, characterization and application of quaternary
      ammonium salts of curdlan.
AB  - Water-soluble curdlan derivatives containing quaternary ammonium groups with a
      degree of substitution up to 0.15 were synthesized using different cationic
      agents in alkaline medium. The chemical structure of curdlan derivatives was
      confirmed by FTIR, (13)C and (1)H NMR spectroscopy. The influence of some
      reaction conditions (temperature, time, and molar ratio) on the degree of
      substitution and the viscosimetic behaviour were studied. The degree of
      substitution increased with the amount of the cationization agent per
      anhydroglucose unit and was higher when the glycidyl reagents were used, compared
      with the case when the reagents contained chloro-hydroxypropyl groups. The
      viscosity behaviour of these new derivatives of curdlan in aqueous solutions and
      the values of intrinsic viscosities calculated using different semi-empirical
      equations denote a high hydrodynamic dimension of the macromolecular coils. The
      interaction of these cationic curdlan derivatives with an anionic curdlan
      (monobasic curdlan phosphate) was studied in situ by turbidimetric measurements
      and after 24h by optical density and dynamic light scattering. The formation of
      polyelectrolyte complexes was influenced by the degree of substitution, the
      nature of the quaternary substituent, and by the ionic strength of the aqueous
      solution. The morphology of the polyelectrolyte complexes particles in dry state
      was examined by atomic force microscopy. 

PMID- 25843874
TI  - Achira as a source of biodegradable materials: Isolation and characterization of
      nanofibers.
AB  - In this study, variations in the delignification and bleaching stages, acid
      hydrolysis and high-pressure homogenization, led to the development of 12
      different treatments applied for obtaining nanofibers using fibrous residues
      arising from the starch extraction process from the achira rhizomes. The
      treatments were evaluated based on some properties and characteristics of
      nanofibers such as: morphology and size (by means of transmission electron
      microscopy), surface charge (by means of zeta potential measurements),
      crystallinity index (by means of X-ray diffraction analysis) and functional
      groups (by means of infrared spectroscopy). In general, the nanofibers showed
      particle diameters between 13.8 and 37.2nm, length between 832.8 and 2223.8nm and
      high crystallinity index (57.5% and 69.8%) compared with achira fibrous residue
      (17.3%). The results evidenced that fibrous residue from achira rhizomes can be
      used as a source of biodegradable materials of commercial interest. 

PMID- 25843875
TI  - Rheology of semi-dilute suspensions of carboxylated cellulose nanofibrils.
AB  - Cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) in water make entangled networks and stiff gels,
      which have a number of promising applications. In this work, the rheology of semi
      dilute TEMPO-mediated oxidized CNF hydrogels, and the effects of cationic
      polyacrylamide and calcium ions on their viscoelastic properties are
      investigated. The elastic modulus varies with CNF volume fraction with a power
      law exponent of 4.52. Creep-recovery results show that suspensions with higher
      mass fractions exert a higher resistance against deformation, and a higher degree
      of recovery. Low ionic strengths and polyelectrolyte concentrations increase the
      creep deformation because of screening the surface charge. Higher ionic strengths
      and polyelectrolyte concentrations lead to fibril aggregation, which stiffens the
      network structure, decreasing the creep deformation. However, the recovery
      response is not significantly affected by additives. The critical strain at the
      onset of non-linear viscoelasticity is independent of mass fraction in two
      different concentration regimes, with a transition at 0.35% w/w CNF. 

PMID- 25843876
TI  - Isolation and recovery of cellulose from waste nylon/cotton blended fabrics by 1
      allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride.
AB  - Development of a simple process for separating cellulose and nylon 6 from their
      blended fabrics is indispensable for recycling of waste mixed fabrics. An
      efficient procedure of dissolution of the fabrics in an ionic liquid 1-allyl-3
      methylimidazolium chloride ([AMIM]Cl) and subsequent filtration separation has
      been demonstrated. Effects of treatment temperature, time and waste fabrics ratio
      on the recovery rates were investigated. SEM images showed that the cotton
      cellulose dissolved in [AMIM]Cl while the nylon 6 fibers remained. The FTIR
      spectrum of regenerated cellulose (RC) was similar with that of virgin cotton
      fibers, which verified that no other chemical reaction occurred besides breakage
      of hydrogen bonds during the processes of dissolution and separation. TGA curves
      indicated that the regenerated cellulose possessed a reduced thermal stability
      and was effectively removed from waste nylon/cotton blended fabrics (WNCFs).
      WNCFs were sufficiently reclaimed with high recovery rate of both regenerated
      cellulose films and nylon 6 fibers. 

PMID- 25843877
TI  - Encapsulation of fish oil with N-stearoyl O-butylglyceryl chitosan using membrane
      and ultrasonic emulsification processes.
AB  - Fish oil-loaded microcapsules were prepared from oil-in-water emulsions using N
      stearoyl O-butylglyceryl chitosan as shell material. The emulsions were prepared
      by both membrane and ultrasonic emulsification processes under variable
      conditions to examine the effect of the emulsification process and encapsulation
      conditions on the characteristics of the microcapsules. The microcapsules were
      characterized with respect to their morphologies, colloidal stability, loading
      capacity, encapsulation efficiency and release profile. The microcapsules formed
      by the membrane emulsification process exhibited larger diameter compared to
      those from the ultrasonic emulsification process which gave a mean effective
      diameter of ~1MUm. The microcapsules obtained by membrane emulsification process
      gave better loading capacity and encapsulation efficiency. The microcapsules from
      both processes showed sustained release of fish oil and the release profile
      depended on the type of the process. TGA confirmed that encapsulation using N
      stearoyl O-butylglyceryl chitosan impeded heat transfer and significantly
      increased the thermal stability of the encapsulated fish oil. 

PMID- 25843878
TI  - Antimicrobial bacterial cellulose nanocomposites prepared by in situ
      polymerization of 2-aminoethyl methacrylate.
AB  - Antimicrobial bacterial cellulose/poly(2-aminoethyl methacrylate) (BC/PAEM)
      nanocomposites were prepared by in situ radical polymerization of 2-aminoethyl
      methacrylate, using variable amounts of N,N-methylenebis(acrylamide) (MBA) as
      cross-linker. The obtained nanocomposites were characterized in terms of their
      structure, morphology, thermal stability, mechanical properties and antibacterial
      activity. The ensuing composite membranes were significantly more transparent
      than those of pure BC and showed improved thermal and mechanical properties. The
      antibacterial activity of the obtained nanocomposites was assessed towards a
      recombinant bioluminescent Escherichia coli and only the non-crosslinked
      nanocomposite (BC/PAEM) proved to have antibacterial activity. 

PMID- 25843879
TI  - Chemical characteristics and antithrombotic effect of chondroitin sulfates from
      sturgeon skull and sturgeon backbone.
AB  - Chondroitin sulfates (CSs) were extracted from sturgeon skull and backbone, and
      their chemical composition, anticoagulant, anti-platelet and thrombolysis
      activities were evaluated. The average molecular weights of CS from sturgeon
      skull and backbone were 38.5kDa and 49.2kDa, respectively. Disaccharide analysis
      indicated that the sturgeon backbone CS was primarily composed of disaccharide
      monosulfated in position four of the GalNAc (37.8%) and disaccharide monosulfated
      in position six of the GalNAc (59.6%) while sturgeon skull CS was primarily
      composed of nonsulfated disaccharide (74.2%). Sturgeon backbone CS showed
      stronger antithrombotic effect than sturgeon skull CS. Sturgeon backbone CS could
      significantly prolong activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and thrombin
      time (TT), inhibited ADP-induced platelet aggregation and dissolved platelet
      plasma clots in vitro. The results suggested that sturgeon backbone CS can be
      explored as a functional food with antithrombotic function. 

PMID- 25843880
TI  - Favorable effects of superficially deacetylated chitin nanofibrils on the wound
      healing process.
AB  - Previous reports indicate that the beneficial effect of chitin nanofibrils
      (CNFs), and chitosan nanofibrils (CSNFs) for wound healing. In this study, the
      wound healing effects of superficially deacetylated chitin nanofibrils (SDACNFs)
      were evaluated using an experimental model. In the experiments using circular
      excision wound model, SDACNFs induced re-epithelium and proliferation of the
      fibroblasts and collagen tissue. In the chitin, CNFs, and CSNFs, on the other
      hand, the e-epithelium and proliferation of the fibroblasts and collagen tissue
      were not induced perfectly compared with the SDACNFs group. In particular, re
      epithelization was observed on day 4 in the only SDACNF group. Moreover, SDACNFs
      did not induce severe systemic inflammation in the linear incision wound model.
      The data indicated that SDACNFs effectively induced the proliferation and re
      modeling phases compared with chitin, CNFs, and CSNFs in the wound. These data
      indicate that SDACNFs can be beneficial as a new biomaterial for wound healing. 

PMID- 25843881
TI  - Lipopolysaccharide of Marinobacter litoralis inhibits swarming motility and
      biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA01.
AB  - The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was isolated from a marine bacterium identified as
      Marinobacter litoralis BK09 using 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity analysis. The
      GCMS analysis showed that the LPS contained 3-hydroxy-dodecanoic acid (C12:0 3OH)
      (49%), dodecanoic acid (C12:0) (24%) and decanoic acid (C10:0) (19%) as major
      fatty acids, and the polysaccharide constituents were fucose (53.79%), xylose
      (28.04%) and mannose (18.15%). The LPS almost completely inhibited swarming
      motility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA01. It also reduced biofilm formation by 50%
      with no adverse effect on cell growth. The production of virulence factor such as
      pyocyanin pigment was reduced (~40%) by the LPS. The LPS did not show any limulus
      amoebocyte lysate (LAL) gelation activity. The repression of swarming motility,
      pyocyanin production and biofilm formation by the LPS suggests its potential
      application against P. aeruginosa infection. This is the first report on
      characterization and application of LPS from M. litoralis. 

PMID- 25843882
TI  - An improved X-ray diffraction method for cellulose crystallinity measurement.
AB  - We show in this work a modified X-ray diffraction method to determine cellulose
      crystallinity index (CrI). Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) derived from bleached
      wood pulp was used as a model substrate. Rietveld refinement was applied with
      consideration of March-Dollase preferred orientation at the (001) plane. In
      contrast to most previous methods, three distinct amorphous peaks identified from
      new model samples which used to calculate CrI. A 2 theta range from 10 degrees 
      to 75 degrees  was found to be more suitable to determine CrI and crystallite
      structural parameters such as d-spacing and crystallite size. This method enables
      a more reliable measurement of CrI of cellulose and may be applicable to other
      types of cellulose polymorphs. 

PMID- 25843883
TI  - Acute abdominal pain with atypical presentation.

PMID- 25843884
TI  - When mothers need others: The impact of hominin life history evolution on
      cooperative breeding.
AB  - The evolution of cooperative breeding is particularly complex in humans because
      many other traits that directly affect parental care (shorter birth intervals,
      increased offspring survivorship, juvenile dependence, and older ages at
      dispersal) also emerge during the Pleistocene. If human cooperative breeding is
      ancient, it likely evolved in a hominin lacking a fully modern life history.
      However, the impact that changing life history traits has on parental care and
      cooperative breeding has not been analytically investigated. We develop an
      exploratory model to simulate an economic problem that would have arisen over the
      course of hominin life history evolution to identify those transitions that
      produced the strongest pressures for cooperative childrearing. The model
      generates two central predictions. First, help within maternal-offspring groups
      can support early changes in juvenile dependence, dispersal age, birth intervals,
      and fertility. If so, maternal-juvenile cooperation may be an important but
      understudied step in the evolution of human cooperative breeding. Second,
      pressure to recruit adult cooperation is most pronounced under more derived
      conditions of late dispersal and later ages of juvenile dependence, with a strong
      interaction at short birth intervals. Our findings indicate that changes in life
      history traits that affect parental care are critical in considering background
      selective forces that shaped the evolution of cooperative breeding. 

PMID- 25843885
TI  - Results of 70 consecutive ulnar nightstick fractures.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adult isolated ulnar shaft fractures (IUSFs) are uncommon, and
      treatment remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to compare results
      of operative (reduction internal fixation (RIF)) and nonoperative treatment (NOT)
      in patients with IUSF. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective case-control
      analysis was undertaken on patients diagnosed with IUSF between 2002 and 2008 at
      a Level I teaching trauma center. Clinical outcomes consisted of complications
      and functional ability. RESULTS: Seventy patients had a mean age of 44.6 years
      (18-86) and a body mass index (BMI) of 27.9 (17-47). The mechanism of injury
      included high-energy injuries (60/70, 85.7%), low-energy falls (8/70, 11.4%), and
      sports (2/70, 2.9%). Treatment consisted of 33/70 (47.1%) NOT and 37/70 (52.9%)
      RIF. The AO/OTA fracture classification was 48 A1, 20 B2, and two C1. The level
      of activity (LOA) was 60 without restrictions, six with restrictions, and three
      who did not return to work. The function determined by range of motion was 55/70
      (78.6%) full, 11 slightly limited, and one severely limited. A total of 14
      nonunions (NUs) and 17 malunions (MUs) occurred. NOT was associated with NU
      (chi(2)=0.001) and MU (chi(2)=0.000), respectively. Fracture angulation >=8
      degrees  was related to the inability to return to previous LOA (rho=0.406,
      p=0.001). Secondary displacement >2mm contributed to MU (R(2)=0.238, p=0.000) and
      NU (R(2)=0.076, p=0.021). NU was related to a minor functional result (rho=0.315,
      p=0.009). CONCLUSIONS: IUSF treatment remains challenging in the adult
      population. Nonoperative treatment of displaced fractures produces a high risk of
      complications, and the fracture characteristics determine patient outcome. LEVEL
      OF EVIDENCE: Level III.

PMID- 25843886
TI  - Outcomes following combined intramedullary nail and plate fixation for complex
      tibia fractures: A multi-centre study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Concomitant plate fixation as an adjunct to intramedullary nailing
      (IMN) of proximal third tibia fractures is a proven technique. Benefits include
      its role as a minimally invasive reduction aid, allowing for minimal soft tissue
      disruption. Expanding its indications as adjunct fixation to IMN throughout the
      tibia, we aimed to study outcomes in a multi-centre initiative. MATERIALS AND
      METHODS: From May 1999 to March 2010, a total of 1302 operatively treated tibial
      fractures (including plateau and pilon fractures) with complete medical records
      were identified for review. Of these, 376 cases were treated via IMN, of which 30
      cases were treated via combined IMN and plating, meeting inclusion criteria.
      Primary outcome was union rates, time to union, and complication rates. Secondary
      outcomes included mean alignment from the immediate postoperative period to the
      time of final follow-up. RESULTS: Twenty-seven out of 30 patients were available
      for follow-up. Twenty-five (93%) achieved bony union; the remaining two patients,
      sustained Type IIIA and B injuries respectively, went onto non-union secondary to
      deep infection and required multiple re-operations before achieving ultimate
      union. Mean time at final follow-up was 20 +/- 10 months, 96% were ambulatory at
      full weight bearing status with no malunions. No significant changes in alignment
      in either the coronal or sagittal planes were noted at time of final follow-up.
      CONCLUSION: Combined IMN and plate fixation is a reliable tool not only in the
      treatment of fractures of the proximal tibia, but also for those fractures in the
      diaphysis and segmental fractures with proximal and/or distal metadiaphyseal
      extension with consistent ability to maintain high union rates and maintained
      alignment. However, longer-term follow-up and prospective trials will be
      necessary before coming to a definitive conclusion.

PMID- 25843887
TI  - Salivary gland homeostasis is maintained through acinar cell self-duplication.
AB  - Current dogma suggests that salivary gland homeostasis is stem cell dependent.
      However, the extent of stem cell contribution to salivary gland maintenance has
      not been determined. We investigated acinar cell replacement during homeostasis,
      growth, and regeneration, using an inducible CreER(T2) expressed under the
      control of the Mist1 gene locus. Genetic labeling, followed by a chase period,
      showed that acinar cell replacement is not driven by the differentiation of
      unlabeled stem cells. Analysis using R26(Brainbow2.1) reporter revealed continued
      proliferation and clonal expansion of terminally differentiated acinar cells in
      all major salivary glands. Induced injury also demonstrated the regenerative
      potential of pre-labeled acinar cells. Our results support a revised model for
      salivary gland homeostasis based predominantly on self-duplication of acinar
      cells, rather than on differentiation of stem cells. The proliferative capacity
      of differentiated acinar cells may prove critical in the implementation of cell
      based strategies to restore the salivary glands.

PMID- 25843889
TI  - Occupational Electromagnetic Fields exposure in Magnetic Resonance Imaging
      systems - Preliminary results for the RF harmonic content.
AB  - PURPOSE: European legislation concerning the protection of workers from exposure
      to Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) was recently (26.6.2013) completed by Directive
      2013/35/EpsilonU. This Directive is a specific one of the framework Directive
      89/391/EEC and part of the overall legislation for Occupational Health and Safety
      (OHS). Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems have played a key role, both in
      the postponement of the former 2004/40 EMF Directive and in the formation of the
      latest limits adopted by the new Directive. On the other hand, MRI systems are
      associated with the exposure of personnel to EMF of various frequencies and
      modulations, arousing peculiar safety issues. Therefore, we will try to acquire
      the highly important knowledge of the exact occupational exposure levels, in all
      working scenarios and practices. METHODS: Different MRI systems (1.5 and 3 T)
      have been chosen for a variety of measurements in order to assess occupational
      exposure compared to the limits (ALs) of the Directive and to the main OHS
      principles. Gradient function of MRI systems results in low frequency exposure,
      while high frequency exposure comes from the application of the RF excitation
      frequency. RESULTS: In most of the cases the RMS and peak value measurements do
      not exceed the corresponding ALs, apart from a few specific hot spots, manageable
      through OHS principles. DISCUSSION: Complete occupational exposure results can
      form the basis for dealing with multiple exposures present in MRI systems.
      Peculiar RF harmonic components, of no safety concern, were detected. Their
      origin is under examination.

PMID- 25843890
TI  - Simulated annealing applied to IMRT beam angle optimization: A computational
      study.
AB  - Electing irradiation directions to use in IMRT treatments is one of the first
      decisions to make in treatment planning. Beam angle optimization (BAO) is a
      difficult problem to tackle from the mathematical optimization point of view. It
      is highly non-convex, and optimization approaches based on gradient descent
      methods will probably get trapped in one of the many local minima. Simulated
      Annealing (SA) is a local search probabilistic procedure that is known to be able
      to deal with multimodal problems. SA for BAO was retrospectively applied to ten
      clinical examples of treated cases of head-and neck tumors signalized as complex
      cases where proper target coverage and organ sparing proved difficult to achieve.
      The number of directions to use was considered fixed and equal to 5 or 7. It is
      shown that SA can lead to solutions that significantly improve organ sparing,
      even considering a reduced number of angles, without jeopardizing tumor coverage.

PMID- 25843888
TI  - The BASL polarity protein controls a MAPK signaling feedback loop in asymmetric
      cell division.
AB  - Cell polarization is linked to fate determination during asymmetric division of
      plant stem cells, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. In
      Arabidopsis, BREAKING OF ASYMMETRY IN THE STOMATAL LINEAGE (BASL) is polarized to
      control stomatal asymmetric division. A mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)
      cascade determines terminal stomatal fate by promoting the degradation of the
      lineage determinant SPEECHLESS (SPCH). Here, we demonstrate that a positive
      feedback loop between BASL and the MAPK pathway constitutes a polarity module at
      the cortex. Cortical localization of BASL requires phosphorylation mediated by
      MPK3/6. Phosphorylated BASL functions as a scaffold and recruits the MAPKKK YODA
      and MPK3/6 to spatially concentrate signaling at the cortex. Activated MPK3/6
      reinforces the feedback loop by phosphorylating BASL and inhibits stomatal fate
      by phosphorylating SPCH. Polarization of the BASL-MAPK signaling feedback module
      represents a mechanism connecting cell polarity to fate differentiation during
      asymmetric stem cell division in plants.

PMID- 25843891
TI  - Ebola vaccines: keep the clinical trial protocols on the shelf and ready to roll
      out.

PMID- 25843892
TI  - A cervical spine mass caused by Onchocerca lupi.

PMID- 25843893
TI  - Alpha-smooth muscle actin and serotonin receptors 2A and 2B in dogs with
      myxomatous mitral valve disease.
AB  - Canine Myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) is an age-related disease.
      Serotonin (5-HT) is implicated in the pathogenesis as locally-produced or
      platelet-derived. Involvement of the 5-HT2A receptor (R) and 5-HT2BR in the
      induction of myxomatous-mediating valvular myofibroblasts (MF) has been
      suggested. In an age-matched population of dogs with non-clinical and clinical
      MMVD, the objectives were to investigate (1) gene expression of 5-HT2AR and 5
      HT2BR, (2) protein expression and spatial relationship of 5-HT2AR, 5-HT2BR and MF
      in the mitral valve (MV) and the cardiac anterior papillary muscle (AP) and (3)
      serum 5-HT concentrations. Gene expression of 5-HT2BR was significantly higher in
      MV and AP among dogs with clinical MMVD. This was not found for 5-HT2BR protein
      expression, though association of 5-HT2BR with myxomatous pathology and co
      localization of 5-HT2BR and MF in MV and AP support a functional relationship,
      perhaps perpetuation of clinical MMVD. 5-HT2AR-expression and serum 5-HT showed
      no differences between groups. 

PMID- 25843894
TI  - Identification of in vivo-induced genes during infection of chickens with
      Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis.
AB  - Chickens are an important source of food worldwide and are often infected with
      food-poisoning serovars of Salmonella enterica, frequently Salmonella Enteritidis
      (SE), without exhibiting clinical signs of disease. Ivi (in vivo induced) genes
      identified using in vivo-induced antigen technology (IVIAT) are expressed only
      during bacterial infection and have the potential value of identifying epidemic
      strains and antigens which can form the basis for sub-unit vaccine development.
      We applied IVIAT to SE strain 50041 and identified 42 ivi genes. Eight
      representative ivi genes were further confirmed by qRT-PCR as being expressed
      only in vivo within 48 h of infection compared with that of in vitro-cultured.
      Although our results indicated that the identified ivi genes are expressed only
      in vivo, further research is needed to elucidate the exact roles of these genes
      during infection and pathogenesis.

PMID- 25843895
TI  - Effects of chronic infection with Trichostrongylus vitrinus and immune
      suppression with corticosteroid on parasitological, immune and performance
      variables in crossbred meat lambs.
AB  - The effects of, and interactions between chronic Trichostrongylus vitrinus
      infection and immune suppression with methylprednisolone were investigated for a
      period of 112 days in a grazed flock of 176 crossbred meat lambs. Worm egg count
      of non-immune-suppressed lambs increased rapidly from days 21 to 42 post-initial
      infection, and then steadily declined. Infection was associated with
      significantly decreased fat depth, eye muscle area and cold carcase weight, and
      increased circulating anti-T. vitrinus IgG and IgA. Immune suppression led to
      sustained increases in WEC, and significantly greater worm count, liver weight,
      fat depth and carcase dressing percentage, and significantly reduced IgG and IgA
      anti-T. vitrinus titres, lymphocyte counts, adrenal weight, eye muscle area and
      cold carcase weight. Both infection and immune suppression were associated with
      significant body weight reductions. Only 39% of reduced growth rate due to
      infection was attributable to the host immune response to T. vitrinus. 

PMID- 25843896
TI  - Bacterial community structure in the intestinal ecosystem of rainbow trout
      (Oncorhynchus mykiss) as revealed by pyrosequencing-based analysis of 16S rRNA
      genes.
AB  - In this study, we determined the diversity and composition of bacterial
      communities within the intestinal ecosystem of farmed rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus
      mykiss). Healthy rainbow trout, weighing between 520 and 750 g, were fed a
      commercial diet. Subsequently, genomic DNA was isolated from the intestinal mucus
      (n = 16 fish samples) and combined into groups of four fish samples each for
      pyrosequencing analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA genes. The results revealed that
      the most abundant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were affiliated to the
      genera Acinetobacter, Cetobacterium, Pseudomonas, and Psychrobacter, and to a
      lesser extent, the genera Aeromonas, Clostridium, Deefgea, Flavobacterium,
      Neptuniibacter, and Mycoplasma. These findings could be used as a baseline for
      further studies about the role of bacterial communities in normal and altered
      host physiological states.

PMID- 25843897
TI  - Bupivacaine induces apoptosis through caspase-dependent and -independent pathways
      in canine mammary tumor cells.
AB  - Local anesthetics have been reported to induce apoptosis in various cell lines.
      In this study, we showed that bupivacaine also induced apoptosis in DTK-SME
      cells, a vimentin(+)/AE1(+)/CK7(+)/HSP27(+), tumorigenic, immortalized, canine
      mammary tumor cell line. Bupivacaine induced apoptosis in DTK-SME cells in a time
      and concentration-dependent manner. Apoptosis-associated morphological changes,
      including cell shrinkage and rounding, chromatin condensation, and formation of
      apoptotic bodies, were observed in the bupivacaine-treated DTK-SME cells.
      Apoptosis was further confirmed with annexin V staining, TUNEL staining, and DNA
      laddering assays. At the molecular level, the activation of caspases-3, -8, and 
      9 corresponded well to the degree of DNA fragmentation triggered by bupivacaine.
      We also demonstrated that the pan-caspase inhibitor, z-VAD-fmk, only partially
      inhibited the apoptosis induced by bupivacaine. Moreover, treated cells increased
      expression of endonuclease G, a death effector that acts independently of
      caspases. Our data suggested that bupivacaine-induced apoptosis occurs through
      both caspase-dependent and caspase-independent apoptotic pathways. 

PMID- 25843898
TI  - Sensitivity and specificity of threshold tracking transcranial magnetic
      stimulation for diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a prospective study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) remains problematic,
      with substantial diagnostic delays. We assessed the sensitivity and specificity
      of a threshold tracking transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technique, which
      might allow early detection of upper motor neuron dysfunction, for the diagnosis
      of the disorder. METHODS: We did a prospective study of patients referred to
      three neuromuscular centres in Sydney, Australia, in accordance with the
      Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy. Participants had definite,
      probable, or possible ALS, as defined by the Awaji criteria; or pure motor
      disorder with clinical features of upper and lower motor neuron dysfunction in at
      least one body region, progressing over a 6 month follow-up period; or muscle
      wasting and weakness for at least 6 months. All patients underwent threshold
      tracking TMS at recruitment (index test), with application of the reference
      standard, the Awaji criteria, to differentiate patients with ALS from those with
      non-ALS disorders. The investigators who did the index test were masked to the
      results of the reference test and all other investigations. The primary outcome
      measures were the sensitivity and specificity of TMS in differentiating ALS from
      non-ALS disorders; these measures were derived from receiver operator curve
      analysis. FINDINGS: Between Jan 1, 2010, and March 1, 2014, we screened 333
      patients; 281 met our inclusion criteria. We eventually diagnosed 209 patients
      with ALS and 68 with non-ALS disorders; the diagnosis of four patients was
      inconclusive. The threshold tracking TMS technique differentiated ALS from non
      ALS disorders with a sensitivity of 73.21% (95% CI 66.66-79.08) and specificity
      of 80.88% (69.53-89.40) at an early stage in the disease. All patients tolerated
      the study well, and we did not record any adverse events from performance of the
      index test. INTERPRETATION: The threshold tracking TMS technique reliably
      distinguishes ALS from non-ALS disorders and, if these findings are replicated in
      larger studies, could represent a useful diagnostic investigation when combined
      with the Awaji criteria to prove upper motor neuron dysfunction at early stages
      of ALS. FUNDING: Motor Neuron Disease Research Institute of Australia, National
      Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, and Pfizer.

PMID- 25843899
TI  - Tackling diagnostic delays in ALS.

PMID- 25843900
TI  - Eu-doped ZnO nanoparticles: Sonochemical synthesis, characterization, and
      sonocatalytic application.
AB  - Undoped and europium (III)-doped ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by a
      sonochemical method. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction
      (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
      (XPS) analysis. The crystalline sizes of undoped and 3% Eu-doped ZnO were found
      to be 16.04 and 8.22nm, respectively. The particle size of Eu-doped ZnO
      nanoparticles was much smaller than that of pure ZnO. The synthesized
      nanocatalysts were used for the sonocatalytic degradation of Acid Red 17. Among
      the Eu-doped ZnO catalysts, 3% Eu-doped ZnO nanoparticles showed the highest
      sonocatalytic activity. The effects of various parameters such as catalyst
      loading, initial dye concentration, pH, ultrasonic power, the effect of oxidizing
      agents, and the presence of anions were investigated. The produced intermediates
      of the sonocatalytic process were monitored by GC-Mass (GC-MS) spectrometry.

PMID- 25843901
TI  - Sonochemical degradation of naphthol blue black in water: Effect of operating
      parameters.
AB  - In this work, the sonochemical degradation of naphthol blue black (NBB), an
      acidic diazo dye, in water was investigated. The effects of several operating
      parameters such as initial NBB concentration, acoustic intensity, ultrasonic
      frequency, nature of the dissolved gas and solution pH on the degradation of the
      dye were carried out. The obtained results showed that ultrasound completely
      destroyed NBB (5 mg L(-1)) after 45 min of sonication and most of the chemical
      oxygen demand was eliminated after 90 min of treatment. It was found that the
      initial rate of sonolytic degradation increased with increasing the initial NBB
      concentration. The fitting of the experimental data by a heterogeneous Langmuir
      kinetics model showed that NBB degraded mainly at the interfacial region of the
      bubble by hydroxyl radical (OH) attack. The degradation rate of the dye increased
      substantially with increasing acoustic intensity in the range of 0.44-3.58 W cm(
      2) and decreased with increasing frequency in the range of 585-1140 kHz. The rate
      of NBB degradation decreased in the order of Ar>air>N2. The significant
      degradation was achieved in acidic conditions (pH 2) where the initial
      degradation rate was 1.37 and 1.66 higher than those observed at pH 6 and pH 10,
      respectively.

PMID- 25843902
TI  - Developing a Job Description for a Vice Chair of Education in Radiology: The
      ADVICER Template.
AB  - RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The newly formed Alliance of Directors and Vice Chairs
      of Education in Radiology (ADVICER), a group within the Alliance for Clinician
      Educators in Radiology, identified an acute need for a generic job description
      template for Vice Chairs of Education in Radiology, a role that is being
      developed in many academic Departments of Radiology. Eighty-three percent of
      current members who responded to a survey had no detailed job description, and
      over half had no job description at all. Having a comprehensive and detailed job
      description is vital to developing this key position. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
      Using the results of a survey sent to ADVICER members and seven Education Vice
      Chair job descriptions provided by members, the authors developed a detailed job
      description encompassing all potential elements of this position. RESULTS: Only
      17% of survey respondents had a detailed job description. The role of an
      Education Vice Chair varies significantly between institutions in its scope and
      level of responsibilities. The resultant generic job description that was devised
      is intended to provide a template that would be modified by the candidate or the
      Department Chair. It is unlikely that any one individual would perform all the
      described activities. CONCLUSIONS: ADVICER has developed a comprehensive,
      flexible job description for Vice Chair of Education in Radiology that can be
      adapted by institutions as appropriate. It can be downloaded from
      http://aur.org/ADVICER/.

PMID- 25843903
TI  - Mechanoreceptor distribution in stag beetle jaws corresponds to the material
      stress in fights.
AB  - Male stag beetles (Lucanidae) use their extremely elongated jaws to pinch their
      rivals forcefully in male-male battles. The morphology of these jaws has to be a
      compromise between robustness (to withstand the bite forces), length and weight.
      Cyclommatus metallifer stag beetles circumvent this trade-off by reducing their
      bite force when biting with their slender jaw tips. Here we describe the
      functional mechanism behind the force modulation behaviour. Scanning Electron
      Microscopy and micro CT imaging show large numbers of small sensors in the jaw
      cuticle. We find a strong correlation between the distribution of these sensors
      and that of the material stress in the same jaw region during biting. The jaw
      sensors are mechanoreceptors with a small protrusion that barely protrudes above
      the undulating jaw surface. The sensors stimulate dendrites that extend from the
      neuronal cell body through the entire thickness of the jaw exoskeleton towards
      the sensors at the external surface. They form a sensory field that functions in
      a feedback mechanism to control the bite muscle force. This negative feedback
      mechanism enabled the stag beetles to evolve massive bite muscles without risking
      overloading their valuable jaws. 

PMID- 25843904
TI  - A tannin-blocking agent does not modify the preference of sheep towards tannin
      containing plants.
AB  - Sheep have been suggested to use their senses to perceive plant properties and
      associate their intake with consequences after ingestion. However, sheep with
      browsing experience do not seem to select against tannin-rich browsing materials
      in cafeteria trials. Thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the
      relationship between the chemical composition, selectivity index (SI), preference
      and intake rate (IR) of tannin-containing forage trees offered to sheep in
      cafeteria experiments. Four trees were selected for their condensed tannin
      content and their varying biological activities. Havardia albicans (high
      biological activity), Leucaena leucocephala (medium biological activity), Acacia
      gaumeri (low biological activity) and Brosimum alicastrum (very low biological
      activity) were used in this study. Ten hair sheep (23.7kg+/-1.43LW) with eight
      months of browsing experience in native vegetation were used in this study.
      Polyethylene glycol (PEG 3600MW) was administered to five sheep during all
      experiments. In experiment 1, fresh foliage from all trees was offered ad libitum
      for 4h. In experiment 2, B. alicastrum was withdrawn and the preference was
      determined again. The forage preference in experiment 1 was A. gaumeri
      (14.77gDM/kgLW)>B. alicastrum (11.77gDM/kgLW)>H. albicans (3.71gDM/kgLW)=L.
      leucocephala (1.87gDM/kgLW) (P<0.05). The preference in experiment 2 was A.
      gaumeri>H. albicans=L. leucocephala. PEG administration had no effect on the
      preference or IR. The intake rate seemed to have been affected by the plant
      density. Moreover, fiber compounds were found to be better predictors of DM
      intake than polyphenolic compounds at levels typically found in the evaluated
      forages. It was concluded that tannins and PEG did not modify the preferences of
      sheep in cafeteria trials. Thus, tannins are not involved in the preference
      regulation of animals with browsing experience. 

PMID- 25843905
TI  - Temporal trends show improved breast cancer survival in Australia but widening
      urban-rural differences.
AB  - We examined geographic patterns in breast cancer survival over time using
      population-based data for breast cancer diagnosed between 1987 and 2007 in New
      South Wales, Australia. We found that five-year relative survival increased
      during the entire study period. Multivariable analysis indicated that there was
      little geographic variation in 1992-1996, but in 1997-2001 and 2002-2007
      geographic variation was statistically significant (P < 0.01), with women living
      in rural areas having higher risk of death from breast cancer. The underlying
      reasons for this widening survival disparity must be identified so that
      appropriately targeted interventions can be implemented and the disparity
      reduced.

PMID- 25843906
TI  - Are SK channels a logical target for treating ventricular arrhythmias? First, do
      no harm.

PMID- 25843907
TI  - Antisocial features and "faking bad": A critical note.
AB  - We critically review the literature on antisocial personality features and
      symptom fabrication (i.e., faking bad; e.g., malingering). A widespread
      assumption is that these constructs are intimately related. Some studies have,
      indeed, found that antisocial individuals score higher on instruments detecting
      faking bad, but others have been unable to replicate this pattern. In addition,
      studies exploring whether antisocial individuals are especially talented in
      faking bad have generally come up with null results. The notion of an intrinsic
      link between antisocial features and faking bad is difficult to test and research
      in this domain is sensitive to selection bias. We argue that research on faking
      bad would profit from further theoretical articulation. One topic that deserves
      scrutiny is how antisocial features affect the cognitive dissonance typically
      induced by faking bad. We illustrate our points with preliminary data and discuss
      their implications. 

PMID- 25843908
TI  - Modified aesthetic abdominoplasty approach in perforator free-flap breast
      reconstruction: Impact of drain free donor site on patient outcomes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The use of progressive tension sutures alone has been shown to be
      comparable to using abdominal drains in aesthetic abdominoplasty. This study
      reviews outcomes with the use of barbed progressive tension suture technique
      without drains in DIEP donor site closure compared to standard closure with
      drains. METHODS: A two year retrospective review was conducted of DIEP flap
      reconstructions in the enhanced recovery program at Mayo Clinic, Rochester (USA).
      Donor site closure was divided into barbed progressive tension sutures (B-PTS)
      without drains, and standard abdominal closure with drains(S-AD). Demographics,
      perioperative data and donor site complications were documented. RESULTS: 93
      patients were included in the study, 42 in the B-PTS no drain group and 51 in the
      S-AD with drains. 81% of all procedures were bilateral and 39% were immediate.
      Patients were discharged faster to the ward postoperatively and total hospital
      admission was reduced in the B-PTS group, 3.7 (SD = 1.4) days versus 4.7 (SD =
      2.1) days in the standard group (P = 0 < 0.001 and 0.004 respectively). Less
      morphine was required postoperative day (POD) 1, 2 and 3 (P = 0.04, 0.03, 0.02
      respectively), and time to mobilize was quicker but not statistically significant
      (P = 0.09) in the B-PTS group. Overall there were 18 patients in the S-AD group
      who had complications versus 9 in the B-PTS group (P = 0.14). The incidence of
      complications occurring within 30 days were lower in the B-PTS group (P = 0.05).
      The overall seroma rate was 5.4% and rates in the B-PTS group was 2.4% versus
      7.8% in the S-AD group, P = 0.37. CONCLUSIONS: Use of barbed progressive tension
      sutures for abdominal closure after DIEP flap harvest can obviate the need for
      abdominal drains, reduce postoperative pain and encourage early discharge from
      the hospital without an increased risk in complications. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III.

PMID- 25843909
TI  - The versatility of the islanded posterior arm flap for regional reconstruction
      around the axilla.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Defects in the region of the axilla pose a difficult reconstructive
      problem. Various methods for restoration have been described. We present our
      experience with the islanded posterior arm flap for regional reconstruction
      around the axilla. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 2008 and 2013, all patients
      receiving a posterior arm flap for regional reconstruction around the axilla were
      entered in a prospectively maintained database. Patient data, surgical details,
      complications and the need for revisional procedures were recorded. RESULTS: In
      the study period, 35 posterior arm flaps were used in 24 patients (f:m = 11:13;
      mean age at surgery: 41,3 +/- 18,5 years; 11 bilateral procedures) with defects
      predominately due to hidradenitis suppurativa (n = 31). The remaining indications
      included tumor resection (n = 2), burn contracture release or thoracic surgery (n
      = 1 each). The majority of defects were located at the axilla, but also in the
      proximal upper arm or the adjacent thoracic wall. Major wound complications such
      as total or partial flap necrosis were not encountered in our series. Minor
      complications included partial superficial wound dehiscence (n = 4) and
      superficial wound infection (n = 1), all of which were managed conservatively. In
      4 patients a secondary flap trimming procedure was required. CONCLUSION: In our
      hands, the posterior arm flap is an excellent choice for axillary reconstruction
      due to its constant anatomy, robust vascularity, unrivaled freedom of flap
      insetting, excellent recipient site matching and favorable donor site morbidity.
      Besides axillary defects, the posterior arm flap may additionally be employed for
      defects of the adjacent thoracic wall or the proximal two thirds of the upper
      arm.

PMID- 25843911
TI  - Vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy in the treatment of neovascular age
      related macular degeneration: Clinical perspectives.
AB  - Vascular targeted photodynamic therapy (VTP), with use of verteporfin as a
      photosensitizer is one of the few therapies, which has been shown to effectively
      slow the progression of the "wet" form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD),
      and even to stabilize visual acuity over many years. Although, due to
      considerable advance of AMD treatment, it is currently not recommended in
      monotherapy of AMD, however, its combination with steroids and anti-angiogenic
      biologic drugs may reveal high therapeutic potential in the treatment of
      neovascular AMD. The future of VTP as a method of AMD treatment is development of
      new selective and targeted photosensitizer and combination of this method with
      other therapeutic strategies targeting cellular structures or pathways involved
      in AMD progression. 

PMID- 25843910
TI  - The brown fat secretome: metabolic functions beyond thermogenesis.
AB  - Brown fat is highly active in fuel oxidation and dissipates chemical energy
      through uncoupling protein (UCP)1-mediated heat production. Activation of brown
      fat leads to increased energy expenditure, reduced adiposity, and lower plasma
      glucose and lipid levels, thus contributing to better homeostasis. Uncoupled
      respiration and thermogenesis have been considered to be responsible for the
      metabolic benefits of brown adipose tissue. Recent studies have demonstrated that
      brown adipocytes also secrete factors that act locally and systemically to
      influence fuel and energy metabolism. This review discusses the evidence
      supporting a thermogenesis-independent role of brown fat, particularly through
      its release of secreted factors, and their implications in physiology and
      therapeutic development. 

PMID- 25843912
TI  - Oral 5-aminolevulinic acid mediated photodynamic diagnosis using fluorescence
      cystoscopy for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer: A randomized, double-blind,
      multicentre phase II/III study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer
      (NMIBC) following transurethral administration of a hexalated form of 5
      aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA), 5-ALA hexyl ester, is widely performed in Western
      countries. In this study, effectiveness and safety of the oral administration of
      5-ALA is assessed in a phase II/III study of PDD for NMIBC in comparison to those
      of conventional white-light endoscopic diagnosis. METHODS: Patients with NMIBC
      were allocated to two groups that were orally administered 10 and 20 mg/kg of 5
      ALA under the double-blind condition. Effectiveness was evaluated by setting the
      primary endpoint to sensitivity. Safety was also analyzed. Moreover, clinically
      recommended doses of 5-ALA was also investigated as an investigator-initiated
      multicenter cooperative clinical trial in which five medical institutions
      participated. RESULTS: All 62 enrolled patients completed the clinical trial. The
      sensitivities of PDD were higher (84.4 and 75.8% in the 10 and 20 m g/kg-groups,
      respectively) than those of conventional endoscopic diagnosis (67.5 and 47.6%,
      respectively) (p = 0.014 and p < 0.001, respectively). Five episodes of serious
      adverse events developed in four patients; whereas a causal relationship with the
      investigational agent was ruled out in all episodes. CONCLUSION: This
      investigator-initiated clinical trial confirmed the effectiveness and safety of
      PDD for NMIBC following oral administration of 5-ALA. Both doses of 5-ALA may be
      clinically applicable; however, the rate of detecting tumors only by PDD was
      higher in the 20 mg/kg-group suggesting that this dose would be more useful.

PMID- 25843913
TI  - Alcohols inhibit translation to regulate morphogenesis in C. albicans.
AB  - Many molecules are secreted into the growth media by microorganisms to modulate
      the metabolic and physiological processes of the organism. For instance, alcohols
      like butanol, ethanol and isoamyl alcohol are produced by the human pathogenic
      fungus, Candida albicans and induce morphological differentiation. Here we show
      that these same alcohols cause a rapid inhibition of protein synthesis. More
      specifically, the alcohols target translation initiation, a complex stage of the
      gene expression process. Using molecular techniques, we have identified the
      likely translational target of these alcohols in C. albicans as the eukaryotic
      translation initiation factor 2B (eIF2B). eIF2B is the guanine nucleotide
      exchange factor for eIF2, which supports the exchange reaction where eIF2.GDP is
      converted to eIF2.GTP. Even minimal regulation at this step will lead to
      alterations in the levels of specific proteins that may allow the exigencies of
      the fungus to be realised. Indeed, similar to the effects of alcohols, a minimal
      inhibition of protein synthesis with cycloheximide also causes an induction of
      filamentous growth. These results suggest a molecular basis for the effect of
      various alcohols on morphological differentiation in C. albicans. 

PMID- 25843914
TI  - An overview of molecular basis of iron metabolism regulation and the associated
      pathologies.
AB  - Iron is essential for several vital biological processes. Its deficiency or
      overload drives to the development of several pathologies. To maintain iron
      homeostasis, the organism controls the dietary iron absorption by enterocytes,
      its recycling by macrophages and storage in hepatocytes. These processes are
      mainly controlled by hepcidin, a liver-derived hormone which synthesis is
      regulated by iron levels, inflammation, infection, anemia and erythropoiesis.
      Besides the systemic regulation of iron metabolism mediated by hepcidin, cellular
      regulatory processes also occur. Cells are able to regulate themselves the
      expression of the iron metabolism-related genes through different post
      transcriptional mechanisms, such as the alternative splicing, microRNAs, the
      IRP/IRE system and the proteolytic cleavage. Whenever those mechanisms are
      disturbed, due to genetic or environmental factors, iron homeostasis is disrupted
      and iron related pathologies may arise. 

PMID- 25843915
TI  - Morphology and frictional properties of scales of Pseudopus apodus (Anguidae,
      Reptilia).
AB  - In the lizard family Anguidae different levels of limb reduction exist up to a
      completely limbless body. The locomotion patterns of limbless anguid lizards are
      similar to the undulating and concertina movements of snakes. Additionally,
      anguid lizards frequently use a third mode of locomotion, called slide-pushing.
      During slide-pushing the undulating moving body slides on the ground, while the
      posterior part of the body is pressed against the substrate. Whereas the
      macroscopic and microscopic adaptations of snake scales to limbless locomotion
      are well described, the micromorphology of anguid lizard scales has never been
      examined. Therefore we studied the macro- and micromorphology of the scales of
      Pseudopus apodus, an anguid lizard with a snakelike body. In addition, we
      measured the frictional properties of Pseudopus scales. Our data show that the
      microstructures of the ventral scales of this anguid lizard are less developed
      than in snakes. We found, however, a rostro-caudal gradient in macroscopic
      structuring. Whereas the ventral side of the anterior body was nearly
      unstructured, the tail had macroscopic longitudinal ridges. Our frictional
      measurements on rough substrates revealed that the ridges provide a frictional
      anisotropy: friction was higher in the lateral than in the rostral direction. The
      observed frictional properties are advantageous for a tail-based slide-pushing
      locomotion, for which a tail with a high lateral friction is most effective in
      generating propulsion. 

PMID- 25843916
TI  - HIV infection is associated with elevated nucleosomes in asymptomatic patients
      and during sepsis or malaria.

PMID- 25843917
TI  - The role of frontal EEG asymmetry in post-traumatic stress disorder.
AB  - Frontal alpha asymmetry, a biomarker derived from electroencephalography (EEG)
      recordings, has often been associated with psychological adjustment, with more
      left-sided frontal activity predicting approach motivation and lower levels of
      depression and anxiety. This suggests high relevance to post-traumatic stress
      disorder (PTSD), a disorder comprising anxiety and dysphoria symptoms. We review
      this relationship and show that frontal asymmetry can be plausibly linked to
      neuropsychological abnormalities seen in PTSD. However, surprisingly few studies
      (k = 8) have directly addressed frontal asymmetry in PTSD, mostly reporting that
      trait frontal asymmetry has little (if any) predictive value. Meanwhile,
      preliminary evidence suggest that state-dependent asymmetry during trauma
      relevant stimulation distinguishes PTSD patients from resilient individuals.
      Thus, exploring links between provocation-induced EEG asymmetry and PTSD appears
      particularly promising. Additionally, we recommend more fine-grained analyses
      into PTSD symptom clusters in relation to frontal asymmetry. Finally, we
      highlight hypotheses that may guide future research and help to fully apprehend
      the practical and theoretical relevance of this biological marker.

PMID- 25843918
TI  - Abnormalities in the experience of self-agency in schizophrenia: A replication
      study.
AB  - People usually experience agency over their actions and subsequent outcomes.
      These agency inferences over action-outcomes are essential to social interaction,
      and occur when an actual outcome corresponds with either a specific goal (goal
      based), and matches with action-outcome information that is subtly pre-activated
      in the situation at hand (prime-based). Recent research showed that schizophrenia
      patients exhibit goal-based inferences, but not prime-based inferences. Intrigued
      by these findings, and underscoring their potential role in explaining poor
      social functioning, we replicate patients' deficit in prime-based agency
      inferences. Additionally, we exclude the account that patients are unable to
      visually process and attend to primed information. 

PMID- 25843919
TI  - Connectome organization is related to longitudinal changes in general
      functioning, symptoms and IQ in chronic schizophrenia.
AB  - Emerging evidence suggests schizophrenia to involve widespread alterations in the
      macroscale wiring architecture of the human connectome. Recent findings of
      attenuated connectome alterations in unaffected siblings of schizophrenia
      patients suggest that altered connectome organization may relate to the
      vulnerability to develop the disorder, but whether it relates to progression of
      illness after disease onset is currently unknown. Here, we examined the
      interaction between connectome structure and longitudinal changes in general
      functioning, clinical symptoms and IQ in the 3years following MRI assessment in a
      group of chronically ill schizophrenia patients. Effects in patients were
      compared to associations between connectome organization and changes in
      subclinical symptoms and IQ in healthy controls and unaffected siblings of
      schizophrenia patients. Analyzing the patient sample revealed a relationship
      between structural connectivity-particularly among central 'brain hubs'-and
      progressive changes in general functioning (p=0.007), suggesting that more
      prominent impairments of hub connectivity may herald future functional decline.
      Our findings further indicate that affected local connectome organization relates
      to longitudinal increases in overall PANSS symptoms (p=0.013) and decreases in
      total IQ (p=0.003), independent of baseline symptoms and IQ. No significant
      associations were observed in controls and siblings, suggesting that the findings
      in patients represent effects of ongoing illness, as opposed to normal time
      related changes. In all, our findings suggest connectome structure to have
      predictive value for the course of illness in schizophrenia.

PMID- 25843920
TI  - Meta-analysis of 12 trials evaluating the effects of statins on decreasing atrial
      fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting.
AB  - Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia encountered after coronary artery
      bypass graft surgery (CABG) and is associated with poor outcomes. The purpose of
      this study was to examine whether initiation of statins before CABG reduces the
      risk of postoperative AF. We searched for clinical trials that randomized
      patients who underwent CABG to preoperative statin therapy versus placebo. We
      required that the trial reported the incidence of postoperative AF. Random
      effects summary odds ratio (OR) were constructed. Sensitivity analysis for the
      trials that reported AF as a primary outcome along with subgroup analyses
      according to the different statins used was also conducted. Twelve trials with
      2,980 patients met our inclusion criteria. Atorvastatin was tested in 8 trials,
      whereas rosuvastatin was studied in 2 studies. Statins were associated with a
      lower risk of postoperative AF (OR 0.42, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.27 to
      0.66, p <0.0001). There was benefit with atorvastatin (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.25 to
      0.50, p <0.0001) but not rosuvastatin (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.28 to 1.71, p = 0.42).
      On sensitivity analysis limited to trials that reported AF as a primary outcome,
      the risk of postoperative AF was still reduced with statins (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.25
      to 0.90, p = 0.02). The mean duration of the hospital stay was significantly
      lower in the statin group: 8.5 +/- 1.8 days versus 9.1 +/- 2.2 days (p <0.0001).
      Statin therapy, particularly atorvastatin, before CABG was associated with a
      reduction in the risk of postoperative AF. 

PMID- 25843921
TI  - Acute Pancreatitis: What's the Score?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common presentation in the emergency
      department (ED). Severity of pancreatitis is an important consideration for ED
      clinicians making admission judgments. Validated scoring systems can be a helpful
      tool in this process. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review is to give a general
      outline on the subject of AP and compare different criteria used to predict
      severity of disease for use in the ED. DISCUSSION: This review updates the
      classifications and scoring systems for AP and the relevant parameters of each.
      This article assesses past and current scoring systems for AP, including Ranson
      criteria, Glasgow criteria, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II
      (APACHE II), computed tomography imaging scoring systems, Bedside Index of
      Severity in Acute Pancreatitis (BISAP) score, Panc 3, Harmless Acute Pancreatitis
      Score (HAPS), and the Japanese Severity Score. This article also describes the
      potential use of single variable predictors. Finally, this article discusses risk
      factors for early readmission, an outcome pertinent to emergency physicians.
      These parameters may be used to risk-stratify patients presenting to the ED into
      mild, moderate, and severe pancreatitis for determination of appropriate
      disposition. CONCLUSION: Rapid, reliable, and validated means of predicting
      patient outcome from rapid clinical assessment are of value to the emergency
      physician. Scoring systems such as BISAP, HAPS, and single-variable predictors
      may assist in decision-making due to their simplicity of use and applicability
      within the first 24 h.

PMID- 25843922
TI  - Is Platelet Transfusion Effective in Patients Taking Antiplatelet Agents Who
      Suffer an Intracranial Hemorrhage?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients taking antiplatelet agents (APAs) with intracranial
      hemorrhage (ICH) may be treated with platelet transfusion. OBJECTIVES: We
      conducted a systematic review of the use of platelet transfusion in the
      management of APA-related ICH. METHODS: We searched the Cochrane, Medline,
      Embase, and CINAHL databases. Included studies were randomized, case-controlled,
      or cohort studies comparing outcomes in adult patients with APA-related ICH who
      received or did not receive platelet transfusion. Study quality was measured
      using appropriate scores. The primary outcome of interest was in-hospital
      mortality rate. Secondary outcomes included rates of craniotomy, neurological,
      medical, or radiological deterioration; mean length of hospital stay, delayed
      mortality, and functional status at discharge. We reported proportions, medians
      with interquartile ranges, and pooled odds ratios with their 95% confidence
      intervals. p values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS:
      There were no randomized controlled trials. Seven retrospective cohort studies
      (four traumatic, three primary ICH) were included. For APA-related traumatic ICH,
      the pooled odds ratio (OR) for in-hospital mortality with platelet transfusion
      was 1.77 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00-3.13). There were no statistically
      significant differences for secondary outcomes except for proportion with medical
      decline (6/44 vs. 2/64; p = 0.006). For APA-related primary ICH, the pooled OR
      for in-hospital mortality with platelet transfusion was 0.49 (95% CI 0.24-0.98).
      There were no statistically significant differences for most secondary outcomes
      between the two groups. These studies had important methodological limitations.
      CONCLUSIONS: The evidence for platelet transfusion in APA-related ICH was
      inconclusive due to methodological limitations.

PMID- 25843923
TI  - Diagnosis and Management of Closed Internal Degloving Injuries: The Morel
      Lavallee Lesion.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Morel-Lavallee (ML) lesions are closed degloving injuries described
      as posttraumatic subcutaneous fluid collections. They are most commonly seen in
      the proximal thigh. They can present several days to months after the inciting
      event. CASE REPORT: A 55-year-old woman with a recent admission for trauma
      presented to the Emergency Department with increasing swelling and pain in the
      right thigh for the previous 3 days. Ultrasound of the thigh was negative.
      Magnetic resonance imaging performed to further evaluate for leg swelling
      revealed a "Morel-Lavallee lesion" of the thigh that required drainage. The
      patient recovered completely after the surgery. WHY SHOULD THE EMERGENCY
      PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: Emergency physicians should be aware of these rare
      lesions because they are often mistaken for tumors or hematomas. Early
      recognition may avoid subsequent complications and help in obtaining prompt
      specialist care.

PMID- 25843924
TI  - Ketamine use for acute agitation in the emergency department.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Emergency physicians regularly encounter agitated patients. In
      extremely agitated and violent patients, the onset of many traditional
      medications is relatively slow and often requires additional medication. Ketamine
      is frequently used in emergency departments (EDs) for procedural sedation and
      intubation, but has recently been suggested as a treatment for acute agitation.
      OBJECTIVES: We sought to examine the use of ketamine in the treatment of acute
      agitation in an ED setting, including vital sign changes as a result of this
      medication. METHODS: This is a structured review of an historical cohort of
      patients over 7 years at two university EDs. Patients were included if they
      received ketamine as treatment for acute agitation. Abstracted data included age,
      vital signs including hypoxia, any additional medications for agitation, and
      alcohol/drug intoxication. RESULTS: Ketamine was administered for agitation on 32
      visits involving 27 patients. Preadministration systolic blood pressure was 131
      +/- 20 mm Hg, with an average postadministration increase of 17 +/- 25 mm Hg. The
      average baseline heart rate was 98 +/- 23 beats/min, with an average increase of
      8 +/- 17 beats/min. No patients became hypoxic; 62.5% of patients required
      additional calming medication. Alcohol or drug intoxication was present in 40.6%
      of patients. CONCLUSIONS: We found ketamine was used rarely, but had few major
      adverse effects on vital signs even in a population with 21.9% alcohol
      intoxication. However, a high proportion (62.5%) of patients required additional
      pharmacologic treatment for agitation, implying that administering ketamine is
      useful only for initial control of severe agitation.

PMID- 25843925
TI  - Spontaneous Rupture of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Mimicking ST-Segment Elevation
      Myocardial Infarction.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several medical conditions that mimic ST-elevation myocardial
      infarction (STEMI) have been reported previously, but acute abdominal disease
      mimicking STEMI is rare. CASE REPORT: We report on a 72-year-old man who
      presented to the emergency department (ED) with epigastric pain. Meanwhile, STEMI
      with shock developed. Anticoagulation medication and emergent percutaneous
      coronary intervention (PCI) were arranged in a timely manner. However,
      hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) rupture was the true cause of the ST-segment
      elevation. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: This case report
      highlights the fact that acute myocardial infarction is not the only cause of ST
      segment elevation. HCC rupture should be one of the differential diagnoses.

PMID- 25843926
TI  - Congenital leukemia presenting as fever in a neonate.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Emergency department workup of pediatric fever typically focuses on
      ruling out serious bacterial infection, but other disease processes can cause
      fever. Congenital leukemia is a rare but important cause of fever in neonates. We
      review the presentation, pathophysiology, and potential complications of
      congenital leukemia presenting to the emergency department as pediatric fever.
      CASE REPORT: We report a case of a 4-week-old infant brought to the emergency
      department for fever and "not acting normally." Complete blood count demonstrated
      hyperleukocytosis. Subsequent bone marrow biopsy and flow cytometry confirmed the
      diagnosis of congenital leukemia. The extreme elevation of the patient's white
      blood cell count put her at high risk for complications, necessitating aggressive
      treatment, close monitoring, and appropriate consultation for comprehensive care.
      WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS: Congenital leukemia is a rare
      but serious cause of neonatal fever. While the workup for fever without a source
      in young pediatric patients primarily focuses on ruling out serious bacterial
      illness, emergency physicians must be familiar with other potentially life
      threatening causes of this complaint.

PMID- 25843928
TI  - Ingestion of Concentrated Laundry Detergent Pods.

PMID- 25843927
TI  - The unlikely presence of deep vein thrombosis in a patient with low pretest
      probability and a negative D-dimer: a case report.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is commonly encountered in the emergency
      department. Clinical models, such as the Wells criteria, allow physicians to
      estimate the probability of DVT in a patient. Current literature suggests a low
      pretest probability combined with a negative D-dimer laboratory study rules out
      DVT approximately 99% of the time. CASE REPORT: This case discusses a 37-year-old
      male patient who had a low pretest probability and a negative D-dimer, but was
      found to have a DVT on Doppler ultrasound. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE
      AWARE OF THIS?: The astute emergency physician must not discount clinical
      suspicion in order to decide when radiographic imaging is warranted for a
      possible venous thromboembolism. New adjuncts, such as bedside ultrasonography,
      can also be implemented to further risk stratify patients, potentially decreasing
      morbidity and mortality associated with DVT.

PMID- 25843929
TI  - Twin ectopic pregnancy.

PMID- 25843930
TI  - Faculty Prediction of In-Training Examination Scores of Emergency Medicine
      Residents: A Multicenter Study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Emergency Medicine In-Training Examination (EMITE) is one of the
      few validated instruments for medical knowledge assessment of emergency medicine
      (EM) residents. The EMITE is administered only once annually, with results
      available just 2 months before the end of the academic year. An earlier predictor
      of EMITE scores would be helpful for educators to institute timely remediation
      plans. A previous single-site study found that only 69% of faculty predictions of
      EMITE scores were accurate. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this article was to measure
      the accuracy with which EM faculty at five residency programs could predict EMITE
      scores for resident physicians. METHODS: We asked EM faculty at five different
      residency programs to predict the 2014 EMITE scores for all their respective
      resident physicians. The primary outcome was prediction accuracy, defined as the
      proportion of predictions within 6% of the actual scores. The secondary outcome
      was prediction precision, defined as the mean deviation of predictions from the
      actual scores. We assessed faculty background variables for correlation with the
      two outcomes. RESULTS: One hundred and eleven faculty participated in the study
      (response rate 68.9%). Mean prediction accuracy for all faculty was 60.0%. Mean
      prediction precision was 6.3%. Participants were slightly more accurate at
      predicting scores of noninterns compared to interns. No faculty background
      variable correlated with the primary or secondary outcomes. Eight participants
      predicted scores with high accuracy (>80%). CONCLUSIONS: In this multicenter
      study, EM faculty possessed only moderate accuracy at predicting resident EMITE
      scores. A very small subset of faculty members is highly accurate.

PMID- 25843931
TI  - Understanding barriers and facilitators to the use of Clinical Information
      Systems for intensive care units and Anesthesia Record Keeping: A rapid
      ethnography.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the current use of commercial-off-the-shelf
      Clinical Information Systems (CIS) for intensive care units (ICUs) and Anesthesia
      Record Keeping (ARK) for operating rooms and post-anesthesia care recovery
      settings at three Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs). Clinicians and
      administrative staff use these applications at bedside workstations, in operating
      rooms, at nursing stations, in physician's rooms, and in other various settings.
      The intention of a CIS or an ARK system is to facilitate creation of electronic
      records of data, assessments, and procedures from multiple medical devices. The
      US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of the Chief of Nursing Informatics
      sought to understand usage barriers and facilitators to optimize these systems in
      the future. Therefore, a human factors study was carried out to observe the CIS
      and ARK systems in use at three VAMCs in order to identify best practices and
      suggested improvements to currently implemented CIS and ARK systems. METHODS: We
      conducted a rapid ethnographic study of clinical end-users interacting with the
      CIS and ARK systems in the critical care and anesthesia care areas in each of
      three geographically distributed VAMCs. Two observers recorded interactions
      and/or interview responses from 88 CIS and ARK end-users. We coded and sorted
      into logical categories field notes from 69 shadowed participants. The team
      transcribed and combined data from key informant interviews with 19 additional
      participants with the observation data. We then integrated findings across
      observations into meaningful patterns and abstracted the data into themes, which
      translated directly to barriers to effective adoption and optimization of the CIS
      and ARK systems. RESULTS: Effective optimization of the CIS and ARK systems was
      impeded by: (1) integration issues with other software systems; (2) poor
      usability; (3) software challenges; (4) hardware challenges; (5) training
      concerns; (6) unclear roles and lack of coordination among stakeholders; and (7)
      insufficient technical support. Many of these barriers are multi-faceted and have
      associated sub-barriers, which are described in detail along with relevant quotes
      from participants. In addition, regionalized purchases of different CIS and ARK
      systems, as opposed to enterprise level purchases, contributed to some of the
      identified barriers. Facilitators to system use included (1) automation and (2) a
      dedicated facility-level CIS-ARK Coordinator. CONCLUSIONS: We identified barriers
      that explain some of the challenges with the optimization of the CIS and ARK
      commercial systems across the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). To help
      address these barriers, and evolve them into facilitators, we categorized report
      findings as (1) interface and system-level changes that vendors or VA healthcare
      systems can implement; (2) implementation factors under VA control and not under
      VA control; and (3) factors that may be used to inform future application
      purchases. We outline several recommendations for improved adoption of CIS and
      ARK systems and further recommend that human factors engineering and usability
      requirements become an integral part of VA health information technology (HIT)
      application procurement, customization, and implementation in order to help
      eliminate or mitigate some of the barriers of use identified in this study. Human
      factors engineering methods can be utilized to apply a user-centered approach to
      application requirements specification, application evaluation, system
      integration, and application implementation.

PMID- 25843932
TI  - Action-related auditory ERP attenuation: Paradigms and hypotheses.
AB  - A number studies have shown that the auditory N1 event-related potential (ERP) is
      attenuated when elicited by self-induced or self-generated sounds. Because N1 is
      a correlate of auditory feature- and event-detection, it was generally assumed
      that N1-attenuation reflected the cancellation of auditory re-afference, enabled
      by the internal forward modeling of the predictable sensory consequences of the
      given action. Focusing on paradigms utilizing non-speech actions, the present
      review summarizes recent progress on action-related auditory attenuation.
      Following a critical analysis of the most widely used, contingent paradigm, two
      further hypotheses on the possible causes of action-related auditory ERP
      attenuation are presented. The attention hypotheses suggest that auditory ERP
      attenuation is brought about by a temporary division of attention between the
      action and the auditory stimulation. The pre-activation hypothesis suggests that
      the attenuation is caused by the activation of a sensory template during the
      initiation of the action, which interferes with the incoming stimulation.
      Although each hypothesis can account for a number of findings, none of them can
      accommodate the whole spectrum of results. It is suggested that a better
      understanding of auditory ERP attenuation phenomena could be achieved by
      systematic investigations of the types of actions, the degree of action-effect
      contingency, and the temporal characteristics of action-effect contingency
      representation-buildup and -deactivation. This article is part of a Special Issue
      entitled SI: Prediction and Attention. 

PMID- 25843933
TI  - Calorie restriction attenuates cerebral ischemic injury via increasing SIRT1
      synthesis in the rat.
AB  - Caloric restriction (CR) has been shown to have several health benefits and
      provides protection against type 2 diabetes, neurodegenerative and cerebral
      vascular diseases. It reduces the brain infarct size and promotes neurological
      functional recovery after cerebral ischemia. Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) plays an important
      role in the biological effects induced by CR. This study investigated the role of
      SIRT1 in ischemic tolerance in the brain induced by CR. Sprague drawly rats were
      divided into two groups based on food intake. Ad libitum (AL) group was fed with
      normal diet while the CR group received 60% calories compared to AL. All animals
      were subjected to a middle cerebral artery occlusion for 90 min. Results showed
      the neurological function score of CR group was higher and the brain infarct
      volume was markedly reduced in CR group compared to AL group at 24h after
      reperfusion (p < 0.05). CR increased the synthesis of SIRT1 significantly (p <
      0.05), and ameliorated the down regulation of SIRT1 expression at 6 and 12h after
      middle cerebral artery occlusion (p < 0.05, p < 0 .01, respectively). Knockdown
      of SIRT1 by siRNA in vivo reversed the neuroprotective effect of CR. From this
      study, we deduce that CR induces brain ischemic tolerance on rats via increasing
      the synthesis of SIRT1.

PMID- 25843934
TI  - Nestin overexpression promotes the embryonic development of heart and brain
      through the regulation of cell proliferation.
AB  - Nestin, an intermediate filament protein, is a key regulator of various
      extracellular proteins that play important roles in cell growth and
      differentiation. In recent years, nestin has been widely accepted as a molecular
      marker for neural stem/progenitor cells. However, its function during
      embryogenesis remains largely unknown since its depletion is lethal after stage
      embryonic day 8.5 (E8.5). In order to understand the role of this protein in
      vivo, we compared the heart and brain tissues of control mice with those of mice
      overexpressing a human nestin cDNA transgene under the control of a ROSA26
      promoter. In these tissues we examined the general histology and cell size, the
      presence of apoptotic cells by TUNEL assay, and the presence of progenitor cell
      markers like SOX2. Compared to controls, mouse embryos overexpressing the human
      nestin transgene have a larger size and display characteristic morphological
      changes including a larger heart and forebrain. In these tissues we found
      corresponding increases in the size of cardiomyocytes and brain cells, as well as
      indications of augmented cell proliferation. In contrast, apoptosis was not
      significantly altered. Co-staining brain sections with SOX2 and Ki67 showed that
      most of the proliferating cells in the forebrain were neural stem cells.
      Moreover, nestin overexpression was responsible for a marked activation of the
      PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Taken together, the results of this study indicate
      that nestin plays an important role in the embryonic development of at least two
      mouse organs (heart and brain) through the regulation of cell proliferation. 

PMID- 25843935
TI  - Overproduction of the Bacillus thuringiensis Vip3Aa16 toxin and study of its
      insecticidal activity against the carob moth Ectomyelois ceratoniae.
AB  - The vip3Aa16 gene of Bacillus thuringiensis strain BUPM95 was cloned and
      expressed in Escherichia coli. Optimization of Vip3A16 protein expression was
      conducted using Plackett-Burman design and response surface methodology.
      Accordingly, the optimum Vip3A16 toxin production was 170MUg/ml at 18h post
      induction time and 39 degrees C post-induction temperature. This corresponds to
      an improvement of 21times compared to the starting conditions. The insecticidal
      activity, evaluated against Ectomyelois ceratoniae, displayed an LC50 value of
      40ng/cm(2) and the midgut histopathology of Vip3Aa16 fed larvae showed
      vacuolization of the cytoplasm, brush border membrane destruction, vesicle
      formation in the apical region and cellular disintegration. 

PMID- 25843936
TI  - Crossmodal integration between visual linguistic information and flavour
      perception.
AB  - Many studies have found processing interference in working memory when complex
      information that enters the cognitive system from different modalities has to be
      integrated to understand the environment and promote adjustment. Here, we report
      on a Stroop study that provides evidence concerned with the crossmodal processing
      of flavour perception and visual language. We found a facilitation effect in the
      congruency condition. Acceleration was observed for incomplete words and anagrams
      compared to complete words. A crossmodal completion account is presented for such
      findings. It is concluded that the crossmodal integration between flavour and
      visual language perception requires the active participation of top-down and
      bottom-up processing. 

PMID- 25843937
TI  - Obesity, fitness, and brain integrity in adolescence.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: We set out to ascertain the relationship between insulin resistance,
      fitness, and brain structure and function in adolescents. DESIGN AND METHODS: We
      studied 79 obese and 51 non-obese participants who were recruited from the
      community, all without type 2 diabetes mellitus. All participants received
      medical, endocrine, neuropsychological, and MRI evaluations as well as a 6-minute
      walk test that was used to estimate fitness (maximal oxygen consumption).
      RESULTS: Obese adolescents had significantly thinner orbitofrontal cortices and
      performed significantly worse on Visual Working Memory tasks and the Digit
      Vigilance task. Insulin sensitivity and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) were
      both highly correlated with central obesity and orbitofrontal cortical thickness,
      although insulin sensitivity was the stronger predictor for orbitofrontal
      cortical thickness. We also found that VO2 max was the only significant
      physiological variable related to visual working memory. CONCLUSIONS: This is the
      first study to report positive associations between insulin resistance, VO2 max,
      and frontal lobe brain integrity in adolescents. Given the importance of brain
      health for learning and school performance, we conclude that schools should also
      emphasize physical fitness in order to maintain structural and functional brain
      integrity and facilitate academic achievement.

PMID- 25843938
TI  - Parental perception of child weight in the first two years-of-life: a potential
      link between infant feeding and preschoolers' diet.
AB  - Approximately 23% of preschoolers are overweight or obese. Establishing a healthy
      dietary lifestyle at an early age can improve later child diet and body weight.
      This study examined the determinants of past infant feeding practices that do not
      follow standard feeding recommendations (breastfeeding for less than 6 months
      duration, cow's milk prior to the first year of age and solid foods at or before
      4 months of age). It also examined the role of parental perception of child
      weight in the first 2 years-of-life on past infant feeding practices as well as
      current child diet and body weight. Families of 497 preschoolers aged 22-63
      months (39.0 +/- 8.2) were recruited from 30 child care centers in East-Central
      Illinois. Main findings indicate that past infant feeding practices were common
      and varied by socio-demographic factors including race/ethnicity, parental
      education and child gender. Children perceived as overweight in the first 2 years
      of-life tended to breastfeed for lesser duration. Additionally, the majority
      (79.8%) of preschoolers who were classified as overweight using BMI percentile
      were perceived as non-overweight by the parent in the first 2 years-of-life. Mean
      daily total fatty/sugary food intake was higher among those perceived to be non
      overweight in the first 2 years-of-life. These findings have identified parental
      perception of child weight in the first 2 years-of-life as a modifiable risk
      factor for unhealthy child diet and obesity among preschoolers. 

PMID- 25843939
TI  - Engineering tandem single-chain Fv as cell surface reporters with enhanced
      properties of fluorescence detection.
AB  - A recently described fluorescence biosensor platform utilizes single-chain Fv
      (scFvs) that selectively bind and activate fluorogen molecules. In this report we
      investigated the display of tandem scFv biosensors at the surface of mammalian
      cells with the aim of advancing current fluorescence detection strategies. We
      initially screened different peptide linkers to separate each scFv unit, and
      discovered that tandem proteins joined by either flexible or alpha-helical
      linkers properly fold and display at the surface of mammalian cells. Accordingly,
      we performed a combinatorial scFv-dimer study and identified that fluorescence
      activation correlated with the cellular location (membrane distal versus
      proximal) and selections of the different scFvs. Furthermore, in vitro
      measurements showed that the stability of each scFv monomer unit influenced the
      folding and cell surface activities of tandem scFvs. Additionally, we
      investigated the absence or poor signals from some scFv-dimer combinations and
      discovered that intramolecular and intermolecular scFv chain mispairings led to
      protein misfolding and/or secretory-pathway-mediated degradation. Furthermore,
      when tandem scFvs were utilized as fluorescence reporter tags with surface
      receptors, the biosensor unit and target protein showed independent activities.
      Thus, the live cell application of tandem scFvs permitted advanced detection of
      target proteins via fluorescence signal amplification, Forster resonance energy
      transfer resulting in the increase of Stokes shift and multi-color vesicular
      traffic of surface receptors. 

PMID- 25843940
TI  - Tinnitus-related abnormalities in visual and salience networks during a one-back
      task with distractors.
AB  - Tinnitus is highly prevalent in the general population. Tinnitus sufferers often
      report having difficulties focusing on a task at hand and ignoring the tinnitus
      percept. Behavioral studies have shown evidence for impairments in attention,
      interference inhibition, and various other executive functions in tinnitus.
      However, few neuroimaging studies have directly addressed this issue. In the
      present functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study we employed a 1-back
      task, requiring subjects to monitor relevant auditory and visual information.
      Additionally, interfering stimuli were presented to investigate selection of
      relevant information and inhibition of irrelevant information. Significant
      behavioral group differences were not found, although performance worsened for
      increasing tinnitus severity. Significant group differences in evoked neural
      activation neither occurred in the central auditory system, nor in the
      attentional fronto-parietal network. However, the anterior insula and the vermis
      of the cerebellum showed significantly stronger task-related activation in the
      tinnitus group when compared to the controls. Furthermore, deactivation in the
      primary visual cortex that occurred in the control group for various combinations
      of modalities and distractors was significantly less in the tinnitus group. These
      results are consistent with previous studies that showed the involvement of
      various networks in tinnitus, particularly the salience and visual networks,
      which are also implicated in attention. Although we did not demonstrate cognitive
      impairment in tinnitus, significantly different evoked responses were found in
      various brain regions that we attribute to an abnormal involvement of attention
      control mechanisms in tinnitus. 

PMID- 25843941
TI  - World Workshop on Oral Medicine VI: Utilization of Oral Medicine-specific
      software for support of clinical care, research, and education: current status
      and strategy for broader implementation.
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To assess the current scope and status of Oral Medicine-specific
      software (OMSS) utilized to support clinical care, research, and education in
      Oral Medicine and to propose a strategy for broader implementation of OMSS within
      the global Oral Medicine community. STUDY DESIGN: An invitation letter explaining
      the objectives was sent to the global Oral Medicine community. Respondents were
      interviewed to obtain information about different aspects of OMSS functionality.
      RESULTS: Ten OMSS tools were identified. Four were being used for clinical care,
      one was being used for research, two were being used for education, and three
      were multipurpose. Clinical software was being utilized as databases developed to
      integrate of different type of clinical information. Research software was
      designed to facilitate multicenter research. Educational software represented
      interactive, case-orientated technology designed for clinical training in Oral
      Medicine. Easy access to patient data was the most commonly reported advantage.
      Difficulty of use and poor integration with other software was the most commonly
      reported disadvantage. CONCLUSIONS: The OMSS presented in this paper demonstrate
      how information technology (IT) can have an impact on the quality of patient
      care, research, and education in the field of Oral Medicine. A strategy for
      broader implementation of OMSS is proposed.

PMID- 25843942
TI  - Blunt aortic injury: risk factors and impact of surgical approaches.
AB  - PURPOSE: This study reviews our 17-year experience of managing blunt traumatic
      aortic injury (BTAI). METHODS: We analyzed information collected retrospectively
      from a tertiary trauma center. RESULTS: Between October 1995 and June 2012, 88
      patients (74 male and 14 female) with a mean age of 39.9 +/- 17.9 years (range 15
      79 years) with proven BTAI were enrolled in this study. Their GCS, ISS, and RTS
      scores were 12.9 +/- 3.7, 29.2 +/- 9.8, and 6.9 +/- 1.4, respectively. Twenty-one
      (23.8 %) patients were managed non-operatively, 49 (55.7 %) with open surgical
      repair, and 18 (20.5 %) with endovascular repair. The in-hospital mortality rate
      was 17.1 % (15/81) and there were no deaths in the endovascular repair group. The
      mean follow-up period was 39.9 +/- 44.2 months. The survivors of blunt aortic
      injury had lower ISS, RTS, TRISS, and serum creatinine level and lower rate of
      massive blood transfusion, shock, and intubation than the patients who died,
      despite higher rates of endovascular repair, hemoglobin, and GCS on presentation.
      The degree of aortic injury, different therapeutic options, GCS, shock
      presentation, and intubation on arrival all had significant impacts on outcome.
      CONCLUSIONS: Shock, aortic injury severity, coexisting trauma severity, and
      different surgical approaches impact survival. Endovascular repair achieves a
      superior mid-term result and is a reasonable option for treating BTAI.

PMID- 25843943
TI  - Structural alteration of tight and adherens junctions in villous and crypt
      epithelium of the small and large intestine of conventional nursing piglets
      infected with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus.
AB  - Integrity of the intestinal epithelium is critical for proper functioning of the
      barrier that regulates absorption of water and restricts uptake of luminal
      bacteria. It is maintained mainly by tight junctions (TJs) and adherens junctions
      (AJs). We conducted immunofluorescence (IF) staining for in situ identification
      of zonula occludin (ZO)-1 proteins for TJ and E-Cadherin proteins for AJ in the
      small and large intestinal villous and crypt epithelium of nursing pigs infected
      with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV). Twenty 9-day-old piglets [PEDV
      infected (n=9) and Mock (n=11)] from PEDV seronegative sows, were orally
      inoculated [8.9 log10 genomic equivalents/pig] with PEDV PC21A strain or mock. At
      post-inoculation days (PIDs) 1-5, infected pigs showed severe watery diarrhea
      and/or vomiting and severe atrophic enteritis. By immunohistochemistry, PEDV
      antigens were evident in enterocytes lining the villous epithelium. At PIDs 1-5,
      PEDV-infected pigs exhibited mildly to extensively disorganized, irregular
      distribution and reduced expression of ZO-1 or E-Cadherin in villous, but not
      crypt epithelial cells of the jejunum and ileum, but not in the large intestine,
      when compared to the negative controls. The structural destruction and
      disorganization of TJ and AJ were extensive in PEDV-infected pigs at PIDs 1-3,
      but then appeared to reversibly recover at PID 5, as evident by increased numbers
      of ZO-1-positive epithelial cells and markedly improved appearance of E-Cadherin
      positive villous epithelium. Our results suggest a possible involvement of
      structurally impaired TJ and AJ in the pathogenesis of PEDV, potentially leading
      to secondary bacterial infections.

PMID- 25843944
TI  - The pig gut microbial diversity: Understanding the pig gut microbial ecology
      through the next generation high throughput sequencing.
AB  - The importance of the gut microbiota of animals is widely acknowledged because of
      its pivotal roles in the health and well being of animals. The genetic diversity
      of the gut microbiota contributes to the overall development and metabolic needs
      of the animal, and provides the host with many beneficial functions including
      production of volatile fatty acids, re-cycling of bile salts, production of
      vitamin K, cellulose digestion, and development of immune system. Thus the
      intestinal microbiota of animals has been the subject of study for many decades.
      Although most of the older studies have used culture dependent methods, the
      recent advent of high throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes has facilitated in
      depth studies exploring microbial populations and their dynamics in the animal
      gut. These culture independent DNA based studies generate large amounts of data
      and as a result contribute to a more detailed understanding of the microbiota
      dynamics in the gut and the ecology of the microbial populations. Of equal
      importance, is being able to identify and quantify microbes that are difficult to
      grow or that have not been grown in the laboratory. Interpreting the data
      obtained from this type of study requires using basic principles of microbial
      diversity to understand importance of the composition of microbial populations.
      In this review, we summarize the literature on culture independent studies of the
      pig gut microbiota with an emphasis on its succession and alterations caused by
      diverse factors. 

PMID- 25843945
TI  - Cross-protection study of a Mannheimia haemolytica serotype 1 vaccine against
      acute pasteurellosis in lambs induced by a serotype 2 strain.
AB  - Ovine pneumonia is an economic important disease worldwide for the sheep
      industry. Multiple serotypes (S) of Mannheimia haemolytica are involved in the
      disease and S2 and S1 are the most frequent isolates associated with lung lesions
      in sheep. Vaccines based on some M. haemolytica S2 strains have been shown to
      have poor immunogenicity. The objective of this study was to determine the cross
      protection effect of an S1 strain based vaccine, Bovilis MH, in sheep against an
      experimental challenge with an S2 strain. Lambs (n=12) in the vaccine group were
      injected subcutaneously with 1 ml of the Bovilis MH vaccine, and revaccinated 4
      weeks later, while the control group (n=12) received 1 ml of saline at each
      occasion. Two weeks after revaccination, all lambs were challenged
      intratracheally with parainfluenza virus 3, and with an M. haemolytica S2 strain
      at day 7 post-viral challenge. The proportion of animals having pyrexia in the
      first 2 days post-bacterial challenge was significantly less in the vaccine group
      compared to the control group (P<0.05). The animals in the vaccine group had
      significantly lower dyspnoea scores and lung/bodyweight ratio than those in the
      control group (P<0.05). The vaccine provided 49.1% overall protection. Prior to
      the challenge, the vaccinated animals had significantly higher titres of
      antibodies to S1 and S2 whole cell antigens and to leukotoxins produced by S1 and
      S2 strains compared to the control animals (P<0.05). The S1 strain vaccine
      provided considerable cross-protection against the S2 strain challenge.

PMID- 25843946
TI  - [Homeopathy, social welfare and reality].

PMID- 25843947
TI  - Design and evaluation of a computed tomography (CT)-compatible needle insertion
      device using an electromagnetic tracking system and CT images.
AB  - PURPOSE: Percutaneous needle insertion procedures are commonly used for
      diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Although current technology allows accurate
      localization of lesions, they cannot yet be precisely targeted. Lung cancer is
      the most common cause of cancer-related death, and early detection reduces the
      mortality rate. Therefore, suspicious lesions are tested for diagnosis by
      performing needle biopsy. METHODS: In this paper, we have presented a novel
      computed tomography (CT)-compatible needle insertion device (NID). The NID is
      used to steer a flexible needle (phi0.55 mm) with a bevel at the tip in
      biological tissue. CT images and an electromagnetic (EM) tracking system are used
      in two separate scenarios to track the needle tip in three-dimensional space
      during the procedure. Our system uses a control algorithm to steer the needle
      through a combination of insertion and minimal number of rotations. RESULTS:
      Noise analysis of CT images has demonstrated the compatibility of the device. The
      results for three experimental cases (case 1: open-loop control, case 2: closed
      loop control using EM tracking system and case 3: closed-loop control using CT
      images) are presented. Each experimental case is performed five times, and
      average targeting errors are 2.86 +/- 1.14, 1.11 +/- 0.14 and 1.94 +/- 0.63 mm
      for case 1, case 2 and case 3, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The achieved results
      show that our device is CT-compatible and it is able to steer a bevel-tipped
      needle toward a target. We are able to use intermittent CT images and EM tracking
      data to control the needle path in a closed-loop manner. These results are
      promising and suggest that it is possible to accurately target the lesions in
      real clinical procedures in the future.

PMID- 25843949
TI  - Multicenter study on the use of patient-specific CAD/CAM reconstruction plates
      for mandibular reconstruction.
AB  - PURPOSE: For the new generation of mandibular reconstruction, patient-specific
      mandible reconstruction plates (PSMPs) have been developed which are milled from
      titanium after preoperative computer planning using CAD/CAM procedures. Resection
      margins and plate position are determined by surgical guides. In addition, length
      and shape of the plate and the number and angulation of the screw holes can be
      planned. METHODS: 30 patients received such PSMP. Indication ranged from
      stabilization osteosynthesis, single alloplastic stand-alone reconstruction to
      microvascular reconstructions. Time for planning, fit of surgical guides and
      plates, pre-/postoperative occlusion, radiological position of the temporo
      mandibular joint and complications were recorded. RESULTS: The median time for
      online planning was 35 min. The results concerning fit and handling of the PSMP
      and the surgical guides were mainly very positive. In six cases, the plan had to
      be adapted to the intraoperative clinical needs. The postoperative position of
      the condyles in the temporo mandibular fossae was regular in 28 cases. The
      evaluation of the occlusion was not representative due to not clearly
      identifiable occlusion in 2/3 of the cases. Nevertheless, complications like
      postoperative extraoral plate exposure, infection, graft and flap necrosis or
      difficulties to position the guides or the plate during surgery occurred.
      CONCLUSIONS: Mandibular reconstruction with PSMP offers a broad range of
      opportunities and benefits compared with standard procedures and can be
      recommended for all kind of mandibular reconstructions. It is not yet foreseeable
      whether PSMP will in future become routine clinical practice for mandibular
      reconstruction or will be confined to selected isolated cases.

PMID- 25843950
TI  - Conical Fourier shell correlation applied to electron tomograms.
AB  - The resolution of electron tomograms is anisotropic due to geometrical
      constraints during data collection, such as the limited tilt range and single
      axis tilt series acquisition. Acquisition of dual axis tilt series can decrease
      these effects. However, in cryo-electron tomography, to limit the electron
      radiation damage that occurs during imaging, the total dose should not increase
      and must be fractionated over the two tilt series. Here we set out to determine
      whether it is beneficial fractionate electron dose for recording dual axis cryo
      electron tilt series or whether it is better to perform single axis acquisition.
      To assess the quality of tomographic reconstructions in different directions here
      we introduce conical Fourier shell correlation (cFSCe/o). Employing cFSCe/o, we
      compared the resolution isotropy of single-axis and dual-axis (cryo-)electron
      tomograms using even/odd split data sets. We show that the resolution of dual
      axis simulated and cryo-electron tomograms in the plane orthogonal to the
      electron beam becomes more isotropic compared to single-axis tomograms and high
      resolution peaks along the tilt axis disappear. cFSCe/o also allowed us to
      compare different methods for the alignment of dual-axis tomograms. We show that
      different tomographic reconstruction programs produce different anisotropic
      resolution in dual axis tomograms. We anticipate that cFSCe/o can also be useful
      for comparisons of acquisition and reconstruction parameters, and different
      hardware implementations. 

PMID- 25843948
TI  - Augmenting MRI-transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy with temporal
      ultrasound data: a clinical feasibility study.
AB  - PURPOSE: In recent years, fusion of multi-parametric MRI (mp-MRI) with
      transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy has enabled targeted prostate biopsy
      with improved cancer yield. Target identification is solely based on information
      from mp-MRI, which is subsequently transferred to the subject coordinates through
      an image registration approach. mp-MRI has shown to be highly sensitive to detect
      higher-grade prostate cancer, but suffers from a high rate of false positives for
      lower-grade cancer, leading to unnecessary biopsies. This paper utilizes a
      machine-learning framework to further improve the sensitivity of targeted biopsy
      through analyzing temporal ultrasound data backscattered from the prostate
      tissue. METHODS: Temporal ultrasound data were acquired during targeted fusion
      prostate biopsy from suspicious cancer foci identified in mp-MRI. Several
      spectral features, representing the signature of backscattered signal from the
      tissue, were extracted from the temporal ultrasound data. A supervised support
      vector machine classification model was trained to relate the features to the
      result of histopathology analysis of biopsy cores obtained from cancer foci. The
      model was used to predict the label of biopsy cores for mp-MRI-identified targets
      in an independent group of subjects. RESULTS: Training of the classier was
      performed on data obtained from 35 biopsy cores. A fivefold cross-validation
      strategy was utilized to examine the consistency of the selected features from
      temporal ultrasound data, where we achieved the classification accuracy and area
      under receiver operating characteristic curve of 94 % and 0.98, respectively.
      Subsequently, an independent group of 25 biopsy cores was used for validation of
      the model, in which mp-MRI had identified suspicious cancer foci. Using the
      trained model, we predicted the tissue pathology using temporal ultrasound data:
      16 out of 17 benign cores, as well as all three higher-grade cancer cores, were
      correctly identified. CONCLUSION: The results show that temporal analysis of
      ultrasound data is potentially an effective approach to complement mp-MRI-TRUS
      guided prostate cancer biopsy, specially to reduce the number of unnecessary
      biopsies and to reliably identify higher-grade cancers.

PMID- 25843951
TI  - Comparison of two angiographic systems in paediatric interventional cardiology.
AB  - The aim of this work was to analyse the radiation dose for patients and staff
      between X-ray systems, a new biplane with flat-panel detectors (FDs) and a
      conventional system equipped with image intensifier (II). Entrance surface air
      kerma (ESAK) and scatter doses were measured on polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)
      phantoms of different thicknesses (from 4 to 16 cm). The ESAK values for the
      different acquisition modes and PMMA thicknesses were higher for the II in
      comparison with FDs. For the II, the scatter dose rates ranged from 0.67 to 12.2
      mSv h(-1) at the eye position of the cardiologist during fluoroscopy and cine
      modes. At the lower extremities, these values were 1.11 and 24.24 mSv h(-1). In
      the case of the FDs, these values ranged from 0.24 to 0.67 mSv h(-1) for eye lens
      and from 0.73 to 2.01 mSv h(-1) for the position of cardiologist's ankle. The
      newly installed X-ray system showed an average reduction factor of up to 9.7
      times for ESAK values. For the staff with an average reduction factor of 15.9
      times at the eye position during fluoroscopy and cine modes, no protective tools
      are used. At the lower extremities, this value was 7.6 times. 

PMID- 25843952
TI  - Insulin Resistance Increases the Risk of Contrast-Induced Nephropathy in Patients
      Undergoing Elective Coronary Intervention.
AB  - We assessed the influence of insulin resistance (IR) on the development of
      contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) in patients (n = 719) undergoing elective
      percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Patients were divided into diabetes
      mellitus (DM = 242), nondiabetic IR (IR = 120), and nondiabetic insulin
      sensitivity (IS = 357) groups according to medical history and homeostasis model
      assessment insulin resistance index. Serum creatinine (SCr) and estimated
      glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were measured before and 72 hours after PCI.
      There were no differences in SCr and eGFR among the groups before PCI; SCr
      increased and eGFR decreased significantly in the DM and IR groups post-PCI (P <
      .001). The incidence of CIN in the IR group was as high as in the DM group and
      were both significantly higher than in the IS group (6.7% vs 8.7% vs 2.2%, P <
      .05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed DM (odds ratio [OR] =
      1.19, 95%CI = 1.08-1.510, P < .001), HOMA-IR (OR = 1.39, 95%CI = 1.23-1.58, P <
      0.001), and eGFR (OR = 0.88, 95%CI = 0.84-0.92, P < .001) were independent risk
      factors in predicting CIN. Screening IR patients and taking appropriate
      prophylactic strategy before PCI may reduce the incidence of CIN. 

PMID- 25843953
TI  - FTY720 enhances TRAIL-mediated apoptosis by up-regulating DR5 and down-regulating
      Mcl-1 in cancer cells.
AB  - FTY720, Fingolimod, is a functional antagonist to the sphingosine-1-phosphate
      (S1P) receptor and an inhibitor of sphingosine kinase 1. Here, we showed that a
      combination of FTY720 and TRAIL induced apoptosis in human renal, breast, and
      colon carcinoma cells. Most importantly, this combination had no effect on normal
      cells. Furthermore, the combined treatment with FTY720 and TRAIL reduced tumor
      growth in xenograft models. FTY720 up-regulated death receptor (DR)5 at post
      translational level. Knockdown of DR5 markedly blocked apoptosis induced by the
      combined treatment. FTY720 also inhibited Mcl-1 expression at the post
      translational level. Over-expression of Mcl-1 blocked apoptosis induced by FTY720
      and TRAIL. Interestingly, phospho-FTY720 and inhibitors of sphingosine kinase
      failed to enhance TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Thus, FTY720 enables TRAIL-induced
      apoptosis through up-regulation of DR5 and down-regulation of Mcl-1 in human
      cancer cells.

PMID- 25843955
TI  - Evaluation of Nanoparticle Tracking for Characterization of Fibrillar Protein
      Aggregates.
AB  - Amyloidogenesis is the process of formation of protein aggregates with fibrillar
      morphology. Because amyloidogenesis is linked to neurodegenerative disease, there
      is interest in understanding the mechanism of fibril growth. Kinetic models of
      amyloidogenesis require data on the number concentration and size distribution of
      aggregates, but this information is difficult to obtain using conventional
      methods. Nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) is a relatively new technique that
      may be uniquely suited for obtaining these data. In NTA, the two-dimensional (2
      D) trajectory of individual particles is tracked, from which the diffusion
      coefficient, and, hence, hydrodynamic radius is obtained. Here we examine the
      validity of NTA in tracking number concentration and size of DNA, as a model of a
      fibrillar macromolecule. We use NTA to examine three amyloidogenic materials:
      beta-amyloid, transthyretin, and polyglutamine-containing peptides. Our results
      are instructive in demonstrating the advantages and some limitations of single
      particle diffusion measurements for investigating aggregation in protein systems.

PMID- 25843956
TI  - Longitudinal Associations Between Gender-typed Skills and Interests and Their
      Links to Occupational Outcomes.
AB  - Although gender-based occupational segregation has declined in past decades, the
      world of work remains segregated by gender. Grounded in research showing that
      individuals tend to choose jobs that match their interests and skills, this study
      examined the longitudinal associations between gendered activity interests and
      skills from middle childhood through adolescence and tested gendered interests
      and skills, measured in adolescence, as predictors of occupational outcomes in
      young adulthood. Data were collected from 402 participants at four time points-
      when they averaged 10, 12, 16, and 25 years old. Results revealed that the
      longitudinal linkages between male-typed interests and skills were bidirectional,
      that both male-typed interests and skills in adolescence predicted working in
      male-typed occupations in young adulthood, and that skills, but not interests,
      predicted income. In contrast, female-typed interests predicted female-typed
      skills, but not the reverse, adolescent female-typed skills (but not interests)
      predicted working in female-typed occupations in young adulthood, and there were
      no links between female-typed interests or skills and income. Discussion focuses
      on the differential meanings and developmental implications of male-versus female
      typed interests and skills.

PMID- 25843954
TI  - Hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1alpha) and reactive oxygen species (ROS)
      mediates radiation-induced invasiveness through the SDF-1alpha/CXCR4 pathway in
      non-small cell lung carcinoma cells.
AB  - Radiotherapy is an important procedure for the treatment of inoperable non-small
      cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, recent evidence has shown that irradiation can
      promote the invasion and metastasis of several types of cancer, and the
      underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate
      the molecular mechanism by which radiation enhances the invasiveness of NSCLC
      cells. We found that after irradiation, hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF
      1alpha) was increased and translocated into the nucleus, where it bound to the
      hypoxia response element (HRE) in the CXCR4 promoter and promoted the
      transcription of CXCR4. Furthermore, reactive oxygen species (ROS) also plays a
      role in the radiation-induced expression of CXCR4. Our results revealed that 2 Gy
      X-ray irradiation promoted the metastasis and invasiveness of H1299, A549 and
      H460 cells, which were significantly enhanced by SDF-1alpha treatment. Blocking
      the SDF-1alpha/CXCR4 interaction could suppress the radiation-induced
      invasiveness of NSCLC cells. The PI3K/pAkt and MAPK/pERK1/2 pathways were found
      to be involved in radiation-induced matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression. In
      vivo, irradiation promoted the colonization of H1299 cells in the liver and lung,
      which was mediated by CXCR4. Altogether, our findings have elucidated the
      underlying mechanisms of the irradiation-enhanced invasiveness of NSCLC cells. 

PMID- 25843957
TI  - The Intergenerational Effects of Changes in Women's Educational Attainments.
AB  - The effect of the socioeconomic characteristics in one generation on the
      socioeconomic achievement of the next generation is the central concern of social
      stratification research. Researchers typically address this issue by analyzing
      the associations between the characteristics of parents and offspring. This
      approach, however, focuses on observed parent-offspring pairs and ignores that
      changes in the socioeconomic characteristics of one generation may alter the
      numbers and types of intergenerational family relationships created in the next
      one. Models of intergenerational effects that include marriage and fertility as
      well as the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status yield a richer
      account of intergenerational effects at both the family and population levels.
      When applied to a large sample of Indonesian women and their families, these
      models show that the effects of women's educational attainment on the educational
      attainments of the next generation are positive. However, the beneficial effects
      of increases in women's schooling on the educational attainment of their children
      are partially offset at the population level by a reduction in the overall number
      of children that a more educated population of women bears and enhanced by the
      more favorable marriage partners of better educated women.

PMID- 25843958
TI  - Early life disadvantage strengthens flight performance trade-offs in European
      starlings, Sturnus vulgaris.
AB  - Developmental stress has been shown to affect adult flight performance in birds,
      with both negative and positive effects reported in the literature. Previous
      studies have used developmental manipulations that had substantial effects on
      patterns of growth. They have also examined mean levels of flight performance per
      individual, rather than investigating how developmental stress might alter trade
      offs between different components of flight performance. We recorded multiple
      components of escape flight performance in 20 adult European starlings previously
      subjected to a manipulation likely to have altered levels of developmental
      stress. Siblings had been cross-fostered to nests where they were either slightly
      larger (advantaged treatment) or slightly smaller (disadvantaged treatment) than
      their competitors. The manipulation had no detectable effect on growth. However,
      developmental treatment affected performance in escape flights a year later by
      strengthening the trade-offs between different flight parameters. Disadvantaged
      birds faced a steeper trade-off between take-off speed and take-off angle, and a
      steeper trade-off between take-off angle and total time in flight, than
      advantaged birds. The results suggest that even subtle early life adversity that
      has no obvious effect on growth or size can leave a lasting legacy in the form of
      constraints on locomotor performance later in life.

PMID- 25843959
TI  - Chytrid fungus infections in laboratory and introduced Xenopus laevis
      populations: assessing the risks for U.K. native amphibians.
AB  - The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is notorious amongst
      current conservation biology challenges, responsible for mass mortality and
      extinction of amphibian species. World trade in amphibians is implicated in
      global dissemination. Exports of South African Xenopus laevis have led to
      establishment of this invasive species on four continents. Bd naturally infects
      this host in Africa and now occurs in several introduced populations. However, no
      previous studies have investigated transfer of infection into co-occurring native
      amphibian faunas. A survey of 27 U.K. institutions maintaining X. laevis for
      research showed that most laboratories have low-level infection, a risk for
      native species if animals are released into the wild. RT-PCR assays showed Bd in
      two introduced U.K. populations of X. laevis, in Wales and Lincolnshire.
      Laboratory and field studies demonstrated that infection levels increase with
      stress, especially low temperature. In the U.K., native amphibians may be exposed
      to intense transmission in spring when they enter ponds to spawn alongside X.
      laevis that have cold-elevated Bd infections. Exposure to cross-infection has
      probably been recurrent since the introduction of X. laevis, >20 years in
      Lincolnshire and 50 years in Wales. These sites provide an important test for
      assessing the impact of X. laevis on Bd spread. However, RT-PCR assays on 174
      native amphibians (Bufo, Rana, Lissotriton and Triturus spp.), sympatric with the
      Bd-infected introduced populations, showed no foci of self-sustaining Bd
      transmission associated with X. laevis. The abundance of these native amphibians
      suggested no significant negative population-level effect after the decades of co
      occurrence.

PMID- 25843960
TI  - Ordered phases of ethylene adsorbed on charged fullerenes and their aggregates.
AB  - In spite of extensive investigations of ethylene adsorbed on graphite, bundles of
      nanotubes, and crystals of fullerenes, little is known about the existence of
      commensurate phases; they have escaped detection in almost all previous work.
      Here we present a combined experimental and theoretical study of ethylene
      adsorbed on free C60 and its aggregates. The ion yield of [Formula: see text]
      measured by mass spectrometry reveals a propensity to form a structurally ordered
      phase on monomers, dimers and trimers of C60 in which all sterically accessible
      hollow sites over carbon rings are occupied. Presumably the enhancement of the
      corrugation by the curvature of the fullerene surface favors this phase which is
      akin to a hypothetical 1 * 1 phase on graphite. Experimental data also reveal the
      number of molecules in groove sites of the C60 dimer through tetramer. The
      identity of the sites, adsorption energies and orientations of the adsorbed
      molecules are determined by molecular dynamics calculations based on quantum
      chemical potentials, as well as density functional theory. The decrease in
      orientational order with increasing temperature is also explored in the
      simulations whereas in the experiment it is impossible to vary the temperature.

PMID- 25843961
TI  - Purification, separation and extraction of inner tubes from double-walled carbon
      nanotubes by tailoring density gradient ultracentrifugation using optical probes.
AB  - We studied the effect of varying sonication and centrifugation parameters on
      double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNT) by measuring optical absorption and
      photoluminescence (PL) of the samples. We found that by using a low sonication
      intensity before applying density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU), only inner
      tube species with a diameter [Formula: see text]0.8 nm can be identified in
      absorption measurements. This is in stark contrast to the result after sonicating
      at higher intensities, where also bigger inner tubes can be found. Furthermore,
      by comparing PL properties of samples centrifugated either with or without a
      gradient medium, we found that applying DGU greatly enhances the PL intensity,
      whereas centrifugation at even higher speeds but without a gradient medium
      results in lower intensities. This can be explained by extraction of inner tubes
      from their host outer tubes in a two-stage process: the different shearing forces
      from the sonication treatments result in some DWCNT to be opened, whereas others
      stay uncut. A subsequent application of DGU leads to the extraction of the inner
      tubes or not if the host nanotube stayed uncut or no gradient medium was used.
      This work shows a pathway to avoid this phenomenon to unravel the intrinsic PL
      from inner tubes of DWCNT.

PMID- 25843962
TI  - Optical switching of radical pair conformation enhances magnetic sensitivity.
AB  - The yield of radical pair reactions is influenced by magnetic fields well beyond
      the levels expected from energy considerations. This dependence can be traced
      back to the microscopic dynamics of electron spins and constitutes the basis of
      chemical compasses. Here we propose a new experimental approach based on
      molecular photoswitches to achieve additional control on the chemical reaction
      and allow short-time resolution of the spin dynamics. Our proposal enables
      experiments to test some of the standard assumptions of the radical pair model
      and improves the sensitivity of a paradigmatic model of chemical magnetometer by
      up to two orders of magnitude.

PMID- 25843963
TI  - Radical re-appraisal of water structure in hydrophilic confinement.
AB  - The structure of water confined in MCM41 silica cylindrical pores is studied to
      determine whether confined water is simply a version of the bulk liquid which can
      be substantially supercooled without crystallisation. A combination of total
      neutron scattering from the porous silica, both wet and dry, and computer
      simulation using a realistic model of the scattering substrate is used. The water
      in the pore is divided into three regions: core, interfacial and overlap. The
      average local densities of water in these simulations are found to be about 20%
      lower than bulk water density, while the density in the core region is below, but
      closer to, the bulk density. There is a decrease in both local and core densities
      when the temperature is lowered from 298 K to 210 K. The radical proposal is made
      here that water in hydrophilic confinement is under significant tension, around 
      100 MPa, inside the pore.

PMID- 25843964
TI  - Crystal Structure Prediction from First Principles: The Crystal Structures of
      Glycine.
AB  - Here we present the results of our unbiased searches of glycine polymorphs
      obtained using the Genetic Algorithms search implemented in Modified Genetic
      Algorithm for Crystals coupled with the local optimization and energy evaluation
      provided by Quantum Espresso. We demonstrate that it is possible to predict the
      crystal structures of a biomedical molecule using solely first principles
      calculations. We were able to find all the ambient pressure stable glycine
      polymorphs, which are found in the same energetic ordering as observed
      experimentally and the agreement between the experimental and predicted
      structures is of such accuracy that the two are visually almost
      indistinguishable.

PMID- 25843965
TI  - Major and trace element geochemistry of Lake Bogoria and Lake Nakuru, Kenya,
      during extreme draught.
AB  - The physico-chemical properties of water samples from the two athalassic
      endorheic lakes Bogoria and Nakuru in Kenya were analysed. Surface water samples
      were taken between July 2008 and October 2009 in weekly intervals from each lake.
      The following parameters were determined: pH, salinity, electric conductivity,
      dissolved organic carbon (DOC), the major cations (FAAS and ICP-OES) and the
      major anions (IC), as well as certain trace elements (ICP-OES). Samples of
      superficial sediments were taken in October 2009 and examined using Instrumental
      Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) for their major and trace element content
      including rare earth elements (REE). Both lakes are highly alkaline with a
      dominance of Na > K > Si > Ca in cations and HCO3 > CO3 > Cl > F > SO4 in anions.
      Both lakes also exhibited high concentrations of Mo, As and fluoride. Due to an
      extreme draught from March to October 2009, the water level of Lake Nakuru
      dropped significantly. This created drastic evapoconcentration, with the total
      salinity rising from about 200/00 up to 630/00. Most parameters (DOC, Na, K, Ca,
      F, Mo and As) increased with falling water levels. A clear change in the quality
      of DOC was observed, followed by an almost complete depletion of dissolved Fe
      from the water phase. In Lake Bogoria the evapoconcentration effects were less
      pronounced (total salinity changed from about 400/00 to 480/00). The
      distributions of REE in the superficial sediments of Lake Nakuru and Lake Bogoria
      are presented here for the first time. The results show a high abundance of the
      REE and a very distinct Eu depletion of Eu/Eu* = 0.33-0.45.

PMID- 25843966
TI  - Metropolis-Hastings thermal state sampling for numerical simulations of Bose
      Einstein condensates.
AB  - We demonstrate the application of the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm to sampling
      of classical thermal states of one-dimensional Bose-Einstein quasicondensates in
      the classical fields approximation, both in untrapped and harmonically trapped
      case. The presented algorithm can be easily generalized to higher dimensions and
      arbitrary trap geometry. For truncated Wigner simulations the quantum noise can
      be added with conventional methods (half a quantum of energy in every mode). The
      advantage of the presented method over the usual analytical and stochastic ones
      lies in its ability to sample not only from canonical and grand canonical
      distributions, but also from the generalized Gibbs ensemble, which can help to
      shed new light on thermodynamics of integrable systems.

PMID- 25843967
TI  - Insights on the upper mantle beneath the Eastern Alps.
AB  - Analyses of Ps and Sp receiver functions from datasets collected by permanent and
      temporary seismic stations, image a seismic discontinuity, due to a negative
      velocity contrast across the entire Eastern Alps. The receiver functions show the
      presence of the discontinuity within the upper mantle with a resolution of tens
      of kilometers laterally. It is deeper (100-130 km) below the central portion of
      the Eastern Alps, and shallower (70-80 km) towards the Pannonian Basin and in the
      Central Alps. Comparison with previous studies renders it likely that the
      observed discontinuity coincides with the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary
      (LAB) east of 15 degrees E longitude, while it could be associated with a low
      velocity zone west of 15 degrees E.

PMID- 25843968
TI  - Slab detachment under the Eastern Alps seen by seismic anisotropy.
AB  - We analyze seismic anisotropy for the Eastern Alpine region by inspecting shear
      wave splitting from SKS and SKKS phases. The Eastern Alpine region is
      characterized by a breakdown of the clear mountain-chain-parallel fast
      orientation pattern that has been previously documented for the Western Alps and
      for the western part of the Eastern Alps. The main interest of this paper is a
      more detailed analysis of the anisotropic character of the Eastern Alps, and the
      transition to the Carpathian-Pannonian region. SK(K)S splitting measurements
      reveal a rather remarkable lateral change in the anisotropy pattern from the west
      to the east of the Eastern Alps with a transition area at about 12 degrees E. We
      also model the backazimuthal variation of the measurements by a vertical change
      of anisotropy. We find that the eastern part of the study area is characterized
      by the presence of two layers of anisotropy, where the deeper layer has
      characteristics similar to those of the Central Alps, in particular SW-NE fast
      orientations of anisotropic axes. We attribute the deeper layer to a detached
      slab from the European plate. Comparison with tomographic studies of the area
      indicates that the detached slab might possibly connect with the lithosphere that
      is still in place to the west of our study area, and may also connect with the
      slab graveyard to the East, at the depth of the upper mantle transition zone. On
      the other hand, the upper layer has NW-SE fast orientations coinciding with a low
      velocity layer which is found above a more-or-less eastward dipping high-velocity
      body. The anisotropy of the upper layer shows large-scale NW-SE fast orientation,
      which is consistent with the presence of asthenospheric flow above the detached
      slab foundering into the deeper mantle.

PMID- 25843969
TI  - Fertility Regulation in an Economic Crisis.
AB  - Substantial international aid is spent reducing the cost of contraception in
      developing countries, as part of a larger effort to reduce global fertility and
      increase investment per child worldwide. The importance for fertility behaviors
      of keeping contraceptive prices low, however, remains unclear. Targeting of
      subsidies and insufficient price variation have hindered prior attempts to
      estimate the effect of monetary and non-monetary contraceptive costs on fertility
      behavior. Using longitudinal survey data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey,
      we exploit dramatic variation in prices and incomes that was induced by the
      economic crisis in the late 1990s to pin down the effect of contraceptive
      availability and costs as well as household resources on contraceptive use and
      method choice. The results are unambiguous: monetary costs of contraceptives and
      levels of family economic resources have a very small (and well-determined)
      impact on contraceptive use and choice of method.

PMID- 25843970
TI  - Characterization of local electrochemical doping of high performance conjugated
      polymer for photovoltaics using scanning droplet cell microscopy.
AB  - The electrochemical oxidation of a next generation low bandgap high performance
      photovoltaic material namely poly[4,8-bis-substituted-benzo[1,2-b:4,5
      b0]dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-4-substituted-thieno[3,4-b] thiophene-2,6-diyl]
      (PBDTTT-c) thin film was investigated using a scanning droplet cell microscope.
      Cyclic voltammetry was used for the basic characterization of the
      oxidation/doping of PBDTTT-c. Application of the different final potentials
      during the electrochemical study provides a close look to the oxidation kinetics.
      The electrical properties of both doped and undoped PBDTTT-c were analyzed in
      situ by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy giving the possibility to
      correlate the changes in the doping level with the subsequent changes in the
      resistance and capacitance. As a result one oxidation peak was found during the
      cyclic voltammetry and in potentiostatic measurements. From Mott-Schottky
      analysis a donor concentration of 2.3 * 1020 cm-3 and a flat band potential of
      1.00 V vs. SHE were found. The oxidation process resulted in an increase of the
      conductivity by two orders of magnitude reaching a maximum for the oxidized form
      of 1.4 S cm-1.

PMID- 25843971
TI  - Experimental chlorine partitioning between forsterite, enstatite and aqueous
      fluid at upper mantle conditions.
AB  - Cl partition coefficients between forsterite, enstatite and coexisting Cl-bearing
      aqueous fluids were determined in a series of high pressure and temperature
      piston cylinder experiments at 2 GPa between 900 and 1300  degrees C in the
      system MgO-SiO2-H2O-NaCl-BaO-C+/-CaCl2+/-TiO2+/-Al2O3+/-F. Diamond aggregates
      were added to the experimental capsule set-up in order to separate the fluid from
      the solid residue and enable in situ analysis of the quenched solute by LA-ICP
      MS. The chlorine content of forsterite and enstatite was measured by electron
      microprobe, and the nature of hydrous defects was investigated by infrared
      spectroscopy. Partition coefficients show similar incompatibility for Cl in
      forsterite and enstatite, with DClfo/fl = 0.0012 +/- 0.0006, DClen/fl = 0.0018 +/
      0.0008 and DClfo/en = 1.43 +/- 0.71. The values determined for mineral/fluid
      partitioning are very similar to previously determined values for mineral/melt.
      Applying the new mineral/fluid partition coefficients to fluids in subduction
      zones, a contribution between 0.15% and 20% of the total chlorine from the
      nominally anhydrous minerals is estimated. Infrared spectra of experimental
      forsterite show absorption bands at 3525 and 3572 cm-1 that are characteristic
      for hydroxyl point defects associated with trace Ti substitutions, and strongly
      suggest that the TiO2 content of the system can influence the chlorine and OH
      incorporation via the stabilization of Ti-clinohumite-like point defects. The
      water contents for coexisting forsterite and enstatite in some runs were
      determined using unpolarized IR spectra and calculated water partition
      coefficients [Formula: see text] are between 0.01 and 0.5.

PMID- 25843972
TI  - Self-Regulatory Deficits Associated with Unpracticed Mindfulness Strategies for
      Coping with Acute Pain.
AB  - Training in mindfulness is a well-supported therapeutic strategy for pain
      conditions, though short-term mindfulness training for acute pain is not always
      effective. To explore the possibility that initial attempts at mindfulness in
      people without previous training may drain self-regulatory resources, the current
      study used a student sample (N=63) to test the hypothesis that brief instruction
      in mindfulness would lead to reduced pain tolerance on a cold pressor task (CPT),
      compared to more familiar strategies for coping with acute pain. We also
      investigated whether high heart rate variability (HRV), a physiological indicator
      of self-regulatory capacity, would predict pain tolerance. Higher HRV predicted
      greater pain tolerance only in the control group, suggesting that applying
      unfamiliar mindfulness strategies while attempting to tolerate pain more rapidly
      sapped self-regulatory strength.

PMID- 25843973
TI  - Solution-Phase Perfluoroalkylation of C60 Leads to Efficient and Selective
      Synthesis of Bis-Perfluoroalkylated Fullerenes.
AB  - A solution-phase perfluoroalkylation of C60 with a series of RFI reagents was
      studied. The effects of molar ratio of the reagents, reaction time, and presence
      of copper metal promoter on fullerene conversion and product composition were
      evaluated. Ten aliphatic and aromatic RFI reagents were investigated (CF3I,
      C2F5I, n-C3F7I, i-C3F7I, n-C4F9I, (CF3)(C2F5)CFI, n-C8F17I, C6F5CF2I, C6F5I, and
      1,3-(CF3)2C6F3I) and eight of them (except for C6F5I and 1,3-(CF3)2C6F3I) were
      found to add the respective RF groups to C60 in solution. Efficient and selective
      synthesis of C60(RF)2 derivatives was developed.

PMID- 25843975
TI  - Weakly coupled bound state of 2-D Schrodinger operator with potential-measure.
AB  - We consider a self-adjoint two-dimensional Schrodinger operator [Formula: see
      text], which corresponds to the formal differential expression[Formula: see text]
      where MU is a finite compactly supported positive Radon measure on [Formula: see
      text] from the generalized Kato class and [Formula: see text] is the coupling
      constant. It was proven earlier that [Formula: see text]. We show that for
      sufficiently small alpha the condition [Formula: see text] holds and that the
      corresponding unique eigenvalue has the asymptotic expansion[Formula: see text]
      with a certain constant [Formula: see text]. We also obtain a formula for the
      computation of [Formula: see text]. The asymptotic expansion of the corresponding
      eigenfunction is provided. The statements of this paper extend the results of
      Simon [41] to the case of potentials-measures. Also for regular potentials our
      results are partially new.

PMID- 25843974
TI  - Interparental Relationship Sensitivity Leads to Adolescent Internalizing
      Problems: Different Genotypes, Different Pathways.
AB  - Several studies have established that child interparental conflict evaluations
      link parent relationship functioning and adolescent adjustment. Using
      differential susceptibility theory and its vantage sensitivity complement as
      their framework, the authors examined differences between adolescents who vary in
      the DRD4 7 repeat genotype (i.e. 7+ vs. 7-) in how both interparental conflict
      and positivity affect adolescents' evaluations of interparental conflict (i.e.,
      threat appraisals) and how these evaluations affect internalizing problems.
      Results from longitudinal multiple-group path models using PROSPER data (N = 452)
      supported the hypothesis that threat appraisals for 7+ adolescents would be more
      affected by perceptions of interparental positivity compared to 7- adolescents;
      however, threat appraisals for 7+ adolescents were also less affected by
      interparental conflict. Among 7- adolescents, interparental conflict perceptions
      were associated with higher threat appraisals, and no association was found for
      perceptions of positivity. For adolescents of both genotypes, higher threat was
      associated with greater internalizing problems.

PMID- 25843976
TI  - Representation of the inverse of a frame multiplier.
AB  - Certain mathematical objects appear in a lot of scientific disciplines, like
      physics, signal processing and, naturally, mathematics. In a general setting they
      can be described as frame multipliers, consisting of analysis, multiplication by
      a fixed sequence (called the symbol), and synthesis. In this paper we show a
      surprising result about the inverse of such operators, if any, as well as new
      results about a core concept of frame theory, dual frames. We show that for semi
      normalized symbols, the inverse of any invertible frame multiplier can always be
      represented as a frame multiplier with the reciprocal symbol and dual frames of
      the given ones. Furthermore, one of those dual frames is uniquely determined and
      the other one can be arbitrarily chosen. We investigate sufficient conditions for
      the special case, when both dual frames can be chosen to be the canonical duals.
      In connection to the above, we show that the set of dual frames determines a
      frame uniquely. Furthermore, for a given frame, the union of all coefficients of
      its dual frames is dense in [Formula: see text]. We also introduce a class of
      frames (called pseudo-coherent frames), which includes Gabor frames and coherent
      frames, and investigate invertible pseudo-coherent frame multipliers, allowing a
      classification for frame-type operators for these frames. Finally, we give a
      numerical example for the invertibility of multipliers in the Gabor case.

PMID- 25843977
TI  - Optimal Mortgage Refinancing: A Closed Form Solution.
AB  - We derive the first closed-form optimal refinancing rule: Refinance when the
      current mortgage interest rate falls below the original rate by at least
      [Formula: see text] In this formula W(.) is the Lambert W-function, [Formula: see
      text]rho is the real discount rate, lambda is the expected real rate of exogenous
      mortgage repayment, sigma is the standard deviation of the mortgage rate, kappa/M
      is the ratio of the tax-adjusted refinancing cost and the remaining mortgage
      value, and tau is the marginal tax rate. This expression is derived by solving a
      tractable class of refinancing problems. Our quantitative results closely match
      those reported by researchers using numerical methods.

PMID- 25843978
TI  - Palladium-Catalyzed Aerobic Acetoxylation of Benzene using NOx-Based Redox
      Mediators.
AB  - Palladium-catalyzed methods for C-H oxygenation with O2 as the stoichiometric
      oxidant are limited. Here, we describe the use of nitrite and nitrate sources as
      NOx-based redox mediators in the acetoxylation of benzene. The conditions
      completely avoid formation of biphenyl as a side product, and strongly favor
      formation of phenyl acetate over nitrobenzene (PhOAc:PhNO2 ratios up to 40:1).
      Under the optimized reaction conditions, with 0.1 mol% Pd(OAc)2, 136 turnovers of
      Pd are achieved with only 1 atm of O2 pressure.

PMID- 25843979
TI  - Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation
      Bundling.
AB  - We introduce and evaluate the effectiveness of temptation bundling-a method for
      simultaneously tackling two types of self-control problems by harnessing
      consumption complementarities. We describe a field experiment measuring the
      impact of bundling instantly gratifying but guilt-inducing "want" experiences
      (enjoying page-turner audiobooks) with valuable "should" behaviors providing
      delayed rewards (exercising). We explore whether such bundles increase should
      behaviors and whether people would pay to create these restrictive bundles.
      Participants were randomly assigned to a full treatment condition with gym-only
      access to tempting audio novels, an intermediate treatment involving
      encouragement to restrict audiobook enjoyment to the gym, or a control condition.
      Initially, full and intermediate treatment participants visited the gym 51% and
      29% more frequently, respectively, than control participants, but treatment
      effects declined over time (particularly following Thanksgiving). After the
      study, 61% of participants opted to pay to have gym-only access to iPods
      containing tempting audiobooks, suggesting demand for this commitment device.

PMID- 25843980
TI  - The fitness value of information.
AB  - Communication and information are central concepts in evolutionary biology. In
      fact, it is hard to find an area of biology where these concepts are not used.
      However, quantifying the information transferred in biological interactions has
      been difficult. How much information is transferred when the first spring
      rainfall hits a dormant seed, or when a chick begs for food from its parent? One
      measure that is commonly used in such cases is fitness value: by how much, on
      average, an individual's fitness would increase if it behaved optimally with the
      new information, compared to its average fitness without the information. Another
      measure, often used to describe neural responses to sensory stimuli, is the
      mutual information-a measure of reduction in uncertainty, as introduced by
      Shannon in communication theory. However, mutual information has generally not
      been considered to be an appropriate measure for describing developmental or
      behavioral responses at the organismal level, because it is blind to function; it
      does not distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information. In this paper
      we show that there is in fact a surprisingly tight connection between these two
      measures in the important context of evolution in an uncertain environment. In
      this case, a useful measure of fitness benefit is the increase in the long-term
      growth rate, or the fold increase in number of surviving lineages. We show that
      in many cases the fitness value of a developmental cue, when measured this way,
      is exactly equal to the reduction in uncertainty about the environment, as
      described by the mutual information.

PMID- 25843981
TI  - Escape of the martian protoatmosphere and initial water inventory.
AB  - Latest research in planet formation indicates that Mars formed within a few
      million years (Myr) and remained as a planetary embryo that never grew to a more
      massive planet. It can also be expected from dynamical models that most of Mars'
      building blocks consisted of material that formed in orbital locations just
      beyond the ice line which could have contained [Formula: see text] of H2O. By
      using these constraints, we estimate the nebula-captured and catastrophically
      outgassed volatile contents during the solidification of Mars' magma ocean and
      apply a hydrodynamic upper atmosphere model for the study of the soft X-ray and
      extreme ultraviolet (XUV) driven thermal escape of the martian protoatmosphere
      during the early active epoch of the young Sun. The amount of gas that has been
      captured from the protoplanetary disk into the planetary atmosphere is calculated
      by solving the hydrostatic structure equations in the protoplanetary nebula.
      Depending on nebular properties such as the dust grain depletion factor,
      planetesimal accretion rates and luminosities, hydrogen envelopes with masses
      [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] could have been captured from the
      nebula around early Mars. Depending on the before mentioned parameters, due to
      the planets low gravity and a solar XUV flux that was [Formula: see text] times
      stronger compared to the present value, our results indicate that early Mars
      would have lost its nebular captured hydrogen envelope after the nebula gas
      evaporated, during a fast period of [Formula: see text]. After the solidification
      of early Mars' magma ocean, catastrophically outgassed volatiles with the amount
      of [Formula: see text] H2O and [Formula: see text] CO2 could have been lost
      during [Formula: see text], if the impact related energy flux of large
      planetesimals and small embryos to the planet's surface lasted long enough, that
      the steam atmosphere could have been prevented from condensing. If this was not
      the case, then our results suggest that the timescales for H2O condensation and
      ocean formation may have been shorter compared to the atmosphere evaporation
      timescale, so that one can speculate that sporadically periods, where some amount
      of liquid water may have been present on the planet's surface. However, depending
      on the amount of the outgassed volatiles, because of impacts and the high XUV
      driven atmospheric escape rates, such sporadically wet surface conditions may
      have also not lasted much longer than [Formula: see text]. After the loss of the
      captured hydrogen envelope and outgassed volatiles during the first 100 Myr
      period of the young Sun, a warmer and probably wetter period may have evolved by
      a combination of volcanic outgassing and impact delivered volatiles [Formula: see
      text] ago, when the solar XUV flux decreased to values that have been [Formula:
      see text] times that of today's Sun.

PMID- 25843982
TI  - Impact of treatment heterogeneity on drug resistance and supply chain costs.
AB  - The efficacy of scarce drugs for many infectious diseases is threatened by the
      emergence and spread of resistance. Multiple studies show that available drugs
      should be used in a socially optimal way to contain drug resistance. This paper
      studies the tradeoff between risk of drug resistance and operational costs when
      using multiple drugs for a specific disease. Using a model for disease
      transmission and resistance spread, we show that treatment with multiple drugs,
      on a population level, results in better resistance-related health outcomes, but
      more interestingly, the marginal benefit decreases as the number of drugs used
      increases. We compare this benefit with the corresponding change in procurement
      and safety stock holding costs that result from higher drug variety in the supply
      chain. Using a large-scale simulation based on malaria transmission dynamics, we
      show that disease prevalence seems to be a less important factor when deciding
      the optimal width of drug assortment, compared to the duration of one episode of
      the disease and the price of the drug(s) used. Our analysis shows that under a
      wide variety of scenarios for disease prevalence and drug cost, it is optimal to
      simultaneously deploy multiple drugs in the population. If the drug price is
      high, large volume purchasing discounts are available, and disease prevalence is
      high, it may be optimal to use only one drug. Our model lends insights to policy
      makers into the socially optimal size of drug assortment for a given context.

PMID- 25843984
TI  - Voting suffrage and the political budget cycle: Evidence from the London
      Metropolitan Boroughs 1902-1937.
AB  - We study the opportunistic political budget cycle in the London Metropolitan
      Boroughs between 1902 and 1937 under two different suffrage regimes: taxpayer
      suffrage (1902-1914) and universal suffrage (1921-1937). We argue and find
      supporting evidence that the political budget cycle operates differently under
      the two types of suffrage. Taxpayer suffrage, where the right to vote and the
      obligation to pay local taxes are linked, encourages demands for retrenchment and
      the political budget cycle manifests itself in election year tax cuts and savings
      on administration costs. Universal suffrage, where all adult residents can vote
      irrespective of their taxpayer status, creates demands for productive public
      services and the political budget cycle manifests itself in election year hikes
      in capital spending and a reduction in current spending.

PMID- 25843983
TI  - Towards an asymmetric organocatalytic alpha-cyanation of beta-ketoesters.
AB  - This communication describes the first proof of concept for an asymmetric alpha
      cyanation of beta-ketoesters using a hypervalent iodine-based electrophilic
      cyanide-transfer reagent. A series of different organocatalysts has been
      investigated and it was found that the use of naturally occurring Cinchona
      alkaloids allows obtaining the target products in good yields and with moderate
      enantioselectivities up to er = 76:24 under operationally simple conditions.

PMID- 25843985
TI  - The conscientious retiree: The relationship between conscientiousness,
      retirement, and volunteering.
AB  - The current study examined the relationship between conscientiousness, work
      status, and volunteering utilizing two large samples, the St. Louis Personality
      and Aging Network (SPAN) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). It was
      hypothesized that conscientious adults who were retired would be more likely to
      volunteer because, after retirement, they gain a substantial amount of free time,
      while losing an outlet for their industrious and achievement-striving tendencies.
      Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses revealed that conscientious, retired
      individuals were more likely to volunteer than conscientious, working
      individuals. Further analyses revealed that facets of conscientiousness provide
      differential information from the general trait. These findings indicate that
      volunteering during retirement fills an important niche for high-striving,
      conscientious individuals.

PMID- 25843986
TI  - On a product-type operator from weighted Bergman-Orlicz space to some weighted
      type spaces.
AB  - Let [Formula: see text] be the open unit disk, [Formula: see text] an analytic
      self-map of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] an analytic function on
      [Formula: see text]. Let D be the differentiation operator and [Formula: see
      text] the weighted composition operator. The boundedness and compactness of the
      product-type operator [Formula: see text] from the weighted Bergman-Orlicz space
      to the Bers type space, weighted Bloch space and weighted Zygmund space on
      [Formula: see text] are characterized.

PMID- 25843987
TI  - A GIS based spatially-explicit sensitivity and uncertainty analysis approach for
      multi-criteria decision analysis.
AB  - GIS multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) techniques are increasingly used in
      landslide susceptibility mapping for the prediction of future hazards, land use
      planning, as well as for hazard preparedness. However, the uncertainties
      associated with MCDA techniques are inevitable and model outcomes are open to
      multiple types of uncertainty. In this paper, we present a systematic approach to
      uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. We access the uncertainty of landslide
      susceptibility maps produced with GIS-MCDA techniques. A new spatially-explicit
      approach and Dempster-Shafer Theory (DST) are employed to assess the
      uncertainties associated with two MCDA techniques, namely Analytical Hierarchical
      Process (AHP) and Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) implemented in GIS. The
      methodology is composed of three different phases. First, weights are computed to
      express the relative importance of factors (criteria) for landslide
      susceptibility. Next, the uncertainty and sensitivity of landslide susceptibility
      is analyzed as a function of weights using Monte Carlo Simulation and Global
      Sensitivity Analysis. Finally, the results are validated using a landslide
      inventory database and by applying DST. The comparisons of the obtained landslide
      susceptibility maps of both MCDA techniques with known landslides show that the
      AHP outperforms OWA. However, the OWA-generated landslide susceptibility map
      shows lower uncertainty than the AHP-generated map. The results demonstrate that
      further improvement in the accuracy of GIS-based MCDA can be achieved by
      employing an integrated uncertainty-sensitivity analysis approach, in which the
      uncertainty of landslide susceptibility model is decomposed and attributed to
      model's criteria weights.

PMID- 25843988
TI  - Computed reconstruction of spatial ammonoid-shell orientation captured from
      digitized grinding and landmark data.
AB  - The internal orientation of fossil mass occurrences can be exploited as useful
      source of information about their primary depositional conditions. A series of
      studies, using different kinds of fossils, especially those with elongated shape
      (e.g., elongated gastropods), deal with their orientation and the subsequent
      reconstruction of the depositional conditions (e.g., paleocurrents and transport
      mechanisms). However, disk-shaped fossils like planispiral cephalopods or
      gastropods were used, up to now, with caution for interpreting paleocurrents.
      Moreover, most studies just deal with the topmost surface of such mass
      occurrences, due to the easier accessibility. Within this study, a new method for
      three-dimensional reconstruction of the internal structure of a fossil mass
      occurrence and the subsequent calculation of its spatial shell orientation is
      established. A 234 million-years-old (Carnian, Triassic) monospecific mass
      occurrence of the ammonoid Kasimlarceltites krystyni from the Taurus Mountains in
      Turkey, embedded in limestone, is used for this pilot study. Therefore, a
      150*45*140 mm3 block of the ammonoid bearing limestone bed has been grinded to 70
      slices, with a distance of 2 mm between each slice. By using a semi-automatic
      region growing algorithm of the 3D-visualization software Amira, ammonoids of a
      part of this mass occurrence were segmented and a 3D-model reconstructed.
      Landmarks, trigonometric and vector-based calculations were used to compute the
      diameters and the spatial orientation of each ammonoid. The spatial shell
      orientation was characterized by dip and dip-direction and aperture direction of
      the longitudinal axis, as well as by dip and azimuth of an imaginary sagittal
      plane through each ammonoid. The exact spatial shell orientation was determined
      for a sample of 675 ammonoids, and their statistical orientation analyzed (i.e.,
      NW/SE). The study combines classical orientation analysis with modern 3D
      visualization techniques, and establishes a novel spatial orientation analyzing
      method, which can be adapted to any kind of abundant solid matter.

PMID- 25843989
TI  - Anatomy of a Municipal Triumph: New York City's Upsurge in Life Expectancy.
AB  - Over the period 1990-2010, the increase in life expectancy for males in New York
      City was 6.0 years greater than for males in the United States. The female
      relative gain was 3.9 years. Male relative gains were larger because of extremely
      rapid reductions in mortality from HIV/AIDS and homicide, declines that reflect
      effective municipal policies and programs. Declines in drug- and alcohol-related
      deaths also played a significant role in New York City's advance, but every major
      cause of death contributed to its relative improvement. By 2010, New York City
      had a life expectancy that was 1.9 years greater than that of the US. This
      difference is attributable to the high representation of immigrants in New York's
      population. Immigrants to New York City, and to the United States, have life
      expectancies that are among the highest in the world. The fact that 38 percent of
      New York's population consists of immigrants, compared to only 14 percent in the
      United States, accounts for New York's exceptional standing in life expectancy in
      2010. In fact, US-born New Yorkers have a life expectancy below that of the
      United States itself.

PMID- 25843990
TI  - Spatial sensitivity of grassland yields to weather variations in Austria and its
      implications for the future.
AB  - Agricultural production fulfills economic, ecological and structural functions.
      Despite technological advances, agricultural production remains sensitive to
      climate variations. In central Europe, climate change is predicted to bring more
      rainfall in winter, less rainfall in summer, and increased drought risk among
      other effects. Grassland agriculture, which is the dominant land use in Alpine
      regions, may be significantly affected by these climatic changes in the future.
      Motivated by this issue, the susceptibility of grassland yields to weather
      variations in Austria is empirical evaluated as a case study. The major objective
      of this study is to derive spatially distributed indications for climate change
      exposure by assessing the impacts of weather variations on past yield. It is
      assumed that reduced water supply during summer constitutes a threat to grassland
      productivity in regions that are warmer and drier already today. On the contrary,
      increased spring temperatures may improve grassland productivity in cooler
      regions like Alpine valleys, since the earlier snow melt leads to an extension of
      the growth period. Regression analyses are used for evaluating the relation
      between yearly yields and spring temperatures or water supply in summer,
      respectively. Water supply is thereby expressed by aggregated precipitation sums
      and the Climatic Water Balance (CWB). Input data are a meteorological time series
      as well as yearly yields available for 25 years between 1970 and 2010 and 99
      districts in Austria. Yearly yields show a significant (P < 0.05) and positive
      dependency on water supply in summer for the eastern Austrian lowlands. The
      combination of temperature in spring and CWB in summer is only significant for
      six districts in the east of Austria. The positive impact of higher spring
      temperatures could not be verified. Generally, the regression coefficients are
      not very high, which indicates that temperature and water supply do not fully
      describe grassland productivity. Projected climate change may increasingly
      constitute a risk to yield reliability in the east of the country. That in turn,
      requires consideration in agricultural development plans and a quantification of
      these impacts from a social-economic perspective.

PMID- 25843991
TI  - Sensing the public's reaction to crime news using the 'Links Correspondence
      Method'.
AB  - Public media such as TV or newspapers, paired with crime statistics from the
      authority, raise awareness of crimes within society. However, in today's digital
      society, other sources rapidly gain importance as well. The Internet and social
      networks act heavily as information distribution platforms. Therefore, this paper
      aims at exploring the influence of the social Web service Twitter as an
      information distribution platform for crime news. In order to detect messages
      with crime-related contents, the Links Correspondence Method (LCM) is introduced,
      which gathers and investigates Twitter messages related to crime articles via
      associated Web links. Detected crime tweets are analysed in regard to the
      distance between the location of an incident and the location of associated
      tweets, as well as regards demographic aspects of the corresponding crime news.
      The results show that there exists a spatial dependency regarding the activity
      space of a user (and the crime-related tweets of this user) and the actual
      location of the crime incident. Furthermore, the demographic analysis indicates
      that the type of a crime as well as the gender of the victim has great influence
      on whether the crime incident is spread via Twitter or not.

PMID- 25843992
TI  - Effects of supervision on tax compliance: Evidence from a field experiment in
      Austria.
AB  - We conduct a field experiment on tax compliance, focusing on newly founded firms.
      As a novelty the effect of tax authorities' supervision on timely tax payments is
      examined. Interestingly, results show no positive overall effect of close
      supervision on tax compliance.

PMID- 25843993
TI  - How hard is it to tell which is a Condorcet committee?
AB  - This paper establishes the computational complexity status for a problem of
      deciding on the quality of a committee. Starting with individual preferences over
      alternatives, we analyse when it can be determined efficiently if a given
      committee [Formula: see text] satisfies a weak (resp. strong) Condorcet criterion
      i.e., if [Formula: see text] is at least as good as (resp. better than) every
      other committee in a pairwise majority comparison. Scoring functions used in
      classic voting rules are adapted for these comparisons. In particular, we draw
      the sharp separation line between computationally tractable and intractable
      instances with respect to different voting rules. Finally, we show that deciding
      if there exists a committee which satisfies the weak (resp. strong) Condorcet
      criterion is computationally hard.

PMID- 25843994
TI  - Does a hospital's quality depend on the quality of other hospitals? A spatial
      econometrics approach.
AB  - We examine whether a hospital's quality is affected by the quality provided by
      other hospitals in the same market. We first sketch a theoretical model with
      regulated prices and derive conditions on demand and cost functions which
      determine whether a hospital will increase its quality if its rivals increase
      their quality. We then apply spatial econometric methods to a sample of English
      hospitals in 2009-10 and a set of 16 quality measures including mortality rates,
      readmission, revision and redo rates, and three patient reported indicators, to
      examine the relationship between the quality of hospitals. We find that a
      hospital's quality is positively associated with the quality of its rivals for
      seven out of the sixteen quality measures. There are no statistically significant
      negative associations. In those cases where there is a significant positive
      association, an increase in rivals' quality by 10% increases a hospital's quality
      by 1.7% to 2.9%. The finding suggests that for some quality measures a policy
      which improves the quality in one hospital will have positive spillover effects
      on the quality in other hospitals.

PMID- 25843995
TI  - Revealed distributional preferences: Individuals vs. teams.
AB  - We compare experimentally the revealed distributional preferences of individuals
      and teams in allocation tasks. We find that teams are significantly more
      benevolent than individuals in the domain of disadvantageous inequality while the
      benevolence in the domain of advantageous inequality is similar across decision
      makers. A consequence for the frequency of preference types is that while a
      substantial fraction of individuals is classified as inequality averse, this type
      disappears completely in teams. Spiteful types are markedly more frequent among
      individuals than among teams. On the other hand, by far more teams than
      individuals are classified as efficiency lovers.

PMID- 25843996
TI  - Effects of the atomic level shift in the Auger neutralization rates of noble
      metal surfaces.
AB  - In this work we compare characteristics of Auger neutralization of [Formula: see
      text] ions at noble metal and free-electron metal surfaces. For noble metals, we
      find that the position of the energy level of He with respect to the Fermi level
      has a non-negligible influence on the values of the calculated Auger rates
      through the evaluation of the surface dielectric susceptibility. We conclude that
      even though our calculated rates are accurate, further theoretical effort is
      needed to obtain realistic values of the energy level of He in front of these
      surfaces.

PMID- 25843997
TI  - Progress towards a 256 channel multi-anode microchannel plate photomultiplier
      system with picosecond timing.
AB  - Despite the rapid advances in solid state technologies such as the silicon
      photomultiplier (SiPM), microchannel plate (MCP) photomultipliers still offer a
      proven and practical technological solution for high channel count pixellated
      photon-counting systems with very high time resolution. We describe progress
      towards a 256 channel optical photon-counting system using CERN-developed NINO
      and HTDC ASICs, and designed primarily for time resolved spectroscopy in life
      science applications. Having previously built and demonstrated a 18 mm diameter
      prototype tube with an 8*8 channel readout configuration and <43 ps rms single
      photon timing resolution, we are currently developing a 40 mm device with a 32*32
      channel readout. Initially this will be populated with a 256 channel electronics
      system comprising four sets of modular 64 channel preamplifier/discriminator, and
      time-to-digital converter units, arranged in a compact three dimensional
      configuration. We describe the detector and electronics design and operation, and
      present performance measurements from the 256 channel development system. We
      discuss enhancements to the system including higher channel count and the use of
      application specific on-board signal processing capabilities.

PMID- 25843998
TI  - Ultracold neutron detectors based on 10B converters used in the qBounce
      experiments.
AB  - Gravity experiments with very slow, so-called ultracold neutrons connect quantum
      mechanics with tests of Newton's inverse square law at short distances. These
      experiments face a low count rate and hence need highly optimized detector
      concepts. In the frame of this paper, we present low-background ultracold neutron
      counters and track detectors with micron resolution based on a 10B converter. We
      discuss the optimization of 10B converter layers, detector design and concepts
      for read-out electronics focusing on high-efficiency and low-background. We
      describe modifications of the counters that allow one to detect ultracold
      neutrons selectively on their spin-orientation. This is required for searches of
      hypothetical forces with spin-mass couplings. The mentioned experiments utilize a
      beam-monitoring concept which accounts for variations in the neutron flux that
      are typical for nuclear research facilities. The converter can also be used for
      detectors, which feature high efficiencies paired with high spatial resolution of
      [Formula: see text]. They allow one to resolve the quantum mechanical wave
      function of an ultracold neutron bound in the gravity potential above a neutron
      mirror.

PMID- 25843999
TI  - PET/MRI insert using digital SiPMs: Investigation of MR-compatibility.
AB  - In this work, we present an initial MR-compatibility study performed with the
      world's first preclinical PET/MR insert based on fully digital silicon photo
      multipliers (dSiPM). The PET insert allows simultaneous data acquisition of both
      imaging modalities and thus enables the true potential of hybrid PET/MRI. Since
      the PET insert has the potential to interfere with all of the MRI's subsystems
      (strong magnet, gradients system, radio frequency (RF) system) and vice versa,
      interference studies on both imaging systems are of great importance to ensure an
      undisturbed operation. As a starting point to understand the interference, we
      performed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurements as well as dedicated noise
      scans on the MRI side to characterize the influence of the PET electronics on the
      MR receive chain. Furthermore, improvements of sub-components' shielding of the
      PET system are implemented and tested inside the MRI. To study the influence of
      the MRI on the PET performance, we conducted highly demanding stress tests with
      gradient and RF dominated MR sequences. These stress tests unveil a sensitivity
      of the PET's electronics to gradient switching.

PMID- 25844000
TI  - Prospects for measuring the 229Th isomer energy using a metallic magnetic
      microcalorimeter.
AB  - The Thorium-229 isotope features a nuclear isomer state with an extremely low
      energy. The currently most accepted energy value, 7.8+/-0.5 eV, was obtained from
      an indirect measurement using a NASA x-ray microcalorimeter with an instrumental
      resolution 26 eV. We study, how state-of-the-art magnetic metallic
      microcalorimeters with an energy resolution down to a few eV can be used to
      measure the isomer energy. In particular, resolving the 29.18 keV doublet in the
      gamma-spectrum following the alpha-decay of Uranium-233, corresponding to the
      decay into the ground and isomer state, allows to measure the isomer transition
      energy without additional theoretical input parameters, and increase the energy
      accuracy. We study the possibility of resolving the 29.18 keV line as a doublet
      and the dependence of the attainable precision of the energy measurement on the
      signal and background count rates and the instrumental resolution.

PMID- 25844001
TI  - Latino Caregiver Psychosocial Factors and Health Care Services for Children
      Involved in the Child Welfare System.
AB  - Children in the child welfare system have a high prevalence of health problems,
      making pediatric health service use critical. Latino children represent a growing
      proportion of the child welfare system, and are at increased risk for health
      problems. Many have argued that Latino caregivers can provide Latino children
      with the least disruptive out-of-home placement, but little is known about how
      caregiver factors might relate to health services utilization or child health
      status within this population. This study assessed relationships between
      caregiver psychosocial factors, health care service utilization, and health
      status for children in the child welfare system. This sample featured 48 Latino
      caregivers involved in child welfare. Logistic regression models were used to
      test for relationships between caregiver psychosocial factors and appointment
      adherence and child health status. Problem-focused coping was positively related
      to well-child status. No psychosocial factors were related to medical appointment
      adherence. Case workers may help improve child health outcomes by promoting
      problem-focused coping skills among Latino caregivers.

PMID- 25844002
TI  - Further evidence of the heterogeneous nature of impulsivity.
AB  - 'Impulsivity' refers to a range of behaviours including preference for immediate
      reward (temporal-impulsivity) and the tendency to make premature decisions
      (reflection-impulsivity) and responses (motor-impulsivity). The current study
      aimed to examine how different behavioural and self-report measurements of
      impulsivity can be categorised into distinct subtypes. Exploratory factor
      analysis using full information maximum likelihood was conducted on 10
      behavioural and 1 self-report measure of impulsivity. Four factors of impulsivity
      were indicated, with Factor 1 having a high loading of the Stop Signal Task,
      which measures motor-impulsivity, factor 2 representing reflection-impulsivity
      with loadings of the Information Sampling Task and Matching Familiar Figures
      Task, factor 3 representing the Immediate Memory Task, and finally factor 4 which
      represents the Delay Discounting Questionnaire and The Monetary Choice
      Questionnaire, measurements of temporal-impulsivity. These findings indicated
      that impulsivity is not a unitary construct, and instead represents a series of
      independent subtypes. There was evidence of a distinct reflection-impulsivity
      factor, providing the first factor analysis support for this subtype. There was
      also support for additional factors of motor- and temporal-impulsivity. The
      present findings indicated that a number of currently accepted tasks cannot be
      considered as indexing motor- and temporal-impulsivity suggesting that additional
      characterisations of impulsivity may be required.

PMID- 25844003
TI  - Mobile Phone Assessment in Egocentric Networks: A Pilot Study on Gay Men and
      Their Peers.
AB  - Mobile phone-based data collection encompasses the richness of social network
      research. Both individual-level and network-level measures can be recorded. For
      example, health-related behaviors can be reported via mobile assessment. Social
      interactions can be assessed by phone-log data. Yet the potential of mobile phone
      data collection has largely been untapped. This is especially true of egocentric
      studies in public health settings where mobile phones can enhance both data
      collection and intervention delivery, e.g. mobile users can video chat with
      counselors. This is due in part to privacy issues and other barriers that are
      more difficult to address outside of academic settings where most mobile research
      to date has taken place. In this article, we aim to inform a broader discussion
      on mobile research. In particular, benefits and challenges to mobile phone-based
      data collection are highlighted through our mobile phone-based pilot study that
      was conducted on egocentric networks of 12 gay men (n = 44 total participants).
      HIV-transmission and general health behaviors were reported through a mobile
      phone-based daily assessment that was administered through study participants'
      own mobile phones. Phone log information was collected from gay men with Android
      phones. Benefits and challenges to mobile implementation are discussed, along
      with the application of multi-level models to the type of longitudinal egocentric
      data that we collected.

PMID- 25844004
TI  - [Expressions of affection bilingual mothers, Bilingual mothers' expressions of
      affect].
AB  - The purpose of this study is to examine the uses of affectivity in L1 and L2 in
      10 bilingual mothers' interactions with their 30-month. The expressions of
      emotion, volition and epistemic stance were identified in 30 spontaneous mother
      child interactions: i. 10 Spanish L1 mothers speaking in L1; ii. 10 Spanish L1
      mothers speaking in English L2; and iii. 10 English L1 mothers speaking in L1.
      The results suggest that L2 uses differ from L1: expressions of volition and
      epistemic stance in English L2 resemble their use in English L1, whereas
      expressions of emotions in English L2 are similar to Spanish L1. These findings
      shed light on bilingual speakers' expressive language and are useful in
      determining the impact on language development.

PMID- 25844005
TI  - Survey questions about party competence: Insights from cognitive interviews.
AB  - Voter assessments of party competence have become a key explanation of electoral
      decision-making. However, there are at least three important aspects to
      understanding responses to questions on issue-specific party competence:
      comprehension difficulties; a lack of well-formed attitudes and relevant
      information; and the use of response heuristics. We used 20 cognitive interviews
      carried out in Austria in 2011 to test competence questions. The interviews show
      us how respondents explain their responses. We find evidence that many people (1)
      may hold only weak opinions and have little information on issue-specific party
      competence and (2) may make use of distinct but related concepts, particularly
      salience and position, when answering questions about competence. We provide
      recommendations for researchers and survey designers based on our findings.

PMID- 25844006
TI  - The "sowing of concrete": Peri-urban smallholder perceptions of rural-urban land
      change in the Central Peruvian Andes.
AB  - Policy makers concerned with the peri-urban interface find their greatest
      challenges in the rapid urban growth of developing mountain regions, since
      limitations caused by relief and altitude often lead to an increased competition
      between rural and urban land use at the valley floors. In this context, little
      attention has been paid to the affected agriculturalists' perceptions of peri
      urban growth-important information required for the realization of sustainable
      land use planning. How is the process of rural-urban land change perceived and
      assessed by peri-urban smallholder communities? Which are the major difficulties
      to be overcome? By what means are the affected people reacting and how are these
      adaptation strategies linked with the ongoing landscape transformations of the
      hinterland? By using the example of Huancayo Metropolitano, an emerging Peruvian
      mountain city, it is shown that rural-urban land change is intensively discussed
      within peri-urban smallholder groups. Although urbanization also leads to
      infrastructure investments by public institutions-an advantage perceived
      throughout the study area-the negative impacts of rural-urban land use change
      prevail. The perceptions' analysis reveals that the decrease of fertile and
      irrigated agricultural land at the quechua valley floor is especially considered
      to threaten subsistence, food and income security. In order to compensate the
      loss of production capacities, many smallholders try to expand or intensify their
      land use at the suni altitudinal belt: an agro-ecological zone characterized by
      steep and nonirrigated slopes that can actually not be used for the year-round
      production of crops previously cultivated at the quechua zone.

PMID- 25844007
TI  - Land system change in Italy from 1884 to 2007: Analysing the North-South
      divergence on the basis of an integrated indicator framework.
AB  - Over the past centuries, land systems in Italy experienced fundamental shifts,
      owing to the availability of new energy forms, population surges, and
      technological progress. The 20th century was characterized by massive
      productivity increases, accompanied by gradual land abandonment and the return of
      forest land. We here analyze 120 years of land system change in Italy, applying
      the human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) framework, a metric for
      socio-economic pressures on terrestrial ecosystems. HANPP allows integrating
      ecological with societal perspectives, by systematically quantifying (a) biomass
      harvest and (b) the difference between potential productivity of ecosystems and
      current productivity induced by land use processes, such as land conversion, or
      land degradation. Besides assessing national trends we calculated HANPP
      separately for the Italian North and South between 1934 and 2007, in order to
      scrutinize if high regional discrepancies in terms of natural and socio-economic
      preconditions translate into diverging land system trajectories. Our results show
      that national HANPP has been declining from 78% of natural productivity before
      WWII to 56% in 2007, indicating a declining land -use induced pressure on biomass
      flows over time. Simultaneously, biomass harvest increased by around 26% due to
      agricultural intensification, despite shrinking croplands. Although we found a
      significant difference between the Northern and Southern region in the absolute
      levels of several land use indicators related to biomass appropriation, the
      overarching trends of land system change were remarkably similar in both regions.
      This suggests that underlying drivers of land system change, such as policies
      aimed at land-use intensification and structural change were equally dominating
      land system trajectories in the North and South of Italy, not withstanding their
      socio-ecological divergences.

PMID- 25844008
TI  - Prospects for dedicated energy crop production and attitudes towards agricultural
      straw use: The case of livestock farmers.
AB  - Second generation biofuels utilising agricultural by-products (e.g. straw), or
      dedicated energy crops (DECs) produced on 'marginal' land, have been called for.
      A structured telephone survey of 263 livestock farmers, predominantly located in
      the west or 'marginal' upland areas of England captured data on attitudes towards
      straw use and DECs. Combined with farm physical and business data, the survey
      results show that 7.2% and 6.3% of farmers would respectively consider growing
      SRC and miscanthus, producing respective maximum potential English crop areas of
      54,603 ha and 43,859 ha. If higher market prices for straw occurred, most
      livestock farmers would continue to buy straw. Reasons for not being willing to
      consider growing DECs include concerns over land quality, committing land for a
      long time period, lack of appropriate machinery, profitability, and time to
      financial return; a range of moral, land quality, production conflict and lack of
      crop knowledge factors were also cited. Results demonstrate limited potential for
      the production of DECs on livestock farms in England. Changes in policy support
      to address farmer concerns with respect to DECs will be required to incentivise
      farmers to increase energy crop production. Policy support for DEC production
      must be cognisant of farm-level economic, tenancy and personal objectives.

PMID- 25844010
TI  - Social movements and the struggle for shelter: A case study of eThekwini
      (Durban).
AB  - The needs of informal settlement dwellers across towns and cities in the global
      South are acute. While much emphasis has been placed on income poverty, for urban
      dwellers affordable access to improved secured accommodation and basic services
      such as water and sanitation is essential for well-being. In part due to the lack
      of such access, urban citizens organize in multiple ways to address these needs
      and to press for state investment and redistribution. South Africa, despite
      relatively high levels of income and a state with redistributive capacity, is no
      exception. Indeed, this country is particularly interesting for those seeking to
      understand effective approaches to addressing housing need because of the efforts
      that have been made and the resultant scale of state investment in the housing
      sector. This paper draws on the experiences of urban social movement
      organizations in South Africa to understand better how shelter needs can be
      addressed. We reflect on their goals, strategies and activities and explore what
      this means for themes discussed within the social movement literature. The
      research has a specific focus on the city of eThekwini/Durban primarily because
      of the scale of social movement activities there. The paper describes the core
      concerns with respect to shelter as elaborated by social movement activists,
      staff of other civil society agencies and officials. While there is a broad
      consensus about the shelter problems, there is less agreement about solutions.
      The discussion summarises the shelter objectives and core strategies used by the
      social movement activists, and considers the success they have had. This includes
      reviewing their understanding of what success is and how success is achieved.
      Movement organisations have been able to secure access to the housing subsidy
      scheme for their members. However, their progress has been limited. The paper
      concludes that there is a primary focus on what is offered through state
      programmes and policies despite evident shortcomings. While there is an awareness
      of the misfit between available programmes, the needs of movement members and
      more general shelter needs, no fundamental challenge is being made to the
      dominant approach. A second finding is that while movement members and leaders
      have an explicit focus on material improvements, underlying their motivations and
      some of their strategies and actions is the more fundamental goal to be treated
      as equal citizens. In this dimension, movement organizations seek both
      recognition of their citizenship as well as the redistribution of state
      resources. Third, we argue that while social movement progress is related to the
      political opportunity structures, it also depends on the ability of movement
      organizations to manage the emerging opportunities, particularly their
      relationships with the state, professional support organizations and other
      movement organizations. Relations shift between contention and collaboration to
      improve negotiating positions, secure access to shelter and achieve greater
      political inclusion.

PMID- 25844009
TI  - An energy budget agent-based model of earthworm populations and its application
      to study the effects of pesticides.
AB  - Earthworms are important organisms in soil communities and so are used as model
      organisms in environmental risk assessments of chemicals. However current risk
      assessments of soil invertebrates are based on short-term laboratory studies, of
      limited ecological relevance, supplemented if necessary by site-specific field
      trials, which sometimes are challenging to apply across the whole agricultural
      landscape. Here, we investigate whether population responses to environmental
      stressors and pesticide exposure can be accurately predicted by combining energy
      budget and agent-based models (ABMs), based on knowledge of how individuals
      respond to their local circumstances. A simple energy budget model was
      implemented within each earthworm Eisenia fetida in the ABM, based on a priori
      parameter estimates. From broadly accepted physiological principles, simple
      algorithms specify how energy acquisition and expenditure drive life cycle
      processes. Each individual allocates energy between maintenance, growth and/or
      reproduction under varying conditions of food density, soil temperature and soil
      moisture. When simulating published experiments, good model fits were obtained to
      experimental data on individual growth, reproduction and starvation. Using the
      energy budget model as a platform we developed methods to identify which of the
      physiological parameters in the energy budget model (rates of ingestion,
      maintenance, growth or reproduction) are primarily affected by pesticide
      applications, producing four hypotheses about how toxicity acts. We tested these
      hypotheses by comparing model outputs with published toxicity data on the effects
      of copper oxychloride and chlorpyrifos on E. fetida. Both growth and reproduction
      were directly affected in experiments in which sufficient food was provided,
      whilst maintenance was targeted under food limitation. Although we only
      incorporate toxic effects at the individual level we show how ABMs can readily
      extrapolate to larger scales by providing good model fits to field population
      data. The ability of the presented model to fit the available field and
      laboratory data for E. fetida demonstrates the promise of the agent-based
      approach in ecology, by showing how biological knowledge can be used to make
      ecological inferences. Further work is required to extend the approach to
      populations of more ecologically relevant species studied at the field scale.
      Such a model could help extrapolate from laboratory to field conditions and from
      one set of field conditions to another or from species to species.

PMID- 25844011
TI  - Comments on Fifty Years of Classification and Regression Trees.

PMID- 25844012
TI  - The Subset Sum game.
AB  - In this work we address a game theoretic variant of the Subset Sum problem, in
      which two decision makers (agents/players) compete for the usage of a common
      resource represented by a knapsack capacity. Each agent owns a set of integer
      weighted items and wants to maximize the total weight of its own items included
      in the knapsack. The solution is built as follows: Each agent, in turn, selects
      one of its items (not previously selected) and includes it in the knapsack if
      there is enough capacity. The process ends when the remaining capacity is too
      small for including any item left. We look at the problem from a single agent
      point of view and show that finding an optimal sequence of items to select is an
      [Formula: see text]-hard problem. Therefore we propose two natural heuristic
      strategies and analyze their worst-case performance when (1) the opponent is able
      to play optimally and (2) the opponent adopts a greedy strategy. From a
      centralized perspective we observe that some known results on the approximation
      of the classical Subset Sum can be effectively adapted to the multi-agent version
      of the problem.

PMID- 25844013
TI  - Integrating stochastic time-dependent travel speed in solution methods for the
      dynamic dial-a-ride problem.
AB  - In urban areas, logistic transportation operations often run into problems
      because travel speeds change, depending on the current traffic situation. If not
      accounted for, time-dependent and stochastic travel speeds frequently lead to
      missed time windows and thus poorer service. Especially in the case of passenger
      transportation, it often leads to excessive passenger ride times as well.
      Therefore, time-dependent and stochastic influences on travel speeds are relevant
      for finding feasible and reliable solutions. This study considers the effect of
      exploiting statistical information available about historical accidents, using
      stochastic solution approaches for the dynamic dial-a-ride problem (dynamic
      DARP). The authors propose two pairs of metaheuristic solution approaches, each
      consisting of a deterministic method (average time-dependent travel speeds for
      planning) and its corresponding stochastic version (exploiting stochastic
      information while planning). The results, using test instances with up to 762
      requests based on a real-world road network, show that in certain conditions,
      exploiting stochastic information about travel speeds leads to significant
      improvements over deterministic approaches.

PMID- 25844015
TI  - A uniform approach for programming distributed heterogeneous computing systems.
AB  - Large-scale compute clusters of heterogeneous nodes equipped with multi-core CPUs
      and GPUs are getting increasingly popular in the scientific community. However,
      such systems require a combination of different programming paradigms making
      application development very challenging. In this article we introduce libWater,
      a library-based extension of the OpenCL programming model that simplifies the
      development of heterogeneous distributed applications. libWater consists of a
      simple interface, which is a transparent abstraction of the underlying
      distributed architecture, offering advanced features such as inter-context and
      inter-node device synchronization. It provides a runtime system which tracks
      dependency information enforced by event synchronization to dynamically build a
      DAG of commands, on which we automatically apply two optimizations: collective
      communication pattern detection and device-host-device copy removal. We assess
      libWater's performance in three compute clusters available from the Vienna
      Scientific Cluster, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the University of
      Innsbruck, demonstrating improved performance and scaling with different test
      applications and configurations.

PMID- 25844014
TI  - The Impact of Military Deployment and Reintegration on Children and Parenting: A
      Systematic Review.
AB  - Hundreds of thousands of children have had at least 1 parent deploy as part of
      military operations in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom; OIF; Operation New Dawn;
      OND) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom; OEF). However, there is little
      knowledge of the impact of deployment on the relationship of parents and their
      children. This systematic review examines findings from 3 areas of relevant
      research: the impact of deployment separation on parenting, and children's
      emotional, behavioral, and health outcomes; the impact of parental mental health
      symptoms during and after reintegration; and current treatment approaches in
      veteran and military families. Several trends emerged. First, across all age
      groups, deployment of a parent may be related to increased emotional and
      behavioral difficulties for children, including higher rates of health-care
      visits for psychological problems during deployment. Second, symptoms of PTSD and
      depression may be related to increased symptomatology in children and problems
      with parenting during and well after reintegration. Third, although several
      treatments have been developed to address the needs of military families, most
      are untested or in the early stages of implementation and evaluation. This body
      of research suggests several promising avenues for future research.

PMID- 25844017
TI  - An almost symmetric Strang splitting scheme for nonlinear evolution equations.
AB  - In this paper we consider splitting methods for the time integration of parabolic
      and certain classes of hyperbolic partial differential equations, where one
      partial flow cannot be computed exactly. Instead, we use a numerical
      approximation based on the linearization of the vector field. This is of interest
      in applications as it allows us to apply splitting methods to a wider class of
      problems from the sciences. However, in the situation described, the classic
      Strang splitting scheme, while still being a method of second order, is not
      longer symmetric. This, in turn, implies that the construction of higher order
      methods by composition is limited to order three only. To remedy this situation,
      based on previous work in the context of ordinary differential equations, we
      construct a class of Strang splitting schemes that are symmetric up to a desired
      order. We show rigorously that, under suitable assumptions on the nonlinearity,
      these methods are of second order and can then be used to construct higher order
      methods by composition. In addition, we illustrate the theoretical results by
      conducting numerical experiments for the Brusselator system and the KdV equation.

PMID- 25844016
TI  - Early Exposure to Environmental Chaos and Children's Physical and Mental Health.
AB  - Environmental chaos has been proposed as a central influence impeding children's
      health and development, with the potential for particularly pernicious effects
      during the earliest years when children are most susceptible to environmental
      insults. This study evaluated a high-risk sample, following 495 low-income
      children living in poor urban neighborhoods from infancy to age 6. Longitudinal
      multilevel models tested the main tenets of the ecobiodevelopmental theory,
      finding that: (1) numerous distinct domains of environmental chaos were
      associated with children's physical and mental health outcomes, including housing
      disorder, neighborhood disorder, and relationship instability, with no
      significant results for residential instability; (2) different patterns emerged
      in relation to the timing of exposure to chaos, with more proximal exposure most
      strongly associated with children's functioning; and (3) the intensity of chaos
      also was a robust predictor of child functioning. Contrary to expectations,
      neither biological vulnerability (proxied through low birth weight status),
      maternal sensitivity, nor maternal distress moderated the role of chaos. Rather,
      maternal psychological distress functioned as a pathway through which
      environmental chaos was associated with children's functioning.

PMID- 25844018
TI  - On the error propagation of semi-Lagrange and Fourier methods for advection
      problems.
AB  - In this paper we study the error propagation of numerical schemes for the
      advection equation in the case where high precision is desired. The numerical
      methods considered are based on the fast Fourier transform, polynomial
      interpolation (semi-Lagrangian methods using a Lagrange or spline interpolation),
      and a discontinuous Galerkin semi-Lagrangian approach (which is conservative and
      has to store more than a single value per cell). We demonstrate, by carrying out
      numerical experiments, that the worst case error estimates given in the
      literature provide a good explanation for the error propagation of the
      interpolation-based semi-Lagrangian methods. For the discontinuous Galerkin semi
      Lagrangian method, however, we find that the characteristic property of semi
      Lagrangian error estimates (namely the fact that the error increases
      proportionally to the number of time steps) is not observed. We provide an
      explanation for this behavior and conduct numerical simulations that corroborate
      the different qualitative features of the error in the two respective types of
      semi-Lagrangian methods. The method based on the fast Fourier transform is exact
      but, due to round-off errors, susceptible to a linear increase of the error in
      the number of time steps. We show how to modify the Cooley-Tukey algorithm in
      order to obtain an error growth that is proportional to the square root of the
      number of time steps. Finally, we show, for a simple model, that our conclusions
      hold true if the advection solver is used as part of a splitting scheme.

PMID- 25844019
TI  - Effect of the Texel muscling QTL (TM-QTL) on spine characteristics in purebred
      Texel lambs.
AB  - Previous work showed that the Texel muscling QTL (TM-QTL) results in pronounced
      hypertrophy in the loin muscle, with the largest phenotypic effects observed in
      lambs inheriting a single copy of the allele from the sire. As the loin runs
      parallel to the spinal vertebrae, and the development of muscle and bone are
      closely linked, the primary aim of this study was to investigate if there were
      any subsequent associations between TM-QTL inheritance and underlying spine
      characteristics (vertebrae number, VN; spine region length, SPL; average length
      of individual vertebrae, VL) of the thoracic, lumbar, and thoracolumbar spine
      regions. Spine characteristics were measured from X-ray computed tomography (CT)
      scans for 142 purebred Texel lambs which had been previously genotyped. Least
      squares means were significantly different between genotype groups for lumbar and
      thoracic VN and lumbar SPL. Similarly for these traits, contrasts were shown to
      be significant for particular modes of gene action but overall were inconclusive.
      In general, the results showed little evidence that spine trait phenotypes were
      associated with differences in loin muscling associated with the different TM-QTL
      genotypes.

PMID- 25844020
TI  - Combining analytical frameworks to assess livelihood vulnerability to climate
      change and analyse adaptation options.
AB  - Experts working on behalf of international development organisations need better
      tools to assist land managers in developing countries maintain their livelihoods,
      as climate change puts pressure on the ecosystem services that they depend upon.
      However, current understanding of livelihood vulnerability to climate change is
      based on a fractured and disparate set of theories and methods. This review
      therefore combines theoretical insights from sustainable livelihoods analysis
      with other analytical frameworks (including the ecosystem services framework,
      diffusion theory, social learning, adaptive management and transitions
      management) to assess the vulnerability of rural livelihoods to climate change.
      This integrated analytical framework helps diagnose vulnerability to climate
      change, whilst identifying and comparing adaptation options that could reduce
      vulnerability, following four broad steps: i) determine likely level of exposure
      to climate change, and how climate change might interact with existing stresses
      and other future drivers of change; ii) determine the sensitivity of stocks of
      capital assets and flows of ecosystem services to climate change; iii) identify
      factors influencing decisions to develop and/or adopt different adaptation
      strategies, based on innovation or the use/substitution of existing assets; and
      iv) identify and evaluate potential trade-offs between adaptation options. The
      paper concludes by identifying interdisciplinary research needs for assessing the
      vulnerability of livelihoods to climate change.

PMID- 25844021
TI  - Correlating Mediterranean shallow water deposits with global Oligocene-Miocene
      stratigraphy and oceanic events.
AB  - Shallow-marine sediment records have the strong potential to display sensitive
      environmental changes in sedimentary geometries and skeletal content. However,
      the time resolution of most neritic carbonate records is not high enough to be
      compared with climatic events as recorded in the deep-sea sediment archives. In
      order to resolve the paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic changes during the
      Oligocene-Miocene transition in the Mediterranean shallow water carbonate systems
      with the best possible time resolution, we re-evaluated the Decontra section on
      the Maiella Platform (central Apennines, Italy), which acts as a reference for
      the correlation of Oligocene-Miocene shallow water deposits in the Mediterranean
      region. The 120-m-thick late Oligocene-late Miocene carbonate succession is
      composed of larger foraminiferal, bryozoan and corallinacean limestones
      interlayered with distinct planktonic foraminiferal carbonates representing a
      mostly outer neritic setting. Integrated multi-proxy and facies analyses indicate
      that CaCO3 and total organic carbon contents as well as gamma-ray display only
      local to regional processes on the carbonate platform and are not suited for
      stratigraphic correlation on a wider scale. In contrast, new biostratigraphic
      data correlate the Decontra stable carbon isotope record to the global deep-sea
      carbon isotope record. This links relative sea level fluctuations, which are
      reflected by facies and magnetic susceptibility changes, to third-order eustatic
      cycles. The new integrated bio-, chemo-, and sequence stratigraphic framework
      enables a more precise timing of environmental changes within the studied time
      interval and identifies Decontra as an important locality for correlating not
      only shallow and deep water sediments of the Mediterranean region but also on a
      global scale.

PMID- 25844022
TI  - Mid-Burdigalian Paratethyan alkenone record reveals link between orbital forcing,
      Antarctic ice-sheet dynamics and European climate at the verge to Miocene Climate
      Optimum.
AB  - The Early Ottnangian Cooling (EOC), a distinct cold-spell in European climate at
      ~ 18 Ma preceding the Miocene Climate Optimum, is frequently reported in
      Paratethys records; however, the duration, magnitude, and underlying causes are
      poorly understood. A new palaeoclimatic data-set provides unexpected insights
      into this event. UK'37-based sea-surface temperatures > 24  degrees C between ~
      18.1 and 17.7 Myrs substantially exceed existing estimates, and indicate a
      significantly warmer European climate than previously assumed for this usually
      poorly recovered time interval. The EOC is expressed as an average drop of 2-3 
      degrees C in Paratethyan water temperatures between ~ 18.1 and 17.8 Myrs with two
      distinct cold snaps at ~ 17.86 Ma and ~ 17.81 Ma. The short duration of the EOC
      excludes Tethyan Seaway closure as its underlying cause, although the enhanced
      palaeoclimatic sensitivity of the Paratethys due to this palaeogeographic
      configuration potentially contributed to the magnitude of SST deterioration
      during the EOC. The revealed palaeoclimatic pattern shows a strong correlation
      with isotope event Mi-1b in deep-sea delta18O records, and we propose a tight
      palaeoclimatic link between the Southern Ocean and the Paratethys/Mediterranean
      realm as an alternative hypothesis. The interplay of modulations in the long-term
      (~ 400 kyrs) and short-term (~ 100 kyrs) eccentricity cycles most likely acted as
      pacemaker of this palaeoclimatic interaction.

PMID- 25844023
TI  - An acoustic transmission sensor for the longitudinal viscosity of fluids.
AB  - Physical fluid parameters like viscosity, mass density and sound velocity can be
      determined utilizing ultrasonic sensors. We introduce the concept of a recently
      devised transmission based sensor utilizing pressure waves to determine the
      longitudinal viscosity, bulk viscosity, and second coefficient of viscosity of a
      sample fluid in a test chamber. A model is presented which allows determining
      these parameters from measurement values by means of a fit. The setup is
      particularly suited for liquids featuring higher viscosities for which
      measurement data are scarcely available to date. The setup can also be used to
      estimate the sound velocity in a simple manner from the phase of the transfer
      function.

PMID- 25844024
TI  - A microfluidic device for the hydrodynamic immobilisation of living fission yeast
      cells for super-resolution imaging.
AB  - We describe a microfluidic device designed specifically for the reversible
      immobilisation of Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Fission Yeast) cells to facilitate
      live cell super-resolution microscopy. Photo-Activation Localisation Microscopy
      (PALM) is used to create detailed super-resolution images within living cells
      with a modal accuracy of >25 nm in the lateral dimensions. The novel flow design
      captures and holds cells in a well-defined array with minimal effect on the
      normal growth kinetics. Cells are held over several hours and can continue to
      grow and divide within the device during fluorescence imaging.

PMID- 25844025
TI  - Thermo-optical characterization of fluorescent rhodamine B based temperature
      sensitive nanosensors using a CMOS MEMS micro-hotplate.
AB  - A custom designed microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) micro-hotplate, capable
      of operating at high temperatures (up to 700  degrees C), was used to thermo
      optically characterize fluorescent temperature-sensitive nanosensors. The
      nanosensors, 550 nm in diameter, are composed of temperature-sensitive rhodamine
      B (RhB) fluorophore which was conjugated to an inert silica sol-gel matrix.
      Temperature-sensitive nanosensors were dispersed and dried across the surface of
      the MEMS micro-hotplate, which was mounted in the slide holder of a fluorescence
      confocal microscope. Through electrical control of the MEMS micro-hotplate,
      temperature induced changes in fluorescence intensity of the nanosensors was
      measured over a wide temperature range. The fluorescence response of all
      nanosensors dispersed across the surface of the MEMS device was found to decrease
      in an exponential manner by 94%, when the temperature was increased from 25 
      degrees C to 145  degrees C. The fluorescence response of all dispersed
      nanosensors across the whole surface of the MEMS device and individual
      nanosensors, using line profile analysis, were not statistically different (p <
      0.05). The MEMS device used for this study could prove to be a reliable, low
      cost, low power and high temperature micro-hotplate for the thermo-optical
      characterisation of sub-micron sized particles. The temperature-sensitive
      nanosensors could find potential application in the measurement of temperature in
      biological and micro-electrical systems.

PMID- 25844026
TI  - The global metabolic transition: Regional patterns and trends of global material
      flows, 1950-2010.
AB  - Since the World War II, many economies have transitioned from an agrarian,
      biomass-based to an industrial, minerals-based metabolic regime. Since 1950,
      world population grew by factor 2.7 and global material consumption by factor 3.7
      71 Gigatonnes per year in 2010. The expansion of the resource base required by
      human societies is associated with growing pressure on the environment and
      infringement on the habitats of other species. In order to achieve a
      sustainability transition, we require a better understanding of the currently
      ongoing metabolic transition and its potential inertia. In this article, we
      present a long-term global material flow dataset covering material extraction,
      trade, and consumption of 177 individual countries between 1950 and 2010. We
      trace patterns and trends in material flows for six major geographic and economic
      country groupings and world regions (Western Industrial, the (Former) Soviet
      Union and its allies, Asia, the Middle East and Northern Africa, Latin America
      and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa) as well as their contribution to the
      emergence of a global metabolic profile during a period of rapid
      industrialization and globalization. Global average material use increased from
      5.0 to 10.3 tons per capita and year (t/cap/a) between 1950 and 2010. Regional
      metabolic rates range from 4.5 t/cap/a in Sub-Saharan Africa to 14.8 t/cap/a in
      the Western Industrial grouping. While we can observe a stabilization of the
      industrial metabolic profile composed of relatively equal shares of biomass,
      fossil energy carriers, and construction minerals, we note differences in the
      degree to which other regions are gravitating toward a similar form of material
      use. Since 2000, Asia has overtaken the Western Industrial grouping in terms of
      its share in global resource use although not in terms of its per capita material
      consumption. We find that at a sub-global level, the roles of the world regions
      have changed. There are, however, no signs yet that this will lead to
      stabilization or even a reduction of global resource use.

PMID- 25844027
TI  - Exploring the effects of drastic institutional and socio-economic changes on land
      system dynamics in Germany between 1883 and 2007.
AB  - Long-term studies of land system change can help providing insights into the
      relative importance of underlying drivers of change. Here, we analyze land system
      change in Germany for the period 1883-2007 to trace the effect of drastic socio
      economic and institutional changes on land system dynamics. Germany is an
      especially interesting case study due to fundamentally changing economic and
      institutional conditions: the two World Wars, the separation into East and West
      Germany, the accession to the European Union, and Germany's reunification. We
      employed the Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) framework to
      comprehensively study long-term land system dynamics in the context of these
      events. HANPP quantifies biomass harvests and land-use-related changes in
      ecosystem productivity. By comparing these flows to the potential productivity of
      ecosystems, HANPP allows to consistently assess land cover changes as well as
      changes in land use intensity. Our results show that biomass harvest steadily
      increased while productivity losses declined from 1883 to 2007, leading to a
      decline in HANPP from around 75%-65% of the potential productivity. At the same
      time, decreasing agricultural areas allowed for forest regrowth. Overall, land
      system change in Germany was surprisingly gradual, indicating high resilience to
      the drastic socio-economic and institutional shifts that occurred during the last
      125 years. We found strikingly similar land system trajectories in East and West
      Germany during the time of separation (1945-1989), despite the contrasting
      institutional settings and economic paradigms. Conversely, the German
      reunification sparked a fundamental and rapid shift in former East Germany's land
      system, leading to altered levels of production, land use intensity and land use
      efficiency. Gradual and continuous land use intensification, a result of
      industrialization and economic optimization of land use, was the dominant trend
      throughout the observed period, apparently overruling socio-economic framework
      conditions and land use policies.

PMID- 25844028
TI  - Health Neuroscience: Defining a New Field.
AB  - Health neuroscience is a new field that is at the interface of health psychology
      and neuroscience. It is concerned with the interplay between the brain and
      physical health over the lifespan. This review provides a conceptual introduction
      to health neuroscience, focusing on its major themes, representative studies,
      methodologies, and future directions.

PMID- 25844029
TI  - Electronic cleansing for dual-energy CT colonography based on material
      decomposition and virtual monochromatic imaging.
AB  - CT colonography (CTC) uses orally administered fecal-tagging agents to enhance
      retained fluid and feces that would otherwise obscure or imitate polyps on CTC
      images. To visualize the complete region of colon without residual materials,
      electronic cleansing (EC) can be used to perform virtual subtraction of the
      tagged materials from CTC images. However, current EC methods produce subtraction
      artifacts and they can fail to subtract unclearly tagged feces. We developed a
      novel multi-material EC (MUMA-EC) method that uses dual-energy CTC (DE-CTC) and
      machine-learning methods to improve the performance of EC. In our method,
      material decomposition is performed to calculate water-iodine decomposition
      images and virtual monochromatic (VIM) images. Using the images, a random forest
      classifier is used to label the regions of lumen air, soft tissue, fecal tagging,
      and their partial-volume boundaries. The electronically cleansed images are
      synthesized from the multi-material and VIM image volumes. For pilot evaluation,
      we acquired the clinical DE-CTC data of 7 patients. Preliminary results suggest
      that the proposed MUMA-EC method is effective and that it minimizes the three
      types of image artifacts that were present in previous EC methods.

PMID- 25844030
TI  - Pulmonary edema following generalized tonic clonic seizures is directly
      associated with seizure duration.
AB  - PURPOSE: Postictal pulmonary edema (PPE) is almost invariably present in human
      and animal cases of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) coming to
      autopsy. PPE may be a contributing factor in SUDEP. The incidence of postictal
      PPE is unknown. We retrospectively investigated PPE following generalized tonic
      clonic seizures (GTCS) in the epilepsy monitoring unit. METHODS: Chest X-Rays
      (CXR) following each GTCS were obtained in 24 consecutive patients. Relationship
      of CXR abnormality to seizure duration, ictal/postictal oxygen desaturation
      (SpO2), apnea and presence of postictal generalized EEG suppression (PGES) was
      investigated using logistic regression. RESULTS: Eleven of 24 patients had CXR
      abnormalities following a GTCS. In these 11 patients, 22 CXR were obtained and
      abnormalities were present in 15 CXR. Abnormalities included PPE in 7 patients,
      of which 2 also had focal infiltrates. In 4 patients focal infiltrates were
      present without PPE. There was no significant difference in mean time to CXR (225
      min) following GTCS in the abnormal CXR group versus the normal group of patients
      (196 min). Mean preceding seizure duration was longer (p=0.002) in GTCS with
      abnormal CXR (259.7 sec) versus GTCS with normal CXR (101.2 sec). Odds-ratio for
      CXR abnormality was 20.46 (p=0.006) with seizure duration greater than 100 sec
      versus less than 100 sec. On multivariable analysis, only the seizure duration
      was a significant predictor of CXR abnormality (p=0.015). CONCLUSIONS:
      Radiographic abnormalities are not uncommon following GTCS. The presence of CXR
      abnormality is significantly associated with the duration of the preceding GTCS.
      Severe, untreated PPE may be relevant to the pathophysiology of SUDEP.

PMID- 25844031
TI  - Associations of Parent-Child Anxious and Depressive Symptoms When a Caregiver Has
      a History of Depression.
AB  - We examined the associations between parent and child anxious and depressive
      symptoms controlling for co-occurring symptoms in both. One hundred and four
      families participated, including 131 9-15 year old children considered at risk
      for anxiety and/or depression due to a history of depression in a parent. Parents
      and children completed questionnaires assessing depressive and anxious symptoms.
      Linear Mixed Models analyses controlling for the alternate parent and child
      symptoms indicated that both parent and child depressive symptoms and parent and
      child anxious symptoms were positively associated. Parental depressive symptoms
      were not positively associated with child anxious symptoms, and parental anxious
      symptoms were not positively associated with child depressive symptoms. The
      findings provide evidence for positive specific links between parent and child
      development of same-syndrome, but not cross-syndrome, symptoms when a caregiver
      has a history of depression.

PMID- 25844032
TI  - Stimulus Fading and Response Elaboration in Differential Reinforcement for
      Alternative Behavior.
AB  - A hallmark of applied behavior analysis is the development of function-based
      interventions for problem behavior. A widely recommended function-based
      intervention is differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA), in
      which reinforcement is contingent upon socially acceptable alternatives to
      problem behavior (e.g., teaching communication skills). Typically, DRA is
      introduced under rich schedules of reinforcement. Although effective for
      initiating behavior change, rich schedules are often impractical in the natural
      setting. In this study, we evaluated the extent to which a stimulus fading
      program could be employed to elaborate alternative behavior (mands) in two
      individuals diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. For both participants,
      problem behavior was reduced substantially upon implementation of the DRA
      procedure. Further, problem behavior rates remained low and mand rates decreased
      to more practical levels as the DRA behavioral requirements increased during the
      fading program. The fading approach demonstrated in this paper may be a useful
      component of intervention packages for clinicians.

PMID- 25844033
TI  - Impact and factors associated with nighttime and early morning symptoms among
      patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
AB  - Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exhibit poor sleep
      quality and consider morning as the worst time of day for their symptoms. While
      work has been done to characterize nighttime (NT) and early morning (EM) symptoms
      in various populations, the impact and factors associated with NT/EM symptoms
      among patients with COPD in the United States is not well understood.
      Commercially insured patients aged >=40 years with one or more medical claim for
      COPD and one or more pharmacy claim for COPD maintenance medication were
      identified from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database between September 1,
      2010 and August 31, 2011. Consenting respondents were asked whether they had COPD
      symptoms on at least three nights or at least three mornings during the past
      week. Respondents were then either assigned to one of three symptom groups to
      complete the survey or excluded if their predefined group quota limit had been
      met. Survey completers completed the survey with questions about COPD symptoms
      and other commonly used patient-reported outcome measures. Respondents with NT/EM
      symptoms were asked about the frequency, severity, and impact of the symptoms on
      sleep, morning activities, and anxiety levels. Among respondents with symptoms,
      73.1% of respondents with NT symptoms (N=376) and 83% of respondents with EM
      symptoms (N=506) experienced at least three distinct types of symptoms over the
      past week, with cough being the most frequently reported symptom. Approximately
      half of respondents with NT or EM symptoms perceived their symptoms as moderate
      to very severe, with a majority reporting their symptoms affected their NT sleep
      and morning activities, and more than half felt anxious due to their symptoms.
      Multinomial logistic regression showed COPD patients with both or either NT/EM
      symptoms were associated with poorer health status compared to those without.
      Improved disease management may reduce NT/EM symptoms and improve health status
      in patients with COPD. 

PMID- 25844034
TI  - Elevated plasma levels of pigment epithelium-derived factor correlated with
      inflammation and lung function in COPD patients.
AB  - RATIONALE: Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) is a 50 kD small secreting
      glycoprotein that participates in multiple physiological and pathological
      processes. Recent studies have reported that PEDF plays an important role in
      inflammatory responses in several diseases. However, the role of PEDF in the
      pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains unclear.
      OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study is to explore the potential relationship
      between PEDF and COPD. METHODS: We used differential proteomics - stable isotope
      labeling with amino acids in cell culture - to investigate protein expression
      profile changes in cigarette smoke extract-treated pulmonary cells and found that
      the neurotrophic and antiangiogenic protein PEDF was abnormally expressed.
      Furthermore, Western blotting was used to detect the expression of PEDF in the
      lung tissue of rats that were exposed to cigarette smoke. Eighty subjects between
      the ages of 40-90 years, including 20 healthy nonsmokers, ten smoking volunteers,
      and 50 COPD patients, were recruited from September 2012 until August 2013 in
      Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China. We measured the plasma PEDF
      concentration and classic proinflammatory cytokines by multiplex enzyme-linked
      immunosorbent assay. In addition, we performed a spirometry examination to
      diagnose COPD patients and we also analyzed the correlation between PEDF and lung
      function. RESULTS: First, we found that the expression of PEDF in cigarette smoke
      extract-treated cells increased 16.2-fold when compared with the control group.
      Next, we confirmed that 4 weeks' exposure to cigarette smoke can upregulate PEDF
      levels in rat lung tissues. We also discovered that plasma PEDF in COPD patients
      was significantly increased when compared with either healthy nonsmoking or
      smoking subjects. Furthermore, circulating PEDF was correlated with inflammatory
      cytokine and blood neutrophil numbers, but it was reversely associated with a
      decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 second percent predicted. CONCLUSION:
      Our findings provide a novel link between PEDF and COPD. Elevated PEDF levels may
      be involved in promoting the development of COPD by performing proinflammatory
      functions.

PMID- 25844035
TI  - Study of antitumor activity in breast cell lines using silver nanoparticles
      produced by yeast.
AB  - In the present article, we describe a study of antitumor activity in breast cell
      lines using silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) synthesized by a microbiological
      method. These Ag NPs were tested for their antitumor activity against MCF7 and
      T47D cancer cells and MCF10-A normal breast cell line. We analyzed cell
      viability, apoptosis induction, and endocytosis activity of those cell lines and
      we observed that the effects of the biosynthesized Ag NPs were directly related
      with the endocytosis activity. Moreover, Ag NPs had higher inhibition efficacy in
      tumor lines than in normal lines of breast cells, which is due to the higher
      endocytic activity of tumor cells compared to normal cells. In this way, we
      demonstrate that biosynthesized Ag NPs can be an alternative for the treatment of
      tumors. 

PMID- 25844036
TI  - Enhancing the anti-colon cancer activity of quercetin by self-assembled micelles.
AB  - Colorectal cancer, a type of malignant neoplasm originating from the epithelial
      cells lining the colon and/or rectum, has been the third most frequent malignancy
      and one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in the US. As a
      bioflavonoid with high anticancer potential, quercetin (Qu) has been proved to
      have a prospective applicability in chemotherapy for a series of cancers.
      However, quercetin is a hydrophobic drug, the poor hydrophilicity of which
      hinders its clinical usage in cancer therapy. Therefore, a strategy to improve
      the solubility of quercetin in water and/or enhance the bioavailability is
      desired. Encapsulating the poorly water-soluble, hydrophobic agents into polymer
      micelles could facilitate the dissolution of drugs in water. In our study,
      nanotechnology was employed, and quercetin was encapsulated into the
      biodegradable nanosized amphiphilic block copolymers of monomethoxy poly(ethylene
      glycol)-poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (MPEG-PCL), attempting to present positive
      evidences that this drug delivery system of polymeric micelles is effective. The
      quercetin-loaded MPEG-PCL nanomicelles (Qu-M), with a high drug loading of 6.85%
      and a minor particle size of 34.8 nm, completely dispersed in the water and
      released quercetin in a prolonged period in vitro and in vivo. At the same time,
      compared with free quercetin, Qu-M exhibited improved apoptosis induction and
      cell growth inhibition effects in CT26 cells in vitro. Moreover, the mice
      subcutaneous CT26 colon cancer model was established to evaluate the therapy
      efficiency of Qu-M in detail, in which enhanced anti-colon cancer effect was
      proved in vivo: Qu-M were more efficacious in repressing the growth of colon
      tumor than free quercetin. In addition, better effects of Qu-M on inducing cell
      apoptosis, inhibiting tumor angiogenesis, and restraining cell proliferation were
      observed by immunofluorescence analysis. Our study indicated that Qu-M were a
      novel nanoagent of quercetin with an enhanced antitumor activity, which could
      serve as a promising potential candidate for colon cancer chemotherapy. 

PMID- 25844037
TI  - Treating cancer stem cells and cancer metastasis using glucose-coated gold
      nanoparticles.
AB  - Cancer ranks among the leading causes of human mortality. Cancer becomes
      intractable when it spreads from the primary tumor site to various organs (such
      as bone, lung, liver, and then brain). Unlike solid tumor cells, cancer stem
      cells and metastatic cancer cells grow in a non-attached (suspension) form when
      moving from their source to other locations in the body. Due to the non-attached
      growth nature, metastasis is often first detected in the circulatory systems, for
      instance in a lymph node near the primary tumor. Cancer research over the past
      several decades has primarily focused on treating solid tumors, but targeted
      therapy to treat cancer stem cells and cancer metastasis has yet to be developed.
      Because cancers undergo faster metabolism and consume more glucose than normal
      cells, glucose was chosen in this study as a reagent to target cancer cells. In
      particular, by covalently binding gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with thio-PEG
      (polyethylene glycol) and thio-glucose, the resulting functionalized GNPs (Glu
      GNPs) were created for targeted treatment of cancer metastasis and cancer stem
      cells. Suspension cancer cell THP-1 (human monocytic cell line derived from acute
      monocytic leukemia patients) was selected because it has properties similar to
      cancer stem cells and has been used as a metastatic cancer cell model for in
      vitro studies. To take advantage of cancer cells' elevated glucose consumption
      over normal cells, different starvation periods were screened in order to achieve
      optimal treatment effects. Cancer cells were then fed using Glu-GNPs followed by
      X-ray irradiation treatment. For comparison, solid tumor MCF-7 cells (breast
      cancer cell line) were studied as well. Our irradiation experimental results show
      that Glu-GNPs are better irradiation sensitizers to treat THP-1 cells than MCF-7
      cells, or Glu-GNPs enhance the cancer killing of THP-1 cells 20% more than X-ray
      irradiation alone and GNP treatment alone. This finding can help oncologists to
      design therapeutic strategies to target cancer stem cells and cancer metastasis. 

PMID- 25844038
TI  - Hydroxypropylcellulose as a novel green reservoir for the synthesis,
      stabilization, and storage of silver nanoparticles.
AB  - Polysaccharides are attracting the vigil eye of researchers in order to design
      the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) of diverse size, shape, and
      application. We report an environmentally friendly method to synthesize Ag NPs
      where no physical reaction conditions were employed. Hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC)
      was used as a template nanoreactor, stabilizer, and capping agent to obtain Ag
      NPs. Different concentrations of AgNO3 solutions (50 mmol, 75 mmol, and 100 mmol)
      were mixed with a concentrated aqueous solution of HPC and the progress of the
      reaction was monitored by noting color changes of the reaction mixture at
      different reaction times for up to 24 hours. Characteristic ultraviolet-visible
      spectroscopy (UV/Vis) absorption bands of Ag NPs were observed in the range of
      388-452 nm. The morphology of the Ag NPs was studied by scanning electron
      microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy.
      The TEM images confirmed that the size of the Ag NPs was in the range of 25-55
      nm. Powder X-ray diffraction studies showed that the crystal phase of the Ag NPs
      was face-centered cubic. The as-prepared Ag NPs were found to be stable, and no
      changes in size and morphology were observed after storage in HPC thin films over
      1 year, as indicated by UV/Vis spectra. So, the present work furnishes a green
      and economical strategy for the synthesis and storage of stable Ag NPs. As
      synthesized Ag NPs showed significant antimicrobial activity against different
      bacterial (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis, S. aureus, Bacillus
      subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and fungal strains (Actinomycetes and
      Aspergillus niger). 

PMID- 25844039
TI  - Folate-modified lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles for targeted paclitaxel
      delivery.
AB  - The purpose of this study was to develop a novel lipid-polymer hybrid drug
      carrier comprised of folate (FA) modified lipid-shell and polymer-core
      nanoparticles (FLPNPs) for sustained, controlled, and targeted delivery of
      paclitaxel (PTX). The core-shell NPs consist of 1) a poly(epsilon-caprolactone)
      hydrophobic core based on self-assembly of poly(epsilon-caprolactone)
      poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL-PEG-PCL) amphiphilic
      copolymers, 2) a lipid monolayer formed with 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3
      phosphoethanolamine-N-[methoxy (polyethylene glycol)-2000] (DSPE-PEG2000), 3) a
      targeting ligand (FA) on the surface, and were prepared using a thin-film
      hydration and ultrasonic dispersion method. Transmission electron microscopy and
      dynamic light scattering analysis confirmed the coating of the lipid monolayer on
      the hydrophobic polymer core. Physicochemical characterizations of PTX-loaded
      FLPNPs, such as particle size and size distribution, zeta potential, morphology,
      drug loading content, encapsulation efficiency, and in vitro drug release, were
      also evaluated. Fluorescent microscopy proved the internalization efficiency and
      targeting ability of the folate conjugated on the lipid monolayer for the EMT6
      cancer cells which overexpress folate receptor. In vitro cytotoxicity assay
      demonstrated that the cytotoxic effect of PTX-loaded FLPNPs was lower than that
      of Taxol((r)), but higher than that of PTX-loaded LPNPs (without folate
      conjugation). In EMT6 breast tumor model, intratumoral administration of PTX
      loaded FLPNPs showed similar antitumor efficacy but low toxicity compared to
      Taxol((r)). More importantly, PTX-loaded FLPNPs showed greater tumor growth
      inhibition (65.78%) than the nontargeted PTX-loaded LPNPs (48.38%) (P<0.05).
      These findings indicated that the PTX loaded-FLPNPs with mixed lipid monolayer
      shell and biodegradable polymer core would be a promising nanosized drug
      formulation for tumor-targeted therapy. 

PMID- 25844040
TI  - The acceptability of nanocarriers for drug delivery in different contexts of use:
      perceptions of researchers and research trainees in the field of new
      technologies.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Despite marked optimism in the field of nanomedicine about the use of
      drug-delivery nanocarriers, uncertainties exist concerning nanocarriers' possible
      unintended impacts and effects. These uncertainties could affect user acceptance
      and acceptability. "Acceptance" refers to the intention to put a technology or a
      device to a specified use. "Acceptability" refers to a value judgment that
      accounts for acceptance. The objectives of this study were to characterize impact
      perception, acceptance, and acceptability in relation to drug-delivery
      nanocarriers in different contexts of use, and to explore relationships among
      these concepts. METHODS: A sample of European and Canadian researchers and
      graduate research trainees active in the field of new technologies was recruited
      by targeted email invitation for participation in a web-based questionnaire
      study. The questionnaire presented scenarios for two contexts of use (lung
      cancer, seasonal flu) of drug-delivery nanocarriers with two compositions
      (carbon, synthetic DNA). Respondents' impact perception, acceptance, and
      acceptability judgment in relation to each kind of nanocarrier in each context of
      use were measured with Likert scale questions and scored using categorical
      values. RESULTS: Two hundred and fourteen researchers and graduate research
      trainees completed the questionnaire. The results showed that nanocarrier
      composition influenced impact perception: as compared with the carbon nanocarrier
      impact perception, the positive impacts of the synthetic DNA nanocarrier were
      perceived as more significant and more likely to occur than its negative impacts.
      Composition did not influence acceptance or acceptability. Context of use
      significantly influenced acceptance and acceptability of both kinds of
      nanocarriers: researchers were more likely to accept the use of nanocarriers to
      treat lung cancer than the seasonal flu. The results also showed a significant
      relationship between acceptance and the perceived usefulness of the treatments.
      CONCLUSION: Nanocarrier composition does not appear to influence acceptance or
      acceptability. On the other hand, the nanocarriers' perceived usefulness and
      context of use are both major factors in accounting for acceptance and
      acceptability.

PMID- 25844041
TI  - Von Hippel-Lindau status influences phenotype of liver cancers arising from PTEN
      loss.
AB  - BACKGROUND: PTEN loss contributes to the development of liver diseases including
      hepatic steatosis and both hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma
      (CC). The factors that influence the penetrance of these conditions are unclear.
      We explored the influence of sustained hypoxia signaling through co-deletion of
      Pten and Vhl in a murine model. METHODS: We used a CreER-linked Keratin 18 mouse
      model to conditionally delete Pten, Vhl or both in somatic cells of adult mice,
      evaluating the resultant tumors by histology and gene expression microarray.
      Existing sets of gene expression data for human HCC and CC were examined for
      pathways related to those observed in the murine tumors, and a cohort of human CC
      samples was evaluated for relationships between HIF-1alpha expression and
      clinical outcomes. RESULTS: Both Pten deletion genotypes developed liver tumors,
      but with differing phenotypes. Pten deletion alone led to large hepatic tumors
      with widespread hepatosteatosis. Co-deletion of Pten and Vhl with the Keratin 18
      promoter resulted in reduced steatosis and a reduced tumor burden that was
      characterized by a trabecular architecture similar to CC. Genes associated with
      hepatic steatosis were coordinately expressed in the human HCC dataset, while
      genes involved in hypoxia response were upregulated in tumors from the human CC
      dataset. HIF-1alpha expression and overall survival were examined in an
      independent cohort of human CC tumors with no statistical differences uncovered.
      CONCLUSION: Pten deletion in Keratin 18 expressing cells leads to aggressive
      tumor formation and widespread steatosis in mouse livers. Co-deletion of Vhl and
      Pten results in lower tumor burden with gene expression profiling suggesting a
      switch from a profile of lipid deposition to an expression profile more
      consistent with upregulation of the hypoxia response pathway. A relationship
      between tumor hypoxia signaling and altered hepatic steatotic response suggests
      that competing influences may alter tumor phenotypes.

PMID- 25844042
TI  - Temporal variation of traffic on highways and the development of accurate
      temporal allocation factors for air pollution analyses.
AB  - Traffic activity encompasses the number, mix, speed and acceleration of vehicles
      on roadways. The temporal pattern and variation of traffic activity reflects
      vehicle use, congestion and safety issues, and it represents a major influence on
      emissions and concentrations of traffic-related air pollutants. Accurate
      characterization of vehicle flows is critical in analyzing and modeling urban and
      local-scale pollutants, especially in near-road environments and traffic
      corridors. This study describes methods to improve the characterization of
      temporal variation of traffic activity. Annual, monthly, daily and hourly
      temporal allocation factors (TAFs), which describe the expected temporal
      variation in traffic activity, were developed using four years of hourly traffic
      activity data recorded at 14 continuous counting stations across the Detroit,
      Michigan, U.S. region. Five sites also provided vehicle classification. TAF-based
      models provide a simple means to apportion annual average estimates of traffic
      volume to hourly estimates. The analysis shows the need to separate TAFs for
      total and commercial vehicles, and weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays and observed
      holidays. Using either site-specific or urban-wide TAFs, nearly all of the
      variation in historical traffic activity at the street scale could be explained;
      unexplained variation was attributed to adverse weather, traffic accidents and
      construction. The methods and results presented in this paper can improve air
      quality dispersion modeling of mobile sources, and can be used to evaluate and
      model temporal variation in ambient air quality monitoring data and exposure
      estimates.

PMID- 25844043
TI  - Compression stiffening of brain and its effect on mechanosensing by glioma cells.
AB  - Many cell types, including neurons, astrocytes and other cells of the central
      nervous system respond to changes in extracellular matrix or substrate
      viscoelasticity, and increased tissue stiffness is a hallmark of several disease
      states including fibrosis and some types of cancers. Whether the malignant tissue
      in brain, an organ that lacks the protein-based filamentous extracellular matrix
      of other organs, exhibits the same macroscopic stiffening characteristic of
      breast, colon, pancreatic, and other tumors is not known. In this study we show
      that glioma cells like normal astrocytes, respond strongly in vitro to substrate
      stiffness in the range of 100 to 2000 Pa, but that macroscopic (mm to cm) tissue
      samples isolated from human glioma tumors have elastic moduli on the order of 200
      Pa that are indistinguishable from those of normal brain. However, both normal
      brain and glioma tissues increase their shear elastic moduli under modest
      uniaxial compression, and glioma tissue stiffens more strongly under compression
      than does normal brain. These findings suggest that local tissue stiffness has
      the potential to alter glial cell function, and that stiffness changes in brain
      tumors might arise not from increased deposition or crosslinking of collagen-rich
      extracellular matrix but from pressure gradients that form within the tumors in
      vivo.

PMID- 25844044
TI  - Emerging of fractal geometry on surface of human cervical epithelial cells during
      progression towards cancer.
AB  - Despite considerable advances in understanding the molecular nature of cancer,
      many biophysical aspects of malignant development are still unclear. Here we
      study physical alterations of the surface of human cervical epithelial cells
      during stepwise in vitro development of cancer (from normal to immortal
      (premalignant), to malignant). We use atomic force microscopy to demonstrate that
      development of cancer is associated with emergence of simple fractal geometry on
      the cell surface. Contrary to the previously expected correlation between cancer
      and fractals, we find that fractal geometry occurs only at a limited period of
      development when immortal cells become cancerous; further cancer progression
      demonstrates deviation from fractal. Because of the connection between fractal
      behaviour and chaos (or far from equilibrium behaviour), these results suggest
      that chaotic behaviour coincides with the cancer transformation of the
      immortalization stage of cancer development, whereas further cancer progression
      recovers determinism of processes responsible for cell surface formation.

PMID- 25844045
TI  - Amphitrite: A program for processing travelling wave ion mobility mass
      spectrometry data.
AB  - Since the introduction of travelling wave (T-Wave)-based ion mobility in 2007 a
      large number of research laboratories have embraced the technique, particularly
      those working in the field of structural biology. The development of software to
      process the data generated from this technique, however, has been limited. We
      present a novel software package that enables the processing of T-Wave ion
      mobility data. The program can deconvolute components in a mass spectrum and uses
      this information to extract corresponding arrival time distributions (ATDs) with
      minimal user intervention. It can also be used to automatically create a
      collision cross section (CCS) calibration and apply this to subsequent files of
      interest. A number of applications of the software, and how it enhances the
      information content extracted from the raw data, are illustrated using model
      proteins.

PMID- 25844046
TI  - A tale of a tail: Structural insights into the conformational properties of the
      polyglutamine protein ataxin-3.
AB  - Ataxin-3 is the protein responsible for the neurodegenerative polyglutamine
      disease Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. Full structural characterisation of ataxin
      3 is required to aid in understanding the mechanism of disease. Despite extensive
      study, little is known about the conformational properties of the full-length
      protein, in either its non-expanded healthy or expanded pathogenic forms,
      particularly since its polyglutamine-containing region has denied structural
      elucidation. In this work, travelling-wave ion mobility spectrometry-mass
      spectrometry and limited proteolysis have been used to compare the conformational
      properties of full-length non-expanded ataxin-3 (14Q) and its isolated N-terminal
      Josephin domain (JD). Limited proteolysis experiments have confirmed that the JD
      is stable, being extremely resistant to trypsin digestion, with the exception of
      the alpha2/alpha3 hairpin which is flexible and exposed to protease cleavage in
      solution. The C-terminal region of ataxin-3 which contains the glutamine-rich
      sequences is largely unstructured, showing little resistance to limited
      proteolysis. Using ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry we show that
      ataxin-3 (14Q) adopts a wide range of conformational states in vitro conferred by
      the flexibility of its C-terminal tail and the alpha2/alpha3 hairpin of the N
      terminal JD. This study highlights how the power of MS-based approaches to
      protein structural characterisation can be particularly useful when the target
      protein is aggregation-prone and has intrinsically unordered regions.

PMID- 25844047
TI  - Decorating (C60) n+, n = 1-3, with CO2 at low temperatures: Sterically enhanced
      physisorption.
AB  - Multiple attachment of CO2 to the monomer, dimer and trimer cations of C60 has
      been observed in the mass spectra of He nanodroplets sequentially doped with C60
      and CO2 and exposed to electron ionization at 50 eV. Remarkable anomalies were
      seen in the ion yield for CO2 coverage for (C60)2+(CO2)8 and (C60)3+(CO2)1,2.
      These provide insight into the influence of steric properties on the nature of
      physisorption. The enhanced stabilities of (C60)2+(CO2)8 and (C60)3+(CO2)1,2 are
      attributed to physisorption inside the "groove" of the dimer and the two
      "dimples" in the trimer cations of C60. Molecular dynamics simulations provide a
      qualitative assessment of the observed physisorption and a useful visualization
      of structural aspects.

PMID- 25844048
TI  - Headspace analysis of new psychoactive substances using a Selective Reagent
      Ionisation-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometer.
AB  - The rapid expansion in the number and use of new psychoactive substances presents
      a significant analytical challenge because highly sensitive instrumentation
      capable of detecting a broad range of chemical compounds in real-time with a low
      rate of false positives is required. A Selective Reagent Ionisation-Time of
      Flight-Mass Spectrometry (SRI-ToF-MS) instrument is capable of meeting all of
      these requirements. With its high mass resolution (up to m/Deltam of 8000), the
      application of variations in reduced electric field strength (E/N) and use of
      different reagent ions, the ambiguity of a nominal (monoisotopic) m/z is reduced
      and hence the identification of chemicals in a complex chemical environment with
      a high level of confidence is enabled. In this study we report the use of a SRI
      ToF-MS instrument to investigate the reactions of H3O+, O2+, NO+ and Kr+ with 10
      readily available (at the time of purchase) new psychoactive substances, namely 4
      fluoroamphetamine, methiopropamine, ethcathinone, 4-methylethcathinone, N
      ethylbuphedrone, ethylphenidate, 5-MeO-DALT, dimethocaine, 5-(2
      aminopropyl)benzofuran and nitracaine. In particular, the dependence of product
      ion branching ratios on the reduced electric field strength for all reagent ions
      was investigated and is reported here. The results reported represent a
      significant amount of new data which will be of use for the development of drug
      detection techniques suitable for real world scenarios.

PMID- 25844050
TI  - Structure elucidation of chlorophyll catabolites (phyllobilins) by ESI-mass
      spectrometry-Pseudo-molecular ions and fragmentation analysis of a nonfluorescent
      chlorophyll catabolite (NCC).
AB  - The hyphenation of high performance chromatography with modern mass spectrometric
      techniques providing high-resolution data as well as structural information from
      MS/MS experiments has become a versatile tool for rapid natural product
      identification and characterization. A recent application of this methodology
      concerned the investigation of the annually occurring degradation of green plant
      pigments. Since the first structural elucidation of a breakdown product in the
      early 1990s, a number of similarly structured, tetrapyrrolic catabolites have
      been discovered with the help of chromatographic, spectroscopic and spectrometric
      methods. A prerequisite for a satisfactory, manually operated or database
      supported analysis of mass spectrometric fragmentation patterns is a deeper
      knowledge of the underlying gas phase chemistry. Still, a thorough investigation
      of the common fragmentation behavior of these ubiquitous, naturally occurring
      chlorophyll breakdown products is lacking. This study closes the gap and gives a
      comprehensive overview of collision-induced fragmentation reactions of a
      tetrapyrrolic nonfluorescent chlorophyll catabolite, which is intended to serve
      as a model compound for the substance class of phyllobilins.

PMID- 25844049
TI  - Product ion distributions for the reactions of NO+ with some physiologically
      significant aldehydes obtained using a SRI-TOF-MS instrument.
AB  - Product ion distributions for the reactions of NO+ with 22 aldehydes involved in
      human physiology have been determined under the prevailing conditions of a
      selective reagent ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (SRI-TOF-MS) at an
      E/N in the flow/drift tube reactor of 130 Td. The chosen aldehydes were fourteen
      alkanals (the C2-C11 n-alkanals, 2-methyl propanal, 2-methyl butanal, 3-methyl
      butanal, and 2-ethyl hexanal), six alkenals (2-propenal, 2-methyl 2-propenal, 2
      butenal, 3-methyl 2-butenal, 2-methyl 2-butenal, and 2-undecenal), benzaldehyde,
      and furfural. The product ion fragmentations patterns were determined for both
      dry air and humid air (3.5% absolute humidity) used as the matrix buffer/carrier
      gas in the drift tube of the SRI-TOF-MS instrument. Hydride ion transfer was seen
      to be a common ionization mechanism in all these aldehydes, thus generating (M
      H)+ ions. Small fractions of the adduct ion, NO+M, were also seen for some of the
      unsaturated alkenals, in particular 2-undecenal, and heterocyclic furfural for
      which the major reactive channel was non-dissociative charge transfer generating
      the M+ parent ion. Almost all of the reactions resulted in partial fragmentation
      of the aldehyde molecules generating hydrocarbon ions; specifically, the alkanal
      reactions resulted in multiple product ions, whereas, the alkenals reactions
      produced only two or three product ions, dissociation of the nascent excited
      product ion occurring preferentially at the 2-position. The findings of this
      study are of particular importance for data interpretation in studies of
      aldehydes reactions employing SRI-TOF-MS in the NO+ mode.

PMID- 25844051
TI  - Doubly charged CO2 clusters formed by ionization of doped helium nanodroplets.
AB  - Helium nanodroplets are doped with carbon dioxide and ionized by electrons.
      Doubly charged cluster ions are, for the first time, identified based on their
      characteristic patterns of isotopologues. Thanks to the high mass resolution,
      large dynamic range, and a novel method to eliminate contributions from singly
      charged ions from the mass spectra, we are able to observe doubly charged cluster
      ions that are smaller than the ones reported in the past. The likely mechanism by
      which doubly charged ions are formed in doped helium droplets is discussed.

PMID- 25844052
TI  - Modeling the intrusion of molecules into graphite: Origin and shape of the
      barriers.
AB  - We performed density functional theory calculations to explore the energetic and
      geometric aspects of the permeation of H2, BeH x , OH x (x = 1, 2) and CH y (y =
      1-4) through the central hexagon of coronene. Coronene serves as a cluster model
      for extended graphene which can be regarded as the first layer of a graphite (0 0
      0 1) surface. We compare the energy barriers encountered by these molecular
      projectiles with the ones that are obtained for atomic H, Be, C and O. The
      barriers are substantially lower if projectiles possess free valences that can
      bind to the carbon entity. Furthermore, for some of the species fragmentation is
      observed. Implications with respect to plasma-surface interaction are discussed.

PMID- 25844053
TI  - Laser ionization and spectroscopy of Cu in superfluid helium nanodroplets.
AB  - Mass and optical spectroscopic methods are used for the analysis of copper (Cu)
      atoms and clusters doped to helium nanodroplets (HeN). A two-color resonant two
      photon ionization scheme is applied to study the Cu 2P[Formula: see text]S1/2
      ground state transition. The absorption is strongly broadened for Cu atoms
      submerged inside helium nanodroplets and a comparison with computed literature
      values is provided. An observed ejection of the dopant from the droplet is
      triggered upon excitation, populating energetically lower states. The formation
      of Cu n clusters up to Cu7 inside helium nanodroplets was observed by means of
      electron impact ionization mass spectroscopy.

PMID- 25844054
TI  - Gas-phase intermolecular phosphate transfer within a phosphohistidine
      phosphopeptide dimer.
AB  - The hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions that form between the
      protonated side chain of a basic residue and the negatively charged phosphate of
      a phosphopeptide can play crucial roles in governing their dissociation pathways
      under low-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID). Understanding how
      phosphoramidate (i.e. phosphohistidine, phospholysine and phosphoarginine),
      rather than phosphomonoester-containing peptides behave during CID is paramount
      in investigation of these problematic species by tandem mass spectrometry. To
      this end, a synthetic peptide containing either phosphohistidine (pHis) or
      phospholysine (pLys) was analyzed by ESI-MS using a Paul-type ion trap (AmaZon,
      Bruker) and by traveling wave ion mobility-mass spectrometry (Synapt G2-Si,
      Waters). Analysis of the products of low-energy CID demonstrated formation of a
      doubly 'phosphorylated' product ion arising from intermolecular gas-phase
      phosphate transfer within a phosphopeptide dimer. The results are explained by
      the formation of a homodimeric phosphohistidine (pHis) peptide non-covalent
      complex (NCX), likely stabilized by the electrostatic interaction between the
      pHis phosphate group and the protonated C-terminal lysine residue of the peptide.
      To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of intermolecular gas-phase
      phosphate transfer from one phosphopeptide to another, leading to a doubly
      phosphorylated peptide product ion.

PMID- 25844055
TI  - Competitive Hydrogen Atom Migrations Accompanying Cascade Dissociations of
      Peptide Cation-Radicals of the z+* Type.
AB  - We report a combined experimental and computational study of energy-resolved
      collision-induced dissociation (ER-CID) and time-resolved infrared multiphoton
      dissociation (TR-IRMPD) of z4 ions prepared by electron transfer dissociation of
      peptide (Ala-Ala-Asn-Ala-Arg + 2H)2+ ions. The z4 cation-radicals, *ANAR+,
      undergo competitive dissociations by backbone cleavage and loss of a CONH2
      radical from the Asn side chain. The backbone cleavage proceeds by radical
      assisted dissociation of the Asn Calpha-CO bond, forming an x2 ion intermediate
      which rapidly dissociates by HNCO elimination to yield a stable z2 fragment ion,
      *AR+. The ER-CID and TR-IRMPD data were consistent with the consecutive nature of
      the backbone dissociation but showed different branching ratios for the two major
      fragmentations. The ER-CID data showed branching ratios 0.6-1.0 for the side
      chain and backbone cleavages whereas the TR-IRMPD data showed an earlier onset
      for the latter dissociation. Computational analysis of the potential energy
      surface with density functional theory and ab initio calculations was carried out
      to provide structures and energies for the reactant ions as well as several
      intermediates, products, and transition states. Dissociation pathways for cis and
      trans amide conformers were distinguished and their energies were evaluated. The
      threshold dissociation energies for the backbone and side-chain dissociations
      were similar in accordance with the experimental ER-CID branching ratio. The TR
      IRMPD data were interpreted by different absorbances of intermediates produced by
      hydrogen atom migrations along the dissociation pathways.

PMID- 25844056
TI  - Protein derivatization and sequential ion/ion reactions to enhance sequence
      coverage produced by electron transfer dissociation mass spectrometry.
AB  - Previously, we described implementation of a front-end ETD (electron transfer
      dissociation) source for an Orbitrap instrument (1). This source facilitates
      multiple fills of the C-trap with product ions from ETD of intact proteins prior
      to mass analysis. The result is a dramatic enhancement of the observed ion
      current without the need for time consuming averaging of data from multiple mass
      measurements. Here we show that ion-ion proton transfer (IIPT) reactions can be
      used to simplify ETD spectra and to disperse fragment ions over the entire mass
      range in a controlled manner. We also show that protein derivatization can be
      employed to selectively enhance the sequence information observed at the N- and C
      termini of a protein.

PMID- 25844057
TI  - Molecular typing of Meningiomas by Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass
      Spectrometry Imaging for Surgical Decision-Making.
AB  - Meningiomas are the most frequent intracranial tumors. The majority is benign
      slow-growing tumors but they can be difficult to treat depending on their
      location and size. While meningiomas are well delineated on magnetic resonance
      imaging by their uptake of contrast, surgical limitations still present
      themselves from not knowing the extent of invasion of the dura matter by
      meningioma cells. The development of tools to characterize tumor tissue in real
      or near real time could prevent recurrence after tumor resection by allowing for
      more precise surgery, i.e. removal of tumor with preservation of healthy tissue.
      The development of ambient ionization mass spectrometry for molecular
      characterization of tissue and its implementation in the surgical decision-making
      workflow carry the potential to fulfill this need. Here, we present the
      characterization of meningioma and dura mater by desorption electrospray
      ionization mass spectrometry to validate the technique for the molecular
      assessment of surgical margins and diagnosis of meningioma from surgical tissue
      in real-time. Nine stereotactically resected surgical samples and three autopsy
      samples were analyzed by standard histopathology and mass spectrometry imaging.
      All samples indicated a strong correlation between results from both techniques.
      We then highlight the value of desorption electrospray ionization mass
      spectrometry for the molecular subtyping/subgrouping of meningiomas from a series
      of forty genetically characterized specimens. The minimal sample preparation
      required for desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry offers a
      distinct advantage for applications relying on real-time information such as
      surgical decision-making. The technology here was tested to distinguish
      meningioma from dura mater as an approach to precisely define surgical margins.
      In addition we classify meningiomas into fibroblastic and meningothelial subtypes
      and more notably recognize meningiomas with NF2 genetic aberrations.

PMID- 25844058
TI  - Mass spectral similarity for untargeted metabolomics data analysis of complex
      mixtures.
AB  - While in nucleotide sequencing, the analysis of DNA from complex mixtures of
      organisms is common, this is not yet true for mass spectrometric data analysis of
      complex mixtures. The comparative analyses of mass spectrometry data of microbial
      communities at the molecular level is difficult to perform, especially in the
      context of a host. The challenge does not lie in generating the mass spectrometry
      data, rather much of the difficulty falls in the realm of how to derive relevant
      information from this data. The informatics based techniques to visualize and
      organize datasets are well established for metagenome sequencing; however, due to
      the scarcity of informatics strategies in mass spectrometry, it is currently
      difficult to cross correlate two very different mass spectrometry data sets from
      microbial communities and their hosts. We highlight that molecular networking can
      be used as an organizational tool of tandem mass spectrometry data, automated
      database search for rapid identification of metabolites, and as a workflow to
      manage and compare mass spectrometry data from complex mixtures of organisms. To
      demonstrate this platform, we show data analysis from hard corals and a human
      lung associated with cystic fibrosis.

PMID- 25844059
TI  - Comparison of Glycopeptide Fragmentation by Collision Induced Dissociation and
      Ultraviolet Photodissociation.
AB  - A comparison of the fragmentation pathways of both protonated and deprotonated O
      linked glycopeptides from fetuin and kappa-casein obtained upon collision induced
      dissociation (CID) and 193 nm ultraviolet photodissociation (UVPD) in a linear
      ion trap is presented. A strategy using non-specific pronase digestion,
      zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (ZIC-HILIC) solid
      phase extraction (SPE) enrichment, and nano-liquid chromatography (nano-LC) is
      employed. UVPD of deprotonated glycopeptides generally produced the greatest
      array of fragment ions, thus affording the most diagnostic information about both
      glycan structure and peptide sequence. In addition, UVPD generated unique
      fragment ion such as Y-type ions arising from cleavage at the N-terminus of
      proline. CID and UVPD of protonated glycopeptides produced fragment ions solely
      from glycan cleavages.

PMID- 25844060
TI  - The combination of MELD score and ICG liver testing predicts length of stay in
      the ICU and hospital mortality in liver transplant recipients.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Early prediction of outcome would be useful for an optimal intensive
      care management of liver transplant recipients. Indocyanine green clearance can
      be measured non-invasively by pulse spectrophometry and is closely related to
      liver function. METHODS: This study was undertaken to assess the predictive value
      of a combination of the model of end stage liver disease (MELD) score and early
      indocyanine plasma disappearance rates (ICG-PDR) for length of stay in the
      intensive care unit (ICU), length of stay in the hospital and hospital mortality
      in liver transplant recipients. RESULTS: Fifty consecutive liver transplant
      recipients were included in this post Hoc single-center study. ICG-PDR was
      determined within 6 hours after ICU admission. Endpoints were length of stay in
      the ICU, length of hospital stay and hospital mortality. The combination of a
      high MELD score (MELD >25) and a low ICG-PDR clearance (ICG-PDR < 20%/minute)
      predicts a significant longer stay in the ICU (p = 0.004), a significant longer
      stay in the hospital (p < 0.001) and a hospital mortality of 40% vs. 0% (p =
      0.003). CONCLUSION: The combination of MELD scores and a singular ICG-PDR
      measurement in the early postoperative phase is an accurate predictor for outcome
      in liver transplant recipients. This easy-to-assess tool might be valuable for an
      optimal intensive care management of those patients.

PMID- 25844061
TI  - The accuracy of locating the cricothyroid membrane by palpation - an intergender
      study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The cricothyroid membrane (CTM) is the recommended site of access to
      the airway during cricothyrotomy to provide emergency oxygenation. We sought to
      compare the ability of physicians to correctly identify the CTM in male and
      female patients. METHODS: In a prospective observational study, anaesthetists
      were asked to locate the CTM by palpation which was then identified using
      ultrasound and the distance between the actual and estimated margin of the CTM
      was measured. Participants assessed the ease of CTM palpation using a visual
      analog scale. In a second series, the angulation of the posterior junction of the
      thyroid laminae was measured using ultrasound. RESULTS: 23 anaesthetists and 44
      subjects participated. A total of 36 assessments were carried out in each gender.
      Incorrect identification of the CTM was more common in females (29/36 vs. 11/36,
      P < 0.001) and the distance from the CTM in the vertical plane was greater (11.0
      [6.5-20.0] vs. 0.0 [0.0-10.0] mm, P < 0.001). In females distance from the CTM
      correlated positively with neck circumference (P = 0.005) and BMI (P = 0.00005)
      and negatively with subject height (P = 0.01). Posterior thyroid cartilage
      angulation was greater in females (118.6 +/- 9.4 degrees  vs. 95.9 +/- 12.9
      degrees , P = 0.02) and was lower in patients with correctly identified CTMs
      (100.0 +/- 14.9 degrees  vs. 115.6 +/- 15.9 degrees , P = 0.02). VRS palpation
      correlated with decreased posterior thyroid cartilage angulation (P = 0.04).
      CONCLUSIONS: CTM localisation is more difficult in female subjects irrespective
      of body habitus. It may be prudent to localize this structure by additional means
      (e.g. ultrasound) in advance of any airway manoeuvres or to modify the
      cricothyrotomy technique in the event that it is necessary in an emergency.

PMID- 25844062
TI  - The effect of simulation-based training on initial performance of ultrasound
      guided axillary brachial plexus blockade in a clinical setting - a pilot study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In preparing novice anesthesiologists to perform their first
      ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus blockade, we hypothesized that virtual
      reality simulation-based training offers an additional learning benefit over
      standard training. We carried out pilot testing of this hypothesis using a
      prospective, single blind, randomized controlled trial. METHODS: We planned to
      recruit 20 anesthesiologists who had no experience of performing ultrasound
      guided regional anesthesia. Initial standardized training, reflecting current
      best available practice was provided to all participating trainees. Trainees were
      randomized into one of two groups; (i) to undertake additional simulation-based
      training or (ii) no further training. On completion of their assigned training,
      trainees attempted their first ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus
      blockade. Two experts, blinded to the trainees' group allocation, assessed the
      performance of trainees using validated tools. RESULTS: This study was
      discontinued following a planned interim analysis, having recruited 10 trainees.
      This occurred because it became clear that the functionality of the available
      simulator was insufficient to meet our training requirements. There were no
      statistically significant difference in clinical performance, as assessed using
      the sum of a Global Rating Score and a checklist score, between simulation-based
      training [mean 32.9 (standard deviation 11.1)] and control trainees [31.5 (4.2)]
      (p = 0.885). CONCLUSIONS: We have described a methodology for assessing the
      effectiveness of a simulator, during its development, by means of a randomized
      controlled trial. We believe that the learning acquired will be useful if
      performing future trials on learning efficacy associated with simulation based
      training in procedural skills. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier:
      NCT01965314. Registered October 17th 2013.

PMID- 25844063
TI  - Can serum L-lactate, D-lactate, creatine kinase and I-FABP be used as diagnostic
      markers in critically ill patients suspected for bowel ischemia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The prognostic value of biochemical tests in critically ill patients
      with multiple organ failure and suspected bowel ischemia is unknown. METHODS: In
      a prospective observational cohort study intensive care patients were included
      when the attending intensivist considered intestinal ischemia in the diagnostic
      workup at any time during intensive care stay. Patients were only included once.
      When enrolment was ended each patient was classified as 'proven intestinal
      ischemia', 'ischemia likely', 'ischemia unlikely' or 'no intestinal ischemia'.
      Proven intestinal ischemia was defined as the gross disturbance of blood flow in
      the bowel, regardless of extent and grade. Classification was based on reports
      from the operating surgeon, pathology department, endoscopy reports and CT-scan.
      Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), alanine aminotransferase
      (ALAT), L-lactate were available for the attending physician. D-lactate and
      intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP) were analysed later in a batch. I
      FABP was only measured in patients with proven ischemia or no ischemia. RESULTS:
      For 44 of the 120 included patients definite diagnostic studies were available.
      23/44 patients (52%) had proven intestinal ischemia as confirmed by surgery,
      colonoscopy, autopsy and/or histopathological findings. LDH in these patients was
      285 U/l (217-785) vs 287 U/l (189-836) in no-ischemia; p = 0.72. CK was 226 U/l
      in patients with proven ischemia (126-2145) vs 347 U/l (50-1427), p = 0.88. ALAT
      was 53 U/l (18-300) vs 34 U/l (14-34), p-0,56. D-lactate 0.41 mmol/l (0.11-0.75)
      vs 0.56 mmol/l (0.27-0.77), p = 0.46. L-lactate 3.5 mmol/l (2.2-8.4) vs 2.6
      mmol/l (1.7-3.9), p = 0.09. I-FABP 2872 pg/ml (229-4340) vs 1020 pg/ml (239
      5324), p = 0.98. Patient groups proven and likely ischemia together compared to
      unlikely and no-ischemia together showed significant higher L-lactate (p = 0.001)
      and higher D-lactate (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Measurement of LDH, CK, and ALAT
      did not discriminate critically ill patients with proven intestinal ischemia from
      those with definite diagnosis no-ischemia. However, L-lactate and D-lactate
      levels were higher in patients with proven or likely ischemia and need further
      study just as I-FABP.

PMID- 25844064
TI  - The caval index: an adequate non-invasive ultrasound parameter to predict fluid
      responsiveness in the emergency department?
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fluid therapy is the first important step in patients with signs of
      shock but assessment of the volume status is difficult and invasive measurements
      are not readily available in the emergency department. We have investigated
      whether the respiratory variation in diameter of the inferior vena cava is a
      reliable parameter to predict fluid responsiveness in spontaneous breathing
      emergency department patients with signs of shock. METHODS: All patients admitted
      to the emergency department during a 15 week period were screened for signs of
      shock. If the attending physician planned to give a fluid challenge, the caval
      index was determined by transabdominal ultrasonography in supine position.
      Immediately afterwards 500 ml NaCl 0.9% was administered in 15 minutes and the
      clinical response was observed. An adequate response was defined as an increase
      in systolic blood pressure of at least 10 mm Hg. Based on this definition
      patients were divided into responders and non-responders. RESULTS: After
      selection a total number of 45 patients was included. A low caval index (< 36.5%)
      in patients with signs of shock reliably predicted the absence of an adequate
      response to fluid therapy (negative predictive value 92%). The positive
      predictive value of a high caval index was much lower (48%) despite the fact that
      responders had a significantly higher pre-infusion caval index than non
      responders (48.7% vs 31.8%, p 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: In spontaneously breathing
      patients with signs of shock in the emergency department, a high caval index
      (>36.5%) does not reliably predict fluid responsiveness in our study, while a low
      caval index (<36.5%) makes fluid responsiveness unlikely. An explanation for the
      absence of a blood pressure response in the group of patients with a low high
      caval index might be that these patients represent a group requiring more volume
      therapy than 500 ml.

PMID- 25844065
TI  - Effectiveness of heat and moisture exchangers in preventing ventilator-associated
      pneumonia in critically ill patients: a meta-analysis.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Patients may acquire ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) by
      aspirating the condensate that originates in the ventilator circuit upon use of a
      conventional humidifier. The bacteria that colonize the patients themselves can
      proliferate in the condensate and then return to the airways and lungs when the
      patient aspirates this contaminated material. Therefore, the use of HME might
      contribute to preventing pneumonia and lowering the VAP incidence. The aim of
      this study was to evaluate how the use of HME impacts the probability of VAP
      occurrence in critically ill patients. METHODS: On the basis of the acronym
      "PICO" (Patient, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome), the question that guided
      this review was "Do critically ill patients under invasive mechanical ventilation
      present lower VAP incidence when they use HME as compared with HH?". Two of the
      authors of this review searched the databases PUBMED/Medline, The Cochrane
      Library, and Latin-American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences, LILACS
      independently; they used the following keywords: "heat and moisture exchanger",
      AND "heated humidifier", AND "ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention". This
      review included papers in the English language published from January 1990 to
      December 2012. RESULTS: This review included ten studies. Comparison between the
      use of HME and HH did not reveal any differences in terms of VAP occurrence (OR =
      0.998; 95% CI: 0.778-1.281). Together, the ten studies corresponded to a total
      sample of 1077 and 953 patients in the HME and HH groups, respectively;
      heterogeneity among the investigations was low (I(2) < 50%). Information about
      the outcome mortality was available in only eight of the ten studies. The use of
      HME and HH did not afford different results in terms of mortality (OR = 1.09; 95%
      CI: 0.864-1.376). The total sample size was 884 and 762 patients, respectively.
      Heterogeneity among the studies was low (I(2) = 0.0%). CONCLUSION: Current meta
      analysis was not sufficient to definitely exclude an associate between heat and
      moisture exchangers and VAP. Despite the methodological limitations found in
      selected clinical trials, the current meta-analysis suggests that HME does not
      decrease VAP incidence or mortality in critically ill patients.

PMID- 25844066
TI  - Care of the human spirit and the role of dignity therapy: a systematic review of
      dignity therapy research.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Dignity Therapy (DT), an intervention for people facing serious
      illness, focuses on dignity conservation tasks such as settling relationships,
      sharing words of love, and preparing a legacy document for loved ones. Research
      on DT began more than a decade ago and has been conducted in 7 countries, but a
      systematic review of DT research has not been published. METHODS: Using a PubMed
      search with key terms of 'dignity therapy', 'dignity psychotherapy', 'Chochinov',
      and 'dignity care', we found 29 articles on DT and retained 25 after full-text
      review. RESULTS: Of these, 17 articles representing 12 quantitative studies
      establish that patients who receive DT report high satisfaction and benefits for
      themselves and their families, including increased sense of meaning and purpose.
      The effects of DT on physical or emotional symptoms, however, were inconsistent.
      CONCLUSIONS: Conclusions point to three areas for future research on DT, to
      determine: (1) whether the DT intervention exerts an impact at a spiritual level
      and/or as a life completion task; (2) how DT should be implemented in real world
      settings; and (3) if DT has an effect on the illness experience within the
      context of not only the patient, but also the family and community. Building on
      this body of DT research, investigators will need to continue to be sensitive as
      they involve participants in DT studies and innovations to facilitate the
      generation and delivery of legacy documents to participants near the end of life.

PMID- 25844067
TI  - Recognizing acute delirium as part of your routine [RADAR]: a validation study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although detection of delirium using the current tools is excellent
      in research settings, in routine clinical practice, this is not the case.
      Together with nursing staff, we developed a screening tool (RADAR) to address
      certain limitations of existing tools, notably administration time, ease-of-use
      and generalizability. The purpose of this study was not only to evaluate the
      validity and reliability of RADAR but also to gauge its acceptability among the
      nursing staff in two different clinical settings. METHODS: This was a validation
      study conducted on three units of an acute care hospital (medical, cardiology and
      coronary care) and five units of a long-term care facility. A total of 142
      patients and 51 residents aged 65 and over, with or without dementia,
      participated in the study and 139 nurses were recruited and trained to use the
      RADAR tool. Data on each patient/resident was collected over a 12-hour period.
      The nursing staff and researchers administered RADAR during the scheduled
      distribution of medication. Researchers used the Confusion Assessment Method to
      determine the presence of delirium symptoms. Delirium itself was defined as
      meeting the criteria for DMS-IV-TR delirium. Inter-rater reliability, convergent,
      and concurrent validity of RADAR were assessed. At study end, 103 (74%) members
      of the nursing staff completed the RADAR feasibility and acceptability
      questionnaire. RESULTS: Percentages of agreement between RADAR items that bedside
      nurses administered and those research assistants administered varied from 82% to
      98%. When compared with DSM-IV-TR criterion-defined delirium, RADAR had a
      sensitivity of 73% and a specificity of 67%. Participating nursing staff took
      about seven seconds on average, to complete the tool and it was very well
      received (>=98%) overall. CONCLUSIONS: The RADAR tool proved to be efficient,
      reliable, sensitive and very well accepted by nursing staff. Consequently, it
      becomes an appropriate new option for delirium screening among older adults, with
      or without cognitive impairment, in both hospitals and nursing homes. Further
      projects are currently underway to validate the RADAR among middle-aged adults,
      as well as in newer clinical settings; home care, emergency department, medical
      intensive care unit, and palliative care.

PMID- 25844068
TI  - Crude extract of hydatid laminated layer from Echinococcus granulosus cyst
      attenuates mucosal intestinal damage and inflammatory responses in Dextran
      Sulfate Sodium induced colitis in mice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease is an immunologically mediated disease.
      Notably, it is less common in countries where there is a greater risk of exposure
      to helminths. In our study, we examined the modulatory effect of the laminated
      layer extracted from the cyst wall of a helminth parasite, Echinococcus
      granulosus, on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. METHODS: An
      acute colitis was induced in BALB/c mice using 2.5% w/v DSS in drinking water.
      The crude extract of E. granulosus laminated layer was injected intraperitoneally
      daily, starting 3 days before colitis induction. The Disease Activity Index was
      monitored daily, colon length and weight were measured and histological scores
      were evaluated. Nitric oxide (NO) and cytokine levels (interferon gamma (IFN
      gamma), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin 10 (IL-10)) were
      assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In addition, the colonic
      expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and nuclear factor-kappaB
      (NF-kappaB) was examined. Statistical analyses were performed by one-way analysis
      of variance and the survival rate was analyzed by the long rank test. RESULTS:
      Hydatid laminated layer pretreatment significantly improved the clinical symptoms
      and histological scores (*** p < 0.01) observed during DSS-induced colitis and
      maintained mucus production by goblet cells. Furthermore, treatment with hydatid
      laminated layer caused a significant decrease in NO, IFN-gamma (** p < 0.01) and
      TNF-alpha production (* p < 0.05) and an increase in IL-10 production. These
      results were associated with localized downregulation of iNOS and NF-kappaB
      expression. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the potent anti-inflammatory
      effects of hydatid laminated layer. Furthermore, preventive treatment with the
      laminated layer played a beneficial role in maintaining the integrity of the
      intestinal mucosal barrier against DSS-induced injury.

PMID- 25844069
TI  - Label-free quantitative phosphorylation analysis of human transgelin2 in Jurkat T
      cells reveals distinct phosphorylation patterns under PKA and PKC activation
      conditions.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Transgelin2, one of cytoskeletal actin binding proteins has recently
      been suggested to be involved in the formation of immune synapses. Although
      detailed function of transgelin2 is largely unknown, interactions between
      transgelin2 and actin appear to be important in regulating cellular functions of
      transgelin2. Because protein phosphorylation can change ability to interact with
      other proteins, comprehensive phosphorylation analysis of transgelin2 will be
      helpful in understanding its functional mechanisms. RESULTS: Here, a specific
      protein label-free quantitative phosphorylation analysis method combining immuno
      precipitation, IMAC phosphopeptide enrichment technique and label-free relative
      quantification analysis was used to monitor the phosphorylation changes of
      transgelin2 overexpressed in Jurkat T cells under protein kinase C (PKC) and
      protein kinase A (PKA) activation conditions, two representative intracellular
      signalling pathways of immune cell activation and homeostasis. A total of six
      serine/threonine phosphorylation sites were identified including threonine-84, a
      novel phosphorylation site. Notably, distinct phosphorylation patterns of
      transgelin2 under the two kinase activation conditions were observed. Most
      phosphorylation sites showing specific kinase-dependent phosphorylation changes
      were discretely located in two previously characterized actin-binding regions:
      actin-binding site (ABS) and calponin repeat domain (CNR). PKC activation
      increased phosphorylation of threonine-180 and serine-185 in the CNR, and PKA
      activation increased phosphorylation of serine-163 in the ABS. CONCLUSIONS:
      Multiple actin-binding regions of transgelin2 participate to accomplish its full
      actin-binding capability, and the actin-binding affinity of each actin-binding
      region appears to be modulated by specific kinase-dependent phosphorylation
      changes. Accordingly, different actin-binding properties or cellular functions of
      transgelin2 may result from distinct intracellular signalling events under immune
      response activation or homeostasis conditions.

PMID- 25844071
TI  - Twelve-Month-Old Infants' Encoding of Goal and Source Paths in Agentive and Non
      Agentive Motion Events.
AB  - Across languages and event types (agentive and non-agentive motion, transfer,
      change of state, attach/detach), goal paths are privileged over source paths in
      the linguistic encoding of events. Furthermore, some linguistic analyses suggest
      that goal paths are more central than source paths in the semantic and syntactic
      structure of motion verbs. However, in the non-linguistic memory of children and
      adults, a goal bias shows up only for events involving intentional, goal
      directed, action. Three experiments explored infants' non-linguistic
      representations of goals and sources in motion events. The findings revealed that
      12-month-old infants privilege goals over sources only when the event involves
      action of an agent. Thus, unlike language (but similar to the memory of children
      and adults), an endpoint bias in infant thought may be restricted to events
      involving goal-directed motion by an agent. These results raise the question of
      how children later learn to collapse over conceptual domains for purposes of
      coding paths in language.

PMID- 25844070
TI  - Assessing Community Reactions to Ebola Virus Disease and Other Disasters: Using
      Social Psychological Research to Enhance Public Health and Disaster
      Communications.
AB  - Drawing on the lessons learned from previous disaster and disease outbreak
      studies over the past two decades, in the following article we review research
      related to social psychological assessment of community attitudes, knowledge, and
      beliefs associated with the recent Ebola outbreak and other public health
      threats, and discuss the use of this information to assist in future disaster
      planning and crisis communications. Psychologists, physicians, and others in the
      healthcare field need to be aware of these developments and involved with
      preparations related to mitigating the psychological impact of Ebola disease
      outbreaks among different populations, as well as other potential public health
      threats in the future.

PMID- 25844072
TI  - Tree Tensor Network State with Variable Tensor Order: An Efficient 
      Multireference Method for Strongly Correlated Systems.
AB  - We study the tree-tensor-network-state (TTNS) method with variable tensor orders
      for quantum chemistry. TTNS is a variational method to efficiently approximate
      complete active space (CAS) configuration interaction (CI) wave functions in a
      tensor product form. TTNS can be considered as a higher order generalization of
      the matrix product state (MPS) method. The MPS wave function is formulated as
      products of matrices in a multiparticle basis spanning a truncated Hilbert space
      of the original CAS-CI problem. These matrices belong to active orbitals
      organized in a one-dimensional array, while tensors in TTNS are defined upon a
      tree-like arrangement of the same orbitals. The tree-structure is advantageous
      since the distance between two arbitrary orbitals in the tree scales only
      logarithmically with the number of orbitals N, whereas the scaling is linear in
      the MPS array. It is found to be beneficial from the computational costs point of
      view to keep strongly correlated orbitals in close vicinity in both arrangements;
      therefore, the TTNS ansatz is better suited for multireference problems with
      numerous highly correlated orbitals. To exploit the advantages of TTNS a novel
      algorithm is designed to optimize the tree tensor network topology based on
      quantum information theory and entanglement. The superior performance of the TTNS
      method is illustrated on the ionic-neutral avoided crossing of LiF. It is also
      shown that the avoided crossing of LiF can be localized using only ground state
      properties, namely one-orbital entanglement.

PMID- 25844073
TI  - Three and six grams supplementation of d-aspartic acid in resistance trained men.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although abundant research has investigated the hormonal effects of d
      aspartic acid in rat models, to date there is limited research on humans.
      Previous research has demonstrated increased total testosterone levels in
      sedentary men and no significant changes in hormonal levels in resistance trained
      men. It was hypothesised that a higher dosage may be required for experienced
      lifters, thus this study investigated the effects of two different dosages of d
      aspartic acid on basal hormonal levels in resistance trained men and explored
      responsiveness to d-aspartic acid based on initial testosterone levels. METHODS:
      Twenty-four males, with a minimum of two years' experience in resistance
      training, (age, 24.5 +/- 3.2 y; training experience, 3.4 +/- 1.4 y; height, 178.5
      +/- 6.5 cm; weight, 84.7 +/- 7.2 kg; bench press 1-RM, 105.3 +/- 15.2 kg) were
      randomised into one of three groups: 6 g.d(-1) plain flour (D0); 3 g.d(-1) of d
      aspartic acid (D3); and 6 g.d(-1) of d-aspartic acid (D6). Participants performed
      a two-week washout period, training four days per week. This continued through
      the experimental period (14 days), with participants consuming the supplement in
      the morning. Serum was analysed for levels of testosterone, estradiol, sex
      hormone binding globulin, albumin and free testosterone was determined by
      calculation. RESULTS: D-aspartic acid supplementation revealed no main effect for
      group in: estradiol; sex-hormone-binding-globulin; and albumin. Total
      testosterone was significantly reduced in D6 (P = 0.03). Analysis of free
      testosterone showed that D6 was significantly reduced as compared to D0 (P =
      0.005), but not significantly different to D3. Analysis did not reveal any
      significant differences between D3 and D0. No significant correlation between
      initial total testosterone levels and responsiveness to d-aspartic acid was
      observed (r = 0.10, P = 0.70). CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated that a
      daily dose of six grams of d-aspartic acid decreased levels of total testosterone
      and free testosterone (D6), without any concurrent change in other hormones
      measured. Three grams of d-aspartic acid had no significant effect on either
      testosterone markers. It is currently unknown what effect this reduction in
      testosterone will have on strength and hypertrophy gains.

PMID- 25844074
TI  - Adaptation Guidance for Evidence-Based Teen Pregnancy and STI/HIV Prevention
      Curricula: From Development to Practice.
AB  - Evidence-based interventions (EBIs) are effective in preventing ado-lescent
      pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections; however, prevention practitioners
      are challenged when selecting and adapting the most appropriate programs. While
      there are existing adaptation frameworks, there is little practical guidance in
      applying research in the field. To address this need, the Centers for Disease
      Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Reproductive Health initiated the
      Adaptation Guidance Project. The project included the development of a
      comprehensive adaptation guidance framework and adaptation kits for select
      evidence-based teen pregnancy and HIV prevention programs. In addition, three
      innovative concepts emerged that have application to other adaptation program and
      evaluation efforts, including moving research into practice. First, the authors
      defined the core components of an EBI in three distinct ways: core content, core
      pedagogy, and core implementation. Second, they piloted a practitioner-friendly
      adaptation guidance-messaging schema-Green, Yellow, and Red Light Adaptations,
      and last they included fidelity/adaptation monitoring logs. This article will
      describe the process used to develop the adaptation guidance kits, including the
      main features and tools.

PMID- 25844076
TI  - X-ray micro Laue diffraction tomography analysis of a solid oxide fuel cell.
AB  - The relevance of micro Laue diffraction tomography (u-LT) to investigate
      heterogeneous polycrystalline materials has been studied. For this purpose, a
      multiphase solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrode composite made of yttria
      stabilized zirconia and nickel oxide phases, with grains of about a few
      micrometres in size, has been analyzed. In order to calibrate the Laue data and
      to test the technique's sensitivity limits, a monocrystalline germanium sample of
      about 8 * 4 um in cross-section size has also been studied through u-LT. The SOFC
      and germanium Laue diffraction pattern analyses are compared and discussed. The
      indexing procedure has been successfully applied for the analysis of the
      germanium Laue data, and the depth-resolved two-dimensional cartographies of the
      full deviatoric strain tensor components were obtained. The development and
      application of an original geometrical approach to analyze the SOFC Laue data
      allowed the authors to resolve grains with sizes of about 3 um and to identify
      their individual Laue patterns; by indexing those Laue patterns, the crystalline
      phases and orientations of most of the grains identified through the geometrical
      approach could be resolved.

PMID- 25844075
TI  - Ages of Onset of Mood and Anxiety Disorders in Fragile X Premutation Carriers.
AB  - OBJECTIVE: FMR1 premutation carriers of both genders have a high lifetime
      prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders, however little is known regarding
      the onset ages of these conditions. This study compared onset ages of mood and
      anxiety disorders in premutation carriers with typical onset ages of the same
      disorders in the general population. METHODS: Eighty-one premutation carriers
      (42% men; average age 62, SD 10) with and without FXTAS completed the Structured
      Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR. Onset ages of mood and anxiety disorders were
      compared to the corresponding typical population onset ages using the signed rank
      test. RESULTS: Overall median onset ages of MDD (46 years old, p < 0.0001), panic
      disorder (40 years old, p = 0.0067), and specific phobia (11.5 years old, p =
      0.0003) were significantly higher in premutation carriers compared to the general
      population. Median MDD onset ages in male carriers (52 years old) and those with
      FXTAS (49.5 years old) were significantly higher relative to the general
      population (median 32, both p < 0.0001). Tremor and ataxia emerged significantly
      later than MDD and the anxiety disorders studied. CONCLUSION: Depressive and
      anxiety disorders in premutation carriers have a later onset compared to the
      general population, but precede the onset of motor symptoms. This may be due to
      progressive mRNA toxicity in the limbic system, white matter changes leading to
      neuronal dysconnectivity, and interaction with environmental factors.
      Psychosocial factors may be protective. Further research is needed to understand
      the full spectrum of psychiatric phenotypes in FMR1 premutation carriers.

PMID- 25844077
TI  - Crystallization dynamics and interface stability of strontium titanate thin films
      on silicon.
AB  - Different physical vapor deposition methods have been used to fabricate strontium
      titanate thin films. Within the binary phase diagram of SrO and TiO2 the
      stoichiometry ranges from Ti rich to Sr rich, respectively. The crystallization
      of these amorphous SrTiO3 layers is investigated by in situ grazing-incidence X
      ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation. The crystallization dynamics and
      evolution of the lattice constants as well as crystallite sizes of the SrTiO3
      layers were determined for temperatures up to 1223 K under atmospheric conditions
      applying different heating rates. At approximately 473 K, crystallization of
      perovskite-type SrTiO3 is initiated for Sr-rich electron beam evaporated layers,
      whereas Sr-depleted sputter-deposited thin films crystallize at 739 K. During
      annealing, a significant diffusion of Si from the substrate into the SrTiO3
      layers occurs in the case of Sr-rich composition. This leads to the formation of
      secondary silicate phases which are observed by X-ray diffraction, transmission
      electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

PMID- 25844078
TI  - Versatile sample environments and automation for biological solution X-ray
      scattering experiments at the P12 beamline (PETRA III, DESY).
AB  - A high-brilliance synchrotron P12 beamline of the EMBL located at the PETRA III
      storage ring (DESY, Hamburg) is dedicated to biological small-angle X-ray
      scattering (SAXS) and has been designed and optimized for scattering experiments
      on macromolecular solutions. Scatterless slits reduce the parasitic scattering, a
      custom-designed miniature active beamstop ensures accurate data normalization and
      the photon-counting PILATUS 2M detector enables the background-free detection of
      weak scattering signals. The high flux and small beam size allow for rapid
      experiments with exposure time down to 30-50 ms covering the resolution range
      from about 300 to 0.5 nm. P12 possesses a versatile and flexible sample
      environment system that caters for the diverse experimental needs required to
      study macromolecular solutions. These include an in-vacuum capillary mode for
      standard batch sample analyses with robotic sample delivery and for continuous
      flow in-line sample purification and characterization, as well as an in-air
      capillary time-resolved stopped-flow setup. A novel microfluidic centrifugal
      mixing device (SAXS disc) is developed for a high-throughput screening mode using
      sub-microlitre sample volumes. Automation is a key feature of P12; it is
      controlled by a beamline meta server, which coordinates and schedules experiments
      from either standard or nonstandard operational setups. The integrated SASFLOW
      pipeline automatically checks for consistency, and processes and analyses the
      data, providing near real-time assessments of overall parameters and the
      generation of low-resolution models within minutes of data collection. These
      advances, combined with a remote access option, allow for rapid high-throughput
      analysis, as well as time-resolved and screening experiments for novice and
      expert biological SAXS users.

PMID- 25844080
TI  - The fast azimuthal integration Python library: pyFAI.
AB  - pyFAI is an open-source software package designed to perform azimuthal
      integration and, correspondingly, two-dimensional regrouping on area-detector
      frames for small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering experiments. It is written in
      Python (with binary submodules for improved performance), a language widely
      accepted and used by the scientific community today, which enables users to
      easily incorporate the pyFAI library into their processing pipeline. This article
      focuses on recent work, especially the ease of calibration, its accuracy and the
      execution speed for integration.

PMID- 25844081
TI  - High-resolution characterization of the forbidden Si 200 and Si 222 reflections.
AB  - The occurrence of the basis-forbidden Si 200 and Si 222 reflections in specular X
      ray diffraction omega-2Theta scans is investigated in detail as a function of the
      in-plane sample orientation Phi. This is done for two different diffractometer
      types with low and high angular divergence perpendicular to the diffraction
      plane. It is shown that the reflections appear for well defined conditions as a
      result of multiple diffraction, and not only do the obtained peaks vary in
      intensity but additional features like shoulders or even subpeaks may occur
      within a 2Theta range of about +/-2.5 degrees . This has important consequences
      for the detection and verification of layer peaks in the corresponding angular
      range.

PMID- 25844082
TI  - Determination and mitigation of the uncertainty of neutron diffraction
      measurements of residual strain in large-grained polycrystalline material.
AB  - For large-grained samples it is advantageous to perform pairs of neutron
      diffraction measurements at the same spatial location but rotated 180 degrees 
      around the geometric centre of the gauge volume as a means of minimizing the
      scatter coming from the random positioning of grains within the gauge volume.

PMID- 25844079
TI  - Quantitative X-ray phase contrast waveguide imaging of bacterial endospores.
AB  - Quantitative waveguide-based X-ray phase contrast imaging has been carried out on
      the level of single, unstained, unsliced and freeze-dried bacterial cells of
      Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus subtilis using hard X-rays of 7.9 keV photon
      energy. The cells have been prepared in the metabolically dormant state of an
      endospore. The quantitative phase maps obtained by iterative phase retrieval
      using a modified hybrid input-output algorithm allow for mass and mass density
      determinations on the level of single individual endospores but include also
      large field of view investigations. Additionally, a direct reconstruction based
      on the contrast transfer function is investigated, and the two approaches are
      compared. Depending on the field of view and method, a resolution down to 65 nm
      was achieved at a maximum applied dose of below 5 * 105 Gy. Masses in the range
      of about ~110-190 (20) fg for isolated endospores have been obtained.

PMID- 25844083
TI  - Nebula: reconstruction and visualization of scattering data in reciprocal space.
AB  - Two-dimensional solid-state X-ray detectors can now operate at considerable data
      throughput rates that allow full three-dimensional sampling of scattering data
      from extended volumes of reciprocal space within second to minute time-scales.
      For such experiments, simultaneous analysis and visualization allows for
      remeasurements and a more dynamic measurement strategy. A new software, Nebula,
      is presented. It efficiently reconstructs X-ray scattering data, generates three
      dimensional reciprocal space data sets that can be visualized interactively, and
      aims to enable real-time processing in high-throughput measurements by employing
      parallel computing on commodity hardware.

PMID- 25844084
TI  - Powder diffraction in Bragg-Brentano geometry with straight linear detectors.
AB  - A common way of speeding up powder diffraction measurements is the use of one- or
      two-dimensional detectors. This usually goes hand in hand with worse resolution
      and asymmetric peak profiles. In this work the influence of a straight linear
      detector on the resolution function in the Bragg-Brentano focusing geometry is
      discussed. Because of the straight nature of most modern detectors geometrical
      defocusing occurs, which heavily influences the line shape of diffraction lines
      at low angles. An easy approach to limit the resolution-degrading effects is
      presented. The presented algorithm selects an adaptive range of channels of the
      linear detector at low angles, resulting in increased resolution. At higher
      angles the whole linear detector is used and the data collection remains fast.
      Using this algorithm a well behaved resolution function is obtained in the full
      angular range, whereas using the full linear detector the resolution function
      varies within one pattern, which hinders line-shape and Rietveld analysis.

PMID- 25844085
TI  - Studies of the Room-Temperature Multiferroic
      Pb(Fe0.5Ta0.5)0.4(Zr0.53Ti0.47)0.6O3: Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy,
      Dielectric, and Magnetic Phenomena.
AB  - Recently, lead iron tantalate/lead zirconium titanate (PZTFT) was demonstrated to
      possess large, but unreliable, magnetoelectric coupling at room temperature. Such
      large coupling would be desirable for device applications but reproducibility
      would also be critical. To better understand the coupling, the properties of all
      3 ferroic order parameters, elastic, electric, and magnetic, believed to be
      present in the material across a range of temperatures, are investigated. In high
      temperature elastic data, an anomaly is observed at the orthorhombic mm2 to
      tetragonal 4mm transition, Tot = 475 K, and a softening trend is observed as the
      temperature is increased toward 1300 K, where the material is known to become
      cubic. Thermal degradation makes it impossible to measure elastic behavior up to
      this temperature, however. In the low temperature region, there are elastic
      anomalies near ~40 K and in the range 160-245 K. The former is interpreted as
      being due to a magnetic ordering transition and the latter is interpreted as a
      hysteretic regime of mixed rhombohedral and orthorhombic structures. Electrical
      and magnetic data collected below room temperature show anomalies at remarkably
      similar temperature ranges to the elastic data. These observations are used to
      suggest that the three order parameters in PZTFT are strongly coupled.

PMID- 25844086
TI  - Synthesis and Characterization of Gelatin-Based Magnetic Hydrogels.
AB  - A simple preparation of thermoreversible gelatin-based ferrogels in water
      provides a constant structure defined by the crosslinking degree for gelatin
      contents between 6 and 18 wt%. The possibility of varying magnetite nanoparticle
      concentration between 20 and 70 wt% is also reported. Simulation studies hint at
      the suitability of collagen to bind iron and hydroxide ions, suggesting that
      collagen acts as a nucleation seed to iron hydroxide aggregation, and thus the
      intergrowth of collagen and magnetite nanoparticles already at the precursor
      stage. The detailed structure of the individual ferrogel components is
      characterized by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) using contrast matching.
      The magnetite structure characterization is supplemented by small-angle X-ray
      scattering and microscopy only visualizing magnetite. SANS shows an unchanged
      gelatin structure of average mesh size larger than the nanoparticles with respect
      to gel concentration while the magnetite nanoparticles size of around 10 nm seems
      to be limited by the gel mesh size. Swelling measurements underline that
      magnetite acts as additional crosslinker and therefore varying the magnetic and
      mechanical properties of the ferrogels. Overall, the simple and variable
      synthesis protocol, the cheap and easy accessibility of the components as well as
      the biocompatibility of the gelatin-based materials suggest them for a number of
      applications including actuators.

PMID- 25844087
TI  - Comparative analysis of chromosome segregation in human, yeasts and trypanosome.
AB  - Chromosome segregation is a tightly regulated process through which duplicated
      genetic materials are equally partitioned into daughter cells. During the past
      decades, tremendous efforts have been made to understand the molecular mechanism
      of chromosome segregation using animals and yeasts as model systems. Recently,
      new insights into chromosome segregation have gradually emerged using
      trypanosome, an early branching parasitic protozoan, as a model organism. To
      uncover the unique aspects of chromosome segregation in trypanosome, which
      potentially could serve as new drug targets for anti-trypanosome chemotherapy, it
      is necessary to perform a comparative analysis of the chromosome segregation
      machinery between trypanosome and its human host. Here, we briefly review the
      current knowledge about chromosome segregation in human and Trypanosoma brucei,
      with a focus on the regulation of cohesin and securin degradation triggered by
      the activation of the anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C). We also
      include yeasts in our comparative analysis since some of the original discoveries
      were made using budding and fission yeasts as the model organisms and, therefore,
      these could provide hints about the evolution of the machinery. We highlight both
      common and unique features in these model systems and also provide perspectives
      for future research in trypanosome.

PMID- 25844089
TI  - Psychosomatic treatment for allergic diseases.
AB  - Many reports have been published concerning how psychosocial stress influences
      the occurrence and progression of allergic diseases such as bronchial asthma and
      atopic dermatitis. As for asthma, a typical allergic disease often accompanied by
      psychosomatic related problems, the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA),
      international medical guidelines for asthma, describes psychosocial problems as
      causative factors of poor asthma control and as risk factors for asthma
      exacerbation, even if symptoms are well controlled. However, because there is
      little high quality evidence for effective treatments for asthma patients with
      psychosocial problems, concrete assessments and treatments for such problems is
      scarcely described in GINA. Therefore, psychosomatic intervention for asthma
      patients is not effectively conducted on a worldwide scale. In contrast, the
      "Japanese Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Psychosomatic Diseases"
      describe the assessment and treatment of psychosomatic disorders in detail. In
      the guidelines, psychosocial factors are classified into five categories; 1)
      Relation between stress and asthma occurrence or progression, 2) Relation between
      emotion and asthma symptoms, 3) Problems related to a patient's character and
      behaviors, 4) Problems of daily life and Quality of Life (QOL), and 5) Problems
      related to family relationships and life history. The employment of a self
      administered questionnaire, the "Psychosomatic Questionnaire related to Asthmatic
      Occurrence and Progression", is useful for clarifying psychosocial factors and
      for setting up treatment strategies according to the problems identified. The
      Japanese guidelines have been proven to be useful, but empirical evidence for
      their effectiveness is still relatively limited. It will be necessary in the
      future to accumulate high-quality evidence and to revise the psychosomatic
      approaches in the guidelines that are universally valid. 

PMID- 25844091
TI  - Decaffeinated Green Tea and Voluntary Exercise Induce Gene Changes Related to
      Beige Adipocyte Formation in High Fat-Fed Obese Mice.
AB  - We have previously reported that decaffeinated green tea extract (GTE) in
      combination with voluntary exercise (Ex) reduces metabolic syndrome in high fat
      fed C57BL/6J mice. Here, we examined for the first time the effect of treatment
      with 77 mg/g GTE, Ex, or both (GTE + Ex) on genes related to the conversion of
      white adipose tissue (WAT) to brown fat-like adipose tissue (BLAT) in this model.
      GTE+Ex induced genes related to lipolysis (hormone sensitive lipase [3.0-fold]
      and patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 2 [2-fold]),
      mitochondrial beta-oxidation (NADH dehydrogenase 5 [2.3-fold], cytochrome B [2.0
      fold], and cytochrome C oxidase III [1.9-fold increase]), and adipose tissue
      browning (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1alpha
      [1.8-fold], bone morphogenetic protein 4 [2.6-fold], and phosphatase and tensin
      homolog [2.6-fold]) in visceral WAT compared to HF-fed mice. These results
      suggest that GTE+Ex function in part by inducing the conversion of WAT to BLAT
      and provides novel mechanistic insight into this combination.

PMID- 25844090
TI  - A large-scale survey of adverse events experienced in yoga classes.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Yoga is a representative mind-body therapy of complementary and
      alternative medicine. In Japan, yoga is practiced widely to promote health, but
      yoga-associated adverse events have also been reported. To date, the frequencies
      and characteristics of yoga-related adverse events have not been elucidated. This
      study was conducted to elucidate the frequencies and characteristics of adverse
      events of yoga performed in classes and the risk factors of such events. METHODS:
      The subjects were 2508 people taking yoga classes and 271 yoga therapists
      conducting the classes. A survey for yoga class attendees was performed on
      adverse events that occurred during a yoga class on the survey day. A survey for
      yoga therapists was performed on adverse events that the therapists had observed
      in their students to date. Adverse events were defined as "undesirable symptoms
      or responses that occurred during a yoga class". RESULTS: Among 2508 yoga class
      attendees, 1343 (53.5%) had chronic diseases and 1063 (42.3%) were receiving
      medication at hospitals. There were 687 class attendees (27.8%) who reported some
      type of undesirable symptoms after taking a yoga class. Musculoskeletal symptoms
      such as myalgia were the most common symptoms, involving 297 cases, followed by
      neurological symptoms and respiratory symptoms. Most adverse events (63.8%) were
      mild and did not interfere with class participation. The risk factors for adverse
      events were examined, and the odds ratios for adverse events were significantly
      higher in attendees with chronic disease, poor physical condition on the survey
      day, or a feeling that the class was physically and mentally stressful. In
      particular, the occurrence of severe adverse events that interfered with
      subsequent yoga practice was high among elderly participants (70 years or older)
      and those with chronic musculoskeletal diseases. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this
      large-scale survey demonstrated that approximately 30% of yoga class attendees
      had experienced some type of adverse event. Although the majority had mild
      symptoms, the survey results indicated that attendees with chronic diseases were
      more likely to experience adverse events associated with their disease.
      Therefore, special attention is necessary when yoga is introduced to patients
      with stress-related, chronic diseases.

PMID- 25844088
TI  - Genomic profiling of host responses to Lassa virus: therapeutic potential from
      primate to man.
AB  - Lassa virus infection elicits distinctive changes in host gene expression and
      metabolism. We focus on changes in host gene expression that may be biomarkers
      that discriminate individual pathogens or may help to provide a prognosis for
      disease. In addition to assessing mRNA changes, functional studies are also
      needed to discriminate causes of disease from mechanisms of host resistance. Host
      responses that drive pathogenesis are likely to be targets for prevention or
      therapy. Host responses to Lassa or its related arenaviruses have been monitored
      in cell culture, in animal models of hemorrhagic fever, in Lassa-infected
      nonhuman primates and, to a limited extent, in infected human beings. Here, we
      describe results from those studies and discuss potential targets for reducing
      virus replication and mitigating disease.

PMID- 25844092
TI  - The research capacity and culture of Australian podiatrists.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Best practice clinical health care is widely recognised to be founded
      on evidence based practice. Enhancing evidence based practice via the rapid
      translation of new evidence into every day clinical practice is fundamental to
      the success of health care and in turn health care professions. There is little
      known about the collective research capacity and culture of the podiatry
      profession across Australia. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the
      research capacity and culture of the podiatry profession within Australia and
      determine if there were any differences between podiatrists working in different
      health sectors and workplaces. METHOD: All registered podiatrists were eligible
      to participate in a cross-sectional online survey. The Australian Podiatry
      Associations disseminated the survey and all podiatrists were encouraged to
      distribute it to colleagues. The Research Capacity and Culture (RCC) tool was
      used to collect all research capacity and culture item variables using a 10-point
      scale (1 = lowest; 10 = highest). Additional demographic, workplace and health
      sector data variables were also collected. Mann-Whitney-U, Kruskal-Wallis and
      logistic regression analyses were used to determine any difference between health
      sectors and workplaces. Word cloud analysis was used for qualitative responses of
      individual motivators and barriers to research culture. RESULTS: There were 232
      fully completed surveys (6% of Australian registered podiatrists). Overall
      respondents reported low success or skills (Median rating < 4) on the majority of
      individual success or skill items. Podiatrists working in multi-practitioner
      workplaces reported higher individual success or skills in the majority of items
      compared with sole practitioners (p < 0.05). Non-clinical and public health
      sector podiatrists reported significantly higher post-graduate study enrolment or
      completion, research activity participation, provisions to undertake research and
      individual success or skill than those working privately. CONCLUSIONS: This study
      suggests that podiatrists in Australia report similar low levels of research
      success or skill to those reported in other allied health professions. The
      workplace setting and health sector seem to play key roles in self reported
      research success and skills. This is important knowledge for podiatrists and
      researchers aiming to translate research evidence into clinical practice.

PMID- 25844093
TI  - Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with coronary artery calcium score
      in diabetes patients with higher HbA1c.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In patients with diabetes, studies investigating the association
      between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and coronary artery calcium
      score (CACS) have shown conflicting results. The aim of this study was to
      evaluate the association between NAFLD and CACS in diabetic patients. METHODS:
      This is the cohort study performed in Seoul National University Hospital Gangnam
      Healthcare Center. NAFLD was defined as cases with the typical ultrasonographic
      findings without excessive alcohol consumption, medications causing hepatic
      steatosis or other chronic liver diseases. CACS was evaluated using the Agatston
      method. Diabetes was defined as cases with fasting serum glucose >= 126 mg/dl,
      glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) >= 6.5%, or those taking anti-diabetic medications.
      Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed with use of the
      interaction term of NAFLD * glycemic level and other confounders of CACS such as
      age, sex, hypertension, body mass index, waist circumference, HDL cholesterol and
      triglyceride. RESULTS: A total of 213 participants with diabetes were included in
      the study. As 77 subjects (36.2%) had CACS 0, causing left sided skewness, CACS
      was analyzed after log transformation to Ln (CACS + 1). A statistically
      significant interaction was observed between NAFLD and HbA1c >= 7% (P for
      interaction = 0.014). While NAFLD was not associated with CACS in the group with
      HbA1c < 7% (P = 0.229), it was significantly associated in the group with HbA1c
      >= 7% (P = 0.010) after adjusting for covariates in multivariate analyses.
      CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated an effect modification of glycemic level on
      the association between NAFLD and CACS. NAFLD was independently associated with
      CACS only in diabetes patients with higher HbA1c, after adjustment for
      confounders.

PMID- 25844094
TI  - Assessment of percutaneous renal access skills during Urology Objective
      Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE).
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The first objective was to assess percutaneous renal access (PCA)
      skills of urology postgraduate trainees (PGTs) during the Objective Structured
      Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). The second objective was to determine whether
      previous experience with percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) improved
      performance. METHODS: After obtaining ethics approval, we recruited PGTs from two
      urology programs in Quebec between postgraduate years (PGY-3 to PGY-5). Each
      trainee was asked to answer a short questionnaire regarding previous experience
      in endourologic procedures. After a 3-minute orientation on the PERC Mentor
      simulator (Simbionix, Cleveland, OH), each trainee was asked to perform task 4,
      where they had to correctly access all of the renal calyces and pop the balloons
      in a normal left kidney model. We collected and analyzed data from the
      questionnaire and the performance report generated by the simulator. RESULTS: In
      total, 13 PGTs participated in this study. PGTs had performed a median of 200
      (range: 50-1000) cystoscopies, 50 (range: 10-125) TURBTs, 30 (range: 0-100)
      TURPs, 5 (range: 0-50) laser prostatectomies, and 50 (range: 2-125)
      ureteroscopies prior to this OSCE. PGTs with previous PCNL experience (8/13) had
      performed a mean of 18.6 +/- 6.3 PCNLs. PGTs with previous PCNL experience
      performed significantly better in terms of shorter fluoroscopy time (10 +/- 1.5
      vs. 5.1 +/- 0.7 min; p = 0.04), fewer attempts required for successful puncture
      of the pelvi-calyceal system (PCS) (21 +/- 2.3 vs. 13 +/- 1.8; p = 0.02), and had
      significantly lower complications in terms of fewer infundibular injury (7.4 +/-
      1.5 vs. 2 +/- 0.4; p = 0.004) and fewer PCS perforations (11 +/- 1.7 vs. 4.5 +/-
      1.2; p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: It is feasible to use the PERC Mentor simulator
      during OSCEs to assess PCA skills of urology PGTs. PGTs who had previous PCNL
      experience performed significantly better with fewer complications.

PMID- 25844095
TI  - In-vitro cytocidal effect of water on bladder cancer cells: The potential role
      for intraperitoneal lavage during radical cystectomy.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: We investigate the cytocidal effect of water on bladder cancer
      cells. Intraperitoneal lavage with sterile water is sometimes used during radical
      cystectomy to lyse cancer cells that might have escaped the surgical specimen.
      The efficacy of this approach at the cellular level is unknown. METHODS: Three
      bladder cancer cell lines of varying grade, RT4, TCCSUP and T24 were exposed to
      sterile water, and morphological changes were closely observed under microscopy.
      Changes of cell membrane integrity, cell viability, and cell number of re
      incubated cells after water exposure were measured to determine water induced
      hypotonic shock. RESULTS: The low-grade RT4 cells started swelling immediately
      upon exposure to water followed by rupture within 3 minutes. The higher grade
      TCCSUP and T24 cells demonstrated limited hypotonic swelling with significantly
      less cell rupture after 10 minutes. The damage to cell membrane of RT4 cells was
      evident at 1 minute; only 10.0% of cells were intact at 10 minutes. On the other
      hand, 41.9% and 77.8% of TCCSUP and T24 cells were intact at 10 minutes,
      respectively. Percentage of viable cells at 10 minutes was 2.1 +/- 2.3%, 2.3 +/-
      0.4%, and 16.1 +/- 0.6% for RT4, TCCSUP, and T24, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:
      Cytocidal effect of hypotonic shock can be achieved, to varying degrees, by
      exposing bladder cancer cells to water for at least 10 minutes. This in vitro
      study may have bearing on the effects seen with intraperitoneal lavage using
      sterile water during radical cystectomy.

PMID- 25844096
TI  - Proteomic profile of an acute partial bladder outlet obstruction.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Partial bladder outlet obstruction (pBOO) is a ubiquitous problem
      in urology. From posterior urethral valves to prostatic hypertrophy, pBOO results
      in significant morbidity and mortality. However, the pathophysiology is not
      completely understood. Proteomics uses mass spectrometry to accurately quantify
      change in tissue protein concentration. Therefore, we have applied proteomic
      analysis to a rodent model to assess for protein changes after a surgically
      induced pBOO. We hypothesize that proteomic analysis after an acute obstruction
      will determine the most prevalent initial protein response and, potentially,
      novel molecular pathways. METHODS: Sprague Dawley rats underwent a surgically
      induced pBOO (n = 3 per group) for 3, 7, or 14 days. Bladders were assessed for
      weight and urodynamic parameters. Proteomics used liquid-chromatography based
      mass spectrometry. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on tissue
      samples to confirm increased mRNA transcription. RESULTS: Bladder weight and
      capacity increased over the experimental period, but no changes were seen in
      bladder pressure. Statistically significant increases in protein quantities were
      seen in 3 proteins related to endoplasmic reticulum stress: GRP-78 (3.66-fold),
      RhoA (1.90-fold), and RhoA-GDP (1.95-fold), and 2 cytoskeleton molecules: actin
      (1.7-fold) and tubulin a/b (3.01-fold). Decorin and lumican, members of the small
      leucine rich proteoglycan (SLRP) family, were also elevated (0.35- and 0.34-fold,
      respectively). Real-time PCR data confirmed protein elevation. CONCLUSION: Our
      experiment confirms that molecular changes occur very soon after the initiation
      of pBOO, and implicates several molecular pathways. We believe these insights may
      provide insight into novel prevention and treatment strategies targeted at the
      pathophysiology of pBOO.

PMID- 25844097
TI  - Minimally invasive surgical treatment for large impacted upper ureteral stones:
      Ureteroscopic lithotripsy or percutaneous nephrolithotomy?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The management of patients with large impacted upper ureteral
      stones is difficult; there is no standard treatment. We compared the outcomes of
      percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) and ureteroscopic lithotripsy (UL) to treat
      large (>=1.5 cm), impacted, upper ureteral stones. METHODS: In total, 86 patients
      with large impacted upper ureteral stones were included in this study. Of these
      patients 41 underwent UL and 45 underwent PCNL. The inclusion criteria were:
      longest diameter of stone >=1.5 cm, the localization of stone between the lower
      border of L4 spine and ureteropelvic junction and impacted stone. RESULTS: In the
      UL group, we were unable to reach the stone in 3 patients because of ureteral
      stricture and edema despite balloon dilation. Of these 3 patients, we were unable
      to optimally visualize the stone in 2 patients due to bleeding and mucosal injury
      following balloon dilation. The stricture was too firm and could not be passed in
      the third patient. Also in the UL group, 15 patients had stones or big fragments
      which migrated into the renal collecting system. In the PCNL group, 21 patients
      had concurrent renal stones <1 cm and stones were successfully removed in all
      patients. No statistically significant difference was found between groups in
      terms of operation time. Mean hospital stay was significantly shorter in the UL
      group. Success rates were 82.3% in the UL group and 97.6% in the PCNL group (p =
      0.001). CONCLUSION: The recent study confirms that PCNL is a safe and effective
      minimally invasive procedure with acceptable complication rates in the treatment
      of patients with large, impacted upper ureteral stones.

PMID- 25844098
TI  - Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of recurrence and progression in
      patients with high-grade pT1 bladder cancer.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: We investigated the value of the preoperative neutrophil-lymphocyte
      ratio (NLR) in predicting recurrence and progression of high-grade pT1 non-muscle
      invasive tumour in patients with bladder cancer during a 5-year follow-up period.
      METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed data of 1100 patients with bladder cancer;
      these patients underwent transurethral resection and were monitored at multiple
      centres from 2008 to 2013. In total, 166 consecutive and newly diagnosed patients
      with high-grade pT1 tumours were included in this study. The NLR was calculated
      by dividing the absolute neutrophil count by the absolute lymphocyte count.
      RESULTS: Of the 166 patients, 152 were male. The patients were evaluated as two
      separate groups in terms of recurrence and progression. The mean follow-up period
      was 24.2 months (interquartile range 13.8-36.6 months). A statistically
      significant difference was found between recurrence and tumour size (p = 0.001),
      number of tumours (p < 0.001), NLR (p < 0.001), and smoking (p = 0.007). No
      statistically significant correlation was found between NLR and progression.
      According to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the optimum cut
      off value for the NLR was >=2.43 (74% sensitivity, 60% specificity, p < 0.001;
      area under the curve [AUC] 0.687, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.607-0.767).
      Multivariate logistic regression analysis determined that the following factors
      were independent predictors of recurrence in patients with high-grade pT1 non
      muscle-invasive bladder cancer: tumour number (OR 5.32, 95% CI 2.10-12.90), NLR
      of >=2.43 (OR 2.587; 95% CI 1.156-5.789), and smoking (OR 4.17, 95% CI 1.31
      13.21). CONCLUSION: A high preoperative NLR may play an important role in
      predicting recurrence of superficial transitional cell type high-grade pT1
      bladder tumours. Prospective studies are required to validate the role of NLR as
      a prognostic marker in high-grade pT1 bladder tumours.

PMID- 25844099
TI  - [Not Available].

PMID- 25844100
TI  - A rare case of bladder chondroma.
AB  - Soft tissue chondromas are benign tumours that arise commonly in the hands and
      feet of adults, but rarely in other locations. Only two prior cases of chondroma
      of the urinary bladder wall have been reported. We describe a third case and
      discuss similarities and differences between the three cases reported to date. 

PMID- 25844101
TI  - Renal leiomyosarcoma with soft tissue metastasis: An unusual presentation.
AB  - Primary renal sarcomas are exceptionally rare, constituting 1% of all malignant
      renal tumours. Since the prognosis for a renal sarcoma is particularly poor,
      differentiation from sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is necessary.
      Histopathology and immunohistochemistry are the only modes of diagnosing these
      sarcomas as they have no specific features clinically and radiologically. We
      report a case of renal leiomyosarcoma which was clinically diagnosed as RCC.
      Histopathology revealed a spindle cell sarcoma and immunohistochemistry (IHC)
      confirmed a renal leiomyosarcoma. She also had a liver nodule and mass in the
      right side of neck and left arm. Biopsy from these sites revealed a similar
      morphology and IHC confirmed leiomyosarcoma. We report a case illustrating the
      rarity of this disease and its aggressive nature owing to fatal metastatic
      potential. 

PMID- 25844102
TI  - Bladder agenesis and incomplete kidney duplication: Ileal reservoir with
      continent diversion as definitive treatment.
AB  - Bladder agenesis is an extremely rare entity. A 12-year-old female patient
      presented with urinary incontinence, recurrent urinary tract infections, visible
      vaginal introitus and urethra, and two holes at the vulvar vestibule. An
      investigation revealed bladder agenesis. Surgery confirmed the absence of
      bladder, and ileal reservoir in omega (Omega) was performed with continent
      diversion. At the 30-month follow-up, there was no complication in clean
      intermittent catheterization. 

PMID- 25844103
TI  - An unusual course after injection of industrial silicone for penile augmentation.
AB  - A 48-year-old male patient had an injection of industrial silicone under the
      penile skin for augmentation by non-medical practitioners a week before. There
      was complete necrosis of the dorsal part of the penile skin and soft tissue. In a
      penile magnetic resonance image, big masses of silicone under the penile skin
      were found and a part of the silicone was partially exposed. Debridement of the
      necrotic tissue was done. As the right side of the tunica albuginea was thin
      walled, a silicone-induced infection developed. Because of this, the wet dressing
      was done daily without closing the wound for the next 23 days. Finally, both
      scrotal skins were drawn and sutured to the dorsal glandular skin after the total
      penile skin was completely removed and sutured with T-style anastomosis. The
      ventral flap was anastomosed to the ventral glandular skin with the end-to-end
      technique with inverted V incision at 1 cm proximal from the sutured margin.
      Flaps survived completely without skin necrosis or dehiscence. 

PMID- 25844104
TI  - Testicular loss following bacterial epididymo-orchitis: Case report and
      literature review.
AB  - Epididymo-orchitis rarely leads to abscess formation and global testicular
      infarction/loss, particularly in the setting of appropriate antibiotic therapy.
      The imaging modality used when monitoring for testicular ischemia is
      ultrasonography. However, as described in the literature, testicular pathology
      may not be evident on routine imaging. We describe two cases of recurrent
      bacterial epididymo-orchitis, complicated by testicular abscess resulting in
      testicular infarction. This rare, nevertheless significant, complication occurred
      in both patients despite receiving appropriate extended antibiotic therapy. Both
      cases demonstrate the limitations of ultrasonography alone, suggesting that a
      high level of clinical suspicion must be maintained when ultrasound evaluation
      proves to be inconsistent with the clinical presentation. These cases demonstrate
      the importance of monitoring for warning signs of ischemia, as early recognition
      may lead to reperfusion interventions and ultimately testicular salvage. 

PMID- 25844105
TI  - Correction in author affilation.
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. e159 in vol. 8, PMID: 24678355.]. 

PMID- 25844106
TI  - Ureteral metastasis of a prostatic adenocarcinoma.
AB  - The ureter is a rare location of metastasis for any kind of primary tumour. The
      first case of truly ureteral metastasis was described by Stow in 1909. Regarding
      prostatic metastasis, the frequency is much lower with only 43 cases reported in
      the last century. We present a case of an exceedingly rare ureteral metastasis of
      a prostatic adenocarcinoma. In spite of its low incidence, it should be
      considered in patients with ureteral obstruction and concurrent prostatic
      adenocarcinoma. 

PMID- 25844107
TI  - Robotic radical cystectomy with intracorporeal neobladder: Initial experience and
      outcomes.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Total intra-corporeal robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) with
      total intracorporeal neobladder formation is relatively new in the treatment of
      bladder cancer. We present our experience and believe it is the first Canadian
      reported series with this technique. METHODS: This is a case series of 4
      patients, who underwent total RARC, pelvic lymphadenectomy and creation of an
      intra-corporeal ileal neobladder. Surgical technique is described and
      perioperative variables, pathologic data, and complication rates are reported.
      RESULTS: The mean patient age was 61.8 and the mean body mass index was 27.01
      kg/m(2). The mean operative time, estimated blood loss, time to full diet and
      length of stay were 522.8 minutes (standard deviation [SD] 74.5), 237.5 mL (SD
      47.9), 9 days (range: 3-24) and 12.8 days (range: 6-31), respectively. All
      patients completed postoperative functional evaluation showing a mean neobladder
      capacity of 575 cc (range: 500-720). Surgical margins and pathological nodal
      status were negative in all patients with no evidence of disease recurrence or
      progression on follow-up. Three of the 4 patients suffered a complication within
      90 days, with one occurring later in the first year. All early complications were
      Clavien grade I-II (grade I [n = 1]; grade II [n = 2]) and the later complication
      was grade IIIa. The mean follow-up was 632 days (range: 562-730). The limitation
      of our study is its small sample size with highly selected patients to compensate
      for the learning experience. The follow-up is short; however, the outcomes are
      comparable to early experiences reported at other institutions. CONCLUSIONS: In
      our initial experience, RARC with total intracorporeal neobladder formation is
      safe. We expect that with experience the expense of robotic surgery can be
      compensated with early ambulation and shorter stay.

PMID- 25844108
TI  - Role for (11)C-choline PET in active surveillance of prostate cancer.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Active surveillance (AS) is an increasingly popular management
      strategy for men diagnosed with low-risk indolent prostate cancer. Current tests
      (prostate-specific antigen [PSA], clinical staging, and prostate biopsies) to
      monitor indolent disease lack accuracy. (11)C-choline positron emission
      tomography (PET) has excellent detection rates in local and distant recurrence of
      prostate cancer. We examine (11)C-choline PET for identifying aggressive prostate
      cancer warranting treatment in the AS setting. METHODS: In total, 24 patients on
      AS had clinical assessment and PSA testing every 6 months and (11)C-choline PET
      and prostate biopsies annually. The sensitivity and specificity to identify
      prostate cancer and progressive disease (PD) were calculated for each (11)C
      choline PET scan. RESULTS: In total, 62 biopsy-paired, serial (11)C-choline PET
      scans were analyzed using a series of standard uptake value-maximum (SUVmax) cut
      off thresholds. During follow-up (mean 25.3 months), 11 of the 24 low-risk
      prostate cancer patients developed PD and received definitive treatment. The
      prostate cancer detection rate with (11)C-choline PET had moderate sensitivity
      (72.1%), but low specificity (45.0%). PD prediction from baseline (11)C-choline
      PET had satisfactory sensitivity (81.8%), but low specificity (38.5%). The
      addition of clinical parameters to the baseline (11)C-choline PET improved
      specificity (69.2%), with a slight reduction in sensitivity (72.7%) for PD
      prediction. CONCLUSIONS: Addition of (11)C-choline PET imaging during AS may help
      to identify aggressive disease earlier than traditional methods. However, (11)C
      choline PET alone has low specificity due to overlap of SUV values with benign
      pathologies. Triaging low-risk prostate cancer patients into AS versus therapy
      will require further optimization of PET protocols or consideration of
      alternative strategies (i.e., magnetic resonance imaging, biomarkers).

PMID- 25844109
TI  - Where Are the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables?: A Systematic Exploration of Access to
      Food Stores Offering Fresh Fruits and Vegetables as Told by Midwestern African
      American Women.
AB  - This exploratory study systematically examined Midwestern African American
      women's (n = 273) access to food stores offering more than 5 fresh fruits and
      vegetables daily. Access to potential (within 0.5 miles of household) and
      realized (where participant buys fruits and vegetables most often) food stores
      was assessed. Descriptive analyses revealed that participants lived closer to
      food stores not offering more than 5 fresh fruits and vegetables daily.
      Participants purchased fresh fruits and vegetables from food stores that were an
      average of 1.2 miles further than the closest food stores offering more than 5
      fresh fruits and vegetables daily to their household. Results highlight
      complexities of the food environment and the need to further investigate factors
      influencing food-related behaviors.

PMID- 25844110
TI  - Directional Emission from Metal-Dielectric-Metal Structures: Effect of Mixed
      Metal Layers, Dye Location and Dielectric Thickness.
AB  - Metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) structures provide directional emission close to the
      surface normal, which offers opportunities for new design formats in fluorescence
      based applications. The directional emission arises due to near-field coupling of
      fluorophores with the optical modes present in the MDM substrate. Reflectivity
      simulations and dispersion diagrams provide a basic understanding of the mode
      profiles and the factors that affect the coupling efficiency and the spatial
      distribution of the coupled emission. This work reveals that the composition of
      the metal layers, the location of the dye in the MDM substrate and the dielectric
      thickness are important parameters that can be chosen to tune the color of the
      emission wavelength, the angle of observation, the angular divergence of the
      emission and the polarization of the emitted light. These features are valuable
      for displays and optical signage.

PMID- 25844111
TI  - State-of-the-Art: Hypo-responsiveness to oral antiplatelet therapy in patients
      with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
AB  - Diabetes mellitus is a global pandemic, associated with a high burden of
      cardiovascular disease. There are multiple platelet derangements in patients with
      diabetes, and antiplatelet drugs remain the first-line agents for secondary
      prevention as well as for high-risk primary prevention among patients with
      diabetes. This review provides a summary of oral antiplatelet drug hypo
      responsiveness in patients with diabetes, specifically aspirin and Clopidogrel
      resistance. Topics discussed include antiplatelet testing, definitions used to
      define hypo-response and resistance, its prevalence, association with clinical
      outcomes and strategies to mitigate resistance. The role of prasugrel and
      ticagrelor, as well as investigational agents, is also discussed.

PMID- 25844112
TI  - Pseudo-backcrossing design for rapidly pyramiding multiple traits into a
      preferential rice variety.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Pyramiding multiple genes into a desirable genetic background can
      take years to accomplish. In this paper, a pseudo-backcrossing scheme was
      designed to shorten the backcrossing cycle needed. PinK3, an aromatic and
      potentially high-yielding rice variety-although one that is intolerant to flash
      flooding (Sub) and susceptible to bacterial leaf blight (BB), leaf-neck blast
      (BL) and the brown planthopper (BPH)-was used as a genetic basis for significant
      improvements through gene pyramiding. RESULTS: Four resistance donors with five
      target genes (Sub1A-C, xa5, Xa21, TPS and SSIIa) and three QTLs (qBph3, qBL1 and
      qBL11) were backcrossed individually using markers into the pseudo-recurrent
      parent 'PinK3' via one cycle of backcrossing followed by two cycles of pseudo
      backcrossing and three selfings with rigorous foreground marker-assisted
      selection. In total, 29 pseudo-backcross inbred lines (BILs) were developed.
      Genome composition was surveyed using 61 simple sequence repeats (SSRs), 35 of
      which were located on six carrier chromosomes, with the remainder located on six
      non-carrier chromosomes. The recurrent genome content (%RGC) and donor genome
      content (%DGC), which were based on the physical positions of BC1F2, ranged from
      69.99 to 88.98% and 11.02 to 30.01%, respectively. For the pseudo-BC3F3BILs, the
      %RGC and %DGC ranged from 74.50 to 81.30% and 18.70 to 25.50%, respectively.
      These results indicated that without direct background selection, no further
      increases in %RGC were obtained during pseudo-backcrossing, whereas rigorous
      foreground marker-assisted selection tended to reduce linkage drag during pseudo
      backcrossing. The evaluation of new traits in selected pseudo-BC3F3BILs indicated
      significant improvements in resistance to BB, BL, BPH and Sub compared with
      PinK3, as well as significant improvements in grain yield (21-68%) over the
      donors, although yield was 7-26% lower than in 'PinK3'. All pyramided lines were
      aromatic and exhibited improved starch profiles, rendering them suitable for
      industrial food applications. CONCLUSIONS: Results show that our new pyramiding
      platform, which is based on marker-assisted pseudo-backcrossing, can fix five
      target genes and three QTLs into a high-yielding pseudo-recurrent background
      within seven breeding cycles in four years. This multiple pseudo-backcrossing
      platform decreases the time required to generate new rice varieties exhibiting
      complex, durable resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses in backgrounds with
      desirable qualities.

PMID- 25844113
TI  - A QTL for root growth angle on rice chromosome 7 is involved in the genetic
      pathway of DEEPER ROOTING 1.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Root growth angle (RGA) is an important trait that influences the
      ability of rice to avoid drought stress. DEEPER ROOTING 1 (DRO1), which is a
      major quantitative trait locus (QTL) for RGA, is responsible for the difference
      in RGA between the shallow-rooting cultivar IR64 and the deep-rooting cultivar
      Kinandang Patong. However, the RGA differences between these cultivars cannot be
      fully explained by DRO1. The objective of this study was to identify new QTLs for
      RGA explaining the difference in RGA between these cultivars. RESULTS: By
      crossing IR64 (which has a non-functional allele of DRO1) with Kinandang Patong
      (which has a functional allele of DRO1), we developed 26 chromosome segment
      substitution lines (CSSLs) that carried a particular chromosome segment from
      Kinandang Patong in the IR64 genetic background. Using these CSSLs, we found only
      one chromosomal region that was related to RGA: on chromosome 9, which includes
      DRO1. Using an F2 population derived from a cross between Kinandang Patong and
      the Dro1-NIL (near isogenic line), which had a functional DRO1 allele in the IR64
      genetic background, we identified a new QTL for RGA (DRO3) on the long arm of
      chromosome 7. CONCLUSIONS: DRO3 may only affect RGA in plants with a functional
      DRO1 allele, suggesting that DRO3 is involved in the DRO1 genetic pathway.

PMID- 25844115
TI  - Exploring the power of plants to overcome environmental stresses.

PMID- 25844114
TI  - Shading during the grain filling period increases 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline content in
      fragrant rice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Fragrant rice, including Thai jasmine and Indian basmati varieties,
      is highly valued by consumers globally. 2-acetyl-1-proline (2-AP) is the major
      compound responsible for the aromatic character of fragrant rice. Previously,
      environmental factors such as water management and salinity have been proven to
      influence 2-AP levels in fragrant rice; assessing the effect of additional
      environmental factors on 2-AP concentration is therefore eminent. The level of
      solar radiation (solar intensity; SI) to which a crop is exposed can affect
      growth, yield and grain quality, and other photosynthetic and physiological
      characteristics. In this study the effect of shading (i.e. the reduction of SI)
      on yield, quality, and 2-AP concentration in two elite Chinese fragrant rice
      varieties, 'Yuxiangyouzhan' and 'Nongxiang 18', has been investigated.
      Furthermore, accumulation of the plant stress response molecules proline and
      gamma-aminobutyric acid, which have also been implicated in pathways leading to 2
      AP production, was assessed to study shading effects on these compounds in
      fragrant rice, and to further possibly determine fluxes in biochemical pathways
      leading to 2-AP accumulation. RESULTS: This study has revealed significant
      changes in the yield and quality characters under shading treatment.
      Additionally, 2-AP and GABA content in grains was significantly increased for all
      shading treatments in both varieties. In addition to 2-AP, ten other volatile
      compounds were studied; results indicated that shading treatments could have a
      selective effect on the metabolism of these volatile compounds. CONCLUSIONS: In
      this study, we have demonstrated that shading during grain filling has
      significant effects on yield and quality traits in rice, and leads to the
      accumulation of GABA and 2-AP. We discuss the implications of these findings in
      terms of pathways leading to 2-AP and GABA production in fragrant rice, which
      have not been fully elucidated. The shading effect on ten additional volatile
      compounds is also discussed. Finally we discuss possible effects of variation in
      solar intensity resulting from anthropogenic emissions on fragrant rice
      production.

PMID- 25844116
TI  - Molecular breeding of thermo-sensitive genic male sterile (TGMS) lines of rice
      for blast resistance using Pi2 gene.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Blast disease caused by the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae is one
      of the big problems in rice production in China, especially for high yield hybrid
      varieties made from a two-line system in which thermo-sensitive genic male
      sterile (TGMS) lines are used. In this study, we report the introgression of a
      rice blast resistance gene Pi2 from VE6219 into C815S, an elite rice TGMS line,
      leading to the development of blast resistant TGMS lines through marker assisted
      selection (MAS) and phenotypic selection approaches. RESULTS: Four new TGMS lines
      with blast resistance gene Pi2 were developed from C815S (an elite TGMS line
      susceptible to the blast, used as recurrent parent) and VE6219 (a blast resistant
      line harboring Pi2, used as donor parent). The pathogenicity assays inoculated
      with 53 blast prevalent isolates in glasshouse showed that the blast resistant
      frequency of the four TGMS lines was 94.3%-98.1% that is equivalent to blast
      resistant donor parent VE6219. The field evaluation of the new lines and hybrids
      made from them at a blast epidemic site also showed high resistant levels against
      the blast. The genetic background of the newly developed TGMS lines were examined
      using a whole-genome single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array (RICE6K) that
      turned out more than 83% of the genomic markers were derived from the recurrent
      parent. The critical temperature points of fertility-sterility alteration of the
      new TGMS lines were between 22 degrees C and 23 degrees C of daily mean
      temperature, which is similar to that of C815S. The complete male sterility under
      natural growth conditions at Wuhan last more than 80 days. Their agronomic and
      grain quality traits meet the requirement for two-line hybrid rice production.
      CONCLUSIONS: The broad-spectrum and durable rice blast resistant gene Pi2 was
      introgressed into the elite TGMS line C815S background. The newly developed TGMS
      lines can be practically used for two-line hybrid rice breeding and must play an
      important role in sustainable rice production in China.

PMID- 25844117
TI  - Multiple tissue-specific expression of rice seed-shattering gene SH4 regulated by
      its promoter pSH4.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Rice seed shattering is an important domestication syndrome encoded
      by a gene named as SH4. The coding region of SH4 has been well studied regarding
      its function and roles in evolution. However, its promoter has not been
      identified, which limited our understanding of the detailed regulatory mechanisms
      of this gene. It is therefore critical to characterize the promoter and study its
      expression pattern. RESULTS: We analyzed the 5' upstream sequences of this gene
      and identified a ~2.6 kb fragment with typical promoter features, which was
      designated as pSH4. The promoter contained a number of cis-acting elements
      related to abscisic acid (ABA) and a CpG island that were characteristics of
      multiple tissue-specific expression. We isolated and ligated pSH4 to the beta
      glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene, and transformed it into a japonica rice
      cultivar to determine the multiple expression pattern of SH4. Histochemical
      location and fluorescence analyses of GUS activity of transgenic plants indicated
      multiple tissue-specific expression of pSH4 in the seed-pedicel junction region
      of mature panicles (with highest level), stems, coleoptiles of germinated seeds,
      and scutella of mature seeds. CONCLUSIONS: The multiple tissue-specific
      expression pSH4 is categorized as a spatiotemporal promoter that drives the
      expression of the SH4 gene in different rice tissues, in addition to the seed
      pedicel junction region. Our findings suggest that SH4 may have additional
      functions in the growth and development of rice, apart from its major role in
      seed shattering.

PMID- 25844118
TI  - Abiotic stress and genome dynamics: specific genes and transposable elements
      response to iron excess in rice.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Iron toxicity is a root related abiotic stress, occurring frequently
      in flooded soils. It can affect the yield of rice in lowland production systems.
      This toxicity is associated with high concentrations of reduced iron (Fe(2+)) in
      the soil solution. Although the first interface of the element is in the roots,
      the consequences of an excessive uptake can be observed in several rice tissues.
      In an original attempt to find both genes and transposable elements involved in
      the response to an iron toxicity stress, we used a microarray approach to study
      the transcriptional responses of rice leaves of cv. Nipponbare (Oryza sativa L.
      ssp. japonica) to iron excess in nutrient solution. RESULTS: A large number of
      genes were significantly up- or down-regulated in leaves under the treatment. We
      analyzed the gene ontology and metabolic pathways of genes involved in the
      response to this stress and the cis-regulatory elements (CREs) present in the
      promoter region of up-regulated genes. The majority of genes act in the pathways
      of lipid metabolic process, carbohydrate metabolism, biosynthesis of secondary
      metabolites and plant hormones. We also found genes involved in iron acquisition
      and mobilization, transport of cations and regulatory mechanisms for iron
      responses, and in oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species detoxification.
      Promoter regions of 27% of genes up-regulated present at least one significant
      occurrence of an ABA-responsive CRE. Furthermore, and for the first time, we were
      able to show that iron stress triggers the up-regulation of many LTR
      retrotransposons. We have established a complete inventory of transposable
      elements transcriptionally activated under iron excess and the CREs which are
      present in their LTRs. CONCLUSION: The short-term response of Nipponbare
      seedlings to iron excess, includes activation of genes involved in iron
      homeostasis, in particular transporters, transcription factors and ROS
      detoxification in the leaves, but also many transposable elements. Our data led
      to the identification of CREs which are associated with both genes and LTR
      retrotransposons up-regulated under iron excess. Our results strengthen the idea
      that LTR-retrotransposons participate in the transcriptional response to stress
      and could thus confer an adaptive advantage for the plant.

PMID- 25844120
TI  - Allelic effects on starch structure and properties of six starch biosynthetic
      genes in a rice recombinant inbred line population.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The genetic diversity of six starch biosynthetic genes (Wx, SSI,
      SSIIa, SBEI, SBEIIa and SBEIIb) in indica and japonica rices opens an opportunity
      to produce a new variety with more favourable grain starch quality. However,
      there is limited information about the effects of these six gene allele
      combinations on starch structure and properties. A recombinant inbred line
      population from a cross between indica and japonica varieties offers
      opportunities to combine specific alleles of the six genes. RESULTS: The allelic
      (indica vs japonica) effects of six starch biosynthetic genes on starch
      structure, functional properties, and abundance of granule bound proteins in rice
      grains were investigated in a common genetic background using a recombinant
      inbred line population. The indica Wx (Wxi) allele played a major role while
      indica SSI (SSIi), japonica SSIIa (SSIIaj) and indica SBEI (SBEIi) alleles had
      minor roles on the increase of amylose content. SSIIaj and japonica SBEIIb
      (SBEIIbj) alleles had a major and a minor role on high ratio of ?DP <= 10 to ?DP
      <= 24 fractions (RCL10/24), respectively. Both major alleles (Wxi and SSIIaj)
      reduced peak viscosity (PV), onset, peak and end gelatinization temperatures
      (GTs) of amylopectin, and increased amylose-lipid complex dissociation enthalpy
      compared with their counterpart-alleles, respectively. SBEIIai and SBEIIbj
      decreased PV, whereas SSIi and SBEIIbj decreased FV. SBEIi reduced setback
      viscosity and gelatinization enthalpy. RCL10/24 of chain length distribution in
      amylopectin is negatively correlated with PV and BD of paste property and GTs of
      thermal properties. We also report RILs with superior starch properties combining
      Wxi, SSIj, SSIIaj, SBEIi and SBEIIbj alleles. Additionally, a clear relation is
      drawn to starch biosynthetic gene alleles, starch structure, properties, and
      abundance of granule bound starch biosynthetic enzymes inside starch granules.
      CONCLUSIONS: Rice Wxi and SSIIaj alleles play major roles, while SSIi, SBEIi,
      SBEIIai and SBEIIbj alleles have minor roles in the determination of starch
      properties between indica and japonica rice through starch structural
      modification. The combination of these alleles is a key factor for starch quality
      improvement in rice breeding programs. RCL10/24 value is critical for starch
      structure and property determination.

PMID- 25844121
TI  - QTLs underlying natural variation of root growth angle among rice cultivars with
      the same functional allele of DEEPER ROOTING 1.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The functional allele of the rice gene DEEPER ROOTING 1 (DRO1)
      increases the root growth angle (RGA). However, wide natural variation in RGA is
      observed among rice cultivars with the functional DRO1 allele. To elucidate
      genetic factors related to such variation, we quantitatively measured RGA using
      the basket method and analyzed quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for RGA in three F2
      mapping populations derived from crosses between the large RGA-type cultivar
      Kinandang Patong and each of three accessions with varying RGA: Momiroman has
      small RGA and was used to produce the MoK-F2 population; Yumeaoba has
      intermediate RGA (YuK-F2 population); Tachisugata has large RGA (TaK-F2
      population). All four accessions belong to the same haplotype group of functional
      DRO1 allele. RESULTS: We detected the following statistically significant QTLs:
      one QTL on chromosome 4 in MoK-F2, three QTLs on chromosomes 2, 4, and 6 in YuK
      F2, and one QTL on chromosome 2 in TaK-F2. Among them, the two QTLs on chromosome
      4 were located near DRO2, which has been previously reported as a major QTL for
      RGA, whereas the two major QTLs for RGA on chromosomes 2 (DRO4) and 6 (DRO5) were
      novel. With the LOD threshold reduced to 3.0, several minor QTLs for RGA were
      also detected in each population. CONCLUSION: Natural variation in RGA in rice
      cultivars carrying functional DRO1 alleles may be controlled by a few major QTLs
      and by several additional minor QTLs.

PMID- 25844119
TI  - Upstream regulatory architecture of rice genes: summarizing the baseline towards
      genus-wide comparative analysis of regulatory networks and allele mining.
AB  - Dissecting the upstream regulatory architecture of rice genes and their cognate
      regulator proteins is at the core of network biology and its applications to
      comparative functional genomics. With the rapidly advancing comparative genomics
      resources in the genus Oryza, a reference genome annotation that defines the
      various cis-elements and trans-acting factors that interface each gene locus with
      various intrinsic and extrinsic signals for growth, development, reproduction and
      adaptation must be established to facilitate the understanding of phenotypic
      variation in the context of regulatory networks. Such information is also
      important to establish the foundation for mining non-coding sequence variation
      that defines novel alleles and epialleles across the enormous phenotypic
      diversity represented in rice germplasm. This review presents a synthesis of the
      state of knowledge and consensus trends regarding the various cis-acting and
      trans-acting components that define spatio-temporal regulation of rice genes
      based on representative examples from both foundational studies in other model
      and non-model plants, and more recent studies in rice. The goal is to summarize
      the baseline for systematic upstream sequence annotation of the rapidly advancing
      genome sequence resources in Oryza in preparation for genus-wide functional
      genomics. Perspectives on the potential applications of such information for gene
      discovery, network engineering and genomics-enabled rice breeding are also
      discussed. 

PMID- 25844123
TI  - Subcortical shape and volume abnormalities in an elderly HIV+ cohort.
AB  - Over 50% of HIV+ individuals show significant impairment in psychomotor
      functioning, processing speed, working memory and attention [1, 2]. Patients
      receiving combination antiretroviral therapy may still have subcortical atrophy,
      but the profile of HIV-associated brain changes is poorly understood. With
      parametric surface-based shape analyses, we mapped the 3D profile of subcortical
      morphometry in 63 elderly HIV+ subjects (4 female; age=65.35 +/- 2.21) and 31
      uninfected elderly controls (2 female; age=64.68 +/- 4.57) scanned with MRI as
      part of a San Francisco Bay Area study of elderly people with HIV. We also
      investigated whether morphometry was associated with nadir CD4+ (T-cell) counts,
      viral load and illness duration among HIV+ participants. FreeSurfer was used to
      segment the thalamus, caudate, putamen, pallidum, hippocampus, amygdala,
      accumbens, brainstem, callosum and ventricles from brain MRI scans. To study
      subcortical shape, we analyzed: (1) the Jacobian determinant (JD) indexed over
      structures' surface coordinates and (2) radial distances (RD) of structure
      surfaces from a medial curve. A JD less than 1 reflects regional tissue atrophy
      and greater than 1 reflects expansion. The volumes of several subcortical regions
      were found to be associated with HIV status. No regional volumes showed
      detectable associations with CD4 counts, viral load or illness duration. The
      shapes of numerous subcortical regions were significantly linked to HIV status,
      detectability of viral RNA and illness duration. Our results show subcortical
      brain differences in HIV+ subjects in both shape and volumetric domains.

PMID- 25844124
TI  - The values shown on optical technology-based patient monitors must be cautiously
      interpreted: intravenous dye-induced errors.

PMID- 25844122
TI  - Group-Sequential Strategies in Clinical Trials with Multiple Co-Primary Outcomes.
AB  - We discuss the decision-making frameworks for clinical trials with multiple co
      primary endpoints in a group-sequential setting. The decision-making frameworks
      can account for flexibilities such as a varying number of analyses, equally or
      unequally spaced increments of information and fixed or adaptive Type I error
      allocation among endpoints. The frameworks can provide efficiency, i.e.,
      potentially fewer trial participants, than the fixed sample size designs. We
      investigate the operating characteristics of the decision-making frameworks and
      provide guidance on constructing efficient group-sequential strategies in
      clinical trials with multiple co-primary endpoints.

PMID- 25844125
TI  - The first step to good clinical research: statistical thinking.

PMID- 25844126
TI  - Transfusion-related acute lung injury; clinical perspectives.
AB  - Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) was introduced in 1983 to describe
      a clinical syndrome seen within 6 h of a plasma-containing blood products
      transfusion. TRALI is a rare transfusion complication; however, the FDA has
      suggested that TRALI is the leading cause of transfusion-related mortality.
      Understanding the pathogenesis of TRALI will facilitate adopting preventive
      strategies, such as deferring high plasma volume female product donors. This
      review outlines the clinical features, pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention of
      TRALI. 

PMID- 25844127
TI  - Statistical and methodological considerations for reporting RCTs in medical
      literature.
AB  - Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are known to provide the most reliable
      evidence on intervention. However, RCTs are often conducted and reported
      incompletely and inadequately, making readers and reviewers unable to judge the
      validity and reliability of the trials. In this article, we consider the
      statistical and methodological issues involved in reporting on RCTs, particularly
      in relation to the objectives, designs, and commencements of trials. This paper
      deals with the various issues that should be considered in presenting RCTs, and
      suggests checklists for reporting on them. We expect that these checklists will
      remind readers and reviewers to evaluate manuscripts systematically and
      comprehensively, making those manuscripts more transparent and reliable. 

PMID- 25844128
TI  - Comparison of the rate of successful endotracheal intubation between the
      "sniffing" and "ramped" positions in patients with an expected difficult
      intubation: a prospective randomized study.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Optimal head and neck positioning and clinical experience are
      important factors for successful endotracheal intubation in patients with a
      difficult airway. This study aimed to investigate the rate of successful
      endotracheal intubation between the sniffing and ramped positions in patients
      with an expected difficult intubation. METHODS: The study included 204 patients
      with an expected difficult intubation (airway difficulty score >= 8) based on the
      preoperative airway assessment. The patients were randomized into the following
      groups: group S was placed in the sniffing position, and group R was placed in
      the ramped position during direct laryngoscopy. The primary outcome was
      successful endotracheal intubation and the secondary measure was laryngeal view
      in the ramped or sniffing position when the operating table was placed at two
      different heights. RESULTS: Group R showed a higher rate of successful
      endotracheal intubation and better laryngeal view than group S (P < 0.05). The
      rate of successful endotracheal intubation was higher in group R than in group S
      at both heights of the operating table; but, it was not different within each
      group. Laryngeal view was not different between the two groups and within each
      group when the two heights of the operating table were used. Fully trained and
      experienced attending anesthesiologists achieved a higher rate of successful
      endotracheal intubation than less experienced residents in group R (P < 0.05) but
      not in group S. CONCLUSIONS: Ramped position and clinical experience can be
      important factors for laryngeal view and success rate of endotracheal intubation
      in patients with an expected difficult intubation.

PMID- 25844129
TI  - Effects of intravenously administered indocyanine green on near-infrared cerebral
      oximetry and pulse oximetry readings.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intravenously administered indocyanine green (ICG) may cause
      misreadings of cerebral oximetry and pulse oximetry in patients undergoing
      carotid endarterectomy under general anesthesia. The present study determined the
      effects of two different doses (12.5 mg vs. 25 mg) of ICG on regional cerebral
      tissue oxygen saturation (SctO2) and percutaneous peripheral oxygen saturation
      (SpO2). METHODS: Twenty-six patients receiving ICG for videoangiography were
      divided into two groups according to the dosage (12.5 mg and 25 mg, n = 13 in
      each group). Heart rate, arterial blood pressure, SctO2, and SpO2 were measured
      before and after an intravenous bolus administration of ICG. RESULTS: Following
      the dye administration, no changes in heart rate or arterial blood pressure were
      noted in either group. SctO2 was increased in both groups; however, the magnitude
      of the increase was greater (21.6 +/- 5.8% vs. 12.6 +/- 4.1%, P < 0.0001) and
      more prolonged (28.4 +/- 9.6 min vs. 13.8 +/- 5.2 min, P < 0.0001) in the 25 mg
      group than in the 12.5 mg group. In contrast, SpO2 was decreased in both groups;
      the magnitude of the decrease was greater in the 25 mg group than in the 12.5 mg
      group (4.0 +/- 0.8% vs. 1.6 +/- 1.0%, P < 0.0001). There were no differences in
      the time to reach the peak SctO2 or to reach the nadir SpO2 between the two
      groups. CONCLUSIONS: In patients given ICG for videoangiography, a 25 mg bolus
      results in a greater and more prolonged increase in SctO2 and a greater reduction
      in SpO2 than a 12.5 mg bolus, with no differences in the time to reach the peak
      SctO2 or to reach the nadir SpO2.

PMID- 25844130
TI  - The predictive performance of infusion strategy nomogram based on a fluid kinetic
      model.
AB  - BACKGROUND: In a previous study, fluid kinetic models were applied to describe
      the volume expansion of the fluid space by administration of crystalloid and
      colloid solutions. However, validation of the models were not performed, it is
      necessary to evaluate the predictive performance of these models in another
      population. METHODS: Ninety five consenting patients undergoing elective spinal
      surgery under general anesthesia were enrolled in this study. These patients were
      randomly assigned to three fluid groups i.e. Hartmann's solution (H group, n =
      28), Voluven(r) (V group, n = 34), and Hextend(r) (X group, n = 33). After
      completion of their preparation for surgery, the patients received a loading and
      maintenance volume of each fluid predetermined by nomograms based on fluid
      pharmacokinetic models during the 60-minute use of an infusion pump. Arterial
      samples were obtained at preset intervals of 0, 10, 20, and 30 min after fluid
      administration. The predictive performances of the fluid kinetic modes were
      evaluated using the fractional change of arterial hemoglobin. The relationship
      between blood-volume dilution and target dilution of body fluid space was also
      evaluated using regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 194 hemoglobin
      measurements were used. The bias and inaccuracy of these models were -2.69 and
      35.62 for the H group, -1.53 and 43.21 for the V group, and 9.05 and 41.82 for
      the X group, respectively. The blood-volume dilution and target dilution of body
      fluid space showed a significant linear relationship in each group (P < 0.05).
      CONCLUSIONS: Based on the inaccuracy of predictive performance, the fluid-kinetic
      model for Hartmann's solution showed better performance than the other models.

PMID- 25844131
TI  - Comparison of etomidate and propofol on intubating conditions and the onset time
      associated with cisatracurium administration.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study compared intubating conditions and the onset time
      associated with administration of cisatracurium, a nondepolarizing neuromuscular
      blocker with a relatively slow onset, according to prior injection of one of two
      intravenous anesthetic agents: propofol or etomidate. METHODS: Forty-six female
      patients, undergoing general anesthesia and endotracheal intubation for elective
      surgery, were randomized to two groups; group P were administered propofol (2
      mg/kg) prior to cisatracurium (0.2 mg/kg); group E were administered etomidate
      (0.3 mg/kg) prior to cisatracurium (0.2 mg/kg). We measured intubating conditions
      and the onset time according to the types of intravenous anesthetic administered.
      Measurements of heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic
      blood pressure (DBP) were taken immediately prior to induction; immediately and 1
      min after IV anesthetic administration; and immediately and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and
      15 min after endotracheal intubation. RESULTS: Intubating conditions were
      superior in group E compared with group P (P = 0.009). The average onset time of
      cisatracurium was more rapid in group E (155.74 +/- 32.92 s vs. 185.26 +/- 38.57
      s in group P; P = 0.008). There were no group differences in SBP, DBP, and HR
      following intravenous anesthetic drug injection and endotracheal intubation.
      However, SBP and DBP were substantially higher in group E after endotracheal
      intubation. CONCLUSIONS: Etomidate improves intubating conditions and provide a
      more rapid onset time of cisatracurium during anesthetic induction compared to
      propofol.

PMID- 25844132
TI  - Epidural anesthesia for pilonidal sinus surgery: ropivacaine versus
      levobupivacaine.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Epidural anesthesia is one of the best options for lower abdominal
      and lower limb surgery. However, there have been insufficient reports regarding
      the use of epidural anesthesia for pilonidal sinus surgery. The present study was
      performed to compare the clinical profiles of epidural block performed with 0.75%
      levobupivacaine and 0.75% ropivacaine in this procedure. METHODS: Thirty patients
      undergoing pilonidal sinus surgery were randomly allocated into two groups: one
      group received levobupivacaine and the other received ropivacaine at 0.75% in a
      volume of 10 ml. Arterial blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, the
      onset time of analgesia and duration of block, highest sensory block level,
      perioperative and postoperative side effects, and patients' and surgeons'
      satisfaction were recorded. RESULTS: Hemodynamic stability was maintained in both
      groups throughout surgery. The onset time of analgesia (the time from epidural
      injection of local anesthetic to reach L2 sensorial block) was 6.26 +/- 3.49 min
      in the levobupivacaine group and 4.06 +/- 1.75 min in the ropivacaine group (P =
      0.116). The duration of sensorial block (time for regression of sensory block to
      L2) was 297.73 +/- 70.94 min in group L and 332.40 +/- 102.22 min in group R (P =
      0.110). Motor block was not seen in any of the patients in the study groups.
      Patients' and surgeons' satisfaction with the anesthetic technique were mostly
      excellent in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: In patients undergoing pilonidal sinus
      surgery, both levobupivacaine and ropivacaine produce rapid and excellent
      epidural block without leading to motor block or significant side effects.
      Although not statistically significant, the onset time of anesthesia was shorter
      and the duration of effect was longer with ropivacaine than with levobupivacaine
      in this study.

PMID- 25844133
TI  - The optimal anesthetic depth for interventional neuroradiology: comparisons
      between light anesthesia and deep anesthesia.
AB  - BACKGROUND: This study was designed to determine the optimal anesthetic depth for
      the maintenance and recovery in interventional neuroradiology. METHODS: Eighty
      eight patients undergoing interventional neuroradiology were randomly allocated
      to light anesthesia (n = 44) or deep anesthesia (n = 44) groups based on the
      value of the bispectral index (BIS). Anesthesia was induced with propofol,
      alfentanil, and rocuronium and maintained with 1-3% sevoflurane. The
      concentration of sevoflurane was titrated to maintain BIS at 40-49 (deep
      anesthesia group) or 50-59 (light anesthesia group). Phenylephrine was used to
      maintain the mean arterial pressure within 20% of preinduction values. Recovery
      times were recorded. RESULTS: The light anesthesia group had a more rapid
      recovery to spontaneous ventilation, eye opening, extubation, and orientation
      (4.1 +/- 2.3 vs. 5.3 +/- 1.8 min, 6.9 +/- 3.2 min vs. 9.1 +/- 3.2 min, 8.2 +/-
      3.1 min vs. 10.7 +/- 3.3 min, 10.0 +/- 3.9 min vs. 12.9 +/- 5.5 min, all P <
      0.01) compared to the deep anesthesia group. The use of phenylephrine was
      significantly increased in the deep anesthesia group (768 +/- 184 vs. 320 +/- 82
      ug, P < 0.01). More patients moved during the procedure in the light anesthesia
      group (6/44 [14%] vs. 0/44 [0%], P = 0.026). CONCLUSIONS: BIS values between 50
      and 59 for interventional neuroradiology were associated with a more rapid
      recovery and favorable hemodynamic response, but also with more patient movement.
      We suggest that maintaining BIS values between 40 and 49 is preferable for the
      prevention of patient movement during anesthesia for interventional
      neuroradiology.

PMID- 25844134
TI  - Comparison of oxycodone and fentanyl for postoperative patient-controlled
      analgesia after laparoscopic gynecological surgery.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Opioids are widely used in boluses and patient-controlled analgesia
      (PCA) for postoperative pain control. In this study, we compared the effects of
      oxycodone and fentanyl on postoperative pain in patients with intravenous patient
      controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) after laparoscopic gynecological surgery. METHODS:
      Seventy-four patients undergoing elective total laparoscopic hysterectomy or
      laparoscopic myomectomy were randomly assigned to the administration of either
      fentanyl or oxycodone using IV-PCA (potency ratio 1 : 60). The cumulative dose
      administered in the patient-controlled mode during the initial 48 hours after the
      operation was measured. Patients were also assessed for postoperative pain
      severity, adverse effects, and patient satisfaction. RESULTS: No significant
      differences were observed in patient satisfaction with the analgesia during the
      postoperative period. Patients in the oxycodone group experienced significantly
      more dizziness compared to the fentanyl group. Patients in the oxycodone group
      showed significantly lower consumption of opioid in the patient-controlled mode
      (10.1 +/- 8.5 ml vs. 16.6 +/- 12.0 ml, P = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest
      that oxycodone and fentanyl demonstrated similar effects, and therefore oxycodone
      may be a good alternative to fentanyl in postoperative pain management. Further
      studies in various clinical settings will be needed to determine the adequate
      potency ratio.

PMID- 25844135
TI  - The time-course and RNA interference of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-1beta expression
      on neuropathic pain induced by L5 spinal nerve transection in rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to investigate the time-course of the
      expression of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-1beta after L5 spinal nerve transection
      (SNT), and to determine the effect of small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting
      these cytokines on neuropathic pain. METHODS: Rats received control siRNA (CON
      group, n = 80) or a cocktail of siRNAs targeting these cytokines (COCK group, n =
      70). The siRNAs were given via intrathecal catheter 1 d prior to SNT, on the
      operation day, and 1, 2 and 3 d postoperatively. Behavioral tests and levels of
      the cytokine mRNAs and proteins as well as glial cell activity were following the
      L5 SNT. RESULTS: In the CON group, TNF-alpha and IL-1beta mRNA levels increased
      immediately after SNT and remained high for 6 d, while IL-6 transcripts only
      began to increase after 12 h. TNF-alpha and IL-1beta mRNA levels in the COCK
      group were lower than in the CON group at all time points (P < 0.05). In the
      behavioral tests, allodynia and hyperalgesia were significantly lower in the COCK
      group from 2 d after SNT (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The time courses of TNF-alpha,
      IL-6 and IL-1beta mRNA expression after L5 SNT differ. RNA interference may be a
      method of reducing the development of mechanical allodynia and hyperalgesia in
      response to nerve injury.

PMID- 25844136
TI  - Expression of the spinal 5-HT7 receptor and p-ERK pathway in the carrageenan
      inflammatory pain of rats.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although the inhibitory role of the 5-hydroxytrypatmine receptor 7(5
      HT7R) on nociceptive processing is generally recognized, an excitatory effect
      associated with a reduced 5-HT7R expression has also been observed in the nerve
      injury model. In the carrageenan model, no significant effect is produced by the
      5-HT7R activation, but the change in 5-HT7R expression has not been examined.
      Lesioning of the spinal serotonergic pathway enhances allodynia in the
      carrageenan model, but it also relieves several other pain states, including in
      the formalin model. While lesioning suppresses the activation of the
      extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) of the spinal cord in the formalin
      model, its role in the carrageenan model has not been reported. METHODS:
      Following intraplantar injections of carrageenan, the spinal 5-HT7R expression
      was examined using Western blotting in male Sprague-Dawley rats. The effect of
      serotonergic pathway lesioning with intrathecal 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT)
      on the expression of the phospho-ERK was measured. RESULTS: The expression of the
      5-HT7R in the carrageenan model was not significantly different from that of
      naive animals. The expression of the spinal p-ERK in the carrageenan model was
      significantly increased, but returned to the level of a naive rat 1 hour after
      the carrageenan injection. However, it remained significantly higher 1 hour after
      the injection in the animals treated with 5,7-DHT than in the naive and control
      rats. CONCLUSIONS: The expression of the spinal 5-HT7R is not altered by
      peripheral inflammation with carrageenan, suggesting that the lack of
      antinociceptive effect of the 5-HT7R activation is partly attributable to the
      absence of changes in the expression of the 5-HT7R in the spinal cord. The
      extended increase of the spinal p-ERK might be related to the enhanced pain
      behavior in the animals with lesions of the spinal serotonergic pathway in the
      carrageenan model.

PMID- 25844137
TI  - Malposition of central venous catheter in the jugular venous arch via external
      jugular vein -a case report.
AB  - The central venous cannulation is commonly performed in the operating rooms and
      intensive care units for various purposes. Although the central venous catheter
      (CVC) is used in many ways, the malpositioning of the CVC is often associated
      with serious complications. We report a case of an unexpected malposition of a
      CVC in the jugular venous arch via external jugular vein. 

PMID- 25844138
TI  - Epidural anesthesia for permanent spinal cord stimulation with a cylindrical type
      lead: a case series.
AB  - Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in trials involving external stimulation are easily
      conducted under local anesthesia. However, implantation of a permanent SCS system
      is painful, and can be intolerable in some patients. Epidural anesthesia can be
      used to perform the SCS implantation without discomfort if the patient can
      localize the area of paresthesia. However, little is known about epidural
      anesthesia for SCS. This paper reports 23 cases of permanent SCS with a
      cylindrical type lead implanted under the epidural anesthesia. Epidural
      anesthesia was sufficient in 22 patients without discomfort and significant
      complications. The remaining patient experienced incomplete epidural anesthesia
      and required additional analgesics to blunt the pain. All the leads were placed
      consistent with the patient's report of paresthesia area under epidural
      anesthesia. Thus, epidural anesthesia is an effective and safe method for the
      optimal placement of SCS to minimize the discomfort for patients without
      impairing patients' response to the intraoperative stimulation test. 

PMID- 25844139
TI  - Hydrothorax with alveolar-pleural fistula mimicking re-expansion pulmonary edema
      during liver transplantation: a case report.
AB  - We present a case of an alveolar-pleural fistula with hepatic hydrothorax in a
      patient undergoing orthotropic liver transplantation, which was detected by
      drainage of transudate through an endotracheal tube during operation. A standard
      endotracheal tube was changed to a double-lumen tube to provide differential lung
      ventilation. The patient was diagnosed with an alveolar-pleural fistula by direct
      vision of an air leak during positive-pressure ventilation through a
      diaphragmatic incision. There was still a concern about worsening his ventilation
      due to persistent aspiration of pleural effusion towards the ipsilateral lung
      during the remaining operation period. Surgeon repaired the defect on the exposed
      lung surface via diaphragmatic opening. Anesthesiologists should consider an
      alveolar-pleural fistula as a possible differential diagnosis with re-expansion
      pulmonary edema when transudate emanating from the endotracheal tube is obtained
      in patients with massive hydrothorax. 

PMID- 25844140
TI  - Acute gastric dilatation causing fatal outcome in a young female with eating
      disorder: a case report.
AB  - A 21-year-old female with a history of bulimia nervosa came to the emergency room
      due to severe abdominal pain after excessive eating five hours previously. On
      arrival at the emergency room, extreme abdominal distension was detected and the
      patient's legs changed color. Computed tomography suggested severe gastric
      dilatation, so abdominal compartment syndrome was suspected and an emergent
      laparotomy was supposed to be conducted. Though anesthesia was induced without
      event, abrupt hemodynamic collapse developed just after the operation started. In
      spite of active resuscitation for 29 min, the patient did not recover and
      expired. As the incidence of eating disorders is increasing, anesthesiologists
      should keep in mind the possibility of abdominal compartment syndrome in patients
      with a recent history of binge eating, and prepare optimal anesthetic and
      resuscitation remedies against sudden deteriorations of a patient's condition. 

PMID- 25844141
TI  - Complete resolution of myoclonus-like involuntary movements under subarachnoid
      block after midazolam administration in a patient undergoing cesarean section: a
      case report.
AB  - Involuntary movement during and after neuraxial anesthesia, such as spinal and
      epidural anesthesia, is rarely observed. In this report, we describe a case of
      myoclonus-like involuntary movement of the upper extremities in a patient
      undergoing a planned repeat cesarean section under spinal anesthesia with
      bupivacaine that completely subsided after administration of 2 mg of midazolam.
      The myoclonus-like movement did not recur or cause any apparent neurological side
      effects. 

PMID- 25844142
TI  - A sheared Racz catheter in cervical epidural space for thirty months: a case
      report.
AB  - Percutaneous epidural neuroplasty may lead to complications such as hematoma,
      infection, epidural abscess, meningitis, hypotension, respiratory depression,
      urinary and fecal dysfunction, sexual dysfunction and paresthesia. Other
      technical complications may include shearing or tearing, misplacement, blockage
      and migration of the catheter. We report a case of a 41-year-old female patient,
      who underwent surgical removal of a sheared catheter, which was retained for 30
      months after cervical Racz neuroplasty. 

PMID- 25844143
TI  - Anesthesia awareness. Can midazolam attenuate or prevent memory consolidation on
      intraoperative awakening during general anesthesia without increasing the risk of
      postoperative delirium?

PMID- 25844144
TI  - Corrigendum: Effect of muscle relaxation on the oxygenation of human skeletal
      muscle: a prospective in-vivo experiment using an isolated forearm technique.
AB  - [This corrects the article on p. 13 in vol. 68, PMID: 25664149.]. 

PMID- 25844145
TI  - Single-particle cryo-EM of the ryanodine receptor channel in an aqueous
      environment.
AB  - Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) are tetrameric ligand-gated Ca2+ release channels that
      are responsible for the increase of cytosolic Ca2+ concentration leading to
      muscle contraction. Our current understanding of RyR channel gating and
      regulation is greatly limited due to the lack of a high-resolution structure of
      the channel protein. The enormous size and unwieldy shape of Ca2+ release
      channels make X-ray or NMR methods difficult to apply for high-resolution
      structural analysis of the full-length functional channel. Single-particle
      electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) is one of the only effective techniques for
      the study of such a large integral membrane protein and its molecular
      interactions. Despite recent developments in cryo-EM technologies and break
      through single-particle cryo-EM studies of ion channels, cryospecimen
      preparation, particularly the presence of detergent in the buffer, remains the
      main impediment to obtaining atomic-resolution structures of ion channels and a
      multitude of other integral membrane protein complexes. In this review we will
      discuss properties of several detergents that have been successfully utilized in
      cryo-EM studies of ion channels and the emergence of the detergent alternative
      amphipol to stabilize ion channels for structure-function characterization.
      Future structural studies of challenging specimen like ion channels are likely to
      be facilitated by cryo-EM amenable detergents or alternative surfactants.

PMID- 25844147
TI  - Complex nature of apparently balanced chromosomal rearrangements in patients with
      autism spectrum disorder.
AB  - BACKGROUND: Apparently balanced chromosomal rearrangements can be associated with
      an abnormal phenotype, including intellectual disability and autism spectrum
      disorder (ASD). Genome-wide microarrays reveal cryptic genomic imbalances,
      related or not to the breakpoints, in 25% to 50% of patients with an abnormal
      phenotype carrying a microscopically balanced chromosomal rearrangement. Here we
      performed microarray analysis of 18 patients with ASD carrying balanced
      chromosomal abnormalities to identify submicroscopic imbalances implicated in
      abnormal neurodevelopment. METHODS: Eighteen patients with ASD carrying
      apparently balanced chromosomal abnormalities were screened using single
      nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays. Nine rearrangements were de novo, seven
      inherited, and two of unknown inheritance. Genomic imbalances were confirmed by
      fluorescence in situ hybridization and quantitative PCR. RESULTS: We detected
      clinically significant de novo copy number variants in four patients (22%),
      including three with de novo rearrangements and one with an inherited
      abnormality. The sizes ranged from 3.3 to 4.9 Mb; three were related to the
      breakpoint regions and one occurred elsewhere. We report a patient with a
      duplication of the Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome critical region, contributing to the
      delineation of this rare genomic disorder. The patient has a chromosome 4p
      inverted duplication deletion, with a 0.5 Mb deletion of terminal 4p and a 4.2 Mb
      duplication of 4p16.2p16.3. The other cases included an apparently balanced de
      novo translocation t(5;18)(q12;p11.2) with a 4.2 Mb deletion at the 18p
      breakpoint, a subject with de novo pericentric inversion inv(11)(p14q23.2) in
      whom the array revealed a de novo 4.9 Mb deletion in 7q21.3q22.1, and a patient
      with a maternal inv(2)(q14.2q37.3) with a de novo 3.3 Mb terminal 2q deletion and
      a 4.2 Mb duplication at the proximal breakpoint. In addition, we identified a
      rare de novo deletion of unknown significance on a chromosome unrelated to the
      initial rearrangement, disrupting a single gene, RFX3. CONCLUSIONS: These
      findings underscore the utility of SNP arrays for investigating apparently
      balanced chromosomal abnormalities in subjects with ASD or related
      neurodevelopmental disorders in both clinical and research settings.

PMID- 25844148
TI  - Predicting electromyographic signals under realistic conditions using a
      multiscale chemo-electro-mechanical finite element model.
AB  - This paper presents a novel multiscale finite element-based framework for
      modelling electromyographic (EMG) signals. The framework combines (i) a
      biophysical description of the excitation-contraction coupling at the half
      sarcomere level, (ii) a model of the action potential (AP) propagation along
      muscle fibres, (iii) a continuum-mechanical formulation of force generation and
      deformation of the muscle, and (iv) a model for predicting the intramuscular and
      surface EMG. Owing to the biophysical description of the half-sarcomere, the
      model inherently accounts for physiological properties of skeletal muscle. To
      demonstrate this, the influence of membrane fatigue on the EMG signal during
      sustained contractions is investigated. During a stimulation period of 500 ms at
      100 Hz, the predicted EMG amplitude decreases by 40% and the AP propagation
      velocity decreases by 15%. Further, the model can take into account contraction
      induced deformations of the muscle. This is demonstrated by simulating fixed
      length contractions of an idealized geometry and a model of the human tibialis
      anterior muscle (TA). The model of the TA furthermore demonstrates that the
      proposed finite element model is capable of simulating realistic geometries,
      complex fibre architectures, and can include different types of heterogeneities.
      In addition, the TA model accounts for a distributed innervation zone, different
      fibre types and appeals to motor unit discharge times that are based on a
      biophysical description of the alpha motor neurons. 

PMID- 25844149
TI  - Applications of computational models to better understand microvascular
      remodelling: a focus on biomechanical integration across scales.
AB  - Microvascular network remodelling is a common denominator for multiple
      pathologies and involves both angiogenesis, defined as the sprouting of new
      capillaries, and network patterning associated with the organization and
      connectivity of existing vessels. Much of what we know about microvascular
      remodelling at the network, cellular and molecular scales has been derived from
      reductionist biological experiments, yet what happens when the experiments
      provide incomplete (or only qualitative) information? This review will emphasize
      the value of applying computational approaches to advance our understanding of
      the underlying mechanisms and effects of microvascular remodelling. Examples of
      individual computational models applied to each of the scales will highlight the
      potential of answering specific questions that cannot be answered using typical
      biological experimentation alone. Looking into the future, we will also identify
      the needs and challenges associated with integrating computational models across
      scales. 

PMID- 25844150
TI  - Multiscale modelling of the feto-placental vasculature.
AB  - The placenta provides all the nutrients required for the fetus through pregnancy.
      It develops dynamically, and, to avoid rejection of the fetus, there is no mixing
      of fetal and maternal blood; rather, the branched placental villi 'bathe' in
      blood supplied from the uterine arteries. Within the villi, the feto-placental
      vasculature also develops a complex branching structure in order to maximize
      exchange between the placental and maternal circulations. To understand the
      development of the placenta, we must translate functional information across
      spatial scales including the interaction between macro- and micro-scale
      haemodynamics and account for the effects of a dynamically and rapidly changing
      structure through the time course of pregnancy. Here, we present steps towards an
      anatomically based and multiscale approach to modelling the feto-placental
      circulation. We assess the effect of the location of cord insertion on feto
      placental blood flow resistance and flow heterogeneity and show that, although
      cord insertion does not appear to directly influence feto-placental resistance,
      the heterogeneity of flow in the placenta is predicted to increase from a 19.4%
      coefficient of variation with central cord insertion to 23.3% when the cord is
      inserted 2 cm from the edge of the placenta. Model geometries with spheroidal and
      ellipsoidal shapes, but the same volume, showed no significant differences in
      flow resistance or heterogeneity, implying that normal asymmetry in shape does
      not affect placental efficiency. However, the size and number of small capillary
      vessels is predicted to have a large effect on feto-placental resistance and flow
      heterogeneity. Using this new model as an example, we highlight the importance of
      taking an integrated multi-disciplinary and multiscale approach to understand
      development of the placenta. 

PMID- 25844151
TI  - A multiscale model for the study of cardiac biomechanics in single-ventricle
      surgeries: a clinical case.
AB  - Complex congenital heart disease characterized by the underdevelopment of one
      ventricular chamber (single ventricle (SV) circulation) is normally treated with
      a three-stage surgical repair. This study aims at developing a multiscale
      computational framework able to couple a patient-specific three-dimensional
      finite-element model of the SV to a patient-specific lumped parameter (LP) model
      of the whole circulation, in a closed-loop fashion. A sequential approach was
      carried out: (i) cardiocirculatory parameters were estimated by using a fully LP
      model; (ii) ventricular material parameters and unloaded geometry were identified
      by means of the stand-alone, three-dimensional model of the SV; and (iii) the
      three-dimensional model of SV was coupled to the LP model of the circulation,
      thus closing the loop and creating a multiscale model. Once the patient-specific
      multiscale model was set using pre-operative clinical data, the virtual surgery
      was performed, and the post-operative conditions were simulated. This approach
      allows the analysis of local information on ventricular function as well as
      global parameters of the cardiovascular system. This methodology is generally
      applicable to patients suffering from SV disease for surgical planning at
      different stages of treatment. As an example, a clinical case from stage 1 to
      stage 2 is considered here. 

PMID- 25844152
TI  - Multiscale models of skeletal muscle reveal the complex effects of muscular
      dystrophy on tissue mechanics and damage susceptibility.
AB  - Computational models have been increasingly used to study the tissue-level
      constitutive properties of muscle microstructure; however, these models were not
      created to study or incorporate the influence of disease-associated modifications
      in muscle. The purpose of this paper was to develop a novel multiscale muscle
      modelling framework to elucidate the relationship between microstructural disease
      adaptations and modifications in both mechanical properties of muscle and strain
      in the cell membrane. We used an agent-based model to randomly generate new
      muscle fibre geometries and mapped them into a finite-element model representing
      a cross section of a muscle fascicle. The framework enabled us to explore
      variability in the shape and arrangement of fibres, as well as to incorporate
      disease-related changes. We applied this method to reveal the trade-offs between
      mechanical properties and damage susceptibility in Duchenne muscular dystrophy
      (DMD). DMD is a fatal genetic disease caused by a lack of the transmembrane
      protein dystrophin, leading to muscle wasting and death due to cardiac or
      pulmonary complications. The most prevalent microstructural variations in DMD
      include: lack of transmembrane proteins, fibrosis, fatty infiltration and
      variation in fibre cross-sectional area. A parameter analysis of these variations
      and case study of DMD revealed that the nature of fibrosis and density of
      transmembrane proteins strongly affected the stiffness of the muscle and
      susceptibility to membrane damage. 

PMID- 25844153
TI  - Multiscale cartilage biomechanics: technical challenges in realizing a high
      throughput modelling and simulation workflow.
AB  - Understanding the mechanical environment of articular cartilage and chondrocytes
      is of the utmost importance in evaluating tissue damage which is often related to
      failure of the fibre architecture and mechanical injury to the cells. This
      knowledge also has significant implications for understanding the
      mechanobiological response in healthy and diseased cartilage and can drive the
      development of intervention strategies, ranging from the design of tissue
      engineered constructs to the establishment of rehabilitation protocols. Spanning
      multiple spatial scales, a wide range of biomechanical factors dictate this
      mechanical environment. Computational modelling and simulation provide
      descriptive and predictive tools to identify multiscale interactions, and can
      lead towards a greater comprehension of healthy and diseased cartilage function,
      possibly in an individualized manner. Cartilage and chondrocyte mechanics can be
      examined in silico, through post-processing or feed-forward approaches. First,
      joint-tissue level simulations, typically using the finite-element method, solve
      boundary value problems representing the joint articulation and underlying
      tissue, which can differentiate the role of compartmental joint loading in
      cartilage contact mechanics and macroscale cartilage field mechanics.
      Subsequently, tissue-cell scale simulations, driven by the macroscale cartilage
      mechanical field information, can predict chondrocyte deformation metrics along
      with the mechanics of the surrounding pericellular and extracellular matrices. A
      high-throughput modelling and simulation framework is necessary to develop models
      representative of regional and population-wide variations in cartilage and
      chondrocyte anatomy and mechanical properties, and to conduct large-scale
      analysis accommodating a multitude of loading scenarios. However, realization of
      such a framework is a daunting task, with technical difficulties hindering the
      processes of model development, scale coupling, simulation and interpretation of
      the results. This study aims to summarize various strategies to address the
      technical challenges of post-processing-based simulations of cartilage and
      chondrocyte mechanics with the ultimate goal of establishing the foundations of a
      high-throughput multiscale analysis framework. At the joint-tissue scale, rapid
      development of regional models of articular contact is possible by automating the
      process of generating parametric representations of cartilage boundaries and
      depth-dependent zonal delineation with associated constitutive relationships. At
      the tissue-cell scale, models descriptive of multicellular and fibrillar
      architecture of cartilage zones can also be generated in an automated fashion.
      Through post-processing, scripts can extract biphasic mechanical metrics at a
      desired point in the cartilage to assign loading and boundary conditions to
      models at the lower spatial scale of cells. Cell deformation metrics can be
      extracted from simulation results to provide a simplified description of
      individual chondrocyte responses. Simulations at the tissue-cell scale can be
      parallelized owing to the loosely coupled nature of the feed-forward approach.
      Verification studies illustrated the necessity of a second-order data passing
      scheme between scales and evaluated the role that the microscale representative
      volume size plays in appropriately predicting the mechanical response of the
      chondrocytes. The tools summarized in this study collectively provide a framework
      for high-throughput exploration of cartilage biomechanics, which includes
      minimally supervised model generation, and prediction of multiscale biomechanical
      metrics across a range of spatial scales, from joint regions and cartilage zones,
      down to that of the chondrocytes. 

PMID- 25844154
TI  - Comparison of generic and subject-specific models for simulation of pulmonary
      perfusion and forced expiration.
AB  - The goal of translating multiscale model analysis of pulmonary function into
      population studies is challenging because of the need to derive a geometric model
      for each subject. This could be addressed by using a generic model with
      appropriate customization to subject-specific data. Here, we present a
      quantitative comparison of simulating two fundamental behaviours of the lung-its
      haemodynamic response to vascular occlusion, and the forced expiration in 1 s
      (FEV1) following bronchoconstriction-in subject-specific and generic models. When
      the subjects are considered as a group, there is no significant difference
      between predictions of mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), pulmonary vascular
      resistance or forced expiration; however, significant differences are apparent in
      the prediction of arterial oxygen, for both baseline and post-occlusion. Despite
      the apparent consistency of the generic and subject-specific models, a third of
      subjects had generic model under-prediction of the increase in mPAP following
      occlusion, and half had the decrease in arterial oxygen over-predicted; two
      subjects had considerable differences in the percentage reduction of FEV1
      following bronchoconstriction. The generic model approach can be useful for
      physiologically directed studies but is not appropriate for simulating
      pathophysiological function that is strongly dependent on interaction with lung
      structure. 

PMID- 25844155
TI  - Stochastic modelling of muscle recruitment during activity.
AB  - Muscle forces can be selected from a space of muscle recruitment strategies that
      produce stable motion and variable muscle and joint forces. However, current
      optimization methods provide only a single muscle recruitment strategy. We
      modelled the spectrum of muscle recruitment strategies while walking. The
      equilibrium equations at the joints, muscle constraints, static optimization
      solutions and 15-channel electromyography (EMG) recordings for seven walking
      cycles were taken from earlier studies. The spectrum of muscle forces was
      calculated using Bayesian statistics and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods,
      whereas EMG-driven muscle forces were calculated using EMG-driven modelling. We
      calculated the differences between the spectrum and EMG-driven muscle force for 1
      15 input EMGs, and we identified the muscle strategy that best matched the
      recorded EMG pattern. The best-fit strategy, static optimization solution and EMG
      driven force data were compared using correlation analysis. Possible and
      plausible muscle forces were defined as within physiological boundaries and
      within EMG boundaries. Possible muscle and joint forces were calculated by
      constraining the muscle forces between zero and the peak muscle force. Plausible
      muscle forces were constrained within six selected EMG boundaries. The spectrum
      to EMG-driven force difference increased from 40 to 108 N for 1-15 EMG inputs.
      The best-fit muscle strategy better described the EMG-driven pattern (R (2) =
      0.94; RMSE = 19 N) than the static optimization solution (R (2) = 0.38; RMSE = 61
      N). Possible forces for 27 of 34 muscles varied between zero and the peak muscle
      force, inducing a peak hip force of 11.3 body-weights. Plausible muscle forces
      closely matched the selected EMG patterns; no effect of the EMG constraint was
      observed on the remaining muscle force ranges. The model can be used to study
      alternative muscle recruitment strategies in both physiological and
      pathophysiological neuromotor conditions. 

PMID- 25844156
TI  - Coupling intercellular molecular signalling with multicellular deformation for
      simulating three-dimensional tissue morphogenesis.
AB  - During morphogenesis, three-dimensional (3D) multicellular structures emerge from
      biochemical and mechanical interplays among cells. In particular, by organizing
      their gradient within tissues, the diffusible signalling molecules play an
      essential role in producing the spatio-temporal patterns of cell status such as
      the differentiation states. Notably, this biochemical patterning can be
      dynamically coupled with multicellular deformations by signal-dependent cell
      activities such as contraction, adhesion, migration, proliferation and apoptosis.
      However, the mechanism by which these cellular activities mediate the
      interactions between multicellular deformations and patterning is still unknown.
      Herein, we propose a novel framework of a 3D vertex model to express molecular
      signalling among the mechanically deforming cells. By specifying a density of
      signalling molecules for each cell, we express their transport between
      neighbouring cells. By simulating signal-dependent epithelial growth, we found
      various types of tissue morphogenesis such as arrest, expansion, invagination and
      evagination. In the expansion phase, growth molecules were widely diffused with
      increasing tissue volume, which diluted the growth molecules in order to support
      the autonomous suppression of tissue growth. These results indicate that the
      proposed model successfully expresses 3D multicellular deformations dynamically
      coupled with biochemical patterning. We expect our proposed model to be a useful
      tool for predicting new phenomena emerging from mechanochemical coupling in
      multicellular morphogenesis. 

PMID- 25844157
TI  - The inter-sample structural variability of regular tissue-engineered scaffolds
      significantly affects the micromechanical local cell environment.
AB  - Rapid prototyping techniques have been widely used in tissue engineering to
      fabricate scaffolds with controlled architecture. Despite the ability of these
      techniques to fabricate regular structures, the consistency with which these
      regular structures are produced throughout the scaffold and from one scaffold to
      another needs to be quantified. Small variations at the pore level can affect the
      local mechanical stimuli sensed by the cells thereby affecting the final tissue
      properties. Most studies assume rapid prototyping scaffolds as regular structures
      without quantifying the local mechanical stimuli at the cell level. In this
      study, a computational method using a micro-computed tomography-based scaffold
      geometry was developed to characterize the mechanical stimuli within a real
      scaffold at the pore level. Five samples from a commercial polycaprolactone
      scaffold were analysed and computational fluid dynamics analyses were created to
      compare local velocity and shear stress values at the same scaffold location. The
      five samples did not replicate the computer-aided design (CAD) scaffold and
      velocity and shear stress values were up to five times higher than the ones
      calculated in the CAD scaffold. In addition high variability among samples was
      found: at the same location velocity and shear stress values could be up to two
      times higher from sample to sample. This study shows that regular scaffolds need
      to be thoroughly analysed in order to quantify real cell mechanical stimuli so
      inspection methods should be included as part of the fabrication process. 

PMID- 25844159
TI  - PRN: a preprint service for catalyzing R-fMRI and neuroscience related studies.
AB  - Sharing drafts of scientific manuscripts on preprint hosting services for early
      exposure and pre-publication feedback is a well-accepted practice in fields such
      as physics, astronomy, or mathematics. The field of neuroscience, however, has
      yet to adopt the preprint model. A reason for this reluctance might partly be the
      lack of central preprint services for the field of neuroscience. To address this
      issue, we announce the launch of Preprints of the R-fMRI Network (PRN), a
      community funded preprint hosting service. PRN provides free-submission and free
      hosting of manuscripts for resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R
      fMRI) and neuroscience related studies. Submissions will be peer viewed and
      receive feedback from readers and a panel of invited consultants of the R-fMRI
      Network. All manuscripts and feedback will be freely available online with
      citable permanent URL for open-access. The goal of PRN is to supplement the "peer
      reviewed" journal publication system - by more rapidly communicating the latest
      research achievements throughout the world. We hope PRN will help the field to
      embrace the preprint model and thus further accelerate R-fMRI and neuroscience
      related studies, eventually enhancing human mental health. 

PMID- 25844160
TI  - Promoting self-management through adherence among heart failure patients
      discharged from rural hospitals: a study protocol.
AB  - Background Heart failure is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in
      adults, leading to prolonged morbidity, repeated hospitalizations, and placing
      tremendous economic burden on the healthcare system. Heart failure patients
      discharged from rural hospitals, or primarily critical access hospitals, have
      higher 30-day readmission and mortality rates compared to patients discharged
      from urban hospitals. Self-management improves heart failure patients' health
      outcomes and reduces re-hospitalizations, but adherence to self-management
      guidelines is low. We propose a home based post-acute care service managed by
      advanced practice nurses to enhance patient activation and lead to the
      improvement of self-management adherence in heart failure patients discharged
      from rural hospitals. Objective This article describes the study design and
      research methods used to implement and evaluate the intervention. Method Our
      intervention is a 12-week patient activation (Patient AcTivated Care at Home
      [PATCH]) to improve self-management adherence. Patients were randomized into two
      parallel groups (12-week PATCH intervention + usual care vs. usual care only) to
      evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention. Outcomes were measured at
      baseline, 3 and 6 months. Discussion This study aimed to examine the
      effectiveness of a rural theory based, advance practice nurse led, activation
      enhancing intervention on the self-management adherence in heart failure patients
      residing in rural areas. Our expectation is to facilitate adherence to self
      management behaviors in heart failure patients following discharge from rural
      hospitals and decrease complications and hospital readmissions, leading to the
      reduction of economic burden.  CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
      ClinicalTrials.gov; https://register.clinicaltrials.gov/ NCT01964053.

PMID- 25844158
TI  - The role of autophagy induced by tumor microenvironment in different cells and
      stages of cancer.
AB  - Development of a tumor is a very complex process, and invasion and metastasis of
      malignant tumors are hallmarks and are difficult problems to overcome. The tumor
      microenvironment plays an important role in controlling tumor fate and autophagy
      induced by the tumor microenvironment is attracting more and more attention.
      Autophagy can be induced by several stressors in the tumor microenvironment and
      autophagy modifies the tumor microenvironment, too. Autophagy has dual roles in
      tumor growth. In this review, we discussed the interaction between autophagy and
      the tumor microenvironment and the paradoxical roles of autophagy on tumor growth
      at different stages of tumor development. 

PMID- 25844161
TI  - Case Report: Persistent erectile dysfunction in a man with prolactinoma.
AB  - Erectile dysfunction has been explored as a condition secondary to elevated
      prolactin; however, the mechanisms by which elevated prolactin levels cause
      erectile dysfunction have not yet been clearly established. We here present a
      patient with a history of prolactinoma who suffered from persistent erectile
      dysfunction despite testosterone supplementation and pharmacological and surgical
      treatment for the prolactinoma.  Patients who have had both prolactinemia and
      erectile dysfunction have been reported in the literature, but we find no report
      of a patient with persistent erectile dysfunction in the setting of testosterone
      supplementation and persistent hyperprolactinemia refractory to treatment. This
      case provides evidence supporting the idea that suppression of erectile function
      occurs in both the central and peripheral nervous systems independent of the
      hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. 

PMID- 25844162
TI  - The role of globalization in drug development and access to orphan drugs: orphan
      drug legislation in the US/EU and in Latin America.
AB  - Compared to a decade ago, nearly three times as many drugs for rare diseases are
      slated for development. This article addresses the market access issues
      associated with orphan drug status in Europe and the United States in contrast to
      the legislation in five Latin American (LA) countries that have made strides in
      this regard--Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Argentina. Based on the success
      of orphan drug legislation in the EU and US, LA countries should strive to adopt
      similar strategies with regard to rare diseases and drug development. With the
      implementation of new targeted regulations, reimbursement strategies, and drug
      approvals, accessibility to treatment will be improved for people afflicted with
      rare diseases in these developing countries. 

PMID- 25844163
TI  - BODIPY-BODIPY dyad: assessing the potential as a viscometer for molecular and
      ionic liquids.
AB  - A symmetrical BODIPY-BODIPY dyad with a diyne linker was prepared in two steps;
      the lifetime decay of this rotor appeared to correlate with the viscosity of the
      media, thus making this dyad a suitable small molecule viscometer for molecular
      solvents. The potential of using the rotor to probe the viscosity of ionic
      liquids was also investigated.

PMID- 25844164
TI  - Salvage Regimens Containing Darunavir, Etravirine, Raltegravir, or Enfuvirtide in
      Highly Treatment-Experienced Perinatally Infected Pregnant Women.
AB  - Combination antiretroviral therapy in pregnant women with human immunodeficiency
      virus has dramatically decreased maternal-to-child transmission. Highly treatment
      experienced pregnant patients have limited effective treatment options due to
      past toxicities and viral resistance. We present 8 pregnancies in 7 perinatally
      infected women successfully treated with salvage regimens containing darunavir,
      etravirine, raltegravir, or enfuvirtide. 

PMID- 25844165
TI  - Molecular Epidemiology of Recurrent Cutaneous Methicillin-Resistant
      Staphylococcus aureus Infections in Children.
AB  - We assessed the relatedness by repetitive-sequence polymerase chain reaction of
      isolates obtained from children with recurrent methicillin-resistant
      Staphylococcus aureus cutaneous infections over 6 years. Ninety percent of the
      cases could be attributed to recurrence of the same strain type, suggesting that
      optimized decolonization methods in children might effectively prevent recurrent
      infection. 

PMID- 25844167
TI  - The Medicaid Cost of Palivizumab.

PMID- 25844166
TI  - Susceptibility to Measles Among Perinatally HIV-Infected Adolescents and Young
      Adults.
AB  - Among our cohort of adolescents and young adults with perinatally acquired human
      immunodeficiency virus, few (17.6%) had measles protective antibodies by plaque
      reduction neutralization (PRN). Agreement was demonstrated between the commercial
      enzyme immunoassay and the PRN assay (K = 0.59 [95% confidence interval: 0.23
      0.95]). Further studies are needed to understand the determinants of immunity in
      this population. 

PMID- 25844169
TI  - Survey of the literature for march 2015 issue of sexual medicine journal.

PMID- 25844168
TI  - Evaluating the quality of feed fats and oils and their effects on pig growth
      performance.
AB  - Feed fats and oils provide significant amounts of energy to swine diets, but
      there is large variation in composition, quality, feeding value, and price among
      sources. Common measures of lipid quality include moisture, insolubles, and
      unsaponifiables (MIU), titer, and free fatty acid content, but provide limited
      information regarding their feeding value. Lipid peroxidation is an important
      quality factor related to animal growth performance and health, but maximum
      tolerable limits in various lipids have not been established. Several indicative
      assays can be used to detect the presence of various peroxidation compounds, but
      due to the complexity and numerous compounds produced and degraded during
      peroxidation process, no single method can adequately determine the extent of
      peroxidation. Until further information is available, using a combination of
      peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and anisidine
      value appear to provide a reasonable assessment of the extent of peroxidation in
      a lipid at a reasonable cost. However, fatty acid composition of the lipid being
      evaluated should be considered when selecting specific assays. Predictive tests
      can also be used to estimate the stability or susceptibility of lipids to
      peroxidation and include active oxygen method, oil stability index, and oxygen
      bomb method. A review of 16 published studies with pigs has shown an average
      decrease of 11.4% in growth rate, 8.8% feed intake fed isocaloric diets
      containing peroxidized lipids compared to diets containing unperoxidized lipids
      of the same source. Furthermore, serum vitamin E content was generally reduced
      and serum TBARS content was increased when peroxidized lipids were fed in these
      studies, suggesting that feeding peroxidized lipids negatively affects metabolic
      oxidative status of pigs. However, it is unclear if antioxidants are useful
      additions to lipids to maintain optimal nutritional value, or if their addition
      to swine diets is beneficial in overcoming a metabolic oxidative challenge. 

PMID- 25844170
TI  - Using an FSDS-R Item to Screen for Sexually Related Distress: A MsFLASH Analysis.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The Female Sexual Distress Scale-Revised (FSDS-R) was created and
      validated to assess distress associated with impaired sexual function, but it is
      lengthy for use in clinical practice and research when assessing sexual function
      is not a primary objective. AIM: The study aims to evaluate whether a single item
      from the FSDS-R could be identified to use to screen midlife women for bothersome
      diminution in sexual function based on three criteria: (i) highly correlated with
      total scores; (ii) correlated with commonly assessed domains of female sexual
      functioning; and (iii) able to differentiate between women reporting high and low
      sexual concerns during the prior month. METHODS: Data from 93 midlife women were
      collected by the Menopause Strategies Finding Lasting Answers to Symptoms and
      Health (MsFLASH) research network. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Women completed the
      FSDS-R, Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), and Menopausal Quality of Life Scale
      (MENQOL). Those who reported a change in the past month on the MENQOL sexual were
      categorized into a high sexual concerns group, while all others were categorized
      into a low sexual concerns group. RESULTS: Women were an average of 54.6 years
      old (SD 3.1) and mostly Caucasian (77.4%), college educated (60.2%),
      married/living as married (64.5%), and postmenopausal (79.6%). The FSDS-R item
      number 1 "Distressed about sex life" was: (i) highly correlated with FSDS-R total
      scores (r = 0.90); (ii) moderately correlated with FSFI total scores (r = -0.38)
      and FSFI desire (r = -0.37) and satisfaction domains (r = -0.40); and (iii)
      showed one of the largest mean differences between high and low sexual concerns
      groups (P < 0.001). Other FSDS-R items met one or two, but not all three of the
      prespecified criteria (i, ii, iii). CONCLUSIONS: A single FSDS-R item may be a
      useful screening tool to quickly identify midlife women with sexually related
      distress when it is not feasible to administer the entire scale, though further
      validation is warranted. Carpenter JS, Reed SD, Guthrie KA, Larson JC, Newton KM,
      Lau RJ, Learman LA, and Shifren JL. Using an FSDS-R item to screen for sexually
      related distress: A MsFLASH analysis. Sex Med 2015;3:7-13.

PMID- 25844171
TI  - Painful intercourse is significantly associated with evoked pain perception and
      cognitive aspects of pain in women with pelvic pain.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Evidence suggests that painful intercourse, pain-related
      psychosocial factors, and altered pain processing magnify the pain experience,
      but it is not clear how these factors are related to each other. AIM: The aims
      were to (i) characterize differences between women with pelvic pain and pain-free
      women using a battery of pain-related psychosocial measures, clinical pain
      ratings, and evoked local and remote pain sensitivity; and (ii) examine the
      relationship between intercourse pain, clinical pain, and local and remote evoked
      pain sensitivity. METHODS: Women with pelvic pain lasting at least 3 months and
      pain-free women completed questionnaires and underwent pain sensitivity testing.
      Self-report measures included clinical pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, pain
      related fear, pain anxiety, depression, sexual function, and self-efficacy. Pain
      sensitivity measures included threshold and tolerance and temporal summation of
      pain. Separate analyses of variance (anova) were used to test group differences
      in self-report and pain sensitivity measures. Correlations were calculated among
      dyspareunia, psychosocial factors, and evoked pain. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self
      reported pain and pain sensitivity measures. RESULTS: Twenty-eight pain-free
      women and 14 women with pelvic pain participated in this study. Women with pelvic
      pain reported greater pain intensity and greater psychosocial involvement
      compared with pain-free women. No differences existed between groups for thermal
      or pressure measures, but women with pelvic pain rated their pain with pain
      testing significantly higher than pain-free women. Intercourse pain was
      significantly associated with affective and sensory pain and pressure pain
      ratings at the puborectalis, vulvar vestibule, adductor longus tendons, and
      tibialis anterior muscle. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in local pain ratings suggest
      that women with pelvic pain perceive stimuli in this region as more painful than
      pain-free women although the magnitude of stimuli does not differ. Alappattu MJ,
      George SZ, Robinson ME, Fillingim RB, Moawad N, LeBrun EW, and Bishop MD. Painful
      intercourse is significantly associated with evoked pain perception and cognitive
      aspects of pain in women with pelvic pain. Sex Med 2015;3:14-23.

PMID- 25844172
TI  - Factors of the HIV Transmission in Men Who Have Sex with Men in Suizhou City from
      2009 to 2013.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The primary transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has
      been recently changing worldwide. In China, HIV transmission through heterosexual
      contact remains the predominant mode, but the prevalence of men who have sex with
      men (MSM) has been increasing. AIM: This article investigated the overall
      epidemic trend and associated high-risk behavior among MSM in Suizhou City and
      explored the government's responses to the epidemic. METHODS: We conducted yearly
      cross-sectional behavioral surveillance surveys among MSM in Suizhou City from
      2009 to 2013. Participation was anonymous and self-completed. Recruitment methods
      were consistently applied in each survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Semi-structured
      questionnaire surveys and yearly work summaries were conducted. RESULTS: Most of
      the MSM groups in Suizhou City were young adults (P < 0.05), well educated (P <
      0.05), and married (P < 0.05). Two years after our interventions, we found an
      increasing trend of condom use during anal sex (P < 0.05), as well as commercial
      sex trade (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: HIV continues to spread rapidly among MSM in
      Suizhou City. The high-risk behavior among MSM remains a hindrance to HIV
      prevention. Innovative intervention approaches are essential for HIV surveillance
      and prevention among MSM in Suizhou City. Yang F, Shi X, He W, Wu S, Wang J, Zhao
      K, Yuan H, Martin K, and Zhang H. Factors of the HIV transmission in men who have
      sex with men in Suizhou City from 2009 to 2013. Sex Med 2015;3:24-31.

PMID- 25844173
TI  - Psychosexual development in men with congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism on
      long-term treatment: a mixed methods study.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) is a rare, genetic,
      reproductive endocrine disorder characterized by absent puberty and infertility.
      Limited information is available on the psychosocial impact of CHH and
      psychosexual development in these patients. AIM: The aim of this study was to
      determine the impact of CHH on psychosexual development in men on long-term
      treatment. METHODS: A sequential mixed methods explanatory design was used.
      First, an online survey (quantitative) was used to quantify the frequency of
      psychosexual problems among CHH men. Second, patient focus groups (qualitative)
      were conducted to explore survey findings in detail and develop a working model
      to guide potential nursing and interdisciplinary interventions. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: Patient characteristics, frequency of body shame, difficulty with
      intimate relationships, and never having been sexually active were assessed.
      Additionally, we collected subjective patient-reported outcomes regarding the
      impact of CHH on psychological/emotional well-being, intimate relationships, and
      sexual activity. RESULTS: A total of 101 CHH men on long-term treatment (>1 year)
      were included for the analysis of the online survey (mean age 37 +/- 11 years,
      range 19-66, median 36). Half (52/101, 51%) of the men had been seen at a
      specialized academic center and 37/101 (37%) reported having had fertility
      inducing treatment. A high percentage of CHH men experience psychosexual problems
      including difficulty with intimate relationships (70%) and body image
      concerns/body shame (94/101, 93%), and the percentage of men never having been
      sexually active is five times the rate in a reference group (26% vs. 5.4%, P <
      0.001). Focus groups revealed persisting body shame and low self-esteem despite
      long-term treatment that has lasting impact on psychosexual functioning.
      CONCLUSIONS: CHH men frequently experience psychosexual problems that pose
      barriers to intimate relationships and initiating sexual activity. These
      lingering effects cause significant distress and are not ameliorated by long-term
      treatment. Psychosexual assessment in CHH men with appropriate psychological
      support and treatment should be warranted in these patients. Dwyer AA, Quinton R,
      Pitteloud N, and Morin D. Psychosexual development in men with congenital
      hypogonadotropic hypogonadism on long-term treatment: A mixed methods study. Sex
      Med 2015;3:32-41.

PMID- 25844174
TI  - Is it worth continuing sexual rehabilitation after radical prostatectomy with
      intracavernous injection of alprostadil for more than 1 year?
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Intracavernous alprostadil injection (IAI) is a widely used
      treatment for sexual rehabilitation (SR) after radical prostatectomy (RP). It is
      unknown whether the continuation of IAI beyond 1 year continues to improve
      erectile function. AIMS: To assess evolution of sexual function in patients using
      IAI who are nonresponsive to phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5i) between
      12 (M12) and 24 (M24) months after RP. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 75 men
      with a nerve-sparing laparoscopic RP, who had normal preoperative erectile
      function, and who regularly used IAI for SR for at least 24 months. At M12, no
      patients had responded to PDE5i. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: At 12 and 24 months,
      sexual function was assessed with the UCLA Prostate Cancer Index (UCLA-PCI),
      International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF)-15, and erection hardness score
      (EHS) with and without IAI. We also assessed the satisfaction rate with IAI,
      injection-related penile pain, and satisfaction of treatment. Statistical
      analysis was performed by using t-tests for paired data and Spearman's rho
      correlation coefficients to assess the relationships between scores at M12 and
      M24. RESULTS: Improvement of nocturnal erection was noted (UCLA-PCI, question
      25); however, no significant difference was found for IIEF-erectile function with
      (19.60 +/- 9.80 vs. 18.07 +/- 10.44) and without IAI (4.63 +/- 2.93 vs. 4.92 +/-
      4.15), UCLA-PCI-sexual bother (37.14 +/- 21.45 vs. 37.54 +/- 19.67), nor the EHS
      score with (2.97 +/- 1.30 vs. 2.57 +/- 1.30) and without IAI (0.67 +/- 1.11 vs.
      0.76 +/- 0.10). The rate of satisfaction with treatment decreased over time
      (66.6% vs. 46.7%, P = 0.013). Improved response to IAI at M12 was not correlated
      to improvement in spontaneous erections at M24. CONCLUSION: The response to IAI
      remained stable after 2 years of treatment, and no significant improvement of
      spontaneous erections during intercourse attempts was found between M12 and M24.
      Patients should be informed of the limited effect of IAI on natural erections
      after 1 year. Yiou R, Butow Z, Parisot J, Binhas M, Lingombet O, Augustin D, de
      la Taille A, and Audureau E. Is it worth continuing sexual rehabilitation after
      radical prostatectomy with intracavernous injection of alprostadil for more than
      1 year? Sex Med 2015;3:42-48.

PMID- 25844175
TI  - Surgical management of traumatic penile amputation: a case report and review of
      the world literature.
AB  - INTRODUCTION: There is paucity of case reports that describe the successful
      reimplantation of a penis after amputation. We sought to report on self-inflicted
      penile amputation and comment on its surgical management and review current
      literature. AIM: To report on self-inflicted penile amputation and comment on its
      surgical management and review current literature. METHODS: A 19-year-old male
      with no prior medical history presented to our university-affiliated trauma
      center following sustaining a self-inflicted amputation of shaft penis secondary
      to severe methamphetamine-induced psychosis. He immediately underwent extensive
      reconstructive reimplantation of the penis performed jointly by plastics and
      urology teams reattaching all visible neurovascular bundles, urethra, and
      corporal and fascial layers. The patient was discharged with a suprapubic tube in
      place and a Foley catheter in place with well-healing tissue. MAIN OUTCOME
      MEASURES: To review the current published literature and case reports on the
      management of penile amputation with particular emphasis its etiology, surgical
      repairs, potential complications and functional outcomes. RESULTS: We report
      herein a case of a traumatic penile amputation and successful outcome of
      microscopic reimplantation and review of the published literature with particular
      comments on surgical managements. CONCLUSION: We review the literature and case
      reports on penile amputation and its etiology, surgical management, variables
      effecting outcomes, and its complications. Raheem OA, Mirheydar HS, Patel ND,
      Patel SH, Suliman A, and Buckley JC. Surgical management of traumatic penile
      amputation: A case report and review of the world literature. Sex Med 2015;3:49
      53.

PMID- 25844178
TI  - Crystal structure of chlorido-(2-{1-[2-(4-chloro-phen-yl)hydrazin-1-yl-idene
      kappaN]eth-yl}pyridine-kappaN)(eta(5)-penta-methyl-cyclo-penta-dien
      yl)rhodium(III) chloride.
AB  - The cation of the title compound, [Rh(eta(5)-C5Me5)Cl(C13H12ClN3)]Cl, adopts a
      typical piano-stool geometry. The complex is chiral at the metal and crystallizes
      as a racemate. Upon coordination, the hydrazinyl-idene-pyridine ligand is non
      planar, an angle of 54.42 (7) degrees  being observed between the pyridine ring
      and the aromatic ring of the [2-(4-chloro-phen-yl)hydrazin-1-yl-idene]ethyl
      group. In the crystal, a weak inter-ionic N-H?Cl hydrogen bond is observed. 

PMID- 25844177
TI  - Functionalized scaffolds to enhance tissue regeneration.
AB  - Tissue engineering scaffolds play a vital role in regenerative medicine. It not
      only provides a temporary 3-dimensional support during tissue repair, but also
      regulates the cell behavior, such as cell adhesion, proliferation and
      differentiation. In this review, we summarize the development and trends of
      functional scaffolding biomaterials including electrically conducting hydrogels
      and nano-composites of hydroxyapatite (HA) and bioactive glasses (BGs) with
      various biodegradable polymers. Furthermore, the progress on the fabrication of
      biomimetic nanofibrous scaffolds from conducting polymers and composites of HA
      and BG via electrospinning, deposition and thermally induced phase separation is
      discussed. Moreover, bioactive molecules and surface properties of scaffolds are
      very important during tissue repair. Bioactive molecule-releasing scaffolds and
      antimicrobial surface coatings for biomedical implants and scaffolds are also
      reviewed.

PMID- 25844179
TI  - Crystal structure of langbeinite-related Rb0.743K0.845Co0.293Ti1.707(PO4)3.
AB  - Potassium rubidium cobalt(II)/titanium(IV) tris-(orthophosphate),
      Rb0.743K0.845Co0.293Ti1.707(PO4)3, has been obtained using a high-temperature
      crystallization method. The obtained compound has a langbeinite-type structure.
      The three-dimensional framework is built up from mixed-occupied (Co/Ti(IV))O6
      octa-hedra (point group symmetry .3.) and PO4 tetra-hedra. The K(+) and Rb(+)
      cations are statistically distributed over two distinct sites (both with site
      symmetry .3.) in the large cavities of the framework. They are surrounded by 12 O
      atoms. 

PMID- 25844180
TI  - Crystal structure of N-{N-[N-acetyl-(S)-leuc-yl]-(S)-leuc-yl}norleucinal (ALLN),
      an inhibitor of proteasome.
AB  - The title compound, C20H37N3O4, also known by the acronym ALLN, is a tripeptidic
      inhibitor of the proteolytic activity of the proteasomes, enzyme complexes
      implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases and other disorders, including
      cancer. The crystal structure of ALLN, solved from synchrotron radiation
      diffraction data, revealed the mol-ecules in extended conformation of the
      backbone and engaging all peptide N and O atoms in inter-molecular hydrogen bonds
      forming an infinite anti-parallel beta-sheet. 

PMID- 25844182
TI  - Crystal structure of N (1)-phenyl-N (4)-[(E)-(pyren-1-yl)methyl-idene]benzene-1,4
      di-amine.
AB  - In the title compound, C29H20N2, the dihedral angles subtended by the central p
      phenyl-enedi-amine ring with respect to the mean plane of the terminal pyrenyl
      ring system (r.m.s. deviation = 0.027 A) and the terminal N-phenyl ring are 29.34
      (4) and 43.43 (7) degrees , respectively. The conformation about the C=N bond is
      E. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked by N-H?pi and C-H?pi inter-actions
      forming chains propagating along the [10-2] direction. These chains are linked
      via pi-pi inter-actions [inter-centroid distances are in the range 3.5569 (11)
      3.708 (1) A], forming slabs lying parallel to (30-4). 

PMID- 25844181
TI  - Crystal structure of 1,1'-[imidazolidine-1,3-diylbis(methyl-ene)]bis-(naphthalen
      2-ol).
AB  - The crystal structure of the title compound, C25H24N2O2, at 173 K has monoclinic
      (C2/c) symmetry. The mol-ecule is located on a crystallographic twofold rotation
      axis with only half a mol-ecule in the asymmetric unit. The imidazolidine ring
      adopts a twist conformation, with a twist about the ring C-C bond. The crystal
      structure shows the anti-clinal disposition of the two (2-hy-droxy-naphthalen-1
      yl)methyl substituents of the imidazolidine ring. The structure displays two
      intra-molecular O-H?N hydrogen bonds, each forming an S(6) ring motif. 

PMID- 25844183
TI  - Crystal structures of 2,3-bis-(4-chloro-phen-yl)-1,3-thia-zolidin-4-one and trans
      2,3-bis-(4-chloro-phen-yl)-1,3-thia-zolidin-4-one 1-oxide.
AB  - In the crystal structures of the title compounds, C15H11Cl2NOS, (1), and
      C15H11Cl2NO2S, (2), wherein (2) is the oxidized form of (1), the thia-zolidine
      ring is attached to two chloro-phenyl rings. The chloro-phenyl ring on the 2
      carbon atom position points in the same direction as that of the S atom in (1),
      while in (2), the S atom points in the opposite direction. The O atom on the
      chiral S atom in (2) is trans to the chloro-phenyl ring on the 2-carbon. The
      chloro-phenyl ring planes in each structure are close to orthogonal, making
      dihedral angles of 78.61 (6) and 87.46 (8) degrees  in (1) and (2), respectively.
      The thia-zolidine ring has a twisted conformation on the S-Cmethine bond in (1),
      and an envelope conformation with the S atom 0.715 (3) A out of the plane of
      other four atoms in (2). In the crystal of (1), mol-ecules are linked by C-H?O
      hydrogen bonds, as well as by slipped parallel pi-pi inter-actions [inter
      centroid distance = 3.840 (3) A] between inversion-related phenyl rings, forming
      sheets parallel to (001). In the crystal of (2), mol-ecules are linked via C-H?O
      and C-H?Cl hydrogen bonds, forming slabs parallel to (001). 

PMID- 25844184
TI  - Crystal structure of hepta-guanidinium nona-hydrogen bis-[alpha-hexa
      molybdoplatinate(IV)] hepta-hydrate.
AB  - The title compound, (CH6N3)7H9[PtMo6O24]2.7H2O, containing the well-known
      Anderson-type heteropolyoxomolybdate, was obtained by recrystallization of its
      powdered guanidinium salt. The protonated O atoms in the polyanion were confirmed
      by electron-density maps, inter-polyanion hydrogen bonds and bond-valance sums
      (BVS). The {[H4.5PtMo6O24]2}(7-) polyanion is the same as that already
      characterized in K7[H4.5PtMo6O24]2.11H2O [space group P-1; Lee & Joo (2010 ?).
      Acta Cryst. E66, i8-i9]. The heteropolyanions form inversion-generated dimers,
      {[H4.5PtMo6O24]2}(7-), held together by each of the four MU3-O-H?MU1-O, two MU2-O
      H?MU2-O hydrogen bonds and one centrosymmetric MU3-O-H-MU3-O hydrogen bond. The H
      atom of the centrosymmetric hydrogen bond is located on an inversion centre. One
      guanidinium ion and one water mol-ecule are equally disordered about a twofold
      rotation axis. 

PMID- 25844185
TI  - Crystal structure and luminescent properties of [1-(biphenyl-4-yl)-1H-imidazole
      kappaN (3)]di-chloridozinc.
AB  - The mononuclear title compound, [ZnCl2(C15H12N2)2], was synthesized by reaction
      of zinc chloride and 1-(biphenyl-4-yl)-1H-imidazole (bpi) under hydro-thermal
      conditions. The Zn(II) atom is tetra-hedrally coordinated by the free imidazole N
      atoms of two bpi ligands and by two Cl atoms. The bpi ligands are not planar,
      with dihedral angles of 37.52 (14) and 42.45 (14) degrees  between the phenyl
      rings and 37.13 (14) and 40.05 (14) degrees  between the phenyl rings and the
      attached imidazole rings, respectively. Mutual pi-pi inter-actions, with a
      centroid-to-centroid distance of 3.751 (2) A between the phenyl and imidazole
      rings of neighbouring ligands, are present, leading to dimers that are arranged
      in rows parallel to [-211]. 

PMID- 25844186
TI  - Crystal structure of (S)-2-[(3S,8S,9S,10R,13S,14S,17R)-3-hy-droxy-10,13-dimethyl
      2,3,4,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17-tetra-deca-hydro-1H-cyclo-penta[a]phenanthren
      17-yl]-N-meth-oxy-N-methyl-pro-pan-amide (Fernholz Weinreb amide).
AB  - The literature compound 3beta-hy-droxy-bis-nor-5-cholenic aldehyde is an
      important inter-mediate for the synthesis of new modulators of the nuclear
      oxysterol receptor Liver X. As part of our ongoing search for new LXR
      antagonists, the title compound, C24H39NO3, has proven to be an important inter
      mediate in our new synthetic pathway, giving the corresponding aldehyde in high
      yield and in only three steps from the commercially available 3beta-hy-droxy-bis
      nor-5-cholenic acid. The title amide crystallized with two mol-ecules in the
      asymmetric unit, linked into helices by O-H?O hydrogen bonds involving the hy
      droxy and carbonyl groups. 

PMID- 25844187
TI  - Crystal structure of the mixed-metal thio-phosphate Nb1.18V0.82PS10.
AB  - The mixed-metal thio-phosphate, Nb1.18V0.82PS10 (niobium vanadium phospho-rus
      deca-sulfide), has been prepared though solid state reactions using an alkali
      metal halide flux. The title compound is isostructural with two-dimensional
      Nb2PS10. [M 2S12] (M = Nb or V) dimers built up from two bicapped trigonal prisms
      and tetra-hedral [PS4] units share sulfur atoms to construct (1) infinity[M
      2PS10] chains along the a axis. These chains are linked through the di-sulfide
      bonds between [PS4] units in adjacent chains to form layers parallel to the ab
      plane. These layers then stack on top of each other to complete the three
      dimensional structure with van der Waals gaps. The M sites are occupied by 59% of
      Nb and 41% of V and the average M-S and M-M distances in the title compound are
      in between those of V2PS10 and Nb2PS10. The classical charge balance of the title
      compound can be represented by [(Nb/V)(4+)]2[P(5+)][S(2-)]3[S(-)]7. 

PMID- 25844188
TI  - Crystal structure of disodium 2-amino-6-oxo-6,7-di-hydro-1H-purine-1,7-diide
      hepta-hydrate.
AB  - In the title compound, disodium 2-amino-6-oxo-6,7-di-hydro-1H-purine-1,7-diide
      hepta-hydrate, 2Na(+).C5H3N5O(2-).7H2O, the structure is composed of alternating
      (100) layers of guanine mol-ecules and hydrated Na(+) ions. Within the guanine
      layer, the mol-ecules are arranged in centrosymmetric pairs, with a partial
      overlap between the guanine rings. In this compound, guanine exists as the amino
      keto tautomer from which deprotonation from N1 and N7 has occurred (purine
      numbering). There are no direct inter-actions between the Na(+) cations and the
      guanine anions. Guanine mol-ecules are linked to neighboring water mol-ecules by
      O-H?N and O-H?O hydrogen bonds into a network structure. 

PMID- 25844189
TI  - Crystal structure of bis-[1-(2-hy-droxy-eth-yl)-2-methyl-5-nitro-1H-imidazole
      kappaN (3)]silver(I) tetra-fluorido-borate methanol monosolvate.
AB  - 1-(2-Hy-droxy-eth-yl)-2-methyl-5-nitro-1H-imidazole (metronidazole, MET) is a
      medication that is used to treat infections by a variety of anaerobic organisms,
      but there are relatively few reports of the structures of metal compounds that
      exhibit coordination of metronidazole. We have demonstrated that MET reacts with
      AgBF4 to give [Ag(MET)2]BF4.CH3OH, in which the Ag(I) cation is coordinated by
      two MET ligands with a trans arrangement. The structure of [Ag(MET)2]BF4 exhibits
      some inter-esting differences from its nitrate counterpart, [Ag(MET)2]NO3 [Fun et
      al. (2008). Acta Cryst. E64, m668]. For instance, although the two MET ligands of
      both [Ag(MET)2]BF4 and [Ag(MET)2]NO3 are almost coplanar, the former compound has
      an anti-like geometry with a mol-ecular inversion center, but the latter has a
      syn-like arrangement. In the crystal, the BF4 (-) anion is linked by an O-H?F
      hydrogen bond to the methanol solvent molecule, which is, in turn, linked to the
      cation by an O-H?O hydrogen bond; the components of the structure are linked by O
      H?O hydrogen bonds, forming chains along [001]. One of the MET ligands and the
      BF4 (-) anion are disordered over two sets of sites with ratios of refined
      occupancies 0.501 (17):0.499 (17) and 0.539 (19):0.461 (19), respectively. 

PMID- 25844190
TI  - Crystal structure of cis-aqua-chlorido-bis-(1,10-phenanthroline-kappa(2)
      N,N')chromium(III) tetra-chlorido-zincate monohydrate from synchrotron data.
AB  - The structure of the title compound, [CrCl(C12H8N2)2(H2O)][ZnCl4].H2O, has been
      determined from synchrotron data. The Cr(III) ion is bonded to four N atoms from
      two 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) ligands, one water mol-ecule and a Cl atom in a
      cis arrangement, displaying an overall distorted octa-hedral coordination
      environment. The Cr-N(phen) bond lengths are in the range of 2.0495 (18) to
      2.0831 (18) A, while the Cr-Cl and Cr-(OH2) bond lengths are 2.2734 (7) and
      1.9986 (17) A, respectively. The tetra-hedral [ZnCl4](2-) anion is slightly
      distorted owing to its involvement in O-H?Cl hydrogen bonding with coordinating
      and non-coordinating water mol-ecules. The two types of water mol-ecules also
      inter-act through O-H?O hydrogen bonds. The observed hydrogen-bonding pattern
      leads to the formation of a three-dimensional network structure. 

PMID- 25844191
TI  - Crystal structure of (18-crown-6)potassium(I) [(1,2,3,4,5-eta)-cyclo-hepta-dien
      yl][(1,2,3-eta)-cyclo-hepta-trien-yl]cobalt(I).
AB  - The reaction of bis-(anthracene)cobaltate(-I) with excess cyclo-hepta-triene,
      C7H8, resulted in a new 18-electron cobaltate containing two different seven
      membered ring ligands, based on single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The asymmetric
      unit of this structure contains two independent cation-anion pairs of the title
      complex, [K(18-crown-6)][Co(eta(3)-C7H7)(eta(5)-C7H9)], where 18-crown-6 stands
      for 1,4,7,10,13,16-hexa-oxa-cyclo-octa-decane (C12H24O6), in general positions
      and well separated. Each (18-crown-6)potassium cation is in contact with the
      eta(3)-coordinating ligand of one cobaltate complex. Each eta(3)-coordinating
      ligand behaves as an allylic anion whose exo-diene moiety is bent away from the
      allylic plane, and thus is not involved directly in the bonding. The metal
      coordinating portions of the anionic eta(5) ligands are planar and one of these
      ligands is modeled as disordered over two positions, with occupancy ratio 0.699
      (5):0.301 (5), such that one orientation is rotated by one carbon atom with
      respect to the other. The diffraction intensities were integrated according to
      non-merohedral twin law [-1 0 0/0 -1 0/0.064 0 1], a 180 degrees  rotation about
      reciprocal lattice axis [001], and the masses of the twin domains refined to
      equal amounts. As both ligands are formally coordinated as anions, the cobalt
      atom is best considered to be Co(I). This compound is of inter-est as the first
      to possess cyclo-hepta-trienyl and cyclo-hepta-dienyl ligands in an anionic metal
      complex. 

PMID- 25844192
TI  - Crystal structure of 2-benzyl-amino-4-(4-bromo-phen-yl)-6,7-di-hydro-5H-cyclo
      penta-[b]pyridine-3-carbo-nitrile.
AB  - In the title compound C22H18BrN3, the cyclo-pentane ring adopts an envelope
      conformation with the central methyl-ene C atom as the flap. The dihedral angles
      between the central pyridine ring and the pendant benzyl and and bromo-benzene
      rings are 82.65 (1) and 47.23 (1) degrees , respectively. In the crystal,
      inversion dimers linked by pairs of N-H?Nn (n = nitrile) hydrogen bonds generate
      R 2 (2)(12) loops. These dimers are linked by weak pi-pi inter-actions [centroid
      centroid distance = 3.7713 (14) A] into a layered structure. 

PMID- 25844193
TI  - Synthese et structure cristalline d'un materiau noir AgMn(II) 3(Mn(III)
      0,26Al0,74)(MoO4)5.
AB  - A new silver aluminium trimangan-ese penta-molybdate {silver(I) trimanganese(II)
      aluminium penta-kis-[tetra-oxidomolybdate(VI)]}, AgMn(II) 3(Mn(III)
      0,26Al0,74)(MoO4)5, has been synthesized using solid-state methods. The structure
      is composed of M 2O10 dimers, M 3O14 (M = Mn, Al) trimers and MoO4 tetra-hedra
      sharing corners and forming three types of layers A, B and B'. The sequence of
      the constituting layers is A-BB'-A-BB', with B' obtained from B by inversion
      symmetry, forming a three-dimensional structure with large channels in which the
      positionally disordered and partially occupied Ag(+) ions reside. The Mn(III) and
      Al(III) atoms share the same site, M. AgMn(II) 3(Mn(III) 0,26Al0,74)(MoO4)5 is
      isotypic with the NaMg3 X(MoO4)5 (X = Al, In) family and with NaFe4(MoO4)5. A
      comparative structural description is provided between the structure of the title
      compound and those of related phases containing dimers, trimers and tetra-mers. 

PMID- 25844194
TI  - Crystal structures of two hydrazinecarbo-thio-amide derivatives: (E)-N-ethyl-2
      [(4-oxo-4H-chromen-3-yl)methyl-idene]hydrazinecarbo-thio-amide hemi-hydrate and
      (E)-2-[(4-chloro-2H-chromen-3-yl)methyl-idene]-N-phenyl-hydrazinecarbo-thio
      amide.
AB  - The title compounds, C13H13N3O2S.0.5H2O, (I), and C17H14ClN3OS, (II), are
      hydrazinecarbo-thio-amide derivatives. Compound (I) crystallizes with two
      independent mol-ecules (A and B) and a water mol-ecule of crystallization in the
      asymmetric unit. The chromene moiety is essentially planar in mol-ecules A and B,
      with maximum deviations of 0.028 (3) and 0.016 (3) A, respectively, for the
      carbonyl C atoms. In (II), the pyran ring of the chromene moiety adopts a screw
      boat conformation and the phenyl ring is inclined by 61.18 (9) degrees  to its
      mean plane. In the crystal of (I), bifurcated N-H?O and C-H?O hydrogen bonds link
      the two independent mol-ecules forming A-B dimers with two R 2 (1)(6) ring
      motifs, and R 2 (2)(10) and R 2 (2)(14) ring motifs. In addition to these, the
      water mol-ecule forms tetra-furcated hydrogen bonds which alternately generate R
      4 (4)(12) and R 6 (6)(22) graph-set ring motifs. There are also pi-pi [inter
      centroid distances = 3.5648 (14) and 3.6825 (15) A] inter-actions present,
      leading to the formation of columns along the c-axis direction. In the crystal of
      (II), mol-ecules are linked by pairs of N-H?S hydrogen bonds, forming inversion
      dimers with an R 2 (2)(8) ring motif. The dimers are linked by C-H?pi inter
      actions, forming ribbons lying parallel to (210). 

PMID- 25844195
TI  - Crystal structure of {(but-3-en-1-yl)bis-[(pyridin-2-yl)meth-yl]amine-kappa(3)
      N,N',N''}di-chlorido-copper(II) diethyl ether hemisolvate.
AB  - The five-coordinate Cu(II) atom in the title complex [CuCl2(C16H19N3)].0.5C4H10O,
      adopts a near-ideal square-pyramidal geometry (tau-5 = 0.01). The apical Cu-Cl
      distance is 0.2626 (6) A longer than the basal Cu-Cl distance. Weak C-H?Cl
      interactions between pyridine rings and the Cl atoms of adjacent complex
      molecules are present. The solvent molecule, located on a twofold rotation axis,
      is situated in the voids of this arrangement. Copper atoms coordinated by
      tridentate nitro-gen-containing ligands have been found to be excellent promoters
      of Atom Transfer Radical Addition (ATRA) reactions. 

PMID- 25844196
TI  - Crystal structure of the di-Mannich base 4,4'-di-chloro-3,3',5,5'-tetra-methyl
      2,2'-[imidazolidine-1,3-diylbis(methyl-ene)]diphenol.
AB  - The title compound, C21H26Cl2N2O2, was prepared in a solvent-free microwave
      assisted synthesis, and crystallizes in the ortho-rhom-bic space group Pna21. The
      imidazolidine ring adopts an envelope conformation and its mean plane is almost
      perpendicular to the two pendant aromatic rings [dihedral angles = 84.61 (9) and
      86.54 (9) degrees ]. The mol-ecular structure shows the presence of two intra
      molecular O-H?N hydrogen bonds between the phenolic hy-droxy groups and
      imidazolidine N atoms. The two 3-chloro-6-hy-droxy-2,4-di-methyl-benzyl groups
      are located in a cis orientation with respect to the imidazolidine fragment. As a
      result, the lone pairs of electrons on the N atoms are presumed to be disposed in
      a syn conformation. This is therefore the first example of an exception to the
      'rabbit-ears' effect in such 2,2'-[imidazolidine-1,3-diylbis(methyl-ene)]diphenol
      derivatives. 

PMID- 25844197
TI  - Crystal structure of 4-methyl-N-[(4-methyl-pyridin-2-yl)carbamo-thioyl]
      benzamide.
AB  - In the title compound, C15H15N3OS, the dihedral angle between the planes of the
      benzene and pyridine rings is 26.86 (9) degrees . Intra-molecular N-H?O and C-H?S
      hydrogen bonds both generate S(6) rings. The C=O and C=S bonds lie to opposite
      sides of the mol-ecule. In the crystal, inversion dimers linked by pairs of N-H?S
      hydrogen bonds generate R 2 (2)(8) loops. 

PMID- 25844198
TI  - Structure cristalline du compose intermetallique Ni18Ge12.
AB  - Single crystals of octa-deca-nickel dodeca-germanide were grown by chemical
      transport reaction. The inter-metallic compound crystallizes in a superstructure
      of the hexa-gonal NiAs type (B8 type). All atoms in the asymmetric unit lie on
      special positions except one Ni atom (two Ni atoms have site symmetry -6.. and
      another one has site symmetry .2. while the Ge atoms have site symmetries 32.,
      m.. and 3..). In the structure, the Ni atoms are arranged in 11- or 13-vertex
      polyhedra (CN = 11-13). The coordination polyhedra of the Ge atoms are bicapped
      square anti-prisms (CN = 10) or 11-vertex polyhedra (CN = 11). The structure
      exhibits strong Ge?Ni inter-actions, but no close Ge?Ge contacts are observed.
      The Ni atoms with CN = 13 form infinite chains along [001] with an Ni-Ni distance
      of 2.491 (2) A. 

PMID- 25844199
TI  - Crystal structure of tetra-aquabis(1,3-dimethyl-2,6-dioxo-3,7-di-hydro-1H-purin-9
      ido)magnesium.
AB  - The title complex, [Mg(C7H7N4O2)2(H2O)4], lies across an inversion centre and the
      Mg(II) atom is coordinated in a slightly distorted octa-hedral environment by
      four aqua ligands in the equatorial sites and two 1,3-dimethyl-2,6-dioxo-3,7-di
      hydro-1H-purin-9-ide ligands, through imidazole ring N atoms, in the axial sites.
      An intra-molecular O-H?O hydrogen bond forms an S(7) graph-set motif. In the
      crystal, O-H?O and O-H?N hydrogen bonds link complex mol-ecules forming a three
      dimensional network incorporating R 4 (2)(8) and R 2 (2)(18) graph-set motifs. 

PMID- 25844201
TI  - Crystal structure of 1-bromo-2-(phenyl-selen-yl)benzene.
AB  - In the title compound, C12H9BrSe, the Se atom exhibits a bent geometry, with a C
      Se-C bond angle of 99.19 (6) degrees . The ortho Se and Br atoms are slightly
      displaced from opposite faces of the mean plane of the benzene ring [by 0.129 (2)
      and 0.052 (2) A, respectively]. The planes of the benzene and phenyl rings form a
      dihedral angle of 72.69 (5) degrees . In the crystal, pi-stacking inter-actions
      between inversion-related phenyl rings are observed, with a centroid-centroid
      distance of 3.630 (1) A. 

PMID- 25844200
TI  - Crystal structure of bis-(MU2-4-tert-butyl-2-formyl-phenolato)-1:2kappa(3) O
      (1),O (2):O (1);3:4kappa(3) O (1),O (2):O (1)-bis-(4-tert-butyl-2-formyl
      phenolato)-2kappa(2) O (1),O (2);4kappa(2) O (1),O (2)-di-MU3-methoxido
      1:2:3kappa(3) O;1:3:4kappa(3) O-di-MU2-methoxido-1:4kappa(2) O;2:3kappa(2) O
      tetra-copper(II).
AB  - The structure of the title compound, [Cu4(CH3O)4(C11H13O2)4], consists of dimeric
      dinuclear copper(II) complexes oriented around a centre of inversion. Within each
      dinuclear fragment, the two Cu(II) atoms are in a distorted square-planar
      coordination sphere. Two neighbouring fragments are linked by four apical Cu-O
      contacts, yielding an overall square-pyramidal coordination environment for each
      of the four Cu(II) atoms. The mol-ecules are arranged in layers parallel to
      (101). Non-classical C-H?O hydrogen-bonding inter-actions are observed between
      the layers. 

PMID- 25844202
TI  - Crystal structure study of a cobaltoan dolomite from Kolwezi, Democratic Republic
      of Congo.
AB  - A structural study has been undertaken on a cobaltoan dolomite, with chemical
      formula CaMg0.83Co0.17(CO3)2 (cal-cium magnesium cobalt dicarbonate), from
      Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo. Pale-pink euhedral cobaltoan dolomite was
      associated with kolwezite [(Cu1.33Co0.67)(CO3)(OH)2] and cobaltoan malachite
      [(Cu,Co)2(CO3)(OH)2]. A crystal with a Co:Mg ratio of 1:5.6 (SEM/EDAX
      measurement), twinned on (11 -2 0) was used for crystal structural refinement.
      The refinement of the structural model of Reeder & Wenk [Am. Mineral. (1983 ?),
      68, 769-776; Ca at site 3a with site symmetry -3; Mg site at site 3b with site
      symmetry -3; C at site 6c with site symmetry 3; O at site 18f with site symmetry
      1] showed that Co is totally incorporated in the Mg site, with refined occupancy
      Mg0.83Co0.17, which compares with Mg0.85Co0.15 from chemical data. The Co
      substitution reflects in the expansion of the cell volume, with a pronounced
      increasing of the c cell parameter. 

PMID- 25844203
TI  - Crystal structure of catena-poly[silver(I)-MU-l-tyrosinato-kappa(2) O:N].
AB  - The title compound, [Ag(C9H10NO3)] n , is a polymeric silver(I) complex of l
      tyrosine. The Ag(I) atom is connected to N and O atoms of two different l
      tyrosine ligands in an almost linear arrangement, with an N(i)-Ag-O1 bond angle
      of 173.4 (2) degrees  [symmetry code: (i) x + 1, y, z]. The Ag-N(i) and Ag-O bond
      lengths are 2.156 (5) and 2.162 (4) A, respectively. The polymeric chains extend
      along the crystallographic a axis. Strong hydrogen bonds of the N-H?O and O-H?O
      types and additional C-H?O inter-actions connect these chains into a double-layer
      polymeric network in the ab plane. 

PMID- 25844204
TI  - Crystal structure of catena-poly[[tri-methyl-tin(IV)]-MU-2-(2-nitro-phen
      yl)acetato-kappa(2) O:O'].
AB  - In the title one-dimensional coordination polymer, [Sn(CH3)3(C8H6NO4)] n , the
      Sn(IV) atom is coordinated by three methyl C atoms and two carboxyl-ate O atoms
      (one symmetry generated), resulting in an almost regular SnC3O2 trigonal pyramid.
      The C atoms occupy the equatorial sites and the O atoms occupy the axial sites.
      In the ligand, the dihedral angles between the benzene ring and the pendant
      acetate and nitro groups are 57.7 (1) and 36.9 (3) degrees , respectively. The
      bridging ligand leads to [010] chains in the crystal, with adjacent metal atoms
      related by a 21 screw axis. A weak pi-pi inter-action exists between the
      centroids of symmetry-related benzene rings at a distance of 3.9131 (19) A. 

PMID- 25844205
TI  - Crystal structure of [1-(2,6-diiso-propyl-phen-yl)-2,4-bis-(di-methyl-amino)-5
      tri-methyl-silyl-1,3,5-tri-aza-penta-dienyl-kappa(2) N (1),N (5)](tri-phenyl
      phosphane-kappaP)copper(I).
AB  - The title complex, [Cu(C21H38N5Si)(C18H15P)], was obtained from the one-pot
      reaction between (Dipp)N(Li)SiMe3 (Dipp = 2,6-diiso-propyl-phen-yl), Me2NCN, CuCl
      and PPh3. The Cu(I) atom has a distorted trigonal-planar coordination sphere. The
      tri-aza-penta-dienyl ligand acts as a kappa(2)-donor. The N-Cu-N bond angle is
      95.88 (14) degrees . In the tri-aza-penta-dienyl fragment, the C-N bond lengths
      are in the range 1.328 (5)-1.349 (5) A, which indicates delocalization of the pi
      electrons in the NCNCN system. 

PMID- 25844206
TI  - Crystal structure of di-aqua-(MU2-tri-ethyl-ene-tetra-minehexa-acetato)-dizinc
      tetra-hydrate.
AB  - The reaction of ZnO and tri-ethyl-ene-tetra-minehexaacetic acid (H6TTHA) in
      aqueous solution after refluxing yields the binuclear title compound,
      [Zn2(C18H26N4O12)(H2O)2].4H2O. There is a centre of symmetry in the
      [Zn2(H2TTHA)(H2O)2] mol-ecule in the crystalline state. Both Zn(II) ions are
      octahedrally surrounded and bound by an N2O3 donor set from the H2TTHA(4-) anion
      and a water mol-ecule; the N atoms are cis and the water mol-ecule is trans to an
      N atom. The Zn?Zn separation is 7.562 (1) A. An intra-molecular C-H?O inter
      action is observed and both carboxyl-ate H atoms are disordered over two adjacent
      sites. In the crystal, the components are linked by O-H?O and C-H?O hydrogen
      bonds generating a three-dimensonal network. 

PMID- 25844207
TI  - Crystal structure of bis-(1-methyl-1H-imidazole-kappaN (3))(5,10,15,20-tetra
      phenyl-porphyrinato-kappa(4) N)iron(II)-1-methyl-1H-imidazole (1/2).
AB  - The title compound, [Fe(C44H28N4)(C4H6N2)2].2C4H6N2, is a six-coordinate Fe(II)
      porphyrinate complex with the metal located on a center of inversion and
      coordinated by two axial 1-methyl-imidazole ligands; the complex crystallizes as
      a 1-methyl-imidazole disolvate. The 1-methyl-imidazole group bonded to the Fe(II)
      atom [occupancy ratio 0.789 (4):0.211 (4)] and the unbound 1-methyl-imidazole mol
      ecule [0.519 (4):0.481 (4)] were disordered. The average Fe-N(porphyrinate) bond
      length is 1.998 (3) A and the axial Fe-N(imidazole) bond length is 1.9970 (12) A.
      In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked into a three-mol-ecule aggregate by two
      weak C-H?N inter-actions. 

PMID- 25844208
TI  - Tetra-aqua-bis-[2-(2-nitro-phen-yl)acetato-kappaO]cobalt(II).
AB  - The mol-ecule of the title compound, [Co(C8H6NO4)2(H2O)4], is centrosymmetric. It
      is a cobalt(II) complex, bearing two (2-nitro-phen-yl)acetate and four aqua
      ligands. The coordination around the Co(II) atom is distorted octa-hedral,
      defined by four O atoms of water mol-ecules in the equatorial plane and by two
      carboxyl-ate O atoms at axial positions. The dihedral angles between the benzene
      ring and the acetate and nitro groups are 61.90 (10) and 19.21 (11) degrees ,
      respectively. The water mol-ecules form O-H?O hydrogen bonds with the nitro and
      carboxyl-ate groups, leading to a layered structural arrangement parallel to
      (001). 

PMID- 25844209
TI  - Crystal structure of [1,3-bis-(di-phenyl-phosphan-yl)propane-kappa(2) P,P'](N,N'
      di-methyl-thio-urea-kappaS)(thio-cyanato-kappaN)copper(I).
AB  - The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [Cu(NCS)(C3H8N2S)(C27H26P2)], contains
      two independent mononuclear complex mol-ecules. In each, the Cu(I) ion exhibits a
      distorted tetra-hedral geometry by coordination with two P atoms from one 1,3
      bis(diphenylphosphino)propane (dppm) ligand, one terminal S atom of one N,N'-di
      methyl-thio-urea (dmtu) ligand and one terminal N atom of the thio-cyanato
      ligand. The dppp ligand is involved in a bidentate coordination mode with the
      Cu(I) ion, forming a six-membered CuP2C3 ring. In both mol-ecules, the
      coordination of the dmtu ligand is further stabilized by an intra-molecular N-H?N
      hydrogen bond with an S(6) graph-set motif. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked
      by N-H?S hydrogen bonds forming a zigzag chain along the a-axis direction. In one
      independent mol-ecule, one of the phenyl rings of the dppp ligand is disordered
      over two sites with refined occupancies 0.639 (11):0.361 (11) and this
      corresponds with a mutual disorder of the dmtu ligand in the other independent
      mol-ecule giving the same ratio of refined occupancies. The structure was refined
      as a two-component inversion twin. 

PMID- 25844210
TI  - Crystal structure of bis-[S-hexyl 3-(4-methyl-benzyl-idene)di-thio-carbazato
      kappa(2) N (3),S]palladium(II).
AB  - The whole mol-ecule of the title complex, [Pd(C15H21N2S2)2], is generated by
      twofold rotational symmetry. The palladium(II) atom exhibits a square-planar
      coordination geometry, and is located on the crystallographic twofold axis that
      induces a cis configuration of the N,S chelating ligands. In the crystal, mol
      ecules stack along the c-axis direction and there are no significant inter
      molecular inter-actions present. The structure was refined as an inversion twin
      with a final BASF parameter of 0.34 (2). 

PMID- 25844211
TI  - Crystal structure of chlorido-(2-{[2-(4-chloro-phen-yl)hydrazin-1-yl-idene-kappaN
      (1)](phen-yl)meth-yl}pyridine-kappaN)(eta(5)-penta-methyl-cyclo-penta-dien
      yl)iridium(III) tetra-phenyl-borate.
AB  - The title compound, [Ir(eta(5)-C5Me5)Cl(C18H14ClN3)]B(C6H5)4, is chiral at the
      metal center and crystallizes as a racemate. In the cation, the hydrazinyl-idene
      pyridine ligand is N,N-coordinated through the N-pyridyl and N-hydrazinyl-idene
      groups forming a five-membered metallacycle. An intra-molecular C-H?Cl hydrogen
      bond is observed. In the crystal, centrosymmetrically-related cations are
      connected by C-Cl?pi inter-actions, forming a dimeric structure. The crystal
      packing is further stabilized by weak inter-ionic C-H?pi inter-actions. 

PMID- 25844212
TI  - Crystal structure of 2,2'-bi-pyridine-1,1'-diium tetra-chlorido-zincate.
AB  - In the crystal structure of the title salt, (C10H10N2)[ZnCl4], the bi-pyridine
      diium dication is not planar, with a dihedral angle of 37.21 (9) degrees  between
      the planes of the two pyridine rings. In the crystal, the slightly distorted
      [ZnCl4](2-) anions are packed into rods parallel to [001], with the organic
      cations arranged in corrugated layers parallel to (100). Cations and anions are
      linked through N-H?Cl hydrogen bonds, forming chains parallel to [20-1].
      Additional C-H?Cl inter-actions consolidate the crystal packing. 

PMID- 25844213
TI  - Crystal structure of tri-chlorido-(4'-ferrocenyl-2,2':6',2''-terpyridine-kappa(3)
      N,N',N'')iridium(III) aceto-nitrile disolvate.
AB  - In the title compound, [FeIr(C5H5)(C20H14N3)Cl3].2CH3CN, the central Ir(III) atom
      is sixfold coordinated by three chloride ligands and three terpyridine N atoms in
      a slightly distorted octa-hedral fashion. The terpyridine ligand is
      functionalized at the 4'-position with a ferrocenyl group, the latter being in an
      eclipsed conformation. In the crystal, mol-ecules are stacked in rows parallel to
      [001], with the aceto-nitrile solvent mol-ecules situated between the rows. An
      extensive network of intra- and inter-molecular C-H?Cl inter-actions is present,
      stabilizing the three-dimensional structure. 

PMID- 25844214
TI  - Crystal structure of bis-(eta(5)-cyclo-penta-dien-yl)(1,4-di-tert-butyl-buta-1-en
      3-yn-1-yl)zirconium(IV) MU2-hydroxido-bis-[tris(penta-fluoro-phen-yl)borate].
AB  - Alkyl zirconocene cations have been of considerable inter-est as reactive species
      in many polymerization processes. In the crystal structure of the title compound,
      [Zr(C12H19)(C5H5)2](C36HB2F30O), the [Zr(C5H5)2((t-Bu)C=C(H)-C2(t-Bu))](+) cation
      displays a buta-1-en-3-yne ligand side-on coordinated to a typical bent
      zirconocene [centroid(cp)-Zr-centroid(cp) = 131.4 (3) degrees , Zr-C(buta-1-en-3
      yne) = 2.255 (3), 2.597 (3) and 2.452 (2) A]. In the [HO(B(C6F5)3)2](-) anion,
      intra-molecular O-H?F hydrogen bonds are observed. One tert-butyl group in the
      complex cation is disordered over two sets of sites with occupancies
      0.701(4):0.299(4). 

PMID- 25844215
TI  - Crystal structure of di-aqua-[5,10,15,20-tetra-kis-(4-bromo-phen-yl)porphyrinato
      kappa(4) N]magnesium.
AB  - The title compound, [Mg(C44H24Br4N4)(H2O)2] or [Mg(TBrPP)(H2O)2], where TBrPP is
      the 5,10,15,20-tetra-kis-(4-bromo-phen-yl)porphyrinato ligand, was obtained
      unintentionally as a by-product of the reaction of the [Mg(TBrPP)] complex with
      an excess of di-methyl-glyoxime in di-chloro-methane. The entire mol-ecule
      exhibits point group symmetry 4/m. In the asymmetric unit, except for two C atoms
      of the phenyl ring, all other atoms lie on special positions. The Mg(II) atom is
      situated at a site with symmetry 4/m, while the N and the C atoms of the
      porphyrin macrocycle, as well as two C atoms of the phenyl ring and the Br atom
      lie in the mirror plane containing the porphyrin core. The H atoms of the axially
      bonded water mol-ecule are incompatible with the fourfold rotation axis and are
      disordered over two sites. In the crystal, mol-ecules are packed in rows along
      [001]. Weak inter-molecular C-H?pi and C-H?Br inter-actions, as well as O-H?Br
      hydrogen bonds, stabilize the crystal packing. 

PMID- 25844216
TI  - Crystal structure of ethyl 1',1''-dimethyl-2'',3-dioxo-3H-di-spiro-[benzo[b]thio
      phene-2,3'-pyrrolidine-2',3''-indoline]-4'-carboxyl-ate.
AB  - In the title compound, C23H22N2O4S, the pyrrolidine ring has an envelope
      conformation with the spiro C atom, shared with the indoline ring system, as the
      flap. The mean planes of the benzo-thio-phene and indoline ring systems are
      inclined to the mean plane of the pyrrolidine ring by 88.81 (8) and 79.48 (8)
      degrees , respectively, and to each other by 68.12 (5) degrees . In the crystal,
      mol-ecules are linked via C-H?O hydrogen bonds, forming chains propagating along
      [001]. 

PMID- 25844217
TI  - Crystal structure of rac-3-hy-droxy-2-(p-tol-yl)-2,3,3a,4,7,7a-hexa-hydro-1H-4,7
      methano-isoindol-1-one.
AB  - In the title compound, C16H17NO2, the cyclo-hexene ring adopts a boat
      conformation, and the five-membered rings have envelope conformations with the
      bridging atom as the flap. Their mean planes are oriented at a dihedral angle of
      86.51 (7) degrees . The mol-ecular structure is stabilized by a short intra
      molecular C-H?O contact. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked by O-H?O hydrogen
      bonds forming chains propagating along [100]. The chains are linked by C-H?pi
      inter-actions, forming slabs parallel to (001). 

PMID- 25844218
TI  - Crystal structure of 4-{[(naphthalen-2-yl)sulfonyl-amino]-meth-yl}cyclo-hexa
      necarb-oxy-lic acid.
AB  - The title compound, C18H21NO4S, is a new sulfonamide derivative of tranexamic
      acid. In the crystal, mol-ecules form inversion dimers via O-H?O hydrogen bonds
      involving the carb-oxy-lic acid groups. Hydrogen bonding between the sulfonamide
      N-H group and the carb-oxy-lic acid O atom assembles the dimers into thick layers
      parallel to (100). The naphthalene groups of adjacent layers are arranged in a
      herring-bone motif. There are C-H?pi inter-actions between the naphthalene rings
      of neighbouring layers. 

PMID- 25844219
TI  - Crystal structure of (3S)-3-acet-oxy-17-(pyridin-3-yl)androsta-5,16-diene.
AB  - In the title compound, C26H33NO2 [systematic name: (3S,8R,9S,10R,13S,14S)-10,13
      dimethyl-17-(pyridin-3-yl)-2,3,4,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15-dodeca-hydro-1H-cyclo
      penta-[a]phenanthren-3-yl acetate], the steroid A, B, C and D rings adopt chair,
      half-chair, chair and envelope conformations, respectively. The flap atom of the
      envelope is the methine C atom fused with the C ring. In the crystal, adjacent
      mol-ecules, generated by a 21 screw axis, are linked by weak C-H?O hydrogen
      bonds, forming a C(16) helical chain running along the c-axis direction. 

PMID- 25844220
TI  - Crystal structure of ethyl 2'',3-dioxo-7',7a'-di-hydro-1'H,3H,3'H-di
      spiro[benzo[b]thio-phene-2,6'-pyrrolo-[1,2-c]thia-zole-5',3''-indoline]-7'
      carboxyl-ate.
AB  - In the title compound, C23H20N2O4S2, the central pyrrolidine ring adopts an
      envelope conformation with the spiro C atom, shared with the benzo-thio-phene
      ring system, as the flap. The thia-zole ring has a twisted conformation on the S
      C bond, where the C atom is that closest to methine C atom. The mean planes of
      the benzo-thio-phene and indoline ring systems are inclined to the mean plane of
      the central pyrrolidine ring by 82.75 (8) and 80.03 (8) degrees , respectively,
      and to each other by 61.49 (6) degrees . In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked
      via pairs of N-H?O hydrogen bonds, forming inversion dimers with an R 2 (2)(8)
      ring motif. The dimers are linked via C-H?O and C-H?N hydrogen bonds, forming a
      three-dimensional structure. The eth-oxy-carbonyl group is disordered over two
      orientations, with an occupancy ratio of 0.717 (12):0.283 (12). 

PMID- 25844221
TI  - Crystal structure of 15-(naphthalen-1-yl)-7,7a,8,9,10,11-hexa-hydro-6a,12a
      (methano-epoxy-methano)-indolizino[2,3-c]quinoline-6,13(5H)-dione.
AB  - In the title compound, C27H24N2O3, the dihedral angle between the mean planes of
      the di-hydro-furan and 3,4-di-hydro-quinoline ring systems is 70.65 (9) degrees .
      The di-hydro-furan ring adopts an envelope conformation with the C atom adjacent
      to the methyl-ene C atom of the pyrrolidine ring as the flap. The five-membered
      pyrrolidine ring adopts a twist conformation on the N-C(tetra-substituted) bond.
      In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked via pairs of N-H?O hydrogen bonds, forming
      inversion dimers with an R 2 (2)(8) ring motif. The dimers are linked via pairs
      of C-H?O hydrogen bonds, forming ribbons enclosing R 2 (2)(12) ring motifs lying
      in a plane parallel to (01-1). 

PMID- 25844222
TI  - Crystal structure of ethyl 1',5-dimethyl-2'',3-dioxo-3H-di-spiro
      [benzo[b]thiophene-2,3'-pyrrolidine-2',3''-indoline]-4'-carboxyl-ate.
AB  - The title compound, C23H22N2O4S, crystallized with two independent mol-ecules (A
      and B) in the asymmetric unit. They have very similar conformations with the
      pyrrolidine ring having a twisted conformation, on the Cspiro-Cspiro bond, in
      both mol-ecules. In mol-ecule A, the mean planes of the benzo-thio-phene and
      indoline ring systems are inclined to the mean plane of the pyrrolidine ring by
      87.59 (10) and 84.51 (11) degrees , respectively, and to one another by 72.69 (7)
      degrees . The corresponding angles in mol-ecule B are 87.15 (10), 84.58 (10) and
      72.07 (7) degrees , respectively. In the crystal, the A and B mol-ecules are
      linked to one another by two N-H?O hydrogen bonds, forming a dimer. These dimers
      are linked via C-H?O hydrogen bonds, forming a three-dimensional structure. 

PMID- 25844223
TI  - Crystal structure of 3-[2-(thio-phen-3-yl)ethyn-yl]-2H-chromen-2-one.
AB  - In the title compound, C15H8O2S, the coumarin moiety is approximately planar
      (r.m.s. deviation of the 11 non-H atoms = 0.025 A) and is slightly inclined with
      respect to the plane of the thio-phen-3-yl ring, forming a dihedral angle of
      11.75 (8) degrees . In the crystal, the three-dimensional architecture features a
      combination of coumarin-thio-phene C-H?pi and pi-pi [inter-centroid distance =
      3.6612 (12) A] inter-actions. 

PMID- 25844224
TI  - Crystal structure of ethyl 5''-fluoro-2'',3-dioxo-6',7',8',8a'-tetra-hydro
      2'H,3H,5'H-di-spiro-[benzo[b]thio-phene-2,1'-indol-izine-3',3''-indoline]-2'
      carboxyl-ate.
AB  - In the title compound, C25H23FN2O4S, the fused piperidine ring of the octa-hydro
      indolizine ring system adopts a chair conformation and the five-membered ring has
      a twisted conformation on the N-C(spiro) bond. The mean planes of the benzo-thio
      phene and indoline ring systems are inclined to the mean plane of the pyrrolidine
      ring by 83.1 (1) and 84.9 (1) degrees , respectively, and to each other by 29.37
      (17) degrees . In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked via pairs of N-H?O hydrogen
      bonds, forming inversion dimers with an R 2 (2)(8) ring motif. The dimers are
      linked via C-H?O hydrogen bonds, forming slabs lying parallel to (100). The
      packing between the slabs features a short [2.734 (2) A] F?F contact. 

PMID- 25844225
TI  - Crystal structure of 2-methyl-amino-3-nitro-4-p-tolyl-pyrano[3,2-c]chromen-5(4H)
      one.
AB  - In the racemic title compound, C20H16N2O5, the pyran ring adopts a shallow
      envelope conformation, with the stereogenic C atom displaced from the other atoms
      by 0.273 (2) A. The dihedral angle between the fused-ring system and the pendant
      p-tolyl group is 87.62 (7) degrees . The mol-ecular conformation is consolidated
      by an intra-molecular N-H?O hydrogen bond, which generates an S(6) ring. In the
      crystal, mol-ecules are linked by C-H?O inter-actions, resulting in [010] chains.

PMID- 25844226
TI  - Crystal structure of (Z)-2-(1-benzyl-2-oxoindolin-3-yl-idene)-N-phenyl-hydra-zine
      1-carbo-thio-amide.
AB  - The title compound, C22H18N4OS, crystallized with four independent mol-ecules (A,
      B, C and D) in the asymmetric unit. All four mol-ecules have a Z conformation
      about the C=N bond with the benzyl ring being inclined to the indoline ring mean
      planes by 73.4 (2), 77.9 (2), 73.2 (2) and 77.2 (2) degrees  in mol-ecules A, B,
      C and D, respectively. In mol-ecules A and B, the phenyl ring is inclined to the
      mean plane of the indoline ring mean plane by 12.0 (2) and 12.2 (2) degrees ,
      respectively. However, in mol-ecules C and D, the same dihedral angles are
      larger, viz. 37.3 (2) and 36.4 (2) degrees , respectively. Consequently, the
      benzyl and phenyl rings are almost normal to one another in mol-ecules A and B
      [dihedral angles = 80.3 (3) and 87.1 (3) degrees , respectively], while in mol
      ecules C and D, the same dihedral angles are only 48.8 (2) and 43.8 (3) degrees ,
      respectively. There is an intra-molecular N-H?O hydrogen bond in each mol-ecule
      with an S(6) ring motif. There are also short intra-molecular N-H?N and C-H?S
      contacts in each mol-ecule. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked via C-H?S
      hydrogen bonds and C-H?pi inter-actions, forming a three-dimensional structure.
      The crystal was refined as a non-merohedral twin with a final BASF value of 0.110
      (1). 

PMID- 25844227
TI  - Crystal structure of pseudoguainolide.
AB  - The lactone ring in the title mol-ecule, C15H22O3 (systematic name: 3,4a,8-tri
      methyl-dodeca-hydro-azuleno[6,5-b]furan-2,5-dione), assumes an envelope
      conformation with the methine C atom adjacent to the the methine C atom carrying
      the methyl substituent being the flap atom. The other five-membered ring adopts a
      twisted conformation with the twist being about the methine-methyl-ene C-C bond.
      The seven-membered ring is based on a twisted boat conformation. No specific
      inter-actions are noted in the the crystal packing. 

PMID- 25844228
TI  - Crystal structure of 4-bromo-anilinium 4-methyl-benzene-sulfonate.
AB  - In the crystal of the title mol-ecular salt, C6H7BrN(+).C7H7O3S(-), the anions
      and cations are linked via N-H?O hydrogen bonds forming layers, enclosing R 2
      (2)(4) ring motifs, lying parallel to (001). Within the layers there are short
      O?O contacts of 2.843 (2) A. 

PMID- 25844229
TI  - Crystal structure of diethyl 2,2'-[((1E,1'E)-{[(1R,4R)-cyclo-hexane-1,4-di-yl]bis
      (aza-nylyl-idene)}bis-(methanylyl-idene))bis-(1H-pyrrole-2,1-di-yl)]di-acetate.
AB  - The whole mol-ecule of the title compound, C24H32N4O4, is generated by inversion
      symmetry. The cyclo-hexane ring adopts a chair conformation and the conformation
      about the C=N bonds is E. The pyrrole rings have an anti confirmation with
      respect to the cyclo-hexane moiety and the ethyl acetate groups have extended
      conformations. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked by pairs of C-H?O hydrogen
      bonds forming chains, enclosing R 2 (2)(10) ring motifs with inversion symmetry,
      propagating parallel to the (101) plane. 

PMID- 25844230
TI  - Crystal structure of 5-(1,3-di-thian-2-yl)-2H-1,3-benzodioxole.
AB  - In the title compound, C11H12O2S2, two independent but virtually superimposable
      mol-ecules, A and B, comprise the asymmetric unit. In each mol-ecule, the 1,3-di
      thiane ring has a chair conformation with the 1,4-disposed C atoms being above
      and below the plane through the remaining four atoms. The substituted benzene
      ring occupies an equatorial position in each case and forms dihedral angles of
      85.62 (9) (mol-ecule A) and 85.69 (8) degrees  (mol-ecule B) with the least
      squares plane through the 1,3-di-thiane ring. The difference between the mol
      ecules rests in the conformation of the five-membered 1,3-dioxole ring which is
      an envelope in mol-ecule A (the methyl-ene C atom is the flap) and almost planar
      in mol-ecule B (r.m.s. deviation = 0.046 A). In the crystal, mol-ecules of A self
      associate into supra-molecular zigzag chains (generated by glide symmetry along
      the c axis) via methyl-ene C-H?pi inter-actions. Mol-ecules of B form similar
      chains. The chains pack with no specific directional inter-molecular inter
      actions between them. 

PMID- 25844231
TI  - Crystal structure of N-[4-amino-5-cyano-6-(methyl-sulfan-yl)pyridin-2-yl]-2
      chloro-acetamide.
AB  - In the title compound, C9H9ClN4OS, the dihedral angle between the acetamide
      moiety and the pyridine ring is 4.83 (12) degrees . The O=C-C-Cl torsion angle is
      46.4 (3) degrees  and an intra-molecular C-H?O inter-action generates an S(6)
      ring. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked by N-H?O, N-H?N and C-H?N hydrogen
      bonds, generating sheets lying parallel to (120). 

PMID- 25844232
TI  - Crystal structure of N-[4-amino-5-cyano-6-(methyl-sulfan-yl)pyridin-2
      yl]acetamide hemihydrate.
AB  - The title compound, C9H10N4OS.0.5H2O, crystallizes with two independent mol
      ecules (A and B) in the asymmetric unit, together with a water mol-ecule of
      crystallization. The acetamide moiety, which has an extended conformation, is
      inclined to the pyridine ring by 7.95 (16) degrees  in mol-ecule A and by 1.77
      (16) degrees  in mol-ecule B. In the crystal, the A and B mol-ecules are linked
      by two N-H?Ocarbon-yl hydrogen bonds, forming a dimer. The dimers are linked via
      N-H?N hydrogen bonds, forming ribbons that are linked by N-H?Owater hydrogen
      bonds to form sheets parallel to (110). The sheets are linked by O-H?N hydrogen
      bonds, forming slabs, and between the slabs there are weak slipped parallel pi-pi
      inter-actions [inter-centroid distance = 3.734 (2) A, inter-planar distance =
      3.3505 (11) A and slippage = 1.648 A], forming a three-dimensional structure. 

PMID- 25844233
TI  - Crystal structure of 1-(2-chloro-acet-yl)-3,3-dimethyl-2,6-di-p-tolyl-piperidin-4
      one.
AB  - In the title compound, C23H26ClNO2, the piperidin-4-one ring adopts a distorted
      boat conformation. The two p-tolyl rings are nearly normal to each other, making
      a dihedral angle of 83.33 (10) degrees . They are inclined to the mean plane of
      the piperidine ring by 73.2 (1) and 87.22 (9) degrees . In the crystal, there are
      no significant inter-molecular inter-actions present. 

PMID- 25844234
TI  - Crystal structure of 3-[(4-benzyl-piperazin-1-yl)meth-yl]-5-(thio-phen-2-yl)-2,3
      di-hydro-1,3,4-oxa-diazole-2-thione.
AB  - The title 1,3,4-oxa-diazole-2-thione derivative, C18H20N4OS2, crystallized with
      two independent mol-ecules (A and B) in the asymmetric unit. The 2-thienyl rings
      in both mol-ecules are rotationally disordered over two orientations by
      approximately 180 degrees  about the single C-C bond that connects it to the oxa
      diazole thione ring; the ratios of site occupancies for the major and minor
      components were fixed in the structure refinement at 0.8:0.2 and 0.9:0.1 in mol
      ecules A and B, respectively. The 1,3,4-oxa-diazole-2-thione ring forms dihedral
      angles of 7.71 (16), 10.0 (11) and 77.50 (12) degrees  (mol-ecule A), and 6.5
      (3), 6.0 (9) and 55.30 (12) degrees  (mol-ecule B) with the major and minor parts
      of the disordered thio-phene ring and the mean plane of the adjacent piperazine
      ring, respectively, resulting in approximately V-shaped conformations for the mol
      ecules. The piperazine ring in both mol-ecules adopts a chair conformation. The
      terminal benzene ring is inclined towards the mean plane of the piperazine ring
      with N-C-C-C torsion angles of -58.2 (3) and -66.2 (3) degrees  in mol-ecules A
      and B, respectively. In the crystal, no inter-molecular hydrogen bonds are
      observed. The crystal packing features short S?S contacts [3.4792 (9) A] and pi
      pi inter-actions [3.661 (3), 3.664 (11) and 3.5727 (10) A], producing a three
      dimensional network. 

PMID- 25844235
TI  - Crystal structure of (4Z)-4-{[(2-chloro-phen-yl)amino](furan-2-yl)methyl-idene}-3
      methyl-1-phenyl-4,5-di-hydro-1H-pyrazol-5-one.
AB  - In the title compound, C21H16ClN3O2, the pyrazolone ring and the O=C-C=C-N mean
      plane [maximum deviation = 0.022 (2) A] are nearly coplanar, making a dihedral
      angle 4.56 (8) degrees , while the phenyl and pyrazole rings subtend a dihedral
      angle of 19.75 (8) degrees . The compound is in the enamine-keto form and its
      structure is stabilized by an intra-molecular N-H?O hydrogen bond. In the
      crystal, mol-ecules are linked via C-H?N hydrogen bonds, forming chains along
      [010]. Between the chains there are pi-pi inter-actions [inter-centroid distances
      = 3.3902 (9) and 3.5956 (11) A], linking the chains to form sheets parallel to
      (10-1). 

PMID- 25844236
TI  - Crystal structure of 2-(3-bromo-phen-yl)-1,3-di-thiane.
AB  - In the title compound, C10H11BrS2, the 1,3-di-thiane ring has a chair
      conformation with the 1,4-disposed C atoms being above and below the remaining
      four atoms. The bromo-benzene ring occupies an equatorial position and forms a
      dihedral angle of 86.38 (12) degrees  with the least-squares plane through the
      1,3-di-thiane ring. Thus, to a first approximation the mol-ecule has mirror
      symmetry with the mirror containing the bromo-benzene ring and the 1,4-disposed C
      atoms of the 1,3-di-thiane ring. In the crystal, mol-ecules associate via weak
      methyl-ene-bromo-benzene C-H?pi and pi-pi [Cg?Cg = 3.7770 (14) A for
      centrosymmetrically related bromo-benzene rings] inter-actions, forming supra
      molecular layers parallel to [10-1]; these stack with no specific inter-molecular
      inter-actions between them. 

PMID- 25844237
TI  - Crystal structure of 2-(3-nitro-phen-yl)-1,3-di-thiane.
AB  - In the title compound, C10H11NO2S2, the 1,3-di-thiane ring has a chair
      conformation with the 1,4-disposed C atoms being above and below the remaining
      four atoms. The nitro-benzene substituent occupies an equatorial position and
      forms a dihedral angle of 88.28 (5) degrees  with the least-squares plane through
      the 1,3-di-thiane ring. The nitro group is twisted out of the plane of the
      benzene ring to which it is connected, forming a dihedral angle of 10.12 (3)
      degrees . In the crystal, mol-ecules aggregate into supra-molecular zigzag chains
      (glide symmetry along the c axis) via nitro-benzene N-O?pi [N-O?Cg(benzene) =
      3.4279 (18) A and angle at O = 93.95 (11) degrees ] inter-actions. The chains
      pack with no specific inter-molecular inter-actions between them.